Race Recap: 2012 RCLDS #1

Last weekend I kicked off my track season with the London Runner hosted RCLDS #1. This kick off event is also the Ontario 10,000m championship for Junior and Senior men and women. Along with the premier event are two other races, the full and half mile.

This was to be my first open 800m race since 2001, when I was graduating from High School. I managed to dip under 2:00 that season, just barely, and since then I've been slowly rounding into shape after my best winter of training ever. Needless to say, I was nervous throughout the day on Saturday in anticipation for the gun and my two laps of pain.

I arrived at the track early enough to settle in and chat with Leslie and I quickly realized I did not bring enough clothing to keep me warm, so I didn't waste too much time and decided to get into my warmup and give myself a solid 25 minutes to get the legs moving. It didn't take me very long to realize I left my watch at home, so I was going to fly solo for the warmup and my pickup, ah well, there was no sense in stressing out, I'd have plenty of time to do that after my warmup.

I was seeded at 2:03. Steve decided that all on his own and I felt it was an ambitious goal. I had already worked out my own goal, to break 2:05, and seeing my seed time shifted my mental approach a bit so I decided I had to get after it and get comfortable with the pain I knew I'd feel.

The goal was to go out in 61 and then hang on as well as possible to break 2:03, and if everything fell apart I'd still squeak in under 2:05.  We lined up in our staggered lanes, and my body was nearly shaking with nerves. I knew I just had to get the race started, but I tell you, in this situation 1 second feels like an eternity. The gun went off and before I knew it I was well behind the leaders coming through the 100m and even still at the 150m mark. I won't ruin the rest of the story for you because I can show you a video of my race.  So head over to Trackie.ca and watch the video. If you're interested in reading some more once you've watched it, come back and keep on reading.

WATCH MY 800M RACE HERE

So, you came back, or you never left. Either way, let's keep this rolling. So I aced the race. I ended up running 2:02.51, just under my seed time and a great effort throughout the entire race. Here are my splits as I remember them:

200m: 30.XX

400m: 61.00 (200m split: 31s)

600m: 1:32.XX (200m split: 31s)

800m: 2:02.51 (200m split: 30.5s)

As I crossed the finish line I was very relieved, and so excited to see that I came so close to my seed time, and even beat it. I felt so strong in the last 400m, and I'm amazed to see that I was able to maintain that pace so evenly through the full 800m. Who knows, maybe I'll be flirting with a sub 2:00 effort by the end of the season?

I'd also like to give a shout out to my cheering section in the stands. Melanie, Sara, Wes, Brian and Rob....it's so amazing to know I've got people who are willing to take time from their busy schedules to come see me run around an oval track.  You all mean so much to me!

And so, that's that folks. I'll be racing again this week, a 5000m on the track, my first 5000m on the track. EVER. Oh man, this is going to be interesting.

April Update.....

Well, it's been 4 weeks to the day since I last blogged (read my race recap from the 2012 Downtown 5km road race in London, ON) and I've gotta say, I've missed you. Yeah, you. I miss you, and maybe you miss me too?

So what's been going on lately you might wonder. Well, I've been running lots. I've been kind of injured. Heck, I've been kind of injured all year, so it feels kind of 'normal' now.

I've been dealing with the same injury, ITBS, that originally sidelined be coming into my first year at Western, but instead of cowering away from it I've decided to face it head on.  Oh, that and I have disposable income and benefits I can toss at it....lots of money. Sigh. Physiotherapy is expensive folks. I've spent upwards of $600 on physio in a month this year (luckily $300 of that was covered by my benefits) and for the longest time it felt like lost money. Until two weeks ago. Coach and I decided to take an extra easy week after the 5km road race and it paid off quickly. I paired up the easy week of running with a new stretching routine for my IT Band and the results were near immediate.

In the last 3 weeks I've only done physio twice, and for the time being I can finally see an end to my physio sessions.  It's about time!

