Sunday, November 3, 2013

Road2Hope Marathon 2013 - 3:51:00

I was right on pace for the first half of the marathon and expected to pick up a few minutes going down the Red Hill Creek Parkway -- but a headwind made it a tough downhill run (and Brian Watson confirmed the same). So I just coasted until Bob Ripley came up behind me and I had a new reason to run -- to get him across the finish in a BQ time of 3:55 or better. We did it!

Here are my splits:

4:46
4:49
4:50
4:51
4:52
4:51
5:00
4:57
4:51
4:55
5:03
5:03
5:01
5:06
5:07
5:04
5:01
5:07
5:06
5:01
5:08 = 21 km at 1:44:29 -- so right on a 3:30 finish time pace, which was the plan.
5:04
4:51 but couldn't pick up the pace going downhill because of the headwind.
5:02
5:03
5:22 After this kilometre, I knew I wouldn't hit my BQ time so I coasted.
5:32
6:20
5:55
7:00 Stopped and got a hug from Jenny.
6:53
5:47
6:16
6:01
5:41 Bob Ripley and I started running together.
6:21
5:51
6:06
6:18
6:19
6:32
6:20
6:11 (pace for 330 m.)

So, it was my fastest post-hamstring injury marathon, beating my run a month earlier in Corning by 11 minutes. But still not close to what I need to do to re-qualify for Boston. We'll see what the Spring holds!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Last Long Run (12 miles) before Road2Hope...

I really, really, didn't want to go out to run today. But once the rain stopped, I figured out a route where the 33 km/h winds would be mostly at my back on the way home and headed out. Looking for 12 miles (19.2 km) at a 8:30/mile (5:20/km) pace. Here are my splits:

5:06
5:12
5:04
5:08
5:09
5:04
5:04
5:02
5:01
5:13
5:04
5:07
5:08
5:06
5:07
5:04
5:04
5:05
4:54
4:47 (pace for 220 m.)

Average pace was 5:05 per km. 1:37:45 for 19.2 km. The temperature was good -- 4 degrees-ish. I wore my orange 2007 Boston Marathon shell, which worked well for the run, but which I didn't really need once I was 6 miles into it.

Anyhow, with the muggy weather, it maybe still wasn't ideal for running. But the cool temperatures were definitely welcome. The long range forecast for Hamilton is a high of 8 degrees, 28% chance of precipitation, and a mixture of sun and cloud. Sounds pretty good -- so I may not have any excuses!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Last (7 mile) Tempo Run before Road2Hope Marathon...

Well, the taper continues. Today, I went out to do a 7 mile (11.3 km) tempo run. Rather than go into Gibbons Park yesterday (Thursday) and run in the rain and HAIL, I (wisely, as it turned out) waited until today. Still, it was tough getting out the door because it was cold and gloomy out.

But, once I was running, I felt pretty good. I had on my bright orange Corning Wineglass Marathon shirt and my black-with-blue shorts, my ear warmers and my Boston Marathon string gloves. It was 7 degrees C. (45 F.) so it was chilly, but certainly not unbearably so.

My goal was to go out at 5:13/km (8:24/mile) and back at 4:40 per km (7:30/mile). Here are my splits:
5:07
5:03
5:08
5:04
5:07
5:14 (pace 650 m.)
4:48
4:41
4:40
4:32
4:36
4:34 (pace for 650 m.)

My average pace on the way back was 4:39 per km (7:31 per mile). I was working hard to get below 4:40 as I seemed to want to settle into a 4:45 pace.

Now, this was up Saintsbury from my office and then turn around and come back. So it wasn't a hilly route, other than the first big hill in the valley after the turn-around.

Average pace was 4:53/km -- my target marathon pace.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Speed Work. 6 x 1 Mile repeats

I did my repeats at Gibbons Park today -- just 13 days until the Road2Hope marathon in Hamilton. Here are my splits:

7:11
7:07
7:06
7:07
7:04
7:05

I was happy with tonight's runs. The weather was cool - around 6 degrees C. I was tired by the end and could probably have done another repeat if I really wanted to -- but I didn't. I was targeting 7:10 per mile at the start so my average of 7:07 per mile is fine. And I was particularly happy that my last two repeats were my fastest.

With my gimpy right leg, I'm not as fast as I was back in the summer -- but I'm definitely improved over September.

May thanks to John Deputter and Marc Labreche for being pace bunnies tonight!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

7 mile tempo run

11 days since the Corning Marathon and Coach John and Coach Brian suggested a 7 mile tempo run. The ideal would be heading out at 8:30's per mile and heading back at 7:30's per mile. Here are my splits:

8:38
8:06
8:01
7:59 (pace, 0.53 miles)
7:24
7:32
7:43
7:34 (pace, 0.58 miles)

Average overall was 7:53 per mile. Average for the 3.58 miles back was 7:34 -- so a bit slower than the 7:30 I was targeting, but not awful.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Speed Work - 5 x 1 mile repeats at Gibbons Park...

My hamstring is feeling a lot better than a couple of weeks ago, but I'm still not as strong in my right leg as I am in my left. Still just 9 days since the Corning Wineglass Marathon so John Ferguson said to just do 5 miles of repeats, and Brian said 6 -- but then went back to "See how you feel about doing 6 after you've done 5". I am playing hockey tonight, so I just kept it to 5 repeats. I ran a bunch of them with John DePutter, who is running well. Here are my splits:

7:13
7:16
7:10
7:05
7:16

For that last one, we were trying to slow it down a bit to 7:20 -- but couldn't do it. :-)

Average time was 7:12 and I was aiming for 7:15 per mile, so I'm happy with how it went.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Lousy tempo 7 mile run

I went out for a simple 7 mile tempo run. 3.5 miles out at 8:30s and then trying for 7:30s back. At two miles back, I had to take a break. I made it back, but here are my splits:

8:30
8:25
8:24
8:25 (pace 1/2 mile)
7:31
7:30
7:38
7:38 (pace 1/2 mile)

The average pace was 8:00 per mile -- which is what I was targeting. But it was tough getting that last 1.5 miles in. The muscles simply didn't have the strength.

1.5 weeks for my leg to repair for the marathon.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

9 x 1 mile repeats...

This is the toughest workout of the session. But with my damaged right hamstring, I knew I wouldn't be able to make the 7:00 miles I would have normally targeted. Here are my splits:

7:22
7:21
7:18
7:19
7:20
7:22
7:30
7:38
7:48

Average time was 7:26 -- which considering I went out hoping for 7:30s is pretty good.

The weird part is that while my legs were sore and I couldn't keep my times under 7:30, my breathing was excellent. I was still able to cheer others on and I didn't have my head between my legs after I crossed the finish.

I'll take it.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

16.6 mile long run - Not bad, considering...

Today was long run day. It was cool -- 10 degrees C., which is as good as it gets this time of year. But my hamstring was still very tight the whole run. A bit of pain still on the landing, and you could hear my right foot shuffling a bit -- almost holding me back -- on every stride. But I did it, so I can't say that I'm disappointed. Still two weeks to recuperate before the big day.

No question that I'll be able to do the marathon and no question that I'll get a PB for the Corning Wineglass Marathon this year. What _is_ in question is whether or not I'll be able to get my BQ.

I was looking for no faster than 8:30s today. Here are my splits today:
9:28
9:10
8:59
8:35
8:23
8:27
8:44
8:50
8:23
8:04
8:14
8:14
8:27
8:38
8:49
8:56
8:50 (pace, 0.61 miles)

My average pace was 8:39, so I'll take it. I definitely struggled up anything with a hill because of my gimpy hamstring. But I'm happy that I was able to run the distance. Lots of stretching of my right leg between now and October 6!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Tempo run - 6 miles -- but sloooooowwwww...

My hamstring was feeling a lot better today, so I thought today's short tempo run might go well. But it didn't. The goal was 8:30's on the 3 mile out and 8:00's or better on the way back. Granted, it was uphill -- but I'd still done it a LOT faster the week prior. Here are my splits:

8:35
8:33
8:37
7:59
8:19
8:29

Running was painful at the start and less painful at the end -- but at the end I didn't have the strength in my right leg to keep the speed up. I couldn't easily extend my leg on my push-off which meant that it was always partially bent -- and my quads at the front of my leg were incredibly tired at the end of just 6 miles.

Jenny had me do some stretches afterwards, so I'll have to keep that up. And I'll have to get rid of the pain so that I can run loosely so that my quads don't tighten up.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Re-Ripped Hamstring on the Weekend. Speed Work Tonight Didn't Go Well...

On the weekend, I was thrown from my horse and in the process I re-ripped my hamstring. You can see a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TymB8EbEZqc.

