an upbeat and interesting week here. i got through nearly all of it thinking my hamstring is now fully under control, but now i'm not quite sure. i was back up to just over 50 miles of trail running, which was an utter delight, including a 5x(long-hill loop) for a total of 17.5 miles thursday, but the hamstring flared up a little on the last loop, so i took friday off since i knew saturday would bring a long day of cycling (okay, just over 6 hours, so not all that long, but still...).
aside from running, monday i rode the not-quite-80 miles around seneca lake, being periodically -- and pleasantly -- bombarded with the sweet pungency of ripe concord grapes emitted from the multitude of vineyards that ring the lake; then saturday was the annual 100-mile ride around cayuga lake to raise money for the local AIDS program. it's a beautiful, highly supportive, and well-put-on event, and the day was perfect for riding: no rain and completely still air; who cares that it was humid as all get out. the only drawback was on-and-off pain at the offending muscle/tendon junction for the final 15 miles.
last year i volunteered for the ride and raced the local 10 miler on sunday; this year i did the reverse. in retrospect, i made the perfect choice both years, since last year had cold, wind, and rain for saturday's ride and cool/comfortable racing conditions on sunday. in contrast, yesterday (sunday) was hot and humid, with the sun coming out full force just as the starting GO! was shouted for the running race, so toodling along as lead bike was definitely better than attempting to race on foot!
as a good chunk of the country is well aware, the humidity of the weekend was just a lead-in to ike, which we felt here only as wind, but wind that knocked out power at 9 pm for 12 hours and kept us up most of the night with it whipping the house and trees, but thankfully with no damage of any kind when all was said and done. hoping no worse for any of you who read or post here. well, i'm taking today off from any exercise in the hopes that a couple of days rest will remove all twinges from the nether region of my leg, allowing me to get back to happy running. this coming weekend i'll be pacing a participant for his final 25-ish miles of the first running of a local 100-mile trail race, so i need to take care of myself in order to be able to amble along for quite a while. the long-term forecast is for wonderful weather for the ultra -- good deal.
PP, i'm really looking forward to hearing how your marathon goes next month, and, humbled, enjoy the milestone of your one-hour run next week -- definitely a reason to celebrate (with coffee or otherwise)!