Closing the Book on Montreal and Opening the Book on Marathon Training

Some odds and ends:

I already described my excellent, challenging run through Montreal's parks and waterfronts, but that wasn't my only scheduled run on vacation. I was planning to run on Tuesday, my normal "every other day" run, and then again on Wednesday, since I didn't want to get up super early to run and then drive all day on the trip home. However, I found that I was considerably sore from my Sunday run. I suspect it was a combination of a faster-than-usual pace at that distance and the inclines of the bridge and the park at the end of my run. But, at any rate, I'm used to running and then sitting around all day at work, not walking around a lovely Canadian city. I wasn't up to doing so much walking after such a tough run.

So, on Tuesday, I decided to take it easy and stay on the Longueuil side of the river, taking the bike paths and sidewalks (mostly) along Rue Riverside in order to give myself a flatter course. At one point, I tried to take a path that crossed over the highway and ran directly along the river. However, the section that led northbound, through a portion of Jean Drapeau Park that had spread to this side of the river, was closed, leaving me with a southbound gravel access road along the St. Lawrence Seaway that I really didn't think I should be on, so I kept myself to the paths and sidewalks of Longueuil and Saint-Lambert. It was a nice run: 9.9 miles in 1:37:53.

(This sign either says "St. Lawrence Seaway" or "Keep Out, Idiot.")
(I just didn't know where "ici" was.)

Not bad, considering how tired my legs were. Since my calves hurt all day as we walked around Montreal, though, I decided to skip Wednesday's run and just enjoy the last day of vacation. Great decision.

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With vacation over, I needed to hit the streets of Manchester again. At last it's time to officially start marathon training, jumping into Hal Higdon's Novice 2 plan at week five based on my current mileages. Since I needed 12 miles, according to Higdon, instead of 13 or 14, I just stayed on my local Manchester and Mt. Wolf course.

My knees had been hurting me on Thursday and Friday, during the long drive home and the day after, and I was worried that I was heading for a relapse of ITBS. While the knees were a bit sore during the run, it was my calves that were the biggest problems. It just took them approximately 5 miles until they really felt loosened up. It was a cool, but extremely humid morning and just one of those runs that makes me think I should get a new hobby. However, around mile 7 I found out that I was concentrating so hard on how much I hated running and how gross I felt, that I actually felt better! I believe I ended up with 12 miles in 2:05.

(When it looks like this at the start of a run, I know I'm in for a tough time.)

Of course, my actual time and distance are educated guesses, as I paused Garmin to take a picture of the fog, and forgot to restart. For comparison, I ran the Philly Half Marathon in less time than this both times, but this isn't too far away from where I usually am on my training runs. (Keep in mind the Philly Half is a pretty fast course compared to stupid, hilly Manchester). Not my best run, but I got in my garbage miles. Higdon's calling for a step-back week next Saturday, with 9 miles. While I just started the plan, I've run higher-than-recommended long runs the previous two weekends, so I think I'll take my step-back week, which works nicely with a busy weekend coming up. Midweek runs are 3, 6, and 3 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Schedule this week is crazy with business travel and even possibly a 7K race (which I'd just treat as a training run) Friday night, so I'll probably change this to two 7 or 8 milers tomorrow (Monday) and Wednesday.

I chose Novice 2 because even though I'm not a rookie marathoner this time, I still feel like a noob, since I didn't adequately prepare for Shamrock due to my ITBS, and also since I'm not really very far out of my current comfort zone until week 10, when I have a 17-miler, and week 11's 18-miler (which I may try to stretch to 20). Hopefully this means I'll have cooler weather for most of these longer runs.

One of the original, often ignored purposes of this blog was to keep myself accountable, so I'll be giving boring marathon training updates from here till November 20.

Running in Montreal

As I mentioned in my last post, we just got back from a great vacation in Montreal. Since I'm training (sort of) for the Philadelphia Marathon, I decided was going to try to get some runs, including a long run, in while we were away. I'd done my homework ahead of time, and found that either running the trails around Mt. Royal or looping around the trails of Jean Drapeau Park, on two islands between Longueuil and Montreal, would probably be my best options.

We drove up to Montreal from the Philadelphia area on Saturday. We waited in line at customs for almost two hours, got into our hotel in Longueuil, across the river from Montreal, at about 9:30. Exhausted, we probably weren't in bed until about 12:30.

Still, I got myself out the door at about six and headed for the stairway up to the Jacques Cartier Bridge. I began my run at the stop of the tall stairway, so the incline across the bridge, with a lower span which crosses to the Ile Sainte Helene and then a taller span that crosses over to Montreal, didn't seem so bad.

