Week 14: 9/10 - 9/16

Weekly Summary
TBD
Resting HR: TBD
Shoe mileage: Kinsei (50), Nimbus (15)
Total Weekly Mileage: 36...

Wednesday 9/12
AM - Workout @ Stanford. 3 x (2 mile, 2 min rest, 1 mile, 4 min rest): 9:57, 4:39, 9:38, 4:45, 9:45, 4:44. This workout went a lot better than I had expected. I was more tired than usual when my alarm went off at 5:45am this morning, and the last thing I felt like was getting out of bed and doing a workout. Even during the 3 mile warmup, I felt like crap. But as soon as the workout started, I suddenly felt great. James and I pretty much ran the entire workout together, and for the first time, I think I was actually able to help push the pace. Last week I wasn't able to break 10 minutes for any of the 2-mile repeats, but this week it was actually really easy to run sub-10:00 pace. Don't ask me why... I jogged 2 miles barefoot on the grass afterwards as a cool down. My calves started to get really sore towards the end of the workout, so I saw Greg in the afternoon, and he went to town on my calves, and then I hopped in a cold whirlpool for the second time today. My calves felt even more sore after the massage, so I decided not to double today.
15 miles

Tuesday 9/11
AM - Wunderlich Park. This morning I did an 11-mile loop in Wunderlich Park. I felt pretty good today, and kept the pace honest. I think it really helped to take a rest day yesterday.

PM - Atherton. I wanted to run on trails again this afternoon, but I didn't have time to drive anywhere, so I just did the route to Atherton and back. I felt pretty good on this run as well, and kept the pace moderate.
21 miles

Monday 9/10
Rest. I was pretty tired today from last week's mileage, so I decided to take the day off. I went to the 49er's game this evening, which was a lot of fun.
0 miles

Week 13: 9/3 - 9/9

Weekly Summary
This was a pretty good week. My highest mileage week so far this year, and I also got in some faster workouts, including a threshold workout, a track workout, and a cross country race. My calves were pretty sore for most of the second half of this week because the track workout was the first time that I've been up on my toes for a while. I was pretty tired by the end of the week, so I think I need to make sure that I recover.
Resting HR: 48
Total Weekly Mileage: 110

Sunday 9/9
AM - Long run in San Francisco. I drove into San Francisco once again this morning, but this time I had to leave my apartment at 6:30am, which was not a fun thing to do on a Sunday morning. I met Friedman at Golden Gate Park, and we jogged around for 4 miles before meeting up with the other guys. We did a loop that went along the coast past the Golden Gate Bridge and out to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco before turning around. It was somewhere between 22 and 23 miles, but I'll call it 23 since I've been conservative on mileage other days this week. I felt pretty good when I started the run this morning, especially since I was wearing a new pair of Asics. But I started feeling pretty beat by the end of the run. Even though half of the run was on soft surfaces, the second half on pavement was kind of getting to me. This has been a fairly intense week, so I think I might take a rest day tomorrow to recover. When I got home today, I hopped in the cold whirlpool at 50 degrees for 15 minutes.
23 miles

Saturday 9/8
AM - Golden Gate Park Open Cross Country Race (4.04 miles). 20:49, 4th Place. Splits: 4:53, 5:09, 5:13, 5:33 (last mile was long). I drove up to San Francisco this morning to run in my first cross country race since Club Nationals two years ago. It was nice to actually race on soft surfaces for a change. I warmed up for 4 miles with the Adidas Transports guys. My calves were still sore this morning, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel during the race. The race went out a bit faster than I would have liked, but after the first mile, I got into a pretty good rhythm. Even though I was treating today like a hard tempo run, I don't think I could have gone much faster. I was with the leaders for the first 2 miles before settling into 4th place and staying there for the rest of the race. I did a 7 mile cooldown in the park afterwards.
15 miles

Friday 9/7
AM - Baylands. I'm running in a race tomorrow, so I didn't want to double today, but I decided to do an easy 12 miles in the morning. I kind of felt like crap today, and my calves were still sore from yesterday's workout. It was also really sunny by the time I got out the door to go on a run.
12 miles

