Back at it

Nothing much more to report.

After getting the all clear at Physio on Thursday, I'm back on the running train. I ran 5k on Friday and 10k on Sunday. Both were meant to be easy paced runs.

The 5k was a 6:50 pace - perfect.

The 10k was a 6:35 pace - too fast (my Mpace is around 6:23).

The knee was fine after Friday and a bit touchy yesterday, but I iced it twice and its fine now.

I am supposed to run for about 10 minutes and then stop and do a series of dynamic stretches before continuing my run. I don't like it. It totally ruins my momentum and messes with my head. I think I'm going to have to do a bunch of jumping jacks at home, then the stretches and then run. I don't want to mess up my knee again/further, so I know I have to stick with the suggestions they gave me at Physio.

All in all, I'm happy to be back on the road. Hoping to hit 5 runs this week (with one already completed yesterday).

No Run Knee

Last Thursday, I woke up to a very swollen knee. It was painful and I had very limited range of motion. I couldn't figure out what I had done (race Sunday, baseball Monday, easy run Tuesday, rest Wednesday), but clearly, I had done something.

I iced and elevated the knee throughout the day and saw real progress. Nevertheless, I headed to my family doctor on Friday and secured a referral to physio.

Yesterday (Monday), my knee felt fine, but I headed to physio anyway.

After a few pokes and bends and measurements the therapist determined that I had some cartilage damage but not a full on Meniscus tear (thank goodness!).

So.

I can't run for two weeks and I'll be hitting physio two times a week for the next three for laser, ice and some other kind of therapy (I can't remember).

I hope the weeks pass quickly.

Of course, we've had the perfect running weather the past few days.

Bread & Honey 15k Race Report

Never trust a runner who says they have no goals about a race.

Simply: Don't believe them.

Whether the goal is as easy as to run the miles easy, or as detailed as to evenly split each kilometer, you can bet that the runner has goals. Even, "I'm just going to cross the finish line" is a goal.

So, I know I claimed to have no goals for the race yesterday, but to be honest, I toyed with two: run a true LSD run (with a 6:50ish average pace) OR, beat my 15k time from the Mississauga Half Marathon three weeks ago (sub 1:35:51).

I got up at 6am on Sunday morning with my husband who was up with the only morning person in our house Fergus and ate, checked the weather and got dressed. It was expected to be 21 degrees celsius by 9am and I debated wearing my black shirt from Mississauga, but decided to keep it as I was more worried about sunburns on my shoulders. I lathered on the sunscreen and grabbed a hat (funny - it would be the same hat I wore the last time I ran a B&H race, the 5k in 2009):


I also grabbed my water belt with the 500mL bottle in the back as I knew that water every 3k would not be enough for me (again, this was the first race I wore this belt to!).

I was on the road early and arrived at the start with plenty of time to secure a parking spot metres from the start/finish on a side street. Then I found the washroom in the high school (yippee! REAL washrooms! With soap and water!) and went to look for the members of my clinic who were racing and spectating. Before long, I ran into a few people who were there to do either of the above and we chatted for a while looking for more people and our instructor, Bing who was racing the 5k. Before we found him, we lined up. Only three of us were running in the 15k and the two other ladies were much faster then me so I asked them to not allow me to run with them and wished them luck!

Aside: Bing raced the 5k so well he came in third in his age group. I was able to meet up with him and the rest of the group post race. Photos to come.

Before long, Hazel was making her incoherent inspirational speech and sounding the horn to get us started.

I stared WAY TOO FAST. I was telling myself to keep it easy, use it as an easy run, that I was going to die by 8k etc etc:

KM1 - 6:01, KM2 - 5:59, KM3 - 6:13, KM4 - 6:13, KM5 - 6:21

It took me 5 kilometres to get my pace to race pace. CRAZY! The great thing about the first few kilometres of this race is that I know all of the streets as I grew up taking lessons in Streetsville, so I just zoned out and enjoyed the spectators, the little town feel and watching the 5k elites blazing past us around the 10 minute mark. Once we made the split from those racing 5k, the crowd really thinned out as did the spectators (uh, there were none). The course is challenging in that regard and because it it pretty hilly. I concentrated on attempting to keep my pace even at 6:23 or so and keeping myself hydrated. It was super hot and I took fluids at ever station and pretty much every K.

I found it difficult to settle into a great pace as I was by myself and I couldn't find anyone who was running at the same pace as I was. I saw a lot of the same people around me, but most were walk-running and I was having none of that. I did walk through some water stations and to jam my bottle back into my belt, but those spells were function walks, not any kind of strategy. It was a pretty BLAH race after Mississauga to be honest. My best memory from these 5k were watching during the turn around for my clinic friends and yelling out good job to them as they passed me. I also saw a woman who was at least 7 months pregnant racing in a skirt and sports bra - belly proudly leading the way (I found her after the race and congratulated her!). It was hot.

