1. Wednesday night's group run ended with 3 x 400m on the track. It was just enough to remind me that I like to run fast! I hadn't been on a track since high school, but once I got a taste, I knew I would be back...
2. Today, It decided to do one more speed workout before the marathon, back at the track. After last week's 800s, I wanted to do more of the same and settled on 8x800 with 2 minute recoveries, but was worried I wouldn't be able to do 2 more at the same pace as last week. My goal was 5:15/km (which was my goal last week but I went faster), but I couln't quite help myself from going faster (again).
4:02 - A little faster than planned.
4:08 - That's better.
4:03 - Whoops!
3:57 - What's happening?
3:53 - Where did that come from?
3:57 - How many more do I have to do?
4:02 - Panting.
4:02 - Just. One. More. To. Go.
I have to admit, I was exhausted after this run. Thank goodness for a long weekend!
3. I got new shoes last week! I stuck with Saucony Triumphs, and couldn't believe how different they feel compared to my old ones. I had lost track of the miles run on the old pair over the winter when I was switching between pairs and they were very, very flat. Feels good to have a little cushioning again!
4. Happy Earth Day! There's an Earth Day Fun Run in town tomorrow and I'm going to try to incorporate it into my long run.
5. This one's just for Canadians: VOTE! Advanced polls are open noon - 8pm today, Saturday and Monday. I voted in the advanced polls because I will be driving back from the Vancouver Marathon on Election Day, May 2nd.
Links to the party platforms, and proof that politicians can be funny can be found here: http://www.vintagevoter.ca/
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
2 Weeks To Go!
Last week started off well, with an extended, not so slow Recovery Run on Monday.
This was followed by a Tempo Run on Wednesday that had me feeling better about my speed.
Thursday, I had planned on doing some yoga, but went 5 pin bowling instead. Does this count as strength training? My arms were actually a bit sore afterwards!
This brings us to Friday and I haven't had a chance to update my runs since then. I was in Prince George for work and really wanted to do some intervals and work on speed some more after the Tempo run on Wednesday. I hadn't really done any interval training since the fall, and had no idea what pace I should aim for. I warmed up, nice and slow (aiming for 6:30/km) for ten minutes which took me to a nice long flat stretch of road with not much traffic. My plan was just to run as fast as I could for 800m, then check my pace on that one, and aim for slightly slower in order to be able to maintain the same pace x6, with 2 minutes to recover in between.
It didn't work out exactly as I planned, but I was happy with the result:
Those first ten minutes ended up being 6:10/km, a little faster than planned, but still comfortable. My pace, for the first 800m was 5:07/km, so I wanted to aim for 5:15-5:20/km for the rest, keeping in mind that I've been doing most of my running at 6:00-6:30/km pace for the past few months.
Interval 2 was at 5:00/km. Oops. Interval 3 was 5:13/km. That seems more manageable. Interval 4, I turned around and was heading straight into the wind, so imagine my surprise at 5:02/km, 5:05/km, 5:05/km on the return trip!
I changed my route on the way back and did a longer cool down to finish the run at 10.33 km in 58:16, an average pace of 5:39/km.
I was happy with that run, and happy that it tired my legs out. That was the whole point! Since my long run on Saturday was only 20K, I wanted to have some practice with tired legs.
After work on Friday, the BF, his brother and I headed to Kamloops to visit their sister. This meant that I had the luxury of a new route to try out on Saturday morning. After a bit of online research, I drove to a park along the river and ran 10K out and 10K back along the Thompson River on mostly paved trail.
On this run, I had a little sun, a little rain, a lot of wind and even a couple of snow flakes. I was trying out my race day outfit, and I think unless there's a call for a down pour, I've got it figured out. There were lots of other people out on the trail, which made me feel safer running in an unknown area, but also annoying because I really had to pee for the first 7K and couldn't just hop off the trail to use the bushes without being caught!
On the way out I was feeling slow and sluggish. I was definitely feeling the toll of speedwork the day before and our late night meal and second glass of wine when we arrived in Kamloops the night before. Maybe French Toast wasn't the best choice for breakfast. I was seriously contemplating changing my registration for the marathon to the half marathon at about kilometer 5, and this was while the sun was shining!