(Ile Sainte Helene and downtown Montreal as seen from the Jacques Cartier Bridge)

Once on the Montreal side, it seemed that the best route up to Mt. Royal park wasn't readily apparent. Since I wasn't familiar with any of the residential neighborhoods of Montreal, I decided to abandon this plan. Instead, I made a left onto Papineau, figuring that if I kept close to the river it would be hard for me to get lost. I followed Papineau through neighborhoods until reaching Rue Notre Dame at the Molson plant, where I made a right. I followed Rue Notre Dame for what seemed like quite a long way, and then turned left and ran two blocks to the waterfront as I entered what I learned later was Old Montreal.

(The Jacques Cartier Bridge seen from Papineau St.)

I ran along the quays, enjoying Montreal's picturesque waterfront area, until I reached the beginning of the Lachine Canal. I'd read that the trails along the canal were the best place to run in Montreal, but I was already about 5 miles into my run, so I only made it a little more than a mile down the canal before heading back.

(The Lachine Canal and downtown Montreal)

To return to Longueuil, I reversed the same course, finding the climb up the Cartier Bridge from ground level much more difficult on the return. I also turned off the bridge onto the Ile d Sainte Helene to add some distance through Jean Drapeau Park.

Big mistake. The trails through middle of the park feature some of the steepest hills I've ever run on, the equals of the Dreaded Druid Hills 10K, but this time 11 miles into a run. Still, it was beautiful and interesting scenery, as I saw a fox and Montreal's Biosphere. I also forgot to turn Garmin back on as I paused for a photo break, so I'm ultimately unsure the exact length of this run. It read 13 miles as I reached my starting point back on the Longueuil side of the bridge. I don't think it was 14. It felt more like 20. A tough run, but one of the best ever in terms of neat things seen while running. That won't help me on marathon day, but it made it a humid Montreal morning run more fun.

(Pauly Shore was nowhere to be found.)

I would take a shorter, less interesting run on Tuesday, and then abort a planned run later in the trip to give my tired legs a chance to recover. I'm used to running and then sitting and working all day, not walking for hours.

Personnes son Jercs
As I do at home, I greeted fellow runners or cyclists (cheaters!) with a friendly "bonjour!", one of a handful of French words that I know. Very few returned my greeting. A cyclist on Ile Sainte Helene was very nice though, cheerfully pointing out the fox. Unfortunately, the noise of his brakes is probably what prevented me from getting a picture of the animal, but he meant well.

Montreal as a Running City
Montreal apparently doesn't have the best reputation as a running city. However, I found it to be pleasant. The waterfront is beautiful and flat, with parkland out on the quays that unfortunately I missed. The Lachine Canal trail was very pretty, though, and also flat. Once away from the water, Montreal is extremely hilly. It's not called "Flatreal" for a reason. You're not going to have to search far for hills.

Montreal is a GREAT city for biking, perhaps the best I've ever seen. There are bike lanes, separated from automobile traffic by barricades, in high traffic areas, and these are used by runners as well. I'm not sure if I was breaking some taboo by running on the bike paths in Montreal, but I saw many other runners on the bike paths on the Longueuil side during a flatter, more boring 10-mile run on Tuesday.

If you're looking for a great vacation spot and want a place where you can get some runs in, I highly recommend Montreal.

Friday Haiku, Volume XII: French Canadian Style

Summer's saddest day
Returning from vacation
in Old Montreal.

I cleverly robo-posted my last two blog posts to keep the flow of high-quality content here at Earn Your Donuts from being interrupted, but I've actually spent the last six days on vacation in Montreal with my wife and a great friend from college.

It was a great trip, and Montreal is an amazing city with far too much to do in that short a time. Our style of vacation tends to be "cram as much fun as possible in during the day and then find cool places to chill out and have some food and drink in the evening". Montreal was a perfect fit for this, with its many historic sites, easy-to-use metro system, and plethora of outdoor dining options with varieties of beer that I can't readily get here in PA.

Here's my top 5 recommendations for a trip to Montreal:

1. Spend lots of time in Old Montreal and the waterfront. It really is like being in another time and another country...I mean another country farther away than Canada, that is. Lots of history, and great bars and restaurants, too.




2. The Basilica of Notre Dame. I was completely blown away by how gorgeous this church was inside.



3. The Oratory of St. Joseph. Spectacular from the outside and extremely interesting -- if not as classically beautiful as the cathedral -- inside.



4. Canadian Maple Delights. Maple everything. Trust me on this.



5. The Sailor's Church (Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel). Very different from the other churches, but beautiful in its own way. Excellent views of Old Montreal and the River from its tower.


"Merci" and "Bonjour."
Is the extent of my French.
Parlez-vous anglaise?

I went running twice on vacation, but that's the stuff of a separate post.