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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

All aboard. Moving to WordPress!

A totally cool, un-named friend, let's call her Amelia F.... wait, too obvious, let's use A. Fraser instead, has moved to China. Apparently the Great Firewall of China and Blogspot.com don't like each other. Moving to WordPress.com seems like a reasonable compromise given the circumstances....


See you on WordPress.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Stormy in Squamish

What does one do when you lie wide awake at 6:30am in the morning? Maybe Dave's early morning mojo is rubbing off on me. Why couldn't it have been his hill climbing instead? Having rarely encountered this conundrum, it took me a good 30 mins of staring at the ceiling to figure it out. Blog.

The story of how a bunch of us from the run clinic went up to Squamish to watch Dave run 50 miles on a sore hip has been well documented (see here, here, here, and here). But I got a chance to run a small section of the 50 mile course, and I must say it confirms my previous held notion that trail running kicks road running's ass.

Prior to last Sunday, my trail running CV consisted of occasional outings to Burnaby Lake (not a trail), Burnaby Mountain, Pacific Spirit Park, and Buntzen Lake/Diez Vista. Actually, a lot of these outings should be classified as hikes. So word came down from the "Babe Patrol" that they were going to go up to Stormy, I (naturally?) assumed that there will be some running involved. So on Sunday morning, instead of putting on my DS trainers and headed to the Running Room on Broadway, I put on my Cascadias and headed down to the Starbucks a little further down on Broadway, where I found 5 gorgeous ladies all decked out in gum boots, overcoats, and umbrellas. Just like me to completely mis-read the minds of women.

After repeatedly bugging Andrea about her laziness and narrowing avoiding a smack in the head during the drive up to Squamish, we arrived at the bottom of 9 Mile hill, approximately 28 miles into the course. According to Dave's expected pace, we looked to arrived with about 10 minutes to spare. Since I'm being all dressed for the occasion, I decided to double back and try to give Dave a little time to get his best poses ready for his adorning fans. After around 1 km, I hit an aid station and confirmed that Dave hasn't checked in yet. Another couple of minutes of running and I found Dave sans his usual smile. Every time I've seen him running, he looked like he was having the time of his life. Not today.

We chatted quickly after he rampaged through his drop bag at the aid station. His hip has been acting up recently and today was no different. He was still on pace but he didn't think he could keep it. After literally running pass the cheering and the cameras of his Broadway fan club, he asked me with a grin on his face: "Seriously, they drove up an hour from Vancouver for that?". At least he's still cracking jokes, so it can't be THAT bad. After assuring him that they were planning to stick around for the finish and confirming that he didn't want someone to run with (suffering should be done alone), I bid my fair well at the start of the climb to 9 Mile hill.

Although drinking coffee and chatting at the local Tim Horton's with 5 girls was tempting, my Y chromosome nixed that idea. Plus my legs were warm and had a good sweat going, so I decided to do the 14 mile loop that was part of the course. So back to the bottom of 9 Mile hill I go.

I don't know what I was expecting, but 9 Mile hill was really 9 miles worth of hills. Although I found out from Tim that the mileage started from the highway, so for the course, it was really only around 7 miles or so. Ha! The day was deceivingly hot, and half way up the hill I had completely sweated through my shirt and went through more than half of my bottle already. I took the only gel I had with me then since I knew my water wasn't going to last much longer. That and the fact that I only had a banana and a coffee at what is now 11 am meant I was starving as we crested the worst of the climb and me being completely zonked by the end of the run. But by the end of the day, I know this much is true:

* Trail runners are the friendliness people in the world. I passed and were passed by numerous and often the same runners during the run. Everyone encourages everyone else along the way. Gels and water are offer to those who looks to be struggling. It is really a heart warming sight.

* You REALLY don't lose that much time walking up hills. I met a relay runner named Dana shortly after the beginning. We talked a little but because my legs were still fresh, decide to run the upcoming uphill section while she power hiked up the hill. At the top of the long climbed I was exhausted. I looked back and there she was smiling at me. I had gain about maybe 10 seconds on her. After that I decide to walk when she walked, at which point I realized that she walks damn fast. By mile 8 she and her power hiking skills left my tired legs in the dust, never to be seen again.

* Technical trail running is a skill, especially downhill. During a section call the "Powerhouse Plunge", I remember I was grabbing on trees and praying that I don't roll my ankles like I do often on trails. Then this blur ran by me. She went by so fast that all I remember was:
- She was indeed was a she (or a really fit drag queen)
- She was wearing a white tank top
- And me saying "wow" out loud

* Trail running also takes a lot of out you. The pound on the legs is just different than road running. 14 miles is a good distance, but after going through clinic I am happy to say I usually don't feel much after a 14 miler anymore. But this 14 miles was different and my legs felt it during the drive back and screamed it by the end of the day. The last time they felt that sore was the first time we did our 30k clinic run.

* You actually get cell service for a lot of the trail in Squamish (at least the Powerhouse loop). This can be both a good thing or a bad thing. It's good if you get stranded or need a remote voice of assurance while running. It's not so good if someone wants to talk smack to you via text :)


* It is possible to keep running even though you feel light headed and dizzy from lack of water and food, especially when you know you really have no other choice.

