A week of new adventures and some long term goals

So just a few short weeks ago, I was adamantly insisting that I would never trail run, and how my bike riding was going nowhere fast.

My, how things have changed.

I decided to start running trails at least once a week until I don't hate them anymore.  I can't say that trails have suddenly become my new BFF, but I am enjoying the scenery (most of it only a 5-10 minute drive from home), I haven't fallen or broken anything..yet, and I have been eaten alive by mosquitoes a couple of times but I noticed both times I was wearing the same outfit, so maybe mosquitoes are particularly attracted to my red CEP sleeves and striped ivivva skirt.

Last Monday, I ran in Bronte Creek as the sun was rising.  My legs were feeling peppy and I was thrilled that the run was going so well.  I took a path that ended within sight of my car parked across the street, but there was a chain link fence that I followed for a bit.  It looked like the fence ended, so I waded through waist deep grasses only to find..more fence!  I ended up with scratches all over my legs and a bite on my finger and a run that was about 1K longer than anticipated.

Then on Wednesday, I got really brave and mapped out a route through the RBG.  

It was beautiful, but the weather was humidity soup. I quickly sweated off all the Off I had put on, I got lost and when I stopped to consult Google Maps, I promptly got attacked by mosquito swarms from hell. 

On the biking front, Emma explained gears to me in a way that my dense self could finally comprehend and I achieved my first distance PB of the week on Friday when Beth and I rode 12.7K but I failed twice to make it up a hill. (more on this later).

Saturday, Irina and Zin arranged a group bike ride.  I was totally freaked that I would be in over my head, but Zin rode with me for the first 12K.  Right away, there was a big hill heading up to Guelph Line, I shifted gears and Z yelled, "OTHER WAY!" Explains why I couldn't make it up the hill on Friday, eh? :)

I originally planned to ride 15-20K, but I felt fantastic so kept going a bit more and ended up with a giant bike distance PB of 23.83K! I forgot to restart my Garmin at one point so I think the actual distance was closer to 24. I realized that my rides weren't slow due to me being a shitty cyclist, but rather just half-assing the effort. Suddenly speeds of 15K/h+ felt easy after Zin gave me some tips on pedalling. 

Standing out in a sea of black shorts and fancy bikes. (photo by Irina)

Finally, on Sunday I was going to do my long run with Nicole, but she cancelled.  Greg and I scrambled up a sitter for Bryden, and ambitiously planned a 15K bike/10K run brick that got cut short after the sitter informed us that we had exactly 2 hours from drop off.  Since the bike was mainly through city streets, I didn't get a chance to pick up speed like I did on Saturday.  But I did get up the nerve to ride in the bike lane all the way downtown!  On the way back, I tried again to take one hand off the handlebars to wipe a drop of sweat that was tickling my nose and promptly went flying off my bike, face planting on the (side) street.  Greg informs me that I flew through the air very gracefully.

I find that now that I am getting the hang of the bike, I am enjoying it A LOT and now I totally understand Greg's disgust when we were dating 10 years ago, I tried to convince him that Spinning was the Most Fun Exercise Ever.

*deep breath*

So here's my long term goals:

Get a better bike for my next birthday and a duathlon in 2015.  Start to learn to swim in 2015.  Triathlon - which once seemed like an impossible dream - before my 40th birthday (June 2018).

Girl power - Niagara Falls Women's HM/SkirtSports virtual HM race report

I'm 3 for 3 at this event. The first year I signed up on a whim, horrified by the $100+ price tag and volunteered to pace in 2013. NFWHM has gotten better each year. The first year the atmosphere seemed a bit forced. I wasn't actually planning to run this year but I got the email calling for pacers. I asked Nicole and Amy to join the pacing team, mainly because of the free wine in the race kit but when I mentioned the lululemon outlet they were like YAH LET'S GO!!!!
Originally I was given the 2:05 continuous assignment but when Nicole ended up with 2:15, I had to offer to switch. It turned out for the best because I really didn't feel like remotely running fast after Mississauga anyways.
I was really looking forward to Saturday. Race kit pickup at a mall that was completely dead except for the runners.

Race kit pic stolen from Amy obviously. I don't feel like laying out all of my swag, plus I've drank 3/4ths of the wine already.

 Then LULU OUTLET MADNESS!

Amy, spying the rack of pacesetters. Followed by a very nice lunch with Nicole, Fergus, Brigette and Amy.

Race morning dawned absolutely flawless, if a bit warm. I had also signed up for the SkirtSports virtual half because hello, free skirt?

arty sideways pic by Nicole, posing with my SkirtSports bib.

