Bluenose Marathon - May 17th 2015

This is a lot late in coming. And it probably is going to be shorter than it should be.

I had an amazing time. I finished in 5:04 and some change. I was hoping for a sub-5 hour, but I'm ok with my time. I wasn't last. I was strong. I felt good. I was continually passing people.  I had a couple of issues that couldn't have been avoided. And yep. It was clearly more than 4 minutes worth.

I had a panic attack on the bridge. Going over was ok, there were lots of people and we were on the bridge deck. Going back it was windy and I was alone, and on the sidewalk and I panicked. I was actually ready to start screaming or crying when three lovely ladies came up behind me from Newfoundland and helped me across the bridge. I heart them.

The second issue I had was actually kind of funny. My lovely pace bunny, Sharon met up with me just after the first half. (The full winner past us just after I me up with her.) We were cruising along and I realized that I had a rock in my shoe. I couldn't move it around out from my foot so I had to stop. This was about 28km in.  I had my shoes tied in a manner so that I wouldn't get black toenails, but that meant that they were a bitch to untie. I finally got my shoe off, got the rock out and couldn't get my damn shoe back on. I ended up having to sit down on the grass to put my shoe back on. Sharon had to put my shoe on, because I couldn't even figure it out. LOL.

So back to the race. The first half was phenomenal. Across the bridge. Behind Mic Mac Mall. Through Shubie Park. Shubie was hard. It's twisty, turny, trail running. I could feel the twinge in my IT band and I thought I was going to suffer. I was dreading having to walk down the hill just before the finish line uphill because of my ITB. Hit Waverley Road. Got some high fives and a hug from my virtual friends. And an RL friend, who I didn't see and didn't even realize she was there. oops. Up Maple. Maple is my bitch! Cathy was at the top waiting to cheer me on and take pictures.

I have to say. It was amazing to have my running group there to support us. There were 5 of us from the running clinic that were running the Bluenose marathon. And 10-15 from the group cheering us on. 1 taking pictures on the route cheering. And 1 more out for a leisurely Sunday run, pacing me. It was so awesome. :)

Back to the race. Over the bridge and up beside the finish line, around the Hill and off to do the second half with Sharon by my side. :) HRP Chief Blais was out directing traffic at one of the intersections, with his nice smile. Right Sharon? Down to the North End of Halifax. I ran the entire first half without a walk break, but the second half I did 10 and 1's. Which worked well. I needed every one of them.

From the North End of Halifax, we made our way all the way back to the South End and the dreaded Point Pleasant Park. PPP is a nice place to run. But it's nasty as hell at the 35km mark. The trail. The gravel. The Hill that never ends. And after you manage to get through that hill, with so little energy left in the tank, you still have probably another km to go before you actually get out of the park and get back on the road for the final 5km.

I tried to kick it up a few notches in the last few km's because I could see that I was losing my sub-5 hour goal. But in the end, it wasn't meant to be. I had lost too much time, and I hadn't had a gel since 27 km and was using gummies as my fuel.  It was still a 20+ minute PR, which is incredible to say the least. And I did meet my secret goal.

Speaking of gels. Here's another funny Sharon story. So, I took my 3:00 hour gel right on time. I was taking them every 45 minutes. It was about the 27 km mark I think. And it did not settle well at all. I thought I was going to have to take a potty break. Out of the blue Sharon asks "Need a pepto?" I was shocked LOL. So I took a pepto pill. It settled my stomach. And we were off again.

Remember I mentioned my ITB was flaring during Shubie. It did ache for most of the race. But the only time it actually bothered me was at the bottom of Devonshire. That's a really, really steep downhill. I actually had to take that as a skip and a hop down the hill. I couldn't run that straight on. The downhill that I was really concerned about was down Cogswell just before going up Brunswick and the finish line. That didn't bother me at all.

Some pictures.

I loved the training for this marathon (Once I moved my tempo runs to the treadmill), I really enjoyed the clinic, I will probably join another one in January again. This race re-ignited my love for this distance after the disaster of Niagara falls. 

So what's next? I decided very early on in this training that I don't do well training in the summer heat. But I can maintain a half marathon fitness level. So I'm going to run three half marathons, in three weeks, in three provinces. Valley. PEI and then Moncton. However... Secrets be told I will attempt to follow a marathon training schedule for Moncton. Once I get close to the end, I will decide if I will attempt it or not. After 4 marathons, I'd like to see what I can do on a flat course.

In January I will join another marathon clinic. And decide later in the cycle whether I will attempt Fredericton or stick to Bluenose. I like racing on home turf, but I have my eye on Boston, so I want to race on a flat course to gauge an attempt. Bluenose is a very hard and technical course. Brag, brag, brag. LOL.

Well, I guess that this is longer than I wanted it to be. I'm sure I missed something. 

Marathon Training - Vacation

This is a recap of weeks 14 and 15 of marathon training. I had so much to do to get ready for vacation that week 14 was in the crapper. My car died on the Wednesday and ended up in the shop and I couldn't have gotten to Bedford anyway without hitching a ride. (Which I was offered, but because I had too much to do, I didn't take). I also missed my two last long runs. a 29 km and a 32 km. I had the routes all planned out, but in the end, I bailed. I was really iffy on running that kind of distance in unfamiliar territory. I am disappointed with myself. But I will deal with it.

It's been so long, I can't even remember that far back.

Week 14

Monday -  1.6 km - Mile rest day.

Tuesday -  2.6 km - Today was our association spring fling so I couldn't do tempo after work and unfortunately, I forgot and didn't get up early enough to do 6 km. But it was still tempo pace.

Wednesday - 1.6 km - So very tired today from the excess everything last night. I remember this week now. Oh boy it was busy. And my car broke down to boot.

Thursday - 6.5 km - I did yesterday's 4 x 800 missed workout. That was really, really hard.

Friday - 3 km - Got up early and hit the treadmill. Worked until lunch time and then hit the road.

