tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77083387402772939912024-03-14T01:34:41.520-07:00Running to BostonJenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-69188178899717957202018-11-14T12:46:00.001-08:002018-11-14T12:47:43.494-08:00Running the 2019 Boston Marathon in support of the Boston Public Library!I have started a new blog at <a href="https://jennifer-running-to-boston.com/">https://jennifer-running-to-boston.com</a> to document my training and journey.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">I am excited to announce that in April I will be running the 2019 Boston Marathon, raising, money in support of the Boston Public Library youth and after-school programs. I am looking forward to being able to fulfill a long-time dream of mine to return to Boston to run the marathon, while giving back to the Boston community.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">You can read about my efforts and support me in my fundraising here:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: #f4f4f5; color: #61727d; font-family: "open sans" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/boston-public-library-marathon-team/jenniferwolf11">https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/boston-public-library-marathon-team/jenniferwolf11</a></span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-38769452711682023512014-10-15T12:03:00.000-07:002014-10-15T12:03:01.198-07:00Victoria Half-Marathon, October 12, 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Victoria Half-Marathon, October 12, 2014</b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Chip time: 1:58:59</b>
(hey, I’ll still call it a 1:58:xx ;) )<br />
Place: 1389/3795<br />
Female : 621/2385<br />
F45-49 : 57/283<br />
10K split: 56:52 <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have not had a good half-marathon race in almost three
years. This spring I did have a decent
half at BMO Vancouver in May, but I did it as my last training run before the
Abbotsford Marathon. I would not run a
half like that again; it took more out of me than I planned, and I ended up
having a really tough marathon with a difficult recovery. It has taken me several months to feel like
myself again; in the meantime I have been doing lots of cycling and swimming and
I have enjoyed the varied training. The
alternate activities have helped to keep me from overdoing the running and
getting injured again. Pat has started
coaching me again, and in the weeks leading up to this half-marathon I have
been feeling very good. The goal for
this race was to run strong and as hard as my fitness would allow without
overdoing it. It has been a long time
since I have been able to race a half and find that right pace from the start—I
needed to get that feeling back again. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Based on my training I felt I could hold a pace around
5:30-5:40/km. I have been doing long
runs of up to about two hours, and tempo runs and repeats in the 5:20-5:30/km
range. My run mileage has been pretty
low (averaging about 40K/week), but I figured the cross-training would count
for something. I thought if I had a
perfect day I could be around 1:55-1:56, but I would be happy with anything
under two hours. Mostly I wanted to run
strong with pretty even splits and avoid the difficult slowdowns I have had in
previous halfs. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were no official pace bunnies in the half, but they
did have seeding signs; I started out in the 2:00 staging area. This made for a very crowded start, which
allowed me to ease into the pace in the first couple kilometres. I did the first kilometre about 6:00/km, but
then quickly got down to around 5:30. I
tried to look around and find someone to pace off of, but in the end it was my
own body that did the pacing. It felt
right, but I started to wonder whether I could hold it. I
pushed out those doubts and just kept going.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have to say I really enjoyed the entire experience. This is a beautiful course; I have done the
marathon twice and the half is essentially the same as the full course minus
kilometres 14-25. It is hillier than I
remembered, though. In my memory, most
of the hills were in the marathon-only part that goes into some of the Oak Bay
neighborhoods. But I was wrong- most of
the course is rolling hills. We lucked
out with the weather; although rain was in the forecast, it held off till later
in the day and the morning was mostly dry.
The temperature was good, but it was still fairly high humidity- this
did not seem to bother a lot of people, but the humidity always slows me down
(I seem to sweat way more these days).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did not carry water, a decision I sort of regretted in the
first 8K when we had so far only passed one water station (note to self—look at
map more carefully next time!). But it
worked out well—I stopped for water at about 4K, 9K, 13K, and 16K. There were gels at 13K but I missed getting
one; I had two with me but only ate one (I also ate one right before the
start).<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I found myself mentally breaking the course into
chunks: first 5K to Beacon Hill Park,
then to Dallas Road at 9K, turnaround 13K, etc.
The last stretch along Dallas Road from 16K and to the finish was just
gorgeous. After 18K I picked up the pace
and saw a split of 5:13 at 19K; I thought I could hold on to the low 5s, but
there are lots of turns and little inclines in the last couple kilometres
making it hard to really hammer it.
Still, I held on to a pace in the 5:20s and pushed on for a finish of under
1:59. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was very happy with the race overall. I enjoyed it the whole time and feel like I
finally remember how to race a half-marathon.
Now I can work towards continuing to race strong and get back a bit of
my lost speed.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks for reading.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My splits (after the first slow kilometre, pretty even when
you account for the hills and water stops):<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1 6:02<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2 5:40<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3 5:31<o:p></o:p></div>
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4 5:18<o:p></o:p></div>
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5 5:39 (water)<o:p></o:p></div>
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6 5:45<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7 5:42<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8 5:31<o:p></o:p></div>
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9 5:42 (water)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
10 5:23<o:p></o:p></div>
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11 5:37<o:p></o:p></div>
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12 5:41<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
13 5:43 (water)<o:p></o:p></div>
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14 5:41<o:p></o:p></div>
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15 5:27<o:p></o:p></div>
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16 5:36 (water)<o:p></o:p></div>
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17 5:37<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
18 5:41<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
19 5:14<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
20 5:27<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21 5:25<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
21.3 1:37 (5:11/km)<o:p></o:p></div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-51137114853524698872014-07-28T10:57:00.001-07:002014-07-28T14:54:51.476-07:00Pt. Grey Triathlon Race Report 2014<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Pt. Grey Triathlon, sprint course (at UBC in Vancouver)</b><br />
July 27, 2014 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Format:</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
700m swim (7 laps of the 50m indoor pool)<br />
20K bike<br />
5K run, about half on the UBC trails<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>My results: </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total: 1:40:15 - one second(!) faster than last year, but
parts of the course were actually longer<br />
Placement: 103/166 overall; 5/7 in F45-49 AG (actually 9
started but two were DQ’ed presumably for skipping a bike loop)<br />
Swim: 23:25 (which included most of T1
plus 19:25 for the actual swim, 2:49/100m)<br />
Bike: 47:29 (for 20.5K bike plus parts
of T1 and T2, bike speed was 27.2 km/hr)<br />
Run: 29:22 for 5K, 5:52/km<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Pre-race:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was assigned the second swim heat, which meant I had to check
in at the pool by 7:00 am for my timing chip and body marking. I planned to get to UBC by about 6:30 am to
have enough time to park, check my bike into transition, and change for the
swim. Triathlon is way more complicated
than a running race; aside from the obvious need to transport the bike (which
means it is harder to get to races by public transit), there is also a lot of
gear to lug around-- goggles, swim cap, helmet, bike shoes, running shoes,
visor… Even for a sprint, I need about twice as much stuff for a triathlon as a
running race. This was my first triathlon
this year, but I remembered the logistics from last year and was pretty
relaxed about it. One change I made this
year was to wear a tri top and tri shorts for the whole event which greatly simplified
my first transition. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Swim:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the pool deck we received our timing chips and body
marking (left calf and right upper arm).
They started the first heat late so we got to watch most of the early swimmers.
When it was our turn we lined up according to expected swim time, and I made
sure I was near the end. The range of
swim times for this group was supposed to be 17-22 minutes, and I expected to
finish the swim in close to 21 minutes. They
sent us off every 10 seconds, and we had to swim up and down the lanes across
the pool (under the rope in the deep end).
I was able to quickly get into a smooth swimming groove, and overall it felt
really good. I did not pay much
attention to my time, but I did notice after five laps I was at just over 14
minutes. Wow, only two laps to go and I
was swimming faster than I expected. It
helped that I did not get held up by anyone slower ahead of me, and did not
have to stop to wait for people behind me to pass. After the first lap, the guy in front of me did
let me pass, and he and I stayed pretty much at the same pace until the last length. At that point there was some congestion of
about three or four people ahead of us, and I had to slow way down. Because people were swimming up and back in both
directions, we were only supposed to pass at the end of a lane. But in the last length there was a wide area
where in theory we could go around. The
guy behind me did try to pass the group, but I figured that would take way too
much mental and physical energy; therefore, I just relaxed and conserved energy
for the bike. I figure this probably
cost me about 10-15 sec max. When I finished the swim I hit the lap button
on my watch, and saw that I had finished in 19:45 (2:49/100m). I was pretty happy with this time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>T1:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We exited the pool and had to walk all the way around to the
opposite side of the pool to the exit.
The volunteers specified walking here for safety, but later I did notice
people running—no penalties were issued, though. Outside the volunteers handed us our wetbags;
there were change tents for people that wanted to change out of swim suits, but
I learned last year that this just takes way too much time. In my
wetbag I had my socks and bike shoes, a towel for drying off my feet, and my
race number on a race belt. I put on my
socks and shoes, left my swim cap and goggles in the bag, put the bag back in
the bin, and was off toward the bike transition zone (about a 300m). Because we were in the indoor pool this year,
the distance to transition was longer. Transitions
were not measured separately in this race; there were only two transition
timing mats- one when entering the transition zone before the bike leg, and one
when exiting before the run. But I
wanted to measure them separately so I would know my actual time for the swim
and bike. I measured T1 to be 4:39- almost
the same as what I had last year, so the longer distance this year was offset
by my longer clothing change last year. My
official swim split which included most of T1 was 23:25 – almost a minute
faster than last year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Bike:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bike course was similar to last year—two laps of roughly
8.5K each plus an out and back section of 1.5K.
A few changes this year made the bike significantly longer—20.5K on my
watch this year vs. 19.2K last year. I
actually missed one of the turns that they changed so I had to backtrack; annoying
but it was only about a 100 metre detour that cost me about 20 seconds. I
really enjoyed the bike leg- cycling is so nice on streets where there is no
traffic. There were not that many
people on the course when I started, but I did pass a couple people who were
ahead of me (and got passed in my second loop by some faster guys who must have
been in the next swim heat). I did have
to slow way down on the hairpin turns (or “dead turns” as they say in Glasgow),
and there were five of them. But overall
my bike was faster than last year- 27.2 km/hr vs 26.2 km/hr. I am not sure how to explain that because I have
done very little bike training this year, but I have been using my bike more for
commuting/riding in the city. So I
assume I am just getting more confident on my bike. My bike time on my watch was 45:01 for
the 20.5K.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>T2:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coming back into transition I dismounted too early (I got
off at the warning sign and not at the dismount line), but was able to easily
run into transition with my bike. My
bike was racked pretty close to the exit, which meant less running with the
bike, more running in run shoes. This
bike rack placement probably saved me time over last year’s race in both T1 and
T2. T2 was uneventful other than some
difficulty in changing my shoes—I must work on this. I measured T2 to be 1:26; my official bike split
time was 47:29 (which included my actual bike time, my measured T2, and part of
my measured T1).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Run:</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have not been able to do any fast running lately, so I
knew the legs were rusty. I also have
not done any brick runs. So my goal was
simply to run as hard as possible without losing steam. My legs felt heavy coming off the bike, but
not too bad. Within about a kilometre
they felt pretty normal. I remembered this 5K course well and really enjoyed
the part that goes through the forest trails.
