Getting so close! One week til Jack & Jill’s Marathon! Husband and I were on Haida Gwaii for an overdue honeymoon for the last week and a bit. With respect to the taper for this race, it was good to be away and distracted. Lifelong Endurance has me maintaining some good intensity over the last two weeks and I really like that – it helps me stay sane! I am ready to run.
I am feeling so calm and neutral about this marathon. My goal has turned into a range of times and more importantly, non-time-related goals, like staying focused and fluid and appreciating the beautiful course. I re-read Elizabeth Clor’s book, Boston Bound, recently and this is something that really REALLY resonates with me right now, as I’ve loosened my grip on the goals for next weekend:
“Investment model running is the attitude that you put “x” amount of time and effort into training to receive “y”result on race day..To set a PR or run a specific time, you need to invest the time and hard work. And on race day, it will all pay off.
[this way of thinking] does a disservice to all your hard work. A race result speaks to how you performed on one day in one set of conditions.”
I look forward to doing my very fking best next weekend, whatever the day hands me. Pumped. Here’s what went down the last two weeks, training wise. I’ll be recap our trip on its own because it was THE BEST TRIP OF MY LIFE.
Monday, July 9th – rest day!
I was surprisingly not sore or overly tired after the triathlon, but I knew it was still a good idea to stick to this scheduled rest day. It felt good to take a day off.
Tuesday, July 10th – hard day
- 2k warm-up
- 2 x [15:00 @ marathon pace, 3:00 easy]
- 2k cool-down
later on (and WAY too soon after pizza..)
- 2k warm-up
- 6 x [200m hard, 200m easy]
- 2k cool-down
Wednesday, July 11th – easy day
10k relaxed with Erin!
Thursday, July 12th – easy day
10k chill along the Cannery Road 😀
Friday, July 13th – hard day
- 3k warm-up
- 2 miles @ ~ 4:35/km
- 5 min jog to a hill
- 10 x [1:00 hard hill, 1:00 jog down]
- 3k cool-down
Got the first 2 steps done but it was time to go to the ferry terminal! I slept in a bit! Haida Gwaii bound woooooo!
I DID get the intervals done! They weren’t hill repeats but beach intervals, which were just as challenging in their own way. Super proud to have gotten it finished after a long day of travel and an unplanned camping situation right off the bat (explain later)
Saturday, July 14th – rest day
First morning waking up in the tent! I did run today, but it was very relaxed and slow on a logging road, chatting with husband beside me on his bike, and then along the beach we were exploring!
Sunday, July 15th – long run day
A planned 27k with no special instructions turned into 20k of extremely challenging and tiring beach running. It was SO beautiful though!! Again, proud to have gotten this +2 hours of running in while on vacation in the middle of nowhere at this point!
I went back and forth along Gray Bay twice, with a few kilometers on the logging road along the campsite in between 😀 The terrain varied from hard-packed beach to soft sand (the WORST AHAHA), rocky beach, big rocks, crawling over huge logs and some weird bouncy seaweed hay.
Monday, July 16th – easy day
A small piece of the Secret Cove trail and the whole Gray Bay recreation site for 6.5km! No one else was as the campsite! I literally ran into every spot and checked each one out. We were in the money spot, #1, but I would also recommend the 10/11 site ahahah
Tuesday, July 17th – hard day
Omg. This run was SO good! Tow Hill Road is the most beautiful road and the best quality of unpaved road you could imagine. With husband along side on the bike making me laugh and snapping a couple sweet pics that I didn’t know about, this run was one of my favourites ever!
- 2k warm-up
- 6k ~ marathon goal pace (I ran a bit faster)
- 2k cool-down
Wednesday, July 18th – easy day
I skipped my run today and I’m happy to say it! We rode our bikes on the sand of North Beach for about seven kilometers. Then we walked another 5k to Rose Spit. Then back to the bikes (got a ride in the back of someones truck for like 2k) and then biked back again into a serious headwind!!
Then later we checked out the Tow Hill boardwalks and viewing platforms. My legs did a lot today!
Thursday, July 19th
10k Tow Hill Run!
I went from Agate Beach Campground, a little down Tow Hill Road towards Masset for some extra distance, and then to Tow Hill, to the blow hole and back out, up to the top viewing platform, back to the blow hole, out to the parking lot and back to the campsite which gave me 10k!
Followed by a 20k easy hike with husband to and from Cape Fife!
Friday, July 20th – unplanned rest day
I went to bed with a headache the night before and woke up with the migraine from hell. It was terrible! I was actually crying as we packed up the campsite and thought I might need to go to the hospital if it didn’t calm down. This also happened to be our camping breaking point. LOL. More on that in trip post as well.
That migraine robbed me of my day! I was hurtin’ and felt one hundred years old from seven nights in the tent so I made an executive decision to skip the planned workout and use the race the next day as a good, solid 10k workout. Later on when I was feeling almost normal, we went for a hike/walk/jog on the Pesuta shipwreck trail. It was 5k each way and that was more than enough for the day.
Saturday, July 21st – race day!
Totem to Totem 10k for both myself and husband. What a great course! I ran it exactly as was permitted by Coach Andrew – around half marathon pace. It worked out great and on this day was fast enough for first overall female! I’ll write a separate post about the race itself. The event was so wonderful and I will be back next year, that’s for SURE.
Sunday, July 22nd – last long(er) run day!
7k easy, 8k @ 5:00/km
Holy headwind!!! This run was so frustrating! My heart rate was so jacked from how hard I was working against the wind. I’m glad it’s over 😂 I stopped a few times to have an internal hissy fit. I’m sure the four-hour nap on the overnight ferry didn’t help either. YODO.
It’s time to bank some sleep. I plan to go to bed around 8pm all week and get up at 4:30am. I know it sounds insane but I need my body to be okay with how early I need to get up for the race (the earliest bus to the start line goes at 4am I believe) and I also need it to know to go poo by 6am. LOLLLL. Talk soon!!!!! It’s happening!
JammieKomadina 