Fri 3/18 - PM 90 minutes

Track Road to Sudbury Road, on to Area 51. Moving better today than yesterday. Felt some apprehension at work as I was feeling an enormous rock hard adhesion in the quadratus muscle, but it didn't bother me on the run. Feeling spry enough towards the end that I did some strides, of progressively increasing length. Got a little greedy with these, by the end left high hammie and adductor were twinging. That was a bummer. Very warm and windy conditions all day, the wind slacked after sunset though. Lots of ablation today, still will take some time for the trails to be clear. First confirmed timberdoodle sighting of the season, although I more heard it than saw it. Unmistakable nonetheless, and right alongside route 27 no less.

Thu 3/17 - 80 minutes easy

Area 51 patrol road. Finally feeling somewhat better in terms of energy level, actually picked up the pace towards the end instead of flailing. Left hip and lower back still stiff most of the way though. Lumbar quadratus in particular is alarmingly tight, I've been working on it with the lax ball as well as stretch breaks at work with little to show for it seemingly. I suppose the weekend's travails could be all that's needed to explain the lingering tightness but it's somewhat hard to believe. Most of the patrol road has been plowed thankfully, otherwise the refuge would have been not worth the effort. A good amount of melting has taken place over the past couple of warmer days, today in particular was mild and sunny, but there's still plenty on the ground in the sheltered woods. Trail fever firmly in place, having all the trail options in Tucson last week only whetted the appetite more for them now that I'm back.

Wed 3/16 - PM 60 minutes easy/very easy

Energy levels still very low, left hip/thigh/back/butt still feeling like complete garbage. Unexpected and unwelcome, I had planned on doing some LT-type repeats but I knew after 10 minutes of slow jogging it wasn't to be. It would appear the weekend's 1-2 punch of travel followed by a jet-lagged road race put me under. Felt more tired today than yesterday, frustrating. Packed it in and jogged painfully slow the rest of the way. Both hip flexors stiff. TFL and glute medius attachments were banjo string tight at work today, flexibility is becoming an overriding concern with that area as I'm convinced tight muscles are what's putting the SI joint in lockdown.

Tue 3/15 - PM 75 minutes easy

Area 51 with hill drills on White Pond Road. Feeling better than yesterday, but only by a bit. Visited the PT again and once again, the SI joint was stuck. Felt noticeably better right away, I thought it might be stuck going in but not to the degree it was. I'd like to think the plane ride on Saturday followed closely by the race Sunday morning caused the adhesion but it may be more complicated and longer in developing than that. Whatever the case, frustrating that the thing keeps sticking since I won't be able to visit the PT for adjustments much longer on current referral. Managed health care wins again. Made an attempt at running on the main drags in Area 51, with the lingering snow they're still not ready for prime time yet with only some spots clear at this point. Ran some of the way along a plowed section of the patrol road which was a welcome relief from slogging through the snow. Relatively warm today, seasonable at least, tomorrow's overcast moving in though.

Mon 3/14 - 60 minutes very easy

Tiger Drive to Levittown. Jet lag not done with me yet, got home from work exhausted. Afternoon nap stretched out for much longer than it should have, woke up in a total fog. On top of that the left hip/thigh/butt/back area felt if anything worse than it did yesterday. Things stuck all over the place and no amount of compressions seemed to make much difference. This made for a run that started out slow and kept getting slower. Energy level just a tick above zero the entire time. A boring slog from start to finish. Weather seasonable, which is to say dismal gray and uncomfortable.

Sun 3/13 - AM 80 minutes incl. 5k road race

Flat and tired from the moment I got out of bed this morning. Not real surprising, although I did foolishly expect that I could muddle through this race regardless. Realized after about 1200 meters that wouldn't be the case. Put on a bit of a surge the final 600m but this was only because there was someone close enough to be passed. Mile markers went by in 5:05, 5:25, and 5:12. Second mile ever so slightly uphill. Breezy but nothing like the rain-soaked gale experienced here last year. Deeply tired on the 50 minute very easy cooldown from the effort expended. More problematic was the degree to which the left adductor, psoas, and lower back stiffened up after the race. I thought I had made some progress with this over the past week but apparently slogging up and down mountains is a different type of stress than running fast on roads. Feels like a fairly large step back on the quasi-injury front.

Sat 3/12 - off

11 hours to get from Tucson back to the Fortress of Solitude in Maynard. Day off was due, very tired by the end of the day. All the sitting on a plane stiffened up the left hip/lower back which I should have expected but didn't.