Running, Wonky Ankle and All

Injuries Suck

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 15:47:00 +0000

All that really needs to be noted is that after my PB at the Prince Edward County Marathon a year ago tomorrow I've suffered through a foot injury, sustained in the race, until resuming running in mid-July. Once that happened I slowly built up my weekly mileage from less than 20km to a little over 40km/week before hitting another hurdle: left foot pain that is suspiciously a lot like plantar fasciitis...

So, one lesson learned from that experience is: don't try to streak when you haven't streaked successfully before. In fact, do NOT try to streak coming off of an injury. I ran almost every single day in August... Second lesson is do not ignore tight hamstrings. I think the knot I felt in my left hammy ended up radiating down to the left foot and ultimately caused the pain that stopped me from running in early September.

Anyway, yesterday I went with my older son for a walk/jog in the trails to test the foot as it has stagnated in its recovery and I think was due for some stimulation and it felt great. Why? Because I left the Garmin at home. I walked a minute, jogged a minute, walked, then jogged two, walked, then jogged three, and then back down the pyramid. I was only conscious of how I was feeling and used that as feedback while ignoring pace, cadence, distance, and any other metric that has gotten me in trouble in the past. I can for 23m30s and, after plugging the route into Gmaps Pedometer, managed 3.5km. Shitty by all accounts except the one that ultimately really matters above all else: I had FUN!

Here's to running without a Garmin for a while. Will I keep myself honest and not get seduced by the lure of the metrics? Hmm...

Another Try...

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 02:00:00 +0000

After my last run I was caught off guard with the resulting aches and pains that materialized seemingly out of the blue. Although my right ankle, still not 100%, wasn't really bothering me any more than before the run, my left knee felt like someone had shoved some crap into the middle of it and then the crap expanded causing significant pressure and pain. It hurt to walk and it hurt to bend the knee. It was almost as if the ACL got shorter and fatter at the same time!

In any case, I waited for the rest of the week for the knee issue to calm the hell down and did not even attempt to run. This was quite disappointing to me as I was definitely ready to get back to training and every day lost to injury made me feel like I was losing fitness at an alarming rate.

Today I felt pissed off enough to get out for an evening run to test the body out. I ran slow and easy and really enjoyed the Fall weather as I ran in the dark, crunching leaves underfoot. The first couple of kilometres were fine, but after that I started to feel like I was losing control of my legs as they felt somewhat numb. I made it through 5k E at 5:30/km and seem none the worse for wear, but the feeling in my legs definitely makes me think that I have lost a LOT of fitness since the marathon :(

But at least it's (another) start! Plan is to run at least once or twice more this week and I am hoping my body allows this to happen.

It's Been A While

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:24:00 +0000

The recovery phase, post-marathon, has taken longer than I'd hoped, and I suppose it will continue for a bit longer in a fashion, but I think that this was the safest thing for not only my right ankle (which is still not 100% as of this post) but my whole body in the end. The rule of thumb I'd heard for recovery is one week off for every ten kilometres raced. It's been a full four weeks and a couple of days so I suppose that after racing 42.2km this was the perfect amount of down time in the end.

That being said, it's still a pain in the ass to take any time off. However, this morning I did manage to go out for an easy 5k and it went better than expected in some ways and less than stellar in others.

The better part was that I ran the whole way nice and easy and nothing snapped, crackled, or popped. I even managed to run at a decent pace (5:10/km). The not so stellar part was that my legs felt like they were full of lead and different aches and pains kept creeping into them and then going away. Most of all I felt super stiff in the hips and calves.

But at least it's a start! November will be all about building up the stamina and mileage one step at a time.

First Week Post Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 19:27:00 +0000

Here's how the first week after my marathon went...

Monday: Biked to work on sore legs and generally took things very easy. It was odd that my left quad was more sore than my right given that the issues I experienced at the 16k mark were on the right side. I suppose I compensated for the pain in my right side and used my left leg more in the last 26k? In any case, I felt ok given the fact that the last ten kilometres of the race were a painful experience to say the least. I walked around a bit at lunch time just to make sure I wasn't sitting all day, but other than that this was most definitely a full day OFF.

Tuesday: The physical ramifications of the marathon continued with respect to pain the legs, in particular the left quad, but also the right foot. It seems that the right quad issue that I experienced at the 16k mark of the race and thereafter was related to the slope of the road on which I had to run, meaning that the right side was always slightly lower than the left. As a result, my foot was feeling sprained and that was more worrying than any other ache or pain that I incurred. It hurt to walk, and that's always a bad sign. However, I still went to the gym at lunch time and did some basic rolling followed by a sit in the sauna. First two days after the race is still too early to declare any major issues as the plan always was to take two full weeks off running anyway.

Wednesday: A crazy day at work, bisected by a fire alarm that had me walking down from the 19th floor of an unfamiliar building, meant that I not only could not get to the gym for anything remotely close to a recovery session, but also that my right foot took more of a pounding than I'd intended. I definitely sprained something running on the slope of the right side of the road during the marathon and now must manage this injury prior to resuming running...

Thursday: Another day at work wherein I can't recall even having time to breather, but I did manage to extricate myself for a short spell to the gym. I did a bunch of push ups and pull ups, rolled my legs for a bit, and then sat in the sauna for a bit. The concern remains the right foot and ankle (the "wonky" one) as the pain seems to be getting worse rather than better. A friend pointed out that this could be a stress fracture and I am totally dreading the possibility :(

Friday: This was a bit quieter at work, though I never planned to do too much. Most of the day was spent sitting, which allowed my foot and ankle to rest, but by the end of the workday my foot was in a lot of pain. I also had a two hour basketball practice that I had to coach in the evening that totally put my foot over the edge...

Saturday: Drove to Ottawa for Thanksgiving and the foot/ankle continued to stay the uncomfortable and painful status quo. Frustrated is an understatement...

Sunday: Same as Saturday, though without the driving. Foot and ankle just did not seem to be improving. One week down and still in a major holding pattern :(

Prince Edward County Marathon 2015 Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 14:25:00 +0000

So, it's time to try and recap my third marathon so that I can remember what all of this felt like before, during, and afterward and hopefully use this information to learn and improve for future races.

The first thing to note is that I am somewhat disappointed in my execution of the race, not necessarily the result itself. Yes, I am very happy that I was able to set a Personal Best by over 33 minutes, but I am not happy with the fact that I was unable to manage the race better while I was running it. I clearly have a lot to learn about "going for it" when doing so may not be the wise choice. It is my personality to do so I guess and with that I have to grapple. I also have a few things to take away that will inform my future training as well, and that is a very good thing.

So, the lead up to the race: it was a tough Saturday in the sense that I knew we wouldn't get out of town early due to some other family commitments and also that the highway was shut down in both directions due to a massive overnight accident. We managed to get through the family commitments and then waited out the highway blockage for a bit before hitting the road shortly before 2pm for the 2.5hr drive to Picton and the Race Expo. The drive wasn't too bad and I was a passenger the entire time thanks to my wife doing all the driving (thanks!). We arrived at the Expo a bit before 5pm and I was able to get in and out pretty quickly picking up two bibs for friends as well as my own. We then drove to the cottage and had dinner. By this point I was feeling a bit tired, but at least I was settled in for the night.

Having slept ok, but just ok, I woke up at 5:30am and slowly got ready by eating a bagel and a Clif Bar, washing these down with some water and a cup of black coffee. We left at 6:15am and on the way I drank more water to ensure I was hydrated. Arriving at the race staging area, which was mercifully indoors, at 7:15am I met my friends and passed on their bibs. I then used the washroom (twice) and had a eLoad gel along with some more water about fifteen minutes before the 8am start.

The day before had been a bad day weather wise with cold temperatures and a howling wind from the East. Given that the race was a point to point course heading East this was not good at all and had me worried. On the morning of the race the winds seemed to have died down a bit, but it was certainly not what I would call calm. However, I tried to put that out of my mind and attempted to focus on the task at hand.

When the start happened I was ready to go and set off with the rest of the small contingent of 167 marathoners. I immediately paid attention to my Garmin and tried to lock in on my dream goal pace of 4:35/km. This I managed to do well right away and, as a result, I was a bit concerned that this pace didn't feel as easy early on as I though it should have.

However, I just kept on running and kept telling myself to "glide" through the first 32k. The race is all about the last 10k and I wanted to make it through the first three quarters feeling as fresh as I could. Unfortunately, this would prove impossible on the day as I started to feel that the dream goal would slip away right around the time that my right quad up near the hip began to bark at the 16k mark. I think running on the edge of the road was too much to take and my right leg took the brunt of the impact on the sloped road surface. With a sigh I resigned myself to simply finishing the race on the run as best as I could while managing the pain.

I made it through the half marathon mark in 1:37.48, good for a 4:38/km average pace, and faced the second half of the run with the wind really starting to howl near the water. And boy did it howl! Right in my face or just slightly from the right. I had to really fight through it and it definitely messed up my rhythm. It also chilled me to the core at times, but I kept on plugging away as I watched my pace slow down kilometre by kilometres.

It was at this time that I began to wonder if I'd be able to break 3h20m for the race, and then at about the 28k mark I did the math in my head and felt that this goal was also too aggressive, but that breaking 3h25m was in the bag. Boy was I wrong!!! As I came to the 30k water station I walked through for the first time and my calves both twinged with that hint of a cramp that I dreaded all along. I made the decision to run between water stations, which were every two kilometres, and walk through for both a break and to get water into me. I had been sucking down eLoad gels since about the 5k mark of the race and by this time I was onto my sixth one. I had carried 12 with me knowing I would need a lot of calories, but I simply could not ingest them fast enough and my stomach was not accepting them any faster. This is one of the many things I still have yet to learn about marathoning...

In any case, I made it to the 32k water stop and walked through. This time I slowed before walking and that helped the calves for sure. I ran to the 34k water stop as well, but it was really, really tough going at this point. I also ran to the 36k stop, and then the fun really started. At the 37k mark my left hamstring twinged enough that I had to walk a few steps to ensure it wouldn't completely cramp up. A short time later, as I was mostly done the decent incline that comes up between 37k and 38k , my hamstring cramped and I had to stop for a short stretch. I walked a bit after the stretch and ran to the 38k water stop. After that I think I ran most of the way to the 40k water stop, but I did have to stop once to stretch quickly so it wasn't ideal.

Once I made it through the 40k water stop I knew it was simply a matter to keeping going and not allowing my legs to stop me down the main stretch to the Finish in front of all the spectators. I hobbled along from 40-41k and then in the last kilometre I tried my best to pick up my pace while keeping my legs from cramping. I was also cramping a bit in the right biceps for some reason and had to keep an eye on that as well.

In the last kilometre I saw my family (who had also come to see me at that crucial 32k mark and were a big boost) and they were a big help in getting me through to the end. I was really not looking good by this point I'm sure, but I focused on the finish line visible in the distance and just kept telling myself that I was almost there. I also glanced at my watch now and then and knew I would have to fight to get under 3h25m, and so I fought.

Ultimately, I managed the second half of the race in 1:46:49 (a 9 minute positive split, so not horrible, but not ideal either) and finished with a huge Personal Best of 3h24m35.6s. I came in 18th overall and 5th in my age category, so not bad on that end as well.

After the race I stopped off at the massage tent and waited for a couple of minutes before pulling the chute on the idea due to the long line up, opting for a shower instead. The walk to the shower facilities, which one had to access through a freezing hockey rink!, was tough as both of my calves up near the knee felt about as flexible and rocks. The shower itself was totally ghetto and took forever to warm up, but I was glad to have the option anyway. Then we hit the road to get my son to his baseball team get-together that I initially thought we'd have to miss. Last note is that in my rush to get on the highway I totally did not manage to take advantage of the complimentary beer that they were serving to all finishers! Oh well...

And I suppose I should also be pleased knowing that this was not my best performance and that I still have lots of room for improvement. I am now 10 minutes away from qualifying for Boston, though likely 12-13 minutes from actually being able to register. I am a bit disappointed that the Hanson's Marathon Method, which I followed to a T for 18 weeks didn't result in the stronger finish I was hoping for irrespective of the time, but I have to also note that I started the plan on June 1st with what I can only call a minimum amount of mileage in my legs so perhaps this was the reason and not the plan itself. My initial assessment is that the plan was sound, but I would tweak it in two ways: 1. I think I need more than the 10 day taper (perhaps stretch it to two weeks), and 2. I think I need to practice marathon pace at the end of the longest of the long runs to ensure my legs are ready to run at goal pace when they are totally trashed.

Things are moving in the right direction! Now I am taking two weeks off from running and will think about next goals and races after that.

Prince Edward County Marathon Race Result (PB!)

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 20:28:00 +0000

Well, it's somewhat bittersweet as I had hoped for more, but I still managed a personal best by over 33 minutes! Now I am a 3h24m35.6s marathoner! Crash and burn happened, but not as bad as in the past :(

More to come. Much more to learn...

The 18th of 18 Weeks (up to the race)

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:58:00 +0000

The eighteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-10k E. On a drizzly, but rather humid, morning I went out in the dark to check on the tired legs and dodge the idiot cyclists on the sidewalks. This was a solid Easy run wherein I managed 10k E at 5:03/km, but more importantly was able to avoid injury from bikers who happened to think that the sidewalk was theirs and theirs alone to use. As a daily cyclist I am offended by the attitude of these people thinking that they are in the right forcing me to move out of THEIR way more so than by the fact that they are on the sidewalk in the first place. You sometimes just have to shake your head. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a bunch of rolling and stretching and some sauna. No strength training this week. All that work's been done...

Tuesday: 8k E. On a very humid morning, especially for late September, I tried my best to assist my legs in recovering from the previous seventeen weeks of training by running as easy as possible. I succeeded in my goal of running easy, managing 8k E at 5:17/km, but in the leg recovery department I am still nowhere close to feeling fresh. When on earth will I start to feel like my legs are "ready to go"?!?! Argh... At lunch time I went to the gym to roll and stretch some more.

Wednesday: OFF. Took the day OFF except for going to the gym for rolling and stretching. Still worried that the legs will not be sufficiently recovered in time for the race...

