Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Wednesday, 31 December 2008 [7M]

Salt Lake.  I drove out to my usual starting point near the salt lake and headed out towards the airport. It turned out to be a pretty good run and I ended up going further than I was originally planning. I almost made it to Tekke and took a detour to run the last kilometer or so of what used to be my high school cross country course. It wasn't exactly as it used to be but it still brought back some memories.  On my way back it occured to me that this was the last run of 2008 and I thought I should do a year recap.

It's somewhat sad that I don't have many good things to write about this past year. I was on a rollercoaster as far as my training goes, as I managed to sustain high mileage for a decent number of weeks, peaking at just over 100, but also hit rock bottom a few times as I spent a good part of the year sidelined because of injuries. In total I only ran 247 out of 366 days so almost 4 months without any running. Somehow my mileage total, which ended up at 2478, is higher than 2007 and is actually one of my highest yearly totals.  I don't know if this speaks more about my lower mileage past or about the high volume I was putting in when I was able to run this year. In any case, averaging under 7 miles a day is not something to brag about. I don't have many positive things to write about as far as racing goes either. I ran a couple of decent half marathons but anything else fared from mediocre to bad. I wish I could say that I'm hoping for a better 2009 but unfortunately that won't be the case. I'm going in for Achilles tendon surgery on January 16th and I won't be able to run a step for almost half the year. It goes without saying that I'll need a lot of time to build up the mileage and get my training to full swing. I can't, therefore, expect too much out of this year. 

I hate to write depressing posts so I'll try to end this on a positive note. I know I have a tough year ahead of me but I need to look at the bigger picture and think of the years to come. After all what I'll go through was my decision with the hope that it will lead to better things in the future. I've been dealing with this Achilles injury for about 7 years now and I'll take a few months of suffering if that means I never have to worry about my Achilles again. I'll only set one goal for this year: stay motivated throughout the recovery period and deligently go through all the physical therapy, strengthening stuff and cross training that I'll have to do.  I'm optimistic and I think that I can bounce back from this stronger than ever.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Monday, 29 December 2008 [0M]

No running today but I played some soccer, which involved a good bit of running and sprinting so all in all a good workout. 

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Saturday, December 27, 2008 [5M]

Rizoelia - GSZ roundabout. I was out around 11am and opted for one of my old usual loops. I was feeling pretty good on the run, averaging 6:45s without much trouble. The weather was beautiful this morning, sunny and in the mid 60s, making this a very enjoyable run. 

Friday, December 26, 2008

Friday, December 26, 2008 [0M]

No running. I was up early again today but didn't feel like getting out for a run in the morning. I ended up spending the rest of the day visiting relatives and the day just flew by. 

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Thursday, December 25, 2008 [7M]

Thanks to the weirdest jetlag I've ever experienced I  was up at 5 this morning. I usually have trouble going to sleep early and in the past I remember staying up until 7am before managing to get myself to sleep. Surprisingly I didn't have much trouble sleeping at a reasonable time the last couple of days but somehow I woke up ridiculously early and couldn't get any more sleep. The only  good thing to come out of this was that I had more than enough time to have breakfast, sit down with my family for the Christmas gift opening and go out for a run before the traditional Christmas feast. I headed straight to Rizoelia park, ran one loop around the perimeter and headed back. I had to run quite a few hills in the park, something I haven't done in a while but I did a decent job at it. Along the way I started entertaining thoughts about running at our cross country nationals, which will be held at Rizoelia park on January 3rd. I know I'm in rather horrible shape but it might be fun to get in the race without any sort of expectations and see what I could pull off. I think I'll decide about racing after seeing how much running I manage to get in over the next week. 

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - [0M]

Spent the day hanging out with friends. 

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - [4M]

Flew out of London this morning and was in Larnaca in the early afternoon. I haven't been home for about a year and a half now, it was quite a while. I rested for a while when I got home and went for a short run in GSZ by 5PM. Everytime I'm back here I say that there's fewer and fewer people I know who are still training and today was no different. Besides Pambos, my former coach, I didn't know anyone else. I got there a bit late so it was a small crowd but I think that doesn't change the fact that I'm getting old. 

Monday, December 22, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008 - [0M]

Touring London - part 2. I thought it would be fun to go for a run in London but ended up staying out a bit late and didn't want to get out for a run in the dark. Such a run would have "Lost in London" written all over it. 

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Week Recap (14 December 2008 - 20 December 2008) - 23 Miles

Saturday, December 20, 2008 - [0M]

I flew out of San Francisco at 8PM last nigh, arrived in London around 2:30PM and made it to Iraklis' place a couple of hours later. I'm starting my vacation with a fews days in London and won't be flying to Cyprus until Tuesday morning. It should be fun. 

Friday, December 19, 2008

Friday, December 19, 2008 - [0M]

As off 5:30 PM I'm finally off on a much needed vacation. It was a rather stressful day, as I was trying to finish off a few things before I took off and headed straight from work to the airport. I could have used a run today before getting on a plane for a 10 hour flight but there was no way I could find time for it. 

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - [0M]

No time for running again today. I was back from work around 7PM and continued packing, both for my trip to Cyprus and for moving stuff to my new apartment. 

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - [0M]

Today I called Dr Oloff's office to ask a couple of things about my surgery and shockingly discovered that it is scheduled for January 16th instead of the 21st. I'm pretty sure I asked to have it on the 21st and even scheduled pre-op and post-op appointments on the 19th and 26th respectively. I guess in some ways it would be better to get the surgery over with earlier but considering that I'm traveling back to Cyprus in 2 days and coming back on Jan 14th,  I'll need to rush a few things quite a bit. I'm moving out to a new aparment and was planning to move when I got back but seeing how I'll only have a day before surgery I had to start preparing for the move today. I started packing as soon as I got home from work and didn't have time for anything else this evening. 

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - [8M]

San Carlos. Started out with Justin and Joe but Justin turned around at the 3 mile mark so we were down to 2 from then on. We were running 7:15-7:20 for the most part, just cruising along comfortably and chatting the whole way. 

Monday, December 15, 2008

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Week Recap (7 December 2008 - 13 December 2008) - 28 Miles

Saturday, December 13, 2008 [4M]

Spent the entire day looking for a new apartment, got back home around 6:30PM and squeezed in a short run before going out for dinner. 

Friday, December 12, 2008

Friday, December 12, 2008 [0M]

Long day at work, ended up working until 9:30pm and went out for dinner right after.  
 

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thursday, December 11, 2008 [0M]

I wasn't expecting to find the time to get a run in today. Left work at 5:30 PM and spent my evening at a concert. 

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 [9M]

Foster City. Longest run in quite a while. Felt pretty good for the most part although my legs were feeling it a bit at the end. 


Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos.  Met with the group at 6:30 this evening and ran with Joe, Justin and some other who's name I don't recall. We ran to the 3.5 mile mark and back, going out rather casually on the way out and gradually picking it up on the way back. We got down to a good clip for the last mile and a half and it got down to Joe and myself for that part. It was a pretty good run, both because of the company and the run itself. I was feeling a lot more comfortable than my last few runs and was starting to remember what it feels like to enjoy a run. 

Monday, December 08, 2008

Monday, December 8, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out from Club O around 7PM, planning originally to go for the usual 6 mile loop. I was feeling decently at the start and a couple of miles in I decided to go for the full 8 mile loop. Once again I was running without a watch, something I'll probably stick to for a while longer. It helps keeping me running at a comfortable pace without having to know how slow I'm running. After all I'm only running for fun. 

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Friday, December 05, 2008

Friday, December 5, 2008 [4M]

Brittan Ave. Almost called it a day without running but I managed to squeeze in a short one before dinner. 

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Thursday, December 4, 2008 [0M]

I broke my incredible 3 day running streak, posting another goose egg. My parents flew back from Hawaii today and we ended up going for some shopping this afternoon and the day just  flew by. 

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Made it 3 in a row with an easy 5 miler after work. I can't really say that running for 3 days straight is an accomplishment but it's something I haven't done in the last 2 months so I'll give myself some credit. 

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos. I went back to Road Runner for one of the Tuesday night runs after a 2 month break. I ran with Shyamal the entire time, taking it easy and chatting the whole way. I didn't have a watch again so I'm not sure if I was running slower than yesterday but I felt a lot better. Maybe running with some company had something to do with it. 

Monday, December 01, 2008

Monday, December 1, 2008 [6M]

Redwood Shores. Vacations can't last forever and today I had to go back to work. I took a red eye flight last night and went to work without much sleep, which made it pretty rough to be productive, especially if you consider that I had spent my last 10 days in Hawaii. Despite being somewhat tired by the time I got off work I wanted to get a run in. I felt horribly out of shape and I was running pretty slow. It was probably a good thing I was running without a watch. 

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Week Recap (23 November 2008 - 29 November 2008) - 0 Miles

I was in Hawaii the entire week and didn't manage to squeeze in any running. I didn't try really and I'm not gonna say that I regret it, even though I felt a bit like a slacker for not running at all for 10 days. I don't get many chances to go on a vacation like this one and it was good not to worry about having to get a run in while trying to see as much of Hawaii as possible. I went on a couple of fairly long hikes, 8 & 9 miles respectively and did quite a bit of climbing on both so that counts at least as some sort of physical activity. 

Sunday, November 30, 2008 [0M]

Last day in Hawaii.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Week Recap (16 November 2008 - 22 November 2008) - 4 Miles

I slacked off quite a bit this week. I started things off with a 28 mile bike ride on Sunday, which included a brutal 2000ft climb up Skyline. The only other activity I managed to squeeze in this week was a slow 4 mile run on Wednesday. My parents came over on Monday so I spent some time touring SF with them. Friday we all flew to Hawaii and did too many things to have time for running. 

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Week Recap (9 November 2008 - 15 November 2008) - ~15 Miles

I've fallen quite a bit behind on the updates so I'm only posting a week recap in an attempt to catch up. I don't have much that are worth mentioning anyway. I ran 3 times, 5-6 miles each time and that's pretty much all I did this week. I don't even remember the details of those runs so I'd probably have a hard time filling up a week's worth of posts. I suppose I could write about other every day things but my daily life really isn't that exciting. 

