Mississauga Marathon 2014: Post race

A random assortment of post race stuff. If you somehow missed the epic race recap it's here.

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My poor knees! My legs felt surprisingly good Sunday afternoon/Monday, but my knees, yikes. I was starting to think the 'running will ruin your knees' contingent were right all along. But by Monday afternoon they were significantly better, and they now feel normal again.

Assorted ice packs to give the knees some love.

Monday afternoon was when my quads joined the party with some lovely DOMS. It was definitely a fun couple of days of dreading stairs. Although this, surprisingly, wasn't my worst post-race recovery - that honour goes to the first time I did Around the Bay, didn't train enough for the race, and then couldn't walk for three days. With this one I wasn't moving real fast, but walking felt OK. If the zombie apocalypse had happened Monday morning I could have escaped the shamblers, but fast zombies would have caught me no problem.

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Monday I came home from work to find a surprise in my mailbox. Thank you Amy! Slapped that sucker right on the car (after I worked up the energy to tackle the stairs outside the front door. stupid stairs).

Yes, I'm one of Those People. I earned that sticker, damn it.

And my TRX trainer brought my flowers! How sweet is she! Especially considering I haven't been to class in over a month, what with tapering and such. I'll be back, it's almost tank top time and the guns need some love.

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So the photo company for the race has a page with infographic type stuff, including some statistics. Nothing too exciting except for this:

You can find this by clicking the 'photo' link on your sportstats results page and then choosing 'more stats'.

Since there was no timing mat with 5k to go I assume they are calculating that based on the last timing mat at 25k. The numbers make sense to me if they are talking about the final 17k - we passed a lot of people in the late stages of the race, and I don't remember being passed more than a couple of times. I'm rather pleased with this; even though we ran a massive positive split (our second half was six minutes slower than our first, yikes), the course past 25k was really tough thanks to that wind. I remember a lot of people really struggling and doing the death march as we got past 30k, and I had to ignore them to avoid getting sucked in. I've been a death marcher at Around the Bay, it's no fun.

Also, one of the three people who 'passed' me in the last 17k? AMY. All our splits through the entire race were identical except somehow she hit the timing mats at the end a tenth of a second before I did. Sneaky, Amy, very sneaky.

Amy up to no good, clearly sneaking across the finish ahead of me. I'M ON TO YOU.

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Looking at my finish line pictures tells another story. Note the guy in white:

I managed to nip him at the end and finish ahead of him. And possibly wrecked his finish line photos (hopefully he got a few without me being all ME! YAY ME! in them).

Again Amy and I with the freakishly synced up form.

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So what's next. Still resting and recovering. That ache that developed in my right thigh during the last 2k of the race is still there. Getting better, but it's worrying me a bit. Considering heading off to the doctor to rule out a stress fracture if it doesn't resolve in the next couple of days - the symptoms don't really fit (my Dr. Google degree suggests it's more likely a mild muscle strain, along the same lines as what I had in my calf pre-Chilly half), but after what happened to Krista Duchene I kind of don't want to take any chances! I definitely won't be doing any running until my leg feels 100%. I got my bike out and cleaned up tonight, so if biking doesn't aggravate whatever is up with my leg and the weather cooperates, I might try some easy rides over the next few days.

Big Red is ready to roll (obvious bike name is obvious)

I also find myself doing a whole foods/clean eating sort of thing right now. It wasn't a deliberate choice, but after the heavy carb load before the race I am carbed out, man. It's been all salads and protein and good fats since the race, and I'm going to stick with that for a while since it does feel better to eat that way. I'm also supplementing calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin C for recovery purposes.

Big lunch salad.

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What's next? I'm signed up to run Sulphur Springs in a few weeks, but that will be a run for fun and not a race per se. And I have the Ride for Heart 75k at the beginning of June, again for fun. After that, not sure. Kind of depends on this leg thing, so I don't want to make any plans until I know what's going on there. Once that's settled it'll be time to start thinking about short term race goals for June, and then the fall and fall goals. Stay tuned!

