Smarter Than The Average Bear

This past week marked the second of the eighteen weeks of my current marathon training cycle. I hit 40 miles for the week, including an 8-mile run with strides, a 10-mile run, and a 13 mile "long run" with 8 miles at marathon pace. What's marathon pace? I'm not sure. I want to break 3:50 in the marathon, which is a pace of 8:49 minutes/mile, or 5:29 minutes/kilometer. However, for a hilly marathon, my perceived effort might be harder than that pace. I shot for an 8:30 minutes/mile pace for my marathon pace yesterday, which is probably too quick for me, especially at this early stage of my training.

My long runs are normally on Sunday mornings, but I had a golf game to play yesterday, so my long run waited until the evening. There was actually a bit of slack time in the middle of my MP miles, as three and a half miles into it I had to make a quick pit stop at home for a bathroom break. While there, Faith Ann mentioned that she had seen a "huge, huge, huge" bear in our driveway. This would have been at dusk. She quickly got her camera, but only saw the bear's butt leaving the driveway by the time she got back. She suggested to me that I might want to consider finishing the run on the treadmill. What would be worse: running the final 6 miles on a treadmill in the heat of the house, or getting chased and possibly eaten by a bear? The answer was so obvious that I immediately went back out to finish my run.

I really wasn't worried, as I figured the bear would likely be scared away if he saw me and my wonderful running technique heading towards him. Plus, can you really believe what you read in Wikipedia?

This coming week I've got two races - a 10k in Grand Bay on Thursday, and a half-marathon in Miramichi on Sunday. I'm not overly optimistic for great times, but I would like to be close to 48 minutes for the 10k, and perhaps a 1:46 or 1:47 for the half. The 10k fits into my plan for the week, as Thursday called for a tempo run, and I'm doing the 13.1 on Sunday instead of the planned 14 miles. A bit of hard work for the week, but hopefully these and more like them will pay off later in the summer/fall!

Lactate By the Sea

Today we had the 5-mile race in St Andrews. Here are the speedy runners at the start ...


... and a slightly less speedy guy at the end ...


The weather was great, it was a good turnout with some familiar faces, and the course is very nice. Mike is one of the co-directors of the race, so he wasn't running it, but was doing things like this ...
and this ...

Cam ran the 1k kids race too. He was so fast, that I missed taking photos of his finish as I was chatting away with Phil Booker! Here's Cam doing some stretching before the race - injury prevention, of course.

Here's the group of kids lined up to get their medals at the end of the race.


As for my race, check out these splits, showing my time for each of the eight kilometers, then tell me I didn't start out too fast, even if it was a downhill beginning.

4:09
4:29
4:40
5:00
5:49
5:08
5:05
5:29

I realize I still stink at running hills, as I took short walk breaks three times on the hills during the race today. I've taking to doing more of my training lately on some of the steeper/longer Fredericton hills, but I still have lots of work to do.

Here is an interesting note that shows I probably also need to work on my pacing. Compare my splits above to the splits from my tempo run of last Tuesday. The first 2k and the last 3k of that run were warm up/cool downs (sort of ... a bit of the third k was also a warm up). My time for the middle 8k was almost identical (even a few seconds faster!) than the race today. A couple of things about that tempo run: 1) while I was pushing it, I wasn't giving it a "full" effort, and 2) that run even included 2k as a warm up, so it's not like I was starting out fresh on those middle 8k. Finally, while there aren't really long steep hills around my neighborhood, it's does have stretches of hills, so it's not exactly flat. The numbers, with the tempo k's italicized ...

5:43
5:23
5:14
5:04
4:50
4:52
4:53
4:55
5:22
4:50
5:14
5:28
5:26

To wrap this post up, a note on my training, as this past week marked my first of eighteen weeks of official marathon training. I did five runs instead of the called for four, and swapped the 12 mile "long run" with today's 5 mile race. In the end, the total mileage for the week ended up being just about what the plan called for. The fun begins!

Leftover Cabot Trail pics

Not much to say this week in terms of running. After catching up on my sleep from the Cabot Trail and having visitors here this weekend, I ended up with just three runs for the week. That makes two weeks in a row where I only got in three runs, for about 25 miles/40 kilometers each of those weeks. One more week until the official 18-week marathon training plan kicks in, when I'll have to make sure I keep up my mileage.

A few remaining photos from the Cabot Trail Relay. This one is me with the female winner of the 12th leg, my speedy cousin Emily.


