Baby Got Setback

I suppose this was inevitable given the way things were going, but it still disappoints me very much to post yet another report of my general wonkiness. After my tough PMP run on Sunday, wherein it was made clear that a BQ pace at this time is simply not possible, I was feeling a bit run down on Monday. This was OK since Monday is an day off from running and I was just going to the gym for my regular routine of leg weights that I've been calling "maintenance" and keeping rather on the light side.

Things were fine for the whole session until I got to the last set of Adductors. Two or three reps into the last set I felt a twinge and pulled the chute. I wish I'd never started that last set! Of course, hind sight is blah blah blah and all that, but really the signs were there if I'd looked. My lower abs had been rather tight on the right side for a long time. It didn't stop me from running because it didn't affect it, but I guess what it did do was prevent me from stretching appropriately each evening. Coupled with how busy things have gotten since May with all of the boys' baseball games and such keeping us out until late each night, affecting my diet to the negative and making it very difficult to get proper sleep, and I really did not manage to stay on the stretching routine whatsoever.

Ultimately, my groin gave out. I am hobbled to say the least and just trying to think of the positives as I missed my first run of the 18-week training plan this morning (16km General Aerobic) and will likely be missing more. I can't move my leg in almost any direction without pain, some of it mild, some of it completely debilitating. When I bike the saddle presses against a particularly sore spot and I'm guessing that what I have created is some sort of tendon strain wherever the muscles of the groin attach to the pelvis. Putting on shoes while sitting down is damn near impossible! Lifting my leg up onto the bike pedal likewise. Sneezing hurts like hell.

Anyway, it is what it is. The only positive I can take out of this is that the pain I've been experiencing in my heels will now be given a chance to fix itself. Perhaps another is that this happened early enough in the marathon training cycle and, if this proves to be a relatively short recovery period, I shouldn't lose too much fitness. I'll still continue to go to the gym for upper body weights since doing nothing always infuriates me to no end. This is not one of those injuries that I can even contemplate running through, and I've run through a lot of different ailments.

It's the start of what can only be called a "holding pattern" until the pain goes away. Then I'll be faced with the decision on whether to jump back into the training plan or work my way back up more conservatively.

Let's Just Call That "Interesting"

Well, I have completed my first PMP run of the training cycle and, like the title of this post intimates, it was interesting...

Yesterday I managed a nice 8km recovery run, although it was a bit too fast (averaged 5:18/km) for recovery purposes. I had to get back in time to allow Monica to go to an appointment and I was a bit late given that Owen and I lined up outside our local library at 7:20am to get free passes to the Toronto Zoo. We were 6th in line for a 9am opening and there were only 5 passes for each venue to be had so we figured we were in time to get our Zoo passes. When the doors finally opened guess what happened? Yup, Murphy struck again and all five people in front of us wanted the Zoo passes so we were SOL. I grabbed a pass to the Royal Ontario Museum and left rather disappointed as you can imagine.

Anyway, that was yesterday. Today was the first Planned Marathon Pace run of the 18-week cycle. 21km total with 13km at what I figured would be a good test of my preferred marathon pace, that being 4:30/km, also known as BQ pace. From the first step I knew this would be an interesting venture as I felt stiff and sore, my heels were aching, and I was not particularly energetic. I ran the first four kilometres down to the Lakeshore and proceeded to go at PMP around the Leslie Spit. I wore my heart rate monitor chest strap for the first time in forever just to see what 4:30/km pace would do to me.

The first few splits were done without too much trouble, but it wasn't exactly a breeze. The only breeze was the constant one in my face no matter in which direction I was running. My stomach started to feel bad within the first few kilometres and I was just hoping to hold on until the end. Unfortunately, at the 12km mark I had to make my first stop. Not a washroom break, but all of a sudden I developed an awful stitch in my side that felt like what I can only imagine a rusty steak knife being slowly inserted into my oblique. I waited a couple of minutes while eating some Sharkies and then started running again. That's really when I felt my right Achilles. I guess it tightened up while I was resting.

Anyway, the other problem after that stop was the my stomach started to really hurt. I knew a washroom break was required and so ran towards the boardwalk hoping that the beach house would be open. Indeed it was when I got there at the 15.5km mark and I made a rather long pit stop before starting up again with more stiffness and soreness than before.

