First week of training for ATB and Boston is done, and it went well. I miss the flexibility of "just running", of not worrying about how long a run was or whether I ran slow when it was supposed to be race pace, or fast when it was supposed to be an LSD, or whatever. Technically, I could probably "just run" for a while longer. However, DH and I are going to lose running/training time over Christmas - no matter our intentions, it's going to happen - so it makes sense to start building the base back up now.
Quite a difference from last year, though, in term of where I'm starting. The first few months of 2006 were spent coming back from whatever that hip injury was, running the Kingston Half quite conservatively, then taking some comfort from that to run a pretty good 1:43 half at Scotiabank. At which point F1 said we should train for a marathon, and I agreed, with a possible stop along the way at ATB 2007. So a year ago I had taken a break after Scotiabank and wanted to build back up to half marathon distance training runs by the end of 2006. Didn't quite make it - on New Years Eve day I ran 17 km or something - but it turned out okay in the end.
This year, I ran the half marathon distance yesterday and it was no big deal. My run was supposed to be 20 km, and DH was using the Garmin, so I did what I remembered as about 20 km with a little extra thrown in to be sure. Then measured it on mapmyrun.com that evening and it was 21.5 km or something similar. So not surprisingly, after two marathons this year and (so far, knock wood) no serious injuries, the base is deeper.
Before talking more about training I have to talk about yesterday's run, because although it wasn't one of those effortless-gift-from-the-gods runs, it was darn good and it was one of those runs that really had me in awe of what my body can willingly do. As usual, the day before I was careful not to eat too much, not to eat too late, not to overhydrate, etc. And I got up early enough to eat just a bit and let it digest before heading out. But in terms of special preparation, that was it. Once DH and I got our acts together and said, "No more lazing around; let's go and run now", it was just a matter of getting dressed, grabbing some water and some just-in-case sport beans, and heading out. No anxieties about the distance, not being ready, whatever. It had been a couple of weeks since my last long run but it didn't even occur to me that I couldn't do 20 km. Granted, it was supposed to be an LSD (although it was too fast) and I wasn't worried about time, but even so.
I wish I could describe the way I was feeling more accurately. It wasn't effortless, and sometimes the wind was a little cold, and my right hip was intermittently a bit stiff (time for some ART), but at the same time there was just something so - solid? normal? - about the way it felt, and at the realisation that I almost take this for granted. Which I wouldn't have believed possible, lo those many years ago when I was just getting into this...
"Awe" might sound like an overstatement but probably comes the closest. I vividly remember what it was like 13 or 14 years ago when I was just starting to make running part of my life, and how much work it was. Just learning how to breathe properly was work. Then there came the day when I was able to run to Royal Oak Station and back without a walk break. And the first time I ran 45 minutes without a walk break, I was so elated - had done some very, very slow running instead of walking, but hadn't walked, and that was an achievement. Training for the Sun Run in 1997, my "go forever" pace was a ten minute mile, and 10 km was a long distance. So I am awed when I think about the distances that I can run now. And grateful to whatever powers that be that I can run them. If something happened, like another injury, and I couldn't run, no doubt over time I'd adjust. But it's such a huge part of my life and my identity that I don't even want to consider that.
Back to training. Given the hills in both ATB and Boston, this time around both hill repeats and speedwork are a must. Not my usual ad hoc "guess I should do some hills because the run is pretty soon" approach. But scheduled workouts. I don't like the discipline, I don't like taking the fun out of running. But if there was ever a time to do the work, this is it.
No, I'm not looking for a PB in either event - and in any case I don't think Boston is a reasonable course to get a PB - but I do want to enjoy the distance. And part of that means not being as afraid of the hills. It's not like I'm trying to train to the point where they're easy (and is it even possible to do that?). More that I want my legs to be a lot more accustomed to doing that work.
As for speedwork - yuck. Just yuck. But it's good for building endurance and all that stuff. And I'll start it fairly easy, build up from there. Frankly, I don't even know what my real goal is in doing speedwork, just know that it's part of a well-rounded training program.
