Fri 2/7 - PM 20 minutes plus 45 minutes skiing

The skiing actually came first, went directly to the Old Marlboro entrance to the trails on the way home from work and did a smaller loop than the past two days. Some soreness in the left QL muscle from all the skiing of course, not a surprise. How it affects the running tomorrow remains to be seen. Took a couple of brief breaks for pictures:

After that, drove the rest of the way home and changed into shoes and did a brief relatively uptempo run through Levittown where the roads were crap of course. Quads heavy and right calf a bit tight but didn't keep the pace from being on the quick side.

Thu 2/6 - PM 75 minutes skiing

Area 51. Realized just before heading out for a run that a) the roads are utter crap and b) I enjoyed the skiing quite a bit yesterday, so I put the gear in the car and headed to the nearest access point and started from there. Planned originally on doing a short shakeout run on Tiger Drive after finishing up skiing but decided it was too late in the day for that. More strenuous effort this time, actually got the heart rate up a bit in addition to sweating profusely. Cold but no wind to speak of, got a few shots in before sunset:

 someone's been snowshoeing

Wed 2/5 - skiing

Area 51. Everything buried in about a foot of snow, made fresh tracks for at least 80% of the time. Basically did a loop I might do at other times of year on foot. In this case with the roads in predictably awful condition I was able to shove off from my doorstep. With the nature appreciation breaks I'm not sure exactly how long I spent in motion but I was out there for almost two hours all told. With the snow day assured as of last night I had grandiose plans of sandwiching a leisurely afternoon ski trip between short runs on the treadmill. As it turned out the treadmill part got ditched, unsurprisingly. Got to bed far too late and thus slept in far too late to do anything in the morning. Making the aforementioned fresh tracks left me far too tired to do anything afterward either. Not the greatest conditions for point and shoot photography but that of course didn't stop me:

Mill buildings viewed from the trestle bridge

Tue 2/4 - 50 minutes incl. 8x400

Harvard. A return to a session similar to one I barely made it through about a month ago. That one started out at a faster pace and had shorter breaks between reps, although there was a longer break halfway through. This time the idea was to cut down the pace from 3k to mile, this structure made the whole thing feel much more controlled. Whether I'm any fitter now as opposed to then is anyone's guess, the race results of late wouldn't indicate it. Splits:

76.7 (85.7)
75.5 (90.7)
74.4 (89.2)
73.3 (89.9)
72.2 (89.8)
71.4 (91.0)
69.9 (90.1)
70.9

Track was a lot more crowded than usual, some reps more affected than others by this. Fantastic when people insist on running side by side in such conditions.

Mon 2/3 - PM 65 minutes

Area 51. More snow fell through most of the day leaving almost two inches of fresh powder on the ground. Trails still navigable with yaktrax. Calf still tight afterward of course.

Sun 2/2 - PM 75 minutes

Area 51. Hit the trails loaded for bear with yaktrax ready to go. While they were useful, necessary even, the snow was a lot thinner than I had expected after yesterday. Never underestimate the ablative effect of a 50 degree day. Earlier before breakfast visited the pool of the hotel, 4-5 feet deep, and did 20 minutes of aquajogging. This and the somewhat slippery surface in the woods made for a really tight right calf by the end of the day. Felt better after compressions.

Sat 2/1 80 minutes very easy

Area 51. Promised myself I would stay away from slippery trails, a resolution that lasted all of 15 minutes. Had thought of taking yaktrax with me before thinking better of it, then found myself wishing I had once I went off-piste. Still, trails have yet to reach hockey rink status and going slow with short steps made it doable. Temps on the way up, back to mild conditions for a couple days at least.