WayToTheBay

2:44:05

2:44:05

Let the record show that is my official gun time for the 114th edition of the Around the Bay Race was 2:44:05. My chip time - the actual time it took me to complete the course - isn't available from Sportstats yet but my watch has it at 2:43:11. Gun time and chip time differ because it always takes some time to cross the starting line when 6,000 are running in a pack.

I am very tired.

This is the best I could have done on this day. I gave it absolutely everything and had nothing - nothing - in the tank at the end. The last two km were agony. I didn't sprint to the finish. Two different medical personnel asked me if I was alright as I shuffled toward the food line in a daze afterward. It was the hardest athletic thing I have ever done.

I ran exactly the race I planned on running. I started out fast in the first 10km, slowed down gradually in the second 10km and dragged my ass the last 10km. North Shore Boulevard should be flattened. I don't care what it costs or if the military is involved.

Here, according to my watch, are my 5km split times with totals in parentheses.

5km: 24:41. (24:41)That's very quick for me.
10 km: 25:46 (50:28) At this point, I felt great. There was trouble ahead.
15km: 26:47 (1:17:15) Pace is starting to slacken, but I felt I was in good shape.
20km: 26:49 (1:44:05) I saved my race here. This 5km was only two seconds than the last 5km.
25 km: 28:50 (2:12:56) On the road to hell.
30 km 30:14 (2:43:11) This stretch includes The Valley Inn Road.

Valley Inn Road was as bad as I feared. I set a new heart high - 185 bpm - about two thirds of the way up. I ran the entire way and paid for it dearly in the last 3km.

My average bpm for the race was a whopping 174 bpm which means I ran 30km at an average of 94 per cent of my maximum rate heart. That's either incredibly impressive or incredibly stupid - or perhaps both. But you can see why I feel I had nothing more to give.

I have two sizable blisters on the instep of both feet - that's what you get for going to motion control shoes a week before race. They started to hurt about the 10km mark but never got noticeably worse except on the downhills. My back aches a little, my thighs will be barking hard tomorrow and my right ankle seized up about 25 minutes after the race once I cooled down. I'm having some stomach cramps, as I usually do after big races. But otherwise I feel pretty good. It's unreasonable to assume that you're going to run 30km and not feel some discomfort.

After all my worrying about the weather, it was OK. Bright and sunny with a pretty good breeze but from an odd direction. Most of the time, winds in this province blow west to east but this one blew northwest. It made for a slight headwind going out, but it was at our backs along North Shore Boulevard which was nice. But it was a strong headwind on the way home down York though and that really sucked.

I wasn't really cold though. Spec photographer John Rennison, who has run the Badwater Ultramarathon saw my shorts and said "you're crazy." When I guy who's run 100 miles through Death Valley says you're nuts, that's a bit disconcerting. But I hate being cold on training runs and I hate being hot when I race and I don't regret my fashion decisions at all.

And now we party. Sort of. Having been on the wagon for a month and having been pretty good about food, we're having some wine and a pizza tonight. One glass and I'll likely be unconscious. My daughter hasn't thrown up in a few hours so that's worth celebrating too. My wife, soon to be a nominee for mother-of-the-year, gave up her own 5km race to stay at home with our daughter while I ran. She didn't make me feel bad about it and has been my biggest supporter through all of this. It's more impressive than 30km, that's for damn sure.

And so what's next? The only thing more important than the race you just did is the one you're doing next. But it's a little early to think marathon right now. My body needs to forget about the suffering of today before signing up for another. Waterloo is on April 27, however, and Mississauga on May 10...

But today is about today. I'm  happy because I know I gave it everything I had - whether I made my goal or not didn't matter as much as knowing that the effort was there. That's the measure of these things to me - how far can you push yourself? I found my limit today at about 28km and kept going anyway. Was it fun? Not at the time, but in retrospect, yeah. That doesn't make much sense, does it?

But then again, neither does running 30km.

Bay Day

It's 7 a.m. and my daughter just threw up for the fourth time abut 15 minutes ago. She seems in good spirits though: she's currently singing a tune from the 2-year-olds' catalogue of unintelligible songs.

I figure I got maybe six hours total of interrupted sleep. I feel tired.

