Post 1/2 - One week

Well, it has been a week since running the Blue Nose Half Marathon and just shy of 3 weeks before running the Johnny Miles Half Marathon. The first week post race had its ups and downs.

On Wednesday, I ran 4 easy miles @ 8:30 min / mile pace just to get my body moving again. It felt pretty good all things considered.

On Friday, I ran a tempo run with a mile @ 8:12 min / mile pace, followed by two miles at 6:52 min / mile, with a mile @ 8:12 min / mile, with another two miles at 6:52 min / mile, finishing with a mile at 8:12. Overall it wasn't a bad run.

Yesterday, I ran a 15 mile long run at 7:39 min / mile pace. For about the first 11 - 12 miles it went pretty well, however, the final 3 miles were pretty tough. I could feel my hamstrings tighten a bit during the run and post run my hamstrings were quite sore - they are today as well. I guess I could be accused of doing too much too soon.

Trying to balance two races of significant distance only one month apart is tough (at least for me) - how much or how little training to do. I think that next year I will refrain from such a schedule. I think people like Frank Shorter and Lasse Viren had it right in training for a limited number of well selected races each year allowing for enough recovery before focusing on the next race. That said, I am going to try and train by feel for the next week or so to ensure my body is completely recovered. As well, I am going to heed my own advice - once finished the Johnny Miles race, I am looking at a 5 K in late July, with perhaps a 10 K in August and finally a marathon in October. The 5 K and 10 K will just be an opportunity to fine tune before the marathon in the Fall with a desire to peak at the marthon.

Race Splits

The above is my splits for the race yesterday. I had a pretty dodgy period in the middle of the race, however, my finish was encouraging.

Blue Nose Race Day

The picture that goes with this post is of myself and my Sister-In-Law, Jennifer, just after the Blue Nose. It should be added that Jenn ran a great race finishing in the top 1/3 of her age group. Way to go Jenn!

My race was kind of a mixed bag. Up until the morning of the race, I was unsure as to whether or not I was going to run or not due to a stomach virus I have been fighting for the past week or so. When I woke up this morning I decided to give it a shot.

When I got to the start line I must admit to being unsure as to what to expect, but figured the best way to go about it was to run to my original plan and make adjustments on how I felt. Things went pretty well until I hit a big hill at about 7.5 miles in - from this point I struggled to contain some nausea and a general lack of bounce in my legs for the next 3 miles. At about 10.5 miles, I decided to risk putting some gator-aid in to my body as I wasn't feeling great. As it turns out, I probably should have done this earlier. My body didn't reject it and I actually began to feel a bit better and was able to pick up the pace again and kick it pretty good from this point in until the end of the race.

So the damage is as follows
Time - 1:31:05
Good for 25th overall and 5th in my age group.

Prior to the race I had been hoping to go under 1:30:00. That said, considering how I felt and the fact that due to injury, I didn't really start training in earnest until about a month ago I'll take it. It is a funny thing about this running thing - I never seem to be completely satisfied. That said, thanks for the email Keith - when things started to go sour, I focused on form - I really think it helped me get through.

One other point of interest. There is a gentleman by the name of George Pothier, who is pretty much running royalty in these parts. Well, George had a run for the ages today. At 70 years of age, George finished the full marathon in 3:13, good enough for 7th overall. He really puts the rest of us to shame and I have the utmost admiration for his ability and dedication. What a performance!!!

2 Days, 12 Hours, 45 minutes

Well the time is ticking down now - unfortunately, I am suffering from a stomach virus that is going through our house. About the last thing on my mind right now is running a 1/2 marathon at speed. I am just hoping my body can recoup by Sunday morning but right now I feel pretty wiped and have not run since Tuesday.

Disaster???

One of the key elements that has been missing in the limited training that I have had for Sunday's 1/2 marathon is the inclusion of interval training - I only had so much time and coming off of injury did not want to stress my leg too much and so opted for tempo runs. I would have preferred to be doing both each week in addition to a long run, but it wasn't meant to be as I didn't want to put too much pressure on the leg.

Anyway, this morning I decided to throw in a 6 x 400m set of intervals at 1:20 pace to get in some quicker stuff just prior to the race. Not such a good idea - on my last lap I felt a twinge in my knee again. Hopefully, it is something minor. I am going to take it easy for the remainder of this week. I will probably just run an easy 3 miles or so on Friday to see how I feel. Hopefully, this is just a minor tweak and nothing major.

Tempo, May 6 - Pacing

Ran a decent tempo run this morning - 2 sensible warm up miles, followed by 4 miles at tempo pace and ending in 2 cool down miles. I must admit to having felt sluggish through the run. I hope some down time over the next 10 days will help me feel energized come race day.

I have also come to realize that like all my races, I am seriously undertrained. That said, this really started out as being a training run due to my injury so I have to try to keep that perspective as difficult as that may be.

For the race, I am considering running the first five miles at about 7:00 / mile, the second five miles at 6:50 / mile and then just trying to see what is left in the tank for the remainder. I am not sure if anyone out there has any experience running 1/2 marathons, but would be curious to hear about any experiences people have had with pacing as I have zero experience to draw from at this distance.

Pre Race Jitters

It is funny how I react in the pre-race period each time I get ready to run. Invariably, I find myself filled with self doubt. Is the pace I am planning on running right? Do I feel a twinge in my leg? Is that a cold I feel coming on? I feel tired, I hope I feel better on race day. And so on. Perhaps this will change once I run a few more races, or is a more permanent condition. No matter.... it is what it is. I had a really iffy week from a training point of view - I felt really tired - as implied in my myriad of complaints above, however, my long run was pretty good - I have included the splits. Anyway, race day will be what race day will be. Not much longer to wait until I find out if my plans were on target or not. Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 7' 22 -0' 13 8.1 +0.2 134 -43 ft 2 7' 39 +0' 04 7.8 -0.1 136 -53 ft 3 7' 17 -0' 18 8.2 +0.3 141 -49 ft 4 7' 21 -0' 14 8.2 +0.2 146 -10 ft 5 7' 24 -0' 11 8.1 +0.2 154 +112 ft 6 7' 26 -0' 09 8.1 +0.2 151 +39 ft 7 7' 43 +0' 08 7.8 -0.1 151 +43 ft 8 10' 16 +2' 41 5.8 -2.1 143 -79 ft 9 7' 14 -0' 21 8.3 +0.4 149 -23 ft 10 7' 06 -0' 29 8.4 +0.5 149 -69 ft 11 7' 36 +0' 01 7.9 -0.0 148 -16 ft 12 8' 11 +0' 36 7.3 -0.6 149 +115 ft 13 8' 27 +0' 52 7.1 -0.8 145 +49 ft 14 7' 58 +0' 23 7.5 -0.4 142 0 ft end 7' 55 +0' 20 7.6 -0.3 144 +6 ft Versus average of 7' 35 min/mile

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