Monday (14km)
Nathan surprised me by showing up at my office just before 5. The timing worked out well so I could leave campus reasonably early. It was not a fast pace, but I got in my hour. I was feeling tired from a rough weekend and a bad night's sleep last night. This was the first run of the year where I felt well-dressed in shorts and t-shirt.
Tuesday (13km)
My legs felt dead this morning when I woke up, so I decided it would be foolish to do weights. Ran for just 55 minutes with Chris. I think a workout would not have gone well. We ran at a stiff pace, though - close to 4 minute kilometres. The wind was rough for the first half. Not very warm, either.
Wednesday (off)
Legs felt dead. Decided to do something about it.
Thursday (workout - 17km total)
A long one out at Denfield. We did 6x a 220m hill, which I did well, 2km and 1km which I struggled with, then 6x220 of hills (I did these well again) and finished with a 1k, which did not feel easy, but was a reasonable pace. It was 10C, which was much warmer than what I am used to these days. The footing was not great on the 2k and 1k work, but I was the most affected by it. I think the weight work from the last two weeks left me tired for this today, but I have only one more day before the beach, and then I can tone it back to twice a week again.
Friday (elliptial)
Just a cross-training day. I did about half an hour on the elliptical plus a bunch of weights - last chance to get buff before the beach!
Saturday (9km)
40 minutes with Chris. We were really tired and just slogged through a painfully slow 40 minutes. Probably a stretch to call it 9km. We both had very little sleep and were running in Mexico for the first time. It felt hot as we were not yet used to the weather. Went into town and back.
Sunday (13km)
A slow 60 minutes on my own. I ran into town to try to see if I could get out to the point by road, but it ended before then. Still hot. I tried to find Chris, but he was trying to organize something for Monday and I could not find him.
Total - 56km. I expected a low mileage week, and I got one.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
March 24-30
Monday (off)
No running today. I was in Waterloo visiting Steve's family and neglected to pack running clothes. I'll make up for it later in the week.
Tuesday (elliptical)
Kind of a messy day, and when I realized that Chris was away, I decided that I did not want to do a workout on my own. I went to the gym and did a hard elliptical workout instead. I set the resistance a little higher, and went a little farther (4.27 units) than I have in the past. I was on for an hour, and this really felt like more than 15km of effort.
Wednesday (14km)
AM - I did some weights. I had not done weights in a while, and with my groin not giving me problems for the last few days, I decided to give it a go. It went fine. Observation: why do unfit old men take so long to put their clothes on after showering? I've decided the reason this offends me is aesthetic: I am reminded of how I will look in 40 years. Could I please instead see some fit old men to give me hope?
PM - I ran on my own from my apartment. I wore a long-sleeve t-shirt and shorts, but could have worn more and been more comfortable. I ran out on Oxford to the bike path, then out towards Springbank, but turned around just past the footbridge to the Thames Valley golf course. I saw two male bufflehead ducks, the sight of which caused me to exclaim: "Sweet!" Buffleheads are the cutest ducks ever minted. I did just over an hour; I'll call it 14km.
Thursday (workout - 18km)
Snow again. Steve moved the regular Wednesday workout to today so more people could make it. My workout was okay - 2x2.5km (8:14/8:15) with plenty of rest, then 2x1.25km (4:08/4:10), again with a near-full recovery. My chest was a bit tight because of the weights yesterday, but I will do them again tomorrow. We finished up with 3x400m hills that I did fairly easily. By this time my feet were absolutely soaked. The hills were not fun.
Friday (10km)
This run was too short. We started the run late because we checked out Steve Lyons' art display at the Visual Arts building first. We were anxious to get home afterwards and cut it to just 43 minutes.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his house. We ran down to the bike path and came back on Talbot. It was a nice, quick pace. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a bit too light, but it was a good, comfortable run all the same.
