Back and Better Than Ever! + Time to Taper!

After being out of proper training and workouts for a week at the beginning of September, I was a little bit concerned about the marathon that was quickly approaching. To my amazement and pleasure, I actually came back from my cold stronger and quicker than ever! I have actually been going quicker in workouts than I have ever gone while training for a marathon before! Normally I struggle to get under 6:30min/mile during tempos and workouts, but to my amazement I am now going 6:10-6:25 pace. Now, I know that the amount of rest I took was good for me, but I also think there is something else that is making me speedier as well. We have been having cooler days recently, which makes it so much easier to run effortlessly. Although training in the summer was miserable at some points (running 24 miles in 27 degrees), now I am so glad that my body is acclimatized to hot weather.

The marathon is now a week away and I am getting into taper-mode! (Yay!) I used to hate tapering when I ran in university because I felt like I was losing my speed and mentally I became out of it. Now, I LOVE the taper! I get to store up my energy this week and use it all on Sunday. I am actually so excited for the race next weekend! I've posted about tapering before (before Boston), but I'm going to re-highlight the main points of tapering, more for myself than anyone else. 

1. Sleep! 8-10 hours a night! No exceptions!
2. Eat! Eat smart, don't be an idiot, eat foods you normally eat, more carbs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
3. Hydrate! Drink lots all week, mostly water, some tea and juice.
   
   
4. Take days off running! 2 or more depending how I feel, only one (short) workout this week.
5. Don't do anything differently and be careful! No biking to school this week, no soccer, be smart.
6. Make a race plan and visualize the race. 
7. Stretch and get a massage: Take care of yourself!

I will probably post again before the race. If not, my bib number is 4332 and you can follow me running online here: https://www.tcmevents.org/events/medtronic_twin_cities_marathon_weekend_-_october_2-4_2015/health__fitness_expo_and_more/spectators/ or here if you want to get updates on your phone: http://athletetracker.cloudapp.net/

Have a great week everyone! Run Happy! (and taper happy!)  

The Week I Got Sick

After my 24 mile run two weeks ago I was feeling great! I was feeling like I was on track for the marathon that was just over a month away. The week after the 24 miles I was trying to stay on top of training, but by the end of the week I was starting to feel pretty run down. By the the time Friday hit, I had a full-blown head cold. 

Being sick always gets in the way of training and it's always hard to know how much to do when you are feeling under the weather. Even after running competitively for almost 10 years I still don't know how to listen to my body all the time. This was actually the fastest I have every recovered from illness while training, so maybe I am learning! Instead of doing my long run on Sunday like normal, I took Sunday off. Monday I did 10 miles instead of the 16 I was supposed to do, but instead of pushing myself I just took it easy. Tuesday was my first full day back at school and I didn't get home until 7:30 pm and by that time I was ready to sleep. Wednesday I was beginning to feel eager to get back to running, but I knew I still didn't feel 100%. Kristjan told me to run 30 minutes (what's the point right?) actually, I felt like garbage and I honestly don't think I could've gone any longer. Thursday I ran an hour and almost felt back to normal (except for a little leftover snot). By Friday I was able to run 10 miles at my normal pace (7:45-8:00 minute miles). Saturday I did another 10 and today I ran 18 and felt great.

Although, I did miss some training during the past week, I truly feel as though I didn't lose any fitness and I don't think it's going to hurt my marathon at all! I did miss two workouts, but it was a much needed recovery week. 

Here's what Runner's World says about running when you're sick: http://www.runnersworld.com/health/should-you-run-when-youre-sick

Today was my first time not running the Winnipeg 10&10 race in 3 years. I didn't register because I was sick, but I ended up running 30k anyways and I could have probably won the 30k race with the pace I ran for my long run. This year has been pretty different. I have only ran 2 races this year (Boston and Manitoba Half). I guess this is maybe the life of a marathoner... Lots of training and not very much racing. Normally I would have run 6-7 road races by this point in the year. Honestly, I kind of like training better than racing, it's not nearly as stressful (or exciting sometimes). I do feel a little bit more pressure that I put on myself  because I am only doing 3 races this year, like I'm putting all of my eggs into one basket. But I do think I can still go faster for the marathon and I am going to give it everything I've got!

