Revenge marathons: risk vs reward

 "All it takes is all you've got," read a sign at about 39k into the Vancouver marathon. It made me smile as I struggled past it.

The mental and physical effort required to run a marathon -- 42.195 kilometres or 26 miles 385 yards -- is substantial. 

"Racing hurts, in ways both obvious and subtle," writes Joe Henderson in Marathon Training: the Proven 100-Day Program for Success.

Both your body and mind need time to recover from that effort. A general rule of thumb is that it takes at least a month to recover from a marathon, though it depends on a runner's preparation and experience as a marathoner.

Or, as Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter famously said, “You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming.” 

Perhaps that was the reason I had trouble writing about my Vancouver race; I was already trying to forget to make space for the idea of running the next.  

I always use one key tool to help me decide about a new running goal: does the prospect excite me? If I don't feel a few butterflies in my stomach thinking about a race, a goal, I don't bother. What's the point?

The verb excite is defined as 1. to stir to activity. 2. to call forth (a reaction or emotion, for example); elicit: 3. to arouse strong feeling in. Immediately after the Vancouver marathon, the idea of running another soon stirred me to activity: checking my schedule and race calendars.

It wasn't long before I found a marathon I liked, and one that fit in terms of timing, schedule and logistics. Now it was time for another key consideration: was it a good idea to do another marathon so soon?

I knew the general answer was: no. Definitely not if you are trying to race a marathon, attempt to run a personal best. I only needed to open some of my books on running.

"If you actually race your marathons (rather than simply trying to finish), it's not a good idea to do more than about two per year," writes Alberto Salazar in Alberto Salazar's Guide to Road Racing.

Tim Noakes, author of the 930-page Lore of Running, agrees.

"I suggest you race an absolute maximum of two marathons per year, or one marathon and one ultramarathon," writes Noakes. "But it is better to race only one marathon or ultramarathon each year if you wish to be running competitively in 20 to 30 years. Ideally, there should be at least four, but preferably six, months between these races."

Bob Glover and Shelly-lynn Florence Glover also offer a clear warning in The Competitive Runner's Handbook: the Bestselling Guide to Running 5Ks through Marathons when it comes to revenge marathons.

"What's the best way to improve your marathon performance? Don't do what many runners attempt -- jump into the next marathon they can find to try to lower their time," the Glovers write. "Most marathoners shouldn' t race any distance for at least four weeks. Ideally another marathon shouldn't be considered for at least six months, preferably a year for first-timers. Some experienced marathoners may be able to run another marathon in three or four months."

"If you marathon too often and too close together, you increase risk of injury and decrease the changes for a good performance," write the Glovers.

Nearly all runners, including myself, have found out the hard way that your body will signal clearly when you push it too far: it breaks down and forces you to rest.

"If we don't take enough recovery time voluntarily, the body will find its own way to get all it needs," writes Henderson in Marathon Training.

To be sure, not everyone agrees on the marathon rules.

"Well, no such 'rule' [of running only one marathon a year] exists. And if one did exist, some running rules are meant to be broken -- as long as you are well-trained and know what you're doing," according to Hal Higdon, who has contributed to Runner's World for longer than any other writer.

"On several other occasions, I have run multiple marathons. I ran six marathons in six weeks to celebrate my 60th birthday and ran seven marathons in seven months to celebrate my 7[0th] birthday. In between, I ran ten during the space of one year so I could run my 100th marathon at the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996," writes Higdon, a 2:21:55 marathoner, in Marathon Training Guide - Multiple Marathons.

Dean Karnazes, serial marathoner and ultrarunner, writes, "Having once run 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days, I’ve learned a few things about recovery. Chiefly, I think it’s overrated."

These were all the things that went through my mind in the last few weeks. The cautionary advice exists for good reason, and I needed to do some careful thinking about the risks and rewards of a revenge marathon.

I have done them before, the first time in 2007, when I ran the Gold Coast marathon three months after the Canberra marathon. Those were not super-close but closer than all the advice highlighted above: in Canberra I had run a big PB of 3:08 (improving my previous best of 3:13) and I went a lot slower at the Gold Coast in 3:15, which also marks my slowest marathon of the 14 I have run in the past eight years.

In 2009, however, I ran the North Olympic Discovery marathon five weeks after the Vancouver marathon, finishing in 3:10:39 and 3:10:19 respectively. And in 2011, I ran the Victoria marathon in a then-personal best time of 3:06:06 only two weeks after finishing the Bellingham Bay marathon in 3:09:40. (I ran a 50-mile ultra four weeks after Victoria but that had nothing to do with "revenge").

So I have some experience with revenge marathons. They have been good experiences, and each time I made sure to listen to my body, and -- most importantly -- stayed healthy. While they brought good results (and awards), they never brought me quite the time I had hoped to run.

This time around, one key consideration was that I had slowed down markedly in the second half of the Vancouver marathon: I had reached 24K in 1:43:01, a pace of 4:17 per kilometre, or 6:54 per mile. The remaining 18.95K I covered in 1:23:45, a pace of 4:36 per kilometre, or 7:24 per mile.

While this was not a voluntary easing of the pace and felt as hard as I could run then, I did not cover the second half at the top speed I had planned and have shown to be capable of. A slower overall pace relative to capability should, or could, theoretically mean a shorter recovery.

I also took another good look at my training diary: In the 17 weeks leading up to Vancouver (excluding the final pre-race taper week) I ran an average 61K per week. I had looked at that number and felt that, if anything, I was undertrained, rather than overtrained.

But my long runs had been long, with three 35Ks and one 39K. And some were close to each other, including one after a hard race effort. The weekend after the April Fool's half marathon I had run 18K on Saturday, followed by 35K on Sunday at an average of 5:02 per K, my slowest long run, about which I wrote in my training diary, "hard, hard work."

Was it possible that, despite my low weekly milage, I was a touch overtrained, too tired, because of my long runs? I will never know for sure but this possibility informed my running schedule since the Vancouver marathon, with the prospect to run another four weeks later -- less (running) was more.

Daily walks and two yoga sessions a week (for a total of six post marathon), with a couple of great deep tissue massages, have formed the cornerstone of my recovery. So far, (as of Thursday morning), I have done only four runs, the longest about 13K. And I feel good about that. I'll do at least one short training run before Sunday, possibly two.

Last night I finally felt confident enough to commit and registered for the Windermere marathon, held this Sunday. Triathlete Tim will be racing too, in the half marathon, which starts at the halfway point of the marathon. On paper the course looks great, though it is clearly not downhill all the way.  
    
It sounds beautiful too. "The first 7.2 miles of the marathon runs through Liberty Lake’s upscale neighborhoods, pass Pavillion Park and well-groomed golf courses before connecting to the Centennial Trail at the Harvard Road Trailhead.  The Centennial Trail follows the contours of the winding Spokane River and the views along the race route are a big part of the attraction of this race," according to the race website.

"The visible and audible Spokane River is usually flowing with white waters, thanks to the melting snows running off the nearby mountains. The exciting downhill Finish is in Downtown Spokane’s Howard Street Bridge in Riverfront Park."

Last but not least the race director, Elaine Koga-Kennelly, was not only encouraging, but also inspirational. "She has finished 101 marathons across the U.S.A. including Boston and Internationally (London, Paris, Great Wall of China, Victoria, BC) and also five Ultra-Marathons," I read in an article profiling her on the Spokane Metro Woman Blog. She now races in the 70-74 age group and I cannot wait to meet her.

As for my goal, I will begin at 6:51-per-mile pace, in other words aim for a 2:59 finish. The only way to find out if I can is to try. I am excited that I get to race another marathon, on a new course!

Taking stock before Vancouver marathon

Six days to go until the BMO Vancouver Marathon. A year ago I could not race, I could not even run. So I am extra grateful to be on the start line in 2014 as one of the elite runners again.  

It will be my fifth start at this event, which has brought me both my slowest and my fastest times for the 10 marathons I have run since moving (back) to Canada 6-1/2 years ago: 3:12:56 in 2008 and 3:00:29 in 2012. The latter was a breakthrough marathon, a personal best by 5:37. 

Like in 2012, I plan to start at 4:15/km pace, and aim to finish in 2:59. I am confident but also well aware that there are no guarantees in the marathon: this will be my 18th after all. While it may seem that I have been at this Sub-3 marathon thing for a while, this is only my third marathon that I am actually starting at Sub-3 pace.

