Luke - 9.25

9.25mi, 68:03 (7:21)  Did mile loops on the bark trail, each one faster than the one previous.  Splits were: 4:45 to trail, 7:29, 7:24, 7:23, 7:17, 7:15, 7:10, 7:10, 7:06, 4:58 back home.  I felt good enough to keep going for 3-6 more, except for my stomach.  Lame.

Steve - 11

My longest run ever! 11 miles in 97 minutes (8:49). First half was in about 9:30 pace. Second half was in about 8:30 until I blazed the last mile in 7:34! Great run. Perhaps my best ever. Didn't need to push at all to keep that pace for the second half. Last mile of course I did some but still felt good at the end. I'm pumped because I decided I'm going to honor my 26th year on earth by running one mile for each year + .2 miles. If you'll note, this is equivalent to the distance of a marathon. There are a few marathons in San Diego, Long Beach, Big Sur, and others that I am looking at in the fall and winter. I will run a half first of course perhaps in August, but will start formulating a plan pretty soon. Anyone else in?...

Chris - 3.95

Went on a run this morning before eating breakfast, which is a big step for me b/c normally I don't do anything before I eat. But I figured it'd better to run before I eat so it's not sitting in my stomach. This run sucked, I had to push myself almost the whole time it felt like. My knee was tight to start out with, and then after that went away I realized both of my calves were really tight, so I felt like I couldn't run very fast the entire time. This was easily the hottest run I've done this year (mid 70's), so that might've affected my stamina. I did wear my cool Ridgeline Ramble tech shirt so that was kinda sweet to break that in - even though I sort of already did while playing ping pong with Luke in Eugene. Total time was 30:15 for a 7:39 pace.

Steve - 8

Headed out to do my tempo run on short grass instead of the wood chips this week. I did just over 4 miles at a pretty good pace. The key was I didn't push or strain myself at all. The average pace ended up being 7:17, so it was really more like a steady state effort I suppose. In any case, I felt like I could have kept the same pace for another few miles. I decided to do the 5k next week, so hopefully I can get under 20 and start working towards getting under 19. I was hoping to be under 20 by June but I just need to keep putting in the work. Hopefully after the Oregon trip, I'll be able to do a tempo 5K in 20:00...

3.8 miles in 38:55 of wu/cd
4.2 miles steady in 30:39 (7:17)

Oh, I am going to a new pair of shoes this weekend. I almost got some Brooks Infinity 2s at the L.A. Marathon Expo last week. Now I'm not really sure what to get. The Infinitys supposedly don't have as much support as the Brooks Adrenaline, but weigh more by 1.5 oz. I want something with a bit less support than my Asics 2130s. I might go for the Mizuno Wave Inspire 4 They're a bit lighter and are very flexible. I never really can tell a big difference with shoes when I try them on in the store, so I might just buy them online or from a running store in Oregon so I dont have to pay tax or shipping!

James - 4

1.8 - 13:56
2.2 - 17:49
---
4miles - 31:45

It is hot as FUCK here. Alison is already laughing. But it really has been hot. This was a hard, hard run. I stopped in the middle because I saw some friends in the park and decided to run up and kick the boy in the arse before collapsing in the shade for 5 minutes. I wore my 10k shirt for the first time, woo, geekery. My dad ran for two hours, the goddamn nutter.

No doubt it will be raining again this week. I am trying to decide when next to run, as I am very busy for the next few days. Rest assured I'll be out as soon as practical though as I am anxious to go.

Steve - 6

6 miles in 65:00. Easy effort. Post workout meal consisted of two different kinds of Indian curry. Couldn't resist after all the talk recently!

Luke - 10.25

10.25mi, 73:11 (7:08)  It was really hot out (first over-80º day in Eugene this year) and I ran without a shirt.  There were a ton of other shirtless runners out, too.  I was sweating a ton and the dust from the bark trails I was running on was getting kicked up by the wind and the other runners so it stuck to me so I'm really dirty now.

Steve - 8.75

I ran a race only two days ago, but what the hell. I'm only going to be 25 for a few more days, so I dialed up a nice speed work with the Flyers tonight...


3X400(1:36, 1:28, 1:28) 100r(pretty much walking between the 4s)
2X800(3:08-1:33,1:35, 3:09-1:34,1:35), 400r
1200(4:55-1:39,1:38,1:38), 400r
2X800(3:12-1:36,1:36, 3:08-1:36,1:32

3.5 miles of speedwork
2 miles wu, 2 miles cd, 1.25 mi recovery
= 8.75

Didnt really have any specific time goals for this workout. Just wanted to run comfortably hard. Still had some gas left in the tank after it was over. Of course, I finished the night with a Burrito Bol from Chipotle!

Chris - 1.9

Just did a short run to stretch out my legs. Still pretty sore from the race, that last big downhill really made my left calf muscle really tighten up. I started out really slow, mostly because my calf felt like it would tear if I didn't do so. Really sped up at the end, the street going back to my place is a very gradual downhill so I was really able to get tall and let my legs fly. Final time was 13:31 for a pace of 7:06.

James - 3.2

26:11

Much better run today. Wasn't sure how far I planned to run when I went but am pretty happy with this distance. It hurt somewhat, but I am combatting the comedown from the peak at the race. Have gone back to the roads.