Thursday 9/6
AM - Track workout @ Stanford. 2 x (1x800m, 2x400m, 4x200m) with 200m jog recovery: 2:25, 66, 65, 31, 32, 31, 32, 2:18, 67, 66, 31, 30, 30, 29. Beast, Donahue, and I were the only ones who showed up this morning. Today's workout was pretty light and easy, but it was nice to do something on the track and get the legs turning over faster than they're used to. Donahue is just starting up again, so he just did one of the sets with us. After Beast and I finished the second set, we did a ~10 mile cooldown, which made me feel better about doing such a short workout. My calves started hurting towards the end of the workout, and they're probably going to hurt for a few days since I'm not used to running up on my toes like I did today.

PM - Mitchell Park. I did an easy jog around Mitchell Park this evening. I think it helped me loosen up a bit after this morning's workout, but my calves are still sore.
20 miles

Wednesday 9/5
AM - Los Trancos Trail, Arastradero/Foothills Park. I did my regular 15-mile route today from Arastradero Park to Los Trancos loop in Foothills Park. My pace was a bit faster this time, and I reached the fire road at the top at exactly 60 minutes. It was hot today, but fortunately most of the run was in the shade, so I actually felt pretty good. I slept for 11 hours last night, which is the most I've slept in over a year.
15 miles

Tuesday 9/4
AM - Workout @ Stanford. 4 x 2 mile, 1 x 1 mile w/ 2 min rest. (10:00, 10:01, 10:07, 10:02, 4:48). We did 2-mile repeats this morning around the 2-mile loop that goes along El Camino. For some reason, I had trouble running faster than 5:00 pace today. Beast was about 5-10 seconds ahead of me on each of the repeats. I jogged for 2 miles barefoot on the grass as a cool-down.

PM - Mitchell Park. Went on another easy jog to Mitchell Park and back to loosen up after this mornings workout. I did two loops of the park, and felt pretty good.
20 miles

Monday 9/3
PM - Mitchell Park. I was tempted to take today off, as I have for the past few Mondays, but I got kind of restless in the evening, so I went on a short run after going to a block party on St. Michael Dr. I did 6 x 35 second strides on the way back to my apartment. I was surprised how good my legs felt today, considering what I put them through last week.
4 miles

Week 12: 8/27 - 9/2

Weekly Summary
My highest mileage week yet, of this season. I felt pretty good about this week, considering that fact that I was still recovering from last Sunday's 50K race. With an 8-mile tempo run on Tuesday at 5:12 pace and two long runs (Friday and Sunday), I accomplished more than I would have expected this week. I should probably be careful about doing two long runs so close to one another, but it wasn't as bad as I though it would be.
Resting HR: 60
Total Weekly Mileage: 110

Sunday 9/2
AM - Long run @ Walnut Creek. This morning, I got up early and drove over to Walnut Creek, which is near Berkeley, to meet up with Friedman and Tommy Greenless. We did two 10-mile loops from his place. The first one was pretty hilly on dirt trails, and the second one was very flat along a bike path. We were probably going around 7:00 pace for the first loop and closer to 6:10-6:20 pace for the second loop. It was nice to get a second long run in this week. I hadn't met Tommy before, but he seemed pretty cool. Afterwards, we hopped in his pool, and then went to a diner for brunch. It was really hot today, so it's a good thing there were a couple of places to stop for water. I also tried gu for the first time today, just so that my stomach can start getting used to it.
21 miles

Saturday 9/1
AM - Wunderlich Park. This morning, I met Johann at Wunderlich Park. This is the first time I have actually gone there on a weekend, and the parking lot was really crowded (unlike the other times I have been and there have only been 1-2 cars in the parking lot). Despite the crowded parking lot, we didn't see many people on the trails. We did an 11-mile loop at a pretty easy pace. We picked up the pace a bit on the way down, and since I wasn't wearing my contacts, I tripped on a root and busted up my knee once again. Fortunately, I was still able to run on it, but I jogged very slowly until I got back to the car. It seems like every time I finally heal from a past fall, I end up falling again. :( Johann and I got lunch with my dad at a Vietnamese soup place in Mountain View afterwards.

