Daily Note

Long Log Warning: Went to bed at 11:15 last night and figured I wouldn't set an alarm since I'd probably wake up no later than 9 with this earlier bed time. Looked at my phone upon waking up and it was already past 10...woof! Still decided it would be prudent to get the run done earlier in the day, so geared up and drove the five minutes down to the Suttons Bay trailhead of the Leelanau TART. Always love running on this trail when I'm up here at my Grandma's. Perfect amount of people (enough where there's almost always someone in view, but not overly congested). Also just easy to get rolling on this thing, due to the beautiful surroundings, nicely paved trail, and no excessive inclines or declines. That being said, it appears there's more elevation change than I expected, which honestly is a bit disappointing as I realized most of my workout was net downhill. Dampens things a little, but still very pleased with how this third summer WO went. These 10x2' (1' jog) bouts ended up being one of my best summer workouts ever. Pretty surprised too, considering the past week and how I felt going in. Legs were pretty flat and I was never able to settle into this effort during my WU. Kept putting things off until I decided I'd just run all the way out to my 5.75 mile turnaround before getting an active in and then getting into things. Very slow pace for this first portion (above 7:20) and then active with skips, stretches and two strides was mediocre. Weather was 76 degrees, 80% humidity, 10 mph winds, and cloudy. Surprised myself on the first rep when I felt relatively smooth and comfortable at the five flat pace. Covered .4 for this first rep with the second rep at .39. Didn't check three or four and just went on feel. From there I on out I checked and hit .4 for every rep other than my sixth or seventh which was a .41. Meant the average pace for these bouts was five flat. This is the pace I would've considered ideal going in...I was expecting something more in the .38 range, so really pleased in this regard. Turnover was even and clipped along nicely for all these middle reps. When I reached five, I realized this workout was gonna be attainable. I say that because I was concerned with the amount of reps going into things since eight had been an absolute grind during the winter so I wasn't sure how I was gonna eke out two more. The WO didn't get tough until the final two, but still kept things in the wheelhouse of an appropriate effort. For the last four or five I was catching up to this family with the two parents on bikes and their daughter on roller blades. Awkwardly caught up to them at the sixth rep, then dropped back during rest. This was followed by weaving between them for numbers seven and eight, which I apologized for. Highlight came though when the dad kept even with me for the first minute of number nine. Started talking to me a little...stuff along the lines of: "Boy I thought I was out here getting in some exercise, but I'm starting to feel bad about myself". If I had had my fully functioning mind and more breath to spare, I would've said something like: "At least you're out here", but instead it was just a light laugh and a 'Yeah'...pretty stupid. Still appreciated the distraction though. Other highlight was during bout three when this guy in his mid-20s came whipping by me in the opposite direction on his bike and yelled: "Get it man!". You gotta love/appreciate that...kept popping into my head for the remainder of things too. Notable events I wasn't a huge fan of were some woman passing by me during my active skips and saying "I almost thought you were dancing!". Worst one was when I had to cross the least busy road on the whole trail and of course this was where I ran into issues. Think it was during rep number four. I saw this White Ford Escape and was very confident in my ability to get across. I was correct and made it across easily, but clearly the old guy driving the car didn't think so and yelled at me to "Look out next time". I was a bit out of breath since it was the end of the rep and I only gave him an acknowledgement of a raised pointer finger and light sorry...hopefully that didn't look like a middle finger in hindsight. Outer right foot felt some callus pain during the middle reps. In summary, a very good workout where I felt fit, which is a nice feeling to have mid-summer. Smooth throughout and cardio was also solid. CD was only .3 miles, but made sure to walk around a little more than usual. That was my fault for procrastinating so long to start this thing. Afterwards was calf raises, toe tappers, R8 rolling, & stretching. Kinvaras @ 88.2 miles. Later at 7pm did Pillar GS x 15, Sally Up/Down (only two after second hold), row, 2 min ab holds, row, 1 min ab holds, row. About twenty minutes overall.