I like to think that I'm supportive and encouraging of all people to run/exercise, but... this Retired Racewalkers Group that seems to meet at 6 am on Saturdays at the Caltech track.... hmmmm, this could start to be a problem for me.
It's just that, after a lot of experimentation, I've determined that the ideal structure of my 5 day training week goes like this:
Sunday - Long
Monday - Off, shots
Tuesday - Mountain
Wednesday - Short, easy
Thursday - Medium, progression run or fartlek
Friday - Off, shots
Saturday - Tempo
Also, that if I don't wake up at 6 am to do my run, there's a high probability that running time will just get mowed over by work time or something else time. So technically, it would be better... if there wasn't a conflict for the Saturday morning slot.
I'm used to there being joggers or walkers, there usually are, even at odd hours... but this is actually more like a zoo. There are just SO many of them, and the instructor person has a whistle and a bull horn. Some of them are chatting incessantly, others are huffing and puffing furiously, and the rest are old and seem oblivious of things that are happening around them. Then, there's the problem of when the huffing ones need to pass the chatting ones, which is kind of like when two trucks have to pass each other on the I-5 North around where the tumbleweeds are.
It happened multiple times that I had to swing out to the THIRD lane to pass this situation in progress yesterday. Between that, and then weaving between lanes 1 and 2 to dodge the other traffic (most walk in lane 1, some walk in lane 2, then one lady was walking exactly on the line between lane 1 and 2..., also an awkward passing situation) I would be hesitant to call this an optimal setting for a tempo run.
I know I need to be more flexible about my training settings... the time of day, the temperature, the surroundings, etc... but dammit, I like my early mornings with their peace and quiet and cool temperatures!
Sunday 09/28: 1:04:05, Huntington up Los Robles. About 4 miles too short for a long run... but let's just pretend that this is because I'm taking good care of my L ankle and calves that have been complaining above averagely loudly the past few days, and not because I'm a lazy sack o' crap who slept in and then had to clean and move until I ran out of time and daylight for a proper long run. Let's just pretend....
Felt really worn out all day, legs felt dull and heavy in a strange way, which I think mostly stems from the climbing and squatting and stretching and lifting that comes with cleaning and moving. Got a pretty slow start as a result, but still managed 8:30's, so that means I must have been going a good pace towards the end. Breathing remained easy and tranquil throughout, which was encouraging. Also, the lawn-mowers of Pasadena must be on strike, because there was the most fantastic, soft and cushy grass I've ever seen growing on the Sierra Madre and Huntington medians! Maybe its because my shoes are starting to get pretty worn down, but this was the most comfortable, amazing grass I've ever run on--like running on pillows! (which, is actually I guess not really conducive to speed... but I wasn't super worried about that today)
I'm a little worried about my L ankle, a little peeved that I didn't do an actual long run, and a little freaked out that my legs are suddenly feeling not so good... but all in all, you do what you can. For a while today it was kind of looking like I wasn't going to be able to run at all, so this is definitely not the worst case scenario.
Monday 09/29: Off, shots. Work bad. No sleep. Legs feeling tired continues. Bleh. But I think this may be my second to last twice a week shots (?).
Tuesday 09/30: 1:23:36, Bailey to Connector... 29:55 to camp, 49:55 to sign... ohhhhh bollocks. I suppose a down week is in order... Didn't feel bad or anything, HR still probably majority around 180 - 185. Just legs felt tired from the start and wouldn't go, ended up super super slow. Also it was this weird, nasty lukewarm temperature from the start today, and 80+ by 8 am... and there are still people who don't believe in global warming--unbelievable. Third week in a row with slower times, I guess it may have been over ambitious to start up the once a week mountain runs again. On the upside, noticed that low HR mountain runs completely avoid all soreness.
Wednesday 10/01: 47:33, Monterrey Recovery Loop. Felt vaguely more tired than usual, but wasn't that slow, surprisingly. Saw Ian and the Oxy gang in the Arroyo--apparently they also have the easy Wednesdays in the Arroyo thing scheduled pretty regularly. To be honest, I can't remember too much about this run other than it was that nasty lukewarm, humid temperature out, and that I felt groggier and bit more tired in that accumulated fatigue sort of way than usual.
Thursday 10/02: 1:15:17, RB perimeter starting from California. I still don't know what on earth caused me to believe this morning that waking up after 4 hours of sleep to go run 8 miles would make me feel better than sleeping an extra 2 hours... but I did. Did I mention I don't really know why?
Woke up feeling headachey, barfy and with this strange tight, crampiness in my L hamstring. Nevertheless, I woke with a very strong belief that the answer to these problems was to go run, so run I did. I can't imagine that I was going any faster than a post-race recovery jog in the beginning, but I just kept plugging along, waiting to feel better... and I think I was waiting for a very long time. Finally after about 40 minutes, I started to feel a little bit better, but my hamstring didn't loosen up until closer to the 1 hour mark. Then, the last 20 minutes or so felt fine. Strange thing, this running....
Friday 10/03: Off, shots. Traveling. Ugh, what a horrible day this was. Things started to look better after I made my flight with about 5 whole minutes to spare... but not before I'd consumed about 5,000 calories of greasy chinese food, completely blew 2 deadlines, spent $52 on airport parking and almost had a nervous breakdown. Thank goodness I didn't have a run to fit in there too... given how awful me and my legs have been feeling lately. Between that and sleep deprivation, I very possibly would have keeled right over.