Last December I began the Seattle marathon at Sub-3 pace too. Things were a little different. After a one-year enforced layoff from running starting in July 2012 because of injury, I had to build up my training again; I could not simply begin where I had left off. In the 17 weeks leading up to the 2012 Vancouver marathon, I had run 1,914 kilometres, an average of 112K a week.

In the 15 weeks leading up to the Seattle marathon in December 2013, I ran 915K, an average of 61K per week. Yet I had a fantastic race in Seattle, hitting  halfway in 89:14, or 55 seconds faster than ever, and passed 20 miles (32K) in 2:15:32, an average of 4:13 per K or 6:47 per mile. At the 2012 Vancouver marathon, I timed myself at 30K in 2:08:08. At Seattle's pace as timed by the 32K mark, I would have hit 30K in 2:06:30.

While this is a moot point in terms of finish time--Seattle offers a hilly final 10K and I finished in 3:05 there, I was encouraged to see that a year-long break from run training had not affected my speed as much as I had feared. In fact, that's an understatement; I was elated to see how quick I had come back to a similar level.

For the 2014 Vancouver marathon, I had planned to up my weekly mileage again. But I got accepted into a one-year creative writing program, landed a big book project, and also was still trying to keep up with my Czech language studies. Something had to give and it was the amount of run training I did in preparation for this marathon, though I made sure not to compromise on quality.

As it turns out, I have run 1,037K, an average of 61K per week, over the past 17 weeks, the same weekly volume I did for Seattle. This number, however, does not reflect the fact that I did longer long runs.

Before Seattle, my longest runs were three 32Ks; this time I did three 35Ks and one 39K. I managed to do them at a decent average pace too, with the first 35K at 4:57 per K, the second at 4:42, then I ran 39K at 4:45, and the final 35K at 5:02 (I was tired for that final 35K, a week following a 87:04 in the April Fool's half marathon, and after running 18K the previous day.) 

Before Vancouver 2012, my longest runs had been 32K in 5:09 per K, 35K at 5:00, 39K at 5:02, 35K at 5:03. Of course then I ran double the weekly volume from what I have been doing for this marathon, so naturally I was more fatigued for my long runs too.

In the lead-up to Seattle 2013 I ran my 32Ks at 4:51 per K, 4:56, and 4:53 respectively. (I had a few superb medium long runs including a 29K at 4:38 per K, a 17.5K at 4:28, and a 19K at 4:34.)

Last Wednesday, I did my final track workout: three 1-mile repeats. Before Vancouver 2012, I did those in 6:03, 5:54 and 5:53, hands down my fastest until then. Before Seattle 2013, I ran 6:15, 6:13 and 6:03. Last week, I ran 6:01, 6:01, and 6:04.

Photo Greg Herringer

In terms of racing, I ran the First Half in February in 88:40 (compared with 87:27 in 2012) and the April Fool's in 87:04 (compared with 86:54 in 2012). Though in April Fool's 2014, I hit 10K in 40:26 (41:00 in 2012) and 16K in 65:54 (66:32 in 2012).

I also did a couple of 10Ks, the first in fresh snow for a time of 41:52 and one race my Garmin measured at 9.5K in 39:16, or 4:09 per K -- a second slower per kilometre than I ran for more than twice the distance the following week in the half marathon. Go figure! Those 10Ks were helpful in terms of lifting my effort beyond what I would be able to achieve on my own in training.

Photo Rick Horne

In the last month, since the April Fool's half marathon, I have been quite tired, partly from running and partly from work and studies, and that has been reflected in the pace of my recent runs. It's also normal overall fatigue towards the end of marathon preparations, so I am not too worried about that.

Last week I already felt much better than the week before that, so the taper should have worked its magic by the end of this week, perfectly in time for race day on May 4.

I am grateful and excited to race! (And, yes, a little scared too but that's a good thing.)

First race of 2014: a half

It has been two years since I ran the First Half Marathon, a popular Vancouver race. In 2012, I ran 87:27, my fastest then over the 21.1K distance, and an improvement from my 89:39 in 2009 and 89:46 in 2011 on the same course. Since then, I have run three faster half marathons.

My best, 86:54, came in April 2012, followed by 87:02 in June 2012. Then injury and no training for an entire year. The first half since then, in October 2013, I ran in 87:14.

I am not sure what I will aim for this Sunday -- I am healthy and enjoying my training. My weekly volume has been low, barely half of what I was running in the lead-up to my fastest half in 2012. Partly I have been cautious as I returned to training following a 5-week recovery from the Seattle marathon 2-1/2 months ago. And partly I have been quite busy.

Most of my training so far this year has been focused on endurance, I have done very little speed.

I'd like to improve my time on the First Half course, ie better 87:27. In the 2012 edition I passed the first mile marker in 6:39, and ended up with an average pace of 6:41 mile, or 4:09 per K.

But I am also tempted to use the event as a marathon race pace run, ie 4:15 per K, or 6:52 per mile, as I just this week received confirmation of my spot in the Vancouver marathon on May 4.

I'll see how the legs and lungs feel Sunday morning and take it from there. I am definitely looking forward to the first race of 2014, especially considering that only a year ago I was not able to run at all.

Time for my first post-injury marathon

In six days I will start a marathon, my first marathon in 18 months, my first marathon since an injury stopped my training for more than a year, my first marathon since I ran my fastest in 3:00:29 in May 2012. I am excited. And scared, too.

After 16 marathons, I have great respect for this distance. And a return to training after my first injury-induced layoff in 18 years of running has only served to increase that reverence.

Forty two kilometres is a long way to run and anything can happen. There are no guarantees, except that it will be both exhilarating and hard.

I last wrote on this blog some three months ago when I had just started an 18-week marathon training program I had chosen, very excited and grateful to be able to do so. By then I had been able to build up to a long run of 18K, the longest distance I had run in 15 months, which I clearly noticed mentally and physically.

It was a challenge to start an 18K session, as much as I was grateful for my renewed ability to run that far following that enforced break. A year without run training is a very long time and, as I wrote in my previous blog post, I expected to need at least a year to get back to the level of training I had been able to do consistently before my injury.

In the lead-up to my 3:00:29 marathon, I ran more than 100K a week, as many as 140K, in daily training sessions. My mid-week runs alone were 24K, with my long runs topping out at 36K.

I could not expect to do this again straightaway. I had to return to marathon training carefully—my body would need time to get used to running again. I chose a program that maxed out at a weekly volume of 88K (though, as it turned out, I never did run that). The program had five days of running per week.

In fact, I was not entirely sure whether I would be able to get ready—physically and mentally—to run a marathon before the end of 2013.

Realizing marathon starts never come with guarantees about finish time, I also did not want to start one if I did not feel 3:15 was possible—the slowest of my last 12 marathons over the past seven years. Again, possible does not mean guarantee.

On September 14, I did a 15K race in Bellingham. I was surprised to finish in 61:41, an average pace of 4:07 per kilometre and 6:37 per mile. I remember passing the 10K mark in 40.44 there, 65 seconds faster than the Squamish 10K six weeks earlier.

Increasing my running volume was great but also tough. My weekly long runs, which slowly got longer again, felt challenging mentally and I was glad they would top out at 32K, equally glad I would only have to run three of them.

In that first post-injury 32K run at the end of September, it took me half the out-and-back run to shake the mental weight of having to go that far. I did not wear a Garmin that day, but ran for 2 hours 37 minutes to cover what I believe was 32K, so an average pace of about 5 minutes per K, just under 8-minute miles. A normal average pace for most of my (long) runs.

On October 6, I ran my first half marathon post-injury, my first 21.1K in 15 months. I was not sure what to expect. I used that race to gauge my appetite for a marathon, deciding at 16K into the race that the idea of racing 42K eight weeks later was very unappealing.

I ended up crossing the line in 87:14, my third-fastest time ever and only 20 seconds slower than my best. I ran an average 4:08 per kilometre, or 6:39 per mile, compared with 4:07 per K, or 6:38 per mile, for the PB I ran in April 2012.

Triathlete Tim helped change my mind on the marathon, saying, “I would -- you have just run 87 minutes.” I locked in the Seattle Marathon on December 1.

