The good, the bad and the sad

I had a 90 minute run on my schedule for this weekend.  I woke up before 6 am without an alarm on Sunday morning thanks to the time change.  Since I figured my neighbours wouldn’t appreciate me banging flooring in that morning I quickly got dressed and headed out for my run.  Despite the fact that the sun wasn’t up yet it was actually quite nice out.  0C.  You guys are probably laughing at my definition of “nice” but these days if the temperatures aren’t below 0C then it is actually kinda warm!

The Good

I haven’t done a 90 minute run in I don’t know how long.  Probably back at Lake Stevens.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I actually felt great on the run!  I kept getting progressively faster throughout the run, with the exception of the last mile which was uphill.  As the sun was coming up it was turning out to be a beautiful day.  What a great morning for a run!

The Bad

This being the morning after Halloween you could tell that some neighbourhood kids had been up to some mischief the night before.  Running through one little cul-de-sac some kids had taken all of the carved pumpkins that people had put out and smashed them all in the street.  What a mess! 

The Sad

I run past this one house quite frequently and they have a medium to large hairy dog.  Not too sure on the breed.  I’ve noticed that they often have their dog tied up to the porch which is really just a set of steps and a concrete square in front of their front door.  Basically it is just large enough for this dog to lie down on.  Yesterday when I ran past their house it was probably just before 7 am…still dark out…and I could see a fuzzy shape by the front door.  It was 0C outside and this poor furry fella was probably sleeping outside all night.  It just broke my heart.

Does November equal the start of the holiday season to you?  The Christmas coffees are coming out at Second Cup and Starbucks and I saw my first Christmas shopping related commercial last night.  Anyhow, I figured this was a good time to try out my Vanilla Gingerbread holiday GU.  Hmm, not my favourite.  In my opinion it is way too sweet for me and I found the gingerbread flavour a little too overpowering.  I’ll stick with the chocolate mint I think!

Bargains, Burritos and More

Thursday

Because I ran on Wednesday that meant that I had a bike to do on Thursday. Originally I was hoping to ride into work but when I woke up and looked out the window I knew that wasn't going to happen. The clouds were nasty and there were possibilities of thunderstorms. I figured that if I got home and the weather was okay I would do the ride outside. Nope, the weather was still crappy, so it would have to be on the trainer. As it turned out I got sucked into watching the Canucks game and the ride just never happened...

Friday

My friend DGB had mentioned a new restaurant in town that opened up that I was keen to try - Mucho Burrito. It is pretty similar to Chipotle (which I love...), but they don't have up here. I decided to make a deal with myself - get on the bike then Mucho Burrito would be the reward. The ride was pretty easy - a 45 minute high cadence spin. I threw season one of Red Dwarf on and spun away. (If you are into British comedies and haven't seen Red Dwarf...I love it! Awesome show from the late 80s and 90s.) Truthfully my stomach was rumbling after 30 minutes so it was off to Mucho Burrito. It was so yummy....and even though I knew I may regret it I went for some hot salsa on top...which was most definitely hot! So good though..!!

Saturday

I had a big round of workouts on the schedule - a 2300m swim followed by a 15K run. I figured my best bet was to swim at the Eau Claire Y early in the morning, then hit the pathways around the river for my run. I threw all the gear I would need into my gym back and took off to try to be at the pool early. I hopped in a lane with two other guys and got to work. The water felt really good and I found my rhythm. The main set called for a 1000m continuous swim, a 1:00 rest, then another 500m continuous swim. Since I was feeling so good I opted to swim the entire 1500m together (in part so I could see where my time would shake out for the distance), then I'd follow it up with a 1:00 rest, another 250m swim, then cool down for a total of 2500m. The swim was awesome!!

I hopped out of the pool, had a quick shower to get the chlorine out of the hair, and put the running gear on. I also downed a gel. I thought I would try a new one - Key Lime Accel Gel. I wanted to try this one out since it has protein in it. I know as my workouts get longer for half Iron training that I'll need to incorporate protein in my fueling so I wanted to see how this stuff tasted and worked.

