Pandemic Running Thoughts (Comments Welcome)

[mankle30]

19 Days to 10K

Wow. just 19 days to get my butt in gear. The good news is that the foot hasn't been too much of a problem. There has been a little bit of swelling but nothing as major as there was after the marathon, not even after my "long" run on Sunday. The groin issue is improving in fits and starts. It feels better today but I'm going to do my run in about 30-45 minutes so I'll have a better idea afterwards.

Saturday: My "slow" run was faster than intended. I did 3.06 miles on an out and back that wasn't as hilly as the one on Thursday, considering that I went East-West rather than North-South from the same branch of my gym. I wanted to go slow but was still running 13:16 per mile. I definitely felt heavy legs, but didn't feel out of gas at the end.

Sunday: Sunday was my long run. I ran 4.04 miles but my pace was definitely too fast. This was my usual route around my house that is almost exactly 4 miles and mostly flat. That day I ran 13:07 min per mile, which was a pace that I think I need to learn to control. I want my slow runs to be around 13:30 but I'm finding hard to slow myself down enough.

I was taking Monday off of running anyways, but I went really easy at the gym, aside from doing some squats. The softball umpiring season is starting in a few weeks and if I don't get my squats in, the first few plate games of the season always destroy me.

This week, the plan is:

Tuesday (today): 3 miles slow (13:30/mile pace)
Wednesday: 4 miles - 1 mile WU, 2 miles (11:30/mile pace); 1 mile Cooldown
Thursday: 3 miles - slow (13:30/mile pace)
Friday: off
Saturday: 3 miles slow (13:30/mile pace)
Sunday: 5 miles slow (13:30/mile pace)

Looking over the paces that Dopeybadger had given me in the training plan he had provided, I'm not so down on the faster pace of the long run. I still want to hold back a bit more though, to make sure I'm not injuring myself.

 

[mankle30]

13 Days to 10K

I've completed another week of training, and aside from a few minor twinges, things are on track.

Monday, April 24: Off

Tuesday, April 25: 3.32 miles at 13:20 per mile
This run was a little longer than the prescribed 3 miles because I miscalculated the portion of my larger loop (about 4 miles) that would end up being 3 miles right on. Well, too long is better than too short. And I think the 13:20 pace was decent, and as you can see from the increase in pace as I went on, I felt looser and more comfortable as time went by.

Mile 1: 13:43
Mile 2: 13:19
Mile 3: 13:01

Wednesday, April 26: 4 miles on the treadmill. Mile 1 & 4- around 13:30 per mile WU/CD; Mile 2 & 3 - minimum 11:30 per mile
This one I did on the treadmill because time was an issue. For the faster paced miles, I ran the first one at 5.2 miles per hour and then, feeling strong, gradually increased throughout the second one, hitting 5.6 mph for the final 0.3 miles or so.

Thursday, April 27: Off - there was a little swelling in my foot.

Friday, April 28: 3.1 miles at about 13:14 per mile.
This one felt a bit rough. The legs were heavy and I wasn't feeling as good as I would have thought after the day off. Also, the tracking app on my phone wasn't working properly, so I had to delete all the information about the run.

Saturday, April 29: 3 miles at 13:34 per mile
This was really rough, at least until about 2.5 miles into the run. i was really questioning whether I'd be able to do the 10k in just a couple of weeks at this point, if I was having such trouble with an easy 3 miles run. But as you can see, things loosened up considerably in the last chunk.
Mile 1: 13:57
Mile 2: 13:39
Mile 3: 13:05

Sunday, April 30: 5.08 miles at 12:29 per mile
I can really feel the build up of fatigue in the legs over the past couple of weeks. While I felt fresh for the first runs since coming back from the injury, there's definitely been more accumulation of fatigue, especially at the start of my runs towards the end of the week. I had been putting this run off all day but I did have meetings and work throughout the day but finally got started around 7:30pm. Lucky me, I just beat a rain storm, so at least I got it in! I've also found that when I do "long" runs (at this point, the 5 miles is long), my system isn't quite used to them when I don't do it in the morning. Therefore, I had to make a bathroom stop along the run (fortunately, there was a Starbucks about a mile and a half in). That said, my legs felt MUCH better after the stop, as if the 2-3 minute rest charged them up, and I was able to maintain a much faster pace with less fatigue for the rest of the run. It was also pretty cold (around 5 degrees Celsius) with some win, so I was actually wearing a similar outfit to what I wore for the Disney Marathon.
Mile 1: 13:19
Mile 2: 12:46
Mile 3: 12:41
Mile 4: 12:03
Mile 5: 11:35

