Not a race report

Nuff said, no excuses, wimped out and stayed home this weekend. Well maybe a few excuses because for some reason I feel should at least explain the lack of a Grand Manan 1/2 marathon race report in the proceedings of my so called running career.

The decision was made actually the night before when I consciously refused to allow myself to prepare things like my gear, lay out breakfast and coffee and set the alarm in order to wake up in time to leave by 630 to catch the 730 ferry. Despite the obvious signals from the controlling brain my body still resisted and I had a rather sleepless night and was wide awake before 600am. I read this as the body saying "Lets go, I'm ready!" while the brain continued to resist and forced the body back to sleep. Maybe it was just as well that I took a break but somehow I felt like I was letting myself down a bit, and this for a race that had only race day registration and is close by (but with a 2.5hr travel time each way). I still can't put my finger on why the race got canned but I've felt a little less enthusiastic about my runs lately. Perhaps it's been the heat and humidity but just as likely it could be the marathon training program that I put together with no built in breaks or cutback weeks.

Plan B was a simple 10 mile run in just under 80 minutes with lots of heat and humidity, followed by a nice cool off dip in the pond, which has been a regular thing lately. It's really nice and refreshing to do this, even if the water temp is only a few degrees cooler than the air temp. It was 24C today in the pond and 26C air temp but my body temp was much warmer than that!

Total for the week of 61 miles with a canned tempo run and missed race. Not quite up to par but it'll have to do.

Belated birthday blogger

I thought that I'd share one of my humorous cards, especially since we had to hide the cake in the cupboard so Steph's cat wouldn't eat it. Don't you like the spacey eyes "Who me?"
The trip up to Bathurst was uneventful and I got to spend a few days at the beach and even got my feet wet after my run. The jellyfish were out in full force though and so a complete dunking just wasn't a good idea.
The main reason for the trip was to visit my Mom who is doing quite well and is in great spirits as always. I was even treated to a 2nd cake of the week and must say it was 'pretty good' but not as tasty as the homemade chocolate swirl that Jo and Steph whipped up before the trip.
Running has been on the difficult side all week and I can't quite place my finger on it. It might be the recent heat and humidity that has hung over our area lately.

Or... it might be something to do with the 3 hour test of endurance that Andrew and I battled through on Sunday. I don't really have much to say about that run other than it being a kind of vague bad memory that I'd like to forget. Andrew really does capture the essence of the run perfectly, but honestly, "I wasn't trying to kill you!". Everything, was going smoothly until our little mixup in the total elapsed time, followed by the awful realization that we were so wrong. Our minds had totally bought into the new time and as a result both of our bodies shut down at the appropriate time, which was unfortunately 1/2 hour before the run was ended. Make sense? You had to be there, but be happy you weren't. I spent the rest of the day collapsed on the couch.

Mon - rest day and travel to Bathurst

Tues - nice early morning 8 miles on the trails and quiet highway near our little cottage on the beach. My attempt to go for a swim afterwards was frustrated by the swarms of jellyfish

Weds - an early start back home via a roundabout scenic route through some nice backroads arriving home late in the afternoon with temps in the 30ies plus humidity. Slacked off with a slow easy 5 mile slog later that evening.

Thurs - tried to get some hillwork in today and did 4 repeats in about 1:30 each of the Katies Cove hill. The heat and humidity again got the best of me and I felt this workout could have been harder. At the time when doing the repeats you question what the hell you are doing pushing up this crazy steep hill over and over. And then when you're done the question is 'Was that enough?'. Maybe, maybe not, considering the mileage and general fatigue levels of late.

Fri- definitely this was going to be just an easy hour run from the starting gun at 9am. The temperature and humidity were already climbing and I was happy to just do an easy 7 miles followed by a cool off dip in the pond.

Sat - the plan for the morning is to travel to Grand Manan for a 1/2 marathon but right now I'm on the fence debating what to do. The heat and humidity should not be an issue on the island which is a 1.5 hour ferry ride away. Do I really need another hard effort like this to tell me where my fitness is at or should I slack off and put my feet up? If I'm going to go it's time to get my act together soon and start. We'll just have to wait and see if I can get up in time to make the ferry.

Meanwhile, it's time for more cake and ice cream. Hope you're all having a great week!

Maximum 70

It's been another good week of vacation and I'm not really looking forward to going back in a week's time. I was able to get a few chores cleaned up and finally finished the retaining wall on the back of our house. The only problem is the little chipmunk who seems to think he still owns the place and refuses to move out. It was very heavy work moving the big timbers around and I spent most of Saturday afternoon getting the last pieces finished. My reward was a nice cool shower and a beer as I rested up for Sunday's big run with Andrew.

