February 2015 > 17 - 28 Running Days

February 17, 2015 @ 6:54 PM

City Park Runners 2015 Wk5 Speed clinic. -31C/-24F.
Wait...what the hell? Same time last week it was +30C/88F. Sorry I didn't bring the spring temps back home... This is the hardy group doing our track warm up, In the dark of the Frozen North.
Workout:
6x3mins at 5km race pace. With 1:30 min recovery in between.
I think the run sessions I did down south helped as I felt refreshed and fast and I kept within my training paces but always on that cusp of able give more if needed. The recovery paces were just as important as my intervals. I'm getting closer to that ideal fitness, keep the training focused and keep smiling...even when your teeth are chattering.

5.11 kmDistance
5:17 min/kmAvg Pace
332 CCalories
27:00Time
mElev Gain

155 bpmAvg HR
166 bpmMax HR

173 spmAvg Cadence
201 spmMax Cadence

February 18, 2015 @ 8:31 PM

-40 is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit.Holy shhhhugar! I was going to do a 12k/8mi recovery run but it was just too cold -40 is the same in Celsius and Fahrenheit. It was getting more annoying than painful as I felt lethargic and just thought I'd take it home and curl up in a ball and hide.

5.40 kmDistance
6:33 min/kmAvg Pace
354 CCalories
35:21Time
1 mElev Gain

144 bpmAvg HR
184 bpmMax HR

169 spmAvg Cadence
188 spmMax Cadence

February 19, 2015 @ 8:05 PM

-15C with a wicked -30 Windchill. Still hard to get the footing. Thursday night Tempo run...according to Runners World: "A tempo run is a faster-paced workout also known as a lactate-threshold, LT, or threshold run. Tempo pace is often described as "comfortably hard." Tonight's tempo was done during -28C/-19F with 40km/25mph winds running through 4" of snow. So the speed/pace wasn't there but my heart rate was at my tempo zone. Still trying to get that cadence higher. I just have to smile through this and know that there are others like me who don't have access to a treadmill to be able to do their workout...lol.

Oh universe, I really hope this makes me strong and resilient.

10.38 kmDistance
5:59 min/kmAvg Pace
738 CCalories
1:02:03Time
3 mElev Gain

154 bpmAvg HR
182 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
202 spmMax Cadence

February 21, 2015 @ 5:28 PM

-38.2F yeah you read that right...It was -39C wc in the early morning but I barely had any sleep last night so I decided to sleep in and run in the evening thinking it'll warm up...at -36C wc...yeah a little better. But glad I got in some mileage. I'll get some good sleep tonight and do my LSD tomorrow.

8.07 kmDistance
5:35 min/kmAvg Pace
531 CCalories
45:03Time
1 mElev Gain

150 bpmAvg HR
158 bpmMax HR

181 spmAvg Cadence
203 spmMax Cadence

February 22, 2015 @ 12:24 PM

This cold freezes my privates, be it physical and or emotional. Another cold day. My equipment was freezing over and it was becoming very uncomfortable to continuing running, especially after the 9km mark where my pace started dropping as my face was frozen and my legs were fatigued by trying to maintain being out. Nice to know I can keep my HR in Z2 and I'm getting better at keeping my cadence close to 180SPM.

12.53 kmDistance
5:55 min/kmAvg Pace
796 CCalories
1:14:11Time
3 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
200 spmMax Cadence

February 24, 2015 @ 6:53 PM

2015 CPR Wk 6 Intervals. Workout is 20x1 min at slightly faster that 5k race pace with 1 min recovery. TOUGH on the last half of the workout.

7.39 kmDistance
5:25 min/kmAvg Pace
471 CCalories
40:00Time
6 mElev Gain

151 bpmAvg HR
167 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
244 spmMax Cadence

February 28, 2015 @ 8:02 AM

Running w/ my buddy Barry

Running with Redlight

Back on the horse with a 10er. Missed 2 runs the past week to just rest a little Achilles ache and I'm glad I did as getting back in the horse made this run really enjoyable. Just did a mid pace run as this will be a precursor to my long run for Sunday.

16.46 kmDistance
5:57 min/kmAvg Pace
1,099 CCalories
1:38:04Time
26 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
159 bpmMax HR

177 spmAvg Cadence
255 spmMax Cadence

I Love LA - February 9 - 11 2015

And when the palm trees bow their heads...

No matter how cruel I've been

LA...you always let me back in...

~Rilo Kiley

February 9 - 11 2015

I'm so sick of winter. So tired of the cold and running in the cold. So tired of being tired and just completely depleted of any joy as I grind out day after day. I couldn't shake this feeling of grey and it was my friend Osty who brought it up to me in mid January and told me I was really "OFF" that I've lost my Zen. I spoke with my boss at work about this and how I needed to get away for awhile. He told me to log online and book a flight and see how I feel about it the moment I hit accept. 

