Helen's Running Journal

June-July 2002

We must be the change we
wish to see in the world.

Mohandas Gandhi

2001-2002 Journals	2003-2009 Journals	Photos and Travels	Other Stuff
2001 Training Journal	Jan-Sept 2003	1999 and 2001 Pictures	Why Do I Run?
January - March 2002	Sept - Dec 2003	The Northside Trail	2002 Training Program
April and May 2002	Jan-Oct 2004	The 2001 Venice Trip!	Triathlon Life Lessons
June and July 2002	2005 Journal	2002 Pictures	The 2004 Timberman Tri!
August 2002	2006 Journal	The 2002 Greece Trip!	The 2005 Triathlons (and Ironman)!
September 2002	2007 Journal	2003 Pictures	The 2006 Triathlons
October 2002	2008 Journal	The 2003 UK-France Trip!	Technical Articles
	2009 Journal	The 2004 Egypt Trip!	Training Programs
		The 2007 South Africa Trip!

2002 Goals: Complete a Half-Ironman Triathlon
and
Sub-4 Hour Marathon

Week of June 3: Monday I'll be reporting from Sydney, Nova Scotia for the next two weeks. My first trip to Cape Breton, where I'm staying at the Coast Guard College. You should see this place: it's like a spa retreat. My first run was in the late evening. I left the College campus and passed through a deserted Port of Sydney. It was eerie to run by such large buildings and vehicles and not see a soul. The drive had tired me a little, but I was in fantastic shape compared to Saturday's disaster. After the Port I rejoined a quiet country road that hugged the coast. It was an idyllic run: lovely evening sun setting over the bay, country houses and farms, apple trees in full blossom everywhere. I doubled back and decided to get back into the College by the small footbridge I had left, one of only two entrances to the campus, only to find out that Security had locked a gate across the bridge. Doh!; Tuesday Another beautiful evening, but with a sore ankle (I had twisted it in Odell Park on Saturday. Did ANYTHING go right on Saturday?!), I decided to keep the run short and return early to do weights. Well, that was the plan, anyway. What actually happened was that I got lost (again) and ended up running for two hours. I had simply taken Westmount Road, which runs along the shore toward Sydney, thinking I could do a loop. Guess not. I turned back after an hour of running. On the bright side, I seemed to be running much better in the second hour. In fact, the first half of any run is always unusually difficult. Is this normal?; Friday I've taken a few days off to let my legs - and my pride - recover from two longs runs and getting lost twice. I headed out tonight expecting more aching legs and short breath, but I was surprised to find myself running almost effortlessly. My running shoes are now outfitted with inserts from Wal-Mart, since I've noticed sore knees and a possible ITB comeback. I ran along the same quiet country road I had been on Monday evening under grey skies. After five or six kilometres the road fell right against the shore where the wind was strong and the waves were being driven against the beach. Salt water makes the most beautiful foaming sound when waves crash. I spent some time running in this enchanted state, only waves and wind to listen to. On my way back, I had another treat: the sunset. The sun managed to peek between the far shore and a break in the cloudline, and for the remainder of my run I watched the sky go from a delicate peach to a pink to a brilliant violet that stretched right across the entire sky. A run I won't be forgetting.; Saturday On the road after lunch, just as the last wisp of cloud disappeared over the horizon and the sky turned into a clear, endless blue> It was very cool and windy and I knew I was going to have problems with getting enough to drink. But the run was spectacular, again. I did the same route as last night, only going farther. Followed the shore the entire way, listening to the wind and the waves and smelling the salt water. These are the sort of running conditions I dream of. Coming back was unexpectedly hard: the wind was difficult, the hills were long, and I was beginning to get too thirsty to be able to run long without getting dizzy. Topped it all off by sitting on a nice bench in the sun and a soda.BR>

Week of June 10: Wednesday Funny weather this evening: it's so damp you can see your breath, but it's also quite warm. I decided on a short run (12km) this evening since I hadn't run in a few days. This being my last evening in Nova Scotia, I thought I'd take another look at the route along the shore. The run was hard, if only because I hadn't run in a few days. A heartrate that didn't stay under 165 didn't help either.!; Friday An easy 7km on the treadmill at the gym this evening. I noticed that I hadn't felt any hip pain for at least two weeks even though I haven't been doing any yoga lately.; Saturday I was a bit apprehensive about a 26km run today. After all, I hadn't really been running all that much lately. But weather conditions were perfect (overcast, cool but still T-short weather) and I was quite rested. I started off by looping twice in Odell Park, which is always refreshing. My legs didn't feel too sluggish and things seemed to be doing fine. I focused on pacing, keeping things slow and steady. Lo and behold, the next thing I knew I was on the other side of the river and at 1hr30min. Stopped for a drink at the Irving Station in Marysville, then made my way back home. This was certainly one of my better runs in that I didn't seem to be suffering from as many dizzy spells as usual. Will look into iron supplements just in case.

