Week 13 - 02/04/2019 Build up Week

The weather finally let up for the start of the week.  We started off this week with a some speed work.     A run buddy of ours is training for her first full marathon in the spring, so we have decided to join in on her workouts.

The workout was planned at 1 km @ 5km race pace 1 minute rest followed by 500m 1 minute rest, 500m with 2 minute rest repeated 4 times.  We only mustered up 3 repeats before calling it quits.  It all seems awful when doing the workout, but always thinking you could have done more after.

No Jackets

Happy Chinese New Year Tuesday.  Another nice day to get out for a run with my buddies before a flight off to London.   We took it back on the road for a speedier run than normal run for me.   They managed to get me to average a 6:27min/km pace for almost 9 km. It's one of my fastest runs in this training cycle.  Speed seems so much harder now since I've gotten used to the trails.  Look what you get from Garmin for logging a run on this special day.  I should try to run more often on holidays.

I had planned to try to squeeze in a quick run while in London, but things didn't go as planned. My cousin had purchased tickets to see Avenue Q. Avenue Q is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics.  The layover is so short but I forged on and was able to enjoy the nice day. I spent the morning walking through the busy shopping streets of London.

Shopping for the Family

I was so distracted with the nice day and shopping that I lost track on time. I made it back to the hotel just in time to head straight back out to meet up with my cousin for dinner and the show.

New Wimbledon Theatre

The show was HILARIOUS!!! I laughed until my tummy hurt. If you ever have the chance to see it, you must go get tickets.  It is not for kids and may be offensive to many, but oh boy,  I was crying in my seat.  It ended up being a late night. I opted to sleep in before my flight instead of running to save my legs for the long back to backs runs when I got home.

Friday after dropping the kids off at school, I met up with my training buddies to head out to the trails.

Fuel for the Day

The weather had been terrible during the week.  It had started warm with rain showers, which then turned to frigid temperatures with 60 km per hour winds.  We drove out to the trail head hoping to run the first of our long runs in the trails.  We knew it would be a hard run as soon as my friend tried to drive into the parking lot. It was a skating rink and the car didn't stand a chance to even make it into the driveway.  We ended up parking on the side of the rural road and ran up and down the road for 39 kilometres.  It was the only way that we would get the mileage in as the forest was not an option.  The country road was gravel and the plow eventually came along and graded the road.  We stayed on the road as it was between the tall trees of the forest that was able to block the 60 km/per hour winds. 

As my friend said, "it was an ugly run"

Saturday morning at 5:30 we were back out to run the roads with the whole gang. It nice to have all everyone to keep the pack moving.  I was only able to finish with 30km.  I was limited on my time so finished 10km short.  This does make me nervous because I feel like I haven't built up enough mileage, but I am hoping that I can catch up the week after. 

Saturdays are always super busy here for us, so my runs are always limited.  We jam our weekends with our kids extracurricular activities.  It's all about finding a balance.

We celebrated Chinese New Year with my family Saturday night with a giant feast.  I quickly forgot about all the miles logged and stuffed my face.

Thanks for reading.  How was your week? Hows' your training coming along?

Week 12 - 01/29/2019 Zurich for the First Time

We ended up with another snowy weekend and more snow was coming for the week.  My run buddies were busy on Monday,  I decided to take Monday's run indoors and just had an hour and a half recovery run on the treadmill.  Because most of our runs have been outside, I actually look forward to my treadmill runs where I can indulge myself on Netflix for endless hours.

With more snow overnight, Tuesday's run ended up being another slow snow run around the block avoiding cars and snow banks.  Check out how we got our kiddies to the bus stop that morning.

After our run, I got a call from work with some flights available up for grabs.  I was offered Frankfurt, Dubai or Zurich.  I had never been to Zurich or Dubai, but the trip to Dubai would have taken me away from the family for 5 days. So I opted for Zurich.  I quickly made it home to pack and get the home prepared for me being away for the next few days.

Thank goodness Some Sidewalks were Plowed

I was excited to go to Zurich as I had never been there in my 20 years of flying.  I soon realised that I would have to do one of my long runs there as I would be missing a run with my friends on Thursday so I had to pack up my gear for a 24 km long run in Zurich.  I usually like to look up running routes, but did not have anytime as I had just found out about the flight.  I quickly checked the weather and packed accordingly and headed out the door.

