In 2007, I decided that I would try the Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Mile run. Boxing Day, for those of you who are unaware, is the day after Christmas if you live in a Commonwealth country (or Great Britain). The Hamilton run is a long tradition that has been happening for over 90 years. Having run my first half-marathon in 2007, I thought that I would be ready to go for the 10 mile because, after all, it is 3 whole miles shorter. And a 0.1.
However, I was not prepared for the course. The course is pretty brutal. And I was last. Not close to last or near the end. I was last. Mind you, for every race someone has to be last, so I guess that was my turn. It was not my favorite, as you can probably imagine.
For anyone who is planning to run the Hamilton Boxing Day 10 Mile run, here is a description:
0.0-5.0: not bad. You spend a lot of it by the harbor, which means you went downhill to get there, followed by lots of flat. There is a hill near the start, but that is about the only one. Furthermore, that particular hill is really not all that bad. You will note, though, that this race tends to be a fast one and that the average participant runs at a swift clip.
Need a bathroom? Look around 3.5 (I think) and 4.8 for Port-a-Potties.
5.1-7.5: you will notice the first major hill right after the 5.0 marker (actually, it will be a timing mat that you cross). It's really easy to see: first, there will be a big incline and second, you will see lots of people walking. These people are wise. Unless you are trained for hills, might I recommend joining them.
Then, you will notice several rolling hills over the next couple of miles. Don't be fooled. Your brutal hill is the one that starts near the golf course, at around 7.25. This hill is sheer evil. There is no getting around it. It makes the other hill look like a joke. You'll also notice many more people walking.
7.5-8.5: this part is fine as long as there isn't snow. You're basically running on a trail, so if there is snow, it is not the best. Fortunately, this year there was no snow.
8.5-10: There are a few hills, but nothing like what you had before. Keep your chin up for the last mile, including the one hill there. You can do it. It's almost over. You won't have to run hills like that again for a while (unless by choice).
This year, it is worth noting, I was not last. Not even close to last. I even passed people during my last 0.75 mile. So take that! Nevertheless, my time was not a huge improvement, mostly because I did not treat the hills in a strategic manner. My brain forgot how evil that one at 7.25 miles is, for instance. However, it was an improvement, I was not last, and I may even try and run it again in the future.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Florida vs. The Great White North
Greetings from Canada, eh! I'm here for a week and trying to get back in the swing of running. After the chest cold, I was taking it easy for a bit. Last weekend, I decided the time had come to run again. I was in West Palm Beach and went for an easy, 30-minute run. Except that it wasn't so easy because the humidity was horrible -- in the 80%-100% range (it was rainy). In December. Not fair. But I did it, even though I didn't feel like I was running at my best, even taking out the awful humidity.
Much the same for my next run, which was on Monday in Fort Lauderdale (I was doing a Florida road trip, can you tell?). This time, the humidity was okay, but Mr. Florida Sun was awfully brutal. The run was by the beach, which offered great scenery but very little shade. I did okay, but needed to walk a bit at the end. Still a bit sick, I think.
On Thursday, I wanted to do some speed training on the treadmill, but the treadmills weren't working (?). So I did pyramid pieces instead. You alternate fast running and slower running (or walking, as the case was by the end of the last one) at different intervals. I usually do 1-1-2-2-3-2-2-1-1 for a 15-minute pyramid (bold indicates where I ran). It's a very good workout. Again, not feeling 100% and still a bit sick.
Now I am in Canada, where it can be humid too, only you don't mind it so much because it's below freezing. This describes yesterday pretty well. I did a good job of dressing for the weather and I noticed that the wind can make an incredible different. Places where the wind was blocked weren't so bad, but when you got the wind head-on, it was pretty intense. My run was a 5-mile one with hills in preparation for the 10-miler that I am doing on December 26 (Boxing Day). It went okay, although yet again, I do not feel that I am at 100%. Maybe someday I will actually recover. Until then, I am trying to accept that I may not be running at my best right now, but at least I am sufficiently recovered that I can run. It's a big improvement over how I felt during the last half-marathon!
Much the same for my next run, which was on Monday in Fort Lauderdale (I was doing a Florida road trip, can you tell?). This time, the humidity was okay, but Mr. Florida Sun was awfully brutal. The run was by the beach, which offered great scenery but very little shade. I did okay, but needed to walk a bit at the end. Still a bit sick, I think.
