Half marathon training – Week 2 – YOGAmazing
I do not have too many exciting things to say about this past week of training. Mostly I’m just proud that I got all my scheduled runs in. I’ve been working like a mad woman trying to get my dissertation written so the fact that I was able to drag myself out of bed and out on a run was a victory in itself. Of course, I know that running is the best thing I can do for myself in these stressful times but that’s hard to remember when the alarm goes off at 6am!
My legs felt really good last week and I credit it to the (almost) nightly yoga sessions I’ve been doing. I recently came across a yoga video podcast that I really works for me. It’s called YOGAmazing and is available for download on iTunes. The instructor is great and the workouts are each about 25 minutes long which seems to be about my yoga attention span. So far my favourites are “Yoga for Runners” and “Yoga for Sciatica.”
| 20/04 | - | Rest day |
| 21/04 | 5.0 mi | Easy run: avg 168 bpm, 10:52 min/mile |
| 22/04 | 5.0 mi | Speedwork: 2x1mi in 7:58/8:00 |
| 23/04 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 165 bpm, 10:29 min/mile |
| 24/04 | - | Rest day |
| 25/04 | 9.0 mi | Long run: avg 166 bpm, 11:04 min/mile |
| 26/04 | 4.0 mi | Recovery run: avg 162 bpm, 10:38 min/mile |
| Total | 27.0 mi | YTD: 405.7 miles |
Half marathon training – Week 1 – Seattle Victory Lap
It’s been nearly a month since I ran the Mercer Island Half Marathon. I took five days off after the race and then tried to ease back into running. Things were going pretty well until two weeks ago when I sprained my ankle on an easy training run. I have really loose ankles so I roll them quite frequently but this was more serious than usual. All I did was land on a pine cone but that was enough to sideline me from running for a full week. I was still able to downhill and cross country ski on the ankle but it remained swollen and bruised for quite a while.
I’ve been back running for a week and I feel that my ankle is sufficiently healed that I can now commit to a training program. My next major race will be the Rock n Roll Seattle Half Marathon in late June. I had considered trying to run the full marathon but I have a lot of work to do over the next two months (i.e. finish writing and then defend my PhD dissertation) so I’m just doing to half. I’ve picked a pretty easy training program so this probably won’t be a PB effort. I’d like to break 1:55 but this race is really just part of what I’m calling my Seattle Victory Lap. I’m trying to do as many special Seattle things as I can do in my last few months here. Revisiting Discovery Park a few weeks ago is an example. So was the long run I did last Saturday.
Up until now my visits to West Seattle had been limited to a couple of ultimate frisbee games a few years ago. Since the King County Water Taxi started running for the season a few weeks ago I decided it was time to get myself over there again. I’d never been to Alki beach and that had to be corrected. I took the bus downtown and then transferred took the 9:30 am ferry departure. The trip across Elliott Bay takes only 12-15 minutes and then voila you’re in West Seattle! I had a nine mile run on the schedule which I figured would take me about 1:40 to complete. Add a bit of photography time into that and it was the perfect distance to run and make it back in time for the noon ferry. The ferry only runs once an hour so timing was key. It was a beautiful day for a run and there were lots of people out and about on the path along Alki Beach. It was a nice change of pace from my usual laps of Green Lake. After the run I took the water taxi/bus back to my apartment. It was a lot of travel time for a nine mile run but I’d consider doing it again. Check out the view!
The rest of the week’s training was pretty standard. My heart rate has been really high lately but I hope that’s just due to a decline in fitness coming off a break and/or needing to acclimatize to running in slightly warmer conditions.
| 13/04 | XT | Downhill skiing |
| 14/04 | - | Rest day |
| 15/04 | 4.0 mi | Easy run: avg 165 bpm, 11:11 min/mile |
| 16/04 | 4.6 mi | Easy run: avg 172 bpm, 10:35 min/mile |
| 17/04 | 4.4 mi | Easy run: avg 168 bpm, 11:11 min/mile |
| 18/04 | 9.0 mi | Long run: avg 165 bpm, 10:40 min/mile |
| 19/04 | 4.0 mi | Recovery run: avg 166 bpm, 10:46 min/mile |
| Total | 26.0 mi | YTD: 378.7 miles |
Whistler Biathlon Experience
Last weekend I was in Whistler for the Easter long weekend. After downhill skiing on Friday and Saturday we did something entirely different on Sunday. Eight of us headed to the Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley to participate in their “Biathlon Experience.” The temperature was hovering around zero and there was wet snow falling when we arrived. We picked up our rental classic cross-country ski equipment and then skied out to the 2010 biathlon shooting range. Our instructor Raphael gave us a lesson on the history of biathlon and a tour of the shooting range. There were three 22 caliber rifles set up for us but they were locked down so they could only be shot from the prone position (i.e. lying down on a mat on the snow) and only directed within the shooting range.
We each got a brief lesson in using the rifles and took a practice round of five shots. For many of us this was our first time ever shooting a rifle. Because we were beginners we used the larger targets normally only used in competition when shooting from the standing position. Most of us were soaked through at this point so it was time to get moving and get the competition on. We elected to run a relay race with the boys facing off against the girls. Each person did a 500m ski, took their five shots and then did a short penalty lap for each target (if any) missed before handing off to the next team member. The challenge is to get your heart rate down after skiing to the point where you can effectively aim the rifle.
Matt and Cecilia face off in the second leg of the relay race
The relay race was a ridiculous amount of fun. The boys ended up beating the girls by about 30 seconds. When you consider that the race took about 30 minutes to complete that margin of victory is really small. It was a lot of fun cheering on our teams and smack talking our opponents. All in good nature of course. The quote of the day goes to Allison. After I shot a perfect round (I just had to get a mention of that in) Alli asked Mom “Why didn’t you ever put us in weapons sports when we were young?” Awesome. After the race several of us skied another lap and took another round of shots. Then we skied back to the lodge to warm up, dry out and eat lunch.
With our new found love of Biathlon we started searching for online biathlon videos after dinner that evening. If you want to see how the professionals do it check out this webpage. If you want a laugh, we quite enjoyed this video of Rick Mercer trying the biathlon with two Canadian national team members in Canmore, Alberta. Finally, if that wasn’t fun enough for you check out this one.
I have resisted the temptation to post every photo of the relay up here but they’re available in my Whistler Biathlon Experience on flickr.
“Team Biathlon Experience” at the end of the morning
Mariners Opening Day
Yesterday was opening day at Safeco Field. My Dad and I joined 46,000 other fans in playing hookey from work and school to attend the afternoon game. This was Ken Griffey Jr’s return to Seattle after all! The opening ceremonies were completed with the roof closed but the roof was dramatically rolled back before the first pitch so the game could be played in the sun. Seattle won with a perfect bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning. Go Mariners!
