Woody's RV Half Marathon Race Report. 95 days 13 minutes to start

 On May 22, 2022 I ran the half marathon in Red Deer as a training run. This was the first half marathon I have ever done and I have lost count of the total I have completed. My best is a 1:59 from 2018. I ran this race in 2012 as a training run for Ironman so I decided that would be a good idea to do again, especially since I had friends coming from out of town as well. 

Flat Colleen ready to
run in the morning

My friend Jennifer flew in from Vancouver to run the half for fun. She has come a few times to Red Deer because she loves the course, and that means a lot from someone who can run beside the ocean whenever she wants! I picked her up from the airport and we drove down to meet up with Susan and Sonia who were driving from Medicine Hat. Sue was running the full marathon and Sonia was running her third half. We enjoyed supper out and some socializing before all heading to bed at a reasonable hour.

Race morning was clear blue sky but cool as it was only a few degrees above zero. This of course always means I second guess what I am going to run in, but I ended up keeping the outfit I chose and didn't even have a throw away top. I got up early enough to have coffee and oatmeal and a banana, and a glass of watermelon nuun. I also have a history of having bowel issues when I run, especially in the morning, so timing of everything is important, but I have learned to take Imodium the night before and the morning of to help and that has been a successful strategy for me, and one that I only use for races. 

I did my best to not get caught up in the hype of the race. I knew it wouldn't be a PB effort because I wasn't training specifically for this event. I was a bit concerned that my 90 minute long run wouldn't be enough, but the amount of biking I had done got me through the event. My heart rate never got high because I stayed at an easy doable effort. I eavesdropped on conversations and took some pictures along the route.

Still smiling about 14km in 

At about 90 minutes in I started feeling tired, which was expected. I was still drinking water and electrolytes at the aid stations and was talking my gels, chews and salt tablets. However at about 1:45 I was starting to cramp in my hip flexors. I kept with my strategy of only walking at the aid stations and was still running a 10 minute mile, but I could feel it getting worse. 

This course is lovely and there are some slight ups and downs and a couple of major hills. The first is a switchback at 9km and that was no problem. The second is past the 20 km mark before a long downhill to the finish. I was starting to feel worried about that hill and how I would manage it.

Mascot of an area elementary
school

Things really started hurting in the final 3km. I passed the last water station and took an extra cupful hoping that would help alleviate whatever cramping I had. I was starting to feel more tightness in my hamstrings and my quads and every now and then there would be a twinge in my calves like they were one wrong step away from completely seizing. I don't know how I managed it, but I ran up that last hill and the down hill and with the last 100m I could feel my feet starting to cramp as well. I have had cramping in races before but nothing like this. I crossed the finish line and felt waves of cramping in my lower half. I went to the medical tent and I had to ask them to untie my shoes because I could not bend over to do it on my own, and it still took a few tries as I had to move in order to not completely seize up. I eventually made it to the massage table where the RMT commented on my tightness and advised that I should drink more water and stretch more. 

Overall I am happy with the run and glad I did it. Aside from some muscle tightness, I feel pretty good. It is unlikely that I will do more runs of this length for Ironman training unless I all of a sudden improve my ability and challenge for a Kona spot. Read: no. 

Week 9 complete! 103 days and 11 hours to start

 The build phase has begun! Like the base phase, this has two 4-week cycles of 3 weeks building and one week cut back, and the workouts will increase in intensity and/or duration. While I haven't hit every single workout so far, I do feel like I have a solid base and am physically ready for the next eight weeks.

Here is a summary:

Monday 

Run - 7.3 km with hills

Tuesday

Swim - 2200m with CSS intervals from 50m-400m

Bike - 1:00 including teaching spin class

Wednesday

Bike - 40km outside with some fartlek intervals

Run - 1.8km brick

Tee hee! What a name.

Thursday 

Swim - 2500 including 1800m continuous

Run - 5.2km recovery paced

Friday

Bike - 22.7 recovery ride

Saturday

Rest

Sunday

Bike - 88.5km long bike in 3:20

Like last week I set up an aid station in the vehicle so I could load up again on my foods and Nuun. I was gone nearly 2 hours before I pit stopped which was too long as I ran out of water. I ended up going out further than I intended to. 

On the ride I ate 2 mini snickers, 2 packs of fruit snacks, half a Lara bar, a waffle with maple syrup and I took a gel when I pit stopped. I drained both bottles of Nuun. I also had a salt tablet when I felt I needed it, but based on my salty face I still need to figure out my electrolytes, 

Week 7 and 8 Complete! 110 days and 14 hours to start

The past two weeks have felt really busy and I have been slow in providing an update about them, so here's a combination post!

At the turn-around point of the long bike

Week 7 started off with a rest day as I was feeling off while teaching on of my aqua fitness classes. It felt that someone had turned up the heat and the humidity at the pool and I all of a sudden felt nauseated, hot and a bit dizzy. I came home and rested and while my brain wanted to chance a workout I knew that it was the best thing for my body to not press it. I focused on resting and drinking water. Several Covid tests taken through the week were all negative, and that day just ended up being an anomaly. I ended up moving some of the workouts around and the only one I missed was a swim. The highlight of the week was doing almost 80km on my bike for the longest ride to date, and my first over 10 hour training week. 

