Changed and Waiting

So, I am taking a bit of a "forced hiatus". I will not be running until my calf heals. Also, I am now committed to running the Half-Marathon at this years Toronto Waterfront event on September 27th instead of the Marathon that I was originally hoping to complete. This loftier goal will have to wait until next year, giving me ample time to begin another training program with a much better base than the one I had starting the current regimen in early June. (Looking back on the numbers, I did not run nearly enough in April (105km) and May (64km) and perhaps that's why my calf self-destructed in the last week or so.)

That being said, I think what I am suffering from is a mild grade 2 calf strain. I do not feel pain low in the leg (which would indicate a torn Achilles) and I do not have any visible swelling or bruising (which would indicate a grade 3 strain), but I do have pain when walking (so that means it's not a grade 1 strain). According to what I've been reading this will take up to two weeks to clear up, and so I am going to wait patiently. Until then I will likely have little to say on this blog, and will take the time to pick up a few other things that I've been neglecting:

• Hip Flexor and Ass strengthening exercises (to get rid of this pesky runner's knee once and for all)
• Core strength (for this, too, has fallen off the map)
• Push Ups (can't believe I was able to do 100 in a row at one point!)
• Chin Ups (never got to that magical 20 in a row mark, but want to work towards that goal again)

All of that should make for a happier return to training. I have exactly two months to prepare for the race. I want to run this thing well, and the distance is no longer daunting, so as long as I'm healthy I should have a good shot at a decent result. I will continue to bike every day to work and back and use that as an opportunity to cross train. Though I haven't been in the pool since the middle of June I think I might also have to spend the cash necessary to get my membership renewed and get back at it. (Just have to find some money somewhere... Better check under those couch cushions and mattresses again.)

To cheer me up a bit I fall back on the numbers from the past month. In July I managed a total of 179.85km, which is a record for me. The first week of the month I set a new weekly milestone with 51km, and was on track to crush it during the last week. Small victories, but victories all the same.

Cheers! Enjoy the long weekend (if you are Canadian and get Monday off)! I'm heading out of town, will not be running, but rather trying to forget that sad sad fact. I'll also be seeing the same massage therapist that has helped me through numerous issues over the past few years, including a similar calf injury sustained last March.

Body Knows Best - Dropping to the Half

Well, it looks like my body will be the one who decides whether I run the Full or the Half in September. In fact, it will decide whether or not I run at all! This morning I went out for what was supposed to be a nice, easy 10k and had another setback. I was having a great time running along, minding my own business. The pace was not concerning me too much and I just ran on feel. It was just fun to be running properly again, and I took advantage of it. Also, I got out before work (which is a rare thing indeed for me) since I was preparing to help my Dad move some heavy old radiator down the front steps of his house to the curb. He'd arranged for someone to pick it up there, but they couldn't bring it down since their crane was not long enough. I was a little concerned about injuring myself while trying to move this 300lb cast iron thing, but I never would have suspected that I'd be hobbled long before I had that chance.

As I was crossing the Bloor St. Viaduct (that's the main bridge that crosses over the Don Valley and connects Bloor St. to Danforth Ave.) I felt a sudden sharp pain in my right calf that stopped me in my tracks. It came totally out of the blue, and is the exact same thing that I felt last Wednesday when I had to abort my interval workout. Now I am faced with the prospect of missing at least a week of running right in the middle of marathon training. Or perhaps I should start calling it half-marathon training...

BTW: thank you to all those who left helpful and insightful comments on my last post. It is very good to hear from experienced runners that my train of thought on this matter is rational and sound. I agree that there is a lot of value in just finishing a marathon (though I cannot speak from experience, of course), but given my history of bouncing from one ailment to another it's simply prudent to do the shorter race. Another year of running will give me the base I need to train and complete the marathon strong.

I guess my decision can be summarized by the phrase, "Respect the distance." I do.

I managed to complete 7.75km in 41:16.52 for an average pace of 5:18/km (8:32/mile). It was a good run up until that last metre! I ended up walking slowly to the end of the bridge and then using a payphone to make a collect call (a local one and all!) to Monica to plead for a pick up. She did, and I didn't have to walk all the way home. (Monica and Malcolm, if you are reading this, Thank you!) Now facing the prospect of at least a week off, and perhaps more, I am pretty bummed out...

Garmin don't lie.

Decisions, Decisions...

Stick with the Full Marathon, or drop down and do the Half?

Over the past week I've been going through a bit of a training lull - the proverbial "valley" in the whole "peaks and valleys" theory, as it were. My recent post-race calf cramp experience has forced me to abort one run and miss another, and I am a bit down on account of all that. Perhaps this helps to explain why I've started to entertain thoughts of NOT running the marathon at the end of September, but rather dropping down to the Half-Marathon.