My original plan was to aim for about 6:30/km on the way out, and something closer to 6:00/km on the way back, but for the first 10K it was all I could do to just convince myself to keep going out in that direction for another kilometer, and another and another to get the distance in, and I really wasn't paying too much attention to my pace.
Kms 1-10:
5:59
5:54
5:59
6:01
6:01
6:04
6:08
6:23 (Gu)
6:02
6:06
At the turn around, I stopped. I stretched. I thought about walking back. I even took my shoes off to check for blisters in case that would give me an excuse to walk back. I'd been going faster than I planned, so instead of speeding up as planned, I slowed down for the next kilometer.
6:23.
Then I said to myself: Self, you have 2 weeks until you run in the Vancouver Marathon. This slowing down, feeling sorry for yourself nonsense is not going to help. Pick it up.
And I did:
5:47
5:51
5:34
6:27 (Gu)
5:38
5:42
5:44
5:47
5:28
And I felt great!
I feel like I'm on a roll, and I just hope it continues for another 2 weeks! Somehow, in my first week of taper, I ended up running more than I did the week before (due to that missed run on Friday and the extra kilometers on Monday). Now it's time to taper for real!
This was followed by a Tempo Run on Wednesday that had me feeling better about my speed.
Thursday, I had planned on doing some yoga, but went 5 pin bowling instead. Does this count as strength training? My arms were actually a bit sore afterwards!
This brings us to Friday and I haven't had a chance to update my runs since then. I was in Prince George for work and really wanted to do some intervals and work on speed some more after the Tempo run on Wednesday. I hadn't really done any interval training since the fall, and had no idea what pace I should aim for. I warmed up, nice and slow (aiming for 6:30/km) for ten minutes which took me to a nice long flat stretch of road with not much traffic. My plan was just to run as fast as I could for 800m, then check my pace on that one, and aim for slightly slower in order to be able to maintain the same pace x6, with 2 minutes to recover in between.
It didn't work out exactly as I planned, but I was happy with the result:
Those first ten minutes ended up being 6:10/km, a little faster than planned, but still comfortable. My pace, for the first 800m was 5:07/km, so I wanted to aim for 5:15-5:20/km for the rest, keeping in mind that I've been doing most of my running at 6:00-6:30/km pace for the past few months.
Interval 2 was at 5:00/km. Oops. Interval 3 was 5:13/km. That seems more manageable. Interval 4, I turned around and was heading straight into the wind, so imagine my surprise at 5:02/km, 5:05/km, 5:05/km on the return trip!
I changed my route on the way back and did a longer cool down to finish the run at 10.33 km in 58:16, an average pace of 5:39/km.
I was happy with that run, and happy that it tired my legs out. That was the whole point! Since my long run on Saturday was only 20K, I wanted to have some practice with tired legs.
After work on Friday, the BF, his brother and I headed to Kamloops to visit their sister. This meant that I had the luxury of a new route to try out on Saturday morning. After a bit of online research, I drove to a park along the river and ran 10K out and 10K back along the Thompson River on mostly paved trail.
On this run, I had a little sun, a little rain, a lot of wind and even a couple of snow flakes. I was trying out my race day outfit, and I think unless there's a call for a down pour, I've got it figured out. There were lots of other people out on the trail, which made me feel safer running in an unknown area, but also annoying because I really had to pee for the first 7K and couldn't just hop off the trail to use the bushes without being caught!
On the way out I was feeling slow and sluggish. I was definitely feeling the toll of speedwork the day before and our late night meal and second glass of wine when we arrived in Kamloops the night before. Maybe French Toast wasn't the best choice for breakfast. I was seriously contemplating changing my registration for the marathon to the half marathon at about kilometer 5, and this was while the sun was shining!
My original plan was to aim for about 6:30/km on the way out, and something closer to 6:00/km on the way back, but for the first 10K it was all I could do to just convince myself to keep going out in that direction for another kilometer, and another and another to get the distance in, and I really wasn't paying too much attention to my pace.