As for training, things are going well. I'm putting in the hard work (100km/wk), recovering well and staying healthy.  Track season is nearly upon me, and as everyone in the club has been talking about their race schedule, I've managed put that aside and just engross myself in the work. And I kind of like that. But I'm starting to get the itch, so who knows how much longer I'll be able to last before switching over to 'race mode'.

Race Recap: 2012 McFarlan Rowlands DOWNTOWN 5K

Most of the London Runner Distance Club!

I'll kick things off by apologizing for not writing up a race preview, so here it is folks:

I'll skip all the boring stuff and just tackle what my goals were. I've been running really well lately (workouts and all) and I had a great season opener in February, at the Really Chilly Road Races, so I had high hopes for this race. I've been wanting to crack 16:40 since late last year, and I figured that would be a great goal to aim for this time around.

Then I had to go and run a stellar time trial in mid March, running a solid 15 second PB, and then my whole world got turned upside down. I figured I was in 16:40 shape (for 5km), but the results from the time trial indicated I 'should' be able to crank out a 16:15 for 5km. I could hardly believe it, you know, to just lop off 25 seconds from my goal.

So we started doing 5km work at that pace. 3:15/km it was....k after k, I put in the work, and I began believing. And that is what lead to the following goals:

B Goal

So, my B goal is to clock a sub 16:30. I cranked out a 16:57 just a month (or so) ago, and now it's time to improve. 

Goal Time: Sub 16:30 (3:18/km)

A Goal

My A Goal is to crack 16:15, and this is a realistic, but ambitious goal. Everything has to line up for this to happen, but I'm confident and know I've done enough hard work in the past months to warrant this goal.

Goal Time: Sub 16:15 (3:15/km)

So that, folks, is what I was aiming for. Best case scenario, 16:15 and in my mind, that's the only scenario.

So fast forward, to 24 hours ago, and I'm warming up, doing drills, snapping pictures (famous people always take pictures, right?) and toeing the line for my 2nd 5km road race of the year. The starting line was an absolute mess, with teams of young kids vying for prime start line real estate. Did some of us chirp 8 year olds? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.

3........2........and we're off. We didn't even hear '1', or a gun, or a horn. We just went. Ah well. As usual, the start was a frantic dash, and I settled into my goal pace 500m into the race, and then the metres just rolled by. The pace felt right, but I had to mentally will my legs to maintain, not like those perfect races where your legs just do all the work themselves.  Km after km I kept rolling, I worked with club mates, passed a few that were having an off day and was passed, just shy of the 3km mark by a vicious Leslie Sexton. She was literally possessed and passed me with such determination that I instantly felt emasculated. Luckily it didn't shake me up too badly, and as the splits from my race show, I was as steady as could be throughout!

I ended up 12th overall (up from 16th last year) and ran a lifetime personal best for 5km on the road, 16:29! It was a 40 second improvement over last year's edition of this race, and even though I didn't nail my A-Goal, I still had a stellar outing and can't beat myself up over it.

My sister also snapped some great pictures throughout the race, feel free to browse them below.

CBC The Nature of Things: The Perfect Runner

This Thursday March 15th, CBC's The Nature of Things will be airing a 1 hour special that will certainly please most runners. The one hour episode will ask the following questions:

• How did our ancestors survive the shift from trees to land?  
• How did Homo sapiens evolve to dominate the planet?  
• How did our ancestors hunt before they developed weapons?

And hopefully, answer them. I've had a chance to view the documentary ahead of time (don't I sound fancy) and it does a very good job at detailing our progression as humans into highly specialized endurance creatures. If you like staying on the tip of running trends, you'll have plenty to eat up in this hour: Ultramarathons, running evolution, barefoot running, minimalist running, gear and much more! Also, there's lots of cool hi-def, slow-mo shots....well worth the visual attention!


