Myopic Monday

Streak to the beach - Day 29

Time : 30:00 Minutes
Distance : 3.30 Miles 
This Week: 3.3 Miles

Total: 104.18

Tough Day!  I had a busy day workwise and then a meeting at the school and now get to spend the next two days doing the single parent thing. This makes it hard to find time to run. It was 9:00 before I got the kids settled into bed and then I hit the treadmill for what was planned to be an easy workout.

I started off with five minutes at a 9:22 min mile pace then ran the next 25 at 9:00 pace. A very simple run, a fairly easy run. Not a bad way to end a busy day.

I got off the treadmill, headed upstairs and looked outside to see a significant covering of fresh white snow on the ground. So much for the rain they predicted. This is the price you play for living so close to the mountains.  Natures playground has it’s rewards and punishments.

Plod On.

Solo Sunday

Streak to the beach - Day 28

Time : 54:44 Minutes
Distance : 6.00 Miles 
This Week: 28.45 Miles

Total: 100.88

Woot broke 100 miles this month!

I woke up at 7:30, thought about getting up and driving to the Running Room to run with the group. I did not. Instead I stayed snuggled in my warm bed until the rest of the house started to move and then reluctantly left my cocoon and joined the world.

This meant I had to pick a longer route and run it on my own.  I selected a 10 K route that starts out running on the streets around the neighbourhood and then does a steep run down the escarpment to the river pathway system. The route then runs along the south side of the river for about 3 km and then climbs back up the river valley on the way home.

It is quite a hard run on the ascent with some switch backs and steep inclines on a gravel bike path.

This is a view of downtown from the pathway, you can see the towers in the center of the picture at the tree line. This is about 5 km from the core.

It is hard to believe you can find runs like this so close to the down town core of a major city. Some of the paths a few meters from here run several km up and down the escarpment.  That is a little harder than I was ready for today.

Plod On.

Super Saturday

Streak to the beach - Day 27

Time : 40:00 Minutes
Distance : 4.50 Miles 
This Week: 22.45 Miles

Total: 94.88

Super because the weather was perfect, 20 C and sunny, the only down side was there was a wee bit of a chinook  breeze blowing.  It felt like summer for the first time today and that made it super.

Ran a route that circled through the neighbourhood and was sheltered from the wind.  this meant the entire run was on residential streets and hard pavement.  Something my knees are feeling tonight.

It made for a great run though, there was a beautiful blue sky, the lawns were starting to green up. If only there were leaves on the trees it could have looked like summer.

A perfect day, a great run.

Plod On.

Fatigued Friday

Streak to the beach - Day 26

Time : 31:00 Minutes
Distance : 3.20 Miles 
This Week: 17.95Miles

Total: 90.38

I could start this post the same as yesterday’s, complaining about how tired my legs were all day (true) and in fact how fatigued in general I felt all day.

It is a gorgeous day here with temperatures in the low 20’s, almost summer like.  Unfortunately the nice temperatures came with chinook winds. These are very strong winds from the west  that bring warm moist air over the mountains.  It makes for very pleasant conditions except for when you run into the wind.  I did a quick assessment and determined that I did not have the energy to do that.

It was back to the basement and onto the treadmill for a very easy paced recovery run.  I started off on the flat at 6 mph then eased it up over time to 6.5 mph and just cruised for 31 minutes.  I ended up running a little further than a 5K at a leisurely pace.  Sweet!

After the run we loaded everyone in the car and headed for the dog park for a 2 km trek with the pup.  We saw the first signs of spring.

Prairie crocuses or is it croci. Every spring they bloom for a few days and then go dormant for a year.  This year they arrived earlier than expected especially given the hard spring we have been experiencing.  It made for a nice way to end the day.

Plod On.

Tender Thursday

Streak to the beach - Day 25

Time : 26:10 Minutes
Distance : 3.10 Miles 
This Week: 14.75Miles

Total: 87.18

All day long my legs were feeling the impact of yesterday’s efforts. It was another explosive workday, with a mad dash at the end to make a deadline.  Then kids activities and finally some time to hit the treadmill.

My plan was to run an easy recovery run and kind of take a day off.  I did not stick to the plan.  I set the speed at 6.4 mph (9:23 pace) for the first mile.  It was a struggle for the first few minutes to hold the pace and I found my feet hitting the back of the treadmill. Then around the 5 minute mark it just got easier. I finished the first mile and hummed then my fingers found their way to the speed button and poof we were running at 6.9 mph (8:45 pace). I struggled with this for one mile, then poof my fingers did it again and I found myself  running at 7.6 mph (7:54 min mile). Again I struggled to hold this for one mile, staring at the screen trying to calculate how long it would take to hit the 3 mile mark.  Once the countdown was done and I had I finished that mile I backed off the pace, cooled down and collapsed beside the treadmill.

A good hard progression run grew out of a recovery run.  Not a bad day.

Plod on.

Wednesday Weigh In

Wednesday Weigh In – Week 3

This week: 4 Pounds
Total: 11 pounds

Streak to the beach - Day 24

Time : 40:04 Minutes
Distance : 4.50 Miles 
This Week: 11.65Miles

Total: 84.08

Double up day. I did a fairly hard run this morning in the freezing cold (-5) then did the evening run with the running room in spring like condition +12 and windy.  Quite the change in conditions in 15 hours.

We ran the lower Springbank -  Batallion park 7.25 route.  The route is one of my favorites from the Running Room store.

The run starts out with a downhill then a long straight flat for 2.5 km. Usually this is a fairly easy section of the run but tonight was very hard because it was into a strong head wind. The next 2.5 km is intermittent uphill sections and is usually a hard run.  The rest of the run is a slight downhill and tonight with a great tail wind and was very fast.

I was surprised that the run went so well given the 4 Miles this morning. I felt great throughout and even was holding back for the last section. 

A great running day.

Plod On.

Tumultuous Tuesday

Streak to the beach - Day 23

Time : 36:39 Minutes
Distance : 4.00 Miles 
This Week: 7.15Miles

Total: 79.58

It was one of those days where everything comes together to get in the way of running. It was a perfect storm of events.  I got bogged down at work, my daughter broke her wrist at cheer and had to go to emergency, and relatives were visiting from out of town.  Anyway 11:00 crept up and I could not use the treadmill as it is right by the guest room, and I did not feel like running outside, so I postponed the run to Wednesday morning.

I was out of bed and out the door well before the sunrise (still could not use the treadmill, same reason).  I took an old favorite route that I have not run in a while.

The route starts on city streets that parallel the river escarpment which gives great views to the north.  It then cuts back through the neighborhood to the river valley and finishes on a couple of km of trails that run along the top of the valley.

This is what the view looked like from the trail looking east toward downtown just before the sunrise.

There is not much to say about the run, it was chilly, it was dark, and the first half of the run is all up hill. 

It felt good to hit the streets in the morning without any ice and snow.

Plod On