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 :)

Easy peasy general aerobic run today. I want a bit softer then usual given the marathon pace run this last sunday. No need for any foolishness when I might be a little more prone to injury then usual. 

13km

1:15:26

5:48/km (9:20/mi)

Easy treadmill run! 8km, 5mi. Beginning of an easy recovery week. Didn't think I'd need it so badly as I do. 

Another relatively easy general aerobic run today - taking it nice and slow during recovery week :)

13km

1:14:41

5:45/km (9:15/mi)

Recovery run before my "long" run for the week. Recovery weeks though refreshing are most definitely not confidence inspiring.

6km

No time tracked though I listened to a great podcast

A relatively solid 19km/11.8mi run today until I hit mile 10 and my stomach went south. Not sure what happened exactly but I think it's due to all the food I foolishly ate the day before when celebrating Chinese New Years with some co-workers! Dim sum (though delicious) will not be on my plate again any time before a medium or long run. I managed to walk it off and stumble back to home base...

19km/11.8mi

1:45:57 (not accurate due to walking break)

5:35/km(8:58/mi) (not accurate due to walking break)

First hard run of the week. Lactate: 16km w/ 8km at Lactate Pace. Went well, I'm a full minute ahead of the pace I was at 2 weeks ago and I had lot's of fuel in the tank. Unfortunately I have a slight case of runners knee - nothing terrible but enough to be cautious and liberal with an ice bath and making sure my form is staying in check. Keeping pressure off my knee during the days and hoping it fades back slowly :)

Quick recovery run on the treadmill which resulted in a bit of a tweaky shin.... decided to stop a bit short on the 4 miler in order to preserve sanity and stop over reaching with my right foot. Is it possible to have gotten so used to running outside that when I go back on the treadmill for recovery runs I've forgotten how to run on it? I seriously feel better after a 13 mile run outdoors then a 3 miler indoors... this may be my last entry logged on a treadmill for this marathon training :(

Had a nice strong 18km (11.2 mi) run. Luckily managed to get it in on a day with no rain and some sun! Around 5:34/km  (8:58/mi)

11km recovery run through a torrential downpour! Not only was it wet but the path I ran an out and back on actually got flooded on the way back... AND I slipped trying to side stepa  giant puddle and twisted my left ankle. Icing now and it feel alright. Will see how the 18mi run goes tomorrow.

Despite a slightly sprained ankle this run came in quite well. I was tired by the end but not end of the world tired and I maintained close to marathon pace for the majority of the run. Think I could have pushed through if it was race day and made the other 14km if I had too.

The one interesting thing about the run was I ran with a friend who had a Nike + wrist device thingy. I usually map out my runs online and stick to my route closely and include an extra 200-400 meters per run to make sure I haven't  underestimated my route distance. What I estimate was 28 km by my routing "system" was close to 30 km according to the Nike + device. I don't know what to make of that. Either my training volume is more then I think or else the Nike+ tracking system is terribly inaccurate... maybe it's time to invest in  a lightweight Garmin?

Post long run recovery. Nice and easy 11km/6.84mi!

General Aerobic run w/ hills. 1:48:20 coming out to around 5:42/km. It was a nice morning run.

Solid 16km run with around 10km @ threshold. 

Quick 5mi recovery run to loosen up for tomorrow 32km/20mi run

ABYSMAL run today :(

/Begin Rant

I had to postpone my long run from yesterday due to my right hip flexor tightening up severely overnight Saturday. I was basically in bed most of the day or on the ground stretching until I was forced outside for an appointment in the afternoon yesterday. This lead to a bunch of problems today - my appetite was gone so I under ate throughout the day, I was stiff & sore, had no time to warm up and by the time I got home I was under a tight deadline to get my run over with quickly inorder to make a meeting with our programming teams in India/Russia. All this coupled with the coldest weather Vancouver has ever seen in late February and I knew the fate's had it in for me. The 20 miles (8 in the pitch dark of Burnaby lake) were agony - never got into a good stride, terrible pace, muscles burned like I'd never run before and the whole time all I could think was "why didn't I eat anything in the 9 hours before the run?" and how late I was going to be and cursing it was snowing AND raining on me at the same time. Of course I missed my entire first meeting and was unprepared for the second. The Icing on the cake was that yesterday - the day I originally planned well for - had been gorgeous (still cold but at least sunny). 

/Done Rant

Sometimes just have to let it out. Feeling better already and will refocus for the next run :) Total time 3:11:53. Sigh.

10km/6.3mi recovery run today went alright. I've recovered a bunch from the bad run on Monday but Vancouver is feeling an arctic blast and is having record cold temperatures. Brrrr... REALLY chilly out.

