Thursday, September 10, 2009

Patience, young grasshopper...

09/06/2009 - 09/12/2009 (Week 2)

I'm not really young or a grasshopper, but I've been trying to tell myself to chill out all week. I guess the plan was to hold back on ramping up the mileage, but it didn't quite work out that way. I'm just itching to get back into shape, and its hard to resist the urge to pile on the miles. I probably made some unadvisable calls, but the important thing is that my feet are still feeling good, and I'm still looking forwards to my next run. I think that's going to be the most important thing for me right now, that I want to enjoy each run. I'm trying to stave off for as long as possible the state where I'm really stressed out about completing mileage and hitting specific paces.


Sunday: 3 miles, 24:54 in the Arroyo (8:18 min/mile)

Progress! Awesome. Got up a little bit earlier and ran at 8 am, and that made all the difference. It was 20 degrees cooler and 100% more pleasant. Tried to re-establish the practice of breathing out of my nose to keep things under control. Felt pretty good.

Monday: 7.3 miles, 1:02:18 from Softball Fields to Salvia Canyon (8:32 min/mile)

Our whole apt got up to run with the Caltech team in the morning. Ran with Garrett in the beginning and then with the roomies. I was pretty nervous about running an entire hour, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty fun, and I was pleased to see that it was about the same pace as the shorter runs I've been doing. Beach with Will, Ruby, Ian and Kangway afterwards. Did some ocean swimming, and a lot of foot exercises in the sand. Also pretty fun! Pleasantly tired afterwards.

Tuesday: Off. Work at 6:30 am for first day of school. Hard to wake up without morning run. My feet feel really excellent though, I think the sand was really good for them!

Wednesday: 5 miles, 46:18 Susan's 5 mile Loop (9:15 min/mile)

Super easy with the Caltech team. I guess they had a hard workout yesterday. Liked the loop though, we went on some streets I've never been to before, despite having lived here for 9 years now. First day with new Adidas shoes, which I like a lot. Got some new blisters, though I don't think it really has to do with the shoes, since I was getting them with the old shoes too. I guess its just part of getting used to running again.

Thursday: 7.5 miles, San Marino Hill Circuit (I gave up on keeping time after 2 hills)

This is (was) one of my favorite hill workouts, and since yesterday was so easy I talked myself into coming out for this, despite the fact that intensity is probably the last thing I need right now. After the first hill, I was pretty much wondering how in the world I ever could have thought this was a good idea. It was really a large shock to the system. The best way to describe how it felt is 'rickety'. My legs felt really weak under me, and it felt really unnatural to swing my arms quickly, as if the joint needed some grease. The biggest problem was basically just lack of intensity endurance. I did okay on the shorter hills, but died pretty quickly on the longer ones. Overall, I think I survived okay though. I wasn't too far behind the front pack, and I finished without having a catastrophic meltdown.

Friday: Off, shots. Calamity of the world... I ate 3 donuts today. I've been in intensive weight loss mode all week, and was doing well until today. Nuts.

Saturday: 5.3 miles, 44:06 Monterrey to third Bridge Loop (8:19 min/mile)

Nice run in the AM. R hamstring felt a little tired, but felt alright overall. Thankfully the breathing has calmed down a bit since last week, I've got it mostly under control now (breathing out of nose only). Focused on keeping good form, even rhythm and landing softly (per Susan's feedback). Hopefully that will help keep the strain off of my feet.


Week Total: 28.1 miles, now that wasn't so bad

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