30k and return to normal

In order to keep up my training for all things Ultra (and trail races, and marathons) I have moved the normal Sunday LSD's to Saturday, so that I may take out my 5k peepers. 

Yesterday's long run had us meeting at Eau Claire at 8:30, and after a bit of discussion, heading west.  The thought was to turn around at Stoney Trail, but I thought we had run this route with Blood and Guts and that it came out at 29.  So Stoney Trail sounded a little further than what we had planned.  But go with the flow, right?  It was a sunny day, with temps hovering around the 0C mark.  However, the humidity (which we don't get here in Calgary, and which I don't like!) was high, so it felt more like -5C.  I stuck with my long pants, long tee and Resolution 2010 jacket.  A headband kept the ears warm, while the gloves lasted about 2km before being ditched borrowed by J.  Warm hands, cold heart...wait...that doesn't seem right, somehow!  But I have very warm hands, so didn't need the gloves, ever.  It hasn't snowed for so long, and it's been so warm, that the pathways were clear (occasional ice patch) all the way to Home Road, or about the first 9-10km.  Then we dealt with a little packed stuff on the road by Shouldice, and clear again until we hit the pathway at the end of Bowmont Cres (??).  Here, it was quickly evident that this pathway not only didn't get much sun, it has never seen a shovel or tractor!  It was like this for about a km or so, a little on the treacherous side, but slow and steady wins the race.  After getting through that, we rediscovered clear pathway all the way to Stoney Trail, crossing back over the river to Bowness Park.  Again with the packed snow, making us all look like drunken sailors running along, as we weaved from one side of the road to the other, trying to find that one patch of asphalt to stick to.  After a potty break for the some of the group (I am a camel...) and J. filling her water bottles with coffee to stay warm (I am also a furnace).  I did stick to the back of the pack, running with either MS, MM or Ja, while J. and D. easily took the lead.  I think the caffeine J. consumed helped!

At one of the last pit stops, we realized that this 30km run was going to be a tad longer than expected.  After all, we were at Angel's, which is 7km from Eau Claire, and already well over 26km into the run.  Uh-oh.  We (MS and I) decided that we would run to 30, stick to the south side (slightly shorter pathway system) and walk cool-down the balance in.  We ended up running to 14th St, and ended at 31, but still had over 2km to walk back.  Took just over 4 hours (running...I tried to remember to shut off Mr. Garmin at the pit stops), with a pace of 8:01/km.  Good run, and a great day.  Lunch was our usual Sunday fare of non-fat latte, egg wrap and fruit salad.  Nom, nom, nom.

After the run, I went down to Mom's to haul some trash up to the bins and take her for some groceries.  Still seems odd to refer milk, whipping cream, mini-wheats, jelly beans and cookies as "groceries".  After that we stopped at Humpty's for dinner.  Mom gets tired of the Meals on Wheels, and I thought Humpty's would be a nice change.  Mom, as usual, ordered a hamburger because "she never gets those"...ah, memory loss is a wonderful thing, and as usual, ate half of it before declaring defeat.  I settled on a half order of a pan scrambler...not like I how I remembered them.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing!  Dropped Mom off at home, got her settled in, before heading for my couch.  It turned into a long day after all.

This morning's run was a nice 25 minute jaunt, finishing just over 3km.  I was debating heading back out for a steady, but then reminded myself I had run over 30km yesterday.  I did not need to train push it more today.  Although I had no idea what to do with myself, coming in just past 9am, while everyone else I know was still out running!  I settled for a coffee and a gab with some other runners I don't know as well, and then heading down to the Fitness Expo being held in town this weekend.

Not very exciting...needs a few more booths and a bit more variety, but I went to support J., who was there promoting the L'Arche run in March (convinced another friend to sign up for it!).  I did purchase some really good, all natural granola that is wicked high in protein (21gms for a quarter cup) and, are you ready?  Powdered Peanut Butter!!  Ingredient list: peanuts, sugar, salt.  Fat: 1.5gm!!!  That means 1 point for 2 tbsp, rather than 3 pts for 1 tbsp of traditional.  Yes please!

Just add water...looks like peanut butter, smells like peanut butter, tastes like peanut butter!  WINNER!!

Home, where I've puttered, and then dinner of roasted lamb chops, rice and lentil pilaf and artichoke hearts.  Sounds fancy, no??  Hearts out of a jar (non-oil variety), pilaf out of a box and chops already seasoned.  They were good though, although I may have over-cooked them a mite.  I think medium rare would have been better, while these were medium.  Or well...don't know.  Still very tender and quite tasty.

Boot camp resumes at 6am, so my goal is to be in bed, lights out by 10:30.  The alarm at 5 is going to be RUDE but necessary!

Later,