The past running week was excellent too with all planned runs according to the schedule (more or less). After the excellent 21 miler with Andrew last Sunday the week went like this:

Monday - rest day; tired and heavy legs but worked on retaining wall and the heavy timbers

Tues - still with heavy legs from Sunday and so I delayed my big workout for a day, replacing it with an easy 1hr run (7.5 mi) and then spent the rest of the day on the 'wall'

Weds - a workout of 6-7 x 1 mile cruise repeats that I've been dreading for weeks now. It was 1st scheduled a few weeks ago but was canned due to recovery from the 1/2 marathon. As Andrew has noted the mental aspects of preparing for feared planned workouts are usually much worse than the actual performance itself. The idea of these cruise reps is to run at a pace slightly faster than marathon pace with rest breaks between each mile. It's not a long continuous effort and so you should be able to manage it without breaking down the body too much and be able to go at it again the next day. So, after a 1 mile warmup it was do or die time and I started churning away on my out and back hilly route going out of town. The 1st mile went by in 7:13, followed by a 1:30 jog break and felt like I was only firing on 4 out of 8 cylinders. Next in 7:12, followed by a 7:01, 7:11, 7:14 but stopped at 6 when the last came in at 7:33 (uphill). I've got slow marathoners legs and seem to be losing my speed as the legs and engine had little pop today. I'm hoping that this workout will improve as I go along and plan to do it on the same route the next time around.

Thurs - staple mid-week semi-long run of 2 hours with a little over 14 miles covered. It was a nice slow run during the late morning on my loops and trails around town. The weather was perfect at 15C with fog and mist and a bit of light rain. I saw a deer with her baby fawn and enjoyed 2 episodes of Phedippidations with Steve Runner. No problems except my right hamstring which has been very tight and affected my stride for the 1st mile or so until it loosened up.

Friday - 10 miles while doing my current favorite workout which is a fartlek run with 1, 2, 3 min hard efforts broken up with 2-4 minute easy breaks while running wherever I please. These are very enjoyable, non-stressful runs where I can just stride out easily or with some purpose where I work on maintaining good form and just enjoying the movement. I had some issues with my hamstring again which started cramping on one of the efforts and so had to ease up on the last few.

Sat - just and easy 1 hour run with a little over 7.5 miles covered. While I was finishing my run I knew that my weekly mileage was approaching this number (see picture below) and decided that you all needed to see another goofy picture of me holding up the sign.

So the total for the week was 70 miles in 9.5 hrs of running. Not a bad week at all but nothing in comparison to what our friend Jamie and his buddy Ultra-Flash: Stephen did at the Vermont 100 this past weekend. Congrats you animals! They are both 'Beyond Category' in my books.

Gotta go now. Here's a picture of my birthday cake to be, safely in the cupboard to protect it from one Cody cat. I'm now off to Bathurst to visit my Mom for a few days and will be staying at my sisters cottage on the beach.

See you later and have a great week.

ps. Andrew and I had a 'sick' 3 hour run on Sunday past which had us both in the 'HOK" position at the end, despite running slowly. More on 'that' later.

Weekly (actually training) report

It's been another nice long week of vacation with plenty of home tasks to keep me busy (or not). I've started work on the retaining wall and Jo spent most of her efforts in moving some of the pond plumbing further into the trees. My job was mainly that of being Mike the plumber and routing the piping to meet the barrel at it's new location, almost out of sight.
Another exploit, from just yesterday, was my participation in a course on race course measurement which was put on by Run New Brunswick for interested race directors. Our instructor Bernie Conway, is the Chief Certifier for Canada and a member of AIMS which works in support of race course certification. It was a pretty cool introduction to the nitty gritty details of the hows and whys with lots of hands on practical stuff. I took lots of pictures which are now posted here and will be getting my Grade C certificate which allows me to measure local and regional courses and apply for final certification of these courses.

Here we are using a steel tape to accurately lay out and measure our calibration course of 300m which was then used to calibrate our bicycles with a Jones counter. All the details are on the AIMS website if you're so inclined.

Running? Training? Oh yeah, time for plenty of that too and was able to get all the planned workouts and runs per the MDI training schedule.