Saturday 10/04: 48:55, 2.X laps of Washington Park in Denver near Peter's new place. After sleeping fitfully, I woke up determined to feel better. As it turns out the park is (literally, as I later found) 200m from the house. This was actually the first Colorado run that didn't feel entirely like crap. Felt pretty light on my feet, and the breathing wasn't ragged either, especially given that I had selected a "moderate" instead of an "extremely easy" pace. I figured that's the least I could do, since for a non down week Saturday, I'd have some sort of a tempo on the plate.
Did 2 laps, but it didn't add up to 50 minutes, so I ran around a little bit more until I thought I'd covered about 5 miles and jogged home. Turns out that was unnecessary... again this may be another historical first that I was pleasantly surprised by a gmaps pedometer mapping. The trail perimeter of the park is actually 2.6 miles, vs. what I had pessimistically estimated at between 2 and 2.5 miles. Lap splits were 21:15 and 20:50, which puts me just above 8 minute miles! I think that's the fastest I've run at altitude so far. I wonder if there's a long term adjustment factor, even if the exposure is 2-3 day intervals separated by 2-4 weeks.
Training this week: 5:19:26 (a decent down week)
Goals: Not to die, Part the First (met, but just barely)
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Week of 09/21/2008 - 09/27/2008 (Base Week 28)
I'm actually too tired, too sleep deprived and too stressed to rant about anything this week.
Sunday 09/21: 1:30:06, California to yellow gate at JPL and back around the other side of the RB. Pretty easy but picked up the pace a little bit towards the end. Woke up early to go before moving, so it was nice and cool. Feeling a little bit stronger these days. Moved furniture and ate delicious fish tacos with Kangway and Mark later.
Monday 09/22: Off, shots. This was a really crummy day. I'm really, really, really tired and sleep deprived and overworked.
Tuesday 09/23: 1:21:47, Bailey to Connector, real easy. Took the HR monitor again, I dunno how I feel about this. It's probably good for me, but low HR training can be so very frustrating... Basically kept a lower HR profile this time, staying below 180 until the camp, then 180-185 past there, 193 on the steepest parts. Actually felt easy and relaxed most of the way, but the time sucked, 29:16 to camp, 48:35 to the sign. I mean, I guess its good that I can do this challenging run and still be under threshold, but lack of improvement on the run-time makes me nervous. After all, first place doesn't go to the contestant with the lowest heart rate... it goes to the person who runs fastest.
Wednesday 09/24: 46:18, Monterrey Recovery Loop, saw Scott run by as I was parking. For some reason, legs seemed to want to pick up the pace, so ran a little bit faster than usual. Felt good, not too tired from yesterday.
Thursday 09/25: 56:30, RB perimeter to yellow gate at a moderate pace. Didn't sleep well and felt really inordinately horrible in the morning, but the run was actually pretty good. Started easy then picked up the pace about every 10-20 minute increments, but it didn't really feel like a progression run, maybe the variance in speeds wasn't large enough... though this is my fastest time for this loop by a substantial margin. Legs are feeling really good these days, the rest of me, a bit rickety. I think I'll survive though, as long as I don't contract Kangway's plague.
Friday 09/26: Off, shots. Oh, the end is in sight! I think I'm a few weeks away from graduating to the once per week shot schedule, imagine that. Gotta be careful though, in terms of rocking the boat, it's been a good 6+ months on the 5 day week, not sure how the foot will handle a whole extra training day.
Saturday 09/27: 1:13:51, a tempo run that just wasn't mean to be spectacular... Really having trouble sleeping lately, felt pretty crummy in the morning, then I got to the gym and the North Field was closed (grrr!), the gym--ergo the bathroom was also closed (GRRR!!), AND there were about 15 racewalkers milling about the track (GGRRRRR!!!)^2. As a result, I was feeling not entirely chipper as I started my workout, and decidedly less so after discovering that my L lower leg was pretty tweaky today, foot was a little sore and my calf was tightening up quite a bit just on the warm up.
Nevertheless, after 12 laps of the South Field as a warm up plus a jog to the park bathroom, felt mostly okay to go. 6:53, 7:01, 6:59 for 20:53, pretty disappointed, mainly because I'd set out with the goal of doing 4 miles this time. Maybe this week of poor life/work/eating habits is catching up to me. Or, maybe I shouldn't expect improvement so soon, since the 3 mile tempo only became completely under control and good feeling last week. Bleh, this wasn't a catastrophically horrible workout, but I still felt pretty bummed out for some reason...
Training this week: 5:48:32
Goals: To avoid being completely crushed by the weight of overdue work...
Sunday 09/21: 1:30:06, California to yellow gate at JPL and back around the other side of the RB. Pretty easy but picked up the pace a little bit towards the end. Woke up early to go before moving, so it was nice and cool. Feeling a little bit stronger these days. Moved furniture and ate delicious fish tacos with Kangway and Mark later.
Monday 09/22: Off, shots. This was a really crummy day. I'm really, really, really tired and sleep deprived and overworked.
Tuesday 09/23: 1:21:47, Bailey to Connector, real easy. Took the HR monitor again, I dunno how I feel about this. It's probably good for me, but low HR training can be so very frustrating... Basically kept a lower HR profile this time, staying below 180 until the camp, then 180-185 past there, 193 on the steepest parts. Actually felt easy and relaxed most of the way, but the time sucked, 29:16 to camp, 48:35 to the sign. I mean, I guess its good that I can do this challenging run and still be under threshold, but lack of improvement on the run-time makes me nervous. After all, first place doesn't go to the contestant with the lowest heart rate... it goes to the person who runs fastest.
