News + 2015 Saskatchewan Marathon + 2015 Saskatoon Police Half Marathon

On Monday registration begins for the Saskatchewan Marathon.  At the most recent marathon, I ran the 5k event, but this time, I'm running the full 42.2k... and this will be my first attempt.  Although I'm not aiming for a specific time,  finishing in under 4:30:00 would be nice, and under 4:00:00 would be ideal.  So that's that.

As for recent news.  As hard as it is to believe, I've only run three times this month (and it's already December 13th).  And yet, despite this, I've logged just a tad under 60 kilometres (for an average of 20k per run).  I'd be at 80-100k right now if both kids hadn't gotten sick and, well, if I hadn't gotten sick either.  As nice as it would be to have logged more running this month, it's also good to step back sometimes and let you body rest.  Although I'm a bit tired from fighting off the bug, I could definitely do 5 or 10k today.  But why?  The marathon isn't until May 31st, and I'm not running any races in the immediate future.

And this brings me to my next bit, the 2015 Saskatoon Police Half Marathon.  Anyone who knows the inside scoop about the 2014 race knows that I ran it in a lot of physical discomfort and ended up finishing in just under 2:20:00--which is about the time I spend running a casual training run of the same distance.  So I have some unfinished business to attend to here.  My goal is to finish in less than 2:00:00 like I did in Ontario at the Chilly Half Marathon.

The key to everything, when it comes to races, is to be physically ready for the pounding your legs are going to take when you race.  Simply being able to go the distance in training isn't enough, you have to be able to perform at a higher level (otherwise you're not really racing).  At any rate, I still want to participate in the Hypothermic Half Marathon as well, but I feel more inclined to do the 10k event than the 21k given that the race happens in February (which is right about the corner).

So that's it for now!

I ran a 3:29 kilometer.... fact or fiction?

So I feel like I'm beginning to really figure some things out.  While massaging my right hamstring the other day I noticed a sore spot in the middle... a few moments of thumbing it alleviated my knee pain. Interesting.

Today's run lasted 5.3k--an odd number, but I decided to assess my performance every 5 kilometers or so.  Just as I was about to do my first assessment, I felt a sharp pain in the fibular head on my right leg. Workout: over.

But while I was running (along an L-shaped path that follows alongside Circle Drive) I realized I probably wasn't going to be running too much today, and so I decided to do a few 500 meter intervals in order to get my heart rate elevated.  I haven't been terribly happy running long distances at slow speeds with pounding pain in my legs.

And evidently I ran a 3:29 kilometer, according to Runtastic.  Although I don't consider myself terribly fit right now, I'm definitely fit enough to run what amounts to a 5:35 per mile pace for at least a few minutes.  Whether Runtastic was off or not doesn't really matter, I really was hauling ass for a bit.

All-told I ran pretty fast (26-ish minute 5k) for a training run with a taped ankle and nagging hamstring.

Happy Thanksgiving! (er, it's almost Thanksgiving here in Canada).

Toothlessness and Training

And so, dear readers, I followed a terrible 11k run (in the rain) with a dental procedure to remove a tooth (molar, thank god).  Let's start with the run...

So after about 1km I noticed that the pressure in my right leg was pretty intense.  I knew immediately that it would be another run-walk-run ordeal, and that my metal would be tested in the cold cold rain.  Today's run was supposed to be an easy 12k run.  Instead, I stopped (at 11k) once it became clear that if I went any further I was going to do damage to my right knee.  I walked the rest of the way home (2k) in the rain.

Fast forward a few hours: the dentist is using his tools to yank out one of my molars.  A few minutes after the deed is done I notice him in his office eating a burger from Burger King.  I guess you get desensitized to all this after a while.   God even I want Burger King now, but I can't eat anything solid for 24 hours. Oh well.

On the bright side, it occurred to me that if I must run-walk-run-walk, maybe I can do sprints during the run portion?  Maybe I'll become the 20 metre world champion?

My next run is on Wednesday, and my plan is to run 16k.  I'm not saying that a hurricane will hit Saskatchewan (I mean let's face it, if that happens...), but knowing my luck...

