Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - [8M]

San Carlos. Started out with Justin and Joe but Justin turned around at the 3 mile mark so we were down to 2 from then on. We were running 7:15-7:20 for the most part, just cruising along comfortably and chatting the whole way. 

Monday, December 15, 2008 - [8M]

Redwood Shores. 

Sunday, December 14, 2008 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan.

Week Recap (7 December 2008 - 13 December 2008) - 28 Miles

Saturday, December 13, 2008 [4M]

Spent the entire day looking for a new apartment, got back home around 6:30PM and squeezed in a short run before going out for dinner. 

Friday, December 12, 2008 [0M]

Long day at work, ended up working until 9:30pm and went out for dinner right after.  

 

Thursday, December 11, 2008 [0M]

I wasn't expecting to find the time to get a run in today. Left work at 5:30 PM and spent my evening at a concert. 

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 [9M]

Foster City. Longest run in quite a while. Felt pretty good for the most part although my legs were feeling it a bit at the end. 

Tuesday, December 9, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos.  Met with the group at 6:30 this evening and ran with Joe, Justin and some other who's name I don't recall. We ran to the 3.5 mile mark and back, going out rather casually on the way out and gradually picking it up on the way back. We got down to a good clip for the last mile and a half and it got down to Joe and myself for that part. It was a pretty good run, both because of the company and the run itself. I was feeling a lot more comfortable than my last few runs and was starting to remember what it feels like to enjoy a run. 

Monday, December 8, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out from Club O around 7PM, planning originally to go for the usual 6 mile loop. I was feeling decently at the start and a couple of miles in I decided to go for the full 8 mile loop. Once again I was running without a watch, something I'll probably stick to for a while longer. It helps keeping me running at a comfortable pace without having to know how slow I'm running. After all I'm only running for fun. 

Sunday, December 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing again. 

Saturday, December 6, 2008 [0M]

No running. 

Friday, December 5, 2008 [4M]

Brittan Ave. Almost called it a day without running but I managed to squeeze in a short one before dinner. 

Thursday, December 4, 2008 [0M]

I broke my incredible 3 day running streak, posting another goose egg. My parents flew back from Hawaii today and we ended up going for some shopping this afternoon and the day just  flew by. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Made it 3 in a row with an easy 5 miler after work. I can't really say that running for 3 days straight is an accomplishment but it's something I haven't done in the last 2 months so I'll give myself some credit. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 [7M]

San Carlos. I went back to Road Runner for one of the Tuesday night runs after a 2 month break. I ran with Shyamal the entire time, taking it easy and chatting the whole way. I didn't have a watch again so I'm not sure if I was running slower than yesterday but I felt a lot better. Maybe running with some company had something to do with it. 

Monday, December 1, 2008 [6M]

Redwood Shores. Vacations can't last forever and today I had to go back to work. I took a red eye flight last night and went to work without much sleep, which made it pretty rough to be productive, especially if you consider that I had spent my last 10 days in Hawaii. Despite being somewhat tired by the time I got off work I wanted to get a run in. I felt horribly out of shape and I was running pretty slow. It was probably a good thing I was running without a watch. 

Week Recap (23 November 2008 - 29 November 2008) - 0 Miles

I was in Hawaii the entire week and didn't manage to squeeze in any running. I didn't try really and I'm not gonna say that I regret it, even though I felt a bit like a slacker for not running at all for 10 days. I don't get many chances to go on a vacation like this one and it was good not to worry about having to get a run in while trying to see as much of Hawaii as possible. I went on a couple of fairly long hikes, 8 & 9 miles respectively and did quite a bit of climbing on both so that counts at least as some sort of physical activity. 

Sunday, November 30, 2008 [0M]

Last day in Hawaii.

Week Recap (16 November 2008 - 22 November 2008) - 4 Miles

I slacked off quite a bit this week. I started things off with a 28 mile bike ride on Sunday, which included a brutal 2000ft climb up Skyline. The only other activity I managed to squeeze in this week was a slow 4 mile run on Wednesday. My parents came over on Monday so I spent some time touring SF with them. Friday we all flew to Hawaii and did too many things to have time for running. 

Week Recap (9 November 2008 - 15 November 2008) - ~15 Miles

I've fallen quite a bit behind on the updates so I'm only posting a week recap in an attempt to catch up. I don't have much that are worth mentioning anyway. I ran 3 times, 5-6 miles each time and that's pretty much all I did this week. I don't even remember the details of those runs so I'd probably have a hard time filling up a week's worth of posts. I suppose I could write about other every day things but my daily life really isn't that exciting. 

