Target Practice

Since this is my first year of running, I’m a little leery of losing momentum when the cold comes. The “off season” here in Halifax will probably be from January to mid-March, which doesn’t sound too bad, but extended hibernation can be tempting. I think it will be important to keep a few carrots dangling in front of me; or at least to spell out my intentions so it’s not as easy to backslide. Here are some of my immediate and not-so-immediate running goals:

2007:

• - Join Run Nova Scotia to score a t-shirt and get ready for some friendly competition for the 2008 season.
• - Register and race in the Halifax Santa Shuffle 5k on December 1 (goal time sub-25:00)

2008:

• - Compete in at least 7 Run Nova Scotia races (year end standings based on your best 7 finishes)
• - Complete Bluenose International Half Marathon (just double my current furthest distance)
• - Complete a marathon (if I can do the Bluenose half in May, I’ll probably feel this is within reach)
• - Finish in top 5 for my age class by 2008 season end for Run Nova Scotia

One Day/Year:

• - Complete New York Marathon
• - Complete Boston Marathon
• - Complete Comrades Ultramarathon in South Africa (ya right!)
• - Complete Spartathlon in Greece (okay, now I’m really just kidding! It’s 246km for pete’s sake!)

I think today’s post-run high is making this list a tad ambitious, but that’s what goals are for anyway, right? Just to show how there’s always a longer and tougher race out there to tackle, take a look a this elevation profile comparison which humbles a lot of people’s ‘Holy Grail’ race: Western States vs. Boston

Fall Progress

Haven’t posted for a while, but have been keeping up fairly well with the running. I was back in Ontario last week, and took advantage of the opportunity to re-run the course of my fastest 5k (KSLO Canada Day Race in Burlington - stay tuned for the report!). My regular training run in Halifax approaches 9k and is very hilly, so I was lured by the flat lake-side pathway and stretched it out to a full 10k. Finished in just over 53:00 to my amazement.

With my confidence boosted by that run, today I got out to a flat course back home in Halifax (BLT 10k) and not only completed my second 10k, but also clocked my fastest ever 5k with a 24:57 first half split. Yahoo! Took a minute off my Burlington time from last week for the 10k too. With these two long runs under my belt, I’ve cracked 100k for the month of October. That’s my first time over that milestone, with the next closest being 78k in September. I guess the fall air really does help out!

Run For The Hills

Since moving to Nova Scotia from Ontario this September, I’ve come to the realization that I’d never really ran a hill before in my entire life. For those of you perhaps unfamiliar with Halifax or east-coast Canada, think San Francisco or Seattle and you’re almost there. I have read some running blogs where people take photos along their training routes, but I can’t imagine either 1) lugging my camera with me on my runs; or 2) walking these routes just for ‘fun’. I’m all for walking, but I swear the hills around here would be even harder to walk than they are to run.

I remember living in Ontario and reading about doing “hill work”, and laughing cynically about how on earth am I supposed to find a hill of a particular grade that I can run up for 100 or 200m?  No such problem in Nova Scotia! I can have my pick of grades and my pick of distances all within close range of my front door.  I’m still not sure *why* I am supposed to run hills, but there they are. They have certainly slowed down my pace and re-configured my notion of what a “good” 3k, 5k, or 9k time is, but word on the street is that doing hills is like eating your Wheaties - it sure isn’t fun, but it’s good for you.

That being said, today I’m launching my “Training Routes” page with my current long ‘easy’ route: 9k of grinding it out on the hills of Halifax. I’d love to hear if you’ve got a regular training run that is hillier!

Race Reports

I’m working on bringing my race report page up to date, and so far have written up my first two:

Daff-O-Dash 5k
Bread and Honey 5k

Record Breaker

When I’m struggling in the middle of the pack during a 5k race, the idea of completing a marathon (42.2km) seems absolutely preposterous. The idea that someone could run that distance in just a tad over two hours is even more alien, but Haile Gebrselassie has done just that by breaking the marathon world record in Berlin this September. You don’t have to run marathons to be impressed by his accomplishments. Name your distance and Haile has probably held the record at one time or another. Have a peek at this clip of Haile from 10 years ago (check out the 12:00 mark on the race clock for a little demonstration of ‘kick’):