Summerfast 10km 2013

Well I made it through the break successfully and was only a little whiny near the end. It's funny how you can talk about how much you want the break during training, but then when you actually are on the break, you are waiting for it to end. Upon returning from my break, the initial runs felt slightly rough. This tends to be normal for me. My body gets used to the routine of running and when I stop that, it is as though it forgets the motion. It didn’t take long to start feeling good again, and I had some pretty awesome workouts where I was just flying. 

Prior to the break I had discussed possibly running the Summerfast 10km hosted by VFAC and it was decided that I could do it; however, it would be treated more so like another workout and a way to get a solid effort with others. This means, no taper and less of a chance at “fresh” feeling legs. 

I headed over to Vancouver on Friday night with the company of Damian Allen. He was lucky to share the joys of the ferry and bus with me! I then headed out to hotel Watkins where I met up with Catherine Watkins and Catrin Jones arrived about 30-45 minutes after I did. 

It was a somewhat late night with me getting to sleep probably just after 11pm. I woke up a few times as usual throughout the night, including wide awake at 5am. I had set my alarm for 5:45. I ended up falling asleep at some point between then and when my alarm went off, I felt more groggy and tired than when I initially woke up at 5. Funny how that works eh? 

I had a small breakfast and chatted with the ladies and we headed down to the start to arrive at approximately 7am (it was an 8am race start). We met up Sabrina Wilkie and Anne-Marie Madden and headed off on our warm up around the seawall. The legs felt alright, so I was optimistic that I could have a decent race. 

The race start was a little cramped unfortunately, but otherwise it was a decent course with many of the twists and turns (not counting the already twisty turning seawall) within the first few km. 

 

I went out and felt good, checked the watch a few times and saw I was slightly slower than I wanted to be, so I actually ended up taking the lead for the first mile. Too bad there wasn’t a mile bonus ;) Shortly after that Natasha Wodak pulled up beside me and we ran pretty even for a bit. She was using the race as a tempo and was to run it in 35:00. On the day she wasn’t challenged so she lucked out being able to tempo it and take the win!

I don’t remember the exact moment, but I think it was around 3km or so, the rest of the ladies pulled up around me including Kim Doerksen, Catrin, Catherine and Sabrina. They all ended up pulling ahead of me and I just didn’t have the legs to go with it. I think I hit the 5km marker between 17:30 and 17:40 and I already thought… hmm too slow. 

The ladies kept pulling ahead and I did my best to hang on, but between 4 and 7km they had gained probably at least 40m on me. I calculated it and told myself that 6^th sucks. I also thought that maybe I had already counted myself out before the race started, telling myself that I was not tapered etc. 

Around 7km I started to gain back on the ladies. I think I caught Catrin before the 8km marker or around there and then I saw Catherine coming back at me, so I ended up going by her. I had no idea if I was going to be able to hold it until the end, but I went by and just kept pushing. I honestly thought that was as far as I was going to get and then within the final km I saw that Sabrina was also coming back to me and up ahead further I saw Kim who also appeared to be coming back. I kept pushing and kept thinking “good effort, but I will likely run out of time.” 

Within the last few hundred meters I was back within striking distance of Sabrina. We hit the final straight stretch and I was now right behind her. I heard someone (possibly Kevin O’Connor or maybe John Hill) yell out “who wants it more” and I gave what I had left. I ended up with a 2 second lead finishing 3^rd female in 35:38 (behind Natasha in 35:00 and Kim in 35:20). 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back, my last km was listed at 3:23, though I stopped my watch 3 seconds after the gun time recorded, so my last km was at my 5km race pace basically. I had no km’s close to that at all, with the closest one registering in 3:30 (I had my watch set to auto lap so it didn’t match the markers exactly at the start but caught up by the end). I am not sure where that came from, but I have no doubt that I fed off the fact I was catching and had caught some of the other speedy ladies. I know I definitely had to work for this finish and was proud that I came back from the gap that was created and still existed with 3km to go. 

