The long experiment

Sunday, 6 miles with Silas in :48 (?) + bagel break
Monday, 6.4 miles in :55

A timing malfunction on Sunday's run meant that I only timed the first half; on the way back Silas and I chilled for a while at Berkeley Bagels to watch the buses; we decided to stay until we saw a BART train pass on the bridge, and it was worth the wait: we saw a Richmond and a Fremont train pass at the same time!

Apropos the title of this post: I've been pleasantly surprised several times this year to find that, after spending some time at little to no mileage, I'm able to come back feeling refreshed and to speed through my daily runs. Well, apparently 5 weeks of an average 11 miles/week is the tipping point. I went out this morning for my first consecutive-days run since July 5-6, meaning to do an 8.8-mile Marin Loop. Pretty quickly I decided I wasn't up for the full distance, so I decided to cut off the last stretch and skip running down to Sacramento Ave. By the time I hit Marin Ave, I knew that I would turn south at the Circle, rather than continuing 2 blocks up the hill and across the Cal campus. I got home in 55 minutes and figured I'd gone about 7 miles, maybe a bit less; gmap disagrees, though, so I have to settle for 6.4 miles. No problem: I didn't hurt after the run, and it shouldn't take to long to get back to where I was.

Naptime, Daddy-style

6 miles in :51 with Silas

Christine had an (ultimately successful) job interview this afternoon, so I flexed my time a bit to look after Si while she was gone. Since it's usually a battle for me to get him to nap at home in the afternoon, I went with a tried-and-true tactic. We played around the house well into the afternoon, finishing with some Play-Doh time, until he couldn't see straight. Then I suggested that he pick some toys to put in his backpack, and I'd take him for a run. Today's haul was something like a SEPTA bus, a Bobcat, a bulldozer, a frontloader, a fire engine, and a boat trailer, all crammed into the airplane backpack that Christine made for him. Into the stroller, with the bag sitting comfortably in his lap - not to actually be opened! Unfortunately, the route I chose was a little too interesting for a quick nap, and Silas kept being distracted from the mission at hand by backhoes, AC Transit buses (including the beloved number 9), a school bus, and BART trains. I got wise for the return route, though, and avoided most of the distractions. The last words he said to me before dropping off were "I want to go to the bagel shop," as we passed Berkeley Bagels (closed). Success!

Successful for me, too, as I ran 6 miles pain-free.

Long run

Friday, 5.1 miles in :42

Not really a long run, but the longest I've gone in 3 or 4 weeks. I figured I'd test myself a bit today with a 5 mile loop. Around mile 2 I came to the dirt track at MLK middle school and decided to take a few laps, and then head straight home. There were 8 or 10 other folks on the track, mostly walkers, and I took a couple laps easy. Toward the end of lap 2 I decided, why not?, and went all out for 400 meters. It was hard work, but it went down in 1:17. If I'd gone for a second rep, it would have taken a bit longer, though. I took lap 4 easy, and spun off to the south side of the track to head home. A little soreness in my knee today, but not a big deal.

Rehab

4 miles, untimed

I'm still recovering from the self-diagnosed tendonitis in my left knee. As injuries go, it feels pretty minor, and I don't have to think about it when I'm not running. But still it nags, and it starts to throb a bit in the last few minutes of my runs.

I've been doing 3-4 miles every other day. This morning, I went out with Silas and his big bag of backhoes (a grocery bag holding a big backhoe, a tiny excavator, a tiny Bobcat, and two tiny cars; he didn't play with them, but just seems happy to have them handy). We ran by the downtown firehouse, where they appeared to be having a party to celebrate a successful July 4th. We took a break to examine the 6 or 7 fire trucks parked on the street, then finished our loop and came home. Stretched, iced my knee, and took 400 mg of Vitamin I. Hope to get over this soon.

Cautious...