Taste? It was fantastic. It really tasted just like key lime pie filling. How it worked? Oh well...we'll see...

Mile 1 - 10:25 - I was a bit slow to warm up.
Mile 2 - 10:04 - Getting faster...
Mile 3 - 9:58 - And a bit faster...
Mile 4 - 9:50 - Hitting my stride.
Mile 5 - 9:47 - Faster...but all of a sudden my stomach starts rebelling. Was it the hot sauce? The gel? The pool water I probably ingested earlier in the morning? A combination of all three?
Mile 6 - 9:48 - Holding on...heading back to the Y.
Mile 7 - 9:48 - Still hanging in there
Mile 8 - 9:34 - So close...I just want to be done!
Mile 9 - 10:01 - Total rebellion...
Mile 0.18 - 9:41 - Done, thankfully!

So...was it the gel? Maybe... I still have a couple of packs to try, so we'll see if it happens again. I won't be pairing it with Mucho Burrito again though (I'll save that for before a rest day). My legs felt great on the run, it was just a shame about the ol' digestive system not feeling quite up to par.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, but most especially to my mom!!!!

Nutrition Lessons

For a rest day today was pretty jam packed. After work I ran over to Costco as one of my swim teammates had let me know that they had Speedo suits for $20.99. Since I binned two suits last week I figured it would be worth checking them out. Sure enough, they had suits, but none of the more sporty kind that I was looking for. After a quick run through the store and realizing that I didn't quite have the burning desire to buck up $55 to renew my membership yet I headed home to whip up dinner/lunch for the Great Lunch Swap Project. I had a Moroccan dish picked out - chicken with tomatoes and honey over couscous. I'm not sure that this turned out too terribly exotic but it was reasonably tasty. After quickly scarfing that down I headed out to my favourite tri store in town, Tri It, for an information night being put on by Hammer Nutrition. Of all the brands of gel I have tried Hammer and Gu are my two favourites for taste. But apart from their gels I wasn't too familiar with the rest of their products.

The folks at Hammer seem more about education for fueling and they believe in their product, but if it doesn't work for you, then that's okay. In terms of fueling for a marathon you can down some gels and be in pretty good shape, but nutrition for longer distance triathlon is something that boggles my mind. I know I'll have to learn about it, and I know it will require some good experimentation...but I really don't have an idea where to start. So tonight was a great night. Some interesting points that I took away:

• If you are exercising over three hours you should take in some protein too.
• Your digestive system likes liquid fuel a whole lot better than solid fuel.
• You need to replenish electrolytes in any weather, not just in hot weather.
• You need to try and refuel your body as soon after you exercise as possible. Rainmaker likes chocolate milk for his recovery drink, although there are many different ways to get that recovery drink/snack.

Something not to do? After spin class on Tuesday I got home and found some chocolate sundae syrup in the fridge (supposedly it is good until sometime in 2010??). I had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer...some raspberries...and I was hungry. So I threw those three things together in a bowl. Plus I had a mug of hot chocolate milk, made with Ovaltine because somehow it sounds like it might be more nutritious than Nesquick. And it is supposed to be the ultimate recovery drink. Anyhow, to make a short story long I then updated my Facebook status as "Leana is refueling with hot chocolate and ice cream after discovering chocolate sundae syrup in her fridge." And Richelle totally called me out on it tonight as we talked about there being good ways and bad ways to refuel. So note to self, don't advertise your crappy refueling techniques!

(The ice cream was so good though...and it wasn't all bad...was it?)

