Thu 4/14 - PM 60 minutes incl. 3 (3x400, 500)

Long-anticipated and somewhat feared return to doing actual track work. Waiting for the left thigh and now back to come around has become like waiting for Godot, decided at the start of the week to test the waters and keep expectations decidedly modest. Which is good because this session was laughably unimpressive. Feeling stiffness in QL and glute medius while warming up and doing drills, so less than optimistic as I got the actual workout started. 100 jog interval between reps, with the last rep in each set going for 500 instead of 400 to make the whole thing 2k.

First set 400s between 80 and 82, recoveries avg. 29, 500 1:42.
Second set 400s a hair slower than the first, recoveries varied from 26 to 31, 500 in 1:40.5.
Third set 400s between 81 and 82, recoveries 27-8, 500 1:43.

Both mentally and physically well out of practice for this type of running and it showed. Leg felt the worst at the beginning of the second set but more or less stabilized from there. Wind was there throughout but seemed to pick up the final set. Poor fitness and possibly the leg tightening up and losing functional range of motion might have had something to do with perceived exertion and slower splits as well. Cooldown was very short and very slow, but initial indications appeared that the aftermath won't be nearly as bad as after Sunday's races. No getting around the fact that this pace is pretty close to my 5k effort right now. Sharp as a butter knife.