About Me

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Milton, Ontario, Canada

Monday, October 31, 2011

October!

Another great month of training!

In six days, I'm going to run a great half marathon and I owe it to many things, one of which is being blessed to be able to run and train around the rest of my life!

I didn't race at all this month, but I ran a lot of race pace runs as I figured out just what that pace is going to be on November 6th. My longest run was 22k on the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I did that cold run solo. I also ran a hard 20k with the last 14k at race pace despite wind gusts up to 35km per hour. This ended up being my cut back month as I ran about 27km less then in September, but I'm not complaining about the work I did.

I feel ready for Sunday!

# of runs: 16
Time spent running: 15:19:49
KMs run: 153.27
Average pace per KM: 0:06:00

Week 16!

I ended up with a bit of a taper week, but no problem!

Sunday:16k at half marathon race pace. We slept at my parents house on Saturday night as Ken and I were at a wedding and I ran home. I actually saw my peeps this time and waves as they drove by beeping the horn at me. 1:28:52

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 6.44k. I was going to run at lunch time, but the day ended up being too busy, so I sucked it up and went to the gym after the kids went to bed. I could have run outside, but it was raining and I didn't want to risk any kind of cold. 39:44 (I'm pretty sure I ran this faster, but this is what I put down on Daily Mile, so I'm going with that).

Wednesday: Rest - another busy day at work with a lunch and learn session.

Thursday: 5k. Gym run again. I was on my way back to the office after an early morning meeting and passing the gym, so I took the opportunity to go for a quick run. 29:40

Friday: 6.44k. I had to go into work on this day, so I hit the treadmill at lunch. 37:37

Total KM: 33.88, Total time: 3:15:53, Average pace per KM: 0:05:47

Monday, October 24, 2011

Hamilton Half Marathon Goal


I'm not writing an official goal post yet, but I'll let you do some math and figure it out based on my point to point run home yesterday (from my parents house).

Week 15!

It was a cut back week because I ran my LSD on Friday instead of Sunday. I had planned to try to make it up, but that didn't work out so well. Instead of beating myself up, I just ran everything at race pace.

Sunday: Rest

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7.24k. Treadmill Tuesday! I hit the gym at lunch and ran hard for as long as I could. 42:17

Wednesday: 6.44k. Not as much time at the gym today, so I blasted this out a bit faster. 37:16

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 8.5k. A quick AM run. Working from home has made this possible as I don't have to leave my house by 06:25. 47:07

Saturday: Rest (we had a wedding).

And so... that's it! I ran all of these runs quickly and increased my confidence for the half marathon race, but I didn't run lots. Oh well. Sometimes life happens and that's okay.

Total KM: 22.18, Total time: 2:06:40, Average pace per KM: 0:05:43

Thursday, October 20, 2011

2012

2012!

Too early?

Maybe it is too early to write this post, but I have 2012 race news and I want to share it with everyone!

Let’s back up a bit, shall we?

When I started running in late 2008, I never thought that I would become a runner. I thought that I’d run a few miles on the treadmill at the gym or in my basement and get into shape and that would be that.

Then, my friend enticed me to race my first 5k and I was hooked!

Hooked on running, hooked on racing.

That was May 2009.

I ran a few more races in 2009, but never got into a consistent running schedule. By October of that year, I had run my first 10k race at the zoo and had decided to run a half marathon and soon.

In November 2009, I got pregnant (and ended up puking every time I tried to run).

By August 2010 Fergus joined our family via C-Section and I waited to heal and get back on the horse treadmill.

Finally I did. It was October 2010 and I was determined to race the Mississauga half marathon in May 2011. I joined the running room program. I ran the race.

I spent the rest of this summer working on speed and racing to PBs in 5k (26:50) and 10k (57:15) races. On November 6th, 2011, I’ll PB at the Hamilton half marathon (yep, I’m calling it here).

And I became a runner.

And a racer.

And racers, race.

Two nights ago, I put my money where my mouth is and signed up for the following:

Robbie Burns 8k
Chilly Half Marathon
Around the Bay 30k

Mississauga FULL Marathon
(and the relevant Running Room clinic)

This will take my 2012 season to May. Stay tuned for plans for the second half of the year.

A year that will continue to see me evolve as a true runner, something I never thought I’d become.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Week 14!

As the end gets closer and closer and November 6th gets closer and closer, I keep challenging myself to come up with a good reason not to attempt a crazy time at Hamilton. This week included a test of sorts.

Sunday: 22k. LONGEST RUN EVER! And I did this Thanksgiving bad boy solo. This was a great run - it was cool enough to be comfortable, but not too cold so that I needed gloves or a coat. It was a great morning and as I watched the sun rise over a farmers field, back lighting the lone trees I realized that I had so many things to be thankful for on this day, least of which was the ability to run 22k straight into the arms of my wonderful family. Happy Thanksgiving indeed. 2:19:35

Monday: Rest. Duh.

