December 23rd to the 29th

Being the holidays and all running usually suffers, due to time constraints, family obligations, ect, running just sits on the back burner...well not this year. Might sound sad, but we had a nice quiet Christmas. Lots of cooking, relaxing, and even plenty of time to run! We do miss our family and friends back east, but we can also be so thankful to have each-other.

Mon: 2.9 easy. Called into work sooner than I thought. Cold out.

Tue: 10.2 moderate - Christmas eve run. Temp went from 8 degrees to 2...brrr. Pup came back with beardsicle.

Wed: 4.2 easy snowshoe. Legs were surprisingly soar from yesterday. All that slip sliding around on snowy roads. Not easy at all. Snow coming down (on Christmas day!) and poorly packed ski trail made it quite the workout. Kept it short.

Thur: 9.5 mi total. Ditched the planned tempo and did a progressively faster mile repeats with .25 rest. (5:55, 5:46, 5:43, 5:39). Finished off with a half mile slow at 6% grade. Solid workout. Pleased to feel how easy it was even though it was on a treadmill. I hit my knee pretty bad at work on a piece of steel and it swelled right up. It was stiff starting out, but it was ok running the repeats.

Fri: 7.3 mi total. Got 7 miles done easy. snowy roads made it a nice recovery run. Finished off the run with 4, short fast hill repeats for strength.

Sat: 16 miles. Long run. Ran with the pup. Snow covered roads for much of it, but we were treated to temps just about at freezing for the first time in over a month. Even though the sun hadn't come out yet, the light breeze made it for one of the most enjoyable runs in the last couple of weeks. Miles 11,12,13,14,15 were all at a hard effort. (Below 6:40 pace).

Sun: 4 miles. snowshoe run on the snowmobile trails. Pretty soar. Right soleus, knee and hamstring all bothering me. Dam right leg...Got in a solid core session as well.

Total: 54 miles

Good week. Got a couple of races coming up soon and I'll try to get results and commentary posted as soon as I can.


It may be evident to anyone that pays attention to my running log that I've ignored weights and core for the last couple of weeks..Well I have a good reason. I got a temporary job with UPS as a pre-loader (or better stated, un-loader). I sit in the trailer and get the packages off the trailer onto the belt pretty much as fast a possible. Back to running, it's provided a nice strength routine the last couple of weeks. A whole body routine as some packages could weight in excess of 70 lbs. But it's time to come back to reality as the Holiday season wraps up. Time to refocus.

I'll leave you with this. The holiday season is great. Friends, family, make it what it should be, a joyus time, but there is one thing that continues to keep me ticking year after year. FOOD!

Christmas morning breakfast: Eggs Benedict. Minus the Canadian. 

Christmas dinner: Roasted Veggies, stuffing, sweet potatoes casserole, honey glazed ham. 

Our Christmas dessert was buttermilk pound cake, that didn't last long enough for the camera. Our post Christmas desert (Saturday evening) was oatmeal Chocolate Chip craisan cookies. 

Sturday dinner: Chicken enchiladas. 

I sit hear rolling around on the ground now in pain. January will be spent recovering i'm sure, but gotta enjoy it while it lasts right??