Sunday (workout - 15km total)
Such a disappointing run. After the success of last week's Denfield workout, I was really looking forward to today's run. Steve had me down for 18km at 3:45s. There was a good group again. For the first 10k we were with the wind. My shoulder tightened up a bit by this point, but I felt good about continuing. When we turned around to head into the wind again, though, I fell off the pace. I quit just after 12k, and jogged into the finish. Did some weights in the afternoon with elliptical warmup and cooldown.
Total - 72km (about 91 including elliptical efforts). This week was a real mixed bag.
No running today. I was in Waterloo visiting Steve's family and neglected to pack running clothes. I'll make up for it later in the week.
Tuesday (elliptical)
Kind of a messy day, and when I realized that Chris was away, I decided that I did not want to do a workout on my own. I went to the gym and did a hard elliptical workout instead. I set the resistance a little higher, and went a little farther (4.27 units) than I have in the past. I was on for an hour, and this really felt like more than 15km of effort.
Wednesday (14km)
AM - I did some weights. I had not done weights in a while, and with my groin not giving me problems for the last few days, I decided to give it a go. It went fine. Observation: why do unfit old men take so long to put their clothes on after showering? I've decided the reason this offends me is aesthetic: I am reminded of how I will look in 40 years. Could I please instead see some fit old men to give me hope?
PM - I ran on my own from my apartment. I wore a long-sleeve t-shirt and shorts, but could have worn more and been more comfortable. I ran out on Oxford to the bike path, then out towards Springbank, but turned around just past the footbridge to the Thames Valley golf course. I saw two male bufflehead ducks, the sight of which caused me to exclaim: "Sweet!" Buffleheads are the cutest ducks ever minted. I did just over an hour; I'll call it 14km.
Thursday (workout - 18km)
Snow again. Steve moved the regular Wednesday workout to today so more people could make it. My workout was okay - 2x2.5km (8:14/8:15) with plenty of rest, then 2x1.25km (4:08/4:10), again with a near-full recovery. My chest was a bit tight because of the weights yesterday, but I will do them again tomorrow. We finished up with 3x400m hills that I did fairly easily. By this time my feet were absolutely soaked. The hills were not fun.
Friday (10km)
This run was too short. We started the run late because we checked out Steve Lyons' art display at the Visual Arts building first. We were anxious to get home afterwards and cut it to just 43 minutes.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his house. We ran down to the bike path and came back on Talbot. It was a nice, quick pace. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a bit too light, but it was a good, comfortable run all the same.
Sunday (workout - 15km total)
Such a disappointing run. After the success of last week's Denfield workout, I was really looking forward to today's run. Steve had me down for 18km at 3:45s. There was a good group again. For the first 10k we were with the wind. My shoulder tightened up a bit by this point, but I felt good about continuing. When we turned around to head into the wind again, though, I fell off the pace. I quit just after 12k, and jogged into the finish. Did some weights in the afternoon with elliptical warmup and cooldown.
Total - 72km (about 91 including elliptical efforts). This week was a real mixed bag.
Monday, March 17, 2008
March 17-23
Monday (13km)
55 minutes with Chris. I had planned to meet him at 4:30 and run with him and Nathan, but Nathan did not show up. It turned out that the two of them had different ideas of what meeting at an office meant. My groin felt fine throughout the day (possibly related to the Tylenol I took in the morning) but by the time we ran it was not happy again. I really hope it clears up by my race on Friday.
Tuesday (13km)
Another short one. 56 minutes total, 54 of that was with at least one other person from the cross country team. It was a wet day. We went east to Adelaide, then back on Windermere. The highlight of the run for me was witnessing a collision. A van had stopped to let some jaywalkers through. The jeep behind had plenty of time to react, but did not in time, and hit the van. Our group stopped about twenty metres away to see if something would happen. The driver of the jeep then hopped out and started yelling at the jaywalkers "What are you going to do about it? Are you just going to walk away?" The jeep's driver was dressed in baggy pants, a flannel coat and a bandanna. He was not going to get much sympathy from the police. Good relaxing pace. I noticed my groin bothering me, but the slower pace helped.
