Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

50F.  Mostly around 8-min pace, legs felt heavy and stuck, so I dropped in a 6:09 toward the end.  It actually felt good.  It's like my 8-9 minute muscles are tired but my 6 min muscles are fresh.

Right now I'm signed up for a half in January and Cowtown 50k at the end of February.  I kind of regret signing up for the half.  I want to do well at cowtown so I'm preserving the weeks leading up to that one.  But I'm also thinking about maybe a 50k @ Bandera on 1/9, which is 2 weeks before my January half...if I do, there's probably no chance for a HM PR.  Really feeling like I don't care about that though.  Or getting a marathon PR this season - might replace Providence with another trail ultra.  Always feels like the racing season is so short, so I'm trying to maximize my "fun."

46F.  7 @ 8:05 AP.  Legs still have some kinks and stiffness.

AM:  48F.  6 @ 7:57 AP.

PM:  60F.  4 @ 7:28 AP.  Lunch run.  Felt better, but far from smooth.  Next week, I think I'll start a mini speed block.  Impossible to go worse than the last one, so I'm excited.

I saw a guy running shirtless on the PM run, meaning that for the first time in 2.5 years of living in San Antonio, I was MORE clothed than another runner.  The apocalypse is upon us.

43F.  10 @ 7:06 AP.  I can't find my light gloves.  Every year this happens.  Anyway, it was ok today...no wind and 95% humidity.  I have my "Oklahoma gloves" which are thick, but left them in the bag.

Regardless, I liked the temps and put on the type A's today, encouraged by yesterday's PM run, and did a 5k in 19:33 (6:25, 6:20, 6:13, :35) on the way back (downstream - 15-20'/mile downhill).  Recovery is definitely still needed from the race, but I gotta say my muscles needed a lot less recovery from that 50-miler than ANY marathon I've done.  I guess plodding around on dirt is easier than running hard on concrete, even at twice the distance.  Either that or maybe I underperformed...I wonder if you had perfect pacing and somehow maximized your effort if it would be worse?  I'm happy either way - either I can go ahead and run a bunch of ultras since the recovery isn't bad, or I can go a lot faster when I run 'em.  Mighta found my direction...

As a side note I got access to the Rockhoppers group (SA trail running club) and got some of the backstory of the race from a guy that was directing traffic at a transition point; the winner was adjusting his pace based on this guy's intel of how far back I was.  I definitely need these guys on my side!

AM:  39F.  6 @ 8:07.  Take a look at JG's team in training page below:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/boston16/jgillette

AM:  36F.  6 @ 7:49 AP.

PM:  63F.  4 @ 7:26 AP.

Tested out my new trail shoes!  I bought them on specs alone (7.5 oz, 10mm toe drop) but I think they'll work fine.  Going to take them out to Bandera in a couple weeks, so that's the real test.  If I can do a long run without creating a gaping hole in my shoes, then these are the winners.

My AM run was on pavement but my PM run was a pretty hard effort on trails.  I don't know, somehow, somewhere along the way, I let myself believe I was done recovering from the 50.  No.  Legs were crushed after the PM run, and I need to start taking the recovery more seriously.

After a big race, for me, one of two things will happen.  Either I will get unbelievably lazy, or unbelievably motivated.  Fortunately, the latter happened this time, but I need to de-motivate until my decrepit body says it's ready.  Lots of fatigue today...not ready quite yet.

39F.  15 @ 7:22 AP.  Broke in my other pair of new shoes.  Tried to keep the pace moderate, and did so until the last 3 miles, which were around MP...so hard to run in the Type As and NOT go fast.  Probably save these new ones for a couple workouts then shelf 'em until the HM next month.

Up next, 3 days of real, actual recovery runs.