Week Recap (2 November 2008 - 8 November 2008) - 9 Miles

Not much to write about this week, a couple days of running and nothing else that would count as a workout. It's hard to find motivation to cross train when it doesn't seem like I can really benefit from it. By now I'm fairly certain that I'm going for Achilles tendon surgery in January. I have tentatively scheduled surgery on January 21st so now the decision would be whether I would want to opt out of it or not. I've been thinking about it a lot and I can't see any reason to opt out. I'm sure it's not an easy thing to go through and I know the recovery process will be long and frustrating.  I do think, though, that it will be worth it. Realizing that I won't be able to resume training until some time in June or July is somewhat scary but if that means I don't have to deal with my Achilles again I can live with it. What I've been debating about is what to do over the next couple of months.  I'm feeling good enough now to think that I could start running again on a daily basis  but I don't know what I can shoot for given that I'll need to take a very long break in 2 months. I'll be back in Cyprus between mid December to mid January so I don't even need to consider embarassing myself at alumni. I could shoot for competing at cross country nationals in Cyprus but considering the short time frame I don't think it's worth it to put too much focus for that. I definitely missed running over the last month and I want to get back to it as soon as possible but over the next two months there's no point in obsessing much about my training. I'll take things as they come, running when and as long as I feel like. I have some vacation coming up, including 10 days in Hawaii and almost a month in Cyprus so I guess it's not a bad time to just enjoy life. 

Saturday, November 8, 2008 [0M]

Slacked off again. 

Friday, November 7, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Thursday, November 6, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. It almost feels like I'm getting back to real mileage. My foot still hurts a bit but I think it's at the point where I could keep running through it. I might give a couple more days of rest though. The run itself wasn't too bad, I thought I was running pretty slow but I was just under 7:00 pace so not too bad. 

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 [4M]

Out again for a run today, doing a short out and back on the bay trail in Redwood Shores. 

Tuesday, November 4, 2008 [0M]

Worked from home again today and pretty much spent the entire day watching the election coverage in parallel. 

Monday, November 3, 2008 [0M]

We had a power outage at work this morning so I came back home and worked remotely the rest of the day. I wasn't planning on running and didn't feel like driving back to Oracle to cross train. 

Sunday, November 2, 2008 [0M]

Spent the day in SF. 

Saturday, November 1, 2008 [4M]

I wasn't planning on running today but I couldn't resist getting out in the rain. First couple of miles were slow and not very pleasant but towards the end I even started feeling good. My foot was hurting mostly in the beginning but I didn't feel it much after I warmed up a bit, although I still think I need some more recovery time before I can jump back to building up the mileage. 

Friday, October 31, 2008 [3M]

I went by Club O after work and after debating for a while between running and cross training I opted to go out again for a few miles. After being out for so long it feels like I'm trying to learn how to run again. My form was awkard and I felt out of shape. 

Thursday, October 30, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. 

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 [3M]

My foot is still hurting a bit but I decided to ignore reason and go for a run. It was just one of those days when I wanted to run to burn off frustrations and was getting more frustrated because I couldn't run so in the end I said "the hell with it all" and just went out for a short one.  It didn't feel all that great but it was good to get out there again. 

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 [0M]

Some elliptical, some bike. I don't really remember exactly what I did and for how long but it wasn't much. 

Monday, October 27, 2008 [0M]

I finally went back to Dr Oloff's office today to find out my MRI results. The MRI ruled out the stress fracture but that's all I got as far as good news. The bad news is that the pain is related to the chronic Achilles issue, which was a bit surprising since the pain was not at the usual spot but more on the inside of my foot. The tendon was shown to be irritated, though, and is starting to detach at the point where it meets the heel. There's a lot of fluid accumulated on the sides of the tendon, which is why my foot has been hurting. For the short term, there's not much I can do but give this some more rest. For the long term I have two options: 

1. Do nothing. I could start running again once  I feel better and keep doing whatever I have been doing all along. Whenever the Achilles starts acting up again I err on the conservative side, start the I-squared treatment and hope things get better without having to cut back on my training much. 

2. Have surgery to fix the problem for good. 

Things would be a lot easier if I wasn't running competitively, since I wouldn't really have any reason to go through surgery. I would go about living my life and not worry about this, even if the Achilles was acting up every now and then. If I want to keep running, though, and especially if I want to make another attempt to prepare for a marathon, I think I need a more permanent solution. It's frustrating when I'm doing some serious training, running peak mileage and good workouts, to have everything go to waste because of this one injury. The source of the problem is that I have an elongated heel bone, which irritates the Achilles tendon, and there's basically no other way to fix the defect without surgery. My main concern is that this kind of surgery will require a long recovery period. Few weeks on crutches, lots of time in physical therapy and about 4-6 months before I can get back to running. It's up to me to decide if I want to go through surgery but it's not an easy decision to make. If I were to have surgery it wouldn't until some time in mid-January so I still have some time to think about it. Oh, nothing as far as training today. I was back home early in the afternoon after my appointment and stayed home, completely unmotivated to do anything. 

