Sunday, August 30, 2015

The 13th of 18 Weeks

The thirteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday12-13k E. The first day back from vacation was made a bit more sad by the fact that when I woke up to go for my run it was still very dark out! Before my holidays when I had to wake up around 5am it was at least getting light out. This time, I didn't get up until 5:30am, and wasn't out the door until 5:50am, and still had to run in the dark for a good chunk of my 13k E at 5:22/km run. At least the run was good. Tried to keep it really easy in anticipation of the Strength session to come. I think I succeeded, though the last split was a bit fast. In the afternoon, despite the craziness that comes with returning to work after two weeks off, I managed to get to the gym for a good running specific strength training session followed by a decent amount of rolling and stretching. Couldn't believe how stiff I felt after I didn't really do any stretching while on vacation :( Then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Tuesday3x2 miles. The night before this session I had set the Garmin up for an interval workout of undefined warm up (ended up being the usual 2km), then 3 x 3.2km with 800m rest interval, and completed with an undefined cool down (ended up being 2km as well). This is the third time I'd used the interval training feature on the watch and I must say that I like it, though for some reason it always seems like the last thirty metres or so take FOREVER to pass by when one is hurting. In any case, the familiar territory of home turf and the cooler weather made for a much better strength session than I'd been able to manage the past two weeks. Although I felt slow and sluggish on the warm up, I managed to pull off three very good and quick (for me) repeats: 13:43.20, 13:43.31, 13:39.24. Not bad for even splitting! These translate to paces of 4:17.25/km, 4:17.28/km and 4:16.01/km for an average of 4:16.86/km. From where I've come this is a HUGE achievement, and to run these on tired legs in the thirteenth week of the marathon training plan makes it even more satisfying. In total I managed 16k ST at 5:06/km and earned another nice day off. At lunch time I went to the gym for a complete rolling and stretching routine followed by a bit of sauna action.

Wednesday: OFF. This was quite honestly the most difficult work day I've had in certainly my new role, but likely in my entire career at my current employer. In any case, I did manage to get to the gym for a brief strength training session and a very abbreviated stretching routine. Other than that this was an OFF day for running, and very much an ON day for work stress.

Thursday14k T. The night before I was feeling less than good on account of the tough work day. In fact, I felt like I may even have been coming down with something and was quite worried. In any case, I woke up at 5:10am hoping to get my run in by 7am, and this almost happened. My stomach was feeling off when I woke up and that delayed me a little as I prepared for the run. However, the weather was a perfect 15C and not to windy so that made me feel good as I started in on my usual 2km warm up. I was a bit surprised at the slow pace that my Garmin was reading on the warm up given that I felt like I was running faster. This concerned me a bit heading into the Tempo portion of the run, but by now in the training plan I figured things would work out despite how I was feeling or what the watch was showing. In the end this very much proved to be the case as I ran what I would consider a very strong 14k tempo run at an average pace of 4:28.60/km. Compared to the disaster of last week's 14k tempo run this was a huge improvement. I never had to stop and just kept chugging along at a good clip with my usual 3-3 breathing pattern for the first 11k. After that I switched to a 3-2 breathing pattern at some point in a natural fashion (these switches don't happen consciously I find) and finished the run strong with the three fastest splits of the entire run. All but the first two splits were slower than 4:35/km, and the last 8 splits were all under 4:30/km. I was very pleased with this run and to be back on track with the tempo run component of this training plan. The total for the run in the end was 18k T at 4:42/km, which once more averaged out to faster than goal marathon pace overall even with the warm up and cool down included. At lunch I slunk away from the office for a decent rolling, stretching, and sauna routine.

Friday10-12k E. Woke up to another beautiful day for a run and enjoyed the stress free preparation for another easy effort. The temperatures have been perfect for running and that definitely helps even if I do like the hot weather that comes with Summer. In fact, I hope we get another stretch of heat sometime soon. However, for now I will take the cooler temps and enjoy the running that comes with those conditions. On the run itself I felt much better than expected after the tempo effort of the day before and ran nice and easy without looking at the Garmin for pace. I ended up running faster than ideal pace as I managed 10k E at 5:13/km, but because I ran on feel I don't think that's a problem. The sunrise was spectacular as well; a big red ball coming up in the East. If I were a sailor I'd have been worried... At lunch I went to the gym and managed to complete a standard and decent strength training session followed by rolling and stretching.

