Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

60 min on the elliptical resistance 8, 30 min @ 120 strides/min, 30 min @ 160 strides min, avg HR 138.

60 min elliptical resistance 8, 30 min@120 strides/min, 30 min @ 160 s/m, avg HR 140.

60 min elliptical, res 8, 30 min @ 130 s/m, 30 min @ 180 s/m with 2 2 min sprints at 220 s/m, avg HR 153.

38 min elliptical, res 10, 150 s/m, with 2 sprints @ 200 s/m, avg HR 151.

biked 13 mi easy pace.

biked 20 mi easy pace.

60 min elliptical, res 8, 30 min @ 140 s/m, with 4 2-min sprints at 190 s/m, 1 1-min sprint @ 220 s/m. Got HR up to at least 191, which was kinda fun.

Ran 4 miles on the track at 10-min pace with light jog there and back. Heel a bit sore but not too bad.

Just as a morale-builder, I'm going to start counting the elliptical "miles." So: 30 minutes with resistance on 8, 160+ s/min, with a 4 min warmup and cooldown on 110 s/m. Machine claims that equals 4 miles (from the feeling in my quads, must be four miles on jupiter or something). Sweat keeps on mucking up the HR monitor, but I think I peaked at 175 and averaged 155 or so.

Slept with The Sock last night and heel/ankle felt pretty good today, which is encouraging. Going to try running five or six easy miles every other day and elliptifying on the off days, see where a week of that leaves me. I've really been missing actual running.

5 miles at the track staying strictly between 9:30 and 10:00 miles. Was planning to do 6, but felt a small ache and cut it short. Nothing to worry about, though: medial ankle and foot a little tight afterwards, but basically good. This is exciting.

At that pace I could also pay more attention to running form: when it was really good I had to slow down all over again, with more or less the same expenditure of effort. This reinforces a thought I had yesterday on the elliptical trainer, to wit, I've been going way too fast. On every run I would always come out blazing, and basically do an LT/tempo or even anaerobic workout every time. When I was at three or four days a week that was more or less OK, though it may have built too much leg muscle too fast and contributed to the foot problems, as well as retarding CV development. But it was totally unsustainable at higher rates of activity. Interestingly, the habit carried over when I was confined to the gym, where I would crank the resistance up and habitually work out at 80-90% of max HR--as if that was "better."  Not.

So a toast to more thoughtful training. Didn't get as far in 45 minutes as I usually would in the past, but it felt just as good. One tempo a week is plenty.

Five and a half "miles" on the elliptical trainer. Kept HR between 130 and 140 while increasing resistance gradually from 6 to 12 over the course of 45 min, which seemed like a pretty good way of feeling my way toward a stable easy HR. Foot feels pretty good. Run around greenlake tomorrow..

Biked 13 mi.

Planning to run Greenlake with Michael but he was pretty hung over and the foot was sore four days after resuming regular workouts, so today was off. Biked 21.3 miles.

Was looking at some race photos. In each and every one I'm puckered up like I've just been goosed. So today at the track I decided to work on my race face. The problem is that I usually find my rhythm by breathing, which naturally causes a kind of lip-pucker. The alternative is humming something under my breath, but with all due respect to Gospodin Pachev it needed to be suitable for a bachelor: no B-I-N-G-O for me. Reviews follow.

"Let's Fall In Love"-- Not bad. Syllables on the downbeat with modest syncopation. Runs pretty well.

"The Guns of Brixton"-- Probably the best. Strong, clear, repetitive melody. Trochees, with the stress on the downbeat. Fast paced. Top notch.

"My Funny Valentine"--Surprisingly effective. You have to butcher the song quite a bit to get it to work, of course.

"Mr. Paganini"--Awful! Syncopation, irregular syllables. Swing is not good for runners. Totally got me off my stride.

"A Tisket a Tasket"--Well, it worked, but (a) it made me run too fast, and (b) I felt really stupid muttering about that little yellow basket I lost.

"What Does The Deep Sea Say"--Excellent. Strong downbeat on 1, easy syncopation, then downbeat on three and four. Good old Doc Watson.

The run itself was pretty good. Walked half a mile, then jogged to the track. The arch felt super tight at first; I had to stop a couple of times and stretch. After that it gave me a few warning twinges (not pain, just the tight feeling) whenever I got much above 9:00 miles for any extended period, so I tried to stay in the 9:10 range. We'll see how it is later this evening.

With the half-mile warmup and cooldown walk, 6 miles and 1:02 in all.

Five "miles" on the elliptical. Fitness slowly returning toward late April levels. Resistance 8, warmup 800 at 140 s/m then 4 mi @ 170 s/m which works out to (according to their calculator) about 8:30 miles, sprinting the last 800 at 220 s/m then cooldown at 120 or so. HR averaged 160 and seemed to increase at a slow, steady rate throughout the workout, topping out at 190 after two-minute sprint.

Felix Hernandez has another tough outing. Nice inside-th-park homer by Bloomquist though.

