Going Long

Nice, slow run this morning.  Stepped off at 7 am, beating the heat by a couple of hours. 

Had the ipod charged and working for the first time in a few weeks.  Also took along a gel for the first time on a run.  I found during the Ottawa race that I was too tense and out of it to chew and swallow a Luna bar late in the event.  I'm thinking I'll carry a couple of bars and a couple of gels for the next marathon - in the hopes of getting all the carbs into me that I need when I'm out there.

Missed out on the third Five Peaks race on Saturday because I was working overtime to cover striking workers.  I hope I can get out to the other two before the end of the season. 

I feel like my training is going well, I'm hitting my stride in advance of the 10-miler next Sunday.  Should be able to improve on last year's time. 

Time  2:13:52

Distance 19k (11.9 mi)

Pace 7:02/km (11:16/mi)

HR Zone  120-144 bpm

HR Avg 136, Max 161

In Zone 88.7% of run

Ran a new route this morning.  Along the West Toronto Railpath.  The city has reclaimed one of the rail right-of-ways that pass through the west end.  It follows the extreme eastern portion of the GO/CN rail corridor from just north of Dupont St to Dundas St W.  It's only about 2km long, and I hope for the day when the rest of the land south of Dundas all the way into the downtown core is re-claimed, but it is a great start.

Smooth surface and empty this morning.  There is still some work being done to finish off the construction.  Welding and installing rails along several of the bridges on the route.  Also putting grooved cement down in advance of entrance/exit intersections.

I did a 6k tempo run today, so I had to extend the route from the end of the railpath almost back up to Bloor St along Sterling and Perth Aves.  Seemed funny to be running 800m on the front side of industrial properties I had passed from behind on the path.

I think I'm going to search out the Beltline Park across the middle of the City, as I think it's a similar set-up but much longer.  I've generally stuck to my neck of the woods in my running, only going further afield on my long runs with experienced leaders who KNOW THE ROUTE!  hehehe

Time  32:57

Distance  6.12k (3.8mi)

Pace  5:23/km (8:36/mi)

HR Zone  140-160 bpm

HR Avg 155, Max 166

In Zone 89.8% of run

Ran home from work tonight.  Cool and overcast.  Sprinkled rain a couple of times.

Fairly non-descript night.  Noticed that some parts of the path were very dark, even running along high volume roads through the city.

Didn't have my Garmin on (too difficult to pick up sattelites in the downtown core) so I didn't have moment-to-moment information about my pace and average pace.  It seems like I did ok though, feathering my heartrate to stay inside my steady run target zone.

Time  1:07:08

Distance 10.18k (6.4 mi)

Pace 6:35/km (10:33/mi)

HR Zone  130-150 bpm

HR Avg 144, Max 167

In Zone 87.8% of run