30kms: Race Report

Joy here...Well, I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning in the industrial city of Hamilton Ontario.  The sun wasn't up yet, and I ate my breakfast in the dark, hoping to fuel myself for a 3 hour running effort. It was -10 C and there was a cold wind creeping under doors and sneaking through bare tree branches.

I hopped into my car and drove downtown so that I could find a parking spot and be there before things got hectic.  With 11,000 participants in the various races - 30km walk, 30km run, 30km relay - I wasn't sure what to expect.  As I sat in my car, with my heat seater warming me up, driving through the sleeping town as the sun began to rise into a bright, clear blue sky, I was questioning whether or not I should really be doing this run.  I hadn't fully prepared.  Since January, I was lucky to get two runs per week in instead of my planned three or four.  And I hadn't run any distance longer than around 20kms.  How the heck would I pull another 10kms out of thin air?

Those were the thoughts plaguing me as I pinned on my number, and locked up my car, heading over to the start line to try to warm up in the frigid weather alongside people who really knew what they were doing.  I could overhear the chatter of fit athletes comparing this race to the Boston Marathon, or those who talked about this race as one step in their spring marathon plans, or triathletes using this race as just another training run in their Iron Man glory plans, and even others who bemoaned the hilly course and complained that even though it's only 30kms it's as tough as a flat marathon.

My heart began to sink.

Who would know if I just didn't do the race?  I was running alone.  The Man was a 5 hour drive away, just waking up with his cup of coffee.  Nomi was a 25 hour flight away on the opposite end of the world.  No one was going to be cheering me from the sidelines.  No one would be waiting for me at the finish line.  In short, no one would know if I just decided to pull out and go and get a donut.

No one that is, except for me.

I would know.  I would always know.  Even if I never told a soul and pretended I did the race, I would always know that I came so close to the starting line and chickened out.  And to be frank, I knew that I just couldn't live with that knowledge.  It would sit in my belly like a little stone of failure growing and weighing me down with every successive race.

So I jostled among the thousands at the start line.  I lined up to use the port-a-potty only to never make it to the front of the line before the race began.  I would run the first 5kms with an over-full bladder until I finally found the port-a-potties out on the race course.  While I stood in line for these ones, I saw the 3:00hr pace bunny run by, and there was nothing I could do.  I was still standing in line when the 3:15hr pace bunny ran by.  I had hoped to run this race as an easy long race in around 3:00hrs, but as I stood there waiting to pee, those plans vanished at the 5km mark, and I knew I'd just be running my own little run, without worrying about pace or timing at all for another 25kms.

And that's what I did.  It was cold, but bright and clear, and I just got my breathing steady and off I went, now with an empty bladder.  I tried to clear my mind and get in the zone, but I kept on thinking about everything around me - the sights of the ugly early morning city with the grit and grime of winter still cluttering what may be nice lawns in the summer, the sounds and chatter of the runners around me having their conversations and voicing their own goals, the feel of the chill air on my nostrils and the cold of my sweat between my shoulder blades - and I never really zoned out of that physical reality.  It was there with me every step step step of the way.

And some of those steps were pretty hard to pull off.  I ran pretty comfortably and consistently for about the first 20kms.  At that point, things began to hurt.  I began to tell myself that I couldn't keep on going, because I was under prepared, and my feet and hips began to ache.  By the 23km mark, I made a deal with myself and was letting myself walk in 30 and 45 second intervals between 3 to 5 minute running intervals.  And it was as I was hobbling along like this - run, walk, run, walk, run, walk - that I turned a corner after going over a bridge and looked ahead of me to a steep incline reaching right up into the cold blue sky.  I had been going for about 25.5kms.

I almost cried at the sight of that hill.

And then I began walking up it.  My arms were swinging, and I was hoping that I'd be able to at least walk up at a decent pace, but running up that incline was more than I could do.  And I wasn't alone.  There were more walkers than runners around me at that point.  I guess those with the fitness to run up that incline were long gone, maybe even across the finish line by that point.

(Note:  Page A1 of The Hamilton Spectator ran a story on March 26th about this hill, calling it the "Achilles Hill," and Drew Edwards, the article's author writes:  "The climb starts gently, just enough to lull the mostly exhausted runners into a false sense of this-isn't-so-bad security before taking a hard left turn. And then it begins. The road turns straight up, a vertical piece of pavement stretching into infinity. It's a muscle-shredding, soul-destroying climb, sapping whatever strength remains in their legs and whatever fight lingers in their now rapidly-beating hearts. They arrive at the top wanting more than anything to curl up in a ball and go home.")