Thursday: 10k E. On the chilliest morning since before the Summer I went out for another test of the old legs and managed a nice 10k E at 4:57/km. The legs still did not feel fresh, but there was a glimmer of hope in that my average pace at an easy effort was faster than usual. In particular, starting up after having to pause at a couple of red lights felt good. A hint of a spring in the step was experienced, but it soon dissipated. At lunch time I went again to the gym to roll and stretch.

Friday: 10k E. Woke up at 5:30 and would have normally ignored the tired feeling in my legs and have gone out for the prescribed run. However, two days out from my goal race I decided that if I was ever to miss a run, and having not missed a single one in the entire training plan that started on June 1st, this would be a good one to miss. Biking into work just served to reinforce that I'd made the right decision as my legs had a little bit more pep to them than they'd had since forever. In the end the guilt associated with taking this day OFF is mitigated by the hope that on race day I will have those extra few reserves of energy in my legs that will propel me through the toughest stretch of the marathon. At lunch I went to the gym for an abbreviated rolling and stretching session followed by the sauna just because it feels nice! Later in the day I had a one hour massage to get the legs really loosened up.

Saturday: 5k E. Slept in for the first time that I can remember and went out for an easy run fretting about the nasty wind coming out of the East. If this persists it will mean that I will have to run straight into the wind for the majority of the race! Oh well, can't control that I suppose. The run itself was interesting in that my legs still don't feel like I thought they would or should at this point in the training. However, my pace for the run was much faster than what I felt like I was accomplishing based on perceived effort and the tiredness of the legs. I managed 5k E at 4:44/km and half of it was into the wind. I've decided to try and not let any of this stuff bother me as the training is all done and I should be prepared to run a strong race. It's always a bit of a nerve wracking experience I suppose when one enters an event with self-imposed expectations, but at this point there is nothing else that can be done and I must place my trust in the plan and all of the good training that I was able to accomplish over the past 18 weeks. It's go time!

Total for the week: 33 km at 5:02.09/km average pace.

The 17th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 13:24:00 +0000

The seventeenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 12-13k E. Starting off the second last week of the marathon training plan I managed a well executed easy run and was rewarded with a spectacular sunrise. The total for the day was 13k E at 5:21/km and things are definitely starting to feel like the end is near. I am already a bit nervous that I somehow haven't done enough, but the summaries that I've put up here should help remind me of all the work that was put in. At least that's the theory.

Tuesday: 6x1 mile. The last Strength session of the training plan was made somewhat uncomfortable as I had totally overeaten the night before and the food had not exactly worked its way through by the time I hit the road at 5:45am. Other than that this session was good, though I think I still ran it too fast. The first two repeats were ok as the average paces ended up at 4:17.62/km and 4:13.38/km. After that I pulled off four splits at an average pace that was supposed to have been my Speed pace: 4:10.46/km, 4:07.91/km, 4:08.31/km, and 4:07.38/km. The average pace for all the repeats ended up being 4:10.84/km, and since 4:10/km was supposed to have been my Speed pace one can see why I think I may have run this workout too fast. Nevertheless, it's done, I'm healthy, and I only have one more Something of Substance run left before the marathon. The total for the run was 16k ST at 5:07/km. During the day I managed to get to the gym for a rolling and stretching session.

Wednesday: OFF. Another crazy day at work, but I continue to carve out time to get to the gym despite the pressures that continue to build at an alarming rate. No running, so it was an OFF day on the calendar, but I did manage an abbreviated strength training routine followed by rolling and stretching. This week, instead of the usual three times through a circuit that is comprised of running specific strength and stability exercises, I cut it down to two circuits only. At this point it's full on maintenance mode only.

Thursday: 16k T. The last tough run of the 18 week training plan was tough to be sure, and more importantly it was completed despite the tired legs and lack of sleep that tends to come with coaching basketball the night before making it difficult for me to wind down and fall asleep. This Tempo run was very difficult in the late stages and I had to keep telling myself to fight the urge to stop, especially in the last 4k. I managed the 16k Tempo portion at an average pace of 4:29.83/km and the final tally for the average of all my tempo runs ended up at 4:33.98/km. Since the 5k race foretold that my marathon pace should have been 4:45/km I clearly blew that prediction out of the water. It remains to be seen how I manage on race day, but these numbers are way better than I could possibly have hoped for back on June 1st when this journey began. The total for the day was 20k T at 4:41/km. At lunch time I went to the gym for a good session of rolling and stretching and a sauna at the end.

Friday: 10-12k E. First easy run of the official taper period was just that, easy. The legs were surprisingly dead and this wasn't all that great an effort in terms of how it felt, but given that it was just the first run of the last ten days leading up to the race I was not too worried about it. I managed the 10k E at 5:21/km and that's pretty much all there was to say about this run. At lunch time I went to the gym for another abbreviated strength training session followed by rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 10-13k E. With the legs still feeling anything but fresh I ran a faster than anticipated easy run on another beautiful morning. The way I felt from the waist down I was surprised by the average pace that I was able to manage: 10k E at 5:01/km. Recognizing that the marathon is still a week away at this point I shouldn't be filled with worries about how my legs will recover, but one has to wonder at what point in the taper period (which only lasts 10 days under the Hanson Marathon Method) the legs begin to feel refreshed. Time will tell...

Sunday: 13k E. For some strange reason my legs simply do not want to recover. As I headed out for the last Sunday run before the marathon my hip flexors and groin on both legs were so sore it was a bit of a struggle walking up the stairs! What on earth did I do to make my legs feel like this!? After now seventeen weeks of training this happens? Crappy. In any case, I still ran a nice easy 13k E at 5:05/km and felt that, despite the sore legs, this was somehow a good indication that even when my body doesn't feel recovered I'm still running at a faster pace than I think I am based on effort.

And with 17 of 18 weeks in the books, having completed every single run on the training plan and hitting all my paces every time, I should feel confident going into the race that I am prepared. However, the truth is somewhat opposite as I do not have the confidence at the moment that I though I would earn through this much dedication and success in training. I am hoping that at the end of the coming week, before I run the race, I can report that not only have my legs recovered, but that my confidence has returned as well.

Total for the week: 82 km at 5:03.72/km average pace.

The 16th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 12:06:00 +0000

The sixteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-10k E. After the half marathon Tempo/Long run the day before I went out on a nice chilly clear morning and managed a controlled and very easy 10k E at 5:41/km. The legs definitely felt the effects of the effort, but other than lack of energy and perhaps a touch of soreness they felt fine. This program really does force one to adapt to running on tired legs and at this point I'm running on what feels normal when the legs are tired. Very curious to see how the legs react to the short taper at the end of the plan. In the afternoon I managed a typical running strength training session followed by some rolling and stretching.

Tuesday: 4x1.5 miles. With the right quad a bit on the tight side I went into the second last Strength session with a bit of worry about how my legs would react following the long run with that half marathon tempo paced component thrown in that I managed on Sunday. The 2km jog for warm up went fine and my quad didn't seem to be an issue so I stopped and stretched just a little prior to starting into the 4 x 1.5 mile repeats with 600m recovery intervals. I had set the Garmin to 2.4km, which I guess is close enough to the metric equivalent, and set off on the first loop, which I completed in 10:15.06, or an average pace of 4:16.28/km. I walked the first 200m of the rest interval as per usual, and then jogged the remainder before starting in on the second repeat. This I completed in 10:09.47 with an average pace of 4:13.95/km. At this point I started to wonder if I was going too fast as these averages were well under the overall average for my strength sessions, which hovered a bit over 4:20/km. However, my breathing pattern remained 3-2 so I decided that as long as I was able to maintain that I would be ok to continue and run them at whatever pace felt good at that perceived effort level. After the same walk/jog rest interval I set off on my third repeat and completed it in 10:08.48, which translated to an average pace of 4:13.53/km. My legs were starting to feel the effects of the lactic acid accumulation towards the end of the third repeat I think, but that is the point of the Strength sessions so I wasn't too worried. The quad was not getting any worse for the wear either. My last repeat I managed in 10:05.41 (average pace of 4:12.25/km) despite starting rather slow and staying above 4:20/km pace for the first quarter of the repeat. The average pace for the total session of repeats ended up at exactly 4:14.00/km, which is only 4s/km slower than what my Speed session pace was supposed to have been during this training plan! I guess this is a good sign. Still, this was a tough workout, but I am most pleased with the results to date, although this enthusiasm is always tempered by the fact that those last 10k in the marathon are a mystery and I have no idea how I will fare. In any case, the total for the session was 16k ST at 5:14/km. Before lunch I went to the gym to roll and stretch and do a bit of sauna to try and work out the kinks in my legs, especially that pesky right quad.

Wednesday: OFF. Another crazy day at work, but I managed to at least get to the gym for a decent strength training session followed by some rolling and stretching. The right quad, that had been barking quite a bit on Monday evening and into Tuesday, had settled down somewhat at least. This was a good day OFF I guess, though I did hold the first try out session for the basketball team I coach in the evening, which meant two hours on my feet chasing little athletes around and such.

Thursday: 16k T. After a horrible night of sleep where I maybe got three hours total I woke up feeling less than stellar as I faced the second last tempo run prior to the marathon. After running the half marathon at tempo pace I knew I could manage sixteen kilometres at that pace, but the way I felt while jogging the first two kilometres for warm up did not give me much confidence in executing this run properly. I chose not to do the usual loops that I'd been running to avoid red lights and major road crossing and headed for the same long loop that I used for last weeks Thursday run. I also knew that this would mean I would have to traverse some decent hills in the first half of the run and that this would be a good challenge to see if I could still manage the tempo pace with the undulating terrain. Well, long story short this was not the most perfectly executed run I've had, but not the worst either. I had to stop a few times due to red lights and also due to feeling off now and then. However, I did run this one well when I was running and averaged a much too fast (in some ways) 4:27.71/km for the 16k tempo portion of the run. With the warm up and cool down I managed 20k T at 4:41/km. With work being completely nuts I had trouble getting to the gym for my usual rolling and stretching routine, followed by relaxing in a sauna, but I did manage it despite the craziness.

Friday: 8-10k E. Now at the tail end of the 18 week training plan the legs have all the cumulative fatigue in them that they can take and these easy short runs are put in place just at the most appropriate time. Case in point was this easy 8k E at 5:32/km on another beautiful morning where I felt like I really needed a short and easy run. The taper can't come soon enough was the mantra, but all the while I tempered these thoughts with the knowledge that the taper itself is likely to be frustrating and filled with doubts about whether or not the training was enough. Should remember these runs in order to remind myself that indeed I have done as much as I could have. At lunch time I went to the gym for another strength training session followed by some rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 13-16k E. After a rough night wherein my Mom had to go to the hospital I had a bit of trouble sleeping and then waking up. I was out the door later than I'd intended and ended up running more than I'd planned as well. Instead of the 13k that I was hoping to get done I ended up managing 14k E at 5:08/km because the loop I selected was longer than I thought it would be. I had to be home in time for other things so I decided to not walk the extra kilometre. In the end it doesn't matter, though my left calf has a knot in it that will need to be worked out sooner than later.

Sunday: 16k E/L. With that knot in the left calf still present, and all the driving I had to do the day before to the cottage and back meant I was unable to try and work it out, I set off on the last Long paced run of the training plan on a beautiful morning that was perhaps slightly chilly at around 10C. The air was still and the sunrise proved to be spectacular as the cloud across Lake Ontario were lit up while I ran along the boardwalk. The run itself was good, but I think I ran it too fast as I ended up doing 16k L at 4:42/km. That's pretty much a Tempo run on this plan (which calls for tempo runs to be done at planned marathon pace and mine slotted in at 4:45/km based on that 5k race result from the end of May), though it didn't feel like I was pushing the effort into Tempo range so I think that's ok. If the last ten miles of the marathon feel like this I'll be in good shape for a strong finish.

Total for the week: 84 km at 5:04.04/km average pace.

The 15th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 13 Sep 2015 16:14:00 +0000

The fifteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 12-13k E. After a bad night of sleep due to allergies (awake and sneezing at 3am, not able to really get back to sleep after that) I got up at 6:30am and was out the door at 7am. Legs felt tired and stiff, which was interesting as the day before I felt like they were recovering a bit. In any case, I managed a relatively easy 13k E at 5:27/km based mostly on keeping the effort nice and even. Did an out and back to avoid the big climb back to the lake, but still faced a decent amount of hilly running, though most were gradual. Then we drove home in order to be back in time for a baseball game for one of the boys in which I was pinch coaching.

Tuesday: 3x2 miles. Humidity continued to be a factor as I woke up to the sound of rain on the skylights, which always amplify the drops and makes it sound worse than it is. After waking up at 5:20am and going downstairs I checked the temperature, which was already 25C by the time I got out the door at 5:45am. Jogging the first two kilometres for a warm up was a bit of a joke due to the heat and I was sweating from every pore by the time the warm up was done. Then in the first third of the first of three 2 mile repeats the rains came pouring down something fierce! It's only rained on me a few times during this marathon training block and it's always happened on a Tuesday. This time I was soaked within seconds and the rains did not abate until I was well into the 800m rest interval after my first repeat. I tried to keep things nice and loose, but got into my 3-2 breathing pattern right away for this workout. On the second repeat I made it about two thirds of the way before I had to switch to 2-2 breathing and my legs began to feel like lead. The third repeat was pretty much the same as the second except the legs were cooked by the halfway point. In the end I averaged 4:20.26/km (4:18.03/km, 4:21.94/km, and 4:20.81/km were the repeat averages), which I was very pleased with given the humidity and rain and the extra weight I had to carry in the form of soaked clothes and shoes. The total for the run was 16k ST at 5:17/km. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a full rolling and stretching routine, which was sorely needed.

Wednesday: OFF. Another well deserved day OFF wherein I felt very tired and my legs had no gas at all in them. I did go to the gym for a strength training session and a decent amount of rolling and stretching, but that was all.