As you can see from the intervals above, I got stronger throughout the run. That said, I think that I need to run about 11:00 per mile for the 10K if I want to finish with a similar time to when I ran the race last year. I was just starting my training for that at that point, and had only run about 7K as my longest run leading up to the race. That said, I don't want to push things too much but I do want to see what I've got and how much fitness I've been able to retain from the marathon training.

Another note is that I've done some resistance training this week, including brief leg work on Friday night, which may have also added to the fatigue in the legs on Saturday.

Plan this week:

Monday: Off (definitely feeling the fatigue in the legs from such a high pace in the run yesterday)
Tuesday: 4 miles - 1 & 4: 13:30 per mile WU/CD; 2-3 - 11:00 per mile pace
Wednesday: 3 miles easy (13:30 per mile)
Thursday: 4 miles - 1 & 4: 13:30 per mile WU/CD; 2-3 - 11:00 per mile pace
Friday: off (i'll be traveling)
Saturday: 3 miles easy (13:30 per mile)
Sunday: 6 miles 12:00-12:30 per mile - I'll try to run at a more even pace than I did in the 5 mile run on the 30th.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Monday: Off (definitely feeling the fatigue in the legs from such a high pace in the run yesterday)
Tuesday: 4 miles - 1 & 4: 13:30 per mile WU/CD; 2-3 - 11:00 per mile pace
Wednesday: 3 miles easy (13:30 per mile)
Thursday: 4 miles - 1 & 4: 13:30 per mile WU/CD; 2-3 - 11:00 per mile pace
Friday: off (i'll be traveling)
Saturday: 3 miles easy (13:30 per mile)
Sunday: 6 miles 12:00-12:30 per mile - I'll try to run at a more even pace than I did in the 5 mile run on the 30th.

Just a word of caution - if 11:00 min/mile is your desired (expected fitness) 10k race pace, then running two straight miles (or 22 min) at that pace is a really tough workout. You might consider something like 0.5 miles at 11, then jog 45-60 sec, then 0.5 miles at 11, etc. doing the run at 10k for a total of 2 miles if desired (so 4 intervals). This will help maximize gains running at that pace, but not push the workout too far.

Excited to see how it goes for you!

 

[mankle30]

Just a quick little update so I don't forget about it....

I tried DopeyBadger's idea for the speed workout last night ... and my phone died mid-run. To sort out the logistics, I was using the GPS/run-tracking app on my phone (Runkeeper) to track distance run, but I was timing it on my stopwatch, so I'd know how fast I was running the .5 miles intervals.

So, I ran about a 13:45 mile to warm up and then the first 1/2 mile interval was FAST! I came in at 4:53 for the half mile (so a sub-10:00 per mile pace). Now, there was wind at my back and the interval was mostly downhill, so I wasn't too worried about the effort level. The second interval came in at 5:05 and it was more uphill with a cross wind. I was trying to keep my effort level the same.

After the second interval, my phone died. Rather than scuttle the whole run, I decided to run 5:15 and 5:30 intervals because I figured with the fast start, I'd start to slow down for the same distance, plus my final interval was into a strong wind.

Once that was done, I jogged the rest of the way around my 4-mile circuit. So in all, I completed 4 miles including four intervals that were approximately 1/2 mile each. Not bad. I don't feel horrible today and I'll get my 3 mile easy run in a little later this evening.

 

[mankle30]

6 Days to 10K​

This week wasn't the best. Ok, I suffered from a combination of aversion to cold weather, travel and just plain laziness.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: As I wrote about above, I completed my speed training "in the dark" after my phone (aka GPS device) bricked on me about halfway into the run. I still completed the four miles, estimating distance and using a guesstimated time as my guide. My first interval of .5 miles was under 10:00 min per mile and I slowed down from there to the end. Read above more more details.

Wednesday: 3.12 miles - 40:28 (12:59 per mile). My pacing was pretty consistent with this one, with a 12:55 first mile, 13:01 second and 13:01 third one.

