Marathon #1 Race Report - Valley Harvest Marathon - October 13, 2013

This has been in the making for a couple of weeks. I ran my very first marathon on October 13, 2013. It would have been my mother's 69th birthday, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do something special on that day. I have always enjoyed my runs at The Valley Harvest Marathon, so this was perfect choice.


My Training

I usually use Runners World's Smartcoach training for my race training programs. I like the programs because they give you pace level and distance for each run, and the pace and time expected for your race. I have been researching other programs, but I keep coming back to this one. Stick with what you know, I guess.

I worked on a 20 week program based on my half marathon time at the Bluenose. The program had me completing my marathon in 4:36. That is if I had completed all my training runs in the prescribed times. It gave me enough weeks that if I needed to skip some runs, I'd still have time to make them up. My downfall was going to be that my long runs were going to have to be on Thursday nights after work.

My training started ok for the first 6 weeks or so. I was able to get in a few good long runs. I worked my way up to 33km in this time. And then the summer heat, and the two full time jobs kicked into high gear and the whole thing went to hell.  It was another 5 weeks before I could get anywhere near a 20km run. I ran the Maritime Race Weekend half Marathon. It wasn't a great run, I got pretty sick about 1/2 way through. But it was distance. It was still faster than my best half last year, so I was ok with it.

My last long run was about 18 days before my race. It was supposed to be a 32km run, but I was only able to get 27km in.(Added 11/1/13 One of the reasons why this particular long run was harder than normal was that I was doing it on my own. Every one of my really long runs, I had Courtney there at home on the other end of my texts, "10 km left 90 minutes". "5 km left 40 minutes. Mostly walking". "3 km left come meet me". I didn't realize how much I appreciated these texts until this 27km run and I was all by myself)  After this run, I wasn't sure whether I was ready to run 42.2km or not.

All in all, I was not happy with this running cycle at all. I didn't get in the miles that I needed to. And I will admit that I could have done more to get the miles in, but I did put other things first. None of which deserved to be put before running.

The plan at this point was that I could back out on race day and just run the half if I didn't think I could do it.

Pre Race Week

The plan this week was to eat 100% clean, and then in the 4 days before the race to eat 200-300 grams of carbs. This worked absolutely perfectly. Plan. Plan. Plan. Don't try anything new. Eat the same thing everyday if I have to. Get in the carbs. The downfall was going to be at the campground and not eating the junk that I normally eat. I planned it out. I brought what I needed. It was late in the camping season so I was able to get two good nights sleep on Friday and Saturday. I did cheat and had some beer on Friday night. But that's just more carb, right? RIGHT?

Over Friday and Saturday I had decided that if I felt good on Sunday, I was going to go for it.

Race Day

My gear is all ready. My alarm went off. I got up. Got my coffee. And away I went. It took me an hour to get there. I had to make a pit stop at the Irving. I got to Acadia and picked up my race kit. Really nice jackets and a fleece lap blanket was in the race kit.

My plan was to keep up with the 4:30 pace bunny for as long as possible. The goal was 5 hours. Take a Gu every hour and drink only water.

There was no 4:30 pace bunny. ACK! There wasn't even a 2:30 half pace bunny I could stay with. The slowest pace bunny was a 2:20 half. So that's where I stayed. Oh. For about 10 minutes. Once I started running I realized I had too many Gu's in my spi belt and it was bouncing up and down and pissing me off. There was no way that I was going to be able to run for 5 hours like that. I had to put some in my bra. So I lost some time. And the 2:20 pacer.

So, I spent the first 12 km running with half runners. Picking them off one at a time. At the 12 km mark, all the half runners turned around, and I kept going. And going. And going. I didn't see anyone for a long time. The first person I saw was the 50km leader. That was about the 16km mark. Then I started seeing runners on their way back. Both Full and 50km runners.

