Copenhagen
Last month I went on a ten day vacation to Copenhagen and Paris with my mother. The adventure started when I tried to check in for my flight at the Seattle airport. My itinerary was to fly to Toronto, meet my mother there and then fly to London-Heathrow and then on the Copenhagen. For some reason the United agent could only give me a boarding pass to Toronto and check my bag through to Heathrow. This was not good because we didn’t have a lot of time in Heathrow and the idea of having to go through customs, pick up my bag and re-check it was not very appealing. To make a long story short, when I got to Toronto I was able to get one of the Air Canada baggage agents to go back into the bowels of the airport and retrieve my bag for me. It took about 2.5 hours to get my bag and get it rechecked through to Copenhagen. It’s good that I had a 4+ hour layover!
I met Mom at the gate and we flew on the London. The flight was fine and I managed to get a few hours of sleep. In London we had to connect to Copenhagen. A few weeks before our trip, Mom and Dad had made a similar connection in Heathrow and had to deal with a horribly long line to get to security. This time Mom and I just walked right through! The flight to Copenhagen was fine and I managed to get about another hour of sleep. Both of our bags arrived in Copenhagen (yay!) and then we took the train into the city center. One thing I love about Europe is how well connected the public transportation systems seem to be. I think we arrived at our hotel 25 hours after I’d left my apartment in Seattle.
We started the next day with breakfast at the hotel. I love Scandinavian breakfasts. The bread, the cheese, the yogurt, I love it all! Our first stop of the day was the The Little Mermaid, a condo building that used to be a torpedo hall, the new opera house, the Royal Library and the world’s fastest drawbridge (Seattle needs a few of these). It was a great way to see Copenhagen. We also spent a lot of time spotting and identifying different Nordic flags. After the canal tour we walked up to Nyhaven (another canal) and then back to our hotel along a pedestrian shopping street.
The next day we took a 50 minute train trip to Helsingør to visit Kronborg Castle. This is the setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. How cool is that!? He just changed the spelling to Elsinore. We walked through the castle, learnt a bit about its history (the king used it to collect a fee from all ships wishing to enter the Baltic) and looked across the strait to see Sweden. After taking the train back to Copenhagen we went out for a traditional Danish lunch of smørrebrød. These are open faced sandwiches with a buttered slice of rye bread topped with meat, fish, cheese etc. I had salmon with egg and Mom had shrimp and caviar. Lunch was delicious and we were glad to have tried a traditional Danish dish. Later that afternoon I went for a 4 mile run around Copenhagen’s Lakes. It was a great run on a gravel path and a really neat way to see a different part of the city.
On our final morning in Copenhagen we attempted to go to on a tour of the Royal Reception Rooms at Christiansborg Palace. We’d hoped to see the set of 17 tapestries depicting the history of Denmark. Unfortunately the Queen Margrethe was in the Palace (this Palace is not her residence but is, among other things, the main Parliament) so they weren’t running any tours. Instead we visited the Royal Library and then took a leisurely walk around the city. After lunch we took the train back to the airport and flew off to Paris!
The rest of my Copenhagen pictures are here.
Seaplane views
Last weekend I flew by seaplane from Seattle to Victoria and then from Victoria to Vancouver. The seaplane flies so low (that cabin isn’t even pressurized) that the views are amazing. Below is a shot of Lake Union on a sunny day in Seattle and one of downtown on a more typically cloudy day in Vancouver. I have a few more seaplane tagged photos on flickr.
Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon
What the heck is the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon you ask? Well, Phedipidations is my favourite running podcast and the World Wide Half is an event in which fellow runners across the world are running a half marathon on or about this weekend. I used my Victoria half marathon time for this event and have my finisher’s certificate to prove it. I’ve linked to my race report from the WWH results page so to any fellow runners who may have surfed on over … welcome!
Race Report: 2007 Victoria Half Marathon
The short story
I put 14 weeks of directed training into the 2007 Royal Victoria Half Marathon. I’m happy to report that I was able to average a pace of 5:29 min/km and set a new personal best of 1:55:33. What follows is a detailed race report but here’s the short version: I ran hard and it was great.
