Week Recap (6 Apr 2008 - 12 Apr 2008) - 70 Miles

I managed to get the mileage back up to a decent number this week although the quality of my runs did take a hit. I had a good start to the week with a nice long run on Sunday but things went downhill after I attempted an AT run on Tuesday and ran a crappy workout. The next few days were pretty miserable. I was putting in the miles but struggled a lot and my runs were slow and painful. I had been feeling great since I returned from my injury and I guess I was bound to hit a downswing sooner or later. At least I finished the week on a positive note.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan. I was originally planning on having a workout either yesterday or today and hadn't ruled it out completely until I got up this morning. I got some good sleep last night and was feeling a lot more rested compared to the last few days but I still opted to skip the workout and just finish off the week with a short run. I was out around 1PM, which wasn't the best idea considering it was about 85 degrees out. I wouldn't ordinarily worry consider this too hot but I haven't run in the heat in a while and didn't have the time to adjust since the weather jumped 20 degrees in 2 days. I did a good job staying hydrated before the run and didn't really run that long to have any trouble. My legs were feeling decent today and I was moving at a good pace for most of the run. I even decided to push the last couple of miles a bit and probably got down in the low 6s . I averaged around 6:30 for the whole run, making this one of the best runs of the week.

Friday, April 11, 2008 [9M]

Hallmark Park. I came back home from work and didn't waste much time getting out, hitting the streets by 6PM. The weather got a lot warmer all of a sudden, probably still in the mid 70s during my run. I did the usual route through Water Dog Lake Park, went across Hallmark Park to Hallmark Dr and looped back to Water Dog Lake. At the beginning of the run I thought about staying on the streets in order to avoid hills, since my legs are still suffering, but I finally opted for running on soft surfaces. Once I hit the first hills I started having second thoughts about my decision but I had already committed myself to it. The climb up Lake Rd was pretty slow but once I got to the top I was feeling better and the way back was almost decent.

Thursday, April 10, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I was feeling tired all day and was expecting this to be another tough run. I don't know if I set myself up for a bad run that way but things went pretty much as expected. I didn't feel as bad as yesterday but still shuffling through at slower than 7:00 pace. I was planning to lift afterwards but didn't have the energy for it once I finished my run so I just stretched briefly and headed home.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 [11M]

Coyote Point from PJCC. I left work early and was at PJCC by 4PM for my last physical therapy session. I was only there for about half an hour since there wasn't that much to go over. I did some basic stretching and strengthening with the trainer and then talked a bit about things I can do by myself from now on. I was out from PJCC around 4:30 and headed towards Coyote Point along the bay trail. I was feeling really tired today and this turned out to be a very slow and painful run. I was fighting a strong wind on the way out, making it even harder to move at a decent pace, and my legs kept feeling worse on the way back so I was dragging the whole way.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 [10M]

Anaerobic Threshold run. I decided to give one of Coach Taylor's new workouts a try since it seemed to fit what I'm doing right now. The goal of the workout is to run 40 seconds slower than mile PR for as long as you can but for my first one I wanted to be somewhat more conservative and was shooting to run 5:10-5:20 pace. I was back home from work and on my way to Carlmont High School by 7PM. I got pretty much right into it, starting out with a 78 for the first lap and continuing with 80s and 81s. It was windy again so I was content with running 5:20s. I didn't manage to hold on to that pace for too long, though, and after coming through the half in 2:45 with my legs feeling like trash I decided to stop after the second mile, which I finished in 5:31. I jogged a couple of laps and decided to add on 4 quarters to the workout. I know it doesn't make that much sense as a workout but I felt that 2 miles on the track would hardly qualify as a workout and wanted to put in something more. My legs were pretty tired and I wasn't putting that much effort into the quarters, just getting out reasonably fast and maintaining the pace. I ran 68, 70, 69 and 72, which is far from spectacular but not a complete loss cause given the circumstances. I jogged a few more laps on the infield afterwards and took the long route home to add on some slow mileage. After running another horrible workout I'm starting to wonder I would have been better off sticking to base mileage for another week or two before starting any hard efforts. It feels a bit strange, though, that I can comfortably clip 6:20s on long runs but I can't run a minute faster for more than two miles. It's actually sad if you consider that a couple of months ago I averaged 5:25s for a half marathon. I was planning to run another workout this week but I think I'll wait to see how I feel by the end of the week and play things by ear.

Monday, April 7, 2008 [10M]

Foster City. I was out of Club O by 6 PM for the usual 10 mile loop on the neighboring peninsula. It was probably not the best choice for a run since it was a very windy day and running along the bay turned out to be rather frustrating. Things were better for the last half of the run, after I turned in on Foster City Blvd. It felt like I was running slow, mostly because I had a hard time running into the wind, but I wound up back at Club O after 67:45, which is under 6:40 pace for this loop, so not too shabby. I'm back to running strides on a daily basis, although I still don't feel very fast. Lifted afterwards before calling it a day.

Sunday, April 6, 2008 [13M]

Huddart to Wunderlich. I drove out to the corner of Purissima Creek Redwoods and Huddart Park around 2PM and went for an out and back on the trail to Wunderlich Park. I made it to Wunderlich in about 47 minutes, discovered that there's an entrance to El Corte de Madera Creek on the other side of Skyline Blvd and added a couple of minutes checking it out before heading back. I was a bit faster on the way back, getting back to the car in 45 minutes. I was feeling pretty good the whole way, just cruising and enjoying every minute of the run. It's definitely good to be back to long runs like this one.