I took a new approach to training and really dedicated myself to it. There were many mid-week 4 AM mornings, followed by 1.5-2 hour runs in the dark, snow/rain and wind. I arrived at the starting line being as prepared for any race as I’d ever been.

However, I failed to meet my goal time of a sub-3:03 marathon, finishing in only 3:07:20. I made several mistakes early on and fell behind the pace within the first 10 km. However, I was most disappointed in myself for not pushing harder. I felt that I had mentally “checked out” after the first half, and consciously or not, believed that meeting my goal was now impossible due to the early mistakes. Because of that, I felt that I didn’t try as hard as I could and that I did not give 100% for fear of failure. It was almost as if I had sabotaged myself into thinking, “If I don’t give 100% and miss my goal, well at least then I will have an excuse.”

I fell into a pretty big slump after Boston and didn’t/couldn’t run for almost a week after. Even when I did start again, things just weren’t the same – my confidence had been shattered. I knew I had to break out of this slump, so I signed up for the Mississauga Half Marathon, which was about a month after Boston, to give me something to shoot for.

Why the half? Simply put, I didn’t think I’d be ready for another full so soon – not just physically, but mentally as well. If I were to run the full, I would have wanted to aim for a sub-3:05, in order to get in on the first week of registration for 2012. However, I didn’t feel that I would have the mental toughness required to meet that time and couldn’t deal with the heartbreak of another missed goal. So, I decided on the half, a distance I felt comfortable with.

Things turned out great – though the conditions were looking windy/rainy, things actually were not that bad, and I was able to pull of a huge PR, finishing in a time of 1:24:02 in the Mississauga Half Marathon, well ahead of any goal I’d had. This was good enough for 4th in my age group. Suffice to say, this was a huge confidence booster, something I sorely needed.

Edmonton Marathon

Coming off my performance at the Mississauga Half, I felt elated and immediately signed up for the Edmonton Marathon, which takes place on August 21st of this year. This would give me two weeks of downtime before I would have to start a 12-week training schedule for it. 12 weeks might seem a little short, but I actually think it’s pretty close to optimal considering my present situation. I felt that the 18-week program I used for Boston was perhaps a little long, and something between 14-16 weeks would have been better.

Given that I’m coming off a good base established by my Boston training (though not reflected in my performance there, but instead at the Mississauga Half), I feel that 12 weeks is more than enough to be ready for Edmonton, provided I stick to the plan, rest/recovery well and not over do things.

Edmonton will be my last chance to qualify for Boston 2012, since registration starts in early September. Technically, I’m already “qualified” for Boston 2012, but I don’t believe my time will be fast enough to actually allow my entry accepted. Complicated story aside, most runners I’ve talked to have thought that you’ll need to have at least BQ-5 (that is, your Boston Qualification time minus 5 minutes) in order to have a chance to get in, so I’ll be aiming for a sub-3:05 finish.

Running a marathon is no easy task. You train for months and basically have once chance to prove yourself. I don’t deal well with pressure, and I choked at Boston this year. I’m trying to avoid that this time in Edmonton.

Edmonton has the advantage of being a flat course, and the climate is not known for its hot summers. When I ran it back in 2009, the starting line temperature was only around 8C with a finishing temperature of 16C. This is pretty close to ideal. However, there are only so many things one can control.

Training doesn’t guarantee any performance; it can only increase the chances of reaching your desired goal. I have accepted the fact that I may give 100% this time and again fail to meet my goal – that is just part of the game. You can’t be afraid to fail if you want to achieve something.

Site updates

Yet again, I’ve fallen behind with keeping this site up to date with articles and guides. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas, it’s just that I’ve been lazy to make the time to put them together. A combination of work, training and life has yet again provided me with the excuse to not further this site with articles that may be of importance to readers.

Writing tutorials and other informational articles is as much a help to me as it is to those who read them, so I will be putting more effort towards this. I hope that you have enjoyed the few that I have written this year.

On September 26th, I ran the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, thus completing the GTA marathon three-pack within one year. (GoodLife Toronto Marathon, Mississauga Marathon and the Toronto Waterfront Marathon are the three major GTA marathons) More significantly however, I qualified for Boston, getting my ticket to the event for 2011! My time of 3:10:46 qualified me by 13 seconds, and it was an epic battle for every one of those seconds. For these reasons, I felt this marathon experience to be the best of the five marathons I’ve run so far.

A long journey

It’s felt like a long journey to get to where I am today, but not in the way that you’d expect. After running my first 42.2K at the PEC Marathon back in October of 2008, I set my sights on improving my time for 2009. Almost a year later, I ran a 3:02:50 in the Edmonton Marathon in August 2009, improving my time by almost 30 minutes and thus earning me my first Boston Qualifier. (BQ)

I wasn’t expecting such a good performance and so after the initial surprise wore off, I became overly ambitious, signing up for the GoodLife Toronto Marathon only two months later in October. My goal was to run a sub-3 time, which I believed I could do given that Edmonton’s course (back then) was somewhat hilly, and the Toronto Marathon’s course was significantly downhill for the first half and fairly flat for the remainder.

It turned out that I had underestimated the stress that running downhill can put on your legs, especially your quads, especially if you haven’t trained for it. I went out much too fast, covering the first half (mostly downhill) in 1:28 and taking nearly 2 hours for the second half. It took everything I had to keep going in that second half, feeling every muscle in my legs cramp up and watching my KM split times rise to practically a walking pace.

After that disastrous performance, I didn’t feel much like running any more. In fact, I was so put off by it that I sort of missed registering for Boston; I say “sort of” because I think I was looking for a reason not to go, so procrastinating until the race had sold out seemed like a good enough excuse.

Rebuilding and retraining

Fast forward to February 2010. By now, I was feeling better and my injuries had subsided. I began training again in earnest, but didn’t sign up for a marathon right away. I wanted to see how my body and my mind responded to running again. By the end of March, things were going well and so I registered for the Mississauga Marathon. This time, I would be much more conservative in my goals: I was aiming for a sub-3:20 finish.

As told in my previous post, I felt great for the first 30 km, after which trouble began. By the 35 km mark I was slowing down and cramping up. Though I didn’t stop, I lost a lot of time in those last 7.2 km. While the first half took me 1:34, the second took me closer to 1:39, and I finished in 3:13:06, less than three minutes from a BQ.

I didn’t feel too upset, however, since I had met my initial goal and I’d run a much better race technique and pacing-wise. However, the idea of a fall marathon BQ slowly crept back into my mind.

Summer cometh

This time, it would be different. Running a fall marathon would give me the entire summer to get ready for a BQ attempt; there would be four months until the Toronto Waterfront Marathon from when the Mississauga Marathon ended, so I wouldn’t be pushing myself. I would have time to rest, then ease back into training and maintain fitness. More importantly, however, the summer would give me an opportunity to train in the hot and humid conditions; if you can run in the heat, running in cool conditions seems easier.

