Road2Hope – Race Day

Photo of Brock coming down the shoot

Ladies and gents: I have a new Full Marathon PB (personal best, also known as a PR or Personal Record) of 3:31:48. That is nearly 20 minutes faster than my previous PB which was set in New York City last November. I am happy. It’s not a Boston Qualifying time but it is 20 minutes closer to one and that is good enough for now.

The morning and the race both went incredibly smoothly. I got up at 4:45am and ate some rice, quinoa and sweet potato with a big cup of coffee. I tried to have more Beet Juice but I couldn’t stomach it. So, I got dressed, made sure I had everything I needed, woke up Ellie and we headed out to pick up our ZipCar to drive to Hamilton. Smooth as could be – we got there in no time, picked up my race bib and t-shirt and headed off to the start line. Plenty of time to use the washroom (a couple times), took my pre-race Roctane and we were off!

The race itself was pretty uneventful – just the way I like it! Quiet, rural and relaxed. I even put in one headphone and listened to some CBC’s Spark, Ben Greenfield Fitness and NPR’s Science Friday while I ran. It was just like a training run except that I downed a GU every 30 minutes (alternating Roctane and regular GU) and gulped water that was given to me by adolescents in paper cups at every aid station.

At kilometre 34 I started to have some issues. My feet were getting really sore. More so than I have ever experienced… but I kept going. No biggie.

It wasn’t until the last 3km that I really started to feel it. I ended up alternating running and walking in 200m increments. The only thing I regret is not sticking with the 3:30 pacer when he passed me… but in the end, I just don’t have that kind of tolerance for pain in me. It’s something I am realizing about myself. I am willing to put up with a certain amount of discomfort but as soon as the pain/fatigue exceeds that – I back off. Which means I will always race slower than my training potential… but I am ok with that. After all, this is a hobby. No one is paying me. No one is counting on me. Which is something I forgot in Chicago and it really ruined what should have been a fun race.

I crossed the finish line in Hamilton, high fived Bob (one of the photographers I know from iRun) and headed straight for Ellie. I believe the first word out of my mouth was “OUCH” followed by a little bit of celebratory swearing. Then I calmed down and realized I had beat my buddy Terry’s time in the Portland Marathon a month ago. That pleased me – greatly!

After some food, relaxing and limping around, Ellie and I got back in our ZipCar and drove back to Toronto. My legs and back growing ever tighter as we drove. A warm bath in Sweet Birch Oil helped loosen me up when I got home… so did the Flying Monkey “Hoptical Illusion” beer. Yum!

Now I have some time to concentrate on getting my new Team in Training ducklings up and running before I head off to Disney World for the Goofy in January. As soon as I am recovered, I must start doing more back to back long runs in preparation for that. I’ll back off on the speed work and increase the mileage… but I will save that for another blog post.

Day Before the Road2Hope

Photo of a bottle of beet root juice

Tomorrow at 8:15am I am running the Hamilton Road2Hope Marathon.

I have kept this fact quiet due to the disappointment of the Chicago marathon a few weeks ago. I figured I would give it one more try this season and see what I can do when:

  1. I am in control of my own training (I haven’t told Ilia and Lucy that I am running tomorrow)
  2. I have no one waiting, wondering or watching for my results.

If I do well tomorrow, I will tell the world. If I don’t, no one needs to know but me and my immediate fam-friends… and anyone who reads this blog, I guess.

Anywho, this is meant to be a pre-race day report so – onward!

6:00am – Glass of water, cup of coffee and a nicely paced 3km run followed by some good stretching (even got the yoga mat out).
6:50am – Cool-ish shower and applied some magnesium oil to legs and lower back.
7:10am – Glass of water, a big bowl of quinoa and brown rice with dried crans and a sprinkle of rolled oats, all covered in my carob, date, banana, almond drink. Also took a packet of 7Systems with some extra Vit D drops and Fish Oil.
8:00am – Started swigging from the first bottle of beet root juice.
10:00am – Large Latte (3 shots)
1:30pm – Large sweet potato, 2 small beets, 3 slices of beef, pile of quinoa, a carrot and some spinach/kale. One glass of Nuun, a swig of beet juice and some water to drink.
4:00 to 4:45 – Nap. More water and a swig of beet juice.
5:40pm – More water.
6:45pm – Almond butter and banana sandwich, more water and a homemade apricot scone. Took another Fish Oil capsule as well.
7:30pm – Warm bath with White Birch Oil.
8:15pm – More water.
10:30pm – 7Systems vitamins with a slice of cheese, a carrot and some more beet juice.
11:00pm – Bed.

