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.

Marathon Training Week 1

Well, I got motivated enough to write a post. I'm not guaranteeing that I will continue to write posts. But we will see what happens.

A quick 2014 in review. 

I trained for the 2014 Bluenose marathon. It went as well as could be expected. 5:28 and some change. A couple of highlights. I spent most of the race in last place as usual, I managed to pass a couple of other ladies just after Shubie Park. We played chase back and forth for most of the race until we hit Inglis Street, where I managed a speed burst and basically left them in my dust. YES! This race was also a 10 minute PR over Valley in the fall of 2013. So that was very good.

The rest of 2014 went very poorly. I trained poorly for the Niagara Falls marathon and it showed. 6:48. We had a wonderful trip though. When I was done, I swore I would never run another marathon again.

It didn't really take me that long to decide that I would run Bluenose, but that I would run with a Running Room Clinic.

2014 also saw me completing 400 days of running at least a mile. Sort of. We did a lot of snow shoeing in the winter, and I counted that. We also got a new border collie puppy named Sam in August after we lost our baby Daisy the month before. Sam is going to be my running buddy once I get him trained, but he is too young to run any distance now. So some of my miles were taking him out for walk / runs. Some of those were very very slow, and probably shouldn't be classified as runs at all, but guess what. It's my streak. I will do what I want. HA!

Total mileage for 2014 was 2201.79 km.

Goals for 2015

Let's start out with the easy ones. I'd like to PR the Blue nose marathon. I'd like to lose 30 - 40lbs. I'd like to run 2400km.


Marathon Training Week 1 - Jan 11 - 17, 2015

Sunday - I actually ran a race today. A 10K. It was MEC Race 1. It was  a really nice day for a run through Point Pleasant Park. It was a very hilly run and very icy. But I am very happy with my time. 1:19:31. Start the training cycle with a race. End with a race. Right? Sunday was also my 4 year runniversary. So, it was a pretty big day.

Monday - Monday's are rest days and also Sam's obedience training days, so this was just my treadmill mile.

Tuesday - Tuesdays are always 6km tempo days. I was pretty tired today. I ran 5.34 km in 45 minutes. That's the time to beat from now on.

Wednesday - Today was a 10km tempo run. I did manage to get some tempo paced running in there, but I'm not sure how much as my phone was too cold to keep track. 9.5 km 1:20:00 best guess.

Thursday - Tonight was my first clinic run. It was awesome. What a great bunch of people to be running with. I'm really looking forward to completing the clinic with them. 6.1 km Steady. 43:57.

Friday - Friday's are another rest day. However, I took Sam out. I have been neglecting him and our walks lately and he definitely let me know it. 35 minutes for 2km. My weigh in was today too. I didn't lose any weight on the scale this week. We took DS out for a birthday supper tonight. I had wings and nachos. I have had such a cheese craving this week. Need more cheese.

Saturday - It was a tad bit chilly today. -12C with a -25C windchill. The sun was shining so it really wasn't too too bad until I hit a wind gust. Brrr. I also did a bodypump class. I used low weights on my squats, I didn't do the lunge, shoulders or abs session. I was zonked.

Sunday - Sunday was our first Running Clinic long run. 10km. I was suffering big time from my class on Saturday. It was hard. It was slow. There was a huge hill. EEK!

All in all it was a really good week. I'm very excited about training for this marathon. I'm also still maintaining my streak. Sunday was 418 days of running*. I've also given up alcohol for this training cycle too. This should be interesting. That way I will be able to get up and go on the weekend mornings and get my runs in. I'm sure it will help with the weight loss too.

Week 1 - 40km run this week
             - 84km run in 2015
              - 2lbs lost since January 1
              - Streaking 418 days and counting
              - Alcohol free for 9 days.

Bluenose Marathon 2014

I ran the Bluenose marathon yesterday. That makes marathon #2 in the books.

