2010 – Bigger and Better! And Blogged.

There are big plans for 2010 running, but instead of going into them here, I’ll refer you to our 2010 blog: http://mcalpine.posterous.com.

Catch up on all the McAlpine running happenings over there.

Organic Food

Now that the  (half) marathon is over.  It’s time to turn our blogging attention elsewhere.  From now on, the blog will be about more than just running.  I’m hoping to start including more information on other exercise (ultimate frisbee), food, and whatever other things we can think of.

I started getting a crop share this summer, and I want to post regularly about what I’m getting in it.  For those who don’t know, a crop share is when you pay a farmer a set amount, and then he (in my case he and his family) provides us with a box of veggies each week.  You never know what you are going to get, it is just whatever is harvested from the farm that week.  Our crop share is from an organic Mennonite farm 30 minutes south east of London. Crop shares are a great bargain.  We pay a little more than $10/week and we get a half bushel of food.  It’s an excellent way to get a variety of vegetables and a good challenge to eat them all each week.

Last week we got lettuce, radishes, boc choi, rhubarb, asparagus, potatoes, a small bag of salad greens and some other green leafy thing that tasted good with pasta.

This week, more lettuce, more radish, asparagus, rhubarb, collard green, broccoli rabe and green onions.

Quite a good mix.  It is fun to try to eat it all.  Last night I used the broccoli rabe to make a curry with chick peas.  Pretty good!

recovering

I seem to have picked up a sore knee during the run.  Last week I was feeling pretty good, a little stiff on Monday and Tuesday, but nothing serious.  The only difficulty was my right knee (my left hurt during the actual race).  It is sore on the outside part.  My friend said this is my ITL. I don’t know what that is, but I’ll take his word for now.

It was a bit sore when I was climbing stairs early in the week, but I still managed to play some (very light) ultimate on Wednesday night.  It did hurt when I was throwing, I think because of the twisting.

My goal for the summer is to work on speed.  I went out for a run on Sunday morning at a quick pace.  I decided to run 7k.  I made good time for the first 5, but then the knee started to get sore.  I decided to walk the next kilometer and then see how it felt.  The pain went away quickly when I started to walk, but came back about 500m into the last kilometer.   This isn’t good, but I’m not panicking yet.  I’ll continue to take it easy for the next week before I consider seeing a doctor.  On the positive side, my run was fairly quick.  I did the whole 7 k in about 40minutes.  Considering I walked about 1.5 km I’m pretty pleased.

Mission Accomplished

Well, it’s all over!  We battled through some cold windy weather to finish the half marathon.  I did it in 2hrs 2min.  I would have really liked to be under 2 hours, but it just wasn’t in the cards.

Here’s a mini diary of event as I recall:

Start: feelt pretty excited.

1km: did this in about 6 min.  A good pace, still felt fine.

4 km: Peter took off.  I stayed with him for a bit because I thought he was just trying to get out of a crowded pack of runners.  I was wrong. He was just running faster than me.

7km: First rest station.  Felt pretty good.  I was on what I thought was a good pace.  I ate a powergel and had a small cup of gatorade while I walked for a minute.

8-13km: This section was a little tough.  It is sort of the vague middle part of the race.  I felt generally ok, but tired, and wasn’t into the ‘hey, I’m almost there’ part that makes it a bit easier.  At one point I felt crowded, so I jumped out into the road and sprinted for a few moments.  Around 13km it becomes a bit easier to stay motivated because the kilometer count down is on.

14km: I spot a porta-potty ahead.  I need to pee, so I sprint ahead and jump in.  I was pleasantly surprised by how easily I was able to sprint.

15km: 2nd rest station.  Had some powergel and two waters.  I walked for a minute.  It was pretty hard to get going again.  For a few minutes I had some cramps, but they went away pretty quickly.  I was a bit more troubled by the hills.  There were a lot more hills than I anticipated.  None were particularly steep, but there were a lot of them.  London is pretty flat and I’m not used to this.

16km: Some left knee pain.  Feeling tired, but mentally preparing myself for a strong push tot he finish.  I forget my exact time, but a sub-2hour run seemed very possible.

17km: OK, this is were it got tough.  I was pretty happy because 4km left didn’t seem like that much.  At this point I had to really concentrate on running and not just sort of plodding.  I was reasonably successful.

18km.  Very unhappy.  I had a sore knee.  It was very windy.  I really had to imagine happy thoughts of finishing to keep going.  The idea that I should walk for a while entered my head.  I checked my watch and a 2hour time still seemed possible.

19: Pretty miserable.  Turned the last corner a knew I was getting close.  I really tried my hardest to run fast, but the wind really picked up and really slowed me down.  I felt that I was close to the finish line, but thought that it seemed too close. ….

19.5 ish. There was a bonus loop through a parking lot.  I was pretty unhappy to see this diversion when I could see the finish line on the horizon.  I gave the police and marathon staff a disgusted look to let them know how I felt.  I wonder how often they got that look?

