Chaire Herodikos Selymbriaios!

First competitive race (ever!), felt pretty good about it. 7:30 has been my usual pace, and it was nice to come just under that in race conditions. The course was pretty hilly (full marathoners complained on the bus) but running up Queen Anne hill in Seattle seems to have worked--I felt OK on the inclines.

Main concern at this point is staying power. Kind of lost steam the last two miles or so, and since I've been training at around 25 miles a week, it's clear I'll have to increase that pretty quickly between now and marathon day at the end of July.

Took a couple days off after the race. My lower left calf is still feeling very stiff, but that's the only lasting soreness. Will keep an eye on it--same calf went into spasm when I was taking my shoes off on Sunday. Poor stretching, I think.

Went about as fast today as I felt comfortable, just over 7:30 (ran a new course, and don't have the milestones figured out precisely yet). 6.5 miles was 0:52. Starting speedwork at the track this weekend, until then will just go at the usual pace.

Same route as yesterday. Calf was really tight when I started out, then it loosened up at mile 4 so I pounded Madison, feeling pretty darn good. 50:55.

First speed workout ever. 4x400 with intermediary cooldown laps at half speed (ok, the first two were more or less walking). No idea about pace, so after a light run to the track and stretches I did a lap at about marathon pace. Seemed to go fine, so I thought I'd turn it up a notch. Cave dominus videt!

Splits:

1 - 1:13 (dying!)

2 - 1:15 (gorge in my throat!)

3 - 1:22 (tasting that yogurt and granola!)

4 - 1:20 (put a fork in me!)

Clearly there are some conditioning issues. Before we left the track my 80-year-old stepfather challenged me to a 200 (he did it in 0:45, which I find pretty impressive)

Postscript: Thinking about it now, while I definitely have to work on tolerating elevated HR, I wonder if part of the problem wasn't my breathing. I was still doing the 3-2 pattern I use for strenuous (e.g. hilly) long distance, and there was probably some extra anoxia, which would have contributed to the nausea I think. So maybe it's technique as well as conditioning.

Blakely route. Very hilly. Took it pretty easy, hoping to avoid a recurrence of shinsplint issues after my first 30 mile week. Wyatt and Eagle Harbor (2.5 mi) 19:00; Eagle Harbor and far outlet of Rose Loop (4.12 mi) 40-something; Blakely and Oddfellows Road (7.65 mi)-1:02 something. Just before I hit Hall's Hill (6.3 mi) my HR, whatever it was, was just peachy--felt like I could run forever. Nice timing! Recovered "Good HR Feeling" pretty quickly after ninety seconds of, like, 25-thousand percent grade, which seems encouraging. Great view (7.3 mi) of sunny Rich Passage after the early-morning rain.

Overall time 1:41-something (button error before the cool-down lap), for 8-minute pace.

I'm thinking it could be a good idea to space out speedwork and long runS. Legs felt a little cranky after a couple miles on the track yesterday. Maybe Wed mornings would be better than Sat. Experimenting with icing the left shin right after shower, will see if that helps.

Update - Shins fine. Heel sore.

On the treadmill to give the heel a rest. 1.25 mi s l o w l y to the gym, 1.25 at 8:00 pace (HR up to 160 stabilized at 154), then 5k at 6:40 pace (HR up to 170 stabilized around 167). Somewhat strenuous, but not much problem sustaining it.

Heel isn't bruised, must be a muscular or tendon issue. Doesn't seem too serious, probably needs more stretching. Rest day tomorrow. Bicycle commute!

Training accident: drank a sprite in the late am. Haven't had any refined sugar in ages, and the extra miles have clearly changed the way I process it while at rest. Not fun, particularly before I figured out what was going on. Moral: avoid refined sugar.

Biked 20 miles @ 18-20mph except Broad St. hill.

Waving the brown shirt today--looks like I've signed up with the Fasciitis-isti. Stretching the arch doesn't seem to help much, and since I've been running hills with few problems since I got back from Switzerland I'm betting it's the new shoes. Recommendations from the crowd for a new make&model (slight over-pronator) would be gratefully accepted. Seems to go away after the first mile or so, but I definitely feel it before and afterwards.

In a nod to orthopedic reality went a sludge-slow 8:45. Had planned to run Grand Forest, but after zestfully zipping around a couple of loops I realized that uneven ground and steep inclines probably weren't the best thing for the heel at this point, so did two laps around the Little League ballfield (poor first baseman totally botched a grounder as I rounded right field) and called it a night.

Splits - 5x ballfield = 10:00

Today's run started out as a funeral procession and ended up as Mardi Gras. Babied the foot all day then got home and taped it up good. Ran about fifty feet before it started to throb, then ache, then something worse. Stopped after about half a mile, put my tail between my legs and started to walk home. Suddenly it felt better. Broke into a jog again--same thing. Started to walk again. Better. Finally I just said screw it, and kept on going at the Plantar Pace out to the ballfield. Must have stretched out or something, or maybe the foot settled into the tape job, or a combination of the two, because after 1.7 miles of cautious sluggery I hit the field running at a really good clip and just started flying (for me anyway) at a 6:45 pace. Running on the grass felt great. Did five laps and chugged on home at about 7:25, even going into a kick on the last 400m. Cooldown lap around the garden and wouldn't you know it, all in all I feel like a pretty satisfied customer. Total time 40:00.

Biked 20 mi @18-20mph except Broad St and Eastlake hills.

Sigh. This mission is scrubbed. Plantar really burning + favoring right leg mucking up mechanics. On the elliptical until inflammation goes down. Alas and alack!

Lessons:

1) Shouldn't have run track and hills back to back.

2) Should have paid more attention to creaky foot in the morning.

In retrospect looks like a generic overtraining injury rather than a shoe problem, but maybe I'll take advantage of the hiatus to go shopping.

Bike ride tomorrow out to Point No Point.

Met DG at the ferry for year's first real ride, out to Twin Spits via Suquamish, Port Gamble and Hood Canal. Sweet day: overcast with sunbreaks in the early AM resolving to wispy upper-atmospheric doodads around noon. Rather miffed about the foot and cranked fairly hard on the rollers and headlands--by the time my quads have recovered enough for serious running the plantar'll be fine!

Dropped DG off at Kingston dock and ran into Bill Abbey of the West Sound Cycling Club on the way home.

64.95 mi avg 16.2 mph

Elliptical 45 min resistance 11 avg HR 143

Walked 3 mi

6 x 30 sec towel pulls

6 x 30 sec table leans

20 toe curls

15 min frozen bottle roll

Took a while to stretch out the injured foot this morning, and I could feel my ankle getting sore from having changed my gait to accomodate it. Once I corrected that walking felt good until the last half mi when the heel started swelling up a bit. Basically I feel some improvement, but can tell that it's not ready for full speed on hard surfaces. Water running this week, then will see how it feels on the ballfield at a moderate pace next weekend.

Biked 52.5 mi 18,2 mph avg, 4x 2 mi sprints at 23 mph.

Was planning to resume routine today, but heel felt pretty tender. Give it another day.

Back in the saddle! The hiatus has been killing me, not least because spring has really sprung out here on Puget Sound, the weather is comestible, and everyone from the herons to the sea lions to the babes in bikini tops is letting it all hang out. But no sense in picking a chronic ailment a few months before the race. So--two weeks on the elliptical. Ugh.

Didn't want to overdo it, ran around the track for half an hour at (Garmin enforced) 8-8:30 pace, except for the second-to-last lap, which I took in 6:45. A few minor complaints from the foot along the way (mostly the heel, now and again something like a cramp in the arch), more tenderness from the newly-healed tissue I think than anything serious. We'll see how it feels this evening, but I think we're back in business. Let's try 4 mi a day five days this week and see where that leaves us.

Foot only a little sore this morning, but discretion-is-the-better-part and so forth. So I hopped on the bike instead & chugged out to the aptly named Scenic Beach State Park by Seabeck, where I lounged on the shore and read Dickens. To spice things up--as if the most spectacular scenery in Washington State wasn't enough--wore my new Garmin with the heart rate monitor. That thing is flipping fun! Took it up to 185 bpm at the summit of Anderson Hill, otherwise was mostly cruising in the 140s and 150s. 61.2 miles round trip, avg 14.8 mph, flagging a bit on the return (until Snicker bar no. 2 just past Poulsbo). Pretty satisfied with that, as the hills were vicious and trafficky.

Z1 12:51

Z2 33:24

Z3 1:22:35

Z4 1:37:03

Z5 19:44

Note to Highway Department: two separate flats from road trash. Please improve shoulder maintenence (or my vision, whichever seems easiest).

Back to the track tomorrow.

On the track. Messed up the laps, but averaged 7:40 pace, Started at 8:30, took it up to 7:30 for a mile, then to 6:30 for the last mile with a sprint to the finish then a cooldown lap. Everything felt aok: a bit of soreness in the heel when I stretched the achilles afterwards, but nothing too bad. Doing the frozen water bottle thing as I type; we'll see how it is this evening.

Z1 0:04

Z2 0:35

Z3 8:10

Z4 17:18

Z5 6:47

Biked 16 mi.153 bpm avg 186 bpm max.

Biked 13.5 miles. Commute-level effort.

Z1	3:00
Z2	6:14
Z3	11:46
Z4	6:58
Z5	1:16

Biked 69 mi around Lake Washington. 15 mph headwind coming through Lake Sammamish corridor slowed us down quite a bit causing both me and DG to bonk at the end (climbed Ravenna at about 7mph!), but all in all a nice workout.

Fun race. With the foot acting up I can only run about once or twice a week--can't very well train until it improves, so the S.F. Marathon in July has turned into a pumpkin (i.e., a half). By the time that became clear though I'd already signed up for the Rhody, and was kind of looking it as my last hurrah before an extended period of non-running. Didn't want to go all out and hurt anything else, but thought I'd give a decent effort. Took the first mile at 7:15, and the course's only real incline didn't slow me down much - finally settled in at just about 7:00/mi. A guy from Tacoma liked the pace, and we yakked all the way to mile 7, where I broke away and finished at a 6-minute clip. Broke the tape still accelerating at 12mph according to Garmin. All in all, left a nice taste in my mouth.

Splits:

1	7:14
2	7:01
3	7:40
4	7:03
5	6:53
6	6:55
7	7:03
.53	3:12

HR was mostly in the 160s and low 170s and topped out at 190; averaged 186 on the last half mi.

Postscript: Sped to the car for a quick getaway, hoping to get in a tub of hot water before the heel tightened, but no such luck: ended up hitting the accelerator with my left foot all the way home. So it's crosstraining for a few weeks, then hopefully start working on October's Portland Marathon. And this time train smarter. Errors to avoid: 1) should have dialed down the week after the Whidbey half, rather than up; 2) shouldn't have done intervals and difficult long run on consecutive days; 3) was stretching achilles too hard and calves not enough; 4) ignored aching in arches--could have nipped it in the bud; 5) shoes with more control and less cushioning probably a good idea.

Biked 20.24 mi 17.4 mph avg. Total ascent 2121'.

Z1	2:42
Z2	7:51
Z3	21:57
Z4	49:06
Z5	3:46

Sticking to my resolution to rest the foot for a few weeks is hard. The first 24 hours after the race was pretty bad, then the pain subsided and my body started trying to trick me again into thinking it's better. Went for a long brisk walk yesterday evening to see how that would feel and had to almost physically stop myself from breaking into a trot. But this morning it was sore. So if I want to be running more than once a week looks like this is what I've gotta do.

One thing for sure, when I get back on the horse I'm going to take it a lot slower while I build a mileage base. 9:00 miles feel ugly, but it looks like I wasn't ready for faster times at the higher frequency.

Biked 14.55 mi, avg speed 16.7 mph total ascent 2897 ft avg hr 138 max hr 180.

Had a chat with Julia, who's been rehabbing a strained glute. Misery loves company--but on the other hand she says she was only on the shelf for two weeks (from a 45-50 mi base) and is down an hour on her long runs, so that part was kind of depressing.

Heel inflammation has apparently migrated from the PF to the cruciate crural ligament, I guess from all the abnormal stresses. The lateral edge of the dorsal foot aches from below the ankle on back, but the medial side seems fine. Not too bad, but I have to make sure I'm totally in alignment when I stretch or it seems to get irritated.

Biked to Leschi and straight back over the hill to the ferry. Worked up a pretty good sweat, but stop and go mileage doesn't really count. Dropped by Seattle Running Company for new shoes (Waverider 10s). The Nikes were pretty much dust after little more than a hundred miles--me and Phil Knight are so over, man.

Had an interesting experience in the afternoon. Morning meeting, left a paycheck in a pile of papers. Dawned on me about lunchtime, about had a heart attack (had spent months finagling it out of HMS). Mounted my bike with a running leap and headed back over to the meeting site. Light turned green, rode from a dead stop up the hill past Safeway, about a 4 or 5 percent grade. Looked at my speedometer and I was going 20!

Conclusion: there's power to be had in those muscles. It would be great to be able to harness the adrenaline a bit more consciously, whether on foot or bicycle.

Postscript: they unlocked the door and it was right where I'd left it.

We were planning on bike camping out at Hurricane Ridge but weather canceled. Then rode into Seattle this morning to do the lake Washington Loop, but by the time the 7:05 ferry pulled in at Colman Dock monsoon conditions had ensued. Right hammy was a bit sore from all the calf stretches, and I'm paranoid about screwing something else up at this point: riding around in the cold and wet seemed like a recipe for disaster. Ended up tootling out to DG's place and back, 20 miles total. Blech. Definitely short on endorphins this afternoon.

Ah, much better. 34.2 mi ride out to Kingston. Light rain, then clear with a pearly mist covered sunset at Agate Passage. 16.8 mph avg, HR avg 154. Nice.

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?

Met up with David and ran by Hansville from Twin Spits to Point-No-Point Lighthouse and back. Morning was ichi-ban: clear and blue, brassy morning light, high cirrus clouds, mountains right next door, Whidbey Island green and furry. First 3m hilly, second 3m flat, then back over the rollers to our cars. Was concerned about the leg and took it fairly easy on the way out, then got a twinge at about mile 7 and slowed to a jog. Did 9.5 mi in about 80-85 min. By the time I got home ITB was duly sore (mostly about mid-thigh) and the knee felt pretty grotty, but rolled a frozen water bottle over it for about 20 minutes and now it's more or less OK. So maybe this thang has been nipped in the bud.

Rest day.  bunch of ibuprofen, hoping to get rid of the inflammation. Felt pretty good, the leisurely Sunday pace seems to have been leisurely enough. Worked till 5:30 then painted house with Liz till dusk. Good beer. Good times.

Ten minute pace. At that rate not enough time in the mornings, so I'll try to work in a PM run too. Little twinge at 3.5 miles so I stopped there instead of 4.

10 strides per respiration--felt like I was barely moving...

Downtown Bainbridge loop. Very moderate pace. Some ITB stickiness at the end otherwise OK. Wore the new Nimbi--those shoes feel made for my feet, what a pleasure.

Quite a pretty morning. Got up early and out to Battle Point Park. Very chill, 9s. ITB let me know it was still around at mi 6; stopped and stretched it for a few minutes, after that nothing special.

Nimbus

Nice morning run, Manitou beach to Sportsman's Club Road. Felt pretty good: 9s, free and easy. Some foot tightness at about mile 2, stopped and stretched -- basically went away.

I'm going to try avoiding back to backs--two long runs, two short ones a week until this nagging inflammation is in the rearview mirror. If "long" is 11-15 and "short" is 6-9 that seems like a pretty good level of mileage for now anyway.

(Waverider 81)

Greenlake. Should have gone a bit easier, maybe. Some ITB/foot soreness well afterwards, but iced and feels better now. Long run planned for yest nixed after I turned an ankle in the garden Friday and tweaked calcaneofibular ligament again. Still pretty sore at the junction with the heel.  Frustrating.

Nimbus

DG's house for dinner, then ran to the library at a nice easy pace. Checked out my new place by Greenlake. Pretty cool. Going to be nice to run on the flats for a while.

Nimbus

University library to Greenlake, once around, and back.  Nice evening.

Nimbus 32.45

Full Arrow Point loop (complete with dirt roads and dogs). Pace averaged 8:45, wasn't regulating it much, basically ran at whatever felt "slow" for the incline. 2500' total ascent, so that was quite a bit at times. Knee a bit grotty at 6 mi, stretched for a minute or so then it was fine until right before home.

7 miles easy to Mom's place to water the plants and fill Theo's sandbox. Felt pretty good, a little bit of ITB drag on the knee but easy mnotion and little or no pain. Maybe the O-3 fish oil capsules aren't quackery after all!

Nimbus 39.45

Easy run at Greenlake with DG and Michael. One circuit, then ran DG home and back again to where I'd parked the bike. About 20 miles on the bicycle, but rear tire developed a slow leak so took it very easy.

Blakely Loop. 8:45 pace felt very easy. Few foot/knee complaints, a twinge here and there but no weakness. Could have gone a few more miles, but decided not to push it since I was at 33 for the week and the last month has been very low miles. Ran with a water bottle for the first time and liked it; had to stop once at an old lady's house to refill (hot day for the Pacific Northwest).

Nimbus 54

Overcast morning, got in a run. Somewhat achey, unless I held it above 8:45 or so. Above that more problematic.

Waverider 97

Battle Point Park loop + Manzanita Loop. Was planning to go 12, but ITB tightened up at mile 10, walked about a mile and stretched it, then tried again for another mile. No dice. Hill and crowned roads kicked my butt (kind of literally). So I ended up sort of power walking home 2 miles, 14 in all.

I'll be a bit glad to get off the island from the running standpoint. Some nice blisters right now.

I have been very achey the last two days. Was planning to go out yesterday afternoon, but leg kind of hurt and work went long etc. This morning still felt crappy but after two miles the fog sort of lifted (not outside--a perfect overcast Puget Sound day). Ended up with a very satisfying if short run.

The only fly in the ointment was the SUV that pulled up on my tail right before I rolled into home. I hate when they just sit there, refusing to pass, often honking at you gratuitously, as if you can't hear their 300 liter fuel injected engine from a mile away. Sometimes they yell things. It's always SUVs. I shouldn't let it harsh my buzz, but this one got under my skin.

Very satisfying Saturday morning run. Out with David to the trail system on Stottlemeyer, did about 45 minutes there, quite decent clip. Then at his suggestion we chugged up to the Pt Gamble turnoff and back - 70 min in all. Slight BR emergency about 100 yards before the cars, luckily D came armed with TP. Bushes are good.

Still having problems with tightness in the skinny muscles between the tibialis anterior and the calf proper; once again after about 15 min/2-2.5 miles; and as soon as I stretch it for three minutes it's OK for the duration. But very uncomfortable if I don't. Kind of annoying. Wonder if there's something I can do to get it looser more of the time.

30.2 for the week, second week above 30 and this time it feels like a pretty good pattern (two long two short), allowing me to sustain this level without too much wear and tear until everything is back to normal.

Nimbus 86

Postscript: I usually don't nap after runs, but did this time and I feel great!

No muscular soreness after our fast 5k to end yesterday's run, and very little discomfort in the foot and leg--no different from what I'd feel after an off day. Good news.

Easy run in the PM.

Bike camping with DG. Seattle to San Juan Island via Whidbey, Deception Pass, and Anacortes, 88 mi. Funny little tableau on the Deception Pass bridge: we decided to get off the roadway and had a hell of a time getting past all the fat people on the very narrow pedestrian section. Weather totally loverly. Found a little out of the way glade to squat in - lodgings thus free.

40 miles or so all around San Juan Island. Much fun. Stunning morning with marine mammals at Lime Kiln Point lighthouse; amusing tour of English Camp, where we got to hoist the only British flag at a U.S. national park and eat medicinal plants in the formal garden; lunch of salami and pepper jack at the fancy shmancy marina. The highlight though was gin and tonics with a troupe of Shakepearean players by their farmhouse stage as night fell and skeeters buzzed, talking Richard III and the Merchant of Venice. Slept well.

Return trip, 90 miles or so back home. Last hill by Edmonds was kind of tough.

It's been two weeks since my last confession. Moving, work and vacation took their toll. Got out for a quick 3 miles just to find my legs again. Going to try and get back up to 22 or 23 this week, then resume at 28-30.

Didn't hydrate well beforehand, and PM protein was mostly cheese. First two miles were good, then got a horrible stitch. When the HR is 170 on a totally flat 9:15 mile you know you're in a world of hurt. Ran through it, but only just.

Very pleasant morning run. Nice light, unstrained 8:00 pace, good stretching afterward. More like this.

Easy four in the morning. 8ish pace. Very free and easy. I'm loving this flat Greenlake action.  Ten tomorrow would make for a not-totally embrassing week.

Moderate warmup down Ravenna then met David on Burke Gilman for a brisk 8 miles. Nice overcast day; felt like I was laboring just a little at first, then settled down. On the way back we got a bug in the ear (I think it was David's story of the old lady at the Motel 6) and surged uphill to about 6:15 for a half mile or so. Was already at 25 for the week when I dropped him off, and my mileage has been low, so had a coffee at Tully's then jogged very slowly home. Average worked out to about 7:30. Satisfying run.

Postscript: felt just fine all day, normal slight soreness gone by afternoon. But I was bending over to pick up my shoes around 5:00 and tweaked my lower back, just above the top edge of the right pelvis, about 2 inches away from the spine. For the last few days I've been feeling a sort of ache or tug in precisely that area when I start running, which soon goes away, not to return. I guess it just returned. I'm guessing iliopsoas, but would be curious to hear from anyone with a similar complaint, and maybe a good stretch. Meanwhile, 400 mg of Vitamin I is helping.

Greenlake. Tight calves. Objective today was to keep HR below 150, which made for 8:30-8:45 miles. Hip/back still a bit sore: weird, since it's not really by a joint. But I guess you can sprain/strain anything with connective tissue. Didn't affect my stride in any obvious way.

AM: Greenlake. Woke at 4:00 and never got to sleep again, so did another sub-150 HR special, keeping it mostly under 140 until the very end.

PM: 3.5 at 8:00/mi. A little faster than I'd intended for this experimental two-a-day. Totally unforced, body just seemed to want to go there. The mileage isn't unprecedented or anything. We'll see how it feels in the morning.

Greenlake in the AM. Right hamstring a bit sore, otherwise OK. Took a couple miles to warm up, then hit superluminary speed beating the light across Aurora. Fittingly enough.

PM: a distinctly subluminary 4. Many young persons underfoot in the dark; did my best not to trample them, and the rabbits neither. But it was hard to see, so I can't be sure.

super slo-mo after work around the lake. Did mix in 6x100m strides at 6ish pace. After the final go my slo-mo was barely mo, though -- whoa! -- so I go home.

postscript: 6ish pace, hah! Garmin claims I topped out at 16mph on the second set. Now if only I could sustain that for a mile....

Yes, boys and girls, today's word is S   L   O   W.  Mr. Shin was very displeased with our attempt yesterday to make like Jeremy Wariner. Kept looking around for a pace that felt alright, started at 8:30, descended into the 9s, finally settled on 10:15.

My highest mileage 7 days thus far, at 41, though a fairly modest 28 for the "week." Tomorrow is off, and we'll start off right on Sunday with 14.

Ravenna - Burke Gilman - Fremont - Woodland Park - Greenlake loop. Nice endorphin rushes at miles 4 and 10. Power nap afterwards.

After looking at the splits, I think this was pretty close to an optimal long run given current level of fitness. A mile of warmup at 9:30, three more miles at 8:55 to get hot, settled in at 8:25 to 8:30 on the flats for two miles, then four miles at around 9:00 on the 400ft vertical ascent of Fremont hill, then a solid 8:15 for three miles around Greenlake and a cooldown mile at 9:36. So the flat effort was around 8:20 to 8:30, with negative splits for the run as a whole. While I won't say I never looked at the GPS, was also paying pretty close attention to biofeedback sorts of things and mostly running at a pace that felt good. The Watch still makes me self conscious and sometimes induces to push the pace too much, but on this run at least I'm glad I brought it along.

The average was about a minute off my usual pace from long runs in April, when I was not really warming up or cooling down and hitting 7:30-7:45 most of the way. And lo and behold-- when the mileage got over 25 a week my body broke down. So while I'm just now getting back to the length of those long runs before the Whidbey half last spring, I think I'm in significantly better shape and going at it quite a bit more intelligently. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

Still, it will be good to move on to the next stage.

Nimbus orange.

Nothing special. No soreness to speak of, but legs were pretty dead. After I stretched the ITB at mile 3.5 gained a surprising amount of oomph, so maybe it was just tightness.

Nimbus orange.

AM: very relaxed 4.5 miles with DG. HR avg 132. A few aches and pains (left shin still kind of sore), but felt stronger than yesterday.  

Nimbus orange.

AM: with DG for 4, HR about 125. Meant to go another 4 last night but had some intestinal problems that were still giving me grief by about mile 3. Ran through it, which was the right choice. We'll see how it goes this evening.

It's nice to get up early and have a yak with a friend. Hopefully 20 miles a week doesn't break him down!

PM: Two faster miles (7:20, 7:05), two easy (8:30ish). Foot fine, ITB fine, stomach fine, some slight shin soreness but transient.  Got up to 15mph beating the Aurora light! 

Nimbus orange.

AM: 4 with DG. A little shin soreness, above the ankle. It's fun tp be up at 5:30. Got a bit frisky racing the street cleaner.

PM: 2 fasterish (8:10, 7:40) 2 slowerish. Way too many lapdogs underfoot. Do I punt the dog or the owner, that is the question. 

Nimbus orange.

5:30 run with DG. New weekly mileage record puts an end to the week. Rest day tomorrow, 5k in Tacoma on Sunday, shooting for sub-21.  

Nimbus orange.

Family emergency, missed the race in Tacoma. Got home tonight just in time to get four in, went as fast I could get revved up on an empty stomach: 3 miles were probably 7:15ish.

Going to try 5 days of 8s this week and see how things feel. 

Nimbus orange.

5:30 run with DG. Home from work very late, planned PM did not come off.  

Nimbus orange.

AM: 530 jog with DG. Extra pokey today, which was probably good as I slept poorly and had trouble loosening up.  

Nimbus orange.

AM: 530 w/ DG.  

Nimbus orange.

AM: 530 with DG. I keep on putting AM down here in hopes that a PM will arise, but no such luck thus far. Today's the day.

We did a couple of 745 miles yesterday and there were complaints ex post facto so in the interests of preserving my running partner today was s l o w. 

Nimbus orange.

530 with DG. medium-slow.  

Nimbus orange.

Another Sunday mishap. Three hours in the ER waiting room, bandage on forehead and planned 16 miler did not come off. This is frustrating.

530 AM with DG, and tacked on another 3 up to 105th and back. Now that the Vicodin has worn off it feels good to be back on the road again. 

Nimbus orange.

530 AM with DG then out to 105th and back.  

Nimbus orange.

 Nimbus orange.

Underslept, but frisky.  

Nimbus orange.

Slept a bit better. LEft ankle sore for some reason. Good stretching today before and after.  

Nimbus orange.

4 mi with DG moderate pace, then picked it up a bit. Legs felt good considering training has been spotty. Last 3.3 was sevenish, sandwiching an 800 at 6:00 pace.  

Nimbus orange.

Out for a little 1-hour-and-52-minute tour across the locks to Magnolia, and the Minnow was nearly lost. A light but steady drizzle; started bonking right after I headed back up Market Street, with about 3 miles till home. Left foot hurting a bit too. That last 20 minutes definitely on the grim and determined side. But I'm here to tell the tale.

Caught David for about 3 miles from 25th and Trail to Gasworks, where we shot the shoot and climbed the hill. Still feeling very good for that part. Fortunately for Seattle, it's quite beautiful on a warmish rainy Sunday morning. I am content when awakened birds test the reality of misty fields by their sweet questionings. 

Nimbus orange.

530 with DG. Begged off yesterday as foot was quite stiff, but after a warmup mile this morning it started feeling pretty good and now is AOK. Having been through it once before maybe I have a better idea of how to manage.  

Nimbus orange.

530 w/ DG. Slept abominably: up at 3 and couldn't do nothin so I ended up working for an hour or two before the run. We went slow and talked politics, so that was fine. Fortunately I had nothing all morning so I called in, took a pill and got up at 10. I'll be glad when this is all over.  

Nimbus orange.

1 x lake in the PM. Felt very strong, had to hold myself back. Foot felt fine, good stretching afterwards.

Nimbus orange.

530 with DG. Yest and today was like, you know, night and day. Very stiff, ran like a granny. Then figured if I was going to be sore anyway might as well tack on three more miles. Don't know if that was the right thing to do or not, but there you have it.

Nimbus orange.

Misty morning hop on the island out to Fay Bainbridge and back. Worked kinda late and somehow was up at seven, so bleaaary eyed, but legs felt nice and toasty. Kept the pace slow and easy the whole way; nothing from the left foot until about 0:55 in (about the same as last week, but much less intense). It got noticeable at about 1:30, was eventually subsumed under general muscle fatigue and not a particular problem by the last mile.

Pretty satisfied with the run. Total time of 2:29. Nimbus Orange.

Kudos to all St Georgians. Slay dragon!

530 w/ DG + Fremont. We must have been slow, hit the street cleaner much earlier in the route. Waverider.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. The street cleaner is definitely coming out earlier. Foot took a while to warm up, then I didn't feel it again until the 55:00 mark. Amazingly consistent: you could tell time by it...

Waverider.

Very interesting run today. Been sleeping very little. Last night I was determined to get at least seven hours, which left relatively little time for a run before work. So I decided to go 4 miles, with two or three of it at something around my average marathon pace. Left foot was still stiff at the beginning. Did half a mile of 8:30ish, then to 7:10 for about 2400m. The foot has been acting up when I overdo, so I dialed down to 7:20, just under BQ pace. Could have kept that up for quite some time (one hopes, 26.2).

By this time I was feeling really good, and quite bummed in fact that I'd have to break it off and head to the office. Two meetings and three hours later, it still feels great. This is in stark contrast to previous occasions in recent days on which I've tried to stretch out a bit; although it always warms up after a mile or so the inflammation has been annoying, and anything over 8:00 was rather painful once I cooled down

Hard to disaggregate the variables, and granted I didn't run as far today. But I wonder if the inflammation in my foot may be partly a function of sleep deprivation. Waverider.

530 with DG + Interurban Trail to 145th. First four miles slow and then picked it up a mite, though the body wasn't moving that fast today--high sevens, I'd guess. Not feeling bad, just not-fast. This week is a high-water mark mileage wise anyway.

God stretching afterwards. Waverider.

Perfect running weather, thick layer of mist with sun behind it. Foghorns blowing up and down the Sound. Out to Fay Bainbridge +.  Objective was (a) to keep most of the miles under 8:30, and (b) not to ride the horse so hard he's out of commission for the rest of the week. The first went great: through 7 I had it well under 8 (until I decided to actually run down *into* Fay B. Park, whose access road is, I remembered belatedly, a 20% grade, kinda breeaking my rhythm) and I'd say 9 or 10 of the miles were also in the sevens. About (b), we'll have to see. Made the mistake of wearing big puffy socks instead of my usual hi-tech ones, and got a pretty impressive blister on the left instep. But other than that no obvious damage. Did get a bit bonkalicious at about mile 16, had to fight through that. Maybe it's time to start bringing some kind of sugary substance along, or maybe just a bottle of gatorade.

2:29 (8:17 average). Nimbus Orange.

530 w/ DG plus 4. Felt strong, ran easy. Could have run yesterday, but decided to keep the recovery day after long and medium runs until the marathon, while adding a mile or two to the daily total. No soreness yesterday, in any case, which bodes well. Ready for a good week.

530 with DG + Fremont to 120th. Moron bicyclist decided to yell profanity at 6:00 in the morning instead of calling her side, inspiring 1 x 200m strides on my part. I think she'd intended a hit and run, but I was keeping up with her pretty good there for a moment!

There was a lecture that everybody at work went to, so I came home a bit early to get a run in. Thursdays I'm on my own, and I wanted to see how my pace was looking. So after a mile and a half of warmup I started around Greenlake at a 7:20 pace, just sub-BQ. Took a mile or so to get the lead out, but after that I felt totally comfortable, it was great. Definitely capable of sustaining that for quite a while--whether for 26.2, that is the question. But with a couple of surges thrown in here and there, I'm feeling pretty good right now. An added bonus: the weather was totally inimical, with a ferocious wind that blew across the surface of the lake sending breakers all the way to the other side of the jogging path. (For those that don't know Seattle, Greenlake is basically an oversized duck pond.) Anyway, I averaged about 7:15 for those MP miles, and maybe I can knock five or six seconds of that for sheer meteorological cussedness.

Nimbus orange.

530 with DG + Fremont to 125th. Started in a pouring rain, which let up halfway through. Air temperature fairly comfortable, and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Otherwise, just took it chill, easy relaxed pace. Met distance target for the week, feeling pretty strong.

Well, that reeked. Objectives today were (1) 20 miles; (2) sub-8; and (3) negative split. Would have been happy with 2 out of 3. Hit none of them. Hit the turn-around in 1:17, feeling pretty good, but by mile 12 I could tell I was starting to break down mentally when I began to feel massive resentment at the big hills that separated me from home. Splits began to creep up into the 8s, and when I got to the top of the hill above Fay Bainbridge (13.66mi) got it into my head that I had a terrible blister which would make it impossible to run next week if I went any further on it. Stopped dead in my tracks. Took about a mile of walking before I pulled it together, and then I couldn't get above 10:00 pace. So I jogged home at that rate. Longest, most arduous 5 miles ever. Blech.

2:41 2500ft climb. Waverider.

530 with DG + Fremont to 125th. Legs felt quite deceased on the off day following last weekend's debacle. Woke up this morning at 4 instead of 515, which didn't help. So I was ready for grimness, and indeed, my head kept saying 'ugh.' "And yet," saith Randall Jarrell, "I find that I've grown used to you..." The head wasn't in it, but the legs took over, they just kept going, and despite myself I had a pretty good run. It was a weird feeling to have the muscles working efficiently when my neural apparatus was (and seems likely to go on being) substandard. But I'll take it.

530 with DG. Feet quite sore to start out, which is not unprecedented; but although it usually clears up within a mile or so it took much longer today, plus felt some signs of incipient RSI, mostly in the shins. So after a glacial circuit around greenlake (referring to the pace, not the temp, which was balmy) I cut today's run short and decided to make this a lower mileage week. Guess you're supposed to do a few of those. Now ruing those lost three weeks in September. C'est la vie.

530 with DG + Fremont to 125th. Crystal clear morning: moon and stars and frogs of the deep. Yesterday was a bear. Got up at 6:30 to give two lectures back-to-back in Tacoma, after taking my mother to the ER for a CAT scan the night before. Didn't get home until 8:30 and promptly fell asleep, which was probably a good thing. This all may or may not qualify as a good excuse for missing a run.

Anyway, the layoff seemed to do me good. The fatigue I felt in my shins was gone, my feet were in pretty decent shape, and I felt strong. 

Nimbus Orange.

a perfect -- tasty -- PSYCHEDELIC -- PM run. I love autumn and Seattle usually has a pretty blah one, but today was sunny and chilly and fine, and the afternoon bit like a perfect Honey Crisp apple. Had some tightness in the right Achilles to start out, stretched at the light and took it easy on the first mi, then settled into a nice loping stride, not straining but moving along at a pretty good clip, sevens or maybe just a skoche faster. Kept it up without undue effort until the theater, at which point, a shoelace infarction. I really like the Nimbus 8s, but for some reason the laces don't stay tied. A double knot later I was more or less home.

Had a look at last Sunday's run on the Garmin: turns out there was 4000ft climb between miles 1 and 14, which probably contributed to my crash. Next week back up above 50, but I may distribute the miles more evenly and add a day depending on how much work I can get done tonight. And we're going on the flats -- Alaskan all the way, baby.

Nimbus orange.

Worked till 9:30 PM then got an hour's run in. Was frustrated not to find more time, and wanted to maximize what miles I could squeeze out of the day, so ran a bit too fast. During warmup the achilles was sticky, and as the run progressed sensitivity seemed to migrate up into shinsplint territory, at which point I backed off. Rest day tomorrow, then we'll see if four ten mile days this week is feasible, plus four on Saturday. But all of it supra-8:00.

I have been meditating a bit on Sasha's physiological model of "neural drive" (as opposed to weak-mindedness) and the various factors that can inhibit it. I find it very applicable right now to the process of writing my dissertation. True or not, it's something of a comfort to imagine, when I'm stuck or blocked--as this weekend--that something "objective" is in the way rather than a characterological defect.

8.00: 8:17, 7:30, 6:56, 7:19, 7:27, 7:50, 8:25, 8:05 (avg. 7:44).

Nimbus orange.

Rest day, but the truth is I could have run. Everything feels great.  A new level of durability, maybe, which would sure be nice.

530 with DG + 145th via Bitter Lake to Interurban Trail. Moderate pace, forgot to charge The Watch, which was fine. Only fly in the ointment: by the time I got back to 80th there was already an unending stream of traffic. May either have to run faster or figure out a better route as I add daily miles. Felt very strong after only 12 miles on the weekend, hopefully it will serve as a good recharge. Right ankle soreness nowhere to be found.

530 with DG + Interurban trail to 145th. Nothing special to report. Felt pretty good, took it mostly around 8:05 which I guess is sort of my Tinman tempo at this point. Joke.

Worked late, hot date, had to squeeze a run in between them. Felt the need for speed, and was able to run relaxed throughout. Working somewhat hard on the faster mile to keep it up, mostly mental effort. The legs felt fine.

4: 7:38, 6:47, 7:22, 7:27 (7:17). Waverider.

530 with DG + Interurban Trail to Aurora bicycle bridge. Beautiful clear morning, stars and moon, winy air, but co-o-o-ld. No frogs.

Last long run before the marathon, wanted to make it count. I can feel that I'm a bit behind where I want to be, not sure whether the BQ is realistic at this point, especially given the course and likely conditions, but will give it my best shot.

Ran Bainbridge again, as my mother returned from France with an apparent neurological problem and needed some attention. Conditions were pretty good, overcast with occasional sunbreaks, about 55F. Made sure this time to stash a few bottles of Gatorade at strategic locations, and that indeed seemed to do the trick. Felt pretty strong, a bit of foot pain after mile 15 or so. On the other hand, was able to run mile 20 in 7:19. The key question is whether that is a sustainable pace. A little uncertain on that front, though of course this route was quite a bit more challenging than the marathon will be, with around 5000ft total elevation gain. I guess we'll see.

Nice runner's high at mi 16. Waverider.

Splits:

1	8:33
2	8:21
3	7:44
4	8:22
5	8:17
6	7:35
7	7:37
8	8:02
9	7:48
10	7:56
11	8:15
12	8:12
13	8:08
14	8:30
15	8:14
16	8:31
17	8:02
18	8:25
19	7:52
20	7:19
21	8:41
22	8:23

To turnaround: 1:28:30 (8:03)

Return: 1:30:13 (8:12)

Total: 2:58:43 (8:07)

Rest day. Legs feel good. Biked 15 mi at a very leisurely pace, since I can't get the front derailleur on my commuter bike to shift to the top chain ring.

530 with DG + Fremont to 115th. Took it easy for the most part but mixed in 8 x 100m strides. Air temperature rather pleasant, had the tights and gloves on just for fun. Legs a bit dead to start out (maybe in part because of the tights?), but when I picked it up a bit after 4 mi mark they seemed fine.

AM: 530 with DG + nothing flat. Ate a very skimpy dinner, and woke up at 3:30 with a blood sugar crash. Had an apple, then keeled over again until right before he knocked. Needless to say conditions were not ripe for a very impressive effort, and I was in fact struggling to hit 10:00 miles until finally my shoelace came untied and I had to catch up with him, at which point I broke through into another gear, to garble my metaphors. Well, the 9:00 mile gear at least. An interesting illustration of Pachevian neural drive. Clearly what was keeping me at sub-glacial speeds was not in the first instance inadequate fuel for the muscles, but inadequate fuel to the brain. I'll try to run another 4 this evening. Nimbus orange.

 PM: 4 faster miles (7:39, 7:09, 6:57, 7:25) plus .34 mi cooldown in 31:49. Free and easy.

AM - one lap of Greenlake: draggy, grumpy, hurty. I did pick it up at the end to beat the... 9:00 guy.

530 with DG. Legs felt fine but I was home at 130 last night so that will be that.

A couple of laps around Greenlake followed by omelette with Joanne. One lap with David at a 7:30ish clip.  Mileage record for the week, but it was all front-ended, so I'm feeling pretty spry.

Postscript: Great nap.

Feeling very fatigued, so flipped my usual rest day.

4 mi with DG at whatever pace, then 3 at about 7:30. Filthy rain and swirling wind. It was OK after I was warmed up. Still, got home soaked.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Lovely morning. Legs felt vewy vewy good. (Maybe it was the IP I took before going to bed.) Only other news to report: quite a bit of gas, successfully passed. This is a skill.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Chilly. Was feeling pretty lackadaisical after a nice seven hours of sleep but after some internal kibbitzing slipped nicely into gear on mi 5 and the last one felt pretty good.  Slight emergency re-entering nice warm house. Must remember to evacuate previous evening's burrito in advance.

Bear of a day. At work until very late and never got my run in. I felt it going to bed: very jumpy, hard to put myself down. Bum feeling.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Had to restrain myself from adding another 7 to make up for yesterday; or rather, I thought about it for a nanosecond or two and oh-so-virtuously rejected the idea. Poor sleep. Thought I was going to have to settle for about 7:30s on the return trip but once again somehow snapped into gear and ended up doing 6:20 on my last mi. Felt good to sustain a sub-6 pace for a bit, let's pretend that feels almost doable.  I think I'll do seven tomorrow and Sunday.

Splurged on some dry-fit shorts and shirt. Going for the Johnny Cash look. On the test drive, they seemed to be fairly nimble: 10k at MP+ in 42:31 (1-7:00, 2-6:48, 3-6:58, 4-6:55, 5-6:48, 6-6:43, .2-1:19). This was not at all labored and by the end felt almost like jogging (though when I tried to surge through the 6:30 barrier at about mi 5.5 I could definitely feel the effort).

Started off the taper week with 5 mi + 6 x 100m strides. I guess I was feeling a bit frisky though, they turned out more like short intervals--topping out at what Garmin claims was 16.1 mph! Probably shouldn't do too many of those before Sunday, but it was fun while it lasted, like running on springs.

One very relaxed PM lap around Greenlake, 8:00 pace. Everything feels good.

530 w DG + Fremont to 90th. Poor sleep, didn't feel great. Some weakness/soreness in the left tensor fascia latae. Took it easy.

530 with DG. Slept better, felt good.

Okay, so I'm officially freaked out. We got a load of Palm Springs going on here, sunny and 60ish, and all I can think as I do my lap around the lake before heading out to the old T-Give is: when will we pay our karmic debt to the weatherman? If it's on Sunday then I am officially bummed.

No strain no pain (actually a bit of a cramp in the same left arch, the one that always goes away by mile 3). Pace was 7:45 or so, which seems to be the new super-easy.  I think that may be more about form than fitness.

I have mixed feelings about this holiday, as anybody who's read Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower might well do, but politics aside it's good and right to give thanks. It reminds me that the self is a helpful delusion, that our being and consciousness are intertwined with family; with friends; with social relations; with whatever God or transcendent higher cause we worship; even with fastrunningblog.  Giving thanks is nothing more or less than an acknowledgement and an exaltation of our intimacy with the rest of the universe.

Here's to high quality carbo-loading! 

Rest day. Rode very hard on a cold Thanksgiving afternoon, and the right ITB was complaining; had to take a couple courses of IP to get the inflammation down. Nothing serious, but that made seven days of running without a rest, so it was probably time. Will do a couple miles tomorrow just to keep sharp. Still hoping against hope for dry weather.

Greenlake. Feeling good.

"Does ripe fruit never fall? Or do the boughs

Hang always heavy in that perfect sky..."

Many good things about this race. First, the weather. There were signs yesterday that heaven and earth had moved to accomodate us: contrary to forecast, the clouds parted and brilliant sunshine ensued. All afternoon, it was like a (frozen-over) Miami. Somewhat overcast by evening, but I peeked out this morning at 6:30 and what should I see but a full moon, the biblical levanah. I knew then that we were living large.

The next thing that was good was my ability to stick to race plan. Went out exactly at 7:45 for two miles, holding firm against the impulse to rabbit, then ranged between 7:30 and 7:15 for the up-and-down heading toward the bridge. By the bridge turnaround (mi 6) packs had started to form, and I was in about the fifth or sixth one, going a pretty steady 7:05. I felt great. Totally within myself, spectacular scenery along Lake Washington boulevard. What's not to like? We cruised around Seward Park, hit the halfway point at 1:34:30, and by then big thoughts are flitting through my frontal cortex. Someone said I was in 47th place.

Alas! At mi 18, a very weird signal emerged from the second metatarsal in My Left Foot. Apparent neuropathy. Serious numbness going on, and while still runnable, it began to mess up my mechanics. I was putting out more and more energy with less and less gain, and it was energy that I just didn't have in reserve  My splits crept inexorably upward: 7:40ish on mile 18, 7:50 on mile 19. Then on mile 20 I hit my Waterloo. Things Fell Apart. Dale had caught up with me at this juncture, but I was more or less cocooned in survival mode. By the (vicious, nasty, unforgivable) Galer hill at mi 21, the race crew had stopped telling me "right on, great time!" and was now giving me the old lady cheer: "you're doing great! Hang in there!" I hit the last 10k at 2:41-something, and my BQ had turned into a pumpkin; now the goal was simply not to walk. 