After the race I had a brief rest and then had some more work to do. Just enough time to get in a cool down and then attend the awards. I collected my 3^rd place prize from the race itself and then 2^nd place prize from the Timex Series. Since I was in the top 4, along with Sabrina (1^st), Catherine (3^rd) and Catrin (4^th) we all received automatic invites for Team BC for the National 10km Championships in September. I hope all of the ladies accept; however, even if someone doesn’t, we will definitely have another equally talented and lovely replacement. 

Results can be found here. 

****ALL PHOTO CREDIT GOES TO RICK HORNE*** 

Except these who are from Tasha's phone

Top 3 ladies (Myself, Natasha and Kim)

I love these girls (Natasha, Catherine and myself) 

Longest Day 5km 2013

For my last race of the season I decided to head over to Vancouver to take part in the North ShoreCredit Union Longest Day 5km (June 14^th) because this was race usually has a pretty good field. Ever since the Montreal Half Marathon I had struggled to find my legs again. While I had some success in the Ottawa 10km, I still didn’t feel like they were truly back. Nevertheless, I decided to take part in this race to see what I had left before my midyear break. 

I headed over to Vancouver with Melissa Ross on the 12:50pm ferry from Departure Bay (Nanaimo) to Horseshoe Bay (Vancouver). It was nice to catch up with Mel as we hadn’t really hung out since we caught the ferry back together after the Vancouver SunRun in April.

The race was scheduled to start at 6:45pm and while the 12:50pm ferry got us to the race really early, as in I think we were there by 3:30, the 3pm ferry (the next option) would have been too rushed, especially dealing with rush hour traffic on a Friday. That is okay; it gave us time to check out the course adjustments due to construction this year. 

I have only run this course once (last year) and it was memorable because I broke 18 minutes for the first time, finishing in 17:57. The course had a downhill start and a downhill finish with hills in the middle. 

This year, due to construction near the former start, they changed the direction of the course so we would run backwards. That way, by the time we hit the construction and had to go off road onto a side paved trail, we would be strung out enough to not have any issues (I imagine some of the 10km runners may have had trouble when they did 2 loops starting at 7:05pm). 

I ended up meeting up with Catherine Watkins for warm up closer to 5:50pm. We checked out the last few km of the course along with the first few. We chatted about how we both felt so tired and that even the warm up didn’t feel that great. We had hoped to break 17 minutes at this race, but now with the change of direction and the way we were feeling, neither of us was too sure anymore. 

At 6:45 we were on the line and ready to go. The gun went off and we were on our way. I quickly saw that Sabrina Wilkie took off out front and I found myself slightly behind Catherine stuck in the middle between her and this guy. I actually felt like it was affecting my arm swing and stride at the time and it probably lasted this way for almost a km, but I felt trapped. I would have really had to slow down to get around it, but eventually the guy moved over a bit and I felt free. 

I pushed on and pulled ahead of Catherine and simply ran. Sabrina held 5-10m on me pretty much the entire race after that. I pulled closer, she pulled away, I pulled closer, and she pulled away. I just could not close the gap. The course had a lot of corners on it where speed was lost, but I did my best to take them at an angle that wouldn’t slow me down too much. 

I didn’t look at my splits once; I just kept Sabrina in sight and kept pushing. I kept counting down, 2km left, okay that is no more than 7 minutes if I run 3:30’s. Running around this time I actually thought “damn it, I can’t seem to close this gap.” We headed down to W 16^th Ave and this is where we hit the final hill around 4km. I kept working hard, but this hill hurt. I closed the gap slightly and when we took the driveway from the road to the paved path, which was steeper, I closed the gap a bit more. 

As the course leveled out we came off the path across some grass and onto the road. At this point I was right behind Sabrina with less than half a km to go.

We hit the downhill before we turned onto the grass field finish and she gapped me again. I actually thought “oh well, 2^nd is awesome, hopefully it is a good time.” 