But the best training days are still the "just running" days :)
It's going to be interesting trying to run through the winter. Trying to run outside through the winter, that is. It's not impossible, and according to people who do it, it's not even that difficult. They even call it fun. And so I've decided that this is the year for me to toughen up. How far that will go and how long it will last? We'll see. I am such a weather weenie. Primarily when it comes to wind, of which there is much in Toronto, in the winter. Absolutely I need to find some kind of face protection. So far it hasn't been too bad, but it's the time of year when Mother Nature can just flip a switch and suddenly it's winter.
"Toughening up" means running outside when it's cold. It doesn't mean running on ice. Possibly it means running in light snow. It doesn't mean running when it's coming down hard, sideways. As for how cold is "cold"? Don't know yet. Almost certainly I'll have to get some warmer gear, but right now I don't know what that is.
The motivation? Mostly ATB, some Boston. For 2007 we lucked out and the ATB weather was practically perfect. No way to know what it will be like for 2008. And if it's crummy, well, I don't want that to be my introduction to running in crummy weather. Boston's weather is uncertain too. A few years ago it was horribly hot and humid, this year it was rainy and cold. Could I possibly have the luck with my first Boston that I had with my first ATB? Well, one can always hope. And then one can train for "whatever".
But it's funny how few clothes you actually need to wear in order to run comfortably outside when the temperature cools off. At 2 C, I am fine in a long-sleeved shirt and my thin jacket. Adding an extra short-sleeved shirt is almost too warm, although bearable. I'd freeze trying to walk around dressed like that, but up the pace and suddenly the body is shedding heat. The hardest thing is the effort of will that it takes to step outside in just those thin layers, in the dark, when there is a wind, and just start moving. That's when it would really help to have a running partner. No such luck at the moment but there is always the hope of meeting someone at the Y who runs the same pace and also wants company. Ultimately, you run alone, but I am a social runner and often do much better when I'm out with somebody and the kilometres are just piling up behind us. I miss running with my Running Buddy. Too many injuries for him and even when not injured he's not doing the same distance as a couple of years ago.
With all the references to ATB, I should note that DH is doing the race again. At this point he hasn't formally started training, but his post-Scotiabank Half base is still quite good. I had to laugh last night at the contrast between us. Having just realised that you could use satellite data in mapmyrun.com to plot trail runs, and shortcuts on paths through U of T, and stuff like that, I was busy figuring out the distance for several of my standard runs that I had previously sort of guessed at. DH? He was surfing through London, and Greenland, and Iceland. Nice to have him around to keep me from over-focussing :)
Quite a difference from last year, though, in term of where I'm starting. The first few months of 2006 were spent coming back from whatever that hip injury was, running the Kingston Half quite conservatively, then taking some comfort from that to run a pretty good 1:43 half at Scotiabank. At which point F1 said we should train for a marathon, and I agreed, with a possible stop along the way at ATB 2007. So a year ago I had taken a break after Scotiabank and wanted to build back up to half marathon distance training runs by the end of 2006. Didn't quite make it - on New Years Eve day I ran 17 km or something - but it turned out okay in the end.
This year, I ran the half marathon distance yesterday and it was no big deal. My run was supposed to be 20 km, and DH was using the Garmin, so I did what I remembered as about 20 km with a little extra thrown in to be sure. Then measured it on mapmyrun.com that evening and it was 21.5 km or something similar. So not surprisingly, after two marathons this year and (so far, knock wood) no serious injuries, the base is deeper.
Before talking more about training I have to talk about yesterday's run, because although it wasn't one of those effortless-gift-from-the-gods runs, it was darn good and it was one of those runs that really had me in awe of what my body can willingly do. As usual, the day before I was careful not to eat too much, not to eat too late, not to overhydrate, etc. And I got up early enough to eat just a bit and let it digest before heading out. But in terms of special preparation, that was it. Once DH and I got our acts together and said, "No more lazing around; let's go and run now", it was just a matter of getting dressed, grabbing some water and some just-in-case sport beans, and heading out. No anxieties about the distance, not being ready, whatever. It had been a couple of weeks since my last long run but it didn't even occur to me that I couldn't do 20 km. Granted, it was supposed to be an LSD (although it was too fast) and I wasn't worried about time, but even so.
I wish I could describe the way I was feeling more accurately. It wasn't effortless, and sometimes the wind was a little cold, and my right hip was intermittently a bit stiff (time for some ART), but at the same time there was just something so - solid? normal? - about the way it felt, and at the realisation that I almost take this for granted. Which I wouldn't have believed possible, lo those many years ago when I was just getting into this...