So when I went out for speed work tonight, I really didn't know what to expect. But I did know that if I was able to run at all, it would be slow. I ran with Michelle and Nancy, who were looking to do 8 minute miles -- ish. Here are our splits for the 6 mile repeats (with a 2:30 break in between):

8:30
8:10
8:00
8:07
8:05
7:56

So my times generally got faster -- but still only to just above marathon pace. I was in pain for most of the runs -- although it did get less painful as time went on.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

GREAT 9 mile tempo run...

Tonight went waaaaaay better than 2 nights ago. The temperature was much cooler -- roughly 20 degrees C. Bernie went out for our tempo run targeting 8:30 per mile. On the way back, the goal was 7:30 per mile for the 3 miles to the Forks of the Thames water stop, and then 7:20 per mile for the remaining 1.36 miles.

Here are our splits:
8:45
8:21
8:26
8:28
8:23 (0.37 of a mile)
7:21
7:27
7:27
7:13
7:03 (0.36 of a mile).

The overall average pace was 7:55, so I was quite pleased. And the average pace back was 7:20 per mile (4:33.5/k) - which is the best this year, and almost as fast as the 4:31/km I ran on October 25, 2011 which is just before I ran my personal best in Road to Hope.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Speed work - Mile repeats on a humid night. 4.5 x 1 mile at pace, 1.5 miles a trudge...

So, tonight didn't go very well. It was hot -- roughly 35 degrees C. -- and humid. John Ferguson told us to go easy. The goal was 7 x 1 mile repeats. So my original plan was to go out at 7:30 per mile for the first mile, and then knock off 5 seconds per mile for each additional repeat (separated by 2 minutes 30 seconds). We actually started off better than that pace -- but at 4.5 miles, the heat just had me by the balls and I had to take a break. Jenny came along and I did another 1.5 miles with her at 8-ish minutes per mile. Here are my splits:

7:14
7:16
7:15
7:14
7:20 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:05 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:07

So not a very successful night. The only comfort I could gather was that there were lots of other people who didn't have a good night -- although Bernie managed to knock off 7:10 per mile on average x 7 miles (with between 2:30 and 3 minutes break).

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Speed Work - 5 x 1 mile repeats on a humid night...

Tuesday -- so it must be Speed Work night. Tonight, the Legendary John Ferguson had us continuing to ramp up our mile repeats.

I was still a bit beat up from my 23 mile long run 2 days ago, but felt I could squeeze out 5 x 7 minute miles, separated by at 2:30 walk/jog break. Here are my splits:

6:59
6:55
6:58
6:58
7:12

So, my average was just a hair over 7 minutes per mile -- although that last mile was brutal.

It was warm (25 degrees-ish) and humid -- raining lightly, in fact -- so it wasn't exactly ideal running conditions.

Bernie LeForte did his last mile in 7:05, and he has been running really well as of late, so I was pretty happy with my 7 minute average.

Less than 6 weeks until Corning. And just 4 more speed work sessions!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

23 Mile Long Run to Port Stanley -- Not pretty...

Today we did another Runners Choice Port Stanley run from London. I took off at the Saturn/Saab dealer at Wharncliffe and Southdale and fairly quickly caught up to Bernie, Clive, Mark and a bunch of others. We were banging off 8:30s pretty consistently, which is what I was targeting.

At the water stops, John Ferguson suggested that we plan for 3 minute stops. Instead, we started off with 2 minute breaks and eventually as things warmed up, I switched over to waiting until my heart rate monitor was saying it had come down to 110 beats per minute before I'd take off. At the start, that was certainly within 2 minutes, but as the day got warmer and sunnier (a high of 26 C or so, plus the sunshine), and I got more tired, it was taking longer and longer -- 5 or 6 minutes near the end, for sure.

Around the the turn-off at St. Thomas, Bernie and the others kept the pace and I drifted back. By the end, I was well back of my target finish at 11:40ish -- so I'd been out there for roughly 4 hours including breaks. My actual running time was 3:16:25 for 22.64 miles for an average pace of 8:41. So, within range while I was running of my target pace (8:30 to 8:45).

A couple of things I did differently, other than waiting for my heart to recover, was eating dried apricots when I needed food, combined with the occasional Clif Blok (triple-salt Margarita flavoured), plus the eLoad 5x eTabs (salt) pills. Also, because I was taking such a long break, my calves were seizing up on me when I would re-start -- but I focused on keeping them loose and after a minute or two I would be back up to speed.

Anyhow, here are my splits:

8:25
8:31
8:36
8:29
8:37
8:37
8:31
8:26
8:23
8:29
8:30
8:29
8:19
8:44
9:04
9:13
8:53
8:48
8:59
8:57
8:24 (0.59 of a mile for some reason)
9:03
8:54

My goal was to finish without ending up in an ambulance. Jeremy Groves and Jay ___ monitored me for the last 3 water stops to make sure I was okay, and Deb Ripley was keeping a close eye on me as well. Nice to have the support out there!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

4 x 1 mile repeats...

I took this past weekend off of doing a long run, so my muscles certainly felt refreshed. Still, my hip was still talking to me, so Coach Brian suggested that I take it easy on the first mile-repeat -- maybe targeting 7:30 for the first mile and then ramping it up from there if it felt good. We were to do a 2:30 rest between repeats.

Well, I couldn't keep that first mile to that slow. I felt like I was taking it easy, but I still did a 7:07 first mile. Here are my four splits:
7:06
6:58
6:58
6:58

So my average pace was exactly 7 minutes per mile. Not as good as April 2 of this year (6:53 average pace), but way better than 2012 when I was still pretty early in the recovery from my hamstring injury. Targeting anywhere from 6:50 to 7:00 per mile is about where I should be.

It was warm out tonight -- roughly 25 degrees C and muggy -- but it didn't seem to affect me, other than the buckets of sweat I shed.





Thursday, August 15, 2013

13 Mile Tempo Run

Tonight was the longest tempo run of this session -- a 13 miler. And with my hip still hurting, I really wasn't sure how it would go. So Jenny and I decided that I'd run out slowly for 2 miles and if it was hurting, I'd just turn around. But it didn't hurt very much and, in fact, was feeling fairly good, so I kept running. On the way back, I was targeting something close to 8 minutes per mile. Here are my splits:

8:49
8:34
8:32
8:52
8:29
8:37
9:02 (0.4 miles)
8:03
8:02
8:04
8:04
8:02
8:20
7:49 (0.44 miles)

The average pace was 8:23. So, considering I had no idea how the run would do, I was quite pleased.

Still, I made the decision to not even attempt a long run in the upcoming weekend. A rest would do my muscles a world of good.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

5 x 1 km repeats (should have been 7)...

Tonight, we were to do 6 or, ideally, 7 repeats of 1 km, with a 2 minute jogging rest between repeats. I felt that my right hamstring was talking to me a bit, so I targeted 4:05 to 4:10 per km. Here are my splits:

4:08
4:08
4:08
4:08
4:06

I then attempted to do a 6th repeat and my right butt-hamstring-glute -- whatever you want to call it -- was really starting to hurt -- so I pulled the plug 400 m. into the repeat.

I felt crappy about wimping out -- but then 2 days later, I felt that it was the right decision. My butt was still hurting.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

8.73 mile Tempo Run Targeting 8:20's out and 7:25's back...

We did a repeat of our tempo run 2 weeks ago (which went extraordinarily well for me) and so Bernie and I decide to step it up a bit for this one -- 8:20's out and 7:25's back. Here are our splits:

8:17
8:13
8:10
8:21
8:17 (pace, 0.37 miles)
7:21
7:21
7:19
7:30
7:34 (pace, 0.36 miles)

Average pace for 4.36 miles back was: 7:23 (4:35 per kilometre), which is just a bit better than what we were targeting. But I was really struggling for that last 0.36 miles (after barely getting through the Harris Park hill!

Total time: 1:08:19 for 8:73 miles (7:50/mile pace)

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Speed Work - Harris Park Hill and 800 m. Sprint Repeats

Tonight, the Legendary John Ferguson had us at Harris Park at the centre of London Ontario to do hill repeats from the park up to Ridout St. From there, we'd cool down across the Queens Ave. bridge to the west side of the Thames River, where we'd sprint 750 m. to Blackfriars Bridge. A cool-out jog to the base of the hill at the south end of Harris Park and we'd do it all again.

Once again, Bernie and I stayed together for the whole work out. Here are our splits:

1:25 up hill
3:01 750 m. sprint

1:26 up hill
3:09 750 m. sprint

1:24 up hill
3:03 750 m. sprint

1:21 up hill
3:00 750 m. sprint

So, my average up the hill was 1:24, and our average for the sprint was 3:03. Comparing this to Tuesday February 28 2013, my average up the hill was 1:36 and my average for the sprint was 3:15. Now, that was injured and at the end of February -- plus we did 5 repeats, not 4 as we did tonight. But clearly there is progress here!

