17 posts tagged “half marathon”
I have not been able to get around to posting over the past few weeks as I've been rather busy getting ready for my move to Ottawa... here's a very quick recap:
- I now own a townhouse in Orleans (just outside Ottawa);
- In order to take possession of the place, we're now leaving Florida a month earlier than expected;
- I was supposed to spend the last week purging stuff that we do not intend to move and inventorying all of our belongings (as required by Customs);
- The entire family came down with a 12 hour flu over the weekend and caused us to be dealing with fevers, vomit, and diarrhea for five days;
- We've managed to purge a bunch of stuff but we still have lots of inventory to do; and
- My landlords have started to become very difficult to deal with. With three weeks to go, it now looks like we will be doing some painting in a house we are about to leave :-(
It's been three week now since I last blogged about my running... or anything for that matter. Things have been pretty wacked-out around my household lately but I have kept on running:
- 7-13 Apr - 32 miles for the week. A generally good week of running despite missing a run on Friday. I had a great 4 X 1 mile interval workout.
- 14-20 Apr - 43 miles for the week. This was a really good week with a fairly good negative-split workout and a fantastic 14 miler to close out the week.
- 21-27 Apr - 27 miles this past week. This was a recovery week and I missed out on one of my workouts. I decided against speed-work this week as my body is feeling pretty worn down. Not over-training worn down but "life is really stressful" worn down.
This was a recovery week; I ran 25 miles total:
- Monday, 31 Mar - Ran a simple six miler "around the block" from home.
- Tuesday, 1 Apr - This was supposed to be five mile tempo run (plus some warm-up/cool-down miles). When I got to the tempo portion of the workout, I could not keep the pace in the zone even in the first mile. Eventually I scrapped the tempo and just turned the rest of the run into a nice easy seven mile run.
- Wednesday, 2 Apr - Ran a six miler in very foggy conditions.
- Thursday, 3 Apr - No run today but I did play some soccer with the guys from work.
- Friday, 4 Apr - Tried a new route in order to change things up a bit... as a result I ran a five miler. My legs felt slightly sore/tight. I figure this had something to do with Thursday's soccer game.
Could not get many miles in this week due to some crazy storms and subsequent local flooding (and I could not bring myself to step on the treadmill). I only ran 10 miles this week.
- Tuesday, 19 Feb - Six miles. Pushed the pace a bit to get HR back into aerobic zone.
- Wednesday, 20 Feb - Four miles made for my shortest run since November.
- Monday, 25 Feb - Six easy miles but my legs were feeling tired for some reason
- Wednesday, 27 Feb - Six cool and windy miles from work.
- Friday, 29 Feb - Another six cool and windy miles from work.
- Sunday, 2 Mar - Seaside Half Marathon. Race report to come.
29 miles run last week. A little less than planned but the mid-week interval workout really did me in.
Monday, 11 Feb - Just a simple six miler.
Tuesday, 12 Feb - A good eight miler.
Wednesday, 13 Feb - This was modified Yasso800 workout. I ran this workout off the track for five times a half-mile interval at a 6:48 mins/mile pace. This was the first run in quite a time in which I left the iPod in the car. The lack of music/podcasts helped me focus on my form and the beeper on my Forerunner. The conditions being almost a drizzle certainly helped the workout.
Thursday, 14 Feb - A cold and plodding six miles. This was supposed to be a twelve miler but I cut the run short due to cooler temperatures and the fact that my legs felt very tired from the previous day's intervals (as they should have). In the afternoon I played a game of soccer with the guys from work... this extra running was killer.
Friday, 15 Feb - No running on Friday, of which I had no plans to, but I did feel very tired and sore after intervals, and easy run, and soccer:-(
While it seems that I've already started, next week starts my pseudo-taper for the Seaside Half Marathon in two weeks.
Havybeaks recently posted this response to a Trail Running Blog Tag from Scott Dunlap and Paul Charteris. I figured that I'll give it a go as well but, like havybeaks, my answers are more general in nature than trail specific:
1. Most memorable moment on the trails… was the 2007 WDW Marathon in early January (race report). I went out way too fast in very hot/humid conditions and thus dropped of my goal pace at about mile 14 but the experience of a marathon + Disney was awesome. I'd recommend it to any runner. I ran a 3:51:44.
