Examining the evidence

10:45 AM - 4 miles, 30:00 - Hopedale.
One loop of the pond with a small add-on to make it 30 minutes. Easy does it, workout tonight.

6:10 PM - 13 miles - Heartbreak Hill.
28:45 warmup including drills, 10 x Bottom-to-Top (1:50, 1:52, 1:49, 1:51, 1:51, 1:49, 1:49, 1:49, 1:48, 1:45), 16:20 cooldown. Ran with Jeff, who dropped my ass on the last few, but I held my form strong throughout and had a real solid workout. Two more reps and a much faster overall average than the same workout three weeks ago.

Not much to insight to share on the training side of things, but I did finally have my kitchen inspected this morning by James at Ashland Physical Therapy, so I'll offer up those results instead. After 30 minutes of insightful questioning and thorough testing, the circumstantial evidence points toward a sports hernia as the likely culprit causing the discomfort in my lower abdomen. James' theory is that I have a small tear deep in the abdominal wall, which thankfully - albeit slowly - seems to be healing. Since running doesn't seem to make matters worse, I'll continue putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis, but I'll also start doing the four exercises that James prescribed me this morning in an effort help strengthen the muscles around the sore spot and bring blood flow to the effected area, which will speed up the healing process. As long as the tear doesn't rip any further James thinks I should be able to avoid surgery, which was music to my ears. The whole appointment, in fact, was music to my ears as James was able to provide me the clear explanation and sound treatment plan that I was in search of, and I'm confident that under his guidance I'll have the mess in my kitchen cleaned up sooner than later.

That'll do it for tonight. Gotta get my ass to bed, only to roll out of it again in a little less than 8 hours so I can put in a slow 7 miles before work. Let the mini-taper heading into Bay State begin!

Quotes of the Day

"I don't really get nervous about races anymore or performing a physical test...I've put so much work into training that not performing is not an issue." - E-mail this afternoon from Brockton Bad Boy James Campbell, the most hardcore motherfucker I know.

"Katie is such a great role model. If I could accomplish anything she’s accomplished, I’d just be so happy. I saw how she came into her career and how she left. It’d be an honor to be mentioned (alongside Gwyther)."
- Current Quinnipiac stud Kristin Stevens on the first lady of QU XC, the one and only KG