Now I Know

MEC 21.1km Race.
I picked this race because a) it was cheap, and b) the timing felt about right.

The Goal: sub-2.10.00

The weather: hot & a bit windy

Ready, Set...

I allowed myself to take Wednesday night hills off as my "taper" for this race. I felt ready, and nervous. Despite all of my fancy, "it's just a training race" talk, I definitely felt my pre-race jitters!

It started off great: I was on-pace (5.47min/km) and doing my 10:1 run:walk. It was an out and back course, so I could monitor the landmarks to know what was coming. At 3k we started down a huge hill. Oh boy! This will be tough to come back up! I may have to give myself an extra couple of minutes!

At 7k (1/3 through the course), I started to feel the fatigue. The run/walks were wonderful. A lot of times I just focussed on keeping my pace until the next walk break. While I was still going strong, I felt a niggling doubt creep into my mind that I could maintain my 5.47 pace to reach my sub-2.10 goal.

At the halfway mark, I was at 1.02.25 - this was perfect! I would need the extra few minutes to help me get up the hill! I had noticed the course was more downhill than up on the way out, so time to dig deep and find it in me to keep going back.

At about 11k, I opted to slow my pace down, just a little. Instead of 5.47 I went for a 5.57 pace. I knew I was slowing down, but I wanted to be realistic. And I could still keep within my goal at a sub-6 pace!

At 16k - with just 5k to go - I was right on target. Booyeah!

Feeling Strong & Confident 1km into the course!

And then the hill started.

Slow and gentle at first, it climbed slowly but surely for the next 1.5km, at which point we started into the steep, switchback section of the hill. Halfway up I saw a poor cyclist crash as she was riding down. I'm not sure what happened! One minute she was on her bike the next she was kissing pavement as she slid a bit down the hill. Fortunately, she had a friend with her. I had been prepared to stop, but they waved on the runners and cyclists ahead of me so I had the feeling she was doing okay. Double fortunately, there was a paramedic (courtesy of the race) sitting just at the top of the hill. One of the people in front of me must have sent her down the hill, because she passed me as I continued my trek to the top.

At the top of the hill I had just 3km to go. And I could see that if I could run the last 3k at a 6 min pace, I would easily make my goal.

I tried to do this. I really, really tried. But my leg muscles were shaking with exhaustion and I just couldn't find it within me. I settled on putting one foot in front of the other and pushing myself as hard as I could, even if my pace was slowing down.

I passed one lady with less than 1k to go. She didn't come with me. I then passed a gentleman with 400m left. At first I thought I would beat him as I began to out-pace him with less than 200m until the finish line. At first he let me pass him and I surged ahead...but then he must have changed his mind and the race was on.

Finishing just behind one of my competitors

Clearly he had more left in his tank than I did, and with 50m to go I conceded defeat and settled for just finishing.

Total time: 2.13.02

Total distance: 21.1km

Average pace: 6.18min/km

Average HR: 161bpm (83% of max)

That last 400m was at a 4.15 pace!

Although I look disappointed, I'm not. Just 100% exhausted!

My poor husband - who has never watched me race a half marathon before - made the mistake of coming up to me as soon as I crossed the finish line, only to get a very rude push away. It was a rookie mistake! After about 5 minutes (when I finally caught my breath enough that I knew I wouldn't pass out), I kindly explained to him why breathing was more important to me than hugging immediately after a sprint finish. Awkwardly, I think this might have been caught by the MEC photographer...

But now I know:

1) Barring anything unexpected, I will be able to complete my full marathon despite my knee problems! Evidence - running today's half marathon with zero knee pain!
2) A 4.15 finish time goal is probably unrealistic for me for the full marathon. I will reset my goal to a sub-4.30. Evidence - not being able to sustain a sub 2.10 on today's race!

Because that was the primary goal for this race: it was testing the waters for my marathon so I could ask myself, will I be ready? Can I do this? The answer is yes - so long as I reset my goals to make them realistic for me.

