NCM

This wasn't my fastest marathon or my most pleasant marathon, but it was the most exciting and relevant of the 7 or so that I've run. And it was close to my PB anyway. I'm really happy with 3:53 considering my 1/2s earlier this year were 2:03 and 1:57. I had lost a lot of fitness over the past two years, but I figured the best way to regain it was to get my mileage back up. This tired me out and made me flat, but I think the benefits are starting to roll in.

The weather cooperated as much as could be expected in late May: the once-predicted high of 28C didn't materialize and though the humidity was close to 100%, this eventually became rain, very sweet rain, which kept up a while after my finish (it's sunny now). The temps were too hot for me even though I was wearing just a skort and running bra for most of the race, but the rain helped a lot.

At the beginning, it was merely overcast. I was going to wear the race shirt but it felt too hot (it was 16C at the start), so I went with a singlet over a running bra, just in case. By 7K or so, the singlet was in my hand--fortunately, I saw a friend spectating soon after and she graciously agreed to take my gross apparel.

Other than feeling warm, I was feeling pretty good. Aerobically, it was very very easy. My legs felt a little more challenged, but they were fine. I started somewhere between the 4:15 and 4:30 bunnies, and then gradually caught up to the 4:00 bunnies, first the continuous one and then the run/walk. The run/walk was actually a comfortable pace but then they stopped to walk, and I went on. Soon after, I left the cheer of Wellington Village (hate to admit that my own neighbourhood was kind of sparse with crowd support, but maybe they'll work on that next year).

Then it was onto a meditative river section. It was nice. I reset my Garmin at 1:31:34 because I didn't want to think about running much more than 1:30. I had covered 10.48 miles. more than expected!

Then Hull. Fortunately shorter, less hilly, and less ugly than the old Hull part, plus I saw someone else I knew, plus I had a running companion for a while, a pleasant British lady. I lost her at a drink station.

The hills in Rockcliffe weren't too bad, but the one up to the Aviation museum was a bit stiff. This was about 25K in, but it still felt fine. Then it was slightly downhill for a while and I picked up some time, in retrospect, too much. I hung behind the 3:50 bunny for a while and I remember thinking that I should stay there until at least 32K, but I didn't want to waste the downhill and my legs felt like going a bit faster, so I went. I should have stayed!

After 1:30:30, I reset my garmin again. 10.13 miles. I was still feeling pretty good.

Then things became a bit less effortless, but not too bad...for another 20 min or so. Then it started to get rough. I couldn't hold onto pace--I'd look at the Garmin, see 9:xx, oh, how inappropriate, and push until I caught up to someone and then it made sense to trail them, even though they were obviously going slower than I. I did this over and over again. Logic wasn't my fellow at these points. And once I hit the first mile over 9:00, it became more acceptable. Still, I didn't walk. I actually didn't walk once during the race apart from a few sudden short stops at a few drink stations. Maintaining momentum was more attractive.

But I couldn't get back to the sub-9 minute miles until the very last one!!! ah, well.

The crowds were great, though. They did their best. I saw more people I knew, including GAZ! and once I was under the Queensway, I was back into my own neighbourhood and that definitely helped me get back to pace.

So, now I need to figure out how to keep it. Fueling was good, but can be improved. The gluten mishap a week ago certainly didn't help. My lineup of gels was good, but somehow I forgot to take one, and the usually pleasant vanilla orange flavour tasted pretty foul at about 3hrs into the race.

And I need to return to regular speedwork. I've enjoyed jogging a lot this spring, but now it's time to get a little more consistent. This fall, I would like to run a faster marathon, at least one that is 3:4X and not 3:5X.

tapering?

I'm feeling like I'm feeling too blase about this marathon.

This morning: 6.2 miles, including 4X 500M tempo, just to shake the sludge off. The first three were kind of dull and my form was off, and then muscles started reawakening for the fourth, which is what I wanted. So that became the last repeat and the last run of any substance (a few miles on Fri and/or Sat, perhaps).

I have been eating well this week, the usual menu: fruit smoothie for breakfast, salad and lentils and rice and vegs for lunch, and nothing too crazy for supper, plus milk and/or cheese. Tonight will be fish and salad, tomorrow, I haven't decided yet, and Saturday will be very bland rice pasta. My guts feel fine and I think the sluggishness I feel now is mainly due to tapering. My lower right leg is a bit tight; that and a weird though small reaction to a bug bite, have been my only tapering mishaps. Yesterday I managed to trip down the front steps and run into a handrail corner but neither was injurious.

This evening, my husband and I will go pick up our bibs and probably buy our gels for the race. The Gu lineup that worked for me during my hard "serious" long run was lemon sublime, blackberry, pineapple (roctane), and vanilla orange (roctane)....I will probably have to have a 5th gel, and I wasn't taken with the lemon sublime flavour anyway so some thought is still required. I just looked on the Gu website: trawberry banana has suddenly become appealing. Things were simpler when I stuck with plain Gu, but simpler isn't always best (parsimony during scientific explanation aside...).

running running running

And tapering.

And not quite evading wheat. "Is there wheat in this?" "No." And then, too late, I realized I should have also asked "How about soy sauce?" Ah, but foregoing the international food festival (for the 4th or 5th time this year) would not have been worth it. The mango lassi was indeed heaven in a cup and surpassed the Peruvian cookies and Brazilian chocolates (both of which contained condensed milk, so the bar was high!)