Sunday, August 4, 2013

16 Mile Long Run...

Today, Bernie LeForte and I headed out to do our 16 mile long run with the Runner's Choice group. Just out to the corner of Boler and Southdale (up that very long hill) and back -- something we'd done lots of times before.

The weather was unseasonably cool -- roughly 13 degrees C. which is amazing running weather for early August. We were aiming for 8:30 per mile. Here are our splits:

8:53
8:26
8:22
8:27
8:21
8:22
8:40 (uphill)
8:31 (uphill)
8:03 (downhill)
8:07 (downhill)
8:20
8:29
8:20
8:23 (up Terry Fox Parkway)
8:22
8:17

Average pace for the 16 miles was 8:24.

I was wearing my heart rate monitor. Typically, my heart rate was in the mid-140's on the way out and then the mid-150's on the way back -- possibly due to the warmer weather and that I was more tired. At the breaks (2 out, 4 back), I started to wait until my heart rate dipped down to the 90's before we'd start up again -- just to make sure it wasn't racing on me.

I was definitely tired by the end, but was still able to keep the pace, so not a terrible run.

Friday, August 2, 2013

Lousy Pace Run - 4.4 miles...

Today I was to do a 5 or 6 mile pace run. I typically do this run from the office to home -- 4.4 miles away. Okay, so not quite 5 miles. But in today's case, it was quite the workout.

As soon as I got out onto William Street, I was hit with a very strong headwind. I couldn't make "easy run" pace, let along marathon pace. Here are my splits:

8:10
8:26
9:04
8:59
7:57 (0.43 miles)

As soon as I hit Neil Road and headed North, my pace easily picked up. Not quite to marathon pace (7:48/mi.) but not bad either.

11 Mile Tempo Run

We did an 11 mile tempo run from Gibbons Park to Springbank Park (past the Merry-Go-Round) and back. Aiming for 8:30s on the way out and 7:30s on the way back. Here are my splits:

8:21
8:26
8:25
8:30
8:23
8:20 (pace - 1/2 mile)
7:29
7:20
7:31
7:29
7:33 (includes going up Harris Park hill)
7:22 (pace - 1/2 mile)

So my average pace was roughly 7:28 on the way back. Note, however, that we stopped for about 2 minutes each at Wonderland Gardens and the Forks for some water. The temp was about 24 degrees C. so water (and carb chews) was a good idea.

Looking back through my Blog, the only run that I could find that was close was a 10 mile tempo run back on September 16 2010. Similar distance, identical route and roughly 7:26's on the way back. A bit cooler though.

So, this run was my only 11 mile tempo run -- but right up there with one of my best long tempo runs ever!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Excellent Speed Work Tonight: 6 x 1 km repeats at TD Waterhouse Stadium...

Speed work was excellent tonight. I ran with Chris Lanooy, Clive Bradley and Bernie LeForte. We banged off the 1 km repeats at the following paces:

4:13
4:15
4:04
4:00
3:59
3:58

Average: 4:05. Was aiming for 4:05 per km (15 km/hr), so not bad! Looking back at previous 1 km repeats, I'm definitely faster than ever before. It was a good night!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

July 28 Port Stanley Run: Attempted 21 miles, completed 18.86...

I started my long run today at Hully Gully aiming to run 21ish miles from there to Port Stanley. 8 miles into the run, I caught Marc Labreche and Bernie LeForte, who started at Copps for a 19.6 mile run.

Things were going pretty well but at roughly 17.5 miles, I told Bernie to go ahead. We had just climbed the hill at Union and the best I could hit was 8:39 per mile. Shortly afterwards, I stopped at the side of the road and started throwing up (although there was nothing to throw up). Jenny came by and after about 5 minutes of not much fun with my head hanging over the grass, we started walking. 5 minutes after that, I suggested she go ahead and I'd catch a ride from the water stop about a mile ahead.

When I made it to the water stop, I was now pretty sure my heart was doing weird things and I couldn't find a pulse in my neck, wrist or chest. Despite the lack of pulse, I was pretty sure I was still alive, but clearly there was something not right. And I was hyperventilating, which is new.

As a bit of background, I've had issues with a periodically rapid heartbeat since I was 7 years old. As I've grown older and gotten fitter, I generally only have problems on my long runs (and only in the past two years). I've had it looked at by the London Cardiac Institute and I'm safe to run. They tried an 'ablation' to zap the extra electrical pathway within my heart back in December, but they couldn't find the spot to zap after poking around inside my heart for about an hour.

Anyhow, at the last water stop, another runner, Kate Quinlan, asked if I wanted a ride back to the finish with her husband, which I gladly accepted. I piled into their van and Ray, their two daughters, Quinn and Leah, took me to the finish.

Ray assisted me in walking from the van to the finish and passed me over to Jenny.

Apparently I didn't look very well, nobody could find a pulse still, and I was still hyperventilating when I'd try to speak. Plus I was shivering and fingers and arms were tingling and my face apparently looked gray and my nose to my chin was a purple hue. Out came the beach towels to bundle me up, Carolyn sat beside me to keep me warm (I suggested others join in, but no takers), Dr. Kate Brown was checking for a pulse, Dianne Morley, Erin Visser, John Ferguson and my vet, Brian Watson, we're all looking at me with concerned looks. (Well, Brian and Jenny not so much -- they've seen me finish many runs before). Anyhow, we decided that I should get to a hospital so that at the very least we could get an ECG on my heart for the London Cardiac Institute folks while it was still racing. Kate made the call to get an ambulance, and then things got exciting!

The beach patrol must have heard the call and were there within seconds, it seemed. One of the beach patrols, Kate, took charge and got me some oxygen. They still had a hard time finding a pulse but when she got her stethoscope she pegged it at 140. Yep, definitely still racing.

The ambulance arrived and the paramedics got me onto a stretcher and into the the ambulance. New oxygen and then electrodes for a heart monitor (I'm not sure if it was a full ECG) and then lots of questions from paramedic Kyla so that she could give the emergency folks a heads up as to what was coming in. Almost as soon as I got in the ambulance, though, I could feel my heart rate go back to normal. And Kyla's reports confirmed it. My heart rate was down in the 80 to 90 range where I'd expect it to be after a long run.

We got to the hospital around noon. After checking in with the admitting person, we were almost immediately taken down to the curtained bed areas. They were very nice and brought us sandwiches as by now we were both starving. 4 hours later I was released and the doctor is sending a note to the London Cardiac Institute to get me back in to see them about a portable Holter device that I can wear on my long runs to monitor the details of my heart's rhythm so that they can hopefully figure out where my heart is screwed up.

I'm also going to start wearing my heart rate monitor that works with my GPS (as much as it is an annoyance) so that I can track it and hopefully tell if it is racing while I'm running.

So, my crappy finish to the run to Port was almost certainly due to my heart not getting my legs enough oxygen - and then things went downhill from there. Up until that point, I was having a very good run. Targeting 8:30 per mile, we were feeling strong until the wheels fell off my run. Here are my splits:

8:27
8:13
8:21
8:23
8:16
8:17
8:25
8:20
8:17
8:26
8:21
8:07
8:39
8:29
8:28
8:22
8:26 (felt something not quite right)
8:39 (symptoms starting)
14:32 (0.86 of a mile, mostly walking)

So I am quite happy with how the first 18 miles went. But this just goes to show that not every day is going to be 'your day'. Sometimes things conspire against you having a good run - heat, wind, cold, rain or, today for me, a heart that was misbehaving.

I can't thank the Runner's Choice group enough for the attention and support I received at the water stops and finish line to figure out a plan and keep me comfortable until the ambulance arrived. One great big awesome family!!!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Pace Run - 4.4 miles...

Today I was to do a "pace run" -- running 4 to 5 miles at my target pace for my marathon. I ran from the office to home -- which is generally downhill, but a bit uphill at the end. I was targeting 4:48 per mile which should allow me to finish the marathon in 3 hours 24 minutes and 36 seconds, which would be a personal best and allow me to go to Boston in the second last wave of registrants. Here were my splits:

7:39
7:44
7:43
7:43
7:18 (0.43 miles)

The average pace was 7:40 per mile. I'm pretty happy with this. It was sunny but roughly 21 degrees in the shade -- so easy enough for me to overheat (probably 25 degrees in the sunlight). Anyhow, I'll take it. I'm feeling fairly strong these days.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

9 Mile Tempo Run

Tonight, we did a 9 mile tempo run. The weather was good -- dry and relatively cool (around 21 degrees). We targeted the 4.4 miles out at 8:30 per mile and the 4.4 miles back at 7:30 per mile. Bernie Leforte run with me the entire way. Jenny was just behind us. We met Sandy on the run back, who is training to do a 3:35 in Corning if all goes well.

