Going Long (again) in 2024

6 mile tempo run today, plus 3 miles to warm up and cool down.  Average pace was 7:52/mile.  That's a tad faster than what I'm planning on running in Chicago, but close enough to please me, especially since it did not feel at all difficult.

It was only 11C/50F, and was raining lightly, and so did not feel bad, even with the elevated humidity.

6 easy miles today at a 9:02/mile pace.  No aches or pains or any other issues.  I had a massage for one hour on Monday, and she really worked hard on my legs - especially my IT band.  Felt great afterwards, and still does.

Cool morning though - just 6C/43F - although the sky is clear and the sun was nice and bright as it rose.  Canada Day was yesterday, and I stayed up later than usual to watch the fireworks.  Hopefully will catch a few winks later today.

8 easy miles at a pace of 8:53/mile.  A bit faster than I intended, but it felt easy the whole time.

Just 11C/51F, and with  no wind it made for a good  run.

8 easy miles; 9:10/mile pace.  Clear and cool morning - great for running.  13C/55F.

End of week four - 14 to go until Chicago!

7 easy miles; 9:07 pace.  Another gorgeous sunrise as I ran west into it.  13C/55F with no wind - another perfect morning for running.

My Monday speedwork session - 5 x 1000 with 400 recoveries.  Goal pace was 4:18/1000, and I decided to go a few seconds faster.

My splits were:  4:16  4:12  4:15  4:14  and  4:16.  So, bang on what I set for my goal.

6am early morning start, and it could not have been better.  Temperature was 13C/56F and there was no wind.  Humidity was recorded at 95%, but it was cool enough that it wasn't a factor.

All the splits went well.  The only potential issue is my left hip, which started to ache on the third split.  I'm not sure if it is the IT band, or if my bursitis has returned.  This is about the same place in the program where the bursitis hit me last year.  I'll monitor it closely.  I now know from experience that a cortisone shot is very effective, very quickly for the bursitis.  The only problem is getting it in a timely manner.  It took 3 weeks last year to arrange the appointment.  For sure I'll aim to move on it quicker this year.  Hopefully, unlike last year, it won't mean having to miss some training sessions.

Six miles at tempo pace; 7:49/mile, with 3 miles warm up/cool down.

Cool morning - should have worn gloves as my hands went numb.  Just 8C/46F - pretty cold for July.  But there was no wind, and the rising sun against the blue sky was beautiful.  There was fog down by the Vermillion River section, so those 3 miles were kind of shrouded, but in an attractive sort of way.

No pain issues - this run felt great in every way.

7 easy miles today; 9:06 pace.  Another beautiful morning - a bit warmer than the other day.  14C/57F with no wind.  All is good.  No aches or pains after yesterday's tempo run.

6 easy miles; 9:10 pace.  Getting warmer, finally.  Still, only 13C/56F - but great for running.  Another gorgeous sunrise.

Glad I'm an early morning runner - today will be our first 'hot' day in a very long time.  Going up to 30C/86F.  Finally.  My long run was early enough that it was only 15 - 18C/59 - 64F.  

Anyway, I ran the 1st 9 miles at an 8:32 pace and then picked it up for the final three miles:  8:00/7:39/7:29.

Everything felt fine throughout.  So, that's the end of week 5.  Thirteen weeks to go to Chicago!

6 very easy miles; 9:21 pace.  Stunning sunrise this morning through the haze.

Speedwork at the track this morning.  Scheduled for 4 x 1200 repeats at 5:12/split.  Ran actual splits in:  5:07  5:07  5:05  and  5:05.

Everything feels great.  This is pretty much the point in my training last summer where the injuries started to sideline me.  Of course, I decided to run 7 days/week last summer, which turned out to be a mistake.  I've also taken my speed down a notch this training cycle, and that seems to be helping.  We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.

I'm heading out of town for a funeral today, so will do Wednesday's speedwork 'on the road' and report it when I get home Wednesday night.

10 miles this morning in central "Lakes everywhere" Ontario.  My family is renting a cottage there for the week, and I was visiting (cut short, as I had to come home for a couple of funerals).

No matter.  I ran 7 of the 10 miles at tempo pace, which was a bit faster than my race pace.  So, averaged 7:42/mile.  Felt great, and always nice to run in a different place.  Rode my bike there and home, so I had a blast!

7 super easy miles; 9:11 pace.  

I'm tweaking my schedule a little bit this week so as to run a Half Marathon with my sister on Sunday.  It's her 1st one, and I decided to run beside her.  The pace will be much slower than what I normally run, but the mileage will be more than double what I'm scheduled for Sunday.

So, I added a mile today.  I'll run my scheduled 10 tomorrow.  And I'll cut down from 8 to 5 on Saturday.  Somehow, it will all balance out.  I hope.

10 easy miles; 9:13 pace.  

This will be an unusual race report, because it is more about my youngest sister - Cindy - who ran her 1st Half Marathon this morning.  I'm SO proud of her!  She made the decision to get herself into shape a couple of years ago, and has utterly transformed herself.  About a year and a half ago, she started to run.  Last year, I ran a mud run with her, and then her 1st 5k.  She ran her 1st 10k this year in May, and today her first Half.

The Massey course is flat and scenic, run along the Spanish River.  It started at 6:15 this morning, with temperatures at 17C/63F, and 99% humidity.  It gradually warmed up to 20C/69F by the end of the race, with humidity staying in the mid 90% range.

