Well I didn't think it would take this long but todays run was the first time this year I had to wear spikes. When I got up, it was already 2C, so I look outside and the pavement looks wet but not icy. So I lace up the road gloves and head out at around 8pm. I didn't get 500m before one leg decided to head in the wrong direction, crap!!! I didn't fall but it was close so I decided to turn around and head home for a tire change. So i walked home (wasn't going to try running again) and put on my Kinveras that already had the spikes on and ready to go. I headed back out with no issues this time except of the noise that the spikes make.
My paces are continuing to get faster as I continue to set PB times during my practice runs, which I know means absolutely nothing unless its during a race but it feels good to know that the conditioning is paying off. my best run this week was Wednesday's 13k run, which i did in 1:09:07, a full 7 minutes faster than I've run 13k before. It was just one of those runs that everything just "clicked" and felt perfect.
Tomorrow i have a 21k long run. I'm planning on going with the Merrell Road Gloves instead of my "conventional shoes". When I finish, this will be my longest run in minimalist shoes yet. A time of under 2 hrs will be great to. the forecast calls to be warm in the morning so I may even get to wear shorts, which would be awesome for December. Usually i'm stuck with the longer sweatpants this time of year. Fingers crossed that the morning is warm. Still no snow! YA!
A couple of weeks ago someone told me that they thought I looked "sick" and that I should stop losing more weight. I thought of that as kinda odd until I gave it a little thought. Here's the thing, I haven't lost any weight since 2011. I've maintained a running weight of 155-160 but I am smaller now than 2011. I smile when I think of the reason. I've leaned out and have become stronger. I'm actually looking like a long distance runner now.
This weeks total distance will be 51k. A "recovery" week. lol It only gets worse after this one with weekly distances of 64, 67 and 66k before another "recovery" week. If this is what i'm going through for the Hypo Half in February, I shudder to think what my coach is going to have me doing in March and April. I have a feeling I'm going to see an 80k week or two in there somewhere.
On December 1st, I signed up for the 2013 Wineglass Marathon in Corning, NY. Why that one? Well I've been doing some homework and that seems to be one of the fastest fall marathons in the Northeast. The whole thing is at a slight downhill grade which = fast. I need to run it faster than 3:25 to qualify for Boston in 2014. I'll put it out of my mind for now as i have a Hypo Half, a Lung Run, the Fredericton marathon, Navy 10k and gawd knows what else to do before next October comes around. It will be nice to run with 2500 other marathoners at the Wineglass though. I'm only used to running with 100-300 other crazy bastards so the extra people running will mean more people to catch and pass!! lol
Well its getting late and I have an early run tomorrow. onward and upward!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Valley Harvest Recovery Complete!
Well its been almost a month since the Valley Harvest marathon and now my recovery phase is officially complete. I finished it today with a 16k run around the loop here in Millwood. This evening, thought about today's run and couldn't help but smile a little. The schedule called for an 8k workout run but I changed my mind earlier in the week and pencilled in a 12k long run. Yesterday, I changed it again and decided to run for 1:30 and see how far I go. Why the changes? I wanted to build up my weekly mileage so next week when the real longer distances start, it wouldn't be such a shock to the system. I wound up running 16.2k in 1:31 on a pretty hilly loop and felt great doing it. No pain anywhere despite wearing minimalist shoes (Merrell Road Gloves). It feels awesome to know that you could have stretched a run to 20 or 25k without giving it much thought or even felt sore afterwards. Having perfect running weather helps immensely to. I ran a "ho hum" 16k at a 5:39 pace and have no muscle pain to show for it at all. I think I've actually become physically fit, I've never been fit for my whole life. SWEET!
I had a great recovery phase, felt good for all my runs and even got to set a personal best 5k time of 21:46 at last weeks Runway Run. That beat my previous personal best of 23:24, set back in April during the Lung Run. I guess my next goal time will be to run a 5k in under 20 minutes for the 2013 Lung Run in April.
I took on two new things during this recovery that I haven't before. I tried my first spin class at 360 fit in Dartmouth and I've also hired a trainer once a week as well. I really enjoy doing both. My training night is Monday and I do the spin class on Tuesday night. I believe both will help my overall fitness and will help me get to my 2013 goal of becoming a Boston Qualifier. As of right now here are my planned runs for 2013.
February - Hypothermic Half, Dartmouth (I've never run a half before so I wanted to add it to the list, shooting for 1:40-1:45)
April - Lung Run (shooting for sub 20 minutes)
May - Fredericton Marathon (sorry, no Bluenose this year, I want to find a flat, fast course as a "tune up" for a fall attempt at qualifying. shooting for 3:35)
August - Navy 10k (ok this is just for fun)
October - Wineglass Marathon, New York (this will be the ONE, shooting for a 3:20)
I know, I've set the bar pretty high but I'd rather aim high and miss than to aim low and hit.
Last week my running coach came up with a Hypothermic Half training schedule that will also build up to Fredericton as well. He had to make some tweaks to the schedule due to my training and spin class but I think the changes are manageable. The biggest difference is that Tuesday and Wednesdays runs will be swapped. That means I now have to get up at 5am on Tuesday to get my 5k recovery run in before I go to work. Thats not so bad now, lets see what happens when the weather turns for the worse. I may have to bite the bullet and go to Goodlife (ick!!) to run on a treadmill (double ick!) occasionally. I can't picture running a 3 hr run on a treadmill.
Here's how it'll all pan out
Monday - trainer
Tuesday - am - recovery run, pm spin
Wednesday - long, easy run
Thursday - workout run
Friday - rest, yes i said rest!!!! my fav day of the week.
Saturday - recovery run
Sunday - Long run
So, tomorrow is the official start of the Hypothermic Half marathon training program. After 3 weeks of short runs, except for today, I'm itching to get back out there doing 50-70k a week. Will I be this excited in January in the ice and snow? No friggin way but I'll still be hauling my ass off the couch and going out there.
Onward and Upward
I had a great recovery phase, felt good for all my runs and even got to set a personal best 5k time of 21:46 at last weeks Runway Run. That beat my previous personal best of 23:24, set back in April during the Lung Run. I guess my next goal time will be to run a 5k in under 20 minutes for the 2013 Lung Run in April.
I took on two new things during this recovery that I haven't before. I tried my first spin class at 360 fit in Dartmouth and I've also hired a trainer once a week as well. I really enjoy doing both. My training night is Monday and I do the spin class on Tuesday night. I believe both will help my overall fitness and will help me get to my 2013 goal of becoming a Boston Qualifier. As of right now here are my planned runs for 2013.
February - Hypothermic Half, Dartmouth (I've never run a half before so I wanted to add it to the list, shooting for 1:40-1:45)
April - Lung Run (shooting for sub 20 minutes)
May - Fredericton Marathon (sorry, no Bluenose this year, I want to find a flat, fast course as a "tune up" for a fall attempt at qualifying. shooting for 3:35)
August - Navy 10k (ok this is just for fun)
October - Wineglass Marathon, New York (this will be the ONE, shooting for a 3:20)
I know, I've set the bar pretty high but I'd rather aim high and miss than to aim low and hit.
Last week my running coach came up with a Hypothermic Half training schedule that will also build up to Fredericton as well. He had to make some tweaks to the schedule due to my training and spin class but I think the changes are manageable. The biggest difference is that Tuesday and Wednesdays runs will be swapped. That means I now have to get up at 5am on Tuesday to get my 5k recovery run in before I go to work. Thats not so bad now, lets see what happens when the weather turns for the worse. I may have to bite the bullet and go to Goodlife (ick!!) to run on a treadmill (double ick!) occasionally. I can't picture running a 3 hr run on a treadmill.
Here's how it'll all pan out
Monday - trainer
Tuesday - am - recovery run, pm spin
Wednesday - long, easy run
Thursday - workout run
Friday - rest, yes i said rest!!!! my fav day of the week.
Saturday - recovery run
Sunday - Long run
So, tomorrow is the official start of the Hypothermic Half marathon training program. After 3 weeks of short runs, except for today, I'm itching to get back out there doing 50-70k a week. Will I be this excited in January in the ice and snow? No friggin way but I'll still be hauling my ass off the couch and going out there.
Onward and Upward
Monday, October 8, 2012
Demons Exorcised
Well its been a little over 24 hours since the Valley Harvest marathon and I can now officially say that the demons of last years' run have been exorcised! Apparently my family and friends have more faith in my ability than I do. Something else I'm working on.
My morning started early, 5am, for fuelling. I started with leftover pasta from the previous night, then had a bagel, and then some oatmeal. I washed all this down with a bottle of gatorade. I finished eating by 6:15am. We left the house at 6:30 and arrived at the parking lot in Wolfville by 7:30. By then the sun was already rising....wait a second....SUN??? the forecast called for the clearing to occur later in the morning, closer to noon and now it was already going to be sunny? so that caused some stress right off the bat.
So we head for the starting line at around 8am for the 8:30 start. This year I lined up closer to the start line. I figured if everything I did last year was wrong, then the opposite would be right. right?
So the gun goes off and I get a movin'. During the first kilometer I look at my HRM several times and realize that i'm going too fast. Of course i think my GPS is just playing with me because I don't feel like I'm running at a 5:09 pace. Adrenaline. So I get freaked out a little, thinking that my GPS is going to mislead me to a poor result. So when it chimes that my first kilometer is done, I quickly do a time check and realize that my GPS isn't playing games with me and I really do need to "cool the jets" a little. Oh the games the mind can play with you at times.
Some people have asked what i think about during a run that far so here goes. I spend a lot of time watching my GPS, making sure i stay on pace. As each kilometer goes by (they have signs), I'm doing the math as to how much further I have to go, at least until the halfway point and then i start counting down the kilometers remaining. At 4k, i think "ok i'm almost 1/10th finished". at 5k i'm almost 1/8th done. 10k is a nice one, almost a quarter of the way done. and so on. once i get to 21k, i think "yes, halfway". i'm also planning out where i run on the road, trying to keep on the smoothest section without swerving all over the place and wasting energy. a lot of my thought on this one was spent on whether or not the IT band was going to start giving me trouble. I also spent a bit of time listening to water splash around in my stomach. lol yes, i don't carry an mp3 player with me. I also try concentrating on catching the runner in front of me. that's constantly going on. but you have to be careful not to go beyond your means to pass them and leave yourself with nothing left later on. sometimes you just want to stay with them if they're moving at your pace. I followed one guy for about 15k before he had to stop and pee. ah ha!! gotcha.
I had to pee shortly after I started, and I kept thinking "ok, when i get to the next cornfield, i'm going to stop and take a whiz" but each time i got to one, the urge wasn't quite enough to overcome the will to keep going. as i went further and further, the urge went away. lol since i didn't carry water, i stopped at every aid station for either water or gatorade, it depended on my mood at the time which one i chose but i went with water more than gatorade. i popped my first ibuprofen at 19k and popped another one at around 30k. i had 3 or 4 GU energy gels during the race mostly during the second half.
Last year, i started having bad right knee pain at around 20k so that was always on my mind. when i passed that point this year, there was the tiniest sigh of relief inside me. After that point, I remember recognizing spots along the route where i walked last year. Not this year, the knee is holding up. The weather is cooperating to. the temp never goes above 16C and the wind not too bad. At 30k, it dawned on me that the knee is going to hold up. That was emotional for me. I'm going to finish this AND i'm going to kill it. only 12k to go! 11k! 10k! 9k! at that point i'm counting down the minutes that are left. I get back on the main street in Wolfville and cars are honking at me!! 2k to go, only 11 minutes of running to go!! The marshalls point me to the track to run my last 200 meters on the track. oh how nice the soft track feels on my battered feet!
DONE!
I stop my HRM and Stacey runs into my arms. Ahhh! I jokingly apologized to her, i said "i got here as quick as i could, sorry!" I get my medal and grab a bottle of water. I quickly take the time to update my facebook status with my time:
3:51:46!!!!
I was hoping for 3:55.
I killed it.
I stood there for a few more minutes, just absorbing it. Savoring it. then i got hungry and needed to fill my face. So i did. lol lots of chocolate milk, yogurt, cookies, OJ, bananas, anything i could get my hands on.
This year I tried something different as well. I had my smartphone on my arm, set to vibrate. Before i left for the valley in the am, i made a request on facebook for people to send me messages during my run. That phone started buzzing around 9:30 am and kept going quite often for the rest of the way. It helped a lot, I'd usually smile when it would buzz, it felt good to know you're being thought of when you're suffering. Those of you who buzzed me know who you are and thank you. You helped me keep going.
This will be the last time for me on the Valley Harvest course and likely any marathon in NS. I've made my point and its time to move on to flatter/faster courses. I'm thinking Ottawa in spring might be nice.
onward and upward
My morning started early, 5am, for fuelling. I started with leftover pasta from the previous night, then had a bagel, and then some oatmeal. I washed all this down with a bottle of gatorade. I finished eating by 6:15am. We left the house at 6:30 and arrived at the parking lot in Wolfville by 7:30. By then the sun was already rising....wait a second....SUN??? the forecast called for the clearing to occur later in the morning, closer to noon and now it was already going to be sunny? so that caused some stress right off the bat.
So we head for the starting line at around 8am for the 8:30 start. This year I lined up closer to the start line. I figured if everything I did last year was wrong, then the opposite would be right. right?
So the gun goes off and I get a movin'. During the first kilometer I look at my HRM several times and realize that i'm going too fast. Of course i think my GPS is just playing with me because I don't feel like I'm running at a 5:09 pace. Adrenaline. So I get freaked out a little, thinking that my GPS is going to mislead me to a poor result. So when it chimes that my first kilometer is done, I quickly do a time check and realize that my GPS isn't playing games with me and I really do need to "cool the jets" a little. Oh the games the mind can play with you at times.
Some people have asked what i think about during a run that far so here goes. I spend a lot of time watching my GPS, making sure i stay on pace. As each kilometer goes by (they have signs), I'm doing the math as to how much further I have to go, at least until the halfway point and then i start counting down the kilometers remaining. At 4k, i think "ok i'm almost 1/10th finished". at 5k i'm almost 1/8th done. 10k is a nice one, almost a quarter of the way done. and so on. once i get to 21k, i think "yes, halfway". i'm also planning out where i run on the road, trying to keep on the smoothest section without swerving all over the place and wasting energy. a lot of my thought on this one was spent on whether or not the IT band was going to start giving me trouble. I also spent a bit of time listening to water splash around in my stomach. lol yes, i don't carry an mp3 player with me. I also try concentrating on catching the runner in front of me. that's constantly going on. but you have to be careful not to go beyond your means to pass them and leave yourself with nothing left later on. sometimes you just want to stay with them if they're moving at your pace. I followed one guy for about 15k before he had to stop and pee. ah ha!! gotcha.
I had to pee shortly after I started, and I kept thinking "ok, when i get to the next cornfield, i'm going to stop and take a whiz" but each time i got to one, the urge wasn't quite enough to overcome the will to keep going. as i went further and further, the urge went away. lol since i didn't carry water, i stopped at every aid station for either water or gatorade, it depended on my mood at the time which one i chose but i went with water more than gatorade. i popped my first ibuprofen at 19k and popped another one at around 30k. i had 3 or 4 GU energy gels during the race mostly during the second half.
Last year, i started having bad right knee pain at around 20k so that was always on my mind. when i passed that point this year, there was the tiniest sigh of relief inside me. After that point, I remember recognizing spots along the route where i walked last year. Not this year, the knee is holding up. The weather is cooperating to. the temp never goes above 16C and the wind not too bad. At 30k, it dawned on me that the knee is going to hold up. That was emotional for me. I'm going to finish this AND i'm going to kill it. only 12k to go! 11k! 10k! 9k! at that point i'm counting down the minutes that are left. I get back on the main street in Wolfville and cars are honking at me!! 2k to go, only 11 minutes of running to go!! The marshalls point me to the track to run my last 200 meters on the track. oh how nice the soft track feels on my battered feet!
DONE!
I stop my HRM and Stacey runs into my arms. Ahhh! I jokingly apologized to her, i said "i got here as quick as i could, sorry!" I get my medal and grab a bottle of water. I quickly take the time to update my facebook status with my time:
3:51:46!!!!
I was hoping for 3:55.
I killed it.
I stood there for a few more minutes, just absorbing it. Savoring it. then i got hungry and needed to fill my face. So i did. lol lots of chocolate milk, yogurt, cookies, OJ, bananas, anything i could get my hands on.
This year I tried something different as well. I had my smartphone on my arm, set to vibrate. Before i left for the valley in the am, i made a request on facebook for people to send me messages during my run. That phone started buzzing around 9:30 am and kept going quite often for the rest of the way. It helped a lot, I'd usually smile when it would buzz, it felt good to know you're being thought of when you're suffering. Those of you who buzzed me know who you are and thank you. You helped me keep going.
This will be the last time for me on the Valley Harvest course and likely any marathon in NS. I've made my point and its time to move on to flatter/faster courses. I'm thinking Ottawa in spring might be nice.
onward and upward
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Workout Finished!!!
At 7:08pm this evening, my Garmin forerunner played its little song and displayed the message "workout finished". Little did it know how much weight those two words and cheesy little song carry at that moment. It signifies the end of all my training since May 22nd (the day after the Bluenose Marathon) but it means much more. It signifies 915k of running. It signifies 630k of cycling. It signifies over 77000 calories burnt. It signifies running in rain so heavy that I had to share a track with ducks. It signifies running in weather so hot and humid that I was visualizing dark spots in my vision. It signifies the first time I had to quit a training run due to heat. It signifies ice packs on sore knees, feet and hips. It signifies bloody, raw, chafed nipples. It signifies the days that I didn't want to go out and run, but I did anyway. It signifies a blue toenail that has never really healed all summer. It signifies my moodiness during times when I was simply exhausted (my apologies to Stacey, family and friends). It signifies carrying bottles of gatorade and water around with me. It signifies my first sub 4 minute kilometer training run. Most of all, it signifies the end.
