Yeah, things are definitely coming back to where they used to be. Which is good. I was getting annoyed with my lack of motivation. Hopefully, I can start getting up early this week and running in the morning. Otherwise, I'm gonna be screwed later.

1/14/08 I forgot to pack socks, and developed the usual blisters on my insteps. I'm dumb, I know, but I'm entitled to stupidity since I was so spot on smart last week. Anyway, easy 3.5 with coworker. I can't recall having any struggle at all today, other than the blisters. Of course, the pace was sufficiently slow to ensure that. Eh, the screwing later wouldn't be the good kind, and I have no idea what's next. Vague thoughts, but we'll see what the future holds.

*sigh* For the few people that I know read what I post here, this shouldn't be anything new. Running, at its very core, is simple. Yes, I know you've heard this before, but pay attention. There are three keys to running, and they have absolutely nothing to do with the words "miles", "tempo" "lactate", or "VO2Max". You sure you can handle this? It's freaky..... Here they are: 1) Consistency 2) Frequency 3) Listen to your body Those three things will make you a successful runner. If you run a whole bunch of miles, train every day, and fail to learn how to listen to your body, you won't be very successful. You'll probably be injured or burned out. If you can't go out and run at LEAST 3 times a week, you won't see many improvements. If you can't keep up that 3 times a week for an extended period of time, you're gonna hurt come your race. I don't care how many miles you run. You need to go out and run as often as possible. That's it. You don't need drills, or a HRM, or tempo runs or fartleks or intervals to be a decent runner. You need to run. So stop worrying about all the stuff you read in the magazines and books. If you want to know if you should incorporate a specific training method (like intervals), ask yourself these questions: Am I currently running as much as I can at this point? How long have I been maintaining this frequency? Do I truly understand WHY people undertake this training? How would I incorporate this into my training? If you can't answer the first two, then you know where you need to focus. If you can't answer the second two, then you should do some more research. That's the crux of it right there. Spend the first couple years of your running life learning about running, and getting an understanding for all the different stuff people talk about. Then ask specific questions that you can't find an answer for.

1/17/08 Same as Tuesday. Sorry, I'm distracted today. Deal with it.

*snerk* Thanks for the assist.

1/21/08 Easy day, almost like a recovery, I guess. Legs are feeling tired, but in a good way. I did 6 on Saturday, and 12.5 on Sunday at a a decent clip. It is cold out there, though, all of a sudden. I can live with it, except it takes me a while to make the adjustment when it's constantly going up and down. So, going to try for over 50 this week. I think the first week of February I'll see about adding doubles.

Frickin' cold. Teens with the wind chill. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad. But considering it kept going up into the mid 50's for a while, the constant swing never gives my body a chance to adjust.

Felt good to push the pace, or felt good to ditch the coworker?