Mild Progress

Hello, internet! I've been running for three weeks now, and I'm starting to feel like an athlete again. I haven't been up to anything too fancy, just plenty of medium-range running around 6:00-6:30 pace with strides and a strength routine. Unfortunately, my allergies have been bad enough to warrant discontinuing the allergy shots for a few weeks while we wait for a few good frosts to kill off enough of the ragweed and mold to calm my lungs down. The nurse practitioner who administers the shots said we'd be doing more harm than good if we inject more allergens into my system now. However, since I haven't been bad enough to take days off, I'm not too worried about it. After my reaction to being back in New Hampshire last week, though, I'm a little apprehensive about being home for Thanksgiving for 5 days. If I can control the outbreak, I might jump in the local Turkey Trot and see where my chips fall. If I have another really bad reaction, I'll just have to work the finish line or something.

Anyway, here's my log for the week:

Monday: 7mi on the river with a group, 47min, felt good.

Tuesday: 3:30PM- 9+ on the river, ran the last half with Matt and Peter at about 6:20 pace, felt good. 9:30PM- 20min strength circuit after work, really crushed it.

Wednesday: 3:30pm- 11mi hard in 66:08 with Rob, ran to the Arboretum and really drilled the last ~7mi or so. The last mile was 5:34, and I don't think it was much faster than the previous 6 miles. Afterward I put on my spikes and did 5x150 hard on the track. My legs were tired after the hard run, but it was a fun day.

Thursday: 9am- Squeezed in 5mi before class and my allergy shots. I did the last mile on the track striding the straights and floating the turns in 5:26 (8 strides total). When I found out I couldn't get shots and could have run with the team, I was pretty annoyed. Buuut I did see the Deathly Hallows at midnight and it was awesome!

Friday: 2PM- Squeezed in 4mi before Sean and I were supposed to take a bus to his folks' place in New York. We were planning on crashing there, then driving into the city Saturday morning to watch our second squad race the IC4A XC Championships, but it turns out you have to buy Greyhound tickets at least two hours before departure. I screwed that up, but I wasn't too sad about getting to go to bed early and sleeping in.

Saturday: 10:30AM- 9 miles with Eric, Rich, and Matt around JP (9:35) and back, plus an add-on in Allston. Afterward we went to the gym and did a general strength/core circuit Bruce made up for us. It was tough, but that kind of crap is always easier in a group. 7PM- Indoors: 2mi easy, 4x200 w/200 float (31, 31, 30, 29, 5:37 for the mile including rest) in spikes, 1mi easy.

Sunday: 2PM- 9mi easy solo to Fresh Pond, around, and back from the house, plus a little bit when I got back, felt pretty good and got clipping along toward the end. Got pretty groinchilled out there. 8PM- 4mi easy on the river after work, dressed better this time.

Tot- 62 miles, 2 strength/core circuits, 3 good stride sessions of varying lengths, one hard run. I'm going to talk to Bruce tomorrow about getting in on some workouts. Have a great week, everyone!