I had eight weeks of preparation left.

That same week, on October 10 I returned to the track for the first time in 15 months, for a session of five 800s, as per my program. I ran 3:00, 2:59, 2:57, 2:57, and 2:55, and was happy with those. By comparison, in March 2012, I had run six 800s on the same track, doing 3:01, 2:56, 2:59. 2:58, 2:59, and 2:59, while in July 2011 I had done six 800s in 3:06, 3:01, 2:59, 3:01, 3:01, and (wait for it) 3:01.

On October 14, I did a 10K race around flat Stanley Park in Vancouver. Conditions were great, and I felt good, strong. I crossed the line in 39:48, but wondered if the distance was accurate as the start line had been moved. If correct, it would mark my fourth Sub-40 10K finish ever (I ran 2 in early 2009, and No. 3 in April 2012).

On October 16, I did my second 32K run, ending up with an average of 4:56 per kilometre, covering the first half in 4:58 per K and the second in 4:54. I was very happy with that.

On October 19 I flew to the Netherlands to visit my parents and grandmother for two weeks. I had not seen them for two years, and did not want my marathon training to hijack my time there.

Over those two weeks, I (happily) ran less than half of what I was supposed to run and missed two key track sessions. But there was a great surprise too. 

I had axed a plan to do a race in the Netherlands and opted for a 29K training run instead. It was an extremely blustery Sunday morning as a big storm was about to hit the Dutch coast, later causing millions of euros of damage and claiming one life.

My Garmin showed a quick running pace in the first half, as I averaged 4:25 per kilometre over the first 17.7K. Smiling, I knew it had to be the wind that gave me wings and that it would come back to slow me down on the way home, as it did.

Still, I ended up with an average pace of 4:38 per K for those 29K—a marked increase over my usual pace of about 5 minutes per K. I wondered if something was wrong with my Garmin.

On November 4, the day after I returned home. I ran 17.5K at an average 4:28 per K, according to my Garmin. Huh.   
   
Four days later, on November 8, I did another semi-long run of nearly 19K, averaging 4:34K.

On November 10, it was time for my third and final 32K training run of this marathon preparation, and was pleased with a 4:53 per K average.

On November 12, there was a track workout, with five 600s. I ran them in 2:12 to 2:15, a solid pace but nothing stellar. They were hard work.

On November 16, it was time to race, a 10K in Richmond on a cold but sunny morning, with a flat out-and-back course. I felt good and ran hard, crossing the line in 39:04. If accurate, it is my fastest 10K by 35 seconds.

Four days later I ran three 1,600s on the track. I had been dreading this session because the 600s, which I was doing at the same pace I was meant to hold for the 1,600s, had already felt hard. A 600 is only 1-1/2 laps on the track, while 1,600 takes four of them.

I did not feel like digging super-deep, just 10 days away from a marathon I am still scared of running. I took 6:17, 6:13, and 6:03. Ten days before my 3:00:29 marathon in May 2012, I did the same session in 6:03, 5:54, and 5:53, i.e. a lot faster.

So, overall I take heart from some solid race results, crossing my fingers the courses were accurate, as well as some great training runs in recent weeks where I was able to hold a faster average speed than I am used to. I have three 32K runs under my belt, and I feel good, excited and am looking forward to testing my level of fitness.

On the flipside, this is the first marathon ever for which I have not done a single three-hour training run—I used to do three to five of those before each marathon! I certainly feel underdone when it comes to long runs, as those always give me confidence. This time my longest runs were still 10K short of the distance I want to cover at a fast pace this Sunday.

Also, I missed out on some key track speed sessions, as reflected in those 1,600s I did last week. That’s OK though.

I do not know the Seattle course, other than from what I have seen on online course maps, showing that it saves the hills for the end. 

Nine-time Seattle marathon winner Uli Steidl told The Seattle Times last year that it is unrealistic to expect to keep the same pace in the final third of the course, as in the first two-thirds.  "You just have to know it's coming," Steidl said of the hilly last third. "The Galer and Madison Street [hill], people are pretty afraid of it."

I am just so grateful at having been able to prepare for another marathon again and the thought of starting one, as scary as it is, is also a dream come true. I am going to keep an open mind and, as my wise friend Dessie Suttle says, "Relax and let it happen."

***
Marathon history (excluding my first 4 marathons of 4:18 in Ottawa 1999, 4:44 in Sydney 2001, 3:24 in Gold Coast 2003 and 3:36 in Honolulu 2003):

                                                     Finish   1st half 2nd half
5. July 2006              Gold Coast    3:13:01  96:25  96:36
6. April 2007            Canberra        3:08:48  93:04  95:44
7. July 2007              Gold Coast     3:15:13  93:14 101:59
8. May 2008             Vancouver       3:12:56  93:17  99:39
9. Sept 2008              Victoria          3:07:10  93:37  93:33
10. May 2009            Vancouver      3:10:19  94:26  95:53
11. June 2009            NODM           3:10:39  92:53  97:44
12. April 2010           Rotterdam      3:11:51  96:06  95:45
13. May 2011            Vancouver      3:07:41  93:5X  93:5X
14. Sept 2011             Bellingham    3:09:40  92:02  97:38
15. October 2011       Victoria          3:06:06  91:23  95:42
16. May 2012             Vancouver     3:00:29  90:09  90:20 * PB

A return to marathon training

Last week I started a new training program -- an 18-week marathon preparation.

It feels amazing, exciting -- and natural. After all, I am a marathon runner, I train for marathons.

It has been only 10 weeks since my return to running, following a year of enforced layoff to sort out mysterious heel pain that failed to respond to various types of treatments and stumped a top sports doctor.

In those last 10 weeks I went from running two 5-minute stretches, with a 5-minute walk in between, to running 85 minutes.

I went from wondering if I would run again to, well ... running, and increasingly running freely.

It is an amazing transformation that has taken a lot of hard work at the Bikram yoga studio over the past eight months, especially in the last 3-1/2 months during which I took 80 classes. It is progress that I certainly do not take for granted, and I am carefully starting to rebuild a running base.

As mentioned in previous posts, I used Pete Pfitzinger's Return to Running program; however, earlier in the year I had done another program, which began with four stretches of only 30 seconds of running in a 20-minute power-walk (after I had worked up to an hour of pain-free power-walking following a four-month complete break from running and, prior to that, three months of short and irregular runs because of the recurring heel pain), and gradually increased to four 4-minute stretches of running with 1-minute walks between each over a period of seven weeks.

Then I had started the Return to Running program (on March 26) and followed it for 3-1/2 weeks, getting up to 3 stretches of 10 minutes of running, with 2-minute walk breaks, before finding that a single 15-minute run brought back the heel symptoms. I did not run for the next 5-1/2 weeks, while doing 32 Bikram yoga classes over 32 days.

The Return to Running program, which I started for the second time on June 4, went very well and got me to running 40-45K per week, with my longest run at the end of the 7-week schedule at 55 minutes on July 22.

Five days later I ended up doing an 85-minute run, 10-15 minutes more than I had originally intended, joining Triathlete Tim for an awesome lap of the Ironman Whistler run course; my body felt OK during, and after, that session, helped by a deep tissue massage the next day 

With that, I decided I would try the lowest-volume 18-week program from Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning, which begins with a 53-kilometre week and tops out at an 88-kilometre one, reducing some of the longer runs in the first few weeks by a couple of kilometres.

I began the program after, or in a way with, the Squamish 10K on August 4 as the fist session called for a lactate threshold workout.

The Sub-3 marathon is still on my mind. Of course it it. Indeed, it was a key motivation over the past year as I did the work required to restore my body -- but I expect it will take at least a year of training before I will be back to the level, both in training and in racing, I was before my injury.

And that's OK.

With this marathon program, I am aiming at getting back into regular training first and foremost, rebuilding my endurance, and in the process slowly start regaining some of the speed I have lost. I have mapped out the schedule to target a US marathon in December but since getting to the race involves booking flights and accommodation I first want to see how some longer runs and tempo runs feel before I commit any funds.  

I am in new territory, physically and mentally, and I am monitoring my body carefully to gauge how it responds to training consistently again after such a long break.

