Jan 23rd - 29th

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - Blackstrap, 9.4.  Started today's run at the Hardy Rd. lot and hit the trails up to the tree farm. I'd forgotten to start my watch at the truck so I missed the first mile and a half on the GPS. Well of course this messed up my math for how long I had and the original eight repeats turned in to 10. It was absolutely crazy nice weather out and running in shorts and a t-shirt in January a few days after sub-stupid cold degrees is real nice. I sloshed and slipped around a bit and got totally soaked immediately in to the run, which by the end turned my feet a bit cold. But damn it was nice to have the sun beating down like Spring!

Wednesday - Robinson Woods, 6.4.  Nice and easy run today in great conditions both weather-wise and footing. For most of the way there was just the right amount of "crunch" underfoot with minimal slipping. Planned on eight today but due to a longer day yesterday I opted to go shorter.

Thursday - Back Cove, 10.6.  After a two mile warm up I hit a 6 mile tempo and two and a half mile cool down. The run went well with gorgeous weather, and minimal wind. The Cove was super muddy and wet which made for a fun sloppy jaunt. Didn't go all out on the tempo as I want to have a strong couple weeks with other workouts.

Friday - Scarborough, 8.  Tough run on a dreary day with a substantial migraine and sickly stomach. Just ended up doing a loop around the neighborhood via part of the Eastern Trail.

Saturday - Bradbury Beautiful Loop, 20.7.  We started off with Zak, Ian, Jamie, Jim, Andy, Val and Mindy.  The plan was to hit the beautiful loop and add on 4 hill repeats to get in a solid 20.  We all hoped the trails would be frozen over after the previous days rain, and the going would be easier than the last few times.

For part of the way the trails were OK, with snowmobile tracks and not-too-deep crunchy snow.  But for the vast majority of the run there were thin patches that gave way to icy water underneath.  Between traversing around semi-frozen puddles, jumping over streams and sloshing through slush we all had cold feet.  At one point Zak went in up to his waist and Jamie went in relatively deep as well.  Luckily the weather and wind were not that big of a problem and as long as we kept moving we didn't freeze up too bad.

Beautiful Leap, care of gIANt

After a bit over half way Andy and Jim had to call it a day and the four of us trudged along at a considerable pace, set forth earlier by Andy.  Val and Mindy were not too far behind us going through their own winter wipeout scenarios for sure.

By the time we finished up the loop and all stood at the bottom of Lunchbreak Hill I was quite tired.  I was also however very motivated to get some more hills in and finish up with a tasty sandwich at E&Ls.  So we trudged up and down the hill four times getting more wet with real loose footing making for an even more challenging repeat session.  My quads were relatively cooked by the end and the last downhill was rough but also very rewarding.

I was super impressed with everyone for completing the workout and also super happy to see Mindy and Val hitting the repeats right there with us after such a grueling workout.  I honestly feel that at this time last year we might have talked ourselves out of finishing this run.  I definitely appreciate the level of focus and determination everyone has this year, as well as the energy and enthusiasm.  It is very contagious.

Sunday - Robinson Woods, 8.  Relatively mellow run with Zak. We were both feeling yesterday's run a bit still and took it easy except for the final uphill mile where we picked it up as much as we could on the icy trails.

63 miles for the week