our choices show what we truly are

First run of the new year under an heavy downpour. I got back home after a vacation in the mountains in central Italy. The weather was great, clear skies and freezing temperatures, the snow was good too and snowboarding was just fun, I did a few miles runningwise and rested a lot during the remaining time. Tonight I was really craving for a good ole run and in spite of the rain I went out and just did my ten loops in the industrial area. Looking back at my 2011 running year I missed my goal of running 2400 miles, this year I wanted to do less miles then in 2010 when I did 2700 miles, but more fast runs. I succeded in doing more big workouts, but coldn't keep my mileage high enough. During the last three months was hard to keep 200 miles per month for this reason I feel I should have run more miles  during spring when the weather was great. This year I improved my halfmarathon and marathon times, especially the marathon PR was a great gift after more than five years since my last one.

Goals for 2012 are more or less the same of last year: run 2400 miles and improve my race times (for a 5K and 10K it should be easy, I have just to pick up a couple of flatish or not too hilly races) big goal again will be improving my marathon PR.

7 miles in 60 minutes and a few seconds, almost perfect.

Tonight I did the first mini tempo run (10k) of the new year, 2 weeks after my last one. I wanted to beat my marathon pace (45:00) and I managed to finish  just ahead in 44:10. I was happy for sure at the end but it wasn't easy as it was used to be a few months ago. For sure I lost some fitness in the last month, but it feels good to go fast again.

This morning before going to work I did 30 minutes on my bike trainer.

30 minutes on the bike trainer early in the morning.

5 miles at night, the pace was slow and relaxed.

I took advantage of the vacation day and I slept until 9:30am. Outside was windy and cold, an dthe sky was blue without a single cloud for miles, it doesn't happen very often here. I could even see the Appennini mountains covered with snow.

I waited until the afternoon to go out and run. At 2 pm the weather was much warmer and I really wanted to go a little bit faster and longer than usual, but I had doubts. I drove to the lake and I decided to finish 10 miles in 1:12, or any pace I could sustain for that distance.

It was harder than expected to maintain an even pace because the headwind, crosswind and tailwind were messing up my efforts, after 8 miles I turned around and this time the wind was no longer a problem even if it was still there constantly changing directions, I was much more focused and determined to maintain an even pace. On the way back I was making up some of the time I lost on the way out and I managed to finish in 1:12:10, just 10 seconds off of my goal. I did 1 mile cooldown to enjoy the last 10 minutes of sun. Considering the weather and my initial feelings I was happy with this run. At home I finished with 20 minutes on the bike trainer.

AM - 5 easy recovery miles then trip to Rome.

PM - 35 minutes on the bike trainer.