ottawa

*deep breath* I have some news

/ hoodieruns / 1 Comment

This is a big deal. *deep breath* I have some news.

No, I’m not pregnant.

I’m going to run the Ottawa Marathon on Sunday 27 May, 2012 and I’m shooting for a Boston Qualifying time. 

Oh my god, I’ve said it. This is a big deal. KB and I are both committing to this goal. She and I are in the same age category and we both need to run absolutely no more than 3:35. That’s an hour and 10 minutes off my marathon time. (cue butterflies in my stomach and general feeling of nausea.)

The last few weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster for me and as a result, I’ve been running like a madwoman. About four or five days a week, you can find me pounding the pavement, trying desperately to hang on to my sanity.

Two weekends ago I ran 7K with SK and it slipped by so quickly. Last weekend I ran 8K back home in Goderich and wanted to go much further. I was afraid of being accused of trying to run from my demons (aka Mom would get worried about me and drive out to pick me up) so I cut it back. During the week I’m getting in at least two 5K runs, a bike ride on the trainer in the basement, and a 6.6K run. And I’m feeling amazing. So logically, my head turns to “I wonder what we are capable of?” Not to mention a friend, MC, ran his first marathon at Niagara Falls on the 23rd and said, “I’m super proud, but I want to do another one and do it faster.” Which is pretty much exactly what I said after mine. Yet another spark in the fire… Finally, I saw KB on Friday night. She and I chatted about a spring marathon and our parallel goals of ‘better’ and ‘faster’. So that, dear reader, is how I got to “I’m going to do another marathon and I’m going to qualify for Boston while doing it.”

“That’s great Hoodie,” you say, “spout off lots of big talk. Where’s the plan Hoodie? Where’s the PLAN?!?” Well, rest assured good friend. There is a plan and it started yesterday.

The Plan.
Starting yesterday I’m doing the Hal Higdon 12 Week Intermediate Speed Work prep. See below for the bang it started off with…

After the 12 Weeks of Hal, I’m moving on to 18 (more) Weeks of Hal. Again, an intermediate training program.

Status Update:
 Day one: failed to run 5K. I ate Halloween candy, sat on the couch, and gushed over this cuteness:

Day two: because of time constraints, swapped the scheduled workout with the Wednesday workout. Completed 4.3K and 3 x hill sprint repeats.
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To refresh your memory, or to learn about how the marathon went for me the first time, read marathon before 25 – complete.

Check out the pictures at marathon pics almost a month late.

There you go. That’s my big news. Hells yes bitches.

www.runottawa.com

ottawa 1/2 marathon report and june’s challenge

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

sunday, ME, his little sister HE, and I ran the Ottawa 1/2 Marathon. HE was running with a friend and had a comfortable and happy race. she said she felt strong and enjoyed her race. ME kicked ass – he ran sub two hours! 1:59 and change! now that he’s achieved that I think he’s more motivated to train properly for a 1/2 to see what exactly he’s capable of. I was very jealous of him but that’s b/c I mentally had a terrible race.

my race went like this:
kms 1-12 > felt awesome, was clipping along at around 1:57/1:58 half marathon pace
kms 12-15 > bad cramping, tried to run through but ended up wasting time trying to push through. mentally checked out. started beating myself up a bit. convinced myself I’d lost any chance at the sub 2hrs goal.
kms 15/16 > saw the sign and checked my watch, continued beating myself up.
kms 16-17 > started to realized I messed up and could have pulled my shit together
kms 17-21.1 > had a 3 mins deficit to make up and had I realized it before the 17km mark I probably could have done it.

finish: 2:02:40

that was a 8min course PB and my fastest time this year in a half. when I finished I was a mess, so upset, frustrated and in tears. it wasn’t until later on, on the drive home that I started to reassess my race and realized I do have things to be proud of for this race. a course PB and my fastest time this year and an age group PB. so not as bad as I first thought :o)

june’s challenge

so, I’ve got a new, refreshed motivation to kill a half marathon this fall. and I mean it! that means I need to get on the work outs now, especially to build a strong fitness base for the summer’s set of multisport races, a fall half marathon and full marathon ! as a result of all these big plans, I’ve set myself a june goal:

complete all scheduled workouts Koach Koala has assigned.
-this translates into at least one activity a day for the month of June! giddy-up!!

today’s schedule: 1/2hr yoga, Koalas run practise.

easy peasy lemon-squeezy!

hard decision

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

I came to a hard decision yesterday but one that ultimately, will be a good decision…
as you can likely tell from the blog, marathon training has been almost non-existent. ME is running Boston in 5.5wks and I was planning to run the Ottawa Marathon at the end of May. my longest run to date was the Chilly Half Marathon (race report coming) a week ago Sunday. we are both signed up for Around The Bay in 2wks. that will be the longest run I’ve done this year. given that I want to run a couple marathons this year and run them well, Ottawa wasn’t feeling good. I’ll be signing up for the half in Ottawa and I won’t be worrying about staying off my feet at the Gleeb Garage Sale or the long drive or sleeping arrangements. it’s for the best.

lessons learned from this:
1. don’t be such a hero and sign up for a freakin’ clinic
2. consistency is key
3. I’m inconsistent
4. I’m better at life when I’m running regularly.

upcoming races:
Around The Bay – 28 Mar
Ottawa Half Marathon – 30 May
10K Classic – 20 Jun

in positive ‘getting consistent’ running news: HE and I ran this morning. (woo hoo March Break!)
distance 6.18km time 33:30 pace 5:50min/km calories 330 felt good after loosening up at hot yoga last night. left ankle was sore, like a bruise. felt good to get up and get going nice and early!