Around the Bay

I slotted the Around the Bay 30k into my race calendar as an expectation, not a goal. The big stupid May marathon was the goal (um, still haven't registered for that yet). This was just a race, just 8.9k longer than a half, just something to do one weekend in late March. Of course I'd get through it. My expectations lowered even more in the week leading up to the race: my shins had been bothering me, I'd bailed on an 8k tempo less than halfway through, and we moved--our bodies, our selves!--into a new apartment a mere two days before the race. So now I had sore arms in addition to sore legs. I just wanted to finish in a decent time, grab my medal, and get the pain over with it.

But it really wasn't painful at all. In fact, this race was actually really good. It felt genuine. It felt supportive, and challenging, and enjoyable. The good weather probably helped a lot, but still: a happy race? Unpossible!

My blood sugar was sitting around 8 mmol/L before the start. I had a gel as a buffer--my blood sugars tend to soar during training but drop in races--and elbowed as close as I could to the start. My mom encouraged me to wear a long sleeve ("for the wind off the lake!") but I was too warm before the gun even started.

I spent the first 10k trying to slow myself down. I knew there were hills coming up in the last third, hills that I at least hoped were similar to the hills I train on in TO, so I knew it was important to keep my pace down. I ended up running alongside a woman and we paced each other through 20k. I also took my brother's advice to stop and walk at the water stations--getting down a few good gulps of Gatorade at each station was part of my blood sugar strategy, along with two Gus at 11k and 21k. My blood sugar was surprisingly, beautifully steady all the way through to the end. YES.

The hills started around 20k and I was happy to take the distraction. I held up pretty well on them, actually--my pace slowed, as I knew it would, but I had banked time going too fast in the start so my overall time was faring better than expected.

Then there was "the hill" about 4k from the end, but, I mean, really. That's "the hill"? I saw people ahead of me walking before they'd even reached a hint of an incline. I made it to the top and felt just a little winded-- and it's all thanks to you, Ellis Park Road repeats! The last few kms were sweaty and gross, but that finish into Copps Coliseum was pretty glorious. My blood sugar after the race was good (7.1) and my chip time was great, even (2:38:59!)

It was fun, full stop. I so needed this after a year of ups and downs in my running and my diabetes. Plus there was a guy on the course giving out bacon. I skipped the bacon.

Maybe Marathon Training

I still haven't registered for that marathon yet.

I've got a training plan! I've got a training plan that I've actually been following! I've got dreams of crossing the finish line in tears and screaming "I'M DIABETIC" just to make it all that sweeter.

But have I actually registered? Oh, hell no.

I am fully paid up for Around the Bay on March 25th and then Harry's Spring Run-Off on April 7th. One will be long and hard, but hopefully fun (ATB); one will be fast, fingers crossed (Harry's). But then there's that damn marathon just down the line...

It makes sense to pin this goal down now, to throw down 70-whatever dollars and just commit. But I'm scared. I'm scared of injuring myself again, and of training for an additional 5 weeks and still feeling ill-prepared. So my plan is to make the big decision on March 25--right after the running around the bay, but before Mad Men--and then run with it.

My training weeks have been just alright so far: I've got track days, tempo runs, extra mileage and then long ones on Saturday mornings. My pace is still too fast and my shin is still pretty sore. My blood sugars are still totally insane, impossible to rein in. But, still, I'm doing this? No shit.

4 of 4

My recent running life:

October 16: ran a half-marathon.
October 16-28: no running. Mostly sitting. Nay, all sitting, all the time.
October 29-November 23: gradual return to training in preparation for this year's Egg Nog Jog, a fun run in the boonies I've been doing since I was 15. Starting adding hill work to the mix.
November 24: pain in my shin. GAME OVER.

I've just been saddled with my fourth significant injury of the year. Something to do with a strained gastrocnemius muscle and lingering shin splints--basically, everything below my right knee is tight, jammed and useless. The pain when I ran was minimal, but I had a feeling it would only get worse. My physio tells me we caught this one "early", which I guess is some comfort, but I've been forbidden to run for at least one more week. Wah wah.

