am: 15 min jog
pm:
25 minutes on the track, broken down into 5 five-minute periods, each progressively faster. Carl (coach of the club) suggested running these as:
1st minute: 7:30 pace
2nd minute: 6:40 pace
3rd minute: 5:50 pace
4th minute: 5:20 pace
5th minute: 5:00 pace
Which is actually pretty reasonable when you go through it five times. I ran with Chris, Dave, and Luke (sorry, readers of this blog are unlikely to know who I'm talking about any more), and felt controlled. I was tired by the end, and glad we were only doing five. Originally I thought the workout sounded easy, but the continuous movement with faster stuff thrown in can be tiring, and right now it seems my speed is good, and I'm very relaxed and don't breathe hard even at faster speeds, but my VO2 max type fitness is zero, and my threshold-running fitness is low. Short efforts are fine and I recover from them quickly. I could probably run a decent mile. But sustained fast stuff is going to take some time to come back to me.
I'm not sure if we hit the advertised paces or not, but regardless it felt like decent work. Chris is actually a 15:30 or so guy who was running easy today.
As we were warming down and leaving, a tall runner with a fast but somewhat strange-looking stride was running some short repeats. Turns out it was Michael Coe. Then the checkout guy at Safeway asked me if I still ran (I was wearing KB's Caltech XC sweatshirt). I said yes, and got a long story about how the guy ran a 5:20 mile as a sophomore and regretted that he played baseball and so never got to go faster, even though he definitely could have because he once almost beat out an infield grounder. Next time I start talking about things I used to be able to do in running, please smack me. Preferably with something more massive than just your hand.
Monday, December 7, 2009 (25 minute multi-pace tempo)
December 4, 5, 6 2009
Friday Dec. 4
off
Saturday Dec. 5
60 easy
Sunday Dec. 6
60 easy
Weekly Summary: 365 minutes, one track workout, one tempo (on the track)
Getting back to working out feels good. Not physically. Physically it felt decent, but it was obvious I'm unfit. But I'm glad to be back running faster again, especially with other people running at the same level.
Thursday, December 3, 2009 (6400m tempo 22:53)
I was on my own, since everyone else in the club started well before the advertised 6pm start time. There were some guys going significantly faster than me and some going significantly slower, so it probably didn't matter.
I tried to keep myself controlled for this tempo, but even at a very moderate pace, that felt almost like a dawdle at times, I wound up exerting myself pretty fully. My heart rate was somewhere around 190, and I felt pretty tired just running in the low 5:40's. Still, I kept the pace pretty steady (fastest 5:41 first mile, slowest 5:45 second mile) and stayed focused, so the speed will have to come back with time.
If I do another tempo next week, I'll make it a little slower and longer to try to stay below threshold, which I probably crossed today.
November 29 - Dec 2, 2009
Sunday, November 29 (52 minutes in the hills, 30 minute jog)
Went up Strawberry Canyon again with Dennis. I moved out a bit halfway through to get back in time for tutoring, and this felt good. Jogged a little later in the day because 52 minutes felt short.
Monday, November 30 (8 x 600)
Last week I ran into some guys working out on the track, and when they finished I introduced myself and asked what they were training for. They said they were a USATF club here in Berkeley, that they were at the end of a cross country season, and invited me to come train with them. Today was the first day of that.
I ran 8x600 with Luke, a guy who ran one year in high school, was injured for most of it, and came back at the very end to run a 4:27 mile. Holy crap. Then he became a cyclist for a few years, and recently went back to running when the cycling club got suspended. We ran together well today, but I have the feeling that when he gets in shape he'll be way ahead of me. He's planning on trying to walk onto the Cal team next year.
I didn't time the repeats because it was my first track work in a long time. I think the pace was roughly 73's. The rest was absurdly long though. We took a 400 jog between repeats. This was fine for a first workout that simply sends a wake-up call to my body, "Hey, you might want to get ready. I'm going to ask you to pretend a moderately-paced predator with a several minute attention span is chasing me about once a week from here on out for a while now. It'd be nice if you got yourself ready for that."
Tuesday, December 1 (75 minutes)
Jogging on the infield, since the baseball field is closed. Felt a little sore.
Wednesday, December 2 (60 minutes)
Infield. Feeling better than yesterday. Not quite so cold, either. My feet were on the verge of going numb before, but they were okay today.
Nov 25 - 28
Wed Nov 25
75 easy, feeling fine
Thu Nov 26
off, but I ran around for a few minutes chasing wild turkeys
Fri Nov 27
Strawberry canyon w/ Dennis
Sat, Nov 28
45 am w/ Dennis, 30 pm easy jogging at the track. Dennis' cousin showed up too. At least I think it was his cousin. They were both asian anyway.
Nov 21 - 24
Sat Nov 21
Bike to Stanford
Sun Nov 22
60 easy
Mon Nov 23
75 easy. Met a few guys from a running club who say they'd like to have me and they have lots of guys between 14:50 and 15:40 for 5000.
Tue Nov 24
75 easy. Feeling peppy.
Nov 20, 2009 (75 minutes)
I started doing a strider near the end of this run, but stopped because my hamstring felt slightly worse than it seemed to last week. My legs were definitely sore on Wednesday after the long ride, so I'm hoping this is a holdover from that and not a regression.
Nov 16 - 19
I hurt my back by coughing. I was sitting in a chair yesterday (actually a novelty - my room doesn't have a chair), and slouching a bit. Then I coughed since the vestiges of this sniffles disease are taking a while to go away. And as I coughed, a muscle in my lower back seized up, apparently with a light strain. It continues to hurt now, the next afternoon.
This was probably brought on by Tuesday, when I biked to Stanford and back. That was more than six hours on the bike, which I'm not used to, and my lower back ached from it. I guess in my weakened state, a cough was enough to send me over the edge.
I haven't run much this week because Monday I was recovering from sickness, Tuesday biked to Stanford and bike, Wednesday still recovering, and yesterday I did 60 minutes. I might have to take off today, too due to this back thing. I'm supposed to go back to Stanford on Saturday as well, but I might have to take public transit given that my body has decided to hate me.
Weekly Summary: November 9 - 15, 2009 (395 minutes, 90 minute long run)
Big jump in total running, but it didn't feel like I was jumping up all that much. Running every day helped push the total minutage up. The good thing was I just took it how I felt each day. On Thursday, I ran into the triathlon club working out on the track. The coach offered to let me jump into the workout whenever I was feeling good, and said his top guys run 32:00 10k, so that should be good when I'm feeling stronger. I also reacquainted myself with Ogliore and Feldman this and last week, so I've got some running buddies around, although my repertoire is limited by the self-enforced restriction to grass fields.
It's Monday and I'm feeling sick. I actually started feeling it a bit on Saturday, but ignored it. Today I'm full of snot don't feel much like leaving the room. It's not very bad, but enough that I won't be running. So for next week the goal is simply to get healthy and do some little runs.
Nov 12 - 15, 2009
11/15: 60 minutes easy, feeling a bit sick
11/14: 30 minutes
11/13: 60 minutes. legs felt perky.
11/12: 45 minutes.
November 9, 10, 11 (90, 45, 65 minutes)
The long run on Monday felt long - it was definitely starting to take a toll by the end. I could feel my legs being generally tired, but not specifically sore in my right hamstring.
I went easy the next day to recover, and had a good 65 minute run today.
Weekly Summary: November 2 - 8, 2009 (305 minutes)
A decent week, although at the beginning of it I planned on doing a little more running than I actually did. The good news is nothing particularly hurt, although on none of my runs did I feel especially peppy, either.
Sunday, November 8, 2009 (25 minutes)
Took an easy day, then went climbing. There was a little pain in my right heel, but it quickly disappeared.
