January 31

AM: XC workout/long run, 18+ miles

I met a bunch of guys from the GRC who are racing next weekend at the USATF Cross Country Championships at the site of the course, the Agricultural History Farm Park near Gaithersburg. We found half of the course still covered in ice an impossible to run on. After three reps of our fartlek, I got uncharacteristically frustrated while losing my footing (plus we were taking really long recoveries because of the ice) and joined a few other guys that were running on the road. I finished with them running 4 x 3'on/90" off on the asphalt, but I feel like we were running them pretty quickly (between 5k and 10k pace). 

I finished up with a long cooldown of just over an hour en lieu of a traditional long run this week. I might have time for a long run tomorrow, but I'm traveling to San Diego for work and didn't want to risk trying to fit it in between landing, working, and the Super Bowl. Today's lightened workout may have been a blessing in disguise per next week's big race. Wednesday's workout was tougher than I thought, and I could feel it Thursday and Friday.

January 30

AM: 10 miles moderate, treadmill

PM: 7 miles easy

Ran inside because of icy roads in the morning, gradually upping the the pace to 6:00 by the end. Treadmill runs are boring, but Nadal was in the middle of a brutal 5-set match in the Australian Open that passed the time.

After work, the roads were decent enough for another run.

January 29

AM: 10 miles easy, slow

Slow morning run. I am no longer questioning the validity of the treadmill workouts like the one from Wednesday night. There was ice everywhere from freezing rain last night that covered the snow from Tuesday; I didn't bite it, but I had a decent skid-out on Western Ave.

This is the worst kind of winter storm that essenitally turns the landscape into a giant creme brulee. Running on snow is fine, and running through ice is manageable (I've worn old XC spikes on runs before), but when a thick layer of ice covers a blanket of snow, it creates ankle-breaking conditions that basically makes navigating unplowed trails impossibe, limiting any running to the asphalt (where there's still ice to contend with).

I worked a little later, so no evening run....just some push-ups and core work.

January 28

AM: 5 miles easy, treadmill

PM: 6 x 5'on/1'off, treadmill, 11 miles

An ice storm today killed both my morning run (anywhere, really...even the parking lot at the gym was an ice rink) and my usual Wednesday track workout. By the evening when the temperature rose to the high 30s, I was at least able to warm up on the roads. I bit the bullet and ran some cruise intervals, again on the treadmill.

I pulled both the workout and the treadmill setting from Jack Daniels. For the "on" sections, I set the treadmill for  7.5% grade @ 8.1 mph, which is ~5:15 pace, or what I hope to run for 10 miles later this spring. Because few treadmills go past 10 mph, running faster than 6:00 pace requires "equivalents" using adjusted inclines. 

The legitimacy of all this still seems dubious to me,  so I cranked the last interval a little bit for good measure. In any event, a treadmill workout is better than no workout. Saturday's XC workout should make up for it.

January 27

AM: 11 miles easy

Ran through DC's first snow of the winter. Started up Chevy Chase, came down Western Ave, and finished in Rock Creek Park. The park started to get slick by the end as the snow piled up, but it wasn't anything too crazy.

After work, I had to take a little work home with me, so I scrapped the gym and just did some core work.

January 26

AM: 9 miles easy

PM: 6 miles easy

Nice and relaxed on both runs...morning in RCP, and evening run in the neighborhood and Connecticut Ave. I could definitely feel my 

I'm watching "No Way Out" on Discovery Channel right now as I type this. The host is crazy; my initial reaction is that I love this show.

January 25 (98 miles/week)

AM: 20 miles moderate/progression

PM: yoga

I met a large group of the GRC team out at Edward's Ferry for my longest run since Marine Corps to end my longest week since then as well. The route consists of two 10+ mile loops that we generally do twice.

Klim jokingly calls this run the "Duel Ferries" because while we run past two, dual ferries, there is inevitably some sort of faster slugfest at the end of the run. For me today, this run was more like a torture rack, for several reasons. (No, not "the torture rack." I mean a torture rack...) For one, the pressure and pace of the run gradually increased until we were stretching thin throughout the run, but my back was also killing me. Somewhere around mile 9, both of my lats seized up and never really loosened up. I figured I'd be fatigued today from skiing, but I assumed it would afflict my quads, not my back. I didn't have much choice but to deal with the discomfort, so I stretched it out some at the turn and pressed forward.

The first loop was pretty relaxed, but the first five-mile section of the second loop crept down to 6:10 pace with Matias, P. Murphy, Klim and Chris (PM was running shorter and turned off before the run got "interesting.") By the time we turned at White's Ferry after a couple of bathroom breaks, the implied plans to increase the pace became reality. All of a sudden, we were flying past the open fields of River Road, and I was holding on by the seat of my pants and praying my back didn't turn into salt water taffy.