One nice thing about an early swim start is that it had not gotten very
hot by 9:00 when I started the run. I
was keeping a pretty steady pace of just under 6:00/km, which is as expected
given the circumstances although I thought I could have been faster. Interestingly, my speed seemed most limited
by my leg muscles and not my aerobic capacity. (Translation—need more bike training!) My time
on the run was 29:22, which is the only part of the race where I was slower
than last year (28:15 last year). Finish
time: 1:40:15, just one second faster
overall than last year but parts of the course were longer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Summary: </i><o:p></o:p></div>
I am very happy with my race; it went much better than I expected
given my limited training and recent health challenges. I surprised myself on the swim and the bike
when I was sure I would be slower than last year. I worried that in the run I would feel that
same kind of crash I have felt at the end of some races like my half-marathon
in February. But I did not get that at
all. I know I have a lot of room for
improvement in this sport when I put in more training. I am already seeing improvements in swimming,
I can do a lot more bike training, and my running will eventually come back. But mostly I was pleased with how much I
enjoyed the race; there is definitely more triathlon in my future.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-55720525320389443122014-05-26T10:36:00.000-07:002014-05-26T11:27:19.414-07:00Run For Water Marathon <a class="postlink" href="http://abbotsford.runforwater.ca/" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">Run for Water, Abbostford</a><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">May 25, 2014</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Finish time: 4:32:37</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Splits from my garmin: </span><a class="postlink" href="http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=75401" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=75401</a><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Strava: </span><a class="postlink" href="http://www.strava.com/activities/145618985" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">http://www.strava.com/activities/145618985</a><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I ran my fifth marathon yesterday, my first since fall 2011. It has been a training season with lots of challenges, and I am very grateful that I was able to do this race. It turned out to be a much more difficult race than I planned, and I finished with a time of 4:32 for a PW. I have been having trouble writing this report, but I will do my best to put my experience into words.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I started training for this race in January, with the plan of following a modified version the </span><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hansons-running.com/training-plans/beginner-training-plan/" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">Hanson Beginner Marathon Plan</a><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">. The Hanson plan is a challenging plan and has the unique aspect of maxing out at 26K long runs (vs the standard 30K+ runs). Instead of placing so much importance on a single long run, it spreads out mileage more evenly through the week and maxes out at pretty high volume. The plan also has marathon-paced tempo runs which max at 16K at pace, plus various speed workouts. The concept of the plan relies on “cumulative fatigue” which makes the training effect of the 26K runs more like the longer runs of other plans. Rob has done really well on this plan, improving significantly over the past two years. I was anxious to give it a try, although I was still dealing with some injury recovery issues from last year. I used 4-hours as a tentative goal for setting the paces of the workouts, but I modified the plan to reduce the early speed work. Overall I was able to handle the workouts and the mileage in the plan fairly well. I did have a setback in February when I had difficulty recovering from an early season half-marathon, but was able to come back strong in March and April. A very strong </span><a class="postlink" href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.ca/2014/03/birch-bay-30k.html" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">30K road race</a><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;"> at the end of March gave me the confidence I needed to keep training for the marathon. However, things did start to go a bit south at the end of April. I had some strong weeks of training, but then was starting to feel some fatigue. I had worked two races more into my plan, with the intention of modifying the paces of the weeks’ workouts to accommodate them (a 10K on April 27 and a half-marathon on May 4, three weeks before the marathon). Looking back I realize it probably was not wise to do both of these training races, although I might have simply been suffering from a bit of over-training by then anyway. In this plan it was hard to tell the difference between the expected cumulative fatigue and actual over-training, and think I might have crossed that second barrier. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I have to repeat that I am very grateful I got to the start line of this race. That was half the battle. The </span><a class="postlink" href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.ca/2014/05/bmo-vancouver-half-marathon-celebrating.html" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">half-marathon on May 4</a><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;"> went really well and I executed my plan perfectly, but afterwards I had a very difficult recovery. By adding a 5K warm-up and keeping the pace in control, I worked it into the plan as my last 26K run. I modified the paces of some of the runs before and after the race, and was hoping to be able “train through” it to finish the last three weeks of the training. The plan continues with another week and a half of pretty tough workouts and mileage before the real taper begins about 10 days before the marathon. And I was not able to do any of those. So this de-training combined with already losing some before the half probably contributed to my marathon difficulty. Still, I thought with a modified goal I would have a decent chance of finishing well.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">My race plan was to start around 6:00/km, a bit slower in the first 10K and close to that in the second. If it felt good after 20K I would pick it up a bit for the next 10K, and then try to hang on for the last 12K. The plan actually worked really well for about the first 30K. The 6:00/km pace felt smooth and I kept it fairly steady with it for the first half (crossed the half-way mat at 2:07, right where I wanted to be). The pace came pretty naturally, and the kilometres seemed to pass with ease. After the half-way point, I did start to get a burst of energy and ran the next few kilometres just a bit faster, trying to execute the race plan as well as I had on May 4. But I worried that I was getting overzealous and just continued to stay close to 6:00. I was taking my gels every six kilometres, so mentally I was thinking of the race in 6K chunks. After 24K I was thinking, “OK, make it to 30K, then just one more 6K segment. The last 6K will be tough after that but I’ll just tough it out by then… this can work.” Up to around 27K I still felt pretty strong. But soon afterwards, I started to get slight twinges in my right calf, which in past half-marathons have preceded all-out seizing cramps. “Oh, no- not again.” I still had a long way to go, and did not want to be hobbling in this marathon. I modified my gait and slowed my pace a bit to make the cramping stop, and walked through the next water station. I thought I could manage it, but I knew I would have to try to relax and keep my pace slower. As I was approaching the 3-hour mark I started to think about Rob who was hoping to finish under 3:20. He said he would text me when he finished—so I was expecting I would be at about 33K by then. In fact, I was just over 33K when he did text me at about 3:25 to tell me he had finished in 3:20:something. I was ecstatic. He also texted me some short inspirational messages – “Go Jen Go, You can do this!” It really helped and I tried to relax and keep going strong. I managed to text back, “I’m hurting.” He was worried and asked, “Are you ok?” I answered back with a simple “Yes” just to let him know I was ok enough to finish. In fact, at this point I even hoped I could run reasonably strong and still come in close to 4:20-ish. I really hadn’t lost that much—yet.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">After about 34K the cramping stopped, but I was going so much slower and walking every 10 minutes or so. I just couldn’t go faster. I guess the proverbial wheels fell off somewhere in there, so it was not just the cramping that slowed me down (maybe that was more of a symptom than a cause). When the cramping had started, I also noticed that my fingers were quite swollen. Not enough salt, apparently. I had taken my usual diluted Gatorade bottle plus fluids on the course, and gels with electrolytes every 6K. But maybe I didn’t eat enough of a salty meal the night before. I also forgot my morning banana. All of these things didn’t help, but in the end I think I just wasn’t prepared, for several reasons, for the pace I was trying to run. Despite it being essentially my long run pace and much slower than the so-called “marathon pace” I was using for my long tempos in the plan.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">The last 7-8K seemed to last forever. I was passing a few people, being passed by others. Jogging easy was not always possible, so I walked every 10 minutes or so. We merged with the half-marathon route at around 35K, but these people were already over 2 hours into their race with 7K to go. So most were walking. It was very tough, but I just kept moving forward, waving at volunteers and spectators and trying to encourage others. I kept smiling as much as I could. At some point the plan became just to finish and I wasn’t even that upset when the 4:30 pace bunny passed me with about 2K to go.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">At about 500m from the end I could see the finish line and was ecstatic. Just keep moving. Cheryl was watching and cheering about a hundred metres from the finish, and Rob shortly after that. It was so great to see them. My husband and son were watching on the other side, but unfortunately I did not see them. Still, it was nice that they came out to see me finish. I heard Steve King announce my name and my 4:32 finish time, and I was just so glad to be done. I wasn’t walking all that well afterwards and cried a bit at one point, but was able to get myself together and change into some dry clothes. The beer at lunch never tasted so good. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">So there it was—my “comeback” marathon after a 3-year gap. I am still not sure what is next, but I plan to focus on a strong recovery this month. This wasn’t the strong race that I wanted, but I am truly happy that I was able to run another marathon. Running is a gift that I will never take for granted. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Thanks for reading.</span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-56722361983549174682014-05-05T17:02:00.002-07:002014-05-05T17:17:21.038-07:00Plan the run, run the plan<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Celebrating my 10th anniversary of my first half-marathon </span><img alt="8)" src="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Cool" /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">May 4, 2014<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Finish time: 2:02:37</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.strava.com/activities/137501595"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.strava.com/activities/137501595</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">My goal race this spring is the Abbostford Run for Water Marathon on May 25, but I also wanted to participate in the BMO Vancouver Marathon in some way. This year marks the 10th anniversary since my first half-marathon (on the old Vancouver half-marathon course). I could not run it last year, and I knew I would be sad to sit on the side-lines again of a race that begins practically in my backyard. So I registered for the half-marathon with the intention of “training through” the race and doing it at approximately marathon pace. A 5K warm-up run before the race would complete the 26K mileage needed for the day. Rob is training for the same marathon, so he planned to run with me for the half. For him it would be an easy training pace, for me a substitute for the marathon pace run and speed work of the week. In theory it sounded good, but in practice it became difficult make it work with my training plan. Yesterday was scheduled to be the last 26K run of the plan, at the end of the highest week of mileage (over 90K) of my Hanson beginner marathon plan. I have been feeling the effects of the cumulative fatigue of the program, including after last Sunday’s Sun Run on tired legs (another race I would have been sad to miss). I ended up cutting back my mileage a bit for the week, but I was still feeling very fatigued. In this plan it is hard to distinguish normal “cumulative fatigue” from overtraining, and I feared I had entered the overtraining zone. But somehow on Sunday morning I felt much better, and felt like I could have the day I wanted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">The weather on Sunday was not great; it was raining pretty steadily when I woke up, but at least it was not cold or very windy. The race started at 7:00; the plan was for Rob to come by and get me at about 5:45, and he would park his car near the Skytrain station to make it easier to get to later. We started our 5K warm-up from the car, jogged to the bag check (about 1.5K), checked our bags, and then finished the warm-up. A long port-a-potty line-up meant we were not waiting around in the corrals at all during the start, but managed to get in and start with the second wave.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">In my journal last week I wrote that I was not trying for my best time in this race. The plan was to practice controlled pacing for the marathon, at a pace that would allow me to recover well to finish the last three weeks of marathon training. The plan was to run the first 5K about 6:00/km (and since this is net downhill, the effort should be easier), the middle 10K about 5:40-5:45/km, and the remaining 6.1K no faster than 5:30/km. This plan worked out about as perfectly as I could have hoped. Finish time was 2:02:37, average pace of 5:49/km. First 5K was at just under 6:00/km, next 10K at about 5:45/km, and the last 6.1K at about 5:35/km. We passed the half-way point at just over 1:02, so finished the second half in about 1 hour. The splits can be found in the Strava link above </span><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">(although these are Garmin splits; course splits were a little off but not too much). I had forgotten how rolling the course is—there are not many spots of flat running. I also didn’t carry water, so I was stopping at some of the aid stations to drink. (I still have not mastered drinking from a cup while running.) Rob stuck with me the whole time, but I was setting the pace. He was worried he would have to keep me in control, but he did not have to. The “sea of humanity” that Ian predicted was a reality—we were always in a huge crowd of people with goal times of about 2 hours. This might have been annoying if I was trying for a time goal, because a few times I actually had to weave around people slowing down, run-walkers, and others. But on a day when I just wanted to run strong and well, it was nice to be in a crowd. The course is beautiful, but definitely challenging. I found myself using the power of positive thinking to convince myself that I actually like hills. “Hills are fun!” Yeah, right. </span><img alt=":)" src="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Smile" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">There were a few other times when my brain started thinking too much. At just before 5K when we were getting ready to pick up the pace, I was thinking that I had been already running for 10K easy by that time (with the warm-up). I pushed that thought out and just reminded myself to keep it strong. Approaching 18K I remembered that was where I cramped badly in this race in 2012. I kept saying to myself, “today I will stay strong.” In the last 6K I was able to find a groove and just stuck with it without really thinking about the pace. The last kilometre was brutal—around the bend and up a gradual but significant hill on Pender Street to the finish. It was hard to pick up the pace, but I did stay strong and controlled, and finally heard Steve King doing his monologue at the finish. I heard Rob’s name, but not my own. </span><img alt=":)" src="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Smile" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;"> That’s ok- it was just so nice to be done and I felt great. Thanks for sticking with me Rob, and I am glad you didn’t have to yell at me to slow down. It was great to run with you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /></span>
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I am very happy with how this race went. The pace felt challenging and hard, but “comfortably hard” like a long tempo run. I always felt in control. I am not sure how I will pace the marathon, but I somehow want to find a pace that does not force me to slow down. This will be tricky and I have never succeeded in this for marathon pacing. I will see how these last three weeks of training and taper go, and decide later on. I am looking forward to the next challenge.</span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-17382507418981172642014-03-31T10:29:00.000-07:002014-05-26T10:30:11.664-07:00Birch Bay 30K<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Birch Bay Road Race, 30K</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">March 29, 2014</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Birch Bay, Washington</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Short version:</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Finish time 3:02:45. </span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I really enjoyed this race. </span><img alt=":)" src="http://runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Smile" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">The story:</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">This is the fourth year I have gone to Birch Bay, having done the 15K in both 2011 and 2012 and the 5K last year. The race is beautifully located just south of the border, partly along the ocean bay and partially inland on the country roads. The distances are set to line up with spring marathon and half-marathon training plans, so many people like to do the 30K as part of marathon training.</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">This spring I have been training for Abbostford Run for Water Marathon using the Hanson Marathon program. Because this race is late in May, the Birch Bay Road Race comes about midway through the training and I planned to run the 15K distance. The Hanson program is very challenging, eventually building to 90-100K on six runs per week; one signature of the program is that it limits the long run to 26K at this mileage such that the long run does not become more than 30% of the total weekly mileage. Rob has done well on this program for a few marathon cycles, and I was excited to give it a try. </span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, the marathon training has not been going as well as I had hoped. Things were actually going well in January and early February; I was a bit ahead of the plan because I was preparing for the First Half half-marathon in mid-February. That race was much harder than I expected; I had difficulty recovering, found out I was borderline iron-deficient, and lost a few critical weeks of training after the race. I started to have doubts about continuing the training: Had I jumped into marathon training too quickly after injury recovery? Would I be able to get back on track with the training or had I lost too much? How much would the iron deficiency affect me? Would it be better to switch to the half-marathon this spring? I decided to just keep going with the training as best as I could, but the whining and doubts and waffling continued. Then about a week into March I started to feel better and had a few really good weeks of training. After a strong 24K long run last Monday in the humidity of south Florida, I started to think that maybe I should try the 30K at Birch Bay. It was a bit late to be moving things around; if I had planned this properly beforehand, I certainly would not have done the 24K long run just five days before the race (and I may have been still feeling some fatigue from that run). And that 24K run was the longest I had done in over two years. So maybe switching to the 30K was not the smartest choice, but I decided to do it anyway, knowing I would have to hold myself to a very moderate pace. In a way maybe it was actually smarter than tempting myself to push it hard in the 15K. My race plan was to run the 30K at about the same pace as my last two long runs (just over 6:00/km). While a sub-3:00 finish time on paper would have been nice, I decided that was not as important as keeping strong through the race. So that is what I did.</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">Race day:</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">All week we heard of heavy rain forecasts for Saturday, but as often happens on the west coast, the storm held off for us. We did have some very light rain, but mostly very pleasant, somewhat windy weather with a mix of clouds and blue sky breaks. I mentally broke the race into three 10K sections, planning to run the first 10K at about 6:10-6:20/km, the next 10K no faster than 6:00/km, and the last 10K a bit faster if it felt good. Much of the race course was familiar to me, having run the 15K twice. Of course, those times I was running must faster, around 5:00/km. Not this year. The first 10K went as planned, and I finished in just under 1:02 (6:12/km). The 30K and 15K courses start together down a short hill to the ocean, then and out-and-back along water and into Birch Bay State Park. The turn-around point was at about 6K so I was able to see Rob on his way back (he was already about 2K ahead of me at this point) and Bryan and Mary on their way back a few minutes ahead of me. We had a bit of a headwind at the beginning with a tailwind helping a bit on the way back. I felt strong and it felt like a pace I could hold well for the 30K distance. I was running near a few women who helped me keep my pace under control; unfortunately they were all running the 15K which turned back toward the finish area just before 14K. At this point those us running the 30K continued north, off the bay and up a hill, with a turn-around at around 21K. I love out-and-back races in that you get to be a spectator in your own race; I knew that I would be seeing the leaders when I was at about 17K and Rob shortly after. It was easy to spot him since the race was pretty small, and there were only about 12 runners ahead of him.</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">I am glad I didn’t look carefully at the elevation profile for the race or I might have been scared off by the steady climb from about 14K up to the turnaround at 21K. Even after 16K I was starting to feel it. A guy passed me, and I said, “I hate uphills!” He said, “We just passed exactly 10 miles.” I said, “Awesome.” I reminded myself to just keep running strong and steady up the hill, and then it would be much easier after 21K. I really started to enjoy the whole experience at this point; in a way it is so liberating to not worry about a specific race goal. Still, I did want to hold onto about a 6:00 pace, and I finished the second 10K in just over an hour. That felt pretty strong considering the long steady hill.</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">On the way down the hill, we had a bit of a headwind which picked up more as we headed to the water. The tailwind had helped us up the hill, and now the headwind was holding us back a bit. I had finished my bottle of Gatorade by then so I was stopping every 3K at the aid stations. This also helped me break up the race mentally; I was taking gels every 6K, so I knew that after the 18K gel I would have only one more gel break. So gel break at 18K (just before which I saw Rob), 21K turnaround (with water stop), and then 24K last gel. At 24K I actually stopped to refill my bottle a bit so I would not have to stop again. From 24K to 27K it would be mostly downhill, and then I could just cruise into the finish. This wasn’t so bad! But the last two kilometres we were back along the water with a very strong headwind. I would have probably been able to pick it up to under 5:30/km at this point, but it was like running into a wall of air (my actual splits for those kilometres was just over 6:00). In the last few hundred metres we had to run back up the hill we came down (but on a different, steeper street). Mary and Bryan and their friends who had finished the 15K earlier were all waiting and watching and cheering at the top of the hill. It was awesome to see them, and Bryan ran a few metres with me after that. “You’ve got this, Jennifer, you’re looking strong,” he said. When I made the turn toward the finishing chute, I saw Rob waiting for me smiling. Official time was 3:02:45, and I could not have been happier.</span><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;">So in the end, I am really happy I did this race and changed to the 30K. It is a 30K PB since I have never done 30K before. </span><img alt=":)" src="http://runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Smile" /><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 18.200000762939453px; text-align: justify;"> But what about the marathon? I am now confident that I can continue with marathon training; my training may not go perfectly as planned, but I can still do the race with some modified pace expectations. I am looking forward to it.</span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-58392364835322572242013-07-29T19:01:00.002-07:002014-07-28T14:57:58.052-07:00Point Grey Triathlon Race Report 2013Race: Point Grey Triathlon at UBC (July 28, 2013)<br />
Results: <a href="http://www.startlinetiming.com/races/2013/pgtri/sprint.txt">http://www.startlinetiming.com/races/2013/pgtri/sprint.txt</a><br />
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Time: <b>1:40:17 </b> (Placing: 187/247, 77/118 F, 6/8 F45-49)<br />
Swim: 700m (in 50m pool), 24:14 (includes most of T1 in change tent and 250m run to bike)<br />
Bike: 20K, 47:13 (includes time in T1 and T2, about 3 min total)<br />
Run: 5K, 28:51<br />
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<b>Summary: </b> This was my second time doing the sprint distance just two months after the <a href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.ca/2013/05/on-may-20-i-did-my-second-triathlon-and.html">North Shore Triathlon in May</a> and about four-and-a-half months after my <a href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.ca/2013/03/ubc-triathlon-race-report.html">very first super-sprint in March</a>. I was about the same pace in the swim and slightly faster in the bike and run as in the tri in May. It was a gorgeous day and a lot of fun. :) Clearly I have left a lot of room for improvement in the sport of triathlon.<br />
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<b>Race report</b><br />
I arrived at the race site at about 6:15 am, or a little over an hour before my 7:25 am scheduled heat. Because I'm a slower swimmer, I was in the second of seven swim heats. I checked in my bike, organized my stuff in transition (spending about 10 minutes deciding whether to leave my bike shoes there or leave them in my pool bag, eventually deciding on the latter option). I then went to the pool to change and got to the pool deck at about 7:10 to get my body marking and timing chip. The race started about a half-hour late, so after a lot of waiting around I was more than ready to start. I seeded myself pretty far back in the heat; I had predicted 19 minutes for 700m, but started with the 20-minute people because I know most people seed themselves too slowly. We swam in the beautiful 50m outdoor pool, going up and back across the seven lanes. I was going at a slow but steady pace, and got passed by one person around the second lap. I seemed to have more space after that, but still it was hard to relax completely. After about 500m, I got stuck behind a huge traffic jam of people. It seemed one person slowed down in front of about five others, and I caught up to them; at one point I was swimming breast stroke so slowly I had to stop and walk. At the end of the lane we were able to get past the one slow person, but similar back-up happened again in one of the last laps. This was the kind of traffic jam I managed to avoid in my last triathlon. I thought to myself “What can you do?” and I figured I'd save some energy for the bike leg. It seems many inexperienced swimmers don't pace themselves well in the pool, starting fast and then slowing down. I tend to swim pretty steady-paced. I did try to power through the last length after I passed one person. This pool congestion probably cost me about a minute or so in the swim, and my time in the water was just over 20 minutes. I exited the pool feeling good.<br />
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My friend Rob took some video of me during the swim:
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/qas95iowrrhhhv3/2013-07-28%2007.58.50.mov">https://www.dropbox.com/s/qas95iowrrhhhv3/2013-07-28%2007.58.50.mov</a>
(I am in the first lane with the yellow cap.)<br />
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I tried to have a quick transition, but it was hard to get my shorts and tank over my wet suit. I slipped on some sandals for the transition run, grabbed some Powerade and was off to bike transition (about a 250m run on narrow sidewalk before the transition timing mat). The whole process of putting on new clothes and running to the entrance of transition took me about 4 minutes.<br />
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I slipped on my bike shoes, clipped on my helmet, gulped down some Gatorade, and started running with my bike out of transition. The bike was fun and fast on the gradual downhill, but slow on the gradual uphill. I don’t bike a lot, and this is about as long I’d want to do in a race. They added a bit of a technical section with curves and narrow parts, and I slowed more than I probably had to there. But overall the bike was good; about the same pace I did in my last sprint, and I finished feeling a bit better for the run.<br />
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Bike to run transition was also a bit slow. My bike time is listed as 47:13, but my Garmin shows just under 44 minutes for the actual ride, so about 3.5 minutes total in T1 and T2 (not including the other part of the swim-to-bike transition before the timing mat). My friend Tim got a picture, and it looks like I need to learn some HTFU. :) (he also got some pictures on the bike, but they aren't very good)
<img /><br />
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The beginning of the run was a bit of a confusing maze of fences as we exited from transition, until a few hundred metres in when we were on some residential roads. We worked our way to some of the Pacific Spirit Park trails, and then around to Marine Drive. I was running as fast as 5:30/km but I could not maintain that pace on the trails and some slight inclines. It was a gorgeous run and I was wishing it was a longer part of the triathlon, since by the end I felt I had warmed up more into my pace (last kilometre was the fastest, even with a slight incline). I did manage a slightly faster average pace for the run than my last triathlon.
I crossed the finish line at just over 1:40, and was overall really happy with the race. Triathlon is so much fun, but the experience is so different than road races.
My friend Tim took a picture of me coming toward the finish:
<img /><br />
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<b>Post race thoughts</b><br />
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I am still learning a lot in triathlon and I really enjoy the varied training. The race was fun, and I did race well and strong for my current fitness. I do realize that gains in this sport will take me a LOT more dedicated training, especially on the bike. As a newbie I have enjoyed getting into the sport of triathlon with no real time pressure or expectations. I am not sure how much I will continue to enjoy it without setting improvement goals for myself and training towards them. Truthfully, I'm just not used to being at the bottom of the pack, and it is quite humbling.<br />
<br />
<img />Now that this triathlon is done, I am looking forward to getting back to mostly running and working toward getting back my run fitness. I have realized lately that as much as I am enjoying the varied triathlon training, I'm missing being able to do more run mileage. I know my return-to-run fitness has been slowed somewhat but the time spent in the other activities. We will be travelling for much of August, but i will definitely have time to do a lot of running. I have a half-marathon planned for October and maybe another in November. After that I will think about spring goals. Stay tuned.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-80747327298271232142013-06-24T06:16:00.000-07:002013-08-14T06:16:26.480-07:00Scotiabank Vancouver Half-Marathon, June 23, 2013<span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 18.1875px; text-align: justify;">On June 23 I ran the Scotiabank Vancouver Half-marathon, my first half marathon in over a year because of the injury. I was relatively undertrained, having only done a few long runs within my triathlon training. But I got it done, and I had fun. </span>I never posted a full report for this race. Instead I will now post a copy of what I wrote in my Runningmania journal (<a href="http://runningmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1436261#p1436261">http://runningmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1436261#p1436261</a>)<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">My plan was to start easier, about 6:00/km. But I good at the beginning and just got into a groove at closer to 5:30/km. The course starts with a gradual downhill for the first 3K which helped the pace. The course also has a very nice 2K downhill coast from about 8-10K. So it's not too surprising that my first 10K was in just over 55 minutes. I thought I might be able to hang on to that pace, but the course is more difficult in the second half and I was paying a bit for my lack of run mileage. I slowed down on a few of the hilly parts, and then had to take an emergency potty break at around 17K. I was also getting some calf cramping from about 15K on which forced me to slow down a bit, but I was able to relax into it and not let the cramping buckle me as it did in my last two halfs. So I'm happy about that. The last 5-6K really became mostly about keeping strong and steady.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">I finished in 2:02:19, which is better than I expected but not as fast as I had hoped (if that makes sense </span><img alt=";)" src="http://runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" style="background-color: #fefefa; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Wink" /><span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;"> ). I'm mostly just happy that I was able to be out there racing and finish with no injury issues. Never take racing and health for granted. </span><img alt="8)" src="http://runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif" style="background-color: #fefefa; border-width: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Cool" /><br />
<br style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">Here's a link to my Garmin Connect file for the race:</span><br />
<a class="postlink" href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/332668289" style="background-color: #fefefa; border-bottom-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #5d8fbd; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">http://connect.garmin.com/activity/332668289</a><br />
<br style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" />