Week of June 17: Monday Tonight's speed workout was done on the treadmill again. I really do miss speed workouts on the old track at College Field, but of course College Field doesn't resemble anything close to the quiet, secluded spot it once was. And the giant chain-link fence surrounding it is a bit of a deterrent. So I was off to the Y to do my 6x400m sprints. I had plenty of energy and my stride felt strong, but I still seemed to have problems running faster than my usual shuffle. Speed is not exactly something that comes naturally to me; I'm beginning to realise that I have to focus on running faster during almost every workout. Ouch.; Wednesday Finally, a tempo workout! I've skipped the last three, which is probably not a good idea when you're as slow as I am. Tonight was the perfect night for running: perfect temperature, no clouds of flies hovering along the trails, beautiful golden sun in a clear sky. OK, you get the picture. As I started down Charlotte Street I could feel the effects yoga has had on my legs. Stretching out and finding a nice stride seemed a little easier than usual. Cross-training more than usual has also been a big help. I made it across the bridge and to the Gibson Trail in record time, even though the fast tempo pace felt a bit laboured. Geez, am I actually faster than before? The highlight of the run was the return from Marysville. I must have found a posture or a stride that had eluded me before, because I suddenly realised that I was feeling very refreshed! Yep, the more I ran, the better I felt. That hasn't happened in a long time.; Thursday A little windier than last night but still beautiful outside. My legs were still a bit sore from yesterday's tempo workout, but I was surprised to note that they weren't feeling heavy or weak. I think the yoga is having an even larger effect than I could have initially thought. I did the Northside Trail this evening, looping around to Devon rather than coming back on the Gibson Trail. Worked a bit on my posture and experimented with where I should be looking when I run (to the side, oddly enough.); Saturday The first run of the year under hot conditions. From now on, I think I'll switch my long runs to the morning. I didn't bring a PowerBar with me this time, even though I had decided to make the run 26km long rather than 20km (to accommodate next week's triathlon.) Looped around Odell Park twice. With little wind, clear skies, and warm temperatures, the Park was breathtakingly beautiful. I felt fine for the first 1hr40min, but began to suffer from increasingly worse heartburn after that. I think I still haven't found the right balance between eating too much (and suffering the heartburn) and eating too little (and putting up with a sudden drop in blood pressure and sugar.)