Kms 1-10:
5:59
5:54
5:59
6:01
6:01
6:04
6:08
6:23 (Gu)
6:02
6:06
At the turn around, I stopped. I stretched. I thought about walking back. I even took my shoes off to check for blisters in case that would give me an excuse to walk back. I'd been going faster than I planned, so instead of speeding up as planned, I slowed down for the next kilometer.
6:23.
Then I said to myself: Self, you have 2 weeks until you run in the Vancouver Marathon. This slowing down, feeling sorry for yourself nonsense is not going to help. Pick it up.
And I did:
5:47
5:51
5:34
6:27 (Gu)
5:38
5:42
5:44
5:47
5:28
And I felt great!
I feel like I'm on a roll, and I just hope it continues for another 2 weeks! Somehow, in my first week of taper, I ended up running more than I did the week before (due to that missed run on Friday and the extra kilometers on Monday). Now it's time to taper for real!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Getting better...
I'm happy to report that tonight's tempo run with the group was better than last week. Still not super, but better.
There wasn't a big turn out tonight - maybe because it coincided with the Canucks first playoff game, and you know, we rearrange leadership debates in this country for hockey, so I'm sure there are some that would miss their group run for the game! Anyway, we all just paired off and headed down the road at an easy pace to start off.
At the beginning, we were all clumped together and chatting, but even before we were supposed to start speeding up, we kinda were and the group started to spread out. Then it was time to really speed up and we were off. My partner and I stuck together and for 10 minutes were going WAY TOO FAST. We somehow managed to keep it going, but were no longer chatting. Every so often, one of us would say that we needed to slow down, but we just kept going. After 15 minutes, we did slow it down a bit, but then sped up again, just not quite as fast as we were going originally. Ahh, the happy pace! It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was maintainable. After 30 minutes at a faster pace, we were supposed to slow down. That happened to coincide with a big hill climb, so we did slow down, but once we got to the top, I'm pretty sure we sped up again. We finished the last 25 minutes of the run at a good pace, a little faster than comfortable, and definitely not the slow pace we were suppposed to return to. Oops!
This was better than last week because I didn't have to walk, and for a while I think I found the pace I should be aiming for on tempo runs. This wasn't super because other than a feeling, I have no way of knowing what pace I was running because I forgot my Garmin, and I still started out too fast at the beginning. The best part is, I feel like I'm making progress, and that's a good feeling!
There wasn't a big turn out tonight - maybe because it coincided with the Canucks first playoff game, and you know, we rearrange leadership debates in this country for hockey, so I'm sure there are some that would miss their group run for the game! Anyway, we all just paired off and headed down the road at an easy pace to start off.
At the beginning, we were all clumped together and chatting, but even before we were supposed to start speeding up, we kinda were and the group started to spread out. Then it was time to really speed up and we were off. My partner and I stuck together and for 10 minutes were going WAY TOO FAST. We somehow managed to keep it going, but were no longer chatting. Every so often, one of us would say that we needed to slow down, but we just kept going. After 15 minutes, we did slow it down a bit, but then sped up again, just not quite as fast as we were going originally. Ahh, the happy pace! It wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was maintainable. After 30 minutes at a faster pace, we were supposed to slow down. That happened to coincide with a big hill climb, so we did slow down, but once we got to the top, I'm pretty sure we sped up again. We finished the last 25 minutes of the run at a good pace, a little faster than comfortable, and definitely not the slow pace we were suppposed to return to. Oops!
This was better than last week because I didn't have to walk, and for a while I think I found the pace I should be aiming for on tempo runs. This wasn't super because other than a feeling, I have no way of knowing what pace I was running because I forgot my Garmin, and I still started out too fast at the beginning. The best part is, I feel like I'm making progress, and that's a good feeling!
Monday, April 11, 2011
3 weeks to go!
Less than 3 weeks until the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Last week, I had a great running week - about 8K with some trails with the group on Monday, 30 minutes of yoga on Tuesday, a tough 11K tempo with the group on Wednesday, and my best long run ever with 32 K on Saturday. Sunday, the BF and I headed out for about an hour long hike in the snow. It was slow going, and hard work on tired legs as the route we took still had about 4 feet of snow on it! But wait. Aren't I supposed to be doing 4 runs plus cross training each week?!
