Travel Day

Well travel day is finally here.  After an evening/morning of packing we'll soon we headed to the airport.  Packing was a little difficult as the temperatures during the 4 days we are there range from a low of 1 degree to a high of 27.  But the only thing that matters is our running gear is in our carry on luggage in case for whatever reason our checked luggage does not arrive.  If it doesn't the airport luggage people will have a feast on the food we packed.

We are excited.  The nerves probably won't kick back in until Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

We'll check back in when we arrive.

Distractions

Leaving tomorrow....busy at work, lots to do tonight. 

Anyone ever need one of these at work or wish your co-workers had one?  In the afternoon we could have a good nap in one.

4 DAYS!

Feelings: 

            Excitement: We are almost off to our favourite Canadian city! OTTAWA!

               

Anxiety: We are running 21 kms

Uh oh: Weather has now changed to rain with a feel like temp of 26 (translation: 36 degrees & humid)

Today/tonight will be the prep work to figure out what to pack/what to wear on race day, etc.  Not gonna lie, we will both probably just throw everything we can into our suitcase and figure it out when we get there.  We also are staying in an apartment style hotel with a full kitchen so we’re trying to do up a meal plan for the weekend to see if we can take some food with us instead of buying it all up there.  The most important meals will be what we eat for supper on Saturday night and for breakfast on Sunday morning.

This week is taper week.   What is tapering?  Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

In the context of sports, tapering refers to the practice of reducing exercise in the days just before an important competition.  Tapering is customary in many endurance sports, such as the marathon, athletics and swimming.  For many athletes, a significant period of tapering is essential for optimal performance.  The tapering period frequently lasts as much as a week or more.

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/how-to-taper-for-your-first-half-marathon

So last night we ONLY ran 6k.  It went by soooo quick compared to the 10ks and over we’ve been running all summer.  The weather was perfect as well for running.  One more run left on Thursday (another 6k) and we are off!

UPDATE! UPDATE!

Disclaimer: This update will be sketchy because we waited so long to post that we can’t really remember what we did the last two weeks since our ALONE run. 

Sept 4 – 8k speed

For whatever reason we cannot remember why we skipped our Tuesday training again for the second week in a row.  Thursday we did our speed/interval run in the BLT trail once again.  From what we can recall it was a great night.  We did see a local ‘running celebrity’ on the trail who is super fast and the twins like to impress (if you can believe it) so we are glad that the two times we ran by her (her going one way, us going another) luckily we were running as fast as we could.  I’m sure she saw us and thought to herself “My, those girls can run”.  As soon as she passed us we collapsed. 

Sept 7 – 18k & Zumba

Sunday was our long run day.  The last long run on the training schedule.  Did it seem long? Yes.  Did we get it done? Yes.

Zumba you ask?  Well it was brought to our attention a few weeks ago that Zumba was being offered at the Rec Centre just down the street from Twin 1’s house so why not sign up?  Were we iffy about it? Yes.  Did we enjoy it first time around? Kinda.  Will we go back? Yes (because we paid for it…well Twin 2 paid for both)…

Who Runs an 18k and then does Zumba for an hour that evening?  WE DO! 

Sept 11 - 5k speed

For the 3^rd Tuesday in a row we skipped…is that right?  I have nothing else marked down to say it isn’t so.  It was a heavy mist on our Thursday run and very chilly.  We drove up to the trail and stood around while Twin 2’s garmin tried to find our location.  In the meantime, a nice man started biking then turned around and asked us if we wanted jackets as he had some spare in the car….yes we did look like we were freezing but no we did not take them.  He was a stranger.  Who knows what he had hiding in those pockets.  We were scheduled to run 8k again but knocked it down to 5k.  This was either our first or second run in the “rain/mist” and look what we will be getting on race day.

Cloudy with showers with a feel like of 26!!   In running terms this technically means 36 degrees and I’m sure there will be humidity on top of that.   Are we scared? Yes.

Sept 13 – Family Golf Tourney

This past Saturday was the Annual Luddington Invitational and we all start the round with the hopes of winning.  Unfortunately only one is crowned the winner and that was neither of us.  However, Twin 2 won the last place trophy AGAIN (If she can’t win the 1^st then why not the last?).  Will we ever win? We doubt it but we can run longer and further than the rest of them.  (Except maybe Rob) HA!  If we weren’t training for this run then we would have had more practice time golfing….but that’s what we say every year.   There is always next year.  Here are a few pictures of the day. 

Sept 14 – 12k & Zumba

Sunday was our last long/short run before the big 21! We call it long/short because it is still long but shorter than 21.  We remember when we were training for the 10k that 10 seemed long…not so much now.  Twin 1 forgot her Garmin, Twin 2’s Garmin couldn’t find our location so instead of just standing there waiting Twin 1 suggested that we just run.   We realized that we have become so dependant on our Garmins that we don’t even know how to run without them anymore.   We tried our best but we had no idea where each KM mark was or what our pace was, etc.  We did finish and I believe around the same time as it usually takes so we did well.   We believe that this was the most humid day we have ever ran.  You wouldn’t think it was as there was a breeze and chill in the air but start running and that all disappears.  We had some nice hills in there as well.

The 2^nd class of Zumba was a lot more fun.  We did some toning Zumba and then some dance Zumba. We both had a better time in this class then the first.  There were a few more people there but the music gets you hopping….we say hopping because we can’t dance.

And there you have it.  There is only a few more days until we fly out and 2 more runs.  One tonight and one Thursday (both 6k).  This is the taper week AND the week where we stress about what to pack, etc.