1. Last night’s speed work was a success. We switched it up with 4 x 1600 instead of 8 x 800, and I hoped to keep the pace as close as possible to my 800′s (average of 3:40, which would translate to 7:20/mile) even though we were doubling the interval distance.

The results: 7:53, 7:32, 7:17, 7:12 (*average 7:28.5)

I was admittedly sandbagging it a bit on the first one because I got caught up chatting with someone who was aiming for 8:00/mile. No worries; I soon made up for that! Recovery intervals were only about 90 seconds (less than 200m) which is short for 1600m repeats.

2. This afternoon I’m off work early and meeting my Montréal running buddy Dave for our “long” run of 20K/12mi. I would typically run 25K/15mi for my first long run of taper, but I usually take Fridays off and we’ll be heading out in the heat of the afternoon, so I’m not too worried about 5K at this point.

3. Sunday is Sporting Life 10K and I’m leaning towards not racing. Either way, I’m excited to meat up with Nolan’s Dream Chasers (we have now raised $4540!) including Nolan and his family for dinner on Saturday.

We’ve had a couple of days of near-constant 40 kph (25 mph) winds with gusts of 55kph (34 mph). For that reason, approximately 50% of my run yesterday was extremely easy and the other 50% was extremely difficult. Same goes for today’s lunch run.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to be affecting my pace. I ran 15K at 5:42/KM (9:10/mi) yesterday and 10K at 5:26/KM (8:45/mi) today – both quite comfortably.

Aside from the wind, it’s been sunny and clear, so I really can’t complain.

Not long now til the long range forecast is available for May 16th – uh oh!

Still to come this week:

• Shakin’ up the Yasso’s with 4 x 1600 with the group tomorrow night;
• Early long run Friday after work to accommodate for Sunday’s 10K.

Happy Hump Day!

Thanks for all the comments and feedback on Sunday’s run. What a great feeling to have the last loooooong run behind me. I’m feeling more sore and fatigued than usual, so I’ll likely be logging some easy miles tonight and tomorrow before Thursday’s speed work.

As some of you suggested, I will incorporate some Gatorade with my fluid intake in the days leading up to the race. I also plan to use salt capsules because the Eload caps I have been using don’t offer as much sodium as I would like. Sneaker Sister recommended S!Caps which I almost ordered until I discovered the extortionate shipping to Canada. Instead, I went with Salt Stick, which Tall Mom has reviewed in the past.

I just hope it’s not humid on May 16th.

***

Sporting Life 10K is this weekend. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated to Nolan’s Dream Chasers; we have successfully raised $4,300.00 as a team so far.

Special thanks to Melanie, Paula, Alicia, Mark, Patricia, Tonia, Laurel, Jamie, Linzi, Aron, Kenny, Amanda, Heather, Lindsay, Marcia, Anne, Kathleen, Beth and Jen for donating and participating in my fundraising giveaway. The winner will be drawn this weekend after the race. My friend Erin (Nolan’s Mom) even has a few goodies to add.

I haven’t thought too much about goals for the race. I’d love to PR (sub-47:59), but I’m nervous about going all-out in a primarily downhill race just two weeks before my marathon. I know I would recover in plenty of time, but the risk of injury is looming in my mind.

***

I’ll leave you with a few pics I snagged from the 21k de Montréal:

heading in to the finish line

crowded finish shot, I’m on the right near the middle and Dave is beside me in the yellow visor

finish clock shot

The Good

The Bad

The non-stop hills took their toll by the end of the run. All of our long runs incorporate several big climbs, but I was feeling it today. Slowed down and walked more than I would have liked during the last 10K, but I held on the best I could and didn’t let it ruin my run. The hard ones make us stronger.

The Ugly

For some reason, I was so dehydrated today! It was cool but muggy (supposed to rain, but it didn’t… I was wishing it would!) and I noticed that I was sweating more than normal. I was coated in salt and felt like my legs wanted to cramp up, despite drinking water like a champ all week, 60+ oz during the run (I even asked someone for a refill from their hose!) plus a bottle of gatorade plus my electrolyte capsules plus my usual gels. I was hurting by the end and still feel like I can’t replenish. Not sure what’s up with that…

Edited to add: Not enough Body Glide! :/ Of course I didn’t discover this until I got in the shower. Ouchie!

The “Other”

A local half marathon was taking place today and we found ourselves on the course. It was an out-and-back and we ended up on the “back” portion for a short stretch, appearing as front runners (we have impeccable timing)! Many runners cheered for us, thinking we were leading the race. We did not correct them. (The first and second place runners did eventually pass us. Don’t worry, we kept out of their way.) It was a fun distraction in the middle of our run, and I got to high-five Sarah‘s hubby who was out running a great race.

I’m glad that’s done! Bring on taper.

Thanks for all of your comments on my Montréal recaps.

Now that I’m back into the swing of things at home, let’s get caught up on this week in running.

After getting home late Monday night and being up til 1:30AM (several hours past my bedtime), combined with going back to an extremely hectic day at work, I was exhausted. All I could manage on Tuesday was an easy 5K and I am just fine with that!

On Wednesday I headed out at lunch for a quick 10K, somewhere between half marathon and goal marathon pace (5:21/KM = 8:36/mi). After work I was able to meet up with a friend who ran Boston on Monday (!!!) for a nice little recovery run.

And finally, yesterday we had 7x800m Yasso repeats! As usual, I find myself between pace groups (kind of like pants sizes, hmmm….) but found someone to run with me and asked me to set the pace. My goal was to aim for the same splits as last week* (or better), increasingly faster throughout the workout.

Results: 3:51, 3:48, 3:44, 3:44, 3:37, 3:31, 3:24 (average 3:40)

*Last week: 3:54, 3:54, 3:43, 3:37, 3:32, 3:27 (average: 3:41)

Success!

***

Today – rest!

Tomorrow – easy 10K

Sunday – The Big One: 37K/23mi