I would also work on my pacing. I’d felt that I’d gone out a little too fast during Mississauga, as my second half was five minutes slower than the first. It has been said that for every minute fast you are at the half, you will end up losing 2-5 times that much during the second half. I’ve certainly found this to be true; “banking” time during the first half of a marathon just doesn’t work. It’s like a loan with an exorbitant interest rate: You get some benefit now, but end up paying dearly for it. Thus, with a slight tweak in pacing strategy, I could qualify.

My training, however, wasn’t totally ideal. While I managed to bang out 30-32 km long runs on most weekends, my mileage wasn’t as high as it should have been and I didn’t get as many quality workouts in as I would have liked, because I was having some knee problems. I played it safe though, and cross-trained to replace some of my runs to prevent injury. I knew, however, that this would affect my performance/fitness and would make qualifying for Boston just that much harder.

Thankfully, my knee problems subsided as I entered the taper phase of training. But by this time, I was dealing with some anxiety, which seems weird given that this would be my fifth marathon.

Race Day

On September 26th, the race gods smiled upon us and we had near-ideal conditions for running: It was partly cloudy, 8C and calm. The previous Friday had seen record-breaking temperatures of greater 30C and Saturday had been fairly windy, so this day was made even more important. This is it, I thought. This had to be the day that I gave it my best.

We lined up in the starting corrals, all 10000+ of us that were doing the marathon and half-marathon that day. After a speech by the mayor and the singing of O Canada, we were off! As has happened before, I drank too much before the start and had to make an unfortunate bathroom break in the first 5 km. But after that, I focused on catching up to the 3:10 pacer and resolved to not pass him no matter what, in order keep an even pace and not increase my risk of burnout in the latter stages of the race.

Not that my resolution mattered much. I wasn’t feeling in tip-top shape that day and had trouble even keeping up with the 3:10 pacer even by the half-way point, which I reached in 1:34:42. Ideally, you shouldn’t be feeling too much after the first half and you shouldn’t feel like you’re pushing yourself at all until the last third, which was still far away. For the next 10 km or so, I just tried to keep the pacer in my sights. At the 30 km mark, I was still on pace with a time of 2:14:41, but my perceived exertion was rising and my legs were getting stiff and feeling like they were on the verge of cramping up. I was extremely worried that this would be a repeat of Mississauga, where I lost it all in the last 7.2 km. This negative thinking didn’t help matters either.

The final stretch

By the 35 km mark, things weren’t any better, but I looked down at my watch and I was still (barely) on pace with a time of 2:37:31. However, sometime shortly after this, (I don’t remember exactly when, as it’s all a blur) things started going bad. My legs started to cramp up, I lost sight of my pacer and my worse fears started to take shape: This race was going to slip through my hands again, in an almost identical manner to the last.

I had to stop three or four times to stretch and walk things off for a bit, but this didn’t seem to help and each time things seemed to be getting worse. At this point, I was feeling a combination of anger, despair and defeat. I had three 5-minute kilometers, which put me well off the mark in terms of pacing. During all of this, my fellow runners had been trying to help with encouraging remarks. I also vaguely remember some spectators saying, “Come on! 3:10, it’s still possible!“, but all of this couldn’t convince me or improve my mood.

Suddenly, someone yelled out at me rather brutishly, “Don’t stop now! Suck it up!” I wanted to curse at him, but instead I started moving again.

Edge of defeat

It was slow, but I seemingly altered my gait to get around the cramps. Eventually, I realized that I could maintain a decent pace with this new style of running. It was still painful as hell, but at least I was getting somewhere. At this point, I was also exhausted and because my brain was focused completely on getting my body to that finish line, I don’t seem to remember a lot of the details. But somehow, I got myself back up to a 4:30/km pace along the way.

But getting back to pace was only one part of the solution. Because I had lost time near the point where I’d almost given up, I would have to make up over a minute if I wanted to qualify and make that 3:10:59 cut-off time for a BQ.

When I crossed the 40 km mark I was completely focused on my goal. I looked at my watch and saw it was 3:01:57. By this time, my brain could not do math very well, but I knew that I would have give it my all for those last 2.2 km if I wanted to qualify. As mentioned previously, I don’t remember much of anything over those last kilometers except gasping for air, moving my legs/arms as fast as I could and feeling a lot of pain. I do remember crossing Sherbourne St. and trying to remember if it was before or after Jarvis St. (it’s before as you head west on Front St.) as I counted down the number of streets until the last turn on to Bay St. for the final uphill push to the finish.

The final kilometer was done with nothing short of sheer willpower. I wish I’d had more time to soak in the experience as I know that there were hundreds of cheering spectators lining the streets, but I just don’t remember it.

When I crossed the finish line, I looked at my watch. For a moment, I couldn’t believe that I’d made it. I’d actually qualified! It’s hard to describe the feeling that washed over me at that point, but it was like seeing the light of day after digging yourself out of a hole. Though this wasn’t my best time, I’m the most proud of it because of what I had to do to earn it. I feel it’s also significant because for me it represents a full and final comeback from the disastrous race I’d run at the Toronto Marathon nearly a year ago.

After catching my breath, I did checked my watch and realized that I had run those last 2.2 km in in 8:49, making up over a minute during that time. That was nearly 4:00/km, which was about my 10K pace, though I believe most of the time was made up in the last kilometer, which I probably did considerably faster than 4 minutes. I never thought I’d have been capable of that, especially since part of the last kilometer is on a slight uphill.

Despite all the pain and all the emotions I’d experienced during this race, I couldn’t have picked a better way for it to end. To that guy who yelled at me to “Suck it up”, I give my thanks: Maybe that was all I needed to realize I was capable of making a comeback.

I look forward to Boston in 2011!

On May 16th, I ran in the 7th annual Mississauga Marathon. This was my fourth marathon, and I’d decided to run it sometime back in March, after being unhappy with my result in the Toronto Good Life Marathon in October of last year. (Which I had run only two months after the Edmonton Marathon)

Though I had qualified for Boston during the Edmonton Marathon with a time of 3:02:50, I decided not to register for Boston after my poor performance in the Toronto Good Life race. I wasn’t sure I’d be ready again for another marathon in mid-April, and the timing with my schedule wasn’t ideal either.

However, by the start of February I was feeling better and started getting back into training mode. I had a May marathon in mind, which would give me a solid three months of training – more than enough considering the base level of training I’d maintained over the winter. However, I didn’t want to push myself and commit to something I couldn’t do – so I did not register until the end of March, when my condition was more certain.

And so when May 16th came, I was feeling pretty confident. I’d run the Sporting Life 10K two weeks before, finishing in 39:38, within my target time of a sub-40 minute run. I had a target time for this marathon of anything under 3:20, not enough to qualify for Boston since I didn’t want to push myself, since this was partly the result of why I’d done poorly at the Good Life Marathon last year.

The first three-quarters of the race went well, and I was able to maintain a fairly even pace, passing the halfway point at 1:33:55. While things went smoothly for the first 30 km, at about the 35 km mark I started feeling some slight leg cramps and had to slow things down. I lost quite a bit of time in the last 7 km, and managed to finish in 3:13:06, less than three minutes away from qualifying for Boston again.

