Triple-A Goal

So.
Running has happened. Blogging about it has not.
I had a run in weather so cold (although it didn't feel cold until the end, when sleet came pouring down from the clouds) that upon my return I had what I can only describe as an allergic reaction to the cold: my whole skin turned bright lobster red and puffed out, and I had a rash all over my stomach. I shivered and coughed and thought "what am I getting sick with?" but after 4 hours my colour returned to normal and I was able to de-layer from my t-shirt, two sweaters, winter coat, toque, and two blankets wrapped around me.
I did some hill training with my sister, because nothing says "sisterly love" quite like trying to kick someone's butt going up a hill. Admittedly, I lost the race every time!
And of course, I have had my weekly indoor track training with the tri squad. The other day I even ran consistent 400m distances at a time of 1.43min, which is 4 seconds faster than the previous time I had run that distance! And I noticed I was starting to keep up to people that in January had looked oh-so-unattainably-fast.

But none of that mattered in comparison to today's training race. My goal is centred on the 16k leg of the K-100 relay I'm running June 21st. I am worried about the hills. What better way to practise than to sign up for a 15k race up to the top of Nose Hill and back? I put my name down, but didn't want to go crazy stupid about it. Not a race, then: a training run.
My goal time? Sub-2hours. But really, I told myself, I'll make my A goal sub-105min.
Nose Hill ain't no Mt Coot-tha, but it's still a fair slog. And I've never run it before, so I didn't really know what the hill would be like (steep or gradual incline? Undulating hills at the top or flat?)
The gun went off and so did we! What I didn't realize was that even getting to Nose Hill over 1k away was up a hill. So really, the first 4k was all uphill. I did my best to keep my pace chill and easy - no sense pushing too hard! It was a training race after all!
I tried to keep my effort level at a 7/10. At around 4k we finally hit the top of the hill. After that it flattened out a fair bit, with a few rolling hills (more dips than hills) and a strong wind just to keep things interesting. This sounds crazy, but I was sort of disappointed that there weren't MORE hills!! I joined in this race to get some serious hill training in, and just one big hill at the beginning - even if it was 4k long - felt a bit weak compared to what I used to do for hill training. But at least, I told myself, I could get some hills in along with the distance.
As I kept running I noticed something was wrong with my watch. That is, it was showing me a time that was surely much faster than it should have been. I shook it out a few times, but the darn thing didn't change.

 For $15, this was one of the cheapest and most well organized races I've been to! Sure you don't get the freebies, but when saving around $40-50, who cares? The water stations, km markings, road closures, post-race snack, and volunteer support were all amazing.

(Photo courtesy of MEC)

The long and winding road up Nose Hill. (Photo courtesy of MEC).

Could it be...was it possible...was I really going That Fast? For you see, as the km markings flickered past, I was staying at a very consistent sub-6min pace. After the first 6k I decided to just go with it, and try to keep my focus on same effort during the race rather than same pace. Burn out was likely, but I was interested to see how long it took and what would happen.
There were water stations every 2.5k, and I stopped for three of them. Actually stopped, drank my water, threw out my cup, then continued on. I never show so much courtesy in a "serious" road race (the road is my garbage bin!). But I just couldn't bring myself to throw out my cup in the park. What if it was missed by the fantastic volunteers? What if it just stayed there as garbage on beautiful Nose Hill?
At the turn-around, despite my water breaks, I was my time was well under 45minutes. And I have learned that what goes up, must come down (thank you, kindergarten!). So on the way back I would be going down, baby, down!
Off I went on the back half of the race, fully expecting and waiting for burn out.
And I did get it: my pace dropped from around 5.30min/km to about 6.05min/km. But I still felt I was ahead of the game. And since I still wasn't pushing too hard, it was easy enough to pick up the pace every now and then if I felt myself starting to slag. At 11k I reached the top of the hill, and I knew then for sure I was about to do something I'd never done before: I was going to reach my "Triple A" Goal.
In every race I've done, I've enjoyed the idea of an "A Goal" and "B Goal". And usually the A Goal, at least, has been fairly optimistic and often unattainable. But I can't think of a time when I smashed my A Goal. I mean, sure, at the beginning of the race I thought hitting a sub-90min 15k would be ideal, but I never even thought to try for it, because it seemed unrealistic for a training race.

Total distance: 15.00k
Total time: 1.27.41.

Dang!!! Triple A Goal it is! For once in my life, I am faster in reality than I am in my mind. It's kind of a nice change.

My 10k race (and first "serious" race of the season) is coming up next week. I hope the trend still stands then!

