Thu 6/5 - PM 45 minutes incl. mile race

After last year's invigorating and pleasantly surprising mile race at this same meet, this year's edition was an anticlimactic dud. The beat goes on in that respect. Splits of 71/74.5/76.5/74 feeling flat and listless from the jump. Tempting of course to lay the blame on overdoing it two days ago with repeats done at a pace which in hindsight I couldn't hope to maintain. However, what truly made this was the ongoing inability to get to bed at anything resembling a reasonable hour. Compared to last year in fact I got to 3/4 just a couple clicks slower but whereas a year ago I was able to make a big move and hold it, this time around it was scraping the bottom of the barrel. Making it even less fun was the fact that I was in no-man's land after no more than a lap and stayed there. I was in fact trying to get some turnover on that last lap but nothing doing. The super late bedtimes of last week's staycation not helping me one bit right now. Rainy conditions gave way to cool and fairly nice weather by the time I raced, not the steambath of last July's version of this meet.

Wed 6/4 - PM 60 minutes easy

Lincoln woods. Relaxed effort throughout. I did pick up the pace a bit towards the end but it stayed controlled. Legs not as beat up from yesterday as I was expecting, although there was the usual tightness along the iliac crest and through the glute. Yesterday's wind blew in stickier air, kind of gross in fact.

Tue 6/3 - PM 40 minutes incl. 2 (400-300-200-100)

Probably overdoing it with another track race on tap in two days but couldn't resist. Felt quite flat on the warmup jog, combined with a gusty obnoxious wind I was having serious doubts about the wisdom of doing the originally planned session or perhaps even anything other than glorified strides. Right thigh/butt not feeling so hot either, all in all it made for a somewhat demoralizing experience before I had even started in earnest. Chose to do one set of the 4-3-2-1 cutdown (with 3-2-1 jog recoveries)and see how that went, with every intention of just doing ins and outs after that. Shooting for 76-77 for the initial 400 and increasing the speed of each rep from there. After hitting it in 75 instead I realized I might have been selling myself short and thus gave the second set a crack as well. Despite the fact that the wind sure felt like it picked up a bit from the beginning of the workout to the end, able to hit slightly faster numbers the second time through. Not so sure about my ability to keep up the pace I was running for a full mile but we'll see. Wore spikes for both sets which of course skews things. Wind also skewed things, in the other direction of course. Got blasted on the 200s, tailwind for the 100s, mixed for the longer reps. Surprised at how well the right leg held together after feeling like such garbage warming up. Splits:

75.0 (81.3)
53.8 (58.0)
35.1 (29.6)
17.2
5:50 total
4.5R
71.8 (78.6)
52.9 (59.5)
35.1 (28.7)
17.3
5:43.8 total

Mon 6/2 - double, 90 minutes total plus 15 minutes in Walden

AM - 25 minutes very easy, Swellesley. Brook Path to Grove St. Back to the workaday grind and had a terrible time readjusting to it in terms of falling asleep. Going to bed far too late over the past week for it not to happen in fact. Awake by 5:30, unwillingly, after much tossing and turning. Spent some time rolling the glute on the lax ball, something I should have done before going to bed last night. Didn't think I'd be able to muster the energy for even a shuffle in the morning but did it nonetheless.

PM - 65 minutes plus drills on Pine Hill plus 15 minutes in Walden. The whole kitchen sink thrown in this afternoon. After the requisite nap, though not as long as I thought might be necessary, took off down the trail on a spectacularly nice day with warmth and sun to spare. I knew after 20 minutes or so that I'd be taking my first dip of the season in the water. The first minute or two were quite uncomfortable as the water is still chilly, but once moving it didn't feel nearly so bad. In something of a manic state to be doing this much exercise after getting so little sleep last night. The other shoe will likely drop at some point.

Sun 6/1 - AM/PM 85 minutes easy

Area 51. Got started later than I should have after staying up far too late thanks to the caffeine I ingested for the race yesterday. Easy jog through the refuge on a sunny warm morning, with the pattern being run for 20 minutes, break for 5, repeat. With an extra break thrown in just after the hour mark. Regrettably the run wouldn't have come off without this pattern because the right hamstring and glute kept stiffening up which forced me to stretch it out at each break. Once again the squat stand served me well.

Sat 5/31 - PM 45 minutes incl. track 3k

Mediocre at best, not especially surprising. While I was able to race reasonably well and passed three people once the initial craziness worked itself out, the guys running my seed time were never within reach and the pace lagged significantly from a bit after halfway until the bell. Mitigating factors (i.e. excuses) included pulling buckthorn shrubs/trees in the morning, not the smartest idea of course but a worthwhile experience. Didn't spend that long doing it anyway. More problematic was the underlying feeling of lethargy and stiffness in the right hamstring. Took a nap to try and deal with the former, helped somewhat but not enough. Interspersed squat stands into the warmup drills to deal with the leg which actually seemed to help a great deal at least in the short term. In general, warmup was shorter than I would have liked because I was tardy in arriving at the track. Not the crucial factor however. Obnoxious breeze on the backstretch had some effect on tactics in that I chose to stay tucked behind people a bit longer than I would have otherwise when the pace started to lag for everyone around me. Kilometer splits of 3:06, 3:10, and 3:11. First and last laps were 73, second and third laps around 75, lost the battle for five minute pace after that. The 600m from 2k to 400m to go went in close to 80 second pace, not good. Part of that was the breeze but more of it was a lack of fitness and feeling the right butt start to tighten up. Cooldown done in chunks and not particularly extensive. Thus ends a May with a lot of racing, not so much training.

Fri 5/30 - PM 45 minutes incl. 8x100

Walden woods. Extened warmup through Hapgood Forest and briefly across the highway near the pond. Followed that with four laps of ins and outs on the track, first two running the curves, next two the straights. Timed the last four, between 18 and 19 seconds roughly, which is what I was shooting for as it's what I'm shooting for tomorrow. Felt a little quick but we'll see. Right glute/piriformis kind of tight and sticking a little bit but felt better after some rolling on the lax ball later on. I'm nothing if not tapered for tomorrow's race, first time racing on the track since February. Also the first time since then that I've worn spikes. Calf not bothered in the slightest by this. Finished just in time to miss the showers that passed through, after a reasonably sunny nice day the weather of course went down the toilet somewhat.