Tag Archive for: Lucy Smith

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Why racing counts

I am having a good time with the Island Race Series this year. I have done four and will hopefully do two more. Or that is the plan.

I am racing, in the sense that I have a bib, and I am getting to the start line, but I have this knee thing I have to be careful of these days, and a thing called aging, so I have had to trade speed and volume for strength training in order to stay fit. It is a good trade. I am simply enjoying being around other folks who also like to race. It doesn’t really matter how fast you are, there is something about us all out there trying hard, about putting it all on the line and testing ourselves. I understand the contenders and the winners, and now I am happy in the pack. There is something that binds us all together.

I am a mother of two very active children (now adults). I raced professionally for about 30 years. I don’t think I could have chosen two less physically demanding of careers: motherhood and sport, doubling up on both for 14 of those years.

I have had my share of exhausting days, and sleepless nights, and still got up to train. I have gutted out repeat after repeat of leg burning, lung searing 400’s at the track and ridden so hard up hills for no other reason than to see how fast I could go.

Lucy Smith at 2024 Hatley Castle 8K. Photo credit: Christopher Kelsall

One day, a few summers back, my kids were at summer camp, and I was training at the local track. I was running 1k repeats off a hard bike workout.  Half way through the penultimate interval, finding my stride at 700m in, I had one of those moments, where you look at yourself from the outside. As I ran though the fatigue and discomfort, willing myself to quicken my pace, run even a little harder as the discomfort increased, I realized I was completely enjoying myself. There I was running my guts out at the track, when I could have been relaxing with a coffee and a book or even getting my nails done. I wasn’t even training for an Olympics, or a world championships, or anything remotely glorious as all that. I wasn’t suffering for the sake of hitting a pace time or besting an opponent or anything so tangible. I was 45 and out there running fast for the sake of it. I know I am not alone.

​I always loved the feeling of working hard. When I am at the track, or in the trails, or on the road working mindfully and gracefully through discomfort and intensity, I am so totally in my element that I am completely happy. It’s what I know and it’s who I am. It’s like being intensely uncomfortable in my comfort zone, if such a thing exists.

When I run fast now, although I am so much slower than I was at 30, I feel just as youthful, empowered, and strong. I now have a freedom and a sense of peace with running that I couldn’t even imagine at 30. The irony is that I couldn’t have the freedom to be what I am now if I hadn’t been there first. This has nothing to do with age though. It has everything to do with accepting what I love and not fighting it.

​That’s why I love these races at the Island Series. Here we all are, loving the hard work we put in, loving the training and meeting up every couple of weeks at a new venue, to toe a new start line. I love that these races exist, that people come out to test and challenge themselves, I love the nervous joking on the start line and I love the relaxed laughter after it’s all said and done.

There is no substitute for the experience of  training hard and racing, and that’s the truth.

Run For Joy – Lucy Smith

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Anticipation of the Sooke 10K and Hatley Castle 8K races: Lucy Smith’s “how to run hills”

The first three races of the Vancouver Island Race Series have delivered! Well run events, great courses, impressive post race snacks and lots of good vibes with the people we like to hang out with. The flatter courses have been well suited to figuring out early season pacing and fitness. Coming up, we have the Sooke 10k and the Hatley 8k, courses known more for their rolling nature. Are you prepared?

How’s your relationship with the hills in your life? Do you embrace them for the challenge or fear them for being difficult? I think hills are a great chance and opportunity to practice positive mindset and turn “hills are hard” into “I love the challenge of hills.”

Running hills is just another part of racing, and if racing well is a game, then it’s your job to come up with a great strategy for success on them. Remember that practicing a positive mindset in training and building strength on hills (with short repeats) will help you on race day.

Technical aspects of hill running

  • Form is key: run with a tall relaxed posture and a slight lean into the hill.
  • Strong arm swing will help drive your body up the hill.
  • Look to the top of the hill to where you want to go. Use that sight line to ‘pull’ you up the hill.
  • Think “quick knees,” and “quick arms” driving you up the hill, and quick feet springing off the ground behind you, with a slightly shorter stride (shorten your stride as necessary to maintain your cadence).
  • Run fluidly down the hill, being as smooth as possible, with light steps that avoiding heavy pounding. Gravity is on your side so use that free speed.
  • Relax the shoulders and get in good exhales on the way down.

Mental aspects of hill running

Examine your current mindset towards hills. Does it veer towards the negative? “Hills are hard,” “I am not a good hill runner.”  Or do you face a rolling course knowing it’s going to be some effort, but you are determined to make it work?  “I like hills. Hills are for dancing up; being great.”

  • Replace negative self-talk (slow, inefficient) with positive words (quick, competent).
  • Creative strong images for self. See yourself as a good hill climber.
  • Create positive queues (dance, quick, light).
  • Practice in training for racing success.