While I was disappointed at coming so close to a qualifying time, overall I was happy with the result, having met my original target and improved substantially from my previous marathon. Despite this being my fourth marathon, I still feel that I’m very much a beginner at this, as I need to work on my overall race strategy, pacing and training if I want get more consistent results. I’ve thought about doing another marathon in the fall, perhaps the Toronto Waterfront Marathon (thus completing the GTA marathon three-pack), but I don’t want to push myself. I’ll see how the summer plays out.

Review of the Mississauga Marathon

While the above is more of a personal anecdote, I’d like to point out some of the pros and cons of this race in case you’re interested in it. I decided to run this race because of its close location to me. The other obvious choice for a May marathon would’ve been the Ottawa Marathon, but I didn’t want to deal with the extra headaches of travel and staying overnight. Driving to the race took me only about 40-45 minutes, and would’ve been faster if the Gardiner Expressway wasn’t closed that weekend for repairs. (What timing!)

The course itself was a point-to-point race, with a net elevation loss of 80 m from start to finish, resulting in a gentle slope along the way. I’d say most of that drop came in the first half, with the last part mostly flat. There’s a few rolling hills along the way, but nothing steep and unexpected. Overall, the elevation profile was quite forgiving. In my experience, large elevation gains or drops aren’t ideal for marathons; running downhill for long periods of time will kill your quads, and running uphill is hard for obvious reasons. My ideal course would be flat – but the gentle downhill route of the Mississauga Marathon was still quite runnable.

The course starts at the Square One shopping mall, which ought to mean a lot of parking – after all, suburbs are the land of the automobile – but unfortunately only certain sections were available since the mall was open for business that day. Considering that around 7,000 people were running the marathon or half-marathon that day, that adds up to a lot of cars since that was the only real way to get to the race. As expected, parking was a nightmare – I got there about 30 minutes before the race start at 7:30 AM, and that was just enough time to find a parking spot and get ready for the run. My advice is to arrive early – earlier than you think necessary – to avoid rushing.

I had to park some distance away, probably around 500 m, but this wasn’t a problem – I used the travel distance as a warm-up for the race. However, by then the lineups for the porta-potties were too long and I didn’t get a chance to go before the race start. This wasn’t really a problem for me either as I just went at the first opportunity at around the 4 km mark.

The course scenery was pretty relaxing and the atmosphere nice. Spectators were out in full force even in the first half, adding a nice touch to the calm suburban setting of the race. The nice thing about the suburban course is that the roads were generally in better shape than the road races I’ve run in cities. However, there were some drawbacks.

Potential drawbacks

Firstly, some parts of the course were on single-lane roads, with only one side available for runners and the other open to traffic. Only a sparse line of pylons marked this, and some confused drivers didn’t seem to understand their meaning. Traffic control along these stretches could have been better. This isn’t to say that police and volunteers didn’t do a good job – I just think there could have been more of them along these sections.

Secondly, some of the sections went along the trails at the waterfront. While these gave a nice few of the downtown Toronto skyline, (made better by the sunny and clear weather that day), the trails limited the width available for runners and really required people to obey proper etiquette. This didn’t really bother me, but it’s something to be aware of.

Lastly, since it’s a point-to-point course, the marathon organizers had to recruit some public transit buses to get people back to the start from the finish. With over 7,000 participants, you can immediately see the problems with this. The wait times were quite long and made worse by the understandably bad traffic in getting back to the start. Being cramped into a bus full of sweaty runners (myself included in that group) could not have been nice either. Make sure you have water or are hydrated before lining up to get on the bus, as it took about 45mins-1hr to get back.

Timing

The weather was great that day, with a starting temperature of about 9C, rising to 16-17C by the time I finished. It was sunny, fairly clear and the wind was not bad. I couldn’t have asked for better conditions, considering that the weather in May had been a rollercoaster ride – two weeks ago during the Sporting Life 10K, the temperature had been near 20C with high humidity, while the week before the marathon the temperature hovered just above freezing and I had to wear winter running gear for my last long run!

Considering that the following week temperatures pushed into record highs, I think we were quite lucky with the weather timing of the Mississauga Marathon.

In general, this is a problem with spring marathon, in that the weather can be unpredictable. If it’s hot, things are made worse by the fact that you’ve done most your training during the colder preceding months, limiting your exposure and tolerance for hot weather running.

Overall, I was pleased with the Mississauga Marathon. The aid stations were well-organized, and the crowd support was great, with one nice lady even setting up her own lemonade aid station outside her house! I’d very much consider doing this again and think it makes a great choice for a first marathon or half-marathon.

I have had the greatest difficulty in finding a pair of shoes that fit and feel right. I think I can remember back to a time in grade school, bugging my Mom to buy me a pair of shoes that I so badly wanted, only to rarely wear them because they just didn’t feel right. All in all, I probably have accumulated a closet’s worth of shoes during my lifetime that just didn’t get much usage because they didn’t work for me.

Thus, for me, trying on a pair of shoes at the store and walking around for few minutes just doesn’t cut it. I won’t feel comfortable until the shoes have been “battle-tested” for hours… unfortunately this sort of intense “try before you buy” approach doesn’t work for most types of footwear, because it’s not fair to the store especially if you’ve worn the shoes outside.

Shoe shopping panic

So you can understand my apprehension when searching for a new pair of shoes. However, wear and tear on my New Balance 846 shoes was literally reaching the breaking point; the shoes are long since past their prime, having served me well in the PEC Marathon last year and through to the training I’ve been doing this year. I estimate I’ve put about 1000 km on them, far more than one should; this put my urgently at need for finding a new pair of shoes.

I first went to Tri & Run Sports, a local store, to find the help I needed. They first recommended a pair of ASICS shoes that felt good on the treadmill there, but I was skeptical, but their return policy was quite liberal; so as long as you didn’t run outside with them, you were free to try them out on the treadmill and return them if they didn’t work for you. Knowing this, I felt a little more secure. It usually takes me a run of at least 10 km or so to tell whether I’ll like a shoe; unfortunately this is obviously not possible nor practical during the buying process, so I was grateful that the store would allow me a grace period to try them out for myself.

However, they turned out to be a disappointment, as they almost immediately caused soreness and pain in my feet after a few minutes of running on the treadmill; I had flashbacks of previous bad shoes I’d bought. Dismayed, I returned them within the week. However, the staff at Tri & Run was more than helpful in assisting me to find another pair that would work. We eventually settled on the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 7, a stability shoe that would be ideal for an overpronator like myself. (I use orthotics to deal with this, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to complete the marathon)

The Mizuno’s turned out to be much better, and I’m now running in them every week and feeling fine! I can wholeheartedly recommend Tri & Run sports if you live in the Belleville or Trenton area and need to find a good pair of running shoes, or anything else related to running!

The need for another pair

I typically like to have two pairs of running shoes: One for indoor running on the treadmill and one for outdoor running. Up until now, my old New Balance 846′s had been serving the role of outdoor running shoe, but as they were beginning to show their age I knew I’d need to get another pair. This weekend, SportChek was having a sale, so on a bit of a splurge I decided to pick up a pair of Adidas Supernova Glides, mainly because they looked and felt nice. I was also sure to ask of the return policy, which was thankfully also very liberal, before I committed to buying. (Also, the New Balance 769′s that I wanted, weren’t available in my size!)