Mississauga Marathon 2014 Race Report

Note: This is long, even for me. I wrote this mostly for myself - you only get one first marathon and I wanted something I could re-read in the future to remind myself of all the little details. If you actually read the whole thing, you definitely deserve a prize (not that I'm offering any. You'll have to supply your own).

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“The farther I run, the better it feels when I stop.”

Non-runners have occasionally asked me why, why the longer distances? What possesses a person to decide to run for hours on end? I’m only half joking when I give them the above answer.

Sunday May 4^th was my longest run ever, and my first marathon. How would it feel to finish that kind of distance? Could I even finish that kind of distance?

Saturday night I got to sleep surprisingly easily, although I did wake up at 2:30 in a panic about missing my alarm. Then I laid in bed wide awake for what felt like about 20 minutes and then my alarm really did go off at 4:30, so obviously I did sleep again somewhere in there. I made myself a big mug of tea, pounded back a large glass of Gatorade, and ate an English muffin with butter. I followed a fairly aggressive carb loading/hydration plan in the three days leading up to the race, so I wasn't too worried about eating a huge amount the morning of the race (plus I knew I would have a nervous stomach and probably have trouble eating much anyway).

Flat Emma ready to go.

After the very important bathroom trips (runners know what I’m talking about) (poop. I'm talking about poop.), I got on the road a tad earlier than I’d originally planned and was off to Mississauga, where I immediately managed to turn the wrong way off the QEW. I am Smart.  Eventually I got turned back around and found my way to the community center parking, got my stuff organized, and hopped on the shuttle to the start line. I chatted with a lovely lady whose name I can’t remember who was running her first half marathon and was gratifyingly impressed by the fact I was running the full. I wish I could remember her name, I’d like to know how she did!

Met up with my brother, who was running the half, and hung around trying not to freeze to death. I started second guessing my clothing choices because the wind was COLD, but I hadn't brought any other options with me so was stuck with the tank top/arm warmer combo. I put my faith in the fact that Amy, who would be my running partner for the race, was also in a tank top, so at least we’d freeze to death together. I do tend to run hot so I figured we’d probably warm up after a few km. Hopefully.

Me and my brother bundled up and trying not to look like we're half frozen. Isn't it supposed to be May right now?

So, that wind. Yeah. I had been hoping this would be like Around the Bay, where the Weather Network was all 'HORRIBLE WIND!!!!!' and then there was pretty much nothing. Unfortunately as soon as I got on the QEW the wind almost immediately pushed my car sideways, so the Weather Network was right on the money for this one. Damn you Weather Network. I figured given the wind direction that we’d at least get some decent tailwind on certain portions of the course, but we were also clearly going to have to deal with a headwind at other points. Short of tracking down a mad scientist with a weather machine, we were just going to have to suck it up.

Daily Mile group pre-race. No mad scientists with weather machines, alas, although there were plenty of skirts. Photo via Patty, the shadow of the photographer is Paul. Thanks, Paul! Go read his blog to see his sweet superman outfit.

I ran this race largely without looking at my watch, which I’m getting increasingly comfortable with. It’s a bit of a cheat since Amy was keeping an eye on the pace, and of course when we passed the timing mats I could calculate roughly how we were doing. But still, this seems to work for me. If I run a km too fast at the beginning I’d kind of rather not know about it. So although I’ll include the splits in this report, I didn't know them at the time (for the most part).

Pre-race Marilyns hidden behind some trees. Not my best photography. I was a little distracted with the whole I'm about to run a marathon thing, OK?

Almost before I knew it it was time to make our way to the start corral. We moved about halfway up towards the start line and suddenly the race started (no Oh Canada? No Hazel? so confused!).

Pre-race selfie in the start corral! Still freezing our butts and arms off! Note how everyone else is wearing sweaters!

