Thankful

For us Canadians, this weekend is thanksgiving. I have had the opportunity to reflect on what I am thankful for and a big part of what I cherish in my life is due to running. The positive things that running has given me are really what I am thankful for. I love having more energy throughout the day because my morning run went well or just because the training regimen has trained my body to be ready for anything. The rush of endorphins after a hard training keep me sane even in difficult moments. The "me" space that running gives me to think things through and plan ahead is priceless. Plus the positive changes that running had brought to my body cannot be overlooked.

So I thought I'd write up on what I am thankful for, the things that motivate me to run or makes running easier:

• Thank you to the exceptional runners that provide me inspiration such as Ray Zahab and Terry Fox.
• Thank you to the regular Joes and Janes everywhere, running along at races and during training. Seeing you out there makes it easier for me.
• Thank you to the online community that shares their training experiences, provides tips and tricks and makes running more social. (yes, I'm looking at you Marlene, Yumke, RoadBunner, LARunner, ChichRunner, Mel, Mel, Ray, Laurel, iRunNation, and countless others I am forgetting right now)
• Thank you to the race sponsors, organizers and volunteers for putting out great events and to celebrate our running community.
• Thank you to the apparel and footwear designers, engineers and retailers for making sure we are equipped with the latest and greatest to make running comfortable and safe.
• Thank you to the National Capital Commission (NCC) and Ottawa city council for making Ottawa a city with so many parks and trails.
• Thank you to friends and family for asking how I did with my training or at my last race. This support means the world to me.
  
• Thank you for a financial situation that allows me to equip myself properly and travel to exotic and fun races.
• Thank you for a healthy body that can take all the pounding of training and continues to deliver exceptional race results.
  
• Last but not least, thank you to my dedicated lover Alex. He puts up with my hissy fits, finicky nutrition schedules, pre-race anxiety and long training hours. I couldn't do it without you.

Training this week was my biggest week ever with almost 104km. Not only did I have an out of plan 5k race to up my weekly mileage but I used an opportunity on Sunday to take a lead on next week's training since the week will be extremely busy and I will be traveling during the weekend. I'm still not sure how I will manage the 38km easy pace after work on Wednesday or Thursday but I'm sure I'll find a way to fit it in :)

The Training Wall

Most long distance runners can tell you a story about how they hit the wall during their race. Some hit it first during a half marathon. Some do after 30km of running and some never really seem to hit it at all. I've been lucky in a sense since I haven't had to deal too often with the wall. My first marathon saw me hit it head first and the wall caused me to question my resolve to finish the race and even to enter future races. I did cross the finish line proudly but not without a significant amount of pain and what seemed like a superhuman effort to keep going. Fast forward to today and it seems that ever since I started following a training plan the wall has been easier to deal with. The race day mental game is one that can be conquered during those lonely training runs in the dead of winter or early morning when everyone else is sleeping. The training is probably having me more prepared for race day as well. Someone once told me that during a race you race up to when your training runs out and then you just slug it out. My last 2 marathons I didn't feel that my training ran out, I felt ready and thoroughly enjoyed race day. Of the approximate 1200 kms required for my training plan, the last 42.2 were definitively the most enjoyable and memorable ones. To a properly trained marathoner, race day is a crown to the achievement that is the training cycle and should be celebrated as such.

This training cycle, I seem to be hitting the wall hard during training. My individual runs are fine once I get started but sometimes I feel that running is starting to get in the way of my life :) Often I have to give myself an extra kick to get out there and do my training runs. As I can start tasting the home stretch of my training, I am realizing that the weeks of training for a marathon and the feelings one goes through are pretty much identical to the race day mental games, but on a longer time scale. I caught myself last week discussing my training schedule with a colleague and I even uttered the words "Maybe I should quit running". This is the wall talking. I should not listen! I remember thinking the same thing around km 30 in my first marathon. Just like a smoker resolving themselves to quit a bad habit. Of course, I can't imagine my life without running, but maybe, just maybe, I ought to take it a bit easier. Of course I want to qualify for Boston someday and I feel that the sooner it happens the better that will be and I can always relax after, but on the other side I'd like to be able to stay up late on Saturday nights and have a drink with my colleagues once in a while after work without worrying about the impact on my training :)