Skeptically Improving

It’s hard to judge improvements in outdoor distance running. There are so many factors to consider! For example, I can’t control the weather (e.g.: rain, heat, cold, wind, etc.), or even the route (e.g.: hills, traffic lights, etc). But as someone who is desperately hoping for improvements from the heart rate training, I will take what I can get!

So on that note, on Tuesday I ran just under 6k.

Total time: 34.22

Total distance: 5.86

Average pace:  5.52min/km

Average HR: 85%

Previously, I had also run about 6k, where my pace was 6.03min/km. This is an improvement of 11 sec/km for keeping within the same heart rate! Again, I feel confident I’m on the right track, but the skeptical part of me is saying, so what? I can run that FASTER. I’ll only count this training as showing “REAL” improvement when I run consistent PBs.

After all, considering my A-goal marathon pace is 5.47min/km (with 10:1 run:walk breaks), and considering that I am only now running 14% of the distance at 5 seconds over that goal pace, I still have a L-O-N-G way to go! I’ll need to have a lot more improvements within the next 10.5 weeks for me to succeed.

Improvements & Non-Improvements

23k! Finally breaching the "over halfway" point of the distance runs! And with just 11 weeks until my first full marathon is completed...that is, unless my knee dictates my training plan (meaning unless I have to bail out because my knee is aggravating me.

I ran the same place as my 19k from last week...an out and back through beautiful Fish Creek park. I'm definitely noticing some improvements (and some not improvements) since I started heart rate training!

Improvement #1: when I hit the 19k this week, I was over 2 minutes faster (~6sec/km faster).
Improvement #2: while last week I noticed a decline in my pace (indicating fatigue) at just over 12km, today I noticed it at the 17km mark!

Non-improvement #1: the last 5k - and particularly the last 3k - were just brutal for me! I had to slow my pace down from between 8.10-8.20 to over 9min, with the last 2km being 9.47 and 9.59 respectively! I just could not get my heart rate to drop, and had to take frequent (short) walk breaks. Gaaa! So frustrating!
Non-improvement #2: because of this, my overall pace stayed the same as last week, meaning my speed hasn't improved.

Total time: 3h16min00sec
Total distance: 23.00km
Average pace: 8.31min/km
Average HR: 134bpm (69% of max)

It was a tough, tough run. I think I have been eating too much junk food this weekend, and I went out to a fancy dinner with my family on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the first 12km of my long run I was feeling very bloated, very gassy, and very uncomfortable. My tummy finally settled down on the way back. Although I was planning to do some nutrition experimentation this run, I couldn't bring myself to down any of the gels I brought because of all my stomach issues. I did try drinking the pop (recommended by our nutritionist as an alternative option), but this did not work for me at all. Even though I'd pre-stirred it before putting it into my fuel belt container, it was still too fizzy for me to handle. Also, the jostling of the container due to my run resulted in excess fizzing, which then resulted in a minor amount of minor pop spillage down my backside. Great.

My friend later suggested it was because I'm not a pop drinker at the best of times, so of course I wouldn't be able to handle it well on a long run! Duh! Makes complete sense to me. So, the pop is out. Next week I'll try with some juice instead, which can be just as sweet and calorie-laden, but which I know I can tolerate much better than pop.

But good news on the knee front: I now am back to full flexibility of my right leg with no knee pain, and I had zero knee pain during the entire run!

So how am I liking the heart rate training? It's tough! I want to go so much faster than I'm allowed, and I find it frustrating...and a bit lonely. But admittedly my long runs are much easier both before (psychologically) and during (physically) because I'm not pushing myself to exhaustion. And I find it encouraging that I'm seeing improvements. I am clinging to that small hope that this is the key to breaking through my plateau, and trying not to get upset with how slow I'm going, and how slow the improvements are coming.

Group Reconnections

Wednesday was a night to run with the group! We were starting from a different place and I was in unfamiliar territory. But it still managed to work into my heart rate training quite well! The only exception was that we did have walk breaks to make sure nobody got lost and keep the group relatively together. Having been a person that has fallen behind and gotten lost before, I didn't mind one bit!