Saturday, November 7, 2009 (80 minutes)
I think this counts as a long run. My pace has mostly been very slow in the last few weeks. I'm trying to counteract the deleterious effects of more time running with less intensity. It's working so far. My endurance has definitely begun to return. A month ago an 80 minute run would have been taxing, but this felt easy.
Friday, November 6, 2009 (65 minutes, 20 minutes)
I did a normal 65 minute run on the baseball diamond/track infield (moving when the baseball players came to remove the infield tarp). Then I went ice skating (suffering one significant bruise that still hurts now - I'd never done any such activity before), but on the ride from the rink to someone's house, I got a flat, and ran the last three miles pushing the bike alongside me to get there before all the pizza was gone. It worked, as I actually got there at precisely the same time as everyone else. But they used cars.
Thursday, November 5, 2009 (bike 40 miles)
Biked to Stanford. I took a pretty crappy route, letting Google Maps decide where to send me after realizing it had finally learned that you can cross the Dumbarton Bridge on foot. The surface streets it chose through Oakland were not as good as what I had improvised before, though. Maybe 3.5 hours to get there. Rode the train back.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 (75 minutes)
I almost got hit by a car. That's a regular occurrence for runners. But not when you're running laps on a baseball field. Why would someone be driving their car around on a baseball field? It's not like you'd ever stay in the baseline when rounding third. Have you ever tried flagging down a pop fly - with your sunroof? Damn near impossible. And the only way you'd ever hit with the thing is to bunt. I'm serious though. A car came out of a gap in the outfield fence and drove down the warning track right next to me. And it's not like there's a parking lot on the other side of that fence. There's a little bit of dirt and a cement wall.
Core, a smidgin of lifting afterwards.
Oct 26 - Nov 3
10/26 - 10/28
I'm not sure why i didn't write this down earlier. I think it was 45/60 minutes each day.
10/29
75 minutes on baseball field. longest run yet, but still felt good.
10/30
30 minutes. stung by a bee on south field. fuck you south field
10/31
70 minutes at SCIACs with Gus and Chaves
11/1
60 minutes on NF, with Jesse a little. grass is pretty rough there, and ate some of my toes
11/2
40 minutes or so. was a little sore earlier on, so i didn't go long
11/3
traveling, and then out all day. took off
Monday, October 26, 2009 (60 minutes)
Either the field was squishy or my feet were. i know which one I prefer, but I'm suspending judgment pending further data.
This was a nice little cruise, and I actually felt better forty minutes into it than I did ten minutes in, which is, I think, a good sign. Also, my resting heart rate has risen slightly over the past couple of weeks, which I take to me an indication that my body is finally under some stress, and might start doing that thing where it magically makes itself better at not getting tired. I just wish it wouldn't do that thing where it magically makes itself unbetter at not getting tired when I don't exercise, but that might be asking a little much.
Weekly Summary: October 19 - 25, 2009 (6 runs, 305 minutes)
I'm surprised I was able to do this. I jumped up from nothing to piddly twenty minute runs to hour-long runs very quickly. And although it took months upon months for my hamstring to heal, it seems not to have gone down the tubes with increase in training.
It may be that it's speed more than volume that aggravates it. I had some faster running on Thursday's hour run, and I think I did feel a little something twinging on Friday, so I'll be very cautious about quick stuff. For the time being, running 45 or 60 minutes feels fantastic, and I'm happy just to stick to that for a bit.
The plan for next week is to run a little more if that seems reasonable, or else to run about the same, and not to push it.
October 24 and 25, 2009 (45, 60 minutes)
Sweet. I'm running a pretty solid amount and I'm totally alive. All on the baseball field, of course. The track infield is also okay, but the rules for when the facilities are open or closed seem arbitrary, and the track is less accessible to sneaking into. It has better acoustics, though.
October 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (0, 50, 50, 40, 0, 60 minutes)
200 minutes over a 6-day chunk, including a full hour today. I feel very good about this, especially because not only have I run more, but my leg feels stronger than it has at any time recently. I think the core and gym work I've been doing have been beneficial. I'm including a sort of active stretching type routine that I got out of a book. It's goofy-looking enough that I felt self-conscious practicing it at first, but it seems to have helped my butt, and anything that's good for my butt is good for me.
I've run every step on grass since starting up training again, and that's good too. It's easier to maintain this regimen when I'm not running with other people, although again that means I'm not running with other people. There was some other guy on the field today, and I got minor satisfaction from doing three-halves his pace.
Saturday, October 17, 2009 (30 minutes)
I wanted to run longer than this, but I forced myself into moderation. My legs felt good, although maybe a little stiff. The field is cushy after the rain, but not so much there's goop between my toes (that gets there by itself, anyway.)
Friday October 16, 2009 (45 minutes)
Half an old long run makes this, technically, a semi-long run.
I'm feeling decidedly stronger. The simple fact that I can do 45 minutes without problems shows it. I even opened it up for a single, 50m strider, which was really nice, even if I felt uneven. I still felt good.
October 11, 12, 13 (three consecutive running days)
30 minutes each day, and I'm feeling pretty good. I definitely have the feeling that I could go jump into some hard training right now, at least in terms of the fitness in my muscles, lungs, etc. But, I'm still being cautious.
I've been more diligent about my gym work than in the past as well. I've hit up some core stuff four or five days a week for a while now. Even if it's not making me fitter or less injury prone, it gives me a warm-fuzzy feeling on the inside and a hard-badass look on the outside. (er, not really, yet. but it might.)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009 (20 minutes)
I admit it. I'm a greedy bastard. I took two consecutive days of running and you can't stop me (unless you try really hard. Then you probably can, to be honest.) Also, I learned to prop the door to the baseball field open with a trash can, because it doesn't open from the outside, and I had to climb two fences to get out yesterday. Wait a second, I just realized I'm not going to lose all my fence-climbing skills I've been honing. That's a steep price to pay for some mediocre door-jamb-jamming skills. Who's ever won over a fine lady with those?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (30 minutes)
A little while ago I was out to dinner (referred to as "point B" in a previous post) and the conversation turned to polyphasic sleeping - sleeping in regular short naps rather than one chunk each night.
I remembered trying this before, and rejecting it because
- it was hard
- I got tired
- I thought it was basically a myth, and that you would never really "come out on the other side"
- I thought it would mess up my athletic training
I don't have any athletic training to mess up, though, and have a pretty free schedule, and no particular need for my mental faculties, so I decided to give it another shot. I'm now in my eighth night, and my report is that it's going surprisingly well. I feel alert and fresh during the day. I still normally have some bad patches at night, especially around 3am. But I haven't crashed for twelve straight hours, or even hit a snooze alarm yet.
I don't have some insane need of extra time, but I've enjoyed the polyphasic sleeping because it's given me that same sense of focus that training does. Staying awake the full two hours until the next nap, at times, felt similar to staying focused through the remainder of an interval workout. I can't do interval workouts now, but I can do this. And the extra hours are nice to have. Overall, I think I'm averaging about three hours of sleep a night. Normally, I do terribly with low sleep. If I go more than two days without an eight hour night of sleep I degenerate very quickly. It seems absurd to be sleeping about a third of normal and still feeling good. I don't know whether it will persist, though.
I hadn't been running at first, but I've run twice now, and felt good each time. I'm still worried about my hamstring, of course.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 (30 minutes)
I felt distracted today. I was thinking about math the whole time, and then my thirty minutes were up. I was a little upset, because I can think about math any time, but I can only run for a little bit, and then it was gone.
