dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

easy run

easy run

can't really remember what I did, just the mileage.  I haven't updated this in a while

same as yesterday

Another long run today.  I ran a few 800's with Sasha in about 5:20/mile pace on average.  Later on, I ran a 1800, and a 2000 in 6:04 and 6:47.  The 2000 went under a few tunnels, and curved around a lot so I think that even though the pace was slower, the effort and performance was really about the same.  I was not trying to really push the pace on these repeats, I was just trying to maintain a comfortable effort and go as fast as possible while working as little as possible.

I ran from my house this morning.  I ran with Sasha to the end of the trail, then ran back to my house.  Following this, I walked Kimia to her work, and then finished up my run by running home to give me a little over a mile more to finish 15.5 miles in just over 2:00:00

slept in today and ran alone in the evening.

ran with Sasha this morning.  It was really cold

slightly different route this evening.  I slept in again, so I ran late.

I ran with Sasha again.  My foot is starting to feel a little better.  Maybe because of the snow, so there is less pounding?  Anyhow, I have been rubbing it down a fair amount, and I think that helps as well.

The snow slowed me down a lot today.  The run was so slow that I ended up cutting it short and ran only 18.25 miles in over 2:35:00.

Easy run, nothing special to report

Another easy run.  Kimia had heartburn in the morning, so I stayed home with her to help her feel better, and then ran in the evening.  Total time of just over 1:20:00.

I slept in this morning, so I ran in the evening again.  Total time of 1:19:41 for 10.1 miles

I ran easy with Sasha this morning.  We threw in a couple sections where we picked it up to about 5:20 pace, but they were short.  My foot feels like it is almost at 100%, but there is still a little way to go.

My last run in Utah before heading to California this evening.  Kept it easy again

Today's run was great weatherwise, as for the first time in a couple of months I was able to run without pants on.  Temperatures here in California got into the mid 60's today.  I ran 20 miles out and back along the Los Gatos Creek Park trail.  I made it out in 1:12:00, and came back in 1:01:08.  Total time of 2:13:08 for 20 miles.  My shins were very tight for the first 4 miles or so, but once they loosened up I felt good.  I was able to go a lot faster here than in Utah because I wasn't wearing so much clothing, and there was no snow and ice to slow me down.  I pushed the last 6 miles a little harder because I wanted to get the run over with, and I wanted to test my foot to see how things are doing.  My foot felt great, although later on in the evening I started feeling some tightness in my upper calf, knee and in the connecting tendons that connect the hamstring to the knee.  I think it is just part of the process of getting over what was going on in my foot, as the root of the problem was higher up on my leg from the beginning.

I felt really good during my run today, as I felt very fluid and the pace felt easy.  I did feel some tightness in my knee again near the end of the run, which is probably the only negative for the day.  Went out in 38:00 and came back in 33:03.  Total time of 1:11:03 for an estimated 10 miles that was definitely not short, but may have been just a little long.  My knee started acting up more later in the afternoon, so I am going to be watching things closely for the next few days to see what the root of the problem is.

I ran 10 miles this morning on the Los Gatos Creek Park trail in 1:11:12.  I felt good during the later part of the run, but my shins were tight during the early portions of the run.  I threw a couple of surges into the beginning of the run to help loosen up my shins (I don't know why, but it seems to help me relax and loosen up after I slow back down).

PM: My knee felt a lot better this afternoon than it did yesterday.  It still felt tight when I woke up this morning, and later on in the day, but I am becoming less concerned about it.  I ran 5 miles in the evening in 35:34.  I threw about a half mile in fast to shake out the legs a little in the evening.

I ran 10 miles this morning.  During the run I wanted to test my knee, since it is still bugging me, but it really only hurts when it is flexed, and not when it is bearing weight.  So, I ran a few short sprints, and surprisingly those really hurt.  I think that it is because I have a much higher degree of knee flexion when I sprint, and when I am accelerating.  After that I ran a hard half mile in 2:19.  The knee only hurt when I was first accelerating, but did not hurt at all once I got up to speed.  Total time for the run was 1:09:08 for 10 miles.

