Success!

A new PB for me! 23:45 in the 5k.

It's a far cry from my first 5k, which took about 39 minutes and was among the most painful things I've ever done. I actually feel like a runner now that I've broken (smashed!) the 25 min mark.

This was my third shot at a 5k PB this year. My last two attempts were close but were both off by about 30 seconds. This time, the stars lined up right. Training has been going really well, the weather was perfect, and I 'hired' Andy to pace me to our agreed on goal of 25 minutes. Little did I know he had his own plan!

Race morning was uneventful. I picked up Marg and we easily parked at my office building and walked over to the race start. I did a short warm up and met up with Andy and Jesse who was also planning to run with us. We seeded ourselves toward the front of the coral among the huge high school kids and prayed for the best. It only took about 500m to get free of traffic at the start, then it was clear sailing. I wore no watch, so Andy was in charge of pace. He had told me he would set a 5 min pace and if I wanted to go faster I would have to lead the way. Fine, good plan. However....

From the first kilometer, the pace was not comfortable. I never got into a comfortable sweet spot, and I thought my goal was in trouble early on. But all I had to do was stay on Andy's shoulder and it would be ok. When Jesse started to chat at about 2k in, I knew she was feeling good and was going to take off at any minute. But no worries, all I had to do was stay with Andy. Although it hurt, I kept repeating "it's okay that it hurts, I can stop when we're done". Somehow that helped. Jess left us around 3k and sped off to a PB of her own.

Coming up the final stretch around the hospital, Andy kept asking me to pick up the pace. So I thought we were behind the 25min goal. I never considered asking him to slow down or not staying with him. Andy gave me a great count down during the final km...only one Yasso left...less than 500m...200m... But when he said we were going to sprint from the last stop sign (about 100m from the finish), I was really not happy!

I've never been so spent crossing the finish line. I truly left it all out there. I was even too focused to look at the clock as we approached. So I was amazed Andy showed me his watch: 23:46! Yes, I told him I hated him, but that's just because I'd spent the last 4k thinking I was going too slow!!! I'm not sure he's forgiven me yet, but the cookies I'm going to bake him will surely make up for it :)

Here are the final stats:
Gun time: 23:53.6
Chip time: 23:44.4
Pace 4:47
Age placing: 12/122
Gender placing: 48/770

So now Hamilton in 2 weeks :D

Last long run!

Done! My last long run (defined as over 20k :) before Hamilton is done, and now it's officially time to TAPER!

Because of schedule conflicts, I had to do my run before work. That's all well and good in the summer, but in mid-October, it's dark until about 7:30 am. So when I left at 6:30, I knew I'd have about an hour of running in the dark. Not my favourite thing. I saw a bit of the sun peaking up over the trees in the distance as I crossed the greenbelt, but by the time I came out of the woods on the other side the sun was up. The rest of the run was uneventful. But uneventful is good!  All in all, I did 20k: 7k warmup, 11k at marathon pace (6:30 min/km) and 2 km at about 6:10 min/km.

Not bad for a Wednesday morning!!

Dear weather gods!

Pretty please can you make the weather on November 6 a carbon copy of today?A bit windy, but otherwise perfect!!

TAPER!

Finally, it's taper time! Only three weeks till race day...let the countdown begin! I finished up the last long run of this cycle on Saturday morning with Marg and Andy. We did a 32.5 loop of Ottawa - entirely on bike paths! Who knew you could do that! And we could have made it much longer if we had of wanted too (but who would want to do that!). I skipped the ice bath afterward for the first time in months...and I'm paying for it now. This is the first time I've had leg soreness the day after a long run in quite a while. Opps!

Last week was a bit light on mileage because of the colonoscopy, but this week will be a bit better. I'm planning a run commute on Wed to get my last 'long' run in (20k) and then it's off to the races on Sunday! I'm aiming for a big fat 5k PB, so send speedy vibes!

Oh what a week!

Since it was such a busy week, here's a quick summary:

Friday: rest - yahoo!!!!!

Saturday: 30k long run. I started out with Melissa and Andrea and we tackled my favourite trail. We dropped Melissa off at about 15k and continued on to Andrea's house. After parting ways with Andrea at about 18k, I finished up the last 12k alone. I didn't have a plan, just explored! I ran part in a local conservation area, complete with long boardwalks! I had a hard time keeping the pace slower than race pace (6:30 min/km) for a few km, but I settled in at the end. Overall pace was around 6:50 min/km I believe.

In the afternoon, Joe and I took baby Zack for his first walk at Jack Pine forest. The terrain was a bit rough, so I was very glad we'd invested in a BOB stroller! Not only does this thing handle the suburban jungle, it goes over rocks, logs and streams! Pictures to be added....  Zack loved seeing the ducks, but he didn't understand that the bread was for the ducks not for him. Oh well, an afternoon snack never hurt anyone!

Sunday: One of my favorite events, Fall Colours Marathon, was held on Sunday at the Cumberland Museum. A late 10am start meant that we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn...I wish someone had of told Zack that! But it was a glorious fall day, and we had lots of fun! As always, the kids race is my favourite race of the day. How cute is this little munchie???

I only had time to squeak in a short run Sunday afternoon after the race. I had to take Zack in the stroller, and Chazz the wonder doodle needed a walk, so I tried to do everything at once. Epic fail! While he's adorable, Chazz is no runner. He made it about 2km before he decided he'd had enough. We did 3k total - ha ha!

Monday: Holiday Monday! Happy Gobble Gobble Day! I took advantage of the day off and went out to Kanata for a super speedy tempo run with Andy. 9k in 51 min. Whew! At that pace, we would have beat my 10k race time from the spring if we had of gone once more km! The rest of the day was spent with my boys, including a trip to the pumpkin patch! Awesome!!!

Tuesday: Rest day :)

Track night!

Track night is my very favourite night of the week! I always groan when I get coach's email on Tuesday outlining the week's workout, but it always feels so good when it's done. Last night was 6 x 1600m repeats with 3 min rest between each. Combined with a 3k warmup, it was about 13k for the night. My Garmin died a few weeks ago, and I'm waiting for my new one to arrive, so I borrowed Joe's....but it never picked up satelites. Ahhhh technology. So I ran based on time. Each 1600 was done in between 8 min and 8 min 20 sec, so between a 5:00 and 5:10 min/km pace. That's a bit faster than I had intended, but it spells good things for my next 5k race (Rattle Me Bones) in 2 weeks!

Hamilton marathon is one month from today! That means only 2 more weeks until taper!!!

I'm starting to feel a bit beat up and am totally ready for a break. I'd even settle for a nap at this point :)

It's not as glamorous as the NYC marathon, but the distance is the same! I'll be thinking of my friends running NYC on November 6th...I think their scenery will be bit better than mine!

I am the best blogger of all time! That must be some sort of a record...starting a blog then forgetting about it for over 2 years! Yay me!

Well, in nutshell, I accomplished all my goals set out for 2009. I PB'd at ATB and NCM, completed the Graham Beasley half ironman, and raced my first olympic distance tri.

Oh, and I had a baby :)

Baby Zack is just over a year old now, and I'm back at it. I started running again seriously when he was 6 mths old, and I'll be completing my third marathon in a little over a month (he'll be 13 mths old). Not too shabby eh?

I'll try not to wait 2 more years before I post again! Ha!