Last Wednesday, 8.8 miles in 1:05:38
Last Thursday, ?? in :06
This Wednesday, 3.3 miles in :26

I easily lowered my time on my 8.8 mile loop last Wednesday, but paid for it on Thursday. As soon as I started my run, I felt a pain in the top of my left knee. As I hit Dwight and Shattuck, I realized that it was getting worse, not going away, so I called it and headed home. After five days of stretching, icing, ibuprofin, and no running, I decided that I was ready to try again this morning.

I stepped outside this morning and was greeted by the smell of woodsmoke. The summer wildfire season is officially underway, with fires to the north, south, and east. Although there is visible smoke in the air here, I'm assured that the air quality on this side of the hills is fine. The run itself was uneventful, an easy loop accompanied by Tom Waits. No pain, so I'll take some ibuprofin to keep any swelling down, and push it a little more tomorrow.

Squeezing one in

Thursday pm, 4 miles in :31

I missed my ride to yesterday's trail run (haha, funny story involving streets with similar names and my being too cool to ask for directions) but I got a 5 mile bike ride around Rockridge out of it.

Today I finished up at work early enough to squeeze in 4 miles before I leave for the airport. I'm heading to Atlanta for a few days, where I'll remind myself why I was never in shape at the beginning of cross country season.

Monday, ouch
Tuesday, 5.8 miles in :48

I'm still wicked stiff from Sunday's adventure. I didn't bother going out Monday, and this morning was a ginger 5.8 miles. I'm sleeping in tomorrow morning in preparation for an afternoon trail run; we'll see how I feel.

Weekend Warrior II

Friday pm, 5 pints
Saturday am, 8.8 miles, 1:07
Sunday am, softball practice, 2 hours
Sunday pm, 12.4 miles, 1:33

Christine and Si are out of town, so I'm working pretty hard to fill my time. The Friday work run was replaced by an after-work birthday celebration. Somehow, this led to a 7 am run on Saturday that went much better than it should have, by all rights. In fact, 1:07:09 is my new fastest time for my 8.8 mile loop. This morning was a long softball practice (I know that lots of baseball players are fat, but this was harder work than I remembered!), so I decided to pare back my planned 14 miler to 10 miles and to move it from the hills to the flat Ohlone Greenway. I got off to a strong start, though, and ended up running to the end of the Greenway. The way back was a bit of a drag, and I actually got some wicked cramps while stretching afterward - this has never happened to me, but I downed some salty Gatorade and some raisins, which seemed to help. No bananas in the house for once!

I'll do some extra stretching tonight, and go for an easy morning tomorrow.

Hola amigos...

I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya, but things have been pretty crazy around here. Well, not that crazy, but I got out of the habit of posting. For the record, the Broad St run went down in 66:12, not a bad time but not a great one. The race was fun, and it was good to see some old friends. My only mistake was running back up to Carpenter St with Dierdre afterwards, for an extra 3 miles or so.

Since then I have ranged between 16-33 miles a week. Traveling to the east coast messed with Silas's clock, which messed with my morning runs. I started a Friday run at work with 4 other folks, but we very quickly dwindled to 2. We'll see what happens with that. Also, significantly, I got two good runs with Silas last weekend, including the ever-elusive 10+ mile nap/run. Si hadn't been running with me in nearly a month, and we both enjoyed the time out together.

Tonight I squeezed in a 3 miler in 23 minutes. Enough to say hello to my legs, but not enough to spoil tomorrow's (potential) run.

One more try...

Monday am, 8.8 miles in 1:11

I was sick as a dog for 1 day a couple of weeks ago; I've been basically healthy since then except that I've felt like crap in the mornings, congested with a sore throat. Probably sometime last week I could have started running in the mornings again, but sickness led to laziness, and all I squeezed in was an easy 3 miles one night. I finally resolved to start fresh this week, and was out the door by 6.

