25 in 2:15

Running is a mystery sometimes. Even though they were similar distances, last week's long run was totally different from this weeks. Last week was a struggle. I battled to maintain my target pace, got behind, then struggled even more to catch up. I blamed it on the wind, and that was probably a factor, but that doesn't really explain it. It was quite windy today as well, but without really pushing I got well ahead of my target pace. I ended up 15 seconds per kilometer faster than I'd planned, without really forcing it. It wasn't quite my fastest 21 km (half marathon), but it was my fastest 25 km. Last week I was in shorts, this week it was -5c (-10 with the wind chill) and I was running in long pants, jacket, toque, and gloves. There were even a few snowflakes in the air.

There are two young women that regularly pass me running. It wouldn't be so bad if they seemed to be working hard, but they chatter non-stop like they were out for a stroll. Of course, they're probably 40 years younger than me, but it's still depressing. Today I passed them. That was a nice boost to my ego, although totally meaningless. They were probably just taking it easy today!

Another achievement was finally pushing my Garmin's VO2 max estimate up another notch. I'm sure it has little connection to actual VO2 max. I only use it as a general estimate of fitness. It's always nice when it goes up, always depressing when it goes down. Lately I've been bouncing between 55 and 56. I'll have a couple of slow runs, or my heart rate will be higher than it should be, and I'll drop to 55. Then I'll have a few good runs and it'll go up to 56. Today, for the first time in the two years I've had my watch I made it to 57. If nothing else, it was confirmation that I did really have a good run today. I doubt it'll stay there, but it was nice to finally hit that mark. The problem with watching that number is that as I get older, it's inevitably going to drop.

I'd hoped that October would at least stay snow free and above freezing so I could get in a few more "comfortable" long runs. But it looks like that's not going to happen. Oh well, that's Saskatchewan.