Junk Food.

Got through the week of TIFF. 21 films over the course of 6 days. Some bad, some surprisingly good. I had intended to try and eat healthy, but alas, the hot dog, poutine and burger meals ended up getting the better of me. I did try and have a few sit down meals where you actually order while sitting down, but needless to say, the crappy meals made up to majority of caloric intake last week.

While waiting in line, I tried to catch up one some magazine reading.  One of the articles I read (can't remember where) had an interesting article in it about a guy doing some unorthodox research.  He was trying to see if a recovery meal that consisted of McDonalds was just as effective as a more traditional one.  The theory being that the human body has evolved over so many years that it can figure out what it needs at any given moment and absorb whatever it needs from whatever you eat.  Sounds good in theory, and I certainly have been an unofficial test subject to this ideology.  Personally, I'd like to try and get a bit lighter since that presumably means faster times, but I'm pretty skinny to begin with and I always feel that I'm starting to lose muscle when I drop below a certain threshold of weight so I've been lately trying to do some more weight training and core strengthening to hopefully prevent that.

I got my first real test with the new training regime last Saturday with a 5k race and think I didn't pretty good considering the week of garbage food leading up to it. Hopefully with TIFF done and no more temptations (ie, Halloween) until after marathon race day, I'm hoping for better and faster things.

Milestones

I'm turning the big 40 in a few days.  To me, it's just another birthday, another year of getting older, but everyone around me thinks I should be making a bigger deal of it. Oh well, whatever. No mid-life crisis yet, no desire to buy a fast car or date a 20 year old.  After Kenny decided to run a marathon on his, I had thoughts of maybe running 40km, but that's a long way so maybe I'll wait until I turn 42 before I try that. 

I decided this year to try and do TIFF again.  It's been a few years since I have.  Not being as young as I once was, I won't be trying to do the 50 films in one week thing which I don't think I ever was able to do properly.  I ended up choosing a modest 20 films over 6 days with a rest day in the middle.  I ended up buying the tickets before remembering that I had already signed up for a 5k race on the 2nd last day of the festival. But checking the schedule, the first film for me on that day isn't until noon and the race is at 8:30am so that should be plenty of time.  I generally hate 5k's and I'm sure this won't be any different, but it's the only race in the area that kinda fit into my training schedule.

I also signed up for a 10k on Sept 27 for the Korean Peace Marathon.  I'm always a bit wary when a run that isn't 42.2k calls itself a marathon and I'm not sure if this is an actual race or more of a charity run/walk. The only reason I found it was because it was listed on the sportstats.ca website (chip timing company) as an upcoming event. It hasn't been advertised anywhere else as far as I can tell. I'm assuming that since it's being chiptimed that it will at least resemble a race.  The one thing that has me concerned is that the entry fee was dirt cheap at $25. After you pay the timing company, there probably isn't that much left over for other amenities plus the fund raising aspect of it.  At least, I kinda look Korean so if it's not an actual race, I'll still kind of fit in. 

Sports Drink

I typically use Gatordade on my runs.  Buy the canisters and mix it myself.  I've found lately though that I'm buying the gatorade bottles with the twisty caps and just using them on my runs.  They hold more liquid than my hand held and they offer more flavours than you typically get in the powdered form.  Cherry frost is my new favorite, mostly it's somewhat palatable and it's white so if you spill it on your shirt it doesn't show.

I recently bought some Honey Maxx powder.  It was a spontaneous buy while I was in line to buy some stuff at a local running store. Never tried it before, but since the marathon I'm running in the fall will be serving it, I thought I'd give it a try. I bought a 500g bag of the stuff which supposedly has 20 servings in it.  Not exactly cheap at over $20 and the bag isn't the most useful thing.  It's one of those resealable bags that you might find used for chips, but this contains powder and a little plastic scoop in it.  The scoop is much smaller than a typical gatorade one, so the first time I tried it, I just assumed that roughly the same amount of powder would do. First thing I notice is that it doesn't dissolve very well.  While Gatorade crystals dissolve relatively quick, this stuff was more like a powder (think like flour) and I had my doubts about whether it would fully dissolve by the time I took my first sip. When I did take my first sip, yikes, it was way too concentrated and sickly sweet.  Basically, like a concentrated honey.  Even though the flavour was supposed to be "orange",  there really isn't a hint of it, just the overwhelming sweetness.  I realized after, that about a scoop and a quarter is all that's needed, but it's still very sweet. It's also very gritty.  Even once fully dissolved, you can still feel some grit in there while drinking.  I think I'm getting used to the taste and it hasn't caused me any gastro distress.  They also have a lemon-lime flavour and I'm hopping that it's not terrible.

Looking at the Niagara falls race, I noticed that they only have fluid stations every other mile now.  When I last did the race back in 2009, they had one every mile which was one of the reasons I chose to run the race.  I usually need to drink quite a bit while racing a marathon so this has me worried a bit, but I guess there's no point worrying about it now.  

Cadence

Just an update on the Polar S3+ foot pod front. I received it a few weeks ago and no extra import charges so yeah to that.  I've been running with it off and on and don't really like it.  I guess I've gotten spoiled with the GPS watches which are relatively consistent.

The problem with the foot pod is it needs to be calibrated but only is accurate at the pace it was calibrated at.  For someone like me who is all over the place with paces doing 9:30 recovery runs and 7:00 LT runs, this doesn't work very well for me, so distance wise, it isn't very accurate.  But that's okay, I really got it for the cadence feed back, but what I didn't realize at the time I bought it, is that my Polar RC3 GPS watch has no way of displaying cadence during a run, which I find absolutely ridiculous.  I can find out the average once the run is over for the entire run, but if I want any more info, I have to upload the data to the polar website.  So hey I can uplaod the info and find out after the fact that I should have had a higher turnover. Of course, I already know that. I wanted to be able to determine that info by a glance at my watch as opposed to having to count my footsteps manually for 60 seconds.

As for what data i have determined, it's pretty much what I expected. I can get to 90 on recovery runs when I'm wearing my Brooks PureConnects which are minimalist shoes. For long runs when I don't really concentrate on cadence, I 'm about 86 or so and tempo runs, I'm at 92.

So here's my run as a pacer at Midsummer Night's run 15k.  https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=81c57d22cde9901d1d9a1c75eb424d96
even though I had calibrated it at 8:00 min/miles, it thought i was going a bit slower and so it got the mileage wrong. My cadence was around 89 for most of the race and dropped down a bit towards the end. 

Part of me is now thinking that maybe I should get the garmin footpod.  I know the garmin can display cadence on the fly and in hindsight if I had known that the polar watch didn't display cadence, I probably would have gone down that route.  It would mean having to wear two watches at times since I love the polar for HR data and absolutely despise the HR strap that comes with the garmin. But since I wouldn't need cadence data on every run, it would be doable. As it is right now, I usually wear the garmin for pace runs since the polar watch doesn't have a lap pace display which I also think is ridiculous.  Polar makes such great hardware, but their software is extremely lacking in places. 

Seeking Directions

A couple of times a year, I get stopped during one of my runs by someone seeking directions.  Sometimes it's someone walking around and other times, it's someone who pulls up besides me in a car.  Usually, I have no problem pointing them in the directions of the nearest highway, major arterial road, liquor store, etc., but sometimes I get stumped.

Last week, I got stopped by someone in a BMW asking for the location of an obscure side street, Glen Springs Drive. Sounded familiar, but maybe it could have been that almost every side street in the area includes the name of a water feature.  I was about to say that I couldn't help, when the woman started describing directions she had been given and based on that, there was only one street that I could think of that fit that description (that is BTW, neither near a Spring or a Glen) so I gave her directions to that with the caveat that if that wasn't it, she should stop to ask someone else. As it would turn out, I did give her the right directions and funny enough, it's actually part of one of the common running routes I use. I have ran on that street hundreds of times over the past decade, but I just never bothered to realize what its name was.  In fact, I realize that I've probably run on every side street in my area at some point in my running career, but I only know a handful of their names.  Of course, during my last long run, I found myself noticing the names of all  the side streets and trying to make a mental note of what they were, which got me thinking of what other types of info I've accumulated  about my neighbourhood.

