Going Long

Beautiful morning for a 19k run!

Didn't have the girls in the stroller this morning.  We all stayed up past midnight with friends visiting from Ottawa, and daddy was the only one to hear the bell for 8 am wake-up.

Did a loop of Bloor West through the park and up the South Kingsway, and then over to Prince Edward, south to the Queensway and eventually up to Islington and Bloor before heading for home.  New route, and pretty enjoyable.

Kept the pace pretty low key, although I blew my HR zone for much of the run.  I'll have to work pretty hard to run at 50-60% of my maximum.  It seems so horrendously s-l-o-w!

1-hr gravity class as cross training on Monday evening.  Back to the running mines on Tuesday night for our clinic talk.

Time  2:13:52

Distance  18.8k (11.75 mi)

Pace  7:07/km (11:23/mi)

HR Max 156 (observed), Avg 136 bpm

HR Zone not tracked to keep my watch from beeping continuously for two hours! 

Another one of these sunny, cold, dry mornings in Toronto.  Most of the snow is gone off the streets and sidewalks, which makes winter running much easier.

Got out for a six kilometre tempo run this morning.  Just enough to get the muscles warmed up and feeling good, not enough to start to hurt!  Hehehehe  It was dark and quiet out when I left the house at 6:20 am, but by the time I was back the sun was up and it felt like the day had started. 

Skipping the clinic talk and run tonight due to another commitment, so it's good that I got this run done before work.

Time  36:48

Distance  6k (3.25 mi)

Pace  6:09/km (9:51/mi)

HR Target Zone 136-156 bpm

HR Max 171, Avg 148

HR In Zone 78.8% of run

Got out slightly ahead of the rain/snow mix that is coming today and tonight.  It was scattered flurries when I hit the road shortly after 6 am.  My light jacket was still a little damp from yesterday's morning run (due to structural failure of my clothes hooks in the laundry room - no air dry capability) so I went out this AM with a vest and two long sleeve shirts.  It was a bit nippy to begin with, but once underway I felt good.  I guess the moderate temperature (-5C) and lack of wind had something to do with that.

For the second Wednesday in a row, I forgot to bring my Camelback  out with me.  You have to understand.  Wednesday morning is garbage/recycling morning.  With so many extra things to fill my pea-brain with, there is no space to remember to grab the water belt.  It's a wonder that I don't forget my shoes sometimes.  By the time I remember, I'm already almost to my starting point, and as we tell the girls . . . "We don't go backwards in this family."  That's to stop them from demanding to return home for a stuffed animal, or show-and-tell piece or some other thing we forget on the way to daycare.

Why do I bring all of this up?  Because without the water belt, my long pants slide down-down-down all through the run!  I feel like a hip-hop guy with droopy pants.  I'm constantly pulling them up, but to no avail.  One of the byproducts of moving from XXL to L over the past 18 months.  I'll look at replacing my wind pants sometime.  Until then, I have to remember The Belt.  hehehehe

Time   1:08:15

Distance  10k (6.25 mi)

Pace  6:49/k (10:55/mi)

HR Target Zone  126 - 146 bpm

HR Max 164, Avg 142

In Zone 68.4% of run

Quick 8k this afternoon, between kindergarden open house and pick-up at the current daycare.  Once again, I beat the weather - which closed in quite significantly as I got the girls ready to head home.

A sheen of snow and slush on the roadway, so I kept things rather simple.  Up and down two of the sidestreets in the neighbourhood and then down through the park and back up Ellis Ave.  That hill used to be my nemesis in the Learn to Run and 10k clinics.  Had trouble keeping under 156 bpm for the duration, but felt pretty good attacking it.

Time  50:39

Distance 8k (5mi)

Pace  6:19/k (10:07/mi)

HR Zone 136 - 156 bpm

HR Max 169 (observed), Avg 151

In Zone 77.3% of the run

Time 51:12

Distance  8k (5mi)

Pace  6:24/k

HR Zone  126-146 bpm

HR Avg 139