October 2011
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Race Report - Toronto Waterfront Marathon
It’s been almost a week, and memory is fading fast, so I thought I would jot down a few thoughts from the Toronto Waterfront Marathon that I ran last Sunday.
The good: I finished with a personal record time.
The bad: I missed my goal time, and was also still over four hours.
Sunday, October 16th was the date, and Toronto was the place. Eighteen weeks of training, and nearly 1000 miles of...
July 2011
1 post
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Dirty Dash 8K →
I knew going into this one that it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. I’ve never run the course and I wasn’t familiar with the trails, but when the top of my class finished 8 km in over 40 minutes last year, I knew I was going to get into trouble.
I started out strong, and completely ignorant. My first two splits were 4:19 and 4:22. I was aiming for about 4:30, so...
June 2011
2 posts
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Running things I never thought I would do #3
I never thought I would lose a toenail running. I have lost four in the last year. I thought it would hurt, but it doesn’t. Saturday, I was sitting on the floor and felt something funny and that’s when I realized that another one had fallen off. I had been expecting it for weeks, but it was still a bit of a surprise.
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Guelph Lake 10K →
Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day for running. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the temperature was somewhere between 15-20C. The lake had that beautiful summer shimmer, and winds were light.
One of my goals for this year is to get my 10K time down to 45 minutes. I’m not expecting to get there yet, especially since I’m still only five weeks removed from my first...
May 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Marathon thoughts
It has now been four days since I ran the Waterloo Marathon, and I think I’d better write down some thoughts before the entire thing fades from my memory.
Before the run, I was feeling confident and a bit scared. Scared because I had never run this distance before. Confident because I had put in the time and the miles and I knew that I was ready. I was actually less nervous for this...
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Waterloo Marathon →
Wow, what a rush! I’m pretty sore right now, but I made it through the run. It wasn’t supposed to rain, but it came down pretty hard with a lot of wind in the last 10 km or so. I think that’s why my pace dropped, although the fact that I went out too fast probably didn’t help. My goal was to finish in about 4:15, and I actually made it in 4:02 (almost under four...
April 2011
16 posts
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Marathon Training, Week 18 Day 3 →
It is time. Only 42.2 km to go.
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Marathon Training, Week 18 Day 2 →
I got up this morning ready for an 8 km (5 mi) run, and just before I left I realized that it was only 6.5 km (4 mi). Great! I also finally wore shorts for the first time this season. I wish I had gone with short sleeves too. It was cool, but quite humid. One more training run to go!
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Marathon Training, Week 18 Day 1 →
I think I’m starting to enjoy running in the rain. Or I’m losing my mind.
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Marathon Training, Week 17 Day 4 →
I was in Walkerton for the Easter weekend, so I went for a run in the country there. This was a 13 km run at an easy pace, although the wind was really gusty, and the hills were unexpected to me. Only three runs left until the big one.
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I had a moment this morning
I was at the Chip Time Results site this morning, and decided to check out upcoming events that Denise might be interested in. The first thing I saw was that the Waterloo Marathon is almost at the top of the list. It’s less than two weeks away. I’ve got butterflies already! Can’t wait!
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Marathon Training, Week 16 Day 4 →
I finished the 16th week of my training with a two hour run through the pouring rain and heavy wind. It really wasn’t that much fun, although splashing through the puddles felt good. I would call this a “character-building” run. Nobody else was brave enough to be out running, and I actually only saw a handful of pedestrians. The last 5 km was right into the wind, gusting...
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Running things I never thought I would do #2
Running through the pouring rain wasn’t something I thought that I would be able to do. Yes, I ran through the winter, but snow doesn’t get you wet the same as rain. Yesterday, I went for a 19 km run in the rain. That’s about two hours of drenching that I endured. At first, I went out and then came back inside. I convinced myself to be brave and go back out. After all,...
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Marathon Training, Week 16 Day 3 →
Yep, another Thursday, another easy run. Almost 5 degrees today, but still too cool for shorts for me. 8 more runs left until the big day.
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Marathon Training, Week 16 Day 2 →
Wednesday runs are great. I push just a bit harder in the middle section and then coast home. This was the first real taper day today, 3 km less than last week. 18 days to go.
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Marathon Training, Week 16 Day 1 →
Hey, look, I went running again today! Really not much to say. Cooler weather has returned again, and it was kinda windy on the way back home.
By the way, duct tape seemed to be quite effective at preventing the return of the blister on my right foot during this morning’s long run. It worked pretty much exactly as I expected. It’s a barrier, and the tape is very slippery on the outside so my foot can move comfortably in my shoe.
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Marathon Training, Week 15 Day 4 →
When I run around town, I run around the town. This is my longest training run, and the longest I will run before the real deal on May 1. 32 km of goodness. I made it back home before the hail came down, which I’m very glad about.
