UBC Triathlon Race Report

Race: UBC triathlon, short distance, March 10, 2013

[I apologize in advance for the ridiculously long report on this short event. Being my first triathlon I wanted to remember every detail.  :) ]

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).

Preamble:
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.

Race day:
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.

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.

The swim:
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.

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.

T1
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.

The bike:
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.

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.

T2 and the run:
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.

Rob got some video of me finishing as well I was ecstatic to have finished, and knew this would not be the first.

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.]

Thanks for reading and thanks for all your endless support.

Here is a link to the videos:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dz090pc0lzam6ox/qcdwDDJwXS

Quinoa-walnut burgers (vegan)

Quinoa-walnut burgers, vegan 

(makes about 10)

adapted from original Moosewood cookbook’s “lentil walnut burgers” but using quinoa instead of lentils

Ingredients

1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed

2 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

¾ pound mushrooms (about 8 large), chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 large carrots, grated (about 1 cup)

½ cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp prepared mustard

2 Tbsp ground flax

4 Tbsp water

½ cup vegan bread crumbs (or processed oats)

Oil (for sautéing and frying)

Instructions
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.
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.
3) Transfer contents of fry pan to food processor and process quickly.
4) Combine cooked quinoa to processed mixture in a bowl, and add soy sauce and mustard.
5) Add water to ground flax, let sit for a few minutes, and add to above mixture.
6) Add bread crumbs, mix with your hands, and form into patties (about ten).
7) Fry about 5 minutes on a side. 
8) Enjoy with your favorite bun or toppings or alone!

BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon May 6, 2012

BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon 
May 6, 2012

Short story: Not my day for a good race, but an amazing weekend overall. 

1:53:04

Splits from my Garmin here: http://www.itsmyrun.com/laps.php?id=55110 (The first kilometre was a little off as my watch didn’t lock into the signal right away).
Elevation profile from my Garmin: http://www.itsmyrun.com/elevation.php?id=55110 (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.)

Long story (why can't I write short reports?):

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? 

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Scotiabank Half 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. 

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 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.

Thanks for reading.

Birch Bay 15K, March 31, 2012

“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.

Early Saturday morning  my friend Rob and I drove over the border to run the Birch Bay International Road Race. "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.)

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.

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.

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.

My official results:
Time: 1:15:39
Overall place: 48/285
Females: 12/197
F44-49: 3/37

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.

"First Half" Half-Marathon race report

First Half Half-marathon, February 12, 2012

My results, by the numbers:

Chip time:  1:50:51
Gun time:  1:51:02

Overall placing:  724/1982

Age group placing (F45-49):  33/158

Placing out of all females:  284/1166

A bit of history of the First Half and me:

2005 - volunteered and was hugely impressed with the race organization and quality

2006 - raced it as a training race on the way to my first marathon:  1:56

2007 - had a great race with a 1:51; that would stand as my PB for over 3 more years

2008 - was away

2009 - had been injured but still ran as an easy run:  2:04

2010 - race cancelled because of the Olympics

2011- had to miss the race at the last minute because of my mom's stroke

2012 - so happy to be back- one of my favourite Vancouver races

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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 this file if anyone is interested.

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.

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.

New York Marathon race report

On 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.

Preamble:

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.

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.

Race day:

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.

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.

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.

The Race:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!).

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.

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.

Taper time- let the madness begin

I 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 course map and elevation guide. 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.

Back to blogging

My 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.

Portland Half-Marathon Race Report

Portland Half-Marathon
October 9, 2011

Gun: 1:49:33, Chip 1:49:14
181/2272 overall, 56/1668 Female
7/218 F45-49 (not a hugely competitive race with a large charity runner/walker component, but I'll still take it ;) )

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.



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.)


1 5:08
2 5:08
3 5:07
4 5:14 (uphill)
5 5:15
6 4:46 (downhill, yay!)
7 4:46
8 5:11 (still downhill but water stop at end)
9 4:58
10 5:04
11 5:05
12 5:10
13 5:11
14 5:27 (water stop)
15 5:07
16 5:08
17 5:13
18 5:14
19 5:17 (small hill, but still surprised to slow here)
20 5:10
21 5:12
21.26 1:14

Final time: 1:49:14

Failed blog ... maybe

A 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.

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.

Race report: BMO Vancouver Half-marathon

BMO Vancouver Half-marathon
Sunday May 1, 2011:

"Sometimes it just works."

Official time: 1:47:20 (PB by two minutes, course best by five minutes)
Overall placing: 806/6522
Female: 214/4165 (wow, a lot more women doing this race than men!)
F40-44: 30/568 (top 5.2%)


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.