This Sunday, I get my second chance at the Valley Harvest marathon. As most of you already know, my first shot at the Valley Harvest last year was a lesson in failure and humiliation. I felt good going into that race last year only to be spanked into tears by an IT band injury and an unexpected temperature of 26C. I finished with a 5:22 time. ouch. I learned the hard way that you can't throw together 5 or 6 long runs in September with a few tempo runs thrown in and not pay the price for a lack of preparation. I hired my coach the week after last years fiasco.
Will this year be any different? Well I know the weather will be cooler. I didn't sign up until Monday, once I saw the long range forecast was looking good. Am I prepared for this one? Definately. Will my IT band hold up this year? I hope so, I still have a suspicion that the crown in the road may have contributed to my injury last year. That will be confirmed within the first 2 hours this year.
I my coach and I have discussed a goal time for Sunday. I know what I'll be happy with. I want the first number to be a "3", not a "5". But for now, I'm going to enjoy the next two days immensely and not concern myself with Sunday at all. I'll be to busy humming a cheesy little Garmin Forerunner "workout finished" song in my head.
Onward and Upward
This Sunday, I get my second chance at the Valley Harvest marathon. As most of you already know, my first shot at the Valley Harvest last year was a lesson in failure and humiliation. I felt good going into that race last year only to be spanked into tears by an IT band injury and an unexpected temperature of 26C. I finished with a 5:22 time. ouch. I learned the hard way that you can't throw together 5 or 6 long runs in September with a few tempo runs thrown in and not pay the price for a lack of preparation. I hired my coach the week after last years fiasco.
Will this year be any different? Well I know the weather will be cooler. I didn't sign up until Monday, once I saw the long range forecast was looking good. Am I prepared for this one? Definately. Will my IT band hold up this year? I hope so, I still have a suspicion that the crown in the road may have contributed to my injury last year. That will be confirmed within the first 2 hours this year.
I my coach and I have discussed a goal time for Sunday. I know what I'll be happy with. I want the first number to be a "3", not a "5". But for now, I'm going to enjoy the next two days immensely and not concern myself with Sunday at all. I'll be to busy humming a cheesy little Garmin Forerunner "workout finished" song in my head.
Onward and Upward
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
July's gone!
Well here it is August already and I've missed a complete month without a blog entry. July was a busy month. On July 4th we went out to ALberta for our vacation. What a trip we had, we spent a total of 18 days out there. 4 in Edmonton, 12 in Canmore and 2 in Jasper. We set a new personal best for the highest summit reached by hiking Mt Fairview at Lake Louise. That summit is 9001 ft above sea level, almost 1000 ft higher than we've been before. We climbed Ha Ling (8000 ft) twice, Mt Lady MacDonald (8000 ft), hiked the Plain of the Six Glaciers, hiked Grassi Lakes, hiked to Parker Ridge, hiked the Sulphur Skyline trail and Mt Edith cavell meadows trail in Jasper. At first I was maintaining my running schedule but after the first week, the hiking, heat and running were taking their toll. I was exhausted and not enjoying myself at all. I had to decide what I wanted to do more while I was out there, hike or run. I can run here so I stopped running. Easy decision.
Its getting harder and harder to return here from the mountains. Whether its New Hampshire's White Mountains or the Rockies, we both feel at home there and not here anymore.
Stacey and I attended the Paul Plakas Canmore fitness weekend again this year. This is a four day event that has two mountain hikes followed by a bootcamp style workout on the last day. We had an awesome time, getting re-acquainted with friends made last year and making some great new friends as well.
During one of my days in Edmonton i had the opportunity to work with Kevin Masters at Aerobic Power. I had my run gain analyzed on video as well as my strength and flexibility tested. Lets just say I wasn't happy with my results. I still heelstrike somewhat, though not as bad as I used to and i'm both inflexible and feeble. lol Fortunately, Kevin gave me lots of insight as well as exercises to improve my strength and flexibility so I drive harder off of the back leg instead of just swinging it forward. Now I have something to do at work besides sitting on my hands. lol
Something I've noticed after this vacation ended was that my recovery is much faster vs last year. Slowly but surely, I'm becoming fitter. My core is still weak though.
So last week was my first full week of getting back into the "swing of things" as far as running goes. Distance-wise it was a 60k week with highlights of a 14k Tuesday, 11k Thursday and a 24k on Sunday with a couple of 5k recovery runs sprinkled in. Everything went well with the runs with the exception of the 24k run. At around the 11k point, I noticed that I was having some pain on top of my left foot. This is the same pain that kept me from running for most of last summer. It went away after a couple of kilometers so I didn't think much about it...until later. That evening, I was having a lot of pain in my foot, especially if I bent my foot upwards in any way. On Monday the pain had eased enough that I could ride the bike home from work with no issues. A little research online told me I may have an inflamed tendon on top of my foot, possibly caused by tightening my laces too much.
On Monday I decided that I was full of piss and vinegar enough to ride to and from work on Tuesday and run the same evening. So my day consisted of a 25k ride to work, a 4k ride at lunchtime (I had a craving for a cinnamon roll), a 15k ride to Bedford after work, followed by a 17k run that evening. Lets just say that the rides went fine but the run was tough. I got a bug in my eye at around 12k and tried to rub it out with my hand. big mistake when you've been sweating a lot (yup, it was hot outside as well). the salt buildup on my hand really caused my eye to burn. ye-oooowwwwwch. i had also forgotten to apply my body glide so i was getting some chafing issues later in the run. I ran the 17k in 1:40:59, which I was happy with, maintained my negative half splits to but it was one of my worst feeling runs yet. I was whipped when I got home and my legs are still mad at me today. plus the foot is still sore despite me deliberately keeping the laces loose on that foot. did I do too much on one day? Possibly but i'd rather go slightly beyond my capabilities and pay for it with sore muscles than to underachieve and not feel a thing. Pain, and by that I mean sore muscles, means progress.
Start runners rant.
Of all the places I've cycled and ran here in the HRM, I gotta say that the most dangerous spot I have to deal with is the entrance to the Tim Hortons on Beaverbank road here in Sackville. Every time I run past there, some tool almost runs me down. It never fails. I don't know if they're hopped up on or craving that crap but for some reason I'm never noticed there and it pisses me off. One of these times I'm going to run right up and over someone's car there.
End runners rant.
Onward and upward folks.
Its getting harder and harder to return here from the mountains. Whether its New Hampshire's White Mountains or the Rockies, we both feel at home there and not here anymore.
Stacey and I attended the Paul Plakas Canmore fitness weekend again this year. This is a four day event that has two mountain hikes followed by a bootcamp style workout on the last day. We had an awesome time, getting re-acquainted with friends made last year and making some great new friends as well.
During one of my days in Edmonton i had the opportunity to work with Kevin Masters at Aerobic Power. I had my run gain analyzed on video as well as my strength and flexibility tested. Lets just say I wasn't happy with my results. I still heelstrike somewhat, though not as bad as I used to and i'm both inflexible and feeble. lol Fortunately, Kevin gave me lots of insight as well as exercises to improve my strength and flexibility so I drive harder off of the back leg instead of just swinging it forward. Now I have something to do at work besides sitting on my hands. lol
Something I've noticed after this vacation ended was that my recovery is much faster vs last year. Slowly but surely, I'm becoming fitter. My core is still weak though.
So last week was my first full week of getting back into the "swing of things" as far as running goes. Distance-wise it was a 60k week with highlights of a 14k Tuesday, 11k Thursday and a 24k on Sunday with a couple of 5k recovery runs sprinkled in. Everything went well with the runs with the exception of the 24k run. At around the 11k point, I noticed that I was having some pain on top of my left foot. This is the same pain that kept me from running for most of last summer. It went away after a couple of kilometers so I didn't think much about it...until later. That evening, I was having a lot of pain in my foot, especially if I bent my foot upwards in any way. On Monday the pain had eased enough that I could ride the bike home from work with no issues. A little research online told me I may have an inflamed tendon on top of my foot, possibly caused by tightening my laces too much.
On Monday I decided that I was full of piss and vinegar enough to ride to and from work on Tuesday and run the same evening. So my day consisted of a 25k ride to work, a 4k ride at lunchtime (I had a craving for a cinnamon roll), a 15k ride to Bedford after work, followed by a 17k run that evening. Lets just say that the rides went fine but the run was tough. I got a bug in my eye at around 12k and tried to rub it out with my hand. big mistake when you've been sweating a lot (yup, it was hot outside as well). the salt buildup on my hand really caused my eye to burn. ye-oooowwwwwch. i had also forgotten to apply my body glide so i was getting some chafing issues later in the run. I ran the 17k in 1:40:59, which I was happy with, maintained my negative half splits to but it was one of my worst feeling runs yet. I was whipped when I got home and my legs are still mad at me today. plus the foot is still sore despite me deliberately keeping the laces loose on that foot. did I do too much on one day? Possibly but i'd rather go slightly beyond my capabilities and pay for it with sore muscles than to underachieve and not feel a thing. Pain, and by that I mean sore muscles, means progress.
Start runners rant.
Of all the places I've cycled and ran here in the HRM, I gotta say that the most dangerous spot I have to deal with is the entrance to the Tim Hortons on Beaverbank road here in Sackville. Every time I run past there, some tool almost runs me down. It never fails. I don't know if they're hopped up on or craving that crap but for some reason I'm never noticed there and it pisses me off. One of these times I'm going to run right up and over someone's car there.
End runners rant.
Onward and upward folks.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Holy freaking hot!!
Ok, I admit it. I hate running in hot weather. I'd rather run in snow, rain, sleet, ice pellets, hail, tornados, hurricanes, bone chilling cold, you name it I would prefer it to heat. And that was exactly why I decided to run my long run during the hottest part of the day yesterday. Guess what? I still hate it.
As I sat at home yesterday morning, watching the thermometer keep creeping up...up...up. I began to wonder why I didn't start earlier so I could finish before it got too hot. I didn't. Stacey suggested the same thing to me several times and I basically shrugged the suggestion off. If I have an idea in my head that I'm going to do something, you may as well let me do it because there's no amount of persuasion or even logic thats going to make me change my mind. I can be stupid that way sometimes. Looking back, yesterday was one of those days.
The plan was to do my long run, a 23k run at a pretty slow pace. I felt like I had properly prepared for this run, i put two half filled bottles of gatorade in the freezer overnight and topped them up with the remainder of the gatorade before I left the house. I planned to just do short loops around the neighbourhood so I was never too far from home. Also in the plans was a short stop around the halfway point to grab the second bottle of frozen/liquid gatorade combo bottle. And most importantly, I had no pace expectations at all. All I wanted to do was just finish the run upright.
I left the house at around 11:45am. I had my gatorade mix in my lap belt and I also carried a bottle of water as well. The plain water was for wetting my head. The temp was 30C with a "feel like" temperature of 35C. Not a friggin cloud in the sky and very little wind. Wonderful.
It took me about 18 minutes to realize this may have been a bad idea. My sunglasses wouldn't stay on my face because of the sweat on my ears. So I had to keep pushing them on my face every few steps. Eventually, I got pissed off and took them off. At some places there would be the faintest of breezes which would feel sooooo nice but mostly it felt like running in an oven. I could feel the heat of the pavement through the soles of my sneakers. Despite the heat I was keeping a respectable pace. I would have liked to be slightly faster but that wasn't going to happen today. After an hour and twenty minutes of this self induced torture, I arrived back at the house for a pit stop. This stop included getting more water, more gatorade, scarfing down an orange and strawberries and running cold water over my head to get my temp back down. It worked and I headed back out for the last 11k.
Again, I felt good for maybe another 10 or 15 minutes before the heat would knock the stuffing back out of me. I would run from shady spot to shady spot, resting for a few seconds and drinking gatorade as well as pouring some water in my hat to cool the old noggin off. The last 3 k were kind of fuzzy, I do remember walking up the hills, I was out of gas and I could feel my heartbeat in my head. My face felt like I was sitting with it too close to the woodstove, it was just searing. In the distance you could see some thunderclouds trying to form and I'm thinking "oh please, oh please give me a thundershower" but they never provide any relief. I'm pretty sure I saw vultures circling above me at some point but maybe I was just hallucinating. lol There's nothing quite as welcoming as seeing your house after you have just beat yourself to a mental and physical pulp for two and a half hours.
As soon as I got in the house, I made a beeline to the shower where I used the hand-held sprayer and gave my melting head a 10 minute cold shower. Bliss!!! That brought my temp down so I could go to the kitchen to eat, I was starving! I finished the orange and scarfed down a handful of strawberries before heading for a cold shower. The rest of my day was spent flaked out in front of the tv, mostly asleep.
I'm still feeling a little tired as I type this the following day but I don't have any muscle soreness. That is the only benefit to running in the heat, it seems easier on the joints than running in cold weather.
My neighbour said to me "wow, that must be some kind of runners high for you to be out chasing it in weather like this". I replied "nope, on a day like this, the runners high comes when you hit the cold shower after the run". lol This run was exactly what I expected...torture. self induced torture. will I do it again??
probably. Will I do it again soon? Hopefully not, but next week is another week. Looking back on it now, I should have started earlier in the morning but still finished when the temp was in the 30's. In other words, I should have listened to Stacey.
Onward and upward
PS
Training distances this week:
Running - 55k
Cycling 98k
As I sat at home yesterday morning, watching the thermometer keep creeping up...up...up. I began to wonder why I didn't start earlier so I could finish before it got too hot. I didn't. Stacey suggested the same thing to me several times and I basically shrugged the suggestion off. If I have an idea in my head that I'm going to do something, you may as well let me do it because there's no amount of persuasion or even logic thats going to make me change my mind. I can be stupid that way sometimes. Looking back, yesterday was one of those days.
The plan was to do my long run, a 23k run at a pretty slow pace. I felt like I had properly prepared for this run, i put two half filled bottles of gatorade in the freezer overnight and topped them up with the remainder of the gatorade before I left the house. I planned to just do short loops around the neighbourhood so I was never too far from home. Also in the plans was a short stop around the halfway point to grab the second bottle of frozen/liquid gatorade combo bottle. And most importantly, I had no pace expectations at all. All I wanted to do was just finish the run upright.
I left the house at around 11:45am. I had my gatorade mix in my lap belt and I also carried a bottle of water as well. The plain water was for wetting my head. The temp was 30C with a "feel like" temperature of 35C. Not a friggin cloud in the sky and very little wind. Wonderful.
It took me about 18 minutes to realize this may have been a bad idea. My sunglasses wouldn't stay on my face because of the sweat on my ears. So I had to keep pushing them on my face every few steps. Eventually, I got pissed off and took them off. At some places there would be the faintest of breezes which would feel sooooo nice but mostly it felt like running in an oven. I could feel the heat of the pavement through the soles of my sneakers. Despite the heat I was keeping a respectable pace. I would have liked to be slightly faster but that wasn't going to happen today. After an hour and twenty minutes of this self induced torture, I arrived back at the house for a pit stop. This stop included getting more water, more gatorade, scarfing down an orange and strawberries and running cold water over my head to get my temp back down. It worked and I headed back out for the last 11k.
Again, I felt good for maybe another 10 or 15 minutes before the heat would knock the stuffing back out of me. I would run from shady spot to shady spot, resting for a few seconds and drinking gatorade as well as pouring some water in my hat to cool the old noggin off. The last 3 k were kind of fuzzy, I do remember walking up the hills, I was out of gas and I could feel my heartbeat in my head. My face felt like I was sitting with it too close to the woodstove, it was just searing. In the distance you could see some thunderclouds trying to form and I'm thinking "oh please, oh please give me a thundershower" but they never provide any relief. I'm pretty sure I saw vultures circling above me at some point but maybe I was just hallucinating. lol There's nothing quite as welcoming as seeing your house after you have just beat yourself to a mental and physical pulp for two and a half hours.
As soon as I got in the house, I made a beeline to the shower where I used the hand-held sprayer and gave my melting head a 10 minute cold shower. Bliss!!! That brought my temp down so I could go to the kitchen to eat, I was starving! I finished the orange and scarfed down a handful of strawberries before heading for a cold shower. The rest of my day was spent flaked out in front of the tv, mostly asleep.
I'm still feeling a little tired as I type this the following day but I don't have any muscle soreness. That is the only benefit to running in the heat, it seems easier on the joints than running in cold weather.
My neighbour said to me "wow, that must be some kind of runners high for you to be out chasing it in weather like this". I replied "nope, on a day like this, the runners high comes when you hit the cold shower after the run". lol This run was exactly what I expected...torture. self induced torture. will I do it again??
probably. Will I do it again soon? Hopefully not, but next week is another week. Looking back on it now, I should have started earlier in the morning but still finished when the temp was in the 30's. In other words, I should have listened to Stacey.
Onward and upward
PS
Training distances this week:
Running - 55k
Cycling 98k
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Week 1. Feeling Great
Well I just finished my 21k long run a few hours ago and I can now sit back and enjoy the next day off, unless I plan on cycling tomorrow. As of right now, I'm going to leave the horses in the stable tomorrow.
This was my first full week of marathon training and it felt awesome!! That extended period of recovery after the Bluenose left me feeling refreshed and anxious to get running again.
This week I cycled to work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a total of 136km. I'm going to try to cycle to work on the days that I don't run, which will provide a good low-impact form of cross training to work the muscles that the running doesn't. Plus, I really enjoy cycling to work. It takes me almost the same time as it normally would when I ride the bus and I get to work feeling more awake and alive before my job beats me down to a mindless pulp for the day but thats another blog. lol
Tuesday and Thursdays runs were 12k and 11k, respectively, with the speedwork on the track on Thursday. Friday was a short recovery run followed by my long run of 21k today.
I'm really pleased that of all of my runs this week, today was the only day I ran with a traditional running shoe on. For every other run I either went with my Vibram Five Finger Bikilas or my New Balance Minimus trail runners. Todays run in the Kinveras felt like I was running on clouds compared to the other runs. Not good but I'm not ready to run 21k with the minimalist shoes just yet. Yet being the operative word there. I will continue to run every run except for my long Sunday run in the minimalist shoes.
