It was a very crowded race and there were way more cobblestones than I thought there would be but I enjoyed the whole event and finished with a big smile.  My official time was a fairly comfortable 2:01:08, not my fastest for sure but a nice pace and one that allowed me to have a good time.  Lots more info later, until then a few pictures:

Look in the centre and you will see me in the red shirt and pink hat.

Running to the finish feeling good!

How is that for a skyline at the end of a race?

A post race “Trdlo” filled with Nutella. MMMM

Despite the fact that the whole reason we came to Europe was because I wanted to run the Prague Half Marathon, the race itself has become somewhat secondary. We have had an amazing and unforgettable family vacation and all of us have recognized daily how lucky we are to experience such a trip.  I will admit that the fact we were on two Germanwing flights less than 48 hours before the devastating crash has certainly driven that fact home.  This has been a wonderful experience for all of us and I am thankful.

To get in some relaxing time without walking, we spent this evening at a lovely classical music string ensemble concert in the grand staircase hall of the National Museum. For a five year period, the only way to see inside this building is if you attend small evening concerts.  The building is closed as renovations continue to repair damage from WWII and from Soviet machine gun fire in 1968, much of which had been poorly “patched up” in the past.

The very grand central staircase of “Narodni Muzem” or the National Museum.

After the concert, an outdoor meal of chicken shishkabob in a baguette and alcohol free beer.

Not so sure how great a meal that is for the night before a race but the view was spectacular…

I will give a full report on race expo at a later time but for now a few pics to share. Also one note: this race allowed you to choose a long sleeve or short sleeve race shirt.  How awesome is that?  There are races out there that can’t even manage to hand out women’s style shirts but RunCzech and Addidas gives you a choice of long or short sleeve – each with different coloured stripes. And if that wasn’t enough you then got to choose from five colours for a sports bag!

There was also race souvenir clothing, and of course I couldn’t resist…

My “Praha” shirt, with well known buildings and a measuring tape underneath showing 21.1

A comfy (and very bright) Adidas Prague Half Marathon hoodie.

That’s all for now.  Time to organize and sleep, though with a noon start and being only a 15 minute walk to the start line, it won’t quite feel like a regular race morning. My only goal tomorrow, to have fun!  PB’s can wait.  Wish me luck!

We have spent the last two days exploring Prague’s never ending maze of cobblestone streets and still feel like we have barely scratched the surface of this historical city.   The only thing I haven’t really managed to do?  Run.

That’s not entirely true. On our first morning I did do a mini run of 4k.  But I stopped so many times either for traffic, pedestrians or simply to look at things that I’m not convinced I can officially call it a run.  I can tell you that running on cobblestones is much more difficult than you might think.

So if you want to taper in all the wrong ways, just do as I do and try the following:

• Don’t bother running the final week of training
• do walk at least 15 km daily for two weeks prior to your race (today we were closer to 20)
• do lots of hills and stairs, in fact make sure wherever you are staying has a minimum of 80 stairs to climb (we have 88 here at our place in Prague – completely worth it though as the apartment is gorgeous with an amazing location).
• Just in case you haven’t done enough stairs, go up a bell tower with just more than 200 stairs coiled so tightly you are dizzy by step 10.
• Follow a very special diet, including

1. Bratwurst and giant pretzels (Germany)
2. crepes, cheese, socca (traditional Nice chickpea bread), chocolate croissants, and Lays olive flavoured potato chips (France)
3. pizza and gelato (Italy)
4. dumplings, apple strudel, trdelnik  (a traditional grilled – yes grilled – pastry), hot mulled wine and beer (Czech Republic)

In my defence, the beer in Prague costs the same as a bottle of water.  This is the land of the $2 beer!  The beer and wine are also sold at stands on every corner.  Once you buy it you can walk freely with it.  Quite a change from Ontario where we can’t even buy beer or wine in the grocery store.

All of this should add up to a fast half marathon in a couple of days, right?

Oh well, there is always the Ottawa half in May to aim for another sub two hour race 🙂

Some more photos:

– most of my run will be following the river you see above

If I’m honest, the half marathon I am running one week from tomorrow has virtually been forgotten this week.  I am in vacation mode and the thought of racing has been pushed to the back of my mind. In the past five days we have been in four countries: Canada, Germany, France and today a day trip by train to Italy. It doesn’t get any better than this!