Tactical considerations

Previewing courses is always a good idea if you want to do your best, and knowing where the hills are really helps you prepare mentally for success. Own the particular hill or hilly sections by mastering mental and technical aspects.

  • Pick the point over the crest and run over the hill, getting back into pace smoothly.
  • On a hilly course, be smart about pacing, and tune into your effort a much as your watch.

Run for Joy! Lucy Smith.

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Lucy Smith’s race week advice: The top five

One aspect of self awareness is the ability to be open minded. That is, to know when our perspective of a situation is based on our opinion or point of view, and to understand that there may be other ways to thinking about things. I was recently offering some advice to a friend who is pondering running the Finlayson Arm 50k. My perspective came from my opinions about training, preparation, and execution of such an event and was focussed on what practices and habits will be required for success. Another friend of his simply said “Drink a bunch of beers the night before and SEND IT!”

There have been times in my coaching life that I feel like the ‘Lucy’ from the Peanuts cartoon, dispensing advice for 5 cents. Obviously, my advice to runners always come from the perspective of what I have learned over many years. What follows then, are the most common themes of running advice I have dispensed over the years, distilled into five tips.

1. Develop positive habits

Have the courage to know when your habits are creating the same mistakes over and over and cultivate the courage to change these. Good habits work for you, and easily become the norm for your workouts.

Take care of basic details: prep logistics and being organized with gear and time.

Find and embrace opportunities to succeed. You get better at this the more you practice it.

Weather the ups and downs of training and racing. Be no nonsense about that one. Life goes up and down. It just does.

Do not entertain a change of heart when having a tough day or after a tough race. Allow time to emotionally recover from disappointment. Reflect and move on.

2. Reflect honestly

Review your races. Improve what you can and give yourself credit for what you did well.
Refine what didn’t go so well. Be honest with yourself, without judgement.

3. Take care of yourself and surround yourself with a healthy community of friends

Eat well, sleep well, and take care of your body and health. It is quite simple.

Surround yourself with likeminded positive people who lift you up. Put yourself in environments that support your dreams and passions. (Such as the Island Series and other events). In other words, spend your time well.

4. Listen to others

You never know what you may learn but be discerning as well. From what you learn, custom build the program and lifestyle that works for you. 

Find a greater purpose

Give back when you can. Share the joy of your process and your achievement and celebrate others’ successes. Find opportunities to give back and accept opportunities to give back when they come. Thank the volunteers.

Run For Joy!

Recent panel from TC10K on the Island Series…

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Run tall! How runners use process cues to be their own best coach

Even after 40 years of running, I spend time in every training session paying attention to my form. I do quick scans for tension — working on being relaxed through my neck and shoulders and arms, tall in my trunk, and quick and smooth in the way my legs are moving. And I am thinking about my feet tapping lightly on the ground as I run. I coach myself with process cues: short descriptive words or phrases that remind me to focus on things I can control.

Lucy Smith
Lucy Smith

If you can pay attention to being your most efficient self, and doing the best work you can do in that moment, you can also start to re-program negative and fearful thoughts into an empowered way to run and walk. For example, if your mind starts to wander to how tired you are, you can bring it back by reminding yourself of a process cue. This breaks the thought loop and helps you run better. Some of the most effective process cues work to reinforce a tall relaxed posture and good technique that promotes efficiency.

Here are some posture cues you can try out in your next training session or the at Cobble Hill 10k. If you are new to process cues, I suggest you only pick one or two for each session.

The process cues

Run tall: Imagine that a string (like on a Marionette) is attached to the top of your head and is pulling you upward. This will help you maintain an erect, but not tense posture. 

Look ahead: Look to where you want to go, this will keep your chin up, and your upper body tall Look ahead to objects or points up the road. Trust your peripheral vision to sense obstacles and avoid looking down. This will help you to run taller and avoid stress on your neck and back.

Quick feet: You want to have a light touch on the ground, with a light impact. Think of your feet tapping, gliding, propelling you forward, with quick and light steps.

Relaxed arms:  Have a relaxed and natural feeling to the bend to your arms. Try to avoid too much crossbody swinging. Hands should have no tension.

Relaxed shoulders: Your arms will swing more freely, and you’ll avoid upper back and neck tension.

As the hours count down to the race start, keep breathing, keep smiling (at least inside), and rest your body. Above all, if you are feeling a bit anxious, don’t berate yourself for feeling anxious. Switch your thoughts to these things you can control.

And one final pre-race calming tip for those of you still thinking about nerves: five minutes before the start, when you are waiting nervously with every other nervous and excited runner, take 4-5 full deep slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

See you out there!

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Getting ready for the first race of the 2023 season, the Harriers Pioneer 8K

Lucy Smith

The 44th Annual Prairie Inn Harriers 8k is coming up on Sunday January 8th.  Here are some things to think about this week as you prepare for this early-season event.

