It's late in the season, but I'm finally back into my training routine... and while I have enjoyed my summer of slack, it's time to salvage a little of the season and gear up for the Toronto Marathon.

I'd forgotten how pleasant it is to be tired and sore all the time...

Ok no more messing around. Training went back on track today. The next 2 months will be run focused, with swimming coming second, and cycling third. I'm still going to be distracted, but I'll figure out a way to manage it all.

My run was OK, although my recovery seems to be a little slower than I would have thought for a wee 21k, but then again I have been slacking. I've got to work in getting my speed up over the next 3 weeks, and then even more so after my 21k race on April 22.

Total Time: 1:54 2:00 pm - Random Street Run
- run: 21k 1:54 street run

Like I said, no more than a short lunchtime run on the track. However, it felt better than Tues...

Total Time: 0:30

12:00 pm - YMCA Track
- run: 0:30 track run (ok pace)

I'm still not up to snuff. I felt a little ill on both the run and the swim last night. Today is going to be a nothing training day due to running on 3 hours sleep, and a previous agreement to do some work. I'm afraid tomorrow is going to be sparse as well (a lunchtime run)...

Total Time: 1:00

5:30 pm - YMCA Track and Swim
- run: 0:30 track run (ok pace)
- swim: 0:30 1250 (mixed, 750free, 500s and 250)

Ok I've lost it for pretty much this entire month. I've got to get back on track, but I'm faced with many distractions at the moment. Recent events have knocked training back a priority level, but I'll find a way to manage everything...

Total Time: 0:30

12:00 pm - YMCA Swim
- swim: 0:30 1250 (mixed, 750free, 500s and 250)

Forgot my swimsuit so it turned into a fairly long run day instead of a long swim day. BTW I love my new Polar RS800sd. I'll be reviewing it at some point in the future.

Total Time: 2:15

12:00 pm - YMCA Treadmill
- run: 0:30 treadmill (3 breaks to check the calibration of my foot-pod)

5:30 pm - YMCA Track and Weights
- run: 1:00 track run (ok pace)
- weights: 0:30 weights and core (upper body)
- stretch: 0:15

Life keeps interfering with training... I've got to find a way to curb it or at least accommodate it better. I'm not going to complain too much though because I've had a great week.

But skimping on training can't continue; I've got goals that I have to achieve!!!

Total Time 6 days: 4:00

Wed (Nada - other obligations)

Thurs (noon and night had other obligations)
7:30 am - YMCA Run
- run: 1:00 (treadmill)

Fri
7:45 am - YMCA Run
- run: 0:30 (treadmill)
12:00 pm - YMCA swim
- swim: 0:30 1250 (mixed 750 free sets of 500 and 250)

Sat
5:30 pm - YMCA run and swim
- run: 1:45 track and treadmill
- swim: 0:15 easy recovery from run

Sun (Nada -- Nuit Blanche left me destroyed)

Mon (Nada -- too busy with work and other obligations)

Double run, weights, and a short swim... Also I believe I've mentioned before how unpleasant I find training in the morning to be!!! At any rate, I have one more double run day to do to get caught up the the Run 28 times in Feb Slowtwitch challenge (and of course tomorrow is the 28th).

Total Time: 1:50

7:30 pm - YMCA Treadmill and weights
- run: 0:30 easy run - weights: 0:30 upper body and stretch

12:30 pm - YMCA Track
- run: 0:30 track run (ok pace)
- swim: 0:20 1000m (500 free, 500 flipper kick -- loosen muscles)

Last Sat I went snowshoeing at the Park national du Mont-Orford, and it was a blast. It was the perfect day, with the perfect company, in a beautiful place. Well... perfect... with the exception of the $185 speeding ticket I got on my way out there. At any rate, snowshoeing is a lot easier than I remembered it being as a kid, but a good workout nonetheless. My guess is that it's a bit easier because the technology of it seems to have made leaps and bounds. When I was a kid I used snowshoes that were hand made for me by my great grandfather (tanned the hides and everything). At some point I'd like to try doing a fairly long run in snowshoes, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get to it this winter.

Sat was a super fun but very long day. After getting back to Montreal we decided to check out the Festival MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE. It was worth checking out, but the DJ bubble got a little too boring a little too fast. After that, in an act of insanity, we decided to dance the night away at I LOVE NEON. Tiga's set was great, but we took off at around 1:45 because the techno was getting a little too hard and tiredness had set in with a vengeance.

Triple run and a short swim...

Total Time: 2:00

7:45 pm - YMCA Treadmill
- run: 0:30 easy run

12:00 pm - YMCA Track
- run: 0:30 track run (good pace)
- swim: 0:20 1000m (mixed, 500 free, sets of 250)

9:00 pm - YMCA Treadmill - run: 0:30 unenthusiastic run
- stretch: 0:10 stretch

Outside of trail running on Fri I had a very active but not very training oriented (at least directly) weekend. Snowshoeing, dancing, and a lack of sleep on Sat left me with a Sun of rest and geeking out at the cafe.

