Monday

6.5 in 42:10 from Ballardvale. Sub 7 first mile which is a rarity (it climbs 100 ft too!) but I was sure to keep the effort consistent and just have a nice cruise. Felt great finishing up in a few 6:20s and to bed early for a big Tuesday. Working out with Newbould at Sanborn in the afternoon. 

Oh yeah, and I'm fighting another cold, or it never left, or whatever. At this point I've accepted that this is the nature of teaching and I'm not going to whine about every time I wake up tired with a sore throat. I've trained through worse and I'll just have to be purposeful about getting to bed at a decent hour. The only troubling thing about it is determining whether to push a run or workout when you're fighting something. 

Sunday

7:30 AM: Annoyed and frustrated that I missed my alarm to meet up with a couple guys locally to run, so I stewed for a while sipping black coffee and looking at the GP schedule for the year. I decided that I'm really excited for this year's circuit. Definitely had the Jones 10 in mind during the workout yesterday. Eventually got out there for a steady 8. Fell pretty hard on my right knee and hand on a slick turn about halfway through, but bounced up and ran it off. It never pays to brood over something that goes wrong. Anyway, it was a good recovery run, but not the long run I had in mind.

7 PM core: 4x30 pushups, 3x1 min left arm, right arm, and double arm planks (9 min total), 4x30 sit-up variations.

Saturday Tempo

I was bummed to greet such a lousy day when I got up this morning, but by 2:30 I was ready to put in a strong effort. I ran steady for 5 miles and then right into 5 miles at tempo. Dropped by a friend's place for some water and to say hi while jogging the remaining 4.3 home. Splits below... 5 miles in 27:22, first 10 miles around 60 min. Felt good to run fast. Ran in Saucony Cortanas which are really soft, but didn't seem to slow me down much.

Tempo went:

05:37.4

05:40.1

05:18.9

05:35.9

05:12.2

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/261260834

Thursday and Friday

Thursday: 7 miles steady from Whirlaway. Hammered out a quick run before a 3 hour shift at the store. I finished and changed up only to find I wasn't scheduled to work! I thought about heading back out snag a few more miles, but by that point I was ready for dinner.

Friday: off. Had some strange stomach cramping most of the day. Left school early and slept from 1-5 pm. Can't believe I slept so soundly in the middle of the day! Barely to Whirlaway on time for a short shift.

Wednesday, 1/8

5.5 miles / NT - I thought running was out of the question today because my schedule was packed, but luckily I had a small group for the outdoor session I coach at the N. Andover common. I ended up pacing a couple guys through sets of 400 on, 200 off, 200 on, 2" rest. Paces ranged from from 6:30 - 5:15 getting progressively faster. When I got home I did an old ConVal favorite, 10-minute plank set, alternating positions of left-arm, right-arm, and double arm plank every 30 seconds but never resting. When time is limited, it's hard to get a better core workout than that!

Tuesday

5:15 AM: 9 miles / 64 min headlamp road run with Joe and Matt from Ballardvale. Kept things nice and easy. It occurred to me that I ran twice before the sun came up... once last night and again this morning. Pretty sure that's a first! Feeling pretty darn good after teaching my first three periods this morning. Gaining momentum...

Monday

Monday 6pm: 8 miles / 55 minutes, eased into it, some of it on trails with the headlamp which is a lot of fun in snow. I'm craving some fresh powder so I can get out on the snowshoes. Early morning run tomorrow.

Thursday - Sunday

Thursday: 0 off. Cold is still hanging on. No interest in pushing things and the sudafed and nyquil have my brain in the clouds.
Friday: 10 miles solo / 72 min plus 3x10 pull ups, 5x20 pushups, 5x50 sit-ups, and a few variations of medicine ball exercises.
Saturday: 6 mile treadmill run / 38 min, plus 1hr in the weight room, 5x12 set ladder on bench, 5 set ladder military press, 5 set ladder on traps, 5 set ladder on tricep pull downs.
Sunday: 15 miles with Jose Ortiz from my place. Great run! Mostly easy cruising but we picked it up over the last few. Good amount of hills. Looking for 16-17 next Sunday.

Wednesday 1/2

Off. Still sick. I'm also rocking a strong DNS for 2013... Two days down and zero miles. Normally, I'll try to run through most colds, but with basically every scary virus making appearances at school, I'm not taking any chances at slowing my recovery. I'll try to run Thursday afternoon if my energy is up by the time 5 PM rolls around.

The silver lining here is that getting sick always reminds to return to the basics. Simple and clean diet, more sleep, stronger diligence when it comes to responsibilities, etc... such are the things I need to prioritize when I'm healthy and training!!

Tuesday: Off. Sick. My family has the Noro-virus. While everyone else is losing their guts, I only have harsh cold symptoms. My brother's girlfriend even went to the ER . . . Maybe I'll run after work on Wednesday. Happy New Year!