15k run through Saskatoon

Yesterday I embarked on my longest run since the half marathon in Winnipeg back in June.  I decided to run to the river and back, while also running at least 5-6k along the river on the Meewasin trail.  I've uploaded a bunch of pics--for those of you who do not know how beautiful Saskatoon is.

Before we get to the pics, let me say that the hamstring tendon pain I'm feeling is a longstanding issue that I've only recently really address with any impact.

The latest from the trail

And so it would seem that I must buy new running shoes. Thanks for my pelvis and hips being properly aligned now, my running gait has changed and my Brooks (in which I've probably logged about 275 to 300 kilometers while running) are now retired since they are molded to my old gait.  My Saucony's are probably finished as well.  It's all good, since I can put my gift certificate to Running Room to good use.

My next pair of shoes will be used primarily for the Manitoba Half Marathon, River Run Classic Half Marathon and training for the Queen City Marathon.  And so I will need to start breaking them in within the next week or so.

So the question now is: how much has my running gait changed?  What will that mean in terms of the type of shoe I now need?

Marathon training, week 1

5/6

For the first time in months I feel almost extraordinary after running. I did 6k on the treadmill at nine minutes per mile (sorry folks...but I track my distance using the metric system and my speed using the imperial system). I feel pretty good, my IT band didn't give me trouble; and at the end of it I had a nice good sweat going. But here's where it gets interesting. For the first time, I did a yoga session immediately after I finished running. It was a little weird honestly, but you know what? I got a pretty good stretch session in. Above all: I stretched.


5/8

Did 5k today and yesterday. Easy runs. Yesterday I did a 9:30, 8:30 and a 7:30 mile on the treadmill. Felt pretty good.

Today I ran outside--very easy run. 10:00 miles. Pretty stiff wind. Stiffness in my left piriformis muscle kept my pace slow.


5/9

Rest day. Iced coffee, cheezies and relaxation. Since Dharma doesn't have pre-k today, I made Magic Shells and magic hot dogs--truth be told, that's two days in a row of the same lunch. My next race, the Saskatoon Transplant Trot, is coming up on Sunday. It's a 5k race, though I won't really be racing per se. Afterwards I intend to do another 5k. As for Saturday, I'm going to cross train.

 

Day One of Marathon Training

Okay everyone, today is day one of my 18 week marathon training program.  I intend to follow Hal Higdon's 18 week program with minor modifications.  You can view the plan here.  I intend to participate in several 5K and Half Marathon races here in Saskatchewan, as well as in Manitoba over the next few months.  I haven't scheduled any races for August, though this may change.  The marathon I am training for is the Queen City Marathon in Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday, September 7th.  It is my first marathon, and my goal is to finish. Ideally I would finish in under 4:30, but I will be thrilled to finished in under 4 hours.

I didn't train coherently for my first half marathon, I just went out and ran the distance and finished in under 2 hours. Luckily my body was prepared and strong enough for the pounding it took.  Still, if I had maybe done proper training, I might have been able to finish a good ten minutes faster.

In the run up to my second half marathon, I was beset with an IT band injury.  As a result, I did a total of 4 long runs and almost nothing else in the month before the race.  Thus, when I crossed the finish line at 2:19, I wasn't surprised.  In fact, I boldly predicted my finish time just a day before the race: "So my prediction, unfortunately, is that I am going to finish in 2 hours and 20 minutes."

Okay, now that I've gotten all that out of the way... 

I did some light stretching, foam rolling and yoga (I'll post some links/videos later so you can see).  Today is a non-running day, but it is not an off day as there is much to do.

My job now is to rebuild the endurance I've lost because of my SI Joint injury (which played a big part in the IT band pain). What's really hard to cope with is that my leg muscles, which seemed wholly capable of conquering 21k back in March, are now suddenly unable to handle the pounding.  But that's about to change.

I'm rebuilding.  This time I'm going to do everything the right way.

Every day is like Sunday

I've spent the day reading Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running.  It's quite an interesting read considering that I didn't realize that Murakami is both novelist and runner--you can see how true this is from the photo below.