Having finished the 13km of PMP at the 17km mark I still had 4km to go before I got home. These last splits were super slow and painful. In the end I was just happy to be done.

Although I can't call this a success, it was instructive. I think 4:30/km pace is simply too fast for me and I have to re-evaluate my training paces as a result. Here are the splits from my PMP section along with my Heart Rate:

1. 4:27:51, 149bpm
2. 4:29:11, 154bpm
3. 4:31:46, 158bpm
4. 4:29:47, 160bpm
5. 4:29:27, 161bpm
6. 4:30:95, 164bpm
7. 4:29.13, 166bpm
8. 4:30:96, 167bpm (break due to side stitch after this split)
9. 4:29:38, 155bpm
10.4:29:45, 166bpm
11. 4:27:65, 166bpm
12. 4:35:47, 164bpm (washroom break halfway through this split)
13. 4:27:95, 162bpm

Clearly my Heart Rate was too high to call this marathon pace. Ideally I think it should be in the 150s, so hanging in the mid 160s for much of the time is a sign that I was going too fast. Of course, it could be the result of other factors, such as lack of sleep and the cumulative training effect taking its toll. Either way, I am disappointed that I had to stop twice in the middle and that is the clearest sign of all that I was pressing too hard.

Like the title says, it was interesting. If I didn't call it that I'd be left with the undesirable label of "failure", so I'll leave it at that and move on...

Technical Issues

I HATE when stuff that you expect to just work doesn't. Whether it's my ankle or some other body part, or my bike when I rely on it every single day, or my computer at work/home when I need it to, you know, do important things like upload Garmin data from my morning run.

I'm of the opinion that a training run is not actually complete until it's been uploaded to Garmin Connect and scrutinized appropriately for it's intricacies and nuances. Oh yeah, look at the split at 12km and the elevation at the same point in time. THAT'S why it's 15sec/km slower than my average. Huh!

Anyway, a couple of days ago some malware attacked my work computer and, poof, all my stuff went bye bye. Luckily, as any good information professional is want to do, I lost nothing because it's all backed up. I'm still struggling with making the computer the same as it was before the bug hit, but at least the major disruption lasted only about half a day.

This morning my Internet connection at home was down when I returned from my 16km General Aerobic run and tried to upload my data to the aforementioned Garmin Connect website. This was much more frustrating for some reason than the work computer being affected by that malware. I did not have time to diagnose the issue and/or find a solution. Therefore, my data is stuck on my Garmin where it is next to useless. I like to keep things up to date and this is screwing up my neurotic tendencies.

I realize that in the end this is a really minor thing. In fact, running as a form of exercise should be possible without electronic tracking gadgets and such, but part of the appeal are the endless stats that my training generates. Without those I think my motivation to continue would very quickly dissipate. And that's a scary thought. Like I said, running SHOULD be possible without electronic gadgets. It just isn't for me right now.

So, when I get home tonight my Internet connection better be up and happy or I'm going to be down and grumpy.

All I remember from my quick check of the Garmin as I deleted that last lap of 3m to make the stats nice and clean (I already mentioned my neurosis for stats, right?) was that it took me 1hr21m and change to finish, I included a bunch of hills in the Beaches as usual, and my average pace was right in the proper zone at 5:07/km. Once I get those stats into Garmin Connect I'll be able to verify.

Until then, my run seems frustratingly incomplete...

Trying Strides Again

This morning I went out for another General Aerobic run of 13km in length that was to include 10x100m Strides. Last Tuesday when I attempted this type of session I messed up on several fronts so my goal for today was to pace things appropriately and run the Strides with the right level of intensity since my left quad is still bothering me a bit after I overdid things the last time out.

I decided to avoid the hills in the Beaches to give the quad a break since I think part of the problem last week was doubling up hills with speed work. Instead I ran around a small section of the neighbourhood surrounding the track so that I wouldn't mess up on my total distance again. It was a bit boring running up and down the same short sections of streets all over the place, but my primary goal was achieved as I made it to the track with about 800m to spare before getting into the Strides. I ran a couple of laps and then proceeded to repeat 100m of something resembling Strides because I felt that going all the way up to an all out sprint would not do my leg very well. Instead, I just wanted to push myself to a high leg turnover and I didn't actually care how fast I was going.

