Tuesday, Feb 2, 2010

Blogging is still low on my priority list at the moment so here’s another week’s worth of training.  My long run of 2 hours on Thursday felt really good along the trails at Mount Doug. Friday was an easy double with 75′ in the morning and 30′ after work. Saturday I met Dave and Ian at the Oak Bay track for my first track wo since August. Jon gave us the same wo while he had the other half of the group doing hill repeats. It drizzled rain the entire time but it was warm with no wind: 2 sets of 8 x 400 (45″) with a 3′ set break aiming for 3km pace (78″/lap for me) with the guys starting each rep off of my 45″ rests. The wo went  well and the effort felt steady for me straight through despite feeling flat in the warm-up:

[80-79-78-76-77-76-76-76]   [77-75-76-75-75-75-75-74]

Sunday was the usual 90′ hilly run at Thetis with Jon, Adam, Matt C and Matt P and Nick.  Yesterday a steady double of 75′/30′ and today a wo at the lakes: 5′/4′ @ 10km, 3′/2′ @ 5km, 1′ @ 3km and 30″ @ mile all with 90″ rests. Dave and Nick did this one with me and we stuck to the back stretch between the 9km and 6km markers. The intervals  were paced well except the 1′ rep which, according to the Garmin, was at 10km pace…uh, I don’t think so, unless  I lost focus completely and Dave and Nick were really slacking off, as I wasn’t too far behind them:

3:30/km – 3:31 – 3:22 – 3:15 – 3:30 – 3:05

If you want real quality blogging visit Alias Basil, a favorite of mine.

I thought this was too true and funny not to share.

Wednesday, Jan 27. 2010

The week flew by. Work has been busy and it looks as though it will be that way for a while yet so blog posts are going to be less frequent and sparse  until I have more time. Training is going well. I did the usual 2 hours on Thursday last week, a double of 60′/40′ on Friday and 30′ of 1′ hills on Saturday. That hill session went well. I got to the same spot as the week before but my rests were a little shorter so an improvement from last week. Sunday was a 90′ run on the trails at Thetis. Monday was a double of 75′/30′. Tuesday I met Dave at the lakes and we did a 10km tempo. I felt decent and ran 35:40 for the loop. Today was a day off with some plyos.

That was the dullest post ever.

Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010

The week had been busy but I am still managing to get in some good running. The Sunday morning 90′  run included me, Jon, Mel and Swanny. We met at Thetis but headed over to the trails at Royal Roads. I felt pretty good after the previous day’s hill wo.

Monday was a double day of steady 60′/40′. On Tuesday I met Ian, Dave and Swanny at the lakes. Jon had a stomach bug but he had us all doing the same wo: 5′ @ 5km (2′) 10′ @ 10km (2′)  5′ @ 10km (1′) 5′ @ 5km. We started near Beaver Lake rd heading up the back stretch going clockwise. The first interval was a bit of  a shock. 5km pace  felt a bit foreign and stiff. I found things got better and I felt smoother as I went along. Ian wanted to end where we started so we did a 180 about 8 minutes into the second interval. It went reasonably well I thought for my first interval wo in a while. It was another dry day today! The weather has been incredible so far this winter! Splits: 3:25 – 3:34 – 3:15 – 3:29

Today was a day off but I did my plyo routine with some core after dinner.

Saturday, Jan 16, 2010

Jon had the group meet at the bottom of Sea Ridge this morning for the wo. After a week of  just steady running, I was confident the hill repeats were going to be just fine this week and they were. I made sure to give myself a few climbs to get into it and focused on staying relaxed – I got in 13!  We had really lovely weather this morning which was a nice break from the last few days of relentless rain. I don’t think any of my runs this week were finished with me wearing dry clothing and shoes. I cannot tell you the countless minutes I have spent in the shower trying to clean the dirt that seems to get embedded around my toenails. Charming.

Too busy and lazy to give stats again this week. I am sure that will be a huge disappointment  ha!

Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010

I have been meaning to update my blog. I still feel a bit like I am on holiday mode with it. I continue to do a lot of steady running these days. I did a hill wo on Saturday (30′ of 1′ hills). It was a rough one for me so we cut it down to 20′.

The group met at the Saanich Fairground on Sunday morning to do a 90′ steady run before the race. It seemed like everyone I knew was racing! There was s good battle between Natasha and Lucy with Natasha out-sprinting Lucy with 50m to go. Great race!