The remedy for the training blues? More training. And quality training. Today, I took the legs out and unleashed them for a long tempo run. This is by far my favorite type of run. I feel like a jockey taking his favorite horse out on the track for a speedy session. The legs going full tilt, the feeling of speed and power resulting from each step is something that I find very addictive and fulfilling. At 4:31m/km for the tempo portion (total of 21.1km in 1h39m24s) this was my fastest 10k in a while and would have been a PR if it was a half marathon.
Look at all the green on the map. I could get used to speeds like this. If I can do two of those in a row, a BQ is within reach. With 5 more weeks of training and proper tapering, I think I am on the right track. Runs like the one I did today are the perfect remedy to break down that wall.

Satisfaction equation

While running, I came up with a formula to calculate how satisfied I will be with my training session once I am done. There are a few variables in there. Difficulty is the technical difficulty of the workout. The more difficult the workout, the higher this value will be. Am I trying to break new grounds for speed or distance for example? Environment is related to the weather conditions, is it hot, cold, windy, raining, etc? The more challenging environmental conditions are, the higher this number will be. Success is how successful I am in meeting the goals of the workout. A complete success would be a 1 where a partial success would be a 0.8 and a failure a 0.5 and cutting the run short 0.2. Motivation is whether I feel like doing the workout or if I am forcing myself to do it because I am having one of those days. If I want to do the workout, this number will be 1. If I procrastinate around a bit before getting out, this would be 0.8. If I have to bribe myself with all kinds of rewards this would be 0.5. The equation goes a bit like this:

Difficulty * Environment * Success / Motivation = Satisfaction

So a workout last week where I was trying to break new ground speedwise (1.5) in hot weather (2) and failed at my interval (0.8) still yielded a high satisfaction rating (4.8) since my motivation had been really low (0.5) and I had to really work at getting out of the door.

How do you keep satisfied when not everything is going your way?

Sacrifices

Tapering always leave me with lots of time to think about the weeks that went into training for the race I'm about to tackle. This training cycle has been particularly long. Planning for 2 spring marathons felt like a super idea back in the fall. I could build on the success of the first one and really set myself up for a fantastic summer of training. What I didn't realize is that without much downtime between the 2 races, it would mean that I would be in a really long training cycle, falling right back in the thick of things right after Los Angeles. I've been effectively in ramp-up training mode for almost 6 months!

I've touched on the dollar costs of running before, but lately I've been more concerned about the other sacrifices runners must do to reap results on race day. The training regiment necessary for a stellar race day performance requires these sacrifices.

We have to learn to resist that snooze button and get our butt out there early otherwise there won't be enough time to rack up the mileage that the training plan demands. If we delay our runs too long into the day we'll have to deal with hotter weather, making us sluggish and turning our otherwise enjoyable runs into a tough slog to the finish. I consider seeing the sun rising a rare privilege, so as an early morning runner I've been really lucky to witness this natural spectacle many times this year.

Being able to wake up early and deliver a good training session requires some discipline on the evening front as well. Runners will often have to turn in extra early to ensure they are well rested for their run the next day. This has earned me the nickname of grandpa quite a few times here around the house and some joking about being close to my pumpkin time when my eyelids start getting a bit heavy :) I have to say no to going to the late show at the movies and skip on lots of social outings or shows that would take me too late into the nigh.

The time commitment alone is monumental to train for a marathon. I'm averaging about 10 hours a week on the road, that doesn't even include time preparing, fueling up and doing laundry. Trust me, the laundry heap alone is quite the task, especially in winter :) You can be as good a multi-tasker and time manager as you want, a 10 hour a week deficit over 24 weeks is a lot of time to make up. I am lucky to have a supporting crew that is willing to put up with the time commitments and sometimes mood swings that training (and especially tapering) can bring about.

We also have to watch what we eat. Too little of this type of food and there won't be enough fuel for the ride. Too much of other types of foods will mean extra weight, making our journey to the finish line slower and tougher than it needs to be. I didn't count the amount of carb-loading dinners I had, but with 80-90km a week and two runs of over 25km during the peak weeks, there was enough to go through all the pasta combinations. I also switched to Sushi and that worked quite well even if the folks at the all you can eat sushi restaurant look at me funny now.

