Winter Running, Training, 8K fun run, and other ramblings

Its been awhile since I've really written a post on the blog. I just haven't been in the mood, and I have had a bit of the case of the winter blahs that have rendered me less than motivated to write witty and interesting posts. This will have to do. In addition to winter blahs, I have been working on another book, so every time I go on the computer I have this little nagging guilt that I should be working on the book (yes, that includes now - but I am telling the book to talk to the hand at the moment).

So how about that weather, Northern folk?

Outside of today, which was great weather-wise, The weather SUCKS, just plain SUCKS. Now I know some of you must be thinking, you know you live in Canada right? Yes, I know, but our winters are really never that bad. Its not rare that we only see no or little snow in Dec and only dusting's in Jan and Feb.

Not this year.


Lets rewind back a few weeks ago. Hubs and I travelled to his hometown of Parry Sound so that he could participate in his step-fathers memorial dart tournament (a real northern Ontario hobby - there's not much else to do in the snow and blizzard-like weather). It was white-out conditions on the drive up, but we made it and had a fun time. We had run at the indoor track on Friday before we drove up, and then planned to run at the track again when we returned on Sunday.

We left just Parry Sound after 1:00, and what is normally about a three hour drive took us nearly FIVE hours! Crappy slippery weather, and we drove by several cars in the ditch (they already had help). We were starving when we finally got home, so Hubs when and got a pizza, and then we went to run. This is what our driveway looked like when we finally arrived home.

Determined to get my 17 miler in, Hubs and I ran to the dome, where I pounded out 13 miles of it in 2 hours (with major pizza indigestion), and then drove home, and ran the remaining 4 miles on the treadmill in the basement. Talk about torture.

Week 4 of marathon training was 43 miles.

The weather continued to storm for the the next week. I ran a 10 K tempo run in 53:10(8:33 mil/min) at the track. I didn't even notice Hubs snapping the picture. I was in the zone. The pain-yes-I-may-puke- zone.

I also ran an awesome 22 miler indoors (3 hours, 23 minutes, 9:14 mile/min pace/5:44 km/mi) on Saturday. Super pleased with the run, I didn't stop once. I can't remember every having this strong of a long run. Maybe fitz will pay off! I hope so! I have two more 22 milers planned for this training cycle, so hopefully they go as well as this one did.

Sunday was a the Robbie Burns 8K fun race. I woke up with sore legs not wanting to go, but you get free tartan plaid pants for running. So Hubs and I rolled out of our cozy, warm, fluffy bed, and drove to Burlington, grabbing coffee and a bagel on the way.

They played bagpipes at the start and served an awesome breakfast afterwards (coffee, oatmeal, bagels, coffee, fruit), a total steal for the $30 entry fee. I ran at tempo pace (it was all I could muster after yesterday long run), to finish in 43:35 (8:43 mil/min or 5:25km/min). Meh, not great, but it was just a fun run, and it was freeezzzing (-12C). Despite the cold, it was good to run outside again. Here is a picture of me warming up by the fire at home in my new tartan flannel pants :))

Week 5 of marathon training was 43 miles.

This week was a little rough. I decided mid-week to employ a mid training taper. I can afford to do this since I am a week ahead a schedule. So I ran a total of 24 miles this week. My body just needed the rest. The next two weeks are 48 miles and 55 miles total, and I want to run every mile of them.

Even though my mileage was less this week I had some quality runs. I ran some track 1K repeats at the dome. 4 sets at 4:41, 4:47, 4:45 and 4:50. It felt good to run some speed repeats again (well not during, but definitely after).

Today was mild (34F/3C), and Hubs and I went for a leisurely 20K run. Here are some pictures we took.

Scraping the driveway pre-run. Great warm up.

January miles: 167.4 - Very pleased with this number!

Eating is going so-so. I will update you on that in a later post. In the meantime, congrats to all those that raced this weekend. Look forward to reading your reports. Thanks for reading