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Week Recap (2 November 2008 - 8 November 2008) - 9 Miles

Not much to write about this week, a couple days of running and nothing else that would count as a workout. It's hard to find motivation to cross train when it doesn't seem like I can really benefit from it. By now I'm fairly certain that I'm going for Achilles tendon surgery in January. I have tentatively scheduled surgery on January 21st so now the decision would be whether I would want to opt out of it or not. I've been thinking about it a lot and I can't see any reason to opt out. I'm sure it's not an easy thing to go through and I know the recovery process will be long and frustrating.  I do think, though, that it will be worth it. Realizing that I won't be able to resume training until some time in June or July is somewhat scary but if that means I don't have to deal with my Achilles again I can live with it. What I've been debating about is what to do over the next couple of months.  I'm feeling good enough now to think that I could start running again on a daily basis  but I don't know what I can shoot for given that I'll need to take a very long break in 2 months. I'll be back in Cyprus between mid December to mid January so I don't even need to consider embarassing myself at alumni. I could shoot for competing at cross country nationals in Cyprus but considering the short time frame I don't think it's worth it to put too much focus for that. I definitely missed running over the last month and I want to get back to it as soon as possible but over the next two months there's no point in obsessing much about my training. I'll take things as they come, running when and as long as I feel like. I have some vacation coming up, including 10 days in Hawaii and almost a month in Cyprus so I guess it's not a bad time to just enjoy life. 

Saturday, November 8, 2008 [0M]

Slacked off again. 

Friday, November 07, 2008

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Thursday, November 6, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. It almost feels like I'm getting back to real mileage. My foot still hurts a bit but I think it's at the point where I could keep running through it. I might give a couple more days of rest though. The run itself wasn't too bad, I thought I was running pretty slow but I was just under 7:00 pace so not too bad. 

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 [4M]

Out again for a run today, doing a short out and back on the bay trail in Redwood Shores. 

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 [0M]

Worked from home again today and pretty much spent the entire day watching the election coverage in parallel. 

Monday, November 03, 2008

Monday, November 3, 2008 [0M]

We had a power outage at work this morning so I came back home and worked remotely the rest of the day. I wasn't planning on running and didn't feel like driving back to Oracle to cross train. 

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008 [0M]

Spent the day in SF. 

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Saturday, November 1, 2008 [4M]

I wasn't planning on running today but I couldn't resist getting out in the rain. First couple of miles were slow and not very pleasant but towards the end I even started feeling good. My foot was hurting mostly in the beginning but I didn't feel it much after I warmed up a bit, although I still think I need some more recovery time before I can jump back to building up the mileage. 

Friday, October 31, 2008

Friday, October 31, 2008 [3M]

I went by Club O after work and after debating for a while between running and cross training I opted to go out again for a few miles. After being out for so long it feels like I'm trying to learn how to run again. My form was awkard and I felt out of shape. 

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 [3M]

My foot is still hurting a bit but I decided to ignore reason and go for a run. It was just one of those days when I wanted to run to burn off frustrations and was getting more frustrated because I couldn't run so in the end I said "the hell with it all" and just went out for a short one.  It didn't feel all that great but it was good to get out there again. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 [0M]

Some elliptical, some bike. I don't really remember exactly what I did and for how long but it wasn't much. 

Monday, October 27, 2008

Monday, October 27, 2008 [0M]

I finally went back to Dr Oloff's office today to find out my MRI results. The MRI ruled out the stress fracture but that's all I got as far as good news. The bad news is that the pain is related to the chronic Achilles issue, which was a bit surprising since the pain was not at the usual spot but more on the inside of my foot. The tendon was shown to be irritated, though, and is starting to detach at the point where it meets the heel. There's a lot of fluid accumulated on the sides of the tendon, which is why my foot has been hurting. For the short term, there's not much I can do but give this some more rest. For the long term I have two options: 

1. Do nothing. I could start running again once  I feel better and keep doing whatever I have been doing all along. Whenever the Achilles starts acting up again I err on the conservative side, start the I-squared treatment and hope things get better without having to cut back on my training much. 
2. Have surgery to fix the problem for good. 

Things would be a lot easier if I wasn't running competitively, since I wouldn't really have any reason to go through surgery. I would go about living my life and not worry about this, even if the Achilles was acting up every now and then. If I want to keep running, though, and especially if I want to make another attempt to prepare for a marathon, I think I need a more permanent solution. It's frustrating when I'm doing some serious training, running peak mileage and good workouts, to have everything go to waste because of this one injury. The source of the problem is that I have an elongated heel bone, which irritates the Achilles tendon, and there's basically no other way to fix the defect without surgery. My main concern is that this kind of surgery will require a long recovery period. Few weeks on crutches, lots of time in physical therapy and about 4-6 months before I can get back to running. It's up to me to decide if I want to go through surgery but it's not an easy decision to make. If I were to have surgery it wouldn't until some time in mid-January so I still have some time to think about it. Oh, nothing as far as training today. I was back home early in the afternoon after my appointment and stayed home, completely unmotivated to do anything. 


Sunday, October 26, 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. I didn't have the time to fix my bike to go for a ride before going to a concert this afternoon.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Week Recap (19 October 2008 - 25 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Almost 3 weeks without running. Compared to the previous two weeks I did a somewhat better job at cross training this week although I could still do a lot more. I'm having a hard time finding the motivation though. There's only 6 weeks left until CIM and I think I need to accept that I won't be toeing the line for my first marathon on December 7th. I have to wait a couple of more days until I find out what's wrong with my foot but I'm not very optimistic that I can get back to running soon. I tried a few times to jog a few steps and my foot was still hurting quite a bit so regardless of the diagnosis I I still need more time off. Even if I could start running again tomorrow and jump back to hundred mile weeks right away, I would still not have enough time to be ready for a marathon in 6 weeks.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 [0M]

No cross training today unless I can counting paddling on a surf board counts as cross training. I took  my first shot at surfing this morning and spend some time in the ocean, battling some pretty big waves. I didn't have much success since the waves were too big for a beginner but maybe I did get a bit of an upper body workout. 

Friday, October 24, 2008

Friday, October 24, 2008 [0M]

After another bike attempt gone wrong I can only say that my bike must hate me. I got out of Club O just after 5 and I thought I'd have enough time to put a couple of hours on the bike before it got dark. I headed south towards Bair island and got a flat tire about 4.5 miles out. I had a spare tube this time so I made the switch but as I was pumping it up I broke the air valve and was left with no backup. I thought about walking back at first but I figured I'd rather take my chances riding a bike with a flat tire instead of walking 4.5 miles wearing bike shoes. Running is so much simpler. 

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008 [0M]

Elliptical + stationary bike. Pretty short workout today. My right calf was feeling sore after yesterday's session on the elliptical, somewhat remeniscent of the last time I pulled my calf on the elliptical. I tried using the elliptical again but got off after a few minutes since my calf was making things somewhat uncomfortable. I got on a stationary bike for about 20 minutes but I could still feel the calf a bit and got fed up so I called it a day. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 [0M]

30 minutes on the elliptical + ~15 minutes of swimming. I would have stayed on the elliptical for a while longer but my foot was hurting a bit so I opted to head in the pool instead. I reminded myself that I pretty much suck at swimming and couldn't stand it for too long. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 [0M]

9 miles of biking. I was planning to go on a longer bike ride but I couldn't get out of work until 6:30PM . I started from Club O and biked along the Bay trail to San Mateo bridge. I decided to turn back as it was starting to get dark and I don't have any lights on my bike. I slowed down a lot on the way back as it got pretty dark by the end and I didn't want to crash on anyone. 

Monday, October 20, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008 [0M]

I had an MRI this morning, although I won't get the results until next Monday. No workout today as I opted to go out for dinner after work.  

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008 [0M]

28 mile bike ride. I bought a couple more tubes today so I could fix the flat I got yesterday and have a spare one for today's ride. I drove over to Canada Rd at 5PM and headed south towards Woodside.  I continued on Woodside Rd then picked up Portolla Rd and made the turn once I got to Alpine Rd. Pretty good ride, I was moving at a good clip the whole time and did a decent job working the hills. I think I'm starting to get a bit better at this biking thing although I'm sure I'm not even close to being a competitive biker. Not that I would ever consider picking it up as sport. 

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Week Recap (12 October 2008 - 18 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Pretty much just a horrible week for many different reasons. No running obviously since my foot is still hurting but not much of anything else either. This turned out to be my busiest week ever at work and I ended working late too many nights and not having time to train. Even if I wasn't hurt it's very likely that my training would have taken a hit. Of course I would have been a lot more motivated to squeeze in a run on some of those long days but I just can't do the same when it comes to cross training.  

Saturday, October 18, 2008 [0M]

~29 mile bike ride. I finally managed to do something that counts as a running alternative. I started from home, headed to Oracle, picked up the bay trail to Foster City and continued all the way to the airport. Things were pretty smooth on the way out and I made the turn after about 55 minutes. The way back was far from smooth though. I didn't even go a mile after making the turn and I got a flat tire. I didn't have a spare since I used my last one last night and didn't buy another one before today's ride. I pumped the tire up and managed to continue for about 6 more miles without major issues by making a couple more stops along the way. I was thinking that I would manage to get back with just a few more stops but somewhere along the way I hit a bump and completely ruined the tube. I couldn't get any air in it so I ended up riding for about 7 miles with a flat tire. Probably not good for my bike but I don't know what else I could have done. Inevitably that last part was really slow and wouldn't really count as a workout. It's just my luck these days, even my bike is giving me a hard time. It's not enough that I can't run. 

Friday, October 17, 2008

Friday, October 17, 2008 [0M]

I left work as soon as I could today and was home some time after 1PM. After only getting about 3 hours of sleep over the last 2 days I needed to start catching up and took about a 4 hour nap. I wasn't in the mood for working out but at least I fixed my bike so hopefully I'll manage to go for a ride tomorrow. 

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Thursday, October 16, 2008 [0M]

I finally had my appointment with Dr Oloff today but I didn't really get much out of it. I had an X-ray which didn't show anything and I'm having an MRI on Monday to check if I have a stress fracture. No time for a workout today, I was up all night in preparation for tomorrow's demo. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 [0M]

Today brought back some memories of MIT. It wasn't the good kind of memories and had nothing to do with running. We have a big demo on Friday and have been putting some long hours lately. Today I wound up working from 10:30 AM until 4:30AM, pretty much without a break. I'll be glad when this week is over. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 [0M]

I made it to San Carlos for the Tuesday night run even though I wasn't planning on running. I headed over to the trail with Becca and walked for about 45 minutes. I wouldn't call this a workout but it's better than what I've been doing lately. 

