A Windy, Windy Day

Yesterday I had 9.3 mi on the schedule with 2 x 2:00 hill repeats at the end, with 1:00 of squats or lunges at the top of the hill. Because my run last weekend along the river was so successful I opted to go that way again. This time I started by the curling club since there is a massive hill there that I could use for the hill repeats at the end of my run.

It was 2C (35F) and sunny out, but absolutely crazy windy. Wind gusts were up to 50 kph. (31 mph) As I started on the pathway along the Bow and ran towards Edworthy I was running into the wind. And it pretty well sucked. The big payoff would be once I got to the turnaround and would have the wind at my back. I had no preconceived notions that I’d be able to run at a similar pace to last weekend’s 9.3 miler and as I got more and more tired running into the wind my pace slowed down more and more. I hit 4.5 mi at 47:46.

The way back was pretty uneventful. My pace picked up a bit, but I was still pretty tired from fighting that wind before, so not by a lot. The last 4.5 mi took me 46:48, so a slight…improvement…

After that it was on to my hill repeats. The hill by the curling club is one crazy hill and it felt like I was doing more of a walk than a run going up it. But I got it all done and wound up finishing up with 9.65 mi for the day. Then I did a few different lunges, some more squats and some push ups, then headed off to Starbucks to grab a really big hot chocolate and head home.

Also, a huge congratulations to Iron Bob for his IM NZ finish – in the top ten of his age group! Way to go Bobby!