Team RunnersConnect Member: Kathy Balme

Lives: Campbellford, Ontario which is about 1 ½ hours east of Toronto.

Works:  At the hospital as a physiotherapist, and divide my time between the inpatient orthopedic floor, where I see people who have just had orthopedic surgeries (hip or knee replacements, fractured hips, fractured ankles, shoulders, etc), and outpatient orthopedics, where I try to help people with injuries, post-surgical, etc.   I’ve been working there for 18 1/2 years now, can’t believe that that much time has gone by already!

Interests: Cycling when I was 19, not racing or anything, but just cycling for fitness.   I also always ran a bit on the side, especially in the winter, but cycling has been mainly my thing, up until now.

Another activity that I really enjoy is Scuba Diving.   I got my openwater certification in 2001, and have gone diving in Thailand, Cuba, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Key Largo, Key West, and of course, in Canada.

Additionally I knit, a lot.   I’ve made lots of sweaters, many of which I’ve given to family members.  I like to do that in the winter if I’m watching TV.  It makes me feel somewhat productive at least.

I’ve also dabbled at a little bit of woodworking.   My husband and I made some wooden cottage chairs for my parents a couple of years ago.

How long have you been running?

In my early 20s, I started to run, just as a supplement to my cycling.   I gradually started to do more of it, but usually just 5 to 10k distances, no more than that.  And, it was always the same kind of run, steady pace.

A Running Room opened up in Peterborough in 2002, and I joined their very first 10k run clinic.  I had never run with a group before this, and I had never followed a plan before.  I didn’t know that there was such a thing as speedwork for distance runners, hills work, etc.  So, I followed their plan, and immediately, my times picked up again.

When and what was your first race?

So, my very first race was in Peterborough in June 2002, a 10k, which I did in 51:23. I wasn’t happy with that time, so I continued to sign up for more running clinics.

I did 2 races that year, then did my first half marathon in February 2003, about five days before my 40th birthday.  It had been on my bucket list to do a half marathon by the time I was 40, so I squeaked it in just in time!  My time was not good though, as we had had a snowstorm the day before, and the whole route was very snowy with slippery footing, so my time was 2:02.

I did my second half later that year, and got 1:54.   Anyway, that year, I did four races, then that was it for racing  until 2011.

Circumstances kept me from pursuing races after 2003.   I had 2 jobs for awhile, then I moved to Campbellford and began to commute, so I found it hard to commute 2 hours a day, and still have the energy to work out as much as I did, so that started to fall by the wayside somewhat.

I started to get a little unfit and out of shape, felt tired a lot, couldn’t sleep well.  So, after a few years, I decided that I couldn’t keep letting myself slowly spiral downwards, so I picked up the running again, with the encouragement of my sister, Erin King (who is also with RC), and I did another HM in 2011.  It felt dismal, I have to admit, finished in 2:02, but difficult for me.

Since 2011, I’ve done 20 races, and have been improving.

I turned 50 last year, and got a PB in a 10k (48:19) and got a PB in the HM (1:49:19), so I was pretty ecstatic!   Add to that, I did my first two little triathlons in 2012, but last year, I did a try-a-tri (I was 50) and got first in my age group, then did another try-a-tri, and came in first woman (out of 19, not a big number, but I’ll take it!).  So, I had a pretty good year last year.

What are your goals? Goal races? Any bucket list running goals?

My main goal this year is to complete my first FM.

I’ve never felt before that I could be capable of doing that kind of distance, and I’m still not sure about it, but I have registered for a marathon on May 4th this year. My sister is running the same one, and she will easily qualify for Boston.  My goal is to try to qualify as well.  I have to achieve a sub-4 hour, which will be very challenging for me.  So that’s my bucket list goal.

Another goal:  improve my  triathlons.  In 2012, I did my first try-a-tri, and I really enjoyed it, although I find the swim portion extremely challenging.  I’ve done 4 little triathlons so far, but I would like to someday make it to a half-ironman (not a full, too much training).

What were your biggest struggles before joining RunnersConnect?

I struggled with consistency.  Ever since I moved and have started to commute (6 1/2 years ago), I found that making the time to run consistently was difficult for me.  I found it hard to get home later in the day, and then have to run or bike, and then have so little of an evening left.

