Canadians focused on post-Rio success at Toronto Marathon

Most marathon runners compete once every five to six months. 

For Canadians Eric Gillis and Krista DuChene, this weekend's Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon will be their second major event in 56 days. 

After impressive finishes at the Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro, the duo will look to emulate that success on Sunday.

Gillis sets sights on Canadian record

Fresh of a top-10 finish at the Rio Olympics, which was the best performance by a Canadian man since Jerome Drayton finished sixth at the Montreal Games in 1976, the 36-year-old Gillis emphasized that the quick turnaround after Rio was a difficult adjustment. 

"The very first [post Rio] workout I did was on a treadmill a week later," he told CBC Sports. "I did an easy 40 minutes and let me tell you, the last 10 minutes I felt a marathon in my legs…I was so tired." 

Despite the tough first workout, the native of Antigonish, N.S., quickly rediscovered his stride and now feels he is ready to challenge another milestone in his sixth career race in Toronto. 

Drayton's Canadian record of two hours 10 minutes 09 seconds from 1975 still hasn't been beaten, but Gillis feels his best chance may be now. 

"My confidence is high. It's always something that is in the back of my mind," he said. "If I have a perfect race…you never know. It's just out there."

Gillis ran an impressive 2:12:29 on a relatively unknown track under the blistering Brazilian sun in Rio. While most male runners finished three or four minutes off their best time, Gillis surged near the end of the race, finishing only a minute off his personal best.

Now facing cooler autumn temperatures in southern Ontario, Gillis feels his body is ready. 

As an incentive, the event's biggest sponsor is awarding $41,000 to any Canadian man able to break Drayton's 41-year-old record. 

"I've hit some markers in training that indicate that I'm [in] similar shape to Rio," he added. "I had some far off goals [at the Olympics] and I was able to achieve those. I'm just going out there to run fast and to run as well as I can.

I don't have anything to lose."

DuChene wants Canadian title

DuChene comes into Sunday's race, which also serves as the Canadian Marathon Championship, as one of the nation's top women. 

The Brantford, Ont., native finished 35th at Rio 2016 (2:35:29) and is coming in on a high note. 

"I had a great experience in Rio," DuChene told CBC Sports. "I put so much into the Olympics. [Now], I would love to win a national title." 

The 39-year-old will be running the Toronto marathon for the fourth time in her career and set a personal best 2:28:32 in the 2013 race. 

"I'm confident going in. I'm in good shape and training has gone well since Rio," she elaborated. "[But] there are five other really strong Canadian [female] runners that are going to be fighting for that top spot, not just to be national champion but also to get the standard to represent Canada at the world championship next year." 

DuChene, who turns 40 in January, feels that she is in the best shape of her career despite the gruelling challenge in Rio. 

"I have no plans to stop or slow down. I can really commit myself to training and to doing everything I need to do to be at the top level," DuChene said. "I believe two good marathons a year is the way to go. I'm just going to map it out one race at a time, one year at a time. [But] Tokyo 2020 is definitely a possibility."