Filed under: Fitness Swellness
When I ran almost-a-PB at the TCS Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon mid-October, I considered my racing done for the year. I planned to take a week off then start up again just to maintain fitness with 3-4 short runs a week.
And then a day or two after the race, I got an invite to run the Reggae Marathon in Negril — which has a half-marathon or 10k distance.
Who can turn down an opportunity to visit beautiful Jamaica?! So I decided to go and figured if I took a week off to recover, that would still leave me with about five weeks to train.
Then, I caught a cold, which lasted a little over a week so I didn’t train. And my training got further derailed by some consistent travel: I went to Montreal for four days (saw Pink in concert — what a show!). A trip to St. Kitts got cancelled last minute, but I ended up going to Niagara Falls for the weekend to see Nick Carter in concert. I got busy working on one project and then went to Punta Cana for five days (I managed to fit in one treadmill run while there).
I also fit in a press trip to Kananaskis, Alberta, with My Fitness Pal. You may know that the Canadian Rockies is my happy place so even though my schedule is a bit nutty, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. That trip was quite short and I had no extra space in my carryon and I didn’t bring running shoes at all for that trip.
All this to say my running was very sporadic. With the time change and the sun setting so early (and not being a fan of running after dark), I haven’t yet been successful with shifting my schedule to fit in my runs midday. I also caught a minor cold after returning from Punta Cana. Feeling rundown, I shortened one of my longer runs from 15k to 12k and shortened my last long run from 18k to 15k. And I didn’t bother to do a shakeout run the day prior to the race because I figured it wouldn’t be making or breaking my race.
While I never planned to fully race the Reggae Half (I know how much the heat and humidity would make racing difficult), I did plan to run a decent time. But with the lack of consistent training, my new plan was to run comfortably. I did set broad goals, though. My A goal was to run between 2 hours and 2:15; my B goal was to run between 2:15 and 2:30 — and based on the weather, I thought it’d likely be the latter that I could acheive.
The day prior to the race, we had some activities–nothing strenuous but more active than I would be if I were at home. Then we hurried to the press conference for the race, which was held at 7 p,m. Not ideal timing–I’d like to have been eating dinner by then. By the time we got back to the Royalton Negril and went to the buffet (which we figured was the fastest option), it was 8 p.m.
I got back to my room at 9 p.m. and prepared my gear and was in bed by 10 p.m.
My alarm went off at 3 a.m. and I ate two little buns I’d taken from the buffet and an iced latte I’d saved from the cafe the night prior. We met in the lobby for just prior to 4 a.m. and heading down the road about 2km by van to the start.
At the start, there’s some fun things in the works pre-race: they light up torches that line each side of the starting chute; there was a guy (maybe a rasta?) on stilts, and everyone seemed just happy to be there. I didn’t have my usual stress since my plan was to run comfortably.
The race started at 5:15 a.m. sharp and it was about an hour before sunrise. So the first half is in the dark; kept reminding myself to look for potholes. It, thankfully, wasn’t excruciatingly hot and humid yet.
While there was reggae blasting from speakers at every mile (I swear there seemed to be less reggae in the second half of the race, though). I was glad that I had decided to take my AirPods with me. With the very early start, there are extremely few people cheering along the route — and I always need as much distraction as possible, so I was grateful to have my running playlist to keep me going.
The water and Gatorade on the route is in sealed bags. I was wearing my fuel belt so I never grabbed one although I did mean to try it out — they reminded me of the sippy sacs I’d get at the corner store as a kid after going to swim at the YMCA, I think they cost 10 cents.
I maintained my comfortable pace and for the first half my pace was anywhere from 5:52/km to 5:58/km and in the second half it slowed slightly to just over 6:00/km. As I ran, I was thinking I was on track to reach my A goal, and was happy about it. And in a brief moment of confusion (I blame the lack of sleep), I was was disappointed when I realized I was finishing closer to 7:30–I mistakenly thought we had started the race at 5 a.m. and didn’t understand for a minute why I wasn’t reaching my A goal based on my pace. Then I remembered the actual 5:15 gun time.
I picked up the pace a little bit in the final kilometre. I knew I’d done pretty decently for the runners that day–the route is a loop so I was able to see how many women were ahead of me and I hadn’t seen that many.