For me, as I felt demoralized and had almost convinced myself that I'd be walking the rest of the way, I saw a former schoolmate of mine cheering from the sidelines.  I took a second glance to make sure it was him, and then I launched myself at him in a huge hug, and said "It's killing me!" or something like that.  Bless him, he (who is a triathlete) walked me up that hill, encouraging me all the way, and at the top, he just looked at me, pointed to the stadium where the finish line awaited me and said:  "Look, you can see it from here, it's just about 4kms all downhill.  You can do it!  Pump those legs and go!"  And you know what?  I did.  There was no pathetic walk, run, walk, run for me.  I just ran my little heart out to that finish line, and I even had enough in me to sprint the final 100m to cross in less than 3:15!

My official race stats are:
Ran for a total of 30.26kms in 3:10:39 with an average pace of 6:18min/km.

All things considered, that's not too bad...and if I hadn't wasted time on my pee break, then I would have made it even closer to 3 hours.  But no matter what - pee break, walking, or cold weather aside - I am proud and happy.

Last year Nomi and I signed up for our first 10km race ever, and here I am, a mere 10 months later running a 30km race.  I never thought I could do it.

The card AK gave me to congratulate me on finishing the race
as she, her husband, and I all compared notes over wine and dinner!

Thank you to my friend on the hill, to Nomi and Lulu in Malaysia, to all my friends and family who supported me along the way (including my nearly 90 year old grandma who let me stay at her place in Hamilton and made me post-run soup for lunch and AK my running inspiration), and thanks to The Man.

Now...I guess I've got to set my sights on a full marathon, don't I?

Over and out,

Joy

The Lion Roars!

Joy here...At the beginning of March I was trying to convince myself that the old adage would be true and that March would come in like the proverbial lion and out like the proverbial lamb.  Hah!  Fat chance.  My 30km race fast approaches, and the weather still sucks.  I thought the snow would be melting, but it's back with a vengeance.  I thought that the mercury would be rising, but it's staying stubbornly low.

Needless to say, I'm pissed.

But being pissed doesn't make me any fitter or any faster, so in this week before my race, I've been trying to take it easy without falling off the wagon entirely.  I went for an easy run on Tuesday and did my spinning class on Thursday, and this morning I'm hopping in my car to drive for 5 hours to get to my 30km race site.

Here are my pre-race workout stats:
Tuesday's Run:  Ran for a total of 54:31:53 for a distance of 8.88kms with an average pace of 6:08min/km.
Thursday's Spinning:  Rode for a total of 58:46:46 with an average heart rate of 126 beats/min.

And now I've got a long road ahead of me and an even longer run before I'm done.  I'll sign back on with a race report once I emerge on the other side.  In the meantime...hold your breath and keep your fingers crossed for me!

Over and out,
Joy

No Glory or Runner's High

Joy here...Well there's some hope that spring is arriving, dragging her sorry @$$ as she comes.  Some of the giant snow banks have begun to melt, and more often the precipitation is rain rather than snow.  Even with this slowly changing temperature and its effect on my slowly changing mood, I still have to admit that I'm wholly underprepared for my 30km race that is now only a week away.  I haven't had either the time or the inclination to build up my long runs to the distance that I would have liked, and so Sunday will be the first time ever that I've run 30kms.  We'll see how that turns out, now won't we???

I've been riding my bike more than I've been running, well, basically because I can ride indoors (on my trainer or in my spinning class) rather than face the snow and ice outside.  All I'm hoping is that there'll be some cross-over fitness.

Here's a summary of what I've been up to:
Wednesday - Rode indoors on the trainer for an interval ride (7 sets of 2-minute intervals):  Rode for a total of 1:21:02.
Thursday - Had spinning class, followed by 1 hour strength training, followed by a run:  (1)  Rode for a total of 58:40:56; (2) Ran for a total of 56:26:16 for a distance of 9.01km with an average speed of 6:16min/km.
Friday - Rest Day
Saturday - Ran for a total of 1:15:30 for a distance of 12.41km with an average pace of 6:05min/km
Sunday - Ran for a total of 2:03:39 for a distance of 19.98km with an average pace of 6:11min/km.

So Sunday's run - 2 hours of running for around 20kms - will be my last "long run" before next Sunday's race - which will be 3 hours or running for around 30kms!!!