Saturday10-13k E. Met up with the running group and set off on a nice easy run, but had to pull ahead after a kilometre or so as the pace was a bit slower than what I needed to do. Managed a nice 10k E at 5:14/km in the end and then hung around the coffee shop chatting with the runners for a while. A great start to the weekend! And leading into the long this was a good prep.

Sunday26k L. It's always so gratifying to complete a run in such a way that one is surprised with their own abilities to a certain degree. That happened on the long run to end week 13 for me as I set off feeling tired and a bit concerned about my right calf, which mysteriously cramped up on me while watching the Jay eviscerate yet another opponent the day before (the Edwin hat trick game). I set off at about 7:30am and it was already 19.5C on the thermometer so I didn't really have too many expectations about pacing other than to keep it steady. And that totally worked out, but I achieved much more! Not only did I keep the pace steady, but I ran way faster than I thought I would and I didn't try any harder than before or anything. The best part was that I had never felt stronger in the last part of a long run before! As a result I tacked on two more kilometres at the end (as I had done the calculation and knew that I could go as high as twenty-eight kilometres and still be under 30% of total weekly mileage for the long run) and managed to complete 28k L at 4:58/km. Yes, this was a tough run, but what surprised me the most was as things got tougher I didn't feel the usual lull in energy and was able to maintain pace and even pick it up a bit at the very end. Is this was it feels like to draw of slow twitch muscle fibres that have been trained to act like slow twitch fibres? If it is, I like it!

Total for the week: 95 km at 5:02.88/km average pace.

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Sunday, August 23, 2015

The 12th of 18 Weeks

The twelfth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday8-10k E. The easy run after a long effort on the Sunday preceding it is always mentally easy, but somewhat of an unknown physically. I started off nice and easy and felt somewhat creaky, especially the patella on the left knee, but as the run progressed things loosened up and I felt fine by the end even if the legs were still very tired and sore. Kept this one very slow in anticipation of the Strength session to come and managed 10k E at 5:36/km in the end. Still at the cottage and my stretching and rolling routine has totally fallen off the map. However, I don't feel all that inclined to disturb my vacation with too much structure and prefer to sit on the dock drinking things, or swimming, or water skiing, etc. Don't seem to be worse for wear otherwise with the possible exception of the lack of energy that I've been experiencing while on the lake.

Tuesday4x1.5 miles. Man, sometimes you definitely have to wonder why on Earth you put yourself through these things. The Strength session of four repeats of 1.5 miles (2.4km on the interval setting on my Garmin) was one such event where I definitely felt like I would not be able to complete the workout. It was quite hot and humid out, which just added to the difficulty of the already challenging task at hand. Jogging the 2km warmup I felt sluggish. Then when I started in on the first repeat I felt ok at the beginning, then about half way through it started to labour quite a bit. Upon finishing the first 2.4km interval in 10:45.01 (4:29.13/km pace) I walked the first 200m of the 600m rest interval. Perhaps that was not right, but with the heat I really felt that I needed to do this. With some trepidation starting into the second repeat I managed it in a slightly faster 10:41.78 (4:27.41/km), but felt like I was running a lot slower and working a lot harder than this pace would suggest based on past Tempo run results. In any case, I kept reminding myself that the perceived effort was the guide that I needed to follow on a day like this one and not the pace that the Garmin was displaying. Once again, I walked the first 200m of the rest interval, then turned for home when starting my third repeat. This repeat began on a slight decline and was by far the easiest one of the lot mentally speaking as I wasn't under pressure to chase down the right pace after starting too slow. It got done in 10:34.15 (4:24.24), which was nice, but took a lot out of me. As I walked then jogged the next 600m rest interval I could tell that the last repeat would begin on an uphill and I knew that this would make it that much tougher. Sure enough, I had to fight like mad once cresting the hill to get my pace down into the right zone and was surprised that I actually managed to do it as I was most definitely dead at the end. The last repeat took 10:41.22 (4:27.18/km) and I was most happy to be finished. I walk jogged the last 600m rest interval, then very slowly jogged 2km back to the cottage. Those last 2km seemed to take forever, but I kept thinking that I needed to keep running to flush all that lactic acid out of my muscles. In the end I managed to complete 16km ST at 5:18/km. Not bad when looking back at it, but I have to note here that it was one of the toughest workouts of the entire marathon training plan.