A Snowy 20 Miler

Winter boots...allowing for the resurgence of the "tuck and roll" concept:Sunday morning arrived and I was out the door at 8 am. I was carrying citrus nuun in my Camelbak and three Gus with me (Tri-Berry, Chocolate Outrage and Chocolate Mint). I'm definitely liking the nuun/Gu combo for nutrition and hydration. In hindsight I wish I would have gotten out the door an hour earlier... When I left the sidewalks were bare, but about 5 minutes in to my run the odd errant snowflake was floating around in the air. The run was feeling great - my heart rate was low, pacing felt easy...all was going so well. In fact, I wasn't trying harder, but I was running faster than last weekend. Initially the snow was melting when it hit the ground, but it didn't take too long for it to start accumulating. As the snow kept flying it became apparent that it wasn't going to let up anytime soon. I downed my Gus at miles 5, 10 and 15 and sipped on nuun about every 20 minutes or so. Right around the 15 mile point the amount of snow on the sidewalks was becoming insane. You can see that the shift happened so quickly on my pace chart below. All of a sudden it felt like I was running in sand and I was just losing a ton of energy.

*You can ignore the final pace bar since that is for the two seconds after mile 20 clicked off on the Garmin, but I didn't hit the "stop" button right away.* I felt so strong going into those last 5 miles and I was so ready to knock them out, but Mother Nature had something else in mind for me. All of a sudden I was just ready to be done slogging through the snow. Despite telling myself that I was stronger than this my legs just weren't having it. This was what it looked like when I got home, just over 3-1/2 hours later:

I figure we probably got about 5 cm of accumulation while I was out. Everything I had on was completely soaked - socks, shoes, tights, t-shirt, top, gloves and hat. I changed into sweats right away to warm up and downed some eggs, bacon and hot chocolate. I had intended to head in to work once my run was done, but after seeing all of the cars sliding around my neighborhood (and reading the heavy snowfall warning) I decided to just hang out at home. I figured this would be a great opportunity for me to catch up on laundry and maybe make a proper meal for dinner. Shortly after finishing my lunch the tiredness hit and I wound up napping on the couch for almost three hours! So much for getting stuff done around the house, but I did make it out for groceries and wound up fitting in my recovery spin, core and stretching. I am slightly disappointed in how this run ended up as I would have loved to finish stronger, but I'll have a chance for redemption in two weeks on my final long run. 35 km or 21.75 miles...

Someone Pinch Me - Warm Weather in November

112.64 running miles for the month of November. That's a new record by a whole 2.02 miles from a year ago!
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I got a bit of a late start today as I didn't head out the door until 1:30, but since I hadn't planned on doing much of anything else besides my long run today that wasn't much of an issue. It was nice and sunny and 7.5°C (45°F) here. I know for some that is pretty cold, but for me, that spells capris, a short sleeve shirt layered with a long sleeve shirt on top. For around here on November 30th, that is pretty good! I've really been pushing the pace on my long runs lately and I wind up feeling like crap in the last few miles - tired legs and very tight hip flexors. Today I was going to run easy and slow and see what happened. Thanks to the McMillan running calculator I've learned that my long run pace should be anywhere between a 10:47 to 11:47/mile.

I couldn't really get enthused about running along the river so I opted to just run my entire 18.64 miles (or 30K) around my neighborhood. Luckily there all kinds of culdesacs and loops that you can run around so finding the distance wasn't too bad. I figured if I needed anything along the run I would just detour back past my house and hopefully not be enticed by my couch.

I also wanted to try something different out on the run. I trained with Gatorade throughout the summer, and if you mix it from powder the taste isn't too bad, but I have been finding it a bit sweet lately. I've just been running with plain old tap water, but that really doesn't help you with electrolyte replacement. Yesterday I had stopped by Bow Cycle for their bike expo. There was a representative from nuun there and I had a chance to chat with him about the product and have a taste. I've read that a lot of my blogging buddies like it, but I hadn't given it a shot though. In case you haven't tried nuun yet either, it is a fizzy tablet that you add to a bottle of water. It turns that bottle of water in to an electrolyte replacement drink, but without the carbs. I found the taste to be pretty mild and unobtrusive, and while I was initially worried about my stomach's reaction to the effervescent effect it went down pretty smoothly.

