Going Long (again) in 2024

Tempo Workout today ---- 9 miles at race pace (I'm aiming for 7:45/mile).  Since my tendency is to go out too fast, I decided to intentionally start slow and then to speed up.  My splits were:

7:57  7:45  7:46  7:41  7:32  7:46  7:42  7:43  and  7:38.

So, basically according to plan, except for a too fast mile 5.  I know I'll have to watch that during the marathon, as it would cost me later on.  My average pace was 7:45 for the workout, as planned.  I'll run an easy workout tomorrow, take Friday off, and then I'm pacing a half marathon on Saturday - my first time pacing.

7 easy paced miles.

This was my chance to give back - my 1st experience as a pacer.  I had a lot of fun.  I was scheduled to run 10 miles today, so I adjusted my other training runs this week to give me the same weekly mileage, but allow me to run 13 miles today.

I drove to Collingwood Friday.  Collingwood is a 4 hour drive from my home.  Unfortunately, came across an accident scene with a fatality.  No emergency services had yet arrived.  Sad.

Stayed at a motel just a few minutes from the starting line.  I ran the inaugural Collingwood race last year (10km) and that was a PB for that distance for me.

The day started with rain and very cold wind.  Temperature was 10C or 50F, but the wind just cut through your clothes.  I kept a wind breaker on right until the start (ran in shorts and short sleeves, which ended up being a good choice, as the wind broke eventually and it warmed up a bit).  The sun even came out at the end.

So, I decided to play the part of the pace bunny.  Wore bunny ears.  They blew off at the 9.5 km marker, but someone picked them up and gave them back to me at the finish line.  I also drew a bunny face on my face (cute, I was told) and of course I carried the 1:55 sign.  In fact, it turned out that I was the ONLY pacer today.  Nobody else.  Last year there were more.  But it sure drew a lot of attention to me, which I enjoyed.

I was surprised, actually, at how many people used me to pace.  Good feeling.  To finish in 1:55, I had to run 5:27/km splits.  Although I've been training in miles, I decided to go with the km's today, since the course was marked only that way.  That pace works out to running around 8:46/mile, which is at the fast end of my 'easy pace' training runs.

Since I knew my GPS would show the distance differently, I decided to aim for a pace of 5:25/km.  Basically, it was impossible for me to run the tangents, as I had a crowd of runners around me the whole time, and they took the inside track on the turns.  By kilometer 6, I was already about 25 seconds 'off' in my distance.  I counted the seconds between the markers and my GPS every Kilometer, did the math in my head, and figured out where I was.  For most of the race, I was about 30 or so seconds ahead of goal pace, which I figured was pretty good.

The course is fairly flat.  Almost half of it runs in one very long straight stretch, which was tough for a few reasons:  6 miles in one direction, into the wind, and with one very significant hill (up).  That's where my bunny ears blew off.

I ran steady throughout, did not stop for any water along the way, and only made a few pacing mistakes (had to really resist the urge to speed up at the end!).

This pace was REALLY easy for me.  I could easily have run the course again (for a 3:50 marathon).  But I WAS sore in all those places that have been sore for my training, and the 4 hour drive home afterwards didn't help that.  Oh well.

Now, my actual splits were:

5:18 (oops, too fast - slow down!)

5:25 (better)     5:22     5:28     5:21     5:30     5:25     5:14     5:24     5:22     5:20     5:18     5:21     5:28     5:25     5:29     5:29     5:07 (drat, slow down)     5:15     5:31     and     5:33  

for a finish time of 1:54:14, just 46 seconds faster than my pace time, which I believe is within the bounds of what is acceptable.  Hey, for a 1st time, I happy.

I know at least 3 runners who ran a PB (told me) and had used me for that purpose.  I also ALMOST had a free trip to Las Vegas (don't think the runners behind me knew I could hear them talking about me!).  Apparently, I was cute and they wanted to take me with them.  Too bad they couldn't keep up.  ;)

So, pacing experience aside, I am now just 4 weeks away from the Hamilton Marathon.  My only concern is my hips/glutes/hamstrings, but if they don't get any worse, I can run through that pain right now.  This coming week, starting tomorrow, is my longest training week.  Then I can start to taper.

9 miles at the slower end of my easy range (9:16/mile).  No lingering effects from yesterday's half marathon in Collingwood.

Strength workout today.  Three 2 mile repeats at a time of between 15:00 and 15:20 with 800m recovery between.

