Pushing a Little Harder

Took a couple of days off, since it's been cold, and we've had a lot of snow. That gave the plows and the shovelers a chance to clean off the sidewalks around the neighbourhood. And for the most part, it was worth the wait.

Added a bit more to the distance tonight, going farther north before turning west and heading up the hill. Crossed James McKevitt, down Shawnee Gate, then west on Shawnee Drive. Then south on Evergreen Street back to James McKevitt. Really nice through there, though such neighbourhoods will be forever beyond my meagre means.

I rather liked the run up Evergreen Street. It's like a long upward curving ramp, kind of like the ramps they thought they'd launch rockets from in the early 50s. Starts out long and almost level, just a slight rise for maybe two thirds of it's length, then it starts to steepen, rising 25 metres to the intersection at James McKevitt in a seemingly short distance. And it looks intimidating from the north end, because you can see this sudden rush skyward at the other end.

Having a look at the GPS, there's about an 88 metre difference in the high and low points on this route, about 280 feet. Cool. The low is near the C-Train track, while the high point is on 162 Avenue, close to James McKevitt.

Today's run:
Distance: 8.89 km. Time: 59:01.12. Speed: 9.0 kph.
Rest distance: 625.5 m. Rest time: 6:00.
Total distance: 9.52 km. Total time: 65:01.

Weather: Cloudy and -18C, with a 21 kph wind from the north north west, for a wind chill of -28C. The wind really wasn't a factor except for the last 500 m or so along Millrise Drive, where it's kind of exposed.

I'm somewhat surprised at how consistent my intervals are. It felt slow on the first three, seeing as how I was climbing for all of them. And the fifth one was a long downward run, which felt faster than the others. The first five were between 1.35 and 1.37 km. The sixth was a slog through unplowed trail, not really packed, and with uneven footing. I assume that's good.