The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

10 miles around the Worlds Fair Park in New York City.  Pretty cold night and low motivation.  Right at 7 min pace.

After a long day starting out in New York with a broken airplane about 3am, I ended up in Salt Lake City and met up with Rob for a long run.  We headed up Emigration Canyon with light snow flurries.  I was worried about the weather since I havn't done much cold weather running and the warm front was sitting right over the range.  It turned out to be about perfect and a great run.  I can't believe how much quicker a long run goes when you have some company.  The cold hit my hands pretty hard.  I couldn't feel my fingers at all after 11 miles.  I could feel the altitude as well, just seemed like it was shorter breathes than I was used to.  According to the Garmin around 7:30 average pace, which felt about right. 

I took in one Power Bar drink at about mile 10 with Rob and that was it for food intake on the run, consistent with what I have been trying this year, plenty of water but limited calorie intake on the long runs.

Way early into the gym this morning since I was still on East Coast time.  I ran 5 miles way easy on the treadmill to help the legs get over yesterdays long run.  Then weight lifted for the first time in several weeks for 45 minutes.

I had a few hours after lunch after finally doing some Christmas shopping, so I ran another 10 outside.  One hour and 10 min.

Speed workout today on the treadmill.  2 mile warmup, 1 mile repeats at 5:30 pace with .5 rest in between, 2 mile cooldown.

This workout kicked my butt!  Nothing left..

6 miles in the morning sun in Denver.

5 miles in the afternoon in Kansas City.  Nice day!

15 miles in a beautiful Kansas City, Christmas Eve.  Off to go home today and thankful for my health, my family and the real reason for this holiday. 

13.3 miles late morning through the Bend river trail up to first dam and along Logan River trail.  I had no motivation to run at all today, I knew I had to basically run a half marathon to reach my goal.  The kids were having so much fun and there was so much to do with them, but I knew this was my last chance to try and get a 100 mile week.  I also knew it would be a hard run since the day before was a 15 miler.  Surprisingly, I was strong and had to hold back to stay on goal at a 7 minute pace.

I need that 1:12 for the second time running the Austin Half Marathon in four weeks and so I'm taking stock today of where I stand this year. 

1.  I am slower than last spring when I was doing faster Tempo runs.  I have been doing more long recovery runs for a few months.  Any way to get that speed?  Quick?

2.  I am stronger, no injuries at all.  The long slow distance has done the job in that regard.  I just completed two 100 mile weeks and have no soreness at all.  That's a good sign.

3.  I am 6 lbs overweight at 156.  That's not good, but it would take liposuction this year to get off those last 6.  How the hell do you run 100 miles a week and not trim up?  On the flip side, that's free speed if I lose it by January 30.

4.  Now to find the time to get started on training.  I need four 10 mile runs at very close to race pace.  I need 4 track workouts around 10 mile distance with repeats at 10 seconds faster than race pace.  I need 3 long runs.  I need three 12 mile Fartlek runs.  The rest is fluff.  I'll probably get about 60% of this done.  But it's a goal at least..