Is it really just over eight weeks until Boston?!? That sounds like way too short a time frame to be true. Back in September when I registered, and even at Christmas when I was talking about it with my family, it seemed so far away and it was so exciting. Now it's just around the corner and the excitement is definitely entwined with nerves.
The intellectual part of my brain reminds me that I've been training, that I will keep training, and that it's the same distance I've already run twice. Except that Boston has hills (or, as I tend to think of them, HILLS). But it's the same distance. The emotional side still says, "But it's BOSTON - what was I thinking?" I don't really claim to understand any of this, but at the same time can't pretend it's not happening.
The silly thing is that I'm not even trying for a PB, and really have nothing riding on this marathon. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the experience. Given the hills, the fact that it's a crowded course, and the fact that I do want to enjoy it, Boston will probably be my slowest marathon time so far. And I'm more or less planning it that way. Which means even less pressure, and which means that I should be more anticipatory than anxious. Go figure.
Ultimately, I think the nerves are largely about the distance. And that's perfectly legit. The marathon is a long, scary distance and to approach it casually is (at least for me) to court disaster. A half marathon? A good run but distance-wise nothing too phenomenal. A marathon? Whole other story.
So, about that distance...how goes the actual training?
Pretty well. Here in Toronto we've had several winter storms and big dumps of snow in February, and that played havoc with the exercise schedule. More than once DH and I shovelled a bunch of snow before going to bed, then got up in the morning and shovelled what had arrived during the night. Even had we decided to ignore the snow and go to the gym anyway, I'm not sure we would have been able to get the car out of the garage and down the driveway.
In the end, I did manage to make up the missed runs, by running on cross-training days and logging the snow shovelling as cross-training. Missed the cardio but I'm sure moving that much weight around burned some calories. Having to do that also gave me a chance to test out where my body is in turns of being able to run multiple days in a row. Last week I ran Thursday-Friday-Saturday and then Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. By Wednesday I could feel that my energy was a little less than usual and I was glad to have Thursday as a rest day, but wasn't experiencing any serious overuse aches and pains. So that is a good sign.
Yesterday's treadmill run was probably a record for me - I did 8.13 miles (13.08 km) in 60 minutes. Fridays are normally my "race pace" runs, where "race pace" refers to my best half marathons and means a little under 5 minutes/km. Lately I have discovered that a good way for me to get to a fast pace on the treadmill and stay there is to warm up a bit, then do a much faster interval for about three minutes, and then go to the pace I want to sustain, which feels much easier. So yesterday I did that - started around 6.2 miles/hour, then quickly accelerated to 8.0 miles/hour, thinking I would drop back to 7.6 miles/hour and stay there. But at the end of three minutes, 8.0 miles still felt pretty good - intense, but not impossible - and I decided to push myself and try to stay there. Amazingly enough, not only did I stay there, but around the halfway point I actually managed to do just over two miles at 8.5 miles/hour, which translates to a 7:03 minutes/mile pace. Pretty unbelievable. By the end of the 60 minutes I was dripping with sweat and pretty darn tired, but not exhausted, and mostly I just felt really good for having been able to do that.
Could I do it "in real life"? Maybe but I wouldn't count on it - it always seems that I can run faster on a treadmill. Something about actually watching the numbers go by in front of me makes it easier to keep going, maybe. I really don't know. But the combination of treadmill during the week and running outside on the weekends seems to have worked well for this winter. The treadmill is great for speedwork and hills when it is dark and icy outside.
Not that it's going to be dark outside in the mornings for much longer. It's starting to get light before 7:00 now, although it's still full darkness when we arrive at the gym, and we're only about a month away from the equinox. But it's definitely still icy in way too many places. Next week or the week after, depending on the combination of temperature and footing, I may start doing easy runs outside again in the mornings. But not hills, unless it's truly dry and ice-free. I have way too many visions of running down Avenue Road and hitting a patch of ice, and that's it for weeks or even months. Yes, other people do it and they're fine. Maybe other people just aren't as paranoid.
Speaking of injury, I got some very sad news this week from a runner near Hamilton who I've been corresponding with. She's a few years younger than me, and a little faster but still within range, and coincidentally enough also ran Spring and Fall marathons and by doing so got BQs for both 2008 and 2009. She's been fighting an injury for a while now and is reaching the point where it's not improving fast enough and she's having to think that Boston isn't going to happen this year. I really don't have the words to express how disappointing that must be for her, but can imagine it and empathise all too easily. It's been a very close-to-home fear for myself and it will remain so right up until the actual day.
So my fingers are still crossed because, as she says, "miracles do happen", but I can imagine the mental conversations that are taking place in her head. It's not as though she's not able to run at all (which would be worse, but would also have the effect of making the decision), and there has been some improvement. Enough for 42.2 km? If it only has to be done once and then months of rest, if necessary? Enough that some painkillers can control it? Etc. It sounds crazy - of course don't run if it's painful! - but that's really not how it works when running is part of your identity...
