Muskoka 70.3 base build: week 9 + Race week!

Solid week this week, although the lack of swimming is a bit annoying. Just how it goes when you have young kids and the husband type person has to go away for work. And my lunch hour pool is still closed for renovations. Swimming is a right pain in the ass to schedule, is what it amounts to.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: Kickass 12k tempo run; TR Dade (1 hour)
Wednesday: TR - Phoenix (1:30)
Thursday: 8k run
Friday: TR - Avalanche Spire (1:15)
Saturday: 26k long run
Sunday: 2400m swim; 30k bike ride OUTSIDE; 10k run

Yeah, so yesterday's weather was kind of crazy, wasn't it? 10 degrees in February!!? When I left the pool I knew there was absolutely no way I was going to lock myself in the basement on the trainer. I ended up dusting off Foxy (my road bike), massively overdressing, and doing a short 30k ride. OUTSIDE. In February. Bonkers!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

The wind was intense. I took this picture, then had what I think was my slowest ride ever up the No 1 side road series of climbs. Every time I crested one of the little hills the headwind would basically push to me a complete stop! Still, though, just being able to get outside on a bike was SO FUN. 

Other random stuff from the week. This is what happens when Coach Zin picks the bike trainer workouts:

That wasn't fun at all!

What has been passing for 'snowy' this winter

More from the sort of snowy lunch run

Not at all snowy long run with my best girls. Open your eyes, Sam!

 Really happy with how that long run went. Every week I worry a bit about the Friday ride/Saturday run combo, but all this training seems to be working because it hasn't been an issue. Both the ride and the run felt really great. It's probably the awesome running company. Although I have to admit, as much as I love our long runs, I'm kind of looking forward to after ATB, when I can drop those distances back down into the 15-20k range. 20k runs I find enjoyable - as soon as we get beyond that I start to question my sanity.

Playing with an HDR photo app on my phone. Still figuring out what I'm doing there, but I think it'll make for some nice pics. 

Here's a fun story of me being a complete idiot!

So Tuesday I decided to do a tempo run, and figured it was a good chance to think about a pace goal for the Chilly half. For reference, my half marathon PB is 1:51:19. I thought that to get a new PB I'd need to run at least 5:09/km, which seemed unlikely, and is why last week I said I wasn't going to go for it. But a 5:15/km pace seemed reasonable to attempt. I was idly wondering what finish time that would translate to (I was figuring a 1:53 ish), and plugged it into the Cool Running pace calculator.

ALL THIS TIME I HAD THE GOAL PACE WRONG.

Yeah. That changes things. So I did the 8k at 5:15 and nailed it and felt freaking great doing it. In fact I was fast on every km except the last one, which was exactly 5:15 and included climbing the Longwood hill, so yeah.

Going for the PB, guys. Let's do this thing, Chilly! Not really sure how this is going to work out (and weather is always a fun potential factor), but no way to know but try.

Plan for the week. Kind of a work in progress as I need to work out the details. Going to be a much lighter week than usual, that's for sure. Taper!!

Monday: rest
Tuesday: maybe swim, FTP test (yay)
Wednesday: run with some intensity; some sort of easy TR workout
Thursday: short run
Friday: rest
Saturday: easy swim
Sunday: RACE! + TR recovery ride

Race week random thoughts - first triathlon

This Saturday I will be doing my first triathlon at Welland. Yep. That's a thing I'll be doing.

Some random thoughts that have been bouncing around my head as I lead up to this thing.

You know what happens a lot at my house these days? Laundry. Between me and my husband, there's just SO MUCH activewear laundry.

1. The swim

Well, for starters, this happened.

Wetsuit selfie

Yep, I have a wetsuit now (after a bit of a lengthy ordeal involving an extreme lack of communication from the wetsuit company, although the end result was I got a nicer wetsuit than I paid for, so it all worked out). I've even worn it into an actual lake twice! And it was fun! The process of getting into the suit is kind of hysterically funny - come on out to an open water swim some time and watch 20+ triathletes all squeezing themselves into their suits - like watching people try to put toothpaste back into the tube. Wetsuits are not a flattering look on anyone. Although I did take notes from Sam's experience and didn't put it on backwards.

I swam all around this lake! No action shots because sorry, not quite talented enough to be in two places at once. I'm working on it.

As far as the actual swimming, there was some panicking and at one point a strong to desire to just switch all my race registrations to duathlons because there's this deep lizard part of my brain that reacts to swimming by demanding we NOPE the hell out of there ASAP, but I've learned to shut that bit off. Give me 10 minutes in the water and I'm good. The wetsuit makes a huge difference - so buoyant! So much less effort required than pool swimming! I am never doing a non-wetsuit legal swim, ever!

