Monday, October 09, 2006
Thanksgiving
Today is Canadian Thanksgiving so a nice day off work. Jill and I spent a beautiful weekend at the cottage in PEI while Stef and Chris spent the long weekend with the clan in Ottawa. Temps were around 20c the whole time. I can't recall a more beautiful Thanksgiving (weather-wise) in years.
Saturday was the day that I did my Phidippidations Worldwide Half Marathon. I got up late - around 8:30 - so had no time to be nervous. I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and a bagel, pinned my hommade race bib onto my shirt and headed out to the start line around 9 a.m. Funny, there was absolutely nobody else there. Guess that's because I was the only registered runner for PEI. I did my warmups per coach Mike's instructions and then I started out.
The route I used was one that I had trained on this summer. Down the Keppoch Road to Stewart's U-Pick, left onto the Georgetown Road and up Tea Hill. The hill is an 8% grade and about 1000m long. It is quite a grind but I was feeling strong and motivated. Once I crested the hill it there's a fairly long section of gently rolling terrain with an amazing view out over the south shore of the Island. Where the Georgetown Road and the Stratford Rd intersect I turned left and headed on a long slow downhill, past Fox Meadows golf course until I came to the intersection with the Keppoch Rd. Another left, down a hill past Pondside Park and then up a fairly good grade until the crest of the hill at Aunt Joanie Browns's (former) horse farm. From there it was a short downhill to the start/finish line and around for a second loop. I was 70 minutes for the first loop.
My instructions were to run the race as a time trial and at marathon pace, so I purposely did the first loop at a comfortable pace with the intention of speeding up a little on lap 2. The strategy seemed to be working because I felt strong and comfortable the second time up Tea Hill. From there I was having a little trouble though judging my pace and I was a bit worried that I might be pushing too hard so I slowed down a bit. The second time past Pondside Park I could feel myself dragging but I was determined not to cave in to the urge to walk. So, I kept chugging along. As I got to the crest of the hill I realized that I still had quite a bit "in the tank" so I began a short sprint to the finish.
Final time was 2:17 which worked out to a pace of 10:26/mile. I feel like I could've cut a few minutes off of that if I had a few more checkpoints along the way so I'm feeling pretty good. Marathon pace target is 10:15. Starting to feel do-able!!
The rest of Saturday I was pretty tired but none the worse for wear. Sunday was a short 30-minute recovery run and then over to our best friends', Ainslea & Dave, for a great Thanksgiving meal.
Today, Monday, was bittersweet as we closed the cottage up for another season. Can't wait to get to Keppoch for summer of 2007!!!
Saturday was the day that I did my Phidippidations Worldwide Half Marathon. I got up late - around 8:30 - so had no time to be nervous. I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and a bagel, pinned my hommade race bib onto my shirt and headed out to the start line around 9 a.m. Funny, there was absolutely nobody else there. Guess that's because I was the only registered runner for PEI. I did my warmups per coach Mike's instructions and then I started out.
The route I used was one that I had trained on this summer. Down the Keppoch Road to Stewart's U-Pick, left onto the Georgetown Road and up Tea Hill. The hill is an 8% grade and about 1000m long. It is quite a grind but I was feeling strong and motivated. Once I crested the hill it there's a fairly long section of gently rolling terrain with an amazing view out over the south shore of the Island. Where the Georgetown Road and the Stratford Rd intersect I turned left and headed on a long slow downhill, past Fox Meadows golf course until I came to the intersection with the Keppoch Rd. Another left, down a hill past Pondside Park and then up a fairly good grade until the crest of the hill at Aunt Joanie Browns's (former) horse farm. From there it was a short downhill to the start/finish line and around for a second loop. I was 70 minutes for the first loop.
My instructions were to run the race as a time trial and at marathon pace, so I purposely did the first loop at a comfortable pace with the intention of speeding up a little on lap 2. The strategy seemed to be working because I felt strong and comfortable the second time up Tea Hill. From there I was having a little trouble though judging my pace and I was a bit worried that I might be pushing too hard so I slowed down a bit. The second time past Pondside Park I could feel myself dragging but I was determined not to cave in to the urge to walk. So, I kept chugging along. As I got to the crest of the hill I realized that I still had quite a bit "in the tank" so I began a short sprint to the finish.
Final time was 2:17 which worked out to a pace of 10:26/mile. I feel like I could've cut a few minutes off of that if I had a few more checkpoints along the way so I'm feeling pretty good. Marathon pace target is 10:15. Starting to feel do-able!!
The rest of Saturday I was pretty tired but none the worse for wear. Sunday was a short 30-minute recovery run and then over to our best friends', Ainslea & Dave, for a great Thanksgiving meal.
Today, Monday, was bittersweet as we closed the cottage up for another season. Can't wait to get to Keppoch for summer of 2007!!!
# posted by FreddyBeachPete @ 8:07 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Peter,
Great job. I followed your link and signed up for the Half Marathon challenge as well. It wasn't much of a challenge as I was already running in the real Okanagan International Marathon (Half Marathon Event Portion) for that weekend. I came in at a pretty simalar time to you in the end at 2:24. It was the fastest time I have done the distance in. I guess I didn't entirely listen to the advice of my trainers to treat it as a regular Sunday run. I will see how I do this weekend as it is 29 km in the morning for me!
Talk to you soon!
Post a Comment
Great job. I followed your link and signed up for the Half Marathon challenge as well. It wasn't much of a challenge as I was already running in the real Okanagan International Marathon (Half Marathon Event Portion) for that weekend. I came in at a pretty simalar time to you in the end at 2:24. It was the fastest time I have done the distance in. I guess I didn't entirely listen to the advice of my trainers to treat it as a regular Sunday run. I will see how I do this weekend as it is 29 km in the morning for me!
Talk to you soon!
<< Home
