Week 10: 8/13 - 8/19

Weekly Summary
I'm pretty happy with this week. This week made me realize I've gotten into decent shape. The 12-mile tempo at 5:15 pace, the 5K race at 4:55 pace, and the 23-mile long run at 6:30 pace all in a week where I ran 99 miles in 6 days makes me feel really good about my progress so far. I hope that I can keep it up. My hip was also feeling better this week. I still notice it a bit, but it's not nearly as bad. I think that taking a rest day on Monday helped quite a bit.
Resting HR: 56
Total Weekly Mileage: 99

Sunday 8/19
PM - Boston Marathon course long run. Sarah and I drove down to Boston today so that we could celebrate her birthday with some friends on the East Coast. She dropped me off at mile 3 of the Boston Marathon course (in Hopkington/Framingham), and I ran all the way back to Boston along the marathon course. I averaged a little bit below 6:30 pace for the run (slowest mile was about 6:50 and fastest was about 6:04). My stomach was kind of bothering me in the morning, so I was afraid that it would get upset during the run, but it was actually not that bad. I was planning to run 24 miles today (to make it a 100-mile week) and end at the Ritz by the Boston Common, where we were staying tonight, but instead I stopped a mile early in front of the old Bain Capital offices to meet Sarah.
23 miles

Saturday 8/18
AM - Breakaway 5K Road Race, Old Orchard, ME. 1st place, 15:15 (4:56 + 4:57 + 4:53 + 29). Sarah's dad and brother and I got up at 4:30am this morning to drive up to Maine for this race. 4:30am EST is 1:30am PST for me, so my internal clock must have been really confused, especially after going to bed the day before at 5am. Anyway, when we got there, I warmed up for 3 miles, ran the race, and then did a 10-mile run as a cool down. Some people started the race out fast, so I was probably in 10th place for the first 800m. But after the first mile, I was in first place, and I think I won by 30 seconds or so. I though I broke the course record when I crossed the finish line (which would have earned me $100), but they claimed I tied it, and in the official results, it looked like I missed it by 1 second. So I guess I'm not getting any prize money other than $75 for winning the race. But it was good to run something a bit faster than what I'm used to. I think I probably could have gone faster b/c I wasn't that tired at the end, but I'm just not used to running that fast, I guess.
16 miles

Friday 8/17
AM - Brookline, NH. Sarah and I flew into New Hampshire last night. Our plane was delayed in Chicago for about 4 hours, so we didn't get to Sarah's house until about 5am. I woke up at 1pm and went on a very, very easy 12 mile run. I ran in my new orthotics for the first time today. Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up at 4:30am to drive to Maine and run in the Breakaway 5K. I don't think I'm in shape to run a fast 5K right now, but at least it should be a good workout...
12 miles

Thursday 8/16
AM - Los Trancos Loop, Foothills Park. I got up this morning and did an MLR from Arastradero Park to Foothills Park. I actually felt pretty good this morning, considering yesterday's workout. I finished the run in about 1:49, which is a few minutes slower than I normally run that loop. But I still think I must have been averaging somewhere around 7:00 pace. I got back home with about 30 minutes to pack before heading to the airport with Sarah to fly to New Hampshire. We're celebrating her birthday this weekend in NH/ME. I think I might run in a 5K race in Maine on Saturday morning.
15 miles

Wednesday 8/13
AM - 12-mile Tempo Run @ Stanford. 62:59 (5:15/mile pace). Splits: 5:22*, 5:20*, 5:15, 5:18, 5:18, 5:25, 5:05*, 5:06*, 5:14*, 5:10*, 5:07, 5:07. (* = estimate because I didn't get the exact mile splits). So today's tempo run went much better than I was expecting it to. I was super tired when my alarm went off at 5:45am this morning, after having a late dinner with Sarah and my mom the night before. In fact, I almost skipped practice this morning because I was feeling so crappy. I did a slow 3-mile warmup, and then had to stop in the bathroom twice before the tempo run, probably because of the dinner I had last night at Buca di Beppo. I did a few strides before we started, and still felt crappy -- my left hip and left knee were bothering me (they were especially sore after getting beaten up in a sports massage from Greg yesterday). So I stayed in the back of the pack for the first 4 miles of the run, and surprisingly started to feel much better. I ran the next 4 miles next to Beast, and then the last 4 miles about 10 seconds behind Beast. It's kind of funny to think that if I had done 1.1 miles more this morning at the same pace, I would have effectively run a half-marathon in under 69 minutes, which is over 2 minutes faster than I ran the SF Half Marathon a few weeks ago. Afterwards, Beast and I did 2 miles barefoot on the grass, and then I got a big smoothie from Jamba Juice on my way home.

PM - Aquajogging @ Stanford Pool. I went in the pool for 30 minutes this evening, and it felt good. I haven't acqujogged since I started running again a couple of months ago. After this morning's workout, I didn't want to put my legs through any more pounding, but I think that getting in the pool can actually help speed my recovery. I used to count cross-training miles in my log, but this time around, I think I'll only count running miles.
17 miles

Tuesday 8/14
AM - Baylands. I ran over to the Baylands from my house today, and decided to turn it into a 12 mile run. I probably averaged 6:45 pace for most of the run (at least that's around what the mile splits were at the Baylands). It was sunny and windy at the Baylands today, but it's almost always sunny and windy there.

PM - Mitchell Park. I did an easy 4 miles this evening to loosen up after my afternoon sports massage from Greg. I felt pretty sluggish and decided not to do any strides today since my legs felt tired and I have a workout in the morning.
16 miles

Monday 8/13
Rest. I decided to take today off. This is the first day I've taken off in a while, but I think my body needed it because it's been feeling a bit broken recently (mainly my left hip and right toe).
0 miles