Wednesday: OFF. Took the whole day OFF except for one thing: drove to Perth for a round of golf. The round itself was quite decent for me as I recorded three pars and had a putt for a third in a row on the last hole that just missed from about 14 feet, but overall for a 9-hole round that is a very good result for me. The heat was quite bad, however, and I didn't realize just how much that took out of me until...

Thursday14k T. The worst run of the entire training plan to date by far! Jogged the 2km to the main highway and that was ok, then as I turned South and started in on the Tempo portion of the workout I faced a very strong and sustained headwind. I worked very hard to maintain pace, but by the time I managed to get through 5km I was pretty much spent. Took my first rest break there, then ran the 2km to the turnaround spot, where I had another break. From there on it was just as bad despite the fact that the wind was now at my back. The legs were completely fried, I could barely maintain form, and with the wind behind me I was overheating as well. This was definitely not how a Tempo run was supposed to have been executed and this one should be chalked up as a failure and forgotten about as quickly as possible. The average pace for the "Tempo" portion, which really was more like an interval workout than a real tempo workout, ended up at 4:40.08/km, but I do not feel like that was a success. The total for the run with warm up and cool down ended up as 18km T at 4:53/km. I guess it should be noted as a good thing that my first real failed run (though there were a few others that I could have executed better, that's for sure) occurred in the twelfth week of the training plan.

Friday8-10k E. Not surprisingly, I was totally dead for the rest of the day after my Tempo run failure and the feeling was still in full force as I woke up late and headed out for the recovery run that was on the schedule for Friday morning. I came across yet another blog post from somewhere touting the virtues of keeping the slow recovery runs very slow and easy so I went out with that in mind and managed to not look at my Garmin for pace the entire time! I simply ran it as easily as I could and managed to complete the 8k E at 5:30/km without too much trouble. Legs definitely were still trashed, but I think that's what is to be expected as one nears the completion of the twelfth week of Hanson's Marathon Method training plan.

Saturday13-16k E. Same as the day before, the plan was to run on feel and not worry about pace. Once more, I did't check the Garmin even once for pace and just tried to enjoy the effort. Kept the breathing pattern to 3-3 the entire way, even on the hills at the end, and wasn't terribly surprised by the final pace as I completed 13k E at 5:13/km. The reason for this is that I loosened up towards the end of the run and could tell that I was gliding over the ground at a faster clip than I thought I could achieve while keeping things easy. Legs still trashed, but I am comforted by the fact that I am not burning out and not injured while never missing any workouts.

Sunday16k E/L. After a long day of driving, broken up by dropping the boat off at our cottage and mowing the entire lawn, then swimming for a short spell, I guess I had a decent sleep prior to the last run of the week. More than anything, these 16k efforts no longer come with any trepidation. It's a wonderful thing when 10 miles is just a normal run! Anyway, I still wasn't sure how my legs would be feeling, but I suspected that they would continue to be tired. I had thoughts of avoiding any hills, but then decided that I actually wanted to have some climbing at the end of these runs because the marathon I am training for has a couple of climbs at the end. So I headed down to the Beaches, which meant a downhill run for the first bit and I got into a decent rhythm as a result. I probably should have slowed down to get into the Long run pace range of 4:54/km-5:10/km, but as I ran I continued to put up splits in the high 4:40's. Even trying to slow down, but maintaining cadence, wasn't working. And I was breathing 3-3 pattern the whole time so I figured that was ok. As I got to the last 5k of the run I started to feel the effects of the week that was, but continued to maintain cadence as a primary area of focus. Then the hill coming back home was upon me in the last 2k and then my goal became to maintain pace under 5:00/km, which I did! In the end I managed 16k at 4:50/km and walked the 700m that were left home. Not an ideal Long run pace execution, but I think it was good. I guess the next few days will tell... Week 12 is done! And that means I'm exactly two thirds of the way through the plan. No runs missed, and workouts pretty much all on track as far as paces and execution goes. So far so good!