<span style="background-color: #fefefa; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">You can clearly see how I slowed in the second half on a few of the hills and lost more than a minute in kilometer 17. And the elevation profile gives a bit of an idea of the course.</span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-89398013907716900272013-06-10T09:43:00.000-07:002013-06-10T09:43:37.348-07:00Race. Breathe. Live.<div style="text-align: start;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Race report: </span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">Sandcastle City Classic 10K (White Rock, BC)</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">June 9, 2013</span><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">Time: 52:59</span><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">I decided to enter this race only last week. But even after I registered, I started to have my doubts. I told a friend, “I’m racing a 10K on Sunday, if you can call it ‘racing’. I’m so out of shape.” He said, “No, you’re not out of shape. You’re in the shape you’re in.” I whined, “But I’ve lost so much conditioning!” He said, “Who cares? Race. Breathe. Live.” He was so right. I decided from that moment forward I would no longer compare myself to my former self or complain about lost fitness. Racing was fun, and I missed it.</span><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">White Rock is well-known for its hilly terrain. The race organizers of Sandcastle have made it more appealing by designing a point-to-point course, starting at about 100m elevation and ending at sea level. This makes for a fun but challenging course. The first five kilometres are rolling and net downhill. The next four are gradually uphill; just when you are beginning that last third of the race and thinking, “10K races are tough… dig deep… ,” you also have to fight against gravity. The reward is a steady but steep downhill in the last kilometre, finishing at the beach.</span><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">My goal was simply to run hard and consistent. I knew that my Achilles would behave as long as I didn’t do anything crazy and kept relaxed on the downhills. I was expecting a pace of around 5:30/km, but I knew if it felt good I could be a bit faster. I did not do much of a warm-up before the race, so I used the first kilometre to ease into my pace. The rolling terrain and slight downhill allowed me to speed up, splitting the first 5K at just over 26 minutes (5:23 for the first kilometre, about 5:10/km for the next four). I was pretty happy with this. The tough kilometres began after that, and I was actually glad I hadn’t closely looked at the elevation profile before the race. I lost just a bit of time on kilometres 6-8 (about 5:30 average), but hung on anxiously awaiting the fun downhill. In the last kilometre I felt like I was flying, and I came over the finish line at just under 53 minutes.</span><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.142857551574707px; line-height: 18.196428298950195px; text-align: justify;">I am so happy that I can now get out there and enjoy racing again. Racing doesn’t always have to be about PBs and age-group placings, as fun as those things are. Racing can be about doing your best on any given day, and experiencing the joy.</span></span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-45123423633651002532013-05-27T16:29:00.001-07:002013-06-07T11:49:29.206-07:00North Shore Triathlon, May 20, 2013: Race ReportOn May 20 I did my second triathlon and my first attempt at the sprint distance. I really enjoyed this race and I'm still loving triathlon so far :-). The race was the <a href="http://northshoretriathlon.ca/">North Shore Triathlon</a> in North Vancouver, stating at the Ron Andrews Rec Centre.<br />
<br />
<b>My time: 1:33:36</b><br />
<br />
Placing: 218/285 overall, 91/135 Female, 13/17 in F45-49<br />
<br />
Splits:<br />
Swim: 20:20<br />
Bike 46:20 (includes most of T1 and all of T2, actual bike time: 40:50, speed 25.9 km/hr 8) )<br />
Run: 26:57 (actual run distance 4.62k, 5:50/km pace)<br />
<br />
Sportstats link <a href="http://www.sportstats.ca/searchResults.xhtml?eventname=North+Shore+Triathlon">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Details:</b><br />
<br />
<b>Swim:</b><br />
Format: 740m pool swim: 20 lengths of a 37m pool, 2 sets of 5 laps switching under the rope in the shallow end<br />
<br />
I was in the second wave of swimmers. The waves went slowest to fastest and only a small group was ahead of us (those expecting 25 minutes or more). By my bib number I ended up randomly in the front of the approximately thirty people expecting 20 minutes. This was a bit of a mistake- as I suspected, most people who put down 20 minutes were faster than that. I tried to move back saying I was a "slow 20" but no one wanted to go ahead of me. So I ended up starting third (!) in our wave and got hunted down by the pack after the first lap. I let about 5 people go ahead of me after lap 1, and then felt more comfortable. I felt pretty good through most of the swim, better even than at the UBC tri. For the first 370m we had to go up and down the 37m pool five times, going under the rope four times in the shallow end. I tried to go under the rope after turning at the wall as I have practiced. However, this proved pretty difficult in the waist-deep water, so I just ducked under. [<i>Flip turns were allowed—really? I am not sure how that would be possible.</i>] I messed up the start of the swim on my watch so I was just using the time clock; I noticed I was just about 10 minutes after my first 370m. I got out of the pool and walked back to the other side to start the second half. The second 370m felt a bit smoother and I had more space in the lanes, and before I knew it I was at the stairs ready to come out again. My arms were tired and my legs could already feel the work, but I felt good overall. I finished the swim at just over 20 minutes (2:42/100m). My official split was 20:20 (the timing mat was outside the pool).<br />
<br />
T1:<br />
First transition was slow. I felt nervous that I was forgetting something- I know this will get better with experience. In my first triathlon we left a wet bag at the pool and changed in a change tent, but yesterday was more standard in that we had to leave everything in bike transition. I pulled on my pants and shirt over my swim suit, tried to fix my hair and broke my hair tie (with no spare), and sucked down some water and half of a gel. I made my way out of the transition maze and mounted my bike and was off. Total T1 time, estimated from watch and bike split: about 5 minutes. That is definitely something to work on for next time.<br />
<br />
<b>Bike:</b><br />
Format: 17.6K including 4 laps back and forth on Mount Seymour Parkway<br />
<br />
Thanks to the Dollings for warning me about setting my bike in low gear to be ready for the steep climb out of the parking lot. Once we were on the Parkway the ride was really nice. The uphill wasn't too bad but I could definitely feel it more with each lap. The downhills were really nice. Although the seven hairpin turns were very slow, I loved the 4-lap format because we could keep track of people on either side, plus it was great for the spectators. Hula girl was cheering with Foster and Andrea near the bike lap turn, and Rob was across the street from them. I also saw Thing2 on her run course three four times and shouted out to her each time (I used her real name ;) ). She was running by the end so I hope I helped. :)<br />
<br />
Half-way through the bike I was only at about 20 minutes so I knew I was good for my target time of about 45 minutes. I don’t have individual lap splits, but by memory I was going about the same pace for each lap. You can easily see the seven turns on the bike graph from my <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/315819760">Garmin</a> and they are all about equally spaced (the seven low points in the speed graph). My total bike time on my Garmin was about 40:50, for a 25.9 km/hr pace. :) Official bike split of 46:20 includes most of T1 and all of T2.<br />
<br />
T2: Bike-run transition was pretty easy because I wore my running shoes on the bike. T2 still took about 30 seconds to rack my bike and make my way back through transition to the run exit.<br />
<br />
<b>Run:</b><br />
Format: 5K on the neighborhood roads and some trails off of the Parkway.<br />
<br />
I never runs these roads, but had been warned about the hilly route. My legs definitely felt pretty tight when I first started running, but loosened up pretty quickly. I started pretty slow, close to 6:30/km, but ended up speeding up as the run progressed. By 2.5K I was just over 15 minutes (6.00/km average for the first half); and at the finish (4.62K on my <a href="http://connect.garmin.com/activity/317055154">Garmin</a>) I was just under 27 minutes, for an average of 5:50/km overall. I am very happy with this run. I have lost a lot of run fitness since my injury last year, so I have a lot of room for improvement. And more work on the bike will help too.<br />
<br />
<b>Finish:</b><br />
I could hear them announcing my name as I crossed the line, and I felt like a star. I didn’t know my total time at this point, but I figured I must be pretty close to my goal. I was thrilled to see my final time on <a href="http://www.sportstats.ca/searchResults.xhtml?eventname=North+Shore+Triathlon">Sportstats</a> later (1:33:36, see full stats above). I came in a bit faster than my goal time: I was right on target with my swim and run, and a bit faster on the bike.<br />
<br />
I am now officially hooked on triathlon and I am planning one more pool triathlon this year. Open water can wait till next year. I thought I would want to focus on run training now, but I am enjoying the multisport training more than I expected. I would like to ride this wave until the end of July, after which we will be travelling and I will likely be mostly running.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-69701377172727982612013-03-11T17:44:00.000-07:002013-03-11T17:44:12.089-07:00UBC Triathlon Race Report<br />
Race: UBC triathlon, short distance, March 10, 2013<br />
<br />
[I apologize in advance for the ridiculously long report on this short event. Being my first triathlon I wanted to remember every detail. :) ]<br />
<br />
Yesterday I did my first triathlon: UBC Triathlon, short distance (400m swim, 11K bike, 5K run). I had a blast, and I definitely want to do this again. This event is well-organized and executed.; thank you very much to UBC Rec for putting on a great event. Finish time was about 1:20, but no times are listed in this report (see explanation below).<br />
<br />
<b>Preamble:</b><br />
I only decided to enter this race on Friday. I had thought about it for a while, but for various reasons I had decided against it for this year. But on Friday I started to regret not entering, and realized I could still enter on site. UBC is really the only local triathlon that offers the “short” distance, and I thought it would be a good introduction to triathlon for me. I had been making excuses for too long, and just wanted to give this a try. To quote a friend: "Don't wait till you're ready; just do it." My swimming was going pretty well, and my Achilles has been behaving well even with some short tempo runs. I haven't been on a bike since the summer, and haven’t even been using the spin bikes at the gym for a while, but how hard can 11K be? Slight problem: I don’t actually have my own bike. I decided I would borrow my son’s mountain bike. It needed some adjustments, but I decided it would do. Saturday’s “workout” was a short test ride and then a very short run off the bike. My legs felt like the proverbial bricks; this would be an interesting race. My race plan: Relax and enjoy the swim, survive the bike, autopilot the run.<br />
<br />
<b>Race day:</b><br />
I got on the bus to UBC with my bike, arriving at just before 10:00 to register and get my bike inspected. My swim heat was set to start at 12:50, so I still had lots of time before I had to be there. I was able to watch some of the earlier racers in transition, and chatted with my swim coach for a while. He gave me a few last minute bits of advice about the swim and the bike. At about 11 I checked my bike into transition, but did not leave anything with it except my helmet.<br />
<br />
At about noon I went to the pool to change and get ready. We could check a wetbag which we would get when exiting the pool; in the bag I put my towel and all the clothes I would wear for the bike and run, including my running shoes. Everything else went into a locker in the aquatic centre. We were lucky that the temperatures were pretty mild and there was no rain, despite a soggy forecast.<br />
<br />
<b>The swim:</b><br />
When I went to check in at the pool, they did not have the timing chip to match my bib number. They told me not to worry, that many chips were missing. I was given a different chip and was told that they would work this out in the results. I still got “branded” with my original registration and bib number. All of us in the 12:50 heat assembled in the area outside the outdoor pool, in rough order of expected swim times.<br />
<br />
They sent us off in time-trial format. I started off pretty slowly, and was passed in the second lane by a girl who started behind me. I kept right with her the rest of the time, wanting to pass but knowing that I probably could not swim faster. We caught some other people and ended up swimming in a bit of a pack—the guys would stop at each end and I was not sure if I should wait for them to go sometimes. It was a bit crazy, but I guess easier than an open water swim. Overall it went well; I think I was swimming faster than I expected, but would get slowed down and held up in the traffic. I was surprised that they had us going under the rope after each 50m instead of each 100m, and I was not able to do this with any efficiency because of the congestion. But I just relaxed and figured it was a good chance to save some energy.<br />
<br />
<b>T1</b><br />
In the change tent I took off my swim suit, put on my shirt and long tights, and shoes. This was not nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be, although I was not fast. We then had to run about 400m to the transition zone, where I quickly clipped on my helmet and ran with my bike to the bike exit.<br />
<br />
<b>The bike:</b><br />
First problem on the bike- my chain had fallen off the front derailleur, probably when I was lifting it onto the rack in transition. I had had this problem when practicing on Saturday, but I thought we had adjusted it properly. It was pretty easy to get back on (thanks to one of the officials for help), and only took few seconds. Less than a kilometre down the road I heard a rubbing sound on the back tire, which turned out to be a loose fender (which I should have taken off before the race!). It probably had gotten loose when the bus driver was helping me put my bike on the bus bike rack; now I decided to just take it off and leave it with the bike marshal. He did bring it to lost and found later on.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, I had no other issues on the bike. I was going faster on the slight downhill grade on the way out on Marine Drive, and then slower on the way back. There were cyclists from all of the distances out at the same time; the duathletes and sprint triathletes were doing two laps and the Olympic distance did four, so I was passed many times by faster cyclists. I can’t wait to do this again when I have trained on the bike and with a better road bike.<br />
<br />
<b>T2 and the run:</b><br />
I saw Rob filming me as I as was coming into transition. Racked my bike, took off the helmet, and I was off on the run. My legs felt like piles of lead. I was definitely tired out from the bike and slowed down by my poor bike conditioning, but the run felt fine. I just could not move very fast. My legs sort of felt like they do at the end of a marathon, but my body was not as tired. The route was an out-and-back loop, and I was enjoying watching for people I knew and the other participants. I was holding about 6:00/km according to my watch and the kilometer markers, and I could not have gone any faster.<br />
<br />
Rob got some video of me finishing as well I was ecstatic to have finished, and knew this would not be the first.<br />
<br />
I wish I had a proper official time to report; I am listed in the results as finishing at 1:39 (at least I'm listed!). I am not usually one to complain about chip times, but the results have me listed as finishing several minutes after two people I know I passed. And all my times look too slow. I am assuming that the substitute chip was not matched properly to my name, and perhaps someone else actually had my missing chip. I was wearing my Timex, but stopped it by mistake somewhere after the swim and restarted it a few minutes into the bike. I know for sure my run time was about 30 minutes. Rob’s videos have time stamps and he was also watching the time so he could follow me; from those we were able to figure out that my swim time was about 17 minutes (including changing and the 400m run to bike transition), and bike and run were both about 30 minutes for a total of about 1:20. That’s good enough for me. [Update: I think I figured out the chip time mystery. There was another girl listed with a bib number that matches the chip number that they gave me. It seems they didn't make the correction. I hope they do. If I am right, my official times would be: 15:55 (swim + change + run to T1) 0:37 (rest of T1) 33:55 (bike) 29:12 (run) 1:19:35.94 (total). That makes much more sense.]<br />
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Thanks for reading and thanks for all your endless support.<br />
<br />
Here is a link to the videos:<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dz090pc0lzam6ox/qcdwDDJwXS">https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dz090pc0lzam6ox/qcdwDDJwXS</a><br />
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Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-86673479735031607662012-06-27T19:34:00.000-07:002012-06-28T06:31:11.288-07:00Quinoa-walnut burgers (vegan)<br />
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<b>Quinoa-walnut burgers, vegan </b></div>
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(makes about 10)</div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/484050_569242697206_1391331461_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/484050_569242697206_1391331461_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i>adapted from original Moosewood cookbook’s “lentil walnut burgers” but using quinoa instead of lentils</i></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Ingredients</b></div>
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1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed<o:p></o:p></div>
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2 cups water<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 large onion, chopped<o:p></o:p></div>
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¾ pound mushrooms (about 8 large), chopped<o:p></o:p></div>
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4 cloves garlic, minced<o:p></o:p></div>
