Treadmills..

So I'm sitting in the airport -- my flight's been delayed. In fact, I'm not even sure it'll get here so I can get to DC. I'm eyeing the inactive flat sidewalk escalator beside my gate that's about 50 metres long. Now if only I can put on my running clothes, turn on that escalator to high speed and get a nice run in.. Just killing time.

I'm hoping to get in a long run tomorrow morning, but now I may only just hope for a short one -- maybe a 5K tempo around the Mall. If I get there, of course.

Getting some speed back

Haven't done a true tempo run or actual speed work, but I'm getting more runs in at better paces. In fact, all runs this week had portions in which I turned it on a bit. Today was good and I feel more comfortable running harder. It's not as difficult as it was a few weeks ago, which signals that with the better mileage this month, I'm regaining some fitness. If I get the big long run this weekend plus a short one as well, I'll have my highest mileage since ... gasp... September. (Well, not nearly close to September, but all the months in between were pretty paltry.)

Which reminds me: oh my, my first race is creeping up. In fact, it's only 8 days away! Oh my lord, should I start reading about prepping for an 8K? I think some speed work is necessary this weekend. Any tips?

Oh, did 10.5K in just over 50 minutes.

Now I have to count all the miles I've put into my current pair of shoes. More on that next post.

The carrot...

Still running, just don't have a lot of free time to post. Determined to do a lot better than last week's 30K, I've gone out there the past three days. Ran a quick 10K on Monday afternoon in between a very long day. The run really refreshed me.

Yesterday, did a 6.5K in the morning before work, which was a nice change.

And today, having arrived home as the sun was setting, I set out to do a even paced 10K. Not easy, not hard, just a run. I limbered up, caught the GPS signals, and was off.

There was a runner going at about 5:45 minute per kilometre so he was about 200 metres ahead of me when I started my run. I caught up to him quite quickly and as I was coming up behind him at an easy 5:10 minute kilometre. I'm about 5 metres ahead, and suddenly, the slower runner suddenly isn't. He increases his pace so i'm no longer putting distance between us.

I'm thinking "buddy, I'm not trying to race here, so why the hell do you think it's a good time to match my pace." I quicken slightly to put a bit of distance between us, but he's still hanging on. In fact, he's now going at a sub 5 minute pace and passes me.

Now this is odd. We're literally running neck and neck. I don't feel like making conversation cause frankly, it's obvious that he's responding to my pace, or I wouldn't have caught up to him. I give him 10 metres, and realize I have this choice to make.

1. Go back and forth with this guy. 2. Run away.

I choose 2. I speed up to 4:45 kms, that as last year's target marathon pace is not that speedy when you're running a bunch of kilometres.

I pass strong, and 'mini surge' ahead a few metres. And he's still chasing me. His breath is more laboured than mine. Yes, I could hear his breathing and his feet hitting pavement. In fact, I still had fresh legs and lungs. I barely feel it. So then I throw it down to 4:30 kms --- and never look back for the next mile.

I'm not sure when he turned off, but I wasn't going to be the carrot.. Not today, anyways.

Breather

Oh, I've gotten 30K in three runs this week, but i've taken off the weekend for other obligations...

Next weekend, I'm heading to (hopefully warm) DC so will have to get a lot of early week runs.

Weekly mileage: 30K (19 miles)
Year to date: 400K (249 miles)

Carbs, onions and sour cream... and bacon

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Originally uploaded by yumkerun.

As usual, this running blog veers off course -- and into food right now. R requested that I include a pic with my latest blog and this was just about the only live photo I could come up with.

The above is my dinner. Perogies, with sauteed onions, strips of breakfast bacon (the real kind), with light sour cream and green onions. Carby bliss.

Since I wrote on Tuesday, I've had a good running week. On Wednesday, I ran 7K, followed by 6K on Thursday, a day off on Friday and 15K yesterday. Today, I finished off the week with 7.5K

Total for the week is 55K, an improvement from last week and a good signal that the running days are back. It's also the best mileage since last fall.. yikes.

Weekly mileage: 55K (34 miles)
Time run: 4:32:45
Year to date: 370K (230 miles)

The long and short of it...

Ever had a stack of presents waiting for you on your birthday, or on Christmas morning, remember rushing to the pile of goodies under the tree? Well, my parents never did the big gift giving thing to me in my childhood, but I'm pretty sure I was absolute just as giddy as a kid in a candy store while taking the streetcar home.

I exited the streetcar, and literally jogged home, eager to get into my running gear and outside.

The reason? It was 15 freaking degrees, it was 6:45 and I knew I had at least another 45 minutes of light. I took my pile of summer running gear and tossed it on my bed, looking for it..

Yes, the shorts are back! Knee-length shorts and a long top plus a cap and thin gloves. As I set out in the daylight (woo hoo), I bounded up the street and the gloves were soon not necessary and then I rolled up the sleeves.

By kilometre 7, the sun was going down, but I was running strong. I hit 5K in the fastest time in recent memory, most of it uphill too, and didn't want to slow down. As I hit the 10K mark, I actually passed by a friend of mine, who, upon seeing me, said 'hey, I thought that guy (me) was going at a good clip.'

I finished the run (14.7K) in 1:12 for about a pace of 4:52 K. Not speedy, but the fastest run and most fun in a long time.

