Tales of Trails, Mountains and Rocky Roads

So, in brief, last weekend’s 10km race went far better than planned. I expected to run a time and pace similar to previous races in recent weeks and had even penciled in a target time of around 41.00 to 41.30. Needless to say, I was absolutely gob smacked to finish in 40.13 and win the ladies race again, although I’m pretty certain that Anne and Joanna were both hot on my heels throughout the run! A flatter course along the river was in my favour and with the first 6-7km feeling   comfortable at around 3.55km pace, I honestly believed that maybe, just maybe, I could dip under 40 minutes for the first time in about 4 or 5 years. For some reason, I’d felt quite relaxed and fairly confident about this race, and yet I struggled mentally whilst racing and the kilometer markers that usually came swift and fast seemed to go on forever. The legs started to feel heavy in the last 3k – probably a result of the recent marathon training - and I found my pace slowing to around 4.10 pace wi...

With just 3 weeks remaining until I take part in my second Calgary Marathon, I’m really pleased with how things have gone. I’ve managed to get in more long runs compared to last year, and with a few good cross country races during the winter months, followed by a couple of 10k road races, a half marathon and a 50km race since January, I am starting to feel much fitter and stronger. Whilst I would like to do well in the marathon and intend to target a 3 to 3.10 marathon time, I also have my 100km trail race in Edmonton just a couple of weeks later, so I need to make sure I don’t drain the batteries too much so that I can recover quickly from the marathon and ensure I’m feeling strong for the 100km too. With competing in such a variety of distances over different terrain, my training has to be quite varied, and so I’ve been mixing rep sessions and 10k tempo runs on the flat, with runs of up to 40km on hillier terrain, as well as trying to do a bit of off-roading to prepare my legs f...