Fri 4/29 - PM 50 minutes

Lincoln woods with the long-awaited return of hill drills on Pine Hill. I had been wanting to get back to doing them for a couple of weeks, having stopped when the hip flared up 5-6 weeks ago. Hip feels better now than it did then but the left ankle has become stiff and sore again. Yesterday's longer run in the woods probably did it no favors. Noticed this more before and after the run than during. Some change in the weather finally, less humid with breaks in the overcast.

Thu 4/28 - PM 90 minutes

Lincoln woods. Moving much quicker than Monday's run in the woods, but not without some stiffness in the left hip and thigh. Overall it felt more stuck and awkward than I would like, although it could have been worse for a day after running on the track. Foam roller and lax ball work after the run helped to work out some of the kinks. Continued warm, overcast, sticky, windy fairly gross weather conditions, rain to start.

Wed 4/27 - PM 70 minutes incl. 8x600

With the leg still not quite all there (as if it ever will be) I was feeling somewhat apprehensive about what I'd be able to accomplish on the track. Intentionally chose a very modest workout in terms both length and intensity. Looking to cruise the first 400 of each rep at a tempo-ish pace then pick it up the last 200. Recovery a 200 jog. Successful in this regard, although the gusty crosswind made it harder to keep a rhythm and the times were far from impressive overall. Also cut back from an original plan to do two sets of five reps in favor of doing eight straight through. This was mainly due to the left hip getting stiff. Splits:

2:01.5
1:59.4
1:57.5
1:57.5
1:59.2
1:59.6
1:59.9
1:58.8

as can be seen from the numbers, water found its own level after the fourth rep. Working harder the final rep than I was on the third and fourth. Hit the 400 mark in 81-3 each time. Recoveries all under a minute, 53-58 seconds to be exact.

Tue 4/26 - PM 65 minutes easy

trip to supermarket and back, tacked on a short loop in Area 51. The first part of the run very slow, gradually picked up the pace the second half of the run however. Stiff and sore joints feeling better today than yesterday, still a ways to go. Bit of a late start, tired of course. Had thought of doing hill drills but it went by the wayside.

Mon 4/25 - PM 90 minutes very easy

Lincoln woods. Started out slowly and got slower after that. Bored out of my mind by the last 20 minutes. Highlight of the run was seeing a barred owl at the top of Pine Hill. Low energy level, no surprise. Left leg felt like garbage from beginning to end which was a mild disappointment. Left ankle has been stiff for a few days now, probably after last week's track workout. Kept waiting for it to loosen up as it usually does but not so much today. Glute attachment very tight as well, felt better after some direct pressure after the run but it's real tight.

Sun 4/24 - AM 70 minutes incl. 12k threshold run

Longfellow loop. Ended up being a repeat of last Sunday's run, I had planned on doing 2 to 4k more. Scaled back for various reasons, but chief among them was the left hammie feeling a bit off from the second lap onward. Made it worse by picking up the pace far too drastically from the first lap (quite controlled) to the second. Topping it all off, temps. about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday with enough humidity to be uncomfortable and a wind that steadily built in intensity. Splits as follows:

6:08/6:02/2:51
5:50/5:51/2:49
5:50/5:49/2:46

definitely had the feeling for the second half that I was working too hard for the pace I was running. The tiredness of the past few days was probably a factor as well.

Sat 4/23 - PM 80 minutes easy

TJ's round trip. Still tired, as in woke up, ate breakfast, back to bed, ate lunch, back to bed. Had vague plans of doing a double today but that obviously went by the board. Miserable cold rainy conditions all morning didn't help in that regard. It'll take some time to get out from under the effects of recent travel, modest though they seemed at the time.