Unstructured and Social Running and Plans

Well the nice thing about recovery time is that you get to run with others that you don’t always get to run with. Tonight Jo-Anne and I will go out for 30 or so minutes. It’s not about pace, just about doing a run.

What is also nice is being able to run in any direction and speed for the next few weeks. This is a great time to try out different running areas and even … here it comes …. smell the flowers. I know crazy thinking.

At the end of the day I’m a runner. It’s my thing, my schtik (SP?). I enjoy the competitive side but I equally enjoy getting out there and just running.

So what’s next. That’s the question. All week I’ve been throwing around some ideas. Should I run early in the fall in case I need another kick at the can for Boston? Early means Quebec or Montreal both of which I’m not familiar with. Mid-fall means one of the Toronto races. Late fall could always be Phili again. Less familiar but still a choice would be the NCRA bus to Wineglass that Paula is organizing. The flatter and most familiar courses are the Toronto races. I think if I’m going to be pushing myself for my BQ I need both familiar and flat. So at the moment I’m leaning toward the Toronto marathon.

Once I get a chance to talk to Kevin about the plans I’ll lock into a race that makes most sense. For me I want to get that done and settled as soon as possible.

Ottawa Marathon Notes and 100th Post

Very appropriate that this is my 100th post!

Date 25 May 2008
Time: 7:00 AM

Weather:
@7 Sunny, cool 7 degrees Celsius
@9 Still sunny, no clouds, getting warm quickly now
@10:40 Very warm, getting up towards the forecasted high of 23.

Race Day weight: 194.3 lbs

Race Day – 1 (Saturday) Nutrition & general prep:
- Pancakes at 11:00 AM
- Pasta at 2:30 with Garlic Bread from Prima Raviola
- Rest of Pasta at 6:30 PM
- Fluids were good, no dehydration noted.
- Stayed off my feet most of the day. Rented movies for Saturday afternoon and evening.

Pre-race Nutrition:
- 1 bowl of Oatmeal @ 5:00 AM
- 1 medium coffee at 5:40 AM
- 1 700ml bottle of SPE-3 at 6:00 AM

Race Nutrition:
- Planned bottle for 1st hour lasted until km 16 and then only ¾ consumed
o Stomach not taking in fluids very well at all through the first 16k
- Water only from 16 to 20k
- Water and Gel at 20k
- Between 20 and 30k just water with a bit of Gel.
o Stomach not doing well through here. Oscillated back and forth between wanting to throw up and being “just okay”. Difficult to figure out how to get more in.
- 1 more Gel at 30k, continued to only drink water
- Between 34k and the finish also drank some Gatorade to get calories in. I needed everything I could get in to get to the finish.

Race Play-by-Play comments:
1st 20k:
- Pace pretty much perfect and consistent.
- @ 20k 46 seconds ahead of planned 3:25 pace
- Pace felt easy again for the 1st 10k. Both Mississauga and here this was the case.
20-30k:
- Focused on keeping steady, not trying to micro-manage the pace too much through here.
- Slightly slower through this phase but very steady.
- @30k 1;35 behind target 3:25 pace

30 -33k:
- Steady but fading badly. Lack of nutrition catching up with me.

34-35 k Heron Hill/ Pre-Arboretum:
- Very much hit the wall here. Nothing left in the legs for any kinda of a steady effort. Decided to walk part of the hill to avoid going to much into the red zone
- Legs didn’t really start to come back until just before the arboretum.
35- finish:
- Used pretty much every water/Gatorade station to get to the end.
- Pace was steady but slow (between 5 and 5:15) when running plus the water station breaks.
Finish:
- Nothing left at the end. Distinctly remember wondering if I could even drive home after the race.
- Certainly no energy left for any kinda of pick up at the end
- Final time: 3:39:11

Overall comments:
- Although I was still running well for the 1st 25-30k I knew that the lack of nutrition would catch up to me at some point.
- Effort wise I felt this was my best marathon yet just not the time that we wanted.
- I’m sure the heat contributed in the last hour but otherwise was not a factor.
- No regrets for having run 2 marathons in 2 weeks. Recovery was very good between races. No residual effects from the 1st race. Legs were fresh.
o Last two or three short runs before the race went really well
- All in all I don’t feel that I would done anything different coming into this race. That’s a good sign.

Next Steps:
1. Begin journaling all my nutrition for runs lasting longer than an hour. Need to figure out how best to do this and keep it simple. I need to really get anal about this.
2. For the next several weeks recovery is the number 1 priority.
3. For the next 2 months maintaining fitness is the number 1 priority. This is a lot easier to do now that the weather is warm.
4. Kevin (Peak) and I will continue to workout the focus for the upcoming months.
5. Plan fall marathon race now that I have to do one to get my qualification for Boston.