Congratulations to all of you who participated in Scotiabank Half Marathon this morning. What a perfect day for a race. I collected online results of those Alma runners I knew were running or I met before, during and after the race. Our running group is strong as the placement in each age group category clearly demonstrates. Janet placed 3rd in her age group and Helen qualified for New York Marathon next year. Well done!!
Some of you were cheering and supporting us along the course: Jacquie, Erika, Ralph, Karen, Madelene, and Carsten. Thank you!
Recovery - No Speed Work and plenty of Rest
In general, for each mile of racing at maximum pace, there should be 1 day of recovery. I’m planning to have one week of recovery and decrease my mileage by 50% next week. I will do a gentle trail run on Tuesday evening and a easy run on Friday and Sunday morning. No speed work. No challenging pace on long runs. In case if I’m tired during a run, I will stop and walk or cut my run short. Cross training such as swimming, walking, or biking is perfect to speed up recovery. As far as diet is concerned, I will try to have one protein shake in the morning and one in the evening to speed up process of muscle repair. And of course, coconut water and Chia fresca will keep me hydrated.
You can learn more about half-marathon recovery from the experts on active trainer website
Race or not to Race part 2
Erika and Madelene were surprised seeing me running flat-out. Well ... sitting on a bus to UBC at 6 am this morning I had few moments to think about my previous experience with half-marathons. Running Vancouver Half in 2002, my friend Kris and I were conversational and running in the middle of a pack. I was pacing a friend who was trying to qualify for NY Marathon in Fall Classic Half last year. The First Half race in February this year went south very quickly as I aggravated IT Band injury. Maybe today was the first time I could go fast for 13 miles? My dilemma to race or to take it easy was eventually resolved a couple of minutes before the gun went off. I did a quick “system” scan: no injuries, good health, solid sleep last night, pasta dinner yesterday, timely trip to the porta-potty, and of course an amazing weather. It seems that Running Gods gave us this perfect day and it would be such a waste not to take advantage of it. My strategy was to run at my new marathon race pace 6:20 min/mile. After a couple of miles, however, I had to admit the pace was too fast and had to slow down, finishing this race with an average pace of 6:27 min/mile . My time goal for NY Marathon in November may be unrealistic. I will go through 6 weeks of intensive tempo runs and speed work in August and September first before reassessing my time goal for NY.
Name
|
Place
Age Group
|
Place
Overall
|
Bib
|
Age Group
|
Gun Time
|
Chip Time
|
Janet
|
3/140
|
402
|
2995
|
W 50-54
|
1:41:17
|
1:41:08
|
Glenda
|
16/245
|
827
|
607
|
W 45-49
|
1:49:33
|
1:48:59
|
Helen
|
16/344
|
398
|
2098
|
W 40-44
|
1:41:11
|
1:40:46
|
Sandra
|
40/344
|
871
|
1962
|
W 40-44
|
1:50:25
|
1:49:49
|
Bob
|
69/111
|
2208
|
1378
|
M 55-59
|
2:09:12
|
2:07:21
|
Jacek
|
4/184
|
62
|
1253
|
M 45-49
|
1:25:12
|
1:25:05
|
Paul
|
77/222
|
708
|
1651
|
M 40-44
|
1:47:24
|
1:36:54
|
Andrew
|
34/222
|
280
|
2266
|
M 40-44
|
1:37:50
|
1:37:34
|
Sebastien
|
16/235
|
104
|
2786
|
M 30-34
|
1:29:16
|
1:29:06
|
