Going Long (again) in 2024

Okay, my first real hill workout.  I drove three miles up the road to park at a mall. From there, it's about a half mile to the bottom of a hill which forms part of the wall of the valley in which I live.

I jogged to the top and then ran down, repeating this five times.  The hill is just over 900 meters long, with two distinct sections.  The top portion is more gradual and is just over 400 meters long.  Then there is a flat section of about 100 meters.  Then a steep drop which is just under 400 meters long.  So, I ended up running about 3 miles of downhill.

Now I have to wait and see what I did to my quads.  My plan is to repeat this workout every Monday this month.  The Hamilton Marathon is relatively flat for the first 13 miles or so.  Then, the course drops 460 feet over 3 miles.  That makes it about a 3% grade.  Then the final 10 miles are relatively flat once again.

Everything I've read on downhill marathons is how critical it is to do downhill workouts - otherwise the quads get trashed.  So, we'll see how I handled today's workout and adjust my plans accordingly.  Right now, I feel great.

I ran this at a super easy pace (8:45/mile), following yesterday's hill work.  Surprisingly, I have NO pain issues at all ... I had expected my quads to feel the stress of those hills, but nothing.  Good!

A couple of things about the pace.  First, it's in the range of my Hanson's Marathon Training schedule for 'easy runs', and I really need to be aware of running those miles at the correct pace.  My tendency is to do them too fast.  So, I'm working on that now.

Second, it's the pace of a race in Collingwood in October that I'm going to be a "pace bunny" for in the Half Marathon.  I've always wanted to try pacing, and this is my chance.  For me, it will be a simple training run, but for others, hopefully, it will give them a chance to reach their goal.  I'm signed up for a 1:55 Half, corresponding to a pace of 8:47, which also corresponds to my easy running days.  So, lots of reasons to practice running at this pace on my easy days.

So, happy with the hills yesterday; my legs are tired today, but I'm ecstatic that my muscles seem to have handled them well.

Ran six Yasso 800's.  Aimed for 3:20 splits.  They came out at:

3:14  3:09  3:09  3:13  3:19  and  3:13.

So, faster than I meant to run.  I aimed for between 6 - 8 repeats.  Ended up at the six.  Had a 400 recovery between each one, except that I took 800 after the fifth split.  Legs were rubbery at that point, and I decided I had enough for today, so just finished off with some slow recovery miles.

Just an easy paced run.  Cold and strong wind out of the North.  And my allergies are pretty much at their worst these days, with all the Spring pollen coming at once.  So, a bit harder to breath with all the congestion.  

Another easy run, with a consistent 8:42 pace.  A beautiful morning; cool at first, with the sun just coming up.  No wind.  I love running on these kinds of mornings.

Wanted to run this at a tempo pace, to start interiorizing what my marathon pace (7:38 - I am thinking of going for a 3:20 marathon) should feel like.  Need to work on that ... my actual pace was 7:24, so a little too fast.

My mile splits were all pretty even at that pace, and I just could not seem to reign back, even as I tried.  With my initial warm up mile included, those 1st 6 miles came in at a 7:36 pace.  So, I'll have to keep working on this.

Health wise, my allergies are killing me!  My throat feels like someone rubbed it with 80 grit sandpaper, I'm full of phlegm and finding it hard to breathe, my sinuses are burning and my eyes are constantly tearing.  Oh joy.  On top of that, with the phlegm building, I coughed up a lung at mile 4.  When your iliopsoas is sore at the best of times, the last thing you want to do is cough.  Ouch.

The good news is, by marathon day on November 2nd, all the things causing me to react should be dead.

Down Hill session, same as last Monday.  Had planned on running 6 instead of 5 repeats this time.  However, I'm still struggling to breathe due to allergies and, after 4 repeats, decided it was best to stop while ahead.  Still, that's 2 miles worth of downhill work, so it will do the job.  

The good news is my allergies do seem to be letting up a bit - my lungs don't hurt as much.  More than anything else, what did me in this morning was a coughing fit while re-ascending the hill for the 3rd time.  Ouch!

7 easy miles, for a run of just over 1 hour.  My lungs are still not firing on all cylinders ... I'm pretty congested and it's hard to breathe, but maybe it's not as bad as the last couple of days.  Sure will be glad when allergy season is over!