However,  I also always said that I wanted to be a fit 50 year-old, and when I turned 49, I realized that I needed to get going if I was going to make that goal, so I made the decision to just get back into the consistent training.  But I found that in the interim, I had lost quite a bit of fitness, and, it took me longer to recover now too.

But yes, I think the consistency was the biggest thing.  When I look back on my logs, I realize how inconsistent I was!  Some weeks, I wasn’t running at all, some weeks I might log 15k or something like that.  Very inconsistent and low mileage.

I was trying to follow the old Running Room plans, but since I was doing most of this by myself, there was no accountability.   And I just wasn’t super-motivated.   Well, that might not be the right word, as I really wanted to get fit and try to improve my running times again, but I just couldn’t seem to stick to the Running Room plan on my own.

At the same time, my sister was sending me articles occasionally, about running tips, nutrition, etc.   I read through all of these, and they were informative and motivational.   When I looked into the source of the articles, I found the RunnersConnect site.  My sister wasn’t a member yet, but she was getting their articles.   So, I checked RC out, downloaded the marathon book, then bought the strengthening program as well.

And, if I remember correctly, there was a sample run plan.   I felt like this was what I needed, something concrete to follow, with feedback from coaches, so I decided to join.  And it has been exactly what I’ve needed, because you can log your stuff online, and get feedback not only from the coaches, but from others as well.   And the accountability is there;  just by logging your stuff, you’re putting it out there.

How has your training changed since you started working with RunnersConnect?

Well, I’m doing more mileage than I ever did before…

• I never ran 50k in a week before, but now that’s a short week according to my schedule.   Although having said that, I have to admit that I haven’t yet run a 60k week; partly due to things that have gone on on weekends, which have sometimes interfered with my long run, and partly because I seem to take longer to recover from workouts, so sometimes I’ve been cutting runs slightly shorter.  But regardless, I am definitely running higher volumes more consistently than I ever did before.   When I look back on my actual volumes from a couple years ago, I might have been running maybe 20 to 40k in the 3 or 4 weeks leading up to a HM, but in other weeks, I would be running even less.

• I’ve never done workouts like hills-to-tempo before.  I did do some straight tempo runs with the old plan,  but even they weren’t as long as the ones that I get now.

• With the Running Room plan, we did do a hills night, once a week, and would increase from 3 hills to 9 or 10, then it would change to speedwork in the last 3 weeks before a race.  That was usually done every Wednesday.  Then another night would be a tempo run, another night would be a short steady run, and then there was a long run day.   It was basically the same every week, with the distances progressively getting longer.

• With RC, there is more variability with the plan, but I don’t think the paces are all that different.  The volumes are definitely higher.  And the reason behind different training runs is made apparent with the attached articles, so I find that very helpful.

What has been the biggest surprise or most interesting revelation about either the training or your own abilities that you’ve had in the last few months?

I had no doubts or fears before joining RC.  I just wanted to improve and get ore information.

I think when I first saw the schedule, I thought “how am I ever going to be able to run all that?”   So, I just started to follow the schedule, and when I could actually adhere to the paces as they were set out, which was most of the time, I would surprise myself there, and give myself a little mental pat on the back.

I wasn’t really intimidated by the community;  I was interested to see how others were doing and what they had to say about their own workouts.

I think overall, and my sister and husband would agree with me here, I tend to think of myself as a poor runner, and I sometimes think I won’t be able to do a certain race or workout, and then when I actually do it, I surprise myself.   Both my sister and husband see more potential in me than I sometimes see in myself, so that helps, but I think what also helps are the encouraging posts from RC members.   Like when I had my really bad struggle with my latest HM a week ago:   everyone on RC was very encouraging and supportive;  it felt good to know that most people have struggles from time to time, and that I can put that one behind me and focus on what’s ahead.

What is your favorite part of RunnersConnect now?

I like logging my runs on RC and keeping track of everything that way.   There is definitely more of an accountability there, which is something I have needed lately.  Since joining RC, I feel like I’ve become more fit and will stay that way.    I’m definitely more consistent with my training than I ever have been before.

I did get two PB’s last year, as I mentioned above, but I can’t remember if I was yet a member of RC at that point.  If I was, I was a new member, so I don’t know if RC training would have had a direct influence yet on my PB times then.    I did have a foot injury for all of last summer, so had to cut the training way down for awhile, but then I did a HM in October, and still pulled off a 1:50, with less training than what was ideal, so I figured that it was the type of training that I was now doing with RC that helped with that race.