Until next time, drink your chocolate milk and run happy!

Getting Back in the Grind

The internet may think I've dropped off the face of the earth, but it's not true! Believe it or not I am still here, and I am training for another marathon. My weeks have been full this summer, I've been averaging about 80 miles of running per week. So far my longest run has been 20 miles, I have a 22 miler planned for this weekend. We got possession of our new house last Monday (Aug.17) and we moved in that day. Moving day was fun because we had lots of friends helping us and it ended up turning into a party! I'm still getting used to all of my routes in my new neighborhood. There's lots of great stuff near me! There's Scotia Street, which you can take all the way to the Forks, Kildonan Park, Chief Peguis Trail, and the Gateway trail. I'm sure there are more to discover, and I have miles to burn! If you have a favourite route in West K, please share!

Here are some of my new routes!

I don't think I have spent one weekend in town this summer. I went to my friend Alex's cottage, Folk Fest, my family's cottage for 3 weekends in a row and then my friend Sarah's cottage for her bachelorette party and then back to Alex's cottage. It has been fun to switch up the locations of my long runs. 

I have been continuing to listen to the "Undisclosed" podcast about the Adnan Syed case from "Serial". I also have been listening to the "True Murder" podcast, although it has kind of spooked me a few times while running in unfamiliar areas. I have also been listening the audiobook "War of the Worlds" by H.G. Wells and it's excellent! I just started a new podcast today called "Criminal". Surprisingly, Criminal is not as dark as the others. If you have any suggestions for podcasts or audiobooks, please let me know!

I've started to go back to my class to set up for the new school year, although I still have 11 days of holidays left. My new house is so much closer to my school (5km!), I think I will be riding my bike there quite a bit and running there too.

That's all for now, I will try to write more consistently and keep everyone in the loop as I'm getting ready for the marathon in October! Remember to drink your chocolate milk and run happy!

Back to Training

Hello again friends,
Since my last blog post I have been up to a lot. I took some much needed time off, it's always hard to start running again, especially when you don't have any goals. In May and June I did some shorter runs and workouts to prepare for the Manitoba Half. I ended up running 1:29:28 - goal full marathon pace :-p. It was obviously not the fastest half marathon I have ever run, but in the end I felt that it was still respectable. About a week later I decided that it was time to start training seriously again. My goal is the Twin Cities Marathon on October 4th. My training is basically the same as what I did for Boston, except I will be going a bit further on my easy days, working a bit more on my dynamic warm up and strengthening after runs.

Since I am a teacher, I have 2 full months off work in the summer. This lets me run for 2+ hours a day without it getting in the way of my personal and professional lifestyle. So far, my summer vacation has been very relaxing and my training has gone according to plan. I have been really focusing on sleeping enough, and recovering effectively. Chocolate milk continues to be an important part of my post-run routine. This summer has been hotter than usual and I am finding hydration has been extremely important. The average temperature in Winnipeg this July has been ~26c. This has taken me a bit of time to get used to. Some of my running gear has proven to be essential this summer in the heat.

Here are my summer must haves:

• Hat - not only does it block the sun, but it also has a handy sweat band so that sweat won't drip in my eyes
• Sunglasses
• Bodyglide (to avoid chafing)
• Spandex shorts  (also to avoid chafing)
• lightweight, loose fitting running shirts (Brooks)
• Gatorade 
• Cold showers and/or a lake to jump in

That's all for now! Stay cool!

Post-Boston and Going Forward

Hello everybody, and welcome back to my blog! I haven't written since the marathon. So I just wanted to fill everyone in on what I've been up to for the past three weeks. At the end of this post I will go into my experience at the Boston Marathon. If you are someone who loves Boston as race, I would advise you not to read that part of my blog, because you may start to hate me. 