Sunday, October 26, 2008 [0M]

Nothing. I didn't have the time to fix my bike to go for a ride before going to a concert this afternoon.

Week Recap (19 October 2008 - 25 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Almost 3 weeks without running. Compared to the previous two weeks I did a somewhat better job at cross training this week although I could still do a lot more. I'm having a hard time finding the motivation though. There's only 6 weeks left until CIM and I think I need to accept that I won't be toeing the line for my first marathon on December 7th. I have to wait a couple of more days until I find out what's wrong with my foot but I'm not very optimistic that I can get back to running soon. I tried a few times to jog a few steps and my foot was still hurting quite a bit so regardless of the diagnosis I I still need more time off. Even if I could start running again tomorrow and jump back to hundred mile weeks right away, I would still not have enough time to be ready for a marathon in 6 weeks.

Saturday, October 25, 2008 [0M]

No cross training today unless I can counting paddling on a surf board counts as cross training. I took  my first shot at surfing this morning and spend some time in the ocean, battling some pretty big waves. I didn't have much success since the waves were too big for a beginner but maybe I did get a bit of an upper body workout. 

Friday, October 24, 2008 [0M]

After another bike attempt gone wrong I can only say that my bike must hate me. I got out of Club O just after 5 and I thought I'd have enough time to put a couple of hours on the bike before it got dark. I headed south towards Bair island and got a flat tire about 4.5 miles out. I had a spare tube this time so I made the switch but as I was pumping it up I broke the air valve and was left with no backup. I thought about walking back at first but I figured I'd rather take my chances riding a bike with a flat tire instead of walking 4.5 miles wearing bike shoes. Running is so much simpler. 

Thursday, October 23, 2008 [0M]

Elliptical + stationary bike. Pretty short workout today. My right calf was feeling sore after yesterday's session on the elliptical, somewhat remeniscent of the last time I pulled my calf on the elliptical. I tried using the elliptical again but got off after a few minutes since my calf was making things somewhat uncomfortable. I got on a stationary bike for about 20 minutes but I could still feel the calf a bit and got fed up so I called it a day. 

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 [0M]

30 minutes on the elliptical + ~15 minutes of swimming. I would have stayed on the elliptical for a while longer but my foot was hurting a bit so I opted to head in the pool instead. I reminded myself that I pretty much suck at swimming and couldn't stand it for too long. 

Tuesday, October 21, 2008 [0M]

9 miles of biking. I was planning to go on a longer bike ride but I couldn't get out of work until 6:30PM . I started from Club O and biked along the Bay trail to San Mateo bridge. I decided to turn back as it was starting to get dark and I don't have any lights on my bike. I slowed down a lot on the way back as it got pretty dark by the end and I didn't want to crash on anyone. 

Monday, October 20, 2008 [0M]

I had an MRI this morning, although I won't get the results until next Monday. No workout today as I opted to go out for dinner after work.  

Sunday, October 19, 2008 [0M]

28 mile bike ride. I bought a couple more tubes today so I could fix the flat I got yesterday and have a spare one for today's ride. I drove over to Canada Rd at 5PM and headed south towards Woodside.  I continued on Woodside Rd then picked up Portolla Rd and made the turn once I got to Alpine Rd. Pretty good ride, I was moving at a good clip the whole time and did a decent job working the hills. I think I'm starting to get a bit better at this biking thing although I'm sure I'm not even close to being a competitive biker. Not that I would ever consider picking it up as sport. 

Week Recap (12 October 2008 - 18 October 2008) - 0 Miles

Pretty much just a horrible week for many different reasons. No running obviously since my foot is still hurting but not much of anything else either. This turned out to be my busiest week ever at work and I ended working late too many nights and not having time to train. Even if I wasn't hurt it's very likely that my training would have taken a hit. Of course I would have been a lot more motivated to squeeze in a run on some of those long days but I just can't do the same when it comes to cross training.  

Saturday, October 18, 2008 [0M]

~29 mile bike ride. I finally managed to do something that counts as a running alternative. I started from home, headed to Oracle, picked up the bay trail to Foster City and continued all the way to the airport. Things were pretty smooth on the way out and I made the turn after about 55 minutes. The way back was far from smooth though. I didn't even go a mile after making the turn and I got a flat tire. I didn't have a spare since I used my last one last night and didn't buy another one before today's ride. I pumped the tire up and managed to continue for about 6 more miles without major issues by making a couple more stops along the way. I was thinking that I would manage to get back with just a few more stops but somewhere along the way I hit a bump and completely ruined the tube. I couldn't get any air in it so I ended up riding for about 7 miles with a flat tire. Probably not good for my bike but I don't know what else I could have done. Inevitably that last part was really slow and wouldn't really count as a workout. It's just my luck these days, even my bike is giving me a hard time. It's not enough that I can't run. 

