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This was a pretty busy but good week.  I had to work later than normal 3 days this week and our good friends got married on Saturday.  My wife was in the wedding so we had lots of festivities to enjoy and lots of quality time with friends, old and new. I still managed to get 26 miles in the for the week and I’m pretty pleased with that.  My training philosophy right now is to try and get the Sat and Sun group runs in and run as much as I can during the week – but if I feel too tired or something, not to stress about getting the runs in.

Monday was a rest day running-wise. I got a total of 63 push-ups in for the beginning of week 2. I also continued with Week 2 of Core Performance which included Movement Prep, Prehab: Hip – Shoulder – Core and Regeneration.  It made for a busy morning, even without the run! The core work increased the number of repetitions from last week.

Tuesday I ran the Downtown Park 4 mile loop in 32:05.  It was 19 and pretty windy out for the uneventful run.  I did the Physioball and Regeneration core workouts.

Wednesday I ran 3.5 miles around Powderhorn Park in 28:05.   It was a little warmer, almost reaching 30! I also noticed that the lakes are starting to freeze over, especially around the edges. I did 71 total push-ups today – which hurt – and did Movement Prep, Prehab: Core, and Regeneration.  I do my push-ups first because they require a lot more energy!

I skipped a run on Thursday so I could sleep in a little bit.  I got my core workout in, doing the Physioball, Prehab: Shoulder – Hip, and Regeneration.  I also skipped Friday’s run.  I had to be at a training by 8 and was almost late, even without the run. I did manage to squeeze in my 81 total push-ups and Movement Prep and Prehab: Core.

Saturday morning’s Polar Bear Run met at Hyland Lake Preserve for a pretty tough 8.5 mile run.  During marathon training we ran at Hyland as part of our hill period so it was a tough run.  There was a thin layer of snow on the frozen trails which made it a little slippery.  It was a good workout.  It was in the mid-20’s and I finished in 66:38. Fortunately, this time we skipped the big ski hill! I did my push-up exhaustion test and completed 25.

Sunday morning we went to a new (for me and most of the other guys) trail called Louisville Swamp. This was an excellent treat of a run.  Afterwards we were all commenting on the run but more about the location.  Kirk even came out of semi-blog hibernation to make a comment about the run. I imagine we’ll be back.  We saw a river otter and Kirk saw a Bald Eagle.  We also saw a huge beaver dam and some old farmsteads.  Did I mention this was an excellent place to run? This group of 7 (today) is a very talented group and I’ve never seen them stop so many times in a run to pause and take in the scenery.  It helped that it was an almost perfect weather day – overcast and 30’s.  Ok, enough.  We did 10.5 miles in 1:29:15.  This was the best run I’ve had in a long time.  I also did my Week 2 push-up test and belted out 25 fairly easily.

Weekly Mileage:

Running – 26.5

Biking – 10