By the seaside in Italy.  This picture was taken after having Italian pizza in a restaurant on the beach.

I’m sure in the last three days we have walked more than 45 km. At least half of that has been up hills, often up stairs. Our apartment is situated high up in the Old Town.  Looking at the picture below, you can see how we have to go up to get to a door on the left.  There are 27 stairs, outside, another 28 inside to get to where we are staying.  Behind where I took this picture are another 50 or more stairs.  Our legs are getting a workout every time we head “home”!

Morning in Nice.

Despite this though, three runs have been squeezed in.  The first was a morning run on Thursday. Because we are renting an apartment rather than staying in a hotel, we are in residential area of the Old Town in Nice. As I headed out it was school time for the local kids, so up and down these narrow alleys the children were coming out of huge, ancient doors, chattering with parents and friends as they headed off to school. I’m not sure why, but I think this may remain one of my favourite memories of this trip. For a brief moment I felt like I lived here and was part of the weekday routine.

As the kids continued to the school at the end of the road, I turned to follow the maze of streets, through the morning market and on to the sea.  I ran 11 km, following the Promenade des Anglais.  At 16 degrees and sunny, I was heating up quickly but when I turned to come back I was running into the sea breeze and it was nothing short of perfect.  I finished up with three hill repeats and then, what better way to finish a run than dipping your feet into the Mediterranean?

That evening the four of us headed to the same path to do a family 2k run. The evening run was even nicer than the morning run with a perfect temperature and lots of activity, from other runners, to walkers, and bike riders making good use of the wide Promenade.

This evening I was out there again on a solo run. The Promenade feels very safe. It is well lit, there is a heavily used road running alongside it and there are lots of other runners taking advantage of the pleasant evening weather. I was perfectly comfortable throughout my run.  It was a “bit of everything” type of run with 2k at a 5:43 min/km pace, followed by 2k at an easy pace, then speed intervals at 400m, 800m and 1 km all below a 5 minute pace. Finally I finished up with a 1.8 km slow, easy cool down and then a wonderful walk  through the Old Town, where the patio restaurants were vying for Friday night customers.

And so this half marathon is not a constant presence in my mind as another race might be.  I’m too busy enjoying the here and now to think a week ahead. Can you blame me?

A view from our walk from the apartment to the lower part of the Old Town.

…but we finally made it to Nice Tuesday night, about 8 hours later than planned. What should have been an hour in Munich before getting a connecting flight to Nice turned into most of the day thanks to Air Canada and a plane “computer glitch” back when we were trying to leave Toronto. That made for an hour of sitting on the tarmac at Pearson airport and no chance of making a connecting flight.  So, making lemonade out of lemons, once in Germany we hoped on the S Bahn, travelled into the centre of Munich and spent a few hours wandering the city. It was an added bonus for the boys, who now get to tick off another city and country they have visited and it was fun for both my husband and I, as it has been many years since either of has been there.  To be honest, I think I was in a bit of an Oktoberfest haze when I last saw the city over twenty years ago.  This time round I refrained from any beer, not sure how well I would deal with it in my sleep deprived state. I had been sure I would sleep on an overnight flight, ends up I was wrong. Mind you, I thought the kids would too, and that didn’t really happen either.

Spring in Munich.

Finally, about 25 hours after we left our house, we arrived at our rented apartment and saw this view from our window:

Looking out our apartment Window!

Completely worth the wait!  By this point we had been up well over 30 hours and were all anxious to get to bed.  When we awoke, the daytime view was just as spectacular:

Day time view from our apartment

I’ve not forgotten that this is a running blog, not a travel blog. But on our first full day in Nice, I suppose it is not surprising that a training run has not happened yet. The plan was for all of us to head out for an evening run together along the walkway that follows the coastline. But by the time we spent the day exploring this unbelievably beautiful ancient city, the evening brought only the desire to eat and rest. By Mike’s watch we walked more than 16km, much of it up hills and stairs. I’m just going to call it cross training 🙂

Our walking route.

In the meantime, I have fallen in love with this city. It may end up rivaling Prague in my affections. Within the first hour I was asking if we could retire here.

Some more pics of this beautiful city:

Update: 

Just finished an 11k run along the sea this morning.  Photos to come.  For now, lets just say there was no frostbite warning like there currently is in Ottawa (couldn’t help but look at the Ottawa weather!)