I crossed the finish line with the clock showing 2:11 and change and was pleased with my easy, comfortable pace completed with inconsistent training the past five weeks. After I crossed the finish line, I took a photo by the step-and-repeat, got my Red Stripe and headed to the beach to drink my beer and take a dip in the lake. I found the other media running the race and got a fresh coconut to sip and changed into flip flops as I enjoyed the reggae playing at the post-run fete and at about 8:30 we got back into the van to head back to the resort to shower.
But before we left, we checked the printouts of the results. I finished in 2:11:01, and was the 6th in my age category.
6th? That sounded pretty great to me, but it being such a small race, maybe there were only 6 women in my category!
My time didn’t really make sense to me given that the time on my Apple Watch Ultra was shorter. When I got online and looked up the results, I realized the posted results are gun time. For my actual results (chip time), I finished in 2:09:36, 123rd out of 299 half-marathon finishers, 32nd out of 144 women, and 6th out of 18 women in my category. Small playing field, but hey, more than six women in my category, haha!
If you’re wondering how small the race is, it’s typically capped at 3,000 runners for all events; this year, 299 runners finished the half and 911 ran the 10k. But more participants are expected for 2024–I share more about the race in my post up on irun.ca on 7 Reasons to Run a Reggae Marathon.
The race was fun–I wouldn’t say it’s the most beautiful race (the views are primarily of the entrances to resorts along the road, although you do catch some ocean views here and there in the second half of the race) but you can soak up all of Jamaica’s beauty after the race. Having done several Caribbean races now, I love the tradition of finishing the race and being able to be on a beach immediately after crossing the finish line to cool off in the sea and kick back on the beach. And can every race end with a Red Stripe and a fresh coconut, slashed open on the spot?
it was nice to not be super stressed about time, and it’s still kind of crazy to me that I was able to run for 2+ hours straight comfortably without a single walk break. And the beauty of small races is that you could potentially podium (not something ever within reach for me in my usual races). If I could’ve run the same time I ran in the Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon, I’d have podiumed in 3rd place for my category here at the Reggae Half…
…which is making me think I should train properly and have another go at this race next year! Ya, mon!
December 22, 2023
My first in-person race since the Dead Sea Half-Marathon in February 2020 and it’s good to be back!
I didn’t intend to take such a long break from racing. Although I did run a few virtual races in 2020 (the very taxing Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee (and Back Across) and the Lululemon Seawheeze Virtual Half-Marathon), after those races, pretty much for all of 2021 and much of 2022, I had no time to run. I was working usually more than 80 hours a week, seven days a week, usually with just 1-2 days off a month.
And when I did find time to run — I started making more of an effort to fit in running around December 2021 (I would run as my commute), I was pretty much as slow as when I started to run back in 2007. Looking at my pace times on the NRC app was depressing and rather than motivate me to want to run more consistently, I just felt dejected. I’d almost BQ’d in the Detroit Marathon in the fall of 2019 only to be as slow as when I was a complete newbie.
Another reason it took me so long to run a race? With the ongoing lockdowns we had in Toronto, often you were never sure if a race might get cancelled and have to be run virtually. I don’t enjoy virtual races that much–I love the excitement of in-person racing! With being non-committal when it came to registering for a race (I didn’t want to pay and then be forced to run it virtually if in-person were to be cancelled), I didn’t train consistently and then time would fly by and before I knew it, the race would be mere weeks away and there’s no way I’d be able to race it based on my fitness level.
But I kicked off 2023 determined to get back into racing. I planned to run the Goodlife Toronto Half-Marathon in the spring — my preferred race distance is the marathon but I knew I’d need to ease back into longer distances.
But then, on January 2, I caught a cold — one that would last for about six weeks. Not the worst cold I’d ever had but just feeling a 7 out of 10 level of shitty. I eventually mostly recovered but continued to be hit by waves of exhaustion, where my eyelids felt so heavy with sleep. Then, I was relatively healthy for about two weeks, and then I caught another cold. This one much worse–full on congestion. This cold lasted about a month.
By the time I felt well enough to run, I had four weeks left to train for the Toronto Half — not nearly enough time when I was starting with zero base fitness. (Also, perhaps ironically, this race recap is coming more than three weeks after the race because, guess what, I caught another cold that put me out of commission again!)
