Saturday, May 5, 2012

Live blogging the Vancouver marathon

We are checked into Vancouver now and the race atmosphere is fairly prevalent. There are tons of runners downtown and we saw some familiar faces from the gym on the train in from the airport.

A tip if you are taking the train is to buy your transit pass at the 7-11 in the basement at the airport. You avoid the airport charge and it is 5 bucks cheaper.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

May Training

I'm not really following the official plan as much, with the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon coming up, but here is the link for the May training program:

http://www.speedtheory.ca/blog/wp-content/uploads/Training-Program-May-2012.pdf

Maybe after the race I'll try to get back to it, it seems to have the key components I will be looking to get back to:

  • 3 runs a week
  • 3 bikes a week
  • 3 swims a week
  • 2 weight sessions
Hopefully I'll be able to fit in 11 workouts a week, might have to really pick up my game...

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Vancouver prep

Home page updated with Vancouver weather widget, it really is almost go time, #racetime


Vancouver Marathon Time

The BMO Vancouver Marathon is almost here, game time is the coming Sunday.  We fly out Friday and fly back Monday, should be an exciting time.  I'll try to blog as much as possible from the expo/race/etc.

Here is Mike in a big workout on his birthday.


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Training for IM Cowtown 70.3 and BMO Vancouver Half Marathon

Another month has come, and Calgary 70.3 has posted another month's training program on their web site.  At the start of training I was trying to use this plan, but as time has gone on I have diverged and am just trying to do my own thing.  I've decided to give up on swimming until May after the half marathon and concentrate on running, though I am still doing 2 spin bike classes a week.  The running consists of 5 runs (if I hit them all...), one long, one race pace 4 miles or so, one partial race pace, one slow, and one transition run faster than race pace.  So far it seems to be working, I am definitely running a lot more at race pace than previous times and even my long runs are somewhat fast, but I guess we'll see...

On Sunday we ran long at Servus Place (10 miles/60 laps) because of unexpected snow.  Running long inside can be painful, but on a longer track, like Servus Place, it is not so bad.  I like it too because it is easy to tell exactly what pace you are running at all times (just time every lap).  Here is my pro/con list for Servus Place compared to the other new recreation centers in the greater Edmonton area:

Pros:
- long track is pretty nice
- lots of stuff to look at as you run, eg, indoor soccer games etc.
- 3 or so restaurants is somewhat useful
- equipment looks nice
- pool is quite decent, with a river ride and a waterslide

Cons
- $9.50 entrance fee = tres expensive...
- lockers aren't as good as the Y, and even more squishy than the Terwillegar ones I think
- pool isn't quite on par with Millenium Place and Terwillegar Recreation Center, in my opinion
- whole facility just feels a little older than those places, and darker.  But it is still very nice

Monday, March 12, 2012

Calgary 70.3 Registered, Locked, and Loaded

The decision has been made, we have signed up for Calgary 70.3 and IMAZ was long since discarded from the plans.

We have done this race before, in its inaugural year (2009) and it was a well organized event and great fun for all.  One cool feature of this race is they actually email you a training plan you can follow if you wish, here are the links for the archived issues and the current issue of the newsletter, which contains links to the training plan.  While not as detailed as the Multisports plan, it is pretty solid for a free training plan, in my opinion.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Registration for IMAZ now Open

Looks like registration is now available...

http://ironmanarizona.com/2011/11/register-now-for-2012/

Still trying to decide between IMAZ and just smaller 70.3 races next year...