Mon 1/7 - PM 50 minutes, Longfellow Loop

Feeling much more spry today from the first step out the door, had to rein things in a few times so as not to get ahead of myself for tomorrow. Plus I wanted to have something left for the 8 strides I did on the way in. Very dark out, cloudy and no moon, which figured into things when I stepped in a pothole I never even saw at about 20 minutes. No Jones fracture and I got through the rest of the run with only minor twinges but it started getting a bit more sore afterwards. No real noticeable swelling, at least not yet. Will bear watching, not especially looking forward to the first step out of bed tomorrow morning.

Sun 1/6 - AM 60 minutes easy

RLTAC to N. Station and then back along the river via Charles St. and Back Bay. Moving somewhat better than yesterday but still not exactly rolling along. Planned evening run went by the boards as there wasn't time after spending most of the day at the kiddies' meet.

Sat 1/5 - double, 90 minutes total

AM - 45 minutes easy, Levittown to Rockland Ave. Typical morning putter, right hammie feeling sore high up. Sunny but still sub-freezing temps. SW breeze feels like a tropical caress after the midweek cold blast.

PM - 45 minutes easy, edge of Longfellow loop. Didn't get very far on this run, still feeling tired from yesterday and spending all afternoon today out and about. Right hammie a bit better after some compressions.

Fri 1/4 - PM 60 minutes RLTAC incl. 4(600,400)

Made it through the workout in one piece but not without some effort. Tired and run-down even though it was a short work week, Tuesday's effort followed by three days of not sleeping enough caused it. I knew after the first set the workout would be a chore and I would only be doing four sets. That proved to be the appropriate time to jump ship. Aiming for 600s in 1:43.5 and 400s in 68 with 90 seconds rest before each 400 and 2.5 minutes after. The numbers ended up as follows:

1:44.5, 68.8
1:44.2, 69.5
1:44.2, 67.2
1:43.7, 67.0

overall most reps felt relaxed and fairly smooth, but tired. Workouts like this will go better with more rest in the 2-3 days prior, which comes as no surprise. Warmed up outside, cooldown was a very easy 15 minutes on the floor.

Thu 1/3 - double, just over 60 minutes total

PM - 20+ minutes, South End prior to kiddie meet. Abbreviated somewhat from the 30 minutes or so I was planning on. NW wind blasting away all day, temp never got above 10 degrees, miserable. Balaclava an absolute must. Not moving very quickly at all.

later PM - 40+ minutes, Fenway to Brookline back via Longwood. Feeling tired and flat, kind of ran out of steam the last 15 minutes or so. Still bitterly cold but the wind started to slack off while I was running, first sign of a change in the weather that will eventually lead to much warmer temps.

Wed 1/2 - PM just over 60 minutes easy/medium

Loop from Coolidge Corner along the river and back via Allston/Comm Ave. Spent the first 30 minutes running into an increasingly vicious WNW wind which was not pleasant. Face frozen without the balaclava, not the item to leave at home today. As I turned away from the wind the pace coincidentally picked up, finished moving relatively well given yesterday's effort. Legs not that sore, at least not today.

Tue 1/1 - AM 80 minutes incl. 10k road race in 33:20

Ran a race in Salisbury for the first and last time, it was nice to see the water but the wind coming off it was something else entirely. The strength of the gale increased as the day wore on. Course was a a pair of out and backs along the shore, with the SSE wind direction this meant half the race the wind was in our faces--most of the first mile and the last 2.5 miles in this case. As I was legitimately worried about my hat flying off, I'd say it slowed me down. The stretches with a tailwind didn't feel as easy as one would hope OTOH. First split time feedback was at 2 miles which was 10:30, next mile 5:18, then 5:22, 5:30, and 6:40 from mile 5 to the finish. Feeling especially worn-down and vulnerable the 4th and 5th miles as I was being stalked while we turned back into the breeze. Mustered a great deal of focus on the sixth mile and pulled away from the stalker, but the 5:20 pace level was definitely the upper limit. I wish I could say it was tempo but the effort was beyond that the second half of the race. Somewhat peaked after the past few days' mix of intensity and volume. Warmup and cooldown were both in the 20 minute range. Wind-driven mix of rain and snow made the cooldown both very slow and very unpleasant.