50 K Ultra Marathon

50 K Ultra Marathon

Maybe?? Will see how I feel after May 6th Toronto Marathon. As long as course is flat.

http://www.welovetorun.com/events/niagaraultra.html

25 K LSD

First run after the Around the Bay 30 K. Legs have been sore and becoming looser as the week went on. Opted not to run mid-week to not overdo it. Got in 25 K this mornign on the Martin Goodman Trail. Felt great - although right calf stiff at the start - no issues after running a K.

Toronto Marathon on May 6: new finish line at the Ontario Place. Should allow for faster finish time as the final 2 K north on University to Queen's Park is very difficult.

YTD = 291.17 K

Race Report - Around the Bay 30 K

Around the Bay 30 K Road Race in Hamilton is the oldest race in North America, began in 1894, and 3 years older than Boston (as they proudly display on their tech shirt). The above photo was taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_Bay_Road_Race

Left the house at 7:45 AM and made the trek to Hamilton for the 9:30 AM start. Wore last year's tech shirt and shorts. Opted to take off the jacket and leave in the car since forecast was 17C. Weather conditions were great as it was cloudy and 9C at the start. Got off the QEW at the Main Street East exit and parked the car on a side street for free (Park St South) - need to remember to do this in the future rather than pay for parking. Did a slow run of 2.17 K to the start - good thing I did since the race had already started.

I started with the end of the pack and it was tight to run past people. Here is what I remember:
* The first 20 K was relatively flat, with an uphill incline for the 15 K harbour bridge (not fun running on steel).
* First 5 K or so was quite packed - couldn't really see the residential areas as was focused on getting on pack below 6 minutes/km.
* 20 K to 23 K was rolling hills - I enjoyed running downhill but power walked the uphill
* 25 K - fixture with man playing Queens. Always nice to high 5 him
* 26 K Valley Inn Rd hill - power walked it with many others - no way was going to run it and destroy the legs
* 27 K to finish was downhill incline :-)So didn't stop and kept running
* Always nice to high 5 the Grim Reaper - another fixture!
* Sun came out at about 23 K and made it more difficult to run
* Lots of volunteers at the fluid stations (although didn't know which was water and gatorade unless heard the yell); also lots of volunteers to distribute the food and medal
* Residential areas had people clapping and banging pot pans - it is a great race in which is a tradition for Hamilton
* with 200 m finish into Copps Collesium, was careful this year not to have any accidents - think it was 2 years ago, nearly twisted the left leg?
* Only concern was using escalators to go up to street level -- there are 2 escalators and 1 was not in use (!) Huge back log of people

Went to the Swiss Chalet for lunch - ordered take-out and at it at the neighbouring mall. Thrilled with getting under 3 hours and in addition to the 2.17 K slow warm-up run, that brings today's mileage to 32.17 K. (YTD = 266.17 K) No issues during the race so am on track for the Toronto Marathon on May 6th. Just need to continually stretch, stretch, stretch. Did feel tightness on the left calf - so will stretch that as well (last spring's running injury).

Gun Time = 3:03:52.8
Chip Time = 2:58:34.4
Pace = 5.58
Place = 3546 out of 7444
Age Category = 365 out of 492
Gender Category = 2213 out of 3139
10 K Split = 1:02:46.7
15 K Split = 1:30:43.2
20 K Spolit = 1:59:22.4

Around the Bay 30 K -- Bib Pick Up

In the past, I have left work once the school bell rang and then made the trek to Hamilton. It would take 2.5 hours to get to Copps Collesium for the bib pickup. Last year, the expo extended its Friday expo hours from 6 PM to 7 PM, which allowed me 1 hour to roam the expo; other years, I would have to run to the bib pick up as it was close to 6 PM, with no time to visit the exhibitors. In my new role as vice-principal, I could have left when the bell rung but there was so much "tidying up" that needed to be done - I like to organize my workspace at the end of the day and make notes which are then filed. I actually left work at 8:30 PM. So made the trek to Hamilton this morning, which took 45 minutes. Would have been there a bit earlier had it not been missing the exit.

