Guided by Orion

Here's another recap of the past couple of weeks.

• Jan 29th- Double run day. No 1 was 5km on the dreadmill. No 2 was the regular 11km tempo tuesday route. Followed with a 2600m swim
• Jan 30th- 5km in 30 mins on Crestdale Dr. and Rt. 4. Snow, rain, ice etc. Nice and easy. Yesterday was tough.
• Jan 31st- 5.6km on TM at work. 2 sets of 3 x 5 mins increasing speed plus cooldown. Barefoot warm-up.
• Feb 1st- New Waterford big loop from school. 5.9km in 30-ish minutes. Cool and windy. Mind was like, "YES". Legs were like, "NO".
• Feb 2nd- 5km. Colder than I thought. -10-ish. Rt. 4. Easy pace. Big run tomorrow. With Duke and George. 3800m swim at the CGC this morning.
• Feb 3rd- Coxheath loop from home with P-Mac. Just under 2hrs for 21.4 km which is what I was hoping for. Snowy slippery conditions but perfect temp. Maximum beard ice.
• Feb 4th- 5km on Crestdale Drive with the dogs. Easy pace after yesterday. Beautiful conditions... for skating. Running into an icy headwind is its own reward... on the way home.
• Feb 5th- 11km. Tempo Tuesday route with P-Mac and Sarah. Slippery around town. Short swim afterward. Around 1500m. Was not feelin' it.
• Feb 6th- North End loop with Jody. 5.5 km. 1800m swim later in the night.
• Feb 7th- 4.8 km. TM at work. Some barefoot.
• Feb 8th- 5km in 32 mins. On the lake with the dogs and my cleats. Very slippery and slow but beautiful. Alien formations on the ice. Incredible and beautiful variation in ice conditions. Rippled surfaces, crusty snow, hills of ice and places so clear you can see through to the reeds below. Running on the lake has been a fantastic experience and has given me a new perspective on the place I live.
• Feb 9th- Blizzard day 1. 5.4 km. Crestdale Drive with Duke. Just plowed but slippery. 
• Feb 10th- Blizzard day 2. 8km. Rt. 4 to Coxheath Road and back. My apologies to the blizzard for having to endure me two days in a row.
• Feb 11th- 16km. This is the start of a 2 week taper to the LJJ. I'm a bit worried about the pain in my right ankle. I had a similar thing happen last year around this time. It seems to come with long runs and I really need to think about having it checked out. Home to Mountain Rd. and back with Duke. Beautiful sunny day. Felt great. A few pick-ups in the mix. Broke 300km in the 100 days challenge. 3000m swim too!
• Feb 12th- 7.3km. Northend loop from the pool. Reminded me of the annual Ski Ben Eoin slush bowl. 3200m swim.
• Feb 13th- 5.4km. Northend with Jody. The downtown slush bowl has become a skating rink! Super slow and easy.
• Feb 14th- 4.25km. Really slow and easy run. I really was not feeling like running today. My ankle is sore and I'm dead tired. I put it off until around 10 when I finally took the dogs and headed down Crestdale. Stunningly beautiful clear night. Parts of Crestdale are pitch black at night and the stars and a yellow crescent moon lit the way. 

A Haiku

A night of darkness

See Orion the hunter

And the two black dogs