Weather - 18 degrees, cloudy. Another unusual day. I had to attend a park district all staff meeting at 2:30pm, so I planned to run loops at Busey Woods for 2 hours until 2:25pm. The meeting was at the Nature Center, which is adjacent the woods. There was 1-2 inches of snow on the trails, creating a nice cushion. I ran moderately, but every mile or so I would do some bounding drills for a minute or two. I also did some skipping, which I had not done since I was 7 or 8 years old. I tried to skip last year, but could not remember how to. Today I finally caught the right stride rhythm and it felt great to skip along. My bounding stride seems better than last years, as I am more relaxed and take longer and higher steps. I appear to be slowly adding more intensity to my running as the days go along. I still feel like doing a lot of slow running, but I also feel the urge to begin building strength through drills and hills. I will probably start hill workouts in February. I have been running a lot of miles this week, but my legs are fresh every day. It is a good state of affairs right now. #397
| 