The run wasn't particularly notable, but I was shocked to find that in just 2 short weeks it is suddenly light outside when I leave in the morning. I felt hella stiff and sore the rest of the day, but I think it's more due to last night's bike ride with clipless pedals while towing Silas in his trailer. More interesting to me right now, though, is trying to evaluate where I am for Broad St. I had planned to compare this year's training with 2006, when I ran a 1:02 for the 10 mile race:

February 2006, 171 miles
February 2008, 144 miles
March 2006, 161 miles
March 2008, 165 miles
April 2006 (through 4/21), 121 miles
April 2008 (through 4/21), 42 miles

D'oh. I had a pretty good thing going there. I've also had only one track workout this spring. Although my 800 times compared favorably to what I was getting in 2006, I haven't built on it at all. This close to BSR 2008, I can't really hope to gain any fitness, so my plan will just be to put in miles this week, but not too many, to remind myself that I can do it. A little bit of speedwork will help me recognize the signals that my legs are sending me as well. My goal for the race at this point is to run under 65 minutes.

Of course, I ran that last Broad St. coming off a big 54 mile week...

Sick.

36 miles in the week ending April 6th. I haven't run since (except for about 100 races with Silas, in the backyard, in the Monkey Room, at the park, and on the sidewalk!). I'll be back on the road the first morning that I don't have to spend my time expectorating into the sink.

Currying favor with Nike

Last week: 53 miles
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: 4x800, 400 recovery, 6.25 total

Feel like you're stuck in a rut? Looking to spice up your running life?
A day at the track may be just what the doctor ordered!

I had a solid week of running last week, but stiffness in my right calf
kept the pace easy. Afer finally getting above 50 miles for the week,
I'm going to cut back a little bit and include some speed in the next
few weeks as Broad Street approaches. Today was going to be a 7 mile
tempo run, but as I got out of bed I was itching for a little more speed.
I hadn't been to the track in 9 months, and I decided to swap Friday's
planned workout for today's.

I shuffled out the door just before 6 and made my way down Grant St
toward the dirt track at MLK middle school, 1.75 miles away. I was
still feeling a bit of lameness in my calf, but dutiful icing has kept
it at bay, and I wasn't worried about hurting myself. The quads were a
bit stiff as well from some hard downhill running on Sunday. I wasn't
sure what was going to happen at the track, but the plan was 4x800,
trying for negative splits on each pair of laps, at about 3k-5k pace. In
other words, something like 1:32-1:28 to hit 3 minutes per 800.

At the track, there were a few walkers and joggers doing laps in the
dark. I found a water spot on the ground to use as a start/stop and
took off.

Coming through the first lap, I tried to look at my watch but missed the
light. It was too dark to see, so I just kept doing what I was doing
with no real idea of how fast I was going. I came through the second
lap and checked the watch: 2:45. OK, the plan was out the window. The
next three went down in 2:48-2:49-2:52, with slow 400s in between. I
actually did manage the negative splits on the last 2, by 5 and 2
seconds respectively. I'm pretty happy with the speed, and it will give
me something to work with over the next couple of weeks as I sharpen up
for BSR. Maybe next week I'll actually know what I'm doing.

Catchup

Last week: 20 miles in 2 runs
This week: 47 miles in 5 runs

I had trouble getting back into the groove last week, but I did manage a 14 miler on Sunday to round out the week. I was back to business this week, and made it out 5 times, including two runs with Silas. On Saturday, I took him out hoping to get in at least 5 miles before he gave up, but I was able to put together an interesting route for him. We passed 3 fire stations and a backhoe, and went through the Northbrae Tunnel. We went nearly 9 miles, and he was still asking to see "another one fire truck" by the time we got home; unfortunately, I'd run out of fire stations to visit.