Friday, October 17, 2008 [0M]

I left work as soon as I could today and was home some time after 1PM. After only getting about 3 hours of sleep over the last 2 days I needed to start catching up and took about a 4 hour nap. I wasn't in the mood for working out but at least I fixed my bike so hopefully I'll manage to go for a ride tomorrow. 

Thursday, October 16, 2008 [0M]

I finally had my appointment with Dr Oloff today but I didn't really get much out of it. I had an X-ray which didn't show anything and I'm having an MRI on Monday to check if I have a stress fracture. No time for a workout today, I was up all night in preparation for tomorrow's demo. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 [0M]

Today brought back some memories of MIT. It wasn't the good kind of memories and had nothing to do with running. We have a big demo on Friday and have been putting some long hours lately. Today I wound up working from 10:30 AM until 4:30AM, pretty much without a break. I'll be glad when this week is over. 

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 [0M]

I made it to San Carlos for the Tuesday night run even though I wasn't planning on running. I headed over to the trail with Becca and walked for about 45 minutes. I wouldn't call this a workout but it's better than what I've been doing lately. 

Monday, October 13, 2008 [0M]

Left work somewhat late and just headed home. I know I should be doing a better job at cross training but I can't help it. 

Sunday, October 12, 2008 [0M]

I wanted to go for a bike ride today but I needed to get a new tube to replace a flat and I ended up running a bunch of other errands and not finding time for it. I even had to get to had to go to work late in the afternoon and didn't get back home until 9PM, by which time it was too late to do anything.

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. 

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. 

Week Recap (21 September 2008 - 27 September 2008) - 102 Miles

According to the books this is my highest mileage week ever although it's not really close to my highest rolling week total of 118. Starting the week with a solid 22-miler helped take a big chunk of mileage out of the way and made things somewhat easier for the rest of the week. Still not doing a great job at putting in doubles, as I only put in 2 morning runs and ran 92 miles in singles. By adding more doubles I could either add on some more mileage or keep the legs somewhat fresher for my workouts. I can't complain of course for Tuesday's workout, that was as good as I could expect a workout to be right now, but Friday's attempt to run a tempo was rather disappointing. I'm not gonna look into it too much, though, I know it's not surprising for my legs to feel beat on some days and I don't think that workout reflects my fitness in any way. Overall a pretty solid week. Next week will be a recovery week so I'm only gonna shoot for about 70 miles. After posting 6 90+ mile weeks I think an easy week is in order to help keep me healthy and also give me a mental break. I'm running the San Jose half next Sunday so hopefully I'll be well rested for that. 

Saturday, September 27, 2008 [8M]

One more weekend in Vegas. I know this wasn't the best time for a Vegas vacation, with the San Jose half coming up next weekend, but I couldn't pass on Pete's bachelor party. At least this time I was determined not to let the festivities interfere with my training and got out this afternoon for an easy run. I already put in enough mileage this week so I didn't need much to round off the week. I was  out from the Mirage, headed north on Industrial Rd and came back up on Las Vegas Blvd. Pretty boring run, the only interesting thing about it was getting to see some part of Vegas that you don't normally get to see. It's somewhat amazing that a few miles away from all the flashy lights you get the feeling that you are in a small town in the middle of the desert. 

Friday, September 26, 2008 [14M]

Foster City. I stayed at work rather late for a Friday and didn't get started until 7PM. I headed over to Foster City planning to run a long tempo. I had been feeling tired all day and wasn't really excited about running a workout at the end of a long day. I was dragging on my warm-up but was hoping that once I got started I would feel better. That didn't happen and I could tell that I would have trouble running anything fast from mile one. My original plan was to run 5:40 pace for at least 8 miles but I revised the plan once I started, deciding start with something close to 6:00 and try to get progressively faster. I was in the low 5:50s for the first mile but was working a lot harder than I should have been at that pace. After a couple of miles I gave up on trying to run anything fast and settled with putting in just a hard run. I was only running sub 6 pace for 5 miles and slowed down to a 6:20 when I turned into a strong headwind near the San Mateo bridge. I put in a couple more miles at 6:20-6:30 but even that felt like I was forcing the pace so I just shut it down for the rest of the run. I was slower than 7:00 pace for my last 5 miles and felt like I was running on empty. I was glad to get this over with and headed straight home without running any strides or stretching much. I don't know what the deal was today, my legs were really beat and I don't think there's much I could have done about it. I haven't really felt the mileage catching up to me so far so I guess it was bound to happen. 

Thursday, September 25, 2008 [13M]

Redwood Shores. Don't recall anything exciting happening today. 

Wednesday PM, September 24, 2008 [12M]

Edgewood to Huddart. I left work early to go for a haircut and since I was out by 5PM I thought it was a good chance to head over for a run at Huddart. Pretty standard route, straight to Huddart and up to Toyon Camp and back. Not the greatest of runs, my legs were feeling a bit tired and my hill climbing was far from impressive. 

