Dec. 27 - Jan. 2

Monday - 0 - Travel, work

Tuesday - 13.5 (4,9.5)

Wednesday - 14 (3,11) PM - BCC - Mile cutdowns, lap jog for rest: 5:22, 5:18, 5:17, 5:05, 4:59. Felt comfortable.

Thursday - 10 (6,4) AM sore, 8-minute pace PM still easy

Friday - 10 - team run from Line

Saturday - PM 7

Sunday - Long run with team from Riley's Lock on C&O Towpath. Good group. Natural surfaces. Cool weather, some rain. ~16 miles (6:48 avg.) Got a Garmin watch for Christmas! Check out the data.

Total - 70

Comments: As far as running goes, 2010 was not a good year for me. I got injured in January, missed 5 weeks. When I started training again in February, I came back feeling surprisingly strong - but a warm day nixed any chance I had of running well at the Broad Street 10 Miler. Just to confirm that I was in decent shape, the following week I ventured home to New Jersey to run my hometown race, where I managed to run 26 and some seconds for five miles, solo, amidst huge winds. After that, I basically started cranking it in preparation for the Chicago Marathon; I put together a 20-week plan ... It fell apart 10 days before the race, when I came down with an odd case of sciatica I wasn't quite able to shake. DNF. In 2009 I won a marathon, ran my fastest marathon since 2006 and ran a personal best in the half marathon. 2010 brought no such luck, but I'm hopeful about 2011 ... With it, pretend training now comes to an end.

Training Dec. 20 - 26

Monday - 10

Tuesday - 9 with 6 times 2 min. on, off

Wednesday - 9

Thursday - 11

Friday - Christmas Eve in NJ - Coach Mercer presided over a track workout at my high school, where he now coaches XC and track. 3200 in 10:16 (5:08, 5:08), lap jog, 6 by 400 in 69 seconds with 200 meter jog for rest ... 9

Saturday - 9

Sunday - in Easton, PA - 9 ... no time for more

Total - 66

Training Dec. 13-19

"If people get drunk it is not my responsibility. They should drink responsibly." -- Haile Gebrselassie on his latest endorsement: Johnnie Walker.

Commercial

Monday - 10

Tuesday - 10

Wednesday - 9 - 30 minutes outside, 30 minutes on treadmill with progressive incline, leg weights

Thursday - 11

Friday - 6 (dog tired), stretching, some weights

Saturday - 10

Sunday - 17 - Took Rock Creek Parkway up the hill to Calvert Street then up a long hill on Cleveland Ave.; turned around at National Cathedral. Faster on the way back.

Total - 73

Comments: I finished my second course, Writing For Convergent Media, as part of my journalism master's degree at American University on Saturday. Working + Grad School has run me fairly ragged: The past two weeks are some of the first for me when I felt like I just didn't have the time to train, so I guess I'm just happy that I have been able to get anything in. Glad we get a bit of a winter break. Still not quite ready to lay out my upcoming training-slash-racing plans. I will say, however, that I am going to focus on speed this spring - chipping away at the slow 10k time I posted last week - and prepare for MCM this fall. My training cycle for MCM, however, will not be as long as others have been, as I have realized that long marathon-specific cycles are simply not working for me the way they work for other people. My MCM prep will be 12 weeks, including taper.

Training Dec. 6-12

Monday - 45 min., weights

Tuesday - 30 min., with 6 by 60-second accelerations

Wednesday - 60 min., with 5,4,3,2,1 on the Mall plus 2 reps on Capitol Hill

Thursday - 70 min. in Jupiter, Florida (wedding)

Friday - 60 min. in Florida

Saturday - no time or energy for it

Sunday - Jingle All the Way 10K - 33:36, 7th - about 10 miles for day

Training Nov. 29 - Dec. 5

Monday - 70 min.

Tuesday - 45 min. + weights

Wednesday - AM 20 min. easy, core, stretching. PM Back to track at BCC. Great group. 4 by 1600 in 5:08, 5:06, 5:04, 5:10 with 400 jog for rest. Felt comfortably on first three but current fitness level was exposed on the fourth rep. Wish I could have done 5 reps, but this is a fine start.

Thursday - 30 min. easy, 20 min. hard on bike, stretching

Friday - Hains Point tempo: 23 min. easy, 3.2 miles in 17:55 (5:41, 5:40, 5:39), 8 by 100 on grass, 17 min. easy

Saturday - 85 min. easy

Sunday - 90 min. ... Wish I could have joined the team today; had too much going on

Comments: After Chicago, as my legs and lower back started to feel better, I sketched out what I called "a moderate prep" -- training phase .5, basically -- for next Sunday's Jingle Bell 10K. Wednesday's workout revealed -- not that anything which occurred during it was unexpected -- that I'm not yet ready to run a good 10K, but that's OK. I will NOT go out too fast, compete and enjoy it. The purpose of this early phase of training was to establish a new routine, one that involved more time in the gym and more attention to smaller details.

Training Nov. 22-28

Monday - At Gym: 15 min. bike; 30 min. stretching, upper body weights; 6 miles on treadmill with 15 min. uphill progression and 2 miles progressing from 6 minutes per mile to 5:30; leg exercises

Tuesday - 70 min. before travel to Easton, PA: 50 min. moderate, 20 min. hard

Wednesday - 75 min. moderate through Palmer Township neighborhoods: found some big hills

Thursday - 20 min. easy; Nazareth Pumpkin Pie 5K, 2nd, 16:27; 20 min. easy with winner Zack, a red shirt senior at Millersville University. Won a delicious pumpkin pie.

Friday - 65 min. around Palmer

Saturday - 70 min. with Greg Bowyer in NJ: Hilly roads and trails

Sunday - 60 min. in D.C.: Squeezed this between travel back from NJ and afternoon assignments in Southern Maryland. Glad to just get something in.

Training Update

Oct. 18

Monday – 20 min. jogging

Tuesday – 0

Wednesday – AM 25 min. jogging PM 30 min. jogging

Thursday – 0

Friday – 30 min.

Saturday – 0

Sunday – 40 min.

Oct. 25

Monday – off

Tuesday – 35 min.

Wednesday AM 38 min. PM jogging

Thursday – 40 min.

Friday – 65 min.

Saturday – off

Sunday – 60 minutes while watching MCM

Nov. 1

Monday – 60 min., weights

Tuesday – 60 min.

Wednesday – AM 30 min. PM jogging

Thursday – 70, weights

Friday – 20 min. easy, 3.2 miles in 18:23, 8 by 100 meters on grass, dynamics, 5 min. easy, stretch

Saturday – off

Sunday – 80 min. with GRC

Nov. 8

Monday – 70 min., weights

Tuesday – 70 minutes with 20 by 30 seconds on, off on grass

Wednesday – food poisoning or stomach bug

Thursday – AM 45 min. PM light cycling, stretching

Friday – 20 min. easy, 3.2 miles in 18:03, 8 by 100 meters, 5 min. easy

Saturday – 85 min.

Sunday – 65 min.

Nov. 15

Monday – 60 min. circuit training – bike, weights

Tuesday – 80 min. with 10 by 1 min. on, off

Wednesday – 70 min., core

Thursday – 75 min., weights,

Friday – 20 min. easy, 2 by 10 min. hard on grass; two min. rest, 15 min. easy

Saturday – 65 min.

Sunday – 90 min. with team