This morning was the LMJS fourth Sunday race. I had a pretty vague plan for this, which was something like run a long, easy warmup to get to Lake Merrit, then run the 10k to see what happens. Of course, I left the house about 10 minutes late, so my easy warmup ended up being 4.5 miles in about 35 minutes. I made it to the start on time, though, and lined up next to a guy in an Oregon shirt who was built (and shorn) like he was from Coos Bay. Today's race included 5, 10, and 15k distances, but the 5 and 10k runners had similar colored wristbands, so it was hard to tell who was who. I started off in a close pack of about 5 folks, including the Oregonian, that mostly hung together through mile 1 (6:04 - too fast for me today!). We strung out a bit, and I moved into 4th place while Oregon and another guy pulled away. Mile 2 was more reasonable, about 6:27, but I've noted before that mile 1 seems short and mile 2 long on this course; it may be related to the wind, though. During mile 3, though, I really felt like I was running out of gas - I was feeling those first 4.5 miles and starting to think this was a stupid idea. In fact, running is a pretty stupid idea anyway. To top it off, my shoe came untied, and the brief stop to tie it (while getting passed twice) really sapped my will. I came through 5k in 20:14, and miles 3-4 were about 14:30 together. Finally, at mile 4 I realized that I was still within striking distance of a guy in a yellow shirt. I figured I could get him within 1.5 miles, and started to make a move. I picked up the pace gradually, and by mile 5 (6:40) he could hear my footsteps. I closed in, and within about a quarter of a mile I decided he wouldn't be able to outkick me at the end, so I passed him. I came through the last 1.2 in 7:35 (6:20 pace) and finished in 41:15, in something like 4th-6th place. Not a great time for me, but I realized that today's run was more about mentality than speed, and I feel pretty good about not throwing in the towel. Unfortunately, I also realized that today's run was also more about endurance than speed, and I really didn't have much choice but to run home after the race, leaving my BART pass unused in my shoe. The 4.5 miles home was tough, but it gave me 15+ for the day and a solid week.

In celebration, I registered for the Broad Street Run today.

Hamster Wheel

Saturday pm, 4.25 miles on the treadmill

We went up to Lake Tahoe to ski for the weekend, and I figured I'd get a
few miles in on the treadmill while we were there. My lifetime
treadmill mileage stood at somewhere under 2 miles, and was pretty much
limited to trying on shoes; I've always thought that treadmill running
seemed hopelessly boring, but with snow on the ground, I didn't have
much choice in the matter.

It can be harder to fit in a run on vacation than at home, but after a
day of skiing, then Indian food for dinner, getting Silas to bed, and
letting C soak in the hot tub, I headed down to the gym for an iFartlek.
This is a workout created by Ian to break the deadly monotony of running
while going nowhere. I started at an 8 minute pace with my iPod on
random, then increased the pace by a click or two with each new song.

I was right. It was boring. I made a deal with myself that I would run
at least 30 minutes or 4 miles, and began increasing the pace by an
extra click to get it done with faster. I tried closing my eyes, but
nearly ran off the side. The gym was hot and humid, and I was
breathless. Finally, I was almost done - with the next song, I would
click down to 6:30 pace and ride it out. Of course, the next song was
Angel of Death by Slayer, which is brutal to run to and 4 1/2 minutes
long. I made it to the first guitar solo, then had to click down to an
easy pace to cool down for a bit. About this time I remembered that I
was at 6300 feet elevation. After a bit of a cooldown, I'm done with
treadmill running for this year.

Unusual Run

Tuesday pm, 7 miles untimed

I've slept in 2 days in a row, and the lesson is that I simply don't hear my alarm when it's set before 5:30 am (5:20, in this case). I planned a run with Si after work today, but I got started early when I forgot that I didn't have my bike with me and that I would be late to get home for a parental handoff. Fortunately I was wearing sneakers today, so I ran the nearly 2 miles in jeans, carrying my laptop, in about 15 minutes. Once home, I changed into my running kit, played in the backyard with Silas for a bit, then we loaded into the stroller to get a few more miles in.

Nearly home, Silas asked to get out of the stroller ("Daddy carry Silas right now"), so I obliged and we walked the last few blocks home while Silas practiced his geography ("That was Dwight Way") and pronouns ("Daddy carries you... Daddy carries me.")

