Sat 2/16 - double, 1:35 total incl. 2x12 minute tempo

AM - just over 35 minutes very easy around the Fens. Morning shakeout and wakeup, as planned. Blustery and cold.

PM - just under an hour, Longfellow loop. Warmed up 13 minutes then 2x12 with a three minute break. The pace faltered a bit early on in the second rep, did the first rep a bit too fast. Still able to gather sufficient focus to finish the thing off. Definitely feeling tired, this would be palatable if I were running a lot of mileage right now which I'm not. Calf stiff at first, felt it less on the second rep, but it's still affecting efficiency somewhat. Cold windy conditions continue.

Fri 2/15 - PM just under 75 minutes, Levittown to Tiger Drive

Overall feeling better than yesterday but still not ready to work out again, so took it relatively easy. Not active recovery however, pushed the pace just a bit at times along with 5 strides on the way in. Gusty winds but not terribly cold, yet. Once again there was yammering to deal with during the afternoon. I give and give and this is my reward. What I do to deserve such unsolicited attention I'll never know.

Thu 2/14 - PM 80 minutes easy

Took a pokey, meandering tour of S. Acton. Feeling somewhat tired, footing icy and dicey on the sidewalks in places so the pace stayed quite relaxed throughout. After the past two days a bit of active recovery was needed anyway.

Wed 2/13 - PM treadmill, 8.5 miles in 60 minutes

7 to 9.9 mph, stepping it up a click every 2 minutes. Legs not feeling as awkward as the past two days, although still not exactly smooth at the start. As ever, the treadmill by its nature smooths out the rough edges. Finished feeling somewhat tired but not exhausted, faster speeds weren't as taxing as I thought they'd be. Running outside today would have required a snorkel.

Tue 2/12 - PM RLTAC 60 minutes incl. 4(600,200)

The awkward clunky feeling in my legs from yesterday's run was back and if anything they felt worse. In addition to the ongoing right calf issues both tib anterior muscles felt weak and as if they had recently been overwhelmed somehow. Felt like I was stumbling around on stumps during the warmup. An aftereffect of racing after taking 10 days away from the track I suppose. Combined with a tired, vaguely febrile feeling by late afternoon, I had reservations about even doing a workout. Drills, while helpful in loosening things up somewhat, felt terrifically awkward and I had to tread lightly, go slowly. Workout was 4-5 sets of 600, 100 jog, 200 with 2.5R between sets. Looking to run the 600s in 1:47-8, 200s 33-4, splits as follows:

1:47.5/33.1
1:46.5/33.8
1:47.7/33.2
1:48.5/32.7

the 100 jog took around 36 seconds each time, i.e. very slow. Awkward feeling continued throughout, although it diminished some as the workout progressed. Running on my heels much more than I would like which made it difficult if not impossible to feel smooth. The same effort level with "normal" legs would have resulted in faster splits all around for sure. As it was, I got through four sets and considered myself ahead of the game in that I hadn't re-aggravated the calf injury. Completely out of gas for the cooldown, barely able to move and shuffled through 20 minutes that couldn't have been much more than 2 miles.

Mon 2/11 - PM just over 70 minutes round trip to TJs

34 minutes or so for the trip out and more like 36 on the way back as I was carrying the heaviest load of groceries yet on one of these runs. This on top of DOMS-related tired clunky legs, and a bitter wind chill to boot. Calf not feeling particularly great, nearly strained it again slipping on a patch of ice. Overall a less than compelling experience. At least I had the pleasure of scintillating conversation with an insistenly acquisitive pack of adolescents earlier in the day.

Sun 2/10 - PM 45 minutes very easy

Spent two hours in the morning tromping around in the woods looking at animal tracks, enjoyable but left me wet and somewhat chilled. Run was going to be in the evening anyway but cut the length short due to starting a bit late. Began with a 15 minute loop through Levittown at which point I realized the planned trip by car to the supermarket post-run wasn't going to happen due to atrocious road conditions in Maynard, i.e. completely untreated with a thin layer of sheer ice everywhere. As I was out of oj, looped back to pick up the backpack and ran from there to the nearest market. At no point was the pace anything other than slow. Calf swollen, doesn't react well to contracting while ankle is flexed, particularly noticeable during the morning hike in the woods, but not as bad as one would think the day after racing.

Sat 2/9 - PM 60 minutes incl. 3k in 8:54.43

A decidedly lackluster effort, made more thrilling by the doubt going in over whether or not my calf would shrivel up in a ball and die. Having not set foot on a track since injuring it last Tuesday this was a real fear, unfounded as it turns out. Still not 100% but handled the turns and running in spikes. With that concern out of the way the race itself was a similar pattern and feel to the 5k two weeks ago, even and slower than what I would have liked. Kilometer splits of 2:59, 2:59 and 2:56, last lap just under 34. Some tactical nonsense to contend with as well as I became enamored with the rail and found myself boxed in at various points the first mile as a result.

Slower than the mini-meet 3k six weeks ago which was most definitely a controlled effort whereas this was most definitely a race. Still feeling just a bit flat by the end of the week the past few weeks, overall rundown feeling which I noticed right from the warmup. From a training standpoint I was certainly well-rested but from a rest standpoint not so much. Wednesday's run-in with the dry scratchy throat not helping there. Wiped out for the cooldown which was a 20 minute crawl.

For the first time that I'm aware of with one of my races, there is video available online.