Toronto Marathon Race Report

There are two stories to tell about Toronto: the real one and the electronic one.

According to the electronic story – the one told by the live splits being communicated to the internet by my bib chip and the green mats placed at 21k, 35k, and the finish line – I was fast at 21k, a little slower at 35k but still close to goal pace, and then I dropped off the face of the earth somewhere between 35k and the finish.

My wife said that all the folks tracking me in real time were nearly frantic with worry when no time came up for me and my name kept getting pushed further and further down the list as other people finished. Everyone speculated that I had to have sustained a brutal injury not to at least walk it across the line.  And they were right – it would’ve taken a brutal injury to keep me from walking it across the line, especially after 35k.

But I did not fall off the face of the earth, and I did not sustain a brutal injury – in fact, I crossed the finish line in 2:49:36, a huge PB for me. The problem is that my bib chip failed to communicate with the timing equipment, so my finish time never came up.

So now I’m in a strange position: the “official” electronic story and the real story are at odds. I have no official finish time yet, although I have contacted the timing company to try to get this resolved.

Other than this electronic glitch, the day was awesome. The weather was cool and sunny. My body was feeling good. Everything was working fine. My only mistake was going a little bit too fast over the first half of the race. I knew I was slightly faster than goal pace, but it felt so good that I thought for sure that I could hold it, that my training would make me tough over the second half of the course.

But as I should know by now, the marathon does not work this way. You cannot transcend your training! I passed the halfway point on pace for a 2:43 or a little better – and that was enough to throw off the last 10k of the race. As usual, I suffered from 32k onward. But I didn’t suffer as badly as in past marathons – I was still able to drag myself to a 2:49 finish, and I am absolutely happy with that result. I wanted that sub-2:50 badly, and I got it.

Alex ran with me from 25-41k, and having him there (like in training runs) was awesome, even though I wasn’t much for conversation, especially in the last 6k! It would’ve been nice to do the whole thing together, but having him there for part of it felt right. His encouragement down the stretch was crucial.

I learned one valuable lesson about post-race recovery – do not sit down! I sat after wandering around looking for water in the finish-line area (that’s another story – there was no freakin’ water at the finish line!), and almost immediately my calf and shin muscles seized up completely. It was incredibly painful – and it only went away when Alex finally hauled me up off the ground and put me back on my feet. In the future, I’m going to keep walking until I am sure my muscles are no longer on the edge of total seizure.

After months and months of training, I feel like I did okay. I’m happy and proud. I do hope I can get my time “officialised,” but in the end, the time is really only meaningful to me and a small circle of folks – oh, and maybe the Boston people... but I’ll worry about that another day.

Toronto!!

Work and travel have kept me from the blogosphere for far too long!! That’s no excuse, of course – there’s always a few minutes here or there to do up a quick post, but I suck at balancing things when work gets busy.

It’s now the Friday before the marathon. To be honest, my confidence level is not as high as it should be. I feel like I had some solid training, but my taper has been a disaster. Well, it’s been a ton of fun – but a disaster from the point of view of race preparation. The thing is that my brother-in-law got married at a resort – you know, one of those destination weddings. So that meant 7 days of drinking and eating and partying. I meant to be good – I meant to exercise restraint – but, you know... it’s rare to get that kind of opportunity, so I lived it up a little. Sometimes life gets in the way of training – but, of course, life comes first.

So the thing is that I’m rested, but I’m heavier than I should be. My mileage dropped and my caloric intake rose – the result is useless pounds that I have to carry for 42k. Oh well. No biggie. There’s nobody to blame but me -- and now there's more of me to blame!

The other thing that I’m worried about is the fact that I didn’t do enough long running at marathon pace. And the longish stuff I did do didn’t feel great. By now, a 3:55 k should feel effortless – but it isn’t quite like that. So I’m just going to have to go by feel and see where things settle on race day. The weather looks good, so I shouldn’t have any excuses.

Despite all these grumblings, I am super excited to be racing. Alex will not be doing the whole thing with me, but he’ll be there for a good chunk of the second half (bandit!) – which will help me immensely when the going gets rough. I have no idea how the time will end up, but I can’t wait to see where my fitness is – and then to set my sights on the next one.

Okay Toronto. Let’s see what you got!

Happy Spring!

Yipee! It's spring!

 First day of spring – and what a beauty. It’s sunny. The temperature is headed into the teens. The trails are clear. The birds are returning. I even heard a few Canada geese honking their way back north to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. Winter does suck at times, but it all seems worth it when the world starts waking up again. Running is my way to stay in touch with the incremental changes. The trails tell the tale of renewal each day.

My training could use a little renewal. Or at least my motivation could. My efforts for the past few weeks have been lacklustre. I’ve been dropping runs and workouts here and there. Nothing too serious, but I don’t feel focused. I’m dragging. I should feel grateful to be healthy and injury free (knock on digital wood), but I’m just not feeling it.