Alas, the wheat made me go to bed at about 6:00 pm last night; after twelve hours of sleep, I rolled out of bed and ran. There is a silver lining: I was until then still on Alberta time. hopefully I can keep the 6:00 am thing going for the rest of the week, if not beyond. It's part of my plan for the rest of the summer. More on that later.

I am sluggish and the gut pain has returned slightly. If I eat right, I should recover in time. It's not like my expectations are high for this race anyway. I've done very little speedwork, mostly base building instead. I didn't even expect to run a marathon this spring; I'm happy with how things have fallen into place.

it would take nearly as long to write about it as to run it

Running in Edmonton wasn't as fun. I didn't have much time, and there was strong wind the whole time I was there, and there was still grit on the street, albeit technically midair as well. Plus the hotel exercise room wasn't the best. And I wasn't getting enough sleep, or eating right (there weren't many healthy eating options, or even much without gluten. I had Ensure, juice, popcorn, salads, and fruit smoothies, milk, and candy; this kept me going, but I felt like I needed more antioxidants to counteract the chemicals I was working with, and definitely more iron. So, I didn't run much.

Now I'm back at home.

Monday: 2 miles with the dog. I'd taken a redeye flight and was feeling pretty zombie-like.

Tuesday: 6.8 miles with the dog. I'm still short on sleep but I'm feeling somewhat recovered.

Tuesday

Epic jog, nearly 28 miles of sightseeing around Calgary. It took me about 5 hours of moving and almost 7 hours total: I took photos and spent way too much time in a Safeway reading labels at one point.

The long report will have to wait.

Toilet recap:

Low point: miles 8-10 along the Glenmore reservoir, testing a bunch of (locked) toilets that are supposedly open from "mid-May to mid-October". Isn't the 10th mid-May? Don't make me pee in the city's drinking water! (I didn't).

High point: futuristic brushed-chrome/blue-lit/sensor-operated/talking toilet downtown. I even forgave it the lite-jazz soundtrack.

slight confusion

The tough run was on Saturday. Sunday's run was a leisurely 7.5ish miles during which I got wet, got cold hands, and got lost, sort of. It's pretty hard to get actually lost; I haven't managed it thus far. I merely ended up taking a few detours.

At one point I was running through a wooded area between housing communities. It wasn't remote and I was feeling pretty comfortable. Then, all of a sudden, I felt like I was being watched. It wasn't a fearful realization. It felt odd, not scary. I continued running and the feeling quickly faded. At the time, I wondered if someone had been watching me from a house, but a quick glance or two didn't scan any onlookers. Later that day, city wildlife was being discussed. Oh, there wasn't much, and we wouldn't see many animals in Banff, either, but we did. And then it came up that sometimes cougars and bobcats have been sighted in the wooded areas among the newer city developments, such as the one I had been in. The possibility actually doesn't trouble me much. It would have been neat to see a large cat, but of course I'm much better off without any confirmation, considering its unpredictability.

Today's run was somewhat leisurely too, though I got lost/detoured again. Most of the problem stems from plotting routes on old satellite images. There's so much construction going on around here and things are changing quickly. My 3.5ish mile run accumulated 3 more miles, but I think it helped me recover somewhat, especially since it was mostly relatively flat. My legs took a beating on Saturday.

Tomorrow I will run further. Today I have been hydrating and snacking on a fair amount of salt water taffy and junk food in preparation.

A faint hint of bile

Usually my non-lazy moments are too short to taste puke, but I had to get back. I could have turned back earlier but I wanted to get to the river, the same river which I bailed out of crossing on foot (well, on foot on a bridge) yesterday. Once I got back my lab book and reports, a sudden fatigue overwhelmed me so much that I didn't have the energy to look at my marks, much less run. I had my running capris in my bag; I was all set. But I was too tired.

This morning, there were no excuses. I headed out and down down down. I knew that there would be one big hill; I wasn't quite prepared but I could defer consideration while serenely gliding downwards at about 7:00/mile. The second hill took me by surprise. My first hint was the exclusively spandex-clad and extremely fit bicycling population struggling upward. But I had to get to the river! if only to admire the tenacity and sheer destructive force that had clawed and dug its way down 100 meters or so. The road was so overshadowed that there was still snow on the edges, and there was snow on the riverbank too.

I didn't linger at the bottom because a loss of momentum would have necessitated making fire and shelter--I couldn't let myself think about the hills waiting for me, I had to jump on them ASAP.

Even at the lowest point, I was still above 1000 metres above sea level; I'd recognized the higher altitude on the way down merely as elevated effort: I was jogging but also actually breathing in rhythm. Altitude increased its presence exponentially on the way back up. The traffic light stops I scorned on the way down became treasured shrines of recovery on the return trip. After a couple of miles or so, the hills were behind me (strangely I don't remember thinking much during the ascents so in a way the hills went by quickly), and I tasted the hint of bile. aa

Basically, all the hillwork that I've skipped over the past couple of years or so got done today.

I have to figure out a route that will let me see the peaks.

on the ridge

I haven't run since Saturday, but I have been on my feet a lot.
However, I hope to run tomorrow, depending how I feel and what time I finish. I have drawn a map and have a backpack and clothing and shoes suitable for jogging (I'm out of town).

The altitude (1000ish meters) is somewhat daunting when coupled with the ridge I have to ascend, but once I have, I will see the jagged, almost postcard-fake-beautiful Rockies in the distance. See, I must think of it as an epic run ("painful" being the more prompt but less helpful adjective in this case).