I was slated to run a 10k trail race today, but opted out when I realized that what I really need today is a slow and easy run, and not another substandard performance.  So yes, I'm not pushing myself beyond what's actually rational and reasonable any more. In fact, I'm still recovering about 1.5 hours of body-weight exercises on Saturday (100 crunches, 54 push-ups, 50 lunges, unknown # of squats and so forth).  Instead of running the race, I walked a few blocks with Jasmine and the kids... one of the kids insisted on wearing her Halloween costume.  So yeah, that happened.  They really couldn't be cuter if they tried.

And I still haven't run yet today... Hmmm.

Update: Is it me or are ice baths a form of torture?  I'm writing to you *from* an ice bath having just run 6 kilometers.  Today the pace was faster than last time--a fact I attribute to actually fueling up.  I'm still not really happy with my stride.  Though I had no trouble with my IT band today--had I tried running faster I probably would have aggravated it.  All in all, I ran 9:35/mile splits, and felt perfectly fine.  So I'm improving.  With a bit more time, I'll regain some of the speed I lost.

... And somehow the day ended at McDonald's

And so, faced with a need to unburn the 400-500 calories I needlessly burned running today, I took advantage of a trip to McDonald's--which I'm sure Meb, Ryan Hall, Shalene Flanagan and all the other gods of running do on a daily basis.  I should point out here and now that, aside from my beautiful girlfriend, I live with two kids.  Want to guess how much they love the playground at McDonald's?  If you guessed "more than anything else in the known universe," you would be correct.  Normally, though, I don't order fries, McFlurry and a diet f-ing coke; in fact, I don't order anything, save for the occasional unsweetened iced coffee.  (note: despite the poor food choice this evening, my postprandial blood sugar was only 127).

Today's run was interesting as I didn't have any real running fuel, and didn't have the time to get any either.  So I fueled up on a potato scone. Shockingly, I didn't have a particularly good run. 33 minutes and 5.5k.  The pace was deliberately slow, of course; but the point was really just to get my body used to running everyday again (given the lack of continuity in April).

This was another run through Forest Grove. The temp was a fairly warm 20c.

This was an interesting little path from the park to a nearby street.

On another note, the Saskatchewan Marathon is 24 days away!  I'm running the 5K event, thankfully.  Not sure how competitive I'm going to be.  But we shall see.

Recovery Run Redux... outside!

Just finished my second recovery run of the week about an hour ago. I ran a really slow 10 minute / mile pace, which made for an enjoyable and easy run.  The only annoyance was a pretty brisk series of gusts I encountered.  IT band held up okay, but I felt the pain when I used the foam roller after the run.
Aside from wearing a normal tech shirt and nike shorts (i.e. warm weather running gear), the only thing new thing I did was drink Gatorade prior to the run (with a little bit afterwards).  Can't say that I noticed much difference on a 5k, but I'm sure Gatorade might be a good drink on longer runs.  Technically today's run was 4.99k... thank you, Runtastic.

Recovery 5k... on the treadmill

Today was a recovery run day, but thanks to the snow it was a bit too slushy to go out and run.  Still, I wanted to get in some quality kilometers and flush out my legs (despite my post half marathon ice bath, where I somehow failed to submerge both quadriceps).  I ran for about 33 minutes at a *slow* place (i.e. 9:50 / mile).  I would have run quite a bit more, but I began to feel slight pangs of something from my knee.  So I halted just beyond 5k, cooled down and had a protein shake, ice bath (with complete quad submersion this time) and a banana.  I also rolled my quads, and IT bands with the foam roller.  The lactic acid feels like it's mostly gone, but we will see tomorrow morning. The big news here is that I actually stuck to my game plan and didn't overdo it.  I set out to run 5k, and I ran 5k.  I resisted the urge to do another 3 or 4 kilometers--and thus risk further inflaming my left knee.  Should also mention that I walked for about 50 minutes prior to the treadmill run.

Here's a photo of a sudden lake that formed from previously melted snow.  Yes, it's springtime in Saskatchewan.