She knew I'd be running with her.  What she didn't know was that I'd be running beside her while holding a sign on a stick which read:  "Her 1st Half Marathon - Go Cindy Go!" with an arrow pointing down to her :)  Boy, she got LOTS of encouragement (by name) along the way from the other runners and from the volunteers at the aid stations.  It was great!

We both crossed the finish line in 2:28:14.  So, this was a very slow training run for me.  I'm going to have to make a few adjustments to my own training plan this week.  Although not a tough race, I was still on my feet for 2 1/2 hours, so I'm treating it as a long run and taking tomorrow off instead of running my repeats at the track (will move that to Tuesday).

But back to Cindy.  She did not have a specific pace in mind, but generally wanted to finish somewhere between 2:15 and 2:35.  And she did not want me to pace her, so I just let her choose the pace and ran next to her.  

She started off a bit too fast, as all of us tend to do, and it cost her later on.  She had to make one porta potty stop (I did too), and she really struggled over the final 3 miles, and had to walk off and on.  She was feeling nauseous at that point, and wasn't sure if she was going to be sick.  But she toughed it out, and ran the final half mile and a bit.

Her mile splits (she was running them in km, but I was measuring in miles):

1 - 10:04     2 - 9:41     3 - 10:31     4 - 10:34     5 - 11:03     6 - 10:37     7 - 10:58

8 - 10:55     9 - 11:18     10 - 11:30     11 - 12:00     12 - 12:52     13 - 11:33

Final .1 - 2:08.    Overall Average = 11:01/mile.

My watch automatically stopped timing at her bathroom break, and so my time shows her running the race in 2:25:42 (and she had to wait a minute for the porta potty to be available).   So, she lost 2 1/2 minutes there.

Overall, I think she did great.  And I have a sneaking suspicion that she will not only keep running, but that a full marathon might be on her agenda at some future date.  

Go Cindy Go!!!  :)

Speedwork at the track today.  I'm glad I moved it from yesterday, as I needed that day off after the Sunday Half.

Last year, this is the workout where it all fell apart.  Injuries - time off from training - spin bike - etc.  Not this year.  I nailed it and I feel great!

Today's workout was a progressive step.  7 sets consisting of 400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400.  My pace is set at a 7 minute/mile.

I ran my splits slightly faster than pace, and felt strong at the end of each one, so I'm pumped.  My splits:

400 - 1:44     800 - 3:25     1200 - 5:07     1600 - 6:44     1200 - 5:02     800 - 3:21     400 - 1:38

So, I actually ran faster towards the end.  All seems well - a few minor aches I'm watching, but just normal stuff.  Nothing that would indicate overtraining, overstress, or impending doom.  So all is good one third of the way through my training program.

Since I moved my speedwork to today, I'll run easy tomorrow and run my tempo workout on Thursday instead.

7 easy miles; 8:56 pace.  Felt good - no lingering effects from yesterday's track work.  A gorgeous morning, and just 12C/53F.  Perfect for running.

Tempo run; pace of 7:47/mile.  A bit faster than goal pace, so I'll have to tone it down a bit going forward.  Still, I felt strong throughout - sure didn't feel like I was pushing it.

Started to practice eating on the run today.  A jelly bean every km, which mimics my marathon plan of a chew every km.  Just to get in the habit, and to get my stomach used to the carbs while at race pace.

8 easy miles; 9:17/mile pace.  Beautiful morning for running - 15C/59F with no wind or humidity.

14 mile long run.  Nailed my goal pace at 8:33/mile for the 1st 11 miles, with no more than 2 seconds variation up and down from that.  I'm getting better at pacing myself, it seems.

Then did the "1-2-3 go" technique and opened it up a bit for the final 3 miles, and ran those in 7:38, 7:33 and 7:13.

I felt strong throughout.  It was warm (for me) at 18C/65F and with humidity at 95%, but there was a gentle breeze which felt good on the face.

Five minutes after getting home, the skies opened up and it is now raining quite hard, so I just missed that.

6 super easy miles; 9:20/mile pace. 

Speedwork at the track this morning.  3 x 1600.  I ran my three splits as follows:

6:49  6:41  and  6:44.  My training program called for 7:00/miles, but I've been upping the pace of my workouts a little, so I'm very happy with the splits and how I felt running them.

I never even ran this workout last year due to injuries, so I'm doubly happy with today's workout.

It's going to be a hot one today!  Going up to 31C/88F today.  It was 19C/66F during the run, with no wind, so I'm glad I ran early today.

Tempo run today.  7 miles at 7:40/mile average.  That's a bit faster than I wanted; I was aiming for the 7:45 - 7:49/mile range.  The last 2 miles pulled down the average, as I ran them at 7:35 and 7:32.  The other splits were actually pretty close to my goal.

Hot running, at least for me.  22C/72F.  Still, the pace felt comfortable throughout.  I never felt like I was pushing it.

Looking at my training times, more and more I'm thinking of joining the 3:25 pace group in Chicago, rather than the 3:30 group.  As long as I remain injury free, and the conditions in Chicago are right, there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to shave a few minutes off my PR from last fall.

6 miles easy; 9:02/mile pace.  A bit cooler today - just 16C/61F.

10 easy miles; 9:05/mile pace.  Again, a beautiful cool morning.  Clear sky.  No wind.  Just 13C/56F.  Best of all - no pain and no sign of injury anywhere!