April?

Yesterday we ran 18k for our long slow distance run.

No problem you say because the distance is a joke for you, because it is the middle of April and the weather is getting better in SW Ontario.

Uh, not so much.

We ran through beautiful sunny conditions.

We ran through rain.

Through sleet.

Through snow.

Through 66kph (41mph) winds.

We are not the postal service!

It was a long run and we did take it easy (my average pace was 7:03/km), but it was hard with those conditions.

The run though did mark a few firsts:

The first time I've run more than 16km at once.
The first time I've run in such wind.
The first time I've stopped to relieve my bladder during a run.

All I have to say is thank goodness I'm a camper with no problem squatting outdoors. We were running through an industrial complex with no gas stations or coffee shops nearby, so I ended up using an electrical box and trees for cover. The result of this break was a tempo paced 5th kilometre to catch back up with my running partner.

So my goal in the next few weeks is to figure out hydration as I can't drink lots right before I run otherwise I'll need a washroom about 2k into it.

Less than a month to the half!

Hope all those who ran Boston today got exactly what they wanted out of the race. Well done!

Shock and Awe... I'm doing it wrong

I may have mentioned in the past that my clinic leader, Bing calls his clinic, "Shock and Awe" and while there have been various examples of this over the past weeks, this week really showed me the true meaning behind it.

On Wednesday we did 7 hills.

For the last four, we added about 45 sec - 1 min of VO2 Max training, at the top of the hill.

We are supposed to run the hills at T-pace, of course I always never hit mine, but I do my best. Then, at the end of the hill, we were to keep running at Ipace (45 seconds or so faster than Tpace). Here are my average paces:

Hill 1 (no VO2): 6:47/km
Hill 2 (no VO2): 6:52/km
Hill 3 (no VO2): 7:07/km
Hill 4 (w/ VO2): 7:15/km
Hill 5 (w/ VO2): 7:30/km (and Bing paced me!)
Hill 6 (w/ VO2): 7:41/km
Hill 7 (w/ VO2): 7:32/km (yes, I pushed here)

My Tpace is 6:00/km and thus my Ipace is 5:15/km

Shock and Awe - I'm doin it wrong.

A (Virtual) Half Marathon Weekend!

Back at the beginning of year, The Happy Runner issued her Half Marathon Challenge and I decided to accept it.

My plan was to run it in two parts, over the weekend knowing that my Sunday long run would make up more than half of the KMs.

Here are my results:

Saturday April 2: 5k - 31:42
Sunday April 3: 16.1k - 1:48:12

Total: 21.1k - 2:19:54

I managed to run this "race" about two minutes faster than my current prescribed Marathon Race Pace as I did the 5k around a tempo pace and the 16k was done at varied pace - 15min warm up easy, 6min at tempo with 1min rest x 3, around 42 minutes easy, then 10 min at tempo with 1 min rest x 2, then easy for the rest of the run.

That was a very difficult 16.1k, but I'm glad I decided to do that option (the other options were: Warm up, 70 mins at marathon pace, then easy or just a straight LSD run). I had sore/stiff knees for the rest of the day, but they feel fine now and I'm looking forward to pushing myself more as I train more.

I'm starting to get excited about the race even though it is AGES away and my goal this week is to PUSH during our hill training instead of wimping out after two hills and taking them easy-ish.

Congrats to all of those who ran the Harry's Spring Run Off, those who ran a surprise marathon and of course, The Happy Runner herself, who killed her A goal in her half marathon!

What did you do this weekend?