#proof courtesy my old GPS watch jammed in my swim cap. Who knew that would work. I learn so many interesting things from the Internet.

To think that in December I couldn't swim more than one lap without having to stop and catch my breath! I've got a lot of room for improvement in my swim, but right now I'm just so thrilled with how far I've come. I swam around a lake! Plus I can now pretty easily knock out 2 km in the pool at lane swim. Really happy with the progress in something that is so new to me and so far outside of my comfort zone.

2. The bike

So I did that whole 8 Days in California challenge of pain and suffering in the quest for some rapid bike improvements.

Was it worth it? Um, yeah it was.

Zindine: Round it to 230!

Although now my trainer workouts are just stupidly hard.

But hey, I did the work and I'm seeing the rewards...

Even if I did get an email message a few hours later that someone had already stolen that QOM from me. Damn it. Strava fame and glory is fleeting.

But me and the bike, we're good. I have aero bars now loaned from Zindine (and perhaps more importantly, I can get in and out of them without falling over!), and a quick release mount for my Garmin so I don't have to turn my wrist over to see my cadence/speed/etc (trust me, that move has led to some serious wobbling around the road in the past). I even did a metric century in the pouring rain at the Ride 4 Heart, and dragged some friends on an allegedly 'easy' ride around the countryside (apparently my definition of easy is not necessarily the same as other people's...). So the bike is awesome. And fun. And pretty much my happy place. Anyone want to go for a ride? How do you feel about hills?

My punishment for the hills on that 'easy' bike route? First flat tire of the year. I was hoping it would be my only flat, but then later that week I blew out a tube while swapping my road tire for my trainer tire. #loser

3. The run

Early morning at the track. Fortunately it was unlocked and I didn't have to hop the fence. Such a rebel.

Two weeks back on the Run Less Run Faster plan, and so far I'm pretty much killing the workouts. And they feel really good. I don't have a lot to say about running, except that it's nice to see such serious improvement after kind of floundering around and not getting anywhere last year. This plan just really seems to work well for me - the only drawback, of course, is the lack of easy runs. I do sometimes miss just running for the sake of running and not being a slave to the paces on my watch.

Hurry up, Garmin, we have a tempo run to do!

But that said, I'm very results focused right now and this is giving me those results. My paces are improving, and I just feel so much stronger. Longer runs at faster paces are coming easily. I think I could really kill a half marathon this fall if I'm willing to stick to the training that long. But that's getting ahead of myself. My focus right now is getting into great 10k shape for the run at Goderich.

Running early in the morning means gorgeous sunrises all over the place. Makes the early mornings/passing out in exhaustion at 9 pm a little easier to take...

4. The race

Oh right, that race thing. Which is on Saturday. And involves stringing all three of these sports together, one after another.

Optimism!

This is where goals and pace plans and such would go, but honestly my main goal is to just finish this thing successfully. I have some times and paces in mind but I'm not willing to commit them to paper, (even electronic blog paper!). This is a big enough step into a new sport without putting a lot of pressure on myself to perform to a particular level. I like to be well prepared for this sort of thing, and I feel like I'm not quite there yet, especially with the open water swimming. Going in with only two (or three if my plans for tomorrow work out) swims under my belt is not ideal for me, from a mental standpoint. I know I can do the swim, it's just in a perfect world I'd have done a lot more swim practice.

In addition to the lack of open water practice, I'd have liked to do a few more bricks. I've really only managed 2, just due to scheduling issues. So my transitions are likely to be a bit of a gong show, but hey! All part of the fun and the learning experience. And this tri really is about being a learning experience.

Post-brick, after testing out my tri club top. I did put speed laces in my shoes after this workout (why not before, I don't know - didn't even think about it until I was looking at my shoes after I got off the bike and thought, dang, now I have to tie those).

So I have an idea of what I might be capable of, and I plan to push my limits on both the bike and the run, but my goal for triathlon #1 is to finish with a big smile on my face. The details will take care of themselves.

5. After the race

Yes, there's an addition to my upcoming race schedule up there on the sidebar. If that moves out of the 'tentative' category into the 'holy shit I'm really going to do this' category...well I'll deal with that then. Stay tuned...

ATB weekend!

It's (almost) go time!

My favourite finish line.

