Marathon Training – Week 1 – Running in Thunder Bay

I can now list Thunder Bay on the list of cities in which I’ve run. I was in town for my cousin’s wedding and had a 14 miler on the schedule for the morning after the wedding reception. Thanks to the Thunder Bay Recreational Trails website I was able to make out a 7 mile route almost strictly on paved trail from my hotel to Lakehead University. Matt joined me for the outward portion of my run and I met my Dad at the turn around point for a water/gatorade refill. The trails were great but it was a hot morning and the run took its toll on me. I was hurting by about the 10th mile. My heart rate was ridiculously high but I’m willing to blame that on not enough sleep, the 3 drinks I had the night before and of course the heat and lack of shade.

11/08	-	Rest day
12/08	6.0 miles	Tempo run: 4mi @ 8:31/8:27/8:40/8:33 min/mile
13/08	6.0 miles	Easy run: avg 164 bpm, 10:45 min/mile
14/08	-	Rest Day: fly to Thunder Bay
15/08	-	Rest Day: Trish’s Wedding
16/08	14.2 miles	Long run: avg 170 bpm, 11:26 min/mile
77/08	4.0 miles	Recovery run: avg 155 bpm, 11:29 min/mile
Total	30.2 miles	YTD: 740.0 miles

The other highlight of the week was watching the women’s Olympic marathon on Saturday night. Going in I was a little worried about how much coverage there would be but as it turns out between NBC, CBC and SRC I barely missed a minute. I was crushed when Deena Kastor had to drop out and I was inspired by Paula Radcliffe pushing through to the finish. I can’t run a single mile at the pace that these women ran 26.2 and yet I felt a real connection with what was going on half way around the world. So cool. I can’t wait to watch the men’s race next weekend!