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 [0M]

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

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 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 7, 2008 [0M]

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

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. 

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.