Fuel SMART,Train HARD, Run FAST.

5:30 am -10 miles with Scott W, Jennilyn E, Matt W and Craig L up to  AveTwin Peaks. My legs and lungs felt less conditioned today than past trail runs. I'm out of shape and a little worn out. Craig and Jennilyn are mountain goats. They pushed the pace the entire way. I could claim that I stayed a little behind with the others, for conversational pace, but really only Scott was talking and I was was huffing. I take it back when I told Andrea and Allie that it wasn't bad running with them. The pace on the way down was much more of a pushed effort (only for me.) I stayed with the goats for a few minutes then found myself running down the other side of the mountain alone. Good thing Scott babysits me when I tag along. He called me back and we finished  together with some effort.

I let myself be spoiled for Christmas this year. I really needed to get some new items in my running collection.  I've been excited to test them out! I wore a Nathan slim beenie, that has a built in rechargeable head lamp and tail light. It also has a pony tail hole:) The light is pointless in the mountains, but probably good on the roads. I also wore some running Yaktrax with mini spikes for the first time. They worked great on the ice and I had no issues on the tough parts (although I did fall going up, but landed softly, somehow.) Then I wore some Pearl Izumi gloves with a wind resistant mitt cover. They were terrible at the beginning, but ended up doing well after the first 10 minutes.  I hear the 360s gloves are great. My head lamp was lame, but that's because my son has slept with it on for the past few nights. Lastly, I tried out my Mountain Hardware with Windstopper top. It was warm and light with only a base layer underneath.  That one was an ebay special! It's been fun getting new items and replacing my running gear from my college days. It's been long overdue.

A very long day starting with a 3 hour, 6am staff meeting. My brain hurts, which leaves me tired for some reason. No running today or anything for that matter.  How do people work 12 hour shifts?   Now I get to go paint toe nails and eat treats with the youth tonight:)  Counting down the hours till I can close my eyes for the night.

I heard someone refer to the treadmill  today as "Satan's sidewalk." Haha!

5 miles with varying grades (+6% to -1%) ~7:45ap

Row machine intervals@ 1x5 mins, 2x4 mins.

After walking outside I really wanted to go on another run. How would that be to be able to run all day or whenever you wanted? I guess we can all do that if we wanted to make such sacrifices. Really, running altogether includes sacrifices on various levels whether it's sleep, time with others, relaxation, work, whatever might be.  I'm not a fan of the saying, "I don't have time." That's all for now:)

Also, for those concerned about the inversion, I have your answer. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152091961312383&set=a.277108232382.141352.29949167382&type=1&theater

6:30am- Davis Blvd. with Andy. This morning's air was warmer and CLEAN!:)  I had a meeting  at 8:00am. I knew I needed to get a run in before then. The thought of running alone was not a fun thought, especially since this is my second road run this winter. Good thing Andy was easy going and agreed last minute to join for an early Saturday run.  We discovered that none of us alerted Kam and felt bad. I hope he never finds out. 

This was supposed to be an easy run, but we started out a bit faster than usual and progressively got faster toward the end, finishing in the 6:40's. The splits are nothing exciting but the effort was there. We went quiet with two miles to go, with somewhat of a moderate effort. The ice and snow did not bother, but the rolling hills took some of the steam from our regular LPT runs. 7:56ap

PS. Attn: Grammar Police a period before or after a smiley? I feel like it should go before.:0