All Downhill From Here

On Monday I got to go swimming again!

It’s cool that I’m enjoying the swimming. I postponed trying triathlon for a long time because I wasn’t comfortable with swimming laps. Now that I’m consistently spending a little time each week in the pool, my comfort zone is stretching.

I worked on keeping my arms entering the water efficiently, and keeping my head down. Towards the end I got tired and my technique kind of fell apart, but that happens sometimes when I run, too. It was still fun.

Liesbeth and Sander both came swimming too. We swam for about 30 minutes and then chatted in the hot tub before we left.

I set my inner goat free on the Douglas Fir Trail last week…

… and then suddenly it was weekend long run time and the dang goat had wandered off without me.

Saturday morning I got up early, but had a hard time making it out the door for my long run. I was tired. I was disorganized. It was hot out there already. I couldn’t find my Bodyglide. I procrastinated. Procrastinating was so tiring that I went back to bed for a nap.

By Sunday morning I gave up on trying to feel like running and just went out anyway. The Moose didn’t care if my inner goat came along or not; just get out there, eh? I took the same route as last weekend, but spent more time in Nose Hill Park before heading back.

I was surprised by a huge black snake up on the Edgemont ridge. It had probably been sunning itself on the big rocks and I nearly stepped on it as it returned across my path to the deep grasses. I’m not afraid of the snakes around here – they’re mostly harmless, but this one was over an inch thick! It made me jump.

On the east-facing slopes of Edgmont, facing Nose Hill Park, I explored another dirt path and came to a screeching halt amidst a big patch of plump saskatoons. I stopped my watch for a merry snack break before continuing on.

I ran for 2:47 this time, not counting two watch stops for the berries and the bathroom. I took two gels this time, one Powerbar Chocolate (like eating straight fudge, yum) and Clif Shots chocolate (blech), plus two Nuun tablets; one I carried in a baggie and used when I re-filled my water bottle at the bathroom.

The run wasn’t the best, but a sunny, long, tired, hot, achy run on dirt with a berry-break in summer beats a freezing, icy, dark, finger-numbing run in the dark of winter any day. It’ll do.

Tuesday night it threatened to rain, but Little Runner and I got out there anyway. There was a cool wind blowing, which felt wonderful as I jogged through our neighbourhood with LR on her bike. This time we didn’t stop for a playground – we kept going into the hilly doggy parks and ran around a few hills on dirt trails.

LR is not a very strong rider yet, so I didn’t take her up and down the bigger hills, but she did well on the bumpy dirt paths. I only had to loop back for her a couple of times, and she had a blast. She didn’t fall until we were out on the sidewalk again. How ironic is that? At least she managed to fall on the grassy boulevard next to the sidewalk. She cried for a minute, but I congratulated her on choosing a soft place to land, and she bravely rode the last mile home.

We had thunderstorms Friday, but the sun shone Saturday morning and the air was very fresh. I laced up my new trail shoes and headed out, up and down and uP and down and UP through the doggie parks and escarpments of Ranchlands, Hawkwood and Edgemont. I even got all the way into Nose Hill Park.

It was hard to find my stride at first on the ascents, but the Moose kept calling to me. “Are you going to go around Moose Mountain? or UP it? Can’t go down until you go up, eh?”

The dirt trails were damp but not squishy. Wild grasses tickled my legs with drops of water as I swished through elbow, shoulder, and even head-high prairie meadows. Hundreds of purplebells (alkaline soil here turns all the bluebells purple) and pink and white wild roses nodded their encouragement my way. The mosquitoes seemed to be sleeping in, which was fine with me.

Usually when I’ve done this route, I turn back as soon as I round the top of Edelweiss Point, making it home in 90-100 minutes. Now I’m working on building up endurance to more than four hours of trail running by September’s Moose Mountain race, so I went exploring in the woods and paths between the Point and Nose Hill Park.

I tried out an orange ginger Nuun tab (yum) in my water bottle after 30 minutes. At 60 minutes I downed a Clif Shot Mocha gel (blech), just before crossing Shaganappi Trail into the park. I ran a short 15 minute loop in the park before heading back for a negative split on the way home. I stopped my watch at 1:19 2:19something.

My legs were heavy and achy the rest of the day, but nothing hurt much. The shoes worked well too (no blisters), though I might experiment with the laces to prevent slight internal slippage. The trail shoes seemed a little heavy on the sidewalks, but I appreciated not having to feel every little rock and root along the dirt and rocky paths.

That afternoon I stretched out the hamstrings and calves by doing some weeding in my ski-slope back yard.

Last night I ran for about 40 minutes with the Roadrunners from Gord’s, as part of their monthly Club Night Social. I went straight from work to arrive early enough to buy a new pair of trail shoes (zoom in to see the cute snowflake, etc. on the lace holders) and a few more gels for long runs.

There was a great turnout for the run and I got to hang out with several members that I don’t see often. Gabino was out with his camera, happy to catch our club out running together when we weren’t all bundled up against winter weather. I tried to keep up with Helen on the run, which was a challenge towards the end. I took a small walk break before running all the way up the Curling Club Hill. Whew, I haven’t done that for a long time.

We headed to Mykonos afterwards  for Greek food. The service was slow and they seemed intimidated by our large group, but the food was good and the waiter was apologetic. They complained that they were very busy, but there was hardly anyone in the restaurant. The slow service gave us plenty of time to visit, however, and I enjoyed listening to Jeff rave about his latest passion, Total Immersion swimming. Apparently I have to try that. We all got to break a plate in the fireplace as we left. Opa! Thanks to Carla for giving me a ride home.

Tonight Hubby and I went out to Bolero’s, a Brazilian style restaurant. Out of the 12? skewers on the menu, we only missed seeing two, and the offerings we tasted were all yummy. The service was fabulous, the meat was delicious, and we liked our location in a booth just off the open kitchen. I liked it that I could control how much meat came across my plate, and that I wasn’t limited to one choice, like in a regular restaurant. Being able to choose my carbs and veggies from the hot and salad bars was a bonus, too. I hate being presented with a big plate of food I’m going to waste. This was way better than a traditional buffet, since just-right slices of the hot meats came to us.

This weekend I’ll be breaking in the new Brooks Trail Adrenalines. I hope they serve me as well as my old Brooks Trail Addictions did.

Last night I made it out with the Calgary Roadrunners 10k group on the river pathway near Edworthy Park. Check out the new summer workout schedule – it looks like our Thursday hill workouts have new names. Ha!

After our usual warm up jog, drills, crunches and push-ups, we ran 10 x 60/60s. This is an exercise in which we run hard for 60 seconds at a time, alternating with 60 seconds of gentle jogging at about half that speed, in this case for 20 minutes total.

My legs felt like jello before we even started, but once we got going my body sucked it up and I did okay. The group was very supportive. At the beginning of each hard minute they’d all take off at their speedy paces, but when each slower minute began the faster ones looped back behind the slower ones and we all stayed together. It was hard to run hard, but the momentum of the group kept me going.

Afterwards we did a couple more kilometers to cool down together, and in the first one my legs were tired and cranky. By the time we finished they calmed down. Maybe they just went numb. Whatever, they don’t hurt now.

I was going to go orienteering tonight, but decided to stay home and spend a little time with my neglected hubby. Priorities, eh? Tomorrow I’ll be missing the Douglas Fir run (and I LOVE running the Douglas Fir trail) to go to Club Night from Gord’s Running Store. I’ll have to get some trails in on the weekend instead.