Week Recap (3 August 2008 - 9 August 2008) - 72 Miles

I continued the mileage progression this week, getting into the 70s as planned. I came close to starting off the week with a zero but managed to put in a decent run in Vegas after a long and tiring day. I had a nice 15 miler on Monday and a few more solid mileage days throughout the week. I've been feeling great in general, running fairly fast and just enjoying getting out there and putting in the mileage. Friday was the odd day of the week, when all of a sudden my right leg tightened up, but that seemed to be an isolated incident. Hopefully this upswing will carry over for next week, where I'll be looking to get into the 80s.

Saturday, August 9, 2008 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan. I slept in late this morning and didn't get up until 11:30 AM. I didn't get much sleep last weekend and I didn't have the chance to make up for it during the week so I really needed to catch up. I took some time as usual before I got out for an easy 7 miler to finish off the week. Nothing spectacular, just crusing at 6:40 pace for pretty much the entire run.

Friday, August 8, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I was out of work by 5PM and headed out of Club O shortly after. I was shooting for 10-12 today and was leaning towards the upper bound until my right leg tightened up about halfway through the run. It was rather strange, it felt more like soreness than a pain of any kind but isolated to my right side. My right calf and quad felt sore and I was also feeling a tightness on the outer side of my leg, all the way up to my hip. I struggled a bit in the last few miles and I was glad to get this run over with. Hopefully this is just some bizarre thing that will be gone in a day.

Thursday, August 7, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I got a bit of a late start, getting out the door around 7:30 PM. I can already tell that the days are getting shorter as it was dark by the time I finished. There was still plenty of light, though, on the way up to Sheep Camp trail and along Canada Rd and I put in a good climb. I was still feeling good on the final climb up to the highest point of Ralston and was eager to start the descend. I started rolling on the way down Ralston, averaging 5:20 pace for the mile and a half downhill section. I didn't slow down much on the last mile and a half, which is mostly flat with a slight incline at the end, averaging 5:40 for that. I'm still at a point in my training where I'm running enough mileage to feel like I'm in good shape but also low enough for the legs to feel fresh. Perhaps I'm getting a bit too excited and hammering more than I should but I'm sure the miles will take their toll as I continue to bump up the mileage so I might as well enjoy the moment.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 [12M]

Foster City. I'm back to enough mileage to go for the full loop, something which hasn't happened in over 2 months. I started out at a fairly quick clip but slowed down as I was getting close to the San Mateo bridge because of the wind. There is a strong correlation between the number of kite surfers I see along the bay and how windy it is and today it was as packed as it gets. It was a nice sight but I didn't enjoy struggling to run 7:10 pace into the wind. At least that only lasted for 2 or 3 miles and I went back to a decent pace for the rest of the run. I managed to average close to 6:35 pace for the entire run so I was moving fairly fast when I wasn't running into the wind. My last 3 miles were in the 6:05-6:15 range and I was cruising comfortably. It's definitely encouraging to feel like I'm decent shape already.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 [8M]

San Carlos. I had the company of Doug for this one, at least for half of the run. He hasn't been running much for the last 3 weeks and was feeling sluggish so the way out was fairly slow, around 7:20 pace. After we made the turn I took off on my own and brought the pace down in the 6:20s. Not a bad run considering the slow start.

Monday, August 4, 2008 [15M]

Edgewood to Huddart. I flew back to SF this morning, went straight to work and left early enough to put in a long run at Huddart. I started along the usual route but once I got to the park I picked up Dean Trail, which I had never explored before. I think I tried picking up that trail a couple of times before but it was a bit hard to find. I figured it out this time and continued up to Chinquapin trail. I made it to Skyline in just under an hour and took Crystal Springs trail on the way back. The route back was slightly shorter (and downhill of course) and I ended up back at the car in 1:48. I felt pretty good the whole time, worked the climb up to climb to Skyline well and I was moving well on the downhill part on the way back. Probably something along the same lines as last week's 15 miler and I think it's safe to call this one 15 as well.

Sunday, August 3, 2008 [8]

