Going Long (again) in 2024

Started off easy and ran the last couple of miles at Tempo pace.  Ended up averaging 8:19 pace over the 6 miles.  Fridays will be my Tempo day, starting in a few weeks, and I wanted a sense of how it feels.

After 10 days, that groin ache is still there, but noticeable better.  I'm running the local Santa Shuffle tomorrow morning, and will have to resist the urge to run it hard.  I'm doing it mostly because my sister and nephew are running it, and it's way cool that my nephew has started to run.

Wanted to run 8 miles today, but had also signed up for the 5k Santa Shuffle.  So, I ran 5 miles easy on one of my regular routes, at a pace of 8:57.  It started to snow pretty hard and was accumulating on the ground - all the previous snowfall had melted.

Then I jumped in my truck and drove the 15 minutes into town for the race.  No snow at all there.  My sister and her son were in it - his first timed event.  A number of other people also that I knew - nice to run locally every so often.

Anyway, my plan was to run it easy.  Maybe even with my sister and nephew.  Oh, but I was SO cold when I got there.  Was a bit wet from my previous run, and the cold wind was cutting right through me.

At the start, I hung back with the slower runners.  But then my sister wished my nephew 'good luck' and ran ahead.  And when I saw he was running about a 10 minute/mile pace, I decided that was too slow and so caught up to my sister to run with her.  But then came the downhills, and I just let gravity take over.  And after that, I decided to just run.  Not 5k hard, but a lot harder than I planned.  So, for that final 1k uphill, I had some gas in the tank and finished quite strong.

Ran mile splits of:  7:46  6:55  and  7:17.  With the little extra at the end to reach 5k, my time was 22:25.  Certainly not blistering speed, but still faster than I had planned.  The good news of it all, however, is that my groin strain seems none the worse for wear.  And when I got home, all the snow that had fallen this morning was gone.  My sister and nephew both ran good races - he coming in under 30 minutes.  He sees himself not as a runner, but a wrestler.  But he has a runner's physique, and I'm sure he could be a good one if he decides he wants to.

EDIT:  Just looked up my 'official' results.  Time was 22:24, was 12th overall with 329 runners, 8th male of 111 guys, and 1st in my age division.

Easy run; 8:48 pace.  That groin ache was completely gone for the first time in 10 days - until I took a bit of a misstep/trip in the dark at mile 3.  Oh well - it's still a lot better today and is obviously healing.  And yesterday's speed didn't seem to make it any worse.  All good stuff.

I had to go back to town today to pick up a new pair of shoes I had ordered.  Figured I'd run the same 10 mile route I did 2 weeks ago.  Lots of hills on it, so better Boston training than my local valley flats.

Well, that turned into a bit of an adventure.  It had snowed all night - about 6cm worth, or a bit more than 2 inches.  The roads were sloppy and the traffic (morning commute) was dreadfully slow.

I parked my truck at the store and headed out.  It went from ploughed sidewalk to a combination of unploughed sidewalks and unploughed trail, with only the footsteps of pedestrians who had gone before, and lots of hills.  And that was just the first 2 miles.  The next 2 miles were around the University track - virgin snow, as it were.  A bit like running through mashed potatoes.

Then the final 6 miles were pretty much like the 1st two miles.  Anyway, I did it with an average pace of 8:48.  I was surprised, actually, that it was that fast.

I just got home - today's my day off, so lunch, shower, and then a well deserved nap!

Easy run on the treadmill.  It's really messy outside this morning, and I didn't feel safe with the dark/ice/snow and traffic today.

Easy run; 8:50 pace.  Took it outside today.  It's still messy in places, but doable.

Easy run; cold day.  8:38 pace with the third mile run at Tempo pace.  I fell.  Just a quarter mile from home.  Feet slid out from beneath me and I fell forwards.  Left palm took most of it.  I think I'm okay.  Will know for sure later, once I thaw out.  With the windshill, it was -19C/-2F, so I think my coldest run, so far, this season.

Had a great encounter yesterday with Amber - a woman from my hometown of Lively (30 minutes from where I live now).  She is a world class boxer (retired) and is now into Ultras - has quite a few under her belt.  She won the Haliburton 100 miler earlier this year - which is the one I plan on doing in 3 years time.  We were both speaking at a businessmen's luncheon yesterday, and we ended up sharing a table for lunch.  Had a great conversation with her, and was able to pick her brain for a few ideas re: equipment and strategy.

I know, I know ... my focus IS Boston right now.  But it's hard not to be inspired for bigger things beyond Boston when you meet someone like her.

Easy run in the cold; 8:41 pace.  Even colder than yesterday, but today was the real thing - no wind - just straight up cold.  -20C/-3F.  I had mega icicles hanging from my face when I was finished.  Should have worn the balaclava.

6 easy at 8:55.  Today is the 'official' start of my 18 week Boston Marathon Training Program, ala Hansons.  The first 2 weeks, however, won't see much change from my previous 2 months of running - hitting 42 miles/week consistently.

