Is this the off season?

I did a 4 mile run this morning exactly at the speed I intended to (about 9:30 min/mi). It just seemed a bit harder than it should have been, as have my last few runs. Due to the weather and the lack of daylight, I just haven't been getting the mileage in that I did earlier in the fall. My long runs have not been as long and overall, my running has been less frequent. I feel like I am now in "maintenance mode".

There isn't anything wrong with maintaining, it is much better than quitting, which I did last year after a two-month trial of running. One of my key motivating factors has been improving and getting better / faster. I'm not certain that I will be able to do that over the winter if I can't get enough running in.

I do have some plans to combat winter and the "off-season". They include: more gym work, more running on the dread er.. treadmill when running outside is not practical (both at home and at the gym), using Wii Active 2 or other "video game" software to do workouts and to keep scheduling races. I have no races scheduled and, while I hoped against it, I do think I need to have some sort of race goals. Should I shoot for an early spring half-marathon? Do I keep doing the occasional 5 or 10k? Not sure, but I think I need to put some goals back into play.

Any ideas from my few, but loyal readers? :)