Wednesday AM, September 24, 2008 [5M]

Chula Vista - Alameda - San Carlos.  I managed to get myself up early enough to be out of the door by 9AM for a true morning run. I run a short version of my usual Alameda - San Carlos loop by cutting through to Alameda down Chula Vista Dr. Pretty typical morning run, feeling sluggish and running slow. At least I didn't have to worry about squeezing in a run in the middle of the day. 

Tuesday PM, September 23, 2008 [11M]

5x1600. 4:57, 4:52, 4:50, 4:52, 4:44

I left work at 5PM and drove over to Sequoia high school for some good old-fashioned mile repeats. The weather was in the 90s earlier in the day but by the time I finished my warm-up it didn't feel like it was that hot. My legs were feeling decent on the warm-up and strides so I was confident this would turn out to be a good workout. Perhaps I had unreasonably low expectations and thought I'd be satisfied with running some 5:00 miles. I started out a bit slow on the first interval and came through the first lap in 76. That lap didn't feel so smooth and seeing how it was slow I was worried a bit that I would have to work hard to run 5:00 pace. Turns out one lap was all my legs needed to loosen up and I was able to pick up the pace and feel more comfortable. I was 2:30-3:43 at the end of the next two laps and held on to that pace until the end of the interval. I took a 400m jog between intervals and did a good job at keeping the rest relatively short. I was getting right into a jog at the end of my intervals and took between 3:05-3:20 to cover my rest lap. I made a slight effort to get out faster in the second interval and came through in 73, somewhat surprised since it felt really comfortable. I ran even 73s the rest of the way and felt in control the whole time. On the 3rd interval I ran 72s for the first two laps and 73s for the last two. I got out in 71 on the 4th but slowed down too much on the 2nd lap and came through the 800 in 2:25. I worked the 3rd lap some more to come through in 3:48 and ended up with a low 4:52. I felt almost completely recovered as I was getting ready to start my last interval and figured I could push the pace some more. I got out in 70-2:21-3:33 and closed decently with another 71. I felt like I could have blown away that last lap but reminded myself that this was just a workout and kept it under control. I put in about 4 miles around Redwood City for my cool-down and called it a day with some strides on the infield. I was very happy with how things turned out today, I haven't looked back at past workouts but I'm pretty sure this must be my best mile repeat workout ever. It was one of those workouts you dream of having, when you step on the track with some goal pace in mind and are able to destroy that window and feel very comfortable doing it. You can definitely argue that I should have had a more aggressive goal but

seeing how much I've struggled running hard workouts on my own over the last year and with my legs tired from all the mileage, it's hard to blame myself for not hammering a workout from the gun. The times by themselves might not be that impressive but the way the workout progressed was  the big confidence booster. I wasn't really working hard until the last interval and even in that there was a lot more left in the tank. I was able to get the legs moving fast and felt like I was smoothly flowing around the track. One of those rare days when everything is clicking, hopefully there's more like this to come. 

Tuesday AM, September 23, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Monday, September 22, 2008 [12M]

Foster City. Easy run this afternoon, running around 7:00 for the most part and only getting down to 6:35-6:40 for the last 3 miles down Marina Lagoon. I was expecting my legs to be somewhat tired after yesterday's 22-miler but that wasn't really the case. There was some minor soreness but nothing that affected my running much. 

Sunday, September 21, 2008 [22M]

Bay Trail to Burlingame. I really needed some sleep today and slept in until noon. I didn't get out until 2PM but it was a rather cool day so I didn't have any issues going long at that time. I started from home and crossed over 101 to the trail along Marina Lagoon down Hillsdale Blvd. The plan was to head north on the bay trail and do an 11 mile out and back, basically a slightly extended version of the 21 miler I had run a couple of weeks ago. For the first time I experimented with eating some gels along the way since I'll need to get used to those as part of my marathon preparation. I had no idea how many and how often I should take them and figured I'd start with a couple of gels and take one every 50 minutes. My plan as far as pace was to get out at whatever pace felt comfortable and progressively run faster on the way back, getting close to marathon pace by the end. I made the turn after 1:16:35, so I averaged just under 7:00 pace on the way out. I wasn't feeling that great at the start and was a bit worried that this could end up being a rough day but after 4 or 5 miles my legs loosened up and I was comfortably covering mile after mile. It was a bit windy on the way out so I had the wind on my back as I turned around, which made it easier to pick up the pace. I wasn't trying to force the pace at all but I was getting more into it as the run progressed and didn't have much trouble getting my legs to move faster. I only made a concious effort to run faster in the last 3 miles and was running low 6s, with the last mile or so somewhere close to 5:40 - 5:50 pace. I wound up back in 2:25:45, so 69:10 for the way back, averaging under 6:20 pace. My legs were obviously tired by the end but I wasn't completely spent. The last half of the run was pretty solid and I wasn't dying at the end, instead I was able to get down to a brisk pace. I don't know what effect the gels had but I think at least they helped a bit mentally. This was my longest run ever and it's really encouraging that I made it through without any problems. I'll probaly try to get up to 23-24 before CIM and I'm getting more confident that I can handle the marathon distance. The only question is how fast can I get myself to run it. 