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2 large carrots, grated (about 1 cup)<o:p></o:p></div>
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½ cup chopped walnuts<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 tsp dried oregano<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 tsp dried basil<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 Tbsp soy sauce<o:p></o:p></div>
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1 Tbsp prepared mustard<o:p></o:p></div>
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2 Tbsp ground flax<o:p></o:p></div>
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4 Tbsp water<o:p></o:p></div>
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½ cup vegan bread crumbs (or processed oats)<o:p></o:p></div>
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Oil (for sautéing and frying)<o:p></o:p><br />
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<b>Instructions</b><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">1) Put quinoa and water in a pot and heat till water boils. Lower to simmer and let cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all water is absorbed.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">2) In a fry pan, saute onions, mushrooms, garlic, and carrots in oil until soft. Add walnuts and sauté a bit longer. Add oregano and basil.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">3) Transfer contents of fry pan to food processor and process quickly.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">4) Combine cooked quinoa to processed mixture in a bowl, and add soy sauce and mustard.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">5) Add water to ground flax, let sit for a few minutes, and add to above mixture.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">6) Add bread crumbs, mix with your hands, and form into patties (about ten).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">7) Fry about 5 minutes on a side. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -24px;">8) Enjoy with your favorite bun or toppings or alone!</span></div>
<br />Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-20130307803314326422012-05-08T09:57:00.000-07:002012-05-08T09:58:07.528-07:00BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon May 6, 2012<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">May 6, 2012</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Short story:</span><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"> Not my day for a good race, but an amazing weekend overall. </span><img alt="8)" src="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif" style="background-color: #fafaf8; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;" title="Cool" /><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">1:53:04</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Splits from my Garmin here:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1881883937"> </a></span><a href="http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=55110">http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=55110</a><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"> (The first kilometre was a little off as my watch didn’t lock into the signal right away).</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Elevation profile from my Garmin: </span><a href="http://www.itsmyrun.com/elevation.php?id=55110">http://www.itsmyrun.com/elevation.php?id=55110</a><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"> (The GPS gets a bit confused downtown; there was only about 40m elevation gain in the last 2K, not 100m. The rest is pretty accurate, though.)</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">Long story</span><span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"> (why can't I write short reports?):</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Back in October of last year, the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon committee announced two new courses for the full- and half-marathons. Everyone was excited about the prospect of net downhill courses that went through beautiful parts of the city. I was not sure what to expect with this new half-marathon course; the old course with Prospect Point hill was gone, but I OWNED that course and that hill. It was my first half-marathon back in 2004, and I raced it five more times after that, missing it only in 2006 when I did the full marathon and in 2009 when I was injured. I knew the course well, and nailed it last year for a PB time of 1:47:xx. Could I be in shape to better that time this year? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">On race day were blessed with gorgeous weather, and I woke up feeling great. I left my house just after 6:00 to walk/jog over to the start, just 2K away. The corrals were well-organized and not crowded, but many people seemed to be arriving late and trying to jump the fences. We were off just a bit later than 7:00, and I saw Rob cheering on the sideline—gave him a quick high-five and I was on my way.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">My plan was to hold as close to a 5:00/km average pace as I could, figuring I could tack 6K onto the pace I did in Birch Bay 15K in March. I expected the first half to be a bit faster than the second with the downhill start. My race started well – the course started on a bit of an uphill but then quickly started downhill as we headed north on Cambie. This felt great; I was keeping a great pace but it did not feel tough at all- I was just taking what the downhill gave me. The first few kilometres were under 5:00/km, and by 5K I was at about 24 minutes. The course flattened out after that and actually had some rolling hills through the downtown area. I took it easy on the uphills, and then tried to get back the lost time on the downhills. The strategy seemed to be working well. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">At 10K I was just over 50 minutes. I knew I had lost a bit of the time I banked on the downhill, but I was still feeling very good. The next 5K had some rolling hills with an out-and-back along Stanley Park Drive before we head along the side of Lost Lagoon. I walked a bit on the uphills, trying to conserve energy and saving them for the downhills. At 15K at just over 1:16:xx (close to my Birch Bay time); so I had lost some more time but I still kept holding on. Yes, it felt tough, but I kept telling myself, “it’s ok, it is supposed to feel tough.” I thought if I could just get past 16K I could go into autopilot and take it home.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">But around then is where I started feeling some twinges in my calves – similar to what I felt last year at Scotiabank Half in June. I thought it wasn’t too bad and just tried to relax into it. I thought if I could just hold on to as many kilometres near 5:00 I would still be able to finish well, but my time was slipping away as I needed to walk or relax to let the calves release. I stopped to stretch at one point, but that did not help. Sometimes when I started to walk I felt my lower legs start to go numb. Then I would get moving again, and the cramping continued into my feet and the sides of my legs. By 18K I was just holding on to finish, hoping I could make it without any serious damage to my calves.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">The last uphill along Pender before we turned at Hastings would have been cruel in the marathon, but at the end of my race it was almost a relief. I was not moving very quickly at that point, but I knew I was almost done. I finished at just over 1:53 on my watch.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">I was elated to finish and get my medal, a then a water bottle and a food bag. Even though my race did not go as I would have liked, I toughed out another finish and that made me very happy. I dug a banana out of the bag, the only thing I could stomach at that point. The long walk to the gear check area (seemed like about a kilometre) was brutal, although not as bad as it could have been because of the beautiful weather. About half-way to the gear check area I made the mistake of nonchalantly stepping down a curb and both calves seized on me. I was literally screaming in pain, and a couple people came over to me to see if I was ok; I choked out, “Yeah, I’ll be ok”, looked around for a medical tent but there was nothing around. So I sat there and waited for the cramps to relax. When they did, I tried to get up again—too soon! Both calves seized again and the pain was worse than before. I was trying to work it out, breathing into it and letting them relax (I had had this before and knew what to do), and eventually they did. But I was afraid to try to get up again. Luckily at that point I saw a couple friends who had finished shortly after me. They were my saviours- when I was ready to stand up, my calves might have seized again had they not been there to help me support my weight. We slowly walked to get our gear (another problem, but I won’t get into that here). After relaxing, getting a coffee, some more food, we went back to the finish line to cheer in our marathoning friends.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Now that it is over, I am not sure what I think of this new course. I knew not to get too excited about the net downhill profile, and in the end my race was very similar to <a href="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=42469">Scotiabank Half</a> last year (also net downhill with one long 2K drop). Maybe the calf cramping can be avoided with a more moderately-paced start, and I just paced too aggressively for my fitness. I have been advised by a few people that the cramps can be avoided by addressing hydration and nutrition; I have my doubts since it only happens on courses with big downhill grades. But since now two of the big half-marathons in the city have this profile, I really want to figure this out. Overall I loved the new organization of the races and the scenic courses; the race committee does need to work out a few of the organizational kinks with transit, post-race support, and gear pickup, and I hope they fix these. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Others have their own stories to tell, and there are many. For now will just say that it was great to share this weekend with so many wonderful people. The weeks and days of training and camaraderie</span> <span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">leading up to the race, cheering for each each other during and after the race, and hashing out the good and the bad after -- the support and friendship of my running communities cannot be beat. This to me is what running is all about.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: #fafaf8; color: #111111; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Thanks for reading.</span>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-20566627784975717842012-04-03T08:29:00.000-07:002012-04-03T08:57:49.851-07:00Birch Bay 15K, March 31, 2012<div style="text-align: justify;">
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“Wow, you are really looking at things from a
glass-half-full perspective today, aren’t you?” That was a comment from a
friend during a long run yesterday, and it nicely summarizes my attitude about
my running lately. Saturday’s race was far from perfect for me, but it was a
good race and I took away a lot of positives from it. I am looking forward to
some continued improvement this spring.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Early Saturday morning my friend Rob and I drove over the border to
run the <a href="http://www.birchbayroadrace.com/">Birch Bay International Road Race</a>. "International" because it
attracts about equal numbers of participants from both sides of the border,
most of whom from British Columbia or Washington state. This was the second
year for both of us in this race, Rob in the 30K and me in the 15K. Last year I
finished with a time of 1:14:28, and was hoping I could better that this year,
or at least break 1:15 (5:00/km). Since Rob was planning for a similar pace, we
decided to start together, lining up near the "8:00/mile" cone in the
starting chute. (Funny that the paces were always described in miles (as they
are in the results), but the course was only marked in kilometres.)<o:p></o:p><br />
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In the first 5K we were going a bit faster than 5:00/km with
a tailwind. The new course surprised both of us- last year we turned around at
about the 2K mark, but this year we continued to about 7K before turning
around. This made for an overall flatter course, and in the first 4K I felt
like we were flying. The nice tailwind had something to do with that, and I
knew we would feel the effects of it after the turnaround. Rob and I stayed
together for about 5K, but then he told me to go on ahead. He caught back up to
me around 7K and I thought I could try to keep up with him, but he would
eventually pull ahead. I always had him in my sights, but could not keep up.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We came out of the park at about 7K but did not feel the
full effects of the headwind till about 9K when the shoreline turned. Perhaps I
went out a bit too fast at the beginning or I was fighting against the wind too
much, but every step felt like a struggle in those middle kilometres. I also
had to stop to retie my shoelace at about 8K (boo! not again!). I passed the
10K mark at just over 50 minutes and knew I was still on track for a good
finish if I could hold on. I kept pushing, repeating my mantra "run hard,
run happy." I slowed a bit, but fought hard to make sure I didn't slip too
much. I accepted a gel from the aid station at about 11K and choked down half
of it, taking some water at the next station. We turned around at about 13.5K
and I thought about Rob and the 30K-ers continuing on for another 15K, glad I
wasn’t one of them. I saw Rob up ahead in the distance about a minute ahead of
me, and had a feeling he was going to have a good race.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
If we had the benefit of a tailwind for that last kilometre
along the bay, I couldn’t feel it. At 14.5K we turned up the hill to the finish.
It seemed like forever at that point, but I crossed the line at just under 1:16
on my watch. The timing company had some mishaps, partially because of a
rear-ender accident on the way to the race. Their printer was broken so no
results were posted; I thought I had a chance at an age group award so I waited
as they announced the winners and awards for the 15K. When they got to F44-49
they gave the third place award to a woman with a slower time than I had, so I
figured they must have messed up my chip time when I switched distances. I went
to the timing truck to sort it out, and they said they would take care of
it—sure enough the official results were corrected with me listed as third in my
age group (out of 37 women). Unfortunately waiting around for the age group
awards meant that I almost missed Rob coming up the hill to finish his
30K. He finished in just over 2:26 with
a sizable negative split—his hard training is really showing now, and I can’t
wait to see what he’ll do in the Vancouver Marathon next month. Being there to
share his awesome finish was worth the trip alone. <o:p></o:p></div>
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My official results: <br />
Time: 1:15:39<br />
Overall place: 48/285<br />
Females: 12/197<br />
F44-49: 3/37<o:p></o:p></div>
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So my time was a bit slower than last year by about a
minute, but over a minute faster than what my other races this spring would
have predicted. I learned that I can definitely benefit from some practice at
the longer sustained hard runs and know I can continue to improve. I earned an
age group award and placed in the top 6% of all females in this race. And I was
able to be there to share my friend’s great result. It’s all good.<o:p></o:p></div>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-74987004824970617902012-02-14T13:31:00.000-08:002012-02-14T13:31:54.468-08:00"First Half" Half-Marathon race report<br />
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First Half Half-marathon, February 12, 2012<o:p></o:p></div>
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My results, by the numbers:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Chip time: 1:50:51</b><br />Gun time: 1:51:02<o:p></o:p></div>
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Overall placing:
724/1982<o:p></o:p></div>
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Age group placing (F45-49):
33/158<o:p></o:p></div>
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Placing out of all females:
284/1166<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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A bit of history of the First Half and me:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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2005 - volunteered and was hugely impressed with the race
organization and quality<o:p></o:p></div>
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2006 - raced it as a training race on the way to my first
marathon: 1:56<o:p></o:p></div>
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2007 - had a great race with a 1:51; that would stand as my
PB for over 3 more years<o:p></o:p></div>
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2008 - was away<o:p></o:p></div>
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2009 - had been injured but still ran as an easy run: 2:04<o:p></o:p></div>
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2010 - race cancelled because of the Olympics<o:p></o:p></div>
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2011- had to miss the race at the last minute because of my
mom's stroke<o:p></o:p></div>
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2012 - so happy to be back- one of my favourite Vancouver
races<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Although I had to miss this race last year, I did do three
other half-marathons: Vancouver
Half-Marathon in May with a PB of 1:47, the Scotiabank Half in June with a
disappointing 1:54 (bad calf cramping in last 7K), and a decent showing in
Portland in the fall with 1:49, a month before my marathon.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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The original plan in training for this race was to build off
my post-marathon fitness toward a possible new PB. But a slight injury setback in mid-December
forced me to cut back my distances and intensity for about a month. Starting in mid-January I was able build back
my distances and ease back into the hard runs.
