Fri 5/18 - PM 45 minutes easy

Area 51. Feeling more tired than I would like, although the leftover fogginess from a nap before the run contributed to that. Stiff for the first 15 minutes, then the legs felt better after that. Still, found it worthwhile to do some rolling on the lacrosse ball for the left SI joint after the run. Continued excellent weather, warm dry and sunny all day.

Thu 5/17 - PM 60 minutes easy

Area 51. Easy shuffle in the woods, although the pace gradually picked up as the run went along. After yesterday I had various and sundry sorenesses in both legs, but esp. right hammie. As such I was somewhat concerned I wouldn't get my legs back in time for the weekend, but this run eased my mind a bit. Still definitely need to take it easy and lay low until Saturday. The weather turned spectacular overnight, muggy stuff is gone and clear dry conditions moved in.

Wed 5/16 - PM 60 minutes incl. 4x1600

Longfellow loop. In hindsight not the best idea given what's coming up, but as ever the compulsion arose to maintain continuity of training. Not quite sure what pace to shoot for either given the in-between length of the workout. Definitely too fast out of the gate with first 200m under 40 and 400 of 80. That rep ended up at 5:26 after gearing back the second half, followed by 5:27, 5:26, and 5:29. 400 jog recoveries, in the 1:45-50 range. The aftereffects of the weekend quite evident in sore legs, esp. right hammie. I had originally thought about doing up to six reps, after the first 2 decided maybe 4 then a pair of 800s, then the 4th one made it clear that I shouldn't go any further. Fatigue built awfully quick on that final rep. Conditions less than favorable, warm and sticky through late afternoon and into evening.

Tue 5/15 - PM 20 minutes easy

Comm Ave, to and from the ballyard. 3 hour break in between easy jogs down the street. Some stiffness on left heel other than that not much to report.

Mon 5/14 - PM 75 minutes easy

Area 51. Expecting to feel like utter garbage, not quite that bad but still not exactly energetic. Calves seem to have taken the brunt of the weekend's efforts, not surprisingly. Also some soreness in the sacrum, I think it may be stuck on both sides not just the left. Started out very slowly, gradually the pace increased though not by a lot. Humid with rain earlier in the day, overall kind of gross.

Sun 5/13 - AM 1:40 incl. road mile

Proof positive I'm addicted to sandbagging local road races. Knew well ahead of time this was foolhardy in the extreme. Then the basketball game got scheduled for last night, forcing me to leave the track meet immediately after the race and not get home until quite late. Sleep didn't come for quite some time after that. Woke up feeling half-dead. Despite this, able to wake up enough to grab a prize-winning spot in this morning's effort, which was all I wanted to do. Of course it helped that the field was less than stellar but that's part of the game. The out and back course took place in familiar surroundings right outside Swellesley high. Basically flat of course. It was clear after 300m I'd be able to get a top 3 spot, clear after 800m I wouldn't be catching the eventual winner, the rest was a holding action. Tried to bear down from 1000 to 1400m to eliminate any drama near the end. After lingering around for a long while squirreling away items from the food tent for later and waiting for the awards, eventually got around to doing a very easy 70 minute jog "cooldown" around the college pond. Warm and fairly humid conditions all day.

Sat 5/12 - 40 minutes incl. track 5k

Ran like a dog, but I certainly wasn't alone. Woke up feeling flat, knowing in my bones that the die had been cast after far too many late bedtimes the past week or so. Then the weather became hotter and windier than forecast. By race time it was around 80 degrees with a sustained wind hitting us on the backstretch. All this meant my already modest expectations were further tempered, and I planned to follow people even if it meant running a slower pace than what it felt I could do. This sort of worked, except for the fact that the people I followed kept fading one after the other. Twice in the first half of the race a guy made a move that I felt compelled to cover, which led to their ruin within two laps. Eventually I found myself leading the chase pack around the 4km mark, knowing I was probably going to get hauled in by the guy tucked in behind me. Which is exactly what happened, any hopes of a heroic finish wilted in the heat. The km splits tell the story quite clearly:

3:06 (pipe dream)
3:08
3:10
3:11
3:13

Meanwhile, I moved up smartly through the pack the entire time. What a world. For the first time that I can remember, there was literally no cooldown to speak of, as I had other plans for the evening that required immediate attention. Got home late, got to sleep even later as I was stuck in a caffeinated state. And the beat goes on.