Total for the week: 81km at 5:09.6/km average pace.

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Sunday, August 16, 2015

The 11th of 18 Weeks

The eleventh week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday8-13k E. Arrived at Sharbot Lake the day before and now was finally faced with running on the roads that I had thoroughly checked out on Google Maps to discover that the only real route worth considering was on the local HWY 38, an 80km/h two lane deal. All other options were either dirt roads that would most likely be filled with bugs, or doing loops around the small town itself. Driving in revealed that a good chunk of the town's roads were under construction, so HWY 38 it was for the first run of the vacation. The morning was pleasant and not too warm. Bugs seemed to be a bit on the lesser side this year as well, and that proved to be true as I ran down the 0.6km private road to the main road where in year's past I got destroyed by mosquitos and deer flies. The run itself was uneventful and the only things worth noting was the lack of a proper paved shoulder to run on, forcing me to run on the white line and scurry whenever a car or truck approached, and the fact that my left Achilles seems to be tighter than usual. The latter worries me more than the former, naturally. I managed 13k E at 5:13/km in the end. Later in the day I did a decent amount of rolling and stretching to try and work the kinks out of the calf and tendon.

Tuesday6x1 mile. Well, the best thing that one can report after a tough run like the one I had on this day is that it got done. After a restless night of "sleep", wherein yours truly was awake more than asleep due to rain storms raging and ceiling fans making noise and rooms overheated, etc. In any case, dragged my ass out of bed just as the rains had stopped, only for the crap to return with a vengeance as I was putting my running shoes on. Felt less than stellar on the 2k jog to the highway as a warmup, then started in on the mile repeats along the edge of HWY 38. For the first time ever I set the Garmin for an interval workout with 6 sets of 1.6km up and 400m rest intervals, which I guess is close enough to the 1 mile repeats called for in the plan. As per the Hanson's Marathon Method these Strength sessions are to be run at 10s/mile faster than goal marathon pace. In my case, that is a bit of a mystery as I am supposed to be running the marathon at 4:45/km, but have been running my Tempo workouts (which are run at planned marathon pace) about 10s/km faster, so it was a bit tough figuring out what pace I should be aiming for in the Strength sessions. I thought I'd be ok to try for 4:20/km - 4:24/km, but in retrospect this might have been too aggressive given how tired my legs feel these days. I managed the first three repeats at 4:24/km, 4:21/km, and 4:24/km average pace, so right on. Then I had to turn around the head back into the wind and uphill for the second half of the workout. The fourth repeat was at 4:26/km, and it was a struggle to get it down to that number and I knew I was pressing too hard just to do that. Physiologically I ran this one too hard, so I decided to run more on feel for the rest of the session. The fifth repeat averaged out at 4:34/km, and that included a significant uphill stretch followed by a long gradual climb so I guess that the pace was not indicative of the effort required. The last on I just wanted to be finished and I was hurting something fierce by the end, averaging out at 4:23/km in the end. When averaging out all the repeats the result was 4:25.33/km, so a bit slower than intended, but like I said, it was not clear to me what my goal pace should be for these Strength workouts. In the end I totalled 15k ST at 5:09/km for the session and was glad to have earned another day off. I can now see more clearly why people refer to these Strength sessions as the toughest workouts in the Hanson's Marathon Method plan. When they come at the end of a six day stretch and your legs are shot the seemingly doable pace in the HM range is a lot tougher to manage than one would expect. Later in the day I spent some time rolling and stretching, but nothing too organized.

Wednesday: OFF. Spent pretty much the entire day in bed lying around and doing nothing. My right hamstring tightened up something fierce for some reason the night before. I figure it had to do with running on a slight sideways angle while on the edge of the local highway coupled with a swim in the lake late in the evening that cooled me down a bit too much. In any case, I was in a bad mood all day because it definitely felt like this issue would derail my entire training plan. This was in the end the most OFF of off days I've likely ever had.