Here are our splits:

8:51
8:19
8:23
8:30
8:27 (pace for 0.4 miles)
7:22
7:27
7:29
7:15 (including up the hill at Harris Park)
7:26 (pace for 0.36 miles)

Average for the entire 9 miles was 7:57. This is possibly the best tempo run I've ever done -- certainly in recent memory! The pace for the last 4.36 miles was 4:35 per kilometre -- about a half second per kilometre faster than March 29, 2012 and almost as fast a the 4:31 per kilometre on October 25, 2011 -- but the course tonight (from Gibbons Park to the bridge at Thames Valley Golf Course and back again) is much more difficult than anything I do locally. So, tonight was a very good run!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ladder from 400 m to 1,600 m. and back to 400 m. at TD Waterhouse Stadium

Tonight, we did a ladder in 400 m. increments from 400 metres to 1,600 meters and back down again. A two minute (200 m.) break between each repeat. I started off looking for 1:40 per 400 m. -- but it didn't last long. Here are my splits:

400 m.: 1:37
800 m.: 3:22 (1:41/400m)
1200 m.: 5:08 (1:43/400m)
1600 m.: 6:58 (1:44/400m)
1200 m.: 5:22 (1:47/400m)
800 m.: 3:37 (1:48/400m)
400 m.: 1:37

So I finished with the same 400 m. pace at the end -- but my last few multi-lap repeats were very tough. Overall, my average lap pace was 1:44.

Comparing to last year on August 8, I was a bit faster. But not as fast as in 2011.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Canada Day Half Marathon - 13.1 miles...

Today was the Annual Canada Day Half Marathon -- this time going from the Lucan Memorial Community Centre up Saintsbury to Ben Armstrong's place at 70560 Elimville Road. Here is the route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5957717

I was hoping for 4:52 per k. x 21.1K. Here are my kilometre splits:

4:43
4:49
4:51
4:48
4:50
4:53
4:44 (downhill)
5:05 (uphill)
4:52
5:00
5:00
5:00
5:04
5:15
5:12
5:48 (water stop)
5:20
5:50 (water stop)
5:36
5:39 (into wind)
6:37 ('special' hydration stop - shooter and beer)
4:54 pace (150 m.)

Total time including water stops was 1:49:39. As you can see, I was able to keep my target pace for the first half, but it fell apart during the second half. I'm not sure if it was the heat -- 19 or 20 degrees C, I think -- or just that I'm a slug. I ran alone for a lot of the run, so that didn't help. If you take out the water stops, I was probably more like a 1:47 -- which compared to the personal-worst in the heat last year, isn't bad.

Still, disappointing that I couldn't keep up "marathon pace" for a half marathon distance. Lots of training to do yet!

Friday, June 28, 2013

4.44 mile Pace Run - Went very well!

It was cooler today, and that certainly helped my run. Roughly 19 degrees C. with a bit of very light rain. I ran home from the office (much of it downhill), targeting 7:49 per k. But I couldn't go that slow! Here are my splits:

7:34 (flat)
7:35 (flat to downhill)
7:37 (downhill)
7:40 (uphill to flat)
7:38 (flat to uphill - 0.44 miles)

7:36 average pace. Considering that I would have been pleased with a 7:49 pace, I was super-pleased with this result.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

5.68 Mile Tempo Run around Gibbons Park

We had an interesting route today, in preparation for a bunch of folks doing a race tomorrow night. I treated it as a tempo run, though, and it went okay. Definitely not flat, but it worked out okay Here are my splits:

8:28
8:28
8:27
7:35
7:30
7:31 (0.68 miles)

I was looking for 7:30's for the second half of the run, but that first mile at "tempo" had significant uphill (from the park, uphill on St. James St. to St. George) and I couldn't quite hit my times. But I was pleased with the remainder of the run.

8:01 average pace for the full distance.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Easy Run - 4.42 miles (from home to work)

It's been just over 12 hours since speed work -- hardly enough time for my muscles to recover. But I know that I have a tempo run tomorrow, so the extra 8 hours of rest before that run could make it go better. And since I really didn't have to push and particular pace on this run, I figured it would be better to have a "bad" easy run in the hopes I would have a "good" tempo run tomorrow. This route is mostly uphill, so it definitely isn't easy from a topology perspective. Here are my splits:

8:42 (mostly flat)
8:31 (a bit downhill, a bit uphill)
8:44 (uphill)
8:41 (uphill)
8:33 (0.42 miles -- mostly flat)

Not great, and I was drenched at the end, but I'll take it.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Speed Work - 6 x 800 m. repeats

Sounds easy -- just 4.8 km of total "speed" pace. But by the time we were done, it was all I could do to come close to my target pace.

I was hoping for a pace of 6:30 per mile or roughly 3:15 per 800 m. Here are my splits:

3:09
3:18
3:18
3:19
3:17
3:19

So the average for all 6 repeats was 3:16.7 per 800 m. Not great, but not terrible. I finished all 6 repeats, though, which isn't bad considering I wanted to bail at 5. My general mode, now, is that I keep doing the repeats until my time totally falls apart on one of them. Then I pull the plug on he workout, because that is when injuries are most likely to occur.

Looking back at January, my times have definitely improved so far. Back then I did 5 x 600 m. repeats in a tiny bit over 2:30 per repeat. Straight line extrapolation would put that at 3:20 per 800 m. or 4:10 per kilometre. So knocking these off consistently in less than 3:20 (and outside, not on the track) is pretty good.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Long run - 13.5 miles in the heat

Today, it was a challenge to just get through the 13.5 mile long run in London. We took it easy, stopping at most water stops along the way. Here are my splits:

8:55
8:54
8:30
8:34
8:46
9:06
9:12
8:48
8:38
8:32
8:34
8:34
8:43
8:38 pace (0.51 miles)

Overall pace was 8:44.

It was about 29 degrees when we finished and muggy throughout the entire run. The only saving grace was that because we were running along the paths beside the river, there was a fair bit of shade along the route. Jenny led the way back for the most part. The heat wasn't a problem for her.

Anyhow, nothing to brag about, but we got through it.

Friday, June 21, 2013

5 mile "pace" run...

The goal today was to do a short warm-up run, and then 5 miles at marathon pace. If I want to do the Corning Wineglass Marathon in 3:25, I need to be hitting 7:49 per mile x 26.2 miles. Here were my splits this morning:

2:47 (8:58 pace) 0.31 miles
7:43
7:48
7:50
7:48
5:46 (8:20 pace) 0.69 miles

My average pace for the entire run was 7:53.

I had to walk after the third mile, and it took everything I had to complete the fourth. I felt like I was going to puke afterwards. The lose gravel along much of miles 1 and 2 didn't help my speed, and the wind in my face on that last mile definitely didn't help either. So I got my 5 miles in, but only 4 were at pace, and I had a walk break in between miles 3 and 4.

Good thing its early in the training!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

8 mile Tempo Run - 3.5 miles at pace...

Jenny and I joined the Runners Choice Marathon Training Group at Gibbons Park for a run down to the former Guy Lombardo Museum (now a library or community centre or something). Anyhow, it was 4 miles there and 4 miles back. I ran with John DePutter and Jenn Vording for a good chunk of the way, although they left me in the dust for the last mile. My goal was 8:30's out and 7:30's back. And eventually I'd like to get to 8:20s out and 7:20s back. Here are my split paces:

8:17
8:14
8:10
8:11
7:22
7:25
7:22
7:50 (1/2 mile)
8:22 (1/2 mile)

7:53 average pace. So the good news is that I couldn't go slow enough to do 8:30s -- and on the way out, I was actually closer to 8:15s. The bad news is that the run back was mostly upstream. I had to take a break at the forks of the Thames (about 2.7 miles back). And then after I did the hill at the north end of Harris Park, I had nothing left to get my pace back down to the 7:30 range. I took a walk break and then jogged back at 8:22 pace.

It took me a while to get used to my Garmin Forerunner 210. Every time it flipped over to a new lap, it was like it was starting the calculation all over again. It would take me until I was halfway through the lap before I could trust my lap pace.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Easy Run - 3 miles...

I took my dog, Cooper, on a 3 mile easy run. So it was a little slower than usual as there were lots of little stops along the way! Here are my splits:

10:05
9:12
9:12

for an overall pace of 9:30 per mile. I was still sore from the Speed Work I had just done the night before, so I was a little stiff getting going, but stretched out of it after the first mile or so.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Speed Work - 6 x 600 m. Repeats

Today was the first _actual_ speed work session of the 2013 summer marathon training program with Runners Choice. We were at the track at TD Waterhouse Stadium. We did a 600 m. run (1.5 times around the track) and then a 200 m. (2 minutes) rest before doing the next speed laps. Here are my splits:

2:15
2:21
2:23
2:25
2:25
2:25

I was aiming for 2:15 per 600 m. (0:45 per 200 m. segment) but I couldn't reach it other than the first repeat. My average was 2:22.

