April 2015 > 21 - 26 Running Days

April 21, 2015 @ 6:46 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 50km NW wind gusts. So f'n annoying trying to build up any speed. I was literally leaning steep into the headwind, and tried my best to burn it up at the tailwind. Still cold as my legs were all cramping up. My right hip was sore and my calves were tight. And I was running out of time as I had to get back home to do some driving...first world problems.

Have to remember the reason I'm training is because it's actually fun. The end goal is I get to hang out with the CPR gang in Fargo and have a good time.

10.76 kmDistance
5:36 min/kmAvg Pace
673 CCalories
1:00:17Time
2 mElev Gain

142 bpmAvg HR
153 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
194 spmMax Cadence

April 22, 2015 @ 9:58 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 8 Miler. Long day at work and a lot of driving the family here and there, and then there was the Jets game. I headed out at the 2nd period when it was still 1-1 vs the Ducks.

Unsurprisingly cold night at -2C and I was only wearing my Hind baselayer and running vest and tights. Good thing I also wore toque and gloves. Glad there was no wind out as I was able to comfortably crank out a decent pace at my z2 HR and keep up a great cadence. Side of my right leg still feels tight, but the other aches and pains have subsided. Last week of heavy training then I go into taper and let my legs and body heal and also get in a lot of much needed sleep and nutrition.

13.00 kmDistance
5:38 min/kmAvg Pace
815 CCalories
1:13:14Time
5 mElev Gain

144 bpmAvg HR
189 bpmMax HR

186 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

April 25, 2015 @ 8:03 AM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 10 Miler. This was probably one of my favorite runs to date. I had a little achilles ache on my lower right (as per usual) but this time it did not bother me through the whole run.

A couple of issues was sleep as I stayed up too late the night before this and only got in 4.5 hrs of sleep which is NOT good and I haven't been eating too well the past 2 days as I've been on course for my work and I find those stressful as opposed to actually doing my job. Ran with Barry, Dan, Ron and Doug and the pace was absolutely perfect. 

Started so nice and easy but judging from my HR it looks like I was close to a heart attack, but my effort felt very easy (this is probably akin to very little sleep and stress with the high HR). This time I trusted my effort more than my HR monitor and just ran, especially on the way back with Barry as we started blasting out the splits going negative the last 3 miles and I didn't feel strained until the last mile where I blasted a 7:36/mi or 4:44/km.

16.49 kmDistance
5:34 min/kmAvg Pace
1,180 CCalories
1:31:57Time
19 mElev Gain

187 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
212 spmMax Cadence

April 26, 2015 @ 4:07 PM

Wk14 - 11 mile easy Recovery run.

This is my last real long mileage run before Fargo marathon. I'll just do 6-8-10 miles then completely taper the week of the marathon. 

The focus of this run was just to be out and about, no pressure and just enjoy the nice weather. I picked up an Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek vest from CityPark Runners yesterday and I wanted to try it out. Instead of using the water bottles I put in a water bladder from a HydraPak kit I got over the winter. Vest was comfortable and I packed some gels, eload discs my phone, debit card and some cash and an extra long sleeve shirt incase it got cool at the end of my run. Ran my normal route to Kildona Park, ran once around the park then along the river bank and went home. I turned off the GPS at the 11 mile mark and just walked the rest of the way nice and easy. Picked up a choc milk at the gas station for a recovery drink on the way home and just relaxed.

17.60 kmDistance
6:52 min/kmAvg Pace
1,139 CCalories
2:00:59Time
17 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

175 spmAvg Cadence
224 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

Week 2 CPR Marathon Training - No tempo but plenty of fun in St. Paul, MN.

I missed out the tempo run on Thursday of this week as I was too caught up with my girls and their activities driving them to and from their practices and my sister and I were making plans to take my parents and our kid's down to St. Paul, MN to visit our sister for the upcoming long weekend.

I made plans to run with my sister's running friend and neighbor Kevin Alldredge who happens to work at the Patagonia store in St. Paul, MN. He's an ultra-marathoner, ran the Boston Marathon and overall super nice guy. We were set to run Saturday morning while my sister and I planned on leaving Winnipeg Friday afternoon, immediately after work.

We made the trip to St. Paul's in pretty decent time considering the blowing snow from the border to Fargo, but once we were out of Fargo, the roads were clear and dry so we got to my sister Connie's around 2:30 AM. After unpacking the van, getting my parents and our kid's settled in, I was finally able to pass out around 3:30 and it felt like I just closed my eyes only to open them up again to start the day and get ready for the run.

Kevin arrived at 9:00 AM and we drove down Summit Avenue to Mississippi Avenue by the river bank to start our run.

We did the Mississippi River Blvd route which took us from the start at Summit Avenue over the E. Franklin Ave. bridge (I believe this was the bridge we had to cross over to get into St. Paul during the Twin Cities Marathon) which took us into Minneapolis around a big loop that ended off at Ford Parkway and back to Summit. I didn't have the mental fortitude to go an extra couple of kilometers to round out a 10 miler as I was still very mentally and physically tired from the previous night's drive. But the run was your nice LSD, we were able to keep a conversation going, and oh what great repartee's we were having! I learned so much about his life and his philosophical outlook, what he does at work and what Patagonia does...it was pretty fun talking with him.

We're going to try and meet up end of May to do another run...this time on trails! Can't wait for that.

Week 12 MSD Run with Osty, Rob and Kevin

It was a nice day in the relative sense being +1C, so we decided to head out and run to the tracks. As we neared the tracks I took off for a 200m sprint, then the guys wanted to go a bit further so we could complete a 10km loop. Over all I felt good and the run back down Wellington was really well, I was able to keep up with Osty's pace throughout the run back. Took my Cadence's out so I can practice more with lengthening my stride and breathing while keeping up with Osty's pace as I suggested he too lengthen his stride. He kept it short on the way back because he was waiting for Rob and Kevin, but the stride was bothering him due to injuring his right knee from the sprint we did to the tracks.

Week 12 - Day 1 Easy run with Osty and Rob

After the 10k race we decided to do an 'easy' 5k during lunch. And despite the cold weather and blowing windchill of -21C we managed a pretty good time considering Osty had tired legs and I had that boingy spring type feeling on my left just above the achilles, making my ankle kind of sore. About the same time last year 5k would take us closer to 40-45 mins and I'd feel a bit worn out. My have times started to change...wish this weather would.