Back Home!

I left Victoria five weeks ago and although I had a wonderful time working in London and vacationing in Scotland, I am glad to be home! Five weeks is a long time to be away from home and routine, especially with training. I didn’t do all the details I usually get in while training but got the basic runs and wos in. Weight training was pretty limited and although I tried to get some core work in, it was a few sad attempts. I was on vacation so I treated it as a small break from doing all the details. I wasn’t able to keep up with blogging so I have some catching up to do.

 Juice and I discovered some incredible trails just minutes from Barb and David’s home. The River Don has a trail that runs along either side (yes, yet another river to run beside). The trail was pretty rough once we got into the more rural areas going in either direction and one way we found ourselves running through grassy fields, hopping over cow paddies. I love going on discovery runs in places I don’t know and get a real kick when I happen across a great running trail or road.  On our second run in Inverurie, I was running ahead of Joey, leading  him through s narrow offshoot trail that I wanted to explore. The path was deteriorating and getting narrower to the point where we could barely see a trail at all through the grass and weeds. Just as I was about to give up and turn around, the trail opened up and poured us out on to an old country single lane road. We rarely saw a car on this road as it rolled up and down through stunning Scottish landscapes. We passed by fields of green and gold, fields covered in heather and brightly coloured wild flowers. It was all just so beautiful and I hooted and skipped, Juice following behind me shaking his head. Sheep and cows would stare dumbly as we ran by. I was in heaven! I felt terribly guilty taking off in the mornings to do my runs. Barb and David haven’t experienced living with me as a runner and I think they were surprised at the time I put in to train. Anyway, they thought I was nuts I am sure….and I wasn’t even doing as much as I normally do!

It was so wonderful that we finally got to see David’s home, Craiguan. We had a great time sight seeing and visiting/meeting David’s family and friends which was a lot of fun. A highlight was meeting David’s older cousin Doug and his whippet Brandy. Doug is a true Scot and we just loved his teasing personality and dry whit. Brandy is a thoroughbred Whippet and was once a champion racing dog but an injury a year or so ago while chasing a rabbit left him paralyzed. Doug and his wife nursed him back to health and despite the vet’s warnings that Brandy would never walk, he is now walking and running a bit (albeit, rather crookedly). I fell in love with him of course and spent a lot of time petting him.

We  ate a gluttonous amount of sweets while in Scotland. Juice and I would stand in front of the cookie section at Tescos grocery store. This store has a large spread of endless types of chockies and bickies. The variations on a simple digestive cookie alone were staggering…dark or milk chocolate- covered, orange, pecan, cranberry, ginger, caramel, crunchy, cream-filled….you name it. Then there were even more choices for shortbread cookies, then another 500 other kinds of biscuits to choose from and this is just at the local grocer. Well, we tried a lot of it, to the point that by week two, I had to detox and say nay to two of the three desserts we were offered daily from that point on! I have never in my life eaten so much butter and cream. I think I saw a total of three vegetables while we were there! haha!

Here’s the running that burned off the intake of  fat and sugar!

Saturday, June 27

Back in Victoria! Easy run at the lakes with Juice plus some strides. We bumped into Shan and Darren and the pups on the trail off of Pipeline Rd as we were finishing up and then Lis’ and Paul!

Total Time: Flat 50:42 (11.37 km)

Avg/Km: 4:28

Avg HR: 125 bpm

Friday, June 26, 2009

Juice and I ran an easy run from the airport hotel we stayed at the night before. We hopped a fence, ran around the trails of a golf course we found for about 15′ until we were kicked off…not all my discovery runs turn out! My legs felt great on this run despite the fact that it was already nearly 30 degrees celcius by 8:30am! I had some time before our afternoon flight so I did my strength and core routine in the hotel gym. We had a good trip home. It was so great to smell the sea air when we got off the plane!

Total Time: Flat 47:55 (10.21 km)

Avg/Km: 4:42

Avg HR: 118 bpm

We left on Thursday at 6am, drove to Glasgow with David (Barb was staying on at the house) and flew to Toronto. We got to our hotel at dinnertime. I was scheduled to run 45 easy but emailed Jon to say I wasn’t in the mood to run around the strange area alone. I don’t usually bail on runs but I figured missing one is no biggie and Jon agreed.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

It was a cool and cloudy day, quite a change from yesterday. I ran solo and took the route out to the woodland trails. I ran easy for the first 20′ and then picked it up for 20′ then ran easy again. I felt good!