My run was pretty uneventful, especially in the beginning. I've been working on running a 19:1 interval, although my walk break gives me enough time to have a drink and then I start back up again. Every hour I down a Gu. Today's flavours were Orange Burst (hmm, not my favourite), Chocolate Mint (love, love, love) and Chocolate Outrage (also pretty good). After I had been running for about 13 miles the sun was starting to set, I was almost out of water and I needed to go to the bathroom. I stopped in at Starbucks and once I came out I was freezing. I didn't feel like suffering through the last hour of my run getting colder and colder so I detoured by my home to swap out my long sleeve shirt for a heavier long sleeve layer. I was so happy for this, because as I continued on I was running head on in to some cold wind. Making the change was good. My legs were still feeling strong. Even though I finished up the last few miles of my run on a route that had some good hills thrown in I felt pretty good. Apparently this starting slow thing really works, and I averaged right where I needed to be pace-wise on a long run. I finished up right outside Starbucks (how convenient) and grabbed a beverage before heading home for a quick recovery spin and some stretching.

I'm often been asked by people how you don't get bored running for hours on end. What does one think of? I'm never really sure how to answer this question, so I pondered it a bit today. Truthfully, I don't think about too much out there a lot of the time. Plodding along, recognizing the rhythm of my footfalls and breaths seems to be the norm for me. Sometimes if I think too much this is a bad thing. Right now I'm working so much that running gives my brain some much needed time off. As another example, invariably you start to think about how something hurts, or about how you still have so far left to go. Today I made a conscious effort to not think about how far I had to run. I figured that if I broke it down (wow...you are only a third of the way there..!) it would get too depressing! I thought about when I needed to take a gel in relation to minutes on the road, but otherwise I just kept plodding along. Sometimes I get a snippet of a song in my head but it rarely lasts for long. When things get tough at the end and I just want to be done I think about what I want at the end of my run. Am I looking forward to my bike? Or eating something? A lot of times I think about what beverage from Starbucks I'm going to pick up. Just chanting "venti iced non-fat latte" over and over with every step got me through a particularly tough 15 miler this summer. Today I kept thinking about the grande decaf non-fat peppermint mocha twist with whip, but mostly because it was such a mouthful I wanted to be sure I remembered all components when it came time to order! What about you, what do you think of on your long run?

Supplementation and a Long Run

After running intervals on Thursday the stiffness and soreness set in to my legs almost immediately. Friday I hobbled around the office looking like I'd just gotten off of a horse. Running on 17.4 mi* on Saturday was going to be interesting...

I spent my Friday evening at a sports nutrition seminar. The talk was divided in to two parts - the first focusing on food choices, the second focusing on supplementation. The talk focusing on nutrition was fairly interesting. Some of it I knew already, but I did take a few interesting things away. The part focusing on supplementation...well... I can barely remember to take a multi-vitamin on a regular basis, but it was interesting to hear about how certain deficiencies can play a role in fatigue, muscle cramping and inflammation. What are your thoughts on supplementation? Does it play a key role in your nutrition strategy, or do you try to eat as well balanced as possible? Where I didn't agree with the speaker was when he talked about what he eats on a daily basis...and most of what he eats is some form of supplement as opposed to real, actual food. My attitude towards food has always been that I think you can have something as long as it is in moderation. Take that out and consume a bunch of powders or bars for your main meals and somehow that makes eating seem a lot less enjoyable. But different strokes for different folks, right?

Luckily by the time Saturday rolled around my legs weren't quite as stiff. I wanted to take it easy on them so I purposely tried to start my run at a slower pace - a good 30 seconds per mile slower than where I was at on my last long run. This time I tried a couple of new Gu flavours on my run too, to see if it made a difference from Hammer Gel. I brought Lemon Sublime and Triple Berry with me. Both tasted...not too bad. I thought I would head out to the Glenmore Reservoir, one of my favourite places for a long run. The pathways were pretty quiet out considering how nice of a day it was. I was keeping a fairly consistent pace for the first bit, but then around the 6 mile mark I slowed down a bit... Then with a mile or so left to go on my first loop around the reservoir I hit a patch of pathway covered in snow and ice. I gingerly made my way across the ice, and then once I started running again I could feel the fatigue in my legs. As I finished up my loop I tried to not look at my car for fear that it would tempt me to stop running and head home instead. I didn't want to navigate the icy part of the pathway again so I opted to do an out and back on the second loop. I alternated miles between feeling good and feeling fatigued. So much for starting slowly with the idea that I might speed up later! No doubt it was relative to running a hard race the weekend before... It felt good when I finally hit 17.4 miles and I could stop running. I wouldn't label this run as terrible because despite the fatigue in my legs it didn't go too badly. I kind of viewed it as good preparation for how I would feel in the later miles of the marathon. I think I still need to work on my pacing strategy though... When I got home I spent about 20 minutes spinning on my bike at a nice high cadence to try and work some of the stiffness out of my legs. It helped immensely! The weather was nice enough that I could have ridden outside, but truthfully I didn't feel like riding any of the hills around my neighborhood so I opted for the trainer instead.

