Sat 5/10 - double, 80 min. total incl. 5k road race

AM - 45 minutes with 5k road race in 16:03 on this course. A repeat workout on the track would have been more constructive perhaps but motivation levels have been low of late. Even though it was a later morning start, not feeling especially spry or awake. Tib anterior not feeling great either on the warmup. Topping things off was a persistent north wind, all of it combined to put me in a mood of doing the minimum possible to win the thing. This looked quite doubtful the first mile as it appeared I was being toyed with but the early leader suddenly and inexplicably dropped out and that was that. Pulled away from the only other contender on the uphill final mile. Not entirely sure of the accuracy of mile splits but the first two went in a little under 10 minutes with the third one being in the 5:30 range, a pattern I was expecting given the course layout. Cooldown was truncated as I got caught up in conversations with various folks from my previous life at A-B.

PM - 35 minutes, Area 51. Shakeout, tib muscle area still sore from the effort of the morning. Loosened up somewhat the last 15 minutes. Cool evening.

Fri 5/9 - PM 65 minutes easy

10 Spencer via rail bed and Mt. Hope, straight shot on the rail bed for the return trip. Legs took a while in loosening up, like 45 minutes or so. Some soreness in left lower leg along with tightness in calf. Conditions went steadily downhill all day, dank rain with an ill breeze by the time I got out there. Not at all pleasant, could have been worse.

Thu 5/8 - PM 95 minutes, Walden woods

Feeling better today than the past few. While there was some predictable stiffness in legs, especially hip/thigh area, this was the best run of the past two weeks. This despite wilting a bit on hills in the later stages of the run. Left lower leg pain not as pronounced either, strengthening exercises having an immediate effect. Finished with strides on the way in. Warm day with continued overcast.

Wed 5/7 - PM just under 80 minutes including 4800m progression in 16:22

The malaise continues on, alas. I had originally planned on a combination workout with a 4k tempo followed by some faster repeats, ideally a cutdown, but after six laps of the tempo discretion won out over valor and I decided finish the (slightly extended) tempo portion and call it a day. This was due to both the effort of running 5:30 pace being more than I would like and continued soreness in tib anterior/left calf. 1600 splits of 5:35, 5:27, and 5:20. Able to change gears well enough but again, it took more effort than it should which as always is indicative of flatness and not sleeping well enough.

The left lower leg issue has now reached the quasi-injury stage, still able to run but there's some level of pain with just about every step. In addition to stretching I'm going to do the strengthening exercises that helped cure the shin splint outbreak last year, as this flareup feels related to me.

Another nice evening to be outside, overcast but warm and a mild breeze blowing. Cooldown after the curtailed workout was longish (35 minutes) and quite easy.

Tue 5/6 - off

long day, spent the afternoon into early evening helping officiate at a track meet. Left calf not as sore today walking around as it was yesterday, but still gummed up and more tight than it should be.

Mon 5/5 - PM 80 minutes, Track Road to Area 51

Sudbury road loop. I resolved to bust the 60 minute barrier I've been stuck at for the past week. Thankfully, legs and energy level permitted this. Annoying soreness in left tib anterior region, left over from running the quarters Saturday. May have deeper roots in turning out my ankle running in the canyon two weeks ago. Nagging stiffness at work had me mildly concerned, it took a good long while to loosen up but finally did so after 30+ minutes. Did some direct pressure on the gastroc area after the run and found a large adhesion right away. Delightful weather today, warm but not hot with a gentle breeze.

Sun 5/4 - PM 60 minutes easy, Area 51

Sluggish again, putting the end to a week of feeling that way. Ran out of gas the last 15 minutes in particular which left me in a foul mood. Got home quite late last night after spending an unexpectedly long time helping at a track meet, so tired it hurt to keep my eyes open by the end of it all. As such a morning run was out of the question. Both calves feeling it from yesterday, esp. left one. After a dreary and dismal morning and afternoon, the sun came out for the first time in three days just as I was heading out for the run, pleasant conditions throughout which was a nice change.