Injury prevention, Boston rant & other plans

After the 10k last week, my right hip & quad area has been a little tight. A muscle beginning with "p" on the inside of the groin in particular is a little tight according to my chiropractor, although he knows the rest of that word.

For my friday tempo, which was due to be a 3x10 minute session, he said to go slightly slower. This is the toughest tempo in my training program. I did the same one last year and the wind blew me all over the place. It was equally windy on friday, and rather than compromise that workout in bad weather and perhaps aggravate my leg trouble, I opted for a bike session instead. Given that my tempo and speed work is all time rather than distance based, no complex math needed thank god/ budda/ allah and all points in between.

It's worked well before - in the 5 weeks between Quebec City half and Harvest Half last year, I did BRT (bike replacement therapy) mid-week and ran my long sunday runs. In Qc by hamstring gave 2k from the end, and I PB'd in the HH. I will do the same over the next 4 weeks if I have to. The drawback though will be the lack of view, as I don't classify guys weightlifting as a view.

While getting a Boston qualifying time might still be the aim, there were a few thousand deferals allowed from this year's race due to the high temperatures. This makes it harder to get a place, though even if I get within 5 minutes of my BQ (so can register slightly earlier), I'm not sure I want to bother. In my (probably minority) view, this race is now slightly tainted. Next year's race requires qualifying times that are 5 minutes faster, so I have to try that much harder than some with slower times given a free pass because they didn't race in the conditions on the day of the BM. For me, Boston is the reward so just enjoy the experience. Some can decide not to start, but given the entry system in place, for me it should not mean being able to defer. End of rant. Maybe I'll apply in September if I qualify - might have got off my high-giraffe by then!

I didn't get my name drawn out of the hat for the New York marathon. Boo. I will probably put my name in the hat for London 2013 on monday, and find out in October if I'm lucky enough. I can just imagine somehow getting an entry to both. That would be awkward. Aside from that, I will most likely do a mud-race in July (what a headcam movie that'll be!), perhaps a night race in August, perhaps too the Banff Winter Start in November and most likely the California International Marathon in December.

The next 4 weeks are about getting plenty of sleep, training smart and listening to my body, especially my pesky right leg.

Spring Trio 10k report - breaking the 40 minute barrier

Ah, the 10k. As gut-busting as a 5, only twice as long. My first 10k, above, was my second ever race in September 2009. I gasped across the line in 43:57, later thinking that sub-40 would be tough.

Fast forward to the St Patrick's 10k in March 2010, above, and I decided to go for it. I kept to 4 min/ km until the water station at about the 3k mark. After slowing a little to drink, I couldn't bring my pace all the way up again, though I still PB'd at 41:28. The next 2 races were slower. One of them was extremely hot with a time of 44:39. The highlight of that was indecisiveness at a water station about whether to drink or dump it on my head - I ended up throwing it over my shoulder.  

Now to 2012. Given how warm it was - 12 degrees and rising, I decided to road test my Team GB top (I'm from the UK for those that don't know) that I'd planned on wearing first at the marathon. It's actually for sprinters and quite figure-hugging increasing the looks I got before the start, mostly of the "who do you think you are?" kind, though mostly from those doing the race in the official shirt (!). I love it, and it's certainly better than the newly released kit with all the red replaced by light blue. Sorry Stella McCartney :( 

There I am, putting on my new and improved headcam, that didn't record a single second of the race. It should produce good pictures once the battery charges up properly. This race was a 5, 10 and 15k rolled into one, all following the same route with different turnarounds.

My top makes it look like an international event, don't you think? I was just about to wave but knocked elbows with #84, whereupon he said sorry to me. More my fault really.

No pictures from during the race unless some appear elsewhere for me to pilfer. Over the new Peace Bridge I overtook a couple of people settling into a slower pace, and shortly after another guy came steaming through past me. At km1 my watch read 3:42, so way ahead. Under 2 bridges in quick succession, one lady I gradually overtook came flying back past me under 10th street bridge, preceded by a warning "coming very fast on your left!" I know what she thought she was doing, though I doubt it was that effective.
I tried to dial back my speed, and clocked 3:54 on km 2, 3:57 for km 3. If I could just keep that pace up to the turnaround, the sub-40 would be mine. I noticed too that there were 3 guys ahead of me. One of them kept going at the 10 k turnaround, so I thought I was 3rd. More on my mind than that though was giving myself a shove to get my pace back up after the u-turn. Despite my love of running, it's still tempting to back off.
It seemed I wasn't getting the same kind of looks on the way back as I passed other runners. Were they thinking "this guy's got skills"? Or were they just too tired to frown?