Thursday: 16k T. Switching things up for the first time in this entire training block I decided to make this a Long pace run and managed 20k at 4:51/km. The reason is that I signed up for a Half Marathon and wanted to run that at goal marathon pace (see Sunday below). This morning's run, in any case, was very good. Nice and controlled, running within myself the entire time. It's nice to run this way, breathing 3-3 the entire time, and glance down at the Garmin and see that the pace is way faster than you thought you'd ever be able to manage at this level of effort. Definitely helped that the heat broke overnight and the humidity dissipated. It was a near perfect 15C when I went out at 5:22am for the run. Only issue was a painful stomach for some reason as I had stuff in there that just wasn't sitting right. In the afternoon I managed a good rolling and stretching session at the gym.

Friday: 10-12k E. My alarm didn't go off for some reason so I was out a bit later than expected. However, the lovely cooler temperatures are so nice to run in the later exit didn't really matter as it never got hot or humid during my 10k E at 5:18/km. Only issue was the stomach was still feeling off. I wonder what's going on there as I really haven't had problems all year in that regard. In the afternoon I managed to get to the gym for some strength training, rolling, and stretching.

Saturday: 10-13k E. Had to get up earlier than I'd want to on a very rainy morning to get this run in on account of other commitments that were on my calendar. One of those commitments conflicted with another, and it was a baseball game that I was to coach at which we were to arrive by 8:30am. So I ran up by the field, conveniently about 5km away, just to check on the conditions. It was a muddy disaster so I figured that freed me for that other commitment. Either way, my morning was going to be busy. The run itself was nice and easy, though I felt lethargic and my legs felt heavier than they should have. I had woken up at 3am and did not get back to sleep after that so I'm inclined to believe that this is the reason behind my feeling so tired. In any case, I managed 10k E at 5:10/km and felt somewhat prepared to tackle that Temp Run in the Half Marathon the next day.

Sunday: 26k L. This day was always going to be a bit of an experiment as well as a test. I wanted to see how marathon pace would feel at this stage in the plan so I moved the Tempo run from Thursday to Sunday and signed up for a local Half Marathon. Although the plan called for a 16k Tempo run I wanted to stretch this to the HM distance if possible. I woke up, had a bagel, then jogged the 5km down to the starting line, running into a friend who was running the Full on the way and sharing the last 3km of the warm up run with him. Then after a few minutes the race started and I was off. Early on there was quite a bit of weaving through traffic, but after about a kilometre things loosened up a bit and I was able to run more freely. I found it interesting that if I was just behind another runner I would naturally match their pace and on several occasions I had to really concentrate to both not slow down or speed up unintentionally. I kept things very even and didn't really start hurting at any point, though at the half way point I had visions of calling it at 16k and slowing to easy pace for the remainder of the race. I did not do this and I have another runner to thank for pulling me along. He passed me with about 9k to go and I hung onto him for the rest of the race as he was running the exact pace that I wanted to run. In the end I managed the HM in 1:36:39 unofficially, which translated to a pace of 4:34.87/km. The average for all my Tempo runs to date has been 4:34.80/km so this was just about perfect! After the race I jogged 2k to cool down and managed a total of 28.1k T at 4:50.80/km. This also marked the last Long run of the training plan, which is also nice. I have made it through fifteen weeks never missing a run and hitting all my paces pretty much bang on!

Total for the week: 97.1 km at 5:04.12/km average pace.

The 14th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 15:22:00 +0000

The fourteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-10k E. After that great 28k Long run I knew my legs would be a bit on the tender side so I really focused on the recovery aspect of the Monday morning easy run. The run itself was totally uneventful and my legs didn't feel all that stiff or sore. I just lacked some energy, but still managed a decent 10k E at 5:35/km. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a strength training session and some rolling and stretching. Even after a big weekend of running I figured doing some resistance training was the right thing to do to get those muscles moving and activated.

Tuesday: 2x3 miles. Sometimes it's your guts that get you through a workout and not your legs. This was one of those times. I set off on my warm up jog feeling less than stellar and with a sore right groin (must be careful with this one I think). After a 3k warm up, which was longer than my typical 2k warm up, I set off into the first of the repeats with the Garmin set on interval mode for 2 sets 4.8km with 800m rest interval. At the beginning the first repeat felt ok and I just tried to get into a rhythm. That lasted until I had about a kilometre or so left and then things really started to hurt so I just tried to focus on form and kept plugging away. By the last 400m or so the form was all over the place and I couldn't wait to be done. I stumbled to the end with a time of 20:40.76 for an average pace of 4:18.49/km and was instantly worried about what the second repeat would feel like. After walking 200m then jogging the remainder of the 800m rest interval I blocked the doubts out of my mind and set off again. Once more, the first part wasn't too bad, but this time the pain really hit at about the halfway mark. I could really feel the lactic acid in the legs and began to lose control to a certain degree of how my feet were landing as well as the recovery phase of each stride. I guess that's why I think I managed to finish the second repeat on guts; it certainly wasn't on legs. The time for the second repeat ended up at 20:48.76 for an average pace of 4:19.31/km. Ultimately, I was very happy with the result and the mantra that got me through that last tough stretch was, "This is where the adaptation occurs!" Here's hoping it's occurring... The total for the run was same as last week: 16k ST at 5:06/km. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a good rolling and stretching session followed by a sauna. I will have to book another massage appointment as I seem unable to get to that sore groin area on the right leg that's been barking for a few days now.

Wednesday: OFF. Another tough day at work (what is it about Wednesdays?!?!) was broken up with a decent running strength session and some rolling and stretching. I developed a kink in my neck that I had hoped would not hamper me going forward, and it was certainly present all day. Other than that this was another well earned day OFF.

Thursday: 14k T. A very tough run on a hot and humid morning and on what ended up being very tired legs indeed. The thermometer read 23.5C when I left the house at 5:45am, a bit later than I'd hoped. And as soon as I went outside I was hit with a wall of humidity and knew I would be in for a challenged. The two kilometre jog to warm up was ok, but I felt low on energy for sure. Then when I started in on the tempo portion of the workout I did something I haven't done in this training block, at least not that I can recall. I consciously slowed myself down accounting for the heat and when I glanced at my watch about halfway through the first split I was running at 4:50/km! Much too slow. I made up for it and finished the first kilometre in 4:41.23, but paid for that effort on the second split, which I managed in 4:43.23. After that things stabilized a bit and all my other splits were in the mid to low 4:30's except for the second last one, which ended up at 4:29.70. Those last five kilometres of the tempo run were a killer though! I switched from 3-3 breathing to 3-2 with about 6k left, and then went to full on 2-2 for the last 4k. In the very last two kilometres it was a true struggle to just keep going and not allow myself a break. Looking back I am very pleased with this run as it definitely shows how far I've come over the course of this training plan. There is no way I could have managed this type of workout in the past in this type of heat. The total for the run was 18k T at 4:49/km, which was about 7s/km slower than last week's same workout and I can only assume the slow down was on account of the heat, though this one did come on the heels of that 28k long run and the killer Strength session on Tuesday. In the afternoon I was able to go to the gym for a good rolling and stretching session.

Friday: 8-10k E. Definitely was feeling the effects of the tempo effort as I set off on this recovery run. I also think that I got more dehydrated than I recognized at the time over the course of that tempo run on account of the heat and did not replace my fluids properly throughout the day. I had a couple of tall glasses of water just before bed and really didn't have to use the washroom all that much when I woke up, so that's definitely a sign that I have to pay more attention to hydration going forward. As a result, my legs were feeling very sore and tight. However, as the run progressed I loosened up a bit and ended it feeling much better than when I first started. Ultimately, I managed 8k E at 5:29/km and was better for the effort as I believe this runs help, rather than hinder, the recovery process. In the afternoon I went to the gym for another strength training session followed by rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 13-16k E. After arriving at the cottage the night before past midnight I was very tired due to lack of sleep in the morning as I woke up at 6am anyway and then tossed and turned until finally dragging myself out of bed for my run. Not feeling all that great I had very low expectations of the run itself, though I was quite pleased to be running on the roads near our lake after a four week absence. Man, the Summer just flew by didn't it?! In any case, I set off on a humid morning just trying to keep things easy and loose. As I ran on the familiar roads I was reminded of just how different running in the country is from the City. It's peaceful, quiet, and there are no red lights to contend with. Also, the drivers are super nice and courteous as they make sure to leave lots of room for me. Most of them move all the way over to the opposite lane as they pass by! In the end I managed to run 13k E at 5:16/km and the two kilometre climb back up to the lake at the end of the run, though tougher than I remember it, was not too bad. It's amazing how quickly your body forgets these hills if you don't run them every single week.

Sunday: 16k E/L. After a much better night of sleep I woke up to a very foggy and misty morning where the fog was so think I couldn't see more than a couple of hundreds metres in front of me. It was also very humid out, as I was about to find out, but while getting ready to run I wasn't so aware of this fact. My run was to be done either at E pace or L pace, and I left the choice up to the legs and how they were feeling in the first two kilometres. As I completed this warm up of sorts I noticed that my pace was such that I should try for the L end of the spectrum. Everything was cool as I coasted down Bird Rd., stopping for a few seconds to admire two Pileated Woodpeckers that I saw right at the edge of the road hanging onto one of those wooden guardrail posts. The out section of the out and back course I chose was either flat or downhill, with a very steep and long downhill section at around the 4km mark. My pace was quite good through these kilometres as I maintained a good cadence and kept things very loose. This would continue until the turnaround point, at which I was really feeling the effects of the humidity for the first time. I stopped to catch my breath a bit and noticed that my clothes were totally soaked. I began to be a bit worried that I would be in trouble for the back half of the run and promised myself another short break before the major climb back up Bird Rd. By the time I reached the bottom of the hill at the 11.75km mark I was really overheating. The break was a blessing, but in the heat I was not able to really recover. I decided to just run to the top of the hill and take another break, but after cresting the top I just kept on running. I was forced to take another break while waiting for a short spell to cross highway 14, but other than that I managed to fight the urge to stop again and did not do so for the rest of the run. In the end I managed 16k L at 4:55/km, which was a very decent pace for me and at the faster end of the Long run range (4:54/km-5:10/km). All in all a tough but good way to finish off week 14!

Week 15 will have a bit of a twist to it as I've signed up for a small local Half Marathon and will move my Tempo run from Thursday to Sunday as a result. I will attempt to run the race at Tempo pace, which is goal marathon pace in the Hanson's Marathon Method plan.

Total for the week: 81 km at 5:07.67/km average pace.

The 13th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 14:20:00 +0000

The thirteenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 12-13k E. The first day back from vacation was made a bit more sad by the fact that when I woke up to go for my run it was still very dark out! Before my holidays when I had to wake up around 5am it was at least getting light out. This time, I didn't get up until 5:30am, and wasn't out the door until 5:50am, and still had to run in the dark for a good chunk of my 13k E at 5:22/km run. At least the run was good. Tried to keep it really easy in anticipation of the Strength session to come. I think I succeeded, though the last split was a bit fast. In the afternoon, despite the craziness that comes with returning to work after two weeks off, I managed to get to the gym for a good running specific strength training session followed by a decent amount of rolling and stretching. Couldn't believe how stiff I felt after I didn't really do any stretching while on vacation :( Then again, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

Tuesday: 3x2 miles. The night before this session I had set the Garmin up for an interval workout of undefined warm up (ended up being the usual 2km), then 3 x 3.2km with 800m rest interval, and completed with an undefined cool down (ended up being 2km as well). This is the third time I'd used the interval training feature on the watch and I must say that I like it, though for some reason it always seems like the last thirty metres or so take FOREVER to pass by when one is hurting. In any case, the familiar territory of home turf and the cooler weather made for a much better strength session than I'd been able to manage the past two weeks. Although I felt slow and sluggish on the warm up, I managed to pull off three very good and quick (for me) repeats: 13:43.20, 13:43.31, 13:39.24. Not bad for even splitting! These translate to paces of 4:17.25/km, 4:17.28/km and 4:16.01/km for an average of 4:16.86/km. From where I've come this is a HUGE achievement, and to run these on tired legs in the thirteenth week of the marathon training plan makes it even more satisfying. In total I managed 16k ST at 5:06/km and earned another nice day off. At lunch time I went to the gym for a complete rolling and stretching routine followed by a bit of sauna action.

Wednesday: OFF. This was quite honestly the most difficult work day I've had in certainly my new role, but likely in my entire career at my current employer. In any case, I did manage to get to the gym for a brief strength training session and a very abbreviated stretching routine. Other than that this was an OFF day for running, and very much an ON day for work stress.

Thursday: 14k T. The night before I was feeling less than good on account of the tough work day. In fact, I felt like I may even have been coming down with something and was quite worried. In any case, I woke up at 5:10am hoping to get my run in by 7am, and this almost happened. My stomach was feeling off when I woke up and that delayed me a little as I prepared for the run. However, the weather was a perfect 15C and not to windy so that made me feel good as I started in on my usual 2km warm up. I was a bit surprised at the slow pace that my Garmin was reading on the warm up given that I felt like I was running faster. This concerned me a bit heading into the Tempo portion of the run, but by now in the training plan I figured things would work out despite how I was feeling or what the watch was showing. In the end this very much proved to be the case as I ran what I would consider a very strong 14k tempo run at an average pace of 4:28.60/km. Compared to the disaster of last week's 14k tempo run this was a huge improvement. I never had to stop and just kept chugging along at a good clip with my usual 3-3 breathing pattern for the first 11k. After that I switched to a 3-2 breathing pattern at some point in a natural fashion (these switches don't happen consciously I find) and finished the run strong with the three fastest splits of the entire run. All but the first two splits were slower than 4:35/km, and the last 8 splits were all under 4:30/km. I was very pleased with this run and to be back on track with the tempo run component of this training plan. The total for the run in the end was 18k T at 4:42/km, which once more averaged out to faster than goal marathon pace overall even with the warm up and cool down included. At lunch I slunk away from the office for a decent rolling, stretching, and sauna routine.

