Well... another running week down, one more week closer to the goal. Woa, its coming quickly! This wee wasn't as easy as the last. My steady run on Wednesday felt like a ton of bricks. I started too quickly or was following someone who was too fast, plus it was really warm and humid - breathing was a challenge for me. Wednesday was also 20 mins challenge... so I got a fancy new blue hat (its actually not a bad hat) and a coupon! So yeah, it was the usual route on Wednesday down Saskatchewan drive, down Emily across to Hawrelek park, one loop around, up Groat Road, across the traffice cirle to 87 Ave, left on 120 Street, take that all the way back to Saskatchewan Drive and then back to the RR... I ran with Petra... again too quickly off the top, but she is a sweetheart - she definitely waited for me and slowed down with me in the last 2 km... she also talked me through the last 1 km. That's what its all about! Group support!
Thursday was the first hill night... on the "Murph" as Murray called it... I think I have other choice words for that hill... but the "Murph" works kind of well... I have done a hill training with several different people, leading it many different ways. I'm sure all the ways I've done it before were great, but I really liked what Murray said... we are going to start at the top, its going to be hard, but you don't have to run your usual speed on the hill... its a hill, slow down (again, smart man!)... so we took it out nice and easy to the top of the "Murph", I especially enjoyed that about 500 m from the hill, Murray started chanting EMIL-Y, EMIL-Y.... I think he was trying to get us physched up, but I thought it was harlious! Anyway,weherer everyone survived the first hill training night... 4 hill repeats. Done. Next week we do five... and so on and so on until we do 10... when you think about it that way... that's not many weeks of hills and apparently they are supposed to get easier! We'll see!
Also at the end of the Thursday night run, I decided I would give Murray's suggestion of compression socks and mesh shoes a shot. So I bought a new pair of compression socks... they are bright pink!
So that brings us to Sunday's run. This July Chris and I are attending weddings every Saturday evening for the month of the July. This weekend's wedding was in Calgary - it was a beautiful wedding. As a result of its location, I had a choice in how to complete this long run in Calgary or alone in Edmonton... so this morning Chris and I decided to drive back to Edmonton early and I'd run when we got home. I've never run 23 km before, but the route Murray picked for the group was easy and straight forward (it was very similar to last week with an added loop). So, alone I was... packed up with 2 L of water, 0.5 L of gatorade, two gels, several fig newtons and we can't forget my new bright pink compression socks. Anyway... I'd have to say it went fairly well. It did take me a long long time to warm up (the three hour car ride before hand probably didn't help) and I think its time for a massage. ButI finally got there about 45 mins in. It is Sunday and warm today. I'm also not used to running at 1 pm in the afternoon. There are tons and tons of people out and about. Cars on the roads - this is probably why I enjoy the general quiet of the Sunday morning runs... But, sometimes it got to do what you got to do!
I made it across 102 Ave, through the ritz neighbourhood to 142 Street and down MacKinnon Ravine until the heat really started to get to me (only 6 km in!)... also running in the afternoon provides hardly any shade! Boo! But I was feeling good and starting to hit my stride. Plus in my head, I had subdivided the run into four main segments. So, I got to Hawrelek - segment 1 done. Hawrelek was swamped with people! And a guy with ice cream, selling it... It totally felt like he followed me around the park, at one point I seriously considered creating a distraction and stealing some of his ice cold water (as he was trying to sell it to people in the park). But I kept on, got myself up Groat Road hill (didn't even stop- I was very proud and headed down 87 Ave (segment 2 down)... at this point I was feeling really great about myself. The problem with runnign alone, is there is no one to share these distance achievements with - so I may have high fived myself (I'm pretty sure no one saw... except all those cars at the intersection of 109 Street and Saskatchewan Drive (I'm sure no one was watching the sweaty girl anyways). I also noted at this time I was a little over way half done!