And after contacting my brother-in-law and asking him if I can visit Los Angeles, I booked my flight. I landed at LAX on February 8, 2015 at 11:30 AM PST. That first day my brother and I took off to Big Bear Lake to get in some snowboarding...how ironic to get away from the frigid north of Canada, only to head up into the mountains of California to snowboard.

Here are my running adventures while in California:

February 9, 2015

Big Bear Lake, CA

Woke up early to run around a trail near Big Bear Lake. Just a nice easy run, not worried about cadence or heartrate and taking in the sites and sounds. The elevation gain was pretty neat.
12.16 kmDistance
6:30 min/kmAvg Pace
770 CCalories
1:19:06Time
219 mElev Gain
139 bpmAvg HR
155 bpmMax HR

165 spmAvg Cadence 

255 spmMax Cadence

February 10, 2015

Ran from KoreaTown up to Griffith Park. This was a complete uphill climb and super fun.
11.93 kmDistance
6:45 min/kmAvg Pace
885 CCalories
1:20:27Time
315 mElev Gain

February 11, 2015

This was a fun run from KoreaTown to La Brea Tar Pits all the way to Beverly Hills.
16.17 kmDistance
6:24 min/kmAvg Pace
1,222 CCalories
1:43:26Time
39 mElev Gain

February 2015 > 1 - 7 Running Days

February 1, 2015 @ 3:07 PM

2015 CPR Wk2 LSD. Focus of this run was to go Long Slow Distance. What's interesting is I'm finding my endurance is getting stronger along with my pace, but my HR is still in my aerobic zone. I'm starting to make gains especially with endurance, the speed is coming. Cadence is coming along too. Took a video of the run.

18.28 kmDistance
6:22 min/kmAvg Pace
1,100 CCalories
1:56:18Time
3 mElev Gain

138 bpmAvg HR
189 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
195 spmMax Cadence

February 2, 2015 @ 6:40 PM

2015 CPR WK 3 Recovery Run. For this training cycle, I've always taken Monday's off, but my focus for this week is to start ramping up my mileage and that was going to require me to add today as  part of my training cycle. Focus is to do a recovery run from yesterday's LSD. I reached my fatigue limit at the 8km mark and had to walk/run the last 2km. I was also getting very frustrated with the sidewalks as there's still huge patches of ice which made hard to get balanced footing. I found myself fighting for balance a lot more on this run. I'll wind down for tonight and prep myself for tomorrow's speedwork. HR is within my recovery target paces, which is good. Again with the weak cadence...grrr.

10.00 kmDistance
7:26 min/kmAvg Pace
617 CCalories
1:14:19Time
4 mElev Gain
-14.0 °CAvg Temp

126 bpmAvg HR
137 bpmMax HR

169 spmAvg Cadence
202 spmMax Cadence

February 3, 2015 @ 6:58 PM

2015 CPR Wk 3 Intervals. Today is speed work day with the City Park Runners marathon clinic. 

Pyramid workout:

4x200 w/ 100m recovery 

2x400 w/ 200m recovery 

1x800 w/ 400m recovery

2x400 w/ 200m recovery

4x200 w/ 100m recovery

Had my paces set on my Garmin and kept to the pacing. I'm starting to notice the aerobic endurance work I've been building the past month and a half is starting to pay off. What I was noticing was how fast I was recovering and able to pick up the interval pace on cue. Only problem was after the 800 interval, we had to reverse and that screwed up the distances on the Garmin and my intervals got whacked.

Starting to realize that workouts are not designed to be a measurement of fitness. Workouts are for improving specific physiological systems, not proving how fit you are. You prove your fitness on race day.

5.40 kmDistance
5:36 min/kmAvg Pace
341 CCalories
30:11Time
9 mElev Gain
-18.0 °CAvg Temp

148 bpmAvg HR
166 bpmMax HR

169 spmAvg Cadence
208 spmMax Cadence

February 5, 2015 @ 8:27 PM

2015 CPR Wk 3 Tempo Running. Did a tempo workout. Warmup for 1km. Tempo Interval 2km (pace 5:37-5:47) Recovery 1km (6:14-6:47 zone 2 HR) Repeat 4x.

13.28 kmDistance
6:15 min/kmAvg Pace
800 CCalories
1:23:02Time
3 mElev Gain

141 bpmAvg HR
191 bpmMax HR

176 spmAvg Cadence
203 spmMax Cadence

February 7, 2015 @ 8:05 AM

Winnipeg (St. James-Assiniboia SE) Running. Focus of the run was a nice easy pace. Ran up to Osbourne but then decided to run down the Assiniboine river with Ron, Phil, Ted and Kathryn. Footing wasn't the best with the new fallen snow but it was nice to be out.

16.24 kmDistance
6:17 min/kmAvg Pace
1,055 CCalories
1:41:53Time
30 mElev Gain

145 bpmAvg HR
169 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
239 spmMax Cadence