Bikram yoga is certainly part of my new marathon training regime. I believe that my body is in better shape than ever in terms of strength and flexibility and at the same time I know -- I see it in the mirror during every practice -- that there are many more gains to be made. That's encouraging.

I firmly believe that I have come out ahead, and I am truly grateful my body protested so that it forced me to listen to it better, help it perform better. I am excited about slowly rebuilding my running fitness over the coming year, with two 18-week marathon preparations -- the next one hopefully upping the weekly volume to between 88K and 113K -- followed by a six-week recovery in between each.

By this time next year, I hope to be ready for another increase in training volume, returning me to the schedule that helped me speed up my marathon time by more than five minutes last year, the schedule that also allowed me to set my current PBs at the 10K and half marathon.

But my mind is right here, right now, loving the fact that I can go for a mid-week 75-minute run and do a 90-minute Bikram practice later in the day. I love to run -- I have always loved to run, and now I love it even more. I am so grateful that I can.

Returning from injury: marathon thoughts

On Monday I had a 55-minute run to do. It was the final session of the seven-week Returning to Running program I have been following, and I looked upon this run as a graduation of sorts.

In the past seven weeks I have found the confidence that I have finally overcome the injury that has plagued me for the past year, stopping my training and racing dead in their tracks (for the first time in 17 years) just as I was at the peak of my fitness -- a 3:00:29 marathoner ready to go faster. 

Seven weeks ago, I tentatively did the first session on the program -- two 5-minute runs with a 5-minute walk in between. The roller coaster of hope and disappointment from the past year kept a lid on my optimism. Yet I knew that my body felt different too.

Yesterday I ran 55 minutes without stopping, bringing my weekly running total to 2 hours 20 minutes. Guesstimating a 5-minute per kilometre on average, I ran 40km for the week. While that's not even half of the 100km weeks I had grown used to doing, it now feels like a lot of running.

Throughout these seven weeks I have remained both careful and vigilant. I have done nearly all my runs on a flat course, first walking about 15 minutes and cooling down with the same (that's also the time it takes to walk from my house to the start of a flat running route.)

I have maintained my yoga routine, taking 30 Bikram classes over the past seven weeks, or an average of four per week, to keep increasing my flexibility and strength, particularly in the right hip / glute area. That's six hours of yoga a week.

And those 90-minute Bikram classes are challenging workouts in themselves each time. There is a reason teachers tell beginners that their main goal is to try to stay in the room. At the Sea to Sky Bikram studio, owner and teacher Jena often reminds us to "stop wrestling with the door, you have already decided to stay."

"Until you do it you can't comment on how difficult it is. It's tough. It's ugly," Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has said of Bikram, which has reportedly been a key part of his training for the past five years. 

Aside from Bikram, I also stretch after each run, using a sequence of at least eight stretches suggested in Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning. As recommended I hold each stretch for about 30 seconds on both sides, doing each one twice.

And I roll. Daily. I use the TP Therapy ball and roller but especially the ball and particularly for the right side of my hip and glutes.

During the past seven weeks, I also had another five massages to help preserve and advance all the flexibility I have gained in Bikram. And I will keep working at that diligently. Especially as I increase my running.

It is exhilarating to be running again. I am so grateful.

I know that there is a long road ahead before I will be back at my fitness level from May 2012. But I am patient. And determined.

Over the next few weeks I plan to increase my long run slowly to 90 minutes by the end of August. With that, I'll be ready to start the training program for my next marathon.

I have already got my eye on one...  

Training for the program

I am a month away from starting specific training for my next marathon, Vancouver on the first Sunday in May. That means I am now training to be able to begin my training.

As I very much enjoyed my preparations for the Bellingham Bay Marathon (and the Victoria Marathon), I will use a schedule from the same book, Advanced Marathoning. As mentioned before on this site, I did not choose this schedule lightly. I followed personal guidance from two expert coaches for a decade, before finetuning what suits me as an athlete, and the type of training that I believe will help me reach the goals I want to achieve.

A 3:02 marathoner friend suggested I check out this book; the ideas and schedules were a perfect fit, as I ramped up my training to a record volume. For three months this summer, I followed a program that had me running an average of just over 100km a week. That was a lot of running, and I loved it, even as - and because - it was challenging. I hope to do more in the next four months.

The 18-week program I will follow from January 1 begins with a week of 104km, including a long run of 27km and a midweek medium long run of 19km. You can't just jump into that one, you need to train to begin the schedule.

"For example, if you've been running 40 miles (64km) per week and your longest run in the last several weeks is 12 miles (19km), now isn't the time to suddenly jump to a 65-mile (105km) week containing a 17-mile (27km), as the first week of the 18-week schedule calls for," according to the Advanced Marathoning authors.

"As a rule, you should be running at least 55 miles (88km) a week before starting these schedules, and in the last month, you should have comfortably completed a run close in length to the long run called for in the first week of the schedule."

That's what I am working towards now; as I have taken my usual post-A-race break, even as this one was unusual, what with a 3:09 marathon on September 25, followed by a 3:06 marathon on October 9, and a not-so-swift 7:57 50-miler on November 5.

I've been back running, easy short sessions, for the past two weeks. Last week was my biggest. I didn't bring the Garmin to the Netherlands, so I am running for time, guesstimating pace / distance.

Last week, I ran an hour on Monday, about 12km, followed by 31 mins on Wednesday, about 6km, 20 mins on Thursday, or 4km, and 90mins, 18km on Saturday. That's a total of 40km. This week, I am aiming for 50km. Then I'll have three weeks left to boost my training to the volume needed to begin the program.

(Keep in mind that I was running 100km-plus weeks in the three months before taking this break, so don't do the same without building a solid base first.) The summer schedule called for six days of running a week, something I had not done before.

A key indicator for success was my body's response; with minimal massage, or other treatments, I remained injury free. That's crucial. There's no point trying to do more training if your body breaks down, forcing you to stop training, as a result.

This schedule will have me running daily, another first. The biggest week is 140km. There are also weeks of 126km, 128km, 130km (3x) 135km, 135km, 137km (2x). At the moment I cannot quite imagine running that volume but that's not unusual; it's often intimidating to begin a task not attempted before.

Once you've made a start, you often find it's not as difficult as you expected. And even if it is tough, you'll usually find it is still doable. I am excited about accepting this new challenge and seeing what it brings.

A week of running in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder has been among the places I've been keen to visit for a long time. Home to legends such as six-time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott, this town at 5,500 feet has a legendary status among triathletes and other endurance athletes. For some reason Tim and I just hadn't gotten around to going.

But when top age group triathlete friends Teresa Rider and Scott Jones, and owners of IMJ Coaching, mentioned a training camp from their Boulder home, Triathlete Tim was keen to go. And so was I.

We have known Teresa for a long time, meeting when Tim and I joined the triathlon squad in Sydney, Australia she was training with. We spent countless hours training together. That was in late 2000/early 2001. When I met Teresa I was yet to run my second marathon, and had only just finished four triathlons (including two half Ironmans).

Teresa is a world champion age grouper at the Ironman and Olympic distances, and an absolute inspiration. Husband Scott is a phenomenal athlete too, and the current Ironman Canada champion in the 45-49 division. Most importantly, they are a super-nice couple and a lot of fun to hang out with.    

Tim joined the camp while I did a running version of it. It was perfect timing, coming three weeks after the Vancouver Marathon—since then I'd run about once a week (though had done plenty of walking) and I was ready to kickstart my marathon training again after this great break.

Tim and I (and Luka) arrived on Sunday night after driving the 2,400 km from Squamish to Boulder in two days. (A stunning drive I'll write about in a separate post.) It was great to see Teresa and Scott again and meet their sweet dog, Sassy. We met IMJ coach Ben, and the other campers—Stacy, Kathryn and Ross. 

They had kept a wonderful dinner (the food last week was nothing short of amazing, and I'll definitely write another post on that too) for us with a good glass of red. It was a superb way to start what would be an awesome week.  

As the other seven headed out for bike rides and swims, I relaxed, read and played guitar at Scott and Teresa's beautiful home. I joined them for their runs and did my own with Luka on the days the others only swam and/or rode.

On Monday I joined them for an afternoon run of about 75 minutes. The altitude and heat were impressive, and ensured that this pacey run felt like a good challenge. We followed some of the many trails in and near the Gunbarrel neighbourhood, which has lots of rolling terrain among homes and farmlands.