MY RACE

I was happy about my race! It wasn't exactly what I wanted, I am still pleased with what I was able to do. The race course itself was difficult. I think I underestimated it a little bit. I went out at the perfect pace and I held it for a long time! Here were my splits and what was going through my head for each mile:

Mile 1: 6:53 - Race started, I was a bit afraid of going out too fast, so I held back a bit.

Mile 2: 6:44 - Perfect pace!

Mile 3: 6:37 - May seem a bit fast but this was very downhill

Mile 4: 6:31 - This too!

Mile 5: 6:45 - Perfect

Mile 6: 6:36 - Downhill

Mile 7: 6:43 - Perfect

Mile 8: 6:45 - Perfect

Mile 9: 6:43 - Perfect

Mile 10: 6:49 - A bit of an uphill but still feeling good

Mile 11: 6:48 - Good

Mile 12: 6:44 - Perfect

Mile 13: 6:48 - Good

Mile 14: 6:46 - Perfect

Mile 15: 6:46 - Perfect

Mile 16: 6:35 - Downhill

Mile 17: 6:55 - Uphill

Mile 18: 6:54 - Uphill

Mile 19: 6:44 - Perfect, legs beginning to cramp up

Mile 20: 6:59 - Uh Oh!

Mile 21: 7:23 - I'm in trouble!

Mile 22: 7:01 - I saw a sign that said 4 miles left and I knew that if I could run at least 7:20's I could still go under 3 hours

Mile 23: 7:24 - Nope

Mile 24: 7:38 - Nope

Mile 25: 7:44 - When is this going to end???

Mile 26: 7:52 - %$#@*!

 

There was so much downhill that my quads felt like they were going to explode. At about mile 10 I started to feel my quads and I was able to hang on for another 10 miles but in the last 6 miles I was sure that my quads were going to burst. The next day I couldn't bend my legs at all. I think I can mostly blame it on the hills, but also the wind, rain and cold really beat me up.

RECOVERY 

For the rest of the day after the race, I was so sore from the cold weather and the hills, I just laid in bed for the rest of the day, took a bath and drank lots of chocolate milk. That night I had lots of beer and lobster for supper!

I was pretty sore for the next couple of days and I absolutely could not think of running another marathon anytime soon. I got one massage from Mike Booth at Massage Athletica and within a week, my legs felt totally back to normal.I didn't run again until May 3rd, which was pretty much 2 full weeks off. 1 week after the race I started riding my bike to school and could still feel a little tweak in my quad. 

GOING FORWARD

This past week I ran about 45 miles (about 72kms). The first couple of runs felt a bit rough, they were slow and felt very unnatural. By Thursday I was able to do 3 mile repeats at about 6:40 pace. Compared to how I felt after the Manitoba Marathon last year, I feel way more motivated and recovered and ready to start training again! (I think I was a bit over trained last year). I'm ready to jump back into training and I am going to train for a fall marathon this year. I'm thinking either Twin Cities or Toronto Waterfront. Many people have asked me if I am planning on do Manitoba, to go for the win again and my answer is no. If I did Manitoba I will certainly not go faster than my 3:03 from Boston, the races are too close together. I am planning on running the Manitoba Half Marathon this year and I am excited to give it a go! There are 3 other quick girls from Winnipeg right now, and the prospect of racing against them, seems like a lot more fun than running for 3 hours by myself. I'm really going to have to go for it, because one of the other girls ran 1:24 last weekend and another one is planning on going 1:21. My PB is 1:23 in the half from when I was 19, I would love to bring down my record!

Alright so there it is my sum-up of the race and post-race! I will be beginning to post more, now that I am back to training again! Below is my rant about the things that bothered me about the Boston Marathon. Like I said before, if you love Boston, don't read it. 

The Boston Marathon - My Experience

The hype begins at the airport

I decided to do the Boston Marathon because, well why not, right? I knew it would be an experience. The qualifying times were not really a big deal, for a woman of my age you only have to run 3:35, that was 30 minutes slower than my first marathon. I think for some people qualifying is a really big deal. People try over and over again to qualify and when they get there it is a really big deal for them, so I think they look at things differently while they are there and remember things differently and continue to try to go back as many times as possible. I guess that's kind of what made me want to go there, was the hype surrounding it, which failed to convince me while I was there.