Well, that's about it for me! I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

*Why such an oddball number for my long run? My coach gives me my long runs in either kilometers or time. In terms of distance and pace I can really only think of it in terms of miles though..! So 28 km, or 17.4 miles...

Facing Down My Nemesis

I hope you guys all had a great Halloween. Mine was pretty low key. I hung out with my family to see my niece's first time to dress up and go trick or treating. She was the cutest little elephant!

I can say that all common sense went out the window on Halloween. Mini-chocolate bar? Don't mind if I do... Orange Halloween shortbread cookie? Sure... Once the little elephant was off to bed the rest of us hung out, chowed down on some Papa John's and some Big Rock Winter Ale and watched Run Fatboy Run.It was the perfect combination of carb loading and motivation in the form of a movie. I love me my Brit humour and I rather enjoyed the movie. I was ready to face down my 15 miler...

The 15 miler would seem to be my nemesis. Both times I have run that distance it has turned into a serious gong show. The first time was a year ago down at the Glenmore Reservoir. The last part of my run was fuelled purely by adrenalin as I was freaked out about the bear warning signs. And it was freezing. 15 miles...3:05:08...12:03/mi. You can read the run report here. It is truly a tale of what to not do on your long run...

The second time I ran 15 miles was this summer. It was crazy hot out, my bladder was on overdrive, I had some weird hip pain (that hasn't recurred since, knock on wood) and I just really had a hard time mentally getting through this run. 15 miles...2:57:30...11:50/mi.

By all rights today wasn't entirely a 15 miler. I had 25K on the schedule which is 15.5 miles. A totally different ball game, right? And Calgary was in line for an amazing fall day. It was 10 deg C (50 deg F) already when I woke up and we were forecast to get up to 16 C (61 F). I didn't feel like just running around my neighborhood so I headed out to Glenmore Reservoir. Yup, the scene of last year's bear run. I had been assured by a coworker who ran out there last weekend that there were no bear warning signs up right now though. I planned to run two shortened laps around the reservoir which I figured should get me to the right distance.

I felt amazing as I started out. Everything was in sync. I was running low to sub 10:00 miles and my heart rate was just hanging out in zone 2 with no issues. The sun was shining and the mountains in the distance looked beautiful. It was one of those days were you just felt so grateful to be healthy and alive and out there doing this. At 5 miles I stopped to walk and down a vanilla Hammer Gel. Once I got back to running my rhythm felt like it had been thrown off. I was struggling to hold my pace and my heart rate was shooting in to zone 3. It felt like it took a good mile and a half to get back in to it. What happened to my great run? I finished up the loop around the res at about 8.6 miles in. I dropped my long sleeve top off at the car and opted to rejig the route since a second loop would give me more mileage than I needed. I ran an out and back along the north part of the res instead. At 10 miles in I downed an espresso Hammer Gel. I didn't get quite the same reaction on this one, so I'll have to see if vanilla poses a problem or if it was just some weird anomaly. Or if it is just blood being diverted to help digest the gel and that makes my heart rate rise?

I was still holding an average of a 10:00 mile for the whole run so I figured this would give me a good idea of where I should aim for pace wise at my half marathon next weekend. Once I hit the half marathon distance my legs were feeling like they were done with it. The last couple of miles were a real struggle and I slowed down a lot. It just felt like my hip flexors were really tightening up and my knees were hurting. I was ready to be done...