I'm happy to say that everything went according to plan. I ran the first 10km within the confines of the General Aerobic pace range (managing to keep things really steady right around 5:04/km other than the first kilometre, which I typically run slowly and use as a warm up). The overall average for the entire run, including the strides, ended up being 5:03/km. The only thing I had to contend with is massive stomach pains towards the end of the Strides and on the last 2km run home. Too much red meat eaten too late the night before was the culprit I suspect. But such is life when you have to drive nearly two hours to get your 9 year-old to a regular season baseball game (which, luckily, his team won in a tight 10-8 contest).

Now I am so exhausted I have trouble believing that I will make it through the workday without passing out at my desk. When I feel like this even caffeine doesn't help.

Oh well. Marathon training isn't supposed to be relaxing...

Week 1 Is In The Bag!

The easiest week of marathon training is now officially behind me! I'm not as excited as that sentence may lead you to believe. My left quad is still sore from those pesky Strides and I have a bit of pain in each heel that slowly goes away throughout the day, but is a definitely debilitating when I first wake up. More rolling and stretching is required, and I think I need to start paying more attention to my diet.

This morning was the last run of the week and I had planned out the 19km route I'd run for my Medium Long effort. The key on this one was to stay in the proper pace range the entire time and follow Pfitzinger's instructions to start out 20% slower than planned marathon pace and speed up until you do the second half of the run 10% slower than planned marathon pace.

Although not perfect I think I managed quite nicely, thank you very much. My average pace ended up being 5:03/km (definitely between 4:57/km and 5:24/km) as I finished my 19km in exactly 1:36:00. All this despite the fact that I included some hills in my run, so that makes it even better:

The climbing and descending meant that my pace wasn't very steady. The 1st and 9th splits were too slow (5:42 and 5:26 respectively), but given that the first one is a warm up and the ninth was up a steep hill for a big chunk I'll take it. I also went a bit too fast on a few splits, but all except the last kilometre were only a few seconds faster than 4:57/km and these were as a result of some downhill running as I was trying to hold back without braking too much. The last split was the fastest of the lot at 4:43 as I was trying to just get home by then.

In summary, the Week 1 plan called for 52km total and I ran 53km since I messed up the first run. And other than the first run I was on target with my pacing for the most part. Good times!

Recovery Run Done Right?

The challenge for me, it would seem, is in keeping my runs within the prescribed pace ranges. I already failed on the very first run of this training cycle and ran too fast. As a result I am paying a bit for my mistake with more soreness than I'd really like given that I'm only JUST starting the 18 weeks of training.

Anyway, today was a good little test of my ability to go at the right rate of speed. The plan called for a six kilometre recovery run and that meant I had to stay between 5:27/km and 5:46/km. Well, here's how I did:

1. 6:06 (nice and slow to start, patting self on the back)
2. 5:46 (alright!)
3. 5:38 (keep on truckin')
4. 5:13 (oh oh)
5. 5:20 (a bit better, but still too fast)
6. 5:21 (slow the hell down already!)

My average pace for the 6km run ended up being 5:34/km, so that was good. But I don't know if I can call this a successful recovery run given that the last half was quite a bit faster than it should have been. What's the standard for deciding whether a recovery run was "done right"?

I guess I'm happy with the fact that the average pace was in the desired range, but a bit disappointed in going too fast on the back end despite my efforts to slow down.

Tomorrow brings the first Medium Long run and I'll be, once again, trying to succeed both on distance and pace. Stay tuned...

Number Two, Success Through Pain

I can't believe how sore my legs are after my first run of this marathon training cycle! It's a bit worrisome actually. But at least it served to keep me honest on my second training run...

The plan called for a General Aerobic run of 14km and that's exactly what I did. Lest we forget, and I do this only to hammer home the idea that these General Aerobic runs should NOT be hard, the pace range was supposed to be 4:57-5:24/km.

