Fri 10/15 - PM 60 minutes

Area 51, of course. Continued improvement in terms of how the left leg feels. Less stiffness in the achilles at the start which is most welcome, but the tightness has migrated up into the belly of the soleus, where it meets the gastroc. Hopefully this migration of the pain locus means the issue as a whole is on its way out. The compressions on the adductor over the past two days have helped noticeably, while the area still feels weak at least it's not stuck. As for the run itself, pace was determined by visibility and footing, had to take it slow on the darkest sections of the trail. Once back on the roads, picked up the pace substantially the last mile or so, felt about a thousand times better than Monday-Wednesday of this week. Weather stubbornly awful, windswept rain showers.

Thu 10/14 - PM 60 minutes

Area 51. Left leg finally feeling better, although the first 20 minutes weren't a picnic. Achilles felt like garbage all day at work, put me in a foul mood, but loosened up surprisingly well as the run went along. Much less stiffness in the hip. End result of all this was that I was able to do five pickups on the way in. Not 100% smooth but something at least.

Wed 10/13 - PM 80 minutes easy

Left leg only a little better than it was yesterday, alas. All the post-run compressions yesterday helped somewhat but not as much as I would have liked. Achilles tender and sore again as well. A stubborn issue that's not going anywhere. I had notions of actually doing some fast running today, to the point that I started down Waltham St. headed for Longfellow loop but it became clear after five minutes of hobbling that easy would be all I could handle. Headed into Area 51 instead. Felt better for a time after a stretching break around 30 minutes, then felt worse again near the end as I stumbled around in the gathering darkness. The needle between healthy and injured is definitely tilting more in the bad direction at the moment. It's quite clear to me now that running up the mountain when my left leg wasn't right from hip to ankle was a bad idea, more so than I could have anticipated. While I'm in nowhere near the same awful place I was a year ago at this time, things definitely aren't right either.

Tue 10/12 - PM 40 minutes easy

Not a tough choice to cut the run short today, dragging my left leg the entire time. Just felt awful after the past two days. Ugh. Spent a lot of time doing compressions afterward.

Mon 10/11 - AM 80 minutes up Mt. Greylock

A nice day to be on the mountain, if a bit windy and chilly at the top. The trip there was rougher than I would have liked due to the left leg being locked up worse than I had anticipated. Much of the run was spent dragging the leg along, felt like the whole thing was twinging at times. Loosened up a bit near the end but it was a chore for most of the way.

Sun 10/10 - AM 65 minutes incl. 5k in 16:15

Happily, the right soleus held up and left hip held together although it locked up somewhat afterward. As for the race itself, sandbagged by an Ethiopian who was brought to an event far, far, far beneath him. Somewhere in the northeast region there had to be a race that would have netted the dude 4 or 5 (or 10) times the $50 he won for this podunk event. Second time in a month I've guessed wrong about the competitiveness of a race in Greenfield. Even though I knew winning wasn't to be, still dragged out too fast. First downhill mile in 4:57. Second mile (dead flat) in 5:13. The first two mile markers felt accurate enough, the third one was off by 50-60m though. I'd guess the third mile (uphill) was in the 5:25 range. Overall the effort was solid and I wasn't expecting to run any faster given the plague of leg issues this week and the overall fatigue I was feeling last week. Had I known about the competition I would have done a workout instead.

Sat 10/9 - AM 65 minutes easy

Walden woods, I've missed running here although the right soleus would have been better served by a flatter route. It felt terrible at times, very frustrating. No idea if it will be less problematic tomorrow, although some post-run compressions on the area seemed helpful. Sunny and breezy day. Stood waist-deep in the pond near the end of the run, hoping for an ice bath effect but it wasn't quite all that. Too cold for aquajogging though.