Mandatory rest ain't so bad, though, and it should help with my long term goal: on January 1 (...okay, maybe January 2) marathon training begins.

Yes.
For real this time.
Already peeing my pants.

And it would be really nice to get into this training period without an old injury hanging around my calves. I'll be running Around The Bay in March (more hills!), Harry's in High Park in April (I can walk there from my house!), and then, hopefully, the Mississauga Marathon in May. I'm doing it for me, but also a little for this lady:

(via)

Gotta make you proud, Hazel. 

(via)

twenty one point one: Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon Recap

So here it is: 1:49:26.

I barely slept the night before. The starting line was freezing. My blood sugar was 7.0. I snuck into the blue corral (1:45-1:59 finishers) and lined up behind a guy with a giant Foo Fighters tattoo on the back of his calf. It took me four minutes to cross the starting mat. I snaked past people for the first few kilometres (how'd they get all the way up here?) and tried to ignore the fact that I was dying to pee. I hit 5k in exactly 26 minutes--exactly on target. I hit a really good rhythm. The pee just disappeared, I guess?

I spotted Christie Blatchford clapping in a small group of spectators along the Lakeshore. Her heart didn't really seem into it, though--maybe the spectacle was too public for her.

I made sure to stay ahead of the 3:45 marathon pacer. I hit 10k in 52 minutes flat. No shit. I drank all the Gatorade. My shin splints, which had been bothering me for weeks, never showed up for the party. My IT band, though--dormant for four months!--decided to tighten up near 16k. I ran through it. My splits were frighteningly consistent (I guess all those Yasso 800s paid off). The 1:50 pacer caught up to me with a kilometre to go and I pushed hard to stay ahead of him.

I got the sub 1:50. And when I checked my blood sugar on the curb after the race? 7.0. (Okay, there may have been some crazy post-race high sugars but those don't count! It's the 1:49 that counts.)

Phew.

21km and Type 1: Tomorrow

My race is tomorrow. I registered for it way back in March. A lot has changed since then: I've had three injuries (IT band, twisted ankle, and some persistent shin splints), I'm faster overall, and my attitude to racing has changed. Back in March this half marathon seemed like a really, really big deal. And, okay, it is, but I know now that it's just the first step for me. If I can finish tomorrow in a decent time, I can definitely run a marathon in the next year or so with some extra training. 42.2 and Type 1: it's not so far off.

Back in March I put myself in the starting corral for 2:00-2:15 half finishers. I had no idea of pacing for this kind of distance; I thought if I could break 2 hours I'd be proud. Now, I'm gunning for sub 1:50. That might be aiming too high, but I do know that (barring some horrible accident or injury) I will definitely come in under two. I don't doubt myself as much anymore. Truth be stretched, I've been training for this race for the past 13 years. I'm scared as shit, but I know I can do it.

I've got a basal insulin reduction plan and gels to keep my blood sugars in range. I don't expect them to be perfect--I don't need them to be. I just need my diabetes to work with me tomorrow. I don't want any fighting.

21.1? I'm going to kill it. And then I'm just going to keep on going.

Longboat Toronto Island 10k

Man, what a mess.

Not my race, necessarily. That one started out messy (old splinty) but turned itself around near the end. No, the race itself was a mess. From start to finish, ferry to island, beginning to end.

This was the race's biggest year to date, selling out a few days before. Unfortunately, that meant that this once small, once sweet race was now way too big for its britches.

Even though the race instructions encouraged us to take the 9:30am ferry, we decided it made more sense to wait until the subway opened at 9 and chance the 10am ferry. Not my smartest decision: the ticket booth lineup stretched well past the Westin, all the way onto Queen's Quay. Hundreds of people deep. I knew I wasn't totally screwed since the line was full of people wearing race bibs, but there were no race volunteers in sight to help us out. I really didn't want to be forced onto the 10:30 ferry--the race was supposed to start at 11:15, and I still needed multiple chances to pee. People were getting frantic. The ferry to Hanlan's Point was out of service that morning--maybe they could have arranged for it to carry racers, exclusively? Hell, even a sign would've helped.