Thursday: It wouldn't stop raining and I just ran out of time. I had some things to do with my wife in the morning and then work called in the evening.

Friday: I was heading out of town to Michigan for the weekend but stopped in Sarnia, Ontario, just across the border to Port Huron, Mich, to use the gym there. Fortunately, I'm a member of the largest gym chain in Canada and the membership (that I get a discount on through a union I belong to) gets me entrance and towel service at any gym in the country. So that was nice.

On the downside, the rain was continuing to I took things indoors to the treadmill. I literally got through half the workout (another speed workout with the same parameters as Tuesday's run) and lost my will to live. But seriously, my legs just weren't happy on the treadmill and I called it after two intervals. I got back on the road.

Saturday: I was lazy. I could use the excuse that there wasn't anywhere to run near where I was staying in Michigan, but that's a load of hooey.

Sunday: Similar to Saturday, but I felt really drained from lack of sleep. I generally need at least 7 hours of sleep to keep me from coming down with a cold, but over the weekend, I hadn't been getting enough. I decided that it was worth an extra hour and a half of sleep to avoid getting sick rather than push myself to run in the cold weather.

Monday: I moved my 6 mile run to Monday rather than do it Sunday (because I also had a 5 hour drive back home to get done).
The winds were very heavy from the west and I experienced something extremely unusual. While I was in the US, I bought a pair of running shorts with a compression liner inside. I've read about these and thought I'd try them.

Well, less than halfway through my 6 mile run, nearing the end of one of the 3 mile loops that originated at my local gym, my feet started going numb. I thought it was something wrong with me.... but then I realized that I was wearing the compression shorts... and they were probably limiting the blood flow to my lower legs. After I completed the loop, I paused my timer, ran into the gym, swapped out shorts (because who doesn't have an extra pair of shorts in their gym bag) and finished the run in my regular running shorts (the same ones I ran the WDW marathon in).

Mile 1: 12:40
Mile 2: 11:43
Mile 3: 11:53
Mile 4: 14:25 (this was the mile when I changed shorts, and walked for a bit because the feet were feeling weird)
Mile 5: 11:53
Mile 6: 11:18
Mile 6.2 (yep, i finished the 10K in this tuneup run): 11;25

This makes me very encouraged that I can run the 10k on Sunday with an 11:00 per mile pace. I didn't feel bad at the end.

Lesson learned this week? I'm glad I tried out the compression shorts today and didn't wait until the race to wear them. Always try things out before your races, kids.

This week:

Tuesday: 3miles easy
Wednesday: 4.5 miles - speed - 5 intervals of .5 miles at 11:00 min per mile
Thursday: off
Friday: 3 miles easy
Saturday: off (I'm umpiring a Girls 18U fastpitch softball tournament all day, which will probably kill me legs for Sunday's race)
Sunday: Sporting Life Toronto 10K Race!

 

[mankle30]

Here's a quick update:

Race package picked up!

 

[mankle30]

Sporting Life Toronto 10K Race Report​

Well, the day has come and I was ready to run my first race since the WDW Marathon. The training cycle wasn't nearly ideal, seeing as my doctor had thought that foot pain following the marathon was a stress fracture (which was proved to NOT be a stress fracture after a bone scan) and so I didn't run at all for about 3 months. Since I had registered for the Sporting Life 10K race in my home town of Toronto (which starts about a 10 minute drive away from my home), I was determined to run it again. This year was my fourth time running the race and second year in a row. Last year's run started my build up to the WDW Marathon and was the first time I ran the race since 2008.

This past week was rough training-wise. I had to push back my long run last weekend because I was driving back from Michigan and so I did my 6.2 mile run on Monday. While I wanted to run on Tuesday, I ended up taking the day off and did my interval training on Wednesday (more in my regular training report tomorrow). Then, i was a little sore on Thursday, plus, I had started to umpire and my legs were tired after my two games on Wednesday night. On Friday, I just ran out of time to do my 3-mile easy run because I was umpiring a tournament in the suburbs and, with 2 games on Friday and 5 on Saturday, I had a feeling that my race time Sunday would suffer.





