I actually ran!

This is the first time I've posted on the blog for an actual run in a very long time ... this is also the first time I've ran in more than a month! I did a leisurely 5K around the neighbourhood. The first half was with my dog and she kept me to an easy pace and I picked it up on the way back. Felt good. I was running in my new shoes today. They felt like a dream. For the first time in longer than I care to remember, my feet weren't sore the moment I started to run.

Merry Christmas to me!

I just got back from the Running Room. I decided to stick with the Asics GT-2110s that were on sale. So with my discount and the gift card that I received for Christmas, I ended up with a brand new pair of shoes for $20!
Now I have no excuse not to get out and run.

Merry Christmas

This blog has been slow for far too long. Mainly because I haven't been running much in the last month. A new job, a trip to British Columbia with the shoes still in Fredericton and a busy pre-Christmas period will do that to you. I hope to be picking up a pair of the new Asics GT-2120s next week. And I aim to begin marathon training in the new year for the 2007 ING Ottawa Marathon. That's the goal now.
Thank you to all who read this regularly.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays and have a happy new year!

Running News

I am really enjoying the daily news on the Runner's World website. I lose a big chunk of my time in the morning read it. Here are a few items that caught my eye today.

Sanya Richards Asserts Justin Gatlin "Hurt Our Sport"

Richards, the new American 400-meter recordholder and the 2006 IAAF Female Athlete Of The Year, notes "new faces like me, Justin, Bershawn Jackson and Lauryn Williams were all standing up against drugs. And then for Justin to go and fail us - it hurt out sport." Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic 100-meter gold medalist, tested positive for testosterone this spring; Richards states "I definitely think the U.S. public have been disillusioned by what happened to Justin." Richards is one of the mainstays of the USATF's "Be A Champion" program, an outreach to American youth. "Hopefully we won't have any more of those mishaps in the future," she says of the Gatlin debacle, "and people will start to realize that there are more clean athletes who work hard than there are athletes who cheat."

Dick Pound's Book Part Of Campaign Against "The Sociopaths Of Sport"

Pound, the zealous and often blunt and controversal president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, calls performance-enhancing drug users "cheaters who respect neither their fellow competitors nor the games they're playing." The Canadian has now authored "Inside Dope: How Drugs Are The Biggest Threat To Sport, Why You Should Care, and What Can Be Dne About Them." Listen to Pound's interview on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air" at the link below; you'll wonder why more of these drug-using miscreants haven't dropped dead already.

With 49ers Talking Of Move to Santa Clara, San Francisco Drops 2016 Olympic Bid

San Francisco's Olympic bid was in large part contingent on a new stadium the NFL 49ers were thinking of building at Candlestick Point, which would have been expanded to 80,000 seats for track and field and opening and closing ceremonies. The 49ers then announced they were pursuing a stadium project in San Francisco. While the team now says it may continue discussions with two cities, Scott Givens, the managing director of San Francisco's bid, realizes "the damage has been done, and the damage can't be pulled back," especially regarding the San Francisco bidders' standing with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Chicago and Los Angeles remain contenders for the 2016 Games, though the USOC might ultimately choose not to submit any bid at all.

Slow and steady

This is kinda cool. I only won my age group once this season, at the Bouctouche 10K, but I ended up winning my age group in the Running Room Super Series. As you can see, I only proved this fortunate because I racked up more races than the other runners, who are undoubtedly faster than I.
I saw Gairns pull up at the Legs for Literacy race and if he had finished I'm sure he would have won the age group. Anyway, this is pretty neat, it just proves what I've said for the last few months that this has been my best racing season ever. It really puts me in a good mental state to start putting together my winter/spring training schedule to hopefully BQ next May in Ottawa.


Men 20 - 29
Pos Name Region # Races Points
1 Dan McHardie Fredericton 7 345
2 Evan Pemberton Fredericton 5 275
3 Chris Gairns Fredericton 4 250

A lazy 5K

I did a lazy 5K last night. It was my first run since last week's Legs for Literacy Half-Marathon, which the race report for some reason has not appeared here. (Hmmm, must get on that.) I finished in about 20:15 or something. The wind was blowing hard but I just didn't have a lot of drive. My run started late in the evening, I just got out for the sake of getting out.

My final PB of the season

This is my RM Race Report. I will offer some more insight later today on my splits and more post-race analysis.

I'm the first to admit that I in no way deserved to PB yesterday. I trained five or six days a week leading up to the Ottawa half-marathon just to have a meltdown, literally and figuratively. Heading into Sunday's race, I had only run 20K once since Ottawa (which was last weekend) and had never logged more than 40K in a week since July. Sunday morning I woke up and played with my daughter for an hour or so and then packed up my stuff and drove to Moncton. I arrived at the event about 45 minutes early and I was in a mental fog. I tried warming up but it was so chilly I didn't want to spend too much time outside. I chatted with Dani and Trish as well as a few other friends who were racing the half-marathon. Normally I have a very specific warm-up ritual, but yesterday I felt almost underwhelmed by what I was about to do and just had a short and simple warm-up.
Once I stepped into the starting chute, I started to get nervous, staring at all the super fast runners who I know and realizing how totally unprepared I was compared to them. I kept telling myself, "start slow, start slow." The siren went off and four minutes later I passed the first kilometre marker. So much for racing the plan. That said, I felt great, my legs were fresh and I was really relaxed. I kept trying to slow down my pace as we looped through a residential part of the city. By the time we hit the trail near the Petitcodiac River, I was averaging 4:17 min/k splits, which were way faster than the 4:30 min/k I had planned but I felt like I was in the zone so I just went with it.
Coming off the Gunningsville Bridge, we turned onto a trail and directly into a headwind. I thought to myself, "Ok, here is where I'll fall apart. I'm terrible in wind." But there were some supporters on the trail cheering us on, so I couldn't falter quite yet and before I knew it, we turned and the wind was at our back. Running down a main street, one woman yelled out to me, "If it was easy, everyone would do it!" That really motivated me to keep my pace strong. Just before turning back onto the bridge, I saw Dani and Trish who looked really strong. Once on the bridge, I passed a few people who had been ahead of me the entire race and I ended up meeting a guy who I ran with for about two kilometres. This was his first half-marathon so we chatted about the challenges of the distance and various likes and dislikes. It really helped calm any nerves that persisted about my pace. Once we turned back on Main Street, I saw the UNB Cross-Country captain who pulled up. I asked if he needed a course marshal, he just waved me on, saying he was done for the day. That is too bad, he is an amazing runner.
With 5K left, I just bore down and pushed to the end. There were several small hills that stood in the way and I just clung to a consistent pace, knowing there was a big hill just before the entry to the school. At this point, the course really got packed, I had 10Kers coming at me, while I was passing marathoners and half-marathon/marathon walkers. I could no longer tell who I was racing and who was in other events. That frustrated me at the time but it also meant it was pointless turning around to see who was coming behind me, which really let me focus on the final 2K.
When I powered up that final hill, turned into the school and let it fly into the finish chute, I had no idea how far ahead of my PB I actually was. Careful not to pull a Cheruiyot, I didn't look down at my Garmin until after I stepped over the finishing mat and then it hit me, I PB'd by almost three minutes! At that point, I almost slipped and hit my head.
Leading up to Sunday when my friends asked me what my goal was, I said sub-1:40 but I was pacing myself for 1:36. So to run 1:31:32, I am absolutely ecstatic. I was hoping to use this race as a motivational tool to get mentally ready to start marathon training in December. Well, mission accomplished. What I've taken from the race is that I built a solid base during the summer and now I just need to recover well and starting building up my mileage again slowly for my marathon training.
My final stats were:
Overall: 18/361
Age group: 3/21
Total time: 1:31:35
Chip time: 1:31:32

Lance runs NYC

It's great how Lance doesn't sugarcoat running a marathon. What is amazing is this guy won the Tour de France seven times and he limps into a post-race press conference with a bandaged shin. Running a marathon is not easy but I hope Lance draws more people to the sport. I have bolded what I think are particularly fascinating parts of this AP story.


NEW YORK (AP) -- His face twisted in pain, Lance Armstrong virtually walked the last couple of steps. He slowed to a halt immediately after the finish line and bent to the ground, his green shirt soaked with sweat.

No one's more familiar with how painful achieving goals can be.

Still, not even he saw this coming.

Armstrong barely met his lofty goal of breaking 3 hours in his first marathon, but it came at a price. No Alpine climb on his bicycle had ever been as tough as Sunday's New York City Marathon, he said.

"For the level of condition that I have now, that was without a doubt the hardest physical thing I have ever done," said Armstrong, who finished 856th. "I never felt a point where I hit the wall, it was really a gradual progression of fatigue and soreness."

Armstrong's time was 2 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds. Afterward, he shuffled into a post-race news conference, his right shin heavily taped.

"I think I bit off more than I could chew, I thought the marathon would be easier," he said. "(My shins) started to hurt in the second half, especially the right one. I could barely walk up here, because the calves are completely knotted up."

Armstrong's build presented a stark contrast to the elite men's runners who preceded him on the course. The cycling champion's heavily muscled legs and powerful chest set him apart from the slender Kenyans who traditionally dominate the race. Even Armstrong compared the leaders' legs to pencils.

