Week 5:

Monday 1/24: Rest day. Did upper body stuff at the downstairs gym after work.

Tuesday 1/25: My longest, hardest running workout since March 2020. Warmup, 2×15 minutes @ Lactate Threshold pace with 7 minute recoveries in between, then cool down. I could feel the struggle in the second one so had to slow it down a bit, lest it not be a true LT workout/veer into something too fast. I got 7.95 miles total because I cut the cooldown short, but let’s just call it 8. Deadlifts and squats at the nice gym in the evening, but definitely not at my heaviest weights.

Wednesday 1/26: Recoveries – did 2 miles on the fancy gym treadmill then another mile at the downstairs gym treadmill after. Light to moderate upper body stuff at both gyms.

Thursday 1/27: Hour long easy run on the treadmill for 5.3 miles or so. Did Bulgarian split squats at the gym before moving around the rest of my schedule due to the blizzard, so I then switched to upper body (bench press, cable rows).

Friday 1/28: New long run day due to the impending snowstorm to hit that night. I got a later start than I would have liked, but did 5 miles outside, then the rest of the time at the gym. I was hoping to hit 6 miles on the treadmill but ran out of time, so I only got 1 hour, 50 minutes total instead of my planned 2 hours, 10 minutes. It was just about 9.5 miles instead of the 11 I had hoped for.

Saturday 1/29: Total rest day. Could have hopped on the treadmill but stayed inside (taking Herbie out for fun in the snow of course) but decided to recover

Sunday 1/30: Treadmill recovery run. Went for an hour for about 5 miles. Hit the gym later for squats, cable rows, and bench press.

Total: 31.2 miles out of a planned 33-34 or so. Still bummed about cutting my long run short; I think hitting 11 would have been a good ego boost.

Week 6:

Monday 1/31: Rest day.

Tuesday 2/1: Hills @ Lactate Threshold pace workout, which I took outside then regretted. The parks are well cleared but the ones near me don’t have any kind of hills, so I was left with lots of sidewalk slush and ice (the streets weren’t much better since the snow was plowed into the bike and parking lanes I would normally run in). It took me a few tries to find a decent hill with clear-enough sidewalks, but it was by a hospital and had lots of cars entering and exiting. I had to cut the repeats short and skimped on the cooldown, but still got 4.8 miles (instead of 8). I haven’t had a failed workout in some time, so it was definitely bruising to the ego, but I was glad it wasn’t a question of fitness, just conditions.

Wednesday 2/2: 4 easy miles on the treadmill to recover. Deadlifts at the gym later, along with bent-over rows and lat pull-downs.

Thursday 2/3: 1 hour+ easy on the treadmill. The snow and ice was finally reduced on the streets but that’s because it rained all day. I took Herbie on a walk in my waterproof On shoes and they got pretty wet inside.

Friday 2/4: 3 miles on the tread as a warmup before lifting and cooldown after.

Saturday 2/5: Rest due to my schedule but did 1 hour of Cardio Tennis class at the gym in the morning. I’m great at the cardio, still working on the tennis.

Sunday 2/6: Cutback long run – 9.3 miles total. Did 1 hour 5 minutes on the treadmill, then 4 miles outside. I love doing these hybrid long runs in the winter.

Total: 26.5 miles cutback. Would have hit a little more if I hadn’t cut the workout short.