Week Recap (14 September 2008 - 20 September 2008) - 98 Miles

Another solid week, both in terms of quantity and quality. I was shooting for 100-105 this week and came a couple of miles short, which in the grand scheme of things is not a big deal. I feel like I can handle 5-10 more miles but with work and all it's getting hard to find the time to squeeze some more mileage in without at least sacrificing my social life some more.  Not that it's something I'm not really used to. Seeing how I only had two morning runs this week and Friday turned out to be only an 8 mile day it seems like there's room for more but that's easier said than done. I should be shooting to run doubles every day and I need to start running before work in order to do that. I can usually get a run in before lunch but you never know what can come up in the middle of the day. As far as workouts are concerned, I'm happy with how things are progressing. I haven't really run anything hard yet but I first want to get used to putting in some harder efforts while doing high mileage and running on tired legs. I'll wrap this up with one big announcement. I finally decided to run my first marathon and I'll be lining up for CIM on December 7th. I guess it's fairly obvious that I've been thinking about it for some time and I've been gearing my training to be more marathon specific so I figured I might as well commit myself to it.   

Saturday, September 20, 2008 [12M]

2x5000m - 17:11, 17:16

I was up around 10:30 this morning, had some breakfast and waited a couple of hours to be fully awake before heading over to Carlmont high school for a track workout. I'm starting to run some marathon specific workouts, which will include some longer intervals on marathon pace (I'm assuming about 5:40 pace for MP right now). I should be able to run more than a couple of 5Ks at that pace but I'm not yet used to running such long intervals on the track so I thought I could use a transition period. I started out a bit faster than planned on the first one, coming through the first lap in 80. I slowed down but not by much and I was comfortably running close to 5:30 pace the whole way. I split 5:28 for the first mile, was at 10:59 for mile 2 and 16:30 at mile 3. (Note that these were full mile splits and not 1600s, since the track is short and I'm running in lane 3, which is a couple of meters over 400m. I guess the 5Ks were about 30m long so they would have been 5-6 seconds faster, not that it makes much of a difference but I'm noting it down mostly for personal reference.) I was feeling fairly comfortable running 5:30 pace and decided to shoot for the same in the 2nd 5K. I took about 4 minutes of rest between the two intervals and continued pretty much where I had left off. I was slightly slower for the first mile, coming through in 5:32 then slacked off a bit on the second mile and came through in 11:08. My legs were feeling a bit tired but I mostly lost focus and  slowed down. I picked up the pace on the 3rd mile and split a 5:28 to come through in 16:36. The 2nd interval took some more effort than the first but I wasn't killing myself out there. I was running on some tired legs by the end, a combination I think of putting in 10K on the track and rounding up a week just shy off a 100 miles. I was tempted to add a couple of more miles for cool down but I was running fairly slow on the way back and I thought that I wouldn't get much out of a couple junk miles.

Friday, September 19, 2008 [8M]

Golden Gate Park. I had dinner plans in the city tonight and tried getting up in the morning for my long run of the day but I didn't manage to drag myself out of bed. I didn't have the time to put a run before lunch so I had to settle with running only once. I was hoping at least to leave work early but that didn't happen either and I left just in time to hit the Friday afternoon traffic on my way to the city. I was at Rachel's place at 6:15PM and headed out right away to Golden Gate park. Since I was running a bit late I kept this short and only ran once around the perimeter of the park. My legs were feeling somewhat tired so a short and easy was probably not a bad thing. 

Thursday PM, September 18, 2008 [11M]

Alameda - Jefferson. I got back home from work at 7:30PM and didn't waste much time getting out the door. Headed up Ralston as usual, continued on Alameda all the way to Jeffreson Ave and took El Camino back to my place. Not much going on tonight, just putting in the miles, averaging just under 6:50 pace. 

Thursday AM, September 18, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Wednesday PM, September 17, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark. I left work early and was out again by 5PM, trying to squeeze in my run before heading to a concert. I started out at a faster pace than usual since I was a bit in a rush. I was feeling good, though, and didn't mind forcing the pace a bit. The climb up to Hallmark was very smooth and once I got there I was moving well on the rolling hills. The descend from Hallmark was fairly fast but not too much faster than usual. I wound up back in 62 minutes, which is 5-6 minutes faster than what I usually run this loop in. 