Total training time 10:06: 47

Swim - 2300m

Bike - 6:33:00 including 111 km outside

Run - 24.9 km including 14km long run on treadmill

Happy running

Week 8 was a cutback week, a week I look forward to. I find the fatigue of  a previous heavy week is a couple days behind. The big highlight of the week was doing a 1500m time trial in the pool and I ended up with my fastest time ever and achieving a 2:14/100m pace which is my CSS predicted pace. I also rode 4 times and only ran twice. 

Total training time 8:00:09

Swim - 3400m

Bike - 5:10:14 including 76km outside

Run - 14.0 km

Week 6 Complete! 123 days and 13 hours to start.

Another week done!

Monday

Bike - 37.2 km done outside!

Tuesday

Run - 6.4km done on the indoor track as 4 laps easy 1 lap moderate until 40 minutes

Swim - 2450m including 20 x 50m

Wednesday

Bike - 1:05 on spin bike done before and after  group fitness class

Thursday

Swim - 1550m done in 200m and 300m easy paced intervals

Friday

Walk - 8km in 1:30 in lieu of a long run

Saturday 

Bike - 1:30 teaching a spin class

Run - 5.3km done as a brick style run after

Total training time 8:30:10

Swim - 4000m

Bike - 4:05:00 including 37.2km outside

Run - 11.9km + 8km walking

I'm including the walking time as training time as I know without a doubt that I will be walking during the race and time on the feet counts!

 

Week 5 Complete! 130 days 22 hours to start

The teacher becomes the participant.

This summary is delayed because of Easter weekend. Life happens!

After the joy of getting outside for a couple of rides and enjoying everything a taper had to offer I was back inside this week. I am not hardcore enough to cycle when I need to layer up, and even in the summer I am a bit of a delicate flower in the morning. 

The cut back week was nice to get a bit more sleep and some rest. I had some openings in my one on one schedule, and an extra cycle class to teach,  so I shifted my workouts. The big change was moving my long run from a day off Friday to a Monday where I am on my feet teaching classes and training clients. That one was hard to get through, and because of the weather I ran it inside on the track.

Survived 1:20 around the track.
That's 53 laps.

Monday

Run - 12.5km on the indoor track. I felt like I could have done better with fuel and electrolytes as my legs were quite cramped towards the end

Tuesday

Swim - 2400m total with this workout:

200 warm up

3 x 100 fins torpedo, 6/1/6, broken arrow

2 x 100 javelin

4 x 150 build pace

4 x 200 pull scull/dog paddle, paddles, fists, paddles

4 x 50 easy/fast

100 cool down

Bike - 1:25 total between two cycle classes

Wednesday 

Bike - 53:00

Thursday

Swim - 200m done as 5 x 400 with the first being done as drills and the rest as continuous swim

Friday

Run - 6.4km done on the treadmill with some speed bursts

Saturday

Bike - 2:20 on my bike on the trainer

Run - 1.6km on the treadmill as a brick run

Totals 8:44 training time

Swim - 4400m

Bike - 4:38

Run - 20.5 km 

Week 4 Complete! 140 days, 13 hours until start.

The final week of the first block of the base training mesocycle is complete. Every 4th week is a cutback week, and even though it is similar in time and volume to week 3, I decided to follow the plan and not treat last week like a cutback week. The only adjustment I made this week was on Saturday's run. The original workout was to be a 45 min bike then 15 min brick run, but I opted for a longer recovery run as I had already accumulated the weekly time on the bike in the three rides. 

Happy to be outside for the second 
day in a row!

 

Monday 

Run - 5.1km moderate push

Tuesday

Swim - 2100m total as 500m continuous warm up, 10 x 50m, 5 x 200m @CSS, 100m cooldown

Bike - 47 min total including 28 min spin class

Wednesday

Run - 4.1 recovery paced run outside

Thursday

Bike - 21.2km outside

Friday

Swim - 1600m total as 600m in assorted drills and the 1000m continuous

Bike - 32 km outside 

Saturday 

Run - 5.1km recovery paced run on treadmill

Totals

Swim - 3700m

Bike - 3:02:15 including 53km of outdoor riding

Run - 14.5km

The next 4 weeks have more volume in all disciplines and I hope that I am able to get more riding outside sooner rather than later. There are short bursts of intensity but nothing will dominate a workout yet. I am still building a base and getting used to 8 workouts a week, plus teaching fitness classes and balancing family needs.

It's Great to be Outside! 141 days, 11 hours to start.

It's April in Alberta! And it's the time of year where weather is unpredictable from one day to the next. We have had a couple of days of warm weather so it was nice to get off the spin bike in to the actual outdoors. I went both today and yesterday and it was amazing.

Yesterday was really windy and one thing about the wind, is that it is hard on my body. My joints tend to ache, especially the ones in my hand, and my right thumb is the worst of it all. However I put on a few layers and some fuzzy mittens and rode some quiet roads close to home. You can tell by the map which way the wind was blowing. My mittens did well protecting me from the cold and my hands were able to grip the bars quite well. 

Today was more pleasant as it was warmer and less windy. I went from being bundled in layers, to one long sleeve shirt and shorts! Yesterday I made the mistake of not taking water, but today I did drink a full bottle of Nuun. I had a salty face and my muscles were starting to feel a bit of cramping, so I need to remember to bring and ingest salt tablets.  I was also getting a bit sore in the upper back from being on my own bike. 

Either way it was nice to be outside and I covered almost 53km in these rides. This was a good ride and I am looking forward to more!

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