Saturday and Sunday, September 26-27, 2009 (30 minutes each)
I think I should stick to running every other day for the time being. My leg feels better that way, and I think I can stay sane with and every-other-day schedule.
I would like to get some cross-training in to start rebuilding some real fitness, but so far I haven't worked up that level of motivation. Running has been fun. I've enjoyed every jaunt on the grass (and I finally have access to the artificial field as well). But the prospect of thrashing around for ninety minutes in the pool is less enticing.
Thursday, September 24, 2009 (about eight minutes)
I and a couple other people were trying to go from point A to point B. We had come from different places (points C and D) by different methods - I by bike and they by car. So we planned to follow the same route from A to B but simply to go in our respective conveyances. I had never been to B, but got instructions about its location relative to A (and the north pole).
But, when I got to B, it wasn't B. B was B', which was in approximately the place and was approximately the sort of establishment I was expecting, but had a different name and none of my friends in it. I decided B was further down road E, but then road E ended. On top of this, I got a flat tire, and confusedly walked my bike all over town looking for point B (and passing, in a rather convoluted series, through points F, U, C, K, T, H, I, and S).
Note that point C is actually (as was mentioned before) one of our origins. Specifically mine - where I live. That's where my cell phone was. If I had taken it with me to begin with, I'd have used it to navigate from points A to B directly.
So I finally knew where point B was, but it was late enough that I was worried the people would leave by the time I got there. (There would still be people there, but not the particular ones I wanted to see. That's maybe a cruelly dismissive attitude towards everyone who would have been there, but I just tell it the way it is.) So I walked a short way from C towards B before deciding to run the rest. The people I wanted to see were still there and I was suitably sweaty upon arrival.
Wednesday, September 22, 2009 (20 minutes)
20 minutes felt much too short. I would have liked to run for an hour - the air was cool, the grass was wet and soft. It was dark and I could barely hear the floodlight hum as the pointed the other direction.
Just as I was walking onto the field (apparently looking very confident), a couple people stopped me to ask how to get on the track. "What track?" I wondered. Apparently there's one on the other side of the giant cement wall next to the field I run on. Who knew?
Monday, September 21, 2009 (20 minutes)
Yes, my right hamstring still feels a little different than my left one, especially when doing a few certain core exercises at the gym. But if I'm paranoid enough about it, I'm sure I can get my right testicle to feel different than the left one, as well. It's time to run.
After getting a gym membership and finally starting exercising a couple weeks ago, I began to go stir-crazy from lack of running. When I wasn't working out at all, not running wasn't a problem - I simply didn't think about it much. But I couldn't watch hundreds of sweaty people on strange-looking machines for an hour a day without thinking I ought to be outdoors a bit more.
There are a few fields around. There's one artificial surface field like the infield at Oxy, but my access to it is limited so far (I'm still working on getting a card). The other is the baseball diamond. I originally assumed it was off limits, but I saw an old man jogging on the warning track the other day, so I went and ran there tonight. No one yelled at me, so that'll be my de-facto running spot until I get evicted.
My twenty-minute jaunt felt fantastic. I didn't feel out of shape, just rested. I suspect that if I had tried to turn it into a ninety minute jaunt, I'd have learned soon enough what the effect of the layoff has been on my body. But at the moment, I'm simply glad to have put in a nice little jog.
Recent Frustrations
It's strange that, so many times in the past, I've chastised other runners for returning to running when they know they shouldn't, and consequentlyy reinjuring themselves, while at the same time I hadn't even realized that I've been doing precisely that all summer.
I was completely aware that each time I ran, especially if it was a little faster or longer than normal, my hamstring would be aggravated the next day. But I thought that I might simply run through it. Now, when I spend a few minutes on the internet, I learn that every single resource available says not to train through a hamstring strain. It simply won't recover that way.
So, starting now, I'm going to take a month without running, even if feel fine before then. I also need to get a foam roller and do a little more core than I have been.
I biked to work for the first time today. It involves a climb which I think is roughly equivalent to Chantry, but then I come down on the other side to get in to work, meaning to bike both ways I have to do it twice. It's about 1200ft of climbing/descending and a 7 mile ride total. It took me about 50 minutes today, but that including stopping to navigate a few times. On the other hand, it only takes $2 to ride the BART.
July 21 - 25
Frustratingly, my leg seems to be fine as long as I'm not serious about training. I ran 30 minutes on Tuesday and 70 on Wednesday and Thursday, but this aggravated the pain in my right hamstring. Right now, I'm thinking I should lay off the running, and just focus on keeping myself fit and healthy while I settle into a new place and job. But I'm also disappointed about my inability to do anything serious.
Monday, July 20, 2009 (70 minutes)
I felt pretty good today. I ran from about 8:30 - 9:40 PM, so it was getting dark, and there was no one around on the field. My hamstring didn't bother me at all, even though the last 10 minutes were around 6:00 pace, and my legs felt strong underneath me.
I like the grass fields here - softer and more consistent than at Caltech. They're all the way across campus, and campus is much larger than at Caltech, but still it's pretty convenient.
July 16 - 19
Thursday 16th: 70 minutes
Friday 17th: 70 minutes
Saturday 18th: 50 minutes
Sunday 19th: off
There's not a lot to say about this running - I just do some laps on one of the fields, never getting below 6:30 pace or so. My hamstring seems to be okay, but not really improving.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 (30 minutes)
I played a solid 90 minutes of frisbee today, which was fun and a nice way to be social with the kids, but not very bright in terms of the hamstring thing. I kept the run short as some sort of stupid compensation. Instead I should just play board games during the day.
Tuesday, July 16, 2009 (70 minutes)
A nice run at night on the rugby field.
Wow, I just described something as "nice". I doubt I can get more generic than that if I try. But at the moment there's nothing much interesting about the runs, since serious training isn't really possible until my hamstring improves.
Monday, July 13, 2009 (70 minutes)
The mild strain in my hamstring still hasn't evaporated completely. Every time I get down under 5:45 or 6:00 pace I start to feel pain there at the top and back of my right leg, where it connects to my butt.
I've been dealing with it by pretty much not dealing with it - running three or four times a week for an hour, and nothing much else. But I ran with JR the other day, whose injury problems are at least an order of magnitude more persistent than mine. He's up to running 16 minutes a day, from a beginning of two. That's alongside his PT and core programs.
Seeing that JR is still set on running competitively, despite not racing on the track in years, gave me a jolt of motivation. So I'm resuming my core training and running as much as I can without aggravating my leg. Let's see how it goes.
Biking Pasadena - San Diego
"What the fuck? It's light outside." That was my first thought on Wednesday morning. Inauspicious, maybe, but it's certainly better than "where am I? And what is this vomit doing here?
After doing a couple two-hour rides with Ian as preparation (both of which, though pedestrian by a bicyclist's standards, took a serious toll on my lower back), I rode 100 miles from Pasadena to Gustavo's place in Oceanside on Wednesday.
I thought there was a nice sort of symbolism to riding out of town on my own power. In my two extra years at Tech I lived on my own (sometimes), financially supported myself, and in general began operating independently. But despite this seeming increased control over my life, I had a persistent perception of being pulled along in directions I never really wanted to go. On a plane or a train, or even driving a car, I continue to feel directed by the technology, which is bigger and more willful than I am. But the bicycle is intimate. In my imagination before the trip,riding my bike off into the sunrise became a metaphor for the proper role of the individual in society. I'm obviously dependent, in that the machine I operate, the gear I carry, the food I eat, and the infrastructure I use are all gifts of the great mass of people around me, but nonetheless I am personally and directly involved in the direction I am moving to the fullest possible extent. It is not the fastest or the easiest mode of transportation, but that's okay. Taking a trip by bicycle isn't just about getting where you want to be, since that is absurd when compared with how much easier other options are. Instead, the bicyclist, whether it is his original goal or not, is forced to view the trip as itself a worthwhile endeavor. This might be because it is enjoyable, or because it feeds back on the traveler, changing him as well as transporting him, or for some other reason. But whatever the reason to take a trip by bike, the fact that such a trip is selected demands that a reason exists.
