Hello!
I thought I would give a short update on my goals for the race this weekend. I’ll be heading to Hamilton tomorrow morning for the race (which is on Sunday). The weather is looking decent and hopefully it won’t be too windy. But somehow, it will be warmer in Ottawa than in Hamilton… which is weird. But whatever, should be decent racing weather.
As for goals, I’m honestly not sure what to expect for this race. In between my vacation, twisting my ankle and being sick, I’ve lost a few weeks of training. But the weeks I did get in were more consistent and I had a lot of hilly, long runs. My last long run was 16 miles in under 3 hours, which is promising to come close to my PR 30k time (which is around 3:18 I think). This is from right after that run.
I have run about 375km/234 miles since the beginning of the year. This is lower than I would have liked but still beats my last two years for the same months. I’ve also done more cross training than previous years with a least a few bike rides and core strengthening sessions per month. My long runs have been pretty slow, which I know is fine. Hard to gage how fast I will be able to go though. I am still not good at getting consistent tempo runs in which would probably help me guess how I’ll do. I think I’m in good enough shape to run the whole thing; I just don’t know at what speed!
Another thing which I haven’t mentioned here is that you can’t have music in at the Big Sur marathon. Since the beginning of the year, I have been doing all of my runs without music. It honestly didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I’m not sure how it’ll be during a race. I was hoping to test it at the MEC Race, but I just ran than one since it was right after I twisted my ankle. I like music when I am trying to push hard so I’m hoping that I’ll still be able to dig deep without it.
So back to my goals. I’m not sure what an unreasonable goal is! I’m hoping I will be able to be my course record (around 3:22 I think). And hopefully also PR (3:18ish). If I’m really feeling it, I’d like to go under 3:10. This is a really strange race for me because I really don’t know what to expect!
I’ve also never run ATB with the big hill at the end. Both years I ran it, there was construction and we were rerouted on a flatter course. I am looking forward to running up it. It will be good practice for Big Sur! I also excited to see the Grim Reaper in his natural habitat.
So to sum it up, I don’t know how this weekend will go. I’m hoping I can PR but am really unsure what kind of shape I’m in. I did not run much last week and had a horrible run on the weekend. It was so windy and cold (but also hot because it was sunny). I am hoping that it was just the weather messing me up in combination with being at the tail end of my cold.
This week I have been trying to keep things easy and slow. I’ve only ran once and I played a Futsal game (where I got carried away and had very sore legs….). So instead of running the next day, I rode my bike. I may do one short run this afternoon if I am feeling up to it when I get home. I’ve been working at the University to cover for someone who is on vacation. I was hoping to use this as practice for running while working but then I got sick and I just rested instead. I have woken up for some 6am runs though!
Anyways, I’m looking forward to the race. I’m hoping to meet up with Team Awesome members if I get there in time at the expo. I’m also going to stop by the Army Run booth since there are also some Frontline Race Team members besides myself who are running! I’ll also get to see some of my family since my parents are originally from Hamilton. I’m staying with my Aunt right downtown and will be able to walk to the race start!
Hope to see you all there!