All in all, a great gentle introduction to trail racing. Not sure about a 50 miler, but the knee knacker next year is definitely on my radar!



Monday, August 2, 2010

All I really need to know ...

The first time I read the poem "All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten", it was on a poster at a hospital. No matter what happens, it always brings a smile to my face. It reminds me that we often over-complicate things. The important things in life are usually the simplest.

For reason that will (probably) be expanded on in later entries, the last week have not been the greatest, and my running has suffered. Excluding the running done in ultimate, I've only ran Sunday (and Monday in a very lame sort of way) this last week before I left for my friend's cabin on Friday.

Getting out of the city helped. Having your friends drop you off umpteen km's away from the cabin so you have no choice but to run back also helped. But what really helped was just enjoying some of the simplier things in life with friends, such as:

Napping in a hammock...

Cooking pig in a hole in the ground...

And drinking cold beer on a patio by the lake

The only down point was missing the Sunday long run with the folks from Broadway.

Not complete panacea for all the ills in life, but it certainly put things into perspective. And a great way to get my legs and my head in gear for the next week.


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Summer (Not So) Fast... in picture form

As promised, pictures from SummerFast.

Now Amelia, fix your side bar link on our blog!

And Andrea, could sommeone or you maybe spell and grammer checks this posts for me please thankyou? :)

The ambience...

The crew posing ...


The crew in their natural state...


Hardware baby!


Close up .... that's hot


Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Summer (Not So) Fast

"It's the noise that destroys."
I thought I knew what that meant when I first heard it a month ago, but I didn't. Not until last Saturday.

The beginning of runs are rarely fun for me. During that first 3 or 4 km when the body first thrown out of its comfortable seditary state, before the body has become accustom to feet pounding pavement (or preferably grass), and before the shirt has been thoroughly soaked through, the mind play tricks on you. It interprets the sensation from the body as pain and question the logic of the excercise. At least for me, this is usually a prerequisite to the clarity of mind I crave in the middle of a good run. I have generally been able to fight pass these tricks the mind tries to play on me. Different strategies work at different time. "I'm going to be late if I stop". "I have to chase down those damn windmills". "Hmmm... I think she's looking at me". Or simply, "This will end. It will feel good soon. It always does." None of these worked on Saturday. In retrospect, it was because I did such a great job at convincing myself the day before that:

I wasn't going to run SummerFast.

My knee had bugged for the last 2 weeks. However during the subsequent 3 or 4 runs since it peaked, it didn't get worse. In fact the run last Wednesday was felt fantastic. For the first time I was able to catch Dave and his posse. I have been able keep them in sight for the last few weeks, but I have never caught them, and certainly never ran with them. But last Wednesday I caught up with them half way through the run and stayed with them (until they hit that gear with a km to go and started pulling away again, but let's not focus on that). It felt good. And better yet, the knee held up. Maybe I didn't need that physio appointment the next day after all.

Then I went to my ultimate game after the run.

Typical play. Jumping up for the disc. Catching the disc. Landing with the disc. Sharp pain in the knee? Knee buckling? Crumbling to the ground like a little girl? Not so typical play. I guess I do need that physio appointment. Irony's a bitch.

"You pissed off your Patellar tendon", she said. Her diagnosis pretty much match what Michael and Brian said. Weak hip and glutes makes my knee rotate inward on impact, putting unnecessary strain on the tendon. My tight quads and hamstrings pulling on the tendon also didn't help. Apparently Mr. Patellar is a sensitive little bastard. Prescription? Squats, just as Michael and Brian suggested. I should have saved the 70 bucks. Ok, she did suggest a couple of other excercises, and the ultrasound seemed to helped too. It felt good to know what it was and how to fix it.

Then I went to my (other) ultimate game after physio.

Actually the game went pretty well. The knee actually loosened up during the game. However it was pretty sore after and the next day despite the ice, so I decided to not run SummerFast. I convinced myself it wasn't worth it, and may as well rest up and save the knee for the long run on Sunday. SummerFast was a diversion. The fun little loop around Second Beach pool. It wasn't the goal. Focus on the goal.

I wasn't going to run SummerFast. It's done. I've decided. I even annouced it on Twitter. And Twitter is always the final word, right?

Since a bunch of people from the clinic was running SummerFast, and I paid my $30, I was going to go cheer them on, take some pictures, eat their food, and pocket some post race swag (btw, there are no swag at SummerFast! I guess the Longest Day is just special?!?). I rolled in on my bike 10 minutes before the race started. Hey, the race package pickup booth is still open, may as well pick up my number right? And oh, the gear check tent is right there...and the nice lady is waving me over telling me "there's still time, just give me your bag and I'll check it for you"

Ok, I guess I'm going to do SummerFast.