I had a chance to try them out on the treadmill this morning, going for a decent 10 km run. To my surprise, they felt great and I had no initial adjustment problems! This was one of the rare times a shoe has felt this good on the first try; even the Mizuno’s took a run or two to feel “great”. What surprised me even more is that the Supernova Glide is a “neutral” cushioned shoe, not a stability or motion-control one that would be better-suited to my overpronating feet. However, I believe my orthotics help compensate for this and may be enough, but in the long term this may not be a good idea as the shoes may not offer enough stability or rigidness for my foot type. Only time will tell.

Also unique to this shoe was the FORMOTION-dubbed heel shape of the Supernova Glides. Basically, the shape of the heel is not flat, it is slightly slanted on the outside part of the heel. This was interesting because when I look at the wear pattern on the heels of my old shoes, they show the same shape, that is, the outside part of the heel is worn more than the rest. With the Supernova Glides, the heel already has this shape, so I’m guessing this will help reduce wear or extend the life of the shoes.

Anyways, I highly recommend you buy your running shoes from a place that will allow you to test them out on the treadmill for a reasonable period of time, anywhere from 2-3 weeks at least. Battle-testing or trial-by-fire is the only way to go. However, the true test of these shoes will come when I am forced to take them outside for a 20+ km run…

The following is a somewhat long-winded first hand account of my first marathon, which I completed earlier this year, but took some time to write about.

It was a usual Friday afternoon, the time of the week that I usually can’t wait for. However, this Friday I was feeling a little bloated and slow having come back from a lunch buffet where I’d overindulged.

To work off this lethargic feeling, I decided to visit the gym after work – something that I only do infrequently on Fridays, being keen on getting home as early as possible in anticipation of the weekend. I’m fortunate enough to have a workplace that has a gym onsite – but this also means any excuses I’d have for not going would only be made weaker.

Dragging myself to the gym, I started into my routine. In between reps and trying to catch my breath, I starting making some small talk with Brian, one of my coworkers, who was on the bench beside me.

“I don’t normally see you in here this time of day,” I said.

“I usually come in at lunch,” he responded. “But a lunch meeting ran overtime today.”

“Are you working out to prepare for hockey?” I asked, referring to the recreational league that was starting in September.

“No,” he replied, slowly. “I’m in here crossing-training for the marathon.”

That last word, marathon, set off a trigger in my mind.

“Oh, that’s great,” I replied, still trying to process that word. “Which marathon is that?”

“The Prince Edward County one – it’s based out of Picton. This will be my first marathon.”

I guess in the back of my head, I’d always wondered if I’d be able to one day complete a marathon, but never had the willpower or incentive to follow through on my closet ambitions. For one thing, I didn’t have a car and thus didn’t have a means of a travel to even get to the race. And, up until this point, I hadn’t known anyone who also had the same interest.

I went back into my workout routine, but my mind continued to wander. Could this be my chance to finally run a marathon? Picton wasn’t that far away – it would be an ideal first marathon, not having to travel so far. But, I needed more details. When I got the chance, I interrogated Brian further.

“When is the PEC marathon,” I asked.

“It’s October 5th,” he replied. “Why? Are you thinking of running it?”

Today was September 12th. That put almost exactly three weeks between now and the race.

“Maybe,” I said, using that qualifier that far too often dominates my speech. “It depends,” I added, clarifying the issue no further.

“Well you can always run the half marathon, since they have both events. Just to give you an idea, my wife and I have been training for the past 18 weeks for this,” he said, matter-of-factly.

My mind was now racing. True, I could always just sign up for the half marathon, a task I was probably better suited to. The problem was that I knew that I could do the half, but I didn’t know whether I could do the full. It felt like something worth trying, but I knew I would be in for a tough time.

Before I go any further, I should indicate that I wasn’t a total newcomer to running. Though I’d not run a race since high school when I was on the cross-country team, I’d been consistently running three times a week for the past several years, working my way up to 30 km (3 x 10km) per week. So, while I was perhaps not in marathon-shape, I wasn’t completely without a chance. But these situations are always the hardest to decide on – when you’re uncertain of your abilities.

I decided to take the weekend to think about whether this was something I wanted to do.

Beginning Training – With 3 Weeks to Go

That weekend, I decided to buy a waist belt water-bottle holder for running, on the advice of Brian. He’d mentioned that typically in training for the marathon, you’d run at least two “long runs” of 30 km to prepare for the stresses of staying on your feet and moving for that duration.

For the 10 km distances that I usually ran, I usually did not need hydration. Additionally, at the time, I had a somewhat stupid and macho-like view that not “needing” water during a run made you tougher. However, for a distance of 20 or 30 km, no amount of being tough was going to get you through that distance without some form of rehydration.

As it turns out, the Sunday that weekend was unseasonably warm, peaking at 27C. Perfect, I thought, a chance to test out my new water bottle and my toughness. I planned to run at least 20 km, and maybe more if I still felt good. Looking back on my cocksure mindset, I can’t help but laugh at the outcome.

Things could not have been worse. I started feeling extremely fatigued and worn out after only 12 km and had to stop at the 15 km mark and walk back. Luckily, I had decided to run my standard 10 km loop, so I only had to walk back 5 km or so. But my initial confidence (or perhaps, exuberance) had been destroyed.

I clearly did not know what I was getting into – I was dehydrated and sore. Turns out the “drink only when you feel thirsty” rule did not work for me. If I was to have any hope of completing the marathon at this point, I’d have to learn fast exactly what my body needed. I spent the rest of day reading marathon training guides and tips, but all of them seemed to reinforce the fact that I should have been preparing for this much, much earlier.

Back at work on Monday, and still feeling a little sore, I resolved to try a long run once more on Tuesday. Feeling as if it would provide more incentive, I officially signed up for the full PEC marathon that evening. However, I still had one out: The signup page stated, Feel free to sign up for either the full or the half knowing that we can easily move you from one to the other on race day. I like having backup plans.

On Tuesday, all I could think about was the long run that I would attempt after work. Temperatures would be cooler then, and I’d have a better chance. If I can’t make 30 km, then I won’t even bother to try the full marathon, I pledged secretly to myself. Think of this as a qualification round: make it through this run and you earn the right to run the full.

Starting out at just past 5 PM, I took things very slow, since pacing was not one of my strong points. The temperature was idea, being only 16 C for most of the run. After the first 10 km, I still felt fresh, and in much better shape than on Sunday. I slowly sipped at my water bottle full of PowerAde for the next 10 km, until I noticed it was gone by the 20 km mark. By now, the sun had set, but strangely I was still feeling fairly good.

Up until this point, I had never run beyond 20 km. I made the easy choice to continue on through the final 10-k lap. As I neared the end, my confidence grew, despite the fact that I was feeling the onset of soreness in my legs. When I finally reached the “finish”, which was the entrance of my apartment, I was beaming with excitement. I actually did it, I thought.