Woopsies.
Thursday, I felt like maybe I was coming down with something and opted to rest. Friday, a run just never happened. I told myself I would go on Sunday, but that just didn't happen either.
If I miss a run, I normally just let it go, but this one really bothered me because I had missed so many runs earlier in training and really didn't feel like I had a good excuse for missing one last week. I decided to "make it up" today.
I was supposed to meet the group at 6, 3K from home, so I left at 5:30 at a nice, easy pace. When I set out, the sun was shining and I made a last minute change from tights to shorts. When I got to our meeting spot, a big, threatening cloud was hanging low in the sky, right in the direction of our planned route. The wind, which could not be felt on my street, was howling! We were huddling between cars to keep warm while we waited for everyone to show up.
At 6:03, we were off, just as rain drops were starting to fall. Luckily, it didn't really rain on us. But it SNOWED! For a few minutes, it was really coming down, but the sky soon cleared, I warmed up, and my clothing choice seemed appropriate once more. A few kms down the road, we headed off into trails. There were a few areas that were still really snowy and a few areas that were really muddy, and a couple of pauses while the frontrunners tossed aside downed trees, but it was mostly dry and a nice break from the pavement. The pace was slow and comfortable and time just ticked by in the trails. When we came out, I couldn't believe we'd be running for an hour!
We weren't done yet, we still had a big hill to climb to get back to our starting point. I started the hill at a slow, comfortable pace, but as I got past half way, I knew I could push it and picked it up a bit. I wasn't wearing my Garmin (battery was dead), but once at the top, the group I was running with set our sights on the group at the front and kept powering until we caught up. It was a bit of an impromptu tempo run!
We were back at our starting point at 7:18, and after a quick break to hear where we were meeting Wednesday and next week, I had 2.5K left of my extra loop to get home.
It's really tough to say how far we ran on those trails, but my best estimate is tonight's run was at least 16K/10 miles, in about 1 hour 45 minutes.
NOW I feel ready to taper.
Do you "make up" for a missed run?
Woopsies.
Thursday, I felt like maybe I was coming down with something and opted to rest. Friday, a run just never happened. I told myself I would go on Sunday, but that just didn't happen either.
If I miss a run, I normally just let it go, but this one really bothered me because I had missed so many runs earlier in training and really didn't feel like I had a good excuse for missing one last week. I decided to "make it up" today.
I was supposed to meet the group at 6, 3K from home, so I left at 5:30 at a nice, easy pace. When I set out, the sun was shining and I made a last minute change from tights to shorts. When I got to our meeting spot, a big, threatening cloud was hanging low in the sky, right in the direction of our planned route. The wind, which could not be felt on my street, was howling! We were huddling between cars to keep warm while we waited for everyone to show up.
At 6:03, we were off, just as rain drops were starting to fall. Luckily, it didn't really rain on us. But it SNOWED! For a few minutes, it was really coming down, but the sky soon cleared, I warmed up, and my clothing choice seemed appropriate once more. A few kms down the road, we headed off into trails. There were a few areas that were still really snowy and a few areas that were really muddy, and a couple of pauses while the frontrunners tossed aside downed trees, but it was mostly dry and a nice break from the pavement. The pace was slow and comfortable and time just ticked by in the trails. When we came out, I couldn't believe we'd be running for an hour!
We weren't done yet, we still had a big hill to climb to get back to our starting point. I started the hill at a slow, comfortable pace, but as I got past half way, I knew I could push it and picked it up a bit. I wasn't wearing my Garmin (battery was dead), but once at the top, the group I was running with set our sights on the group at the front and kept powering until we caught up. It was a bit of an impromptu tempo run!
We were back at our starting point at 7:18, and after a quick break to hear where we were meeting Wednesday and next week, I had 2.5K left of my extra loop to get home.
It's really tough to say how far we ran on those trails, but my best estimate is tonight's run was at least 16K/10 miles, in about 1 hour 45 minutes.
NOW I feel ready to taper.
Do you "make up" for a missed run?