I finished the race in 46:13. I wasn't disappointed at the time (ok, I was a lot disappointed, I ran my Sun Runs faster than that B.R.C [Before Running Clinic]), but I was very disappointed at how I did it. I had done such a good job telling myself the reasons I shouldn't be running the race that they were all I could think about for the first 3km of the race. I wasn't mentally prepared to run, let alone race. (Come to think of it, I wasn't physically prepared to run either having not loosen up, which probably made it hurt some more.) So after the first km or so when the mind games started all I could think about was the reasons why I shouldn't be there, instead of the reasons why I should.

And then I stopped running.

For that first time in a timed race, I stopped running. In fact I stopped 3 times. Yes, the knee hurt, but looking back it honestly wasn't that bad. My mind just wasn't in it. My mind was so out of it, the laces from my right shoe just keep getting undone because apparently I didn't even know how to tie a simply knot properly anymore. I even started taking off my number shortly after hitting the Vancouver Rowing club. (As an aside, I feel completely ridiculous writing this after reading Dave's Scorched Sole 50 miler race report). Wow, was this how SummerFast going to end for me? With the walk of shame?

Then the aforementioned Jurek quote came back to me. And then another saying from those hippie yoga instructors popped into my head: "If you're struggling, breath through it. Focus on your breathing." And finally: "I hate to have to blog about NOT finishing SummerFast AFTER starting it". Ok, let's start running again.

The next 2km was pretty ugly, but having decided that I was going to finish helped. Pocketing my glasses (I really wasn't going to run, so no contacts) and only seeing fuzzy blobs helped. Focusing on my breathing definitely helped. Then something magically happened between the 5 and 6 km marker. My knee stopped hurting.

I'm pretty sure the pain was still there, because it was there after I crossed the finish line. But for the last 4 km, I felt no pain in that knee. The stride felt normal and I started to reel people in. The last 4km felt fast, but more importantly it was fun (hmmm.. fast == fun?). The sprint to the finish was a blast with fresh legs from all that gold bricking during the start. I finally got a negative split I guess.

And what isn't a race report without a bit of post race soul searching... long list this time. Sigh.

The moments of zen from the Summer[really-slow-at-the-beginning-but-then-it-turned-kinda]Fast 2010:

1) The mind can be weaker than you think, or stronger than you think. It is about how you approach whatever you're facing and how you prepare for it.
2) "Run or don't run, there is no try". Especially in a race, because it will hurt in a race. It always does. If you give your mind excuses, it will use them.
3) Re: "Run or don't run...". When in doubt, run.
4) Scott Jurek knows what he's talking about regarding running ... surprising for a man who can only run 267km in 24 hours.
5) For the next 10 km race I run, I'm just going to run 5 km before starting the damn race.

The next day was Sunday and the Running Room's long run took us around the waters of Vancouver. I ran and chatted with Tom for a large section of the course. We were apparently pretty engrossed in our conversation because we missed Third Beach, our turnaround point, completely. We were also apparently pretty bad in our knowledge of Stanley Park because we didn't realized we missed Third Beach until we saw it... on the way back. Great job by Tom and Andy (another fellow clinic member with suspect navigational skills) who both finished smiling back at the deserted Running Room after the run. The extra distance without carrying any gels meant that by the end of the run I was pretty zonked. But the lessons from yesterday ran through my head, and the legs kept moving. That made me felt better about Saturday.

It felt good doing a little bit of repenting on Sunday. Maybe church isn't so bad.

P.S. Great times by fellow clinic runners during SummerFast. Ken (not from the clinic but close enough) broke 39 minutes. Amelia got a PB and a medal while hung over (I took a picture [of the medal, not the hung-over-ness], will post shortly). And Carolyn and Allison both didn't run as fast as they had wanted to but the important thing was they looked good doing it. Plus some great looking times by newly discovered clinic members Jason and Kristine. I really will show up one of these Thursdays.



Wednesday, July 14, 2010

To sleep, perchance to dream...

In honour of a certain millionaire's awesome "someone took my ball (player)" rant, I've decided to blog this in the newest cool font: Comic Sans.

Even though I usual do the Running Room ...

Ok, can't type in this font in a straight face. Let's start over...

Even though I usual do Running Room runs twice a week, I rarely run in a group. I'm more "hit and run" with my fellow running friends. Running in a group usually the pace of the group is either too fast or too slow. Plus its hard to think of funny things to say when you are sucking wind.

However last Sunday, I had a chance to get re-acquinted with Michael and Brian during the usual early morning clinic run. Other than wearing completely inappropriate attire, i.e. a orange *cotton* shirt that soaked up every drop of sweat, it was a great running and chatting with the fast kids. The weather was just about right, the pace was perfect, and I got my knee issue diagnosed. Both Michael and Brian appeared to have suffered similar knee issues in the past, and diagnose me with "Scrawny Ass Syndrome". Supposedly bad genetics (thanks mom), hours of sitting in a chair (thanks Apple), and most probably improper running form (thanks...hmmm, that one is on me I guess) meant that my knee is taking some of the load that my glutes should be taking. Prescription for SAS? Squats and bridges. Sound reasonable enough. I still need to get a second opinion of the SAS diagnosis from my physiotherapist on Thursday but honestly, I find runners are often *better* at diagnosing running issues. I should also probably sign up for the Mindful Strides running clinic that I was eyeing for a little bit to get some tips on my running form.

