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THE WEEK THAT LEAD TO… 29:19.

I started the week off with 22 miles on the dyke in POCO. It is a nice flat out and back 22 mile run and I had two bikes accompanying me. One ( Richard L.) with my bottles and the other (Karen F.) with the video camera. Video coming soon! The run was just a moderate tempo run, nothing at marathon pace or anything just trying to get in 2 plus hours under my legs all at once. I had some company half way where I met Norm T. It was nice to run half the out and back on my own and then have some company for most of the second half. I ended up running 2:14 for the entire run, close to 6:00 minute mile pace. Felt good the whole way, felt easy and I was able to practice taking my fluids during the run, this was important because I am trying a new drink right now and I needed to make sure it wouldn’t cause me any problems.

Monday was the same old thing just two easy runs, mileage day.

Tuesday I got a morning run in and then in the evening headed down to Burnaby lake for some intervals. The workout was 6x 1mile with 3 minutes recovery/ slow jogging between intervals. The purpose of the workout was to run the miles fast, to get quicker with each interval and to get a good amount of rest in between each one so we could achieve this. We ran the workout on the same gravel path that we ran our kilometers on last week. The first couple felt rough, I hit 4:57 and 4:49 for those two intervals. Then I began to feel better and hit 4:45, 4:42 and 4:45 for the next 3. Then I hit 4:39 for the final mile. I felt really good during this workout; much better than any other workout I have done in the past few months.

Wednesday all I can say is I was a bit lazy only getting in one run that day, an easy 5 miles. This week I was supposed to drop down the mileage a bit and take it easy after Tuesday but when you have been running twice every day for the last couple of months missing a morning run makes me feel lazy.

Thursday was a group run at Mundy park. Trevor, Richard L. and Kristina and I met to run a loop of Mundy park easy, 10 by 200 meters strides with 200 meter jog rest followed by another loop of Mundy park. This was just an easy run with some strides thrown in to get the legs moving quick.  Friday was another single run, 8 miles easy then it was off to Victoria to get ready for the Landsend 10km race on Sunday.

Saturday I picked up the crew at the ferries in Sidney, Trevor, Geoff, Richard, John and we went to Elk lake for our last run before the race, just an easy loop of the lake 10 kilometers. We ran it easy in 42 minutes and headed back to the Hotel.  Richard M. came over later that evening to round out the runners from our training group who were coming over for the race.

Sunday Morning I got up early, packed up the truck and we headed out to Sidney for the 10 km race. The race started at 9:15 am. and to tell you the truth I felt like crap in the morning. I felt flat on the warm-up and I figured it would be a rough day. The weather was nice, warm and not too windy. I had never run this race before and it is always enjoyable for me to run a route that I have never run before and I also liked coming back to the island for a race.

From the gun Richard and I lead the race and by 2 kilometers we had built up a large lead. It sort of felt like we were just out for a sunday workout. We traded leads a bit and got into a good rhythm. I didn’t wear a watch for this one so I had no idea what type of pace we were running. It felt fast but only 30:00-29:45 kind of fast. Later Richard Lee said we went through the first 3km in 8:41, if I heard that I may have slowed down so it was good that I had no idea what any of my splits were, I had just struggled through a 3km on the track not too long ago in 8:46 and that was tough but the first 3km of this race was a breeze. I just keep the pace up and continued to push during the race and as we hit the half way point and took the 180 turn to head back to the start Richard and I got to see where we were compared to the rest of the field. At this point I knew it was just a race between Richard and I. I knew we needed to keep pushing to run a good time and at this point I knew I could keep the same pace right to the end at this point so why not try to keep pushing the envelope. I figured in the end at least we would both run a good time even if I ended up second. There were a few turns on the way back as there were on the way out and I used those sections of road to motivate me to run each section hard and to not get too ahead of myself with thinking about how far I was away from the finish. I did feel like I was pulling away from Richard a bit but it was hard to say by how much and I knew that at any point he could pull up beside me and then past so I just kept pushing through the final kilometers.  With a kilometers to go I did get a little info. I was told I had the lead by about 30 seconds and with some simple calculations I did in my head I was fairly confident that I had this race, now my mind switched over to trying to figure out what time I might run. As I turned the corner up to the finishing stretch I tried to focus in the numbers on the race clock, I could tell it didn’t say 30 yet so I assumed it was at 29 and but that was all I could make out so I pushed it a bit and as I got closer I could see that it was at 28 high. This was a surprise, i dropped it down another gear and finished in 29:19. Richard M. was not far behind in 29:32 a good run for both of us and I am pretty sure now that Richard was a bit closer to me then that 30  seconds so it could have turned out to be a bit more interesting at the end. Next in from our training group was Geoff Reid in 33:06, Trevor Feeney 33:40 and John Machuga 33:59. They finished 8th, 9th, and 10th. Not a bad day for our group.

