Back to my grass roots!

This morning I had the pleasure of speaking in front of the North Shore Athletics half/full marathon run clinic on Lactate Testing. Even though I had laid out what I was going to say the night before, I was truly nervous. There are about 200 people in the clinic but I don't think they were all here today. Before I was introduced to speak, my heart was actually racing in my chest, and I didn't know how I was going to talk slowly when my heart was beating a mile a minute.

Days prior I had started thinking about what I was going to say. I clearly took this very seriously! I even laid in bed wide awake one night because I couldnt stop thinking about what I was going to say.

I started to get a little emotional thinking about my own journey with North Shore Athletics (NSA). In November 2004, I started training for my first marathon, The Vancouver marathon in 05'. It was only 5 years ago that I was in the position of all the people who were watching me today. My life changed the minute I started training for that marathon. For the first time in my life I had a really big goal and nothing was going to stop me. My life revolved around this goal. I was working at a restaurant at the time and I purposely worked on weekends so that I wouldn't go out partying and was fresh and ready for my Sunday long runs. I had been a poor student (not motivated, played sports) all through high school and in my first year at College. It just so happened that while I was training for the marathon, my grades started to improve. All of a sudden I learned about time management. I learned about setting priorities. I spent my time, studying, working and training for the race. I also had developed loads of confidence. My life took an upward spiral and I felt on top of the world. I have never looked back.

It's hard to beleive that in 5 years I have not only finished a marathon, I have completed 5 marathons, 7 x 50km's, 3 x 50 milers, and one 100km. Not to mention the countless 25km and half marathons over the years. That first year, veteran clinic members kept telling me I was going to get addicted, and I utterly and completely did! The crazy thing is, I can roll into NSA any Tuesday/Thursday night or Sunday morning for run club and I can always find a familiar face in the crowd because the same people keep coming back year after year. North Shore Athletics has created an amazing family of runners and I am very proud to be apart of that community.

I am stoked to be working with the clinic members and I honestly think they will all benefit from getting tested. Nothing is better than knowing how your own body works because we are all so unique. You are leaving everything up to chance when you use an equation to estimate your training zones. This test takes out all the guess work! I have been training off HR for years now and I rarely run or race without my HR monitor.

If anyone is interested in Lactate Testing or has any questions, please feel free to contact me. Email: ngildersleeve11@hotmail.com

See you in the trails!!!!