20km run - pretend race day

Sunday was a 20km run. When I left the house I had a jacket on buth there was no way I needed. It was really warm out so sweat fest was on. I decided to treat this run as a pretend race day 'warmup' - just to get a feel of how to handle the upcoming race. I didn't throw in any race pace but just aimed for a consistent run so I would at least have a comfortable sense for race day.
I did a 20 min warmup then moved into 10&1's but only if I really needed it. The first 6km were a bit rough as it was freaking humid but the rest went really well. I knew I could have definitely been faster if I needed to so fingers are crossed that I can keep this up on race day.
Spin/core classes are now over at our clinic which bites so I am hitting up my gym for spin tonight. I am keeping the same program until taper week starts so if the gym instructors do anything unsafe - like those 'jumps' they like to do, I am not partaking.
The afternoon was our closing day golf tournament so I came back to shower off the 3 layers of salt and sweat on me, had some breakfast and headed out to play. I debated actually taking a cart but walked the whole thing. Today I feel pretty good but a bit sore. There may be an epsom salt bath planned for the evening.
The glamorous life...I know...

Friday night at the Cirque

Friday night we went to see Cirque du Soleil's OVO. I bought tickets for the husband for our anniversary back in May and while we aren't really 'show' kind of people, I figured it was something fun and different to do.

We started the evening off at Biff near the Distillery District. Very French bistro type food. (i.e. garlic and salt) but very delicious. I had escargots and steak frites and the husband had foie gras and steak. We were both completely starving so we made a pretty good dent in our dishes. We headed over to the Docks for the show:

The show itself is described as follows:

"OVO is a headlong rush into a colourful ecosystem teeming with life, where insects work, eat, crawl, flutter, play, fight and look for love in a non-stop riot of energy and movement. The insects' home is a world of biodiversity and beauty filled with noisy action and moments of quiet emotion.
When a mysterious egg appears in their midst, the insects are awestruck and intensely curious about this iconic object that represents the enigma and cycles of their lives.
It’s love at first sight when a gawky, quirky insect arrives in this bustling community and a fabulous ladybug catches his eye – and the feeling is mutual. "

Not going to lie, the first 5 mintues in I thought: "Oh man, this is like 'Bugs on Drugs'" but overall it was very cool. The things the performers can do were amazing so it was a great time.

We headed back to the Sheraton Centre and honestly, looking for a good night's sleep. Last week was a brutal training week: 19km run, 2 tough spin class (one of which involved a 17 minute climb), 2 core classes, 1 steady run, 1 Zone3 run, 1 mile repeat session and 18 holes of golf. We hit the hay hard at 11pm.

Only to be woken up by the fire alarm at 1:30am. It was handled very well by the staff and for the moron who set off the fire extinguisher on the 14th floor.....

Bite me.

Running Bling and a great Zone 3 run

Yes, I used 'great' and Zone3 in the same sentence. This zone stuff is hard, especially Zone3 as you just don't get a break. I was able to maintain my paces pretty well last night but still need that 30 second or so break between each repeat....you know...so my heart doesn't explode. My one rant about last night was almost getting clipped at least 3 times by drivers not paying attention at all. I mean, I am not huge but a big enough target that you can see me if you actually look. I always stop at street breaks if there is a car as I know damn well people are looking for when the cars are clear so they can go and not if there is someone on foot coming. Sure enough, it was a good thing I stopped as the cars certainly did not even look to see if there was someone there. One lady even made eye contact with me as I stopped, edged out further to block me and waiting for traffic to clear so she could go. Karma's a bitch lady....seriously.

Anywhoo, it was still a great, muggy Sept night and I had some extra inspiration/motivation last night as I received this:

Very pretty packaging and with a favorite quote of mine: "Shoot for the moon, and if you miss you'll still be among the stars".

Inside was my necklace from Liftyoursole.com:

I love it! I really wanted to wear it last night but am saving it and its mojo for my race in Toronto. (I know I will cave in and wear it but not while running just yet)
I did post their card in my cubicle for inspiration...and in case I get the itch to shop. It is beside my crazy calendar where I jot everthing down - work, training, personal etc. Every month seems to be like this...

Thanks to Mel for 'blog-troducing' me to this site. I (heart) it and will be getting more stuff from them. (this could be dangerous....)