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.

But some of that magic came back yesterday.

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.

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.

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.

Vancouver Sun Run 10K 2011

Short report (for those who hate searching through a report for the results):

Vancouver Sun Run 10K, April 17, 2011
Official time: 48:40 (4:53/km pace)
2727 out of approx 40,000 finishers
32/2032 in F40-44


Long report, Intro:

I was excited to be racing the Sun Run 10K this year for the first time since 2007. I had one of my best races 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.

Sun Run Part 1:

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.

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.

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.

Sun Run Part 2:

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.

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.

Conclusion:

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.

Who will get to run Boston, Part 3

A few months ago I posted that changes to the Boston Marathon registration and/or qualification process would be announced some time in early 2011.

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 some changes will be made in the registration process. 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.

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.

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.

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.

But for the sake of this blog, the short answer to the question, "Who will get to run Boston?":

I will. Someday.

Race report: Birch Bay 15K, March 26 2011

On Saturday I ran the Birch Bay Road Race 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 January. 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Official results:

1:14:28 for 15K (4:58/km, 8:00/mile)
35/232 overall finishers
17/167 women
3/31 F40-44

Splits:

4:51 (downhill start)
4:52
4:56
4:54
4:55
5:05 (beginning of hill)
5:10
4:51
4:59 (downhill, but headwind!!)
4:55
4:56
5:07
5:01
4:57 (uphill but then a good finishing kick)


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.

Vegan recipe of the week: White Bean, Spinach, and Barley Stew

I made this last night and it was amazing. I found the recipe on line at Allrecipes.com but modified it a bit to my liking. So here it is:

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked pearl barley
3 cups water
2 small onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 vegetable bullion cube (natural, no MSG)
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp dill
2 small or one yellow, orange, or red bell pepper
1 19-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 28-ounce can Italian-style Roma tomatoes, including liquid
2 cups fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring the barley and water to a boil in a large pot. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes.
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.
3. Add pepper, beans, and tomatoes. Chop tomatoes in the pot, and stir; simmer another 15-20 minutes. Add more water if needed.
4. Add spinach and salt and pepper. Continue cooking 10 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.

Makes about six 2-cup servings.

Day 30

I can hardly believe it has been 30 days since my mom's stroke. I am happy to say that not only has she made it to this important milestone, but that she is also showing amazing progress toward recovery. There have been ups and downs, but the past couple days she has made some great strides. She is recognizing us more, seems to understand lot of what we are saying, and communicating to us through smiles, facial expressions, and small movements. Our hope and patience has been well worth it. She will soon be moving to a rehab centre in Massachusetts and will start working toward what we hope will be full recovery. She still has a long road ahead to recover her physical and mental strength, but there is no sign of permanent damage now. She will be surrounded by family and friends as she goes through the rehab process. I am planning periodic trips to Massachusetts to see her during this time, and to be near my sister and dad.

The thoughts and prayers from family and friends over the past weeks have given us that extra strength we needed to make it through this difficult first month. I am so happy that we can now look forward with even more hope and strength. I have had to be away a lot from my family in Canada and I thank them for their endless support. While in Florida I been able to reconnect with my aunt and her family in Florida, a wonderful blessing that came out of this difficult time. As I left Florida yesterday, I told them that I will not wait for another family illness to return.

And through it all I have kept up my running. Running has helped to keep me mentally and physically strong, and I know mom will be happy to know that I was able to run almost every day while in Florida. And I am still hopeful that she and my dad will be able to come with me to New York as planned in November when I will be running the marathon. Either way, that marathon will be for her.

A change of course

I have been absent from blogging for the past couple weeks, as my life has taken a major change in course.

On Tuesday February 8, my mother suffered a massive stroke. She is only 68 and had no risk factors, so this is a bit of a surprise (this type of stroke-- a subarachnoid hemorrhage--generally does not correlate with heart disease risk factors). She was lucky enough to get medical attention quickly; she had some life-saving procedures and is now in the neuro-ICU of a large hospital, receiving excellent medical care. Her doctors assure us that she is following a pretty standard course of recovery, which is good. She is sometimes but not always responsive to their stimuli and sometimes following commands. The doctors and nurses assure us that many people go through these ups and downs before recovery. We do not know how much recovery there will be, but the chances are very good for at least partial recovery. They tell us that now its critical that she make it to day 21 (we are now at day 17) with no major complications; after that, somewhere between day 30 and 60 we will likely have a better idea of what we are dealing with. So we wait, and keep going up to visit her every day, because they tell us that helping her keep connected to he "outside world" helps her to recover. We do not know if she can always hear us, but she sometimes can. Hearing is usually the last thing to go when people can't do things like move and blink (temporarily).

