Accidental Rest Week

I didn't mean to take a week off from running. 
After my half marathon on the 29th, I took a couple of mornings off, but also managed to get a couple of runs in along the Bow River before leaving Calgary.
Last Saturday, we were wrapping up (work) training and then I wanted to get a good chunk of the drive done.  Knowing it would be a long day, I opted for the extra rest in the morning.
Sunday morning, I set my alarm early for a run in Revelstoke before completing the drive home, but when my alarm went off at 6am, I couldn't get out of bed.  I hadn't been sleeping well for the entire 2 weeks in Calgary, and that combined with long work days was catching up with me.  I let myself have an extra hour of sleep before getting up for breakfast and the drive home.
Monday, we were moving houses for work, so rather than run, I knew I would get a work out in by carrying 40 boxes up a flight of stairs, lifting furniture and unloading into the new house at the other end.

We were heading out early to another community on Tuesday, but I brought my running gear with me, with plans to head out later in the day.  One thing led to another and the day was done before I knew it - without a run.

Wednesday, I set my alarm early to go for a run before hitting community number 3, but when my alarm went off, I just didn't feel like running.  Since I'm  not technically training for anything this week, I let my body decide, and stayed in bed. 

I made an agreement to get up early with two of the youth there for a run, but when I got up at 6 and they weren't ready, I told myself I could go back to bed and run later, except that other distractions came up, and then I had a meeting to get to, and then there was more work to do, and things to get caught up on, and new staff asking questions, and long story short, another day passed, leaving me exhausted, and without running.

On Friday, I knew I wouldn't run.  I still had a to-do list a mile long and I wanted to get it done so I could start my weekend feeling relaxed, rather than with a bunch of unfinished work hanging over my head.  Besides, Saturday is a day made for running!

Except that on Saturday, I slept in.  Can you blame me after that week?  By the time I got up, it was too warm and muggy.  At this point, I was making excuses.  If I'd really wanted to run, I could have, but I knew that after a week off, it wasn't going to be pretty.  So no run again.

Today, the BF and I got out for a short, 90 minute hike, and I did a bit of running away from the swarms of mosquitos.  I'm just making this harder on myself now.  The longer I go without running, the more I feel like I need to run, and the harder that run is going to feel.

Good thing marathon training starts tomorrow!  I'm pretty sure it's going to be a tough first week, but I'm happy that my plan starts with just a short 5K, easy run on Monday!  I'm really trying not to be too hard on myself for missing this whole week.  I think I probably needed it after training hard for a half marathon, immediately after running my second marathon on May 1st.  (I took a whole 2 rest days after that race).  Even though I wanted to run this week, and planned to run on several days, I also felt myself dreading the run itself.  That doesn't happen often, but when it does, I think it means it's time for a break.  I had decided on my training plan for my next marathon a while ago, but reviewing it today, I'm excited to start it, and am looking forward to tomorrow's 5K.  Looks like the rest is paying off already!

A few months ago, when I knew I was going to be spending 2 weeks in Calgary for work, I did a little research to see if I could find a race while I was in a different city.  Luckily for me, Scotiabank Calgary Race Weekend fell right smack in the middle of my trip, and I decided to sign up for the half, strictly to keep me motivated after the Vancouver Marathon I ran on May 1^st.

After being disappointed by my race in Vancouver, I stopped looking at the race in Calgary as a fun motivator, and started training.  My previous PR was 2:00:53 (remember that number), almost exactly a year ago, in Prince George.  I wanted sub-2:00.  There were no A, B and C goals.  I needed to run sub-2:00.  

For the month of May, I ran tempos, intervals and long runs on pace to meet my goal.

When I arrived in Calgary, two of the new staff (I’m here doing training) decided to run the half as well.  I was excited to have the company, but concerned about the distraction.  I made my goal known, and was clear that I would be going for it.  No. Matter. What.

Package pick-up went smoothly.

The night before the race, I was having dinner at my cousin’s place.  She knew I was running the next day and is a runner herself, so she made us some yummy pasta with roasted veggies for dinner.  Perfect.  I was back to the hotel early and in bed by 10:30.  I was meeting the other two runners from work at 5:45 in the lobby.

We got to the start line via C-train with plenty of time to spare.  Bag check was easy, and the porta-potty lines moved quickly.  Pretty soon, it was time to line up at the start.  The marathon and half marathon started at the same time, and we all stood around the 4:00 marathon mark, waiting for the gun.

As soon as we were over the start line, we were split up.  There was a lot of weaving in and out, and the course started on a downhill. I knew I was going too fast, but I also knew there was a long, slight, steady climb coming for a good part of the first half of the race.  One guy sprinted by me in completely bare feet. I saw him later and he was not looking very comfortable, but then again, neither was I.

