Thu 4/12 - PM 70 minutes

Lincoln woods with drills on Pine Hill. Feeling fairly decent most of the way, although I had to guard against overdoing it in the middle stages. Some stiffness in left heel which affected the drills somewhat. Miserable weather, what with a hailstorm passing through right before I started and showers most of the time I was out there. Not really dressed for it, not that I ever am when it comes to rain.

Wed 4/11 - double, 75 minutes total

AM - 30 minutes very easy. Pre-breakfast shakeout, again along the lakefront. Last run in T.O. Legs not as stiff as I thought they might be.

PM - 45 minutes easy, Area 51. Quite tired after a day of travel and attendant nonsense. Took some doing to get out the door as a result. Eventually the pace moved above a crawl, but never anything to write home about.

Tue 4/10 - AM 60 minutes incl. 16x200

As straightforward as it gets. Jogged over to a nearby stretch of waterfront with a straight flat traffic-free stretch and measured out something approximating 200m, then back and forth 16 times. With the ever-present wind at my back on each rep, it was a controlled effort for sure. Didn't bother timing anything since the distance is an estimate to begin with, but the effort level felt about right. Temp has been on the cool if not chilly side since Sunday morning.

Mon 4/9 - AM 80 minutes easy

Out and back along the lakeshore, again, this time heading the other way though. Eventually made it to High Park and did a small loop there before turning back. Completely crushed by the wind on the way out, combined with the usual morning blahs made for a less than overwhelming start. Picked it up a fair amount on the way back, mostly due to boredom, and brought it fairly close to the edge of threshold pace near the end.

Sun 4/8 - AM 90 minutes very easy

Out and back along the lakeshore to the lower Don Valley trail. Didn't get very far before turning back, spectacularly listless and unmotivated this morning. By the end it was walk some jog some, less out of fatigue than boredom. Still way behind on sleep, although the dam did break in the afternoon as I took a very long nap.

Sat 4/7 - AM 80 minutes incl. 8k road race

8k in 26:49 on the undulating terrain of High Park in T.O. A solid effort, although undeniably sabotaged to some degree by overarching exhaustion. Not just last night, although it was the usual hostel-related nonsense with French-Canadian assholes rummaging through their things well after midnight, but from the past few days as I've been waking up feeling quite not at all well-rested. As per usual, not sleeping enough or well enough. With yesterday's long day of travel on top of it all I found myself in that fantastic manic state of overtiredness wherein I couldn't even take a decent nap in the afternoon. Given all that plus the rolling course and steady breeze from the north, decided to play it conservative at the start. Despite this, the first 2k supposedly went in under 6:08 according to the clock on the side of the course. That stretch included a long downhill, one of two on the course. Spent the next 2k gaining that elevation back, reached in 13:08. Spent kms 1-4 moving up smartly through the field and feeling pretty good about myself, but the second half of the race was a gradual fade at best. Tried hanging on to a pair of guys but incapable of doing so, settled into no-man's land. The second major descent, shorter but steeper, did me no favors at all. Things were capped off by going back up the 300m or so hill that I went down in the second km. This was pretty much as advertised, i.e. it sucked, with a headwind to boot. Overall, definitely felt the underlying fatigue in the second half of the race, no energy to draw from. Despite or perhaps because of this, the result is somewhat encouraging as the training seems to be taking hold. As ever, sleeping better will determine how well I can access the fitness, hopefully less volume in May and June will help with that. I know I wouldn't have been able to run this time on this course at this time of year either of the past three years, so there's that. My time would have won masters prize money any of the last five years of this event but of course, this year I finished 8 seconds out of the money. Unable to reel in a guy who I figured was probably 40+, so I certainly had the motivation.