Pre-race
I woke up at 5:30am on Sunday morning and had green tea, oats, 1L of water and half a banana for breakfast. The weather forecasts were calling for scattered showers and about 10C during the race so I chose to wear shorts, a long sleeved technical shirt and a running vest. It was only raining very lightly when I left Matt’s apartment at 6:45 am. It was about a 20 minute walk down to the start/finish area. Because Matt was going to meet me at the finish I didn’t bring a bag down with me to check. After a quick porta-potty stop, some shoe adjustments and a Garmin sattelilite search I was at the starting line about 15 minutes before the start. I lined up between the 2:00 and 1:50 signs slightly closer to the 2:00 sign. At this point it was about 12C, cloudy but not raining. I was a little worried that I might have been overdressed but there were a lot of runners wearing a lot more than I was (long pants and jackets) who were obviously prepared for the windy rainy worst case scenario.
km 1-5 in 5:43.3 / 5:16.0 / 5:28.4 / 10:46.6 (avg 5:26.9 min/km)
It look me just under 2 minutes to cross the staring line and from there I was off and aiming for a steady pace of 5:27 min/km. I wasn’t feeling nauseous but my stomach wasn’t feeling settled so I was a little worried about how the race would go. I tried to settle into my target pace and just take the race as it came. I’d decided to pace myself in km since they were marked on course. This worked well in all aspects but one: it totally threw off my water/gel/walk breaks. I usually have water and walk for 1 min every 2 miles taking gels at miles 4 and 8. I think I managed to get the 2 mile walk in but after that I was totally off schedule. I hit the right average pace over the first 5 km but it felt harder than I would have hoped considering this was the start of the race!
km 6-10 in 5:41.5 / 5:48.2 / 5:17.8 / 5:32.9 / 5:19.6 (avg 5:32.0 min/km)
This section started with us running in circles through Beacon Hill Park. It was sort of neat to get to see runners both ahead of and behind us in the race. Kms 6 and 7 were a bit slow due to some slight uphills. Sometime in there I took my first gel. I was concerned that the gel was going to do bad things to my unsettled stomach but strangely it actually made it feel a bit better. Up until now I’d been feeling a bit warm but once the course hit Dallas Road on the coast the temperatures seemed to drop and I was happy to be wearing my vest. Even through there aren’t any major hills on course there were several small hills and my downhill kms (see 8 & 10) were coming in much faster than the uphill ones. At the end of 10 km I was still hanging in but I could tell I was really pushing my abilities.
km 11-15 in 5:27.7 / 5:25.9 / 5:45.5 / 5:09.4 / 5:24.1 (avg 5:26.5 min/km)
Amazingly I nailed my pace in the first few kilometres of this section. There was a bit of confusion near the 12 km mark where for some reason runners coming in opposite directions were crossing through each other’s paths. It was a mess (and I hope they fix it for next year) but I didn’t let it upset me. I had a slow km 13 where I took a walk-water-gel break and then another walk break through a water station. All the water stations on course were well stocked although they didn’t seem evenly spaced so I relied a lot on the 16 oz water bottle I was carrying. By the time I hit km 15 I was hurting. However I was back on Dallas Road so I tried to convince myselft that I was really heading home now.
km 16-20.1 in 5:44.3 / 5:40.5 / 5:36.4 / 5:24.5 / 5:51.0 (avg 5:32.7 min/km)
My legs really started to protest as the kms ticked away. I saw the marathon leaders run by so I tried to focus on that for distraction. Kms 16, 17 and 18 were over my target pace and I was getting passed more than I would have liked. I stopped really monitoring my pace at this point and I just tried to run as fast as I could. I figured sub 1:55:00 probably wasn’t possible but I was still on pace for a huge PB so that was enough motivation to run hard. I look my last walk break during km19 and after that I resisted every urge I had to slow down and walk. There was no 20 km sign (or I missed it) so that last split is a 1.1 km split.
km 21.1 in 5:10.8
I tried really hard to “throw down the hammer” in the last km and I managed to pull out my second fastest split of the day. The last km had a lot of turns and I just kept waiting for one of them to reveal the home stretch. Matt (who had run the 8K earlier in the day) was cheering in the last 100m but I totally missed him. I had “finish line tunnel vision” again. I was exhausted and a bit wobbly when I crossed the finish line but I was thrilled with my result.