Which brings us to this summer. I started running regularly to build a base (a minimum of three but sometimes four times a week, five if I added a short recovery run), but I also got busy with work starting in June. But I was determined to run either the Detroit Half or the TCS Toronto Half. I had a few getaways (both for work and vacay) and I was running around working most days when I realized I had seven weeks until the race day. So I knew I had to really get training.
I kicked off a training program (I took one a friend was using and adapted it based on my experience in my years of training for races and what I felt I could tackle (some of the speed training was quite intense, so I made some of the workouts more moderate, for example). And because that’s just how I am, I thought “well, I should try to PB!” even though I was far from the fittest I’ve been as a runner. I had a vague idea of what my half-marathon PB is so, without looking up my PB, mentally, I set a goal of 1:50.
I was able to hit my target paces in speed work and that lifted my spirits. But then a couple of weeks later, with a tempo run, I realized there was no way I could maintain my half-marathon target pace for 21.1k — I was struggling even maintaining it for a few kilomentres. I got home, and texted a friend that I didn’t think I could PB and that I had to readjust my goal. She was encouraging and said the last few years (the pandemic!) have put everyone’s physical and mental health through the wringer and so things just aren’t the same anymore.
What she said made me feel a whole lot better. Sometime after that, I actually looked up what my half PB time is and it’s the time I ran in the Nike Women’s San Francisco Half-Marathon in 2014. The 1:50 goal I’d set was about two minutes faster so I checked what pace I’d have to run to just PB just by seconds, and made a mental note of the pace. While looking up my time on my blog and on Sportstats, etc., I came across my other half-marathon times, and I think, since it’s been while since I’ve raced this distance, I forgot that most of my half-marathon times are what I now consider pretty slow. I think over the years, I’ve just focused on this need to be faster, faster, faster and forgot that many of my half times are time I now find unacceptable? (And yes, it has been pointed out to me that I can be hard on myself, haha!)
About a month before the race, having decided I was going to stay local and run Toronto Waterfront, I went to the race website to register and discovered the Half-Marathon was sold out. I was floored — since when did Toronto races sell out? Had it been that long since I’d even looked at a local race? Had everyone picked up running through the pandemic?! I panicked and scrambled around asking if anyone knew of anyone looking to sell their bib.
Thankfully, iRun came in clutch — I write for the site every now and then and through their work with Athletic Brewing (non-alchoholic beer — I attempted what turned out to be a hilarious Beer Mile with them this summer!), I was able to register for the half. (In the meantime, though, I did look for what other nearby races I could do this fall, and settled on Hamilton as my fallback plan).
I completed the remainder of my training — I did have to shift my training around a fair bit but completed 95 percent of it despite traveling to Jasper for five days and then going to a cottage for four days (I always aim to complete my long runs at home since it can be impossible to devote the time required to running when travelling — so I can’t usually stick to the long runs on the weekend type of schedule).
I printed two pace bands — one to PB and tbh I don’t even recall what my B goal was for the second pace band.
RACE DAY
Sunday, October 15th, the temp was colder than I expected (I think maybe about 6 degrees) but quite ideal for running. I had some initial stress from getting stuck in traffic on my way downtown as I followed the GPS, which didn’t account for road closures, but I arrived at University Ave. and King St. W. before 8 a.m. and kept warm and zen in the Shangri-La Hotel. It’s one of my favourite hotels here and around the world, and it wasn’t initially very busy (which I like, I need that quietness–being around too many runners and their nervous energy leading up to the race start can just make me more anxious) and I really appreciated being able to use the washroom there and sit in the comfort of their lobby.
I got into my corral, towards the back of it as it was pretty full already and I didn’t care to work my way forward through the crowd. It’s been several years since I last ran this race, and I seem to have forgotten that it’s not as flat as I thought it was. I started the race feeling strong. For 75 percent of the race, in fact, I felt fantastic. I had about 90 seconds banked for much of the race and I thought if I could just keep this going, a PB is within reach.
And then I got to about the 17k mark. I think it’s an on ramp around there, and the hill (which have never been my strong suit) just about crushed me. At 18k, I got a mental boost from seeing my sister holding the great banner she’d made for me, but physically, I knew that my PB was slipping away. I tried my best to run as fast as I could, but my legs felt so depleted after that hill.
As I approached the finish line, I knew I was very close but that I had just missed a PB. Then as I crossed the timing mats, and to the right, I saw a guy standing by the barrier recovering and I thought “Yes, I too would like to just stand and just collect myself,” so I took a few steps to the right and then it hit me:
“Oh. My. God. I am going to puke.”
