#Grind#Powerthrough#MilesonMiles

The title is a really good summary of how this break has gone like so far. Last week with the arrival of my newest training partner, the Garmin Forerunner 920xt HR, for don't ask me how much money, my training took on a new level of drive and motivation. Some numbers: Since Dec 11-22:

1. 47 Hours of Training (not including stretching or warmup drills)
2. 108 km of running last week (sorry coach - 3km more than was supposed to) and 180k overall of running in the 12 days
3. 70km of Swimming with 12 days straight of heart thumpin workouts -- some of the workouts include 60X50m leaving on 55 for first 40 then on 50 last twenty, 30X100m leaving on 1:35, and in my opinion my toughest workout which was (1X200, 2X175, 3X150, 4X125, 5X100, 6X75, 7X50, 8X25)
4. 25,000 kcal burned - equivalent to 7.2 lbs of energy
5. And 9.5 hours of Core/Lifting

In other news, well there is no other news really, After I finish my training where a day usually consists of: waking up 6-6:15am grabbing some Advil, running the the pool for swim at 8am, then running back home dropping my bag in the door switching shoes, and right back out the door for 70 minutes or so running, back in, a quick glass of milk, then straight into basement for 45-55 minutes of core/lifting then lunch at 1:15 or so it's pretty much going into a coma like state for the next few hours of napping/browsing the web and training data. Hopefully I can keep this pace going and don't get burned out by the end of break. The last couple days I've been feeling ridiculously tight and sore in the mornings so I'll probably get a massage tommorow afternoon, unfortunately I'll have to pay this time unlike during the year where I can get massages Mon, Wed, Fri from the therapy crew for XC/track team for free.

With my second tempo run coming up on the 24th a 20 minuter I'm really hoping I can hit my goal pace. Last Wednesday despite my body feeling good in the pouring freezing rain and wind, I was unable to hit my goal time. But I don't feel that I was limited by my hip, more so that I hadn't done a tempo run since September and was therefore not used to the turnover the pace required. Pretty much I'm having to teach myself how to run fast again, trying to find the optimal balance between turnover, and stride length. But I think with time it will come. Also I felt I was probably somewhat limited psychologically because I'll admit I was a running scared throughout the entire tempo to really push my hip. I'll be looking for the 20 minutes to hold 3:30, and if not feeling great grind for 3:34 and under. If that goes well on the 31st I try for 3:20-3:24. This is all in an effort to whip myself into decent enough shape that I don't get too embarrassed on the track and run <2:53 for 3000m - 8:39 and under and I'll be content for Jan 31st. Until next time, happy training.