This ones for Higgens, Rick and TC

First medium length run of training @ 19km/11.8mi and it went quite well. Almost too easy really, close to no soreness after wards and I could have pushed the pace significantly. Thankfully I had the resolve to not blow myself out in the first week of training.

 19km, 1:50:16, 5:48/km (9:20/mi), Target: 5:52/km (9:26/mi)

    Split 1: 2km, 11:58
    Split 2: 2km, 11:41
    Split 3: 2km, 11:31
    Split 4: 2km, 12:38 (Practiced some carb intake)
    Split 5: 2km, 11:29
    Split 6: 2km, 11:28
    Split 7: 2km, 11:33
    Split 8: 2km, 10:56
    Split 9: 2km, 10:59
    Split 10: 1km, 6:04

 Great start to marathon training so far I think...Only 16 weeks to go :) 

Some minor right Glute soreness/tightness from the long run on Sunday. Will attempt to stretch extra hard before bed. Easy run today with some quick sprints thrown around.

Run: General Aerobic with 10x100m sprints, 13km,

Distance: 13km or 8.08mi

Time: 1:14:54

My piriformis has decided to go crazy and spastic on me to the point I'm going to need to go to Physio tomorrow. I remember last week doing some trail running and braking once or twice on some rough downhills which might have caused the flare up and tightness.

Run: Recovery

Distance: 6km or 3.73mi

Time: No watch (yay!)

Went to physio and got some major relief on my piriformus & glutes. Loosened things up nicely and was reassured I have great hips (you heard me). Afterwards I did a 7.5 mi run to get back into things and felt only slightly tighter by the end. The prescribed stretches took care of a lot of that though. See how I feel tomorrow :)

Run: General Aerobic

Distance: 12km or 7.46mi

Time: 1:06:59

Pace: 5:35/km or 8:59/mi

Another quick recovery run to take care of my glutes which tightened up again but not as severly as before. The stretches are helping lots.

Run: Recovery

Distance: 6km or 3.73mi

Time: No watch (yay!)

Pace: N/A

Second Long run of training. Glutes and Piriformus are feeling better but were really tight during the first 4km of the run. Once I picked up to marathon pace it was warmed up and the knots had untied themselves slowly. I accidently ran too far after I forgot a street name but I kept pace and mapped it in later. That's why it looks like I'm running around 21.5km instead of 21 :) Anyhow, hit my marathon time for the 13km of the run I was supposed to plus an extra 1/2 km! Another good long run and since I ran on the actual Vancouver marathon course it was confidence inducing.

Run: Long Run 21.24km with 13km @ Marathon Pace (13.33miles w/ 8.36 @ MP)

Time: 1:58:44

Overall Pace: 5:32/km or 8:54/mi

Splits:
    Split 1: 2km, 11:27 (Warm Up)
    Split 2: 2km, 11:28
    Split 3: 2km, 11:29
    Split 4: 2km, 11:51
    Split 5: 2km, 10:40 (Marathon Pace)
    Split 6: 2km, 10:39
    Split 7: 2km, 10:57
    Split 8: 2km, 10:58
    Split 9: 2km, 10:56
    Split 10: 2km, 10:55
    Split 11: 1.45km, 7:25 = 5:23.42/km [Target 5:20/km - 5:27/km]

When I left there was no snow. By the time I came back there was close to 1/3 of an inch on the ground. It was beautiful out but WOW was it a lot of snow for Vancouver. Stupidly didn't look at the forecast before hand. No hat and I wore my most basic shorts so I was freezing by the time I cooled down and iced my feet since I was drenched when I came in.

 Run: General Aerobic - relaxed and got in some decent mileage

Distance: 16km or 9.94 mi

Time: 1:32:14

Overall Pace: 5:45/km or 9:17/mi

Due to the severe amount of slush and ice out on the roads I chose to hit the treadmill today. 6km recovery run and man oh man - treadmills are boring as watching paint dry. 

 Run: Recovery Run

Distance:  3.73

Time: Slow - I didn't track it, just ran to stay loose for intervals tomorrow.

Overall Pace: N/A

Slush is EVERYWHERE! Not only did my feet get soaked but trying to keep lactate pace through a slushy mess was exhausting. Really sore today as a result so I hit a full ice bath and felt much better but my times are a bit down.  Hopefully the snow disappears soon since temperatures are back up to normal.

Second Lactate Threshold run of training. Total 13 km w/ 6 km @ Lactate Pace. 

Overall Pace: 5:30/km or 8:52/mi

Lactate (6km/3.73mi) Pace: 4:56/km or 7:56/mi

Third long run of training and it started out pretty rough. I wasn't able to get in my 7 km recovery run yesterday due to weather and a late night on Friday. What a difference that makes.... massive tightness for the first 6 km or so before I was able to really loosen up and get my form back up to snuf. Ended the run strong but realized I could have easily pushed much faster though through the entire run.

