The Dome

I was thinking today when I was at the Dome that this has really helped my winter running this year. It’s a full 400m indoor track and I’m generally never alone there. There’s always somebody around. I don’t think running around an indoor track is for everybody but I’m okay with it. The iPod helps as well.

Today was some speed work, 4x2:00 Zone 5/3:00 recovery. Total run was an hour. It’s funny that as I get done each one it gets easier to push through. Mentally I always find the 1st one or two the most difficult.

Sunday night I also ran at the Dome for a different purpose. This was my long run (2 hours). I had two main goals; one, to keep my heart rate at a reasonable level and two to ensure that I ran at a consistent even pace. This run went really well. My lap pace for the 57 and 1/2 laps ranged from 2:00 to 2:04 or 5:00 to 5:10 per km. Very even pacing which I was really happy about. The two hours went by pretty quick which I’m also happy about.

My heart rate for the two run was very even until about 20 minutes to go. At this point I was getting dehydrated. I had forgotten my bottle which meant that I had to pop out to the water fountain periodically. A little awkward but can be done.

I think overall adding the Dome to my program this winter is going to pay big dividends come spring. I haven’t missed a workout for several weeks now. I’m also starting to feel a lot stronger again. I certainly was not feeling this strong post marathon while I was recovering from my hip flexor injury. I don’t think I’m 100% back where I was yet but it’s coming along.

Getting the right amount of recovery

[from Friday]
Lately I’ve had a few days where I definitely knew I was off. This week I’ve been wearing the heart rate monitor more. The trend this week is that after two hard days, the third day I’m not quite 100%. This really shows up with the heart rate data. Certainly I don’t feel as sharp on the third day. Okay so this is good but what does it mean.

There’s probably two key factors that are contributing at this point. The first and the biggest is rest. I simply need more of it. This cannot be under estimated. I’ve been working fairly hard on keeping my sleep pattern consistent. With the travel last week I’m sure that I’m behind a few hours. I guess the only thing left to do is make sure that I get more naps. J Somebody has to do it. I might as well be the one.

The second factor that has been affecting the running has been my weight yo-yoing up and down. When it gets away from me it makes the running that much harder. This has been a good week. I hope to keep the trend going.

That’s all for tonight.

Heading back to the great white north.

[from yesterday which was a travel day]

Today is my last day in Florida. My last day running in shorts outside again for a while. It’s been really nice for the last 6 days.

Had a short run this morning. Saw 4 deer not 5 feet from the trail I was running on. Paved trail that is but at least it was through the woods.

The legs are still feeling somewhat beat up this morning. Both legs felt like they took much more of a pounding than most races I do. It’s quite possible I’m still a little off this week. Looking forward to getting back to regular training again.

A number of people have pointed out to me that you really take a beating with all the concrete on the roads down here. Although I can’t say 100% that that is why they were so sluggish it is nonetheless consistent. I mostly think I’m still a little off this week.

I took yesterday as an off day after the race on Saturday. It wasn’t very off as I did tons of walking. In the morning I watched the marathon from several locations. In the afternoon I had lunch at Epcot and then went to Magic Kingdom via the monorail.

The marathon was great to watch but hard to get to places to watch. Disney really controls access to areas near the course. Apparently there was something like 18000 people in the race. A lot of people do their first 1/2 or full marathon down here.

Can’t say that I’m looking forward to running in the snow again. It will take a few days to adjust.One last thing I forgot to mention. The medals for Disney are fantastic. They really go out of their way to distinguish themselves with this one item.

Disney ½ Marathon

The Facts:
Time: 1:41:51
temp: 64 F
humidity: very high

Summary:
Good race overall for this time of year and given that I’ve just had 2 very light months. First 12k went fairly close to plan and I felt fairly strong. After 12k the legs started to feel heavier.

The humidity was definitely a factor in the overall time. For the second half there really was no opportunity to push the pace with the way the legs were feeling.

One of my primary objectives for the races was to keep a strong steady pace. This aspect of the plan went well. Even when the legs began feeling heavy I still focused on keeping a steady pace.

Highlights:
- Running through Magic Kingdom and coming out through the castle
- Fantastic medal
- One of the best organized races that I’ve participated in. Lots of water stations, cheering sections, great signage and lots of music.

Given the humidity today it wasn’t realistic to run a strong time. It was really good to let me know how things are going after a quieter November and December after the Phili marathon.

Long run, testing & fighting something

I did my long run on the weekend on Saturday to give me a rest day before doing my next lactate threshold test. I decided to do this run indoors to check on a few things (and to avoid all the slush with the mild temperatures).

The first thing I wanted to check was my heart rate during the run which I hadn’t checked for a while. This ended up being about 152-154 for the majority of the run. My usual ideal for HR is about 148 but this isn’t too far off.

The other big thing I wanted to check was what speed I settled into naturally for the long run. I found that each 400m lap was between 1:58 and 2:02 or about 5:00 min/k. This felt good and was fairly easy to maintain. Towards the end I picked it up a bit for about the last 3-4k. Overall a good run.

Sunday was an off day in preparation for Monday’s lactate threshold test.

The test on Monday did not go as expected. Right from the start I was off by about a km per hour. At 6.8 miles per hour (slower than Saturday’s 7.5 miles per hour), my heart rate was already at 159. This didn’t bold well. The legs felt okay but the effort was very labored. In total I only did 4 levels. There wasn’t much point in doing too much more if the results weren’t going to be effective.

There is probably a couple of factors involved here. My rest was definitely off; okay but not ideal. I also may not have fully recovered from Saturday’s long run. Most likely however, I have probably been fighting off something for the last few days. Even my weight was up since the long run.

