The Next Step

We got about 4 inches of snow last night and the roads were in rough shape so I stayed in on the TM today.  Just to break up the boredom I added 3 MP miles at the end of the run.  I felt kind of sluggish today.  It might be from my horrible diet the last week. I love Christmas time but I need to do a better job of watching what I eat during this time.  I hope to be able to get outside tomorrow when they get the roads cleared.

59:15 (7:25 avg)

It warmed up some today (28) but the sun was out so that melted a lot of the snow.  I just ran easy today down 300S and back.  It was into the wind going out so felt a little cold but felt good coming back.  I had some pain in my right calf which came out of nowhere and hurt for about a mile then got better.  Not sure what that was about but since it got better the last half hopefully it is not a problem.  I hope the snow stays away the rest of the week. I really want to be able to go outside instead of the treadmill.

68:48 (7:39 avg)

It was 32 today with some wind.  I am already tired of the wind this winter and we have a long way to go.  I just ran easy today.  I felt good.  No problems today so the pain I had yesterday must have been a random cramp or something.  I ran after eating a big lunch so felt kind of bloated the whole way.  Too much Sushi.

54:33 (7:48 avg)

It was a little warmer today (34) and not as windy but there was a misty rain/snow.  I have been trying to run some faster stuff since I feel like I have finally built a base to train off of so I ran the last 4 miles today at MP.  I felt good and it didn't feel like I was pushing.  The last 4 miles was around 7:00 pace and it was into the wind.  Starting to feel like I am back in the swing of training.  Hope to go a little longer tomorrow.

 Looking back on the year of running.  Here are the highlights:

- New marathon PR of 3:06:33.  Knocked over 11 minutes off last year's time.

- New half marathon PR of 1:25:58.  About 2 1/2 minutes faster than last year.

- 5k PR of 18:59.  Only ran the one 5k and it was early in the spring.

- 2643 miles this year. About 100 more than last year.

- The biggest blessing was that I stayed injury free all year.

I would like to thank everyone on the blog that has helped me this year will there comments and advice.  The biggest benefit is just seeing the dedication that you all put in and gives me a great example to follow.  I hope everyone has a great and blessed New Year!

58:46 (7:20 avg)

Stayed up late last night bringing in the New Year with some friends at our house so sleep in today.  Not the best way to start the New Year but just felt lazy all day.  I finally got on the TM and ran 6 miles while watching football.  It was 10 degrees out and 20 mph wind so couldn't get excited about going outside.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will have more motivation after getting some rest.  I am going to lay out my running goals for the year over the next few days so maybe that will get me fired up.

47:20 (7:54 avg)

It was cold today (10) with a wind chill around 0.  I ran today so that I wouldn't have to run much against the wind.  My wife dropped me off so I could do this and it really helped.  Otherwise I would have had to go out with the wind and then turn around and finish against the wind.  I felt really good today.  I started off faster than normal to get some heat built up and just kind of stayed with the pace.  I finished off a full week of running so next week I will try to build backup to normal mileage.

1:16:10 (7:28 avg)