After the first real speedwork session since January, the old body was a bit sore this morning. My hamstrings felt like somebody had taken a sledgehammer to them when I first tried to get out of bed. Not exactly the way I really wanted to feel, but it also was not unexpected.

I go through this almost every year when I start to use muscles outside in ways they haven’t been abused for a while. While I didn’t do a max-out workout yesterday, I did push the issue and paid for it today.

So a nice recovery run down to Pepin and then a little harder work coming back up Philbrick Hill was what this runner needed more than anything else. It did help that the weather outside was simply marvelous. Low ’60s a nice breeze and lots of sun.

1.0 – 9:17 / It took a while for the legs to get the idea of how to move a bit more gracefully and not feel like twisted knots.

2.0 – 8:45 / Just went with the downhill portion of the run and worked on running tall and keeping the arm swing decent.

3.0 – 9:32 / Slowed down a lot coming up the hill and just worked on maintaining good form.

4.0 – 8:39 / Again just ran comfortably, although Mary was finishing her run just as I came off the circle. I might have picked up the pace a little to close the gap as we ran towards the finish.

• Distance: 4.0
• Time: 36:17
• Pace: 9:03

Shoes: ASICS GlideRide. The GlideRides felt good all the way through the run. I have been having more issues with my right foot lately, so maybe I need to give them some time away from the Razor 3s now that I have 50+ miles on them. Not run in them for a few days and make sure I don’t try to do any of the faster stuff too until next week.

It was the run that I needed today and it did help clear out some gunk in the legs.

Although I did end up with over 30,000 steps for the day. I guess that mowing the roadside does keep things interesting in the afternoon.