HTFU And Run!

This mornings weather was better than yesterday's miserable wet, cold and windy day.  I moved my long run to this morning as it wasn't supposed to start raining until around 10 am which hopefully I would be finished my 3:15 run except I didn't wake up until 5:30 am.  By the time I ate and drank 1.5 liters of water it was just after 6:00 am.  The temperature was a balmy three degrees Celsius, no rain but very windy.  It was blowing over 40 km\hr in a westerly direction so I altered my normal running route of a giant circle heading west first and then east back home.  One of the reason I like this route is because I run by a community center (where I go swimming) and can stop and refuel or empty.   But given the head winds, I changed the route to run north up McCowan Road for 1.5 hours and then turn south and run back down.  That way the wind wouldn't be a factor in my running.  Smart eh?

The route I took was the same that I ride my bike but I had a slightly different view running than when I'm riding.  On both sides of the road, there is a small creek and there are all kinds of interesting things in the ditch.  I think next week I'll bring a garbage bag and pick up all the empty beer bottles.  That was I can have my mortgage paid off or at least afford a new P2.  One of the more interesting things I saw (other than the dead animals) was a pregnancy test.  I wasn't going to stop and check to see if someone was knocked up!

The winds were still blowing but whipping across my body as I chugged up McCowan.  The nice thing about running this far north "out of the city" was that the shoulder was basically packed sand and firm enough to run on.  This made a huge difference in the pounding my body took last week.  I could feel my ankle but it wasn't too bad.  I think I'll always run up McCowan Road for my long runs.

I hit my turnaround point (Bloomington Road) and got a face full of wind.  The wind has slightly shifted as it was still coming westerly but slightly north and I was running into the wind.  My pace slowed down even though I was running down hill.  I was running along in a mindless daze when I scared a duck swimming in the creek beside the road.  It quacked and flew in front of me and instinctly, I jumped to my right.  Fortunately there were no
on-coming cars otherwise I would have been smoked.

The sun disappeared and all of a sudden I was freezing.  I should have worn my warmer running gloves instead of the light ones as my hands began to ache they were so cold.  And just when it couldn't get worse, it started to snow.  Didn't I say something about no more snow in yesterday's blog?  Doh!  The wind drove the snow (actually they were ice pellets) so that they were coming sideways and smashing into the one side of my face.  In fact, I had to pull my hat down as low as it could go to protect the one side.  Those pellets really hurt!

I was just thinking what other moron would be out running in this crap when down the road I saw someone riding!  They turned west and into the wind.  Now that's hard core!!  Later in my run I saw two other riders.  I guess they were chomping at the bit because of yesterday's crappy weather.

Speaking of chomping, I used GU Chomps for this run.  They reminded me of big Gummy Bears that my kids eat.  There are eight pieces in the package and are good for 1.5 to 2 hours of exercise.  I've used them on the bike last year but never tried them running as I imagined how hard it would be to chew and run at the same time.  Also I found the pieces got stuck in my teeth, just like Gummy Bears so I just popped two in my mouth and let them dissolve.  This worked out pretty good as I took two of them every 30 minutes.  The only problem is where to put them.  The stupid running jacket that I have doesn't have pockets and the zipper pouch of my running belt is very hard to access when I'm running.  I had to stop and dig them out.  Not very convenient.  I need to figure something out with this water belt.  I need to carry more water and also gels\chomps.

Heading south, once I crossed Major Mackenzie I had to start running on the sidewalk as traffic was too heavy to run on the road.  What a difference as I could feel the difference almost immediately.  The pounding on my feet and legs made running much more painful and my pace slowed considerably.  I ran south into the wind until I hit Highway 7 where I turned around and headed north again but this time I had the wind.  I turned down a road and picked up my pace as I was getting to the end of my run.  I ran at a much faster pace and finished at 3:22 for just under 32 kilometers.  I thought I ran further but running into the wind must have really slowed me down.

I took an ice bath again but this time I drank hot water while I was shivering.  That made a huge difference and I was able to stay in there for 20 minutes.  Later in the day, I went to the mall with Rebecca and walking around was extremely painful and exhausting.  I'm suppose to run tomorrow but that's not going to happen.  I'll take an easy ride on the trainer with not drills and watch Weeds Season Four.