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!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
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
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