Bank of America Chicago Marathon

Photo of Brock frowning and looking sweaty

The race was 10 days ago. It has nearly taken me that long to get over the disappointment.

Needless to say, the race did not go as I had hoped. I finished in 3:57:52 and I was aiming for 3:15 or better. I finished in the top 25% of the 35,670 runners who completed the race but it is still a far cry from what I set out to do that sunny, warm, exciting day in Chicago.

It all went wrong around 20k. Until then I was cruising along at my predetermined pace of 4:35 to 4:45 min/km. Then the weak legs started – just a little jelly in the knees – I pressed through. Then the side stitch started – I pushed through that too. Then I decided to take a porta-potty break (the bottleneck of people trying to get into their corrals before the race started delayed me so much that I didn’t get to pee before the race started)… and that was my biggest mistake. I never really recovered after that. The side stitch turned into full-on stomach cramps, my right hamstring locked up and I started to get a pain in my ankle. I don’t think the aches and pains wouldn’t have bothered me if I didn’t also have stabbing stomach cramps.

I walked for a long time and watched all the people in Corral B (my corral) disappear into the distance… and even some of Corral C. I was disheartened, emotional and hurting; that certainly did not help my situation. My mind went to negative-land and never came back. *Note to self: get a book on sport psychology.

Somewhere around 37km I started gulping Gatorade and water at every aid station and that seemed to help enough that I was able to start running again but by this time the sun was beating down on us and runners were dropping like flies. It didn’t seem that hot out… but it was also pretty humid and the direct sun on our heads was certainly an issue. I think the temperature topped out at 26°C.

Here’s what I ate the day before the race (mostly to remind myself what not to do):

  • Breakfast – bowl of rice and quinoa I had brought from home, a banana and some coffee,
  • Late lunch (2:00pm) – whole wheat spaghetti and a meat ball (should have skipped the meat ball),
  • Dinner – Cliff Bar, some almonds and another banana.

The morning of the race I had:

  • 2 big scoops of Living Greens with a pack of Cocochia mixed in,
  • a couple cups of coffee.

I think the cocochia was a mistake – too much coconut to drop in my belly before the race. I felt uncomfortable after eating it.

During the race:

  • 1 Gu Roctane 5 minutes before the race,
  • Every 30 minutes I alternated Roctane with regular “Plain” Gu so I didn’t get so much caffeine,
  • Water at every Aid Station.

This plan sort of fell apart around 25k when the stomach issues got too bad to eat anything. After that I relied on Gatorade from Aid Stations and water water water (in my belly and on my head) from then on.

Mistakes:

  • Vacationing for 4 days before the race (eating in restaurants, eating food I am not used to, walking all over town and sleeping in a strange bed)
  • Eating the meat ball for late lunch the day before the race (should have stuck with plain spaghetti),
  • Training too hard right up to race day (legs were not fully recovered and I felt it at 20k),
  • Eating Cocochia for breakfast before the race – I have never eaten that before a run, what was I thinking?!?!

So that is that. I am bummed, to say the least, but there are more races to run and lots of time to qualify for Boston (the next registration window isn’t until September 2012). I will live to run another day.

Montreal Oasis Marathon – Race Report

Photo of Brock sprinting to the finish line

I had a pretty good 10k race in Montreal today. I held back a little more than I could have / should have but I am pleased. I got into a sprinting match with another dude in the last 400m. I have to admit that it was fun. I was right on his heels and he knew it. As soon as we crossed the finish line he turned around and high-fived me. It was kinda cool. Dude, if you are reading this, thanks! I often feel like I am not competitive enough for this sport but that little bit of excitement made me think otherwise.

My chip time was 42:22 and I placed 8th (out of 233) in my Category (males 40-49), 53rd (out of 1959) in my Gender and 58th (out of 5411) Overall.

