Week 3: 6/25 - 7/1

Weekly Summary
Today was a pretty good week for me, considering it's only my third week back. I am already feeling stronger, even though I still have a lot of training ahead of me. I felt tired a lot this week, and ended up sleeping a lot more than usual as a result. I probably pushed myself a bit more than I should have with the tempo, a 13-miler and a 15-miler all in a 4-day period, but so far my body seems to be handling it okay. The Olympic Trials is about 4 months away. I should come up with my training plan soon...
Resting HR: 56
Total Weekly Mileage: 59

Sunday 7/1
PM - Rancho San Antonio. Went on a pretty easy 8-mile run with Friedman and Johann today. We wanted to keep it somewhat flat, but we took a wrong turn and ended up climbing 600-800 feet. I felt pretty good today, but wanted to keep things slow.
8 miles

Saturday 6/30
AM - Arastradero to Los Trancos. I met up with a few of the other guys this morning at 8am at the Arastradero parking lot. Donahue had to turn around early b/c of a wedding he was going to, but Scott, Xavier, and I ran the entire loop at a moderately easy pace. Scott and I picked it up a bit for the last mile or so. We got back at about 1:46, so I'll call it 15.
15 miles

Friday 6/29
PM - St. Michael. I didn't have much time to run today, and I wanted to take it easy anyway. So I did an easy run to the house and back before leaving for a black tie event in the city.
3 miles

Thursday 6/28
PM - Windy Hill. Silver called me as he was coming home from work today, so we decided to run together in the evening. We did a loop around Windy Hill, which we thought would end up being about 70 minutes, but we didn't finish the run until 1:38. It's a pretty steep climb on the way up, and we were going at a moderate pace. The view from the top was spectacular. On the way down, I tripped and fell and busted up my knee, but fortunately I didn't seem to break anything other than my skin. Silver and I picked it up for the last mile or so, and sprinted to the finish. :-)
13 miles

Wednesday 6/27
AM - 4-mile tempo run @ Stanford (21:45 = 5:40 + 5:32 + 5:29 + 5:04). Another 6:15am workout at Stanford. I didn't get to bed last night until after midnight, so I was afraid I'd be tired today. But I ended up having a pretty good workout. Warmed up with the guys, and then did the 4-mile tempo with McGlynn (the rest of the guys did a track workout for some reason). I felt pretty good today about the progress I've made in two weeks. 2 weeks ago, I wasn't able to run 2 miles in 11 minutes, and today I did 4 miles in less than 22 minutes. I hope I can keep it up going forward...
10 miles

Tuesday 6/26
AM - St. Michael Dr. I was tired today and didn't have much time, so I just jogged over to check out the renovations on the house and back. I also did a couple sets of pull-ups and dips at Hoover Park.
3 miles

Monday 6/25
AM - Arastradero Preserve. I decided to explore a bit more around Arastradero today, even though it's pretty small. I usually just run through to Foothill Park, but this time I decided to stay in Arastradero. It was hot today, and I was keeping the pace pretty easy.
7 miles

Week 2: 6/18 - 6/24

Weekly Summary
Another week easing back into things, but I am already feeling stronger this week. It was nice to get a tiny bit of speedwork in, even though it was just 2 mile repeats. It was also nice to go on a somewhat long run (time-wise), even though distance-wise it was not even that long.
Resting HR: Forgot to measure
Total Weekly Mileage: 44

Sunday 6/24
AM - El Corte de Madera. Johann and I went on a run today at El Corte de Madera OSP. We were planning to make the run shorter than last week (which was about 90 minutes), but because we were feeling good and also accidentally took a wrong turn, the run turned into almost 2 hours. I'll call it 12 miles because it was pretty hilly terrain, and we weren't going that fast. This was a beautiful place to run. I definitely want to go back here, but next time I'll have to make sure not to get lost...
12 miles

Saturday 6/23
AM - Mitchell Park. Another slow, short, and easy run today.
4 miles