Last night I didn’t do the workout and opted instead for getting home and getting to bed at a decent time. I had good night’s sleep. Today I’ll see how I feel at the end of the day. I expect that I’ll go down to the Dome and run inside tonight.

Oh and did I mention that I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow. More on that later and the Disney ½ marathon on Saturday.

Running inside @ the Dome

Last night by happenstance I got to run inside at the Dome (400 m indoor track). I had planned to run at the Peak Centre on the treadmill after my weights. The weights finished really quickly after the power went out. Still wanting to get a run in and not to fond of going outside in the -18.5 degree c temp, I decided to go down to the east end to run at the Dome.

Last week I bought a monthly pass for the Dome. It’s less than 15 minutes from my house and hence fairly easy to get to. If this works out I'll keep doing this throughout the winter.

The run was great. Surprisingly there wasn’t that many people there. I ended up running for 1:24 minutes. This was more than I had scheduled but it was so nice to run in shorts again that I just kept going.

The only catch with running at the Dome is that I can’t go there between 5 and 8 PM as it’s reserved for the Ottawa Lions. I arrived just before 8 and had no problem getting into the swing of things.

What was also nice was that I didn’t run with a watch. I’ll have to figure out how I’m going to keep track of my distance out there. There’s a clock on the wall but you have to count laps to determine the correct distance.

Start of the New Year

Monday night my wife and I ran in the annual Running Room (RR) Resolution Run. I’ve run this every year except last year (sold out early). In fact, my first race when I started back in 2001 was the Resolution Run. It’s more of an event than a race. This year we had 1700 people signed up for the 5 and 10 k. I always do the five for this event.

It’s become a very nice tradition for me and (now my wife as well). Because it’s more of an event you typically don’t get much of a warm up. It’s more just show up and do it. It’s a good chance to stretch out the legs and see how they’re feeling at the end of the off season. Starting in January things begin to ramp up towards the May marathon.

Today was the first run of the year. Tonight I went and joined the guys at the RR. This was also one of the coldest runs of the year so far. The wind chill was well into the -20s. Strangely I was over dressed.

Tomorrow I’ll run inside at the dome.

Goals for 2008

[updated 04Jan2008]

A lot of this year will be targeted at reaching my potential in the longer races. My testing results in 2007 were really good and it was clear that I had responded well to the training from Peak. A lot of what I need to now is to train and race towards that potential. Hence there will be strong focus this year on the mental aspects of achieving the targets noted below.

Initial List of Goals for the year ...

Big Goals:
1. Qualify for Boston
2. Sub 3:15 for the marathon

Specific Race Goals:
1. Sub 40 for 10k, sub 41:30 for Richmond 10k
2. Sub 1:32 for 1/2 in February.
3. Sub 2:10 for ATB 30k
4. Sub 3:20 (minimum) for Mississauga marathon

Specific training goals:
1. Minimum 4 runs at race pace for 30k or more before Mississauga.
2. Stay injury free all year.
a. Recover from hip flexor issues fully with ART help from Paula.
b. More Yin yoga (longer holding of poses.
c. Minimum one yoga class per week.
3. Work on form and efficiency.
a. Ensure upper body is relaxed.
b. Get form evaluated.

Nutrition:
1. Continue to monitor nutrition pre, during and post workout.
2. Test fluid consumption at least once a month using weight before and after.
3. Continue to learn about supplements and use as appropriate.

Non-Running Goals:
1. Get weight consistently under 180.
a. No sweets at home in January.
b. Drink more water.
2. Get blood tested every 6-8 weeks for the first part of the year to monitor blood components more closely.
3. Starting going to bed by 9. That way I have a fighting chance to be a sleep at a decent time each night.
a. Monitor closely my post-workout nutrition intake. This will be key to getting the sleep required. When I’m hungry I don’t sleep well.
4. Make better use of naps.

My dream goal remains as a sub 3 hour marathon.

2007 stats

Overall totals:
Total Miles: 3632.57 km or 9.95 km per day
Total Time: 308:36:13 hours or 50:43.2 minutes per day
Number of runs: 280 or 5.38 runs per week on average
Average Pace: 5:05 min/km or 11.8 km/h
Average Heart Rate: 148 bpm
Total Calories: 356,844 cal or 977.65 calories per day
Highest Weekly Distance: 106.0 km (02/25/2007)
Highest Monthly Distance: 372.0 km (Mar)
Lowest Monthly Distance: 190.61 km (Dec)

Racing:
11 events
5k 1 (21:35 [4:12 min/k])
5 miles 1 (32:47[4:03 min/k])
10k 3 (41:50[4:11 min/k],40:50[4:04 min/k],42:16[4:12 min/k])
10 miles 1 (1:07:40[4:11 min/k])
½ marathon 1 (1:36:05[4:33 min/k])
30k 1 (2:12:28 [4:23 min/k])
marathon 3 (3:25:25[4:51 min/k],3:33:46 [5:00 min/k],3:43:46[5:14 min/k])
(4 marathons in 12 months and 13 days from NYC marathon to Philadelphia)
*note average pace based on Garmin calculation of total distance and time for each event.

Total Racing miles: 238.34 km or 4:41 min/km
Total Racing time: 18:38:28 hours
Average Heart Rate: 160 bmp
Total Calories: 25,043 cal

Weight:
Start 86.7 kg or 190.74 lbs
End 86.4 kg or 190.0 lbs
Lowest: 81.4(Feb) kg or 179.0 lbs

*********************************************
Best race of the year: Around the Bay 30k
Biggest challenge: Getting weight back down.
Biggest help: Yoga and massage