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t enjoyable, but the last long run before Prague is done.  It probably should have been longer but I was exhausted and decided 17 slow kms were enough.  It was cold, damp, slushy and windy but it is done.  My next run will be in Nice, France, where we will spend a few days before moving on to Prague.  This is where that next run will be:

photo from Wiki

That kind of scenery has to make for a better run!

Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon 2015

This weekend I will do my last long run for the Prague Half Marathon.  I have been training for this race since January, right through consistently frigid temperatures.  I’m not sure how to measure this training session.  In 2014 I completed a little more mileage by this time of year but I feel like I increased the quality of my runs this time around.  Most notably I saw significant improvement in my hill work and speed intervals.  Well, to be honest, i have never really tried speed intervals before, but I am doing them better than I thought I would.  I once again, however, managed to almost completely avoid tempo runs 🙁

A very brief look at my training tells me this:

• five hill repeat sessions, where I learned I can do 480m hill repeats below a 5:30 min/km pace.
• three speed interval sessions, (one more to go) where I discovered that I can comfortably run 800 and even 1200m  intervals below a 5 min/km pace (and in fact on the shorter intervals was finding myself below a 4:30 pace)
• two 19k runs (one more to go) and three 16k runs – hopefully enough longer runs?
• January total – 143 km
• February total – 133 km (I’m sure if it hadn’t been a short month I would have matched January’s total)
• March total as of the 13th – 74 km

I admit I had hoped my monthly totals would be more but somehow it just didn’t happen.  In April and May I would like to work my way back up to 160 or 170 km each month.

While all my speed, hill and LSR work has gone quite well, I am still not feeling confident that I can run 21 km at a sub 2 hour pace like I did last year (three times…still excited about that accomplishment).  It is definitely possible but I think I will need a perfect day.  Certainly the elevation of the course is ideal.  Check it out:

It is hard to see but the vertical scale is only from 184m to 209m.  That is not much of an elevation change!

The temperature might work to my advantage as well.  Forecasts have ranged anywhere from 7C to 14C in Prague on the 28th.  Of course with two weeks to go anything could happen.  If it gets hotter than 14 degrees I simply won’t have adapted yet to that kind of temperature.  One big weather consideration will be wind.  Virtually all of the course runs along the Vltava River.  That should make for a scenic run, but the potential of having to fight wind in an open area is a significant possibility.

So what is my plan for this race?  First priority – ENJOY IT!  Realistically, I won’t run this race again.  Who knows if I will ever even get to Prague again?  I have to make sure I soak in the day.  That is a promise I have made to myself each time I have run in a new city.  It is not that there have been that many, but I have been fortunate enough to have raced in NYC, Vancouver and Philadelphia.  All three of those races have given me lasting memories.  Of course I have also run in Toronto and Hamilton, but they don’t really count.  I’ve been to Toronto more times than I can count, so nothing new to see there and as for Hamilton… well, they put on a great race but you don’t really go to Hamilton for the scenery.

As for my goal times, I very much hope to be between 1:58 and 2:02.  Short of injury, not feeling well, or wicked weather, this should not be an unrealistic goal.  If I could come in under 1:58, I would be thrilled.  I did it in Vancouver, but that race offered some great downhill in the first half of the course, not to mention no wind or humidity.  It was truly a perfect day.  I also did it in last fall’s Mission Possible race, but it was not a certified course and my Garmin showed under the 21.1 km.  As a result, I don’t count that 1:56 time as a personal best, though I was damn proud of it given the difficulty of the course and the fact that my previous best time at that race was 2:06.

Taking in the scenery of a city I once lived in for 5 months will truly be the highlight of the race.  How can I not enjoy a city that looks like this:

Photo montage from http://www.hotels-in-czech.com/news/Hervis-Prague-1-2Marathon.html

If you are interested in some of the other views to be seen during the Prague Half Marathon, check out the following helicopter video:

http://www.hotels-in-czech.com/news/Hervis-Prague-1-2Marathon.html

Prague, here I come!

On many of my outdoor runs I have run past gyms.  When I am fighting rain, wind or snow I understand why I see so many people running on treadmills indoors.  But when it is nice out I always wonder why on earth someone would choose treadmill running over the great outdoors.  What is with those people I always wonder?