Now, I’ve heard of people vomiting after a race, and I’ve never quite understood it. But in that moment, I think it was the shock to my system of having been running at a brisk-for-me pace for nearly two hours and then all of a sudden not running? I had that awful retching feeling overtake me. And rather than being concerned about being sick, I just felt mortified that runners would be accomplishing their PB or completing a big personal goal of completing a long distance race and their view will be off me losing the bagel I’d had for breakfast.
Thankfully, all I did was have the dry heaves. I took a few deep breaths to compose myself and felt well enough to walk through the finish chute. Phew!
I immediately checked my chip time on the app. 1:52:39.
I had missed PBing by 25 seconds. Just 25 seconds!
And while not a PB, I was happy. My PB is from nine years ago. That I could essentially match my half-marathon PB nine years later, from two months of training, after having not run consistently the past three years? That’s major. I finished 52nd out of 338 in my age category, 776th out of 4,783 women, and 2,839th out of 10,682 half-marathoners that day.
I got my checked bag and changed into warmer clothes, went to the VIP to grab some snacks and then met up with my sister and we got a beer at Athletic Brewing and then made our way to brunch. She asked if I was happy with my race and was shaking her head at me when I said “Well, I’d be happier if it were a PB!” Hahaha. It is true, though. I was thrilled with the race I’d run, but ultimately, I wish I’d been 25 seconds faster.
What this race has fired up in me is that I almost ran my fastest half-marathon — I just about matched the PB I ran a good nine years ago, when I was younger and running much more consistently… and that I think this means if I put in the work, I can qualify for Boston. I just need to set my mind to it and get it done.
Thank you to iRun and Athletic Brewing for the opportunity to run this race, thank you to TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and the volunteers for putting on such a well organized race and the great VIP lounge, and thanks to my sister for the cheers and banner–it’s such a boost to see familiar faces on the route!
Alright, 2024, I’ve got big running plans for you, comin’ atcha!
November 10, 2023
I planned to post this a few months ago, but then the Peloton Tread was recalled. Now that it’s back on the market, well, here you go! My experience trying out the Peloton Tread for 3+ months.
If you’ve following my running journey, you know that I really dislike treadmill running. I need the stimulation of different scenery, having to pay attention to where I’m going, the terrain, everything. To go step after step on a treadmill has always been terribly boring to me. I’ve mostly done treadmill workouts begrudgingly while on a press trip when a treadmill run is the easiest or safest option in my destination.
So when Peloton offered a trial of the new Peloton Tread back in early February when it launched in Canada, I considered turning down the opportunity for two reasons; would I even use it, given how boring I find treadmill running? And also, I just don’t have room for a treadmill in my downtown condo.
But my curiosity got the better of me. And the most shocking thing happened.
I enjoyed running on the Peloton Tread.
I know, I couldn’t believe it either.
A 20-minute class (most of the ones I did over the three months were 20-minutes long) flies by. The instructors are a super fit, attractive bunch (hello, Adrian!) and their banter keeps it entertaining and motivating (take a class with Chase, and it feels like he’s your personal hype man). I took a few longer classes, but never made it to taking a 60-minute class because my trial was unexpectedly cut short when the Tread was recalled (more on that later. Note that I tested out the Peloton Tread, which was launched in Canada and the U.K., not the higher-end Tread+).
My favourite classes were the ones with speed intervals; I definitely need the distraction of changing up my pace and having breaks to keep me focused. The one tempo run I completed dragged on—just maintaining the same pace, I felt that familiar treadmill boredom settle in.
The treadmill itself is beautiful. Streamlined, with a huge, crisp screen. It takes up a massive amount of space, and given that it needs a significant amount of clearance on all four sides of it I had them place it right in the middle of my living room and it was truly in the way the whole time I had it. How much space does it need? According to Peloton, “173cm L x 84cm W x 157cm H. Additionally, you will need at least 2 m of clearance directly behind the Tread and 60 cm of clearance on either side.” That’s a lot of space when you have a small Toronto condo.
And still, I enjoyed having it to work out on even though it took up so much room.