Next up for us is a workout Tuesday and the final few weeks of prep for me before The Victoria Marathon.

REST OF THIS WEEK

Thursday was an important workout; it was a marathon simulation workout, the first of a few here that I will try to squeeze into a very short marathon build-up, and it went well thankfully. I  started in Mundy park on the usual progression run route that we run on Thursday. I ran 3 loops of that with Richard M.= 9 miles, kept the same pace and ran a kilometer over to the track. When I got there a high school football game was going on and people were all over the track. I had a 5 mile run on the track, 20 laps, to do at marathon pace. This was going to be real fun. I got right to it though and after a few comments from kids as I ran past, probably thinking I was a nut bag or something worse, I settled into a pace. A pace that was quicker then agreed on but it was comfortable. I spent many laps weaving in and out of people who obviously couldn’t figure out what I was doing, but I looked at it as a challenge that made the workout that much harder.

The plan was to run 26:00-26:30 for the 5 miles. I hit the first mile in 5:08. Richard Lee jogged over with me and did a workout of his own. Richard hopped in and ran the even number laps with me. The company helped break up the workout for me. The second mile was something like 5:05 and I was feeling good. Towards the end of the workout the football game ended and Richard had to stop running with me and try to direct traffic so I could finish my workout. I ended up running 25:19 for the 5 miles and it felt comfortable. Then it was an easy 2 mile cool down. This was a long session about 15 miles total and my fitness is improving quickly, I don’t take long to get in decent shape so I may be ready for a decent race soon.  I put in 21 miles that day.

Friday was an easy mileage day and I put in 13.50 miles that day. Saturday we were back at Stanley Park for some longer repeats. It was a hot one that day and I was feeling tired from the weeks training so I just wanted to get the workout done with. We were doing 3x 2 miles on the bike path with 3 minutes recovery between intervals. It was an out and back loop with some good climbs in it. Richard M. joined me and we ran 9:57 for the first 2 miles, jogged the recovery and ran 9:42 for the second. Each interval was supposed to be get quicker than the previous. I ran the last one in 9:30 but it felt tough half way through. The workout was a good one and I was glad that I could keep the last one strong. I decided to take the rest of the day off because of the long long run I had the next day and it has been 4 long weeks building up my mileage.

This next week I will keep up the intensity till after Tuesday’s workout and then scale back a bit so I get in my down week and rest up a bit for the 10 km road race I am running in Sidney this Sunday. My mileage for this week was 104 miles. Things are finally coming together with my training and it is an important time of year now to keep the running going through the holiday months to get the benefits next year during early winter and spring.

Mid Week Report

Started the week on Sunday at Bunzten Lake with a longish run. Richard, Norm and I ran the hilly 15 mile loop and I took it easier than usually because of the 10 mile tempo run I did the previous day. It was a nasty day but the rain held off for the first 3 quarters of the long run. I took it easy at the start of the run till I got warmed up and then brought down the pace during the second half. Stood in the lake for a while after the run to cool down my legs, but not for too long, by now it was raining pretty hard and I was getting cold. I put in another 5 miles in the evening to give myself 20 miles for the day.

Monday was an easy day and I took it easier than I needed to with just the one 5 mile run in the morning. I did spend the rest of the day down town at Stanley park at the Aquarium walking around with Ari on my shoulders all day so I think I deserved an easy day. I shot this photo of the raccoon outside of the Aquarium. He was obviously really wary of people, he kept bugging us for goldfish crackers.