There's also some things that are not permitted until a satisfactory performance like alcohol. I don't seem to be able to train properly after I drink, even if it is just one. Still, I really like mixed drinks and consider myself an apt mixer, so this one was a bit difficult for me. Throughout my training cycle, I would allow myself one alcoholic drink per week, the evening after my long run. More often than not a Cosmo, mixed just the way I like it.

We also ask those around us to make sacrifices when they spend an otherwise fine day around smelly athletes trying to recognize us in the crowd so they can cheer and give us that extra boost of energy needed for peak performance.

Despite all these sacrifices runners are a grateful bunch. Always thanking mother nature when conditions are favorable. I also like to hug race volunteers at the finish line but for some reason the favor is not usually returned : -)

Reflecting on the last 6 months of ups, downs and in-betweens, there is one thing that is sure in my mind: Running has made my life better. Like an old friend that is there when I need it, running helps me through the rough patches and makes the happy times happier. I know I can count on it. Even if I have a bad training session, I got out there and gave it all I could. I committed and delivered to the best of my abilities and the feeling of accomplishment that running gives me is priceless. The Endorphins are just bonus points ;)

LA Afterthoughts + C4C

I received lots of online and offline congrats and comments about LA! Thank you! One of the things that came back the most was about taking so many pictures yet crushing my goal at the same time.... How did I manage it?

First of all, I don't think my goal was too easy. I think I just had a very rare perfect day. The fact that I was in a timezone 3 hours behind made the 7am start quite a late one for my eastern system and my nutrition was going right on schedule prior to the race, thanks to an All-you-can-eat pasta special for the Marathon at Maria's downtown LA. The weather was gorgeous. Even if it got a bit hot in downtown, once when we started going towards the sea the refreshing breeze came in to cool us down. The course was fabulous with lots of sights to take your mind off the grueling task of putting one foot before another and the community support was outstanding, recharging my batteries at every turn. I can't forget mentionning that my dad was also inspiring me to push the limit of what I knew I could do.

As the picture taking, I think it actually helped make me faster. Marathoners will know that the course can get pretty lonely and boring. It's not unusual to strike up a conversation with fellow runners when breathing is allowing it. Taking our minds off the littles aches that are developing or not thinking about how much fuel is left in the tank versus how many miles are left on the course is paramount to a good performance. Having the camera and thinking about the pictures and the sights that I wanted to bring back to friends and family did just that for me. While the running backwards was a bit dangerous (I almost tripped at least twice!) it also gave my muscles a break in the motion and I think this had a positive effect.

Where do I go from here? I have another marathon scheduled for the end of May, in my hometown with friends and family watching. I'll have to do well! My goal is simply a repeat of my LA performance to confirm that I am strong and can use the summer to get even faster towards that elusive Boston Qualifying time (3:10 for me).

LA Marathon, like most major races, had a bunch of race photographers on site. I never understood the race photography economy. While I do realize they spend tremendous amounts of money to take all these beautiful pictures such as this one:
What I never understood is the market for these pictures. A single picture will cost you $60. Granted they also offer an "economical' download of all the pictures they take of you for a "modest" $80. I can't justify myself paying that much money for pictures. Yes, I want a copy. These are amazing pictures of what is for the most part an extraordinary event, but seriously, $60 per picture? I had a chat with the girl at the counter at the expo about this. She seemed to hold a position of fair responsibility in the company and all she could do to validate that $80 for a download of all the pictures was a fair price was that it was their most popular product. I don't have an MBA in race photography economics, but let's say there are 50 photographers paid a per diem of $2,000 (I think this is generous, especially for LA where every closet paparazzi has good quality photo equipment), that's only $100,000 of fixed cost per event. Add in a generous amortization of $50,000 per race for website and bib recognition software and you only have a fixed cost of $150,000. If you sell a download package to %10 of the field at $80, that's $200k ($50k of profits). If you'd sell the same package for $25, you'd probably get %50 or more of the field buying it, that's over $300k ($150k profit). Maybe I'm wrong and there's already %50 of the field buying the download and I'm totally off the track here with my numbers.