The first 5k

5:54/5:42/5:50/5:34/5:36

We settled into our pace fairly quickly – the very wide streets for the first few kms really help with a smooth start (although we still had to dodge around a few walkers. Every race with the walkers, what the hell). The race starts by heading west on Burnhamthorpe for the first 5k. The wind was a west wind. So, headwind right off the bat. YAY! I didn't think it felt too bad (I commented on that to Amy, and then immediately a massive gust of wind hit us in the face, so really I should just learn to shut the hell up). 

Some of our paces were a touch fast (we were planning something in the 5:50/5:55 range), but there’s some downhill in this section, plus race start excitement. By around 3k I commented to Amy that my feet had thawed out and my hands were starting to get warm. It was also becoming clear that I would need to take off my arm warmers at some point – I run hot and was glad I’d gone with the tank top!

6-10k

5:48/5:42/5:29/5:44/5:29

On to Mississauga Road and through the U of T campus. Still feeling good, taking advantage of downhills to pick up a bit of time. No wind on this stretch that I can remember, but possibly it was a tail wind. I did notice around 6k that my right knee was feeling a bit twingy, which was concerning, but I ignored it because what other option did I have? Took a gel at 8k on schedule. This first 10k went by fast! And not just because of our paces, it just seemed to fly by.

I put my music on just after 10k – I’d put together a play list with just over 3 hours of music on it. I wanted to run the first 10k without and then use music to motivate me for the rest of the race.

11-15k

6:00/5:37/5:38/5:39/5:31

The one significant hill in the first half of the course was no problem (after Around the Bay, it didn't even seem all that big). You can see by that 6:00 we slowed down for it – Amy and I have the same hill running philosophy I think, which is slow down and just focus on getting up it steadily, don’t try and maintain pace. I think we probably had a tailwind going down Mississauga Road after the hill, looking at those paces!

The short ponytail just doesn't swing as impressively as the longer one used to. Early in the race, feeling fantastic.

I spent quite a while in this section trying to determine if the rank BO I was smelling was coming from me. Frankly I'm still not entirely sure. Given that I only smelled it for a few kilometers it probably came from someone else? Maybe I should apologize to Amy just in case it was me. I swear I put on antiperspirant!

Just before 15k the full and the half marathon routes split. Not going to lie, I got a bit emotional as we approached the corner of Indian Road and most of the runners continued on straight for the half, and only we lucky few made the right turn onto the full route. “I’m not going to cry, it’ll screw up my breathing!” I thought. Amy said she had goosebumps. I asked a volunteer on the corner ‘why are we doing this?’.

Good times.

16-20k

5:41/5:57/5:47/5:53/5:48

Just after 15k, shortly after we’d turned away from the half route, with the full force of the west wind smacking us in our faces, my playlist produced Hedley’s ‘Anything’. Even if I’d tried I don’t think I could have scripted that better. I was all HELL YEAH I CAN DO ANYTHING! WE ARE DOING THIS! It was good to have the motivation because the wind really sucked along this stretch.

I took my second gel at 16k. We worked our way west, still against the wind (have I mentioned the wind?), looking forward to the turn onto Southdown (and possibly getting out of the wind). Our pace was definitely slowed a bit by the wind (THERE WAS WIND). At this point we also started taking water from the water stations (roughly at every even numbered km), and walking maybe 5-10 seconds at each one to drink.

21-25k

5:33/5:40/5:45/5:49/6:03

Onto Southdown and a TAILWIND! Which was fun. We crossed the 21.1k timing mat at 2:01:23 – this was one of those points where I knew we were running faster than planned, because even while running I can do the math on that one. But I was feeling good, legs good (knee still twingy, but not getting any worse), brain good, so I just let that information slide off my back and back into the universe. Wasn't even worried about it or thinking about the potential consequences or possibilities. During this section my arms were getting sweaty so I took off my arm warmers and looped them around my Spibelt.