Monday - rest day, slept in a bit and took it easy with some light gardening with Jo

Tues - workout of 8 miles at marathon pace over a 10 mile run which went very well. After a 1 mi warm up I did a 3 mile cutdown in pace at 30sec, 20sec and 10sec slower than MP before doing 5 miles at MP. Average pace of 7:17 and heartrate of 151 which was right on target. The hilly course that I did this test on had an effect on the pace but the effort was OK and I felt that I could have managed a few more without much problem.

Weds - just an easy 60 minutes in the early morning with perfect cool temperature of 14C and plenty of fog and mist to add to the air conditioned effect

Thurs - 2hr run with about 15 miles covered at an easy pace with the heartrate in the easy zone (<135) . Again great weather conditions were the order of the day. (16C with fog and mist)

Friday - 9 miles with a total of 15 minutes of hard effort on this fartlek run. After an easy warmup I put in efforts of 1, 2 or 3 minutes with similar breaks between. I rather look forward to and enjoy this kind of semi-unstructured running which is done entirely by effort while running through various roads and trails. The run went well but there were some complaints from my hamstrings and butt which are a bit tight and sore.

Sat - up early at 6am after staying over with my sister in Saint John so I wouldn't have to travel so far for the measurement course. Ended up doing a 6 mile loop which was a bit longer than expected and barely got back in time for a quick shower before heading out to the course.

Weekly total of 65 miles in 8hr 48min and avg pace of 8:10 for all runs.

Sunday - the new week starts and today I was able to run with Andrew once again at Boyden Lake. It's been quite a while since we've been able to hook up here due to conflicting schedules mostly. The last time we ran here it was the incident of the Ticking Time Bomb but this time around there was less damage done and the run has been named the Zany Zones run by my running compatriot.

The goal today was to take it 'easy' and for the most part we managed to meet this goal. However, 21 miles is still a long way and it takes a long time at our slower than normal pace and my body was complaining mightily by the end for it to be over. Total of 2 hr 53 minute and avg heartrate of 129 by my watch. It was great to catch up with Andrew and to finally be able to congratulate him in person on his big race win earlier in the month. Besides the hills, most of my hr peaks in the graph above are due to the many jokes Andrew was telling. More running, less jokes? Not a chance! However, it was good to finish and I've spent most of the rest of the day collapsed on the couch enjoying the FIFA under 20 soccer and Tour de France.

It was a good day. Have a great week!

Weekly (hardly training) update

It's been a week since the last update and my holidays seem to be slipping away already. I usually have a few around the home projects to keep me occupied but the large pile of heavy timbers for the new retaining wall still remains undisturbed. Maybe tomorrow... Other than that, I've had a chance to chill out, sleep in, recover from the 1/2, clean my motorbike, help Jo with her heavy lifting around the garden and of course slip in a few runs.

Monday (last week)- rest day, woke up at the usual time, sore feet due to blister from race, worked in garden

Tues - my 1st real day of vacation and just did an easy 1 hour loop around town. The run felt good at 1st but then the legs felt strangely sore and tired in the deep parts of the muscles. It was nice to run in the early morning with lots of shade and cool ocean breeze.

Weds - feeling a bit better today but still recovering and so opted for the fartlek run with surges from 1 to 3 minutes and similar 2-4 min easier bits while running over hill and dale around my usual outer town loop. A total of 15 minutes of harder running over 8 miles and was feeling a little weary at the end.

Thurs - this was meant to be a 90-120 min run and managed 103 in the wind and rain. I considered waiting for later in the day and probably should have because it did clear up. Instead I ended up toughing out a bit of a sloggy run with legs again tiring at the end.

Friday - here's where the hardly training comes in. "The Plan" called for 7x1mi cruise reps this week which is at a speed somewhere between my tempo pace and marathon pace and would likely be around 7:00/mile. It didn't happen. Instead it was just another early morning slog around town on semi-dead legs. Another recovery day I guess.

That night we drove Steph to Truro in preparation for her big move to PEI. What are parents for but to be at the beck and whim of their offspring? She did smile nicely and said pretty please, so how could we say no?

Sat - set the alarm for 630 so I'd have time for a quick run before it was time to pick up the U-haul trailer. Test drove my new Nike's and managed 6 miles, bringing the final weekly total up to 58. After that it was a lot of heavy lifting and the usual worry about whether or not it will all fit in the alloted space, but it did!

After checking that we had everything it was off to Pictou to catch the ferry to PEI and only a 45 minute drive away. It saved a ton of time and wear and tear on the van which seemed to struggle with the heavy load, especially on the hills. We had a beautiful calm crossing and I took a ton of pictures with the clouds and scenery adding to the beauty.

