Sat 9/15 - AM 75 minutes, Area 51

Took it easy most of the way, escaped any horrible feelings in my legs which was good. Did a few strides on the way in. Wet windy morning.

Fri 9/14 - PM 60 minutes, Walden woods plus 20 minutes in Walden

Today my legs felt the way I had hoped they would feel yesterday. Clunky tightness nowhere to be found, and this is the day after running hill repeats. I doubt that's a causal link. Hopefully they won't feel like garbage tomorrow. Ran some strides on the way in which felt smooth. Warm day with a breeze, which seemed to pick up strength when I was in the water. More cross-current fun. Getting odd looks from kayakers.

THu 9/13 - PM 80 minutes incl. 9x1 minute hill repeats

Legs felt stiff, clumsy and awkward, which is how they've felt all week. This feeling didn't change from the warmup to the cooldown. A quick set of drills as part of the warmup didn't help any. This put a damper on the workout and made things a slog. I had hoped to do 10 reps but it required far more effort to maintain the same speed on the last two reps as the previous seven. Severe clear day with a persistent breeze blowing down the hill, not appreciated.

Wed 9/12 - PM 70 minutes, Walden woods plus 24 minutes in Walden

Another easy day. I may or may not do hill repeats tomorrow, but I knew after five minutes that I wouldn't be doing them today. Legs felt heavy and still a bit sore, but more notably feeling tired and any kind of hard effort wasn't forthcoming. The pond was refreshingly bracing.

Tue 9/11 - PM 70 minutes easy, Area 51

Feeling a little bit better than yesterday, but not as much as I had hoped. Tired on the drive home from work, carried over to the run. Continued dank weather, today the skies opened up for much of the afternoon but it had pretty much subsided by the time I hit the trails. Did a series of controlled (i.e. slow) strides on the way in.

Mon 9/10 - PM 95 minutes, Walden woods plus 20 minutes in Walden

Very easy the entire time, in fact some parts were superslow. Both tired and sore from the weekend's efforts. Both calves quite stiff, which is inevitable after wearing shoes as light and sleek as the 205s. Chose a route over Pine Hill and around Sandy Pond that took longer than expected due to the slow pace, I should have known better. getting into the pond, while not exactly pleasant, wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. Cool dank conditions all day with the ill breeze blowing from the NE. Unable to do post-run stretching due to rapidly deteriorating weather and the gathering darkness which brings out the bugs.

Sun 9/9 - double, approx. 90 minutes total incl. Maynard road race

PM - Maynard road race in 18:01. Mile splits of 5:05, 4:50, and 5:01. Ran the same course in 18:21 in '04 and 18:40 last year. I had hoped to skate through this with a minimum of effort but it wasn't to be when Beauchesne showed up. My heart sank, decided to let him take the pace from the gun while his watch made three separate types of beeping noises. As I was feeling a bit tired from yesterday I figured he'd pull away eventually. However it soon became apparent any kind of hill was hurting him far more than me, plus he was constantly checking his watch, and without much effort I pulled away on the only steep hill of any consequence, even that was a short one. From there it was a series of blind corner surges interspersed with slower breaks until near the end when I knew it was in the bag and could relax. Much faster splits than I had expected. Much cooler day than yesterday with a breeze. I have my doubts about the accuracy of the second mile marker, while the course as a whole is slightly longer than the advertised 3.5 miles--more like 3.6. As can be seen here

later PM - 30 mintues very easy, Lincoln woods. Calf stiffened up some over the course of the afternoon. Continued humid but still cool, which kept me from going in the pond even though I should have.