Si has been getting into running himself, especially playing chasing games with the dog. The other day on a walk, he picked a hilly driveway to run up and down about 15 times. No idea where he gets this from.

Nimitz trail

Sunday, 5.25 miles with Silas, untimed

We all headed up to Tilden Park to walk and run the Nimitz Trail; Christine was walking the dog with a friend who is visiting, but I promised Silas that I'd get him at least 2 miles down the trail to see the cows.

We set out at what turned out to be a brisk pace on the early hills, but I was really feeling yesterday's 16 miler in my hamstrings and flexors (or adductors?) I worked to slow the pace and watched the mile markers. We came to the first cattle gate at mile 2, but no cows yet. Moving through the rolling hills and through a couple more cattle gates, we finally found them grazing around the 2.75 mile marker. I pointed a couple cows out to Silas but realized that he'd get a better look on the way back. We turned around at the 3.5 marker (27:21, but I accidentally stopped my watch), then took a short break when we got back to the cows. Silas was pretty stoked to see them: "eating grass", "having milchie", "sleeping", and "making poop poop". We continued running until we met up with our peeps, then walked it back in.

42 miles this week; I could have pushed it today to hit my goal of 44, but I am satisfied with what I've got, with two especially good runs this week. Tomorrow morning, I'm hoping to see Jupiter on my run.

Uncharted Territory

Friday am, 6 miles in :46
Saturday pm, 16.3 miles in 2:00

Friday was a bagel run with Silas. He was game for anything, as long as he was able to wear his guitar shirt, which I pulled out of the dryer for the occasion. Berkeley Bagels was out of mini bagels, so I got Si a regular bagel with peanut butter.

But the real story is today's long run. I'd only been planning on 12 for today, but events had kept my weekly mileage a bit behind schedule. I decided against my usual long run route, up the hills toward Grizzly Peak, and opted instead for the flat and boring Ohlone Greenway. I started out, carrying a bottle of Gatorade (with extra salt), a Cliff shot, and the ipod. Shuffle mode did me right today, with Franz Ferdinand and the Decembrists providing most of the soundtrack, with some Billy Idol and Modest Mouse thrown in as well.

I ran out the Greenway and found the end, in Richmond, a little sooner than I had hoped. I continued up San Pablo Ave through Richmond and into the city of San Pablo - a town whose existence I had forgotten about but should have inferred, given the road that I was running on. I kept on until about 59 minutes, then turned around at San Pablo Dam Rd to retrace my steps. I took the goo and finished my Gatorade, and noted that I felt pretty darn good. I picked up the pace for the trip home, and kept feeling good except for a bit of stiffness (I stopped to tie my shoe about a mile from home and groaned audibly when I bent over). I negative split by a couple of minutes, so I ran around the block a bit to stretch the run out to 2 hours. To top things off, Christine was taking chocolate chip cookies out of the oven when I got home.

This was my longest run of the year (and, it turns out, the fastest overall) and went a lot better than my last 2 hour run. It leaves me feeling confident and ready for more. Normally, this would indicate that I'm due for an overuse injury, but fortunately next week is planned to be nice and easy before going to Lake Tahoe for the weekend.

Nested loops

Thursday am, 7.1 miles in :53

My alarm went off at 5:30 this morning and I tried to ignore it. I lay
in bed for a few minutes, noting my sore legs (still? from Tuesday's
run?) and considering going back to sleep. Of course, if I skip today,
I may as well quit running. What's the point? 5:36. Bleh. I got up
and fumbled for my glasses, dressed, had a glass of water and some
raisins. Out the door at 5:46.

I'd planned a tempo today, but I'm not feeling it. I jog easily along
the familiar route. I could swap today with tomorrow's easy run. Yeah,
one more day of recovery. But I'm feeling a little better. I'll pick
it up at Adeline and see what happens.

