Week 6: 7/16 - 7/22

Weekly Summary
I was able to get my mileage up this week, but other than that, I'm a bit disappointed with the way things went this week. I wasn't able to run either of the two workouts (2-mile repeats and progressive long run) as well as I had hoped. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain -- at least I'm not injured yet. I just signed up to run in the San Francisco Half Marathon next Sunday. The race director was able to put me in the elite group and give me a comp entry. I'm not yet sure how I'll pace myself during the race (I haven't raced in almost a year), but I'm sure it will be a good workout.
Resting HR: 55
Total Weekly Mileage: 78

Sunday 7/22
AM - Arastradero Preserve. I went over to Arastradero this morning with Sarah, who was meeting Kirsten there. I took Phoenix (Kirsten's dog) running with me today. It was fun to run with Phoenix, but after about 5 miles, Phoenix decided he didn't want to run anymore. So we had to stop and rest and then jogged slowly back to the parking lot. I guess it's okay that I cut the run short today b/c my weekly mileage is already quite a bit higher than last week...
6 miles

Saturday 7/21
AM - Baylands. Met up with Silver and Xavier at the Stanford Track. The plan for today was to do a 4 mile warm-up, 8-10 miles progressively faster, and then a 4 mile cool-down. We wanted to do the fast part in flats, but we ultimately decided to run the entire thing in trainers rather than carry our flats with us to the Baylands. We ended up doing a 4-mile w/u (~6:40 pace), 8-mile progressive (5:52, 6:13, 5:57, 5:53, 5:45, 5:31, 5:31, 5:29 = ~5:46 pace), and 6-mile c/d (~7:00 pace). It was really sunny and hot today, so I was super dehydrated by the end. My stomach was bothering me today for some reason, but fortunately I was still able to get through the run.
18 miles

Friday 7/20
AM - Baylands. I decided to drive over to the Baylands this morning and check for mile-markers since we are going to be taking splits tomorrow during our long run at the Baylands. Unfortunately, I was only able to find a 4-mile marker, a 5K marker, and a 3-mile marker. I have no idea where the other ones are. I was jogging pretty slowly today, because I want to make sure that I save some energy for the run tomorrow. I guess I'll just wear my Garmin GPS watch during the run tomorrow so that we know what our pace is.
11 miles

Thursday 7/19
AM - Gunn High School. Today I ran in a loop from my apartment to Mitchell Park to Gunn High School to Page Mill back to my apartment. I took it pretty easy today. In the afternoon, I went to SMI for another sports massage, and hopped in the cold whirlpool at SMI afterwards. I haven't used my own CWP since I moved out to Boston. I'm going to have to set that thing up again when I move in September, but I'll probably have to buy an ice-machine as well.
7 miles

Wednesday 7/18
AM - 2 x 2 mile at Stanford with 2 min rest: 10:01 (4:59, 5:02), 10:12 (4:58, 5:14). I did a workout today with Beast, Silver, and a new guy whose name I think is Brett, but now I can't remember for sure. I made the mistake of trying to stay with Beast during the workout, so instead of doing 3 x 2 mile, I did 2 x 2 mile (with a third two-mile that I'm not really counting at 11:15!). I wasn't very happy with today's workout, but I guess I just haven't gone that fast in a while. After the way I felt during today's workout, it's hard to believe that a little over a year ago, I was able to run 13.1 miles nonstop at 4:58 pace.
12 miles

Tuesday 7/17
AM - Baylands. This morning it was hard to get out of bed. I was tired and my legs were sore. But I finally got up and went on an easy run from my apartment through the Baylands and back. My left calf/achilles is still bothering me a bit...
12 miles

Monday 7/16
PM - Wunderlich County Park. I bought new shoes this afternoon and then drove over to Wunderlich Park. I was actually heading to Windy Hill, but I saw a big green space on my GPS next to Windy Hill that I hadn't been to before, so I decided to check it out. It was one of the more beautiful runs I've been on in a long time. Several of the trails were surrounded by giant redwood trees, and even though it was a sunny day, it was quite cool and shady on the trails. I ran for about 60 minutes. The first half was uphill, and my legs were feeling pretty weak during that part.

AM - Mitchell Park. I jogged by the house to drop off the steam shower specs, and then did a short run through Mitchell Park. I was going to go farther, but didn't have time this morning.
12 miles

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

Week 4: 7/2 - 7/8

Weekly Summary
I got a couple of good runs in this week, including a fairly quick 5-mile tempo, and a nice long run along Skyline Ridge. But I also felt pretty tired and fatigued this week. I have been ramping up pretty quickly, and overall I'm feeling pretty good, but I need to take care not to get myself injured.
Resting HR: 54
Total Weekly Mileage: 60

Sunday 7/8
PM - Sweeney Ridge. Met up with Johann this afternoon at Skyline College to go on a run along Sweeney Ridge in Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It was a beautiful run. There was a view of the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Bay on the other side. It was once again, another hilly run, but we took it pretty easy. The Skyline College track looks pretty nice. I think I might go back there at some point if I want to do a hill workout followed by a track workout.
9 miles

Saturday 7/7
AM - Skyline Ridge. I met up with Friedman, Silver, and Xavier this morning at 8am at the intersection of Page Mill (Alpine Rd.) and Skyline Blvd. It took about 20 minutes to drive up there from my apartment, and it was cold, foggy, and wet up there. At the beginning of the run, I was especially cold in short sleeves. I felt like we did the run at sub-7:00 effort, but it took us about 1:50 to go a little under 15 miles according to Friedman's watch. The run was really nice overall. It was one of the first long runs I've done out here on soft surfaces that was not too hilly. We hammered the uphills a bit, but the rest of the run was pretty relaxed. We ran by two foxes that were on the trail at one point, which was pretty cool.
15 miles

Friday 7/6
PM - Arastradero. Went back to Arastradero for an easy run today. I saw 4 wild turkey running next to the trail that I was on when I crossed over to Foothill Park. When I ran back, I saw them again, and two of them started flying away from me while the other two just kept running.
6 miles

Thursday 7/5
PM - Arastradero. I went to Arastradero Preserve with Taylor (Sarah's sister's boyfriend) today. I didn't have much time to run before dinner, but we ran around for about 35 minutes. It was a nice run, but I couldn't find Taylor at the end, so Sarah and Kimmie went to pick him up.
5 miles

Wednesday 7/4
AM - Baylands Preserve. I went on a very easy run through the Baylands today. I kept it pretty slow because I was kind of tired from the tempo run yesterday. This afternoon/evening, I went to Yvonne's wedding and saw a bunch of old friends from Hoover Elementary School.
10 miles

Tuesday 7/3
PM - 5-mile tempo @ Stanford (26:13 = 5:18 + 5:14 + 5:14 + 5:14 + 5:13). Met up with the guys at 6:15am, after going to bed around midnight once again. Did a 3-mile warm-up, and then did a tempo that was supposed to last somewhere between 4 and 8 miles. I wasn't sure how far I'd go. I felt pretty good through 4, so I hung on until 5.5, at which point I noticed I was out of my comfort zone, so I stopped and jogged back. I guess that my pace this week was quite a bit better than last week. Donahue and Silver did 6. Beast did 8.
11 miles

Monday 7/2
PM - Mitchell Park. Felt very tired and sluggish today. Just went on an easy jog through Mitchell Park. I stopped to do some pull-ups and dips at Hoover Park, but could barely manage to do one set of 5 of each. Just one more sign of how weak I was today.
4 miles

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