Post race wrap-up and what to do next

Oops, sorry for the long break! I've been distracted with the rapture and the ending of the world and haven't gotten around to posting my post race wrap-up yet. It's very time consuming to prepare for the apocalypse ;)

Race review

The race organizers were a bit more generous this year with the race kit. Last year, my race kit consisted of a t-shirt, a sample pack of 2 Advil, 1 chapstick and a couple of one-use heating pads. This year, behold the bounty:

The package of chocolate Werther's originals did not survive the week.

I was a little leery of the weather - as this was my view for most of the day before. Ah, it was so delightfully dreary!
On race day itself, the weather was a little chilly and it rained off and on for the entire race. This was just fine for me, since I have a tendency to overheat when I'm running and I actually enjoy running in the rain. I brought along a hoodie for the walk over to the starting line, but ended up tying it around my waist while I was waiting in the crowd for the race to start because I was already starting to get a bit warm. I'm proud to say that I did NOT cry at the end. I did get a little misty eyed at the starting line though. Especially after the the national anthem was sung and the crowd started to cheer for us when we all started the race. Argh, I do not know what's happening to my icy cold heart of steel!!

The course was beautiful - we ran down around the Credit Valley area, UTM campus, Mississauga Road - the posh neighbourhood with the million dollar homes and down along the lakeshore. Despite the rain and gloom, the trees were so green and pretty and the waves crashing hard along the lakeshore were quite cool.

For the first bit of the race, I was following the 4:15 marathon pace bunny. I ended up losing them somewhere around the 8 km marker. I think they stopped for water at one of the aid stations and I lost them in the crowd. Then I started to follow this one lady who was dressed in a black and white polka dot tank top and a white running skirt. Wearing white during a rainstorm - how scandalous!! The black and white polka dot tank top looked like Lulu's Power Y tank top, but I've never seen a polka dotted tank at Lulu (and let me tell you, I've been online stalking them for years). Ever the creepy stalker, I kept on (unsuccessfully) trying to catch up with her to confirm its authenticity. (Ah, the strange little games one likes to play to keep the mind occupied for 21 kms.) But I ended up losing her when she turned off to continue on the marathon course. Around this time, I started to run with the two sets of 2:15 half-marathon pace bunnies (dammit!). I passed one of the 2:15 pace bunnies, then the other one passed me, then the one from behind passed me, then I passed the other one...it was all very confusing. I ended up finishing around 2:15 without any pace bunnies...I don't know where they disappeared to, as I started to space out a bit around 20 km. My time was still off from my personal best, I think I could (and should) have done better, since I was killing all of my old times at the 5 km and 10 km markers - however, I did SO much better than my personal worst at the Chilly half, so I'll take it as a victory!!

Where do we go from here?

After my race was finished and my celebratory sushi lunch was digested, I started to suffer from a bit of post-race depression. For the last 6 months, I've had half-marathons on my mind and I've had plans/schedules which were centred around my goal races. I had rolled my ankle back in March just before the Chilly half and since then I've been getting random flare-ups of pain - so I didn't want to train for another half-marathon this year and thought that I should probably back off a bit from the distances. For the first time in months, I found myself without a challenge to work towards. So, I sulked around for a week and quietly pondered what I should do next. I didn't have to wonder for too long - since I can always count on the Running Room to welcome me back into their world of dry-fit technical running clothes and 8AM weekend training practices. Starting on Monday, I'm excited to announce that I'll be coaching the Learn to Run clinic! I'm a little nervous, but mostly looking forward to this new experience. I've had a lot of support over the years from my previous coaches and fellow runners - I'm excited to be able to pass along the things that I've learned to my new group of runners and introduce them to the exciting world of running :)

Happy Half-Marathon Eve!

Tomorrow is the big day!

I just have a few things to left to figure out. Namely, what to wear and what to put on my playlist. Well, I pretty much know what I'm wearing - I just can't decide if I want to wear my favourite green lululemon racerback tank top. I do love this tank more than anything, which is why I'm not sure I want to wear it. Do I really want to poke a bunch of little holes (courtesy of my race bib) in my fave tank top? Oooh, speaking of tops - check this one out! Haha, it's funny because it's true (*sniffle*) ... One More Mile had a booth at the race expo, I wish I had taken more time to browse around!



