Sunday, September 28, 2014

Training Week: September 22 - September 28

Bit of a strange week of training.  Unexpectedly, I had to work 4 hours of OT on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and I found out that I was going home 1 day earlier than originally scheduled (Thursday instead of Friday).  Because of the OT, I did not manage to get a run in on Tuesday.  So I decided to change my run to 6:30 am (instead of the afternoon after work) and shortened the originally planned distances.  I also decided to take Friday and Saturday off as well.

The change in my training schedule was not an entirely bad thing.  On my Thursday morning run I noticed some pain in my left knee, I got through the run in a pretty good time but it was something that I was concerned about.  With the Cape to Cabot only 3 weeks away, an injury at this point would be quite devastating.  So I decided to take it safe and not run for a couple of days.

Training Week Summary

Monday: 14.3 km, 71:21, 5:00/km pace

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 10 km, 48:36, 4:51/km pace

Thursday: 10 km, 49:21, 4:56/km pace

Friday: Off

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 25 km, 2:29:51, 5:59/km pace

Total: 59.3 km

Still a pretty decent week of running and I am happy to say that I did not feel any knee pain during the long run on Sunday morning.  I am quite happy on where my fitness level is at this point and the goal over the next 3 weeks is to just stay injury free.

Take care,
MA

Monday, September 22, 2014

Training Week: September 15 - September 21

Just to start off, I just want to congratulate all the members of the Paradise Running Club who took part in the Huffin Puffin on Sunday morning (Sept 21).  Whether you took part in the team relay, half-marathon or marathon, it is quite an accomplishment to finish the race and everybody should be very proud of themselves, I know a lot of hard work and training was put in by everybody over the last few weeks and months.

Unfortunately, I could not take part because I am currently out of the province for work but having run the race in the past, I know Nautilus Running Club puts off a first class event.  Very well organized, plenty of marshals and of course a great barbecue at the reception.

Training Week Summary

Monday: 14 km, 67:41, 4:50/km pace

Tuesday: 12 km, 60:58, 5:04/km pace

Wednesday: 16 km, 81:01, 5:04/km pace

Thursday: 8 km, 39:25, 4:55/km pace

Friday: Off (drove to Toronto)

Saturday: 5 km race, 20:42 (PB), 4:08/km pace + 3 km warm up, for a total of 8 km

Sunday: 10 km, 48:06, 4:48/km pace (drove back to Cornwall and did the 10 km when I arrived)

Total: 68 km

I had planned on getting a longer run in on Sunday morning while I was still in Toronto, but when I woke up, it was raining very hard and thundershowers were also in the forecast, so I scrapped those plans. I mentioned this to Andrew G while we were training for the Ottawa Marathon, never be a slave to the schedule, unexpected things happen in our everyday lives that we cannot control, so just go with the flow when it comes to training and that is what I try to do.

Like I mentioned before, I am currently out of the province for work.  Since Monday (Sept 15), I have been in Cornwall, ON (my company's training facility is located there).  I don't know how many of you have been to Cornwall, but they have a fantastic trail system that runs along the St. Lawrence River and eventually enters some beautiful parks, great for running and biking (trail is paved).

The same can be said for Toronto, near my sister's place is Taylor Creek Park trail which leads into the Lower Don River Trail, again, many, many km's of paved trail way that goes from North York to downtown Toronto.

Well that is it for this week.  I am back home on Friday evening, if all goes well I hope to join the group in our weekly Saturday morning coffee run and then run with the Niagara Falls Marathon training group on Sunday morning.

Take care,
MA

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Newest PRC Blooger

It has been a while since anybody has posted anything on this blog, so over the last few weeks I have been thinking about contributing and so finally, I decided to make the jump and start writing.

First of all, I want to introduce myself, my name is Marc Alivio and I have been a member of the Paradise Running Club since the fall of 2010.  I think it is safe to say that I was one of the first members in club.  Outside of Keith, Randy, Todd, Sharon, Andrew G and I am pretty sure Susanne, I could be the next most "senior" member of the club.  

I am also a member of PRC's executive (have been over the last 3 years) and my role is the race director for the club's 2 NLAA sanctioned races, the Paradise Figure 8, 8km Race and the Paradise Timex Five and Dime (5km/10km) Road Race. 

The goal for this blog, in the short term anyway, is to document my training progress leading up to the 8th Annual Cape to Cabot, 20Km Road Race on Sunday, October 19. The race is about 4 weeks away and this year will be my 5th consecutive C2C race and I am looking to improve on my PB time of 1:44:59 from 2013.  I know there are many in the club running this race for the first time and hopefully blogging about my training progress may help them along the way.

Before I go, just want to give a big shout out to all PRC members taking part in this Sunday's Huffin Puffin Marathon, Half Marathon and Team Relay.  Good luck and most importantly have fun! Unfortunately I won't be there to take part or cheer anybody on as I am currently out of the province.

So that's it for now, I will be back on Sunday or Monday to recap my previous week of training.

Take care,
MA