The flight to Zurich was quiet and uneventful. I asked my fellow crew members who had been to the city about areas to run and found out that we stay in a small town outside of the city centre.  I was told that there were some trails up a mountain and a lake that I could run around.

We arrived early Wednesday morning Zurich.  It was about 2 degrees with little snow which was a nice change from the snow storm I had left in Markham.  After a quick nap,  I headed down to ask the concierge about running routes.  She gave me a small map with directions to the lake which was only about 7 km, so I decided to improvise.  A fellow crew member had told me that I could exit the hotel and see a mountain where I could just run to the base of and find a trail head.  Her instructions were pretty simple so off I went.

Snow Trails 

Made it up to the Top

The trails were light snow covered as I headed up the trail head. There were many markers along the way, but I had no idea where they were directing me to :)  It's part of the fun when running trails.

Because I had overslept, I knew that I wanted to head back down the trails and back towards the town and find the lakes before it was dark.

Bike Trails

This Way Out

Luckily, I ended up seeing some people walking their dogs and out for evening hike which reassured me that I was not lost.

I made it back down the trail to find my way to the lake with the map the concierge had given me.  I followed it to a park which was part trail and part paved sidewalk.  It had 15 stations with exercises posted.

I made it to 10 of the 15 stations before I realized that a few of the stations were beside the prison and train track. I decided to head back to find my way to the lake as it was sun was starting to set.

Finally found the Lake

The map was fairly vague and I had looped around a few times before I spotted some other runners and followed them towards the lake and the running route that the concierge had told me about. I was so relieved when I finally spotted the lakes.

Sunset over the Lake

The run had been another adventure through a beautiful city. I am so grateful my job allows me to see such amazing cities.  I had to finish the last 10kms on the hotel treadmill as it got dark.

I was able to make it back to spend Friday with the kids as they had the day off from school.  With the all the snow that we had got during the week, we decided to go tobogganing. It was nice to have the day off from running and just having fun with the kids.

But we were right back at it Saturday morning to finish the second long run for the week.  My buddy and I met up before sunrise in hopes to run trails, but ended up running mostly on the road because of all the snow.  I was happy to have some company again for a long run.

Another week was done and the snow seems to be never ending.  Zurich was a real treat and would definitely love to go back in warmer weather to run the trails again.

How was your week? Any races ?

Week 11 Slow Week of Training Jan 21-26

After the long run over the weekend, I started to feeling a bit under the weather.  By Sunday, it was starting to look worse. Runny nose, coughing and just lethargic.  We had a pretty bad snow storm over the weekend.

Monday morning, we wake up to bus cancellations and lots of snow. Hubs and I decide to drive the kids to school so that I can take a rest day at home. I had hoped to join my buddies for a run, but I was scheduled to fly to Hong Kong the next day and I was still feeling like crap. I ended up sleeping the entire day away until I had to wake up to pick up the kids from school.

I headed to work on Tuesday. This week I was flying to Hong Kong with my friends, which meant that there would be little to no working out. I was kind of o.k with it as I knew the long runs this weekend would be long... but who's kidding who, they are always long.

I ended up spending my layover with my friends eating and not running. My excuse was that I had a long run to rest up for on the weekend :)

I arrived back home on another wintery Thursday night. Our flight was slightly delayed due the the late arrival of the in bound plane.  I was happy to be back, but knew I had to prepare for the long runs ahead.

We had 25 and 20 miles on deck for this weekend.  We decided to take it onto the road because of time restrictions and the weather.

The run started out fairly decent when we started out, but then we headed out into the country roads and then winds picked up. My buddy was able to capture a shot of me getting caught up in a snow squall. The blowing snow made it impossible to see but thankfully we were on the country roads with no cars to be seen for miles. We finished in time for me to pick the kiddies up from the bus stop.

I was so tired after this run and just fed up with the run, that I decided to take the next run indoors and onto the treadmill.  I had not done a long run on the treadmill since the last training cycle, so it took some mental preparation but the thought of being inside away from the blowing wind and snow made it bearable; along with a few Netflix episodes.

I was able to catch up on shows that I had not watched in ages.  After this treadmill run, I am now currently hooked on Schitt's Creek. It's a hilarious Canadian sitcom filmed just north of where I live. The cast includes father and son duo Eugene and Dan Levy.  I highly recommend it to everyone.

Do you like to watch shows while running on the treadmill?  Any recommendations?

Have a great week