Then we turned the corner at 23k and lost the tailwind. It became a decidedly unpleasant cross wind, and I occupied myself trying to spot friends running back the other way – we screamed encouragement at Nicole & Peter, waved to Patty & Robin, and I muttered angrily about how much I hate out and backs while the out portion is taking you away from the finish line. It’s demoralizing! We made the turnaround and were finally heading back towards the finish.

I....don't know what I'm doing here. 

26k-30k

5:55/6:06/6:00/6:21/5:47

Took a third gel at around 27k, which I really didn't want but figured I should force down. I believe this was also when I started grabbing Gatorade and water at each water station – I didn't always drink the Gatorade, probably about half the time I just swished and spat (reasoning behind that approach). The 28^th & 29^th km featured the worst headwind of the day. It was ugly. There were moments I wasn't entirely sure we were even still moving forward because of the force of the wind pushing back against us. If Amy and I were smarter we’d have traded off breaking the wind for each other, but I didn't think of it until just now while writing this. D’oh. Me no think good during races. Turning onto Orr road and getting out of the wind was a huge relief (and led to that 5:47 km!).

31-35k

6:10/5:49/5:56/5:58/6:36

Km 31 included hills through the residential portion of the race, on Meadow Wood Road. I hated those hills. I’m not sure I can even adequately express how much I hated that kilometer. Oh, and the headwind was back, which made them EXTRA SUPER DUPER FUN (I believe I've mentioned the wind once or twice so far?). This was about when I started really focusing on just getting to the next water station, knowing I could walk for 10-20 seconds at each one and sort of pull myself together. My legs still felt fine (other than the still twingy knee), but my brain was definitely starting the check out process.

And then we turned to run through Jack Darling Park. We hadn't run this in training, which I now regret. Getting down to the lake was great, since it was downhill, but then the wind (yes, shockingly, more wind) was pretty nasty along the lake and there were disgusting bugs. As much as I enjoyed the view of the Toronto skyline in the distance, I could really have done without the bugs. Getting back up to Lakeshore was uphill and I was struggling. It felt so hard. Because we hadn't run this part on our training run, I didn't realize that the path back up to Lakeshore was really pretty short. I felt like the hill was going to go on forever. I really, really, REALLY wanted to stop. A girl ahead of us did stop. I though about joining her. And then Amy gasped out ‘I’m not stopping, if I stop now I’ll never start again’ and I said YES. Can’t stop, won’t stop.

I was pretty freaking happy when the turn onto Lakeshore showed up a lot earlier than I was expecting it, and with it a water station and the chance to walk for a few seconds. I knew I should probably take another gel, but I could still taste the last one and I had the sense that my stomach would rebel if I tried to force it down, so I settled for drinking a few mouthfuls of Gatorade and hoping my carb load had been good enough to see me through to the end of the race. We took a pretty long walk break at the water station here, which I think is where that 6:36 came from.

36k-40k

5:49/6:08/6:01/6:19/6:01

The paces slowed, we were walking longer at each water station, but this part felt, strangely, better. Maybe knowing how close we were getting to the finish. Maybe because the wind seemed to have died off. Maybe knowing the hills were done (I didn't find the Lakeshore hills too bad – not as bad as those awful Meadow Wood hills, anyway). As every km ticked by I would calculate in my head how much longer there was left to run, and the number kept shrinking and I kept thinking I AM GOING TO DO THIS. Amy didn't say anything but I got the sense she was struggling a bit (she can confirm or deny!) so I tried to just keep us moving forward, staying slightly ahead of her so I could pull her along behind me.

There were about a billion photographers in the last 5k, and I don't think I have these in the right order, but I paid for the whole set so I might as well toss them in here. This is well before the finish because I'm still trying to look good for photos.

Shockingly, there was more headwind during the 38^th km. Also, I think this is where I got a bug in my eye. Lovely. Nature is just the worst.

Still smiling for the photos. Sort of.