And while there was little joy among the leaders during the race, Armstrong smiled and chatted amiably during the first half of the race. He wore a shirt saying LANCE and displaying the numbers 10/2 -- the date 10 years ago on which he was diagnosed with cancer, before he began his amazing Tour de France streak.

He was paced for most of the race by former marathon champions Alberto Salazar and Joan Benoit Samuelson and middle-distance running great Hicham El Guerrouj, and said he got a lot of support from fans packed along the course.

But his body seemed to tighten and showed signs of pain and fatigue in the final few miles. He started to fall off the pace required to break 3 hours before a final push allowed him to meet his personal goal.

"Before the race that was my goal, I wanted to break 3 hours. But if you told me with 3 miles to go, `You're going to do 3:05,' I wouldn't have cared," he said. "Honestly, at the end I was so tired, I couldn't care. Now I'm glad I did."

About an hour after the men's and women's champions had crossed the finish line, the Central Park crowd really started to buzz as Armstrong approached. Fans seemed much more enthused at seeing Armstrong than watching a Brazilian man and a Latvian woman win titles earlier on a crisp autumn afternoon.

"Lance added a lot," said race director Mary Wittenberg. "He was a delight throughout. Everybody is so excited about him. He beat a lot of odds and impressed a lot of people."

So will he be back?

"Now's not the time to ask that question. The answer now is no, I'll never be back. But I reserve the right to change my mind," he said. "I don't know how these guys do it."

A wonderful post-Halloween tempo

After such a fun Halloween last night with the girls, I had a ton of energy to put into my run. But instead I just had a wonderfully uninspired 5K tempo run. As I will describe, I gawked more at the scenery than my Garmin. I figured I didn't really train for the half-marathon on Sunday, so I can't get away with a normal taper. I took two days off, so instead of some intervals I opted for a tempo run.
The advantage of a tempo over intervals is that I could take better advantage of this glorious day.
I ran along the trail for the first time in ages, likely since before the election was called. Everything about it felt wonderful. The terrain felt unusually smooth, the leaves in the trees were turning myriad colours, there was no wind and the river was spectacular. My first few splits were right around 4 min/K, which is where I wanted  them. But then I opted to gaze hopelessly at the splendor of the trail. I did my best tempo training on this trail in the summer, but today I was happy just cruising.
I finished about four seconds per min/k slower than normal but I had a big smile. My Garmin is downstairs, but I think I finished  in 20:09, with average splits of 4:04 min/k. My HR was a bit higher than my last few runs, obviously, but it showed me I could have pushed harder. The average was still in the 170s.
And once I showered, I took my little, little one for a 2.7K walk around the neighborhood to prove to her that it is as beautiful as I told her! I love having a week off.

From Runner's World on-line

I scalped this from RW.com. First, I wish I could get a pace group like Lance. Wow. There is some serious talent. Secondly, 1:57:48 marathon?! Are you serious. That is a decent half-marathon time for many people. All I have to say, is one day I hope to run a 2:57:48 marathon, so until then they should hold all those conferences without me.

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Will Lance Armstrong Get A Little Help From His Friends In New York City?

"Runner's World" has learned that Nike is hoping to put together a marathon pace team for Tour de France hero Lance Armstrong at the ING New York City Marathon on November 5. Possible members of the pace team: 1984 Olympic gold medal marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson, three-time New York City Marathon winner Alberto Salazar, and 2004 Olympic 1500 and 5000-meter gold medalist Hicham El Guerrouj.

Can A Human Actually Run a 1:57:48 Marathon?

The star-studded (scientists can be stars, you know) World Conference on the Science and Medicine of the Marathon in Chicago last week covered a wide array of topics pertinent to running, but none perhaps more intruging than the perennial topic of how fast humans might actually be able to cover 26.2 miles. Edward Coyle, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Texas, used physiological measures like VO2 Max to suggest that a runner is theoretically capable of running a 1:45 marathon. Factoring in a 10 percent slowdown due to fatigue and stress on the body, Coyle still came up with a 1:57:48 figure. And, using information culled by British exercise physiologist Max Jones on Paula Radcliffe, Coyle deduced that Radcliffe, whose world record is 2:15:25, might one day run a 2:13.

More, www.iaaf.org

20K vitals

Time: 1:34:17
Ave pace: 4:43 min/k
Ave HR: 168
Splits: 4:32, 4:39, 4:29, 4:35, 4:42, 4:43, 4:33, 4:46, 4:41, 4:47, 4:40, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:51, 4:42, 4:40, 4:51, 4:42, 4:51.
The goal was to run the final 5K at 4:30 but the wind made the laughable.

Finally have 20K in the books

Seven days before my half-marathon (hopefully) I finally have 20K in the log book. In a typical training period this would be my taper, but this is not normal and I'm not gunning for any great time in Moncton.
I had a great Sunday. It started when we took a family 2.7K walk around the neighbourhood before naptime (what can I say every route in the neighborhood is GPS'd, so no walk is just a walk anymore). Once everyone was asleep I did my 20K run! This was only two weeks delayed. The last time I remember running 20K was the NCM half marathon. I wanted to keep the pace slower than I hope to run next weekend's half-marathon, but fast enough to see how much I've lost in the last two months.
I will post my splits later, but the first 10K was fine. I had a few fast splits but they generally were during the two downhill segments along the Lincoln Road. I generally kept my times plus-minus five seconds of 4:40 min/k. I really felt good during this part. My feet were a bit sore but that is due to my desperate need for new shoes.
When I turned around that is when the wind really bothered me. It was there the entire run but it was gusting from the side. The final 10K was into a direct headwind. To say it was brutal would be an understatement. It totally killed my final few splits, I couldn't breathe it was so bad. In fact, I ended up yelling at the wind a few times for a brief respite, to no avail, I ended up looking like an idiot.
I ended up averaging 4:43 min/k for the 20K. For its many faults, this run proved that I can run a half-marathon next weekend. I won't be a speed demon but hopefully it will get me in the right mental frame to start marathon training.

20K Finally!

For some reason my three last posts did not upload. I will try and get them on-line today.

Seven days before my half-marathon (hopefully) I finally have 20K in the log book. In a typical training period this would be my taper, but this is not normal and I'm not gunning for any great time in Moncton.
I had a great Sunday. It started when we took a family 2.7K walk around the neighbourhood before naptime (what can I say every route in the neighborhood is GPS'd, so no walk is just a walk anymore). Once everyone was asleep I did my 20K run! This was only two weeks delayed. The last time I remember running 20K was the NCM half marathon. I wanted to keep the pace slower than I hope to run next weekend's half-marathon, but fast enough to see how much I've lost in the last two months.
I will post my splits later, but the first 10K was fine. I had a few fast splits but they generally were during the two downhill segments along the Lincoln Road. I generally kept my times plus-minus five seconds of 4:40 min/k. I really felt good during this part. My feet were a bit sore but that is due to my desperate need for new shoes.
When I turned around that is when the wind really bothered me. It was there the entire run but it was gusting from the side. The final 10K was into a direct headwind. To say it was brutal would be an understatement. It totally killed my final few splits, I couldn't breathe it was so bad. In fact, I ended up yelling at the wind a few times for a brief respite, to no avail, I ended up looking like an idiot.
I ended up averaging 4:43 min/k for the 20K. For its many faults, this run proved that I can run a half-marathon next weekend. I won't be a speed demon but hopefully it will get me in the right mental frame to start marathon training.

Wednesday night rain

I definitely did not pick a good week for running. The other night it was wind and tonight it was rain. To be honest, it was not a constant downpour but it was enough to drench me and make for slippery footing.
I opted for a 7K tempo. In an effort to stay injury free I've kept my paces down recently. The flip side to that, I'm finding now that it is harder to gear up for a faster paced run. I thought I was going at a good clip for my first K but then I was told it was 4:26. That is what I do on longer runs not tempos. That is 26 seconds off my short tempo pace. The 7K was finished in 29:57, giving me an average split of 4:17. That is normally slow but I've been running the loop with some steady inclines which accounts, partially, for the slower times. My ave HR was 171 BPM. A bit high but I'll take it.
Now when will I do that 20K?

Another 10K under my belt

After all the girls were asleep last night I managed to get out for a 10K run. I kept it slow so not to aggravate my right hamstring. I finished in 44 minutes and felt strong the entire time. My HR remained consistent, leading me to believe that I didn't lose a lot of my conditioning during my September running hiatus and last week's events. I have come to the conclusion that I really need a new pair of shoes. I'm hoping that is what is causing my pain and not another overuse injury, mainly because I haven't ran a lot lately and if I'm getting injured now that is a bad omen for my marathon training.

My goal is still to run the Legs for Literacy half-marathon in Moncton on Nov. 5. But before I register I want to get in a good long run. I've done 15K and that felt fine but I still haven't got in my 20K run that I have scheduled a few times. I may try tonight or tomorrow night if I get done my work earlier and can leave immediately after the girls go down. I'm not holding my breath.

Quick run

First run in a week. Long story. I did a 5K tempo in 20:03. Felt good despite hurricane force winds ... well they felt that strong. HR and splits were consistent.
 

