After the half marathon last Sunday, I've been taking it relatively easy this week to try and aide in my recovery. On Monday and Tuesday my legs were still a bit sore, so I simply did a 30km (little less than 1hr) bike ride. On Wednesday things were feeling a bit better, so I did an easy 9.5km walk in addition to another 30km ride.
By this morning things were much better, so I figured that I'd do a slow recovery run this morning to gauge my progress. After about 3km my right hamstring was feeling a little tight, however, so I fell back to a walk to play it safe (doing about 8.3km in total). Once I got back and had lunch, I headed out for another ride but after about 5 minutes it started drizzling so I headed back and figured that I'd wait it out.
A few hours later, the skies cleared up so I gave the roads about 20 minutes to dry out and then set out to finish off what I started. For about 50 minutes, the weather was beautiful (Sunny 15C) but after that the skies started to get dark very quickly - with about 23km done, I figured that it was enough (I did about 5K in the morning, and I was still about 2K away from home) and started heading back. A minute or so later it started raining, so I stepped it up a bit to get home as quickly as I could.
Unfortunately I got stuck at a red light waiting to turn left and while I was standing there the rain picked up a bit. Just before the light changed, the rain turned into hail and, as there wasn't really any cover between me and home, it was simply a matter of getting back as quickly as possible. Once the light changed, however, it became evident that this was going to be a bit of a catch-22 situation - the faster I went the more the hail hurt ;) Either way, I sucked it up and ended up stabilizing at about 48km/h (which was a lot harder than I had planned to work out in a recovery week, but better than being pelted with shards of ice) and pushed home as quickly as possible. The helmet helped a lot here, as once I got down on the drops and into an aerodynamic position it deflected a good percentage of the incoming ice.
Fortunately, other than the annoyance factor it didn't seem to do any damage to me or my bike. I've been caught in the hail a few times earlier in the year while running, but getting whacked with chunks of ice at these speeds was a lot less pleasant :( Regardless, the weather this time of year is just going to get less and less predictable so I'm going to have to get used to surprises such as these! One thing I'm really going to have to look into getting some good sunglasses, however, as I was lucky not to get hit in the eyes by any of those chunks of ice.
Showing posts with label STWM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label STWM. Show all posts
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Race Report: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon
As noted in previous posts, I headed downtown on Saturday night to pick up my race kit from the expo and check into the hotel. Since I wasn't exactly sure where to go for dinner, I elected to just pick up a ticket to the race's pasta dinner to play it safe. As I was a bit rushed, I forgot to pick up a paceband while I was at the expo, but I didn't worry about it too much as I planned to stick with the 3:20 marathon pacer and, failing that, had my watch to pace me.
After dinner, I headed back to the hotel and finished up some work on my laptop before getting all of my running gear ready. I set the alarm for 5:45 the next morning and went to bed around 10:00 to make sure I got enough sleep prior to the race. In the morning, we got suited up, double checked everything and then headed down to the starting area.
Once we got down to the race site, we walked around a little to familiarize ourselves with the layout. We met a few people from the local running room shop, and also ran into yumke getting ready for his first BQ attempt. After chatting for a little while, we wished each other luck and headed down the start corals to find the rest of our running group. We didn't have much luck at that given the number of people out, and with the start approaching I broke off and headed to the yellow corral (1:36-1:47) to look for the 3:20 marathon pacer that I planned to utilize.
After walking around a bit, there was no sign of him/her so I just got into position in the corral and waited for the start. This was a bit of a disappointment, as I was looking forward to running with a stable pace group rather than continually monitoring things myself. The corral filled in quickly, and after the national anthem the groups were moved forward to fill in the starting queue. In total, more than 14,000 runners were taking part in the races that day so things were packed in pretty tightly.
When the starter's horn was sounded, the ocean of people started moving forward. Thanks to the Corrals, however, most people in my general area were running at about the same pace so the traffic wasn't a huge problem. The planned pace (4:44min/km) felt very comfortable, so I let myself drift a little faster than that to gain a bit of time.
1K: 4:56 158bpm
About 60 meters prior to the 1K mark, however, the auto lap sounded meaning that my watch was measuring a bit short. I had swapped out a new pair of shoes in the previous week for the race, but hadn't had a chance to recalibrate the sensor. I didn't worry too much about it, as they were the same make/model/year as the old ones, and the sensor was last calibrated when they were new. Unfortunately, there obviously was a difference and with the sensor measuring distances short that also meant that the paces shown were going to be a little faster than they actually were.
At that point, I started pushing a little harder to correct for that deficiency, but as I didn't want to fiddle with the watch too much while running I didn't do the exact math. I knew the rough splits to expect at certain milestones, and figured that I'd dial in corrections at those points if necessary. Either way, I was really regretting the fact that I forgot to pick up a paceband from the expo the day before, as it would have come in very handy at this point.
2K: 4:45 167bpm
3K: 4:42 170bpm
4K: 4:49 169bpm
The next three kilometers went pretty well, while they were a bit slower than planned they were close enough for it not to be a problem. I was still running with the same basic group of people, and was still feeling pretty comfortable at this point. My heart rate was a little higher than I would have liked, but it was still within a safe range given prior runs.
5K: 4:45 169bpm
At the 5K point, there was a small overpass that the course traveled over, adding a bit of a challenge. On the way up (+2% grade, 330m), I backed off a little but I accelerated as I crested the hill and went down (-3.6% grade, 160m) a little faster than pace. Looking at the splits, this worked out well as my average speed was about right and my heart rate remained stable over the hump.
6K: 4:48 170bpm
7K: 4:47 170bpm
8K: 4:47 170bpm
9K: 4:51 172bpm
The next section of the race was relatively uneventful, with a bit of an incline but otherwise a straight shot down a major road. I started to find some other runners going at about the right pace, and started using them rather than my watch to keep me at the right speed. Looking back, this was a bit of a mistake as the data shows that I started to fall back at this juncture. Fatigue hadn't really set in yet, and I likely could have pushed a bit harder in this portion (which in retrospect would have helped down the road).
10K: 4:36 173bpm
As I passed the 9K flag, I realized that I was starting to drop back so I broke away from the group that I was running with and tried to catch up. Unfortunately, I pushed a little bit too hard in this segment and that began the process of tiring out my legs a bit.
11K: 4:45 173bpm
12K: 4:46 173bpm
After backing off from the over-enthusiastic pace of the last kilometer, I took the next 2K at roughly the correct pace. By the end of the 12th kilometer (the turnaround point), I was feeling relatively good again.
13K: 4:42 173bpm
14K: 4:47 173bpm
15K: 4:48 175bpm
16K: 4:42 175bpm
For the next little portion, I attempted to carefully step it up a bit to make up for lost ground. As visible above, my pace was a bit unstable here due to this and near the end of the 16th kilometer I was beginning to feel some fatigue in my legs again.
17K: 4:51 175bpm
18K: 4:51 176bpm
With my legs getting sore again, and my heart rate climbing my focus moved from trying to hit my target to simply getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. I slowed down a bit in the next little segment to allow my legs to get better, but they were feeling quite heavy at this juncture so it was a bit of a fight.