The first km flew by, and we were on familiar ground from my runs on previous visits to Calgary.  I quickly lost my long sleeve shirt and tossed it to the side rather than tying it around my waist.  I didn’t want it to be bugging me for the next two hours.

I knew I needed to hit around 5:38/km pace to meet my goal comfortably, but I also felt that I had sold myself short by starting out too slow in Vancouver.  I looked down a few times and noticed that my pace was about 10 seconds too fast, but I tried not to worry about it.  My legs were feeling good.

 Around the 5K point, I had a weird light-headed feeling for a few minutes.  I remembered I was carrying my water bottle, and took a few gulps.  I was really putting a lot of pressure on myself and knew I needed to relax.

At 7K, I took a quick walk break to take a Gu.  The walk break was what I needed to settle into the race.  At this point I was on 17^th Ave and there was a bit more crowd support.  I didn’t know anyone on the sidelines in this race, but I love reading the signs!  This was a good distraction and I enjoyed this section. 

At this point I was running around the 1:55 pace bunnies, but they were running a faster pace and then taking walk breaks.  I hadn’t trained that way and just wanted to run, so I didn’t worry when they passed me, as I would just catch up on the walk breaks while I kept running.

10 to 14K was a slow, steady climb.  I didn’t feel like I was going uphill, but I was looking forward to the walk break at 14K for the next Gu.  First I had to pass the halfway point.  There was a man with a stop watch yelling out split times.  I was 58:xx.  I thought I had more of a buffer going, and looked down at my Garmin to double check.  Then I realized he was going from the gun, and I was at least a minute behind that.  Phew!

At 14K, I took a little walk break for another Gu, and then looked forward to the turnaround.  I didn’t know exactly where that was going to be, and it felt like it was never going to come.  I was feeling tired.  I didn’t know if I had started out too fast, or just wasn’t ready to hold onto this pace, but I knew it was going to be a struggle to the finish.

I saw both of my co-workers running in the other direction before I got to the turnaround.  That was a bit tough to take, as they had both predicted that they would be slower than me.  One of them was flying way ahead (in brand new minimalist shoes), the other was about a minute ahead of me.  I knew I couldn’t let it get me down, and that even though it was a race, I was only racing myself.  I decided to be happy that they were having good races and kept pushing.  

I had written my 5K, 10K, 15K and 20K split times on my hand, but it had been a cold morning and I was wearing gloves.  By 15 K I had sweated them off.  Between 15K and 20K, I was trying to do mental math to figure out how much time I could afford to walk. My legs were tired, but I kept trying to push.  The more I tried to push, the more I was starting to feel like I was going to vomit.  

I took a few walk breaks through water stops and grabbed Gatorade, hoping it would give me just a little more energy.  Since the turnaround, the course went along a single road, before turning to go uphill.  I knew the course ended with an uphill, and I thought this was it!  Then we turned another corner and went up another hill.  I knew I’d taken one too many walk breaks, so I was really trying to keep my pace up on the uphill.  

That’s when I really felt the vomitous feeling.  

Hand to the mouth.  Giant, full body convulsion burp.  We were near the finish so there were a lot of people on the sidewalk.  Everyone took a full step back in unison.  No vomit came up, and I laughed at the crowd reaction, and got a few cheers. 

I rounded the final corner and could finally see the finish line.  I looked at my watch, just as it rolled over 2:00.  It was really hard not to give up here.  I had just almost thrown up on a family of spectators, and I wasn’t going to meet my goal, but I kept running.

I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch. 

2:00:53.

The EXACT same time as last year. 

Arg. 

Double arg.

I found my coworkers, who both had great races.  We got some food and found a place to stretch.  I was really grumpy for about 10 minutes.  While it is frustrating to not have gained speed in a year, at least I wasn’t getting slower – which is how I felt after the marathon a month earlier.  It had been a beautiful day for a race, I’d been feeling good for the majority of it, and I’d only spent a month training for this pace.  In that month, I’d recovered from a marathon, and spent a week tapering for this race.  I’ve been sleeping in a hotel for a week, worked 7 days straight, and had had trouble sleeping all week. Can I add that Calgary is 500 metres higher in elevation than where I live?  (A week was probably long enough to adjust to this, but I really wanted to feel better).

I checked the race website for the official results obsessively for the next 24 hours.

It’s official.  I have a 4 second PR, and I’ll take it.

2:00:49

5:43/km pace

Sorry to have such a long post without photos, but I have a slow connection at the hotel, and uploading will take forever!

