The last couple runs I’ve done have FLOWN by because during both of them I’ve been chatting away with people. On Saturday I had an amazing run in Ottawa with Rebecaa and last night at run clinic my 8 x 600 metre hill workout flew by because I ran with a girl visiting our clinic from Calgary. She’s an Ironman who’s done several marathons so we spent the entire hour chatting away about racing and training!

When I first started running regularly back in January of 2009 I always ran alone. After training for my first two half-marathons, I learned about a local trail running group and started joining them on the weekends. Shortly after that, I decided to start going to the local running store’s Wednesday morning track workouts. I remember being SO NERVOUS that first Wednesday. I was such a new runner and the fear of being the slowest one out there plagued me. And, you know what, I was one of the slowest runners. But it didn’t matter. I continued going to those track workouts almost every Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM throughout the summer of 2009, and occasionally joined them for Sunday morning long runs as well.

In the fall of 2009 I joined a very popular local Run Club for one of their sessions. I loved the walk/run philosophy they promoted and did all my long runs with them while training for a half. Shortly after that I ran my third half-marathon and cut 10 minutes off my previous time. I’m sure it was the weekly speed work, the walk breaks on my long runs and the hill training from running trails. Also the camaraderie of my run group was unbeatable. There really isn’t anyone quite like running friends.

For some reason in 2010 I started to get away from group running as I trained for my marathon and I did 90% of my training for that alone.  Honestly, it was miserable. I will never train for a marathon by myself again. It’s hard enough to mentally wrap your head around running 20 miles (32 km) without also having to wrap it around doing it all by yourself. In early 2011 I got back to group running, I started by joining a speed clinic with the same local running store I’d joined for speed work before. This clinic helped me shave 3 minutes off my 10K time! I then started running regularly in the trails with a group of friends who I met through my old coworker while training for my first big trail race.

To train for the Vancouver Marathon I joined another new running group at the local Running Clinic that opened last year. In case you’ve lost track that’s four different running groups in the last three years. Two free ones and two paid ones. I’ve enjoyed every last one of them. The running community in my city is amazing. They are all so nice and uplifting and inspiring.

Now that I’ve rambled on and on about my history with running groups, here’s why I think everyone should join one:

1. It makes you push yourself

Nothing will make you push yourself harder than running with people faster than you and sometimes, especially when you’re doing speed training, you just need to push yourself.

2. They give you the motivation to get out there

There were many, many, many mornings when I never would have dragged myself to the track at 6:00 am without a group to meet. But I never regretted it once. It’s also been so great having my running group for the long runs this marathon training cycle and I can’t even imagine running farther than 15 K (9 miles) by myself right now.

3. Runners are really nice people

They really are a great bunch. I’m yet to meet a rude or snobby runner. In all the different groups I’ve tried everyone has been incredibly friendly, encouraging and nice.

4. You’ll learn things

Do you think I knew what a fartlek vs a tempo run was when I first started running? Or that LSD stood for something other than an illegal drug? Nope, I sure didn’t! But now I’ve ran under the instruction of very experienced runners who have ran for many years and I’ve learned a lot about running in the process.

5. It’s fun

Running is fun period for me but my favourite runs are with friends either catching up on our weeks or running in silence through empty trails in the early morning. I love chatting with people and it makes the run fly by!

So anyone who has asked me if I would recommend joining a running group lately? YES, 1,000 X yes.

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Questions of the day: Have you ever tried a running group? Was it a good experience and do you recommend it to others?

Training so far:

• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 1
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 2
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 3
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 4
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 5
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 6
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 7
• Vancouver Marathon Training: Week 8

I am officially halfway through training! 9 weeks down, 9 to go. Whoo!

Last week was probably one of my lowest weeks yet in terms of time. I’ve been training for 7-9 hours per week and last week I only put in 6 hours. However, it was a cutback long run week and I also started my new job so I am cutting myself a break!

Monday – 30-minutes of strength training

Fit in a quick strength training session before my first day of work. I did the following:

• One-leg squat – 3 x 12 @ 10 lbs
• Dumbbell chest press on ball – 3 x 12 @ 15 lbs
• Russian dead lift with dumbbells – 3 x 12 @ 15 lbs
• Assisted chin-up – 3 x 12 @ bodyweight
• Dumbbell lunge – 3 x 12 @ 10 lbs
• Dumbbell bicep curl – 3 x 12 @ 10 lbs
• Superman – 3 x 12 @ bodyweight
• Medicine Ball Twist – 3 x 12 @ 8 lbs

Tuesday – 3.8 mile / 6.0 km run

Nice and easy run with my group tonight. I knew I was planning on getting up early the next morning to do my hill workout (less than 12 hours after this run) so I took it really easy!

3.8 miles / 43:13 / 11:25 pace
6.0 km / 7:05 pace

Wednesday – 5.5 mile /  km hill workout

I had my very first work event last Wednesday night so I got up super early to do my hill workout by myself. It was tough getting out of bed and tackling the hills on my own but once I was done I was so glad I did! By the 6th hill my legs were definitely very fatigued!