On Tuesday I did a 45-minute run with Luka, this time at an easy pace on the rolling terrain among the farmlands. I was mindful of the coyotes, as Luka and I had encountered one on our Monday morning walk there. Thankfully, I noticed him before Luka did, in fact Luka strangely didn't appear to have noticed him at all even though he was nearby in the tall grass, and leashed him quickly.

With the triathletes doing at least two workouts on most days, I was keen to run every day and asked Coach Scott for advice so he wrote out a schedule for my week based on my recent training of four runs a week, totalling about 50-60km.

The next day all eight of us plus pro triathlete Billy "The Kid" Edwards (and cyclist extraordinaire—who'd just done a 600km bike ride in 29 hours to qualify for the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris race) piled into two cars and drove up (and I mean UP) to run Magnolia Road, a dirt road at about 8000 feet that attracts elite runners from around the world.

Running Times' Brian Metzler says of this run, made famous by Chris Lear's Running With Buffaloes:

It's a dusty, rustic and typically lonely road bordered by mountain ranches and thick forestland, with no curbs, no sidewalks and no distractions. There are a few steep sections, but its rolling high altitude profile is more relentless over the long haul than it is acutely severe in any one stretch. It's an inherently difficult road to run at any speed, but all the more so if you're willing to match the intensity of the environment.

It was absolutely awesome to run it. And tiring because of the altitude and the terrain. Billy had warned us that our mile splits would be a little slower than normal—and indeed on the way out, Tim, Ross and I were running about 10:20 miles as we ran out for an hour, before turning around and including a 30-minute tempo run on the way back to the car.

On Thursday I began the day with a 30-minute easy run with Luka, followed by a 20-minute pacey run with the triathletes in the afternoon.

On Friday I sagged much of the 100-mile bike ride the triathletes did up to the Peak to Peak Highway, and then to Carter Lake, before heading out for an afternoon run. I did an easy 20 minutes, followed by a 30-minute tempo run and a 5-minute cooldown.

My total for the week was about 5 hours and 40 minutes of awesome running at altitude (above 5000 feet).

Coach Scott gave me several recommendations including that I should run more, both in terms of volume and in terms of frequency. Doing so had been on my mind already and it was fantastic to get that confirmation from him. He also had advice on strengthening exercises, which I also plan to implement in my training for the Bellingham Bay and Victoria marathons in the next few months.

If you're looking to do a camp, check out these awesome IMJ Coaching options. I'll be writing a few more posts on this fantastic week.

Marathon registration galore

Marathons offer great discounts if you register early. When you are certain you want, and can, do the race, it's a great way to save some money and spend it elsewhere, perhaps on a good massage. And this time I took advantage of them for three races.

First up is the Bellingham Bay Marathon, as mentioned before on this blog, on September 25. This race offered a 15% discount at the Vancouver Marathon expo this year during the four days immediately after that race. So by registering early, the total cost was only US$70.

Next I registered for the Victoria Marathon, which offered an $85 early bird fee until May 15. With a $3 BC Athletics membership discount, my total came to $82.

Since my Vancouver Marathon this year was such a great experience (Top masters woman, 5th woman overal and 3rd Canadian woman), I looked into the early registration schedule of that as well. And this race offers until June 1 a 20% discount on the marathon.

Committing to a race a year ahead of time is perhaps a little hard to do. But given that I've done this race three times in the past four years, I think it's a safe bet that I'll feel like racing there again. It's a `home town' marathon for me, coming from Squamish, and that discount was attractive. So I registered for that marathon, too. With the 20% and BC Athletics $3 discounts, the grand total came to $77.95.

It's the first time I've been registered for three marathons and I'm excited about it. Running Victoria a mere three weeks after Bellingham is going to be an experiment. The closest I've raced two marathons was five weeks apart (the Vancouver Marathon followed by the North Olympic Discovery Marathon in May and June 2009 respectively); I ran both in 3:10 which earned me second in my age group in Vancouver and an overal win (plus the course record) at the Olympic Peninsula.

This year I had planned another experiment. As you may have read, I had registered for a 50-mile trail race between Squamish and Whistler that was held two weeks after the Vancouver Marathon. But this race was moved because of excessive snow on the course to June 18.

I believe, with the benefit of hindsight, that might have been a good thing as it probably would not have been a positive for my body, given how I felt after the Vancouver Marathon. It allowed me to take a big mental and physical break, with only three runs in as many weeks since. I recovered with daily walks, a big day of yoga (4 two-hours sessions at the Whistler Yoga Conference) and lotsa sleep.

It also allowed me to realize that my quest for the sub-3 marathon is alive and well. Last year's detour into ultramarathons has helped me understand myself better as an athlete and combined with a few other developments have given me the confidence to take the jump into becoming a self-coached athlete as I chip away at those 7 minutes and 11 seconds that I need to find before crossing a marathon finish line in less than 3 hours.

Love your running

In my preparations for the Bellingham Bay Marathon in late September, the philosophy of Matt Fitzgerald's Run: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel will play a huge part in how I will approach my training.

As I read this book, it explains much of what I've been feeling about my training in the past year or two, culminating in my decision to try a couple of ultras and cut out all structured and interval training for a period of four months last year.

That intuitive process led to, and was fuelled by, my writing of A Hundred Reasons to Run 100km.

I've reconnected with the sheer joy of running, which has improved my performance too, as evidenced in my Masters title and 5th overall placing at the BMO Vancouver Marathon this month.

As Fitzgerald says in his superb book, "Do more of what you enjoy most and less of what you enjoy least in training. The feeling of enjoyment is your body's way of telling you that your training is working."

That's exactly what I will do for the Bellingham Bay Marathon.

Whistler Yoga Conference

My sister Angelique has recently begun practising yoga. A jazz ballet dancer throughout her teens with a new yoga-focused employer, she suggested I join her at the last weekend's Whistler Yoga Conference. I was a little reluctant at first, not sure if I'd be able to do those classes, let alone a whole day of them.

I'd tried the odd yoga class but didn't enjoy it, until Tim and I did an introduction to Bikram Yoga while we stayed in Victoria in 2005 (at the time we lived in Australia). I loved Bikram but was still training and racing as a triathlete and found it too hard to uncover an extra 3 hours a week (a Bikram class is 90 minutes) on top of all the Ironman training and a fulltime job.

Angelique was keen on the Whistler weekend and I thought it good to have an open mind so I said I'd join her for the Saturday. I knew I could use a good stretch, exactly six days after the BMO Vancouver Marathon and hoped my energy levels would have recovered enough.

Angelique chose our classes and did a great job of it.

At 8am Tina James taught our first class. It was a Chakra Balancing Master Class - Jivamukti. It was fantastic, though naturally quite challenging for me. Tina is well-known for her expressive and inspirational nature coupled with her ability to effectively integrate the powerful mystical aspects of yoga, dynamic vinyasa flow sequences, ever-unfolding visualization tools, powerful intention and precision alignment, according to the Whistler Yoga Conference website.

We'd met Tina on our way to the conference as we nearly got lost between a parking lot, and the hotel. She saved us, and had a good laugh about being able to "stop us from heading off into the wilderness". It was nice to make a connection with our first teacher for the day.

During the class Tina said at one point: "You're the one you've been waiting for - there's no one else coming." It's a quote that stayed with me. So often we wait for other people in the hope that they will making things happen for us. Instead, we should look to ourselves and trust in our own ability.

Our second class was with Anodea Judith, Chakra Based Sun Salutations. Held in the gorgeous Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, it was another superb class. Anodea began her study of yoga in 1975 through Satchidananda’s school of Integral Yoga, has studied Anusara for the last ten years, and has traveled through many disciplines in the last 35 years, including a masters and doctorate in Psychology and Human Health, with additional trainings in numerous somatic therapies, yoga trainings, and spiritual disciplines , according to the Whistler Yoga Conference website.

I recognized several postures from the Bikram Yoga introduction, which was nice. It both confirmed how much I'd enjoyed Bikram and made me think more about incorporating a yoga routine into my training. 

After a short lunch break, we headed into our third class, taught by Dashama and called Sailing the Winds of Love - Journey into the Heart. Dashama handed out a pack of Osho Zen Tarot cards for each person to blindly choose one, giving us the opportunity to read the meaning at the end of the class if we wanted or ask her for an explanation. 

