Good morning Hopeful Thanks for starting.....I was just getting ready too. More power to you on your 12 miles..........It was windy here too, and cold so I decided to go to the Y and use the treadmill. I got 12 miles in but it wasn't pretty. I did 6 miles and stopped to do a 10 min core workout.......got back on for 3 miles then another 10 min core workout and finished with 3.25 miles. Mentally I was exhausted. This morning I did equal times of swimming and wall hugging.

Just got back from doing 4 miles in blowing 19° driving snow. As I look out of my 16th floor window all I see is whiteness. Normally I can see New Jersey, looking clear across the northern part of the Bronx. Not today. And of course, the sections I want to run on aren't plowed, so the workout becomes a real workout. My quads will thank me later. They actually closed the schools! It was commonplace in the last few years that everywhere else in the world would be closed but the NYC public schools would be open, even if most of the teachers who live outside the city were themselves absent. Go figure! Alex (I got a bone to pick with Robert Frost - see the "interior monologue" thread at KR)

Unseasonably warm here in Colorado. The high might be in the 50s today. The low at home is supposed to be lower than that. The snow is holding up okay so that's good. Skied all day yesterday and heading out now for another day. I ran 7.1 slow miles on the treadmill at 9600 feet elevation early this morning. I hate how slow I have to run up here. It felt like a Tempo run when I tried MP for 1/2 mile. Bill

good morning! Mary, thanks for starting. I was waiting too. Scary getting lost like that... don't do that! Great job on your 12, though. I thought about you this morning when I heard the weather forecast. It's going to get even worse. I didn't say so before but meant to... it's very nice of you to be helping your neighbor. I hope for the best for her. Slo_hand... way to tough it out for you too. Happy Monday Holly wow, Alex. I heard about NYC on the weather channel this morning. No time to go to KR right now. I was... pretty, I bet. Perch, how is Sadie? Byll, I hope you're having a good time. Twocat... thanks. I'm making a list. Erika, I am doing most of it in deep water, or at least deep enough not to touch the bottom. What hurts (I assume my hamstrings) is pulling my leg back. It hurts doing it even without resistence, & the water seems to make it worse. Some amount of it may be strengthening & safe .. I'll ask today. This morning I did 12 min. on the precor elliptical, ran 1 mile in 9:49, another 53 min. on the octane elliptical. ahr 164, max 174. 7 miles in 50:07, fwiw. probably not much! Then 2 sets of lower body weights, lat pulldowns, stretches. the end. back to work. I hope this turns out to be a good week for everyone. mta: (thanks Tom) I meant to say... Hi Doug! . Tom... I glad you finished.

Back from a 5 magical days in Arizona where I ran the Ragnar del Sol relay, 204 miles, 12 runners, 2 non sleeping days and much, much fun. A race report of the "Sand y Sol Ragnar Team" has been started in kickrunners. Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=47770 Today, 5 deliciously slow miles in the freezing cold rain. Just to think that I was running in 80 degree weather just two days ago .

Tough running day for lots of folks yesterday—Enke, fussy, Larry, Erika, Carolyn, Mary, Meg. Hang in there; there'll be better (and warmer) days. Francesca—a 72-mile week? Awesome. deez—your “race” sounded great; especially the pub part. Kevin—did you ever make it into RIC? More importantly, did you ever make it out? For those of you who use Sport Tracks, did you notice the nice new feature that shows you the time on any stops you make on a run? Neat. I always wondered how long it took me to refill my water bottles on a long run. Now I know: 2:48 yesterday. That seems important since, for me, long runs are never without a break like that. Won’t have that luxury on race day, though. Spring has been officially delayed. We've got a good 8 inches of snow here, which is quite a bit for my neck of Virginia. Did a little cross-training getting things a bit cleaned up this morning but the wind is just howling out there, causing drifts. Power came back on just a little while ago, which is great. My road, though, is a mess and I’m giving myself the day off from running. Conditions are just too dicey out there to take any unnecessary risks. My plan had been for this to be a mild cutback week and then go into serious taper next week. This weather, though, may mean that my taper has already begun! That’s okay; I could use some healing time for all the little aches, twinges, and general tiredness. I feel like I pushed more this time (in a good way) and am ready to ease up. dg—for you, just in case.

For those of you who use Sport Tracks, did you notice the nice new feature that shows you the time on any stops you make on a run? Neat. I always wondered how long it took me to refill my water bottles on a long run. Now I know: 2:48 yesterday. That seems important since, for me, long runs are never without a break like that. Won’t have that luxury on race day, though.

Good point. As you get toward the end of a long training cycle, one area to work on is shortening those water breaks. In races the clock keeps ticking. On our long runs when the Saint wants to take a bit more time I always say to her, "You know what Lydiard said '15 seconds, that's all.'" On our 12 mile runs, I bet we waste 2 full minutes or more at water stops. It's interesting how in RR's people will comment about not being comfortable drinking on the run. I suppose you can practice that too, pinching the cup etc. Spareribs