I need to clean up my ipod playlist - right now, it's 3.5 hours long and I'm REALLY hoping that it's not going to take me that long to finish. I'm feeling too passive to cut down my playlist right now - I should have done it yesterday when I was still feeling residual stress from a very crappy week at work.

Otherwise, there's not much left for me to do, except "rest" which is starting to get kinda boring. This morning I went to pick up my race kit and some bananas from the store for smoothies. Then I went out for a short 3km run to loosen up the legs/calm the nerves. I've spent the last few hours watching people run on CBC, playing Zoo Tycoon, pestering the kitties, drinking green smoothies and checking FB/blogspot every 2 minutes.

That's it for me! At this time tomorrow, I'll hopefully be showered and chowing down on some celebratory post-race sushi :) I hope it doesn't thunderstorm tomorrow morning. I also hope I don't start crying at the finish line. I'm FINE during all of the training runs but for some reason half-marathon races always make me want to cry at the end. Argh, I'm such a sap!!!

Different ways to run

Lately, I've been getting a little bored with my training schedule. It seems like every week is pretty much the same as the week before, except sometimes I'll add an extra hill repeat or an extra km of speed work. To help spice up my intervals, last Wednesday I had a little help from John. What did we do? Well, we went out and found a nice quiet pathway with a slight incline. John was on his rollerblades and I had brought along an old (large) shawl that I had picked up from my trip to Peru. We used it as a tether, so that the shawl was around my hips and John was holding onto the ends, and then I pulled him around on his roller blades. This is the John's eye view of the ordeal.

OMG, it was SO hard - we were going an incline and I could feel every single muscle burning. After awhile, I got a little tired of dragging him up hills, so we decided to try out running on a flat surface, which was easier, but still tiring. After one of the pulls, I was standing off to the side of the path trying to catch my breath, I heard a pack of runners coming and a "hi Michelle!" - I had forgotten that Wednesday nights are also run club nights. How embarrassing - I'm pretty sure we looked a little ridiculous!

On Sunday, I went back to my parent's place for Mother's Day. They've been watching a highly spirited cocker spaniel named Caesar for the last few months. I've been really wanting to take him out for a run since he seems to have an endless amounts of energy and finally did so on Sunday. We started off at a good pace, but then there was a lot of this on the way to the park:

and then there was more of this when we were at the park:



Then he lay down for awhile. Since I didn't have the heart to drag him around, we went back home and then there was a lot of this:



Poor little guy, I think I tired him out, he was actually quiet for the rest of the night!

21.34 km + I am soooooo S-M-R-T

First of all, a thought or two related to the election. I'd just like to say that based on my observations during my long distance weekend runs, I predicted that the Liberals were in trouble a month ago in this very blog. I am soooo S-M-R-T! Lets just see if I can predict what's going to happen in the provincial election in the fall [that is, if I'm still doing long distance runs]...stay tuned...

This past weekend was my last long run before my half-marathon. Since being prepared is not just for boy scouts anymore, I decided to try out the half-marathon route with the stuff I was hoping to use on race day. The good news is that my cute black capri tights worked out well - I should not have worried as the spandex was strong enough to keep the butt bounce under control, yet stretchy enough to let the girls (my freakishly muscular calves) have free reign to bulge all over the place. The bad news is that my favourite running hat is on the verge of dying - the velcro is pretty much worn out and the sweat stains are getting really gross. *sniffle* I've had that hat for almost 4 years!

The sun was super hot on Saturday and I ended up getting a nasty sunburn on my back, shoulders and arms -- in the shape of my racerback tank top (ugh!). The route is very scenic and I was finished my run before I knew it. John was nice enough to meet me at the end, so that I wasn't stranded many km's away from home. I couldn't sit down for awhile after my run because my legs would cramp up, so we strolled along the lakeshore for a bit and then went to a pub for lunch. I was going to get wild and have 1 beer to celebrate, but ended up just having water because I was feeling a bit sick. I caught way too much sun on Saturday and felt kinda heat-stroked for the rest of the day.

I have one more week of training and then its my favourite part of training - taper week!

Schedule:
Tuesday - Cross-training: kettle-bell workout and cardio circuit training
Wednesday - Speeds: 5 k
Thursday - Cross-training: cardio/weight interval training + yoga classes
Friday - Rest
Weekend - 6-7 k