For the past few years, I have been climbing Monday nights, which made it really difficult to bike commute Mondays due to the tight timing. I would get home around 5:30, and have to wolf dinner down and go right back out the door to get to the climbing gym by 6:45. That was not much fun, so I typically ended up telecommuting Mondays. This year, we’ve switched climbing to Tuesdays, which opens Mondays back up for bike commuting. That’s what I did this past Monday, and it was something of an adventure. An accident had shut down I-95, pushing tons of traffic onto the back roads and creating gridlock everywhere. Had I known it was going to be so bad, I would have taken one of my mountain bikes and ridden trails. But, once I got past one particularly bad stretch of road (and rerouted to avoid another) I was able to get to work fairly painlessly and without mishap.

I ran Tuesday morning, climbed Tuesday night, and then ran again this afternoon (Wednesday). I typically don’t run in the afternoons, but today, it worked out well. The weather was overcast and mild (around 50℉), and with rain forecast for tonight followed by a cold snap, I wasn’t sure what the conditions would be like on Thursday. Today, I was able to run in shorts. I’m always trying to work on my running form, and today, I decided to make an effort to lower my hips, lift my legs, and bend my knees more. I tend to overstride a bit with my left leg, which causes my left hamstring to get tight and sore, and probably also contributes to foot issues like extensor tendonitis. Bending the knees more prevents the overstriding, and my hamstring seemed a lot happier today. It also seemed to make me a little faster. Maybe I’m onto something, or maybe not, but I’ll try it again with my next run and see how it goes. As for the timing, I left the house at 3:50, and it worked out fine. There was somewhat more traffic on the roads than at 8:30am when I usually run, but it wasn’t too bad. I may switch to afternoons for a little while during the cold snap, to try to get out during the warmest part of the day.