Over the years, you come to realize some things about the houses you run by, not necessarily consciously, but based on general familiarity that one gets from years of running. For example, today, in the middle of summer, I can point out to you the houses that don't shovel their sidewalks and those that keep them meticulously free of snow/ice during the winter. I can point out the house with nice landscaping and the one with the old chinese woman out front who's constantly weeding her lawn. Sometimes, it's not the houses, but the people. In the early morning, you start to see familiar faces, who cheerily say good morning as you run by, or the man walking his two dogs who I've learned to give a wide birth to because they always bark and try to chase me as I run past. 

I've always thought that running the same routes over and over again gets boring after a while, but I've come to realize that there are always new things to see and notice on every run, you just have to notice and appreciate them. 

Registered!

I registered for the Niagara Falls marathon that takes place on October 26.  It was either this one or Hamilton which is a week later.  I've done Niagara falls before so am somewhat familiar with it.  Ideally would have liked to wait until the week of to register even if it was more expensive, but it looked like it was going to sell out early.  At the beginning of July, 2/3 of the 1500 spots were gone and considering the last price increase of August 1 was looming, I just decided to register and save the extra $10.

This got me thinking about the marathon majors again which I would like to do at some point.  I've done the three US based ones which are easy, the remaining three (London, Berlin, Tokyo) are more difficult to plan for.  This is also complicated in that all three have a lottery system to get in, but you can always buy your way in, if you're willing to pay.  The nice thing is that none of these three charge you to enter the lottery, unlike one marathon (*cough* New York. *cough*) and they also don't require you to automatically pay upon being selected. You still have an opportunity to not go and not pay if you want, also unlike a certain marathon.  With no chance of doing Boston next year, I thought maybe I would take a shot at crossing at least one of the remaining three off my list in 2015.  London is off the list because I forgot to enter the lottery which was available for all of one day.  Next year, I have to put it into my calendar.

Both Tokyo and Berlin both have lotteries that have yet to take place and I'll probably enter both of them with the hopes of getting into only one of them If I get lucky and get into both, there's always a possibility of doing them both since one is in February and the other in September, but I'm not sure I would be able to make at least a week long vacation out of both, but then it would seem like a waste to go all that way to just run 42.2km.  I guess I'll have to cross that bridge *if* I get to it. 

Getting Faster

I lied when I said I didn't have a goal in mind during previous post.  I would obviously like to try and meet my BQ time which would be 3:15 to run in 2016. Seems such a long time away.  In a perfect world, I would have used NY last year as a springboard for winter training to make an attempt for a spring BQ that would enable me to run next year, but a winter of being lazy recovering messed that up.

So I've been giving some thought to trying to improve my form which a foot pod should help with. I think faster turnover is better efficiency which should result in increaseed speed.  Just manually counting, I am usually around 86-87 foot falls a minute at long run pace.  I can get it to 91-92 when doing LT runs.  I've been trying to do my recovery runs at 90, but it just doesn't seem to translate when I swtich back to long runs.  90@ recovery pace just feels very unnatural to me. Maybe if I keep at it, it will eventually become the norm.

I've been spending a lot of time on youtube researching running form and the big thing seems to be the pose/chi running style of midfoot landing.  This got me thinking of how do I actually land. Judging by the wear on my shoes, I'm not quite a heel striker, but I land towards the outside of my foot about 3/4 of the way down, so not quite a mid-foot striker either. Back in my 3:10 marathon days, the forefoot would wear faster than my heel so maybe my form just naturally changes as I get faster. I'd like to change that around though and change my form so that it results in increased speed.
Decided to try and confirm with a video. Drove my DSLR camera and tripod to the track and recorded myself running at various paces. 

Channeled a bit of Baywatch and Michael Bay as I probably overkilled a bit on the slow motion. It's only about 30 sec of actual running that somehow became almost 10 minutes of video. These are at increasing paces so scroll towards the end to see the more relevant runs.

The first two are at recovery pace and I'm just sort of hopping along and the last two are at strides pace. At strides pace, I'm pretty sure I'm mid-foot landing, but it's hard to say as my foot is pointing upward until the foot almost touches and them it sweeps under me as it takes my weight to land mid-foot. At slower paces, there's the odd time that I appear to mid-foot land, but for the most part, it looks like the 3/4 foot landing.  It could be as simple a fix as just pointing my foot down or increasing my flexiblity to land more mid-foot or just increasing cadence, I'm not sure.  I'll try the video again in a few months once the speedwork starts kicking in and see if there's a difference. 

Foot pod

After thinking about it for a little while, I really think cadence information might be useful so I tried my luck on ebay and ended up buying a footpod from that place where we all get our cheap electronics from.... Israel.  I'm still trying to figure that one out.   Polar devices are made in Finland, so I suppose it's kind of close, but not really.  In all it was $62 US and depending on whether Canada Post does their job of screening imported stuff, there may be import charges and taxes of another $20 or so. 

Total damage will be a bit less than $90 CDN in worst case scenario.  Considering I can get a Garmin footpod from Amazon for less than $80 all in and shipped to my door next day, it's still a bit pricey, but they way I look at it, I won the Polar GPS watch in a contest so I suppose Polar deserves a bit of money from me. Shipped the old fashion way so I"m guessing that it will be at least 3 weeks until I get it.
  

Update

So it's that time of the year again for my first post of the year. Last year, I waited till August, so a whole month earlier is a bit of an improvement. 

Yeah I know I still haven't written a race report for NY. There's really not much to say, other than:

I went. I ran. I finished.

3:55 and change which looking back now was surprising considering the circumstances of my injury.

After a winter of forced rest and allowing my leg to heal, the training is back on.  Right now I'm targeting a fall marathon.  Tentatively was looking at Niagara falls with a back up of Hamilton.  Niagara though seems to be filling up pretty fast. It's two-thirds sold out and there's still a good 3 months till race day.  Looking like I won't be able to do the last minute registration thing like I've done in the past. 

Not sure what goal time will be, but I'll let the training dictate that and figure it out a few months from now. As for training, I'm sticking with the Pfitz plan basically but thinking that I should try and improve my running efficiency a bit. I've been very intrigued by cadence measurements that you can get in the new garmins. I use a polar GPS device and can only get cadence through a foot pod.  Not sure I want to spend over $100 to get cadence information when I can just as easily count myself during a run, but it would be nice to have it automatically collected.

I want to be a part of it....

Today is the eve of the New York marathon.  I started this training cycle with the intent of not doing a long run pace marathon, but it seems that is probably what I will end up doing tomorrow.  My calf is  better, much better than it was two weeks ago, but I haven't really tested it.  I went on a few runs over the past few weeks hoping to do at least 10k each time, but ended up calling it quits after less than a mile.  My left calf still had a dull achy feeling that made itself known as I would start to run.  I felt that any losses in cardio could be made up for by going slower during the race, a busted up calf however would force me to drop out so rest was the preferred course of action these past few weeks..  

I feel I've loss quite a bit of fitness.  My resting HR is much higher than it normally would be at peaking training and even the few runs i've done have been at more elevated HR.  A goal of 3:15 is out the window and so is 3:20.  I ended up with a 3:30, 3:40 and 3:45 pace bands from the expo, but won't make the call until after the first few miles of the race when I get a feel for my effort level and calf situation. I may end up doing the bring a camera along thing and forgoing a goal time all together.    

Whatever happens tomorrow, I'll be okay with since I've learned a lot this training cycle so hopefully bigger and better things are in store for next year.

If you're reading and interested in tracking, I'm bib 7525.  See you on the flip side.

Damn Calf

So my calf is definitely injured. I ended up doing the 1:45 pacing gig at the Scotiabank half marathon which I've done for the previous 4 years.  Whether that was a good decision or not is still up in the air.  It's a nice gig to have since they give you a bunch of free stuff including shoes. Though I had thought about droping out, the problem is that if you pull out, they expect you to pay for the stuff.  I can kinda understand why. In previous years, they would get a bunch of people signing up to be pacers, who would receive the stuff and then pull out.  Since they started the "pay if you drop out" policy, the drop out rate has been extremely low. 