7 easy miles (8:43 pace).  The good news:  I am breathing a little better today.  I slept a solid 7.5 hours.  I am still congested, but when I cough I am managing to keep my lungs where they belong.  Other symptoms seem to be fading away too, so I'm hoping I'll continue to see daily improvements from here on it.

At about mile 3.5, someone stopped and asked if I wanted a ride.  Nice - but I declined.  Wasn't even tempted.

I slept in until almost 6am, and I lingered a bit longer over a second cup of coffee, since I am not due at the office until a little bit later than usual today.  That meant I ran with a different group of commuters - gotta watch that.  Traffic is heavier at this time, and those cars pulling out from sidestreets really are not looking for pedestrians/runners.

7 easy miles in the rain.  The 1st really warm rain we've had, so I didn't mind it at all.  It started yesterday and continues today, and it's doing a great job of clearing the pollen from the air, so all is good.

I didn't go into any coughing fits on this run, and my lungs are not burning quite as much, so I do think I've turned the corner on the allergy front.

An easy run.  Lungs continue to improve - slowly.  Tomorrow I'll attempt a long run.

A nice day for a long run, although there was a cold north wind (48 F with 20 mph wind).  Miles 1, 12, 13 and 14 were into the wind.  Miles 5, 6, 7 and 9 had it at my back.

My long run pace when I start my Hanson's Marathon Training program next month is 8:18, so I aimed for that.  Did pretty good - ran 1:56:08 with an average pace of 8:17.

I took a Boom Energy Gel 15 minutes before I began, a Power Bar Gel Blast at miles 2, 4, 6 and 12, a Hammer Gel at mile 8 and 8 ounces of Honey Maxx at mile 10.  The rest was water.  Of course hydration was not a huge issue today, given the cold temperatures.

I'm pleased with my breathing - much easier than it has been all week.  However, when I finished, I had an extended coughing spell that really hurt my iliopsoas.  It hurts to cough!  Other than that, I'm pleased with the run today.

I have an obstacle course 'mud run' that I'm doing a week from today, and I'll be away at camp Monday - Friday, so even though I'll be running every day, I'll have to wait until I get home to record what I've done.

Ran my downhill repeats (x6), giving me about 3 miles total downhill - roughly the same as the Hamilton marathon.  No issues to report.  Raining hard for the 1st half, but then cleared.

Three runs in the beautiful Lake Huron town of Kincardine where I spent 5 days this week at a rental cottage with a friend. This is just a catch up report on my training there. I'm leaving in a few minutes to run the Sudbury Miner's Mahem - a local mud run/obstacle course at our ski hill, and thought I'd get these reports done 1st.

I ran Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday there, 8 miles each day along the waterfront road (Boiler Beach Rd.). At the 2 mile mark, there is an option to climb a steep hill and continue at the top through rolling hills in farmland, or to continue along the water.

On Wednesday, I just ran 4 miles out and back along the water. On Tuesday and Thursday I made the climb. Steep hill, 450 meters long. Slow going up and fast coming back down.

Anyway, all three runs were done at a relaxed pace overall. The weather was beautiful and there are no issues to report. Just a delightful change in scenery, with some hill work worked in too.

Now on to that obstacle course!

Comments made yesterday.

Comments made 2 days ago.

Okay, my results are posted. I didn't run with a watch, so am going with the "official" distance ... not certified.

This was my 1st "mud run" and was a LOT of fun. I started in the second wave. There were 13 waves of about 40 - 50 people spaced 5 minutes apart. The great news was my sister (new to running) was in my wave.

I decided to just enjoy the experience, so didn't race hard. There were 532 runners, with 459 finishers. Each runner put themselves in a category of their own choice: Hard Core Miner (will race it hard), Light Duty Miner (good shape, but not crazy) and Weekend Warrior (goal is just to finish it). I put myself in the "Hard Core Miner" group, of which there were 63 of us. I placed 18th in that group, and 26th overall with the open field. My official pace was clocked at 6:07/km.

