The Road to the Half

Well, the Big Weekend has finally arrived. 3 months of training with...well, let's say over 350km clocked with my running shoes. I have battled sore knees, twisted ankles, busy schedules, pouring rain, cold weather, and just days where I didn't want to get out of bed at 4.50am...yes that is 0450 in the morning!
But I've also had beautiful sunrises, fantastic fellowship with fellow runners, wonderful conversations, and a few yummy post-run breakfasts. There have been a couple of smaller races thrown in the mix to spice it up.
And now, I'm here. I planned for everything: don't over-train and burn out, don't run on an injury and make it worse, do add in more stretching and strength training to my running regime. Do plan to kick ass in this race.
But there was one thing I didn't count on. One thing I couldn't possibly imagine would run me up short.
Sickness.
That's right, Monday morning I woke up with a feeling of dread and an even worse feeling in my chest. By Wednesday it was a full-blown sinus infection and I've had to take the whole week off work - a whole week! From the girl who had 1.5 combined sick days in the past 18 months! I went from running 24k with triumph to not being able to stagger 1km without struggling to breathe and feeling like I was going to cough up a lung.
I have been dousing myself in antibiotics and cough syrup and cough drops and so many other medications I feel like a walking pharmaceutical. But the truth of the matter is that being sick wipes out your energy. I can block my symptoms to the best of modern medicine's abilities for two hours, but being able to run when all my spare energy is going towards healing? That is more concerning.
More than a few people have told me to drop the race. That it's not worth it. That there is always another race to run. How many times have I told that to others in my situation?
But with my parents finally - finally! - here to see me race, this has become more than "just another race". This has become The Race to run! The most important race I have run to date. And I am doing it not just for me, but for a wonderful woman who is no longer with us, and to support those she has left behind.
So, run, walk, or stagger, I hope to make it through the 21.1km at the Gold Coast. I hope I can cross that finish line to celebrate the months of training, my parents' cheers, my friends' support, and in memory of a great woman and inspiring runner (thinking of you, Steffi!).
Oh, and Happy Canada Day on Sunday!

The Car of Slow

This morning we ran the dreaded Mt Coot-tha loop for hills. The scary thing about this is that it is a loop. No turning back! No pausing for rest...the only way is forward, and that clock is ticking!
To add motivation to the fire, our coach drives around in his car and has "check point" stops to check on us. This is also The Car of Slow, as in, he will offer to shuttle slow runners to a more advanced point. Yikes! I won't call it the Vehicle of Shame, because there is nothing shameful about being slow...take it from me!
The first 3 or 4k was all uphill before we finally reached the top. And then our coach told us we needed to pick it up if we wanted to finish the loop on time and avoid getting a lift along the route. So, there we were, huffing and puffing up the hill with thoughts of the Car of Slow looming in our minds. (Or maybe just my mind). 
I picked up the pace until I was burning as fast as I could...and then another runner asked if I could hold back to run with her. It's early, dark, and isolated on the mountain. So we ran together, because that's what friends do.
And as we crested the other side of the hill...

We ran a bit slower to enjoy the view before heading down into the cold, misty trail. The temperature change was incredible! It is moments like that which make you glad to be alive, glad to be running. Glad to be with a friend.


Total distance: 9.30km
Total time: 1.01.08min
Avg pace: 6.34min/km

My Weekly Marathon

Most days, running with a group can be fantastic. But every now and then it can backfire. How can it backfire? Well, simply by the various running skills of the runners in the group. You see, we all want to run together, but when you have someone fast pushing for a 5.00 pace running alongside someone slow wanting a 7.00 pace, it can get tricky. The 5.00 pace runner is subconsciously going just that little bit faster, while the slower runner is puffing along trying to keep up and not pass out from exertion.

Then also, you get the runners who train every Saturday as if it were a race day. With all the fancy watches they time each second, striving for a record-setting pace with every passing kilometre. 5.50 pace? Ha! I did that last week. This week I want nothing less than a 5.45 pace.

Okay, okay. I might sometimes be guilty of that. It is always exciting to see that fancy little watch tick down to a super fast pace, because then I can pretend to be one of those fast runners. Plus, hunger often strikes around the 15k, so the sooner I get back, the sooner I can eat!

But more often I'm the person who is puffing along trying to keep up with those cruising pace-setters and flailing behind as everyone else motors ahead.

Today in our long slow run we started off at a steady 6.30 pace. Beautiful! Then somehow those faster runners got in front and picked it up. But today, fortunately, I had another gal in my group who was happy to hang back with me. What a beautiful thing it is. We ran the first 13k at a faster pace with the group, then dropped it back. The less exertion we spent on running, the more breath we had to talk! It certainly makes those kilometres feel a lot more engaging and a lot less long.

Besides, considering my Big Race is in two weeks, no sense pushing it too hard on the long slow run today! I am getting pretty excited.

Total distance: 19.47km

Total time: 2.01.50min (not including water stops)

Total elevation: 215m

Avg pace: 6.10min/km

Just as an addendum, an error in resetting my watch after my training runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday turned into an interesting mistake, as I have the entire distance etc. summarized. So, across these three training runs (intervals Tuesday, hills Thursday, and easy run Friday) I had the following times:

Total distance: 25.21km

Total time: 2.42.10min

Total elevation: 485m

Avg pace: 6.21min/km

I find it interesting how closely these two figures match - three days of training vs one long slow run. And hey, I run about the equivalent to a marathon (42km) every week! Guess this gives me 42 extra excuses to eat more chocolate. Yum!