So, the training is all done. The last couple of weeks things really couldn't have gone any better. The interval paces suddenly got easier and I was hitting every single one. The tempos went well. The long runs felt amazing. Race pace on legs tired from cycling felt doable. I don't think I could be any more ready for this race.

Check me out, with the successful 1k repeats. woo!

I owe the City of Hamilton a thank you for keeping this street free of snow and ice all winter. It made a great track.

So it's all systems go, with the small exception that my lovely germ vector daughter brought home a cold last week, and it's been hanging around the back of my nose and throat since last Friday. It never developed into a full blown cold, but I haven't been feeling 100% this week. Just sort of head ache-y and slightly congested and not quite right. Fingers crossed it's gone by Sunday or at least doesn't interfere with racing.

I'm not above trying to work the placebo effect to my benefit...

The race plan

Around the Bay and I have a bit of a history, and that history is essentially summed up as run the first 10k way too fast, spend middle 10k in denial, hate self for last 10k. So my race plan pretty much boils down to DON'T RUN THE FIRST 10K TOO FAST, YOU DUMBASS. Even if it feels really good. Even if those 5:15s are coming up easy. That's a surefire way to do yet another death march to the finish. So.

Overall A goal is come in under 2:45. Overall goal pace 5:28/km to give some buffer room due to tangents and general GPS weirdness. Don't get too far under that during the first 5k, even if it feels really good.

B goal is a PB (last year I ran 2:52:23). C goal is if it all falls apart, at least take some fun pictures and cross the finish smiling. D goal... well, I think we all know what the D goal usually is.

Now on to the time honoured tradition of freaking the fuck out about the weather and what to wear.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... oh wait. This looks pretty decent. Can we keep this forecast?

See you on the other side of the finish line!

So, Road to Hope... (pre-race)

Yeah, so Road to Hope is this weekend, and I've decided to try for a new PB. Mostly because if I don't try I'll always wonder what might have happened if I had.

Things I have going for me:

1. An awesome group to run with, led by Nicole (who paced at Niagara last weekend and hit her goal within seconds, so I'm in good hands). In theory, I should just be able to shut my brain off, wedge myself into the group, and let them carry me through the race to that sub 1:50 half.

2. I feel like I'm in the best shape I've ever been. Better than when I ran the 1:51:19 at the Chilly in March for sure. (and that race I was also paced by Nicole, so clearly that works for me - if we get close to the end on pace I look forward to what sort of motivational yelling she comes up with)

3. So far the forecast looks like the sort of weather that ideally suits me. By which I mean fairly cold. Me and heat don't get along. Me and humidity REALLY don't get along. But cold, cold I like, as should be be obvious from the fact my half marathon PB is from a March race during the polar vortex.

4. My husband is running too, which is always fun (even if he'll likely be way ahead of me).

We scouted out part of the course a few weekends ago. Yes sometimes we get a babysitter so we can run together. This is pretty much our idea of a great date.

5. The course is net downhill. I ran a 1:51:23 last year only two weeks after running flat out at Scotia, so really knocking a minute and a half off that time should be doable.

Things working against me:

1. Despite feeling like I'm in really good shape right now, the speed is just not coming easily to my legs. Runs where I attempt speedwork haven't felt great lately. Maybe race day magic will help.

2. My right leg has been a total asshole for the last week or so. Thank you, sciatica. It seems to be about 95% cleared up now, but if it flares up for Sunday I may have a problem.

3. While the course is a net downhill, there's an out and back section that did a number on my head last year. Running away from the finish is mentally tough for me, so I need to be prepared for that.

4. Speaking of mental stuff, my head isn't in the game. At all. I don't feel like I'm about to make a PB attempt. But hey, maybe being relaxed about the whole thing is just what I need?


So there it is. Last race of the year, and I really have no idea what's going to happen. New PB? Blow up bigtime? Your guess is as good as mine. Only one way to find out - run the damn thing.

Oakville half marathon: Pre race

Well, here we are. Kinda dropped off the blogging train last week because I am so bored of myself, plus it's all over on the Daily Mile account anyway. Did some running, did some biking, etc, etc. Even managed to get to a TRX class for the first time in like 6 months and got reminded that I have this thing called a 'core' and I should probably work it more. Ow.

#selfie from some run I did recently. I think. It's all kind of a blur now.

The training is done. A few easy runs this week and now I'm just resting up for the big day on Sunday. It's probably telling that the highlight of the last two weeks was a 60k bike ride where I climbed the escarpment 3 times - can you sense my lack of enthusiasm for running right now? I just want to get through this race and then spend October squeezing out every last ride on my bike possible before things get all cold and snowy and non-bike friendly.