Back to my training. The longest "long run" so far was a little over 30 km on the last weekend in January. It was okay but a little tougher than I expected. Part of that was due to running on packed snow for a good chunk of the distance (love those Yak Trax, but snow is still more work) and part was some pronounced GI unhappiness. That whole hydration-fuelling balance that is so hard (for me, anyway) to find. But I did make it to the end and was in pretty good shape afterwards (i.e.: minimal (but not zero) aches and pains).
The next weekend was a rather useless (or at least that's the way it felt) 18+ km. We'd had a big snowfall on Friday, which was well over by late Saturday morning, and the temperature was pretty warm - I think about 1 C. There was still a lot of snow around, but DH suggested sticking to the side streets and running on the packed stuff, and that seemed like a good idea. But it ended up not working out so well. Too many cars, too many snowbanks, too many times what looked like packed snow turned out to be deep, loose snow, too many puddles at the corners... I did the whole distance, but with so many stops and starts that it rarely felt like a sustained effort. The last half was faster - more cleared sidewalks, more packed snow - but it was not a good quality run.
The next two weekends I threw in the outdoor running towel and used the indoor track at the U of T Athletic Centre. As it turned out, my remaining passes were due to expire tomorrow so at least it wasn't money wasted. The first weekend was because a) there was just way too much snow, b) it was well below freezing, c) there were winds gusting to 80 km/hour, and d) after the last run with winds like that there was no way I could face 26 km outside being miserable on all counts. Last weekend it was because there was still so much snow that I couldn't see having a quality run, even though the temperature was okay and it was also sunny.
Tomorrow should be a good day to be outside, though. The paths are impossible, so it will mean some creativity in finding a route that is 34 km long and doesn't have too many stop lights,pedestrians, snow banks or icy sidewalks, but it should work out okay. The temperature is supposed to be just below freezing, with sun, so it will be comfortable, at least. Obviously I will need to go slow, and I've been working out my fuelling plan. The best bet is probably GU2O in my water bottle, maybe one gel about the 15 km mark, and another around the 30 km mark. I kind of don't want to have the second one, but am practising for the 42 km distance. IOW, I need to be able to consume a gel at that point and be able to keep going, not succumb to GI distress.
Okay - this gets me mostly caught up. Time for a nice carbo-loading (but not too much) dinner in anticipation of tomorrow.
The intellectual part of my brain reminds me that I've been training, that I will keep training, and that it's the same distance I've already run twice. Except that Boston has hills (or, as I tend to think of them, HILLS). But it's the same distance. The emotional side still says, "But it's BOSTON - what was I thinking?" I don't really claim to understand any of this, but at the same time can't pretend it's not happening.
The silly thing is that I'm not even trying for a PB, and really have nothing riding on this marathon. All I have to do is show up and enjoy the experience. Given the hills, the fact that it's a crowded course, and the fact that I do want to enjoy it, Boston will probably be my slowest marathon time so far. And I'm more or less planning it that way. Which means even less pressure, and which means that I should be more anticipatory than anxious. Go figure.
Ultimately, I think the nerves are largely about the distance. And that's perfectly legit. The marathon is a long, scary distance and to approach it casually is (at least for me) to court disaster. A half marathon? A good run but distance-wise nothing too phenomenal. A marathon? Whole other story.
So, about that distance...how goes the actual training?
Pretty well. Here in Toronto we've had several winter storms and big dumps of snow in February, and that played havoc with the exercise schedule. More than once DH and I shovelled a bunch of snow before going to bed, then got up in the morning and shovelled what had arrived during the night. Even had we decided to ignore the snow and go to the gym anyway, I'm not sure we would have been able to get the car out of the garage and down the driveway.
In the end, I did manage to make up the missed runs, by running on cross-training days and logging the snow shovelling as cross-training. Missed the cardio but I'm sure moving that much weight around burned some calories. Having to do that also gave me a chance to test out where my body is in turns of being able to run multiple days in a row. Last week I ran Thursday-Friday-Saturday and then Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. By Wednesday I could feel that my energy was a little less than usual and I was glad to have Thursday as a rest day, but wasn't experiencing any serious overuse aches and pains. So that is a good sign.
