April 2015 > 28 - 30 Running Days

April 28, 2015 @ 6:58 PM

Wk15 Fargo Marathon Training - Last of the track work for this training cycle as we get closer to May 9 race day. Broke out my new Altra Torins 1.5Speed Work. Work out was 1600m with 200m recovery; 1200m with 200m recovery; 800m with 200m recovery

4.82 kmDistance
5:43 min/kmAvg Pace
311 CCalories
27:35Time
3 mElev Gain

148 bpmAvg HR
168 bpmMax HR

166 spmAvg Cadence
207 spmMax Cadence

April 29, 2015 @ 8:56 PM

This was just one of those being in the state of flow type runs. Didn't hook up the HRM, I was hanging out with my nephew for a couple of hours then when his mom picked him up I decided to just head out and hit the road for a quick 5 miler. Didn't really think of anything during this run, which I believe is a good thing.

8.27 kmDistance
5:22 min/kmAvg Pace
619 CCalories
44:25Time
4 mElev Gain

183 spmAvg Cadence
190 spmMax Cadence

April 29, 2015 @ 6:04 PM

Tempo running through Assiniboine Forest. As it's pretty much one week away from Fargo marathon, this run was just basically to go out and run. Wasn't tripping on trying to figure out my HRM or meet a certain pace. Ran with Josh for the first bit and we were just talking and running. Realized that my pace is trending faster over the years. This running 80/20 aerobic is doing wonders. Just have to heal up the morton's nueroma and taper for the marathon and all will be well.

9.83 kmDistance
5:24 min/kmAvg Pace
733 CCalories
53:10Time
6 mElev Gain

177 spmAvg Cadence
188 spmMax Cadence

April 2015 > 21 - 26 Running Days

April 21, 2015 @ 6:46 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 50km NW wind gusts. So f'n annoying trying to build up any speed. I was literally leaning steep into the headwind, and tried my best to burn it up at the tailwind. Still cold as my legs were all cramping up. My right hip was sore and my calves were tight. And I was running out of time as I had to get back home to do some driving...first world problems.

Have to remember the reason I'm training is because it's actually fun. The end goal is I get to hang out with the CPR gang in Fargo and have a good time.

10.76 kmDistance
5:36 min/kmAvg Pace
673 CCalories
1:00:17Time
2 mElev Gain

142 bpmAvg HR
153 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
194 spmMax Cadence

April 22, 2015 @ 9:58 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 8 Miler. Long day at work and a lot of driving the family here and there, and then there was the Jets game. I headed out at the 2nd period when it was still 1-1 vs the Ducks.

Unsurprisingly cold night at -2C and I was only wearing my Hind baselayer and running vest and tights. Good thing I also wore toque and gloves. Glad there was no wind out as I was able to comfortably crank out a decent pace at my z2 HR and keep up a great cadence. Side of my right leg still feels tight, but the other aches and pains have subsided. Last week of heavy training then I go into taper and let my legs and body heal and also get in a lot of much needed sleep and nutrition.

13.00 kmDistance
5:38 min/kmAvg Pace
815 CCalories
1:13:14Time
5 mElev Gain

144 bpmAvg HR
189 bpmMax HR

186 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

April 25, 2015 @ 8:03 AM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 10 Miler. This was probably one of my favorite runs to date. I had a little achilles ache on my lower right (as per usual) but this time it did not bother me through the whole run.

A couple of issues was sleep as I stayed up too late the night before this and only got in 4.5 hrs of sleep which is NOT good and I haven't been eating too well the past 2 days as I've been on course for my work and I find those stressful as opposed to actually doing my job. Ran with Barry, Dan, Ron and Doug and the pace was absolutely perfect. 

Started so nice and easy but judging from my HR it looks like I was close to a heart attack, but my effort felt very easy (this is probably akin to very little sleep and stress with the high HR). This time I trusted my effort more than my HR monitor and just ran, especially on the way back with Barry as we started blasting out the splits going negative the last 3 miles and I didn't feel strained until the last mile where I blasted a 7:36/mi or 4:44/km.

