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.