Hills!

That was glorious! I had two unwanted days off from exercise (basically comically similar to each other, both involving genuinely important morning or midday professional obligations followed by supremely lavish long restaurant lunches with wine and dessert - this is anomalous for me, and really I am glad to go back to my normal schedule - the meals however were both lovely, one at the Bryant Park Grill [chicken Cobb salad and the very delicious "bananas for bananas" dessert] and the other at Lincoln Ristorante, which I thought was extremely good - they had an incredibly good value [I wasn't paying, but I still look and consider!] restaurant-week prix fixe lunch for $25 - I had the buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes etc., a fish soup and almond cake - it was quite tasty, sandwiched with a lemon curd that bore a comical visual resemblance to Velveeta!). Life of luxury notwithstanding, I am incredibly relieved to be back to normal rather more ascetic lifestyle!

I had a great workout assigned for this morning, 6 x Harlem Hill, with last one as hard as possible. Jogged over to the bottom of the hill - not too hot today, though disgustingly humid (squelchy socks before I was even halfway through the workout). Did the first two a little harder than I meant to and realized I'd better pull back for #4-5 if I really was going to be able to go (as the coach said) "hands-on-knees" for the last one. Set out really strong for that final one, was smugly congratulating myself on having a good sense of pacing and then realized I really had gone too hard, was overwhelmed with queasiness! Walked for just a couple seconds to let the chemicals settle, then realized that of course I was still going to have a good time on this repeat as long as I stayed focused, so I went as hard as I could to the top. Times show it.

:16:05 jog to bottom of Harlem Hill

#1 4:12 (4:08 recovery downhill)
#2 4:09 (4:02 recovery)
#3 4:03 (4:02 recovery)
#4 4:14 (3:57 recovery)
#5 4:05 (4:01 recovery)
#6 3:44 (+ short walking recovery off the clock)

:13:20 jog home

1:14:19 total workout