16.49 kmDistance
5:34 min/kmAvg Pace
1,180 CCalories
1:31:57Time
19 mElev Gain

187 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
212 spmMax Cadence

April 26, 2015 @ 4:07 PM

Wk14 - 11 mile easy Recovery run.

This is my last real long mileage run before Fargo marathon. I'll just do 6-8-10 miles then completely taper the week of the marathon. 

The focus of this run was just to be out and about, no pressure and just enjoy the nice weather. I picked up an Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek vest from CityPark Runners yesterday and I wanted to try it out. Instead of using the water bottles I put in a water bladder from a HydraPak kit I got over the winter. Vest was comfortable and I packed some gels, eload discs my phone, debit card and some cash and an extra long sleeve shirt incase it got cool at the end of my run. Ran my normal route to Kildona Park, ran once around the park then along the river bank and went home. I turned off the GPS at the 11 mile mark and just walked the rest of the way nice and easy. Picked up a choc milk at the gas station for a recovery drink on the way home and just relaxed.

17.60 kmDistance
6:52 min/kmAvg Pace
1,139 CCalories
2:00:59Time
17 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

175 spmAvg Cadence
224 spmMax Cadence

April 2015 > 14 - 18 Running Days

April 14, 2015 @ 6:58 PM

Wk 13 Fargo Marathon Hill training.

The only real hill in Winnipeg...ugh. But the training is real and the effort is grand. Looks like my HR was exploding out of my chest, but it was my effort that I kept steady and cadence still pretty high. I'm pretty sure I'm pretty much deep into over-trainingville. Hope I'm not dead for the next day.

7.67 kmDistance
5:15 min/kmAvg Pace
539 CCalories
40:16Time
53 mElev Gain

190 bpmAvg HR
211 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
209 spmMax Cadence

April 15, 2015 @ 7:16 PM

HR shooting through the roof. Don't know what the hell is wrong. My effort didn't feel hard during any point in the run. I couldn't get it down to 160bpm so I quit the run and will restart a little later.

8.26 kmDistance
6:26 min/kmAvg Pace
601 CCalories
53:07Time
6 mElev Gain

178 bpmAvg HR
216 bpmMax HR

173 spmAvg Cadence
194 spmMax Cadence

@ 9:20 PM

Ok, something is wrong. This is the second run of the exact route I ran earlier this evening. The first run I thought was an anomaly as my HR was just shooting through the roof. This second run has confirmed my suspicion that I'm into Over Training mode. It's probably a culmination of last nights hill workout, and I'm still sick (have had this headcold and cough for the past 3 weeks) and the wind has been very gusty at 40km/h. I'm going to have to take the next couple of days off again to reset as this has been very frustating final month in trying to complete this training cycle in good health. 

8.94 kmDistance
6:35 min/kmAvg Pace
542 CCalories
58:51Time
4 mElev Gain

158 bpmAvg HR
207 bpmMax HR

167 spmAvg Cadence
210 spmMax Cadence

Final thoughts: Split 2x5 mile runs last night as I was wondering WTH is going on as my first run I noticed my HR just shooting through the roof. Cut the run short had a recovery drink rested and then reset an hour and half later. Only to find out that yeah...I must be edging deep into Over Training land. I couldn't get my HR under my z2 threshold even when I was walking. I'm thinking since I've already put in over 500 miles since Jan, my body is adjusting to this volume of mileage. I'm going to adjust my training now since I'm so close to race day. I'll concentrate on quality workouts and mileage and get in a lot of recovery instead of pounding out the mileage for mileage sakes.

April 18, 2015 @ 9:11 AM

Wk 13 Fargo marathon training 20 miler. I wish I could say this gets easier, but I still don't feel a 100%  when I go into these LSD's or even 80%. More like 65% as I just can't get rid of this head cold. 