An ugly record breaking cold weather over the last three days. I had to cancel one 14mi run and one recovery run due to severe windchill and ended up cross training and doing the core/flex routines. First "lapse" of training but I bought some new cold weather tights, gloves and toque and am ready for a long run tomorrow. Today I tested them out and had a solid (but slightly slower then I'm used to) 6.2 mi recovery/warmup run for the long run tomorrow. I'll have to make up the missed runs over the course of training...

Despite a really really ugly week of training managed to bounce back really well today. I found out a good 10 km portion of the marathon route had been cleared of snow and slush so left home to run on it since every single other location in Vancouver was a disaster zone. Only around 8km were actually clear but I managed to loop it all (including slush & ice) three times to get my long run in. Lo and behold when I was done I realized my weather induced "mini mid week taper" let me be strong enough that I ran my 30 km under marathon pace. Pretty happy knowing that missing one recovery run and one mid distance run 8 weeks into training isn't the end of the world - I'll still try to make it up over the next two weeks though :p

Slow recovery run tonight. Still pretty cold out, slush on the ground and rain. I also pulled something in my upper back and had to go in for physio yesterday along with a massage. Feeling fine on the run though. 13km 

Another recovery run to loosen up the back and legs. Threw in a sprint or two for good measure. Excited to go to the track early tomorrow morning and finally get in some 800m sprints. Recovery weeks - though necessary - are a little boring.  

8mi run tonight with 2.5mi at the track doing 5 x 800m sprints. I went with around 50% recovery time between sprints over 200m and felt pretty good throughout. The track was a little slick from all the rain and snow the last few days but there was a clear path and I managed to retain my form for the majority of the sprints.

One strange thing to note is that I unintentionally coordinated my running gear to be all black and dark blue during my run tonight - I looked like a pretty hardcore figure out there! I didn't even realize it until I got back but the people walking the outside of the track must have thought I meant serious business haha! Not far from the truth during speed work I guess :)

Had a solid long run today - absolutely amazing weather after weeks of terribleness. 8 degrees Celsius with an even split of sunshine and clouds. I clocked in at just under 9/mi with consistent splits which was fine for a recovery week. I've been feeling really strong throughout training but it's always 7-6 weeks out I begin to doubt if I've done enough to reach my goals or if they are too aggressive... just gotta stick to the plan for now and realize I was wrong thinking this way the the last 2 marathons and stay focused mentally. 

Easy relaxed recovery run today. Probably went too fast for my own good :)

Another Recovery Run w/ some speed work - 6x100m sprints. Felt quite good.

18km (11.18mi) w/ 11km (6.83) @ 15km pace. Wow - really got rocked hard today on an out and back run. Wind warnings throughout the area and I got buffeted along the medium length run for the distance out. I was really struggling to maintain 15km pace and at one point realized my lungs were searing and the wind was hurting my breathing quite a bit. Maybe I didn't fuel enough for this one either. The second half of the run felt much better though with the wind behind my back so I'm convinced otherwise. Anyway, pulled it off still - somehow :) 

Sore today from yesterday mornings speed work so treated this as a recovery/relaxed. Really thought I gave myself enough recovery time but maybe not. My feet were a little sore during the run and I'm going to have to try just relax the next 12 hours before a St. Patrick's day 5km fun run tomorrow. Hopefully feel good enough to hit it harder then my usual recovery run.

I also realized I've lost some weight despite trying to eat enough healthy calories a week to maintain... this could be part of my recovery issue and my exhaustion during yesterdays run. I'll be eating heartily today and hopefully a good dose of carbs and protein will help iron things out.

St Patrick's Day 5km today. Slight drizzle coupled with clouds resulted in good weather but the head wind towards the last km was very strong. I meant to treat this as a recovery fun run but ended up going harder then I should have. The 19km and 18km runs over the last 2 days had me pretty tired so we'll see how the 32km run goes tomorrow as a result. Not much of a race report here since it was so casual.  Lots 'o fun during the race, great costumes and a delicious stew and Beer at the end! :) Oh and cupcakes from a specialty cupcake store...delicious, nom nom nom. 

Also I picked up a Garmin 410 today and pretty excited about trying it out tomorrow during my long run.

What a week - easily my most mileage of training (bordering 100km) and was very tired for the long run. Managed to pull it off though with almost entirely consistent splits for the majority except the spots where I got a little carried away. The Garmin 410 preformed exceptionally well and I was pleased to note that my previous mapping technique was not too far off as far as distance was concerned. The one stat I really liked was seeing my heart rate - I bordered 75% of my "max" which I still need to calculate  more precisely the next time I'm doing some speed work. All in all a satisfactory end to a hard week. Only 6 weeks to go.