I was planning on leaving at 5 AM so I could get to Gustavo's in the early afternoon. Instead, I managed to set my alarm for 4:45 PM, and woke up late at 6:20. The first stretches of the trip through Pasadena were easy, though, so I wasn't worried about getting a late start. Following Katherine's directions, I wound my way over to the River Trail, and made excellent progress through the early morning.
The GPS I carried was a mixed blessing. It made navigation much easier, saving me time and frustration that would have been spent on getting lost. But it also told me just how far (or how not-far) I had gone. At 9 AM it told me I'd gone only 25 miles in two and a half hours - a disheartening statistic. It might have been wrong, of course. Or I might have wasted more time than I thought pursuing a wrong turn once or twice. But because I could quantitatively compare my progress to my expectation, and because that progress didn't stack up, I felt daunted by the prospect of the remaining 75 miles when I got back on the bike after a ten-minute pee-and-stretch break. My back was already a bit sore, and now it looked like I'd be out all day, and maybe not even make it into Oceanside before Gustavo had to leave for the night shift at 5 PM.
Poor progress early on didn't alter the fact that the river trail was easy, quick riding, or that when I got to the PCH the wind was mostly to my back. Over the rest of the day, I repeatedly made better progress than I expected. And magically, my mood improved. It amused me how fickle my own emotions are, and how context-dependent. If I could just head into everything with the expectation it would suck, I'd probably be in constant bliss due to an unending stream of pleasant surprises. (I think this is why, when a blogger links me to a YouTube video of their favorite musical performance along with a glowing review, I never quite "get it". But when I stumble around aimlessly, it's once-in-a-while captivating. Alternatively, this is why a beautiful woman you see on the subway can leave a stronger impression than any number of models in the Victoria's Secret Fashion show.)
By the time I reached San Clemente, I was feeling so confident I didn't even consider taking the metrolink the rest of the way in. The last 40 miles were tougher riding - mild but consistent undulating hills - but I felt engaged, purposeful. My back was sore, but it was more a situation I was managing than a nuisance I was trying to deal with.
Only the last few miles through Oceanside really got to me. It was trying to navigate my way to Gustavo's place, climbing steep hills, and getting progressively more tired after not eating enough (I had food with me, but I just didn't eat enough of it). The six miles inside Oceanside itself seemed absolutely interminable, but at last Gustavo was there shaking my hand, and mercifully, talking about the food he had ready.
I came in just about 3 in the afternoon, making for an 8.5 hour, 100 mile ride. Though exhausting, it was also invigorating just to know "I can do this if I want." It does, however, also send the message, "I can do this if I want, and I can get away without training beforehand," which is not the best thing to tell myself. But I think I was sufficiently humbled by the difficulty of the last hour that it'll be a while before I leap into something so rashly again.
Goose and I got to see just a little of each other, since he had to leave for work a couple hours later, but just the respite of a comfortable place to stay was huge relief.
The next morning I finished the 35 miles or so to the hotel where I met up with my parents. This was a much tougher ride, since I gained and lost the same hundred feet of elevation many times leading up to and going through La Jolla. But I was an old pro now, at least in my mind. I also didn't mind at all when people blew past me, since I got an early start, and there was no rush.
Providian Relay 2009 with the JUICE
Rain can make me miserable. Not for a training run, but for a race, I'm already feeling a little anxious and on-edge. Then when I go all day never getting totally dry or warm I seize the opportunity to grumble about something. That's how I know that Providian was a great time - it was raining and muddy the whole way, and I barely even noticed.
Ogliore recruited me for The Juice: Terror in Meatspace at the Providian Relay.
I was worried because of the mild strain/aching in my hamstring, but it held up well and the relay was great fun. We each ran three legs, totaling 200 miles between the twelve of us. My actual running felt choppy and labored all the time, and the 6-7 mile stretches felt long, but I held up okay.
I only knew about half the team beforehand, but I got to meet all the runners as we went along. A few things that I think made the day work well were:
- The men on our team were reasonably close in ability, and so were the women. There was no worrying about if "that one guy" was going to totally bomb. On the other hand, the legs were all very different and there was no trying to one-up each other. The result was we had a mentality of a single unit.
- We started in the back and continually caught teams (I passed maybe 10 runners on my middle leg, which was typical for the team. I think Jesse and Katherine both passed in the 15-20 range during a leg.) That kept us feeling like were were on a sort of a mission. It was different than running an race from scratch and trying to hold someone off or catch them up. We weren't focusing on any single competitor. The nature of the competitors (a different group of teams every leg) meant we couldn't focus on them. We were basically forced to focus on our own running.
- Ryan's eclectic mix tape.
- The relay was pretty well-organized. I only had one moment of confusion about the course (at the intersection of Henry Road and Henry Lane), and nobody on the team got lost. The bathrooms were decent by my standards, the course was generally challenging, interesting, and scenic.
- The atmosphere was friendly. The vans stopped by the side of the road always cheered, and everyone was full of smiles at the exchanges.
- The JUICE is a very cool crew.
- Running is fun.
Thursday, April 30, 2009 (30am, 30pm)
I took off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because my upper hamstring was sore. I guess I strained it mildly, but last night I also discovered a large bruise on that leg. It's on the inside of my thigh, so it's relatively hidden from view, and I hadn't noticed it before. I'm not sure when it appeared, and I'm at a loss to think of a traumatic incident in the recent past that could have caused it. It's about 10cm from the general location of the pain I'm feeling, so while I don't have any particular reason to believe they're connected, it is possible.
Both runs felt fine. I'm feeling the soreness in this muscle mostly when I sit still for an hour, then get up, or occasionally when I take a long stride or do something else that might stress my hamstring a little bit.
I hope that I'll be fine through the relay this weekend. I'm almost certain I'll make it through the first leg with no problems, but I don't know whether running 6:00 pace will aggravate the problem. That's what makes life worth living though - the mystery of the great unknown!
Weekly Summary: April 20-26, 2009 (550 minutes, 1 tempo workout)
I was a little hampered this week by a small pain in my left leg where the hamstring and glutes connect. I had been feeling a little soreness there going into Friday. My plan was to ignore it, so I did 100 minutes, jumping in with Jason and Miles on some 200's at the end. They weren't very fast, but still I was significantly more sore the next day. I ran through it on Saturday, figuring it was most likely a little niggling thing that would get better as long as I didn't aggravate it with workouts. On Sunday, though, it started to bother me enough that I cut the NFTC run short.
My tempo was pretty good this week, but I didn't get in the steady state that I would have done on Saturday or Sunday.
The plan for next week is to take Monday off, then run just as much as feels totally comfortable. I promised Ryan I'd do the Providian relay next weekend, so I need to do everything I can to be healthy going into that.
April 23 - 25
Saturday April 25 (60 am, 45 pm)
There's a slight pain or soreness in my left leg, right where my hamstrings come up and attach to my butt. I kept it easy, and I guess I'll keep doing so until this particular little thing passes.
Friday April 24 (100 minutes)
Ran on the south field, jumping in for a couple 200's with Jason and Miles right at the end.
Thursday April 23 (30 am)
Skipped the afternoon run, and so just got in a little recovery jog.
