Fri 9/11 - PM 60 minutes easy

Dismal exercise in pain tolerance, laid low by unexpected adhesions in the hip flexors and adductors. Caught totally by surprise, kept waiting for it to loosen up and it never did. Had to cut the length of the run short, way short, as a result. Different spot than what's been getting gummed up of late, I think it came as a result of trying to do the plank with one leg lifted off the ground. I hope the cause is as straightforward as that. Much laying of hands on the area afterwards, felt somewhat better but time will tell. Extremely obnoxious. Weather took a turn for the worse in the past 24 hours, cloudy and rainy with ill wind blowing.

Thu 9/10 - off

After the worn-down feeling the past two days felt that I was in need of a break, although in truth I had been eyeing a potential off day around this time for over a week now.

Wed 9/9 - PM 80 minutes easy

Ran in Area 51 for the first time in a couple of months, deer flies having vacated the place. Not much quicker than yesterday's trudge, due as much to continued low energy levels as any DOMS in the right hip. Although the adductor was stiff and awkward, took some direct pressure mid-run to break things up. Definitely some inflammation left over from the other day as well. Downright cool by the time I finished with the sun setting.

Tue 9/8 - PM 90 minutes very easy plus 20 minutes in Walden

Straight recovery today, found myself going slower as the run progressed. More wiped out than I had originally thought from the long weekend's efforts. Makes sense in hindsight though. Some residual soreness and inflammation in the right hip but I was expecting worse. The uphill nature of yesterday's race mitigated the damage of course. Not quite as warm today but vaguely sticky out. The pond seemed rather on the cool side. An overly optimistic swimmer guessed the water temp at 75-78 degrees, a level the pond has likely never seen since it formed. Felt more like 70, doubtful the pond reached its usual late summer temp. thanks to the gloomy June.

Mon 9/7 - AM 70 minutes incl. Mt. Greylock race

Felt like taking a nap both before and after the race, which kind of sums it up. This fact reflected in the rather pokey time (57:40), at least compared to previous attempts at this course. Slept well last night, al fresco wrapped in layers of blankets, but not well enough apparently. That being the case, held my own on the course although some of the steeper stretches nearly put me under. Adductor not as gummed up as it's been the last few mornings but still stiff at the start, took over half the race to loosen up. The flatter sections were more awkward for it than anything else. Happily, the core area didn't tighten up after the race the way it did on Thursday, although this had as much to do with the nature of the course as with any improvement in the area. After days of mostly clear skies the lower thicker clouds rolled in overnight and spent the second half of the race socked in. It certainly takes some of the fun out of the experience of running the auto road, to say nothing of the non-existent view at the top. Perfunctory slow warmup and even slower cooldown at the top.

Sun 9/6 - double, 1:50 total

AM - 80 minutes, Hopkins Forest. In hindsight, too hilly a route. Adductor firmly stuck at the start, hobbled along for the first 15 minutes before stopping to find the adhesion and apply direct pressure to it. Felt better after that, but all the steep downhill stretches in the woods didn't help matters any. Aside from the ongoing quasi-injury, legs feel fried in general from the past few days. I was thinking rail trail this morning but wanted to stay in the shade instead. Oh well. Nice morning, sunny breezy and cool.

PM - 30 minutes, Cole Ave to Poker Flats. Like yesterday an easy shakeout with two differences, route this evening was flatter and I did a set of drills and moderately paced strides afterwards. Adductor doing better this evening but still some soreness left over from the morning. I did the drills to get ready for the race on Thursday, first time I'd done them in months, and it helped then so I thought to try it again today. Again felt better after doing them (barefoot on grass this time) than before, I may do them more frequently still. Faint chill in the air as the sun set, sunny and dry all day.