Slowly getting back into it

It's pouring in Fredericton today. Does it count as my interval training when I'm running from car to Second Cup, car to office, etc. to avoid the rain?
I can only get out running at night now, which is tough to get any specific training done. I essentially get out when I can and I run until it's too dark or I'm too tiried. So I'm never quite sure what I'm going to run in the morning, it will all come down to whether I can get away in the evening.
I ran 12K last night and it felt tough at the end. I tried to keep an even pace throughout much of the run, but some of the slight incline/decline areas killed that plan. I really, really want to get a 15K run in this week so we'll see how that goes. I feel great this morning, so that is a huge bonus.

Sorry for the delay

Many of you may know that New Brunswick just concluded a gruelling 31-day election campaign on Sept. 18 that resulted in a change of government. As a political reporter my time for running since Aug. 18 was sporadic and my time for blogging was non-existent. I will have a campaign running blog posted in a day or so listing all my runs in remote places in New Brunswick. And I will start updating my blog again soon as I countdown the days until I start training for my next marathon.

Thanks for your patience.

Signal Hill

(For some reason this didn't post on Saturday. But I'm posting as it was written while stuck in an airport.)

I'm sitting in the Halifax airport right now and will be doing so for the next six hours. This actually isn't as bad as it could have been. I awoke at 4 a.m. in St. John's, got downstairs, tried getting in a cab, which can be very, very difficult at 4:30 a.m. when it's the George Street Festival. Who knew people are still awake at that time, I know I haven't been for years. (Oh that sentence really makes me feel old.) I arrived at the airport and every flight was being cancelled due to fog. When I got to the counter, the person beside me was told not to come back until Monday! Now I'm starting to panic. The nice Air Canada agent told me I was being rescheduled until later this afternoon and would arrive in Fredericton at 7:30 p.m. Better than nothing, I thought. I was also put on an earlier standby flight and as luck would have it, I made it on that plane (and in executive no less). That meant I arrived in Halifax at 7:45 a.m., my plane to Fredericton was not scheduled to leave until 6 p.m. I ended up getting routed into Saint John, where I'll get picked up. It will get me home four hours earlier. Thankfully this airport has wireless Internet or I'd be ripping out my hair. If I had thought of it, I could have had my luggage pulled so I could get my running gear. But alas, doubt that is possible now.

So I likely won't be running today. I didn't run yesterday but let me tell you all about Thursday's run!
When I travel to these premiers' conferences, I'm staying in some of Canada's greatest cities, but each time I'm stuck for 12 to 14 hours a day in the lobby of a hotel or a filing centre. As has become the norm, I never get to see anything. I arrived too late on Wednesday to run before I had to work and finished too late to run. But Thursday, I was going to run at all costs. I was staying in Canada's oldest city, how could I not run? I finished writing around 8 p.m. and the historic St. John's fog was rolling in. My night's mission, regardless if I accepted it or not, was to run up Signal Hill. I knew nothing about how to get to Signal Hill other than what the cabbie told me, "Folla Duckworth Bye, 'n jist keep runnin' uup da hill, Bye." (I loved the people of St. John's!) Obviously there would be an incline involved. Obviously. I'm used to running in Fredericton where everything is flat and even the hills are flat, compared to what I was about to encounter. So I'm running down Duckworth and I'm leaving the downtown and the incline is starting to kick in. I'm thinking this is not too tough. Then I turn onto Signal Hill Road and all I see is a road leading deep into the fog. I had about a hundred feet of visibility, so just enough to look around me but not too far. What was plainly and painfully obvious was the incline was getting steeper. Lungs are now pumping pretty hard. I pass some motels and house, before entering the gates of Signal Hill National Park. I'm welcomed by possibly the steepest hill I've encountered since I ran in the Rockies at Banff (at the last premiers' conference). I look at my Garmin and like this road, my pace is soaring skyward: 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00. My breathing is growing increasingly laboured now. I'm concentrating on pushing up this hill and its grade is relentless. My stride is shortening and my arms are pumping harder than ever, trying desperately to maintain any semblance of momentum. I was giving everything I had to get up this hill with my legs still moving.
Once I crest it, I see the Cabot Tower resting on the summit, which is about the only thing I saw with all the fog. I ran up and overlooked this jagged cliffs and could just imagine what the harbour looked like (I could only use my imagination because of the pea-soup like fog). At that point, I felt like crying out, "Hey Marconi, wanna use my BlackBerry!" But decided not to scare the children, plus my BlackBerry was back at the hotel, so that posed a problem to transatlantic wireless communication. I only paused for a few seconds to drink in the scenery when I spotted a trail ... a runner's dream. I had dreaded running back down that tight, winding road with all the cars with drivers, who, presumably, would be too busy looking around at the cliffs and not watching out for runners hurtling themselves down the hill. I started down a narrow staircase, which I had side-step down because the steps were too small to run down. At the bottom, I was greeted by a gravel covered path that led down to a former military outlook all decked out with cannons and other neat stuff. Not really knowing what to do, I slowed down to a fast walk and scoped out the artefacts before circling back to the path. Continuing on the trail, I'll be honest I had no idea where I was going, I ended up running down by a military building of some sort.
Now I'm back on the road about halfway down Signal Hill. The laws of gravity suggest that what goes up, must come down. And there I was, proving Newton right after all these years. I'm barrelling down this hill and my quads are just exploding, it was at this point I was actually missing going up the hill. I'm looking at my Garmin and my pace is plummeting pretty quickly: 4:15, 3:50, 3:30. Now there is no way to stop and I don't know the area well ... and did I mention there was so me fog. Pound, pound, pound. The only sound louder than my shoes pounding the pavement is my heart pounding inside my chest. I'm now back in a residential area, I'm looking ahead and there is an intersection where I'm supposed to stop, while the traffic heading across my path have no stop sign. I had a quick decision to make, glancing down at my Garmin, I check my pace 3:15, 3:30, 2:55, 2:50, 2:45. Stopping, well, in theory that would have been smart but that wasn't going to happen. I literally closed my eyes and picked up the pace until I was though the intersection. My angels were with me that night. Pace now back to normal, I was running down Duckworth and before long running beside all the George Street festivities. I finished the run in about 38:22, I believe it was about 8 kilometres. What an amazing, amazing run. My only wish was that I could have seen Signal Hill without the fog. It was just so amazing to be running in a Canadian historical icon. The memories from that run made missing almost all of the free Rick Mercer/Great Big Sea concert completely worth it.

Now, back to waiting in an airport. Thanks for reading. I hope it was a fraction as interesting to read, as it was reliving those memories.
 

Bouctouche Race Report

I had such high hopes for this race, especially with the very real possibility that it will be my final race of the season. It was such a bitter-sweet event.

We drove down to Bouctouche Friday afternoon so we could spend some extra time with the inlaws. Heading into this race, I was putting so much pressure on myself to PB just because I PB'd there last season. Unfortunately I didn't do the training necessary to actually achieve that goal. I only ran three times a week in the last two weeks, a longish Sunday run and two speed drills. Although my times have been good this year, I definitely have not logged the necessary kilometres since I finished training for NCM.

On Saturday morning I woke up praying for overcast and drizzly, instead I got overcast and humid. Drat. I made it to the Bouctouche Dune with out about 45 minutes until the gun, giving me enough time to find the washroom and have a leisurely warm-up. I knew early on it was going to be a tough race. Last year, it was cool and there was the favourable wind in running history. This year, um, well not so much.

As I've repeated over and again, I scored my 10K PB on this course last year and so I was hoping for a repeat performance this year. Not to diffuse any drama out of this race report, but it just didn't happen.
I thought I'd try for a PB, instead of running a smart race and just letting it happen. I started really quick, 3:45 if memory serves. It felt quick but not insane. I knew there was a problem when the lead back was insight until about 2.5K, that never happens. I slowed down to 3:55 for the second split. It was at this point, I was passed by a 12-year-old. I was stunned. We're talking, jaw-dropping, head-on-a-swivel, where-did-his-parents-go shocked. This kid was flying. For a second I thought he was a 5Ker but, no, this is a point-to-point race, so all the 5K racers are way ahead of us. I ended up passing him around 4K and by 5K he had started to fade, but it was funny when I passed him, I wished him a good race and I'm sure he didn't make it close to my shoulders.

I felt like I had the "home course advantage" more in Bouctouche than in Fredericton. At 3K, I heard my wife's cousin cheer me on from his house, I saw my wife and daughter at 8K and just before that, I had a friend honk. It was great.
The Bouctouche 10K is perhaps the most scenic 10K I've ever raced on. The great part about the race is it is on the ocean. There are also two hills placed at 7.5K and 9.5K. The last hill sucked the life out of me. I was passed with about 300 metres to go, but I couldn't dig deep enough to gut out a challenge.
I must say the best part of the race was seeing my daughter on the side of the road at 8K. She was waving but I know she just wanted to eat rocks. I appreciated the fact that she humoured me for about 45 seconds. It was very kind of her.
I ended up disappointed with my time but it seemed like the conditions slowed everyone a bit. Ok, this post was longer than I expected.

Time: 41:09
Overall: 7
Age Group: 1

Post script: The 12-year-old finished around 42:10!
 

