Scotiabank Marathon recap

3:52! That was my finishing time at the Marathon on October 16th. The goal I had was a 3:35 so initially I was disappointed in my time. However, there were many factors that contributed to my poor showing (in my mind) and when I look back at my race (a few weeks removed) I can smile.

The day started out pretty cold and that certainly didn't help. I had trained mostly in warm and hot weather throughout the summer months. I actually prefer running in hot temperatures. There is nothing to compare to the start of a race. Thousands of runners all with their own goals and pre-race rituals.

I told myself to start off slow but I wasn't wearing a watch (my first race without one) and I was pleased with how effortless the run was during the beginning. Of course adrenaline had lots to do with that I'm sure. I hit the 10K mark at roughly where I wanted to be (51 minutes) and was even on pace by the 1/2 way mark (1:43). At 27 K, however, things took a turn for the worse. Both quads started cramping really badly and I had to run/walk the remaining 15.2 KM's.

It's amazing the kind of talking that went on inside my head as I fought through the pain to finish. I knew that even if I had to walk to the finish line I was going to finish somehow. I was able to recall the many tough runs I had had during the past 5 months and that helped me to finish.

As I crossed the finish line I swored I would never run another Marathon again....of course 2 weeks later and I'm already thinking about what I should attempt next :)

The mental battle awaits

As I finished my 3 mile run this morning my attention immediately turned to the mental aspect of this race week. Even though I have prepared as much physically as possible, it still comes down to a battle that lies between my ears. I know that there will be moments during the race where I may question whether I had trained enough or worked as hard as I could have.

It is during this time that I will re-read some of my posts from a few months ago and use that to inspire and remind me what I had accomplished these past 5 months. I have run the race in my head many times and will replay that race in my head more times between now and Sunday. I have a picture in my head of what it will look like to cross that finish line and how I will feel immediately afterwards. I have had that picture in my mind for several months now and now the only thing I have to do is paint that picture on Sunday.

Being mentally sharp on Sunday means that I must get enough rest this week (in bed by no later than 10 PM) and drinking lots of water. I have been consumed by this race and have to keep reminding myself that in a few short days I will get to really let the bullets fly for real. I will agonize over these last few days as I hold back my energy.

The hardest part is the carbohydrate loading that I will do starting tomorrow. I typically eat only moderate amount of carbohydrate and will increase that slowly as race day approaches. It's something that I have become pretty good at so I'm hoping it pays off again this time around.

It's Race Week!

It started out as a little discussion with Christopher Laurin about possibly running the Montreal Marathon together and soon took on a life of its own. After thinking about it, I decided to run the Scotiabank Marathon so that many of my friends could be there to cheer me on.

Now, after months of blood, sweat and tears my race is only days away. I have a love/hate relationship with race week. Although resting is very important, it's hard to hold back the excitement and energy that I have right now. I also use running to provide me with a great peace of mind and without it I sometimes feel lost. Running, as I've said many times before, is my passion and I when my passion is not allowed to be expressed it becomes difficult at times.

I ran 5 miles today and will be running another 3 miles tomorrow. I will take Thursday and Friday off to rest and then run 1-2 miles on Saturday morning just to shake off any last minute rust.

My pre-race rituals include a pasta dinner the night before and watching some inspirational movies such as Rudy, Remember the Titans and even Run FatBoy Run. I won't sleep too much the night before my race which puts even more emphasis on sleeping well two nights before the race (Friday night).


The following passage is something that I've written before every race, hope you enjoy it.


If I forget to smile during the week,......... please forgive me it's race week!

If I feel like crying when I see someone run, knowing that I can't......please forgive me, it's race week!

If I feel like I've gained 20 pounds after carbo loading for three days....please forgive me, it's race week!

If I seem like I have the "deer in the headlights" look all week...........please forgive me, it's race week!

If I have a hard time sleeping this week..........please forgive me, it's race week!

If I start wondering if I've trained enough for my race........please forgive me, it's race week!

If you hear me mumbling to myself about what the hell I was thinking about when I decided to run the Scotiabank Marathon.......please forgive me, it's race week!

If I run to the bathroom every 5 minutes from all the water I need to drink this week.......please forgive me, it's race week!

If you see me eating 6 blueberry bagels in a matter of a minutes......please forgive me, it's race week!

If I start going through withdrawl from the fact that I can't run for most of the week..........please forgive me, it's race week!

And finally.....If I forget to thank all of you who read my blog and have wished me well with my race this week.............please forgive me, it's race week!

It's getting closer and closer now

It's hard to believe that I have been training for 14 weeks and that my race is just 2 weeks away.

Have I done everything I needed to do? Have I trained as hard as I need to? I honestly think I have but I won't know for sure until I get to the race. This past week was rough as I had to fight through some health issues but still managed to complete my 36K run on Saturday. I took Sunday and Monday off and did some speed work but avoided the track as I didn't feel 100%.