Finish time 1:55:33 (avg 5:29 min/km or 8:49 min/mile)
Mile splits: 8:56 / 8:38 / 8:44 / 8:49 / 8:50 / 8:41 / 8:45 / 8:57 / 8:25 / 8:57 / 9:03 / 8:41 / 8:38 / 1:29
Post race
After picking up my medal and downing some water and gatorade I picked up half a bagel and fruit and went to meet Matt in front of The Empress hotel. I was still a bit spacey but I was feeling great. A fellow runner took the picture of Matt and I below. I’m still a little amazed that I pulled off a 1:55:33 half marathon. It was hard and I was pretty uncomfortable for most of the race but it was great.
Place overall: 1290/3869 (66.6th percentile)
Place in gender: 488/2377 (79.5th percentile)
Place in age group (F2529): 84/301 (72.1th percentile)
Placing is based on gun time (1:56:50) and includes walkers.
1:55:36 1:55:33
Bib
Name
Age
GroupCity, Prov
Time
Pace
Gun
Chip
km
Mile
3523
Cecilia Cotton
Women 25-29
Seattle, WA, USA
1:56:50.5
1:55:36.3
5:29
8:49
Update: My official race results are below
==================================================================== Final Place Bib Gun Chip KM Place In Sex Place In Division No. Time Time Pace ==================================================================== 1290 488/2376 F 84/301 Women 25-29 3523 1:56:50 1:55:33PB 5:29
Half marathon training – Week 14 – Race Ready
| 01/10 | - | Rest day |
| 01/10 | 4.0 miles | Easy run: avg 9:56 min/mile |
| 03/10 | 3.2 miles | Easy run: avg 9:41 min/mile |
| 04/10 | 5.2 miles | Tempo run: 3 miles @ 8:24/8:15/8:10 min |
| 05/10 | - | Rest day |
| 06/10 | - | Rest day |
| 07/10 | 13.1 miles | Half marathon race day! |
| Total | 25.5 miles | YTD: 867.7 miles |
So there it is. I did my last training run this morning and all at this point I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be for Sunday. I’m pretty excited about the race and optimistic about setting a new personal best. I’ve trained hard and even though I took time off when I was on vacation I feel good about my level of fitness right now. With that in mind, I present my race goals:
- Goal #1: This is the dream goal – 1:55:00
- Goal #2: Set a new PB – <1:59:56
- Goal #3: Push hard and enjoy myself no matter what the pace
In order the achieve a finish time of 1:55:00 I need to run at an average pace of 8:46 min/mile or 5:27 min/km. That’s quick and to be honest I’m not sure I can do it. I’m a little worried that I’ll only be able to hold this pace for a while and then I’ll fade big time. But nothing ventured nothing gained right? My other concern is that the course has some rolling hills and most of my runs have been flat. My final concern is the weather, specifically the wind. I can handle running in the cold and the wet (hello, remember the Seattle half last year!) but the course is quite exposed in parts and high winds would not be fun. Here’s a sample of the current weather reports for Sunday in Victoria:
- weatheroffice.gc.ca: Rain. Windy. Low 11. High 15
- theweathernetwork.com: High 15, Rain at times heavy, POP 100%, Wind S 20 km/h, Low 10
- weather.com: High 12, Low 7, POP 30%, Few Showers
I’m bringing a wide selection of running clothes with me to Victoria and I’m just going to hope for the best!
Since this weekend in Canadian Thanksgiving, Matt and I are going to be heading to Vancouver after the race to hang out with friends and family there. It might take me a few days to get a race report up so in the meantime you’ll be able to check live race day results here. Just select Half Marathon from the drop down menu and then search for me either by name or use bib number 3523.
Finally no training cycle would be complete without a graph!