Friday: 10-12k E. Woke up to another beautiful day for a run and enjoyed the stress free preparation for another easy effort. The temperatures have been perfect for running and that definitely helps even if I do like the hot weather that comes with Summer. In fact, I hope we get another stretch of heat sometime soon. However, for now I will take the cooler temps and enjoy the running that comes with those conditions. On the run itself I felt much better than expected after the tempo effort of the day before and ran nice and easy without looking at the Garmin for pace. I ended up running faster than ideal pace as I managed 10k E at 5:13/km, but because I ran on feel I don't think that's a problem. The sunrise was spectacular as well; a big red ball coming up in the East. If I were a sailor I'd have been worried... At lunch I went to the gym and managed to complete a standard and decent strength training session followed by rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 10-13k E. Met up with the running group and set off on a nice easy run, but had to pull ahead after a kilometre or so as the pace was a bit slower than what I needed to do. Managed a nice 10k E at 5:14/km in the end and then hung around the coffee shop chatting with the runners for a while. A great start to the weekend! And leading into the long this was a good prep.

Sunday: 26k L. It's always so gratifying to complete a run in such a way that one is surprised with their own abilities to a certain degree. That happened on the long run to end week 13 for me as I set off feeling tired and a bit concerned about my right calf, which mysteriously cramped up on me while watching the Jay eviscerate yet another opponent the day before (the Edwin hat trick game). I set off at about 7:30am and it was already 19.5C on the thermometer so I didn't really have too many expectations about pacing other than to keep it steady. And that totally worked out, but I achieved much more! Not only did I keep the pace steady, but I ran way faster than I thought I would and I didn't try any harder than before or anything. The best part was that I had never felt stronger in the last part of a long run before! As a result I tacked on two more kilometres at the end (as I had done the calculation and knew that I could go as high as twenty-eight kilometres and still be under 30% of total weekly mileage for the long run) and managed to complete 28k L at 4:58/km. Yes, this was a tough run, but what surprised me the most was as things got tougher I didn't feel the usual lull in energy and was able to maintain pace and even pick it up a bit at the very end. Is this was it feels like to draw of slow twitch muscle fibres that have been trained to act like slow twitch fibres? If it is, I like it!

Total for the week: 95 km at 5:02.88/km average pace.

The 12th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 13:50:00 +0000

The twelfth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-10k E. The easy run after a long effort on the Sunday preceding it is always mentally easy, but somewhat of an unknown physically. I started off nice and easy and felt somewhat creaky, especially the patella on the left knee, but as the run progressed things loosened up and I felt fine by the end even if the legs were still very tired and sore. Kept this one very slow in anticipation of the Strength session to come and managed 10k E at 5:36/km in the end. Still at the cottage and my stretching and rolling routine has totally fallen off the map. However, I don't feel all that inclined to disturb my vacation with too much structure and prefer to sit on the dock drinking things, or swimming, or water skiing, etc. Don't seem to be worse for wear otherwise with the possible exception of the lack of energy that I've been experiencing while on the lake.

Tuesday: 4x1.5 miles. Man, sometimes you definitely have to wonder why on Earth you put yourself through these things. The Strength session of four repeats of 1.5 miles (2.4km on the interval setting on my Garmin) was one such event where I definitely felt like I would not be able to complete the workout. It was quite hot and humid out, which just added to the difficulty of the already challenging task at hand. Jogging the 2km warmup I felt sluggish. Then when I started in on the first repeat I felt ok at the beginning, then about half way through it started to labour quite a bit. Upon finishing the first 2.4km interval in 10:45.01 (4:29.13/km pace) I walked the first 200m of the 600m rest interval. Perhaps that was not right, but with the heat I really felt that I needed to do this. With some trepidation starting into the second repeat I managed it in a slightly faster 10:41.78 (4:27.41/km), but felt like I was running a lot slower and working a lot harder than this pace would suggest based on past Tempo run results. In any case, I kept reminding myself that the perceived effort was the guide that I needed to follow on a day like this one and not the pace that the Garmin was displaying. Once again, I walked the first 200m of the rest interval, then turned for home when starting my third repeat. This repeat began on a slight decline and was by far the easiest one of the lot mentally speaking as I wasn't under pressure to chase down the right pace after starting too slow. It got done in 10:34.15 (4:24.24), which was nice, but took a lot out of me. As I walked then jogged the next 600m rest interval I could tell that the last repeat would begin on an uphill and I knew that this would make it that much tougher. Sure enough, I had to fight like mad once cresting the hill to get my pace down into the right zone and was surprised that I actually managed to do it as I was most definitely dead at the end. The last repeat took 10:41.22 (4:27.18/km) and I was most happy to be finished. I walk jogged the last 600m rest interval, then very slowly jogged 2km back to the cottage. Those last 2km seemed to take forever, but I kept thinking that I needed to keep running to flush all that lactic acid out of my muscles. In the end I managed to complete 16km ST at 5:18/km. Not bad when looking back at it, but I have to note here that it was one of the toughest workouts of the entire marathon training plan.

Wednesday: OFF. Took the whole day OFF except for one thing: drove to Perth for a round of golf. The round itself was quite decent for me as I recorded three pars and had a putt for a third in a row on the last hole that just missed from about 14 feet, but overall for a 9-hole round that is a very good result for me. The heat was quite bad, however, and I didn't realize just how much that took out of me until...

Thursday: 14k T. The worst run of the entire training plan to date by far! Jogged the 2km to the main highway and that was ok, then as I turned South and started in on the Tempo portion of the workout I faced a very strong and sustained headwind. I worked very hard to maintain pace, but by the time I managed to get through 5km I was pretty much spent. Took my first rest break there, then ran the 2km to the turnaround spot, where I had another break. From there on it was just as bad despite the fact that the wind was now at my back. The legs were completely fried, I could barely maintain form, and with the wind behind me I was overheating as well. This was definitely not how a Tempo run was supposed to have been executed and this one should be chalked up as a failure and forgotten about as quickly as possible. The average pace for the "Tempo" portion, which really was more like an interval workout than a real tempo workout, ended up at 4:40.08/km, but I do not feel like that was a success. The total for the run with warm up and cool down ended up as 18km T at 4:53/km. I guess it should be noted as a good thing that my first real failed run (though there were a few others that I could have executed better, that's for sure) occurred in the twelfth week of the training plan.

Friday: 8-10k E. Not surprisingly, I was totally dead for the rest of the day after my Tempo run failure and the feeling was still in full force as I woke up late and headed out for the recovery run that was on the schedule for Friday morning. I came across yet another blog post from somewhere touting the virtues of keeping the slow recovery runs very slow and easy so I went out with that in mind and managed to not look at my Garmin for pace the entire time! I simply ran it as easily as I could and managed to complete the 8k E at 5:30/km without too much trouble. Legs definitely were still trashed, but I think that's what is to be expected as one nears the completion of the twelfth week of Hanson's Marathon Method training plan.

Saturday: 13-16k E. Same as the day before, the plan was to run on feel and not worry about pace. Once more, I did't check the Garmin even once for pace and just tried to enjoy the effort. Kept the breathing pattern to 3-3 the entire way, even on the hills at the end, and wasn't terribly surprised by the final pace as I completed 13k E at 5:13/km. The reason for this is that I loosened up towards the end of the run and could tell that I was gliding over the ground at a faster clip than I thought I could achieve while keeping things easy. Legs still trashed, but I am comforted by the fact that I am not burning out and not injured while never missing any workouts.

Sunday: 16k E/L. After a long day of driving, broken up by dropping the boat off at our cottage and mowing the entire lawn, then swimming for a short spell, I guess I had a decent sleep prior to the last run of the week. More than anything, these 16k efforts no longer come with any trepidation. It's a wonderful thing when 10 miles is just a normal run! Anyway, I still wasn't sure how my legs would be feeling, but I suspected that they would continue to be tired. I had thoughts of avoiding any hills, but then decided that I actually wanted to have some climbing at the end of these runs because the marathon I am training for has a couple of climbs at the end. So I headed down to the Beaches, which meant a downhill run for the first bit and I got into a decent rhythm as a result. I probably should have slowed down to get into the Long run pace range of 4:54/km-5:10/km, but as I ran I continued to put up splits in the high 4:40's. Even trying to slow down, but maintaining cadence, wasn't working. And I was breathing 3-3 pattern the whole time so I figured that was ok. As I got to the last 5k of the run I started to feel the effects of the week that was, but continued to maintain cadence as a primary area of focus. Then the hill coming back home was upon me in the last 2k and then my goal became to maintain pace under 5:00/km, which I did! In the end I managed 16k at 4:50/km and walked the 700m that were left home. Not an ideal Long run pace execution, but I think it was good. I guess the next few days will tell... Week 12 is done! And that means I'm exactly two thirds of the way through the plan. No runs missed, and workouts pretty much all on track as far as paces and execution goes. So far so good!

Total for the week: 81km at 5:09.6/km average pace.

The 11th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 15:28:00 +0000

The eleventh week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-13k E. Arrived at Sharbot Lake the day before and now was finally faced with running on the roads that I had thoroughly checked out on Google Maps to discover that the only real route worth considering was on the local HWY 38, an 80km/h two lane deal. All other options were either dirt roads that would most likely be filled with bugs, or doing loops around the small town itself. Driving in revealed that a good chunk of the town's roads were under construction, so HWY 38 it was for the first run of the vacation. The morning was pleasant and not too warm. Bugs seemed to be a bit on the lesser side this year as well, and that proved to be true as I ran down the 0.6km private road to the main road where in year's past I got destroyed by mosquitos and deer flies. The run itself was uneventful and the only things worth noting was the lack of a proper paved shoulder to run on, forcing me to run on the white line and scurry whenever a car or truck approached, and the fact that my left Achilles seems to be tighter than usual. The latter worries me more than the former, naturally. I managed 13k E at 5:13/km in the end. Later in the day I did a decent amount of rolling and stretching to try and work the kinks out of the calf and tendon.

Tuesday: 6x1 mile. Well, the best thing that one can report after a tough run like the one I had on this day is that it got done. After a restless night of "sleep", wherein yours truly was awake more than asleep due to rain storms raging and ceiling fans making noise and rooms overheated, etc. In any case, dragged my ass out of bed just as the rains had stopped, only for the crap to return with a vengeance as I was putting my running shoes on. Felt less than stellar on the 2k jog to the highway as a warmup, then started in on the mile repeats along the edge of HWY 38. For the first time ever I set the Garmin for an interval workout with 6 sets of 1.6km up and 400m rest intervals, which I guess is close enough to the 1 mile repeats called for in the plan. As per the Hanson's Marathon Method these Strength sessions are to be run at 10s/mile faster than goal marathon pace. In my case, that is a bit of a mystery as I am supposed to be running the marathon at 4:45/km, but have been running my Tempo workouts (which are run at planned marathon pace) about 10s/km faster, so it was a bit tough figuring out what pace I should be aiming for in the Strength sessions. I thought I'd be ok to try for 4:20/km - 4:24/km, but in retrospect this might have been too aggressive given how tired my legs feel these days. I managed the first three repeats at 4:24/km, 4:21/km, and 4:24/km average pace, so right on. Then I had to turn around the head back into the wind and uphill for the second half of the workout. The fourth repeat was at 4:26/km, and it was a struggle to get it down to that number and I knew I was pressing too hard just to do that. Physiologically I ran this one too hard, so I decided to run more on feel for the rest of the session. The fifth repeat averaged out at 4:34/km, and that included a significant uphill stretch followed by a long gradual climb so I guess that the pace was not indicative of the effort required. The last on I just wanted to be finished and I was hurting something fierce by the end, averaging out at 4:23/km in the end. When averaging out all the repeats the result was 4:25.33/km, so a bit slower than intended, but like I said, it was not clear to me what my goal pace should be for these Strength workouts. In the end I totalled 15k ST at 5:09/km for the session and was glad to have earned another day off. I can now see more clearly why people refer to these Strength sessions as the toughest workouts in the Hanson's Marathon Method plan. When they come at the end of a six day stretch and your legs are shot the seemingly doable pace in the HM range is a lot tougher to manage than one would expect. Later in the day I spent some time rolling and stretching, but nothing too organized.

Wednesday: OFF. Spent pretty much the entire day in bed lying around and doing nothing. My right hamstring tightened up something fierce for some reason the night before. I figure it had to do with running on a slight sideways angle while on the edge of the local highway coupled with a swim in the lake late in the evening that cooled me down a bit too much. In any case, I was in a bad mood all day because it definitely felt like this issue would derail my entire training plan. This was in the end the most OFF of off days I've likely ever had.

Thursday: 13k T. Woke up after the previous day worrying about whether this run would actually happen at all and immediately started testing how the right hamstring was feeling. I could tell that it wasn't 100%, but it didn't hurt as bad as it had 24 hours earlier so I got dressed and ready for my run. I figured if the muscle gave out it would likely happen early on so I would still be close enough to walk home. Worst thing that could have happened was to have it give out at the half way point on the out and back course. In any case, the first 2km warm up jog went ok and I decided to try and have a go at the Tempo portion thinking it would be easier to try and hold it to the 4:45/km prescribed pace, both on the hamstring and mentally speaking, given that I had been averaging quite a bit faster than that to date at 4:34.36/km on these Tempo runs. When I started in on the faster section I immediately could tell this was not going to be a cakewalk or, in fact, any easier than any other Tempo run. Right from the start I struggled to stay around 4:45/km. Ended up having to switch out of my 3-3 breathing pattern after about 3km and into a 3-2 breathing pattern, which I maintained the rest of the way. I stopped at the halfway point (6.5km of Tempo pace running) and stretched for a short spell. I knew that mentally this would be a slog on the way back so I gave myself goals linked to stopping for stretches. As I ran I told myself that I would stop with 4km left, but kept running through that spot until I only had 3km left in the Tempo portion. I stopped to stretch there and once more promised myself that I would only go 2 more kilometres before another break, but once again I ran through that spot and finished the run. In fact, I didn't even stop there before the cool down jog; just kept on going. I even stretched the cool down to 2km instead of the customary 1km on account of not wanting to face the bugs on the dirt road leading to the cottage while walking. I managed a total of 17km T at 4:54/km, which was not a great average pace, but the Tempo portion averaged out to an impressive 4:39.45/km under the circumstances. Not executed perfectly, but given all the issues of hamstring pain and lack of energy I'll be happy with it I guess. I rolled the crap out of my legs while watching the Jays in a matinee contest with the A's on TV in the early afternoon.