But I'm racing today. My wife, however, has decided that leaving our daughter for five hours today is not the best parenting plan. My mother-in-law is scheduled to look after both kids, but when you're sick, you want your mommy and that's all there is to it. Plus, if these things go as they usually do, daughter #2 will be illin' sometime in the next 24 hours. Then my wife and then me. Good times.

Anyway, I feel fine otherwise so might as well give it a go. I've put too much into this not to at least try. My wife, saint that she is, is on board with this plan.

So I'm currently eating my high carb breakfast of cottage cheese, canned fruit and granola and an english muffin with peanut butter and jam. I have the canned fruit/cottage cheese/granola thing every day but the english muffin is an addition. I'll slam back 16 ounces of water shortly so my body can get rid of what it doesn't need by race time.

I'm still excited, though less so. I'll do the best I can and be happy with whatever result comes.

Way to the Barf

It's almost midnight and instead of sleeping and dreaming on Gatorade, I have just finished putting the second load of puke-stained laundry in the wash. My youngest daughter, not yet two, has vomited twice so far this evening. My wife says its going around. It's always going around.

What this means as far as the race is concerned is undetermined. I would guess my wife's 5k is shot to hell, for sure. My race status is listed as questionable. If the sickness spreads to other family members, I will not be leaving the house. If I begin hurling, obviously, that's an issue as well.

While I find this turn of events unfortunate, one has to chuckle a little. All the training, the not drinking, the blogging and it all gets undone just like that. No use in getting upset - it's not like my kid wants to be sick.

I've revised my goal: instead of 2:45 I'm aiming for No Barfing. It too seems unrealistic for the moment.

Around the Bay Eve

"It hurts up to a point and then it doesn't get any worse."   - Ann Trason

Well, not much left now except the running and the suffering.  I've spent the day getting my stuff together for the race, thinking about the race, eating for the race. Tomorrow, I'll race, then spend the rest of the day recovering from the race. It's a weekend endeavour, really.

I've certainly eaten well today. Pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Booster juice shake as a snack. Whole wheat pasta, chicken and organic tomato sauce for lunch. A lovely piece of salmon, mashed sweet potatoes and brussell sprouts for dinner. And enough water to float a ship.

There's no such thing as taking it easy with two kids, so today was pretty much like any other Saturday. My older daughter had a birthday paper to go to and it was a skating party so I went for a little skate. Nothing too strenuous, just enough to get loose. Now I'm chillin on the coach, loading up the MP3 player with my favourite podrunners and a new, mostly-90s playlist with House of Pain, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine... high school, old school.

Now I haven't given too much advice in this blog but I have a few race keys based on my limited race experience.

1. Don't go out too fast. The first few kms are all energy and excitement and going out way above race pace is easy to do. The key for me will be to find my rhythm and pace and stick to it.

2. Feel the energy. While getting caught up in the excitement is a problem, it's still fun to feel the collective energy of thousands of fellow runners. I find it inspiring.

3. Walk and drink. My first few races I tried to keep running while scooping up the cup at the aid station and then drinking it down. I ended up wearing more and drinking less. I found that walking through the aid stations made it much easier...

4. Pose at the finish. My first few races I was kicking at the finish and forget that they are taking your picture as you cross the line. My pictures were hideous. Finally, I remembered to pose, opting for a tongue-out, devil horn rock fingers salute.

That's about it.

I feel ready. I think my 2:45 goal is wildly optimistic mind, but it's something to shoot for. I'm excited and nervous too. I know there will be suffering so it's tough to say I'm looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to being finished. Regardless of my time, I'm eating pizza and drinking wine in celebration - I've been on the wagon for a month.

Well, good luck to all you other Bayers out there. I think I'll end with another quote, from a much better runner than I.

"I always loved running...it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs."   - Jesse Owens

One last training run

One final run today before the big race, my normal lunchtime 6.44 km loop in 34:35, or a 5:20 per km pace. I didn't bring the right heart rate chest strap so I don't have a bpm measurement by I ran moderately hard, though not full race pace. I took it easy on the stairs up to York Road so I didn't pull anything.

It was nice out, about 4 degrees and pretty sunny. I wore what I was planning to race in - tights, shorts, long sleeve shirt, fleece - but I was a little warm. I'm thinking of going to short tights (with shorts over top) and a sleeveless t-shirt with a long sleeve shirt over top. I might be a little cool early, but I think that's better than too hot later. The other option is to buy a cheap Value Village fleece and just ditch it on the course.