This second one was taken by Emily. It's a picture of me chatting with Ed Whitlock. Now at 79 years of age, the holder of several records finished 17th out of 69 runners on the 13th leg.


The remaining photos are from Jypsy Bain, of Alex Bain fame. She is the same person who captured a picture of Mike and me last year during the PEI marathon.

A photo of Phil finishing leg 2 -


Darren in the crowd of starters for leg 3 -


Connie running leg 5 -

Water stop at leg 8 (I think?) -


Water stop during leg 9, put on by the Chicks Running Clicks -

Larry in the crowd of starters for leg 15 -

Cabot Trail Relay

My second time attending the Cabot Trail Relay was even more fun than the first time. My performance in leg six was terrible, but it didn't take away from the overall great experience. Here's my favourite picture of the weekend, with Pierre coming to the end of the "glory leg" in Baddeck, giving a high-five to a well-dressed supporter.


Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures this weekend as I would have liked, since I didn't dig deep enough into my travel bag to discover the camera until early Sunday morning. So, I got a few with my Blackberry Saturday, and a few on Sunday. Next year I'll try to keep my camera handy.

Speaking of next year ... I plan to do leg six again. Why that leg again? Not because I enjoyed it so much that I want to re-visit it. No, I want to run it again for redemption. It started out fine, and the first handful of the several hills were completed without much of an issue, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I need to do better hill training, especially with my fall marathon taking place on a hilly route. I also need to lose some weight.

The not-so-brief recap of the weekend follows.

Arrival Friday night: While it was fun, I spent too much time at the Caeileigh and the pub. It wasn't the type of "hydration" needed the night before my run. We had some good chats with the Chicks Running Clicks from Ontario, and the Fast as Molasses team from Saint John. In bed by 1:45 or so, then up around 7 AM the next day.

Leg #1 - Pierre was doing the bookends, running the first and last legs. I wasn't there for it, but he said afterwards that he pulled away too quickly, struggled with a stitch and tightness in a leg. Even with those issues, he still finished in respectable position, well within the top of of the field.

Leg #2 - Phil ran the first of his two legs, as he would do #11 later that night. Knowing it was the first of two, he didn't give it 100%, but put in enough of an effort to staying within sight of some women he followed throughout the race (imagine that!). I believe this is Phil's 18th Cabot Trail, and his 5:14/km pace was nothing to sneeze at.

Leg #3 - The first leg of two legs by our Nova Scotian recruit Darren, and the first leg where I saw our runner start. Darren ran leg #4 for us last year, and this year requested legs #3 and #7. His running seems to be in peak form, and he did great in both legs. Here is the picture of the runners beginning this leg, including the speedy Sheri Piers, in the traditional tutu of the Maine Road Hags all-women team. Once again this year, they broke their own record for the finishing time by a women's team.


Leg #4 - Norm asked for Smokey last year. As the saying goes "Be careful what you wish for". The wind picked up just in time for this leg, and it was also the hottest time of the day. I know Norm was hoping for a better performance, but we were all proud of him, and he left nothing behind in terms of effort. He was dead tired as he finished. Here's a picture of him as he crested the mountain, getting a drink of water.


Leg #5 - Some background is needed here. Larry, Pierre and I were in Tim Horton's waiting to order coffee, when we were approached by a gregarious woman asking if we had a free leg she could take on. Larry inquired about her master's status, and then he couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he gave her one of the two legs he planned on running. Flash forward to the leg itself, and if you found the happiest, cheeriest woman running that leg, it was our new team member Connie from Moncton. We saw her a few more times over the weekend, and her great attitude was always there. She's promised to be with us again next year, and we couldn't be happier about it.

Leg #6 - My leg. Well, what can I say? At least the scenery and weather were nice. It was 17.5 kms in length, or a little under 11 miles. It started off perfectly fine for the first couple of miles, and although it started to get tough, I was alright over the first 4.5 miles. As we approached the 10k point I was climbing a long hill, getting more and more tired even though my pace wasn't very fast, and I briefly walked a couple of times. That hill crested around the 11.5k mark, and I slowly ran most of it, to begin a good downhill stretch that lasted almost a mile, with a couple of small hills thrown into the mix. By the time I hit about 14k, the remainder of the run was pretty much all uphill, and I was toast. I probably walked for 30-45 seconds about half a dozen times, catching my breath. The tale of the tape: my pace for the first 9k was 5:23/km, and over the last 8.5k it was 6:01/km, for an overall pace of 5:38/km, or 9:03 per mile. Quite discouraging, but a good lesson in what I need for future training.