If you are in the race photography business, I think your sweet spot for an almost universal buyin is about %25 of the cost of the race entry fee. For $25 or less, I'd buy the pictures before the race, before I even see them and not ask for a refund if they are no good. Anything over $30, I'll wait to see the results and if they are good I will get them. Anything over $40 I won't even think about it even if the picture is worthy of Time Magazine or National Geographics.

One of the benefits of having gone to LA is that I broke my phone so I got this new one:
It's more like a computer than a phone really and it has a GPS. I've seen lots of software for running and tracking distance, pace, etc and I will be trying them out in the next few weeks to see if there is a possibility of replacing my garmin. Less electronics to carry while I run is better in my books but I think it will be difficult to replace the purpose built Garmin watch with a more general use device like a phone. More on this as I experiment with the various software. If you have any suggestions for a good running software that runs on Android, let me know!

I totally forgot the C4C with the race excitement so I'll use the comments on my race report for the March numbers, so 8 food items will be donated to the Kanata Food Cupboard. Don't think that's enough to feed the needy? Leave your comments here for April's C4C, for every visitor that leaves a comment I'll donate one non-perishable item. If we go over 8 comments, I'll double March's donation!

Off the wagon

I have sort of fallen off the wagon this week. While this should be my highest mileage week for this training plan, a series of events have created a perfect storm and provided with an easy excuse to put my training aside. There is not much I can do about the amount of work that I have to do and the extra hours that I'm putting in while this is busy season at my department. I also have little control over my dad's health and wanting to be there by his side to support him. The wet and snowy weather does put a damper on any outside run but I could have toughed it out or just found a treadmill, indoor track or gym somewhere to fill in while the street is not appealing. Truth be told I did not have the dedication to get back out there and pound the pavement after an almost perfect 12 weeks streak of training. I welcomed the excuses with open arms.

The comforting factor in all this? It's only been 3 days without a serious workout and I feel guilty as hell. Guilty enough to write this entry, kick myself in the butt and find the motivation to salvage this week while there is still time. The 38k long run this weekend won't run itself and it will be real painful if I don't get a few short runs in between to loosen up.

RIP Nodar

Dear Nodar,

You don't know me and I don't really know you either. I wouldn't be able to point out your hometown on the map and probably wouldn't even be able to pronounce your full name: Nodar Kumaritashvili. However there is something I know about you. You were a very courageous man and had an unwavering dedication to sports excellence. You set an example and inspired countless young people that will dedicate their lives to sports and in turn inspire others.

I was shocked, with the rest of the world, to learn about the tragic accident that happened at the track. The world lost a bright young athlete and I join your family, friends and the world in mourning your departure. I dedicate this morning's gruelling 32km run to you. Athletes like you inspire me to always push myself further to reach and exceed my objectives. It's sad that you were never able to really reach your full potential.

One thing that I know for sure is that long after the controversy surrounding your early and brutal departure has quieted down, our memories of your dedication and the inspiration you have given us will live on in our hearts forever. Rest in peace Nodar.

Cost of running + 3 in 3

I've been needing a new pair of running shoes for a while now and looking around for good deals on shoes has gotten me thinking about the cost of running. While running is probably one of the most affordable and accessible sports, there are definitively costs, especially for long distance runners.

A good pair of shoes will set you back about $125-150 and last around 500 km. Not to forget other equipment such as tech shirt, shorts, tights, socks and hats, especially in winter with so many layers! Other equipment may be the beloved Garmins, iPods and other technology tools making our runs better. There are also the obvious costs of races and travel to races that hang in the balance.

On top of that, there are nutritional costs. Sport drinks are pretty affordable at 5$ for a tub of crystals that will make 8 liters, enough for a few long runs. Other nutrition costs are the more costly gels and supplements such as glucosamine to ensure healthy joints. I expect that proteins and carbohydrates should be featured in higher quantity in a runner's diet than someone who doesn't exercise much.

There are also a lot of training related reading materials, association membership fees, magazine and coaches that can add up without noticing. I'm pretty lucky I can withstand the elements and run outside in the cold, that way I don't need a gym membership even if I did equip my dreadmill-less home-gym with quite a bit of equipment that I hope can make me a better runner.

