Week 4 - CPR Interval, Tempo, LSD and Everything inbetween

February 25, 2014
Cold...

Ran the Hypothermic Half on a cold Sunday morning past, went into work Monday and didn't run, and the following Tuesday I ended up running with Osty and a co-worker whom Osty and I run with regularly named Rob during lunch time.

Since it being cold...river is obviously frozen, so we ran down the river, only doing a short 4km to shake the legs out and get in preparation for the evening's speed work. As we got to the river bank, the wind was blasting furiously into us and it was biting. Even dressed appropriately, you can feel the wind burning against your exposed skin. But it was also sunny, so when we were running on the river alee from the wind, the glaring sun would really heat you up. It was an odd mix of hot and cold running down the river, but Osty was very mindful of not running too far.

CPR Interval 400mx10

400m run at 5km pace then walk 200m 10x.

This was hard and with the weather and the icy ground it made these intervals even more challenging. Keeping the pace even through all 10 intervals was the test and I felt at least through the first 7, the last 3 was really a challenge but I felt I was still on pace. Too bad I didn't program the workout, but I at least know I got the workout done.

 February 27, 2014

CPR Tempo Run

This whole winter has been brutally cold. But tonight, even though it was 'only' -23C with a wind chill of -35C, it felt uncomfortably cold. Part of it was my layering was different from what I normally run in, this time wearing a H/H baselayer, then my merino wool top with NorthFace wind stopper jacket. I kept the pace slow in the beginning then gradually ramped it up, really going for it on the last 2km. I ran with Osty and Erick and tonight was Osty's night as he had the pace nailed, especially at the 6km mark, Osty and Erick were blazing down the forest and I was barely keeping it together. Other than the bitter cold, the run was good. I was happy with my splits as I kept it fairly even at an Avg Pace of 5:47 min/km.

March 2, 2014

CPR LSD

Normally the LSD (Long Slow Distance) run is on Saturday's. Osty posted this Facebook post about Saturday's weather going down to -50C with the windchill, making it a perfect time to run. That one post garnered a huge thread that was calling out all of the members of the run club and the clinic runners. I already told Osty waaaay before hand that I was not going to run that morning as I was volunteering for my daughter's gymnastics competition and...well...it was -50C. Yeah it would've been cool to show up and run it and have a story to talk about in July. But asides from the volunteer work, I really didn't want to risk any injury to run for the sake of running...even if I was appropriately dressed. I responded in the post that I would live to run another day.

And so that day was the following Sunday. My sister Cherry told me she had a family school function at Assiniboine park on Sunday afternoon. I told her I'd come by and see if she needed any help and do my LSD from the park onwards. It was nice that Cherry ran with me for the first 5km, it was still cold (-31C) and Cherry told me her main focus was to not stop, I kept the pace manageable but not insulting for her as when we rounded back from the Duck Pond, she went into the shelter to warm up and I carried on and did the 10km route CPR does on Tempo Thursdays. I was really happy with my splits on this as after the 10km mark I realized I was doing negative splits. I kept that feeling going through the end of the run focusing on finishing that kinetic chain. 

After the run I felt good...no soreness or aches and I did a cool down and foam roll when I got home to flush out the muscles...yeah...even core work (in case coach Dan is reading this).