Golly gee whiz....

I must be somewhat motivated to get out in this cold stuff. With the exception of Wed, when it snowed, I have been out for a min mum 65 mins or more all week. Not the greatest, but not bad considering I will hopefully end up around the 75-80 mile mark for the week.

Wed was a complete write-off as I was more fearful of getting hit by traffic than the actual conditions (and it took me almost 2 1/2 hrs to travel 5 miles from work).

I even ran at Colony Farms last night and I swear it was about 5 degrees colder than the posted temperature. I hit the entrance and it was like a cold snap hit me, but I wanted to see if the pond out there was frozen. Since the snow is still fluffy it wasn't a bad run as I stayed off the more compact snow. It was kinda fun running in complete silence in the snow at night. I forget how when i lived in the interior how easily one can see at night with the light reflection off the snow.

Once I head back home and crossed Lougheed highway it was like a massive heat stroke ( well in relative terms) and I really picked it up. Now for a bit of fartlek today and then a decent run tomorrow, and then only 1 more sleep til the hopeful sun of San Diego. At least it won't be minus 10.

Let it Snow...

.....since I was up in the interior on the weekend this wimpy Lower Mainland snow means nuttin.....

.....I was in like -25 with the windchill and did a nice run/workout in anywhere from 6-12 inches of snow around some trails by my parent’s house in Vernon. Actually once I warmed up it was kinda fun. Running uphill in a foot of snow is brutal and the scenery was beautiful. I didn’t see a soul except for Kao who had a blast running in the snow. She wouldn’t even let me lead and instead broke the snow ahead of me. By the end though she was messed up and slept solid for the rest of the day and the next one as well.
I knew it was going to be a rough week as we visited my Mom and Pops. My Mon has been taking chemo treatments since the Fall and we haven’t been up to see her since just after she had her operation in the summer. Since we are going to San Diego for Xmas we knew we had to get up some time and this was the weekend come snow or whatever....and snow it did. I hopeful 5 hr drive turned into 6+ and I was exhausted on Fri night.
On Sunday it was so cold I just did a 40min run and hoped to get to in another 90 when we got in. Once again plans went awry as the drive was long and worse exhausting. Jules won’t drive in the snow and that means I ended up driving 4 ½ hrs and was destroyed by the time we got home. Fortunately my Monday run was a very solid 90 mins. The good part is how smooth I am feeling these days despite not being in superb shape. Hopefully once I get in some workouts and long runs I’ll lose some of my baby fat and get rolling for real.

HEY PADDY......

...stop stalking me.....(don't worry if you don't get it....inside joke)

sweet spot????

I am finally getting to the point where both my brain and fitness level are showing some progress. I don’t know if it’s that my running is feeling smoother, my fitness is getting better or I am simply more motivated. It’s one of those things where at some moment in time you have to bite the bullet and see if you can truly get out for another run, even if you really don’t want too, and test the body.

In general my Achilles has held up well. It’s tend and tight in some spots, but nothing like when things became bad in August. It almost seems like a good massage to tear the daylights out of the Achilles and things will be good. That and continually making sure to stretch and do my heel drops.
Nothing fancy here, but easily the best week I’ve had on the comeback trail and I really felt it this morning.

Mon: 59mins
Tues: fell asleep, but planning on taking one day off this week so ok
Wed: went to the junio hockey game and got stuck in traffic, but still got in 53 mins at a good clip with the dog
Thurs: ok I have to show I really mean it so I pushed myself out the door for an AM run (30mins) and then hit Mundy Park after school. Dick, Dickie and Oz were doing a 10-11 miler and I got there about 10mins late and hooked up with them, but when I jumped in there were hammering. I was like uh oh the first 5mins and then got into a real nice stride to the point where it felt easy. In the end i ended up at just over an hr, but we were well under 6mins miles pace (although i had a pit stop at around the 40min mark)
Fri: up and at em again on the AM (geez I must have been motivated) and again after school for an hr.
Sat: Had a slight inkling to hit Stanley Park, but we had our PE/Coach Xmas party and a late night. No big deal as I would have probably been out on my own anyways. I ended up doing a 26min fartlek of anywhere from 2mins to 30 sec. I began my PM bit could feel I was hypo-glycemic before I began and pacjed it in after 20mins
Sunday: I woke up at 4 AM and watched teevee til 5:30 and then fell back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 8:15 I wasn’t coherent and woke up a bit late for a 9am run, but the group was doing Mundy Park loops so i got there about 10mins late and hooked up part way through. I felt terrible and ended up running the latter stages with Dick and Kirsty (Dickie and Gant had begun to push the pace. Worst part is that running slower hurt more form wise, but at least I could keep up the whole way. I guess with Sat’s workout and the overall mileage increase I should have expected just as much....

routine routine...sleep sleep....