Needless to say, this 20 miler was a little faster that my previous attempts. I tested out Hammer Heed as my electrolyte drink and I found that helped me get through a lot of the rough patches in the run. Used up 5 gels and ate 1/2 a strawberry powerbar at the 13 mile mark. Feet felt ok through most of the run. The hard parts were running into the SE head wind. Got in a little hill training in the middle of the run too, so that was pretty good. All in all relentless forward progress.

32.50 kmDistance
6:32 min/kmAvg Pace
1,884 CCalories
3:32:27Time
35 mElev Gain

135 bpmAvg HR
187 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
213 spmMax Cadence

@ 10:30 PM Learned something today. After  this morning's 20miler I wasn't feeling sore, more had a headache than anything. It was only after I started eating and getting my calories back did I start feeling better. The other thing was in the morning I didn't have a cup of coffee and didn't really have any caffeine until late in the day. I'm thinking I was having a caffeine withdrawl after the run. I have to keep practicing my pre and post-race eating habits in order to get all this training dialed in.

April 2015 > 8 - 12 Running Days

April 8, 2015 @ 6:05 PM

Wk12 Fargo marathon training. Still feeling sick from the weekend. Glad I took a day off, started this run thinking of going 6km, still had the twinge in my achilles and my left knee felt achy but I figured I'd go for 10km. Shortly after 10km my left knee felt better and I was pretty far into the run and figured I'd finish off into a 10miler. Legs were still feeling very heavy and a little achy, but I think it's from this cold. I'm not hurting like I was this past Sunday. See how I feel if I'm motivated tomorrow to run the CPR tempo. If not, I'll take another day off and reset for Sat and Sun.

HR is nice and stable along with great cadence!

16.16 kmDistance
5:59 min/kmAvg Pace
1,107 CCalories
1:36:45Time
9 mElev Gain

140 bpmAvg HR
148 bpmMax HR

185 spmAvg Cadence
207 spmMax Cadence

April 11, 2015 @ 8:04 AM

Wk12 Fargo marathon training CPR LSD. 

Spring has sprung and we had a big group head out this morning. Been out of commission past couple of days and I'm getting back on track. 10 miler today and something long and far for tomorrow. 

Run felt good with good pacing and keeping my HR below 150 bpm and keeping that cadence high which I'm finding a lot easier now and really makes for an efficient stride.

16.47 kmDistance
5:34 min/kmAvg Pace
1,084 CCalories
1:31:46Time
22 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
192 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
208 spmMax Cadence

April 12, 2015 @ 8:27 AM

Wk12 Fargo Marathon LSD 18 miler. Woke up early and prepared really well going into this run. Proper breakfast, a little stretch and prepared my gels and water bottle. 

I set the GPS to run between 5:45 - 6:00 for 30 mins then walk for 2 mins. Do that 3x then run for 30 mins between 5:20 - 5:45 then walk for 2 mins 3x. Got in 5 and half intervals and I was able to run at the 6:00/km throughout the first 3 intervals but only barely hung on for 1 interval at 5:45/km. 

You really do start wearing down and just keeping the pace even after that becomes very hard. Although at the 25km mark, I was able to shut down my brain from the fatigue and some of the nagging aches and pains and just run a nice even pace from Main street down to McPhillips. 

30.26 kmDistance
6:09 min/kmAvg Pace
1,781 CCalories
3:06:06Time
70 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
190 bpmMax HR

181 spmAvg Cadence
203 spmMax Cadence

April 2015 > 1 -5 Running Days

April 1, 2015 @ 9:25 PM

Wk11 10 mile easy paced run Fargo marathon training. Rough day today and even tougher evening personal wise.

After I got all my shit together, decided to lace them up and go out for a run. Despite the +9C it was still very cool to me, granted I was wearing my merino wool top, vest, gloves and shorts. It's always my damn hands that start to fall apart and make things uncomfortable. Good thing I was wearing gloves or it would have been a horrible time and would have cut the run short. But I figured I'd go the 10 mile route with my head lamp and just run, easy paced for most of the way, finish strong then cool down mile home. Finally getting that cadence going.