We were planning to spend the day at the Grand Canyon and decided to head out from Vegas around 1AM. It was about a 4 hour drive and I drove half of it but I doubt I got more than half an hour of sleep during the rest of the drive. We made it there just in time to watch the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen in my life. We went on a 3 mile hike afterwards on the South Kaibab trail to Cedar Ridge. The trailhead was at around 7200ft of altitude and dropped 1200 feet in a mile and a half. I'm not sure if I could count this as altitude training but the climbing could probably substitute a lower leg lifting session. We spent the rest of the day driving around a few vista points and headed back to Vegas. We were back around 9PM and I was tempted to call it a day but eventually decided to drag myself out for a few miles. I wasn't very excited about getting out for a run and not just because I was tired from travelling and the lack of sleep. Vegas is just about the worst place to run. It's impossible to run during the day, when it's like a thousand degrees, and even at night it was in the high 90s. That was the least of the problems, though. I headed north on the strip, which is ridiculously crowded. I was weaving in and out of the crowds, getting down on the street from time to time and running close to incomming traffic . I was pretty much running like a maniac and almost got hit by a couple of cars. I turned back after a couple of miles and tried to avoid the strip on the way back but I didn't have much luck and almost ended up in one of the freeways. I made it back to New York New York and did another out and back going south on the strip. It was a lot less croweded after Tropicana Ave and I actually had enough space to run without dodging people. I finished the run in 51 minutes, which I'm sure should be close enough to 8 since I was hammering most of the time. Not the greatest start to the week but taking everything into account, getting any kind of mileage in today was a huge win.

Week Recap (27 July 2008 - 2 August 2008) - 61 Miles

Decent week, pretty much what I was shooting for. I had a couple of short days early in the week but I made up for it with a 15 miler on Thursday. I wasn't planning on running something so long this early but I felt pretty comfortable, which is really encouraging for the weeks to come. I only ran 6 days, which means I was on pace for 70 and I wouldn't have any trouble adding on another run to the week to make that happen. That was the plan, though, as I don't want to be doing any crazy jumps in mileage. I should easily be up there by next week.

Saturday, August 2, 2008 [0M]

I flew to Vegas this morning and following what has become a tradition I posted a goose egg. I was actually planning to a day off today anyway but would have probably done some biking instead of sitting by the pool.

Friday, August 1, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark Park. Standard loop through the park at a rather casual pace.

Thursday, July 31, 2008 [15M]

Edgewood to Huddart. I left work somewhat earlier today and was on my way to Huddart by 6:30PM. I took on of my usual routes through Huddart, following Canyon trail to Crystal Springs Trail. I was 45 minutes in by the time I got there, which meant I would have to take the short route back to end up with something close to 12, as I was initially planning. I was feeling good, though, and decided to continue all the way to Skyline, which took another 20 minutes of climbing. I headed back down Richards road which was a shorter route but a much steeper descend. My legs definitely didn't appreciate the downhill part but it only took me 10 minutes to get back to Canyon trail and the rest of the way was a lot smoother. I made it back to the car in just under 1:48, which should be safe to call 15. I was once again surprised at how comfortable I felt running this kind of mileage on hilly terrain. Ordinarily I wouldn't run anything this long for at least another couple of weeks. As long as I'm comfortable with it I don't see any problems, even though this will probably end up being about a quarter of this weeks mileage.

Wednesday, 30 July, 2008 [6M]

Alameda - San Carlos. I couldn't get out of work until 7PM and had plans to attend a poker game so I cut the run short. Definitely not a great excuse but I'm not that concerned about mileage right now.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 [8M]

San Carlos. I showed up at RoadRunners Sports a couple of minutes late and everyone had already taken off. I took off on my own, running on at a good pace to catch up, and didn't take too long to get to the front of the group. Unfortunately Doug hadn't showed up and with Brad all the way across the country I was left on my own. I guess this might not be that unusual from now on but I'll keep going for the dinner and beer following the run. Since I started a bit faster than usual I kind of set myself up for a fast run. I maintained the early pace for the first half, running 6:30s on the way out and getting closer to 6:00 on the way back. Pretty good run overall, it's been a while since I got the legs moving a bit.

Monday, July 28, 2008 [10M]

Foster City. Stayed a bit late at work and didn't get out until 8:00 PM. I hadn't run at night for quite a while but I managed to finish my runs in the dark for the second day in a row. It was a rather uneventful run, just putting in the miles.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 [12M]

Hallmark Park - Brittan Ave. I made my life a bit difficult by not getting my run out of the way before heading to the beach at Santa Cruz. I was back around 8PM and out of the door within a half hour. The first 2 or 3 miles were a bit rough as my stomach was trying to tell me that I shouldn't be running a couple of hours after eating a gyro. I couldn't pass out, though, on eating at one of the bay area's finest greek taverns. Eventually I was feeling better and started having a good run. It was somewhat dark by the time I got to Hallmark but I still managed to put in one loop on the course before hitting the streets. I was feeling good, worked the hills well and once I started the descend I was rolling. I was actually a bit surprised at how comfortable I felt running this long. Sure, I don't call 12 miles a long run anymore but I've only been running for a couple of weeks after my break and haven't done anything this long in a while. It's good to feel like I'm in decent shape so early on.

Week Recap (19 July 2008 - 26 July 2008) - 50 Miles

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 [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 [7M]

Alameda - Brittan Ave.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 [10M]

Hallmark Park.