Two Runs in One...

...Post!

Tempo Thursday
Work took me to Whitehorse, Yukon this week, so I got to do my tempo run up there.  I've been to Whitehorse before and knew that there was a trail that went along the river.  Unfortunately, though I had packed my Garmin, the battery was low so I went out with just my watch.  Since I didn't know my pace, I just went on comfort level.  And since I didn't know how far I was going, I went based on time.  18 minutes at an easy, comfortable pace, 18 minutes at a slightly uncomfortable pace and then back to comfortable until I got back to the hotel.

I ran through downtown to get to the river, along the river and through a camp ground.  Through this section there were lots of other people on the trail and I was very comfortable.  When I got to the bridge to cross to the other side, it was time to up my pace.  The trail went into a wooded area and suddenly there weren't any other people around.  I wasn't sure about wildlife, and was wishing I had my bear bell until I got back out to the street.  It was a nice trail though - I wish I'd been able to relax more to enjoy it. 

I got back to the hotel just ahead of schedule, but called it a day so I'd have time to stretch and get packed up before starting work.  I later used Map My Run and figured I went about 8.5K (I had 9K on the schedule).

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me on my run, so I don't have any photos along the trail, but later in the day, work took me to the Yukon Wildlife Reserve and I got a close up view of these guys:

That's a friendly lady muskox!

I love my job!

Long Run
My first long run of this round of marathon training was this morning. 

The plan:  21K at MRP + 19s (6:12/km or 9:58/mile)

The weather at the start:  13C and drizzling

Breakfast:  Oatmeal and one cup of coffee, plus a Gu right before setting out

Ready to go!

I slept through my alarm but still managed to be up by 7:30am, and hoped to be out by 8:45 after letting my breakfast settle.  Unfortunately, I'm on call for work this weekend and had a phone call that delayed me until 9:30.  Luckily, the drizzle and cloud was keeping the temperature cool, so even though I didn't finish my run until almost noon, I was comfortable the entire time.

Because I was on call, I didn't want to be too far away from home, just in case something came up.  I also had to carry my cell phone, and tried it in my new spibelt that I picked up at the Vancouver race expo.  I thought it might bounce a bit, but to be honest, after the first 5 minutes, I forgot it was there.

The whole run was great.  I checked out a few dead end streeets I've never been down, before heading out around a loop I haven't done in a long time. I was slightly ahead of pace the whole time, took a quick walk break for a Gu at 7K, stopped at 10K for a couple of minutes to stretch and check a message on my phone, another quick walk break at 14K for another Gu, and was just enjoying the run.  At 18K, I was on the street where I was chased by dogs in the winter.  I've run down there since, but for some reason today, I had a bad feeling, and was tensing up.  As a result, my form was falling apart, and my comfortable pace wasn't feeling comfortable.  I took an extra walk break to regroup. 

The bad feeling was for nothing, there were no dogs in sight, and since I'd had a little extra rest, I decided to push the final 2.5K at race pace.

The result:  21K in 2:08:15 or 6:06/km pace (Last 2 km @ 5:48 and 5:50 - right on target).

Weather at the end: 14C and overcast (I got lucky!)

Done!