Could the training run times I calculated for hitting a 3:45 marathon be a bit slow? Running my long runs faster than Marathon Pace + 10% to 15% may help and give me more benefit if I feel like the run was too "easy". Then again it could be disaster. I'm not sure yet but I'll try run at MP + 5% to 10% for next weeks long run and see what happens.

Run: Long Run

Distance:  23 km (14.3 mi)

Time: 2:17:57

Overall Pace: 6:00/km (9:40/mi)

Not a great night sleep resulted in an alright run in really cold for Vancouver weather! 0 degrees celcius. I'm just glad I got out and got through it! The sprints felt great though I kept feeling I wasn't running a full 100m each time for some reason.

Run: General Aerobic + 10 x 100m sprints

Distance:  13 km (8.08 mi)

Time: 1:12:19

Another round of snow has forced me inside today. I guess it's more sleet then anything but it's made paths and roads slushy and a bit dangerous for my liking so hit the treadmill instead.

 Wednesday: Jan 8th, Recovery Run, 8km (5 mi), Treadmill

My first wake up early and go before work run of the year! Snow finally cleared up enough I was able to hit the dirt paths I wanted and have a solid general aerobic run. I incorporated hills compared to my 16km general aerobic run 2 weeks ago and came out only 30 seconds longer so I'm pretty happy about that :) 

 Friday: Jan 20th, GA (Including hills), 16km (10mi), 1:32:56, 5:49/km (9:20/mi)

Just a quick recovery run before the 24km run tomorrow. Didn't track time and just relaxed while listening to a podcast and stretching out the muscles. I LOVE the marc maron WTFPod podcast. The guy is great and his work keeps me focused on relaxing and just loosening up.

Another solid long run and I'm feeling way more confident then when I was prepping for Kelowna marathon last year. So far injury free and being diligent in my nutrition and it feels like it's working! Way more protein, carbs through healthy foods then I've previously done and I'm managing to keep my weight up without overloading on fats and sodium. Only 14 weeks to go... yikes a lot more to gain for sure though.Vancouver is a hard course from what I understand.

Jan 22nd

Long Run

24km

2:17:06

5:43/km (9:12/mi) [Target: 5:40/km (9:08/mi)]

           Split 1: 2km, 12:30 (Warm up)

Split 2: 2km, 11:37

Split 3: 2km, 11:54

Split 4: 2km, 11:11

           Split 5: 2km, 11:05

Split 6: 2km, 11:18

Split 7: 2km, 11:18

Split 8: 2km, 11:19

Split 9: 2km, 11:19

Split 10: 2km, 11:11

Split 11: 2km, 11:10

Split 12: 2km, 11:14

Had a Threshold/Tempo run today and it went OK except for all the street lights I hit during my warm up/cool down. My pace was slightly slower then last week for the tempo portion since I tacked on an extra 2 km. My overall time would have been much better but I must have lost 3 to 4 minutes due to traffic. Do people usually stop their timing or include it as part of the run if you are stuck at a red light? I feel like I'm cheating if I don't count the time since I'm technically resting - if only I lived somewhere I could run without crossing major intersections :( 

Third Lactate Threshold run of training. Total 14 km w/ 8 km @ Lactate Pace. 

Overall Pace: 5:41/km or 9:08/mi

Lactate (8km/5mi) Pace: 4:56/km or 7:56/mi

Terrible sleep and insane amounts of works lead to a very slow recovery run today capped with a 2 hour conference call five minutes after the run :( By the end I felt good but it took some major effort to get out there and get it done. Haven't struggled with motivation and excuses in such a long time - all of them legitimate to boot lol. Really excited for the recovery/slowdown week coming up....

Run: Recovery, 8.5km, 5.3 miles, No time tracked. 

Good hilly run nice and early in the morning. Really felt great to get out there and want to have at least 2 early morning runs a week from now on. 

Jan 28th

GA (slight hills/holdom)

16km

1:32:56

5:42/km (9:10/mi)

Did I mention I hate treadmills? And especially recovery runs on treadmills where all I want is to be outside but it's so cold and sleet is coming down and I forgot to wash my favorite shorts and they smell bad but it's too late cause I didn't realize it till I was already one mile on the treadmill in the suffocating gym downstairs and everyone looks at me so I made them suffer? <Sigh>

Recover Run, 5mi, Time: Not short enough.

Assessment long run today! Total 16.2 mi (26km) with approx 10mi at Marathon Pace and it went really well. Started slow around downtown Van and dialed up to Marathon Pace as I hit the actual marathon route. I was able to hit both the bridge over and back along with one hill climb and stay well below my projected Marathon Pace for my goal. A little confidence inducing with 12 weeks to go but still being realistic knowing I have so much to gain... c'est la vie.

Long Run

26km w/ 16km @ Marathon Pace

2:22:20

5:28.46/km (MP portion @ 5:14/km TARGET 5:20/km)

Side Note: Really enjoying and motivating to read so many awesome and significantly better runners posts on fastrunningblog - just sayin :)