I ended up finishing in 1:44:59.3 which is really just a stroke of luck.  Since they started showing video of the finish line as part of the race pictures, it's hard to "cheat" at pacing since the obvious signs of slowing down and staring at your watch as you approach the finish line can be easily seen. I could run the last 100m, 1000 times and probably not come that close ever again.  They give out a prize to the pacer that came closest to their time.  Though you'd think I would be a shoe in, nope.  One of the other bunnies came in 0.6s over their goal time.  Even though it's the closest I've ever come to my goal time, I would probably rate this performance as subpar. One of the important roles in being a pacer is not running too fast at any point in the race.  One of the km I ran was 4:33 which should have been around 4:45 based on the 10/1 pacing I was doing.  That km was on a downhill, but still it was probably too fast. I hit the 10k mark at 48:59 which should have been 49:37 for a walk adjusted split. In previous years, I hit this mark at around 49:20 or later which is about 20 seconds of banked time which is about right considering that the 10k mark is downhill from the start. An extra 20s on top of that over 10k doesn't seem like much, but as someone who's doing the run/walk thing, the pace during the run phase is faster than if the person was doing it continuously and I'm already pushing people to run at a pace that is uncomfortable for them, to run just that little bit faster can really mess things up.  Well thankfully this was the last year they are doing the 10/1 1:45 pacer.  They are going to change it to a continuous one next year. 

As for the race itself, my left calf was hurting through the whole thing. The calf was okay (ie, no pain) before the race, but I knew that something didn't feel right as it still seemed tight. I ended up wearing a compression sock on just the one leg to provide some additional support.  Never run in the thing before, but I was more worried about the calf failing then about chaffing issues. Plus, I'd been wearing the sock for most of the week without any undue rubbing so I thought I'd be okay. It was definitely the right call.  Though I got through the race with a the calf hurting through much of it, I could barely walk after the race.

Since then, I've decided to rest for the remainder of the week and will try a short run this weekend.  The calf is getting better but is still sore when I walk down stairs. I'm trying to stretch and foam roll and stick it to helpfully get it healed before NY. Not sure how much fitness I will lose.  3:15 is definitely not possible and I think 3:20 may be slipping away also.  Well whatever. At this point, if I can run it without having to hobble, I will be happy. 

Taper Time

I originally thought I was heading into the taper in pretty good shape.  Most mileage I've ever done in a training cycle and no injuries to speak of. Alas, not quite so.  Last Friday, two days before my last scheduled 20 miler, headed out for 11 miles and my calf got really sore about half way through.  Did a short run on Saturday, took Sunday off and then tried to do the 20 miler on Thanksgiving Monday, but had to stop after 7 miles. Took the last two days off. I'm supposed to pace the 1:45 half marathon on Sunday at a local race and part of me has been thinking maybe I should bow out now.  I'd hate to drop out at the last minute and leave the organizer in a lurch. Will try a short recovery run tomorrow and then make the call.

I guess neglecting with the posting in this blog also caused me to not bother to review what I've written previously which is one of the whole reasons for starting this thing.  If I had bothered to look back (here and here), I would have read that in previous marathon training, I had a tendency to develop trigger points in my calves during the taper.  This time it happened a bit earlier, but all the warning signs were there and I just ignored them.  Tight calves at the beginning of run, plantar fasciitis pain.  All things I had dealt with and supposed learnedly from before, but I guess that feeling of invincibility I had while getting through some of the longer mileage and faster mileage weeks left me feeling a bit cocky.  Now I'm paying for it.  I've been kneeding my calves every hour for the past couple of days, even bringing my Stick into work. 

I usually pick a marathon goal about a month before the race.  As I previously posted, 3:20 was a reasonable goal with 3:15 as an outside possibility.  My recent 15k race made me a little more confident that 3:15 was doable if the stars aligned.  Also, did a 19 mile long run with 14 at MP with 7 at 3:15 pace so was feeling pretty good about that. But since I last posted about goals, the BQ times have come out for next year. Last year, when they implemented the new BQ times, everyone that ran their time got in, this year you had to beat your BQ time by 1:38 to get in.

Now it could just be that there is an intense interest in doing Boston now due to the bombings this year or it could just be that it took a year for marathoners to step up their game to adjust to the new times. 

Whatever the reason, it's looking like 3:15 may not be enough. While I thought I had an outside shot at 3:15, to run a 3:13 marathon would require a 7:22 min/mile pace which I haven't trained for and am probably ill prepared to attempt.  Though it may not seem like much of a difference, as someone that tried numerous times for 3:10 and failed, getting into that sub 3:15 range is a little dicey for me.

A 3:15 that doesn't get me into Boston might as well be a 3:20 or 3:30 for that matter.  At this point, I haven't run a marathon in 3 years so any time better than a DNF would be welcome.  I still haven't made a final decision yet, but I'm leaning towards the original goal of 3:20.  This may get slower or faster depending on the outcome of this calf issue.

15K Race Report

I ran the Running Maniacs 15k race this past Saturday. The timing of the race fit in well with the Pfitzinger training plan I'm on that wanted an 8-15k race done on that day.  I did this race 7 years ago when it was only a 5 and a 10k and run for the first time.  Didn't care much for the organization at the time, but hey they've had a few years to work out the kinks, right?

Situated in the little town of Newcastle, about a 45 minute drive east of Toronto, the race is really more of a fall festival for a local running group in the area, but a race is still a race.

Decided to sign up for the 15k. Though I had thoughts of doing the 10k after my miserable 10k performance 2 weeks ago, I realized that the main goal is to race a marathon this fall so longer tune-up races were preferable.  I went into this race with a slightly different mindset.  Rather than pick a pace to try and hold or try to run on perceived effort, I decided to return to my training roots and run this by HR by keeping the HR just under 180.  If I encountered a HR spike, I was going to stop until it returned to normal.  With this mindset, I think the tension of the race went away and I just perceived it as another training run.

Wasn;t too sure about the organization so prior to the race, I started asking around about the water stations, and no one seemed to have any clue if there were any or where they would be.  One volunteer did try and be helpful by saying he was sure that there was one at 12k mark, but that seems quite late. Not taking any chances, ended up running with a water bottle, an actual water bottle with a screw cap, not a squeeze bottle, as it was the only thing I had available. Didn't really get a good chance to warm up, which essentially consisted of about 200m of slight running right before the start.

To keep from going out too fast, I started at the very back of the pack.  There were only about 80 people in the race, so there wasn't going to be a lot of jostling. Hit the first mile marker at 7:00 min even which I thought was fairly good and controlled. Only real drama was during the 2nd mile when I could hear a train in the distance and I turned a corner to see a set of train tracks up ahead and started to wonder if they train was going to coincide with me passing the tracks, but it didn't, but it did pass by about 2 minutes after I crossed so it probably did effect some people.  The race is a mix of roads and paved trails and is a bit hilly in places. I would have to cross over train tracks twice more during the race, but no sound of horns in the distance so no train worries. Not a lot of volunteers or course marshals. I eventually figured out that they had spray painted arrows on the roads when one is supposed to turn which would have been nice if they had told us ahead of time. 

Rest of the race went without incident. HR didn't spike and HR was kept just under 180 with it going above it only on the hills. Remaing splits would be 6:53, 6:52, 7:06, 7:11, 7:05,6:49, 7:00,7:14.  The slower splits are a result of uphills and the faster splits are from downhills so things looked okay. Data from my race is here. Total race distance was around 14.7 km according to the GPS so a bit short.  Average pace for the whole race was 7:00 min/mile pace even for a finish time of around 1:04.  I say around because I had to go with my watch time which I didn't stop exactly at the finish line, maybe 5 to 10 seconds after.  My "official" finishing time has me at 1:41:23 which I don't understand at all.  Maybe I was just going so fast that relativistic effects started taking place and time for everyone else started to slow down or maybe the timing guys just messed up. I'm leaning towards the latter.

