...And He Gets Up Off the Couch!!

After a couple of days of total lassitude over the Turkey Holidays, it was time to get running again today. I had intentions of going out for runs at home in Lufkin, but just couldn't overcome the inertia that pulled me back for extra sleep and/or snacks. Yes, I had planned on cutting back my mileage last week, but cutting it back to about 12 miles wasn't the plan. :-) Oh, well.

This morning, we met at RunTex for the very long warmup run to the Meriden 1000m hillpeats. Nice and cool, high 40's, and clear skies. Gilbert wanted us to have a 10 mile day, while avoiding the scheduled long pace run. Nice warmup run with Matt, Brian, and Rich, and I got the story on the Mt. Bonnell run on Saturday. We were done with drills by 6:30 or so, and it was time to get going on the repeats. I ditched my running vest, and lined up with Brian, Matt, and Rich for the work ahead. Gilbert called for 5 repeats, concentrating on form, with 90 seconds of rest between.

My little group of 4 knocked out 4 repeats, each faster than the one before, which was pretty cool. I felt fairly comfortable, with the usual spots on the first hill where you huff and puff a bit. After 4, we were getting ready to go on number 5, but Gilbert said that 4 was enough after all. So, we finished up with 5x150 meter uphill striders, going with high knees and all that stuff, and then did 2x120 meter backwards running uphill striders. I ran most of the striders with Marci, and we chatted about various things as we did that stuff. A few minutes of rest later, and a few cups of blue Powerade, and it was time to head back for the long cooldown run. We had some fun on the way back, laughing about a bunch of stuff, and it seemed to pass quickly that way.

Stats: Warmup/cooldown runs 3.1 miles each, about 9:20/mile pace for 6.2 miles. Repeats were 5:00, 4:57, 4:54, 4:50, average 4:55 again like last time. For the day, 9.85 miles, and a good day's running work.

I did the full stretching with Sean afterwards, enjoying the morning sun. All in all, it was a good running day, and I'm glad to get back out there and back to training.