Running cures all.

I went for a nice slow hour long run this morning along the lachine canal in old Montreal. This was after a somewhat late night out in Montreal (3amish) Old Montreal is beautiful and it was a nice sunny day. The great thing about running is that you can do it where ever you go. I sat around the hotel drinking coffee and reading newspapers till about 11:30 am and then ran.

As usual, I felt better during the second half of the run coming back to the hotel. The one thing you do get from ironman training is great endurance and I can usually run up to two hours without exerting myself too much. (beyond 2 hours is work no matter how fit you are) You see interesting things when you run in big cities. Today, there was a guy practicing tight rope walking by the canal. Yesterday, there was some sort of Good Friday religious procession on Mount Royal with people walking carrying a cross and singing. I decided not too bother trying to go for a swim as it was too nice out today. So far this week, I have been swimming 3 times, running four times, did a spinning class and cycled outside once. I may take tomorrow off.

Good Friday in Montreal

I am sitting, drinking coffee in one of my favorite spots- "la Conciergerie Guest House" in old Montreal. I have been coming here for about 18 years. It is a small 20 room hotel in 2 Victorian townhouses. I always get the same room which has 12 foot ceilings, fireplace, queen size bed, sofa and its own outdoor patio. I got the 6am direct flight from Charlottetown and was at my hotel by about 7:15 Montreal time. I napped for about an hour and had breakfast (for the second time) and then headed out for a run. Surprisingly, Spring does not seem any further advanced here than it is on PEI. It is sunny and cool here today, much like it was on PEI yesterday. My running route was to go to the top of Mount Royal and back. I do this route regularly when I am in Montreal. My hotel is near the "Old Port" so you run directly north toward Sherbrooke Street which is pretty much uphill. Then you run west on Sherbrooke until you reach McGill campus. You wind your way through McGill campus and up to the start of Mount Royal park. Those last couple of blocks between McGill and the park are a killer. They are a very steep uphill grade. My heart rate was way up and I was sweating by the time I got into the park. From that point, the run is a pleasant gradual uphill to the top where there is a lookout overlooking the entire city. I usually take a few minutes to enjoy the view and then turn around and head back down. It took me about 40 minutes from my hotel to the top of the park and then a bit less than that back to the hotel because, of course, the second half is all down hill. On the way back to the hotel, I detoured a bit through McGill in search of their pool. I think I found the general area where it is. You know you are addicted to triathlon when: when on your runs in a strange city, you go looking for sports facilities to train for triathlon!

Yesterday afternoon, I did get out biking and did about 45 k. out to Fort Augustus and back. I had the wind at my back on the way out and then came back against the wind. My average speed on the way out was about 34 and then went down to about 30 on the way back. It was typical spring cycling on PEI where a hat, gloves and booties are necessary.

Confessions

If I am going to write in this blog about all the exercise I do, I will also have to admit when I don't quite make it. Yesterday, I fully intended to run 10 k after work but at about 4 pm, I mentally ran out of steam. I had to give my final business law exam last evening from 7-9pm and the idea of sqeezing a run, shower and supper in between 5pm and 7pm lost its appeal. As I've mentioned before, my constant battle is to fit everything into my schedule. It is both a strength and a weakness. I get a lot done but am always on the run.

So, today I am determined to get out cycling after work. In fact, I am going home at lunch time to pump up my tires, adjust my aerobars and get out my cold weather gear so that I can leave work around 4:30 and get right on my bike. I am going to do one of my regular routes (see previous posts re being a creature of habit) out to Fort Augustus and back. Its only about 45 k. but it is a good, fast training run. Tomorrow morning, I am off to Montreal at 6 am and will be up there good and early. I always run from my hotel up to Mount Royal and then up the mountain to the lookout at the top and then back to my hotel. It is about a 17 k run and I am looking forward to that. I was also looking online at the McGill pool schedule to see if I can get some swimming in.

Swimming lesson day

This morning we had our weekly swimming lesson with Dave, the swim coach. We concentrated on Butterfly for the whole practice and it was fun. Challenging but fun. He wants us to become better all-around swimmers and not just be able to do front crawl. I think the theory is that being able to swim other strokes makes you a more balanced swimmer. We had on fins for most of the class to make us feel the water better when we kick. I am finding this stroke challenging as I am not very flexible and tend to keep my body tense. You need to be loose and let your body roll up and down through the water. Today makes a total of about 3 hours swimming this week and that may be all I have time for as I am going to Montreal for Easter weekend. I plan to run in Montreal and I may see if I can find a pool.

Yesterday, I taught spinning from 4:30 to 5:15 and had a good class with about 8 people. In general, I have to keep it in the back of my mind that I am doing a half-ironman triathlon in less than 2 months. (Mooseman on June 7th). I am going to need to get some regular outdoor cycling going pretty soon and some brick (bike/run) training. My plan for the rest of today is just an 8-10 k. run after work because I have to give my UPEI business law exam tonight. I might try to do some speed work by doing intervals of 5 minutes at a regular pace and then 1 minute fast.

Rolling along

I got to the pool at 7 am today (15 mins. earlier than yesterday) and that makes a big difference in the morning. I felt good this morning. I decided to do some longer sets because I have been doing alot of 100s. So, I did a 500 warmup: 200 swim, 200 pull, 100 kick. I did 500m. swim, 400 m. pull, 300 m. swim, 200 m. pull, 100 m swim. I did almost all of it using paddles. Dave, the swim coach, says we should be using paddles for most of our workouts because they just build strength. I have been doing a minimum of 2000 m each swim workout but was thinking this morning that I am soon going to have to increase that. This year's ironman program starts for me in May. (for IM Canada the end of August.) I am going to try to do an advanced 17 week ironman training program. But, some of the workouts seem ridiculously hard or long. The first day's swim is 4600m. I would have to get to the pool at 6am to get that done. So, we will see how that goes starting in May.

I ran about 8 k. after work yesterday. I started out feeling slow and a bit sluggish but about halfway through started to feel great and was almost sprinting by the end of it. Today, I teach a spin class at 4:30 and that will be it for exercise. I am only doing spin classes for another couple of weeks and then I will be finished for the summer.

Back to work

After having a late night on saturday night, my planned 17 k. run on Sunday got downgraded slightly to a 11 k. run. I actually didn't really feel bad but I have my friend, Lawrence, visiting from Vancouver and he was running with me. An 11 k. run is more recreational where you can chat and be finished in a reasonable time. When you start to run over an hour it becomes a bit more like work. This morning, I was a bit late getting to the pool. (7:15 am) Tdisc (Team Discovery) were there ahead of me which is unusual. I am not somebody who can jump out of bed and start working out right away. I need to get up, make coffee and eat something. I have always been that way. This means that I have to be up fairly early to make it to the pool for 7 am. I set my alarm for 6 am but sometimes lie in bed about 15 minutes thinking about getting up.
This morning I did my usual 400m warm up: with 100 swim, 100 pull, 100 swim 100 pull. I did 2- 100 m swim one arm drill switching arms every 6 strokes. Then did 10-100 swim with paddles and then 2-200 pull for a total of 2000m. I was out of the pool by 8 am and showered and at work by 8:30 which is perfect for me. I am planning on running about 10 k after work.