Week 20: Expect a down week

5/27: Off - wedding weekend in Maine.

5/28: Off - schedule was so packed today there was no chance. Work day was 6:30am-7:15 PM followed by dinner and bed.

5/29: Nothing!

5/30: 2.4 miles very, very easy shakeout in the meadows. Testing the knee. I fell on Saturday banging my right knee pretty hard. There's a moderate bruise but no discomfort while running. A little bit of swelling the next morning.

5/31: Off - work then straight to wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

6/1: 2.5 miles with the groomsmen in Portsmouth. Princic sighting!

6/2: 65:14 / 8.4 miles / 7:44 pace. Met up with Wesley at NHPTV for the classic Radar-Foss Farm. Felt better than I expected. As is usually the case after such an inconsistent week, my knee was a little cranky but nothing concerning. Beautiful weather.

Week #19

5/20: 7 miles / 7:20 pace - on the rail trail in Epping with JVG. 83 degrees, moderately humid made for the first real warm run of the year. I definitely got a little dehydrated and overheated in the last 20 minutes and struggled to get home BUT this was a great start to the week! Great company per usual. Heel was tight but not painful to start and way less stiff in the evening than usual so I think things are sorting themselves out.

5/21: 5.32 miles / 8:07 pace - out and back in the Meadows, 25:00 out, 23:13 back. Cool and very blustery. Kept things easy which has been hard for me to do... especially since being out of shape makes most paces feel at least a little rough. Kept an eye out for widow-makers.

5/22: rest day. Just trying to be smart, which was extra challenging because it was absolutely PERFECT out. Took Connor for a 1.5 mi hike in the Meadows. He snored the entire time.

5/23: 5.6 miles to spruce hole and back in College Woods. Felt alright. Hoped I'd have felt a little stronger after a rest day.

5/24: 4.6 miles in the Meadows targeting single-track. Felt pretty sluggish.

5/25: 8.3 miles completing the full Sweet Trail out and back with Drew and Max. This was a great run.

5/26: Off - wedding weekend in Maine.

Summary: Good start to the week with some great running. The weekend was a bit of a lost cause with learning how to travel with an infant and arriving just an hour before the wedding festivities began. This coming week is going to be challenging with another wedding, this time in which I'm a groomsman with festivities starting on Friday and carrying through the weekend. Oy!

Weeks #13-18

4/8: Off - Baby!
4/9: Off - Return from the hospital
4/10: Off - Getting used to things
4/11: Off - Getting used to things
4/12: Off - Getting used to things
4/13: 5.7 mi mountain bike ride / 51:17 - first time truly out on the mountain bike. Trails were pretty saturated. Rode slowly just getting the hang out things. In the Meadows.
4/14: Off

Pretty much a lost week but for good reason!

4/15: Off
4/16 Off
4/17:  3.3 mi run / 34 minutes easy with dad who was visiting. First run in a long time. Felt bad!
4/18 Off
4/19: 33 min mountain bike ride but mostly on roads exploring the area north of Lucas Pond
4/20 Off
4/21: 48:37 mountain bike with Cox and Bass. Raining. Crashed once but it was a gentle fall. Riding in a group was helpful. I could see and understand the lines they were taking. Definitely took the single track to the next level!

A couple days of exercise has been good for the mind and body.

4/22: 40:29 mountain bike ride solo in the Meadows.
4/23 - Off
4/24: 54:56 mountain bike ride in college Woods to the bog and out to Radar before eating it on skinny trail. Good hard ride. Found a few trails I'd never been on in College Woods. Trails were soaked.
PM: Meadows trail run with Joe. 4.6 miles. Felt wildly bad but hey! first double.
4/25 67 minute mountain bike ride with a group of 7 in Bear Brook. Amazingly fun trails. I wish I lived a tiny bit closer.
4/26: 1.5 mile trail jog just to get something in. Night time run.
4/27: 2.1 mil trail jog.
4/28:: 15 minute trail run behind CBNA.

Getting moving again. My sleep deprived brain benefits from getting outside. Exercised 6 out of 7 days which was huge!

4/29: 39 minute mountain bike clumsy and not in it today.
4/30 33:40 mountain bike ride
5/1 85:30 mountain bike mostly on roads.
5/2 66 minute run on the Sweet Trail solo felt good!
5/3 42 minute mountain bike
5/4 44:41 trail run checked out the boulder, ledges and hill loop in from the CBNA trail at the Meadows.
5/5 39:46 mountain bike ride. Heal was sore. Feels like mild PF. I wanted to run a bit today but opted not to.