At around the 7k mark, I put the idea out of my head to catch the guy in front. I didn't really have the extra speed to call on anyway. Back across the Peace Bridge, and the "impossible barrier" for the 10k was coming down. I'd done the sub-90 half-marathon last year, so about time.

On the home straight, this young lady sped up to run with me. We're not related.

My chip time was 39:23, a PB by 2:05. It turns out that I didn't even notice the 10k winner finishing over 5 minutes ahead, so I placed 4th. I was 2nd in my age group, and got a nice medal for it.

Here's the pace graph. 3 minutes per km is at the top. I averaged just under 3:57 per km.

The ymca being just next to the finish line, I was able to shower and change right away. After that my chief photographer and I went to Wurst for brunch and to re-stock my legs. So apart from the headcam trouble, another great race for 2012.

The coyote

On good friday, as it was a public holiday I did my scheduled 5x 6 minute tempo run in fish creek park. I had literally just finished the last interval and was a few hundred metres from the hill to exit Chaparral Valley (close to the location of the burnt-out car found a couple of weeks prior).

Quite a way off, I saw 2 cyclists coming towards me. Then to the right, racing down the hillside, I realized a coyote was coming towards me. While I've seen them before, it's been either to eye each other from a distance or old Wiley has ducked for cover in the bushes.

He crossed the path in front of me and down the bank on the other side, he kept on running towards me, parallel to the path. "Remember your training," I said to myself, as if I'd once been in the SAS or something. So I stood still, turned to face him, and lifted my arms out a bit to look wider. He simply sprinted past and turned to look at me as he did so, then kept on going.

I said to the cyclist and her son, "the coyote must've been spooked." "What coyote?" I don't know how they missed it. Like most coyotes, this one was trying to avoid people, especially being all by itself. I wish I'd had time to get my phone out for a photo, but this National Geographic pic will have to do. Cheeky chappy.

I did a 26k run on sunday, no big rush about it though. My right hip felt stiff afterwards, but was much better after monday's slow 10 k recovery run. I'm sure this is well-known to some, but I've found the solution to post-exercise soreness is rest right after, then mild-exercise the next day seems to stimulate the body into extra efforts at repair. I hope this pattern repeats itself for the next 7 weeks :)

Crime scenes, blisters & 10k musings

On last sunday's long run, the start of my route went through Chaparal Valley as the ice there had finally melted. I came across some yellow tape across the pathway. I'm used to seeing signs and things like that as even the most seemingly minor repairs needed generate law-suit avoiding measures such as barriers, etc. However, seeing "police line - do not cross" made me stop. I went around the edge of the tape to rejoin the pathway and found quite a few police cars there. "Possible crime scene" one of them said when I asked. Later it turned out that a car had been set on fire earlier that morning, with a body inside. No news at the time of writing except that it was a woman in her 70s. Not much else to say really, except be careful out there. I always carry my phone on those long runs, and trust that along with my ability to make a quick getaway, no-one's going to mess with me. More of my attention is usually taken up looking out for coyotes and furious birds in nesting season.

After all that, it was a fairly pleasant 24k run though blustery. It was a reminder that the heels are vulnerable to blisters during longer runs. Both feet and shoes expand and contract over the course of a run, and my smaller right foot ended up getting a blister on the heel. It's a reminder to me that I need to have a couple of band aids ready on marathon day, which now seems close at 8 weeks away.

3 weeks until the Spring Trio 10k - the McMillan calulator suggests 40:20 based on my recent 5k. In hindsight I did hold back slightly during that race. My 5 mile time from last October predicts 38:54. I think I will pace myself to get just inside the magic 40 minutes. The course is an out and back along the Bow river. The mild gradient will mean the net downhill section will be the second half, and if windy it'll most likely be a following wind on the way back too. A sub-40 10k has always seemed harder than a sub-90 half to me, but am I just saying that as I haven't beaten the former yet?

Saint Patrick's 5k Race Report!

"I'll take a PB if it's there, but anything under 20 minutes will be fine," I said to my chiropractor a couple of days before the St Patrick's race. "You know you'll just end up going for the PB," he said. 

He knows me well. This is my 3rd time at this race, though I chose the 5k this time, prefering my next 10k on a flatter course. Top 10 looked possible on the strength of last year's times.

I got into the St Patrick's spirit a little for the first time ever, my green top being right for the +1 temperature. There were some great costumes, like the guy above in 100% green. My favourite was the "Guiness Batman" (no picture unfortunately).

