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!