Leg #7 - The second leg from Darren. I didn't see his finish, but I hear Darren had a good race with another guy as they approached the end.

Leg #8 - Betty's traditional leg, and she did another good job with it. She then went on to watch her son win the next leg, as part of the record-breaking "Dennis Fairalls Grey Hair" team. This team, which was composed mostly of University of Windsor alumni (as well as a couple of legs from Rami Bardeesy, the top Canadian at the Boston Marathon) smashed the old finishing record by almost half an hour.

Leg #9 - The North Mountain leg. We watched Brian start this leg, but then Larry, Pierre, Norm and I headed to supper and a rest at the hotel in Cheticamp. I did talk to Brian yesterday during lunch, and he was pleased with how he did, considering that he wasn't able to train much for the last few weeks.

Legs #10 - #14 - I didn't see these legs run by Dale, Phil, Todd, Bernie and Maurice, as I was catching some sleep. Dale did a great job on the MacKenzie Mountain leg.

In Cheticamp, when I got up at 5:30 AM to head to Tim Horton's, I saw a support vehicle for Mark Campbell's team. It turns out that Mark didn't quite make it around the entire route on his own (see a story here), but he did finish the equivalent of five marathons, and his team completed the rest.

Leg #15 - I saw Gary finishing this one, and got this picture of him (see below). Gary's newphew was Bruce Hadley, and Gary is an organizer for another relay race, the Bruce Hadley Memorial, a fund raiser to put external defibrillators throughout the province. See details on that race here.


Leg #16 - Our captain Larry ran this leg. No, he's not sleeping as he's finishing. A veteran of 23 marathons and 17 years at the Cabot Trail, Larry still has the competitive fire burning, as evidenced by the finishing race he had to the end with the woman in this picture.


Leg #17 - Doing his second leg, Pierre finished in fine style. Here's a good picture of him with just meters to go until the end.


It must have been a good weekend, as it ended with many guys talking about which legs they will do next year. I can't wait to return.

Boyden Lake II - The Sequel !

While spending the long weekend on Campobello, I got in a bit of golf - and so did Cameron! Cam is in real trouble if he's getting advice from me, especially while swinging a club having a shaft far too long for him!

Another highlight of the weekend was meeting Andrew and Mike Saturday morning for a run. We did the 12-mile Boyden Lake loop. It was a very enjoyable run, in perfect weather. I found this run much easier than my previous Boyden experience, when I did my first ever 20-mile run. Don't believe those who say that sequels are never as good as the original!

Andrew's on the mend from an achilles/calf injury, but survived the run feeling good. As for Mike, he is on a "beer-free" recovery from his latest dental surgery, but his running is in fine shape. It was a quiet morning, with dogs scattered along the route every few hundred yards. Speaking of dogs/beer/health (what an awful segue!), check out this link supposedly showing that Guinness beer really is "good for you". It must be true, considering they tested the theory on dogs with narrow arteries!

My running week ended with 36 miles, including the 12 mile Boyden run, 7.5 somewhat hilly miles yesterday, and a pretty tough run Wednesday that included some 6-minute intervals at 5k pace. Wednesday a few of my teammates and I got together to discuss the Cabot Trail Relay. I am currently scheduled to run leg 6, which has a difficulty rating of 4.5 out of 5. It's 17.5 kilometers in length, and here is how the website describes it:

"The scenery on this seacoast run will captivate you despite a couple of long challenging hills. This leg climbs to the finish at Cabot High School on the right. Elevation 90m. Be prepared for strong coastal breezes."

We'll see just how "captivated" I will be while running those hills! I'm looking forward to the weekend.

Finally, a couple of short congratulatory notes. My cousin Emily kicked butt in the half-marathon event of the Bluenose Marathon weekend in Halifax, finishing with a chip time of 1:36:53.9. That gives her a qualifying time into the New York City marathon - by 6 seconds! Results here. This is the second time she has qualified for it. Also, my friend Mark from Halifax completed his first marathon, gutting it out to finish in 4:27:25 (results here). He let me know that some recent health issues and the Halifax hills haunted him at the end. Considering the circumstances and the fact that he hasn't been doing the "long distance thing" for very long, I think he did quite well.

Next week ... pictures and stories from the Cabot Trail Relay!

Filler Week

I ran 33.5 miles this week, including a great 14-mile run today at a pace just under 9 minutes per mile. The run felt nice and easy, on a nice coolish morning. Next weekend is a long weekend, and we're heading to Campobello, where I plan to do a 15-mile long run Sunday, the last long run before heading to the Cabot Trail Relay over the last weekend in May.

