Ottawa Marathon Training: Week 4!

Oh week 4! A beautiful rest week with a small cutback in distance and an actual cutback in tempo! It was also a short week as we had a holiday on Monday (Family Day), so it was win, win, win all around!

Monday: 45 minute spin in my basement at the glorious time of 10am! I love statutory holidays! Then, I did AllTheLaundry and baked bread. Beauty!

Tuesday: Treadmill Tempo, but a cut back. I actual wrote to Phaedra in the training log, "OMG, I love you!" The total was supposed to be 9k, but the gym didn't open until 530a, so I cut it short to 8k. I did the 5k in the middle at about 5:03/km and it felt great!

Wednesday: Easy running - 5k in 28:50. I wanted to add in ab work but the gym is replacing the carpet and there was no space to do them in the regular "stretching" area.

Thursday: Return of the hills! It was my first time running hills on the treadmill as I couldn't make it out to Thomas Street that night. This ended up being for the best as it was stupid cold by the end of the day. I ran 3 hills at 6% incline for 3 minutes each. Normally, I'm running on the treadmill around 6.5 miles per hour, but I had to reduce the speed to 6.0mph for the hills. I didn't mind being on the treadmill for hills, but I can't wait to get back to Thomas Street (yes, I've clearly gone mad)

 Friday: Rest day. Okay then! And my new toy came:

Saturday: I was supposed to run 20k with a local friend who I met on DailyMile, however I woke up with a stomach ache that didn't resolve so I called off my run with Phaedra's blessing. I started to feel a bit better and I had to go and grocery shop anyway, so I decided to hit the gym above the grocery store for an easy spin on the upright bike. I ended up riding 16k in 34 minutes and kept my heart rate under 140 beats per minute. I was happy that my stomach stayed okay throughout.

Sunday: When I cut on my run early Saturday morning, I quickly reached out to Emma who I knew was planning a 30k run for Sunday morning. She was willing to take me out for about 22k of her run and we agreed to meet up at La Salle Park as long as she didn't make me run the "butch" hill up to the park (what my phone corrected bitch to). The weather was chilly, but we were both dressed well and Emma planned a fantastic route that took us onto the multi use trail in Hamilton to avoid the cars and take advantage of clear-ish paths. Emma was supposed to target a 5:50/km pace and I'm thrilled we ended the 22k almost bang on at 2:05 and 5:48/km pace. Did I mention it was cold?

Thanks for the photo, Emma!

In other news, my son's rep hockey team won their first semi-final game against a tough team and not only did he score a goal, he won the "hard hat" for defensive player of the game

Finally, my Wishes for Olivia campaign continued its positive momentum and has reached $1,245.58 raised!!! That's almost 50% of my goal! If you haven't had a chance, click on the link and please, donate if you can!

Total KM Run: 42.6k, Total time on the run: 4:04:40 (neat!), Average pace per KM: 5:45

Total KM Cycled: 16k+, Total time on the bike: 1:19:04

I hope your week was just as good!

Next Sunday brings my first race of the season, and Phaedra's got a race plan that I'm ready to tackle. I'll swing back sometime this week to lay it all out. I hope you do too.

Ottawa Marathon Training, Week 3!

Ah, week three of the plan. A lot of distance and some hard pace work! The goals were high as was my spirit. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.

Monday: Nothing. I was supposed to cross train, however I got home late and then we watched another hockey kid until about 830. There was no way I was hopping on the bike after that, especially when the next day called for an early wake up and tempo session.

Tuesday: 7k at tempo pace! Whew! As I wrote earlier, I decided to take the pace up by 12 seconds a mile and that made all the difference to my mental attitude going into this run. I got the 10k done in 53:14.

Wednesday: I had all intentions of running my 6k recovery during lunch or after work, however I was involved in a new business meeting at work and couldn't get away. Then my Go Train got cancelled. That's right: cancelled. There was a switch problem. I didn't end up getting home until about 8pm.

Thursday: This became my 6k recovery. I ran easy on the treadmill before work. I was early enough that I got to watch the last 10 minutes of the Raptor's game from the night before (we won). 6k, 34:43

Friday: This was supposed to be a rest day and I should have taken it. But I wanted to get the distance in, especially as it was such a short one. 5k on the treadmill with the noon news. 28:24

Saturday: Coach PK had me scheduled for 22k, with the last 8k as a fast finish. I was supposed to target Half Marathon pace, but I haven't raced one since fall 2013, so I suggested that I'd attempt a progression down. PK was fine with that, but stated, "Eventually, I'll want you to hit 5:00-5:05/km on these." Fine, fine. I met up with Emma and Sam just off of Northshore and we took off toward Hamilton. The idea was that we'd run an out and back, with Emma cutting loose after 11k to go shorter/slower. Fine, if she wants to miss donuts, that's her own decision.

