Quarter Marathon Race ...

The only "quarter marathon" (10.549km) in Canada. I ran in this race and can see some improvement on my time. My average pace was 4:04. Considering the heat and how poorly my race result was in Waterloo, it is fairly good. The volunteers for this one did a really good job! The draw was done ahead of time and peoples numbers were posted on the board for them to come and get them. The amount food was good considering there was only 85 people that were registered online and over 370 ran in the race. The race was an out only race. It made it interesting. I thought that I was back at about 10th or 12th and ended up in 5th.
One of the differences I have seen here in the last 2 races is how people warm-up/cool down. The people that ran in the races in London would go for a short run and then stretches and strides. I did not see people go for a short jog before the run. Maybe I went off the wrong way or something. I did not even see people go for a cool down. Anyway here is the map of were the run was held:
One of the things I have been trying to do is go out easy/slower than my goal pace. In attempts to increase my overall pace for the rest of the race. I felt like I was going slower, but my first kilometer was 3:50. Here is a low down of the paces for the rest of the race:
34:52,3:53,3:56,4:00,4:16,4:05,4:27,4:19,4:08,1:56,

A lot faster for the first 5k then the second. A fairly large hill came around 8th km. I was passing people and I don't think anyone passed me. I hope that I can keep that faster pace, below the 3:56/km for the South Huron race in 2 weeks.

Darlington Nuclear Park

Sounds like a scary title for a running blog, but I think this area is great for running. I would go back again. It is not as long as the South Huron trail, but it is wide and allows for multiple use. The trail is a chip trail, some with open spots and some with trees shading the area. I ran this on Sunday afternoon (big breakfast a couple of hours before) 23km (7 laps) and I felt great! In 1:58. I did not feel like I was pushing myself. That's 5:02/km!


Here is where it is and the loop:
It was not level. If you go one way there is a long slow hill to run up. If you go the other way there is a shorter steeper hill. Here is an elevation plot:


I turned around after the 4th time around. The elevation plot is not very consistent. 20m?

To Marathon or not to?

I am struggling with this question: Should I wait another year to try and run a good marathon and see if I can get my 10k times back down to a sub 40, or should I train to run a marathon thinking that the result may not be a great time? But, if I don't do one soon, and if I get injured again I am afraid I may just get frustrated and never run one ever.

I am currently running around 55 to 60k/week over 6 days. 2 Quality work outs / week. For the last 2 months a long run of 16 to 20k/week. Now my long runs are 23k. I also bike with the family about once a week for a couple of hours. I feel good, other then the extra 15 pounds that I have been carrying since my best weight.

I have run two 10k races. One in Whitby and placed 3rd overall (hehehehe sounds good) my time was only 41:23, still not too bad considering. Another in Waterloo, with a not so good time of 43:26. It was warm and humid and mentally challenging to finish the last half. I was hoping to have the first time around 20 minutes, but it was over 21, from then on it was really difficult to keep going.

The day before the race Ken took a video of my stride. It looks like I am still overstriding:



After that race, I realized that I want to run well and I better start concentrating on eating and training properly. I have to admit that I had a few too many coolers the week before.

I have mostly been doing easy runs, strides and some ABC's. I did a T-Pace of 15 minutes on a rubberized track. Thanks to Jessie from the Whitby Tigers running club for letting me know about the track.
If I use my VDOT from my best resent race, it comes out to be 50. My T-pace should be about 1:42/400m. I was running a little faster per lap, in the range of 1:38 to 1:41. The breathing was a little heavy and it was difficult to keep my form. This Thursday I will work on running slower for my tempo run.

I hope to keep the postings coming, not just about my running and training, but add a little twist about running in Ontario. Write about some of the best places where I have run for training and races. Also places where I would like to run races.