Maybe because we were talking about my knee, it decided not to act up too much during the run. I still felt it and it gave out on an occasional stride, and I definitely shorten my stride (especially on downhills) as to protected it some, but it didn't hurt like it did last Wednesday. Probably the 2 days off I took helped as well.

The run was an out and back to Prospect Point, and shortly after the point, Master Jedi was good enough to grace us with his presence and ran with us during the last part of the run. During the run Michael and Dave chatted about the Tour de France. Dave mentioned how he couldn't sleep and woke up at 4:30 in the morning to catch some of the coverage on TV. Can't sleep? 4:30am? I have trouble wrapping my head around this concept.

I love to sleep. It is possibly my favorite past time. It's easy, it's affordable, and you can do it anywhere. It's a running joke among my friends that during road trips that I am out like a light within 30 minutes of hitting the road. Other than a brief bout of insomnia in my early 20s (for reasons I won't get into), sleep just comes to me. During the last marathon clinic, one of the guest speaker on pre-race prep told us to get a good night sleep 2 nights before the actual race, because "you won't be able to sleep at all the night before". When I heard that, I remember muttering to myself, "just watch me". Yeah, I slept like a baby pre-race night.

Waking up... now that's a different story. I wished I have some of Dave's early morning mojo, but I don't. My personal record for hitting the snooze button is 12 times. But until recently, it is a struggle that I've been pretty happy to lose. However, the last little bit, work has been on a hellish schedule, which means my usual evening runs was no longer possible. In the sober light of day, the obvious solution was to wake up earlier and get my run in then. Hence the plan was to be:

Sunday: Wake up at 7:15, do the 9km to the running room before the prescribe 16 km route to keep the Sunday mileage up
Monday: Get up at 7:30, do the 15km detour route to work, into work by 9am
Tuesday: Get up at 8:00, do the 10km direct route to work, at work by 9:15'ish
Yet, out of ashes of hazy post slumber logic, we get the reality of:
Sunday: Alarm goes off at 7:15:00. Suffocating the alarm with my pillow at 7:15:01. Play the left shoulder/right shoulder debate game on the merits of sleep vs run until 8am. Sigh.
Monday/Tuesday: ... ok, you are all smart people. I am writing this for a reason. I really don't need to repeat myself, do I? ...

Counting the 2 days break I took for the knee issues, I essentially only did 18km in the last 5 days. I did yoga. I was on the bike. But those are different. It feels different. And my legs knw it. I ran into Carolyn this morning right outside the office and I was whining to her on how my legs were starting to feel twitchy. And this (the legs and the whining) just got worse during the day. It got worse when 5pm rolled around and I realized that right about then Amelia and Ken were starting their weekly intervals around the UBC track, and I am stuck in the office.

By the time I got out of work, it was starting to get dark outside, but the legs were actually starting to thob. Taking a page out of Tera Moody's play book, I ended up running around the Brentwood Mall parking lot being stared at by rent-a-cops. Classy. Fancy Kits runners, eat your heart out.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, better known as "Chasing windmill" day. At least I don't have pretend that I'll wake up early to run tomorrow.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sympathy Pains

A good friend and fellow peer-pressure-induced blogger Andrea has been suffering from issues with her right knee. She is doing the smart thing by taking it easy for a week. When I read her blog, I commented that I was being supportive and getting sympathy pains since I felt a little twinge in my right knee as well. I thought it was pretty funny.

It is no longer funny.

The knee felt fine during an abbreviated track work out with Amelia and Ken (thanks Amelia for setting it up, and Ken for dragging me around the track!), but sort of flared up later in the night. The "twinge" blossomed into to a "grimace" and is both above and below the knee cap. I definitely feel it going up the stairs the next day.

But it didn't concern me until at the end of my run yesterday, the twinge/grimace turned into a full blown case of "gimpy asymmetric shuffle" going up the bit of hill on Kits Point. "Why is that man running funny, mommy?" was what I heard when I ran by a kid sitting on the grass. Ok, I think he was actually asking his mom for ice-cream, but that's not important. What is important is that this is first time the knee has affected my running stride since issues with the IT Band 4 weeks prior to the BMO. And it doesn't feel like it's the IT Band this time. It feels, dare I say it, structural?

I should have probably skipped the subsequent ulti game but it was a nice day and it only seem to hurt when I do stairs or run up hills. Obviously I am not as smart as Andrea. That was evident with how I felt after the ulti games.

Not quite sure what to do now? Visit the family doctor? "Stop running for a bit" is what he'll say. Massage? Chiropractor? Physio? Acupuncture? Prayer? Medicinal marijuana?

Like I said, not funny anymore.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

In my humble opinion...

Looking back on marathon day, a strange sensation usually comes over me. Contrary to the excitment and elation I was told to expect, I found the what I felt was somewhat anti-climatic. I don't mean that in a bad way however. After a bit of reflecting and some internal contemplation, which went something like this:

Left Shoulder: "So you finished a marathon. How it feel?"

