Fri 1/23 - 50 minutes easy

Tiger Drive (backtracked when I saw the condition of the sidewalks on Rt. 27) to Sheridan and a brief foray into Levittown. I had aspirations of doing strides but it wasn't happening. Left tib anterior finally feeling better, day off yesterday helped a lot, but right adductor as stuck as it's been in a while and feeling it radiating to both ends--p.a. on medial knee during the day, and also in the hip/lower back which ended up being a stubborn spasm. Horrible timing for a flare-up of this kind of crap. I chalk it up entirely to following up last Sunday's race with Monday's ill-advised run on slippery conditions at an un-relaxed pace. I'm paying for it now. Another longer day than expected at work contributed further to the beat-down sense, chasing down far too many loose ends. Not sleeping as well as I'd like as a result. Can't wait for this week to end. Ugh.

Thu 1/22 - off

fifth in the ongoing series of planned off-days for HS track meets. Left tib anterior continues to feel like garbage, last night's fool's errand did it no favors. Lots of coaching-related crap weighing too heavily on my mind at the moment, feeling sapped at just the wrong time. Hopeful this will change over the next two days.

Wed 1/21 - PM RLTAC 45 minutes incl 1x800

Aborted workout, goes without saying that I shouldn't even have bothered. Right adductor still stuck, and left tib anterior continues to be sore. I definitely strained it running on the slippery snow-covered streets Monday, a run I'm coming to regret. In addition to the leg issues I felt frazzled overall, unable to focus. Went through the first rep in 2:26 that felt at least as hard as the pace in the race Sunday and I knew it was time to stop. Need a few nights of early bed times, and the late start tonight didn't help any in that regard. I had considered skipping this (useless) practice entirely and in hindsight I certainly should have. What I needed most was another easy recovery run like yesterday's.

Tue 1/20 - 50 minutes easy

Tour of Levittown at a very relaxed pace. The run I should have done yesterday in terms of recovery. Legs felt like garbage all day at work, eventually loosened up during the course of the run. Tib anterior muscle sore on both legs, no doubt from all the slipping and sliding yesterday on the gd snow. Just enough breeze to make for a noticeable and unwelcome wind chill.

Mon 1/19 - AM 75 minutes

Round and round and round the Woodlands in Wellesley, as the roads and sidewalks were in very tough shape after getting nearly a foot of snow yesterday. Footing very poor at times, combined with being dragged along by overeager HS kids it made for a dreary and enervating experience. Five strides in the parking lot at the end felt better than anything that preceded it. Calves stiff and sore, as expected, and the rough footing didn't help there either.

Sun 1/18 - 65 minutes incl. 3k in 8:44.3

A vaguely unsatisfying effort that nonetheless was a positive experience in the grand scheme of things. Woke up late, snowing to beat the band. Following a white knuckle drive, made it to the facility to find they were running 15 minutes late anyways. Warmup was 20+ minutes including the 5 minute jog from Harvard square, the rest of it on the track. Right adductor still stuck, loosened up somewhat during the drills but not 100%. Got off the line well enough and found within the first 300 that 8:45 pace was feeling like what I thought 8:40 pace would. I knew at 600 (1:46) that it would be somewhat tactical and that I wasn't going to run 8:40 or faster. First km in 2:56, next kilo about the same. Mile (not 1600) in 4:43 and the pace felt depressingly hard. Perhaps by dint of all those progressed repeats in practice, the pace picked up a bit into the last kilo w/o my really trying to or thinking about it much. There were some tactics involved as well, no one seemed to want a piece of the lead the first 2k (certainly not me) and so a couple of pretenders took their shot at glory before being shed. This left six of us with 500 to go, at which point I ended up taking the lead to keep it honest more than anything else. I had no delusions of winning the thing. Tried to make it stick but my legs felt like they were going to fall off, very wobbly the last 300. Passed going into the bell by the winner as I expected, hung on to second until the last 100 when second went by, and then got nipped at the line by two more in the last 50 which was disappointing but I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I was trying to stay upright at that point. Last lap went in 32 or so, last 400 66-67. Negative splits, such as they were, came entirely from this final push. As it turns out there were four of us between 8:44 and 8:45. Not much faster than last year's effort but that was a late afternoon race unlike this year when it went off at 11 AM. Cooldown 20 minutes under the football stadium, the only bare pavement to be found, as well as a quick jog over to the square to pick up lunch. Right leg not that stiff afterwards, tomorrow will be another matter I'm sure.