Week Recap (24 August 2008 - 30 August 2008) - 90 Miles

I didn't have much trouble posting another solid 90 mile week. I decided not to bump up the mileage any more until Alumni and added my first hard effort on Wednesday. Nothing too hard, just a long, controlled tempo to get the legs moving a bit. I was feeling a bit tired the last few days of the week but I doubt it had much to do with Wednesday's workout. We got a heat wave towards the end of the week, with temperatures climbing in the mid 90s, and I was feeling a bit dehydrated on the end of a few runs. Perhaps I need to start drinking more water of maybe I've gotten used to this mild weather and I'm just getting soft.

Saturday, August 30, 2008 [6M]

Alameda - San Carlos. I had plans to go to the city for brunch so I was up at 9:30 and out of the door by 10 to get the run out of the way. Just a short and easy run to round up another 90 mile week.

Friday PM, August 29, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I was out of Club O again by 6PM for my second run of the day. I started on the usual 8 mile loop without ruling out extending the run by a couple of miles but my legs weren't feeling that great and half way through I settled on sticking with 8. Not the greatest of runs, averaging just under 7 minute pace. Some days putting in the miles is all the matters.

Friday AM, August 29, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. I could have easily opted for running singles both Friday and Saturday, since I was already at 71 yesterday, but my legs have been feeling a bit tired and I thought it would be best to double up today and give myself the option of a short day tomorrow. I got out of a meeting at 11 and had barely enough time to head to Club O and squeeze in a 5 miler before a 12PM lunch with the Oracle Greeks. I was running 6:35s, which was pretty decent for a morning run. Skipped strides and stretching and headed straight to the shower as I was running a bit late for lunch.

Thursday, August 28, 2008 [12M]

Hallmark - Brittan Ave. Got started around 7 this afternoon and wasn't at all excited to be out running. I had been feeling tired all day and my quads were a bit sore, which made running hills a somewhat painful. Surprisingly the climb up Water Dog wasn't too bad, in part because I passed some bikers about halfway through and pushed the pace a bit to hold them off until the end of the climb. I eased up once I got to Hallmark and wasn't really working the hills there. The downhill part down Brittan was tougher on my quads and my form was really awkward. It seems like yesterday's run put me a bit in the hole, which was rather unexpected since I didn't think it was a very hard effort. Perhaps it's a combination of the high mileage and running in the heat. I always try to stay hydrated throughout the day at work but maybe I should be forcing myself to drink some more.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 [14M]

~8 Mile Tempo. I would have like to get in a couple more weeks of base mileage before attempting any workouts but with the alumni meet just around the corner I figured I should put in at least a couple of hard efforts beforehand. I wasn't looking to run anything too fast, just wanted to put in a long, controlled effort. I headed backwards on the Foster City loop until the first mile mile mark and started the hard effort after making the turn. I was shooting for something close to 5:30 to start with, thinking that I could perhaps hold on to that for about 5 miles. I didn't really have a good sense of pace but thought I'd rather get out slow than fast. I was a bit too slow on the first mile, splitting a 5:47, but not feeling very smooth. After the first mile I thought that shooting for 5:40s was a more realistic goal and split 5:39, 5:41, 5:42 for the next 3 miles. I was 5:51 for the next mile, even though it felt like I maintained the same pace, but that wasn't very surprising since I've always timed that mile to be about 10 seconds long. I was running into the wind for the next mile and felt like I slowed down but split a 5:47, which reaffirms my guess that the previous mile was long. There were no more mile splits for the rest of the way but I kept going for 11 more minutes. Perhaps a little short to call it a full 2 miles but probably reasonably close. Not a bad effort overall but nothing too hard either, which is pretty much what I was looking for. It was hard to get myself in a workout mode, every now and then my mind would wonder and I had remind myself to focus on maintaining a good turnover. My cooldown was a bit long since I had no option but to complete the loop. I actually struggled a bit in the last 2 or 3 miles, which was somewhat weird, it was as if my body decided to shut down all of a sudden. I didn't think that the effort took that much out of me but it was a pretty hot day so perhaps I was a bit dehydrated by the end. I didn't have the strength to run any strides afterwards and was just glad to get this over with.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 [12M]