I kind of like how the Mississauga course winds around from 38k on – it was more engaging than just running straight. Spotting the familiar landmarks like the lighthouse, and looking for Amy’s husband and kids who she knew would be waiting for us I think at around 39k. It’s good to have something to distract you when you get close to the end of the race! My knee was still bothering me, but other than that my legs felt great. Tired of course, but still strong. And my brain seemed to be back on board with things, especially since we were down to about 12 minutes of running left.

Amy and I doing our best gum commercial impression. Just two friends out for a jog, chewing some Trident.

41-42.2

6:02/5:51/5:33

The last two km were rough. My right knee was hurting more, plus I started getting pain in my right thigh. Cripes, NOT NOW, stupid leg. Just keep running, I kept telling myself. Don’t think about stopping. 12 minutes to go. 10 minutes to go. 6 minutes to go. YOU CAN DO THIS.

I see you there, photographer. I ain't smiling any more until I see the goddamn finish line.

The crowd support along this section was great, especially as we came around the lake. Lots of people cheering us on, including Pranada in a tutu! We saw Amy’s family again, and her daughter yelled ‘go faster mommy, you are going too slow!’ which made me laugh. Not sure how Amy felt about it! Then I was really focused on scanning the crowds for my husband who was supposed to be meeting me at the finish. I was so focused I have to confess I completely missed seeing Phil and Elaine cheering for us!

Clearly Amy spotted them. I was far too focused on NOT DYING. Thank you Elaine for the pic!

Finally, the 42k sign! 200m left! Spotted my husband and that put a big smile on my face as we ran for the finish line. Well, spotting him and also the whole thing about almost being done. That may have been part of it.

Look how totally in sync we are. Sometimes I think Amy and I share a brain. Thank you Irina for the fantastic picture!

I see the finish! Almost done! OH MY GOD!

Time: 4:08:41 chip/4:10:49 gun

Overall place: 353/723

Gender place: 126/307

Category place: 41/86

There it is. 42.2 DONE.

This is what it feels like to get your first marathon medal:

That is how good it feels to stop running after a marathon.

Thank you Amy for running every step with me. Could not have done it without you. 

A few overall thoughts on the race. I love the Mississauga course, with the exception of the industrial section from about 22k to 28k or so. That part is kind of blah, although it is the one out and back spot on the course where you can spot your friends. The organization of the race is really well done, the baggage check was very efficient, and the shuttle buses back to the parking worked very well (although admittedly post-race they are probably the worst smelling buses in the world – cramming a bunch of sweaty runners onto a city bus, ewwwwww). Lots of great volunteers and I appreciated the aid stations every 2k, and how they consistently had Gatorade first, water second. I would definitely recommend this marathon to anyone considering it.

Outfits: adorable. And big congrats to Patty for her first sub 4 hour marathon! You can't quite tell in this picture how much I felt like I was about to fall right over. It's hilarious how quickly you go from a full out run to hardly even being able to walk.

I prepared well for this race. The carb load did its job, as far as I can tell, in that I never felt anything like a bonk even though I didn't take the 4th gel (I am very glad it wasn't hot out – that could have gotten really ugly). My legs were strong through the whole race; it was my brain that was busy objecting during various parts of the last 10-12k or so. And I have to give a huge thanks to all the great people who came out or stayed to watch us finish! I don’t think I've ever had so many race pictures before, thanks Irina and Phil and Elaine and Jenn and her husband all taking pics. And of course big thanks to Sam for staying after her half to cheer for us, and my husband for tolerating all the hours spent training and then taking care of the post race driving.

So will I run another one? I believe the first thing I said to Amy after our sweaty half falling down drunken sorority sister style hug at the finish was ‘I can’t believe people do this more than once’. But of course now I’m wondering how fast we would have gone if we hadn't had to deal with that headwind; how close we might have gotten to a 4 hour finish…hmmmmmmm….

So yeah, I’d say another marathon is probably in my future.

But before I think about that I'm just going to bask in the glow of this one for a while.

I ran a freakin' marathon!