21: Through the loop, and headed for home.  I was very, very tired at this point and sadly watched my watch click to 1hour 59min and knew I wouldn’t make it.  I turned the corner and saw my cheering section.  I gave them a wave, and they cheered me on.  Lifted by this, I was determined to finish well.  I spotted a guy ahead of me who had passed me around 16km.  I immediately ’sprinted’ as hard as I could to get ahead of him.  Again I was surprised how well I did.  I ran to the end and beat him easily.  I could hear a guy shout ‘That’s it, you can do it! Race right to the end!’.  It really pushed me.

Finished!!! I did it, they gave me a medal and some kid mumbled something which I eventually figured out meant ‘please give me your time chip.’  I grabbed some water and went to see my family.

I wish I could have done it a bit faster.  Three times in the race I was able to pretty easily run much faster than everyone around me.  I need to work on my overall speed. It is pretty obvious that I could run faster if I just worked a little harder on the mental part of running.

I spent the rest of the day with Eleanor.  We went out and did some shopping to get ready for the baby.  Now, (8hours after the race), I’m a bit stiff and my right knee is sore.  I’m going to stretch a bit and then ice it.

What’s next?  At this moment I’m definitely on a high about the whole experience.  Running a full marathon seems really, really, really, really hard, but I’m up for a half again.  Now that I’ve done it once, I’d like to try again so I can get a better time.  I think I’ll try again in the fall.

Thanks very much to everyone who supported me in this.   I won’t name names here, but a lot of people gave me some good advice and encouraged me when I had doubts.  Thanks!

ps.  As mentioned yesterday,  this blog will continue in one form or another, so stay tuned.

at the end

Well, the big day is almost here. I’m a little disappointed with how I finished my training. I had a lot of other things going on in the last few weeks so I didn’t really do my best.

Amy says that’s ok, because I’m supposed to ‘taper’ at the end. I’m not sure two full weeks (except for ultimate) counts as tapering, more like slacking I think.

Either way, it’s time to get this done. We’ve been building to this for several months. Hard to believe that it will be all over by 10:30 in the morning.

Earlier in the training, I’d optimistically thought that I could get to the point where I’d do the run in 1hr40min. Now I’m hoping for 1hr50 but realize that if I can do it in 2 hours it will be a success.

Thanks for reading everyone! Keep watching to see what happens to this blog next!

You win!

Ok, I give up.  You’ve won the training/blogging portion of this project.  I’ve gotten really, really lazy over the last few weeks.

I have been running and playing ultimate, but I haven’t been doing as much as I should.  Once I realized that I could do the half marathon, my motivation dropped.  I haven’t had anything really interesting to say about my runs, so I’ve been silent.

Other than the occassional run, I haven’t done anything that significant as far as training goes.  Unless you count disc golf.  I’ve been playing 2-3 times a week this month.  If this was a throw a disc and then chase it for 21km race.  I’d win for sure.

Ok, that’s it for now.  I’ll post something thoughtful and reflective a day or two before the race.

Working on Speed

Spring arrived, and then it left.  Yuck.

I really need to work on speed, so I decided to run laps around the park last night.  It is exactly 1km around Victoria Park.  I figured I’d do 5 laps and see if I could keep my time under 5 min/lap.

The weather was awful.  It was windy and it was rainsnowing the whole time.  I hope this doesn’t last.

I did the 5 laps.  Only the first and last laps were under 5 minutes.  I guess I still have some work to do.  Not much time left before the race but it’s something to work on in the future.

I can’t run tonight, but I’ll go out for 10 or 11k on Wednesday.  The weather will be nice on the weekend, so I’ll try for two longer runs.

Saturday Run

I ran 16 km in 1hr 30 min. on Saturday.

I’m totally ready to run the whole thing.  I just need to work on speed from now until the big day.  I’m going to focus on shorter, faster runs during the week and just do a couple more long ones.

Update

Sorry everyone, I haven’t been keeping up with my blogging.  I have been running though.  I’ve been out a few times.  I did a few miles on a tread mill one night.  I did some laps around Victoria Park.  I’ve been on a longer run, and Gabe and I ran 9k the other day.

I’m off to Toronto tonight, but I think I’ll run 10 before I go.

3 weeks to go.  How exciting.  I feel pretty ready.  I don’t think I’ll be that fast, but I’m certainly able to do the run.

I bought some new shoes.  Saucony.  Hopefully they’ll be fast.

This is a dis-jointed blog post.  I’ll do better this week.

On a Sunny Monday Evening

Thanks to the slow cooker, dinner was ready when I got home.  That meant I was finished eating and ready to run by a few minutes after 6.  It’s a nice evening here, bright blue skies and about 4C. A little cold, but the sunshine makes up for it.

I decided to run 14k.  There isn’t much time left, and I’d like to get used to the longer distances.  I headed out down the road, and was feeling pretty good.  I didn’t check my watch until my turn around spot.  When I got there I couldn’t believe it.  7k in 36 minutes.  Not exactly world record time but pretty good for me.  I drank some water, downed a power gel and off I went home.

The run home felt pretty good.  I was able to do more actual ‘running’ instead of my usual heavy footed plod.  I maintained a good speed on my way up the hills and cruised home.  I actually did the last km in a sprint so I could make an even time.

When I got home I couldn’t believe it.  14km in 1hr 15min 4 sec.  Easily my best run yet.