Wednesday 09/24: 46:18, Monterrey Recovery Loop, saw Scott run by as I was parking. For some reason, legs seemed to want to pick up the pace, so ran a little bit faster than usual. Felt good, not too tired from yesterday.
Thursday 09/25: 56:30, RB perimeter to yellow gate at a moderate pace. Didn't sleep well and felt really inordinately horrible in the morning, but the run was actually pretty good. Started easy then picked up the pace about every 10-20 minute increments, but it didn't really feel like a progression run, maybe the variance in speeds wasn't large enough... though this is my fastest time for this loop by a substantial margin. Legs are feeling really good these days, the rest of me, a bit rickety. I think I'll survive though, as long as I don't contract Kangway's plague.
Friday 09/26: Off, shots. Oh, the end is in sight! I think I'm a few weeks away from graduating to the once per week shot schedule, imagine that. Gotta be careful though, in terms of rocking the boat, it's been a good 6+ months on the 5 day week, not sure how the foot will handle a whole extra training day.
Saturday 09/27: 1:13:51, a tempo run that just wasn't mean to be spectacular... Really having trouble sleeping lately, felt pretty crummy in the morning, then I got to the gym and the North Field was closed (grrr!), the gym--ergo the bathroom was also closed (GRRR!!), AND there were about 15 racewalkers milling about the track (GGRRRRR!!!)^2. As a result, I was feeling not entirely chipper as I started my workout, and decidedly less so after discovering that my L lower leg was pretty tweaky today, foot was a little sore and my calf was tightening up quite a bit just on the warm up.
Nevertheless, after 12 laps of the South Field as a warm up plus a jog to the park bathroom, felt mostly okay to go. 6:53, 7:01, 6:59 for 20:53, pretty disappointed, mainly because I'd set out with the goal of doing 4 miles this time. Maybe this week of poor life/work/eating habits is catching up to me. Or, maybe I shouldn't expect improvement so soon, since the 3 mile tempo only became completely under control and good feeling last week. Bleh, this wasn't a catastrophically horrible workout, but I still felt pretty bummed out for some reason...
Training this week: 5:48:32
Goals: To avoid being completely crushed by the weight of overdue work...
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Week of 09/14/2008 - 09/20/2008 (Base Week 27)
Endurance, the final frontier.
In the very beginning, there's tangible Ugly... everything is slow and short and feels like death. I know how to fix this part. You suck it up and you put in your days and your miles and eventually, you regain the ability to run for more than 30 consecutive minutes, or at a pace faster than glacial.
But then, after the beginning... there's this other place you go to, let's call it "Purgatory"... because that's what it feels like to me. Purgatory is deceptive. In some ways you completely resemble a functional athlete. I'm at the point now where I can run for 2 hours if need be, I can even run fast for approximately 2 miles... it's not like one can say "oh woe is me that I am completely out of shape". But I realized that the state of running purgatory is the state of lacking CUMULATIVE endurance.
I can't string together multiple days of good training (Exhibit A, after running 3 solid > 1 hour runs in Colorado, my body was completely trashed for days after I got back) ... and I also can't combine speed AND duration (Exhibit B, all tempo runs divert to Game Over after about 2 miles or 15 minutes, whatever comes first) There's something entirely lacking where consistency is concerned... Right now its not really about that tempo pace isn't what I want it to be... what's more immediately concerning is that tempo pace isn't SUSTAINABLE for very long. Maybe it doesn't always FEEL fantastic, but the sheer ability to maintain a high exertion level for 6-12 miles is something I realize I've always and completely taken for granted... and now it has vanished! Since 5K is the shortest race I run with any frequency, this poses a substantial challenge...
Here's the rub about Purgatory... its cruel because it's the illusion of being in shape. One day you feel fantastic, but then it takes 3 days to recover from it. A few days go really well... but then it crashes on down. It feels so close... so close you can feel it... but then, you realize it's not. There's something horribly wrong. But why, one might ask, is it too little training? Is it overtraining? Is it stress, is it medical mystery again? Why, why, why.... I've put in my time, it's been over 6 months and I shouldn't feel so terrible. What am I doing wrong to cause this?
Sunday 09/14: 1:40:45, Monterrey to RB perimeter and back on the other side. A good, solid long run. I felt really horrible in the morning. Stomach was gurgling and upset, and I was so, so, tired that I woke up at 6 am, then somehow walked around and then fell back into bed until I woke up in horror at 8 am. Thankfully it was still cool and foggy at this hour, but I just realized how exhausted I am. Nevertheless, I had business to take care of, including stamping out the memory of Abysmal Run yesterday. It took me a while to snap out of it, but after about 20 minutes I did regroup and focus, ran pretty easy to the RB, then picked it up a little bit for the perimeter, then ran a strong moderate pace the last 30 minutes back including fairly aggressively the last 5 minutes. I was pleased that fatigue wasn't a factor today and that I felt very much in control of all of my paces.
Monday 09/15: Off, shots. Legs actually feeling a little heavy today, glad its a rest day. Starting to feel pretty panicked about all the stuff that has to get done in the next few weeks...
