Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Mrs. Tiny and I met up at my place for a road ride on our MTBs. Nice combination of paved and unpaved roads with a sojourn through the trails at Fletcher Creek. We took turns complaining about how bad the hills felt and that it was windy. We definitely got out in the best part of the day though.

Tough to get out of bed for this as I tied a wee bit of one on last night at the GLB Tap Takeover at Imbibe. I fully recognize that my two favourite hobbies are somewhat at odds with one another. :)

C • that's understandable 2

Phil Maffetone's Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing is my bedtime reading at the moment. Last night I read a chapter on the importance of raising the heart rate slowly through a longer warm-up, and I put this to the test on the treadmill at the gym this morning. Normally, if I just hop on and start running at a usual pace, my HR spikes and takes 10-15 minutes to go down to where it should be (let's say 160 in zone 3). With a longer warm-up, I was amazed at how I was able to keep my HR well below my aerobic threshold. The difference was pretty significant - about 30 beats - at the same pace. Throughout the run I also found that I was able to keep upping the speed without going above 140. Interesting stuff! I'm getting my zones retested next week as the information I'm using is two years old.

C • Cool 7

Easy run on the treadmill before hot yoga.

Made it in time for the first hot yoga class instead of lying on the floor yoga. Really like this instructor.

Had a morning run planned but my brother and sister felt I needed more quality time with their children this weekend so they all came out to our place. The Heath / Reeder household isn't particularly well-equipped for children, so the entertainment consisted of the following:

- playing with the kettlebells in the basement and trying not to drop them on any toes

- turning the TRX into a swing

Despite these exciting activities, there was still too much energy amongst the three of them, so we headed outside for some digging practice in the forest behind my house (after I expressed chagrin about the digging taking place IN my backyard). That and raking amused them for awhile (never too young to put them to work) but the real draw of the morning was swimming in the hot tub with Aunt Sally, where they took turns splashing me, jumping around dangerously and arguing over whether bubbles should be on or off. Needless to say, after a few hours, I was happy to bid them good-bye!

So by the time I was ready for my run, it was mid-afternoon and raining. I set off on a bit of adventure to explore a couple of tracts I'd see while driving. Took the trails out through Puslinch to the corner at 10S, then ran that down. Ran through Bond Tract, or so I thought, but ended up coming out on the same road I went in on. Ran down the road to Concession 1 and turned left to explore Ball Tract. Ran the double track lollipop in there then crossed the road to give the other end of Bond Tract a try. The Trail Closed sign didn't dissuade me but after a couple of minutes I ended up at a river without a bridge. Were it August, I might have forged ahead but I was an hour from home and pretty wet already. I'm guessing it would have been waist to chest high once I sunk into the muck. So went back out to 1 and 10S and back through the Puslinch trails. Finished by exploring some of the little trails behind my house but didn't find the route I was looking for. A fun little adventure nonetheless.

C • lol 1