It Must Be Winter -- Here Come the Long Runs

Greg and I must have really short memories.  For the second year in a row, we are doing an early spring Marathon.  Last year, it was Austin.  We chose this because we figured winter is a good time to get your long runs in since you can't really bike.  While this logic may be accurate, it ignores the fact that running for hours in the freezing cold and wind and sometimes precipitation, while possible, is pretty miserable. This year, the spring marathon is a big check mark in getting us ready for Zurich, so not much could be done about the timing.

Greg: "Hey, Jen, you ready to run?"

We started our long weekend runs two weeks ago.  First ten miles, then twelve.  Tomorrow it is 14, the last four miles of which are to be run faster than the last.  Fortunately, December has been pretty mild, so the temps have actually been quite good.  Tomorrow, the forecast is 70 degrees...yahoo!

Training is officially back on.  Since Thanksgiving, we've had a few solid weeks of workouts.  Swims, spins, strength sets, tempo runs, hill repeats, interval training, and bricks.  The only thing we've neglected is our foam rollers.  This needs to change, stat.

In other training news, Mulligan has been on a boxing training program and has found a reluctant sparring partner.

Islay is on her own training plan and is performing like a rock star.  Unlike our training, which is designed to keep us in motion, Islay's training is designed to keep her sitting still.  Since she naturally wants to run, jump and hop around, this is effort for her.  So far, we are a big fan of this training routine.  It is structured and easy to execute (for us) and Islay continues to develop into a sweet, loveable puppy.  We'd recommend for any doggie owners.