Sun 9/23 - PM 60 minutes incl. 5k road race plus 15 minutes in Long Lake

Vaguely unsatisfactory effort, not exactly in a place to put my best foot forward to begin with though. Slept in after yesterday's long day. Knew from the get-go I was more than a bit fried from all the driving and the early wakeup after late bedtime Friday night. Because of the odd starting time (2:30) I tried to eat an early, lighter lunch but it was neither early enough nor light enough apparently, because I was still digesting it when it came time to warm up. Course is typical of Littleton, hills and rolls aplenty. Most significant climb in the first mile. Not expecting much in the way of competition, I wouldn't have done the race in the first place if it weren't part of the NVGP, but there was prize money for winning so I was prepared for at least one or two decent folks to show up. The presence of Littleton HS athletes in their team uniforms became a source of confusion when their coach decided to run the race also wearing the LHS strip. A little odd but to each their own. I was left wondering who this very mature looking HS kid was, but still decided to try a strategy that I figured would work on a high schooler on this course. That would be blast the initial hilly mile and hope it destroyed him more than me. Turns out the kid I was racing was in fact a grown man and this gambit failed rather spectacularly. My breathing was labored and I was well beyond myself by the time he calmly re-passed me after I made my move. Soon after I gave up. Mile splits around 5:00 for the first and then 5:30 or so for the next two. I'd like to say I was just coasting but it was a little more effort than that. Right calf held up to all this although it was feeling fairly stiff on the warmup. With a good amount of direct pressure and compressions later in the day I'm hopeful the worst is behind me for this flareup. On the cooldown, stopped for a dip in Long Lake which was nice except for the coating of slime that I came out with. Sunny, breezy and kind of cool overall.