Then, another 45 minute drive and more work unloading and carrying stuff up one flight of stairs at her new place. It's a great spot, nice and clean, close to everything, in a quiet neighborhood and Steph seemed very happy with it. But what hard work! We managed to get it unloaded in short order but were very tired that evening after our meal.

Sunday - alarm for 630am again and it was very hard to get going. First made a run to Tim's for coffee and was able to get on the road by 730 for my planned 2hr 45min run. You might think my legs were tired and weary, earlier in the week but it was nothing like they felt on this day. My long run turned into a pure test of endurance just keeping the forward momentum and making it one mile to the next. The only bonus was the cool cloudy conditions and being able to run entirely (except the 1st 1/4 mile) on the Confederation Trail which runs the length of the island and has 100's of kilometers or trail. I saw a few walkers, a couple of single runners and a gaggle of women doing their long run (gaggle because you could hear them coming ;-) and I know they went long because I met them again as I was finishing up. Towards the end of the run the skies opened up and I got thoroughly soaked for the last 3 miles. Total of 17 miles in 2:27 as I stumbled back to the apartment and a warm shower. Whew!

Monday (today) - still tired from the weekend. Thank God for rest days! Slept in this morning for a total of almost 9 hours sleep. Definitely on holiday now.

Have a great week!

Canada Day 1/2 marathon

By the numbers 1:35:51, 7:17 pace, 148 average HR, placed in my age group with results here.

It was a great day for a race with blue skies and temps around 15C at the start, though it did warm up during the run. The course elevation profile are shown below in green and my HR is in red. Two things to notice, not a flat course with plenty of rolling hills (think MDI) and gradually increasing HR as I struggled to maintain my planned MDI goal pace of 7:15/mile.

I arrived about an hour before the race start with plenty of time to pickup my free technical t-shirt and then get in a decent 2.5 mile warmup. It was just an easy jog over the last mile of the course but it was good to refresh my memory of what the finish looked like. My plan for the day was to attempt to run at planned MP for the duration but started too fast and immediately knocked of a 6:50 opening downhill mile, which was quickly offset by a 7:43 uphill mile (see the profile) followed by a 6:55 3rd mile before finally hitting pace of 7:15 on the 4th mile.

About this point I linked up with one of the lead women who was also blessed with a pair of evil rascal kids who were following their Mom along on the course. The kids provided great entertainment, yelling from the car "Hi Mom, want a ride?". They also pulled out their powerful waterguns at the water stops and laughed hilariously at their poor mother running her heart out. We ran in range of each for most of the rest of the race, taking turns at the lead as our energies ebbed and flowed. I was working mainly at trying to maintain a fixed pace and was more or less successful until the final mile or two. One hill in particular knocked the stuffing out of me as I didn't easy up on the pace and paid the price at the top in not being able to recover. From that point on my legs seemed to lose their snap and it was a struggle in. However, looking at the profile once again it looks like there was a good reason (more hills). I finished just behind the same lady (it would have been silly to try to outsprint her) and just about a minute slower than my goal time of 1:35.

I'm fairly pleased with how this run/race turned out. While I didn't quite make my time, it did give me a good indication of my current fitness and what it will be like to run on a hilly undulating course. It's time to work on my speed endurance and the lack of tempo runs showed through in today's performance and will be something to work on this month before the Grand Manan 1/2 on July 28th. After the race I also signed up for the Saint John marathon which is on Sept. 23, and only 3 weeks before MDI. 5th Sun had a question about how I plan to run this race with 18 miles at planned MP so close to MDI. It's an interesting question as doing a marathon so close to your goal race is not something I'd recommend anybody to try at home. My plan is to do a 6 mile cutdown, followed by 12 miles at MP and then shutting things down and jogging in the last 8 miles (or better yet quitting at that point). We'll have to see how much self control that I'm able to muster when the time comes.

Update for last weeks running: another 60 miles in the book. Six runs with 8hr 12min total and avg pace of 8:09. No speedwork to speak of except for a fartlek run with a total of 15 minutes in harder efforts. And that's all he wrote. And I'm on holiday's for the month! Whoopee!!

Have a great week!

Plan for MDI

At long last, I've formulated a plan of sorts for MDI. It's very detailed just because I like to be told what to do, even if it's just me saying so and even if I choose to ignore my own advice. The basic workouts come from a 3 part series on Training and Racing within your Personal "Marathon Zone" by Guy Avery from Sept/Oct 2006 to Jan/Feb 2007 in Marathon and Beyond.



