Something needs to get engaged over the holidays...

Well, one thing is getting engaged this holiday season:

Yup, abs. I’d be smiling as big as Kara Goucher if my abs looked like that too. The thing that gets tossed away during time crunches – core work. Time to reel it back in and rebuild some muscle and strength. With a few weeks before Boston training truly kicks in, I’d like to build a good base right now and be strong and ready to go. Last night at the gym, I did my Roman chairs. 3 sets of 13 reps, and I repeated this throughout the weight session, for a total of 117 chairs. Yikes – not too sore today, but I think I also need to include some other core exercises as well, not just to work the abs. Swimming has helped too – it just stretches everything out so nicely. I’d love some recommendations on what people do for core work.

The 10k on Thursday really took a lot out of me. Didn’t run on Friday, and was sore during Saturday’s 10 miler (took Sunday and Monday off too). I think in part it is the combination of racing + the end of the semester – I am just a little bit worn out.

Nonetheless, I did do a short track workout this morning:2.5 mile warm up, then 3 x 1 mile repeats, starting at 7:15 and then knock off 5 seconds with each one (1 recovery lap in between each), 2.5 mile cool down for a total of 8.75 miles. Pouring rain, but that was not going to stop me. 7:13, 7:06, 7:00. It felt good to be on the track (first time since 11/9) and in the rain, felt like fighting through the repeats. I could have gone faster, but I am continuing to learn that it is not worth completely killing a track workout and have it zap you for longer than it should. So, I hit my times, dipped a bit faster than expected, so I’ll take that is a win!

I am doing one more 10k this year (Jingle All the Way in DC on 12/12). It was my hope to break through 45 there, but since I did that last week, I am hoping to set a new PR as well. This course (I’ve ran it the past 2 years) is flatter than Race with Grace, so I am confident that as long as there isn’t crazy wind like last week, I can probably knock off a few seconds. It would be cool to run 44:44 – just sounds neat. We’ll see.

While I did not run on Friday, it ended up being a banner day for training. I got up early with my dad to be at the gym to swim by 5:30. This was something we did a lot when I was at home training for Boston. I love it – the house is really quiet, the ride to the YMCA is dark but peaceful, and it is good father/daughter time. We both swim, and then go our separate ways for gym work. But then we always reconvene for the ride home. It is a wonderful way to start the day, and I am looking forward to having that as my routine in a few weeks. In the meanwhile, run, read, write, and repeat is the name of the game!