The biggest reason why I am now at this crossroads is that I do not think I will be ultimately satisfied with just crossing the finish line in the marathon. (Weird, I know, since simply finishing is a huge accomplishment.) I think that my training plan will ultimately get me there, but I will likely only be prepared to finish the distance. I would much rather be prepared to run the whole thing properly and cross the finish line strong, sticking to a well defined and reasoned pacing strategy from beginning right to the end. I believe that I will be able to achieve this in the Half-Marathon based on the fact that my weekly mileage and training seems like it may be better suited to racing 21.1k strong, but is just enough to get me through 42.2k (most likely very slowly and painfully over the last 10-15 kilometres).

What should I do? I don't want to bail on the ultimate goal, but I also don't want to finish the marathon and then be forced to take lots of time off because my body will be completely spent. (No matter what speed I go, I suspect that 42.2k will wreak havoc, and given that it takes me a while to recover from shorter races, who knows how long it will take after a marathon.)

I just don't think I can get my mileage high enough for long enough to run a proper race over the longer distance, but I am confident that I will be able to race the Half really well. I will certainly run a marathon sometime in the near future, but I am wondering if it is not prudent to let this milestone wait another year or so. By then I will have been running consistently for over two years and my body will be much more prepared for the mileage demands of a rigorous marathon training program. Right now I just feel like I am achieving the bare minimum to get me through, and I never like doing just the bare minimum, whether in life, training or a race.

I guess what I really want to avoid is an experience that leaves me soured on running for the long term.

Help!

A Wet Weekend, and a Run

It has been a really strange and wet weekend, and I don't even know where to start. We were out of town for Owen's baseball tournament in Ancaster, but staying about a half-hours drive away (for some strange and inexplicable reason the coach chose this location) in Burlington. We arrived Friday afternoon, and I skipped my usual tempo run since my right calf still felt like someone had punched it repeatedly. I wasn't too optimistic about running at all during the weekend either.

We had a nice time Friday evening, with the kids of the team and many of the adults (including myself) swimming in the hotel pool and generally having fun just hanging out. We'd also gone out to dinner as a team and I had to stop the kids after they'd each consumed numerous packets of sugar and got really hyped up. Let's just say that getting mine to sleep was not easy.

We woke up the next morning for our first game and came outside to find that our car had become the personal toilet for what seemed like hundreds of birds, all of which had come down with some sort of intestinal ailment all at the same time:

Then we played our first game, and unfortunately due to one bad defensive inning by our guys we ended up losing. Here's a shot of the team in the dugout:



We then returned to the hotel since our second game was not to happen until 3pm (the first was at 9am). In the end it never happened at all since the skies opened up and it just rained and rained and rained. Again the kids and adults played in the hotel pool and such, with yours truly taking full advantage of the sauna and hot tub on account of the calf cramp. By the time the evening rolled around we were all totally tuckered out.

I decided to try and run this morning and woke up to find my calf was not feeling too tight. I also found my boys in this sleepy state:



I then headed off to revisit a familiar site: the spit of land that surrounds Hamilton Harbour that all racers taking part in the famous Around the Bay 30k have to cross. It was a beautiful day for running, but I found the going rather tough right from the start. It was going to be a battle, and I decided to just go nice and slow. Here's a picture I took from the drawbridge that's made of that corrugated iron stuff one can look through to the water below, with Hamilton off in the background: (when running across this thing back in March it was really slick on account of the rain, but today I just used the sidewalk.)



Then I snapped another one at the halfway point from the beach looking back towards Burlington from whence I had come:



In the end I ran a total of 21km in 2:06:29 for an average pace of 6:01/km (9:40/mile). It was really easy cardio wise, but my legs felt super tight and sluggish. I was just happy that my calf held up OK. Now it feels a bit tighter than I'd hoped it would, but I am not planning on running again until Wednesday. Entering the last nine weeks of marathon training I am really hoping that this calf is the only and last setback I will have to face.

Unfortunately for the kids, the entire tournament ended up being rained out and we headed home having only played one game. There is talk of a makeup day sometime in August though. At least the kids got to play together a lot and hopefully they bonded as a team.

Garmin don't lie.

1 Year and Counting!

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog! What's amazing to me about this is not that I've kept this thing up and running for 365 days, but that it means that I've been running for at least that long. Yes, there have been ups and downs, time taken off due to a veriety of injuries, and all that, but the focus on running has remained consitent for well over a year (and documented here for exactly one).

So, what has transpired in the past year?

