Fri 10/8 - PM 65 minutes very easy

Charles river path. Slow slow putter on flat terrain, about all I could expect after yesterday. Very little range of motion in the left leg at first thanks to everything being stuck, this improved somewhat in time. Still, felt like I was limping most of the way. Near the end, as the pace went from glacial to merely slow, I noticed to my dismay that the right soleus was quite sore, feels like I strained it. Not something I noticed after the run yesterday. Overall it was no picnic.

Thu 10/7 - AM 24k threshold run

disappointing and frustrating effort, planned on going 5-7 miles further but the wheels fell off. I felt apprehensive going into the last one of these that I did on 9/12, even more so today with the left achilles and right plantar now plaguing me as well. Items keep getting added to that list. Achilles felt stiff and crappy during the drills which served as the warmup, but didn't notice it at all during the run itself. Plantar felt ok while running but stiffened up a lot over the rest of the day afterward. The real problem was the left hip/thigh/hamstring, the tightness and soreness steadily built over the course of the run until I simply couldn't maintain anything resembling the desired pace. Simply put, unless things improve between now and the day of the race I won't be able to make it the entire distance at PMP. Enormously frustrating. I did myself no favors by doing the first lap much much too fast, something I chalk up to pent-up anxiety over the status of the left leg. It was like an out of body experience, blasted the first 400 in 80 seconds and made a conscious effort to slow down but it took 2+ miles to get into the right rhythm after that. This probably hastened the collapse by a mile or two, but it was coming regardless. Also more tired than I would have liked, esp. compared to last time when I simply hit the numbers relentlessly without deviation for almost two hours. I do feel that the overall fatigue can also be ascribed somewhat to the physical and mental grind of trying to run on a tight pinched high hamstring and hip.

Splits:
5:35/5:46/2:47
5:46/5:53/2:49
5:49/5:53/2:49
5:48/5:54/2:51
5:49/5:54/2:50
5:52/6:00/2:57

I actually gave some thought to doing another lap at whatever death march pace I could maintain just to experience a taste of what could very well happen in the race, but then realized it would be stupid to do further damage and leave myself hobbled even worse. Conditions cool, overcast and breezy, still humid but not as bad as the past three days.

Wed 10/6 - PM 45 minutes

Area 51. Yesterday's massage has helped somewhat with the ongoing left leg problems but still far from whole at the moment. Tib anterior sore as hell, surprising how it's blown up in the last three days. Right plantar, which has been a bit tight for a week or so, felt a bit worse today. Wonderful. Not espeically sanguine about tomorrow's planned effort. Final day (hopefully) of gray and gloomy crap weather, rained in earnest today but it was done by the time I got out there.

Tue 10/5 - PM 55 minutes easy

Area 51. After yesterday's post-run extended self-massage session I was hopeful to not have to drag my left leg around. Thigh felt much better, anterior tib muscle not so much. Both tibialis muscles are locked up tight, in all likelihood protecting the achilles area further down. It occurred to me that I may have strained the achilles/peroneal area doing the river cleanup the day three weeks ago, the day before the 20 mile marathon pace run. Muddled through today's run with lower leg twinging the entire time. Feeling quite discouraged as this crap has gotten a lot worse of late, and is ruining any attempt to do any kind of training of any substance. Post-run went for much needed massage, should have done this a long time ago. Continued gray and gloomy weather, ill wind blowing but only sporadic showers and no sustained rain yet.

Mon 10/4 - PM 75 minutes easy

Track Road to Area 51. Dragging my left leg all the way, as it was a mess. Before heading out the door I naively thought I could do some strides on the way in, that wasn't happening by a long shot. All the stiff sore spots from Saturday's effort carried right over into today. Of course no stretching or work of any kind yesterday made that the case. Tibialis anterior muscle especially problematic, related of course to the sore achilles. Got done and immediately went into an extended session of direct pressure on various spots from hip to ankle. Painful but hopefully productive. First of a few days of crap weather, NE wind blowing all day. Thankfully the rain held off though.

Sun 10/3 - off

Motivation still at low ebb, in need of a break mentally as much as physically. The recent switch to doubling seems to have resulted in getting buried by fatigue. Not getting to bed early enough.

Sat 10/2 - AM 80 minutes incl. 5m road race

Flat and uninspired effort. Still feeling tired and of course left leg causing problems. Unable to get excited for this race at all. More of an excuse to visit Good Harbor beach which didn't disappoint as I did the cooldown and then ate lunch there. Concerned about how the left heel would react but it felt decent enough, however the psoas was tight and sore for most of the race. The 1st and 4th mile markers didn't seem right, and it's very doubtful the course is accurate given that it starts and ends in the same spot, but there's no doubt I slowed down drastically the second half. Ran completely alone the entire time, probably for the best. Tropical humidity finally moved out overnight, replaced by clear sunny skies and strong NW winds.