This is where skiing yesterday killed me. My legs just wasn't responding, and to make matters worse for me, it was obvious that Chris was feeling pretty damn good while Klim and I did our best to follow. For about 20+ minutes where the pace whittled down from MP to the low-5:00 territory, Klim and Bain and I started pounding on each other. Last summer, I pushed the pace too early on this same run, bonked hard, and these two guys ended up destroying me. I thought for sure I was on my way to this again, but I rallied, and we all finished together at the loop's last turn and mutually agreed that we'd had enough.

Obviously, runs like this aren't good to do too often, but they definitely have their place. This was more of a test of character and mental toughness. I didn't want to give an inch out there, and I could tell that neither did the other two guys. In that regard, it's probably good that I wasn't feeling my best, if that makes sense.

Though I felt stale overall, this was still easily the best long run I've had since before MCM. It's also a great example to why training with other runners is so helpful: it would have been much harder any of us would have pushed this hard on our own. 

I peeled myself off of my bed from a nap to trudge down to the gym for yoga, which made my back feel better.

Overall: good run, good week.

January 24

AM: 8 miles easy

Easy recovery run in Rock Creek Park early in the morning before he, Valerie and I spent the day skiing at Whitetail across the PA border. This was my first east coast ski experience, and I skied my first night skiing ever. Sick!!

January 23

AM: 6 miles easy

PM: 1600 (400), 1200, (400), 2 x 800 (400), 3 x 400 (200), 800 (400), 11 miles

I met Bain, Melissa, P. Murphy and Klim for a track workout on a Friday night, which was something new and different for most of us. I put together a workout that mirrored one I ran with Klim and Dwyer this time last January. Judging by tonight, I appear to be a little ahead of where I was this time last year. I'm chomping at the bit to start racing soon.

I'm not sure what to call this workout. Maybe a "speed ladder"? The entire workout was under current 5k pace for me, and we gave ourselves a little more recovery. The overall pace got a little faster as we cut down the distance. The only bad rep for me was the last one, where I'd liked to have stayed with Klim a little more (2:12 vs. 2:18).  I avoided tying up too much and hit all of the splits that I wanted to. On faster workouts like these, I have to concentrate hard on my form. Pure legspeed is out of my wheelhouse.

Splits: 4:50, 3:38, 2:22, 2:23, :68, :68, :68, 2:18

January 22

AM: 10 miles easy

PM: gym

I've never developed a thick coat of frost during a run before. This morning was a first for me. I looked at the collar of my jacket about 40 minutes into my run to see what looked like ice shavings. I love the cold and all, but this is starting to get ridiculous.

I was pleasantly tired after a gym session, which went well aside from the girl on her iPod singing in synch with Little John--awkwardly, because I'm pretty sure she only knew the profane lyrics--and camping out on the dip bar. That was obnoxious for multiple reasons. Alllllllll ski-ski...

January 21

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 10:00 on/5:00 off/12:00 on, 10 miles

Easy in Rock Creek Park in the morning. After work, I met P. Murphy for a tempo/fartlek down Western Ave. and into the back neighborhoods, which meant rolling hills. My guess would be that these were close to 10k pace (probably goal XC pace in February). We extended the second one to climb what's become the loop's signature hill at the end of E. Beach Drive, right at the north "point" of the DC border.

January 20

AM: 11 miles easy

PM: gym

Worked from home today and watched the inauguration, avoiding the associated traffic. Barry O. gave a "slam dunk" speech: powerful and surprisingly aggressive.

I'm feelin' pretty good about our chances. Even Ed Rollins was spreading love for Obama today.

January 19

AM: 12 miles easy/moderate

PM: 5 miles easy

Still frigid on both runs with a little snow here and there. I met team GRC at the Line in the morning, where we stuck mostly to the roads on Rock Creek Park. We feasted on a Bear Naked

 granola breakfast afterward (see photos).

In the evening, I ran a shake-out run with Valerie, again in the park, just before dusk.

January 18 (87 miles/week)

AM: 16 miles moderate, strides

PM: yoga

Strong long run out at Riley's Lock with a group of 10 other GRC'ers. The canal was so frozen over in places that there was a group of people playing hockey on one section, and the Potomac was basically an ice bridge to Virginia in some places. We pushed the pace some out on the roads and a little at the end, but it wasn't anything too crazy.