First off, let’s congratulate the Prairie Inn Harriers for their sheer longevity and resilience. The fact that you are participating in the 44th Annual anything, should give you goosebumps and motivation right there. This outstanding event has been a local staple on the road race calendar since the first running boom. I add it to my calendar every year, to kick-start my season. The course has always been fast, the race is super friendly and well run, and it’s nice to hang out with your run pals again after the Christmas Season.

Running well is about embracing what you can control and letting go of what you can’t. In other words, put energy towards the things you have the power over – like your ability to organize yourself before the race, and don’t let the stuff you can’t control bother you, such as the weather. It’s January on the lower island: it might be 12 degrees and sunny, or it might be snowing. There’s a good chance it might be quite windy, wet, and cold. You can’t do anything about the weather, so just be prepared with the right clothing to stay warm before, during, and after the race, and set your resolve to be tough out there if it’s a mucky day. As my childhood running friend once said: “Your skin doesn’t leak. Just go run.”

Weather aside, I suggest that you use the early season races and training as ways to practice good habits. If you get into the routine of practicing good habits – the ones that you know, bring you success on race day – it’s far easier to create repeated success. For those of you using this race as a stepping stone towards future spring PR goals, like the TC10K or the Vancouver Marathon, nailing down good habits in a lower stress environment is excellent practice for those races when the stakes are higher.

Here are 5 Good Habits you can start practicing now:

1. Eat just enough. You don’t need to overeat on race-day morning. With the high intensity of an 8k effort, any undigested food might cause cramps. Don’t run on an empty stomach, either, which can cause low energy and even light-headedness. Try a light meal of mostly carbs about one to two hours before the race. A bagel or toast with peanut butter should do the trick. Try different pre-race meals during training and stick to what works best on race day. Hit the food tables right after the race to replenish your energy for good recovery into the next block of training and the next race.

2. Warm up. Perform at least 15 minutes of easy running before the race. You’ll often see runners doing some quick 10-15 second strides, to prepare muscles for the quick start of the race. Give this a go, if you haven’t done strides before, and see how you feel at the start. Warm up right before the start of the race so your muscles don’t have time to cool down. You can hop up and down, skip on the spot, and do leg swings and arms swings if it’s a cold morning, while you wait for Bob to start the race.

3. Don’t go out too fast. It’s an endurance event and needs to be paced as such. If you start too fast for your fitness level, you’ll find yourself having to slow down significantly at halfway to recover. If you make the mistake of going out too fast, take that as good learning for the next race.

4. Break it up. Mentally, it can help effort and focus to divide the race into sections. If you can, look at the course before you race, or study the map online. The course is out and back along country roads with some slight rises and descents, which always feel harder at race effort. I run this course from corner to corner, as once you are on John Road right after the start, there are 4 corners to the 180 turnaround on Glamorgan. Once you turn back onto John Road you have a mile to go. See how strong you can be over those last few minutes of the race. Really zero in on what you can control – maintaining your pace and holding good form, even as you get tired.

5. Be tough. With speed comes discomfort. Embrace this “good” pain as a sign you’re reaching your athletic potential. As the discomfort grows, stay relaxed and focussed only on running. Remember how strong you are and that the pain just means you’re pushing yourself to your upper limits. And it will all be worth it.

You may or may not get it all right this first race, but do the best you can, and hone those skills for the next one at Cobble Hill. And please don’t forget to thank the volunteers that make it all possible!

Profile: Lucy Smith, athlete and coach ambassador of the Vancouver Island Race Series

Lucy Smith is a coach, mentor, and writer. She was an interim CEO of Triathlon Canada and is now the race director of the TC10K, an event she has won six times.

Lucy has won 19 Canadian championships in her career. The volume of titles is one thing, but the diversity is another. She has won on the tracks, roads, trails, cross-country, and in multi-sport. The mother of two is also a two-time world duathlon silver medallist.

And yes, she has done marathons (before you ask) and ironman.

Personal bests

Personal bests:

5K: 15:40
10K: 32:46
21.1K: 1:13:35
Marathon: 2:38:40

Achievements

• 19-time Canadian champion
• Two-time silver medallist, Duathlon Worlds
• Six-time Canadian 10K Road Running Champion
• Five-time Canadian Cross-Country Champion
• Canadian Long Distance Triathlon Champion: 2007
• Canadian 10,000m Champion: 2004
• Canadian Half Marathon Champion: 2006
• Five-time Canadian Duathlon Champion
• Two-time CIAU Cross-Country Champion. CIAU is now USport, the national university league in Canada.

Follow along here as Lucy takes us through the season providing well-practiced preparation and racing tips. The advice will be available leading up to each of the eight races starting with the Harriers Pioneer 8K on Sunday, January 8 through to the Synergy Health Centre Bazan Bay 5K on Sunday, April 23.

Pioneer 8K
Comox Valley Half Marathon
McLean Mill 10K
Bazan Bay 5K
Sooke 10K
Hatley Castle 8K
Cedar 12K
Cobble Hill 10K