Saturday - 3.8 km - This was the start of 10 days of Sam and I out for our morning jaunts.

This is us sporting our new Canadog Cani-cross harnesses. 

Sunday - 5 km. We went exploring Salisbury, Massachusetts.


Week 15

Monday - 3 km. Marathon Monday. After walking and standing for hours and hours and hours. I still had to make sure I got my run in.

We had a great viewing spot. We were about 500 m from the finish line. This is the women's first place sprint to the finish. Not a great picture but it was great to see live.

Tuesday - 15 km. Sam and I went out for our 5 km walk, then I hit the road for a 10 km. I had planned to do my long run today, but it just didn't happen. 15 of 29.

Wednesday - 5 km. Sam and I out for loops.

Thursday - 7 km. Sam and I headed out for our morning romp and were rudely interrupted by an off leash dog. Effer. Scared my little baby. We geared up the harnesses and headed out on the town for a tour.

Friday - 1.75 km. This turned out to be a rest day. We headed out for our morning walk but Sam just was not into it at all. So we called it a day.

Saturday - 5 km. Our last full day in Massachusetts.

Sunday - 15 km. Sam and I hit the loops for our last morning. Then we headed to Groton Massachusetts where I ran a 10 km race. I PR'd the heck out of that thing. By a good 8 minutes. I was very happy with this pace. This was a little slower than marathon goal race pace, but I'm ok with that. Even if I'm 15 - 20 seconds slower than that on race day, I will be thrilled.

I also didn't do my last long run today. 15 km of 32. This, I am concerned about. Heading into the taper this week. 3 weeks to go. The plan calls for a 23 km long run on Sunday. I'm wondering if I should up this by an additional 4 - 8 km. Just cause.



Week 14 / 15 - 25 of 59 km run the first week and 52 of 64 km run the second week 

                - 792 km run in 2015
                -  0 lbs lost this week. - Didn't weight at all these 2 weeks.

                - 18.3 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 11.4 lbs to lose to goal. 3 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 515 days and counting
                - Boston vacation was awesome!

Now lets get back to the task at hand.

Marathon Training Week 13

5 weeks until the big day. And I have a huge ITB problem. This is not going to be good. Time to really start getting diligent with the ITB exercises. It would really suck to work this hard for 18 weeks only to be derailed by an injury. Vacation is next week, and although I'd like to say I will keep to the schedule, I know I probably won't. Which is probably I good thing. Rest for what ails me.

This week I also hit the 500 day #runstreak milestone.

Thinking back over this week. It wasn't a great mental week. Or Physical week. I spent most of the week fighting off a cold that finally grabbed hold on Saturday. And a lot of this week I was fighting stomach problems which don't make for good runs, but they also drain strength too.

Monday - 2 km. Rest day and strength. I see a slight improvement in my strength stamina. That's a good thing. I like this strength program. It's not intense. It doesn't take long. And I don't need any equipment if I don't have any available. I just need to find make the time to add more sessions during the week.

Tuesday -  6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. This was the sub 6:00 km pace that I had two weeks ago. It was uncomfortably uncomfortable. I hope to improve on this next week.

Wednesday - 15 km. HILLS! I am so glad that this was the last night of hills. 10 x 500 m @ 6%. I wasn't feeling the greatest with this run. The cold is trying to get hold. Stomach problems all day.

Thursday - 8 km. Treadmill run after supper. Not a bad pace for having a full belly of chinese food.

Friday - 6 km. Got my run out of the way early. I'm starting to doubt my choice of too many treadmill miles in the run of a week. I hope that it doesn't bite me in the ass come race time.

Saturday - 1.6 km. Runstreak day 500!!!!! And I celebrated with a mile rest day run. Well actually we went to the campground today and lugged our camping gear up the hill on snowshoes. That was a huge workout. 3 trips up the hill with heavy loads. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill once we got home.

Sunday - 23 km. Long run. It was an absolutely beautiful spring day for a run. We ran the Bluenose Marathon route in Dartmouth. The bridge of course was a major shit fest. Actually it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past. So, thanks to my co-runners for distracting me. :)



Week 12 - 62 km run this week 

                - 715 km run in 2015
                - 1.3 lbs lost this week. 

                - 18.3 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 11.4 lbs to lose to goal. 6 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 501 days and counting
                - 20 minutes of weights plus 45 minutes heavy lifting and lugging.

                - 6 days until my Boston vacation. 

Marathon Training Week 12

I'm slow on the draw this week. Really busy on the home and work front these days. Month end. Income tax time. Business bookkeeping. Campground business. Association business. GAH! The list keeps getting longer and longer. Boston bound on the 17th. I hope the snow is gone by then. Just heard from the campground we are supposed to stay at, and they still have snow. Not a surprise, but not good. Not good at all. I should probably check to make sure that if BeachRose falls through, we can stay at the State Park. Because I don't think I'm in the mood to camp for a week at the Wal-mart.

Back to the task at hand. There are only 6 weeks left to go until the big day. I am very confident that I'm going to knock at least 30 minutes off of my marathon time. The A goal is a 58 minute PR. That's the time I'm training for, and that training is going very well But I do know that all the stars need to align in order for this to happen.This week was a very, very tiring week. 90 km in 6 days, from Sunday to Friday. And I felt how tired I was with every step.

As I type this post I am eating a delicious salad. Burnside got a new Freshii restaurant this year. Their salads are SOOOOO GOOOOOD. But they are really, really expensive. The Metaboost Salad that I get costs $12 something with tax. That's an expensive salad. So I don't get them very often. This week however, after the gluttony of Easter, I needed a food kickstart so I bought all the ingredients for the metaboost salad and have been eating them all week.

