Running in the (realitve) tropics

Well, today it was certainly warmer in Markham for a 9 km LSD than it was last week in Yellowknife. It was a really nice run this morning. Comfortable, good pace and good conversation with the folks from my running clinic.

My pace was approximately 6:35 and the song of the day was The Who's Who are you - the last album recorded with the full compliment of Who members. Good lord, I miss Keith Moon.

Anyway that is 88.1 km for the month of November. I will undoubtedly cross the 100 km boundary in December and should be in the 130 - 150 km range by March and up as high as 180 - 200 by July. That will be tough as I don't like running in the heat but, well, August is the date for Reykjavik.

Blog you again soon!

Paul

November's last run in Yellowknife

Hi everyone,

I am flying back from Yellowknife today and just finished a lovely 5.2 km run which I started at 5:15 AM. Must be nuts but at least I did it on the treadmill - baby, it's cold out there.

Today's song of the day is... wait for it.... Dig by my favorite rock 'n roll band, The Who.

Update you again over the weekend from home.

Paul

4 km treadmill run

Hi everyone,

Completed another 4 km run today - kept the treadmill at 2% incline and kept the speed up. Managed the entire 4.02 km in 23:01 which is a 5:44 pace. Nice!

I still have 10 or 11 km to get finished this week but my time is tight. I am on a plane all day Friday so I have tomorrow and/or Saturday. Next Sunday is another LSD, this time in Markham with my running club.

Today's song of the day is Golden Years by my good personal friend David Bowie.

Stay tuned and, as always, be cool.

Paul

9 km in cold, cold Yellowknife

Hi everyone,

Tonight was my 9 km LSD right on schedule in Yellowknife. My next will be in Markham Sunday next and hopefully that will a less chilly event. It was warmer than it has been up here, only -10 with perhaps a further 5 degree windchill. Anyway, I finished with a reasonable pace in spite of poor road conditions - my pace was 6:56, which is really ok, the road conditions were not good. Traction was badly affected.

Well, I was running and a great song started to play, it has been my song of the day before but running around up here, freezing my arse off, nose running from the cold - not a great picture, clearly I am out of my mind. Crazy by Aerosmith clearly needs to be today's song of the day.

Be cool - I certainly am so constrained until the end of the week.

Paul

A fine week of running

Hi all,

I just completed my fourth run of the week, another 5.2 km on the treadmill, cold and blowing snow here in the jewel of Canada's north. That is a total of 22.6 km this week, now all I have to do is get that to the point where I can run that distance in one 2:15 period by March 28th.

So my next long run is targeted for a little more than 9km. I don't know if I will do it tomorrow or Monday but, weather permitting, I will do it at the first opportunity.

Song of the day was Eighteen by Alice Cooper, the world's coolest Sunday school teacher.

Keep an eye on this blog for further updates.

Paul

Another treadmill run and some training information

Hi everyone,

Today completed a 5.2 km run on the treadmill here at the Anderson Thompson Apartments in Yellowknife. Managed it in 30:22 seconds for a pace of 5:50 seconds per km in a steady run. Not bad. Wouldn't do as well on the road but up here, this is the best I am going to get under current weather conditions. Today it is about -15 C but with blowing snow and high winds. Yuck. Just walking to the office is a major event.

Song of the day - Radio Ga Ga by Queen.

So, today, I received my airline ticket for Prague. I am flying to the Czech Republic via Frankfurt on March 22nd, arriving on the 23rd and then returning to Toronto on the 30th. Harvey will be joining me there on the 25th and Dieter will arrive on the 26th. This is our second annual "Prague 1/2 Marathon Adventure" - I am sure there will be some fine Czech food and beer consumed, but not too much, before the run.

With respect to training - here are some milestone runs which will happen before during and after my visit to Prague. This is not a list of every run but just an idea of how I am going to tackle this.

Race month (Long runs described only):

• Sunday March 1st - 21.1 km "Chilly Half" Marathon in Burlington
• Sunday March 8 - 15 km LSD in Aurora
• Sunday March 15 - 24 km LSD in Aurora

Race week:

• Sunday March 22 - 15 km LSD in Aurora
• Tuesday March 24 - 8 km in Prague
• Thursday March 26 - 6 km in Prague
• Saturday March 28 - 21.1 Prague 1/2 Marathon

Post Race week - beginning preparation for Rekyvik (Long runs described only):

• April 5 - 15 km LSD in Aurora
• April 12 - 24 km LSD in Aurora
• April 19 - 18 km LSD in Aurora
• April 26 - 27 km LSD in Aurora

This plan, of course, is highly subject to change but that is how it is beginning to look. I will update you further as we get closer. Only 127 days left to Prague and the pace is picking up.

Talk to you all soon.

Paul

Cold is getting insideous

Hi everyone,

I ended up doing my 4 km run on the treadmill this evening. I may have to settle for treadmill running for the next little while as I just can't really run when it gets down below -20C. I don't find running with a balaclava very comfortable so my face freezes up and we just can't have Paul with a frozen face.

Nontheless, completed 4.3 km today and did enjoy the run. I set the treadmill on a 2% grade to better simulate road conditions and had a really good pace of 6:02 which for a steady run is just great for me.