I did throw in 3 striders.  Last time I did that was almost 3 weeks ago, when it caused a strain in my groin.  I'm still sore from that, but it's gradually improving.  Ran 6 hard that time; today just the 3, and not quite as hard.

My left palm is still a little sore from the fall on Friday, but nothing serious.  The tip of my nose, however, got a bit frozen yesterday and is hurting.  I ran with a neck tube pulled up over my nose today, and that helped a lot.  The only challenge is breathing hard through it when I was hitting the strides.  I don't think I'll be able to do speed or tempo work with it on, but we'll see.  

Easy run in the snow; 8:51 pace.  My day off, so was able to wait until sun rise to get out there.  A lot warmer too - all the way up to -13C/20F.  I was actually overdressed for it.

It snowed a lot last night, and it was still falling pretty good through my run.  So, I was basically running on the road, in the car tire tracks.  When cars came, I had to take the shoulder and into the mash potato snow.  When I came to the section where there are sidewalks, the sidewalk plough literally came at just that minute, and so I was able to run on clear walkways.

There was one dog incident, and I came the closest yet to using my pepper spray.  On this one section, there are 2 bigger dogs that I know, but are never a problem.  They sit and watch me go by, wagging their tails, and never making a move to me.  Today, however, a guy was walking his dog in that area.  It looked to be a mix of husky,shepherd and teeth.  He had no control of it, and it made a dash for me.  I pulled out the spray and pointed it.  The man kept yelling "he just wants to play - he won't bite".  How many runners have heard THAT before?  Anyway, I first kicked snow it its face, and that stopped it and was the end of it.  Having that spray with me, however, sure gives an extra level of assurance.  It's nice to have.

Easy run; 9:09 pace.  Fairly strong headwind in miles 4 & 5, and it slowed me down quite a bit.

Easy run in the cold; 8:46 pace.  Almost chose the treadmill this morning, but these temperatures are not going to get warmer any time soon, so I figured I'd see how it felt to run when it was -19C/-3F, with a windchill factor making it -29C/-20F.  

Yup.  Minus 20F.

Well, it turns out it's not that bad when you dress for it.  Only my eyes were exposed, and so if you can keep your eyelashes from freezing shut, it's all good.  And a major plus ... that soft snow is no more.  It's frozen pretty solid, and so a much easier surface to run on.

So, all in all, it's doable.  Maybe not for faster runs, since breathing through the tube would be more difficult.  But for easy paced runs, not a problem.

Easy run; 8:57 pace.  Three striders thrown in at miles 3, 4 and 5.  Three weeks since I strained that groin, and it's about 90% now - almost completely healed.

Yesterday was the coldest day so far - my off day, fortunately.  It was -33C/-27F.  Today, it has warmed up to -25C/-14F.  I decided to tough it out, because there is a Colorado Low heading our way (thanks Colorado), which means a ton of snow, which means I'll likely hit the treadmill for a few days until the streets are safe again.

I decided to chance running outside, despite the amount of snow that has fallen overnight.  Traffic is usually light on a Saturday morning, and it has warmed up quite a bit to -14C/6F, and the sun was kinda poking out every now and then.  

Nothing was ploughed yet, so I was running in the tire tracks that packed the snow.  Every time a car came, I took to the shoulder where the snow was about 6-8 inches deep.  It was powdery, but still challenging enough to run through.

This routine worked well enough, and with the snow covering the spruce trees in the woods, it was quite a wonderful scene to run in.  I should have just turned around at mile 5 and backtracked on the same route, but I didn't.  So, the 2 mile section of sidewalk along the 5 lane highway was not ploughed, and it was impossible to run through.  Well, I tried.  It slowed me down to an 11 minute mile pace and was killing my legs.

So, I did that for just a half mile, until I came to a sidestreet that brought me home a back way.  

Overall, my pace averaged 9:01/mile.  Not bad, given the conditions.

I was pretty sore after yesterday's run in the deep snow, but I woke up feeling okay.  The streets are sort of ploughed, and there is little traffic early Sunday morning, so I decided to take it outside despite the cold.  It is minus 23F with the windchill, and the wind is a steady 25mph from the North.  It made miles 1 and 6 kinda miserable.

Anyway, I did it with an average pace of 8:56, and none the worse for wear.

Another really cold run.  -23F.  Ran at a pace of 8:32.  Must have been a change in the humidity or something, because my eyelashes were so covered with ice, it was hard to keep my eyes open by the end of the run.  

It's supposed to start warming up now this week.  Of course, that usually means more snow.

Easy run; 8:56 pace.  It warmed up a lot over night.  It's -6C/22F, so quite a change.  The once hard packed snow is now rather mushy (pronounced moo-she).  Tried to stay on the road as much as possible where it's mostly bare.  A stiff wind is blowing from the south, so miles 3 & 4 were directly into it.

Wednesdays are for speed intervals.  I'll do these on the treadmill this winter - not possible to do them on the streets, the way they are, and no easy access to an indoor track.  Exception:  every other week I'll do hill repeats to prepare for Boston's hills.  Those I'll do outside, if the sidewalk is clear.

