Fri 6/22 - PM 55 minutes very easy

Lincoln woods. Only worked half a day today, thanks to another endless eye exam at lunchtime. Dead tired after going to the game last night, which looked to be endless as well for a time. All the sitting around had a negative effect on the left TFL which was tight and stiff Took a long nap in the afternoon even though it was disgustingly hot by then. Weather finally broke in the late afternoon with t-storms rolling through, which brought down the temperature if not the humidity. Desperately wanted to get in the water but it wasn't happening with the lightning directly overhead, and I didn't feel like waiting for it to pass through.

Thu 6/21 - PM 55 minutes easy plus 24 minutes in Walden

Day 2 of disgusting heat and humidity, as usual it dominated everything about being outside. Went easy of course, overall length of the run also cut short as I had a ballgame to get to afterward. Went a few minutes extra in the water though, for obvious reasons. That felt great, as soon as I got out it was back to reality.

Wed 6/20 - PM 90 minutes easy plus 24 minutes in Walden`

Disgusting steam bath weather in full effect, which of course dominated everything about running or doing anything outside for that matter. Gross gross gross. Took it easy of course, which I would have done anyway. Goes without saying that the time in the pond was the highlight of the entire day. More of this crap to come too.

Tue 6/19 - PM 70 minutes

Area 51. In hindsight should have gone to Lincoln but it was overcast, windy and almost cool when I left work and so I decided to get errands done before the run instead. This led to a fairly late start. Knew I'd be pushing my luck with the deer flies and they're definitely out but not yet intolerable. Still, the pace of the run picked up on the Petapawag trail and towards the end of the run as the cloud of chasing bugs got more intense. Annoyingly, after wearing the low profile trail shoes yesterday the right calf stiffened up again overnight, so back to wearing clunkers for the time being.

Mon 6/18 - 70 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Feeling better today after something resembling a decent night's sleep last night. Still started out quite easy, pace picked up for no good reason within a few minutes but calmed it back down around the 20 minute mark. From there it gradually progressed through the rest of the run. Feeling pretty good on the 20 minutes or so after getting out of the water. Breezy afternoon, not that hot with filtered sun. Weather promises to go down the crapper later in the week.

Sun 6/17 - AM 2.5 hours hike/run

Edmands Path and Crawford Trail in the White Mountains. The hike comes first for a reason, I don't think I ran for more than 40 minutes of the time I was out there. Partly this was due to the extreme steepness of the Edmands Path, more hideous than I had remembered and I remembered it being pretty ridiculous. 45 minutes for the purported 3 miles of trail, able to run the first half of the ascent but from then on it was hands on knees slogging. My shirt became a sweat rag in no time, despite the temps not being that high and of course dropping as the elevation rose. Upon gaining the ridge my motivation was mostly spent, ambled along for a time before realizing I wasn't going to make it even as far as Lake of the Clouds hut. No interest quite frankly, so cut my losses and turned around. Here again, the underlying fatigue shows itself. I had reservations about even attempting something this strenuous today after yesterday's turd, but in the end couldn't resist the chance to get up along the ridge. In the end, barely worth the effort. Descent as obnoxious as could be expected given the steepness, rocky footing, and sometimes slippery surfaces. At least I got some pictures while I was up there:

 north along Crawford path

south along Crawford Path, Edmands splits off to the right

Sat 6/16 - AM 80 minutes incl. Mt. Washington road race

Utter garbage. After last year's travails spending the night before the race in a leaky tent during a torrential downpour, I figured to match or exceed my performance from that day even with a dodgy calf and less fitness. Instead I went two minutes slower on a nicer, drier day. Bit off far more than I could chew early on, difficult to judge on a course like this unless you run it regularly I suppose. Started to fade in earnest just after 2 miles. The middle third of the race was awful. I sank like a stone through the field, getting passed by what seemed like dozens of people. Feeling completely powerless to stick to any of them as they went by. This is also when I realized that putting sunscreen on my forehead was a bonehead rookie mistake as the sweat carried it right into my eyes. I was wearing a hat too, making it even more stupid. Passed halfway in 33:40, 30 seconds or so slower than last year which means the bulk of the slowdown this time came on the upper reaches. Which is ironic because relative to the people around me I "rallied" in the final 2 miles, passing a few people back and holding off a few more that I could hear getting closer in miles 5 and 6. Even at the time this was happening I knew in my bones it was because of the time spent at altitude recently, and not any reflection of things actually going well. Finished with my central nervous system rubbed completely raw by the effort expended, with a headache that lasted most of the rest of the day. This dud makes a solid month of mediocre results at best. Overall less fit than a year ago at this time, which is frustrating to be sure. More frustrating though is the ongoing inability to get a decent night's sleep thanks to a terrible rut of late bedtimes. I paid for that today. The cherry on that shit sundae came when I prewoke my alarm by 90 minutes this morning and couldn't really get back to sleep after that. So while I certainly got more sleep than the night before last year's race it wasn't that much more. Until and unless I can get my shit together on the bedtime front the mediocrity will continue. The horrible trip here yesterday didn't help either of course but in the grand scheme of things wasn't the determining factor in causing this turd. On the positive side, the calf didn't bother me in any way that I could tell, and only moderately stiff afterward. Plus I got multiple toothbrushes from the main event sponsor, thank you Delta Dental.