Fri 7/26 - PM 65 minutes very easy plus 15 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods, with drills on Pine Hill. Both calves quite sore after yesterday, more so than I expected. No question about how to take this run, i.e. at a crawl from the get-go. Extremely late start after an extremely late bedtime last night, figured I would run less time than I ended up doing actually. Thought it might be inadvisable to do drills in such conditions but able to get them done anyway, although I wasn't clearing much air on any of the exercises. Disgustingly humid after heavy showers passed through in the morning but cool enough to keep it from being unbearable.

Thu 7/25 - PM 55 minutes incl. 5k road race

Return to Long Island for a second crack at the Harborthon. If only the wholly unimpressive time was representative of a relaxed low key effort but such wasn't the case. Many mitigating factors as usual, with fatigue and the right leg leading the way again as usual. As an added bonus, the left calf became very tight during the warmup, possibly because my racing flats were the only shoes I brought with me. As for the race itself I was pushed much more than I would have liked the entire first half, only one to beat but he put in various extremely annoying surges that succeeded in putting me into early oxygen debt. Able to weather the storm and put in my own surge from roughly 1.5 to 2.5 that ended the suspense. I had hoped on being able to cut back near the end if able and in fact I was able to back off before turning the final corner for a semi-sprint to the line. First two miles each went in around 5:25, third mile noticeably slower but didn't feel that much easier even with the intentional gearing down. Feeling tired, and right leg awkward. Course had a bit more roll than I remembered from two years ago. Weather didn't cooperate, clammy and cool all day with rain arriving just as I left to make the trek from Alewife to the ferry. Varied in intensity but something was falling pretty much the entire time, and a fairly persistent ill wind blowing as well which meant a headwind for the second half of the race. Brief very easy cooldown with a longish break to check out the remains of the fort or whatever it is on the north end of the island. The venue is beguiling enough to have enticed me back but I don't know that I'll be doing this event again, we'll see.

Wed 7/24 - PM 85 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods incl. Farrar Pond. Decided the "two pond" route was the way to go before heading out, took it easy at the outset in anticipation of running a bit longer than the 65-70 minute norm of late. The path and walkway at the eastern end of Farrar are completely overgrown but other than that the path there was just the low-key experience I was looking for. Pace picked up a bit after that, without really meaning to necessarily. Right glute/piriformis area didn't respond so well to this, became stiff and tight by the 40 minute mark or so. Did lots of rolling on the lax ball afterward at home, felt like the whole area was knotted up tightly. Short pickups on the way in. Relatively milder temps still hanging in there.

Tue 7/23 - PM 60 minutes easy plus 20 minutes in Walden

Walden woods. Got a late start, thanks to appt. which also took out most of my usual naptime. After a restless night sleeping, this made for a decidedly lackluster run, felt sluggish the entire way. Did something of a windup the last 10 minutes but there was a decided hitch in the giddy-up thanks to the right glute and calf being stuck. With heavy t-storms passing through earlier in the day, the humidity was sky high but with relatively milder temps to go along with it. The deer flies were maybe still hiding under the broadest leaves they could find as I wasn't bothered by them very much at all.

Mon 7/22 - PM 70 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods, with drills on Pine Hill. Surprisingly energetic despite both calves still feeling noticeably sore from Saturday. Pace was quicker than I would have expected, and as an added bonus the deer flies seemingly weren't as active as they have been recently. Went ahead with the hill drills anyway despite the sore calves, probably will pay a price for it in the near future. Relatively mild temps for this time of year.

Sun 7/21 - double, 1:50 total plus 20 minutes in Walden

AM - 35 minutes very easy. Pre-breakfast shakeout, or more like pre-brunch given how long it took to get out of bed. Ambling, rambling, puttering, stuttering jog around town with various stops including to check out a fledgling sparrow that had fallen out of the nest and picking up someone's mylar balloons littering the edge of the trail. Not the first time I've come across balloons on or near the refuge this year. Got far enough into the trails to pick up a bunch of deer flies, promptly headed back out. Calf really tight and sore, the slow jog did little to loosen it up. Heat wave has finally well and truly broken but still warm out.

PM - 75 minutes easy plus 20 minutes in Walden. The time spent on the calf with the foam roller after lunch helped with the stiffness there, but still moving quite slowly thanks to yesterday's effort. One rogue fly flew right down the hatch and almost made it to the bronchial passage before I was able to hack it back up. Not fun. Other than that a mellow recovery run, no windup or strides near the end.

Sat 7/20 - AM 80 minutes incl. 7 mile road race

More or less successful trip to Gloucester to run in truly dreadful conditions. "Success" defined here in monetary rather than performance terms. After yesterday's hottest day of the year, the dewpoint went up and stayed there stubbornly overnight which made for very poor sleeping. The absolute fucking pits. Woke up half-dead to temps stuck in the high 70s and already trending up. Tried all the hot weather tricks but the length of this event alone ensured they would be of limited effect regrettably. Also, right calf and butt both feeling stiff and pinched so I knew they'd be bothering me before too long as well. Thankfully the field was decidedly low-key, decided from the get-go to shoot for second place by staying with the guy who looked to be the winner long enough to detach from everyone else and then play keep away. This is how it unfolded but it wasn't that easy. The course, some of which was on the same roads as the Magnolia 5k I've done before, rolled and curved relentlessly. None of the undulations were that extreme but the cumulative effect was exasperating. Every downhill strained the right leg a bit more of course. With the soul-crushing heat and humidity I was in survival/maintenance mode after the first mile. That was coincidentally the only mile under 6 minutes for the entire thing. The next five miles were all between 6:00 and 6:10 except for mile 5 which was closer to 6:30, relatively more climbing on that one. The last mile was truly get it over with time, by the end I was well into the cooldown and probably did the last 800 in close to 4 minutes. Worth noting that the slower 5th and 7th miles also included stops for water, literally stopping at the table so that I could both drink a cup and pour another over my head, all while staring back down the road to see if anyone was coming. Needless to say, the pace overall was a joke, but again it's all about the conditions and not just today but the past week wearing me down. Finished feeling as overheated as I could remember, spent the next ten minutes with my hands dunked in icewater to lower core temp. Cooldown after that was a very slow putter taking in the vicinity of the start/finish area, incl. the beguiling Half Moon beach where I wrapped up with a soak in the ocean.