This was a big week! Feeling stronger and stronger on the bike. 5 rides, 2 runs and no missed days.

5/6: 21 minute run / 3 miles/ 6:55 pace was all I had time for. 4 hrs of sleep last night and first day back at work. Time to adjust, yet again.
5/7: Off. things happen.
5/8: "5.5" miles in 51 minutes on the Sweet Trail. Pretty warm, dry day. According to trail markers, the GPS could be shorting me by up to a mile. But, the trail is very technical and I was dehydrated so I didn't feel great, turning around and cutting things short by 2.5 miles.
5/9: 5.5 miles / 45 minutes on the roads with the girls' squad in Durham. Beautiful day for a run.
5/10: Off - womp
5/11: 67:45 / 7/8 mi trail run in the Meadows with Wes and Joe. Climb on Saddleback was challenging but I'm feeling stronger.
5/12: 75 min bike ride on trails and a little bit of road in Durham. Set Strava segment PRs all over the place which was fun. Cleared the Oyster River trail to Spruce Bog in both directions which was a first. Fun solo ride.

Summary: Four runs, one good bike session. Not bad for the first week back at work with a baby at home. Days off this week mixed with some easy-moderate efforts seemed to be a good balance but I'm hoping to keep it closer to six days on, one off. I'm hopeful to get my runs closer to 60 minutes as an average and I think I'm ready to get my rides up to 90 minutes. I've forgotten about core recently so it's time to get back on it.

5/13: 3 miles: 6:47, 9:01, 6:54 on Meadows Trails. The temp must have dropped 10 degrees by the time I got there and it started to rain so I called it early. Felt good to push it a little bit on the climb coming back. 1 x 60 push-ups.
5/14: 0 - Nothing! Zilch! Nada! Baby shenanigans sidelined me today. Nasty day out so I'm not super disappointed.
5/15: 4.1 miles last couple at 7:00 pace. 6x100m strides afterwards. Trying to dial in my form a bit. Hips feel tight as I get below 5:20 pace. Time for the foam roller!
5/16: 5.6 miles harder than usual in the Meadows. Pushed really hard up Saddleback mountain road narrowly missing the Strava segment there.
5/17: Off - amazingly stressful day at work. Needed a run but my heel was extra cranky after yesterday's run.
5/18: Off - Another rest day for the heel. Felt pretty good going for a couple walks with Connor in the ergo-carrier.
5/19: 7.1 miles / 63 minutes - with Wesley in College Woods after a couple days off. Heel felt completely normal but stiffened up later in the evening.

Summary: Not a bad week but not great. 4 runs, 0 bike rides, 3 days off, no core work. Happy with the run on Sunday. My heel has been showing signs of a little PF but it's not presenting like it usually does. There's basically a single square centimeter that is sore to the touch and my whole heel feels tight after running but everything clears up by the next morning.

Week 12: Soreness

Monday, 4/1: Planned day off. I rode my bike on the trails behind my house for a few minutes just to see how much moisture is still trapped in the ground. Still not good enough conditions to venture into the forest on bike. I did one set of 50 push-ups just to see if I still could - it had been at least two weeks since I did one. I contemplated doing a full session but I didn't want to dive in and get myself dramatically sore without purpose, so I'll build back to 200ish in a session gradually over the next week. I like push-ups mostly for the postural benefits and maybe they cross over well for mountain biking but I don't think they offer much benefit to running economy. Looking forward to 50 degrees tomorrow!

Tuesday, 4/2: 5.3  miles / 48 minutes from NHPTV to the historic spruce bog in Lee. Thought I ran pretty easy and things felt pretty good but the right knee is complaining Wednesday morning as I write this up. NSAIDs, stretching and time off the legs is probably necessary. I also need to get back to my lunge and hip strength routines.
Wednesday, 4/3: Off. Grouchy about this one but my right knee held me up. I ended up doing some yoga plus forward and side leg raises, donkey kicks, clam shells, fire hydrants, 5 forward, side, L, and reverse lunges on each leg. Soreness inducing in a good way.
Thursday, 4/4: 4.14 miles / 30 minutes from the high school with the boys distance crew for their pre-meet run. First road run in a while and felt pretty good aerobically. Hip strength started to lapse in the last mile and R knee let me know it was there but not horrible. Hit the foam roller and did some more of the hip abduction exercises in the evening.
Friday, 4/5: Off - Lauren went into labor!