Comparing these times to previous sessions, there is good and bad. Compared to June 2011 when I was training for what turned out to be my personal best, I'm slower by 1 second per 600 m. (2:21/600 m.). But if you compare it to January of this year, I'm significantly faster (an average of 2:32 for 5 laps).

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Long run - 18 kilometres in Ottawa

My sister, Donna, and I were in Ottawa for a visitation for my Uncle Bernie Pelletier this weekend. We stayed at her daughter Brittany's place, who lives with her boyfriend (fiancée?) Dave. The visitation was at the west end of the city -- actually, pretty close by one of our client's houses, home inspector Ron Bouwmeester.

I went out for a run that took me past the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's home at 22 Sussex Drive, and Governor General David Johnston's place and up to Parliament Hill. It was a very pleasant run.

I wasn't pushing the pace at all and certainly could have done more. In total, I did 18.2 kilometres at an average pace of about 5:35 per kilometre (11.3 miles at 9 minutes per mile). While it wasn't boiling hot, it wasn't cool either. So I was drenched with sweat by the end of it all.

Not a tough run, but certainly long enough.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Tempo Run: 6.5 miles...

Today my goal was to do my first "tempo" run of the session. The idea was 3.5 miles "out" at a slower than race pace, and then 3.5 miles "back" at a faster-than-race pace. I didn't quite make the "back" part of it. I was looking for 8:20 out and 7:30 back. Here are my splits:

7:49
8:09
8:13
8:10 (pace - 1/2 mile)
7:25
7:26
7:50
(I walked the last 1/2 mile).

My average was 7:51 per mile for 6.5 miles. But I was falling apart at the end. It didn't help that there was a strong wind from the north that was going to make that last 1/2 mile hellish. But I had nothing left.

So, not the greatest way to start the tempo runs of this training session!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Easy run - 3 miles

Went out early today -- 6:45-ish. 3 miles easy. Here are my splits:
8:40
8:08
7:48
Overall average, 8:12 per mile. Again, qualifies as easy, but I was sweating profusely at the end.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

First Runners Choice Marathon Training Clinic of the Summer 2013

We had our first session, starting at the Honest Lawyer in London. We went out for a 8.7 km run after John's introduction to the clinic which we knocked off in about 44 minutes. (I screwed up my GPS half way through) Anyhow, that equates to about 8:10 per mile. It was supposed to be an "easy" run, so I guess that qualifies -- but, as usual, I was drenched in sweat by the end. I had to slow down the pace for the second half of it, but felt strong for the last kilometre or so. I ran with a new Half Marathon clinic participant, Joe, and also formally met Blair, who I'd seen out before but had never met personally.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

"Long" run - 10.6 miles

Jenny, Brian and I went out for a long run today. We just aimed to be "out there" for about 90 minutes, including water stops, so we weren't out to set any land speed records. The first half of the run went fine for me, but the second half I was really not having fun. Must have been getting warmer, because it felt like my feet were lead, and I was drenched in sweat. Overall, we did 10.6 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes of running time, which equates to 7:44 per mile. Hmmmm... maybe that was it! That's not a half bad pace, really. Kudos to Jenny for keeping up with us! It was about 24 degrees C out there, but not too muggy. Nonetheless, I can feel the heat affecting me.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

2013 Forest City Road Races Half Marathon - 1:40:47

Well, not a personal best, but only 30 seconds off (less than 1.5 seconds per kilometre)! Once again, I didn't have anything left in the tank. My legs were sore and tired from the hills and the last one up Talbot St. to Central Ave. just did me in. But, all-in-all, I was pleased with the run. And just being 30 seconds off my PB -- which was when I was in possibly the best condition of my life -- ain't bad.

My GPS was quite a ways off the measured course, so my splits, below, are not accurate. The GPS had me covering an extra 190 metres -- which would easily account for my 47 seconds needed to hit my 1 hour 40 minute goal. So, keep in mind that the splits are about 3 seconds _slow_ from the actual measured course:

4:39
4:33 (downhill - Queens Ave.)
4:42
4:42
4:36
4:39
4:38
4:41
5:02 (uphill - St. James St.)
4:49
4:45
4:44
4:46
4:49 (uphill - Windermere)
4:42 (downhill - Windermere)
4:42
4:49
4:42
4:49
5:03 (uphill - Talbot St.)
4:47
4:09 pace for 289 m.

According to my GPS, my average pace was 4:44 per kilometre -- so right on my goal time of 1:40. But I new from the first kilometre marker that my GPS was "off", so really there are no excuses. I simply didn't have the gas in the tank.

As my pre-race regimen, I loaded up on spaghetti last night, and had a big bowl of ice cream as well. In the morning I had a big bowl of mini-wheats, and then a bagel and medium black coffee before the run. That seemed to do me okay -- I just had one Clif Block during the run itself, and I wasn't starving by the end.

One thing that I learned from Coach Brian at the Around the Bay race was to drink a bit of water and then splash a bit in my face to wake me up. Definitely worked!

Anyhow, that's it for serious races for a couple of months!


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Speed work turned into a pace run... 7 miles

I'm going to try to race the Forest City Road Races Half Marathon on Sunday. The ideal result would be a sub-1:40 half, which equates to 4:44 per km (7:35 per mile). Coach Brian's advice for tonight's speed work was to do 2 miles of warm up, 3 or 4 miles at half-marathon pace, and then a mile or two of cool down for a total of 7 miles.

We did the standard 1 mile warm up with the Runner's Choice gang, so I only needed to do 6 additional miles -- roughly 9.6 km. Here are my kilometre splits:

4:48 (1 km warm-up)
4:56 pace (600 m. warm-up)
4:38
4:48
4:40
4:35
4:44
4:36
4:37 pace (467 m.)
5:03 (1 km cool-down)
4:57 (622 m. cool-down)

The overall average was 4:45, so quite acceptable considering the warm up and cool-down are included in this average. I was very comfortable running at the warm-up and cool-down pace, which tells me that even if I'm struggling in the half, I should be able to knock off a 5 minute kilometre pace.

It was sort of warm tonight (best guess is 15 degrees C.) so if it is cool on Sunday morning, I should be in good shape. Right now the weather forecast is for a low of 8 degrees and a high of between 16 and 18 degrees. The race starts at 8 am on Sunday, so it should be on the cooler side of that range. Let's hope!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Long Run - 19.2 KM (11.9 miles)

Today I screwed up the route. Instead of printing the 13.1 mile route, I printed the 13.1 K route. So I had to improvise to try to get in the entire half-marathon distance, as was my plan. Looking back at it, I was about 2 km. off. Here is the route I did.

My GPS crashed because of low battery about 1 km into the route. I had thrown it into my bag a few days prior and neglected to verify that it was fully charged. So, all I know is that for the first 6 miles, my pace as 5:13 per km -- which is right where I wanted to be for a training run. And then for the last few miles, all I know is that Chris Lanooy and I were running very strongly together. It was a perfect morning for a run (for me).

Lots of hills with this route -- so I'm not sure if I can pull off a PB or not. Last year I was 1:41:40 and my previous personal best was 1:40:18 -- so something close or achieving PB would be great, and I just hope I'm faster than last year!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Speed Work - 6 x 1 mile repeats

Because of the intense rain last week, Jenny and I missed last week's speed work session. So, this week I had move from 4 one-mile repeats two weeks ago to 6 this week. I was targeting 7 minute miles. Here are my splits:

6:56
7:01
7:07
6:55
7:05
7:01

So, on average, 7:01 per mile -- close enough!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

20 km Long Run

Today we did a long run around north London and then navigated our away past the flood areas along the paths beside the Thames River towards Springbank Park. I turned around at the rowing club to make my way back to Goodlife.

My pace was fairly healthy -- typically just over 5 minutes per kilometre -- throughout the run. So, not bad for a training run.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Long Run - 23K

Today we did a long run. I say "long" -- but because I'm just training for the Forest City Half Marathon, it wasn't nearly as long as the run many of the others in the group did (22 miles was the longest I heard -- Bernie Leforte).

Mine was an out-and-back route -- through the park system to Boler Road in the Byron community of London, and then up to the corner of Boler and Southdale Roads. About 11.5 km -- so 23 km there and back.

Now, I just wanted to do 22.6 km -- the equivalent of 14 miles -- so I just walked-jogged the last 400 m. to get back to Goodlife Fitness where we started.