I was looking forward to todays long run all week and I found that this morning I was really restless. It was like the horses were just itching to get out for a long run. The plan today was to break the 21k into 3 separate paces, getting faster for each section. the first 7k at 6:20 per km. the next 7k at 6:00 per km and the last 7k at 5:40 per km (my marathon pace). This works out to a predicted time of 2:06 for the whole thing. I finished the run in 2:05:10, very close to what I predicted. For the humidity today, i was very happy with that time. The last 2k I could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs quite a bit, especially on the hills. I got home feeling hot, tired and great. My smartphone's music app was pissing me off somewhat during this run. It was skipping on a lot of my favorite running songs, but I managed to ignore this and keep plodding along. Last year, I didn't run this distance until some time in August or early September so I'm way ahead of my training for the Valley Harvest, PEI or Moncton marathon this fall (yes, I know I haven't totally made my mind up yet and I likely won't until October lol).
Next week's distance is 55k, a 10% increase in distance. The week after that gets interesting, we're going to Alberta for our vacation and I have to find a way to keep the running going to the tune of 60k, 66k and 70k weeks. Running in Canmore should be interesting as well, being over 4000 ft in elevation, means that I'll be getting less oxygen than what I'm used to running here in Sackville (300ft in elevation). Obviously, that'll mean a slower pace for sure. Can't wait.
Great, now its time to kick the feet up and enjoy a well earned rest.
Onward and upward!
This was my first full week of marathon training and it felt awesome!! That extended period of recovery after the Bluenose left me feeling refreshed and anxious to get running again.
This week I cycled to work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a total of 136km. I'm going to try to cycle to work on the days that I don't run, which will provide a good low-impact form of cross training to work the muscles that the running doesn't. Plus, I really enjoy cycling to work. It takes me almost the same time as it normally would when I ride the bus and I get to work feeling more awake and alive before my job beats me down to a mindless pulp for the day but thats another blog. lol
Tuesday and Thursdays runs were 12k and 11k, respectively, with the speedwork on the track on Thursday. Friday was a short recovery run followed by my long run of 21k today.
I'm really pleased that of all of my runs this week, today was the only day I ran with a traditional running shoe on. For every other run I either went with my Vibram Five Finger Bikilas or my New Balance Minimus trail runners. Todays run in the Kinveras felt like I was running on clouds compared to the other runs. Not good but I'm not ready to run 21k with the minimalist shoes just yet. Yet being the operative word there. I will continue to run every run except for my long Sunday run in the minimalist shoes.
I was looking forward to todays long run all week and I found that this morning I was really restless. It was like the horses were just itching to get out for a long run. The plan today was to break the 21k into 3 separate paces, getting faster for each section. the first 7k at 6:20 per km. the next 7k at 6:00 per km and the last 7k at 5:40 per km (my marathon pace). This works out to a predicted time of 2:06 for the whole thing. I finished the run in 2:05:10, very close to what I predicted. For the humidity today, i was very happy with that time. The last 2k I could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs quite a bit, especially on the hills. I got home feeling hot, tired and great. My smartphone's music app was pissing me off somewhat during this run. It was skipping on a lot of my favorite running songs, but I managed to ignore this and keep plodding along. Last year, I didn't run this distance until some time in August or early September so I'm way ahead of my training for the Valley Harvest, PEI or Moncton marathon this fall (yes, I know I haven't totally made my mind up yet and I likely won't until October lol).
Next week's distance is 55k, a 10% increase in distance. The week after that gets interesting, we're going to Alberta for our vacation and I have to find a way to keep the running going to the tune of 60k, 66k and 70k weeks. Running in Canmore should be interesting as well, being over 4000 ft in elevation, means that I'll be getting less oxygen than what I'm used to running here in Sackville (300ft in elevation). Obviously, that'll mean a slower pace for sure. Can't wait.
Great, now its time to kick the feet up and enjoy a well earned rest.
Onward and upward!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Recovery done!! Back to work!
Well after almost a month of short runs (6-10k), the real work begins again this week. There's been a couple of nice things about this recovery period. First and foremost, I needed the time off to rest. I didn't think I did when I started this recovery phase but looking back at it now, I was tired and sore. Now I feel refreshed and all ready to beat the crap outta myself again for the next 14 weeks. Second of all, I got a great opportunity to get back to running in my minimalist shoes. I think almost all of my runs since the Bluenose have been in my Vibram Bikilas or my New Balance Minimus trail runners. Now that my feet and stride have adapted somewhat to the minimal way, I'll continue wearing them on as many runs as I can, except for my long runs on Sunday. For those I'll stick with my Kinveras.
Now that the mornings are light and warmer, I've started incorporating cycling into the training as well. I commuted to work (26k) 4 days last week and drove back to Bedford one day as well for a weekly total of 120k over 5 rides. I hope to continue with the cycling because I love it and its a great way to get some cross training in. Plus I save money in bus tickets. lol
So this week begins the fall marathon training program. This weeks total distance will be 50k, 21k of which will be my long run on Sunday. This may sound crazy but I'm actually looking forward to the long run this weekend. After so many shorter runs that actually feel like warm ups, it'll feel good to get out and just run for a couple of hours. Great therapy. Of course by the time October rolls around I'll be looking forward to just being able to run some shorter runs again. lol. From now until October 7th, I'll be running at least a half marathon every Sunday. The goal for this training session is to get my marathon pace from 5:50 a km down in the 4:40 a km range. I've been told this may not be realistic but I'm going to shoot for it and lets see what happens this fall. I'd rather set my goals too high and miss than to set them too low and hit them.
So I'll be updating this again on a weekly basis, usually on Sunday evenings when I can look back and reflect on all the happenings on the week. I hope that anyone reading this will find them somewhat informative, humorous and motivating.
Onward and upward.
Now that the mornings are light and warmer, I've started incorporating cycling into the training as well. I commuted to work (26k) 4 days last week and drove back to Bedford one day as well for a weekly total of 120k over 5 rides. I hope to continue with the cycling because I love it and its a great way to get some cross training in. Plus I save money in bus tickets. lol
So this week begins the fall marathon training program. This weeks total distance will be 50k, 21k of which will be my long run on Sunday. This may sound crazy but I'm actually looking forward to the long run this weekend. After so many shorter runs that actually feel like warm ups, it'll feel good to get out and just run for a couple of hours. Great therapy. Of course by the time October rolls around I'll be looking forward to just being able to run some shorter runs again. lol. From now until October 7th, I'll be running at least a half marathon every Sunday. The goal for this training session is to get my marathon pace from 5:50 a km down in the 4:40 a km range. I've been told this may not be realistic but I'm going to shoot for it and lets see what happens this fall. I'd rather set my goals too high and miss than to set them too low and hit them.
So I'll be updating this again on a weekly basis, usually on Sunday evenings when I can look back and reflect on all the happenings on the week. I hope that anyone reading this will find them somewhat informative, humorous and motivating.
Onward and upward.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
18k for the week? really?
Well I just got home from my last run of this week, a very nice 7k run around Point Pleasant Park. It was supposed to be only 6k, but I got lost. Not a bad place to get lost though and no matter which way you go, you're always going to find your way back to where you started. I didn't go with my Vibram Bikilas for this run, opting instead for my New Balance Minimus trail runners.
This was recovery week number two. I had three runs scheduled totalling only 18k for all of them. Up until 3 weeks ago, 18k was a short, Sunday run. It feels nice to be doing these short runs though, especially when I know whats starting later this month.
Tuesdays run was a nice and easy 5k at about a 6 minute/km pace. Nothing too taxing. I wore my Saucony Kinveras for this run, the first time I've worn a traditional pair of running shoes since the Bluenose. Thursdays run was a little longer, 6k in total with a 3k section that I ran at a 5:30 min/km pace (aka marathon pace). I wore my Vibram Bikilas for this one since it was on a nice, soft track here in Sackville.
Last week in my blog I was still wondering what to do this fall. During the week the answer became clear to me. I have to run the Valley harvest marathon again. I need retribution for 2011 and I will get it. I'll put an attempt on qualifying for Boston on hold until 2013, unless I make a huge improvement this summer and run a 3:25 or faster in the Valley. The only way I won't run it is if Stacey decides to run her first half marathon there and wants me to pace her. If that happens, I'll run the PEI marathon the following week. The PEI marathon is also a Boston qualifier.
Now that I have a plan for the fall, I rehired my coach to come up with a new program to reflect my goals. And yep, he didn't disappoint. Starting the 3rd week of June, I'll be running 5 days a week with only Fridays and Mondays off and I intend to cross train on the Fridays. My longest weekly mileage will be 74km which is almost 10k more than the Bluenose training schedule. Lets hope these old legs hold up for the summer. lol This will also be the first summer where I will be running while we're on vacation as well, both in Alberta in July and in New Hampshire in September.
I'm also running the Navy 10k run in August as well. I've never run a 10k race before, only 5k's and marathons so this should be different for sure. I'm looking forward to it.
This week is another recovery week, with 3 runs totalling 21k planned. Yawn.
onward and upward.
This was recovery week number two. I had three runs scheduled totalling only 18k for all of them. Up until 3 weeks ago, 18k was a short, Sunday run. It feels nice to be doing these short runs though, especially when I know whats starting later this month.
Tuesdays run was a nice and easy 5k at about a 6 minute/km pace. Nothing too taxing. I wore my Saucony Kinveras for this run, the first time I've worn a traditional pair of running shoes since the Bluenose. Thursdays run was a little longer, 6k in total with a 3k section that I ran at a 5:30 min/km pace (aka marathon pace). I wore my Vibram Bikilas for this one since it was on a nice, soft track here in Sackville.
Last week in my blog I was still wondering what to do this fall. During the week the answer became clear to me. I have to run the Valley harvest marathon again. I need retribution for 2011 and I will get it. I'll put an attempt on qualifying for Boston on hold until 2013, unless I make a huge improvement this summer and run a 3:25 or faster in the Valley. The only way I won't run it is if Stacey decides to run her first half marathon there and wants me to pace her. If that happens, I'll run the PEI marathon the following week. The PEI marathon is also a Boston qualifier.
Now that I have a plan for the fall, I rehired my coach to come up with a new program to reflect my goals. And yep, he didn't disappoint. Starting the 3rd week of June, I'll be running 5 days a week with only Fridays and Mondays off and I intend to cross train on the Fridays. My longest weekly mileage will be 74km which is almost 10k more than the Bluenose training schedule. Lets hope these old legs hold up for the summer. lol This will also be the first summer where I will be running while we're on vacation as well, both in Alberta in July and in New Hampshire in September.
I'm also running the Navy 10k run in August as well. I've never run a 10k race before, only 5k's and marathons so this should be different for sure. I'm looking forward to it.
This week is another recovery week, with 3 runs totalling 21k planned. Yawn.
onward and upward.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Ok, what next???
Well, at this time last week I had finished the Bluenose and we were on our way home. I found out after the race was over that my grandfather had passed away so its been a difficult week.
My legs stopped hurting on Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon I was running again. This time just an easy 4k on the track, this time with no heart rate monitor or mp3 player. Just my vibram five fingers, shorts and a t shirt. That felt great.
Looking back at my 2011 Bluenose, I wasn't able to start running again until sometime in June and even then, I only ran 3 times in June and July. Not so this year. What a difference a year and over 1000 km worth of training runs make.
The question was asked of me, "ok whats next?" And honestly, I don't have an answer for myself or anyone else at the moment. I expected to be injured again so I never made any plans. I suppose my short term plans (next two weeks) are to just get back into some easy, short runs. I do plan to run the Navy 10k in August and probably a couple of 5k runs in June and July.
As for what I'm running this fall, I'm not sure yet. I have to make up my mind before July so I can get back into a training schedule but as of right now, I'm torn.
I'd like to run the Valley harvest again, just to "exercise the demons" so to speak but I would also like to attempt to qualify for Boston. To qualify to run in Boston in 2014, i'd have to run a marathon in 3:25, a lot faster than my 4:06 Bluenose time. There are 3 fall races in the area that are Boston qualifier races, Moncton, PEI and the Valley harvest. The problem is that these courses do not look to be "fast", ie flat or slightly downhill. In order for me to have a shot at qualifying, I have to a) train like a bastard and b) have every possible condition working in my favor at a race (cool temps, flat course, tailwind). I don't think I have a realistic shot at qualifying at any of the local marathons, too hilly. So what do I do? Exact my revenge on the Valley harvest or attempt to qualify for Boston? arrrrrrrgh! More soul seeking is required.
Sorry I don't have more to report on. Hopefully I'll have more news next week on my weekly running and if I've come closer to a marathon decision.
Onward and upward.
My legs stopped hurting on Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon I was running again. This time just an easy 4k on the track, this time with no heart rate monitor or mp3 player. Just my vibram five fingers, shorts and a t shirt. That felt great.
Looking back at my 2011 Bluenose, I wasn't able to start running again until sometime in June and even then, I only ran 3 times in June and July. Not so this year. What a difference a year and over 1000 km worth of training runs make.
The question was asked of me, "ok whats next?" And honestly, I don't have an answer for myself or anyone else at the moment. I expected to be injured again so I never made any plans. I suppose my short term plans (next two weeks) are to just get back into some easy, short runs. I do plan to run the Navy 10k in August and probably a couple of 5k runs in June and July.
As for what I'm running this fall, I'm not sure yet. I have to make up my mind before July so I can get back into a training schedule but as of right now, I'm torn.
I'd like to run the Valley harvest again, just to "exercise the demons" so to speak but I would also like to attempt to qualify for Boston. To qualify to run in Boston in 2014, i'd have to run a marathon in 3:25, a lot faster than my 4:06 Bluenose time. There are 3 fall races in the area that are Boston qualifier races, Moncton, PEI and the Valley harvest. The problem is that these courses do not look to be "fast", ie flat or slightly downhill. In order for me to have a shot at qualifying, I have to a) train like a bastard and b) have every possible condition working in my favor at a race (cool temps, flat course, tailwind). I don't think I have a realistic shot at qualifying at any of the local marathons, too hilly. So what do I do? Exact my revenge on the Valley harvest or attempt to qualify for Boston? arrrrrrrgh! More soul seeking is required.
Sorry I don't have more to report on. Hopefully I'll have more news next week on my weekly running and if I've come closer to a marathon decision.
Onward and upward.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Bluenose!!!
Well here I am, 24 hrs after the Bluenose marathon, my legs are beginning to forgive me for yesterday. I learned a lot about myself yesterday and in that process of learning, have discovered more questions that need answering.
My day started at 4am. I got up and started eating. I started with leftover pasta from the night before. I followed that up with 2 bagels with peanut butter. I washed this down with 700ml of gatorade. There, that should have topped up the glycogen stores to last me for the first third of the race. I made sure all eating and drinking was stopped 2 hrs prior to the starting gun.
We left the house at 6:15, making sure to get there early to find a parking spot. I figured with almost 10000 runners arriving for the different races that it may be difficult to find a spot. we had no trouble finding parking.
My worst nightmare pretty much came true for this run and I saw it coming all week in the form of warm temperatures. Anyone who has read my earlier blog entries may remember the meltdown I had back in October at the Valley harvest. I was nervous all week and every forecast just made it worse.
As per my previous plan, I lined up at the back of all the runners and once the gun went off, walked slowly to the start line before breaking into my run. People were looking at me like "uhhh, don't you know you should be running now?" lol At 8am it was already 14C. Not good, not good at all.
Before I had even run 1k, I already had stopped at the first water station. I wasn't thirsty, I just wasn't going to take any chances.
Most of the first half was pretty uneventful, I was cheered on by a friend who showed up at 5 or 6 different places. It helped to keep it interesting because i never knew when she was going to appear again. I get back to the MacDonald bridge (about 18k) to find myself embedded in a pile of slow 10k runners. Just wonderful, they're hogging a water station that I need and I doubt that they do.
I'm fortunate to be carrying a 700ml bottle of gatorade with me for just such an occasion.
I cross the halfway point at around 2:01, very close but above where i wanted to be at this point and with the temp at 20C I was beginning to think that a faster second half wasn't going to be in the cards today. Instead of letting that get me down, I decided to say "f**k it" lets just see how I can do despite the conditions. The heat was really getting to me in the 24-29k range as the distances between the water/gatorade stations was slightly further than earlier. Or maybe it just seemed like they were further apart because of my suffering. Even though the heat was uncomfortable, my knee wasn't giving me any problems! This was a good sign.
I remember thinking at the 29k sign, "oh wonderful, only 13k to go" and I wasn't being sarcastic this time. At just past the station around the 32k sign is where I got sick to my stomach for the first time, I'm not sure if i had drank too much or what but I had to walk for a minute or less to keep from puking, I had to do this two more times during the remainder of the run. If i walked for a brief period of time, the feeling went away, another good sign. Once I got to Young avenue, there was a station set up by someone providing orange slices. OMG! Heaven! I grabbed 2 slices and gobbled them down, looking forward to passing by this station again once I get out of point pleasant park. When you've been eating nothing but gels, gatorade and water for 35+km, a slice of something real is a real treat.
As each kilometer marking sign passed after the 35k one, I KNEW I was going to finish this and finish strong (if finishing slower than the first half can be considered "strong" but I do). At around the 39k mark, I noticed that one of my right toes had become numb. It just didn't feel right. At that point, it doesn't really matter, you just keep going. What I was doing at water stations now was i was taking a glass of water to drink and another to soak my hat with. That felt good. At the last station (41k) I just poured it over my head. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Cool.