Monday, October 13, 2008

Monday, October 13, 2008 [0M]

Left work somewhat late and just headed home. I know I should be doing a better job at cross training but I can't help it. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008 [0M]

I wanted to go for a bike ride today but I needed to get a new tube to replace a flat and I ended up running a bunch of other errands and not finding time for it. I even had to get to had to go to work late in the afternoon and didn't get back home until 9PM, by which time it was too late to do anything.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Saturday, October 11, 2008 [2M]

I gave running a shot today but the outcome wasn't good. My foot has been feeling better, by which I mean I'm no longer limping while walking, but running turned out to be rather painful. I was hurting from the start but was hoping it would get better once I warmed up a bit. That didn't seem to happen and after going out for about a mile I decided it was best to head back. I'm staring to fear that this could be a stress fracture. Not much I can do but take more time off. 

Week Recap (5 October 2008 - 11 October 2008) - 20 Miles

My training took a serious blow this week and the future looks glim. I started out the week well by running a half marathon PR on Sunday but was  incapacitated for the rest of the week. The first few days after the race my foot was hurting bad and I had trouble walking around. Things got better later on but still not good enough to run, as proven by my unsuccesful attempt to return to running on Saturday. Looks like the road to recovery might be a long one. 

Friday, October 10, 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008 [0M]

Nothing again. No excuse really, I just can't find the motivation to cross train. 

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Thursday, October 9, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. Long day at work, I wound up working until 8:30 PM and I had to get on a conference call an hour later so not much time to get any kind of workout in. It's always harder to squeeze in a cross training session on a busy day. 

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 [0M]

~20 minutes on the elliptical. I headed over to Club O after work and made an attempt to get some cross training in. It's always hard to get back to cross training and I had a hard time staying on for long. I was feeling fed up only 10 minutes in and forced myself to keep going a little over 10 more before finally giving up. I spent some time stretching and doing some core work before calling it a day. 

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. Still hurting quite a bit and not feeling motivated to cross train. 

Monday, October 06, 2008

Monday, October 6, 2008 [0M]

My foot started hurting a couple of hours after yesterday's race and this morning it was in much worse shape. I had trouble putting much weight on it all day and knew right away that running would be out of question. I'm actually worried that I might need more than a few days off for this to get better. I called to schedule an appointment with Dr Oloff but I couldn't get one until next Thursday so I'll have to wait another 10 days to get a diagnosis. I can only hope that things get better by then, in which case the appointment might be pointless, otherwise I might be facing a big setback. 

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon

 1:10:39.  

Splits:  5:13, 10:35 (5:22), 15:55 (5:20), 21:24 (5:29), 26:44 (5:20), 32:20 (5:36), 37:34 (5:14), 43:00 (5:26), 48:30 (5:30), 53:57 (5:27), 59:17 (5:20), 1:04:42 (5:25)

My goal heading into this race was to break 1:10, which comes out to 5:20 pace. The course is as flat as it gets so I was expecting it to be fast. My only concern was the foot injury that I've been battling for the last few days and I wasn't sure if I'll be able to make it through the race. I was hurting a bit on the warm-up but I was hoping that it wouldn't be an issue once the race started. I didn't get to the start line until 5 minutes before the race, since I couldn't run any strides in my corral, so I couldn't get on the front line. I managed to get out well, though, and quickly joined the elite women pack. It felt like the pace wasn't as fast as I wanted so I moved out on my own and tried to catch up on a group of guys ahead. That didn't really work out, though, as they were moving faster so for the first mile I was running all by myself. In retrospect I should have stayed with the women as they came through close to 5:20 while I was a bit on the fast side. Somewhere in the second mile the pack, with the top women and a couple of other guys, caught up and I settled in. I was running at the front of the group and was basically setting the pace. I probably got some good TV coverage as there was a crew following the women closely. The only annoying thing was that the crowd kept yelling "go ladies", which felt somewhat embarassing. I wasn't feeling that great for the first 3 miles of the race, in part because my foot was hurting, and I was even considering dropping out. Pretty much like my last few workouts it took a while to find my rhythm but after the 3rd mile I got into the groove and even stopped noticing any foot pain. Not much changed until mile 6, I was still leading the pack, running fairly even, coming through the 5K in 16:39 and the 10K in 33:20. It didn't feel like we slowed down much on the 6th mile but we surprisingly split a 5:36. It's possible that the mile mark was slightly off since the 7th mile was a 5:14 and I didn't feel like I sped up. At the time I thought that I was slowing down as I dropped off the pack but I guess the pack might have picked things up. The first woman ended up finishing at 1:10:03, which was right where I wanted to be, but at that point my legs were already feeling it a bit and I knew I was only about halfway through so I didn't stick with it like I should. At least I didn't fall apart, though, and kept people in front of me in sight. I managed to move up a few places after mile 10 but that was mostly because other people were fading while I was maintaining my pace. Aerobically I wasn't feeling that tired but my legs were beat and I couldn't move any faster. It felt like I was moving faster towards the end but the times seem to disagree. I was spent at the end and had a hard time getting a decent cool-down in. I wasn't as fast as I wanted today but I still ran a PR so I can't be too disappointed. The last few days have been rather rough with my foot hurting and I'm just glad that I made it through the race and managed to come close to my goal. 

Sunday, October 5, 2008 [18M]

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon, 1:10:39. I made it over to San Jose at 7AM, chilled for a few minutes and jogged towards the start line trying to find a bathroom. The line was pretty long and I didn't get out until 7:25, so I only had about 35 minutes until the start of the race. I ran back to the car, switched to my Hyperspeeds and headed back towards the start. I got into my corral with 15 minutes to go and stretched for a while then got out again since there was no room there for some strides. I made it back with 5 minutes to go and had to stand there until the start of the race. My foot was hurting a bit in the warm-up but I was hoping I wouldn't notice it once the gun went off. I was in the first coral, behind the elites, who were given a 5 meter gap for some reason. I got out and made my way towards the elite women front pack but got a bit antsy, thinking we were running slow and moved up on my own. My goal was to run 5:20 pace but I was a bit fast coming through the first mile in 5:13. The elite women caught up some time in the second mile and I stayed in that pack for the next 5-6 miles. I dropped off in the 7th mile and had a small mental lapse but I managed to recover quickly and get back on pace. My legs were feeling it in the last 4-5 miles but I managed to hold on reasonably and finish not too far off my goal. I was hoping to break 1:10 but this is still a PR so I can't really complain about it. I was pretty spent at the end and jogged some slow miles for cool-down, had some food and jogged back to the car. I got into an ice bath once I got home and spent the rest of the day resting on my couch. 

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Week Recap (28 September 2008 - 4 October 2008) - 59 Miles

This was a planned recovery week but mileage turned out to be lower than what I had in mind. The week started out well, with some easy, relatively short days. I ran some good quarters on Wednesday, got the legs moving fast without really working too hard. The rest of the week was frustrating as I had to deal with some foot pain since Thursday. I'm not sure how next week will turn out, I guess a lot will depend on how tomorrow's half goes. It might be best to cross train for a couple of days regardless. I can only hope that this won't be a major setback in my marathon preparations. 

Saturday, October 4, 2008 [4M]

Out and back on El Camino. I was out by noon today and headed on El Camino with the initial plan to cross over to Marina Lagoon and put in a 6 miler. With my foot hurting again I decided to cut it short and turned around early. Going into tomorrow's half I have to say my confidence is a bit shaken. The fitness is there and I'm know I'm gonna try to run through this foot problem but I'm afraid it my shift my focus away from the race. I don't want to exacerbate the probelm so if the pain is getting worse I might consider dropping out. I hate starting a race, though, and thinking that dropping out is an option.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Friday, October 3, 2008 [6M]

Alameda - San Carlos. Another long day at work, I didn't leave until 8:45PM and didn't get started until another half hour. My foot was feeling better today but the improvement wasn't too dramatic. I was pretty tired when I got back home and even considered taking the day off but opted eventually for a short run. Things were not as bad as yesterday but it's hard to feel good on the run when something is hurting. 

Thursday, October 2, 2008 [6M]

Alameda - San Carlos. I woke up this morning and took a painful first step out of bed. I thought at first it was the usual Achilles problem, since the pain was in the lower part of my left foot but after walking for a while I realized that this was something different. I haven't mentioned the Achilles in a long time but it's pretty much one of those things that never go away. It usually feels sore when I wake up in the morning so I'm used to limping when I first get out of bed but as the day goes on it loosens up and doesn't bother me on my runs. Today the pain was  a lot sharper and wasn't at the back of my foot as usual but more towards the inside and a bit lower. I could feel the pain all day and there was only a marginal improvement as the day progressed. I came back home after work and got out around 7:30, heading towards Alameda. I was hoping that I wouldn't feel much pain after a couple of miles and was ambitious enough to think I could possibly put in 10-11 miles. Things didn't get better though and after maybe 2 or 3 miles I decided to cut the run short. It was a miserable run as I was hurting the whole way and shuffling through at 7:25 pace. I started the I-squared treatment after the run and I can only hope that I can shake this off in a few days. 

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 [9M]

10x400m. 67, 69, 65, 66, 65, 64, 64, 63, 65, 64. Since this is a recovery week I wanted a fairly easy workout and opted for some quarters with 200m rest between each interval. The rest periods were around 1:40, which allowed me to get the legs moving fast but still be completely recovered before each interval. It was a long day at work, I didn't leave the office until 8:30 and it was almost 9 by the time I was out the door. I ran over to Carlmont high school and didn't take much time stretching and running strides before getting the workout under way. I wasn't sure what I should be shooting for and was thinking at first something between 66-68 would be good enough to get some good turnover without having to force things too much. On the first one I came through in 32 but eased up too much in the second 200. I got out slow on the second one, coming through in 34, and not doing much to pick up the pace on the second half. I felt like I wasn't running smoothly at all and thought that I would have to work harder than I wanted to hit 68s. I stopped looking at 200 splits for the rest of the workout and was somewhat surprised when I saw a 65 for the 3rd interval as I was expecting something along the lines of the second one. I guess it has become the norm lately to need a couple of intervals before finding my rhythm. From then on everything went very smoothly and I was able to run faster than I was expecting. I was getting out somewhat aggressively and didn't have much trouble maintaining a quick turnover throughout the interval. I was taking a good bit of rest so this wasn't a very challenging workout but it was good to see that I still have some speed in my legs despite not doing any speedwork for some time.  

