Last week I read an article in Running Times magazine about habits of the pro-runners as seen by a sportswriter over the years. There were 5 habits:

1. A Large difference between easy and fast pace
2. Runs start slowly and build into the pace.
3. Perform drills in addition to running
4. Vigorous warm-ups before races
5. and the last one I forget.

For the first habit the writer described an easy morning run with a couple Kenyans. They went out for a 10K loop and it took something like 45 minutes. The writer was itching to go faster and the Kenyans were content to just plod along. In the afternoon they ran a tempo workout on the same loop, this time it took 31 minutes and the writer got dropped at the start. For habit #2 he describes another run with Kenyan women. At the a start he was having a hard time going so slowly, within a couple miles he realized he was running at his normal pace, then he was pushing, then he got dropped.

I have the bad habit of running my easy runs in the 7:15 – 7:30 pace range (to fast) and also starting things off too quickly. Glancing at my watch at the first mile split and pushing harder because I started off to slowly, even though it is an easy run. I’ve known that I should slow down on my easy runs and I’ve tried in the past but for whatever reason it really stuck after reading this article and I’ve put into practice, at least for last week. I’m going to try and keep it up through the winter.

So onto weekend of running.

I couldn’t get out of bed on Friday morning to run. When I left work Friday eveningit was 33 degrees and pouring, about the worst running weather possible. Luckily the rain stopped around 6:30 and I got out for a few easy miles with Boomer. 3.2 miles in 27 minutes.

Saturday I was going to meet Deirdre and Seebo at the AM for long run. I initially got Deirdre to change the start time from 9:30 to 8:30 and lost Seebo who couldn’t make it that early. On Saturday morning I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do even the 8:30 run. So I backed out and pretty much ruined the group run for Seebo and Deirdre. Sorry.

I instead ran from home on a long hilly loop over Harts Lane, down River Road, then up over Shawmont Hill. I cut through Manayunk and then over Walnut Lane Bridge, through Mt. Airy and home. It was cold but I was comfortable. The pace started very easy and I slowly sped up through the run. I pushed myself up the hills and tried to run around marathon pace for most of the last five miles. It was a great workout. 17 miles in 2:04.

On Saturday night an ice, sleet, snowstorm made for messy, slippery conditions on Sunday morning. I pushed off my run until 3:30. The sun was now out and the ice-coated trees were melting creating tiny rain showers under every tree. The light from the setting sun also glistened off the ice making the trees sparkle. It made for a scenic run. There were a number of icy patches on the street, which had me running like an old man with a short sliding gait. I nearly went down at one point when some ice caught me by surprise. 7.5 miles in 6 minutes.

For the week, 60 miles in 7 workouts including a fast finish run, a track workout, and a somewhat hard long run. A great week of training.

Over the holidays I travel out to Seattle to visit the in-laws. I am going to make every effort to get all my runs in out there. I’ve heard that they got hit with a foot of snow and I’m hoping a lot of that will melt before we get there.