Race report - 2016 Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon

Well, it all finally caught up with me. 

Despite putting in a full winter season's worth of training, I cannot honestly say that I arrived at the start line of the 2016 Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon healthy - and I paid for it.

The events surrounding the event were all great enough - being able to join Jim Willett as he wrapped up his #Marathon2Marathon escapade, sharing the race weekend with so many of my RunNinja compatriots, and participating in the largest and most prestigious race in our country (and at the nation's capital, no less).  But alas, the hopes and dreams of becoming a sub-3 hour marathoner were not to be for me.

 Our tribe of RunNinjas (aka "The Beautiful Freaks") - photo by Miranda Wade Cudmore

With the temperatures soaring well above 30°C (factoring in the humidex) the long walk from our cars to the expo in downtown Ottawa on Saturday afternoon (after having spent the entire previous day moving our home with the assistance of RunNinja friends) didn't help matters much.  While feeling mentally tough I tried to suppress the sensations of being physically depleted on Sunday morning.  I ran through the standard routine that I follow for any go at a serious race, including the pre-dawn shakeout run, solid breakfast, and arrival at the start/finish area with at least an hour to spare - and I must say that feeding off of the energy of the likes of RunNinjas Rob, Robert, Lewis, Rick, Mariana and Crystal made me feel like I might actually be able to pull off something decent.

Pre-race hopefulness ... photo by Crystal Oakley

There was an additional boost when I lined up in the Blue (anticipated sub-3:15 finish time) corral and not only met up with fellow Skechers Performance Ambassador Dave Liu (who was going for a 2:30ish gun time) but I was separated just by an arms length and a barrier tape from the elite athletes who were warming up in their cordoned-off front section.  Just being that close to so many great marathoners made me feel fast and ready ... I even tried to hype myself up by standing tall with my hands on my hips a la Amy Cuddy's TED talk.

But it was all for naught ...

With no 3:00 pacer I started out with the 3:05 pacer and immediately found that my legs were lumbering and heavy.  I managed to stick with this group for about the first 10k but then slowly found myself falling back, until the 16k mark (oh no - shades of the GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon!) when my right knee immediately went into full-out rebellion mode.  Pain radiated across the bottom of my kneecap and would buckle every time that I tried to open up my stride, and my pace fell from 4:25/km to 5:00/km. 

I continued to hobble my way forward with no ability to pick up any steam without incurring the wrath of my knee - all the way up to about the 22k mark where I decided that I needed to stop at the roadside medical tent to get some attention.  After a solid wrap I rejoined the fray (as best as a lame duck can) and continued to semi-limp along until all of the compensating that my left knee was doing finally ground to a halt and it gave way, radiating the same sort of pain transverse-wise from the bottom ridge of the patella.  Through some force of will I carried on one foot in front of the other (now clicking off 6:00+/km) until around 33k when a subsequent medical tent stop was made to tensor-up the now-aggravated left-knee.

It was quite a sight.  I even heard at least one onlooker comment "Look - both knees taped up" as I attempted to finish up the race.

The agony of defeat de-knees

What was perhaps the most frustrating was that my cardio was all there, and my muscles were feeling otherwise fine.  Even psychologically I was still with it, as at around the 38k mark I decided to give my regular finishing kick a go, managing to drop from 6:00/km to 4:27/km while weaving through the sea of humanity as full and half marathon runners merged down the finishing stretch along the Rideau Canal.

I crossed the finish line in a disheartening time (to me) - but was still able to celebrate so many victories by my fellow RunNinjas, including a number of PBs (including Mike's sub-3 BQ), first-time marathon finishes and the conclusion of Jim's east-to-west journey.

So what did I discover?

1. I'm pretty slow - I may have to rethink my potential to post a sub-3 marathon finish.
2. I'm pretty stoopid - for all the talk that I've spouted to others about taking appropriate rest and avoiding overtraining, I managed to blow straight through that stop sign.
3. I'm pretty tired - it's time to take a step back.  A mini off-season is long overdue, and will provide me with an opportunity to re-evaluate what I'm going to do with this running stuff in the future.  

For now, a hearty congratulations to all who toughed it out over the course of the Ottawa Race Weekend - you've earned a real 'pat' on the back (the inverse of what is depicted below, especially if my knee issues turn out to be chronic and not acute)!

Race gear for the 2016 Ottawa Marathon:

• Skechers Performance Division racerback singlet and split shorts
• Skechers GOMeb Speed 3 2016
• Polaroid PLD 3011/S sunglasses
• Running Room no-show socks
• Garmin Forerunner 305
• Louis Garneau LG1 energy gels
• KT Tape

Race report - 2016 Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon

Anticipating my first one-legged race

The weekend is almost here - and not just any weekend, but the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend.

I've been looking forward to being part of the biggest road running event in our country for a couple of reasons - first because it's the terminus of our RunNinjas sensei Jim's epic trek from the Fredericton Marathon to the Ottawa Marathon, and secondly because I'd targeted this marathon as my goal race for the spring season (in hopes of attaining a sub-3 hour finish).  Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray ...

Jim is doing just fine, and managing to capture some fascinating people and experiences as part of a video documentary that he is compiling along his journey's route.  We RunNinjas are going to be over-the-moon to be able to reunite with him and celebrate this phenomenal and superhuman accomplishment!

On the other hand, I will have see what Sunday brings, and celebrate just being able to get to the starting line.

Since my last adventure running with my friend Nav at the GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon I've been battling some knee issues, and as I've discovered just recently a strain of the short head (lower part) of the biceps femoris.  Tenderness, weakness and pain led to me taking almost a full two weeks off immediately after the GoodLife Marathon and then resuming training/tapering with modest success.  As such I'll be heading into Ottawa with a bit of a busted wheel that will be taped up like Red Green had attacked it.

If that wasn't enough, the one thing that I've heard about racing in the Ottawa Marathon is that while the course itself might be conducive to decent finishing times, the ambient conditions may not ... and this weekend is shaping up to be a messy scorcher.

I've been heat training this week (layering up for workouts on even the warmest days) to try to acclimatize but I'm not sure whether or not it will have any significant benefit based on the projected forecast.

As such it will be a real roll of the dice in terms of how things turn out.  If there is a silver lining in this (thunder)cloud it could be that the one mitigating factor might benefit the other, as the heat seems to alleviate the tightness and pain that I have been feeling in my right knee.

I'll get to the start.  I'll be excited to be putting my fluorescent orange Skechers GOMeb Speed 2016 through their first race.  It'll be awesome to share the experience with all of my RunNinja tribe (some of whom I've helped coach in preparation for their first marathon) and reconnect with Jim.

One way or another, it will be a memorable weekend ...!

#GOlikeneverbefore #RunJimmiRun #RunNinjasCapitalTakeover

Anticipating my first one-legged race