We managed to find a slightly shorter line, buy our tickets, and eventually jostle onto the 10am boat. I may or may not have shoved a stroller in the process; I definitely smacked a dog out of my way. The ferry was at least 10 minutes late, as it is wont to do. We chugged along. Things were not going swimmingly.

Once we got to the race site we were told that the first event, the 5k, would be delayed by "15 minutes or so". A few minutes later we were told the 10k would start "in about 25 minutes". This was not ideal. I had lowered my basal rate over an hour before, which meant that my blood sugars were only on the rise. I needed to start running, fast.

I started walking to the starting line when a volunteer ran past and screamed "hurry up! We're holding the start for you!" Um, what? 25 minutes became 2 minutes instantaneously.

A ridiculously narrow starting line filled with 1000 runners left me weaving and dodging slow bodies for the first 2k or so. The next 3k I spent battling shin splints. Once that pain faded, as it always does, I ran on my own for the rest of the race. I managed a negative split, which was lovely, and finished just over my goal time in 50:27. Yes, again, not bad.

It was a beautiful day, a nice little loop around the island, and a decent effort. But had this race been smaller, it would have made all the difference. My time, when compared to last year's results, would have netted me 4th place in my age category in 2010. This year, with the higher number of runners, it only got me to 14th place.

We left quickly to avoid more chaos on the ferry back downtown. Didn't even get to go on the swan ride.

Acura 10 Miler Recap

Last Sunday I ran the Acura 10 Miler, the longest distance I've ever raced. I still find that hard to believe: I've been running half my life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHBikURKkUM) and I've only started serious road racing now? Luckily, I think I'm off to a good start. I've only got longer distances and faster times from here.

I've always wanted to run the Leslie St Spit (Tommy Thompson Park) but had never made it down there before this race. It's a real trek just to get to the spit, let alone run it. This course started in the Distillery--a place I'd also never been to, west end girl through and through--along the Lakeshore, out into the park and then back. The Spit wasn't nearly as exciting as I'd hoped it would be, but maybe I just didn't spend enough time looking back at the skyline.

This was my first race on an insulin pump. I had trained, prepared, considered all the options--but still felt like I was going into it blind. Would nerves affect my blood sugars? Would I soar, would I plummet? I had a sense of what my chip time should be, but it was vague; my blood sugars were even more up in the air.

My pre-race blood sugar was a not-good 14.4, but I decided it was best to err on the high side. I set a temporary basal rate an hour before the gun and made sure I had at least two gels in hand. I tried following my brother's advice to stay consistent, mile by mile (spoiler alert: my brother, freakish, finished nearly 30 minutes ahead of me). I came through 5km in roughly 25 minutes, mostly on track. I was feeling strong through 8km, until I finally took note of the Gatorade at the water station and knew: my blood sugar was dipping low. Way, way low.

From then on I ran the race from one Gatorade station to the next. I never pulled out my blood sugar meter to check--I thought it would eat away at my time goal. I never touched a single Gu--I thought it would impede my pace, even temporarily. Around 15km I started to really feel the effects of my low: shaking hands, starry vision. I faded when I should have powered through, finishing just over 1:25. Yeah, sure, not bad. 

There were a lot of take-aways, and I don't just mean the tech shirt:
- With steady blood sugars my time would have easily been 2-3 minutes faster.  
- I need to learn how to prick my finger while in motion, without spraying the person next to me with blood.
- Next time I need to take in carbs after 60 minutes, no matter how I'm feeling. The Gatorade was good for temporary sugar spikes, but the speed+pressure of racing demands more long-lasting carbs to keep my blood sugar stable.
- If I can run this race in a decent pace, I can definitely run the Scotiabank half under 1:50.

I'm finally starting to feel like a runner again. Bout time.