Better late than never

I've tried to sit down and write this blog a few times since the race ended, but it's all felt a bit silly.

Pre-race gear shot.

We took the Go into town, got my race kit, headed over to the hotel, and did general mundane things on Saturday. We had a lovely dinner with Robert and Tricia McRae, who we ran into in the hotel lobby (both had a great race in the 5km on Sunday). We went to bed a bit early, which was still a bit late for Emily, my 3 year old. Our sleep was pretty bad, as Emily woke up about 4 or 5 times, and I had trouble going back to sleep after a couple of those.
Breakfast at the hotel was good. We were back in the room around 7:30, and I nervously paced the room for the next 45 minutes. We headed downstairs about a half hour before gun time, and hung out in the lobby for the next 10-15 minutes. We made our was to the start line, and found my corral. I said goodbye to Emily and Shannon, and got into the corral.

Emily giving "Heidi's dad" a hug.

I thought about really pushing my way up to the front, but I didn't want to get too pushy, so I settled in and waited for the gun. The gun went and we were off. First observation from the race; the crowds were awesome. It was very hard to stay relaxed when you have hordes of people cheering. Tip for future races: if you want people to cheer your name, smile. I couldn't help but smile with the energy coming from the crowd. I was a bit quick over the first 8km, when I pulled over for a quick pit stop. I was back on goal pace when I got moving again, and settled into that right through half way.

Photo courtesy of Scott Cameron, around 13km. Running with fellow Guelphite Boguslaw Wojewodka.

I went through half in 1:22:31, which was exactly what I was shooting for. for those of you who haven't run STWM before, a couple of things happen around half way. First off, the half marathon runners turn off to their finish around 19.5km. Suddenly, the bodies around you are thinned out completely. Next, around 22km, the course hits a dead spot. The spectator numbers drop significantly, and it gets to be a little tougher. Still, I was running on pace and the legs felt alright. Around 23km, things started to get a little interesting.

First off, I have a confession. I use expired gels. I've done this for years. Gels have a "best before" date rather than an expiry date, and I've never had an issue with gels well past the BB date, nor have I spoken to anyone who had an issue. I figured it's better than throwing them away. So, at the 18.5km mark, I took a gel that really didn't taste right. I took some water, and tried to forget about it, but around 23km, my stomach started to feel off. I was expecting to see an aid station at 24.5km, but it wasn't there (it wasn't on the course map when I looked later, even though it was listed on the "aid station" page). I really wanted a bit of water there, hoping it would help my stomach feel better. By the time I got to 27km, I was stopping and dry heaving. At 31km, I finally was sick just off of the course. Fortunately, it was just the gel that came up, and not all my stomach contents. Just after this point, my legs started to cramp up. I went through the last 11km running about 500-800m, then having to stop and walk or stretch. I even had to stop about 300m out from the finish line, where you think you can gut it out to look good running through the line. I changed my GPS to just the watch, so I wouldn't worry about how fast I was moving. Around 36km, I was wondering if I should ask a spectator to text my wife to let her know that I was okay!

Overall, I'm disappointed with how the race played out, but I'm really happy I finished. 11km is a long way to go when you've realized how the rest of your race is going to play out. I contemplated dropping out, but  I knew Shannon and Emily would be at the finish waiting for me. We talked all weekend about Emily coming up to watch me run the race, and I wanted to make sure she was able to watch me cross the line. It was important to me for her to see me finish, and it's really what got me to stick it out through the finish.

Emily enjoying the medal on the ride home.

So, I finished the race in 3:09:38. A 1:22:31/1:47:07 race wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but I stuck it out, and it is what it is. This was a good experience overall. Like I said earlier, the spectators were awesome. There was a lot of Guelph love on the course, and I saw a few people out there who I haven't seen in years, or just didn't expect to see. Thank you to everyone that cheered for me, and said hi out on the course.

The real goal with running this marathon was to get back into a running routine. I've been very inconsistent with my running over the last number of years. I know running makes me better overall. I'm happier, have more energy, eat better, and am more efficient at work and home. I needed to get back into running consistently, and this race gave me the accountability I needed.
Also, running a marathon was a new goal and challenge. I've struggled with motivation in my running. I know I'm never going to run another 5km PB. I'm not going to run another 10km PB. But the marathon is a clean slate. I can adjust my goals and expectations, and really test myself to see how I can do while balancing the rest of my life.