16.06 kmDistance
5:45 min/kmAvg Pace
1,037 CCalories
1:32:26Time
8 mElev Gain

140 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

183 spmAvg Cadence
198 spmMax Cadence

April 2, 2015 @ 6:01 PM

Wk11 feeling sick with cold.

Wk11 Fargo marathon training tempo run. My tempo felt more Adagio than Vivace. Meaning I was slow for my training paces mainly because I'm coming down with a cold and my body is aching all over. I thought going out for a run with CPR would've done the trick but it actually made it worse as I was struggling at the 5km turn in the woods so I decided to cut my run short a mile and start heading her back. Rest day tomorrow and then a 10km tune up race on Saturday. See how everything goes.

HR was too high for a tempo run.

8.76 kmDistance
5:52 min/kmAvg Pace
617 CCalories
51:20Time
7 mElev Gain

151 bpmAvg HR
193 bpmMax HR

183 spmAvg Cadence
204 spmMax Cadence

April 4, 2015 @ 9:00 AM - MEC 10 KM RACE

Treated this as a tune up race for Fargo marathon. I didn't blast out of the gate and just focused on getting myself into a rhythm. I programmed my Garmin to do the first km in between 5:00 - 5:10 then the next 4km 5:00 - 5:02/km and the last 5km 4:50 - 5:00/km.

What actually happened was a consistent 4:50 pace throughout the run. My Garmin was constantly buzzing me to remind me of this in the first 5km. I took the chance and kept at the pace and just trusted myself and all of the training I did over the past 3 months. 

The good thing about the course is the familiarity of the terrain so I was able to take advantage of when to up my tempo on the flats and when to take down the tempo and keep up the effort on the uphills. I was with a group of 4 runners and I was slowly breaking away from them bit by bit. At the last 3km it was just me and another runner and at the 7km mark I decided to make my move. Once we got to the turn into the duck pond, I used the downhill to launch myself ahead of him. I could tell he was trying to keep up with me (mostly from his breathing) I just told myself to relax and slowly start cranking my cadence. When I passed the bridge I turned the tempo even higher to build up a lead. 

When you make the turn to run in front of the Pavillion I took the foot off the pedal as you're going a slow uphill. Once I got past the Pavillion I picked up my pacing and told myself to hold and relax. At the 8km mark I'm now running in front of the Conservatory. I've already built up a significant lead, but I didn't want to get comfortable so I used this stretch to concentrate on my breathing and doing internal systems checks like my leg turnover, balanced forward posture and compact arm swing. When I saw the 1km marker at the formal gardens I went into CPR speed clinic mode. 

I thought about repeats we did over the winter and told myself that now was the time to go. I've done and practiced this many times over the past 2 years and just told myself to crank the tempo it's only 400 more metres. When I saw the finish chute I pushed hard to finish well. I couldn't have executed this any better. This is a great stepping stone and big improvement for everything that I've been working on the past 2 years.

10.01 kmDistance
4:52 min/kmAvg Pace
762 CCalories
48:48Time
11 mElev Gain

48:48Time
48:48Moving Time

188 spmAvg Cadence
210 spmMax Cadence

April 5, 2015 @ 3:49 PM

BS run. This was going to be an LSD, but that quickly changed to a recovery run then changed again to just quitsville. Think I'm just stressed because I have so little time to get in a long training run today, I had to rush out and start instead of my usual prep and then my left knee started to hurt and I knew something was very off when I noticed only my right glute was firing and I was compensating a lot for my left side. 

I think I could have pushed through but decided it wasn't worth  making things worse when I'm so close to the marathon. I'll roll out and recovery stretch and then I have a day off tomorrow. See how I feel for Tuesday. The other thing is...again, it's just so annoyingly cold. I could just NOT warm up. Doesn't help I'm still getting over this cold.

6.13 kmDistance
6:03 min/kmAvg Pace
397 CCalories
37:03Time
90 mElev Gain

129 bpmAvg HR
139 bpmMax HR

183 spmAvg Cadence
202 spmMax Cadence