Tuesday 09/16: 1:20:04, Bailey to Connector, 29:02 to camp, 48:15 to sign. Better splits this week, thanks to el HR monitor. Was interesting to have it... started off pretty easy 165-175, did most of the middle part up until the camp in 180-ish, then more like 185 past the camp, then 190-195 the last 3-5 minutes up heartbreak hill to the sign. Definitely under threshold this time until the very end. Felt alright, but total times are still moderately crappy. I guess I should give myself a break... it was warm and humid and on tired legs (and... really, the rest of me). Woke up with nightmares at around 3 am, tossed and turned still until 6 am, then decided I might as well get an early start driving to the trailhead in the dark... but the 210 East was blocked off at Michillinda, so I sat in traffic for 20 minutes while the sun came up and the temperature rose. So much for that plan.
Wednesday 09/17: 46:53, Monterrey recovery loop. Legs a little tired from yesterday, but felt surprisingly good. Went pretty easy, but probably managed a little faster than some recovery jogs... a good shake out for the legs. A nice morning, saw Ian and the Oxy women's team in the Arroyo!
Another side note that I forgot to mention yesterday, sprained L ankle fairly catastrophically coming down the Bailey trail. Stopped simply because I felt it roll so acutely, but then when I shook it out, I was boggled to discover... no pain. As I had to get back down either way, I decided at that time not to ponder too extensively whether I'd severed a nerve and the ankle would still turn purple and swell up like a basketball by the next morning... OR whether I finally succeeded in no longer having ankle ligaments left intact to sprain, thus making me effectively impervious to sprained ankles. Based on the fact that I only had mild soreness around the surgery site this morning, I'm going to vote for the latter. Woo hoo!
Thursday 09/18: 1:00:13, Monterrey to RB and back. Wanted to do a medley of paces, kind of like last week's surges, but it just felt so strained and forced so I settled back into an easy pace. Legs then suddenly felt drastically better after the turnaround point, so I cranked down the pace steadily through the last 30 minutes or so to turn it into a fairly solid progression run. Felt pretty horrible this morning after inadequate sleep and continuing stress, but felt a lot better after the run. Unfortunately, I slept in and got a late start, which meant that I ran into some grass mowers by the fields near the Arroyo and my nose has been dripping non-stop since then. Arrrghhhh... basically, the general rule is that only bad things happen when I don't get up at the crack of dawn.
Friday 09/19: Off, shots. A crappy day... stressed, sleep deprived, and generally feeling rather grim. Ate three cream puffs.
Saturday 09/20: 1:11:43, 9 laps warm up around the north field, 3 mile tempo at the track, 9 laps cool down around the north field. Slept in rather catastrophically... I think it was past 9 am when I got to the gym, and around 80 degrees. Was feeling pretty warm already when I started my warm up. Nevertheless, I powered through the rest of the workout, and it wasn't horrible. 3 miles in 6:53, 7:01, 6:55 for 20:49 total.
These actually felt like good, non-strained threshold miles. Had a little bit of trouble pacing the first mile, but then ran 1:45 laps fairly consistently. Also finally managed to get the third mile under control without the significant slow down factor. Maybe I can even do FOUR miles the next tempo session... Gotta get on that if I ever want to race 10Ks ever again.
Training this week: 5:59:38
Goals: Less stress... might help with the nightmares.
In the very beginning, there's tangible Ugly... everything is slow and short and feels like death. I know how to fix this part. You suck it up and you put in your days and your miles and eventually, you regain the ability to run for more than 30 consecutive minutes, or at a pace faster than glacial.
But then, after the beginning... there's this other place you go to, let's call it "Purgatory"... because that's what it feels like to me. Purgatory is deceptive. In some ways you completely resemble a functional athlete. I'm at the point now where I can run for 2 hours if need be, I can even run fast for approximately 2 miles... it's not like one can say "oh woe is me that I am completely out of shape". But I realized that the state of running purgatory is the state of lacking CUMULATIVE endurance.
I can't string together multiple days of good training (Exhibit A, after running 3 solid > 1 hour runs in Colorado, my body was completely trashed for days after I got back) ... and I also can't combine speed AND duration (Exhibit B, all tempo runs divert to Game Over after about 2 miles or 15 minutes, whatever comes first) There's something entirely lacking where consistency is concerned... Right now its not really about that tempo pace isn't what I want it to be... what's more immediately concerning is that tempo pace isn't SUSTAINABLE for very long. Maybe it doesn't always FEEL fantastic, but the sheer ability to maintain a high exertion level for 6-12 miles is something I realize I've always and completely taken for granted... and now it has vanished! Since 5K is the shortest race I run with any frequency, this poses a substantial challenge...
Here's the rub about Purgatory... its cruel because it's the illusion of being in shape. One day you feel fantastic, but then it takes 3 days to recover from it. A few days go really well... but then it crashes on down. It feels so close... so close you can feel it... but then, you realize it's not. There's something horribly wrong. But why, one might ask, is it too little training? Is it overtraining? Is it stress, is it medical mystery again? Why, why, why.... I've put in my time, it's been over 6 months and I shouldn't feel so terrible. What am I doing wrong to cause this?
Sunday 09/14: 1:40:45, Monterrey to RB perimeter and back on the other side. A good, solid long run. I felt really horrible in the morning. Stomach was gurgling and upset, and I was so, so, tired that I woke up at 6 am, then somehow walked around and then fell back into bed until I woke up in horror at 8 am. Thankfully it was still cool and foggy at this hour, but I just realized how exhausted I am. Nevertheless, I had business to take care of, including stamping out the memory of Abysmal Run yesterday. It took me a while to snap out of it, but after about 20 minutes I did regroup and focus, ran pretty easy to the RB, then picked it up a little bit for the perimeter, then ran a strong moderate pace the last 30 minutes back including fairly aggressively the last 5 minutes. I was pleased that fatigue wasn't a factor today and that I felt very much in control of all of my paces.