Last is Best of All

When I was a kid, we used to have "hierarchies" for the order we arrived in class.
First The Worst
Second The Best (or The Golden Weapon)
Third The Nerd
Fourth the Dwarf
[at this point, our young minds couldn't agree on proper names for the next 20 places - those kids lived with the disappointment of being nameless, and tried extra hard next time to come in that elite Top 4]
...until we got to the end. Last is Best of All.
Only, it's not, really. No matter how much that poor last kid tried to argue, it really wasn't best of all.

Fast forward 20-odd years.

Tuesday I had a fantastic run. We did rep:recovery splits of 500:500, 1000:500, and 1500:500 metres. It was fantastic! Not only did I run it super fast (for me), but in the end I felt I could've kept going. This is unusual for me, as normally by the end I just want to stagger to a stop and call it a day.
This morning was hills. And - surprise, surprise - I was last up the hills. Until a friend pointed out that I could be running faster than I actually was, and I realized my physical running speed was much faster than my mental running speed. So I think it's time I start trying to change my mental running speed. Because to be perfectly honest, Last is still not Best of All. But I guess in the end, it's better than nothing.

A Week in Review

It was another full week of running - no rest for the wicked! Or those training.
Tuesday we did the circuits where we went between 1-6min rep followed by 1min recovery. Again, we didn't know which length would come when. Unlike the last time we did this run, we did it over some small hills. Nothing big, but still...either I was going uphill or downhill. It was a challenge!
Total distance: 7.99km
Total time: 50.25min
Avg pace: 6.05min/km
Elevation: 117m

Thursday we ran along the hilly summit of Mt Coot-tha. Thankfully, no rain this week! I was also feeling pretty strong for this run. I may still have come in at the end, but I held my own.
Total distance: 7.42km
Total time: 51.18min
Avg pace: 6.41min/km
Elevation: 214m

Today I hit my 2nd 24k run of the season. Phew! The only nice thing is the knowledge that each time I run a distance it gets easier. And WOW, did I bring it today! I felt fabulous - well, as fabulous as anyone can feel over that distance. Sure, my legs started aching with 6k to go, but I still managed to finish strong. And the best part? I got to keep up with my fast running buddies rather than falling behind them as I always seem to do. It was so great to have them push me along at a challenging pace rather than watch forlornly as they charge on ahead.
Total distance: 23.9km
Total time: 2.29.09min
Avg pace: 6.14min/km

A Triumph of its Own

It finally happened. All day Saturday I looked out with dread at the weather. Sunday morning I woke up early for race day...and rain. The day had arrived when I had to decide whether I would have it in me to race in the rain.
So it's a good thing I've had some practise!
I picked up a friend early - the awesomest of friends who has been my ground crew at this race for the third year in a row. I don't think he knew what to do with himself now that I was running a 10k rather than a half marathon as I'd done the previous two years. What's this? Only a one hour wait instead of two?
As always before the race, strategies and race goals pawed through my head. After doing so well at Noosa - indeed, after holding myself back at Noosa out of fear of re-injury to my knee and getting my best 10k time in 3 years - I was confident I could do this.
But, oh! That rain! It was misery. Absolute, total misery. I even did a brief warm-up in my raincoat to avoid getting wet for as long as possible. But you see, this was my first mistake. As it was not just raining, but humid. I think I still have too much Canadian in me: I associate rain with cold, not hot.

As they called us out to the start line and I shed my excess layers to my friendly ground crew, I realized I was rather over-heated. I didn't have much chance to cool off before the gun went off. And by gun I mean someone yelling 'go!' into a microphone. I crossed the start line, and by start line I mean an uneven line of chalk someone had hastily scratched across the road that was already fading in sections from the rain.
I tried to keep up with some running friends - mistake. I felt the surge of the sprinting crowd (somewhat small as the rain had scared off the smart ones) and went with them. I was well within my goal of a pb for the first 3k before the internal struggle began. The rain - after doing a fine job of saturating me had mockingly left to leave humidity in it's wake. I stared at passing runners wearing plastic ponchos in shock. Seriously?
I gulped a few sips of water at the 3k water stop which, I later discovered, was the only water stop for the 10k runners, as we turned around earlier than the half marathoners. A second water stop taunted us 50m past the 10k turn around point (which, because of the loop we ran, was actually closer to the 7k mark). Cruelty! I refused to run an extra 100m just for a drink of water.
In the end I did run an extra 100m because the race was slightly longer than a regular 10k race. No, this is not a race known for it's professionalism!
I struggled, I was slow, and in the end I ran a pitiful time. I barely broke the 60-min mark (if you count only the 10k and not the extra 100m at the end). But I survived a race in the rain. Therein lies a small triumph all on its own.

The Two Minute Run

Thursday morning. It was pitch black outside and drizzling heavily. I desperately wanted to go back to bed (can I help it if the book I was reading the night before was really, really good?).
We started our hill session with a warm up along the slick road. The drizzle increased to pouring rain within minutes. But this is Thursday morning hills! Not a session for the weak at heart. We were hardcore. We were tough.
And we turned around and ran straight back to the cars to go home.