A Passion for Running

This morning, it’s -25C/-13F. The high today is supposed to get to -21C/-6F. The long term forecast gets worse. I am definitely not looking forward to Tuesday. Check these out (top pic is Celcius – bottom is Fahrenheit):

I was 100% alone out there today. In 10 miles of running, I didn’t see even one runner. I’m feeling pretty hardcore right now. Cock-a-doodle-doo. Technically, it was colder today than it was yesterday but there was virtually no wind and that made a big difference:

Yesterday: -19C/-2F but with windchill it was -31C/-24F
Today: -22C/-7F with almost no windchill

Another positive was that much of my route had been cleared of snow so, unlike the past couple of days slogging, today I ran on a thin layer of packed snow.

But what I’m most happy about is how the ol’ bod seems to be adapting to this training program. Here are some specifics:

1. Tomorrow will mark the end of the now not-so-dreaded jump from 60/30 to 90/60 minute runs plus the jump from 90 to 120 minute long runs.
2. I’ve suffered no ill effects since the jump. In fact, I’d say I’m almost feeling better than last week.
3. I’m still shaving off the ol’ love handles.
4. My working heart rate is declining. For example, when I started this program, it was a real struggle to run slow enough to keep my heart rate under 155. After a couple of weeks, I was able to run a bit faster at 155bpm. Then, I noticed I could cruise along quite nicely at about 153bpm. Then it dropped to 151 and today, I ran almost ten miles at a 9:30 minute/mile pace and a 149 average heart rate. Wow.

The cold has not chilled my spirit. I’m still a happy camper.

Today called for a 15 minute warmup + 30 minutes hard + 15 minute cool down.

Warming up was hard and cooling down was easy because it was -19C/-2F without windchill and -31C/-24 with windchill. And let me tell ya, there was a lot of wind out there. The wind was coming from the west and guess which way I was running? Yup, west. The worst part was crossing the North Saskatchewan River on the LRT bridge. It’s a few hundred or so meters long going north-south but the cross-wind was absolutely horrible. It looked and felt like something out of March of the Penguins. Yikes.

The good news is I had the wind to my back on the way home.

Other than Mother Nature’s continuing challenges, the run went well. I must say I agree with Andrew’s assessment of Lydiard as a “genius”. He certainly is because, as Andrew pointed out in an email yesterday, his approach has you looking forward to each successive run. On easy, long days you are happy not to have to put up with a hard, fast run and on hard, fast days, you are happy not to have to run for so long. It is a very cool balance.

My balaclava really sucks. I am going to stop at Mountain Equipment Co-op and pick this one up.

Average Heart Rate: 159

It was -18C for the run home tonight but the windchill coming from the west (1/2 my trip home) made it like -26.

But that was so not the worst part. The worst part was the snow. There had to be five new inches of the stuff laying on the ground. It made it really tough slogging. The run took me 13(!) minutes longer than it did two days ago.

But I powered through and here I sit victorious over mother nature – for now anyway. The ol’ girl seems to have nasty stuff planned for me over the next few days!

Time: 1:42
Distance: 9.2 miles
Pace: too slow to matter
Average Heart Rate: 151