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Best. Long run. Ever.
This morning I woke up ready to go for my last long run before taper. I had my usual long run breakfast of a bagel and peanut butter, double and triple checked the weather, got dressed, grabbed my Garmin, iPod, handheld and some Gu, and drove down to the Rec Centre.
I'd decided on a route that would take me up a big hill near the beginning of my run, along rolling hills throughout the middle, and back down to my car at the end.
From the rec centre, I did one lap around town and back up to the rec centre. I was already regretting my long sleeve shirt as the sun was coming out and it was warming up quickly. (Thanks for nothing, Weather Network). I started off a bit too quickly and then had trouble finding my pace because the wind was gusty so I was constantly altering my effort level as the wind picked up and died down. It didn't matter. I was feeling good. I was aiming to be between 6:30-6:45/km. I wanted this run to be slow and comfortable.
6:01
6:24
6:34
6:34
6:38
As I came back around to the Rec Centre, the sun was really beating down and I realized I'd forgotten my sunscreen. Something told me that I had some in my car from last summer so I made a quick pit stop, used the washroom, topped up my bottle, downed a Gu and slathered on the sunscreen. Then it was time to head up THE HILL. I used to hate this hill. I used to hate all hills. I just slowed down and made my way to the top, without even thinking about taking a walk break.
6:22
6:33
Pit Stop (paused my Garmin)
7:29 THE HILL
6:57 THE HILL cont'd
6:38
10K in, I was feeling great. I was tempted to up the pace, but wanted to be smart and stick to my plan. I really tried to keep it in check, but my pace kept getting away from me. I followed the road going around the lake to the boat launch, which was my turn around point. This road has lots of ups and downs, nothing to steep, or too long, just enough to keep things interesting!
6:36
6:23
6:13
6:27
6:05
After 16 K, I was still feeling good, but hot. I took a quick walk break to have a Gu, and got right back on pace. I remembered my last 20 miler when this was the point where I started to die. I still felt like I had tons of energy, and my legs were feeling good. I was just hot. I debated about whether or not to change when I swung by home to refill my water bottle. On the one hand, I was hot. On the other, if I made the same mistake on race day, I'd have to live with it. But I was hot. When I ran past my house, I ran to the front door, untied my shoes with a quick leg stretch, chugged back a bit of Gatorade, swapped shirts for a tank top (yay summer!) and topped my water bottle
6:55 (Gu)
6:02
6:19
6:02
Pit Stop
6:30
After the stop at home, I was still feeling good. Having only 13K to go felt toally manageable, especially because though I had some more rolling hills coming up, I also had some big down hills before the end. I decided to aim for between 6:15-6:30/km for the rest of the run. I took a quick walk break for a Gu, but I was feeling so great on the hills that I took it on a downhill portion. This is a big change for me. I used to hold off on walk breaks until I got toan uphill!
6:13
6:25
7:20 (Gu)
6:32
6:12
At this point, I was still feeling good, if starting to get a bit hungry. I definitely need to eat a bit more before these long runs. I'm going to try a bagel and a half next week or maybe add a banana. When I got to the first half of the downhill, I really tried to keep my pace slow and not trash my knees. My mantra was: "Core, core, core. Engage your core." It worked. When I got tothe bottom I only had 5K to go, and couldn't believe how good I still felt. The big down hill was followed immediately by a big uphill. I'd sorta forgotten about that hill when I was planning the route, and I'd had to walk it the last time I attempted to run it. I admit, I did want to walk a bit here, but I thought of Emz, and her 24 hour run, and I decided that if Emz can run for 24 hours on a treadmill, I can run up this hill. I slowed down, and kept running...all...the...way...to...the...top!
6:16
5:56 Big downhill.
7:18 Big uphill
6:16
6:09 Big downhill
There were only 2K to go. I was due for a Gu, but just kept going.
6:30
6:30
I'm not going to lie, I was glad when it was over. But I also felt that if it was race day, I could keep going for another 10K. That's a good feeling.
After some stretching, I scrounged together enough change in my car to stop at Tim's for a hot chocolate to keep me warm in my cold bath.