Solid 13km run with intervals right in the middle. 5x600m that went pretty well considering all the mileage from the last week. I didn't go the tack this time and instead hit a local trail which was a slight gravel/hard packed mix. It really felt slower then the track for obvious reasons so next time I'll make sure to not to hit the trail. Second time using my Garmin 410 and it was really nice to have something telling me to "go" and to "stop" during my intervals without having to think - just a bit of programming before hand :)

12 mile/~19km run tonight that went really well. Deciding to postpone the run from yesterday and opting for around 9.5 hours of sleep really helped to re-energize me! In fact I was only 4 seconds per split shy of marathon pace and I felt great after the run. Can't even imagine how I'll feel recovering during the taper in 5 weeks. Maybe all this training is actually going to pay off lol.

Terrible run tonight. I went really(read: too) hard yesterday and paid the price tonight. Also didn't eat well during the day, had a tough day at work and slept for around 4 hours. Going to have to just accept that this was a mileage/recovery run and move on to tomorrow. Exhausted. Bed time :( 

Feeling so much better today. Recovered much better then the yesterday and the recovery wun was good along with 6x 100m sprints. Feeling strong again :) whew. Getting up early to watch NYC 1/2 and the LA Marathon on TV so the long run will have to wait till late morning but how often do I get to watch Meb, Ryan, Kara et. all go for podium finishes? If that doesn't motivate me to rock my long run no idea what will. 

Pretty strong 17mi run today. Absolutely beautiful weather out and the Garmin 410 performed really well again. I kept at a steady 75% to 80% HR and felt great, pretty close to marathon pace actually so it was confidence inspiring. Only 5 weeks to go and a 23km/15mi run @ marathon coming up in 7 days. Wish there was some more races around but it's a bit late at this point. 

 Also - I dedicated this run for Japan and contributed to RunForJapan.com :) Check it out 

Nice casual 13km recovery run tonight in order to get ready for 1km sprints tomorrow. Really getting eager to get to race day...sigh 

Had lot's of energy tonight and went pretty hard at the track doing sprints. My heart rate monitor wasn't going as as high as I thought so I pushed it as harder each lap and managed to have some pretty decent intervals. 5 x 1000m with an additional 6 miles to/from the track. 

 Side note: Fair weather track walkers are BACK in Vancouver!  I don't mind people at the track at all - unless they are walking along all 10 lanes in parallel and don't get out of your way! ARGGGHHHHH....

General Aerobic Run. No hills and took it fairly easy in anticipation of the hard run on Sunday. 

Quick recovery run with some friends to loosen up for tomorrows big marathon pace run.

This was essentially my hardest day of training and the big test day to see if I could go 14.5 - 15 miles at marathon pace along the actual marathon route. I'm super happy to report that the run went really well! I maintained a HR of around 80%-84% of my max through the entire marathon pace and I actually came in just under then pace I wanted for my splits. I'll need to keep reminding myself to slow down on race day but everything went well and I ended relatively strong. If I have a good taper I'm positive I'll be able to pull off the complete distance when it comes to race day.

 Really nice to have trained this hard and finally be seeing results. Goal is still PB - 15 minutes for me and I think it's attainable :) 

Unbelievable. I nailed my knee on the bus after I tripped up on my umbrella! :( Going to take tonight off and do speed work tomorrow instead so the swelling and soreness can subside otherwise my gait will suffer big time... luckily this is a pretty flexible week and I have a day of "give" in my schedule. 

Really good set of speed work at the track but the runners knee came on strong towards the end :( 5 x 600m sprints and I maintained fairly steady throughout but the last one was lung burning

General mileage run but I was still really carb depleted after the 23km at marathon pace on Sunday. Taking way longer to recover then I thought it would...

Finally recovered a bit and had to take a recovery run off yesterday to take care of my knee and to just plain rest. Too close to marathon to push it and break something. Easy 14km tonight to loosen up for the 27km long run tomorrow.  

Felt pretty good on this run despite a really hard week recovering from the @ marathon pace blast last Sunday. Had very consistent splits and ended with a strong sprint. More then happy after the knee problems earlier in the week. 

4x1200m sprints today and felt pretty good. It's nice to be hitting paces I've never hit before and feel strong going into the last 3 weeks of training :) I just wish it was race day sooner then later. Work will be intolerable by the end of next week. 

14km Recovery Run tonight. Right knee is feeling a little off. Not pain but sore and was a bit swollen after the run. Paranoia setting in during the last hard week of training before taper? Probably not but we'll see how tomorrows 13 miler goes but I'm most def a little sore. 

General Aerobic run. 

Short Recovery Run

Finally! The last true long run of training! Only 3 weeks till the marathon and it'll be a nice steady taper to the finish. Feeling pretty strong, knee is recovered and much healthier then the last two marathons. Think I have a strong chance at hitting my goal and smoking my old PR. Mwhahahaha! Excitement :)