I won't treat this upcoming race as a race per se, but rather as just another "long run."  I won't do anything special or have some kind of tricky race plan so that I can blast ahead.  All I'm going to try to do is hold on for about 3 hours and see if I can do it.  I'm not hoping for glory or a runners high, but rather for a sense of accomplishment despite my limited preparation.

And when I get discouraged that I'm not prepared to run 30kms, I'll just remind myself that it's March, and I'm running half-marathon distances right now...a distance that I never ever ever thought I'd be able to run. Period. Sometimes a little perspective is a very healthy thing.

Over and out,
Joy

PS - If you've been wondering what's happened to Nomi since the start of 2011, don't you worry, she's just fine.  She's started a new job, which is taking up a lot of her time, but she's been able to maintain her treadmill runs, and is running 60 mins a few times a week, with a 75 mins run as her long run.  We're still signed up for our half marathon together at the end of May, and we've even started looking around for hotels in Singapore!

Snow snow go away, come again another day...

...NOT!  I'd rather you just melted and stayed the f@#% away for good!

March Snowbank

Joy here...Well Thursday was going to be a triple workout with spinning, followed by strength training with our trainer, and then a run.  But with 20cms of snow falling overnight, I had to throw those running plans out the door and hope for better weather.  Instead, I just had my spinning class and then had an intense workout with our trainer, who, I'm convinced, is a sadist.  I think she's really enjoying making us suffer, because suffer we did.  My arms and legs were shaking, and I thought that I'd face-plant into the mat after doing pushups.

The sidewalk I dared not run on.

She also broke my heart a bit by telling me that Garmie's readings of my calories burned might be a little bit off.  She says that there's no way that I burned 1,572 calories on Wednesday's indoor trainer ride, and so now I have to figure out what's wrong with my little gadget so that I can have more accurate readings.  Bummer.

Here are my ride stats from my spinning class (without the calories, since that seems to be wrong...alas):
Rode for a total of 57:57:14 with an average heart rate of 142 beats/min.

My 30km running race is 2 weeks away, and I guess it'll take me about 3 hours to run that distance, but I haven't done a run longer than 2 hours and change, and so I'm getting a little bit worried.  I'm hoping that all the riding that I've been doing and the interval training on the bike will help me out, but in the end, I have a feeling that I'll be doing a long, slow run and feeling a whole lotta pain in the process.  So on March 27th, spare a thought for me, okay?

Over and out,
Joy

Drunk on Information!

Joy here...Back when I started running The Man bought me a Garmin Forerunner 405 CX.  This little watch gismo tells me pace, distance, heart rate, and calories burned.  I will admit that when I first started running, I just used it to time my runs (...please, god, just let me make it to 45 minutes...only 15 more to go...huff, huff...).  However, as I got fitter, I was able to program it for a certain distance, say 10kms, and then it would chart my pace and beep at the halfway mark, and then I would know that I only had 5kms left to go!  When I got sick of looking at pace, I would toggle the screen to the heart rate display so that I could run according to heart rate (i.e. effort).  Basically, once I got into using my little Garmie, I was drunk on information and loved it!

I would recommend this model or another one that does many of the same things for anyone who is either wanting actual data to help improve and hone a training plan.  I would also suggest it to the beginner runner (like me) who doesn't have body awareness.  Garmie gives me information so that I can compare one run to the next, but also information that helps keep me on track during a run.  For me, I find that it's a really helpful motivational tool, because my little negative voice in my head that is constantly telling me to "just stop now," or "take it easy," or "you can't do this" and Garmie provides me with objective data that counters that little voice.  So if you're a beginner runner and you think that fancy gismos like this are for "serious athletes" (said with a stern face and solemn voice), then think again.  More information is always better than less information.

In keeping with that motto, The Man just bought me a little, basic computer for my bike so that when I'm riding on the trainer indoors, I can still get data about pace.  You see, when I ride my bike outside, I can use Garmie, because Garmie connects to satellites, and can give me real-time information about my pace on the bike; however, when I've got the bike on the trainer indoors in my basement, that satellite link is about as useful as tits on a bull (to borrow one of my dad's more colourful phrases).  So my new little Strada by CatEye can tell me pace based on how many repetitions of the wheel there are.

