Slow Solo Long Run - Week 2 Antelope Canyon 50 Miler Training Cycle

This week flew by.... literally.  It was another week of flying to Hong Kong for me with a PA Day tacked onto Friday which means that the kids are off of school which equals NO LONG run on Friday.

The way my friends and I had worked out our training plan was that we would do our back to back long runs on Fridays and Saturdays. This is largely because I tend to be out of the country Tuesdays through Thursdays.  Ultra marathon training is different from regular marathon training cycles in that there are two high mileage runs back to back on consecutive days.

With the PA Day scheduled for the Friday, my friends and I realized that we would have to do one of our long runs on another day.  I had no choice but to do mine in Hong Kong while I was on my layover.

Monday - Speed Workout. I had to squeeze this workout in early as I had promised to take my father to a doctors appointment. He was recently diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and has since had a number or appointments.  I pulled up and speed workout that I had done a few years back while training for my marathon.

Work out is Warm up for 15 minutes, then 4x400 with decreasing rest times repeated 4 times followed by at 15 minute cool down.

I hadn't done a speed workout in ages and I've realized how much I dislike them. I love that they are somewhat short and sweet but I always feel like my heart is going to explode and that I will vomit at the end of the sprints. However, when it is all over I feel amazing.

Tuesday morning was back to work for mommy. Quick lunch prep in the morning and off to the airport I go. I used to wake up at 4:30 to squeeze in a quick treadmill run before making lunches and heading to work, but I found that rest is way more beneficial. The flight to Hong Kong is 15 hours on a good day and I need every moment of shut eye to look my best :) , I mean be nice to the passengers.

Wednesday afternoon I arrived in Hong Kong. I was lucky to be working with a good friend and when that happens, I usually abandon the workout for that day and we catchup. My girlfriend loves Thai food and we found a trendy well recommended spot online and headed out straight after working our 15 hour flight.  If you're ever looking for an authentic Thai spot Chachawan is a great spot to check out. Their food is from the Issan Region in northeast Thailand. My girlfriend chose this spot because there was Larp on their menu. I had never tried Larp before. It is essentially a lettuce wrap with delicious ground meats and Thai spices.

I had decided that I would attempt to complete my first of the two long runs in Hong Kong. Thursday was the only day I had left to run the 17 miles required. I would have loved to have done it in the trails, but that would have required the whole day. I only had a few hours as my flight back to Toronto was later that day.

Views from the Promenade

I headed out to Shatin bright and early.  Shatin is a city along the Shing Mun River with an extensive promenade for runners/walkers and bicycles.  There is no road traffic, so there are no traffic lights or cars to battle. The battle with me with these long runs are that I have gotten spoiled by my running buddies. They keep me company and motivate me to keep on moving. I didn't pack my music as I haven't listened to any music for the past few years.  I know that a lot of the struggle for me is in my head. I kept reminding myself that was only 17 miles and it was 18 degrees. I was running in shorts and a t shirt while my friends had to run in snow and negative temperatures.  I eventually got it done with some pretty bad chaffing to prove it.

I made it back in time to the hotel for a quick shower and back onto the bus to take us to the airport for the 15 hour flight back home.

Friday was PA Day. When I am home, it's fully mom mode for me.  Kids and I had hoped to sleep in, but that did not happen. We had scheduled parent teacher interviews for the kids for this day bright and early at 8 am. I dragged myself and the kids out of bed and we headed out to meet their teachers. I'm relieved to say that they went well, but I had also scheduled a bunch of other appointments for the kiddies.  It was also BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!

New Shoes

The kids and I thought about heading out to a mall, but decided against it when we drove by a few and saw the parking lots.  We settled for Chapters/Indigo and got some goodies for all.  My son hates shopping so to make life better for my daughter and I, we dropped him off at grandmas and headed back out. We were lucky to have some time to have a quick visit with friends visiting from out of town for liquid nitrogen infused cheese curls at Cool N2.  Kids had more activities before rushing out and having a lovely sushi filled girls night out.

Saturday - Long run part 2.  9 miles through the trails with my buddy.  We met up early, but it was a bit too dark to head into the trails so we decided to run some hills at the trail head before heading into the darkness of the woods. It had snowed earlier in the week, but the trail had been used. Some parts were quite slippery, but we were able to get in our 9 miles before we both had to head home to our mom duties. Because I tend to work weekdays, we try to jam all of our kids activities on weekends. We ended up being uber drivers on weekends to all their different activities. Luckily, we had dinner plans with friends at the end of the day, which was incentive for us to power through.

Full Moon to Start the Run

My friend from Rochester was visiting this weekend and was able to bring all our running shoes that my run buddies and I had ordered a few weeks ago. I am so thankful to have my buddy living in the USA so that I can ship many of my purchases to her. I go through so many pairs of running shoes that it gets quite expensive. I was thrill to try out my new pair of Saucony KOA trail shoes that I had ordered on my Saturday trail run. I will write another post on my thoughts on these shoes in another post. 

Sunday - Rest day. Wonderful sermon at church to reboot my soul.  Hubs and I decided to treat the kids to one of their favourite places to eat.... Jolibee. Jolibee opened up its first location in Toronto here earlier this year, but we had not gone due to the ridiculous line ups.  People were lining up for hours when it first opened up. We were lucky to have had it in August when we were in Winnipeg.  I think I ate all my calories back and more over this weekend.

Sushi Feast

How was your week? Anyone race?