How did I come up with this you ask? Well, Pfitzinger says these runs should be done at 10-20% slower pace than planned marathon pace. I'm still going under the assumption that I am training for a 3h10m marathon (BQ for those not in the know) until my running dictates otherwise and that puts my marathon pace at 4:30/km. 10% slower is 4:57/km. 20% slower is 5:24/km. And I'm sure that the universal Bob is also your Uncle...

Anyway, the run was good all things considered, but my quads hurt from those silly Strides. The pace for this run ended up being 5:07/km, right in the middle of where I wanted to be. I did not go down to the Beaches and run hills, for obvious reasons, but I did have to climb out of the Don Valley up Beechwood Drive so there was one challenging climb in the run. The elevation profile looked like this:

Now I have a day off tomorrow, a short recovery run on Saturday, and then my first Medium Long run on Sunday which will be more than manageable at 19km. I'm still debating on whether or not I will manage leg weights tomorrow, though I'd really like to keep doing two sessions per week as much as possible. Today it's more upper body stuff, that's for sure.

And lastly, what happened in Vancouver last night is horribly embarrassing to the 99.9% of the populations who are not complete idiots. What a bunch of assholes. And for all of you dumb people who posed in front of burning cars and destroyed shop fronts I hope you are waking up today suitably ashamed. What the Hell were you so proud of? The fact that you can say "I was there"? I'm happy to say that I wasn't.

Run One Down, First Screw Ups

So, marathon training Week 1 is off and "running", pun intended. Monday was a cross-training day and I went to the gym to do some basic leg weights. It was good and I fully intend to keep up the weight training routine throughout the next 18 weeks. I think that gives me the best chance to stay injury free.

This morning was the first actual run of the training plan and the idea was to run for a total of thirteen kilometres at a General Aerobic pace (4:57-5:24/km, 7:58-8:41/mile average) with 10x100m Strides thrown in for good measure.

I think I screwed it up on three fronts.

One, I ran too far as I misjudged my distance down to the Beaches and back up to the track and ended up running a total of 14km. Not a big deal and I can always drop one kilometre from an upcoming recovery run to stay on track mileage wise.

Two, I had no idea how much Strides can take out of you! By the time I got to the sixth repetition, and this with taking nice long walk breaks to get back to the start of the straightaway at the track, my left quad was starting to hurt! Not only that, but I am now feeling things in other parts of my body as well that don't bode well for the future. I think I ran these 100m repetitions too hard. I'll have to watch that. And...

Three, my average pace for the run was too fast! It ended up being 4:48/km with the Strides, but before I even started in on those reps I noticed that the Garmin showed my average pace for the first 11km was 4:53/km (7:43/mile). And that's with some hills coming back up from Queen Street in the Beaches!

Time to check the ego at the door and slow the Hell down or I'll never make it.

The End of Recovery. The Start of Marathon Training.

It's finally here! I am 18-weeks out from what will be my second marathon and I am staring in the face of a real marathon training plan for the first time. Although Pete Pfitzinger has thrown a small wrench into the spokes of my nicely crafted Excel spreadsheet I am moving forward. More on that little hiccup later, but first the end of my "Recovery" period...

On Saturday I ran a nice easy 6km recovery jog early in the morning as I knew the rest of the day would be packed with activities. Boy was I right! First, coaching Malcolm's baseball game at 9am. Then escorting the entire team for their snacks of hot dogs and such as a courtesy of the league before heading home to prep for our journey downtown to the Blue Jays game (wherein we sat through a Red Sox thrashing, but did get to see an infielder, Mike McCoy, come in to pitch a scoreless 9th marking only the fifth time in team history that a non-pitcher was used in this role, so that was kind of cool).

After the game we walked around downtown and I picked up the second edition of Pete Pfitzinger's book Advanced Marathoning (more foreshadowing to the aforementioned wrench in the spokes). To cap off the day we all went out for a great Indian food dinner at a nice restaurant before dragging our tired butts back home.

On Sunday morning I went out for my last run prior to starting marathon training and just wanted to have fun and not care about pace. It was largely successful as the weather was perfect, cool and still, and I managed to just run the 16.5km on feel. I incorporated some of the now familiar hills in the Beaches, but they were not all that taxing. I remain committed to including hills in my running at the cost of slower average pace for the sake of variety and to improve my leg strength. We'll see how this will work as I attempt to follow what for me will be a challenging training cycle mileage and intensity wise.

