Motivation in the new year

Well, it's the 7th of January and I can say that I have ran every day this year. I've gotten in about 46 1/2 miles in the last 6 days and planning on 6 1/2 tonight for a 53 mile week. I'm feeling a little run down from lack of sleep, but I know that's part of the process that I call 'breaking down', where the volume of training is increased and many subtle physiological changes are taking place underneath the surface. My body isn't used to the increased volume quite yet, so that will take some getting used to. My calf problems seem to have resolved themselves and the snow is melting,so I'm happy about both of those things.

My last week has broken down as follows:

Jan.1
Mile warm up, 1st mile of New Years Day 5K in 5:23, backed off to a jog so that Jenny could catch up, hit 2 miles in 13:06 and paced her to 19:56 for 5K. 3 mile warm down with Eric. 7 miles total
Jan.2nd
4.5 miles on loop in Mountain Home, averaged about 6:24 pace, last mile about 6:05.
Jan.3rd
12 miles-Barber Loop in Boise, mostly easy, dropped down to 6:05 pace from 8.5 to 10 miles and then my last two mile easy at 6:50 pace.
Jan.4th
13.5 miles on the outskirts of Mt.Home with Laurel and the Mt. Home crew. Easy running (7:45-8:00 pace) and cold as hell !
Jan.5th
4 miles out and back in Mt.Home. Out in 15:32, back in 13:55 on snowy icy crappy roads
Jan.6th
mile warm up, then 7 X 2 minutes hard with 1 minute jog recovery (crappy footing), 1.5 mile warm down, 5.5 miles total. Living in a lactic wonderland.
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6 day total = 46.5 miles
Planning a hard tempo effort on Saturday and would like to run 5:30 pace or faster for the 3 mile fitness evaluation. Planning to keep running every day until something prevents that from happening. Will keep adding mileage every week until I'm up to around 65-70 miles per week by the end of January, and then build on that.

My next major race will be the Snake River Canyon Half Marathon on March 7th.

Remember, this time of year, the first step out the door is the hardest one to take !