Training Log: Jan 19 - 25 (13:20)

Great week of running. I've only been back really training at any sort of intensity for about 10 days now since being sick, but have felt better each day. The tough part will be not to push it too much. I feel in a very good place that each day I'm gettng a little bit closer to being able to do pretty much anything that I was able to do before getting sick. Our 3:34 pulk run on Sunday was a real confidence builder and was a good opportunity to test out some gear. I will continue to build my mileage this week and plan to have a good long run, or possibly back-to-back next weekend.

Week Ending Total = 13:20

Mon/19 (2:05)
am (1:02) Dion Snowshoes. Easy snowshoe run on Paudyn loop with snowshoes. Trail a little more packed down after yesterdays loops. Beautiful morning. Cold, but bright sunshine.
pm (1:03) DionSS. Paudyn loop with Sara, then out to Varty Lake. Trail to the lake good and fast. Ran steady on the way back to meet Sara.

Tue/20 (1:18)
am (:47) DionSS. Easy snowshoe run at Lemoine before work in Kingston. Felt really quite good, but a little tired after the past two days. Feeling much stronger each day, but will take a while for fitness to return. Very happy to be feeling like I'm training again. Also, gave an early morning talk on ultrarunning to the Rotary Club of Kingston at their breakfast meeting.
pm (:31) Raceblades/Microspikes. Easy run on Cat West with Sara. Need to be a little proactive with recovery days for a bit.

Wed/21 (2:10)
am (1:30) Crosslite. Great run with pulk from home to North Trail and out onto Varty Lake. Could have worn snowshoes on trail, but good conditions without which was nice. Felt good to run with pulk again. Used green sled to save yellow one for Rock and Ice.
pm (:40) DionSS. Easy snowshoe run with Sara on Cat Trail West. Legs felt pretty good after morning run, but probably need to take it a little easier tomorrow and not rush back too quickly.

Thu/22 (:45)
pm (:45) DionSS. Easy run on Hare Trail. Have increased quite a bit this week, so was feeling the need to take a bit of a recovery day. Was nice getting out though.

Fri/23 (1:56)
am (1:00) DionSS. Beautiful snowshoe run though a couple of loops of Paudyn Trails. Very warm temp today of 0C, so was good to get the trail packed down a little before the cold weather that's coming this weekend.
pm (:56) DionSS. Nice night snowshoe run with Sara on Paudyn trails. Very mild still. Great footing.

Sat/24 (1:32)
am (1:00) Crosslite screwshoes. Pretty cold with a strong wind. Beautiful sunny day though. Ran easy with Sara on Cataraqui Trail West. Footing very good from freezeup last night.
pm (:32) DionSS. Nice easy snowshoe run on our backyard trail. Felt pretty good and wanted to keep going, but decided to save something for tomorrow.

Sun/25 (3:34)
pm (3:34) Crosslites. Great pulk run with Sara and a really good chance to test out gear. We were planning to run Cataraqui Trail West, then do a big loop on Varty Lake. Started out well, but got halfway across the lake and poked through a few places into some slush that hadn't frozen. We looked at options of going around, but didn't feel safe going off the snowmobile tracks, so turned around and re-traced our footsteps back off the lake. We weren't really worried about the lake as it is not very deep, but the thought of running with really wet feet for another couple of hours wasn't very appealing. So followed our route back to where we started and then headed north to go through a more wooded section of trail that meanders through a marsh before going out onto the east end of Varty Lake. We knew this section was solid and didn't need to go out very far anyhow to get the time we wanted in. The sun was just setting and it was beautiful as we came to the lake. I found myself not wanting to turn back, but felt that 3.5 hrs would be much better to limit it to at this point in coming back from being sick. Felt great during the run and actually seemed to get stronger as I went. My sled was loaded pretty heavy today with probably about 75% of what I will be pulling at Rock and Ice. I still need to modify my sled a bit more to make it slide smoother.
***RANT: Lot's of snowmobiles on the trails today. I have a real love/hate relationship with them. Love them because they make great trails in addition to the trail maintenance they do, but hate them for the speed, noise and pollution/smell. You can literally smell a snowmobile for 10mins or longer after they've passed by. Can't understand why there are no regulations regarding emission tests on them, when there is on cars. Crazy. Most of the time, snowmobilers are considerate when passing on the trail, but I would say that about 10% are idiots who think it's fun to fly by as fast as possible.***

Here are a few photos and a couple of videos from our Sunday run...

Sara with her weighted backpack...
Pulk running on Varty Lake...

Sara on the West end of Varty Lake. Was strange as it's sunny here, but the weather changed quickly and was snowing hard within a couple of minutes...

East shore of Varty Lake at sunset...

Running through the marsh...

Coming off Varty Lake East onto the marsh...

The benefits of running with a pulk...