First of all I want to say thanks to the organizers and the volunteers for making this another great event. I've been hearing so many positive comments as usual about this event. Good job. I'd also like to thank Joanne for training with me and Luc for cooking suppers and keeping the house clean while I was out running.

18 weeks of training

As many of you know, I have been run streaking since November 29th. What started as the Runners World run streak from US Thanksgiving to New Years day turned into 172 days and counting for me. So a rest day for me is a mile. It takes me longer to put my gym clothes on and off then it does to actually run the mile. HA!

The week leading up to the race

I knew from the my last marathon how important it is to get properly fueled right the week leading up to the race. 200-300 grams of carbs plus clean eating. My eating went to hell this time and I do think that did hamper my performance somewhat. I could have done better, but for some reason my DGAF meter was pretty high.

NOTE: It's Jan 23, 2015 I just found this post that I hadn't finished writing. I will finish it now. I'm going to back date it too.

I really enjoyed this race. It was wonderful to race on home turf.

I really don't remember but the food couldn't have been that much of an issue. I PR'd it. 5:28 and some change.

Before the race started, I took my place behind the 5 hour plus marker. There was only 3 or 4 of us there. When the horn blew everybody took off like their asses were on fire. I kept thinking "Why is everyone running so fast? They are going to blow up" As I watched everyone get further and further away. I'm going to assume they did, because of the 3 or 4 that were in the 5+ hour corral, there were 23 that finished 5 hours plus and 3 that didn't finish at all. Don't start off too fast.

I spent most of the race in last place. When we hit Shubie Park, I was able to pass a couple of other ladies. We spent most of the race vying for last place. I do remember hitting Inglis street and I put the thrusters on. I passed the two of them and they weren't able to catch up after that. That was probably 8k from the finish, I think.

What was the hardest part

The hardest part for me was running through the parks. Shubie park is very twisty turny and hilly. Point Pleasant Park while not so twisty and turny, had the hardest hill in the whole race to conquer. Serpentine. Both parks are crusher dust. I find it hard to run on, and because I tend to shuffle, I tend to get a lot of rocks in my shoes from running through the parks.

Everyone complains about the Blue nose marathon hills

The Bluenose is a very technical course. There are hills. There is terrain differences. But most people complain about the hills.

The Bridge - People complain about this. I really don't know why. But they do. The swaying bridge over open water scares me more than the slight, long incline.

Nantucket - Right after you get off the bridge, you have to climb Nantucket. There are worse hills coming up. Don't worry. This one is a piece of cake.

Woodland - This takes you up behind Mic Mac Mall and heading into Shubie Park. I don't really even remember anything about this one. I know it's there, but it wasn't really memborable.

Maple - Anyone from Dartmouth dreads this hill. It's a killer. Yep it is. It's steep. But you climb it fast. There are a lot of spectators on Maple to help carry you up to the top. Before you know it, you are on the straight away heading back to Halifax.

Brunswick - This is a little irritating incline at the finish / half way point. I'm not sure why this is so irritating. It's not steep. It's not overly long. It's just irritating.

Ramp at the Casino - This is another irritating one. It's a little steep, but it's not long.

Serpentine - This is about 5km from the finish. It's in Point Pleasant Park. It's steep. It's long. It's winding. It's on crusher gravel. Your tired. This is brutal. BRUTAL.  But once you reach the top you're only about 3.5 km from the finish. Home Sweet Home.

2013 in review

For the most part I had a fantastic year.

Start with the lows

My father in law had a stroke early in the year. He recovered for the most part but he does have some memory and speech problems.

I gained 30 lbs. that is just gross.

Friends around me suffered some losses. Children, parents, siblings, spouses, friends, pets. Divorces and separations. I hope they have a better year in 2014.

And the bombing at the Boston Marathon. We were in the middle of planning our trip to this event, when the opportunity for Cuba presented itself.

and now for the highs

We had our fair share of RV Shows. Halifax in January. Moncton and Montreal in March.