• I've completed five races ranging in distance from 5k to 30k: two 10k's (#1 and #2), a 30k, a 5k, and a 10-miler.
• I've lost track of how many kilometres I've put behind me, but I'm well over 700km this year alone so I'm certain I've done over 1000km in the past year.
• Five pairs of running shoes have come and gone, with a sixth on the way (I ordered another pair of Asics GT2140's the other day to make sure that I have a backup pair as the marathon draws near).
• I've posted 290 times (including this one).
• I've labelled 120 post as "running" (yay!).
• I've labelled 123 posts as "injury" (ouch!).
• My ankle, though still wonky, has become a trusted ally rather than a feared malefactor.
• Instead, I've had several other ailments to contend with...
1. Plantar Fasciitis (still ongoing since last October 6th, though slight improvements have been realized. This is a bugger of an ailment and it sure does seem to take FOREVER to resolve.).
2. Left knee patelar-femoral syndrome.
3. Right knee patelar-femoral syndrome (still shaving and taping this one on every run).
4. Left calf crampitude (that took two weeks to resolve).
5. Left hip/ITB issues (as a result of the left calf thing).
6. And now, right calf crampitude (day one, and counting!).
• I've completed the 100 push ups challenge, though failed on the 20 chin ups one.
• Around this time last year I weighed 199lbs, having started the journey in January 2008 at something more like 210lbs, and now I weigh around 186-188lbs.

In short, it's been quite a ride and I look forward to what the next 365 days hold in store. In two months I will be running my first marathon, if everything goes well and this right calf decides to heal quickly. I think that most of all this blog has kept me honest and motivated. The comments that have been left on my posts by the many readers who take time out of their busy lives to read my running commentary (pun intended) are so much appreciated because they afford a tremendous amount of support and motivation. It has surprised me just how much this aspect of blogging brings to the whole experience, and I'd like to thank all of you who have left words of advice and encouragement on this site. To those who are regular contributors I am especially grateful. For fear of leaving anyone out I will not create a list here, but I think you know who you are. I will continue to be inspired by your own stories and wish everyone health, success, and as many PRs as can be crammed into a regulation sized sidebar.

All the best everyone! Here's to another year of running and blogging!

Major Abort

Just a quick note on my post from this morning in reference to my run on words: while on vacation I read a biography of Cicero (which was very good, BTW) and in there I learned that "books" from that period (first century BC) were written on long scrolls with no punctuation, no capital letters, no paragraphs or spacing. I can't imagine reading a sentence, let alone a whole book, in that format!

Anyway, to the task at hand...

The plan called for speed work today, and so off to the track I went with two things in mind. Number 1: I've been reading about the importance of step-back weeks in marathon training and that these are supposed to occur after every 4 weeks or so of hard training. This would make this a bit late for me, but looking at my training I've been adding mileage in a up a little, down a little, repeat type approach. Therefore, I've decided to step back not so much on the mileage, but rather on the intensity (at least for the intervals, or so I thought). And that leads me to point Number 2: I've also read something on the Runner's World Forum (in the 3:15 BQ thread since I, too, can dream) that interval pacing, no matter what distance, should be consistent.

Does everyone agree with this? What I take from this is if I am running mile repeats at 4:00/km pace (my theoretical VO2 Max pace based on a 45 minute 10k result), then my 400m repeats should also be at this pace, as well as 800s, 1000s, 1200s, etc... I've done 400m repeats at a faster rate before, so I figured to do them again at this slightly slower pace (roughly 1:37 per repeat) should actually feel rather easy. After all, last week's speed workout saw me run three one-mile repeats at this pace. Getting rest after every quarter-mile should help to make everything go smoothly, I reasoned.

I decided to run 12X400m repeats with about a minute of recovery between each. Rather than stand and wait out the rest (like I did in the heat and humidity about a month ago), I decided to jog slowly 200m between each rep.

Here is how I fared in the overcast and nicely temperatured climes of my local high school track:

1. 1:34.74 (3:53/km)
2. 1:34.45 (3:55/km)
3. ...
4. ...
5. ...
6. ...
7. ...
8. ...
9. ...
10. ...
11. ...
12. ...

As you can see, this was a good workout, but 10 REPEATS TOO SHORT! Just when I was beginning to think that marathon training, though tough, is a reasonable endeavor for someone missing a ligament in the old ankle to attempt, something completely out of the blue stops me in my tracks. Towards the end of the second lap I felt a twinge in the right calf similar to what I experienced at the beginning of March whilst completing my first ever 24km training run. The only way to describe it is to say that it felt like a major cramp had come and gone and all that was left was the lingering after effects. I stopped and stretched for a bit, then got up and tried jogging, but to no avail. I ended up walking home very much disappointed in this turn of events.

I have no idea why this happened. If this was the result of this past weekend's race then one would think that my Monday recovery run would leave me hobbled. If my near crash after Friday's run (where I really felt spent and I'm sure my muscles were completely out of energy stores) is the culprit then why didn't my calf tighten up during the race? Let's just say I am almost as upset with the fact that I don't know what caused this and, therefore, am powerless to prevent it as I am with the calf issue itself.

