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 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 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 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 [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 [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.