it is cold

Today was the best training day I have had in quite awhile as I was able to get in some very solid threshold running at Lifetime in the morning and then a short, quality speed session in the PM which included blasting one of the 200m repeats in 26 high. It's been a long, long time since I have turned 'em over like that. I still can feel some speed in the legs, and I promised my teammate Meghan that I would quit slipping in negatives about the age creeping up on me. My future wife Julie really is correct when she tells me to use my experience to my advantage...age really doesn't mean much and it is all about the positive attitude you should attack life (and running) with on a daily basis that will get you to where you want to be.

On Tuesday, I ran my afternoon run from my house in St. Louis Park over to the Theodore Wirth mountain bike trails. These will be very nice to have in the summer, but I ran on the snowpacked loop and honestly it was some of the most pleasant running I have done in awhile. There was a chill in the air, it was calm, and I was just slicing and dicing on the single track trails in the middle of the woods. I had sheet screws in the shoes, but I definitely could have used a bit more of a rugged traction from a trail shoe. Nonetheless, the 1h30m run flew by, but I was glad to be home as dark at settled in.

We have a really solid group of guys and gals making up Team USA MN at the moment. Everyone is working extremely hard even though everyone is at a different point in training whether healthy or on the mend. It's been really nice having AC back where he belongs. It just adds another element to the training environment. I am sure once Vega gets healthy, we will be ripping epic workouts and racing even more epically. I am excited...my heart, head, muscles, feet; they are all in a good spot at the moment.

I mentioned I will be racing 3000m at the U of M this weekend. This is going to hurt. I have accepted that. But I will put in a good effort and then the big celebration at Famous Dave's will commence and I will be eating pork products until my belly cannot fit anymore in. This will be washed down with some cold ones. Then the 20 miler on Sunday, and bam you have a perfect weekend.