In the end I ran a total of 3.1km (2k warm up, 2 intervals at 400m with 200m easy jog in between, and a feeble attempt at more jogging for another 100m or so) in 16:35 for an average pace of 5:22/km. 'Nuff said.

Garmin don't lie.

A Little Morning Race

No, not running, but fun nonetheless (I really just like stringing three words together to make one...). Willpostabout myeveningrun later, butthismorning Malcolm had "bike day" athisdaycare, andsohe challengedmeto a race. He won... Healwayswins...

Easy Recovery Run With Owen

Got out for a nice easy post-race recovery run tonight, and I had a friend join me! Owen said he wanted to go to the track with me, so even though I wasn't planning to run at the track I decided right away that my plans were easy to change. He rode his bike beside me as I jogged to the track and then he ran three laps with me. After each of his laps I would continue running while he rested. He ran the first 400m in 2:34, the second in 2:16, and then I paced him around the third 400m to a very impressive 1:56. He was hurting a little bit towards the end of that last lap with a cramp in his side, but he toughed it out nicely and sprinted to the end! He did that last lap at 4:50/km pace, which was very speedy for the little guy I thought.

In the end I ran one more kilometre than I had planned, but it was a nice easy 6km done in 35:17 for an average pace of 5:52/km (9:27/mile). The average heart rate was definitely in the recovery run zone, registering at 126bpm.

Garmin don't lie.

Toronto 10 Miler Race Report

This morning I participated in my fifth race, ever. This was the Toronto Ten Miler, and I was running it as part of my training for my first marathon. The weather could not have been better, and in the end (despite some apathy and reservations on my part) I had a great time and hit all my goals.

I woke up at 6am and got ready to go with a piece of toast, some Gatorade, and foam rolling, stretching, all that good stuff. Then I got on my bike and rode down to Broadview Subway station, from which I was hoping to catch a streetcar that would conveniently drop me off close to the Start/Finish area. I did all this because I was planning to run a bit after the race to make up some mileage and to cool down, so having a ride back from the race would likely mean no more running. Anyway, when I got to the station just before 7am the streetcar that was supposed to leave on the hour was just arriving. Perfect timing, or so I thought. Instead it sat there for fifteen annoying minutes, all the while me sitting and waiting, wondering if I should just bike all the way down to the race area. Then the streetcar pulled out and I was on my way. A tonne of other runners were getting on at almost every stop so I knew this was the right move.

Once I got to the Start/Finish area I had to go to the SportStats tent to pick up my timing chip. This was the first time in my short experience that the timing chip was not included in the race packet and I thought it added unnecessary complexity to the entire process. It went smoothly enough, however, and all was good. I then went for a 1k warm up, which felt pretty good, and proceeded to line up at the porta-potty line. A couple of non-runners snuck into the line right in front of me, and I stood there wondering how anyone not running the race could possibly feel comfortable standing in line to use washrooms that were clearly set up for the use of runners who'd registered to run the race! I felt like saying, "Give it ten more minutes and you will have no lineup." I didn't get the chance since another runner came by and told us of another washroom, not the portable kind, open and just around the corner. Sweet! Off I went and then I was at the Start area with five minutes to spare.

As usual the crowd was completely disregarding the corral designations and I knew I'd have to weave through traffic for a bit to get clear at the beginning of the race. I made smalltalk with a few other runners for a bit, and then it was time to go.

My goal was to run at my theoretical planned marathon pace: 4:54/km. As I've mentioned in other posts, this is based on my 45-minute 10k best time. In essence I was using this race both as a decent tempo run, and as a test to see if this pace was anywhere near realistic for me. As I started off I had to slow myself way down since the rush of the crowd and those good race feelings made me run way faster than I should have been. By the first kilometre marker I had settled into a nice groove and was feeling good.

Nothing really happened to report on during the race itself other than me not having any sort of technique that works for drinking water or Gatorade out of those paper cups. I crushed, I scrunched, I did everything I could, and yet I continued to spill water all over myself. To avoid having massive colourful stains I walked through the stations the two times I chose Gatorade. In the end those ended up being my slowest splits, though still on target.

Cutting to the chase, here are the splits as recorded by Garmin:

1. 4:48.07
2. 4:46.31
3. 4:50.56
4. 4:53.74
5. 4:52.47
6. 4:52.16
7. 4:54.39 (first Gatorade pause)
8. 4:50.02
9. 4:47.36
10. 4:50.25
11. 4:54.25 (second Gatorade pause)
12. 4:47.53
13. 4:46.04
14. 4:45.97
15. 4:45.16
16. 4:36.37
17. 0:53.80 (3:55/km pace for the last 228m)

The official stats go like this:

• Gun Time: 1:19:09
• Chip Time: 1:17:53
• Pace: 4:50/km (based on Chip Time, 7:47/mile)
• Place Overall: 389/1724
• Gender Place: 314/892
• Category Place: 58/152 (though they had me in the wrong age group)

I then ran back to where I'd locked my bike to make the mileage add up to a total of 21km on the day. This was completed in 1:49:12 of running time for an overall average pace of 5:12/km (8:22/mile). I won't even try to decipher the heart rate, but during the race it pretty much remained steady in the low 160s. I think this was great considering that not so long ago trying to hold this pace would have meant a heart rate up in the mid 170s and, therefore, not tempo range at all. I had a great time, hit all my goals, and it looks like my training is still on track for the marathon.