Friday 6/22
PM - Monte Bello Open Space Preserve. This afternoon, I drove up Page Mill Road until I got to somewhere between Los Trancos OSP and Monte Bello OSP. I parked and ran down some trails including Stevens Creek Nature Trail and Canyon Trail. Once again, this run was pretty hilly (I don't know if any places have _flat_ trails), and I made the mistake of starting high so that I had to run uphill on the way back. I guess I felt pretty good today, but as usual, kept things slow.
7 miles

Thursday 6/21
AM - Mitchell Park. Went on another easy run through Mitchell Park this morning. Once again feeling slow.
4 miles

Wednesday 6/20
AM - 2 x 1 mile at Stanford (4:57, 5:09). This is the first time since November that I joined the group of guys I was training with at Stanford for a lovely 6:15am workout. Today it was actually just Beast, McGlynn, and myself. Beast said he was going to do 4 x mile at about 5:10 pace, so I figured I could try to run with him for 2 of them. As you can see from my splits above, the first one was a bit faster than that. This is the fastest my legs have turned in a while, but I actually felt pretty good today.
8 miles

Tuesday 6/19
AM - Mitchell Park. Went on an easy run through Mitchell Park today. Felt kind of sluggish today, so I took it easy.
4 miles

Monday 6/18
AM - Rancho San Antonio. This morning, I rode my bike over to the house that my parents are renovating, then rode it over to Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve, went on a short run, and then rode my bike back home. (The other day, I bought several topographical maps of the Bay Area, and I've decided to start exploring new trails). Anyway, Rancho San Antonio was beautiful with a spectacular view at the top, but the incline was about as steep as when I ran up that mountain in Bariloche, Argentina last spring. I was also getting a bit nervous after seeing all of the mountain lion warning signs. In addition to seeing several deer, I saw a guy playing the banjo in a little shack on the side of the trail. He was the only person I saw during the entire run...
5 miles

Week 1: 6/11 - 6/17 (My first week back!)

Weekly Summary
My first week back, and I went 47 miles. So I feel pretty good about the mileage that I put in this week, even though it was all really, really slow. The 2-mile "tempo" run was a wake-up call for me. I have my work cut out for me...
Resting HR: Forgot to measure
Total Weekly Mileage: 47

Sunday 6/17
AM - Baylands. Ran from apartment to Baylands and back. Sarah met up with me on her bike right before I turned around. Overall, the run was pretty slow, but I picked it up a bit for 2 miles in the middle. It was hot today, and I felt pretty dehydrated by the end.
9 miles

Saturday 6/16
AM - Los Trancos loop @ Foothills Park. Johann and I went on a run today around Foothills Park. It was a really nice hilly trail run. We took it pretty easy, and ended up running a total of 90 minutes. It was really hot today.
11 miles

Friday 6/15
AM - Stanford campus loop. I jogged over to Stanford today and decided to try to do a 2-mile "tempo run". Back when I used to be in shape, I used to be able to run an 8-mile tempo at 5:15 pace without a problem, but today, I was struggling to run 2 miles at 5:30 pace...
7 miles

Thursday 6/14
AM - DNR. Took the day off.
0 miles

Wednesday 6/13
PM - Mitchell Park. I was pretty tired today, so I just went on an easy 40 minute jog to Mitchell Park and back.
5 miles

Tuesday 6/12
PM - Arastradero Preserve. Another slow run today. Went from Arastradero over to Foothills Park, where I ran around some trails in the north part of the park before turning around and going back. I saw about 6 deer today during the run, which was pretty cool.
10 miles

Monday 6/11
AM - Bow Lake, New Hampshire. Spent the weekend in New Hampshire for my younger brother's wedding. It was a blast. The wedding was in Portsmouth, but we spent the night at the Bow Lake Inn after having lobsters at Lindsey's house the night before. In the morning, I decided to go on a short run before heading to the airport. There was pine pollen everywhere. I jogged (very slowly) for about 40 minutes. Man, it's going to take me a while to get back into shape...
5 miles