Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

Back in the saddle! The hiatus has been killing me, not least because spring has really sprung out here on Puget Sound, the weather is comestible, and everyone from the herons to the sea lions to the babes in bikini tops is letting it all hang out. But no sense in picking a chronic ailment a few months before the race. So--two weeks on the elliptical. Ugh.

Didn't want to overdo it, ran around the track for half an hour at (Garmin enforced) 8-8:30 pace, except for the second-to-last lap, which I took in 6:45. A few minor complaints from the foot along the way (mostly the heel, now and again something like a cramp in the arch), more tenderness from the newly-healed tissue I think than anything serious. We'll see how it feels this evening, but I think we're back in business. Let's try 4 mi a day five days this week and see where that leaves us.

Foot only a little sore this morning, but discretion-is-the-better-part and so forth. So I hopped on the bike instead & chugged out to the aptly named Scenic Beach State Park by Seabeck, where I lounged on the shore and read Dickens. To spice things up--as if the most spectacular scenery in Washington State wasn't enough--wore my new Garmin with the heart rate monitor. That thing is flipping fun! Took it up to 185 bpm at the summit of Anderson Hill, otherwise was mostly cruising in the 140s and 150s. 61.2 miles round trip, avg 14.8 mph, flagging a bit on the return (until Snicker bar no. 2 just past Poulsbo). Pretty satisfied with that, as the hills were vicious and trafficky.

Z1 12:51

Z2 33:24

Z3 1:22:35

Z4 1:37:03

Z5 19:44

Note to Highway Department: two separate flats from road trash. Please improve shoulder maintenence (or my vision, whichever seems easiest).

Back to the track tomorrow.