Week of June 24: Tuesday I REALLY wanted to do the speed workout (originally scheduled for yesterday) on a track, something I haven't managed once this year due to that awful chain-link fence around College Field. So after supper and a one-hour bike ride I checked out the track at the Nashwaak Middle School. Not the best of tracks: the gravel on the surface was so deep that my feet were unsteady. I tried to do two of the three 800m-400m-200m sprints that were part of the workout. It was tough going, although I had to keep reminding myself that it was a very hot night and that I had biked up hills for an hour. Still, not much improvement in speed since last year.; Wednesday I almost didn't make it out for my run this evening. I actually had wanted to spend some time doing yoga. So I compromised by shortening the run to 8km (instead of 12km) and following up with part of my yoga tape. I also wanted a change in scenery. For that, I looped one of the trails in Odell Park three times. My legs were sluggish and tired at first, but I was amazed to see how much speed I picked up and how fluid my stride became as I finished each loop. I really should start doing more short sprints or tempos early in each workout to see any improvement in my running.; Sunday The First Triathlon!! Well, folks, it arrived: the day of my first triathlon. I had been thinking about getting into triathlons for soooooo long, and after years of doing so, here I was in Miramichi, New Brunswick, at the Enclosure Park with 50 other people, waiting at the rocky base of a train bridge for the swim to start. Nervousness was more or less gone, mostly because I had spent yesterday afternoon examining the transition area, the river, the run course. At 10:30am on Sunday morning, the race official yelled "Go!" and we pushed ourselves off the rocks into the water. Then came one of the worst moments of my life.
Since January I had been swimming in the pool at the YMCA, and in the past few weeks my workout had consisted of basically swimming 800m (the length of the Miramichi swim) as fast as I could. But as I discovered within moments of diving off the rocks, swimming in a river with an ocean tide turning is not the same as swimming in a crystal-clear pool. OK, OK, it sounds obvious to anyone reading this. To my credit, all I can say is that I had expected to be somewhat unnerved. But I had never expected to go straight into a full-blown anxiety attack. As soon as I realised that I couldn't see ahead of my in the murky water and that I couldn't see the bottom, I panicked. I was absolutely convinced I was drowning - no, not that I was GOING to drown, but that I WAS drowning. Trust me, there's a difference. As I started gasping for air, I started taking in huge amounts of water since the river was a little rough. I panicked even more. I tried to do a few front crawl strokes, but every time I put my head down the panic returned when I concluded again that I couldn't see the bottom and was therefore about to sink. Pride came to the rescue: the only thing that kept me going was the humiliating image of someone in the rescue boat hauling me out of the water and bringing me back to shore in front of all the people watching the event. So I flipped onto my back and did a back crawl all the way to the shore. All this time my lungs were exploding with effort and I couldn't seem to settle my breathing rate. I focused on the sky, thought about technique, did ANYTHING to keep my mind off the fact that I was swimming in a river. I went from being dead last to moving up four spots by the time I got out of the water, arriving - by some minor miracle - right at the steps of the transition area (given the current and the fact that I hadn't been looking ahead of me, this was truly incredible.)
I was absolutely and completely disoriented when I stood up to run for the steps. The dizziness was nauseating; my lungs were burning with the immense cardiovascular effort of getting me through the swim as well as keeping me alive through a panic attack. The wonderful race official at the bottom of the steps cheered me on and reminded me that I had indeed finished my first open water swim ever. I went straight up to the top of the world and perched on Cloud Nine for the remainder of the event. After all, after years of dreaming about this, here I was actually DOING a triathlon!! I ran up to my bike, still dizzy, threw down my cap and goggles, dipped my feet in the bucket of water I had placed by the back wheel, wiped each foot on the towel, pulled on my running shoes, tightened the elastic laces, put on my helmet, unracked the bike, ran out of transition, and off I went. I had mentally rehearsed this transition so many times, so convinced I was going to mess this up, that I surprised myself by being so good at it.
The 20km bike ride was phenomenal. I've always been an exceptionately strong cyclist, and on my brother's beautiful racing Marinoni I felt like a dynamo. Cycling is something I know instinctively: knowing the precise moment to shift gears, how to draft vehicles, the mind games and focus to play when facing headwinds and hills. All of this I know so well. The first 10km were uphill and into a headwind, but my mind knew how to handle these. I also got a boost by passing three cyclists. The return to the transition was a little rougher than the first transition: I was tired and beginning to realise that I had gone too hard on the bike. I racked the bike, put on my cap, and stumbled toward the run course in tiny steps.
The 6km run was three loops around the Enclosure Park trail. By now the heat of the day was intense and suffocating. I was passed by several men, but did manage to crawl by two women. What surprised me most was my breath rate: it was as if I had been sprinting heavily and, no matter how much I slowed down, my lungs would simply not recover. The fatigue in my legs was also considerable. I finished in 1hr30min - faster than the female winner in my age category did last year. As the race oorganizer told me the afternoon before: "If you win, you get a medal; if you lose, you get in shape. It's a win-win situation." I won!

Week of July 1: Thursday It's not like today was the first run of the week, it's just that it was the first one not on a treadmill thanks to a break in the crushing heat and humidity we've been experiencing lately. Two massive thunderstorms passed through Fredericton this evening. I laced up my shoes after the second one, quite late in the evening, and headed out into the peace and calm that comes after a storm. It was great: the town was deserted, the paths were fresh, and the air had the marvelous stillness to it that only comes after great movement. This seemed to affect my running as I strode down Charlotte Street, headed back up the Green to the Sheraton, and looped Golf Club Road. There's something about completing a triathlon that has made me feel like some sort of elite athlete, and that seems to have been how I was running. My strides were strong and regular, my foot turnover was very rapid, and I felt great.; Saturday There are fewer entries to the running journal than last year because I'm spending a considerable amount of time doing different workouts, including the gym, swimming, yoga, and cycling. I'm not sure how all of this is affecting my running. I think my endurance is slightly less than it was last year at this time, but my speed doesn't seem to have been affected.
Because the St. George Triathlon is in two weeks rather than next week, I've changed my long run distances a bit for the remainder of July. The 30km run I had planned for today has been bumped to next week, and the 20km run for July27th will instead be the triathlon. So today I just kept the run to a regular 16km run on the Gibson Trail. I was achingly slow, thanks partly to a nasty spill off my bike yesterday in the parking lot at Killarney Lake. But I never once suffered the dizzy spells or nausea that has been plagueing me all spring and summer.