Freshii Metaboost Salad

Romaine Lettuce

Kale

Edamame

Mango

Carrot

Almonds

Goat cheese (I bought a goat cheese with fig. So delicious)

Tofu (I pan fried it in the honey balsamic vinaigrette)

Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

2 TBSP Balsamic Vinegar
1 TBSP Honey
4 TBSP Olive oil
1 tsp mustard powder
(next time I'm going to add garlic)

Monday - 1.6 km Mile rest day. Did some strength training. I've modified the strength program to suit my needs. HA! I definitely felt the workout on Tuesday, so my changes are ok.

Tuesday - 6 km Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. This was a tad slower than I wanted and it was still very very hard. But like I said, it was a very tiring week and I felt the workout from Monday night.

Wednesday - HILLS!!!! 14km. 9 hills. Only 1 more week of hills to go.

Thursday - 6 km. A steady run through Bedford after our clinic talk. My paces were really consistent for this run. The most consistent I've ever run. 6:49 6:53 6:49 6:56 6:56. The talk was with a Boston qualifier and an Ultramarathoner. It was an interesting discussion, it just could have been more.

Friday - 32km Good Friday long run. Emotionally this was a really fun run. The group I run with are a fun bunch. Physically this run was a real pain. And I mean that literally. The route was on "rural" roads (Rocky Lake Road) and so the grade was very uneven, which flared up my ITB. That last down hill on RL was excruciating. Things I learned while on this run. I need a water belt with more capacity. I need more sugar. Gels are good, but sometimes I need a quick rush. And take tylenol in case I have any pain. I'm ok with the liver damage. Here's an interesting article on meds and runners.

I've been seeing all of these pics with the #fitsnap hashtag. I didn't find out until this week, that it's actually an app. Fitsnap. Here's my first pic from our 32 km long run.

Did I mention that we stopped for munchies?

Saturday - 1.6 km rest day. As can be expected, I was tired. The knee felt ok. So that's good. The plan was to get some strength in today too, but I didn't. However, the Spartan Race is in 9 weeks, so I really should get my act in gear. Yes. I am registered for this race. Yes. I'm scared. :)

Sunday - 10 km. Ran from home today. This is the first run from home in months. The old knee started bothering me at the 5 km mark so we headed back. But I was running on uneven road, so I'm not too too concerned right now. I'm doing my exercises (PS: that's a video showing 10 exercises. It's legit because they are the same exercises I paid money to a physiotherapist for)

Week 12 - 72 km run this week 

                - 653 km run in 2015
                - .2 lbs lost this week. 

                - 17 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 12.7 lbs to lose to goal. 6 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 494 days and counting
                - 20 minutes of weights 

                - 13 days until my Boston vacation. 

Marathon Training Week 11

WOW! 7 weeks to go. I'm working really, really hard and smart (I think), to reach my goal. The goal is a 4:30 ish Marathon. That's a HUGE PR, so anything remotely close is going to be AWESOME. The two most important things I did this year is switched my tempo runs to the treadmill. I think I said that before. And added weight training. I haven't been very structured or consistent with it, but I can definitely tell that it is helping.

Monday - 1.6 km This was my mile rest day. I had a bit of hip pain from my long run the day before, but it wasn't sore while I was running, so I kept on keeping on.

Tuesday - 6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. I hit a sub 6 minute tempo run this week. I am over the moon about this. I was hoping to reach this by the end of the cycle, but gosh darn golly gee, now I have to set a new tempo goal. The new tempo goal is 5:30 pace. That might be a little lofty for the next 7 weeks, but I guess this cycle has been all about the loft.

Wednesday - 9 km HILLS! On the the treadmill. This was a little slower than prior weeks, but I got it done. 8 x 500 m @ 6%.

Thursday - 8 km. Clinic night. It was the talk about the feet. General consensus was that it was probably one of the best discussions to date. It was really interesting. It was a great run. And NO SNOW! We got rained on instead. But that's ok.

Friday - 6 km. Got my run in before Costco and beer. Yep. You heard that right. My beer free streak is back to zero. Or actually 2 for the end of the week. I found this fun little app for my pebble watch that I wanted to try. It is called SoberUp. You have a drink. You click the button. It tells you what your estimated BAC is, how long until your BAC is back to zero. And your condition. Euphoric. Disinhibited. etc. Yea, I know. Not much to do with running. But hey.

Saturday - 1.6 km. Mile rest day. And a little bit of strength training.

I'm trying a new program. We will see how that goes.  The gist is that you work your way up from very easy to very hard exercises in 5 categories of movements. Pulling. Squatting. Inline Pushing. Perpendicular Pushing. And Bending. Starting with 2 sets of 12 reps in each exercise. 20 minutes. 3 times a week. I should be able to manage that. Monday is a rest day. Friday is a rest day. Wednesday is hills, so I will have to force myself into that one. I did manage to break a door on my first workout. Only 7 doors to go. oops.

Sunday - 29 km. Seriously! I am really sick of the snow. It's the end of March it should be over now. /endwhine. We were supposed to get 5 - 10 cm of snow. It turned into 20 - 25 cm. Woke up to a winter wonderland again this morning. This was a good run, but it was a clusterfuck of a run. The original plan was a few klicks, then up Rocky Lake Drive. Snow turned that into Shore - Union and back 3 times. But once we hit Shore and were about to hit Union, some other runners told us that Union was very snow covered, so we thought we'd take our chance on the Bedford Highway. Going out was not bad, but coming back was miserable in a "We are either going to get run over by a truck or hit by a road raging driver" Are road raging drivers that irate at pedestrians walking down the road, or is it just runners that make them go bat shit crazy?

Week 11 - 62 km run this week 

                - 581 km run in 2015
                - .5 lbs lost this week. 

                - 17.2 lbs lost since January 1. 

                - 12.9 lbs to lose to goal. 8 weeks to go.
                - Streaking 487 days and counting
                - Alcohol free for 2 days. 
                - 20 minutes of weights 

                - 20 days until my Boston vacation. 

