Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Snowy 5K

This morning Monica and I drove out to Bolton, a town about 45 minutes northwest of Toronto, to check out a used car that we spotted online. Long story short, we liked it and bought it. It's a 2001 Honda Civic with only 59,000 kilometres on it! It's going through a safety inspection and emission test over the next couple of days, and if all goes well we'll be picking it up on Saturday. Yay! Sorry, no pics of the new wheels since they pulled the ad off the Internet, but if I feel inspired I'll take a pic once we bring it home.

In my post from this past Monday I wondered if running in -2 Celsius temperatures (and the dark I might add!) counted as a winter run. Laurel from Lily on the Road commented that in fact this did NOT count, but I wonder what she would say about my 5K this evening? Once again the temperature was somewhere in the -2 Celsius range, but this time it was snowing! Yes, by the time I got home all the sidewalks and roads were covered in snow, and it was still coming down. I got dressed, strapped on the Garmin, and headed out as fast as I could given that the snow was not slowing down and I didn't want to run on anything deeper if I could avoid it. The footing was slippery, but I stuck to the sidewalks even though the accumulation there was thicker since the roads were much more slippery, especially where cars had packed the snow down and turned it into ice underneath the freshly fallen snow. The stuff was coming down pretty good and it was getting in my eyes the entire run, but I had a great time! No accidents, lots of strange looks from many people that I passed along the way, got cut off by a couple of cars and one bus (dumb ass! you totally saw me, and did it anyway!), and made it home unscathed.

I was a bit surprised by my pacing upon uploading the data since I didn't look at the Garmin during the run, preferring to watch the road and my footing instead. I completed the 5k in 25:32 for an average pace of 5:06/km (or roughly 8:12/mile). This was a bit faster than intended, but it felt good so I'm not going to worry about it. I iced the foot down while eating dinner, and will do the whole ice water/hot water routine later after my push up routine. I think the plan calls for sets of 20-25-20-22-MAX, so we'll see what happens.

Garmin don't lie.


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Update: I had the push up numbers a little wrong as I was going on memory, so tonight the sets went 20-25-15-15 and then I maxed out at 40. Tomorrow, chin ups, pull ups, or something resembling the two as much as I can manage...

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10 Comments:

Blogger Mel-2nd Chances said...

awesome run! this run totally counts towards winter running! LOL! Good job getting out there.

November 19, 2008 at 8:52 PM  
Blogger nwgdc said...

great run!

you're getting me excited for the snow to fall! there's nothing like plugging away in a couple inches of powder, having to squint to see where you're going.

ahh, I'm jealous!

November 19, 2008 at 10:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I need to brush up on my weather conversion. But snow, ya that counts. Nice job on the run. be careful on those streets.

November 20, 2008 at 8:13 AM  
Blogger BeachRunner said...

Good luck with the wheels. I am a Honda guy. With a just a
little TLC, they run forever.

November 20, 2008 at 9:21 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

You and Lily can debate whether or not it is a 'winter run' all you want. All I know is that is too freaking cold for me. It's going to be 80 degrees for my lunch run today. Aaaaaa...

November 20, 2008 at 10:35 AM  
Blogger Lily on the Road said...

hahahah, Vava! you are cracking me up! I still say suck it up big guy, it's not a winter run YET!....LOL...oh, yes, I forgot you are in T.O., where they call in the military if it snows more than 2cm....

(you know that I'm just giving you digs....right?) LMAO....

November 20, 2008 at 10:48 AM  
Blogger Nat said...

I love Lily. I was going to say the same thing.

For Toronto -- yes this is a winter run. For the rest of Canada not so much.

November 20, 2008 at 10:51 AM  
Blogger Marcy said...

OOooo look at you getting all speedy! Very nice!

Aaahhhh Hondas. We *heart* them.

November 20, 2008 at 10:51 AM  
Blogger Vava said...

Lily and Nat: I realize that Toronto gets a bad rap, so let's put it out there right now: I am NOT from Toronto, just happen to live here now. I don't find Toronto's winters to be representative of Canada in general, having grown up in Nova Scotia and Montreal I think Toronto is blessed with mild winters. I liked when Toronto had to call in the Military to shovel snow back in 1999, but I liked even more that the 8 Metro-Melts were taken out of storage - these swimming pools on wheels that suck snow into the pool then send the melted residue down the sewer were so entertaining!

And lastly, Toronto sometimes does get hit with a real blast of winter and because we don't have a lot of snow most years the infrastructure for removal is terrible. It sometimes can get cold too. Last night was not one of those times, but I remember biking as a courier through a week of -50 degree windchills in 2000. Dogs wouldn't even go in that weather!

Thanks for the comments! I actually do look forward, in a macabre sort of way, to running in blizzards this year. Makes you feel like you accomplished something when that happens I suspect.

November 20, 2008 at 11:12 AM  
Blogger Aron said...

wow snow?!!? awesome job!! i am glad i dont have to deal with it :)

November 20, 2008 at 1:29 PM  

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