I'll be running 22+ K's on Saturday and another 10K run on Sunday. After that I will be reducing my mileage right up until the race on October 16th. Race week will be a different "animal" all together as I fight through nerves and anxiety. Race Day will be filled with lots of emotions for sure and I have to make sure that I stay motivated between now and then.

REST is NOT a dirty 4 letter word

Sometimes you have to listen to your body and that is the lesson I learned this weekend. After running 31.5K's on Saturday, I decided not to run on Sunday as my legs were feeling tired. I was very pleased with my run and even decided that I wasn't going to use a gel (sugar gel) for my 3 hour run. Typically I would use 2 of these along with my electrolyte drink. I have read studies on how to improve fat utilization by not ingesting carbohydrates during a long run so I thought I would give it a try. I did bring along the gels just in case. I found that I didn't need the gels and it didn't affect my running at all.
I completed the 31.5K run in just under 3 hours which was my goal.

Tuesday begins week 14 and I will have to make a few more adjustments to my schedule. I typically do track work on Tuesday mornings but since I have my kids with me I will skip this workout and do a speed training run instead. I was happy with my mile repeats from last week and next week I will do another one. Everything is starting to come into focus and it's hard to believe that the race is one month away!

Trying not to flame out!

Marathon training is brutal! I'm sure that doesn't come to much a surprise to anyone. Avoding burnout is probably the toughest thing that I've been dealing with recently. I am just about to finish my 13th week of training and have 4 more week left until my race. This week, even though I was pleased with my training, I found myself just wishing that the race was here. As I think about it, though, these last few weeks will mimic what the Marathon itself will be like. I will have to fight through these mental battles now more than ever. A friend once told me that the Marathon is "one long walk to 30K and then it's on!" It's something that I've tried to remember this week. I know that 30K will be challenging but I've run that distance many times during the last 12 weeks and I know what that feels like. These last 4 weeks will prepare me to run those last 12.2 K's. I will be tired both mentally and physically but will have to fight through the pain and finish the race as strong as possible. There is something called the "Runners Wall" and I'm sure I'll hit it at some time. I've hit that wall many times before and sometimes multiple times during a race. It's something that is hard to explain but it forces me to overcome many demons and negative thoughts that creep in my mind. The better prepared mentally I am, the easier it will be for me to not only hit that wall but smash through it!

This weekend I will be running 32K on Saturday and then 16K on Sunday wish me luck!

Marathon training update September 13th, 2011

FEAR
It can cripple you or make you stronger!

Coming off an amazing weekend of running, where I completed 40KM's, I took Monday off to rest and get ready for my final 5 weeks of training.
Since I started incorporating speed training into my workout schedule 4 weeks ago, I have played around with doing different track workouts. After reading about running mile repeats to help with Marathon training, I decided to give it a try. I researched how I should prepare for them and what my goal time should be. I have done 800M repeats and pyramid workouts but this would be totally different.

Running 4 laps of a 400M track at close to top speed, resting for 2- 2.5 minutes then doing that again for a total of 4 times really started to scare me. I remember how winded I was when I did the Pyramid workout and wondered how I could possibly do 4 mile repeats in 7:33 or less. What scared me most was that even though I have been running for 6 years, I've never done mile repeats before. What if I wasn't able to do more than 1 set? Would that put doubt in my mind about my upcoming race? I started to wonder if it was worth it. I could have fallen back to a program that I was comfortable doing instead of attempting these mile repeats. However, I knew that if I gave into fear, I would have no idea what I'm capable of accomplishing.

I left my house at 5:45 and drove to the track. I went over in my mind how I wanted this workout to look like. As I reached the track I noticed that A) it was still very dark and I could barely see my watch and B) there were sprinklers on the grass infield and I would have to run through some of them as I wanted to stay on the inside lane.

After doing a warm-up lap and some light stretching, the moment had finally arrived to begin the mile repeats. As I started I had to make sure that I didn't go out too fast too soon or my workout would be shot. I tried to keep an even pace and when I completed my first set of 4 laps I noticed that my time was 7:28. I thought to myself, that wasn't too bad and I wasn't too winded. After allowing my heart rate to come down a bit, it was time for set #2. This time I was familiar with what I needed to do and I increased my speed a little bit. As a result, my 2nd set was completed in 7:05. I remember saying to myself, "wow! That was pretty good!"

Don't get me wrong, those were the toughest 2 runs that I have ever completed. However, I noticed that instead of focusing on my fear of the workout I was now focusing on improving my technique. With 2 sets remaining I knew that I was going to complete the workout no matter what. My last two sets were completed in under 7:00 each. To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement. Forget that I had completed my goal because I had overcome an even bigger obstacle and that was FEAR!

I still HATE doing the mile repeats but I no longer fear them because I've done it now. This workout, along with the many others I have experienced during the last 12 weeks, will be bookmarked and taken out during my Marathon if I need to motivate myself during the race.