Now I must off to coach another baseball game!

Garmin don't lie.

10 Miler before the 10 Miler

This post is a day late, but I was so wiped last night that I didn't have the energy to face all that goes into writing about the run (though in reality it's not actually that much, I'll admit). Anyway, I hadn't eaten since noon, then went out for my run without any snack beforehand, not carrying any Gatorade or anything, just running. It was nice to be able to go for 16km without having to fuss with any of that stuff! I still remember how 12k seemed like such an accomplishment and left me completely drained, leg muscles sore as hell. Now when I say "long run" I mean at least 20k.

Anyway, I ran pretty steady, though hit a big hill with about 4k to go, and managed to finish in 1:27:52 for an average pace of 5:29/km (8:50/mile). The heart rate averaged out to 143bpm with a bit of a spike in the 13th kilometre where I hit Beachwood Ave. and decided to try and hold a decent pace rather than preserve my heart rate in the high 130s or low 140s.

By the time I got home, foam rolled, showered, and then sat down to dinner it was 9pm and I was feeling really exhausted, literally falling asleep at the table. In fact, I felt nauseous and could barely get any food down. I forced myself to eat a bit before crawling to bed. This morning I felt much better, though I think I have to be more aware of my nutritional requirements on these runs that last well over an hour in the future. Even if I no longer feel like 16k is a long run, that doesn't mean that my body agrees with me.

Tomorrow morning is the Toronto 10 Miler, and I am so not up for this race. I knew long ago that I would be running this event as a training run, but now I barely seem interested in even doing that. I could just as easily run the distance out of my front door without all the fuss and hubbub that comes with getting to the starting line and crossing the finish, then getting home. Anyway, still unsure of what pace I will be attempting, but I still have that 4:54/km in the back of my mind (my theoretical marathon pace, as fast as that is and as daunting as it seems to me right now). I also noticed in one of the several marathon training plans that I refer to (this time I think it was the FIRST plan for first time marathoners, a handy tool since it sets all the paces based on a 45 minute 10k, pretty much bang on for me) that this week's long run says I should do 13 miles (21k) at 5:07/km pace. Perhaps I will decide to run at this pace instead. Either way I am planning to run home after the race (either nice and easy or at the slightly slower pace noted above, which is still very challenging) to make the mileage add up to something over 20k in total. We'll see how it goes, but now I must off to sleep.

Garmin don't lie.

Surprising Oneself

Sometimes you go into a run not expecting much and spend the hours leading up to the supposed ordeal coming up with alternative plans and justifications for why you might not run the way you were hoping you could. This was one of those times for me, and yet it turned out OK. In fact, it turned out a bit better than OK.

I skipped Mondays regular 5km recovery run because my knees were a bit sore from the Sunday long run and so I'd been itching to run again for a couple of days. That being said, I felt tight, I have not been sleeping well (thanks for nothing Home Run Derby, or should I say Commercial Derby!), and I've been feeling a bit under the weather on top of it all. So as today's interval workout neared I wondered just what I would have to contend with and was resigned to "just get through" and get back to resting and icing.

After looking at the various printouts of marathon training plans on which I loosely base my training I settled on what looked like a decent workout that I thought would be difficult to achieve, but somehow was easy on the brain and achievable for the body. This was to run 3 1-mile repeats with 800m recovery jogs in between. The goal pace was 4:15/km, or roughly 6:51/mile. Given my last two interval workouts I thought that this would be really difficult, but potentially doable. After all I had run 5x800m last week at an average pace of 4:00/km, and the week before that I ran 4x1000m with 1000m meter recovery jogs at an average pace of 4:08/km or so. Moving up in distance (total of 4.8km versus 4.0km) as well as longer interval distances I thought that slowing down to 4:15/km pace was reasonable. That being said, I was feeling a bit worn out and somewhat wonky in the knees. My quads felt tight, glutes ditto, calves yup yup yup. "This is going to hurt," I thought to myself as I left the house once getting back from work.