I feel like I did everything right for this run. I dropped back last week so had fresh legs this week. I've been getting lots of sleep, and upping my water intake. I had my pit stop at home planned for past half way which helped mentally.
This was not my fastest run, but I felt so good the whole time. And I ran the entire time. Aside from my walk breaks for the Gu, I didn't walk on any hills, or to drink water. I just ran. Slow and steady and comfortable the whole way. Why can't all long runs be like this?
I'd decided on a route that would take me up a big hill near the beginning of my run, along rolling hills throughout the middle, and back down to my car at the end.
From the rec centre, I did one lap around town and back up to the rec centre. I was already regretting my long sleeve shirt as the sun was coming out and it was warming up quickly. (Thanks for nothing, Weather Network). I started off a bit too quickly and then had trouble finding my pace because the wind was gusty so I was constantly altering my effort level as the wind picked up and died down. It didn't matter. I was feeling good. I was aiming to be between 6:30-6:45/km. I wanted this run to be slow and comfortable.
6:01
6:24
6:34
6:34
6:38
As I came back around to the Rec Centre, the sun was really beating down and I realized I'd forgotten my sunscreen. Something told me that I had some in my car from last summer so I made a quick pit stop, used the washroom, topped up my bottle, downed a Gu and slathered on the sunscreen. Then it was time to head up THE HILL. I used to hate this hill. I used to hate all hills. I just slowed down and made my way to the top, without even thinking about taking a walk break.
6:22
6:33
Pit Stop (paused my Garmin)
7:29 THE HILL
6:57 THE HILL cont'd
6:38
10K in, I was feeling great. I was tempted to up the pace, but wanted to be smart and stick to my plan. I really tried to keep it in check, but my pace kept getting away from me. I followed the road going around the lake to the boat launch, which was my turn around point. This road has lots of ups and downs, nothing to steep, or too long, just enough to keep things interesting!
6:36
6:23
6:13
6:27
6:05
After 16 K, I was still feeling good, but hot. I took a quick walk break to have a Gu, and got right back on pace. I remembered my last 20 miler when this was the point where I started to die. I still felt like I had tons of energy, and my legs were feeling good. I was just hot. I debated about whether or not to change when I swung by home to refill my water bottle. On the one hand, I was hot. On the other, if I made the same mistake on race day, I'd have to live with it. But I was hot. When I ran past my house, I ran to the front door, untied my shoes with a quick leg stretch, chugged back a bit of Gatorade, swapped shirts for a tank top (yay summer!) and topped my water bottle
6:55 (Gu)
6:02
6:19
6:02
Pit Stop
6:30
After the stop at home, I was still feeling good. Having only 13K to go felt toally manageable, especially because though I had some more rolling hills coming up, I also had some big down hills before the end. I decided to aim for between 6:15-6:30/km for the rest of the run. I took a quick walk break for a Gu, but I was feeling so great on the hills that I took it on a downhill portion. This is a big change for me. I used to hold off on walk breaks until I got toan uphill!
6:13
6:25
7:20 (Gu)
6:32
6:12
At this point, I was still feeling good, if starting to get a bit hungry. I definitely need to eat a bit more before these long runs. I'm going to try a bagel and a half next week or maybe add a banana. When I got to the first half of the downhill, I really tried to keep my pace slow and not trash my knees. My mantra was: "Core, core, core. Engage your core." It worked. When I got tothe bottom I only had 5K to go, and couldn't believe how good I still felt. The big down hill was followed immediately by a big uphill. I'd sorta forgotten about that hill when I was planning the route, and I'd had to walk it the last time I attempted to run it. I admit, I did want to walk a bit here, but I thought of Emz, and her 24 hour run, and I decided that if Emz can run for 24 hours on a treadmill, I can run up this hill. I slowed down, and kept running...all...the...way...to...the...top!
6:16
5:56 Big downhill.
7:18 Big uphill
6:16
6:09 Big downhill
There were only 2K to go. I was due for a Gu, but just kept going.
6:30
6:30
I'm not going to lie, I was glad when it was over. But I also felt that if it was race day, I could keep going for another 10K. That's a good feeling.