I hit the 18km mark and hurt my hip. The roads were very sloped on the left side. I've had problems with that hip and leg before and running on sloped roads like that is pretty painful. That's the only time the whole race that I had doubt that I was going to finish. "Oh, crap. I've hurt myself and I haven't even done the first half. Then I have to do that all over again. I don't think I'm going to make it."

The turn around point was at about 22.5km. And I started to make my way back to Wolfville. It also didn't take me long at this point to realize that I was the last runner. It also didn't take me long to realize that they were packing up the water stops. EEK!

(This is the second time I'm writing the following part. I lost it in an app accident. Which really sucks because I was really happy with how it went. The second time around won't be as good.)

I'd hit a water station and they'd make sure I had enough water to drink, enough in my water bottle, enough Gu's (More than enough. Thanks), speak some encouraging words and send me on my way. They'd pack up the water station and then the lead would meet me at the next water station. Then the Assistant Race Director joined in (At least I think that's who I was told he was). He was driving to the next water station, bringing me back water and making sure I was ok.

When I had about 18km left, the Ultra Bicycle Lead rider came back to keep me company to the finish. It turned out it was a fellow twitter runner. The medical truck showed up shortly after that to make sure I was doing ok. And the ARD kept bringing me water. I was also texting Courtney as she was going to run the last couple of km's with me. I had so much moral support, there was no way I couldn't finish.

As we made our way back to the Acadia track, my entourage dropped off to allow me to complete the 3/4 lap around the track to the cheers of the volunteers and the spectators that were still around. It was pretty emotional to run around that track completing something that only 1% of the population ever do. I didn't cry, although I was close (Courtney said she'd disown me if I cried).

I finished. In 5 hours and 39 minutes. An 8:06 pace. (Sometimes I can't even hit that pace in a 10k training run, let alone 42.2k) So, I'm impressed.

After the Race

I had training runs harder than that. Why? Because of adrenaline. Because of having a great support team. Because I spent a week eating well. I spent a week sleeping well. Because my training runs were run in the heat of the summer and after 8 hours of work.

As the last person coming in, I received a bottle of wine and a really nice print from the artist who designed the logo, and medal for the race this year. They are very nice. I followed up the race with a massage.
I appreciate so much the moral support given to me as I ran my race, that I've decided I have to pay back. I won't race Valley next year. I will volunteer.



What I Learned

I don't train well in the summer. 2 full time jobs. The heat. Rural running. Alcohol.
I race a better time with a pacer.
I need to start eating and sleeping better
A Marathon finish is easy if you put in the miles.
A fast marathon finish is a lot of hard work.


***I'm sure I've forgotten some stuff that I included the first time. If it's important I will add it after.

And PS: in case you weren't paying attention. Those are Gu Gels in my bra. 

Siiiick

This is day 12 of the cold from hell. I am starting to get better but it really is a slow process. The lack of energy and lack of being able to breathe has been very bad for training.
I have only managed a 5k run in these 12 days. I did manage to get in two P90X workouts though. I have missed what I think are the two most important training runs in a training cycle. My 22k and my 24k runs. My 25k race is in 2 weeks and the longest run I've ever done, EVER is 21.5K. I might be ok physically, but psychologically, I'm not prepared for that distance.
It looks like I didn't update after the Hypo Half snow storm.
I took off work early on Monday after the storm and ran the half by myself. It was a beautiful day for a run but the sidewalks and roads were still snow covered. It made for a very long half. Over 3 hours.
I also had a fun training run (I thought for sure I posted about this run. Weird) Anyway, my daughter was racing at Dalplex a couple of weeks ago. 2 I guess now. (AUS was last weekend, so it was the weekend before). I thought I would run from Dalplex to home after her event. In the rain. Boy did it rain.
It was about 14k. Took me about 2 hours. Tech material is pretty cool. You don't realize how good until you get soaked in a rain storm. I didn't feel the rain at all. A little old lady took a tumble in the middle of a crosswalk on Robie street so I gave here a hand getting back up and crossed the street.
I also had a major freakout as I was crossing the Macdonald bridge. Scared of heights.








