This isn't Venice, but we've got our own canal...

Joy here...Okay, these days I live in Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada. And I'm lucky enough to live just down the road from the Rideau Canal. This canal is not only a National Historic Site here in Canada, but it has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Rideau Canal Waterway links together rivers and lakes all the way from Ottawa to Kingston (approx. 200 km in length). In the winter time, the canal by our house becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world's largest skating rink. Depending on the winter, the skateway is usually up and running by January, and stays open until sometime in March. But now it's the middle of a steamy hot summer, and the canal is water, and there's not a piece of ice to be seen anywhere. Alongside the canal there are walking/running/cycling paths that prove to be absolutely excellent for runners. Depending on which bridge I decide to cross over, I can run along the canal for a 5 km loop, a 9 km loop, a 10 km loop, a 12 km loop, or a 15 km loop. I'm even figuring out ways of extending my runs along the canal for even greater distances. So the benefits of having this running path literally right out of my doorstep are multiple: it's simply beautiful; it's inspiring to see other runners of all shapes and sizes out and about; it's convenient; it's safe etc. etc. Generally speaking that path along the canal is where most of my runs here in Ottawa take place. And yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) are no different.

After Monday's "rest" day (and that's only if you consider getting in the car and driving for 4 hours on the highway "rest"), Tuesday's workout was scheduled as a tempo workout, with Wednesday's workout as an "easy" run. What really happened is that on Tuesday, I thought I was going to die. I ran easily for about 20 minutes to warm up, and then jumped right into the tempo sessions (which is just about 1km each at a near race pace with a 1 minute break between sets). The thing is that in between the 20 minute warm up and the first tempo session, I stopped at the side of the path to fiddle with my Garmin so that I could accurately measure the increased pace of the tempo part of the run. What this means is that by the time I got the Garmin all set to go, my legs weren't all that warmed up anymore, I started at a speedy tempo pace from a dead stop. Let me tell you, my left knee was not so happy that I made such a choice. So I soldiered on through the 4 tempo sets with my knee feeling like it had been struck by lightening. After finishing the tempo sets, I told The Man that I wouldn't be continuing on with our 20 minutes or 30 minutes of cool down running, because I intended merely to limp home and ice my knee (which I proceeded to do). The good news is that after some stretches, some ice, and some anti-inflammatory gel, my left knee is feeling much better.

So much better that I was game for today's run. Now today's run was just supposed to be an "easy" run. For me, "easy" means that I just jog along and think about whatever thoughts happen to enter my brain. I think about work; I think about whatever it is that I'm reading; I think about what I'm going to cook for dinner; I think about life in general; I think about my friends and family; in short, I just let my mind wander. I think that's why Nomi and I enjoy running together so much, because we both have the same idea about what an "easy" run is supposed to be: fun. She'll listen to her iPod and I'll zone out, and the minutes and kilometres will just click by. Well, having an "easy" run with The Man is something different. He's in full-on training mode, which means that when I run with him, I, too, am in full-on training mode, so an "easy" run with him, means 12.5 kms with 8 strides (100 metre almost-sprints) at a pretty solid pace. Needless to say, I wasn't zoning out at all on today's run. I was huffing, and I was puffing, but I completed the workout and didn't need to walk home in agony like yesterday.

So the stats for yesterday's and today's runs are as follows:

(1) Yesterday (Tuesday): Ran for a total distance of 10km, with a warm up and 4 sets of tempo; the tempo was a total of 4.18km and each 1km tempo block was run at an average pace of 4:45min/km.

(2) Today (Wednesday): Ran for a total distance of 12.5km in 1:12:00 with an average pace of 5:47min/km.

While this training is proving to be tougher than I would have imagined when I first envisioned signing on for this 1/2 marathon adventure (largely due to The Man's more structured approach), I'm happy to have the canal vistas by my side while I run in the hopes that with all this hard work, I'll once again be able to just zone out on my run and have a zen running experience. Until then...I'll be huffing and puffing by the canal!

Over and out,

Joy