So that decision made, I was up out of bed at 6:30 this morning, ready to pound the pavement for a no later than 7am start. Happy to report I just made it.
I like this route a lot - it's one I use often. A good downhill section, nice long stretches, not too many lights given the distance, and it feels okay. I've run it a bunch of times now. And while the plan only called for 7 this week I knew that since I skipped one of the weekday runs and I've done this so many times before, it was no biggie to add that extra k into the mix.
Was interested to see what my HRM would tell me today so I was sure to wear it. Thankfully the sun wasn't too blazingly hot at this time of day and I was able to spend a good portion of my run in shade which really helped. Nevertheless, my heart rate was all over the place. At one point I peaked at 173 or something insane like that - and this is after running down a big hill! What gives!?
Then my HRM started playing games with my mind. I decided that I wanted to work on keep my heart rate a bit lower where I could so I decided that every time I crossed the 170 mark I'd switch to walking until I got back into the low 150s. Well. You'd be surprised at how long that can take! And prolonged walking breaks are no friend of a decent pace, and as my pace slowed down that brought on a whole new set of mind games.
So I gave my head a shake, reminded myself that I'd been just fine all these times before and that while the information was useful in many ways, I couldn't let it take over my run. So I switched the display on my watch and paid attention to other details for the remainder of my walk.
The highlight of this particular run was realizing that if I ran on the east sidewalk going up Garden Street I could have shade pretty much the entire way up. No so on the west side, the side I've traditionally run for whatever silly reason. Alas. I guess some lessons really are better late than never.
Once I finally got home after my HRM mindfuck run, I hopped in the shower and quickly got ready to head up to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for day two (to us) of the Grand Prix. Micheal loves race cars and racing in general and I have to admit, the first time I went with him two years ago I was skeptical. I don't give a flying proverbial about cars so this was really me going in solidarity/moral support for him. Luckily and to my own surprise I really enjoyed myself so this is something we look forward to each summer.
They've changed the schedule around this year so whereas in the past we would have one for a few hours on the Sunday to see the races he was interested in, now we have to go three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Eeps. He's a huge Porsche fan so was really keen to see the GT3 Cup Challenge races last night and this morning.
I was delighted because this year there were not one but two pink Porsches in the race. Anyone that knows me is well aware of my addiction to the colour so this was just an extra sweet spot to the day.
After the race we toured around the paddock to get a closer look at the competing cars and I found one of them. Driven by a woman (too cool) named Michelle Snow, I have to say I loved the decal on the rear bumper of her car:
Loved it so much it's my new Facebook cover picture. And while I don't necessarily pass a lot of boys at my current running speed, I love the sentiment.
Back to the track tomorrow if the rain holds off, then likely a late day 3k treadmill run. Enjoy the weekend, everyone!!
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