It took some work to figure out the details but I think I came up with a challenging but manageable plan for me. I have a series of races (in green) that are meant to be milestone tests or to replace workouts, including a marathon where the plan is to do 18 miles at goal pace before shutting down the engines. It's divided into 3 x 6week periods with 2 of the 1st 6 weeks (in blue) already behind me. There's a fair amount of goal pace running and long runs with fast goal pace finishes (I know Andrew will love me for that) but nothing too different than what I've done in the past. It should be interesting to see how it goes.

The past week was good as far as the running went but way too busy otherwise and no time to blog much about it.

Sunday - no long run due to the Father's Day race directing so just did 5.5 miles when I had time later in the day
Monday - an easy 5 miles but very slow feeling tired and stressed
Tues - 10+ miles with Garmin going wonky but it was hot and slowed at the end
Weds- 8 mile fartlek with 1, 2, 3 minute efforts with 2-3 easy bits and then repeated. Felt good but legs got tired and right hammy was complaining.
Thurs- med long 14.5 miles in 2hr doing loops around town and several water stops at the town square. Finished off with a quick dip in our fishpond.
Fri- 8 miles at an easy pace around town but then upped to tempo effort to beat the thunderstorm home
Sat - 9 miles, again at an easy pace around town with a few strides at the end

Weekly total of 60 miles in 7 runs and 8hr 15 min on my feet.

Sunday - a new week starts but Andrew was away so it was a pair of long loops in town with each a mirror image of the other. 18 miles in 2hr 30min exactly and heartrate at 128 avg. The run started like death warmed over and improved slightly for the 2nd loop but I then died again at the end as I tired in the last miles.

Today was another rest day (hate to miss them like I did last week).

Have a great week!

St. Andrews Father's Day Race - race director's cut

Sunday, June 17th, 2007 was mostly one big blur. When you are co-race director, even in a small one like this with only about 100 people entered there are so many small details that keep you distracted and the whole thing just flashes by.

We had a perfect St. Andrew's-by-the-Sea day. Sunshine, mild temperatures, light breeze and lots of happy smiling faces.

The 1.5 mile kids lined up. Isn't that little guy so cute? They all managed to complete the distance in very impressive style. One little girl was late for the start and then ran it with her Dad and submitted the time after. She was very disappointed to miss her start but happy to participate.

And they're off! I love the way kids can run so freely.

Their effort and determination was amazing to see. The overall winner was not the older kid too. The results are here on the RunNB website.

Next up were the big people, no less intent and determined but still smiling and happy.

Here's a great artistic shot by my co-director showing off a runner and the Algonquin resort hotel which was also one of our larger sponsors.

A scenic shot around the 1/2 way mark. Remember this race is run entirely inside the town of St. Andrews.

A shot down the 'Back' Street just seconds after the race start. Did I say it was a perfect day? Except maybe for the fact that I didn't get to run it. Maybe another year but I found it was too much the one year that I tried to do both. Just have to grin and bear it; besides it's a little giving back to the race community that I like to do.

Race wise we had no glitches at all. It was a good race but the overall leaders separated quickly and were more or less decided after the 2nd mile. The 5 mile results are here and the winning time of 26:46 was quite impressive but well off the course record of 25:33 (amazing with the crazy hills we have in the middle). We took a ton of pictures and they are also posted on the RunNB website. The timing and race results were all available within 1/2 hour of the last finisher using our old manual system of recording times and then entering them in a computer. We had a ton of prizes and lots of trophies and ribbons with most everyone going away with something of value.

It was a great day but I was glad it was done. I took some time later in the day to get my run in but was too late to do a long run. More on that later. Have a good week!

Woo Hoo!

Great news on the home front with my daughter Steph finally getting accepted into the Atlantic Veterinary College or AVC at UPEI. This was her third attempt at getting in and might have been her last try but now that she's made it we're very excited and happy for her. Steph is a life long animal lover and has always wanted to be a vet since she was very little. She now has the opportunity to work hard and achieve her dream. The road ahead will be long and difficult because the program is very demanding but she knows this and is well prepared to do well. You can visit and congratulate Steph at her blog where she also does some occasional running!

In fact I'm told that Steph will also be running in our St. Andrew's Father's Day race which we're putting on tomorrow. This will be the 29th edition of this 5 mile race and it goes around the perimeter of our beautiful little town. Its over a route that I run on most days but usually without 'the hill'. Here's the elevation profile. The kicker is in the last mile!

