Peter's Team Diabetes Triathlon (and formerly Marathon) Blog

In the immortal words of Austin Powers (International Man of Mystery), "Oh, behave !!!" Not what you think at all.

Friday is normally a rest day for me but because my training scheddule has been pushed back by a day, I was out for a run today at lunch. Still none too warm here in Freddy Beach - overcast and 3c when I started out. Did a route through downtown that was just under 3 miles at a pace of 10:15/mile. Very pleasant.

Just realized that this will be my last weekend to run in Fredericton until after the marathon. Next weekend is Easter and we plan to be in Ottawa with family and then the weekend after that I'll be in Boston.

Next few days are going to be busy. Saturday morning Chris will be up to Crabbe Mountain for their end of season "Rail Jam". Saturday afternoon we are volunteering at the annual Food and Wine festival in support of the Canadian Diabetes Association. Then Saturday night we are attending a fundraiser for St Thomas University. We are going as guests of my good buddy Peter Macaulay of Medavie Blue Cross. Sunday I'll be at church and then I hit the streets to do my last long run - 2 1/2 hours at easy pace with 5 x 100m, 5 x 200m and 5 x 400m sprints interspersed.

Received my marathon registration package in the mail yesterday. Exciting to have in it hardcopy, even though I've checked and re-checked my name on the BAA website more times than I care to admit.

Knowing that I had a very busy day I set the alarm for 5:20 a.m. intending to get my run done before work. When I woke up it was of course still dark out and the wind was howling - rattling the siding on the house. Jill had gotten up even earlier (a touch of insomnia) and was down in the kitchen, had brewed coffee that she brought back from the Dominican and was making banana muffins. Not hard to guess that I decided to defer my run until later in the day.

After work I scooted home, changed and headed out. It was still windy and quite chilly but at least it wasn't dark. I did 30 minutes of easy pace running with 100m sprints every five minutes. Then I picked up the pace to threshold level (under 9:00/mile) for 20 minutes and finally finished with 10 minutes of easy pace. I am really pleased with how it went and once again I had no knee pain to speak of.

Right after my run I showered, changed and headed off to church to provide music for the confirmation class' passion play. As part of the presentation they sang an old negro spiritual called "Were You There". It's a beautiful, mournful piece and the young people, assisted by some of my adult choir members, did a great job. I think they were surprised yesterday when I explained to them that rap music can trace its roots back to spirituals such as this one.

Also today I was in for my fourth massage therapy treatment. The RMT is primarily focussing on my hamstrings, quads and something called "abductors". It hurts like hell as she is working on me but by tomorrow it'll feel better (I hope) and the combination of Physio and Massage seems to be working.

Here is an interesting video:

Reasons to run the Boston Marathon

I did a short 30 minute recovery run yesterday. It was quite mild out - even saw some people running in shorts but it was a little too cool for me to do that. Rest day today and my next training schedule starts tomorrow. I looked ahead and saw that the long run this weekend is 150 minutes. After that its "taper time" - the runs are all quite short as the days remaining until Boston decrease.

The UNB Varsity Reds did it. They won the CIS Men's Hockey Championships last night beating the University of Moncton 3-2 in overtime. Yabba dabba doo !!!

Just back from a quick trip to Ottawa for Canadian Diabetes Association business. Had the opportunity to visit my mom, my brother Bill wife Kristy niece Kyla and nephew Dylan, our long-time family friend "Nanny Jackie", my Dad's grave site and Team D alumni Kendra and Johnson. I had gotten to "know" them via email over the past year and have been truly moved by their strength of character and strength of faith. It was tremendous to get to meet them in person. Hard to believe, but they are even nicer than I could have ever imagined. Probably because Johnson is originally from PEI and Kendra is a Valley Girl - Ottawa valley that is.
















Took in an interesting event while I was in the Nation's capital - the NAC orchestra playing the soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz while the movie played on a giant screen. Very cool. The Prime Minister and his family were also in attendance.

