I’m pretty happy with my training in February. I had two weeks of low mileage thanks to the frigid temperatures, but I shifted my focus to indoor biking and strength training—convincing myself it was all part of the plan.
I’ve always enjoyed strength training, so adding a few extra sessions wasn’t much of a sacrifice. Honestly, if I weren’t an endurance runner, I’d probably be a little obsessed with lifting weights.
Over the past six weeks, I’ve had solid 25-kilometre long runs, and my body is holding up well. I feel like my training is on track, and soon, I’ll be wrapping up this building block and shifting into more focused work.
Lake Minnewanka
Have I mentioned that Lake Minnewanka is one of favourite places to run in the winter? If it wasn’t such a long drive, I would run there every weekend. I went twice in the last few weeks (once in February) with friends. It’s such a great route with many options to increase the distance and the elevation. I went up to Alymer Lookout on both long runs.
Wild horses at Prairie Creek Trail
As I mentioned in previous posts, I have been running local to save time and to make the best of my runs. Winter is sorta on its way out so I have begun to resume my weekend mountain runs. I played it simple last weekend with Prairie Mountain and a run along Prairie Creek. The highlight was passing three wild horses twice.
I have never been so close to a wild horse. Usually I see them from my car. These three were not skittish in the least. I heard from a hiker that they followed him and his dog along the trail.
March training
It can be a struggle to get in the weekend day runs between work and a million other things going on but I am not being too hard on myself if I miss a run. Consistency matters, but so does sustainability (and staying injury free!).
I moved into my new place last week, and I am beginning to feel more mentally stable. Running has been good, but I have been struggling with a bunch of stuff. I’m turning another corner so all good.
February was a solid training month, and I’m feeling strong heading into the next phase of training!