I’ve read a couple of things recently that suggest not over thinking training – just do and watch the fluctuations instead of getting all worked up and analyzing everything to death. It sounds wise, but what fun is there in it? I love to analyze – even when all I end up with is useless analysis instead of useful insight.

These days my hand wringing has been over my emotional low. I was feeling so great, so full of life for awhile, but now the running feels flat. I know this is a potential sign of fatigue and over training – but I’m not sure it’s that. I don’t feel physically lethargic, and I’m hitting my paces okay when I want to. Part of me wonders if it’s just some natural cycle. Or maybe it’s a reaction to changes in my routine. First, I lost my running buddy to injury – he’s on the mend, but won’t be doing the marathon with me. And then my wife and I were dog/house sitting for a week for friends. It was nice to get a change of scenery, but it was a break in routine.

I’m wondering, now, how important routine is to body and mind in training. And I wonder if breaking routine has emotional consequences. I know so many folks (including myself) who have mostly crappy runs on vacation – and for a week after vacation. In that case, there are changes in food routines – but that’s kind of what I’m getting at: any dramatic changes in routine may have an effect.

Or they might not. I’m just uselessly pondering the possibility.

My cure for the blahs has simply been to slow the runs down and enjoy them. I’ll still hit my workouts on pace, but I think I’m going to dial back my easy running until I feel peppy again. I’ve been pushing at that easy pace, regularly hitting ks under 4:10. Perhaps that kind of load is taking its toll incrementally.

Anyway... 7 weeks until Toronto. I’m starting to get a bit nervous – but it’s a good nervous. And if I manage it right, it’ll turn into excitement instead of anxiety.

Peace. Happy spring!

In Like a Lion

Me. Post-Workout.

I almost didn’t get my workout in yesterday. I had a couple of deadlines that were pressing, and I had to keep pushing off my run. It was after 8:00 before I could shut down the damn computer and wander down the hall to the treadmill. Even though I’d been cooped up all day and had eaten poorly, I decided to give my planned workout a try: 3 x 3 miles at 6:00/mile.

I’m glad I did.

I did a mile warm up and then cranked right into the first long interval. It felt like crap right from the beginning. The first interval of any workout is always like this for me. It’s like my body is full of rust and junk and needs that first effort to clean out the pipes. I held the course for three miles and then took a 2min break.

After cracking the windows open – the darn room gets hot in no time – I cranked the mill back up to 10mph (the highest it will go). It felt easy. I took a second glance at the instrument panel to make sure the speed said 10. It did. Huh. The 2-minute rest was awesome – I was feeling great.

In the past few treadmill tempo sessions, I struggled a bit in the last mile of the 2^nd 3 miler, but this time I didn’t. I wonder if that was mental: I tend to struggle when I know the workout is almost over – or the race. Some people find new energy when they are close to the line. I don’t. So it goes.

After another 2-minute rest, I was back in the saddle, unsure of how it was going to go. This third interval was new territory. The most I'd done was 2 3milers. But everything went great. My legs felt strong, my lungs had no problems, and even my guts behaved. Aside from a little heartburn, I was feeling grand. The last mile was a bit tough, but not physically.

It was awesome.

Seems to me that, this year, March has come in like a lion.

Ups and Downs

Sometimes you’re up; sometimes you’re down. I know I should enjoy the fact that I’m up right now, but it comes with a little bit of guilt because my training buddy is down.

We were doing our long run yesterday up the Waverly road, and while I was feeling fantastic, Alex was suffering with every single step. It was one of those things. He’d been having trouble with his Achilles’ tendon – swollen and sore – but he felt like he needed to get this one in because he’d missed the last two.

Turns out, it was a bad idea. 13k in, we hit a bad patch of road, something tweaked in his tendon (which was already painful) – and that was it.  I ran ahead to the nearest payphone and called a pickup for him, and he hobbled 2.5k to a gas station to keep warm.

It’s such a shitty feeling to watch someone else in pain and frustration and not be able to help. I didn’t want to just leave him and keep going, but that’s exactly what he wanted me to do – and exactly what I would’ve wanted him to do if our positions had been reversed. Beyond calling my wife to come pick him up, there wasn’t much I could do. So I kept going. I abandoned the poor guy.

And the thing is that I had an amazing 35k run. The overall average was a 4:12/k – and I did most of the second half of the run under 4:10, including a bunch of ks under 4:00. I hadn’t planned that kind of pace, but my body naturally fell into a faster rhythm. And today I feel fine. I’m going to run slowly today, but I don’t feel banged up. It’s great.

But I can’t help feeling a bit sad for my buddy. I know it’s not the end of the world for him, but I know how frustrating it is to have that kind of pain dogging you all day for weeks. And I’m going to miss him on my runs. It’s going to be hard readjusting to running most runs solo – I’ve come to rely on him to get me out the door some days. In time, he’ll be back – but it’ll suck without him.

Such is life.

I need to stay positive about my own running and be grateful for as long as the good miles continue. And I wish him a speedy recovery.