My race plan yesterday was to start at a pace of around 5:15-5:20 and
bring that down later in the race if I was feeling good.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I started faster than planned and found myself at closer to
5:00/km. It felt great for the first 5K,
but I worried it would be tough to hang on with my lack of hard training
lately. Perhaps I let it get to my head
a bit, but I did settle down into a pace closer to 5:10-5:15 for the middle
10K. Overall it felt tough but really
good the whole time; I was able to tackle each kilometre and mile as it came
without looking too far ahead. The course is mostly flat with a little jaunt
through downtown, a scenic run along the water in English Bay, and then a
beautiful trek around the entire Stanley Park seawall. I know the route very well, running on these
paths often several times in a week. We
were blessed with much better weather than I had expected; just a light drizzle
and almost no wind. So pretty much perfect conditions for racing in the park.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
The half-way point was in Stanley Park and I was still
feeling quite good. My watch said
54:something and thought I might even be able to pull off a 1:48 finish. But I started to really suffer after that;
every kilometre was a push, but I just kept on.
Seeing Chantelle at her volunteer post at around the 14K mark gave me a
huge boost, but the rest of the loop around the park was still really tough
physically and mentally. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Before heading out of the park we did a quick loop around
Lost Lagoon. I was anxiously awaiting the 10-mile mark, for me the real
beginning of the end of the race, which I knew would be part-way around the
Lagoon. At that point I was at about
1:23; I did some mental math and figured
I could still come in under 1:50 if I could maintain close to a 5:00/km pace,
but my legs just did not have it for the
final stretch. Funny thing about an
“almost flat” route-- you really do feel every hill (or at least I do). My pace suffered on every bit of an incline, including one coming out
of the park around 18K and two brutal little ones in the last kilometre (coming
up under the Burrard and Granville bridges).
In my good races I can power through the last 5K at a faster pace, but I
slowed quite a bit yesterday. Still, I
was able to hang on strong enough and was thrilled to come over the line with
1:50:xx on my watch, 1:51:02 on the clock.
My splits from the Garmin can be found in <a href="http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=52291">this file</a> if anyone is
interested.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
So it wasn't a perfect race by far. I ran with a slight positive split, having
started a bit faster than I planned and slowing at the end. But I am very happy
with what I had yesterday. It felt great
being able to push to the limit again, with no injury pain or discomfort at
all, and with a time slightly better than I was expecting (just 3 minutes
slower than my PB). As usual, the race
organization was superb with so much volunteer support. I saw almost all of my running friends at
this race, many of whom ran PBs or close to them. I did not get to see Dylan Wykes on the
course since there is no chance to see the leaders while running this race, but
I was thrilled to find out he set a course record with 1:04:21.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="Standard">
<br /></div>
<div class="Standard">
Next up? I am still
waffling between doing the full distance the BMO Vancouver Marathon, (I am
already registered) or switching to the half-marathon distance there. I know I can be ready for the full distance
but I am just not sure that it is the best race choice for me now. I will also
likely go to Birch Bay again at the end of March for either the 15K or 30K
distance. And in June I will probably
do the Scotiabank half-marathon. After
yesterday's result it looks like it could be a good spring for racing.<o:p></o:p></div>Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-39591749592656465882011-11-08T12:35:00.000-08:002011-11-12T15:29:48.847-08:00New York Marathon race reportOn Sunday November 6, 2011, I ran the New York Marathon, finishing in a time of 4:17:57. That finish time is only a small piece of a long story that started about a year ago, so sit back and get a coffee- or jump ahead to the end if you are only interested in the race itself.<br />
<br />
<b>Preamble:</b><br />
<br />
I grew up in northeastern U.S., close to Boston and about four hours from New York City. I have been to New York several times in my life, including a high school day trip, a few family trips, visits to friends, and lastly a weekend with my mom and sister for my mom's 65th birthday in 2007. When my mom found out I was going to be running the New York marathon, she didn't hesitate to book a hotel room so that she and my dad could come be there with me. Then in February of this year, our lives took an unexpected turn. My otherwise very healthy mom had a massive brain hemorrhage (ruptured aneurism) leading to a stroke. She was in the ICU for a month, much of that time in critical condition. Miraculously she came out of her semi-coma, was eventually able to go through rehabilitation therapy, and recovered to about 95% of where she was before. Between February and September I took many trips to help her and my family during her long recovery journey. Up until as little as a month before my race she still wanted to come to New York, but we all decided my sister would come instead. As much as I would love to have had my parents come, logistically it would have been difficult to have them there. My sister and I got to spend some great time together, and she completely immersed herself in the role of the marathon support person. <br />
<br />
I arrived in New York late on Thursday night, a day before my sister. As I said this was not my first time in New York, but that did not take away from the excitement and wide-eyed wonderment. Our hotel was right in the middle of Times Square. Many of the international tour companies had blocks of rooms in this area, so I was always surrounded by groups of runners amidst the New York excitement. I could write another long report about my two days in New York before the race, but I will keep it to the brief highlights: a short run with Marg to Central Park on Friday morning, dinner at two great restaurants with my sister, a Saturday matinee of Mamma Mia, and several trips to the Times Square Starbucks. We were blessed with beautiful fall weather and I wish I could have spent more time there.<br />
<br />
<b>Race day:</b><br />
<br />
I had been warned about nightmarish pre-race logistics and long waiting times at the start area, but my experience was just the opposite. There were three start waves at 9:40, 10:10, and 10:40, and also three bib colours: blue, orange and green for the different start areas. Runners of each bib colour were mixed in each start wave time, and I was assigned green, wave 2 (10:10 start time). My ferry time was 7:30, and I went to the subway at about 6:45. I waited for about 10 minutes for the train, and I got to the ferry terminal at just before 7:20. There were so many keen people at the terminal with later ferry times that I did not get on the ferry until about 7:50. The ferry crossing was about a half-hour, and then another half-hour on the bus, plus there was a bit of walking and waiting in between. By the time I got to the green start village it was already about 9:15, and I had to check my bag by 9:30 for the wave 2 start. So much for waiting around with blankets and tarps.<br />
<br />
After I checked my bag they were already announcing for wave 2 runners to enter the corrals. It was still a few minutes before the 9:40 wave 1 start, and the entrance to the corral was very cramped and crowded. Several of us were trying to get in, but the volunteers were about to shut us out saying there was no where to go. I was confused because I figured there must be a barricade somewhere inside to block the wave 2 people from crossing early- surely the corrals would open up more after the 9:40 start. I could not figure out why so many wave 2 people were already inside. I was not worried, though; I figured worst case scenario is they would have us wait until the 10:40 wave 3 start. But sure enough, after 9:40 space opened up and they let us in.<br />
<br />
The green start area was on the lower deck of the bridge, and I was in the front group in wave 2. As we stood and waited in the corrals, we could see the masses of blue and orange runners on the upper deck going over the bridge. It was quite the sight and it was hard to believe that I was getting ready to run the same race; it all seemed to happen so quickly. There was lots of music and cheering in the corrals as we watched the clock tick forward toward the 30-minute mark when we would start. <br />
<br />
<b>The Race:</b><br />
<br />
The start was very crowded and I was happy enough to take it very easy to warm up into my pace. My Garmin could not hold a good signal on the lower deck of the bridge, so I ignored it and ran by feel, checking my pace at the mile markers. I ended up running most of the race this way; there were timing mats and and clocks at each mile after mile 3, at 5K intervals, and at the half-way point. At 5K I was right where I wanted to be at 27:38, holding about a 5:30/km pace. By this point I realized I was bit overdressed- the weather was absolutely gorgeous with sunny skies and no wind, and a starting temperature of about 12 degrees Celsius. It would reach about 15 by the time we were done.<br />
<br />
This race is unique in that the three different bib colours have different routes for the first 5K. The blue and orange groups started on the upper deck but split off from each other for a bit after the bridge. Our green group on the lower deck followed a completely different route after the bridge. All three groups would reunite shortly after the 5K mark. There were actually some bottlenecks in some parts of the course after that, probably because I was running amidst a large group of people aiming for a time of around four hours.<br />
<br />
The next 5K went pretty smoothly and I was holding what felt like a perfect pace. Not too easy, not too hard, right in the marathon effort zone. I hit 10K at just over 55 minutes, with a second 5K split almost identical to the first. I was in a happy place. <br />
<br />
The next 5K felt a bit harder; there was some steady climbing and it was getting a bit warmer, but overall I still felt excellent. I took my second gel break at around the 8-mile mark (13K). I passed the 15K mark at 1:24:01 (5K split in 28:51), so I lost about a minute total to the gel break and climbing. I did not realize how much time I lost so it did not really faze me. My plan was to stop at 5 miles and then every 3 miles for a quick gel/water break.<br />
<br />
Sometime before the half-way point I started to have some GI discomfort which I was mostly able to ignore. Overall I was enjoying the course, the crowd, the spectators, and was immersed in the race; it was not until close to 20K that I realized that I was slowing down a bit. It did not seem like much as the miles went by and I thought I was making up time on the downhills, but I guess I was not. For those of you following the numbers, I was at 20K at 1:52:59, 5K split in 29:02, 21.1K at 1:59:21. So I had slowed to a pace of about 5:45/km, and average pace was about 5:37/km. But I knew I was still in great shape for a sub-4-hour race, I felt strong, and kept pushing on. I felt like I still had a higher gear in reserve, and was not worried about the pace at all. However, from around 14-15 miles the GI distress was getting worse and becoming hard to ignore. I was having trouble relaxing into my stride, and by mile 16 I was starting to dread the rest of the race. This is NOT the first time this has happened to me, but the first time in a race. I skipped the 17-mile gel and I thought I should stop at a port-a-potty, but they were all locked. Oh, forget it, I thought, and kept going. Mistake! After 18 miles it was clear that a stop was going to be unavoidable. There were port-a-potties at every aid station near each mile marker, but I could not see any as I approached the water table. In a desperate tone I asked a volunteer, “Where are the port-a-potties??” He pointed just past the water tables on the sidewalk, and I ran over to find an empty one. I will spare the details, but it took me about 5 minutes to take care of business to the point where I would be comfortable again. I did not want to have to stop again. I sent a short text my sister to let her know I was behind, but I was OK (no details). I also texted Rob who I knew would inform the trackers on Runningmania. Leaving the aid-station area I ran a bit along the sidewalk and thought to myself, “OK, here we go. Time to finish this marathon,” and I re-entered the course. I felt so much better physically and mentally. I had no more GI distress for the rest of the race, and decided with my time goal totally out the window that I would just relax and enjoy the rest of the race as much as possible. I was at just over 2:50 on my watch when I stopped, about 2:55 when I got going again and I knew I would be out there for more than another hour with over 13K to go, even if I was able to recover to a perfect pace. And my legs were not even thinking about that option anyway.
