I took two days off again. I'd like to establish a pattern of waking up early to run, since working in he afternoon precludes that as a regular time. The options are to run after work or early, since it's way too hot right now to run during the day. The bad news is I slept from about 8am to 3pm today, then ran at 8pm. Maybe I'll just stay up all day and try to get on a normal schedule starting tomorrow.
In the broader picture, I have to realize that although I magically popped back into semi-decent shape after my long layoff for most of 2010, even running irregularly, I won't magically pop back into 15:30 shape, even by running regularly. That will take lots of patience and work. I'm willing to do it, though. So the goal for next week is 400 minutes and another tempo, hopefully a bit smoother than the one this week.
Weekly Summary: September 20 - 26, 2010 (330 min, one tempo)
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Fri: off
Sat: 3xarroyo tempo with the team. 9:24, 8:56, 9:15.
I felt awful. I had a cramp on the last lap, but in general just felt cruddy and flat. And also fat.
Sun: 60 minutes
Felt much better than yesterday. To the south field, circles, and home.
Thursday, September 23, 2010 (85 min)
Around the Rose Bowl from the house. Ran into McGrail coming the opposite way, and this was around noon. There were a lot of stops for lights, pooping, etc.
I noticed that although my hip pretty much feels good while running, it hurts if I roll on it while sleeping. It can also be aggravated while running if I turn a sharp corner or go up a steep hill and shove hard off my left leg. There's no bruising, though, so whatever I did to it when I fell of the bike, it must be pretty deep down. Right now it isn't bothering me much, so I think I'll just ignore it for a while and see how that goes.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 (65 minutes)
Pretty much the same run as yesterday, but it was cool today. I felt good.
Monday, September 20, 2010 (70 min)
Apartment to Lacy, circles there, and back. Felt good today, and my hip didn't bother me.
Weekly Summary: September 13 - 19, 2010 (285 min)
I took three days off, all unplanned. Sunday my hip was bruised from rolling on the concrete, but Wednesday and Thursday I just flaked. I slept in late, and didn't want to run in the heat, so I planned to run after work, but after working I didn't want to go running.
I think this is a clear indicator I'm not yet as into it and serious about training as I used to be, but on the other hand it may be keeping me from ramping up too quickly.
9/15 - 9/19
Wed 9/15: off
Thu 9/16: off
Fri 9/17: 85 min around the Rose Bowl from the east side, up to the foot of the hill to the dam, and back on the west side
Sat 9/18: 80 min on the north field. Then in the afternoon I had a small bike accident. A car in front of me was turning right, then stopped suddenly when another bicyclist went in front of the car. When the car stopped I ran into the back of it and fell off the bike. I needed a new wheel, but otherwise the damage to me and the bike was minimal.
Sun 9/19: Off. My left hip hurt after the accident yesterday, so I took off.
Monday, Tuesday
Mon: 60 on the North Field. My legs were feeling stiff and tired.
Tu: 60 on the North Field. Legs felt much better, but it was hot out and I felt a bit strained and depleted.
Weekly Summary: September 6 - 12, 2010 (350 minutes)
A solid week of running. Nothing too adventurous, but the long run on Saturday was more than I bargained for.
I took two days off, which I want to reduce to one next week, and increase my volume to about 400 minutes, and start throwing in a few strides here and there. If I feel so inclined I may even do a tempo run.
Sat, Sun
Saturday: 110 minutes. I went from the apartment to the arroyo and started up the trail. I had no particular goal, but after a while I decided that JPL was a good place to go. I had run JPL not too long before. But last time I rode my bike down California and back. Also, I started at 6:30 and it got dark before I even got past the dam after turning around. I had a difficult time navigating the trail by the golf course. There was some big event at the Rose Bowl, so there was mostly good artificial lighting all the way back to the tempo loop.
All told it was a long run. I felt fine metabolically, but I could feel some strain in my knees and feet. There were no real ill-effects the next day, though, so I suppose I got away with it.
Sunday: 60 minutes. North field in the evening. Felt good. Last half with Dennis, and we picked up the pace a few times.
Monday, September 6, 2010 (60 minutes)
The gym was closed, which I interpreted as an opportunity to sneak on to the north field. Actually, it was closed but the trainers were still there so the teams could practice, and I made it 21 minutes into my run before someone yapped at me to get off.
I finished up on the south field, and it was fine. I started feeling a little tired about 50 minutes in, but I have no pains or injuries at the moment.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 (80 minutes)
Biked to the bottom of California and ran to the gate at JPL and back.
On the way back I first got stuck behind a horse on the narrow stretch of trail by the golf course. I should have turned around and run the other way for a few minutes or gone around the Rose Bowl on the other side, but instead I kind of slowly walked from a respectful distance back, waiting for it to get out of the way. The woman riding it was obviously not in very good control, though, and it took a while.
Next, running back by the Rose Bowl I saw John Mering coming the other way. I saw a head and a stride that looked like they belonged to him from a way off, but I didn't think it was likely that he'd be running around the Rose Bowl. It turns out that he lives in Pasadena now and is working as a geologist. He was out running with his roommate and stated that his goal was to run 3:45 this year, so good luck to him! I don't think I'll be much help as a training partner for a 3:45 guy, but I do feel good about getting in a decent semi-long run.
Thu, Fri, Sat September 2 - 4, 2010
Thursday: 60 minutes. I jogged to the gym and ran shod on the south field. I felt a little soreness in my knees, which is actually something I remember happening regularly when I ran in shoes on grass. I'm still looking for a good solution to the shoes/no shoes grass/dirt/roads problem. The North Field should open up again soon, so that might help.
Fri: Off
Sat: Alumni Meet. 27:07 for 3 Ian Tempo Loops (9:00, 9:00, 9:07)
I started feeling tired on the last one, but was okay to get through it. I've got a lot of work to do, but at least I'm in good enough shape to run workouts if I choose. Unfortunately this time put me more than a minute ahead of everyone on the team. Alums were me, Matt, Steve, Goose, Masha, which is a decent turnout but not enough to have an actual alumni team. About 7 miles total including warmup and cooldown.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 (60 minutes)
I jogged from Alpine to Lacy this morning and started on some barefoot laps there. After about ten minutes, I got a sharp localized pain on the bottom of the second toe of my left foot. I checked to see if it was a barb or a bee sting, but I didn't see anything, so I kept running. After a minute it was still hurting, so I checked again and this time found a little pink patch that looked like it had been bitten by an insect in an obscure nook on that toe.
I was already worried about being stung by bees on the south field, since I've been stung there running barefoot many times before. I guess this wasn't a bee sting, but it was still severe enough that I didn't want to run barefoot any more. I finished the run in shoes, running for just over an hour with a couple of short breaks for the restroom, changing shoes, and examining my foot.
I felt okay. I would prefer to run in the evening when it gets cool around 6:30 PM, but I just took a part time job at a tutoring center that keeps me working at that hour during the week.
My options are to get up early and run or to run when it's hot. I'm not sure which I dislike more - the heat or getting up early. Getting up early would also let me run with the cross country team, but I'm not sure whether I want to do that just now, either, since I don't want to run workouts until I've done a solid, 400-minute training week without feeling strained, and I want to stay off sidewalks (the route from Alpine to Lacy can be done with at least half grass-on-the-side-of-the-road running, which I'm running in lieu of biking to the destination, since it saves time and I'm just jogging then anyway, but I might consider switching to always biking to grass in the future.)