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tuesday PM, September 30, 2008 [8M]

San Carlos. Ran with Brent, took it pretty easy and just chatted the whole time.
September Miles: 407

Tuesday AM, September 30, 2008 [4M]

Brittan Ave. I worked from home today and got out for a short one around noon. Headed to Brittan Ave down Laurel St and came back along El Camino. In the unusual events of the day was getting interviewed by some local TV channel when I got caught at a red light. I was of course only wearing running shorts and no shirt and the first thing I said was "can I really answer your question like this?" I was asked something about the bailout, I mubbled something and went on my way. I don't know if I actually made it on TV, that must have been quite the sight. 

Monday, September 29, 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I didn't get too much sleep last night as I had a 6AM flight, which I managed to miss thanks to oversleeping and hitting every red light on the way to the airport. My sprint through the airport only got me to the gate a couple of minutes too late so I had to wait another hour to catch the next flight. I pretty much went straight from the airport to work and was pretty tired when I got out for a run around 7PM. Not really in the mood for running fast, just putting in the miles at whatever pace felt comfortable. 

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sunday, September 28, 2008 [12M]

2 for 2 in Vegas. I was out around 5 this afternoon, heading south this time and running on some streets parallel to the strip to avoid running into the crowds. Once again, not a very exciting run but I put in the miles. 

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Week Recap (21 September 2008 - 27 September 2008) - 102 Miles

According to the books this is my highest mileage week ever although it's not really close to my highest rolling week total of 118. Starting the week with a solid 22-miler helped take a big chunk of mileage out of the way and made things somewhat easier for the rest of the week. Still not doing a great job at putting in doubles, as I only put in 2 morning runs and ran 92 miles in singles. By adding more doubles I could either add on some more mileage or keep the legs somewhat fresher for my workouts. I can't complain of course for Tuesday's workout, that was as good as I could expect a workout to be right now, but Friday's attempt to run a tempo was rather disappointing. I'm not gonna look into it too much, though, I know it's not surprising for my legs to feel beat on some days and I don't think that workout reflects my fitness in any way. Overall a pretty solid week. Next week will be a recovery week so I'm only gonna shoot for about 70 miles. After posting 6 90+ mile weeks I think an easy week is in order to help keep me healthy and also give me a mental break. I'm running the San Jose half next Sunday so hopefully I'll be well rested for that. 

Saturday, September 27, 2008 [8M]

One more weekend in Vegas. I know this wasn't the best time for a Vegas vacation, with the San Jose half coming up next weekend, but I couldn't pass on Pete's bachelor party. At least this time I was determined not to let the festivities interfere with my training and got out this afternoon for an easy run. I already put in enough mileage this week so I didn't need much to round off the week. I was  out from the Mirage, headed north on Industrial Rd and came back up on Las Vegas Blvd. Pretty boring run, the only interesting thing about it was getting to see some part of Vegas that you don't normally get to see. It's somewhat amazing that a few miles away from all the flashy lights you get the feeling that you are in a small town in the middle of the desert. 

Friday, September 26, 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008 [14M]

Foster City. I stayed at work rather late for a Friday and didn't get started until 7PM. I headed over to Foster City planning to run a long tempo. I had been feeling tired all day and wasn't really excited about running a workout at the end of a long day. I was dragging on my warm-up but was hoping that once I got started I would feel better. That didn't happen and I could tell that I would have trouble running anything fast from mile one. My original plan was to run 5:40 pace for at least 8 miles but I revised the plan once I started, deciding start with something close to 6:00 and try to get progressively faster. I was in the low 5:50s for the first mile but was working a lot harder than I should have been at that pace. After a couple of miles I gave up on trying to run anything fast and settled with putting in just a hard run. I was only running sub 6 pace for 5 miles and slowed down to a 6:20 when I turned into a strong headwind near the San Mateo bridge. I put in a couple more miles at 6:20-6:30 but even that felt like I was forcing the pace so I just shut it down for the rest of the run. I was slower than 7:00 pace for my last 5 miles and felt like I was running on empty. I was glad to get this over with and headed straight home without running any strides or stretching much. I don't know what the deal was today, my legs were really beat and I don't think there's much I could have done about it. I haven't really felt the mileage catching up to me so far so I guess it was bound to happen. 

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008 [13M]

Redwood Shores. Don't recall anything exciting happening today. 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Wednesday PM, September 24, 2008 [12M]

Edgewood to Huddart. I left work early to go for a haircut and since I was out by 5PM I thought it was a good chance to head over for a run at Huddart. Pretty standard route, straight to Huddart and up to Toyon Camp and back. Not the greatest of runs, my legs were feeling a bit tired and my hill climbing was far from impressive. 

Wednesday AM, September 24, 2008 [5M]

Chula Vista - Alameda - San Carlos.  I managed to get myself up early enough to be out of the door by 9AM for a true morning run. I run a short version of my usual Alameda - San Carlos loop by cutting through to Alameda down Chula Vista Dr. Pretty typical morning run, feeling sluggish and running slow. At least I didn't have to worry about squeezing in a run in the middle of the day. 

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Tuesday PM, September 23, 2008 [11M]

5x1600. 4:57, 4:52, 4:50, 4:52, 4:44

I left work at 5PM and drove over to Sequoia high school for some good old-fashioned mile repeats. The weather was in the 90s earlier in the day but by the time I finished my warm-up it didn't feel like it was that hot. My legs were feeling decent on the warm-up and strides so I was confident this would turn out to be a good workout. Perhaps I had unreasonably low expectations and thought I'd be satisfied with running some 5:00 miles. I started out a bit slow on the first interval and came through the first lap in 76. That lap didn't feel so smooth and seeing how it was slow I was worried a bit that I would have to work hard to run 5:00 pace. Turns out one lap was all my legs needed to loosen up and I was able to pick up the pace and feel more comfortable. I was 2:30-3:43 at the end of the next two laps and held on to that pace until the end of the interval. I took a 400m jog between intervals and did a good job at keeping the rest relatively short. I was getting right into a jog at the end of my intervals and took between 3:05-3:20 to cover my rest lap. I made a slight effort to get out faster in the second interval and came through in 73, somewhat surprised since it felt really comfortable. I ran even 73s the rest of the way and felt in control the whole time. On the 3rd interval I ran 72s for the first two laps and 73s for the last two. I got out in 71 on the 4th but slowed down too much on the 2nd lap and came through the 800 in 2:25. I worked the 3rd lap some more to come through in 3:48 and ended up with a low 4:52. I felt almost completely recovered as I was getting ready to start my last interval and figured I could push the pace some more. I got out in 70-2:21-3:33 and closed decently with another 71. I felt like I could have blown away that last lap but reminded myself that this was just a workout and kept it under control. I put in about 4 miles around Redwood City for my cool-down and called it a day with some strides on the infield. I was very happy with how things turned out today, I haven't looked back at past workouts but I'm pretty sure this must be my best mile repeat workout ever. It was one of those workouts you dream of having, when you step on the track with some goal pace in mind and are able to destroy that window and feel very comfortable doing it. You can definitely argue that I should have had a more aggressive goal but
seeing how much I've struggled running hard workouts on my own over the last year and with my legs tired from all the mileage, it's hard to blame myself for not hammering a workout from the gun. The times by themselves might not be that impressive but the way the workout progressed was  the big confidence booster. I wasn't really working hard until the last interval and even in that there was a lot more left in the tank. I was able to get the legs moving fast and felt like I was smoothly flowing around the track. One of those rare days when everything is clicking, hopefully there's more like this to come. 

Tuesday AM, September 23, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Monday, September 22, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008 [12M]

Foster City. Easy run this afternoon, running around 7:00 for the most part and only getting down to 6:35-6:40 for the last 3 miles down Marina Lagoon. I was expecting my legs to be somewhat tired after yesterday's 22-miler but that wasn't really the case. There was some minor soreness but nothing that affected my running much. 

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008 [22M]

Bay Trail to Burlingame. I really needed some sleep today and slept in until noon. I didn't get out until 2PM but it was a rather cool day so I didn't have any issues going long at that time. I started from home and crossed over 101 to the trail along Marina Lagoon down Hillsdale Blvd. The plan was to head north on the bay trail and do an 11 mile out and back, basically a slightly extended version of the 21 miler I had run a couple of weeks ago. For the first time I experimented with eating some gels along the way since I'll need to get used to those as part of my marathon preparation. I had no idea how many and how often I should take them and figured I'd start with a couple of gels and take one every 50 minutes. My plan as far as pace was to get out at whatever pace felt comfortable and progressively run faster on the way back, getting close to marathon pace by the end. I made the turn after 1:16:35, so I averaged just under 7:00 pace on the way out. I wasn't feeling that great at the start and was a bit worried that this could end up being a rough day but after 4 or 5 miles my legs loosened up and I was comfortably covering mile after mile. It was a bit windy on the way out so I had the wind on my back as I turned around, which made it easier to pick up the pace. I wasn't trying to force the pace at all but I was getting more into it as the run progressed and didn't have much trouble getting my legs to move faster. I only made a concious effort to run faster in the last 3 miles and was running low 6s, with the last mile or so somewhere close to 5:40 - 5:50 pace. I wound up back in 2:25:45, so 69:10 for the way back, averaging under 6:20 pace. My legs were obviously tired by the end but I wasn't completely spent. The last half of the run was pretty solid and I wasn't dying at the end, instead I was able to get down to a brisk pace. I don't know what effect the gels had but I think at least they helped a bit mentally. This was my longest run ever and it's really encouraging that I made it through without any problems. I'll probaly try to get up to 23-24 before CIM and I'm getting more confident that I can handle the marathon distance. The only question is how fast can I get myself to run it. 

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Week Recap (14 September 2008 - 20 September 2008) - 98 Miles

Another solid week, both in terms of quantity and quality. I was shooting for 100-105 this week and came a couple of miles short, which in the grand scheme of things is not a big deal. I feel like I can handle 5-10 more miles but with work and all it's getting hard to find the time to squeeze some more mileage in without at least sacrificing my social life some more.  Not that it's something I'm not really used to. Seeing how I only had two morning runs this week and Friday turned out to be only an 8 mile day it seems like there's room for more but that's easier said than done. I should be shooting to run doubles every day and I need to start running before work in order to do that. I can usually get a run in before lunch but you never know what can come up in the middle of the day. As far as workouts are concerned, I'm happy with how things are progressing. I haven't really run anything hard yet but I first want to get used to putting in some harder efforts while doing high mileage and running on tired legs. I'll wrap this up with one big announcement. I finally decided to run my first marathon and I'll be lining up for CIM on December 7th. I guess it's fairly obvious that I've been thinking about it for some time and I've been gearing my training to be more marathon specific so I figured I might as well commit myself to it.   