April 14-22
My computer finally came back from the shop today. Technically, they shouldn't even have repaired it, since I decidedly caused the malfunction by pouring water all over the keyboard. (Don't ask me why, okay? I was just curious.) But when I called tech support, as I just kept saying, "I don't know, man, it just, like, won't turn on or something. There's this one little light thingy here, what should I do about that?" And, since I spilled water, not pomegranate juice, there was no real way to distinguish the damage from a genuine part failure.
So, in the time span since the last update, I've forgotten what I did, exactly. I'll work backwards and see how much that jogs my memory.
Wed April 22 (2x3200m tempo, 10:52, 10:32)
Original goal was 2x3200 in 11:00, 10:40. When I got to the track, the heat, along with a long day yesterday and a mediocre workout earlier this week, got me rethinking and aiming for 11:00, 11:00. I thought it was better to shoot a little low, especially now that I'm just resuming workouts and building up some fitness.
I hit the first lap in 79 and the first mile in 5:23, and so decided to consciously slow down, since I had another repeat to go. I ran the second mile in 5:28, feeling pretty relaxed, for 10:52. The nice thing was that two miles felt short, and the one lap recovery jog was luxurious.
I went out too fast on the second one, doing about a 78 on the first lap, then coming through one mile in 5:17. Briefly, I thought I should slow down to run the originally-intended pace. But then it occurred to me, "what the fuck is wrong with you?" I felt fine, and was half way through already. I might as well finish the run up strongly. The final mile was the toughest, but not absolutely brutal. I hit 5:15 for a 10:32 3200.
Nice workout. It felt disciplined. I was choppy at times, but always got my composure back and stayed focused. AM swim/aquajog with Julie
Tuesday April 21
100 minutes on the infield, a bit with Kangway. Kept the pace easy, but still wound up pretty beat by the end of it all. AM swim/aquajog with Julie.
Monday April 20
30 am, 70 pm
Sunday April 19 (4xarroyo tempo)
Planned on an arroyo tempo in which I didn't worry about the times I was running. I hit laps of 9:28 || 9:10 || 9:22 || 9:43, or something like that. I felt pretty bad, really. I never got into any sort of the rhythm, and the second lap was already uncomfortable. I got a cramp on the last one and had to work hard just to finish it off. Not a bit psychological booster, but nonetheless I was glad to get out on the trail and put some sort of work in, anyway. It was also very hot out that day, which may have contributed to the general cruddiness. PM 30 min jog NFTC.
Saturday April 18
Don't recall. Shit, I don't have any idea at all what I did this day. There was no meet. I must have just masturbated a whole lot.
Friday April 17
I really should have updated closer to the fact. Probably I was just running some minutes, but I don't know quite what.
Thursday April 16
Same as Friday
Wednesday April 15
Same as Thursday. Basically, I know I ran twice most of these days, and when I didn't run twice I ran at least 90 minutes. So there's a good chunk of volume in here, and no workouts.
Tuesday April 14
Same as Wednesday.
My guess is that for the week of 4/13/09 - 4/19/09 I wound up with a 550 or 600 minutes, and one really nice workout (8000m tempo in 27:38 on Monday) and one workout that I just barely got through (4xarroyo tempo on Sunday).
Monday, April 13, 2009 (8000m tempo 27:38)
I ran into Kangway in the locker room, so we ran together. I did a five mile tempo on the track, planning on hitting 5:40 pace, although I wasn't completely sure I'd be able to do that without overextending. The recent race at PP sapped my confidence. As it turned out, 85's felt very easy, and I wound up average closer to 5:30 pace. It felt great, really. It wasn't an easy workout - I had to work hard to keep my concentration up over the last 2400 or so, but it stayed in the tempo range the whole time, and I did not feel drained afterwards. Having Kway there for miles 1, 3, and 5 helped a lot as well. Jason and John happened to be working out at the same time, so we did a 300 together at the end. It was going great untilnwe went into the last 100 and Jason magically accelerated away from me, and then Kangway came past on my outside and blew me away as well. Thy both ran 42, so a barefoot 43 is not so bad.
Weekly Summary 4/5 - 4/11/09 (540 minutes)
After a bad week last week, this one was okay. I want to start with some light workouts next week, mostly tempo. I think that if I can start to see indisuptable evidence that my finess is improving, there will be a positive feedback effect on my attitude towards training. Today (sunday) I did 80 minutes, with the last 15 or so pretty quick. I have a sort of dull pain on the outside of my right foot to watch out for, brought on by lots of running on stones and stuff yesterday.
For next week, the training elements I want to get in are:
A relaxed tempo, maybe 4-5 miles at 5:40 pace on the track.
A steady state, maybe 4 Ian tempo loops at whatever pace comes
A long run of 95-100 minutes
Total volume a little higher than last week.
Friday and Saturday, April 10, 11 2009
Friday: 30 minutes jogging in the morning
Sat: 90 minutes in the hills behind Whittier. When I got on top the second hill, I could see out over the next valley. By thrusting my arms out before me, it was as if I held the entire world in my hands. And then I took it and squeezed, crushing that depraved world in disdain. But an epiphany! I realized then that no, I hadn't crushed the world. In fact, I had never been truly holding it - it was mere illusion, or delusion, resulting from the way I had been concentrating so hard I had one eye closed, and therefore lacked the depth perception to recognize that the houses and streets and things were way, way further away than my palms, and were not super-dooper tiny. Damn. Bad for me, good for the thousands of miniature people whose livelihoods were narrowly spared obliteration in my unrelenting grasp.
Then I tacked on an extra 30 with Matt and John M., mostly because I was invited and wanted to seem cool.
Up to Thursday, April 9, 2009
My computer's broken, and I haven't been bothering to go into the library regularly to update, so here it is in chunks - at least what I remember.
Sunday my hip was hurting too much to walk with a normal gate. Kangway went apeshit on me after drinking way too many beers Saturday night. Poor form, Kangway. Poor form.
Monday I did 90 with Jasper and Phyllis.
Tuesday my hip was still hurting a bit, and I took off.
Wednesday I did 30 am, 90 pm.
Thursday 30am, 70 pm. I'm actually feeling very good, except that my hip still hurts some, and there's a dull pain under the ball of my left foot (that's a new one). I think it's making me toe/midfoot strike more than usual.
Saturday, April4, 2009 (5000m 16:50)
I don't really feel like writing a long analysis. After coming through the mile in 5:03 I felt okay, but shortly after that I starting hurting and shut down. I'm just not in shape for sustained fast stuff right now.
Thursday, April 2, 2009 (10x200 30s)
My computer is broken, making it inconvenient to update. But Thursday I worked out with the Caltech team, and they happened to be on the track. I felt kind of sluggish, but I did manage to run 10 200's between 29 and 31 on a slow jog-back recovery, which is objectively a pretty good workout for me.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 (90 minutes)
It was pretty hot, bringing out the old armpit foam. I picked up the pace a bit over the last 25, but I never really got rolling the way I sometimes do at the end of these. I think there may have been some residual fatigue in my legs, and, as I said, it was hot. But I didn't feel those things in particular. I just felt kind of tired.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 (90 minutes, strides)
second half with Kangway and Ian, all on the north field. Strides at the end were pretty fast, and my arm was chafing. Not foaming, though.
Monday, March 30, 2009 (90 minutes)
First half with Jasper. NFTC has become a pretty regular thing in recent weeks. I like that.
Weekly Summary - 2/24/09 - 3/1/09 (605 minutes, 1200 race in 3:15, tempo run)
A very fine week of training. I was sore most of the week, but just now I'm feeling fantastic - physically, mentally, emotionally. Getting out to some races is energizing, like a homecoming that's welcoming and natural even though you weren't expecting anything of it. I felt that post-race chest burning and persistent bit of coughing for the first time in a long time, too. My run today felt great, and then I cranked out 14 pull ups at the gym - more than I've done since before I injured my shoulder.
