Mississauga Marathon Training Week 16!

Training week 16. The start of the taper. I'm in a good place this year, but of course confidence is not 100%. While I want to go out and set an aggressive goal for this, my second marathon, I also want to enjoy it and run (as much as possible) with Wayne. Time ticks away, but this weeks training allowed goals to firm up a bit more.

Monday: Rest. Glued to the news.

Tuesday: 5am run wearing my 2013 Around the Bay shirt, thinking of Boston and the victims. Decided to just run and see if it would get me race pace. 6k, 33:27 (perfect race pace of 5:34/km)

Wednesday: It was meant to be at least 10k with track work, but I spent the day at Toronto Star Blue Jays Fantasy camp!

Photo of photos, but you get the idea. We spent the morning with the coaching staff/ Jays staff (including 1991 world series MVP and former Blue Jay Jack Morris). 

Thursday: I was sore when I woke up. My right arm/shoulder was hurting from throwing so much the day before, but my legs were okay (see note about calves below). We had our normal clinic talk where Chris spoke about preparing for marathon day and got a few of us to share our first marathon stories, then we hit the paths for a nice run (with some heavy rain). Wayne and I ran together with Chris and Manish, but by 6k, Manish and I were not feeling their superior pace (5:10s/km) so we slowed down and finished together. 10k, 54:47

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Because I had missed Wednesday, I decided to run a few more KM to make up some on this day. It was SUPER windy out and my planned loop turning into an out and back instead. 8k, 44:14

Sunday: Wayne and I agreed to meet at 7:30am at the running room to get the cut back distance of 23k in early. My friend and neighbour Bridget joined us as well (she ran the half at Niagara with me and will run the half in Mississauga). I wanted to get a long race pace part in this run and after looking at the route, we decided to do 3k warm up, 10k race pace and 10k easy. This worked out well and we averaged 5:27/km on the race pace part. Confidence grows. I rushed home, showered and then spent the afternoon at the zoo with my fave guys:

Total KM: 47, Total Time: 4:22:40, Average pace per KM: 0:05:35

You guys? I'm a bit worried. Since last Sunday, my right calf has been... tight. Like I have kept it flexed eternally. It doesn't bug when running. I can feel it, but it doesn't cause me pain or alter my gait, it is just tight. I booked a physio massage appointment for tomorrow to get it worked on, so hopefully they can bring some relief. I have been wearing my running shoes at work diligently  I've been foam rolling and lightly massaging as well. I wore my compression socks at the zoo yesterday. I've never had calf problems so I really hope it gets fixed with little trouble. I'll keep you updated.

In other news, 13 days until race day! WooHoo!!!