And now onto the Plan...

I had mapped out the 18-week training cycle based on the first (and what I thought was the only) edition of Pfizinger's book. When I picked up the second edition (and the second hyperlink!) this weekend I was surprised to see that things were slightly modified! In what way, you may ask? Well,

• 6 Lactate Threshold runs versus 5
• 7 VO2 Max workouts versus 6
• 5 Marathon Specific Pace runs versus 2

And the first run of the first week, which in the first edition is a General Aerobic + Speed session, has been changed to Lactate Threshold. Right out of the gate they have you hauling ass! Well, I made the changes to my training plan with the exception of that first training run. I am keeping that as General Aerobic + Speed, thank you very much.

The weekly mileage remains similar to the original plan, but the intensity definitely goes up a bit. I think this is good and hope that my body can hold up to both. I'm looking forward to getting going, although I must admit a bit of nervousness. How will the next 18-weeks go for me? Will I be successful in staying healthy and fitting everything in while maintaining my commitments to my family and work? Will I be able to do the tough runs while on vacation out of town during the heaviest mileage and intensity portion of the Plan? And what target pace will fall out of all of this for my actual race - something less than stellar, something that gives me a more than legitimate shot at the World Geezer Record, or (and I'm restraining maniacal laughter as I type this) that illusive BQ, whether the 2012 version (3hr15m) or the 2013 (3hr10m)?

It remains to be seen. Let the journey begin!

A Tale Of Two Runs

Well, that felt better. I realize that it was not nearly as hot this morning as it was on Wednesday morning. I also did not run the night before in hot and humid conditions. But it's amazing how two pretty much exactly the same runs can feel so different just two days apart. (I also realize that the last sentence was a terrible piece of writing, but I think you get my point so WTF!) This morning I ran 15km and did NOT have to stop to catch my breath at the tops of two climbs like I did on Wednesday morning. And, in the end, my run was much more satisfying not because I held a faster pace, but because I was able to traverse those same hills with energy to spare. Sure they were still tough, but nowhere near as daunting as they had been just two days ago. The best thing is that I left the house later today than I did on Wednesday and arrived home earlier.

On the left is today's effort. On the right is Wednesday's. The numbers, thanks to Garmin, do not lie.

My Plan for Following a Marathon Training Plan

Last year when I trained for and eventually completed my first marathon I did not follow any specific marathon training plan. Instead, I chose to stay the course that began the previous November and simply added mileage each month while taking a down week after every three weeks of higher mileage. I did throw in the odd 800m repeats at the track, and I can't really remember doing any tempo work at all. Mostly I just ran slow.

It worked because I finished the race. It failed because I bonked at 32K and struggled the rest of the way. What it all amounted to was me going into the marathon without a clear idea of what my proper pace should have been. In retrospect, I ran too aggressively and paid for it. Being sick as a dog the week of the race didn't help so I might have hit that proverbial "Wall" anyway, but ultimately I was not prepared to run at an appropriate pace commensurate with my fitness level and degree of preparation. My hopes of breaking 3h30m were dashed once my right hamstring cramped up and that was that.

This year I am (hopefully) wiser and have more mileage under my belt as I once again stare down the long barrel of an 18-week marathon training cycle that commences on Monday. Although I'd planned since last year to go for a BQ at the Waterfront Marathon this October the fine folks at the BAA decided to throw a wrench into my plans (and the plans of many others I suspect) by lowering the BQ standard by five minutes. I have no delusions of being able to run a 3h10m marathon this year. Even 3h15m is a stretch based on my Half Marathon result this May (typing that into McMillan's Running calculator renders a marathon finishing time of 3h16m40s). But I do know that as I train using the Pete Pfitzinger 18-55 plan my pacing strategy will come into focus and I will (hopefully) parlay that into a successful race. I will define success not solely on my finishing time, but more so by my ability to execute a race strategy so that I am running across the finish line and not hobbling. I know I've said that my goal is to beat this guy's world record, and that is definitely still on, but if my training dictates that I can run faster I will go for it.