KM6 - 6:16 (GU), KM7 - 6:16, KM8 - 6:21, KM9 - 6:19, KM10 - 6:14

At 10k I started having some trouble. It was hot. We were in an industrial part of the course, I was unsure where I was. It was hot. There was a family of walk-runners who kept yo-yoing with me (mum, dad and 8 year old!) and it was playing with my head. I started to smile at and thank all volunteers and police officers I saw. I realized that I like to see people when I race and to interact with them. I kept zoning out which is good, I guess, but the race didn't feel fun like the last one did. I told myself that it should only be a LSD run anyway and to slow down and not worry about it. I took a GU at 11.5km and it didn't seem to help at all! That's when I put my "suck it up" pants on and took control of my head.

I knew I was on pace to beat my 15k time from Mississauga. I knew the streets again. I knew that there were 3k left and they were nothing. Finally, the parents let their 8 year old race (kid took off!) while they continued to walk-run and I let him lose me. The last three Ks were a lot better.

At 700 metres to go, I came up to a man walking. I said to him, "700 metres to go! Buddy, you've GOT IT!" He started running with me. And by with me, I mean the guy might as well have been tethered to me! When I crossed the road to cut the corner, he was with me. When we had to shift to the left to get out of the way of a fire truck (someone had to be taken off course), he was there! I kept telling him how long was left.

Then, we were almost at the line and I remembered to pull my ear buds out. Just in time because there was the rest of my clinic group, cheering and taking photos form the side lines! It was so AWESOME! It was the first time I had lots of people cheering! I also heard/saw a lady from my baseball team who was there with her fitness class to run the 5k as their final exam. Finally, I felt the normal race rush and crossed with the normal thrill of a finish. Of course, it helped that I had beat the 15k time from Mississauga!

KM11 - 6:26, KM12 - 6:37 (GU), KM13 - 6:07, KM14 - 6:01, KM15 - 5:41

Chip: 1:33:35, Pace: 6:12
Place: 308/446
W30-34: 25/39

Photos to come!

Bread & Honey 15k Road Race Goals

None.

I'm just gonna run the thing and see what happens.

Bib 262, 8am start.

5 Things Friday

1. This week, I finally took advantage of the good weather AND the jogging stroller:

Don't worry, I have a UV/Bug cover that goes over top of him!

I ran 5.15k on Tuesday morning and man, it was HOT:

It was also a lot harder than I thought to push the stroller, but totally doable, even in heat that was 40 or so with the humidity.

2. I bought new clothes (2x shorts and 2x racer back tanks)! Zellars has a BOGO 50% off and I took advantage of the offer. For the amount I spent, I would have only gotten one pair of regularly priced shorts at RR or lulu. My husband is rather happy about that! I WORE the short shorts on my 6k tempo last night and they were okay! I can't believe I've come so far as to actually WEAR shorts on a run!


3. Speaking of shorts and confidence, I hit the 130s on the scale this week for the first time in well over five years! I'm only just into this zone, but I'm celebrating anyway! My scale victory has been followed by being able to wear shorts and capris I haven't worn in years!

4. I finally bought new shoes! I stuck with the exact same pair that have done me so well up until now, and purchased New Balance 940s (formally 850s). I can't wait to try them out tonight!

5. I'm bib #262 for the Break and Honey 15k road race this Sunday, June 5th. I've yet to decide if I'm going to put any goals out there. It is 9.3 miles so an odd distance and I should really just use it as an LSD run. I'm going to think about it some more.

How was your week?

Back to the routine... kinda

My goal going into this week was to get back into the routine of running 4-5 times a week and keeping at least one of those runs a long (12+km) one and one run a tempo run.

So far this week, I've hit the first goal, and this evening I hit the second one with a lovely routine 6k tempo run around my subdivision.

I was starting out later in the evening for me at 8pm and it was only about 45 minutes after I had finished supper. I decided that I'd run wherever my legs took me, but that I wouldn't cross any major roads to get the 6k in. Instead, I ran along many undiscovered streets and let my Garmin track my KMs and pace.

The first 12 minutes were easy of course as prescribed for the warm up. I ran a bit fast with an average pace of 6:28/km, but I felt good. It was a PERFECT night for running as the sun set: 16C with a touch of wind. I felt great! Then, it was time for Tempo!

After my success last Wednesday in the rain, I decided to go for an average pace of 5:45/km. This is a leap from the 6:00/km I was running at the end of the clinic, but to be honest, that pace felt really easy but Bing had cautioned me not to make any changes so close to the half marathon. With the ease of the 6 minute pace and the extremely successful half marathon, I decided that I would push up my tempo until it felt like the 9/10 effort it should be.

Both last week and this week, I was not disappointed. I run a straight 20 minutes at tempo pace and about 14 minutes in I was checking the time every minute, then every 45 seconds, then every half minute to count down how long it would be until I was finished. There was a huge effort for me to run that fast, but a good effort nonetheless. After downloading the data, I see that my pace was 5:44 for the 20 minute tempo portion and I feel great now!

Just think, back in late February I completed my first tempo run at 6:14/km and now, a mere four months later, I've jumped to a pace that is a full 32 seconds faster!

I can't wait to break all of my records in the second half of 2011!