Friday: 8-12k E. I guess I was premature in declaring last Friday's easy run as the shortest left on the schedule. Looking ahead I now see there are a few easy 8k runs left for me :) Today was one of them and I ran an out and back into town to accommodate the requirement. My legs are sore and tired, but the schedule keeps me honest and focused so that I don't make mistakes by either doing too much (as is my history) or slacking off (with which I do not have an issue). The effort ended up as 8k E at 5:17/km and it was a decent mental rest day as well.

Saturday: 13k E. Woke up in the middle of the night and had trouble getting back to sleep so by the time I woke up again for my run it was later than I'd intended and I felt a bit more crappy than I would have liked. Got out the door at close to 9am and it was already quite warm out, and definitely very humid. I decided to just run on feel and keep it easy so that's what I did, maintaining a 3-3 breathing pattern and not pushing it up the hills. Ultimately, this ended up being a decently executed long run as I managed 13k E at 5:17/km, though I kept thinking the entire time that the 26k run to come was going to be a very difficult one indeed if this is what an easy 13k effort feels like. More than anything beyond my legs being completely wasted I am concerned with my lack of energy and general state of lethargy. Is it just that I am on vacation and that lends itself to being somewhat lazy? Or is it the diet that accompanies being on holiday? Or perhaps it's just that my body responds in this way when my routine is disrupted? Who knows...

Sunday: 26k L. I was right to be concerned with how the first 16 miler of the training plan would go, but in the end I managed as well as one could hope for. I left, once more, a bit later than I'd hoped (the cottage next to ours had a wedding and party afterwards that lasted well into the night with some very predictable and crappy DJ playing modern "hits" that kept us all awake and not in good spirits) and was finally on the road at 7:51am. I had in the back of my mind the pace band for Long runs that I was ostensibly trying to achieve, but ultimately I decided that a steady effort was more important than a failure born of trying to run too fast. It was very foggy out when I left and also very humid, which only became more of a factor as the fog lifted. Therefore, holding a steady effort was already difficult enough. I ran south on the out and back along the highway and all the while tried to push away the thoughts of just how long this run would take. Instead, I focused on the turnaround point at 13km and managed to get there, on the outskirts of the town of Tichborne, without too much trouble. I played a mental game with myself all the while whereby I promised that I could stop for a break at X kilometre, then kept pushing that back. Initially it was the halfway point, then 15km, then 18km, then 21km. I never did stop, and once I hit 21km I decided that it was necessary to not stop at all in order to get the desired training effect. And boy did I ever get that desired training effect! Those last 5km were very tough and I had to fight against every fibre in my being that was telling me to stop. The last 2km in particular that lead me to the cottage were very difficult as they present the would be runner with some decent hills to traverse. Ultimately, I succeeded in not stopping and managed to run 26km L at 5:14/km, which was only 4s/km slower than the lower end of the goal pace for a Long run. Not bad! Also, this finished off the longest mileage week in quite some time for yours truly.

Total for the week: 92 km at 5:10/km average pace.

The 10th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 09 Aug 2015 14:44:00 +0000

The tenth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 10-12k E. Ran a nice out and back near the cottage trying to avoid the hills as much as I could as this was supposed to be a recovery run. After the Long run the day before, and with the real work coming up over the course of the next six weeks, I was conscious of keeping things really smooth and easy. Legs were a bit sore, but perhaps not as much as I would have expected, which is a good sign. The total was 12k E at 5:36/km. We drove home from the cottage so no strength training, just relaxing at home watching a bit of the Jays and David Price's first start for the team.

Tuesday: 4x1200m or 3x1600m. The last speed session of the training plan was quite possibly the toughest. Legs felt like lead on the 2k jog to the track, and then on each repeat with about 600m or 400m to go I started to lose control of my quads and had to really concentrate to maintain form and not crumble to the tarmac. Still am impressed that I was able to maintain pace when it felt like I was slowing way down. A tough workout to be sure! Splits were 6:34.74 (4:06.71/km), 6:29.05 (4:03.16/km), and 6:31.10 (4:04.44/km), for an overall average pace of 4:04.74/km. Glad to have made it through the track sessions relatively unscathed as these workouts historically are dangerous from an injury proneness perspective. The average pace for all the speed sessions combined ended up being 4:04.93/km, which is definitely acceptable as it is under the goal pace of 4:10/km and in my self imposed range of 4:00/km-4:10/km. The entire workout amounted to 10k SP at 5:22/km. The slower pace on the total is the result of walking half the rest interval lap, but I figure that's ok since the plan actually called for a 600m rest interval. In the afternoon I managed to get to the gym for some rolling and stretching.

Wednesday: OFF. Another well earned day OFF. Only thing to report is that at lunch time I went to the gym for a decent running specific strength training session and some rolling and stretching. And that the clinic where I've been going for massages every two weeks messed up my appointment so when I arrived they told me my next appointment was set for September 2nd! I was not happy about that.

Thursday: 13k T. On a beautiful morning for a run I went into what is likely the toughest run of the week without the usual level of concern or trepidation. The results definitely reflect the better attitude and the weather, which was calm, clear, not too humid, and 15C. In other words, ideal. I jogged the 2k warm up and that went better than usual, so as I started in on my 13k Tempo portion I was feeling pretty good about my chances at a good pace. And was I right! My slowest split was the fourth at 4:35.08 and all the rest were under 4:33/km. Towards the end of the run my calves started to tighten up a bit, but the last three splits (4:19.54, 4:21.32, and 4:19.15) were more in the Strength range rather than Tempo, but my breathing was fine so I definitely feel like I was in the right zone. The average for the tempo portion ended up being 4:27.53/km (which is a tidy 7:10.53/mile), well under BQ pace (both slow BQ goal of 4:37/km AND fast BQ goal of 4:30/km)! Even the average for the entire run was close to slow BQ goal pace as I completed 16k T at 4:38/km. I'm definitely feeling like my fitness is getting to places it has never been before. At lunch time I hit the gym to do some rolling and stretching and I even went in the sauna for a bit just for good measure and because it just feels nice to sweat a bit without doing a lick of work.

Friday: 8-10k E. Went out for what will likely be the easiest and shortest run for the rest of the training plan feeling pretty good about the prospect. These are so easy mentally speaking that the preparation is pretty much nil. No apprehension is a nice contrast to the typical worries that accompany a "something of substance" workout. I ran around Riverdale and just kept it real easy. Ended up finishing 8k E at 5:33/km. Only thing to be mindful of was tight calves. Before lunch I went to the gym for a decent strength training session, though I had to cut the rolling and stretching routine a bit short as we had a work function linch outing that I couldn't be late for.

Saturday: 13-16k E. Got in at the cottage very late the night before so wasn't asleep till past midnight and it was a bit tough getting out of bed. Still woke up without an alarm at 6am, but decided to just chill for a bit. Made it out for the run at about 8am and decided to run an out and back simply to avoid the 2km uphill climb that would have faced me late in the run had I used the regular route. This was on account of the tight calves of course. The run itself was fine and executed as an easy run should be executed. However, when I checked the average pace at the 10km point it was somewhere around 5:30/km. The average pace for the total run surprised me as it ended up being 13k E at 5:11/km. Must have really picked it up in the last 3k without feeling it at all. I walked half a kilometre at the end as that was how far I ended up from the cottage in order to measure the difference in distance from the corner of the main road around the lake and the highway.

Sunday: 16k E. The last "Easy" Sunday run on the training schedule came after one of my patented "accidents". Yes, the injury prone runner is not prone to running injuries only ;) The night before we had to pull the boat out of the lake to take it up to the cottage the the in-laws rent each Summer. As I arrived with the truck and trailer at the launch there as another truck occupying the spot so I went down to let them know that we had to get our boat out. They were having issues with their boat motor "from 1967" apparently, so were fiddling with it right at the end of the ramp. One guy said he'd move the truck while the other moved the boat to the side and slid it up onto the shore a bit. Well, as he sat in the boat fiddling with the motor the boat started to slip back into the water so I, the good Samaritan, grabbed it an tried to pull it back up onto the shore. As I did this I slipped and fell hard, slamming my shin into the boat and landing on my ass. The shin hurt and I had a big bruise there, but other than that I thought I was ok. Later, after spending far too much time washing the bottom of our boat, I noticed that the muscles on top of the right foot and front of the right shin hurt and I had real trouble lifting my foot. Crap!!! I iced and stuff, but I was really worried that my attempt at a good deed would derail my marathon training, which had been going better than ever! In any case, I woke up with some concern, but put the foot pain out of my mind and went out for my run. In the end the only thing that I really was concerned about was my left calf and how tight it felt. But I managed to run the 16k E at 5:15/km nice and easy, and am very pleased with the fact that on the familiar 2km climb back up to the Lake at the end of the run on Hwy 14 I never broke from my 3-3 breathing pattern and maintained a decent pace. These hills used to kill me! Now I am running them like they are just another normal obstacle of little significance. Nice! Week 10 down, 8 to go! Let's rock it!

Total for the week: 75 km at 5:13/km average pace.

The 9th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 15:16:00 +0000

The ninth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 8-13k E. I can't believe that the Monday recovery runs are now up to 8 miles in length! It's good to always remember just how difficult it was way back when for me to just complete ten consecutive kilometres to put this whole marathon training thing in perspective. The run itself was fine. I made it out early enough that the heat was not yet much of a factor and ran an even effort at a comfortable pace to complete 13k E at 5:25km. Later in the day I went to the gym for some running specific strength training followed by rolling and stretching.

Tuesday: 5x1000m or 6x800m. Holy cow do these legs feel like buckets of lead these days! After that decent easy run on Monday I thought that my legs would feel good for the second last speed session of the plan. Instead, it was a struggle just to jog the two kilometres to the track. After last week's 3x1600m I thought the 6x800m workout would be a cakewalk. Instead, I had to tough it out, and I did. Looking at the splits it actually was a very successful session. Each of my repeats was well under the goal pace of 4:10/km (3:20/800m) and after the first two repeats I got faster by quite a bit. In the fourth week when I ran this workout I averaged 4:10.45/km (3:20.36/800m). Today it was 4:00.96/km (3:12.77/800m)! The splits for the first four repeats were 3:16.0, 3:17.0, 3:14.2, and 3:13.2. And my last two splits were the fastest yet of the entire training plan at 3:09.4 (3:56.75/km) and 3:06.8 (3:53.50/km). Pretty happy with these results especially taking into account how my legs felt. The total for the session was 11k SP at 5:18/km. At lunchtime I went to the gym and did 45 minutes straight of rolling and stretching to try and help these legs recover a bit.

Wednesday: OFF. What a day! Work was totally nuts, but I had just enough time to get to the gym for a strength training session followed by some rolling and stretching. Other than that, this was most definitely a day OFF only from running. Whew...

Thursday: 13k T. Sometimes one comes up against runs that really make one think about their ability to complete the task at hand. Sure, there are always thoughts related to this before every workout of any substance. This time I came up against not only a tough run, but a hot and humid day as well. My legs felt strange early in the run and I did not have the usual energy that at least is there to some degree after and off day. Then, early in the tempo portion the heat started to really take its toll and I began to doubt my ability to not only hold the desired pace, but to finish at all. Ultimately all of this was a mental exercise as I did finish and my pace was well under goal. I averaged 4:32.96/km for the tempo portion and ran 16k T at 4:43/km total. As has become the norm it seems, the average pace including warm up and cool down ended up being below the goal tempo pace of 4:45/km. Nothing to complain about I guess! Just the bloody heat and humidity I suppose. At lunch I found some time to go to the gym to roll and stretch out my aches and pains a bit.

Friday: 10-12k E. Another beautiful Summer morning, and another well executed Easy run. This time I went off with the coming long run on the weekend and a pair of tired legs that really were craving a break. So I ran very easy and the pace improved throughout the run despite the fact that I kept this in the sightseeing effort range. The total was 10k E at 5:29/km. Later in the day I went to the gym for some strength training, rolling, and stretching. Other thing worth mentioning for posterity is that I hit 315km for the month of July, which for me given the past history of injuries and such is significant. But the real story is that I feel good. I keep describing it as feeling "solid". Yes, I am sore and tired, but no one part of my body is appreciably more sore or tired than any other. This is particularly true of the legs. In any case, I am in a good spot at the moment with the whole running thing and hope it continues.

Saturday: 8-13k E. After a bad night of sleep, perhaps influenced to a certain degree by the trade deadline acquisitions of Troy Tulowitzki, LaTroy Hawkins, Mark Lowe, Ben Revere, and of course David Price by the Blue Jays, and an 11th inning walk-off win to boot, I managed a decent 8k E at 5:10/km. The legs felt heavy and tired; no gas in them at all :( This run was done close to home as we'd delayed our trip to the cottage for the long weekend, but it had me wondering how I would fare on the Sunday long run when hills and heat will be added to the mix.

Sunday: 24k L. The final run of the week had me a bit more than worried about what I would experience. Thinking back to the 23k Long run I managed at the end of week 7 I was definitely expecting to have to fight through this one. The weather wasn't as hot or humid as it had been on that other run, but I still dragged my ass out of bed a bit late and didn't head out until around 8:00am. The legs felt tired, as expected at this point in the training plan, and I knew kind of what to expect at least in the first two thirds of the run. I mixed two scoops of ELoad powder into my 500ml bottle the night before and stuck that in the fridge. Before I left I had a few sips and topped the bottle off with more water. I decided to carry the bottle in my hand this time instead of around my waist and I think I prefer this method. It allowed me to take three sips every 15 minutes without too much trouble, though I still have to practice this aspect of the plan as it definitely disrupted my breathing pattern. In any case, I chose a bit of a new route near the cottage and set off. The first kilometre was faster than usual for me, which I took as a good sign, and then I was really concentrating on trying to get the average pace in the right range (4:54/km-5:10/km). When I set off I didn't have this plan in mind as I didn't want to commit to something that may have proven to be unrealistic. But after the first few kilometres I committed to the above range fully and just focused on a good steady effort with 3-3 pattern breathing. I hit the first big hill at the 8k mark and switched my breathing pattern to 3-2 until I had crested the top. Eventually I switched fully to the 3-2 pattern as the route I chose really became a set of rolling hills. Then, with about 5k left, things really got serious. At that point I was faced with my last big climb so I stopped to empty my bottle with the last few sips and then tackled that obstacle. Shortly after cresting the hill with by this point a 2-2 breathing pattern I noted that the half marathon mark was reached in 1:46:05, which was good for me. My mantra then became "shorten your stride, maintain your cadence" as things became rather tough at this point. Thinking this way helped propel me through the last few kilometres and I finished in 2:00:49 for a total of 24k L at 5:02/km, right in the middle of the desired pace range. Nice! The total time was faster than what that 23k Long run took me two weeks previously on similar terrain, so that was gratifying to note as well. Happy to have finished strong and now to have officially completed exactly 50% of the marathon training plan!