After parking a few minutes away from the Copps Collesium (free 2 hour parking on the side street), spent an hour at the expo. Picked up bib #4098 without a wait. Each person gets to walk past each booth twice as you walk to bib pick up location and then back. I did spend some money:

- Running Room booth - bought 3 chocolate flvour gels - will take 2 tomorrow and keep 1 for training.
- Midsummer Night's Run - signed up for the 30 K race on Saturday, August 18th at the early bird fee of $55 until March 31st. There actually was a $6 discount a few months ago that I wasn't aware. The good news is I save on a postage stamp and got a free tech shirt from 2 years ago.
- One More Mile Running Apparel booth - bouth a sticker "42.2" for $3.00. Pricy but a good display on my office wall - to replace the small "26.2" sticker
- OPP booth - bought a $10 stuffed dog. How could I resist our heros?

Saw the finisher's medal for the upcoming Toronto Marathon. It's similar to last year with the runner coloured red. Majority of booths were races and selling clothes.

Oh yes, bought a Lotto 6/49 quick pick for $2 at the neighbouring variety store.




Looking forward to tomorrow's 30 K race. Longest training run has been 28 K (last week) so this will be great. Will be walking up hills. This is year #5 at this race!

5 K yesterday

After work yesterday, had a 45-minute deep tissue massage. Then, went on a 5 K run at Cherry Beach, on the Martin Goodman Trail. What amazing weather!! YTD = 234 K

Tomorrow after work will make the trek to Hamilton to pick up bib and time chip. So glad they changed the expo to 7 PM (rather than 6 PM) as the traffic is horrible to Hamilton. Will leave immediately after work and hope to beat the traffic as best I can!

28 K LSD on St. Patrick's Day

Excellent weather for running: 7C and cloudy. Ran on the Martin Goodman Trail. 28 K total; final 5 K was not easy, especially the final 3 K. Did the best I could before next Sunday's Around the Bay 30 K race in Hamilton. Wish I could have gotten in a few more long runs but am thrilled to have gotten to 28 K considering the glut injury back in January. YTD = 229 K

5 K; reached 200 K for the year; yesterday was Pi Day!!

Ran 5 K this morning - slow but got it done. No issues - and will continue to stretch and use heating pad on the right knee. Read on Twitter that the Toronto Marathon is less than 2 months away! Need to keep running "conservatively" to make it injury-free to the start and finish line. YTD = 201 K (finally reached the 200 K mark).

Yesterday was Pi Day :-) When I taught mathematics, I remember bringing apple pie for my grade 9 classes. A remarkable day. Here's an article from the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/03/14/f-pi-day.html

Pi Day sliced 3.14 ways: Math enthusiasts around the world celebrate the number π
By Claire Penhorwood, CBC News
Posted: Mar 14, 2012 2:46 PM ET


Students from Maurice J. Tobin School in Boston make a human π symbol during a celebration of Pi Day, an unofficial holiday in the math community observed each year on the 14th of March. (Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press)

Think back to your school days, sitting in front of a chalkboard as your math teacher wrote out a long, mysterious number that went on forever — literally.

That number of math classes past is pi. No, not apple pie like your grandmother makes but the number pi, which represents the ratio of the circumference of any given circle to its diameter.

A little rusty on your math skills? Pi is an irrational number, which means it can't be represented as a simple fraction of two integers, and its decimal representation goes on indefinitely without the digits repeating in a pattern like other infinite decimals do (1/7 expressed as a decimal, for example).

Regardless of the size of the circle, the circumference will always equal pi multiplied by the diameter. It's also used to calculate the area of a circle, which equals pi multiplied by the radius squared.

Today marks the mathematically quirky Pi Day, celebrated because the month and day of today's date — 3/14 — correspond to the first three digits of pi: 3.14. Observed in science and math communities around the world, Pi Day has become an annual event that is recognized on university campuses, in particular.

Larry Shaw, a physicist at San Francisco's Exploratorium science museum was the first to celebrate this day in 1987. Shaw says he decided to honour the irrational number when thinking about "the possibility of entering other dimensions through a rotational motion and contemplated the relation of the linear measurement of pi to a sphere.''

