Family Day Long Weekend

Hey folks, I hope everyone had a terrific weekend!  Monday was Family Day here in Alberta, so it has been a long weekend here.  It has been full of workouts, friends and family, and of course, the Olympics!!  I’ve been soaking up as many events on TV as possible and I am so proud of all of our Olympic athletes!  Anyhow, let’s recap, shall we?

Saturday

Time for a long run!  I waited till around lunch time to knock out this run out, but it stayed a bit chilly at –7C (19F).  I had an 1:15 run on the schedule, but I arbitrarily decided to aim for 8 mi instead which would take me just a bit longer than that.  I ran another out and back from downtown and west along the river, just like last week.  The major difference was that the entire run went really well though!  I carried water and a gel with me, and I downed a Gu Roctane pomegranate blueberry gel at the halfway mark.  This was my first time trying out this flavour.  It wasn’t my most favourite, but then again I tend to not care for berry flavoured gels.

When I turned around I was running into a fairly strong wind, but this fuelled me to keep to keep the speed up so I could minimize my time in the wind.  I finished up at the YMCA in Eau Claire and immediately grabbed a chocolate milk and some cottage cheese.  Before I had finished eating I had really cooled off so I ran to the changing room and had a long, hot shower to warm up.  A great long run!!

Sunday

I’ve been having a tough time fitting in a long run and a swim on Saturdays lately.  This mostly has to do with the fact that I feel so cold by the time the run is done that all I want is a hot shower.  I could try swimming before I run I suppose, but I haven’t tried that out yet.  Instead I tried swimming early Sunday morning.  I was at the pool soon after it opened and I knocked out a great 2000m swim.  I showered, went home, then had a brick workout to take care of.  It was like a mini-triathlon day!

My bike workout was a full of low cadence work to build strength, plus a couple of times where I had to hop off the bike for squats and lunges.  70 minutes of time on the trainer.  Once I was done I quickly changed into running tights, threw on a jacket and went out for a 15 minute brick run.  This was my first brick in ages!  My legs felt wobbly and like they didn’t quite belong to me for the first few minutes.  Bricks are a bit tough in this weather as even though I was warmed up it was still a bit of a shocker to transition from indoors to outdoors in the cold and the wind.  My legs were tuckered after all of that!!

Monday

My only thing on the schedule for today was a drill swim.  I hit up the Y later in the afternoon.  The pool was fairly quiet and I had a lane to myself for probably half my workout.  I ran through some 6 kick rolls, fist drills and fingertip drags for my drills.  I also added in some paddle work to help build some strength.  I definitely love working with paddles.  I feel like it really helps to drive home certain aspects of good form.

And with that…now bring on the week!  This one looks to be busy and fun!