The weather forecast is 5 degrees with sun and cloud but some pretty good wind.

I've decided on my goal for Around the Bay: 2:45. There is nothing in my training that indicates that I can make this time - none of my long runs were on pace to reach 2:45 for 30km.  On the plus side, my half marathon last fall - on a dead flat course in perfect weather - puts me in the 2:42 range. I've decided on this time because in every race I set a conservative goal and then exceeded it I wished I was more aggressive.

2:45 also puts me on pace to break a 4hr marathon.

It means I need to run a 5:30 pace per km over 30km. The question is how to do this. There aren't many articles on 30km race strategy but there are a ton for marathons. I found this one particularly helpful. My instinct is to try and go out ahead of my goal pace - say 50 minutes for the first 10km - run the second 10km at the goal pace and then hang on until the end with a little cushion to deal with the hills in the last leg.

Most of my reading, however, says this strategy is a mistake. A better plan would be to either
run slower than goal pace early on and then try to pick it up at the end or just try and run at goal pace the whole way through. That's the negative split thing Joe Friel was talking about it. I'm not sure the Bay course sets up well for that though.

Anyway, that's my goal. If it becomes clear 2:45 isn't going to happen, I'll shoot for sub 3hr. If that gets wrecked than just finishing might look pretty good.

Weather woes

As I feared, the weather forecast has turned. Instead of zero and sunny with no wind, we're now looking at 5 degrees, with a rain/snow mix and winds to 25 km/h. I like the warmer, but not the rest of it. It's thrown of my clothing plans - I don't know how to stay dry without the dork jacket, but I worry it will be too warm.  Of course, the weather will likely change again...

In a bit of good news, my wife has decided to do the 5km race. Jen Moore, another Spectator runner who has completed both a previous Bay race and the Mississauga Marathon, was set to run the 5km but now has a hockey game conflict with her son. Fan duties before race duties, as it should be. Therefore Nicola Edwards will be taking over bib# 8848.

Nicola has never run a 5km. She ran a couple of 3km races last year and while she didn't get bit as hard by the running bug as I did, she jumped at the chance to run this 5km. For Nicola, it won't be about time, it will be about participation and completion. I'm hoping she'll feel the energy from 1,500 other runners and enjoy the experience. Regardless, I'm really excited she'll be there participating just like me.

Today is my third straight rest day. I really resisted the urge to run today, but I want my body to be fully rested for race day. I don't think there's much I can gain by training now... the best thing I can do is prepare mentally and physically for the challenge ahead.

Tomorrow I'll do an easy 5 or 6km at lunch, and I might go out for a really short jaunt Saturday, maybe even just a walk.

Overall, I feel good. I'm a little nervous, a little fearful but I think that's a good thing, better than being overconfident. I'm pretty sure I know what my goal time is going to be... but I'll wait for a few more days of weather forecasts to share it.

In the meantime, here's a cool story about a Grimsby woman running 245 km through the desert... I bet 5 degrees and snow might look pretty good to her...

Feel the music

As race day approaches, I find myself thinking more and more about the race. I check the weather often. I go to various online calculators to play with pacing and result scenarios. I think about music choices, clothes and how badly 30km is going to suck at 28km and how great it will feel at 30km. This will be farthest I've ever run - I'm nervous and excited and I still have six days to think about it. I think this is the mental preparation, getting myself ready to run.

The weather looks a little scary. Calling for a high of zero, which means at 9:30 a.m. it could be much chillier. They are calling for sun, however, and calm winds - which is so very important - so I'm OK if it stays as it is. This is Canada, of course, at it could change substantially by race day.

I was talking to Spec reporter Nicole MacIntyre today - author of the far more popular Hall Marks blog -
about running and music. Nicole is just getting into running and has been using a treadmill at home and giant TV as distraction. I mentioned that carrying a large HDTV while running outside might prove difficult and we talked about good tunes to listen to while running.