Saturday, September 20, 2008 [12M]

2x5000m - 17:11, 17:16

I was up around 10:30 this morning, had some breakfast and waited a couple of hours to be fully awake before heading over to Carlmont high school for a track workout. I'm starting to run some marathon specific workouts, which will include some longer intervals on marathon pace (I'm assuming about 5:40 pace for MP right now). I should be able to run more than a couple of 5Ks at that pace but I'm not yet used to running such long intervals on the track so I thought I could use a transition period. I started out a bit faster than planned on the first one, coming through the first lap in 80. I slowed down but not by much and I was comfortably running close to 5:30 pace the whole way. I split 5:28 for the first mile, was at 10:59 for mile 2 and 16:30 at mile 3. (Note that these were full mile splits and not 1600s, since the track is short and I'm running in lane 3, which is a couple of meters over 400m. I guess the 5Ks were about 30m long so they would have been 5-6 seconds faster, not that it makes much of a difference but I'm noting it down mostly for personal reference.) I was feeling fairly comfortable running 5:30 pace and decided to shoot for the same in the 2nd 5K. I took about 4 minutes of rest between the two intervals and continued pretty much where I had left off. I was slightly slower for the first mile, coming through in 5:32 then slacked off a bit on the second mile and came through in 11:08. My legs were feeling a bit tired but I mostly lost focus and  slowed down. I picked up the pace on the 3rd mile and split a 5:28 to come through in 16:36. The 2nd interval took some more effort than the first but I wasn't killing myself out there. I was running on some tired legs by the end, a combination I think of putting in 10K on the track and rounding up a week just shy off a 100 miles. I was tempted to add a couple of more miles for cool down but I was running fairly slow on the way back and I thought that I wouldn't get much out of a couple junk miles.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008 [8M]

Golden Gate Park. I had dinner plans in the city tonight and tried getting up in the morning for my long run of the day but I didn't manage to drag myself out of bed. I didn't have the time to put a run before lunch so I had to settle with running only once. I was hoping at least to leave work early but that didn't happen either and I left just in time to hit the Friday afternoon traffic on my way to the city. I was at Rachel's place at 6:15PM and headed out right away to Golden Gate park. Since I was running a bit late I kept this short and only ran once around the perimeter of the park. My legs were feeling somewhat tired so a short and easy was probably not a bad thing. 

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Thursday PM, September 18, 2008 [11M]

Alameda - Jefferson. I got back home from work at 7:30PM and didn't waste much time getting out the door. Headed up Ralston as usual, continued on Alameda all the way to Jeffreson Ave and took El Camino back to my place. Not much going on tonight, just putting in the miles, averaging just under 6:50 pace. 

Thursday AM, September 18, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wednesday PM, September 17, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark. I left work early and was out again by 5PM, trying to squeeze in my run before heading to a concert. I started out at a faster pace than usual since I was a bit in a rush. I was feeling good, though, and didn't mind forcing the pace a bit. The climb up to Hallmark was very smooth and once I got there I was moving well on the rolling hills. The descend from Hallmark was fairly fast but not too much faster than usual. I wound up back in 62 minutes, which is 5-6 minutes faster than what I usually run this loop in. 

Wednesday AM, September 17, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 [15M]

8x2:30 fartlek. I ran over from work to San Carlos this afternoon and made it at Road Runner as Doug was heading out. I ran with him for less than a couple of miles, until we made it to the bay trail, and started my fartlek on the trail. My hard efforts were 2:30 long and I like I was moving fast although I didn't have any mile splits to get a more accurate sense of pace. I went by feel on the rest, starting each interval whenever I felt recovered. Perhaps I wasn't pushing the hard efforts as much as I should since I was recovering quickly and kept my rest somewhere between 1:00 - 1:15.  I ended up running 5.25 miles in just under 29 minutes so I averaged right around 5:30 pace, including the rest periods. It's hard to get a sense of how fast I was running on the hard efforts and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to translate times on a gravel trail to the equivalent on the road or track. I wasn't concerned about times today, though, all I wanted was to put in a good effort and I think I got what I wanted. Running over from work and having to run back afterwards also made sure I posted some solid mileage for the day. 

Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday, September 15, 2008 [14M]

Extended Foster City. Pretty much the usual loop with a 2 mile loop added around the park before Coyote point. Moving at a decent clip, just under 6:50 pace overall with the last 3 miles at 6:30.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sunday, September 14, 2008 [18M]

Rancho San Antonio. In fairlty typical fashion I got started around 1PM. I psyched myself to head up Black Mountain trail, which I have avoided every other time I was in this park since it involves about 3000ft of climbing. I don't know why but today I felt like giving it a shot. I headed to Chamise trail first which led to Black Mountain trail. There were a couple of fairly steep climbs in the begining but it got more gradual towards the end. Black Mountain wasn't too bad at first either. It was a continuous climb for about 3 miles but fairly gradual, something along the lines of the other trails in the park. I made it to the end of the trail in 57 minutes and continued towards Monte Bello Preserve. I had another mile and a half to go and that was the most brutal part of the run. It took me 15 minutes to cover that last part, which means I was running 10 minute pace. Running is probably not the best term to use, the hill was so steep I could only sort of jog up. At least I made it up without stopping once and added a few minutes in Monte Bello before heading back. My legs were already feeling beat from the climbing and I wasn't very excited about the downhill part that was coming up. It only took me 8:30 to get back down to Black Mountain trail as I was pretty much running without control down the hill. I was still moving fairly fast on the more gradual descend back to Chamise and to the parking lot. By the end, though, my legs were spent and I was also feeling a bit dehydrated, which made the last couple of miles a bit rough. I wound up back at the car in 2:13:30 and I wasn't even sure if I could call this 18. I'm guessing it might be somewhere between 17.5 - 18, making this one of the slowest long runs I ever did. I doubt I'd be heading back up Black Mountain again, at least not all the way to Monte Bello. 

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Week Recap (7 September 2008 - 13 September 2008) - 100 Miles

Solid week, bumping up the mileage in the triple digits. I got a rough start to the week with Sunday's run, which not only was short but also one of the most miserable runs I've had in a long time. I can't blame anyone else but myself though. I made up for it the next day with a solid 21 miler and continued to post solid mileage the rest of the week. I had a good workout on Friday, nothing spectacular but a decent effort aimed mostly at getting my legs used to running some longer intervals on the track. I'm pretty happy with how my training is progressing, I've managed to keep the mileage consistently high and I feel like I'm in shape to start running some good workouts.

Saturday, September 13, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark. I only needed 10 miles today to round up the week to 100 and I didn't feel like adding any more. I took things easy, really taking my time on the climb up to Hallmark and not forcing the pace on the way down. Pretty much just putting in the miles to finish up a solid week. 

Friday, September 12, 2008

Friday PM, September 12, 2008 [11M]

3 x 2 Mile. 11:10 (5:35), 10:55 (5:30), 10:34 (5:17). I was a bit late coming back from work and didn't get started until 7:15PM. I ran over to Carlmond high school for my warm-up and didn't really spend much time stretching or running strides before getting into the workout. I wasn't planning to run anything fast today but just wanted to get my legs accustomed to running some long intervals at marathon pace or slightly faster. I was shooting to start at 5:40 pace for the first 2 miler and bring it down 10 seconds for each interval. I run fairly even for the first interval, running back to back 5:35s. The biggest challenge in that first interval was having to dodge around people who were wondering around the track. I'm not sure what exactly was going on, maybe a football game or practice had finished and there were a lot of people just hanging around, including lots of kids running and kicking balls on the track. Fortunately I didn't run into anyone and didn't have to swerve too far out of my lane when someone was blocking my way. The crowd progressively got smaller and by the second interval it wasn't a big deal. I took about 4 minutes of rest between intervals and started out with a 5:30 mile on my second interval, right on target. I was slightly faster on the second mile, splitting a 5:25. I was feeling comfortable the whole way and didn't have trouble bringing down the pace some more for the last interval. I got a bit too excited at the start and came through in 75-76 for the first lap and had to slow myself down a bit. I came through in 5:17 and ran 79s the rest of the way to finish up in 10:34. I felt like I could have blown away those last few laps but I reminded myself that it wasn't the point of the workout. Not a very challenging workout but I got what I wanted out of it. With my mileage climbing up in the 100s I need to get used to running workouts on tired legs and I think this was a good starting point. 

Friday AM, September 12, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Usual loop, usual time. Nothing more to add. 

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Thursday PM, September 11, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. Out again from Club O this afternoon for an easy 10. 

Thursday AM, September 11, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Easy 5 before lunch. 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I was out of the door some time after 7PM, in the right mood to put in a good run. I had a good climb up to Sheep Camp and worked the hills well along Canada Rd. I wasn't hammering but putting in a good effort on all the climbs. The last climb up Ralston was pretty solid and I was eager to get moving on the downhill part. I was running sub 5:50 pace for my last 3 miles and wound up back in just under 1:21, which is one of my fastest times for this hilly 12 miler. 

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 [15M]

San Carlos. I was back home from work around 6:15PM and headed out towards San Carlos right away. I was running a bit late so I didn't quite make it to Road Runner sports but run into Doug and Brent as they were coming up on Holly St. The three of us run together on the way out then Doug took off for a tempo run and I was content with just sitting back and chatting with Brent. We made it back to the store and chilled for a while then I headed back home. I didn't head straight back but instead went up Brittan Ave and took Alameda back to Ralston. I was expecting to be feeling the effects of yesterday's long run but my legs weren't all that tired and I was able to put in a pretty good run. 