After realizing that March 14 was also Albert Einstein's birthday, Shaw had all the more reason to celebrate the day. Pi Day has since gone mainstream, and in 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives officially recognized March 14 as Pi Day.

3.14 facts about π

What is so intriguing about this number? Here are three facts about pi you may not have known.

1. The word pi is taken from the Greek letter π, which is the 16th letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Latin alphabet, the letter "p" is also the 16th letter. Mathematicians and physicists have a tradition of using Greek letters to represent constants, variables or certain functions and assigned π to stand for the unique mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter.

2. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes is credited with documenting the first calculation of pi in about 250 BC. His approach consisted of inscribing and circumscribing regular polygons with many sides in and around the circle and computing the perimeter of these polygons.

3. If you were to print pi calculated to a billion decimal places in average font size, it would stretch from New York City to the approximate midpoint of the state of Kansas.


Students at Evergreen School in Shoreline, Wash., hold up nearly 5,000 digits of the number pi, each digit written on a link of a paper chain, during the 22nd annual Pi Day on March 14, 2011. (Joshua Trujillo/Seattlepi.com/Associated Press)

And for the other 0.14: visit CBC's Storify looking at how the online world is celebrating Pi Day.

Whether you are a math nerd or not, it is hard to deny the remarkable nature of this famous number. Although usually rounded off to just two decimal places, as of October 2011, pi had been calculated to 10 trillion decimal places — by Japanese systems engineer Shigeru Kondo and U.S. computer scientist Alexander Yee, who already held the Guinness World Record for computing pi to five trillion decimal places.

Honour the nifty number in your own way this Pi Day, but stay tuned for an even more coincidental date. On Pi Day 2015, when the clocks show precisely 9:26:53, the date and time written in succession will correspond to the value of pi calculated to nine decimal places: 3.141592653.

5 K this morning

Wow - what weather. Sunny and this afternoon got to 17C. Got in 5 K this morning in amazing March Break weather. Did feel the "pain" in the side -- stretching and will use the heating pad tonight. Will have another 5 K on Thursday and then looking at 27 or 28 K on Saturday. Keeping fingers crossed all will go well and then that's all the LSD training until the Around the Bay 30 K. Did the best I could... YTD = 196 K

LSD 25 K

Happy with this morning's 25 K LSD on the Martin Goodman Trail. Weather about -2C but sunny - so nice weather to run in. The 25 K took 3 hours 15 minutes. No issues but felt tired. Will need to continue stretching... Next weekend hope for either 27 K or 28 K. Then it's the Around the Bay 30 K race. Not the best training but as long as I'm not injuried, am fine. YTD = 191 K

5 K run in +16C weather!!!

Wow - this is winter? +16C outside. Got in 5 K after work. Was at a training session all day that ended at 3:15 PM in Richmond Hill. Went to pick up my custom orthodics. This was the $250 replacement pair I ordered back on December 29th. Since it took until now (!) for the orthodics to arrive, I got a free pair - i.e., 2 pairs for the price of 1. I would have preferred getting a free pair - not sure what to do with another pair - maybe when I lose this one as well??? Took a pair of scissors along to cut the orthodics to match my original pair back 4 years ago. Ran in them and no issues. Drove to the Cherry Beach and then ran the Martin Goodman Trail there. Dream weather!!! YTD = 166 K

March Break begins Friday. ATB 30 K on March 25th so 2 more weeks of training - behind in schedule so hoping for 24 K and then 27 K runs respectively. Best that can be done. And to keep stretching!

Last Week

Thursday - 3 K after school - glad I did it as I had to go back to school to supervise a school event at 7 PM.

Today - 20 K on the Martin Goodman Trail. Had a workshop presentation at York University to their faculty of education students so drove slightly west of the Humber River Bridge and parked car there. Ran east on the trail until Yonge Street and then west back to the car. VERY, very, very windy. First half nice as wind was pushing me. Second half was very challenging as I was running into the wind. Glad I finished 20 K this morning. Was worried I might not finish or too much "pressure" on the legs.

YTD = 161 K

Orthodics have arrived (order put in December 29th). Hope I can get compensation for this huge delay. Looking forward to wearing them! Will pick up next week after work.