I think the thing to watch out for now is overtraining and complacency. When things start to go well, I get so wrapped up in miles and speed and running that I neglect gym work and achilles tendons and those sorts of things. So I want to enjoy whatever good things I'm feeling, without taking them for granted, and for the time being just let running be whatever it feels like being.
I'm taking a long-term general approach to training right now. My main goal before graduation is simply to feel very comfortable at ten, or if I get there eleven hours of running a week on mostly double days. I think that if I want to get to the places I want to be long-term as a distance runner, the thing to do now is not hit the track for another racing season that will probably seem some marginal improvement, but to go back to the roots and hunt bigger quarry in the future. (Did you like the mixed flora-fauna metaphor?)
Next week I want to keep the running level about the same as this one, with a single long run and a little faster stuff here and there when I'm feeling good.
Sunday, March 1, 2009 (30am, 60pm)
Cruised it on the south field. I've gotten good at taking the morning runs very easy and not worrying about them. I was more surprised to find that in the afternoon I felt really good - almost fresh, and so I kept the pace honest but not fast for most of the time.
What happened to NFTC. Got to get that back going again. It was one of the consistent highlights of my week.
Saturday, February 28, 2009 (DMR 10:41)
Led off the DMR team of Eichenlaub-C. Smith-Kiesz-Lyon. 1200 is a shockingly short distance. I hadn't run one before, but in retrospect I think I did it about right. I might have gone out harder, but that would probably only have helped if I had some more speed. After consulting a variety of sources, a quorum of onlookers conspired to agree I ran 3:15 (although estimates ranged from 3:12 to 3:18).
I used the race plan that's become pretty much typical for me: go out slowly, move up throughout the race, and have a completely unremarkable finish. (That last part isn't the plan. It's just the fact.) Since I lined up on the far outside of the curve, it seemed pretty natural not to try to fight and elbow for "position" at the start. (What do people want that position so badly for, anyway? So they can be perfectly placed to reach premature exhaustion?) I moved up steadily throughout the race, although I ran one entire curve in lane two that I probably didn't need to (I was passing Anton, but could have waited until the straight). I also put on a really nice little kick from 300 out, but blew my load a little early and had no response when the CMS runner came back past me on the homestretch.
Physically, I'd say the race felt as near to similar to the 400 at the all-comers meet as it's possible for those two distances to feel. There was not really any question of "trying hard", because the race was too short for me to notice it might be difficult. There was some incidental pain, but it's not really possible to suffer without some good full miles to do it in.
The overall pace was about the same as my best 1500/1600 races. I'm happy with that result. It's abundantly obvious to me that I don't have the same kind of speed now that I have had in the past, because when I'm fast 66 feels smooth and natural. I don't even have the same aerobic fitness I've had in the past, either. So 3/4 of a PR mile performance is not too bad.
Chris came out of retirement to run about a 56. Then Matt went somewhere from 2:00 to 2:03 depending on what I ran, retaining only a small portion of whatever food may have been in his stomach. Reed finished us off with a comfortable-looking 4:27 mile for a respectable 10:41.
Friday, February 27, 2009 (30 am, 60 pm)
Went easy all day, except when dodging the demented, vicious byproducts of Julie's womb, who assaulted me almost continuously for half an hour. What's more, I could swear they were using a team strategy, as if they were almost human...
too creepy.
Thursday, February 26, 2009 (30 am, tempo pm)
Broke the only-grass diet to go to Lacy with the team and run 2x10min tempo with a 5-minute break. When Scott explained this workout, he said he wanted 2x10 minutes at "between 3k and 5k race pace." I thought he was joking. I pointed out that Anton, Chief and I all run 3000m in less than 10 minutes, so there's no way we could possibly do 10 minutes at that pace. "Oh yeah," he said. "I guess you do. That's why it's as slow as 5k pace."
I don't think I could necessarily do a better job than Scott. Coaching in itself is hard, especially if you don't have much experience with it. You need to balance expectations and realism, specialization and cohesiveness, rapport and authority. But I do know I could avoid things that are brazenly insane.
I wound up running by myself for the two periods. The hung back on the first, running between Chief and Anton. I went ahead on the second. Laps were somewhere around 2:40 for the "short loops".
It felt tough, but I think all my workouts will continue to feel tough for a few weeks while I try to adapt to this higher volume of running. I was able to stay consistent, and reasonably smooth, and so that's enough to leave me encourage by the day.
Wednesday, February 26, 2009 (30am, 50pm)
I had a busy day, doing an fMRI from 2-3:45 and tutoring three different students at 5:30, 7, and 8:30, with all three spread across Pasadena, South Pas, and San Marino.
I just found time for 50 minutes in the afternoon during Caltech practice.
The morning runs are going well. I keep them very easy, and make no special effort to get myself up at the crack of dawn to do them. I've been almost 100% on the fields for the last few days, and my body seems to be holding up well. I've been good with the calf raises, but negligent of foam rolling and balance padding.
Tuesday, February 25, 2009 (30 am, 50 pm)
Morning run was pretty lethargic, but I felt fine in the afternoon, when I ran with Kangway for the first time in while. I also jumped in on the distance runners' bonus laps. Anton and Chief both ran 57/58, which is insane. I only ran the second half, based on where I was on the track when they came around. I don't think Matt and I ever ran that fast on the bonus, so I expect 3:54 and 15:28 out of them this year. (Well, not exactly, but I wouldn't be surprised if they both ran big PR's. I think Anton and Chief are both ready for breakthrough of varying magnitudes.) Then Perrin clicked off a 70 for her bonus. It certainly didn't feel like 3000 pace. Also, if she can run a 70 on the bonus, shouldn't she be around 2:30 for the 800 (or better)? I could barely crack 800 pace on those things.
In other news, Reed, Matt, and I are entered for the DMR at Rossi this weekend, although I haven't heard yet whether we actually have someone to run the 400m leg.
1200: Me
400: ??
800: Matt
1600: Reed
But there are ongoing negotiations to change "??" into "Ryan Martin".
Monday, February 24, 2009 (95 minutes)
My knees and legs were feeling a little beat up after the mountain run and fast descent yesterday, so I took it easy doing a long run on the south field. Also, I really had to poop with about fifteen minutes to go, but I held it in for two laps and it seemed to go away. That's generally a good policy to take towards all problems - ignore them until they leave a stinky, sticky mess all over your pants, and then lie about it afterwards.
Weekly Summary: 2/16/09 - 2/22/09 (560 minutes, 1 workout)
A solid week of training. I was pretty good about getting in the supplementary work I need to stay healthy. I think I did achilles exercises four or five days, and core three days, and lifted twice.
The workout on Thursday was short and not very fast, but completely acceptable. My legs are a bit drained from running so much, but I think breaking things into two runs is allowing me to get in the running without injuring me too much.
For next week, the plan is to get in a steady state, a long run, and a DMR at Rossi.
Sunday, February 22, 2009 (Brown Mountain)
Did Brown Mountain with Goose in the morning. Legs feeling toasted on the uphills, but still took off coming down El Prieto when there was a mountain biker coming up behind (he didn't even get close). Afterwards, he saw us in the parking lot and predicted we could run 2:50 in the marathon.
65 minutes total running.
Tuesday - Saturday, February 17-21, 2009
Sat: 30 am, 50 pm
Feeling a little tired, but at the end of the evening run I suddenly felt very loose and relaxed, so I hit about two miles worth of hard, fast running. All barefoot on the fields.
