Mississauga Marathon Training Week 9!

Well, it was a super packed week as I wanted to get two days of rest before the Chilly Half Marathon, but it sure payed off in the end!

Monday: I looked at my monthly totals and noticed I was at 170km. I decided that I could get 30k in before the end of the month on Thursday and so I forewent a rest day and ran an easy 5k on the treadmill during lunch hour. 5k, 31:14

Tuesday: Fergus was home sick again (he's on the mend, finally) but once my husband got home, I got out for the planned THURSDAY run of 10k as Ken had errands on Thursday. It was windy. CRAZY windy and I may have cursed the wind numerous times during the run. The wind did make it interesting though as I ran from our new house and kept turning and weaving to avoid it. 10.01k, 57:49

Wednesday: It slush-snowed all day on Wednesday. I was texting with Steph in the afternoon to see if she was still keen on hitting the hills as she was the only one I could count on that night (our leader was on vacation, Wayne was away on business and other members only come sporadically on Wednesday's). She basically guilted me into going to the hills:

Yes, it is true, I showed up around 18:20 and I was super worried that Steph wasn't going to show when 18:30 hit. She pulled up just as I hit send on that message. We took it very slow and really enjoyed the super mild weather (but not the wet feet). 6 hills, 9k, 1:04:32

Thursday: I missed clinic night as Ken was supposed to go do some construction on our old place (part of the sales agreement). His contractor friend fell through, but I still got my lunch hour treadmill run in to hit 200km for the month of February! 6k, 36:06

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Chilly Half Marathon. Oh, nothing. Just a 5min16sec PB! Report to follow! 21.19k, 1:51:54 (chip).

Total KM: 51.2, Total Time: 5:01:35 Average pace per KM: 0:05:53

I'm really happy with the way things are going. My goals for March are to ensure that I actually track my diet and lose some of that weight I gained in the off season. I've got 10lbs (still!) to go to get down to race weight and putting down the wine and chips is the only way I'll do so.

February Recap!

February brought its own challenges in terms of the weather (snow! ice! slush! snow!) and moving into our new home, but I continued to make time for running, even if it meant waking up at 0455 on a Tuesday morning to get a tempo run in before work. I'm well on my way in terms of marathon training and some realistic goals are starting to form in my mind.

# of runs: 19

Longest Run: 26k LSD run completed with the lovely Wayne from our Marathon clinic. It windy, but a perfect day otherwise (for the February we were having) and it was a personal distance record for Wayne. I'm starting to LOVE my red delicious apples post run again.

Races: None!

Highlight run of the Month: Running the Around the Bay hills with Ali from Running with Spatulas. Unfortunately it was her worst run to date but it was nice to see her again and I got to run with Ali's husband Colin as he experienced the infamous Around the Bay hills for the first time and got a personal distance record for the day. And we looked great at the start!

Total KM: 200.48, I ran for six days in a row to get to the 200km milestone! That's a run streak for me.

Total time spent running: 20h21m39s

Average pace per KM: 0:06:06 - with all of the long runs in this month (four were 19k plus!), it makes sense that my average pace will drop a little.

March started with an amazing race at the Chilly Half Marathon which I detail as soon as the photos are ready.

Chillly Half Marathon Race Goals!

Yes, it is that time once again! The first Spring race of 2013 is here and I'm ready to run it and (finally) go get the PB that I've been trying to get for two half marathon races now.

While old man Winter may try to wreak havoc on my plans, I'm still going to go out there and go for it. After all, last year I had a most amazing race which brought me the PB that I still hold to this day.

So, without further ado:

A+: Sub 1:55:00

A: 1:55:00

B: Sub 1:57:10 (my current PB)

C: Sub 2hrs

D: Not to crap my pants, literally

My plan is to go out with the 1:55:00 pacer and stick with them for at least the first 10k (There will be a 1:55:00 pacer, right?!?!), after 10k I will see how I'm feeling and let it rip if I'm feeling good or hang on for dear life if I'm not.

Bib is 1858

See you on the other side!