Fri 9/13 - PM 55 minutes easy

Weston. Spent the first 10 minutes chasing kiddies back and forth, trying to deal with a group that was splintering apart before my very eyes with injuries and wide gulfs in ability. Like herding cats. The goal was to get to the trails behind Regis for loops on the flat mellow trail back there at which point a separate dynamic took over, i.e. the fact that most of them have no clue what an appropriate training pace is for their fitness level so of course they go too fast. On this loop which I ran 4-5 times total I managed to get dropped by a passel of kids many of whom would struggle to break 20 minutes for 5k, almost none of whom could break 19. After that able to run the last half hour or so at much more reasonable pace thankfully. Humidity stubbornly sticking around, although it dissipated within an hour or so of finishing the run. Some lingering stiffness in left hip flexor from yesterday but it worked itself out to a much greater degree than I had expected.

Thu 9/12 - PM 55 minutes incl. 3(400-300-200-100)

Back to the track, albeit postponed from yesterday. Weather not as hot thankfully but just as humid and still light years from favorable, with a gusty SW wind to boot. Got home from practice and took a nap before heading out which made for a fairly late start. The usual short warmup loop to the track, but took the time to do a full set of drills and strides given the shorter quicker nature of the workout. Right knee stiff and sore in the quad tendon while doing this which left me somewhat concerned. Hammie twinging of course but it's been worse. Tried to stay relaxed and leave some room for speeding up towards the end of each rep. Recorded times but not checking any intermediate splits. Took an easy lap plus a sip of fluids between each set, which ended up being about 3.5 minutes worth of recovery. Speaking of recovery, started to feel the cumulative effort in the final set, not so much on the reps themselves but not bouncing back as well between them. The overall time for the third set reflected this as compared to the other two:

74.1/55.5/37.0/18.4 overall 5:56.6
73.7/56.1/36.9/18.0 overall 5:56.8
74.3/55.8/37.2/18.7 overall 6:05.1

As can be seen by the inability to change gears, turnover isn't exactly there at the moment. Also a factor was the left hip flexor and adductor which like last time on the track got progressively more stiff and sore as the workout progressed. Made the cooldown a very slow affair.

Wed 9/11 - PM 65 minutes

Area 51. Had planned on doing a track workout today but the combination of disgusting heat and humidity with deadening fatigue after an afternoon standing around in aforementioned soul-crushing conditions watching the poor kiddies slog their way through an execrable race (child abuse really) killed every last bit of motivation. Able to get out the door for what started as an easy jog at least. Moving better as the run went along, although part of that may have been the illusion of running faster in the gathering darkness. Sorely tempted to jump in Puffer Pond for a cooling dip but not knowing the depth of it I had to take a pass. Headed back on 27 from Old Marlboro Road, with pickups on the way in. Much quicker and felt better doing them on a flatter smoother road than Old Concord in the Lincoln woods. Difficult to describe how gross the weather was and how unwelcome it is to be experiencing it this late in the season after some very nice crisp days recently.

Tue 9/10 - PM 60 minutes plus 20 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods, with drills on Pine Hill. Able to sneak away from kiddies' practice earlier than I had planned, and I had planned on leaving early as it was. Started slowly but moving reasonably well by about the half hour mark, and cruising along when I got to the hill. Getting reasonably good extension and even some ground clearance doing the drills the past few times, but there was definitely some twinging in the glute and high hammie anyway. Much less energetic after the dip in the pond, maybe the cooler water has that effect. More humid than yesterday but still relatively pleasant.

Mon 9/9 - PM 50 minutes very easy

Area 51. Decided with the long day and cooler weather to keep the run local. By the time I was able to leave kiddies' practice which had me biking back and forth along the aqueduct, I had hit the wall energy-wise. Barely able to keep my eyes open on the ride home, made it as far as the Old Marlboro Road entrance to the refuge before I had to take a blackout catnap. It was quite clear within the first few minutes that the pace would be quite slow throughout. Made for a pleasant enough if boring experience, nice to be back on these trails again after a deer fly imposed break of a months. Breeze settled down as sun started to set making for very nice conditions, calm cool and still.

Sun 9/8 - PM 60 minutes incl. 5k xc race

Scratching a stupid itch, nearly got my ass handed to me as a result. Toying with the idea of doing this low-key race and following it up with a 20-30 minute tempo run on nearby roads. With the alternative being laps around the Longfellow Loop, the race option became more attractive as the weekend wore on. This despite the fact that I slept too little both of the last two nights and had a longish drive just to get to the start line from where I spent last night. On top of that arrived about half an hour before the gun went off with the lunch I ate far too close to race time still digesting in my stomach. Burping both before and after the race which is never a good feeling. Warmup was cursory at best, maybe 10 minutes combined of jogging and drills. I was figuring that I might be able to vulture a win running around 18 minutes. While this ended up being the case it certainly wasn't the relaxed controlled effort I would expect for that execrable a time. In fact it was clearly a race as I was being chased/ doing the chasing right until the final 200m on the track. In fact he put in a move with 600m to go that I thought would do me in, although I was able to rally it required digging a lot deeper than I would have expected. While part of the slow-ass time can be ascribed to the ridiculous course that included literally dozens of turns (which I should have recognized going in) and the fact that almost all of the trail in the woods was rocky and particularly rutted and strewn with tree roots. By the end it was a stumble-fest and very annoying, and only more annoying for the fact that the guy who was dogging me had a much better attitude towards the layout than I did. Afterward, took a 10 minute break, then 10 minutes of superslow jogging, then a 15 minute progression/tempoish steady run that while better than nothing certainly pales in comparison to the training value of a three-lapper on the LL. Warm and sunny day with gusty breezes blowing throughout.

Sat 9/7 - PM 75 minutes plus 15 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods, with drills on Pine Hill. Somewhat tired from the morning spent at the kiddies' meet and long bus rides involved. Got this run in a bit earlier in the afternoon than is usually the case, which made for brighter sun and slightly warmer temps. Nice conditions for being outside.