Marathon Training - Week 10

The last week of winter sure went out with a bang. We had snow Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday night. We had more snow on Sunday and Wednesday then we had during White Juan. And that was on top of the already 2 or 3 feet of snow that was everywhere. There is just nowhere left to run. The roads are just barely wider than single lane. And most of the sidewalks are not plowed, and if they are, they are ice covered.

All my runs this week were done on the treadmill and the track. Yep. Long run on a track. I also kicked up the treadmill a notch. The 5 mph was getting too easy, and I noticed that my steady runs were too slow based on my training schedule paces. Oops. I thought they were ok at 8:00 / km. The steady runs should have been at 7:08 / km, so 5.4 mph on the treadmill.

They finally did manage to plow our sidewalks at home. I was able to get Sam out for a little walk this week. My poor old running buddy isn't getting any running in. He does go to daycare, so he is getting his exercise. He also found a new fence to jump in the backyard, so now we are back to leashing him and taking him out.

Mom, I can't see what's going on.

Monday - 1.6 km. A mile rest day.

Tuesday - 6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. I really pushed it for this run. I did have to stop a couple of times because there was a pebble in my shoe that I couldn't get out. But I'm happy with the pace.

Wednesday -  8 km. Storm day. I think in the end we got about 60 cm of snow. My car was buried and we had to shovel it out.

Yep. That's my car.

For whatever reason, I actually thought I'd be able to do my run after shoveling. (What was I thinking?) I hit the treadmill and could only manage 3 of 7 hills. I had a rest, had some supper and hit the treadmill again. I was able to finish the other 4. So 1 km warm up. 7 x 500 m x 6%. And 1 km cool down.

Thursday - 8 km. I did this one at the faster pace. On the treadmill.

Friday - 6 km. There's another storm coming Saturday night. It's supposed to be rain and it's supposed to be over by 8:00 am, but just in case the clinic decided to run long on Saturday, I wanted this run done beforehand. My thought was, with that much rain coming, the roads might be flooded.

Saturday -  1.6 km. Another rest day. I'm actually glad we didn't run long this day. I was plum wore out from this week.

Sunday - 26 km of 29 km scheduled. So I wake up at 6:00 am this morning and look outside and there's 5 - 10 cm of snow on the ground. FFS!!!!! I was up with Sam at 3:30 and had him outside and it was still raining, so we had a full fledged blizzard in 2.5 hours. The clinic decided that we would run at the track. 132 laps of the 220 m track. It's a nice facility. I wouldn't mind running laps there again. Just not 132 of them. I could only manage about 30 at a time before I was going shack wacky. And I was forgetting to hit my lap counter, so then I was getting annoyed. I did 33 laps. Hit the treadmill for an hour. 32 more laps and then hit the treadmill again.

Week 10 - 57 km run this week 

             - 519 km run in 2015
              - 2.2 lbs lost this week. 

              - 16.7 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 13.4 lbs to lose to goal. 8 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 480 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 72 days. 
              - 0 minutes of weights 

              - 27 days until my Boston vacation. 

On the agenda for Week 11 is 6 km Tempo Run, 8 Hills, and then the regular 8 km and 6 km steady runs.

Marathon Training - Week 9

This was a really good training week. I feel like I'm progressing really well and I feel like my 4:30 goal may actually be within my reach with 9 weeks left to go. Switching to the treadmill for my tempo and hills runs was probably the best decision I have made.

Benefits of Treadmill Tempo runs

• I'm able to push harder on the treadmill than on snow covered roads.
• I'm able to maintain an even pace for longer duration which carries over into road running.
• This is really interesting. I find that because of all the miles at the same pace that I've done, that when I zone out, I'm actually running that pace and breathing at that rhythm. That whole repetition thing. Very interesting.
• It's not as easy to slow down on the treadmill as it is on the road.
• I'm not a victim to the elements.

Monday - 1.8 km. This was my mile rest day. I did a bit of everything, run, foam rolling, yoga, weights. I'm trying to be a little more proactive with the post run recovery. 

Tuesday - 6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. I was really happy with this run. It was almost uncomfortably hard, and I had to slow down a couple of times to get my breathing back under control. 

Wednesday - 8.77 km. Wednesday night hills. I actually went to the clinic for this run. That was a pretty decent hill. 6 x 600m @ 5%. I'm a week ahead of most people, so it was a little awkward when I had to run an extra hill by myself while everyone patiently waited. The hills are definitely harder on the treadmill. So I won't be that upset if I miss a clinic run to run them at home. I will say that I was pleasantly runner's high from this run. Gotta love it.

Thursday - 8 km Steady. After two relatively hard workouts, I was surprised that my "easy" pace for this run was a 7:30 / km. It was probably a little harder than an easy, but when I think back (I actually looked back) to this time last year my tempo pace was 7:30 and my easy / long run paces were between 9:00 and 10:00 / km. 

Friday - 6 km There was a big storm brewing for Sunday, so we decided to run our long run on Saturday this week. I have found in the past that I prefer to run this 6km easy run on Friday instead of waiting until Sunday or Monday when we run long on Saturday. I could tell my legs were a little weak, but that was totally expected.

Saturday - 19 km. This was a cut back week. Other than being a little sick with a cold (I took some tylenol cold and sinus that worked really well), this was a great run. OK. I did have a little hip pain from running on sloped roads, but it's long forgotten now. The temperature was fantastic, if not a little cold. No wind. No tummy troubles. I didn't run out of water, but I am going to have to address that before next week. The only thing to complain about was the lack of patience of the drivers on the road. They were not happy at all. FYI, we really would prefer to run on the sidewalks. But the choice is ice or irate drivers. We'll take our chances with the drivers. Most of them have a conscience and morals. Ice would take us out and not give two shits about it.

Sunday - 2 km. Rest day. HA! I actually like doing my long run on Saturday and having Sunday and Mondays as "rest days" I feel like I can get a half decent strength workout in on Sunday without having to worry about compromising my running due to DOMS. I did two 15 minute HIIT strength circuits after my run. 

