Monsoon Monday

Streak to the beach - Day 64

Time : 27:15 Minutes
Distance : 3.1 Miles 
This Week: 3.1 Miles

Total: 207.05 Miles

And the heavy rains continued, then let up for a while, then came back with a vengeance. It has been so grey and damp for so long that depression is starting to set in. If it does not break soon I will be playing a lot of Leonard Cohen. However in a period of light rains tonight I snuck a dog walk in and this is the view to the west.

Hang on, is that streak of light on the horizon sunshine, coming in my direction?  One can only hope. 

I ended up running late again tonight because of the kids commitments and on the treadmill because I like dry feet.

My plan was to head down and do an easy run for 10 or 15 minutes of junk miles just to keep the streak alive. I got 5 minutes in and increased the pace, then got 15 minutes in and decided to go for 20 minutes, got 20 minutes in and decided to run 2.5 miles. Hit the 2.5 mile mark and decided to run 25 minutes. Hit 25 minutes and decided to run 3.0 miles and finally finished 3.1 miles in just over 27 minutes.

Not a bad run compared to the plan.

Plod On.

Sleepy Sunday

Streak to the beach - Day 63

Time : 40 Minutes
Distance : 4.5 Miles 
This Week: 32.7 Miles

Total: 203.95 Miles

The day started out slow with a sleepy Sunday morning followed by a feed of pancakes and bacon. It was cool (12C) and raining like crazy outside all day, heavy consistent pounding rain. The kind of rain that rarely happens here was happening here today. It was not a good thing, but it gave me the chance to catch up on some inside projects do the laundry ...

The highlight of the day was a trip to the cineplex to watch a movie with the boy. He picked “after earth” and if you have any option about viewing this my recommendation is don’t. Anything has to be better.

Seeing as there was unrelenting rain and I have the option to not run in it I chose not to.  It was treadmill time. And simple treadmill time, I set the speed for 9:00 min miles and just grooved out to the women’s concert on cable for 40 minutes. And that was it.  Not really junk miles just unremarkable miles. BTW a milestone day, crossed the 200 mile mark in this streak woo hoo corks popping, fireworks etc.

A wet day, a dry run. 

Plod On.

Strenuous Saturday

Streak to the beach - Day 62

Time : 1:01:59 Minutes
Distance : 6.6 Miles 
This Week: 28.2 Miles

Total: 199.45 Miles

It was a slow start to Saturday, spending a few extra minutes lazing in bed, running errands, mowing the lawn and then watching the Prefontaine Classic track meet on TV. Cam Levin ran a great race almost breaking the Canadian 5K record. After watching all those world class runners strut their stuff on the track I laced up my runners and headed out for my Day 6 of the Runner’s World summer streak.

Today’s was the “Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” route. It went up tiddley up up then it went down tiddley down down. Seriously it was a 10.6 km route the first 6 km were all up hill with some very serious sections, then the next 5 km were all down hill.

Most of the run was on city streets with little or no scenery but there was a section with a great view of downtown across the river valley.

Overall I was pleased with the effort, there were two very long pauses for traffic lights and some very grinding uphill sections and I still turned in a decent time.

Another day in the books and the streak is still alive.

Plod On.

Finicky Friday

Streak to the beach - Day 61

Time : 30:00 Minutes
Distance : 3.3 Miles 
This Week: 21.6 Miles

Total: 192.85 Miles

It was an interesting day. I had an early start then was banished from the house when the cleaning lady showed up. I stopped for tea, then bought a couple of pairs of shoes and then never regained motivation for the rest of the day. It was also a grazing kind of day, I did not really have a formalized meal all day.  That might be the reason my stomach was finicky for most of my run tonight.  In fact I fought back throwing up for most of the run. I swear there were a couple of wet burps in that 30 minutes.

The run itself was simple a treadmill progression run with 10 minutes at each of a 10 min mile, 9 min mile and 8 min mile.  My legs felt Ok, my heel felt ok.  It was actually a nice run long enough for one episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”.  (Ironic isn’t it?)

Day 5 of RW Summer Streak is in the books.

Plod On.

Tight Thursday

Streak to the beach - Day 60

Time : 20:00 Minutes
Distance : 2.1 Miles 
This Week: 18.3 Miles

Total: 189.55 Miles

Wow what a weird day, I woke up at 3:30 AM with aching legs and tight SI joints. I headed down to my hovel and started slaving over the computer , then downtown for a 10:00 presentation. As I was walking to my meeting I felt a pulling feeling on my right heel. It made me wonder if that pesky bone spur was cropping up again.

By the time the end of the day came around I was pretty bagged and I did not have the motivation to head out for a run. That is where day 4 of the Summer streak came in, all I had to do to meet the requirement was jog one mile.  Even when you have no energy you can jog one mile, right?

With that in mind I headed to the treadmill to put in my minimum commitment, I set the incline for 0.5%, set the pace for 10 min miles and turned on the fan. I struggled through the first mile, then bumped the pace to a 9:00 min mile then laboured counting the seconds to the 20 minute mark. As soon as the clock hit 20 I shut her down and called it a night.

Junk miles are still miles right.

Plod On.

Wet Wednesday

Streak to the beach - Day 59

Time : 41:40 Minutes
Distance : 5.0 Miles 
This Week: 16.2 Miles

Total: 187.45 Miles

Well the daystarted out wet but as the time to run approached it cleared off.  I went to the local Running Room for my group run and ended up in a group of one (as usual).  The good news is I got to pick the route.

I ran the Lower Springbank road – Battalion Park 8K route. I love this route, a couple of K down hill or flat, then a couple of K of hardish uphills, then a nice flat striding section with a little down hill back to the store.

There is a nice section at the start on the running paths between houses that is lined with blossoming lilacs with a wickedly sweet smell. It is great as long as you don’t have spring allergies.

I meant to take these pictures on Sunday to post on Memorial Day. Battalion Park is a tribute to the Calgary regiments that fought in the Wars. 

The regimental numbers are permanently etched in white on the hillside. This is a very visible impressive reminder. Up close it is hard to read and the scale is overwhelming.

But from a distance it is striking and very visible year round. This is what it looks like from the end of my run.

A not so wet run!

Plod On.

Memorial Monday

Streak to the beach - Day 57

Time : 27:14 Minutes
Distance : 3.1 Miles 
This Week: 8.2 Miles

Total: 179.45 Miles

This is the First Day of the Runner’s World Summer Streak. My legs were sore and tired so I put off running until the last possible minute. Then under cloudy skies that were threatening rain I headed out to get my run on.

The route starts out on trails and the switches to city streets for the majority of the run. Running the path  on the edge of the ridge there was a great view of the storms moving over downtown.

 

The path through the meadow was soft and muddy but surrounded by splashes of colour from the wild flowers (some would call them weeds).

There is a really cool street halfway through the run. For two city blocks the streets are lined with apple trees instead of the standard Elm Trees that are planted everywhere else in the area. This time of the year they are blooming and it is quite fragrant and pretty.

In another week the street will be covered fallen blossoms and it will look like fresh snow.

The run was great with some really good splits, even on tired legs. A good start to the Summer Streak.

Plod On.