19K: 5:21 175bpm (4:58 pace minus walk break)
At the end of the 19th kilometer, we again approached the overpass that I first hit at the 5K mark going out. The combination of the steeper ascent in this direction, and the fatigued legs made this trip over it a lot more difficult. I managed to make it up the hill without loosing much speed, however my legs were quite tired by the time I hit the top so I fell back to a walk for about 50 seconds to rest. Getting started again was hard at this point, but I pushed myself back to a run before I hit the 19K marker.
20K: 5:15 173bpm (4:44 pace minus walk break)
This was a relatively flat portion of road, however the walk break at the end of the last kilometer didn't quite clear out the lactic acid so it was still quite hard. With the final stretch approaching, I figured I'd try another short walking break (1:15) to see if I could freshen the legs up a bit more. As before, however, it didn't really help a lot so I switched back to a running gait as I approached the 20K marker.
21K: 4:52 176bpm
21.1K: 4:13 182bpm
While my legs were still quite sore, my breathing and heart rate were both relatively stable so with only 1,100 meters left I figured I'd just bite the bullet and endure it. I started out a little slowly to see if that would help, and then picked it up as I went along. The soreness didn't go away, however it wasn't getting any worse so I just ignored it and continued accelerating.
When I hit the 600 meters to go sign, I opened up a little more and with my mind focused on the finish line the legs weren't really bothering me much any more. As I hit each of the remaining signs, I stepped it up a little more and finally opened up to a 4:00min/km pace for the final 100 meters. Once I crossed the finish line and broke to a slow walk, the pain faded pretty quickly as my heart rate fell.
In the end, I crossed the finish line a little under two minutes slower than I expected, which is still a pretty good result considering that this is my first race at this distance. The 1:40 goal was a bit aggressive to start with, and the result that I got here actually lines up well with what the predictors suggested from my 15K results. Either way, it gives me something to reach for the next time I attempt this distance ;)
Chip Time: 1:41:46.6 (overall results)
Gun Time: 1:42:20.1
Pace: 4:49min/km
Place Overall: 518/6373 (91.8th percentile)
Place in Men: 428/2838 (84.9th percentile)
Place in Age Group: 55/341 (83.8th percentile)
Average Heart Rate: 172bpm (~84% MHR)
Full Telemetry
Route Map (with notes)
After dinner, I headed back to the hotel and finished up some work on my laptop before getting all of my running gear ready. I set the alarm for 5:45 the next morning and went to bed around 10:00 to make sure I got enough sleep prior to the race. In the morning, we got suited up, double checked everything and then headed down to the starting area.
Once we got down to the race site, we walked around a little to familiarize ourselves with the layout. We met a few people from the local running room shop, and also ran into yumke getting ready for his first BQ attempt. After chatting for a little while, we wished each other luck and headed down the start corals to find the rest of our running group. We didn't have much luck at that given the number of people out, and with the start approaching I broke off and headed to the yellow corral (1:36-1:47) to look for the 3:20 marathon pacer that I planned to utilize.
After walking around a bit, there was no sign of him/her so I just got into position in the corral and waited for the start. This was a bit of a disappointment, as I was looking forward to running with a stable pace group rather than continually monitoring things myself. The corral filled in quickly, and after the national anthem the groups were moved forward to fill in the starting queue. In total, more than 14,000 runners were taking part in the races that day so things were packed in pretty tightly.
When the starter's horn was sounded, the ocean of people started moving forward. Thanks to the Corrals, however, most people in my general area were running at about the same pace so the traffic wasn't a huge problem. The planned pace (4:44min/km) felt very comfortable, so I let myself drift a little faster than that to gain a bit of time.
1K: 4:56 158bpm
About 60 meters prior to the 1K mark, however, the auto lap sounded meaning that my watch was measuring a bit short. I had swapped out a new pair of shoes in the previous week for the race, but hadn't had a chance to recalibrate the sensor. I didn't worry too much about it, as they were the same make/model/year as the old ones, and the sensor was last calibrated when they were new. Unfortunately, there obviously was a difference and with the sensor measuring distances short that also meant that the paces shown were going to be a little faster than they actually were.
At that point, I started pushing a little harder to correct for that deficiency, but as I didn't want to fiddle with the watch too much while running I didn't do the exact math. I knew the rough splits to expect at certain milestones, and figured that I'd dial in corrections at those points if necessary. Either way, I was really regretting the fact that I forgot to pick up a paceband from the expo the day before, as it would have come in very handy at this point.
2K: 4:45 167bpm
3K: 4:42 170bpm
4K: 4:49 169bpm
The next three kilometers went pretty well, while they were a bit slower than planned they were close enough for it not to be a problem. I was still running with the same basic group of people, and was still feeling pretty comfortable at this point. My heart rate was a little higher than I would have liked, but it was still within a safe range given prior runs.
5K: 4:45 169bpm
At the 5K point, there was a small overpass that the course traveled over, adding a bit of a challenge. On the way up (+2% grade, 330m), I backed off a little but I accelerated as I crested the hill and went down (-3.6% grade, 160m) a little faster than pace. Looking at the splits, this worked out well as my average speed was about right and my heart rate remained stable over the hump.
6K: 4:48 170bpm
7K: 4:47 170bpm
8K: 4:47 170bpm
9K: 4:51 172bpm
The next section of the race was relatively uneventful, with a bit of an incline but otherwise a straight shot down a major road. I started to find some other runners going at about the right pace, and started using them rather than my watch to keep me at the right speed. Looking back, this was a bit of a mistake as the data shows that I started to fall back at this juncture. Fatigue hadn't really set in yet, and I likely could have pushed a bit harder in this portion (which in retrospect would have helped down the road).
10K: 4:36 173bpm
As I passed the 9K flag, I realized that I was starting to drop back so I broke away from the group that I was running with and tried to catch up. Unfortunately, I pushed a little bit too hard in this segment and that began the process of tiring out my legs a bit.
11K: 4:45 173bpm
12K: 4:46 173bpm
After backing off from the over-enthusiastic pace of the last kilometer, I took the next 2K at roughly the correct pace. By the end of the 12th kilometer (the turnaround point), I was feeling relatively good again.
13K: 4:42 173bpm
14K: 4:47 173bpm
15K: 4:48 175bpm
16K: 4:42 175bpm
For the next little portion, I attempted to carefully step it up a bit to make up for lost ground. As visible above, my pace was a bit unstable here due to this and near the end of the 16th kilometer I was beginning to feel some fatigue in my legs again.
17K: 4:51 175bpm
18K: 4:51 176bpm
With my legs getting sore again, and my heart rate climbing my focus moved from trying to hit my target to simply getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. I slowed down a bit in the next little segment to allow my legs to get better, but they were feeling quite heavy at this juncture so it was a bit of a fight.
19K: 5:21 175bpm (4:58 pace minus walk break)
At the end of the 19th kilometer, we again approached the overpass that I first hit at the 5K mark going out. The combination of the steeper ascent in this direction, and the fatigued legs made this trip over it a lot more difficult. I managed to make it up the hill without loosing much speed, however my legs were quite tired by the time I hit the top so I fell back to a walk for about 50 seconds to rest. Getting started again was hard at this point, but I pushed myself back to a run before I hit the 19K marker.
20K: 5:15 173bpm (4:44 pace minus walk break)
This was a relatively flat portion of road, however the walk break at the end of the last kilometer didn't quite clear out the lactic acid so it was still quite hard. With the final stretch approaching, I figured I'd try another short walking break (1:15) to see if I could freshen the legs up a bit more. As before, however, it didn't really help a lot so I switched back to a running gait as I approached the 20K marker.
