As Christmas approaches things are getting busier, so I wasn't able to get in all of the sessions that I would have liked. Thankfully, I managed to get all of my running and most of my cycling in, and the walking took the brunt of it. Fortunately, most of the bad weather this week ended up falling on my off days so things actually worked out pretty well.
The only exception to this was my 10K run on Saturday morning, as the snowfall from the day before made it much harder to run than normal. As such, my pace was a significantly lower than normal 5:06/km (vs. 4:45/km). Further, it was also extremely cold (-25C) but fortunately there wasn't any appreciable wind so with the proper clothing that didn't pose too much of a problem. Either way, given the nasty weather this week I do count myself lucky that I missed most of it ;)
Weekly Totals:
Running: 60km
Walking: 14km
Cycling: 125km
Total: 199km
The next week is supposed to be pretty nasty weather-wise, and tomorrow's run especially is going to be difficult. They're calling for another 8cm tonight (combined with 15cm that's already on the ground from Friday) with another 15cm to come sometime tomorrow. Temperatures will likely be somewhat higher, but there will likely be much higher winds so that might offset any advantages. Either way, I'll just focus on getting my heart rate in the right zone and my pace will be what it is ;)
Naturally, with Christmas this week the schedule is going to be tighter than normal so I'll likely be missing a few sessions. I'll do everything in my power to keep my running mileage where it is, but the walking and cycling are likely to take a few unplanned hits this week.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady
Showing posts with label 10km. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10km. Show all posts
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Week 50: Review
While the weather this week was supposed to be pretty miserable, it ended up working out to be quite nice for pretty much all of my runs. This morning's 10K was certainly a cold one, but nothing that a few layers couldn't take care of. It was snowing quite a bit for my walk this afternoon, however not enough had accumulated yet to pose much of an issue for me (although the cars were having some trouble with it). Tomorrow is likely to be interesting, but I'll likely cover that in another post.
Thanks to that weather, all of my sessions this week went pretty much as planned. As such, the only thing of note was that I increased my tempo pace a little as my heart rate wasn't getting as high as it used to. I managed to complete my 8K run on Tuesday in 34:13 at roughly a 4:15 pace. My heart rate averaged about 172bpm, or a little under 75% HRR which is about right for this sort of run. For comparison, last week's tempo run averaged 165bpm for its 4:26 pace, which only works out to about 70% HRR.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 58km
Walking: 36km
Cycling: 150km
Total: 244km
Naturally, the storm system that is moving through right now is likely to make tomorrow's long run somewhat interesting. While I can deal with the cold, snow accumulation could add some complexity to my 20K route as the city often takes its time to clear some portions of it. Either way, there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it so it'll just be a matter of doing whatever I can to work around the obstacles. Fortunately, I'm not in any sort of formal training regimen so if I have to slow down a bit it won't be the end of the world ;)
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady
Thanks to that weather, all of my sessions this week went pretty much as planned. As such, the only thing of note was that I increased my tempo pace a little as my heart rate wasn't getting as high as it used to. I managed to complete my 8K run on Tuesday in 34:13 at roughly a 4:15 pace. My heart rate averaged about 172bpm, or a little under 75% HRR which is about right for this sort of run. For comparison, last week's tempo run averaged 165bpm for its 4:26 pace, which only works out to about 70% HRR.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 58km
Walking: 36km
Cycling: 150km
Total: 244km
Naturally, the storm system that is moving through right now is likely to make tomorrow's long run somewhat interesting. While I can deal with the cold, snow accumulation could add some complexity to my 20K route as the city often takes its time to clear some portions of it. Either way, there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it so it'll just be a matter of doing whatever I can to work around the obstacles. Fortunately, I'm not in any sort of formal training regimen so if I have to slow down a bit it won't be the end of the world ;)
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady
Thursday, November 13, 2008
10K in High Park
As I've noted in the last few updates, the weather has gotten to the point where it is getting in the way of maintaining my cycling routine at the level that I'd like. While adverse weather is little more than an inconvenience on foot, it can pose a significant risk while riding so I've aired on the side of caution. Unfortunately, leaving enough time for recovery for my Running and Cycling schedules limits my flexibility so this has resulted in significant mileage deficits. Given that it's the middle of November, things are unlikely to get any better until Spring so I elected to make the move over to my indoor trainer.
