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.

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.