Monday 09/15: Off, shots. Legs actually feeling a little heavy today, glad its a rest day. Starting to feel pretty panicked about all the stuff that has to get done in the next few weeks...
Tuesday 09/16: 1:20:04, Bailey to Connector, 29:02 to camp, 48:15 to sign. Better splits this week, thanks to el HR monitor. Was interesting to have it... started off pretty easy 165-175, did most of the middle part up until the camp in 180-ish, then more like 185 past the camp, then 190-195 the last 3-5 minutes up heartbreak hill to the sign. Definitely under threshold this time until the very end. Felt alright, but total times are still moderately crappy. I guess I should give myself a break... it was warm and humid and on tired legs (and... really, the rest of me). Woke up with nightmares at around 3 am, tossed and turned still until 6 am, then decided I might as well get an early start driving to the trailhead in the dark... but the 210 East was blocked off at Michillinda, so I sat in traffic for 20 minutes while the sun came up and the temperature rose. So much for that plan.
Wednesday 09/17: 46:53, Monterrey recovery loop. Legs a little tired from yesterday, but felt surprisingly good. Went pretty easy, but probably managed a little faster than some recovery jogs... a good shake out for the legs. A nice morning, saw Ian and the Oxy women's team in the Arroyo!
Another side note that I forgot to mention yesterday, sprained L ankle fairly catastrophically coming down the Bailey trail. Stopped simply because I felt it roll so acutely, but then when I shook it out, I was boggled to discover... no pain. As I had to get back down either way, I decided at that time not to ponder too extensively whether I'd severed a nerve and the ankle would still turn purple and swell up like a basketball by the next morning... OR whether I finally succeeded in no longer having ankle ligaments left intact to sprain, thus making me effectively impervious to sprained ankles. Based on the fact that I only had mild soreness around the surgery site this morning, I'm going to vote for the latter. Woo hoo!
Thursday 09/18: 1:00:13, Monterrey to RB and back. Wanted to do a medley of paces, kind of like last week's surges, but it just felt so strained and forced so I settled back into an easy pace. Legs then suddenly felt drastically better after the turnaround point, so I cranked down the pace steadily through the last 30 minutes or so to turn it into a fairly solid progression run. Felt pretty horrible this morning after inadequate sleep and continuing stress, but felt a lot better after the run. Unfortunately, I slept in and got a late start, which meant that I ran into some grass mowers by the fields near the Arroyo and my nose has been dripping non-stop since then. Arrrghhhh... basically, the general rule is that only bad things happen when I don't get up at the crack of dawn.
Friday 09/19: Off, shots. A crappy day... stressed, sleep deprived, and generally feeling rather grim. Ate three cream puffs.
Saturday 09/20: 1:11:43, 9 laps warm up around the north field, 3 mile tempo at the track, 9 laps cool down around the north field. Slept in rather catastrophically... I think it was past 9 am when I got to the gym, and around 80 degrees. Was feeling pretty warm already when I started my warm up. Nevertheless, I powered through the rest of the workout, and it wasn't horrible. 3 miles in 6:53, 7:01, 6:55 for 20:49 total.
These actually felt like good, non-strained threshold miles. Had a little bit of trouble pacing the first mile, but then ran 1:45 laps fairly consistently. Also finally managed to get the third mile under control without the significant slow down factor. Maybe I can even do FOUR miles the next tempo session... Gotta get on that if I ever want to race 10Ks ever again.
Training this week: 5:59:38
Goals: Less stress... might help with the nightmares.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Week of 09/07/2008 - 09/13/2008 (Base Week 26)
Restructuring: More focus, more discipline, more sleep.
Okay, so Wednesday - Sunday was crappy... but I can salvage this. The bottom line is that I'm wearing a lot of different hats these days: embattled non profit employee, daughter, long distance girlfriend, severely allergic and injury prone person, manager, friend, property owner (which, as it turns out is about as fun as when you spend your last $100 on a hotel on Boardwalk that no one lands on and then you pick that Chance? card that charges you repairs on all of your properties) ... but anyways, the point is that there's not a lot of room for error. To train seriously and also balance everything else requires a lot of discipline... and when that starts to slip, the running starts to go bad too.
Discipline isn't just about doing your workouts and managing your time... for me it's also about managing stress, controlling my emotions and rolling with the punches. It's about getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and making smart decisions about running. Honestly, I haven't been doing ANY of that in the past 5 days, and I can tell that it's costing me. First and foremost, I want to enjoy my runs, I want to look forwards to getting out the door in the morning, instead of being stressed and worried and exhausted by it. I'm not off to a super good start this week... but I can get back on the happy life ball.
Sunday 09/07: 1:33:05, Stables to RB. You know, not really the way I wanted to start off my "let's be disciplined and make good decisions" reformation week... but gotta keep at it. Woke up SUPER late, didn't get out there until 8, and it was sunny and hot and all the weird people were already out... like three fat middle aged ladies wearing skintight pink "McCain Palin" wifebeaters. So, this is the demographic that they appeal to.... interesting... and... slightly terrifying.
