Pretty Good First Week

Getting back into my normal routine this past week was not great.  My legs felt like two giant lead pipes.  My gut has taken the shape of a donut.  And I just don't have much motivation even though I have a marathon in 40 days and my first 6-hour race in about 10 weeks.  But all things considered, I had a pretty good week.

Awesome New Year's Eve snowy run on the woods at the LSHS Cross Country Course at Lake Jacomo in Lees Summit, MO

I actually completed my Core 5 workout Monday-Friday like normal.   Also, I managed two leg strengthening workouts, and even got in a double run on Monday.  But most importantly, I started increasing my mileage again.  Typically I run six days per week, and if I can complete my 20 miler tomorrow, I will have run six days this week with about 65 miles total ... a great first week of 2013 for me!

However, there are two glowing issues right now with my running ... 

No. 1 ... I'm a lot slower than normal.  This one's not really that big of a deal because most of my initial races this year are longer endurance races and not for speed.  So I've would be training at a much slower pace than normal anyway.  Plus it's cold outside which slows you down.  Plus I've gained too much weight lately which slows you down.  Two problems that will be gone before too long.

No. 2 ... My endurance level is horrible!  This is the biggest concern.  I just really seem to have dead legs and no capacity for anything much over 10 miles right now.  That's a problem since I want to go between 35-40 during my 6-hour race, and then follow that up with a 40 mile race in April.  Tomorrow's 20 miler will really give me a good picture of where I'm at right now.  My guess is that I'll get through it, but it will be much tougher than normal.

So anyway - there's my week one progress report.  I hope your 2013 started well and your running is going great!  Have an awesome weekend!
... be great today!