Well, today I was one of those people.  The temperature actually went above 0C today.  We have been waiting for that for months.  And there I was heading to the local rec centre to work out on a treadmill.  I actually purposely took out all of my outdoor running gear from my gym bag before heading to work today because I knew that if I had a choice I would be heading outdoors.  So why rob myself of a fun run outside?  I need to make sure I can run in warmer temperatures.  At the moment the predicted temperature in Prague on race day is 12 C.  In many ways I consider that to be an ideal temperature.  But it is worth considering that 12 degrees is 20, if not 30 degrees warmer than what I am currently used to!  I’m not even used to drinking water on my runs – really there hasn’t been any point in carrying it since it would just freeze solid.  So treadmill it was.  I may even hit it one more time this week.  My hope is that running in the stagnant, still, warm air of the gym will make a spring day in Prague feel perfect.

On a different note, my Nike Tempos passed the long run test, completing 19 km last weekend.  I have now run in them 4 times and no blisters to be found.  I think I might be a little stiffer in my calves with them, but I am putting that down to just adjusting to the lower drop and change of shoe style.  I am going to switch back and forth between them and the heavier Nimbus, again with the idea that running with a heavier shoe for some runs will make the lighter shoe feel like nothing.  I’ll take every slight advantage I can get!

Charlie and my glowing shoes!

I have raced most of my half marathons and both marathons in Asics Gel Nimbus 14’s.  Of course the 14’s are three models back in Nimbus history, but when I tried to move to the 15’s the shoes had changed shape so much they no longer fit me properly.  As a result I never even tried the 16’s and instead opted to keep ordering the 14’s online.

My favourite pair of Asics Gel Nimbus

This winter I have done much of my running in Salomon trail shoes and was amazed not only at the traction they offer but how light they are.  Lately, I have gone back to my Asics, knowing that I would not be using the Salomons with their serious treads for the Prague Half Marathon.  I didn’t realize though that I had become accustomed to the light weight and flexibility of my trail shoes.  Suddenly my Nimbus shoes felt a little stiff and bulky.  They are still comfortable shoes, but I started dreaming of something lighter.

One of my pair of Salomons.

My Salomon Speedcross 3’s with Climate Shield.

I have a pair of Asic Gel Lytes that I have used for a couple of 8k and10k races.  I have always loved them but unfortunately bought them about a half size too small.  They are just tight enough that I have never gone past 10k in them, nor have I used them regularly for training, for fear they might become uncomfortable.  I have tried for a while to get another pair but they seem hard to come by around here and with the new models out now I didn’t want to go through the hassle of buying them online only to find they didn’t fit properly.

When it comes to brands outside of Salomon and Asics, I have had little luck.  I’ve tried Brooks, New Balance and Mizuno, but nothing has given me the comfortable fit I was looking for.  Nike was a brand I had yet to try.  After reading Karla Bruning’s review over at RunKarlaRun of the new Nike Tempos, I decided I should head to a local sports store and try them on.

The salesperson actually gave me two other Nike shoes to try first, saying they would be better for distance.  He seemed to be of the opinion that only heavier, more structured shoes could be used beyond the 10k race.  One style of Nike didn’t fit at all, the other was o.k but little more.  Then I tried the Tempos.  First of all I was impressed with how incredibly light these shoes are.  Compared to the Nimbus these shoes feel like they are made of air.  I’m pretty sure my summer sandals weigh more than these shoes.  Somehow though this shoe still has comfortable cushioning, easing my worries that I would feel like I was running barefoot – a movement I have had no interest in joining.  The upper hugs my foot perfectly, I am guessing this is due to a combination of the lacing style and the flexible, lightweight mesh.  But of course it is rare to find the “perfect” shoe and I found the toe box felt a little tight at first, even with me going up a half size.

Knowing that I loved the feel of the shoe, but slightly concerned about the toe box, I decided to buy a pair and try them out on a treadmill.  I will say having these new shoes in my gym bag actually made me feel a little excited about a treadmill run, an unusual feeling for me.  I tested them for 6.5k at various paces and I knew by the end that the Tempos would become my 5 to 10k racing shoes, even if I decided against them for the half marathon distance.  I was also reminded once again how much I hate the treadmill, even flashy new shoes could only keep me keen for so long.

This picture doesn’t quite capture the true “Volt” colour of the shoes. My kids did ask if they would glow in the dark!

