Training Log Archive: Bash

Long sort-of-slow distance run with 'Bent, Rocky, Leanimal and Hingo for the full run to Hwy 9 (almost) and back, and with Phatty & Crash for the first part to Coolihan's. Brilliant sunshine, nice cool temperature, beautiful trails and great company. Thanks to my friends - including the absent, much-missed Slowrunner - for your support in running more slowly than you want to as I train (kind of, a little bit) for my first marathon.

Forerunner Statistics are below. For reference, I need to do a 5:40 pace on pavement to qualify for Boston. LSD training should be slower than that, and this was on trail, so the pace looks OK (maybe even a little high). However... I haven't done any longer runs than this in the past couple of months, which isn't so good. It'll be about 25K next weekend in Salomon Raid The Hammer, then I'll need to do 30K the weekend after that, but that's probably as long as I'll run before the marathon and it's not as long as the training programs recommend.

Oh well, look how well 'Bent and Goose did with no training. I'm sure I'll sail on through just like they did (NOT).

Lap# Distance (km) Pace (Min/km)

Overall: 21.35 km 2:20:52 6:36

1 - Home to Gore - 2.66 5:55
2 - Along Gore + trail to Centreville Creek - 2.10 6:22
3 - Along Centreville + trail to BT junction - 2.32 7:02
4 - BT Junction to Coolihan's - 0.625 7:04
5 - Coolihan's to last trail bend before Hwy 9 - 3.06 6:46
6 - Hwy 9ish to Coolihan's - 3.01 - 7:05
7 - Coolihan's to BT Junction - .622 6:58
8 - BT Junction to Centreville Creek and along road - 2.31 6:36
9 - Centreville Creek to Gore and along road - 2.04 6:18
10 - Gore to Humber Station and home up driveway - 2.60 6:18

Should probably drop a few pounds over the next month, so I started by eating the rest of the yummy chocolate pizza that Rocky and Slowrunner gave me. It was tough to finish it so quickly, but it was my duty to reduce the amount of chocolate temptation in the house. ;-)

Slowrunner, Rocky and I headed out onto the HVT from the Wellness Centre on a sunny day. Slowrunner pushed the pace enough to keep me uncomfortable all the way to the turn-around point, but not so much that I disappeared from view. I did fall twice, but that's to be expected. Rocky assured me that they don't usually run that fast - this was specifically to torture me. (And it's exactly the torture I need as I get ready for my first marathon.)

A minute after we started back, Slowrunner screamed as we started down steep steps. Not some wimpy "I saw a snake" scream, but a serious pain/fear scream as she stepped on a tree root hidden beneath leaves and twisted her ankle hard. She's tough, and she doesn't have girlie ankles, so she handled it better than most people could, even though she was showing signs of shock from the pain. Eventually she dispatched Rocky and me to get the car so that she could walk to the nearest road while swearing, without worrying about offending anyone.

Wishing you a very speedy recovery, Slowrunner!

Hard Core Live with Caron. Went fine, except I learned that I can't do very many standing, one-legged oblique crunches without falling.

The recurring theme in tonight's class was quad stretches, which was handy, since that's the stretch I'm supposed to be doing to help my bad knee - which is actually feeling much improved after two treatments with Leanimal. (Thank you!)

This morning I attended a Region of Peel air quality strategy planning meeting as a volunteer - and came home quite a bit poorer!! I don't get to cities much, so I stopped at Henry's to buy a camera case for my point-and-shoot - and came out with a Canon EOS 50D with the new 18-200 IS lens included as the kit lens. These have been impossible to find, and this one had only been in the store for a few hours, so what could I do? :-) Leanimal, this is good news for you in the lens department!

To take advantage of my new toy, I went to Chapters to get a book on Lightroom 2. It's a new version, so only two books to choose from - the thick Adobe textbook crammed with big words vs. "Lightroom 2 for Dummies". Much internal debate ensued, since as an engineer and IT professional, I felt like I should buy the serious book. But the Dummies book looked like it would suit my random software learning style better, so I figured it would be OK as long as no one ever saw me with it. That worked for about 20 seconds until I ran into the former Senior VP of Information Technology at Loblaws, who was my boss' boss for 5 years. Nice guy, hadn't seen him in a long time, and fortunately he has a good sense of humour!

Oh, and no time for exercise today. Meetings, meetings, meetings. And shopping.

Yay, I've won a SPOT Satellite Messenger and a year's free service in a random draw among people who submitted photos to the Nov/Dec issue of Get Out There Magazine. Cool! Danelle Ballengee could have used one of these. I'm curious to see how it will work out for me.

BTW, if you check the latest edition of Get Out there Magazine, my Coast Raid photo is on p. 26. See whether you think Tiny is showing a little too much skin for someone who is immersed in a 12C ocean.
http://www.getoutthere-digital.com/getoutthere-ont...

Leanimal and I both did leg strength exercises yesterday, so we did speed intervals instead of hill intervals today, hoping to focus more on cardio and less on muscles. We ran to Edelweiss Park, then did our intervals on the grass, which was kinder to our bodies. The wind was howling, and the temperature was just above freezing, so it was a good day to try to push a little harder. We did out-and-back intervals based on time, and since Leanimal wasn't wearing her watch, I had to make sure to save enough breath to yell "Turn!!" into the wind whenever we had run the required time. It was a good workout to take our minds off the chilly weather and our tired legs - and there's no way I would have been out there if not for a friend with similar motivation! :-)

1-2-3-4-3-2-1 pyramid of intervals, probably at 5K race pace for me. It sure felt good when the pyramid started to descend!

Felt very proud of myself for fixing my broken computer using only a toothbrush, a nail file and a pimped Princeton Tec Apex headlamp. The girlie dentist's wife adventure racer strikes again!

Leg strength exercises in hopes of making my knee a happier camper - while watching the first part of the movie "The Queen".