Thu 1/5 - 40 minutes easy incl. 3x150, 3x30

Puttered around Maynard aimlessly for a time and then headed over to the track for the weekly round of speed development. Unable to sprint 30 meters without turning into a comically wound up ball of tightness but didn't pull anything. Quite cold but no wind to speak of which made it bearable. I had planned to tack on a stint on the trainer after getting home but got started too late for it to be feasible.

Wed 1/4 - PM 70 minutes easy

Area 51. Originally planned to do a workout today, with all the driving and time spent that it would involve. Realized that I wasn't feeling up to it, not yet recovered enough from the cold. In fact, resting pulse has seemed elevated the past few days. I actually took my pulse and while it wasn't as high as I expected it was higher than I would like. Decided to go easy instead of taking the zero, and headed to the woods in hopes that the trails might be less of a hockey rink than they have been of late. In fact yesterday's rain and temps in the high 40s today took out most of the icy patches entirely, making the run a lot smoother than expected. That is, until the 45 minute mark when a quick moving blast of the wintry mix moved through and made the last 20 minutes miserable.

Tue 1/3 - PM 30 minutes elliptigo trainer

Started too late to get in a longer workout on the trainer. This due to a miserable night plagued by sinus congestion that left me quite tired, which in turn resulted in a 2+ hour nap that left me completely in a daze. Similar approach to the trainer as the other night with brief higher cadence pickups interspersed. The progression of cold symptoms near its end but as ever it takes its own sweet time to clear up. Meanwhile, yet another truly awful day of weather, driving rain with temps hovering around 40.

Mon 1/2 - PM 55 minutes incl. 5x 3:20 pickups

Meandering warmup after spending the day laying about doing very little. Torn between a desire to do some type of threshold work or lay low, having made that decision further torn over whether to avoid running turns on a track or do something on roads instead. In the end, went with the track option but ran in the clockwise direction in the outside lane for a workout based on time spent rather than hitting a particular pace. 80 second recoveries after each repeat. If I had to guess, went somewhere a bit north of 900m for each one. Cold symptoms progressing but still plaguing me, feeling somewhat better after a long nap.

Sun 1/1 - PM 70 minutes easy plus 45 minutes elliptigo trainer

Area 51. Just about as obnoxious as the other day with the ice on the trails, not going fast enough for it to be much of a bother in the end. First of what will hopefully be many run/elliptigo combo efforts of the winter. Threw in 10x30 second pickups on the elliptigo, spinning fast at a lower gear.

Sat 12/31 - AM 75 minutes incl. track 3k

Uninspiring start to the indoor campaign, not that I expected any different. After a warmup that was somewhat lacking in both scope and focus, got through six laps of actual racing before the thing unspooled and the underlying fatigue of the past few days battling with illness took its toll. Successive kilos of 3:07, 3:10, and a sparkling 3:14 to close. Going through the motions the second half of the race. On the plus side I wasn't coughing uncontrollably afterward, although the bronchial tubes certainly were sore. Eventually headed outside for a long easy cooldown through Brookline and Kenmore Square with the CH. I'd like to think I'm capable of better, how much better remains to be seen.

Fri 12/30 - PM 35 minutes incl. 6x150

Fresh Pond. Meandering warmup in and around Danehy Park followed by more speed development on the track in spikes. Despicably windy after yet another episode of rain/snow/whatever passed through overnight. Second night of struggling to sleep well with the cold symptoms plaguing me.

Thu 12/29 - 50 minutes elliptigo trainer

Thanks to the CH, we're now able to ride the dork bike throughout the long cold winter which is an exciting prospect. Despite being quite tired from suffering with the ongoing cold trying to get to sleep, I was more than happy to give the indoor setup a try. The fact that the weather was truly abysmal with a driving rain and temps in the high 30s made it a no-brainer in fact. Looking forward to getting a lot of use out of it this winter.

Wed 12/28 - PM 70 minutes incl. 2k, 3(3x400)

Half day at work enabled me to take a nap after lunch, at which point I realized to my chagrin that I've come down with the dry scratchy throat. This will inevitably go through the progression of cold symptoms over the next few days at least. Not that it stopped me from working out of course. In fact the workout went reasonably well, had a fairly clear idea of what kind of numbers I wanted to hit going in and did so for the most part. Initial 2k was a progression, shooting for 86/84/82/80/78 which would add up to 6:50 for the whole thing. In reality it was 6:53 as there was some change on each of the first three 400s and the final 400 was a 79. Still felt reasonably controlled and within myself. 4.5 minute break then on to the repeat 400s, with a minute between each rep and 4.5 between sets. Shooting for 73-4 first and last and 78-9 on the middle. Splits:

73.6/73.7/73.4
79.2/78.1/78.5
73.5/73.0/73.2

Tue 12/27 - PM 60 minutes easy

Area 51. Knew better than to try the trails but I tried them anyway, mostly unsatisfying with long stretches that were pure hockey rink. Had to tiptoe along the edge to get through in many spots. Slow pace not indicative of the effort required to slog through this garbage.