Say hello to WINTER!

It has been about two weeks since my last blog entry, but last week was a “recovery” week on the training plan, which meant that I was supposed to pull back a bit on the mileage and recover from all of the building I have been doing as of late. I kicked off the week by scheduling myself a massage at Equilibrium Massage Therapy on Monday evening and was kneaded into a relaxed state, despite having some “ow” moments when the masseuse worked into my hamstrings and quads –  it was a good reminder that I need to make time for stretching before and after my runs!!

Interestingly, my week of recovery allowed my body to rest a bit, and on Tuesday evening, I felt a slight tickle in my throat and by Wednesday, I had a full blown head cold. Boo. I know that I have been burning the candle at both ends both on the home front and at work, and it finally caught up to me! It was almost as if my body knew it was a light training week and decided that this was the time to get sick. It did force me to go really easy on the days I was scheduled to run and also rest a bit more than normal, so perhaps these things are blessings!

Anyway, with the recovery week complete, and the cold still lingering, I was a bit unsure of how I was going to manage to do the 2 hour long run on the training schedule. Fortunately, my friend and training partner Heather offered to create us a route and agreed to let me set the pace to ensure that I would make it to the finish. I woke up this morning to find a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, so I suited up for the cold and headed out to meet Heather. She had created a wonderful route for us including a mix of road and trails with some hills for good measure. While I definitely didn’t have my normal energy levels, it was such a great route that it went by much faster than if I had been running solo. By the time I got home, I had been out for 2 hours and 3 minutes and the Garmin was reading 22.79km. Most of the snow had melted, but I had Chris snap a photo to show that I was still smiling at the finish! Thanks to Heather for great company and a fantastic route – it was awesome making fresh tracks and feeling the sunshine on our faces on the way home! 🙂

I am off to Vancouver this week for a course for work, but I plan to do my training runs from over there – stay tuned for how that goes. I am also going to be having my birthday this week, so next time I check in, I will be 32 years old!

Happy Running!