Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Debt and taxes

Yes, it's death and taxes. Anyways, city hall happens to be on one of my running routes, so rather than drop by and pay my property tax bill, I ran by in my winter running gear, paid my bills, then went on my way. Never showed up in line in my three layers and winter gear.. Anyways, a very brisk 10K run hurried only by the fact that i was freezing and wanted to get back home soon.

It's too bad i'll be on vacation for the Spring Run-off at High Park. My company has formed three teams and I would have loved to have run it. One of my co-workers is a monster runner and I would have loved to see him speed away from us as he schools us on the finer form.

Anyways, I'll see if I can run while I'm on vacation on that day -- April 8...

Monday, February 27, 2006

On the road again...

Well, on the bright side, I've done one third of last week's mileage in one day. Did a nice 10K through the city and it was chilly, but the layers and fast running did the trick.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Grrrrr.

Not a good past few days.

Wednesday: Thought i'd take the day off, so I did. Inretrospect, it was a beautiful day
Thursday: Didn't feel like it. Plus, I got my new laptop, so I spent too much time playing with it. No run
Friday: Grrr... At work till after 7. Was not happy, as it was a weekly of long work days and frustration. The 5K run after work, which should have been 10K, was great though. Ran it at a good pace and the frustrations worked their way out.
Saturday: A big day for a friend who's getting married in a month. It's his stag, so i'm stretched for time as the festivities get under way in an hour. So did a quick, sprintlike 5K just now.

So, a bad running week. I will need more discipline during my marathon training, but at least it'll be warm and the days will be long.

Weekly total: 30K
Year to date: 336.5K

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Monday, February 20, 2006

Good pace

Another warm Toronto winter day, it being -4 and a slight wind. Did my 9K city route and really rushed it cause I was starving and dying for a bite to eat. Yes, put a carrot in front of me.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Windy

Ugh.. Did 6K but it wasn't pretty. Very cold again, and very windy on the way out to Ontario place. Luckily, it blew me back home, thank goodness.

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Run, off to market, run again

Wow, what a cold day. Sunny, but very cold for running, at -14 without windchill. My hands were very cold and my windproof gloves weren't working very well. My Sub Zero tights were also not the best.

Anyhow, I did 10K, and planned to stop at St. Lawrence Market, where I bought fresh pasta, sauce, and focaccia, etc. In short, Carbs. Then I ran home (another 2.5K). Last Sunday's 21K run made this a good week, even though I took off two days from running.

Weekly total: 52.5K
Year to date: 306.5K

Friday, February 17, 2006

Brave souls

60km/h gusts and -5 outside, which meant a windchill of -18. Um, yes, I was scared to go out, then I saw one, then three, then another runner from my balconey. Heck, they can do it, so can I. So, into the wind I went for a 5K jaunt through the city. That was hard. The cold, the wind. On the bright side, I just broke 40K for the week,

Thursday, February 16, 2006

June 19

It's not a running day. It's raining and the streets will turn to ice, I predict, causing chaos. I'm not going to get wet and also risk a slipping injury... Plus, I just heard thunder a few seconds ago. Thunder in February? What is happening to our climate?

Anyways, I did some math today to figure out when I would start my 18-week training program for the Chicago Marathon. It starts on June 19. While I was doing math, I did some more, and it showed me that in 2006, If I run 40K a week from Jan. 1 till June 19, i'll do about 960 km (600 miles) and the 18-week program will have me doing about 840 km (520 miles).

I have a long way to go.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

City route

Got rid of the outer shell again, and did 9K in the city. A beautiful 5 degrees out, but was getting kinda chilly at the end with the sun gone.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Jell-O legs

Canadian speed skater said it best, I guess. She said her legs felt like "Jell-O"after she started too fast.