At noon I heard the cannon on Citadel Hill go off, telling me that my sub 4 hr marathon was officially out of reach but i was very close. I didn't really care, I knew that I was in the process of setting a PB (personal best) marathon time for myself. Just before I finished I glanced to my right and saw my Mom and step dad, cheering me on like crazy. I think I smiled back at them, I'm not sure, everything was kinda fuzzy at that point. lol I crossed the line at 12:06pm, 6 minutes behind my predicted finish. I finished 42.2k in 4:06:04!!! Stacey found me right away and held me up, I was pretty wobbily. I started drinking chocolate milk right away!
Once I got in the Metro centre, I continued to walk and just eat practically anything I got my hands on. Milk, juice, bananas, yogurt, bagels... etc.. you get the idea. It doesn't take long to start feeling better once you start stuffing some food back in you. Now onto my numb toe. It wasn't as bad as I thought, just a blister on the end of my toe and slightly underneath the toenail. No black toenails, sorry to say.
So in one 4 hr run, I have erased any doubts about my ability to a) run in heat and b) run without injury issues. Any ghosts of the Valley Harvest Marathon have been put to rest. I was so scared that my IT band was going to start hurting again at the halfway point. Nope, not a peep from it. I didn't even experience "the wall" this time. Sure the last 10k were tough but I never thought "I can't do this", like I have before. The questions raised by this run are: what next? I'm kind of drawing a blank as to what to do next. There's a tiny, crazy voice in my head that was whispering "Boston" in my head before this run. It's louder now. I'm going to enjoy my week off from running and then decide whether to listen to it or not, its a good voice this time but one that would mean a pile of work.
some stats from yesterday
42.2k in 4:06:04
3200 calories burnt
42800 steps taken
average heart rate 175, max 197.
onward and upward.
My day started at 4am. I got up and started eating. I started with leftover pasta from the night before. I followed that up with 2 bagels with peanut butter. I washed this down with 700ml of gatorade. There, that should have topped up the glycogen stores to last me for the first third of the race. I made sure all eating and drinking was stopped 2 hrs prior to the starting gun.
We left the house at 6:15, making sure to get there early to find a parking spot. I figured with almost 10000 runners arriving for the different races that it may be difficult to find a spot. we had no trouble finding parking.
My worst nightmare pretty much came true for this run and I saw it coming all week in the form of warm temperatures. Anyone who has read my earlier blog entries may remember the meltdown I had back in October at the Valley harvest. I was nervous all week and every forecast just made it worse.
As per my previous plan, I lined up at the back of all the runners and once the gun went off, walked slowly to the start line before breaking into my run. People were looking at me like "uhhh, don't you know you should be running now?" lol At 8am it was already 14C. Not good, not good at all.
Before I had even run 1k, I already had stopped at the first water station. I wasn't thirsty, I just wasn't going to take any chances.
Most of the first half was pretty uneventful, I was cheered on by a friend who showed up at 5 or 6 different places. It helped to keep it interesting because i never knew when she was going to appear again. I get back to the MacDonald bridge (about 18k) to find myself embedded in a pile of slow 10k runners. Just wonderful, they're hogging a water station that I need and I doubt that they do.
I'm fortunate to be carrying a 700ml bottle of gatorade with me for just such an occasion.
I cross the halfway point at around 2:01, very close but above where i wanted to be at this point and with the temp at 20C I was beginning to think that a faster second half wasn't going to be in the cards today. Instead of letting that get me down, I decided to say "f**k it" lets just see how I can do despite the conditions. The heat was really getting to me in the 24-29k range as the distances between the water/gatorade stations was slightly further than earlier. Or maybe it just seemed like they were further apart because of my suffering. Even though the heat was uncomfortable, my knee wasn't giving me any problems! This was a good sign.
I remember thinking at the 29k sign, "oh wonderful, only 13k to go" and I wasn't being sarcastic this time. At just past the station around the 32k sign is where I got sick to my stomach for the first time, I'm not sure if i had drank too much or what but I had to walk for a minute or less to keep from puking, I had to do this two more times during the remainder of the run. If i walked for a brief period of time, the feeling went away, another good sign. Once I got to Young avenue, there was a station set up by someone providing orange slices. OMG! Heaven! I grabbed 2 slices and gobbled them down, looking forward to passing by this station again once I get out of point pleasant park. When you've been eating nothing but gels, gatorade and water for 35+km, a slice of something real is a real treat.
As each kilometer marking sign passed after the 35k one, I KNEW I was going to finish this and finish strong (if finishing slower than the first half can be considered "strong" but I do). At around the 39k mark, I noticed that one of my right toes had become numb. It just didn't feel right. At that point, it doesn't really matter, you just keep going. What I was doing at water stations now was i was taking a glass of water to drink and another to soak my hat with. That felt good. At the last station (41k) I just poured it over my head. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Cool.
At noon I heard the cannon on Citadel Hill go off, telling me that my sub 4 hr marathon was officially out of reach but i was very close. I didn't really care, I knew that I was in the process of setting a PB (personal best) marathon time for myself. Just before I finished I glanced to my right and saw my Mom and step dad, cheering me on like crazy. I think I smiled back at them, I'm not sure, everything was kinda fuzzy at that point. lol I crossed the line at 12:06pm, 6 minutes behind my predicted finish. I finished 42.2k in 4:06:04!!! Stacey found me right away and held me up, I was pretty wobbily. I started drinking chocolate milk right away!
Once I got in the Metro centre, I continued to walk and just eat practically anything I got my hands on. Milk, juice, bananas, yogurt, bagels... etc.. you get the idea. It doesn't take long to start feeling better once you start stuffing some food back in you. Now onto my numb toe. It wasn't as bad as I thought, just a blister on the end of my toe and slightly underneath the toenail. No black toenails, sorry to say.
So in one 4 hr run, I have erased any doubts about my ability to a) run in heat and b) run without injury issues. Any ghosts of the Valley Harvest Marathon have been put to rest. I was so scared that my IT band was going to start hurting again at the halfway point. Nope, not a peep from it. I didn't even experience "the wall" this time. Sure the last 10k were tough but I never thought "I can't do this", like I have before. The questions raised by this run are: what next? I'm kind of drawing a blank as to what to do next. There's a tiny, crazy voice in my head that was whispering "Boston" in my head before this run. It's louder now. I'm going to enjoy my week off from running and then decide whether to listen to it or not, its a good voice this time but one that would mean a pile of work.
some stats from yesterday
42.2k in 4:06:04
3200 calories burnt
42800 steps taken
average heart rate 175, max 197.
onward and upward.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Last Long Run
Well it's Sunday morning and normally I should be planning out my long run. I decided a few days ago to move things up by a day to free up my Sunday.
My total mileage this week was 40k, down 24 from my max a couple of weeks ago. Half of my mileage was the long run yesterday, accounting for half of my weekly mileage.
This time I decided to go to Halifax and run the 2nd half of the Bluenose route, well almost all of it minus 1k. My coach told me to run 20k, thats what I did. haha! The reasoning behind all the runs on the Bluenose route is that a) to build confidence and b) i read somewhere that you run faster on routes that you're familiar with. It was a perfect morning for a run, sunny and about 9C when I started at 8:30 am. Unlike last week, I did not run at MP ( marathon pace) for any of this run. I got my hand slapped for doing it last week and I had no intentions of doing it again. lol
I gotta say that it's so nice to see a lot of runners out in the city and especially Point Pleasant Park on such a nice day. That doesn't happen very often where I normally run. You'd be lucky to see one other runner out on a run. Sad to say but Sackville must be home to a lot of lazy people. Or maybe running is just not their thing.
At around the 7k mark of my run, a lady passed me, saying "hello" as she went by. As I watched her slowly distance herself from me, it was obvious that she was doing the same run as me. I checked the ego at the door and let her go. This isn't a race, right??? Anyhow, at 10k I picked up my pace a little to give me the negative half splits (finishing the 2nd half of a run faster than the 1st) I was aiming for. At around the 13k mark, I noticed I was gaining on someone familiar. lol I caught her just before Serpentine Hill in Point Pleasant Park, saying "hello" as I passed her this time. If you're reading this, I'm sorry you started too fast. lol
The rest of the run went without a hitch, no joint pain, just a little muscle soreness. I got back to the car in 2:01, spent about 10 minutes walking and then stretching, got changed in the car (no small feat in a tiny car) then proceeded to get a cupcake for myself and Stacey at FRED. After that I went home, mowed the lawn and followed it all up with an epsom salts bath.
Other than 3 runs this week totaling 18k, all my long training runs are finished. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I'm happy to have made it this far but also a little sad that all the training is ending. I know that with such short runs this week, I'm probably going to go stir crazy. I'm also excited for the Bluenose marathon next week! I remember last year I was scared shitless. Not so this year, I just want this week to get over already so I can get out there and erase my last marathon result (the Valley Harvest 5:22 meltdown). My goal time this year is under 4 hrs which would be 48 minutes faster than my 2011 Bluenose results but if I can finish without any injuries, I'll be happy with that to. My strategy is to start near the back of the group and see how many I can pick off over during the run. No 1 minute walk breaks this year, just walk long enough at the water/gatorade stations so i don't spill the stuff all over me. And definately no walking to talk someone through their "wall" this year, its a race and I have no intentions of holding someone's hand to help them, thats up to them to deal with, just like I had to back in October.
This will be my last entry until after next weeks race. If you're around the town clock in Halifax next Sunday between 11:45am and 12pm. Stop by at the finish line and say "hello". Barring any unforeseen incidents, this will be when I'm crossing the line.
Onward and upward!!
My total mileage this week was 40k, down 24 from my max a couple of weeks ago. Half of my mileage was the long run yesterday, accounting for half of my weekly mileage.
This time I decided to go to Halifax and run the 2nd half of the Bluenose route, well almost all of it minus 1k. My coach told me to run 20k, thats what I did. haha! The reasoning behind all the runs on the Bluenose route is that a) to build confidence and b) i read somewhere that you run faster on routes that you're familiar with. It was a perfect morning for a run, sunny and about 9C when I started at 8:30 am. Unlike last week, I did not run at MP ( marathon pace) for any of this run. I got my hand slapped for doing it last week and I had no intentions of doing it again. lol
I gotta say that it's so nice to see a lot of runners out in the city and especially Point Pleasant Park on such a nice day. That doesn't happen very often where I normally run. You'd be lucky to see one other runner out on a run. Sad to say but Sackville must be home to a lot of lazy people. Or maybe running is just not their thing.
At around the 7k mark of my run, a lady passed me, saying "hello" as she went by. As I watched her slowly distance herself from me, it was obvious that she was doing the same run as me. I checked the ego at the door and let her go. This isn't a race, right??? Anyhow, at 10k I picked up my pace a little to give me the negative half splits (finishing the 2nd half of a run faster than the 1st) I was aiming for. At around the 13k mark, I noticed I was gaining on someone familiar. lol I caught her just before Serpentine Hill in Point Pleasant Park, saying "hello" as I passed her this time. If you're reading this, I'm sorry you started too fast. lol
The rest of the run went without a hitch, no joint pain, just a little muscle soreness. I got back to the car in 2:01, spent about 10 minutes walking and then stretching, got changed in the car (no small feat in a tiny car) then proceeded to get a cupcake for myself and Stacey at FRED. After that I went home, mowed the lawn and followed it all up with an epsom salts bath.
Other than 3 runs this week totaling 18k, all my long training runs are finished. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I'm happy to have made it this far but also a little sad that all the training is ending. I know that with such short runs this week, I'm probably going to go stir crazy. I'm also excited for the Bluenose marathon next week! I remember last year I was scared shitless. Not so this year, I just want this week to get over already so I can get out there and erase my last marathon result (the Valley Harvest 5:22 meltdown). My goal time this year is under 4 hrs which would be 48 minutes faster than my 2011 Bluenose results but if I can finish without any injuries, I'll be happy with that to. My strategy is to start near the back of the group and see how many I can pick off over during the run. No 1 minute walk breaks this year, just walk long enough at the water/gatorade stations so i don't spill the stuff all over me. And definately no walking to talk someone through their "wall" this year, its a race and I have no intentions of holding someone's hand to help them, thats up to them to deal with, just like I had to back in October.
This will be my last entry until after next weeks race. If you're around the town clock in Halifax next Sunday between 11:45am and 12pm. Stop by at the finish line and say "hello". Barring any unforeseen incidents, this will be when I'm crossing the line.
Onward and upward!!
Monday, May 7, 2012
673km down, 59 km to go!!
Ok so this week I'll start tapering. Honestly. I will. No really. I promise!
If you want to nitpick about last week and how it should have been a tapering week, I will say that I did stick with my given mileage. I was just off a bit on the intensity of my sunday 24k run. Instead of running a pace range of 5:44 min/km to 6:21 min/km, I ran it at marathon pace, or 5:32 min/km. There was a method to my madness. Even though I was doing the distances I should have, there was still that lingering thought about whether or not I could run my marathon pace on the first half of the Bluenose course. I had run the first half several times before during training and the best I could do was around 2:18. I had run my marathon pace before as well but never on a course as hill as what the Bluenose has to offer so on Sunday I decided to put that last shred of self doubt to rest once and for all.
It was partly sunny and warm for running, about 16C so I was also going to get to push it during weather I'm not 100% comfortable running in. Thats the problem with running outside all winter/spring, you never really get to run in warm weather. So I take off at the clock at Citadel Hill around 1pm. I'm cruising pretty good, wondering if I can maintain this pace for the whole 24k. I slow down to get over the bridge and up Nantucket Ave. That's ok though as I speed up on the downhill portions to make up the difference. I make it to Shubie Park and I'm still averaging a 5:28 pace! I slow down a little in Shubie park but this time I didn't get lost. I exit the park still on pace.
On to Maple Street, a tough, never ending uphill. By the time I get to the top I'm really sucking air but my overall pace is still in the range I want it. I start smiling at this point (18k), I know I'm going to break 2hrs for a half marathon but don't know by how much. To be honest, I didn't care. I get back to where I started (21km point) in 1:55! Holy shit, I did it. I finish the whole 24k run in 2:15, 4 minutes faster than my previous best 21k time!!! I felt great. All doubt has been erased and this week I can really relax and enjoy the taper. I only have to run 20k this weekend so the plan is to run the 2nd half of the Bluenose route but at a slow pace. I promise I will behave and do it at a 6:00 pace. Honestly!
Last Wednesday I had my first theraputic massage. I knew it wasn't going to be overly relaxing and yup, it wasn't. The therapist worked on just the legs. It wasn't so bad on the quads, glutes and hamstrings but when she worked on the calves and feet, holy crap did it hurt. After I left it felt like someone beat me with a baseball bat. lol Ok, another tip I didn't know, a hot epsom salt bath after any kind of muscle abuse seems to work pretty good in cutting down on the amount of pain you'll feel the next day. I had one after the massage and even though the legs were still a little sore the next day, I still felt like I could have run if needed. I also had one after my long run yesterday and I feel good today despite the thrashing I put the legs through. I'm heading back for another massage session today and have one more scheduled for next monday, just to work out the kinks and help relax.
673 km down, 59 to go!!! Less than 2 weeks to the Bluenose!
onward and upward
I hope I don't go stir crazy with the further drop in mileage this week.
If you want to nitpick about last week and how it should have been a tapering week, I will say that I did stick with my given mileage. I was just off a bit on the intensity of my sunday 24k run. Instead of running a pace range of 5:44 min/km to 6:21 min/km, I ran it at marathon pace, or 5:32 min/km. There was a method to my madness. Even though I was doing the distances I should have, there was still that lingering thought about whether or not I could run my marathon pace on the first half of the Bluenose course. I had run the first half several times before during training and the best I could do was around 2:18. I had run my marathon pace before as well but never on a course as hill as what the Bluenose has to offer so on Sunday I decided to put that last shred of self doubt to rest once and for all.
It was partly sunny and warm for running, about 16C so I was also going to get to push it during weather I'm not 100% comfortable running in. Thats the problem with running outside all winter/spring, you never really get to run in warm weather. So I take off at the clock at Citadel Hill around 1pm. I'm cruising pretty good, wondering if I can maintain this pace for the whole 24k. I slow down to get over the bridge and up Nantucket Ave. That's ok though as I speed up on the downhill portions to make up the difference. I make it to Shubie Park and I'm still averaging a 5:28 pace! I slow down a little in Shubie park but this time I didn't get lost. I exit the park still on pace.
On to Maple Street, a tough, never ending uphill. By the time I get to the top I'm really sucking air but my overall pace is still in the range I want it. I start smiling at this point (18k), I know I'm going to break 2hrs for a half marathon but don't know by how much. To be honest, I didn't care. I get back to where I started (21km point) in 1:55! Holy shit, I did it. I finish the whole 24k run in 2:15, 4 minutes faster than my previous best 21k time!!! I felt great. All doubt has been erased and this week I can really relax and enjoy the taper. I only have to run 20k this weekend so the plan is to run the 2nd half of the Bluenose route but at a slow pace. I promise I will behave and do it at a 6:00 pace. Honestly!
Last Wednesday I had my first theraputic massage. I knew it wasn't going to be overly relaxing and yup, it wasn't. The therapist worked on just the legs. It wasn't so bad on the quads, glutes and hamstrings but when she worked on the calves and feet, holy crap did it hurt. After I left it felt like someone beat me with a baseball bat. lol Ok, another tip I didn't know, a hot epsom salt bath after any kind of muscle abuse seems to work pretty good in cutting down on the amount of pain you'll feel the next day. I had one after the massage and even though the legs were still a little sore the next day, I still felt like I could have run if needed. I also had one after my long run yesterday and I feel good today despite the thrashing I put the legs through. I'm heading back for another massage session today and have one more scheduled for next monday, just to work out the kinks and help relax.
673 km down, 59 to go!!! Less than 2 weeks to the Bluenose!
onward and upward
I hope I don't go stir crazy with the further drop in mileage this week.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Tapering. Ohhhhhh snap!
Well its early Sunday morning and instead of filling my face in preparation of a long run, i'm relaxing with some sore legs instead. I'm not concerned though, its just muscle pain.
