It's the first day of winter and I feel the weather has cooperated enough that I've managed to get in about forty miles over the past two days. Yesterday was in the upper forties and today began in the upper thirties but it was sunny and relatively windless, and hit somewhere around 43 degrees by the time I'd begun the return loop. For about seven months out of the year I manage to get in close to two hundred miles a week but once the weather turns nasty, my outdoor mileage plummets and it's back to the boring old indoor trainer. And despite the regular hours on said trainer, I can't believe how fast my endurance loss takes place. I took my winter bike out for yesterday and today's runs on old roads with plenty of rolling hills north of my home. In the summer months a 20 mile run will barely get my heart pumping, but couple the cold with lack of outdoor training and I found myself huffing and puffing on a couple of inclines! I can't say enough about wind tights and long sleeve merino wool tops on a day like today, by the way.