Total for the week: 82 km at 5:10/km average pace.

The 8th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 14:49:00 +0000

The eighth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: OFF or 10k E. After the long run on Sunday that definitely felt like finishing a marathon I set off on the typical easy recovery run on a Monday morning feeling tired. I wasn't all that sore, surprisingly, but couldn't move very fast at the beginning. As the run progressed I loosened up and felt much better by the end of the run. In the end I managed 10k E at 5:27/km to start off week 8. Later in the day I went to the gym for some strength training and stretching.

Tuesday: 6x800m or 3x1600m. Woke up at 1am, read for a bit, then totally slept through my alarm, which had been set for 5:30. Instead, I woke up at 6:46 and scrambled to get out the door to get my run in and not be late for work! Just as I was getting ready the rains came pouring down to add to my already stressed state, but luckily they stopped by the time I had my shoes on and was heading out the door. The warm up 2k jog to the track was tough and my legs were definitely not "fresh". I didn't allow any doubt to creep in and at this point in the plan I decided to just run on faith given that I'd hit all my paces in the first seven weeks despite the fatigue. As I started in on the first of three 1600m repeats I just kept telling myself that somehow, some way, I will get through this workout and hit my paces. First repeat was tough, but I tried to just glide as much as possible. Didn't really feel the pain until the last lap and ended up doing it in 6:37.9, which was under the goal pace of 6:40. I walked a good half lap before jogging the rest of the 400m rest interval and set off on my second repeat, which was considerable tougher and really made me question my ability to complete the set as I was really huffing and puffing with about 600m to go. I ended up with a 6:35.8 for my second split, which surprised the hell out of me when I looked at my stats after the fact. Again, I walked about half the rest interval lap and just kept telling myself, "Only one more to go!". That one more was also tough, of course, but it's easier to push through the pain when one knows there will be no more. I ended up running the last split in 6:32.0. The average pace for the intervals ended up at 4:07.02/km, so under the goal of 4:10/km. I jogged the 2k home at a pace that was faster than I thought I could manage given how the intervals had felt. The total for the day was 10k SP at 5:08/km. And I did make it into work on time. Just! Later in the day I hit the gym for rolling and stretching, which was very necessary.

Wednesday: OFF. Really feeling the effects of training on the old legs and these days OFF are really quite welcome. I managed a regular strength training session during the day and went for a massage in the afternoon, but it seems that my current state of fatigue will only continue to get worse. In the first seven weeks of the plan the day off made a noticeable difference on my legs and, subsequently, on my Thursday morning tempo run. I am not so sure that this will continue as the mileage and intensity increases.

Thursday: 8-12k T. No idea how I was able to actually manage this one. My legs definitely did not recover after the off day, and as I set out on the first two kilometres warm up I felt like they were more sacks of wet bricks than anything resembling running legs. As I started into the 12k tempo portion of the run I told myself to just be happy if I did manage to hold 4:45/km. I kept things as even as I could and lo and behold I managed way faster than I thought was possible! The second split was my slowest at 4:41.8, and the last one was by far my fastest at 4:25.2. All the rest were between 4:30/km and 4:38/km, and it all averaged out to 4:33.52/km. The total ended up at 15k T at 4:44/km. Nice! We then attended the day session of the Track and Field events at the Pan Am Games and that meant that yours truly got to work rather late and was immediately faced with multiple crises. I managed to get some rolling and stretching done at home in the evening, but it wasn't as good as a typical session at the gym ends up being. Oh well.

Friday: 8-10k E. For the first time all week I woke up not feeling completely drained. I also felt good on the run despite the whole fatigued legs thing that was definitely in play since that 23k effort last Sunday. In any case, the 8k E at 5:13/km felt really easy as I ran it with a very even and relaxed effort. All in all a very good run! Also, I picked up a couple pairs of my current running shoe at a terrific discount from my local healthcare provider where I go for things like massage now and again and this was the first run with one of the new Asics Gel-Kayano 21s. The pair I'd been wearing had a significant amount of wear in particular on the front outside of the sole. An interesting wear pattern especially for the fact that both heals showed almost no wear at all. This last pair of Kayano 21's were at or perhaps past their useful lifespan so it was high time to get some new shoes into the mix. At lunch time I went to the gym for a strength training session followed by rolling and stretching, which was also good.

Saturday: 10-16k E. After spending Friday evening at the Pan Am games track and field competition, watching interesting events such as the women's 3000m steeplechase and long jump finals, first four events of the heptathlon, and both men's and women's 4x100m relays, and getting home rather late, I tried to get up early enough to both avoid the expected heat and humidity and to get out of town in good time to get to the cottage. I was out running before 7:30am and the first bit felt worse than I would have liked for it to feel. It was already hot and humid out, but I felt ok with it for some strange reason. My pace improved throughout the run even though I didn't put in any more effort and I was quite pleased to finish the 10k E at 5:08/km feeling like it was a successful easy run. These types of runs give me faith in the Hanson's Marathon Method: I was feeling like total crap after last Sunday's run and it took me at least four days to recover, but I still managed to hit all my paces for all the runs and never felt like I was anywhere near any edge or close to getting injured. Things will get tougher still, I recognize, but I've been feeling more resilient by the day.

Sunday: 16k L. Went out in the early morning at the cottage in very still and foggy conditions. It was a beautiful morning for running: still, quiet, and not yet hot and too humid. My left Achilles and calf were a bit tight so I have to pay a bit more attention to it, but it's been something I've been dealing with for a while now so wasn't too concerned. More than anything, I was just a bit wary of the hills that I would have to traverse and went out without much of a pacing strategy, but rather just wanted to get a solid Long run in with even effort. As usual the first kilometre was slow, but as I loosened up my pace started to hit paces that I have never hit on the familiar route that I chose so I started to wonder if I'd be able to hit the pace range called for in the Hanson's Marathon Method. The big question is always how I would manage the big hills getting back to the lake. I stretched the run out a bit by running a loop through Stirling, the closest little town, and then hit the hills. I was pleased to find that both my perceived effort and pace showed marked improvements over the same terrain in the last two months. In the end I managed 16k L at 5:01/km, so right in the middle of the 4:54-5:10/km range for Long Runs. Week 8 of 18 done!

Total for the week: 69 km at 5:05/km average pace.

The 7th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 14:58:00 +0000

The seventh week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 7-10k E. The seventh week began much the same as the previous five (first one excepted), with an easy "6 miler". This time I did not have a partner to run with due to tight timelines on his end that meant he had to get going before 5am, and I felt the extra bit of sleep for me was more important than completing an easy run that early in the morning. In any case, I woke up a bit before 6am and was out the door shortly after the hour for a 10k E at 5:16/km. Clearly, the pace indicates that I ran this too fast, but based on effort I'd say I was on the upper end of the Easy run spectrum, but not pushing it. I think as my fitness is improving I am noticing the benefits most in the faster easy paces that I am able to run at the same perceived effort.

Tuesday: 8x600m or Pyramid. Opted for the pyramid option and it was definitely a worthy challenge. 400-800-1200-1600-1200-800-400 was the "ladder" workout, but I prefer to call it a pyramid. I suppose stepladder would work as well, but most don't have steps on both sides. But I digress... The weather was humid, but not particularly hot. All morning it sure felt like rain was imminent and I definitely produced a copious amount of sweat during this workout. Not as much as last week's speed session, but definitely more than I normally do. In any case, the workout itself started off well as I kept the effort quite even as I set off on the first 400m repeat, anticipating the longer repeats to come. Each rest interval I started off with a bit of walking, even after the first loop although I didn't particularly need it. Again, I was readying myself for the pain of the middle portion of the set. Sure enough, when that 1600m repeat came it was both physical and mental battle. Once it was done I felt like the workout was mine. However, that second 1200m was really tough as well! In the end I ran these fairly well, though I did manage the last two repeats a bit faster than average, which either means I left too much in the tank (hard to believe as I was really hurting), or mentally I was really glad this was almost over (much more likely scenario). The average pace for the fast portions ended up being 4:04.33/km, which is great for me and under the goal pace of 4:10/km. In all I managed 13k SP at 5:21/km, which included 2k warm up and 2k cool down sections. Over the lunch hour I went to the gym for an abbreviated session of rolling and stretching. Very difficult to get these sessions in as I've taken on a new role at work and my schedule has filled up very quickly with pressures coming from all angles. However, I must continue with the strength training and flexibility work in order to remain healthy so I will do my best to ensure I have at least a minimum amount of time during the work day to get this done. It remains to be seen how successful I am...

Wednesday: OFF. Another day of no running, as per the plan, so I took is OFF. However, I was able to get to the gym for a good session of running specific strength training followed by the compulsory twenty minutes of rolling and stretching.

Thursday: 8-12k T. Once more the way I feel going into a potentially tough run and the lack of confidence that is the byproduct of tired legs has little bearing on the outcome of the run itself. Thinking back to the same 12k tempo effort of week 6 I was a bit apprehensive about the same workout, but actually felt not so bad on the 2k warm up jog. Only issue was a bit of trouble here and there taking a full breath, but that seems to come and go with me so I pretty much ignore it. I started in on the tempo portion also ignoring the boredom that accompanies running the same 2.1k loop that I've chosen for both its slightly undulating terrain, but also for the fact that there are no potential stoppages in the form of red lights along the way. I ran the first kilometre as easily as I could and managed 4:33.7 for that split. Feeling that this was too fast I backed off a bit and the second split was 4:36.1. Little did I know that this would be the slowest split for the entire tempo portion of the run! I proceeded to accumulate splits that read more like a race for yours truly than a training run: 4:29.9, 4:33.3, 4:24.8, 4:29.9, 4:27.7, 4:29.1, 4:28.7, 4:24.8. 4:34.3, and 4:26.8. I was quite pleased to see that the average pace for the 12k Tempo part ended up at 4:29.92/km, which of course is under my dream BQ pace! In the end I even managed the entire run, with warm up and cool down, under the goal tempo pace of 4:45/km and managed 15k T at 4:41/km. And although I felt like I had a good workout, I wasn't completely drained by the end as my cool down kilometre was a decent pace and easy rather than closer to the slog I was anticipating. Nice! Later in the day I hit the gym for a good session of rolling and stretching followed by some sauna action.

Friday: 7-12k E. Well into the seventh week of marathon training the legs continued to accumulate fatigue. This was particularly evident on the 7k E at 5:28/km that I managed when I felt like each leg gained about 20lbs of useless weight. Dragged through the first kilometre and then things loosened up a bit so by the end of the run I was feeling a bit better. A good easy run completed as prescribed. During the lunch hour I went to the gym for some strength training and stretching.

Saturday: 10-13k E. For a change we actually were in town on a Saturday morning so I got to run with the running group. My wife and younger son joined me, though they went off and did their own run. I ran a nice 10k E at 5:26/km, chatting with someone the whole way about all sorts of interesting things. It was hot and humid, and it was fun to finish off the run sitting around at the coffee shop that serves as the de facto meeting place for the group chatting with everyone. Later in the day we went to watch the semi final baseball game of the Pan Am Games between the US and Cuba. We sat in the very partisan Cuban section of the stadium and it was very loud and boisterous, but the US ended up tying the game late and won 6-5 on a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th. Good game. Too bad Cuba couldn't pull it out after leading 5-1 early in the contest.

Sunday: 16k E or 23k L. After travelling to the cottage immediately following the baseball game on Saturday, we had a bit of a late night after a full day that was rather poor on the nutrition front. I woke up several times in the early morning, but did get my ass out running until much later than I'd intended. It wasn't so bad at a bit past 7:30am, but the heat and humidity were already quite oppressive. At least I had bought a packet of ELoad energy drink stuff, the same stuff that will be on offer at the PEC marathon, and I mixed that into a new running bottle and brought that along. And thank goodness I did as this was a major struggle on all fronts! Not too bad for the first half, but with about 10k left I really started to feel the effects of the hills, the heat, and the cumulative fatigue in the legs. In the end I managed 23k L at 5:23/km, but had to stop a few times to try and cool off. It of course didn't work very well as I was right back to feeling overheated the moment I started running again. I don't know what things would have been like had I not brought that drink along. After the run I shed everything but my shorts and slipped immediately into the lake, where I lay on my back completely submerged save for my face until my body started to feel something close to normal. I downed multiple glasses of water as well, and ate the fastest thing on offer (4 hot dogs), before I really began to feel like myself again. This Hanson Marathon Method thing really is onto something as this long run definitely felt more like the last part of the marathon and not the first. But holy crap was that hard!

Total for the week: 78 km at 5:16/km average pace.

The 6th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 13:57:00 +0000

The sixth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: 7-10k E. Had a good start to the week running 10k E at 5:33/km with a friend as the sun rose in the East, red and round and beautiful. Nothing more to say other than it was executed perfectly.

Tuesday: 12x400m or 4x1200m. Another speed session meant a bit of anxiety on my part wondering how I would fare on these increasingly tired legs. As I jogged over to the track I was really not anticipating much in the way of success. The weather was perfect for anything but fast running as by 6am it was already very muggy and humid, but I didn't mind so much as I figured this would just make for better preparation for a Fall race. In any event, I managed the 4x1200m workout quite nicely in the end, tough as it was. My 400m rest intervals are now definitely starting with a bit of a walk, but I think that's ok. The splits for each repeat were fairly consistent and worked out to paces of 4:08.83/km, 4:07.58/km, 4:06.5/km, and 4:05.25/km. That averaged out to a nice 4:07.04/km, which was under my goal of 4:10/km, but not by too much. In the end the whole workout added up to 11k SP at 5:14/km.