Week 9 - 52 km run this week 

             - 462 km run in 2015
              - 2 lbs lost this week. 

              - 14.5 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 15.5 lbs to lose to goal. 9 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 473 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 65 days. 
              - 60 minutes of weights  

Marathon Training - Week 8

WOW! 10 weeks to go. The time is flying by. Literally. We lost an hour this weekend because of the time change. I'd really like to have it back.

It was a pretty uneventful week. I didn't get much reading done, so I don't have any great insightful websites or articles to offer up. I found a really cool RVing podcast this week, that I've been binge listening to. Roadtreking.com Dreaming of vacation and warmer days.

I don't want to say my long run this week was a disaster, because it wasn't, but it was definitely harder than it should have been. As I've been hearing, it seems it was a pain for a lot of people.

Monday - 1.6km Mile rest day. This pace is starting to get a little easy. I think I'm going to kick it up a notch. Just a notch.

Tuesday - 6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. My pace was all over the place. I couldn't find an even pace that I could maintain for any length of time. It wasn't a bad pace overall. Just kinda sloppy.

Wednesday - 6 km. Hills! Hills! Hills! I ran them on the treadmill again. I'm still not happy with the road conditions. 1 km warm up. 5 x 500m @ 6%. 1 km cool down.

Thursday - 8 km. This was clinic and 8 km steady. The roads are actually starting to thaw out a little.  I think the hills workouts are working. Go figure eh? We hit a couple of hills on tonights run that we are quite familiar with, and I didn't have the problem tackling them like a normally do. The clinic was on stretching. With a focus on yoga. Love love love yoga. Yoga is great for runners. It increases flexibility and strength. It helps maintain muscle balance. It improves focus and helps runners maintain their sanity for those long runs.

Friday - 1.6 km. It's Sport and RV Show weekend. I had to get up early and get this one done because it was going to be a long long day.

Saturday - 6km. Up early on a Saturday morning to get this one done. Show again today.

Sunday - 25km. Headed out to Bedford to run with the clinic. Time change weekend so we all lost an hours sleep. Some of us handled it better than others. Us didn't include me. My biggest issue was my stomach. I think part of the problem was that I tried to overcompensate for my lack of food on Saturday and I ate too much Saturday night. Even though it was good for me food, it was still too much. What goes in, must come out. I turned my time off before my walk down the hill ruined my pace time. LOL. I'd rather be short on mileage, than slow on pace.  Add that to being on my feet for the past two days. And then having Sam jump the backyard fence 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave, didn't leave me in a calm state to run long.

Week 8 - 55 km run this week 

             - 410 km run in 2015
              - 4.5 lbs lost this week. This isn't a real 1 week loss. This is the result of carb gaining last week. 

              - 12.5 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 17.5 lbs to lose to goal. 10 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 466 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 58 days. 
              - No weights this week. 

Marathon Training - Week 7

Rest in Peace, Pepere.

My father in law passed away on Wednesday, so we had to make the sad trip to Cape Breton for the funeral. It was nice to see all of the family together, but of course, sad that it had to be under such circumstances.

The Hypo Half was this Sunday, which I was registered for, and the marathon training run distance was 23km this week. I had good intentions of running the 23km on Sunday morning along the Cabot Trail, but it didn't happen. I did get out on Saturday afternoon for a run. I should have run the 23km then, but by the time I felt like I could, I couldn't let anyone know that I'd be gone for three hours instead of one. We were so far back in the woods, there's no cell service.


Monday - 1.8 km This was my mile rest day and some weights. After running 19km the day before, I had some itchy legs. I had a "need for speed", I called it. I managed 60 seconds at 8mph.

Tuesday - 6 km. Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. We had ice quakes over night. They kept me up a lot. Scared the crap out of me. I thought the house was falling apart. With the little sleep that I had, I thought I was going to be much slower for this tempo run than I was. I managed to maintain a 6:16 / km average for the 6k. I'm quite pleased with that.

Wednesday - 5.3 km. Hills training started tonight. The roads are still pretty crappy, so I ran these on the treadmill. 1km warm-up. 4 x 500m @ 6%. 1 km cool-down. These were all over the place. I couldn't find a pace I could maintain for all 4 reps, or even within one rep. I started out too hard and couldn't recover enough to maintain an even pace. But they are done. Next week will be 5 reps, but I will try a different pace to maintain.


Thursday - 8 km. This was our clinic discussion and 8km steady run. The nutrition information was interesting. I didn't really learn a whole lot, just reinforcing my opinion on food. A second opinion so to speak. I do wish she had spoken more about running as a vegetarian though. A couple of things that she did discuss that I didn't realize, is that fats act as an anti-inflammatory. I will definitely research this some more. She also mentioned that she wasn't able to train for a marathon using whole foods. (That may be putting words in her mouth, but that's basically the jist of what I got from it) That's disappointing. But what she said does make sense. The manufacturers of sport drinks and sports nutrition have put the research into getting the right mix of ingredients, nutrients, vitamins and minerals to make things work, so go with it.

The 8 km run was 5 laps around the Bedford Place Mall. This was basically the only route where the roads were semi clear. It was a nice night for a run. I sure do enjoy running in the cold. Yea, I'm a freak, I know.

Friday - 1.6 km. We were heading to Cape Breton early, early this morning, so I was up at 5 am to get this done.

Saturday - 6.75 km. I managed to get a run in this afternoon after the funeral. It was a very well needed run to get the cobwebs out of the attic. Gorgeous day on the Cabot Trail.


Sunday - 6 km. Headed home today. It was a very long and stressful couple of days. I didn't get the 23 km run, but when I got on the treadmill, I was only planning on running a mile, so I'm glad I had enough in me to run what I did.

Week 7 - 36 km run this week 

             - 355 km run in 2015
              - 1.2 lbs GAINED this week. Sooo many carbs this weekend. 