21K: 4:52 176bpm
21.1K: 4:13 182bpm
While my legs were still quite sore, my breathing and heart rate were both relatively stable so with only 1,100 meters left I figured I'd just bite the bullet and endure it. I started out a little slowly to see if that would help, and then picked it up as I went along. The soreness didn't go away, however it wasn't getting any worse so I just ignored it and continued accelerating.
When I hit the 600 meters to go sign, I opened up a little more and with my mind focused on the finish line the legs weren't really bothering me much any more. As I hit each of the remaining signs, I stepped it up a little more and finally opened up to a 4:00min/km pace for the final 100 meters. Once I crossed the finish line and broke to a slow walk, the pain faded pretty quickly as my heart rate fell.
In the end, I crossed the finish line a little under two minutes slower than I expected, which is still a pretty good result considering that this is my first race at this distance. The 1:40 goal was a bit aggressive to start with, and the result that I got here actually lines up well with what the predictors suggested from my 15K results. Either way, it gives me something to reach for the next time I attempt this distance ;)
Chip Time: 1:41:46.6 (overall results)
Gun Time: 1:42:20.1
Pace: 4:49min/km
Place Overall: 518/6373 (91.8th percentile)
Place in Men: 428/2838 (84.9th percentile)
Place in Age Group: 55/341 (83.8th percentile)
Average Heart Rate: 172bpm (~84% MHR)
Full Telemetry
Route Map (with notes)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Final Sessions...
I managed to finish off the last pace run before the half marathon this morning, completing the 6K route in 27:52 (avg 4:39min/km pace). That was a little faster than I was trying to do, but it's difficult to nail pace precisely with such a short run as any little error can become quite significant. Either way, my pace was relatively stable and stayed within a reasonable envelope so I think that I'll be okay for race day. My heart rate averaged about 164bpm (74% HRR), peaking at about 174bpm (80% HRR) near the end both of which were quite comfortable.
After getting back and eating lunch, I headed back out on the bike to put in one final session before the race. In order to reduce the load, I elected to do my normal cycling route in reverse so that the steep portions (600m @ ~5%) were downhill and the long incline was uphill (3K @ ~3%). This actually worked a lot better, as my legs were a less tired by the end of the ride and my average heart rate was actually higher than normal (as I could push more evenly throughout the ride, rather than pushing very hard up the hill and then coasting a bit to recover).
With only an easy 3K run on Saturday morning left, this is pretty much the end of my proper training, so all that is left now is to let my body rest over the next few days and prepare itself for the race itself. The last few months have seen me dramatically increase my mileage, and I've run longer and harder than I've ever done before. As such, I'm confident that I've done everything possible to prepare for this race so it's just a matter of getting ready for Sunday to reap the benefits of all of that work.
After getting back and eating lunch, I headed back out on the bike to put in one final session before the race. In order to reduce the load, I elected to do my normal cycling route in reverse so that the steep portions (600m @ ~5%) were downhill and the long incline was uphill (3K @ ~3%). This actually worked a lot better, as my legs were a less tired by the end of the ride and my average heart rate was actually higher than normal (as I could push more evenly throughout the ride, rather than pushing very hard up the hill and then coasting a bit to recover).
With only an easy 3K run on Saturday morning left, this is pretty much the end of my proper training, so all that is left now is to let my body rest over the next few days and prepare itself for the race itself. The last few months have seen me dramatically increase my mileage, and I've run longer and harder than I've ever done before. As such, I'm confident that I've done everything possible to prepare for this race so it's just a matter of getting ready for Sunday to reap the benefits of all of that work.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
10K at Race Pace
Just finished the last moderate distance run before the race itself, covering 10K at my intended race pace. Tomorrow I'll be doing a short 6K run at the same pace, and will finish off my training with a slow 3K run on Saturday morning to freshen up the legs a bit. In the interests of maximizing recovery, I used a different route that was a good deal less hilly than my usual path. The goal, naturally, was to attempt to maintain a stable 4:44min/km pace for the duration to get my legs used to moving at this speed.
The weather turned out to be near perfect, with the temperature at a comfortable 17C and clear skies. As such, I headed out just after 10:00, running out a little more than 5K then turning around and heading back. My pace was a little faster than intended near the beginning, but I managed to pick up the planned place just after the third kilometer. I managed to hold that pace until about 8K, when I unintentionally began to pull ahead again (9K at 4:34min/km and 10K at 4:36min/km). Overall, the average pace for the entire run worked out to about 4:41min/km.
I'll definitely have to pay a bit more attention on the run tomorrow to even things out, but that variance wasn't too bad so it shouldn't be a major issue. Naturally, no matter what I do here pacing will be a little different during the race itself as running in a crowd is a lot different than running solo.
With that said, the 4:44 pace felt quite comfortable and I think that it shouldn't be a problem pulling off the full distance at this speed. My heart rate stabilized at a little under 80% after 2km, and stayed there for the duration of the run. Unfortunately the heart rate strap slipped out of place in the last 2K so I don't have reliable data, but looking at the raw beat-to-beat data it would appear to have maintained the trend all the way to the end.
The weather turned out to be near perfect, with the temperature at a comfortable 17C and clear skies. As such, I headed out just after 10:00, running out a little more than 5K then turning around and heading back. My pace was a little faster than intended near the beginning, but I managed to pick up the planned place just after the third kilometer. I managed to hold that pace until about 8K, when I unintentionally began to pull ahead again (9K at 4:34min/km and 10K at 4:36min/km). Overall, the average pace for the entire run worked out to about 4:41min/km.I'll definitely have to pay a bit more attention on the run tomorrow to even things out, but that variance wasn't too bad so it shouldn't be a major issue. Naturally, no matter what I do here pacing will be a little different during the race itself as running in a crowd is a lot different than running solo.
With that said, the 4:44 pace felt quite comfortable and I think that it shouldn't be a problem pulling off the full distance at this speed. My heart rate stabilized at a little under 80% after 2km, and stayed there for the duration of the run. Unfortunately the heart rate strap slipped out of place in the last 2K so I don't have reliable data, but looking at the raw beat-to-beat data it would appear to have maintained the trend all the way to the end.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Rest Day
As noted in the previous post, today is a rest day without any activities planned. I don't usually take many days like this, as I tend to fill in the rest days in my running schedule with either cycling or walking sessions. As such, this taper period feels a bit weird as I'm used to working hard up until the day before my races. I naturally understand the importance of this process for longer distances like this, but that doesn't stop my subconscious from looking out the window and thinking that I should be out there doing something ;) Either way, I have a plan and I intend to stick to it one way or the other...
Yesterday, I did my 6K LSD run as planned and it felt quite nice to do a short and slow run like that. I targeted a 5min/km pace, which is slower than I usually do these runs, and kept my heart rate below 70% for most of the session (it went up a bit as I ascended the hill at the end). After heading back for lunch, I went back out on the bike and did an easy 30K ride (55% HRR/27.7km/h) to even things out. In both sessions I focused on my form and took care to keep my cadence in the ideal 95rpm range.