The Sporting Life 10k is a very popular race in Toronto. It gets 22,000+ plus runners and was sold out this year. The race goes from the Sporting Life store in North York (still part of the City of Toronto, but one of the historic suburbs) and races downhill, down the central artery of Toronto, Yonge Street. Then, it turns east and winds itself down towards Lake Ontario, with a mostly level grade. The race also raises money for Camp Oochigeas, a summer camp for kids with cancer and reports were that they raised over $2 million this year.



The weather was great for the start. My wife drove me to the starting line and I checked in my bag and wandered up and down the starting corrals. I was in the "Green" corral, which was the fourth one to go off. Start time for the race was 7:30 but my corral would be going at 8:10, so I had plenty of time. I took some photos of some of the early starting groups beginning and sauntered back to wait for the gun.



I knew I was going to be slower than my corral group. I had registered just before the WDW Marathon and figured I'd be able to have a full training cycle for the 10K which was designed to up my speed. After the "stress fracture," I was just happy to get my time down to 11:00 per mile, so, when time came to start (I was in the third mini-wave of the corral, so I started at 8:15am), I let people pass me while maintaining a pace that I thought I could keep up.



I felt really strong and like I was running a decent pace and when the first update came on my app, it turned out that I was running a really brisk pace of about 10:15 per mile. The first few miles felt really easy and I was keeping up the pace (see splits below) but around 5km in, my legs started feeling heavy, particularly in the quads, which do a lot of the lifting when umpiring.

I also remembered my thoughts around the 5k mark were that I didn't think I had a negative split in me. I kept pushing though... there's nothing like the the thought of the finish line to stoke the fires within!

My 5k split? 32:57, which put me on a 6:35/km pace.

I kept pushing and enjoyed the 5-6km mark which was mostly downhill. We hit the turn west and I turned my ankle slightly on one of the city's wonderful cracks and potholes in the road. Fortunately, I didn't go over on the ankle too far and it didn't swell up or anything and I was able to continue. The last time I turned my ankle badly while running, it took months to fully heal. When I saw the 7km mark, I was fatiguing, telling myself "now the work begins." The downhill portion of the race was over so I'd have to really work to keep my pace and get across that finish line!

For the last three K, I reminded myself of the marathon, remembering what it felt like to push when tired. If nothing else, the physical experience of the marathon being so fresh gave me a reservoir of grit to dig into, particularly seeing as the last three K would probably take 20 minutes when the marathon took over 5 hours!

I kept pushing, watching the km markers fly by. 8 . . . 9 . . . I thought of my legs churning up the pavement as I kept running hard. We went down a ramp from one elevated street to one at ground level and I remembered going up that ramp towards the end of the Half Marathon I ran last October (I much preferred the downhill part), finally seeing the finish line as I descended the ramp and turned a corner. Several people with much more energetic legs were shooting through the crowd of runners but, for me, it was all I could do to keep my pace.

I crossed the finish line, stopping my GPS app and walking a long way through the chute, around several corners until we got our medals and liquids.

How did I do?

Official Time: 1:04:49 - 6:28/km (last year's time: 1:04:35)
5K Split: 32:57 - 6:35/km

So I did run my negative split!

Out of 18500 overall, I finished 11232, 5701/7926 in my gender and 535/727 in my category (40-44 male).

All of these ranks I want to improve on next year, big time.

Starting elevation: 534 ft
Finishing elevation: 278 ft (lowest was 256)

My GPS app (Runkeeper) tracked the following stats:

Distance: 6.45 miles
Time: 1:04:48
Min/Mile: 10:02
Mile 1: 10:25
Mile 2: 10:14
Mile 3: 10:32
Mile 4: 9:43
Mile 5: 9:59
Mile 6: 9:44
Mile 6+: 9:11

Ok folks, what's next? Half marathon in the fall? Should I go for a full marathon? I think I actually have the time to prepare properly and get fitter for a full marathon to bring my time in the 5:00:00 range (from 5:28:xx at WDW).

I'm actually really stoked to try the Hansons method this year to see how much improvement I can actually get in my marathon time.

Thoughts?

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on the race! That's a solid negative split!

I think I actually have the time to prepare properly and get fitter for a full marathon to bring my time in the 5:00:00 range (from 5:28:xx at WDW).

I'm actually really stoked to try the Hansons method this year to see how much improvement I can actually get in my marathon time.