Thursday13k T. Woke up after the previous day worrying about whether this run would actually happen at all and immediately started testing how the right hamstring was feeling. I could tell that it wasn't 100%, but it didn't hurt as bad as it had 24 hours earlier so I got dressed and ready for my run. I figured if the muscle gave out it would likely happen early on so I would still be close enough to walk home. Worst thing that could have happened was to have it give out at the half way point on the out and back course. In any case, the first 2km warm up jog went ok and I decided to try and have a go at the Tempo portion thinking it would be easier to try and hold it to the 4:45/km prescribed pace, both on the hamstring and mentally speaking, given that I had been averaging quite a bit faster than that to date at 4:34.36/km on these Tempo runs. When I started in on the faster section I immediately could tell this was not going to be a cakewalk or, in fact, any easier than any other Tempo run. Right from the start I struggled to stay around 4:45/km. Ended up having to switch out of my 3-3 breathing pattern after about 3km and into a 3-2 breathing pattern, which I maintained the rest of the way. I stopped at the halfway point (6.5km of Tempo pace running) and stretched for a short spell. I knew that mentally this would be a slog on the way back so I gave myself goals linked to stopping for stretches. As I ran I told myself that I would stop with 4km left, but kept running through that spot until I only had 3km left in the Tempo portion. I stopped to stretch there and once more promised myself that I would only go 2 more kilometres before another break, but once again I ran through that spot and finished the run. In fact, I didn't even stop there before the cool down jog; just kept on going. I even stretched the cool down to 2km instead of the customary 1km on account of not wanting to face the bugs on the dirt road leading to the cottage while walking. I managed a total of 17km T at 4:54/km, which was not a great average pace, but the Tempo portion averaged out to an impressive 4:39.45/km under the circumstances. Not executed perfectly, but given all the issues of hamstring pain and lack of energy I'll be happy with it I guess. I rolled the crap out of my legs while watching the Jays in a matinee contest with the A's on TV in the early afternoon.

Friday8-12k E. I guess I was premature in declaring last Friday's easy run as the shortest left on the schedule. Looking ahead I now see there are a few easy 8k runs left for me :) Today was one of them and I ran an out and back into town to accommodate the requirement. My legs are sore and tired, but the schedule keeps me honest and focused so that I don't make mistakes by either doing too much (as is my history) or slacking off (with which I do not have an issue). The effort ended up as 8k E at 5:17/km and it was a decent mental rest day as well.

Saturday13k E. Woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep so by the time I woke up again for my run it was later than I'd intended and I felt a bit more crappy than I would have liked. Got out the door at close to 9am and it was already quite warm out, and definitely very humid. I decided to just run on feel and keep it easy so that's what I did, maintaining a 3-3 breathing pattern and not pushing it up the hills. Ultimately, this ended up being a decently executed long run as I managed 13k E at 5:17/km, though I kept thinking the entire time that the 26k run to come was going to be a very difficult one indeed if this is what an easy 13k effort feels like. More than anything beyond my legs being completely wasted I am concerned with my lack of energy and general state of lethargy. Is it just that I am on vacation and that lends itself to being somewhat lazy? Or is it the diet that accompanies being on holiday? Or perhaps it's just that my body responds in this way when my routine is disrupted? Who knows...

Sunday26k L. I was right to be concerned with how the first 16 miler of the training plan would go, but in the end I managed as well as one could hope for. I left, once more, a bit later than I'd hoped (the cottage next to ours had a wedding and party afterwards that lasted well into the night with some very predictable and crappy DJ playing modern "hits" that kept us all awake and not in good spirits) and was finally on the road at 7:51am. I had in the back of my mind the pace band for Long runs that I was ostensibly trying to achieve, but ultimately I decided that a steady effort was more important than a failure born of trying to run too fast. It was very foggy out when I left and also very humid, which only became more of a factor as the fog lifted. Therefore, holding a steady effort was already difficult enough. I ran south on the out and back along the highway and all the while tried to push away the thoughts of just how long this run would take. Instead, I focused on the turnaround point at 13km and managed to get there, on the outskirts of the town of Tichborne, without too much trouble. I played a mental game with myself all the while whereby I promised that I could stop for a break at X kilometre, then kept pushing that back. Initially it was the halfway point, then 15km, then 18km, then 21km. I never did stop, and once I hit 21km I decided that it was necessary to not stop at all in order to get the desired training effect. And boy did I ever get that desired training effect! Those last 5km were very tough and I had to fight against every fibre in my being that was telling me to stop. The last 2km in particular that lead me to the cottage were very difficult as they present the would be runner with some decent hills to traverse. Ultimately, I succeeded in not stopping and managed to run 26km L at 5:14/km, which was only 4s/km slower than the lower end of the goal pace for a Long run. Not bad! Also, this finished off the longest mileage week in quite some time for yours truly.