I have three basic playlists on my MP3 player. The first is called the Old School Mix because it features, well, some older tunes. It is as follows:

Will You Be My Girl?, Jet       
Cowboy, Kid Rock       
Night of the Living Baseheads. Public Enemy
The Mary Ellen Carter, Stan Rogers   
Watch This, Swollen Members   
Yeah, Usher Feat. Lil' Jon and Ludacris   
Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes   
Black Math, The White Stripes   
Beastie Boys, Intergalactic (Prisoners Of Technology Remix)   
Eminem, The Real Slim Shady   
Mari Mac, Great Big Sea             
Barret's Privateers, Stan Rogers       
Holla Back Girl, Gwen Stefani

It's a pretty eclectic mix of favourite tunes but because I've heard them all a million times, this list doesn't give me a huge boost.

My New School Mix, however, lights a fire.

The Way I Are, Timbaland ft. Keri Hilson   
Crank That (Soulja Boy), Soulja Boy Tell'em   
Stronger, Kanye West   
Walk It Out, Unk   
SexyBack, Justin Timberlake
LoveStoned, Justin Timberlake   
The Sweet Escape, Gwen Stefani Ft. Akon   
Makes Me Wonder, Maroon5   
Give It To Me, Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado & Justin   
Whine Up, Kat Deluna ft. Elephant Man   
Break It Off, Rihanna & Sean Paul
Gimme More, Britney Spears   
Hot As Ice, Britney Spears
Doomsday Clock, Smashing Pumpkins
7 Shades Of Black, Smashing Pumpkins

Those lost two Smashing Pumpkins tunes, from their most recent album that nobody seems to have listened to, are great for those times when you need an all out effort.

But so much of distance running is about finding a consistent pace and sticking with it, I find that I can get too worked up if I listen to regular tunes. But I found this great site called Podrunner that puts out a free workout mix every week. They are an hour long and set to specific bpm - beats per minute having a different meaning in this case - and they are great for just getting in that groove and zoning out. I've been using dj steveboy's mixes for more than a year and I have some personal faves that will be loaded up this Sunday.

Gearhead

The shoe issue has, thankfully, been resolved. I took the New Balance back and picked up a pair of Brooks Beast Size 9 4E. Tried them on the treadmill for an hour yesterday and then for a 8km jaunt today. Other than a little bit of rubbing on the right instep, everything felt peachy. I had my orthotics serviced today and Paul at BioPed said, wisely, that the best pair of shoes for me are the ones I feel most comfortable and confident in. Everything else is secondary. I think I'll stick with the Beasts for the foreseeable future.

I also ran in -2 temperatures today in something other than the dork jacket. It was a long sleeve MEC cycling jersey with a long sleeve Columbia fleece on top. Both have decent zippers in the front if I get too hot, but the weather is looking frightful for next Sunday...

Today's run was the best in a while. 8km in a brisk 40:27 for a 5:04km average. My heart rate monitor wasn't working so I just ran based on comfort level. The sun was shining, the tunes were pumping and I felt comfortable with my gear and attire - I felt great, actually. I just hope I can carry that feeling until race day.

I've thrown together another iMovie special, this one on my gadgets and toys. While I enjoy messing around with this stuff, I'm under no illusions that it makes me better or faster. It does keep me entertained and therefore interested in running... which I guess does make me better and faster in the long run. Still, I don't think anything beyond a good pair of shoes and some comfy clothes is really essential.

Anyway, enjoy the video... just eight days to race day.

Watch the movie

Long running and shoes

A few posts back, I was projecting what my Around the Bay time might be based on a half-marathon and  5km I did last fall - times in the 2 hr 35 min to 2:45 range. After doing two long runs over the past seven days, however, I've decided to revise my expectations. Now I just want to survive.

My first long run was last Wednesday, 15.77 km in 1:25 or a 5:24 per km pace. I pushed pretty hard, averaging 167 bpm - considerably higher than my usual 160 bpm training pace and pretty much my race pace. I felt OK afterward, but it was only half the race distance. The calculator projects my Around the Bay result at 2:49:12

The second session was last night. It was 23.43 km in 2:15:39 or a 5:47 per km pace. But it was a struggle at the end and while I think I had 6km left in my legs, it would not have been an easy 6km - especially with that infernal hill mixed in. The prediction: 2:57:06

My laissez-faire approach to my long training runs in going to jump up and bite me in the calf - or the hamstring or the knee. The issue on the long runs wasn't the cardio part, but the physical wear and tear - after a while it just hurt to put one foot in front of the other. I could also feel the strain mentally: at one point last night I just wanted to stop - not just that run, but my training, the race, this blog and my desire to run a marathon. I felt like quitting. It passed and I was able to finish strong but I think it was a signal as to what awaits me on race day.

