Great week!

It started last Saturday with an 8k run and ended with 17 kilometres yesterday - 8 straight days of running...a first for me!

This week's total of 53k was my highest since before the half marathon January 15th. I was surprised at how strong I felt during yesterday's long run and how great my legs feel today.

I ran inside on the treadmill because it was raining all day and the thought of slogging through the slush and puddles on the sidewalks and roads was not appealing. As much as I dislike the treadmill, there are advantages on days like yesterday.

Ian had the run structured for the pace to increase every 2k until the 10k mark when the paces slowed every 2k, with the slowest pace over the last 1k. The pace changes helped break up the monotony of the run and to make it even more interesting, I varied the incline every 500m or so from the 5k point onward, going from a 1% grade up to as high as 4%.

I started at a 5:10/pace, with the fastest pace being 4:50/k from the 8 to 10k points. The varying inclines really worked my legs, but considering the mileage I had racked up the previous 7 days, it wasn't a killer run and I felt much stronger at the end of the run than I had at the finish of my 15k run the previous Sunday.

I have to admit, when I first looked at the plan Ian had developed for me this past week, I thought he was trying to kill me! Now that it's over, I feel awesome physically and running as many days consecutively as I have gives me a sense of accomplishment and confidence in my conditioning and ability to push myself.

I guess Ian really does know what he's doing. :)

I had planned to run the St. Paddy's Day 10k here in Ottawa next Saturday the 12th, but I haven't entered yet. I'm going to enter at the last minute Saturday morning if the weather is reasonable and spots remain in the event. I have no desire to run in the snow, rain or cold...all of which we've been getting a lot of recently.

And speaking of weather, the rain turned to snow over night, so there's about 7cm of the white stuff waiting for me and my snow blower. I'm ready for winter to leave!

Have a great week!