Relentless

afternoon - 8 River Run. Snowy and cold run w/ Aust, Kimz, and Ruth.  I am not sure why Ruth decided to bring the snow home with her.  Felt good and we moved along at a decent clip.  (Stratus bee 391.45)

afternoon - 13.65 4x2000's 90sec recovery.  Warmed up with Ruth and the boys on the Trail to Nowhere 5.3.  Then instead of attempting this brutal thing on the track, I had to get home to watch Laney.  So I got home and jumped on the treadmill.  Did another .75 to get the legs going again.  Then I started up the 2000's.  I hoped that since I was doing them on the treadmill and receiving that benefit I could do alright.  Set the pace out at 5:21 mile (essentially 6:40 - 2000).  It was hard from the start and only got harder.  By the fourth I was screaming out in pain and my daughter didn't know what to think about it all.  My legs were giving out and my glutes were on fire.  I wouldn't have been able to maintain anything close to the pace without the treadmill and I had to grab the bars on more than a few occasions not to go flying off.  So although it wasn't a true pace (using the treadmill and moving me along), it was a killer.  Then loaded up the jogger and went for a 2 mile cooldown.  (Stratus gold 105.2)

afternoon  - 7.5 Shinob Kibe.  Nice trail run w/ Kimz and Aust.  Legs were a little tired on the whoops, but not bad otherwise.  Then we finished just as the snow storm rolled in.  (Cumulus blue 468.65)

mid-morning - 6.85 Lava Point Trail.  With school canceled - I know, how lame.  I had finals and the girls had parties and crap - I decided to get out and get a few in with the snow.  Roads were pretty slushy, so I worked over to the trailhead and ran on the new trail.  It seems to have a crushed gravel finish pushed into the pavement; seemed nice as far as I cold tell under 3 inches of snow.  The scenery was absolutely breathtaking with the untouched snow glimmering on the sandstone and lava (I am taking a mental picture - click!).  So, anyway, the run was fun.  A bit of soreness in my right hammy and the giant bruise on my right shin gained from Steve's stepladder is just slowly working its way down my leg.  (Landreth 530.25)

evening - 6 Club run down the River Trail. Nothing too noteworthy here.  I wasn't too zesty for the run and kind of just wanted to do it and get it done.  Didn't even add any extra w/ James.(Landreth black 299.55)

afternoon - 7.8 PVXC home course.  Warmed up for 2.5 on the course (skipping one loop) w/ Austin, Corey, Decker, and Willy.  The course was a mud pit.  There was still snow all over the grass and the dirt had turned to slick mud!  I put on my old Ohanas (no XC racers) and we started off.  For about the first 200m we kind of just joked, but then we turned it on pretty good.  The race was pretty fun.  I led for most of the race and knew I had to push to beat Austin's kick.  I actually felt very strong and probably could have really pushed harder, but I have forgotten what it is like to run a 5K.  Getting back onto the track I knew Austin was coming and he came zooming by with 50 meters to go and got me by a couple seconds with Kimz coming in just a few seconds later - but I am claiming the true victory because we took a wrong direction on the course that made it 3.3 instead of 3.1 and I won to the 3.1 mark.  The course was fun and we would have probably hit low 17 with the right distance.  Cooled down with DI.  (Cumulus white 421.55)

morning - 18.5 Quail Creek.  Headed out in the brisk morning w/ James.  A decent run throughout.  My gut really started giving me some problems at the end and my hips were hurting most of the run, but we did 7:00 minute pace for most, not including the bigger hills and just enjoyed it.  Good end to the week.  (Stratus black 84.75)

Week was pretty solid again.  Race with the boys was a lot of fun, snow running was good, decent mileage on a long run, and kept the pain to a minimum.

Goals for next week: enjoy Christmas w/ the fam., continue to help the hip flexor/abs heal up, have a solid 1000 workout.