Its all good though because I ran my long run yesterday. I ran 11k Thursday, 6k Friday and 32k Saturday. Normally I would take Friday off but I felt good enough to run so I did, giving me the option of doing my long run either Saturday or Sunday.
During my last 2 runs I've been experimenting with eating a little more before the run than I would have before and I think its been working. Yesterday I had 2 bagels at 7am, a bowl of oatmeal at 9am and 6" sub at 10am. At 11am, I started my run. Yep, I know, sounds like a lot but when you're going to burn 2000+ calories over the next 3 hours it doesn't last long.
Unlike my long run last week, I never had that little voice telling me "you can't do this" in my head this time. During the 18k after my 12k warmup that i had to run at marathon pace (5:30/km - 5:40/km) I was actually smiling to myself thinking "holy crap, I'm doing it". Of course that was when I wasn't cursing the wind. I finished the 32k in 3:10:51 and I was so pleased with that result because on Friday I had taken the scenario for my best possible times for each section of the long run and added them up and come up with a time of 3:10. I didn't beat it but being only 51 seconds slower is close enough for me. I burnt 2078 calories and emptied 2 bottles of gatorade during the run.
My coach believes that a sub 4 hr Bluenose marathon is obtainable for me. For the first time, I believe him now.
I'm now at the point that all marathoners dream about, the tapering phase of training! That's the point where both the intensity of the runs and the total weekly distance run decline until race day. It feels awesome to be at this point and to have made it without injury after all the IT band crap I had to deal with from October to January. This week i only have to run 53k with a 24k long Sunday run, the week after is only 40k with a 20k long Sunday run.
The plan for my final 2 long runs is to go into Halifax and run a portion of the Bluenose to get a better feel for that hilly first half and to work on pacing. I feel if I can get the first half finished in 2 hrs or less, then I'm a lock to finish the second half faster because of the lack of hills. I'll also run without my mp3 player because i won't be wearing that for the Bluenose .
Three weeks from today and we'll be on our way to the race!! Can't wait! Now that the tough training is done, all I can hope for is that the weather will co-operate and give us all a perfect day to run, cloudy and 10C. Is that asking for too much?? How about 12C?
Oh crap, I almost forgot the most important thing. I'm losing one of my toenails, or at least a piece of it, a badge of honor among runners. Its the big toe on my left foot! The original damage occurred back in February when i was doing one of my long runs in shoes that were too small. For some time I've noticed a "spot" on that toenail. Not the whole thing but just the right side of the nail, where it was crammed into the shoe. Well yesterday the nail split on that side where the bruise was. YES! A war wound! Now I just hope it doesn't get caught up in my socks! lol
Onward and upward!
Its all good though because I ran my long run yesterday. I ran 11k Thursday, 6k Friday and 32k Saturday. Normally I would take Friday off but I felt good enough to run so I did, giving me the option of doing my long run either Saturday or Sunday.
During my last 2 runs I've been experimenting with eating a little more before the run than I would have before and I think its been working. Yesterday I had 2 bagels at 7am, a bowl of oatmeal at 9am and 6" sub at 10am. At 11am, I started my run. Yep, I know, sounds like a lot but when you're going to burn 2000+ calories over the next 3 hours it doesn't last long.
Unlike my long run last week, I never had that little voice telling me "you can't do this" in my head this time. During the 18k after my 12k warmup that i had to run at marathon pace (5:30/km - 5:40/km) I was actually smiling to myself thinking "holy crap, I'm doing it". Of course that was when I wasn't cursing the wind. I finished the 32k in 3:10:51 and I was so pleased with that result because on Friday I had taken the scenario for my best possible times for each section of the long run and added them up and come up with a time of 3:10. I didn't beat it but being only 51 seconds slower is close enough for me. I burnt 2078 calories and emptied 2 bottles of gatorade during the run.
My coach believes that a sub 4 hr Bluenose marathon is obtainable for me. For the first time, I believe him now.
I'm now at the point that all marathoners dream about, the tapering phase of training! That's the point where both the intensity of the runs and the total weekly distance run decline until race day. It feels awesome to be at this point and to have made it without injury after all the IT band crap I had to deal with from October to January. This week i only have to run 53k with a 24k long Sunday run, the week after is only 40k with a 20k long Sunday run.
The plan for my final 2 long runs is to go into Halifax and run a portion of the Bluenose to get a better feel for that hilly first half and to work on pacing. I feel if I can get the first half finished in 2 hrs or less, then I'm a lock to finish the second half faster because of the lack of hills. I'll also run without my mp3 player because i won't be wearing that for the Bluenose .
Three weeks from today and we'll be on our way to the race!! Can't wait! Now that the tough training is done, all I can hope for is that the weather will co-operate and give us all a perfect day to run, cloudy and 10C. Is that asking for too much?? How about 12C?
Oh crap, I almost forgot the most important thing. I'm losing one of my toenails, or at least a piece of it, a badge of honor among runners. Its the big toe on my left foot! The original damage occurred back in February when i was doing one of my long runs in shoes that were too small. For some time I've noticed a "spot" on that toenail. Not the whole thing but just the right side of the nail, where it was crammed into the shoe. Well yesterday the nail split on that side where the bruise was. YES! A war wound! Now I just hope it doesn't get caught up in my socks! lol
Onward and upward!
Monday, April 23, 2012
64k week and the little voice
After my 34k run yesterday, I'm still sore. Not as bad as I would have been last year but I definately know my legs aren't very happy with me.
One more big week of mileage and the tapering for the Bluenose begins. I'm excited. This was the first week of implementing the new paces my coach gave to me. He based them on my 5k time from the Lung Run last week.
Tuesday was a blazing (well it was fast for me) 15k run at a 5:44 min/km pace. I beat my best 15k time by almost 15 minutes. I didn't think i could pull off that pace but after starting out fast, I thought to myself "gee this feels pretty comfortable, lets see how it turns out." surprise, surprise it turned out pretty good.
Wednesday I biked to work (25k) and back to Bedford in the afternoon (15k).
Thursday was my workout run, on the track after a 4k warmup. I maintained a 4:35 pace for the tougher part of the workout. Again, I was pretty pleased.
I moved my recovery run to Friday just in case the forecast made me move my long run from Sunday to Saturday. Nothing major to report here, it is what it is, a slow run of 5k. Sometimes I feel like the extra day of rest before my long run allows my legs to feel a little fresher.
I decided to start moving the start times for my long runs to the mornings instead of around 12:30 or 1pm so this was the first week for that. Got up at 6:30 and stuffed my face with 2 large bagels, 2 glasses of water. I waited another hour or so and ate again, this time a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of OJ. There was about 1000 calories of fuel, good enough for at least an hour and a half of running. the rest will be fuelled by gatorade and a gel. I've never run 34k in a training run before so I was a bit nervous, especially since I was expected to run it faster than before.
My course was to run 8.5 km away from the house and back and then do that over again, basically creating 2 x 17km loops. once back at the house at the halfway point I could quickly grab another bottle of gatorade. So the first half goes by pretty good, no major pains. I didn't take my mp3 player for the first half because i thought that having headphones on for that long would get hard on the ears. I finished the first 17k in 1:46, not as fast as I would have liked it to be but still faster than last weeks long run. The extra breakfast (bagels) didn't come back to haunt me, which is good as they gave me extra energy. After a quick bathroom break, I grabbed my mp3 player, a new bottle of premixed gatorade and headed back for the next 17k. This one seemed to be going well until my Garmin forerunner buzzed me at the 21k mark (half marathon distance). It buzzes my arm every 1k, showing my pace for that 1k. I quickly checked my time after 21k and it read 2:10! For some reason, I was hoping to crack 2 hrs at this point. It was now that my mind started playing games with me. I started thinking "f**k, I'm no faster than I was last year, there's no point even bothering to run the Bluenose again if i do it in the same time" as well as "might as well quit if you're this slow". This was at 21k and I've got another 13k to go!!! wtf am I gonna do now if I'm having a meltdown at this stupid point.
This kind of mental BS continued for the next 5 minutes or so. It got to the point where I come to a quick stop, closed my eyes, took some deep breaths and tried to refocus. I thought "forget about the time, just run you idiot." so this idiot ran. This idiot ran the second 17k a total of 3 minutes faster than the first, which is good. You always should try to run negative half splits, meaning the second half should be faster than your first. I'm glad I only had to run 34k today as it seemed my legs were getting pretty rubbery for the last kilometer (being uphill certainly didn't help matters, lol). The weather was warm and humid for running, which explained why i had no trouble drinking 2 bottles of gatorade. Normally I don't drink half that much for a long run. My overall pace was 6:10, i took almost 37000 steps and burned 2131 calories!
Like I said earlier, this week is a 62k week, 32 of which will be next sunday's long run. the last one before the tapering starts. less than a month to go to the Bluenose marathon.
onward and upward
PS: everyone has moments of self doubt. the question is, do you let those voices "win" or are you going to fight back? I could have packed it in at 21k and went home but that's not what I'm about anymore.
One more big week of mileage and the tapering for the Bluenose begins. I'm excited. This was the first week of implementing the new paces my coach gave to me. He based them on my 5k time from the Lung Run last week.
Tuesday was a blazing (well it was fast for me) 15k run at a 5:44 min/km pace. I beat my best 15k time by almost 15 minutes. I didn't think i could pull off that pace but after starting out fast, I thought to myself "gee this feels pretty comfortable, lets see how it turns out." surprise, surprise it turned out pretty good.
Wednesday I biked to work (25k) and back to Bedford in the afternoon (15k).
Thursday was my workout run, on the track after a 4k warmup. I maintained a 4:35 pace for the tougher part of the workout. Again, I was pretty pleased.
I moved my recovery run to Friday just in case the forecast made me move my long run from Sunday to Saturday. Nothing major to report here, it is what it is, a slow run of 5k. Sometimes I feel like the extra day of rest before my long run allows my legs to feel a little fresher.
I decided to start moving the start times for my long runs to the mornings instead of around 12:30 or 1pm so this was the first week for that. Got up at 6:30 and stuffed my face with 2 large bagels, 2 glasses of water. I waited another hour or so and ate again, this time a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of OJ. There was about 1000 calories of fuel, good enough for at least an hour and a half of running. the rest will be fuelled by gatorade and a gel. I've never run 34k in a training run before so I was a bit nervous, especially since I was expected to run it faster than before.
My course was to run 8.5 km away from the house and back and then do that over again, basically creating 2 x 17km loops. once back at the house at the halfway point I could quickly grab another bottle of gatorade. So the first half goes by pretty good, no major pains. I didn't take my mp3 player for the first half because i thought that having headphones on for that long would get hard on the ears. I finished the first 17k in 1:46, not as fast as I would have liked it to be but still faster than last weeks long run. The extra breakfast (bagels) didn't come back to haunt me, which is good as they gave me extra energy. After a quick bathroom break, I grabbed my mp3 player, a new bottle of premixed gatorade and headed back for the next 17k. This one seemed to be going well until my Garmin forerunner buzzed me at the 21k mark (half marathon distance). It buzzes my arm every 1k, showing my pace for that 1k. I quickly checked my time after 21k and it read 2:10! For some reason, I was hoping to crack 2 hrs at this point. It was now that my mind started playing games with me. I started thinking "f**k, I'm no faster than I was last year, there's no point even bothering to run the Bluenose again if i do it in the same time" as well as "might as well quit if you're this slow". This was at 21k and I've got another 13k to go!!! wtf am I gonna do now if I'm having a meltdown at this stupid point.
This kind of mental BS continued for the next 5 minutes or so. It got to the point where I come to a quick stop, closed my eyes, took some deep breaths and tried to refocus. I thought "forget about the time, just run you idiot." so this idiot ran. This idiot ran the second 17k a total of 3 minutes faster than the first, which is good. You always should try to run negative half splits, meaning the second half should be faster than your first. I'm glad I only had to run 34k today as it seemed my legs were getting pretty rubbery for the last kilometer (being uphill certainly didn't help matters, lol). The weather was warm and humid for running, which explained why i had no trouble drinking 2 bottles of gatorade. Normally I don't drink half that much for a long run. My overall pace was 6:10, i took almost 37000 steps and burned 2131 calories!
Like I said earlier, this week is a 62k week, 32 of which will be next sunday's long run. the last one before the tapering starts. less than a month to go to the Bluenose marathon.
onward and upward
PS: everyone has moments of self doubt. the question is, do you let those voices "win" or are you going to fight back? I could have packed it in at 21k and went home but that's not what I'm about anymore.
Monday, April 16, 2012
2012 Lung Run and Inspiration
Ok, now I have a better idea of where my training is at.
Saturday was the 5k Lung Run in Halifax and I entered it to get a better idea of what kind of shape I'm in compared to running it last year. Stacey ran it as well and was rewarded by setting a personal best of 26:25 for the 5k distance.
This year we agreed that we would run our own separate races as we were both going after personal bests. The weather was almost perfect, sunny and about 13C but with a bit of a wind.
I ran my race to perfection, starting slow and then increasing my pace as the race went on. I finished in 23:24, almost 6 minutes faster than last year! I'm 100% thrilled with that result. I ran it as hard as I possibly could and left nothing
in the tank at the finish. I look back now and I don't think there was anything that I could have done to improve my time so I'm happy. I finished 137th out of 580 runners and 24th out of 62 runners in my age group. My average heart rate was 180 bpm and I hit a max of 198 bpm at the finish. I don't think I've ever had my HR so high during a run/race. 318 calories burnt in 23 minutes. whew! Of course I ate them all back after the run. lol
I had an odd bit of an incident in the last kilometer of the race though. I was overtaking another runner and approaching a corner when she must have heard me catching up and then pointed to the apex of the corner, as if to say "thats where i'm going." I've never seen someone do that at a race before so I let her have the line. It also pissed me off a bit so I figured "f**k you, I'll just take the long way around and pass you and do it with a little burst to demoralize you." Yes, I'm competitive even if its considered a fun run. When I race I race to finish as high as possible.
So I give my stats for the run to my coach, along with the rest of my run data for the week and he rewards my effort with revised paces to aim for. Its like "way to go and now you can go faster" lol He seems confident that a sub 4 hr Bluenose marathon result is possible for me. I have my doubts right now but the next two weeks of running at the new paces will tell the story. If i can make it without pain at the new paces, I'll be on board with his assessment. Right now my jury is still out on this.
The 2012 Boston marathon just finished and I plan to watch it later tonight and tomorrow. I feel sorry for those runners this year, running in 30C heat. I'd love to be there though and its been on my mind a lot recently. 2014??? possibly. I'll know more in just over a month.
When someone tells you that you've inspired them to make changes in their life, it's very humbling. Hearing that also motivates me to push harder on myself, its kinda like thinking "people are relying upon me to help them get going so I gotta get going to". They're feeding off of me and I'm feeding off the fact that they're feeding off of me. Does that even make sense?? Anyway, you know who you are and thank you.
This Sunday will be my toughest run, 34k at a pace thats 20 or 30 seconds per kilometer faster than what I've done before. Wish me luck.
onward and upward
PS: If you're at all serious about running I gotta recommend getting the Garmin Forerunner 410. This thing is unbelievable at making sure your pacing is spot on.
Saturday was the 5k Lung Run in Halifax and I entered it to get a better idea of what kind of shape I'm in compared to running it last year. Stacey ran it as well and was rewarded by setting a personal best of 26:25 for the 5k distance.
This year we agreed that we would run our own separate races as we were both going after personal bests. The weather was almost perfect, sunny and about 13C but with a bit of a wind.
I ran my race to perfection, starting slow and then increasing my pace as the race went on. I finished in 23:24, almost 6 minutes faster than last year! I'm 100% thrilled with that result. I ran it as hard as I possibly could and left nothing
in the tank at the finish. I look back now and I don't think there was anything that I could have done to improve my time so I'm happy. I finished 137th out of 580 runners and 24th out of 62 runners in my age group. My average heart rate was 180 bpm and I hit a max of 198 bpm at the finish. I don't think I've ever had my HR so high during a run/race. 318 calories burnt in 23 minutes. whew! Of course I ate them all back after the run. lol
I had an odd bit of an incident in the last kilometer of the race though. I was overtaking another runner and approaching a corner when she must have heard me catching up and then pointed to the apex of the corner, as if to say "thats where i'm going." I've never seen someone do that at a race before so I let her have the line. It also pissed me off a bit so I figured "f**k you, I'll just take the long way around and pass you and do it with a little burst to demoralize you." Yes, I'm competitive even if its considered a fun run. When I race I race to finish as high as possible.
So I give my stats for the run to my coach, along with the rest of my run data for the week and he rewards my effort with revised paces to aim for. Its like "way to go and now you can go faster" lol He seems confident that a sub 4 hr Bluenose marathon result is possible for me. I have my doubts right now but the next two weeks of running at the new paces will tell the story. If i can make it without pain at the new paces, I'll be on board with his assessment. Right now my jury is still out on this.
The 2012 Boston marathon just finished and I plan to watch it later tonight and tomorrow. I feel sorry for those runners this year, running in 30C heat. I'd love to be there though and its been on my mind a lot recently. 2014??? possibly. I'll know more in just over a month.
When someone tells you that you've inspired them to make changes in their life, it's very humbling. Hearing that also motivates me to push harder on myself, its kinda like thinking "people are relying upon me to help them get going so I gotta get going to". They're feeding off of me and I'm feeding off the fact that they're feeding off of me. Does that even make sense?? Anyway, you know who you are and thank you.
This Sunday will be my toughest run, 34k at a pace thats 20 or 30 seconds per kilometer faster than what I've done before. Wish me luck.
onward and upward
PS: If you're at all serious about running I gotta recommend getting the Garmin Forerunner 410. This thing is unbelievable at making sure your pacing is spot on.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
6 weeks to the Bluenose!
So I won't bore you with the sordid details of my training week. It tires me to think of it. lol
So another long running week has past. What can I say? I'm still reasonably healthy other than a little bit of creaking in one of my heels.