Visited the porta-potty, which really was lavender scented and had flowers inside. Then the most horrible thing that could have happened happened. My penis bottle fell into the porta potty. Fortunately (?!) it landed in the blue stuff, not in a pile of shit and without thinking I actually reached in and picked it back out. I rinsed the bottle off the best I could at the sink and rejoined Amy and Nicole. We were approached by some lady who asked if we had seen Anna, I was momentarily shocked in wondering how a random person knew that we were friends with Anna, but it turns out that Anna had told her to look for the 3 pacers. 

You didn't really come here to read about me running a slow half, did you?

Some random thoughts from being in the corral and during the race: 

•  I saw the mythical runner in the yellow lace strappy nightie again. I guess she didn't die of chafing after last year's race. 
• During my first pacing gig, someone asked me to hold the sign up higher because they needed to see it every moment. I was totally floored by the request and complied at the time but then got angry about it later. I'm wearing bunny ears and a flashy outfit, I'm sure you can see me at any time, and if I'm not in sight, then perhaps check your race plan instead of bitching to the pacer about it. Today, I was again asked, quite rudely, to hold my sign higher, around 5K. I should have said, "if it's so important to you, why don't YOU hold the sign up high the rest of the way?" But what I really said was, "I'm sorry, I can't..I'm wearing bunny ears and it shouldn't be hard to see me." and one of my pacees yelled, "Don't you know her arm will fall off?!" 
• The double out and back course made for many cheering opportunities. I must've blinked and missed Amy during the first out and back but saw both her and Nicole on the back half.  

Pacee: you pacers get a lot of love! 

Me: Oh, they are my running buddies and I drove. They have to be nice to me if they don't want to walk home! (I kid, I kid!) 

• lots of skirts! tutus, running skirts and sparkle skirts galore. 

Not going to bore you with the splits, but suffice to say even though my goal pace was 6:09/k and most of my 10 minute running segments were 6:11/k, I still came in faster than my goal of 2:14:5x. Oh well, better to be under than over so I really shouldn't complain. 

Official chip time: 2:14:24 
Field Placement: 609 / 1994 (30.5%) 
Age group: 35 – 39 
Group Placement: 129 / 372 (34.7%) 
Gender Placement: 604 / 1978 (30.5%)

What an awesome looking group of pace bunnies. Totally nailed our pace assignments too! Must've been the Power of The Skirts!

My shameful secret

The natural assumption is I can bike, swim and that a triathlon is the natural progression. My dirty secret is that I can't swim or bike. I never learned either as a child. In 2008, I took a 3 hour adult learn to bike course and can ride about 200 m down the street, but can't even turn a corner without falling. I went home after the class to practice and I SAW people leaning out of their cars and on their porches, pointing and laughing at me. It was not my imagination. So fast forward to today and I got my bike out for the first time since 2008. Rode a straight farther than I ever have before, maybe 500 m? and turned my first corner but along the way crashed several times into trees, cars, curbs and fell off. And because it was a nice day, people were outside, staring and laughing.

I know I "should" not care what other people think, but the shame is so strong. What to do about it?

Why I refuse to trail run

Every year, when the spring thaw comes, pretty much everyone I know heads out on the trails.  Not me.  "Just try it, you might like it!" they plead.  Nope nope nope.  These are the reasons why I will stick to the roads.

Mud and general messiness

I joke about fearing shoulder deep mud and water crossings wrecking my outfits, but seriously, mud washes off.  This is the least of my concerns.

Mosquitoes

Not only do I seem to get bitten far more than the average person, I have a very bad reaction to bites.  I have gotten bitten on my hands while wearing a jacket and long pants, inside a restaurant, and inside my car.  While wearing copious amounts of Muskol. The swelling that follows a bite can only be relieved by prescription strength antihistamines.

I like my ankles

I have broken my right ankle (fell down on grass while playing tag when I was 7) and sprained both ankles multiple times.  Every time I have injured my ankles, it's taken longer and longer to heal.  I fear the next time I fall down, it will be the Big One that puts me out of commission for months.  I've faceplanted on an unseen acorn or something while on the practically paved Chedoke Radial trail.  I can't imagine what a klutz like me would do when confronted with something more technical.

Bronte Creek Provincial Park: This is as trail-like as I get.

Occasionally, I do feel the urge to get closer to nature and I'll run in Bronte Creek or on the Red Hill trail. But I keep my eyes on the ground at all times, wear a lot of bug spray and I'm always relieved when I complete the run unscathed.  Or I'm super annoyed when I find new welts on my person and have to spend the next few days doped up on drugs.