Tomorrow, the plan is to do a continuous 10km run at my half-marathon race pace (4:44min/km). In addition to being the final major workout prior to the race, this will also give me a better feel for maintaining that pace, as well as the feasibility of maintaining it for the full distance. I'm planning on heading out in the morning for this session rather than the afternoon runs that I generally do during the week in order to get ready for the early morning starts.
Yesterday, I did my 6K LSD run as planned and it felt quite nice to do a short and slow run like that. I targeted a 5min/km pace, which is slower than I usually do these runs, and kept my heart rate below 70% for most of the session (it went up a bit as I ascended the hill at the end). After heading back for lunch, I went back out on the bike and did an easy 30K ride (55% HRR/27.7km/h) to even things out. In both sessions I focused on my form and took care to keep my cadence in the ideal 95rpm range.
Tomorrow, the plan is to do a continuous 10km run at my half-marathon race pace (4:44min/km). In addition to being the final major workout prior to the race, this will also give me a better feel for maintaining that pace, as well as the feasibility of maintaining it for the full distance. I'm planning on heading out in the morning for this session rather than the afternoon runs that I generally do during the week in order to get ready for the early morning starts.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Week 38: Final Week
Down to the final stretch now, with a little more than a week left to go before the half-marathon. As such, I'm heading into the main part of my taper and will be significantly cutting back my mileage this week. The last couple of months have seen my mileage go up significantly, so it will certainly be nice to be able to back off a bit.
Getting back to the previous week, things went pretty much as planned. The heat on Sunday made the 15K run a bit harder than usual, however I managed to maintain the planned pace without any issues. As mentioned in this post, we also replaced the speedwork session on Thursday with a hard tempo run which turned out quite well. With respect to cycling, I put in half centuries on Monday and Friday, as well as a hard 30K ride on Wednesday. In the interests of the taper, I elected to replace the 30K ride scheduled on Saturday with an additional 11.5km walk.
I also started working in a new pair of shoes for the race. While my old shoes still have plenty of life left (they're at about 400km), I managed to get a good deal on a new pair and figured it made sense to take full advantage of them. After the race, I'll switch back to the older pair until they are exhausted, but for the time being it is nice to be in a fresh pair again.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 41km
Walking: 45km
Cycling: 234km
Total: 320km
As mentioned above, we are beginning the main portion of our taper this week which will radically change the running schedule. Tomorrow, the LSD run will fall way back to 6K with an easy 30K ride in the afternoon. Monday will be a day off, followed by 10K and 6K runs at race pace on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will be days off, with a short 3K run on Saturday to keep the legs fresh.
As for cycling and walking, I'll be falling back on them as well to help maximize the recovery this week. I'll play this a bit by feel as I haven't found much documentation on how to handle other sports in a taper like this, but the current plan is to do a pair of relatively light rides on Sunday and Wednesday and I'll stick to warm-up/cool-downs (~5km on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday) for my walking mileage this week.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 6K LSD/30K Cycle
Mon Rest
Tue 10K Pace
Wed (AM/PM) 6K Pace/30K Cycle
Thurs Rest
Fri Rest
Sat 3K Steady
Sun 21.1K Race
Getting down to the race itself, my goal at this point is to aim for a 1:40 finish or about a 4:44min/km pace. I've successfully done 21.1km training runs at a 4:50min/km pace before and felt quite comfortable afterwards, so I believe that this is attainable in a race situation (especially as this course is much flatter than my training route). This will basically be the same pace that I ran the Midsummer Night's 15K race, however I've made a lot of progress in my training in the last month so as long as the weather cooperates things should go well.
While there is no 1:40 pacer, there is a 3:20 pacer for the full marathon so I'm hoping to stick with them until we break off. Naturally, if they don't maintain a stable pace I can go off on my own - but it certainly would be nice to stick with a group of runners throughout the bulk of the race. I still have to figure out my hydration strategy for the race, but with aid stations every 2.5km I will have plenty of leeway.
As for logistics, the plan right now is to head down to the expo shortly after lunch on Saturday, then check into the hotel and relax until the race itself. This should make things a lot simpler, and allow me to start the race better rested than I would be if I had to come in from home. The only question mark at this juncture is where to find appropriate pre-race food in the downtown core on Saturday night.
Getting back to the previous week, things went pretty much as planned. The heat on Sunday made the 15K run a bit harder than usual, however I managed to maintain the planned pace without any issues. As mentioned in this post, we also replaced the speedwork session on Thursday with a hard tempo run which turned out quite well. With respect to cycling, I put in half centuries on Monday and Friday, as well as a hard 30K ride on Wednesday. In the interests of the taper, I elected to replace the 30K ride scheduled on Saturday with an additional 11.5km walk.
I also started working in a new pair of shoes for the race. While my old shoes still have plenty of life left (they're at about 400km), I managed to get a good deal on a new pair and figured it made sense to take full advantage of them. After the race, I'll switch back to the older pair until they are exhausted, but for the time being it is nice to be in a fresh pair again.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 41km
Walking: 45km
Cycling: 234km
Total: 320km
As mentioned above, we are beginning the main portion of our taper this week which will radically change the running schedule. Tomorrow, the LSD run will fall way back to 6K with an easy 30K ride in the afternoon. Monday will be a day off, followed by 10K and 6K runs at race pace on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday and Friday will be days off, with a short 3K run on Saturday to keep the legs fresh.
As for cycling and walking, I'll be falling back on them as well to help maximize the recovery this week. I'll play this a bit by feel as I haven't found much documentation on how to handle other sports in a taper like this, but the current plan is to do a pair of relatively light rides on Sunday and Wednesday and I'll stick to warm-up/cool-downs (~5km on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday) for my walking mileage this week.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 6K LSD/30K Cycle
Mon Rest
Tue 10K Pace
Wed (AM/PM) 6K Pace/30K Cycle
Thurs Rest
Fri Rest
Sat 3K Steady
Sun 21.1K Race
Getting down to the race itself, my goal at this point is to aim for a 1:40 finish or about a 4:44min/km pace. I've successfully done 21.1km training runs at a 4:50min/km pace before and felt quite comfortable afterwards, so I believe that this is attainable in a race situation (especially as this course is much flatter than my training route). This will basically be the same pace that I ran the Midsummer Night's 15K race, however I've made a lot of progress in my training in the last month so as long as the weather cooperates things should go well.
While there is no 1:40 pacer, there is a 3:20 pacer for the full marathon so I'm hoping to stick with them until we break off. Naturally, if they don't maintain a stable pace I can go off on my own - but it certainly would be nice to stick with a group of runners throughout the bulk of the race. I still have to figure out my hydration strategy for the race, but with aid stations every 2.5km I will have plenty of leeway.
As for logistics, the plan right now is to head down to the expo shortly after lunch on Saturday, then check into the hotel and relax until the race itself. This should make things a lot simpler, and allow me to start the race better rested than I would be if I had to come in from home. The only question mark at this juncture is where to find appropriate pre-race food in the downtown core on Saturday night.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Week 37: 2 Weeks to Go
Despite some unpredictable weather this week, I was generally pretty lucky with all of my workout sessions. The week started out with a successful 21.1km LSD run, followed on the next day with a half-century (50mi/80km) on the bike. Both of these were important milestones, and did a lot to buoy my confidence for the race in a couple of weeks. Next week we are beginning the taper, so this week signified the peak of this training session and going out on a high note like this helps a lot.