I've been busy today doing last minute things for the race like checking my computer registration forms, gathering food and drinks, checking on a few sponsors, etc. I even took time to fit in my run where I ran both the 1.5 mile kids loop and the 5 mile main loop with a can of spray paint in my water bottle holder so I could spuce up the faded course mile and kilometer markings (don't tell). Hopefully all will go well in the morning. We never know how many are going to show up with numbers in recent years varying from about 50-150 runners (it's just a small out of the way race ;-).

A quick update on my running for the past week:

Sunday - 17 miles in 2:34, a bit slow and tired with sore feet from all the running I did on concrete last week in Halifax/Dartmouth

Mon - rest

Tues - 5.5 easy with an unusually early 7am start because I was doing a long drive with my Mom to Bathurst and back in the same day. She's back in the chemo circle once again but we're hopeful the new drugs will work better this time around. Ended up driving for about 12 hours and was exhausted by the end of it.

Weds- 6mi dragging my butt run (I wonder why)

Thurs - 8 mi fartlek-y run with 10x1min surges with 1:00 rest but found out later I'd misread the workout and should have done 2-4min rests. Oh well avg pace was a decent 7:3x.

Fri - 10 mile in the heat of the day (8:01 pace); the sun actually came out and the temps shot up to the mid 20's (70'sF) would you believe? Nothing for you southerners but hard on us Canuks! I drank 2 bottles of water and was dying at the end.

Sat (today) - 10 miles running and marking our race course. Slow pace with all the stops and starts.

Total of 56 miles in 7hr 40min for the week and I still don't have a plan written down! Next week will be more of the same with a tempo run and maybe some cruise repeats but don't know how I'll do the long run with Sunday being a write-off due to the race director thing happening.

Wish me luck and have a great week! Summer officially starts on June 21 at 18:06 hrs which is also happens to be the longest day of the year (or at least the longest daylight hours) !

Ho Hum

18 weeks to MDI

Still running but hardly training, yet...

Blogging has been a bit of a chore for some reason lately and so it's getting left on the back-burner.

More numbers: 48 miles last week in 6 runs with the longest at 11 and one 10k race

Sunday: 17 miles to start the week out right.

Time to figure out a plan.

Cobscook 10k

Hey, the boys are back in town!! It was great to see both Marc & Andrew at today's race.

This was the pre-race get together because it was our last chance to see Andrew (see his race report) before he went tearing off into the fog/sun with the lead pack to a 2nd place overall. Actually there was no fog but he did go out quickly while Marc and I hung back and tried to gab a bit. However, it's kind of hard to run a 10k and talk at the same time so this only lasted for a mile or so. We chatted with the 1st lady for a bit and then after the 5k in about 21:30 we split up as Marc pulled ahead. This was a tough hilly 10k and no excuses but my legs just couldn't go any faster today. I guess the lack of any speed work and the effects of Cabot Trail were the main culprits. Nice to finish (in under 45min) and then schmooze with the boys and Andrew's family. Jo also made the trip today and got to visit some of my running haunts as we drove part of the Boyden Lake route.

It was a great day for a run and nice to have the Three Blind Moose back together again. We hope to get together again for some long runs before MDI. Have a good week!

Cabot Trail weekend- even more gory details

Ouch, ouch, ouch! It's now Friday, 6 days later and the legs are still complaining! Did a short 30 minute stumble on Thurs and a 40 minute crawl today. Still hoping to get that 10k in on Sunday with Andrew but it may just be an easy run at the back at the pack. Well, back to the trail...

Did I mention the 6.2 k uphill climb? Remind me never to do this leg ever again! The first bit was only a moderate grade but it soon became single file, extremely steep climbing, just trying to stay on the heels of the yellow runner in front of me and to keep the heartrate from climbing to much over 90% of max. The last time I did this leg my goal was not to walk a step but this time it was just to survive in one piece and so when I found that power-walking was just as fast as running, well... it was powerwalking. Nobody passed me and I passed a few people doing this.
Our team was doing the 1st water stop on this leg and the theme was Welcome to Studio Nine (in honor of leg 9) complete with red carpet treament, music and screaming fans. No walking going through this section!
After the water stop it was still another 2-3k of climbing before it finally leveled off for a bit. By this time I had made friends with Mr Yellow who was from Fredericton, NB and we cruised along at a good pace while looking out for moose. Didn't see any, just lots of tracks along the road. We were also amazed at the amount of snow in the ditches at the top of the mountain.