From the start, this run was a shit show. I was over dressed (of course), and we stopped 2k in so I could strip off my wind coat. I decided to run with my hydration belt, which I hadn't worn in ages and it felt heavy and awkward. And my legs. WERE DEAD. I guess the rest day before the long run is there for a reason. Still, we set a pretty good pace and the company was awesome as usual. When we got to the top of Northshore and hit Plains Road, the footing became a bit of a mess with snow and slush and that aggravated my tired calves and wonky Achilles. UGG. Stupid winter. Emma slowed down as we turned around at 11 and Sam and I hit the bathrooms at the Royal Botanical Gardens around 14k. We got back on the road and started the pace work: 5:06, good, 5:05, okay, let's hold it. Whee! Downhill! 5:00. Sam, "Did you take your puffer? Your breathing sounds horrible." Ugg. It did. This wasn't to be my day. After walking a bit in the 4th KM (5:58), we still kept the pace up (down?!) and finished as strong as possible 5:35, 5:23, 5:26, 5:16 before stuffing our faces with the donuts as you see above. Lesson learned? Take the puffer, wear less and no belt. And take the rest day. 22k, 2:03:15

Sunday: I had the option of rest of 5k recovery. I wanted to do some of the strength training that Patty had showed me the week before, so off I went to the gym and ran a 2 mile warm up (18:43), threw down four sets of exercises Patty had shown me in about 25 minutes and then did a 1.1 mile cool down (10:15). I felt good and it was a nice way to round out the week. My calves didn't even feel that bad while running, but I have a massage on Tuesday and I can't wait for it!

So, it was another successful week in training, even if I failed epically at the first test long run. I'm sure that there will be more to come and I'm positive I'll be able to nail them soon.

Total time spent with this crazy thing called marathon training: 4hr54min. Total workouts: 7 (when you count my split Sunday run).


In other news, I put the word out to colleges and friends for my Wishes for Olivia campaign and I've raised $1,095.58 so far! I'm humbled and grateful for the support. Over 1/3 of the way to my goal! I'd be grateful for your support as well!

Have a good week! Its going to be the coldest week all year here, so I suspect there will be many treadmill miles logged in week four!

MInd over Matter

Phaedra started in week one.

She started with 5k.

She gave me a wide range.

Ever week thereafter, the distance has increased.

Just by 1k, but increased nonetheless.

And I began to doubt myself, my ability with those increasing distances. Despite the fact that I had held the pace before over 21k.

But my mind... it doubted.

Tempo is a great tool for the runner. Described as a run that should be "comfortably hard," the runner should be running at 85-90% of maximum heart rate and should be unable to carry on a conversation, but should be able to grunt out one word answers to simple questions.

And I know that tempo works. In 2013, I had my most successful running and racing season to date and that entire season was built on a solid foundation of consistant and increasingly faster tempo runs.

But I had never really run more than 4-5k at tempo pace.

Until last week.

I held down 6k at 4:58/km and it was hard. Difficult. I don't know if it was the time of day, the treadmill, the day of week. But I can tell you that my mind played a huge roll in the poor performance.

This past Tuesday, I had 7k of tempo on tap. About 35 minutes. The most ever. And in order to take back control, I decided to take the heat off a bit.

I increased my pace to 5:06/km and I was still running comfortably hard. I probably had a bit of a lower heart rate and likely could have strung together a thrilling five word sentence in response to a simple question.

But most importantly, I had given myself the confidence in being able to finish the entire tempo section of the run without giving up part way through for no reason other than my mind started telling me how hard the running was.

I turned my mind around and put it over the matter of the run.

And I won the tempo game.

The mental training is just as important to marathon day.


But still, I hope to God Phaedra doesn't have 8k up her sleeve next week.

Ottawa Marathon Training: Week Two!

Week two brought more of the same again, again! I moved things around again due to logistics of life, but still managed to get my entire set of workouts in.