              - 8 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 22 lbs to lose to goal. 11 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 459 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 51 days. 
              - 30 minutes strength training this week. 

Marathon Training - Week 6

Why did I think I was further along than I was? I thought I was finishing week 7, not 6. Oh well. Not a big deal, just a random thought. I will say that last week just flew by.

It was a short week. Monday was Nova Scotia's first ever Heritage Day. Each year we will celebrate a local hero. This year we celebrated Viola Desmond. Viola Desmond was a woman who challenged racial segregation in New Glasgow in 1946.

After week 5, I pretty much stayed off of the roads. Except for my long run on Saturday, all my runs were done on the treadmill. I don't have a problem running in the cold. I prefer it actually, but I'm done running on roads without traction. It's not worth it to hurt myself with a hip or ankle issue. And forget about trying to run at a tempo pace, you spend your whole run just trying to stay upright.

I'm not sure if this is a haha funny or eyeroll funny. I actually forget what day this happened. When I run on the treadmill, I have to turn the heat off in the house because there is a vent right above the 'mill. (I also have to open the window and turn the fan on me. Did I mention I prefer running in the cold?) Anyway, of course I forgot to turn the heat back on when I was done running. The house was a balmy 12.5 degrees when I got up in the morning. Brrr. I actually thought it would have gotten colder than that over night.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my runs and stats for the week.

Monday  We ran our long run on Saturday, so that sort of messed up the weekend running. I was supposed to do 6km on Saturday. 16km on Sunday and rest on Monday. But because we ran on Saturday, rest on Sunday, I had to do my 6km today. I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or not.

Tuesday Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. I was concerned that because I ran 6km yesterday, that I was going to have a hard time today. This was a great tempo run. It was a controlled, harder than it should have been run.

Wednesday  10km tempo. This was a little slower pace than yesterday, but I was still quite pleased with it. I would be thrilled if I could get a treadmill 10km in under an hour sometime this cycle. Today was 1:10. Looking back through my runs, I do see my fastest one was 1:06, so that is the time to beat for sure.

Thursday 8km I was actually planning on going to Bedford for this run because it is clinic night and they were discussing hill training which starts next week. But alas it wasn't meant to be. Another snow event in good ole Snowva Scotia. (TM Courtney) It was a pretty uneventful run. I was expecting it to be a little difficult because of the tempo runs from the two nights before.

Friday This was a mile rest day. I should have added some weights, but I didn't.

Saturday 19km Another weather event coming for Sunday, so the group decided to do their long run today instead. Rain this time. The first part of the run was a very soft snowy, powdery mess. We were supposed to run on this three times total. After the second time, I was dreading running on it again. It was giving me some pain that I thought would turn to injury if I ran it again. And really, it was just making me plain old cranky. LOL. So I deviated from the group (as did a couple of others), and just ran up and down Union on the pavement until the group got back to Union. It was a much more enjoyable run once I knew I wasn't going to run in the snow anymore. My pace was a little slow, by about 4 minutes. I stopped to talk to dogs. And I also had to make a pit stop. I'm very, very happy that Rona opened this week.

Sunday 6km Again. Because we ran our long run on Saturday, it sort of messed up the way the weekend was supposed to go. This time though, I wasn't AS TIRED as I was last week, so I thought I'd try to get the 6km in on Sunday instead of waiting until Monday. The last 7 or 8 minutes were pretty hard. The legs were pretty rubbery. I was actually considering calling it quits at 40 minutes, it really wouldn't have been that big a deal, 5.5 km vs 6km, but I held on, if for nothing else than the mental game.

Week 6 - 57 km run this week 

             - 319 km run in 2015
              - 0.6 lbs lost this week. 

              - 9.2 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 20.9 lbs to lose to goal. 12 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 452 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 44 days. 
              - 0 minutes strength training this week. 

Marathon Training - Week 5

So. Much. Snow.  We've had so much snow lately. Top that with how cold it's been and you are left with an icy mess of crap, that is really hard to run on. We did have a small reprieve on Thursday where it was very sunny. That turned the icy mess of crap into a slushy mess of crap, that was even harder to run in.

An interesting article popped up in my news feed. It struck a chord with me, so I thought I would share it and my thoughts.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

1. They set various types of goals

     Process goals and Outcome goals. Long term and short term. Running goals and goals that are not running related.

2. They enjoy the process

     Enjoy the easy runs. Enjoy the hard workouts. Realize that all your runs are not going to be great, and that you can't let that deter you from the greater purpose.

3. They value consistency

     Doing the rights things day after day, week after week. Following a running plan. Getting enough sleep. Eating the right foods. Injury prevention exercises.

4. They run at a few different speeds

     It's like a running anthem, if you want to run faster, you have to actually run faster. Don't run all your runs at the same pace. Spice it up. Add some intervals, tempos, or hills.

5. They take their recovery seriously

     Recovery is when the magic happens. Muscles rebuild. Recovery keeps you from getting injured. 

6. They focus on quality over quanity

     Don't get sucked into junk miles. Make every mile count. 

7. They recognize and celebrate their acheivements.

     This is a hard one for me. I'm too hard on myself. No one likes an unappreciative runner. Celebrate your runs, and your ability to run even when things don't go the way they were planned. Be gracious when someone congratulates you on a run, regardless of how you feel about it.

Onto this week's training runs.

Monday Mile rest day. It was a little harder than it should have been, but not completely unexpected after my weekend away. Added some weight lifting.

Tuesday Treadmill Tempo Tuesday. Another hard go. I had to adjust my pace a couple of times. 

Wednesday Went to Bedford with the clinic to run a 10km tempo. It was pretty bad. It was not a tempo by any stretch of the imagination. 

Thursday What I didn't realize until this morning when I woke up was that on one of my many slip and recovers from last nights run, I had twisted my back. I headed out to Bedford for the clinic talk and a steady 8km. The talk was really interesting. It was about injury prevention. Something that I got from it, that I'm going to keep watching is my resting heart rate when waking up. Basically if your heart rate is 7bpm higher than normal, then you are stressed and you should rest. 

