Vestige

10 miles 'round the old stompin grounds of PV. 3 mile tempo in 17:26 to finish. Brought the average pace down to 6:37.  Felt good after about mile 6.  First non-trail long run in a very very long time... New training objective: sleep more + early. May the power of Mantz be bestowed upon me.

12 hour update: the 20lbs of weight I've gained in the last 3 years has gone straight to my thighs and resulted in unbearable chaffing on every long run... Something needs to be done.

8 miles at 7:15 pace - mostly on roads... Road running is insufferable, but luckily I had some Audible credits to cash in.  "Talking to Strangers" - Malcolm Gladwell.  Thus far its been pretty dark and depressing, but interesting enough to get me through a boring run so I'll take it.  Got a wild nosebleed about 4 miles in, took a pit stop to stuff some grass up there and get chased by an old dude and his RC supercar.  

Finished 8 miles on the paved trail system, did 8 x 20 seconds hill "sprints" (pretty dead, not much speed there), with jog/walk down recovery.  That ended up being exactly a mile, then a mile cooldown home.  

Good day.  Starting to feel my legs coming back.  The race has been upgraded to put 3rd place well out of reach and a top 10 finish as a much more reasonable goal. Just gotta keep my head down and embrace the grind.

12 x 400m workout with the mates.  2 miles warmup, 200m walk/yog recovery between reps.

74, 73, 71, 73, 73, 68, 68, 69, 71, 70, 71, 57.99.  Couldn't really get in a rhythm this workout.  Legs felt good, but we probably took too much recovery on most of these.   I should've done 16 but didn't want to finish by myself (lame excuse, I know).  Last rep felt good to open up, still got some speed there.

1.5-mile cool down to bring total to 8 for the day.

PM: 1 mile to the park, 2 miles barefoot laps in the grass, 1 mile home.  7:10 average pace.  Super tired all day.  2 hour nap helped a little, but still exhausted.  Maybe it's just adjusting to more mileage, but I haven't felt this wasted in a long time.  Hopefully it passes soon.  Tomorrow will be a true rest day.

Dragged through the mountains by the Taliban.  8:06 avg pace, 2200 ft elevation gain.  Was hoping to be slightly more impressive for my captor but it'll do.  Had many very close calls with the ankles, but no incapacitating injuries this time around. 3 weeks till showtime.  According to the Garmin, I'm gonna need 46 hours recovery.. but we took a post-run ice bath in the river which should bring recovery time to like... whenever I run next.  Onward to victory.

Super easy day. Still feeling a tad beat up from my Taliban encounter. 2 miles to the park, 2 miles barefoot laps, 4 x 100m(ish) strides, 1 mile home. 7:38 avg pace, 140 avg HR.  Got some spellcasting in later, trying out some new magic I picked up during my time in captivity.

Reality check.

1 mile warmup, 5k time trial (16:43), 5 mile cooldown. Basically just got brutally spanked and realized where my fitness is actually at.  I've lost my knack for downhill running, uphill running, and fast running. 16 days to find some performance-enhancing drugs to give me a fighting chance.  LETS GO BABY

2 mile warmup, 15 x 1 min hard, 2 mins easy.  Averaged 5:03 pace for the pickups, felt good up until about 13.  Ran to Layton HS, did a few laps around the park and some barefoot pickups in a grassy area by the track.  3.5 mile slow cooldown.   7:16 avg pace for the whole run.

Recovery day. Left ankle been feeling a tad janky of late.  1 mile to the park, 2 miles barefoot on the grass + 4x100m strides, 1.5 miles home. 7:45 avg pace.

Convened in a parking lot where countless drug exchanges have undoubtedly taken place. 2 miles warmup trying to clean the rust from the hinges. 5 mile tempo "with" good sir Taliban. 5:55 avg pace, windy both ways, so that blew.  1 mile grandma pace cool down. Happy to be sub 6 but did not feel good at any point... should probably put more time into mobility drills... and also sleep. 

Drove to the land of Pokemans and Pokewomans to catch me a beefy fella. Fortune smiled upon this quest, as 3 beefers were caught. Also ran 3 miles barefoot nice and slow while hunting, with 2 800s (2:34, 2:33) thrown in the middle so it felt more like real mileage.  Feeling something like Osgood Schlatter giving a beating to my knees, but unless a very late growth spurt is kicking in, it must be something else. A day or two of rest and recovery is called for at this point. God bless my tibial tubercles.

4 miles to the Layton track, 3 x 1 mile @ 5k pace, 1 mile easy (5:24, 5:22, 5:18).  Felt just ok.  Goal is sub 5:20 pace for the race, which would shave 30 seconds in about 2 weeks.  Maybe a stretch, but on a good day I think it's possible.  Average pace 6:54 for 10 miles.  Caught some pokemans at the park for a short breather then 4 miles home at 8:00 pace.  Legs felt much better than earlier this week, but will still need some ice.  Looking forward to an easy week next week.

1 mile to the park, 1 mile barefoot on grass. 3 x 100m strides. Timed one with the bass drop and got a 100m PR (unmeasured, just a rough estimate). 1 mile home.  Legs feeling better after taking most of the week off.  Was a little concerned about stress fracture/shin splints, along with ongoing knee/hip/ankle whatever... but all seems to be well today. Ready to send it Saturday.

Race day baby.  Had the majority of the crew show up, only 4 unplanned DNS so about what was expected.  1 mile warm-up on the canal. Hit the start line at 8 for a toasty morning race and sent it.  Started off way too slow, hit the first mile in 5:26, but I was staying pretty close to the top dudes which made things confusing.  Picked it up on the downhill bit of mile 2, still got dropped, but got back on pace with a 5:06.  Hill at the start of mile 3 went much better than the time trial round, but still pretty rough. Got some momentum back on the flat stretch, closed hard down the last hill, hit mile 3 in 15:57 with a 5:23 split, opened up a little coming into the finish, but not much of a kick. Ran most of the race in no-man's land.  Finished 37 seconds behind 5th place, 16 seconds ahead of 7th place.  1-mile barefoot cooldown back to the cars.

25 runners started, 25 finished, nobody got lost, I'll count that as a massive success.  Round 2 next month, maybe I can go sub 16 on a good day. Fingers crossed.