This week is a recovery week! I only have to run 53k for the week. yes, i said "only"
2 more long runs to go! 34k and 32k
Next Monday is the Boston marathon. I intend to watch it for motivation and a possible goal for 2014.
I couldn't do my long run on Sunday due to the surprise 10cm of snow we received so i did it yesterday. snow's gone now.
I've been running for 2 years now and have never felt the "runners high" that I've heard about. until yesterday.
During the second half of my long run, i ran at slightly faster than marathon pace and have never felt better. Everything was just "clicking" for me and i don't mean my joints were making loud noises again. I've realized that
a lot of my runs that I'm running at a slower pace that i'm not overly comfortable running. Yesterday I could have run further without any problem. Of course my legs feel it today but by tomorrow I'll be 100% again.
There are a lot of filthy animals out there and I wish they would clean up after their dogs. I'm getting tired of dodging dog shit everywhere. How hard is it to clean up after your dog???
this sunday is a 24k run. I'm hoping to run the Bluenose course again. By the time of the actual race, I shouldhave a pretty good idea of what to expect. I already know what to expect...pain. but i'll have a better idea of how to properly pace the first half, which is tough, so i can speed up for the second 21.1k. too slow, and i'll wind up finishing poorly. too fast and i'll have nothing left in the tank for the second half.
5 more weeks of training to go. Of those, 2 are tough.
Registered for the Lung Run this weekend. its a 5k run on a flat course. I'm curious as to how fast I can go over a relatively short distance. Last year, Stacey and I finished right around 29 minutes. This year we've agreed to run
separately. I'll wait for her at the finish line. I'm definately faster than last year. anyone want to predict what my time will be??
Tomorrow night, I go back for physio. Its more of just a follow up to the work I had done to my IT band in January.
I got a nice compliment from my Dental Hygenist last Wednesday night while she was torturing me. She told me that I looked like a runner now. Considering she's a Boston qualifier, I smiled and said "thank you". I had no idea she was not only a runner, but also fast enough to qualify for Boston. Too cool.
Its pretty much warm and light enough now to start commuting back and forth to work. That's 40k worth of cross training per day.
Cya next week.
Onward and upward.
So another long running week has past. What can I say? I'm still reasonably healthy other than a little bit of creaking in one of my heels.
This week is a recovery week! I only have to run 53k for the week. yes, i said "only"
2 more long runs to go! 34k and 32k
Next Monday is the Boston marathon. I intend to watch it for motivation and a possible goal for 2014.
I couldn't do my long run on Sunday due to the surprise 10cm of snow we received so i did it yesterday. snow's gone now.
I've been running for 2 years now and have never felt the "runners high" that I've heard about. until yesterday.
During the second half of my long run, i ran at slightly faster than marathon pace and have never felt better. Everything was just "clicking" for me and i don't mean my joints were making loud noises again. I've realized that
a lot of my runs that I'm running at a slower pace that i'm not overly comfortable running. Yesterday I could have run further without any problem. Of course my legs feel it today but by tomorrow I'll be 100% again.
There are a lot of filthy animals out there and I wish they would clean up after their dogs. I'm getting tired of dodging dog shit everywhere. How hard is it to clean up after your dog???
this sunday is a 24k run. I'm hoping to run the Bluenose course again. By the time of the actual race, I shouldhave a pretty good idea of what to expect. I already know what to expect...pain. but i'll have a better idea of how to properly pace the first half, which is tough, so i can speed up for the second 21.1k. too slow, and i'll wind up finishing poorly. too fast and i'll have nothing left in the tank for the second half.
5 more weeks of training to go. Of those, 2 are tough.
Registered for the Lung Run this weekend. its a 5k run on a flat course. I'm curious as to how fast I can go over a relatively short distance. Last year, Stacey and I finished right around 29 minutes. This year we've agreed to run
separately. I'll wait for her at the finish line. I'm definately faster than last year. anyone want to predict what my time will be??
Tomorrow night, I go back for physio. Its more of just a follow up to the work I had done to my IT band in January.
I got a nice compliment from my Dental Hygenist last Wednesday night while she was torturing me. She told me that I looked like a runner now. Considering she's a Boston qualifier, I smiled and said "thank you". I had no idea she was not only a runner, but also fast enough to qualify for Boston. Too cool.
Its pretty much warm and light enough now to start commuting back and forth to work. That's 40k worth of cross training per day.
Cya next week.
Onward and upward.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Random thoughts during a 32k run
Ok, so i was planning on going into a long description of my running for the past week but I've decided to skip it for a week and just type out some random running thoughts.
It feels very good to take your running shoes off after a 32k run. It feels almost as good as stopping. It's like my feet go "ahhhhhhhhh, free at last."
7 more long runs until the Bluenose marathon, 3 of these are of the long variety. 31,32 and 34k. The rest are easier, less than 25k. Funny how running 25k seems easier, when a month ago even that amount seems daunting.
4 more weeks until tapering begins.
Drivers' please keep an eye out for pedestrians in crosswalks, I'm running out of spit for your windshields.
In yesterdays 32k run, I burnt 2000 calories and took close to 40,000 steps.
Why is it that most non runners believe that running is hard on your knees? Studies have shown that running actually strenghtens the muscles and ligaments around your knee. What is hard on your knees is carrying around extra weight.
I've had many a conversation with people regarding running and knee injuries and they mostly boil down to this.
"so you're a runner"
"yup"
"you're going to ruin your knees doing it"
"i doubt it"
at this point I'll usually mention the studies proving otherwise
"well I couldn't run anyway, even if I wanted to"
"why's that?"
"i've got a bad knee"
"oh that's too bad, how did that happen"
"bad genetics, it runs in the family"
"oh"
it's usually at this point that I've already noticed that they're overweight and I'll
just let the running conversation die out. what i'm thinking is something different. Sometimes I'd like to say that i'd love to go back to sitting on my arse, watching tv and stuffing my face with ice cream, chips and chocolate but I've heard that its bad for the knee (not to mention everything else).
I never started running right off the bat when I was fat, it took a year to lose weight to the point where I even considered running. Doing so while being overweight would have likely meant a death sentence for my knees as well.
Its been 2 years since I've started running.
3 years, 4 months since the start of the lifestyle change (please don't call it a diet).
I'm not sure what the worst invention for our health has been, the tv or the automobile.
Another tough week coming up. 62k total, 31 of which will be this Sunday.
I feel fitter than last year at this time. My recoveries are much faster. Last year, my long runs were made upfrom the Running room program of running for 10 minutes and then walking for 1 minute. This year I'm doing it without the breaks while keeping the same pace and heart rate. That means a lower anerobic threshold and less lactic acid buildup. In simpler terms, I can run faster, for longer distances with less pain. All good!!
Maybe next week I'll get back to my normal blog, that depends on how much my mind wanders on the long run. lol
onward and upward
It feels very good to take your running shoes off after a 32k run. It feels almost as good as stopping. It's like my feet go "ahhhhhhhhh, free at last."
7 more long runs until the Bluenose marathon, 3 of these are of the long variety. 31,32 and 34k. The rest are easier, less than 25k. Funny how running 25k seems easier, when a month ago even that amount seems daunting.
4 more weeks until tapering begins.
Drivers' please keep an eye out for pedestrians in crosswalks, I'm running out of spit for your windshields.
In yesterdays 32k run, I burnt 2000 calories and took close to 40,000 steps.
Why is it that most non runners believe that running is hard on your knees? Studies have shown that running actually strenghtens the muscles and ligaments around your knee. What is hard on your knees is carrying around extra weight.
I've had many a conversation with people regarding running and knee injuries and they mostly boil down to this.
"so you're a runner"
"yup"
"you're going to ruin your knees doing it"
"i doubt it"
at this point I'll usually mention the studies proving otherwise
"well I couldn't run anyway, even if I wanted to"
"why's that?"
"i've got a bad knee"
"oh that's too bad, how did that happen"
"bad genetics, it runs in the family"
"oh"
it's usually at this point that I've already noticed that they're overweight and I'll
just let the running conversation die out. what i'm thinking is something different. Sometimes I'd like to say that i'd love to go back to sitting on my arse, watching tv and stuffing my face with ice cream, chips and chocolate but I've heard that its bad for the knee (not to mention everything else).
I never started running right off the bat when I was fat, it took a year to lose weight to the point where I even considered running. Doing so while being overweight would have likely meant a death sentence for my knees as well.
Its been 2 years since I've started running.
3 years, 4 months since the start of the lifestyle change (please don't call it a diet).
I'm not sure what the worst invention for our health has been, the tv or the automobile.
Another tough week coming up. 62k total, 31 of which will be this Sunday.
I feel fitter than last year at this time. My recoveries are much faster. Last year, my long runs were made upfrom the Running room program of running for 10 minutes and then walking for 1 minute. This year I'm doing it without the breaks while keeping the same pace and heart rate. That means a lower anerobic threshold and less lactic acid buildup. In simpler terms, I can run faster, for longer distances with less pain. All good!!
Maybe next week I'll get back to my normal blog, that depends on how much my mind wanders on the long run. lol
onward and upward
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Holy crap what a week!
I don't know if it was the weather or the fact that i took most of the week off of work that gave me so much energy but I felt like I could have run more than the 60k that I already did. Stacey couldn't run at all with me this week due to a bad chest cold/sinus infection. I'm hoping she gets better soon, I miss her when she's not beside me gasping. lol
Monday was my normal recovery day.
Tuesday, sunny and 18C. I ran 14k as soon as I got home from my last day at work for the week. I wanted to get it in before the firewood was to be delivered. Felt great and its so nice to be able to wear shorts, a t-shirt and no gloves again. I don't have a treadmill so I run in all weather so this was a real treat.
Wednesday, no run but I decided to get the bike out for a spin. Sunny and 23C today. I basically picked a direction and drove for 25k and then turned around and came back. 25k from our house on highway #1 takes you to the Pigot Lake sign, maybe 4km past Uniacke House. I stopped for a bite to eat (builder bar, a banana and gatorade) at the Uniacke House estate before getting back on and heading home. I did 50k in 2:15. I've never ridden that far before so the butt was a little sore. Next time I'll add 10k to the total and see how that works out.
Thursday, sunny and 28C!!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Today is my workout run, which usually included a warmup and then 5-6km of something to make me work harder than normal, then a 2k cooldown. The safe/smart thing to do would have been to do it in the evening or early in the morning. Nope, that's not my plan this year. After my spectacular meltdown in the valley harvest marathon's heat last year, I picked 1pm, the hottest part of the day for my run. I drank lots before I left and took a bottle of gatorade with me to the track. Yup, it was hot but i completed my workout without any incident. I also got to try out a new pair of shorts, a pair from Lululemon called "lighter than air" short. They exceed my expectations and I'll pick up another pair soon. Another 11k in the books.
Friday, sunny and cooler, only 12C. After waiting for a no-show plumber, I decide to do my 6k recovery run followed by 7 strides. Another great day and still my legs are feeling good despite so much work without a day off.
Saturday rolls around and I've decided to do my 29k run a day early. My legs are feeling good and loose so why not? Also, the idea of 2 straight days off seems somewhat appealing to me. Sunny, windy and 5C. Back to normal temps and kiss the shorts and t shirt idea goodbye. I decided to stick with just running around the area instead of the lengthy journey to halifax. Its easier to make pit stops for food/drink/bathroom if i stay closer to home. Completed the 29k in a little over 3 hrs, averaging around a 6:30 pace. Was I sore, yep but thats to be expected. I'm sore after every long run but its the speed that the soreness goes away this year vs last that I've noticed more than anything. After a 29k run last year, I would have been sore for days. Now the soreness dissipates usually by noon the following day and I'm good to go again. I just wasn't at this fitness level last year and it feels great. Again no IT band or hip issues though I am goind to make an appointment with physio for just a followup.
ok so the numbers this week look like this:
kilometers run: 61k
calories burnt: 3941
hrs logged: 6:40:41
on the bike:
kilometers: 50k
calories burnt: 1310
hrs logged: 2:15
next week....64k for the weekly total. it never ends.
onward and upward!
Monday was my normal recovery day.
Tuesday, sunny and 18C. I ran 14k as soon as I got home from my last day at work for the week. I wanted to get it in before the firewood was to be delivered. Felt great and its so nice to be able to wear shorts, a t-shirt and no gloves again. I don't have a treadmill so I run in all weather so this was a real treat.
Wednesday, no run but I decided to get the bike out for a spin. Sunny and 23C today. I basically picked a direction and drove for 25k and then turned around and came back. 25k from our house on highway #1 takes you to the Pigot Lake sign, maybe 4km past Uniacke House. I stopped for a bite to eat (builder bar, a banana and gatorade) at the Uniacke House estate before getting back on and heading home. I did 50k in 2:15. I've never ridden that far before so the butt was a little sore. Next time I'll add 10k to the total and see how that works out.
Thursday, sunny and 28C!!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaat? Today is my workout run, which usually included a warmup and then 5-6km of something to make me work harder than normal, then a 2k cooldown. The safe/smart thing to do would have been to do it in the evening or early in the morning. Nope, that's not my plan this year. After my spectacular meltdown in the valley harvest marathon's heat last year, I picked 1pm, the hottest part of the day for my run. I drank lots before I left and took a bottle of gatorade with me to the track. Yup, it was hot but i completed my workout without any incident. I also got to try out a new pair of shorts, a pair from Lululemon called "lighter than air" short. They exceed my expectations and I'll pick up another pair soon. Another 11k in the books.
Friday, sunny and cooler, only 12C. After waiting for a no-show plumber, I decide to do my 6k recovery run followed by 7 strides. Another great day and still my legs are feeling good despite so much work without a day off.
Saturday rolls around and I've decided to do my 29k run a day early. My legs are feeling good and loose so why not? Also, the idea of 2 straight days off seems somewhat appealing to me. Sunny, windy and 5C. Back to normal temps and kiss the shorts and t shirt idea goodbye. I decided to stick with just running around the area instead of the lengthy journey to halifax. Its easier to make pit stops for food/drink/bathroom if i stay closer to home. Completed the 29k in a little over 3 hrs, averaging around a 6:30 pace. Was I sore, yep but thats to be expected. I'm sore after every long run but its the speed that the soreness goes away this year vs last that I've noticed more than anything. After a 29k run last year, I would have been sore for days. Now the soreness dissipates usually by noon the following day and I'm good to go again. I just wasn't at this fitness level last year and it feels great. Again no IT band or hip issues though I am goind to make an appointment with physio for just a followup.
ok so the numbers this week look like this:
kilometers run: 61k
calories burnt: 3941
hrs logged: 6:40:41
on the bike:
kilometers: 50k
calories burnt: 1310
hrs logged: 2:15
next week....64k for the weekly total. it never ends.
onward and upward!
Monday, March 19, 2012
50k week
After a 28k run last Sunday, I was looking forward to the coming week. I would get to back off my total mileage by 10k to recover from the abuse I put it through the previous week. I've had another great week of weather for running, who needs a treadmill anyway!
On Tuesday I ran 11k at an easy pace, 6:36 minutes per kilometer. Again, Stacey ran the 11k with me. Wednesday was a night off for me so I did a light workout from one of Bob Harper's dvd's. hey, i know its not much but for someone who does not enjoy workouts, its a start.
Thursday night was a 9k run but more of a technical run because of the Fartlek intervals after a 3k warmup. Stacey ran 5k of this sorta with me. She started with me but we were running at different paces so she kinda lost me when i would slow down to a slow jog.
Friday, another easy day.
On Saturday we headed over to the track to do a little light running. Well it was light running for me but not my better half. She was doing intervals while I was running 5k with 6 strides. It was sunny and warm and I finally got to wear my Vibram Five Fingers for the whole run without any issues or pain. These shoes have to be slowly added to your total mileage, or you'll wind up with leg pain or an injury. Next week, I may be bold enough to run a couple of laps on this track in bare feet. Hopefully it'll be warm enough to.
Now, on to my long run. This week its a 25k run, but none of it at marathon pace, unlike last week. I just wasn't feeling this run at all. I felt like I was fighting it the whole way. It was sunny and warm, and I think I may have overdressed for it because by the 10k point, I was uncomfortably hot. I don't think i properly prepared for it mealwise and fluidwise as well. I was trying out a new armband for my smartphone and the friggin' headphone cord kept getting wrapped around my water bottle, keeping me from swinging my left arm forward. The only positive I got from this run was knowing that I can eat a Clif Builders bar and a couple of boxes of raisins while still running. Usually, i stick with a couple of gel packs but I was nice to have a small meal while running. I kept a pretty good pace throughout it but I felt I was struggling the whole time. I was having negative thoughts about how my time this year wasn't going to be any better than last year. Again the question of "why are you doing this?" popped up. Sorry, still no answer for that. It was just the kind of run that I have to learn to forget about so thats what i'm going to do after I finish typing. Stacey met me at the 22k point and ran the last 3k with me. My music of choice for the run was Staind and The Fray. Next week I'll go with something a little different than Staind, maybe a little more upbeat and cheerful would help. lol
My weekly totals
mileage : 53.38km
hrs logged: 5:49:41
total calories burnt: 3152
Onward and upward
PS: This week I hope to get some time in on the bike with our warm weather. I'm aiming for a 50k ride Wednesday. stay tuned.
On Tuesday I ran 11k at an easy pace, 6:36 minutes per kilometer. Again, Stacey ran the 11k with me. Wednesday was a night off for me so I did a light workout from one of Bob Harper's dvd's. hey, i know its not much but for someone who does not enjoy workouts, its a start.
Thursday night was a 9k run but more of a technical run because of the Fartlek intervals after a 3k warmup. Stacey ran 5k of this sorta with me. She started with me but we were running at different paces so she kinda lost me when i would slow down to a slow jog.
Friday, another easy day.
On Saturday we headed over to the track to do a little light running. Well it was light running for me but not my better half. She was doing intervals while I was running 5k with 6 strides. It was sunny and warm and I finally got to wear my Vibram Five Fingers for the whole run without any issues or pain. These shoes have to be slowly added to your total mileage, or you'll wind up with leg pain or an injury. Next week, I may be bold enough to run a couple of laps on this track in bare feet. Hopefully it'll be warm enough to.
