Montreal Scotia Bank Half 1:16:37

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The few days I had in between getting back from California and leaving for Montreal was a bit wild with visiting family. I did a 75′ run on the trails on Monday before work [4:27 avg - HR 125]. I felt very good, no soreness from the race.

Tuesday was a double with a morning run of 47′ [16.86km] around Swan Lake  [4:39 avg - HR 117] and 29′ [6.47] after work on the trails at UVic [4:35 avg - HR 124]

Jon gave me 6 x 3′ (1′)@ 10km effort for Wednesday’s wo. I ran three intervals out and three back on the back stretch of the lakes. The wo was better than last week’s. I felt smoother and was better at  keeping the turn-over quick and light:  

3:38 – 3:32- 3:28 – 3:27 – 3:31 – 3:20

Packing for Montreal was a cinch. I never got a chance to completely unpack from California so a  few clean pair of socks and underwear, running gear, jammies and that was me packed! The early morning flight departure was brutal, otherwise the trip was good. I did a run with Mal shortly after I arrived. We did an easy 60′ on Mount Royal. It was great fun running up the mountain with Mal…like old times! I crashed hard that night, completely exhausted. Friday morning Matt and I did an easy 40′ around the park at the base of the mountain.  In the afternoon we went to Boutique Endurance, a running store just north of the city on Saint Denis . The rest of the day was spent being lazy which is exactly what I needed. Saturday we did 30′ easy with some strides down a stinky, greasy ally next to the hotel. I forgot how grey and dirty Montreal is at this time of the year. It didn’t help that the weather was lousy but I found being  back in the citya bit depressing. Not being able to see trees, mountains, the ocean…no wonder I was so desperate to move from Montreal! Other than a quick shop downtown, Matt and I basically lazed around for the rest of the day.

We were relieved when we woke up race morning to find the rain had stopped. The sky was grey and it was pretty cool but it didn’t look like it was going to rain. I decided to wear shorts and even thought of ditching my arm warmers. Thank god I kept them on. About 5′ into the race it started to rain and the winds along the basin and near the water (which was the majority of the race) were relentless. Krista, Rody, Emily and I ran in a nice little pack with a few men for a good 12km of the race. We knew there was a woman quite a ways up ahead but the pace we were going at was just fine for us and we figured we would eventually catch her (it was a nice thought at least). We beautifully paced through the first three 5kms splits in or just under 18′ and I was still feeling strong. The guys had dropped off after about 14km, so us girls were left to get at it. I had accidentally dropped my gel about 2km into the race. By 8km I was feeling hungry and by 15km I was feeling drained. This is where I started to fall off pace and fast as my legs started to seize up from the cold. They weren’t responding as I watched Emily pull away and then Krista. I tried with everything I had to keep with them but there was nothing I could do. From 16km on it was all about trying to keep moving forward and I pushed hard. I put all my focus on keeping my my cadence quick and trying to hang in there. The finish line couldn’t have come sooner! I was shocked I ran under 77′  as I could have sworn I was going so slowly in the last 5km that I had added 3 extra minutes to my time. Last week I was disappointed with my time but happy with the win. This race I was disappointed with my placement but really pleased with my time even though it was a minute slower than my PB from last fall. I truly wasn’t expecting to run as fast as I did after dying so much in the last quarter of the race. With the lack of good recovery these past few months and the weather conditions, I wasn’t expecting much so in light of that, I now believe that a 74′ half is possible for me! I just need more recovery in my training weeks and get into another fast course race with fast women again. So fourth female and first Master. It was really great to see such depth in the women’s race. Thanks to the organizers of the race for treating us so well! It was a quality race and I hope to get another stab at this fast course again next year!

I was the lucky pick from random doping control. I drank a lot of water right after I crossed the line and was able to squeeze out enough to fill the cup. Matt and I then did a sad-looking 10′ shuffle, frozen and wet before heading back to the hotel by metro. We had a great brunch before catching our flight home.  Matt ran a terrific race especially considering his knee was still swollen from Carlsbad. He felt he had more to give so more to come from him I am sure. Malcolm…my dear 55 year old friend ran a stunning 1:20:03! Not too shabby Mal!!