Anyways, felt completely beat from yesterday complete with cramped shoulders from moving, and that awful dull achey feeling all through my legs that happens after you go lactic for too long. Felt like a Colorado run... it was so slow and painful. In hindsight I should have done a short run today, and moved the long run to Tuesday, but who says making good decisions was ever easy!
Monday 09/08: Off, shots. Ughh... calamity of the world! My pomegranite vinegar salad dressing leaked all over my trunk, which was then vaporized by the car sitting out in the school parking lot all day, and completely infused into ever inch of my car by the time I had to go home... it totally burned my eyes and nose. Still felt horrible and sneezy/drooly/congested by the time I went to sleep. Glaghalgahglahgalhga...
Tuesday 09/09: 49:27, Monterrey Recovery Loop, super super easy in the nice AM clouds. I suppose if one must be technical, this was more like 20 minutes of sleepwalking and 30 minutes of jogging. Felt pretty much like death today from too much consecutive sleep deprivation, 3 straight days of moving and two ill advised weekend runs. Blech. I rememebered from my Bain days that sometimes slow running will clear out some of the deathly feeling... and I felt moderately well enough to face the day by the time I finished. But see, I made a good training decision today! Now off to claim my first night of good sleep in about a week.
Wednesday 09/10: 58:46, RB to yellow gate at JPL. A nice run. Finally got something vaguely resembling a good night's sleep, and the mental haze is starting to lift! Felt a little bit crampy and tired still in the beginning, but started feeling really good after the devil's gate portion. L knee a bit tweaked out, was worried but it worked itself out. Ran a good solid, but not difficult pace throughout.
Thursday 09/11: 59:37, Monterrey to RB, working in 4 x 4-5 minute intervals of higher intensity running. It wasn't particularly planned this way, but I think it ended up being somewhat akin to 5 on, 5 off. The interval parts were definitely run closer to race pace than tempo pace, but I had full recovery, and they felt good, controlled. The first one felt like the toughest, just because it was kind of like readjusting one's expectations for how running should feel. I think I've gotten a little too used to low HR training... the change of pace was good for me, without it being tiring. Felt good about this run.
Friday 09/12: Off, shots. Somehow ended up staying up pretty late organizing stuff at the new place. Also ate two cookies... stress and moving are really not conducive to healthy eating habits.
Saturday 09/13: 1:09:29, California plus RB perimeter... a generous description for today's run would be "abysmal". Was supposed to be easy to RB, then RB perimeter loop at maybe a pace a little bit under tempo and then easy back the rest of the way. For some reason felt pretty dull and out of it from the beginning, and it certainly didn't help my mood to get passed by a hoard of Run with Us people. The uptempo part was the worst... somehow I took the first kind of squishy woodchips slightly uphill part too hard and felt pretty horrible by the river crossing. The total was about 36 minutes, which is slower than it took me to run this loop at a much, much lower exertion level a month or two back. How absolutely horrifying.
Training this week: 5:19:24, a pretty tame week I'd say...
Goals: to... survive...
Okay, so Wednesday - Sunday was crappy... but I can salvage this. The bottom line is that I'm wearing a lot of different hats these days: embattled non profit employee, daughter, long distance girlfriend, severely allergic and injury prone person, manager, friend, property owner (which, as it turns out is about as fun as when you spend your last $100 on a hotel on Boardwalk that no one lands on and then you pick that Chance? card that charges you repairs on all of your properties) ... but anyways, the point is that there's not a lot of room for error. To train seriously and also balance everything else requires a lot of discipline... and when that starts to slip, the running starts to go bad too.
Discipline isn't just about doing your workouts and managing your time... for me it's also about managing stress, controlling my emotions and rolling with the punches. It's about getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and making smart decisions about running. Honestly, I haven't been doing ANY of that in the past 5 days, and I can tell that it's costing me. First and foremost, I want to enjoy my runs, I want to look forwards to getting out the door in the morning, instead of being stressed and worried and exhausted by it. I'm not off to a super good start this week... but I can get back on the happy life ball.
Sunday 09/07: 1:33:05, Stables to RB. You know, not really the way I wanted to start off my "let's be disciplined and make good decisions" reformation week... but gotta keep at it. Woke up SUPER late, didn't get out there until 8, and it was sunny and hot and all the weird people were already out... like three fat middle aged ladies wearing skintight pink "McCain Palin" wifebeaters. So, this is the demographic that they appeal to.... interesting... and... slightly terrifying.
Anyways, felt completely beat from yesterday complete with cramped shoulders from moving, and that awful dull achey feeling all through my legs that happens after you go lactic for too long. Felt like a Colorado run... it was so slow and painful. In hindsight I should have done a short run today, and moved the long run to Tuesday, but who says making good decisions was ever easy!
Monday 09/08: Off, shots. Ughh... calamity of the world! My pomegranite vinegar salad dressing leaked all over my trunk, which was then vaporized by the car sitting out in the school parking lot all day, and completely infused into ever inch of my car by the time I had to go home... it totally burned my eyes and nose. Still felt horrible and sneezy/drooly/congested by the time I went to sleep. Glaghalgahglahgalhga...
Tuesday 09/09: 49:27, Monterrey Recovery Loop, super super easy in the nice AM clouds. I suppose if one must be technical, this was more like 20 minutes of sleepwalking and 30 minutes of jogging. Felt pretty much like death today from too much consecutive sleep deprivation, 3 straight days of moving and two ill advised weekend runs. Blech. I rememebered from my Bain days that sometimes slow running will clear out some of the deathly feeling... and I felt moderately well enough to face the day by the time I finished. But see, I made a good training decision today! Now off to claim my first night of good sleep in about a week.