Wednesday and Thursday

I went out for another noon-hour run on Wednesday. It is sizzling in Fredericton this week. I made sure I put a double dose of sunscreen on before I left for my run. I'm supposed to be running a 10K race on Saturday, so I wanted to get my tempo run in today, instead of tomorrow. Before my last 10K race, I gave myself two full rest days and I PB'd so I'm going to see if it is a new trend.
Thankfully I had no incidents with bees. The trails were rather busy considering how hot it was. My splits were all over the place today, I had very little consistency. Overall, I'm ok with my time considering the heat.
Distance: 8K
Time: 32:36
Ave. split: 4:04
Ave HR: 176bpm

As for today, it's a rest day for me. I've noticed lately that I'm developing a pain in my right quad. It has flared up around 20 minutes into a few of my recent runs but it has stuck with me overnight. It isn't debilitating by any stretch but it is sore. The pain is in the back, middle of my quad. I know I need to stretch more but I'm not sure that is the sole solution. Hopefully it won't bother me on Saturday.

Bouctouche on Saturday

FYI...

 

10km Clarence Bastarache
Bouctouche, NB
July 22, 2006

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Reg. Time / Enregistrement: 8:00am

Start Time / Départ: 10:00am

Registration Location / Lieu:
École Dr-Marguerite- Michaud

Main Event / Événement principal: 10km

Timex: no

Super Series: yes

Registration Fee / Enregistrement: $

Contact 1: Jean-Noel Allain Email:
Tel #: (506) 743-5960 Fax #:

Showers / Douches: Yes

T-Shirt: Yes

Course / Parcours: Flat, fast oceanview course. Start at Bouctouche Dune (Irving Eco-Centre) and finish at in front of the high school in the town of Bouctouche.

Awards: Medals for category winners and many draw prizes.

Monday's brush with a bee

Monday was my first afternoon run in a long, long time. And now I remember why I've never been a big fan of lunch time runs. The run started fine, a bit quick but nothing silly. The sun was beating down hard on the trail. I left from in front of the legislative assembly and went out toward Marysville on the trail. At the mid-way point, just past the Marysville Place, I discovered I had been running with the wind and all of a sudden it was in my face. That was not fun, my splits really started to drop at this point.

With 3K left, I felt a prick in the middle of my back, I quickly turned around and saw some black insect-like thing on me. I swatted it off. Ran a few steps, realized that I was likely stung by a bee. Ran a few more steps, realized that if I was stung the stinger is likely stuck in my shirt and I could be pricked a few more times. Right then, I came to an abrupt stop, and while doing a cross between the chicken-dance/fox-trot/hippie-hippie-shake/macarana I ripped off my shirt. I ran the rest of the way without a shirt, first time I've ever done that and I apologize to anyone in Fredericton who saw me. I really had no choice. I ended up running 12K in 4:32 min/k. Wow it is hot and humid out there.
 

When will I learn?

Sometimes you should just know better before you head out the door. For me, tonight was one of those times.
The short version of the evening goes like this. At lunch went with some co-workers to Mexi's and had chili/nacho plate, very good, not very healthy. When I got home tonight, I made Elle her dinner, nothing fancy some brussel sprouts, chicken, pasta and some raisins (that was to start). I nibble on some of her leftovers, she's 18 months old she thinks it's cool to share with papa.
So jump ahead two hours, everyone is now asleep and I'm getting ready for my run. Thursdays typically are a 50- to 70-minute run. But it was late and I was waffling on what to do. I looked at my long discarded training sked and my speed workout for Saturday was supposed to be a 5K race. I have no plans to run a 5K race this weekend, so I thought I could just switch my workouts. As I walked outside, I still was unsure what I was doing. As I flipped on my Garmin, it said I had 0 hours of battery remaining, so I went back inside to plug it in for 15 minutes. That solidified my plan, I'd do the 5K once I had enough juice to take the Garmin.
As I jog down to the local trail, I was programming my Virtual Partner. I love my Garmin, it has lots of wonderful features. What is not included is an "Idiot Alarm". I could have used it tonight. I plugged in a silly goal time and I wish Veep sent me a little electric shock, telling me to get real. Alas that feature must be on the 305.
So I start. And I'm flying. This feels great. Chest out, hips well aligned, shoulders relaxed. Wind in my hair, no bugs, humidity is down and I'm slightly ahead of pace. First kilometre whizzes by in 3:38. Now things are starting to slosh in my stomach. Normally even on tempo nights I do some pre-planning, nothing fancy just simple things, such as ... eating and hydrating. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I push on. Second kilometre finishes at 3:49. My mind is now set, I can ignore the chili jumping around my stomach. I take a swig of water and I think I can hold pace. Third kilometre is not much slower, I wrap it up in 3:53. Now I'm in pain. Each time I burp, the chili is revisiting the upper half of my throat. Not cool, in fact antithesis to all things cool. I'm now regretting the decision not to steal that chicken breast from my little girl, surely she would have no problem sharing. Or I could have hydrated a bit more out of her sippy cup, it was just water. Heck, I could have dived into the dog dish. I take another sip of water. I hit the fourth kilometre in 4:03. I know I'm in trouble at this point. I'm trying desperately to hang on but the Mexi's is making my life uncomfortable. My legs have lots of spring in them but each time I pick up the pace my stomach churns at the same speed as my leg turnover. Glance down at my Garmin, it tells me I've missed my goal time and I've got 250 metres to go. I knuckle down, I know the chances of me pulling a dgrant without redlining it are very good right about now. Last split concludes, mercifully, in 4:02.
I did not throw up. How I avoided that I'm still not sure. I finished the 5K in 19:27, average pace 3:54.
If someone can tell me how to download an Idiot Alarm, that would be splendid. My stomach and throat have still not forgiven me. Tonight I was dumb. Perhaps one day I will learn.

Happy Monday everyone

It's Monday, which means it's my rest day. I had a rather eventfully uneventful weekend. I missed my run on Saturday, preparing for some long-awaited guests. I was about to duck out for a quick speed session just as the phone rang saying they arrived in Oromocto. Alas, the run was thwarted. It was great seeing them so I happily postponed my run.

Last night I went out for my 15K LSD, finished with average splits of 4:31 min/k. I'm juggling my routes a bit so I'm not always running on flat trails. I inserted a few hills last night, so I saw my splits range from 4:51 going up a hill to 3:43 going down a hill. Going downhill is fun! I felt great throughout the run, so I was happy. I had to wait until the humidity and heat died down a bit so I didn't get home until 9:45 p.m., which is almost my bed time!
It's a rest day today. My quads/calves are a bit tight.

I scanned the finishing times at the George Gallant 10K in Shediac on Saturday, the race I intended to run. Looks like there was a speedy crowd. I would have loved to run with them but that's life. I can't wait for Bouctouche in two weeks.

 

Now why did I cancel the Gleaner?

The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton)
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Page: B1
Section: Sports

Fredericton runners sweep 10K provincials

Fredericton runners finished 1-2-3 in the 10-kilometre provincial championships as part of the Miramichi Rock N' Run race.

Chris Gairns won in 34 minutes 15.2 seconds. Taylor Gray was second in 35:48.9 while Robert Jackson was third in 36:11.7.

Dan McHardie (38:42.8) and fellow Frederictonian Robert Vinet (41:10.1) placed sixth and eighth, respectively, while New Maryland's Lloyd Sutherland was 10th in 42:16.1 .

The female champion is Fredericton's Jennifer Seguin, who placed 11th overall in 43:07.7. Nadine Currie-Jackson, also of Fredericton, was second (and 17th overall) in 44:19.2.

The long-awaited Miramichi Rock'N'Roll 10K Race Report

The following is a report on how crazy coincidences, bad luck, great timing and a wonderful lady named Carrie all combined to help me score my 10K PB.

The Miramichi race has been bouncing around in my brain for a few months, ever since I heard that it was being dubbed the Run NB 10K Provincial Championship. I knew nothing else about the race, well other than it was tied into the local rock and roll festival. It wasn't on my list of "must run" races for the season, so it wasn't until late last week that I decided that I would head to Miramichi on Sunday morning. I soon discovered that the race organizers decided to do away with same-day registration. No worries, I'll register Saturday morning on-line. No worries, indeed. I log onto the Running Room website at about noon on Saturday to find out that on-line registration closed on Thursday. So I'm sitting in Bouctouche, everyone is napping and I'm now freaking out because the race organizer is not picking up his phone or answering his e-mail. I call our Miramichi reporter and she tries valiantly but says everyone she knows is at the festival. About two hours has now passed and I'm starting to sweat.

I scroll over and over all the websites for the race and I keep seeing how last-minute registration is at a local rec centre, but there is no phone number listed for the facility. So I do what any panicky person would do, I Google it. I randomly click on one of the links and up comes a phone number and I decide to call. On the other end of the phone was not the Linden Rec Centre, it was a wonderful woman named Carrie, although at this point I didn't know how wonderful she would turn out to be. She was actually heading to the rec centre to volunteer for the registration! She took all my info and she promised I could race the next morning! All was now right with the world.

Oh but the story does not end there...