I head east on Saskatchewan Drive to the old timers cabin and headed into the trail... I thought I'd find some coolness in the shade - a little wrong about that one... the sun was still reaching me. I think at this point I was at about 17 km, I was starting to feel really tired and really missing having someone there to help keep me moving! But through a little self talk and an extra couple of minutes of walk breaks (yes, I took a few extra minutes), I kept at it and crossed the low level bridge over to the north side of the river and back towards home! Yes!
That section between the low level bridge and EPCOR wasn't too horrible... although I was really starting to wonder why more people in Edmonton don't water their lawns on Sunday afternoons with sprinklers, or why that new play ground wasn't equipped with a splash pad!
I slowly made my way along river valley road and hit 20 km! Yes... at this point I was really tired and ran out of water. Argh... this 2 L camel back may not be enough! So, through another extended walk break (at this point I was going to walk the last 3 km if I couldn't run them to say at least I'd covered the distance!) I groaned quite a bit (yes, people were looking at me) and I started talking (out loud) to myself... 3 km, that's only going to take another 20 mins or so, you got this one... so I made my way (speaking under my breath) to Victoria hill... truthfully in my mind I charged up that hill, but being so tired (from an awesome wedding the night before and out of water) I just walked up it at a quick pace. I then finished off my run jogging back to home - where I crashed onto the floor.
Total distance covered 24.56 km... total time 2 hrs and 56 mins... it wasn't pretty and the last few km felt horrible, but I made it. And surprisingly! So did my feet (although super tired) not blistered! Maybe Murray has a method behind his maddness! Total weekly distance 38.56 km... here's hoping it gets a little less humid! One more weekend of weddings and missing the Sunday run - I'm a little nervous about it, but its all good! Race day here we come!
Some of the runners! Fall 2011
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Running in the rain, just running in the rain!
End of another week... and we had some great runs this week. This week the weather became very un-Edmonton like - felt a lot more like southern Ontario. It was hot and humid, and it didn't cool down at night.
Luckily today, I woke up to a beautiful 18 C, overcast and a mist in the air! This morning's long slow run (LSD) distance was 19 km. Something I've done before... a few times, but not recently! So, I filled my camel back and several small water bottles full of gatorade and headed out to the 109 Street store (a little sleepy from Jen and Dennis' wedding the evening before... but really happy it wasn't sunny and above 25).
The route this morning was east on Saskatchewan drive to the Old Timers Cabin, into the trails, east to the Low Level Bridge, across the bridge, then we didn't st on the trail back to Walterdale... across the street, straight down River Valley ....Road, up Victoria Hill, along the promenade to 102 Ave - back through by the Starbucks to Stony Plain Road to St. George's Crescent... through the multi-million dollar homes of Old Glenora to 142 Street, then down through McKinnon Ravine back to Groat Road south over the bridge and then up Emily and back to the store... yep sounds long!
This morning I ran with the usual crew, Helen, Petra, and then Wye (not sure of the spelling of his name). I'm really happy to say, we did a lot better than last week... we stuck to the pace, more or less (6:30 - 6:40 per km... mostly 6:30). We had a great run... managed to keep ourselves fairly steady on pace (I think this was mostly Wye... an older guy - apparently 76 years old who told us all about his running philosophy and then about triathalons! He was great... apparently he's also running Victoria. Anyway, I spent a bit of time chatting with him. He said in the 1980s they used to eat potato chips and brownies for full on the long runs! Wow... my nutrition today consisted of shot blocks, fig newtons, and gatorade. My nutrition during these longer runs I"ll need to work on. I think I"m going to have to suck it up and buy some gels... I just don't get the same boost... and the shot blocks are hard to eat. In total today for 2 hrs and 22 minutes worth of running, I drank 1 L of water, 0.5 L of gatorade, three shot blocks, and two fig newtons... Not bad and then as soon as I finished the run I ate a stinger waffle... that was delicious! I'd definitely eat one of those again!
Anyway, other than nutrition, the run this morning was a success... yes, it rained the entire time - but it was quite refreshing. Yes, I was soaked by the time I finished... but it felt pretty good.