Pushing the pace ever so slightly. Warmup 10's to the track, then five mi of 8:45 or so then another 10 home with a 5-min walk down to the beach. Teh first mile (8:30) HR was around 143, inched up a bit thereafter but not too much (last mile was 148).

Test drove "How High the Moon" and "Lullaby of Birdland," which weren't bad. Then started fooling around with my own cadence and came up with (E minorish):

0---0-----0-0---|0-0-0--0O-------|0---0-----0-0---|0-0-O000O-------|

1    2        3  2    1  1  7   15(down) 1     2        3 2    1   1  54321

Did the job.

Highest mileage week so far, if you count the gym workouts. One more week of alternating days then let's start running back to back. Tempos on the elliptical, though, until the inflammation is in the rearview mirror.

On the elliptical. Fartlek.

Res 6 - 10 min warmup 130 s/m (HR 122)

Res 8 - 1.5 mi 185 s/m (HR 177), 5 min 100 s/m (HR 126), 5 x 80m strides (HR 173), 5 min sprintouts (HR 156)

Res 12 - 400m hill simulation (HR 189)

Res 8 - 1 min ~185 s/m (HR 184), 10 min cooldown 130 --> 100 s/m (HR 129).

Sleep: midnight to 7:30. Woke once or twice.

Food: 8:00 - Bowl of whole milk plain yogurt, whey protein, granola, bananas, glass of V-8. 10:00 - Cup of decaf coffee. 1:00 - Fish fillets, onions, brown rice. 6:00 - Pad Thai, 8 oz. watermelon, 8 oz. cherries. 10:00 - Burger, two Budweisers, 11:30 - spinach noodles with parmesan and pepper.

Pretty creaky today. First early AM run in a while, morning was very cool and damp. Had to stretch foot quite a bit, and never really got loose. Some shinsplint action in the left foot. Elliptical is low impact, but may have overdone it yesterday given reduced fitness.

Warmup mile at 9:30 (HR 134), two miles at 8:22 (HR 143) two at about 9:10 (HR 140), cooldown at 9:30 (135ish). Icing.

Sleep: 11:30-6:45, woke once.

Food: 8:00 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola. 10:00 - decaf coffee. 2:30 - chicken in sherry and rosemary with onion and potatoes, large garden salad in O&V. 7:00 - 1 beer, sag aloo, mixed grill, lamb samosa (very full). Did not hydrate enough.

Forgot my headband as I left for the gym. Disaster. Spent an hour broadcasting sweat in a 1 ft radius around the machine--fortunately I was on the end and it was pretty empty, but too bad for the portly, middle-aged woman who sat down to my left at about minute 45. With a Baywatch rerun blaring above us, she drowned. Was able to jam through two Italian lessons (signorina! vorrebbe mangiare qualcosa da me?), at which rate I figure I can pick up two or three languages and maybe an Italian exchange student by the time the foot's completely healed.

Fairly low-stress workout. Resistance 6, started out at 170 s/m with HR around 135, crept upward (dehydration?) to the 150s, at which point I would ease up. By "mile 5.5" was somewhere around 150 s/m and 150 bpm. Took the last "600 meters" at 200 s/m which boosted HR to 184. After Friday's death march (above 179 for 7 minutes) felt relatively little stress. Didn't push it in the interests of getting actual work done this morning, but hopefully this signals improvement in my fitness.

Heel pretty sore this AM until stretching, at which point it was fine. I think that's because for once I didn't sleep with the sock.

Sleep: 1 AM- 7.

Food: 8:00 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola. 2:00 - fish in soya and ginger, 2 bananas, large garden salad in O&V. 4:00 - 3 bananas and peanut butter, rice. 8:00 - rice, 1/2 watermelon, 2 bananas, 8 oz cherries. Got a little squirrely around 4:00 or so.

Off day.

Sleep: 11:30-7:30, woke 3 times.

Food: 8:00 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola, 1 banana, 1:30 - turkey salad (excessive mayo, no dressing) on romaine, chicken soup, blueberries, 5:00 - whole (small) watermelon, 3 bananas, 8:30 - leftover indian over rice, green salad in O&V, 1/2 bottle of nice Venetian pinot grigio, top-notch blue cheese (multiple servings!).

Ran after work from the University to Greenlake, where I met Michael and we did once around. Body was really raring for a bit more speed than of late; took some willpower to keep it to 7:40 or so on the way over. Michael, fortunately, is kind of a candyass: 3 x 10 minute miles to finish up. Foot feels a little sore, but nothing special. The weather was spectacularly blue and dreamy. When I first started running again it was around Greenlake, about 20 months ago: I could barely make one circuit. This felt good.

Sleep: 11:00 to 5, with a long period of wakefulness at 2:30, apparently because I somnambulated and bashed my elbow (woke up bruised and facing the complete opposite direction on the bed).

Food: (Wed) 8:00 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola. 12:00 - spinach salad with O&V. 2:00 chicken breast in sherry with yams, potatos and onions. 7:00 - chicken breast with rice. (Thurs) 5:30 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola. 12:30 - beans, rice and yogurt. 7:45 grilled chicken caesar salad.

