Sat 4/23 - PM 35 minutes very easy

Brief shakeout run, quite late in the day after a fair amount of hiking earlier in the day. Not exactly energetic at the end of a fairly long day.

Fri 4/22 - PM 80 minutes

Lincoln woods. Took it somewhat easier at the outset but by the second half of the run the pace had quickened as I had planned (and hoped).

Thu 4/21 - PM 55 minutes incl. 1600-1200-800-400

Finally able to do something other than jog, although it took a good long while to get out the door. As a result, went with an option that was shorter and seemed more doable. In contrast to previous times that I've tried this workout, where it felt overbaked and I failed to meet pace goals going in, this time I decided that the recovery would be a float equal in distance to the upcoming rep and I wouldn't expect as much of a pace drop from one rep to the next. With no timed stuff on the track for a couple months now I had no idea what sort of pace to shoot for. Blasted through the first 200 of the first rep in under 40 seconds which I knew to be too quick and adjusted from there as best I could. In the end both the reps and the recoveries followed an orderly if very incremental progression:

5:23 (4:45)
4:01 (3:13)
2:39 (1:37)
78.1

On the plus side the pace did pick up as the rep length decreased, but that 78 felt more apocalyptic than I would have liked. Less windy today than the previous three days which was a nice change.

Wed 4/20 - PM 65 minutes easy

Area 51. I had plans of doing something of substance today but legs are still too dinged up from Monday plus I had little energy for it after a fairly late night. Weather continues to be obnoxious with the below average temps.

Tue 4/19 - PM 60 minutes easy

Area 51. Legs feeling a lot more dented than I would have expected or would like, given the relatively modest pace yesterday. A combination of all the miles on pavement and wearing thin soled shoes I suppose. Right hamstring also feeling stiff. Continued windy conditions and cooler than it should be.

Mon 4/18 - PM 1:40

Natick to Boston, i.e. the final 14+ miles of the marathon course guiding a blind runner. Not entirely sure what to expect having never done this before. Much more crowded than I was expecting which made for a lot of dodging back and forth. Trying to take my pace cues from the guy I was running with, thought he was a little behind the projected pace when he reached me on what looked to be a warm day with a bit of a headwind. It didn't occur to me that he expected me to set the pace as well as guide him, which meant we went slower than he would have liked in hindsight. It didn't seem like he was capable of going much quicker up the hills, but certainly hammered the downhills and the last 2k we were flying passing everything else on the road. Headwind got steadily stronger and the temperature cooler as we approached the city. Pace was never an issue, although it would have been more so had we gone at the suggested pace on the hilly second half of the route. Feet sore from wearing the wrong socks and somewhat stiff-soled racing flats.