Wednesday 09/10: 58:46, RB to yellow gate at JPL. A nice run. Finally got something vaguely resembling a good night's sleep, and the mental haze is starting to lift! Felt a little bit crampy and tired still in the beginning, but started feeling really good after the devil's gate portion. L knee a bit tweaked out, was worried but it worked itself out. Ran a good solid, but not difficult pace throughout.
Thursday 09/11: 59:37, Monterrey to RB, working in 4 x 4-5 minute intervals of higher intensity running. It wasn't particularly planned this way, but I think it ended up being somewhat akin to 5 on, 5 off. The interval parts were definitely run closer to race pace than tempo pace, but I had full recovery, and they felt good, controlled. The first one felt like the toughest, just because it was kind of like readjusting one's expectations for how running should feel. I think I've gotten a little too used to low HR training... the change of pace was good for me, without it being tiring. Felt good about this run.
Friday 09/12: Off, shots. Somehow ended up staying up pretty late organizing stuff at the new place. Also ate two cookies... stress and moving are really not conducive to healthy eating habits.
Saturday 09/13: 1:09:29, California plus RB perimeter... a generous description for today's run would be "abysmal". Was supposed to be easy to RB, then RB perimeter loop at maybe a pace a little bit under tempo and then easy back the rest of the way. For some reason felt pretty dull and out of it from the beginning, and it certainly didn't help my mood to get passed by a hoard of Run with Us people. The uptempo part was the worst... somehow I took the first kind of squishy woodchips slightly uphill part too hard and felt pretty horrible by the river crossing. The total was about 36 minutes, which is slower than it took me to run this loop at a much, much lower exertion level a month or two back. How absolutely horrifying.
Training this week: 5:19:24, a pretty tame week I'd say...
Goals: to... survive...
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Week of 08/31/2008 - 09/06/2008 (Base Week 25)
26 year old asian female seeking short and effective anger management course.
Hate and chocolate... are apparently NOT good fuels for running.
*Sigh* ... two runs this week have been ruined and this has to stop. I suppose my dislike isn't actually causing a certain deserving individual any pain, and it's not bringing back my opportunity to see our mutual friends that he so kindly and considerately took away... so, I suppose I should let it go. I guess I should move this weekend anyways. Gah, I need to learn to meditate.
Sunday 08/31: 1:10:35, Last Griggs Road run... *sigh* I'm making my rounds of the last Highlands Ranch area runs... which I'm finding to be sadder than I expected. The area we're going to is pretty nifty, but the non pavement running seems... limited. Felt pretty awful in the morning, something bad is going on with my sinuses, or maybe I'm catching the plague from Peter. That plus the memory of exactly how much gasping for air I had to do yesterday made me rather unenthused about getting out the door... but I did and I actually made it pretty far today too, despite the decision to move my long run over to tomorrow. Ate some delicious banana bread pudding and packed up Peter's kitchen.
Monday 09/01: 1:47:44, Last Dried Up Creek Run. I think maybe day 3 is when you finally begin to acclimate to the altitude a little bit, because today was the first day that a pace existed that did not feel like drowning. That felt really nice. Went all the way to the railroad tracks and came back. Was feeling a bit tired by the end, but overall a good long run. I think it also helped that it was pretty flat. We got done with most of the packing, ate some INCREDIBLY delicious Indian food near Peter's new home, and watched some weird British comedy shows.
Tuesday 09/02: Off, shots, traveling. Felt sad to leave, it was a really good, quiet weekend. Packing's not so exciting, but it was really nice to spend that time with Peter, and overall I felt like I had 3 quality runs. I knew I wasn't going to get anything uptempo in there, so my goal was just to log some solid base miles... er, minutes... which I think I did.
In other news, signed the lease on the new place with Kangway and Mark!
Wednesday 09/03: 49:18, Monterrey Recovery Loop. This is where it all went wrong... I woke up with some pretty major gastrointestinal distress (likely due to an excess of chocolate, junk food and cheesecake factory), and decided it was not a good idea to head out the door in this state. Drifted in and out of sleep in between bathroom runs until about 8 am... when I felt exhausted as hell and pretty horrible, but somewhat well enough to jog... so I did. And it was slow and barfy and at the end this horrible lady on a horse wouldn't stop to let me go around so I had to stand there just totally aghast waiting for her to slooooowly amble past my turnoff so I could start running again! Totally outrageous. To my credit though, I didn't shout any of the 4 and/or 5 letter words that were formulating themselves in my mind once I'd gotten over being so very taken aback.
Thursday 09/04: 55:02, a botched attempt at a tempo run. In the end I just stopped after 2 sub-standard Arroyo Tempo Loops and ran around for a little bit. For the first time on a tempo... my legs just felt like lead, and I was totally pre-occupied and my heart just wasn't in it. I've been stewing and seething since yesterday night regarding a certain selfish, inconsiderate individual who will remain nameless who unwittingly or otherwise has destroyed a weekend that I was looking forwards to... and usually anger makes me run faster and more aggressively, but today it just kinda imploded in on itself, probably just due to physical exhaustion from being sleep deprived, stressed and possibly getting sick. Went home and just stared into space for a while I was so upset.
Friday 09/05: Off, shots. I don't remember a whole lot about this day... but I think I felt better. And, less angry. Turning over a new leaf.