Fri: 90
With Ian on the North Field, then long laps in the darkness. I honestly felt like stopped around 70 minutes, but decided it was worth while to finish it out, especially since the two-a-day structure leaves me with few contiguous long runs.
Thu: 30 am, track work pm
Light track workout with Caltech in the afternoon. 2x800 with Chief (~78/lap), then 2x1600 in 5:13, 4:55. Jogged the rest periods. Started every five minutes for the 800's and every nine for the 1600's. The team was doing three 1600's, but I had to leave early because I had tutoring scheduled at six and had to be off the track by 5:30. I was slightly distressed that practice officially starts at 4, but despite my constant imploring to get started since I would have to go to work, we didn't begin running the intervals until 4:55. What did we do with an hour? Ultimately, I think two miles was fine given it's my first track work this season. I was reasonably relaxed, and 5:00 pace did not feel unreasonably fast or difficult. However, I don't think I'm ready to run quite that pace for 5000 just now. 15:50 is about where I would put my fitness, but if you required me to guess whether I would be above that mark or below, I would take below.
Wed: 30 am, 45 pm
Barefoot on the fields
Tu: 30 am, 45 pm
Barefoot on the fields
Monday, February 16, 2009 (40 am, 60 pm)
Apologies for the gap, but no further explanation. Nothing much interesting to say, really.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 (off - back injured)
My back feels about the same today as yesterday. This must be some old injury that I occasionally tweak, but I've felt the same pain in the same place several times before. I normally just go easy a while and it heals on its own, but this one seems to have gotten worse over the last couple of days (it began last Thursday on a tempo run). It's to the point where I can feel it just moving my arm enough to signal on the bike, and even breathing can set it off. I'd like to take total rest, but unfortunately I still need to get to work, and the only transportation I know of is bicycle. I'll keep monitoring it closely, and hope to see some clear improvement in the next few days.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 (30am, 30pm)
Jogged it out in the morning. I was planning on about 70 in the evening, maybe with some fartlek. But once I started running, I realized that the pain in my back muscle was worse today than it had been yesterday, and running was likely the culprit. I stopped after half an hour, and am thinking I should rest it until I see clear improvement.
Monday, January 19, 2009 (70am, 20pm)
Hit up the arroyo with Ian in the morning, and then a short shakeout in the evening on the North Field.
Weekly Summary: 1/12/09 - 1/18/09 (535 minutes, steady state)
Last Week
There's a lot of overlap with Ian's Week in here.
A second consecutive good week of training. The steady state on Thursday was encouraging. The mountain adventure on Saturday was deeply satisfying, and on top of those I got in four more runs of >=70 minutes.
I haven't been doing much speed, because it's a bit tougher on my body, and I feel like I'm taking close to as much load as is prudent right now. My left foot, left hip, right knee, right achilles tendon, and left upper back muscle all have, at various times, given me just slight hints that they would not be amused by bashing out two hard workouts and a fast long run each week, which is what my lungs and leg muscles might be interested in. I didn't do much core this week, but that was mostly because my back was hurting already, and crunches and bridges and whatnot seemed to stand a good chance of aggravating it further.
For next week, I'm continuing to focus on aerobic stuff and large but comfortable volume. My plan is roughly:
Mon: AM jog, PM easy running, strides, core
Tu: maybe some fartlek
Wed: AM jog, PM easy running, strides, core
Thu: AM jog, easy running, maybe some 200s, 300s, or even a 400 at relaxed pace, long recovery
Fri: steady state with Ian
Sat: recovery, easy, core
Sun: longer run, maybe 1:45
The idea with the fartlek and short intervals isn't to put in strenuous workouts. The training stress here should be from milage and the steady state. Instead, it's more of a freshness and pace-feeling thing. I want to be familiar with faster training paces when it's time actually to train hard at those paces. I'd rather not hit the track for mile repeats at sub-5 pace having not run 800m at that pace in months. I also don't want my legs to get too used to trodding between 6:30 and 8:00 pace all the time. Somewhere in there should be some bits of speed to keep me capable of striding out and turning over when I need it.
Sunday, January 18, 2009 (80 minutes)
The North field was feeling really nice, so I just kept going for a while. I'm feeling pretty good after taking Friday off, except that I have a persistent soreness in a muscle in my back. That developed on Thursday's steady state, but has been a problem I've run into every few months over the past two or three years. It normally just takes a few days, or even two weeks, before I feel fully recovered. I don't think it's critical, since it gets worse overnight and loosens up over the day, and is not among the most relevant body parts for running.
Then Dennis took me to Sizzler, and my stomach is only just recovering.
Saturday, January 17, 2009 (mountain adventure)
Some day, I need to see a fight between a Siberian Tiger and a Sloth Bear. Wikipedia says it happens, but fails to cite a youtube video.
As far as running, Ian led me on a reprisal of his long Brown Mountain circuit (Sunday of the linked week), which took a few second less than two hours. I was pretty scared of the bears, and Ian kept abandoning me on downhills to handle getting stabbed in the eye by a tree alone. Also I fell in a river and almost crapped myself (unrelated, mostly). But it was pretty awesome. I took off yesterday to rest up for this one. The trail down the back side of the mountain (you don't go all the way up, and the ascent past the saddle is fairly mild) was runnable to the bold-spirited, and easily hikable to all others.
There was also a particularly fine stand of white pine.
Thursday, January 15, 2009 (5 x arroyo tempo)
Ian and I continued our steady-state campaign, upping the ante from four loops last week to five today. Last week, we passed Danny Martinez (blew past, actually) heading north along the arroyo early in our run. This week I told Ian he missed it when Martinez came back south after a week in hibernation at the aquatic center, recognized me, and waved, but he (Ian) appeared to see right through my ruse. You're right, Ian. I definitely did not see Danny Martinez in the arroyo today. (PS - for people other than Ian (I'll write this in code so he can't read it) !aHaHaH .flesym ot lla tnemom cigam taht peek ot teg I won tub ,mih ees did I seY)
The run was good. I do not have a feeling of strong aerobic fitness like I sometimes had in the past - the feeling that my lungs and legs are simply churning in perfect synchrony and I can purr along at high performance for an hour unstressed - but nonetheless my actual times are progressing well. The laps went
8:55
17:44 (8:49)
26:35 (8:51)
36:21ish (8:46ish)
44:04 (8:43ish)
5 loops, 8:49 avg.
My watch switches over from mm:ss:1/100 to hh:mm:ss at 30 minutes, so it's hard to catch the lap 4 split with accuracy.
The average pace was a little faster than last week.
I think the key now will be not to push too hard on these in a vain effort to get faster every single week. This was a good run. I'll take it and be happy. I'll do another next week, but I'll need to keep the attitude that allowed me to run well today - simply focusing on today, running based on what I'm feeling.
Also, Ian probably won't admit it on the internet, but he's in some pretty killer shape, and if he runs track races this year, we could see the same sort of times that got posted in the men's locker room all those years ago.
No pressure, though.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 (75 minutes)
I felt tired, but probably just depleted throughout the run, but still seemed to be able to click off a good pace at the end without difficulty. I was also planning on running in the morning, but slept too much. I slept in until 8:40 and it felt horrendously late - which is a good sign since I used to wake up ten minutes before I had to leave for work. Now it's two minutes after I have to leave for class.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 (90 minutes, strides)
Ran with the kids, going down to Lacy for some strides and a fairly long detour through Pasadena on the way back. I felt kind of clumsy, although partially because the Frees were slipping on the wet grass. Also, Ian was running some fartlek at Lacy, and I wanted to yell something clever, but I realized I just about used up all my creativity back in junior year. I spent the next couple years recycling that material as much as I could, but eventually people caught on. For example, I've given this speech five times already. And that's in the last two weeks.