Saturday, 4/6: Off - Labor!

Sunday 4/7: Off - we have a baby!

Weeks 3-11

Monday 1/14 - 7 miles / 6:58 pace on the treadmill before track practice. Felt pretty good!
Tuesday 1/15 - 6 miles / 7:28 pace with the girls' squad.
Wednesday 1/16 - 6.1 miles / 6:58 pace with Drew out to Evans Rd and back. First time running three days in a row in a while, so, that's something!
Thursday 1/17 - 30 minutes on the spin bike. Heart rate around 120 so pretty easy. It was good to get the legs moving. Thought it would be smart to take a day off of running and treat this as an active recovery day.
Friday 1/18 - 7 miles / 6:58 pace with the boys crew. Rolled the last few!
Saturday 1/19 - Off. Travel and family things consumed the day. I brought running stuff with me but just got lazy and didn't want to separate from the good times.
Sunday 1/20 - Off. Snowed all day. Roads were garbage and no gym available.

Good week! 27 miles. Body is cooperating.

Monday, 1/21 - Off - grading up the wazoo. Should have run. 50 push ups.
Tuesday, 1/22 - Off - Finals week. Simply exhausted.
Wednesday, 1/23 - Off - Finals week. Could have run!
Thursday, 1/24 - Off - Finals week. Should have run!
Friday, 1/25 - Off ...
Saturday, 1/26 - Off ..
Sunday, 1/27 - Off .

Lost week. Not good!

Monday, 1/28 - Off !
Tuesday, 1/29 - 4.25 miles / 8:30 pace slow and easy with the girls 4x800 squad headed to states. R Knee was cranky which is always the case after such a long hiatus from running.
Wednesday, 1/30 - Off. 100 pushups (25, 30, 30, 15)
Thursday, 1/31 - 3 miles / 7:45 pace. R knee less cranky than Tuesday but still there.
Friday, 2/1 - Off -
Saturday, 2/2 - Off - 100 pushups (5x20)
Sunday, 2/3 - Off - State Championships. Girls won for the first time in 41 years! Boys third to Ports and Hanover. Top finishes in boys 4x800, high jump, 1500 and girls 55, 300, 4x200.

Two runs. Bad week. Beginning to incorporate some strength work with the back cooperating.

Monday, 2/4 - Off
Tuesday, 2/5 - Off - 120 push-ups (4x30)
Wednesday, 2/6 - 4.5 miles / 7:41 pace. I need a lot more of this kind of run. 181.
Thursday, 2/7 - No run. 2 x 12 (resisted clam shells, glute kicks, bridges), 3 x 12 (75 lb dead lift, 85 lb squats, 30 lb step ups) 1 x 12 single leg hip raises.
Friday, 2/8 - Off
Saturday, 2/9 - push and pull day at the gym. 3 x (10 lat pull-downs 85 lbs, 12 bicep curls 20 lbs, 15 free weight bench press 50, 10 x 50 lb shoulder press, 12 30 lb tricep curls, 85 lb seated rows) some light core and stretching.
Sunday, 2/10 - 6 hours of skiing at Sugarbush. Wrecked as I write this on Monday morning.

Monday, 2/11: Leg day #2.
3x12 of 115lb deadlift.
3x12 of 95 lb squat,
3x12 40 lb single leg step ups.
Tuesday, 2/12: Off
Wednesday, 2/13: 130 pushups (40, 30, 30, 30). Almost fully recovered from Sunday.
Thursday, 2/14: Leg day #3
3x12 of 115 lb deadlift
3x12 of 95 lb squat
3x12 40 lb single leg step ups.
Hardly sore the following day so I think I have the form down and will be ready to increase weight next time.
Friday, 2/15: 5x20 push-ups in 3 minutes. That was surprisingly hard to complete.
Saturday, 2/16: Off
Sunday, 2/17: Leg day #4:
3x12 of 165 lb deadlift
3x10 of 185 lb squat
3x12 50 lb step-ups.
Also hit the bench for the first time... 2 x 12 at 115 lbs. 1x6 at 135 lbs.