Wednesday AM, September 17, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 [15M]

8x2:30 fartlek. I ran over from work to San Carlos this afternoon and made it at Road Runner as Doug was heading out. I ran with him for less than a couple of miles, until we made it to the bay trail, and started my fartlek on the trail. My hard efforts were 2:30 long and I like I was moving fast although I didn't have any mile splits to get a more accurate sense of pace. I went by feel on the rest, starting each interval whenever I felt recovered. Perhaps I wasn't pushing the hard efforts as much as I should since I was recovering quickly and kept my rest somewhere between 1:00 - 1:15.  I ended up running 5.25 miles in just under 29 minutes so I averaged right around 5:30 pace, including the rest periods. It's hard to get a sense of how fast I was running on the hard efforts and even if I did, I wouldn't know how to translate times on a gravel trail to the equivalent on the road or track. I wasn't concerned about times today, though, all I wanted was to put in a good effort and I think I got what I wanted. Running over from work and having to run back afterwards also made sure I posted some solid mileage for the day. 

Monday, September 15, 2008 [14M]

Extended Foster City. Pretty much the usual loop with a 2 mile loop added around the park before Coyote point. Moving at a decent clip, just under 6:50 pace overall with the last 3 miles at 6:30.

Sunday, September 14, 2008 [18M]

Rancho San Antonio. In fairlty typical fashion I got started around 1PM. I psyched myself to head up Black Mountain trail, which I have avoided every other time I was in this park since it involves about 3000ft of climbing. I don't know why but today I felt like giving it a shot. I headed to Chamise trail first which led to Black Mountain trail. There were a couple of fairly steep climbs in the begining but it got more gradual towards the end. Black Mountain wasn't too bad at first either. It was a continuous climb for about 3 miles but fairly gradual, something along the lines of the other trails in the park. I made it to the end of the trail in 57 minutes and continued towards Monte Bello Preserve. I had another mile and a half to go and that was the most brutal part of the run. It took me 15 minutes to cover that last part, which means I was running 10 minute pace. Running is probably not the best term to use, the hill was so steep I could only sort of jog up. At least I made it up without stopping once and added a few minutes in Monte Bello before heading back. My legs were already feeling beat from the climbing and I wasn't very excited about the downhill part that was coming up. It only took me 8:30 to get back down to Black Mountain trail as I was pretty much running without control down the hill. I was still moving fairly fast on the more gradual descend back to Chamise and to the parking lot. By the end, though, my legs were spent and I was also feeling a bit dehydrated, which made the last couple of miles a bit rough. I wound up back at the car in 2:13:30 and I wasn't even sure if I could call this 18. I'm guessing it might be somewhere between 17.5 - 18, making this one of the slowest long runs I ever did. I doubt I'd be heading back up Black Mountain again, at least not all the way to Monte Bello. 

Week Recap (7 September 2008 - 13 September 2008) - 100 Miles

Solid week, bumping up the mileage in the triple digits. I got a rough start to the week with Sunday's run, which not only was short but also one of the most miserable runs I've had in a long time. I can't blame anyone else but myself though. I made up for it the next day with a solid 21 miler and continued to post solid mileage the rest of the week. I had a good workout on Friday, nothing spectacular but a decent effort aimed mostly at getting my legs used to running some longer intervals on the track. I'm pretty happy with how my training is progressing, I've managed to keep the mileage consistently high and I feel like I'm in shape to start running some good workouts.

Saturday, September 13, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark. I only needed 10 miles today to round up the week to 100 and I didn't feel like adding any more. I took things easy, really taking my time on the climb up to Hallmark and not forcing the pace on the way down. Pretty much just putting in the miles to finish up a solid week. 

Friday PM, September 12, 2008 [11M]

3 x 2 Mile. 11:10 (5:35), 10:55 (5:30), 10:34 (5:17). I was a bit late coming back from work and didn't get started until 7:15PM. I ran over to Carlmond high school for my warm-up and didn't really spend much time stretching or running strides before getting into the workout. I wasn't planning to run anything fast today but just wanted to get my legs accustomed to running some long intervals at marathon pace or slightly faster. I was shooting to start at 5:40 pace for the first 2 miler and bring it down 10 seconds for each interval. I run fairly even for the first interval, running back to back 5:35s. The biggest challenge in that first interval was having to dodge around people who were wondering around the track. I'm not sure what exactly was going on, maybe a football game or practice had finished and there were a lot of people just hanging around, including lots of kids running and kicking balls on the track. Fortunately I didn't run into anyone and didn't have to swerve too far out of my lane when someone was blocking my way. The crowd progressively got smaller and by the second interval it wasn't a big deal. I took about 4 minutes of rest between intervals and started out with a 5:30 mile on my second interval, right on target. I was slightly faster on the second mile, splitting a 5:25. I was feeling comfortable the whole way and didn't have trouble bringing down the pace some more for the last interval. I got a bit too excited at the start and came through in 75-76 for the first lap and had to slow myself down a bit. I came through in 5:17 and ran 79s the rest of the way to finish up in 10:34. I felt like I could have blown away those last few laps but I reminded myself that it wasn't the point of the workout. Not a very challenging workout but I got what I wanted out of it. With my mileage climbing up in the 100s I need to get used to running workouts on tired legs and I think this was a good starting point. 

