I was thinking about doing a workout very much like that in a couple weeks. But this weekend is slated for a 22-miler up near Rick's way. Last night I carried out a marathon-style interval workout that was a bit light in volume. After a 1.5-mile warm up around the neighborhood, I ran a triplet of moderately fast 400s --- each begun and connected by a warm up/recovery 400 (1.5 miles of nonstop running). Then I did two unconnected 800s at an equally fast pace, followed by a repeat of the first 400 triplet, amassing me four miles between my warm up and 0.5-mile cool down (it was cold, dark, and well after 6 p.m., so I wanted to wrap things up fast). Six miles total.

That sounds like you all had fun. I didn't do a long run this week -- but I did a bunch of trail runs -- including the CBRC 5K trail race on Sat (once as warmup and once as race), and abt 8.5mi on St Mary's lake this morning (added some extra after one loop). This morning 5 of us ran the lake loop, and I was the only one to take a spill -- I stumbled and fell three (3!) times. My excuse is I must have been tired from Sat racing.

That trail is notorious for tripping and stumbling --- and mud-related slipping and sliding following rainfall.

Two things I like about winter -- no bugs, and the parts that look muddy were all icy/crunchy. None were slippery, just crunchy. I don't think I'd like that trail in the summer -- neither the bugs nor the muddy/wet parts.

Yesterday I returned to the Three Notch Bike Path to resume my long tempo run workout series, which I hadn't done in several weeks. Previously I did nine miles at a 7:30/mi pace, so the task yesterday was to run 10 miles at an equal pace --- or at least one not too far off. It was bitter cold again, but I was well protected by a turban-like stocking cap and heavy duty gloves. Anyways, I've gotten into a bad habit over the past few months of taking breaks during long runs as though it's a requirement. But yesterday I refused to bring my mighty momentum to a halt --- not even once --- and finished 10 miles in 1:15:55 (7:35/mi). That's actually only five minutes and 39 seconds slower than my Lower Potomac River 10-Miler (PR) time from last October. It's of note, though, that the first half of the first mile was run at a moderate, 8:00/mi + "warm up" pace.

Last night on the street I did 8 X 800. Yasso style. The intervals ranged from 3:20 to 3:29 in duration --- until the eighth and final 800, which I pulled off in 3:05. I was actually able to begin my 1.5-mile warm up by 4:45 p.m., so I enjoyed plenty of light. It was, however, quite dark when I finished my one-mile cool down around 6:15 p.m. (6.5 miles total for the day). And despite the fair amount of sunshine in the sky, it was snowing throughout much of the exercise! The flakes were nothing but inconsequential flurries, though.

I also skipped last night. It was indeed cold, and I wouldn't have been able to start my run until almost 6 p.m.

That reminds me of the Lower Potomac River 10-Miler, when you ran the 10-mile race --- and followed it with 10 miles of cooling down! I've still yet to run the Calvert Cliffs trails. Yesterday I endeavored accomplish a workout idea you posited awhile ago --- something along the lines of a 16-mile out-and-back run with the first half at an 8:00/mi pace and the second half at a 7:30/mi pace. Well my own version was a bit abridged ... and somewhat slower. Although I originally planned for the full 16 miles, likely to be run upon 249, I got a late start to the day and had to come up with something shorter and closer to home. Thus I went over to the Charlotte Hall library, but not to use the Three Notch Bike Path (nor to check out any books). I actually began on the path, but then abruptly turned right onto Rt. 6 and headed for Laplata! The task was to run seven miles out at a moderate, 8:15-8:30/mi pace and then seven miles back at a sub-8:00/mi pseudo-tempo pace. Fourteen miles total. Oh, and the temperature felt close to 60 degrees! I'd never run on that two-lane rural highway before, but I knew that it has wide shoulders from the library all the way to Laplata, and that the traffic would be far from non-stop. However, the very slowest passing cars seemed to be doing a minimum of 60 mph. And though the paved shoulders were consistent, they were also covered --- smothered! --- with horse poop. Did I mention that this road passes through dense Amish country? Anyways, I'd carefully mapped out the run beforehand using mapmyrun.com, and it seemed as though the elevation would range from level to rolling --- except for one mightily deep valley. Still, it couldn't be that bad, I thought. Well as I approached the four-mile mark, the land up ahead all but dropped away. It was like peacefully flowing down a river in a boat only to realize you're about to go over a waterfall. Consulting mapmyrun.com again, I see that, over the course of a half mile, the elevation dropped no less than 100 feet. A long, long, long slope. So when that decline became an incline during the return, semi-tempo segment of the run, I essentially had to become Rocky from Rock IV. You know, when he runs up the snowy Russian mountain, in parallel contrast to Ivan Drago's extreme incline treadmill workout. When I finally achieved the soaring summit, I cast a look back over my shoulder, scarcely believing how high I'd climbed. Though far from being the steepest, I truly think that that was the most mountainous hill I'd ever conquered. I was going to break briefly at the top, but elected rather to bring the pace down to a jog for a couple minutes (I actually never paused the run. I even opened and consumed my PowerGel packet around mile 9 without missing a step!). Thanks to the Lap button, I can accurately report the stats of the run: 7 miles out in 59:12 (8:27/mi); 7 miles back in 54:35 (7:48/mi); 14 miles overall in 1:53:48 (8:08/mi). My half marathon time was just under 1:47:00. Rick: was this the weekend of your 20-miler?