Stairs and a sign?

It's not getting any easier.  And, I haven't lost much weight... still at 147.8 after workout.

It reminds me that like fitness, the body is slow to respond to efforts to achieve fat loss.

I got to MTSU's Floyd Stadium around 5:40am, just before sunrise.  It was a pleasant 73º with a breeze.

After I finished my warmups, I looked up the stairs I would soon be running, and there he was... a big black raven, cawing at me.  I've seen these guys before.  They would sit on the fence at Sewanee in the pre dawn hours, gostly and foreboding, cawing at me.  Kinda spooky.  An omen?   It's not like these birds were everywhere.  This raven was sitting right at the top of my staircase, I saw no other birds like him in the stadium.  Hmmm....

I felt old, slow, heavy and achy.  Warmed up, ran a 100m strider, felt some ankle pain and then proceeded to the stairs.  Running stairs was easier on my ankle but it felt sickly and hard.   I did a baker's dozen ... about half of what I would do in shape.

 Saucony Virrata training shoes on

600m warmup, dynamic stretches, drills 

100m strider 

13 stadium stair sprints

Later

Resistance: Glutes, hip flexors, calves 

200m strider on the road 

Right now, even a 200m strider is a lot of effort.  I used to be able to do these very easily, not now..

I would like to start running faster and shorter but I know 800s are the best way to build foundation.   When I was in better shape and 5 lbs lighter, I was doing 6 x 800m in 2:46 - but that was in cooler weather with spikes.  I noticed on that post around Thanksgiving '12, I was complaining about the right ankle.   So far, no swelling, just some minor to moderate pain.

After this 'mini-season' of meets in Aug-Sept, I'll likely take a month off before gearing up for indoor.