Great new run route, and lonely spin

There was still a bit of snow on the ground this morning, so I wanted a route where I could see the path. So much for down beside the canal. I parked up on top of the ridge beside the Canoe Club, then started walking south on the path. Partway along there's a road that crosses over top of Deerfoot that leads to the Inglewood Golf Club. My first thought was to take it down to the canal path and keep heading south, since that part of the path is flat and reasonably well lit. But where the road turns right, there's a locked gravel access road for the canal, and there were lots of people and dog prints along it. I thought what the heck, why not?

It turns out that road goes back up hill and along south way above Deerfoot. You get an absolutely stunning view of the city, including downtown. I ran all the way down to a cellphone tower, then it was time to turn around and retrace my steps back to the car. I spent half the time enjoying the view of the city, and the other half of the time looking at the pre-dawn sky. I'm sure going to do this route again!

Something that's new to me, but will be old hat to all you runners, is that I noticed I was carrying tension in my legs. A few steps and I managed to get rid of it, and in the process run smoother. A minute later I noticed tension in my shoulders and upper back, and managed to get rid of that as well. Later during the run, I was starting to slow down as my bod was thinking "3 min, time to walk", and I told it to keep going and pick up the pace, and it did. For much of the run portion I was breathing deeply and evenly, with no gasping, and could still talk. I haven't run this fast since high school! Yeah Susi, I can hear the smug "told ya so."

7 minutes warmup walking briskly
4 x 5 min run 3 min walk
8 min cool down walk
45 minutes total, and I'm guessing from Google Maps, about 5.5 Km.

Busy day at work, then zoomed straight to the Library for my volunteer stint helping to teach computer courses to run into a brand new project we couldn't get going. Then home to grab a quick small bite of food.

Then, evening spin in my basement! I tell you, it doesn't get anymore more exciting than this. The IGP™ called for a 45 min ride. I really couldn't face doing one legged drills, though I know I need them. I wanted to sit and pedal the entire time. Well, I didn't quite make it; I started feeling uncomfortable on the bike at 40 min and shifting around. But throughout the spin, there was a number of times where all my weight was on my butt and the spin was really happening. Every time it did, my cadence picked up by about 5 rpm or so.

10 min warm up easy spin at 85 rpm
shift into 1 harder gear
1 min at 85, then 1 min at 100
shift into 1 harder gear again
1 min at 85, then 1 min at 100
shift into 1 harder gear again
1 min at 85, then 1 min at 100, and about here my HR topped 140 so I decided not to go another gear
Then back to easy gear again and spin 4 minutes to bring heart rate down
Do it all again on 20, and again on 30.
on 40 go into an easier gear yet and easy spin for 5 min to to relax the legs.

45 min run, 45 min bike.