Fri 9/16 - PM 60 minutes easy

Weston, very similar run as 8/29 down Meadowbrook and back via aqueduct and Ash Street. More relaxed overall this time although there were two rather long surges to reach the next group of runners up the road after leaving the group I had been with previously. Left leg started barking in the later stages of the run, tightness in hammie and TFL mostly. Very anxious all day at work about the left ankle but it was not an issue. Left leg in general is all scrunched up at the moment, still feeling the effects of the last two workouts on the LL. Weather turned for the better, downright cool with a brisk NW breeze all day but most importantly, dry.

Thu 9/15 - PM 70 minutes easy

Lincoln woods with drills on Pine Hill. Cutting it a bit too close in terms of daylight, barely able to see where I was stepping after the drills. As a result I tripped hard on a small rock, scuffed one hand and hyperextended two fingers on the other, lovely. More worrisome by far though is the sudden and unexpected blowup of the left medial ankle during the hill drills. Something similar happened a few years back running up the steepest part of Great Hill, acute onset but didn't linger. However I wasn't stupidly doing bounding drills on it then either. Setup for this likely leftover tightness in the left leg from Tuesday. Continued muggy weather but at least 15 degrees cooler than yesterday.

Wed 9/14 - PM 40 minutes easy

NARA park and Acton Town Forest, easy jog after the wildcats dual meet wrapped up. A spot somewhat steeped in nostalgia for me, although this wasn't ever an area I visited that frequently. Left hammie quite stuck and felt like garbage for at least two thirds of the short and very slow run, finally loosened up some near the end. Definitely aggravated it yesterday, hopefully things will come around somewhat by the weekend. Even more humid today than yesterday evening, back to totally gross conditions. Took a soak in the NARA pond after the run which felt great even with the slimy plants carpeting the bottom.

Tue 9/14 - PM 60 minutes incl. 9x800, 1000

Longfellow loop. Surprisingly tired upon getting home from work, took a 20 minute catnap that I'm fairly certain plunged into REM sleep. Workout ended up being a series of compromises, starting with the length of reps. I was originally planning on 1km repeats but realized that doing 800 instead would allow me to run the loop w/o turning around and going back and forth. The plan was to run the loop 3 times, 4 reps per loop. Soreness in left high hammie had me scale that back to 10 reps. Had it not been twinging I'm fairly certain I could have done the originally planned 12 but I was sensing by the end that more damage was being done, and the aggravation of the area was increasing exponentially as the # of reps piled up. 200 jog between each rep, which took 56-60 seconds with the notable exception of the last one which was a whopping 67 sec. Numbers:

2:37
2:40
2:41
2:43
2:37
2:39
2:43
2:42
2:38
3:20 - turned around for the last one and ran the first kilo back to the start.

Blasted the first 200 of the first rep way too fast, like under 39, which set a rhythm that was hard to shake. Eventually got to a point where I was more relaxed and not front-loading the effort on later reps, trying to finish strong instead. The numbers would indicate that not all 800m segments of this course are created equal, which doesn't surprise me. The first 800m of the loop being dead flat and almost totally straight makes it go by a few clicks quicker. Humidity increased as the evening approached, stealthily but it was unmistakable once I got going. Shed the shirt after the first loop, which is rare for me. As a result the handful of locals out for an evening stroll or bike ride got a show I'm sure they weren't too thrilled about. Finished completely drenched in sweat.

Mon 9/12 - PM double (sort of), 85 minutes total plus 20 minutes in Walden

PM - 45 minutes with the wildcats out and back along the aqueduct. Started off nice and easy, quite relaxed, picked up the pace substantially after turning around so as to run with the top boys for the last third or so. Got the first-hand view of two high school boys repeatedly one-stepping each other. I think it was unintentional, but who knows. The adolescent mind remains inscrutable as ever. The quicker pace didn't treat my legs so well, tightness in both hamstrings and left hip flexor twinging again.

90 minutes after the first run ended I was at the Lincoln woods TH. Ran directly to the pond, in the pond for a dip, then directly back. Warm day, warm enough that getting in the water was a nice relief. Legs stiff to start, felt better by the end. Kept the pace relaxed throughout which certainly helped.

Sun 9/11 - PM 75 minutes very easy

Walden woods. Paying the piper for yesterday's busy and full day. Originally had plans for a longer run in the AM but I knew upon waking up that wouldn't be happening. When I did finally get around to hitting the trail 8+ hours later found the energy level to be very low. Couldn't muster up the motivation to get in the pond which is saying something. Focus and interest waned towards the end of the run, various short stops and walking breaks interspersed in the last 20 minutes. Not that surprising given that I ran more yesterday than planned and the threshold run in the evening to boot. Humidity somewhat higher today.

Sat 9/10 - double, 1:50 total incl. 16k threshold run

AM - 30 minutes total, in chunks, ad Maudsley Park. Jogged the two mile loop that the kids were racing to see the layout, then ran at a pretty good clip from the start area to the mile mark for each of the two races. Plenty of standing around in between of course. So desperate to get some sleep last night I chose to forgo stretching before going to bed, felt it today.

PM - 80 minutes incl. 4 laps on Longfellow in an hour. Had some doubt as to whether I'd be able to pull off the originally planned number of laps given how tired I've felt lately. Plus a late start I wasn't feeling that sanguine about it. Locked into a relatively modest pace early on, unable to do much to change it but by the same token it seemed like I could have kept going if necessary. Unable to see my watch on the last lap in the gathering darkness, ran on feel by that point. The numbers:

5:58/6:03/2:54
5:59/6:03/2:56
6:01/5:57/2:55
5:58/6:01/2:56

Some stomach issues on the final lap and stiffness in the left SI joint afterward but other than that no major problems physically. Cool and  dry conditions.