15 miles done in 2:31:37.
15.5 miles done in 2:37:16. A 10:09/mi pace.

Not a bad improvement from July, eh? So anyhow, this run was definitely a learning experience for me. I need to hold back a bit in the first few miles. I know I can hold the pace over the distance, but if I hold back in the beginning I'll have more left in the tank for the rest of the run. And if I can do that I may be able to hold this pace or better on even longer runs.

After that it was time to head home...with a couple of detours along the way. I stopped off to get a hot chocolate for a recovery drink and popped in to Linen's n Things which is going out of business here. I needed to get a new coffee maker for when my parents come to town next weekend so I figured this was a good opportunity. Once I got home my day wasn't over yet though! I had a 30 min recovery ride scheduled. I grabbed a bite to eat, then changed into some cycling capris and a short sleeve cycling jersey and took off to explore a new route out from my house. I headed north along a country road that I had never been on before. It must be a pretty popular cycling route though because I'm sure that I saw more cyclists than cars on my short ride. The ride was beautiful and the weather was fantastic. I was almost sad that I needed to turn around so quickly. Except this was supposed to be a short recovery ride, not an all out endurance ride so I needed to head back. I'm looking forward to exploring around here a bit more next spring.

All in all, a fantastic day. Too bad this amazing weather is going to be pretty short lived!

Going the Extra Mile

Today's run was - in a word - fantastic. Here's why:

• I started the run off nice and slow as I didn't want to burn out too quickly.
• I got to see two Remax hot air balloons lift off early in to my run.
• I downed a rather scrumptious tropical flavour Hammer Gel at mile 5. Mmm, caffeine...
  
• There were some IMC folks running behind me for a bit. Apparently somewhere there is a 130m pool that you can swim?
• I saw lots of wildlife - deer, gophers, geese, ducks...
• When I hit the big hill at the end of my first loop of Glenmore Reservoir, right around mile 10, it didn't feel like I had to work to get up that hill at all.
• I started to run faster.
• I downed a yummy chocolate Hammer Gel at mile 11.
• At mile 13 I saw a sign taped to a water fountain that said "You look amazingly beautiful today." No idea who it was for, but it definitely made me smile.
• I was the really chipper one on the pathway, smiling and saying hello to everyone.
• Mmmm, delicious espresso Hammer Gel at mile 16. Yay for caffeine!
• I passed a bike at mile 16.
  
• I passed a guy I recognized from the Footstock race as we had trundled up the big hill together for awhile. We stopped to chat, talk about races, then each went back on our merry way in opposite directions around the reservoir.
• My legs continued to feel fantastic the entire way.
• Note to self, Body Glide wears away after about 18 miles. Remember to bring a small stick with me on the marathon.
  
• I hit mile 20 before the big hill again. I decided to keep running to at least my car. I powered through the hill again and kept going. I wanted to finish 21 miles.
• My pace didn't slow during the final miles, in fact they were some of my fastest miles.
• I thought of Claire during my run, racing the full IM distance Vineman today. Since she hates running I was willing her some of my good running mojo.
• I felt like I could have run the extra 5.2 miles today.

I hope this bodes well for my marathon in a few weeks. I was a bit nervous about running on my own since I had Giovanna's company on my last few long runs but this goes down as one of my best runs ever. The only bad thing to happen on the run? The bottle of Gatorade that I bought halfway through to refill my Camelbak was supposed to be orange, but yuck...it was gross... I went for a massage a few hours after the run and it was probably one of the best decisions ever. I actually feel pretty good. In fact, I nearly fell asleep and that never happens for me during a massage.
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By the way, if you are wondering whether I rushed to sign up for the brand new IM 70.3 in Calgary today, I didn't. But I have my reasons for that...