Monday, January 12, 2009 (30am, 70 pm)
I'm not even 100% sure this is what I did on Monday. I think it is, though. Dammit. Now I feel like that one guy, you know, who couldn't remember shit, what was his name again?
Weekly Summary: 1/5/09 - 1/11/09 (510 minutes, steady state)
An excellent week of running. I felt like I was doing exactly what I needed to do each day to build the aerobic fitness I want before track. The steady state was good, the long runs were good, and in general I felt healthy. Since it's now Thursday, the thing I need to improve on is timely blogging.
Sunday, January 11, 2009 (60 minutes)
Slept through NFTC and jogged it out very slowly at night, from the house to the south field and back. I made a short detour to crap in Ruddock (specifically the toilets there), and Kangway tried to give me bagels.
Saturday, January 10, 2009 (Brown Mountain)
Ian, Kangway, and I went up to JPL in the morning. Kway and I saw three baby billygoats while Ian was peeing on his foot. Also, we went to Millard and back, although we're not totally sure on either the distance or duration. No problems with my feet and whatnot. There are a lots of miles in my legs, though.
Friday, January 9, 2009 (20am 90pm)
Jogged it out in the morning, then hit up practice in the afternoon since I got off work early. It was a pretty huge number of minutes for the day, but I didn't feel especially worn down from it. I do need to resist the urge to jump in with the sprinters whenever they happen to be starting an interval as I got by. That habit had me run 3x300 today. Not very fast (52, 49, 47 or so), but doing it barefoot was enough to tear the skin off the bottoms of certain of my toes, and also I need to be more careful of the thing with the bottom of my left foot.
Afterwards I hit up a little weight room and a little bullshitting, which is always nice.
Thursday, January 8, 2009 (steady state)
Ian's comments on this run
I think I've done a pretty good job, over six years of working on it, of no longer comparing myself with other runners. At least, the comparisons I do are more leaning more towards objective feedback than ego-stroking (or ego-self-flagellating (is "self" redundant when used in hyphenation along with "ego"?)). I've also been making progress on not comparing myself with my own arbitrarily-imposed standards. That means understanding the difference between a goal that keeps you motivated, and a standard you must meet, or else feel insufficient and worthless. Now I think I need to understand how to approach comparing my current self to my past self. Ideally, understanding where I am now in comparison to where I used to be should provide a guideline for what kind of training I should do next, based on where I am and where I want to be. It should also be helpful in setting reasonable goals. Instead, my comparison with my past performances is mostly an anxious litany of, "am I there yet? can I PR yet? Have I ever done that before? Am I fitter this time around? Am I working harder now than before?" Which is not the only set of questions I should be asking. Further, when I find that the only honest answer is "no", I swing between renewed, feverish resolve to force myself to new heights as quickly as possible, and defeatist acknowledgment that anything I previously achieved was a fluke, and is unlikely to ever be repeated.
Today Ian and I did 4 arroyo tempo loops, going
8:48
8:49
8:50
9:10 = 35:27
Ian pulled ahead on the last one, but I simply wasn't feeling the juice to go with him. That's largely because he's in great shape. The workout felt like I was getting just the right stimulus. Ideally, I want to be able to take that 8:50 pace and stretch it out to six laps by the end of February, which will indicate I'm at the sort of fitness level that will let me throw down some intense track workouts, and stay strong at the end of races.
One thing I want to improve this year as compared to last is the last 25% of my races. A couple of times last year my final lap of the 5000 was actually slower than my average pace. When I ran the 1500, I took the lead with a lap to go, but found I didn't have nearly as much a kick in my as I had thought. Having super speed is great for a kick. However, if you're running your last 200 in 37, and your 200 capability when fresh is 25, it's pretty clear that you're not being limited by your raw speed. Instead, it's frequently the most aerobically fit runners who can run the last 200 at a high percentage of their max speed. (I won't pretend to know the reason for this, but there's some empirical evidence.) It's a combination of raw speed and aerobic fitness that gives a big kick. So long runs and steady states, with a bit of tempo and a little faster stuff so my legs won't forget, are the order of the moment.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009 (30 minutes)
Just a morning jog. I think I was planning on running in the afternoon as well, but then again, I was also planning on not soiling my pants during tutoring. So it goes.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009 (80 minutes)
Went to practice for the first time, but realized I'm not especially useful there, since I don't run with the distance guys as long as they're on the roads. Basically I'm just the one lone distance runner doing perpetual laps on the infield, starting before everyone else finishes drills and finishing after they've gone home. Which makes me wonder what exactly the benefit of being at practice is, anyway. Of course, once the team starts doing workouts, I can then do those workouts, which aren't my schedule, at a pace that will not give me anyone to run with. So that's an improvement. At least I'm keeping a positive outlook on things.
Monday, January 5, 2008 (45 AM, 30 PM)
I think I'll simply swear off running in the Free's altogether for a while, since my foot started bothering me a little even on the field today. I got in a longish morning jog, and was going for an hour in the evening before I stopped. I threw in some gym work afterwards, though, so the day was somewhat redeemed.
Also, I watched the last bit of the men's basketball game, since they appeared to be on the verge of winning. And they did. They play by some strange rules where you get free throws all the time, even if no one was taking a shot when the foul was made. Caltech took like eight free throws in the last minute of clock time, with no shots from the floor or field or court or whatever you're supposed to call it.
Weekly Summary: 12/29/08 - 1/4/08 (475 minutes)
I have to watch out. I did a pretty hefty amount of running this week, and it's taking a toll on my body. My left foot has felt a few twitches of pain, especially when I where the Free's. I've been lax about the balance pad, which I think helps strengthen my feet.
My achilles have been fine, but there was some residual pain in my left hip left over from my week on the roads over break. That seems to have mostly subsided now. My right knee began bothering me a little just today. It's fine when I run, but feels stiff around the back side of it. I haven't been foam rolling or doing core as much as I ought, and so all these things could conspire to cause me some grief if I'm not careful.
Next week I want basically more of the same, but with better habits. More of that annoying stuff that you have to do to keep healthy while raping your body for eight hours a week.
Sunday, January 4, 2008 (long)
Apartment - JPL (and, by necessity, back). I shouldn't wear the Free's for this, since my left foot started hurting a bit on some of the plantar fascia type areas on the return.
Saturday, January 3, 2008 (30 minutes)
I was so engrossed in whatever it was I was doing in the afternoon that I didn't run beyond the morning shakeout. I wonder what that was that was so interesting, anyway.
Friday, January 2, 2008 (70 minutes)
South field, dark. Too cold for bare feet. Never too cold for bare butts. I was too modest, though.
Thursday, January 1, 2008 (Brown Mountain AM, 20 PM)
Went up Brown Mountain with Goose. The most difficult part proved to be navigating our way through Pasadena on Jan. 1, but eventually we managed to get away from all those stupid happy people.
Jogged a bit in the afternoon.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008 (95 minutes)
I was thoroughly confused this morning when, running by the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center, I saw a stream of seven or eight consecutive buses pulling into the parking lot.
"Damn," I thought. "A lot of people really want to go swimming."
i've never been in Pasadena on New Year's Day since coming to Caltech (although I went to the parade one year when I was in high school, since my sister went to school at UCSB, so the family went out to CA for the holidays that year).
I did the apartment - arroyo - Rose Bowl loop Ian ripped off from the Oxy guys, with an extra ten minutes of prancing up and down Alpine before getting started (it was cold, and I was waiting for Goose, who I apparently just barely missed).
Regardless, tomorrow we're heading up Brown mountain to "start the year off on a high note." (A low note in terms of puns.) That's actually just a few hours from now, and it's now that very same new year. Let's get high.