Next came the hard part (for me), the trip down the other side which is about the same length and steepness as going up. Despite my best efforts at going with the force of gravity, leaning down, running on the dirt on the side of the road, I was soon flapping my way down the crazy grade. I'm happy to report that very few people passed me that weren't again re-passed on the less steep parts. One lady went flying by us (still with Peter, he has a name now) and we gave her some encouraging comments but received no reply. We later re-passed her and again said, good job, keep it up but no reply. The next thing I knew I was pounding down the next grade with her right on my heels (literally) this went on for nearly a kilometer and she even clipped me once, and still not a sound! I should have got her number but then she suddenly dropped back and I didn't see her again. Here are the geeky Garmin details for the run; two things, its a big hill and the HR stayed up there for the most part.
The last few k was just more pounding, trying to get the thing over with and was running back and forth with Peter and another runner. At this point it was almost totally dark but you could see the lights and music of the welcoming finish line for the leg. My teammates were waiting for me with my only request for the end of the run, a nice hot cup of coffee! Boy, did it ever taste great! We then went into the restaurant and had a nice greasy meal since our runner for the next leg was not able to go due to injury.

On to the next leg where our new recruit in the red horns had a smashing time. Do we seem to be having a good time? Do you seen any people that aren't smiling in any of these pictures?
Followed by two more runners doing their night leg. Can you tell the sweaty one who just finished from the one ready to go?
And here is the insane water stop at leg 14 by the Viking team! Can you believe this in the middle of the night with loud music, lights, dancing Vikings in full armour, passing out water to the poor unsuspecting runner victims? Notice the skeleton hanging from the bow. They won the prize hands down!
And here is our happy runner, glad to be done being greeted by the team.
Next up was Martin whom I caught tying his shoes. Are you sure those are double knotted we asked?
And yet another runner, who was so relieved to be done. The waiting around can be very painful, especially for the newbies and we had quite a few this year. You know they all want to come back though don't you?
And here's our final runner (also called Mike) in a neck and neck sprint for the finish at the end of the final leg. The lady (Mike had another name for her) pushed him right to the line but her got her in the last strides. Way to go Mike!
What fun!
The finish line team at leg 16. Can't wait to do it again next year but no mountains for me, please!! Happy running ;-)

Cabot Trail Relay - gory details

Well here goes, just because you asked for it. It's now 4 days full days since the race I still can barely walk, let alone run. I was trying to decide whether it can be classified as an injury, recovery or just plain stupidity (taking a leg that I knew would destroy my legs). I guess I'm in a stupid-injury-recovery mode getting rested up for this weekend's 10k race....

So the relay race. The party started the night before with our trusty team captain laying down the law while his support staff plyed us with after dinner cocktails. The party and loud music went on until almost 11pm when to complaints to the front desk shut down Disco Rob. The relay race starts at 7am which required a 545am wake up in order to get out to the start area about 1/2 hour from our hotel in Baddeck. First up for leg 1 (17.0km rating 3.5) was Michelle who had a fabulous race beating her time for this leg from last year by almost 7 minutes! No wonder she did a little dance at the end! The leg also had a cool Flintstone's theme water stop complete with theme music.

A note about water stops. Teams are assigned water stops and there is a prize at the end of the race for the most creative as voted by the runners and the competition is fierce in this event. Wait until I show you the winners, they blew us away!!

Leg 2 (17.92 km rating 3.5) had one of our newbie's on deck and she looked very worried at the start. "What the hell have I got myself into ?" was the expression on her face before the horn went off. In fact while discussing clothing options with Cool Rob, the horn did go off and the poor girl missed the start. And then at the end Suzanne was so much in the zone that she ignored the flag person with the nice butt (he blows his horn for each runner and had a different costume for each leg) and kept on going down the road despite screams from the gathered crowd. After getting her stopped it was the old "what was I thinking out there".