Monday, September 08, 2008

Monday, September 8, 2008 [21M]

Bay trail to Burlingame. Since yesterday turned out to be a short day I opted to go for a long run this afternoon. I was out of Club O around 6 and headed north on the bay trail, going past Marina Lagoon. The plan was to do an out and back and wanted to go out for 60-70 minutes before turning back. I started out at whatever pace felt comfortable and was somewhat surprised to split a 6:40 for the first mile along Marina Lagoon. It was good to see, though, that I was moving at a decent clip and feeling very relaxed. I pretty much maintained the pace on the way out and since I was feeling good I decided not to make the turn until I was 70 minutes out. I knew I was running faster than 7:00 pace but I wanted to be maked sure I could call this 20 and didn't mind going a bit over. Turns out I was running 6:40 pace on the way out as  measured the run to be exactly 10.5 each way. Making the turn after having already run over 10 miles and knowing that there's no shortcut home was a somewhat scary realization. My legs were getting a bit tired and I was shaking off some of the soreness from Saturday's race but I was still able to pick it up a bit on the way back. I wound up back in 2:18:15, running close to 6:30 pace for the most part with the last 3 miles at 6:20.  Runs like this one take me one step closer to making the decision to run a marathon some time soon. I've been debating about signing up for CIM  but have yet to commit myself to it.  It's really encouraging that I can put in a run like this one, comfortably moving at a decent clip without drinking much water or eating anything. The weather was nice and cool today, low 60s when I started, dropping in the high 50s as the sun was setting, so I only made a couple of stops for water and those were more of precaution than anything. The route was actually pretty good for such a run as there's a decent number of water fountains along the way so this might become a popular choice for my 20+ milers. 

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Sunday, September 7, 2008 [11M]

Exeter, NH. I made plans to meet with some of the guys at 9 this morning and head up to Exeter for a run. That didn't stop me from staying up until 4 AM and have a few more drinks than I should. I didn't wake up until Jake called me at 9 and quickly got up, picked up some running clothes and got out of the house. I tried to drink as much water as I could as we were driving up but I was really feeling miserable the entire time. We made it to Mark Coogan's house after about an hour of driving and didn't waste much time getting out of the house. The group consisted of Jake, Coogan and his brother, Jacokes, Paterno and myself. I wasn't really in good enough shape to head out for a long run but sucked it out and tagged along. To make things even worse, Jacokes got out to the front and started forcing the pace as usual. We tried to run through some trails at first but last night's pouring rain created some huge puddles and made it hard to run through. We probably ran 2 or 3 miles on trails then hit the streets for the rest of the run. I was struggling a bit for the first few miles and I was hanging at the back of the group but things kind of got better as the run progressed. I still wasn't feeling that good at any point in the run but I was at least holding on without too much trouble. We were running a bit short on time since I had to get back in time to catch my flight back to the bay area so we kept the run short, which was probably a good thing. I was supposed to land at SJC at 8:00PM and was thinking that I could put in a second run to get some more mileage for the day and loosen up the legs after sitting on a plane for 6 hours. Unfortunately because of some bad weather we had to land at Denver and spend some time on the ground for refueling so I didn't make it back home until 11PM.  I was starving and definitely wasn't in the mood for another run so I'll need to make up for the mileage during the week. 

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Week Recap (31 August 2008 - 6 September 2008) - 90 Miles

I couldn't really expect much more out of this week. I wanted to keep the mileage consistent even though I knew the last couple of days of the week would be short because of the alumni meet. I had a couple of short days early in the week but made up for it by doubling up Wednesday and Thursday and posting some solid mileage for those 2 days. I had a decent fartlek on Tuesday at Franklin Park, nothing amazing but a good effort before Saturday's race. Winning the alumni meet was a nice way to close off the week. The race wasn't that fast but cross country is not really about times and coming out with the win was enough for me to be satisfied with the outcome. I was running by myself for most of the race and there was definitely a lot more left in the tank which is good enough to make me think that my training is heading in the right direction. 

Alumni Meet

I wasn't really sure what to expect coming in this race so I didn't spent that much time coming up with a plan. I knew I was in fairly good shape but far from being race sharp. Plus I hadn't run a cross country race in almost two years (last year's alumni meet doesn't really count) so I was hesitant to get out and hammer from the start. I was content with getting out at whatever the early pace was and figured I would start pushing somewhere between miles 2 and 3. I was expecting Yermie to get out in the lead and was somewhat surprised that I was all the way to the front by the time we rounded the first corner. It was pretty hot and muggy today so that may have contributed to everyone being a little more conservative. For the first mile I was running side by side with Schmeck and we came through in a pedestrian 5:20. It felt like we were running slow but I was secretely hoping that the pace was reasonably fast and just felt easy  because I was in such great shape. Of course that was not the case and once I heard our split I figured I should get moving. I picked up the pace and only Yermie stayed on my heels. That only lasted until we reached Bear Cage where I started building a gap on the way up. Climbing Bear Cage felt easier than ever before and I felt strong topping the hill. I thought that Yermie would try to close the gap on the way down but that didn't happen and I figured I should keep pushing the pace and put the race away early. I came through the 2 mile mark in 10:47 and by the time I got into the Wilderness I couldn't hear anyone close. With no one around to push me for the rest of the way it felt more like I was running a workout rather than racing. I was just going through the motions and didn't really stay focused the entire time. I'm not sure about my exact mile splits, from what I remember hearing I was around 16:15 at mile 3 and 21:50 at mile 4. As Schmeck pointed out, this was the slowest winning time for the Alumni meet since we can get results for. I sure can't argue against calling this a slow race, despite the far from ideal weather conditions. A win is a win, though, I ran as hard as I had to and it's not my fault that Yermie can talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I didn't do anything to prepare specifically for this race and didn't cut back the mileage at all so overall I'm satisfied with how things turned out. After all it's hard to be disappointed after a win, especially since this was my first cross country win ever (excluding high school). 

Saturday, September 6, 2008 [9M]

Alumni Cross Country Meet, 26:58 for the win. I cut it a bit close and showed up at Franklin park with 10-15 minutes to spare before I had to start my warm-up. I ran with Schmeck, going through the usual couple of miles on the course. Despite not cutting back the mileage this week my legs felt fairly fresh and strides felt smooth and fast. The start of the race was rather slow and by the time we rounded the first corner I was in the lead, running side by side with Schmeck. We came through the mile in 5:20, I picked up the pace right away and only Yermie stayed close until we got to Bear Cage. I built a gap going up Bear Cage and continued pushing the pace until I hit Wilderness, by which time I had made clean break. I was all by myself for the rest of the race and didn't really force things much, I just kept the legs turning and got myself to the finish. Only put in a couple of miles for cool-down with Schmeck and headed back to MIT for some pizza. 

Friday, September 05, 2008

Friday, September 5, 2008 [6M]

Newton Center. Out of the door this afternoon by 6:30PM for a short and easy run. I ran to the Reservoir and picked up Beacon St to Newton center. I looped around a couple of side streets and headed back to Beacon then around the Reseroir and back to Lenia's place. My legs were feeling decent and hopefully this easy day will keep them fresh for tomorrow's race. 

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Thursday PM, September 4, 2008 [6M]

Harvard - Reservoir. I got out again around 7PM for my second run of the day. I headed from Lenia's place down Commonwealth and crossed to Beacon over Harvard St. I was only thinking of running 4 miles when I set out but I was feeling good enough to add a loop around the Reservoir and bump it to 6. Taking things easy this afternoon and just putting in the miles at something close to 7:00 pace. 

Thursday AM, September 4, 2008 [10M]

Jamaica through Fens.  I was up at 11 AM again and was planning on going for a regular 5-6 mile morning run but after getting a call from Jake I drove over at MIT at 1PM and met him for a run. We took the route to Jamaica through the Fens so we could have the option of running through shade for most of the run, which was well needed on such a hot day. We were moving fast from get the get go and kept it that way for the entire run. My legs were a bit tired, probably because of  yesterday's 20 mile day, but I got into it after a couple of miles.  We wound up back at MIT in right around 62 minutes and added a lap around the track to round it up to 10. We were just under 6:00 pace for that lap and were probably not that far off earlier in the run. We ran a few good strides on the track before I headed back. 

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Wednesday PM, September 3, 2008 [14M]

Arboretum. I had a meeting again until 5:30PM so I got a late start again and had to run by myself. I decided to run over to the Arboretum and took the shortest way there, heading down Chestnut Hill and making my way to Jamaica. It was about 3.5 miles to the Arboretum and I made it there in 23:30. I ran one loop around the perimeter and was back out at 51:30. I was initially shooting for something close to 10 this afternoon but I was feeling good and thought about extending the run by a couple of miles. Instead of heading back once I got to Jamaica, I continued around the lake and went on in the same way as I would be finishing the loop at MIT. Of course I didn't end up all the way to MIT but turned on Beacon, crossed to Commonwealth over Washington St and headed back to Lenia's place. I ballparked the route back to be around 4.5 - 5 miles but it turned out to be right around 6 so I must have done something wrong in my calculations. I wound up back in 1:28 and I was planning to call this 13 but the trip to the Arboretum and back was about 9.5 and I was moving fast enough in the Arboretum to put in more than 4 miles in 28 minutes so I think I can round this up to 14. I've rounded down a couple of runs this week so I think I have some miles in the bank. 

Wednesday AM, September 3, 2008 [6M]

Reservoir - Harvard. I'm still on West Coast time and didn't wake up until 11 this morning. I got out from Lenia's place around noon and headed towards the Reservoir. I ran around the Reservoir, continued down Beacon then crossed over to Commonwealth over Harvard St and headed back up. Took things fairly easy,  averaging just under 6:50 pace. 

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 [12M]

Fartlek at Franklin park. I wanted to join the guys on their workout at Franklin Park this afternoon but I had a meeting to dial in to and didn't get out until 5:30PM. I drove over to Franklin Park afterwards and got there while everyone was finishing up their cool-down. I decided to run a fartlek on the 5 mile course and got started after a 2 mile warm-up. My hard efforts were 2:30 long and I kept the rest around 2:00. I started out somewhat aggressively on the first one, mostly because I was excited about running at Franklin Park again and started visualizing Saturday's race. I didn't stay aggressive the rest of the way though and I can't say that I was putting in my hardest efford. I haven't run a workout like this in a long time and I think I'm no longer used to running short and hard intervals. I could have pushed the rest some more but I wasn't focused enough to realize I had recovered. Ended up running the course in right around 28:00, which is nothing spectacular but I suppose not too bad considering how much effort I was putting in. I ran the course backwards for cool-down and called it day.  

Monday, September 01, 2008

Monday, September 1, 2008 [10M]

Ocean. I drove to MIT and met with the guys for their 3PM practice. I made it there just in time and headed out with Jake, Yermie and Khatch. We started out at a decent pace, not too fast but a bit faster than I'm used to. It took a mile or so for my legs to adjust to the early pace but after that I got into the rhythm and was crusing along. I felt good on the climb up G Street, which seemed shorter and less steep than I remember. Coming down from the monument we started rolling some more and we were probably running sub 6 the rest of the way. We added a loop around Boston Common and stopped briefly at the frog pond where Jake took a dip and quacked like a duck to pay off his dues to Khatch. Got back into it as soon as we got started again and took off with Jake  in the last couple of miles. We were probably running 5:30s all the way from  the commons to MIT. Turned out to be a pretty solid run overall, noticably faster than what I'm used to but I was feeling good the whole way. It was nice to get the legs moving and catch up with the guys again.