So much so, I ended up using the Peloton Tread every single day. Why? For one, I figured I’d try to make the most out of it while I had it, and also, I found it really pleasing that the app’s calendar showed a workout every day. Sure, I could’ve also tried other classes on the app to have the calendar colour-blocked with a workout, but running is the only workout that is a habit for me so it just comes more naturally to me; doing a different type of workout takes more out of me, I need to motivate myself more to wrap my head around getting up and actually doing it.
Also, another reason I ran daily on it? I remembered that if I completed 100 Tread workouts, I’d get into the Century Club (the little club you get into when you complete 100 of the same workout on Peloton).
Three main reasons I liked the Peloton Tread:
- I could run late at night on the Tread. My schedule has been unbearable for months. And even though last year I often ran at night through the spring and summer so I could complete the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee early, I know it’s not the safest thing to do. During the time I was trialing the Tread, I would get home at 11 p.m. and that’s the only time I could carve out time to work out, so it was great to use with my schedule at the time.
- The Tread’s design. It’s sleeker than any treadmill I’ve ever seen. The dials to change the pace and incline are easy to use. The large, bright screen is beautiful. I like how you could either emphasize the volume of the instructor or the music. It runs pretty quietly; I never had any neighbours complaining. I didn’t get too involved with the community aspect of it; while I did high-five other runners during classes, I never did get to try the Session function as I don’t know any other Tread users.
- The Peloton classes. I already mentioned Adrian and Chase. But let’s talk about the powerhouse female instructors. My favourites included Selena Samuela and Olivia Amato—I found they kept me focused without veering too heavily into motivational talk that’s eyeball-roll worthy territory. And classes with Becs Gentry? As a marathon runner, I couldn’t help but be inspired by working out out with this elite runner. I see there are a lot of new Tread instructors, too, which is great, I liked being able to switch up whose class I would take, and now there’s more to choose from. Aside from the instructors, I also enjoyed taking part in live classes and seeing my rank within everyone taking part; I expected the average Peloton user to be an elite runner, but I was pretty satisfied with my ranking and it was like getting a little pat on the back.
As you may have heard, the Peloton Tread was recalled a couple of months ago. There’d been some incidents of the screen falling off. While I at first intended to continue using it, when I got a pretty stern email to stop using it immediately, I realized I didn’t want to have to potentially deal with a broken screen and any damage or injury it could cause to me, my condo floor or my pets, so I quit using it promptly and the Tread was picked up a couple of weeks after that.
The Tread has since been relaunched (as of August 30, 2021) and has been updated with regards to safety:
- There’s now Peloton Tread Lock. So you have to enter your passcode to unlock it in order to use it.
- The instructors talk you through the safety features before each workout.
- There’s a safety key you should clip on as you run (but this was always an existing feature).
I haven’t tried the Tread since its relaunch, but I will say I miss having the Tread for workouts; ever since I stopped using it, I barely ran all summer and I’m only now starting again with a few runs outdoors. While the timing of my Peloton Tread trial was great because I ran indoors for the last part of the dreary winter, I wish I’d gotten to try it out when actual races were taking place so that I’d be in the middle of marathon-training season. I know I found myself pushing harder during speed work on the Tread compared to my speedwork outdoors so it’d be a great tool to have while in training for a race.
My best friend misses me having it, too. She uses the Peloton app for workouts and liked having me to talk about Peloton with (yes, there’s totally a cultish side to it! I even tuned in to watch Cody on Dancing With the Stars and even never even taken a Cody Rigsby class ever!)
I’ve gotten a few DMs asking about my thoughts on the Tread. So here you go. Could you get a similar experience using the Peloton app for its workouts, but running on a different brand of treadmill? Yes, probably. I should mention that the Tread has a traditional running belt, compare to a shock-absorbing slat belt; I personally don’t have a lot of experience running on a slat belt but the slat-style is said to be more cushioning and result in less impact on your joints. If you’re a serious runner, you might want to opt for the slat-belt style (which is on the Tread+, which has not yet been re-released yet).
If you appreciate great design and the 23.8-inch screen of the Tread (it truly is a fantastic display)… well, if you’re in the market for a treadmill, then you might find it worth the investment to go for the Tread; if you’re wondering about the cost, it’s $3,295 (plus the all-access membership fee of $49/month). If you’ve already got a ‘mill, then maybe just subscribe to the app to try out the workouts first.
If you have any specific questions about my experience with the Tread, slide into my DMs or comment here!
How are you keeping fit nowadays?
October 4, 2021
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