Wednesday (workout - 14km)
I was worried about what Steve would throw at us two days before our 5k, but this seemed perfect. My legs were feeling dead on the warmup, but I shook that off once the workout began. We did 3x1km with three minutes rest, with the first two kms aiming for goal race pace (3:14-3:17 for me), and the last km at a faster pace. I went 3:09 (too fast), 3:14 (perfect), 3:02 (good). The course was re-measured tonight to give us an accurate km, so the first person to finish the third loop was going to set the new course record. I sprinted past Chris in the final 15m to make sure I took the record. It will be broken the next time we do that loop. We then did 6x200m downhill, and jogged back up. I just cruised it, worried about doing something stupid just before a race. It felt good. It is nice to have a confidence-builder leading into the race.
Thursday (10km)
A light run the night before my race. Steve had me down for 60 minutes, but I cut it back to 43. My legs felt dull and tired. There was a stiff wind in places. Feeling a little less optimistic about tomorrow.
Friday (5km race (16:36); 17km total)
I did not sleep well last night and felt sleepy tired this morning. I jogged down to the start line to save time. I felt nice and warmed up by the time the race started. I wore half-tights with a t-shirt and long-sleeve shirt underneath. Ben Perks and I worked together - we were not side-by-side, but we were within three metres until there were about 800m to go. We hit our first two splits beautifully: 3:16/3:17 and were moving our way up through the field. Our third kilometre was slow, according to Ben - about 3:23. We were still moving up on everyone, so everyone around us had slowed down. Ben got on my shoulder with a mile to go and was able to move ahead when I had to swerve to get around some walkers. I thought we might catch Dennis and an unidentified guy in front of us, but they maintained their gap. Ben pulled away a bit with 600 to go, but he let up too much heading into the line, and I made up about 8m in the last 50m of the race to just nip him at the line. I was 6th overall. I'm satisfied with the race. I thought 16:25 was about the fastest I could hope for today, and if not for a slow kilometre, I would have been right there. It felt easy - like my 5k at Around the Bay last year. I should have aimed for a faster time - around 16:15, maybe. Did a long cooldown and took advantage of the free massage afterwards.
Saturday (13km)
53 minutes. I ran quickly to get to Bob's office in time to meet Nathan and Chris. It was a bit cold for shorts, but that's what I wore. Saw a couple of deer only a few metres away in the subdivision by Perrin Park, otherwise the run had no highlights. My legs were feeling sore from the race yesterday, but the groin felt fine.
Sunday (workout - 18km)
This was a really good finish to the week. I woke up earlier than I needed to, but still managed to show up to the workout late. I was scheduled for 14km at Denfield, aiming for 3:45/km. I started with Chris, Dennis and Rob Watson. We hit the first four kilometres without any problem before we turned into the headwind. The next five-plus kilometres was hard. I had to really work to maintain the pace. Once we turned south on High Park, I could relax and started to hit the pace again. With the wind at our back on Sunningdale, Chris put a few steps on me, but when I handed off my fleece top at 12k, I immediately felt quicker and decided to do more. I made it to 16k before stopping. 59:20 for me, so faster than goal pace overall. I did a short warmup and cooldown to take it to 18k for the day.
Total - 98km. My best week in a while. Each of my hard days went well, and by Sunday my groin was giving me virtually no problems. I had taken the week off from weights, which probably sped my recovery.
55 minutes with Chris. I had planned to meet him at 4:30 and run with him and Nathan, but Nathan did not show up. It turned out that the two of them had different ideas of what meeting at an office meant. My groin felt fine throughout the day (possibly related to the Tylenol I took in the morning) but by the time we ran it was not happy again. I really hope it clears up by my race on Friday.
