NWT = A OK!

Week 3 is now underway, and I’m very proud to report that we are all still on track with the training program!  We have done sprints, hills, maintenance runs and everything, but the one struggle I am finding is trying to schedule my long runs. The schedule says to do them on Saturday, but I find I almost never have the time to do them Saturdays and end up switching them for Sunday instead. This makes Sunday a great day of Run. Laundry. Nap. Eat Everything. I’m still DOING them, don’t you worry, but I find that with summer around the corner my weekends are filling up and I am having to plan well ahead of time to get in the vital loooooooong runs to build up the stamina for race day.

 

For example, last weekend I was in Yellowknife because it was the week before the equinox.  The last 2 times I was in the Territories were in the winter and the sun came up for an hour a day and it was colder than all heck so I wanted to see what it was like at the other end of the spectrum so off we went.

For the record, it is MUCH nicer there in June than in February. And it is darn right UNSETTLING to have the sun still shining at midnight. But we drank $14 bottles of beer, ate some (unexpectedly) delicious food and I got in both the scheduled weekend runs. And I’m happy to report that while I was a poky little puppy for both the short run and the long, the scenery was great, the temperature was just about perfect, I didn’t get too many bug bites and I didn’t get lost.

 

See how pretty?!  The view, not the sweaty rumpled princess. FYI, 2 minutes
 after this I took a "nature break" in those trees....and got caught by a local out walking their dog.

The only downside was that I was expecting it to be easy breathing since I was 3000 feet closer to sea level than usual, but I ended up gasping along and walking more than I wanted to. Am pretty lazy when I'm by myself. Plus I was one Sweaty Betty, I didn’t realize how humid it was there! I also forgot to bring some carb chews, so I had to eat a granola bar at the halfway mark…tasty but not the best feeling to be choking down sawdust halfway through a 14K run. Will have to remember to pack some for the next few weekends when I am away.

The NWT Legislature! Sadly closed on Sundays or I could have used
 their bathrooms. I mean, taken a tour and learned about the government process.

 

Tomorrow is our first Official Trio Seawheeze Training Run, and it will be 50 minutes of Fartlek training. Which pretty much guarantees I will be struggling for breath for 49 minutes as I laugh childishly.