Total Time: Flat 1:22:01(17.79km)

Avg/Km: 4:37

Avg HR: 127 bpm

Tuesday June 23, 2009

We woke up to sunny skies and warm temps…really warm. Juice and I got out the door mid-morning. I had 8 x 1′ hills (90″) to do. I found a quiet gravel road that worked well for the repeats. It was shady for the most part but the humidity that day was brutal. I knew I was in for a tough wo when after just two repeats I was having to really focus to keep the turn-over going. I was able to run the same distance for the first 8 reps but then depsite my efforts to push through the discomfort, I fell back a few metres. I either ran the first part of the wo tooquick or the heat and humidity got to me…or both!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Today’s run felt great. Juice and I did a variation on the route we discovered last week. I kept the effort in control knowing I had a wo the next day. Here are some shots from our third castle trip (Fyvie Castle) and our visit to the coast, walking along the sand dunes along the North Sea near Aberdeen.

Total Time: 1:16;37 (16.81 km)

Avg/Km: 4:35

Avg HR: 125 bpm

Sunday, June 21, 2009

We got another beautiful day today! I got in a solid 90′ this morning and felt great! I was able to get to the end of the woodland trail today and found another country road to run on. It had a few good-sized hills but they were spaced out nicely. We had guests stay overnight at the house after the recital so we all had brunch together. Doug brought Brandy who behaved so well. She loves lying in the sun!

Total Time: Hilly 1:30:56 (19.88 km)

Avg/Km: 4:35

Avg HR: 129 bpm

Saturday was off for me for running. Barb had organized a recital for us to do at the local church. It went really well and the church was lovely to sing in. There was a party at the house afterwards so it was a late night!

Friday, June 19, 2009

I had a grass wo scheduled today for some faster running. Jon gave me 8 x 3′ (1′) at 10km effort. We found a cricket field to run on that was smooth and fairly flat. There was a brisk wind though that made a section of the run challenging. I felt great today! I kept the first few in control and then found a quick rhythm that I was able to hold without straining. With the short rests, I was happy with my effort and recovery between reps.

Total Time: Very flat 1:15:51(16.91 km)

WO: 8 x3′ repeats: 3:35-3:32-3:27-3:31-3:27-3:23-3:22-3:22

Doug took Juice, David and I up Bennachie for a hike. It was amazing! Doug brought Brandy who did really well but near the top where it got too steep for her, she was carried. Doug brought us a picnic lunch which we ate at the top just before the rain started to come down. I was pretty bagged after having done a wo AND a major hike!

 

Thursday, June 18, 2009

I ran an easy 60′ today along the River Don. The weather was much nicer today but the footing was tricky since the trail turned slippery from yesterday’s constant rain.

Doug took us all out for dinner at this fab restaurant! He is an artist and his paintings are displayed throughout and are incredible!! We went over to his place afterwards and had a visit with Brandy.

Total Time: 1:oo:07 (12.16 km)

Avg/Km: 4:57

Avg HR: 124 bpm

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Today was a double run. I did a good session of strength and plyos after the morning run…in the pouring rain. I used two stones from the garden for my free weights. It looked a bit nuts.

Total Time:  1:0o:52 (20:41 km)

AM: Total Time: Rough Trails and very muddy! 56:05

 Avg/Km: 4:51  Avg HR: 111 bpm

PM: Total Time: 45:47

Avg/Km: 4:39 vAvg/HR: 137

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Today’s run felt great! I felt smooth and was just ticking along nicely with hardly any effort so I was pleased that I recovered so well after the race. We got a beautiful, sunshiny day. We headed along in the other direction along the river and after a tricky section of trail we found a superb country road with two forest trails to run on with good footing!

We took a tour at Crathes Castle not too far away from Inverurie in the afternoon. It was pretty incredible and the gardens were stunning. We picked up some take-away on the way home of fish and chips.

 

Total Time: 1:46:20 (23.56 km)

Avg/Km: 4:31

Avg HR: 126 bpm

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Juice and I ran a very easy run along the River Don this morning. My legs feel very good. No major soreness or fatigue but I took it easy to make sure I got in the recovery. There is a rugged trail along the river. We explored going one way today and we were able to run for almost 20′ before coming to a fence. We had to turn around anyway…will check out the trail going the other way tomorrow.

Total Time: 45:31(9.22km)

Avg/Km: 4:56

Avg HR: 115 bpm