The fall colors have been beautiful as always. I've been so lucky to work at Innovation Place for so many years with their beautiful grounds and gardens. I often eat my lunch on these benches.
And the walk to work is also a joy on a sunny fall morning.
I always have a hard time deciding whether to flip reflections "right" way up, or leave them upside down. What do you think?
What to say about running 42k? (marathon distance, 26.2 miles)
I guess the big thing is that I achieved the goal I’ve had in mind for the last few years. I was going to say “working towards” but that’s not really true. I’ve just been running. Just enjoying being able to get out there and do it.
Considering I was aiming for 40 secs/km faster than the last time I ran 40km, it was definitely not a sure thing. If I had a good run I'd think it was possible, and if I had a bad run I'd think it was out of reach.
I managed to finish two minutes under my goal. Secretly I had hoped to do slightly better but considering it’s my first marathon, and at the age of 61, I’m happy with it.
I was quite nervous before I started. I'm not sure why. There certainly wasn’t any pressure. No one even knew I was going out to do it. Of course, once I got started the nerves went away.
It wasn’t perfect conditions, but it wasn’t too bad. These warm fall days get quite cool at night and then heat up fast. At 7c it was a little cold when I started, and at 19c it was a little warm when I finished. Thankfully it was sunny with almost no wind when it was cold, and breezy and overcast when it was warm.
I probably should have tapered a bit more before this effort. I reduced my mileage for the week but it was only last Sunday that I ran my fastest half marathon. Two major efforts within a week probably isn't ideal.
I went twice around a roughly 21 km loop. I deliberately chose familiar ground that I’d run countless times before. I thought about running one of the loops in reverse for variety but I decided for this I wanted familiarity and comfort more than variety. I think it was the right choice.
I wore my running vest with two 500ml bottles. That wasn’t enough fluids so I stashed a refill bottle in the bushes at the start/end of the loop. To speed up the process refilled the soft bottles without taking them out of the vest. It worked, but I spilled sugary water on myself which made for a somewhat sticky second lap. In the end I drank about 1.5 liters. As expected, I drank more in the warmer second lap.
I used Tailwinds in my water and got about 400 calories from that. To ensure I get a consistent intake, I make a point of drinking a small amount every kilometer when my watch beeps with my pace. In addition I ate three Huma gels (at roughly 10km, 20km, and 30km) for another 300 calories. (I prefer the Huma fruit puree rather than the usual honey/syrup texture.) That’s about as much calories as I could stomach. As it was, I wasn’t too excited about that last gel. But it was a caffeinated one so I had some motivation to choke it down. I had practiced on long runs with Tailwinds and Huma gels so I was pretty sure it would go down ok. I didn’t bonk or “hit the wall” so I’d say it did its job. By the end, puking seemed like a possibility, but I think that was just the effort. The feeling went away as soon as I finished.
My pacing went pretty well. Almost all my kilometers were within a few seconds of my target pace, mostly under. I had a slight negative split (second half slightly faster) which is what I was aiming for. At about 35 km things were going pretty well and I remember thinking I might have something left for a kick at the end. That was overly optimistic. By the end it was less a question of whether I could physically go faster, and more a matter of convincing myself that I really did want to keep running.
I read recently that if at any time in the first 30 km you think you went out too fast, you probably did. I forced myself to stick close to my goal pace for the first 30 km. If I wanted to go faster I would do that in the last 10 km. Of course, by the last 10 km I didn't feel much like going faster.
By the time I finished it was getting busy, as you’d expect on one of the last nice days of fall. But by that time I didn’t really care. I was in a world of my own. Other people were simply obstacles I had to go around to finish what I was doing. I made a point of trying to smile since that’s supposed to improve performance (and it was a beautiful fall day), but I’m afraid that went by the wayside for the last few kilometers.
I did gaze longingly at my usual coffee stop. It seemed unfair that I get to stop for coffee on my training runs, but not now, when I really needed it.
I ended up with a black toenail but that wasn’t a surprise, that toe is often an issue. Otherwise, I got through it relatively unscathed. As usual after really long runs my neck and shoulders were a bit sore. I can feel my quads slightly. During the run I had a slight ache in the outside of one knee, probably a remnant of my old IT band issues. But it never got painful and disappeared after I finished. I think I was in adequate shape. Not in shape to go any faster, but enough to do what I wanted without any damage.
Could I go faster? I think so, if I could keep up my mileage. Not a lot faster, but I could probably cut a few minutes. I think I’m pretty close to the Boston qualifying time for my age group. Not that I have the slightest desire to run with umpteen thousand other people, but it would be a number to aim for.
It's a good idea to eat within a short time after exercise (so the research says). I usually need to re-hydrate as well, so a smoothie is a good option. It's also easier to eat than solid food, and easier to get the desired balance of protein, carbs, and fat. ("Rewarding" yourself with junk food after a run is somewhat counterproductive.) There's also research that shows it's a good idea to take in more protein as you age, so my post run smoothie is a good chance to do that as well.