Tuesday (13km)
Another short one. 56 minutes total, 54 of that was with at least one other person from the cross country team. It was a wet day. We went east to Adelaide, then back on Windermere. The highlight of the run for me was witnessing a collision. A van had stopped to let some jaywalkers through. The jeep behind had plenty of time to react, but did not in time, and hit the van. Our group stopped about twenty metres away to see if something would happen. The driver of the jeep then hopped out and started yelling at the jaywalkers "What are you going to do about it? Are you just going to walk away?" The jeep's driver was dressed in baggy pants, a flannel coat and a bandanna. He was not going to get much sympathy from the police. Good relaxing pace. I noticed my groin bothering me, but the slower pace helped.
Wednesday (workout - 14km)
I was worried about what Steve would throw at us two days before our 5k, but this seemed perfect. My legs were feeling dead on the warmup, but I shook that off once the workout began. We did 3x1km with three minutes rest, with the first two kms aiming for goal race pace (3:14-3:17 for me), and the last km at a faster pace. I went 3:09 (too fast), 3:14 (perfect), 3:02 (good). The course was re-measured tonight to give us an accurate km, so the first person to finish the third loop was going to set the new course record. I sprinted past Chris in the final 15m to make sure I took the record. It will be broken the next time we do that loop. We then did 6x200m downhill, and jogged back up. I just cruised it, worried about doing something stupid just before a race. It felt good. It is nice to have a confidence-builder leading into the race.
Thursday (10km)
A light run the night before my race. Steve had me down for 60 minutes, but I cut it back to 43. My legs felt dull and tired. There was a stiff wind in places. Feeling a little less optimistic about tomorrow.
Friday (5km race (16:36); 17km total)
I did not sleep well last night and felt sleepy tired this morning. I jogged down to the start line to save time. I felt nice and warmed up by the time the race started. I wore half-tights with a t-shirt and long-sleeve shirt underneath. Ben Perks and I worked together - we were not side-by-side, but we were within three metres until there were about 800m to go. We hit our first two splits beautifully: 3:16/3:17 and were moving our way up through the field. Our third kilometre was slow, according to Ben - about 3:23. We were still moving up on everyone, so everyone around us had slowed down. Ben got on my shoulder with a mile to go and was able to move ahead when I had to swerve to get around some walkers. I thought we might catch Dennis and an unidentified guy in front of us, but they maintained their gap. Ben pulled away a bit with 600 to go, but he let up too much heading into the line, and I made up about 8m in the last 50m of the race to just nip him at the line. I was 6th overall. I'm satisfied with the race. I thought 16:25 was about the fastest I could hope for today, and if not for a slow kilometre, I would have been right there. It felt easy - like my 5k at Around the Bay last year. I should have aimed for a faster time - around 16:15, maybe. Did a long cooldown and took advantage of the free massage afterwards.
Saturday (13km)
53 minutes. I ran quickly to get to Bob's office in time to meet Nathan and Chris. It was a bit cold for shorts, but that's what I wore. Saw a couple of deer only a few metres away in the subdivision by Perrin Park, otherwise the run had no highlights. My legs were feeling sore from the race yesterday, but the groin felt fine.
Sunday (workout - 18km)
This was a really good finish to the week. I woke up earlier than I needed to, but still managed to show up to the workout late. I was scheduled for 14km at Denfield, aiming for 3:45/km. I started with Chris, Dennis and Rob Watson. We hit the first four kilometres without any problem before we turned into the headwind. The next five-plus kilometres was hard. I had to really work to maintain the pace. Once we turned south on High Park, I could relax and started to hit the pace again. With the wind at our back on Sunningdale, Chris put a few steps on me, but when I handed off my fleece top at 12k, I immediately felt quicker and decided to do more. I made it to 16k before stopping. 59:20 for me, so faster than goal pace overall. I did a short warmup and cooldown to take it to 18k for the day.
Total - 98km. My best week in a while. Each of my hard days went well, and by Sunday my groin was giving me virtually no problems. I had taken the week off from weights, which probably sped my recovery.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
March 10-16
Monday (OFF)
I wore myself out by moving the lab. I could not muster the energy to go for a run as well.
Tuesday (15km)
61 minutes on my own from school. It was a fairly nice day. I did a loop around campus and headed south down St. George, eventually getting on the bike path to the forks and coming back around downtown. I started off at a quick pace but settled into a slower, more manageable pace for the middle 30 minutes.