Anyway, there were about 14 obstacles (called Mayhem) over this 6.5 km course. Crawling through mud under ropes, over tires and logs, scaling walls with ropes, being sprayed with water along the way, slides ... you get the picture. VERY steep climbs - it was basically up and down the local ski hill, over and over and over again. Very rough in places - ruts and such - so you had to be careful with your footing.

As I said, a lot of fun. Everyone who finished got a miner's hard hat instead of a medal. Cool. My right knee was a little 'off' - likely due to the downhills I did this week - and so I was very careful on the steep and rough downhill portions of the course.

It was a beautiful morning for this, and the hose down at the end felt great!

I'm going to take tomorrow and Monday off from running, and then ride my motorcycle to Grimsby on Tuesday - a 6 hour ride. I'm running a 10 km there that night, and am aiming to PR it. We'll see.

Just an easy three miles, as I wanted to see how my muscles were doing after Saturday's mud run. A little sluggish, but no problems. 10 km race in Grimsby tomorrow night.

Okay, my report ... the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The bad is I did not beat my PR.  In fact, I was 106 seconds slower than my PR in Collingwood last October, and 47 seconds slower than my 10 km race in Hamilton last November.  My time of 45:23 gave me an average pace of 7:19/mile, which was a lot slower than even my Half Marathon 5 weeks ago.  So that sucks.

Now the ugly - which is my self evaluation of the whole event.  Okay, maybe it's also my justification for my bad performance, but it's my blog so I'll write it anyway!  It helps me to put it in perspective.

First off, I have to admit that I was not fully recovered from that "Mud Run" (Sudbury Miner's Mayhem) on Saturday.  Even though I did not run on Sunday, I knew from my short Monday run that my legs were beat up.  My calves were sore, as were my arms and my lower back.  On Tuesday night, my calves were still sore (but I don't think they factored in to my slower pace).

Secondly, the 5 hour ride on my motorcycle did not do me any favours.  It poured rain most of the time and I was tired going into the race.  Now, I did nap for an hour ahead of time, and I tried to eat sensibly.  But this was my first ever evening run (race started at 7:30pm) and so it was new territory for me.

Third, my back was sore!  I think it was still due to the mud race, but I couldn't even touch my toes.  Putting on my shoes was rough.  It didn't seem to affect me while running, but ouch!

Fifth, the heat.  It was hot (for me).  More on that below.

Sixth, on top of all that, I paced myself like an inexperience runner.  I know better than that!  I was out way too fast, and I paid for it.  My splits should have been an even 4:15/km or 6:50/mile (my goal was to finish in 42:30, or 67 seconds off my PR).  This is what they ended up being:

4:03 (6:31), 4:06 (6:36), 4:02 (6:30),  4:27 (7:09)  4:52 (7:50)  4:50 (7:47) 4:46 (7:40)  4:52 (7:50)  4:33 (7:20)  4:34 (7:20).

Okay, the details.

After the 5 hour ride in the rain, I checked in, dried out, and then went next door to a Tim Horton's for a coffee and 2 bagels.  It was 4pm, so more than 3 hours before race time.  Then I returned to my hotel and napped for 1 hour (or tried to).  Then up to change and off to the starting line.  The 1 km kids run was starting when I got there.   I picked up my kit, checked my bag, and did some light running around the area.  The 5 km race started at 7pm, so I watched that.  At 7:15pm, it started to rain hard.  

The temperature was 28C or 82F.  For me, that's hot!  It did drop to 22C or 71F by the time I finished, but by then the humidity was close to 100%.  

The race started right on time.  I was out too fast, and I knew it.  Tried to slow down, but didn't do a great job of it.  The route seemed to be following much the same streets as the Half Marathon I ran in February.  There are hills, and I'm hoping one particular hill is not a part of this course (there was no elevation profile provided).

Well, hills.  I know we end the same place we started, so overall it's even.  I have an advantage going downhill (due to my training), but not on the uphills.  What goes down, must go up.  And those hills wreaked havoc on my legs.  In that heat, I could feel the energy draining quickly.  By the fourth kilometer, I pretty much knew that I didn't have a PR in me for this race.

By the half way point, I was really hoping for rain.  It didn't happen.  I was sweating really heavily, and I was drinking at every water station.  There was lightening, but no thunder - nothing close.  There had been tornados earlier in the day a couple hours drive away, but the rain held off during this race.