I emailed the timing guys about double checking, but its been a few days and haven't heard back from them. It probably won't help much as it appears from the race results that despite the start and finish lines being at the same place and using chip tracking, they only offered gun times. Since I started at the back of the pack, I think my watch time will actually be closer to my actual time then the gun time. 

My first thought when I saw the time mess up was that I had been stiffed yet again for an award  which had happened the last time I did this race, but lucky for me, I wouldn't have placed either overall or in my age group so it didn't really matter. I would have finished 10th overall, 5th in my gender and 4th in my age group.

There was some screw up with the chips though. In fact, we had to wait over an hour for them to announce the winners and they never actually did post the times at the event. I had to wait until Sunday night to find out my time online. In fact, I don't even think they had a clock at the finish line so one could have run this race without a watch and left the race having no idea what your finish time was. Apparently, some people had taken chips that weren't assigned to their bib numbers  which ended up messing up the results.  I know I received the right chip so that couldn't have been the issue for me, but who knows. 

I'm fairly happy with the race.  The 7:00 min/mile average pace for about an hour is approximately what my LT pace should be according to Daniels which means I've been doing my LT runs at the proper pace and intensity this training cycle. This has me still considering what marathon pace I should aim for in New York, but I'll get to that in another post.

That's it for tune-up races for me. Pfitz technically has one more scheduled for two weeks from now on a Saturday, but I'm supposed to be a pacer at a local half marathon on the Sunday which probably means an all out race the day before is pretty much out of the question. 

Overall, an okay event, if you don't mind the short course, and the timing fiasco.  The timing company was one I had never heard of before in this area.  There are basically two big timing companies in the area and a bunch of smaller ones.  The one that was used (splitstiming.com) seems to be relatively new.  They don't use the Championship chip system and they don't appear to have mats. Instead they have little antennas on the sides that pick up signals. Not sure how well they work; they obviously didn't work for me. Presumably they were used because they were cheaper, but sometimes you get what you pay for. As for swag, we got a tech shirt (not a fan of the colour) and a Tim Horton's coffee mug. Not bad for a $54 last minute 15k registration fee

SWAG!

Marathon Pace

I haven't posted at all about training this time around so here's an update.  Training so far has gone surprisingly well (touch wood). I think this may be the most mileage I've done during a training cycle.  I've done seven 20+ milers and had nine 50+ mile weeks so far and I still have more to come. Most of these miles, however have been on the slow side.  I started this training cycle about 10 pounds heavier than my racing weight has been in the past, so the hope that was doing a lot of slower runs would help shed the fat molecules without requiring me to crash diet. I believe I"m pretty close to where I should be in regards to weight, so the hope is now to build up some speed.

I have one last marathon pace type run this weekend and it's had me thinking quite a bit about where I might be in regards to my marathon fitness.  When I started this training cycle, 8 min/mile seemed reasonable considering that it's been a few years since I've run one, but I think that may be a bit conservative.  My training paces to date and progress seem very similar to what they were when I did Chicago back in 2006.  At the time, I was aiming for 3:20 in Chicago, but ending up finishing in 3:17. So 3:20 (7:38 pace) seems to be a reasonable goal for New York.  I've done three marathon pace long runs this time around, the 2nd of which was done at the beginning of August with 12 miles at 7:50 pace as part of a 20 mile long run.  The third marathon pace long done a few weeks ago was a bit of a disaster where I only managed 7 miles at 7:45 pace on a windy day, but I just considered that to be having a bad day and not carbo loading.  Who knows maybe I can pull of the 3:17 magic again.

Now the big wrinkle in all this is that my BQ time for 2015 is 3:15, so is 3:15 really that much different than 3:17?  My ego thinks that I could totally do 3:15, but the rest of me keeps reminding myself that I haven't raced a marathon in 4 years. In addition to that I'm 7 years older when I did Chicago and though 7 additional years of "experience" may be worth something, the truth of the  matter is there's a reason Boston gives you additional time as you get older.  In addition, New York is a tougher course than Chicago and I recently learned, I'm not very good at racing on hills, even though I've been trying to do my long runs on some hillier courses. 

Looking back to when I last did 3:15 which was in fall of 2009, I'm definitely not at the same level of fitness as I was back then. Back then I was doing my LT's at under 7 min/mile pace and I ended up doing a kinda hilly half marathon at a similar pace. Just recently, I struggled putting 7:15 pace down over a hilly 10k.  Looking at these numbers, 3:15 would be a pipe dream, but in reality back in 2009, I was training for an outside shot at 3:10 so I don't think I necessarily need the same fitness to do 3:15, but it would mean that I would have to race pretty close to my limit.

So the weekend has a 14 mile marathon pace run with 18 total miles.  My thinking was after a 2 mile warm up, to try to run 7 miles at 3:20 pace and then try to do the last 7 at 3:15 pace and see what I feel like after.  Still a few weeks of training left and at least one tune-up race so I should have a pretty good handle on my fitness after that. 

Hope training is going well for the rest of you!

Zoo Run 10K Race Report

It's been a while since I've written a race report. Heck, it's been a while since I've actually raced.  Last race and report was the Acura 5k back in July of 2010.  I've run in other races since, but didn't really "race" them.  They've always been as a pacer or with some sort of training purpose in mind.  I did do a 10k back in the fall of 2010 in the 44 minute range and though I seem to recall running it pretty hard, it was done a week after pacing a marathon so I wouldn't count that.  Here is a picture postrace from that race with 4 Olympic medalists and also Reid Coolsaet before he became a somewhat famous marathoner in Canada.  

BTW, I beat both Reid Coolsaet and an Olympic medalist in that race. Okay, the medalist was a figure skater and Coolsaet decided to run with with one of the sponsors representatives, but it still counts.

Pfitz' plan has several tune-up races as part of his marathon training that are generally between 8k and 15k.  They are always on a Saturday and hard to rearrange since the plan still requires you to do a 17 mile long run on the Sunday.  This year, luck was on my side as there are a few races in the area that fall on the correct dates.

The first of these was the Oasis 10k Zoo Run.  I decided to do this 2 weeks ago and as it was sold out, ending up purchasing a bib from someone online. Going into this, even though the last time I raced a 10k was back in July of 2008, I figured with the LT training I'd been doing, it wouldn't be too bad trying to hold a sustainable tempo like pace.  I figured a reasonable goal would be around 4:20 min/km pace for a rough time of 43.5 minutes.

Bib 2013 in the year 2013. What are the chances?

 Alas, things didn't go according to plan.  Firstly, though we had been blessed recently with some nice fall temperatures, (sub 10C), today was 18C. Second, it was raining, a steady rain which didn't go too well for me, but enough with the excuses and on to the race.

I tried to do an extended 30 minute warmup leading up to race pace since I typically do my LT runs with a 2 mile warmup and my track workout with a 3 mile one.  The other thing for the extended warm-up was to try and prevent my HR from spiking. I've posted about this before and it is still a concern for me, though I've learned to mitigate it somewhat by gradually warming up. 

I've been using a Polar GPS recently and this was the first time I've used it in a race.  Though I ran with the HR monitor, I turned off the HR display so it wouldn't cause me concern in the race if the HR did spike. In fact, I only ran with the lap split times being displayed, because I was hoping to run purely based on effort and feel.  After warming up, got into the corral with about 5minutes to start and was hopping up and down and running in place to try and keep the HR up and so the race starts.

During the first km, I tried to run a comfortable pace and gradually move up and pass people when space made itself available. The first little bit is in the zoo parking lot where the path is narrow in spots due to the fencing, but I think this helps to control one from going out too fast. After about 700m, it moves onto the road where things open up. Pass the first km in 4:20. Right on pace.

The 2nd km involves an out and back on the road with the out portion being downhill and the back portion being uphill. Still feeling quite good and the breathing is getting a bit labored on the hill climb part. Hit 2nd km at 4:25. A little slow, but okay.