Actual repeats were:  14:37  14:42  and  14:51, so faster than I wanted to go - still my challenge --- to run on pace.

Legs felt a little heavy, so I'm looking forward to my rest day tomorrow in preparation for my 10 mile Tempo Run on Wednesday.

What a disaster of a run!

Was meant to be a 10 mile tempo run (at race pace).

Unfortunately, it all fell apart after mile 6.  Literally - it felt like someone threw a switch and my legs got instantly "old".  I'm not sure what happened.  I was eating a chew every 5 minutes and took a gel at mile 6.  Right then, it all fell apart for some reason.

My goal pace is 4:50/km.  My 1st 10 km splits were:

4:49  4:49  4:54  5:03  4:59  5:05  4:52  4:51  4:49  4:49  

The ones closer to 5 minutes I was not too worried about, as they were on a pot holed road I rarely run on, and it was quite dark, and so I slowed a bit to be safe.

Then my last 6 km splits:   5:36  5:17  6:02  5:52  6:03  6:28

I had absolutely NO energy.  Tried to push - my legs just would not respond.  I am not impressed.

The sore body parts are no worse than before (maybe the piriformis is a bit worse), so I really don't know what is going on today.  

Just a miserable run.  

Scheduled for 7 miles - ran an extra 1.5 - all at an easy 9:05/mile pace.

No lingering effects from yesterday's odd run.  Right iliopsoas (I think that's what it is) was sore the entire run.  Left iliopsoas is no longer an issue at all, and I'm hoping the right side goes away soon too.

8 miles at 9:13 pace.

I can see that it's my right groin (iliopsoas?) that is my biggest challenge at this point.  It hurt throughout the entire run.

Tomorrow's long run will tell the tale.

My final long run - and I nailed it!

Perfect conditions - maybe a little cold.  Temperature was 2C/35F, with very little wind.  It started off mostly clear, but clouded over and rained steady for a while, and then cleared again.

Instead of tackling that one insanely steep hill at the 9 mile mark, I decided to turn around at the bottom and take a different route home.

My running time was 2:10:51 for an average pace of 8:10/mile.  It was 8:16/mile for most of it, but I picked up the pace for the last few miles.

My splits:  8:28  8:12  8:03  8:16  8:19  8:23  8:18  8:14  8:19  8:19  8:09  8:25  8:00  7:50  7:47  and  7:43.

Physically, my right side issues faded as the run progressed.  I don't know if that's because they actually warmed up, or if they were just numb at that point.  I have ice on them now.

As far as nutrition goes, I followed my race plan:  one chew every km and one gel every 6 miles.  Water only for hydration.  It seems to be working well.  It gives me about 70 grams of carbs/hour.  My stomach seems to be handling it, with only some minor complaints along the way, so that is my race day plan.  I have my GPS watch set up to beep every km (eat a chew), but I'm marking my pace in miles, as I find that easier for some reason.

So, just 2 more strength runs and 2 more tempo runs to go.  The rest are easy paced runs.  This was also my longest mileage week at 66 miles - so now the taper will begin.

6 very easy miles at a 9:22 pace - intentionally slow after yesterday's long run.

One new sore spot -  my left calf muscle (soleus?) felt either tight or sore half way through the run and got progressively worse.  Just enough to be annoying - and of course there is a concern that it is the prelude to an injury.

So, icing it now and I'll stretch it throughout the day.  If necessary, I'll cancel my strength paced workout tomorrow if it's not better.

Nice day for running:  3C/37F, no wind, and mostly clear.  It's Thanksgiving Monday in Canada, so I decided to linger a bit in the morning and run in daylight for a nice change.  No traffic at all, which was nice.  And several other runners out too, which I rarely see in the early morning.

Today's strength workout was to be 4 repeats of 1.5 miles each with 800m recovery jogs.  Pace is supposed to be 10 seconds faster than race pace, so around 7:35/mile.

My actual splits were run at:  7:25  7:21  7:27  and  7:22.  So, as previous runs have been - TOO FAST!  I really need to reign that in.

Now, that left calf.  I stretched it all I could yesterday and again this morning.  After my second split, it was really tight, so I stopped and stretched it out again.  Then, after my 3rd split, the same thing.  However, it was fine after my final split, so that is good.  I hope that means I am doing the right thing, and that it just needs a lot of stretching.  My final pre-race massage is one week from today, so that should help too.  I'm doing a lot of self-massage in the meantime, with the foam roller and the stick.  Ouch.