The other two runs this week were okay. 8 km steady on Wednesday evening in the unbelieveable heat - didn't think I'd make that one. We also tackled strides on Wednesday... because apparently running in the freakish heat in direct sunlight wasn't quite enough. Thursday run, went a lot better... 10 km doing 10 and 1's... and they felt amazing... I think that night I could have kept running and running.
I'm into week two of the meal plan and I feel awesome and I think its really helping with the running! So here we are at the end of the week... total distance 39 kms... not too bad and I feel stronger!
Also, here's my power breakkie after that long run (so delicious!) (I wanted to take pictures during the run, but it was too wet! Maybe next time!)
Luckily today, I woke up to a beautiful 18 C, overcast and a mist in the air! This morning's long slow run (LSD) distance was 19 km. Something I've done before... a few times, but not recently! So, I filled my camel back and several small water bottles full of gatorade and headed out to the 109 Street store (a little sleepy from Jen and Dennis' wedding the evening before... but really happy it wasn't sunny and above 25).
The route this morning was east on Saskatchewan drive to the Old Timers Cabin, into the trails, east to the Low Level Bridge, across the bridge, then we didn't st on the trail back to Walterdale... across the street, straight down River Valley ....Road, up Victoria Hill, along the promenade to 102 Ave - back through by the Starbucks to Stony Plain Road to St. George's Crescent... through the multi-million dollar homes of Old Glenora to 142 Street, then down through McKinnon Ravine back to Groat Road south over the bridge and then up Emily and back to the store... yep sounds long!
This morning I ran with the usual crew, Helen, Petra, and then Wye (not sure of the spelling of his name). I'm really happy to say, we did a lot better than last week... we stuck to the pace, more or less (6:30 - 6:40 per km... mostly 6:30). We had a great run... managed to keep ourselves fairly steady on pace (I think this was mostly Wye... an older guy - apparently 76 years old who told us all about his running philosophy and then about triathalons! He was great... apparently he's also running Victoria. Anyway, I spent a bit of time chatting with him. He said in the 1980s they used to eat potato chips and brownies for full on the long runs! Wow... my nutrition today consisted of shot blocks, fig newtons, and gatorade. My nutrition during these longer runs I"ll need to work on. I think I"m going to have to suck it up and buy some gels... I just don't get the same boost... and the shot blocks are hard to eat. In total today for 2 hrs and 22 minutes worth of running, I drank 1 L of water, 0.5 L of gatorade, three shot blocks, and two fig newtons... Not bad and then as soon as I finished the run I ate a stinger waffle... that was delicious! I'd definitely eat one of those again!
Anyway, other than nutrition, the run this morning was a success... yes, it rained the entire time - but it was quite refreshing. Yes, I was soaked by the time I finished... but it felt pretty good.
The other two runs this week were okay. 8 km steady on Wednesday evening in the unbelieveable heat - didn't think I'd make that one. We also tackled strides on Wednesday... because apparently running in the freakish heat in direct sunlight wasn't quite enough. Thursday run, went a lot better... 10 km doing 10 and 1's... and they felt amazing... I think that night I could have kept running and running.
I'm into week two of the meal plan and I feel awesome and I think its really helping with the running! So here we are at the end of the week... total distance 39 kms... not too bad and I feel stronger!
Also, here's my power breakkie after that long run (so delicious!) (I wanted to take pictures during the run, but it was too wet! Maybe next time!)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
First Sunday Long Run with the New group....and learning more...
Just completed my first long run with the marathon group.. saddly, my usual running companions (Jerry, Roberta, Val) were unable to run with me today, so I attempted to go towards the back of the group. Well at least I think that was the original plan - it might not have worked out that way.