The 3rd km continues uphill and according to the GPS altitude data, involves a 50 ft climb.  It was here about half way through the KM that my HR spiked going from mid 180's to over 210. I didn't know it at the time though.  Hit 3rd km at 4:23 which considering that this was almost all uphill probably means I was overly exerting myself on this, which caused the HR spike.

Typically, when the HR does this, it doesn't come back down on its own and I either have to stop or start walking where it eventually returns down to normal.  It's easy to do this in training, but obviously harder to do in a race, thus the reason for turning off the HR display.

About half way during km number 4, the route goes semi off-road onto an un-paved portion with packed dirt. Remember that it was raining so a little messy and trying to dodge puddles and such, while also trying to recover from the hill climb in the previous km.  I also notice here that my HR monitor is starting to slip down from my chest and I'm doing the pull it up thing, which I ultimately would have to do several more times in the race.  Km 4 is in 4:29. I'm slowing down. 

Km 5 continues off-road for a bit then rejoins a paved path.  By this point, I've been running with a few guys and we're jocking back and forth for position.  Breathing still feels a little labored, though the effort level is there. Hit the 5km marker in 4:28 for a split time of 22:05. 

Towards the end of km 6, there is a bit of an incline and out and back and this is where it starts to fall apart.  The first little bit is downhill, but then it runs through a foresty part which has a steep incline. Hit km 6 at 4:32.

Trying to recover from the previous incline and due to the fact that km 7 and 8 are undulating, I missed the 7 km marker as I spent most of the time looking at the ground trying to keep my breathing in check and trying to recover during the downhill portions from the uphill portions. I hit km 8 at 9:25 for a 4:43 average.

During km 9, I try to gain some speed, but my breathing is severly labouring at this point and I'm breathing in a one-one breathing pattern. Speed's not going up. Km 9 in 4:34.

As I pass km 9, I try and kick for the finish line and try to bump up the pace, but quickly realize that it ain't sustainable since it's almost all uphill. 50 ft climb over the last km.  Slow down where required, cursing whoever thought that having an incline at the end of a 10k was a good idea.  The HR strap  also ended up slipping down and I ended up having to catch it as it became unlatched.  Ended up crossing the finish line at 45:15 with HR monitor strap in hand.  Last km in 4:38.

Overall pace was 4:31/km (7:17/mile), a far cry from the 4:20/km (6:58/mile )pace and 43.5 time I was hoping for.

Obviously, not too happy with my race.  I did a 7 mile LT run two weeks ago where I averaged 7:15/mile pace and I ran a 6 mile LT run almost a month ago at 7:04/mile pace. Yes, this route was technically more difficult and the rain didn't help, nor did the HR spiking so perhaps I should just chalk it up to having a bad day.

BTW, Reid Coolsaet also ran in this race and had a time of 29:50. No beating him this time.

Here is the HR info showing the HR spike which apparently lasted through the entire race.  It only appears to drop off towards the end when the HR strap slipped down.   Up until the HR spike, I think I was doing okay as it appears to have been leveling off at the mid to low 180's even when climbing a hill. If the HR hadn't spiked, would I have been faster? I'd like to think so though I don't really know. I didn't feel too great towards the end of the race, but that could have been just because it was a race; it's supposed to get tough towards the end. 

 If you're interested in any other details of my race or the course (mile splits, route, elevation), you can get more info here.

As for what's next?   Next tune-up race is scheduled for 2 weeks from now and there is a 10k and 15k option at a race that is about a 45 minute drive east of here. I ran this race back in 2006, where I was robbed of a first place finish.  I originally thought that I would do the 15k, but with today's lackluster performance, I'm thinking maybe another crack at the 10k would be better. Will see how the training goes over the next two weeks and will probably make a last second decision. Hopefully, the race won't sell out.

Normally, I would never pass up a chance to take some pictures of animals at the zoo, but the miserable weather and the crappy race made me want to get out of there as quickly as possible, so I'll leave you some images that I've previously taken.

Back to the Scene of the Crime

Well I suppose it's that time of the year again for my one yearly post.  Not that too many people are still reading, but if you are, Hi!!.

So the title basically sums up what I'm training for. After my last post from almost  a year ago gushing about doing the NYC marathon, I had the NY experience stolen from me by Hurricane Sandy. Or maybe the title refers to the fact that New York Road Runners association stole another $300+ from me for the privilege of running in their race after they had cancelled the race, only 3 days prior to the race taking place.  Did I mention that I had traveled to NY before they cancelled it? Well technically, I found out while I was at the airport about 20 minutes before I was supposed to board the plane, but by then I had already paid for my non refundable hotel, my last minute flight had ridiculous cancellation fees which made the airfare a write off and a nice $80 cab ride into downtown Toronto during rush hour (ain't doing that again) to top it all off.  I figured I would go anyways since I had already spent so much.

Not that I'm bitter as I really wasn't ready to run a marathon at that time. I had put some training in, but not nearly enough to really race a marathon.  I had resigned myself to basically running the race at my long run pace of about 9 min/mile which would have put me just under 4 hours.  Oh well, even with that conservative goal, it was still a letdown to not do the race.

After a winter of putting on some weight and not doing anything training wise, I decided that I should at least start preparing to redo NY and not just have to settle for a long run pace marathon.  So that's where I am today.  Week 6 of an 18 week training program.  Trying to do Pfitzinger 55 mile 18 week program. Not sure what marathon pace I'm aiming for. It'll be 3 years since I've run a marathon and 4 years since I've raced one so it's going to be a relearning experience for me.  I'm fairly certain I should be able to do 3:30 if I keep the training up.  As to how much faster I might be able to go, I really don't know.  Time will tell.

Some Pics from NY.

Statue of Liberty

World Trade Center Memorial

Times Square

View from Empire State Building

Rockfeller Plaza
(Day before Presidential Election hence the red white and blue)

 



 

Has it been so long?

Wow, the blogger interface for entering new posts has changed. I guess that's what happens when you don't post for over a year. I guess I should update you all on what's new in my world.

Why the sudden post out of the blue, you may ask? Well, every time I visit, Yumke's site, his sidebar lists blogger individuals and ranks them by the date of their last post. More recent posts and you appear at the top, the oldest post appears at the bottom. Where am I located? That's right, the last individual, at the very bottom.  At least, this will get me off of the bottom for a little while!

So what's new with me? I finished grad school, now a Master of Engineering, has a nice ring to it. Started a new job. Was looking to work in-house doing legal IP stuff and for a while it was looking like I might need to relocate since most of the IP work in Toronto is in law firms and I really didn't want to go back into a law firm environment, but  thankfully found something local that I seem to like, so far.

As for running, it's been slow. I pretty much took all of 2011 off from running.  I only started to pick up some training in the months leading up to the 2011 Waterfront marathon since I was supposed to pace the half in 1:45 and there's a fear or not wanting to let others down, that forced me to get back into it.   Finished that okay on pace. 


As for this year, I'm scheduled to do a bunch of pacing gigs. Just finished one last week, pacing a 2:45 30k at Midsummer Nights run. I'm also supposed to pace 2 halfs at 1:45, one at the end of September and one in mid October.  As for the marathon, I'm registered for NYCM.  Got in through the three times a lottery loser route and have been diligently marathon training for it, but not as seriously as I have in the past.  Since they tightened the Boston qualifying times, I now need a 3:10 to get back into Boston. I was able to do that several years ago, but found the training way too tough and time consuming and I have no interest in doing that again  I'm essentially training just so I can finish in reasonable shape with a smile on my face.  My speed work and tempo runs are really more so that I can comfortably pace the half marathons that are coming up.

I was really excited about New York, but just this week, they announced that they're getting rid of the bag check which is an odd decision.  My initial thought was that this was a terrible idea as I've traveled to many marathons and have always used a bag check service.  To compensate finishers who would bring warm clothes to change into, they are providing a "Finisher's Poncho"

Waterproof and lined with fleece, it's a supposed to keep us warm until we get back to hotel/home/loved ones. The elimination of the bag check  is supposed to ease congestion at the finish line which has apparently been a problem in the past.  Will it work? Time will tell.