I arrive in Miramichi early, so I can meet up with Carrie, pay, get my chip and relax before the race. I did everything until the relax part. I just latched my chip to my shoe and I was going to walk across to the Subway to skip the line-up in the men's room but first I wanted to make a pit stop at my car to toss my goodie bag. Wait, where's my key? Not in my pocket. Not in my bag. Not stuffed in my shirt. Not on the table, chair or floor where I just sat while putting my chip on. This cannot be happening to me. I spent the next 25 minutes with a small search committee, tearing through my bag (eight times), my car, tracing, retracing, tracing and retracing every single step I made in Miramichi. With no options left, I called back to Bouctouche and asked for someone to drive another set of keys up to me. Feeling really sheepish, I backtrack one more time and start kicking garbage cans. And there it is! It turns out that when I threw out my banana peel, it went in the garbage as well. I now have 15 minutes to warm up.

Now to the race.
When the run started, I had no idea what to expect. The times last year were not blazing but Carrie, my new best friend, told me it was flat. At 8:30 a.m., we moved to the start line with Elvis and waited for our cue. Before I knew it, we were off. I started quick but kept trying to hold down my pace. It was a perfect day for a run, overcast but not cold. There was a small "hill" leading to a bridge in the first kilometre and then flat for 2K. Once I got into my groove, I started passing people. I chatted with a few half-marathoners, it helped me keep calm and my pace relaxed.

One of the race's turning points was the downhill toward the second bridge. I left my long legs carry me past one runner and along side "Nigadoo" (that's where he's from so it felt like an adapt nickname), who I ran with for the rest of the race. The next 6K had some nice declines and then looped across the bridges again. Nigadoo and I were shoulder to shoulder, a few times I thought he should have moved over so I wasn't dodging on-coming traffic, but I digress.

Split after split, I couldn't afford to slow down because I knew Nigadoo would be gone and I think he felt the same way. We attempted small talk a few times. He asked me about my Garmin. When we were approaching a crowded water stop, I told him to call out what he wanted and it was cool to see all the walkers turn around and then move to the side so we could fly by. It was a pretty cool feeling.
I felt great throughout the race. I knew my Garmin was off by about 150 metres, but I was on pace to break 40 minutes. When I came down the final hill, there was a moment of confusion where I had to turn and then when I was 400 metres from home I drained the tank. Nigadoo had some extra kick so he was about 50 metres ahead of in a blink of an eye. As I rounded the last corner, I could see the second hand ticking up, it was at 20 seconds. So I started picking up the pace again. 30 seconds, I'm now thinking 40 minutes may be jeopardy. Finally I cross the line and the big yellow numbers say 38!  Wait? What about 39?! My previous PB was 40:07 set in May, now I can proudly say that I've broken 40 ... and 39. My final time is 38:42. I was really disappointed not to break 40 in Fredericton and I was somewhat more confused by my recent races where I couldn't break 42 minutes. So I needed this PB to remind me that running has its ups and downs and I just have to be patient and wait for my race. Sunday, I had my race. And it feels great. Sometimes I wish every race could feel like this, but if they did, today would not have been so special.
This was also dubbed the Provincial Championships. Run NB has a fun point series (50 points for 1st, 45 for 2nd, etc), so this race handed out double points.
Anyway, my results:
Time: 38:42.8
Overall: 6
Age group: 4
Splits: 3:44, 4:01, 4:03, 3:35, 3:16 (this must be an error), 4:03, 4:05, 3:50, 3:48, 3:37.

New PB!

I set a new PB at the Miramichi Rock'N'Run 10K. I don't have the official time yet, but I believe it was 38:37 when I crossed the mat. I will post a full race report and official time later today. I'm so incredibly stoked!

Thursday night tempo

Just arrived back from a 6K tempo run. I had to take the dog to the vet right after work and then had to finish up some work. I didn't get out for my run until about 8:20. Although humid, it was a nice night for a run.

I'm reconfiguring my schedule a bit, in the hopes of curing this constant muscle fatigue problem I've been having. I finished in 24:06, missing my desired 4 min/k pace by one second, 4:01 min/k pace ... I won't beat myself up by missing by one second.
My neighbourhood loop has some inclines and declines and you could tell where they were by my splits: 4:04, 3:55, 4:09, 4:04, 3:57, 3:55.

Humid Tuesday

Well, I did get out for my run this evening afterall. It was too nice to stay inside, although I forgot how nice this time of year means humid. Seriously, what's the point of all this humidity?
I took this run fairly easy. I tried a new neighbourhood circuit tonight that mixed in some small hills and declines. I ended up running 10K in 44:12. I'm happy. I have to travel to Moncton tomorrow for work, so there was little chance that I'd be able to squeeze in a run, meaning tonight worked out perfectly.

Army 10K map and elevation profile

As promised, here is a cool Google Earth image of the Army 10K course. What you can't see are all the hills. The elevation chart below gives you a better idea why this was not a PB course.

Monday night

Just a quick note tonight. My weekly LSD was supposed to be Sunday night but I made the executive decision to postpone it in the hopes of getting passed my muscle fatigue problems. This evening I made another revision to my schedule, there is no way I was going to run 90 minutes. I figured 10K would suffice. It was a bit humid when I started tonight. I had the dog with me, forcing me to keep the first K slower. Once I dropped her back off at home, I had a nice next 10K. I finished in 48:54.
The N.B. 10K provincial championships are on Sunday. Judging by my last few races, I'm getting worried that I'm not prepared.

Army 10K

Ok, so I actually made it to the Army 10K in Oromocto. I have to admit, until 90 minutes before gun time I thought I was going to be a no-show. At the last minute, my wife told me to go, so who am I to argue? Finding CFB Gagetown was my first challenge. I had only been to the base once before and I wasn't driving at that time. My current knowledge of Oromocto is limited to the SPCA, the vet and the Subway and they're all on the same road. I exited off the TCH and thought I'll just keep driving until I see a tank and then I'll turn in, how hard can it be? Well, it turns out much harder than I had thought. I ended up going in the back entrance to the base and at one point, I was just praying not to be run over by a LAV.

I arrived at the base gym and picked up my very large Army 10K shirt, bottle of water and bottle of sports drink and saw a couple RM Maniacs, so that was cool. I'm very impressed by the facilities that they have on the base.

One of the best parts of this race is that they start it early, none of this 11 a.m. foolishness. Also in this run's favour, Saturday morning was a splendid day for a run because it was overcast and it looked like it was going to rain a few times. (Near the end of the run it started to get a bit humid, but by that time I was having other issues.) I had been warned to load up on bug spray because the critters on the trails could carry me away if I ran too slowly. Unfortunately for me, I left the bug spray at home!

The Run NB circuit is typically a road racing series, although a few races, such as Fredericton, have trail components involved -- or at least that has been my experience. The Army 10K was the closest thing to cross-country running that I've experienced in about a decade. When the gun fired, we all started charging down this 150-metre stretch of roadway by an obstacle course and down a hill. This would be the last time our feet would hit pavement until we returned. The start, as with all starts I guess, was fast, we barrelled around one corner, up a hill and then did a few other tight twists and turns. I was passing people, they were passing me. It was a great start to the run. Within moments, the trail narrowed substantially so if you wanted to pass, you had to go wide and worry about tripping in a rut or stepping in a hole. Gravel lined most of the trail until we got into the woods and then it was dirt and mud. At this point, I was very thankful that it hadn't rained because it could have been one giant mud bog.

Around 2K, the 5K leader was already heading for home. We picked up a little water cup around 2K as well and forged deeper into the Commonwealth's largest training area. Like last week in Dieppe, the hills were constant although none were insurmountable. I kept thinking as I was running up the hills that, at least I got to run down them on the way back. Each time I thought that however, I started running down the opposite side, when my thinking switched to, drat I'm going to have to run back up this on my way back. There were a couple nice people blocking the trail with a jeep at the 5K turn-around, so as the nice drill sergeant guy said at the start there is no way you could get lost on this run.

I was in ninth at the turn around or so I counted. Once we started heading for home, the hills started immediately. We had to charge up a fairly steep, dirt hill and once I crested it, that's when I started seeing the next runners. I knew I had about 500 metres on the next serious challenger, although I had just been passed again by a runner I was playing cat and mouse with all morning.

As 6K and 7K started passing, my knees just started feeling fatigued. I could hold the pace but there was no way I was picking it up to any great degree. I'm not sure if the three runners in front of me were running slower or I was running faster but near the end I was within range of passing one more guy. This is when my lack of legs became truly apparent. By my rough calculations we were probably 10 seconds apart for the last 1.5K and normally I'd have no problem overtaking a person that close or at least making the challenge. But I just did not have that final gear necessary to make a serious challenge. My legs just couldn't pick it up even though I was running far slower than my training runs, albeit training runs that are not on hilly trails. As we powered up the little hill en route to the finishing chute, I looked behind me and saw absolutely no one so I thought there was no need to kill myself to try and catch this guy. He ended up finishing eight seconds in front of me and I'm still kicking myself because he was in my age group and in this point series that decision could come back to haunt me.

According to the Run NB web site:

Time: 42:08

Overall: 10

Age group: 4

As I will likely discuss in a later blog this week, the lack of strength/ability to offer a final kick has got me thinking about altering my training schedule a bit. Since April 30, I've raced a 15K, 10K, Half-Marathon, 10K and 10K, as well I've keep a busy training schedule with lots of speed work and not to mention working long hours. I think my knees are starting to give a bit.