On Thursday, I wanted to do some speed training on the treadmill, but the treadmills weren't working (?). So I did pyramid pieces instead. You alternate fast running and slower running (or walking, as the case was by the end of the last one) at different intervals. I usually do 1-1-2-2-3-2-2-1-1 for a 15-minute pyramid (bold indicates where I ran). It's a very good workout. Again, not feeling 100% and still a bit sick.
Now I am in Canada, where it can be humid too, only you don't mind it so much because it's below freezing. This describes yesterday pretty well. I did a good job of dressing for the weather and I noticed that the wind can make an incredible different. Places where the wind was blocked weren't so bad, but when you got the wind head-on, it was pretty intense. My run was a 5-mile one with hills in preparation for the 10-miler that I am doing on December 26 (Boxing Day). It went okay, although yet again, I do not feel that I am at 100%. Maybe someday I will actually recover. Until then, I am trying to accept that I may not be running at my best right now, but at least I am sufficiently recovered that I can run. It's a big improvement over how I felt during the last half-marathon!
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Year of Frustrating Sickness continues
2011: in like a flu, out like a chest cold?
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
The reason I haven't been writing much lately (or running much lately) is that soon after Thanksgiving I came down with a pretty nasty chest cold. I did manage my Sunday night run (speedwork) and my Tuesday night run (same speedwork), but Tuesday night I noticed that I was coughing a lot afterward. Wednesday, I needed to take the day off work, which is virtually unheard of for me. So that was a cue that things were not okay. The cold stuck around for the next few days: it was one of those ones where you feel better one day, then tired again the next. So I decided not to run.
The basic rule of running when sick is that you are okay to run if the cold is from your neck up (so a head cold is okay, even if unpleasant) and not okay to run from the neck down (i.e., in your chest). I knew that I should take it easy and mostly I did. But I also knew that at some point, I was going to have to go running again.
I got out this Wednesday, so it had been a week of no running at all, which was lousy! I did some easy speedwork (this might sound like an oxymoron, but it was not a very long distance or amount). Admittedly, I did not feel 100%, but I did make it through the workout without falling off the treadmill. Same thing for Thursday. I decided to go ahead and do the next half-marathon that was on Sunday (yesterday).
This one was the Holiday Half-Marathon, which is a one-way that goes from Madeira Beach to Largo. The course was meh, I felt. At least it was overcast so it wasn't exposed and sunny, because I think that it would have been pretty killer in those conditions. I felt cautiously optimistic about the it, thinking that possibly with the time off, I had a chance for a good time.
And I think that I would have had a chance for a good time, too, if it weren't for this pesky chest cold that REFUSES TO DIE! So I got through the first two miles in relatively good time, then realized that I was not feeling well. I walked for a bit and discovered that my heart rate was much too high. Blerg. So walk/run it was. For the whole rest of the half-marathon. It seemed like one hundred million miles, although my time was actually not horribly dreadful considering the circumstances and that I was walk/running.
In fact, my time was still better than it was for the Oak Tree back in September. Me sick > me running hills. Sad but true.
I think that there were some good things to take from this experience. First, I was glad that I had run into adversarial conditions last summer because I had strategies for coping with this en route. I decided to run divide my intervals into 0.65, so 5%, then run for 0.55 and recover for 0.1. Obviously, it worked well enough to get me through the course and I wasn't even the last person. I'm not sure that I would have known what to do if I hadn't had to complete such runs last summer. So this was a good thing.
Second, I feel like I am ready and raring to go for a half-marathon. It was the illness that stopped me this time. So here's hoping that the next half (January in Clearwater) goes better. I think that it will, too, because I will have some hill practice time between then and now while I am in Canada for the holidays. The Boxing Day race in Hamilton has a few nasty ones, so if I can get some hill work in, that should be useful for both. The next half involves the Causeway (i.e., one giant hill).
Third, I am half-way through the Halfathon! Which is totally cool. Only the equivalent of one marathon to go now. Also, I was happy with this most recent training plan, so I will modify it for the next race and see how that goes.
Fourth, I am incredibly glad that at no point yesterday did I lie down in a ditch and take a nap next to the race course, even though that was very tempting. Victory!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)