So today:  8 x 600 with 400 recoveries.

Ran just over a 6:30 pace, with some elevation, and I shortened the recovery time.  In fact, I ran more by time:  2.5 minutes at speed and 2 minutes for recovery.

All systems are good.  The groin strain, which happened exactly 4 weeks ago, seems to have mostly healed - I would say 95%, give or take.

And the really good news:  as of 5:44 this morning, the days are getting longer!

Recovery run; 8:40 pace.  Strides in miles 3, 4 and 5.  

Warmed up to 0C/32F, so was able to run with one less layer.  Where the road is clear, it was great.  Where there was a layer of packed snow, it was soft.  Kind of like running in beach sand.

Easy run at a pace of 8:46.  Still mild at -1C/30F.  A little over half the run was on relatively clear roads or hard packed snow.  The rest on that beach sand like mushy snow.

16 weeks to Boston.  After 8 consecutive 42/mile weeks, I'll jump the mileage to 46 for the next 3 weeks, and start getting into Tempo Runs and Long Runs.

Easy run; 8:41 pace.  The temperature took a decidedly colder turn over night - down to -12C/10F, with a stiff North wind, which I had in my face for miles one and six.  At my back for miles three and four.

Supposed to get warm again tomorrow, and there are freezing rain warnings in effect over the entire region.  Might be a treadmill run tomorrow if it gets as bad as predicted.

Well, that was an interesting run.  An easy one, with a pace of 8:47.  That Colorado Low they have been predicting arrived.  Sure is making a mess of things in Ontario.

I looked at the radar and it didn't look pretty, but whatever freezing rain had already fallen didn't look so bad on the ground, so I decided to take it outside, thinking that I could turn around at any point if it got bad and finish on the treadmill.

The first mile was fine, but then the next 4 were into that East wind.  The ground was covered with ice, but it was really course (not smooth) and so not slippery for running.  I figured it would work well, since I'd have the wind at my back for the second half.

Well, at mile 3, it got really bad with freezing rain/ice pellets, and it didn't let up for the rest of the run.  But I thought I could tough it out into the wind for just the 2 more miles.  That was rough - the ice pellets really stung on the face and I had to look down so as not to get them in my eyes.

As predicted, the five miles home were great.  The ice pellets hitting the trees sounded like glass shards hitting them, and the road really piled up with the falling ice - kind of the consistency of wet icing sugar and a few inches deep by the time I got home.  Visibility was low and it got quite dark, but I made it home safe and had a good run.  I'm glad to have been able to take it outside, cause I'm pretty sure my speed/hill work on Wednesday will have to be on the treadmill.

Easy run; 8:53 pace.  It's an ice rink out there.  Seriously - I could have strapped on my skates and skated down my street.  Had to really shorten my stride and pick my spots carefully,  Just glad I didn't fall.  Probably should have used the treadmill.

Hit the treadmill for my hard workout today.  Hills.  There is a nearby hill which is 1km long with about an 80 foot rise where I had intended to do these workouts.  It matches the Newton Hills pretty closely.  However, it's virtually impassable now with all the ice and snow.  I'll get a much better workout inside.

So, I jacked up the back of my treadmill, effectively giving me hills both up and down.  I ran three repeats uphill and two repeats downhill, each of 1000 m, for a total speed section of 3 miles.

I ran the uphills at a pace of 7:15, and the downhills at a pace of 5:45.  Those were tricky, and I had to really watch my balance.  400m recoveries between each repeat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!  51 today.  Got to thinking of how runners know each other's ages, or at least within 5 year increments - normally women are more shy than men about that, but for runners it doesn't seem to matter much.  Then I got to wondering if some people lie about their ages on their race applications.  Then I got to thinking:  hey, nobody has every actually verified my age at any race I've run.  Do some people lie about their age in order to get an easier qualifying time for Boston???  Strange, what goes through my head when all the blood is rushing to my legs.

My first marathon pace (Tempo) workout for Boston - will be a regular Friday feature from now on.  Six miles at 7:40 pace.  I'm hoping to run Boston around 7:45.  On the treadmill, because there's no way I can keep a consistent pace on the roads right now - they're a mess.

The only glitch was I had to stop twice to re-set the treadmill on the blocks.  Both times, the machine got wobbly as it teetered close to the edge.  I'll have to figure out some way to keep it from slipping.  Otherwise, the pace felt good.  I do hope to get a lot of these workouts done outdoors so I can get a good feel for the pace, but it's nice to have the treadmill when it's needed.

Added bonus:  I was able to run both up and down hill, to get ready for the Boston course.  I ran 2 minutes up and 2 minutes down throughout.

Recovery run; 9:05 pace.  Snowing pretty hard, and a stiff east wind, so the first half was tougher than the second half.  And lots of snow to move through all the way.

Got a good upper body workout yesterday.  Helped a couple of parishioners cut and move trees on their newly acquired property.  Nice to give the old chain saw a workout; hoping I don't feel the results over the next few days - so far, so good.