Sun 3/27 - AM 70 minutes incl. 15k road race

Made it through first sustained "hard" effort in weeks in one piece, but only barely. Very doubtful about the advisability of this race esp. after Thursday's failure of an attempt at doing a workout. Decided to go in with low expectations, very low in fact. As in make it through without having to stop and stretch/massage the leg. Cruised along at around 6:00 pace the first 6 miles of the race, getting blasted by the wind most of the way. Leg got a bit tight over the first 4 miles, then up the only hill of consequence before the turnaround on the out and back course. Coming back down that hill put far too much stress on the "pinch point" and I could feel it with every step. From there on out it was strictly getting it over with, leg getting worse with each step. Pace slowed accordingly. Hard to say how much the incessant wind slowed things down but even so, this effort is depressing confirmation of how much the fitness has slipped in the last few weeks with the diminished training volume and inability to do anything of substance. Not technically injured but I might as well be. Adductor stiffened up after finishing, not as bad as last August but plenty bad enough. Some quality time with the lax ball was very helpful in dealing with this in the short term. After getting home, the QL tightened up to such an extent that it was impossible to take a nap even though I was quite tired by that point. Again the lax ball saved the day, and wiped out the adhesion. Continuing to work on flexibility and core strength, hopeful that there will be results soon but perhaps I'm kidding myself. Time will tell.