I quickly reminded myself that this still didn’t mean I’d be able to make it through the full marathon. Though I’d gone almost three-quarters of the way, I still had over 10 km to go for a full marathon, and almost anything could happen during that last 10-k, especially given my inexperience.

Furthermore, there was only two and a half weeks left – not enough time to get any more real training in. From what little I’d read about marathon training, I’d understood that I’d have to slow things down and get rest before the race, especially in the week before.

The marathon is only half the race

Besides my lack of training, there was still one lingering problem in the back of my mind: How exactly was I going to get to the race? I still did not have a car – chalk it up to laziness, but up until this point I hadn’t really had a need for one.

In a small city like Belleville, I could pretty much get anywhere by walking, biking or taking the bus. And there were always friends that I snag rides off of. I figured that this was a better alternative to owning a car that I would have little use for and having to fork over ridiculous amounts of cash for insurance that every male driver under 25 has to.

The marathon, however, was based out of Picton, a small town about 40 km outside of Belleville. I’d definitely need motorized transportation to get there, otherwise getting there would be a (literally) a marathon itself.

My frugality had placed me in a tough situation. I originally had thought that I’d be able to get a ride from Brian, my coworker, but I realized that I didn’t want to be a burden, after I learned he was actually a lot closer to Picton than I was. If he were to pick me up and drive me to the marathon, he’d have to go way out of his way. With the 8 AM race start time, there was no way I could be so unfair to ask him to get up even earlier to drive me, knowing that he’d already be getting up before 6 AM.

I decided that I’d have to get a car. After all, I’d already passed the first test – making it through a 30 km run – and wasn’t going to let a logical problem get in my way. Besides, I had already been planning on getting a car, but like running the marathon, had never had the incentive or willpower to follow through on it. What could be a better opportunity than to have both situations provide mutual incentives for one another?

I started looking at cars that week. I quickly found myself in over my head, awash in inexperience – a feeling not to different from my current marathon-related experiences. I had no idea what to look for in a car, and didn’t even really know what kind of car I wanted. Hell, I didn’t even know where all the dealers were in Belleville.

I approached this problem with how I approach most problems nowadays – by doing a search on the Internet. I was quickly disappointed, as most of the dealers in Belleville did not have too much to offer in the way of used cars, and getting a new car was not an option – the only ones I could afford would be tiny econoboxes, not something that I’d want to pump so much money into.

I finally found a dealership out in Trenton that had decent prices, and on Friday, we headed out to the location. They had a wide variety of mostly GM cars but the Chevrolet Impalas caught my eye. I can’t say for sure what attracted me to them, but I’ve always wanted a decently-sized car that had enough power for even a subpar driver like me to merge onto the highway. The fact that it’s considered to be family sedan should be seen as coincidence – unless there’s something I subconsciously desire at this point in my life, which I’m completely unaware of.

I took a few of them for a test drive and was impressed. The ’07 models had decent fuel economy and didn’t have that many kilometers on the odometer. But, more importantly, it would get me to the start of the marathon and back from the finish safely. Never one for making rash decisions, I left, telling the dealer I’d think about it.

More concerns

On Saturday, another concern dawned upon me. Up until this point, I had been running almost exclusively in the late afternoon and evening hours, with most of my runs occurring around 5-6 PM. The marathon, however, was to begin at 8 AM sharp. I had never run any real distances that early, and from experience, I knew poorly my body responded to such drastic time changes. I resolved to get up early on Sunday (something I’d also rarely done) and go for a run.

As it happens, I was only able to get out the door by 9:30 the next morning. However, I was able to complete the 20 K distance in about 1h 40m, on track with what I was aiming for. Filled with confidence, I resolved to get a few more “early morning” runs under my belt before the big day.

I was, however, starting to get cold feet about the whole car purchase thing. Sure, it was something I’d been looking into for some time, but was I moving too quickly? I’d read that some people had spent weeks and months looking for a good used car, and here I was, rushing headfirst into the whole ordeal just as I was with the whole marathon thing. There were just so many things I didn’t know or wasn’t aware of.

There had to be a first time for everything, though.

Transitioning

On Tuesday, I managed to crawl out of bed before 6 AM in order to get a morning run in. I’d read in Runner’s World that not eating before a long distance race was a big no-no. That was not good news for me, as I never eat before running because I tend to take longer to digest food than most. The “30-minute rule” was more like a 1 or 2-hour rule. Furthermore, I was not a big breakfast person. These two habits put me at a distinct disadvantage in terms of pre-race fueling.

To remedy this, I decided that waking up, eating a substantial (for me) breakfast of cereal, eggs, yogurt and fruit before going out for a 10 K run was the solution. You’re probably beginning to see a pattern here: My way of “learning” to do things is a fairly brute-force method that consists of seeing whether I’m capable of performing the task I’m trying to learn. But hey, we learn from our mistakes, right?

Perhaps. I sure didn’t feel like I was learning while trying to complete the run that day. “Suffering” was probably a better description. Simply put, I hadn’t given myself enough time for the food to settle and I could feel it sloshing around with every step. It was uncomfortable and I almost felt sick at several points along the way, having to stop and walk for brief periods. I came back from that run exhausted, and it had still taken me far too long. I wrote a brief sentence in my log book: DO NOT EAT TOO MUCH BEFORE RACE.

That evening, I convinced my friend to drive me back to the car dealership, determined to close out the deal and come away with a car. I took a few more Impalas for a test drive and finally settled on one that was priced a bit lower than the rest, but had a few more kilometers on the odometer, to allay some of the guilt I was feeling over rushing the purchase so much. With much hesitation, I signed my name to the contract and put down the deposit – I finally had a car! Or rather, would have one very soon. My friend drove me back home and I thanked him extensively for being so kind to drive me around on my car search.

Tired after a long day, I quickly fell asleep.

Getting ready for the big day

The next two days were spent getting ready for being a first time car owner. Being a male under the age of 25 has its benefits, but car insurance is not one of them. The insurance agency offered through my company gave a discount of 10% if you chose to also get homeowners’ insurance alongside the car insurance. Amazingly enough, this resulted in the bundle costing less than just getting car insurance by itself. That should give you an idea of how much I’m currently paying.

On Thursday I again forced myself out of bed at 6 AM to go for another morning run. This time was better, though I still didn’t feel as “normal” as I did during my beloved evening runs. The marathon was feeling tougher and tougher as time went on.

On Friday I was finally able to pick up my car. Driving was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I never really liked driving all that much, which explains why I was able to hold off on getting a car for so long. However, the drive home was soothing. I vowed to only drive to work once a week, since I live unbelievably close to work, less than a 10-minute walk away from home.

My new car

I decided to take the weekend off and drive down to Kingston to meet up with a friend for Homecoming. I’m not a big party guy, but wanted to get a chance to see him before he left to go work out west. I didn’t get much sleep that weekend but it allowed me to rest my feet a little, with only a week to go before the race.

A brief taper

Most marathon training schedules, as I had now learnt, specified the three weeks before the race as a “taper” period, where training winds down and resting increases in order to properly prepare the body for the rigors of running 42.2 km. I had only learnt about the marathon three weeks before the event, so that forced me to be a little bit more than liberal with the recommended schedule.

