The latest

So this has been an interesting month.  Originally I had planned to run more than ever before (150k+), instead I got a touch of the flu and a swollen gland and have had a fairly pedestrian month (80k so far).  The funny thing about taking time off from running to either handle an illness or avoid making one worse is that it's really hard to know exactly how much fitness you lose when you're not running.
For example, if you would have told me that taking off a mere seven days would result in my hips and hamstrings being sore the morning after I did a 5k return run I would have been surprised.  Granted, I could probably still handle a 21k run right now if I chose, but there's that word "probably."  In running your confidence needs to be better than "probably" or else you risk running misery or... injury.  And is there anything worse than sitting out a month?

Still, let's look on the bright side folks, after months of pretty good running it's probably a good thing to pull back a bit.  I wouldn't describe my running as particularly hard running (my range of pace is between 5:20/k to 6:40/k), though I've been running an average of 16-21k per run.

And so, that's that.

News + 2015 Saskatchewan Marathon + 2015 Saskatoon Police Half Marathon

On Monday registration begins for the Saskatchewan Marathon.  At the most recent marathon, I ran the 5k event, but this time, I'm running the full 42.2k... and this will be my first attempt.  Although I'm not aiming for a specific time,  finishing in under 4:30:00 would be nice, and under 4:00:00 would be ideal.  So that's that.

As for recent news.  As hard as it is to believe, I've only run three times this month (and it's already December 13th).  And yet, despite this, I've logged just a tad under 60 kilometres (for an average of 20k per run).  I'd be at 80-100k right now if both kids hadn't gotten sick and, well, if I hadn't gotten sick either.  As nice as it would be to have logged more running this month, it's also good to step back sometimes and let you body rest.  Although I'm a bit tired from fighting off the bug, I could definitely do 5 or 10k today.  But why?  The marathon isn't until May 31st, and I'm not running any races in the immediate future.

And this brings me to my next bit, the 2015 Saskatoon Police Half Marathon.  Anyone who knows the inside scoop about the 2014 race knows that I ran it in a lot of physical discomfort and ended up finishing in just under 2:20:00--which is about the time I spend running a casual training run of the same distance.  So I have some unfinished business to attend to here.  My goal is to finish in less than 2:00:00 like I did in Ontario at the Chilly Half Marathon.

The key to everything, when it comes to races, is to be physically ready for the pounding your legs are going to take when you race.  Simply being able to go the distance in training isn't enough, you have to be able to perform at a higher level (otherwise you're not really racing).  At any rate, I still want to participate in the Hypothermic Half Marathon as well, but I feel more inclined to do the 10k event than the 21k given that the race happens in February (which is right about the corner).

So that's it for now!

Pics from the trail...

On Monday I ran 21.5k (13.35 miles) on the trails.  The temperature was -18 Celsius.   I have to say that I felt really terrific.  My target race remains the Saskatchewan Marathon on May 31, 2015.  I'm probably going to have a tune up with the Hypothermic Half Marathon--the goal there, obviously, would be to come in under the two hour mark.

That's the news for now!

Enjoy.