My run was spectacular. I know it's not cool to brag - nobody likes a bragger - but the reason I started this blog is to let all of you know what I'm up to.
On Sunday I was on a team in the Great White North Half Ironman triathlon. I hadn't planned on doing the triathlon, but my physiotherapist told me about someone who can't run because of an injury and he needed a runner to complete the race, so I jumped at the chance to run a half marathon. I thought it would be a good training opportunity to run at race pace for two hours. I wasn't sure how the run would go because my legs were still sore from my track workout on Wednesday. My legs always take a long time to recover after a hard workout. I stopped to stretch a few times, and every time I looked at my watch, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was ahead of pace. My finishing time was 1:56:14, a personal best. The last time I ran a half marathon that fast was in 2005 at the World Masters Games in Edmonton and that time was 1:56:23 - nine seconds slower. My average heart rate was 155 and my maximum was 174. What's that well known saying about fine wine? It improves with age or something like that?
Psychologically, the most difficult part of the run is at about the 18 km mark, when the first part of the run has to be completed again. When I got to that point, I knew my time would be sub-two hours. I dug deep and ran fast for the last kilometre, and finished strong. When I crossed the finish line, a volunteer escorted me to the post-race food. He said "Ellen, did you see your time? You had a great race". "I wish I could do it that fast", I said. "I just did the run, but I did have a great run". I had a few pretzels, cookies and a banana, but the best part was the strawberry daiquiri, non-alcoholic of course, that is on hand at the finish line every year.
I would like to think that I could do the marathon at Ironman Canada in four hours, but it doesn't quite work that way. Twenty one additional km is a long ways to go, especially following a 180 km bike ride. If I ran Ironman as fast as I ran this race, I would blow up. I am looking forward to Ironman in August though. My training has been going well and hopefully my race will go well too. It's difficult to predict how I will perform because there are so many variables - wind, nutrition, possibilty of flat tires, old injuries rearing their ugly head - and the unwritten rule is to expect the unexpected. No matter how good my nutrition is, gastrointestinal problems are always a possibility, and it always occurs on the bike when you don't realize it's happening, then suddenly the run doesn't go quite as well as you thought it might. That's what happened in Oliver and I don't want that to happen again. One of my upcoming big rides is 185 km and that will be a good opportunity to try the same nutrition I will use at Ironman.
Eight weeks to go until the big day - Ironman. Some big weeks of training are ahead of me. I'll keep you posted if I can muster up enough energy to type.
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