I hate the idea of not having a bag check. It's just one more thing I have to worry about on race day. If I travel there alone, I would have to carry my hotel key card and some ID with me during the race. Even if I had someone there with me, trying to find them afterwards is going to be almost impossible without a cell phone. NYCM is supposed to be offering a free phone calls from cell phones afterwards, but that's just not going to work very well.  Thankfully, I won't be racing this, so I don't mind if I have to carry some extra stuff with me during the race. I'd be really po'd though, if I were trying to BQ or race for a PR.

Well that's it for my ramblings for now. Until my next post...

Busy Busy Busy

So yes I thought I'd update you all.  Actually I'm trying to find ways to procrastinate.  I've been in the library working on projects since 9am this morning and it's getting around that time when I'm starting to lose my wits.  So indulge me while I procrastinate.

As for running, well there really hasn't been a lot of it lately.  I think I've run a total of 3 miles in the past month.  The reason for it is due to a bunch of things.  My free time has dropped significantly so running has been put on the back burner.  The one thing is I just don't feel like running, which is a weird feeling.  I think I've figured it out though as being a result of lack of calorie intake.  I hadn't anticipated that my eating habits would be so terrible since returning to school.  Hot dog for lunch, chocolate bar for dinner.  I'm surprised that I even have any energy at all.  Thankfully, I've only put on about 2 pounds, but I'm sure my body fat percentage has increased.  I can't even fathom trying to train for a marathon based on the food, or lack thereof I've been eating.

What this basically means is that I'm not doing the Boston marathon this year. I have a take home exam due on the day of the marathon and then another exam two days later.  I could probably go and have a terrible experience considering the lack of training and all and then regret it when I stumble into class 2 days later to try and write an exam in pain, so I figure it's best to just not go.  Yes, it will probably be the last chance of doing Boston for a while since they lowered the BQ time to 3:10 for my age group.  Did 3:10 once, not sure I could ever to it again.

Anyhow, I should probably get back to these projects.  Thanks for reading.

Bueller, Bueller ??

Yes, I know it's been a while and in case anyone is still reading and was wondering what I was up to, let this post fill you in.

Since I last left you over 5 months ago, running wise, I ..., well I'm not really sure cause it's been a while. I did pace the scotiabank half at 1:45 and then paced the full at the Toronto marathon to 3:45. The full wasnt as bad as i thought it would be. When I did Ottawa, I was pretty sure I didn't want to pace a full again cause it hurt, but a fall pacing job wasn't too bad since I think I was better prepared and wasn't too sore afterwards. Maybe I'll do it again. Signed up for Boston next year, but there's a good chance I won't be going which I'll get to in a bit.

Training wise, things have been slow as of late. I've only recently started up again after a prolonged layoff. At this point, I'm trying to build up mileage, but am starting off slow. I averaged about 10 min miles last week for most of my runs. Sometimes one starts to wonder where did all the speed go, but with time it should come back. I'm always amazed by how quickly woman who have just came off of pregnancy are able to bounce back so I'm hoping for the same (not the pregnancy part of course.)

The biggest news for me is that I've returned to school full time to pursue a Master's degree. Left my job in September, took a few months off and then spent a few weeks in China and just started back in school this week. Considering it's been over a decade since my undergrad, this is a big change. Part of me still isn't sure about this move, but I figure I'll try it for 4 months, see how I'm handling it and either continue on, switch to part-time or drop-out. We shall see.

Now this theoretically means I should have more time to run, but with studying who knows, I may have less. One interesting thing was that yesterday I noticed one of my profs was wearing a garmin 405 as a watch. Now only hard core runners would wear a garmin as a watch. I looked him up and he ran a sub 1:30 half at scotia and a 3:20 full at Toronto. Wow.

As for Boston, one of my other, non running, profs has scheduled a final exam for Monday, April 18, which as you may know happens to be the day the Boston marathon is on (Damn Patriots day). There's a small chance that it'll be moved since a couple of the other people in the class have already said they have conflicts with other exams, but considering that this is basically around exam time, I'll probably have to be studying or writing exams anyways on that day, so it looks like Boston will be out of the cards this year. 

I will try and post a little more often than once every 6 months, but can't guarantee anything.  Hope you all have a fantastic 2011!

Recovery week.

This past week was a recovery week. The purpose of these things according to Pfitz is to allow the body to recover somewhat from the increasing amounts of mileage. Mileage was scheduled to be cutback to 37 miles a week. I skipped one recovery run so I ended up at 33 miles this week. Though describing it only as skipping a recovery run seems okay, I had to move the schedule around. The first two runs on Tuesday and Wednesday went according to plan, but Thursday morning which had a scheduled modest 8 miles, I ended up skipping in the morning and it was just too warm in the evening. Friday came and went without a run and forced myself to do it on Saturday. Sunday is long run day of 12 miles and the plan originally had a recovery run the day before, but since I already did 8 miles the previous day, I skipped it.

Sunday's long run was a bit different. The Scotiabank waterfront marathon had a "tune-up" run. These are scheduled runs set up by the race to get people to run together. I don't think I mentioned this before, but I'm going to be a pacer again for the 1:45 half at the race. Being a pacer gives free entry and free gear which is a nice gig if you can get it. One of the conditions is that you have to attend one of these tune-up runs so people can get a chance to meet you and to allow the race to advertise the pacing program and the sponsor who this year is Brooks. I haven't run in Brooks shoes since 2008. Last year Asics sponsored the pacers and I think the year before that Addidas was the sponsor. Whomever is willing to pay the bills I suppose.

So the tune-up run had three options. a 20k, 10k and a 5k distance. The 20k distance would have been perfect for me since I was supposed to do 12 miles, but when I inquired about it, the organizers had other plans. Only the marathon pacers would be doing the 20k distance, whereas the half pacers would be doing the 10k. The pacers were supposed to run their race pace as part of the tune-up run. I'm not sure that this was wise. If you think about it, someone that was going to follow a pacer that they would follow in September was being asked to run 6 miles at their half marathon pace today. This is basically a 6 mile LT run on a day when they should probably be doing a long run.

With only 6 miles on tap as part of the run, I had to make up an additional 6 miles. They had staggered the start time of the three races so that we would all basically arrive at the finish line at about the same time. Since I had arrived really early to beat the rush and because I had intended on doing the 20k, i had some time to get the 6 miles in before my race. I basically just ran the 10k route which was already marked out. It felt weird passing the km markings and aid stations knowing that I was going to run this same thing again in about an hour.

As for the actual tune-up run itself, there really wasn't much to tell. I ran for the first 10 minutes and had a group around me but when I stopped for the walk break (I was doing 10 and 1's), all but one of the group kept going. I continued with one woman doing 10 and 1's, but she said the pace was faster than she was used to. I lost her at the turnaround point, though she did say after that she ended up with a faster time than she was expecting so i guess it was a good day. I finished in 50:20 which would have put me on pace for a 1:46:12 half. Close enough.

Acura 5k report

The 5k race from two weekends ago. Signed up for this at the last minute. Was intending to use this to get some experience. Based on past experience, the first 5k of my racing season tends to be a disaster (see 2009 and 2008 and 2007). I was expecting this race to be no different. Prepared for this slightly differently. Day before, I did a very short, very slow recovery run with 6 strides towards the end. One thing I did differently was I did it at the end of the day about 12 hours before the actual race. I think this may have helped.

Arrived with plenty of time. Wanted to do a proper warm up so with 20 minutes to start did a slow 1-1.5 mile jog with 3 short strides. Moved into the starting corrals with 5 minutes to go and bumped into Kenny and Lee. Goal was to try and go for 20 minutes, though realistically I thought that breaking 21 minutes was going to be a challenge.