Tuesday: 6.44k. Treadmill run. I just put the speed up and ran for 4 miles. 40:05

Wednesday: 5k.Oh how I didn't want to go and run. I had all kinds or excuses ready, like the fact that my new shoes haven't come in yet. Or - I was wearing tights which suck to put back on just after a shower. But in the end I knew Jamie would be waiting for me and I sucked it up and ran fast just to get it in. 30:40

Friday: 18k. Telecommuting has its advantages, one of which is the ability to get an early morning, weekday long run in. I had to do this as we were away all weekend. I decided not to look at the pace at all and just run by feel. I was rewarded. 1:44:50

Saturday: Rest. And 50th wedding anniversary of my parents-in-law. With these two "smashers"


Another awesome (and confidence building) week!

Total KM: 51.44k. Total Time: 5:15:10. Average pace per KM: 0:06:08.
Congrats to everyone who ran at Scotia today!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Week 13!

Sunday: AMAZING solo 20k! Longest solo run ever and I did the last 14k at race pace, averaging 5:57/km despite a walk break at 10k for my one and only GU. This was a HARD run as at times the wind was gusting upwards of 35km/hr and it was the first real cold morning of the year. I had a very hard time around 17k and ended up cursing at myself (in my head) to keep running. Funny, when I motivate others its all, “You can do it! You’re amazing! Tall and smiling” When I motivate myself, I’m all, “F&$k YOU! Keep RUNNING and SUCK IT UP. DON’T even THINK about slowing down or quitting!!!” HA! 2:02:22

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Treadmill Tuesday! 6.44k at the gym in 40:00

Wednesday: Treadmill redux! 5k, 31:00

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Work remote day so I got out at lunch for 9.33k. My legs did NOT want to go, but the weather was beautiful and I kept the pace slow and easy. 59:00

Saturday: I realized that I hadn’t done short speedwork this week so I ran 5k with 1k warm up, 3k at descending tempo (5 seconds faster each k) and 1k cool down: 29:00

Total KM: 45.77, Total Time: 4:41:22, Average pace per KM: 0:06:09

Monday, October 3, 2011

Week 12

I've hit the training cycle blahs and am doing my best to continue to get out there for all of my runs and stick to my plan...

Sunday: Rest. I totally used the Zoo Race as an excuse - I could have run.

And so I felt guilty and so -

Monday: 16k - LSD after work. I got home at 6pm, dropped the baby off and headed out for the run. It was not very pleasant. Despite eating an apple and a Clif bar on the GO Train on the way home, I was starving by like 7k and the GU Chomps did nothing to help with this. When I got home, I ate my pasta dinner and drank loads of water, but ended up with major stomach issues. I drank some gatorade and ended up crawling up to bed. 1:40:50

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: 11.44k - Intervals with the clinic again. We did 5 repeats on this night and I ended up running with a girl who was aiming for a 5:15 pace. Because my watch has a light, I ended up being the time keeper/pace bunny and cheerleader as I ensured she didn't wimp out on the last repeat. Splits were 5:13-5:18-5:12-5:14-5:14. Cheers included: "You can do ANYTHING for four minutes." This was a great run - lots of fun. 1:11:05

Thursday: 5k - Hit the gym for a treadmill run during lunch. Part of the No Excuses mantra. I was bored so increased the pace each mile, despite the hard work the night before. 32:25

Friday: 5.32k - I had the day off of work and was planning to run as soon as I dropped my oldest off at school, but a 4am wake up by Fergus saw me come home and have a nap instead. Then I met a friend for lunch and met my husband at the dealership to buy a new-to-us truck:


Then I had to shop as we were having people over for supper both Saturday and Sunday nights. By the time I got home, I had enough time to get just a quick run in before I had to pick my son up from the after-school program. 32:15

Saturday: Rest - I PLANNED to run, but there was just too much family and prep stuff to do and as I've mentioned, I've hit the BLAHS this week with running.

Total KM: 36.76 Time spent running: 3:53:35 Average pace per KM: 0:06:26

Saturday, October 1, 2011

September!

September was a phenomenal month for me! I returned to work on September 6th and managed to keep up with my training plan and hit two personal best times in races.

On September 10th, I PB'd at the Energizer 5K Night Race with a time of 26:50.


I'm not in this photo


Two weeks later on September 24th, I PB'd at the Oasis Zoo 10K race with a time of 57:15.



My longest run was 20k which I ran with two lovely ladies around Milton. I kept up with the Running Room group and joined them on interval training. I have no doubt that this harder training has helped me to hit my time goals in the shorter races. McMillan is telling me that I can run a half marathon somewhere between 2:04 and 2:07 and I'm going to give a MRP run a try tomorrow during my long run. I have one month left before the Hamilton half and I'm going to use it to my advantage, training hard with quality runs.

September brought two more non-speed milestones for me: I hit 1,000km run on the year and I had my highest mileage month ever. Not bad considering I was worried what going back to work would do to my schedule!

# of runs 20
Time spend running: 18:52:02
KMs run: 181.03
Average pace per KM: 0:06:15