Die is Cast

Just a quick post to commemorate being another $107CDN and change poorer. Why?

Signed up for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon!!!

Wonky extremities don't fail me now (and to be more precise, before October 20th, 2013)...

With that in mind, and perhaps I take too much pleasure in coming up with these things, I have created the bare bones of a training plan for said Marathon already. It's short on miles, and long on prevention. Like a new set of winter tires...

Another Race Coming Up (Out of the Blue)

Today was clearly not as exciting a day as yesterday on the workout front, but I DID register for a race that previously I had not even considered running. I ran it a couple of years ago and, for some unexplained reason, I navigated to its website and was surprised to find that the race had not yet sold out. That's crazy since it is a very popular race. I guess they've increased the number of runners or something. Whatever the case I now will be running the Toronto SportingLife 10k down Yonge Street on the morning of May 1st with what is advertised as 15,000 other people. It will be a good rehearsal for the Half Marathon that goes on the 15th since both use Yonge Street as a major part of their routes.

Should be fun! I likely will run fairly easy, but there is a good chance that I will improve upon my PR in this race, which would be cool.

As far as the day went, I got up rather slowly just before 6am and went out for what turned out to be a fairly decent, if a little stiff, 8.5km run. My legs are sore from Monday's leg workout at the gym and I'm not particularly surprised by this, just wish I could recover faster after my leg sessions.

Then at lunchtime I went to the gym and did a fairly fast but good back and shoulders workout that resulted in the much sought after difficulty in lifting my arms to wash my hair. It was just what I wanted!

And not to be outdone by the three workout day I decided that I would run to and from a coaches meeting for my younger son's 5-pitch league and so combined for a nice 4.5km there and 4.5km back for a total of 9km. I was just running slow and easy (and had to make a pit stop at the beginning of the second run at a local fast food establishment for GI issues, which I know all runners can relate to) and the funny thing is that the two runs were less than 1.5 seconds apart in total! Neat.

The total on the day was a tidy 17.5km.

Tomorrow it's back to more leg weights and no running. Here's hoping I can actually DO a lunge, let alone add weight to the process...

The Deed is Done!

I have registered for both the Around the Bay 30k (at the end of March) and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (next October). Yup, the dye has been cast and I now have those two goal races to look forward to. Others may or may not come up, but these two are definitely my focus. I am thinking that either a full or half-marathon in the Spring is also a definite possibility, but I may even decide to race a couple of shorter distances to see how my speed is coming along. After all, if things go well my goal will be to make an attempt at a Boston Qualifying standard next Fall.

I am a bit disappointed, however, to find out that despite qualifying (should that come to pass) it may be too late to register for Boston by then given how quickly this thing sells out nowadays! I think next year's race sold out in a matter of hours - likely less time than it would take to qualify for the damned thing in the first place. Perhaps this will lead to even more stringent qualifying standards, but for me the times are difficult enough to achieve as they are. In fact, I may never get there so if they are made faster my chances will go from slim to none...

Nevertheless, at least I have two races to look forward to in 2011.

New Beginnings

I haven't felt the anticipated post-marathon letdown. If anything, I can't wait for my body to fully recover so that I can work on that which I really believe needs immediate improvement. I am also happy with taking a bit of a breather that comes with not having a goal race on the horizon.

With that being said, I have been running a bit and have started back in the weight room. I ran 10km yesterday, and although my legs are still feeling the effects from the race I was happy with a nice slow steady jog. It was great to have company as well; Monica was running 18km as I was able to join her for the first part of her training run. Sure, I only managed a measly 19km last week, but it's still nineteen more than I did at this time last year when I was totally hobbled.

This weekend brings a bit of a pleasant surprise as far as running goes. It's s surprise because it feels so last minute. I have signed both of my boys in the Kids 1K Turkey Trot during the Ottawa Fall Colours Marathon weekend (it is Canadian Thanksgiving and we will be in Ottawa vising family). Also, Owen has been talking about running the 5K as well, and so he got his wish. I registered as well and will be joining him! Monica took the plunge and will be running her first Half-Marathon (officially only since she's done the distance in training), and so this will be a full Family Running Weekend. I can't wait!

Registered, and Funky Data

First, I registered for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, set to go on September the 26th of this year. Yup. The deed is done. I just hope it works out better this time around than the DNS from last year...

Second, the Garmin gave me more funky ass data on today's run home from work. I won't even bother trying to evaluate what the hell is going on, but seriously people; can't this friggin device compensate for tall buildings somehow?! I mean, there's more than a few on this planet where people run and use Garmin devices.

Sheesh.

I did end up running 8km at a pace that was a bit too fast (5:02/km average, with the last kilometre at 4:32), and I'm sure to pay for it later. Mental note to self: next two runs this week must be slow and easy!

Oh yeah, I also did some upper body weights at lunch. There's a six pack hiding under there somewhere. Maybe.

Registered!

Today I took the plunge and registered for my first race of 2010. It's not for a while yet, but I am very excited to run (if all goes well) my first half-marathon! It will be during the Ottawa Race Weekend on Sunday, May 30th and I can't wait.

Well, I can wait because there's a lot that I have to do between now and then to ensure that this will be a fun and worthwhile experience. It's far enough away that I can continue on my present course of building a solid base and yet comes at the perfect time, just when the base building phase is finished and marathon training begins. I don't think I will be running this race with any specific time goal in mind, but the main objective is to run it strong and finish without any injury or problem. In short, it will be a nice solid reward after many months of diligent base building.

Also, as I looked back upon the Friday treadmill run that left my right knee in a painful and worrisome state, I did some research on what the pace equivalents are on the treadmill based on incline settings. I realize that this is an issue perpetually to be debated, but I did find the chart at hillruner.com to be somewhat helpful in explaining why my knee balked. Turns out that at the 7.5mph, 2.0% incline setting that I ran at the peak of my pyramid the equivalent pact was not 8:00/mile, but rather 7:40/mile (not 5:00/km, as I believed, but the much more challenging 4:45/km). Anyway, I don't know how accurate this chart is, but I will use it to plan my treadmill runs in the future and hopefully avoid adding too much speed to my training before my body is ready for it.

Oh yeah, today at lunch I did a nice session of leg weights, and it was good! I'm slowly getting stronger, but still pathetically weak in the lower extremities. Tonight I plan on a moderate effort stationary bike ride for a half-hour, as usual.