Friday AM, September 12, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Usual loop, usual time. Nothing more to add. 

Thursday PM, September 11, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. Out again from Club O this afternoon for an easy 10. 

Thursday AM, September 11, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Easy 5 before lunch. 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I was out of the door some time after 7PM, in the right mood to put in a good run. I had a good climb up to Sheep Camp and worked the hills well along Canada Rd. I wasn't hammering but putting in a good effort on all the climbs. The last climb up Ralston was pretty solid and I was eager to get moving on the downhill part. I was running sub 5:50 pace for my last 3 miles and wound up back in just under 1:21, which is one of my fastest times for this hilly 12 miler. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 [15M]

San Carlos. I was back home from work around 6:15PM and headed out towards San Carlos right away. I was running a bit late so I didn't quite make it to Road Runner sports but run into Doug and Brent as they were coming up on Holly St. The three of us run together on the way out then Doug took off for a tempo run and I was content with just sitting back and chatting with Brent. We made it back to the store and chilled for a while then I headed back home. I didn't head straight back but instead went up Brittan Ave and took Alameda back to Ralston. I was expecting to be feeling the effects of yesterday's long run but my legs weren't all that tired and I was able to put in a pretty good run. 

Monday, September 8, 2008 [21M]

Bay trail to Burlingame. Since yesterday turned out to be a short day I opted to go for a long run this afternoon. I was out of Club O around 6 and headed north on the bay trail, going past Marina Lagoon. The plan was to do an out and back and wanted to go out for 60-70 minutes before turning back. I started out at whatever pace felt comfortable and was somewhat surprised to split a 6:40 for the first mile along Marina Lagoon. It was good to see, though, that I was moving at a decent clip and feeling very relaxed. I pretty much maintained the pace on the way out and since I was feeling good I decided not to make the turn until I was 70 minutes out. I knew I was running faster than 7:00 pace but I wanted to be maked sure I could call this 20 and didn't mind going a bit over. Turns out I was running 6:40 pace on the way out as  measured the run to be exactly 10.5 each way. Making the turn after having already run over 10 miles and knowing that there's no shortcut home was a somewhat scary realization. My legs were getting a bit tired and I was shaking off some of the soreness from Saturday's race but I was still able to pick it up a bit on the way back. I wound up back in 2:18:15, running close to 6:30 pace for the most part with the last 3 miles at 6:20.  Runs like this one take me one step closer to making the decision to run a marathon some time soon. I've been debating about signing up for CIM  but have yet to commit myself to it.  It's really encouraging that I can put in a run like this one, comfortably moving at a decent clip without drinking much water or eating anything. The weather was nice and cool today, low 60s when I started, dropping in the high 50s as the sun was setting, so I only made a couple of stops for water and those were more of precaution than anything. The route was actually pretty good for such a run as there's a decent number of water fountains along the way so this might become a popular choice for my 20+ milers. 

Sunday, September 7, 2008 [11M]

Exeter, NH. I made plans to meet with some of the guys at 9 this morning and head up to Exeter for a run. That didn't stop me from staying up until 4 AM and have a few more drinks than I should. I didn't wake up until Jake called me at 9 and quickly got up, picked up some running clothes and got out of the house. I tried to drink as much water as I could as we were driving up but I was really feeling miserable the entire time. We made it to Mark Coogan's house after about an hour of driving and didn't waste much time getting out of the house. The group consisted of Jake, Coogan and his brother, Jacokes, Paterno and myself. I wasn't really in good enough shape to head out for a long run but sucked it out and tagged along. To make things even worse, Jacokes got out to the front and started forcing the pace as usual. We tried to run through some trails at first but last night's pouring rain created some huge puddles and made it hard to run through. We probably ran 2 or 3 miles on trails then hit the streets for the rest of the run. I was struggling a bit for the first few miles and I was hanging at the back of the group but things kind of got better as the run progressed. I still wasn't feeling that good at any point in the run but I was at least holding on without too much trouble. We were running a bit short on time since I had to get back in time to catch my flight back to the bay area so we kept the run short, which was probably a good thing. I was supposed to land at SJC at 8:00PM and was thinking that I could put in a second run to get some more mileage for the day and loosen up the legs after sitting on a plane for 6 hours. Unfortunately because of some bad weather we had to land at Denver and spend some time on the ground for refueling so I didn't make it back home until 11PM.  I was starving and definitely wasn't in the mood for another run so I'll need to make up for the mileage during the week.