Totally Unexpected

Went out to my favorite out/back trail this morning to put in an easy 2 hours. I'd go out/back and if I felt OK I'd make it an even 2 hours. Got to a point where I usually check my time just to see where I'm at and I was 12:??, where last week I was 14:??. I felt good and got a little excited so I let myself go a little. Decided I wanted to get to the turn around at about 50 minutes and if I still felt good I do some tempo running on the way back. A couple other time checks on the way out had me easily under 50 for the out portion; ended up being 47:43 at a nice moderate effort. This also reminded me that the fastest I ever went out was 47:?? and back was 44:00. I couldn't help but see what I could do after 2 months of injury lay off and the horrible out/back I did last Saturday. I picked it up the whole way back feeling pretty good and did a 44:13. This is a minute faster than anything I've ever done on this out/back. Yea, I gave a little bit more of an effort, but after what I've been limited to do the past 2 months I'm loving this.
Last Week - 53:00/52:30 = 1:45:30
12 weeks ago - 49:00/44:00 = 1:33:00
Today - 47:43/44:17 = 1:32:00
By the way, I was told, more than once, that the cycling and 24% grade Treadmill workouts I was doing would allow me to hold most of my aerobic base during this injury timeout.

Recovery: Thrice Pints Hopslam courtesy of the Thirsty Monk.