Mississauga Marathon training: Pre-race

Oh boy, we are just about there. A few random pre-race musings and some race expo stuff below.

Let us have a moment of silence for swingy ponytail race pictures like this:

The ponytail action shot is a Sam specialty. Looks great when you can get it!

There will be no more for a while. Yep, got the hair cut off:

How do other people make selfies look easy? I took like 54 of them and they all look weird.

Sam told me I should be on Instagram, and I'm nothing if not susceptible to peer pressure (like, this whole 'run a marathon' thing). So hey, follow me on instagram! I'll keep the weird looking selfies to a minimum and probably mostly post #seenonmyrun pretty views and such. Expect many sunrises, pictures of the lake, and shots of running shoes and GPS watches.

And these, because they are a thing now. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

I did a couple of short runs this week, just to keep the legs fresh for Sunday. The 6k I did on Wednesday was crazy. I don't think I've ever felt that strong or good on a run before. Magic of the taper? The hair dye seeped into my brain and made me high? Hell if I know, but I'll take it.

So, that's it. The training is done. Looking back, I think it went really well. The winter certainly had its share of challenges (UNDERSTATEMENT). Even with the constant horrible weather, I did almost every planned run, and the ones I missed were in retrospect sensible choices - aches and pains that were serious enough to make me take a step back for a day or two, get some physiotherapy, and get healed up quickly and back to training as soon as possible.

I made the decision early on that I wasn't going to worry about doing speedwork, but instead just focus on getting in the volume, getting my weekly mileage up, and getting in the training runs without injury. I think I accomplished that, and even without speedwork picked up new half marathon and 30k PBs during training. I'm particularly happy with that half marathon PB, which suggests some good things may be in store if I focus on the half for the fall. But that's getting ahead of myself.

Race Expo

The Mississauga race expo is OK - I assume because it's the same weekend as Goodlife a lot of the better vendors go to that expo instead. I was able to grab some assorted free samples, and the kit was pretty loaded with stuff too, which is always nice. I am a little disappointed the shirt isn't Under Armour like it was last year. Last year's shirt is one of my favourite t shirts. The new one is alright, I'll use it, but it's not as good.

Was a kind of thrilling moment walking up to the marathon table instead of the half marathon table!

Kit and samples.

No one go photoshopping your own version of my bib now, OK?

Race Plan.

Finish. Maybe I could set an aggressive goal for this race, but since this is my first marathon, I'm choosing to be a little cautious (or chicken. I prefer to think I'm being sensible). I want to get through this thing in one piece, basically. I don't know how my body and mind will react to the mysterious land beyond 30k, so as much as I'm feeling strong and fast right now, I'd like to start this thing cautiously and hopefully finish it strong. Amy and I will be starting out aiming for a 4:10 finish, and if we speed up in the back half of the race and finish faster, well, that would be fantastic.

And that's it. I'm excited to get this thing done!

Mississauga Marathon training: Week 14

This pretty much sums it up:

Monday: Home from work with the kids, so spent the morning cleaning the house (and swiping their Easter candy). Then I wasn't feeling very well in the afternoon, which likely had to do with the Easter candy. Ugh. Lesson learned. Don't eat so much junk. Admittedly I should have learned that lesson about a million times by this point, but still, candy! It's so yummy!

Tuesday: #5amrunclub. Super sluggish 8k. Not a great feeling run, but it got done. Wore a t shirt! woo! It's almost time to start complaining about the heat!

Oh, and if anyone took the under on how long it would take me to lose my sunglasses, you win! Both they and my headphones have disappeared. Damn it.

Random aside: this recipe comes really close to replicating Old El Paso fajita mix. Close enough no one in my family noticed or commented, and much cheaper than the mix pouches. Winner!

Mmmmm, chorizo. There's vegetables buried under there somewhere, I swear.

Wednesday: 8k at lunch. Out and back on the rail trail. Nothing exciting, although it did kind of turn into a marathon pace run instead of an easy run. Not sure it really matters either way at this point.