So the gun goes off and I start out at a fairly controlled pace. Usually, I'm in a panic during the first km trying to weave around people, but this time, if I got stuck behind someone, I just hung back a bit until an opening appeared. I was trying to use my garmin to ensure that I was pacing properly and though it looked like I was right on pace, I ended up being a bit too slow in the first km hitting it in 4:07. The first little bit is under the elevated freeway so it's possible the GPS signal wasn't too great. The other thing was that the HR spiked during the first km which is usually a sign of tougher things to come.

I had thought of slowing down after the HR spike and doing the 10 miler instead, but thought I'd try to see how far I could go with the elevated HR before I started to feel like crap. Motor along and hit the 2nd km marker at 4:14 though I think I pushed the lap button a bit late since I was running through an aid station and tried to get some water in my mouth (which didn't work too well). It was probably around 4:10 or so. Hit the turnaround and head for home. 3rd km is in 4:05, but this was actual short due to my previous error so it's probably more like 4:09. So to this point, I've been fairly consistent with the pacing and the HR is still spiking. 4th km is usually where I start to fade and this was no exception, though it wasn't as bad of a fade as it normally is. I usually get this feeling of just wanting to give up during the 4th km, but I didn't get that feeling this time. Sure it was tough, but a sustainable type of tough. There were a couple people ahead of me and I just sort of tried to catch them and passed 3 or 4 people during the stretch. Even so this was my slowest km at 4:14. Last km, try to pick up the effort a bit, and end up with my fastest split of 4:06.

4:07
4:10
4:09
4:14
4:06
Total: 20:46 (6:41 min/mile)

So fairly consistent splits and all this with the HR spiking.  I should probably mention that I still haven't gotten back my heart stress test results yet and won't know till the beginning of August.  At least with this, race, I  now have a gauge of a 5k pace I can hold with the HR going crazy. This was also with almost no VO2Max training.  I did 4x800m 6:20 pace five days before the race and that was it.  I'm keen on trying another 5k since I'm pretty sure that if the HR didn't spike, I could maybe break 20 minutes or at the very least try and set a new PR (20:21 PR),but 5k races take a little too much out of me and end up messing up the marathon training.  Only time I would consider it would be on a Saturday since it still allows me to get a long run in on Sunday.  There was a 5k race this Saturday I was thinking of doing, but it's a first time event on a new course. It starts with a hill at the start and then it's all downhill.  I'd rather race on a certified course, but they are hard to find in this area.  One of these days, I may just try and do a 12.5 lap time trial at the track and see what happens.

Bonking

Let's see. Since I last posted I've gotten most of my mileage in according to Pfitz.

Thursday (July 8): 10.2 miles (8:41 min/mile pace)

Saturday: 4.1 miles recovery which included 6 strides.

Sunday: 5 k race in the morning in 20:46. 14 miles in the afternoon (9:21 pace)
Bonked pretty bad doing the 14 miles. Including the warmup for the 5k. Ended up doing 18-19 miles for the day. Race report for the 5k to come.

Tuesday: 9 miles including 5 miles at tempo pace. Bonked pretty bad on this run too. Didn't recover that well from the Sunday run and struggled to put down the 5 tempo miles at 7:38 pace.

Wednesday: 5.4 miles @ 9:24 pace

Thursday: 10 miles @ 8:47 pace

Saturday: 5.4 miles recovery

Sunday: 16.2 miles which included between 9 and 10 miles at marathon pace effort. I thought I was pretty recovered for this and thought it wouldn't be too hard since I did 11 miles of marathon pace two weeks ago. Drove downtown to do it by the lake but since the Honda Indy car race was on ended up going onto the Leslie spit where it was a little too warm. Ran into some HR spiking problems on the spit and towards the end. Had intended to do 10 miles at marathon pace, but probably only ended up with 9 and a little bit. The Marathon pace speed was a little faster than it was two weeks ago at around 7:35 to 7:40 pace.

Today: 7 miles. Supposed to do 8 miles with strides, but tried to do some 800 repeats instead. Not too good. Did 3 miles warm up and then did one 800m repeat and then proceeded to bonk during the second one and ended up switching it into 200m repeats.

I had a few good runs a few weeks ago in really warm weather, so I had thought that maybe I had adjusted okay to the higher temps and humidity, but I think that was just an anomaly cause all my runs in the warmer weather have just been terrible or rather any runs out in the sun during the warmer temperatures have been terrible. Ones done when the sun goes down, even if it's still warm outside have gone okay. Maybe it's an anti-Superman thing. The yellow sun is my kyrptonite.

Warming Up

It's gotten very hot as of late. It's funny how you go back and read about the winter training days where one prays for the warm days of summer and now I'm wishing for the cooler training days of winter.

This past week of training has gone according to plan. I did 42 miles last week which included a 16 mile long run on Sunday with about 11 miles at a marathon pace effort which came out to about 7:35-7:50 min/mile pace. Ended up driving down to the lake to do it. I'm trying to avoid driving down to the lake to do long runs this year with the exception of marathon pace runs. I like to be able to get a continuous route down by the lake where I don't have to stop for traffic lights.

I've been using the Pfitz-first edition training plan, but remembered that the 2nd edition plan (which is presumably better) is slightly different. The 2nd edition plan had an early 13 mile run with 8 at marathon pace which I was supposed to do 2 weeks ago, but since I was following the 1st edition plan I didn't. I thought I'd try the 8 marathon pace miles this past weekend though. I ended up feeling pretty good after 8 miles so I just kept going to 11.

Yesterday had me supposedly doing 8 miles with 10 strides but I wanted to try an interval workout. Up in the morning and it was very warm and humid. Did 4x800m in 3:12, 3:10, 3:09 and 3:11 with a one lap jog recovery of 2:50 in between. There's a 5k race this weekend which I was thinking of doing in my quest to break the 20 minute barrier, but based on how I was feeling on this workout, I don't think I'm ready. It could just have been the warm temperatures, so one never knows. I may end up signing up anyways just to get the experience. There's also a 10 mile race which I was considering doing instead though since there's a $10 coupon available on the website for that. Still fairly pricey though, $70 for the 10 miler and $52 for the 5k. Tough call.

Changing it up

Did 15 miles yesterday for a long run. Averaged a little slower than 9 min/miles. Course was sort of hilly. Much hillier than my normal route. I've decided to do a bit of exploring as of late. I was looking at a google earth satellite view of my area and I noticed that there are a lot of little parks in the area. In the past, I've done various loops that end up taking me back to my place so I can refill my water bottle. I wanted to try and find out how many of these parks had water fountains so I set off to search. I've found two parks with them and I'm hoping there are more. My hope is to find a 20 mile route that doesn't overlap, is not an out and back and has enough water fountains along the way to keep me hydrated.

On another note, I bought a new flavour of gatorade powder. I'm a creature of habit and have always used the orange one, but the grocery store didn't have any so I'm trying lemon-lime. I'm a rebel.

First official tempo run tomorrow morning. Gotta get to sleep for the 5am wake-up call.

Stress Test

Went for a cardiac stress test yesterday.  I also had an echocardiogram done while there.  I have to wait 2 weeks for the official report.  I tried to garner some information from the people doing the tests, but all they said was that everything looked okay. Not sure if that's what the tell everyone so as to not scare you.

My family doctor suggested the stress test after I mentioned the weird symptom that I sometimes see while running.  Here's an example from when I ran a marathon last fall. 

I started the race out fine, but at about the 2mile mark, the HR spiked for 4 miles and then returned to normal. It doesn't happen on every run and I'm not sure if there's anything that triggers it. It's a weird symptom.  I can sometimes sense when it starts since it feels like a skipped heart beat, but other than that I don't really know that it's happening unless I look down at my watch.  As far as I can tell, it impacts my performance only during shorter faster races where VO2Max becomes a limiting factor.  I think that's why I have problems with 5k races.  The harder intensity means that the HR is more likely to spike which causes a worse performance when it does. Anyhow the main objective of a stress test is to stress the heart to try and get it to do something abnormal and then analyse what the abnormal part is.

I had my echocardiogram done first.  This is where they use an ultrasound to take various pictures to get an idea of what the heart looks like and the blood flow through it.  The tech said that everything looked fine, but I'm not sure if she was the one doing the analysing or if a doctor is supposed to look at the pictures and issue a final report.

