Week of 2/26-3/4

Mon 2/26 - 80 minutes, Sonoita Creek. Hillier than expected getting into and back out of the creek itself. Followed up the run with a hike that probably covered more distance than the run.

Tue 2/27 - PM 25 minutes very easy errand run to the local Safeway and back. Very tired.

Wed 2/28 - rainy garbage

Thu 3/1 - AM 65 minutes, Douglas Springs trail. Mostly uphill to a point somewhere beyond the Bridal Wreath falls trail junction, then backtracked to the falls and hiked down with the CH. A solid effort to be sure. Yesterday's cold and rainy mess replaced by sunny warm conditions.

Fri 3/2 - PM 50 minutes, A mountain. Spent much of the morning and early afternoon hiking in Aravaipa creek, a pleasant and cool experience although it left the shoes surprisingly full of sand.

Sat 3/3 - AM 4 hours up and back along the Tanque Verde trail in Saguaro NP. Thinking I might head to the summit but the extra $10 it would have cost to drive to the trailhead vs. get there on foot, along with a 10 AM start put paid to that idea. As it was I got as far as Juniper Basin which was high enough to see snow left over from Wednesday's weather. The trip up was just as obnoxious as I had remembered with the various false summits and rollercoaster stuff once above the steep climb out of the bajada. Took a good long break, nearly 30 minutes, before heading down. The trip down was not my finest effort, threw in some walking breaks thanks to rubbery legs and general fatigue. Plenty warm at the bottom of the hill. No gila monster sightings this time.

Sun 3/4 - off, travel back home which took all the live long day. Worth it for the time spent in a warm and mostly dry climate.

Week of 2/19-2/25

Mon-Thu 2/19-2/22 - filler, i.e. 50-65 minutes easy running each day.

Fri 2/23 - off. Travel to Arizona for a desert respite from the depredations of late winter.

Sat 2/24 - filler

Sun 2/25 - 70 minutes out and back to A mountain. Not terribly creative choice of route but it never gets old either.

Week of 2/12-2/18

Mon 2/12 - filler

Tue 2/13 - 3(600,400) 90 seconds after each 600, 2 minutes after each 400. Splits: 1:54.5, 74.5, 1:54.6, 74.4, 1:53.9, 73. As I write this it happened a long time ago but I remember being pretty gassed by the end of what was a relatively short workout.

Wed 2/14 - filler

Thu 2/15 - filler

Fri 2/16 - filler

Sat 2/17 - 50 minutes easy

Sun 2/18 - USATFNE meet, 3k in just under 9:42. A result exactly in line with the uninspiring mile races of the past two weeks. At least I raced smartly, helped in no small part by wearing my watch during a track race for the first time in a very long time. Exact km splits hard to get down on Harvard's imperial track but I can say the last one was the fastest one. Worked steadily through the field of mostly teenagers as well. The inability to do anything approaching what I was able to do even a couple of years ago remains annoying and confounding but the amount of training and focus on it have been lacking for some time now.