Wednesday (workout - 18km)
Not a very good workout. My shoulders were still sore from Monday. It did not kill my workout, but I felt really tense during the first tempo. My lower back was very unhappy from 2.5-4km, and my lower abdominals also began to really hurt. I did 4km of tempo, then 3x a 400m hill, and 3x a 580m loop. My final loops were pretty good, but the rest was rough.
Thursday (elliptical)
My legs felt tired today, so I decided to do my workout indoors on the elliptical. I started at too fast a pace given how tired my legs were, and had to stop after 40 minutes. I wanted to do some additional exercises afterwards, but my lower abs were still really unhappy - I could not do an ab workout.
Friday (off)
Slept too late, and I could not fit in a run for the rest of the day. I am starting to feel a little sick. I need to make sure that I get a good sleep tonight.
Saturday (workout - 17km)
A nice day, but my abs/groin gave me a lot of trouble today. I did 6x1km at a good pace: 3:15-3:17 with plenty of rest (3 minutes). My final tempo was rough. My chest tightened up 500m in, probably in response to my unhappy body, and I ended up jogging the rest of the 2.25. Plenty of warmup and cooldown.
Sunday (18km)
78 minutes with Chris. Not very fast. My groin was still bothering me. We did a bit around his neighbourhood before heading south on Adelaide.
Total - 68km. Really low mileage this week. With my injury and lower mileage, my confidence is not as high as it was a month ago.
I wore myself out by moving the lab. I could not muster the energy to go for a run as well.
Tuesday (15km)
61 minutes on my own from school. It was a fairly nice day. I did a loop around campus and headed south down St. George, eventually getting on the bike path to the forks and coming back around downtown. I started off at a quick pace but settled into a slower, more manageable pace for the middle 30 minutes.
Wednesday (workout - 18km)
Not a very good workout. My shoulders were still sore from Monday. It did not kill my workout, but I felt really tense during the first tempo. My lower back was very unhappy from 2.5-4km, and my lower abdominals also began to really hurt. I did 4km of tempo, then 3x a 400m hill, and 3x a 580m loop. My final loops were pretty good, but the rest was rough.
Thursday (elliptical)
My legs felt tired today, so I decided to do my workout indoors on the elliptical. I started at too fast a pace given how tired my legs were, and had to stop after 40 minutes. I wanted to do some additional exercises afterwards, but my lower abs were still really unhappy - I could not do an ab workout.
Friday (off)
Slept too late, and I could not fit in a run for the rest of the day. I am starting to feel a little sick. I need to make sure that I get a good sleep tonight.
Saturday (workout - 17km)
A nice day, but my abs/groin gave me a lot of trouble today. I did 6x1km at a good pace: 3:15-3:17 with plenty of rest (3 minutes). My final tempo was rough. My chest tightened up 500m in, probably in response to my unhappy body, and I ended up jogging the rest of the 2.25. Plenty of warmup and cooldown.
Sunday (18km)
78 minutes with Chris. Not very fast. My groin was still bothering me. We did a bit around his neighbourhood before heading south on Adelaide.
Total - 68km. Really low mileage this week. With my injury and lower mileage, my confidence is not as high as it was a month ago.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
March 3-9
Monday (10km)
One of those days when I just hate to run. It was about 8C - no, there was no '-' sign before the 8. That was above freezing. But it was raining. Ugh ugh ugh.
Tuesday (14km)
Light weight workout in the morning. It was about -3 by the time we started our run. Finally, some nice weather! No rain, and it was not even very slippery. This was my most satisfying run since last Tuesday. We did just 56 minutes, but I feel comfortable calling it a full 14k.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Today I put my name on the list for Runner's Choice Shore-to-Shore relay team. I did the event last year and had a terrific time. 303km from Port Stanley on Lake Erie to Grand Bend on Lake Huron. From start to finish it took my team of 12 just over 26 hours last year. This includes some time where we were waiting at checkpoints, resting. This is an event I can look forward to.
