Saturday, March 25, 2006

Friday was a rest day for me as I tried to shake off whatever had been slowing me down all week. I did go to massage therapy for a leg flush though. It felt great.

Saturday morning, after getting up at 5AM and 6AM (and then staying up) with Egan, we took him down to a doggy daycare to check it out. The people there seem to know what they are doing and there was even another puppy there that Egan had a great time playing with. The plan is to take Egan there 1-2 mornings a week to socialize with other dogs and to allow Shelley some time to do errands without worrying about him being at home alone in his crate.

This afternoon I was joined by LM and her friend T., a runner and rower for a run/power hike. LM and I hadn't run together before and as we were doing a race together we wanted to see how each other could do. I loaded up my hydration pack with most of the stuff I carry in a race to make it seem realistic and tougher. We headed up the trail on the south side of Mt Work, went over the top and down the other side, down the trail to MacKenzie Bight, then up the trail to Jocelyn Peak and along the ridge on the Gowland-Tod trail to the end. We ran almost everything that was flat or not too steep and power hiked the rest. There is a lot of ascending and descending on the trail and it is one of my favourite training areas as it mirrors the terrain we usually see in a race. We had two quick stops for gels and even though I went at close to race pace, the ladies didn't seem to have trouble keeping up. They even managed to carry on a conversation most of the way (except for the steep climbs). How do women do that? I told LM that if she has enough energy to chat when we are racing that I'm going to take it as a sign that I can push the pace faster. Our overall time was 10+ minutes faster than I have done it before which was great. I felt pretty good at the end, even managing to sprint the last 2-3 minutes where the trail gets good. Tonight I am tired and I know my legs will be sore tomorrow. If the weather is not too bad tomorrow, I am going to do a little mountain biking. Now its time for a long soak in the tub.

Time: 2:47

Calories: 2083