We took a family trip to Cuba. It was a great trip. It definitely was not long enough. We will go back someday.




My step son graduated from St FX university. And my son ( the baby) graduated from high school. Daughter received the Academic All Canadian award.

We had another campground season that was pretty good. It was so cold May long weekend. It snowed in some places. Gander NL got 20 cm of snow that weekend.

We managed to get in a couple of camping trips ourselves in this year. One to Hidden Hilltop in Truro and a couple of weekends at Spry Bay Campground.




Hiking through Taylor Head Provincial Park was so much fun. I'm looking forward to more hiking in 2014.




The mud run and Run or Dye were run at Martock on the Cross Country skiing trails. I really enjoyed running through there. I'd like to get a chance to cross country ski through there too.

We also got to go to the 2013 Tourism Summit this year. We really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun and really interesting. We learned a lot. I'm looking forward to going again next year.

Christmas Eve we had an open house. I had an absolute blast. I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. It was probably the highlight of my holiday.








Looking back through Facebook at my 2013 I realize that we eat a LOT of lobster. And I say "and I didn't even poop my pants" more than any person should.







Running Highlights

Hypothermic Half in February. 21.1 km. This was sort of postponed due to a blizzard. So I ran mine the next day.
Lung Run in April 5km
Bluenose Half in May 21.1 km PB



Lunenburg Muffin Run in June 5km 32:35 PB
Mud run in July 6km
Maritime Race Weekend in September 5km and 21.1 km
Run or Dye in September 3 km *eyeroll*
Valley Harvest Marathon in October 42.2 km 5:40:00
Lucky 7 Relay in November 7km
Mad Dash in November 10km 1:14 PB
Resolution Run in December 5km

One of my goals for 2013 was to hit a sub-30 5km. I came close but didn't quite hit it. But I am happy with my progress. My distance goal for the year was to do at least 100 km per month. I didn't hit that in August, but I did for every other month and broke a total of 1600 km for the year. What I did do, was race every distance this year and I PB'd them all.

I took part in the #rwrunstreak this year. The goal was to run at least one mile a day from US Thanksgiving to New Years Eve. 34 Days. I ran every one of them.

That was 2013 in a nutshell. Stay tuned for plans for 2014.

2013 reading

One of my goals for 2013 was to read more. I read some and listened to lots. I kept a list and here it is. I found that with all the driving I do in the summer, I get to listen to a lot of books. Once camping season was over, I didn't have the time and the books were sent back to the library before I got to finish. I really enjoyed the James Patterson books. I'm looking forward to reading and listening to more.


1) Abduction - Mark Giminez - This had flashbacks to Vietnam war. I'm not a big war story fan, but this was a good book.
2) Eat Run - Scott Jurek - Enjoyed this
3) 50/50 - Dean Karnazes Feb 10 - Enjoyed this
4) Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs - Mar 2 - Really slow. Hard to finish
5) Born to Run - Chris MacDougall (audiobook) Good book.
6) Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn really enjoyed this one. Hard to put down
7) The Brethren - John Grisham ( audiobook) - I expected more from the ending.
8) Kill Me if you Can - James Patterson ( audiobook) this one was really good.
9) The Postcard Killers - James Patterson (audiobook) - Good. But I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first JP book.
10) Violets are Blue - James Patterson (audiobook)
11) NYPD Red - James Patterson (audiobook) I really enjoyed this one. Probably my favorite JP book so far.
12) Along Came a Spider - James Patterson (audiobook) I have never seen the movie, so it wasn't spoiled.
13) Now You See Her - James Patterson (audiobook) Another JP Fav.
14) Private - James Patterson (audiobook)
15) You've been warned -James Patterson (audiobook)
16) Sail -James Patterson (audiobook)
17) You've Been Warned - James Patterson (audiobook) - good book. Loved the ending
18) Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsela (audiobook) - only got to chapter 5 before the library took it back.
19) Run for your life - James Patterson. Audiobook.