Tuesday was a workout day down at Burnaby lakes. We were scheduled for 8x 1000 meters with a 400 meter jog, 2 minutes between. The plan was to run from 3:00-2:55 per kilometer by the end, going from 10km pace down to 5km pace. This was the first shorter, fast workout I was to do and I was not sure how it would go. Richard M. and I ran the first one together along a gravel path near Burnaby lakes and ran 2:58 for the first one, it felt quick but not too bad. We ran two more 2:58’s and followed that with a 2:57. That was the first half done and I was doing reasonably well, I knew I could hold that pace but as far as picking up the pace I wasn’t sure how my legs would handle it. Well they handled it. We ran the next interval in 2:55, then 2:54, and 2:53. I could feel the workout creeping into my legs as we got ready for the last one, I had worked hard up to this point so there was no way I was going to back off now. Richard and I hit 2:48 for the last one. Workout done. This was a good one and miles ahead of what we ran last year for this workout so that was a confidence boost. total for the workout was 13.50 miles and that was what I clocked for the day as I skipped the morning run that day.

Wednesday Iran an easy 10 kilometers in the morning on my treadmill. Yes treadmill, kids are back to school now so either I get up really early and run or I run at home on the treadmill while Ari naps. Right now I am only up for the latter. In the evening I decided to get out and run at Campbell Valley through the trails. They are soft mush wood chipped trail with some hard packed gravel parts. The only set back to this place is  used heavily by people with horses, but other than that it is a nice 6.50 miles. I ended up doing 2 loops and clocked almost 20 miles for the day.

A good week so far with two more important workouts left, Thursday a marathon simulation workout and Saturday back to Stanley Park for some long intervals. Followed by a longer long run Sunday, 22 miles is planned but the venue is undecided.

ANOTHER WEEK

This week I got in a 20 miler on Sunday which I covered last week and a five miler that afternoon giving me 25 miles on the day. A good start to the week as long as I followed the weeks run schedule this would be my biggest mileage week in a while.

We didn’t do a Tuesday workout this week the goal of this week was just mileage and the focus was a tempo run on Saturday. I ran double run days everyday this week logging almost 13 miles on Monday and over 16 miles on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thursday I met Richard and Mundy park and we ran another 12 mile progression run through the trails at a good clip; then it was out that evening for another 5 miles. Friday I ran two easy runs of 6 miles and did some strides after the latter run. It was important to not do to much the day before Saturday as I would be running the first of some longer tempo runs.

So Saturday we met down at Stanley park again for 2 loops of the 5 mile route we do there. My workout was 10 miles run at 5:20 mile pace to start and either bringing it down or keeping it even. I started out at 5:20 pace and it felt tough. I ran the first 5 miles in 26:25. On the second loop I started to feel warmed up and was able to run a bit quicker in 26:11, 5:15 mile pace. Not a bad run and it was far better than the 56 minute ten mile tempo I ran last year at this time so at least I am slightly ahead of last year. This workout showed me though that I am still a ways off of optimal fitness, I have a long way to go.

Total for the week is 119 miles, another week of this then I can take an easy week and then right back to it for another 4 weeks.

IT’s BEEN A BIG WEEK

Another solid week this week. I started it off with a hilly 15 mile long run out at Bunzten Lake which I covered in the last post. I followed that up with a fartlek workout on Tuesday with the group. We warmed up 3 miles half way around Burnaby Lake, did some drills, strides and then got into the workout. It was a full lap of the lake, 6.25 miles, of 1 minute run fast and the 1 minute jogged; we did this till the lap was over and ended up with 18 repetitions. Ended up with 18 miles for the day.

Thursday was our progression run day but instead of running it as fast as I usually do Richard added on lap on to my usual 4 of Mundy park. I started off with Trevor and ran the first three with him, we pretty much hit the same type of pace I usually do when I do this workout, but for some reason my stomach was killing me and I had to make several stops during the first two runs till it finally settled down. Thursday was a hot one so it was good to get in the shade of the trails. I kept the 4th loop at 17 minute pace for the loop and was really tired by now, sick of so many loops and tired from the mileage I had been putting in, however I still managed to bring the last loop in at 16 minutes.

