The need for speed

And so it begins...Calgary is in 5 weeks, so speed work was on the menu tonight at running clinic. Good luck, by the way, for all those runners headed to either Vancouver or California for Big Sur. You'll do awesome.

Back to speed work...as Evil Uncle Doug is running the clinic, and I've only learned Good Uncle Garrath's methods, I wasn't sure what to expect tonight. Imagine my surprise when EU Doug said it would be up to us...either Fartlecks or Speed laps. I'll take the laps! We warmed up with about a km run, nice and slow, before setting up at the start of our lap. It's about 800m, and gives us enough time/space to cool down and let the heart rate drop back to normal. Goal here is consistency (make the 4th lap as good as the 1st) and race pace, which for my little team is 6:52. Speed pace should be around 6:14, but I wanted to work the ladies up to it. The main rule in all of this, is no injuries!!!

Off we went, and hit our stride at about 6:20. Even my heart rate has settled down a bit (I've been eating Cheerios to try and scrub the last of the smoked meat out of my veins!!!), capping out at 174. No more 180's for me! Lap 2 was a little slower, but man, we had a wicked head wind to contend with...still nice pace of 6:23. Lap 3 felt good, and roughly the same pace. In fact, the girls ran ahead, as I was chatting with someone, and I managed to catch up (okay, they were about 5' ahead of me at the end). Last lap and it felt as good as the first. Finished with a nice slow run to cool down, although after the speed work, it feels like you're walking! Overall, our average pace was 6:57, including the warm up and cool down, which rocks da house. Bring on next week. Maybe we'll try the Fartlecks for fun, as the others ran a 7km course, with the intent of hitting speed pace for 200m at a time, for a total of 10 times. Sounds kind of complicated...I like having a set route/distance to follow.

One pint tonight, watching to see if Montreal would continue on in hockey (they are not...sad) and then dropped a friend off at her bus and chat, chat, chat. Home now, and really should be in bed but felt I must update here first. Oh, and while I think of it, wicked good, fast dinner tonight. Boil beef (or chicken or whatever) tortellini till done, and toss with a tablespoon (or gob) of light cream cheese and Greek salad dressing till the cheese melts. OMG, so good...I want more, but I'm out of tortellini. I may have to try it with the gnocchi I have in my fridge tomorrow!

Okay, time for sleeping.

Later,