I will upload a Google Earth map of the course later in the week.

Hmmm...

Whenever I post things like this I never end up doing them. But this race has been piquing my interest of late. So who knows... I may just show up at CFB Gagetown.

Army 10k
Oromocto, NB
June 24, 2006

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Reg. Time / Enregistrement: 8:15 to 9:15

Start Time / Départ: 9:30 Banquet Time: 11:00

Registration Location / Lieu:
Base Gym CFB Gagetown

Main Event / Événement principal: 10km

Other Events: 5km

Timex: no

Super Series: yes

Registration Fee / Enregistrement: $20.00

Contact 1: Dave Shirley Email: shirley.da@forces.gc.ca
Tel #: 422-2000 ext 2425 Fax #: 422-1219

Contact 2: Jessica Hood Email: hood.jl@forces.gc.ca
Tel #: 422-2000 ext 2425 Fax #: 422-1219

Showers / Douches: Yes

Entry Package: Pick up on Race Day

T-Shirt: Yes (First 100 registered guaranteed / les 100 1er enregistrés)

Course / Parcours: Small Rolling hills on CFB Gagetown.
Runnig Trails. Out and Back course.

Awards: Medals Age Group winners
Draw Prizes

Recent runs

I promised that I'd update everyone as to my recent runs that I've been too busy to blog about. So here goes:

Tuesday: I had an interval session of 4x600m with 600m recovery. My splits were 1:59, 2:01, 2:02 and 2:01. I honestly thought my last split was going to be much faster so I was quite surprised when it popped up as 2:01. I also must admit, I didn't go all out during this session. It was another late night run after a long day at work. I hadn't really eaten much throughout the day so my energy levels were in the basement.

Sunday: I was supposed to go out for a 90-minute run but that didn't happen. I had to work on Sunday plus my daughter decided that sleep was optional. As the evening ticked along, I saw my run get shorter and shorter. Once I got out, I thought I'd do a 5K tempo. While I wouldn't be able to run for 90 minutes, I thought I'd up the effort substantially. According to my log I ended up finishing in 19:12, although my Garmin I thought said 19:23 ... odd. I'll have to check that when I get home. The splits were: 3:51, 3:38, 3:51, 4:04, 3:42. You can tell by my splits where the hillier portion of the course was situated.

Saturday: I have already written extensively on the Dieppe 10K race.

Tuesday, June 3: This was a tough run. I went out for 10 hill repeats. I hadn't done any hill training since February with my RR clinic. So I must say, this really whipped me hard. The first seven hill repeats on Case Road were fine, but eight and nine were killers ... the final one was ok, just because I knew it was the last repeat.

 

Anyway, that is a brief synopsis of my recent running. Unfortunately, I haven't done any great distance running lately. I'm hoping to start getting out for longer sessions now that my work is about to calm down a bit. I love tempo and interval training but it just doesn't offer the same escape that a nice, long trail run gives.

Night runner

I've never in my life enjoyed running at night so this whole transition to being an evening runner has taken some time to get used to. Last night, for example, I finished work at around 8 p.m. and decided that I wanted to chat with my wonderful wife, who I really haven't seen in about two weeks, so by the time I was ready to go for my run it was 9 p.m. Among the many benefits of summer -- aside from the sun -- is it's light for much longer, so at least I was not running in a blanket of darkness.

My schedule had me down for a 50-minute run last night and notwithstanding my speed and interval training, I haven't really followed my sked for two weeks because of work constraints. I figured I'd head out for 10K and evaluate how I felt and how dark it was to decide whether I was going to meet my target. I must say the run started really slow, I've been experiencing a lot of muscle fatigue lately so my first split was around 4:30. I went out the back of my subdivision and then ran along the Lincoln Road, turning around at the Irving. The advantage to this route is that I'm actually adding some small hills, which I painfully discovered last weekend that I need more practice on if I want to stop crashing in races. Once I hit 10K, which was right in front of my house (man I love my Garmin), I decided that I'd add one more kilometre. I wouldn't hit 50 minutes but I'd be close enough. In the end, I wrapped up the 11K in 47:22 with an average split of 4:18. I brought the final two splits in 4:15 and 3:58.

 

Dieppe map and elevation chart

This is the Assomption Vie 10K route and elevation map. As I mentioned in my race report, it is by no means a super fast course like Fredericton. The people are nice and it raises money for a great cause, so you can't complain too much. The elevation chart nicely demonstrates where exactly my quads felt like dying.

First foray back into blogging

This will be by far my most concise race report.
Assomption Run 10K, Dieppe, N.B.
Time: 42:16
Overall place: 9
Age group place: 2

For many reasons this was a tough day for me. I drove to Dieppe first thing Saturday morning, arriving 45 minutes before the race. I sprinted into the gym, signed up and had 20 minutes to warm up. Making things more difficult, I was so nervous about missing the race that I could barely tie my shoes because my feet were still shaking so much! It was hot, holy heck, it was hot and humid before the race even started.
This course hurt my ego pretty bad. It was hilly -- not CTRR hilly, but seriously un-flat.  I really wanted to beat 40 minutes, so I set my Garmin to bring me in around 39:30. I started on pace as we left Ecole Anna-Melanfant and turned down a hill and into a little cul-de-sac. Once we came out of the suburban trek, the rolling hills started. I admit, there were no Regent Streets, but my quads were pretty sore and we hadn't hit 5K yet. We fought a horrible headwind from the 7.5K turn-around all the way home. It was hot and humid, so I slowed down the pace a bit but after a steady diet of hills and that wind, I just couldn't get on track late in the race. I'm not the only who had this problem and that is just one of the joys of racing. You have your great days and you have your "yesterdays".
But it was a fund-raiser for breast cancer research, so it was a great cause.

Running more than blogging

I've been too busy to blog lately. However, I have been getting out semi-regularly. I will be updating very soon. Sorry for the delays. I will be a better blogger starting on Thursday.

Map and elevation chart

Here are a map and elevation chart of Monday's run.

Is that what the sun really looks like?

Finally a break in the weather. I don't mean to sound like one of those woe-is-me, weather complainers, but the constant deluge was starting to get on my nerves. So when the sun broke through Monday, I knew I had no choice but to lace up the shoes and go for a make-up run.

In the end, I went out for an easy 17K run, I believe I finished in 1:16:23. I was supposed to run for 85 minutes and as I was about 4K from home I looked at my Garmin and realized was far short of where I needed to be, so I had to hang an immediate right and tack on an extra 5K. I ended up going through the agricultural complex and ran the 5K course from the March 12 race.

I really got my money's worth out of my Garmin tonight because my training criteria was a time, not a distance so it didn't matter where I ran. So I took new routes and I added some serious hills ... ok, hills are relative, I don't live in Banff ... but I ran only 3.5K on my beloved (flat) trail. I'm happy with my split times considering the number of hills I injected into my route. I've been e-talking a lot about fast finishes, so I made sure each of my last four splits was faster than the previous. My overall splits were 5:08 (ran with the dog), 4:25, 4:28, 4:27, 4:23, 4:19, 4:03 (downhill), 4:33, 4:33, 4:45, 4:41, 4:32, 4:36, 4:26, 4:23, 4:17 and 4:12. My overall pace was 4:28 with an average HR of 169. This was my substitute for my missed Sunday run yesterday due to inclimate weather. I'm happy.

PPD (Rain)

Forgot improving my anerobic base, I think I need to start learning how to build an arc and starting to collect animals two by two. The rain is unbelievable. I bailed on my 90-minute run today (Sunday), it was just way too rainy. I know I sound like a big wimp, but it was absolutely pouring. I've lived in wonderful British Columbia where the rain never seems to cease, but this was silly. I went for a 34-minute speed session Saturday night and when I returned I was completely soaked ... and it is raining a lot harder now than it was then. Not only would it have been freezing, avoiding puddles can be dangerous after awhile and I'm not going to risk injury at the beginning of racing season.

Monday is supposed to be a rest day, so hopefully it will be sunny and I can just switch days.

Saturday wet speed session

I just had my first speed session since NCM. It could have been much worse. However as any Atlantic Canadians can attest it is absolutely pouring rain right now.
As for my workout, it was an odd distance. My new training program called for 2x3K (well actually 2x2 miles but I only think in kilometres). I warmed up for about 1.5K but it was raining too hard for me to "waste" any more time before my actual run started (I typically don't think of warm-ups as wasted time but it was pretty wet out). My first 3K split seems fast but I did have the benefit of a nice downhill portion early on. My splits were 11:45 (ave. pace 3:55) and 11:54 (ave. page 3:58 ). My HR averaged 176 BPM, which may have been a bit high but I haven't worn my HRM in more than a month so I don't know where my heart is on my speed workouts of late.
Ok, well I should probably go and dry some clothes or something...

First run post Ottawa

I had my first post-NCM run on Thursday night. I'm about to start another training schedule with an end date in eight weeks at the Clarence Bastarache 10K race in Bouctouche. There is where I set my 10K PB last year, so let's hope we can do that two years in a row.

The training program that I'm going to adopt scheduled a 65-minute easy run last night but I finished work late and I had no interest in running that long. So I did an 8K run at a 4:35 min/k pace. I really wanted to keep this one slower than usual to help recover. One problem that I'm trying to shake is that I push my easy runs too hard so I don't allow my body to recover enough for my intense tempo runs/intervals.