As such, I headed down to the bike store earlier today to have them make some adjustments for use on the trainer (changing out the rear tire and skewer). As the shop is adjacent to High Park and I knew it would take about an hour to do the work, I figured that I'd kill two birds with one stone and do my 10K run while I waited. Aside from more efficiently using my time, it also gave me an opportunity to compare my fitness to the 5K Harry's Spring Run-Off race that I did earlier in the year.
Either way, after dropping off the bike I suited up and started running down Bloor street toward the park. I entered the park at the North entrance and down West Rd., breaking off to a trail alongside Grenadier Pond, down the side of the Queensway and finally up Spring Rd to complete the first lap. At this point (the half-way mark), I then headed back down West Rd. for another lap. After the second time up the hill, I then headed up to Bloor and back to the store.
In the end, I managed to reach the 10K mark in 45m57s with an average pace of 4:34/km. My heart rate averaged 167bpm over the entire route, although it did reach 180 when heading up the Spring Rd. hill. For comparative purposes, I managed to hit the 5K mark in 22m54s which was a little more than a minute faster than the Spring Run-Off race last year (where I was pushing much harder than I was today). Regardless, the hills were much less of an impediment this time around which definitely made the route a lot easier than last time.
Overall, it was nice to give this route another shot and the weather managed to hold out quite nicely despite the threat of rain. Going off of my regular routes is certainly a good thing every once and a while, as it highlights the gains that are often harder to see on day-to-day runs. I'll have to make more of an effort to do similar runs in the future, possibly doing a few of the same races I did last season.
Either way, with the bike prepared I'll likely be setting up the trainer tomorrow and giving it a shot. I generally hate running on a treadmill, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle staring at a wall for the two and half hours it takes to ride 50 miles, but we'll see how it goes.
As such, I headed down to the bike store earlier today to have them make some adjustments for use on the trainer (changing out the rear tire and skewer). As the shop is adjacent to High Park and I knew it would take about an hour to do the work, I figured that I'd kill two birds with one stone and do my 10K run while I waited. Aside from more efficiently using my time, it also gave me an opportunity to compare my fitness to the 5K Harry's Spring Run-Off race that I did earlier in the year.
Either way, after dropping off the bike I suited up and started running down Bloor street toward the park. I entered the park at the North entrance and down West Rd., breaking off to a trail alongside Grenadier Pond, down the side of the Queensway and finally up Spring Rd to complete the first lap. At this point (the half-way mark), I then headed back down West Rd. for another lap. After the second time up the hill, I then headed up to Bloor and back to the store.
In the end, I managed to reach the 10K mark in 45m57s with an average pace of 4:34/km. My heart rate averaged 167bpm over the entire route, although it did reach 180 when heading up the Spring Rd. hill. For comparative purposes, I managed to hit the 5K mark in 22m54s which was a little more than a minute faster than the Spring Run-Off race last year (where I was pushing much harder than I was today). Regardless, the hills were much less of an impediment this time around which definitely made the route a lot easier than last time.
Overall, it was nice to give this route another shot and the weather managed to hold out quite nicely despite the threat of rain. Going off of my regular routes is certainly a good thing every once and a while, as it highlights the gains that are often harder to see on day-to-day runs. I'll have to make more of an effort to do similar runs in the future, possibly doing a few of the same races I did last season.
Either way, with the bike prepared I'll likely be setting up the trainer tomorrow and giving it a shot. I generally hate running on a treadmill, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle staring at a wall for the two and half hours it takes to ride 50 miles, but we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Getting Used to the Cold Again
Fortunately, my RS800 got back from Polar Canada's service depot yesterday so I was able to get back to my normal running routine. I was definitely impressed with their service, as once shipping times were taken into account they took less than two business days to complete the work. Naturally, I would have rather not have had the problem in the first place but it is good to know that they can get repairs done this quickly.
Either way, the plan called for a 10K run this morning, so I headed out just after 10am. Despite the clear skies, the temperature was below zero and snow that fell yesterday was still on the ground. As such, I wore a long sleeve running shirt, a pair of gloves and a neck warmer to keep myself warm. I did a 1K walk to warm up, and then broke into a run when the watch's auto-lap feature beeped.
I finished the first kilometer a little slow, hitting the mark in 4:48. Kilometers two and three went along similarly, hitting them in 4:46 and 4:47 respectively. By the fourth kilometer, I began to pick up the pace and hit the mark in 4:43. Even at this point, however, my heart rate was still in the 150s which is a lot lower than it usually was so I allowed myself to continue to accelerate a little more.