Saturday 09/06: 1:22:05, Bailey to Connector. I think this was like my worst Bailey run, probably... ever. And that is because I should know better. Stupid, stupid, stupid idiot. 27:54 to the camp, and 48:34 to the sign. For some reason, I totally lost control of this run and had completely gone anaerobic halfway to the camp. Getting from the camp to the top was like, worse than crawling, it was horrible... I can hardly believe I even made it.
Gah. I'm more pissed at myself for losing control than for it being a crappy run... I consider this a very technical course. It can be absolutely glorious, OR it can also easily degenerate to lactic slogging if you can't stay close to threshold. I must have run this 10, 20 times before without having a blow up like this one. I seriously considered turning back at the camp because I was in so much pain by then, but it seemed like it had to be some sort of redemption to finish... In hindsight that's horrible logic, but I think I was probably trying to burn away some residual self loathing after abandoning my tempo run on Thursday.
Training this week: 6:04:44 ... wow, my first > 6 hours in years and years...
Goals: Anger management, Weight management.
Hate and chocolate... are apparently NOT good fuels for running.
*Sigh* ... two runs this week have been ruined and this has to stop. I suppose my dislike isn't actually causing a certain deserving individual any pain, and it's not bringing back my opportunity to see our mutual friends that he so kindly and considerately took away... so, I suppose I should let it go. I guess I should move this weekend anyways. Gah, I need to learn to meditate.
Sunday 08/31: 1:10:35, Last Griggs Road run... *sigh* I'm making my rounds of the last Highlands Ranch area runs... which I'm finding to be sadder than I expected. The area we're going to is pretty nifty, but the non pavement running seems... limited. Felt pretty awful in the morning, something bad is going on with my sinuses, or maybe I'm catching the plague from Peter. That plus the memory of exactly how much gasping for air I had to do yesterday made me rather unenthused about getting out the door... but I did and I actually made it pretty far today too, despite the decision to move my long run over to tomorrow. Ate some delicious banana bread pudding and packed up Peter's kitchen.
Monday 09/01: 1:47:44, Last Dried Up Creek Run. I think maybe day 3 is when you finally begin to acclimate to the altitude a little bit, because today was the first day that a pace existed that did not feel like drowning. That felt really nice. Went all the way to the railroad tracks and came back. Was feeling a bit tired by the end, but overall a good long run. I think it also helped that it was pretty flat. We got done with most of the packing, ate some INCREDIBLY delicious Indian food near Peter's new home, and watched some weird British comedy shows.
Tuesday 09/02: Off, shots, traveling. Felt sad to leave, it was a really good, quiet weekend. Packing's not so exciting, but it was really nice to spend that time with Peter, and overall I felt like I had 3 quality runs. I knew I wasn't going to get anything uptempo in there, so my goal was just to log some solid base miles... er, minutes... which I think I did.
In other news, signed the lease on the new place with Kangway and Mark!
Wednesday 09/03: 49:18, Monterrey Recovery Loop. This is where it all went wrong... I woke up with some pretty major gastrointestinal distress (likely due to an excess of chocolate, junk food and cheesecake factory), and decided it was not a good idea to head out the door in this state. Drifted in and out of sleep in between bathroom runs until about 8 am... when I felt exhausted as hell and pretty horrible, but somewhat well enough to jog... so I did. And it was slow and barfy and at the end this horrible lady on a horse wouldn't stop to let me go around so I had to stand there just totally aghast waiting for her to slooooowly amble past my turnoff so I could start running again! Totally outrageous. To my credit though, I didn't shout any of the 4 and/or 5 letter words that were formulating themselves in my mind once I'd gotten over being so very taken aback.
Thursday 09/04: 55:02, a botched attempt at a tempo run. In the end I just stopped after 2 sub-standard Arroyo Tempo Loops and ran around for a little bit. For the first time on a tempo... my legs just felt like lead, and I was totally pre-occupied and my heart just wasn't in it. I've been stewing and seething since yesterday night regarding a certain selfish, inconsiderate individual who will remain nameless who unwittingly or otherwise has destroyed a weekend that I was looking forwards to... and usually anger makes me run faster and more aggressively, but today it just kinda imploded in on itself, probably just due to physical exhaustion from being sleep deprived, stressed and possibly getting sick. Went home and just stared into space for a while I was so upset.
Friday 09/05: Off, shots. I don't remember a whole lot about this day... but I think I felt better. And, less angry. Turning over a new leaf.
Saturday 09/06: 1:22:05, Bailey to Connector. I think this was like my worst Bailey run, probably... ever. And that is because I should know better. Stupid, stupid, stupid idiot. 27:54 to the camp, and 48:34 to the sign. For some reason, I totally lost control of this run and had completely gone anaerobic halfway to the camp. Getting from the camp to the top was like, worse than crawling, it was horrible... I can hardly believe I even made it.
Gah. I'm more pissed at myself for losing control than for it being a crappy run... I consider this a very technical course. It can be absolutely glorious, OR it can also easily degenerate to lactic slogging if you can't stay close to threshold. I must have run this 10, 20 times before without having a blow up like this one. I seriously considered turning back at the camp because I was in so much pain by then, but it seemed like it had to be some sort of redemption to finish... In hindsight that's horrible logic, but I think I was probably trying to burn away some residual self loathing after abandoning my tempo run on Thursday.
Training this week: 6:04:44 ... wow, my first > 6 hours in years and years...
Goals: Anger management, Weight management.
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