...these two things seem to be killing my running. I haven\t been sleeping well and it's been killing my running. I end up falling asleep on the couch (and my wife is not happy!!!) and then wake up at 1 or 2 in the AM and can't fall asleep for another hr. It's killing any chance of an AM run and in fact I sometimes end up falling asleep in the PM before I get a run out of the way.

It's almost a bad timing thing. I was a nice routine last week, and then had parent teacher interviews and it killed me. I took last Monday off and that turned out to be a mess. I forget that I like to front end load my training weeks so that if something out of the ordinary happens it's not a big deal because I've done what I need to do. That way if things go 'perfect' then it's a bonus.

I almost feel like I am a complete neo-phyte again in running. Everything is new, but not as exciting. The good thing is that my runs seem to be getting easier and quicker. Hopefully an easy tempo or fartlek this week will really push things into a smoother direction. I’ve always found that I need a good kick in the butt and doing a workout (even an easy one) has always motivated me.

A huge congrats to Dickie Mosely for making his first official national team (Chiba Ekiden). Ryan Mckenzie has had his first kid and Dickie was the first alternate. It’s really the 2nd team he’s made a team, as he qualified for Wld XC, but hurt himself and couldn’t go. Considering all the stuff Dickie’s gone through over hte years it’s a huge achievement in his steps towards his ultimate goals. It's also the first national team person that Dick Lee has had make national team in his second incarnation as a high end coach....in the end it's a team effort.....

Just What I Needed

......over the summer we had 2 Pro D days so that we may have some days off during the school year.....Yesterday was one of those days and it came at a perfect time. I really needed the time off and for my running some time to actually get in a routine.

It's simply nice to be able to run again, even if it means I still feel rough at times. I figure I may even do an 'aerobic fartlek' this week...then again a longer run may also be key.....it's one of thise things I did when we lived in New Zealand....they simply met for a lot of grp runs and did the odd long or short tempo runs.....nothing intense, but fefinitely very Lydiard style based training in a fun enviornment....if only we had the Auckland Domain as a central meeting point....

I was able to get Norm Tinkham and Richard Lee on a good day for me to meet them for a run. it was the day after haney so they were either a little errr....under the weather or simply tired from the day before. I was able to get in a decent 1 hr 19 min by the time all was said and done. The best part was i was then able to get in two runs on Monday of 31mins and then again for 45 later in the day. It's been a while since i did a 'double' and although my legs felt a little tired the pace was respectable.....

...now I may try for two more short runs today and then a longer one tomorrow.....

....alas things are boring running wise at this time of the year. Even for those racing it's one of the later stages to get in some good workouts for national XC and then a little break so I figure if I can get in a decent November (read motivation level) then I may not be far off for getting in some good sessions with the group in Dec/Jan....

I hate the winter months

...especially after I haven't really been able to run in the somewhat light moments.....arrrggghhhh.....

I like to say that sometimes 'life gets in the way of running' (really just an excuse) and this time of coming back has been a good example of this idea. My Achilles is very good, but not yet at a level to do workouts (at til this week when I will do a small and easy fartlek run and see how it goes).

What does this mean.....hmmmmm....that I haven't gotten my sorry butt out running enough. I had report cards this week, which may I add are a joke compared to elementary school, but having said that the marking is much more intense) and we also had BC HS XC champs this weekend, so I've been absolutely destroyed mentally more so than physically.

But getting out to BC HS's was fun, although with miserable weather. I haven't been to this race since i worked with Mazzotta over 10 yrs ago and it was interesting to watch the 'young uns' go at it. Some very impressive performances from the 2 Oak Bay kids. We had a so so Jr boys team and some very motivated gr 8 girls running so we (myself and Svelander) had no real work to do once the two Junior races ended. The course was muddy when our kids ran and a mess for the Sr Girls/Boys races.

We had one exceptional performance with one of our gr 8 girls who placed 11th overall. Along with her two teammates, who show up for all the practices, we seem to have a 'ringer' and supporting cast to build a team around. We'll see what happens.

On a side note should be two special notes 1) For those who don't know Richard Lee has taken over the coaching reins for the rag tag group of lower mainland dist runners and 2) Julie is preggy.....yep you heard it here in public first....there may a little freak running around soon causing havoc....oh wait that's what the dog does...ok a second freak running around