Sean's Running Blog

A beautiful day for a run. Ran 7 miles through Marymoor Park and along the Sammamish River. Everything is feeling quite good.

Nine chilly, foggy miles this morning along the Sammamish River trail. Fog is a total mental manipulator. It seems like you never make any progress. Calf feels fine even in the cold weather. Maybe...just maybe I'm past the injury. 10 miles tomorrow with some strides thrown in. That will be a good test.

A downright balmy November day in Seattle. Weird phenomenon this morning. I live in the foothills east of Seattle and we get a lot of wind October-April or so. The wind howled all night (35 mph sustained with gusts in excess of 50). I had a terrible night's sleep and so after rolling around in bed for a while, I finally got up at 5am to go for a run. I checked the weather on my iPhone. 30mph winds but 55 degrees. I checked the neighboring city of Issaquah. No wind and 34 degrees. Issaquah is less than 10 miles away as the crow flies and there was a 21 degree difference in temperature. Crazy. Unfortunately, my watch battery was dead so I couldn't run this morning. But got my run in this afternoon during lunch.

I was excited and nervous for today's workout. It was my first attempt at anything close to speedy in three weeks and even the one three weeks ago was hampered by injury. So the workout was 10M with 10 reps of 1:00 "hard" and 1:00 easy thrown in the middle. So I headed out to the Sammamish River trail and after about 3.25 miles of warmup, I hit it. First couple of reps were in the 5:05-5:10 range. I didn't have a time goal per se, but that seemed pretty good. Next 3 or 4 reps were in the 5:00-5:05 range. I didn't intentionally speed up...it's just what "hard" felt like. The last few were actually in 4:50-4:55 pace and felt great.

It felt really good today to not only run, but to get some speed work in and start the journey back to being in race shape...all without even a hint of pain in the calf.

Today was a day of demonstrating some wisdom and bridling my desire to go run 15 miles. So I ran 6 wonderful miles through Redmond and Marymoor Park. I wanted to run more, but wisely chose to not repeat mistakes of the past. Don't need to get to 85 miles this week or even next.

There weren't many 70-minute periods of no rain today but I was lucky enough to find one. Everything feeling really good.

Somehow I was lucky enough to dodge the steady rain we've been getting lately. It poured overnight but the skies parted from about 7:30-9:00am this morning which gave me the perfect window to get my workout in.

This was my first real speed workout since recovering from the injury. The times weren't all that aggressive but enough to be a decent test. 6M tempo. First 4 miles @ 5:28 and the last 2M @5:16. Each of the first four mile was 5:24 or better. Felt pretty easy. The last two were in 5:14 and 5:10. When I finished I felt tested but certinaly not exhausted which was great. Absolutely no residual pain or soreness of even stiffness in the calf. Maybe I've turned the corner.

Other than a mile or so in drizzle, I again managed to dodge the rain. Everything feels good. Head to NYC early in the morning and then somehow have to get off the 5.5 hour flight and go run a fartlek workout. That should be interesting

13 miles in and around Central Park this afternoon. When I got to my hotel room I was so tired that I didn't know if even an easy run was a possibility let alone a fartlek workout. But, I didn't have much time to think about it if i wanted to make it back before dark.

So I ran the 1 mile from my hotel to the Park and after another mile or so of warmup jumped into a 5x4mins hard and 2 mins light repeat. Of course Central Park is quite hilly so no rep was comparable to another but it was nice running hard again in Central Park.

I was quite pleased with how things went. Other than being pretty dehydrated, everything went fine espeically considering was working off of four hours sleep and a sleepless 5+ hour plane ride.

A cool and breezy run through Central Park this morning. I mixed things up a bit running some around the reservoir and the rest through various paths. The options in CP are almost endless.

Blustery, chilly morning in NYC. Reminded me a lot of the Olympic Trials minus the threat of rain. One big lap around Central Park then a couple of laps around the "track" at the reservoir. Headed back to Seattle tonight.

Today was supposed to be a 3x2M interval run at 10:12-10:14 per rep. with four minutes rest in between. The first one went fine. It was a little breezy but the rain held off for more of the workout. Hit the two mile mark at 10:10 do nailed it pretty good. The second rep started out OK and I was on pace for the first mile and then I had some "restroom" issues. So with two laps to go I had to take care of business. I quickly came back and finished up the two final laps and finished with a 10:14 but it doesn't really count because I had the extra rest. The third rep felt terrible from the very beginning. Two laps in I had to pay another visit to the restroom. I went another six laps after that but it was ugly....something like 10:28 for the two miles. Embarassing. I definitely have some fitness to regain.

Today I hosted the local Turkey Trot so by the time I got a chance to run, I was pretty tired. I intended to go 14 but darkness set in and I didn't have my relfective gear so I called it good at 11. Prett good week though althought yesterday's workout is still bugging me.

Absolute pouring rain for the entire run. I've been dryer stepping out of the shower.

Ran along the Sammamish River trail and instead simply turning around at the halfway point, decided to cross Education hill to Avondale and take that back to work. Nice run. Mile and breezy but managed to miss all the rain.

I talked to my coach this morning and he suggested I sneak over and do my workout in the Dempsey Indoor at UW. I had to go over to Super Jock and Jill to get restocked on shoes anyway so I went for it. What a wonderful facility. I haven't been in there since my 5,000m race last February.

Nice warm and wind free workout. The workout was 6x1000m. Target times was 3:06. Hit 3:01 on the first one...big oops especially since the first 400 meters was in 68 seconds, six seconds faster than what it was supposed to be. That would turn out to be detrimental later in the workout. Second rep was in 3:04, then 3:05, then 3:06, 3:09 and finsihed with a 3:08. Was pretty tired at the end. Legs were tight and it's clear I'm in rebuilding mode both for strength and fitness. Felt pretty good though.

Once again I managed to dodge the rain today. When there are two-hour gaps in the rain, i manage to find them. Wonderful run along the Sammamish River. A bit breezy but pretty mild considering it's November.

12 miles along the Sammamish River. Foot hurting a bit but manageable.

Decided to do a 10k tempo run shooting for 5:25 pace. Nothing spectacular by any means. Everything was in the 5:18-5:24 range but I was way too tired at the end for that pace. My foot was really bothering me the last couple of miles which limited my ability to push off. Cool down was even worse as I felt like I was hobbling the three miles back to my car. Hoping that a day off tomorrow will solve the problem.

Woke up in San Francisco this morning. Yes it was planned.

My intent was to run down the Embarcadero but my foot just didn't feel up to it. Not sure what I'm going to do. Worried it could be a stress fracture.

P.M. Left a beautiful sunny and mild day in the Bay Area and arrived in a wet, dreay and cold Seattle. Foot was feeling better so I ran 10 miles this evening in the pouring rain. Foot feels less fine after the run.

Biked 18 miles.

Gave it a try this morning before all the T-giving madness and by the 1.5 mark I was hobbling. Not sure what to do. The last four months have been nothing but stop and start.

Biked 18 miles

Tried to go again after just biking yesterday. Foot started hurting just a mile in...hobbled back to the car. Sigh

Decided to give the foot one more day so instead biked from work to Issaquah and back. 20 miles on the button. Did it in 66:40. I have no idea if that is fast or not. Averaged just over 18 miles per hour.

Started P90x tonight. I'm doing the "Lean" track which focused more on toning than bulk. The last thing I want is bulk. Tonight's workout was Core Synergistics. It helped remind me of how uncoordinated and tight I am. I'm sure there will be a lot of that over trhe next 90 days.