Yesterday's treadmill run was probably a record for me - I did 8.13 miles (13.08 km) in 60 minutes. Fridays are normally my "race pace" runs, where "race pace" refers to my best half marathons and means a little under 5 minutes/km. Lately I have discovered that a good way for me to get to a fast pace on the treadmill and stay there is to warm up a bit, then do a much faster interval for about three minutes, and then go to the pace I want to sustain, which feels much easier. So yesterday I did that - started around 6.2 miles/hour, then quickly accelerated to 8.0 miles/hour, thinking I would drop back to 7.6 miles/hour and stay there. But at the end of three minutes, 8.0 miles still felt pretty good - intense, but not impossible - and I decided to push myself and try to stay there. Amazingly enough, not only did I stay there, but around the halfway point I actually managed to do just over two miles at 8.5 miles/hour, which translates to a 7:03 minutes/mile pace. Pretty unbelievable. By the end of the 60 minutes I was dripping with sweat and pretty darn tired, but not exhausted, and mostly I just felt really good for having been able to do that.
Could I do it "in real life"? Maybe but I wouldn't count on it - it always seems that I can run faster on a treadmill. Something about actually watching the numbers go by in front of me makes it easier to keep going, maybe. I really don't know. But the combination of treadmill during the week and running outside on the weekends seems to have worked well for this winter. The treadmill is great for speedwork and hills when it is dark and icy outside.
Not that it's going to be dark outside in the mornings for much longer. It's starting to get light before 7:00 now, although it's still full darkness when we arrive at the gym, and we're only about a month away from the equinox. But it's definitely still icy in way too many places. Next week or the week after, depending on the combination of temperature and footing, I may start doing easy runs outside again in the mornings. But not hills, unless it's truly dry and ice-free. I have way too many visions of running down Avenue Road and hitting a patch of ice, and that's it for weeks or even months. Yes, other people do it and they're fine. Maybe other people just aren't as paranoid.
Speaking of injury, I got some very sad news this week from a runner near Hamilton who I've been corresponding with. She's a few years younger than me, and a little faster but still within range, and coincidentally enough also ran Spring and Fall marathons and by doing so got BQs for both 2008 and 2009. She's been fighting an injury for a while now and is reaching the point where it's not improving fast enough and she's having to think that Boston isn't going to happen this year. I really don't have the words to express how disappointing that must be for her, but can imagine it and empathise all too easily. It's been a very close-to-home fear for myself and it will remain so right up until the actual day.
So my fingers are still crossed because, as she says, "miracles do happen", but I can imagine the mental conversations that are taking place in her head. It's not as though she's not able to run at all (which would be worse, but would also have the effect of making the decision), and there has been some improvement. Enough for 42.2 km? If it only has to be done once and then months of rest, if necessary? Enough that some painkillers can control it? Etc. It sounds crazy - of course don't run if it's painful! - but that's really not how it works when running is part of your identity...
Back to my training. The longest "long run" so far was a little over 30 km on the last weekend in January. It was okay but a little tougher than I expected. Part of that was due to running on packed snow for a good chunk of the distance (love those Yak Trax, but snow is still more work) and part was some pronounced GI unhappiness. That whole hydration-fuelling balance that is so hard (for me, anyway) to find. But I did make it to the end and was in pretty good shape afterwards (i.e.: minimal (but not zero) aches and pains).
The next weekend was a rather useless (or at least that's the way it felt) 18+ km. We'd had a big snowfall on Friday, which was well over by late Saturday morning, and the temperature was pretty warm - I think about 1 C. There was still a lot of snow around, but DH suggested sticking to the side streets and running on the packed stuff, and that seemed like a good idea. But it ended up not working out so well. Too many cars, too many snowbanks, too many times what looked like packed snow turned out to be deep, loose snow, too many puddles at the corners... I did the whole distance, but with so many stops and starts that it rarely felt like a sustained effort. The last half was faster - more cleared sidewalks, more packed snow - but it was not a good quality run.
The next two weekends I threw in the outdoor running towel and used the indoor track at the U of T Athletic Centre. As it turned out, my remaining passes were due to expire tomorrow so at least it wasn't money wasted. The first weekend was because a) there was just way too much snow, b) it was well below freezing, c) there were winds gusting to 80 km/hour, and d) after the last run with winds like that there was no way I could face 26 km outside being miserable on all counts. Last weekend it was because there was still so much snow that I couldn't see having a quality run, even though the temperature was okay and it was also sunny.
Tomorrow should be a good day to be outside, though. The paths are impossible, so it will mean some creativity in finding a route that is 34 km long and doesn't have too many stop lights,pedestrians, snow banks or icy sidewalks, but it should work out okay. The temperature is supposed to be just below freezing, with sun, so it will be comfortable, at least. Obviously I will need to go slow, and I've been working out my fuelling plan. The best bet is probably GU2O in my water bottle, maybe one gel about the 15 km mark, and another around the 30 km mark. I kind of don't want to have the second one, but am practising for the 42 km distance. IOW, I need to be able to consume a gel at that point and be able to keep going, not succumb to GI distress.
Okay - this gets me mostly caught up. Time for a nice carbo-loading (but not too much) dinner in anticipation of tomorrow.
posted by Jogger Barbie | 5:40 PM
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