Right Shoulder: "It was fun. Missed my goal time by 10 minutes. Kept pace for the first half of the run. The next 10km was not great, but the last 10 was awful. I thought I could have pushed harder near the end, but the legs and the mind just didn't listen."

LS: "Did you ever close to 42km in your training?"

RS: "Only 32, but pre-race tapering is suppose to ..."

LS: "Ok, how long were you able to sustain goal pace in your training?"

RS: "About 16km, but afterwards I looked like death was able to tap me on the shoulder expecting to collect..."

LS: "So what makes you think you can run longer and faster than you've trained for?"

RS: "ummm.... Red Bull gives you wings?"

... I realize I just wasn't ready for the time I had in mind. In a way it is strangely comforting, there is no silver bullet; no short cuts. You get on race day what you gave the 3 months prior. Sure, the taper helps. Proper nutrition and perfect racing weather may give you that extra 3 or 4 minutes, but really that's it. By race day, the result *should* be somewhat anti-climatic. The work is done. Short of sheer disaster, stupidity, or Red Bull actually giving you wings, your time should be your *realistic* goal time, +/- 5 minutes.

No offence to the Running Room marathon clinic's training schedule, but IMHO, the goal time that accompanies the schedule is how should I put it .... optimistic.

So, did I ...

... not run fast enough during training?
Yes and no. I certainly need to do more speed work and better quality tempo runs. But for that to happen, I need to make sure I remain injury free, especially the calves and the achilles. As for the long runs, I think I actually ran those too fast, especially the start of those runs.
... not get enough miles in?
Sort of, but it was more about not being about to push pass the tiredness in my legs around the 35km or so. Lungs were decent, and even the muscles wasn't at it's threshold point, but the legs... the bone and the tendons and the joints, they just wouldn't go. I need to figured out how to run when I was tired.

Yeah but how to fix? Then the previous conversations with Master Jedi comes roaring back...

Me: "You pass me on that uphill like I was standing still. How do I run uphill faster?"
Master Jedi: "Run more uphills"

Me: "You pass me on that downhill on Burrard Bridge like I was standing still. How do I run downhills faster?"
Master Jedi: "Run more downhills"

From this, I've concluded that:

a) Dave passes me like I'm standing still pretty much whenever he wants
b) To do _FILL_IN_BLANK_ better, do more _FILL_IN_BLANK_

All this rambling has lead me to the following post-first-marathon training philosphy:

* Run less on pavement and more on grass, trails, and gravel. This is mostly to try to reduce the stress on my calves and achilles, which are literally and metaphorically my achilles heels. So I can ...
* Run faster. Do the Wednesday RR runs and chase some windmills (aka fast kids), and aim to start a weekly track session early in the training cycle.
* Run longer. Not necessarily more miles per week, but more miles per run. Learn to run on tired legs by making short runs longers and long runs longer. 12km is the new 10km. Run on Mondays after the long runs on Sunday to get use to running on tired legs. Take advantage of the summer weather (summer weather in Vancouver, I made a funny) and get on the bike more often to tire out the legs while minimizing impact, especially on off days.
How well will this work? No idea, but I guess that's why it's call a trial (of miles). Verdict expected Thanksgiving Sunday...

Friday, July 2, 2010

Ramblings...

"I hate track work outs"

You don't mind if I say this at random, non-regular intervals, do you? Why? Because....

"I hate track work outs"

This post doesn't have much to do with track work outs. Well it does, a little, but not really. It's just that I am writing this after chasing some punk ass kid (He isn't. Ken's a very cool guy. It was fun running with him and hearing his training schedule for the Summerfast 10k. But he's faster than me. And he is younger than me. And I'm cranky. And this is my blog so I get to make stuff up :) ) around the track 5 x 1 mile intervals at his 10k goal pace. It wasn't until after the work out that I realize his 10k goal pace is faster than my 5k pace. That's probably why at the end of the 4th set the only thing going through my head was...

"I hate track work outs"

Why wasn't I thinking this after the 5th and last set, you may ask? Because during the last lap of the 5th set, my mind has gone beyond hate and settled on just looking forward to the prospect of stopping, flopping on the infield, and not getting up. Ever.

Some context should be provided though. After Wednesdays usual run at the Broadway running room, Amelia came up with the idea of a track workout the next day, aka Canada Day. Having my long weekend plans fall through means that I had the day free except for some ulti action in the evening. This, and the impromptu prompting, seemed like a perfect opportunity to, as a friend put it, get "back on track". I haven't done any track work since the marathon. The first couple of weeks was understandable, calves were still sore. But the last couple of weeks, despite repeatedly telling myself to get back to the track, I just basically wimped out. Longer, slow or tempo runs has the luxuries of soft trails, rolling hill, stopping/beating traffic lights depending on the day and the scenario. But track work out is just a flat #@$#$$ oval. Oh, and you have to go faster than your legs actually wants to go. More reasons why this damn thought keeps running in my head..."

"I hate track work outs"

So yesterday Amelia, Carolyn, Jason, and the aforementioned Ken set off for a 3km jog to and from the track. Nice jog, decent weather (in Vancouver that means there was just a bit of rain), and some pleasant conversation describes the jogs. The only things that made the whole experience bearable.

