Keen – I’m also interested in how you go with the coaching.  I’ve had online coaching before and have a local that I’ll sign up with when in a bit better shape.  Hope the cold is better now.

OMR – You’ll wear that thing out.

DW – That Friday run looks tough, certainly got the heart going.

JTR – Blocks of work at 4 min per km in your near future?

Cinnamon – Hope those ribs come good.

This ended up being my biggest week since 2016 despite having to work within a 2 hour exercise limit after a five day lockdown was implemented starting Saturday. A few cases leaked from a quarantine hotel but seems that all have been found and are isolating so it should get lifted tomorrow.  Decided to use every minute and push the pace, a bit.

Weekly for period: From: 02/08/2021 To 02/14/2021

Hope everyone outside of FL (in the US) is staying warm!

Marby: Congrats on the the biggest week in many years!

OMR:  nice consistent looking week!

DW: Great job on getting the LR's done on the treadmill.  I find the treadmill very tiring mentally, but then again when I run on them (very rare) they always seem to be in a stuffy gym either here at work or in a hotel somewhere.

JT: Nice week and great job getting in done with the workouts inside while the weather is so tough recently!

Cinnamon: very solid week and sounds painful with the muscle strain!

CK: Understand the pullback especially with temps that cold.  Hope you feel better soon!

Had a very interesting 10K this past Sunday that probably shouldn't have been run (due to weather and especially nearby lightning) but at least I'll remember it for ever   FL has been stuck in the swamp on the south side of the cold US trough of low pressure all week long and we have had record max (high and low) temperatures with summer levels of humidity. Additionally we have been stuck in a pattern of storms and heavy rain almost daily for the past week.

Race Day: drove to the race in blinding rain and storms just before six hoping the weather would break right around race time, but ultimately thinking the event would be cancelled.  Race was supposed to start at 7, so I literally sat in my car until about 6:45 because I wasn't going to warm up with active lightning nearby.  Call came that they were going to try and force the race at 7, but they were watching more storms to the south so I reluctantly threw on my race shoes and did a short 1 mile warm up and went to the start.  Then got to the start area and heard the announcement that they were going to hold for a few more minutes due to a cell with lightning they were watching.  About that time I needed to hit the porta potty cause I sat in the car for way too long drinking too much coffee figuring I had a few minutes before the race was either called or postponed  While in the porta I hear the race director announce okay we have 20 seconds.  Race on   Then suddenly the gun goes off while I'm still about 30 seconds behind the start line so I needed to weave around large amounts of people to get to the start line.  Luckily with covid all our local races have been using net times to space out folks, but I always like going hard from the start and especially running with folks at the front to set the pacing.  All of this was really without strides or a proper warm up as well!  After a bit of weaving I just said to myself okay just run my race and use folks to help pick back up my pace as the miles went on.  Surprisingly I was finding a really good rhythm after I settled into my pace.  First 5K was on some rollers, but mostly flat and it turns out I hit the split at 17:13 and it was there I really saw the lead pack (clock time) as we turned left onto the first bridge climb.  I ended up taking the overall lead somewhere near the top of the climb and was able to hold on from there.  Also on the bridge saw several bolts of lightning way to close for comfort on the return as the rain increased.  Felt pretty gassed effort wise but the legs still felt really good at the turnaround point before the last bridge climb.  Came back over the bridge into a slight headwind as the rain increased, turned the corner and came across to a net finish in 34:28 (starting about 32 seconds behind the clock start). Really surprised myself that I was able to almost evenly split the course with the conditions and the especially with the double bridge climb in the second half.  Also realized afterwards that I was only 11 seconds behind the course record which would have been a $100 prize (small local race), but believe I ran my best pacing given the conditions that day.  Not my fastest 10K, but probably one of my proudest races given the lack of warm up, cluster of a start and uncertainty of even having or being able to finish the race!  Unfortunately, they ended up pulling runners and walkers a bit later due to the storms though

Taking a much needed recovery week where I won't run a workout before hopefully starting a short 5K block to see what I can do for some local races (with hopefully better weather) come March and April.

