Week Recap (23 Mar 2008 - 29 Mar 2008) - 50 Miles

Another good week, continuing the gradual mileage build up. The mileage increase from last week wasn't anything spectacular but I only ran 6 days so all my runs were decently long. What I'm most excited about is how good I've been feeling on all my runs. It feels more like I've tapered and not so much like I'm coming back from an injury. All my runs were comfortable aerobically, even the ones which were somewhat fast. My legs are easily handling this mileage and I only felt some soreness after some of my hillier runs. I was thinking of waiting another week or two before starting any workouts but since I've been feeling good I might do something this coming week to test my fitness a bit.

Saturday, March 29, 2008 [8M]

Point Loma Nazarene. Started the day with a big breakfast with Alisha's parents then went over to Point Loma Nazarene University to watch the track meet. Jake and I headed out for a run some time during the meet. We ran out of the campus, ended up near the ocean after wondering around for a while and ran along the coast back to the campus. We had to climb a steep hill to get back to the track but that was the only part where I had to put some effort into the run. The rest of the run was pretty casual, we were chatting the whole time and enjoying the nice view along the coast. We finished with some strides on the track, watched the rest of the meet and spent the evening hanging out with the team.

Friday, March 28, 2008 [10M]

Claremont. I was up around 7:30 AM so that I could join the team for their 8:30 practice at Claremont McKenna College. I started with everyone in the mid-distance/distance group, running around somewhat familiar areas since we came here for the spring trip 3 years ago. Everyone was doing a meet warm-up so I was with most of the group for the first 3 miles, continued with Jacokes to 5 and added another 5 by myself. I was feeling surprisingly good for a run this early in the morning, which I'll attribute to having someone to run with, even for part of the run. The pace wasn't very fast but decent while running with the guys, then I picked things up a bit the rest of the way. I was back at the track in 65 minutes and added a lap around the track to make rounding up to 10 more justifiable. I was running 6:00 pace for that lap and it wasn't much faster than what I had been running for most of the run so this was definitely a solid 10. I even ran some strides on the infield, which felt decently fast despite not having run any for almost 2 months. As much as I hate running in the mornings, I have to admit that getting the run out of the way early was very satisfying and allowed me to enjoy the rest of my vacation day. Rachel and I drove down to Coronado after practice and met Jake for a Mexican feast. We spent a few hours at the beach afterwards, dared to take a quick dip in the cold-whirlpool-like ocean and chilled in Coronado before going back to Jake's place for dinner with the rest of the team.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 [0M]

I tried to get up at 7AM to go for a run, since I knew this would be a long day, but like many other times that didn't happen. I had an appointment with Dr Oloff at 9 and after hitting snooze for an hour I gave up on the morning run. I was supposed to get an evaluation for custom made orthotics today but after a brief discussion Dr Oloff opted against it. I haven't had any problems since I started running and figured that I shouldn't changed my biomechanics unless something starts hurting again. I went back home after my appointment and did some work before heading to the city to meet Rachel. We drove down to LA to join the MIT track team on their annual spring trip. It took a while longer than I expected to get there, thanks to the LA traffic, and we didn't get to Claremont until 8PM. We went straight to dinner with the team and decided at that point to forgo the run, since I wasn't in the mood for a late night run. I don't like coming up with excuses for not running but at least I can argue that a day off wasn't a big deal, since I haven't had one in the last 10 days and I'm still building up the mileage.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 [7M]

Water Dog Lake Park. I finally bought a bike yesterday and rode it to work today, getting a total of 3 miles on the bike. I got what I think is a good deal on a used 2007 Trek 1000 SL, which was barely used by its previous owner. Considering that the best bike I've ever owned was an $80 mountain bike from Target, this was definitely a huge step up. Since this is still a running blog (and I don't have any plans to follow Brewer's path), I won't go to any more details about the bike. So, on to today's run, I was out from home by 6:30 PM, heading to Water Dog Lake Park. I ran the old regular loop this time, going up Lake Rd trail and picking up John Brooks trail. I've always called this an 8 mile loop, knowing that it was short but thinking it was at least long enough to round up, since most times it took me about 55-56 minutes to run the loop. I was back in 53:15 today, which made me start questioning if I can justify rounding up. I was only running fast for the last couple of miles of the run, which were on the roads, but I'm sure I averaged slower than 7:00 pace for the rest of the run. In any case, I think I'll switch to counting this as a long 7 rather than a short 8.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out of Club O before 6 PM and went on the full Redwood Shores loop again after a long time. I was running at a brisk pace the whole time, averaging right around 6:30 fairly even paced. This was arguably my best run since I started running again. I was feeling great and cruising comfortably the whole way.

Monday, March 24, 2008 [7M]

Foster City. I left work early today as I had to be in for physical therapy at 3:30 PM. I'm only going in once this week and I'll have one more appointment in a couple of weeks to get one last evaluation when I'll be back to somewhat higher mileage. I was out of PJCC by 4:30, going on a standard loop on the bay trail. It was pretty windy along the bay, which drew a ridiculously big crowd of kite surfers. There were also a few wind surfers but apparently that's not as cool anymore. I'm curious what kind of job are all these people doing that allows them to be out in the sea so early in the afternoon on a weekday. I guess it speaks volumes about Californians (and yes, I know I should have been at work at that time but I think going for physical therapy is a legitimate excuse). Anyway, the rest of the run was rather uneventful. I split 6:25s for the last couple of miles on the trail but I had the wind on my back and was probably a bit slower earlier on. I was expecting this loop to be close to 8 but I was back in just over 49 minutes so there's no way this gets rounded up.

Sunday, March 23, 2008 [10M]

Edgewood to Huddart. I drove out to the corner of Edgewood Rd and Canada Rd around 2PM and ran the usual loop to Huddart through Woodside. Even though I wouldn't quite call this a long run it felt like I was back to the usual Sunday routine and it was exciting to be back on one of my favorite trails. My quads still felt pretty sore from Friday's run, which made Huddart not the best option for today's run but I guess I have to get used to running hills again and there's no easy way around it. At least this route starts out with about 4 miles on flat surfaces which helped my legs loosen up a bit before going over any hills. I wasn't very aggressive on the climbs but I was managing them fine. The downhill parts, though, hurt quite a bit, especially some of the steeper ones towards the end. All in all though, it was an enjoyable run. I haven't been to Huddart for a while and the last few times it was "cold" and rainy, which made it a pretty lonely place, whereas today there were quite a few people out there. I almost had a head on encounter with a galloping horse but fortunately the rider noticed me early enough to hit the breaks. It may sound weird but I missed writing about things like this in my log. You definitely can't get this kind of action on an elliptical.