The fifth through ninth kilometers were all in the low 4:40s to high 4:30s, but my heart rate still remained in the mid-160s. As such, I let myself go faster than usual in the final kilometer - taking 4:28 to reach the finish line. Overall, the 10K running portion took 46:49, for an average pace of about 4:41.
Despite the final push, my heart rate peaked at 173bpm which was still quite comfortable. The cold adds a lot of complexity to running, however it certainly makes it easier to keep the heart rate under control. It does make me wonder how well I could have done had I run the Goodlife Toronto Half Marathon this weekend instead of the Scotiabank Waterfront Half ;)
Given the missed bicycle rides earlier in the week due to weather issues, I replaced the planned 30K in the afternoon with a 50K ride. While it did warm up a little in the afternoon, it was still below 3C so it was still pretty chilly. Naturally, this is more of a concern on the bike than it is on foot, as the continuous ~30km/h wind tends to make for a nasty windchill. Regardless, I had already missed significant mileage on the bike this week so I was determined to make it up one way or the other.
Either way, I put on my cycling shorts, a long sleeve running shirt and a cycling jersey on top and headed out. Once I got going, the temperature wasn't too bad as the heat generated by my body did a decent job of keeping me comfortable. The only thing that ended up becoming a problem was keeping my feet warm, as they don't do a lot of work on the bike so the cold air does get to them. It didn't really become too much of a problem, however it is evident that I need to look into getting a set of windproof booties to put over top of my cycling shoes.
As for the ride itself, I wasn't able to push as hard as I would have liked as the legs were still a little tired from the run a couple of hours before. Either way, I managed to average about 29km/h for most of the laps around the subdivision. Around 2:30, however, the school traffic started building up again so fighting my way through all of the cars slowed a couple of laps down to the 27km/h range. Overall, I managed to average about 28.1km/h including the warm-up and cool-down segments, finishing 50.65km in 1:48:07.
Tomorrow morning has another 10K run scheduled, with an 11K walk in the afternoon. I might try and replace that walk with another ~30K cycle to make up for lost mileage but I'll have to see how things feel. Friday I'll be looking at doing another half-century, and possibly more if everything feels good so I can't push too hard tomorrow. Fortunately, the weather over the next couple of days looks like it's going to be near perfect so hopefully that means that I can stick to the plan better than I have for the first half of the week.
Either way, the plan called for a 10K run this morning, so I headed out just after 10am. Despite the clear skies, the temperature was below zero and snow that fell yesterday was still on the ground. As such, I wore a long sleeve running shirt, a pair of gloves and a neck warmer to keep myself warm. I did a 1K walk to warm up, and then broke into a run when the watch's auto-lap feature beeped.
I finished the first kilometer a little slow, hitting the mark in 4:48. Kilometers two and three went along similarly, hitting them in 4:46 and 4:47 respectively. By the fourth kilometer, I began to pick up the pace and hit the mark in 4:43. Even at this point, however, my heart rate was still in the 150s which is a lot lower than it usually was so I allowed myself to continue to accelerate a little more.
The fifth through ninth kilometers were all in the low 4:40s to high 4:30s, but my heart rate still remained in the mid-160s. As such, I let myself go faster than usual in the final kilometer - taking 4:28 to reach the finish line. Overall, the 10K running portion took 46:49, for an average pace of about 4:41.
Despite the final push, my heart rate peaked at 173bpm which was still quite comfortable. The cold adds a lot of complexity to running, however it certainly makes it easier to keep the heart rate under control. It does make me wonder how well I could have done had I run the Goodlife Toronto Half Marathon this weekend instead of the Scotiabank Waterfront Half ;)
Given the missed bicycle rides earlier in the week due to weather issues, I replaced the planned 30K in the afternoon with a 50K ride. While it did warm up a little in the afternoon, it was still below 3C so it was still pretty chilly. Naturally, this is more of a concern on the bike than it is on foot, as the continuous ~30km/h wind tends to make for a nasty windchill. Regardless, I had already missed significant mileage on the bike this week so I was determined to make it up one way or the other.
Either way, I put on my cycling shorts, a long sleeve running shirt and a cycling jersey on top and headed out. Once I got going, the temperature wasn't too bad as the heat generated by my body did a decent job of keeping me comfortable. The only thing that ended up becoming a problem was keeping my feet warm, as they don't do a lot of work on the bike so the cold air does get to them. It didn't really become too much of a problem, however it is evident that I need to look into getting a set of windproof booties to put over top of my cycling shoes.