A big thank you goes out to my wife and daughter. They put up with all of the training mood swings, holiday's spent on a long run, self centred talk of my running, and were extremely supportive through all of it (it's amazing what my 3 year old knows about glycogen stores and electrolytes). Thanks, too, to my staff. They got to hear about the details of my training, and offered some great advice. And thanks to you for following the blog. It's been a rewarding experience, and I'm excited for the next challenge.

Cruel Go joke.

I'm keen to get back on the horse. I've already sketched out a couple of spring training plans, looking to run another marathon in the spring. I've got a loose schedule to take me through to January/February, and I'll start to look at ramping up the training. I'm excited to see what I can do for the marathon. With a solid year of training under my belt, I think I can set my sights a little higher. I've learned a few good things from this training block (no more back to back to back week with 35k+ long runs, or expired gels on race day). I've been reminded about how much I enjoy running, and am happy to be back into it. I will probably be back to STWM next year. It was a great event, and I really want to have the race I know I can.

Rough road ahead

A neglected blog is never a good sign.

This blog has been neglected.

My last few weeks of training has not gone as planned. From the Reach the Beach relay until now, I've had 2 extremely disappointing training weeks, 1 okay week, and 1 1/2 taper weeks. A quick recap:

After the RTB relay I got really sick, leading to a full week off.
The following week was an okay week of training, but I backed off of the volume because I had taken a full week off. I ended up with a 25km long run, and about 70km of volume. Not bad, but I would have liked another 10km or so.
The next week was extremely busy at work. We launched some new software, which led to me putting in 2 14 hour days to kick off the week, and only 2 shorter runs during the week.
Last week was okay again, but it's taper time, so the volume was lower. A 20km long run was the biggest part of a 55km week.
This week has been easy so far. I've run about 30km, and I should run about 8-10km tomorrow. Saturday may bring an easy 3-5km, but just enough to shake the legs out.

So, I'm going into the race less confident than I was 5 weeks ago. I came out of RTB extremely confident that I was going to be ready for a very good run. Now, I'm not there. I know I've done enough work overall to be in fine shape to reach the finish line upright. Ideally, I would have had another run over 30km, another 2 or 3 over 25km, and probably an extra 175km or so since then. So, I'm not exactly where I thought I could be. That being said, I did get some very good training in. I have 4 runs of 35k or longer in. I have several weeks of 80km or more. If there was a stretch to have training be weak, I would prefer it to be now, when most of the work was done.

I haven't published any time goals yet. Heading into this, I had a general idea of what kind of shape I thought I could get into, knowing there were a bunch of factors that would impact that.
After RTB, I was fitter than I thought I could get to. I figured I should be aiming to run somewhere between 2:35 and 2:40. 2:35 would have been ambitious, but I felt really strong, and thought a few more weeks of quality training would have brought me in at least under 2:40.
Now, I've backed off  that and gone back to my original general idea. I think I'm still okay for 2:40-2:45. I would like to be closer to 2:40, but, after talking to Mark Linseman, seeing the WR splits from Berlin, and seeing a friend of mine run 2:42:52 with a 6-minute negative split in Chicago last weekend, I'm going to go out on the slower end of that goal range, and see if I can finish strong. Right now, I'm planning on going out on 2:45 pace for the first 25km, then trying to cut down pace to the finish. A negative split would be huge. Of course, there is the chance that I will completely blow up and run a big positive split (see Run for the Toad 25k, 2010).

I'm going to try to write another post on Saturday, maybe while I can't sleep in the hotel the night before the race.
If you're interested, Sportstats will let you follow my race on Twitter or Facebook. Our Twitter handle is www.twitter.com/therunningworks, while you can hunt me down on Facebook. You can also watch the race  live at www.stwm.com and see if local boy Eric Gillis, or former local boy Robin Watson can take a shot at Drayton's 38 year old Canadian Record.