San Carlos. I got out of work early enough to make it to Road Runner Sports by 6:00 PM and enough time to put in a 4 mile loop before going for the usual 8 mile run. Nothing exciting for those first 4 miles as far as the run is concerned but I did witness a car accident, which is not something you see everyday. I was pretty close but fortunately on the opposite side of the street when I heard breaks squeeling then saw a car crashing into a series of parked cars. It was kind of a domino effect, with each car crashing into the car ahead. Surprisingly damages didn't seem that major and once I saw people getting out of their cars with no injuries I continued my run. I got back to the store and headed off with Doug shortly after. We were kind of dragging on the way out and once we made the turn I took off on my own. I was feeling pretty good and was close to 6:00 for the last 4 miles. It's good to get the legs moving a bit once in a while.

Monday PM, August 25, 2008 [10M]

Redwood Shores. I had one of those frustrating days at work, working until 8PM to get some issue resolved but giving up after some unsuccessful attempts. Once I headed out from Club O I was in a much better mood and had a pretty good run. I was cruising comfortably, clipping 6:40s rather effortlessly. I had been planning to do some lifting afterwards but it was already 9:30 by the time I finished my run and I didn't have the time or the desire for it. I did some stretching, core work and a couple of sets of pullups and called it a day.

Monday AM, August 25, 2008 [5M]

Foster City.

Sunday, August 24, 2008 [18M]

Huddart - Wunderlich loop. I slept in this morning, trying to make up for not getting much sleep yesterday, and when I woke up I spent some time trying to decide where to run. I wasn't in the mood for a hilly run and thought about running along the bay trail at first but with the weather in the high 80s I figured it would be best to avoid running somewhere with absolutely no shade. Eventualy I decided to repeat last week's loop and drove to historic Woodside at 1:30PM. I wanted to keep things easier than last week and didn't force the pace at any time in the run. The climb up to Skyline wasn't much slower but I took my time on the trail to Wunderlich and down Alambrique trail. I was still moving at a good clip but running relaxed the whole way. Wound up back to the car in 2:10, a little over 5 minutes slower than last time, which is more of an indication that I was running fast last week as opposed to this run being slow.

Week Recap (17 August 2008 - 23 August 2008) - 90 Miles

I was shooting to bump up the mileage to 85-90 this week, thinking perhaps that 90 would be a stretch but not excluding it in case my legs felt like they could handle it. I got things off to a good start with arguably one of the best 18 milers I've ever run. I ended up running faster than I should have been for a hilly long run and my legs were feeling it a bit early in the week. I hit my low point for the week on Wednesday and had a pretty crappy run but things got better towards the end. I felt good enough the last couple of days to push the mileage to 90. Only a couple of weeks left until Alumni so I'll probably keep the mileage where it is and add a few harder efforts. I think I should be in better shape than I could have expected when I started running again 6 weeks ago.

Saturday, August 23, 2008 [12M]

Run with the San Francisco Road Runners Club. For a long time I've had an open invitation from Doug to join him on his Saturday morning run with SFRRC and I was finally convinced to tag along this morning. We had to be at the Marina Green at 7:45 AM so Doug picked me up around 7. It wasn't enough that we had to leave so early I even woke up around 5 to watch some track action from the Olympics. I obviously didn't get much sleep but watching the 5K live at least made it worth it. I was also fairly awake by the time we started the run so I wasn't as sluggish as I would have been if I had just rolled out of bed. We started out in a big group but we picked up the pace after a couple of miles and we were down to Doug and myself. We were still taking it pretty easy and I was content with not running any faster since I was just rounding up a 90 mile week.

Friday, August 22, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I wanted to leave early this afternoon since I had tickets for the Outside Lands Festival and I figured it would be best to get my run out of the way before lunch so I headed out from Club O by 12:30. I've put in enough mileage earlier this week that I could get away with only an 8 miler today so my lunch break was not too much longer than usual. It turned out to be a decent run as I was comfortably running 6:40s the whole way.