As for the ride itself, I wasn't able to push as hard as I would have liked as the legs were still a little tired from the run a couple of hours before. Either way, I managed to average about 29km/h for most of the laps around the subdivision. Around 2:30, however, the school traffic started building up again so fighting my way through all of the cars slowed a couple of laps down to the 27km/h range. Overall, I managed to average about 28.1km/h including the warm-up and cool-down segments, finishing 50.65km in 1:48:07.
Tomorrow morning has another 10K run scheduled, with an 11K walk in the afternoon. I might try and replace that walk with another ~30K cycle to make up for lost mileage but I'll have to see how things feel. Friday I'll be looking at doing another half-century, and possibly more if everything feels good so I can't push too hard tomorrow. Fortunately, the weather over the next couple of days looks like it's going to be near perfect so hopefully that means that I can stick to the plan better than I have for the first half of the week.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Another 10K Down
I originally planned to do an 8K run today, but as the 10K run went well yesterday and the weather was quite good I figured that I'd do another 10K today. As with yesterday, my target was a 4:45 pace, but this time I made sure to memorize waypoints at every kilometer. I intended to focus more on correct pacing this time around, hopefully exerting a little more control.
As such, I headed out at 4:00pm and did what I could to moderate my pace as best as I could. I ended up hitting the 1K mark at 4:52, however I had to slow down a bit at one point to safely cross a street so my cruising speed was likely about right. The second kilometer was a little fast (4:35/K), hitting it at 9:27 so I pulled back a little, hitting 3K at 14:15 (a 4:48/K pace). At this point, the errors pretty much canceled themselves out so my overall pace was right on the mark.
I managed to pull off the fourth and fifth kilometers exactly on pace despite the fact that they were on downhill (4K) and uphill (5K) grades. As with yesterday, however, the uphill grade on the fifth kilometer threw me off again and I hit the 6K mark at 28:00 - about 30 seconds ahead of schedule (a 4:15 pace). Despite trying to pull back, I maintained the same average pace in the seventh kilometer hitting the mark at 32:15.
After two fast kilometers, I redoubled my efforts to control my pace and managed to get back on track for the eighth and ninth kilometers (hitting them at 37:00 and 41:45 respectively). As usual, however, my enthusiasm got the best of me in the final kilometer and I hit the 10K mark at 46:07 (4:22/K).
Overall, the average pace for the run was 4:36 which was about the same as yesterday's run. With that said, a larger percentage of the run was done at the correct pace so things are getting a bit better. The main thing that I definitely need to focus on is controlling my pace after ascending uphill grades. I tend to get used to the increased effort during the climb, which throws off my feeling for pace once I crest the hill. Either way, I just have to focus a little more at that point and hopefully I'll be able to get that facet of pacing under control this Saturday.
As such, I headed out at 4:00pm and did what I could to moderate my pace as best as I could. I ended up hitting the 1K mark at 4:52, however I had to slow down a bit at one point to safely cross a street so my cruising speed was likely about right. The second kilometer was a little fast (4:35/K), hitting it at 9:27 so I pulled back a little, hitting 3K at 14:15 (a 4:48/K pace). At this point, the errors pretty much canceled themselves out so my overall pace was right on the mark.
I managed to pull off the fourth and fifth kilometers exactly on pace despite the fact that they were on downhill (4K) and uphill (5K) grades. As with yesterday, however, the uphill grade on the fifth kilometer threw me off again and I hit the 6K mark at 28:00 - about 30 seconds ahead of schedule (a 4:15 pace). Despite trying to pull back, I maintained the same average pace in the seventh kilometer hitting the mark at 32:15.
After two fast kilometers, I redoubled my efforts to control my pace and managed to get back on track for the eighth and ninth kilometers (hitting them at 37:00 and 41:45 respectively). As usual, however, my enthusiasm got the best of me in the final kilometer and I hit the 10K mark at 46:07 (4:22/K).
Overall, the average pace for the run was 4:36 which was about the same as yesterday's run. With that said, a larger percentage of the run was done at the correct pace so things are getting a bit better. The main thing that I definitely need to focus on is controlling my pace after ascending uphill grades. I tend to get used to the increased effort during the climb, which throws off my feeling for pace once I crest the hill. Either way, I just have to focus a little more at that point and hopefully I'll be able to get that facet of pacing under control this Saturday.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Rebuilding
Rebuilding my mileage has been going quite well, despite the issues with my watch. This afternoon, I headed out for a 10K run with a memorized path and waypoints to manually plot out my pacing. The plan was to target a 4:45 pace, knowing that I'd likely end up going a bit faster than that.