<br />
<br />
I was euphoric as I passed the 30K mark, and the later the 35K and 40K marks. As we re-entered Manhattan around 34K, the crowds continued to urge us on. This was my favourite part of the course, through the upper east side down the residential part of Fifth Avenue and eventually through Central Park. My legs started feeling the full effects of the distance but I never had to stop to a walk. I kept a slow but steady pace to the end. I tried to find my sister at her designated spectator point near the south-east corner of the park on Fifth Ave; she did see me but I somehow missed her as I scanned the crowd.<br />
<br />
The last turn at Columbus Circle and the corner of the park felt amazing, even though I was hurting all over. The best of the on-course bands was here playing "Born to Run". The final 800m stretch to the finish line seemed to go on forever and it was great to finally cross. The time was just over 4:18 on my watch (official time was 4:17:57). My second worst time (but my third best ), and a fantastic experience overall.<br />
<br />
After the finish line we got "recovery bags" with food, Gatorade, and water, and there were photographers taking finish pictures which I skipped. Then there was what we were all calling a long “zombie march” to the area to get our bags. Afterwards I had a longer walk back to Times Square (I had waited for a bus, but walking was actually easier at this point). I met my sister, my cousin, and his wife at our hotel for beer and some food, and later went to dinner with Lesley, Jacqueline, Leo, Ed, and their group. Everyone was enjoying sharing their stories, and it seemed that most people had a rough race except for Lesley (you go girl!).<br />
<br />
Shortly after the race I was having hugely mixed emotions. I was thrilled to have finished such a great race with all its excitement and lore, but could not hide the disappointment with my time. I told everyone I had no desire to do another marathon. But I have already changed my mind and will be doing the Vancouver Marathon in May. Marathons are tough and unpredictable, but that is part of their charm. After the personal challenges in my life in the winter and spring I still ended up having an great year of training with several PB's and a truly enjoyable marathon training cycle in the fall. I know I am in the best shape of my life and I love what the training does for me. I do not race a lot of marathons, so it is tough when it does not all come together on the big day. But there is so much more to racing marathons than the number on the finish clock.<br />
<br />
And my mother? She was at home at her computer tracking me the whole time, making several phone calls to my sister. She found it so exciting to be able to do that, almost feeling like she was in New York with me. And, in spirit, she was.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-78596111471134415442011-10-19T21:21:00.000-07:002011-10-19T21:21:25.644-07:00Taper time- let the madness beginI did my last long run for my marathon training yesterday, and it was a great one. I ran around Stanley Park three times, including twice on the road over Prospect Point hill. The total distance was 34K, and it felt stronger than any of my other long runs have felt this season. The run took me 3:24 for an average pace of 6:00/km. I am now ready to back off a bit on distance for tapering.
The marathon is just seventeen days away, and I will be leaving for New York two weeks from tomorrow. I am already starting to experience that nervous excitement that will build even more as the race approaches. I am trying to remain calm and relaxed, though. I find myself thinking about my goals and studying the <a href="http://www.nycmarathon.org/documents/INGNYCM11_Course_Map_ForWeb.pdf">course map</a> and <a href="http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/documents/NYCM-Profilepage10.pdf">elevation guide</a>. It looks like it will be a great course, but the hills will not be trivial. I am starting to think about my pacing strategy, which I hone a bit as the race gets closer.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-4790845014736182502011-10-17T20:46:00.000-07:002011-10-17T20:47:00.980-07:00Back to bloggingMy plans to get back to blogging in August sort of fell apart again. And now here I am at the end of marathon training for New York. I did train well, and many people followed along on DailyMile, Itsmyrun, and Runningmania. I kept this blog open as a portal into those sites, and if you are interested in the details of my training you can read about them there.
I had to stop racing for much of the summer but had a good half-marathon race last week (report posted). Now I have one long run tomorrow before the taper begins for New York, and I can honestly say that my training has gone as well as I would have hoped. I had some solid peak weeks, some strong workouts and long runs, and a great week of running with my coach back in July. My training has been consistent with about a 3:50-3:55 goal pace for the marathon. However, I've always had trouble hitting my "expected" pace in the marathon, so I will likely aim for a reasonable 3:55 goal time. Even this sounds ambitious to me since my previous best is 4:06, but I do think it is aggressively achievable.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-12602641253238599172011-10-17T17:21:00.000-07:002011-10-17T17:21:19.942-07:00Portland Half-Marathon Race ReportPortland Half-Marathon<br />
October 9, 2011<br />
<br />
Gun: 1:49:33, Chip 1:49:14<br />
181/2272 overall, 56/1668 Female<br />
7/218 F45-49 (not a hugely competitive race with a large charity runner/walker component, but I'll still take it ;) )<br />
<br />
As I planned my marathon training for this fall, I knew I wanted to do a half-marathon in October as a tune-up and fitness test. I picked Portland as a change from the BC races I've done before. I had heard lots of good things about this race; plus, we have friends to stay with which made it a nice mini-vacation. In preparing for the race, I thought I was in shape for about 1:45, which would mean a pace of just under 5:00/km. My training has been really strong overall, but I had mild cold last week my paces were dragging a bit. I was not sure if it would affect my race time, but I decided to wait and see how I felt as the race got started. <br />
<br />
The 7:00 am start was early for my liking, and it was actually still dark in Portland we assembled in the corrals. The half-marathoners and marathoners start together and much of the beginning of the course is the same. Rob and I had met for coffee before the start, and we wished each other good luck as we went to our respective corrals. The gun went off and I quickly got into a smooth steady pace. The course starts on a gradual uphill which was a bit difficult, but nicely starts to come down after about mile 3 (just after 5K). I had settled into a pace that was over 5:00/km average, but the downhill was fast and felt great.<br />
<br />
I probably should have studied the course map a bit more carefully because I didn't realize I would be running most of the half-marathon race with the marathoners. I could not remember where the split was, but as I approached the half-way point I thought it should have been earlier. This race has way more marathoners than half-marathoners, and I kept peeking around me to make sure there were still some half-marathon bibs near me. There were... but not many. After a stretch along the river in downtown, we went on a long out-and-back along the railroad tracks. After the 6-mile mark I finally saw where the marathon/half-marathon split was on the other side of the road (around 11 miles). I thought to myself, once I get to there it won't be long before we're done.<br />
<br />
My pace was pretty steady but I always felt like I was fighting for it. I remember hitting the 5-mile mark (just over 8K) at about 41:30, which I knew was off my original goal pace but I was still running pretty strongly and consistently for what I had that day. I did not bring water with me and stopped three water stations on the course-- at one of them the cups had about 20 mL in them each. I don't know what those volunteers were thinking! I took about five of them. And at another I got to the last table and it wasn't water but gummy bears. I took some but later threw them down. In retrospect it might have been easier to have my own bottle with me, but I'm not sure how much difference it makes on a half-marathon course. I made my last stop at a water station around 9 miles where I also took the gel that Rob generously gave to me.<br />
<br />
As a faster half-marathoner for this field, I had been assigned to start in the first corral. This was odd, though, as my expected pace was slower than the marathoners in that corral. The 3:15-marathoners and slower were in the second corral and a minute or two behind the start gun; therefore, the various faster pace groups kept catching me and passing me. Around 6 miles I was passed by the 3:30 pace group, knowing that they were going approximately my goal pace. I hoped maybe I could hang with them, but I couldn't. At this point I wanted to make sure at least the 3:40 group never passed me, because that would mean I had slowed to slower than a 1:50 time. They never did. Rob was in that group, who did see me on the out-and-back section and tried to reach out his hand to wave/high-five. I didn't realize it was him until he passed, but the gesture was still appreciated. <br />
<br />
I came upon the 10-mile mark (just over 16K) at exactly 1:23:00, so I was keeping a very even pace. I knew I could hang on for the last 3.1 miles (5K) and had hopes of possibly speeding up to squeeze in under 1:48. But instead I had a pretty hard time hanging on at that point and actually slowed a little bit. I am not sure why- this never happens to me and I was pushing pretty hard on the course. The last 2-3 miles felt like they went on forever, but I finally came in just over 1:49 (official time was 1:49:14). <br />
<br />
My time was two minutes slower than my PB from May, but I am still very happy with this result given how I felt overall. I remember after that race in May I wrote that sometimes you feel like you have to fight the whole way to keep your pace, whereas other times you feel like something is giving it to you and you just have to hang on. I will not always have that magical feeling, but I can still have a lot of good races. I had to work hard for it Sunday, but it was so worth it. The overall race experience was amazing and I would definitely do this one again.<br />
<br />
Now with less than four weeks till New York and just a handful more key workouts, it's time for sharpening and tapering. I am so looking forward to that race.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
My kilometre splits from my watch for anyone who is interested in these things. (The course is marked in miles, but I still like kilometres on my watch.)<br />
<br />
<br />
1 5:08<br />
2 5:08<br />
3 5:07<br />
4 5:14 (uphill)<br />
5 5:15<br />
6 4:46 (downhill, yay!)<br />
7 4:46<br />
8 5:11 (still downhill but water stop at end)<br />
9 4:58<br />
10 5:04<br />
11 5:05<br />
12 5:10<br />
13 5:11<br />
14 5:27 (water stop)<br />
15 5:07<br />
16 5:08<br />
17 5:13<br />
18 5:14<br />
19 5:17 (small hill, but still surprised to slow here)<br />
20 5:10<br />
21 5:12<br />
21.26 1:14<br />
<br />
Final time: 1:49:14Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-31023231132942421082011-08-04T15:04:00.000-07:002011-08-04T15:11:38.888-07:00Failed blog ... maybeA good friend of mine once told me that 95% of all blogs end within a month. I was determined to keep going longer on mine from the start, and I did... but lately I have been slack. It has been a crazy year for me with my mom's illness (she's doing great now, by the way), and a bit up and down with training. But I did have some great races in the spring, and after a bit of a disappointing set of races in June, I managed to get back on track in July. I am now in the beginning of training for the New York Marathon in November.<br />
<br />
I now plan to continue this blog, with a bit less of a clinical style Some of you follow my training through the various logs I have (see sidebar), and I will continue to log there. I hope to be able to post some more interesting posts as my training continues. So if you're still with me-- thanks! I plan to blog more regularly now, even if I only have one or two readers. I have also updated my race plans/results page.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-48470812942039475192011-05-02T22:19:00.000-07:002011-05-02T22:19:08.854-07:00Race report: BMO Vancouver Half-marathonBMO Vancouver Half-marathon <br />
Sunday May 1, 2011:<br />
<br />
<b>"Sometimes it just works."</b><br />
<br />
Official time: 1:47:20 (PB by two minutes, course best by five minutes)<br />
Overall placing: 806/6522<br />
Female: 214/4165 (wow, a lot more women doing this race than men!)<br />
F40-44: 30/568 (top 5.2%)<br />
<br />
<br />
A bit of history: This is the sixth time I have done this race. It was my first half-marathon in 2004 and my first sub-2:00 in 2005. In 2010 and 2008 I ran strong races having come back from difficult injury or other issues. 2007 was the only year I had a very disappointing race, coming off a great spring race season. I had run the 10k race of my dreams three weeks before and had high hopes for the half-marathon. I ended up having a very off day and difficult race with a 1:52 time. I was able to repeat that time in 2008 and 2010, and later in 2010 improved on that time to get my sub-1:50 PB.<br />
<br />
Fast forward to this spring: because of family and time issues I have not had a very focused season of training. But I have been doing good workouts when I can, including some strong speed work and long runs every other week or so, and I have been getting in consistent mileage (although lower than I've liked). Previously I would not have thought that this style of training really suited me, but I have been having some decent results with it. I had two really good 15k races in January and March where I was able to average under 5:00/km, but I had to miss my favourite half-marathon in February. I was eager to test out my speed two weeks ago at the Sun Run 10k where I had that magical PB four years ago, but came up flat this year. It just wasn't my day.<br />
<br />
But some of that magic came back yesterday.<br />
<br />
I felt very good as I waited in the starting corral for the gun; after the gun went off and we started to move forward I felt an amazing sense of joy and excitement. We were blessed with perfect race weather and somehow I knew that this was going to be a good day. I had to do some weaving at the crowded start, but very soon found my groove. As early as 4K into the race I knew I was having a great day. It is hard to explain, but some days you feel like you have to fight for the pace the whole time, and some days you feel like something is giving it to you and you just have to take it and hold on. That is what I felt yesterday.<br />
<br />
This is a gorgeous but tough course with some rolling hills and a long climb in Stanley Park up to the top of Prospect Point. This is one of the biggest hills I have ever seen in a road race- a 200-ft climb over about two kilometres starting at the 12K mark. Since I have done this race so many times, I knew the course well and knew exactly what to expect. I knew the hill would slow me down and I figured this into my plan. I thought I could pace for about a 1:47 finish, which would require an average pace of 5:05/km. My plan was to stick to a pace of just over 5:00/km average for the first 12K hoping to be under 61 minutes. Then I would attack the hill, expecting but not fearing the inevitable slow-down. If I could stay strong to that point, I knew I could use the downhill after 14K and push hard to the end. I am not exactly sure how I did it but I was able to execute this plan perfectly. The early kilometres felt tough but strong and the pace was coming just as I wanted. At 12K, just at the start of the uphill, I was at about 1:00:40 on my watch. The climb was slow but I just pushed as hard as I could without feeling like I was going overboard. I passed the 14K marker at just over 1:12, so I slowed by about 40 sec/km on that hill. After 14K I was ready to take the gift of the downhill and hold on strongly to the finish. It felt really hard in the last kilometres, but I knew I could hold to the pace as I pushed through. The beautiful weather brought out a larger than normal number of spectators and running through the tunnel of cheering along the Beach Ave corridor helped me greatly. I did have some calf-cramping which forced me to back off the pace just a bit, but I was still able to average about 5:00/km in the last 7K. I crossed the finish line at just over 1:48 on the clock with a chip time of 1:47:20. That is more than a two-minute PB and about five minutes faster than I have been able to do on this course in the past.<br />