Yesterday I took my Tempos out for a run on pavement and they didn’t disappoint.  The only downside – these lightweight, airy shoes are definitely not made for -20 C!  Even when wearing my wool socks I was feeling a bit of a breeze on my feet!  Of course I anticipated this when I went out, but knew that if I waited until the temperature went above 0 I could be waiting until April, so out I went.  My plan was to run at a tempo pace, which according to my Running Room book would be around 5:40 min/km.  Being honest, I have not actually been doing official tempo runs, just hills, steady runs and long slow runs, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I ended up running 6 km at a comfortable 5:28, which would be my race pace if I wanted a 1:55 half marathon – which I do but am not anticipating that time in Prague.  Whether my faster than anticipated pace was due to recent hill and interval work, the cold temperature that made me want to keep moving, or these light as air shoes, I guess I will never know, but it was a good run.

The last test left?  My long slow run this weekend.  I am planning to run 18 to 20 km tomorrow so I will have a chance to see how these shoes feel when going the distance.  I am very hopeful that they will rise to the challenge, as I would love to wear them in Prague.

Of course we all know that the function of the shoe is the most important factor when choosing a pair of runners to race and train in.  But I think most of us agree that it is pretty nice when the shoes we pick come in a colour we like.  I love the neon yellow, or “Volt” colour of these simply styled shoes.  And if my Tempos work, out I have to admit I already have my eye on this colour too:

Follow me on Twitter @AverageRunnerK

Training sometimes can drag you down.  We can get wrapped up in paces and distances and weekly kms.  It can be easy to forget that as hard as running is it can also be fun.  Throw in training in what is now officially the coldest February in Ottawa in 115 years (and not like we are warm at the best of times), and training can become something to simply endure and get done.  This winter people’s pipes are freezing solid, the plastic parts on cars are shattering with the slightest bump and school children have been kept in for enough indoor recesses that playing on the schoolyard is something of a distant memory.  The canal skateway, the longest skating rink in the world, has been open a record number of days, though many of those days saw few skaters due to the bone chilling cold.

Last Friday though Mother Nature gave us a bit of a break.  By mid afternoon the temperature was around -10 and there was virtually no wind.  Minus 10 may not sound particularly warm but when day after day after day has been well into the -20’s and often in the -30’s with the never ending wind factored in, Friday seemed like a little bit of heaven.  The best part was for the first time it was possible to actually feel a little warmth from the sun.  You had to concentrate a little, but it was there.

With this weather break I went out with the idea of simply running for enjoyment.  I didn’t care what pace or distance I achieved, though I admit I am still a little too anal to go without my GPS watch – no matter what I do I like to record it.  My plan was to run until I didn’t want to run anymore, maybe 5 or 8 km, or if I really felt good go for 10k.  I headed out on one of my favourite routes, one I have been avoiding because of its tendency to act as a wind tunnel.  From memory I was pretty sure that the turnaround point I wanted to get to was about 6k from work.  Only when I got to that point did I realize it was actually around 7.5.  Happily I realized that I was going to do a minimum of 15 km.  By the end I threw in a little more and finished up at 16.4k, and every km was truly enjoyable.  What a treat to not be fighting the wind, struggling through sand-like snow, or watching for oncoming traffic because of the impossibility of running on unsafe sidewalks.  If fact the only things I had to watch out for were these little bodies of water…I think they are called puddles!  Wow, water outside in its liquid form!

Today the temperatures stayed warm (relatively speaking) but it was a grey, damp day.  Once again I really didn’t have a plan.  It should have been my long run day, but since I had already done that 16.4, it didn’t seem necessary.  So, despite only being one month away from the Prague  Half Marathon, I once again went out with no goal in mind and once again was pleasantly surprised.  I split the run into two parts.  The first 7k was a steady tempo run (actually a little faster than needed).  A five minute break was followed by a slower recovery run for 6.6 km.  This run was based almost entirely on what my body felt like doing.  Running at a strong pace felt great until the 7 km mark, when I knew I was tired.  The recovery run also felt right, though I was a little surprised to find that I actually sped up in the last 2 km.

Sometimes it is just good to run 🙂

That said, if you are having troubles motivating yourself, you have to check out this:

http://www.theonion.com/video/new-nike-running-app-tells-you-what-youre-really-r,36669/