As such, I headed out at 5:00pm along the planned route. For a change, the pacing in the first kilometer was right on target - hitting the mark exactly 4:45 after I started. I ended up accelerating a bit in the second kilometer, hitting the mark at 9:20 (about 10 seconds ahead of schedule). To correct for that, I pulled it back a little but still hit the 3K mark about 5 seconds faster than pace (at 13:00). I pulled back a little more, but the downhill grade of the next section counteracted that and I did the fourth kilometer at the same 4:40 pace.
The fifth kilometer is mostly composed of a mild uphill portion (~300m@+4%, ~500m@+2.5%) and managed to hit the target pace right on, hitting the mark at 23:25. After that point, I didn't have any waypoints until the 9K mark so I was on my own. Unfortunately, after the climb my legs got used to the higher output so my pacing was a little fast. In the future, I'll have to remember to memorize a waypoint at 6K as well so that I can correct for this issue.
A little after the 7K mark I was approaching a cloud of smoke (which I'd later figure out was a fire in a public washroom in the park), but as I had no way to gauge my pace/distance if I went off course I went through it anyway. I made it through in about 20 seconds, and it didn't pose much of an issue beyond making breathing a little more difficult during that phase. I had to pass through it again at the 8.3km point but, as before, my breathing recovered immediately after clearing it.
At about 8.7km I had to stop briefly (35 seconds) prior to crossing a major street, and eventually hit the 9K mark at 42:15. My pace over this segment (5-9km) averaged out to about 4:38/km, working out to about 4:29/km without counting the traffic stop. A good deal faster than planned however it was a comfortable pace and, other than the smoky portions, my breathing remained in control for the duration.
Since my pace was going pretty well, I allowed myself to accelerate in the last kilometer. I hit the 10K mark at 46:34, maintaining an average pace of 4:19/km in the last segment. Overall, however, my average pace was 4:39/km (4:36/km minus the traffic stop) which was not too far off from the plan. Still some work to be done in order to increase the control I have when running by feel, but the only way to get better at that is to do more sessions like this.
Other than this session, I did a 30K ride earlier this morning at an average speed of about 29.8km/h (about 38 seconds shy of 30km/h). Including the cool-down, I covered 32.26K in 1:05:48. My cycling has definitely improved significantly since I've been putting more time into it over the last few weeks. Not a whole lot of time left until the weather makes it difficult to continue, but I'm doing what I can to take full advantage of things in the meantime. I'll likely be picking up an indoor trainer to do some cycling in the Winter, but I doubt that I will be able to spend much more than 90 minutes staring at a wall ;)
As such, I headed out at 5:00pm along the planned route. For a change, the pacing in the first kilometer was right on target - hitting the mark exactly 4:45 after I started. I ended up accelerating a bit in the second kilometer, hitting the mark at 9:20 (about 10 seconds ahead of schedule). To correct for that, I pulled it back a little but still hit the 3K mark about 5 seconds faster than pace (at 13:00). I pulled back a little more, but the downhill grade of the next section counteracted that and I did the fourth kilometer at the same 4:40 pace.
The fifth kilometer is mostly composed of a mild uphill portion (~300m@+4%, ~500m@+2.5%) and managed to hit the target pace right on, hitting the mark at 23:25. After that point, I didn't have any waypoints until the 9K mark so I was on my own. Unfortunately, after the climb my legs got used to the higher output so my pacing was a little fast. In the future, I'll have to remember to memorize a waypoint at 6K as well so that I can correct for this issue.
A little after the 7K mark I was approaching a cloud of smoke (which I'd later figure out was a fire in a public washroom in the park), but as I had no way to gauge my pace/distance if I went off course I went through it anyway. I made it through in about 20 seconds, and it didn't pose much of an issue beyond making breathing a little more difficult during that phase. I had to pass through it again at the 8.3km point but, as before, my breathing recovered immediately after clearing it.
At about 8.7km I had to stop briefly (35 seconds) prior to crossing a major street, and eventually hit the 9K mark at 42:15. My pace over this segment (5-9km) averaged out to about 4:38/km, working out to about 4:29/km without counting the traffic stop. A good deal faster than planned however it was a comfortable pace and, other than the smoky portions, my breathing remained in control for the duration.
Since my pace was going pretty well, I allowed myself to accelerate in the last kilometer. I hit the 10K mark at 46:34, maintaining an average pace of 4:19/km in the last segment. Overall, however, my average pace was 4:39/km (4:36/km minus the traffic stop) which was not too far off from the plan. Still some work to be done in order to increase the control I have when running by feel, but the only way to get better at that is to do more sessions like this.