Fortunately, the weather on Wednesday was quite nice so I upped the morning ride to 50km (instead of the planned 30km). With the extra distance, I did a bit of experimenting including giving the road I've been using for hill training (350 meters long at a 10% grade) a try on the bike. The way out (going down the big hill and back up a set of smaller hills) was quite a nice ride, but the way back was a lot of work. I made it up the hill, but the last 100 meters took a lot to keep going. While I've certainly come a long way on the bike, it is obvious that I still have some work to do with respect to hills.
Aside from those sessions, the rest of the workouts this week went great as well. The weather did force me to split the 80km ride on Friday into two, but I did manage to get the full mileage in once the weather cleared. Naturally that wasn't ideal, however it did allow me to push a bit harder than I would have been able to on a single ride so it did have some advantages.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 50km
Walking: 58km
Cycling: 239km
Total: 347km
As mentioned above, we are beginning our taper at this juncture so the training volume will begin to back off this week. The long run tomorrow will fall back to 15K, and I'll cease increasing cycling mileage for the time being. The following week will see a much more significant drop in mileage, but we'll work out the details in our race prep session at the clinic on Thursday. It's certainly been a long road, but all that training appears to be reaping significant benefits and hopefully that will carry through to the race!
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 15K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 80K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/6K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/8K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/Speedwork
Fri (AM/PM) 80K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Longer term, I'm beginning to work out the details on how to handle the race itself. As the half marathon begins at 7:30am, the logistics of getting down there were pretty significant. I'm about an hour away from downtown Toronto, and when you mix in parking and getting to the start line it would have meant a very early morning. To avoid all of this, I elected to reserve a hotel room downtown and will share it with my instructor to help keep the costs down. That will place me about 500 meters from the start line and should leave me a lot better prepared for the race.
Fortunately, the weather on Wednesday was quite nice so I upped the morning ride to 50km (instead of the planned 30km). With the extra distance, I did a bit of experimenting including giving the road I've been using for hill training (350 meters long at a 10% grade) a try on the bike. The way out (going down the big hill and back up a set of smaller hills) was quite a nice ride, but the way back was a lot of work. I made it up the hill, but the last 100 meters took a lot to keep going. While I've certainly come a long way on the bike, it is obvious that I still have some work to do with respect to hills.
Aside from those sessions, the rest of the workouts this week went great as well. The weather did force me to split the 80km ride on Friday into two, but I did manage to get the full mileage in once the weather cleared. Naturally that wasn't ideal, however it did allow me to push a bit harder than I would have been able to on a single ride so it did have some advantages.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 50km
Walking: 58km
Cycling: 239km
Total: 347km
As mentioned above, we are beginning our taper at this juncture so the training volume will begin to back off this week. The long run tomorrow will fall back to 15K, and I'll cease increasing cycling mileage for the time being. The following week will see a much more significant drop in mileage, but we'll work out the details in our race prep session at the clinic on Thursday. It's certainly been a long road, but all that training appears to be reaping significant benefits and hopefully that will carry through to the race!
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 15K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 80K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/6K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/8K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/Speedwork
Fri (AM/PM) 80K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Longer term, I'm beginning to work out the details on how to handle the race itself. As the half marathon begins at 7:30am, the logistics of getting down there were pretty significant. I'm about an hour away from downtown Toronto, and when you mix in parking and getting to the start line it would have meant a very early morning. To avoid all of this, I elected to reserve a hotel room downtown and will share it with my instructor to help keep the costs down. That will place me about 500 meters from the start line and should leave me a lot better prepared for the race.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
21.1km
When I headed out this morning to do the 21.1km (half marathon) LSD run the skies were dark, there was a continuous (albeit light) rain and the temperature was hovering at about 15C. This was a huge contrast to the hot, humid and sunny weather that I've had for the last few Sundays, and it made the long run much easier. The rain was a bit of an issue for the last few kilometers as it started saturating my shoes, however it helped a lot in keeping me cool and reducing the amount of water that I was burning through.
Given prior performance, my goal for this run was to target a pace of around 4:50-5:00/km and see how things work out. Probably should have gone a bit slower given the 'LSD' concept, however my heart rate was relatively comfortable (165bpm/~75%HRR) so I figured that it would be helpful to gauge my pacing at this distance. While I was certainly tired by the end, I did feel like I could have kept going if I wanted to so I should be able to push a faster pace when the race does come around.
If possible, I'd like to get things down to a 4:45/km pace for the actual race, as that will allow me to run with the 1:40 pacer rather than going out on my own. The more level course that the race will be run on should help with that, however a 5sec/km change is certainly quite significant. Either way, the final decision will naturally depend on how things go over the next few weeks.
The splits and final time were as follows:
Splits (km):
1. 4:59
2. 4:40
3. 4:47
4. 4:45
5. 4:51
6. 4:51
7. 4:46
8. 4:51
9. 4:49
10. 4:53
11. 4:55
12. 4:49
13. 4:49
14. 4:58
15. 4:47
16. 4:51
17. 4:53
18. 4:59
19. 4:57
20. 4:58
21. 4:32
21.1. 4:18
Total: 1:42:17.3 (Avg. 4:50/km pace)
In addition to the longer mileage, I also attempted to experiment with eating some Shot Blox during the run on the suggestion of my instructor. They did seem to help a bit near the end of the run, however I'm still not 100% sure that they are necessary for this distance. I was originally a bit worried about how hard they would be to eat while on the move, however they didn't really pose a problem. The texture wasn't terribly pleasant, however, so I'll have to give gels a shot to see if they are any better. Either way, this is a good time to play around with this sort of thing as it will likely become more important as I go beyond the 21.1km distance.
Given prior performance, my goal for this run was to target a pace of around 4:50-5:00/km and see how things work out. Probably should have gone a bit slower given the 'LSD' concept, however my heart rate was relatively comfortable (165bpm/~75%HRR) so I figured that it would be helpful to gauge my pacing at this distance. While I was certainly tired by the end, I did feel like I could have kept going if I wanted to so I should be able to push a faster pace when the race does come around.
If possible, I'd like to get things down to a 4:45/km pace for the actual race, as that will allow me to run with the 1:40 pacer rather than going out on my own. The more level course that the race will be run on should help with that, however a 5sec/km change is certainly quite significant. Either way, the final decision will naturally depend on how things go over the next few weeks.
The splits and final time were as follows:
Splits (km):
1. 4:59
2. 4:40
3. 4:47
4. 4:45
5. 4:51
6. 4:51
7. 4:46
8. 4:51
9. 4:49
10. 4:53
11. 4:55
12. 4:49
13. 4:49
14. 4:58
15. 4:47
16. 4:51
17. 4:53
18. 4:59
19. 4:57
20. 4:58
21. 4:32
21.1. 4:18
Total: 1:42:17.3 (Avg. 4:50/km pace)
In addition to the longer mileage, I also attempted to experiment with eating some Shot Blox during the run on the suggestion of my instructor. They did seem to help a bit near the end of the run, however I'm still not 100% sure that they are necessary for this distance. I was originally a bit worried about how hard they would be to eat while on the move, however they didn't really pose a problem. The texture wasn't terribly pleasant, however, so I'll have to give gels a shot to see if they are any better. Either way, this is a good time to play around with this sort of thing as it will likely become more important as I go beyond the 21.1km distance.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Week 35: One Month to Go...