Because of these walk breaks and pauses, the timing on my watch is a bit off, but here we go:

Total time: 41.16min

Total distance: 6.34km

Pace: 6.31 min/km

Average HR: 153 bpm (79%)

Four Hills on Seven Hills

Total distance: 3km
Time: 18.38min
Pace: 6.12min/km
Heart rate: 154bpm (79%); max heart rate 187bpm (96%)

4 hill repeats up "Seven Hills". This hill was short and steep...my favourite! I ran all four. I was slow enough that one of the guys in the group could power-walk it at the same pace, but I was pushing myself! My legs felt pretty tired by the end.

I had been worried about my knee, as it felt tight at the start, but it was no problem the entire way through. Sweet! I've been getting mixed messages from my physio about what is wrong with my knee. Ultimately, I've decided I need to take a break from the strength training to give my body the rest it needs, and I'll just focus on the running aspect.

Energy Needs

Electrolytes are not the same as carbohydrate. Now that I’ve stated the obvious, here’s why it matters:

I’ve been running with an electrolyte drink for my long runs. I love it. It tastes refreshing! What I hadn’t thought of was that I would still need to some carbohydrate (and specifically, glucose) to energize me for those runs. In the past I did use energy gels, but I’ve found them sticky and – when I’m really tired – hard to swallow. So I haven’t been using them. But I noticed a strong trend in this Sunday’s long run that couldn’t be ignored: while keeping my heart rate within “zone 2”, my pace began to suffer towards the end.

1-12km – my pace was between 8-8.15 min/km

13-19km – my pace was between 8.30-9.05 min/km

I didn’t feel hungry. I didn’t feel like I was struggling (which makes sense since I kept the same heart rate), but the proof is in the numbers.

But wouldn’t you know it, we just had a talk on running nutrition last week! And when I returned home from my run I saw that my aunt had sent me an article about running nutrition! Talk about timing! After careful calculations, I’ve now come up with a Plan to get more carbohydrate in me during the run. I don’t know how well it’s going to work, but that’s why the long runs are all about experimentation!

Total distance: 19k

Total time: 2.40.26

Average pace: 8.27min/km

Average heart rate 134bpm (69%)

Two Tempos

Tempo 1: 6k

Total time: 36.11min
Total distance: 5.98km
Average pace: 6.03min/km
Average HR: 171 (88%)

Right on target! I did a fairly good job of going between a 5.55 to 6.08 pace. I should have slowed down more in the last km, but I was running with a lovely person and couldn't bring myself to do it! I watched my heart rate creep higher and higher, but decided it was worth it for the companionship.

Tempo 2: 10k

Total time: 1.03.48 min

Total distance: 10.2km

Average pace: 6.15min/km

Average HR: 171 bpm (88%)

This run was poorly executed, on my part. Again, running with people is my downfall! I just love it so much. I watched my heart rate creep up and I had the strength to tell my running pals I was going to slow down. And they were just so lovely, of course they kindly slowed right down with me! And I was so happy. But then it happened again...my heart rate just wouldn't stay in that 80-90% zone! And my mind was saying go, go, go, and my heart rate was saying, slow down just a bit more. And in the end...I compromised. I got slower every km, but not slow enough for my silly heart. And I couldn't bring myself to slow down more simply because I was having such a lovely time, and the other two girls were all too lovely!

Here is how I got progressively worse with my pace:

1km: 5.50

2km: 5.58 (climbing up the hill)

3km: 6.03

4km: 6.19

5km: 6.23

6km: 6.23

7km: 6.11 (going back down the hill)

8km: 6.27

9km: 6.34

10km: 6.36

Siiiiigh! My husband asked me the other day if I was noticing improvements. As much as I would love to see instant improvement (and therefore, receive instant gratification), it appears I'm in it for the long haul! Clearly, I have a long way to go. Someone asked me if I was planning to stick to it. And I answered, "what have I got to lose?" My other training has left me quite stagnant in terms of times, so might as well give something new a try. And it would be foolish to give up trying less than a month of starting it.