Today's song of the day was Dance All Night by the Cars - just a good rock and roll diddy. No route to show you 'cause I never went anywhere. I suspect I will be on the treadmill again in very short order.

Paul

LSD in Yellowknife (like you need it, really)

Just taking a few minutes to update you all on today's run. I couldn't really do the 7 km that I needed to on Sunday due to inclement weather. Mostly snow, it is hard to run on unplowed snow.

Tonight's run was good - just a shade under 8 km, running on some of the less plowed snow was difficult and it subtracted from my pace a fair bit. This is a great place to run, generally flat with great scenery, even at night (of which there is a lot this time of year - sunrise is after 8:00 AM and sundown is just before 4:00 PM).

Had a great song of the day today - it has come up on a couple of runs and not been selected so here it is: I would do Anything for Love (but I won't do that) by Meatloaf and Jim Steinman.

Running again soon. Stay tuned.

Paul

Saturday in Yellowknife.

Hi Gang,

Went for a lovely 4 km run this afternoon - really nice. We had a bit of ice fog this morning and it left the trees in just a beautiful state. Here is a picture that I managed to take as I went up the grocery store shortly after my run. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Yellowknife, from ground level.

I am up to about 20 km per week now, that will slowly increase over the next couple of weeks and I am getting really geared up about the next year. A bunch of 1/2 marathons followed by the big on in Iceland. Must admit, it is fearsome but, wow, what a challenge.

Enough, I am running again soon and will re-post.

Today's song is dedicated to my mother - recovering from knee replacement surgery, she, like most of our fellow Welsh nationals is a big Tom Jones fan. I believe they went to the same school in face. Anyway, today's song is Daughter of Darkness. Way to go, Tom.

By for now,

Paul

Suddenly running in snow!

Hi there,

I managed to drop 14 C in the 24 elapsed hours between my last run and that in which I engaged today. I am back in Yellowknife and it is -7 as opposed to 7 and there is a lot of snow here which certainly affected my running performance a bit. Oh well, another 4 km under my belt this week.

OK - so I am geared up for cold weather running here. Special boxers with a bit of up front padding, heavy running pants, a wicking top with a heavy running jacket, a reflective wind layer, gloves, heavy socks and my regular Brooks running shoes. I will be here for two weeks and in that time will run between 8 and 10 times depending on the distance and my running schedule. I will keep you informed of my progress.

Today's song of the day was One More Summer by the Rainmakers.

Ciao,

Paul

A hard day's night...

Hi there,

I had a great couple of workouts today. This afternoon I shaved a minute or so off of the "Andy Torture" thing - you know, the idiotic numbers of evil exercises, separated by 60 steps, do it down, do it up...

Tonight I went to the Running Room for a run and put a 4.8 km run under my belt at a good lap pace of 6:15. Felt much better not trying to keep up with the leaders of the pack but overall came in well.

Tonight's song Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Off to Yellowknife for some cold weather running the next two weeks. Talk to you soon.

Paul

If it is Thursday, it must be Squatday...

Hi Gang,

Quick update. Today's weight training day was simple but excrutiating:

2 sets of:

• 30 second front plank
• 20 second left side plank
• 20 second right side plank
• 30 second glut bridge plank

5 sets of:

• 30 squats with a 110 lb barbell on my sholders

3 sets of:

• 20 seconds Bosu Ball plank (25 seconds for last set)

3 sets of:

• 10 barbell lifts with 65 lbs

Stretching, by god, stretching.

Hard but I have a real sense of accomplishment doing it!

Paul

A couple of days work behind me...

OK, folks,

So yesterday I ran a 4 km steady run with the Running Club in Markham. Good time and pace (6:02) but I probably erred in trying to keep up at the front. Cost me a bit of a forced walk break when I was trying to do it straight through. My target right now for those sort of runs is 6:15 and shortening. Today ran a shorter version of the same route but the pace was at 6:06, same problem. I am running on my own for the next couple of days as I am traveling and will endevour to go at my target pace, not someone else's.

Worked out with Andy yesterday. Did the 40/30 - 30/30 - 20/30 - 10/30 - 10/30 - 20/30 - 30/30 - 40/30 thing again. Shaved six minutes of my time.

Tomorrow is squats! Yeah!

Song of the day for yesterday: David Bowie's Young American's
Song of the day for today: Bangles Manic Monday

Talk to you soon!

Paul

Long Slow Distance...

Yes, folks, I appear to be addicted to LSD...

Long Slow Distance running that is. As part of my marathon training I completed a 7 km run this morning, the first of my current half marathon clinic. My average pace was 6:25 which is certainly aligned with my goals of a 2:15 completion of the Prague 1/2 Marathon on March 28, 2009. Today's run was fun - I was near the front of the pack and we did very well. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was out, it was about 4C and life was good.

Did some weight training with Andy and my sons yesterday. Higher weights, few reps. I completed 3 sets of each, five reps of squats with a 185 lb barbell, five reps of bench presses with 135 lb barbell. Other stuff too but the heavy weights are fun once in a while.

Going to cut this short. Will update again in a day or two. Today's song was Out of the Blue by Roxy Music. Be cool.

Paul