April 29-May 4

Monday (elliptical)
I was left on my own for this one. By the time I left my office, it was cool and a bit wet, so I decided to go inside to use the elliptical and do some weights. I covered 4.27 units (whatever they are) in an hour, which might be a new PB. The weight and core work felt good afterwards. I had not done it in several weeks, so it was good to get back.

Tuesday (12km)
52 minutes with Chris on the Adelaide trails. My left calf is still feeling sore from Saturday's track workout. This was just a relaxed run.

Wednesday (workout - 17km total)
Decent workout at Weldon Park. Started with 8x a short hill. The first 7 were good quality, but I let up a bit on number 8. We then went over to the track and did 5x800m with 2 minutes rest (2:33, 2:32, 2:33, 2:36, 2:37 for me). I started too fast, and paid for it by the end. Realistically, I should have been aiming for 2:35-2:36 at this point in the season. Finished up with two sets of 400/200, with a 30s rest after the 400 and plenty of rest between sets. My first set was not very good (71/31), but my second set got better (69/30). I did not feel very recovered from the 800s when we started the first set. Satisfying workout, though, coming off an illness.

Thursday (14km)
AM - weights and core.
PM - 60 minutes with Chris. My calves were really sore from yesterday still. We went south along the bike path through Gibbons and out to the sewage treatment plant and turned around to come back. This was a pretty relaxed pace, but it was not easy because my legs were so sore.

Friday (13km)
I drove home to Brockville and did my run around the senior boys' 3000m race up at TISS. I ran up there (adding on a bit to get to 30 minutes), and came back with a more direct route to get an additional 22 minutes. It was a good race - Jacob Smith set an aggressive pace at the start, but got passed at 1700m, and Daryl Smith kicked home with a k to go. He won by 9 seconds - very impressive. My calves were still sore.

Saturday (10km)
My calves felt really rough today. I had to stop and walk in the second half of the run to relieve some tension. It was a bright, warm day. I went up to TISS to check out the 3k results, then turned around and came home.

Sunday (race - 14km total)
A bit cool, but quite windy. Kevin Beatty and Joe Turner showed up, so it was nice to have someone to talk to on the warmup and cooldown. Kevin set a quick early pace that I hung onto for only 900m before he opened it up. I hit the k in 3:08. The wind was in our face for the second half. I felt strong the whole way, but my time was severely affected. I ran only 16:58. Given my illness two weeks ago, I had low expectations, but I still thought a 16:40 was in the works. I got a massage afterwards and the masseuse suggested that I get more calcium to relieve my muscle cramps. They were still tight. I took a double-dose of calcium and will start doubling up for the next few weeks.

Total - 80km (plus an elliptical; about 15k of effort). Decent volume, but I am uneasy about my calves. I hope they do not become a problem throughout the season.