The big 8 - 0

Another week in the books and it was a good one:

Monday - 6 recovery in the morning and another 4 at lunchtime. When I ran in the morning before work, it was 46 degrees. By the time I ran again at lunchtime, it was in the 20s and by the time I got home it was 2 with a windchill well into the negatives. Such is life in South Dakota.

Tuesday - 10 with 4 at LT pace. Once again, I had to attempt this workout on the indoor track because the windchill was still wicked cold. Fortunately, the track wasn't obscenely crowded this time, but I still had a rough time maintaining pace. I was shooting for the LT miles to be in the 6:45-6:50 range and ended up with a 6:41, a 6:56 (oops), a 6:45 and a 6:43. So, the pace came out about right, but I had to work pretty hard for it.

Wednesday - 15 easy. Woulda been a great run if it weren't for the fact that I had to log 172.5 laps around the track to get it done.

Thursday - 6 recovery. Back outside.

Friday - 13 easy. Legs felt sore and tight the entire time.

Saturday - 6 recovery.

Sunday - 20 long. Within the first half mile, I felt like it was going to be a good run. I ran a fairly hilly out and back route that's a net uphill on the way out and then back downhill for the return stretch. At halfway, I still felt great, which is odd because the hills usually take a toll. At mile 15, I decided I was tired of holding myself to 8:20-8:30 miles, so I stared pushing it a little. The last five miles ended up at 7:38, 7:19, 7:06, 7:06 and 7:08 and felt great. It's amazing to me how a 7:06 mile after 18 miles of running can feel great when a 10 second faster mile four days earlier felt horrible. I've never finished a 20 miler feeling so energized...like I could have kept going for another 20. If every run were like this one, I'd log 140 miles a week.

Total - 80 miles. My first time ever hitting 80.

I also lost another 0.8 pounds. Part of me wants to be losing weight faster, but another part says that 1-2 pounds a week is actually ideal, especially when walking the fine line of fueling a body that's logging 70-80 mpw and trying to lose weight at the same time. My January total for weight loss was 7.2 lbs., which actually puts me dead on pace for getting to my goal weight before May.