After some stretching, I scrounged together enough change in my car to stop at Tim's for a hot chocolate to keep me warm in my cold bath.
I feel like I did everything right for this run. I dropped back last week so had fresh legs this week. I've been getting lots of sleep, and upping my water intake. I had my pit stop at home planned for past half way which helped mentally.
This was not my fastest run, but I felt so good the whole time. And I ran the entire time. Aside from my walk breaks for the Gu, I didn't walk on any hills, or to drink water. I just ran. Slow and steady and comfortable the whole way. Why can't all long runs be like this?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Three Things Thursday
1. This morning I registered for this:
But the half. I will be in Calgary for work anyway, so travel, accomodation, etc. are already covered! I think it will be a good way to keep myself motivated post-Vancouver marathon on May 1st.
2. Tempo Run last night was semi-successful. I definitely pushed my pace, but at times pushed a bit too hard, and then eased up, and then was too comfortable. I have a hard time finding the right pace where I am pushing myself but not so much that I can't sustain the pace for a longer period. I'm pretty new to tempo runs, so I think I just need some practice.
3. I am really looking forward to my long run this weekend! I have my 32K route picked out already, with a big uphill in the beginning and a big downhill and mostly flat second half in hopes that I will finish in comfort. It's supposed to be 14*C on Saturday and I can't wait to break out the shorts for the first time this season!
2. Tempo Run last night was semi-successful. I definitely pushed my pace, but at times pushed a bit too hard, and then eased up, and then was too comfortable. I have a hard time finding the right pace where I am pushing myself but not so much that I can't sustain the pace for a longer period. I'm pretty new to tempo runs, so I think I just need some practice.
3. I am really looking forward to my long run this weekend! I have my 32K route picked out already, with a big uphill in the beginning and a big downhill and mostly flat second half in hopes that I will finish in comfort. It's supposed to be 14*C on Saturday and I can't wait to break out the shorts for the first time this season!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Venting it out
I'm frustrated.
For the first time ever, I've run for more than a full calendar year. I ran through snow. I ran on ice. I ran when it was -23 C. I ran when the wind was whipping my face. I ran in so many layers, it was doubtful that I could even move, nevermind run.
Through all of that, I kept myself going by telling myself that this was going to make me a stronger, better, faster runner.
At the time, I couldn't really tell if I was getting faster, because it's hard to run fast on ice. I definitely felt I was getting stronger, because running in the snow was getting easier and my calves were less and less sore. I was sure that when the snow melted in the spring, I was going to be able to hold a faster pace than I could in the fall.
Then I hurt myself.
Not only is my "comfortable" pace slower now than it was last fall, it's slower than it was last spring. I ran the half marathon in Vancouver last year at the same race as the full marathon I'm running this year. I doubt I could beat my time on the half course.
In the past month, I've upped my distance and put in my planned miles, but I have not pushed myself on speed for fear that I will re-trigger the injury. I know that playing it safe is smart, and I'd rather run the marathon slowly than not run at all. I'm trying to stay positive.
But I'm frustrated.
For the first time ever, I've run for more than a full calendar year. I ran through snow. I ran on ice. I ran when it was -23 C. I ran when the wind was whipping my face. I ran in so many layers, it was doubtful that I could even move, nevermind run.
Through all of that, I kept myself going by telling myself that this was going to make me a stronger, better, faster runner.
At the time, I couldn't really tell if I was getting faster, because it's hard to run fast on ice. I definitely felt I was getting stronger, because running in the snow was getting easier and my calves were less and less sore. I was sure that when the snow melted in the spring, I was going to be able to hold a faster pace than I could in the fall.
Then I hurt myself.
Not only is my "comfortable" pace slower now than it was last fall, it's slower than it was last spring. I ran the half marathon in Vancouver last year at the same race as the full marathon I'm running this year. I doubt I could beat my time on the half course.
In the past month, I've upped my distance and put in my planned miles, but I have not pushed myself on speed for fear that I will re-trigger the injury. I know that playing it safe is smart, and I'd rather run the marathon slowly than not run at all. I'm trying to stay positive.
But I'm frustrated.
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