On the elliptical. Res 8, averaged around 8:00/miles (= ca. 175 s/m). Finished off with a 1:40 400. HR avg 151, topped off at 183. Another two Italian lessons. Very hot woman on the next machine. She asked if I was done with the Us magazine that somebody had piled on the floor. Told her I'd especially enjoyed the article about dressing like a celebrity mom-to-be and handed it over with my number. Nothing so far. We hope.

Sleep: 11:00-5:45, woke a few times.

Food: 6:00 - whole milk yogurt, whey protein, granola. 10:00 - 2 bananas. 1:00 tofu in sesame oil with chickpeas, onions and spinach. 3:00 - beans, rice and yogurt. 5:30 - 1 beer, strawberries.

PS: Godspeed to all Wasatchels! 

A doubly historic morning: my 36th birthday and Fastrunningblog's conquest of Washington State. Met up with David and ran down Stottlemeyer towards Port Gamble (well, *away* from Port Gamble at first, until it dawned on us we were holding the map upside down). Lovely weather: warm, slightly overcast, with rumors of sunbreaks every now and then. Agate Passage on the way over was glassy and self-satisfied. The official objective was to run a trail system David had heard about, which we finally found at about mile 6. Logging roads, maybe twenty or thirty years old. Some nice twisty single-track, too, which was fun, whipping past the brambles on either side. Took it nice and easy on the trails, and otherwise the pace seemed (from my point of view!) like a pretty good compromise between two rather different fitness levels: around 7:20 or so. Felt like I was pushing it a bit on the last hill, but within reason.

Iced the heel/ankle afterwards and stretched a bunch, and it feels a bit sore, but not too bad. Will try next week at around 42, with two back-to back days on the road and maybe stretching the long run to 10 or 11, and see where that leaves things.

Sleep: 12:15-5:00

Food: 8:00 - Roast beef, potatoes, spinach pasta in very winy tomato sauce, 9:00 - 1 beer, pretzels, 6:30 - power bar (blech).

Was curious how the foot would respond to a longer and more strenuous run than I've done in quite a while. It's going to be sore, the goal is just to keep it in chronic rather than acute mode. Whether it was the icing, prophylactic ibuprofen, stretching, night splint or all of them, returns seem to be good. I think I was slightly conservative during the run, maybe can open it up a bit.

A little stiff this morning (especially in the hip/glute area, which is unusual), so walked 1.5 miles to the gym and stretched the ITB a couple of extra times for good measure. Then ran off "6.25 miles" in about 53:00, keeping it around 165 s/m. HR was significantly lower than usual, averaging 128 and maxing out at 159 after 2 or 3 minutes at 200 s/m. I think this may have been because I hydrated better, or perhaps the change in breakfast food? More carbs in pancakes. Also the NH3 smell was gone, perh for the same reason. Foot started aching about 25 minutes in, so I slowed down a little. Two more Italian lessons.

Sleep: 1:00 to 7:10, woke twice.

Food: 6:30 to 12:30 - Well, birthday cake and many assorted beverages. 8:30 - about 10 pancakes with butter and maple syrup, yogurt and whey protein.

Gor, grim run. Slept badly, never woke up. Foot was super tight on the warmup mile over to the track, left shin aching too, giving me exactly zero happy lower extremities. Chugged around at 8:30, probably should have gone a bit slower but I just wanted it to be over. Two ibuprofen and a hot shower has me somewhat happier. 

180-degree turn from yesterday. Slept 71/2 hours or so, woke up feeling sprightly and decided to do two "real" runs back to back after all. Warmup mile was OK, same tightness in the foot and shin, but stretched at the track and got it more or less ready to go, then rattled off a 7:40 1600 (HR 150). Surprise! It felt good. On the last lap had some Hausfrau action in the inside lane, which was annoying, and after I sped up to avoid them I ended up just keeping along at that pace, making for a 6:50 1600 (HR 169). Still good. Another mile in the sevens then a 6:45 and I tootled on home with a big smile on my face. Two ibuprofens and an icepack later life is good.

Off day. Biked 20 miles to work in the morning and then the ballpark for an Ms game. Seattle 2 Boston 1 in 11. Stellar.

Strange experience on the Burke-Gilman Trail: I ran over a squirrel which decided to make a run for it just as I passed. That happened to me last year with a yap dog which I ended up hitting broadside at 25 mph. I've never hit anything in a car but now two on a bike. The squirrel seemed surprised, but ok, I think I just got his tail. Dog by contrast was in pretty rough shape.

Had meant to run 6 at Greenlake but ended up working late at the office and then missed the 7:20 ferry. So 3 miles on the gym's treadmill at 9:30, showered and left just as they were closing. Wore my favorite thin-soled Italian shoes today, and the arch was very unhappy earlier, but it feels OK now. One Italian lesson. Come to think of it, that makes two Italian lessons.

PM run at the track. 8's. Lots of aches and pains: ITB a bit sore.  Planning to run 7 or 8, but maybe better to stabilize in the mid-30s for now.

On the elliptical. Couldn't run normally today -- ITB very sore. This is frustrating. Too fast again?