There was talk about another track session on Tuesday, if everyone's schedule jive. Hopefully there is and I can make it. Contradictory? Absolutely. But that's really the only realistic way I will get back to a regular weekly speed session and hopefully get my head to stop saying...

"I hate track work outs"

Just like running Kits point whenever I get the chance to make myself not hate Kits point. That seems to be working so, hopefully it will be the same with the track. Just need to get it kick started.

Now back to the original intent of the post, post marathon training philosphy... wait what time is it? Time for a run, or a nap, haven't quite decided yet. Next time ...

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Lazy Sunday...

Sunday was the 2010 Scotia Half Marathon, and althought I didn't have the pleasure of officially running it, I did get have the privilege of pacing a friend for the last half of the course. I wasn't a big fan of big crowds, but I was a fan of a really fast course, so hopefully I'll actually sign up next year.

Having never paced anyone (nor ran a half), I was just a tad nervous, especially since I haven't timed my runs since the marathon. Amelia's goal was 1:35, which meant a 4:30 minute per km. I kept that pace (mostly) during the first half of marathon and I am pretty sure I've gotten slightly faster since May, so I should be ok. I just need to make sure I get to the course in time and have my Garmin charged.

Although the prospect of cheering on course with Andrea and a cup of coffee was tempting, the plan was: get to UBC by 6:30am (race starts at 7), take some pictures of the start, dump the camera in the car, and run up East Mall and pick up the runners at Acadia and NW Marine Dr right before the big downhill.

Reality: I got to UBC by 6:45am, struggled to find parking for 15 minutes, and barely got to the start line to see that the front runners has already started. D'oh.

Ok, back up plan (I'm late for almost everything, so backup plans comes naturally): the first 3km is a loop before the runners head out onto NW Marine Dr, so hang around the start line, grab some pictures, get to the car, drive down to Spanish Bank to pick up the runners...

Below is evidence of the first part of the plan in action. I spotted quite a few runners I know...

Dario from the Broadway Running Room



Katherine Moore (by know, I mean I've been in a yoga class she teaches a couple of times at YYoga but before last week, I didn't know she runs a 2:47 marathon!). And she was so fast, I only got her back!



and of course the runners from the marathon clinic.

After the pictures and driving down to Blanca and Chancellor, I got my gear ready. Bottle, check. Course map and pacing band, check. Garmin... oh @#%@#$, I forgot my Garmin. Ha, pacing without a watch, nice. I have my iPhone with me, that'll have to do.

I got there a little ahead of time so I got a chance to slow jog the course backwards to find Amelia and Tom while chatting with the few spectators who were awesome enough to brave the rain at 7:50 on a Sunday morning. A couple of minutes before the 12km marker, I found them! Tom and Amelia were chatting away and both looked freshed as rain after 12km. They are going to kill this race.

Not having done any pacing whatsoever, I decided to employ the "stay slightly ahead and be a rabbit" strategy. Tom and Amelia seemed to be fine with this, and since I'm not a good conversationalist at the best of time, and certainly a couple of notches below that while running, this suited me just fine. Even without the Garmin, I've gotten pretty good at ball-parking my pace. Combine this with periodic checks on my phone and asking Tom and Amelia (who was wearing their Garmin), I can tell we were on pace.

The next 2km was a breeze, but having study the map, the next sections were probably going to be the hardest in the race. There was the climb up to 4th at Jericho, and a series of rolling hills along Pt Grey/Cornwall, and finally the Burrard Bridge.

Both Tom and Amelia handled the Jericho hill really well, especially after a long stretch of downhill for the last 3 km. Sometimes it's hard to switch gears. Tom got out a little ahead because he was a better climber, but Amelia would inevitable close up the gap on the downhill.

After we got through the excitement of seeing Andrea at Cornwall and Yew (apparently just cuz I wasn't running officially, I wasn't worth a picture! :P), I knew what was going through both Tom and Amelia's minds: the Burrard Bridge. I tried to remind them to that their reward lay on the other side of the bridge: straight downhill to the finish. I also tried a joke: "hey, at least we don't have to do kits point". Crickets. Tough crowd.

I also knew were were slightly off pace at the bridge, but I thought the climb was going to be tough enough mentally so I kept my mouth shut. We'll try to pick up the time on the downhill. Tom was ahead of me going across the bridge, while I kept a slight lead on Amelia to give her something to chase. The bridge was also tricky since everyone was slowing down and clumping up. Since I wasn't officially running, I tried to be as unobstrustive as possible. I just picked a line right by the curb and stuck to it.

After the bridge crested, I figure I'll let everyone's legs chill out a bit before making the final push. The plan was to pick up the pace right at the bridge turn off on Pacific, which gives us approximately 2km to the finish. I figured with the downhill combined with the smell of the finish, they would respond if they have anything left in their legs. And boy, did they! Especially Amelia who just bombed down Pacific at a way faster pace than I expected. Her kick got her past Tom and I had to speed up so she won't pass me! She kept that pace up for a full 1.5km, but we slowed down a little after the 20km marker. But then literally a minute later, Amelia ran by her mom and she got her groove back, enough for her push hard til the finish.