The one I happened to draw was the Adventure card, explained as follows in the book: Zen says truth has nothing to do with authority, truth has nothing to do with tradition, truth has nothing to do with the past - truth is a radical, personal realization. You have to come to it.

Knowledge is certain; the search for personal knowing is very, very hazardous. Nobody can guarantee it. If you ask me if I can guarantee anything, I say I cannot guarantee you anything. I can only guarantee danger, that much is certain. I can only guarantee you a long adventure with every possibility of going astray and never reaching the goal. But one thing is certain: the very search will help you to grow.

I can guarantee only growth. Danger will be there, sacrifice will be there; you will be moving every day into the unknown, into the uncharted, and there will be no map to follow, no guide to follow. Yes, there are millions of dangers and you can go astray and you can get lost, but that is the only way one grows.

Insecurity is the only way to grow, to face danger is the only way to grow, to accept the challenge of the unknown is the only way to grow.

Commentary:

When we are truly in a spirit of adventure, we are moving just like this child. Full of trust, out of the darkness of the forest into the rainbow of the light, we go step by step, drawn by our sense of wonder into the unknown.

Adventure really has nothing to do with plans and maps and programs and organization. The Page of Rainbows represents a quality that can come to us anywhere - at home or in the office, in the wilderness or in the city, in a creative project or in our relationships with others. Whenever we move into the new and unknown with the trusting spirit of a child, innocent and open and vulnerable, even the smallest things of life can become the greatest adventures. 

Food for thought.

It was another inspiring two-hour class, and we had a short break before starting our fourth and final one of the day. To be honest, I was quite tired at this point, feeling the effects of last week's marathon as well as being a yoga novice trying to keep up. Then there all the conscious and subconscious emotions that are stirred up and whirling around your mind.

Again the fourth class was fantastic, and I am so glad we went. The Sacred Dance and Yoga session, taught by Hemalayaa, was laugh-out-loud fun. In Sacred Dance and Yoga, we’ll seamlessly fuse four spiritually restorative elements: creative yoga, sacred dance, grounding meditations, and rejuvenating pranayama. Playful, flowing, inspiring and powerfully transformative, this session is designed to help you transcend beyond the physical and into the sacred flow of your own inner Goddess, according to the Whistler Yoga Conference website. 

It was the perfect class to end an amazing day. I'm so glad my sister, who stayed on for a second day while I went home, convinced me to go. It was the mental and physical stretch I needed a week after the Vancouver Marathon. (If the timing of the 2012 conference is the same, I'd highly recommend all Vancouver marathoners to attend one day - it's awesome recovery.)

Among other things, attending the conference has strengthened my belief that I will need to begin practising a form of yoga to increase my strength and flexibility if I want to succeed in my goal of running a sub-3-hour marathon.

Post-marathon recovery strategy

I love the laziness of the taper, followed by more laziness in the post-marathon recovery. After 13 marathons, 5 Ironmans and 4 ultras, among others, I've found that my body and mind appreciate at least a week completely off running.

Luka at the 41km mark

That doesn't mean I do nothing. Walks are superb for post-marathon recovery. With a two-year-old energetic dog, I have a good reason for daily outings on the local trails.

After Sunday's Vancouver Marathon I simply had a shower and walked back and forth to the finish area from Yaletown. On Monday my legs were very tight, especially my calves. I felt OK otherwise, just tired. Even too tired to bother making a hot bath. I did, however, take a hot bath with Epsom salts on Tuesday, and then wrapped my calves in a layer of Voltaren and Gladwrap for the day.

Today my legs are much better. I also had enough energy to sign up for the next race - the Bellingham Bay Marathon on Sept 25. Planning your next goal race can be a great part of your recovery strategy, I am already excited about returning to training, though I'll take it easy in the next few weeks.

Deciding on your marathon race pace

With four days to go until the Vancouver marathon, you should decide on your race pace if you haven't done so already. It's important for any distance but especially so for the marathon, a race where starting too fast will cost you dearly in the second half.

It's hard to contain your excitement at the beginning of a race that has been your goal for at least four months. That taper has left you rested and that, combined with the energy of your fellow runners, makes it easy to head out too quickly.

This is where race pace planning is very helpful, as it focuses your mind and body on preserving your energy in the first half so that you leave enough in the tank to cover the second half at a similar pace. As tempting as it is to tick off those first kilometres and miles a few seconds ahead of your goal pace, try to avoid it because it usually catches up with you somewhere around 28km or so.

The seconds you save by running the first half a few seconds per kilometre faster are easily lost when you find yourself walking later.

Typically you begin your preparations for a specific marathon with a key goal in mind. If it is your first, finishing is likely your key target. If you've done one before, and have prepared accordingly, you'll likely aim to improve on your previous time.

This will be my 13th certified and standalone marathon (I qualify this as I've run five marathons as part of an Ironman; did what was supposed to be a marathon distance in Death Valley in 1999, though was cut short by 3km because of a sand storm; and have done four ultras, i.e. races that exceed the 42.195km distance - these all provided helpful experience and lessons for running a marathon).

Based on my race times this year - 89:46 for a half in February, between 19:30 and 19:42 for four 5km time trials in the past four months; and a 40:09 10km time two weeks ago - I have decided to aim for a marathon PB which means anything faster than 3:07:10.

I also ran 10 Yasso 800s at the end of March, finishing them between 3:11 (for the second) and 2:54 (for the last). Read more about Yassos and my marathon race pace considerations here.

On Sunday, I will aim to run 4:25 per km or 7:06 per mile (tip: make sure you get your race pace in both km and mile units). A very handy tool is Merv's Running Calculator. I will also aim to do the second half slightly faster than the first.

I ran my PB in the 2008 Victoria marathon (here's a race report including splits). However, I also keep in mind that I've run a 3:12 and 3:10 on the Vancouver course in 2008 and 2009, when I expected to be a little faster (my 2008 Vancouver marathon race report).

Overall, my key goal is to have a great race - by that I mean that I am going to make each step the best it could possible be while reminding myself how much I love running marathons. The result will be, well, exactly that - the result. I am very much looking forward to Sunday.

Have an awesome race!!!

Tapering for the Vancouver marathon

There's one week until the Vancouver Marathon. I absolutely love this time, the excitement is building, and so is your energy from the taper as you reduce training volume drastically.

After I ran the Vancouver Sun Run 10km in 40:09 (I'm going with my watch time since my timing chip was mixed up, see a previous post),and my third-fastest time for the distance, I did the fourth and final 5km time-trial as part of the Squamish Titans Tuesday Runs.

Tim, who also runs with this group, was keen to go hard, and so was I. For me, it was a bonus session, since my 10km time had confirmed my starting race pace for the marathon already. When we hit the first km in about 3:35, we both knew we'd begun way too fast. Oh well.

I held on to finish in 19:42, the slowest of my four 5km time-trials - the fastest was 19:30 a month ago. It was definitely time to taper! On Wednesday I took a day rest, and ran easy on Thursday, with marathon dog Luka, for about 30 minutes or so. Friday was another day off from running.
 

Sunday hike

My sister Angelique, who with her cat Piper and dog Punky stayed with us over the Easter weekend, and I went for an easy 1-hour trail run on Saturday. On Sunday Tim, Angelique and I did a 90-minute walk with the dogs.

Tim and the results of hard labour, a hedge of Cedars

We also worked in the yard, though Tim did most the hard work while I scrubbed and the next day painted a wall of our house. It was an active enough weekend, and I'll make sure to get lots of sleep this week.

Today I'll take the day off, and tomorrow I'll meet the Tuesday Runs group for 16th and final session of this block. Two others in the group are getting ready for the marathon, and the coach agreed we start the session with a light speed workout for the three of us. We'll go home, while the rest of the group will do a larger workout.

Tomorrow's workout is one that my superb former coach, Pat Carroll, had me do on the Tuesday before my marathons such as 2010 Rotterdam, for which he wrote my program. After a warm-up (jog followed by 4-6 strides), you do: 6 X 1min fast (with 30sec jogging rest), and then 4 X 30sec fast (with 30sec jogging rest).

On Wednesday, I'll likely do an easy 30 minutes. On Thursday, I'll do: warm-up, then 12 X (30sec fast, 30sec jog).