5.5 miles / 1:01:25 / 11:10 pace
8.85 km / 6:56 pace

Thursday – REST

After my first four days of work and a 11 hour day on Wednesday all I wanted to do on Thursday was rest! I went for burgers (veggie for me!) with Eric and my brother and was in bed by about 9 pm this night I believe.

Friday – 4.2 mile /  km run

Chloe’s first run since getting spayed a few weeks ago! I did 3 miles on the road by myself and then grabbed Chloe for another 1.2 miles in the trails. She loved it!

4.2 miles / 43:15 / 10:18 pace
6.75 km / 6:24 pace

Saturday – 11.25 mile /  km run + 60-minute traditional hot yoga class

I was supposed to run 12 miles on Saturday but I ended up doing 7 of my 11.25 miles in the snow-covered trails with my trail running friends so I called it good at 11.25! At first my runkeeper app told me I only did 10 miles but then it re-registered and said 11.25 so I don’t know how accurate runkeeper was for this run since it was in the trails? Either way I know I ran for over 2 hours so got a good workout in! The trails were gorgeous and we actually ran into a huge group of horses (we don’t think they’re wild since the trail we run is on a reserve but they were definitely free-roaming!)

I was so happy to get back to trail running but the snow on the trails was really hard on my legs and hips. I was definitely very fatigued by the end of this run.

11.25 miles / 2:14:13 / 11:57 pace
18 km / 7:25 pace

I knew I couldn’t go an entire week without getting ANY hot yoga in so I got my butt to a hot yoga class on Saturday afternoon. It was an awesome, super sweaty and super challenging class. I’m so glad I went!

Sunday – REST

I spent all day Sunday in the air as I flew to Ottawa so it was definitely a rest day for me!

Training Tally:

Miles/Km ran last week: 24.75 miles / 39.8 km

Training-to-date mileage: 217.6 miles / 350.05 km

Yoga: 60 minutes

Strength Training: 30 minutes

Cycling/Spinning : 0 minutes

Thoughts:

Honestly, right now I am struggling to keep my head above water when it comes to training. So even though normally I probably wouldn’t be happy with a week like this I will take it! The next 9 weeks are definitely going to be a challenge but I’m determined to finish training strong. However, I promised myself when I started this training cycle my training would fit around my life and not vice versa and I’m still very committed to that. I will fit training in but not at the expense of life things and I refuse to stress myself out over it!

OK, off to enjoy day 3 in Ottawa! First couple days of training went really well and then I met up with Anais for a run and delicious dinner Monday night and will see her again tonight for yoga and dinner again. Last night I went with my training group for a tour of Parliament and then for dinner!

Hope you’re all having great weeks!

Question of the day: Do you fit training around your life or life around your training?

PS: Happy Birthday to my “little” brother who is 19 today, aka legal age in BC!

Aron did this awesome post last week about all the marathons that are on her “list” and I thought it would be fun to follow suit. I am not just talking marathons though, I’m also listing a few other races that are on my ‘one day’ list.

Marathons & Half-Marathons:

1. Chicago – The Chicago marathon is so hyped up I think it would be awesome to run and there is talk about me and a certain running friend doing this in 2013. Stay tuned!

2. NYC – I’ve always wanted to visit that city and if I ever enter the lottery and get in I think that would be the perfect timing for a visit. Plus is there any better way to see a city? Anais awesome race recap basically solidified that I NEED to do this marathon one day.

3. Big Sur – I LOVE scenic courses and this one looks so amazing and beautiful. Plus it’s on the west coast so it wouldn’t be as much travel to get to!

4. San Francisco Women’s Marathon or Half-marathon – I think I would be good doing the half-marathon for this one since it’s SO hilly. But I would LOVE to visit San Fran and this looks like a really fun race. The Tiffany’s necklace at the end doesn’t hurt

5. Walt Disney World Marathon – I really enjoyed our trip to Orlando despite how $$$ it was and if I was to ever go back there it would be to do this marathon. I think this would be a really FUN marathon to run!

6. Twin Cities Marathon – I loved visiting Lisa in Minneapolis and the parts of the city she took me too. One day I want to go back and visit her again and run the marathon there (hopefully with her!)

Other Races:

1. Half-Ironman – after doing my sprint triathlon and absolutely LOVING it I’ve been thinking about the half-ironman distance. The Ironman distance seems insane and unattainable to me but the half-ironman seems a little more within my reach. Not sure what course yet, I haven’t been eying one in particular. I am definitely doing an Olympic distance (or 2) triathlon in 2012 and I’m thinking of aiming for the half-iron distance in 2013 or 2014.

2. Trail Half-Marathon – since my disastrous long-distance trail race I’ve stayed away from distances longer than about 6-8 miles in the trails. But I want to tackle another longer distance one and I’ll likely be doing this in 2012 as there is an awesome trail racing series in this area. I don’t want it to overlap with marathon training or wedding stuff so I’ll likely do the September one.

3. 50K Ultra – Holy crap I can’t believe I just put that in writing. But it’s true. The idea of doing an ultra has been at the back of my mind for quite awhile. I don’t know when and I don’t know where as a lot of these other races are higher on my list right now, but one day I would like to tackle a 50K in the trails!

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Question of the day: What marathons, half-marathons and other races are on YOUR list??