Now, on to my long run. This week its a 25k run, but none of it at marathon pace, unlike last week. I just wasn't feeling this run at all. I felt like I was fighting it the whole way. It was sunny and warm, and I think I may have overdressed for it because by the 10k point, I was uncomfortably hot. I don't think i properly prepared for it mealwise and fluidwise as well. I was trying out a new armband for my smartphone and the friggin' headphone cord kept getting wrapped around my water bottle, keeping me from swinging my left arm forward. The only positive I got from this run was knowing that I can eat a Clif Builders bar and a couple of boxes of raisins while still running. Usually, i stick with a couple of gel packs but I was nice to have a small meal while running. I kept a pretty good pace throughout it but I felt I was struggling the whole time. I was having negative thoughts about how my time this year wasn't going to be any better than last year. Again the question of "why are you doing this?" popped up. Sorry, still no answer for that. It was just the kind of run that I have to learn to forget about so thats what i'm going to do after I finish typing. Stacey met me at the 22k point and ran the last 3k with me. My music of choice for the run was Staind and The Fray. Next week I'll go with something a little different than Staind, maybe a little more upbeat and cheerful would help. lol
My weekly totals
mileage : 53.38km
hrs logged: 5:49:41
total calories burnt: 3152
Onward and upward
PS: This week I hope to get some time in on the bike with our warm weather. I'm aiming for a 50k ride Wednesday. stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
61k week down
Another week done! So far I've been very fortunate weather-wise. This week was more of the same, nice weather for winter running. I didn't have to shift any of the runs around due to a forecast of bad weather.
Tuesday I ran 14k as soon as we got home from work. Stacey ran 13k of that with me! her highest total yet! great job! It left her with some pretty sore feet though. We're both liking the run as soon as we get home from work but before supper. its nice to finish the run knowing we don't have to go back out again when its dark and colder. Its nice to just run, stretch, eat, and then chill for the evening.
Thursday was another nice run for me, no real workout run just an easy 12k. The plan was for me to run over to the track (4k) and then run 8k around the track while Stacey ran her 5k run there. It was a warm but windy night but I was in no real hurry. I'm sorry but 8k on a track is boring as hell. Not as mind numbing as a treadmill but a close second. My long runs can be a little boring as well but nothing like this. Eventually, I can see myself switching from road running to trail runs just for the variety and the fact that on a trail run, your mind is always working. there's no autopilot unless you want to wind up on your ass.
Saturday was yet another nice day for a run, reasonably warm and sunny. I ran 3k to the track and then another 3k on it while Stacey ran herself silly doing intervals. I was running pretty slow, just getting the mileage in and loosening up the legs a little. i ended the run with 6 strides, which are a type of interval only shorter.
My Tuesday and Thursday runs I used to break in my new Saucony Kinveras. Sportschek had a deal I couldn't resist the previous week and I pulled the trigger on 2 new pair. One pair will last me until sometime in May, then I have the new ones ready for the marathon.
On to my Sunday long run. This one was a workout. 28k, the first 13k was a long warmup. the next 12k was to be run at marathon pace (tentatively set at 6 minutes per kilometer) and the last 3k as a warmdown to finish. To make it easier with routing and meeting Stacey in Halifax, i worked it out a little differently but still included the 12k at marathon pace. I knew this run was going to be harder because the wind was going to be working against me. Can't let that stop me though. I've never seen anyone quit a marathon because of wind. Shortly after I left the house, I realized I forgot to apply my bodyglide. This is used to prevent chafing, lets leave it at that. Fortunately, I didn't suffer from any chafing issues or bloody nipples. I'm loving my Icebreaker wool shirt. whew! After my warmup, I took a 5 minute break in Bedford and had a snack (Clif Builders bar and some gatorade). Then I started my work. I ran the next 12k right around 6 minutes per km. I was pretty happy with that. Stacey ran the last 3k with me when I met her at Halifax Shopping Centre. She uses that run as a bit of a cooldown from her workout. My feet were pretty sore, I think its officially time to retire my old running shoes. No knee or hip issues again! YES! I burnt 1800 calories for this run. it took me a total of right around 3 hours. not bad, 600 calories an hour. My music of choice this time was Metallica and Linkin Park. I forgot to set my smartphone to repeat so I spent over half of my run listening to nothing. I didn't want to stop to fart around with the friggin' thing. I didn't want to ruin my groove. lol
Here's some numbers for the week.
61kilometres
6 hrs 44 minutes 30 seconds total time
3754 calories burnt
feeling great!
onward and upward
PS: I'm shopping for a road bike, soon I'll be chasing another goal. 100km on a bike. By the end of the summer. book it! lol can a triathlon be next? never say never, right?
Tuesday I ran 14k as soon as we got home from work. Stacey ran 13k of that with me! her highest total yet! great job! It left her with some pretty sore feet though. We're both liking the run as soon as we get home from work but before supper. its nice to finish the run knowing we don't have to go back out again when its dark and colder. Its nice to just run, stretch, eat, and then chill for the evening.
Thursday was another nice run for me, no real workout run just an easy 12k. The plan was for me to run over to the track (4k) and then run 8k around the track while Stacey ran her 5k run there. It was a warm but windy night but I was in no real hurry. I'm sorry but 8k on a track is boring as hell. Not as mind numbing as a treadmill but a close second. My long runs can be a little boring as well but nothing like this. Eventually, I can see myself switching from road running to trail runs just for the variety and the fact that on a trail run, your mind is always working. there's no autopilot unless you want to wind up on your ass.
Saturday was yet another nice day for a run, reasonably warm and sunny. I ran 3k to the track and then another 3k on it while Stacey ran herself silly doing intervals. I was running pretty slow, just getting the mileage in and loosening up the legs a little. i ended the run with 6 strides, which are a type of interval only shorter.
My Tuesday and Thursday runs I used to break in my new Saucony Kinveras. Sportschek had a deal I couldn't resist the previous week and I pulled the trigger on 2 new pair. One pair will last me until sometime in May, then I have the new ones ready for the marathon.
On to my Sunday long run. This one was a workout. 28k, the first 13k was a long warmup. the next 12k was to be run at marathon pace (tentatively set at 6 minutes per kilometer) and the last 3k as a warmdown to finish. To make it easier with routing and meeting Stacey in Halifax, i worked it out a little differently but still included the 12k at marathon pace. I knew this run was going to be harder because the wind was going to be working against me. Can't let that stop me though. I've never seen anyone quit a marathon because of wind. Shortly after I left the house, I realized I forgot to apply my bodyglide. This is used to prevent chafing, lets leave it at that. Fortunately, I didn't suffer from any chafing issues or bloody nipples. I'm loving my Icebreaker wool shirt. whew! After my warmup, I took a 5 minute break in Bedford and had a snack (Clif Builders bar and some gatorade). Then I started my work. I ran the next 12k right around 6 minutes per km. I was pretty happy with that. Stacey ran the last 3k with me when I met her at Halifax Shopping Centre. She uses that run as a bit of a cooldown from her workout. My feet were pretty sore, I think its officially time to retire my old running shoes. No knee or hip issues again! YES! I burnt 1800 calories for this run. it took me a total of right around 3 hours. not bad, 600 calories an hour. My music of choice this time was Metallica and Linkin Park. I forgot to set my smartphone to repeat so I spent over half of my run listening to nothing. I didn't want to stop to fart around with the friggin' thing. I didn't want to ruin my groove. lol
Here's some numbers for the week.
61kilometres
6 hrs 44 minutes 30 seconds total time
3754 calories burnt
feeling great!
onward and upward
PS: I'm shopping for a road bike, soon I'll be chasing another goal. 100km on a bike. By the end of the summer. book it! lol can a triathlon be next? never say never, right?
Monday, March 5, 2012
57K!!!
Ok these distances are getting crazy. so where do I begin? How about the 12k run on Tuesday. Well, it is what it was, a 12k easy run with Stacey, her longest distance yet so she was thrilled. I was happy to oblige her to push the extra 2k. Wednesday was my night off from running so I did about 20 minutes of cross training.
Thursday night, my workout night again. I started with a 3k warm-up, arrived back at the house to run 5k with Stacey. this portion was my simulated marathon pace so we cruised along pretty good. Our pace for this was 5:45 per km....Ok so it was a little faster than my predicted marathon pace but one can always dream, right? After a 5 minute break, I started my 3k at a tempo pace. I ran my fastest pace yet, averaging 4:51 per km. Again, probably more of a VO2max run than a tempo but i figure its probably better to push a little than to back off a little on a workout night. I'll have plenty of time to recover later.
Again, due to the forecast of shitty weather on Saturday, I ran my 5k recovery run and 6 strides on Friday afternoon, after I got home from my course. I didn't wear my NB Minimus this time due to some snow on the sidewalks. The last thing i need now is to fall on some ice/snow.
So along comes Sunday, another long run. Surprise, Surprise. This time I decide to run the 2nd half of the Bluenose course and an extra 6k to add up to my total of 27k. I figured this half would be easier than the first half that I ran last week. Wrong! What I've come to realize is this...when it comes to long distances, there's no such thing as easy, at least to me. I wouldn't say I struggled but my avg pace seemed painfully slow, 6:30 per km. Part of the run was through Point pleasant park, and the frost was coming out of the ground, leaving it very soft and hard to run on. Again, I had a knot develop in the upper right side of the back of my neck/back during the run. I believe its a sign that I'm not breathing properly, causing myself to hunch over. Some weeks are worse than others but this week was pretty bad after I finished.
I finished the 27k in 2:56, not really happy with the time but as I write this the next day with no soreness at all, I was probably a successful long run. Just 15.2k more kilometers and I would have run a full. Just???? I'll never run that distance during training of course. I burnt 1600 calories during the run and judging by the fact that my legs were very warm for the next 5 hours, I probably burnt a couple hundred more on just "afterburn." I couldn't get to sleep when i went to bed because i was still throwing off heat at 11pm. I think I'll have to run a little earlier to avoid this next week or have a cold leg bath when I get home. My music of choice this time was Coldplay and Dave Matthews band. Stacey ran the last 6k with me. All in all it was another successful week, then again, I'm at the point now that any week that I'm not injured is a successful week. Just 11 more long runs to go and I can rest.
Onward and Upward.
Thursday night, my workout night again. I started with a 3k warm-up, arrived back at the house to run 5k with Stacey. this portion was my simulated marathon pace so we cruised along pretty good. Our pace for this was 5:45 per km....Ok so it was a little faster than my predicted marathon pace but one can always dream, right? After a 5 minute break, I started my 3k at a tempo pace. I ran my fastest pace yet, averaging 4:51 per km. Again, probably more of a VO2max run than a tempo but i figure its probably better to push a little than to back off a little on a workout night. I'll have plenty of time to recover later.
Again, due to the forecast of shitty weather on Saturday, I ran my 5k recovery run and 6 strides on Friday afternoon, after I got home from my course. I didn't wear my NB Minimus this time due to some snow on the sidewalks. The last thing i need now is to fall on some ice/snow.
So along comes Sunday, another long run. Surprise, Surprise. This time I decide to run the 2nd half of the Bluenose course and an extra 6k to add up to my total of 27k. I figured this half would be easier than the first half that I ran last week. Wrong! What I've come to realize is this...when it comes to long distances, there's no such thing as easy, at least to me. I wouldn't say I struggled but my avg pace seemed painfully slow, 6:30 per km. Part of the run was through Point pleasant park, and the frost was coming out of the ground, leaving it very soft and hard to run on. Again, I had a knot develop in the upper right side of the back of my neck/back during the run. I believe its a sign that I'm not breathing properly, causing myself to hunch over. Some weeks are worse than others but this week was pretty bad after I finished.
I finished the 27k in 2:56, not really happy with the time but as I write this the next day with no soreness at all, I was probably a successful long run. Just 15.2k more kilometers and I would have run a full. Just???? I'll never run that distance during training of course. I burnt 1600 calories during the run and judging by the fact that my legs were very warm for the next 5 hours, I probably burnt a couple hundred more on just "afterburn." I couldn't get to sleep when i went to bed because i was still throwing off heat at 11pm. I think I'll have to run a little earlier to avoid this next week or have a cold leg bath when I get home. My music of choice this time was Coldplay and Dave Matthews band. Stacey ran the last 6k with me. All in all it was another successful week, then again, I'm at the point now that any week that I'm not injured is a successful week. Just 11 more long runs to go and I can rest.
Onward and Upward.
Monday, February 27, 2012
53k done!
Well here we are again at the end of another training week or the start of another. Depends on which direction you're looking. Another high mileage week completed. 53k this week. I was looking back out my training schedule for the 2011 Bluenose and at this point last year, my weekly mileage was 28k. I'm either way ahead of the game or I was sadly undertraining last year. Looking back, I think I know which one it was but hindsight is 20/20.
On Tuesday, Stacey and I ran 10k together, she set a PB of just over 58 minutes due to my expert coaching and guidance. lol I ran an extra kilometer to cover my mileage. Should i have been running that fast on what's supposed to be an easy run, nope. It was cold that night and I wanted to get home quick, lets just stick with that story.
Thursday looked to be a wet/rainy run during the afternoon but I was fortunate enough to get a break in the bad conditions long enough to get my 12k run in the books. It was a weird run for me, my heart rate monitor didn't boot up right because it was giving odd readings for my whole run. I also made the mistake of loading a program and trying to have it guide me to a specific pace. I think i spent more time watching my monitor than just working on my running and breathing. I lost focus.
Friday, I took advantage of another day off from work to get my 5k and 6 strides in. Again, I did this in my minimalist shoes. Its a good thing because we had more bad weather on the Saturday. That's 3 weeks in a row that Saturday has either rained or snowed or ice pelleted or sleeted out. Is sleeted a word?
Sunday was another long run, like they all are now. This time the distance was to be 25k. To prepare for the Bluenose Marathon, I decided to go into Halifax/Dartmouth and do my run on this years' route. It was partly sunny but very windy, which at times helped and, at others, hurt my pace. It was so windy that the MacDonald Bridge was actually rocking a bit. When I was running on the center span, I didn't quite feel right. It was like my feet weren't coming down where they were supposed to. I got slightly "lost" in Shubie Park and wound up cutting about 1km off my run. During this unexpected shortcut, I had unknowingly run into the "dogs off leash" area of the park. Fortunately, the myriad of dogs there were more interested in sniffing each others' butts than to chase me! The last thing I wanted was an unplanned spike in pace at that point of the run. Stacey met me on my way back across the MacDonald bridge and finished the final 6k of my run with me. I threw a little extra in the run at the end to try to make up for the "shortcut" but still finished my 25k at 24.3k. Close enough for me. I burned close to 1500 calories in the 2:36 run. My music of choice was The Fray and Tears for Fears Greatest Hits.
This week is yet another mileage high, 57k with my longest run of 27k next Sunday. This time I'll run the 2nd half of the marathon route and add an extra 6k, which Stacey will probably join me for.
onward and upward
On Tuesday, Stacey and I ran 10k together, she set a PB of just over 58 minutes due to my expert coaching and guidance. lol I ran an extra kilometer to cover my mileage. Should i have been running that fast on what's supposed to be an easy run, nope. It was cold that night and I wanted to get home quick, lets just stick with that story.
Thursday looked to be a wet/rainy run during the afternoon but I was fortunate enough to get a break in the bad conditions long enough to get my 12k run in the books. It was a weird run for me, my heart rate monitor didn't boot up right because it was giving odd readings for my whole run. I also made the mistake of loading a program and trying to have it guide me to a specific pace. I think i spent more time watching my monitor than just working on my running and breathing. I lost focus.
Friday, I took advantage of another day off from work to get my 5k and 6 strides in. Again, I did this in my minimalist shoes. Its a good thing because we had more bad weather on the Saturday. That's 3 weeks in a row that Saturday has either rained or snowed or ice pelleted or sleeted out. Is sleeted a word?
Sunday was another long run, like they all are now. This time the distance was to be 25k. To prepare for the Bluenose Marathon, I decided to go into Halifax/Dartmouth and do my run on this years' route. It was partly sunny but very windy, which at times helped and, at others, hurt my pace. It was so windy that the MacDonald Bridge was actually rocking a bit. When I was running on the center span, I didn't quite feel right. It was like my feet weren't coming down where they were supposed to. I got slightly "lost" in Shubie Park and wound up cutting about 1km off my run. During this unexpected shortcut, I had unknowingly run into the "dogs off leash" area of the park. Fortunately, the myriad of dogs there were more interested in sniffing each others' butts than to chase me! The last thing I wanted was an unplanned spike in pace at that point of the run. Stacey met me on my way back across the MacDonald bridge and finished the final 6k of my run with me. I threw a little extra in the run at the end to try to make up for the "shortcut" but still finished my 25k at 24.3k. Close enough for me. I burned close to 1500 calories in the 2:36 run. My music of choice was The Fray and Tears for Fears Greatest Hits.
This week is yet another mileage high, 57k with my longest run of 27k next Sunday. This time I'll run the 2nd half of the marathon route and add an extra 6k, which Stacey will probably join me for.
onward and upward
Monday, February 20, 2012
"Recovery Week"...riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight
Well after a 51k week last week, I had finally reached one of my recovery weeks. this week I only had to run 45k but at a more relaxed pace. So thats what I did, until yesterday. I did my usual Tuesday night run (9k)with my better half, taking it easy the whole way. Still turned out to be a bit of a slog due to the snow/ice on the sidewalks, but hey, its winter and you have to learn to expect that, right?
Wednesday was my night off so I stuck with the program of working on my hips, and IT bands with the foam roller. On Thursday, I ran 8k with Stacey running the final 5k with me on the track. For me, the jury is still out on track running. the surface is nice and soft but the variety of running leaves a little to be desired. kinda like one step up from a treadmill, which i compare to a hamster on a wheel. Sure, you're making it spin but you ain't goin' nowhere and for me, the whole point of running is to actually go somewhere.