This morning I got up at 5:45am so I would have plenty of time to wake up and get myself to the race.
For breakfast I ate:

  • Big glass of water
  • 4 Extreme Endurance
  • 2 small cups of (terrible hotel) coffee
  • 1 walnut oatmeal Cliff Bar
  • 1 large banana

At about 7:00am I took the subway to the starting area, checked my bag and wandered around, gently warming up and using the porta-potties a couple times.

15 minutes before the start I had 1 Gu Roctane (cherry lime flavour) with a couple gulps of water.

5 minutes before the start I took my place at the very front of the 40-50 minute area. As it turns out I could have been in the 30-40 minute area – a lot of folks don’t seem to know their pace very well.

I followed the Coaches directions and started off slower (4:20-ish) and tried to speed up with every km. This is what I ended up doing:
1km 4:24
2km 4:16
3km 4:20
4km 4:13
5km 4:14
6km 4:10
7km 4:16
8km 4:18
9km 4:07
10km 3:54
I slowed myself down a little around 7km because I was afraid I would burn out and not be able to push at the finish – I probably didn’t need to slow down.
The full Garmin report is here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/116932973

It was a fun race. At no point did I feel like I needed to walk and the negative voices in my head (mostly) stayed away. I have never passed so many people in a race before and it was pretty darn good feeling.

When I got back to the hotel I took a shower, had a protein shake and 3 fish oil capsules. Later I took 7Systems and later still I took 4 more Extreme Endurance. I also had a couple celebratory beers and a big bowl of poutine – I am in Montreal, I kind of had to! Vive le Québec!

Night Before the Oasis – Montreal

Photo of me holding a map of Montreal

Tomorrow at 8:45am I am racing another 10k. This time I am in Montreal for the Montreal Oasis Marathon. The Russians (my coaches, Ilia and Lucy) have me running a number of shorter races instead of killing myself with tempo runs. So far it has been a lot more fun than running alone and I am likely seeing more benefit from the extra effort. Time will tell – i’m only 2 weeks from the Chicago Marathon (and my BQ).

This morning I got up and did an unfed (aside from water and a cup of coffee) 8km @ 5:15 training run. Unfed because I am trying to drop a couple more lbs before Chicago and because they say you can absorb more carbs (glycogen) when you get your muscles and liver stores are depleted from exercise before fuelling them up (short of a shortcut to carb loading). After the run I sprayed about 20 pumps of Magnesium on my legs and then had a whey protein smoothy (with a banana, coconut and almonds) in an ice-bath. Then, after I packed and got ready for my flight, I had another glass of water, and some sweet potato, regular potato, quinoa, wild rice, beet and yogourt in a bowl with a little salt and pepper – delicious!

At the airport I ate a few almonds, another cup of coffee and a couple cookies. On the plane I had some water and a small chicken and veggie wrap and come chocolate.

After hitting the Race Expo I grabbed a bowl of pasta with meat sauce, more water, cranberry & soda and later a cappuccino and a little bowl of decadent chocolate mousse.

For “dinner” I had a banana, a little bag of almonds, 2 scoops of Super Greens (with water) and a couple cookies from the plane. That’ll be it until morning.

I have been taking 2 x 3 Extreme Endurance tablets for about a week now and 7Systems since Thursday (along with my daily Vitamin D drops and Fish Oil capsules).

For breakie tomorrow I have a banana and a cliff bar. There is some coffee in the room that I am sure I will break-out too. Then a GU Roctane at the start line a few minutes before the race.

I think that about covers it – bed time (9:40pm)… though I will probably watch something on NetFlix for a while before sleeping.

Run for the Grapes 21.1 – St. Catharines ON

Photo of Brock crossing the finish line

Official chip time was 1:34:32 but it felt more like forever:lifetime:eternity.

Ok, I am being dramatic. It wasn’t THAT bad but it was a tough race. Especially the last 3km. What’s with all the damn hills, St. Catharine?

The biggest problem with the race was the fact that I have been sick for a week. Not badly ill, just a cold, but it has annoying been enough to slow me down and make me a little miserable.