Three Things Thursday

1.  Great run this morning!  I'm in Prince George for work and one of the youth volunteers I work with asked if he could run with me in the morning.  He had to leave for his volunteer position at 7:45, so we agreed to get up and be ready to run at 6.  Sometimes when I run with these guys, they take off and leave me in their dust.  Other times, we end up doing a lot more walking than running.  This morning, we just had a great run.  We chatted the whole way about life plans and goals, the program, running, diet and exercise, physical and mental health, budgeting and other life skills.  After a 2K warm up we both made it to the top of University Hill, a 3K climb, and back to the house for an 11K run in ~1:05 (Garmin died, so we were relying on his watch).

2.  It's official.  I lost my first toe nail.  I'll spare you a photo, but the short version is that it turned black just after my marathon in October and hung on for months.  The black was finally clearing away last week and I thought I was going to have a normal toe for summer, until I was drying my feet after a shower and it just kinda peeled off.  Gross.

3.  I'm heading to Calgary for work on Sunday.  It's a 12 hour drive, and I'm doing it in one shot, by myself.  Any suggestions for a good audio book?  Remember, I'm driving - so it needs to keep me awake, not put me to sleep!

Tempo Tuesday

Well, if Saturday's run was one where everything felt just right, today's tempo run was one where everything just didn't.  After intervals Friday, 19K Saturday, a 3+hour hike Sunday and ~13.5K on trails yesterday, my legs were TIRED. 

I waited until the afternoon to run because I couldn't fit it in earlier I wanted to rest my legs longer I couldn't get my lazy self out of bed this morning.  Still, the extra rest didn't feel like it did much.  I hadn't set a specific plan, but thought 8-10K would be good since last night's run was longer than I expected with the group.

Unlike last week, I wasn't pushing myself on hills with this run.  I just wanted to hit my tempo target of 5:30/km (8:50/mile) or faster, and I would be happy.  Once again, after a 2K warm-up, I had trouble finding my tempo pace.  Though my average /km pace is ok, every time I looked down at my Garmin, I was wildly off - 5:03, 5:47, 5:20.  After the turn around, I settled into a more consistent, if slightly faster than desired pace, but my legs were feeling it and I could feel my form falling apart.  I was tempted to take the shorter route home, but after I slowed down for the cool down, I knew I could trudge it out for the full 8K I'd planned (at the very least) to complete.

After 1K at an easy pace, the drizzle I'd been running in turned into a downpour.  Time to kick it up a notch again!  I made it home covering the last kilometer at my goal half marathon pace, and when I looked at the average pace for the whole run, it also evened out to my goal pace at the upcoming half!

I think it's time for a rest day!



....
2K warm up (5:57, 6:00)
4K tempo (5:22, 5:29, 5:24, 5:21)
2K 1K cool down (6:10)
1.13K HMP (5:41)
8.13K @ avg pace 5:40/km

Monday Night Trail Run

I signed up for a beginner trail running clinic for the month of May.  I wasn't really thinking when I signed up, because as it turns out, I can only make it to 2 of the 5 runs, but it's still been worth it.  Many of the same people from our marathon clinic are there, and some of them are doing 50K trail runs in the next couple of weeks. 

Tonight we met at 10 Mile Provincial Park, just north of town.  It was very windy and starting to rain while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.  Brr!  I was regretting my shorts and glad I had my long sleeve shirt! 

We weren't into the trees for long before we were all pulling off layers!  It was a very mucky run, but so much fun splashing around puddles, through mud, and hopping over roots.  We were going a very comfortable pace, and chatting as we went.  I was trying to convince those from the marathon group to sign up for another race in the fall so I'd have some company training through the summer.

I was also trying out my new shoes.  I bought a pair of Brooks Cascadia trail shoes, because even though this is the last night I can meet the group, I'm pretty sure it won't be my last trail run.  The Cascadia's felt great while we were on earth, through mucky slop, gravel and even the short section on the road.  The only place I wasn't totally comfortable was when we were running on wood chips.  I'm not sure if it was the shoe, the trail, me or a combination of the above, but I had a few close calls with rolling my ankle. 

Have you run on any trails lately?

I heart running.

It's true.  I really, really do.
Today I had a glorious run.  I hadn't slept well.  I left later than I planned.  It was pouring rain.  It even hailed a little.  It was awesome.  Really, really awesome.

I often have a hard time sticking to my planned pace, so this morning, before I left, I broke out the sharpie and wrote my simple plan on my hand:

I was heading to the local half marathon loop, minus a short out and back portion, to make an even 20K.  As I pulled out of the driveway, it was looking like it *might* rain, so I threw a longsleeve over my t-shirt, just in case.