The other variables that Pfitzinger does not consider is hill training and weight training. Although all of the weeks have at least two cross-training days, which I plan to use for leg weights, the others are devoted simply to running. I plan on continuing my upper body weights throughout the work week while completing the prescribed runs. Also, as far as hills go, I plan on finding hilly parts of the city to run on during all of the General Aerobic runs and incorporating hills here and there into all or most of the Medium Long and Long runs. Since my target marathon is not hilly I will do the rest on flatter ground and certainly run the Planned Marathon Pace prep runs that way as well. I'm thinking that training on hills will make a flat marathon that much easier and will serve to strengthen both my legs and my lungs.

We'll see how it goes. I am a bit apprehensive despite the fact that I have more than the requisite base mileage under my belt to start this plan. I'll be going from averaging 56km/week for this year up to almost 72km/week for this 18-week period. Yikes! You can tell why I chose the 18-55 plan and not the 18-70 plan, that's for sure.

In any case, I look forward to having a true guide for this training cycle which comes from something other than my brain. Before I was just concerned with staying healthy. Now that I have some semblance of fitness and confidence in my body's ability to withstand the mileage I am pleased to take my cues from a running expert, even if this expert just comes in book/online form.

Recovery Week My Foot!

So, this is supposed to be my last easy week given that marathon training starts on Monday. But apparently I don't know the meaning of "recovery" or "easy" since I am feeling it from all the running and stuff. Add to that the higher temperatures, lack of sleep, and constant go-go-go non stop work and family obligations and you have yourself a recipe for one tired runner.

After the weekend of baseball where we got home very late on Sunday after the boys lost in a tight Semi-Final battle following two extremely closely contested games just to get there I was wiped starting the work week. Monday was OK given that all I had on tap was leg weights, which I managed at lunchtime. Monday evening brought baseball practice for Owen so the boys and I trekked across town and back, getting home quite late yet again. Once more I had trouble sleeping.

Tuesday morning my alarm went off at 5:15am and I awoke to the sounds of driving rain, lightning and thunder. As I contemplated going out for my run I convinced myself that this was still recovery time and that I would have time to run later, perhaps during warm ups prior to yet another of Owen's baseball games.

Well, that's what I did. What I didn't count on was the heat and humidity! +29C (84.2F) doesn't sound so bad, but when the humidity brings that up into the mid 30sC (high 90sF) this Canadian is still not used to it! I ran around Markham and felt like a fish out of water. This town is not made for runners and is your typical suburbia hell where sidewalks are sparse, end without rhyme or reason, and subdivisions are enclosed by major roads and highways trapping you into running around in circles in front of houses dominated by garages that seem more important to the structures than the living space itself, which I can only assume exists and is relegated somewhere to the back of the compound.*

I did manage to jump a fence at a golf course at about the 8km mark to take a leak in a porto-potty and it was a tough slog from beginning to end. I probably ran faster than I should have on what turned out to be 11km (4:57/km, 7:58/mile) and definitely felt the effects of dehydration afterwards. I polished off my water bottle really fast and was upset to find that the water fountain in behind home plate was not functioning! What a joke. Needless to say we got home really late and were eating dinner at 10pm. Not good for sleeping...

This morning I woke up again to the sounds of my alarm radio at 5:15am and had a tough time getting out of bed. I managed to be out and running at a little past 5:30am, but could tell this was going to be one of those days. You know how sometimes you feel like you are going to have a bad run and things turn out really well? This happens to me all the time, but this morning was NOT one of those times. I felt like it would be tough going and it ended up being tougher than I expected.

I ran down to the Beaches and out to the end of the Boardwalk before hitting some of the hilly streets on my way back home. Well, it was warm and humid already and I was forced to take a short break up Lee Avenue, then another at the top of the very steep Brookside Drive. The last three of four kilometres were a slow and difficult mess as I shuffled myself home. I was definitely feeling the effects of my previous run and this was NOT what recovery week was supposed to be about. If I don't watch it I will enter marathon training exhausted. In the end I did run 15km and my pace was not terrible, but a bit erratic (5:14/km, 8:25/mile).

