Not bad for my second week back. I was pretty much running as much as I felt like every day and in the end I put in a decent number of miles. I think my legs could have easily handled another 10-20 miles but I'm not in a rush to get back to high mileage. I even opted to go on a bike ride on Saturday and got a decent workout of it. I'm not certain yet but I'm thinking about continuing with the 6-days-of-running/1-day-of-biking approach for another couple of weeks.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008 [0M]
~24 mile bike ride. I was content with keeping this week at 50 miles so I opted to do some biking today instead of running. I drove over to Sawyer Camp and headed north on Skyline Blvd. I was considering going all the way to Lake Merced, which would make this about a 30 mile ride but I cut it short after deviating a bit from my planned route. At some point along the way I should have crossed over 280 to continue on Skyline but I made the wrong turn and headed east towards the bay. It didn't take me long to realize that I had gone the wrong way but at that point I was flying down a ridiculously steep hill and didn't want to stop and climb back up. I ended up on El Camino and went north, hoping to find an easier way to get back on Skyline. It didn't seem like that was an option so eventually I decided to suck it up and go up the hill. I might suck at biking but that hill would probably challenge even the most experienced bikers. I was riding with the lowest gear, standing up and working hard but I was barely making any ground. At some point I had to stop and then I had a hard time getting back on the bike. It took me a few tries before I managed to gather enough momentum to keep the bike from rolling backwards and continue the climb. I made it to the top eventually after the brutal climb and continued on Skyline but with my legs dead tired I decided to take an early turn back. On the way back I took advantage of the downhill parts and let my legs recover a bit. With 8 or 9 miles to go some guy passed me and I decided to pick up the pace and go after him. I always thought that I sucked at climbing hills with my bike but surprisingly I was gaining on the uphill parts and losing ground on the flat and downhill stretches. He managed to build a decent gap but stopped after a couple of miles and after I went by I never saw him again. I made my way back through Sawyer camp and kept hammering those last 6 miles, getting back to the car after 1:40. Pretty good ride overall, I definitely feel like I'm starting to get a lot more comfortable on the bike.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 [8M]
San Carlos. Once again it was Brad and myself for this Tuesday's run. Brad is moving back to Vermont in a couple of days so this was our last run together. It's kind of unfortunate since he was pretty much the only training partner I had around here. The run today turned out to be pretty good. We were running 6:40s for the most part, feeling fairly comfortable. I actually feel that I'm in decent shape despite taking some time off.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008 [6M]
Alameda - 31st Ave. I came back from work around 7PM and wasn't in the mood for running so I sat in front of the TV for an hour. I'm still doing whatever I feel on a daily basis so I didn't mind skipping the run altogether but around 8PM I felt like putting in a few miles so I got out for a short run. For the first couple of miles my stomach was complaining because I had been snacking for the last hour but after a while I started feeling better. I ended up being a decent run, I even considered adding on a couple of more miles but in the end I decided to head back home for dinner.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday, 20 July, 2008 [11M]
Edgewood to Huddart. I drove over to my usual starting point around 1PM and headed straight to Huddart. I wasn't sure how many miles my legs could handle, especially with all the hills that I would have to run but I figured I'd play it by ear. I didn't have any trouble putting in a decently long run and felt surpisingly good. I was feeling strong on the hills and moving at a good clip the whole time. I made it to the Dean trail in about 42 minutes and went out to Toyon camp before heading back but somehow I finished in just over 77 minutes. I was expecting this to end up at 12 or 13 miles but I doubt I can call it anything over 11. Still not a bad way to get the week underway.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Week Recap (13 July 2008 - 19 July 2008) - 25 Miles
After a short break I started getting back into it this week. I didn't have much planned really and pretty much did whatever I was in the mood for. Not a bad start, put in a few miles and started preparing the legs for the mileage build up which will follow.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 [0M]
Opted to go out for dinner instead of running. I didn't really have a definite plan about running today anyway.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Monday, 14 July, 2008 [0M]
Pretty rough day. I made it back to the Bay area around noon and went straight from the airport to work. Having only slept about 5 hours in the last two days I had a hard time staying awake at my desk and obviously wasn't very productive. Called it a day around 6PM and went home to crash on the couch for the rest of the evening.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Sunday, 13 July, 2008 [0M]
I sure had a fun four days in Milwaukee but the trip back ended up being quite an adventure. I spent the morning and early afternoon wandering around the city with Carlos, before heading to the airport around 5PM. My flight was supposed to leave at 7:30PM but after getting pushed back a couple of times we eventually found out around midnight that the flight was cancelled. The most ridiculous part was the airline didn't have any available flights to put us on until Tuesday or Wednesday. Not wanting to get stranded in Milwaukee for another couple of days I ended up buying another ticket for a different early morning flight. By the time I sorted everything out it was too late to leave the airport and try to find a hotel so I ended up spending the night there. Staying in an airport for 14 hours is definitely not a fun experience.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008 [4M]
A bunch of old-timers gathered today in Shorewood to join Schmeck on his last run as a single man. We headed out from Schmeck's place around noon and went for a short and easy (for the most part) loop. This run sure brought back some memories. It didn't take long for Brewer to get up in the front, even though he hasn't run a step in a long time. Not far into the run we got to the bottom of the hill and Schmeck suggested we race to the top. Brewer was the first to react and Schmeck, Carlos and myself followed right away. Soon I started regretting my decision but I was too late to back out. It was an epic 3-way battle to the top with me, Schmeck and Carlos all leaning for the line and eventually declaring it a tie. I was spent after we reached the top, which wasn't surprising considering I hadn't run for over 2 weeks. We took things easy for a while and had the second race of the day with less than a mile to go. This time it was on flat ground between two half mile markers. Carlos was the first one to take off with Schmeck following. I didn't feel like I had another hard effort in me so I stayed back but then decided that I couldn't accept losing to Brewer and Maltas. I caught up and easily cruised to the bronze medal. We were back at Schmeck's place shortly after and called it a day. Not a bad way to send Schmeck off to married life.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thurday, July 10, 2008 [0M]
Flew to Milwaukee this morning for Schmeck's wedding. I wasn't planning on running but the day long bachelor party I wouldn't have time for it anyway.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
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