But then the surprise part started. The easy warm up jog over to the track felt pretty good, though not exactly speedy, and by the time I got to the track I was more optimistic than when I left. I dropped my water bottle on the grass and started into my first interval. The sky was overcast and threatening a bit of rain. A girls soccer game was going on and lots of people and dogs were milling about, but they seemed respectful of the three or four runners who were out there with me and stayed clear. After the first 400m I checked the trusty old Garmin and saw that my pace was hovering a little below 4:00/km pace, much faster than I thought I was going. I said, "Oh Oh!" and wondered how the rest of the mile would go, let alone the other two that I still had in front of me.

The impending doom never happened. I completed the first mile repeat pretty gassed, but not as much as one would expect. I slowly jogged the 800m recovery, dropped the water bottle again, and set off with a mind to running the next mile in the same time. After the second one I was really gassed. That last 400m was really tough. I had to walk the first bit of the 800m recovery jog and told myself that I only had one more interval to go. I knew it would hurt, but at least then I'd be done. Rain had started falling by this time, but it wasn't heavy enough to matter. In fact I'd wished for it to just open up and cool me off, but to no avail. As I started into the last interval I knew it would be a battle to the end, but was determined to get'er done. Here are the surprising results:

1. 6:19 (3:57/km)
2. 6:22 (3:58/km)
3. 6:20 (for some reason this shows up as 3:56/km on the Garmin data)

Not bad. (Though thinking back to my 5k race back in May that 4:15/km pace is only one second faster than race pace, so perhaps I was just a little too pessimistic in my predictions.) The entire 10km took me 52:54 for an average pace of 5:17/km (8:31/mile). Next up is a long easy run on Friday and then the Toronto 10 Miler race on Sunday morning. Wouldn't it be nice for another surprise to happen then?

Garmin don't lie.

Tough Long Run

After travelling back home yesterday, and spending the better part of the afternoon once we got back unpacking and cleaning up, I was totally wiped and looked forward to a good night of sleep. Once again, however, I ended up totally awake and exhausted at 3am, unable to get back to sleep. So, once I finally got out of bed at a late 8:30am, I had a headache and was not looking forward to my long run.

The weather, though, was perfect. No humidity, a nice breeze, and sunny. I told myself to just get the distance under my belt and that pace really didn't matter on this day. The long runs, or so I am told, are the most important to do during marathon training since they prepare both the body and the mind to stay out for a long period of time running. Eventually I will have to stay out there for well over three hours, but today would be the first time during this training cycle (and only and third time ever) that I would be running for over two hours non-stop.

I strapped on my two bottles, one with Gatorade, the other with water, and finally got out the door a little after 9am. I decided to just run and not think about what was to come: the pain, the mental agony and potential boredom, and all that. I do not run with any music and find that the less "stuff" I have to bring along the better. Even two water bottles was more than I would have liked to carry along, but I had no idea if I would be passing by any water fountains on my way.

I ran down to the Don Valley Trail system and headed south with the idea of running out onto the Leslie Spit since the 10 miler I will be racing next Sunday includes this loop. I didn't know if it would be open given that Toronto is currently experiencing a major strike among all outdoor and indoor City workers, but when I arrived at the entrance I was pleased to see that it was indeed open. The run was tough, as the title states, but I tried my best to stay positive and just keep running. Once I completed the loop I had a pretty long uphill climb on the way home and this was definitely the toughest part of the run.

In the end I managed to complete the 24km in 2:14:12 for an average pace of 5:35/km (8:59/mile). The average heart rate ended up at 145bpm, which was good. I passed the Half-Marathon point in 1:57:44.

Also, I achieved a new mileage milestone this week completing 51km. It's crazy to think that I managed only 64km in all of May, and yet I am now closing in on that in a one week period. Next week I will drop the distance a little bit I think as I head into the Toronto 10 Miler. I will try and use the race as a tempo training run and will have to think hard about the pace I want to achieve. I'm thinking 4:54/km, which is the theoretical marathon pace that I should be able to achieve based on my 10k best time. We'll see...

Garmin don't lie.

Another Tempo Attempto

Last run in the County before heading back home to the Big Smoke, and it was a bit rough. The 3am wake up for some inexplicable reason didn't help. I simply could not get back to sleep. Then, just before dawn, about a billion species of birds decided to try and outdo one another in chirping and my attempts at getting more sleep were all in vain. I think I got about a half hour of broken shuteye at around 7am, but when I finally dragged myself out of bed at 8am I was completely exhausted.

However, running was on the menu for the morning and I didn't want to miss my tempo run, as much as I am beginning to dread these particular workouts. They are tough physically, but even more so mentally. As I started out at a light jog I was pretty worried about my ability to do what I set out to do. What was that, you might ask? Well, I wanted to run 10k at between 4:50 and 4:55/km pace. This was slower than last week's tempo, but I didn't want to stop at 5k and then tack on more mileage later in the run the way I was forced to back then.