Then, the big hill I remember from the Half.  It was tough during the half, but at least then I was just going easy.  Here, I was pushing, or trying too.  It's only about 200 meters long, but pretty steep.  Really does a number on the legs.

I decided then to just try to push a steady pace and not to give in.  I knew, after one attempt at running faster, that I just did not have the legs for it.  So, I finished the best I was able this day.

When I finished, I was really over heated.  I was happy for a children's water park on site, as I stood beneath a shower to cool down.  Took in a lot of water, and took me longer than usual to recover.

Had to ride back to my hotel (just 5 minutes away) in a light rain, wet, and now feeling cold.  Took a hot shower and collapsed into bed.  But I didn't sleep much, as my lower back was worse and it ached all night.

In terms of my performance, in hind sight, I could not PR this race.  I was just too tired going into it, after my run on Saturday.  I don't think my sore muscles played much of a factor.  And I was never really winded at any point during the race.  I just had jelly legs throughout and they would not respond to me no matter how much I tried.

So, the take away:

Pace yourself!  I would have done a LOT better with a pace bunny.

Rest.  Obvious, of course, and I will certainly follow the tapering guidelines leading up to my Fall marathon (in COOL weather!).

I'm glad I went, as it was a good experience, a well organized race, and lots of good vibes from all the runners.  There were 328 running the 10k ... 150 men and 178 women.  I placed 42nd overall, 6th out of 20 in my age division, and 38th out of the 150 men.

Oh, and the good is my report from the next day.  On to that now.

Okay, I didn't ride 5 hours just to run a 10k race.  I also wanted to check out a part of the route for my Fall marathon.  There is a trail section that I can't view on Google Maps, can't drive on, and have heard some warnings about.  So, today I ran it.

It took me some doing to find it, but once I did, I ran it.  Basically, the first half of the marathon is relatively flat, or at least rolling hills through farm land.  I drove that this winter.  Then, it goes down a major highway --- 460 feet downhill over 3 miles.  I also drove that.  That's where I picked it up today.

At the bottom of the hill, we will run up a ramp, cross over the highway, and then enter a small wooded section of trail.  It's mostly downhill, but has a couple of steep uphills as well.  I'm glad I ran it today, as it will help me to visualize the course while training.  One blog I read expressed concern about one downhill section of it that is messy.  That was a major factor in me wanting to run it today.  It turns out that, although a bit tricky (uses cinder blocks on the hill for erosion control), I'm not overly concerned about it.  

Once the trail ends, we are at Lake Ontario and the rest of the course follows a paved road/trail along the lake to the finish line.  I also ran a part of this.  It's mainly flat and in good condition.

I ran this easy, at an average pace of 9:03/mile.  The 7th mile I ran at my marathon pace, just because.  Although my back was still tight, it felt good to run today.  No issues following the previous day's race, but there shouldn't have been, since my pace was not terribly fast anyway.

Took a rest day yesterday.  Today ran easy - 8:42 pace.  Lower back is feeling a bit better, but still not 100%.  I'm convinced I hurt it during the Miner's Mayhem, as running doesn't seem to bother it.  Another couple of days and it should be normal.

Now, at mile 2 today, my left hamstrings really tightened up for some reason.  Just came on out of the blue.  Stayed really tight until mile 6, and then began to loosen up a bit.  I'll have to do some foam rolling over the next few days - racing and then travelling immediately after did not leave me time to do that.

I have not been able to decide if I should run long tomorrow.  I think I won't.  I do have a 5k race on Tuesday, and my official marathon program starts on Wednesday.  I think my best option is to keep my mileage in the low to mid 30 mile range this week and launch into my program rested.

Oh, we are finally into summer temperatures here!  Running is pleasant in the early mornings at 18C/65F, and the highs are hitting 30C/86F.  

Okay Tom, your vote won ... I went with the shorter run today.  Lower back is still not 100%, and that left hamstring is still knotted.  So, just took it easy to see if I could loosen things up a bit.  Been doing a lot of stretching, which I'll continue ... no running for 2 days, and then the 5k Tuesday night and then my marathon training begins.