Monday, 2/18: Off.
Tuesday, 2/19: 4 miles trail running in the Meadows. Conditions were decent since an illegal snowmobile packed a nice trail for me. Thanks, my neighborly libertarian machine junky! I didn't follow his path across the lake, though. At home I ran through 3x30s left, right, double-arm planks, 3x25 push-ups, band resisted clam shells, side leg raises, and some other pointless ab stuff.
Wednesday, 2/20: Leg day #5: Went a lot lighter than last week since I didn't have as much time to warm up and my hamstrings and lower back felt particularly tight.
3x12 115 lb deadlift.
3x12 135 lb squat
1 x 12 40 lb single let step ups with
150 push ups - 40, 30, 40, 40. Working on bringing the elbows into the body more and taking stress off the shoulders. Felt my back and chest working together which was cool. Hardly sore on Thursday as I write this which probably means I underdid the lifting.
Thursday, 2/21: 3 x 12 at 115# on the bench while the kids lifted. 3 mile run at 7:30 pace afterwards. Felt fine but both knees cranky on Friday.
Friday, 2/22: Off - Oddly cranky knees! Ate well and slept 11 hours
Saturday, 2/24: 5 miles / 35:30 with Joe from downtown Newmarket out and back on Packer's Falls Rd. 7:10 pace.
Sunday, 2/24: Rest and flight to Salt Lake. Arrived around 3am EST.

Overall: Two lifts, three runs, 12 miles. Hopeful this is enough to be ready for a week of skiing out west.

Monday, 2/25 Ski day #1 Alta - good introduction to hiking at altitude (9000')
Tuesday, 2/26 Ski day #2 Jackson Hole - drove here overnight through the storm. Pass was closed so added a 2 hour detour. Skiied a ridiculous amount of powder all day.
Wednesday, 2/27 Ski day #3 Jackson Hole - Camped overnight in a parking lot. We slept 11 hours then hit the slopes for another amazing day. Bent a ski - didn't know that was possible. Traveled in the evening.
Thursday, 2/28 Ski day #4 Grand Targhee - By far the best conditions of the trip. 12" fell overnight. 10" more feel as we skiied. Felt like we had the mountain to ourselves. Never experienced snow like that before in my life.
Friday, 3/1 Ski day #5 Snowbird. 71,000 feet of total vertical over 5 days. 50+ inches of snow in the first three days. Camped in a modified racer van. It was an awesome week! Red eye home arrived around 7:30 am on Saturday.
Saturday, 3/2 Coaching at the New England Championships. Luckily a coastal storm caused the meet to be pushed back to the afternoon granting me a few extra hours of sleep. Got to watch lots of great racing and catch up with out-of-state coaches I don't see often!
Sunday, 3/3: 5.3 miles in college woods with Joe. Micro-spikes were essential!

Overall: one run, one plane ride, 5 days of skiing. Knees and back held up beautifully - credit to the lifting.

Monday, 3/4: 10 minutes on the bike. 2.5 miles on the treadmill at 7:00 min pace. 4 sets on the bench press and three sets of squats. 20 minutes of yoga focusing on hips, back and hamstrings. Hamstrings are particularly tight/sore/probably weak after a week of skiing. Apparently I just don't use them in the way that running demands while on the slopes.
Tuesday, 3/5: 27 minutes in the Meadows on ~6" of unpacked powder. Micro-spikes were not really up to the task and I wish I'd taken snowshoes. Good energy and this makes day three of at least doing some kind of running! Here we go!
Wednesday, 3/6: Off. Work day began at 7:00 AM and rolled until 8:30 PM when I wrapped up the Indoor Track celebration banquet. Absolutely spent. Thought I could sneak in a run in the afternoon but banquet prep was all-consuming.
Thursday, 3/7: Off. 6 x 30 push-ups. Coming down with something.
Friday, 3/8: Off. Exhausted. A little sniffly but not terrible.
Saturday, 3/9: 10 miles / 7:33 pace. About 750 ft of climbing. This was a very long run for me. 40% of it was on icy dirt roads. Felt like the perfect balance of muscular and aerobic training and not feeling too banged up afterward.
Sunday, 3/10:  Scratch that. Off. Pretty hardcore DOMS... similar to how I feel after racing 10+ miles. Try again tomorrow!

Overall: Three runs. 15 miles.

