Growing in Confidence :-)

I've been in the running business long enough to know that it's full of ups and downs - some days we run and everything just clicks into place, whilst other times we have a bad race or a string of bad training sessions and our confidence starts to hit rock bottom. Thankfully, the runners I've met over the years are generally an optimistic bunch of folks and they don't tend to dwell too much on the "rather forget" days.

About 5 years ago, I was hit by my first major running injury - the dreaded plantar fasciitis. I'd had some fantastic races prior to the injury, but then I did a 78km mountain race in Switzerland which I wasn't prepared for, and the rocky descents that I had to contend with completely battered my feet which led to the injury woes. Like most runners, I kept running despite the pain but with every race, my performances were getting even worse. I started to lose my confidence and avoided racing for a while, but my passion for the sport I love meant that after a couple of months of keeping my head low, I couldn't resist the temptation and figured that I would much prefer to deal with the pain rather than sit at home losing fitness and gaining in weight.

I guess I was one of the lucky ones. After about 12 months of gritting my teeth on every run, the pain subsided of its own accord and I found that I was running pain free for the first time in a long time. But the damage was done - psychologically I'd lost my confidence and I was afraid to push too hard in training as I dreaded the thought of being faced by yet another running related injury, It took a couple of years before I started to push myself hard again, but even then, I never seemed  able to get anywhere near the level of runner that I used to be.

Fast forward to February 2015, and I can honestly say that this past couple of weeks have been absolutely awesome with regards to my running. I have my coach Laura to thank for this. She's been planning my sessions since October last year, she hasn't overwhelmed me with things but she's had me working hard and putting in the effort, building things up gradually, and this past couple of weeks, things really have start to click. My confidence is growing with every running step I take, and I'm getting excited about really testing myself at my first major target event of the year - the London Marathon in April.

Yesterday I raced a cross country race up on Nose Hill in the North West of Calgary. As the name implies, it is a hilly course and I'm the first to admit that hills are definitely not my strength these days. I was a little apprehensive at the start as I knew the first kilometer is all uphill, and with two laps of the course, I knew that the hill could potentially throw a spanner in the works and cost me a good race.

I had a reasonably good start and tried to focus on just getting to the top,  knowing that it soon flattened out before we headed back down through the trees and started the ascent for a second time. I was lying in 3rd place in the ladies race although the leading ladies weren't too far ahead, and I was also conscious of another lady just behind me. I tried not to think too much about my position and just concentrated instead on trying to get up the hill as quick as I could as I knew that I would start to make gains come the flats and the downhills.

Start of Nose Hill XC Race

I didn't let myself down, and after a couple of kilometers or so, I started to overtake some of the men, pulling away from the chasing lady and gaining on the ladies ahead. I tried not to focus too much on my position, concentrating instead on maintaining my pace and pushing hard, completely surprising myself when I suddenly realised that good friend Alan was now just a few strides ahead of me and I was about to overtake him too (Alan is a fantastic runner and usually miles ahead of me, but in all fairness he has been suffering with a knee problem recently).

At the start of the second lap, the two leading ladies were still in striking distance, but I knew that once I started the climb up the hill for the second time, the gap would widen and I would have no chance of catching them. I didn't mind too much as I already knew I wouldn't win the series outright by now but I would still  win my age group category, so the race became a battle with myself and a test of how hard I could push myself.

Having fun at Nose hill XC - 3rd lady :-)

I eventually finished in 37.17 - almost 2 minutes faster than  my time last year on the same course - and I was absolutely over the moon with my run. Aside from the hills, I'd felt fit and strong all the way around and I really couldn't have put in any more effort than I did on the day.

The result fed my confidence once again and having been discussing the Hypothermic Half Marathon earlier in the week with a friend, I made the decision to race that the following day. My schedule had me doing a 15km trail run at best effort, but instead I opted to run 21km on the roads to determine how fit I really am at the moment and to enable me to feed back to Laura to help me to be even more prepared for London.

The Hypothermic Half Marathon in Calgary has 2 waves - one starting at 9am and the "Sleepy Head" option that started at 1pm in the afternoon. I'm not really a morning runner unless I'm racing, and with the morning wave being sold out, I was entered for the afternoon event. Those that know me well will know that I like my food - running brings the added bonus of being able to eat absolutely anything within reason, and with the race starting at my usual lunch time slot, I was worried that I would be absolutely ravenous before I even started. A huge bowl of porridge (with milk and sugar - none of this salt and water for me!) and a few rounds of toast later, I felt I had sufficient energy to keep me going until after the race.

My main goal for the half marathon was to go sub 90 minutes. I felt that I was fit enough and fast enough at the moment to make that achievable, but what I didn't know is how far under 90 minutes I could go. I knew that my PB of 1 hour 20 minutes was way beyond my reach these days, but I felt that I could perhaps run around 1.28 if all went to plan.

Despite the late start, the temperatures in Calgary were around -14 but feeling much colder with the windchill. It was a lovely and sunny afternoon and the wind was barely noticeable at the start and I found that I was running around 4.05 km pace and was managing to keep it going. The time of day meant that the pathways alongside the river were extremely busy with folks making the most of the beautiful but chilly conditions, and we had to encounter tons of people jogging or walking along with dogs or baby strollers. Thankfully the majority of them realised a race was going on and they moved to the side of the path, but some of them were pretty traumatised by a couple of hundred folks approaching from behind and scaring them half to death as they whizzed by.

I was running strong and went through 10km in 41 minutes and being an out and back route, I reached the midway turnaround in just shy of 43 minutes - if I could keep this going, I could run a 1.26, something that earlier in the day had seemed completely unreachable. But the return leg highlighted just how windy it really was as we were hit with a headwind that paralysed the face due to being so cold and required that extra bit of effort to maintain the pace. A 15km split of 62.30 gave me a PB for the distance (I've only ever done two 15km races - the Spaghetti Western and Meerbrook and my previous best was 63 mins a couple of years ago), and with just 6km to go, I was by now convinced that sub 90 was on the cards.

The last 5km really took it out of me, and my pace actually dropped to around 4.20's. My legs had started to tighten up and despite my best efforts, I couldn't speed up. I couldn't help but keep checking my watch, and with 1km to go, I had 5 minutes to spare.

I crossed the line as 1st lady and 4th overall in a time of 1.29.14. I was once again over the moon and so happy to have achieved what I'd set out to do.It was my fastest half marathon time on Canadian soil, and to do it in such chilly temperatures so early on the year, without having done too many longer tempo runs, made me realise that the training I am doing is starting to bear fruit. 

Post Race - Hypothermic Half Marathon - Fort Calgary

With 10 weeks or so to go before the London Marathon and assuming that I remain fit, healthy and uninjured, I'm getting ever more confident that I will once again break the 3 hour barrier for the marathon. The good news about London is that it is at sea level rather that 3,500 ft like Calgary, it will be much warmer, I'm extremely familiar with the course, and I'm hoping to see lots of old friends during the race that will mean we can support each other on race day and help us all to meet our goals.

For now though, it's back to the grindstone with more hard, focused training this week before the Frozen Ass 50km on February 16th. This year I won't be racing the Frozen Ass nor going for the hat trick of wins - instead I will be pacing a friend around the course and hoping that she will achieve her goal of going sub 5 hours for 50k and smashing her PB. It's going to be a great day for her I'm sure, and I'm already planning the celebrations :-)