I finished my 34km peak distance run on Sunday, Sept 11 and felt great! It went so well. I nailed my pace of 5:05 min/km for the entire run and then I managed to pick up the pace for the last 2km. GREAT! Sadly, a few hours after I started to get a sore throat. Then and stuffy nose. By Monday afternoon, I was sick. I did my best to keep training normally but Lucy rearranged a couple of the workouts (and I suspect took out a speed session) and I made it through the week, popping vitamins, guzzling fruit smoothies and trying to sleep as much as possible.

Race morning I was feeling better… actually, pretty good. Not coughing too much but still blowing my nose like mad. Mostly I just had a dry feeling in my chest. Not a great way to feel at the beginning of a race. A race? Is this a race? Oh yeah – this is not my race! This is a training run. Everything I am doing right now is leading up to Chicago (which is only 3 weeks away at this point) but it is hard to remember that as you are standing in the crowd at the start line, hopping up and down to keep your calves alive and downing your pre-race gel.

It’s even harder to remember when a guy you blew past at km 7 passes you at km 15. The feet instinctively pick up the pace, the heart rate rises and the arms start to pump. WHOA – training run, training run, training run! Save it for Chicago!

In any case, mental battles aside; runny nose, plugged ears and a lung-butter cough aside too;It was a decent race. Not an awesome race, not a terrible race, but a decent one. If nothing else if was a beautiful sunny day spent running in the wine country of southern Ontario and it is hard to beat that!

Going Goofy

That’s right. I am at it again.

But this time I am not running just one marathon – no no – I am running two! Well, one and a half. Jan 8th I will run 21.1km and Jan 9th I will run 42.2km. That’s why Disney calls this race the “Goofy“.

The reason I am doing this is simple: to help cure cancer.

75% of all the money I raise goes straight to research or patient services. This is not one of the charities you have been reading about in the news lately. The LLSC subsists mainly on volunteered time from awesome individuals.

For these races I will be running in memory of my cousin Janice, my grandfather Bill and our family friend Barbara who all lost their battles with cancer. I will also be running in honour of my friends James and Franny and my grandmother Lena who are all cancer survivors.

It would mean a lot to me if you were to support me in this endeavour… even if I am a little Goofy.

Kick it, all the way to the finish!

Me and Tania Jones at the finish line at the Ottawa Race Weekend

I’ve been putting off writing this blog post because it’s likely my last one as an iRun Runner Makeover participant.

The program is drawing to an end and with the release of the July issue of the magazine, I will be set back out into the wild, on my own, like the proverbial displaced prairie runner that I am.

Maybe if I waited another 6 months to write this post I would maintain my access to coach Tania Jones, nutritionist Lauren Jawno, receive more Adidas gear and live off the encouragement of the iRun Magazine team… but I don’t think that is how it works. So, here I go.

We Makeover-ees were asked a few questions that the editors thought you blog reading folks would like answered:

What have you given up in order to get your runs in?

Like anyone with a hobby, a life and a day job, I mostly gave up sleep. In the dead of the Edmonton winter I was getting up at 5:15am to be at the Kinsmen Sport Centre and on the track by 6:00am. I often did my resistance training at lunch or in the evening at home so I didn’t have to sacrifice any fun “real life” activities… though I often was in bed (or asleep on the couch) by 10pm.

What was the payoff?

Well, obviously – the free stuff! Not to be crass, but who doesn’t love free stuff? And Adidas was very generous with their shoes, socks, shirts, shorts, pants, jackets and electronics.

The speed! When we started this process I remember saying to Tania “my comfy speed is around 5:30/km”. Yesterday, during my Long Slow Distance run, I had trouble keeping myself slower than 5:00/km. That’s 30 seconds per km faster at a comfortable rate of exertion – WHAT!?!

The food! I have always considered myself to be a healthy-ish eater (even when not following my own best advice) but I now feel like I have enough knowledge to maintain and sustain my own sustenance as my training increases towards my personal autumn marathon BQ goal.

What things made it easier?

Knowing that Tania and Lucy were scrutinizing my workouts gave me that extra kick-in-the-butt that everyone needs on a minus 30 degree morning at 5:15am (Adidas miCoach reports are displayed online for coaches to peruse). Also knowing that Goalspeed, Lauren, Adidas and iRun were devoting time, energy and gear toward making me a better runner added some internal pressure that made it easier for me to roll out of bed and hit the track with tutto gusto.