I had never planned to cross the finish line because this wasn't my race. But we were bunched in with quite a few runners, and with fences along the finish area, just running through seem like the least disruptive option. I tried to get along the sides to get out of people's way but in the process I think I messed up some people's race photos! Double d'oh!

The clock at the finished said 1:35:45, but I was hoping both Tom and Amelia started late so they'd still make 1:35. No matter what though, they ran a fantastic race. But with the legs feeling pretty good, I decided to double back along the course (on the side walk) to pick up the rest of the crowd if I could.

I spotted Alyson a couple of minutes into my jog, but she was practically at the finish already, so I decided to keep going to pick up Carolyn instead. At approximately the 20km mark, I found Carolyn. She had this serious, in the zone look on her face. Ok, I'm just going to say hi, keep my mouth shut, and run her in :)

She may think she didn't but she actually did pick up the pace near the end. She passed at least 10 runners along the way. And I've learned my lesson from 10 minutes ago! During the doubling back, I spotted a break in the fence around 100 yards before the finish line, so I ducked into that to prevent messing up another set of race photos.

All in all, it was fantastic morning. Top barely missed his 1:35 with a 1:35:04. Amelia finished with a 1:35:34 which is a top 10 in her age group and a NYC qualifying time. Boston and NYC QT in 2 months... wow. Alyson and Carolyn did an awesome 1:40:45 and 1:48:25 respectively, all PB's.

Mental Note: Next time you pace, arrange to have a dry shirt waiting for you at the finish so you don't have to beg for a kids size "Volunteer" shirt that makes you look like one of those guys wearing a shirt 2 sizes smaller than you should to show off the muscles you don't have.

After a bit of breakfast, I had the pleasure running back to pick up my car and getting my miles in for the long run Sunday. I was happy that I still had legs left and kept pretty much the same pace while I was pacing, if not faster. I just all the way to the anchor at Spanish Banks and then tried to double back along NW Marine Dr to find the same trail head that leads me to the car. But of course I got lost looking for the trail head and ended up doing an extra 3km or so around the trails of Pacific Spirit Park. I must say though, what beautiful trails to run. The trails feel like marshmallows after running on pavement for the last 20km. Going to make my way out there next weekend!

At least it fitted into my non-structure training plans of doing more miles but less days. As "Once a Runner" says, there is no secret, just more miles to run...

The rest of the Sunday was catching up on the World Cup games I missed. I was so looking forward to the England - Germany game. This just in: swiss cheese is filing a suit against John Terry, Matt Upson and the rest of the English central defense for trade mark infringement. It wasn't as competitive as one would have expected, but some beautiful counterattacking football by the Germans.

A nice long run, good company, and some world class football, I could think of worst Sundays...

Thursday, June 24, 2010

A quick stroll through UBC

As promise, a race report for the Longest Run 10k from last Friday. First ever race report, so bear with me...

For a race I had never about or planned to run in until a week before the event, I was certainly happy that my fellow running clinic go'ers Amelia, Carolyn, and Alyson convinced me to run it. I can say for a fact that it was the funnest race that I've ran it before. Ok, ok, so other the the BMO marathon, all my previous races consisted of really only a handful of Sun Runs, but it definitely beats it in every conceivable way. No running on the side walk or the curb to pass people who say they can run 10k in 45 mins. No almost running over people who choose to drop to tie their shoe laces in the middle of the road. And a much better post race atmosphere. ..

The race started at 7pm on Friday June 18th, and I had planned to be there at 6:30 so I don't repeat the start of race debacle at the Vancouver Marathon this year. True to form, I pulled into UBC at precisely 6:45. I had no idea what to expect in terms of the number of runners or pre-race activities, so I hauled ass to get change and follow the rest of the crowd to the start line.

Luckily, the distance from the lots reserved for the race to the start line was mercifully short, and so was the lines to the bathroom. I even got a chance to find the aforementioned ladies before the race. But the biggest surprise of all was finding the Master Jedi (aka marathon clinic instructor Dave Papineau) at the start line with his camera handy. Sweet...a chance to take a non-crappy race photo!