Then had the fitness test done.  They hook you up to a bunch of electrodes to get an EKG and then put you through a treadmill test at every increasing intensity while monitoring your blood pressure. The doctor asked some general questions about my HR issues and wanted to know a bit about my running. I said that I ran marathons and she then mentioned that she was a runner too and was doing her first marathon this fall in NY.  She then said that we might be here a while since the test builds up only gradually and most people will bail at some point during the test once the effort level increases.

So the test starts at a slow walking pace and flat incline.  Every couple of minutes the pace and incline of the treadmill increases and they measure your blood pressure.  I kinda figured early on that my HR was not going to spike during this test since from experience I know that if i build up the effort gradually enough, the HR will not spike and since this test was doing just that, it probably wouldn't reproduce the conditions that cause it to occur. I think I got a lot farther into the test then most people would because the treadmill started to make some strange noises at the higher speeds and the tech and doctor began to comment on it like it was a weird occurrence. The HR never did spike and the test shut down after what I'm assuming is the maximum effort level that the treadmill can induce. It could also have been that they thought i was working too hard since by the end of the test, i was dripping lots of sweat.  I'm not sure of the speed but by the end, it felt like around 8min/mile.  The incline was somewhat steep though.  My legs were starting to fatigue at the end and I was breathing somewhat hard, but not like interval hard. Afterward, they said my HR peaked at around 180 which for me is a good tempo effort when I know from past experience my max is at around 190.  In total, I think the test lasted a max of 15 minutes.

I'm somewhat disappointed by the test since I don't think the test really "stressed" me. But I can understand the reasoning for the treadmill test.  Most people that come in for stress testing have heart issues and are not involved in exercise and are usually of older age. Most of the people in the waiting room were seniors and the people who were younger seemed to be people who had brought their parents/grandparents to the office.  The test should induce cardiac stress in most people, but just not me on this particular test. 

I have to wait for the official results, but assuming that they don't report anything wrong, I will have to examine some other options as I'm still concerned about the increase in HR.  Another option which I'll have  to talk to my doctor about is a Holter test which is where you are hooked up to a portable EKG unit that you wear for 1 to 2 days.  I was actually hoping that my doctor would initially prescribe this instead of the treadmill stress test .  I think the main purpose of having the stress test done in a doctor's office is that you would have medical personal there in case anything bad happens.  The downside is that you are somewhat limited by the artificial test conditions present whereas if I used a holter device, I'm fairly certain that I could get my HR to spike under conditions of my choosing. 

Anyhow, I'll report on the results when they come in which should be in about 2 weeks.

Getting Faster and Fitter

Did 14 miles on Sunday at about 8:20 min/mile pace.  This was a recent bump in pace for me.  All my long runs to date including the ones leading up the spring marathons were at about 9 min/miles.  I was way over my target long run heart rate for this run so I'll probably have to return to the slower long runs the next couple of weeks until I can build some mileage and get the HR back down. 

In past training cycles, all I've done is run.  No cross training, no weights, no anything else.  Though I've tried the 100 pushup challenge and the occasional core workout, I never really stuck with anything to the point of seeing change.  I never really saw the need for it since I'd been able to accomplish most of my goals without it.  I feel though that I've hit a bit of a wall in terms of training effect.  Most people can get faster by building some endurance or losing weight.  I think I've already hit that ceiling in terms of weight loss and VO2Max with very little in the way of future room for improvement. I think this training cycle, I will try and do a little more total body fitness. Hopefully this will assist in getting me to a point where I can gun for some PRs without having to add a ton of extra mileage.  Who knows, maybe a 3:10 marathon attempt for the fall is in the cards.

I did 8 miles outside today with some strides and had the HR spike a couple of times which I suppose is good timing since I'm going for my cardiac stress test tomorrow.  I haven't had any issues with HR as of late, but I think that's because I've been running at a lower intensity level. I'm just hoping that I can reproduce the symptom tomorrow. I'd hate to go through the whole exercise of getting tested without being able to reproduce the effect. 

It begins...

And so begins the first week of training for an October 17 marathon.  Doing the old reliable Pfitzinger 18 week/55 mile plan that has gotten me through many a marathon.  You should hopefully see a bit more posting, but it just seems that everything that I've wanted to say over the years has already been said.  Having said that I will try and post a bit more.

Week so far has gone okay.  Did 7 miles with 10 strides on Tuesday. Did 9 miles which included 3 miles at around 7:10 min/mile pace and then did 2x800m at about 3:17/800m.  Did 5.4 miles today at a recovery pace and will try and do 14 miles tomorrow for a long run. 

I was planning on doing an after work 5 mile race next week, but have decided against it.  There were a couple of reasons for it.  The G20 meeting is next weekend and everyone is being advised to work from home in the week leading up to it.  Our building isn't in the security perimeter, but everyone is on high alert about protests downtown. I don't have to be told twice to stay home since I generally hate the commute to begin with so I'm staying home.  Second reason is that my LT run this past Thursday just sucked.  I was hoping I would be able to handle 3 miles at 7 min/mile comfortably, but this just wasn't so.  I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace for 5 continuous miles.  Maybe if I had another month i could make it so, but I have less than a week.  Lastly, I've finally decided to get a stress test done for my heart which I'm having done next week.  Those of you have been following for a while and can remember my graphs know that on occasion I have had issues with my heart rate spiking while running.  It happens during training and in races, but doesn't happen all the time and I don't really know what causes it or if it's a cause for concern.  This should hopefully shed some light on it.

I've been reading up on it and what I've been able to discern (thank you wikipedia) it's  a treadmill test where they hook you to an EKG and walk/run on a treadmill and they try and detect changes in your heart rhythm as the work load increases.  I'll post more about the experience after it happens. I just hope they don't expect me to run a 5k pace on a treadmill indoors attached to a bunch of wires. I get flustered trying to do runs with my headphones plugged into the treadmill; I can't imagine what it would be like with an umpteen number of wires attached to my chest.

Updating the blog

Guess it's time for my once a month post. This past month has been fairly slow on the running front. The odd run here or there. I got up to 25 miles last week and was hoping to get up over 30 this week. Most of this was done at a recovery pace.

I've been pretty good at my new year's resolution of not entering races unless I actually intend to race them which basically means I haven't entered any so far this year. Probably won't for a while since I feel so slow. The plan right now is to do the Toronto marathon this fall on October 17 which means an 18 week program would start at the end of June so I still have about a month to build up some endurance and try and find some speed.

I'm not sure if I want to do Boston next year and I haven't decided if I want to try for a BQ time in October yet. I'm technically already qualified for next year. However, I used to be of the camp where one qualifier should entitle you to run only one Boston, but now that I'm put into the position of actually having to adhere to that, I'm not so sure. Right now, the plan is to leave it to fate. I'm going to see if I can get a comp entry as a pacer for the race. If so, then I just take it nice and easy. If I don't get in as a pacer, then I'll probably try for the BQ.  Either way, I'll decide on Boston when it opens which just so happens to be the day after the race (October 18).


I'm still having problems getting up early in the mornings.  It's just way difficult.  Even with the sun coming up and the bird chirping and the temperatures being fairly nice, I just have problems getting up at 5 to 5:30 for a short 6 mile run.  I've been doing them in the evening, but that's been tough as of late cause it's been really warm in the evening.  Like today, did a 6 miler in the evening and it was 26C outside. 

As for races during the summer.  There are a couple here or there that I'll probably try to race.  One race that I think I'll try is the Night Crawler 5 mile. It's on a week day downtown and it's always a race I've wanted to do, but couldn't cause I worked way up north.  I'm just sort of hoping I can find some speed before I take it on.  I'd hate to race it and end up with an average pace slower than my half marathon PR pace.

More scenes from Big Sur...

I realize that I forgot to put up the slideshow of the remaining pics from the Big Sur marathon so here you go.


Picasa Link

And as promised here are some quick video clips from the race.



Youtube Link