Adding it all up makes me realised how much money I devoted to running over the years. I think every penny spent running is a worthwhile investment in making me a faster runner, happier person and most probably a healthier human being. If I was to add up all the running related dollars I've spent in a year and divide by the kms I ran, the cost would come at about $2 per km. That's something to think about on my long runs as the bill keeps getting longer!

Life got pretty busy in the last few days so I had to shuffle my schedule around a bit. I was still able to do 3 back to back running days totalling 32 km. Not bad. I was right on the money for my goals both times yesterday at 10km in exactly 50 minutes and today with a 60 minutes 12k. I don't usually have the power in the legs to do anything else than just keep up when I do back to back, especially after Wednesday's fartlek session. I'm especially happy about today's speed profile, almost a flat line throughout.
It's the first time I notice that I run an exact split with my both my first and last 6km clocking in at exactly 30 minutes!

Let's see how I fare on Sunday's long 32km.

Year in Review - Late C4C

With the weather outside turning all wet and icy, I have had to take my training inside. (That is an actual picture of the light at my front porch!)
I'm still not quite sure if my training session today will be in the gym or if I will brave the thin layer of snow on what is probably icy sidewalks underneath.

With this new dose of winter, I started thinking about my training so far this year and how much it has changed. A year ago, after conquering the marathon distance (at a snail's pace admittedly), I turned my sights to a new challenge: the Triathlon. I found a nice indoor trainer for the bike portion, familiarized myself with the myriads of pools around my stomping grounds and their various schedules and conquered old man winter to run in the cold, running outside throughout the winter was a first for me.

My training regimen was pretty hardcore by my standards. Most days saw at least training in one of the disciplines and sometimes even two. Rest days were few and far between with usually one or sometimes two a week. I also started blogging to share my experience with current friends and family. Little did I know that the blogging would introduce me to an entire community of athletes and allow me to create new friendships. All my training really paid off when I completed my first triathlon and met my objective.

Life sometimes take unexpected turns and that's what happenned after the triathlon where I left for China. I had wonderful experiences in China but was unable to keep the training up because of various health concerns. I still had some incredible runs and life experiences in China so I'm not even concerned about the setback that the trip introduced training-wise.

While I don't keep an official mileage counter, having a nifty GPS device that I carry with me whenever I run has advantages. I was able to play with the numbers and get my total so far for 2009 so far: 570km of running and 2380km of biking! Incredible. If I ran all these runs in the same direction, I would have been able to run to Niagara Falls! Add the biking and I would have reached Miami! Incredible!

All the training for the triathlon was fun, but with my current schedule, it's very hard to keep up with all the training. Plus the gear required for a triathlon is really intense. If I'm really serious about competing, I'd need at least a new bike and some way to carry it around like a car rack or something. I'm not saying I'll never do a triathlon again, but at this point in my life, I need simplicity and training for a triathlon is not simple!!!

Coming back from the experience of having trained and participated in a triathlon, I now have a new goal. This new goal is a bit of an old friend of mine. While I may have conquered the marathon distance at ScotiaBank Waterfront Marathon in 2008, but I never quite conquered the clock to my satisfaction. Entering this new year and decade, I have two goals with regards to the marathon clock. This year, I would like to break the 4 hour marathon. This decade, I want to qualify and run Boston. Quite the goal, eh? I figure that if I can't get to 3:10 in the next 5 years, at least it will get easier when it drops to 3:15 on the accounts of me getting older at that time :) Now that I've committed to it in digital ink, I will have to deliver. I hope I can take you all on that exciting journey with me.

I didn't post on Friday so this will have to take place of the Cans for Comments for last week. The total from the week before was 8 cans so here is what is going to the food bank:
Since I'm late with the C4C post and this is prime holiday season, I will pledge to donate at least 14 cans which is the total from my most popular C4C post. If we can break that number, I will top it up of course!

Decade in review + C4C

Today is Comments for Cans again. You know the drill, for every visitor that leaves a comment, I will donate a can (or other non perishable food item) to the Stittsville Food Bank. Feel free to jump to comments right away if you don't want to hear about my decade-long story of getting fitter ;)

With the new year approaching, I turn a bit nostalgic about old times. This year two digits of the year will change at once bringing us into a brand new decade. I have an urge to take you on a reflection of how physical activity has changed my life and ponder at what is coming next.