Monday, 3/11: 200 push-ups in 10 sets of 20 in 12 min 18 seconds. I tried to start each set at the beginning of a new minute, so about 20 seconds on / 40 seconds off. I needed a 1 min break after 100 and another extra 1 minute break around 160. I did some other core exercises and 20 minutes of yoga with Lauren.
Tuesday, 3/12: Off. Lauren thought she was in labor! Turns out she wasn't. New mountain bike came in the mail so I built that after making dinner. Bring on the 60 degrees and rain later this week - I want my trails back!
Wednesday, 3/13: 4.5 miles / 45 minutes in the snow at the Meadows. Tried the microspikes again and they worked fairly well on the packed snow, particularly in the thicker woods where the sun had less impact on softening things up. Added on a trail I've never run which quickly evolved into some nasty post-holing. Got a little turned around but eventually worked my way back to the main trail.
Thursday, 3/14: 10 x 20 and 1 x 50 sets of push-ups for 250 total. Grounded at home for the evening. Tough, it's a beautiful day out there.
Friday, 3/15: Sick. Took the afternoon off.
Saturday, 3/16: Still sick. Standard but highly unpleasant cold symptoms. Went for a walk.
Sunday, 3/17: 6.7 miles / 62 minutes mix of trails and roads on Dame and Bay Rd in Newmarket. This wasn't a death march but it was close. Feeling worse than the past couple days. I hoped getting the blood flowing would help clear the lungs, but no luck there.

Monday, 3/18: Off. Very much so. 2252 steps in the day by 7:00 PM which could be all-time low, save for maybe the day after my knee surgeries! Hoping to turn the corner soon.
Tuesday, 3/19: Doctor's appointment. Antibiotics to the rescue!
Wednesday, 3/20: Sick
Thursday, 3/21: Sick
Friday, 3/22: Sick
Saturday, 3/23: Sick
Sunday, 3/24: Sick. 5 minute jog just testing the waters.

Monday, 3/25: 2.7 miles / 30 minutes microspikes run in College Woods.
Tuesday, 3/26: 3.5 miles / 36 minutes microspikes run in College Woods. Still under the weather and just getting lungs and legs moving a little.
Wednesday, 3/27: Off. Picked up the new mountain bike from the shop - needed to get the brakes tuned and had a dropper seat post installed. Took it for a quick spin just to test things out but the trails wont be mtb ready for another couple weeks here in Northwood.
Thursday, 3/28: Off.
Friday, 3/29: Off.
Saturday, 3/30: 5 miles / 49 minutes on the sweet, Sweet Trail with Joe. Felt really stale but not altogether bad. Still hacking up junk every morning but energy levels are finally back to normal.
Sunday, 4/1: 8+ miles / 72 minutes beginning in college woods then north in the direction of Cherry Lane via horse barn trails. Lots of deer scat everywhere. Felt a little rough in the first couple miles but kept things very slow and comfortable. Joe joined me.

Overall: 19 miles / 3hrs10min / 4 runs / mostly about recovering from sickness and then getting after it a bit on the weekend. 177lbs. Aiming for 170 by May.

The pace of life

12/20 - Off
12/21 - Off
12/22 - 2 miles / 8:00 pace
12/23 - 2.5 miles / NT
12/24 - 1 mile of strides / NT
12/25 - 2.7 miles / 9:30 pace
12/26 - No data? Assuming no run.
12/27 - Red eye to Dalllas. No run.
12/28 - 3 miles / 7:30 pace with Alex
12/29 - Red eye home. No run.
12/30 - 18 holes of disc golf at Squamanagonic. No run!
12/31 - 2.5 miles / 8:15 pace
1/1 - 3.1 miles / 8:30 pace
1/2 - Girls Wildcat Relays. No run.
1/3 - 5 miles / 8:45 pace
1/4 - Off
1/5 - 1 mile at gym / 8:00 Achilles/calf cranky.  
1/6 - Coached at Seacoast Championships. Lots of big PRs! No run.
1/7 - 5.2  miles / 8:33 pace
1/8 -  3.2 miles / 7:50 pace
1/9 -  Off. 50 push ups.
1/10 - 8.2 miles / 7:04 pace. Cold dark windy solo Homecoming loop from the high school before coaching at the track. This will feel easy eventually but my training pace is a lot closer to 8:00/mi right now. 

46.4 miles in... 22 days. Cranky lower back has me running short and slow with days off whenever it gives me signs I could throw it out. Lots of positive stuff in here since my training was virtually non-existent before I started blogging again. Run on the 10th shows I'm close to the point of being able to run with people which is something I've always loved about the sport.