Next up for leg 3 (13.46km rating 2) was Rob-The Man, back to claim fame and glory once again. The guy is so cool, he didn't even break a sweat and here is the evidence from the end of his run!
Leg 4 (20.01km, rating 5) with 2.1 km of extremely steep grade climbing up Cape Smokey and our esteemed team captain in the drivers seat. He had lots of cheering along the way including the Viking team who were in full horns all weekend.
He was even rewarded with a victory kiss from his beautiful and charming wife at the end despite his sweatiness.Next up for leg 5 (17.5km, rating 3.5) was our Angela and we gave her a good send off with most of the team gathered to see Anthony's finish. She had a great run on a long rolling section of the trail.
Leg 6 saw another newbie Rick, take on a 17.5k leg with rating 4.5 (5 is the max). It was a tough go but with teamwork and lots of support Rick had a great run and a strong finish going up the last of many long hills. He was then so excited that in a moment of weakness was ready to do another leg when he heard that we had an injured runner on deck.
Leg 7 (13.1km, rating 3) with injured runner Jason going despite protests from all around the team. No fear said Jason, with my magic spray all is healed and he was off and running! Methinks he just liked all the pre-race feminine attention he was getting! Jason had a strong race and didn't even look hurt. Nice work, man!
Leg 8 (12.3k, 2.5 rate) with injured runner number 2, Murph ready and raring to go despite even more protests from all concerned. What a dedicated group we had to risk life and limb for no monetary gain or glory! The big guy looked smooth and easy despite the leg brace he was wearing and finished without too much difficulty.
Leg 9 (17.8k, 5 rating) with a 6.2k climb from the start over North Mountain and a pounding finish down the other side. It was now getting dusk and time to put on the reflective vests and glowsticks.

I seem to be having blogger errors now...

Cabot Trail Weekend - part 1

What an amazing/fantastic/terrific weekend on the Cabot Trail Relay! What a fun/spirited/funny team!! The superlatives just can't do it justice and words can't adequately explain the fun that we had. So how about a whole bunch of pics to whet your appetite.

My pictures are here (156 pics)

Our team captain's pics are here (95 pics)

Our team spirit leader, Gayle's pics are here (29 pics)

I got very little sleep and am still recovering and so this will be a very short post. My leg over the mountain went well but I can barely walk today (2 days later). More on that later but the results are here for my Leg 9. Meanwhile, I need to work on my recovery a bit more. You know the drill: bagels, ice-cream and beer ;-)

TTYL

Back on track

Can you spot the gardener in this picture? She's never happier then when her hands are in the dirt. It's a lot of work but the results make it worthwhile.

The past week went quite well on the running front for a change now that my work schedule has slowed down a bit. All I have left is some report writing and one more meeting in mid-June to explain the results to my 'clients'. I'm already looking forward my my vacation for the month of July!! Anyway here's the weeks recap:

Sun- 10 quick miles before church
Mon - off as per usual
Tues - 6.5 mi easy cruise around town
Weds- 10 miles with killer 'Bunny Hill' x 4
Thus - 5 mi. easy, feeling it from Weds
Fri - still feeling sore and tired but managed 8 mi in 59:10 (7:22 pace) in the cold pouring rain. Picked up the pace trying to keep warm and then picked it up some more in the 2nd half where I was almost 'pushing it'. Nice run with bucket brigade to enter the homestead once again.
Sat - easy 10.2 miles to get the weekly total up to 50 for the 1st time since before Boston.

Total of 50.1 miles, 6hr 34min running and avg pace of 7:52 for the week (according to Garmin) and without any clock watching along the way. I'm feeling ready to start some serious training soon for my set of goal races this summer. The idea from RunNB is to Run for the Cycle where you do a 5k, 8k, 10k, 1/2 and full marathon and they take your total times for the overall score. So far I've got zero races entered because they only count events from RunNB. I guess I'd better get entered in a couple of races soon!

On Sunday I had a great run with Andrew today. He was car-less and so we met in his hometown of Eastport, Maine which is the eastern-most 'city' in the US. We did a few of his standard loops with comfort stops at his house on each pass. You can see from the track plot that we were all over the map and that there are more than a couple of hills on this seaside town (not city). The only flat stretch was the airstrip which is 3/4 mile long and but we only did 2 loops of that, despite my protests/pleas to do more loops. "Nooo, I have more hills for you to do" Andrew would say! One of the streets was even named 'Redoubt Hill' ;-)
Total of 17.4 miles in 2:21 with avg hr of 132 (70% effort) and while comparing notes after the run it was interesting to note that I was working at a higher effort level compared to Andrew despite having a lower HR. Sometimes life just isn't fair is it A? Oh, and we never saw the scenic ocean views with the thick fog the enveloped us for the entire run. The air temp of 50F (10C), lack of wind and natural air conditioning made for perfect running conditions today, unlike what poor 'Mad Dog' Phil suffered through down in Phoenix today. He's just going to have to come visit us some time to see the benefits of the northern climes ;-)

That's all for now. Have a great week!