Up the hill to my first split - 1+ mile in 6:57. Too fast! But I'm
committed. Mile 2 is harder on me, and comes in at 6:53 - a little
slower since this is exactly 1 mile. I turn downhill at Dwight Way and
push, push. I feel like I'm losing steam, but I hit mile 3 at MLK in
6:18 - not bad. Mile 4 is a new one, and I really feel like I'm
dragging. Slightly downhill to Sacramento, then left on level ground to
Russell St. I hadn't measured it beforehand, but gmap tells me that
it's an even mile. 6:12. Yeah. I jog, slowly slowly, down to
Alcatraz, then loop back around to come home.

catchup

Friday, 6.3 in :49
Saturday, 6.6 in :52
Sunday, 12.8 in 1:38
Tuesday, 7.5(?) in :58

Painted into a corner, I accidentally slept in on Friday, but heroically
got the run in that night. I wanted to go for 8 miles on Saturday with
Silas, but he bailed early and I had to escort him home.

Combined, this turned my planned 10-miler on Sunday into a longer run
(one might call it a "long run"). I decided on a slightly new route,
south into Oakland with a lap around Lake Merritt. I decided to take
the lap, somewhere between 3 miles and 5k, at about marathon pace, or 7
minute miles; most of this lap was run while listening to the Mariner's
Revenge Song, twice (OMGOMG, I know I'm a little late to the game, but I
am now in love with the Decemberists after hearing that song). I wasn't
sure about the mile splits, but I ran this lap in 21:07, just as
planned. The wind was serious and I felt buffeted by the end as I
headed home.

I slept through my alarm on both Monday and Tuesday, so I found some
time to run from work on Tuesday. I headed up the Strawberry Canyon
trail, which was longer than I had calculated. I turned around after 32
minutes and came down at an imprudent pace that my legs are still
feeling today.

I felt too beat for my planned tempo run today; I should have switched
the schedule around and gotten some easy miles, but instead I slept in.
So now it's tempo on Thursday, easy on Friday, and 22 miles divided
unequally between Saturday and Sunday.

Into a corner

Last week: 30 miles
This week:
Wednesday am, 8.1 miles, 1:05
Thursday am, 6.1 miles, :46

I painted myself into a corner by sleeping in on Monday and Tuesday,
which means no rest for the remainder of the week. I had plenty of
thoughts about yesterday's run that I should have written down, but it's
too late now.

This morning was a sub-tempo run; same course as before, but wanted to
run it a bit faster and I took a .5 mile bite out of my cooldown to
extend the effort portion. I was out the door by 5:50 and jogged slowly
through the warmup until I hit Adeline. I picked up the pace
immediately, and hit the first split (just over 1 mile) in 7:13 (7:16
last week). I thought I'd shot my wad, though, and really had to work
to pull myself through the next mile. I was pleased and surprised to
see the mile split come in at 6:46 (6:59), and then I hauled ass
downhill. It felt smooth and easy, but went fast - 6:14 (6:23). The
last half mile, down to Sacramento St, went down in 3:08.

It was gratifying to see some improvement in this run, and that should
help me get out of bed early the next couple of days.

Two Easy Pieces

Sunday, 5.4 miles
Tuesday, 5.1 miles in :42

Two easy runs, and two observations.

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that my runs were going pretty fast, and
attributed this to all the rest I was getting between running days. Now
that I'm ramping up my mileage a bit, I'm trading speed for distance -
with the expectation, of course, that the speed will be paid back with
interest. I got up to 36 miles last week, and I'm going to back off a
bit this week before taking a stab at 40. I've had some soreness in my
right knee and right ankle that I don't want to push too hard.

Silas has been waking up earlier in the mornings, but not early enough
for me to take him running. The cardinal rule of my morning runs is
that I must get home before Si wakes up, and this rule was broken twice
last week. So today, I found myself getting up at 5:30 just for a
stinking 5 mile run. I did it, though, despite standing in the living
room for a few minutes waiting to summon the will to go out. Much like
Seebo this morning, but I had short sleeves and temps in the 40s waiting
for me. I couldn't escape the notion that I was running away from the
dawn, rather than towards it; I'll have to get up at 5:15 next week if I
want to increase my mileage.