Wednesday: OFF. A rather full day at work meant that my ability to do more than passive recovery was severely limited. I had a massage appointment that I've kept going once every couple of weeks which I was able to keep since I find these sessions focusing on my legs have helped me to maintain a healthy running schedule. As the mileage and intensity of the running workouts goes up I figure I shouldn't be beating myself up too much about taking the one "off" day on the weekly schedule as an actual day OFF...

Thursday: 8k E or 12k T. As I lay on the massage table getting treatment yesterday I talked with the therapist about how this plan seems to make your legs feel dead and give you a decent amount of skepticism in your abilities to complete the workouts at the prescribed paces. He mentioned that this is not unusual and we both agreed that this aspect of training is one of the most rewarding. So, as I ventured out in the morning for the first of three successive 12 kilometre tempo runs I had the same apprehension that is present before every workout of substance. While the two kilometre warm up was happening I certainly questioned my legs' ability to run at planned marathon pace (4:45/km) for twelve K when I thought back to the difficulty I had in completing ten K at that same pace last week. However, I decided to just let those negative thoughts go and started in on my tempo portion trying not to think too far about the task at hand. Long story short, I not only managed the run, but my pace was a bit over 10s/km faster than goal pace! The average ended up at 4:34.44/km and only one of my splits was in the 4:40's (4:40.0/km). My fastest split was the last one and I managed a very impressive (for me) 4:27.5/km! The total for the workout was 15k T at 4:46/km, which is only 1s/km slower than goal marathon pace and included two K warm up and 1k cool down. Legs are tired to be sure, but clearly the body was able. At lunchtime I made it to the gym for a good session of rolling and stretching.

Friday: 7-10k E. Tired legs, as is the norm, but so nice to be able to go out for an easy run and feel no guilt about running slowly and totally aerobically! A lovely morning for a 7k E at 5:19/km run. A trip to the gym in the afternoon for a running specific strength workout and some rolling and stretching completed the work week portion of week 6.

Saturday: 13-16k E. After arriving late at the cottage the night before I had real trouble washing up and felt very lethargic as I ventured out at almost 9am. It was a beautiful Summer day and already quite warm with little breeze to speak of. I ran a familiar loop of 13k E at 5:21/km all the while dreading the two kilometre climb back up to the top of the hill upon which our lake is perched. That was by far the toughest section, but I was happy to find that I maintained a slightly faster pace than I had recently on the same stretch of road. This was a good run even if it was made tougher by the weather and short night of rest.

Sunday: 13k E. Got up early enough to avoid too much of the hotter weather and had a better sleep so this 13k E at 5:16/km felt a hell of a lot better than the one the day before. Only challenge was the climb back up the big hill as I ran the back portion on the out and back route from the cottage. Definitely feeling fatigue in my legs. The Hanson's Marathon Training Plan is designed to get you to run on tired legs and I am definitely experiencing that aspect a third of the way through the program.

Total for the week: 69 km at 5:13/km average pace.

The 5th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 16:21:00 +0000

The fifth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: OFF or 10k E. Drove back the night before to the cottage to start my one week off from work. Didn't bother waking up early, just let my body decide what time to wake up. In the end I didn't get out the door until 9am, which was fine. Not too hot and slightly misty at one point. Found a loop on a residential street tucked into the woods that was almost 1km long and fairly flat so perfect for repeats and perhaps even a Tempo effort. In the end I managed 10k E at 5:25/km and called it a successful start to week 5.

Tuesday: 8k E or 5x1000m. The month of June is now complete and I am quite pleased to have not missed any runs at all and amassed a decent total of 245.7km. This morning was the final effort of the month and I jogged over to that residential loop that I'd discovered the day before for my 5x1km repeats with 400m recovery. Definitely feeling the cumulative fatigue of the training plan I was a bit concerned with how these intervals would go, but I also realized that I will have nerves such as these before every key workout. Just have to work at not worrying so much. In any case, after the warm up jog I stopped on the side of the road for a minute to stretch out and then before my brain could talk me out of starting I hit the start button on my watch and off I went. The repeats were made tougher than anticipated by a section of the loop with a slight incline, which felt bigger and bigger with every repeat. I had to walk a bit after each hard section as I was definitely pushing it to stay on pace. In the end my repeats were pretty consistent coming in at 4:08.2, 4:06.9, 4:06.5, 4:05.3, and 4:05.3 for an average pace of 4:06.44/km. Not bad! The total was 11k SP at 5:39/km. As the overall average shows I took it real easy on the sections in and around the hard repeats. Hopefully July will prove as positive in training terms as June has.

Wednesday: OFF. Took the whole day off, other than playing baseball with the boys a couple of times in Stirling. Needed it, though the diet could have been a lot better. Oh well. Such is vacation...

Thursday: 7k E or 10k T. This tempo run was a very tough test as I came into it with not that much energy (likely as a result of the poor diet while on vacation at the cottage). The legs definitely had that fatigue in them that I think is the point of the marathon training plan as the fifth week rolls along. I jogged two kilometres to the spot where I would run laps and loops on a relatively flat area, which is in short supply around the lake. Then as I started into the first kilometre of the 10k tempo portion I knew right away that this would be a battle all the way. More than a few times I talked myself out of stopping for a break and was quite pleased to have completed the entire tempo portion without a stop. My goal was 4:45/km, but I had run two of these workouts in the past two weeks and both were quite a bit faster than that. When I hit the first split at 4:46.1 I knew I was in for a fight. After that it was just trying to maintain something resembling relaxed form and normal breathing as I hit splits of 4:44.6, 4:44.4, 4:45.7, 4:47.8 (ouch, this one ended on an uphill and I just couldn't keep it loose and maintain pace), 4:43.4, 4:45.2, 4:46.1, 4:39.7, 4:37.8. I clearly knew the end was imminent with those last two splits... The average for the tempo portion ended up at 4:44.08/km and I was very happy with that result. The whole run ended up being 14k T at 4:58/km.

Friday: 8-12k E. After that tough Tempo effort the day before, and a weird pain in my right ankle (i.e. the wonky one) from cracking it in the middle of the night, something I do all the time that doesn't bother me at all, I was apprehensive of what the easy run would bring. Got out the door really late (9:30am), and started really slow. As I ran things loosened up and I felt better. In fact, I was likely running a bit too fast in the second half of the run, but the effort remained consistent so either the Garmin was way off or I am starting to see the benefits of this training plan in my easy pace. In the end I managed 8k E at 5:15/km.

Saturday: 7-10k E. Similar to the effort the day before, I started out late (9:10am), got into the run slowly, and finished faster than I thought I would given how I was feeling after a very lovely, but long and draining, day at the beach. I managed a nice 7k E at 5:12/km and kept things as easy as I could in anticipation of the 20k run to come, the longest of the plan so far and longest for me since Easter.

Sunday: 10k E or 20k L. Made it out slightly earlier than other days during the vacation at the cottage, but still not very early at all (8:41am). The weather was already hot and sunny so for the first time I carried a small bottle of water with me. First half of the run was mostly descending, which meant that the second half was mostly ascending. Stopped every 5k for a drink, but even when the going got tough in the last 5k and I had visions of stopping a few times I never did. In the end I managed 20k L at 5:19/km and all told it was a successful run. Sat in the lake for a bit right afterwards cooling down. Now back home and back to reality as vacation is over :(

Total for the week: 70 km at 5:19/km average pace.

The 4th of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 14:41:00 +0000

The fourth week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: OFF or 10k E. After a weekend of what I guess one may call cross training, but better referred to as "construction", the fourth week of the marathon training plan started off with those much sought after tired legs. Since the goal is to adjust to running on said tired legs I guess one must get these legs to the desired state and then run on them. Therefore, the trek continues with this in mind... Aware of tougher efforts to come later in the week the early morning meet up with a friend for an easy run was exactly what the doctor ordered: EASY. I asked if my friend minded slowing down and he said no, so we managed 10k E at 5:55/km pace and that was that. Finally an easy run executed properly! At lunch I made it to the gym for a now regular running specific strength training session and a decent amount of rolling and stretching. Maintenance is key.

Tuesday: 8k E or 6x800m. Boy, this cumulative fatigue effect on the legs that is supposed to be the heart and soul of the Hanson's Marathon Method sure is as advertised! After a restless night due to thunderstorms keeping me awake, I was not feeling energetic as I set off for the track for the prescribed 6x800m repeats. Added to that was a tight left hamstring that seems to have resulted from sitting in an overheated and packed beyond capacity high school auditorium for three hours watching my son's grade 8 graduation ceremony. I told myself to "just get through it at the slowest pace allowed" and that this would still have the desired training effect. So I jogged very slowly and creakily the 2km to the track, stretched for a bit, and then set off on my repeats. The goal was to stay at 4:10/km pace or so, which is 3:20/800m. My Garmin watch was not measuring properly so although it showed that I was running at 4:09/km pace for the first two repeats the total for the two laps was too slow as the watch said I ran 820m. In the end I adjusted my pace to the length of the track and not what the watch was measuring and think I did OK. My 800m splits were: 3:23.6, 3:23.0, 3:20.8, 3:19.9, 3:17.7, 3:17.2. The average ended up at 3:20.36, so I think this can be considered a successful training session. My goal is to run these at 4:10/km pace, and this session averaged out at 4:10.45/km, so pretty darn close I think and close enough given the limitations of using a Garmin anyway. In the end I managed a total of 11k SP at 5:19/km. Before lunch I went to the gym for a full rolling and stretching session, with a bit of sauna thrown in for good measure. Definitely felt like I earned the mid-week OFF day...

Wednesday: OFF. A day of no running with all the proverbial crap hitting the spinning fan at work. Made it to a massage session, which was much needed for both the calves and traps. Also, at the end of the very stressful work day, I went to the gym and still managed to get my running specific strength training and some rolling and stretching done.

Thursday: 5k E or 10k T. The tempo run is always the start of the 6 days in a row of running block and I guess I can see why this training plan puts it after the off day: because it's challenging! Both mentally and physically I find these runs on the tough side and I keep wondering how I will be able to manage a full marathon at the prescribed pace of 4:45/km when I still haven't managed to "hit my stride" practicing this pace in training. However, I realize that today was just the second time running at PMP so there's lots of time to make it more routine. The trouble I had, yet again, was running a bit too fast. Not as bad as last week (when the average pace was 4:33.76/km), but still not close enough to the desired 4:45/km. Today the 10km at Tempo portion averaged out at 4:38.74/km and I managed a total of 13k T at 4:51/km. Things are trending in the right direction... At lunch time I was able to again go to the gym for a decent rolling and stretching routine. Never seem to get to this in the evenings so it's always good to get this done if possible during the day.

Friday: 5-10k E. It would have been nice to hit the single track trails again for the easy recovery run on a Friday morning, but feeling the effects of cumulative stress in the legs I decided to keep this to the flat sidewalks and ran a simple 5k E at 5:49/km. Once again at lunch time it was to the gym for some running specific strength training and a good bit of rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 8-13k E. Drove up to the cottage the night before and woke up with the sunrise so not exactly got to sleep in. Went out the door at about 7am for a nice jog around the lake with my wife and then set off on my own to complete the second half of my 8k E at 6:13/km run. First half was at her pace so it allowed me to practice my cadence while running at a slower pace, which was good. For the first time I did a decent job of it and kept my breathing from becoming too shallow. Rest of the day was spent finishing some construction before the rains came and we drove home through some nasty crap coming down.

Sunday: 8-14k E. The weather has turned to early November and I totally didn't feel like running in the crap and wind and cold so I joined my wife at the gym and managed 14k E at 5:29/km on the treadmill. This was boring, but necessary. Shortest Sunday run remaining on the schedule completed.

Total for the week: 61 km at 5:30/km average pace.

The 3rd of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 14:52:00 +0000

The third week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: OFF or 10k E. Had a chance to run with someone I'd met through a running group and although it meant I'd have to get up earlier than normal I jumped at the chance. It was nice to be out the door before the Sun was up and running with a purpose in mind, knowing that someone would be waiting for me to show up. So much better to run a recovery type effort while chatting the whole way. Managed 10k E at 5:15/km in the end. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a short running specific strength training session followed by rolling and stretching. A good day heading into my second speed session! I think I will have to slow down on the Monday efforts though. There is nothing to be gained by going even a little bit too fast on these runs and I am afraid that the cumulative effect of doing so when sandwiched between a Long run and a Speed session will be detrimental to my progress. We'll see if my running buddy is OK with slowing down next time we hook up...

Tuesday: 7k E or 8x600m. Woke up at 4am to the sound of a massive rain storm and got up to close the windows. Not much sleep after that until the alarm went off at 5:30am. At that point it wasn't raining, but within ten minutes of getting up it was steady rain again. Tried to wait it out, hoping it would subside, but at a little past 6am I decided that I wouldn't have time to get my workout in if I waited any longer. By the time I got to the track I was thoroughly wet, but not soaked. Started in on my 8x600m repeats and while running the first rep the rain came down hard again! Soaked through and shoes felt like they weighed several pounds each. Nevertheless, I managed to complete the workout, wringing my shirt out as much as I could after each repeat, and the rain stopped when I was into my last rep. Managed to keep the pace fairly steady with the spread for the 600's being 2:23.6 to 2:30.0, though most were in the 2:24-2:25 range (roughly 4:02/km, with my faster repeat at 3:59/km and slowest at 4:09/km). The repeats in order based on pace per kilometre were: 3:59, 4:09, 4:01, 4:01. 4:02. 4:01, 4:03, and 3:59. With the 2km jogs to the track and back home, and the 400m jogs between each rep, I managed 12k SP at 5:13/km, right on target with the goal of the session. In the afternoon I went to the gym for a full rolling and stretching routine and no weights.