After a miserable trip home - delayed at the Ottawa airport (where I shared a bench with Mike Holmes of TV's Holmes on Homes), missed the connection in Toronto so had to overnight, delayed an hour departing Toronto due to fog - I unpacked and went for my weekend run. It went REALLY well. 10 minute warm up followed by 80 minutes at race pace and then a 10 minute cool down. I felt strong and fast throughout.

An aside - at the meeting on Saturday when I was introduced to a room full of CDA delegates the Chairperson noted that in three weeks I would be "racing in the Boston marathon". I could tell from the reaction that people were impressed. Goes to show that the fact that I am not running as a "time qualified entrant" is meaningless to most people. They hear "Boston Marathon" and they think "Wow".

Just read that the bib mumbers for the marathon have been assigned. Cool. I checked the marathon website (www.bostonmarathon.org) and found:

Bib: 23119
Name: McDougall, Peter J
Age: 46
M/F: M
City: Fredericton
State: NB
Country: CAN

As I was in New York, I will be the only person with the surname "McDougall" participating in the race. In NYC there were over 38,000 runners and in Boston there will be approximately 24,000 and yet I am still the lone one. Strange.

The weather sure wasn't spring-like today but not to worry. I got out and did my training session today and all went well. Training plan was in four parts - 10 minutes easy run, 8 x 100m sprints (with 60 second recovery), 20 minutes threshold run, 10 minutes easy run. I accomplished all four sections at or above the target pace and best of all, no knee pain before/during/after.

Race day is only 28 days away!!

I was telling someone on the weekend that there is no doubt about it being WAAAAY harder to train for an early spring marathon than for a summer or fall event. I wonder whether any of the stiffness that I have been experiencing in my knee is the result of having to do all my training on the roads rather than on the gravel trails I typically use the rest of the year.

Today I ran my last >20 miler before Boston. I had intended to do it yesterday but Fredericton was hit with a wicked snow/freezing rain storm. It is traditional that we get a storm on St. Patrick's Day and this year was a doozy.

So, after mass today I set out for a 4-hour jaunt. I planned to do a route that was roughly 5 miles and repeat it 4 times. That way, if I had any problems I could cut it short and would never be too far from home.

I am pleased with how things went. I did a total of 21 miles in 3 hours 50 minutes so my pace was almost bang on 11:00 minutes/mile. This is good news/bad news because I was hoping and aiming to be a little faster. Then again, I wasn't planning on the wind, sleet and snow that I faced at various points.

Pleased that my knee held up pretty well. It was a tad stiff when I got home but I've stretched, iced it and now it feels fine. Guess the physio and massage are working.

My wife and daughter arrived home last night from their March break trip to Peurto Plata in the Domincan Republic. They had a great time and are already plotting ways to do it again next year. I'll be posting a couple of pictures in the next day or two.

Did a 40 minute easy pace run today at lunch. It was mild and a slight drizzle - great running weather!!

Had a great training session at lunch today that involved some easy pace running, some 200m sprints, and some threshold pace running. It was really mild so very pleasant to be outdoors enjoying the fresh air. At one stage I started to think back over the various races I participated in during 2006. The list included:

River Valley Rave Run 5K
Fredericton Half Marathon
Army 10K
Gold Cup Trot 5K
Worldwide Half Marathon
New York City Marathon
Kelowna Resolution Run 5K

Not bad - 7 races in 3 different provinces and 2 different countries!! If you consider training runs, I hit 7 provinces in total.

Came across this cartoon when I did a web search for Boston Marathon images.

My coach has been trying to get me to slow down the pace on my easy runs. Not sure I fully understand why (since I am a slowpoke to begin with) but today I really tried to focus on keeping my pace at the low end of the targt range (10:45/mile). Although I started out a little faster than I was supposed to, after my full 10 mile route I was exactly on pace. Hope this going slow stuff will help me to be strong and fast come race day!

Took a vacation day from work today to enjoy a long weekend to end the NB March break. Wasn't able to run inside last night so I did the workout this morning - outdoors with a -25c windchill. My knee felt fine and it was great to be back out on the road after 4 days of rest. Looking forward to my run tomorrow and the temps are supposed to be a lot more mild.