Definitely enough time as there is about 16 weeks to most fall marathons. My biggest concern would be how much mileage have you been doing lately and where does the Hansons plan start in relation? I'd worry it might be a serious shock to the system if you've been doing 10-20 miles per week and jump into the 40-50s right away. Did you do similar mileage to Hansons during your previous marathon training cycle? It might be wise to ratchet the Hansons plan down a notch to bridge the gap.

 

[mankle30]

I think you're right. It would have to be a modified Hansons to bridge the mileage gap.

 

[mankle30]

With the 10K done, here's my summary of last week.

Monday: 6.2 miles - Long run (originally scheduled for last Sunday)
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Interval run

Total Interval run: 4.2 miles
1 mile warm up, 5 X 0.5 mile intervals, cool down
Interval 1: 4:58 (for a half mile)
Interval 2: 5:01
Interval 3: 4:57
Interval 4: 5:05
Interval 5: 5:06

I also umpired my first two games of the year.

Thursday: Was supposed to run 3 miles easy but ran couldn't get the run in due to scheduling things with the rest of life, plus my legs were really dead with the interval run and first two games umpiring of the year!
Friday: Was going to do the 3 miles easy from Thursday but ran out of time, particularly when the traffic heading out to the suburb where I was umpiring 2 games that night.
Saturday: off - I planned this thanks to the five games I had scheduled for the Girls Fastball tournament in Brampton.
Sunday: Sporting Life 10K (see above)

So now, it's time to figure out what's next. I'm going to use the "easy" week training program that @DopeyBadger gave me for the 10k to start out my recovery.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 3 miles easy (13:30/mile)
Wednesday: 3 miles easy (13:30/mile)
Thursday: Off
Friday: 3 miles easy (13:30/mile)
Saturday: 3 miles easy (13:30/mile) - I'll be in Hamilton, Ontario most of the day on Saturday so I might have to sacrifice this run
Sunday: 4 miles long run (12:00 - 12:30/mile)

This will give me a total 16 miles this week. Definitely not in Hansons' range but not a bad start to the marathon ramp up.

Now comes the big question -- Which marathon do I try to run?

If I stay in Toronto and do my "home" marathon, the Scotiabank Waterfront Marathon (our fall marathon), it will be October 22, 2017.
If I go out of town, I'd choose to do the Oasis Montreal Rock n' Roll Marathon on September 24.

I've done the Toronto Marathon before, so that won't be novel, it'll just be a bit cheaper and local.

Has anyone run Montreal? Thoughts?

 

[DopeyBadger]

If I go out of town, I'd choose to do the Oasis Montreal Rock n' Roll Marathon on September 24.

@CheapRunnerMike Have you done this one?

 

[CheapRunnerMike]

@CheapRunnerMike Have you done this one?

Nope, but I know a few people that have and have only heard good things. Montreal is an incredible city...or should I say incroyable!

 

[mankle30]

Incroyable, indeed! I was there in the winter and plan on going back in the summer. Fortunately, my wife and I have friends who we can stay with there so it'll cut down on some of the costs!

 

[mankle30]

Montreal Rock n Roll Marathon countdown - 18 weeks to go!​

I'm calling this week "Week 0" of the training for the Montreal Rock n Roll Marathon (registration coming tomorrow!). I think, since a marathon is a special thing, I want to go out of town. It will be my third marathon and once it's done, I'll have done one in different states/provinces. It was also recovery week from the Sporting Life 10k (see race report above).

Total miles this week (Monday - Sunday): approx. 14.5
Total intended miles: 17

Monday: off

Tuesday: 3.01 miles, average pace: 13:13/mile (intended pace 13:30/mile)

This was a tough run as the first one after the 10k. Legs were heavy and tired.
Mile 1: 13:29
Mile 2: 12:58
Mile 3: 13:09

Wednesday: approx 2.5 miles. average pace: unknown (34:49 total time)

Well, I ran in a different area of the city. I went with my wife to the suburbs and went to a branch of my gym to base my run out of. There was a really nice (but hilly) running trail but the GPS took forever to get a signal, meaning that the first 10+ minutes of the run were not tracked on the GPS.