Total for the week: 92 km at 5:10/km average pace.

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Sunday, August 9, 2015

The 10th of 18 Weeks

The tenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday10-12k E. Ran a nice out and back near the cottage trying to avoid the hills as much as I could as this was supposed to be a recovery run. After the Long run the day before, and with the real work coming up over the course of the next six weeks, I was conscious of keeping things really smooth and easy. Legs were a bit sore, but perhaps not as much as I would have expected, which is a good sign. The total was 12k E at 5:36/km. We drove home from the cottage so no strength training, just relaxing at home watching a bit of the Jays and David Price's first start for the team.

Tuesday4x1200m or 3x1600m. The last speed session of the training plan was quite possibly the toughest. Legs felt like lead on the 2k jog to the track, and then on each repeat with about 600m or 400m to go I started to lose control of my quads and had to really concentrate to maintain form and not crumble to the tarmac. Still am impressed that I was able to maintain pace when it felt like I was slowing way down. A tough workout to be sure! Splits were 6:34.74 (4:06.71/km), 6:29.05 (4:03.16/km), and 6:31.10 (4:04.44/km), for an overall average pace of 4:04.74/km. Glad to have made it through the track sessions relatively unscathed as these workouts historically are dangerous from an injury proneness perspective. The average pace for all the speed sessions combined ended up being 4:04.93/km, which is definitely acceptable as it is under the goal pace of 4:10/km and in my self imposed range of 4:00/km-4:10/km. The entire workout amounted to 10k SP at 5:22/km. The slower pace on the total is the result of walking half the rest interval lap, but I figure that's ok since the plan actually called for a 600m rest interval. In the afternoon I managed to get to the gym for some rolling and stretching.

Wednesday: OFF. Another well earned day OFF. Only thing to report is that at lunch time I went to the gym for a decent running specific strength training session and some rolling and stretching. And that the clinic where I've been going for massages every two weeks messed up my appointment so when I arrived they told me my next appointment was set for September 2nd! I was not happy about that.

Thursday13k T. On a beautiful morning for a run I went into what is likely the toughest run of the week without the usual level of concern or trepidation. The results definitely reflect the better attitude and the weather, which was calm, clear, not too humid, and 15C. In other words, ideal. I jogged the 2k warm up and that went better than usual, so as I started in on my 13k Tempo portion I was feeling pretty good about my chances at a good pace. And was I right! My slowest split was the fourth at 4:35.08 and all the rest were under 4:33/km. Towards the end of the run my calves started to tighten up a bit, but the last three splits (4:19.54, 4:21.32, and 4:19.15) were more in the Strength range rather than Tempo, but my breathing was fine so I definitely feel like I was in the right zone. The average for the tempo portion ended up being 4:27.53/km (which is a tidy 7:10.53/mile), well under BQ pace (both slow BQ goal of 4:37/km AND fast BQ goal of 4:30/km)! Even the average for the entire run was close to slow BQ goal pace as I completed 16k T at 4:38/km. I'm definitely feeling like my fitness is getting to places it has never been before. At lunch time I hit the gym to do some rolling and stretching and I even went in the sauna for a bit just for good measure and because it just feels nice to sweat a bit without doing a lick of work.

Friday8-10k E. Went out for what will likely be the easiest and shortest run for the rest of the training plan feeling pretty good about the prospect. These are so easy mentally speaking that the preparation is pretty much nil. No apprehension is a nice contrast to the typical worries that accompany a "something of substance" workout. I ran around Riverdale and just kept it real easy. Ended up finishing 8k E at 5:33/km. Only thing to be mindful of was tight calves. Before lunch I went to the gym for a decent strength training session, though I had to cut the rolling and stretching routine a bit short as we had a work function linch outing that I couldn't be late for.