There was now only one week left before the race and I didn’t feel fully prepared. Just the past week, I had run about 60 km, spaced out over four runs. The last week before a race you are recommended to run only short distances and stay off your feet as much as possible since training can’t do much for you this late in the game. Having not followed any real training routine thus far, I figured disobeying a few more orders couldn’t hurt much more. I decided to “keep limber” by going for two more 10 K runs, once on Tuesday and once on Thursday of that week. I came out feeling quite good and with improved confidence.

Not that I didn’t realize that there were still a lot of things that could go wrong. With what little actual training and preparation I had done, there were too many variables out of my control that could prevent me from finishing the race. I justified this by telling myself that “trying my best” would be good enough, even though I knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I could make it. Perhaps I just have an unconscious desire to make my own life difficult?

That Friday I drove to work and afterwards picked up some groceries, trying to stay off my feet as much as possible. This was the first time I had driven to the grocery store, as I’d usually relied on walking or biking. The next “first time” I experienced might not be so simple.

Race weekend

I decided that Saturday would be a monumental “day of rest” for me, even more than my usual lackadaisical approach to the weekend. But there was still one procedural thing left to do: I had to drive down to Picton to pick up my race kit before the race tomorrow. With my trusty new Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS that I’d picked up on sale (even before I had my car), I was easily able to find my way there, despite my utter lack of directional skills. The text-to-speech feature was level-headed and patiently directed me on every turn and the GPS unit easily recovered and recomputed the route after I managed to make a wrong turn.

After arriving at the Crystal Palace in Picton, which was the reception hall at the finish line, I gave myself a pat on the back for having found the place. I have a notoriously hard time accomplishing what seem to be the most trivial of tasks to most other people, so I was happy that I was getting better at these things.

I proceeded inside to pick up my race kit and sign off my name on the registration list, but ran into some unexpected trouble.

“I’m sorry, you’re not on the list,” said one of the race organizers, after I had told her my name. My heart raced and my palms started to sweat – surely I had not forgotten to register? After all, my credit card had been charged the fee, hadn’t it? I stumbled to find the words to reply, but she thankfully filled the uneasy silence.

“I’ll try downloading the latest list from the website to check again,” she reassured me. “I just have to find a Wi-Fi connection in here.”

The Crystal Palace was a nice building but one of the amenities it apparently did not possess was a proper Internet connection. Instead, the organizers had to rely on a “borrowed” wireless connection from a nearby building in the event that they required Internet access. The downside, of course, was that the connection was extremely shoddy and the organizer had to spend several minutes running around to all the different corners of the Palace in order to get decent reception. In retrospect it was an extremely comical situation, but I surely did not feel that way at the time.

After she finally managed to grab the latest copy of the registration list, she calmly explained what had happened.

“Oh,” she said, “here’s what happened: Your first and last name were reversed,” being careful and overly-polite in not pointing the finger at me. As it turned out, I had transposed my first and last names in the online registration form, resulting in my official race name being Chng PETER. I could feel myself blushing at the stupidity. (Though, in my defense, in traditional Chinese, family names are written before given names)

“Sorry about that…” I said, trailing off, not knowing what to say.

“Oh, don’t worry, this sort of thing happens all the time!” she replied, trying to soothe my battered ego with an obvious white lie. It half-worked, but only because I was relieved that the ordeal was over.

With that, I quickly left and drove home, managing to avoid any further trivial troubles.

The Waiting Game

The rest of the day was mostly a psychological waiting game, as I knew there was nothing more I could do to prepare and improve my chances of completion. On the other hand, there were many things I could do to worsen my chances of success, and I wanted to avoid them. But there were still some things that had to be done.

My mother had decided to come down tomorrow, so I’d have to go pick her up after the marathon. This meant that I’d have to clean my apartment today as having an unclean apartment when mother arrived was actually more of a concern to me than finishing the marathon. After that, I ran a short and slow 2 miles just to get into the right state of mind – everything went well.

After that, my plan was to settle into bed and begin a Dexter marathon, having recently acquired the first two seasons on the suggestion of a friend, only getting up to eat a nice big pasta dinner. It worked out mostly according to plan, (I ended up liking the show a lot), but my big pasta dinner turned out to be just a little too big. I ended up feeling bloated and worried about how this would affect my performance the next day. I went for a 15-minute walk to try to ease off some of the bloat and anxiety. It partially worked.

When I got home, I began to organize the stuff I’d need for tomorrow. Since I’d be getting up early and didn’t want to leave anything to chance (I’m notoriously forgetful in the morning), I meticulously set out the gear and items I’d planned to use. This included my favourite running shorts, shirt and socks. (Yes, I have a favourite pair of socks) I also decided to bring a thin pair of gloves in case my hands got cold, track pants and a hooded sweatshirt for staying warm before the race, since it was likely to be chilly so early in the morning.

My race gear

I also brought some water and chocolate almonds along just in case I needed to “top up” before the race. I had previously tried this combination before a long run and it seemed to have worked well.

After double checking that everything was properly prepared and triple checking my alarm clock for the right time (set to go off at 4:50 AM), I went to be just past 11 PM. I couldn’t fall asleep until sometime past midnight, though.

Race Day! (Finally)

I had planned to wake up, or be out of bed, by 5 AM. With this in mind, I had set my alarm for 10 minutes before, however the first time I remember opening my eyes when the clock was 5:06 AM. Seeing the first ‘5’ digit startled me, and I jumped out of bed.

I don’t remember turning off my alarm, but I assume that I must have “automatically” done this, since I’d consciously repeated the action so many times on so many previous days, which must have allowed me to perform it this time while in a sleep-like state. Luckily, the error was within the margin I’d prepared for.

I wasn’t hungry and perhaps was still feeling the effects of last night’s meal. So I ate my “normal” breakfast, which consists of instant coffee in a glass of milk and a smoothie made of a banana, frozen berries, yogurt and juice. I like this breakfast because it’s simple and fast to make and it always goes down easy.

I was able to go to the bathroom and maintain my proper “schedule”, something that had worried me before. I didn’t want to have to make a big “pit stop” during the middle of the marathon, even if they did have port-a-potties every few kilometers. With everything in order from the night before, I was out the door at just past 6 AM, and after a short half-hour drive to Picton, arrived at the corralling area just before 6:40 AM. It was just before the crack of dawn, not something I normally witness, since I think I can count the number of times I’ve seen a sunrise on one hand, and that has included times where I’ve stayed up through the night.

The buses began leaving the corralling area soon after, to take people to the start line. The bus ride was a daunting experience – it took nearly 30 minutes to go from the finish line to the start line, and it was taking a direct route, not the roundabout path that was the full marathon. Looking at the scenery scroll by on that ride and realizing that you’d have to cover all of that and more in order to finish puts a lot of second-guessing and anxiety into your head.

When I arrived, I noticed that there had been four port-a-potties setup at the start line – and there was already a massive lineup to get access to them! It was about 7:20 AM at this point, about 40 minutes before the start of the race. Figuring that all those people couldn’t be wrong, I quickly picked up my timing chip and entered into the lineup despite my lack of an immediate need to use the toilet.