Today was an extremely warm Sunday run, I packed my camel-back full I water, 250 mL of gatorade, and snacks (food attempt #1 - chews and fig newtons) I should have known from the start when there were really only three general pace groups going out. Helen and Petra decided to go at the back, which I thought was a really great idea - I have spent the last few week-days runs with these ladies and they set a pretty decent pace. We took off going east down Saskatchewan Drive to the Old Timers Cabin and then down into Mill Creek - I love that route - nice and shady! We started a little fast and I figured as the run went on things would naturally slow down - WRONG! And they didn't want to take all the walk breaks (who are these people!). Anyway, I stuck to my 10 mins runs and 1 mins walks... at a slightly too fast pace (well, the pace was very sporatics...I think overall we averaged a 6:20 min/km pace (yup... that's faster than my steady run pace... not quite right!)... But at least with these fast runners, they chat anyway, so something to distract me! After turning around I attempted to talk Helen into slowing down, she just wanted to finish (she somehow didn't manage to bring any water today!) and at that point we were running steadily downhill - so the pace picked up a little bit and at one point we were holding a 5:50 min/km.... no wonder I was sweating a ton and drinking a ton!
We made it back to the north side of the river and travelled back west towards Kinsmen... and then yes, you guessed it a slogg up Walterdale hill... I think I made it 75% of the way up the hill without requiring a walk break - what a cray ending to the run... After making it to the top of the hill we realized we were 2 km short. So we did a weird little loop through the university grounds and made our way back to the 109th Street store... thank goodness they got the AC fixed in that store!
So lessons learnt for the day... fig newtons are pretty decent for snacking on during the run and really good afterwards - although they do dry out your mouth quite a bit... the chews weren't too bad... a little stale, but I really need to focus on getting more of them during the run (I only snacked once during the run), the gatorade was surprisingly easy to get down in between waters! And surprise surprise, my mesh shoes did NOT keep my feet cool. No blisters today, but one good rubbed spot!
Anyway, next Sunday's long slow run... I'll just run with the back group or if one of my usual companions are there -- I will follow them. I will stick with Helen and Petra during the week, when its a short run and I can push myself without doing harm! Great game plan.
So, total distance for the week... 30 km... not too bad! We are getting there!
Today was an extremely warm Sunday run, I packed my camel-back full I water, 250 mL of gatorade, and snacks (food attempt #1 - chews and fig newtons) I should have known from the start when there were really only three general pace groups going out. Helen and Petra decided to go at the back, which I thought was a really great idea - I have spent the last few week-days runs with these ladies and they set a pretty decent pace. We took off going east down Saskatchewan Drive to the Old Timers Cabin and then down into Mill Creek - I love that route - nice and shady! We started a little fast and I figured as the run went on things would naturally slow down - WRONG! And they didn't want to take all the walk breaks (who are these people!). Anyway, I stuck to my 10 mins runs and 1 mins walks... at a slightly too fast pace (well, the pace was very sporatics...I think overall we averaged a 6:20 min/km pace (yup... that's faster than my steady run pace... not quite right!)... But at least with these fast runners, they chat anyway, so something to distract me! After turning around I attempted to talk Helen into slowing down, she just wanted to finish (she somehow didn't manage to bring any water today!) and at that point we were running steadily downhill - so the pace picked up a little bit and at one point we were holding a 5:50 min/km.... no wonder I was sweating a ton and drinking a ton!
We made it back to the north side of the river and travelled back west towards Kinsmen... and then yes, you guessed it a slogg up Walterdale hill... I think I made it 75% of the way up the hill without requiring a walk break - what a cray ending to the run... After making it to the top of the hill we realized we were 2 km short. So we did a weird little loop through the university grounds and made our way back to the 109th Street store... thank goodness they got the AC fixed in that store!
So lessons learnt for the day... fig newtons are pretty decent for snacking on during the run and really good afterwards - although they do dry out your mouth quite a bit... the chews weren't too bad... a little stale, but I really need to focus on getting more of them during the run (I only snacked once during the run), the gatorade was surprisingly easy to get down in between waters! And surprise surprise, my mesh shoes did NOT keep my feet cool. No blisters today, but one good rubbed spot!
