Two more runs since I last wrote, presumably "smarter" than the one before that ;) 14.5 km on Wednesday and 8.4 km today, as called for by the marathon training program. Rest day tomorrow and then 30 km on Sunday. I am really wondering how that's going to feel. It's supposed to be a slow 30 km, and to try and make sure of that, I'm planning to run it on one of the two 400 m outdoor tracks that DH and I periodically make use of. Or perhaps do the first half on the track and the second half using the park loop. No need to decide now - can just wait and see how the day goes.
The only thing I know for sure is that it will be warm - ridiculously warm compared to last weekend. The predicted high for Sunday is over 20 C. What a shock to the system, but good practice for Ottawa. I understand that the last couple of years the weather has been hot, so may as well try to get used to it now.
Wednesday's run was not so great - not horrible, but not wonderful. The temperature was about 7 C with overcast skies, a little wind but nothing major, so pretty good conditions (no gloves!). And I'd had enough sleep, my hip wasn't bothering me, it felt great to be outside, and normally under those circumstances I'd expect a good run. But somehow it never quite "clicked". My legs weren't tired, but they weren't really in sync with my breathing, so that automatic-just-running feeling never really kicked in. I kept getting stuffed up and had to clear my nose at what felt like 10 second intervals. Got all cramped up and needed a potty break at Hart House in the middle, which is not common on a weekday morning and was very annoying. Stepped in a puddle on my first lap around the park - yuck. Had to keep running around a great big puddle which meant watching for traffic. Knowing that I'd decided to do Ottawa helped me keep going, but it was definitely a matter of just putting in the distance and counting down until it was over.
I don't want to make too much of this, because it happens. Like anything else, you do something often enough, you're going to have times when it's just not that great. And times when it's fantastic and you don't want it to end, and mostly times that are somewhere in between.
Like this morning's run. Wednesday's run didn't have hills, and Sunday's run won't, so I did the hill run and a few park circuits to make up the required distance. And it was a good run. 8 C or more, and sunny. No jacket! No gloves! For a brief time I worried about not being warm enough but of course that wasn't a concern once I was moving. It takes such an effort to overcome that instinctive "I'm cold" feeling, though, and to go out wearing what you know will be enough, even if it doesn't feel that way for the first minute or two. I'm still a little puzzled by the final distance:time ratio - 8.4 km:44:29 minutes. It felt, overall, faster than that, and my typical pace is closer to 5:00/km. Either the hill took longer than I thought, or my distance approximations are a little off. Didn't time any segments, just the run itself, so I can't put it together. But it's not really a big deal. Maybe I was just tired because it's Friday and I could have used more sleep this week.
So the half is almost here and I'm looking forward to it. Hills and all. No need to run them fast, and I don't want to run too hard, anyway, and risk messing up before Ottawa. Actually, I say I'm looking forward to the half, but that won't be true right before it starts. Those few minutes, for me, are like exams used to be. I would study and study and study, be pretty much ready, if nervous, and then in the few minutes before it started I would suddenly feel this great fatigue with the subject and wonder how I was possibly going to find the energy to lay out the required material for the next three hours. Then the exam would start and I would do it because there was no reasonable alternative. Waiting at the race start, I think about how far I have to run and have absolutely no desire to do it, can't imagine where the energy will come from, and so on. And then it starts and away we all go and somehow that feeling melts away. Or at least it has so far. Which is not to say that during races I don't get that "how am I ever going to finish this" feeling. But once actually moving, it doesn't seem as impossible as at the start.
In other news, had another ART session on Wednesday and the surrounding muscles got really sore. I think that's good. Now that they're loosened up, they're working harder. My hip still worries me - not so much because it's a problem but because I think every little twinge or sore muscle is the beginning of a big problem. But so far it's help up okay and if I don't "train stupid" there is every reason to think that it will continue to do so. But I'm afraid to take that for granted.
More to come on Sunday after the big 30 km. And at some point I'd like to write about personal bests and how my feelings about them have evolved.
The only thing I know for sure is that it will be warm - ridiculously warm compared to last weekend. The predicted high for Sunday is over 20 C. What a shock to the system, but good practice for Ottawa. I understand that the last couple of years the weather has been hot, so may as well try to get used to it now.
Wednesday's run was not so great - not horrible, but not wonderful. The temperature was about 7 C with overcast skies, a little wind but nothing major, so pretty good conditions (no gloves!). And I'd had enough sleep, my hip wasn't bothering me, it felt great to be outside, and normally under those circumstances I'd expect a good run. But somehow it never quite "clicked". My legs weren't tired, but they weren't really in sync with my breathing, so that automatic-just-running feeling never really kicked in. I kept getting stuffed up and had to clear my nose at what felt like 10 second intervals. Got all cramped up and needed a potty break at Hart House in the middle, which is not common on a weekday morning and was very annoying. Stepped in a puddle on my first lap around the park - yuck. Had to keep running around a great big puddle which meant watching for traffic. Knowing that I'd decided to do Ottawa helped me keep going, but it was definitely a matter of just putting in the distance and counting down until it was over.
I don't want to make too much of this, because it happens. Like anything else, you do something often enough, you're going to have times when it's just not that great. And times when it's fantastic and you don't want it to end, and mostly times that are somewhere in between.
Like this morning's run. Wednesday's run didn't have hills, and Sunday's run won't, so I did the hill run and a few park circuits to make up the required distance. And it was a good run. 8 C or more, and sunny. No jacket! No gloves! For a brief time I worried about not being warm enough but of course that wasn't a concern once I was moving. It takes such an effort to overcome that instinctive "I'm cold" feeling, though, and to go out wearing what you know will be enough, even if it doesn't feel that way for the first minute or two. I'm still a little puzzled by the final distance:time ratio - 8.4 km:44:29 minutes. It felt, overall, faster than that, and my typical pace is closer to 5:00/km. Either the hill took longer than I thought, or my distance approximations are a little off. Didn't time any segments, just the run itself, so I can't put it together. But it's not really a big deal. Maybe I was just tired because it's Friday and I could have used more sleep this week.
So the half is almost here and I'm looking forward to it. Hills and all. No need to run them fast, and I don't want to run too hard, anyway, and risk messing up before Ottawa. Actually, I say I'm looking forward to the half, but that won't be true right before it starts. Those few minutes, for me, are like exams used to be. I would study and study and study, be pretty much ready, if nervous, and then in the few minutes before it started I would suddenly feel this great fatigue with the subject and wonder how I was possibly going to find the energy to lay out the required material for the next three hours. Then the exam would start and I would do it because there was no reasonable alternative. Waiting at the race start, I think about how far I have to run and have absolutely no desire to do it, can't imagine where the energy will come from, and so on. And then it starts and away we all go and somehow that feeling melts away. Or at least it has so far. Which is not to say that during races I don't get that "how am I ever going to finish this" feeling. But once actually moving, it doesn't seem as impossible as at the start.
In other news, had another ART session on Wednesday and the surrounding muscles got really sore. I think that's good. Now that they're loosened up, they're working harder. My hip still worries me - not so much because it's a problem but because I think every little twinge or sore muscle is the beginning of a big problem. But so far it's help up okay and if I don't "train stupid" there is every reason to think that it will continue to do so. But I'm afraid to take that for granted.
More to come on Sunday after the big 30 km. And at some point I'd like to write about personal bests and how my feelings about them have evolved.
posted by Jogger Barbie | 8:34 PM
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