Fri 1/6 - off

Calf feels like garbage, not even an easy jog had any appeal. Fun times.

Thu 1/5 - 45 minutes incl. 4x 2 minute pickups

Levittown. Big big mistake, cherry on the sundae of delusion I've been feasting on regarding the left calf. Since the initial injury in November, I count four incidents of reaggravating the area. Two of them (11/19 and 12/6) relatively minor, the other two (last Friday and today) more serious. With the relatively incident-free three final 3 weeks of December, which included hill drills and the whole bit, I thought I had resolved the problem. Last week's unpleasant surprise doing hill drills put paid to that, and in my desperation to build something resembling fitness for fast-approaching indoor track races I forced the issue today. Shooting for 10x2 minutes with 1 minute recovery. First three reps felt okay, some twinging on the fourth one, and I could feel it start to go about 45 seconds into the fifth rep. Back to the purgatory of icing and jogging for the foreseeable future. Indoor track is circling the drain, very doubtful of my ability to do any races worth a damn in the next six weeks. I'm still confounded by the fact that I could do track workouts and hill drills two weeks ago, incl. the 4-3-2-1 cutdown, all the while the strain was lurking and quite capable of reasserting itself.

Wed 1/4 - PM 70 minutes

Area 51. Mildly encouraging overall, although the status of the calf remains problematic. The day off helped with the cold, feels like it's just about played out at this point. As expected, the day off also left me more energetic and spry than would otherwise be expected. Had to back off a bit at the half hour mark as the calf was starting to feel a bit tight. It occurred to me that stumbling on poorly seen divots in the woods not exactly the best thing for it. Better after that, taking care not to overstride. I even did four modest pickups on the way in, the effect on the calf was cumulative although not overwhelming. Getting better but still prone to being reaggravated or worse. Getting into any kind of shape for upcoming track races becoming more iffy by the day. The day started bitterly cold, atypical for this winter, and gradually moderated over the course of the afternoon. Still subfreezing temps, which had me decked out in layers and headsock. Wind was slack though so once again I found myself overdressed. Better that than the alternative of course.

Tue 1/3 - off

To think I had delusions of doing a workout today too. Still bogged down by lingering cold symptoms, now firmly rooted in the sinuses with rampant mucus production. Went through a few dozen tissues over the course of the day. On the homestretch with this crap, can't get there soon enough. Calf remains a thornier issue, still vulnerable to further aggravation. To top it all off crushed by fatigue toward the end of the work day, couldn't see any way to bridge the afternoon from leaving work to being able to access the track at Harvard, not that I was going to be able to actually do anything even if I got there. In the end, went straight home and went to sleep for nearly two hours. Not the ideal choice given how much harder it was to get to sleep later that night of course. No mojo to speak of right now, feeling like a bit of a fraud athlete.

Mon 1/2 - AM 70 minutes easy

Area 51. Still sick, calf still a mess. The latter concerns me more than the former, discouraging how it went from feeling fine to crap so suddenly. Seems like it might be a while before it feels any better despite all the poking and prodding. Hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Cold symptoms continue to progress, on the nasal congestion stage now which is always a treat. At least the throat swelling is down. I get the sense maybe I should be running less to help usher the illness on its way out. Temps warmer than normal again today, not as warm as yesterday and with a gusty wind that made it feel colder than it was.

Sun 1/1 - PM 80 minutes

Lincoln woods with a fairly lengthy break halfway through at Devil's Staircase. Still under the weather, calf still a mess of course, but with the day off yesterday I was moving better than those facts would indicate. At least for the first hour, ran out of gas after that. Running on the uneven terrain around the pond and river did no favors to the calf, did some work on it while perched atop the staircase and much more work later in the day after the run. January began just unseasonably warm, just like the last two months.

Sat 12/31- off

Spent most of the day in bed, trying to sleep off the sore throat. Progressing through the usual suite of symptoms, hopefully in short order it'll be over with. Second night in a row of having great difficulty getting to sleep thanks to the scratchy throat, with the added bonus of growing mucus production as well. Made for another slugabed morning. Between this crap and the calf which felt worse today after yesterday's reaggravation, the planned mini-meet went right by the boards without a second thought.