Random picture of the lake. Yep, still wet. 

What happens Sunday? Sub 1:50 is the A goal, assuming the tingling in my throat and vague congestion is, as I suspect, allergies and not a Death Cold about to descend on me. But to be honest unlike some previous PB attempts, it just doesn't feel like it really matters all that much. I want the PB, but I've got a lot of other stuff to look forward to if it doesn't happen, like having some fun at the Run for the Toad in a few weeks and (gulp) learning to swim in anticipation of moving into triathlon next year.

I hope to do marginally better than this.

I'll be running this race by feel, mostly, because that seems to work better for me than watching my pace closely. Hopefully I can find someone else during the race running a similar pace and latch onto them, because most of my best races have happened when I've made a pacing friend partway through and we support each other to the finish. I have a motivational play list ready, and so far the weather looks decent. Huh, maybe I'm getting excited about this after all!

Recovery and Road 2 Hope plans

It's been over a week now since the Scotiabank Half and I'm feeling pretty good. I took a few days off to let the suspected groin strain heal, did some foam rolling and yoga to stretch out (seriously these videos, use them!), and then a few easy runs during the week. My legs were still feeling pretty blah when I joined Patty and Amy for a 13k long run on Saturday, and let's just say I hope we don't get that weather for the Road 2 Hope half this coming Sunday!

That was not my favourite run ever /understatement. I don't think cold, windy, and raining is anyone's idea of a good time, other than maybe the half dozen people we saw running in a pack all wearing tutus. I still have not figured out what was going on there.

Sunday I did an easy 8k and it was the first run since the race where my legs felt back to normal. I also hit a downhill near my house to get some downhill running practice before the Road 2 Hope, since the race has a significant downhill section that should, in theory, let us take a few minutes off that Scotiabank time. And it also let me enjoy some of the fall colour while we still have it, before we get into dreary grey November.

Probably would have been smarter to do the long run this day, when it wasn't pouring rain and windy and horrible.

So the plan for this week is to get in some easy miles (and test out possible race outfits*), with a tiny bit of race pace tempo Wednesday just to remember what that speed feels like. The race plan is again to stick with Patty and abdicate all pace setting responsibility, since I seem to run better when I have no idea what's going on. We're going to attempt to take full advantage of the downhill section, and then I hope my quads have enough life in them after the downhill to get me over the finish line under 1:50 to qualify for corral C at Around the Bay. Amy will be running with us, too, which will be fun, because she's going to get herself a massive new PB. Plus Patty will probably have to repeat everything she says an extra time so we both hear her, which I'm sure will be super fun for her (sorry in advance, Patty!).

Elevation profile for the Road 2 Hope half.

I would have preferred 3 weeks between the two races instead of two, but I'm feeling pretty good and ready to really go for it. If it turns out I just don't have the mojo working or the life in the legs on Sunday, then so be it. I've achieved what I wanted to this fall already, so this is gravy (no one tell Rob Ford there's gravy here).

*damn weather forecast keeps changing. Right now I'm thinking a black and pink combo (sophisticated!), but if the forecast temperature keeps dropping I might have to change my mind. Whatever I end up wearing, you can be assured a skirt will be involved.

Fall training 2013: RACE TIME!

And this is it. I've been working towards this race basically since June, although I didn't officially start training for it until July. But it's been the big goal race the whole time, and it's exciting/terrifying that it is finally here. Time to obsess over details like the weather forecast.

Monday's forecast. Rain? RAIN? That's not part of the plan! Fortunately Amy called Environment Canada and pulled some strings to get that changed.

There were a few hiccups along the way in the training (like, say, pretty much all of August). But overall I'm pleased with how this training cycle has gone. The 10k PB a couple of weeks ago in particular shows that I've made progress, and should be able to knock some time off my current half marathon record. Sunday we'll see just what these legs can do!

Training summary since the Mississauga half in May. That's a lot of running. Could have done more interval training, and how did I not have any cut weeks in June or July? Maybe that explains some of the issues I had in August. 

Monday: Thanksgiving Monday, so no work, yay. Easy 8k by the lake, just because I love to run there. It was too beautiful a day to run through the boring late 80s suburban developments where I live.

A little nicer than my closer to home routes. Also fewer hills (bonus).

Tuesday: Rest day. I did a yoga video that has some amazing hip stretches. Fantastic. Find it here.