Other than this session, I did a 30K ride earlier this morning at an average speed of about 29.8km/h (about 38 seconds shy of 30km/h). Including the cool-down, I covered 32.26K in 1:05:48. My cycling has definitely improved significantly since I've been putting more time into it over the last few weeks. Not a whole lot of time left until the weather makes it difficult to continue, but I'm doing what I can to take full advantage of things in the meantime. I'll likely be picking up an indoor trainer to do some cycling in the Winter, but I doubt that I will be able to spend much more than 90 minutes staring at a wall ;)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Back into the Routine...
As noted in yesterday's post, the plan was to do a 6K recovery run this morning and start building back into my normal routine. As planned, I headed out, warming up with a brisk walk for 1K and then breaking into a slow run (~5min/km). At first, my right hamstring was still a little sore, but after a couple of minutes that faded away and everything felt fine. I slowly accelerated to faster paces as the run progressed, in an attempt to gauge how well everything had healed in the last week. Things continued to go well, but as I was approaching the 5K mark I elected to call it quits a little earlier than planned given that the hamstring was still a little sore at the beginning of the run.
Either way, other than that minor hiccup the rest of the run went well. The first kilometer was run at a comfortable 5 min/km pace, followed by a faster 4:46K, and progressing through a 4:36K, a 4:33K and finally a 4:19K. All of those paces felt great, and there was no residual pain at the end of the session so things are looking good to get back into the swing of things. I'm thinking of taking tomorrow completely off to see if that will resolve the tight hamstring (while I haven't been running much this week, I've taken the bike out every day so that might be aggravating it a bit), and hopefully that will allow me to get through a longer run on Tuesday without any issues.
In other news, after writing yesterday's post I realized that the Zoo Run had sold out shortly after my half so I guess that that won't be an option either way. Looking over the race schedule, I don't see many 10Ks left this year so I might forget about that for now. There's always the option of showing up on race week to see if any spots open up then, however I'm not sure I want to go to all of that trouble for this race.
The other idea I'm flirting with is running the 5K race associated with the Toronto International Marathon, as it's been a while since I've run one and it would be nice to see what all of the training over the last few months can do for me there. I've already done a training run that was substantially faster than my current PB (21:23 vs. 22:41), so it would be interesting to see what I could pull off in a racing scenario.
Longer term, the next full marathon clinic at the local Running Room starts at the end of January and targets the Ottawa marathon in late May. I'm debating whether I want to go this route, however, and am thinking of just picking up a good book on the subject and finding another training plan. That would allow me to get my training started a little earlier, giving me a little more time to climb the ladder and the option to target a marathon a little earlier in the year (as it can get quite warm in late May). Either way, I'll have to do a little more research on different training programs before I figure out which path is best.
Either way, other than that minor hiccup the rest of the run went well. The first kilometer was run at a comfortable 5 min/km pace, followed by a faster 4:46K, and progressing through a 4:36K, a 4:33K and finally a 4:19K. All of those paces felt great, and there was no residual pain at the end of the session so things are looking good to get back into the swing of things. I'm thinking of taking tomorrow completely off to see if that will resolve the tight hamstring (while I haven't been running much this week, I've taken the bike out every day so that might be aggravating it a bit), and hopefully that will allow me to get through a longer run on Tuesday without any issues.
In other news, after writing yesterday's post I realized that the Zoo Run had sold out shortly after my half so I guess that that won't be an option either way. Looking over the race schedule, I don't see many 10Ks left this year so I might forget about that for now. There's always the option of showing up on race week to see if any spots open up then, however I'm not sure I want to go to all of that trouble for this race.
The other idea I'm flirting with is running the 5K race associated with the Toronto International Marathon, as it's been a while since I've run one and it would be nice to see what all of the training over the last few months can do for me there. I've already done a training run that was substantially faster than my current PB (21:23 vs. 22:41), so it would be interesting to see what I could pull off in a racing scenario.
Longer term, the next full marathon clinic at the local Running Room starts at the end of January and targets the Ottawa marathon in late May. I'm debating whether I want to go this route, however, and am thinking of just picking up a good book on the subject and finding another training plan. That would allow me to get my training started a little earlier, giving me a little more time to climb the ladder and the option to target a marathon a little earlier in the year (as it can get quite warm in late May). Either way, I'll have to do a little more research on different training programs before I figure out which path is best.
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