As I said before, I always zone out some when running, especially when running hard, so here are the bits and pieces that I do recollect...
  • I think I ran the first 2km wayyyyy too fast. I have no idea how fast I ran it since I purposefully didn't wear my Garmin because I just wanted to treat the run like a fast tempo run. But I kept up with the front runners for the first 0.5 km and was in contact with them after 1.5 km. I was feeling pretty good about myself and then...
  • I realized that the first couple of km was mostly downhill. What goes down must come up, especially in a course that is two 5km loops. D'oh! Km 2 started the uphill stretch and was also when I started paying the price for letting the ego take control during the start. Let just say, from the 2 km to the 4.5 km mark, I essentially had my eyes closed, wondering aloud why I was doing this instead of having a beer at the beer garden.
  • Saw Dave at the 4.5 km mark with his camera poised! So for the first time in my life I ham'ed it up, gave the camera a pair of thumbs up and a dumb-ass grin, only to hear him say something about "picture...blurry...out of focus". D'oh!
  • Back at the start of the loop and the 5km marker, someone was yelling the split time... 20:14. Not bad, but got a bit of work to do if I want to break 40. But wait, the timing strip for the official split was like 200m back, now I'm confused...
  • The second loop felt way better (but apparently not faster) than the first. I knew where the downhills were and that let me glide a little, and it allow me to psych myself up some for the uphills. In fact, the uphill sections at around the 7km was where I passed a couple guys (#134 and #83) I've been chasing for the last 20 minutes or so. I remember #134 distinctly (according to the results that would be Darbara Ghuman). He was behind me for the first 2km or so, but he was breathing so loud I thought he was going to fade (and faint) soon. And then he passed me. That's ok, I thought, it'll happen. Wrong. I slowly reeled him in and then passed him for good at around the 7.5 km mark on the uphill stretch.
  • Couldn't say the same for #83, who would be Jeremy Cuff and his LGRR racing singlet. I passed him on the same hill at 7km but he quickly took it back. We traded a bit until I decide to just coast in behind him for a bit. Just resting I thought. I'm sure he was doing the same too because right before the 9km marker he put the hammer down. I tried to follow but just didn't have the pace. Right, that's why I have to start doing those track intervals again...
  • Master Jedi and his camera again 300 meters from the finish. "Finish strong" was all I heard. No cheezy poses this time. Combined this with the extra energy and the smell of the finish, I started my sprint for the finish. And unlike the Sun Run, there was actually something there in them legs. Hmmm... maybe I could have ran harder?
So the time I ended up with a time of 40:45:41, with an official 5 km split time of 19:50:64. Right after the race I had thought I missed a negative split by 17 seconds (going by the 20:14 the guy yelled out at the 5 km marker), but apparently I positive split by more than a minute. I still think that's off since I didn't think my second half was that slow! Even though I didn't break 40, I still shaved 2 full minutes off my previous 10 km PB. Plugging that number into McMillian's running calculator gives me a 3:11:14 for the marathon. There's hope after all for Boston!

The second funnest part of the race was seeing the other's crossing the finish line. Amelia was 6th in her division and 8th overall for females with a 42:26, missing a negative split by a mere 2 seconds. Alyson crossed the line with her usual smile at 44:53. Carolyn sprinted through the line with a 47:09.

The funnest part was obviously the post race BBQ where I got a chance to chat with Dave and everyone else while enjoying the peek-a-boo Vancouver sun and stuffing whatever freebie hemp bars and coconut water I could fit in the pocket of my hoodie. Only regret, not grabbing a box of that coconut water when I had the chance! I took 3 and downed all of them right after my 23km long run on Sunday. Won't make that mistake next time. I'm bring a garbage bag for next year!

For actual photos, check out Dave's blog entry.



Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Trial of Miles begins...

Two and a half years since blog entries. Wow, that must be a record. So why the sudden urge to blog again? Call me easily succumbed to peer pressure, but I've just accidentally discovered blogs from my fellow marathon clinic running buddies blogs here, here, and here. Some of the food blog entries I don't really get (I actually get it, plus the pretty pictures... but honestly, I eat anything). However some of the running entries, especially the race recaps, were fantastically inspiring and inspiringly fantastic. It would be great to in some small part reciprocate this inspiration to others, plus to myself during those long slogging days during the "trial of miles" in preparation for the next marathon. And actually verbalizing (or in this case would it be "typer-izing"?) some of the training goals I have may actually help me actually keep on track.

I'll put up my Longest Day 10k race recap and my training goals for the week tomorrow. It'll be interesting to see how long I keep this up tho since:

a) I tend to zone out when I run races so I am not sure I will remember much. I literally don't remember large sections of the Vancouver Marathon. I would say it was my mind's way of blocking out the pain, but the parts I lost were between the 10 to 20 km mark, which should be the easiest part of the race. Same with the Sun Run a week after, the only thing I remember about it was that it hurt. Bad. However, I seemed to have kept my wits about me for the Longest Day 10k so I should have something to say ...

b) I've been trying to take my running "less seriously" after the Vancouver Marathon, to get the fun back into it. The last 3 or 4 weeks prepping for the last marathon was not fun. Between the ibuprofen and ice packs on my calves while I wasn't running, and the constantly staring at my Garmin while I was running made it a more labourious task than it should have been. After taking some time to let my legs heal up after the race, I made it a point to not time myself on my runs at least for the first little bit. And it seems to be working, since I've been running longer (not sure if it's faster tho) and having a hell of a good time while doing it. But documenting my training is definitely the opposite of "less seriously", but life is about goals and drawing a line in the sand. Time for the trial of miles to start.

Oh, you must be wondering then why am I not using this newly found motivation to blog the race recap and training goals now? Other than the fact that I am full of contradictions, it's 1am and I need to get some sleep so I can do the 15k run to work like I planned tomorrow morning! Although after reading that Amelia's doing track workouts again, I may do a speed session instead. I swear that girl is going to outrun me someday soon, but it's nice to delay the inevitable for a little while longer :)