This crucial decision proved to be the correct one as by the time I reach the front of the line, some 20 minutes later, I very much had a need to use the facilities, as standing outside in the cold morning for that long will have that effect on anyone. I also suspected that the coffee and smoothie I’d consumed earlier had also played a role.

Starting the Race

With about 10 minutes to go, I started into my pre-race routine. Well, to be precise, I did not have a “pre-race routine”, since this was my first race but instead only had a list of things I planned to do based on what I’d read about other people’s pre-race routines.

I did a few short strides to warm up and get the blood flowing and did a few basic stretches. I didn’t stretch too much, as I’d read that stretching cold muscles wasn’t good, or at the very least, didn’t help. I also munched down the few chocolate almonds I’d brought along so that I’d have a bit more energy to help stave off “the wall”, something I’d yet to experience but was not looking forward to.

With just about five minutes ago, a voice came on the loudspeaker advising us to begin moving towards the starting line to prepare. I joined the throng of my fellow runners as we began to move towards the start. I decided to stay towards the back of the pack, as I didn’t exactly know how fast I’d be going and didn’t want to get passed by a bunch of other more experienced runners. And then, almost unexpectedly, the race began. As I crossed the starting line, going at a pace that was almost forcibly slow, I thought to myself: Oh well, it’s now or never.

Making it through

Moving at an initially slower pace than I thought necessary, I gradually sped up after the start. Passing first kilometer marker, you can’t help by remind yourself: One down, 41.2 left to go! It was the sort of black humour that I reveled in.

The first 10K went by quite easily. The only “trouble” I ran into was having to take a bathroom break at the 4K mark – thankfully they had port-a-potties setup every 2K, though I definitely saw people taking breaks in the bush when one wasn’t available.

During this first quarter of the race I caught up and passed both the 3:45 and 3:30 “pace bunnies”, which gave me quite a boost in confidence, as I was aiming to finish in under 4 hours. However, this also made me wonder whether I was going too fast, so I kept at a fairly steady pace after passing the 3:30 bunny.

At the halfway point, around 1hr 43mins into the race, I still felt quite good; additionally, knowing that you’re halfway there gives you extra incentive to finish. I had set my “point of no return” at 30K. That is, if I could get to the 30K mark without too much trouble, I had decided that I would press on, no matter what the hardship, in order to finish. At this point, it was looking like I’d be able to reach this milestone without much resistance.

However, between 20K and 30K was when I started to encounter the first signs of fatigue and soreness. Thankfully, they were giving out energy gel packs at around the 20K mark, so I downed one of them, but not before making a sticky mess out of my hands. (Definitely practice eating from these awkward packages before doing it during a real race)

I didn’t think I’d need the extra energy from the gel pack, as I’d be drinking Gatorade regularly along the course, but after the 30K mark my body really started to feel fatigued and I had to consume two more of the gel packs to keep going.

Beyond the 30K mark, you have two extremely conflicting feelings. One is the realization that “victory” and completion is just over 10K away, while the other is the intense feeling of soreness and fatigue. One is telling you to stop while the other is relentlessly pushing you to keep going. It might seem a bit weird, but this is actually one of things about running that makes it so attractive, in my opinion. Of course, it may not seem that way when you’re directly experiencing it in the first person.

Finishing

The PEC Marathon was thankfully mostly a flat course, though the most challenging (or annoying) aspect of it was the fact that it starts to get hilly after the 30K mark. This gives the course that extra challenge it needs, as your body is close to depleted right at the point where things start to pick up.

The PEC Marathon Elevation Profile

During this last part of the race, the course turns into a gradual slope that while not difficult, has a definite effect in helping to wear you down. At this point, each kilometer was begin to feel markedly longer and I was soon passed by the 3:30 “pace bunny” that I’d passed earlier on, a sure sign that I was slowing down.

Then, at about the 37K mark, there is a fairly steep hill that rises close to 30m in less than a kilometer. It was this hill that nearly ended my marathon hopes.

The hill was easy to spot. Rounding a corner, it quickly comes into view and there is no missing it. You have plenty of time to prepare for it, knowing full well how difficult it’s likely to be at this stage of the race.

With an iron mindset, I approached the hill with confidence, believing this was the last hurdle to overcome before the finish. I managed to make it up to the top without stopping, but by that time my legs were feeling extremely tired and beginning to cramp. This was where my lack of training was beginning to show. If I had done more long runs, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been in such terrible shape, but as it was, cramping was a real issue that threatened to derail me.

I stopped at the top of the hill to stretch for a bit and tried to “walk it off”, but unfortunately this was only a temporary reprieve. Contrary to the course elevation profile on the website, the remainder of the race after the “Death Hill” was not all downhill, as I was beginning to painfully learn. Instead, it consisted of a series of rolling hills that by themselves were not much, but seemed like mountains in the condition I was in.

I could feel my legs on the verge of cramping up after every step I took going up those small hills. I had to stop two or three more times again, to stretch and walk for a bit in order to prevent a catastrophe. Thankfully, Picton was not much further on, and upon entering the town you realize that you are less than 2K away from the finish line.

At this point, I started feeling somewhat better, but perhaps it was just because the mental concept of completion was overcoming the physical pain of fatigue. I pushed on, with the nice citizens of Picton cheering everybody on along the way, and as I rounded the final corner, the finish line banner came into view.

It’s hard to describe the feeling as you finally bring the finish line into sight, but it is best described as a combination of joy, excitement and relief. Pressing onwards, I struggled not to look utterly exhausted as I crossed the finish, realizing that pictures were being taken.

The PEC Medal given to all finishers

I managed to finish in a time of about 3hrs 32min, a result I am more than happy with, considering I had real reservations about just being able to complete the marathon! I now hope to eventually bring my time down to 3:15, so that I might be able to quality for the Boston Marathon someday.

But more importantly, I was happy with the experience. Running has been a central part of my life for the past few years, and I always have found that running manages to give you more energy than you put into it, a seemingly contradictory outcome. Furthermore, it helps you to discover what you’re capable of and teaches you to push yourself, as every run is a new opportunity.

Yesterday, I was very anxious and somewhat nervous. Ate a decent breakfast, a small lunch and a huge pasta dinner around 5 PM. I may have overate, as I felt somewhat bloated, however I knew I had to since big breakfasts and running do not go well for me. I woke up just past 5 AM, having almost overslept (something turned off my alarm clock, well at least I don’t remember turning it off…) and ate a small breakfast. (Coffee and a smoothie) Thankfully my bathroom schedule was in order.

I had to leave my place just past 6 AM since we had to be at the assembly area by 6:30-7:00 for transportation to the start line. I brought along some chocolate almonds to eat just before starting, since they worked well on my last long run. I started very conservatively, but eventually worked my way up and passed the 3:30 pacer.

For the first 20K or so, things were fine. Between 20K and 30K I started to feel the soreness setting in but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with. However things starting getting hard at about the 35K mark. I got passed by the 3:30 pacer at this point. To make matters worse, there was a substantial hill at around the 37K mark that almost killed me. I started cramping up after ascending it and had to briefly stop to stretch and walk for a bit, but by that point I had decided I was not going to give up.