Wednesday: 6k early in the morning in the rain. Did 2k at race pace in the middle. Felt good. I ran this without music which meant my brain was all "Oh hi this pace? HA HA I DOUBT IT", so when I got to work I made myself a sign to hang over my desk. My brain can be my worst enemy in races, so this is my current strategy to get my mindset positive.

Oh god, did I spell believe right? I hope I spelled it right.

Thursday: Very easy 5k at lunch. I found myself running the same route I used to use for some of my Couch 2 5k runs. That helped put things in perspective - I remembered how it felt each week to make it a little bit further along the path as the running intervals got longer. I remembered how it felt to finish my first 5k run, and then my first 5k race (30:58, thank you very much - that was almost exactly two years ago). Even if I don't reach a particular time goal on Sunday, running has brought so much joy to my life, and it was nice to be reminded of where I started and how much I've accomplished along the way.

Scenery wasn't half bad, either.

And that's it. No more training left to do. Along with Believe, my mantra this week has been Trust the Training. The hay is in the barn, as they say. There's nothing to be done at this point except keep loose, fuel up, and try and get lots of sleep. And make sure my planned race outfit is clean (*runs off to do laundry*). My legs feel strong, and my brain is starting to come around to thinking this might just be possible.

Goals

What are my goals? My last half marathon was at Mississauga back in May, where my goal was to go sub 2 and I surprised myself with a 1:58 - I was convinced going into that race that if I got the sub two it would be just barely. Two minutes under was amazing. In retrospect, however, when I look at the splits from that race, I really think if I hadn't paced it in the stupidest possible way I'd have had a legitimate shot at 1:56:xx. Starting out way too fast will cost you at the end of the race, imagine that. Amazing how pretty much all runners have to learn that by experiencing it themselves. Over and over and over again..

So the big goal is 1:53:xx; roughly a 5:21/km pace. I will be ecstatic if I can hit that; I will be happy if I can go under 1:56. Honestly 5:21/km kind of feels like a stretch, but what have I been doing all this training for if not to go for it? So there it is. I'm going to be running the race with Patty, so I plan to ignore my watch (I'll set it to display calories burned instead of current pace), and just stick with Patty until we either finish the race or I collapse at the side of the road.

Aside from the race itself, I plan to enjoy myself! My husband and I are ditching the kids and will go to the expo together (hoping for some good deals, especially on gear for him now that he's decided he wants to train for a spring half marathon). We'll go out for dinner Saturday (also without kids! YAY!). Before the race I hope to meet up with lots of my Daily Mile friends. Even without a PB running a race is always really fun, and I love doing them. The energy in the air, being around so many other people who share the same passion for this slightly ridiculous sport. It's exciting.

Scotibank half marathon, I'm ready. Let's do this thing.

A Midsummer Night's Run 15k race plan and goals

Pacing. I've been pondering something for a while, since I read this blog post by Cody Beals. Cody is an elite triathlete who wins races, including a recent half ironman, so obviously we are very similar (*insert hysterical laughter here* I did babysit him once when he was a baby - my parents are friends with his parents - so clearly that is the source of his athletic gifts). From his post:

Even with a good grasp of your fitness, a rigid pacing plan based on numbers can only lead to under-performance. In reality, you have good days and bad days, rough patches and second winds and short distance markers and long ones. In my opinion, all that digital feedback only distracts from the feedback coming from your body. Which do you think is more important?

After last weekend's not so great 5k race, I'm really seeing the potential value in racing without pace feedback. It goes against all my data-loving instincts (how can data be unhelpful? MORE DATA! MORE!), but psychologically there are just so many ways pace data can screw with your head during a race. Oh no, I'm running too fast! I'm sure to blow up late in the race! Hello, self-fulfilling prophecy. Or what happened to me last weekend, where one sucky kilometer just mentally ruined me. If I hadn't known my pace, could I have held it together better? I suspect I could have.

And if I look at the data (sweet sweet data), what to do seems clear:

Moon in June, no pace feedback, 24:52 (PB at the time)
Canada Day, no pace feedback, 24:32 (new PB)
Colleen Lantz, used pace feedback, 25:52. (Wah-wah *sad trombone*)

In the back of my mind I've been considering going pace-less (kind of like pants-less but with less possibility of being arrested) for a while now. For races. I don't think I can bear to give up pace information on training runs (have I mentioned I like data?). I was chatting with Nicole and Sam about our goals for Midsummer, and Nicole flat out said I should consider shutting the watch down and just running. And I thought, why the hell not? I won't know if the no-pace thing will work in a longer race if I never try it. And why stop at Midsummer? Why not give this a fair shot and commit to going pace-less for my next few races and see what happens?

