No workouts for you

09/13/2009 - 09/19/2009 (Week 3)

It took me a few tries, but I think I've finally learned my lesson... Running with the team is fun, but I still have to focus on doing my own training. I guess the temptation will cease with the end of pre-season, but I want to make sure that I don't do any undue damage to my feet or to my musculature by trying to tag along on the team's workouts.

Given that a few weeks ago, I could barely run 3 miles, I think the focus for me right now is to get back to doing what I do best: long steady runs. I don't really want to build a lot of hopes around any specific race at this juncture, rather my general hope is to gain back a level of basic fitness. I want to be comfortably running a 7:30 to 7:45 min/mile base pace, with a weekly mountain run and Sunday long run of 15-20 miles. Even if I'm not training for any specific, I know that this keeps me happy. I'm naturally kind of "interval" averse, so I think this is a good starting point.


Sunday: 3 miles, 24:39 in the Arroyo (8:13 min/mile)

Wanted to do a proper long run today, but woke up too late. Instead did the 3 mile loop with Peter. Felt pretty good. Still feels a lot harder than it should, but compared to before, there's definitely some progress here. Beach with Will afterwards. Swam in the ocean and did some foot exercises in the sand again. Peter lost the frisbee :(

Monday: 7.5 miles, 1:03:35 Huntington/Los Robles (8:29 min/mile)

Pleasant morning run with the team, ran with Masha, Sylvia, Justine and Clara. Legs were kind of heavy in a weird way from the swimming yesterday, but my breathing has totally settled down. Felt pretty good, but the grass was ridiculously long and thick on Huntington, which made the run a little bit more tiring than I expected.

Tuesday: 6.2 miles, 4 x Arroyo Tempo Loops (~1 was at "tempo pace")

This was kind of a disaster... I wasn't really sure why I thought this would be any different from the San Marino Hill Circuit, but I love tempo runs so I decided to give this a try. I managed 1 lap in about 11:40, after which I started losing the pack, and when I slowed down I obtained a side cramp, so the second lap was basically just shuffling and trying to work out the cramp. It was pretty miserable. There was also a lap warm up and a lap cool down for 4 total. Argh.

Wednesday: 5.1 miles, 42:18 Rose Villa, San Gabriel, Lombardy (8:18 min/mile)

Another one of Susan's cute neighborhood runs. Ran with the group, then Sylvia and Masha towards the end. Felt really good today, wanted to go faster. I'm excited that it's a lot easier to breathe and the paces are coming down, slowly but surely. Legs are starting to feel a little bit tired though.

Thursday: 6 miles, 50:26 Hillcrest, Orlando, Allen (8:29 min/mile)

The trouble with not going to team practice is that there's no incentive to wake up on time. Slept in pretty catastrophically, so had to run at night. I guess this was okay, because my legs were feeling really worn out in the morning. Actually, they were still feeling really tired at the end of the day, so I was pretty unenthused about running. Once I got started though, it was really nice and relaxing. Went really easy and just focused on keeping good form and not slogging. Started to feel pretty good after about 15 minutes. I forgot how nice it is to run at night, it was so calm and relaxing I didn't even notice that I had forgotten my iPod.

Friday: Off, shots. I really wanted to run today, but my legs were really really tired. So I decided to make cookies for the team instead.

Saturday: 5.3 miles, 45:27 Monterrey to Third Bridge (8:35 min/mile)

Went to see the race at Riverside in the AM, it was really hot but pretty fun. Hung out with Gustavo, and Goldhammer almost ran me over with the van. As a result, I had to run in the evening. I put it off as long as possible to avoid the heat... but then ran into the other problem of lack of sunlight. Nuts. Another troubling thing... my legs still feel really worn out despite the rest day. Had to take it really easy, started feeling better towards the end, but then I had to slow down pretty significantly bc it was completely dark and I couldn't see the footing on the trails. Nonetheless, it was a nice run, and I'm encouraged that I'm managing 8:30's even going super easy.


Week Total: 33.1 miles, coming along nicely!