65 minutes incl. 2(110-220) in increments

The proverbial workout that's not a workout, mainly because it was so short. Hoping to save my legs for Saturday morning's sandbagging exercise. Left hammie felt relatively good all day at work but upon starting to warm up I could tell it was still stuck more than I had thought. Not as bad as it was Tuesday but I probably shouldn't be running fast stuff on a track right now anyway. Despite this I went through with the planned protocol which was to start with a 110 and progress up to a 220 stepping it up by 22y each time, i.e. six total runs. Recovery jog equal to what I had just run. Timed the 200 for each set, first one a bit over 35 the second just under. It was a fun exercise except for the hamstring which was ready to go at any moment if I  pushed it too hard. The tight turns do it no favors. Crappy weather outside made for another evening spent entirely indoors.

Thu 1/6 - PM 65 minutes easy

Winter Street to Levittown, hill drills near the end on Rice. Very similar route as Monday, a little bit longer. Left hammie coming around, slowly, all the rubbing and probing on it having some beneficial effect. Definitely more range of motion in the muscle today as compare to yesterday. Left ankle not as stiff doing the drills which was a pleasant surprise.

Wed 1/5 - PM 85 minutes easy/very easy

Tiger Drive to Longfellow Loop and McMansionville. Definitely aggravated the left hammie with last night's workout, and feeling the effects all day today. Plenty of compressions and cff at work as well as just before the run, only helped a bit though. Slow recovery pace didn't put any undue stress on the area of course. Post-run exercises were helpful, but had to go very gingerly on the hammie stretch, reduced range of motion. Needs more time to heal, Sunday was more of a stressor than I had anticipated. 

Tue 1/4 - PM 65 minutes incl. 6x1100y, 1320

A chore from start to finish. Drag-ass tired after third night in a row of not sleeping nearly enough, two of them thanks to the loose crown. Couldn't bring myself to warm up outside, too lazy to put the clothes on for it. Realized halfway through the warmup that the left hammie is locked up worse than I thought from Sunday and is in fact strained. Really I should have bagged the workout entirely. Instead I tried to muddle through with bouts of doing compressions and cross fiber friction after the warmup, between sets of repeats, and before the cooldown. Still felt mostly like garbage. My original intent was to run two sets of 4x1000 with a minute rest. Four minutes rest between sets. First rep was the slowest, 3:25 as I was still working out the kinks in the hammie. Every other five lapper was between 3:21-22. That the pace felt harder than it should have was no surprise at all. Running out of gas rapidly after the first set, decided to cut it short by a rep and as a sop to my wounded pride tack on another lap to the final rep which went in 4:02. 15 minute cooldown felt like a marathon.

Mon 1/3 - PM 65 minutes very easy

Summerhill to Levittown with a set of hill drills on Rice Road. Double whammy of locked up left hammie and fairly deep exhaustion. Took a good long while to get out the door. Once out, kept it relaxed which meant slow going. Had second thoughts about doing the drills given the hamstring tightness but they were if anything helpful in loosening up the area. Colder, seasonable temps returned today with a moderate breeze. Didn't miss the wind chill at all over the past few warmer days.

Sun 1/2 - AM 80 minutes incl. 3k, mile

The day didn't start well as an ongoing (never ending) tooth issue forced me awake at 3:30 in the morning. Got back to sleep 90 minutes and an advil later, woke up from that glorified nap feeling like death warmed over. I was extremely pessimistic about my ability to carry through on the planned 3k cutdown and then a mile on top of that. Just the 3k alone didn't feel doable going in, and feeling flat on the warmup did nothing to change this perception. Nonetheless toed the line and thankfully the caffeine kicked in just in time. Planned to run the 3k with successive kms of 3:05, 3:00, and 2:55 (or faster). Actual splits 3:03 high, 2:59 high, 2:56. After the first 300m felt harder than I would have liked, got into a groove and changing gears at 1000m took little extra effort. Changing gears again was not quite as easy, last five laps felt like one sustained drive rather than a progressively faster effort but I'll take it. There followed a longer break than I had expected. Sat around waiting, jogged for 15 minutes very easy, had a snack to quell hunger pangs, and waited some more. Left hammie felt somewhat stuck getting ready for the mile, more worried about the caffeine wearing off. Went to the back of the field at the gun with legs that felt heavy, first 220 in the 36-7 range and I knew right there I wouldn't be running my seed time (4:36). Most of the field started to fall apart by the halfway point, at which point I was making another sustained drive. Decided not to save anything for a final burst at the end, given how slow the pace was. I was expecting to drag along some people with me and get outkicked by a few of them but this didn't happen. Nearly fell coming off the last corner trying to muster one final gear change that didn't exist. Finished just under 4:40 with splits of 2:21 and 2:18 high. Recovered fairly quickly afterward but I couldn't have run the race any faster. Left leg sore on the cool down but I've felt much worse after races earlier this fall. Overall the results were encouraging, the 3k more so than the mile. The overall pace for the 3k feels like something I should be able to manage for 5k, if not a bit faster, in a month's time. The gear changes came easier than expected. The mile was slow but given the context I'm pleased to have run negative splits and kept the ball rolling rather than settle for staying with a slowing pack.

Sat 1/1 - PM 60 minutes

Tiger Drive to Longfellow loop. Got a late start, thought about cutting the run short to 30 minutes or so but let it breathe a bit and kept the pace relaxed instead. Left hammie feeling mostly better from the other day. Not especially cold but dank with the humidity.