My latest training plan has me doing two speed sessions per week. However, I skipped one this week that I was planning to do on Wednesday, as I felt a bit of pain in my foot while I was starting out. I'm not too worried about it, but I have started icing it a bit. It was probably just some after-effects from the half marathon last weekend. I did get in a speed session Friday, running five 1k intervals at 5k pace, and it felt alright when I was done.

Just a few more quick notes. The folks from the Mount Desert Island marathon have said that there are less than 200 spots left in the marathon before it sells out - capped at 1000 participants, I think. It looks like it will be full before the end of June, I'm guessing.

Faith Ann is getting back into the running spirit, and has said she might sign up for the 5k or 10k race at the Miramichi Rock'n'Run, when I run the half there in July. Also, she is thinking about running a half marathon in the fall, and is considering running the half marathon component of the Maine Marathon on October 3rd, in Portland, Maine. That's just two weeks before my full marathon, but if she does decide to run it, I will probably also do the half, but not race it. If there was a 5k or 10k race in the event, I probably would have raced one of them, but I'll be good and restrain myself over the 13 miles.

Finally, the Arizona marathon has this nice video of the route on their site. I've watched the whole thing, and nary a hill to be found. Lots of multi-lane highways, and as for the scenic attractions ... well there are the camelback hills, and the warm sunshine is also quite inviting.

2010 Fredericton Half Marathon

The 2010 edition of the Fredericton Marathon, along with the half marathon, 10k and 5k races, was held today. I did the half marathon. Here's a picture Faith Ann took as I was finishing. My chip time was actually 1:48:13, although the clock time is what you see in the photograph below. Note that I was looking for Mike, who was signed up to run the 10k today, but I think his dentist repeatedly hit him in the face with a bag of frozen nickels last week, so he didn't make it up today.


Faith Ann hasn't run in any of the three races I have completed this spring. Left to my own devices, not only am I a terrible procrastinator, but I am habitually late arriving for everything. The first two races of the spring it didn't matter: in the Lincoln 5k, Cam had a race prior to mine, so we couldn't be late. For the Grande-Digue 15k, we didn't know the area very well, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there. Today, it was the real Trevor coming through. As I walked up the street where the runners were lining up, I heard "Ten seconds until the start!". At that point, I started running up the street, took off my sweats, and fell in behind the crowd. I soon ran by the walkers with their walking sticks, and started weaving in and out of some of the later starters. As I was wondering what my pace was, it dawned on me that perhaps I should start my watch! All in all, I don't think it affected me too much. Maybe it even forced me to start out slowly?

The weather was touch-and-go approaching the race start, and there were some light showers as we got underway. However, the day was actually quite nice for running, as it was right around 10 degrees Celsius. A couple of pics from the beginning show the wet atmosphere at the time.



Also, the showers at the beginning fortunately ruined this somewhat embarrassing sign Faith Ann and Cam had created. However, Faith Ann tells me the sign generating lots of smiles from others looking at Cameron proudly holding the sign.


Shortly into the race, I passed Frank Kelly, and tried to make some joke about how he should try to run his age in the half-marathon. You know 71 years old, 71 minutes - get it?? Somehow it doesn't translate from the golf idiom of shooting your age. While he didn't finish in 1:11, I'll happily take 1:51 when I'm his age.

The course is flat as can be, with the exception of the pedestrian bridge used to cross the highway near the beginning and end of the course. I was happy with both the fairly even splits and my time, considering my recent training and where I am in the year (the "official" marathon training schedule begins next month).

A quick recap of my three races this spring shows that I'm either in tune with my pace, or I'm a case study for self-fulfilling prophecies. I've managed to almost exactly hit my predicted times in the 5k, 15k and half-marathon. So ... for my next half-marathon in July, I'm going to aggressively predict a time of 1:45:xx. I'm not throwing out any predictions for the Cabot Trail Relay (of which I'm now running leg #6) or the St. Andrews Father's Day race, since I don't know either route well enough to make that type of call.

Here's a picture from around mile eight. I'm running with Al Reardon (I think?) at this point, who was running the full marathon, and would go on to qualify for Boston, having already run it in 2009. It was my second attempt at high-fiving Cam, and this time it was a success. Around the 2k point, we tried to high-five each other but Cam's enthusiasm led to him completing an "air" high-five and missing me completely.

The traditional post-race picture with the boy -


Finally, a little humour to end this post. Check out this report on the "Half-marathon of Doom". No, it is not a report from the Fredericton half marathon.