That's all my stop and gos. It was a pretty messed up freakout.


This weekend was a write off running wise and next weekend is not going to be good either. RV Show in Moncton this weekend and RV Show next weekend in Montreal. I also have 3 days to get 7 days of full time work to do this week. If I'm going to get in a long run it needs to be tomorrow. I guess we'll see how it pans out.

2013 Hypothermic Half

February 10, 2013 was the 2013 Hypothermic half. It was also the day after the Nor'easter named Nemo. *Insert eyeroll here* I think in total we got 40 cm of snow. 30 cm or so overnight on Friday, and then another 10 cm or so overnight on Saturday. Leading to raceday on Sunday.

As long as it wasn't snowing on Sunday and the route was relatively ok, I was bound and determined to run.

The race was supposed to take place in Eastern Passage. (The course and the starting place had changed even prior to the storm). Once wind of the storm took hold the organizers decided that they would move it from Eastern Passage where the roads were certain to not be plowed to Dartmouth Crossing, where the roads would have been plowed. There is apparently a 1 mile path that goes around the Village shops. The plan was to do this loop 13 times. That doesn't sound that bad. Plus it was a flat course. YAY!

They gave people the option to run in Dartmouth Crossing. You could run it on your own at a later date and email them (honour system), or the two running room stores were offering up routes next Sunday to run.

Got up at 6:30 looked outside, made coffee and then contemplated my day. It wasn't that cold. And it wasn't really windy. -6 temp with a -14 windchill. Talked with the friend I was going with and we were still not sure. In the end at 7:30, she opted out. I got dressed and headed out.

Got to Empire Theatre in Dartmouth Crossing and was really surprised at the amount of people there. I should have taken a picture. I spoke to one of the volunteers about the route and I guess HRM limited them to the Empire Theatre parking lot. That's a whole lot of yuck. If the loop is anything less than a km, we were looking at over 20 laps around and around and around.  And around.

I sat in my truck watching people arrive, and watched people walk around, and watched the organizers try and get things set up. The parking lot is one big open space and the snow was being blown around pretty fierce. Along with people.

I just didn't feel right supporting that. Running is supposed to be fun. Relatively speaking. I don't think it would have been dangerous. They were doing what they could to keep people safe. Keeping people contained in a parking lot. But it just would have been a miserable run.

There were also no porta-potties. I personally can't run 20km without having to go to the bathroom.

And then looking at the people that were there, they were definitely hard core runners. These people would have been finished the half in 2 hours easy. There ain't nobody going to want to stand around waiting for a three hour finisher to run in those conditions.

So in the end, I said screw it. I will run it from the Bedford Running Room next Sunday. Came home and ran on the treadmill.

Do I think they should have cancelled it? I don't know. There were a lot of people ready to run this morning. 100 or so, by the time I finally left at about ten minutes before the gun. That's pretty significant, I think. There were less than that for the Falmouth Freezer last year and that still went on. I drove to that too. I think that if they had been able to come up with a route that was longer than a few hundred metres, I would have stayed. At least we would have been able to have some semblance of shelter running between the buildings.

Anyway, it's time to hit the shower and get ready for the Hypo Half brunch. That is still going on.

What I ate Wednesday

I thought I'd give this a go today. See what happens. I of course, forgot to take a couple of pictures, but I did get most. This is what I ate yesterday.

For breakfast it was oatmeal with craisins. I've eaten the same thing for weekday breakfast for over 2 years. Yep.


Next up is mid morning snack.





I never did get around to eating the orange. It's still in my lunch bag for today.

I forgot to take a picture of my lunch. It was my last bowl of turkey vegetable soup that I made from our Christmas turkey. That was probably the best soup I ever made. It was so good. Along with it I had a ham and cheese biscuit from Tim Hortons. It's a surprisingly nice complement to the turkey soup.

Afternoon snack was yogurt. I used to eat Greek yogurt with some fruit but I found out this has more protein and less calories. Not by much so it's not a big deal but I was always concerned about added sugar in these.