Monday: Snow Day! We got dumped on with snow Sunday night-Monday morning and I woke up to a text from my teacher friend exclaiming: SNOW DAY!!!! Sure enough, all schools were closed and there was no way I was getting out of my street. I had to work from home, but I took advantage of being at home by doing my spin around lunch time. The spin bike is so quiet that I took a client call during my 5 minute warm up! Love it!  45 mins. After dinner, I did 3x12 military pushups and attempted a plank with Fergus on my back. That didn't work. HA!

Tuesday: I didn't manage to haul myself out of bed in the AM, so instead I took all of my stuff with me and hit the gym above the superstore right after work. This women's only gym is so close to the Go Train parking lot that I was able to simply trade bags and walk over. The plan was 2k warm up, 6k at tempo and 1k cool down. I had a bad mindset the entire day and the run and while I did get through the run, I did have to take some breaks, including taking a colleague call! HAHA. Its so frustrating to have my mind get in the way of these tempo runs! I know I can do them, but I don't know why I stall out so badly when I'm alone. What I wouldn't give to be able to hook up with Sam or Chris or Wayne on these. 9k, 6 at 4:58/km, total time: 47:33

These pants tho

Wednesday: Skipped. I don't remember why, but suffice to say I couldn't fit the run in. Life got in the way.

Thursday: 5k on the treadmill in the same gym after work. Thankfully my husband was okay with me getting home a bit late and missing dinner with the family. Let me tell you, if you're going to train for a marathon, you need some really good support for sure. 5k easy, 28:36

Friday: Got up all ready to run outside... but it was snowing and blowing and -21c with the windchill. So, off I went anyway on the first train out of Milton (0623), only to land at the women's only gym near my work to finish off 6k with abs on the side. Easy again. 34:35.

Saturday: Long run morning! We were all under the impression that Fergus had hockey at the lovely and late hour of 0800, so I got up at 0500 and was on the road for 20k by 0523 fueled by 1 piece of toast with peanut butter. I stuck to the road, running with a head lamp, safety vest and arm lights. I was safe the entire time, but did have one asshole driver HIBEAM me even though he had an entire lane beside him. I mean, if I could run on the side walks, I would people! The snow started around 7k and it made the last 7k especially hard as it began to stick to the roads, but I was able to finish the run and in a fairly good pace as well. I got home perfectly just before 0730 and Ken and Fergus took off... only to return home 15 minutes later. Hockey was on Sunday this week. I look forward to the Valentine's run with the skirt brigade next Saturday thought. 20k, 1:53:37

Sunday: This was 5k recovery and I've been doing arms as well. Patty, who is a certified personal trainer, was kind enough to write a strength program for me geared at upper body, back and abs and she got herself a Goodlife guest pass and joined me to bring me through the paces. Sandwiched between the session were two mini treadmill runs to total 5k. The routine was a good one and she's guaranteed that I can likely get in 5-6 of the exercises in the 20 minutes I'd like to spend on this stuff. I'll tell you one thing, I'm sore today! HAHA. Then, Fergus and I shoveled out our driveway of the new and old snow for about 90 minutes. A great way to spend a Sunday!

The other exiting thing that happened this week is that part of my marathon outfit came:

As you know, I am once again raising money for Make-A-Wish Canada via Wishes for Olivia. You can learn more about why I'm raising money, what sequins has to do with it and you can also DONATE HERE. Please consider giving a small donation to support the efforts and help make wishes come true for very deserving kids. The only thing missing from this excellent week was a donation!

Week two is in the books. 10 workouts, 7h13min, 45k, one sparkle visor. It was a good one. Hope yours was as well.

Fall Training Update - weeks 2 & 3

Last I posted, I told you all about my fall plan and the fact that I've decided to add cycling into the training regime this time around.

The cycling has been going really well!

I quickly went from a 25k personal cycling distance record to a 45k record in the next week when I joined Irina and her husband and a bunch of other people for a group cycle from Burlington to Stoney Creek and back again.

Spot the mum bike. Photo from Irina

Sam's to my right and Emma is gazing into the distance. That's also Patty's bike in the front (we battled down for best mum bike around!). Patty was the first to turn back after about 12k as she was just learning how to bike and after that I was the slowest, but it didn't matter, Sam, Emma, Irina, Zindine and Kimberly all stayed back with me while I puffed away trying to maintain 20 km/h on the old mum bike. It took my 2hr20min to get through the 45k, but it was a great ride and I can't wait to join the big group again.