Thursday: Off

Friday: 3.09 miles, average pace: 13:09/mile (intended pace 13:30/mile)

This run was also tough. I had to get up early in order to get to work and I'm not a morning person. The nice thing about a career as a musician is that I rarely have anything to do before early afternoon, but not on Friday. The legs were heavy but I could definitely feel some improvement thanks to the day off on Thursday.
Mile 1: 14:01
Mile 2: 12:28
Mile 3: 12:56

Saturday: 3.10 miles, average pace 13:18/mile (intended pace: 13:30/mile)

I think that I'm finally getting closer to my goal pace for the Easy runs of 13:30 per mile and getting a better handle on how it feels to run at that pace. I've read that you need a day of recover for every mile of a race and this seemed to hold completely true. I had run the 10k just 6 days before and here I was on the Saturday, feeling strong and like the pace was easy. I had to really control myself at the end of the run as I really wanted to speed up and let loose! I also added a couple of strides at the end because I just felt so good!
Mile 1: 13:31
Mile 2: 13:37 (much of this segment had a huge headwind)
Mile 3: 12:53

Sunday: 3.21 miles (intended 5 miles), average pace 12:45/mile (intended pace 13:00/mile)

This was supposed to be a "long run" starting to open things up. I cut the run short primarily do to an ever increasing rain that just drenched me. I thought that I'd have a little more time, looking at the radar, before the rain came but, nope. It really hit when I was around 1.25 miles. I sped up, particularly in the last mile because I just wanted to get out of the rain. My shoes were drenched through and the sidewalks were getting waterlogged. The two miles I cut off won't have any real effect on my conditioning anyways. It was a bit of a shame mainly because I was feeling stronger than in the Saturday run. Would have crushed the 5 miles!
Mile 1: 13:09
Mile 2: 12:51
Mile 3: 12:06

Next week:

Week 1 of Marathon Training! I'm working on fine tuning a Hansons method Beginner's program to suit my pace and needs, with @DopeyBadger's input of course, and I'll have that finalized soon. Here's this week's plan.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 3 miles easy
Wednesday: 4 miles easy
Thursday: Off
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 3 miles easy
Sunday: 6 miles a little harder (13:00 min/mile)

Total expected mileage: 20 miles.

 

[mankle30]

Tada!



To add some Disney content.... the wife and I have been talking about when our next trip to Disney will be. She's very excited about the prospects of visiting as many as she can, particularly the Shanghai Disneyland after we saw the preview of it in the China Pavillion at Epcot.

I think the plan now is to save up for the WDW Marathon Weekend in 2019. She wants to run the 5K and I'm entertaining the thought of Dopey. But wow, big time $$$$$$. I think we'd probably have to stay off site for that.

 

[mankle30]

Montreal Rock n' Roll Marathon - 17 Weeks to Go!
​

This week's training was pretty unremarkable. I hit all my distances this week even if my paces were a bit wobbly.

Weekly total: 21 miles

Monday: Off (Yay!)

Tuesday: 4.05 miles (3 scheduled). Total time 52:52 (13:03 average, 13:30ish goal)
Mile 1: 13:34
Mile 2: 12:33
Mile 3: 13:02
Mile 4: 13:03

I'm pretty proud of the last two miles. I felt like I was really holding back but kept things at almost the same pace. I think Mile 2 had a big long steady downhill in it, leading to the faster time.

I added a mile because I had cut two miles off my Sunday run the week before due to heavy rain. I figured I'd at least get one mile back.

Wednesday: 4.11 miles (4 scheduled). Total time: 53:34 (13:02 average, 13:30ish goal)
Mile 1: 13:14
Mile 2: 13:13
Mile 3: 12:54
Mile 4: 12:59

I added a couple of strides on this one and felt really strong especially for the first three miles. I'm still having trouble holding myself back to slower paces.

Thursday: Off

Friday: 4.06 miles (4 scheduled). Total time 52:55 (13:01 average, 13:30ish goal)
Mile 1: 13:07
Mile 2: 12:39 (with the downhill, see Tuesday)
Mile 3: 12:59
Mile 4: 13:13

Again, I'm struggles to hold back. My notes for this run were "meh. Ok" so obviously it wasn't particularly noteworthy.

Saturday: 3.14 miles (3 scheduled). Total time 41:48 (13:19 average, 13:30ish goal)
Mile 1: 13:48
Mile 2: 13:07
Mile 3: 13:08

I was feeling a little more fatigued overall on Saturday but settled into a nice groove, particularly after 2 miles.