There were few smaller hills after that big one, and each one brought back some feelings of cramping but I pressed on. By this time I was running quite a bit slower than 5 min/KM. The last two kilometers were awful but as you round the final corner and realize that the finish line is in sight, you manage to draw on some reserves that somehow still exist.

I finished with an “unofficial” (i.e. my own watch) time of about 3:32. I’m waiting for the official time from the timer chip that all runners wore. I had to make two stops (i.e. bathroom breaks) since it was so cold early on.

Overall, though it was tough, it was a great experience, especially seeing so many other runners and the great support staff and volunteers of the PEC Marathon. The weather was perfect, the route scenic and there were plenty of people out to cheer you on. I can wholeheartedly recommend the PEC Marathon to anyone who is looking to run their first race, as the organization was phenomenal.

I actually have not been doing any strict “marathon training” per se, but have just been running my regular schedule for most of the summer, which consists of a 10K run three times a week. I usually run it at a relatively quick pace (for me), finishing it in around 41-42 minutes.

I only learned about this marathon two weeks ago from a co-worker. Since I’d run 20K before with relative ease, I decided that I’d try the full marathon: I knew I could do a half-marathon but didn’t know if I could do a full. Plus, if I failed, I had an excuse to fall back on: I simply didn’t train hard enough. (I like making excuses )

After signing up I decided that I’d have to at least see if I could run 30K; I went for such a run (at a much slower pace than normal) last Tuesday and didn’t have too much trouble except for some expected soreness. If I wasn’t able to complete that run, I think I’d have stepped-down to the half-marathon.

I woke up early this morning and went for a 20K run. It was cool and so the run was also quite easy. I’m starting to feel pumped and upbeat for the marathon, but now I’m worried that I’m getting overconfident. I talked again to my co-worker who gave me a link to Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which he himself was using. I’m trying to “slip into” the “Novice 1″ schedule right now and am starting my “taper” to give my body some rest.

I still have some unknowns. First of all, I’ve never ran this distance before. Secondly, the marathon starts at 8 AM but I’ll probably have to get up around 5 AM to get ready properly – this is far earlier than I’ve gotten up on a Sunday in more time than I can remember. Lastly, if the weather is hot and humid on that day, I think I’ll have serious trouble finishing.

Nevertheless, I remain optimistic. If I can complete the marathon, that’ll be one of my life’s goals accomplished!

Heat: Everyone knows that when there’s too much of it, things can get very uncomfortable, especially if there’s an accompanying high humidity. However, a high temperature is also something that needs to be considered if you are training under these conditions. Besides the general notions to drink plenty of fluids and stay hydrated, excessive temperatures can also adversely affect your performance, so any benchmarks or goals you set for yourself need to be adjusted depending on the conditions.

Take, for example, the route that I have been running for the past several weeks. During that time, I’ve kept records of my run times along with the conditions that day. (Specifically, the temperature, dew point and relative humidity)

On days where the temperature was above 25C my run times were averaging between 45-46 minutes. On days where the temperature was 20C or lower, average times decreased to around 43 minutes. That’s roughly a 4-6% decrease in time when going from 25C to 20C, or conversely, a 4-7% increase in times when going from 20C or below to 25C or higher.

The most recent example were two runs I did this week. On Tuesday, the conditions were 26C and 51% RH, and my completion time was 45:35. Today, the temperature was only 18C and RH was 83% and my run took only 42:53. Despite being faster, today’s run also felt somewhat easier (perhaps somewhat of a placebo effect) as I was able “push” myself harder without feeling fatigued. This was despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of my runs during the past 8 weeks have taken place at temperatures 25C or higher.

My experiences tend to correlate with the studies done. Though I can’t remember the source, I remember reading that 15C was the “ideal running temperature”, with run times expected to increase the further you moved away from this point. Obviously, some of this can be mitigated with physical/mental training and depends on the individual, but these provide some good guidelines.

However, there’s a definite physical aspect to it. Just like the CPU in your computer can run at a faster speed when it’s cooler, so can your body. At higher temperatures, your cardiovascular system must work harder to rid the body of excess heat to maintain a proper core temperature. This means that less energy is “available” for movement and is the reason why you tend to fatigue faster in the heat. (At extremely high body temperatures, the chemical reactions and enzymes necessary for bodily functions are disrupted, possibly leading to death)

Conversely, at extremely low/cold temperatures your body must work harder to generate heat to maintain a proper temperature, with the same effect: less energy is available for movement. 15C is perhaps the “ideal” point where the body has the least amount of work to do to maintain proper core temperatures during running, though that value almost certainly differs amongst individuals.

Thus, during training, if you keep a record of your running times, you should also keep a record of the weather conditions so that times can be taken into context.

I’ve just launched RunTrackr. It’s a site where you can create a running route in order to track, among other things, distances. It’s designed to be a tool to aid anyone who runs/jogs a lot, either recreationally or for training. A training log is also provided so that you can easily keep track of your running records and record your progress during training or just to watch your personal improvement.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s possible with RunTrackr as well as what we have in store for the future in terms of improvements to the site.

Adding/Creating a route

Creating a route probably the main reason you’d want to use RunTrackr. By creating a running route, you can measure its distance and keep track of it in your training log every time you run it.

Plotting a route is very easy; all you need to do is enter your location (Eg. “Belleville, ON”) and then click to add points. Existing points can be dragged around to alter the route. When you’re done, just click “Save Route” to finalize! You can also choose to enter a short description, tag your route with descriptive labels or rate your route’s difficulty.

Later on, I plan to add support for uploading automatically-generated routes/plots from GPS devices like those from Garmin, et al. This will make adding routes even easier for those who have access to such devices.

Searching for routes

Searching for routes is a great way to find running routes in your area submitted by other people. Simply enter a location and click “Search”.

If any routes are found, their location will show up on the map as markers and in the sidebar listing. Clicking on one brings up a preview of what the route looks like; clicking the preview image takes you to a full-sized view where you can see other statistics about the route.

Viewing routes

Going to the full view of a route brings up all of its details, such as the distance, description and any tags. You can also choose to add a route to your “Favourites” so that you can easily keep track of it in your Training Log.

Training Log

The Training Log allows you to keep track of the routes you’ve run and provides an easy way to record your progress. Here, each time you’ve run a route you can enter how long it took along with any other comments about the run. Calories burnt are automatically calculated based on an approximation that takes into account your weight and the distance.

The training log is very basic at this point and several improvements will be forthcoming, such as weekly/monthly/cumulative totals as with as some other statistics and graphics like charts and graphs. (Because everyone, myself included, loves colourful pictures)

Summing it up

Registration is optional but takes less than a minute and allows you to use fully use the service. We’ll be rolling out more features as times goes on. I regret not being able to launch this site earlier in the year (when the weather was starting to get nicer and people starting to get out more) but sometimes that’s just how things turn out.

As always, I welcome all feedback about RunTrackr, including any suggestions you might have about how to improve the service! In the meantime, please check out the site if you’re interested and enjoy your time there.

And then not moving for the rest of the day.