Wednesday: OFF. It's funny how I feel like Wednesdays are earned as an off day, and yet somehow I still miss having a run on the training plan on this day. This week the legs totally deserved the day off and I suspect that each of the coming weeks in the training plan will be much the same. I seem to be somewhere in the grey area between wishing I had a run on the schedule, and feeling guilty that I do not, and somewhat looking forward to not having to add mileage at whatever intensity. It's a weird feeling and I think I may someday benefit from running every day of the week, but for now must be cautious. In any case, I still managed to get to the gym for a lunchtime strength session specific to running (glutes, hamstrings, core, calves, stability, and some push ups and chin ups, followed by rolling and stretching) so the day wasn't a complete wash.

Thursday: 7k E or 10k T. After a day off and a nice massage on the legs I was still feeling the cumulative effect of the mileage building up in my body. A late night after one of the boy's baseball games also meant that I was not going to get the sleep I wanted, and naturally I slept right through my 5:20am alarm. I typically wake up before the alarm goes off, but this time it was my wife who nudged me awake at 5:38am as the radio volume had, evidently, woken her up. I set it to as low a volume as I possibly can so that it doesn't disturb her, but this proved to be a problem this morning. In any case, I got up and tried my best to get moving as quickly as possible. However, in my groggy state I didn't manage to get out the door for my Tempo run until a few minutes past 6 am. The plan called for either a 7k Easy effort, or a 10k Tempo run. I was thinking that I would do something in between, maybe a 2k warm up, 7k Tempo, and 1k cool down for a total of 10k, and given the state of my legs this would have been wise. However, as I ran my two warm up kilometres I decided to play it by ear and see how the run would feel. If I was struggling to maintain the prescribed 4:45/km pace I would only do 7k at Tempo, but if I was feeling good enough to go the full 10k I would. Lo and behold, my first split was FASTER than the goal pace at 4:37/km and I wasn't feeling all that taxed. Yes, it was tougher than Easy effort, but it should have been or else the whole lactate threshold training is not being accomplished! So I just focused on how the run SHOULD feel and kept running based on that. Ultimately that first split ended up being my slowest as well, with the fastest at 4:30/km, and the total Tempo portion of the run, which was ten kilometres in the end, averaged out at 4:33.76/km. In other words a lot faster than the goal pace (Boo!!!), but right on my BQ pace (Yay!!!). The Hansons Marathon Method requires these Tempo runs to be practice of the marathon goal pace, and not necessarily the same type of Tempo runs of any other programs. Therefore, I think I have to watch my pace a bit more closely in the future. However, if this feels right and 4:45/km does not why should I do the slower pace? Perhaps I'm being an idiot for questioning the plan... The total for the day was 13k T at 4:45/km, which interestingly enough was the pace I was supposed to have run for the Tempo portion! Oh well... I'll stick to the plan, but I reserve the right to run on feel when I'm feeling good enough to run a bit faster on the day. Just have to be careful, is all. In the afternoon I went to the gym to do a full session of rolling and stretching, with some sauna to cap it off. A good day of training and a great first Tempo run of the marathon training plan!

Friday: 7-12k E. After a late night for a variety of reasons to do with the younger son's grade 5 "graduation" and such, I had real trouble once more waking up. By the time I was in my car en route to the trails at Crothers Woods it was well past 6am and I didn't really feel all that awake anyway. However, I had been looking forward to this break from the road, having abandoned the trails last week due to the rain and mud, and I was still happy to be out running in unfamiliar territory. The run itself was tougher than expected, which is not particularly surprising given that I have not run any trails in a long time, but it sure was fun. I had to stop now and again to get my bearings as I am prone to getting lost even on the streets in a city built on a grid. In the end I managed 7.2k E at 6:55/km on the single track trails and definitely used muscles that are ignored on the sidewalks. That slow pace was not indicative of the effort required, but I did manage to keep it pretty loose and easy most of the time, but forced to work a bit harder on the many steep and technical uphill sections. In the afternoon I went to the gym for some more running specific strength training, rolling, and stretching.

Saturday: 7-10k E. Arrived at the cottage late Friday evening and set my alarm for a reasonable 7am to try and get a decent start to what promised to be a long day of construction. Woke up long before the alarm went off and set off on a nice 7k E at 5:26/km. Barely broke a sweat. The rest of the day was taken up with demolition, shopping for materials, then construction. It was tough to eat during all that, and by the end of the day I was so beat I barely had enough energy to make dinner, but I forced myself to do so.

Sunday: 8-16k E. Woke up so stiff and sore it was like I'd never worked out before. I guess construction uses your body in unique ways, or at least abuses it. In particular my lower back felt completely jammed. Nevertheless, I finally made it out the door at 8:30am for my run. Unlike the day before the heat and humidity had me sweating before the first kilometre was through and I knew this would be a battle for the entire distance. And it was, all 16k E at 5:29/km of it. The hills around the cottage felt bigger and longer than ever before, but I kept telling myself that these are the runs that help you get through the last few miles of the marathon and never gave in to stopping and calling it quits. Only took a short rest break after I crested the last of the hills of the day at a bit past 15km. By then I was toast...

Total for the week: 65.2 km at 5:24/km average pace.

The 2nd of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 12:33:00 +0000

The second week of the marathon training plan went like this:

Monday: OFF or 10k E. A bit sore from the hills on the roads around the cottage so I cut the run a bit short and managed 8k E at 5:25/km in the end. Since my other option was not to run at all this was a good option and I think it was a wise choice to hold back a bit with the first "Something of Substance" run, in the form of track repeats, to follow. In the afternoon I managed a running specific strength training session and a good rolling and stretching routine.

Tuesday: 4k E or 12x400m. Slowly getting the body used to waking up earlier and earlier. Today it was 5:30am and out the door at about 5:50am, heading to the track. Used the 2k on the way as a warm up, then stretched for a very short spell, and got right into the 400m repeats. Never stopped between, just kept jogging each 400m recovery interval. Each repeat was a bit faster than the intended 1:40, but I think that's ok. 1:37 was about the average with the fastest being 1:34.2 (the last repeat) and slowest 1:39.8 (the first repeat). Jogged home to cool down and the total ended up being 13k SP at 5:19/km. Went to the gym at lunch to do only stretching and rolling with some sauna thrown in for limbering up and such.

Wednesday: OFF. A day with no running doesn't mean I simply sit around. I figure going to the gym to do some running specific strength training, focusing on glute and core strength, is important so that's what I did at lunch. Nothing difficult and I would say that it's not the type of workout I'd typically go for, but I'm trying to keep the big picture in mind and staying healthy is the only way I will reach my goal. Won't be breaking any personal records on the bench press any time soon :(

Thursday: 5-10k E. Still feeling the effects of my first speed session of this marathon training plan I went out with the intent on running in the early morning as easy as possible. Mission accomplished! Although I still ran too fast according to the pace range that I should have been aiming for. Started off nice and slow, never really increased the effort, but the pace kept getting faster. Ran the last kilometre at a bit faster than goal Marathon Pace of all things! In the end I managed 10k E at 5:17/km, exactly the same distance and pace as last Thursday. At lunch time I went back to the gym for a full session of just flexibility work including rolling, stretching, and sauna.

Friday: 5-10k E. Decided that to truly stay healthy I should follow the sage advice of many a better runner than yours truly and to not only change up the types of runs that I do during the week, but also the surface upon which I run. So, I decided to take my easy run to the trails despite the rain and slipped and slid my way through the woods until I found a much more agreeable crushed gravel path, on which I proceeded to finish the bulk of my 5k E at 5:41/km run. I've also decided to keep the Friday and Saturday runs to the lower end of the goal distance given my injury history and the fact that even with this modification my weekly mileage will be appreciably higher than it has been in quite some time and surely enough to go on as I prepare for a marathon. In the afternoon I went to the gym for another running specific strength training session complete with rolling and stretching.

Saturday: 5-10k E. After a late night driving to the cottage on Friday, I woke up on Saturday and had a tough time getting moving. Finally made it out at about 8:30am for a creaky 5k E at 5:18/km run around the lake. Rest of the day was spent clearing the property of debris and hauling it to the dump. I was definitely ready for a break by the evening...

Sunday: 7-13k E. Not as much trouble waking up for this one as the day before. Managed to keep the effort nice and loose knowing that the route I chose would have me running down a considerable hill on the way out, and back up the same considerable hill on the way back. It was tough! Managed 13k E at 5:24/km in the end to cap off the second week of marathon training!

Total for the week: 54k at 5:21/km average pace.

The 1st of 18 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 13:44:00 +0000

So, marathon training is officially under way. The first week of the 18 that lead up to my goal race is now completed and it went something like this... (In the form of "Day of the Week": "Training Plan Prescribed Workout". "Summary of day's events.")

... But I guess that's obvious ;)

Monday: OFF. Went to the gym and did some running specific strength training as well as rolling and stretching, which was especially required after the 5K race from the day before.

Tuesday: OFF. Plan called for an off day, but I went out in the morning and ran 5k E at 5:31/km. Focused solely on cadence and managed 178spm, which is pretty good for me when taking the easy pace into account. Later in the day I went to the gym for some more specific strength training and rolling/stretching.

Wednesday: OFF. This was a true off day as per the plan. No gym, no running! This is to be celebrated I suppose given that I have a real problem with taking time off. I did get a massage though, which was good, and the therapist even taped up my back at the end of the session on his own initiative to try and change the way my body is "feeling" that pain in the left ribs. It's been there since last September, but it doesn't seem to impede my training. Just a constant gnawing pain that hurts with each step when I walk, but seems to be kept in check when I run...

Thursday: 5-10k E. As per the plan I manage the goal quite nicely and ran 10k E at 5:17/km. Again, I focused on cadence and hit 180spm bang on! However, the goal pace for E runs is to be 5:22-6:09/km so I went a bit too fast. I find it hard to maintain my goal cadence while running slow in particular because the slower I go the more trouble I have with my breathing pattern and I start to hyperventilate. It's better when I run just a bit faster though and this was still a very easy effort so I count it as a success. Went to the gym for some basic strength training specific to running and lots of stretching and rolling. Good first official day of of the training plan!

Friday: OFF or 10k E. Another early morning run, but not as early as I'd hoped. Could not sleep after 1 a.m. or so. Then I think I actually passed out around 5 a.m. so when my alarm went off at 5:45 I was in trouble. Took nearly a half hour before I was actually out and running. Wanted to focus again on cadence and trying to slow down at the same time so I went and did loops of a local park that has a good steady incline on one side for about a half kilometre or more. Managed 10k E at 5:16/km so failed on the pace as it was still too fast. Came close to the cadence goal at 178spm, but I have no idea how it averaged out to anything other than 180spm based on the graph from my Garmin data. Oh well... Later in the afternoon I went to the gym for a basic strength training workout and a decent amount of rolling and stretching. I think the rolling and stretching routine will be an important component to maintain health in order to allow the running part of the training plan to take place uninterrupted so the plan is to do this religiously!

Saturday: 5-10k E. Decided on the lower mileage goal since I had run on what was supposed to have been an OFF day on Tuesday. Best part was making the local running group regular Saturday morning run! I hadn't run with this group in over a year and a half. Managed a nice 6.5k E at 6:11/km. while chatting and catching up with the folks in the group! Really a great way to begin the day and this really kept my pace and effort in check.

Sunday: 7-13k E. At the cottage so got to run on the beautiful country roads around and near the lake. Not a single red light to have to stop for and very little traffic to navigate over the course of my 13k E at 5:22/km run. Toughest part was the hills, especially that 2km long steady climb starting at about the 8.25km mark. Good way to finish the first week of marathon training!

Total for the week: 44.5k at 5:27/km average pace.

MEC 5K Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Vava) — Sun, 31 May 2015 14:44:00 +0000

I knew this was going to be a tough day, but I did my best to put those thoughts to the side as I prepared for my first 5K race in six years. The idea was to test my current fitness, and I think I got what I wanted out of it despite going into the race rather tired and sore...

In short, the day was chilly and a bit wet, which of course is perfect for racing! No complaints from me on that front. My goal was to break 20 minutes. Based on some workouts I'd done over the Winter I thought I had a real shot at this goal. However, it seems that treadmills and footpads are not very accurate, and my current state of feeling tired with heavy legs perhaps isn't indicative of what I was capable of back then. However, I wanted to run a 5K to see where I was at and to base my training for a Fall marathon on that result. After all, the BQ as nice as it would be, may not be realistic at the moment given how much time I would have to take off my current PR in order to achieve this ultimate of goals.

In summary, I ran to the limits of my fitness and with that I am happy. Within the first kilometre I know it was going to be a tough day. My first split was 4:05.58, so I was falling behind the goal early. My second split was even more telling at 4:10.90. This trend was not good and I could feel it in my lungs that things were unlikely to get any faster. I was proven right when the third and fourth splits came it at 4:10.37 and 4:14.07. Ugh... By the last two kilometres I was really struggling, but at least I passed a few people that had been just ahead of me from the start. I was only passed by one runner with a little less than one kilometre left and he looked quite fresh, chatting to me as he ran by. A guy I had passed slowly earlier on hung onto my heels for quite a while, but with about a few hundred metres left and the Finish line in sight I was able to lengthen my stride just a touch and pulled away from him. My last split was 4:07.97. I guess it was never meant to be...

And I really hope I didn't get beat by a woman with an umbrella and a camera bag!

However, this is still a Personal Best at 20:49.7, so I guess that's something. It also allows me to set up my training for the marathon based on paces derived from this result. In the end I think it will be a lot safer for me to train this way rather than try and go for the ultimate prize of the BQ, which clearly I am not quite ready for.

Perhaps another test race this Summer will allow for a revisit of the above, but for now it's to the books to check what my paces for Long runs, Tempo runs, and Speed/Strength runs should be.

In much more exciting news my 10 year-old ran an amazing race! I told him, based on a few training runs, that he had a decent chance at breaking 30 minutes for the 5K. Instead, the kid goes out and pulls through a tremendous 25:06.2!!! 5:01/km pace is amazing!!! Another runner came up to us after the race and congratulated my son for a terrific race and strategy. He said that he followed Malks for the first three kilometres at a steady pace, but was unable to keep up when Malks picked up his speed with two kilometres remaining. I caught him as he was just finishing (as I was running some cool down laps in the parking lot) and was not only surprised at when he was finishing as I thought I had a lot more time to cool down, but with the way he ran across the timing mats and kept running right to me!!! The kid is awesome.