Winning Back What I Lost

630AM: Finally got back out after a week off. Big snowstorm and long hours at work made it impossible to get out until now.  I actually tried to run yesterday but there was so much black ice that I couldn't even make it to the corner.  This morning I only fell once but it could have been bad. Still a lot of sidewalks that haven't been cleared and the snow has turned to hard packed ice.  Gonna be a long winter. 

630AM: I chose my path a little more wisely this morning, keeping to the main roads so as to avoid ice and snow as much I could.  This is the time of year that my eating habits get me into trouble. Seems like we always have some sort of treat lying around that I can't resist. Hoping to crank up my mileage in order to compensate.  Hopefully, the weather and family commitments will allow it. 

630AM: Tweeked my bad ankle last night playing dodgeball. Still able to run but it was throbbing pretty good. Ice and ibruprofen have become a mainstay for me. One of these days I'm going to have to visit an orthopedist and see what my options are. It's been 2 years and it has yet to fully recover. 

6AM: Rain and family commitments made it impossible to get out over the weekend. The good news is that all of the ice and snow are off the ground which makes picking a path much easier. Slow pace. Haven't run a tempo or done any speedwork in about a month so I need to get on that this week. 

815PM: 24 degrees. Easy pace.

I've had one roadblock after the other in my running routine. My son has been waking me up extra early, 430 or 5am, and I've been out of town.  Managed to find the only hotel room in Pocatello w/o a treadmill and I didn't bring any warmer gear to run outside. I more or less forced myself to get out tonight even though I'm dead tired. I'm glad I did because it made me realize how much fitness I've lost just in the last month or so.  If I don't turn it around then this December will end up being pretty much like past years- a giant waste. 

12PM: Easy run on the Greenbelt during lunch.  Awfully lonely on the GB these days with the onset of winter. I used to run into at least a dozen runners during my lunchtime runs but with temps in the 20's it seems like a whole lot of people are staying indoors. I wish I had that option. Maybe Santa will have a treadmill under the tree? [/hoping my wife reads this]

9PM: Super-slo-mo run of just under 5M. Forecast is calling for some snow tomorrow so I figured I'd better get in another run just in case I'm not able to get my run in. Shouldn't have eaten all that pizza and candy beforehand.

930PM: Some wet snow yesterday and freezing temps overnight made running in the morning a no-go. Late hearing at work and a christmas party at home almost made me pack it in for the day. But I knew that I just had to get a run in whenever and however I could during the holidays.  You never know when things will come up so as soon as everyone left I grabbed Martin and we went for a nice easy run. Planned on going a bit longer but cut it short so I could save something for tomorrow morning. Still some ice snow on the sidewalks but another couple of days of above freezing temps and it should be gone.

930PM: Easy progressive run. Still a fair bit of ice on some of the sidewalks which is surprising since we've had a couple of days into the 40's. Martin joined me for the second day in a row. He's really in better shape then I am and I can see that he's holding himself back just to run w/ me. Even so, when we get to within one mile from home he starts to break away lest I decide to break into a sprint and beat him home. Tonight I messed w/ him a bit by letting him get in front and then turn off on another street so he wouldn't know where I was. As I expected, when our paths converged near home he was sprinting just in case. If he can transfer that competiveness to the track this spring he could do pretty well.

630AM: Easy run. Huge stomach ache forced me off my planned route and cut about a mile off my run. Gonna try to do another 5 miler tonight if there's time in between honey-do's and christmas shopping.

930AM: I knew it would be tough getting a run in tonight or tomorrow so I snuck out this morning. Beautiful day. Nice to be able to run in the sunlight for a change. On the way home I yelled at a couple of youngsters who were playing on the thin ice in the canal. They ignored me. I'm getting really old. Merry Christmas to all.

7PM: I usually take Sunday's off but I'm leaving tomorrow for a funeral and I knew this week would be hectic. Martin and I ran down to Walgreen's to get a prescription for my wife but it was closed. It rained on us nearly the whole way and started to freeze toward the end of the run. I did get to use the new Garmin 405CX my wife got me for Christmas. I didn't ask for it but she admitted that she logged on to my ebay account and looked at my watch list.  Very sneaky that one.  I love it. It's much lighter and more use friendly than my 305.  I'll try to get up early and run another 6M before we head to Washington to say goodbye to my sweet grandmother. 

Snowboarding for about 6 hours. 

9PM: Very cold. 20 degrees plus a 15 mph wind. A little hobbled from snowboarding yesterday. Got my board stuck in some heavy powder and my left knee and ankle turned a direction that I didn't think possible. Knee is a little stiff but otherwise seems to be ok. My ankle is pretty swollen but tolerable. I've been icing multiple times for an hour at a time. Luckily, I'm off work this week.

630PM: Another cold night. Temp in the teens. Read an article the other day that said that you burn more calories running in cold weather. I hope that's true but I do know that I have to exert myself more running in the cold. Maybe that's due to the 5-10 lbs I've gained since Turkey Day and maybe some of its due to all the extra clothing I have to wear to run in the cold.

In any event, I returned home from the run to see that my wife had Rocky playing on the TV. It was the part where he runs through the city and climbs the steps to the theme song. My son then runs over to me and says, "Daddy you're on TV." That made me smile.

Looking back, 2010 was kind of an inconsistent year for me. Never really got my diet in line with my training. Ran fewer overall miles but more quality miles than I did in 2009. I didn't reach my goal of qualifying for Boston but I did set PR's in the 10k and Full Marathon. Looking forward to 2011 and checking that off my list.