Fitting with the "back on the wagon" weekend theme, I did some strides and drills after the run, and then went to yoga later in the afternoon. I'm hoping to get in more mileage over the next two weeks now that I'm going to have a somewhat more structured schedule.

January 17

PM: 11 miles easy, 6 x :10 hill sprints, gym

Time to get back on the wagon. After a busy month of work, travel and general self-imposed stress and insanity, I'm now ready to start getting back to the little activities I've been neglecting. This includes both getting to the gym for core work and drills, as well as short hill sprints. With a big XC race coming up, the short hill sprints are critical right now, and I've been putting them off for too long.

My body was just starting to respond to them well when I had to push them by the wayside for a few weeks, but they go a long way in building efficiency and legspeed (or so I've read--Brad Hudson loves him some hill sprints, for example, and so did Arthur Lydiard).

I even ambled my way to the gym a couple of hours after the run: core, 3 x max. pull ups, 3 x max. push ups, 2 x max. dips, heel walks, mirror runs, toe-up hops, and burpies.

We still have unreal cold here in DC. I've never seen Rock Creek frozen all the way across, but during my run today, the ice was so thick in some places that dogs were freely running across from bank to bank. I stopped to try the ol' "heave a big log or rock on the ice to see how thick it is" trick, and the impact on the ice split the log in half without denting the ice. That means that not only is it cold right now, but it also certainly got cold in a hurry.

January 16

AM: 8 miles easy, treadmill

PM: 5 miles easy

With a -3 degree windchill this morning, I stayed inside, watched Sportscenter on the treadmill, and felt increasingly happier with this decision. After work, I put on more layers than I had since weight-cutting in high school wrestling and ventured outside for an easy shake-out. Afterward, I could tell I was desperate for a real night's sleep.

January 15

AM: 4 miles easy

PM: 3 x 2k/1k w/ 400 jog recovery, 12 miles

"Every mile is two in winter." - George Herbert

Today was our coldest morning of the winter, and tomorrow should be colder. Of course, we don't have any snow yet, but we do have bone-cracking wind chills. For the workout tonight, we had temperatures in the 20s with a single-digit wind chill. I kept my jacket on the entire time, and I had totally lost the sensation in my fingers just five minutes into the "warmup" (ironically).

As for the workout, the nasty cold didn't deter our group of eight (which, in retrospect, included runners from Penn State, Harvard, RIT, Colorado College, and Cape Cod...not quite the tropics). We still ran a strong effort given the conditions.

Splits: 6:25, 3:06, 6:21, 3:04, 6:19, 3:00

Something else to note is that I'm still babbling on runs, sort of like on Tuesday night, where I start to tell stories that don't have endings, or connect thoughts and ideas that aren't even remotely related. That's actually similar to when I fall asleep at night. I am usually conscious of when I'm falling asleep at night because when my head, lying on the pillow waiting for dreamland, starts to fill with inexplicable or unrelated thoughts, that's  a tip-off to me that I'm almost asleep. This mental tip-off is also a red flag at work or, when I was in college, a lecture hall, that I'm drifting off to sleep and need to wake myself up.

Some friends and I were talking about this last weekend. I wish I could have a monotone professor give a lecture or play a movie while I'm trying to get to sleep every night. I can think back to times in college where I literally had to pry my eyelids open with my fingers to stay awake. Why can't I be that tired every night? I would be the most well-rested person on the planet.

To get back to my original point, the babbling is a sign I'm still lacking sleep from my recently completed project at work, perhaps somewhat ilustrated by my tangent on sleeping in the last two paragraphs. While I may as well have the linguistic chops of an auctioneer compared to someone like Chris "Silent Thunder" Bain, I would never label myself "overly talkative."

January 14

AM: 9 miles easy

I was totally exhausted this morning and ran really slow. The lack of sleep has totally hit me from behind.

So much for "return to normalcy." I had 11 more hours in the office today. Oh well.

January 13

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 15 x 1'on/1'off @ ~5k pace, 10 miles

This was by far my most productive day in recent memory. I managed two runs (though I am deliriously tired as I write this), which I'm pretty sure were both completed on pure adrenaline after days of poor sleeping. 

I woke up this morning just before 5:00, worked on my last graduate school application (MIT) until about 6:30, happily submitted it, and then jumped out for a quick shake-out run before work.

At work, my team put the finishing touches on what has been by far the most consuming project I've ever worked on (the same one that crashed the party on my holidays last month). Around 4:00, we finally submitted more than a month's worth of effort.

I met P. Murphy after work, who dutifully pushed my sleep-deprived half-corpse through a workout through the Chevy Chase neighborhoods and Western Ave.