So, after 2k warm up, I picked up the pace. The weather was great, nice and sunny, and at the beginning the wind was pretty non-existent. I was feeling not too bad, actually, and ran a bit faster than anticipated. According to a couple of things I've been checking out on the web, and based on my roughly 45-minute 10k PR, my target tempo pace is 4:40 - 4:48/km. I decided to try and hold as close to the upper limit of this range as possible and kept on chugging along. The first few kilometres flew by nicely, but when I turned south the wind hit me straight in the face and the going got tougher. At one point I also had to pass by a massive manure pile that was part of this mushroom growing business and, let me tell you, I almost gagged a few times. I thanked the wind at the time since it probably helped a lot in getting rid of the smell. Also, the fact that it was in my face meant that as soon as I passed by the site the smell was gone and didn't linger.

However, all of this, and the fact that the Sun was getting hotter, meant that my run was getting more and more difficult. By the time I hit the 5k mark of the tempo portion I was just hoping to hold on for 8k and forgot about trying to complete 10k at tempo pace. All that being said, I failed only on one interval (though on the last one I pretty much had to give it all I had over the last half kilometre just to get it back down into the desired range):

1. 4:47 (7:42/mile)
2. 4:45 (7:40/mile)
3. 4:42 (7:34/mile)
4. 4:48 (7:44/mile)
5. 4:46 (7:40/mile)
6. 4:48 (7:44/mile)
7. 4:54 (7:53/mile)
8. 4:47 (7:40/mile)

I ran a couple of really slow kilometres at the end to complete the 12km in 1:03:17 at an average pace of 5:16/km (8:29/mile). The tempo portion averaged out to 4:47/km, or about 7:40/mile, which was right on target despite the blip in the second last split where I was totally dying. Next up is another long run on Sunday morning. We'll be back in Toronto by then. Have a great weekend everyone!

Garmin don't lie.

Back Road Intervals

Went out for another run along the country roads of the County, this time attempting some interval type training. I decided to run up and down the gravel road that leads to the cottage we are borrowing since that would mean no dog encounters (or so I figured).

I ran 2k to warm up and then started into my planned 800m intervals with 500m easy jogging in between. I wanted to do five sets and then have another 2k of cool down at the end to complete the intended 10k run. My goal was to run the 800s at 4:00/km pace, so 3:15-ish for each rep or so. The hills along the road, as well as the loose gravel under foot, made this even more challenging. Also, the two ladies that came and stopped on the side of the road with their two big dogs meant that I had to go out onto the main road for the last two reps (no leashes, so no Vava). The stats went like this:

1. 3:20 (4:10/km)
2. 3:09 (3:55/km)
3. 3:15 (4:02/km)
4. 3:11 (3:57/km)
5. 3:09 (3:55/km)

Other than the first split I think it went as planned. I was a bit tight and relatively tired when heading out before breakfast, still yawning occasionally during the warm up. That, and the hills I encountered along the gravelly road, perhaps explains the miss on that first 800m.

Next up is another tempo run on Friday. These I find the toughest to get up for, mentally speaking.

Garmin don't lie.

First Run in Prince Edward County

The IPhone tethering is working, though the network here at the cottage is slow as molasses. As a result, this is more of a test than a real post and will be short.

After a day of hanging out at the beach with the boys I took off before dinner for my regular recovery 5k along the country roads of Prince Edward County. I've never run along roads like these and everything went fine with one exception. As I was running along one of the main roads I passed by what looked like a perfectly nice sideroad and decided to run in that direction. All good, except for the two dogs that came out at me in two different spots! One was about the size of my shoe, so that was OK. The other was a big German Shepherd, and it scared the crap out of me. I dreaded running back along the same road on my out-and-back, let me tell you, but there was no repeat occurrence.

The run was 5km completed in 29:33 for an average pace of 5:54/km (9:30/mile). That's it...

Garmin don't lie.

Sunny Sunday Morning Run

Since we are still in Ottawa I had an opportunity to run once more along the Rideau Canal. This time, it was my long run that I had to complete and I wasn't exactly sure of how my times I'd have to go around to complete the distance so I just started off and decided to go as far as I could towards downtown before having to turn around.

The run started off OK, but within the first five kilometres I could tell that it would be a mental and physical struggle all the way. I wanted to keep a nice even pace and figured that I should be able to complete the planned distance in just under two hours if I went a bit faster than my usual long run pace. I hit the turnaround point still on track, but this was nowhere near halfway and I was a bit worried about keeping going all the way to the end.

All that being said I did succeed. I managed the 22km in 1:59:20 for an average pace of 5:25/km (8:43/mile). As I passed the Half Marathon point I checked the watch and it showed 1:54 and change, which is nice for a training run. The heart rate averaged out to 146bpm, and I'm happy with that overall. The biggest obstacle I had today was my legs - they felt very heavy and hurt most of the time. Not the knees so much, but the muscles. I thought this would be a bit of a recovery week and didn't think I'd run anywhere near the mileage that I did last week, but in the end this week's total was only 1k shy of last week's 45km so I guess I didn't get a break after all. In two weeks I have a ten miler race and perhaps that will be a good time to scale the mileage back and try and use the race as a good tempo run workout.

