Training Log Archive: W

St. Albert 10 Miler! It was cold, but dry, which was good. As I warmed up I decided shorts would be a fine choice, but gloves and arm-warmers would also be a fine choice, since it was fairly windy as well. The pace seemed to start off pleasantly comfortably. There was a group of about 10 of us for the first mile or so. I (and certainly Jack) knew that with Francois in the group, he was going to run just as hard as he needed to until someone else foolishly decided to attack.

Someone foolishly attacked at about 1.5 miles in. Francois was having none of that, as was one of the Edmonton Tri Academy guys, and so we broke apart, forming a lead group of three, a chase pack of three, and my group of three, with Jack. I decided, though, that I wanted to be in the chase pack, so started to slowly claw my way back about the same time as that chase pack broke apart. So, over of the next 6 miles or so, I slowly reeled each guy in. Catching them, and then drafting until I felt recovered enough to try and chase down the next guy. When I pulled into fourth, unfortunately, that last group of two broke apart, and Mr. Fleming put a 6 second gap on me, that, over the last three k, I just could not close. My lungs and legs felt good, but the biggest problem was that my calves were ON FIRE. Admittedly, I did think wearing my 1600s was an aggresive choice, but they just felt so responsive and light for the first half, it was wonderful. But, one calf caught up to me, and then the other shortly after, and the last three k were quite a struggle.

I really wanted that 3rd place because that would've meant a little cash to cover my race entry, but, for my first 10 miler, I felt really, really comfortable for quite some time before the suffering really kicked in. I always think that with the way I claw my way back I could stand to go out harder, but I seem to have an intensive fear of blowing up and having it all for naught. So, I seem to just go when I'm feeling good, and don't when I don't.

My time put me bang on 3:30/km, which is funny because that seems to constantly be the pace I end up doing intervals at.

So, PB'd the 10 miler at 56:13, also PB'd through 10k at 34:19, ran a 10:10 3k from 4-6km, I didn't quite run even halves, the second half was 47 seconds slow than the first half. My second 5k was conversely about 30 seconds faster than my first 5k. So, and my legs agree, the wheels kind of came off in the last 2 miles or so. That'll have to be looked at.

I'd like to do more analysis, but my goodness the Garmin online training site is useless. So useless.

Also, Calves = Totally, totally ruined. They haven't been this painful in a lonnnnnnng time. They remind me of my competitive soccer days.



Interesting side note, my vdot equivalent suggests for the 3000m I should run 9:26, which is exactly what I ran in February! Science!

C • Nice race! 3

Warm up and cool down and because I can't stand having non-round numbers on my training hours.

An even shorter spin than yesterday! Just wanted to get out, shake out the legs a bit in the morning, and do some stride-ys. Coach said 6-8 of about 15 seconds w/ a minute off. His strides are fairly long by the definition that I've known of for "strides", but its not like that was putting undue level so of fatigue.

Oh yeah, and it snowed this morning. Wouldn't be a St. Albert 10 miler with either cold or snow, right?

A nice not too muddy trail run. Its been warm enough that for the most part, the snow has disappeared, except on the north facing trails. So, although my pace has slowed down a bit, I'm most pleased to be generally no longer running on the road and sticking to the twisty turny and most importantly, soft, trail. My feet have never been so pleased. You're welcome.

Well, I finally bit the bullet and registered for the 10 miler this weekend. Holy crap I'm racing 10 miles this weekend?. Since this is my first measured 10 miler, I'm guaranteed a PB Seriously, 10 miles seems like a long way Went for a nice light jog before working evening at the shop. I taped up my knee to see if that helped a little, and, I think, it helped a little. But one of the strips I did poorly, so it started peeling quickly and I took it off. I bet its going to be snowing too, so it'll hurt even more I tried to think about staying relaxed and being light on my feet and channeling the movement ideas of yesterday's technique session Maybe if I think about that the 10 miles will just breeze by .

Despite epic stretching and rolling sessions, my right hamstring seems to be getting more and more sore, which is weird. YES, that sounds like the perfect excuse to bail out I think its the probably the constant pavement running, which, as spring rolls on, will eventually take a backseat and I'll get back on the trails. Yep, going to have to stay home and walk my goldfish instead

In anticipation of a slow run tonight, I went for a morning run to supplement. Its funny, when I first started running more and more, Adrian and I did a 30 minute loop along Sask. Drive and back through Belgravia. Then we did 45 which went along Sask. drive and then down to Hawrelak and back up the trail. Now, I did a 55 minuter that's 3k longer and goes all the way along Sask. Drive to Groat Bridge then back up Emily Murphy and home again. So, its possible, that 15 years later, I'm actually a faster runner than I was then. Funny how that works. If only I had improved maybe a bit sooner, like, say.... 10 years ago?

Technique clinic at the shop with a guy from a west end physio clinic. He knows his stuff, he just needs to consume about 50% less words to tell it. I got some new ideas about exercises, both pre-workout and as a strengthening exercise. It seems like something I'll have to stick with quite regularly, but they are quite fast and easy to do, so I'll have to start giving them a shot. Anything to give me an edge (aside from, you know, training more).

Wow, that can only be described as a "slow as molasses" run. This is going to be a problem, with training with some people sometimes. I suppose not every workout needs to be at pace, but... really.... 6:55/km? Slow. As. Molasses.