Just one more month to go before my half marathon. Things are going quite well, and other than a few scheduling hiccups causing me to miss a bit of walking mileage things are sticking with the plan. Other than that, however, things are looking pretty good and I'm looking forward to the race at this juncture.
The weather this week was a bit unpredictable and made scheduling the workout sessions a little tricky, but in the end everything worked out. Friday was likely the biggest issue, as they were calling for rain and I was a little concerned that I'd not be able to fit in my cycling session on that day. Fortunately, when the time came around the weather looked pretty good so I headed out with the intention of falling back if things changed. This meant that I went out pretty hard in order to get in as much as possible before that happened. As the rain didn't materialize, however, I was able to get the entire session in. My legs were pretty tired by the end of the ride, but it was definitely good to push the limits a bit.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 43km
Walking: 56km
Cycling: 140km
Total: 239km
This week the Thursday session will be switching from hill repeats to speedwork, which I haven't done as of yet so it will certainly be interesting. The Fartlek sessions have gone well over the last four weeks, so the more structured sessions will hopefully turn out similarly. With that said, running four laps at a 4:10min/km pace is not going to be easy any way that I look at it ;)
Other than that, I'll be jumping back up to doing an 18K LSD run tomorrow. Unfortunately the weather forecast is indicating that it's going to be pretty hot, so that will make it a lot more difficult than the 18Ks I did a few weeks back. Either way, it will be a good test to see how I hold out under difficult circumstances.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 18K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/60K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/5K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/2x1.6K Speed
Fri (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/60K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Further down the road, the group is planning on doing a dry run on the actual course in place of the LSD run in about two weeks. I've been doing the LSD runs individually in order to train myself to do the half marathon continuously (rather than with the Running Room's run/walk routine), so I'll have to figure out what will be the best way to handle that. I'll likely end up starting out with them and then breaking off at the 10 minute mark, although running with the group would be beneficial given the traffic down in the city.
The weather this week was a bit unpredictable and made scheduling the workout sessions a little tricky, but in the end everything worked out. Friday was likely the biggest issue, as they were calling for rain and I was a little concerned that I'd not be able to fit in my cycling session on that day. Fortunately, when the time came around the weather looked pretty good so I headed out with the intention of falling back if things changed. This meant that I went out pretty hard in order to get in as much as possible before that happened. As the rain didn't materialize, however, I was able to get the entire session in. My legs were pretty tired by the end of the ride, but it was definitely good to push the limits a bit.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 43km
Walking: 56km
Cycling: 140km
Total: 239km
This week the Thursday session will be switching from hill repeats to speedwork, which I haven't done as of yet so it will certainly be interesting. The Fartlek sessions have gone well over the last four weeks, so the more structured sessions will hopefully turn out similarly. With that said, running four laps at a 4:10min/km pace is not going to be easy any way that I look at it ;)
Other than that, I'll be jumping back up to doing an 18K LSD run tomorrow. Unfortunately the weather forecast is indicating that it's going to be pretty hot, so that will make it a lot more difficult than the 18Ks I did a few weeks back. Either way, it will be a good test to see how I hold out under difficult circumstances.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 18K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/60K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/5K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/2x1.6K Speed
Fri (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/60K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Further down the road, the group is planning on doing a dry run on the actual course in place of the LSD run in about two weeks. I've been doing the LSD runs individually in order to train myself to do the half marathon continuously (rather than with the Running Room's run/walk routine), so I'll have to figure out what will be the best way to handle that. I'll likely end up starting out with them and then breaking off at the 10 minute mark, although running with the group would be beneficial given the traffic down in the city.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Week 34: Review
Thanks to the weather we've been having lately, I've been able to keep the cycling up on a daily basis this week. As such, this has taken a chunk out of my walking mileage, however the cycling sessions appear to be a better overall workout so the end result is likely positive. It's taking a bit of effort to train my body to get used to the new activity, but things have progressed significantly since the beginning of the week.
Other than that, the running has gone well this week. I skipped Sunday's LSD run given the 15K race the day before, but performed all other planned runs throughout the week. The heat today did make the run this morning a little more difficult (should have gone out a bit earlier), however it wasn't enough to impede performance in any measurable way.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 40km
Walking: 75km
Cycling: 136km
Total: 251km
As for next week, the weather reports are looking good so if things pan out then it should bode well for my workouts. There is a little over five weeks to go before my half marathon, so the work that I do in the next little while will be critical to my performance. Thanks to the results of my race last week, I have a much better idea of pacing that I'll be likely to hit which further helps to refine my training.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 16K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/50K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/4K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/7K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/6x400m Hills
Fri (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/50K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Other than that, the running has gone well this week. I skipped Sunday's LSD run given the 15K race the day before, but performed all other planned runs throughout the week. The heat today did make the run this morning a little more difficult (should have gone out a bit earlier), however it wasn't enough to impede performance in any measurable way.
Weekly Totals:
Running: 40km
Walking: 75km
Cycling: 136km
Total: 251km
As for next week, the weather reports are looking good so if things pan out then it should bode well for my workouts. There is a little over five weeks to go before my half marathon, so the work that I do in the next little while will be critical to my performance. Thanks to the results of my race last week, I have a much better idea of pacing that I'll be likely to hit which further helps to refine my training.
Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 16K LSD/11.5K Walk
Mon (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/50K Cycle
Tue (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/4K Fartlek
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/7K Steady
Thurs (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/6x400m Hills
Fri (AM/PM) 11.5K Walk/50K Cycle
Sat (AM/PM) 8K Steady/30K Cycle
Friday, August 15, 2008
Long Road...
Ever since I was a kid, I had been battling with my weight. I had been walking short distances (2-3km) several times a week, however my work had me sitting at a desk all day so that was pretty much the only activity that I was doing on a daily basis. I'd loose a little weight here and there, but I'd catch a cold, get derailed for a week and fall back again. Add in the fact that it didn't take much of an excuse to convince myself to skip a session (bad weather, something on TV, etc.) and at best I was simply treading water.
First Steps...
Fast forward to December 2006. I had just had a physical and got reamed by my doctor once again for gaining weight, and was just coming off of a nasty cold that shut down my exercises for a week or so. Given the short term determination that those stimuli prompted, I decided to make up the lost mileage by doing two 3km sessions a day for the next week.
By the end of that week, I was down about 3lbs and the extra mileage felt quite good so I figured that I'd stick with it for a little while longer. Things continued to go quite well, and while the weight loss dropped to 1-2lbs per week pretty quickly, it remained enough motivation to keep going. As time passed, I got faster and began adding mileage to maintain the session time. That in turn reaped significant benefits, so I slowly began increasing the time of the sessions as well. The progress continued over the next few months.
By March I was up to about 12km per day (two 6km walks), however I ran into a bit of a snag as I was beginning to develop some nasty blisters on my feet which stopped me from pushing much further. A week off (due to a trip out west) and new pair of shoes temporarily remedied the problem, however the crappy Reebok cross trainers that I was using didn't last long and it came right back a couple of months later.
The Importance of Proper Equipment
When the new shoes began to self-destruct on me (around June) and the blisters were worsening again, I figured that it was about time to get fitted for a proper pair. A new Running Room store had opened in the area, so I figured that it was my best bet in finding a shop with staff that actually knew what they were doing. That turned out to be a very good move, as the fellow that fitted me was extremely helpful and spent about 45 minutes finding the right shoe and getting some proper (non-cotton) socks to go with them.