Oddly enough, this blog kept me going too. The idea that anyone might be following it (hi mom) made me want to kick some serious butt. The last thing I wanted was for some reader to think “Who is this joker? I deserve a makeover more than him.” And maybe you do… but I still gave it 110% every day!

What were the challenges?

I think my biggest challenge (and by no means do I think I am alone in this one) was/is faith in myself. Whether it is fear of injuring myself (or “busting a gut”) or just plain disbelief in my own speediness, I don’t know. Probably both. What I do know is that it is certainly the biggest hurdle that I have yet to clear.

Has your view of running changed from this point forward?

When I was looking for some advice before a race in April, I wrote to Tania and explained my usual approach to racing:

“Go out easy, take it easy, maybe slow down a bit, take a gel, pick it up a little… nope, take it easy, 20km to go?! What = Take it easier… walk… cry… drink beer.”

She responded by giving me her approach:

“Go out strong, pick it up, drive hard, refocus in the middle, gut out some strong kms, take gel, only 5 km to = giv’r, kick it all the way to the finish!”

I am much more on her side now. Need I say more?

In closing

Well, I guess that is that. It’s been amazing, everybody. Thank you, thank you, thank you – to one and all.

If you enjoyed following my journey, keep in touch. I’m on Facebook and Twitter and I have a website of my own – come by and visit. We’ll go for a run… or a snack.

Oh yeah! I am planning to run the Disney World “Goofy” in January with Team in Training. Drop me a note if you are Goofy too and I will hook you up!

I’ll leave you with a line from one of my favourite Kris Demeanor songs that seems apropos:

“Yes, I’m happy. Yes, I’ve changed. Yes, I’m happily changed. It’s all eggs in the bank or a basket, some of them broken, others rearranged.”

iRun Interviews at the Finish Line

Some footage that was shot by iRun Magazine at the finish line of the Ottawa Race Weekend

Two weeks after his goal race, Brock set yet another 10K personal best in Ottawa; the next day, Aleks ran her goal race. And we got it all on video!

Featuring: Me, Tania Jones and Aleks Spalvins

iRunner Madeover

Tania, me and Aleks - immediately after I crossed the finish line. Photo by Sheena Denscombe

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be part of the Ottawa Race Weekend through my involvement with Team in Training. I was the on-course coach for the Prairie Region (Edmonton, Calgary and Saskatoon).

I love being on-course support. Not only do I get to meet a lot of wonderful runners, walkers and other TNT coaches and staff from around the country but I also get to help anyone on the race course who needs it. As an added bonus we coaches are given free access to the marathon course for the entirety of the race. This is akin to an “all-you-can-run buffet” for some of us.

I put on 50.15km during the race on Sunday at an average pace of 7:54/km. At the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco last year I put on 57km. That’s how it goes for some of us… but I digress.

I took advantage of my own presence in Ottawa for race weekend and cajoled Coach Tania into scrounging me a 10k race entry (forgoing a Team in Training event to run it… sorry ducklings). So, leaving immediately from the TNT Coach’s Meeting, I made my way down to the start line, downed a gel, limbered up (by jumping up and down trying to get Tania’s attention way up there in the elite corral) and be darned if I didn’t make another PB!

41:28 was my finishing time. That’s 93 seconds faster than my 10k in April (43:01) and over 4 minutes faster than the one I ran in March (45:19). Woo!

Truth be told, I was aiming for under 40 minutes and I was on track too… until about 6kms in. The humidity hanging in the hot/still air was just too much for this prairie boy. From 750 metres onward I was pretty much as sweaty and hot as I could possibly be and I paid the price in the last half of the race.

But, what the heck? Who cares? I was in Ottawa for another important reason and this race was just the “electrolytes in a very busy sports drink” so to speak. I had been up since 4am on a bus then a plane, I had walked around the race expo for 2 hours, ate pancakes and eggs with Tania for lunch and arrived at the start line directly from a meeting. What was I expecting? A world’s record? No. Just a PB – and I got one. Wait… let me rephrase that. I got ANOTHER one.