Fri 12/30 - AM 70 minutes easy

Area 51, with hill drills on White Pond road. Tormented by the dry scratchy throat last night which made getting to sleep nearly impossible. Made the run a chore, no energy to speak of. If I had to drag myself to work today I don't know if I would have made it out the door for any kind of run, given how poorly I slept and how late I ended up sleeping in. More problematic was the fact that I reaggravated the left calf on the final drill. Felt relatively minor at first but of course given how bad the original strain was it proceeded to lock up more and more on the jog home and after finishing. Major downer as I thought I had put that particular issue behind me. Throws the participation in tomorrow's mini-meet in doubt, in fact it looks like I'll have to give it a pass now. Gray and dank conditions to boot, all around a shitty day.

Thu 12/29 - off

Occurred to me while slogging through yesterday's run that a zero today would be both logical and humane. Finalizing the decision was the fact that I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat, yippee.

Wed 12/28 - PM 80 minutes easy

Area 51. Feeling yesterday's workout more than I would have liked or expected. Didn't sleep well last night which likely had something to do with it. Pace wound down (not up) towards the end, running out of both energy and motivation. Right hammie remains a bit off. Gusty and blustery conditions as the mild moist air was being swept out.

Tue 12/27 - PM 65 minutes incl. 9k progression run

Longfellow Loop. Not at all sure how far I'd be able to go, or should go for that matter. Came down to something in the 8-10k range, ended up splitting the difference. Still feeling an underlying tiredness esp. after yesterday's run. Took it out relaxed as a result, first 800 slower than even I thought. Pace picked up from there, pushed it a bit the second lap, to the edge of uncomfortably sustainable. Still under control throughout though. Splits:

6:04/5:54/2:50
5:50/5:52/2:50
last km 3:35

Not at all impressive numbers but in the broader context of how I've been feeling I'll take it. Mild once again, with rain threatening that had me spooked to be honest. Held off until I was just about done thankfully.

Mon 12/26 - AM 90 minutes

Lincoln woods incl. drills on Pine Hill. Spent much of the first half of the run noticing how much more enjoyable it is running in these woods at any other time of the year besides winter, what with the hard frozen ground and chill breeze. Still better than the usual winter routine of pounding pavement. Ran out of gas soon after doing the drills, reduced to a jog on any non-downhill sections over the last 20 minutes. Half expected this, feeling kind of peaked.

Sun 12/25 - AM 50 minutes easy

Area 51. Taking the path of least resistance for one more day at least. Underdressed for the first time this season, made it fairly miserable. Sunny but cold with a brisk breeze.

Sat 12/24 - AM 80 minutes very easy

Area 51 to White Pond Road/Lower Village, back via Summer St. Took a while to get going this morning, after it took forever to get to sleep last night. Wired from the workout more than I thought I'd be. Easy putter throughout today. Stiff-legged the first few minutes but nothing out of the ordinary. Conditions much more seasonable, i.e. cold and windy.

Fri 12/23 - PM 70 minutes incl. 4x1600, 4x150

Outdoors at Harvard. 5:21.5, 5:19, 5:19.5, 5:19.5 with 300 jog (90 seconds) between each. Indoor facility not available. For this particular workout it was better in all honesty to be outside with fewer turns. Would have been near-perfect conditions with mild temps for this time of year, except for the fact that the session coincided with a colder air mass being ushered in on NW winds that were gaining strength with each passing minute. Ordinarily a loser's lament doing track work outside that it feels windier at the end than the beginning but this evening it was absolutely the case. Getting crushed on the home straight the last two reps in particular. As such the times which look monotonously consistent don't quite reflect the effort level that was required. Also unable to do anything other than try to maintain 80 second laps, no progression to each rep. After finishing the fourth one, jogged two laps and then ran the 150s with the wind at my back, which of course felt great from an effort perspective. Jogged the rest of the way around. Moderate twinging in right psoas but overall legs held up well to the effort. Slowpoke cooldown.