Ottawa Marathon Week 8!!!

Time is just ticking away and I can honestly say that this week was amazing! I had emailed back and forth with Coach Phaedra at the beginning of the week, saying that I'd have to move my long run to Sunday as my son was still playing in the OMHA finals on the weekend. The Milton Winterhawks were up 2-0 and if they won on Saturday in Alliston, they'd win the entire championship! Then, the team organized a bus to take the team and family members to the game. And Saturday was my birthday (38! Last chance to get to Boston in the under 40 club is this year)! Then, my husband and I decided to invite the entire team back to our place on Saturday night win, lose or draw!

So... I took Friday to work from home and Phaedra moved my week around so that I could run long on Friday.

Which turned out to be a great decision considering this:

The team won in overtime, due to a shot MY SON took while dumping the puck and heading to the bench. I seriously wish I had worn a heart rate monitor during this game because I totally had my heart rate over 200 BMP at times. It was super exciting!

Anyway! On to the week of training.

Monday: I did NOT want to get on my spin bike for the my 45 minutes of cross training, but I did. I felt much better for it after!

Tuesday: This was a recovery week! So I "only" had to run 10k at a moderate pace. The goal was 5:25-5:30 and I was amazed when I hit it even after the first 3k were slow.


Wednesday: Hills! Back to Thomas Street for the first time in a year and I went up and down 7 times. It was awesome! I can't believe how fast I was! My average pace was 5:39/km for the 12.15k

Thursday: Rest day! Don't mind if I do!

Friday: Long run! It was going to be an early one and also a challenging one as it was my first time running such a distance alone (27k), and I was determined to hit the paces Phaedra had prescribed: 5:30-5:35/km

BOOM! 5:33/km on average and I felt good throughout. Confidence grows!

Saturday: Rest day. Birthday. Championship day.

Sunday: My fitbit tells me I slept 6.5hrs. I sure as heck drank a lot on Saturday, but I must have also followed up with a lot of food and water because I woke up absolutely fine. I spent the morning tidying up the house (which was actually pretty darn clean, just FULL of empty bottles, LOL). Then, my champion Alasdair and I went and took care of one of the things he wanted to do the second the hockey season was over:

Finally it was time to run. Man, I was tired and did not want to. But the day was glorious and sunny if a bit windy and cold. Off I went. I played wind roulette and won! And I ended up with a progression 5:46-5:43-5:35-5:32-5:22-5:13. I'm still not quite sure how the heck that happened, but man it feels good!

In total, I ran 55.18km in 5:06:35 with a 45min spin and a 46:30 minute heart rate busting final game. What a truly fantastic week!

This week brings Around The Bay! I can't wait. I love this race. Considering the long runs I've put together in the past three weeks, I'm looking to go in and own the plan Coach Phaedra gave me for this one.

Ottawa Marathon Training Update: Weeks 5, 6, 7!!!

Wow! Its been a while. I'm sorry to have been away so long, but its been a very crazy time at work and with my son's hockey! The additional entry Milton Winterhawks are now 16-0 in Ontario Minor Hockey Association playoffs and are one win away from winning the whole damn thing. Its a super exiting time!

He shoots, he scores!

The plan is going to plan. I've gotten in long runs, I've run hills. I've gotten in cross training and weight lifting. I even got out on the mumbike last Monday!



Let's see. My tempo work has not been the best. I've been super frustrated. First, I just couldn't push through on the treadmill without stopping from time to time to take 15 second breaks to drink or breath or get my mind back together. Then, finally, FINALLY, I was able to get outside last week for a planned 11k run with 9k at tempo (4:55-5:05/km) and it really sucked. The melt was frozen still in a lot of points on the paths, but I was able to get in 6k at tempo pace (instead of 9k). Phaedra has been very kind about my lack of suck-it-uppage and is trying to work out a solution which will do the work that I need while keeping my confidence from sinking into the ground with the melting snow.


Of course, a lot of this confidence problem stemmed from not having the best day at the Chilly Half Marathon. I owe a race report and that's next on my list, but let's just say that I had a cold and after nailing the first half, I was over come with dizziness and the last half was a huge suck. UGG.

Now for the good news! Phaedra has given me pace goals for my past two long runs. The first was a 26.5k effort along the Northshore hills at a goal of 5:40-5:35/km. I was lucky to run with Ivanka again, and  Sam, and Emma as always. Even with the rollers of Northshore, we NAILED the pace at 5:33/km on average. If nothing else, I think Emma can be sure that she's going to SMASH her goals at Around the Bay.

The sign is from a wedding. The bride and groom are fellow hockey parents.

This past Sunday brought my longest run since A Midsummer Night's 30k run and Phaedra dropped the pace again (target: 5:35-5:30/km). Emma needed to run 21k at that pace and Sunday worked better for her so she joined me in Milton and we ran the Milton Half Marathon route together with me running 8k alone first. I'm thrilled to announce that we NAILED this pace at 5:29/km on average, despite some brutal headwind.

In week 5, I ran 47.3k, in week 6 it was 54.5k and last week was 58.1k with 10.3k on the bike.

Things are going generally well. Now its time to start nailing some speed and increasing that confidence.

First up? Let's win that OMHA cup! The next game takes place on my birthday and I honestly can't think of a better present than having my son win the championship!

Hope things have been well for you! Is anyone in the final stretch of training for Around the Bay?! That's my next race and I'm excited for it!

Chilly Half Marathon: The Plan

This Sunday, I will run the Chilly Half Marathon for the fourth year in a row!

This race has great memories for me. It was my third half marathon back in 2012, even though it was "just" a training run on the path to my first marathon. 2012 brought me a PB and so did the 2013 edition. Finally, last year, I battled PF, but still finished with Emma and celebrated as she ran her way to a small PB.

I've always loved this race! How can you not? Its a fast and flat out and back race and when you're finished, the bars open to offer free chili and beer to the racers! Win, Win!

This year, the goals are different. Or, as Phaedra has noted, "this is NOT your A race."

So, she's given me a plan, based solely on time per KM. The plan is to stick to the plan. Sam's game to come along for the ride.

We'll go out and aim to hit 5:08/km as fast as possible (the beginning is always a bit of a cluster nightmare until about 3k) and then the effort should be smooth and easy all the way past the turn at 14k and then at 16k, we're supposed to pick it up and hit 5:05/km for the last five. Hopefully, we'll be feeling good enough to hit a bit faster in the last couple of KM. I've toyed with the idea of suggesting we race up the chute, but I know Sam will beat me, so instead, I'll settle for another (and better) finishing photo:

Road2Hope, 2014

See you on the flip side! If all goes well, the final time should be somewhere under 1:48! Not bad at all!