Total Time 3 days: 1:45

Fri
1:30 pm - Mt Royal Trail run
- run: 1:45 great run (no idea of the distance)

Sat
I went snowshoeing for 2:30 in the eastern townships during the day, and I danced away the night at I Love Neon (at least 2 hours solid dancing). I'm not counting these as training time though (just pointing out that I wasn't sitting on my ass).

Sun
Sore, tired, and running on 5 hours sleep.

This afternoon I went trail running on snow covered trails of Mt Royal. I was impressed by level of difficulty winter adds: stairs are no longer stairs, the terrain becomes uneven and unstable, and you have to make sure you don't drift to far to the edge when your running the crest at the top. In other words Mt. Royal becomes a bit more of a technical run (as opposed to just fun). If this appeals to you, then the only thing I'd caution is that you be careful not to trample the x-country ski trails... I like to ski as well.

No enthusiasm this week, so I took it as a sign that I should take it easy. But starting tomorrow I'm going to start pushing again.

Total Time 3 days: 2:30

Tues
12:00 pm - YMCA track
- run: 0:30 ok run
5:30 pm - YMCA swim
- swim: 0:30 1250 (mixed, 750free, 500s and 250)

Wed
11:30 pm - YMCA swim
- swim: 0:30 1500 (1000 continuous free, and 500kick)

Thurs
5:30 pm - YMCA swim
- swim: 1:00 2250 (mixed, 1250 free, 500s and 250)

Went to Ottawa for the weekend, and while I got a 12km of skating in on Sat I'm not going to count it. On Sun I did little other than hang out with my Dad, and on Mon I was in full geek out mode with a Drupal 5.1 setup for mile-end.qc.ca and a well overdue Gentoo upgrade on my Mythtv box.

Couldn't make the 6:30am wake time, and I took it a bit easy, but overall it was OK.

Total Time: 1:45

12:00 pm - YMCA Swim
- swim: 0:30 1250 (mixed, 750free, 500s and 250)

5:30 pm - YMCA track, and weights
- run: 0:40 good track run
- weights: 0:35 upper body, core, and stretch

There's the thick sweet odour of dense tropical flora in the air as the over grown trails become difficult... You feel the moister being stripped from your body by the wind as it fills your tracks in the desert dunes... The fields of wheat gently sway in the breeze under miles of sky on a horizonless road... The chill hits bone as you push ahead across the ice... You fall into the rythm of the waves as they pound the shore...

And as you run you are fully aware of your stride length, cadence, speed, distance covered, heart rate, elevation, etc... All a because you're wearing a Polar RS800sd that you purchased from a local seller on EBay for a third off the price it would cost you at Boutique Courir (though I love Boutique Courir). And since you only won the bid last night you cross your fingers and hope it arrives as advertised (new, unopened, with warranty intact).

I'll post a review once it's arrived and I've given it a good run for the money.

FYI I already own a Garmin Forerunner 205, and while the GPS is a fun toy for the geek in me, I found that the satellite connection cuts out too frequently in the city (Montreal) and is non existent in the woods...

Triple run on a long swim day...

Total Time: 3:20

7:45 pm - YMCA Treadmill
- run: 0:30 easy run

12:00 pm - YMCA Track
- swim: 0:30 track run (good pace)
- core: 0:10 core and stretch

5:30 pm - YMCA swim, and track
- swim: 1:30 3000 meters (mixed, 1500 free, sets of 500)
- run: 0:30 ok track run
- stretch: 0:10 stretch

Almonds are widely considered to be one of the super-foods (along with flax seed, kale, butternut squash, broccoli, sweet potatoes...). They are very good source of protein, Vitamin E (an antioxidant), phosphorus, calcium, and fiber. They also contain potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, and trace amounts of the B vitamins thiamine and riboflavin and.

Anyway, I've been eating a lot of almonds lately, and just now I was sitting in my office munching away when a co-worker informed me that almonds help slow drunkenness and prevent hangovers. A quick search for "almonds hang over" turned up this site which states:

Almonds: American Indians contend that eating six raw almonds before imbibing helps prevent intoxication. Plus, they taste good!

Not exactly proof, but here's a cheers to almonds.

The Slowtwitch frequency challenge:

1. 28 runs platinum, 24 gold, 20 silver, 16 bronze
   You get credit for double/triple/quad runs in a day but they must be spaced 4 hours apart...for example, a good way to get doubles might be to "run commute" part way to work and part way back.
2. You get no credit for intensity
3. You get no credit for running longer than 30 min
4. minimum 30' per run
5. Because you can double up, you can actually take rest days and hit platinum!

So far so good, I'm at 16 runs in 15 days. Most of my runs thus far have been 30min average runs, but I have had one 3 hour long run and one 10k race so...