I got home from the run and was able to start my coffee a few minutes
before Si woke up. Victory!

Good week...

... so far. I have one more day of running, but I'm at 31 miles, including a long run today and another sub-tempo run on Thursday. I stretched the fast part of Thursday's run out just a bit, by fiishing my warmup at Adeline instead of Shattuck. This made for just over 3 miles at about 6:50 pace. The overall time for the run was identical, to the second, to the previous week.

Today was a planned 12 miler on a 13 mile course. No problem; the extra mile brought me to 31 for the week before tomorrow's run. Seebo and Dubs have been listening to Interpol on their runs recently, which for put me in a mind to start with Franz Ferdinand. Particularly that catchy song that makes me think I'm in Urban Outfitters, but has a great mosh part in the bridge. You know the one. After that I went random, and Tom Waits came up. Not good running music, but I survived and only skipped a few songs. On the way up the hill, I passed the second most hardcore stroller runner that I've ever met. The most hardcore, of course, is my friend Jessi, who once ran the 8.5 mile Schuykill River loop in Philly while pushing her son in a stroller. Normally not a big deal, but she had left the front wheel at home.

The trip back down, accompanied by Slayer/Neko Case/REM, was 3 minutes faster but not much easier. I felt pretty beat by the end, and had to ice my knee and ankle when I got home. The cheddar and chutney sandwich I had for a post-run lunch was well-earned, though.

Tuesday am, 7 miles in :55
Thursday am, 6.1 miles in :47
Friday am, 4.4 miles in :33
Saturday, 13 miles in 1:50

TCB

Saturday, 8.1 miles in 1:04
Sunday, 9.6 miles in 1:22

Both of my runs this weekend were programmed to include a stop by the
lab. Saturday was to move a Petri dish from the incubator to the
fridge, and Sunday to pick a few bacterial colonies from that dish to
grow overnight. So these runs were productive from at least two angles.

There was a third angle, as well. Silas hasn't been sleeping well, and
didn't even nap on Saturday. When Sunday was not looking any better, I
decided that the time was right to take my overtired boy out in the
stroller to see what happened. He hasn't been running with me much
lately, both because of inclement weather and because he often just has
better things to do. But yesterday, he agreeably got in the stroller,
and was unconscious within 12 minutes.

Had I been in the mood, I could have turned this into a long run, but my
right hamstring had been a little bit sore from Thursday's run, and I felt
like a 30-mile week was sufficient right now anyway. After the lab, I
headed down the hill to try to catch Christine on her way home from
yoga. We met up just as Silas was stirring, and all walked to the Berkeley
Bowl for some groceries.

sub-tempo run

Thursday, 6.1 miles in :47

This morning was a "sub-tempo" run, based on an article by McMillan
in last month's Running Times (sorry, can't find the link). The sub-tempo
comes from Arthur Lydiard, and is like a tempo run at "3/4 effort", or a
bit faster than marathon pace, meant to be run during base training. I ran
a distinctively non-Lydiardian 79 miles this month, but I am hoping to
increase (maybe double) that total in February, and this seemed like a good
"effort" run to do today. The plan was to run my usual tempo course, but
stretch the "effort" part out from 2 to 2.75 miles by tacking on to the
downhill segment. The pace would be in the 6:45-7:00/mile range.

I managed to hear my alarm this morning, and got out the door by 6:15.
An easy 15 minute warmup got me to Shattuck Ave, and I picked up the
pace for the uphill. The first .75 miles went in 5:08, followed by a
mile in 7:00, and a bit over a mile downhill in 6:42. It worked out to
a 6:44 pace for the tempo portion, and the effort was tough but not too
demanding. For next week, I'll need to plot out a longer course so I
can stretch this out to about 4 miles, so I can feel some burn.

