Resolutions

You Will Keep Your New Year's Resolution?

You're planning on making a resolution that's smart, attainable, and perfect for where your life is.

Will You Keep Your New Year's Resolution?

Anyway, that's the prediction that I got from the Blogthings website. So what is/are my/your resolutions? I don't usually make them but thought it might be fun to come up with a few and see how they come out next year at this time. Nothing like an online diary of sorts to keep you honest. So here's my running related list:

1. one bowl of ice cream per week (doctor's orders and see #10)
2. two beer per week for the added carbs that we runners need
3. three glasses of red wine per week for the good heart healthy chemicals
4. four days of easy running per week so I don't get overtrained
5. five different events in the RunNB race series to attain the cycle (5k, 8k, 10k, 1/2 & full)
6. six days per week running (except for post marathon rest weeks)
   
7. seven or 7th day to run long every week (where long>17mi or 2.5hr) (see #6 exception)
   
8. eight races over the year (this should be easy)
   
9. nine minutes off my marathon PR (3:14 to 3:05) Ouch that's gonna hurt!
   
10. ten pounds, lose them for a 10 minute predicted marathon gain making #9 that much 'easier', ha! (current weight 165lb)

I think that's enough for the silly goals or resolutions. Right now the last thing I feel like doing is running after surviving another 21 mile run with Andrew this morning. Survival was the watchword for today's run as we were both feeling the effects of a long hard week of more training. Andrew is still popping off one hundred mile weeks one after the other and put in a hard workout on Saturday with a variety of repeats. I was also tired after a 74 mile week and a one hour run on Sat with 10 strides (20-25sec sprints) thrown in to shake out the legs.

The border guards were again funny asking about that Andrew guy and wondering how anyone would actually want to run in the cold. It was cool this morning -8C (18F) with a noticeable northerly wind as per usual and a few centimeters (inch) of snow on the roads and trails to make it a little greasy. The extra cushioning is nice but the bad part is every step has a little slip or kickback and this wears on the legs (esp. the hams) after a few miles.

It's a good thing that we're not trying to kill each other out there because these long runs are tough enough without pushing the pace. As it was the main topic of conversation today after training plans was how awful our legs felt and how much our hamstrings complained about the hills and slippery footing. We started out the run nice and slow and just worked our way through it, enjoying the nice sunrise and ocean views. Eventually the miles ticked by and we resisted any urge to increase the pace in order to get the run over with sooner. In fact I don't think I could have run any faster if chased by a pack of wild dogs. My running style was mostly just falling forward, one foot in front of the other and praying for the next mile buzz from the watch. Finally the oasis that was our waiting vehicles appeared and we enjoyed a little holiday snack before departing with a final "See you again next week!" (we are certified nuts)

Thanks A, couldn't have done it without you today.

Good running and a Happy New Year to all!