"Awe" might sound like an overstatement but probably comes the closest. I vividly remember what it was like 13 or 14 years ago when I was just starting to make running part of my life, and how much work it was. Just learning how to breathe properly was work. Then there came the day when I was able to run to Royal Oak Station and back without a walk break. And the first time I ran 45 minutes without a walk break, I was so elated - had done some very, very slow running instead of walking, but hadn't walked, and that was an achievement. Training for the Sun Run in 1997, my "go forever" pace was a ten minute mile, and 10 km was a long distance. So I am awed when I think about the distances that I can run now. And grateful to whatever powers that be that I can run them. If something happened, like another injury, and I couldn't run, no doubt over time I'd adjust. But it's such a huge part of my life and my identity that I don't even want to consider that.
Back to training. Given the hills in both ATB and Boston, this time around both hill repeats and speedwork are a must. Not my usual ad hoc "guess I should do some hills because the run is pretty soon" approach. But scheduled workouts. I don't like the discipline, I don't like taking the fun out of running. But if there was ever a time to do the work, this is it.
No, I'm not looking for a PB in either event - and in any case I don't think Boston is a reasonable course to get a PB - but I do want to enjoy the distance. And part of that means not being as afraid of the hills. It's not like I'm trying to train to the point where they're easy (and is it even possible to do that?). More that I want my legs to be a lot more accustomed to doing that work.
As for speedwork - yuck. Just yuck. But it's good for building endurance and all that stuff. And I'll start it fairly easy, build up from there. Frankly, I don't even know what my real goal is in doing speedwork, just know that it's part of a well-rounded training program.
But the best training days are still the "just running" days :)
It's going to be interesting trying to run through the winter. Trying to run outside through the winter, that is. It's not impossible, and according to people who do it, it's not even that difficult. They even call it fun. And so I've decided that this is the year for me to toughen up. How far that will go and how long it will last? We'll see. I am such a weather weenie. Primarily when it comes to wind, of which there is much in Toronto, in the winter. Absolutely I need to find some kind of face protection. So far it hasn't been too bad, but it's the time of year when Mother Nature can just flip a switch and suddenly it's winter.
"Toughening up" means running outside when it's cold. It doesn't mean running on ice. Possibly it means running in light snow. It doesn't mean running when it's coming down hard, sideways. As for how cold is "cold"? Don't know yet. Almost certainly I'll have to get some warmer gear, but right now I don't know what that is.
The motivation? Mostly ATB, some Boston. For 2007 we lucked out and the ATB weather was practically perfect. No way to know what it will be like for 2008. And if it's crummy, well, I don't want that to be my introduction to running in crummy weather. Boston's weather is uncertain too. A few years ago it was horribly hot and humid, this year it was rainy and cold. Could I possibly have the luck with my first Boston that I had with my first ATB? Well, one can always hope. And then one can train for "whatever".
But it's funny how few clothes you actually need to wear in order to run comfortably outside when the temperature cools off. At 2 C, I am fine in a long-sleeved shirt and my thin jacket. Adding an extra short-sleeved shirt is almost too warm, although bearable. I'd freeze trying to walk around dressed like that, but up the pace and suddenly the body is shedding heat. The hardest thing is the effort of will that it takes to step outside in just those thin layers, in the dark, when there is a wind, and just start moving. That's when it would really help to have a running partner. No such luck at the moment but there is always the hope of meeting someone at the Y who runs the same pace and also wants company. Ultimately, you run alone, but I am a social runner and often do much better when I'm out with somebody and the kilometres are just piling up behind us. I miss running with my Running Buddy. Too many injuries for him and even when not injured he's not doing the same distance as a couple of years ago.
With all the references to ATB, I should note that DH is doing the race again. At this point he hasn't formally started training, but his post-Scotiabank Half base is still quite good. I had to laugh last night at the contrast between us. Having just realised that you could use satellite data in mapmyrun.com to plot trail runs, and shortcuts on paths through U of T, and stuff like that, I was busy figuring out the distance for several of my standard runs that I had previously sort of guessed at. DH? He was surfing through London, and Greenland, and Iceland. Nice to have him around to keep me from over-focussing :)
posted by Jogger Barbie | 9:21 PM
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