Saturday13-16k E. Got in at the cottage very late the night before so wasn't asleep till past midnight and it was a bit tough getting out of bed. Still woke up without an alarm at 6am, but decided to just chill for a bit. Made it out for the run at about 8am and decided to run an out and back simply to avoid the 2km uphill climb that would have faced me late in the run had I used the regular route. This was on account of the tight calves of course. The run itself was fine and executed as an easy run should be executed. However, when I checked the average pace at the 10km point it was somewhere around 5:30/km. The average pace for the total run surprised me as it ended up being 13k E at 5:11/km. Must have really picked it up in the last 3k without feeling it at all. I walked half a kilometre at the end as that was how far I ended up from the cottage in order to measure the difference in distance from the corner of the main road around the lake and the highway.

Sunday16k E. The last "Easy" Sunday run on the training schedule came after one of my patented "accidents". Yes, the injury prone runner is not prone to running injuries only ;) The night before we had to pull the boat out of the lake to take it up to the cottage the the in-laws rent each Summer. As I arrived with the truck and trailer at the launch there as another truck occupying the spot so I went down to let them know that we had to get our boat out. They were having issues with their boat motor "from 1967" apparently, so were fiddling with it right at the end of the ramp. One guy said he'd move the truck while the other moved the boat to the side and slid it up onto the shore a bit. Well, as he sat in the boat fiddling with the motor the boat started to slip back into the water so I, the good Samaritan, grabbed it an tried to pull it back up onto the shore. As I did this I slipped and fell hard, slamming my shin into the boat and landing on my ass. The shin hurt and I had a big bruise there, but other than that I thought I was ok. Later, after spending far too much time washing the bottom of our boat, I noticed that the muscles on top of the right foot and front of the right shin hurt and I had real trouble lifting my foot. Crap!!! I iced and stuff, but I was really worried that my attempt at a good deed would derail my marathon training, which had been going better than ever! In any case, I woke up with some concern, but put the foot pain out of my mind and went out for my run. In the end the only thing that I really was concerned about was my left calf and how tight it felt. But I managed to run the 16k E at 5:15/km nice and easy, and am very pleased with the fact that on the familiar 2km climb back up to the Lake at the end of the run on Hwy 14 I never broke from my 3-3 breathing pattern and maintained a decent pace. These hills used to kill me! Now I am running them like they are just another normal obstacle of little significance. Nice! Week 10 down, 8 to go! Let's rock it!

Total for the week: 75 km at 5:13/km average pace.

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Sunday, August 2, 2015

The 9th of 18 Weeks

The ninth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday8-13k E. I can't believe that the Monday recovery runs are now up to 8 miles in length! It's good to always remember just how difficult it was way back when for me to just complete ten consecutive kilometres to put this whole marathon training thing in perspective. The run itself was fine. I made it out early enough that the heat was not yet much of a factor and ran an even effort at a comfortable pace to complete 13k E at 5:25km. Later in the day I went to the gym for some running specific strength training followed by rolling and stretching.

Tuesday5x1000m or 6x800m. Holy cow do these legs feel like buckets of lead these days! After that decent easy run on Monday I thought that my legs would feel good for the second last speed session of the plan. Instead, it was a struggle just to jog the two kilometres to the track. After last week's 3x1600m I thought the 6x800m workout would be a cakewalk. Instead, I had to tough it out, and I did. Looking at the splits it actually was a very successful session. Each of my repeats was well under the goal pace of 4:10/km (3:20/800m) and after the first two repeats I got faster by quite a bit. In the fourth week when I ran this workout I averaged 4:10.45/km (3:20.36/800m). Today it was 4:00.96/km (3:12.77/800m)! The splits for the first four repeats were 3:16.0, 3:17.0, 3:14.2, and 3:13.2. And my last two splits were the fastest yet of the entire training plan at 3:09.4 (3:56.75/km) and 3:06.8 (3:53.50/km). Pretty happy with these results especially taking into account how my legs felt. The total for the session was 11k SP at 5:18/km. At lunchtime I went to the gym and did 45 minutes straight of rolling and stretching to try and help these legs recover a bit.

Wednesday: OFF. What a day! Work was totally nuts, but I had just enough time to get to the gym for a strength training session followed by some rolling and stretching. Other than that, this was most definitely a day OFF only from running. Whew...

