Whew!

It's been busy. I've been saving this picture from our Boyden run 2 weeks ago as it's a classic. Perfect day, mild temps with a light snowcover and apparently good jokes all around. I think the joke here was me telling the guys to 'pretend to run' for the camera which I'd just propped up on a convenient mailbox.
The running/training has been rolling along albeit on the slow and tired side as I've struggled with some of the key workouts laid out in my plan. The mile repeats and marathon pace runs have been sub-par performances compared to previous workouts in the build. For example last week's 6 mile MP resulted in an average pace of around 8:30/mile, nowhere close to the hoped for 8:00/mile which seems to be my 'tempo' pace at this point in time. It's highly frustrating when that used to be my default 'jogging' pace. More work to do I suppose...

At least my weekly mileage is now in the mid-40ies and today's 18 miler was the 1st decent long run since PEI. There was no Boyden meeting this weekend with everyone off in different directions so it was me home alone doing the long run here at home. The weather was ideal (more like April than February) with +1C, light winds and a few snow flurries. Typically we'd expect -10 to -15 and 3-4 layers to keep warm but not today! The run went very well, if not on the slow side, as I just concentrating at keeping good form and not slogging along. It got a little tough near the end at 2.5hrs+ but I managed and later quickly found my trusty couch for the rest of the day.

More of the same is planned in the coming weeks and I hope to get through it in one piece as my work pressure also seems to be ramping up at the same time as my running (so what else is new?).

Have a good week and "Go Canada!" at the Vancouver Olympic games!

Time Flies

I think there's some kind of conspiracy going on which is keeping me from sticking with my simple training plan for Big Sur. Like all good New Year resolution'ers, the year started off great guns and I was able to put in some decent miles, logging over 40 per week.

And then the wheels fell off...

First the dental surgeon had another go at me and between him, all the drugs, and waiting for the swelling to subside that week was shot... Did I mention that I hate dentists! All they do is cause me pain and anguish and charge alot of money. I'm still waiting for the results which might come in a year or so (they say) so I hope it's all worth it.

And then... I had to make an unscheduled trip up to northern NB for some family business resulting in a 5-6 hr drive each way and no time or inclination to run. I did find time to see Avatar which is quite an amazing movie and well worth seeing but didn't really need to drive 500k just for that.

And THEN...
I decided that a little volleyball would be a nice thing to try out again, especially since I'd received some nice new kneepads as a Christmas present this year. Bad idea. Things were going well for the 1st hour until I got over excited and after one particular jump and spike (into the net) I came up lame with a sore right forefoot. Managed to keep playing for a bit longer but then bowed out and went home early. As a result the foot was sore to walk on for a few days and no running because of it. It must have just been a slight strain because I was able to put in 4 pain free miles on the treadmill today. Hopefully it'll be OK for tomorrow's long run with Andrew.
So, I still managed 150 miles for January and if I try to hold the excuses at bay, then perhaps February will be a better month as far as being more consistent from week to week. The list of excuses seems to be longer than the reasons to run but what can you do but keep trying?

Meanwhile our plans for Big Sur are getting firmed up and we now have our flights, hotel and car rental arranged. We're planning on arriving in San Francisco the week before, spending a few days there and then doing touristy things for a few more days before heading down to Monterey for the marathon weekend. After that, we'll spend a couple more days in the area (with me recuperating) before we have to get on a plane for the 12 hour return flight. It's fun to look forward to though!

Happy running and watch for out that yellow snow!