We hit the slight hill onto the grass and I heard Sabrina’s husband Mark yell at her that she had to kick. Up this hill I closed the gap again and found myself a few meters (if that) behind. I noticed that (no offense Sabrina) her kick didn’t really result in a huge change of speed so I decided to try and see what I had left. I kicked and I went by. I was just hoping that she wouldn’t be able to react. I kicked as hard as I could towards the finish and saw 16:xx on the clock as I came to it. I sped right through the finish and nearly ran into the fencing for the kid zone that was only 10-15m behind the finish. 

I sent my coach a text after…… it said “I won.” I was shocked. I went into this race with a 17:03 PB from March and I finished in 16:47 (Sabrina 2^nd in 16:50 and Catherine 3^rd in 17:09 PB). Sabrina had gone in with a 16:40 from the same race in March, so I honestly expected her to run away with the race; however, I did finish ahead at the Sun Run in April so I guess the race was more up in the air than I originally thought. 

I do owe a huge thank you to Sabrina for being there and for pushing me. I always feel bad passing people in the final stretch, but I know anyone would do it. I would have liked to help pace Sabrina as well, but unfortunately I just couldn’t seem to pull even with her in the race. I also don’t feel as though I sat on her throughout the race either. I raced hard; I just had a little more left at the end. 

So that is it, my last race of the first half of 2013. I am now on a break and while I was counting down for it to happen, I am on day 3 and I am over it already. I know in the long run it will benefit me though. It is simply hard to just stop after such an amazing race. Then again, it might be best to end on such a high note. 

This season has been more than I ever expected thus far. If you had asked me in January if I would have run sub 17 for the 5km and sub 35 for the 10km, I would definitely had said no. All I know is that it is nice to have my hard work and dedication finally pay off. I have reassessed some goals for the year and am excited to see where I can go from here.  I ran these times with sprint finishes, so I think deep down there is some untapped speed left in my reserves! Only time will tell! 

Results are found here.

Ottawa 10km 2013

Friday night (night before the race) the 3 of us girls (Lanni Marchant, Natasha Fraser and myself) went out to a late dinner with the Saucony Canada crew after they finished at the expo. Both Lanni and I are of course with Saucony, but we graciously allowed Natasha to join us even though she has recently switched from Adidas to Asics. Did they get the bill yet Tasha? ;) It was a nice evening and very nice to finally meet Matt in person as we have had an e-mail relationship over the past 3 years but have never managed to meet! 

Saturday afternoon Press Conference w/Tasha, Lanni and Krista

After dinner, we didn’t get up to much except for a usual crappy night sleep. Saturday morning Lanni and I woke early and went for our short shake out run at 8am then hit breakfast. Tasha was up by then and joined us. I realized over the weekend that I need to work on my nutrition. Apparently I eat like a pig, eating whatever I wanted, whereas others definitely had a more strategic plan as to what they put into their bodies and how much. I don’t mean I need to cut back on food, but more so the kinds of foods that I eat.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around the hotel. That included catching a quick visit with my coach Matt (and Sarah) and then having a short nap before a late lunch with Tasha. After lunch it was more lying around and waiting. 

Tasha killing time

 

What better way to kill time than watch track?

Just after 5pm we walked down to the race start, which was just over a 10 minute walk. A quick bathroom stop, which turned out to be no so quick as some international athletes don’t apparently follow North American rules of “line ups.” We found this quite amusing. 

Just prior to 6:26pm we were on the line and then quickly we were off. The lead pack took off quickly with 12 ahead of me including a young 13 year old girl. She stayed with the pack for the first km, whereas myself and Rachel Hannah ran together for the first 2km. 

 The start

We hit one corner where I actually asked Rachel which way we were supposed to go. I wasn’t sure if we had to take the corner wide because of some cones. Rachel yelled “which way” I believe and we were told the shorter way, but by then I had already started to go the wider way, so I lost a few seconds there. It wasn’t clear and I didn’t want to take a short cut and have myself DQ’d over it. 

Rachel and I (whoa horrible posture)

After 2km Rachel appeared to fall off, which left me all alone. Up ahead I saw the 13 year old and her stride was slowing as I had expected it would. I caught her just before 3km and gave her a quick “good job.” There was a hill before the 5km marker and I felt myself slow and kept waiting for Rachel to pass me, but she didn’t. 