On Friday, I took advantage of another day off from work to run my 5k recovery run with 5 or 6 strides tagged on to the end of it. I think I ran the 5k in 30 minutes, not blazingly fast but thats not the point. I notice that i don't focus so much on times anymore but what my average heart rate is for a given run. that gives me a better idea of how hard i'm working. As with the previous Friday, it was warm enough to wear shorts and this was another run with the New Balance Minimus shoes.
On to my long run. Like two weeks ago, this was a 22k run from home to the Halifax Shopping Center, where I would meet Stacey and have a cupcake as a reward. This was also my 43rd birthday and during a couple of times I thought to myself, "how many 43 yr olds can run 22k?", of course my mind answered back "how many are dumb enough to try?" lol I was concerned going in to this run because my knee was a little sore during the morning before the run. I don't know if its from the work from the week catching up with me or going up and down our steps so much due to keeping the wood stove going. It could also be paranoia for the upcoming run. The long runs still make me nervous. I keep thinking back to by blowout during the Valley Harvest. anyway, I had a great run, no knee/hip issues again. I ran 22k in 2:12, which was faster than I should have run it given that it was supposed to be a recovery week. I got a little carried away at around the 13k point when I saw that I had the opportunity to catch and pass someone so for the next 4k I passed her and left her in my dust. lol I burnt 1400 calories and my avg heart rate was 161 bpm. I rocked the run listening to Dave Matthews' "Crash" and "Before these Crowded Streets"
I'm going to need new running shoes soon as my Kinveras are almost worn out. I usually like to limit my shoes to about 500k before retiring them to pasture. I may buy two pair as I've noticed that on my long runs, my feet swell up and make my current size a little too tight. What I'll probably do is buy one pair thats 1/2 size larger and just wear them for my long runs so my toes don't wind up all scrunched up in them.
I have some big mileage weeks coming. 53k this week, 57k next and 60k the following week. Crap. Another test. I suppose I should make the physio appointments now in preparation. When does it all end? oh wait I know, May 20th at around noon or a little later.
Onward and upward.
"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight" - Bruce Cockburn
Wednesday was my night off so I stuck with the program of working on my hips, and IT bands with the foam roller. On Thursday, I ran 8k with Stacey running the final 5k with me on the track. For me, the jury is still out on track running. the surface is nice and soft but the variety of running leaves a little to be desired. kinda like one step up from a treadmill, which i compare to a hamster on a wheel. Sure, you're making it spin but you ain't goin' nowhere and for me, the whole point of running is to actually go somewhere.
On Friday, I took advantage of another day off from work to run my 5k recovery run with 5 or 6 strides tagged on to the end of it. I think I ran the 5k in 30 minutes, not blazingly fast but thats not the point. I notice that i don't focus so much on times anymore but what my average heart rate is for a given run. that gives me a better idea of how hard i'm working. As with the previous Friday, it was warm enough to wear shorts and this was another run with the New Balance Minimus shoes.
On to my long run. Like two weeks ago, this was a 22k run from home to the Halifax Shopping Center, where I would meet Stacey and have a cupcake as a reward. This was also my 43rd birthday and during a couple of times I thought to myself, "how many 43 yr olds can run 22k?", of course my mind answered back "how many are dumb enough to try?" lol I was concerned going in to this run because my knee was a little sore during the morning before the run. I don't know if its from the work from the week catching up with me or going up and down our steps so much due to keeping the wood stove going. It could also be paranoia for the upcoming run. The long runs still make me nervous. I keep thinking back to by blowout during the Valley Harvest. anyway, I had a great run, no knee/hip issues again. I ran 22k in 2:12, which was faster than I should have run it given that it was supposed to be a recovery week. I got a little carried away at around the 13k point when I saw that I had the opportunity to catch and pass someone so for the next 4k I passed her and left her in my dust. lol I burnt 1400 calories and my avg heart rate was 161 bpm. I rocked the run listening to Dave Matthews' "Crash" and "Before these Crowded Streets"
I'm going to need new running shoes soon as my Kinveras are almost worn out. I usually like to limit my shoes to about 500k before retiring them to pasture. I may buy two pair as I've noticed that on my long runs, my feet swell up and make my current size a little too tight. What I'll probably do is buy one pair thats 1/2 size larger and just wear them for my long runs so my toes don't wind up all scrunched up in them.
I have some big mileage weeks coming. 53k this week, 57k next and 60k the following week. Crap. Another test. I suppose I should make the physio appointments now in preparation. When does it all end? oh wait I know, May 20th at around noon or a little later.
Onward and upward.
"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight" - Bruce Cockburn
Sunday, February 12, 2012
51k week in the books.
Well its Sunday morning and I'm doing some well earned relaxing after the week I've had.
Tuesday - Stacey and I ran 10k together. our usual 10k route from our place to just past the Sackville Sports Stadium and back. No issues for me though Stacey has 2 blisters from the previous week that she's dealing with.
Wednesday - no running so I did a few strength exercises for my hips and knees.
Thursday - I run over to the track (3.2k) and meet Stacey there for the workout portion of my run. The weather was nice and the track had a couple of icy spots on it but not enough to stop the 6k workout portion of my run. Running on a track is nice in one way, its soft but you don't really get a break from running on it either like you would when you get to run downhill for a bit on streets. I wind up running 6k in 29:33.
Friday - I decide to bump my runs from Saturday/Sunday to Friday/Saturday due to the forecast so today i a 5k recovery run followed by 6 strides. I don't bother timing these runs because i don't care what time i get. its just an easy run. I was happy with being able to run the whole thing using my pair of New Balance MT10's. I usually wear Saucony Kinveras but today i decided to go a little more minimalist and it felt good. No pain issues at all.
Saturday - my 24k run. I start at 6:45 am and manage to get the whole run in before the rain starts. I'm sure glad now that i ran it yesterday and not today judging by the amount of ice out there now. I finish my 24.1 k in 2:36. not blazingly fast but I'm still ahead of last year. I spent most of my run listening to Coldplay and the Foo Fighters. Three runs in three days leave me very tired. I'm used to alternating between a day of running and a day off so this was pushing it for me. No pain though and that makes me a happy camper!
My coach sent me my weekly schedule up to the Bluenose Marathon and I gotta say that it's made me nervous. I'm going to be putting in some big weekly mileage figures and some very long Sunday runs (22k to a max of 34k). This is nothing at all like the schedule i made up for myself for last years marathons but then again, I wasn't happy with last years results (4:48 and 5:22) so doing all this extra running can't hurt. At this rate i'll need a new pair of Kinveras before the Bluenose as my current pair will be worn out.
I was thinking about a question a friend asked me a while back about my running. He joking asked me "what are you running from"? I likely had a smart-assed answer at the time but during my long run yesterday, I asked myself the same question. I had plenty of time to answer it this time. Its not all about what I'm running from, its what I'm running to. What that is? I don't know. Will I know it when I get there? I don't know, probably not. Am I enjoying the journey? Definately. Would I give it up for my previous life of getting by doing the bare minimum? NEVER. Thats what I'm running from.
Onward and upward.
Tuesday - Stacey and I ran 10k together. our usual 10k route from our place to just past the Sackville Sports Stadium and back. No issues for me though Stacey has 2 blisters from the previous week that she's dealing with.
Wednesday - no running so I did a few strength exercises for my hips and knees.
Thursday - I run over to the track (3.2k) and meet Stacey there for the workout portion of my run. The weather was nice and the track had a couple of icy spots on it but not enough to stop the 6k workout portion of my run. Running on a track is nice in one way, its soft but you don't really get a break from running on it either like you would when you get to run downhill for a bit on streets. I wind up running 6k in 29:33.
Friday - I decide to bump my runs from Saturday/Sunday to Friday/Saturday due to the forecast so today i a 5k recovery run followed by 6 strides. I don't bother timing these runs because i don't care what time i get. its just an easy run. I was happy with being able to run the whole thing using my pair of New Balance MT10's. I usually wear Saucony Kinveras but today i decided to go a little more minimalist and it felt good. No pain issues at all.
Saturday - my 24k run. I start at 6:45 am and manage to get the whole run in before the rain starts. I'm sure glad now that i ran it yesterday and not today judging by the amount of ice out there now. I finish my 24.1 k in 2:36. not blazingly fast but I'm still ahead of last year. I spent most of my run listening to Coldplay and the Foo Fighters. Three runs in three days leave me very tired. I'm used to alternating between a day of running and a day off so this was pushing it for me. No pain though and that makes me a happy camper!
My coach sent me my weekly schedule up to the Bluenose Marathon and I gotta say that it's made me nervous. I'm going to be putting in some big weekly mileage figures and some very long Sunday runs (22k to a max of 34k). This is nothing at all like the schedule i made up for myself for last years marathons but then again, I wasn't happy with last years results (4:48 and 5:22) so doing all this extra running can't hurt. At this rate i'll need a new pair of Kinveras before the Bluenose as my current pair will be worn out.
I was thinking about a question a friend asked me a while back about my running. He joking asked me "what are you running from"? I likely had a smart-assed answer at the time but during my long run yesterday, I asked myself the same question. I had plenty of time to answer it this time. Its not all about what I'm running from, its what I'm running to. What that is? I don't know. Will I know it when I get there? I don't know, probably not. Am I enjoying the journey? Definately. Would I give it up for my previous life of getting by doing the bare minimum? NEVER. Thats what I'm running from.
Onward and upward.
Monday, January 30, 2012
20k done!
I ran my 20k yesterday afternoon and today, no pain in the hips or knees = a good thing. Of course my back is still sore from a non-running incident on Saturday. I was filling the car with gas from a 20l gas can that I keep in the shed. Its generator gas that has to be used so i thought i would use it before it went stale. Well as i was repositioning the gas can so it would empty faster into the car, i felt something "tweak" in the lower right side of my back. I knew right away and though "oh f**k, what have i done?" Fifteen minutes later i'm on the couch with a heat pack on my back, feeling like crap because i didn't think I'd be able to run on Sunday.
So I get up on Sunday morning and the pain is still there but i notice that its only bad if i twist it at all. So i decide that i'm going to attempt the run and just stay close to home just in case I fall apart. The weather was great (partly sunny +4C) and I quickly realize that i should be able to complete it as long as i don't twist. At the 13.7km mark, i made a pit stop at the house for a glass of water and a clif shot to give me a little boost for the final 6.3km. I finished the 20k in 2:14 which was a slower pace than the 19k I ran two weeks ago. I was aiming for a 6:40 pace and I actually ran a 6:43 pace. almost spot on. my planned marathon pace at this time is 6:00/km. My total distance for the week was 45km.
I just checked back to last year at this time and I didn't even start my training (my long run exactly a year ago was 9k at a 7:01 pace) until the first week in February so I'm well ahead of the game for the 2012 Bluenose Marathon.
Tomorrow I have a 9k easy run planned but since Stacey will be running with me, we'll likely cover 10k at a slightly faster pace.
Yesterday was one of the few times I have actually taken a mp3 player with me on a long run. while i would never consider it for an actual race, it did seem to help the time go by. My music of choice yesterday was "Pornografitti" by Extreme, Matchbox 20's Greatest Hits and 2 songs from the Red Hot Chili Peppers newest disc.
Onward and Upward
So I get up on Sunday morning and the pain is still there but i notice that its only bad if i twist it at all. So i decide that i'm going to attempt the run and just stay close to home just in case I fall apart. The weather was great (partly sunny +4C) and I quickly realize that i should be able to complete it as long as i don't twist. At the 13.7km mark, i made a pit stop at the house for a glass of water and a clif shot to give me a little boost for the final 6.3km. I finished the 20k in 2:14 which was a slower pace than the 19k I ran two weeks ago. I was aiming for a 6:40 pace and I actually ran a 6:43 pace. almost spot on. my planned marathon pace at this time is 6:00/km. My total distance for the week was 45km.
I just checked back to last year at this time and I didn't even start my training (my long run exactly a year ago was 9k at a 7:01 pace) until the first week in February so I'm well ahead of the game for the 2012 Bluenose Marathon.
Tomorrow I have a 9k easy run planned but since Stacey will be running with me, we'll likely cover 10k at a slightly faster pace.
Yesterday was one of the few times I have actually taken a mp3 player with me on a long run. while i would never consider it for an actual race, it did seem to help the time go by. My music of choice yesterday was "Pornografitti" by Extreme, Matchbox 20's Greatest Hits and 2 songs from the Red Hot Chili Peppers newest disc.
Onward and Upward
Thursday, January 26, 2012
long time, no update
Ok now its Jan 26th and quite a bit has happened since my last post. Back in August and September i continued with my training in preparation for the Valley Harvest Marathon. At the time, I felt that i was doing all the right things. Looking back now, I was woefully unprepared for my next marathon. I was running all of my long runs very early on Sunday mornings, to avoid the heat. Big mistake #1. I was ignoring an annoying pain in my right knee. Big mistake #2. I was also overconfident from already finishing a marathon in May, Big Mistake #3. These would come back to haunt me.
So I signed up for the Valley Harvest Marathon about a week before the thanksgiving weekend that it was to be run. I was hoping for cool weather and had trained assuming that that's what i was going to run in. WRONG! Instead of being a perfect temp of around 10-12C, the thermostat hit 26C that day.
Everything started off fine at 9am, the temperature already at 17C. 5k down, everything still fine. 10k, still cruising, 15k getting hotter and somewhat uncomfortable. by 19k i was switching sides of the road to find shade wherever i could. all the while, my right knee is talking to me, a little louder with each passing km. by the time i made it to the halfway point, just before Kingsport, my knee was screaming for me to stop. I took 2 vitamin I's but no joy. My run had turned into some kind of freakish hobble. by the time i reached 24k, i was walking. This was going to be a long day.
I had texted Stacey, giving her status reports every couple of km but at 24k, all i could say was "i hurt, knee shot, walking" she continued to send texts to cheer me on but to no use. i could run for maybe 100 metres then walk for 5 or 10 minutes. I was so frustrated, pissed off and in so much pain that I was crying at around the 30k point. that was my wall. onward i hobbled/walked.
My most humiliating point was at a checkpoint around 32k or so. I remember arriving at a water station, there was an RCMP car sort of following me, probably making sure i was OK. One of the volunteers asks the constable "how many more are there after this one?" THIS ONE??? wtf am I? a cow? The constable replied with "there's 2 or 3 more after him." I felt like saying, "I'm right here you arseholes, could you have at least waited until i limped past before asking?" but i couldn't muster up the energy to say anything. Stacey started walking to meet me, which she did at around 38k and with her support, I managed to finish in a time of 5:22. I was humbled. After the Bluenose I had full intentions of finishing this one faster with less training.
A quick trip to a medical clinic confirmed that I had IT Band syndrome or "runners knee". It took over a month of no running at all before I could start again. In November, I hired a running coach to better prepare me for 2012. I also made several trips to physio in November and December to work on the strength and flexibility in my right leg (mostly hip). As of today, my training is going great, i'm feeling better than ever and well on my way to running the Bluenose again. I have a 20k run this Sunday, which puts me way ahead of my 2011 schedule. I am by no means looking past the Bluenose but I must run the Valley Harvest again just for revenge. For now, I'll keep trying to update this with my runs and health updates. Tonight I just finished a training run that was a 3k warmup (ran with Stacey), 6km at marathon pace (i went a little faster, just to push it a bit) and a 1k cooldown. felt great, pain free!!
So I signed up for the Valley Harvest Marathon about a week before the thanksgiving weekend that it was to be run. I was hoping for cool weather and had trained assuming that that's what i was going to run in. WRONG! Instead of being a perfect temp of around 10-12C, the thermostat hit 26C that day.
Everything started off fine at 9am, the temperature already at 17C. 5k down, everything still fine. 10k, still cruising, 15k getting hotter and somewhat uncomfortable. by 19k i was switching sides of the road to find shade wherever i could. all the while, my right knee is talking to me, a little louder with each passing km. by the time i made it to the halfway point, just before Kingsport, my knee was screaming for me to stop. I took 2 vitamin I's but no joy. My run had turned into some kind of freakish hobble. by the time i reached 24k, i was walking. This was going to be a long day.
I had texted Stacey, giving her status reports every couple of km but at 24k, all i could say was "i hurt, knee shot, walking" she continued to send texts to cheer me on but to no use. i could run for maybe 100 metres then walk for 5 or 10 minutes. I was so frustrated, pissed off and in so much pain that I was crying at around the 30k point. that was my wall. onward i hobbled/walked.
My most humiliating point was at a checkpoint around 32k or so. I remember arriving at a water station, there was an RCMP car sort of following me, probably making sure i was OK. One of the volunteers asks the constable "how many more are there after this one?" THIS ONE??? wtf am I? a cow? The constable replied with "there's 2 or 3 more after him." I felt like saying, "I'm right here you arseholes, could you have at least waited until i limped past before asking?" but i couldn't muster up the energy to say anything. Stacey started walking to meet me, which she did at around 38k and with her support, I managed to finish in a time of 5:22. I was humbled. After the Bluenose I had full intentions of finishing this one faster with less training.
A quick trip to a medical clinic confirmed that I had IT Band syndrome or "runners knee". It took over a month of no running at all before I could start again. In November, I hired a running coach to better prepare me for 2012. I also made several trips to physio in November and December to work on the strength and flexibility in my right leg (mostly hip). As of today, my training is going great, i'm feeling better than ever and well on my way to running the Bluenose again. I have a 20k run this Sunday, which puts me way ahead of my 2011 schedule. I am by no means looking past the Bluenose but I must run the Valley Harvest again just for revenge. For now, I'll keep trying to update this with my runs and health updates. Tonight I just finished a training run that was a 3k warmup (ran with Stacey), 6km at marathon pace (i went a little faster, just to push it a bit) and a 1k cooldown. felt great, pain free!!
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