Monday, December 26, 2005

HOLIDAY RECAP

Saturday I took Bailey for an easy 1.5 mile warm-up, then I ran 8 miles (31:50/31:10) at a slightly quicker pace (7:50) than “normal” before adding a .5 mile cool-down. This 10-mile run “only” gave me 73 miles for the week. However, that was just on 6 runs. Plus, I had an additional 2:30 of skiing for the week.

Christmas day I was able to run 10 miles before heading to my mother-in-law’s house. That gave me 83 miles in 7 runs for the last 7 days. During the run I was thinking about how this much mileage just sort of feels “right”. I don’t feel whipped. I don’t have any aches and pains. My legs aren’t trashed. Granted this is my first week back after a cutback week. We’ll see how I’m feeling after another 10 days or so.

I nearly hopped on the treadmill for another 7 miles in the evening, but I talked myself out of it. The situation was perfect as the girls were in bed, things were cleaned up and the Vikings were on TV. I could easily have zoned out for an hour while watching them. However, the only “good” reason for the 7 miles that I could think of was to get my mileage to 90 for the 7-day period, which would have been a new all-time high. I think I’ll get there in the next week or two; I just don’t want to force it.

Every year my wife goes bargain hunting with my mother-in-law the day after Christmas. They leave early which means I have to put my run off till later in the day. I was planning on going for a run around 3, but Kinsey wanted to play outside, so I did that instead. That meant I had to run after the girls went to bed. Not a big deal because it gave me a chance to try out our new treadmill. New or not, 10 miles on a treadmill is still boring. At least I was able to flip back and forth between the Timberwolves and Monday Night Football. The treadmill is nice though. It’s a lot quieter and it seems a lot more accurate than the old treadmill.

My only concern with running so late is that now I have to switch back into a morning runner. Oh well, maybe it’ll be a good transition into two-a-days.

2 comments:

Mike said...

New treadmill, that must be great! I think you're right not to be a slave to the running log, your miles will keep coming up without forcing it, and those hours spent skiing definitely count. Great work.

Chad said...

Mike, I've been keeping track of my rolling 7-day mileage. I spent 10 days in the 70s before hitting 80 mpw. I've only been in the 80s four days this base-building cycle, so it may be a little early to go after 90.

Susan, remember it was only 83, I never ran the last 7.