Milestone

Today was a pretty cool day, in that today I had another great run, and crossed a threshold I had never really given a lot of thought to, but reflecting on it now, is quite an accomplishment.

First I’ll talk about today’s run in the Egg Nog Jog, a challenging 10.8k run through the rolling hills of Terra Cotta, ON. The first time I ran this a few years ago, I came into it thinking that 10.8k was nothing as I had run half marathons, 30k races and even one full…. but I took the course for granted and it humbled me. The event is a local running gem, a well-organized winter run limited to only 600 runners so it is not over-crowded. So this year, I feel my overall training was better and knowing what was in store for me also made it easier.

The challenge comes between the 4-6km marks as the incline is significant and the duration of it makes it even more intense. This year I powered up the hill and forced myself to maintain a steady pace and was surprised at how many people I passed with ease, and stayed behind me the rest of the way. I even had enough reserve energy to dial up the pace at the 8-9km mark to improve my chances to finish strong with a very respectable time. The last 1km is mostly downhill (after all the climbing you do have to come back to the starting point in this loop race) and I turned it on and ran across the finish line with a sub 1-hr time for the 10.8km distance.

It was during this race, the milestone occurred, in that I crossed the 1000km mark for the year, and given the spotty routine from previous years this was a major accomplishment. Even this year there were a few very light months – most recently November, as I took a few weeks off after the Detroit Marathon to rest and lost my motivation to run in the dark, cold, late fall mornings. My heaviest workload was August as I was in full training mode and ran over 250km but also had 3 other months of 100km+.

So as the year winds down, I will be heading south for the holidays and plan to run every day when not driving and should be able to record another 100km+ month. This sets up the goal of 1600km (1000 miles) for 2014 and one that is firmly within reach.

Back at it...

I’m back – not only writing but running again. In the past few weeks it has been only a couple of runs – including a much deserved 10k after a busy week of business travel.

It is difficult some mornings to get up and run, knowing that I have a full morning ahead, and need to be in the office before 8am a half hour run at 5am sometimes just didn’t happen… but it needs to

I like the feeling of accomplishment after having dragged myself out of bed and onto the road, and maybe because there hasn’t been a “goal race” ahead that I have let it slide… so I have 2 so far…

The Egg Nog Jog is 2 weeks away so the 10.8k distance is not daunting, but I want to feel good about this run, so I need to dial up the training before next weekend. Discipline will be key and that often wanes in the cold and dark of Canadian fall and winter months.

The big race is the Around the Bay 30k in Hamilton at the end of March – this will mean weekly training runs with the Smooth Running group – my training team as this event is a group favourite event and the distance sets up well for a Spring full marathon – maybe Ottawa this year, if I can work on a few fellow runners.

Diet wise – I don’t go crazy in monitoring intake, but the switch to EnergyBits and RecoveryBits to fuel instead of gels and other items has been great, and I will continued to be #PoweredByBits in hopes of demolishing previous PB times and just an overall improvement on health. It has been over 3 years since I last had carbonated beverages (pop/soda) and my only true vice is coffee – and since starting a regular EnergyBits intake I have been able to reduce coffee consumption by at least one cup a day and find that on weekends it is almost non-existent.

So it is time to refocus – not only on the miles but also on writing… thanks for indulging me….

What's Next?

What’s next?

That’s a question that some runners face almost immediately after completing a race…

No sooner has the accomplishment been realized and the next goal is in question… Do I try to better my time, or is it a longer distance, or where do I race next?

It’s been a week since the Detroit marathon, and my thoughts have gone to will I race it again next year, or will I go after Chicago the week before (or try both?), or what is the next big one?

I took the entire work week off from “training runs” but did manage to drag my butt out of bed Sat. at 5am for a training run with my “half marathon” training group as they are tapering for a race next weekend. The distance was 12k, and the weather was less than accommodating as we faced a significant wind and the first “snow storm” of the fall season. It had started snowing/sleeting around 5am so by the time we hit the road at 7am there was accumulation and a biting headwind but we managed to get in 13+k as my training partner and I doubled back to make sure that the only other runner to brave the conditions was still in good shape.

It is runs like this that makes me realize that I love pushing myself, sometimes for no real reason other than the challenge to step outside the comfortable and do what many others won’t.

My next race is in Dec, the 10.8k Egg Nog Jog, a local favourite with rolling hills and scenic views and warm soup and egg nog post race… and this is a very comfortable distance so weather conditions are virtually irrelevant (I say virtually because it is Dec. in Canada so there is always the threat of bad weather – but that’s the challenge).

After this my calendar is open but will quickly fill with the March 2014 Around the Bay 30k in Hamilton, for my 4^th time, and then the decision will be - which spring race do I want to do? Mississauga, Toronto, or Ottawa? Half of full? And what other events are there that I am interested in doing – my hope is that there will be at least 3 half marathons and a full…

The most important question is…. Who wants to run with me?