Anyway, next Sunday's long slow run... I'll just run with the back group or if one of my usual companions are there -- I will follow them. I will stick with Helen and Petra during the week, when its a short run and I can push myself without doing harm! Great game plan.
So, total distance for the week... 30 km... not too bad! We are getting there!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Tip of the Day... Mesh Shoes Keep Your Feet Cool
We are into week 3 and I think things are going pretty well - the steady runs are actually becoming enjoyable and less taxing! Success and the new runners I am pacing with are very entertaining.... I guess on Sunday we'll see how many British and German stories I hear about immigrating to Canada...
I think the highlight of this week had to be during the clinic portion of the evening - we had the famous clothing talk... which was alright, didn't learn anything earth shattering. However, I asked a question that is on my mind and makes me a little nervous for race day - how will the hot feet survive this. The Man-with-running-god-legs (aka Murray) answered my question today... easy, he says, wear shoes with mesh pannelling on the side and compression socks. Seriously buddy... that's the best you got... mesh panelling???? I looked down at my awesome purple shoes and hey they are mesh! Strangely enough though my feet are still always hot during runs... so I'm beginning to think, maybe Murray doesn't sweat, or maybe his feet don't... plus when someone mentioned changing socks during the race, he asked why would you want to waste the time. Okay, at this point the voice in my head is screaming "Who are you... waste the time? Isn''t it time worth spent if you can walk with minimal pain and blisters after the race, okay this guy is a machine, a lean mean, no-foot sweat machine. Anyway... I am not sure I will really ask for too much advice maybe just trial and error would be better (obviously, Murray was created from the running gods and he doesn't have the same issues everyone else does!).
Oh well, despite the shoe/sock/feet comment. It was a nice run tonight... steady run 6 km, 34.56 mins, average pace 6:28 min/km... seems to be my comfortable pace! Total distance so far this week 14.5 km with a long 16 km easy run on Sunday. I'm also thinking of trying to pop in a little tempo run on Sunday... apparently we are to be doing these ourselves... so maybe a tempo run to the YMCA, some weights and a nice cool down job/walk home. Who knows!
So far so good! And I think I might actually be getting excited for the race (especially after talking to Amy tonight - can't wait to see you!)
I think the highlight of this week had to be during the clinic portion of the evening - we had the famous clothing talk... which was alright, didn't learn anything earth shattering. However, I asked a question that is on my mind and makes me a little nervous for race day - how will the hot feet survive this. The Man-with-running-god-legs (aka Murray) answered my question today... easy, he says, wear shoes with mesh pannelling on the side and compression socks. Seriously buddy... that's the best you got... mesh panelling???? I looked down at my awesome purple shoes and hey they are mesh! Strangely enough though my feet are still always hot during runs... so I'm beginning to think, maybe Murray doesn't sweat, or maybe his feet don't... plus when someone mentioned changing socks during the race, he asked why would you want to waste the time. Okay, at this point the voice in my head is screaming "Who are you... waste the time? Isn''t it time worth spent if you can walk with minimal pain and blisters after the race, okay this guy is a machine, a lean mean, no-foot sweat machine. Anyway... I am not sure I will really ask for too much advice maybe just trial and error would be better (obviously, Murray was created from the running gods and he doesn't have the same issues everyone else does!).
Oh well, despite the shoe/sock/feet comment. It was a nice run tonight... steady run 6 km, 34.56 mins, average pace 6:28 min/km... seems to be my comfortable pace! Total distance so far this week 14.5 km with a long 16 km easy run on Sunday. I'm also thinking of trying to pop in a little tempo run on Sunday... apparently we are to be doing these ourselves... so maybe a tempo run to the YMCA, some weights and a nice cool down job/walk home. Who knows!
So far so good! And I think I might actually be getting excited for the race (especially after talking to Amy tonight - can't wait to see you!)
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