Friday and Saturday were easy mileage days for the purpose of putting in my first 20 mile session in quite a while. So I took those days easy to get ready for Sunday’s run. So this past week I was able to get in another 90 plus mile week and I was going to start my next week off right with a good long run and possible 5 mile shake out run in the evening giving my self a 25 mile day. It’s been a while since I have done that.

Sunday is here and I was looking forward to how it would go. Richard wanted a pace of 6:00-5:45 minute miles so I got right up to pace as soon as the run got under way, I didn’t want to dig myself into a hole where I would need to overextend in the last few miles to bring down the total average.

I kept the first 5 miles comfortable, 30:10 for just over 6 minute miles and it felt good. It was a nice sunny day out here in Langley and I started my run at 9:30 so the temperature was rising with every mile. I covered the second 5 miles in 29:46 for for a 10 mile first half of 59:56 and I still felt relaxed. As I hit the turn around I made a point of picking up the pace trying to get closer the the faster end of the spectrum Richard laid out for this run. The next 5 miles I covered in 29:14, 5:51 pace bring me in at 1:29:10 for 15 miles. I continued to pick up the pace and brought home the last 5 miles in 28:44, 5:45 mile pace. For a total of 20 miles in 1:57:55. I was  tired at the end of the run but not exhausted, felt fairly controlled the whole way so I think it was a successful first long run. Richard gave me a bit of a preview of workouts I will be trying to hit for my next marathon and I am excited to get at them.

I followed the 20 miler with 5 mile shakeout run through Walnut Grove in the evening and called it a day. Next race on my schedule is a 10 km road race in Victoria September 20th. I should be ready for something half decent by then.

THERE’S A SPRING IN MY STEP!!

I had a good week of training, a damn good week. Many double days, two good workouts, a good progression run, a long run that went well and 95 miles this week, now all I need to do is string together another 10 weeks of this and I will be in good shape.

I have also nailed down some important races that I will be doing into early next year, but I will get into that at a later date.

My week starts on a Sunday so my first run was kind of week; I was only able to manage 10 miles that day. I left my run late which I never do, I usually run my long runs at 8-9am in the morning but it was a hot day so I thought I would run when it got cooler. However as the day wore on my motivation wore out and by the time I got out the door I had pretty much talked my self out of running 15-20 miles and went out 5 and came back 5 miles and called it a day. Don’t worry though the week gets better.

Next was my first workout in a while on the Tuesday. It was a long one and it was the first one I have done off the track in a while. The workout 10x 800 meters with 400 meter jog between. It was a lot of running for right now so right off the bat I decided just to run it strong and even all the way through. It was another hot day too so I just wanted to make sure that I got through all the intervals and could keep the ball rolling throughout the week. I hit 2:30 for most of the 800’s and I was fine with that for now. The second 800 section we ran on the trails was the hilly of the two and I kept the pace even on both routes making it a good effort for that day. I was able to log 18 miles on that day.

Thursday was our progression run and it was Dylan and I who did 4 loops of Mundy park again, Trevor joined us for the first loop and then settled into his pace for the 3 loop he was doing. I was feeling tired and Dylan said he was as well so in saying that it gave both of us an out to do the run a bit easier than we usually do. This worked for a lap where we ran maybe 30 seconds slower than we usually do but when we got to the second loop it was back to the same old thing as we brought the pace down a good 2 minutes plus and continued on from there over the next two loops. We ran the 12 miles over soft hilly trails in 71:42, right at where we usually run this run. I felt good, this is probably my favorite run of the week, aside from the long run, and I felt like I was floating around the park that day.