Thursday13k T. Sometimes one comes up against runs that really make one think about their ability to complete the task at hand. Sure, there are always thoughts related to this before every workout of any substance. This time I came up against not only a tough run, but a hot and humid day as well. My legs felt strange early in the run and I did not have the usual energy that at least is there to some degree after and off day. Then, early in the tempo portion the heat started to really take its toll and I began to doubt my ability to not only hold the desired pace, but to finish at all. Ultimately all of this was a mental exercise as I did finish and my pace was well under goal. I averaged 4:32.96/km for the tempo portion and ran 16k T at 4:43/km total. As has become the norm it seems, the average pace including warm up and cool down ended up being below the goal tempo pace of 4:45/km. Nothing to complain about I guess! Just the bloody heat and humidity I suppose. At lunch I found some time to go to the gym to roll and stretch out my aches and pains a bit.

Friday10-12k E. Another beautiful Summer morning, and another well executed Easy run. This time I went off with the coming long run on the weekend and a pair of tired legs that really were craving a break. So I ran very easy and the pace improved throughout the run despite the fact that I kept this in the sightseeing effort range. The total was 10k E at 5:29/km. Later in the day I went to the gym for some strength training, rolling, and stretching. Other thing worth mentioning for posterity is that I hit 315km for the month of July, which for me given the past history of injuries and such is significant. But the real story is that I feel good. I keep describing it as feeling "solid". Yes, I am sore and tired, but no one part of my body is appreciably more sore or tired than any other. This is particularly true of the legs. In any case, I am in a good spot at the moment with the whole running thing and hope it continues.

Saturday8-13k E. After a bad night of sleep, perhaps influenced to a certain degree by the trade deadline acquisitions of Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe, Ben Revere, and of course David Price by the Blue Jays, and an 11th inning walk-off win to boot, I managed a decent 8k E at 5:10/km. The legs felt heavy and tired; no gas in them at all :( This run was done close to home as we'd delayed our trip to the cottage for the long weekend, but it had me wondering how I would fare on the Sunday long run when hills and heat will be added to the mix.

Sunday: 24k L. The final run of the week had me a bit more than worried about what I would experience. Thinking back to the 23k Long run I managed at the end of week 7 I was definitely expecting to have to fight through this one. The weather wasn't as hot or humid as it had been on that other run, but I still dragged my ass out of bed a bit late and didn't head out until around 8:00am. The legs felt tired, as expected at this point in the training plan, and I knew kind of what to expect at least in the first two thirds of the run. I mixed two scoops of ELoad powder into my 500ml bottle the night before and stuck that in the fridge. Before I left I had a few sips and topped the bottle off with more water. I decided to carry the bottle in my hand this time instead of around my waist and I think I prefer this method. It allowed me to take three sips every 15 minutes without too much trouble, though I still have to practice this aspect of the plan as it definitely disrupted my breathing pattern. In any case, I chose a bit of a new route near the cottage and set off. The first kilometre was faster than usual for me, which I took as a good sign, and then I was really concentrating on trying to get the average pace in the right range (4:54/km-5:10/km). When I set off I didn't have this plan in mind as I didn't want to commit to something that may have proven to be unrealistic. But after the first few kilometres I committed to the above range fully and just focused on a good steady effort with 3-3 pattern breathing. I hit the first big hill at the 8k mark and switched my breathing pattern to 3-2 until I had crested the top. Eventually I switched fully to the 3-2 pattern as the route I chose really became a set of rolling hills. Then, with about 5k left, things really got serious. At that point I was faced with my last big climb so I stopped to empty my bottle with the last few sips and then tackled that obstacle. Shortly after cresting the hill with by this point a 2-2 breathing pattern I noted that the half marathon mark was reached in 1:46:05, which was good for me. My mantra then became "shorten your stride, maintain your cadence" as things became rather tough at this point. Thinking this way helped propel me through the last few kilometres and I finished in 2:00:49 for a total of 24k L at 5:02/km, right in the middle of the desired pace range. Nice! The total time was faster than what that 23k Long run took me two weeks previously on similar terrain, so that was gratifying to note as well. Happy to have finished strong and now to have officially completed exactly 50% of the marathon training plan!

Total for the week: 82 km at 5:10/km average pace.

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