Here are my splits:

5:05
5:09
4:59
5:07
4:46
5:12
5:10
4:47
5:12
5:13
5:18
5:07
4:52
4:45
4:57
4:44
4:53
4:59
4:51
4:59
4:55
4:59
5:09 pace (679 m.)
6:54 pace (409 m. cool down)

So for the 22.68 m. that I ran at a long run pace, my time was 1:53:32 for an average pace of 5 minutes per kilometre. Not bad for a training run.

I continued to concentrate on running on the front part of my foot and using my foot as a spring. It worked well for the first 18 kilometres, but by then I was getting tired. My left foot was quite sort at the end of the run, but was feeling better by 8:30 in the evening. Definitely will take some gradual easing into this new style of running.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Speed Work - 4 x 1 mile repeats

Tonight we did a mile of warm-up, and then 4 x 1 mile repeats (with a 2:30 break in between each repeat) at Gibbons Park in London. It was cool out -- roughly 4 degrees C. -- and with a wind from the north. But, overall, I felt good and relatively strong the whole way. I did most of my repeats with Bernie Laforte -- who had to continue on and do a total of 7 because his marathon was approaching soon. Anyhow, while I was targeting 7 mile repeats, I came in ahead of pace each time. Here are my splits:

6:56
6:54
6:58
6:44

As you can see, I pushed it for the last mile -- and felt good pretty much the whole way. Less than a month until the Forest City Half!

Monday, April 1, 2013

Long run - 12 miles.

Today we just did a 12 miler around north London and then down the trails along the Thames River to the former Guy Lombardo museum and then back to Goodlife Fitness. Jenny and Jed joined us today, which was great. It was a good day to run. Around 4 degrees and the rain held off until the afternoon. Gordon Ball and I ran back from the museum and averaged around 5 minute K's. My goal for this run to was to run on the balls of my feet instead of my heels or mid-sole. I need to strengthen them for the Forest City Road Races at the end of April where I'll likely do the Half Marathon.

Monday, March 25, 2013

The 2013 Around the Bay Medic Tent...

I pushed as hard as I could at the end of this year's Around the Bay 30K road race. I was originally shooting for a 2:30 finish, and ended up at 2:30:09. For the last 400 m., I sprinted -- or at least I felt like I was sprinting. I had nothing left. So when coach/pacer Brian Watson came up after crossing the finish line and said "Nice finish, buddy!", I just leaned on his shoulder. Next thing I knew, a finish line helper came and held me up on the other side. Then someone came up to Brian and said, "Okay, we'll take him from here." They took me over to a wheelchair, which I must admit, looked really inviting! I told them that I was okay -- I was just tired -- but they insisted on taking me to the medic area. Not a "medic tent", as they had in Boston, but rather a first-aid room that they had for hockey players at Copps Coliseum. I thought to myself that I would do the medic tent at Boston again -- it was quite a pleasant experience -- so why not give this one a try!

They had me sit on a cot and brought me some gatorade, and then a bottle of water. I was one of their first guests, it looked like. One younger (Ethiopian/Kenyan?) runner was on a cot with a blanket. A girl came in shortly after me who didn't look very good.

Within a few minutes I was fine. I asked if I could go and they said that was okay. No sign-out procedure. I just wandered back to the finishing pen and collected another bottle of water.

Having visited multiple medic tents and ambulances in my time, this one was fairly informal -- certainly compared to Boston, where they had about 100 cots ready to accept people and several hundred volunteers including nurses and doctors.

In Boston, they brought me a cup of bouillon soup -- 3 cubes in a cup -- just to get salt into me. And a small bag of potato chips -- again, to get some salt. Here, it was Gatorade. Probably the same effect, but my sense is that the heavily-salted bouillon may have been better.

In Boston, they brought me a mylar blanket to keep me warm. In Hamilton, they offered me a wool blanket a couple of times, but I declined -- I was already quite warm enough, now that I was indoors. But a nice touch having a _real_ blanket offered.

In Boston, they had paperwork to check people in and out -- and a doctor had to clear me leaving. Here it was quite informal. No paperwork, which was nice.

There was one runner with the New Balance London bus who had to be taken to hospital. Someone with the Around the Bay organization came over to the buses located near the start line to track down Tracy Hillman, who was the bus organizer with New Balance to let her know. I thought that was a nice touch for them to go to that effort to track people down. Might not hurt next time to have us put a couple of "in case of emergency" numbers on the back of our bibs, including someone with our bus.

So, yet another "medic tent" experience in the books! :-)

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Around the Bay 2013 - Personal Best: 2:30:09

So, first all, the thank-yous. To John Ferguson, The Legend, and the excellent training program he runs for Runners Choice. His program got me to the point where I felt I could hit a personal best in this race. Next, to Jenny, who was out there supporting me, our daughter Karen (who completed her first Around The Bay upright and smiling!), as well as several other Runners Choice runners. But most of all, to my personal running coach, running buddy, beer drinking buddy, and friend (plus the best small animal veterinarian in London Ontario -- see www.FairmontAH.com), Dr. Brian Watson -- who paced me the entire way and absolutely allowed me to get the most out of todays run.

It would have been nice to beat 2:30 -- but being 9 seconds off is still fine. I had zero left in the tank at the finish. In fact, yet again, I ended up in the medic area after I crossed the finish. Brian kept urging me on for those last 4 kilometres and I was amazed that I finished with the time I had.

The strategy was to keep a pace in the neighbourhood of 4:55/k for the first 20 K or so, and then do what we could through the hills in Burlington before finally turning on the jets for the last 4 kilometres home. But, by the time I got through the hills of Burlington, there was virtually nothing left in the tank.

Here are my splits for this race:

4:51
4:54
4:58
5:00
4:56
4:56
4:52
4:52
4:52
4:56
4:47
4:52
4:55
4:58
4:57
4:55
4:52
4:52
4:55
4:50
5:00
5:08
5:05
5:17
5:00
5:03
5:52 (the big hill)
5:10
4:57
4:46
5:16 pace (174 m.)

We were off by about 2 seconds per kilometer comparing the GPS to the actual -- so add 2 seconds to all times above.

But, overall, I was super-pleased with how these numbers look -- particularly the last 3 kilometres where I wanted to stop a thousand times. But I was convinced that the only way I'd be allowed to stop is if I was truly injured or my calf muscles were in convulsions or something. So I just muddled through -- but still knocking off a better-than-5-minute-K pace.

Any day you can have a Personal Best is definitely a good day, so it will be a while before the perma-smile comes off my face. But, as I said above, I couldn't have done it without the help of a bunch of my friends!

The Finish Line (Look at 2:30:40 on the clock):





Monday, March 18, 2013

Treadmill Tempo Run

The past week has been challenging for me to get out for a run. The only run I'd done since my last long run was speed work on Tuesday. Because I was organizing the St. Patricks Eve celebrations for the Lucan District Lions Club, my time has been at a premium this past weekend. And other days -- such as the scheduled tempo run last Thursday -- didn't happen because the weather was crappy.

But, finally, I knew I had to get out and get a "toning" run in. I'm sort of tapering for the Around the Bay race this coming Sunday, so I didn't feel like I needed to get a long run in. But because I missed my tempo run last Thursday, I felt that getting something in today would be a good idea. The only problem is that the weather today wasn't just crappy -- it was _really_ crappy: snow, sleet, wind -- just not fun running weather.

So I went to the treadmill -- and it wasn't awful. The plan was to do 60 minutes of tempo -- 30 minutes "out" (slowly) and 30 minutes "back" (faster than marathon pace). Now, I'm still not comfortable with what the treadmill says is my speed. 5.0 should be 5 miles per hour (12 minute miles), but because I know that the treadmill needs calibration by 13.1%, it would actually be 10:36 minute miles. Definitely slow for those 2.76 (calibrated) miles. And while I was sweating by the time I was done the 30 mintutes, but nothing like I would be sweating on the way "back".

On the way back, I stepped it up to 7.0 on the treadmill (7:34/mile calibrated) for the first 2.9 miles. I was breathing hard, but relatively comfortably. For the final "1.0" miles (1.13 calibrated), I stepped it up to 7.5 (7:04/mile calibrated). I was breathing very hard and wondered if I'd get through the whole mile at that pace. Now that I look at that pace, its no wonder: I was basically doing a "speed work" pace.

All told, I did 6.0 "miles" (6.78 calibrated) in 1:00:33, or 8.9 minutes per mile. But those last 4 miles (roughly 6.4 kilometres) I was going at a pretty good clip.

I have hockey tomorrow night -- and that is very much like speed work in that you're into short bursts of all-out speed. And then maybe a couple of easy runs for the rest of the week. And then its showtime.

The weather on Sunday is currently forecast to be cool (1 or 2 degrees C as the high) with anywhere from 0 to 76% chance of precipitation, depending on who you believe. I'm good with that temperature. Definitely shorts weather and likely my orange Boston jacket or maybe my black Boston jacket that I can remove the sleeves from. As long as the wind isn't too strong, I should be okay.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Speed Work - Ladder from 1600 m. down to 800 m.

