Sun 3/27 - PM 75 minutes very easy

Walden woods with the CH. Stiff and sore, legs just as dented as I thought they'd be. Perhaps more so. Had some difficulty doing things like bending over and squatting, which meant the run was a leisurely affair. Cold and raw for the first half of the run but then the sun came out which made an immediate difference.

Sat 3/26 - PM 85 minutes incl. 2x8k threshold run

Longfellow Loop. Knew better than to try this in the morning when sleepyhead grogginess would have made it an exercise in frustration. Still, not exactly thrilled to put it off to the afternoon as it allowed the workout itself to crawl inside my head a bit. Got a bit of a late start too which wasn't helping. Still feeling Thursday's harder trail run in thin shoes in my legs while jogging up the road to the start of the loop, all in all not an auspicious start. However, started in on the first "repeat" of two and found the pace was quicker than expected feeling easier than expected. Had hopes that maybe my fitness had jumped a level or two since the last time I did this type of work, but on the second lap of the first 8k I could feel myself coming back to earth. Five minute break between reps spent mostly retying the shoelaces, then off to the second rep with the express goal of doing it faster than the first. Knew from the start that it would not be the easiest thing to do, something that was reinforced by the second mile going in a split slower than 6 minutes. Buckled down from there on to get it done by a few ticks. Splits:

5:49/5:58/2:51.4
5:55/5:56/2:48.0

5R

5:52/6:01/2:49.4
5:51/5:54/2:47.4

The cooldown was precisely the wobbly shuffle I figured it would be. I haven't been doing quite enough volume overall for a workout of this length but working on that.

Fri. 3/25 - PM 50 minutes very easy

Area 51. Similar to last Friday's slog, only a little longer and without the short hill reps at the end as I didn't have the energy. At least I had the company of the CH. Got home from work feeling quite tired after not taking any nap yesterday and then hitting it hard on the trails, of course didn't come remotely close to a decent bedtime last night so feeling it all day at work. This led to a 2+ hour nap that left me reeling, the worst possible expression of the particularly dysfunctional sleep pattern of late. Tried doing short hills on Thompson near the end of the run, nothing doing as I could feel no energy level for it. To top things off, gray disgusting weather all day again.

Thu 3/24 - PM 85 minutes

Lincoln woods. Quicker paced right from the get-go compared to previous slogs of late. Felt like it took a while for the pace to really get going but eventually it did and in a fairly sustained fashion until a pit stop around the 50 minute mark. After that built back up to speed until the end. Unlike previous recent visits to the trails the weather was less than hospitable this time around, overcast and drizzly with a persistent ill wind.

Wed 3/23 - PM 65 minutes easy

Area 51. Still nursing a sore calf to some degree, did some work on it after the run in fact. 99% of the run was quite easy until the very end when I was up against it to make it to a meeting and had to zoom it in the last 300m or so.

Tue 3/22 - PM 70 minutes incl. circuits, 8x300

Second go-round of the season with the circuits, again after a 30 minute or so jog warmup through the edges of Area 51. Some twinging of the right calf left over from Saturday's race, a strain that I thought was behind me but apparently not. Got a bit tired on the back half of the workout but made it through in one piece eventually. Somewhat chilly conditions with a steady breeze.