Strange Tidings

On Sunday I decided I needed to button down by buttoning up. That is, I needed to get out and do some training, but to do so I really needed to bundle up because it was cold and snowy!
I popped on my trail shoes to protect me from the ice, and wore my best winter running clothes I had.
When I got to the Running Room store to start the group run, I admit I was having a lot of clothes envy over all the runners bundled up in their sleek official winter running coats and all their special winter gear. But I steadied myself with the reminder that if I was a good girl and did the run, I would reward myself with a Running Room shopping spree afterwards!
My goal was to find a group going around 12-15k. That seemed easy enough.
Ha!
There were 4 groups leaving from the store: a walking group, an 8k group, an 18k group, and a 26k group. After some debate I joined up with the 18k group, because they promised we would be slow.
Slow is something I know I can do, after all.
Off we set into the sleet and wind.
The Running Room groups here do something I've rarely (if ever) done on a long slow run before. They went slow. As in, slow even for me!
They followed the format of doing 10min run : 1min walk. And it was one of those rare groups that - if someone started to pick up the pace - actually encouraged and reminded them the need to slow down! How crazy is that?!
It was refreshing! And not just because of the snow on the ground.
Off we plundered, and I forgot about the speed, the distance, and - yes, even the cold! I forgot simply because I was having fun. I chattered incessantly to anyone who would listen. When one person dropped off the conversation (quite possibly to get away from me) I started chattering to the next person. What a great time!
There were a few sections of slushy snow that we cautiously picked out way through, but for the most part the ground was ice-free, which was fantastic.
Before I knew it, 15k had gone.
After 15k, I felt every single step. I began to really look forward to the 1min walk breaks. Although I admit I was confused as to when exactly we took them, and it took me just over two hours to realize that 10+1 does NOT equal 10. That is, it was going to be a minute later on my watch every time. Oops!
And it turns out that the one thing the group wasn't so good at was planning distances appropriately. That 18k? Turned into a 19.5k instead! Yikes! From wanting to go on a gentle 90minute run to a 140minute run! That's a lot of extra I did.
But afterwards I felt great. Better than expected! As in, I felt the same as I usually do after a 20k run or so - no better, but certainly no worse. And I wasn't even the slowest of them all, which also surprised me! Normally I am back-of-the-pack-struggling-to-keep-the-others-in-sight. This time I was the front of the main group. And I was even reminded on a couple of occasions that I needed to slow down! How...strange.
I did lots and lots of stretching afterwards. Then I snapped out my credit card and did some shopping! No more running gear envy for me...

Relay Addiction

On Monday I saw a group of runners had signed up to be on a team for the K-100 Relay. It looked full, but I thought to myself, "I'll sign up on the waiting-list and maybe I can help out as a volunteer driver for the weekend or something."
Lo and behold! Less than 24 hours later I was told I would be a runner on the relay. Wait, what?!?!
Frantically, I squinted at the relay legs more closely. 16k is the typical distance.
Sixteen Kilometres.
 
  Weather in the Rockies in June can be a bit unpredictable. I just hope the roads look like this:

 Now that may not seem all that bad. But wait, there's more! I remind you that the K-100 relay is named after Kananaskis. As in, it's a relay through the Rocky Mountains.
At this point you're probably asking yourself, "Hmm, won't that make it hilly?" And you would be absolutely right!

Ulp.

 It bears repeating that hills are not my friend. And considering as of Monday I had just upped my distance to a mere 11k, neither was distance. This would not be a problem if the race were months away. But with just under 8 weeks to up my training enough to compete in a 16k hilly race through the mountains, that is putting a bit of time-bake pressure on the whole affair.

...And not like this...

But on the other hand, how cool would it be to run in another relay this year? I've done three in a row in Australia, and now I'll be at #4. I've become a relay junkie.
But before I could fully commit to this endeavour, I needed to sufficiently lower the expectations of our team leader as to my contribution to the team. I may love running, but I sadly have very few illusions about my so-called "speed". So if our fearless leader was hoping for a competitive/fast team, I would have to bow out of the relay with grace and relief. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), he was fast to reassure me that I was still a go for running on the team.

So bring it on, K-100! Operation Train It Up has already begun...but more on that later.

Commuter Runner

Another day, another line to cross! For years I'd looked on commuter runners with half envy, half how on earth do you manage that? You know the people. The ones who strap their backpacks to their back, slip some running shoes on their feet, and off they jog to/from work. Double bonus points for the commuter runners at the end of the day who couldn't be bothered with changing their fancy shirts or ties and just thought "the heck with this! I'm going straight home to shower and throw my clothes in the laundry anyway".

Well, on Monday of this week I joined The Ranks.
Yep. I changed my clothes (really, I don't think I'll EVER run home in my work clothes, but you never know!), strapped my yellow backpack to my back, and off I ran into the semi-unknown. The trip was a lovely jaunt along the river.
And do you know my favourite part? My favourite part was how I was taking it easy, chilling out as I ran. And at the 9k mark I noticed that I was at 54minutes. I thought to myself, hmmm. The hmmm thought came because I was doing some mental calculations. 54min/9km = 6min/km. I have a 10k race coming up the 1st of June and my goal (since I haven't run such a distance in a LONG time) was a sub-60min. So then on top of the hmmm, I thought, I wonder if I still have it? I wonder if - despite not making this a 'race' per-se - I can still run a sub-60min 10k just to prove to myself I can do it.
And so I picked up the pace a touch more, to make sure I didn't get 60.05min, or something along those lines.
Okay, I might have picked up the pace a lot more.
And I finished with a sub-60min! Yep, I still got it.
The total distance was about 10.5k. That's a pretty good distance for running home. And it only took me about 10minutes longer than the bus takes.
You know what? I might frequent the commuting paths in my running shoes more often. Maybe I'll become one of those constant commuter runners.
Oh, how times have changed!