finally some sun!

After weeks of all rain and clouds the sun has finally come back!!!!  I was very excited to wake up Sunday morning for my long run to the beautiful sunshine!  My motivation is much higher when the sun is out, even if its -5C! 

Last Thursday I woke up to a nasty cold.  It kinda came out of no-where and came on strong!  I did a pre-race workout-
23 min warm up, drills/strides
4 X (40,30,15) secs off 20 second recovery.  Pretty easy stuff, just getting the legs going a bit.
15 min warm down. 

I actually felt a lot better after my workout, and thought I was beating my cold.....However, that wasn't the reality.  Even though Friday was my rest day from running, I worked 7 hours (I'm a server at the Boathouse Restaurant).  It was very busy and I was exhausted when I got home on Friday night....I was super congested and could barely talk.....Not good news, as I was supposed to leave for Seattle in the morning to race 3k.

I woke up Saturday morning still feeling pretty shitty.  I was supposed to leave at 11am to head down to the University of Washington for an indoor 3000m.  I called my coach and asked her if she thought I should still race even though I was sick.  She told me to go run for 10 mins to see how I felt.  That didn't end up going over too well....I was super winded and exhausted.  Turns out my cold was winning the battle.  So after much consideration I decided to rest and not race.  I was very frustrated and disappointed.  I had really been looking forward to this race, and felt like I was ready to run fast.  But there was not point racing if I wasn't 100%.  I have decided to go down to Seattle on Feb. 12 for the Huskie Invite to race another 3000m.  I really want to get a PB in the 3000 this season, and this is my last/only chance indoors!

I took Saturday off completely and just stayed home and watched Movies with my fiance.  It was a great, lazy day!  When Sunday rolled around I felt tremendously better, and was able to do my long run with no problems.  I met Jules and Becs at Burnaby Lake at 930am.  B. Lake is a large, flat loop (approx 10k).  Mostly packed dirt and bulk march.  We love running there.  Ended up running about 77 mins. 

Monday I ran from home in Rocky Point Park.  I live across the street from this awesome park and run here quite often.  Its got a paved path as well as a dirt/bulk march path.  From one end of the park to the other is 3k, so I just continue running along the quite roadside to get extra miles.  I ran 62 mins, about half on the trails and half on the pavement.  I went to the gym after and did about 30 mins of strength and core work. 

Today (tues) we were at Como Lake Park this morning.  Even though it was cold, the sun felt so good!  Como Lake is a relatively flat 1k loop.  There are markers every 200m (very convenient).  The footing around the lake is quite uneven, making it difficult to get a good running rhythm going.  Its mostly packed dirt trail and bulk march.  Lots of little dips in the trails and today there was a few icy patches we had to be careful of.  With the sun, came lots of people walking around the lake.  Can be very annoying weaving around people when you are doing hard interval work!  So my workout today went as follows-
20 min warm up. Drills/strides (15 mins).
2k (3 min rest), 1k (3 min rest), 800m (2 min rest), 600m (2 min rest), 4 X 400m (90 sec rest).
6:43, 3:15, 2:33, 1:56, mostly 75s for the 400s.  It was a good workout for me today!  I struggled a bit through my last 400, but I made it! 
20 min warm down.

My shins were a bit sore today after practice, so I was sure to get some ice time in after!  Ok, so thats enough for now! 

Happy running everyone!!!!!