So, for my next few races, I'm going to run without pace feedback. I'll still wear my watch so I can review the split data post-race, but I'll set it to display something else, like total time or calories burned or something. Just typing that makes me feel weirdly nervous!

Check out my mad photoshop skillz. Would you believe I do graphic design sometimes as part of my job?

Goals for Midsummer? With this paceless approach, I don't really know! Before committing to this I was thinking I'd aim for a 5:20/km pace, which would mean a 1:20 finish. I'd be very happy with that, but I think I'll be happiest if I finish the race knowing I ran a well-paced race where I didn't blow up 3/4 of the way through and finished as strong as possible.

I demand a participant ribbon!

Fueling strategy. The big challenge with this race is how the hell to fuel for it. The race starts at 5:45 pm, which has me decidedly confused about what to do. I don't want to overeat during the day and then feel sluggish and gross, but I also don't want to be hungry and run out of energy during the run! And there's the pre-race nerves to consider, too, which always make it hard for me to eat. After consulting with Sam, I'm thinking I'll probably have a carb heavy but easily digested lunch of some sort and then eat a bagel and a banana late in the afternoon. I'll bring a granola bar to the race with me as an emergency snack, just in case; I often eat a granola bar before my LSD, so I know my stomach can deal with that.

I wouldn't normally take in calories during a 15k run, but I'm going to follow the scout motto and Be Prepared by bringing a gel as an emergency backup. I might need the psychological boost of SUGAR at some point during the race. And of course I will have my trusty Simple Hydration water bottle tucked in my spibelt so that I don't have to rely on the aid stations.

Outfit. Clearly the moment everyone has been waiting for! Since I want to run this race fast I've decided to forgo a costume (I know, booooo. I'm sad about it too). But I don't want things chafing or causing problems. I might dye a funky streak in my hair or something. We'll see. The outfit:

Top is Moving Comfort, found at Marshalls for $19. Score! It's a perfect tank for me - the built in bra is good quality, and it's not too tight or too loose through the torso. Skirt is an athletic style skort by Running Skirts that I got on sale. Compression socks are plain white, also from Running Skirts (and those were free, for some reason the first time I ordered from RS they included the socks in the package!). It's the perfect outfit for me, marrying my love of running fashion with my love of good deals and bargain hunting.

Colleen Lantz Memorial 5k goals

Saturday morning I will be running a 5k race.

I hate 5ks, and this will be my third one this year! Why am I doing this??

I wanted to run this race because it was a lot of fun last year, it's a handy excuse to go visit my parents (who live in the area), and I have a goal of running 13 races in 2013 and needed another race this month. Last year I ran the 10k, and I would have done the 10k again just to try and better my time, but the Midsummer 15k is the next weekend and I definitely don't want to race a 10k so close to that. So, the 5k makes the most sense since I should have time to recover and put forth my best effort at Midsummer.

The best part of last year's race was definitely the kid's run and all the activities the race organizers had set up to keep the kids entertained.

There was a musician, bouncy house, face painting, crafts - when I finished my race my kids were nowhere near ready to leave!

This year I'll join my kids for their 1k, and have a nice enjoyable little easy 5k jog.

HA HA HA. Oh, who am I kidding, as soon as I'm on that starting line I'm going to want to run fast. The 10k route last year had a couple of nasty hills, but looking at the 5k route map I think it avoids them. Assuming it's relatively flat and the weather is cooperative, I'd really like to shave a few seconds off my 5k PB.

Weather forecast looks to be decent enough.

There's a lot of stuff in my favour for this race: it's a cutback week so I haven't been running much and will be well rested, I've done some quality speedwork over the last month, and I'll have my family cheering me to the finish. So I'll run like hell and see how things go.

Finishing the 10k last year. It was SO HOT and hilly and at the time, the 59:01 finish was a pretty decent time for me. My paces have come a long way since then.

AAA goal: have fun with my family
A goal: what the hell, I'm going for a new PB (current is 24:32)
B goal: 25 or under
C goal: under 26
D goal: finish with a smile on my face

Go big or go home!

This still, of course, leaves the all important question of what I'm going to wear. My times aren't the only thing that's gotten better over the last year - my running wardrobe is lot nicer. I'm looking at that picture from the 10k and I think I wore that same outfit for three races in a row last year! *Gasp* So I definitely won't be busting out the black shorts and blue tank.