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Marathon Training, Week 15 Day 2 →
I love the intensity of Wednesday runs. My energy level was low today, so getting through the 6 km tempo section was a challenge, but I felt great afterwards. I love the feeling when I come down from that level, it’s like I’m just floating on air.
Marathon Training Week 15 Day 1
So it seems that my Garmin got left on unplugged, so I ran naked, so to speak, this morning. It’s nice to unplug. I have no idea how fast I was running, but it really doesn’t matter. Today’s run was an 8 km run, and to change things up I went to Bridgeport. The hill on Bridge Street may actually be steeper than the big one from the 30K race.
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Running things I never thought I would do #1
As I was wrapping up the Around the Bay race a week and a half ago, one of the thoughts my mind drifted to in the last 5 km or so was the list of things that I do now that I never thought I would do before I started running. It came back to me this morning as I was preparing for my 8 km run, and I tried something I have never done before.
Putting duct tape on my foot to avoid...
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Marathon Training, Week 14 Day 4 →
This week’s long run was shorter than the race last week at 22.5 km, but it seemed harder because I was running alone. I ran the half marathon course again this week, and it was nice to do it without snow blocking the way. Just four weeks to go until the marathon.
March 2011
20 posts
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Marathon Training, Week 14 Day 2 →
One of the blisters I got from Sunday was really painful yesterday afternoon. I hadn’t really done anything to treat it, and that seems to have been a mistake. I cleaned my foot, put some antibiotic ointment and gauze on it and hoped for the best.
It was feeling better this morning, so I went for a 15 km run, and everything went just fine. Still cold though. :(
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Marathon Training, Week 14 Day 1 →
I felt recovered enough from Sunday’s race to run my usual 8K easy run today. The only problem I have is blisters on my feet.
It’s still cold, and I want spring to hurry up and get warm already. The temperature was -6C when I left this morning.
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Around the Bay Road Race →
The race today was awesome. It was cold, but the sun was shining, and there were thousands of people running with me. The pack never really seemed to thin out the way I have experienced in other races. It’s amazing to think that I ran the entire 30 km distance at a faster pace than my first 5K last June. Going into the run, my target pace was 6:00/km. I realized about 5 km in...
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Marathon Training, Week 13 Day 3 →
I ran inside again today, because there was still plenty of snow on the sidewalks this morning. My knee was a bit sore from the hard running yesterday, but it was good enough for an easy 8 km run, and I don’t have another run planned before Sunday. I may do 2-3 km on Saturday if all is well.
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Occam's Razor
Last night, a funny thing happened. I completely threw the rules of logic out the window and ignored Occam’s razor. Simply put, the meaning is “the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one”.
The initial problem as presented was that the light in our house’s upstairs hallway would not turn on. An additional symptom is that the lower light switch was loose. ...
Not sure what the name of a song is? →
This is actually pretty clever!
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Marathon Training, Week 13 Day 2 →
So what if it snowed last night? I took the run indoors! Each lap is 250 m. I ran 5 km easy, then 6 km tempo (although, looking at the numbers, it seems I accidentally came up one lap short), and finished with another easy 4 km. Since I was running indoors, I knocked it up a notch in the middle section and ran the last km at a 4:11/km pace. Why yes, I did push my heart...
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In JavaScript, curly brace placement matters: An... →
Today I learned something new about JavaScript.
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Marathon Training Week 13 Day 1 →
I really enjoyed this run. I got out of the house at a decent time, ran at a comfortable pace, and everything felt great. The weather, although still quite cool, was good, and the wind was light.
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Week 13 Begins →
This marks the beginning of lucky week 13 of marathon training. The 30K Around the Bay Road Race is this weekend in Hamilton. Five weeks after that is the Waterloo Marathon. At approximately 60 km, this will be my longest week of running, ever.
One thing I noticed when I was thinking about what to do with my cross-training yesterday was my hesitance to do anything different. At this...
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Marathon Training, Week 12 Day 4 →
Hey, I ran 20 km today. It’s funny how this week seemed “easier” than the last couple, because I “only” ran 20 km. My knee isn’t even acting up today. It’s still a bit cold, around 0C, but definitely getting more springlike.
The worst part of today’s run was the bit where I ran the Laurel Trail near Bearinger Road. It was icy in the...
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Marathon Training, Week 12 Day 3 →
Even the easy runs are getting long. Up to 8 km this morning. This week has been a bit off because of the time change. I finally got used to getting up early and running by 6:30 (6:00 ideally), and then we change the clocks and I can’t get out the door before 7:00. Hopefully this will settle down in the next week or two. The run went fine. I can feel Spring coming.
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Marathon Training, Week 12 Day 1 →
I had a nice run down to UW and back this morning. I had lots of energy and I found it hard to keep from running too fast today. The weather is still cold, but the sidewalks were clear (except for Columbia Street).
