Fri 4/2 - PM 45 minutes easy

along the Charles river. Too exhausted to do the planned threshold run today, even though I had the day off from work. Still had to do HS practice, of course, and rode the bike around swellesley for that. Got home and fell into a near-coma. Still clearing out the cobwebs when it came time to run over an hour later. Stiff and awkward from the get-go. The lack of sleep is punishing at the moment. Completely my own doing of course.

Thu 4/1 - PM 75 minutes easy

Lincoln woods. Staggeringly tired, right on the edge of very easy at times esp. near the end. Lots of breaks too, some to step around flooded sections of trail. Left hip remains problematic, TFL and quadratus in lower back very stiff at the start and loosened up some from there but still it's not in a good way. I suppose it goes back to last Sunday's race but I don't remember feeling anything that day. Milder temps have returned, just like after the last deluge. Road closures even worse now though than they were two weeks ago--commute from hell even longer now.

Wed 3/31 - PM 45 minutes very easy

Most tired, slow, perfunctory effort I can remember for quite some time. Tired tired tired. Didn't fight it, went right with it to putterville. Glacial pace throughout. Left hip tender and sore all day, limping on the TFL most of the day at work and direct pressure on the right spot yields a noticeable response--the area is tight as a drum. The rain has finally stopped but the gray skies and dreary breeze linger on.

Tue 3/30 - PM 70 minutes incl. 2x3k, 6x200

Workout seemed more impressive at the time than it does in hindsight, but considering the general level of fatigue it'll have to do. Continued dismal conditions outside meant the entire thing was done inside RLTAC. 25 minute warmup was very slow for the first 20 before finally waking up some. After planning on doing 2k reps, changed my mind to try a combo workout instead which ended up being heavy on the LT end of things. Had the idea of running 3k at 42/41/40 pace per lap for each successive km, it ended up a bit faster than that but the same general idea:

3:29/3:21/3:15
3:27/3:22/3:16

3 minute jog between reps. Left TFL and lower back became suddenly tight and quite sore, twinging like crazy on the second rep. All the turns not helping there of course. Took a 3 minute break after the second 3k, tightness in left hip simmered down enough that I felt confident I wouldn't do irreparable harm with the 200s. Thought I could do as many as 10 but cut that back to 6 which was a no-brainer. Underlying fatigue was starting to assert itself, lack of sleep continuing to plague me. Splits on the 200s very unimpressive, between 36 and 37 mostly, but at least they felt smooth. Short cooldown.

Mon 3/29 - off

Found my free time window had closed. Miserable weather yet again as well. No change in the tired routine, struggling mightily to get to bed earlier but it's not happening right now.

Sun 3/28 - AM 70 minutes incl. 5 miles in 27 minutes

5 mile race around Fresh Pond in just under 27:00. Nice course, mostly flat with the last mile trending a bit up. Back into the groove of smooth, relaxed and tired efforts. I knew going in that I was too wiped out from the cumulative effect of the past week or two to expect anything fantastic, so I kept it restrained from the gun. First two miles around 5:20, next two 5:26 each, then a 5:24 slightly uphill mile to close. Felt very much under control early but it's not like I ended up leaving a lot of time out there. Ended up being a rabbit for the first two miles, at which point we turned into the wind and I'd had enough of providing a draft. With time/pace not really a consideration I forced the guy to take the lead thinking I could dismantle him in the last 800. That lasted about 400m and I ended up leading again the rest of the way. Still not even close to being fit, even taking into account how tired I was this week. I did get not one but two shiny new dust collectors for my effort though, why anyone would think a grown adult would actually want a trophy over some merch or $ is beyond me. I assumed that a race put on by the evil empire of running stores would be giving gift certs as prizes, I should have known better. Perhaps explains the weakness of the field for a race with such a nice course. Still I may end up doing it again next year anyway.

Sat 3/27 - AM 85 minutes easy

Lincoln woods, quite relaxed throughout with a few 45 second pickups near the end. Still feeling underlying tiredness but not so much as yesterday. Got in a decent stretch eventually, it was long overdue. Still feeling some dings from Wednesday that would have been less with more flexibility work between then and now. Cold again with a sharp breeze.