Sunday: 6.05 miles (6 scheduled). Total time 1:12:13 (11:56 average, 12:11 goal)
Mile 1: 11:52
Mile 2: 12:07
Mile 3: 11:54
Mile 4: 11:51
Mile 5: 12:12
Mile 6: 11:44

This run felt good. I really liked opening things up to try to hit the 12:11 pace for long runs that I'm supposed to hit. I fatigued a bit in the back end but I was mostly telling myself to slow down and stay in check.

Overall, I'm still finding it tough to throttle back but I do like the fact that I'm feeling a clear difference between my 13:00ish easy pace and the faster pace of the long run.

Next week begins the 6 runs a week as the Hansons plan states.

Monday: 3 miles easy
Tuesday: 4 miles easy
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 4 miles easy
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 3 miles easy
Sunday: 6 miles (long run)

Total 24 miles for next week.

 

[mankle30]

Montreal Rock n' Roll Marathon - 16 Weeks to Go!

Well, this was not the most inspired weeks of running I've had. It's not that I haven't wanted to run this week, but there have been many things going on including my brother's wedding on Sunday.

Monday - 3.12 miles - 41:14 - 13:13 min/mile average
Mile 1 - 13:26
Mile 2 - 12:51
Mile 3 - 13:17

Overall not a bad run. I was pleased with the pace but I think it was easier to run easier after having done 10k the day before.

Tuesday - 4.06 miles - 53:31 - 13:11 min/mile average
Mile 1 - 12:59
Mile 2 - 13:01
Mile 3 - 13:27
Mile 4 - 13:16

It was raining at the end of this run but I felt pretty good overall.

Wednesday - off

Thursday - 4.08 miles - 52:48 - 12:56 min/mile average
Mile 1 - 12:56
Mile 2 - 13:07
Mile 3 - 12:55
Mile 4 - 12:46

On this run, I was finding it hard to hold back after the day of rest, which I'll consider to be a good thing.

Friday - 2.95 miles - 38:45 - 13:08 min/mile average
Mile 1 - 12:21
Mile 2 - 13:06
Mile 2.95 - 13:57

This one was tougher. So, my wife and have decided to get seasons passes for our local theme park (which only runs in the summer), called Canada's Wonderland. I hadn't been there since I was in high school but I remember many summers spent there. Originally, Canada's Wonderland (CW) had the rights to the Hanna Barbera cast of characters and then it was bought by Paramount and then sold to Cedar Fairs. CW is a little like Universal's Islands of Adventure with a lot of intense thrill rides and a pay-to-use fastpass-type system. That said, the season's pass cost us less than a day at any of the Disney parks. We rode a couple of the older rides (fairly thrilling, but not the more intense ones like the Leviathan and Behemoth roller coasters that they've opened in the past little while) and then went to get lunch, mainly because they don't allow outside food in the park. Well, the lunch experience at a "quick serve" 50's style burger restaurant took an hour and a half to go from getting in line to actually receiving the food. It was a mess and it wasn't even one of the busier days at the park. We were furious to lose to much time at the park spent in line waiting for lunch!

We only spent a few hours a the park because we had to go to a pre-wedding dinner at my mom's house that night. We went back to my parents' place and I went for my run in that neighbourhood. It was a hilly, brutal test for me after standing for so many hours at the theme park.

Saturday - 0 miles.

Yup. I got super lazy on Saturday. Maybe I was still feeling the effects from the day before but I just couldn't get out the door to run, despite having time during the day. Bad me.

Sunday - 4.75 miles (supposed to be 6 miles) - approx. 55 minutes.

I ran about 12 minutes a mile on this one but it was pretty miserable. It was raining pretty hard throughout the entire run and I was soaked. I cut the run short due to GI issues. This was not fun.

So that was last week. This week didn't start off that great but hopefully I'll have a strong back half.

 

[mankle30]

Here are a couple of photos of Canada's Wonderland because I'm sure you're all wondering about it!

 

[mankle30]

Montreal Rock n' Roll Marathon - 15 Weeks to Go!