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Marathon Training, Week 11 Day 4 →
I ran for 26 km without stopping today. That is all.
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Marathon Training, Week 11 Day 3 →
Cold. Wet. Wait, wet? Yes, it was raining this morning, but not snowing! It was warm enough (3C) that I ran without gloves! The rain made things slushy and my feet wet, and yes, there was some ice out there, but it went pretty well. 6.5 km today, and 26 km this weekend. Unfortunately, there is still some more snow in the forecast.
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Marathon Training, Week 11 Day 2 →
As the midweek runs have been getting longer and longer, I’ve been thinking that I need to stop trying to run the whole distance at a tempo pace. Especially since doing so seems to be taking its toll on my body. So today I started with 4 km at an easy pace, then 5 km tempo, and finished with another 4 km easy. It felt pretty good! Of course, the 5 km in the...
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Marathon Training, Week 11 Day 1 →
My knee still needed a bit of recovery from Sunday’s run, so I took it easy today. Just a nice 6.5 km run down to the University and back. I finally got out of the house before 7 am today! The weather is still cold, but I think Spring will finally be here soon.
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Marathon Training, Week 10 Day 4 →
Saturday was rainy this week, so I decided to run Sunday instead. I almost regretted it when the rain turned into snow on Saturday night, and I was afraid of ice. I waited until Sunday afternoon, and was rewarded with absolutely awesome running conditions.
I’ve been looking forward to running this route. It’s the half-marathon course from the Waterloo Marathon. I ran 21 km...
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Marathon Training, Week 10 Day 2 →
When I was getting ready to go out this morning, I took a look at the weather and noticed that the temperature was -1C. I was so excited I decided to run without my hat and with one less shirt layer than I have been. I neglected to look at the all-important wind speed. The wind was blowing at about 30 km/h with gusts over 50 km/h. This made the windchill closer to -10C, and I...
February 2011
19 posts
2 tags
Marathon Training, Week 9 Day 4 →
This is my first run this year beyond 20 km. It felt great to be out, and it wasn’t as cold as I was fearing. There was a bit of snow falling during the run, and there were a few icy spots, but all in all the conditions were not as bad as the could be. I covered a lot of territory in the city today, including running near our old house, where I started running last year for the first...
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Marathon Training, Week 9 Day 3 →
I appreciate that warmer, -5C temperature after having run in the bitter cold the past two days. Thursday runs get a bit longer this week. There was a light snow falling this morning during my run.
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Marathon Training, Week 9 Day 2 →
Super cold again this morning. -16C without the windchill. Ice formed on my hat from freezing sweat. All things considered, I ran a pretty good 11.5 km at close to 5:00/km. The last couple were pretty tough, but I finished the run. With the race on Saturday, I have run three 10 km+ runs at this pace in the past week, so I’m glad to have a bit of a slowdown this weekend. ...
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Marathon Training, Week 9 Day 1 →
So begins Week 9. It was really cold (wind chill -20C) this morning, but I had my nice new balaclava to wear, so I was toasty warm. I don’t seem to have suffered any ill effects from Sunday’s 8 mile race. This is a big week, and the next couple are going to be even bigger. I’m now really close to signing up for the marathon in May. It’s still really scary to think of...
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Re-Fridgee-Eighter Run (8 miles) →
Awesome race today. My goal was to run in under 1:05, and my chip time was 1:03:27. Our team won the 8 mile corporate event, and I finished 6th out of 14 in my class, 66th overall out of 183 finishers. The weather couldn’t have been better for a winter run. It was around -5C, sunny, and it was a lot less windy than we had feared. Everything was well-organized and we had a great time.
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Marathon Training, Week 8 Day 3 →
I was excited that the thermometer was showing a positive temperature for the first time in ages. I even decided that I was going to run in shorts this morning. Then I stepped out and when I noticed how slippery the road was, I decided to run at the track instead. Ho hum. I did have a nice 5 km run inside, and I feel like I’m ready for Sunday’s race.
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Marathon Training, Week 8 Day 1 →
Some brief notes on today’s run. I felt great going out for 5 km today. I had to hold myself back at several points along the way, and the ice didn’t turn out to be much of an issue. Whenever I came across a patch, it just felt like I was gliding over the ice, not slipping and sliding.
Apparently the temperature was -20C, but there was not a whole lot of wind, so it...
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Marathon Training, Week 7 Day 4 →
This was a really weird 19 km long run today. I ended up leaving far too late in the morning, which did not turn out very well. There was fresh snow on the ground, so the sidewalks were hard to run on. But running on the side of the road wasn’t great because there was more traffic than usual due to the late time. I ran through snow, through water, into the sun, in the blinding snow,...