I also managed to fit in a real brick with 12k on the bike and 1.5k run right after. WOW. Do the legs ever move off of the bike. My fears about running in the diaper shorts were unfounded, but they DO heat up the ass some!

This past Saturday, I got skinny tires or slicks put onto the bike. I promptly set out to bike 50k on Sunday morning at 0630. WOW! What a difference those tires make. Plus, I finally put my chain and the big ring and plowed away. My top speed (downhill obvs) was 59.9km/h! I can't believe it! I even clocked along at 30km/h on my own power (but um, with a backwind!). In the end, I finished the long solo ride in 2h19m so you can see the improvement the gear has given me.

Boom! Bike Record!

On the running front, things haven't been as good. I've hit my runs with 24k this past Saturday (alone and with at 0530 start), but I haven't felt strong. I've talked myself out of tempo runs and feel like I can't even maintain a sub 6:00/km pace anymore (which isn't good considering I'm the 3hr continuous pacer at the MidSummer Night's Run in August). I've decided to force my mind through the blahs though and just HIT the tempo or try my hardest to do so. I have a lot of time before the Oakville Half Marathon which is now 100% my "A" race as I got the good news today that I will be the 1hr55m continuous pacer at the Niagara Falls Half Marathon in the fall. Let's hope I have another great pacer experience when running by the falls!

Happy with my longest solo run done before many are awake on a Saturday!

So, week one saw me hit 83km in total. Week 2: 100.35km. Week 3: 109.11km.

And sleep. Lots of sleep!

This is a cutback week for cycling and next week is a full on off week as we are on vacation camping. I'm sure I'll still cycle and run while we are away, but the distances will be short and the workouts easy.

And sometimes it gets so good....

I have often equated running to golf.

I haven't played a lot of golf and I don't play well, but when I do, I usually end up having that one shot that is so spectacular that it ensures I'll be out again when asked

The same goes for running.

Not every run is great:

Some really suck!
  
But this past week, I was able to kick through three awesome runs which allowed me to build up my confidence and set my mind once again to the goal for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon.

The first was a 5am Wednesday treadmill run at my gym. I decided to go old school, or running room style and run 10 minutes warm up, 20 minutes tempo and the rest easy. I struggled just a bit with the 20 minutes of tempo at 4:46/km pace (7:41/mi) but after about 4 minutes at easy pace, and just reaching 4 out of the 5 total miles I wanted to run that day (8km total), I couldn't take the easy any longer so I kicked another half mile at tempo pace. I felt strong and proud!

The next day was supposed to be a rest day with my run on Friday AM, however I had planned an early coffee date with my former colleague instead so I decided to go for a rare evening run. This was really nice as I got to see the route I normally run in complete darkness. I was having a really pleasant run, just easing along but decided to try to kick out the 9th and final KM as fast as possible. I was rewarded with a 4:22 KM (7:03/mi). I felt amazing!

Finally, on Saturday, Sam and I got together for our long run which was supposed to be 20km with 10k at half race pace (for the target half - STWM as mentioned above). We decided to run the Milton Half Marathon route again and did 3km warm up, 10km at half race pace (aiming for 5:04/km or 8:10/mi) at the slowest and the rest easy. It was difficult to continue to keep up the pace and I would likely have split the 10k if I had been on my own, but with Sam there, I persevered and managed to run the 10k in 51:03 total. Not bad at all and a true confidence booster for this coming weekend when I'll run the Milton Half Marathon and for October 20, which is the A-goal race.

GUILTY!!!

Amazing Wednesday Tempo!

Now that I'm back at work, I've decided that the best way to keep up with my running schedule is to use the no excuses mantra that has seemed to work for me during all other busy times.

With this in mind, I took off for a 7k tempo based run on Wednesday night after the baby had gone to bed. I decided that I'd run 2k easy, 4k at tempo pace and then the last 1k easy. It was a cool night so I wore my long-sleeved Warrior Dash shirt for the first time and was glad to have made the decision to do so (I started the run around 7:45pm).

The first 2k ticked by very easy and a bit fast and I decided that I could probably up my tempo time to a 5:40 pace (per KM) based on the interval training I had been doing. I hadn't run a true tempo run in over six weeks and I had previously been doing them at a 5:45 pace. When I started to run, I ran fast. I first looked at my watch and saw a pace of 4:xx and reeled it in. But I couldn't reel it in too much. It just felt too slow. I quickly made a decision to go with it and ended up running a 5:17 first KM of tempo.