Coach John Ferguson, the Legend, had us doing our first mile "repeat" -- although we just did one of them. And then worked from the mile down to a half mile (800 m.) with each repeat separated by a 200 m. jog break lasting between 2 and 2.5 minutes. I set out to do something better than 52 second laps. Here are my splits:

1600 m.: 6:43 (50.375 / lap)
1400 m.: 5:56 (50.85 / lap)
1200 m.: 5:03 (50.5 / lap)
1000 m.: 4:14 (50.8 / lap)
800 m.: 3:19 (49.75 / lap)

Average per lap: 50.5 seconds.

On March 13, 2012 (still recovering from my hamstring injury), here were my splits a year ago:

8 laps: 7:01 (53 seconds per lap)
7 laps: 6:11 (53 seconds per lap)
6 laps: 5:28 (55 seconds per lap)
5 laps: 4:33 (55 seconds per lap)
4 laps: 3:37 (54 seconds per lap)

No question, again, that I've made progress. I felt strong all tonight, although there is no question that I was working to hit the target times.

Tonight's stats:
Total distance at speed: 6 km
Total distance including warm up, cool down and jog breaks: 8.6 km (in my purple Mizuno shoes)

Sunday, March 10, 2013

28.76K Long Run

Today was to be my longest training run before Around the Bay -- just shy of the 30K I'll do no race day. The goal was to take it easy for most of the run, but then ramp up to race pace for the final 4 miles. The run went reasonably well. Here are my splits:

5:17
5:27
5:17
5:16
5:16
5:20
5:26
5:40
5:32
5:26
5:16
5:21
5:21
5:25
5:29
5:19
5:34
5:33
5:27
5:33
5:36
5:33
5:16 (Started running back with Ali Meuse)
5:21
5:18
5:16
5:20
5:22
5:46 (760 m.)

Average: 5:24

With 6.76K to return back from the pump house in Springbank Park, Ali Meuse and I made the trek back. She said it would be sloooooowwww, but it was quite an acceptable speed, especially considering it was uphill most of the way. (That Terry Fox Parkway is like the hill that never ends!) We didn't push exceptionally hard, but it was hard enough that it felt like a good workout.

When we got back to Goodlife Fitness, though, I started puking. Nothing to puke, fortunately, but it didn't stop for about 5 minutes. A cup of water that Becky Mathews found for me definitely helped. This isn't a particularly wonderful thing to mention in my blog post, but I do so to remind myself to EAT SOMETHING on these longer runs. I'll have to get some of the running "chews" (sort of like gummy-bears, but not as sweet) for race day.

My hamstring didn't appear to be an issue. I tiny bit slower than Ali on the way up Terry Fox Parkway, but not terrible. I was definitely stiff later in the day (although a horseback ride did a good job of loosening me up a bit).

I do believe I built some muscle today. Standard workouts (hockey, speedwork, easy run, tempo run, pace run) for the rest of this week. A medium long-run (12 miles) on Sunday. And then a short 1 week taper.

Friday, March 8, 2013

Tempo Run - 12K out and back

Today, I stepped up my tempo run (that I should have done yesterday) by 2K over my previous one on Monday. I went 6K out and 6K back, targeting 5:10 per K on the way out, and 4:40 on the way back. Here are my splits:

5:07
5:02
5:01
5:04
5:02 (uphill)
5:01
{2 minute break}
4:32
4:30 (downhill)
4:35
4:41
4:39 (headwind)
4:48 (strong headwind)

Actually, there was a pretty brisk headwind all the way back. And I thought when I turned north for that last kilometre, I'd have more of a crosswind. But, instead, it turned into a heavier headwind.

Overall, my average was 4:50 per kilometre -- which is what I need to average for the first 20k of Around the Bay to give myself a chance when I hit the hills of Burlington, if I want to average 5 minute K's for the entire race.

16 days until the race!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Easy Run - 4 miles

Brian and I went out for a 4 mile (actually 6.75K) easy run today, followed by sufficient rehydration. We passed by the home of Peter Mastorakos, who just started up a wealth management firm called Ekaton (www.ekaton.ca). Average pace was 5:10 per k.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Speedwork: 5 x 1K Repeats

Tonight, coach John Ferguson, the Legend, had us doing 1 km repeats, with a 2 minute break between repeats. I went out hoping to get 6 repeats in, but I knew it would be tough. Here are my splits:

4:11
4:10
4:11
4:11
4:15

It took everything I had to get these 5 in at this pace. The last repeat I could see things were falling apart. I was aiming for 4:10 per km, so I was quite happy with the results. And all but the last lap were 4:10:nn -- but rounding up put 3 of them to 4:11. My average pace was 4:11.54, which compares to 4:20.4 a year ago, and 4:05 on August 16 2011, 3 months before I set my personal best marathon time.

So, again, there is progress in the recovery from my hamstring injury in November 2011. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer to being fully recovered.

Monday, March 4, 2013

10K Tempo Run - A bit better this time...

This afternoon I went out for another 10K tempo run. This one went much better than last week's, so I'm ready to ramp it up to 12K next time.

I was looking for 5:15's out, and then 4:35's back. But there was quite a headwind coming back, so I didn't quite make my target times. Here are my splits:

5:05
5:08
5:03
5:08
5:13 (uphill)
4:33 (downhill)
4:41
4:49
4:55 (strong headwind)
4:54 (strong wind from side)

Total time was 49:27 with an average pace of 4:57 per kilometre. So, not awful -- and 6 seconds per kilometre faster than last week. Would definitely be good if I could get it down to an average of 4:50 per k. 3 weeks to go until the race!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

10K Tempo Run...

While I've been pretty good at getting in my speed work and my long runs, I haven't done a single "tempo" run up until today. I went out from home thinking I'd do 5:15's per kilometre on the way out (generally uphill, towards Lucan on William Street) and 4:40s on the way back (generally downhill). Here are my splits:

5:12
5:16
5:11
5:17
5:22
4:34
4:52
4:44
4:47
5:59

So my average out was 5:16 (close enough) and my average back (4km) was 4:44. I should have been better coming back, as it was mostly downhill.

The last kilometre I used as a cool down run. There was a very strong wind coming from the north as I turned to do that last kilometre and there was no way I was going to hit anything close to my target time. My average over those first 9 kilometres was 5:03. If you include that last kilometre, it was 5:08.

No question that I have more work to do here.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

3 mile easy run on the treadmill

The weather has been really crappy the past few days, so I did an easy run on the "dreadmill" today. It actually wasn't that bad. I turned on a cassette tape of classic rock from the 70's and told myself I'd run for 30 minutes. I started at a pace of 6.0, then bumped it up to 7.0 and finished at 7.5 for the last half mile or so. I know the distance and speed needs to be calibrated, but I did 3.05 "miles" in the 30 minutes or 3 miles in 29:37. I was drenched in sweat and working hard, so it was a good workout even if the speeds/distances were off a bit.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Long run in Michigan - 16.6 miles

The girls and I went to Michigan this weekend, so I was going to miss my Sunday run with the Runner's Choice marathon training group. The schedule called for 18 miles, but my &^%$&*ing Garmin wouldn't pick up a satellite signal again. Very frustrating. So, instead, I went based on doing a 2 hour 30 minute run. I ran out from the Days Inn Hotel on Plymouth Road and (eventually) got onto the E.N. Hines Parkway.

The Parkway had only light traffic and wide shoulders, which was good because the trail that ran along beside the road was snow-covered in most places. Overall, I did 8:30 per mile to the turn-around point, and then somewhat slower on the way back, giving me an average pace of 8:49 per mile.