Here are my basic ingredients:
large glass of soy milk 1 banana 1/4 cup of quick oats (slow carbs) 1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder 1 tablespoon of whey protein powder 1 teaspoon of hot chocolate powder cinammon
If I feel like I sweated a lot, and I didn't drink any electrolyte fluids during the run, I'll add a pinch of salt.
If it was a long run (e.g. over two hours) I might add a tablespoon or two of olive or camelina oil, both for extra slow calories, and because otherwise the only source of fats is the soy milk.
Occasionally I'll add a tablespoon or two of yogurt for some probiotics, although normally I'm not a big yogurt fan.
The oats make the texture a little odd, but I've gotten used to it. If you blend it well it's not bad.
If you're vegan you obviously wouldn't want to use whey protein powder but there are plenty of other options.
Tip: Freeze your overripe bananas (peeled and broken into chunks) so if you're out of fresh ones you can use a frozen one.
Shelley gave me some Athletic Greens as a gift, so I've been adding a tablespoon of those too. It turns the smoothie a rather sickly green color, but doesn't affect the taste too much.
I'm not a big believer in "supplements", or highly processed foods in general, but the protein powder is a convenience compromise. And the Athletic Greens are basically vitamins and minerals. (And they're recommended by Timothy Ferris, how can you go wrong!)
My stomach doesn't usually bother me on long runs and I don't have a problem drinking a smoothie afterwards. But after that I often don't feel much like eating for a few hours so it's good to take in enough calories to last till I get my appetite back.
Note: I'm a little unusual in that I'm generally more concerned with keeping my weight up rather than down like most people. I've never gone much over what I weighed when I left high school. I assume that's partly due to an active lifestyle and partly a matter of lucky genes.
On the other hand, if you are exercising to lose weight, you probably want to be careful not to take in more calories after your exercise than you burned during it.
I'm not fanatical about having to have my post run smoothie. If it's not convenient I might just grab a banana or some fluids.
It's probably not the smoothies, but something is going right - I cut 5 minutes off my best half marathon time on my last long run :-)
Autumn is the time for seeds and I thought I'd do a few closeups of these fascinating products of nature. They all survived a ride home in my pocket. I normally like more natural settings, but these kinds of staged photoes can be good to focus on a particular subject. (Like the Photo Ark or Seeing series)
This pinecone was almost dropped on my head by a squirrel busily snipping off the pinecones and letting them drop to the ground, presumably to collect later.
One of a large crop of acorns from the oak trees at Innovation Place.
There are two small trees near the Innovation Place pond that I think are Buckeyes. (related to chestnuts) My father talked about playing with conkers when he was a child. It's such a contrast between the rough spiky outer layer and the smooth shiny seeds inside.
Here's the makeshift backdrop I used for these shots. I found a patch of sun coming in a window so I had plenty of light and could get decent depth of focus and still a fast enough shutter to hand hold. (Olympus EM1m3 with macro lens) I didn't manage a pure white background but close enough.
Along with some rain we've had a couple of foggy mornings. The spiders like to build webs on the railings of the pedestrian bridge I walk across to get to work. They stand out when they are covered in dew and reflecting the low early morning sun. They're a little tricky to photograph well.
Normally, there are no spiders visible, so I'm not sure what's making the webs. A few times I have found these Cat-faced Orbweavers on the webs, but I'm not sure if they are the producers.
The leaves are continuing to change color. I think I like photographing the reflections of the color better than the trees themselves.
I was taking photographs of these coneflowers (gray-headed?) when I noticed a tiny crab spider. Usually these are Goldenrod crab spiders, but this one has a little different coloring than usual.
I've only seen a few fishing spiders this year. I spotted this one guarding its young in a nursery web. You can see the empty egg sac at the bottom of the web.
We're past the dragonfly peak but there are still a few around. I photographed this Variable Darner as it was laying eggs in the water. I wonder if it's the eggs or the nymphs that overwinter?
The bees love this late flowering Russian Sage. On cool mornings I can often find them "sleeping" here, waiting to warm up enough to fly. I think most of them, including this one, are Hunt's Bumble Bees.
Usually I see jackrabbits around Innovation Place, but this looks like a Mountain (Nuttal's) Cottontail. They are more commonly found further south. I wonder if they are moving north with the warming climate.
I'm not much of a mushroom person, but there are lots popping up after the recent rain. This one was a little unusual - I think it's a White Saddle.
There are more and more Boxelder/Maple Bugs congregating on the ground and bushes and trees.
The oaks at Innovation Place have had a bumper crop of acorns this year, maybe due to the combination of the warm summer and the regular watering. There aren't a lot of oaks in Saskatoon, but there are a few around. Someone was even collecting them with a rolling nut gatherer. I'm not sure if that was just to get rid of them, or whether they were going to eat them in some form.
And finally, a rare selfie, as a reflection, of course.
