Happy Holidays and Happy Training!

For most the holidays offer an opportunity to rest, but for many runners, it offers the opportunity to train. The cookies, turkey, ham, and winter ales taste much better after a great run. I invite everyone who enjoys the usual Christmas pleasures to train your ass off in the morning, and indulge in the evening. I will be enjoying Christmas in my wife's family village, Rodinov, before

Picking the Carp for Xmas dinner

returning to Portland this coming weekend. Christmas in Czech consists of most of the usual western traditions, but the meal does differ. The traditional Czech Christmas dinner, on the 24th, is carp, carp soup (all the extras from the fish), and potato salad. Presents are opened on the evening of the 24th, and extended family is met on the 25th. I will be squeezing in two runs per day through the week, but I will do my best to enjoy Christmas in the evening.

Last week focused again on hills and a brutal Fartlek, and this week will not be much different. I will spend January on more specific interval and tempo work in preparation for the USATF Cross Country Championships in Boulder on the 7th of February. I plan on racing through late June or early July, so I'm really trying to not get ahead of myself and let myself focus on volume and strength through the end of this month. It's much easier to accept being a bit less sharp going into January when I have my coach, Dave Smith, telling me to do so.

Alright, time for you to stop reading this and go join your family in the living room. That's probably what I should do as well...thanks again for reading, and Happy Holidays!

Week 5	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	12	6	40 minutes	18
Tuesday	30 minutes, drills, 10 x 300 meter hills, 30 minutes	5		17.5
Wednesday	14.5		40 minutes	14.5
Thursday	11.5	5 + drills and 6 x 150 meters in spikes		17
Friday	5.5	Fartlek 4 x (1, 2, 3, 4)		18.5
Saturday	11	5	40 minutes	16
Sunday	18.5	Off		18.5
TOTAL				120