Saturday we were scheduled to run our first tempo run of this next section of training. We met at Burnaby lake for a 5 mile tempo run. Dylan and Richard had to work early that day so we had to make this an early workout, warming up by 7:30 and into the workout by 8 am. It took me a bit to wake up during the warm-up, I even hit the hay at 9:30 pm the day before to make sure that I got enough sleep but I don’t think it matters unless you consistently get up that early to run. Richard is in good shape right now so I figured that I would be a ways behind him by the end of the run and figured that anything around 26-26:30 would be a good start to the tempo runs that we would start doing now. The route went out and back 4 km on the road which was ok, it got me warmed up anyway, as we went past where we started the road switch over to a gravel path for the second half of the 8 km. Richard was already a ways ahead of me at that point but I was feeling better and picking up the pace during this second half of the run. I was able to pull within 20 seconds finishing in 25:49 to Richards’  25:29. A good start which leaves me with a lot of room to improve as we are supposed to get quicker on each Tempo run as we go.

Next we were back to Bunzten Lake for a 15 mile hilly long run. I was sure today I would hang back and just run it easy. I felt pretty tired in the morning and just wanted to get it done and over with and take it easy for the rest of the day. We started off easy but it didn’t take long before the easy pace was too agonizing to maintain and it slowly got quicker and quicker till Tom, John and myself hit the half way point. We hit the turn around in 49 minutes. On the way back it was Tom and I who pulled away just a bit from John, but to his credit we were bringing the pace from 6:30 down to 6 minutes flat and the second half is a lot hillier than going out. Tom and I ran together most of the way back and as we got to the last really long hill I was feeling good and motivated by the fact that we were near the end so I upped the pace a bit and ran in the rest of the run pretty quick finishing in a time 3 minutes faster than my best for that route in 1:33:13. Not a bad way to finish off the week and the run while I felt really tired that morning.

Now time to do it all again for another 7 days and repeat over the next several weeks, what fun!

I’ve been tired during training, when I wake up in the morning, throughout the day and before I go to bed. When I was in Tumbler Ridge at altitude I decided that I should probably supplement with some iron pills, I checked my multi vitamins that I take and they contained no iron so I went and picked some up. I have been taking them for a couple weeks now and am starting to feel a bit better and my energy levels are coming around. I don’t think that I am anemic but I would guess that my iron levels are low with all the miles I put in during the spring so it was a good thing that being at altitude prompted me to look at taking some Iron.

I got out for my first workout yesterday since the mountain race and it went well. Dylan and I ran some 800 meter repeats on the trails in Burnaby. I did 10 by 800 meters with 400 meter jog between. I didn’t get too crazy with it I just wanted to get through all the reps so I keep the pace under control early on. As I got going I felt better and better and the pace picked up a bit. I finished off the workout feeling like I could do more. I ended up with over 13 miles in this workout with warm up and warm down and over 18 miles on the day; not bad considering I only managed 10 miles this past Sunday for a long run as my stomach was not cooperating that day.

Are group is turning to some longer workouts now off the track and some tempo runs now which I am better suited to. The goal is to keep my training consistent and keep the ball rolling right now. It doesn’t take me long to get into good shape and the type of training we are going to be doing right now gets me in the best shape I can quickly. I am ready to get fit and get into some races with confidence and set some new PR’s. Up next we have a progression run this Thursday and a tempo workout Saturday.

I AM BACK

Back in Langley anyway after a 13 hour road trip. Came home to a ton of rain and some happy dogs. I am a bit sore today, mostly from the down hill sections of the race last weekend and probably from the long drive as well.

Race was good but not great, I felt I ran a smart race, I paced myself heading to the summit at 6300 ft. Then started to move as it flattened out and starting heading back down to 4300ft. But I was not a quick as Kris was on the downhill part as he pulled away from me around the 17 km mark and I was not able to pull him back. I was not able to run down that logging road any faster.

But looking at the week in Tumbler I am happy I was able to get some good mileage in for the week running at a bit of altitude and over some tough terrain. I am ready now to get back to the grind and run some consistent mileage over the next two months and see where I am then.

I don’t like losing races and I don’t like having my ass handed to me in workouts while only running 67 second quarters, and I have been a real champ latley at both those things so I am going to get back to what I know works which is mileage at this point of the marathon build up. Time to train.