week eight.

Judged solely on the basis of frequency of workouts and number of miles logged, week 8 was a miserable failure.  After several solid weeks on the road and the trail, my forward momentum ran smack into the face of my youngest daughter's bout with what appears to have been H1N1.

After a strong run on Monday evening, the rest of the week got away from me as I spent sleepless nights taking Piper's temperature and cradling her back to sleep after another coughing fit had shaken her slumber.  Hours previously devoted to sneaking in early morning runs were spent on desperately needed sleep and after work I hurried straight home to relieve Lindsay from the day shift and/or taxi Piper to another doctor's visit.

In its way, thankfully, the week provided important perspective and made me that much more appreciative of my health and those moments I am blessed to spend on recreation and exercise.

Piper is back to full strength and, despite the week's running shortfalls, I still managed to carve out another 100 mile month (and a few really enjoyable runs) with extended daylight and warmer weather on the horizon.

Here's the stats:

Monday, February 21 - Brisk out-and-back on Power Road, Sun Hill Road and Park Hill Roads (emphasis on hills) in blowing snow.  Really good run. 

Wednesday, February 23 - Midday loop - could barely spare the time during the workday but desperately needed the run.

Saturday, February 26 - Afternoon run on the local rail to trail - faster than I'd intended the day before the Ugly Mudder, but needed to relieve some pent up energy and the legs felt good.

Sunday, February 27 - Pretzel City Sports's Ugly Mudder - bliss.

week five.

February has arrived and I'm still trying to find some consistency.  The legs feel great one day and less than good the next (though, thankfully "less than good" has yet to include pain or injuries).  I've been able to sneak in a fair few short runs but haven't strung together long runs.

Still, twenty+ mile weeks are helping to establish a good base for the year ahead.  Dealing with the strange footing of pock-marked ice and enduring the cold should pay dividends later.  Or so I hope.

Here's the recap (excluding two runs that I included in last week's totals):

Wednesday, February 2 - Ran a short, icy loop around Manheim Central HS on my lunch break.

Friday, February 4 - Short session of post-work hill repeats on Power Road.

Saturday, February 4 - Freezing rain and mixed terrain at Middle Creek - The trails demanded post-holing and the roads were treacherously coated in ice.

Sunday, February 6 - Microspikes were mandatory in the rutted, pocked ice at the R2T - Even so the footing was still ridiculous - I'd hoped to log more miles but the 7 I managed was work enough.

week four.

When I last did a weekly update, I'd hoped that the week ahead improved upon the week before.  When the sun rose on Friday morning, I still hadn't managed a single run in over a week's time.  Not good.

The upside was that I was certain that my cold/flu/whatever was fading into past tense and I was sure to get some mileage in after work.  I didn't appear to have given too much fitness away during my time off and so decided to sneak in as much running as possible over the weekend between time with the family and plenty of take-home work.

At mid-month I'd been on pace for a 120+ mile month and had logged three different double-digit distance runs.  By my standards, those were shaping up to be solid January numbers.  But, as aforementioned, I ended up on the shelf for more than a week and didn't run further than just over 8 miles at a single shot the rest of the month.

Still, I'm pleased with the momentum of the last few days and it was cool to crack 100 miles in a month that I've often struggled to stay focused or manuever around short days and winter weather to run effectively.



As to last week (including Monday of this week), here's the evidence:



Friday, January 28 - Long overdue afterwork run - Doe Run/Elm/Fairview/Meadow/Penryn road loop.

Saturday, January 29 - Solid afternoon run out Colebrook/Breneman/Back Run/Esbenshade/Fairview.

Sunday, January 30 - Met friends for pre-dawn run up to Eagle Rock on the Horsehoe Trail and the lower loop off of Pumping Station Road - check out the tortoise-like pace from post-holing in the snow!

Sunday, January 30 - Mid-day run at local R2T - glad to have Microspikes (pictured) on packed ice.

 

Monday, January 31 - Run to work to start the new week.

Monday, January 31 - Ran home through town and up Power Road.