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Sunday, August 31, 2008 [17M]

I took the red eye to Boston last night and landed at Logan at 8:15 AM. Not long after I made it to my sister's place in Brighton, Schmeck drove over and we headed out for a run. We started close to Cleveland Circle and first ran to the Reservoir then picked up Beacon and ran past BC. We continued all the way to Washington St and picked up the marathon course on the way back. Schmeck only wanted to run for about an hour but we wound up back in 1:25. We were taking it easy, just chatting and catching up the whole way, so hopefully this wasn't too big of a deal. I was content with not adding any more miles at that point and chilled with Schmeck for a while and had some water to drink. I thought that I could get out again in the afternoon for some extra mileage but eventually I convinced myself to get out right away and keep my afternoon free. I didn't get much sleep on the plane and was pretty tired but I thought I'd rather get the run out of the way and spend the rest of the day resting. I headed back towards the reservoir and went down on Beacon to Summit Ave. I went up the long side, crossed over to Commonwealth and headed back to my sister's place. I was out for another 35 minutes so calling this a 17 mile day is probably a safe bet. Not a bad start to the week considering all the traveling and lack of sleep. I was pretty spent by the end but a 3 hour nap in the afternoon was good enough for me to feel refreshed again.
August Miles: 359

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Week Recap (24 August 2008 - 30 August 2008) - 90 Miles

I didn't have much trouble posting another solid 90 mile week. I decided not to bump up the mileage any more until Alumni and added my first hard effort on Wednesday. Nothing too hard, just a long, controlled tempo to get the legs moving a bit. I was feeling a bit tired the last few days of the week but I doubt it had much to do with Wednesday's workout. We got a heat wave towards the end of the week, with temperatures climbing in the mid 90s, and I was feeling a bit dehydrated on the end of a few runs. Perhaps I need to start drinking more water of maybe I've gotten used to this mild weather and I'm just getting soft.

Saturday, August 30, 2008 [6M]

Alameda - San Carlos. I had plans to go to the city for brunch so I was up at 9:30 and out of the door by 10 to get the run out of the way. Just a short and easy run to round up another 90 mile week.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Friday PM, August 29, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out of Club O again by 6PM for my second run of the day. I started on the usual 8 mile loop without ruling out extending the run by a couple of miles but my legs weren't feeling that great and half way through I settled on sticking with 8. Not the greatest of runs, averaging just under 7 minute pace. Some days putting in the miles is all the matters.

Friday AM, August 29, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. I could have easily opted for running singles both Friday and Saturday, since I was already at 71 yesterday, but my legs have been feeling a bit tired and I thought it would be best to double up today and give myself the option of a short day tomorrow. I got out of a meeting at 11 and had barely enough time to head to Club O and squeeze in a 5 miler before a 12PM lunch with the Oracle Greeks. I was running 6:35s, which was pretty decent for a morning run. Skipped strides and stretching and headed straight to the shower as I was running a bit late for lunch.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008 [12M]

Hallmark - Brittan Ave. Got started around 7 this afternoon and wasn't at all excited to be out running. I had been feeling tired all day and my quads were a bit sore, which made running hills a somewhat painful. Surprisingly the climb up Water Dog wasn't too bad, in part because I passed some bikers about halfway through and pushed the pace a bit to hold them off until the end of the climb. I eased up once I got to Hallmark and wasn't really working the hills there. The downhill part down Brittan was tougher on my quads and my form was really awkward. It seems like yesterday's run put me a bit in the hole, which was rather unexpected since I didn't think it was a very hard effort. Perhaps it's a combination of the high mileage and running in the heat. I always try to stay hydrated throughout the day at work but maybe I should be forcing myself to drink some more.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 [14M]

~8 Mile Tempo. I would have like to get in a couple more weeks of base mileage before attempting any workouts but with the alumni meet just around the corner I figured I should put in at least a couple of hard efforts beforehand. I wasn't looking to run anything too fast, just wanted to put in a long, controlled effort. I headed backwards on the Foster City loop until the first mile mile mark and started the hard effort after making the turn. I was shooting for something close to 5:30 to start with, thinking that I could perhaps hold on to that for about 5 miles. I didn't really have a good sense of pace but thought I'd rather get out slow than fast. I was a bit too slow on the first mile, splitting a 5:47, but not feeling very smooth. After the first mile I thought that shooting for 5:40s was a more realistic goal and split 5:39, 5:41, 5:42 for the next 3 miles. I was 5:51 for the next mile, even though it felt like I maintained the same pace, but that wasn't very surprising since I've always timed that mile to be about 10 seconds long. I was running into the wind for the next mile and felt like I slowed down but split a 5:47, which reaffirms my guess that the previous mile was long. There were no more mile splits for the rest of the way but I kept going for 11 more minutes. Perhaps a little short to call it a full 2 miles but probably reasonably close. Not a bad effort overall but nothing too hard either, which is pretty much what I was looking for. It was hard to get myself in a workout mode, every now and then my mind would wonder and I had remind myself to focus on maintaining a good turnover. My cooldown was a bit long since I had no option but to complete the loop. I actually struggled a bit in the last 2 or 3 miles, which was somewhat weird, it was as if my body decided to shut down all of a sudden. I didn't think that the effort took that much out of me but it was a pretty hot day so perhaps I was a bit dehydrated by the end. I didn't have the strength to run any strides afterwards and was just glad to get this over with.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 [12M]

San Carlos. I got out of work early enough to make it to Road Runner Sports by 6:00 PM and enough time to put in a 4 mile loop before going for the usual 8 mile run. Nothing exciting for those first 4 miles as far as the run is concerned but I did witness a car accident, which is not something you see everyday. I was pretty close but fortunately on the opposite side of the street when I heard breaks squeeling then saw a car crashing into a series of parked cars. It was kind of a domino effect, with each car crashing into the car ahead. Surprisingly damages didn't seem that major and once I saw people getting out of their cars with no injuries I continued my run. I got back to the store and headed off with Doug shortly after. We were kind of dragging on the way out and once we made the turn I took off on my own. I was feeling pretty good and was close to 6:00 for the last 4 miles. It's good to get the legs moving a bit once in a while.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Monday PM, August 25, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I had one of those frustrating days at work, working until 8PM to get some issue resolved but giving up after some unsuccessful attempts. Once I headed out from Club O I was in a much better mood and had a pretty good run. I was cruising comfortably, clipping 6:40s rather effortlessly. I had been planning to do some lifting afterwards but it was already 9:30 by the time I finished my run and I didn't have the time or the desire for it. I did some stretching, core work and a couple of sets of pullups and called it a day.

Monday AM, August 25, 2008 [5M]

Foster City.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sunday, August 24, 2008 [18M]

Huddart - Wunderlich loop. I slept in this morning, trying to make up for not getting much sleep yesterday, and when I woke up I spent some time trying to decide where to run. I wasn't in the mood for a hilly run and thought about running along the bay trail at first but with the weather in the high 80s I figured it would be best to avoid running somewhere with absolutely no shade. Eventualy I decided to repeat last week's loop and drove to historic Woodside at 1:30PM. I wanted to keep things easier than last week and didn't force the pace at any time in the run. The climb up to Skyline wasn't much slower but I took my time on the trail to Wunderlich and down Alambrique trail. I was still moving at a good clip but running relaxed the whole way. Wound up back to the car in 2:10, a little over 5 minutes slower than last time, which is more of an indication that I was running fast last week as opposed to this run being slow.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Week Recap (17 August 2008 - 23 August 2008) - 90 Miles

I was shooting to bump up the mileage to 85-90 this week, thinking perhaps that 90 would be a stretch but not excluding it in case my legs felt like they could handle it. I got things off to a good start with arguably one of the best 18 milers I've ever run. I ended up running faster than I should have been for a hilly long run and my legs were feeling it a bit early in the week. I hit my low point for the week on Wednesday and had a pretty crappy run but things got better towards the end. I felt good enough the last couple of days to push the mileage to 90. Only a couple of weeks left until Alumni so I'll probably keep the mileage where it is and add a few harder efforts. I think I should be in better shape than I could have expected when I started running again 6 weeks ago.

Saturday, August 23, 2008 [12M]

Run with the San Francisco Road Runners Club. For a long time I've had an open invitation from Doug to join him on his Saturday morning run with SFRRC and I was finally convinced to tag along this morning. We had to be at the Marina Green at 7:45 AM so Doug picked me up around 7. It wasn't enough that we had to leave so early I even woke up around 5 to watch some track action from the Olympics. I obviously didn't get much sleep but watching the 5K live at least made it worth it. I was also fairly awake by the time we started the run so I wasn't as sluggish as I would have been if I had just rolled out of bed. We started out in a big group but we picked up the pace after a couple of miles and we were down to Doug and myself. We were still taking it pretty easy and I was content with not running any faster since I was just rounding up a 90 mile week.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I wanted to leave early this afternoon since I had tickets for the Outside Lands Festival and I figured it would be best to get my run out of the way before lunch so I headed out from Club O by 12:30. I've put in enough mileage earlier this week that I could get away with only an 8 miler today so my lunch break was not too much longer than usual. It turned out to be a decent run as I was comfortably running 6:40s the whole way.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Thursday PM, August 21, 2008 [11M]

Alameda - Jefferson Ave. I was shooting for 7-8 this afternoon and started out on the 7 mile Alameda - Brittan Ave loop, thinking that I could tag on another mile if I felt like it. I did decide to extend the run once I got to Brittan and I felt good enough to keep going all the way to Jefferson Ave. I was comfortably clipping 6:40s the whole way, which was a bit surprising if you think how crappy yesterday's run was.