18 Miles...Done!

This morning I met Giovanna at the Weaselhead parking lot off of Glenmore Reservoir just after 6:00 am. I figured we could run two 9 mile loops and that would give plenty of opportunity for bathroom breaks and a chance to refill in case I ran out of water. It seemed pretty cool as soon as I got out of the car so I threw on a jacket that I had brought with me. About 4 mins into the run I regreted the decision because I was now burning up. We decided to turn around so I could drop the jacket back off at the car. We ran a pretty good pace along the north side of the reservoir and the conversation was great. Giovanna is moving to Nashville in a couple of weeks and she's trying to talk me into the Country Music Marathon event next year. This race hasn't really been on my radar, but time wise it may be a great opportunity for a half marathon (before...ahem...tri season starts next year). I kept missing walk breaks since I wasn't checking my watch often enough so we wound up walking for about a minute after every mile. At mile 5 it was time to try another Hammer Gel flavour - Apple Cinnamon. This tastes exactly like pie filling. Overall, not too bad, but maybe a tad too sweet. Espresso is still my favourite, but after scouring several shops in Calgary this week I can't find any more right now.

It was starting to warm up and I am so glad that we started as early as we did because the sun was starting to blaze. Thanks to doubling back we finished up the first loop at 10 miles so I figured we may have to shorten the route around the reservoir on lap two. We skipped running over Glenmore Trail and over the dam across the reservoir and ran the pathway right along Glenmore Trail instead. Once we were around 13 or 14 miles I mentally started to flag a bit but Giovanna was really quick to say something positive and it helped me out a lot. At 18 miles I thought we were done running even though we were about a half a mile from the car. We walked for a bit, but as we approached the final hill Giovanna wanted to run it. What a way to finish up an 18 miler - with a massive hill at the end! We both ran really strong and it felt so good to be done. We tried to stretch a bit but my hamstrings weren't too happy with that so we called it a day and headed off. I'm hoping I'll have a chance to run with Giovanna again before she leaves. It was fantastic having her there and it really made those 3-1/2 hours fly by this morning. On my way home I stopped at Tim Horton's for a Bagel B.E.L.T. which was amazing. 18 miles...done...bring on 20 in two weeks!

Mission Creek 15 Miler

Well...I attempted to wake up at 4:30 today... It was already light out, but couple a few early mornings in a row together along with some serious wine tasting and 4:30 was just not doable... In fact, I even woke up with a slight hangover... I was up just after 5:00 though, I got ready, enjoyed some breakfast and hit the bathroom twice before heading out for Kelowna. For some reason my bladder was just in overdrive this morning. I headed out to the start of my route, parked the car, and realized that I had to hit the bathroom...again... I didn't really know what was around my route, but there was a Burger King near where I was parked so I headed over in that direction first. I realized when I got to the door that the place didn't open until 7:00 and it was 6:30. The guy cleaning the floors was nice enough to let me borrow their bathroom though. Phew! It was about 22 deg C (72 deg F) out already and it was feeling pretty warm...