I actually had to cut this run short at 6.5 km. I twisted my ankle (for lack of a better explanation of what I actually did) on the uneven snow mess, and every time my foot twisted it would hurt more. So between that and my back hurting, I said screw this, and headed back. I was so done. 

Friday And... I wake up this morning to find that my hip is sore from last nights run. UGH!!!! I was planning on doing my 6km steady today, but now with my hip being sore, it was a mile rest day with some weights. The hip didn't really hurt while I was running on the treadmill, so there is hope.

Saturday I think it was -19 or something like that this morning. This weeks 16km long run was scheduled for 7:30am Run 11km before the 9:00am Running Room's 5km fun run. I came up a little short. 15.5km. The hip was pretty mad at me when I was done. I also broke a coil on my YAKTRAX. I'm pretty pissed at that. You pay $50 for something that lasts 2 freaking weeks. 

But in typical Angela fashion, my husband and I went candle light snow shoeing in the evening at Martock. We had a great time. But it sure was cold. They had stations set up around the course. chili, hot chocolate, apple cider, chocolate fondue. They had a band play for an hour and then they had a round of fireworks. 

Sunday I slept in until 10:00am. That is unheard of.  I spent most of the day completely exhausted. I could barely muster up the energy to run my mile. No weights today. The whole day was spent in my PJs.

Week 5 - 43 km run this week (I was 3km short of goal. I missed a 6km steady, that I ran Monday of Week 6)
             - 262 km run in 2015
              - 0.9 lbs lost this week. 

              - 8.5 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 21.5 lbs to lose to goal. 13 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 445 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 37 days. 
              - 50 minutes strength training this week. 

Marathon Training Week 4

Good thing I keep daily track of my runs on Daily Mile. I'd never remember anything for this post. What a busy week.

I didn't hit my long run mileage this week. I attended the Boston Globe Travel Show this weekend in Boston. So standing on my feet for 8 hours a day, kinda put the kibosh on running. Sort of. But lets start at the beginning. I have pictures this week too. 

I felt really good this week. Running was fun this week. We also had a lot of snow this week which made outdoor running harder. 

Monday - Rest day. I ran my mile and did 30 minutes of strength training. We had snow today, so Sam's obedience class was cancelled because of the snow, so I didn't feel so rushed to get some working out done. Here's the little pet.

Tuesday -  6km Tuesday Treadmill Tempo. This was a great run. I was so happy with this run. My tempo runs the last couple of weeks haven't been great, more interval then tempo, so I was quite happy that I was able to maintain my tempo speed for the entire run.

Wednesday -  Tempo 10km. I went out to Bedford for this run because I knew I was going away. The roads and sidewalks were snow covered, so the pace was slower than "tempo" but the effort was definitely there.

Thursday - I was up at the ass crack of dawn this morning in order to get my run done before travelling later. 6.9km instead of 8. The old legs were pretty tired after two pretty heavy runs. But it was still an enjoyable run.

We flew out Thursday afternoon and landed in Boston about 6:30, I guess. We stayed at the Seaport Hotel. What a spectacular hotel. Absolutely beautiful and the staff were amazing. And as you would expect from a hotel in the running capital of the world. Running road maps from the hotel. 

I actually didn't get to use them this trip, but I'm impressed that they had them.

Friday - Today was supposed to either be a rest day or a 6km steady day. It turned into my long run day. I headed out about 7:30 from the hotel. Once I got going I didn't want to stop. It was cold, but the sun was making sporadic appearances. About 3km in I took a look at the map and realized how close I was to this... 

I couldn't not go. I was planning this run for my long run on Sunday, but I had heard that Sunday was going to be a snow day and I didn't want to miss the opportunity, so I took it while I had the chance. 11.44km. My long run was supposed to be 16km this week, so I'm a little short. And then 5 hours of Trade Show. Long runs are all about time on your feet. I think I surpassed the goal in that regard. So I'm not going to worry about it this week. But I'm not planning on making this a habit. Especially when I go back in April. 

Saturday - 4.8km This was an easy treadmill run in the hotel gym. Nicest hotel gym I've ever seen. Huge with modern equipment. Then 8 hours of Trade Show.

Speaking of going back in April. There was a booth for New Hampshire Tourism that was having draws every hour of the show. My cohort in camping crime this weekend, entered her name for the draws and diligently went down to the booth for the drawings. (You had to be at the draw to win), She won a few things. And since I am going back in April, she passed along her winning to me. I'm very grateful. This is going to be one awesome trip. I'm going to have to bring her back a treat. :) So on the list of winnings are:

• A one night stay at a Best Western Hotel. (We are camping, so we may not use this one)
• A brewery tour registration for 2.
• A $50 gift certificate for a steak house restaurant.
• 4 Passes to the Seacoast Science Center.

We are actually staying North of Boston, which is about 30 minutes from Portsmouth, NH, which is where most of the passes are for. 

I also learned today that Maine has a desert. And that there is a State park near Salisbury MA, that is open year round that we MUST camp at when we go. Our trip is going to be super busy, but it's going to be super fun. I can't wait. WHEE!!

Sunday - 2.8km  I was pretty much done by this point. Over 16km in the past 2 days. 13 hours of standing on my feet. Concrete floor, I might add. And not eating the best food. (But still no booze), I just didn't have anything in me to run this morning. So I added 20 minutes weights in the lovely hotel gym. Winter Storm Marcus was heading into town and the day was going to be a long one. Our flight was supposed to leave at 5:25. We didn't get off the ground until 8:50 or so. It was after midnight before I got home and into bed. 

Week 4 - 44 km run this week (I was 2km short of goal.)
             - 219 km run in 2015
              - 1.8 lbs lost this week. I weighed in on Thursday instead of Friday.