The city of Boston is nice. I love the vibe of an oceanfront city. The smell of the ocean, the abundance of sea food and the 36,000+ runners walking and running around. The city is so proud about the marathon and the whole city booming with excitement on marathon weekend. I've never seen a city that supports runners like it. There were thousands and thousands of spectators even though it was raining, windy and freezing outside. There were people throughout the entire course cheering and willing us on. Every so often, I heard a "GO CANADA" and it motivated me a bit.

  
When we went to the race expo, my mom asked me if I felt like I was with "my people". The answer was no. People were so excited to be here. Out of 36,000 runners I'd say that 1 in 3 runners at the expo bought themselves a Boston Marathon jacket the day before the marathon. I'm not sure what the draw is towards those jackets. Maybe it's that it is an exclusive club that only 36,000 runners get to join every year? Maybe it's the fact you spend $110 on something with the event name on it, so that you have to finish the race to wear the jacket with pride? I don't know. People seem to hold their heads higher when wearing them and give off a sense of entitlement or give off an elitist vibe. The whole thing is a bit odd. I couldn't make myself buy anything with the Boston marathon emblem on it because there is constantly a sense of doubt in my mind about running, what if I run like crap? What if I don't finish? Even as a 3:03 marathoner I have doubts sometimes, because I have experienced races like that.

 
The way the event was run was a little bit interesting. The pre-race expo was awesome. There were so many interesting booths and exciting people to see. I saw Shalane Flanagan, Meb Keflezighi and Katherine Switzer on Sunday, so cool! A few of the people working at the expo asked me if this was my first marathon, which is a bit of a weird question considering you have to qualify for the race. The bib and race package pick up was super easy and fast except that they ran out of XS shirts, so I settled for a small which was fine.

 
 
Race morning was a little bit ridiculous. Wave 1 had to load onto the buses at 6:00-6:45 am. On the buses we weren't allowed to bring anything except what we were racing, with and some clothes that we were going to donate to charity. I had sweats and a sweatshirt, but I was nowhere close to being warm enough. To be warm enough I would have needed to have had a winter jacket and ski pants. The bus ride was an hour to Hopkinton. I sat on the the bus with a nice guy from Mexico. He was not wearing sweats or a sweatshirt, just what he was racing in! He talked about how the Boston organizers treat the runners like prisoners. I kind of got what he was talking about, but when we got to Hopkinton we stopped outside a school at about 7:30am. They let us our and I assumed that we would be going in the school. NOPE. We were directed to go behind the school into the school yard and there we sat outside for 2 hours before the race. I have never had a pre-race experience like that before. Why did we have to be out there for 2 hours???? Ridiculous. If I could give advice to people going in the future, I would say that they should rent a car and take that to Hopkinton instead of the stupid prison buses. That way they wouldn't have to wait outside for 2 hours in the freezing cold before the race. There were no heaters or anything! They didn't take care of our most basic needs! (warmth and shelter) I was pretty outraged.

Freezing people

As I crossed the finish line, I was looking forward to getting out of the rain and into some warm tents or something. NOPE. There was nowhere for the runners to warm up after the race. It was pouring rain and 3-5 degrees out. I was frigid! They told to keep walk down the road to get to bag pick-up. I was hoping so hard that there would be somewhere warm where we could go. NOPE. They kept telling us to keep walking. We walked for about a mile after the finish line. So I ran 26.2 miles and then had to walk an extra one at the end.