My headphones returned! They'd gone home with my brother over the Easter weekend. I guess they wanted a little Scarborough vacation. Fortunately my brother works near my husband so it wasn't hard to get them back. Still no sign of my sunglasses, though. And thus ends the most boring paragraph I have ever written.

Thursday: Lunch hour run - first trip over to Brant St since the fall. Down the hill, weeeeeeeeeeeeee! Good times. 8k at a pace a little faster than I probably should have, but it was a beautiful day and I couldn't resist opening it up on the downhill.

Rockin' the super girl shirt my husband got me for our anniversary. Clearly we take these things very seriously (and are also huge nerds).

Friday: Rest day. About which I will say nothing because really, I am so bored of myself right now.

Saturday: 'Long' run with the girls. Our first time out in ages, between Sam's injury problems and Amy's ski weekends, I don't think we've run as a full group since the fall (and we were missing Nicole, too, who stubbornly insists on living in an entirely different city. What the hell, Nicole.). 16k in the rain. Felt pretty good.

Photo from Patty. Thank god we didn't all show up in the same colour shirts, I admit I almost put the pink top back in the drawer because I was afraid we'd all be in that colour (that's happened before...).

My new shoes have been causing me some issues with foot numbness, so I re-laced them using the high instep method and it made a huge difference. No problems at all over the 16k. I don't know what changes New Balance made to the v4 of this shoe, but it's definitely something because I never had that issue with the v2s or v3s. It may be time to look for a new shoe once my current pairs all start maxing out on mileage.

Looks weird, but feels better.

Sunday: Easy 5k. Finally warm enough to test my planned marathon outfit, and I think it will work. Now I just have to hope a tank top will be appropriate for race day, otherwise I'll need to do a complete outfit overhaul.

I am so happy to see these friendly faces in the front garden again. I think it's really 100% truly spring. Finally.

Weekly summary: 46.7 km run. Legs are feeling good; no nagging aches or pains. Just need to keep things that way all week! A couple of short and easy runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, maybe something very short on Thursday if I'm feeling antsy, then I'll be resting up for the big day.

It's artsy photo time!

So this is totally cheesy, but I've been wearing this bracelet since the taper started as a way of keeping my head on straight. I'm a firm believer that if your training is good, your brain will defeat you long before you body (and the late race mental game is something I've struggled with, many times, and definitely have yet to master - the only race I've done where I felt like it went totally right, mentally, was the Oakville 10k). This is a reminder to myself that I've done the training, and I can do this. I plan to also wear it during the race to use as a mental touchstone when things get tough. Will it work? One week until we find out...

Mississauga Marathon training: Week 13

First week of the taper! This week is all about pictures of awesome trails. I'm just a little bit happy that I'm no longer doing 90% of my running on the rail trail. I love the rail trail, big thanks to the City of Hamilton for the excellent job keeping it snow and ice free this winter, but oh my god was I sick of running on that thing. Time to run in other places!

Monday: Although my knee - which had been a bit twingy feeling on Sunday -  felt fine, I decided to give TRX a miss just to be on the safe side.

Tuesday: The weather was...uninspiring. That's a politer word than what I was thinking when I saw the snow all over my car.

This would have been beautiful IN DECEMBER. Not so much in April.

I figured I'd slog out 8k or so in the snow and be happy it was over, but I ended up running on part of the Bruce Trail (the Chedoke radial trail section) and it was SO FREAKING AWESOME that I didn't turn around at 4k and just kept going. The only reason I did turn around at 5k was that one of the (many) waterfalls along this section of the trail was waterfalling itself all over the path, and getting swept over the side of the escarpment onto the highway below wasn't in my training plans.

Waterfalls! Stunning views! Interesting rock formations! Hamilton can be pretty great.

I'm really starting to think I'm a trail runner at heart. I've got a mental list of at least a dozen local trails I want to to try running this summer. If only I had more time...