I had printed off a map and directions to a 14.26 mile route starting and ending at the Running Room in Kelowna. The directions seemed simple enough. Turn left on Springfield...turn left on Leckie...follow the Mission Creek Pathway to Hall Road... I arrived at Leckie and Mission Creek Park but all of a sudden things weren't so clear. And a mile and a half in my bladder was acting up...again! Thank goodness for the bathroom at the park... Mission Creek Park is a place with quite a few hiking and bike trails and there was no main trail that seemed obvious that would take me to Hall Road. But there was the Mission Creek Greenway - a super nice, wide gravel path that followed Mission Creek a good ways in both directions. I made a half hearted attempt to find the way out to Hall Road, wound up at the end of a trail at a private residence and so I decided to make my way back to the greenway. Change of plans. I threw the Running Room route out the window and decided to follow the path through the greenway instead. It was mostly tree covered, and running along such a nice, rapidly flowing body of water made things feel slightly cooler. My pace picked up and I was forgetting to check my watch for walk breaks so I kept missing them. When my watch beeped at 5 miles I swallowed an orange Hammer Gel. The taste...wasn't incredibly orange-like...but it wasn't altogether unpleasant and it didn't taste as salty as the Clif Shots. My tongue liked these a lot better.
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The first 5 miles: 55:43
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At around 6.5 miles in I hit the end of the greenway at Lakeshore Drive. I decided to run a ways up Lakeshore and turn around to make for a pretty simple out and back route. There was no sidewalk on Lakeshore for the most part, but there was a bike lane and a really large sandy shoulder. If I ran on the shoulder I felt far enough away from traffic so I was feeling pretty okay about continuing along the road. I ran past a Starbucks...good to note for later! Things started to change once I started down Lakeshore. It was pretty out in the open and the sun was beating down quite strongly even though it was so early in the morning still. My walk breaks grew more frequent. I turned around and headed back and my overactive bladder was acting up again so this time it was off to Starbucks for a pit stop. I was soaked like I had spent most of my morning in a pool...yuck... I realized at this point that I was nearly out of Gatorade so I used the opportunity to pick up some water and top my Camelbak up. Finally it was back on the pathway in the shade, but the heat was taking its toll. I was slowing down. I swallowed a chocolate Hammer Gel at mile 10. It was probably 30 deg C (86 deg F) out by now.
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The second 5 miles: 57:34
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Something in my left hip started to act up. It wasn't really intense pain, but there was some uncomfortableness in my hip joint for sure. Coupled with the heat my brain was having a hard time overcoming the thought that I still had another 5 miles to go. I'd keep running along and then my legs would spontaneously decide it was time to walk. There really was no timing or reason to the walk breaks. I was hurting and I wanted to be doing anything but not running anymore. At one point a lady that I had leapfrogged with a few times passed me for the final time and she must have known I was having a tough go. "It is rough out here today, eh?" she said to me. I felt like I needed to qualify my slowness so I responded that yup, it sure was, and that I'd been out for 2 - 1/2 hours already. She asked what I was training for, then she bounded off. I started to tell myself that if I didn't have 15 miles in me today it was okay...14 would be okay... But I knew that I didn't want 15 miles to become some big mental block for me so I really wanted to keep plugging. I didn't care how slow I was running, I just wanted to keep going and get it done. I was craving some Starbucks now by this point in time. I kept chanting "venti iced non-fat latte" over and over in time to my feet hitting the pavement. I needed that coffee and I needed it soon and it was the incentive I needed to keep running. Finally I was back at my car...15 miles over and done with. It took me a bit of time to find a convenient Starbucks on the drive home but that coffee never tasted so good. I felt kind of bad for the folks directly in front of me and behind me in the line up. I was pretty gross...
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Third 5 miles: 1:04:11
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As a positive note, I took my Kayano 14s out for another spin...no blisters! No shin pain either, or bad gait, just this weird hip pain. I think it may have been thanks to running on the gravel and sandy surfaces, so we'll see what happens the next time I go out for a run.

Trying out the new stuff

On Friday I managed to whine my way through 10 miles. I was just not motivated. We had our hockey pool wind up party after work on Friday and after downing a glass of water and a coke, plus a couple of nachos and wings my stomach wasn't in the mood so much. I was still really thirsty when I got home so I knocked back a couple of glasses of water and my stomach just felt heavy after that. Even the thought of trying out my new Kayano 14s wasn't getting me excited. It was time for an attitude adjustment though so I hurried up and changed and got my gear ready, then was out the door. I decided to run into the next neighbourhood for a bit of a change in scenery. I didn't really care what my speed was and I didn't have a route mapped out, I just had a vague idea of where to go. It was kind of nice. The sun was blazing down still so I tried to stick to the shade as much as possible and was going through my water pretty quickly. Halfway through the run I pulled out my Razz Clif Shot. The texture was everything I feared it would be. Gooey...but at least it was easy to swallow. Sort of. Maybe the Razz wasn't the best flavour to try. It was kind of like slightly salty, really bad raspberry jam. I have to say I liked the ease of eating it though and my stomach didn't convulse in revulsion upon consumption. I've got a chocolate one and a mocha one to try, then a couple Hammer Gels as well, so we'll see how they fare. The run back had quite a bit of uphill in it, so it was a challenge, but otherwise the rest of the run was uneventful. 10 miles...on a Friday night...done!