Back on the Track again :-)

It’s 2 weeks since Javelina and I have to say that my body seems to have recovered ok and I was back running by the following Wednesday, albeit only 3 miles or so at an easier 9-minute mile pace. By the following Sunday, I was back up to 7 miles and having picked up the pace for a couple of miles mid-run, I was happy to see that I was running a relatively comfortable 7.35 pace.

I’ve since received my next block of training from Adam in the lead-up to Desert Solstice 24-hour race on December 8^th and whilst the mileage is low, the intensity is high which will hopefully benefit me next month.

Having arrived back home in Leduc just over a week ago, I was greeted with much colder weather and it is pretty much certain now that winter has finally arrived. We had some snowfall a few days ago and with frigid temperatures of -10 even during the day, it’s pretty slippery outside on the pavements. The cold weather really doesn’t bother me and I still run outside, but with some of my runs being at a faster pace, I don’t want to risk a fall that will put DS in jeopardy.

Last Saturday, I joined the Wild Rose Runners for a lovely trail run in Devon. The snow made it look like a winter wonderland and I was beaming with happiness at how beautiful it looked with the trails and the trees covered in snow that glistened in the sunlight as we passed through. Running in fresh snow is much more fun and less risky, but the pavements back in town were so icy that we all tentatively jogged to parking lot, trying to avoid embarrassing ourselves with a clumsy fall.

Snowy Devon Trails :-)

Snow trails in Devon :-)

My first run of the new week was an 8 mile negative split and I so desperately wanted to run outside but I knew that it would be too risky. I do have a treadmill which is currently in our heated garage, but whilst doing a hill session a couple of months ago, the belt slipped off and I haven’t yet had the time to fix it. This meant that I either had to do a slow run outside or finally head over to the Leduc Recreation Centre to use either the indoor track or one of their treadmills.

I haven’t been to a gym or rec centre in a long time – I actually find them quite intimidating with all the folks there working with personal trainers to improve the muscle tone on their already considerably perfect bodies. For a runner, I’m not particularly toned nor strong and I didn’t want to look frumpy in front of all these other folks - yes, even runners can have issues with their body image in certain situations! – and I knew that I would probably feel extremely self-conscious and uncomfortable.

I dithered most of the day trying to decide what to do, and after a walk at the dog park, I bit the bullet and headed back to the rec centre to purchase a membership.

I really needn’t have worried. The lady on reception was most welcoming and she had actually seen me out running around Leduc for the past few months (that’s what happens when you live in a city with just 34,000 people – everybody seems to  know each other or is a friend of a friend), and all of the other folks using the centre didn’t stare or point at me – phew! In fact, everybody was amazing, and a couple of folks even went out of their way to come and talk to me because of my accent – I guess a Stokie accent really does break the ice!

The next dilemma was whether to run on the track or on the treadmill. I had been told by a couple of folks that the indoor track wasn’t particularly good and wasn’t even the usual 200m that you expect at an indoor. I took a look and discovered that it was around 195m if using the outside lane – stuff it, Desert Solstice is on the track so I may as well get used to it. I stripped down to my shorts and t-shirt, and an hour later, I had completed 67 laps of the track in a little over an hour to give me my full 8 miles. I was so chuffed!

Running on the track for that long wasn’t actually too bad. I put my music on, got my head down and found myself in good a rhythm that I was able to keep going. There were a few PT sessions going on around the track and a couple of groups of school kids were also running which meant some weaving in and out at times, but in general I can honestly say that I found the change of environment fun and I felt good, knocking out consistent 57/58 second laps and then 51/52 second laps when I had to pick things up. I fully intend to use the track or the treadmill for all my faster paced workouts during the winter months, or at least for as long as the snow and ice is on the ground, and of course the track running will be perfect practice both mentally and physically for when I do DS in just over a month’s time.

Trying to calculate how number of laps for 8 miles!

Talking of Desert Solstice, I am absolutely delighted to say that in the absence of Andy, my good friend Dennene has offered to crew me at the race and she will be flying down to Phoenix with me. For those of you that don’t know Dennene, she is pretty awesome! She too had a rough day at JJ the other week and is no stranger to trials and tribulations of ultra-running having been there herself. She’s also ran on the Canadian National Team at both 100k and 24 hours, and I know that her experience will be of great benefit to me. The good news is that Dennene will be running ATY at the end of the year so we hope to do some runs together, starting this weekend when once again we’ll be hitting the indoor track for a couple of hours, followed by coffee and maybe a spot of lunch. WE're both feeling extremely motivated about things right now, and I think we are feeding off each other's energy which can only be a positive thing.

Me and Dennene on a trail run in Phoenix :-)

It’s funny how the mind works and I’m feeling optimistic about DS as things stand. I’ve already identified my 3-tier goals – I just have to get through the next 4 weeks of training without overdoing things, and hopefully this time, things will come together on the day.

Happy trails - and track running! - my friends :-)