5s at 5

5 o'clock bells in Sewanee on July 1st.

76º and humid.  This was always my favorite month as a kid.  Still love July because I'm off work.

I was surprised to see a senior citizen running lap after lap at 4:50 am when I arrived on Sewanee's Coughlan Track.   He was keeping a very good pace.

Same workout as yesterday but with a 200m.

400m warmup, stretches, drills 

saucony spikes on 

3 x 500m - 81, 87, 81 

200m - 27.5

Ran the second 500m with limited recovery but rested before the last 500m and 200m.

I'm getting lighter, estimate around 141.5 after workout.  Ham is slightly better, at least a week from 100% I estimate.  Since it is my inside leg on the turn, it is less susceptible to strain.  Felt really spent after my last 200m, which was about 90% - the fastest I've run since the injury.

Debating on if I should attempt a 400m race in 2 weeks, and a 200m race in 4 weeks at Nationals, or not.  If I pull this ham again, it will be worse, but then again, it is the very last race of the very last meet of the season.  I'm leaning toward just running only the 400m at Nationals.  It would save me a few hundred bucks and I'd be back before the weekend (race Thurs, Fri).   This coming week is the last week of regular registration.  So far, no big guns have registered for the 400m.  Everyone seems to register at the last minute.
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Looking at the Masters Invitational 200m held at the Olympic trials yesterday, the guys in my age group were unimpressive: M. Sullivan must have been injured (29.99) and D. Jones ran 25.23.   However, as an indication of how I'll be outclassed next year, L. Hooker - age 49 - ran 23.75 into a headwind.  Hooker, who turns 50 this yr., also ran a stunning 11.14 100m last month.  Wow, he'd give Willie Gault a run for his money.

Allyson Felix sure rose to the occasion: 21.69 -  breaking Flo-Jo's 24 yr old meet record.   Wish I had seen it.