To make matters worse, I'm having a shoe crisis. I've been running in New Balance 858 but the tread on the right shoe has worn away to the point where I'm running on a bit of plastic. I've had them since last September, or 6 1/2 months. They are stability shoes and while they've been OK, I've been wondering if there wasn't something better for me out there.

Because of my paralysis, my right foot badly over-pronates, or turns inward. I use orthotics, which have helped tremendously, but what shoes to use has been a struggle. I started with Brooks Beast, a motion control shoe and liked those just fine. But I couldn't find them in my size we I went re-up in preparation for the half-marathon so I went to the NB 858 which are a stability shoe. They've been OK, except for this weird tread wear.

I've been doing some reading on how people with orthotics should wear cushioning shoes because the orthotic provides enough support. One shoe store guru even told me that I could be hurting my orthotic and/or my feet by wearing stability or motion control shoes. They also blamed the wear pattern on the orthotic as well. With that in mind, I bought I pair of New Balance 883, a cushioning shoe with a square toebox in 2E width to accommodate my platypus-like feet.

Contrary to all advice, I wore my new kicks on the big run last night. They were fine for the first while, but then I started to feel a familiar soreness in my right ankle - the same kind of pain I felt before I got my orthotic. I don't think I'm going to get enough support from the cushioning shoes to compensate for my wonky ankle. After doing some more research, I think the NBs have to go back and should return my beloved Beasts. But that only leaves me with maybe three or four short training runs to break them in before race day.

So between not doing enough distance and the shoe fiasco, I've got myself in quite a mental twist about this race.  Luckily, only pride on the line.

Finally, the weather for race day doesn't look spectacular. Here's the long-term forecast. I really don't want to wear the dork jacket on race day, but if it's around the freezing mark, I just might have to... 

Into the Valley of Death

One of the most intimidating parts of the Around the Bay Race is 400m climb from the base of the Woodland Cemetery to York Road along Valley Inn Road. Though I haven't done the entire Bay race, I did the 3 x 10km relay last year and there was much jockeying among my partners - both Bay veterans - on who would do the last leg. Though from what I understand, the entire course has hills of varying sizes, the last leg is the worst, principally due to the Valley Inn climb. I drew the short straw and ran the last leg.

And the hill is tough. It's long and steep. It comes with only a few kilometres remaining in the race and even though I was doing only 10km last year - the last leg is actually 10.5 km - I was gassed after running up the entire 400m after completing 7km. I worry what toll it will take after 27 km or so.

The hill has an intimidation factor to it. I drove my leg of the course before the race last year so I knew what to expect. The whole race I was thinking about that hill, worrying about that hill. And I was right: it sucked.

But it has to be done. So yesterday instead of my usual route, I ran from the Spec out to Valley Inn Road and then down across the bridge at the base of the hill. It was a nice round 5km. Then I turned around and chugged back up the hill.

Yep, just as bad as I remembered.

The pitch is relentlessly steep and you can't see the top until the very end, so you're going on faith that it actually ends. The view is quite nice off the left, but I can't say I really cared. At some point during that hill it becomes about survival.

My run was even 10km and I finished it in 53:41 - not great and not terrible. That's a 5:22 pace and I was at my old reliable 160bpm average which seems to be my most comfortable heart rate - or at least the one I end up at most commonly. My Garmin was acting up a little so I wasn't getting reliable bpm numbers the whole time. And my mp3 player ran out of juice, so it wasn't a great run, technologically speaking.

Based on that 53:41 time, this great site puts my predicted time at 2:50:43 - under my three hour target. It also apparently puts my result in the 51st percentile - perfectly average athlete, that's me. That site has got lots of cool calculators...

A number of runners at the Spec are, like me, fretting about the weather and it's impact on training. I'm certainly not the only one not getting in my alloted number of long runs. I figure I've got one more long one in me before race day and I'll just have to survive the 30km.

And I'm going back to Vally Inn Road a couple more times just to be ready...