Armed with proper equipment for a change, I was again able to begin increasing my mileage and speed. As before, this reaped significant advantages and by August I had settled into covering about 20km per day (two 10km walks). At this juncture I was approaching 200lbs, feeling much better than I had for many years and was determined to keep things up. I flirted a bit with adding some running into the mix, however I didn't really have any sort of formal plan so my success was limited.
By the end of September I picked up a Polar heart rate monitor to help me out with my training. Being an Engineer, the concept of working with hard numbers and objective measurements was quite appealing. Naturally, it proved to be a very powerful tool and helped me to take a much more formal approach to the exercise. Especially useful was the ability to quantify the number of calories that I was burning, as it put those little numbers of the nutritional panels into context. Eating a 100 Calorie snack is a lot less appealing when you consider how much work you'll have to do to burn it off ;)
From Walking to Running
When the new year rolled around, I joined the Learn to Run clinic at the local Running Room store to step things up a notch. In addition to getting a proper background and formal plan, this clinic also gave me a great group of people to run with, helping to make the transition a lot easier than when I attempted it on my own. The clinic sessions went well, culminating in a pair of 5km races (due to scheduling conflicts).
The first of these was the Frosty 5K in Burlington in the beginning of March. In addition to being my first attempt at running a formal race, it was also the first time that I would be running this far (the LTR program only targets running for 20 minutes) so I went into it not knowing what to expect. Given my prior runs, I hoped to finish somewhere in the range of 25 to 30 minutes, but I elected to run the race by feel and not worry too much about it.
Shortly after meeting up with the group and getting into position, we were away and navigating through the crush of people. After about 5 minutes I managed to get ahead of the main pack and was moving along at a much faster pace than I had attempted before, but I was feeling great so I elected to keep it up. When I hit the 4km mark fatigue started to set in, however I managed to fight through it and keep going. The final stretch of the race was a pretty nasty hill that took a lot out of me, however I managed to make it up and hit the finish line in 24:22 which was much better than I had expected. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience and drove me to want more.
Two weeks later, armed with some real world experience, I ran the second goal race (the Achilles 5K in Toronto). In addition to being another great race, it also provided an opportunity to met up with a couple of friends from University (yumke and Fitzy) who were also running it. With a more detailed plan this time around, I managed to further improve my pace throughout the race. Compounding this was the fact that Fitzy passed me near the end of my second walking break, making it into a proper race with both of us sprinting to the finish and me clocking in at 23:43.6.
After the race, we met up for lunch to catch up and yumke managed to talk us into running the Harry's Spring Run-Off three weeks later. Unlike the previous races, this was a hilly course running through High Park so it added another variable to the equation. While I had some (smallish) hills on my normal training runs, I hadn't done any formal hill training (the Running Room doesn't add this until the 10K clinic) so I began adding some on my own. It certainly took some getting used to, however with a little work and some minor pace adjustments it quickly began to get easier.
When April rolled around and Harry's 5K approached, I headed down to high park a couple of days before the race to pick up my kit. While I was down there, I walked the course to get an idea of what I was going to be looking at. It was certainly a much more challenging course than the previous races, however knowing what to expect helped me to work out a rough plan to make sure that I had enough left to conquer that final hill.
On race day I headed down early to pick up my timing chip, and met up with yumke near the 8K starting line. After the 8K race started, I headed back down to the 5K start and met up with Fitzy. We talked for a while, and then proceeded to the starting line to make sure that we had a good position near the front of the pack. When the race started, we headed off with the pack. Looking down at my Polar, I saw that our pace was way too fast at about 3:50min/km so I moved over to the right and slowed down to the 4:40min/km pace that I had planned, letting Fitzy go ahead. Given the topology of the course, I closely monitored my pace and continued to hold back to make sure that I had enough in me for the final uphill push.
When I finally did hit the hill about 450 meters from the finish, I was still feeling quite good so I opened up and headed up as quickly as I could. As a good number of people ran out of steam at this point, I passed about twenty of them on the way up which did a lot to boost my confidence. My legs were pretty tired as I crested the hill, but with yumke and jellypepper cheering me on I pushed through and gave it a sprint for the last 100 meters finishing in 24:03.4. After the race Fitzy, yumke, jellypepper and I met up and headed out to grab some lunch.
At the same time as the above, the LTR clinic had finished and I started with the Running Room's formal 5K clinic. Our previous instructor was teaching it as well, and the majority of the group from the LTR clinic also came along so it made for a seamless transition. Things went along very well, and by mid May I was out for the Hazel 5K race (part of the Mississauga Marathon).
The start was a bit rocky due to a large group of children that positioned themselves at the front of the starting line. This forced me to go a little faster (~3min/km for the first 300 meters, ~4min/km for the next 200m) than I would have liked to in order to get past them, which left me more fatigued than I was used to. Either way, I fought through and covered the 5km course in 22:41.2.
Going Further
As the Running Room's 5K clinic was based on timed runs rather than fixed distances, I was up to doing about 7-8km per run by the time it was finished. With a few weeks before the 10K clinic started up, I figured that I'd look for an intermediate distance race and work toward it in the meantime. After a bit of digging, I settled on the Night Crawler 5 Miler in mid June which yumke was also running.
The training went quite well and was mostly a matter of figuring out what kind of pace was realistic for the distance. When the race came around, I headed down to the course and picked up my kit on site. After meeting up and talking with yumke, we headed up to the starting line and after a bit of confusion of where exactly that was we got into position. When the horn was sounded, yumke took off ahead of me and I headed out at my planned pace.
Due to a much more competitive field than I was used to, there was a lot more traffic to deal with for the duration of the race. Fortunately, I found a group that was moving at about the same pace as me so that didn't pose too much of an issue. Things got a little crowded heading up the hill near the end of the race as some people started slowing down, but with a little weaving I made it up. Once over the top of the hill, I opened things up for the final ~500 meters hitting the finish line in 38:18.
Next Steps
This, in turn, brings us to the present. With the Night Crawler under my belt, I originally planned to start the 10K clinic but elected to do the Half Marathon instead (as the former was a bit less aggressive than I would have liked). I'm now in the seventh week of that program, with the goal race being the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon on September 28th. I'm also getting ready to run a 15K race (Midsummer Night's Run) tomorrow in order to get a better idea of what pace to attempt for the goal race.
Anyway, from this point on I hope to use these pages to record my progress and hopefully provide some tidbits of information that others might find useful. Having gleaned a lot of great information and inspiration from other blogs (especially yumke's), it seems like a good way to pay that back.
First Steps...
Fast forward to December 2006. I had just had a physical and got reamed by my doctor once again for gaining weight, and was just coming off of a nasty cold that shut down my exercises for a week or so. Given the short term determination that those stimuli prompted, I decided to make up the lost mileage by doing two 3km sessions a day for the next week.
By the end of that week, I was down about 3lbs and the extra mileage felt quite good so I figured that I'd stick with it for a little while longer. Things continued to go quite well, and while the weight loss dropped to 1-2lbs per week pretty quickly, it remained enough motivation to keep going. As time passed, I got faster and began adding mileage to maintain the session time. That in turn reaped significant benefits, so I slowly began increasing the time of the sessions as well. The progress continued over the next few months.
