Still have not decided which fall marathon to do. I've pretty much ruled out doing the Toronto one on Oct. 18 for various reasons and it'll be a choice between Niagara and Hamilton. I'm leaning more to the Niagara one right now as my training plan is scheduled to end on that day. To do Hamilton, I would have to add another week of training. Since I originally started training for Toronto and added one additional week, to peak for Hamilton would require an additional week to a 20 week training plan. That's 5 months of training. Crap, that's a long time.
This past week has been according to plan and is as follows:
Tuesday: Ran 8 miles at about recovery pace. After racing a half and then doing a 19 mile long run the following day, my legs were sore and heavy. I did pick up the pace a little towards the end when my legs started feeling a little better.
Wednesday: Did a little under 10 miles total which included 5x1000m at 6:20 min/mile pace with 2min jog recoveries. Was able to do these fairly consistently but was panting quite a bit during the last one. I'm starting to wonder if my limit on 5k speed is due to the lack of ventilating capacity, that is, can my respiratory system take in enough oxygen to allow me to sustain a 5k effort over an entire 5k? Maybe I'll do a little research.
Friday: Did 12.1 miles at 8:10min/mile pace though the last 9 miles were done at faster than 8min/miles. HR was below 160 for most of the run which is good. I like these cool (almost) autumn days. Feels like i have a whole extra gear for running. I also got shoe deliveries today. I'm pacing the half next week at the Scotiabank waterfront and have been mandated to wear only Asics shoes who are sponsoring the bunnies. They provided us with a free pair of Asics shoes with an option of buying an additional pair at below cost, so i ordered two pairs of GT-2140's. I already own a pair of these and have been running in them for the past few weeks so i'll use the slightly worn ones rather then try and break in new shoes. I feel sorry for the people pacing the full who don't normally use Asics. One week to get used to a new pair of shoes is not a lot of time especially for running a full.
Saturday: 5.4 miles recovery at about 9min/mile pace. In one of the boxes of shoes, there was a pair of Asics socks. I think they expect us to wear these also. Not having a pair of Asics socks, i tried these out today for the recovery run. Nice fit. They are specifically designed for either the left or right foot. The colour scheme is a bit umm loud. BTW, we're supposed to be receiving shorts and a t-shirt, presumably also from asics. Not a bad deal for the pacers. Probably over $200 in Asics merchandise in return for pacing the race.
Sunday: 18.1 miles done at 7:31 min/mile pace overall which consisted of a 3 mile warmup and then 14 miles at marathon pace and then an additional mile thrown in at the planned running pace for the half next week. Plan was to do the MP portion at faster than 7:27min/mile (3:15 marathon) and ended up at 7:20 pace. Used my typical out and back waterfront route. There was a strong headwind on the way back and had the HR spike a couple of times, but was able to get it under control. Though a couple of the splits were in 3:10 marathon range, I don't think that I will be able to do 3:10 this year. Run Saturday Details of run. I also took the opportunity to use the foot pod for my polar watch again. It's been over a year since I last used it and since I will probably use this for the pacing duties next week, i thought I would try it to make sure it still works. I didn't get a chance to calibrate it and it shows. It measured my run as being 17.2 miles. Even then, the fluctuations in pace were all over the place. I think I have to play with the locations of the pod on my shoe laces.
I ended up having to detour towards the end to get to 18 miles so rather then finishing up at Cherry Beach, I finished up at an area where they've recently built some soccer fields and then walked back to the beach. The soccer fields were built in an area that used to be an industrial waste land and forest area. It's much nicer now. In the future, I may start and end my runs here instead or at least detour through here. They have a nice little play area for kids that has a pirate ship. BTW, it was talk like a pirate day yesterday.
From this location you can also see the vast stores of road salt that Toronto has. I reminder that winter is almost here.
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2 comments:
glad to hear training is going well, yes, 5 months is a long time indeed! Good luck with your decision :)
Man, that 18 miler was really strong. Congrats, that's a great confidence boost with many weeks left. And to do it by yourself. Wow.
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