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.

Ottawa Marathon Training: Week One!

Back in the saddle again... er, kinda!

I'm absolutely back in a training plan zone again and I was able to fit (almost) all of my workouts in for the first week of Ottawa Training.

Phaedra was kind enough to give me the first three weeks of my plan over a month ago, so I decided to follow the layout for the first three weeks of the month unofficially. I wanted to get ready to run five days a week again and I wanted to make sure I could hit the first tempo run on the plan. I was glad I did!

Monday: Supposed to be XTrain day, but Ken was out of town, Alasdair had hockey and I didn't get home and to eat until 830pm. Skipped the workout. Started out strong.

Tuesday: Because Ken was away, I mashed around the entire schedule. This was supposed to be tempo day, but instead I did 5k easy on the treadmill, after work.

Wednesday: Lunch run, treadmill again. Just upped the pace every mile to get it over with. 6k in total. I threw down 3x12 military pushups after. I vow to better my upper body strength this season!

Thursday: Work from home day due to Ken still being away and having a parent-teacher interview with Fergus' teachers. This was the tempo run. I was nervous, but Sam, Zindine and Terry (from DM), all gave me good advice/pep talks and I got out there with my watch set to just show the lap pace. That really helped with my mental game and I nailed the 5k at tempo pace (5:00/km).

Friday: Rest day. Don't mind if I do.

Saturday: Long run day. Fergus had hockey at 0745 and Alasdair had an away game in the early afternoon. I had to get up and get the run done by 0730 so that I was home in time to chill with Alasdair while Fergus was at hockey. I "only" had to run 18k, so not too bad but certainly its better to do this with a friend, espeically starting at 0530 in -20c weather. Enter Sam! In true #runnersmakethebestfriends fashion, she hauled her sinus infection self out of bed to join me. It makes sense. After all, we'll be racing together at Ottawa in May. The run felt sluggish for both of us, but we got the 18k done in 1:46, so not a bad little pace at all. I won't repost the photo I put on Instagram because Sam seems to think she looks like death or something.

Sunday: 5k recovery. I know! Recovery days are now a thing?! Anyway, I had to hit up the GoodLife Women's only in Milton with Fergus in the child care as Ken had taken Alasdair to the walk-in clinic with a weird rash. Turns out he had/has Roseola. He's bit too old for it, but he's got it. Getting out of the house was a bit of a gong show and I kept forgetting things and going back to get them. In the end, I forgot earbuds and a regular bra to wear home after my shower. HA. The run was quick and easy and I hit some arms after.  The weights felt good and hard, but I'm going to take Patty up on her offer to help me with an upper body training plan.

So, all in all a great first week! Ken was away Monday-Friday, so I had warned Phaedra that I may not got it all in, but I did (minus the cross train) and I was happy to do so. The marathon is a LONG way away, but I'm hoping the training will fly by!

Total stats: 42.02k run, 2 upper body work outs, 4h24m spent training.

Hope you had a great week as well!

How often do you have to switch up your schedule due to "real life?" What compromises do you make to fit it all in?

Off Season Update

For the first time in three years, I've not started January with a new marathon plan! Instead, I've extended the off-season and don't begin training until January 26th! Phaedra has already sent me the first three weeks of my plan and as a result, I've decided to try to mimic what's going to happen so that I'm ready and able to hit the training ground running (so to speak. HA).

The most important thing I decided to do was return to Tuesday Treadmill Tempo runs! I haven't run a tempo run in ages. Seriously, likely not since September have I had the desire to speed up. In fact, I've been worried where I'd land when I got back into serious training and I've been happy to note, that certain things are coming together nicely.

I've been smart as well! I started slowly with just 2k at tempo pace as seen above. This week, I increased to 3k. Next week brings 4k at 8:00/mi (5:00/km) and that should set me up nicely for the first official week of training for the Ottawa Marathon.

In other proactive news, I went back to the Physio office and had a visit with the massage therapist there. Its funny, most people heard I was going for a massage and were jealous. Little did they know how painful this type of massage actually is. Despite that, I'm committed to going to see Katherine at least once a month to ensure that I can keep my Plantar Fasciitis at bay. We all know that I don't need another season devoted to injury.

This week, I finally, finally hit all of my planned workouts!

Monday I hopped on my home spin bike (boring as it was!) and got a 30 minute ride in with some spurts of hard tension and standing riding. After that, I threw down 3x10 military push-ups in my bedroom. Project Guns is ON!!! For real this time. HA!

Tuesday was the treadmill tempo as described above with 3k at pace, Wednesday I got in an easy 5k (on the treadmill again) before girls night. Thursday was an unplanned rest day just due to having so much to do at work, and with kids (and the fact that I rolled over and reset my alarm for an hour later). That meant that on Friday, I got another 5k easy after work and followed that up with a bunch of upper body weights. I'm not lifting much yet (10lbs, 15lbs), but I don't want to hurt myself so I'm going slow. I finally got out on Saturday morning. I was planning to do my long run, but the weather was -20c and I had a lot going on (hair cut, Alasdair had hockey, some friends coming over for dinner), so I decided to switch up days. This run felt like complete crap, but no matter what, I couldn't slow my legs down and ended up with a 5:30/km pace on average. Switching runs was an easy decision as I knew that Patty had planned to do her long run on Sunday as well.

I met up with her at 7am this morning with a slight hangover and very little clothing (it was 6c!!!) and we ran a lovely (if slippery due to black ice) route of Burlington Trail and Road. What a way to cap off a great week and finally get to 40km again!

Runners Make the Best Friends!

This week, I still hope to get all 8 workouts in, but I may cut the long run distance slightly. It will really depend on how my foot holds up (so far, its okay. I'm a bit sore after long runs, but nothing more). I'm excited to be back into a routine and am really looking forward to the plan and working with Phaedra soon! This means that I shall return to this blog with more regularity!

I hope you've also enjoyed the beginning of the year and any training plan you are (or are not) working on.

Don't forget to click the LINK to donate to my Wishes for Olivia campaign to raise money for Make-A-Wish Canada.