So it seems winter finally made an appearance in Wisconsin this week. Although I am not complaining - I am so thankful we've had such a mild winter. I didn't run a single step this year in sub-zero temps. I don't think it was ever in the single digits either. Nice!

And even though we got dumped on with a fair bit of snow this week, I was able to run outside for my run with James and my long run - both I am very thankful for. Admittedly, both of my uptempo workouts were on the treadmill though and, well, that did suck, but hey, I really don't have room to complain. My neck is finally starting to feel better, but I haven't done any arm weights and have really scaled it back on the ab work. Hopefully I'll get back into that soon, but my priority is healing it 100%. It was so debilitating to have no range of motion and constant pain, so I'll continue to baby it for a while.

So here is my week by the numbers:

M: rest and lots of stretching. My hammies have been really tight.

T: 1:10 - 8 miles (8:51 pace / 147 AHR)

W: 1:05 with 5 x .63 mi @ tempo (7:17); .25 recoveries. I had to do this on the treadmill, so my options were 7:13 or 7:19 pace. I did them all at 7:19, but the last one, which was 7:13. Didn't wear my HRM, but it felt fine. Boring and a PITA on the treadmill, but fine.

R: 1:10 - 8 miles + 4 striders (8:52 / 152 AHR). I threw the striders in since I forgot to do them Wednesday.

F: 1:20 with 6 x .5 mi @ tempo (7:17); .25 recoveries. I could not run until after work and by then we had a couple inches of snow, so again, I had to hit the treadmill. This time I did all the intervals at 7:13 pace, but the middle 2, which I did at 7:19. Again, all felt okay. I watched part of Dirty Dancing to get me through it. That is a good flick. Hadn't seen it in years.

Sa: Woot - most fun run of the week! First part was with James: 1.25 warm up (8:50 pace); 4 hill repeats (I didn't run them fast, he did); 1.25 cool down (8:20 pace); I then ran the next 3.65 miles on my own. Ended up with 6.3 (8:34 pace / 151 AHR).

Su: This was the big one. Coach had me scheduled for 2 hours, but we bumped it to 3 after last weekend's fail. I ate well yesterday, got a good night of sleep, and had a nice healthy breakfast this morning. I was NOT going to fall apart due to faulty nutrition again. I also decided to take it easy and ease into a 9:00 pace by mile 5 - just go by feel. And that is what I did. By mile 10, my muscles were already sore, which kind of sucked, but my paces and HR were in the right place. Gutted it out and got my 20 miles in. Last mile fastest mile. 3 hours - a hair over 20 miles (9:01 pace / 151 AHR).

Total: 60 miles

In fun news, I am helping plan a new race in my hometown. It is going to be awesome. Can't wait to release the details soon!