Saturday, July 2, 2011

Week 2/17 HM Training - Run #4 15K

15K @1:49:04
Pace 7:17/km

Slightly faster than last week's LSD. :)

As of next week, my LSD increases to 16K and I will run this 'new' distance consistently for three weeks in a row before the next increase ...

Today's run proved to be a little eventful! Wallace and I were almost half way through our run when the sky rapidly darkened, loud thunder cracked through the sky, and distant lightning appeared. The heaven's then opened up and poured ... not rained, but literally poured. Part of me was relieved because I would rather run in rain than humidity; it was a welcome break from the stifling air. However, it was a little disconcerting to start seeing little chunks of hail appearing on the trail in front my running feet, and then every once in awhile feeling the ping! of a small hail hit my face or the top of my head. At one point, I was running with one eye closed and then had a laugh when I passed by a group of three runners, and they, too, were running with one eye closed - it was coming down that hard! But really, we had no choice. Where we were running, there was no cover except under trees and that would have been very dumb because of the lightning. It was either walk or run so we ran. When we finally reached a road overpass where several other runners and cyclists were congregated to stay dry and wait the storm out, we were already soaked and the storm was dissipating so we kept on going. Thankfully, the stifling humidity reappeared during the last few km.

Wallace was a superstar and I was extremely proud of him. Just the night before, he was a shivering mass of jello because of the Canada Day fireworks going off all over the neighbourhood in backyards, and from the city's large display downtown that could be heard clearly from our place. He reacts this way in thunderstorms, too, and if I had known the weather was going to turn as quickly as it did, I would not have taken him out with me. :( But it must have been the combination of hail, rain and running that distracted him because he a true trooper, keeping pace through these conditions. The only time he gave indication of being frightened was when he switched from running on my left side to my right - he has never done this before while running with me, but after a particularly loud crack of thunder from the sky on my left, he quickly ran behind me over to my other side. :)

I can honestly say the weather system distracted me from my run enough so that it didn't feel half as long as last week's run! I am truly liking the Garmin-free-ish runs I am running these days. Just having the display on distance is forcing me not to look at it and to do my best running a steady and consistent pace on my own. I am pleased with my splits from this run as they are very even-keeled ... I would like to see them faster but this is the whole point of my PR-based training program and I trust it. :)

No gym classes today - the ones I were interested in were scheduled while I was running and I don't have time today. I am playing it by ear to see if I am running 7K tomorrow to end my Week 2/17 or if I am going to take it as an extra day of rest for a change.

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