Busy!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

I was hoping to get in a bit more recovery this week but somehow time slipped away and I spent far too much time on my feet. Thursday morning I got in a 1:45 run on hilly trails. I was still feeling rough from my cold so I took my time. That night after work I went to Vancouver. Katherine was nice enough to let me stay at her place. I met her sweet dogs for the first time, Missy and Sheba and we saw a third furry creature scoot under her bed…a mouse! Kat wasn’t very impressed when I told her there was likely a family of them living in her wall behind the bed and that they are also likely enjoying nibbling on whatever is left on her counters while she is gone during the day. I am a good friend.

I didn’t sleep much that night as I knew I was to be up early the next day. Kat got up at 5am to meet Meaghan for a workout (you’d have to hold a gun to my head for that kind of action from me at that hour). I went to the corner coffee shop for my coffee and breakfast at 6:30am (that was painful enough for me!)  and then went straight out for my 75′ run along the sea wall starting from Yaletown. It’s a fairly pretty run along the ocean but my gawd, what a flat and hard surface to run on! Never again will I do a run like that on concrete. I guess I am spoiled running on the cushy trails in Victoria.

The day was pretty hectic after that.  The morning was spent taking photos Canadian Running magazine.  Like last week,  I did  a lot of running and jumping. It was tamer but longer. Chris, André, David and Jasmin were incredibly friendly and made the photo shoot a lot of fun. I hope the shots turned out ok. The cover should be for the September issue highlighting fall marathons and in particular, the Scotia Bank Toronto Waterfront marathon which will probably be my debut marathon.  I’m sure I’ll feel no pressure now haha! I feel very lucky to have been asked to do this for the magazine.

Saucony provided some nice apparel including a new shoe for 2010, the Kinvara; a really nice, light-weight shoe. I only ran short strides in them for the shoot but they felt rreally good. Check them out!

Garmin sent me their latest watch; the Forerunner 110 for the pics.

I used it on my run that morning and it was terrific. It’s a simpler version of my 405, so no bezel but has pretty much all the same features including GPS and HR monitor. The nice thing about it is that they have a smaller women’s version that feels more comfortable on smaller wrists! I will have more feedback about the watch once I get a few more tries with it to see what it can and cannot do in comparison to the 405. So far so good though!!

I popped over to the Vancouver BMO marathon expo to say hi to Matt and Jenn, then went back to Kat’s and had a quick lie-down in bed (and actually slept!) I woke up to find that Missy had crawled up under the duvet to snuggle in my neck while Sheba had settled down at the crook of my knees.  Couple of sneaks! I loved it!

After a meeting with reps from Lulu Lemon (we are getting some help from them for our running workshops), Kat and I went to a dinner at Milestone’s that Saucony set up for all the athletes who are in town running the race on Sunday. I took the last ferry home and landed in my bed just before midnight, dead.

I was at the track the next morning and I knew it was going to be grim. Chops and Ian were my running mates and we all had the same wo: 5 laps @ 10 km, 4 laps @ 5 -10 km, 3 laps @ 5 km, 2 laps @ 3 km, 1 lap @ mile all with 3′ breaks.  6:45 -5:24-4:00-76 (did just one lap) 2′ recovery 72. So what happened was just stupid. I had calculated my splits the night before on the ferry when I was really out of it and had it in my mind I was to run 81s for the 5 laps but it was supposed to be 83s. That smooth move coupled with my fried legs from yesterday’s shenanigans and a head cold still lingering had me struggling and kvetching between reps. I toughed it out though and ran by feel so as to not completely bury myself which I am sure Jon would have suggested. I managed the wo  until the 800m and decided to stop after one lap as it was getting ridiculous. I took just a  2′ rest then did my final 400m. I was proud I did as much as I did feeling as lousy as I did and didn’t try to force a pace just for the sake of it.

This morning I ran 90′ on hilly trails…took it easy. I will try and get more rest in this week and hope to perk back up for the Sun Run next week.

A huge congrats to Erin on her PB today in the Eugene Half-marathon: 1:21:55!