So now I have a new device that allows me to be even more drunk on information!  You see, if you've ever sat on a bike on a trainer and tried to ride indoors you'll know that it's INCREDIBLY BORING.  It's like a psychological torture test just to make yourself sit there.  However, if you can do some specific drills on the bike while sitting there, it can make the time pass more quickly.  At least, that's how I feel.  On Monday, we did "tempo sets" which were 6 sets of 90second big gear, hard riding.  Now the way that I knew each 90second set was equivalent was that I could look on my new little computer and keep my speed the same.  If my regular riding speed on the bike is around 28km/hr, then my tempo speed for those 90second sets was around 38km/hr.  And yesterday, we did 7 "stomps," which are 30second really, really hard sections.  So basically we rode for 20mins at around 28km/hr, and then sped up to about 45km/hr and held it for 30 seconds, and then had 10mins back at 28km/hr before doing another 30second stint at 45km/hr.  It was hard, but made the time on the bike fly by.  And more than that, the payoff was great.  I burned 1,572 calories in less than an hour and a half.  If your workout plan is about weight loss, then you should seriously consider these kinds of drills!

Here are my stats from yesterday's indoor ride:
Rode for 1:25:01 with an average heart rate of 126 beats/min and a total of 1, 572 calories burned.

Over and out,
Joy

A Hating Day

Joy here...Tuesday was a hating day.  It was one of those days when I carried my feelings of anger and sadness around on my back like Quasimodo's hump weighing me down.  If other days I can look out at the world through rose tinted glasses, then yesterday I looked out at the world through shit tinted ones.  It was just one of those days.  I've whinged enough on this blog about winter and how it brings along the winter blues, and so I won't waste my or your time by revisiting this topic.



The only remedy for my grouchy mood was to head out of doors and go for a run.  Running always helps me to get through those crummy moods, and I always feel better after a run than before a run.

That is, of course, when I'm not running through snow and ice.  And add to the piles of snow and ice, some icy puddles where some snow has melted, and you'll start to get a picture of the winter gauntlet that I ran.  Only about 5 minutes into the run, and already I had experienced what Canadians like to refer to as "a booter," basically when you've stepped into snow or water so deep that it comes to the top of your boot and overflows into your foot.  So, of course, after a few icy booters in my running shoes, my feet were soggy and frozen, but I still had to keep on running.  By the end of the run, as well, those parts that had melted enough to be slushy became sheer ice.

Here are my run stats for my hating day:
Ran for a total of 58:53:51 for a distance of 9.09km with an average pace of 6:29min/km.

All in all even though my run helped to ameliorate some of my hating day feelings, it took all my willpower to last for an hour, even though I had hoped to run for an hour and a half or longer.  But in the end, I think that the only thing that will truly lift these feelings from my back will be the lifting of winter...any day now...please...spring, can you hear me?

Over and out,
Joy

First Week of March: A Week in Review

March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb!

Joy here...Well it's the first week of March, the month when people in the colder hemispheres feel so freakin' sick of the winter time that they're ready to raise their fists to the empty sky in frustration, to kick over snowbanks in anger imagining that they are really able to hurt nature and make her pay for her sick sense of humour, to crawl into bed and not emerge until mid-May, to scream primally at anyone and anything with little or no provocation, and generally to grumble all day and all night.

I am no different.

I feel terrible, and this first week of March hasn't helped.  There's been freezing rain and dumping snow all week, and the temperature has fluctuated from -2 C all the way down to -19 C.  So if this is the proverbial March Lion, then that lion sure is a biotch!

Joy the jogging lion!

Below are my stats for my week in review:
Monday - Indoor bike ride on my trainer:  Rode for a total of 1:24:19 and burned 397 cal.
Tuesday - Ran outside in the snow and ice:  Ran for a total of 1:09:01 for a distance of 11.08km with an average pace of 6:14min/km.
Wednesday - Rest Day.
Thursday - A Triple Workout Day!:  (1)  Spinning Class for 53:56:54 and burned 816 cal. (2)  1 hour strength session with the trainer.  (3)  Ran for 1:00:01 for a distance of 9.82km with an average pace of 6:07min/km.
Friday - Went climbing for 1 hour with our trainer.
Saturday - Indoor bike ride on my trainer:  Rode for a total of 1:10:01 and burned 422 cal.
Sunday - Rest Day (although I had intended to do my "long run" the snow and ice made an outdoor workout impossible)

So the green text shows that I got three bike rides in, and while I hope that that kind of cross training will help me build some muscles so that when I run up the hills in my 30km run at the end of the month, I'll be able to do it without collapsing, but the purple shows that I only made it out the door for two runs this week, and I need to be running since, well, it's a running race after all!

Fingers crossed that the March version of Mother Nature cooperates and lets me get out that door for a good, long run today to make up for my lack!

Over and out,
Joy