Wednesday: Since I did 10k on Tuesday I only needed 8k on my lunch. Since I'm all TRAILS!!! right now I ran randomly through the trails on the north (? cardinal directions in Hamilton are confusing) side of campus. It was seriously muddy, but super fun. However I had a couple of slips that started to roll my ankle, so I think I'd better knock off with the muddy trails until after the marathon.

The views on these trails aren't half bad either.

Thursday: Back to the Chedoke trail, where this time I didn't get stopped by the waterfall, but by a city crew replacing a bridge. D'oh.

I can't believe this is 4k from my office.

To get around the work crew, I ended up on a side trail that didn't go where I was expecting, then got slightly lost.

Not what I was expecting to find in the woods. Whatever it is, I'm keeping it in mind as a zombie apocalypse bunker.

I ended up cutting across the golf course so I could get back to work within a reasonable amount of time. Um, I don't think the golf course people liked that very much (it's not open yet for the season, I wouldn't have done that if it had been). I may have been yelled at by a course marshall. I'm not admitting anything.

This was soggy, but the fastest way to get back to work.

Friday: Rest day! Cheered for my husband and kids and Nicole at the Good Friday Road Races. One of these years I'll run the 10 miler. It was great to see Sam, who also came to cheer. The kids had a great time, and my husband ran the 5k in 23:00, a new PB by over a minute for him. I wish I could borrow some of his speed.

I think the kids were most excited about the chocolate eggs this guy was handing out.

Being a spectator at a race is really pretty fun! Sam and I were very much enjoying looking at other people's 'I'm at the end of a 5k and I'm in incredible pain' faces. Also, observing how many times little kids outkicked adults to the finish line (if a kid passes you at the end of a race? they are going to beat you. Stupid young lungs).

Saturday: Long run. We were visiting my parents for the day so we left the kids with them and headed out for 20k. My brother also joined us. I wasn't sure how this would go - my parents live in a small town, so finding a decent 20k running route was a challenge. There's a rail trail, but it's primarily used by dirtbikes and snowmobiles so I wasn't sure if it would be in decent enough shape for running.

It...wasn't so much suitable for running.

REALLY?

We ended up running on some side roads, which were fine (although I sure wouldn't want to do that all the time, the road camber would be a nightmare on the IT bands). The roads were pretty quiet other than the occasional farmer passing by in a pick up truck and staring at us, and at one point I cursed the stupid glaciers and the hills they left behind. Because seriously, if I had to run there regularly I'd be a hill running expert, the hills are non stop.

Not bad, Bruce County, not bad.

I felt amazing through this run - I'm used to my legs starting to get a bit sore around 16, 17k but they felt fantastic the whole time. I guess that's from adjusting to the 20 milers? It was a good feeling, and in fact I tacked on an extra km at the end to go half marathon distance and ended up running 21.1.

I could get used to having breakfast ready for me after a long run! Thanks mom & dad!

Sunday: Got up early to do a recovery run by the lake before the Easter egg hunting hoopla. 8k.

Hello lovely.

A few photographers were out taking picture of the sunrise, and a couple of families had dragged their decidedly sullen looking pajama clad teenagers out for sunrise pics. There was also a choir singing hymns! But the weirdest thing was definitely the guy in the bunny costume heading towards the lake carrying a beach towel. I don't even know.

Weekly summary: 58 km run. Which is a lot of km, but is a big drop from last week (about a 30% cut). This week the numbers drop even more and we'll see if taper madness hits - this week there was enough running to keep that at bay, but this week things get a lot shorter. Legs are feeling good, mentally I feel great, so now I just have to focus on picking the perfect marathon outfit. I think I have it, but I need to test run the top this week to make sure it'll work.

Song of the week: Nothing has really grabbed my attention for a while, so I haven't posted a song of the week, but this week I added Natalia Kills - Problem to my playlist. Such a great mid-run pump you up when you are starting to feel a bit tired sort of song.