              - 7.6 lbs lost since January 1. 

              - 22.4 lbs to lose to goal. 14 weeks to go.
              - Streaking 438 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 30 days. 
              - 50 minutes strength training this week. 

Marathon Training Week 3

Week 3 was kind of a mental week. I won't bore you with the mental details, just suffice it to say, it wasn't a good week mentally.

It took me most of the week to recover from the crappy eating from the weekend. Why do I continue to do that to myself? I love food. That's why. Anyway, I'm back to feeling better. I had someone else mention to me that flour might be part of my problem. Not gluten, just the flour. I don't eat a lot of flour now anyway, because I've read way too many bad things about it. Plus it's way too calorie dense. But I did last weekend. And maybe too much cheese / dairy. Read: yummy nachos with cheesy good dip. I guess I will start watching that a little more closely.

Monday -  This was day 425 of my run streak. This was also daughter's surgery day. She broke her pinky last week at a soccer game and had to have surgery this morning to fix it. Pins and a cast for the the next 3 weeks. This was a rest day, so it was a mile on the treadmill. I'm hoping I can turn these Mondays into a mile and strength day. I need to reorganize Monday's to do this. ie. I either need to get up an hour early, or I need to go to the gym at lunch time. Right now, we have Sam's obedience class on Monday evenings, which does work perfectly for the rest of my training, but I am in need of getting some strength done too.

Tuesday - Today was a storm day. Lots of snow. Because I didn't go into work yesterday, I went in today, in case I missed anything from yesterday. I thought I'd hit up the gym for my run today. 6km tempo. What a blah run this was. I got on 4 different treadmills to find one that didn't make a vibrating racket. I finally gave up and suffered through with the racket. Even with my headphones on it was still loud and annoying. Then I ended up plagued with tummy trouble and some sciatica pain. I couldn't hold a tempo pace at all, so I turned it into some intervals.

Wednesday - 10km tempo. Luc was working tonight, so I headed out to Bedford with the running clinic. The sidewalks and roads were pretty snow covered so even though I felt like it was tempo running, my pace on my watch didn't show it. But that's ok. Tummy trouble hit with about 2.5 km left.

Thursday - 8km steady. Clinic run in Bedford. Good run. Legs were a little tired from snow running yesterday but a good run, all in all.

Friday - Rest day mile. I was pretty tired today so I'm glad I took the rest day. I'd like to turn Friday's into a mile strength day too.

Saturday - This was a good 6km steady treadmill run. This was much easier than the 6km's have been lately. I'm starting to feel stronger. That's a good thing.

Sunday - 13km. Long run through Bedford. It was sunny but a little on the brisk side. I was expecting a lower wind chill so I was actually a little over dressed today. We really didn't hit any wind of any consequence until we were running down Rocky Lake Drive. I have to note that the Belgium Chocolate Biscotti at Second Cup are freaking awesome. I think that is going to be my post long run treat for a while. YUMMY!

Week 3 - 47 km run this week
             - 175 km run in 2015
              - 5.8 lbs lost since January 1
              - Streaking 431 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 23 days. 
              - No weight workouts this week.

Marathon Training - Week 2

Well would you look at that. Another post. This is Week 2 of the training plan.

Monday - Monday is a rest day. And boy did I need it. I was still suffering from Body Pump on Saturday. Did my mile.

Tuesday - 6KM Tempo Run. I did this on the treadmill. I like doing these on the Treadmill because I can control my speed. This one was much better than last Tuesday's Run.

Wednesday - 10KM Tempo. I ran this with the clinic group because I knew I was going to miss Thursday's clinic run. This was an awesome run. It wasn't very consistent tempo wise, but I felt great. I thought I had PR'd a 10k, but when I looked back, I did a 10km treadmill run in 2012 that was 1:06. But it was definitely the fastest 10km I've done in the last 2.5 years, so that's great. I will take it.

Thursday - 6KM Steady. I did this at the gym at lunch time. This was really really slow. 2 back to back tempos put a toll on this old bod. I love it. HA! Day 1 of the Halifax RV Show.

Friday - 6KM Steady. Friday's are supposed to be rest days, but there would be no time on Saturday to get a 6km run in, so back to the gym at lunch time to get this one in. It is seriously way too hot in the gym. The sweat just pours off of me. I did my weigh in today. I'm down 4.5 lbs since January 1. I will be scared to look at the scale next Friday after this weekend. I tried to control my calories, but it's so hard to try and eat properly when you are at a trade show. We did bring some healthy snacks to mitigate the damage.

Saturday - I got up bright and early to get my mile in today. 9 hours of RV Show and then a birthday party after the Show. I ate awful today. So. So. Awful. Nachos. Chicken wings. Some sort of taco dip and chips. But no alcohol.

Sunday - I went to Sunday long run with the clinic. 13km. This was hard, hard, hard. 3 days on my feet. Not eating or sleeping well. You really notice how those things affect your running. I did manage to keep up with the pace group until the last few kms. I got caught at a red light and couldn't catch up. Some of the group headed back for me. That was very much appreciated. Had coffee with the group for awhile and then headed over to the fourth and final day of the show. And then some much needed sleep.

I really do enjoy doing these shows, but they sure do take a toll on the body. Boston for a three day show in February (16km long run)  and then another three day show in March in Halifax (26km long run. This one won't be too bad, I should be able to run with the clinic for this one) . It will be interesting to see what runs I can do in Boston. I think I've spied a running club close to the Hotel in Boston so hopefully that will pan out. I'm back in Boston in April. This time for vacation. This will be a 32KM run. I'm thinking it's going to be hard to find someone to run that long with me the day before the marathon, so I'm on my own. I think I have my route all planned out for this one though. Very very scenic. And not much chance for me to get lost.

Week 2 - 44 km run this week
             - 128 km run in 2015
              - 4.5 lbs lost since January 1
              - Streaking 425 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 16 days.
              - No weight workouts this week.