Fri 5/10 - PM 50 minutes

Lincoln woods. Too nice a day not to run in the forest. Feeling a little better than yesterday, not quite as tired.

Thu 5/9 - 60 minutes easy

Walden woods, somnambulant slog followed by drills and a series of alternating 50 and 100m strides on the track in spikes. Unbelievably tired for much of the run today, felt like death warmed over. Didn't think I'd be able to muster the energy to do the planned stuff on the track, which was hardly taxing to begin with. Went through with it nonetheless. Right hammie more pinched and sore than I'd like. Calf even worse at times, felt like it might go at any second at certain points in the woods. Despite this I gave it a go on the track, in spikes, perhaps not the wisest idea but if anything the right leg felt better on flat level ground. Warm muggy day gave way to spitting rain by the time I hit the trail, turned into a downpour for about ten minutes then back to spitting rain. The end result was that the temp dropped at least ten degrees, just into clammy territory.

Wed 5/8 - PM 70 minutes easy

Area 51. Had every intention of running in Lincoln, decided at the last minute a nap in bed instead of car and flatter less undulating terrain would be better. Ended up being a quite late start. Tired and stiff as per usual for day after any kind of fast running. Left knee feeling tight and pinched after 20 minutes or so, feels like there's some swelling around the patella itself but still no sharp pain or debilitating inflammation. Feels like whistling past the graveyard for sure. Has to be some kind of tendinitis from the quad, plenty of compressions on that area after the run which will hopefully help. Long stretch of dry breezy conditions replaced by the muggies. In fact a strong shower had just passed through before the run.

Tue 5/7 - 50 minutes incl. 4x(1000,200)

Another triumph of compulsion over good sense. Given the recent goings-on with supremely late bedtimes it would have been maybe a good idea to put this off a day or at least go three cycles instead of four. Stubbornly stuck it out though, not surprisingly feeling quite crispy on the final go-round. Splits:

3:25.0 - 36.8
3:23.5 - 37.5
3:23.2 - 37.4
3:24.1 - 37.4

Recovery jogs 53-58 seconds, getting slower towards the end of course. Finished off with a final 100m to the line in a sparkling 18.5. Total for the whole thing (6400m) 23:25. Warm conditions, pesky breeze blowing from a southerly direction for a change. As the numbers show, unable to get any kind of turnover going and quickly got stuck in a rut. I'll take the optimistic route and chalk it up to being so tired going in rather than a lack of fitness. The rugrats standing around in lane 1 didn't help any either, my own fault for trying to do anything on the track when there are multiple wiffle ball games happening on the infield. Left knee area that got felt so alarmingly tight and sore on yesterday's run held up reasonably well to this effort, likely due to the level terrain. I still think all the trips up and down the press box ladder Saturday are to blame for that. And for the turf toe-ish strain of the left metatarsals.

Mon 5/6 - PM 70 minutes

Lincoln woods. No nap before the run today as I was pressed for time with a ballgame to attend later in the evening. Visited the Devil's Staircase, in excellent visibility it was well worth the climb. Most salient aspect of the run however was the distressing soreness/tightness that developed after about 45 minutes or so. Not entirely sure where it came from but I'm thinking it had something to do with the umpteen times I climbed the stupid ladder in the press box Saturday evening. Whatever the case it had better be a temporary thing. Despite this soreness the pace of the run picked up quite a bit the last 25 minutes, for the first time in a while on a run of this length. Calf held up reasonably well. Cloudless sky, warmer than yesterday despite the ever-present breeze.

Sun 5/5 - PM 65 minutes easy

Lincoln woods. Far later start than I would have liked or planned. Got to bed obscenely late after working at the kiddies' track meet last night. Compared to what I remembered of last year's experience with this, it seems like this time around it was more draining. After sleeping in quite late, did some errands ate lunch and went back to sleep again. Thus the late start. The run itself felt predictably creaky, right hammie feeling stuck in the belly of the muscle. The weather pattern of late continues unchanged, sunny breezy and a bit cool during the day.

Sat 5/4 - 85 minutes incl. 8x1600

Longfellow loop. Originally this was to be a straight progression run, decided earlier in the week that it would be more humane to break it up into chunks, i.e. longish reps with 400m jog recoveries. Not feeling at all sanguine about how the right leg would hold up to this type of thing after the past couple of days, but shoved off nonetheless late morning. As has been the case of late, only a vague notion of what an appropriate pace would be, settled on trying to get them all under 5:50 which was modest but hopefully realistic, and allowed for any issues with the leg stiffening up. After hitting the first 800 of the first rep in just under 2:50 that pace immediately became the new standard. From there the times followed a predictable pattern:

5:38.7
5:42
5:37.8
5:45.2
5:39.2
5:45.2
5:40.7
5:42.5

recoveries were all in the 1:45-50 range. The ever-present breeze, while swirling somewhat, felt like it was at my back on the odd-numbered reps. The numbers support this, plus every even-numbered rep felt clunky and awkward. As expected, as the session wore on the right leg became progressively more torqued up, in particular belly of right hammie. Other than a couple of twinges the calf held up. Hammie was of course stiff the rest of the day. It's been worse though.

Fri 5/3 - 20 minutes very easy

Very short and very slow putter in Brookline. De facto day off, neither energy nor motivation to go much further though. Calf feels like garbage, of course.