Week Recap - 90 Miles

I managed to keep the mileage at 90 for another week, running everything in singles again. I've been meaning to start running doubles but my few attempts to get up early in the morning were not successful and I've been busy at work to get any runs in the middle of the day. The tempo on Wednesday wasn't as fast as I was hoping but at least I put in a hard effort. It's good that I've been keeping the mileage consistently high but I need to start getting in some more quality workouts. I haven't come up with a definite plan for my season yet, which makes it harder to plan my training. I've been thinking about running another indoor race but since that will involve some traveling (either up in Boston for Valentine's or in Washington for one of the UW meets) I doubt I'll make the trip unless I'm confident that I can run fast.

Weekend run with K-Stars - 13 Miles

I got up at 7:30 this morning, drove out to Rachel's place and we ran together to the K-Stars group meeting spot. It was a relatively small group, apparently smaller than usual because it was supposed to be raining. After waiting a few minutes for people to gather we headed out towards Golden Gate Park. I was with a group of 5-6 people at first but after a couple of miles I broke away with one other guy. He's training for the Boston marathon and today he was running a tempo, which was 6x6:00 at 6:40 pace with a minute of recovery in between. Not exactly a workout for me but still a decent pace for a morning run. We did an out and back on the trail along Ocean Beach and came back to Crepes on Cole for brunch. Not a bad run this morning, it's always good to have a break from the monotony of running by myself. Hanging out with the group afterwards was also fun and we ended up staying there for a couple of hours.

Marina Lagoon-Redwood Shores - 14 Miles

I came up with a new loop from work today. I went out E Hillsdale Blvd along Marina Lagoon, crossed over 101 and headed back towards Holly St. I cross over 101 again and picked up the Redwood Shores loop back to Oracle. It was raining a good amount the entire time and it wasn't long before I was completely soaked. It wasn't cold, though, so I was actually enjoying it. It turned out to be a pretty good run, feeling good and running 6:40s for the most part.

Foster City - 11 Miles

I had plans to watch the "Spirit of the Marathon" movie at 7:30 PM and didn't manage to leave the office until 5:30 so I had to rush things a bit. I started out at a brisk pace and kept it that way for the entire run. I was down to 6:30 for one of the miles along the bay trail and I was at 6:18 along Marina lagoon, with the rest of the run probably somewhere in that range. I skipped the loop around Golf Links, making the run about a mile shorter than usual. I didn't run any strides and stretched for only a couple of minutes before heading out to the movie theater. The movie was targeted more towards recreational runners and people who consider running a marathon as a lifetime achievement but it was still interesting to watch.

5M decreasing pace @ College of San Mateo - 10 Miles

6:01, 5:40, 5:26, 5:15, 5:11.
I left work at 6PM and drove out to College of San Mateo. I did some searching with google maps to find another track in the area besides Stanford and noticed one at CSM. It was annoying to have to go around the barriers at Stanford, plus it always seems to be crowded. I had no idea what to expect at CSM, I didn't even know if I'd be able to run there, but it turned out to be a nice track. There were nothing blocking the lanes and I was there all by myself. There weren't any lights on the track but it was decently illuminated from lights around the campus. The campus is up a hill and one side of the track is overlooking the area around San Mateo bridge, which was arguably the best view I've ever seen from a track. There was some traffic on the way there and I had to drive around campus for a while to find the track so by the time I started my warm-up it was getting close to 7. It was a bit chilly by that time, low 40s and raining lightly, but not too bad weather for a workout. I ran a couple of miles around campus, stopped for a short bathroom break at the end and started the workout right away. The plan was to start at 6:00 and bring it down 20 seconds each mile. I was right on for the first two miles but I wasn't able to transition to 5:20 very smoothly. I wasn't breathing hard at the end of the 3rd mile but my legs were feeling tired and heavy. I started working hard on the last two miles but I couldn't get the legs moving very fast and was way off my goal pace. I wasn't really expecting to get down to 4:40 by the end but I wanted to get close to 5:00 for the 4th mile and try to go sub 5 for the last one. It was a bit disappointing that I wasn't nearly as fast as I wanted but at least the effort was good. I guess it's not surprising that my legs were so tired with all the hilly runs I've done lately, plus I'm still trying to adjust to handling workouts while keeping the mileage high.

Redwood Shores - 13 Miles

I stayed at work a bit late today and didn't get started until 7PM. I was pretty hungry by the time I started the run and I was thinking of cutting it to 10 but as soon as I got going I didn't mind putting in some extra miles. My legs definitely appreciated not having to go over any hills for a change. I probably started at close to 7:00 pace, got down in the 6:40s for most of the run and finished with a couple of faster miles.

Edgewood to Huddart - 13 Miles

I could have probably used a run on flat surfaces as my legs were pretty sore from yesterday but since we had the day off from work I figured I should take advantage of it and get in another run on trails. I took my time getting out of the house today and didn't get to Edgewood until 3:30PM. I took the usual route to Huddart through Woodside, added on a few miles at Huddart and headed back. The trails were a bit muddy since it was raining since last night, making the climbs a little more challenging. For the most part I was running slow and wasn't really working the hills. I only got moving a bit in the last few miles, which were mostly downhill.

Monte Bello Open Space Preserve - 16 Miles

I was hesitant before to come over to Monte Bello Preserve since it looked pretty hilly but today I finally decided to give it a shot. I started out on the White Oak trail, then continued on Canyon trail which gradually went downhill. I stayed on that trail until Upper Stevens Creek park, then took Grizzly Flat trail to Skyline Blvd. Ironically the Grizzly Flat trail was the steepest trail of the run and was a pretty brutal climb. Once I got to Skyline I decided not to head back but cross over to the Bay Area Ridge trail instead. I made my way back to Monte Bello and added on some mileage there before heading back. As I was expecting this turned out to be a very hilly run, with some long steep climbs. There were almost no flat parts on the run and by the end my legs were pretty trashed. I wound up back to my car after 2 hours but there's no way I can call this anything longer than 16.