Tonight is our last speed track workout - aiming for 6 repeats. GULP....

19krm - great for 11...not so great for 8

Weekend? What weekend - feels like I had none. Saturday I had to work all day and ended up not getting home until 8pm. I was up at 5:30 so crashing at 9pm was easy. Sunday's long run again started early as much of the marathon group was doing 35km. It was quite chilly at 7am but still a beautiful morning. We took the same route into Oakville and then finished the whole last part of the run on Lakeshore which is along the water so it was quite pretty. We weren't doing race pace but I wanted to just run what felt comfortable. I held up really well into 11km - actually the whole thing was basically at race pace when I hit a wall. I actually felt awful and walked for an entire km. I took in more gel and then picked it up again. It wasn't too bad for the remaining 7km but still a bit of a stuggle.
Lesson learned - warm up, keep a consistent pace and then pick it up if you feel ok. Next week's 20km will be exactly this.
The husband and I were exhausted by last night. I made a super fantastic meal of goat cheese/arugula ravioli with a buttenut squash sauce and managed a glass of wine before we packed it in for bed....at 8:15pm...
and asleep by 9pm.
Don't say we aren't exciting....

TIaRT - Who would you run with?

This week's TIaRT is from Jillian, from the blog Finishing is Winning :

"You get to run the last six miles of your next marathon with 6 different people. They can be dead or alive; famous or not famous. Who are these people and why did you pick them? Furthermore, why did you pick them for the specific mile you did? Remember, you get an extra .2 miles with runner #6."

#1: Steve Prefontaine. His cockiness and bravado would be welcome as I would need some bootsting at this point. Plus his 'porn-stache' was kind of cute.
#2: Kara Goucher. She just rocks - period. I think I have a small girl crush on her.
#3: Ryan Reynolds. As long as he was shirtless.
#4: all the wicked bloggers out there that I read and totally admire. There are too many to list but there are some great people out there who inspire me to keep at this little blog that is read by few but those that do, I thank you.
#5: our run coach who is amazing. At one point she was overweight and has now done 9 Ironmans, countless running races and coaches all levels of athletes. She is an amazing motivator and source of support.
#6: the husband - he is so supportive of my fledgling running career as well as anything I do or try in my life. I love him and he probably could handle the amount of swearing I would be doing at this point.

Who would you run with?

Long run ..into another town

Sunday's long run started off crap-tacular and ended up great. We started out really early -7am- and I had a terrible sleep the night before. For the first 5km or so I was not feeling very well at all. I actually thought I was going to be sick but it seemed to pass as I went along. I could not take it any gel though I was still nauseous. At the halfway point, I ate 1/2 an orange and that was ok. I finally took in a gel around the 10km mark and felt ok but note to self: Strawberry PowerBar gel is NOT GOOD. Ugh. It was seriously gross. I ended up feeling way better and actually had a 'PB' for an 18km run. I only had about 6km at race pace but I am fine with that - better than none I guess.
Because of a ton of things going on along our usual route, we headed out the other way and ended up in Oakville. It was a really nice route though like last week much of it was along a gravel path. I had a few pit stops to get the rocks out of my shoes and they were pretty dusty by the end.
I have to admit that post run I felt seriously lazy. I stretched, got a coffee and read for about an hr before I even showered...good thing I was home alone. I did manage to get some of the house cleaned and actually don't have any pain today which I am surprised about.
Stretching does work!

Speed A Go-Go

Tuesday night was another Zone3 run. I started out a bit early in order to get a full 60 minutes in. Yes...I willing went out longer than everyone else. Overall it was a pretty good run. The goal is to do a 10 min warmup, 5 min at 6:05/km, 7.5 min at 6:22/km and repeat. I still have to take a 30 second walkbreak between the 5 and 7.5 min but I am not going to beat myself up about it. This is way harder running than I have every done before so...go me.
Last night was another Zone5 track workout. Last night's goal was for 5 repeats at 5:03/km or faster. I managed 5 and my last repeat was actually my fastest. The husband came out to get a bit of running in and I asked him to watch my form to give me some pointers. (no freakin' way am I going to videotape myself running. I don't need to see myself flailing away...)
He noticed that while I am pumping my arms, they aren't going back and forth but more across my body. I need to be more train like. (which just reminds me of the Simpsons and Ralph imitating a train..which I can't find video for but makes at least me laugh.)
So, more work to be done, my legs are tired and a bit sore and spin tonight should be challenging to say the least.
The husband is going out of town Friday night (boo) but I plan to use it to get some serious relaxing in. I have a busy work day and have to get a run in but the night will be dedicated to taking a bath and mindless chillin'. I need it.