Near 5.5km (I think) I saw a camera van pull in front of me. At first I thought “what the heck” and then I realized “uh oh” and within seconds the lead men ran by me. I had wanted to make it at least to half way, so I guess I accomplished that. I was secretly hoping to get a little bit further though. 

The last half of the race had a bit of a headwind. At times I would tilt my head down to dig in and kept reminding myself to keep pushing. Quite a few more men passed me including top Canadian Kelly Weibe but I can’t recall each location. 

With 2km left, I picked up the pace and kept pushing as much as possible. Finally the final km and again I tried to pick it up. After having been warned about the pedestrian overpass about 50m before the finish line, I totally forgot and nearly fell for it as I attempted to sprint towards the line. I did realize before getting there that it wasn’t the finish and though “oh god, I don’t know if I can hold this pace any longer.” Within the last 100m a few more men went sprinting by me.

Various race photos

 

 

As I approached the clock it was just ticking over 31:00, which would have been awesome! But I knew I had to add 4 minutes to that, so I realized it was low 35:00. I officially crossed in 35:21. I would have loved to have been sub 35 but on the day, solo and wind aside, I would say I am pleased with the run. The closest women were about 50 seconds in front or 50 seconds behind me, making it pretty solo but I am happy with how I pushed myself. Sure the men passed me, but I can’t exactly latch onto them when they are sub 30 minute runners! 

 

My 35:21 is still my 2^nd fastest 10km and it placed me 12^th female (4^th Canadian) and 50^th overall. I figured I was in a race for 4^th/5^th Canadian as Lanni Marchant, Krista DuChene and Natasha Fraser pretty much had the top 3 locked up. Rachel and I have pretty similar race times this year, with hers slightly faster than mine, so I was hoping to have a battle with her. Unfortunately it was an off day for Rachel, but she still finished well to be 13^th female and 5^th Canadian. 

 Post race shot (courtesy Catrin)

If you are curious, the 13 year old finished just sub 40 minutes and likely would have been faster if she had not gone out with the leaders for a km. Mary Davies from New Zealand had a spectacular race to take 3^rd overall! I look forward to watching Mary, Lanni and Krista at World’s this summer! 

That night Tasha, Lanni and I went out for a bit along with a few of their friends and I realized that I am a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. I could take in one drink when others would take in two! I am okay with that though. 

Sunset Post race (from dirty hotel window)

The next morning Lanni and I were up early as Lanni and Mary had to get in a run before their flights; whereas, I wanted to get down and watch the marathon. Local BC runners Rob Watson and Catrin Jones had great races, finishing 1^st Canadian male and 2^nd Canadian female. 

Lanni, Mary and I

The afternoon was spent killing time, even attending the after party with the race committee before our (Tasha and I) 6:10pm flight home. Thanks to Manny and his entire crew for the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. The event was extremely well run and I had a great time! 

Results are found here 

 Various Ottawa Photos

Terry!

 Bye Bye Ottawa

 On the way home, we raced another plane

Hello mountains, nearly home!

Back Out East

Very quietly, I headed back out east yesterday morning, flying out of Nanaimo at 7:25am. Destination...... Ottawa! A few people knew my plans ahead of time, but for the most part I kept it quiet. Going into Montreal I felt quite a bit of pressure after my stellar race at Sun Run. So this time, I didn't want to hear tune predictions or how people thought I was going to do.

Things have been okay since Montreal, but not great. My legs are holding in there and I really have zero expectations going into tomorrows race. Seriously, zero expectations. I plan to run my best on the day and what will be will be. If I can pull out a great one, that would be a nice bonus.

I have been rooming with Natasha Fraser with Lanni Marchant right next door. We have a joining door so really it's one big room. Watch out Saturday night! ;-)

The elite list is stacked. I was very relieved to see I am not the slowest on the list. The elite women start at 6:26pm eastern and the elite men at 6:30pm as they offer a gender bonus. I hope I don't get run down too fast.

I have included some photos from the trip so far. Since I am posting from my phone, I have no idea how this will turn out.