Thu 1/8 - PM 70 minutes easy

Area 51. The prospect of running on the roads still completely unappealing, plus I wanted to see how frozen the landscape had become in the woods following the past three days of sub-freezing temps. Slipped on the most modest traction enhancers I own to the shoes, while I maybe could have gone without them it was still reassuring to have something to improve grip on the snow-covered ice. Other than that a very mellow recovery jog. Took a few breaks including at Puffer Pond which is completely frozen over to an impressive thickness. Coldest morning yet but thankfully I wasn't running in the morning, by the time I got out there the winds had subsided to a large extent. Still cold but without the brutal wind chill.

Wed 1/7 - PM 60 minutes incl. 5x400, 4x400, 3x400, 2x400, 400

Still obsessed with the swimming style intervals, which was the backbone of this workout. Ran the reps on 2 minutes within each set, with 3.5 minutes between sets. Aiming to run 79, 76, 73, 70, and the final one in 67 or under. Sounded good in theory, having not done this particular type of thing ever before I had no idea how it would play out. In fact it went relatively smoothly after a somewhat stiff-legged and lethargic warmup. When the rubber hit the road I found myself incapable of hitting the mark early on, going a bit too quickly. Worried I might pay for it later but that wasn't the case, although the last 3 (run in spikes) were plenty tiring. Splits:

77.3/76.8/79.0/78.0/78.9
75.7/74.6/75.5/74.4
72.5/73.4/72.7
69.1/70.3
66.8

Temperature dropped outside as the wind picked up, deep freeze rolling in on top of already cold weather of late. Not that I was the least bit concerned, doing every step inside. 

Tue 1/6 - PM 45 minutes

Rockland Ave. to Levittown. A light dusting of snow during the afternoon on top of the rutted ice left over from Sunday's snow to rain event made for footing that even I wasn't willing to test. Combined with soreness and tightness in legs from slipping on the snow/ice the past two days I had no choice but to go to roads, likely for the foreseeable future. Not that Rockland wasn't in the same condition as most any trail, what with the lack of plowing back there. That was plenty slippery enough and it was just for a few minutes. Moving better than the last two days, of course the footing helps with that. Short pickups near the end which felt reasonably good as well. Quite cold but no wind unlike yesterday. Or tomorrow.

Mon 1/5 - PM 65 minutes easy

Area 51. Different loop but same length and overall low intensity. As predicted/expected/feared, the slush hardened into rutted ice with the substantial drop in temperature overnight. As an added bonus, huge winds blowing all day with some particularly insane gusts thrown in as well. Still compelled to get out in the woods even though I can plainly feel the slippery surface is doing my legs no favors. Stiffness in the hip flexors and calves in particular that's more than just leftover DOMS from Saturday.

Sun 1/4 - PM 65 minutes easy

Area 51. Overnight a disgusting sloppy mess of snow followed by rain passed through leaving slush everywhere, which had me wondering if the trails would be runnable, skiable, or neither. While I was leaning towards staying on the roads I chose instead to try the woods, although it's closer to the truth to say the compulsion to hit the trails was too strong to resist. As it turned out, trails are definitely not skiable thanks to the rain melting into the snow, more or less runnable at least until the slush freezes solid which is inevitable. Took it quite easy (which I was doing anyway) and kept stride short with knees low to minimize slipping. Calves tight afterward, likely from both yesterday's efforts and running in the slush today.

Sat 1/3 - AM 80 minutes incl. 3k, 5x1200

Unlike two weeks ago, this 3k was an actual race and not a pacing exercise. Figured I could manage 73 pace and that in fact was just about the case, with km splits of 3:02, 3:04, and just under 3:03. Some doubt I'd be able to hold the line around the 2k mark, but rallied to a final 400 something around 71 and last lap between 34 and 35. This despite the fact that I once again verged into self-sabotage by staying up too late last night and didn't check to see if I had actually turned on my alarm which led to getting up 30 minutes later than planned. This in turn led to another barely adequate warmup. Upcoming races will be later in the day which mitigates this somewhat. After an hour plus of lolligagging around headed over to Harvard for 1200s with a 200 jog recovery. I had considered doing these indoors but too many laps, also thought of doing timed pickups instead of doing them on the track in the cold and somewhat windy conditions. Decided in the end to stick with the original plan and stay on the track, in fact not quite as cold as expected. Fairly tired from the outset but stayed relaxed throughout. Fading fast on the cooldown jog back to BU however. Splits:

4:23.1 (59.3)
4:22.3 (60.2)
4:21.2 (60.8)
4:19.3 (61.7)
4:17.5

Fri 1/2 - AM 45 minutes

Area 51. Same general area, different loop. Moving a bit quicker as well. However, legs more dented than I was expecting after yesterday, possibly a result of not stretching before bed last night following the hike earlier in the afternoon. This put something of a damper on things and while I did do some half-hearted pickups on the way in they weren't much to write home about.