Blogging for the sake of it

I am barely a runner these days and I've arrived at the scatter-brained idea that if I post my training, no matter how sparse and uninspiring, perhaps I'll hold myself more accountable to the act of training and abate my progression into a somewhat sedentary middle-aged high school teacher/coach/dad-to-be.

I've noticed over the last couple years that a lot of the bloggers of old have moved on to platforms like Strava and I like aspects of Strava but to me it lacks the intimacy of blogging... Using Strava I don't feel as connected to the running community and therefore less inspired to keep at it. So, that said, I'm moving back to the blog. Hoping to make 2019 more remarkable than the past few years. I have no goals at this point other than to advance my very general fitness to something worth noting or looking back on in the years to come. My last "good" year was 2014, and as we approach the New Year I'm appalled that it will have been five years since I felt competitive in a race. Time will tell, but at least I'll have a comment and something to look back on, even if it's just to become more aware of putting up a lot of zeros.

12/13 - 59:39 - bike ride / 20.5 miles. Hammered the second half to bring the average above the 20 for the first time in a long time. Flat route. Beautiful day.

12/14 - 24 min 3.1 miles easy on the roads.

12/15 - Coached the team opener at the Paul Sweet oval. Rusty and inexperienced but lots of wins in the distance events. Boys 3k, boys 600, girls 600, girls 1000. No run, but stacked wood and did 100 push-ups.

12/16 - Skied at Sugarbush. Fun long day made longer by a gnarlier than average crash in the glades. Stiff and sore.

12/17 - 60 minute spin on the trainer / ND. Felt average.

12/18 - Myrtl + lunge matrix and 20 minutes easy / ND.

12/19 - Off

Entering recovery week #9

Surprisingly, I got cleared to run! Recovery this time around has gone light-years better than last time and so I'm able to jog a bit.

6/21 - 1.4 miles in 12 minutes out and back on an old railroad bed. Celebrated Lauren's passing of the Family Nurse Practitioner boards at dinner!

Post-surgery #2: Week 7

Ahoy!

It's been half a year since my last post, so here's the latest:

• I had a surgery on my "good knee", identical to the surgery on the "bad knee". I'm a little over 7 weeks into a 12 week recovery before I'm allowed to run. It's driving me a little batty. I can bike though.
• I'm moving to Northwood, NH in July, so that's cool. 
• No concrete plans to race this year. Maybe by the fall I'll be up and moving, but that's also a busy time of year with the XC team.

A return to the blogosphere

Well, I have no recent races to speak of but I've been advancing my fitness and overall health enough to feel like it's time to record my activities once again.

It has been an interesting transition taking a teaching position and coaching role up in Durham at Oyster River High School. As head coach of the boys' HS team, I helped ferry the team to the New England Championships and help senior Patrick O'Brien stamp his ticket to footlocker Nationals in San Diego this coming weekend. I have to keep reminding myself how rare that second feat is. Patrick was a 9:19 3200m runner coming into the season... which is very good, but not to the caliber of the typical footlocker finalist. Figuring out what style of training helps him to improve was super interesting and he possessed the right porpotions of determination and intelligence to get to the finish line of the regional in 3rd place, well inside what he needed to do. He also set a course record on the NH Meet of Champion's course at 15:03. I think that one will stand for at least  a couple years.

So I've run a bit with the team and I have been out mostly on the trails on the weekends when I'm not coaching a meet. It has been cool to convey my philosophy about training and racing to young runners and see them have success. The saying, "Do as I say, not as I do" totally applies here, as I definitely don't train myself as I train my athletes. When I train myself, I tend to run too hard, too often, and I'm not patient enough to see the bigger picture. Also, I rarely have the patience to properly warm-up or do the PT that comes along with running higher mileage.  Hopefully having recognized these things about myself can force a change as I am now officially 30-years-old and want to experience a few more years of fast running. What do I have, 8-12 years of my best running left? Some guys are not even so lucky. I'm hopeful that the next few years will be ones I look back positively on in terms of running, unlike the past two years of one step forward, two steps back.

The plan from now to the New Year is just to get in steady miles in the 30-40 range with 3 core or strength workouts a week and a long run of 10-12 miles. I'm also going to experiment with some exercises to help straighten out my hips and lower back. With any luck, I'll feel ready to hit the snowshoes when the NH SS GP begins!

Anyway, here goes an attempt at regular blogging.