Week of July 8: Monday I was really looking forward to doing 6x800m sprints this evening. It's one of my favourite speed workouts. I started from the YMCA and didn't get very far before cramps and nausea took over. They grew increasingly severe, so much so that I decided to turn back and call it a day. But somewhere along the road I started feeling a bit better, so I swung down to the Sheraton, planning to spend another 30min quietly running along the river. The bugs were terrible! So back up Rookwood Avenue I went and into Odell Park. The evening was quiet without a breath of wind - the kind of temperature I enjoy. I did three loops in the hills, remarking yet again how odd it is that my stride seems to get faster and longer after each loop.; Wednesday I felt stronger than usual last night on the treadmill at the gym, and this was AFTER spending 30min swimming in Killarney Lake. So something must be improving, especially when I start noticing that my heartrate has remained lower than usual for an extended period of time. Sure enough, tonight's tempo workout was a breeze. Aside from huge swaths of white flies, I had a great time with my 3x10min intervals. My heartrate increased with each interval, but I was also able to maintain a strong pace with little thought or effort. Once again, I think the cross-training for the triathlon is having a huge positive impact on my running: my aerobic capacity is shooting up thanks to the swimming, my rhythm is constant thanks to the biking.; Saturday Up bright and early this morning for a 30km run. It was clear, sunny morning with a little wind and no on around - perfect for running. I packed a PowerBar and headed out to Odell Park, feeling surprisingly strong after a hard bike/run workout last night at the gym. Looped the small circle in Odell Park twice and then decided to do Golf Club Road as well for the hills. If you've seen the elevation profile for the Athens Marathon, you'll know that some hill workouts are in order! I managed all the hills without barely a change in pace, then ran back down to the Sheraton, along the Green, and across the river. Everything went remarkably well until about 2hr30min, which is when my legs started feeling stiff and the fatigue began catching up with me. No dizzy spells, though!

Week of July 15: Tuesday Took yesterday off after spending a glorious Sunday hiking up Mount Carleton, the Maritimes' highest peak (which isn't saying much.) I've also been noticing some ITB pain in both knees lately. Tonight, however, I was in fine form. I decided to do Golf Club Road in order to make up for the fact that I don't have a speed workout scheduled this week. The weather turned into beautiful, sunny, summery conditions when I started down Charlotte Street. Chugged up the hills without a problem, and then started focusing on picking up speed and maintaining a strong pace.; Wednesday Lovely afternoon weather - until I got home from work, of course! I had decided to do a bike ride before trying my tempo workout so as to get used to running with the dreaded "bike legs." For those who are wondering about this, I'm referring to that terrible sensation of having tree stumps attached to your hips when you get off your bike and first start running. It seems as if you're so slow that you're running in place - with twice the effort. I started down Charlotte Street feeling sorry for myself and my poor legs. Somewhere along the Green my pace began to pick up. I seemed to have a lot of difficulty maintaining a steady, high heartrate for the 20min tempo. I was flying on the pedestrian bridge, and made it to the other side in a record 24min48sec.; Thursday I tried another brick yesterday: one hour (24km) of biking, followed by a 13km run. This is all to get used to that terrible "elephant legs" feeling when I get off the bike and start running. It took much longer than yesterday to recover during the run, although I wasn't much slower than usual. However, it wasn't until I was about 7km into the run that I started picking up some speed and feeling better. Some knee problems again. No running tomorrow: time to get back to yoga.; Saturday Cool conditions for today's long run: cloudy, grey skies and a good breeze. I shortened the run from 36km to 30km due to the upcoming triathlon. Running 30km twice in a row, rather than continually pushing the distance up, is a good confidence builder. My legs didn't feel as energetic as they had last week, although I was still surprised at how well they were holding up after two brick workouts. Several loops in Odell Park, some long stretches on Golf Club Road, then down to the Sheraton, along the river, and across to Marysville. I stuck to water and a PowerBar for replenishment instead of buying a Gatorade. That might have explained why the last 30min of the run were quite difficult. It might also have been the heartburn. Hm, I thought I was over that.

Go on to July and August entries.

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Last updated July 29, 2002 by Helen Rooney