There's a fine line between being hardcore and being an idiot...

It was a mostly good, albeit cold, week of running...up until I threw down the gauntlet and challenged Mother Nature to a duel, that is (details below). The mileage was a little lower on purpose, as this was a prescribed cutback week.

Monday - 6 miles recovery in the AM, 4 more in the PM.

Tuesday - 10 miles with 10x100m strides.

Wednesday - 13.1 miles easy. I learned here not to trust either weather.com or accuweather.com. They both said it would be in the 20s in the morning. It was more like 2, thankfully without wind. By the time I got done, I had an impressive icicle hanging off the bottom of my facemask.

Thursday - 6 miles recovery.

Friday - 11 miles easy.

Saturday - 6 miles recovery with the brand spankin new Spearfish Running Club (see my post below for details).

Sunday - 16 miserably cold and long miles in the aforementioned showdown with Mother Nature. It was in the single digits with a windchill of -14, which is normally indoor track weather for me. But, the gym doesn't open until 1 PM on Sundays (lame) and I didn't want to wait around that long (nor did I really look forward to running 184 laps), so, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to bundle up and give er a go outside. After 6 miles, I knew I should probably stop, but decided to try a different loop, hoping it would put the wind at my back more. It didn't. After 11 miles, I was drained and frigid and thought that I should probably bag it and finish the last 5 miles on the track in the afternoon. But, I also thought that, judging by how I felt, if I stopped running then, I was probably done for the day and those last 5 miles would never happen. So I pressed on. I ended up getting the full 16 in, so won the duel in that respect, but it took a good hour and a half (including a long hot shower), before I stopped feeling chilled afterward, so I guess Mother Nature won in that respect. Let's just say that, next time, I'll wait for the damn gym to open.

Total - 72.1 miles