What are you optimizing for?

Speed

Fix the algorithm.

Readability

Personally, I always recommend optimizing for readability first. Usually readable code is the kind of code that produces useful profiler stats. Which in turn helps you make things faster.

In this case you've really not said much. What do the data look like? How often do those regular expressions change? (and if they don't change you're barking up the wrong tree.) Are the 'logging' regexes the 'same' as those used in the main loop? If not, how similar are they?

Without facts, trying to optimize something is akin to answering the question "Can a piece of string be shortened?". The only possible answer is "Probably, yes." Optimization is, at least in part, the process of using the facts of a particular case to make the code 'fit' it better. Without good measurements all you get is off the peg code that fits where it touches.