Training in Montana

I got new shoes for Christmas! I'd been wanting some for a while, but had to wait and was happy I got them. Thanks babe! Had a great Christmas with the family and spent Christmas night at a cabin near Red Lodge. No runs yesterday. Went running with my wife and our youngest boy at the park near the river. Ran two loops around with them then they drove home and I ran home. Hit the gas station and bought life savers to give me energy for the drive home. Nice run, although uphill and in a stiff breeze. In the 30s, shorts & a tech long sleeve shirt.

Ran at the Y today on a treadmill. After 7 years of going to the Y they finally upgraded the TVs and FM broadcasters! Wahoo. And a nice new paint job. Their new director has been painting like crazy the last few months and it looks great. Nice to feel like we're in a decent gym instead of a barrel scraping YMCA. The new flatscreen TVs are nice.

Did a nice little progressive run, starting at 6.0 to warmup then 6.9 and 1.0% until 3 miles. Bumped up to a 7.6 with 0% until 4.75, then moved to an 8.6 until 5.5; 9.3 for .25; ended at 10.0 for the last .25.

Interesting to see the change of faces with school being out. Lots of college kids in there trying to work off their freshman 15.... :)

6 TM miles followed by a 5 minute cool down. Last 1/2 mile did .25 at 7:00 and .25 at 6:00.

60 second plank & bicycle; 25 pushups. 

Ran 3 on the treadmill at the Y with the family. Had to make it quick to join them at the swimming pool. Felt good so decided to try for a mile PR during the last mile, and I hit it. Was able to maintain a 6 minute pace for mile 3. I don't think a treadmill PR really counts, but I'll take it.

My favorite 10 mile route, but in less-than-favorite conditions. Ah, the bloody wind. My route is basically North-South, and this wind was a 21 mph WNW wind so it pushed me right up my Veyo hill in about 2 minutes per mile quicker than normal. That was cool, but the 5 miles back was pretty tough. Even downhill into the wind is tough. I also need to find me a nice running windbreaker. I wore an old warmup suit top which was fine, but a little too heavy for running and it makes the dreaded "swish-swish" sound with every move. The main problem was it kept my sweat in too much but I am glad I had it as it mostly kept out the wind.

The sun was setting over the Beartooth mountains when I got on top of the hill at 4 miles, and it was nice. Not amazing tonight, but very nice. Made it home before it got too dark but I did have to take off the sunglasses with 1/2 mile to go as our awful dirt road has lots of hidden ankle breakers.

AP: 8:41. Now I get to stay home with my sick 5 year old girl who has a 103 fever. She's bummed. I'm not. Not a huge party fan. I'm a runner. I'm an introvert. But I repeat myself.

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to all of us hitting some major mileage & race milestones in 2012. I hit 1283 miles in 2011, and shooting for 1800 in 2012.