There was a large dump of the white stuff last night making the roads unfun to run on. I think we have had one Wednesday with clear roads since the beginning of January. Steve improvised by measuring a 500m course that we did there and back for 1k repeats. I was really uneven: 3:22/3:17/3:24/3:19/3:25. How easily I could handle the 180 degree turn had an impact on those times. My two fastest repeats were where I was chasing Chris. Mike Delmonte was well in front for all of them. We then did 4x a 500m hill with a jog down for recovery. The footing was slippery, and I tell myself that if only it was better, I would have done six.
Thursday (13km)
My legs were really tired today. Chris and I just chugged along for 55 minutes at a slow pace. Some sections were slippery, which might have hurt our recovery, but we really did not push it. I hope my legs will feel better tomorrow. I'm going to take a performance enhancer (Tylenol) tonight. Don't tell Athletics Canada.
Friday (OFF)
It was not a scheduled off day, but I was too busy today to fit one in. I knew it had to happen.
Saturday (OFF)
It snowed heavily all day, making it extremely unpleasant to run. I considered going to the gym for an elliptical workout but it took 20 minutes to get my car out of its parking spot in the afternoon, and I worried what would happen coming home. I did not do anything energetic at all today.
Sunday (18km)
81 minutes that I hated. Most sidewalks were at least partly plowed, but the one I had to run on for half a kilometre two minutes into the run was completely unplowed. More bounding than running. I met Chris and did some with him, but it was not a fun run, and not fast. I am tired of winter.
Total - 74km with two days off. Not a great week. I'd love some decent weather soon.
One of those days when I just hate to run. It was about 8C - no, there was no '-' sign before the 8. That was above freezing. But it was raining. Ugh ugh ugh.
Tuesday (14km)
Light weight workout in the morning. It was about -3 by the time we started our run. Finally, some nice weather! No rain, and it was not even very slippery. This was my most satisfying run since last Tuesday. We did just 56 minutes, but I feel comfortable calling it a full 14k.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Today I put my name on the list for Runner's Choice Shore-to-Shore relay team. I did the event last year and had a terrific time. 303km from Port Stanley on Lake Erie to Grand Bend on Lake Huron. From start to finish it took my team of 12 just over 26 hours last year. This includes some time where we were waiting at checkpoints, resting. This is an event I can look forward to.
There was a large dump of the white stuff last night making the roads unfun to run on. I think we have had one Wednesday with clear roads since the beginning of January. Steve improvised by measuring a 500m course that we did there and back for 1k repeats. I was really uneven: 3:22/3:17/3:24/3:19/3:25. How easily I could handle the 180 degree turn had an impact on those times. My two fastest repeats were where I was chasing Chris. Mike Delmonte was well in front for all of them. We then did 4x a 500m hill with a jog down for recovery. The footing was slippery, and I tell myself that if only it was better, I would have done six.
Thursday (13km)
My legs were really tired today. Chris and I just chugged along for 55 minutes at a slow pace. Some sections were slippery, which might have hurt our recovery, but we really did not push it. I hope my legs will feel better tomorrow. I'm going to take a performance enhancer (Tylenol) tonight. Don't tell Athletics Canada.
Friday (OFF)
It was not a scheduled off day, but I was too busy today to fit one in. I knew it had to happen.
Saturday (OFF)
It snowed heavily all day, making it extremely unpleasant to run. I considered going to the gym for an elliptical workout but it took 20 minutes to get my car out of its parking spot in the afternoon, and I worried what would happen coming home. I did not do anything energetic at all today.
Sunday (18km)
81 minutes that I hated. Most sidewalks were at least partly plowed, but the one I had to run on for half a kilometre two minutes into the run was completely unplowed. More bounding than running. I met Chris and did some with him, but it was not a fun run, and not fast. I am tired of winter.
Total - 74km with two days off. Not a great week. I'd love some decent weather soon.
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