Running season is back. And that's that long (run) and short (pants) of it...

(Ran 5K yesterday without as much fanfare).

Loving daylight savings...

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Originally uploaded by yumkerun.

... this past winter, when I get home at 7, it's dark, and I never feel motivated to run.

Well, this shot was taken a few minutes ago, a few minutes after 7 p.m. outside my condo's north facing window. Oh my, this three-week change is going to do wonders for getting my ass out the door.

The long run is coming back...

This day was absolutely perfect for running. Sunny, light wind, clearish streets and sidewalks and, most importantly, it was a few degrees above zero.

Long vanished from my routine after last fall was the long run. It gave me time to reflect, helped build endurance and strength and was the building block of my weekly mileage. Today, I did a respectable 10.5 miler around the city, picking one of my favourite long-run routes that take me through six very different neighbourhoods.

The result was 17K in 1:30 for a pace of about 5:15K. Next week, I'd like to establish the 13 miler as my non-training weekly long run.

Another upshot, I finally passed the 50K (30+ miles) mark for weekly mileage this year. About freaking time.

Weekly mileage: 52.5K (32.5 miles)
Time run: 4:21:41
Year to date: 315K (196 miles)

Splits...

Well, two types of splits.. split run, and running splits.. ha.

I had a busy morning planned, and I skipped my run yesterday, so I was out there at 6 a.m. to do a 10K. Ended up having time for 7K.

Then this afternoon, with a free hour, I went for a 5K and for the first time in a long time I tried running fast. Splits were 5:15, 5:15, 5:04, 4:55, 4:23...

I'm up to 35K for the week and tomorrow's run should put my mileage at a (finally) healthy level.

Truely scary

.... I heard about dodging cars and traffic, but this story out of Winnipeg just brings running to another dangerous level...

Warm ups...

I realize today how bad I am about warming up in the winter. I barely stretch, mostly cause i'm just waiting for my Garmin to pick up a signal so I can get moving.

Of course, this could lead to injury...

Well, it's a month until my first race of the year, a 8K run through High Park. I have my eye set on setting a PR for the distance and for this race, though that's only in theory. I haven't been putting in serious miles and only until last week do I think i've gotten into a groove. For now, it's about building a base and I hope I can near 30 miles a week (50K). Even so, a long run for endurance, tempos to build speed, and some good speedwork should be the standing order for the next three weeks.

With a 5K today and a 10K yesterday, i'm getting back into it. I think I may be able to fit in a solid three days of running over Friday/Saturday/Sunday. My next goal for a long run is to finally reach the 20K mark... I'm thinking the next sunny day with +5 will be The Day...

Catching up

I've been really bad at my record keeping -- for example, I ran 6K yesterday in the freezing cold but didn't note it till now.

February wasn't a great running month: lots of personal stuff going on and the weather didn't help. Excuses aside, I'm finally getting consistent runs in. Year to date, I've done 262.5K.

Here's the year to date in weeks, not including yesterday

Total: 262.5K
Feb. 26 - March 4: 42K
Feb. 19 - Feb. 25: 24K
Feb. 12 - Feb. 18: 28K
Feb. 5 - Feb. 11: 17K
Jan. 29 - Feb. 4: 27K
Jan. 22 - Jan. 28: 15K
Jan. 15 - Jan. 21: 35.5K
Jan. 8 - Jan. 14: 24K
Jan. 1 - Jan. 7: 50K

Long run.

This is the longest run in awhile, 15K run through the Mall this morning, twice, as seen here in gmaps

The big storm...

...it started as blowing snow, then it was near white-out conditions. We got hit by a one-day wonder that caused commuting chaos. And since my newsroom is out in the boonies, we decided to keep one of our staffers at the hotel next door last night so ensure we could have someone in first thing in the morning...

That was me... I knew I wasn't getting in any runs, so I hung out at work until 7:30 p.m., checked into what was actually a very swank hotel and got my rare Wendy's hamburger followed by a double-double at the Tim Hortons across the street (Canadians should get this reference). I was set to wake up at 5, then head into work to write a traffic story and get the web site up and running..

Of course, the weather had other ideas.. the windows were rattling all night, then at 3:15, while I was half asleep, I saw this huge flash of light... yep, from my 20th floor room, I saw that a transformer explosion caused the whole block, including the wendy's, the tims, the newspaper office and myhotel to lose power. Two hours later, on cue, the power was restored to all but my hotel, so without a shower and feeling quite gross, I used my cellphone to navigate down the stairwell (no emergency lights, people!). It was raining by then and the streets were icy.

It's funny, cause today was actually a very mild and acutally sunny. Which is to say that I finished work at 2 p.m., headed home and by 6 p.m., after a nap, I cast away my laziness and threw down a 10K run through downtown. The sidewalks were clear except for a 200m strech of snow/water.. and I mean lots of water. It was either run in this slush or run on the road... I picked the slush. I have newspaper stuffed into my shoes as I write this to suck the moisture out.

Coupled with a 11K on Tuesday and a 5K on Wednesday this week, I'm up to about 27K, which puts me striking distance of the 40K barrier... I must reach it, and I have no excuses! It's going to hit a high of 16C in DC tomorrow, the forecasts say. I just need 13K in two days and I'm sure I can handle that, right?