So go out for a run, grab your recovery drink and stretch/roll your legs out as you watch this one hour special airing on CBC at 8PM EST this Thursday (March 15th).  To get a behind the scenes look at the movie, head over to this URL:

http://www.theperfectrunner.com/journey/

Race Recap: 2012 Really Chilly Road Races

Well, the first race of the season is behind me now, and I can breathe a sigh of relief and find contentment in the results I posted this past weekend.In my race preview I laid out my goals, and in the very last sentence said I hoped I could squeak in under 17:00.  Well, I did!  I ran 16:57 for the distance, and finished 5th overall, behind 3 of my club mates!

The weather was amazing. Calm skies, a gorgeous sun and bone dry roads. Everything was lining up perfectly.

The horn sounded at 9:45 sharp and the runners were off. Right off the start I found myself with my fellow training partners, and not many else around me. By the half km mark I was joined by a few other ambitious fellows who would later on fall off the pace we had set early in the race. By the 1km split I was feeling great, and saw that my watch read 3:19 for that split. All was well, as I continued to forge on down Dundas St, into the residential area between Dundas and Florence.

The 2nd km was also a breeze, and the slight uphill, and tight turns in the residential area resulted in a 3:23 split, still well within reason. My 3rd km was yet again, a 3:19, but as I worked my 4th I could feel my legs starting to tie up a bit, and the head wind did not do anything to help my case. I trudged down Florence street towards the Agriplex, and I clocked my slowest km at 3:25. The final km of the course has a harsh turnaround, an up and down (the only REAL hill of the entire course) and we finish in the Agriplex to the roaring applause of the crowd.  I finished strongly, with a 3:21 for the 5th km, but it turns out my Garmin's km splits didn't match the course's, so there is an extra 6-7 seconds to my final time that I wasn't expecting. Ah well!

All in all, I'm very satisfied with this kind of result so early in the year. I'm full of confidence, and I'm clearly fit. It's time to keep putting in the work, and trust the work. It's that simple.

Here are my splits according to Garmin

Full results are here:

http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2012&r=rcreallychillyS.htm

Race Preview: 2012 Really Chilly Road Race

Well, it seems I've been so caught up in doing the daily work that my first race of the year crept up on me without me noticing. This coming Sunday I'll be racing the 5km road race at the annual Really Chilly Road Races in London (Ontario). I raced in the 10km edition last year, but frankly, I don't know why I did. I dislike racing anything longer than 5km, so this year I'm doing the logical thing: racing 5km.  Also, I had a very unpleasant experience in the 10km last winter, feel free to read all about it (including graphic evidence in the post) in my race recap from 2011. Quoted from my race recap last year:

I'm pretty sure that from now on, if there is a 5km option to a race, I'm opting for it. Screw these painful 10km road races, at least when they are XC races the scenery is enjoyable.

So, it's now 2012 and I'm geared up for this weekend's race.  I'll be bringing out some new racing flats, the New Balance RC152, and with the confidence I've built up since the new year, I'm hoping for a solid outing come Sunday. So now it's time to play the goal game...

B Goal

So, my B goal is to clock a sub 17:10. I cranked out a 17:10 last April, as my first 5km of the year, and I'm confident that I am as fit if not fitter at this stage of the year.

Goal Time: Sub 17:10 (3:26/km)

A Goal

My A Goal is to crack 16:50, and this depends entirely on how I respond to the pace required to accomplish this goal. 16:50 is approaching my seasonal best of last year, and I remember just how much I had to dig for that one. Am I fit enough this early in the season to repeat that effort? Will the weather cooperate? Who knows....but I know how to find out.

Goal Time: Sub 16:50(3:22/km)

So, in order to succeed at these goals, I need a game plan. I've decided that the first 2km will be a touch conservative, at 3:24/km - 3:26/km pace and the 3rd km will be a few second faster. Then I'll have to gauge how I am feeling, and that will tell me how I should attack the last 2 km. If all goes well, I'm hoping to dip below 3:20/km in the last 2 km, and squeak in below 17:00!