Here's hoping I can catch up on my hydration and rest before Monday. The hydration should be easy as I can drink water to my hearts content at work. The rest part may be a bit more of a challenge as there is no break for me this week. Every evening has something else that we have to do and leaves me eating late, going to bed later, and sleeping poorly. Oh well, such is life with two busy boys...

* Disclaimer: I suspect those who live in suburban subdivisions have many positives to impart about their choice of accomodation and I don't mean to insult anyone, but I can't imagine living in such a neighbourhood myself. I love being downtown for all sorts of reasons. One of which is that my commute is a 20 minute bike ride. Another is that I don't need a car to go and buy food. Nuff said.

Weekend Cut Short

 This weekend has found us in a holding pattern as we waited for the rains to let Owen play his baseball tournament. As a result, I ran close to home on Saturday morning not knowing how long I'd be able to stay out before having to get in the car at 7am to drive up to Aurora. I managed a decent 7.2km in a dumbbell pattern and each split ended up being faster than the last, which was kind of neat to see. Then we got one inning in before the rains washed the entire day out.

Today, as I prepare to leave for Aurora, I managed to run just 10km not only because of the time constraints imposed by the tournament (we have to leave in a half hour and I've yet to shower or eat), but also because I just didn't have the necessary motivation to go longer. Instead, I managed to run a bit faster than usual averaging 4:53/km on this run with the last split a relatively speedy 4:13/km, which is darn close to my 10K race pace.

The weather looks good today and I believe we'll be playing three games today with the last one scheduled for 6pm. Should make for a very long day...

More Hills in The Beaches

Last night after work I took the boys to Taylor Creek Park for some running and a change of pace from the track. Although Malcolm did not have a very good time of it we still managed to run 3km along both paved and dirt trails. Owen and I thought it was fun, but I think Malks was just running low on calories and I will have to remember to bring a snack for him next time.

This morning it was more searching for hills by yours truly. Similar to Wednesday morning's run I headed off to The Beaches and ran nice and steady until the end of the boardwalk. That's where the hills start and where the real workout occurred. My goal was to run based on perceived effort and pretty much ignore pace as much as possible. That was a good goal, in my opinion, but a couple of the hills still had my heart racing. They are steep! In any case, I did get what I asked for and ran up and down quite a bit in the middle of the 16.5km (5:13/km, 8:24/mile average pace) run. I can't help but think that this type of running will really pay off in the long run (no pun intended).

This weekend will be busy and I'm not sure how I will fit in my runs as Malks and Monica are away at Beavers Summer Camp and I am with Owen at a baseball tournament. I'll figure something out...

The Search Continues

June got off to a good, if a bit tough, start. I had little trouble getting out of bed this morning, which was surprising since I woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep for at least an hour. But when my alarm went off at 5:20 I didn't do the usual lying around for fifteen minutes before finally getting up.

The run was another experiment in searching out some hills. I know I have to incorporate them into my runs, but given that for most of the past three years I was just happy to be running I generally found that running on relatively flat ground was challenging enough. The occasional hill here and there would come up, of course, but I really didn't try to seek them out except when I ran a few long run loops that took me down into and then up out of the Don Valley two or three times. Even then I'd only hit one big hill two or three times, that's it.

Anyway, Toronto is not blessed with any mountains or anything, but ravines do cut across the city all over the place. As a result there are some hilly parts that make for good rolling terrain and it's these types of neighbourhoods that I am looking for within running distance of my house. A place known as "The Beaches" is one such place and that's where I ran this morning.

When running to The Beaches in the past I'd head for the boardwalk and then retrace my steps, thereby only running up the one hill I had to run down on my way to the shoreline. Today was different because once I reached the end of the boardwalk I didn't just turn around. Instead, I headed north up one hill, cut across Queen Street for a bit, then went north again up another hill, ran down a hill along Kingston Road, and then hit a couple more hills on the way up Woodbine Avenue. These are not mountains or anything, as mentioned above, but they did provide a good test and made my 15km run quite tough (5:01/km, 8:04/mile average pace).

The elevation profile was decent. I think there are more challenging hills to be had in The Beaches. I'm just not ready for them yet.