After three tough weeks this one was one of the good ones. Even though there was more running, more to do otherwise and it was one of those build and ark type weeks weather wise it was one of those great running weeks. My remaining trainee was back at it and I coached him to his first 5k and helped him break some records this week. Not being sick helped and so did sticking to the schedule but I think it was more than that too. So here’s how it went!
Tuesday: 6 km something run: This was supposed to be a shake out for tomorrow’s speed work but that didn’t happen. This one was at the very tail end of a torrential rain storm and after work. With tutoring it’s a slow week and then a busy one and this was a busy one. I met some students at the Sunnyside mall in Bedford and then ran on the Bedford Highway which I’ve done before. I went really fast (for me) and I sort of felt like I was in a first person shooter game since there are so many intersections and driveways. It was a great run but it was on concrete and at the end my knee didn’t hurt, stay tuned though that changes by the end of the week. Finished by 9 pm felt like a super hero.
Wednesday: 6 km shake out: I closed down the library with a student and then took off for a cold and windy run in my old hood again on concrete. This is also my sister’s new hood and she would literally kill me for not picking up her dog, but we won’t tell her that will we? I had stuff to work through on this run too so I went pretty fast and didn’t exactly solve my shit but it was nice to have some focused time to think about it and then also to stop when I was done. Oh and I literally almost hit another deer on the way home at 10 on Larry Uteck. I slammed on the brakes, the ABS came on and I stalled the truck (I drive standard) and then had a panic attack. I was literally 3 feet from connecting with it. Now less literally I swear it was 16 feet tall, 300 lbs and looked right at me with it’s beady eyes and mouthed I heard about you. Joking aside it freaked me the F$%K out and I cried a portion of the way home after my accident in December. But Deer happen and I guess a near miss had to happen sooner or later and Wednesday was that day.
Thursday: 12 km Tempo: Actually I have no idea what was on the schedule since I forgot to check so I picked tempo for what it’s worth. It was supposed to be speed work but having gone fast the two days before and running in the pouring rain I guess I just didn’t have it in me. Plus still working through some personal stuff. I did not go fast, even though I tried, but it was a pretty good run. I was happy to be out of the house either way. Even though it was long run slow. Even as I was running I wasn’t upset about it though since 8 of that one was to be fast and I had done 12 fast ones the last two days. I was pretty happy to see pizza when I got home for a whole variety of reasons and that bubble bath was pretty great too.
Saturday: 7 km shakeout: My trainee was back, yeah so back to break of dawn running on the weekend, booo! Did you notice that my schedule while they were gone naturally drifted back to late at night rather than first thing in the morning? He stayed in touch and sent GPS data of his runs in Ireland and while he was gone he did 20 minutes of straight running, really slow running but… On Saturday morning he messed up what we were doing interval wise and ended up going too far from home. So HE decided to add an extra 5 minute run interval and we were on track to do our first real 5k after wandering in circles for 200 m except he ended his app prematurely! He broke his speed and distance records and then I ran off and did 2 km more on my own. My broken trainee made us coffee and muffins while we were out there and only pouted a bit when we got back. In her defence she has a wicked case of FOMO right now. The next day he did his first Nike Global 5k and his first real 5k on his own!
Sunday: 20 km long run: Leading up to this one I wasn’t freaked out after all I’ve run 20 km before, like twice. But the day of my knee was twinging and all of a sudden there was a 2 in this run’s number. Even honey noticed I was dragging my feet on getting started. But the weather was legitimately awesome 14 and sunny and I got to test out my race day outfit (it also has a tank top) and it went perfect. Though if it is 14 the morning of it will be too warm but chances are it’ll be about 10. My knee did act up on the last 5-10 km which I put down to concrete running this week, so no more of that. I usually try to think of something to think about on my long runs but company that morning meant I left without a subject. It was a bit of a slog but I made it through in the end. Next week is 22 km and I’m excited to log my longest and furthest run ever until the next week. It was lovely to have some nice weather, save for February 28th this training cycle. Yeah that’s how crappy the weather has been, I remember the date of the only other nice day!
Sweat Sweetly 