Having that in mind, I decided I'd try to hit 5:20s for the next three k. This is faster then the pace I want to run Saturday's 5k in and I realized that it would be a great test of my ability to achieve the results I want at Sunnybrook Park.

5:17
5:27
5:22
5:18

Average pace per KM: 5:21

I was pumped! In all, the 7.23k I ran had an average pace of 5:45 per km and I'm confidant that I'm going to achieve my goal tomorrow night (which I'll share with you in the next post).

Man, this no excuses thing really helps doesn't it?

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!

Increase in Tempo pace... in the rain!

Average pace over 4k: 5:48/km

I felt great!

Total: 6k, 35:29, average pace: 5:57/km

Tempo

Nicole, I think you're running too slow. You shouldn't be laughing and teasing me. Tomorrow, run with the 6km/min group.

And so I did.

And so I experienced a real tempo run.

But let's back up a bit, shall we?

Tuesday night yielded the first night I got out with my Running Room group to run Tempo. It was a deceiving night, weather wise. We thought it was going to be nice and warm and it seemed that way, until we got out there and felt the wind blow. No matter, after 10 minutes of easy running we were warmed up enough to tackle the 6:14/min KMs assigned to us.

Running tempo with the group was great! I loved the warnings as we approached the end of the 10 minute warm up. I loved that everyone fell silent and just RAN as hard as they were supposed to. I loved just RUNNING without worrying about running too quickly as all I had to do was follow the leader.

We completed the first 10 minutes of tempo run and slowed down for the two minute rest. I felt great! When it was time to kick it up again, my leader told me to follow someone else; her knees were bothering her. So I did and ran with the same freedom as before. It was near the end that Bing came back to us and asked how we were all doing. When a few of us answered easily and joked with him, he quickly told us that we'd be moving up a pace group the next night. He was so serious! But it was fine.

So last night, I was determined to keep up with the new group, but to not KILL myself in the process. I'm happy to report that I was able to do it. In fact, we averaged 5:57/km (perhaps the crazy wind helped us when we were not heading into it). This was the nine out of ten effort that Bing spoke of. I still enjoyed the run for the fact that I DID IT, but it was hard. There was effort. Effort that will be rewarded on May 15.

Next week: Hills!

Vacation and Tempo Run

So.

I've been away with my family since Saturday morning (and when I say morning, I mean 4:30 AM). We spent some time at the resort of Mont Tremblant thanks to some friends who have access to a family condo there and we had a wonderful time (side note, four kids 4 and under are a LOT to manage!). While I had all kinds of notions of running while staying at Tremblant (especially as I was not going to ski), I didn't get out once. I'm sure everyone will agree that family time trumps running, even when you are training for a big race.

On a positive note, we stopped in Kanata for the night at my husband's sister's place so I was able to get out for the Sunday LSD run with the Kanata Running Room. While their half marathon group was only going 7k (I should have ran 9k), they had already broken up into pace groups, so I just had to follow my appropriate pace leader, which was easy to do as he had a NYC Marathon jacket on. We did 7k in about 51 minutes and this group employed the 10 and 1 training method that the Running Room favours.

I didn't like it. Not at all. I felt that as soon as I got into a good grove, we were walking. No matter, my usual group does not use this method (shh, don't tell John Stanton), so I'll be back to the normal way of running that I'm comfortable with this Sunday.

Today (Friday), I ignored the "rest" day scheduled in my training (as I had rested from Monday-Thursday) and did my first ever Tempo paced run (my group did two of these this week, Tuesday and Wednesday). I did it at the gym, on the treadmill and call me crazy, but I LOVED it.

I loved increasing the speed and pushing myself and also getting a 5k in rather quickly. I liked the challenge and feel that I could have ran a whee bit faster than I was supposed to, but I'm sticking with what Bing has prescribed for a few weeks to see what I think overall and to see how I feel when I do these runs outside.

In case you're wondering, Bing has me paced to complete the half marathon in 2:26:48 (which is what I calculated using his M-pace of 6:41). My Tempo pace is 6:14 with my easy pace being 7:20 (all per KM). I'll be very happy to finish under 2:30:00, but of course the competitor in me will likely set a more aggressive A goal closer to the date.

In all, the vacation was good, but I'm also glad to be back to training.