They were handing out sandwiches and water after the race, I couldn't grab anything because I couldn't use my hands because they were so cold. So I grabbed nothing except a warming poncho, which didn't do me much good. As I was walking and shivering and whimpering, I started to hope that someone would come and let me get in their car, or let me come into their restaurant to warm up. As I was looking around thinking "Why isn't anyone helping me? I am SO %$#*ing cold!", I noticed that everyone else was in the same boat as me. No one was talking, or enjoying themselves, there were thousands of people around me who were having the same miserable experience. Then I spotted my parents, I honestly felt like Rose from the movie Titanic when she was in the water and the rescue boats were going around. I almost couldn't get their attention, because I had no energy to call out to them or walk fast enough through the crowd of people. Finally I was able to reconnect with them, and I instantly started crying. My mom helped me change in a small changing tent, because my hands still were not working. While my dad was waiting outside, he helped several people open water bottles and their bags because their hands weren't working either. 

Me in McDonalds FML

When we got out from the changing tent, we went to the closest place possible to warm up. It ended up being a McDonalds. I was not impressed. I ended up getting a chicken burger and a hot chocolate and I sat and ate it while being extremely bitter and feeling very sorry for myself.

The whole thing was an awful experience. I am never going back. It's so weird because normally I am a very positive person and I try to see things in the best possible light, but this was ridiculous. I have ran so many races in my life, marathons, half-marathons, track races, road races, cross country, and all of them have taken care of their runners better than the "Almighty Boston Marathon". If they had rented a few heaters at the start line it would have made such a big difference, fires even! At the end they could have put up a few tents for us to warm up, or let us into the convention centre where the expo had been. I'm sorry, but when I pay $200+ to run in a race, I expect to have my basic needs met. 

When I got back to school so many people asked me how it was. My short answer is "Well, it's a marathon, so it was a hard". They tend to follow up with "Was it awesome though?" I can honestly tell them that the Manitoba Marathon is a better event and it's not worth the trip or the money.

Last weekend while I was watching the Police Half Marathon, I saw one of my favourite kind of people, someone wearing this year's Boston Marathon jacket. I overheard him talking to someone while watching the race and the other person asked "How was Boston?!" and he replied, "IT WAS AWESOME!". I felt like yelling in his face "In what world was that awesome?????", my mind was blown. 

Please forgive me for being so negative, but I really just needed to get this off my chest. My parents, on the other hand had a fantastic experience going to Boston with me. They thought the whole thing was very cool. The results were so fast and the athlete tracking had most of my family and friends jumping for joy. I wouldn't recommend this race anyone, but I also don't expect anyone to take my word for it either. When there so much hype behind something, people need to try it for themselves. 

Pre-race

I'm flying from Winnipeg to Montreal and then from Montreal to Boston. Driving up to the airport today I got nervous, this is actually happening! Boston will be my first marathon outside of Winnipeg and boy am I ready! This week's taper went pretty much as planned, except I lost my watch and I found out that I probably have a stomach ulcer (not to worry, it shouldn't affect my race).

Last weekend I ran to my aunt and uncle's house for supper. When I got there I ate A LOT. After eating I got a pretty bad stomach cramp that wouldn't go away. I attributed it to eating too much cheese. I had a cramp for the rest of the night and then the next morning I wasn't hungry for breakfast (odd for me), I wasn't hungry for the whole day. When I made myself eat, my stomach hurt in the same spot again. On Sunday I did my long run and it felt fine, although I didn't eat before hand. When I ate later in the day it continued to hurt. I almost took the day off Monday to to the doctor, but my doctor is THE WORST. So I went to the St. James Clinic, and they were great.  I got my blood tested and explained to the doctor what was going on and he told me that it was most likely an ulcer in my intestinal wall. He prescribed me an antacid. The antacid made such a difference! I haven't experienced any pain for the rest of the week. I don't know what caused it, but boy am I relieved to be past it.

BEWARE, DO NOT GET BETWEEN A RUNNER AND THEIR WATCH!
I ran with my Garmin on Sunday and then I played soccer on Monday, took Tuesday off and then on Wednesday when it was time to run... I COULDN'T FIND IT. I searched high and low, in bags, baskets, nooks, crannies, and nothing! I wanted to wear it because I was getting my photo taken for the Winnipeg Sun. When I got home I continued to look for it, still nothing. I was going on Global on Thursday and I really want to wear it because it is part of my race gear, but no luck. I ended up wear my shitty old Garmin that barely tells the time. Thursday evening I started to freak out a little bit, thinking maybe I had to buy a new one. Friday after work I got home and finally looked behind my bed and there it was :). I'm so happy to be reunited with my baby! Also, that means I have an extra 200+ dollars to spend in Boston ;).

