Running 1:10:00 [4] 12.15 km (5:46 / km)
shoes: Saucony Kinvara TR
One last training session with Kim before heading off to Italy. Headed back to SWC for some rolling intervals. Its odd to say but I've never really spent much time out at Strathcona to run, but it makes REALLY good interval terrain. Its a long drive, so that's obviously a bit of a pain, but you never have to deal with dogs, other people, cars, or dogs. Its not crazy technical but twisty and turn-y enough to keep it from being boring.
Anyhow, hammered out the same loop as last week, but did it more times, and just slightly slower. Each interval was slightly tougher than the last, though I did them in about the same time, ranging between 3:44 and 3:42. My Garmin pegs the loop at about 1.07km with zero climb (HA, no).
I feel more confident in my running fitness than I ever have before, which I think really started to come together last October when I really changed my focused heavily into quality over junk miles. Although I still did lots of skiing intervals, we delayed getting into faster intervals until relatively recently, sticking with just getting out and putting in those brisk intervals. However, once we got into the fast stuff, they were also short, pointed, and fast, and I think they went pretty well. It would have been nice to see how my 3000m time is doing, but maybe after this trip I'll give it a go. Obviously I'm also buoyed by my 10 miler success in April, and my relative run speed compared to Mr. Le Beef. Of concern though is my relative lack of technical training, which will hopefully be remedied in Italy to a certain degree.
I've simply run out of ways to get any real tech training in Edmonton what with working all the time and trying to get in solid running workouts. I can't drive 2.5 hours to go to different maps every weekend, and the quality of Wednesday night events this year have been stunningly low. I think Kamloops had some promising indicators especially if I can keep my focus and maintain the process. My plans need to be better, but hopefully improved fitness will give me a little more confidence to slow down and leave controls with less urgency and more purpose.
Theory into action!
Orienteering 45:00 [2] 6.57 km (6:51 / km)
shoes: Pearl Izumi N1
Pulled out the "who's who" of elite orienteering in Edmonton to a brisk control picking session at Coronation Park. This would be another great place for a sprint, methinks. Just cruised comfortably and tried to spot my control, spot my exit direction, though I lost track at one point. Good, but not great.