"Yeah, we really only have four winter workouts that we do here (Stanley Park). Tonight is 2 x 5k."
Right. 2 x 5k.
"Well, actually about 4.8 or 4.9. 3 miles. But there are two big hills in it so it seems like 5k."
Great. This is why I don't ask what workouts are before I arrive.
The warmup began with Simon and I chatting about our recent running and his desire to start a trail running clinic. The night was crisp, quite cool, and most importantly dry.
For the past day I have felt a surge in my legs. I am not sure what I owe it to, but since last night I have felt as though my legs wanted to emulate a running stride. I may be crazy in this respect, but there are times when my legs just want to run. I cannot account for this feeling; it comes and goes on its own accord. I have no idea if it has anything to do with the snowshoe last night. I had a great run Sunday after my Saturday snowshoe, so that is something that I will monitor now. I am also getting back into faster running, so maybe the body is finally catching up. Or it may be that I have been going to the gym consistently for the past two weeks and Trevor's strength program is starting to affect my running. Whatever the cause is, my legs felt like running tonight.
So even though it was 2 x 5k, I was happy to be out and to have Simon there to chase. The last time I ran this workout was before Gunner Shaw and it went very well. I ran a 16:17 for the 3ish mile loop (4.82k-ish). Tonight I was to start the workout with Simon, but knowing that he is faster than me, I had to make sure to run within myself or else blow up.
We started out quick, but I felt good. Coach John was at the 800m mark and we found out then that quick was too quick. I went through in 2:30ish, at which point I back right off and settled into a more reasonable pace. The loop essentially follows the Stanley Park seawall, but on the road. There are two long hills in it, but as it is a loop, there is an equal amount of downhill.
I ran the first loop with Simon stretching off into the distance. It was good to have him to focus on and that helped me to run a 16:01 on the first loop. This was 16 seconds faster than my loop before Gunner and I felt good throughout. I was both pleased and confused. Where had this come from? My PB for 5k is 16:09. It is a favourite pastime of runners to speculate about how times transfer from one distance to another, from one course to another. Simon suggested that due to the hills in this loop, the time you get here is close to your real 5k time. If that is the case, then since I ran my second loop in the same time, 16:01, that meant that I ran two PBs tonight (not official PBs, but moral ones). I felt good for that second loop as well, although it was a little tougher (as you would expect). But tonight, things went well. I am excited for the Steveston 8k coming up in a couple of weeks. And I am confused as to how running 3:40s on the treadmill can seem so much harder than holding 3:19s for 16 minutes (TWICE!).
Workout - 2 x 3 miles with 10 minutes recovery (16:01, 16:01)
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