By March I was up to about 12km per day (two 6km walks), however I ran into a bit of a snag as I was beginning to develop some nasty blisters on my feet which stopped me from pushing much further. A week off (due to a trip out west) and new pair of shoes temporarily remedied the problem, however the crappy Reebok cross trainers that I was using didn't last long and it came right back a couple of months later.
The Importance of Proper Equipment
When the new shoes began to self-destruct on me (around June) and the blisters were worsening again, I figured that it was about time to get fitted for a proper pair. A new Running Room store had opened in the area, so I figured that it was my best bet in finding a shop with staff that actually knew what they were doing. That turned out to be a very good move, as the fellow that fitted me was extremely helpful and spent about 45 minutes finding the right shoe and getting some proper (non-cotton) socks to go with them.
Armed with proper equipment for a change, I was again able to begin increasing my mileage and speed. As before, this reaped significant advantages and by August I had settled into covering about 20km per day (two 10km walks). At this juncture I was approaching 200lbs, feeling much better than I had for many years and was determined to keep things up. I flirted a bit with adding some running into the mix, however I didn't really have any sort of formal plan so my success was limited.
By the end of September I picked up a Polar heart rate monitor to help me out with my training. Being an Engineer, the concept of working with hard numbers and objective measurements was quite appealing. Naturally, it proved to be a very powerful tool and helped me to take a much more formal approach to the exercise. Especially useful was the ability to quantify the number of calories that I was burning, as it put those little numbers of the nutritional panels into context. Eating a 100 Calorie snack is a lot less appealing when you consider how much work you'll have to do to burn it off ;)
From Walking to Running
When the new year rolled around, I joined the Learn to Run clinic at the local Running Room store to step things up a notch. In addition to getting a proper background and formal plan, this clinic also gave me a great group of people to run with, helping to make the transition a lot easier than when I attempted it on my own. The clinic sessions went well, culminating in a pair of 5km races (due to scheduling conflicts).
The first of these was the Frosty 5K in Burlington in the beginning of March. In addition to being my first attempt at running a formal race, it was also the first time that I would be running this far (the LTR program only targets running for 20 minutes) so I went into it not knowing what to expect. Given my prior runs, I hoped to finish somewhere in the range of 25 to 30 minutes, but I elected to run the race by feel and not worry too much about it.
Shortly after meeting up with the group and getting into position, we were away and navigating through the crush of people. After about 5 minutes I managed to get ahead of the main pack and was moving along at a much faster pace than I had attempted before, but I was feeling great so I elected to keep it up. When I hit the 4km mark fatigue started to set in, however I managed to fight through it and keep going. The final stretch of the race was a pretty nasty hill that took a lot out of me, however I managed to make it up and hit the finish line in 24:22 which was much better than I had expected. Needless to say, it was an incredible experience and drove me to want more.
Two weeks later, armed with some real world experience, I ran the second goal race (the Achilles 5K in Toronto). In addition to being another great race, it also provided an opportunity to met up with a couple of friends from University (yumke and Fitzy) who were also running it. With a more detailed plan this time around, I managed to further improve my pace throughout the race. Compounding this was the fact that Fitzy passed me near the end of my second walking break, making it into a proper race with both of us sprinting to the finish and me clocking in at 23:43.6.
After the race, we met up for lunch to catch up and yumke managed to talk us into running the Harry's Spring Run-Off three weeks later. Unlike the previous races, this was a hilly course running through High Park so it added another variable to the equation. While I had some (smallish) hills on my normal training runs, I hadn't done any formal hill training (the Running Room doesn't add this until the 10K clinic) so I began adding some on my own. It certainly took some getting used to, however with a little work and some minor pace adjustments it quickly began to get easier.
When April rolled around and Harry's 5K approached, I headed down to high park a couple of days before the race to pick up my kit. While I was down there, I walked the course to get an idea of what I was going to be looking at. It was certainly a much more challenging course than the previous races, however knowing what to expect helped me to work out a rough plan to make sure that I had enough left to conquer that final hill.
On race day I headed down early to pick up my timing chip, and met up with yumke near the 8K starting line. After the 8K race started, I headed back down to the 5K start and met up with Fitzy. We talked for a while, and then proceeded to the starting line to make sure that we had a good position near the front of the pack. When the race started, we headed off with the pack. Looking down at my Polar, I saw that our pace was way too fast at about 3:50min/km so I moved over to the right and slowed down to the 4:40min/km pace that I had planned, letting Fitzy go ahead. Given the topology of the course, I closely monitored my pace and continued to hold back to make sure that I had enough in me for the final uphill push.
When I finally did hit the hill about 450 meters from the finish, I was still feeling quite good so I opened up and headed up as quickly as I could. As a good number of people ran out of steam at this point, I passed about twenty of them on the way up which did a lot to boost my confidence. My legs were pretty tired as I crested the hill, but with yumke and jellypepper cheering me on I pushed through and gave it a sprint for the last 100 meters finishing in 24:03.4. After the race Fitzy, yumke, jellypepper and I met up and headed out to grab some lunch.
At the same time as the above, the LTR clinic had finished and I started with the Running Room's formal 5K clinic. Our previous instructor was teaching it as well, and the majority of the group from the LTR clinic also came along so it made for a seamless transition. Things went along very well, and by mid May I was out for the Hazel 5K race (part of the Mississauga Marathon).
The start was a bit rocky due to a large group of children that positioned themselves at the front of the starting line. This forced me to go a little faster (~3min/km for the first 300 meters, ~4min/km for the next 200m) than I would have liked to in order to get past them, which left me more fatigued than I was used to. Either way, I fought through and covered the 5km course in 22:41.2.
Going Further
As the Running Room's 5K clinic was based on timed runs rather than fixed distances, I was up to doing about 7-8km per run by the time it was finished. With a few weeks before the 10K clinic started up, I figured that I'd look for an intermediate distance race and work toward it in the meantime. After a bit of digging, I settled on the Night Crawler 5 Miler in mid June which yumke was also running.
The training went quite well and was mostly a matter of figuring out what kind of pace was realistic for the distance. When the race came around, I headed down to the course and picked up my kit on site. After meeting up and talking with yumke, we headed up to the starting line and after a bit of confusion of where exactly that was we got into position. When the horn was sounded, yumke took off ahead of me and I headed out at my planned pace.
Due to a much more competitive field than I was used to, there was a lot more traffic to deal with for the duration of the race. Fortunately, I found a group that was moving at about the same pace as me so that didn't pose too much of an issue. Things got a little crowded heading up the hill near the end of the race as some people started slowing down, but with a little weaving I made it up. Once over the top of the hill, I opened things up for the final ~500 meters hitting the finish line in 38:18.
Next Steps
This, in turn, brings us to the present. With the Night Crawler under my belt, I originally planned to start the 10K clinic but elected to do the Half Marathon instead (as the former was a bit less aggressive than I would have liked). I'm now in the seventh week of that program, with the goal race being the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon on September 28th. I'm also getting ready to run a 15K race (Midsummer Night's Run) tomorrow in order to get a better idea of what pace to attempt for the goal race.
Anyway, from this point on I hope to use these pages to record my progress and hopefully provide some tidbits of information that others might find useful. Having gleaned a lot of great information and inspiration from other blogs (especially yumke's), it seems like a good way to pay that back.
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