The other day, I was reading the Running Room magazine, and there was an article about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) Strangely enough, that evening, Laura brought home a pamphlet from school about SMART goals too - the acronym works in English and French (Spécifique, mesurable, accessible, réaliste et bien défini dans le temps.) So that got me thinking: time to set a smart goal for the marathon.

I will complete this year's Ottawa marathon in a time of _________

Ah, there's the challenge, what is my goal time? I've never done a marathon, and have no clue what to expect for finish time. I have done well in 5K, 10K and half marathons before, so we'll play with numbers via McMillan.

Distance	Best Time	Projected Marathon
5K	0:20:53	3:23:35
10K	0:44:56	3:30:52
21.1K	1:42:51	3:36:55

Are you F-ing nuts? Call me defeatist, but I think we can all agree those times are "Whack".

Let's work backwards. If we are willing to lend some credence to the McMillan tool, let's plug in an arbitrary 3:45, and see what kind of effort that relates to in the 5, 10 and half...

Distance	Estimated Time	Based on Marathon
5K	0:23:05	3:45:00
10K	0:47:57	3:45:00
21.1K	1:46:41	3:45:00

Way more reasonable... I think. I could probably manage those times right now (save the half) on a good day, with proper conditions.

Let's expand the search to 4 hours...

Distance	Estimated Time	Based on Marathon
5K	0:24:37	4:00:00
10K	0:51:08	4:00:00
21.1K	1:53:48	4:00:00

Ahh, now that I could probably do.

Goal 1 - Make it through training!
Goal 2 - Finish
Goal 3 - 4:00
Goal 4 - 3:45

You have successfully registered for an event in the
Ottawa Race Weekend being held May 29 and 30, 2010.

Payment has been received/Confirmation d'inscription:
Phil Barnes is registered for
Ottawa Race Weekend Ottawa Marathon

Why am I doing this? I think I figured it out, while talking to another runner the other day.

I'm doing it, to "Get it out of the way". I honestly don't really like training SO much. I'm convinced that I never want to do another marathon. I know that it's going to hurt. I'm certain I am doing it, just to get it out of the way. Once I've done this, I can return to enjoying running as a hobby. Sure, I'll do races here and there, but until I satisfy myself that I've tried it and done it, I'll always be wondering, and it will always be clouding my mind.

Fortunately, I don't feel the same way about Ironman...





...yet.

Labels: Marathon

117 days 23 hours 59 minutes 00 seconds.


Day 1, week 1.

Labels: Marathon

Learn to Run Clinic
Registration is now open for the Cornwall Multisport Club's Learn to Run clinic.
This is a great way to kick-start your fitness program in a safe, structured and fun environment.
10 weeks of group session training starts Saturday February 13th, 2010.
Get ready for your first 5K!
Price is only $50 and includes full membership to the Cornwall Multisport Club (join as a family and save even more).
Registration at www.CornwallMultisportClub.com

Well, it appears the secret to getting faster in the pool is to: 1) Only go once a week; 2) Make sure you pack on 10 pounds over Christmas (adds 10mm of neoprene like substance to your stomach); 3) Follow my custom 3000 meter swim plans.

I've been doing these swim workouts for the last couple of months, and oddly enough, I seem to be at my fastest ever on the swim. (set PB on 500m last night @ 8:23) The following workouts are cobbled together based on workouts and fragments of masters workouts I did a few years ago in Ottawa.

I offer them up to the world now, with the disclaimer that there is no real rhyme or reason to them, other than I find them fun and challenging. Print them out and put them in a zip-lock baggy to bring with you to the pool.

Happy Swimming.

Set 1 - the "You will sleep well tonight set"

400	400 Easy
500	100 Pull Buoy
600	100 Kick
700	100 Pull Buoy
800	100 Kick
900	100 Pull Buoy
1000	100 Easy
1100	4 x 25 on 00:30
1200	100 Easy
1400	4 x 50 on 01:00
1500	100 Easy
1800	4 x 75 on 01:30
1900	100 Easy
2300	4 x 100 on 02:00
2400	100 Easy
2800	4 x 100 IM on 02:15
3000	200 Cool Down

Set 2 - Practice your cool Front-to-Back and Back-to-Front flip turns

400	400 Warm Up
800	2 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
1000	200 Easy
1500	5 x 100 (25 Fr , 50 Br, 25 Fr - hard)
1600	100 Easy
2100	5 x 100 (25 Fr, 50 Back, 25 Fr - hard)
2200	100 Easy
2700	5 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
3000	300 Cool Down

Set 3 - The Time Trial Series - Measure your performance improvements

500	500 TT
1100	3 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
1200	100 Easy
1700	500 TT
2300	3 x (100 Pull, 100 Kick)
2400	100 Easy
2800	4 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
3000	200 Easy

Set 4 - You will love to hate the sprints at the end. Go all out

400	400 Warm up
500	100 Pull
600	100 Swim
750	150 (50 Fr, 50 Back, 50 Breast)
850	100 Kick
950	100 Pull
1050	100 Swim
1200	150 (50 Fr, 50 Back, 50 Breast)
1300	100 Kick
1350	50 Easy
1750	4 x 100 (50 Fr, 50 Back) on 02:15
2150	4 x 100 (50 Back, 50 Breast) on 02:15
2550	4 x 100 IM
2600	50 Easy
2800	8 x 25 Sprints on 0:30
3000	200 Cool Down

Set 5 - Le grand mélange - the ultimate tough guy workout

400	400 Warm up
850	3 x (100 Pull, 50 Kick)
1250	2 x 200 Free (Medium Pace
1550	3 x 100 IM
1650	100 Easy
2050	4 x 100 (Fr, Bk, Fr, Bk)
2100	50 Easy
2500	4 x 100 (25 Easy, 50 Med, 25 Hard)
2600	100 Easy
2800	8 x 25 sprints on 0:30
3000	200 Cool Down

We've been out a few times so far "trekking" the trails at Grey's Creek. Today, Guylaine met me at lunch for the real test: A RUN.

Running in snowshoes is different. Still fun (well hopefully it will be after a couple of tries). A couple things to note:

1) Make sure you have your foot pushed through the binding good enough, so that your toes are almost touching the webbing at the front - we both endured some wicked calf cramps, until we adjusted this - funny how only an inch of mal-adjustment can really affect you.

2) Don't do what I did - don't wear track pants: you should have slippery wind-pant type material for the snow not to stick to your entire back-length of pant.

I'll give it a go again tomorrow.

Labels: Snowshoe

I lost count of my laps last night at the pool. No biggie right? Yes - it drives me nuts when that happens.

Oddly enough, as I was maneuvering the web last night, an ad popped up for this interesting gadget:



The Swimovate Pool-Mate Swimming Computer.

Genious

Using accelerometer technology, it features Lap counter, Time, Average Strokes per lap, Speed /100m, Distance, Calories, Set times, Pause function, Efficiency Index, Large Memory, Alarm and fully functioning stylish digital watch, Water Resistant to 50m.

Just turn it on and swim.

Is it too late to add this to my Christmas list?

500 meters @ 08:24.64 a cool 1:40/100 meters according to the Swim Pace Calculator.



Woot.