Week 5: 7/9 - 7/15

Weekly Summary
I was pretty happy with this week. Got in my first track workout (8x1K), a nice 7-mile tempo run, and 17-mile long run down in San Diego. My weekly mileage is gradually increasing, and I don't think it will be hard to continue increasing it. I think it's time to get new shoes, and I also need to replace my orthotics...
Resting HR: 52
Total Weekly Mileage: 64

Sunday 7/15
PM - Arastradero Park. After getting back from LA, I took a short nap and then drove out to Arastradero to go on a short run. I ran to the edge of Foothill Park and back. Saw several deer and a couple of rabbits on the run. There always seems to be more wildlife in the early evenings.
7 miles

Saturday 7/14
AM - Lake Hodget to Raptor Ridge, San Diego. I googled "San Diego running trails" last night, and found this route, which turned out to be a really nice long run. Unfortunately, I didn't get started with the run until 8:30am, so it was already starting to get warm, and by the end of the run 2 hours later, the sun was especially intense. The first and last 7 miles of the run were pretty flat, but the middle 3 miles around Raptor Ridge were quite hilly. I had to stop at the gas station 14 miles into my run (and 3 miles away from the end) to get some water and gatorade -- I was super dehydrated. Sarah and I had lunch with Eric Leventhal in San Diego before driving up to LA for Sarah and Bill's wedding.
17 miles

Friday 7/13
AM - San Diego. I woke up this morning in San Diego (after flying down here with Sarah last night), and was still pretty sore from my massage yesterday. So I just jogged around for 12 minutes at a really slow and easy pace to losen up. I was planning to go on a real run in the afternoon, but I got tied up with work and didn't end up having time to get a run in before dinner. I guess it's okay b/c I'll be doing a long run tomorrow morning.
1 mile

Thursday 7/12
AM - 7-mile tempo @ Stanford (36:54 = 5:23 + 5:25 + 5:10* + 5:10* + 5:17* + 5:17* + 5:10 = avg. 5:16/mile, * = missed the mile marks for these 2-mile segments). Met up with Nielson, Donahue, Silver, and X at 6:15am. We did the usual 3-mile warm-up, and then ran a the 4-mile loop twice (first backwards, then forwards). The loop rises in the middle, which explains why the first and third two-mile segments were slower. The rest of them went 8 miles, but I stopped at 7 because I was starting to feel uncomfortable. For a cool-down, we did a couple of barefoot miles on the grass inside the track. I got a sports massage this afternoon from Greg at SMI. Beast recommended I go there. Greg's an interesting guy. He gave me a great massage, but it sure was painful!
12 miles

Wednesday 7/11
AM - Campus Loop. I met up with the guys at 6:15am this morning to do an easy 10 mile run around campus. I almost slept in through this one b/c I was a bit tired from yesterday's workout, but I'm glad I got the run over with in the morning. We kept the pace really easy today.
10 miles

Tuesday 7/10
PM - Mitchell Park. Kirsten came over for dinner and brought her dog Phoenix with her. So I took Phoenix for a short 4-mile run to Mitchell Park before dinner. It was the first time I had ever run with a dog, and it was actually a lot of fun. I think I'll try to take Phoenix on a longer trail run some time. This is the first time I've doubled since I started training again.

AM - 8 x 1000m @ Stanford with 2:00 rest: 2:59, 3:01, 2:59, 3:00, 2:59, 2:58, DNF, 2:58. I met up with the group this morning at 6:15. I wanted to do a tempo run, but everyone else was doing track stuff, so I joined them on the track (and I convinced the guys to do a tempo run on Thursday). We did 1K repeats on the track, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. On the 7th one, I only ran 400m and then stopped to take rest before the 8th one b/c I was hurting a bit. 3:00/K is about the same as 4:48/mile. Last year I remember doing a workout similar to this when I was in pretty good shape, and I hit the low 2:50s for most of them. But considering this is my first track workout in over a year, I am happy with it.
14 miles

Monday 7/9
PM - St. Michael Dr. I went on an easy run by the house this morning. I was a bit tired and sore from last week, so I took it easy today.
3 miles