17km long run in the sticks apres a wedding celebration

We headed up to Southampton for a family wedding on Saturday afternoon. I packed up some healthy eats so we would be well fed and I would have a base for my long run on Sunday.
On the road eats:
-whole wheat sandwiches with chicken, spinach and mustard
-cut up veggies
-peaches
-craisins and almonds
-whole grain goldfish crackers ... I know..but still fun to eat.
The wedding itself was great - on the beach and the weather was fantastic. Finally felt like a real bit of summer.

The reception was fun but knowing that I really wanted to get my run in, we headed home early and in bed just after 11pm. While the hotel was nice, the bed and pillow was just terrible. I woke up at 6am, happy to not have to be in it anymore. My back was sore for most of the day.
The nice thing with the area is there is a great trail, The Saugeen Rail Trail, that runs from Southampton past Port Elgin. I headed out around 7:30 through town and onto the trail. It was gravel so a bit more difficult than pavement but well maintained. It was a bit isolated - it basically runs behind farmer's fields etc and I was a bit freaked out a few times - guess I am more of a city rat than I thought! I didn't want to make the route too difficult and wanted to ensure the husband knew where I was so I just did 8.5km and and turned around. The husband - being the awesome-ness that he is, actually met me at an intersection in the trail for a water refill. How he timed it to meet up with me I don't know but I was grateful and he is becoming quite the support crew for me.
Overall it was a tough run. I still got some race pace in and really only had a couple of kms that were really slow as I was hurting. I was glad to see that I could not succomb too much to the dancing and festivities of the night before and get through a solo long run.
Now...the following 3 hrs in the car on the way home were another story.

Kind of like Public School gym again..Canada Fitness Test anyone?

Last night was my first track workout at a local high school. It was a nice night yet again and we were prepped to work hard - which we did. These workouts will be my Zone 5 workouts as it is way easier to run faster on the track than trying to dodge pedestrians and time running between stoplights. The only thing to do dodge last night were the errant soccer balls from the guys practicing soccer in the middle of the field (man...they missed a lot!) and the mosquitos. Thankfully our group is seriously prepared as someone has bug spray with them as we were inundated by the end of the work out.
The Deets:
-4X400 warm up
2 min Zone 5 (1+ lap)
5 min recovery

I got in 4 repeats with the first and the last one being almost identical and the fastest. It was tough and my hamstrings and butt are sore today but overall I am pleased that I am at least able to come close to being able to hit my speed goals.
It did feel like being in public school all over again running around that track. I still remember having to go out for the Canada Fitness Test in public school...and just hating almost everything about it as I sucked at most aspects. Wasn't the 'endurance' run 16ookm? I cannot even imagine how long it took me then.
Does anyone else remember those days? I would love to find the exact tests we did and how they doled out the Excellence, Gold, Silver and Bronze badges. I do remember moving into the Silver category the last year we had to do the test. I was sooooo proud....

Zone 3ish run on an amazing night

So last night should have been a Zone 5 run but tonight is a speed track workout so we weren't allowed to kill ourselves before that as we are going to be working hard. - that doesn't sound promising. Tonight is going to hurt but I don't care as I am simply loving running right now.
Seriously, I told everyone last night how much fun last night's run was. It was supposed to be a 45 min steady state but with my new training plan, my steady states can have Zone 3 thrown in if I want.
And I did.
Overall it was a fast-ish 7km run where I even felt like I could keep going if I wanted to. It was a beautiful night though it is amazing how early it now gets dark out. I need to dig my reflective paraphenalia out from my winter workout gear. We are hitting up a track to do speed work tonight so by the time we get there, get our instructions and finish up, it will be a late dark night.
I am really loving this weather of late. It could be like this all year and I would be a happy camper.