Tim and I are heading to Vancouver the day before the race and will stay overnight with my sister who lives an easy jog from the start line, which is a fantastic bonus. I'm super-excited about racing!

And, without getting ahead of ourselves, this weekend we planned my sister's training for her first half marathon in Canada (and her second ever) as well as for ... her first marathon! She's registered for the Scotiabank Half Marathon in Vancouver at the end of June and is planning to prepare then for the Victoria Marathon, awesome!

Awesome Sun Run

Sis after a PB, me & pacer Tim

It couldn't have been a more perfect day for yesterday's Vancouver Sun Run. My sister Angelique, who has just moved to Canada a month ago, was excited to race her second 10km ever. Tim had agreed to run with her. The three of us were part of the PNG (Pacific Newspaper Group) Pacers team, since I worked as a casual copy-editor for The Vancouver Sun for about seven months in 2010.

Because we were part of the PNG team, I had to pick up our race packages at the company's promotions office, instead of at the Sun Run Fair. There was no set-up to check that our chips matched our names there, and since I've not had a mix-up in more than a decade of racing including in the even-bigger City to Surf race in Sydney, I didn't think about checking. Unfortunately I should have...

Anyway, Angelique and Tim had generously agreed to wear running shirts for two of my books, Running Shoes Are a Girl's Best Friend and Powered From Within: Stories About Running & Triathlon respectively, while I wore the shirt for my new book A Hundred Reasons to Run 100km. (Angelique plans to frame her cotton Sun Run T-shirt featuring an image painted by Vancouver artist Tiko Kerr.)

The three of us left home in Yaletown at about 8:20 ( the race started at 9) and slowly jogged to the start line. Despite the magnitude of this race, with more than 50,000 people, it was easy to get in the right spot and we were all impressed with the organization on that front. We wished each other well before Angelique and Tim went to their starting position, and I made my way to the yellow group.

Women with a sub-44 10km time were seeded, so I had a yellow bib number and would start in the second group behind the blue group of elites. I got a decent spot, and now it was a matter of staying warm until the start. While I hadn't done my usual warm-up strides, I hoped to start pretty fast on that initial downhill stretch.

I liked the course profile on paper, with a few undulations, and a final downhill on the last 500m or so to the finish line. As mentioned in a previous post, I was keen to go sub-41 again, and could see the potential of breaking 40mins.

When the gun went, it took a bit of weaving but overall I had a superb start. My legs felt good and so was my frame of mind. With all the bands lining the course, the spectators, the energy of the other runners, and a plain gorgeous day and route to run, the kilometres seemed to fly by. I felt good.

After conquering the last uphill onto the Granville Bridge, I gathered my breath and got ready for the final downhill and flat stretch. There was enough left to pick up the pace and finish strong. I made sure to cross the finish line before spending time to press my watch, which later showed 40:09.

Since I am using the Sun Run to help determine my pace for my goal race, the Vancouver Marathon, in two weeks, I was diligent about taking my kilometre splits. Here they are: 3:50, 4:04, 4:07, 3:54, 4:10 (for a 5km time of 20:07), 4:00, 4:11, 3:58, and 7:52 for the final 2km. Finish time, according to my watch, 40:09.

I'm stoked about that, since it's my third-fastest 10km (behind a 39:51 in the January 2008 Chilly Chase 10km and a 39:55 in a Coquitlam 10km in March 2008) and my fastest 10km in three years! It doesn't surprise me, given the times I've run in the Squamish Titans' Tuesday Runs, led by Roger Shirt.

Those Tuesday Runs have been my main, and most weeks only, speed workout this year. I love doing them, and haven't missed a session of the 16-week program yet. Tomorrow is the monthly This is Not a Race 5km time-trial.

On a high from the result,  I made my way to a sunny spot just near the finish line so I could catch Angelique and Tim. I love the energy and vibe near a finish line of a race where everyone gives their final ounce of effort. No matter time, place, age, size, and gender, everyone gets a lift and a sense of urgency when the finish is only 100 metres away. And people run for so many reasons.

Chatting with the woman next to me, I asked her who she was waiting for. A few people, she said, and especially her brother. He'd had a stroke, due to a hereditary condition, and hadn't recovered from it. Even so, he was determined to be as active as possible. She said he'd done the Granfondo last year on a tricycle (though I didn't ask if he rode the entire 120km between Vancouver and Whistler), and hoped to finish the Sun Run this year. Very inspiring.

I cheered as I spotted Tim and Angelique gunning for the finish line, though, not surprisingly, they were too focused on getting there to hear or see me in the crowd. After making my way to them, I found out Angelique had smashed her 10km time by five minutes for a sub-60 finish of 59:30. Woohooo!

It was an absolutely awesome event, and we had such a great time. The only downside is that my chip turned out to be mixed up with someone else's, listing my finish as 54:39. Looking at the PNG Pacers team results here, I wonder if I had the chip of the woman with a finish time of 40:07, and she may have had mine, or someone else's?

(UPDATE: Since I pointed out the discrepancy, I just noticed that my finish time has been changed to 40:56. While much closer, it's still not the correct time which is disappointing since I had an awesome race. At least, I know what I ran which is the most important. It serves as a reminder to ALWAYS check that your chip's details are correct. You can bet I'll be doing so for the Vancouver Marathon next weekend.)

We eventually found Angelique's result in the 40-44 age group (she's 37) with an official time of 59:30, a fantastic PB for her first race in Canada!

Long run - adjusted

My original plan had been to do another 3-hour training run at an easy pace on Sunday, three weeks before the Vancouver Marathon on May 1. However, plans occasionally change. Much of my weekend was taken up by the triathlon coaching course (NCCP Community Sport Triathlon Coaching Clinic) I did in Whistler.

There was no room to do a 3-hour run before driving to Whistler and saving enough energy for an intense course. I decided to postpone what would be my fifth, and final, 3-hour run before this marathon until Monday morning.

The coaching course was superb and comprehensive, therefore tiring. Compounded by two late nights on Thursday and Friday because of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival in Squamish, and just the usual busy-ness of work (a book of an author I'm working with is nearing completion), I woke up exhausted, both mentally and physically, on Monday morning.

The reality was that I did not have the time nor the (physical and mental) energy to do a 3-hour run. Given that I'd already done four of them in recent weeks, I looked through some of my books on run training for ideas.

One of the key messages from the weekend's coaching course was that, within the proper training principles, there are many answers to one question. There are many ways to train/coach. It's one of the main reasons that as athletes we change coaches or training programs. Often there's nothing wrong with the coaching we are receiving but it's simply time to test something new, to stimulate our athletic body and mind in a new way.

As for yesterday, I found in Joe Henderson's Marathon Training: The Proven 100-Day Program for Success a workout that suited my mood and time frame perfectly. Of course I first made sure that I checked in the proper time-frame of the training, i.e. three weeks out from race day. I also checked that I considered a workout tailored to my level of experience with marathon training.

Henderson's book offers three levels: the Cruiser Program, Pacer Program and Racer Program. Since this will be my 13th marathon (not counting the five marathons I've run as part of Ironman) and I have a decade of solid and consistent training under my belt by now, I opted for the long run under the Racer Program.

Henderson suggests: Long day: semi-long run of 11 to 12 miles, or half the distance of last week's long one. Run at your projected marathon pace or slightly faster.

That resonated with me. After a quick check of an out-and-back course on gmap pedometer, I chose a 19km route. It took me 42:51 on the way out, and 41:08 on the way back, for an average pace of 4:25/km, and a total running time of 84 minutes. Of course I did an easy 10-minute warm-up before easing into the effort, and a cooldown after.

In hindsight, it was a perfect session for me and I'm glad circumstances had me change it. Tonight it's time for interval training, the weekly Tuesday Runs organized by the Squamish Titans. On the schedules are "short intervals" on the track for "sharpening".

More mile repeats - after a tempo run

On another rainy night, 10 Squamish Titans members gathered for the 12th week of the Tuesday Runs sessions led by the awesome Roger Shirt. Meeting point was Alice Lake. And we weren't the only local running group meeting there, with another led by Jen Segger getting ready for their intervals too.