After work I headed out for my 8k tempo run. It was a beautiful January thaw night. Great night for a run. After some technology problems it turned into one of the best runs I've had in awhile.

I got home to a nice home cooked meal cooked by my wonderful husband. <3





The picture is way dark. Oops. It's a chicken salad with strawberries, pecans, craisins and feta cheese. So yummy. I had left overs today for lunch.

The other picture I forgot to take was my bedtime snack. It was 2/3 cup of Quaker Harvest Crunch. 1/8 cup if craisins and 1/2 cup of milk.

A full day of yummy food. Did I mention I love craisins?

2012 year in review

I'm a little behind on this. But as in running, better late than never, right?

I ran 1241 km in 2012. My average pace for the whole year was 7:40 per km. January's average pace was 9:14 for 116 km. through to December's pace was 7:06 for 175 km. I'm pretty happy with that.

Probably the best thing I did for my running this year was finally get out and start running with a local running club. It's been great for my speed and self confidence.

Races

Lets see if I can recap them all with a little information.

Falmouth Freezer 10.55k - that was a cold messy one. The roads were icy and snow covered and i remember one open stretch through farmland that was so crazy bitter cold. We had just had a storm that morning. We didn't know if we were going to go or not. We did. I ran the 1/4 marathon. I beat the guy doing the 1/2 by about 15 seconds.

Bluenose Half Marathon - This was my first attempt at the half marathon. It would also be my fastest of the year. 2:45 or so. It was a really sunny hot day. I remember that I was so appreciative of the shade from the buildings. I also remember that gross hill in Point Pleasant Park.

Oh my goodness. How could I forget. That was the race where I blew a tire on my way in from the campground. I didn't have any tools to change it myself, so I had to call hubby and get him to drive the half hour to help me. Lots if runners stopped on the way to offer assistance. <3

Muffin Run 5k - this is a great little run in Lunenburg. The feast and prizes at the end are incomparable. This was a really speedy run. My second fastest for that distance.

Maritime Race Weekend 21.1k - it was a really nice morning for a race but boy did it warm up fast. This race was on Saturday morning at 7:30 am. Touring through Eastern Passage and Cow Bay. I did not train well over the summer for this race, and suffered an ITB injury before this one.

Harvest Valley Half Marathon - this was the second of three fall halfs. I was still suffering with my ITB issue but surprisingly it was my IBS that got the better if me this race. This race was the first time I had ever run 12 km without stopping. I slowed down through the water stops but that was it. About km 13.5 I took in too much Gatorade and that was the end. I couldn't maintain a jog for more than a minute or so.

Legs for Literacy half in Moncton - this was a great race for me. I did have to make a pit stop at about 11k. I walked through the water stops, but other than that ran it all.

I promptly started physio for the ITB after this race.

Lucky 7 relay 7k- I actually ran 14k. This was my fastest run ever. My pace was under 7 minutes for the 14k. This was a great flat course around the Halifax Common. I thought I'd be bored running around in circles but it wasn't bad at all.

Resolution Run 5k - I ran this with my daughter. Boy she's speedy. It was a cool night but warmed up nicely once we got going.

That's my year in review. I've had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to 2013.

2013 Goals

I've finally decided that I'm going to work on speed this year and worry about marathon training for next year. The prospect of a 6 hour marathon just doesn't do it for me.

I'll work on a sub 30 minute 5k, a sub 60 minute 10k and a sub 2:15 half.

If I can do that, then I'll start marathon training.

I'm definitely going to keep running with the club.

Races for 2013

Heart & Sole Fun Run 10k - Feb 3
Hypothermic Half - Feb 10
Moose Run 25k - March 17
CUA Lung Run 5k - April 13
Bluenose Half - May 19
Muffin Run 5k - June
Maritime Race Weekend 5k and half - September
Valley half - October
Moncton half - October
Lucky 7 7k - November
Resolution Run 5k - December

I also think I'm going to do an away race either in the fall or winter.