Next Sunday morning thousands of us will be standing on the start line for the GoodLife FITNESS 10K, the Recharge with Milk Half Marathon & the Scotiabank Full Marathon.
On Saturday, thousands more will have completed the Johnson 5K, not counting the thousands of children and families that will have done the 2K or 4K Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Run.
This morning was the final training run for Team Myles 2014 at Point Pleasant Park. Everyone is ready for the big day. It's been a lot of hard work. Hundreds of pounds have been shed, endurance increased and confidence to make it to the finish line elevated.
I started running to continue this "get fit journey" Charlene and I started a few years ago. See my first blog post on January 12, 2014 "Let the race begin!" for the prologue to this story.
Little did I know that training like this also brings the challenges of fighting through injury and discomfort.
The ankle injury in early April and the subsequent shoulder injury from hockey were bad enough (see "Back with a vengeance" blog post). Over the past week it's been a very sore hip.
It started with the Team Myles tempo run last weekend (May 3). We were running the 10K distance and I was determined to try it at race pace as we've been progressively moving to that point. Jeff Nearing was by my side the whole way and it was a major push to keep up with the pace I need to try and beat the revised sub-55-minute 10K goal. We've been working on a sustained pace of 5:28 minutes per kilometre to ensure I am below the goal. That just under 11 km/h sustained for 10K.
After the 10K run I achieved a time of 56:06 - a new record, but still off pace to beat the goal - and I did not feel good physically.
On Saturday afternoon, I could barely walk. My hip was seizing up and my legs were like lead.
The last week or so has seen multiple trips to ACCEL Physiotherapy & Sport Performance Centre for treatments and massage therapy for my shoulder and as a by-product, my hip. They are miracle workers in their own right. I've felt better after every session.
Jeff and I joked last week that we're into this to get fit and it's the most injuries we've ever had. Our directions to the physiotherapists has been to simply keep us together for the next few weeks, enough to cross the finish line. It will certainly be a "duct tape finish" for me.
Following that 10K tempo run, I actually felt a little disappointed for a few minutes until I gave it some more thought. It is probably the best time I could have achieved two weeks prior to the big day on May 18. It now gives me the motivation to beat that target and I have an experience under my belt to know what to expect - higher than normal heart rates, intense breathing, tiring legs and failing energy.
Jeff has aided in a few diet tweaks to ensure I have the energy to maintain the pace. Through the training, I have found running in the mornings more difficult than evenings. Not being a big breakfast guy I now need to ensure enough energy is consumed prior to the race to get through it without that energy drain. To some more seasoned runners it may seem simple, but for me, burning nearly 1,000 calories in just over 55 minutes has a way of zapping needed energy from the leg muscles and rest of the body.
I think Jeff's suggestions will do the trick. This morning's run was a simple 4K. (I laugh typing that as when I started in January, running 4K without stopping was a very taxing.) Jeff is training for the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon on May 25 and was taking a break today as he has an intense 35K long run tomorrow. His directions on Friday were to take it easy for a few kilometres this morning and then ramp up the pace to get a good heart rate rush and push through the pace.
Here are my splits from this morning:
Kilometre 1 = 6:24 min/km
Kilometre 2 = 6:32 min/km
Kilometre 3 = 5:37 min/km
Kilometre 4 = 5:04 min/km
There was a lot left in the tank and I felt I could have run the distance without issue. We'll see in a week.
Running in a pack of several thousand will bring its own challenges. Battling adrenaline will be part of the mind game at play on race day. But I am, like the rest of Team Myles, prepared for whatever comes on May 18.
Let's truly let the race begin!
Let's truly let the race begin!
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