I hope these are valid enough reasons to appease my trail-loving friends who can't seem to understand why I stick to the roads.  It's not about being open to trying new things.  It's because I can't.

from the EachCoach newsletter

I've been minimally involved with EachCoach, occasionally getting a blurb printed in the weekly updates in the National Post.  I had a phone interview with Ben Kaplan last Tuesday and thought my picture would make last week's column and was somewhat disappointed when it didn't.  But then this email landed in my inbox this morning:

Amazing, inspiring, high five-worthy work on Sunday! Thanks for contributing your adventures to our page! You crossed your finish line, and are awesome.

Now, the big question is: What are you going to run next? No point training all winter just do stop here. Let us know: What will your next goal be?

As ever, here's a picture we love. This is Patty, a piano teacher who ran Mississauga, and needed help to make it across the finish line. "This was my ninth marathon and I made a stupid error," she says. "I thought I'd learned my lesson, but apparently not." 



We received all sorts of pictures, but chose Patty's for one reason. During her race, the worst thing happened. But Patty's not giving up. "Maybe I won't run another marathon until 2015, although, when I say that, that seems like a really long time," she says. "I want to cross that finish line on my own." 

What are you running next? Whatever it is, let us know. We want to be there cheering you on.

Stick with it,
Ben and the EachCoach team

I am a sub 4 marathoner

Pre race goals: 
base: upright and smiling 
stretch: PB (4:10:28) 
reach: sub 4 

In the weeks leading up to the race, all I could think about was my TFL issue, considering there was quite a bit of pain even in my little 3.5K shakeout on Thursday. I got the KT tape people to tape it up at the expo, and initially it caused more referral pain, but by the time we left the expo, my leg was feeling significantly better. 

Race morning, I slapped a large amount of Voltaren on my hip and IT band, taped up both and met Sam J. and Amy D. at a plaza near Sam's house. 

Walking to the meetup and standing outside, it was COLD COLD COLD. Almost regretted the short sleeves, but I knew it would be much warmer in the sun. The first half was uneventful. Very uneventful. We talked a bit, probably more than Robin would have liked to. On Indian Road and Truscott, she told me to draft behind her to cut the headwind and it definitely made a difference. Aside from a little bit of strategic passing, the goal was to conserve energy for the end. Robin B.'s strategy was to run up the hills easy, which I thought I have done in the past, but not as easy as she ran them. 

1st half - 1:57:12. Right on pace. 

Then things got ugly. I was mentally prepared for brutal winds in the Lakeshore/Southdown stretch and was still drafting behind Robin, but I was a few metres behind. I didn't like running behind her because it felt like I was constantly trying to catch up. Made it to 20 miles still on pace. Robin giving me the pep talk "just an hour left!" "single digit countdown!" I took my 4th and last gel at 33K. STUPIDEST NEWBIE MISTAKE EVER. In past marathons, my fueling strategy has been 5 gels, one every 7K. Somehow I totally forgot this and only brought 4 with me. You'd think I'd compensate by taking Gatorade at aid stations..nope, water only. 

I'm sure you can figure out what happened next. I was falling off pace, Robin pretty much screamed at me non-stop, "HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT THAT SUB 4? DO YOU WANT TO BLOW IT WITH LESS THAN 5K TO GO?! DO YOU WANT TO GET THIS DONE NOW OR GO HOME AND THINK ABOUT IT UNTIL THE FALL?" I was trying desperately to keep up but my legs were rebelling. I'd stop for a 5 second walk break and Robin would stop, turn around and physically shove me onward. 

In my dazed state, I saw Greg at the 40K mark. At this point, I was barely functional but he knew that his job was to get me to the finish. I knew I was wasting energy by saying "I can't!!!" and at that point I was thinking I already had a huge PB in the bag and forget about sub 4. But Robin kept yelling... 

Then at 41K, I went down. Greg and Robin each grabbed one of my hands and pulled me back up. Apparently Elaine F. and Phil L. were there but I did not see them. Made the turn into Lakefront Promenade and I could see the number on the clock was a 4. The original plan, Greg was supposed to jump off since he wasn't a registered runner but I needed both of them to pull me along. I saw Sam J. and Irina S. cheering and crossed the finish line and went down immediately. But I stopped my Garmin! lol There have been several races where I thought, "I'm gonna give it all I've got and the medics are going to have to cart me off the course in a wheelchair." I didn't think it would actually happen but it did. 

In the medical tent, I poured water and Gatorade down my throat and recovered to stagger out to the finish, where Emma I. and Amy D. were getting their medals. I will always be sad I didn't get to see them finish! 

I had a little ache in the outer part of my foot so I thought a massage would be a good idea. I sat down to wait and then my hip flexor cramped up. Then both my calves, multiple times. And my foot joined in as well. I'm lying on the massage table with ice packs everywhere, freezing to death and it was hard to tell if my body was shaking from the cold or the cramps. Greg showed me the FB post with my chip time and if I wasn't so cold and in pain, I would have cried tears of joy. Every time I tried to move, another part of my leg cramped up again. So the massage people got another wheelchair and back to the medical tent I went, where I laid flat on my back and the nice medic people iced and massaged me a bit more gently and was finally able to stand up and stagger to the shuttle. My hip and IT band never gave as much as a twinge all day. 