10 years ago was the dawn of a new era. I spent New Year's eve 1999 partying like it was, well, 1999. I played the beach bum in Costa Rica with dear friends and warm weather. I was not in the best physical shape at all, weighing about 40 pounds more than I do now and not exercising very often...

The decade that followed was definitively not a lost one for me. I started on the path to a much healthier lifestyle without an actual plan to get fit. It started when my work took me to a location that had awful bus service. I decided then that biking to work was a viable option with the 10 or so kilometers that separated my home and my work.

Things took an unexpected turn when, a few years later, I transfered to a location some 25km away from my home. The new location had, you guessed it, awful bus service. I have never been a fan of driving a car to and from work (or anywhere at all other than highways really) so I took to biking there and back once a week, twice a week and eventually everyday in fair weather. I braved the rain once and discovered it wasn't that bad so I kept on biking from around easter to around Halloween. At some point I even biked an extraordinary 160km in one day with all my gear in tow to go camping. Thankfully a friend with an empty van drove me back from my foolish expedition.

The year after, I moved work locations again. I was a bit dissapointed when my new work was only 8 km away from my house. The bike ride was barely enough to work a sweat. One of my colleague was a runner and was able to convince myself and another colleague that running was fun. Pretty soon things snow balled and we were a bunch that would go out a few times a week. Never the same group but there was always someone heading out from a group of 5 or 6. Running can be infectious like that.

That's where I fell in love with running. The simplicity of the sport. The freedom of surfaces on which it can be practiced. The variety of routes I could take. I went from aiming to finish the 6 or so km route we used at lunch without stopping to beating my previous time over and over. I even started to leave the bike at home and run to and from work on top of my lunch time training. My runner colleague came back from a marathon and he could barely walk. I knew there had to be something mystical about the distance for him to get in such shape for it. I wanted some of that too.

While running with some more experienced colleagues, I noticed that one of them was wearing an armband computer. I had a total geekout when I realized that the thing tracked speed and distance. I always had odometers on my bikes but never realized I could have the same info while running! I had to get such as device and after setting speed and distance goals (approximate distance of course!) and meeting them, I rewarded myself with the gizmo and it totally changed the way I trained. I put it to good use by entering a half marathon right away. My first road race! It was a painful race but I finished it. I was a bit over my innocent goal of under 2 hours but very satisfied with my performance nonetheless. The Endorphins were buzzing in my blood and I knew I could never go back to the way things were before I became an amateur athlete.

I entered other races and continued my lunch day workouts whenever possible despite the changes in employers. I am lucky that my employers are always so cool with allowing me to take a long lunch and make up the hours at night. I raced twice in my first racing summer and only once the summer after that. I got hurt while pushing too hard in the fall and had to take a break from training for a few months, while my injuries healed.

The following summer, I planned to make good on a 3 year old promise to run a marathon. While I trained all summer, I had not followed a real training plan and about halfway through my training I started getting soreness in my knees and had to slow down training. I decided to still keep my commitment for the full marathon in the fall. The race was hard and long. I never imagined it could be that long and lonely towards the end. I was determined to follow through on my goals and I finished the race, uninjured but way below my goal time, swearing never to attempt the distance again!

With the marathon distance conquered, I needed a new goal. I set my sights on a triathlon, having recently cheered for a friend of mine at a multisport event. You'll hear all about how training for the triathlon was in an upcoming year-in-review post where I'll go into more details of the various events of 2009.

Last week, I had 14 comments, so here is what the donation looks like:
Hopefully I didn't scare too many people away with my long winded reflection on my life changing decade and we can beat the 14 items that were donated for last week!

No time!!

Despite my pledge to make this week a more active training week than last, I didn't really find the time for it. I ran 10k on Saturday and then went for a swim (2x1000m + 250m) on Sunday. Then the rest of the week happened.

I'm taking solace in the fact that I am embarking on a 5 week vacation. I hope to be at a level to start a marathon training plan by the time I get back... Any suggestions for Feb/March races? So far the LA Marathon looks like my best bet...

The next update will be from half a world away as the EndorphinBuzzer visits Shanghai/China.

Return to the source

It was such a nice day Friday that I decided to extend my workday a bit so I could squeeze more running into my lunch time. With a goal of doing 12k, I decided that the perfect way to end my training for the half marathon coming up next week would be to return to where it all started.