I ran 15 miles today all at once instead of running a double like I had originally planned, due to it being Christmas Eve and all.  I finished in 1:43:33.  Just under 8 miles into the run a guy came out of a side trail and was running just behind me.  He was speeding up to stay just behind me, and I was not in the mood to have a guy right on my tail, so I hit the gas for a mile in order to drop him.  I was surprised at how long he tried to stay with me, as he stayed on my tail for a couple hundred meters before falling back.  I finished that mile in 5:03 (2:35, 2:28).  It felt good, the first half mile felt like a solid half marathon pace.  I slowed down after that, but I never saw the guy who was tailing me, even though I turned around and back tracked a little in order to finish at a full 15 miles.

I ran easy this morning.  Nothing fast for Christmas.  Total time of 1:13:28 for 10 miles

I ran my long run this morning.  I wanted to run a tempo of some sort since my knee was feeling a lot better than it was a couple of days ago, but I did not want to run hard up or down (especially down) any nasty hills, and in the direction I was going there were a few nasty nasty hills after about 7 miles (were talking worse than ragnar nasty, but at sea level and no more than a couple hundred meters long).  So, I decided to split my tempo into two 5 mile tempo runs, hitting the first from 2-7 miles and the second in the same section of trail in reverse from 13-18 miles.  Half mile splits were marked on the trail and are as follows:  

3:00, 2:49, 2:45, 2:50, 2:48, 2:46, 2:45, 2:50, 2:57, 2:50 (28:20 total time for the first repeat).

 The first 3 miles were rolling, and the last two had more uphill in them, with the last mile run on gravel which slowed me down quite a bit.  There was also a headwind that hit me in a couple of different spots on the trail, but did not slow me down too much.

I hit approximately 10 miles in 1:04, and then started back for home.  Splits for the second 5 mile tempo are as follows:

2:47, 2:50, 2:44, 2:42, 2:46, 2:49, 2:41, 2:41, 2:42, 2:39 (27:21 total time).

As far as mile splits go, the first split of the second repeat was comparatively faster by 10 seconds than the corresponding mile split from the first repeat.  The second mile was 9 seconds faster, the third was 1 second slower, the fourth 13 seconds faster, and the fifth was 28 seconds faster.

I made it home in a total time of 2:03:45 for 20 miles.  59:45 for the last 10 miles.  This was one of the fastest 20 mile runs that I have ever done, and I was glad that I was able to get out and run fast for a while.  The effort did feel too hard at times, but I guess that is to be expected since my foot and knee have been bugging me recently, and I also have layed off of the speedwork and mileage recently due to these issues as well as getting the swine flu a little while back.  So, overall I am happy with the run.

Well, my suitcase got lost at the airport this morning, so there was a huge mess there, and I ended up going back to the airport later in the afternoon to get it.  My running shoes were on the bag, so I ended up running in my racing flats and cutting my run short before driving down from Washington to Oregon for my brother's wedding the next day.

I ran 5 miles in the morning before my brother's wedding in about 35 minutes.  I wish that I would have done my longer run in the morning.

PM:  I ran 10 miles with Andrew in the snow in the evening, as the snow started to come down just before they started to take pictures after the wedding.  Lots of cars and buses got stuck trying to drive up hills or even just small inclines.  We got drenched as the snow was rather slushy and wet.  We finished in 1:17:34

I ran 10 miles in the new shoes that my dad got me for Christmas.  Total time was 1:14:33.  During the run we ran some hill repeats.  Andrew ran 6 of them, and I ran 4 as my calf is still tight, and I didn't want to stress it too much.  I struggled on the first 3 repeats running them in 79, 80, 79 (distance estimate is about 370m on a nasty hill that even has some downhill in it yet it is still this slow).  I think that I was just tight as I took a little break after the third repeat, and when I came back to run the last repeat I felt much better and I ran a 76 off of equal or lesser effort than what I put in previously.

I ran approximately 10 miles today in 1:15:58.  I was originally planning on running 15 miles today, but I think that I have come down with whatever it is that everyone else in my family has gotten sick with.  So, as long as I feel better by tomorrow I will run the extra mileage then.