As I started to run, it started to rain.  It wasn't too hard at first, and when the rain began, the breeze  died down so it wasn't too cold.  Despite having my goal pace written on my hand, I had a hard time sticking to it.  Still, I felt comfortable and was enjoying the run.  At about 4K, the rain started to pick up.  I thought it might die down again, and kept going.  At 5K, I just kept going.  At 6K, I was kinda enjoying the funny looks I was getting from people driving by.  I was soaked, but really wasn't too cold. 

At 7K, the rain wasn't dying down and I felt a few hail stones.  That was my limit.  I was also nearing the portion of the run where I would have to head down the highway, and though I was already soaked, getting splashed by big trucks zooming past didn't really appeal to me!  I took a quick break for a gel, one last look at the sky to confirm the rain wasn't going to let up any time soon, and turned away from the highway at my half marathon pace.

Once again, I had trouble hitting my pace accurately, but that's what this is for, right?  I was usually going too fast rather than too slow, and was surprised how good I felt after running the intervals yesterday.  It was really pouring, but I was really enjoying myself.  It was just one of those runs where everything felt right.

Just as I was nearing the crossroad where I would turn back to my car, the rain started to let up.  I knew I wasn't ready to finish yet.  I'd planned 20K, and if I went back now I'd only do 14.  So, instead of turning left to return to my car, I went right.  Going right meant a long steady climb up a slight hill.  This was great practice because looking at the race profile for the Half in Calgary, there will be one long steady climb for most of the race!  I did have to jump out of the way of a livestock truck that was coming towards me, but otherwise I just kept my pace steady right to the top. 

Because I'd been later leaving than I wanted to, it had been a while since breakfast, so as I turned around, I quickly took a second Gu.  Now I had the long, steady downhill to head back to the car, and I let myself speed up to a little faster than half marathon pace. I was cruising.  Oh, and did I mention that I was loving it?

When I was at 17K, I'd finished my 10K at HMP, but had a hard time getting back down to 6:40/km.  I was feeling so good.  The rain was picking up again, there were ducks and loons out on the lake, there was nobody on the road, and I was literally singing along to my iPod.  I was in the happy place.

That shirt was light blue before the run!

7K aiming for 6:40/km ~ Actual average pace:  6:23/km

10K aiming for 5:41/km ~ Actual average pace: 5:41/km (including 2 walks for Gu)

2K supposedly aiming for 6:40, but really not paying attention ~ Actual average pace:  5:54/km

Friday 400s

Today marked my second speed workout of the week.  I was searching through old Runner's World magazines and numerous websites for the best workouts to improve your 1/2 marathon time.  I couldn't find much consensus, so I went for 10 x 400s.  Using the Vdot tool that J had posted about earlier this week, which had worked for finding a good tempo pace for me, I found the time I should aim for with 400s. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to convert this time into a pace I should aim for, which meant that I went out WAY too fast in the first interval and then had to stop and check my Garmin and do some quick math!  I hadn't run 400s in ages, and 1:55 seemed like a tough pace!  I decided anything under 2 minutes would be acceptable, with 90 second recoveries, especially because I was running around the neighbourhood and not on the flat track. 

After a little warm up to get across the highway, I got started:

1:44 - Way too fast.
1:50 - Still fast, and this was with an UPhill!
1:50 - Feeling good, but can I keep this up?
1:53 - Hmmm, I'm hungry!
1:55 - Maybe I should quit early...I'm REALLY hungry.
1:57 - Yep, definitely too hungry.  I'm heading home....straight into the wind.
1:56 - I hate wind.
1:54 - Forget food, you can turn the wrong way and do one more!
1:54 - Not home yet, might as well do one more.
1:55 - You planned to do 10.  Do 10!  Back into the wind. :S

This was hard work, but I love workouts like this.  It felt hard, but had a great payoff - a better average pace than I've seen in awhile, even with the rests!  Overall:  7.5K (4.67 miles) @ 5:25/km (8:44).

This run is dual purpose.  Not only is it a speed workout, but I also want it to make my legs tired before tomorrow's long run. 

What?  That doesn't sound like me. 

I've realized that I've been going a little too easy on myself in my training.  If I don't feel good on a run, I'll cut it short (which is why I'm happy I pushed through the hunger today). I often take a day off before a long run, giving me a better chance of having a "good" run.  While good runs can boost confidence, I want more practice running in less than ideal conditions.  Bring on the tired legs.  I have 20K planned for tomorrow, and am hoping to hit race pace for at least part of it.

Happy Weekend!