Friday is a rest day. I love rest days!

Post Ottawa thoughts

Having a few days to savour the great memories that the ING Ottawa half marathon provided and mull over the not-so-great moments, I'm starting to piece together my final analysis. The bottom line is the heat and humidity spelled disaster for my run. However, I should have run a smarter start to the race. I was clogged up in that fast pack and I let them set the pace for me instead of finding a way for me to get control of my run earlier. I'm not convinced this could have been avoided under last weekend's circumstances but I will know better next time.

There was no way to train for such heat, but in hindsight I wish I slowed down my pace by at least five seconds a kilometre to start the race. The downside is that would have left me in the heat even longer if I faded at the same spot, but the alternative is I may not have wilted at 17K.

Now my training schedule. I'm the one who picked the program and I could have changed it at any time and I didn't. So I'm not going to fault it. I really enjoyed the interval sessions and tempo runs. I honestly believe I am a faster runner because of those sessions. The only thing I would change for the future is the number of long runs. I would incorporate them more often and for longer distances. Now to be fair, I was coming off an injury that kept me off my feet until January and even then I started back slowly. If I started training for a half marathon tomorrow my aerobic base would be eons farther ahead then it was back in March.

I believe I was mentally prepared for the race. I did not make any errors when it came to dressing for the heat or other preparations. I was smart to bring my own gel and not rely on ones provided by the race because I hate the citrus gels and they are always handed out. Perhaps I should have trained using Gatorade so I was a bit more used to it, but I don't believe that hurt me in any way. Considering the heat, I was also satisfied with my hydration strategy ... which was very simple: drink a cup at every aid station and grab a sponge if one was offered. I did have some fluid sloshing around at one point but it was short-lived.

Not by a long shot did I run my best race on Sunday. But I know a lot more about my body than I did four days ago and that will help me prepare for my next challenge.

From the Daily Gleaner...

Sportsline...;
The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton)
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Page: B4
Section: Sports

Locals complete ING Ottawa Marathon

Dave Pettit was the top Fredericton runner to finish the ING Ottawa Marathon on the weekend, completing the 26 mile, 385 yard course in a time of three hours, 17 minutes, 30 seconds. The other Fredericton runners in the field included Paul Leger (3:39:58), Christine Little, the top local female finisher in 3:41;13, Marc Cormier (3:44:42), Allyson MacDonald (3:47:35), Sebastien Boudreau of Douglas (3:48:37), Dave Finley of New Maryland (3:52:27), Mike Simmons of Fredericton (3:59:15), Jarrett Seto (4:01:06), Melanie Ferguson of Oromocto (4:04:02), Jordan Dashner (4:04:40), Karen Finley of New Maryland (4:09:53), Gary Toft of Fredericton (4:10:52), Tyler MacLeod of Oromocto (4:23:26), Bruce Webb of New Maryland (4:25:17), Jim Berry of Estey's Bridge (4:33:50), Tracy Gatto of Fredericton (4:51:52), Delberta Flood of Fredericton (4:51:56), Robert Harrison of New Maryland (4:56:57), and Aldo Giovannioni of Fredericton (4:57:02).

In the half marathon, Dan McHardie of Fredericton was the top local finisher in a time of 1:34:45.

ING Ottawa Half-Marathon Race Report

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." That classic Robert Burns line summed up my ING Ottawa Half Marathon pretty well. There were many contributing factors to my 1:34:30 half-marathon time, which was about five minutes off my goal time, that I fear this could rival my longest race reports. My half-marathon really started around 4:30 a.m. when I awoke on Gary's couch and was completely incapable of falling back to sleep in any meaningful way. Tossing and turning, I tried counting sheep but each time my mind manoeuvred to math I ended up calculating split times. That was counterproductive to trying to have my eye lids close. It wasn't long until Gary awoke for his 7 a.m. marathon start. Once he departed, I considered taking another crack at sleep but realized it would ultimately fail but I remained on the couch trying to rest my ailing hip. For reasons passing understanding, I developed a bizarre hip problem a few days ago that I just could not shake. One person diagnosed my ailment as a hip flexor injury but all I know is it is painful, hardly a clinical diagnosis. Every so often I glanced out the window and the sun was increasing in its intensity, a clear sign that I was going to have my work cut out for me. By 8:30, I just couldn't take the suspense so I called a cab and ventured to the Rideau Centre, so at least I was not in the apartment or in the hot, humid pre-race area. I rested for about 30 minutes in the empty, but air-conditioned food court. I decided I couldn't prolong the inevitable and started toward the race course. As I stepped outside, the humidity smacked me like ill-tempered child. For the next 45 minutes, I watched some marathoners begin their second half of the race, stood in line way too long at the porta-potty and started warming up my legs. The corral system was a bit confusing to this rookie. I'm typically pretty good at self-seeding but they closed off about 500 metres so the elites could warm up, which included the 1:30:00 corral so I had to line up in this massive sea of runners as we waited for the rope to be removed. With a minute to go before the gun sounded, we were finally allowed to make our way forward but I quickly discovered I had past my goal corral but I wasn't the only one. Unfortunately this would only be the start of my troubles.

When the gun sounded there was a tremendous amount of excitement. It didn't take long for me to cross the start line, mainly because I was stuck in the middle of a pack that really moving. Slowing down wasn't an option, this is the closest feeling I'll ever get to running with the bulls in Pamplona. I had to dodge runners who were more poorly seeded than I was and try to lock myself into my goal pace. So as you can imagine, the start was quick but what makes it even more amazing is it is on one of the steepest inclines on the course, Elgin Street by the War Memorial and then it descends into the most significant decline of the course. Before I knew it, my opening kilometre split was 3:55. When I looked down at my Garmin to check my first split, I gasped. I knew this was the wrong way to start such an important race. My options were limited though, I was trying to settle into my pre-planned race pace but there were too many people that I had to weave around to get comfortable. The race crowd never really thinned but thankfully I was able to find my stride around the 3K mark at the first water station around the Pretoria Bridge. At this stage, I was able to bring down my splits to where I had planned and then came a colossal turning point, I had a major Garmin error. Passing Dunton Tower on Carleton's campus my split hit 3:33 min/k. I know 3:33 kilometres and that wasn't one. So now my kilometres were about 200 to 400 metres off of the official markers, so gauging my distance was now a complete crapshoot. I also had no idea what my splits were because eventually it would have to synch up again. At 9K I was around 38 minutes and I pulled off a 41:38-minute 10K. So far so good but soon my racing world was about to crash and burn or perhaps more appropriately burn then crash.

If only the sun gradually came out but no, instead the mercury started soaring. And it wasn't as if the heat was only hitting me from the top, it was radiating off the street so even my shoes felt sticky. There was no escaping the heat, I was trapped running 21.1K in a furnace. When I glanced down at my 11K split, I realized the heat was finally getting to me when my Garmin told me my split was significantly over 4:15 for the first time. I was still about 300 metres ahead of goal pace so I had built up a decent cushion that I was praying I could desperately cling to for the next 10 kilometres. This was a unique race because of the dizzying number of people. I'm not sure if I passed more people or if I was being passed, but there was a constant stream of people. Everywhere I turned there were spectators cheering us on, which would have been rejuvenating if it wasn't so hot, instead I felt as if they were the heroes. Think about it, I paid a significant amount of money to travel to Ottawa and register for the race, so there was no backing out for me, but these wonderful bystanders were standing on the side, ringing cowbells, holding up signs and clapping for everyone of us wayward souls. They didn't have to be there, they could have went to the beach but they came out for us. I was thoroughly humbled.

As each kilometre passed, my ability to push weakened. We were looping through some scenic parks and gardens out around Baseline and I couldn't even take in the scenery, I had to focus every last piece of energy on putting one foot in front of the other. There was no doubt about it, at this point there was no expectation of picking up the pace, I was simply fighting for survival. I don't think I have ever run in such heat, well minus that summer in the Okanagan, but I didn't have the double-whammy of extreme humidity. Running through the water stations also became a bit of a chore. I have the utmost respect for anyone who signs up for a marathon, either to run or walk. But these marathon walkers and some of the slower runners, were clogging up the aid stations. I had to dodge several runners/walkers who stopped right in front of me and a few times I actually ran into people. There was the potential for disaster a few times and thankfully I was able to sidestep those in front of me. These massive events also do lend themselves to providing some humour, Ottawa was no different. Somewhere around 16K, I was minding my own business running my little half-marathon and all of a sudden some guy from a Montreal track club (I had a lot of time to read the back of jerseys) pulled off to the shoulder, about three feet away from me, whipped down his shorts and started urinating on the side of the road. It was an unbelievably brazen move considering he didn't even seek some privacy but when you have to go … well, I guess nothing else matters. He ended up passing me again, so perhaps I should take some pointers.

Coming down Prince of Wales, I knew how close I was to finishing. When I was in university I ran this stretch of the canal more times than I care to remember. Mentally I knew that the end was near, but physically I honestly could do nothing to hasten an end to this pain. It was quickly becoming unbearable. I had set my Garmin to bring me in at 1:29:00, that concept had gone out the window around 17K and I felt a PB was fading with each passing kilometre. By 20K I was doing the mental math and I knew that barring a miracle I was going to barely miss my PB.

