Sun 11/21 - AM 75 minutes incl. 4 mile road race

More sandbagging, unable to resist doing this one after getting a money slot two years ago. Felt more sluggish than sore warming up, from staying up too late in general and much too late on weekends. Did almost the entire course as a warmup to shake out the cobwebs. Feeling alert enough after doing some drills on top of that. The race itself was quite tactical, five people going for three slots. Soon after the mile mark the course went up the most significant hill, which was enough to cause to be dropped by the top two. Soon after two miles I found myself in fifth and working harder than I would have liked not to get dropped. Hung in for the third mile, hoping to make a late move to get back into third. Soon after 5k the pace lagged enough at the bottom of the main downhill and I was more or less forced into taking third a little earlier. Spent the next 600m trying to reel in second who got tantalizingly close, but not close enough. In the end the limits of my fitness were quite apparent, no surprise given how spotty and inadequate the training has been the last six weeks. Held on for third and was relieved to do so. Happily, the left ankle which has been so bothersome this week didn't bother me much at all. However, the adductor, TFL and thigh in general started stiffening up immediately upon finishing. Not as bad as it has been in the past, but unable to do more than a crawl on the cooldown. As it has been since August, the left thigh is aggravated easily by fast sustained running. Chilly day, a bit windy but not as much as the last time I did this race two years ago.