Here is the route:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5828952

So, not the distance or pace I would have liked, but considering I was running alone in a new place, it wasn't terrible.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Speed Work - Parloff Relay at Thompson Arena

Tonight we did a Parloff Relay at the track. This is where you team up with a partner and you each do 400 m. laps, passing the 'baton' (a pencil) to your team member after each 400 m. lap. My team member tonight was Glen and he was going to target 1:40 per 400 m. lap, but he ended up blowing that time out of the water. I was targeting 1:30 per lap and was very close to that time. Here are our splits:

1:30 (me)
1:33 (Glen)
1:31 (me)
1:31 (Glen)
1:29 (me)
1:32 (Glen)
1:29 (me)
1:31 (Glen)
1:29 (me)
1:30 (Glen)
1:29 (me)
1:31 (Glen)
1:31 (me)
1:32 (Glen)
1:31 (me)
1:31 (Glen)
1:28 (me)

My average was 1:29.53 which I was very happy with. It compares very well to last February (1:32.62) and last July (1:32.88) -- so I'm 3 seconds faster than a year ago. In July 2011 (before the hamstring injury), my times averaged (1:30:62) and after a summer of training I averaged 1:23 per lap on September 6 2011 -- two months before my personal best marathon. So I have quite a ways to go before I hit my personal best lap times, but I've definitely made progress over the past year.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

16 Mile Long Run from Ilderton to Goodlife...

While the rest of the Runners Choice group was running the Really Chilly 5K and 10K, Coach Brian and I decided to join the "fast guys" to run from Steve and Lisa Hill's place in Ilderton down to Goodlife -- but taking the "scenic route. Actually, Doug Roswell, Mike and Steve took off from the house, and then Lisa dropped Brian, Ryan Nutbrown and me at Denfield Road and Nine Mile Road. Here is the route:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5822566

Steve had gone out ahead of time and dropped off Gatorade, water and snacks along the route, which was great. I was running with Ryan Nutbrown and Coach Brian who are both much faster runners than I am, so they generally kept with me for the first 2/3's of the run until we got into Springbank Park and I told them to go on ahead. But even still, Steve, Doug, Ryan and Brian came back to get me as I was crossing the walkbridge to head up King Street, which was quite nice of them. I tried to step it up (a tiny bit) at the end.

My GPS wasn't getting a signal for some reason, so I could not track my pace. But I did track the times (to the nearest minute) when we stopped for hydration. Here are those times, distance (based on Gmap-Pedometer) and the calculated pace at the time:

45 minutes, 5.58 miles: 8:04 per mile
77 minutes, 9.62 miles: 8:00 per mile (and that is after about a 2 mile uphill segment after the Kilworth bridge)
132 minutes, 16.0 miles: 8:15 per mile

So I slowed down considerably through the park, unfortunately. Looks like my pace during that segment was 8:37.

It definitely helped having Ryan and Brian in my sights, so I must have lost that focus when they took off through the park. But overall, I am reasonably happy with the run today. It wasn't a race, so I wasn't trying that hard. And, in fact, I was somewhat surprised when I saw my pace overall in writing ths blog post. I was still able to breath well and talk in short sentences right up until the end of the run, so I think my cardio is there for Around the Bay. Its just my leg strength and leg endurance while running with an efficient running style that needs work.

With 5 more weeks to go until the race, I'm cautiously optimistic that I'm starting to get 'in the zone' to set a PB on this one. Just need to dig out 8 minute miles for 18.75 miles.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Speed Work - 600m (100m rest) 400m (400m rest)

Tonight we did speed work at the track at Thompson Arena at Western University in London. The Legendary John Ferguson had us doing 3 laps of the track (600 metres) at speed work pace, then a 100 m. jog break, then 2 laps of the track (400 metres) and then another 400 metres of jogging. Repeat 5 times. Here are my splits:

2:30 (50 second laps)
1:38 (49)
2:30 (50)
1:40 (50)
2:30 (50)
1:41 (51)
2:33 (52)
1:38 (49)
2:29 (50)
1:32 (46)

So, slightly less than 50 second laps overall.

Comparing it to a year ago, there is no doubt that I've made progress:

2:41 (54 second laps)
1:48 (54)
2:41 (54)
1:47 (54)
2:42 (54)
1:45 (53)
2:40 (53)
1:45 (53)
2:50 (57)
1:43 (52)

I felt strong at the end and could push hard, and yet recovered well. Very happy with tonight's results!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Long Run (26.9 kilometres)

Today we did a long run from Goodlife Fitness in downtown London, out to Southdale and Wickerson, and back. Lots of hills, which is good because at Around the Bay 30K race, there'll be about 8k of hills at the 18K mark. Here are my mile splits:

8:52
8:29
8:28
8:36
8:42
9:22
9:07
8:30
9:10
8:45
8:04
8:04
8:25
8:36
8:39
8:47
8:49
8:40 (pace, 3/4 mile)

Average overall was 8:40, which wasn't bad. I was particularly pleased that I was able to power up the hills in the middle without significant issues. The right leg still isn't as strong as the left due to the hamstring issue, but I can feel that it is getting stronger. Cap'n Bob Weir and I ran pretty much the whole run together and were able to speak in short sentences all the way, so we weren't significantly winded.

Temperature was minus 8 degrees C. with insignificant wind until the last 1.5 miles. Road conditions varied from dry to thin snow covered.

Overall, a good run!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Speed Work Ladder

Tonight we were at the Thompson Arena track with the Legendary John Ferguson, doing a "ladder" -- shorter distances (starting at 400 m.), ramping up to 1000 m and then back down to 400 m. Here are my splits:

400 m.: 1:39 (50 sec. lap)
600 m.: 2:27 (49 sec. lap)
800 m.: 3:18 (49 sec. lap)
1000 m.: 4:16 (52 sec. lap)
800 m.: 3:30 (52 sec. lap)
600 m.: 2:34 (52 sec. lap)
400 m.: 1:39 (50 sec. lap)

The average time per lap was 50.41 seconds (when I put everything into a spreadsheet).

Back in 2012 when we did this (not long after my hamstring injury) my times were:

400m: 1:50 (55 sec.)
600m: 2:40 (53 sec.)
800m: 3:31 (53 sec.)
1000m: 4:24 (53 sec.)
800m: 3:30 (53 sec.)
600m: 2:37 (52 sec.)
400m: 1:40 (50 sec.)

for an average time of just under 53 seconds.

And in 2010, we did a similar ladder (in the rain):

http://blog.brucelamb.com/2010/07/speed-work-ladder-in-rain.html

My paces were:

400m: 4:15/k (51)
600m: 4:15/k (51)
800m: 4:14/k (51)
1000m: 4:07/k (49)
800m: 4:07/k (49)
600m: 4:07/k (49)
400m: 3:40/k (44)

for an average lap pace of 49.28. So I'm just over 1 second slower per lap than I was able to achieve pre-hamstring injury back in 2010.

Definite progress!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Speed work - 5 to 7 repeats of 600 m.

We did speed work at Thompson Arena again tonight. Tonight's exercise was repeats of 600 m. with a 200 m. break between in between. Between the long run on Sunday, a hockey game on Monday and then the speed work tonight, my muscles were already fairly tight. By the time we were into our 3rd 600 m. repeat, my right hamstring and hip was very tight and sore. While my intent was to do 7 of the repeats at 2:30 each, I pulled the plug at 5 repeats. Here are my splits:

2:28
2:32
2:31
2:32
2:36

That last repeat took everything I had to make that time. With Cruise to Run coming up on the weekend, I didn't think it was a good time to injure myself, so pulling the plug seemed like the right thing to do.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

12.5 Mile Long Run Around London

I did a 12.5 mile long run today around London with the Around the Bay Marathon Training Group. Definitely made a difference being with he group as I don't think I would have finished the long run had I been out there on my own. Here is the route:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5245614

Not including breaks, it took me 1:51:48 to do this route. I didn't have my GPS so I don't have splits, but it worked out to 8:57 per mile. Considering that (a) it was a hilly route, (b) it was very windy (45 km/h winds), slippy and cold (-8 C) today and (c) it is still early in the training, I was reasonably happy with this pace.

My right hamstring definitely noticed the uphill segments -- I just didn't have any power. But what I lost in the uphill, I was generally able to make up in the downhill segments.

I gave blood on Friday, and I know that giving blood sorta screws up my running for a few days. So that could have also screwed up my time.

Anyhow, this gives me a benchmark for future long runs during this training session.

9 more weeks until Around the Bay!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

4.5 Mile Easy Run

Brian and I did a 4.5 mile easy run today in order to try to get some of the cobwebs out of our systems. Having done speed work the night before, we took it easy and just ran around Lucan. It was windy and cold, but bearable.

Our pace was roughly 8:40 per mile. My legs felt pretty beat-up, though, as I really didn't have a lot more than that pace in me.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Speed Work - 7 x 400 + 2 x 200 m.

Tonight was our first official speed work session of the 2013 Winter season. My goal race is Around the Bay -- 30K. John Ferguson had us doing 7 repeats of 400 m. followed by 2 repeats of 200 m. (with a 200 m. rest break in between each repeat) at the Thompson Arena track at Western.

I was targeting 1:40 per 400 m. and 45 seconds for the 200 m. loops at the end. Here are my splits:

1:30
1:38
1:40
1:39
1:40
1:35
1:31
0:43 (200 m.)
0:42 (200 m.)

As you can see, I started to ramp up the speed for the last few repeats. Compare these times to my times a year ago (2 months after my hamstring injury) and there is no question that I've almost fully recovered. In fact, I wouldn't say that my right hamstring was any more stressed during the last laps than other parts of my legs (right hip, left calf).

So far, training is off to a good start!