Week of 01/21/2007 - 01/27/2007 (Base Phase)

I'm boycotting the Superbowl. I'm also boycotting ESPN and all major news agencies, because I do NOT want to read about what happened.

It's almost 10 pm and I've barely moved from my "face down in pillow" mourning state, save for the consume some ice cream for comfort. This was the year, that our patchwork team had made it so far, despite the odds... despite being matched against stronger teams, what MY team had was heart and determination. Why, oh why... *sobs into pillow*

Sunday 01/21: ~13 miles in the Arroyo turning back at Devil's Gate, distance uncertain. 1:54:04 first long run in a very long time. Pleasantly warm, rather strong breeze (headwind both ways!?) and not even a twinge of ankle pain. Felt great to be out on the trails again, low intensity, relaxed capillary growing! Biking yesterday helped ease the soreness in quads, but still feeling a little "flat" in Ian terminology.

Monday 01/22: off. Too much work and too many distractions--swapping my Saturday off day for Monday off day. Hope this doesn't come back to haunt me next week.

Tuesday 01/23: 9 miles, 20 minutes warm up, 2 x 2 mile at threshold pace, 1 x 1 mile acceleration, 20 minutes cool down in Nike Frees. Moderately acceptable but confusing tempo workout. 13:06 (6:31,6:35), 2 min. rest, 13:05 (6:32,6:33), short chat with nice Econ consulting man, 6:10.86.

2 miles felt really good. Legs were totally relaxed, pace felt easy and smooth... *however* something is still really off with my breathing, have been coughing all day unrelated to exercise, felt sort of short of breath. Frustrating, not sure if this is an allergy/asthma type thing or a bacterial thing, so have been dragging my feet on starting antibiotics.

Tried a mile @ 5K race pace to test my speed... totally pathetic. Basically it all comes back to this breathing problem. It's really a deeply disturbing and bizarre feeling, my legs did not burn, I consciously had to hold back the pace and shorten my stride, because of this feeling that my throat was constricting and I felt like I was drowning. I keep having this recurring vision of horror, that one day I will wake up and my legs will have walked away, and the following note will be taped to my collar bone:

"Dear Heart and Lungs,

Its been a great 24 years, but we are really sorry, this relationship just isn't working for us anymore. It's not you, its us--we're not ready to settle down, we want to see other cardiovascular systems, we want to be part of a body that could win races, that will support us up to our full potential. The last year has been very hard for us, we've always been there for you, but you've always let us down when we needed you the most. There have been one too many illnesses and infections and problems that we do not understand. We are bored, and we want to run fast. We hope that you will understand, and there will be no hard feelings if we meet again in a race. We wish you the very best, goodbye.

Sincerely,
Right Leg and Left Leg"

Wednesday 01/24: 6.25 miles, 52:21, Huntington very slowly. Nice easy run, not too cold. Felt a little soreness in my ankle but went away after a few miles. 4 x 100m striders on the South Fields. Feel really out of shape. Striders used to feel like flying... now they feel like my throat is constricting. Seriously... what is wrong with my lungs?!?! Lots of coughing today at work.

Thursday 01/25: 2.5 miles, 21:36, South field laps. More distractions, so little time! Just wanted to get the heartrate up.

Friday 01/26: 5 miles, 51:24, Bailey until fallen tree... mehhhhhhh. My favorite trail is now completely obstructed by a very large tree having fallen lengthwise about 29 minutes up. I guess this means my Bailey to signpost PR will forever remain 2 seconds short at 45:02. This is really an incredibly sad turn of events. This run is what made me the runner that I am... its also the most beautiful, wonderful, perfect run ever. The gradient gets progressively steeper past the camp, until you get to the switchbacks, but that's not the worst part... the worst part is the uninterrupted steep climb up to the saddle and then that last scramble where you can see the sign post up above. It's almost like a progression run that way, like the first 3/5 are manageable, and then the intensity goes up but the scenery becomes so breathtakingly amazing that its worth it to just be up there. Anyways, goodbye favorite run....

Saturday 01/27: 5.2 miles, 44:21 easy run up and down Orange Grove at night. Waited until it stopped raining, I'm such a pansy ass about the rain. Felt okay, I guess I'm not very tired because the hill climb got cut short, but tried to run slow anyways. My body is still not really used to training again... I desperately want to get to the point where running 40 mpw just feels easy and natural.

Target Mileage: 40-45 Miles
Week Actual: 40.95 Miles
Last Week: 33.25 Miles

Trying to be flexible this week, depending on how well the running system is recovering. The signals are confusing, but circumstances conspired to keep the mileage on the low end. Next week will be interesting...