Fri 11/1 - PM 85 minutes easy

Lincoln woods. A blessed reprieve from the endless kiddie xc season allowed me to head to the trails. Enjoyed it a great deal despite the slippery leaves and balky hamstring that is permanently pinched it would seem. Started and finished slow, at the end so that I didn't trip on anything in the gathering darkness, slightly quicker in the middle. Warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt on the first day of November. Rained some earlier in the day but the ground soaked it up for the most part. The pond continues its ongoing recession, low as I've ever seen it with no end in sight.

Thu 10/31 - off

Decided rather late in the day to take the zero. Feeling quite tired after all the late bedtimes watching the local nine, now over and done with until the spring of course. Got home dead tired, took a nap and woke up realizing the moment had passed. Got in a decent stretching session at least before bed. Right hammie remains stuck.

Wed 10/30 PM - 60 minutes easy

Area 51. Overall the pace a bit quicker than the past couple of days but no pickups or faster running. Feeling quite tired on the way home from work. Came back on the road to get it over with and avoid the same stretch of Patrol Road I've covered each of the past 3 days.

Tue 10/29 - PM 50 minutes easy

Area 51. Cut back on the length of the run, a recurring theme of late. Did some pickups on the way in and found that the hammie strain was of course just lurking under the surface over the past couple days of easy jogging. The functionally injured status continues unchanged. Colder than yesterday but no wind to speak of.

Mon 10/28 - PM 65 minutes easy

Area 51. Had a fairly difficult time getting out the door what with being predictably frazzled by the end of the day. Kiddie practice is becoming more of a ball and chain with each passing day, alas. After a brief nap got out the door and after 15 minutes or so found myself more alert and feeling up for a longer effort than planned. Still not that long as volume has certainly attenuated over the past month (see aforementioned ball and chain). Right thigh/butt still surprisingly pain-free, perhaps due to taking it easy but I'm not sure to be honest.

Sun 10/27 - PM 50 minutes very easy

Area 51. Towards the end of a long day that started in Falmouth with a hike along the rail trail and beach. Very nice although of course windy. Then the drive back of course, followed by requisite errands and a brief nap. The run was an easy putter in the woods, right hammie and butt nowhere near as stiff as I was expecting given yesterday's effort. But I was going quite slow so who knows.

Sat 10/26 - AM 85 minutes incl. half-marathon

Return to Falmouth, first time since DNFing at the 18 mile mark of the marathon in 2010. Much more easily digestible race distance this time around, and after last weekend's dismal experience I knew not to have anything resembling high expectations. That and the fact I had to get up well before 5 AM to make it to the race site with time to spare. Happily, the field was far from competitive and by the 5k mark I was all alone in the final money spot. This coincided with the course turning into the wind, right along the shore until about 6.5 miles or so when it turned back towards town. While this took care of the wind the next few miles were on the curvy rolling part of Falmouth shared with the marathon and the big summer race. Not my favorite as I couldn't tell if anyone was close enough to be worried about. By 9-10 miles I realized the next guy was close enough that I wouldn't be shutting down into glorified cooldown mode as hoped, so buckled down the final 5k enough to consolidate my spot. Splits:

5:45 (just like last week)
5:58
6:03
6:06
6:15 (into the wind now)
6:16
6:21
6:14
6:16
6:17
6:17
6:09
6:06

Not even getting into how disgustingly slow the pace was in the first place. At this point the overweening fatigue, lack of fitness and being "functionally injured" with the right hamstring are just parts of the landscape and there's no use bitching about it. Other than the aforementioned wind, the conditions were near perfect temp and humidity-wise. In lieu of a cooldown went for a nice bikeride on the rail trail (which also was miles 4.5-6.5 of the course) down to Wood's Hole. All in all an exceedingly pleasant day.

Fri 10/25 - off

More or less a planned zero. Had to leave work at lunchtime and go directly to Franklin Park for another kiddies' meet, ever so conveniently relocated from 6 miles down the road from my home to the middle of Boston. Got out of there as soon as humanly possible to beat the horrendous homebound commuter traffic. With an extremely early wakeup call the moment for even a light jog had passed.