2010 Mississauga Marathon, Half Marathon, 10km and 5km
Mississauga, ON
Well it had been a great winter of training from the right amount of mileage to the right speedwork, the right amount of sleep. And most importantly, my new coach as of last November, Jeff Gaudette of Premier Coaching online, who is a former Hansen Brooks marathon project professional runner and now full time coach, was probably my best decision of all. He has a wealth of running and training knowledge and always brings new cutting edge training techniques to the table. Based on the season to date, it’s safe to say they obviously work. Last fall many running friends and acquintances were telling me that I had really gotten fast but this spring they’re all shocked by how much faster I am than last fall. Well there’s only one thing I need to say to that, “Thank you very much Jeff Gaudette.” If anyone is considering a coach and might be interested in someone like Jeff you can reach him at http://premiercoachingonline.com.
So as you may have seen in my last race report, “2010 Sporting Life 10k – 2PB’s in 1??”, I’ve run a PB or Personal Best at every race this season (Grimbsy, Chilly, Bay & Sporting Life) which keeps alive a now 5 year streak of a PB at every race, every distance. Well, I had decided after last fall’s 2:56:09 at the Good Life Toronto Marathon that I wanted to get my time under 2:50 for the full. I’m not sure if many people thought that I’d be able to do it as this starts putting you into some pretty lonely territory. As I’ve mentioned before, the Running Free motto, “Believe it, achieve it” is more than just a neat thing to print on t-shirts. It truly does work, as the body truly can do some amazing things if you really do believe, and I mean deep down believe. You still have to ensure that what you’re shooting for is realistic and that your training plan is set up to properly prepare you for your specific goals. It’s like I say in my chocolate milk commercial, “you can’t just hope for a time, put in a couple of runs and hope you’ll achieve it. You have to plan the work and work the plan. And you truly do have to believe that what you’re striving for is something you can achieve.” Okay, okay, I’ll step off my soap box now. LOL!
So the morning of the race it looks as though things are shaping up to be near perfect for marathoning. I say near perfect because it is sunnier than I prefer and the wind is coming from the east. This is the prominent direction we’ll be running in the second half which can really sap the wind from your sails but no worries, that’s marathoning. In speaking with my coach a few days earlier we decided to target an even split 2:44 as my race times and training sessions indicate that this is a very distinct possibility given the right circumstances. So this means 1:22 halfs and staying around a 3:53/km pace. If it feels good keep it going or pick it up a bit for the last 10-12km. If it doesn’t ease back a bit and still have a great race.
I get to the starting corrals and start into an easy jog and eventually into my pre-race warm up. In doing so, I bump into fellow Running Free team mate Scott McDonell, who if you’ve been reading my recent race reports, has become both a friend and a running nemesis this season as we have duked it out in a couple races this season. This won’t be one of those days as Scott is doing the half on this day. Good thing as the full is tough enough that I don’t need to be worrying what he’s up to. With him doing the half I know he’ll be ahead as the pacing is obviously going to be faster for the half.
The gun goes off and away we all go. Everything is feeling good and I go through the first half in 1:21:55 which is pretty much right on schedule. One thing though, as I hadn’t run this race since 2007, I had forgotten how tough and hily some of the waterfront paths actually are as well as how steep the pitches are coming back off the path onto Lakeshore Road. This isn’t like Toronto’s pancake flat waterfront paths. I went throught the 30km point in 1:56 but was starting to feel the effects the hills were taking on my body. By 34km I decided that it was time to ease up or run the risk of calf cramping. And we all know that once calf cramps set in the day is done and any chance of a reasonably good time are all but gone.
I finished up reasonably strong and in a nice time of 2:48:30 which was good enough for 12th place overall, 2nd place in my age group and 3rd overall master (40 & up). The latter won me a new Canon Poweshot digital camera. Mission accomplished as I achieved a comfortable sub-2:50 full.
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Happy Trails,
Mike
Running Free Athlete
https://www.teamrunningfree.com
Great race Mike! And an awesome season so far! You are unbelievably fast & getting faster! Congratulations!
Mike! Way to go brother!
I just read the SL 10k report too! Great photos! Ha!
I like it… “A comfortable sub 2:50 full…”
In my dreams….
Keep it up man! You’re having an awesome season.
Very inspiring.
D
Mike – awsome time and good story!
I can only dream of doing a full marathon – especially sub 2:50.
Great time – see you on the shorter courses!
Greg
“Believe It, work your arse off and achieve it!”
You are setting one heck of an example for everyone dude.
When I grow up (that won’t happen anytime soon), I want to be like you.
Wicked stuff Mike!
Catch up with you soon.
Mike, it always hurts worse when you don’t make your time. So it is good to hurt well; the accomplishment outlasts the pain every time!
Your training regime has been a bit of an eye opener for me. The quality and timing of each session is so critical. So much for slogging 100k weeks for 12 weeks in a row; I need to adjust or watch you fade away in the dust!