Two Way Taper

Now that I am 3 weeks away from the 'Chilly Half Marathon' I decided to make this my last long run prior to race day. Today we added an additional 4km loop onto last week's 19km route, for those that think in miles that's just over 14. I love adding mileage on when it means running somewhere new, that I've yet to discover. I feel like I'm out on an adventure and I always want to go further. Today actually felt a lot further due to the snowstorm we had on Friday, which has yet to be properly scraped off the roads and sidewalks. Anytime our group tried to run on the sidewalk we'd have to stop due to a snow pile up too high to climb... Back to the road we went. Running on the road as you know can be quite dangerous, so I was happy to be running with a large group that constantly let everyone know when a car was coming either way.

Today's run started off around -10 and chilly; toes took a while to warm up. 30 minutes into the run and I was warm and experienced no water freezing thanks to the great new tactics and tips I took advantage of this run. The one tip that I found difficult to do while running but worked great was blowing the water back into the bladder. I didn't find this an issue at the start of my run, but as I grew tired and ran out of breath, this was harder to achieve.

The other taper that is now happening for me is the baby countdown. I am officially past my halfway point and the countdown is on. Baby is making itself much more known the further I go. Not sure if it was the snow that way harder on my joints, the baby or a combination of both, but I felt my Achilles, my knees and body much more today. I am experiencing shortening of breath quicker when climbing hills and I've slowed my pace during these challenges. It's frustrating a little bit to see my run group climb on ahead of me at this time, and I know it's all for good cause... Baby and I always catch up on the flat course... The lights turning red also contribute to this ;).

During the 10 and 1's I felt it harder to start back up the higher mileage because my joints would stiffen up and I felt like I needed to oil up my body like the tin man before going again. The walking is nice though for drinking water and having my gels - not sure I'll be able to keep them in my routine after having the baby. I still find them more mentally challenging than continuing on. I unfortunately can't compare them to my training prior because it was a whole different ball game.

Here is today's mileage pace:

Mile 1= 11:15
Mile 2= 9:23
Mile 3= 9:38
Mile 4= 9:39
Mile 5= 10:45
Mile 6= 9:33
Mile 7= 11:14
Mile 8= 9:24
Mile 9= 9:34
Mile 10= 9:28
Mile 11= 9:04
Mile 12= 9:58
Mile 13= 9:40
Mile 14= 10:32
Mile 15 (797m)= 9:33

Overall Time: 2hr:21min:55sec
Overall Distance: 23.02km
Overall Mile Pace: 9:55/mile....6:09km average
Calories: 1375

Baby Picture Update: