London Marathon 2016 #3 Canada, the Winter Wonderland

29 Mar 2016

This year, five amazing runners are joining the London Marathon to raise money for Cutty Sark. Follow their progress on our blog.

by Kat & Kev

Growing up in Eastern Canada means half the year is spent in cold and snowy conditions, making it challenging for those athletes who like to get outside.  Luckily, Kat’s Scottish heritage has given her a genetic predisposition battling a damp climate, and Kev was raised by a father with a love of cross-country skiing – so being outdoors in winter has never been a deterrent for us.

While running in Montreal in the winter does post some challenges, where there’s a will, there’s a way.  If you have vacationed at the seaside from time to time, then running along the beach in ankle deep sand will give you a good idea of what our winter training challenges are like.

Faced with moderate temperatures ranging from -10C to 15C, layering clothes and optimizing your shoe choice becomes key. Once ‘kitted out’ appropriately, it’s just a matter of adapting to the conditions with a focus on keeping stride-length short and leg-turnover high.  Having a goal of running two World Major Marathons just 6 days apart – Boston and London – has given us plenty of motivation to get us out the door to train every day.

Since we had raced in the Ultraman World Championships this past November, we had a solid endurance base to build upon, so we were able to turn our focus on speed and intensity. We even entered a local 5K race in February, just to get out and have some fun in a race setting with like-minded friends and fellow athletes. It was a great way to gauge fitness and build confidence towards the longer races coming up.

We also lead a RunClub for the lululemon Fairview store here in Montreal, so that’s a great motivator to get out and help others work on technique and prepare for the race season ahead.  We love interacting and engaging with others at all levels and are planning to do ‘shake-out’ runs with the lululemon stores in Boston and London before both marathons!

As our training gains momentum, we are looking forward to warmer temperatures and longer training days as winter gives way to spring. Meanwhile, we’ll try to keep the turnover of our feet speedy on the city streets of Montreal in anticipation of our marathon adventures – being sure to have a laugh or two along the way!

We are thrilled to be running the London Marathon on behalf of the Royal Museums Greenwich to help raise funds towards the ongoing preservation of Cutty Sark. If you would like to support our efforts, please visit our JustGiving page. Thank you!

Click here to find out more about the other runners who are raising money for Cutty Sark.