Thursday PM, August 21, 2008 [11M]

Alameda - Jefferson Ave. I was shooting for 7-8 this afternoon and started out on the 7 mile Alameda - Brittan Ave loop, thinking that I could tag on another mile if I felt like it. I did decide to extend the run once I got to Brittan and I felt good enough to keep going all the way to Jefferson Ave. I was comfortably clipping 6:40s the whole way, which was a bit surprising if you think how crappy yesterday's run was.

Thursday AM, August 21, 2008 [5M]

Foster City.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 [12M]

Sheep Camp - Ralston. I was back home from work by 7PM and headed out to Sheep Camp without wasting much time. I had been feeling a bit tired all day and wasn't really looking forward to running, expecting this to be a crappy run. Of course when you start a run with that mindset it's hard not to meet your expectations. The climb up Water Dog Lake was pretty much as slow as it gets and even on the downhill parts I was feeling sluggish. The final climb up Ralston was somewhat better but still far from spectacular. I usually run this loop in something close to 1:25 on an easy day but today I made it back in 1:29. I sure was glad to get this one over with.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 [11M]

San Carlos. I showed up at Roadrunner sports a bit early and had enough time to put in 3 mile loop. I continued with the regular 8 mile loop with Doug afterwards. I kept it easy the entire time, running just over 7:00 pace.

Monday PM, August 18, 2008 [8M]

Redwood Shores. I got out from Club O again this afternoon for my second run of the day. I ran without a watch again and took things easy but I was feeling better than my first run. I thought about lifting today but I only did some calf raises and embarassed myself with a couple of sets on the pullup bar. After my last set of pullups I ran into Charis and spend about half an hour just standing in the weightroom and chatting without doing any more lifting. By that time I was starting to feel hungry so I just headed back home for dinner.

Monday AM, August 18, 2008 [5M]

Foster City. Out of Club O at 12:30 for my usual loop. My legs were feeling pretty tired and I opted to run without a watch. It was probably a good thing not to know how slow I was running.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 [18M]

Huddart to Wunderlich loop. I tried a new loop today which could become one of my favorite long loops. I've been to Wunderlich park before, I ran the 6 mile trail from Huddart to Wunderlich along Skyline Ridge a few times and obviously I've run at Huddart multiple times but I was wondering if I could possibly come up with a loop to combine both parks. After a quick search I came across this loop and decided to give it a shot. I drove over to historic Woodside and took Greer road to Huddart Park. On the way over I came across Albert Liu, who was running in the opposite direction. It's probably been 4 or 5 years since the last time we saw each other so this was a really random encounter. After exchanging a couple of words we each continued on our way. It was about a mile to Bay Tree trail, which was the starting point of the climb to Skyline. I was moving well going uphill and made it to Skyline in 42:00. With the toughest part of the run already out of the way I continued on the trail to Wunderlich. I still had a long way to go but I was feeling good and wasn't too concerned about saving my legs for the end. I wouldn't say I was hammering but I was keeping the pace honest on the rolling hills, attacking the uphill parts a bit and cruising on the downhill and flat parts. I was in Wunderlich in 1:25:00 and started the descend down Alambrique trail. It was basically a 5 mile downhill section and I came down flying in 29:00. I headed back to my starting point along Woodside and Trip Rd, making it back at the car in 2:04:30. My source has this run listed as 17 - 17.5 and I was initially planning to call it 17 but after going through the numbers I think I can justify calling it 18. The trail from Huddart to Wunderlich is around 6 miles, Alambrique trail was listed at 5.0 and it was a 1.6 mile stretch from Wunderlich to my car. It took me 42 minutes to get up to Skyline, which would only taking something just under 8 minute pace for the total to add up to 18. In any case, this was an amazing loop which I'm sure I'll revisit in the future. The variation of the terrain was great, starting out with a gradual climb from 400 to 2200ft, continuing with 6 miles of gently rolling hills, getting the legs moving with a 5 mile downhill section and finishing off with a short flat section on the roads. I was expecting that my legs would be spent by the end but I was actually feeling good the whole way. I was perhaps running faster than I should have been for such a long run but hopefully I won't be feeling it too much on the next few days.