Week 1: 7/10/06 - 7/16/06

Weekly Summary
I was pretty happy with this week, considering the fact that it was my first week back after hardly running at all for a couple of months. I took it pretty easy this week, but I was still able to get in 55 miles. The Sunday run at Walden Pond felt great, and I can't wait to get into better shape so that I can get some longer runs in. It's just two more weeks until I'm in Switzerland!
Resting HR: 60
Total Weekly Mileage: 55 miles

Sunday 7/16
PM - After spending most of the morning/early afternoon packing stuff up at my apartment, I decided to go to Walden Pond with Chris, Owen, Sarah, and John. The parking lot at Walden was closed, so Friedman and I dropped off everyone else and then ran from another parking lot about a mile away. It was hot and humid today, but it actually felt pretty nice to be running in the shade of the trails (other than the areas we ran through with lots of bugs). Friedman and I ended up going for about 90 minutes, starting off quite slow at about 7:00 pace, but probably getting down to 6:00 pace, or maybe even a little faster at the end. I felt great today--no hip problems and no stomach problems. I was surprised that I was able to go for 90 minutes today without hurting. It makes me feel more optimistic about my trip to Switzerland in two weeks. Hopefully I can get some good mileage in while I'm over there. It felt great to hop in the pond after the run today. Going on a run like this today makes me remember how much I miss being in shape and going on longer runs.
Sleep - 7 hours. I was out until 2:30am with my roommate Owen and a friend of mine from high school named Chris.
Food - Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with shrimp for brunch at Tremont 647. Chris had a couple of bloody mary's, but I was happy with H2O; Lunch: Balance bar before my run and a couple of rolls with prosciutto right after the run; Dinner: Thai food from Brown Sugar. Owen, Chris, Sarah, Takuya and I ate dinner on my roofdeck tonight. The weather was perfect this evening--I'm sure going to miss my roofdeck.
13 miles

Saturday 7/15
PM - Decided to take the day off because I'm already at 42 miles in week 1 and I was feeling a bit hung over from last night. I spent most of the day packing up stuff in my apartment, since this is my last weekend in Boston. I'm trying to get rid of most of my stuff so that I don't have to move it all out west next month. I'll get in a run tomorrow to boost my mileage over 50 for the week.
Sleep - About 7 hours. Went to bed at 4:30am after a late night cruising around in the stretched Hummer after Underbar. Woke up a few times in the morning, but didn't get out of bed until noon.
Food - Breakfast: Slept through breakfast; Lunch: Bean burger and strawberry banana shake from b.good; Dinner: Lamb with a bunch of sides from Ruth's Chris Steak House for Sarah's sister Kimmy's birthday.
0 miles

Friday 7/14
AM - This morning Friedman called me and woke me up, even though it wasn't exactly early. I ran over to his place and we ran around Jamaica Pond and then I ran back home. It was super-hot today, so I was pretty uncomfortable the entire time. My legs also felt pretty tired (and Friedman raced yesterday) so we kept the pace slow, probably 7:00 pace or so. I stopped at Cappy's on the way home to get a Vitamin Water, which gave me a bit more energy, but I don't think I got fully hydrated again until several hours after I finished the run. I didn't have time to stretch much at all after the run because I had to get to work. Now I'm about to leave work for our farewell party tonight. First we're getting dinner at Clio's and then going to Underbar. And after Underbar, we've got a stretched Hummer to take us around until we all pass out.
Sleep - 9 hours... good to get that much sleep last night.
Food - Breakfast: skipped breakfast because I went on a late run; Lunch: salmon, potatoes, veggies, yogurt, banana, apple, cherries, lemonade; Dinner: Lobster, salad, fish, apple tart at Clios. After dinner, we went to Underbar and had quite a bit of champagne, vodka, etc. since it was open bar for us...
12 miles

Thursday 7/13
PM - Today I had to drive out to Attleboro to do some work at Sensata, one of Bain Capital's portfolio companies. Traffic was pretty bad on the way back, so I didn't get to go on a run until around 7:30pm. I ran Bunker Hill by myself, and finished the loop in 55 minutes, so a little over 6:30 pace. I felt pretty fatigued, but I didn't feel like it was that hard to go 6:30 pace, other than the fact that I was tired. So even though I am still slow and out-of-shape, I feel like I am already starting to get back into it a bit. My stomach was bothering me a little bit during the run, but fortunately not bad enough that I had to make any pit stops. I spent quite a bit of time in the Bain Cap gym afterwards stretching out and doing some exercises that Steve at POST showed me yesterday. My abs are sore from some of the core strengthening exercises.
Sleep - 7 hours, but woke up a couple of times in the early morning.
Food - Breakfast: granola and yogurt; Lunch: chicken fajitas, rice and beans, broccoli; Dinner: lobster and shrimp pasta from Joe-Vs.
8 miles

Wednesday 7/12
AM - This morning I went to POST physical therapy therapy for my hip, and then went on a run around Jamaica Pond. I've been going to POST for the past couple of weeks, and the combination of that and massages from Ellen seems to be doing the trick. Ryan Carerra also just sent me some stretching exercises that he got from Andrea Gillespie. I haven't tried them yet, but they look pretty good (ex1, ex2, ex3, ex4). Anyway, the run today was another easy one. I finished the 8.3-mile loop in 55 minutes, so about 6:40 pace. Man, I'm out-of-shape. I felt weak on the run today, and even though I was going slow, I didn't feel like I could have gone much faster. Once again, the hip didn't hurt, so that was good. It started pouring towards the end of the run, so I was drenched by the time I got back to work. Because I was so wet, I just hopped in the shower as soon as I got back to work without stretching at all afterwards. I'm a bit tight now as a result, I think. I need to be better about stretching before and after my runs.
Sleep - 7 hours and still tired (didn't get back from Rumor until around 2am).
Food - Breakfast: grape-nuts, yogurt, banana, muffin, chocolate milk; Lunch: pasta with pesto, spinach, rice; Snack: oatmeal; Dinner: chicken burrito.
8 miles


Tuesday 7/11
AM - This morning, I met up with Friedman at my office and ran the Bunker Hill loop with him. I felt okay, but my stomach was bothering me a bit. Maybe it's from the bag of Skittles that I ate last night while Sarah and I were walking home from the Madonna concert.
Sleep - Slept about 8 hours last night.
Food - Breakfast: oatmeal and lemonade (after morning run); Lunch: Steak, swordfish, potatoes, apple juice, water; Dinner: Tonight I ate at the Federalist with a bunch of my co-workers. We've been having a bunch of group dinners recently as part of our extended "farewell" (we went to L'Espalier last week and are going to Clio on Friday). I can't remember everything I had at dinner, but the things I remember are tuna tartar, crab cakes, salad, steak, bread, cheese, and chocolate cake. We also had a bunch of wine with dinner.
8 miles


Monday 7/10
PM - This afternoon, I went on an easy jog around the river. I felt pretty lethargic today. I guess I'm just out of shape. I was probably averaging 7-minute pace or so. At least my hip wasn't bothering me.
Sleep - Only got 6 hours last night, and woke up a few times.
Food - Breakfast: oatmeal and fruit salad; Lunch: turkey sandwich and gatorade; Dinner: Potato salad (we were rushing to the Madonna concert so didn't have time for a bigger dinner); Night snack: Pretzel, peanuts, skittles and vitamin water.
6 miles