Today we are off to a cottage for a week and Internet access may be scarce, if at all available. I hope that my IPhone tethering works there, but no guarantees so blog postage may take a week off as well.

Garmin don't lie.

Tough Tempo

I think that my diet while on holidays, which has included copious amounts of ice cream, lots of red wine with dinners, and other transgressions too numerous to mention, has led to a kind of lethargy that I haven't experienced before and don't particularly like. This morning's run was a perfect example of what I am talking about.

The plan was to run at tempo pace for 8k of my 12k run. Last week I ran 5k in the desired 4:40 - 4:48/km pace range, but could not muster any more. I really wanted to get the benefits of a good tempo run and figure that I need to do at least 8 kilometres and would like to stretch to to many more over the course of the summer.

When I headed out my knees felt a bit tight and I, as usual, questioned my ability to run any faster than easy pace. After two kilometres, however, I felt loose enough to up the pace into the tempo range and took off. It was cool and raining the entire time and perhaps this also contributed to what happened next as much as the diet to which I referred earlier. As I glanced down at my Garmin I noticed that my pace was faster than 4:40/km pace and, to my utter surprise, it felt pretty easy! This was great, I thought, and just kept on chugging along. Through the second split I was still feeling good. Third split, ditto. Fourth split, not so much. I started to really hurt and it was all I could do just to get through 5k. Here are the splits for these 5 kilometres:

1. 4:35 (7:24/mile)
2. 4:23 (7:04/mile)
3. 4:22 (7:02/mile)
4. 4:25 (7:07/mile)
5. 4:34 (7:21/mile)

Right after these 5k I had to stop to catch my breath. No way could I have kept running and so I stood there in the rain, clinging onto the railing that kept me from falling straight into the Canal and my inevitable demise should the railing have given way. The rain kept on falling, but I barely noticed it. I had a notion to just call it quits and walk home, but after a couple of minutes pride got the better of me and I started jogging again. It was painful, and slow.

After a couple of kilometres at an easy pace I decided to try and run three more at something resembling a decent pace to at least add up the tempo splits to the desired 8k. It was tough, but I did manage three more:

1. 4:51 (7:48/mile)
2. 4:54 (7:54/mile)
3. 4:50 (7:47/mile)

Not fast enough, but at least the heart rate was in the right zone to get the tempo-ish benefits. The average pace for the tempo splits ended up being still too fast: 4:36/km (7:25/mile). Incidentally, this is what I'd have to hold to BQ if I ever get to that major milestone to actually attempt it. The entire run ended up being 12km completed in 1:00:11 for a very satisfying, and somehow lucky, 5:00/km (8:03/mile). It was a tough run, and the heart rate bears this out: 156bpm average with a max of 175bpm. I had trouble catching my breath, and felt like I was completely out of gas. I think the diet is the key and I have to get off the sugar train for a bit here, cut down on the coffee and wine, and try and drink way more water. Here's hoping Sunday's long run goes better than this one.

Garmin don't lie.

Happy Canada Day!

A short post for Canada Day since I managed to get a run in this morning, and the rest of the day will likely be fairly busy what with the little ones all jazzed about our country's Birthday and all.

I couldn't find the tape I use to support my knee as I rummaged through my stuff this morning and was a bit hesitant to go running at all without it. However, with stores being closed today, I didn't want to let this little oversight keep me from my run. I figured I could just go for an easy run and forget doing any speed work if my knee was feeling off. I did skip Monday's easy recovery run partly because we were travelling that day, and partly because I thought that my knee could use the rest after a milestone week as far as mileage went. As result, I had no idea how my body would react and headed out nice and easy.

I ran towards the Canal and slowly started loosening up. By the time I hit the path that runs beside the Canal I decided that I would try and do some faster 1k intervals with easy 1k recovery jogs in between. No real plan, just go faster than 10k race pace was what I was hoping for. I guess that was a good goal because in the end I had a great run. The intervals looked like this:

1. 4:15.93 (6:51/mile)
2. 4:06.55 (6:36/mile)
3. 4:07.43 (6:38/mile)
4. 4:05.59 (6:35/mile)

It was definitely a tough workout, and the pacing in the recovery jogs just kept getting slower and slower, but I'm glad that I was able to do some speed work after all. In the end the entire run amounted to 10km in 53:41.34 for an average pace of 5:22/km (8:38/mile). Next up is a tempo run on Friday. This run also puts me over 600km for the year, which is nice. I should be well over 700km by the end of July if things go as planned.

Garmin don't lie.