It's confession time. I've been running through some pain in my left foot. In a completely different place than before and my gut is telling me that it's Plantar Fasciitis. I may ease back some of the running a little bit just to see what happens but, at this point, I have not missed or shortened any runs due to the injury. It mostly bothers me when I'm not running and has been better or worse depending on the day (it's not so bad today).

Here's what happened last week

Total scheduled miles - 27
Total completed miles - 21

Monday - 3 miles scheduled - 0 completed.

I just plain ran out of time on Monday. I was working all day, getting up at 6:30, doing the whole commuting thing and finishing well after 5:30pm. Then it was home to teach at 7pm until 8pm. Then, my wife's friend who lives in Montreal called and was in town and wanted to get together. I should have run anyway -- I wasn't great company since I was falling asleep at the restaurant! But we live only once.

Tuesday - 5.06 miles - 1:05:08 (12:52 min/mile)
Mile 1 - 12:52
Mile 2 - 12:44
Mile 3 - 12:43
Mile 4 - 13:49
Mile 5 - 12:14

So this was a weird one. I ran near where I work on Tuesdays meaning that it was downtown. I ended up stopping at traffic lights a couple times in Mile 4, leading that to be a much slower time and then by Mile 5, I was racing a bit to beat the rain that looked like it was about to roll in. The faster pace definitely tired me a bit more afterwards.

Wednesday - off

Thursday - 4.09 miles - 53:12 (13:00 min/mile)
Mile 1 - 13:14
Mile 2 - 12:57
Mile 3 - 12:50
Mile 4 - 12:58

I like the pace of the last three miles, particularly how even the pacing was (for me). Otherwise, I was fatiguing in the last mile.

Friday - 4 miles - 53 minutes
I did this run on the treadmill at the gym after seeing a lot of threatening clouds. Nothing special. I felt fine at the end.

Saturday - 3.10 miles - 41:06 (13:17 min/mile)
Mile 1 - 13:14
Mile 2 - 13:12
Mile 3 - 13:20

As you can see, my pace was a little slower than normal, and, as the third day in a row, that is to be expected. The temperatures and humidity have been climbing and I was really feeling drained towards the end of the run.

Sunday - 8 miles scheduled - 5 miles completed - 1:02:54 (12:34/mile)
Mile 1 - 12:54
Mile 2 - 11:46
Mile 3 - 12:06
Mile 4 - 12:53
Mile 5 - 13:05

I was trying to run this one around 12:30 overall but the heat and humidity (rising to about 30 degrees celsius and about a 35 degree celsius humidex) just destroyed me. I started the run at 10am and I think as the summer drags on, I'll have to start earlier in the day. The 11:46 mile 2 had a big downhill, which is why I'm not particularly commenting on it.

Coming up this week:

Monday - 3 miles
Tuesday - 5 miles
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 5 miles
Friday - 3 miles
Saturday 3 miles
Sunday - 6 miles

Total - 25 miles

Note that this week is originally scheduled as a "step-back" week where I lower my overall mileage to allow me to recover. Since I've done three weeks in a row at the 21 mile range, it's not a huge step up to 25 miles. That said, I may adjust either the Tuesday or Thursday run down a mile or so if the PF is being particularly problematic. As mentioned, it's been better today (after being particularly bad yesterday afternoon) and I haven't taken any Advil or anything. I also umpired a couple of baseball games last night (it's particularly bad when I work on the bases as opposed to behind the plate).

Anyone have any thoughts about dealing with PF?

 

[mankle30]

We interrupt this mid-week lull in posting to bring you ....



New Shoes! These happened a little by accident. I've known that with the heavier training I'm doing in the Hansons method, I would need another pair of shoes for the Montreal Marathon. I don't quite have @DopeyBadger's storehouse full of shoes, but neither do I run as much as he does. The accident was that I had forgotten my shoes when I headed out to the gym for a treadmill run yesterday (the weather called for rain and possible thunderstorms so I resigned myself to 5 miles on the treadmill ) so I headed to a running store to find...... they were having a sidewalk sale with some of the older shoes discounted! In fact, my New Balance 880v6 that I've been wearing since I started running again in March (after the non-stress fracture layoff) were on sale for just about half price ($80 CDN rather than $150 CDN).... so I got these puppies. A different colour (my main pair are bright neon yellow) but a shoe that I know is working for me and at half the price!