Welcome back, hamstrings

So Saturday I pulled something in my right hammy and planned to take it easy for the following several days. But today I felt strangely fresh. No pain or tightness in either hamstring and legs felt flexible. I had a brick scheduled for today, and I now had no excuse not to do it! Hour ride with 3-4 5k race efforts, followed by a 5k run at 10k pace.

The ride started out tough... it was hard to get my cadence up right away, and my legs felt sort of fatigued from Saturday's race. The pickups though felt better and better with each 5k. I had a 10-12 mph headwind and variable sprinkles so I was slowed up a little bit trying to take turns carefully and fighting off the wind. Legs weren't as quick to react to climbs either, but I still put in some good speeds for 4x5k (23.9, 23.2, 23.9, 23.7 mph), totalling an hour for the ride. Most importantly, NO hamstring pulling or tightness. On the contrary, I loosened up as the ride went on.

I stuffed 002 into the car, put on socks and my trainers and set off for the run on a downhill out/uphill back 5k. I felt amazingly strong, considering how little I've run recently and my hamstring issues (which again, were not apparent!). I put in the first 2 miles, downhill and flat in 5:23 and 5:27, which would be a little faster than my planned 10k pace at Nation's. The last mile was uphill and didn't slow down dramatically, 5:46, finishing around 17:10 for 5k! And I felt GREAT. Like I had another 5k in me... Exactly how I had hoped.

In all, one of my best bricks of the year. Funny how the body works. 2 days ago I left myself for dead... and then I put in one of my better workouts, as if I had been fully recovered leading up to it.

Oh, I swam yesterday, 3x1300, steady state swim, and felt smooth and powerful. My strokes were long and relaxed. 1:23/100y pace. It's all coming together nicely.