My passion for running started when a colleague of mine wanted to get into running at lunch time and run a small loop around Leamy Lake which was right next to my workplace back then. I was biking to work (a short haul compared to now at only 7km) and decided that the running could diversify my training. Little did I know that going out once or twice a week with my work buddies would turn into a hobby and then a passion.

On our slow runs around the lake, we would often see a much faster colleague zoom by us effortlessly while we would stop every now and then for a walking break. We would often ask him for tips about how to train and what to expect under certain conditions. I remember when he came back from running a marathon one year (I think this was before we even started running), he couldn't come in to work for a day or two, his feet were so painful. He was my running hero. One day, this colleague told us about what was then called the ING Ottawa Marathon (now simply Ottawa Marathon since they do not have a sponsor this year). My colleague and I decided to jump in and sign up for the Half Marathon, a 21.1km distance (yes, the .1 matters, especially then!). Not really knowing what to expect for my first road race, I was blown away. So many fit people. So much camaraderie and high spirits. Such a runner's high after crossing the finish line even if I did horrible at 2h14. I later found out my real "chip" time was 2h08. Not bad for a first time but for some reason I was shooting for a finish under 2 hours. Even if you don't meet your goal, your first time is always a guaranteed Personal Best (PB in runner talk).

Later that year, I signed up for a fall half marathon and you can clearly see that my summer in training was not misspent with a finish of 1h47 (gun: 1h46). I knew better what to expect and I knew better how to train. I had even started running to work instead of cycling to get more miles in. Since then, I have participated in the Ottawa half-marathon every year, even last year when I was recovering from a nasty plantar fasciitis.

So yesterday, when I went for my last training run before tapering, I thought of all those lunch time training runs I did around Leamy Lake. I thought how our group of two grew in size to involve up to 5 or 6 individuals, depending on the days. I thought how much of a positive change running brought to my life and how, just like a drop of water in a calm pond, it spreads infectiously to those around me. Unfortunately, I learned yesterday that my colleague was down with an injury and would not be able to run for quite a while. So I think about him and hope for a speedy recovery so he can at least return to a regular life, if not a running routine.

So my run around Leamy Lake was pretty peaceful and uneventful. I never believe how much forest and greenspace is available to us in the National Capital Region. I didn't have to use the streets once except to cross them twice on my way back.
The speed profile is a bit dissapointing with a slower split, but I was trying to pace myself not to go too fast in anticipation for the pacing I would need to do for the race. Turns out I overpaced myself letting it slip too low. With the energy I had in the tank, I think that I can safely pace myself at 4:45/km for the race and still have some left over for a final sprint, giving me a chance at a sub 1h40 finish (Am I setting myself up for too much??)
So there we go. Now the tapering starts. I will post my tapering strategy in the next few days because a lot of people have been asking me how I transition from training to racing and I'm not even sure myself if my strategy is the best, so you will be able to comment on it.

Ariane Moffatt's Aquanaute and Chopin Experience Disk 1 in the mix.

Under 19 minutes again!

Swimming today was a breeze. I came in at about 19 minutes again and this time the count is accurate :) I tried some tumbling but then the pool got busy so I used the touch and turn to make sure I don't hurt anyone.

After my regular laps, I did a cool down with about a dozen laps of breast strokes. I then lazed in the pool for another 15-20 minutes, alternating between freestyle and breast stroke. When the pool got quieter, I even practiced a bit of tumbling. I'm still struggling with my breathing technique pre-tumble and my return to swimming once I turned. I have to watch some more videos to figure out how I should emerge and start swimming again. I could also improve my technique so I don't get so much water in my nose!!

I was having lunch today with my friend that runs foodiePrints (check it out it's full of delicious recipes and restaurant reviews). He commented on my running and calling it impressive or a similar compliment. My immediate reaction, besides blushing, was to say that it's not that crazy. 30km a week of running is not uncommon and when I look up at my running role models, I find that I am really not that special. However, if 10 years ago, my 19 year old self was to read this, he most probably would think that whoever is behind this blog is nuts. Funny how constantly challenging your limits will make these limits move away further and further :) Thanks for bringing me some perspective Don!!