A weekend away but I still squeezed in my runs

Race season in Saskatchewan must be getting close. Despite conditions exactly like you see here...


...I saw two cyclists on Highway 11 about 40 km from the city. I salute you! I am way too wimpy to ride until April.

Summing up my weekend, is my email to Coach Bruce and Trainer Lindsay:

Let’s start with the good news shall we?

Despite driving to Regina and back and generally having a disrupted weekend, I did get two runs in. This is good news. I am committed and, as much as possible, adjusting my life around my training.

Saturday’s interval run was warm up – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – 2 km @4:30 – walk – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – easy run for 1 km. The Garmin data is limited to heart rate and laps because the run was indoor at the Regina Fieldhous (I took Arthur to fencing early so that I could get my run in, what commitment eh?). Generally a good run. I miscounted laps on the 2 km run (I was not running 4:00/km pace). Nonetheless, all intervals were very close to the 4:30 pace.

Now the bad news…

Sunday was a disaster. I went and parked by the Mendal Art Gallery thinking that Meewasin would be a good, clear, dry option. Wrong! My usual route would have been better. And, Meewasin was littered with people walking their dogs causing me lots of delays as Hannah requires a lot of attention when meeting other dogs. Secondly I really struggled with focus. I was defeated before I started – I was tired and didn’t want to do it. At the 43:00 minute mark I decided to give up all hope of maintaining a 4:55 pace and decided to simply run at the easier pace of 5:30 (or a little faster) and get the kilometers in. I got back to the truck at the 70 minute mark and decided that was enough.

I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stay focused. And, my left hip is killing me. It has been some time since I have hip pain like this. I will be going back on the anti-inflammatory drug ASAP. Having said all that, looking at the Garmin data, it’s not THAT bad. When I was running it was between 5:30 and 4:50.

Here are this week’s mileage numbers:

Distance: 27.39 km
Time: 03:16:26
Avg HR: 146 bpm

I did also get in 2 hours in the gym, and 2:15 in the pool. I did not bike.

I also learned that my new Adidas Adistar Ride shoes needed to be tightened. I wear my shoes ridiculously loose. It turns out, they can be too loose. A modest tightening seems to have fixed the slight discomfort that was being caused. Love the news shoes.

Tomorrow I am going to swim at lunchtime since I cannot go in the evening and then put in an hour of weights.