The last month has been rough, and I'm at the same time pleased with the effort and super happy to have it behind me. I've been juggling a lot. The only ball that I really let drop was the gym/yoga. I hope to make my triumphant return there tomorrow.

January 12

AM: 6 miles easy

After more than 14 hours in the office, I went home late to work on grad school applications. I'm running on not a lot of sleep right now (for me, anyway), so I'm just glad I got in a run at all, which was dark and early this morning.

January 11 (83 miles/week)

PM: 15 miles moderate

Busy all day with work and grad school applications. I kind of crushed my long run today (just in Rock Creek Park), just needing to get it out of the way.

I've also been sleeping less and less every night, both because of extended working hours, and because of high stress levels right now. That's starting to catch up to me. It should pass soon, fortunately.

January 10

AM: 8 x 3'on/2'off, 12+ miles

Met a GRC group at the Derwood XC course: site of the USATF XC Championships in February. The course was frozen pretty hard, so it was actually fairly fast today, despite the rolling hills. I felt strong today.

I've been waking up with a sore throat for the past few days, so I skipped coffee and drank tea. Other than that, I was stuck in front of two computers all day: one with my grad school applications (one today and one due Tuesday) and a huge project at work (also Tuesday).

January 9

AM: 8 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy

Lots of time at the office today. 

January 8

AM: 9 miles easy

Despite the early wake-up call and last night's workout, I didn't feel too bad. My calves and plantar fascia are sore after wearing spikes last night, but no surprise there. Tomorrow is going to be early also.

January 7

AM: 4 miles easy

PM: 10 x 600m @ goal 5k pace or better w/ 1:30 recovery on 200 jog, 7+ miles

Cold and rainy on both runs. We had a large GRC group out for the track workout, but the B-CC track was totally under water in some parts...really cold water. We cut both our warmup and cooldown short as a result. 

I wore spikes to start prepping my calves for the XC race in a few weeks. This was a pretty miserable running day all around, but it's a good example of why running workouts with other people is so helpful sometimes. This would have been a bear to run solo.

Splits: 1:53, 1:52, 1:52 (?), 1:50, 1:50, 1:50, 1:51, 1:49, 1:45, 1:44.

January 6

AM: 9 miles easy

Ran for just over an hour in miserable weather that was just slightly warm enough to rain (~34 degrees). Nothing in the evening except core work.

The next week or so will be somewhat hectic for me with my working schedule outside of running, but "it is what it is" (getting this off my chest right now--this was probably my least favorite phrase that rose to greater popularity in 2008). I look at it as a more PC way of saying "Meh" or "shit happens."

January 5

AM: 55:00 progression run plus 10:00 easy, 10 miles

PM: 4 miles easy, treadmill

Ran a progression run in still pleasantly mild temperatures (for this time of year, anyway). Nothing too crazy; I just built up to just under MP by the last couple of miles...a light workout to hold me over until Wednesday. Took the Chevy Chase neighborhoods to Western Ave, finishing on the Meadowbrook loop.

After work, I took an easy run on the treadmill and watched Jeopardy! I forgot how busy the gym gets in January. Valerie and I were lucky to find open treadmills.

January 4 (68 miles/week)

AM/PM: 18 miles easy/moderate

Met Bain, Melissa, P. Murphy, Diego, and Billy for a long run in Greenbelt. A typical January day, we had gray albeit milder weather (40 degrees or so). Chris and I ran two loops with everyone before adding a third, somewhat quicker loop at the end (and added on a little to make it an honest 18).

I had to skip yoga in the evening to work on grad school applications since this will likely be a busy week of work for me.

January 3

AM: 10 miles easy

Slow and easy on a cool foggy morning in Atlanta. Valerie and I drove the 10 hours back to Maryland afterward.

My run was actually quite mind-numbing, only because THIS was stuck in my head the entire time...

January 2

AM: 30:00 tempo, 11 miles

Ran three loops around Memorial Park, which is right at ~3k around. Splits: 9:50, 10:06, 10:04. I hit three laps right at 30:00, and called it from there. I had to grit my teeth a little more than I wanted during the last lap, but it was also 40-45 degrees and raining. Not the most pleasant/exciting run, but since my mileage is pretty low this week, I really wanted to get in a second workout.

January 1

PM: 10 miles easy

Met a few former Westminster runners who are now college runners at the River for an easy afternoon run just before dusk: Knox (Furman), Tucker (Wash. U) and Diek (G-town). 

I didn't really overdo it last night, since I was still feeling guilty after last Friday, but I played some golf with Valerie and Josh and watched some football before finally getting my run in today.