This week I have been to see both a physiotherapist and a registered massage therapist. Nothing major - more like a "tune up" to get me ready for Boston. Like most runners I have less than flexible quads, hamstrings and calves and I have noticed on my very long runs that they can get very tight. Even after just a single session with each of the PT and the RMT I can notice an improvement. I plan on going back for a few more sessions over the next 2-3 weeks.

This week I've taken an extended rest period (I took extra rest days on Tuesday and Wednesday) after my long training session on Sunday. Tonight I'll be back at it to do a 40 minute easy run. This weekend's LSD is quite a bit shorter - only 10 miles - followed by a short 30 minute recovery run on Sunday. Weather is supposed to warm up considerably by then which is great because since Sunday it has been STINKIN' cold !!

... is all that remains until The Marathon.

Throughout history, "40 days and 40 nights" has been a way to indicate a long time. It's the reputed length of biblical floods, time spent wandering the desert or on mountain tops communicating with God. It's how long Lent goes on for.

All I know is that it seems that race day is now very close at hand. Right about now a little voice inside starts to say things like,

"Are you crazy - why do you think that YOU can do this?"

This post is NRR - Non Running Related - but thought I should post a way cool picture of my son Chris doing a jump - a "stalefish" - with his snowboard. The pic was actually taken at a gravel pit where Chris and some fellow boarders have built a "hip" - a type of jump.

On Friday I looked at my training schedule for this weekend and something that I had overlooked earlier dawned on me. The plan for my LSD was 3 x 90 minute sections. Holy crap - is Mike serious? Does he really expect me to run for 4 1/2 hours ????? That is my target time for the marathon. I think there must be some mistake. Surely he doesn't want me to do a 26 or 27 mile training session. Most marathon training plans only go up to 20 miles prior to race day. Mike has sometimes had typos in the plan that he sent me. Then again, Mike tends to develop plans that are a little unorthodox.

Unfortunately, Coach Mike is incommunicato at the moment because he is in Florida racing. DAMN !! What should I do ??

Rather than push myself beyond what I thought would be a) achievable and b) safe, I decided to modify the session. I reduced it to 3 x 70 minute sections - roughly 6.7 miles each - for a total of 20 miles plus I ran a mile from my house to the start point.

All in all I am pleased with how things went. The first two sections were quite comfortable at 10:30/mile and the first half of the third section also. The last half though was a grind, particularly since it involved a very steep descent and then a mile long uphill grade followed by a mile and a half downhill grade. I ended up completing the first two sections in 69 minutes each and the last section was 71:45 so on average I hit the pace target exactly.

When I reached the finish point my knee was feeling a little tight so instead of aggravating it any further I walked the mile from the finish point back to my house. It was good to give myself some time to work out the lactic acid anyway.

Got home and iced my knee, had a LONG warm shower and then iced the knee a second time. It feels much better now so clearly nothing to worry about.

Feels GREAT to have a 21 miler under my belt and to have done it exactly on target pace over a hilly route.

Did a nice 4 mile route around the downtown streets yesterday after work. Pace was a little quicker than I was aiming for - 10:00/mile instead of 10:30/mile. Partly explained by the fact that I met another runner en route and she was going a little faster than me. We stayed together for 10 minutes or so but then she carried on and I turned to head back to my start/finish point.

Out of curiousity I wore my HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) while I ran yesterday. My HR was around 37 bpm before I started and was about 140 bpm through most of the exercising period. I didn't realise my resting rate was quite so low.

Here is a link to one of my favourite running writers, John "The Penguin" Bingham
http://penguintimes.blogspot.com/

Some other interesting blogs that I come upon recently:
http://r-cane.blogspot.com/
http://soniatherunner.blogspot.com/
http://micki75.blogspot.com/
http://laurelruns.blogspot.com/
http://runwithneese.blogspot.com/
http://jfrie.blogspot.com/
http://wherearethespiders.blogspot.com/
http://runningfurther.blogspot.com/
http://javamomontherun.blogspot.com/
http://running-for-me.blogspot.com/