Week of September 30

Monday         I actually got on the treadmill and elliptical trainer at the office's gym today. After only about 20min, my hips were quite angry with me and I stopped. But I was awfully impressed by the fact that I could actually run only two days after a four-hour run! Couldn't do this last year!

Tuesday         Warm weather is here for a bit longer. I noticed that this evening as I was running out towards Lincoln along the path. Sure, I was trying to pick up the pace a little, but the amount of sweat that was being generated was out of proportion to the effort. My knees and hips were still sore. The City of Fredericton has re-surfaced the path in the Lincoln area and done a fantastic job.

Thursday         I took yesterday off, partly because the pain in my knees and hips was worrying me. I had gone to a concert at The Playhouse last night and something about the angle of the seats in that place puts terrible pressure on my hips. The worst part is thinking about the long flight to Athens in a month from now. Those airplane seats can be murder.
        Things were feeling great this evening, though. It was a wonderous time to be outside: one of those crisp, sparkling fall evenings with perfect light and temperature. I couldn't wait to get out to the Northside Trail. I also made this evening a tempo workout, as I will probably be doing for most workouts right up until the marathon. There was a great article in the last issue of Triathlete magazine about how effective tempo workouts are for longer distances, mostly because these workouts accustom the body to quickly clearing out lactic acid, the stuff that makes you sore and tired during a run. I did 3x10min, the first (as usual) being the most difficult. My legs are still tired from Saturday's long run. But I was inspired by the exhilerating beauty of the evening: fall colours just at their prime, the sun filtering through the trees.

Sunday         Wow, what a gorgeous day! I'm so glad I put off the long run until this afternoon. Now that the Athens Marathon is one month away, I've started my taper from last week's peak of 40km. This week's long run is 30km; next week's is 20km, and the following week as well. My sweetie left an hour earlier than I (he was doing his 40km run today), and swung by the apartment so we could complete the final three hours together. My plan was to run negative splits, so I made a strong effort to stick to small strides and an easy shuffle for the first 20km. The weather was cool and the sun was sparkling; really, conditions don't get much better for a long run. The fall colours are probably at their peak right now, although they are nowhere near as intense as they were last year. We ran easily to Marysville, climbed Crockett Street, paused for a drink, then ran back down and out to Penniac. My knees were doing OK but my hip flexor was none to happy about the run or having the water belt wrapped around it. I think both my knees and my hip flexor will be major sources of pain in Athens and I'm not quite sure what to do to prevent that.
        We turned around at the end of the trail in Penniac and I passed the water belt to my sweetie. What relief. The run back to Fredericton was quite good. I was running more easily and faster, although the occasional bout of nausea still bothered me. Having a running partner certainly makes those tough last kilometres pass faster.

Week of October 7

Tuesday         Well, I must finally be doing something right after those long runs. No stiffness whatsoever in my legs either yesterday or today! There are a couple of reasons for that - ones I should remember in Athens. They include LOTS of stretching right after the run, changing into dry clothes and covering my legs, and/or a cold bath.
      &nnsp Tonight's run was 50min on Golf Club Road. It was the first time I had to put on long tights. Yep, summer's really over, folks. My right knee was a bit stiff at the beginning of the run, and my left knee was very worrisome on the downhill stretch at the end of the run. Uh-oh.

Thursday         I was a little afraid to go out running again after my knees' behaviour on Tuesday. But the run started with a quiet 20min jog with a friend along the paths behind the Superstore and Wilmot Park. Afterward I ran back to the Sheraton and along the Green, working on 2x10min tempos. Those tempo workouts make a significant difference: my legs are much stronger, rapid foot turnover becomes much more natural, and my cardiovascular system improves. I really wanted to go for quite a long run this evening - for once I had the time - but darkness fell pretty quickly and a good chunk of the Green was closed off for the Queen's visit tomorrow.

Friday         It seemed that my head wasn't connected to the rest of my body as I was running this evening. I left for the Gibson Trail after work, meaning to do a tempo run. But my heartrate wouldn't budge from the (very low) 145 mark no matter how much I tried to speed up. And no matter how much I tried to speed up, my lungs felt like they were about to burst and my legs were too tired to do anything. It was a dizzy and disorientating run until I finally gave in and made it a slow and easy jog. That was probably the best idea anyway: it was one of those gloriously still, sparkling evenings when all you want to do is focus on your breath and the sound of your feet hitting the ground.

Saturday         Technically today should have been a 28km run but I want to get as many runs in this holiday weekend as possible, so I shortened today's run to 20km. The sun came out in the afternoon as I was running down the Nashwaak Trail, highlighting the hills in the background. Wow! The colours are at their peak, which seemed to inspire my very tired legs. I ran past Bridge Street and along the Nashwaak, then back on the Gibson Trail. Unfortunately I had a big problem with hunger, so it was a slow run/walk combination all the way home.