PM - Arastradero. This afternoon, I was pretty tired, but I wanted to get my mileage up this week, so I went over to Arastradero and did the 7-mile loop at an easy pace. I started out really slow, but felt pretty good by the end. I saw a few deer again today.
18 miles

Friday 8/31
AM - Long run @ Portola Valley. I met up with Nielson, McGlynn, Silver, and Xavier for a long run this morning at 6am. Unfortunately, it was not that cool this morning, and by the end of the run, it was actually really hot. We did an 18-mile loop through Portola Valley and then did the last 4 miles around Campus Loop in our flats. The first 18 miles took about 2 hours (~6:40 avg. pace with the first half ~7:00 and the second half gradually getting down to ~5:40). For the 4 miles at the end, I think my splits were 5:20, 5:10, 4:46, 5:30 (avg. 5:12/mile). I was with Nielson for the first 3, and then slowed down for the last mile. We then jogged 2 miles barefoot on the grass as a cool down. I felt pretty good with the run today. Unfortunately, most of the run was on hard surfaces, but I guess I have to get used to that for the marathon. One funny thing that happened during the run today was that when we stopped at a water fountain in Portola Valley, a couple of kittens came out of the bushes and ran up to us. We looked into the bushes, and there were several more. They were the friendliest little kittens I've ever seen, and one of them even came running after us for about 100 yards as we ran away until it couldn't keep up anymore. I went back later that afternoon with Sarah to look for them, but they were no longer anywhere to be seen.
24 miles

Thursday 8/30
AM - Mitchell Park. I went on a very easy run through Mitchell Park this morning. I felt pretty worn out. I think I'm still recovering from Sunday's 50K race, and I think yesterday's sports massage made my legs feel even more dead this morning. I did a few 30 second strides on the way home. I was planning to double today, but I ended up taking a nap in the afternoon instead of going on another run.
4 miles

Wednesday 8/29
AM - Baylands. This morning when I first woke up, my legs were really sore, so went back to sleep and when I woke up again, they were feeling much better. I went on an easy 10 mile run through the Baylands. I felt pretty good this morning, and it felt really easy to run at (what I think was) a moderate pace.

PM - Atherton. This afternoon, I went on a run along the railroad track into Atherton. I had to go on the run while it was still hot outside because I had a sports massage with Greg scheduled for 6:15pm. I felt pretty awful during this run, probably because of what I had eaten for lunch (a greasy schwarma wrap and a falafel wrap) just a few hours earlier. I felt much better after the sports massage.
20 miles

Tuesday 8/28
AM - 8 mile tempo run @ Stanford. 41:42 (avg. 5:12/mile pace). Mile splits: 5:17 + 5:16 + 5:16 + 5:14 + 5:21 + 5:17 + 4:55 + 5:05. I met up with the guys at 6:15am this morning and did the 3-mile warmup with them. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to do any of the workout or not, but after the warmup, I felt pretty good. So I decided to start the tempo run with them and see how I felt. I managed to do Campus Loop twice and make it 8 miles. JT went 12 and Beast went 14 today. I think it was a good thing I stopped at 8, even though I probably could have done a few more. I did 3 barefoot miles on the grass afterwards and stopped at Jamba Juice on the way home.

PM - Arastradero. I felt tired but not too sore in the afternoon, so I decided to double. I drove over to Arastradero in the early evening and did the 7-mile loop at a pretty easy pace. I felt pretty good today, and saw a couple of deer during the run.
21 miles

Monday 8/27
PM - Hoover Park. I almost took today completely off since I was pretty sore from yesterday's 50K race, but then I decided to do a very short jog to loosen up before dinner. I only gave myself 15 minutes before I had to go to dinner, so I only had time to do 2 miles, but I actually felt better than I thought I would. The guys are working out tomorrow morning, so I think I'll show up and maybe even try to do part of the workout with them.
2 miles