So after 9 marathons, I have finally dipped under 4 hours, but not in the triumphant, fist-pumping way that I had imagined. I am SO SO SO SO eternally grateful to Robin, for putting up with me, especially since at the start Emma told her that I am not prone to whining and that's pretty much all I did for the last 10K. I am also completely grateful to Greg, because Robin could not have dragged me over the finish by herself.

This picture speaks louder than words.

Official chip time: 3:59:26 
Field Placement: 304 / 722 (42.1%) 
Age group: 30 – 39 
Group Placement: 36 / 86 (41.9%) 
Gender Placement: 98 / 305 (32.1%) 

Around the Bay 2014 race report

race goals - 

base: sub 2:50 (equivalent to marathon pace) 
stretch: sub 2:48:56 for a PR 
reach: sub 2:45 to qualify for corral placement for next year's ATB. 

After 3 consecutive crappy races to start out 2014, combined with the never ending winter, I was not confident with my training, despite my training paces getting steadily faster. None of the crappy races was entirely my fault due to poor training (snow & ice covered sidewalks, extremely cold temperatures, and again snowy roads) but it didn't do much for my confidence. 

So I wasn't feeling particularly peppy or awesome on race morning despite my adorable outfit. A couple of cases of mistaken identity while on the way to FIRST ONTARIO CENTRE - we saw a car on the highway that looked just like Robin's complete with Boston 26.2 sticker..Amy sped up and passed in the left lane, honking, we all waved only to discovered it wasn't her. Then a lady who looked just like Kathleen Wynne, but only from behind. 

Emma and I made our way to the open corral to line up in the very front, as the race organizers assumed anyone gunning for sub 2:45 would have corral qualification and the posted time for the open corral was 2:46+. 

I have to admit that I enjoyed (well at least didn't hate with the fire of 1000 suns) the new route. I really liked running past all the little restaurants and boutiques on James St. and I read a few complaints about the 'scented' Hamilton air. I'm probably oblivious to it because I live so close by. There were 3 overpasses and 1 exit ramp in the new section, which of course is more difficult than flat, but overall I felt like the new course was faster. Or maybe it felt faster because I ran the first 10K faster than ever before. I'll never know which one! 

10K split: 54:22 

Emma fell behind at about 8K, she caught up to me the first time but said she needed to take the hills slower due to a wonky calf. So for the first while, I looked behind me periodically to see where she was, but then I couldn't see her any more and was resigned to running the majority of the race by myself. I settled into a groove and the splits were all below PR pace (5:29/k). So far so good! 

Greg said he'd be at 18K. There was a huge crowd of spectators around there and I feared that I'd missed him, but he was closer to 19-20K. "I lost Emma 10K ago!" I screamed at him. "she's ahead of you!" he shouted back. WHAT?!?!?! all these questions flew through my head: how the hell did Emma pass me without me noticing? why would she be so nasty as to not even tap me on the shoulder or yell for me?! how did she manage to make up all that time? 

So I almost lost it right then and there. I'm on pace for sub 2:45 2/3rds through the race and I wanted to pack it in and go home. Then I had 1 sane thought - even if Emma was having the race of her life, why should that stop me from reaching MY goals, even if she finishes ahead of me? I took the first of 3 walk breaks after seeing my husband. After the race, I'm thinking Greg somehow mistook Nicole for Emma, or maybe he saw someone who looked like her. 

20K split: 1:48:48, which means I ran the 2nd 10K in, you guessed it, 54:22. Just call me metronome girl! 

I was one hurtin' unit for the last 10K. Blisters were forming on my left foot. I put in a few crappy kms. 24K was 5:44. Last year 24K also did me in..that km is flat, but comes right after all the hills. Weird though. I hit 25K around 2:13:57 and thought I only need to keep the pace under 6:00/km to hit my goal, but decided to run between 5:35-5:40/k. Made the last turn onto York and I wasn't feeling the downhill at all, but at least the decline kept my legs moving. My Garmin always shows the course a bit long and at the 30K beep the time showed 2:44:xx so I gathered everything that was left in me for the final kick. The clock read 2:47:xx as I finished so I didn't know I reached my goal until I got back to the stands and Irina assured me that I did indeed. 

Official chip time: 2:44:54 
Pace: 5:29 / kilometer 
Field Placement: 2072 / 6762 (30.6%) 
Age group: 35 – 39 
Group Placement: 115 / 491 (23.4%) 
Gender Placement: 629 / 3305 (19%)