Yonge Street 10k

Yesterday marked the beginning of two things:

  1. My 2012 race season (technically I did the Goofy in 2012 but that seems so long ago).
  2. The beginning of my partner Ellie’s race career!

Ellie has watched me, cheered me, ignored me, put up with me, and consoled me… but now – after her 0:51:34.4 finish – I think she might be hooked. She’s already signed up for a half marathon at the end of May in Ottawa and there is talk of an autumn marathon as well… but we’ll take it one race at a time.

On my side, yesterday was a good day too. I finished in 0:42:13.7, which is not too far off my current 10k PB of 0:41:28. I would have loved to have set a new PB yesterday but I wasn’t really set up for that. This is not an A Race, it’s not even a B Race. It’s just a fun thing to do on a Sunday in late April. There was no tapering or even a break in my Ironman training, as you will read…

Saturday Prep:

I got up, not too early, had a cup of black coffee and 4 Extreme Endurance and did an unfed “Skills & Force” bike workout for 2 hours. I spent about 10-15 minutes stretching out really well after and then took an ice bath. I slathered my legs and shoulders with Magnesium Oil and then, once I was dressed and warm-ish, I ate a big bowl of “Power Oatmeal” with a packet of 7Systems. Ellie and I ran some errands and hung out for the rest of the day. For dinner, I BBQed a small sirloin steak and Ellie made a Sweet Potato and Green Bean salad. We ate a decent amount but didn’t get carried away. I had some Dark Chocolate and Blueberries for dessert. Yum! We went to bed pretty early after I popped 4 more Extreme Endurance and I slept…. terribly! Oh well.

Sunday Prep:

I woke up at 5:50am (my normal weekday alarm) and had a big glass of water with 4 Extreme Endurance and a black cup of coffee (which got things going nicely). I got into my race clothes and drank a Living Fuel SuperGreens smoothie with a banana and a packet of 7Systems. This breakfast is what got me through the Goofy marathons so I plan to stick with it until something better comes along. At about 7:00am we made our way (by bus) to the start line. We milled about trying to stay warm and relaxed for about an hour before it was time to get in our corrals. About 5 minutes before the gun went off I ate a Caffeinated Gu Roctane.

Race:

A friend of mine was the 40 minute Pace Bunny so I started with him but lost him in the shuffle in the first km. I could see Pete, off and on, for the rest of the race but I wasn’t able to catch him. By 2km in I could feel the bike workout from the day before and started to seriously doubt my ability to PR but I pushed those thoughts down and kept pushing forward. Head high, shoulders down, lean towards the finish line. My 1km splits show my fatigue setting in: 1k 4:00, 2k 4:07, 3k 4:07, 4k 3:59, 5k 4:08, 6k 4:09, 7k 4:25, 8k 4:26, 9k 4:35, 10k 4:09. The 3:59 at 4k was due to a serious downhill… I wish I could take more credit for it but it was the hill not me. When I passed the 9km marker I remember doing the math and realized I wasn’t go to PB and so I backed off a little… which oddly resulted in my picking my pace back up to 4:09/km. Interesting lesson there – pushing harder doesn’t always mean you are running faster. You can take a peek at my full Garmin report if you like.

Post Race:

I crossed the finish line, grabbed my medal and headed back out towards the 9k marker so I could run that last 750m (or so) with Ellie. We had a good run together down the chute. She was cruising and looking good. She even managed to give one of the official photographers a thumbs-up as we passed together (me grinning like a proud fool beside her, I am sure). We crossed the finish line together and, while I was trying to hug her, she spotted Jim Cuddy of the band Blue Rodeo doubled over by the finish line. I turned around just in time to witness him blowing a serious snot-rocket. Ha! We grabbed some water, cookies and a banana, picked up our checked bags to get our warm clothes (it was still pretty darn cold and breezy down by the lake) and grabbed a bus back home. No ice bath this time but plenty of foam rolling ensued. I decided to skip my swim workout (sorry, Coach Ben) in favour of watching the Bruins vs. the Capitals.

Celebration Dinner:

We went to a place called Bestellen for dinner and drinks. We shared:

  • Selection of house-made Charcuterie, Pickles, Mustard, Bread
  • White Bean Ragu, Roasted Garlic, Basil
  • Lambs Lettuce, Stracchiatella, Hazelnuts, Sorrel, Osprey Bluffs Honey
  • Grilled Octopus, Smoked Potato, Basil, Agliata Sauce
  • Bestellen Burger, Caramelized Onions Raclette, House-made Brioche & Frites

We also spotted Chris Murphy from the band Sloan while we ate – that is two 90s Canadian Rock Icon sightings in one day! Then we headed back home for more foam rolling and Stanley Cup Playoff hockey (the Bruins hung in there but the Canucks are gone).

Next up – the Toronto Goodlife Fitness Half Marathon on May 6th and then the Ironman 70.3 Syracuse on June 24th!

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