I'm not sure when my article will be in the Sun (please let me know if you see it) and I believe the Global spot is on sometime next week, I'll let you know. I'm not a natural when talking to press, I often ask them where I should be looking and I tend to ramble on and get off topic, so please be kind!

I thought it would be fun to include a list of all of the things that I am bringing for the race:
- racing flats (Brooks T7)
-runners (Brooks Flow)
- technical socks
- calf sleeves
- sports bra
-hat (for if it rains)
-sunglasses
-singlet(s) - I haven't decided which I will race in yet
- arm warmers
- 5 GU energy gels
- 1 pack or shot bloks (just in case)

We will land in Boston at 4:50 or so, probably make our way to the hotel walk somewhere for dinner and take a look around. Tomorrow we will go to the expo and get my bid. Knowing me, I will probably send 2-3 hours in the expo because there will be so much to see and hear. I'm following serval pro runners on Instagram who are all there doing press conferences, and I know I am going to be star struck.

Tomorrow I will go for a shake out, go to the marathon expo and rest up. Monday is race day,  I am ready for this race and I am super excited! If you would like to follow my progress, my bib number is 5658 and I am in wave one which starts at 10:00 am Boston time, which I believe is 9:00 am in Winnipeg. It will be on tv, although you might only see me for 1 second coming off the start line. It will also be streamed online on the BAA website. There is also an app where you get updates of my 5k, 10k, half marathon, etc splits.

Finally I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been supporting me for the past few months and years! To Kristjan, my boyfriend and coach, who is smart, encouraging, sometimes tough, but always supportive. To my parents who encourage me and are coming along for the ride to Boston, who are just as excited as I am about this race. To Lacey and Mel who run with me, it is so nice to have like-minded friends to talk to and run with, I'm sorry for swearing so much and ranting so much, you are both lifesavers. To my friends and family who understand that I am always running, even instead of being with them sometimes. To the "Nisbet family", my friends, co-workers and students they motivate me and teach me new things everyday.  To the super people at Powered by Chocolate Milk who have been supporting my recovery, social media, and media relations. Brooks Running who make me look and feel awesome in their fantastic gear. Erick and the awesome people at City Park Runners, Mike and the people at Massage Athletica and Belof from Sport for Life who are friends but are also crucial in my training, nutrition and preparation.  And of course, a very special thank you to everyone who is reading this, when you leave motivating words under my posts, it truly makes me feel cared about. Thank you all for being so supportive and wonderful. Marathon running can be a very lonely business, but all of you make it worth all of the hard work.

Thanks for reading!
xoxoxo
Alice

Taper Time

I started tapering last week, and you wouldn't believe it,  I feel like crap. You might think I would be worried a week out from my race when my legs are feeling like garbage, but guess what? This is normal for me. I went into my marathon last year feeling the exact same way.

When I was in university I rarely tapered for races because I had very little instruction from coaching staff to do so. Also, my races were much shorter and I didn't see any benefit in dropping my mileage. Well, I've lived and learned. Before a marathon a taper is extremely important and beneficial.

For those of you who don't know, tapering is when you drop your mileage before a race and focus on resting. We do this because we are trying to store up energy for race day. According to Susan S. Paul, MS, "physiological adaptations to training take a minimum of six weeks. Therefore, training hard during the final two to three weeks before your marathon is not going to improve your performance. Doing too much during the taper period can destroy your marathon performance." http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-taper-correctly

My regular week looks something like this:
Monday: Day off  or easy run (8-10 miles)
Tuesday: Interval Workout (8-12 miles)
Wednesday: Easy run (7-10 miles)
Thursday: Tempo run (10-15 miles)
Friday: Easy run (7-10 miles)
Saturday: Easy run or long run (13-24 miles)
Sunday: Long run or easy run (7-10 miles)

My taper week looks something like this:
Monday: Day off
Tuesday: Easy run (4-5 miles)
Wednesday: Easy run (4-5 miles) + Massage
Thursday: 6 mile Tempo @ race pace & test out race gear
Friday: Easy run (3-5 miles)
Saturday: Day off - Travel day
Sunday: Shake out, drills, strides (2-3 miles)
Monday: RACE DAY!!!!!

