Running in the news

Interesting article today in the National Post about running the marathon.

The will to run: Going from the couch to a marathon in a year.

The story kind of rambles, but is the message of going from completely sedentary to the marathon really a good one? What do you think?

Heck, I've been running for 3 years (minus injury time, of course) and completing a marathon is still only a dream for me. The thought of going from couch potato all the way to 42.2K in 12 months is crazy to me. Just the half was a tough for me mentally. I remember being out on one of my 18K long runs in the rain and thinking to myself: If I were marathon training, I'd be running this twice. Yuck.

I drew some inspiration from the article by this tidbit of info from one of the competitive coaches:
Richard Lee is a distance coach in Vancouver who works with Dylan Wykes, a top athlete expected to give (Reid) Coolsaet a run for his money at October’s Scotiabank Marathon in Toronto. He thinks amateur runners don’t push themselves hard enough.

“People who don’t do anything can do a marathon; it just comes down to will power,” says Lee, who coached his first runner in 1984, training his wife all the way to the Olympic Games. “You’re not born with talent, it’s a learned process. You just need to be prepared, follow a plan and develop a steel-trapped mind for achieving your goals.”

This is certainly something I need to remember. I'm a Kenyan in my head, as most of us recreational runners are, but I know I am faster than my recent times have shown. I've got a decent PR in the 10K and 5K that I haven't improved on in over 18 months. While I've had setbacks, I know I can become even faster if I'm willing to put in the time and effort.

Looking back and looking forward

It's January 1st. Hubby and I are cuddled up on the couch, with the cat under the blanket, watching the Winter Classic on TV. I've been wanting to write this post for awhile now, so today seemed like a good day to do it.

2009 was a pretty good year for me. The highs include:

• my first race at the inaugural Winterman event in February, where I ran the 5K in -7C and snow.
• running the Ottawa MDS Nordion 10K in May. The crowds and race experience were incredible!
• Setting repeated PRs in the 5K throughout the year, finishing with 28:09 at the Cookie Run in November.
• Running over 750 KM in 2009, more than double my 2008 total.
• Getting married!

I capped off 2009 with the Running Room's Resolution Run last night. The temperature was -11C, but it had snowed most of the day, so the footing was pretty treacherous. There was no PR for me, but I had a lot of fun. Saw a guy wearing gold tights, while others wore Christmas lights or New Year's Eve party hats. I can't wait to try out the fancy new jacket I got for entering.

Now for looking forward. Well, 2010 promises to be equally great! Some of my goals for this year are:

• Finish the Ottawa Half Marathon (time goal to come later).
• Drink more water.
• Improve my 5K and 10K times.
• Run 1300 km.

Cheers! And Happy New Year!

November was a good month

A very good month for me on the running front. I had the new personal best in the 5K at the Cookie Run. I've also been following a training plan that I built for myself.

The goals of the training are to increase my mileage to 20-25 miles per week (that's 32-40km a week for the metric folks) and to run four times a week. Now I can't do this all at once, so Novemeber was just mileage building. This past week I ran 27km, which is a new weekly mileage record. And for the month of November, I ran just over 101km. That number is huge for me! It beats my old mileage high by 20km.

December should deliver a new mileage record, too... providing all goes as planned. I increase by 2km again this week (8/8/13) then a break next week (5/5/10). After that I'm moving to the 4 runs a week phase for 4 weeks, with no mileage increases planned. I might be able to add mileage at the end if I'm feeling okay, but for now the plan is to tackle one phase of training at a time.

I also plan to run the Running Room's Resolution Run on December 31st. Hopefully it'll be warmer than the -25C we had last year!

Cookie Run 5K Race Report

This morning I ran the Cookie Run 5K in support of the local Girl Guides. My goal for this race was to beat my old personal best (PB) of 30:08 from June. I really wanted break 30 minutes! I knew I could do it, as I've broken 30:00 in training and now I can hit it during everyday runs without really taxing myself. It was just a matter of by how much I would break it.

When I woke up it was cloudy, risk of flurries, -5C with the wind and I was really unsure as to what to wear, as the forecast called for it to warm up and for the sun to come up. I ended up wearing my my Sugoi Mid-Zero tights, a very light long-sleeve tech tee under my Sugoi Locust Jacket, along with a tech beanie and gloves. It ended up being the right decision.

Before the race I met up with two friends who were attempting a personal best in the 10K. They planned a 5:40/K pace (they run 10/:45 intervals). So as long as I was near them, I knew I would break 30 minutes. I warmed up a bit on the walk to the start and jogged a little before lining up.

The race started at 10 a.m., it was about 0C at that point with a slight wind. I turned on my Nike+ right as the horn sounded. There was a hill right after the start, which lasted about 500m and then a slight downhill. The rest of the course was pancake flat, minus a very tiny uphill just before 2K, and a downhill on a path at 4K. There were lots of kids and people of all ages and abilities. The course was on a closed road at our local research centre, so there was lots of room for everyone.

I tried to run the tangents as best I could, as there were lots of turns on the course. I took water at the 1.5K mark as my mouth felt cottony from my puffer (hooray for exercise-induced asthma) but didn't need it on the way back at 3.5K. The pace felt very comfortable and I felt as if I was going too slow. I knew this was a product of my speedwork over the last month, as I'd had this feeling in most of my runs recently. I resisted the urge to peek at my iPod, but I knew the race was going well because I was keeping pace with my friends.

At the 4K mark, I could feel my legs starting to get heavy. My head was clear, so I knew I had something left in the tank. I rounded the corner and saw the finish line. I started my sprint about 200m out and crossed the finish line in a blaze of glory!

The clock at the finish line wasn't working, but volunteers wrote down bib numbers and times. My iPod told me all I needed to know: 28.16! Woohoo! I beat my old personal best by 1:52!

I grabbed some water and girl guide cookies and used the walk back to the car as my cooldown. I'll likely be sore tomorrow... but I feel good knowing I left everything out on the course. I'm on such a high! My friends also beat their previous PB in the 10K by about 2 minutes. Congrats guys!

My next race is the Resolution Run 5K on New Years' Eve. Until then, I'll continue to work on building up my base. I start running 4x a week in December.