Fri 3/21 - double, 70 minutes total

AM - 25 minutes, treadmill. 8x minute on, minute off after an 8 minute warmup jog. Felt reasonably good compared to how flat, tired and stiff I've felt the last two days.

PM - 45 minutes in Levittown incl. 12x 40 second pickups. My approximation of the repeat 200 workout on the track with revolving rest. In this case it took the form of 80, 60, and 40 second recoveries between the pickups. Some stiffness in the right hamstring, not feeling like I was totally burning it up but tried to get in some kind of turnover anyway. Certainly, splitting up the hard efforts in two sessions is easier to fit in than doing it all at once.

Thu 3/20 - PM 50 minutes very easy

Waltham St.-Old Mill-Old Marlboro-Area 51. Thought I would go for a longer run but unexpectedly tired, in fact something of a repeat from yesterday in terms of an overly long nap. Difficult to muster up much in the way of motivation, the inaccessibility of the trails is having an affect on that in fact. Just to prove the trails are still a mess I went along the patrol road for a while, about what I expected. Enough bare patches to make skiing inadvisable but too much snow for running at all smoothly. Well and truly sick of this.

Wed 3/19 - double, 80 minutes total

AM - 25 minutes, treadmill. Stiff and sore. The treadmill smooths out some of the rough edges otherwise this would have been a much more ragged affair.

PM - 55 minutes very easy, rail bed to Red Acre/Liberty, back via Rockland. Got home from work absolutely wiped out, straight to bed for a nap that went lasted a good hour. It occurs to me that the morning runs on the treadmill seem to be wearing me out. This run was a languid affair with very little energy put forth. Feeling the pangs of trail fever of course, otherwise I would have had the good sense to avoid the rail bed. In measured doses I suppose the slippery garbage is doable.

Tue 3/18 - PM 75 minutes incl. 10-8-6-4-2 minute pickups

Longfellow loop. Feeling the compulsion to get back on the horse and actually train. Conditions and right leg not favorable for it but did it anyway. Hitch in the giddyup pretty much from the start, definitely slowed down the pace on the repeats. Not that I knew for sure exactly what that pace was, didn't want to know quite frankly. Went with a slightly different recovery scheme this time compared to previous iterations of this type of workout, i.e. 4-3-2-1 minutes. Continued cold, with a delightful breeze as well.

Mon 3/17 - double, 70 minutes total

AM - 25 minutes, treadmill. Right calf obnoxiously tight but felt decent other than that.

PM - 45 minutes very easy, Levittown to Summerhill/Winter St. Much more tired for the afternoon leg of the double than I thought I would be. Took forever to get out the door in fact, such that I cut back on the length of the run a bit. Calf not quite as torqued up as the morning but still tight. I had also planned on doing hill drills at the end of the run but couldn't muster up the energy or interest when the time came for it. Obnoxious cold firmly in place, the reality of this persistent weather pattern is more depressing than I'd like to contemplate. It's actually sapping my motivation to a certain degree.

Sun 3/16 - AM 60 minutes easy

Parker to River Street in S. Acton, Red Acre to Rockland Ave via trails (briefly). More sore than I'd like given how slowly I raced yesterday, esp. both calves. Effort is effort apparently. The balefully cold and windy conditions diminished any motivation I might have had for this. Originally planned to go the length of Red Acre/Liberty but it was taking too long and so cut through the woods on snowed-in trails to get to Rockland. My legs didn't appreciate the slippery footing at all. Finished feeling as flat and tired as before I started. Had grandiose notions of skiing in the afternoon but not surprisingly it didn't happen.

Sat 3/15 - AM 65 minutes incl. 5k road race

The beat goes on with race results that can charitably be described as mediocre. As usual, there are extenuating circumstances, this time the ongoing battle with whatever cold or colds I've been suffering through since returning from Arizona nearly three weeks ago. Went to bed last night with an ominous achy, almost febrile feeling. Prepared to do the unthinkable and bag the race entirely if I woke up in full blown fever but that didn't happen. Still, plenty of congestion and a not quite productive cough, really the pits. Knew full well while warming up that this race would suck and I would do well to finish within a minute of last year's time. As it turns out this is exactly where I ended up. Effort wise it felt like a reasonable race effort, not unduly taxing but also not as easy as this pace should ever feel. With dramatically increased prize money over last year's race I stood zero chance whatsoever of repeating last year's high finish, which was itself an inexplicable fluke. Thus the only competitive focus was beating the other old farts, and looking around at the start no one seemed to be a threat. Fell back immediately and inexorably from the lead group upon the gun firing, it seemed like dozens of people strung out ahead of me. After a few minutes it became clear I wouldn't be likely to catch many of them later on either. With no pace sense to speak of I figured I might hit the mile in something close to six minutes, instead it was 5:30. This qualified as good news in the current climate of diminished fitness and expectations. The second half of the course was into the wind to a much greater extent, second mile around 5:40 and I was expecting slower. From there it was playing out the string. Right leg felt reasonably good warming up but stiffened predictably afterward. Cooldown was a very easy putter that took place a good 90 minutes after crossing the finish line, but worth the wait as I had to collect my ill-gotten loot. Weather was somewhat dismal while warming up but improved dramatically just before the gun went off.