Roger had us warm up by running around the lake and explained the workout while we did some gentle stretches. He also told us the theme of the night was Positive Thinking, especially on the mile repeats we'd be doing later, and particularly when we'd hit the short but steep hill just about near the end of each mile.

The session started off with a 15-minute tempo run. The goal was to run it at slightly slower than 10-minute pace. Roger ran ahead and stopped at the 1km mark to read everyone their splits so we could check to see if we were on pace. Mine was 3:59 so I was a tad fast but in the chilly and wet evening it felt OK.

To manage a group of runners at different speeds, Roger had us running one way for 7-1/2 minutes on the road near Alice Lake and then turn around to meet back at the same point. Then it was time for mile repeats. Roger, a former member of the UBC cross-country team, said after the session that it had been  standard fare at UBC: a 15-minute tempo run, followed by mile repeats.  


He split the group in two, according to pace. In terms of effort, he said that the tempo run should have felt like a 3 out of 5 and that the mile repeats were meant to feel like 4 out of 5. While he didn't give us a time goal, he recommended we aim to go about 5 seconds faster on each one. We had the option of doing three or four repeats, and Tim, Rich and I decided to go for the latter.  

Our mile ran along the single-track trail that follows Alice Lake, and Roger led us out on the first one. It's a gorgeous trail though it does require paying a little more attention to footing, especially on a rainy day.  

Roger finished ahead, with plenty of time to take our splits. Tim was first in 6:18 and I was 2 seconds behind him. I hadn't really thought about what my time would be, and the sound of 6:20 scared me with the thought that there were three left to go.  

At the start of the next one, which I led, I could feel a sense of panic and had to focus my thoughts on remaining calm and positive, in keeping with the theme for the night. The combination of training load plus the challenging time goal for the next three miles could easily feel overwhelming if I allowed it to be.  

The first time I ever experienced this sense of panic during a run was in my first long run with a new group in the woods around Brussels, Belgium. I couldn't keep up and got worried I'd be left alone on unfamiliar trails. My sense of panic and shortness of breath followed by tears were noticed by an experienced runner ahead of me, who slowed down and told me to relax.   

Last night I was able to relax too, while maintaining my pace, finishing the next three mile repeats in 6:18, 6:18 and 6:21 as timed by Roger. This time it was me running hot on Tim's heels. Rich did a superb 4 repeats as well, finishing the last 9 seconds faster than his first. It was another solid interval session: only 3-1/2 weeks until the Vancouver Marathon!

Another 3-hour run done

It was time for my second 3-hour training run in the lead-up to the 2011 BMO Vancouver Marathon, held on May 1. A steady rain was coming down, and none of my running buddies showed. (I just had an email from one saying he did come to meet me at the usual time and place -- I wonder if the time change had anything to do with it?)

In any case, I set off alone at 9am, with a fully charged iPod that still has the playlist I used in the final 54km of the 2010 Haney to Harrison 100km. (That ultra was the first race ever in the more than 100 running, triathlon and duatlon events I've done over the years that I listened to music.)

I love running to music if I'm doing a long run on the road on my own. Since moving to Squamish, I've been doing a lot of my training on trails with my loyal four-footed buddy Luka whom we adopted from the local SPCA in April 2009 as a puppy of about four months.

Puppy Luka at the '09 start

The 2009 BMO Vancouver Marathon was the first race Luka ever watched and he decided then and there to become a running dog when he grew up.

Both tired at the' 09 finish

Luka even made it into one of the 2009 BMO Vancouver Marathon newsletters.

Now that Luka's a little over two years old, he loves to come for regular runs on the trails and I love the positive energy and sense of excitement he brings to my sessions. He joined me for an 80-minute run on Friday, and a 35-minute one yesterday afternoon.

With the pouring rain today and my plans to run much of the session on the road, Tim took him for a morning walk instead while I ran a pacey 95 minute pacey. Triathlete Tim was keen to do a 90-minute run and had agreed to join me for the second half of my run.

Going back home at the midway point also allowed me to quickly change into dry gear as I was already soaked for those first 95 minutes. Then we set off for a loop along dirt roads from Valleycliffe toward Quest University, along the golf course, the swimming pool, and then back home. Instead of cutting through Hospital Hill, we took the longer option and ended up back home after 1hr 42min at a solid pace.

It was so nice to have Tim's company for the second half of the long run. He had many cool stories from the Victoria Masters swim meet he did yesterday on Vancouver Island with other members of the Squamish triathlon group the Titans. Squamish-based swim coach and elite triathlete Jan Francke had suggested they go, and organized it.

It was a superb experience for many reasons. All Squamish Titans swimmers did very well. An 80-year-old Texas-based swimmer broke a world record in the 100 metres (which he swam a few seconds faster than Tim, who's pretty decent in the water and placed in four of the five events he did in his first-ever swim meet!)   

Besides changing clothes for the second half of the run, I also changed shoes and wore the Hoka for the second part. I've only had them for a few weeks, reviewing them for IMPACT Magazine (courtesy of Kintec). The more I try these shoes, the more I like them.

That brought my total running time for today to 3hr 15min, pfew! Back home I first changed into dry clothes, had a big glass of water topped with orange juice, and then lay on the floor with my legs up against a wall to help speed up recovery. 

Luka, my training buddy

Luka thought that was his cue to bring over a ball. Perhaps I should have brought him on part of the run, as he'd be lying up with his legs in the air, too, asleep on his couch. Next I had a sandwich with margarine, plenty of ham and cheese -- toasted.

Then I felt recovered enough to have a hot shower. Afterward, I applied a layer of Voltaren to my calves which always get tight before wrapping them in Glad wrap so the cream has a chance to work its calming and relaxing magic (a tip from my Active Release Techniques therapist in Sydney gave me years ago to recover from hard and/or long sessions).

I remember the time when I dreaded the long runs, afraid I'd give up before they were complete. Now they're my favourite sessions and I love doing them: two 3-hour sessions done, three left to go before May 1!

First 3-hour run of 2011

It's a spectacular day in Squamish, a great relief after the big dump of snow we received last weekened: I was supposed to run 3 hours last Sunday but after struggling 2-1/2 hours alone on slippery roads, I had more than enough.

After a great hill / tempo session on Tuesday, I went to see my new ART therapist here in Squamish on Wednesday afternoon. She did a superb release, though I felt like I'd been run over by a truck so decided to postpone my run until Thursday, and postpone it again as I still felt so wrecked.

Until my two visits in the last 10 days, it had been months if not a year since I'd last had any ART done so I shouldn't be surprised at the way my body responded. On Friday, I only did an easy half an hour run.

With a gorgeous day yesterday, I headed out for an hour but felt so fantastic now that I'd recovered from the ART treatment that I did an 85-minute fartlek session. Today I began by taking my dog Luka for an easy 25-minute run around the block. Next I was joined by Tim and Stacey, and we jogged the 15-minutes from our house to the Adventure Centre where Derek was waiting for us.

Our course today was a flat out-and-back on the road. Tim and Stacey did a shorter session, so turned around earlier, while Derek and I kept going at an easy pace. Running in the sun, on clear roads, while having a relaxed chat with my training buddy, it was a stark contrast from last week's cold and lonely battle with the elements.

Derek and I ran for two hours. Then I had a final (uphill) 15-minute stretch to go on my own. While tired, I felt pretty good overall. I drank 500ml of water and ate 1 Powerbar during this run, after this morning's breakfast of (sugarfree) Alpen with milk and my usual mugs of coffee.

After a shower, I rubbed a layer of Voltaren on my calves before Glad wrapping them, a tip from a former ART therapist in Sydney. Then it was time for a big recovery lunch (omelet with ham, and bread with goat's cheese), and plenty of fluids (water with OJ, and peppermint tea). 

Less than two months to go until the Vancouver Marathon! First, I'll race the Vancouver Sun Run in mid-April with Tim and my sister, who's moving from the Netherlands to Vancouver. Back to work this afternoon, and finish the final work left on my book A Hundred Reasons to Run 100km. I'm hoping to release it this week and the proof copy of the paperback looks absolutely awesome.

I'll do an easy 30-minute run late this afternoon, something my former coach Pat Carroll introduced me to a couple of years ago. It's a great way to get in some extra mileage on those long run days, without pushing your main effort beyond three hours, which Carroll was an invitation for injury and unnecessary.