So, I have tomorrow off and then a 10 mile race pace on Wednesday.

A great tempo run in lousy conditions - just what I needed after last week's disaster of a tempo run.

It was dark and rainy - at times quite hard.  However, it was warm enough to run in shorts and tee, and with no gloves.

I figured I'd negative split this workout, starting around 8:00/mile and picking it up as I went.  I was nervous because I fell apart at mile 6 last week, and that sure was on my mind.  And because it was so dark, I really couldn't see my GPS except when I ran under a street light.   I also decided to do a double out and back on one section in order to avoid the 1 mile section of pot holes and blackness.  I'm glad I did.

The run went according to plan, and I felt strong throughout.  My splits were:

7:57  7:51  7:57  7:42  7:42  7:37  7:45  7:41  7:41  and  7:49 = 7:46 average.

So, I nailed it.  A great confidence booster this close to the marathon, with only one strength and one tempo run remaining.

Physically, my left calf was not sore at all during the run.  I spent a LOT of time on it yesterday.  I'll have to continue, as it's still way too tight and sore to the touch.  My right periformis hurt quite a bit at the start, but was reduced to a dull ache or a pinch by the half way point.  My right groin was not an issue until the last mile, and it REALLY screamed at me during my 1 mile cool down and then when I was finished.

It's actually about 5 hours now since I ran and nothing is sore - just a little stiff in places and a little achy.  Just easy runs now for the next 4 days.

Easy recovery at 9:22/mile.

10 easy miles on the treadmill.  Was all set to go out, but it was raining REALLY hard, and has been for 3 days.  Everything is saturated, there are huge puddles, and it was pitch black out.  I figured it was too unsafe to run outside today, so the treadmill.

10 easy miles in lousy conditions.  Only 1C/34F, with a very strong North wind.  Started off with rain, and then in turned to snow.  Had to dodge a lot of puddles from all the rain we've had.

Anyway, ran a 9:12/mile pace.  Just 2 weeks until Marathon Day!

An easy 8 at a 9:02/mile pace.  Colder today than yesterday, but no rain/snow, and the wind was a lot lighter, so not so rough of a run.

My last 'strength' session.  Was scheduled for 6 x 1 mile repeats at around 7:35/mile pace with 400 recoveries.  Actually repeats were:  7:27  7:22  7:17  7:29  7:15  and  7:15.  So, as per usual, a bit too fast.  But I felt strong throughout.

Weather was not as miserable as previous days.  Still cool at 3C/38F and a steady mist like rain - so I got pretty soaked.  But no wind.

Just one more tempo run on Wednesday, and then it's all easy running until November 2nd.

My final tempo session.  10 miles at race pace.  Ran an average pace of 7:47/mile.  My splits were:  7:49  7:56  7:52  7:48  7:46  7:39  7:50  7:50  7:40  and  7:37.

Cold! -1C/31F.  A bit of a North wind too.  I started to run with a head lamp - made a big difference for visibility.  Almost all of my run is done now in the dark.

Now my taper begins.

7 easy recovery miles at a pace of 9:22/mile.

8 miles at an easy pace of 9:05.  Cold morning at -4C/26F, but no wind and it was actually good for running.

Still some tightness at the back of my leg, behind the left knee.  Will continue to stretch it out and ice it.

7 easy miles in a light rain - pace of 9:12/mile.

6 easy paced miles at 9:08/mile.

5 easy miles at a pace of 8:50/mile.

6 easy miles.  Pace of 9:14.

Six easy miles; 9:04 pace.

Am scheduled for 6 again tomorrow, but I think I may skip that run and rest  --- tomorrow is my travel day, and also they are calling for the 1st big snow storm of the season.  Also, it will give me a bit more healing time.

Right now, I feel confident.  Two lingering injuries for me:  My right butt (piriformis) and my left back of the knee (likely hamstring).  The piriformis I seem to be able to run through, as it has been around for quite a few weeks and does not seem to be getting any worse.  That left knee is fairly new, and I don't know what it will do over 26 miles.  While the piriformis seems to fade the longer I run, the hamstring/knee starts to nag around mile 4 and does not fade.

So, I think the extra day of rest will help.  The prediction for Sunday is for clear skies and cold: -2C/28F to start, with a high of 5C/41F.  I'm hoping for no wind.

I won't be home again until Wednesday, and so will give the race report at that time.