I have had a few heavier weeks of volume so this week Jon gave me the Tuesday wo off and replaced it with a steady run and it looks like less volume for the week in general so a mini break for me. Work is keeping me on my toes these days. It looks like it’s going to be a hectic spring term in the office. I have to make sure I find the time to sing!

Tuesday, Jan 5, 2010

The weather was still pretty lousy this morning. The group met at Lochside school for the wo: 3′ @ marathon effort/ 6′ @ 10km effort for 36′ (4 sets). Today’s group included me, Ian, Jon, Jim, Adam and Nick. Jon is nursing a sore ankle so he ran the wo pacing me when I needed it. We all ran the Lochside, Blenkinsop loop. I felt pretty good, the second 10km effort felt hard but once I warmed up, I was able to hold the paces pretty well. Jon pulled me through the last two sets, making sure I didn’t slack on the marathon bits. It was a good one, done in cruddy conditions. I got to chat a little with Jim and Adam about marathon training and racing on the warm-down. It sounds like fun! I was sure I got in a hot shower this time at home which made the rest of the day much better!

Avg km pace/interval (10.08 km covered) :

3:36 – 3:33 – 3:34 – 3:33 – 3:47 – 3:23 - 3:41 – 3:34

A very good friend of mine named Caroline Holden, who I met at McGill  years ago, has a really funky web site for singers and those interested in the Alexander Method (she is a certified teacher of the technique). She did an  interview with me on Skype for her Masterclass series. It’s a long one and we sound like a couple of goof-balls but we always were that way.

Monday, Jan 4, 2010

My run this morning was a soaker. Jon and I had  squishy sounds coming from our soggy shoes as we ran. I arrived at UVic soaking wet and cold to the bone only to find out that the hot water in our building wasn’t available. What a lovely way to start back at work. I shivered my way through a quick sponge bath and continued to shiver at my desk the rest of the day, never quite warming up. Needless to say, my second run was faced with dread. I got it done though, in the rain again. This time though I got to have a hot shower!

AM:  1:02:53  (13.80 km)

Avg/Km: 4:33 

PM:  40:32 (8.78 km)

Avg/Km: 4:38

Total Time: 1:43:25 (22.58 km)

Sunday, Jan 4, 2010

Well, the holidays came and went very quickly. We had a fairly quiet time which was good as it was busy non-stop since September.

Training has been picking up since I last posted. I did another hill wo last Saturday which went much better than the previous weeks’ hill wo. I did a 10km tempo effort around the lakes last Tuesday and ran a controlled 35:52. That was a nice surprise and proof once again that good aerobic conditioning provides a lot of the speed. I am really looking forward to this next season of training and racing. I had such a  great year last year and really feel I am at an even better fitness level than last year at this time after a break from training so if all goes as planned, the spring racing season will be pretty exciting!

Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009

I have been a bit distracted this week with the concerts over the weekend. Both went really well and it was truly a joy to sing Handel with a lovely orchestra, choir and soloists. I feel really grateful that I got that opportunity.

Nothing too exciting to report running-wise. I gave a go at a hill wo on Saturday morning (the day after the first Messiah concert). 30′ of 1 minute hills up Hillwood. I saw the group who started at 9am doing their repeats as I parked the car. I got out to tease them a bit, then met Matt who had kindly agreed to run the hills with me an hour later so I could get an extra bit of sleep. After the high from the performance the night before, it was hard to fall asleep. The wo went as well as I thought it would – it was crap. I managed 9.5 repeats out of 13 then called it.  I hate bailing on a wo but I didn’t want to muscle or push so I stopped while I was still at least moving forward!  I wasn’t surprised because I was pretty fried. 

The concert on Sunday afternoon was even better than Friday night’s. Everyone seemed to be really on their game and the flow was even better. Joey did a terrific job and I think the audience appreciated the energy he gave. He is such an instinctive conductor and made it so easy for everyone to perform at their best! When we got home, we changed into running gear and headed out the door for a run. We ran together over to CH and up Braefoot to Mount Doug. I then went ahead and got on to Lochside and ran over to the Browns’ where I made a quick pit-stop to check in on their cats while they were awayon holiday. I then ran over to Quadra to get back home. The run felt pretty decent although I wasn’t very happy running in the dark, in the rain all alone…blah.

The rest of the week will be more aerobic running, plyomtrics and strength/core work with another hill wo on Saturday. I am taking a well-deserved blog holiday so you won’t see too much here during the week.

Pics from the shows!

Andy, Mar, Barb and Isaiah

The Maestro and Mar

Guess who called this pose

Divas!

At Intermission