<br />
Overall I had close to what I would call the perfect race. I am hoping I can build on this success as I do more races this year, so keep watching. :) Thanks for reading.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-28858324660026908362011-04-18T12:53:00.000-07:002011-04-18T12:54:32.770-07:00Vancouver Sun Run 10K 2011<b>Short report</b> (for those who hate searching through a report for the results):<br />
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Vancouver Sun Run 10K, April 17, 2011<br />
Official time: <b>48:40</b> (4:53/km pace)<br />
2727 out of approx 40,000 finishers<br />
32/2032 in F40-44<br />
<br />
<b><br />
Long report, Intro:</b><br />
<br />
I was excited to be racing the Sun Run 10K this year for the first time since 2007. I had <a href="http://www.runningmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16762&p=406395#p406395">one of my best races</a> that day four years ago and hoped I could find some of that magic this year. I have not been able to race it since then: in 2008 I was away, in 2009 I was injured, and last year I was in injury-recovery mode and ran it with my two kids. This year I thought I might even have a shot at a PB (47:00 from 2007), but at least I wanted to give it my all. My original plan was to run with my son again this year (my daughter ran with her friends), and I was happy to do that. But late last week I came up with a scheme to race the course myself first and then catch up to my son who would be arriving at the start-line around 10:00 with my husband. The official start time of the race is 9:00, but since it took us till almost 10:30 to cross the start-line last year with the wave start, I figured there was no need for them to rush to the start. The finish line and start line are about 1.5K apart, so this would be quite doable.<br />
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<b>Sun Run Part 1:</b><br />
<br />
My friend TK and I got to the start area pretty early and made our way into the yellow wave corral just after 8:00. This is the area just behind the elite/seeded wave, and they close this corral at about 8:30. We were pretty close to the front of the fence. It was a cold morning but we tried to stay warm by moving around and dancing to the sound of the Neurotics, an awesome rock cover band that plays at the start every year. The music and crowd energy was infectious; still, was a long time to wait with no good time to warm up for the race.<br />
<br />
The elites were off right at 9:00, and immediately afterwards they opened our fence and let us through. I thought there would be more of a wait so I was not even quite ready, but got into it quickly. I love the downhill start of this race, and let it move me down with a 4:40 first kilometre. Up to kilometre three, I was just over 14 minutes and right where I needed to be for a 47-minute finish and I felt pretty good. But I never really got into that completely fluid feeling as I had hoped for.<br />
<br />
I slowed a bit but was still at just under 24 minutes at the 5K mark. I felt like I could hold on to a sub-48 finish at this point, but it got harder and harder to hold on. I had some bladder pressure issues (YIKES!!) and cramping, which made it uncomfortable and difficult to fully relax. I was plagued by negative thoughts that I just had to push away: "Maybe I should drop out, maybe I'm too old for this." Just shut up and run. I tried to dig deep but the second half of the race just felt really, really tough; I did manage to keep the pace at sub-5:00 kilometres the rest of the way. I crossed the finish line at 48:44 (official time was 48:40). So not exactly the race-day magic I was hoping for, but still a decent effort for what I had. I was happy to be finished... at least temporarily.<br />
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<b>Sun Run Part 2:</b><br />
<br />
I got some water and then exited the finish area to make my way back up to the start area. With my quick start it was just after 9:50am, so I figured I had plenty of time to slowly make my way back up to the start area. But just then I got a text from my husband saying they were already moving up in the corral and would soon cross the start-line. I told him I would be there as soon as I can and started to move more quickly. Five minutes later, they were on course (walking), so we decided to meet about 1K down the hill from the start-line, just before the course turns onto Denman Street. They had to wait for me for about two or three minutes; I quickly grabbed the backpack from my husband and started running with my son. I worried my son would be upset for not being able to run right from the start, but he was fine. We were sort of caught up in a sea of mostly walkers, but it did not faze him at all. If anything it kept his pace moderate enough so he could run most of the way. I actually had trouble keeping up with him at some points on my tired legs and running with the small pack. He stopped at water stops only three brief times, and kept a fairly consistent pace of about 6:15/km.<br />
<br />
After we crossed the Burrard Bridge and neared the 7K mark, I told him, “Only 2K and then we're at the Cambie Bridge. Let's really focus on these last 2K... then we're almost there.” He ran the rest without stopping. As we neared the 9K mark I told him, “You are doing so well today; next year we will both enter with green bibs and we'll run the whole thing together.” He crossed the finish line with an official time of 1:16:38. That is ten minutes faster than we did last year, and he would have been at least five minutes faster had it not been for the walk and wait for me at the beginning.<br />
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<b>Conclusion:</b><br />
<br />
Overall I had a great day. Although I did not have my best race, I am happy I decided to race it on my own first. Maybe I did not quite get my game face on in that first 10K, but so be it-- I will have another chance soon. My time was slightly better than the one 10K I did last year, and the season is still early. Being able to come back up to the start and run the course again with my son made the day for me. He has not even been training for running-- he just does a lot of running around on his own, playing soccer with his friends, and plays floor hockey in an informal league. I would love to see what he could do for running if he focused on it. My whole family participated in what was a gorgeous race day; my daughter finished with a friend in just over 1:17 (their time was also lengthened by a forced stop before the finish for a medical emergency), and my husband and mother-in-law walked in 1:53.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-6901916219739250452011-03-28T22:37:00.000-07:002011-03-28T22:37:07.957-07:00Who will get to run Boston, Part 3<a href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-will-get-to-run-boston-part-2.html">A few months ago I posted</a> that changes to the Boston Marathon registration and/or qualification process would be announced some time in early 2011. <br />
<br />
On February 19, The BAA announced that effective for the 2013 Boston Marathon, qualifying times would be lowered by 5 minutes in each age-group category. For the 2012 Boston Marathon, qualifying times will remain the same as before, but <a href="http://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/register.aspx">some changes will be made in the registration process</a>. Those with faster times within each age group category will be able to register sooner, thus making running time and not computer access time the limiting factor in whether one can get in. This graduated registration process will continue in 2013 and beyond.<br />
<br />
What does this mean for me? First of all, it means that even if I had just made my sub-4:00 marathon time in October, likely would not have been good enough for a 2012 Boston entry. Unfortunately I do know some people who have qualifying times from fall marathons, but now might not be able to get in for 2012. Although I think the new system is a fair way of adressing the registration overload problems they had this past fall, it seems a bit unfair to those who thought they had qualified under the old rules before February 19. But the BAA never made any promises that those times would be good enough for 2012; people had made assumptions based on what had been done in previous years.<br />
<br />
On a practical level for me, the new registration system and qualifying times mean that I will simply have to work harder and run faster in order to try to qualify for 2013 or later. I would need a qualifying time of 3:55, but I might actually need a faster time than that once registration takes place. This will be tough since I have only run three marathons and I have slowed down in each one, despite starting at a pace that was in theory reasonable based on my training and half-marathon pace. I will need more long training runs, more training runs at race pace, and more lactate threshold work in order to achieve this big goal. Is 3:55, or even 3:50 a reasonable marathon goal? I think so, but I can only see how well I progress as I work toward taking time off my half-marathon time first, and then train for the best possible marathon I can do.<br />
<br />
I am still thinking about the option of obtaining a Boston Marathon spot with a fundraising organization, but I will think about this after I run my fall marathon.<br />
<br />
But for the sake of this blog, the short answer to the question, "Who will get to run Boston?":<br />
<br />
I will. Someday.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-43007038694061648982011-03-28T09:22:00.000-07:002011-03-28T22:38:08.672-07:00Race report: Birch Bay 15K, March 26 2011On Saturday I ran the <a href="http://www.birchbayroadrace.com/">Birch Bay Road Race</a> in Birch Bay, WA (near Blaine, just across the border from here). This small race is only in its fifth year, and includes 5K, 15K, and 30K distances. I ran the 15K race with the hope of slightly bettering my time of 1:15:19 from my first attempt at this distance back in <a href="http://jennifer-runningtoboston.blogspot.com/2011/01/race-report-chilly-chase-15k-in-langley.html">January</a>. I was hoping for a time around or just under 75 minutes, or an average of 5:00/km. That pace seemed doable based on my recent running.<br />
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I started without a warmup and just tried to get into my pace really quickly. This was easy to do with a nice downhill start in the first kilometre, which reminded me of the Sun Run. The course was absolutely beautiful, along the water in Birch Bay for the first 6K. I had been averaging under 5:00/km and hit the 6K mark at 29:24. After that we started a steady climb away from the water for about 3K to the turnaround point for the 15K. The climb made it tough to hold on to the pace, I slowed down just a little bit but knowing I had build up a bit of a cushion. At this point I was pretty happy that I was doing 15K, as the 30K runners kept climbing steadily to their turnaround point (apparently this 30K race is even hillier in the second half than Around the Bay). Before I reached our turnaround point, I started seeing the 15K leaders coming back at me. I started counting the number of women that were ahead of me, and counted what I thought was about 20 women. <br />
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I was expecting this downhill part to feel really good after the steady 3K climb upwards, but instead it felt almost as tough. I then realized that the uphill was not as bad as it could have been since we had a tailwind -- of course I did not notice the tailwind as much as the headwind. So I just kept pushing on trying to maintain my pace. I hit the 10K mark at 49:29. I took a short break for water around 12K and then tried to pick it up a bit more down the rest of the hill. Kilometre 14 and the beginning of 15 were flat but the wind was still strong as we came along the water; I was running pretty much alone with two women just ahead of me. I tried to keep them in my sights and hold on to their pace, which worked really well to finish that tough part of the race.<br />
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I had been warned about the steep climb from the beach just before the finish, but man, this was brutal!! About 150 metres straight up, it seemed, and my legs were burning. But then around the bend it flattened out and I could see the finish area, and then the chute. I pushed on when I saw 1:14:xx on the clock and passed through at around 1:14:30 (official time was 1:14:28). <br />
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My time was good enough for 3rd out of 31 in the F40-44 age group. One of the women that I was chasing in kilometres 13 and 14 was in my age group, so I was also just behind number two by about 17 seconds. I will have to work a little harder for it next year. However, the next age group category is even more competitive--my time would have only been good enough for 7th in that next age group. I turn 45 in May, so I really better get working. :) I will definitely be back for this beautiful spring race.<br />
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Official <a href="http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=18147&relist_record_type=result&lower_bound=0&upper_bound=232&use_previous_sql=1&group_by=default#racetop">results</a>:<br />
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1:14:28 for 15K (4:58/km, 8:00/mile)<br />
35/232 overall finishers<br />
17/167 women<br />
3/31 F40-44<br />
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Splits:<br />
<br />
4:51 (downhill start)<br />
4:52<br />
4:56<br />
4:54<br />
4:55<br />
5:05 (beginning of hill)<br />
5:10<br />
4:51<br />
4:59 (downhill, but headwind!!)<br />
4:55<br />
4:56<br />
5:07<br />
5:01<br />
4:57 (uphill but then a good finishing kick)<br />
<br />
<br />
I am very happy with this result. Lately my running has taken a back seat to the other issues in my life and I have not been able to stick to a regular workout schedule. I had to miss the First Half half-marathon in February and have had to rearrange some other plans, so I decided to do this race only a week ago. I am happy that I have been able to maintain and even improve my speed with consistent although unstructured running. And although I did not feel like I was holding back on the course, I did feel like I could have gone a couple more kilometres at that pace and did not feel totally spent at the end. Maybe this is because of my inexperience at pacing this in-between distance, or simply having the discipline to keep the 5:00/km pace, or maybe because of my lack of speed-work lately. It does not really matter, though, because the next real goal is to hold that pace for another 6k in the half-marathon.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7708338740277293991.post-4596461461190795602011-03-22T14:28:00.000-07:002011-03-22T14:30:39.447-07:00Vegan recipe of the week: White Bean, Spinach, and Barley StewI made this last night and it was amazing. I found the recipe on line at <a href="http://">Allrecipes.com</a> but modified it a bit to my liking. So here it is:<br />
<br />
<b>Ingredients</b><br />
<br />
1 cup uncooked pearl barley<br />
3 cups water<br />
2 small onions, chopped<br />
2 cloves garlic, minced<br />
1 Tbsp soy sauce<br />
1/2 vegetable bullion cube (natural, no MSG)<br />
1 tsp oregano<br />
1/2 tsp dill<br />
2 small or one yellow, orange, or red bell pepper<br />
1 19-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed<br />
1 28-ounce can Italian-style Roma tomatoes, including liquid<br />
2 cups fresh spinach<br />
Salt and pepper to taste<br />
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<b>Directions</b><br />
<br />
1. Bring the barley and water to a boil in a large pot. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes. <br />
2. Add more water if needed, about 1 cup. Add onions, garlic, soy sauce, and spices right into the pot. Simmer for another 20 minutes. <br />
3. Add pepper, beans, and tomatoes. Chop tomatoes in the pot, and stir; simmer another 15-20 minutes. Add more water if needed.<br />
4. Add spinach and salt and pepper. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.<br />
<br />
Makes about six 2-cup servings.Jenniferhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12861398418841019903noreply@blogger.com0