It’s been a while since my last fitness update. So long story short:

• I signed up for a running clinic with The Running Room over by the beaches in Toronto.
• I’ve been training for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon where I was originally supposed to run for the Mississauga Marathon back in May this year.
• Change of diet has played a huge role in shedding weight and gaining energy and endurance to make it through a day without a nap
• My shin splints haven’t been as chronic as before due to my proper training with my clinic
• I’ve lost at least 5 pounds since training for two months now (I haven’t properly weighed myself yet
• I ran 12 kilometres and 14 kilometres respectively a few weeks ago, breaking a mental barrier of 10K right around when I last got injured.  It was my previous high back in my Fitness update #4 

I’ve never felt healthier in my life. I’m able to run for over an hour and a half straight and swim for at least 30 mins (just hopped out of the pool straight.

Finally, I recently decided try out the famed P90X home workout program again after dabbling in it a few months ago.  There have been a lot of inspiring videos floating around on YouTube with people tracking their progress as they follow the program with some amazing results. I’ll be doing the same after I’m done my classes for the summer in order to begin a challenge that I’m calling “Project Core Values”, which I’ll dedicate an entire post to later on when I have the time. In any case, as per Fitness Update tradition.. a route of my most recent long run!

For every runner, the lowest common denominator and most important piece of equipment is a decent pair of technical running shoes. They take brunt and abuse of our running endeavours, so it would only make sense to check out whether your shoes have seen its days. I figure I had about two more months in them for running, but boy was I ever wrong. I had to get shin splints in order to numb the pain and decided to retire my Mizuno Wave Inspires. They’ve served me well, but I digress…

For all runners out there, dropping by a stores that focuses solely on running such as The Running Room is a great way to check out your options of what shoe is perfect for you. You can get a proper fitting of a decent pair of technical runners, to see what type of shoes were best for your foot type.

I eventually picked up a pair of Asics GT-2130′s, which are supposedly the most popular running shoe in North America, but their cost was a bit of a turn off and since I’m on a budget, I’ll be returning them to get an older model of an equally better if not superior running shoe. I found the Mizuno Wave Nirvana 2, their 2005 model on eBay for $55 USD, which is substantially cheaper, the only setback is the wait time, so I’ll be doing some cross training to maintain my fitness level.

Keeping in check your running shoes or whatever fitness equipment that is crucial to your success should be taken into account as we often take them for granted and don’t consider the consequences should they fail on us.

For now, it’s back to the gym for me, while I’m patiently waiting for my shoes to arrive…

- Will

Here’s the route I was supposed to take. I made it half way and had to take a streetcar for the trip back home. Next week, I’ll be back at it, but until then.. cross training

Below is a run that I completed earlier this afternoon to see how much further I could push myself. Here I chose my school, the Ted Rogers School of Management right beside Eaton Centre as the destination, where I’d swing around down along Bay St. and back east along Queen St East back home.

I’m excited to measure my marathon training progress here. I think I’ll bump up my distance up to 10 km for next Sunday (weather pending). See you on the street or on the trails!

- Will