Thursday AM, August 21, 2008 [5M]

Foster City.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I was back home from work by 7PM and headed out to Sheep Camp without wasting much time. I had been feeling a bit tired all day and wasn't really looking forward to running, expecting this to be a crappy run. Of course when you start a run with that mindset it's hard not to meet your expectations. The climb up Water Dog Lake was pretty much as slow as it gets and even on the downhill parts I was feeling sluggish. The final climb up Ralston was somewhat better but still far from spectacular. I usually run this loop in something close to 1:25 on an easy day but today I made it back in 1:29. I sure was glad to get this one over with.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 [11M]

San Carlos. I showed up at Roadrunner sports a bit early and had enough time to put in 3 mile loop. I continued with the regular 8 mile loop with Doug afterwards. I kept it easy the entire time, running just over 7:00 pace.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Monday PM, August 18, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I got out from Club O again this afternoon for my second run of the day. I ran without a watch again and took things easy but I was feeling better than my first run. I thought about lifting today but I only did some calf raises and embarassed myself with a couple of sets on the pullup bar. After my last set of pullups I ran into Charis and spend about half an hour just standing in the weightroom and chatting without doing any more lifting. By that time I was starting to feel hungry so I just headed back home for dinner.

Monday AM, August 18, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Out of Club O at 12:30 for my usual loop. My legs were feeling pretty tired and I opted to run without a watch. It was probably a good thing not to know how slow I was running.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 [18M]

Huddart to Wunderlich loop. I tried a new loop today which could become one of my favorite long loops. I've been to Wunderlich park before, I ran the 6 mile trail from Huddart to Wunderlich along Skyline Ridge a few times and obviously I've run at Huddart multiple times but I was wondering if I could possibly come up with a loop to combine both parks. After a quick search I came across this loop and decided to give it a shot. I drove over to historic Woodside and took Greer road to Huddart Park. On the way over I came across Albert Liu, who was running in the opposite direction. It's probably been 4 or 5 years since the last time we saw each other so this was a really random encounter. After exchanging a couple of words we each continued on our way. It was about a mile to Bay Tree trail, which was the starting point of the climb to Skyline. I was moving well going uphill and made it to Skyline in 42:00. With the toughest part of the run already out of the way I continued on the trail to Wunderlich. I still had a long way to go but I was feeling good and wasn't too concerned about saving my legs for the end. I wouldn't say I was hammering but I was keeping the pace honest on the rolling hills, attacking the uphill parts a bit and cruising on the downhill and flat parts. I was in Wunderlich in 1:25:00 and started the descend down Alambrique trail. It was basically a 5 mile downhill section and I came down flying in 29:00. I headed back to my starting point along Woodside and Trip Rd, making it back at the car in 2:04:30. My source has this run listed as 17 - 17.5 and I was initially planning to call it 17 but after going through the numbers I think I can justify calling it 18. The trail from Huddart to Wunderlich is around 6 miles, Alambrique trail was listed at 5.0 and it was a 1.6 mile stretch from Wunderlich to my car. It took me 42 minutes to get up to Skyline, which would only taking something just under 8 minute pace for the total to add up to 18. In any case, this was an amazing loop which I'm sure I'll revisit in the future. The variation of the terrain was great, starting out with a gradual climb from 400 to 2200ft, continuing with 6 miles of gently rolling hills, getting the legs moving with a 5 mile downhill section and finishing off with a short flat section on the roads. I was expecting that my legs would be spent by the end but I was actually feeling good the whole way. I was perhaps running faster than I should have been for such a long run but hopefully I won't be feeling it too much on the next few days.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Week Recap (9 August 2008 - 16 August 2008) - 80 Miles

Really solid week, only my 5th week back and I'm already at 80 so I couldn't expect more. I even managed to finish the week with only a 4 mile run so I was actually on pace for something closer to 90. The most encouraging part is how good I have been feeling all week. It seems like the mileage has yet to take its toll, which I'll enjoy while it lasts.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 [4M]

Drove to Yosemite this morning and spent the day at the park. We went on a 7 mile hike to Nevada Falls, starting at 4000ft of altitude and climbing a to almost 6000ft at the top. We were back after about 4 - 4.5 hours and while everyone else took the shuttle back to the parking lot I decided to run back. It was only a couple of miles to get back and I added on a couple more on the bike paths in Yosemite valley. I wasn't running very fast although I did beat the shuttle back.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday, August 15, 2008 [12M]

Rancho San Antonio. I got a call from Jake yesterday, letting me know that he's in the area for a few days and we agreed to meet at 8AM for a run at Rancho San Antonio. We got started with my usual warm-up loop on the wildcat loop trail then climbed up Upper Wildcat Canyon trail. We paused briefly at the vista point before coming down wildcat loop trail and tagging on a few more miles on the PG&E trail. We were chatting the entire time but still moving along at a good pace. Carrying on the conversation was a bit challening on some of the hills but we made it through putting in some good climbs. It turned out to be a pretty good run overall, I was feeling good, especially for a morning run, and enjoyed having to someone to run with for a change. Time just flew by as we were catching up on each other's summer adventures. It was a good thing I got the run out of the way early as I was planning to head to Yosemite in the afternoon and I would have probably only put in a short run if I hadn't run in the morning.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Thursday, August 14, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark park. Headed out up Ralston, planning to put in an easy 10. I made it up to Hallmark without pushing the pace but still putting in a decent climb. I was moving well on the rolling hills at Hallmark and was crusing at a fast pace on the downhill part on the way back. I averaged under 6:50 for the run, which is fairly fast considering that with all the hills it's usually a good day if I average around 7 minute pace.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 [12M]

Foster City. A rather low key run, taking things easy and running around 6:50 pace for most of the run. I was a bit faster for the last 2 or 3 miles, nothing faster than 6:35 though.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tuesday PM, August 12, 2008 [13M]

San Carlos. I was originally only planning on going for the usual 8 mile Tuesday run with the Road Runners sports club. I came back and worked from home for a couple of hours and while I was getting ready to drive over to San Carlos, I thought that I could add some more mileage to the day and I figured it would be a good idea to run over, go for the 8 mile run and head back. It's 2.5 miles each way, which added up to make this a 13 miler. I was a bit on the quick side on the way over as I was trying to make it on time. I ended up having about 5 minutes to kill before we headed out with Doug. I ran with Doug for the first 5 miles or so, running just over 7 minute pace. I picked it up for the last 3 miles, getting down in the 6:20s. I chilled for a while and stretched as everyone was finishing their run before heading back home. I was a bit slower on the way back as my legs started realizing how many miles I had put in for the day. It ended up being a pretty long day, shooting the rolling week up to 83.

Tuesday AM, August 12, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. I figured I should add some doubles this week and since I was only planning on doing 8 in the afternoon I thought this would be a good day to start. I didn't try to get up in the morning of course but headed out to Club O before lunch for my usual lunch time loop in Foster city.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Monday, August 11, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I wanted to leave work early so that I could put in a 12 miler and make it to BJs by 7:30 for dinner but that's easier said than done. I didn't get started until 6 and I figured I didn't have much time to do anything over 8. I kept the pace fairly brisk, averaging around 6:35. I slacked off on strides and stretching and headed out. I barely made it to BJs on time so there wasn't much more I could have added today.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Sunday, August 10, 2008 [16M]

Rancho San Antonio. I wanted to get out earlier than my typical Sunday but didn't help my cause by going to bed late last night and naturally sleeping in this morning. It was already 1:30PM by the time I made it to Rancho San Antonio, which wasn't the best time to start my long run with the temperature approaching the 90s. I didn't do a great job hydrating well before the run and I was starting to feel it after a few miles. I ran a couple of loops on the lower trails to start with, first taking the Wildcat loop trail to PG&E trail then going back to Wildcat loop and continuing to the Coyote trail. On each of those loops I stopped at the Deer Hollow farm and drank some water, risking getting stung by the bees that were crowding over the water fountain. From then on there weren't any water stops as I climbed up the Upper Wildcat Canyon trail, came down the Upper Rogue Valley trail and took Moira trail back to Deer Hollow farm. I added on another loop on the Coyote trail and made it back to the car in 1:56:30. I was pretty spent by the end and the last couple of miles were a bit tough. Most of the run was pretty good, though, I was putting in some good climbs and moving fast enough to safely call this 16. I suppose it wasn't too surprising that I was feeling spent by the end, after all this was a long run which included a couple thousand feet of climbing in fairly hot weather. I think the heat was probably a bigger factor, I weighted myself when I came back home and was about 5 pounds lighter than usual (and this was after having already drunk a 16 oz gatorade and about a quart of water) . I should make sure I hydrate more before another run like this one.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Week Recap (3 August 2008 - 9 August 2008) - 72 Miles

I continued the mileage progression this week, getting into the 70s as planned. I came close to starting off the week with a zero but managed to put in a decent run in Vegas after a long and tiring day. I had a nice 15 miler on Monday and a few more solid mileage days throughout the week. I've been feeling great in general, running fairly fast and just enjoying getting out there and putting in the mileage. Friday was the odd day of the week, when all of a sudden my right leg tightened up, but that seemed to be an isolated incident. Hopefully this upswing will carry over for next week, where I'll be looking to get into the 80s.

Saturday, August 9, 2008 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan. I slept in late this morning and didn't get up until 11:30 AM. I didn't get much sleep last weekend and I didn't have the chance to make up for it during the week so I really needed to catch up. I took some time as usual before I got out for an easy 7 miler to finish off the week. Nothing spectacular, just crusing at 6:40 pace for pretty much the entire run.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Friday, August 8, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I was out of work by 5PM and headed out of Club O shortly after. I was shooting for 10-12 today and was leaning towards the upper bound until my right leg tightened up about halfway through the run. It was rather strange, it felt more like soreness than a pain of any kind but isolated to my right side. My right calf and quad felt sore and I was also feeling a tightness on the outer side of my leg, all the way up to my hip. I struggled a bit in the last few miles and I was glad to get this run over with. Hopefully this is just some bizarre thing that will be gone in a day.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Thursday, August 7, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I got a bit of a late start, getting out the door around 7:30 PM. I can already tell that the days are getting shorter as it was dark by the time I finished. There was still plenty of light, though, on the way up to Sheep Camp trail and along Canada Rd and I put in a good climb. I was still feeling good on the final climb up to the highest point of Ralston and was eager to start the descend. I started rolling on the way down Ralston, averaging 5:20 pace for the mile and a half downhill section. I didn't slow down much on the last mile and a half, which is mostly flat with a slight incline at the end, averaging 5:40 for that. I'm still at a point in my training where I'm running enough mileage to feel like I'm in good shape but also low enough for the legs to feel fresh. Perhaps I'm getting a bit too excited and hammering more than I should but I'm sure the miles will take their toll as I continue to bump up the mileage so I might as well enjoy the moment.