2. Best new trail I discovered in 2007… I dunno really. I did find a new six mile route from work but its more of a convenience route rather than a great route.
3. My best performance of the year was… I did not run many races in '07 and the ones that I did run weren't all that fast (i.e. no PRs this year except for the marathon). Of the races that I did run, I think that I performed the best at the Seaside Half Marathon in early March (race report). I ran a 1:38:07 which was only 30 seconds off my PR for the distance. I hope to train and run a 1:35:00 half mary this year in order to qualify for the CF National Running Championship.
4. I do not know how I previously survived without… my Amphipod Hydraform Handheld Pocket handheld water bottle (gear review). I used to run with a regular handheld water bottle and I found that the round cross-section of the bottles would lead to hand cramps on my longer runs. The ellipitcal cross-section bottles used by Amphipod solve this problem and the pocket on the handle works great for gels, ID cards, or credit cards.
5. The person I would most like to meet on a trail in 2008... While I wouldn't be able to keep up to his pace or run as long as he can, I'd love to see Scott Jurek out on the trails/roads (earlier post regarding Scott). This guy's ultrarunning preformances are just amazing.
6. The race I am most excited/scared about in 2008 is... the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon at the end of March (original post). I'm running/slogging this one with a team from my work. This isn't a regular mary; the course goes through the high desert terrain of White Sands Missile Range, N.M., conducted in honor of the heroic service members who defended the Philippine Islands during World War II. In the division our team is entered, we will be completing the distance while wearing BDUs, hydration packs, and combat boots.
I was a few days late doing this run so I was eager to get at the 13.1 miles this morning. I was so eager that I failed to check the weather report for the morning.
Course Conditions. It was wet... very wet. I ran the entire time in a light rain and had prune hands by the halfway point. The light rain and 72F made the run very enjoyable. One excellent result of the rain was the fact that the spiders that normally spin their webs across my path were unable to accomplish their duties. I put together two out-and-back courses that I regularly run from work to make up the 13.1 miles. The first seven miles is pretty flat, miles 7 to 10 slightly downhill, and the last miles run back up the slight incline. I've embeded a course map to the end of this post.
Miles 1-3 - I grabbed my two Amphipod water bottles, my favourite Canada running hat, fired up my iPod with the "Phedippidations 118: Cheers from the World" episode, remembered to press "start" on my Forerunner, and charged off into the darkness. In the first few yards I saw one of the guys that I normally run with from the Bataan team; he was starting his shift at work and told me to have a good run (I think he figured I was only going out for five or six miler). I worked hard to keep my pace in the right zone in the early miles. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel today so I didn't want to overdo it early. Average mile split for this section was 8:43
Miles 3-7 - I hit the first turn around point at roughly three miles. I was feeling pretty good and the newly risen sun was trying to fight through the rain clouds. I was sharing the road with folks that were heading into work, so I was doing lots of switching between the soft shoulder and asphalt road (although this is pretty much the story of all my morning runs). I could tell that I was slowing down a bit but I was having a good time listening to Steve's special event podcast and splashing through the puddles. Average mile split for this section was 8:53
Miles 7-10 - I downed a PowerGel at mile 7 and headed down the concrete walkway for the second half of the course. This part of the course parallels the highway so I was constantly greeted by the waving windshield wipers of cars, SVUs, and trucks. It was somewhere around mile 9 that I switched over from the podcast and over to my running playlist. The normally busy fishing spot at the second turn around point was quite deserted this morning on account of the rain. Average mile split for this section was 8:45
Miles 10-13.1 - Since I had come this far and was still feel very strong, I pushed up the pace a bit. Keeping at a good pace seemed to be easy as my iPod kept pumping out the perfect running tunes. I just kept running up the walkway; very happy with the way I was feeling. Average mile split for this section was 8:15 and I finished my run in 1:53:36.
Overall I am very happy with this morning's run. Not a Half Mary PR but I don't approach the Phedip Half Mary as a race; it's a special running experience rather than a contest. That being said, my result is so much better than last year (when the heat really handicapped my performance). I ran very strong throughout and even accomplished a negative split. I broke lots of the "rules of running" today and still survived; I forgot to apply BodyGlide, I neglected to eat anything before my run, and I didn't bother to check the weather forecast.