My parents winter in Florida, which is where this all happened. Their permanent home is in Massachusetts where my sister also lives; I live pretty far away from both in Vancouver, Canada. So my sister and I, with the help of several close friends, are flying back and forth to Florida to be there for my mother and help my father. My father relies on my mother for much of his daily routine and care, so we need to make sure his needs are met as well.

This is by far the most challenging situation I have ever been dealt. But we take what we are given and we move forward.

It will not come as a surprise that my running goals for the spring are now on hold. I am still running regularly, almost daily, although I am not following a regular training schedule. I can often enjoy runs of up to an hour, sometimes more when I am back home in between visits. But running is more for stress relief now, without the pressure to get faster or hit certain paces.

While I am enjoying running without pressure, I also realize how my past running and racing has helped me face this personal challenge. The mental strength I have gained from learning how to push through tough races and training runs has helped me realize I am capable of more than I sometimes think. It is time to use that strength of character to help me meet the challenges of taking care of my mother, my father, myself, and my own family during this difficult time. I will race again when I am ready. And my mother knows how important running is for me, and she would not want it any other way.

I am continuing to log on DailyMile, but will not be updating as regularly here. I will be posting more intermittently here as thoughts come up that relate to my running.

Thanks for reading.

Vegan recipe of the week: Easy black bean enchiladas

Last night I made my version of the black bean enchiladas. This is my very easy weekday simple version.

Easy Black Bean Enchiladas

Ingredients:
vegetable oil
one onion, diced
one large yam (orange sweet potato), diced in small pieces
(you could also add corn here if you want)
one can of black beans, drained
one half-package of firm tofu, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
six soft tortillas

Directions:
Saute onions for about 5 minutes. Add yams and continue to saute for another 10 minutes. Add corn, beans, tofu and spices and saute for another 10 minutes.

Add filling to tortillas, and wrap and fold. Place in a vegetable oil coated baking pan, and bake uncovered for about 20 minutes until tortillas get browned.

For the non-vegans in my family , I add some sliced cheddar cheese inside the tortilla and some shredded cheese on top. I love mine without cheese, but you could use a vegan cheese here if you want.

Top with salsa (I use Newman's Own).

Training Summary: Week 4 (January 24 - January 30)

Monday: 5.2K easy on treadmill, 30 min
Tuesday: 11K easy with Mike downtown, 1:05
Wednesday: 10K with about 7-8K hard, untimed
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 8.5K with Mike downtown, 49 min
Saturday: 8K on the treadmill in 46 minutes; later: 2.3K with my son in 15 min
Sunday: 20.25K in 2:00:00 (5:55/km). Gorgeous run.

Total: 65K

Vegan recipe of the week: Red Lentil Curry

Recently I decided to give up most meat foods (other than the occasional local salmon), and I am exploring the benefits of a vegan diet. I know several other athletes and runners that have seen improvements in their health and running after switching to a vegan diet. I will not fully give up dairy and eggs, but I want to rely on them less as the protein source of my meals. Hence, I am making a move toward a mostly vegan diet.

As I try more vegan recipes and learn more about vegan eating, I will share my recipes and insights here.

This Indian recipe adapted from the new "Vij's at Home" cookbook.

My version is actually a lot simpler and quicker. I would like to make the full version at some point, but my whole family actually like this one.

Red Lentil Curry (serve over rice)

Ingredients
2 cups finely chopped onion (one large or two small)
vegetable oil
5 cups water
1 3/4 cup dried red (orange) lentils
1 28-ounce can Roma tomatoes with water
1 Tbsp tamarind paste
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar (optional, depends on how sour your tamarind paste is)
1 cup frozen peas
1 tsp masala spice mix or to taste

Directions:
Saute onion in a medium-to-large pot in hot oil for about 5 minutes. Add water and lentils and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and cook partially covered for about 20 minutes or until soft, adding a bit more water if needed. Add can of tomatoes with water, mashing into smaller pieces in the pot, and stir completely. Add tamarind paste, cumin, tumeric, and sugar (if desired). Add peas. Allow to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. At this point or earlier you can add the masala spice, although I leave it out add on the table because my daughter doesn't like things too spicy. It will have a very mild flavour without it, but maybe a bit too mild for most. You shouldn't need extra salt because the tomatoes are salted.
Serve over rice and enjoy!