I'm by no means an athlete, but after running 36K this weekend (sounds so little, huh), my legs felt dead in today's 5K run. Ran to Ontario Place and back and the wind really didn't help either.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Long run, for real

I took out my GPS Garmin Forerunner today so I could measure my speed, distance, pace, something i've been avoiding since late last year. I'm really not considering my current running training, but only as a way of getting my mileage back up to a pretraining level.

Today was also one of those perfect days again. Cold, blue skies, and a strong sun. So when I was looking out my window at 9 a.m., I saw about three runners out there.

Decided to run to the beaches and back, which is perfect, cause it's exactly 10K to get to the boardwalk. Tonnes of runners. We shared that usual, hand-up half wave that I like to exchange. We share the same pursuit, that of running against time, for health, for goals and races.

Anyhow, a very consistent run that I'd characterize as tempo.

The details
Run time: 1:44:42
Run distance: 21.02K
Average pace: 4:59/K
Best pace: 3:04 km/h (not sure where that came from, probably a GPS hiccup)
Calories: 1,503
Km1: 4:41
km5: 4:52
km10: 4:55
km15: 4:46
km21: 4:51

Weirdly enough, kilometres 11 to 15 felt amazing. Not sure if it was the runners high, or that I was running while this perfect song was on and a huge big sky and sun ahead of me urging me on. I mean, for at least 3kms, I actually forgot I was running. The breathing was no laboured, the stride was quick and it was all smooth. Then after 16km, fatigue set it Bad nutrition: pizza last night, no brekkie in the morning; Bad hydration: I only drank about two cups of water, not nearly enough.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Long run...

It was one of those sunny days in which the runner in me was a bit undecided. I went out at late morning cause I was waiting for the Ipod to charge. then I was debating on whether I'd do 10 or 15K. But, at the 5K mark, at Cherry Beach, it was cold, crisp, sunny, clear: perfect running weather. So when I finished the 10K, I threw in an extra 5K, throwing in farklets here and there.

So overall, a great day. Feel good and energized.

Weekly total: 51K
Year to date: 254K

Friday, February 10, 2006

Love the snow

A quick 5K to Ontario place and back. And had the trail to myself, and it was a good run: fluffy stuff that seemed to cushion every step. Anyhow, I'll top 40K this week. Go me.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Cold

I was in my elevator on my way back to my suite when the lady goes 'isn't it too cold to run'? I say, 'no, you generate heat when you run'.

Yes, I sweated during my 10K run today. It was -8 or so.. But a bone chilling variety.. Mileage this week is not bad, so much so that I may top 40K again. Yay me.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Waterfront

-8 or something, but I did 6K by the waterfront to Ontario place. Kinda fun, running on crunchy snow and ice.. Kinda dangerous too.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Too tough for outer shell

Or that's what I thought when I went out this morning. It was cold, even thought it was -1.

Ran with my heart rate monitor for the first time in a long time. Did a 15K city route (to Bloor and back then out to Jarvis and back). Ran for 1:16, according to the monitor, with an average rate of 156 (yes on the high side) and I was in the aerobic zone for 46 minutes. I spent most of the other minutes above 85%

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Bad week

Oh well. It's 4 p.m. on Saturday and I have a thing to go to tonight. It's raining or snowing. I can't tell cause it switches between the two. Anyways, I'm throwing in the towel for this week. I did do 6K on Friday on the waterfront.

Next week will be better. I want to get the mileage back up to more than 40K

Weekly total: 27K
Year to date: 198K

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Groundhog day

Well, a little rodent named Wiarton told us that Spring is around the corner, to which many of us said, when did Winter arrive?

Yes, 5-degree springlike temperature today. Yesterday, skipped my run in favour of chomping down on foot-long hotdogs and fries and popcorn and beer while watching basketball players at the ACC.

Today, having only put in 10K so far this week, I figure that I may not reach the 40K mark. Which is fine, I guess. Did 11K today. A beauty of a run with my new shoes, finally figured out that the old pair was pretty much resigned to relive old glories on my hallway floor or in a dumpster.