Any additional step was unwelcome so I became increasingly agitated when groups of four marathon walkers were walking arm-and-arm and blocking the route. At one point, I called out "runner up!" to try and get them to step to the side and they just glared at me. When I received those stares I realized that I had no choice but to finish this race quickly before I said something I would regret to a recreational runner.

I wish I could report that I barrelled down the home stretch. But when the signs marking 1K to go started popping up and the spectators were growing louder I could not pick up my pace one iota. When the 750 metres to go sign appeared, I tried to go faster, I couldn't. I was still in survival mode. Once I saw 500 metres I knew this was my shot, so started at least holding my pace and gradually increased it. By 300 metres I was finally in a pseudo-sprint. For the first time in three kilometres or so, I was passing boat loads of people, this finally felt right again.

As I crossed the finishing mat, my gun time was 1:34:44 and my chip time was 1:34:30. I punched my arms to the heavens but I missed my PB. I took some solace in the fact that I didn't set a PW. For what it's worth, I finished 183 overall, 156 in my gender and 22 in my age group. From my quick scan of the finishers' list, I was also the top New Brunswicker in the half marathon.

For purely academic reasons, I'll post my Garmin splits. But they should be taken with a boulder of salt considering how far off they were thanks to that ill-timed error at 6K.

3:55, 4:09, 4:11, 4:16, 4:10, 4:10, 4:15, 4:16. 3:34, 4:18, 4:17, 4:02, 4:29, 4:28, 4:28, 4:42, 4:23, 4:38, 4:44, 4:18, 4:49, 4:48, 3:37 (this was for 773 metres, not 200 metres).

I'm going to post my lessons learned from this half-marathon later.

 

Heat!

I missed every single time goal I set for myself, but it was hot. Too hot! I will post a full race report tomorrow night, but my chip time was roughly 1:34:31.

Live Results at the ING Ottawa half-marathon

According to Sportstats.ca, they will be posting live race results.

Cut and paste: http://live.sportstats.ca/?racecode=33 this link and type in my bib number and you'll be able to see how I'm doing. Pretty cool.

How cool is this?

Courtesy of msdesigner1 from Running Mania.

Half-Marathon Race Plan

 

This may be my last day to get a significant post on my blog before I depart for the ING Ottawa half-marathon. I've been asking a lot of people about their goal times and race strategy, so I guess it's only fair that I outline my game plan. I've been stressing for the last 10 weeks about how I'm going to run the race and whether I'm fit enough to keep up my pace. So first my goal times, my overall goal is to PB which is sub-1:34:17. Unless the heat completely kills me, I think that is doable. From there, my goal is sub-1:30:00 and my dream goal is sub-1:28:00. I think the 1:30:00 is doable if, and this is a big if, I can maintain my race strategy.

My goal strategy is to maintain 4:15 min/k splits, which if you do the math that brings me to 1:30:00. I have no false allusions, this is going to be tough. I've done more tempo and interval work than ever so I don't think speed will be a problem. However, I just don't feel that I've done enough distance in the last 10 weeks. I felt I could have maintained the 4:00 min/k pace for another couple of kilometres after the Fredericton 10K race and when I did my 15K race three weeks ago I felt I could have maintained 4:08 min/k for another couple of kilometres. But I always seem to fall apart when it comes close to 21K. In this 10-week training period, I've only done one 20K, one 18K and several 15-18K. And if heat is a factor as the long-range forecast suggests that could also impact on my ability to maintain that pace. If you put any stock in those race time predictors then I should be able to hit 1:30:00, but I am growing a bit anxious.

Obviously I hoping 4:15 min/k pace will sustain me for the first half of the race and once I pass 17K I'll try to start picking up the pace for a negative split. The only negative split I've ever achieved in a race was the Fredericton 10K, so I'm hoping I've started a new trend.

My hydration strategy is pretty simple, I'm going to make sure I get liquids at every stop and perhaps try for a second cup if the mercury does surpass 25 degrees. The sunscreen will be applied like it is going out of style, I have no intention to subjecting myself to any undue sunburns.

So anyway, that is the plan so far. We'll see how that goes.

Second to last run before ING Ottawa Half Marathon

I missed my run last night as my wife and I went out for our anniversary dinner. It was a fantastic night out by ourselves, so I'm not at all worried about pushing my run by a few hours.

Undaunted I got up this morning for my first morning run in months. It was really quite nice outside, it was light out, there were tons of walkers and a few runners, not to mention a couple newspaper delivery people. I did my 4x400 intervals with a 10 minute warm-up and five-minute cool down. Splits went something like 79 seconds, 72 seconds, 76 seconds, 79 seconds. The last one fooled me because I thought I was really giving it but that's what Mr. Garmin said, so who am I to argue at 6:10 a.m.? The run felt quite good actually. The only downside is I've developed this bizarre shoulder/back/neck problem over the weekend -- perhaps a combo of too much lawn mowing, weed pulling, daughter carrying, etc -- and it's really causing me problems. For one it's not allowing me to sleep comfortably and it is throwing off my rhythm as I run because it's hindering my arm movement. Bizarre.

 

Watch out for 13280

I just got my bib number for the ING Ottawa Half-Marathon. Keep an eye out for 13280 next Sunday!

Rainy Rest Day

Monday's are typically my rest day and it just so happens to coincide with my taper and a massive rain storm. So today, I'm going to hang out with the family and perhaps go for a nice long walk if the rain ever subsides. I've never really considered myself the type to go stir crazy during taper time, but I just can't wait to line up in Ottawa on Sunday morning because all I'm thinking about in my spare time right now is running this race.

Sunday morning run

Easy 6K this morning with my RR group. It was a beautiful morning for a run. We just went out along the trail, across the train bridge and right at the patrol office until just about 200 metres past the bridge. We kept the pace relaxed and we had a good chat about last week's Fredericton 10K race.

This is the last run I think we will all be doing together because Wednesday is our final clinic and I can't run before the group because of work and we're starting 30 minutes later for the actual clinic. It has been such a neat experience to see all the progress of a group over such a short period of time.

Eight days to NCM half-marathon

A busy day in the New Brunswick capital, well, if busy is relative I guess. My wife and I took turns napping while the other took care of the baby. We hit the local garden centre and picked up some plants and continued painting the downstairs playroom. I took Elle and Belle for a 5K walk around the neighbourhood in our jogger stroller. I'm still getting used to walking with it, but I did a few short running sessions. It is a great ride though, she is a huge fan (and so is her papa).

After everyone went to bed, I went out for a 13K run at 4:19 min/k. I was supposed to do 10K today but I've been feeling guilty about my lack of mileage so I upped it a tad. My Garmin was not helping tonight, I had about five or six periods where it had weak signal.  My splits were totally unhelpful, which was unfortunate considering I wanted to run even splits. I had a few sub 3-min/K and trust me, they were not that fast, as well I had a few splits over 4:30 min/k and they weren't that slow. When I finished the run, I knew I had plenty in the tank. That boosted the ego a bit.
So the long-range forecast has Ottawa at 25 degrees for Sunday. Hmm. I'm typically not a great hot-weather runner, so the only three words that come to mind are: Bring it on

Officially registered

It was only a formality but I finally pulled out the Visa card and registered for the NCM half-marathon this morning. I didn't really have a chance to back out but now it is feeling even more real.

My legs are a bit sore from last night's tempo run but they're feeling better as I walk around. The nerves are really starting to set in.

Fredericton 10K Photos

The Fredericton 10K was a blast and here are some photos to prove it.
This first shot was taken by the Fredericton Daily Gleaner and ran A1, above the fold on Monday's paper. Can you spot the fearless blogger?

This is almost the exact same shot but taken off the Run NB website. This time I'm taking a good hard look at my Garmin. I'm trying to figure out whether the GPS is telling me to keep up with the guy in yellow or do so at your own peril. I decided to let him finish in under 34 minutes without me. Good call me on that one.

Here is the customary finish line photo where I look like I'm ready to die. Although I wasn't feeling as bad as this photo suggests. What hurt the most was that I missed the 40-minute mark by seven seconds even though my Garmin told me that I beat it by more than 20 seconds.

These next two shots were taken by my friends over at Running Mania. This shot is when Dani slapped a RM Nation tattoo on my arm. Very cool little thing and it sticks, five days later and it is still there, although a shadow of its former self. This is also a good shot of one of my new racing shirts that I picked up from the Running Room. This is the shirt that when my wonderful wife saw it for the first time she said, "But it's a muscle shirt and you don't have any muscles."

Thursday night tempo

I just got back from my second to last tempo run before the Ottawa half marathon. I was a bit ambitious and tried to hold a 3:55 min/k pace. I started way too fast, Veep's real-time pace function spooked me and I laid it all out there in the first kilometre. The rest of the run I was just trying to keep on target. I finished my 5K in 19:41 with splits of 3:46, 3:56, 3:57, 3:58 and 4:02. My average split was 3:57. After reflecting on my times I wish the splits were in reverse order, I would have been happy with that. The run did mark the first occasion where I got to run some new gear. My inlaws gave me a gift certificate to the RR and I took full advantage.