As I was saying before, my legs are feeling lousy, but I'm not worried. I have trained hard and now I just need to trust my body and my program. I talking to my massage therapist (and past marathoner) about how I always feel lousy when tapering and he said that he found the same thing. We were thinking that it's a little bit because of nerves and a little bit because my body has finally been given a chance to recover. 

This week I will be focused on eating healthily, drinking a lot of water and electrolytes. I won't really be carb-loading because my regular diet is extremely high in carbohydrates. There will be pasta and rice eaten, as per usual. If you are interested in learning more about carb-loading: http://m.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/how-to-carb-load-for-marathon-week?cm_mmc=Facebook-_-RunnersWorld-_-Content-Nutrition-_-CarboLoadRaceWeekend

If I see you this week, please don't ask me if I'm going to win the Boston marathon. That is not my goal. The Boston marathon is won by elite athletes who run around 2 hours and 20 minutes for the women. My goal is to run under 3 hours. Eventually I will try to run faster than that, but I am taking it one reasonable goal at a time at a time. 

I will post again before I leave next weekend.

Why I Love March

March is awesome! I used to go away for the entire month of March to spring training camp for canoe/kayak. Since quitting paddling I am realizing there is a such thing as Spring! It's in March! After 4 months of winter it is such a refreshing time. It is time to say goodbye to the "dreadmill" and say hello to the quickly clearing sidewalks. In this post I will highlight the reasons why I love this glorious month.

Doing Workouts Outside

In the winter months I try to go outside for my easy and long runs, but I do all of my interval and tempo workouts indoors on the track or treadmill. I do this for a few reasons. 

1. I don't want to slip and hurt myself.
2. You can't go fast when you are knee deep in snow.
3. It's dark ALL THE TIME in winter and running alone in the dark is sketchy.

It is a little bit tricky to go outside and try to stay as consistent with my pacing. On the treadmill, the machine just tells you how fast you are going and doesn't fluctuate at all. When it's me, my Garmin and the streets, I am all over the place! That is something I will be working on for the next three weeks.

March is the new May

For the last two years I have trained for the Manitoba Full Marathon, which takes place in June. May has always been my favourite month of training. Mostly because it is my highest mileage month and I usually feel like Superwoman coming out of May. This year because my marathon is in April, this month I feel like Superwoman.

Boston is Almost Here

I am very excited to go to Boston. It is now three weeks away. I am in the home stretch. I did my last really long run today (20 miles). The anticipation to run a marathon is so weird because you know it is going to bring you so much pain, but still, I'm dreaming about it every few nights. I'm excited to run a marathon where I'm not by myself for half of it! There are going to be hundreds of other people going the same pace as me. It's also exciting to take a trip in the middle of the school year. I'm taking two personal days, so I will be in Boston from Saturday until Tuesday.

My Brooks Stuff Came

My package arrived from Brooks Canada containing 3 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of socks, 2 tank tops, 2 pairs of shorts, 1 hat and 1 pair of arm warmers. Just receiving the package motivated me ten times more for the race. I'm gonna be running totally decked out in Brooks shoes and apparel, feeling and looking awesome!

 

Oh yeah, and it's SPRING BREAK!

We've been working very hard at school for the past 3 months, and finally it's time to take a little break. We've decided not to go anywhere this spring break because we are saving for a house. The plan is to lay back, relax, clean, doing my taxes, going to the lake for a couple of days, get a massage (or 2), read, do some planning and get my last training week in before my taper starts.

Happy Spring Break to all of my teaching family and friends! Thanks for reading and enjoy the last couple of days in this awesome month!