Weekly for period: From: 02/08/2021 To 02/14/2021

Total distance: 77.87mi

Weather - congrats on a great run. I can't believe they went off with the race. I've had 2 very close calls with lightning on a golf course and now I'm absolutely terrified of it. Of course, you're a professional so I trust your judgment 

Weather - Pity about just missing the $100, you could've bought yourself a shirt!  Congratulations on the win and a great run.

Nice job weather!! Still just grinding out the easy miles. With some bad weather put off marathon cycle til this Monday. Then it is back to feeling tired all the time

DPS - remind me - you're in for Grandma's, right?  (I can't remember).

As JTReeves noted, Athens is not happening, so looks like it is Grandma's for me.  Which I'm actually fine with.  I can use the next few weeks just to gradually get fitter before transitioning to marathon training in April.

Edit:NM - I checked the handy dandy front page, and yes you are in for Grandmas.

I'm wondering if hotel rooms will actually be reasonably priced this year.

Prices are still high for rooms. I recommend near the mall though cause ample parking and busses from mall to start. Best race day experience in my opinion. Little bit cheaper than ones closer to start finish. 350/ night vs 450 and easier morning.

Thanks.  I've always stayed at UMD Duluth, and I grabbed a room there again this year.  Frankly, if I'm going to stay by the mall area I'd rather just stay in a dorm and save my money.  I was hoping (delusionally, I guess) that there would be semi-reasonable prices for rooms in Canal Park but such is not the case.

Hope those of you dealing with the weather are doing well.  We've seen issues in TX and elsewhere in the south in the news...Keen, has any of this impacted you in OK?

Regarding Grandmas, I've always parked downtown and taken the train to the start.  Heated, lots of legroom, and bathrooms on the train.  Can eat your pre-race breakfast on the train ride.  We had family who lived a few blocks from mile 21 or 22, so I didn't have to deal with hotels or dorm rooms.

FYI, the Fargo Marathon (9/25/2021) is also open, with a full refund policy...

"During these uncertain times, we want you to know that we have your best interests in mind. While we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to host a safe in-person race, if the event is cancelled, you’ll be notified via email and will be able to choose between a refund, a deferral to the 2022 event, or an entry into the Sanford Fargo Virtual Run. If you choose the virtual run, you'll get all your race swag shipped directly to your door."

My week...all on the elliptical again.  Things started warming up very slowly over the week, but I didn't want to suddenly jump into a 17M LR today, as I've only run 4 times in the past month.  Will begin to transition back to outside tomorrow.  I'm kind of curious to see how this pans out, as I am toying with the idea of having a permanent block of elliptical training during the winter to give my aging joints a bit of a break, and just to focus on something else for a bit.

S:  8.2M, 1:00

M:  6.3M, 0:50

T:  11.4M, 1:30

W:  9.3M, 1:10

T:  7.6M, 1:00

F:  Rest

S:  17.2M, 2:03

Total:  60.0M, 7:35.

Weather: Congrats on the 10k! That is quite a race experience, but not one I think you'd like to repeat!

OMR: Great job on all the elliptical training. It will be an interesting experiment to see how it all translates as you resume running. I suspect you will be in pretty good shape.

Ian: Hope the PF stays at bay!

Not a great week for me. I somehow, not even sure how it happened, strained my lower back on Monday. I ran with it on the mill Tuesday without issue, but Wednesday did a workout and strained my hamstring (same side as the back issue) during the 2nd rep. I took the next day off and then (foolishly) tried to run Friday and had a sharp twinge in it after not quite 4 miles, and made it worse. It has improved since Friday but will need at least a few more days till I can run again.  Trying to stay positive about it; maybe a bit of down time from running will be a good thing overall for this cycle. Walking uphill on the treadmill does not bother it and I can get my HR up to running levels doing that so at least I can do something.

Weekly for period: From: 02/15/2021 To 02/21/2021

Total distance: 30.44 mi