The 10k race started first - might be the first time I've watched a race start before mine. Putting myself in the front row, I noticed a few shirts with "UCAC" on them - University of Calgary Athletics Club. No win today...

Off like a shot - glad I got the heart rate up beforehand.

Previous PB was 19:48, so I set my garmin to pace me between 3:55 and 4:03, to get me within reach.

A splendid dog-marshall.

At 1.5k, and a downhill section, the 2 leading ladies drew level with me, so I joined them and the guy I'd passed just before.

Even though I always study the course map beforehand, I didn't notice the other 3 moving from my left to my right and then I somehow mistook where the marshall was standing, and kept going straight on until the middle of the junction when one of the ladies said "turn right?" almost as if I were the only one going the right way. I must have leant over at quite an angle seeing where my hand is in front of the camera lens. "Glad someone knows the way!" I said. No response from the others, strong silent types..

Around the corner on the lead down to the turnaround, all 3 of them slowed down enough for my watch to bleep "pace low", so I moved ahead and into the top 10. "I dropped them!"

Helly Visser!

Back up the hill, and joined by some of the 10k runners made me feel a touch slow in comparison. Learning to read my condition in during a 5k and a 10k has taken a while. I let my pace drop a touch here as I felt my lungs trying to breathe in more air than they could expand to. It also helps if you know the PB is already in the bag - I passed the 4 k sign around 15:35, and the rest was a finish-friendly downhill. Exciting for me to know, though by now that great dog was bored to sleep.

I believe I was the first 5k runner wearing green to come into view at the top of the hill, easy to spot.

So, a time of 19:25, a PB by 23 seconds. Quite a surprise to find my biggest weakness, overall speed, is still improving. 9th place overall, and 2nd in my age group.

First km quickest, the .03 is probably down to my Mr Bean moment.

My age group "podium" got me a nice beer glass. A nice change, and although I look quite frazzled in this photo, I'm loving 2012 after a curtain-raiser like this :)

Here's the headcam video!

Link to video in new tab/ window.

A dream of spring...

I took  the day off today (friday), so did my tempo run from home. There's a major road junction that I cross on the route I take in winter, the way round it is icy and then water-logged at the start of the year. It was +2 degrees, so I went in my warmest shorts. "That's one way to celebrate March!" a lady said to me as I ran past.

I finally got a photograph of one of few eagles I often see scouting the fields for mice. After this, I started my first of four 5 minute repeats. It felt very doable, not a struggle to keep pace at all. I did the warm up and cool down very slowly as a precaution - my right hip felt tight after wednesday's 10x2 minute speed session. It felt good at the start of today, and feels a touch tight now though better than wednesday.

I'm gaining a grasp of when to run anyway, or when to use "Bike Replacement Therapy" as I call it. It's easy to replicate on the bike because my speed and tempos are time-based, and it does not bring with it a drop in performance - my half marathon and 5-mile PBs, both set last October, were set having done BRT for a few weeks beforehand. The St Patrick's Day race - doing the 5k - is in 15 days, so I won't hesitate to do it again if needed. I'm not specifically going for a PB, though I'll set my watch to put me there or thereabouts and will take it if it's on the cards for that day. It'll be great to be at an event again, I love raceday.

Marathon training ramp-up & a weight loss flashback

For the first 4 weeks, the plan has been steady in workload.

Speed runs on wedenesdays were alternating 14x1 minute and 8x2 minutes, the next few weeks will be 10x2 minutes, 18x1 minute, 10x2 minutes, 7x3 minutes.

Tempos on fridays have been 4x4 minutes and will edge up to 5x5 minutes, 4x5, etc.

Sundays alternate in distance, trending up -  16k, 13k, 18k, 13k, 20k, etc.

3 weeks to Saint Patrick's Day 5k! It's mostly to avoid going crazy in March. Perhaps I should take to doing the Hypothermic Half in Februarys in future years.

I had a weight loss flashback recently. I don't do pull-ups all that often, just occasionally to break the monotony in the gym. I remember trying in 2007, and getting 3/4 of the way up while making a light screeching sound. Fast forward to early 2009 and 20% lighter. "I'll have a go," I thought as I stopped at the pull-up bar. Remembering that previous attempt, I felt I'd have to go all out. Gripping the bars and standing on tiptoes, I took a few deep breaths and counted down from 5. Before I know it, I am flying upwards like a helicopter. I end up having done the most complete pull-up ever, with my arms straight so my hands are at my waist. Still up there, I look around the gym for a good 5 seconds, and in a 2-tone bass/ soprano voice I announce "one!"