Fri 9/9 - PM 65 minutes easy plus 20 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods, plus drills on Pine Hill. Developed a pounding headache around lunchtime, unusual and unsettling in equal measure. Certainly, definitely, obviously a result of being so overextended lately. Staying up late to watch the Zurich meet on TV was in hindsight quite dumb, not that I regret it so much. Like yesterday, found a catnap to be mandatory before starting the run and felt much better for it. Bit of a squeeze getting to the pond in time though, finished the dip with less than five minutes before the ranger stooges closed the place. Finally a break in the four days of gloomy humid crap weather, much more pleasant conditions.

Thu 9/8 - PM 60 minutes incl. 15x200, 400

Return to leg prep work, or my version of it at least. Originally thought I could pull this workout off in the morning before mid-morning dentist appt. (far too ambitious in hindsight). Heavy rain put paid to that idea. Plus feeling really tired still, ate breakfast and went back to bed. After spending the second half of the day at work, went to wildcat practice and rode the bike for a few miles incl. up and down Highland a few times. By the time I got home it was getting later on in the afternoon, still felt a brief nap was necessary before attempting anything. Felt better for it, but a very late start so I wanted to get done in a hour or less. Rain had stopped mid-morning but still extremely humid and gross. Revolving 300-200-100 recoveries between reps, five times through this cycle and then a victory lap tacked on to make it 16 laps total. After easing into it the first three reps at around 38, everything else between 36.4 and 37. Recoveries also quickened after the first set, around 80 seconds for 300 jog, 55 for 200, 28 for 100. Final 400 in 74.4, total time 24:13. Given how flat I've been feeling, these numbers were a bit faster than what I was expecting. Short slow cooldown.

Wed 9/7 - PM 80 minutes easy

PM - 20 minutes with the kids, down Ash St and back on Wellesley. Dragged along again of course. After an hour or so of supervising the rest of practice, went back out for an easy hour on trails behind Regis with a loop around the res as well. Started slow and got slower, if anything. Coming around somewhat on the exhaustion front but it'll take time. Third rainy gloomy day in a row.

Tue 9/6 - off

long overdue and much-needed. Left adductor feels mildly strained, probably from the hike down steep and slippery trails yesterday.

Mon 9/5 - AM 75 minutes incl. race up Mt. Greylock

Flatter than a pancake, unable to put forth any kind of effort. The bill certainly came due from the hopelessly overextended schedule I've been living since returning from Colorado. Not recovered from last week's trip/race, or the week before for that matter. As such, this effort was absolute last thing I needed to be doing. Realized this within 10 minutes of the gun going off, which left a long time to run alone up the hill. Progressively backed off the pace, reached a point of perfectly calibrated get it over with mode where I was neither jogging nor going hard enough to incur excess fatigue. Surprised that no one caught me, and shocked that I broke an hour as I was truly going through the motions. Calves not an issue that I could tell, subsequent days will determine if this was in fact the case. Conditions didn't help any, if possible it was more humid after last night's t-storms than before. Difficult to overstate how crappy it was. Less detrimental at the higher elevations where it was cooler but still miserable. Spent very little time at the socked-in summit, enough to get changed and eat some food, then hiked down via AT and Bernard Farm trails, getting pelted by intermittent rain showers. The hike down took longer than anticipated and meant lunch was delayed. Completely exhausted after the day's folly.

Sun 9/4 - double, 65 minutes total

AM - 50 minutes very easy out and back on the Norwottuck RT. Flat, straight, and slow, about all the calves can tolerate at the moment. They're progressing but slowly. Tomorrow's effort isn't going to help them any.

PM - 15 minutes barefoot jog on Williams' football field, followed by stretching. The run only happened to make the stretching go better. Disgusting humidity all day, but at least no tornado watch like in the next county over from where I did this.