More Activation Energy Required

09/20/2009 - 09/26/2009 (Week 4)

Heading into week 4, I am sooooooo tired... Up until yesterday, I had been feeling fairly energetic, despite various aches and pains and respiratory distress. I thought taking Friday off would revive my legs, but on the contrary they seemed to have even less "pop" after the day off. Nuts.

This is the phase of training that I think of as the peak of the Activation Energy in a reaction profile. You ramp up the mileage, and crank down the paces, and somehow all of that happens a bit quicker than you gain fitness. There's an "uphill" part where you start to accumulate fatigue... before the increased fitness kicks in and you finally start to see some gains. This week is probably going to be my hardest one yet, but I'm hopeful that there's some good stuff there once I put in the requisite E(sub)a.


Sunday: 9.3 miles, 1:23:13 from Stables to Rose Bowl Perimeter (8:57 min/mile)

It's still morning, but the sun has come out and it's warmer than I'd like. I'm even more tired because it's only been 12 hours since my last run, but I'm determined to start the week right, with a proper long run, for the first time thus far. Started out feeling like my legs were really weak under me, but felt a lot better on the second half. Cardiovascularly, this run felt really pleasant and easy, so the time went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. I was kind of sad to see the final time, but also glad that I hung in there and didn't cut the route short.

Monday: 7.8 miles, 1:07:48 for a reverse California/RB perimeter loop (8:42 min/mile)

Slept in and missed the women's long run, so ran the guys' long run, mostly with Ben and Anton. I felt a lot better than yesterday at first glance, but in retrospect the effort/speed ratio was unfavorable compared to yesterday. I worked pretty hard to keep up with Ben in the beginning and at the end, but I was feeling a lot better jogging with Anton who was sore. I guess this is a lot of miles in 2 days for me, I'm feeling pretty beat.

Tuesday: 6.5 miles, 8 x 700m pick ups/100m jog rest at Lacy Park, 1.5 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down

Despite my resolve to take a day easy, Ian tempted me with this pretty mellow workout with the team today. I woke up and my legs were feeling good for the first time in a while, so I decided to go for it. It got off to a bit of a bad start, because I was late and had to haul ass to catch the group at the park, but the workout actually went really well. I made a good decision (for once!) and ran with the second pack, Phyllis, Perrin and Mia. Phyllis was an awesome pace leader, she's really steady and the pack stayed together for all of the repeats. I ran all of mine by feel and most of them were either 3:08 or 3:12, strangely enough. The pace was easy for me in the beginning, and just the right amount of challenging by the end, it felt fun and relaxed and great.

Wednesday: 6.7 miles, 54:36 Lorain/St. Albans (8:09 min/mile)

Really fun base run with Susan and Masha. I haven't been down to Lorain in a long time, and it was really nice. The pace was a little faster than usual, and I was feeling it a little bit in the middle, but I started feeling good again when we hit the hill coming up Virginia, and was able to finish strong. I think my energy levels are reviving a little bit. I felt really good at the end.

Thursday: 6.5 miles, 52:09 Hillcrest/Orlando/San Marino/California (8:01 min/mile)

Wanted to wake up early and do a tempo run in the Arroyo, but slept in instead :(. I felt pretty worn out by the time I got home from work, so I decided to do just a base run, but with some tempo paced pick ups in the middle. I wanted to do 5 x 5 minutes, but I think it ended up being more like 4 x 2-4 minutes. My legs felt good, but the breathing was pretty ragged for the faster parts. I really focused on maintaining a solid pace between the pick ups though, so it felt like a good solid effort. I was kind of hoping this would average out to sub-8 min/mile pace, but I guess it'll have to be another day.

Friday: Off, shots. Travel to Denver. I was really good and didn't gorge myself on free lunch.

Saturday: 5.2 miles, 42:42 (21:32/21:10) for 2 laps of Washington Park in Denver (8:13 min/mile)

Pleasant morning run in Denver. I made a promise to myself to keep this run really easy, so I was really pleased to see the split for the first lap. I got a little bit excited and pushed a little harder on the second lap, but overall it was a steady, non strenuous effort. The altitude didn't really bother me, which was also nice. A good end to the week.


Week Total: 42 miles, totally solid!