We bought tickets to visit Philly in May, which means I now have a goal
race for the spring.

The other shoe?

Saturday, 8.2 miles in 1:02
Tuesday, 5.8 miles in :44

For the last 10 days, all of my runs have gone at an easily brisk pace, in the mid-7 minute rhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifange, that for me indicates either high fitness or, in the current case, too many rest days. That being the case, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I felt like today was the day. I felt like I was dragging at the beginning and end of the run, although I did manage to achieve a Zen like state in the middle, causing me to miss my usual turn from Hopkins to Gilman. It turns out that the run went a little bit farther, and a little bit faster, than I had thought. I know that things will slow down soon, but it should hopefully be due to extra mileage.

Catchup

Saturday (last): 14 miles in 2:00
Saturday (this): 7.6 in :56
Sunday: 5.7 in :42
Monday: 7.9 in :59

What happened to that week? I felt beat for a couple days after the
long run, then...

I finally hit the road again on Saturday. As usual, six days off put
some spring in my step and I had an easily fast run to downtown Oakland
and back. I passed the infamous intersection of 51st and Shattuck where
Senate Pro Tem Don Perata got carjacked last month, but it didn't look
any more infamous than it used to. Perata is now driving a Crown Vic
instead of his previous ride, a red Charger with 22" rims. Seriously.

I repeated with comfortably fast runs on Sunday and Monday, and took a
planned day off today. I'm planning to wake up early tomorrow and try
to make this a 35-40 mile week.

Monday am, 5.6 miles in :45
Tuesday pm, 3.2 miles in :26
Friday am, 7 miles in :56

Three runs so far this week. Tuesday's route is lost in the tubes, but
Silas and I ended up at the farmer's market, where one of the farmers
asked us if we liked running in the rain. I told her that it beats
walking in the rain any day. I probably wouldn't have bothered
squeezing in that run, if not for Seebo's report that Mike Huckabee had
squeezed in a 14 miler over the weekend.

Silas has recovered from his foray into Eastern Standard Time, and is
sleeping in consistently enough that, as of today, I am starting back on a
routine of waking up early to run between 6 and 7 before he wakes up.
This means that I will be finishing my runs before dawn for at least the
next few weeks; the fact is made more bearable by reminiscing about the
old CWP days, when we monitored the progress of winter while running
Acme loops.

In with the new

Sunday pm, 7.8 miles in 1:03

The first run of the year was delayed by frigid weather in Florida (really!), a day of travel, and heavy rain in Berkeley. It was almost delayed again today because I couldn't get Silas to wear warm pants (he insisted on wearing his bus pajamas this morning and wouldn't allow me to cover them with overalls), but we finally made it out this afternoon while Christine went to yoga. As expected, Si was woefully out of shape after 3 weeks off, and we had to make several stops to watch the buses or seabirds while he regained his composure. The rest of the time, he referred to the graham crackers he was eating as "damn cookie". Since he calls his Grammie "Dammy", I think I can attribute this to phonics and not a slip up on my part.

The run was otherwise uneventful, although I appreciate that the sun is setting later nowadays and I was able to get home before dusk. Now is as good a time as any for a wrapup of 2007, my second full year of running.

Actually, not much to wrap up. I ran 1170 miles, compared to 1836 in 2006. I had one month (June) with more than 150 miles, compared to 9 months in 2006. I ran two half marathons, two 5Ks, a 12K, and a 10K, with no PRs. I would say that my best race was the Greening Up the Mountains 5K in Silva, NC, back in April. I stopped down there while moving from Philly and managed to win 3rd place on a very hilly course in 20:25.

For 2008? I'm not going to set goals, because all of my recent goals have fallen flat. I would like to run 1500 miles this year, and if I can find the time and opportunity, I'll run much more than that. If I am able to run as much as I'd like, I'll do some racing in the spring, and I should be able to either run a low-18s 5K or a marathon in the fall. If not, well, I'll just keep running when I can and enjoy it