Winter Training Week 5 (December week 4)

12/21/09 – Okay I promise to be more diligent about my running. A medium run to Wotton Parkway and back. Felt okay – all on pavement as usual for this run. I’m impressed with how my right metatarsal is holding up. I still need to be careful. One of these days I will get out on the snow while it is still soft.
Miles: 6.4

12/22/09 – Nice Hadley’s park run. Took a while, navigating snowy sidewalks and even a cross country adventure. Saw Bettis and Dave clearing the track and talked for 30 minutes afterwards. Fun. The run felt real good.
Miles: 6.2

12/23/09- Went to RnJ and splurged. I got Asics gel-cumulus-nice,soft neutral shoes and nike lunar racer (they were on sale for $50 so I had to get them), two pairs of running shorts, 3 pairs of socks, and heat-moldable inserts for everyday wear. Later ran along Wotton parkway until past the jail and back. Very icy, had to go very slow at times. Felt good the whole way, I’m getting more in shape. I can’t wait until the start of the season. It’s also great to be healthy, although groin was a little sore today. Will stretch more.
Miles: 4.6

12/24/09 – A bit tired, was doing last minute xmas shopping most of the day. The chaos that is an American mall on Christmas eve rivals even an Indian trainstation! Frost loop nice and slow, legs feel a bit sluggish, holding together okay. I can’t wait for some snow to melt so I can run on something other than pavement.
Miles: 5.4

12/25/09 – Xmas day, cool, foggy, rainy, windy. Got a Garmin Forerunner 305! This thing is incredible, it provides information on basically every step you take. It plots heart rate, pace, speed, elevation, grade against distance and time, in addition to recording exactly where you go. It even breaks down how much time you spend in aerobic training, threshold training, and anaerobic training zones. Incredible. I ran Tuckerman from Churchill to old Georgetown road in 53 minutes. Very hilly, felt okay. Apparently I was working too hard, though. Here are some stats from the unit: Avg. heart rate 155 bpm, max of 180, avg pace 8:55 (including a few stops), total ascent: 1200 feet, calories: 700. 31 minutes in aerobic region, 20 minutes in threshold region (I think due to the steep hills – why I say too fast). Will look into uploading straight from software.
Miles: 6.1

12/26/09 – Nice long run. Warmer (44 degrees), still rainy, still a few inches of snow on the ground but low enough that I could run through it. I decided to brave the trails down in the Cabin John glen today. It turns out they were flooded in many places but I just ducked through the thorns and ran on water-soaked snow to get around it. Lots of going rather slowly (but not easily!) interspersed with periodic stretches of good running at 7:45 pace. Tried to go behind the nature center but was thwarted by a 100 meter stretched of knee deep water with little icebergs of snow floating in it and rapidly receding light . 76 minutes, probably about 8 miles, thoroughly tired.
Miles: 8

12/27/09 – Quite hungover. It was my friend’s 21st birthday so all of the ‘friendlings’ as well call ourselves (13 of us) pregamed heavily, took the metro to Adam’s Morgan and went bar hopping. It was like the 21st birthday party I never had. I also managed to consume at least 10 drinks over the course of 9 to 2. Felt better by the evening but no run.
Miles:0

Weekly Miles: 37