So there you have it: a six mile jog (using the term loosely) that ranked up there with the Minnow's three hour tour for overall time-efficiency. And yet, I can't imagine any track workout that could possibly have taken more out of my musculo-skeletal system than that 9:30-10:00 pace. When I hit the last hill (the race designers very thoughtfully penciled in a 5% grade more or less to the finish line) my legs felt like the floor of the pit at CBGBs after a Sex Pistols show. My calves felt like the crash dummy in a Lamborghini factory. My foot felt like--well, I couldn't feel my foot.

Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to get it checked out; feels better, but still a bit numb/sore. Assume it's there's some kind of pinching action in the foot bones at the end of the sciatica. Moreover, immediately after crossing the finish line I could barely walk, which I assume means that I was running with low glycogen stores.

Injury aside, the soreness does suggest to me that I needed more training to improve efficiency of glycogen storage, and probably a more thoughtful carbo-loading program as well. Possibly I overdid it on the first half, though in any case I don't think I could have made the BQ with anything slower than that 1:34 half, so it's probably a moot point. All in all, I feel pretty good about this, Baby's First Marathon. I had a nice strong start, I persevered through some adverse conditions, and I ended up with a respectable time after two months of serious training. My private aim was somewhere between 3:30 and 3:15, and having made that target I think I can now sleep the nap of the blessed.

I'd insert my splits here, but left the Garmin on auto-stop, and it helpfully put everything on hold whenever I ran through a tunnel, next to a tree, or in the shadow of a porta-potty. The race crew was pretty good about calling out splits, but after the Great Toe Revolt of Mile 16 my recall less than perfect. 1-2 averaged 7:45, mile 4 clocked in exactly at 30, I think mile 6 was 45:50, and then I averaged between 6:55 and 7:05 up to mi 18.

Major congratulations to Dale, who ran a great race and got his BQ. I'm not surprised at all given the quality of his training. As for me, wait till next year saith Leo Durocher.

Regular rest day. Only real lingering soreness is in the adductors, specifically I think the pectinius, right by the pelvis. Never felt it there before (which probably means that I wasn't working it hard enough). Combined with the fact that the left foot now feels fine, I think my day-after analysis would be that I slowed at mi 16 simply because I wore down and leg lift decreased rather than any specific injury-related mechanical defect. The "numb foot" was just one of those things you fix on while looking down from The Wall.

Had a good bike ride this morning, and felt pretty good. Look forward to regular run with DG tomorrow.  Thanks to everyone for your encouraging and helpful comments.

Greenlake with DG. Calves a bit sore--told him we couldn't stop for the Aurora traffic light, or I'd never get going again--but not too bad.

Stomach flu. Bad news.

Snow! Very queasy.

Still feeling sick and given hard rain seemed imprudent.

Was looking forward to a run until I looked outside. Um, not. Oceanic. DG called at 515 and I was happy to go back to bed. Many flooded basements.

Wet.

530 with DG. Weather was nice. Still feeling a bit weak, whether the aftermath of the marathon (unlikely this far along?) or of the flu. Also noticing some unexpected post-partum depression, a.k.a. the "Okay, now what?" feeling. Nothing serious, just a bit unmotivated and needing to recalibrate my goals and refocus.

That's some day. Sweet weather: sunny and cold. Ravenna to the Burke-Gilman Trail a ways.

Achilles was complaining until mile 5, after the turnaround did a mile at about 7:00 just to see what it would feel like. Had plenty of giddyup, but when I moved my stride into higher gear in the soreness in the hip/pelvis was pretty noticeable. Then hit the Ravenna hill and it was immediately clear exactly what threw a monkey wrench into my marathon: weak adductors. The same muscle group that I was stressing for the higher stride is front and center on a steep incline. Once again, couldn't exceed but 10:00 between miles 9-10, and then was pretty much done. Food for thought.

A pretty weenie week, obviously, but after the Whidbey Half in April I overdid it and hurt myself, so no reason not to ease back into things. Probably ought to go slow until the hip feels better, right one in particular.

1:38 total. Waverider.

Rest day. Right groin still sore.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Still feeling pretty cruddy, left achilles was the star performer this time, sticking today in a way that suggested heel spur, which would explain the weird off-center soreness in the foot. Took forever to warm up then I was running on it OK, but stretching afterwards it was still sticky.

530 with DG + Fremont to 1005th. Woke up (again) at 3 in the morning, which has been par for the course lately; but this time I tried something new: Gatorade. It works! Fell right back asleep until 5:29 or so. Anyway, my body felt much better with the extra rest. Achilles better, groin still strained but less sore. Didn't have a whole lot of energy (some systems still sleeping?), but we took it slow so that worked fine.

530 with DG. Clear and super-cold (for Seattle) with black ice all over the place.

So here's a conundrum. Sunday I was totally stuck and couldn't write a word, and Monday morning I felt like my body was going to spew spare parts all over the road. By contrast, the last two days I wrote really well and worked fairly efficiently, and lo and behold my body has felt great. Today the achilles was super, no complaints from the groin, stomach fine. What's up with that? Is it just that I sleep better when the work is moving along?

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Much warmer out, but I had very low energy this morning. First Law of Thermodynamics in action, I guess. Picked it up some on the last mile.

530 with DG + Fremont to 105th. Did the outer Greenlake ring today, with one mile at 7:20. Had a nice chat.

Did a test run from Woodland Park up to DG's place (20 minutes at a relatively easy pace), then twice around Greenlake. Gaggle of new recruits or maybe ROTC were doing a run, and to be honest they looked pretty bad, the first guy came in just as I passed, at 21 minutes for the 2.7 miles. I'm sure in a couple of months though they'd be lapping me in full body armor. We're at war, but these were the first soldiers in uniform (well, Army sweats) tha I've seen in a long time. In Turkey, in Israel, even in Switzerland, when I was working in those places, you saw them all the time. In Kitsap the Navy guys wear civvies when they're off base.

Ran pretty well, I think the first eight miles were about seven. Crapped out on mile nine again, though, for all there wasn't any uphill. No discomfort in the groin this time, but definitely weak. I think. Hangover from the marathon? I actually feel very spry, no soreness or anything. But haven't had a 40 mile week since I started the taper, so I was happy to run on home. Eights or nines next week.

Rest day, but hiked six miles with a heavy pack. Feet not feeling great.