Sunday         My sweetie and I ran out to the end of the trail in Penniac and back, mostly because we wanted to get a peak at what would probably be the last day of the fall colours at their best. My legs were still tired as we started down Charlotte Street and I was feeling none too chatty. We took the Nashwaak Trail and kept running past Bridge Street at a steady pace. Then we took a good five-minute break on second trail bridge simply to admire the scenery and revel in the gorgeous weather and quiet of the late afternoon. We kept running toward Penniac for another ten minutes then turned around. The pace picked up a little and I really started feeling great. A water-stop at the Irving, then back on the trail again and a final strong sprint just before finishing up. My knees haven't bothered me too much lately!

Week of October 14

Tuesday         It was such a beautiful day - and I didn't get to run until it was dark. I always find this time of the year particularly stressful when it comes to fitting runs in during daylight hours and running the trails. So tonight's run was on Golf Club Road. I felt great when I left and kept up a great pace. I imagined that I was leading the run portion of a big triathlon and commentators were remarking on my steady, fast stride! OK, so I like a little creativity every now and then. My knees bothered me on the way down, so I will probably be taking tomorrow off.

Thursday         Recently I've gone from buying Runner's World magazine to Triathlete. I find the articles in Triathlete much more useful for competitive training and nutrition, as well as much more researched. One of the articles suggested that running on hard surfaces such as asphalt and concrete helped build resistance in the soft tissues around the joints in order to deal with the impact of running. The authors believed that athletes should switch to hard surfaces no later than a month before an event, and do the peak workout on a hard surface. So late in the evening I set out for my run on asphalt. Guess I'll be sticking to pavement for the next two weeks. I ran up Rookwood, along Waggoner's Lane, back down Parkhurst, across Fredericton on Aberdeen, and came back. At 30min I decided to do a ten minute tempo, which sent my heartrate over 170. I really do find that shortening my runs and putting the emphasis on speed during every single run has whipped me into shape. Guess I'll find out in two weeks.

Friday         Just a short run tonight. The "To Do" list is long and my legs were a bit tired from last night's fast pace. In yet another Triathlete magazine article, authors recommended favouring quality workouts over quantity. Ending the workout when you realise it's not going to be good one - even if it's only five minutes after starting - is actually beneficial. I'm starting to think that it's a pretty good idea. So I just kept the run down to a steady 5km and went home to stretch.

Sunday         My sweetie and I are on the island of Grand Manan this weekend, sort of a weekend getaway. Yep, he's pretty amazing: we're staying at the Marathon Inn (now isn't THAT a propos!), a lovely, romantic old bed and breakfast on the small fishing island of Grand Manan in late autumn. We got up early this morning for our last long run before Athens. It was still dark at 7:00am as we ran out of the ferry town and along the main road. What a treat to run along the coast and watch the sun rise over the ocean. I had some problems dealing with running on an empty stomach and being tired from lots of walking yesterday. We came back two hours later in sparkling sunshine.

Week of October 21

Monday         Winter is on its way. All you had to do to figure that out was look at all the layers I was wearing on my run. Jacket and turtleneck and heavy tights....I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this run (never a good sign: one should always step out with a very precise goal in mind), so all I ended up doing was one hour of fast running. Some stiffness in both knees.

Thursday         Today is October 24th: one year, to the day, that I left for Italy for the Venice Marathon, and the same day I got a full-time job. What a high point! And life has been there ever since.
Even with these inspiring thoughts, I didn't feel like running today. The truth is, I am beyond tired. But sometimes there's a difference between wanting to run and needing to run. So I headed out for about 12km, trying to keep a slow, steady rhythm. It had been a while since I had simply run without thought to pushing myself faster or doing a tempo or challenging myself in some way. A very enjoyable run in all, except for the occasional worry about my knee.

Week of October 28

Monday         Yep, I haven't been running since Thursday. I really feel rotten about that. Saturday night I did manage to get a really good bike/elliptical trainer workout in at the gym, but that's just not the same as running. All of this is because of a huge project at work - just before leaving for Greece, of course! Anyway, this morning I decided that it was time I headed out for a run. Hearing the blustery, windy forecast for this afternoon was a bit of incentive. I put my heartrate monitor on and was shocked to see that my heart was beating at 120bpm. It's usually around 55bpm first thing in the morning. The run was even worse: high 160s and even well over 170bpm. So all I did was a slow run down to the Sheraton, along the Green, across the pedestrian bridge, and back home. But...no knee problems!

Tuesday         Another morning very much like yesterday's. Actually, the skies were a clear blue and the wind was whipping the leaves across the streets as I ran. Running across the pedestrian bridge was an adventure, what with the crosswind. My heartrate was extremely high but I wasn't feeling as terrible as yesterday morning. This might be my last run before the marathon. Oooooooh....

Thursday         Guess what? We're off to Greece!! I'll be keeping y'all informed and writing about every excrutiating mile in marathon. Go to The Greece Trip .

November 15 2002: I'm back from Greece and the marathon is over. It was a tough one, too. All that training was worth it! However, there won't be any scheduled training from now until January, when I set new goals for myself. Although I'll still be out running every now and then, I won't be updating this site until January. Thanks for reading, and happy running!