I had 24 tortillas at home so I used two for my post-run meal. BURRITO RUNNING

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 66:56 (7:38)  In the middle of this run was an up-then-down version of the hill I had to go down then up at the end of my leg of the relay on Monday.  I was hustlin' pretty well and my previous mile had been 7:10, and the uphill mile (some days I think it might be longer) took 9:48.  My time for the same split on Monday was 8:28, so I am pretty content with the finish of my race.

I didn't have a burrito after my run, but I did put some curry in a couple corn tortillas 3-4 hours afterwards.

Steve - 5

It's been awhile since I have been posted anything, but I have been running. I'll start with the most recent. Today was the L.A. Marathon, and of course I was participating in the 5k portion. It was a late start at 8:30 so I was expecting some pretty hot conditions. Luckily it was overcast until about 11 am, which actually was great for all the Marathon participants. We stayed in a nice hotel in downtown L.A. about a mile from the race. My parents were visiting, so we(myself and the wife, who I don't think I mentioned before) decided to stay there the whole weekend. Ok, so I'm kind of jumping around. Anyway the marathon was slated to start an hour before the 5k a block from our hotel. We had a great view out of our window of the start. It was pretty amazing seeing tens of thousands of people lined up. I have some cool pictures of it that I'll post up. Ok, so after watching the start from our room, we headed down to the start. Was a bit annoying that there weren't any bathrooms near the start, but what can you do. I guess all the portabodies in Los Angeles were spread out for the marathoners. I got a decent warmup and strides and drills and stuff and got to the front of the pack for the start. I was talking to a guy next to me who said he was going to run in the 15:30 range, but even at the front there were overweight people and other slow looking runners. Ridiculous. Fortunately, when the gun went off I was able to waste minimal time getting in to my race pace. OK, so the start is on Chick Hearn Ct. right near Staples Center and the L.A. Convention Center. After the first 50 meters we take a right onto Figueroa and head down for an out-and-back. As soon as we turned onto Figueroa, literally 30 seconds into the race or so, we hit a water station, since we were at mile 1 for the Marathon. They hadn't bothered to change the water station for the 5K. So they were trying to give us water after 30 seconds of running on a relatively cold day for L.A.'s standards. Suffice to say, not a lot of water was consumed by the faster competitors at this station. Later, my Dad, who also ran in the race, told me someone asked him if they had already run a mile when they hit that water station, perhaps .1 miles into the race at the absolute must.

Well, pushing this inconvenience aside, I made sure I didn't start too slow and tried to get into my 6:30 or so minute/mile pace. I stayed with another older runner who I figured would probably run even splits the whole way, which was perfect for me. After about 6 minutes, I realized that there probably wasn't going to be a mile marker for mile 1. So I just had to go by feel. I upped my effort a bit, since I wanted to run slightly negative miles, even I wouldn't have a record of it. When my watch hit 10 minutes and we hadn't turned around, I got a bit worried. I should have been at least close to turning around by this point. On the course map, we were supposed to turn at 32nd street. However, we went 2 blocks past 32nd and turned at Jefferson. My time at the turn was 11:2x. I knew something had to be wrong. Well, I thought maybe the finish got moved up and this wasn't the halfway point. I focused on the older gentleman in front of me to make sure I didn't slow down. Again, no mile marker for the second mile. I figured that would be the case after the first mile. 35 dollars for this race and no mile markers! I felt like had I run the first two miles in about 13 minutes. The older gentleman put a bit of distance on me in the third mile. As we approached downtown there was no sign of the finish with 19 minutes elapsed. Bad sign. Either I'm slower than I thought or the course is long. I was starting to really wear down by this point, but I tried to resist slowing down as much as I could. I passed a girl with about 1/3 of a mile left and someone yelled something to the girl that she was in second place for the women. Well that was a good sign, I thought. There are usually at least 3-4 women who run sub-20 in most 5ks I run. The finish was one block up from the start and when I got the turn for the last 50 meters I was really feeling it. I kicked with the minimal reserves left in the tank and glanced at the clock to see 21:52 as I crossed the mat. No way that was a 5k, I told myself. I knew we had to have run at least an extra 400 meters. The wife came in about 1:30 to 2:00 minutes later than she usually does and my Dad was just behind her. Oh, also I forgot to mention that they had a water station set up about 500 meters from the finish. Again, who needs water right before you finish a 5k? For anyone who is actually running in the race, it makes no sense! I was pretty disappointed with the time and the management of the race itself, but what can you do?

Fast forward 5 hours. First page I go to is Gmaps Pedometer. Without including the turns at the start and finish, the course measures out 3.31 miles. So conservatively, we ran at least 3.4 miles. If you apply the pace I ran for 3.31, it translates to about a 20:30 5k. Next stop is the L.A. Marathon 5k results page to confirm my time of 21:52. I find the older runner who finished ahead of me by about 15 seconds. I'm sure he's a regular race participant. So I check out his previous races through Athlinks and find his most recent 5k. He ran about 1:20 faster a month ago. Good sign. Now time for some math. So I divide his time from today's race by this race from last month. I get the value of 1.083. So this the multiplier of your true 5k time to get your L.A. Marathon 5k time. To verify this number, I do the same for another runner who finished near me. I get almost exactly the same number. So when you divide my time of 21:52 by 1.083 you get.......20:11. So the math may be flawed and the sample size small, but I will stand by them! And yes, I do realize I'm probably the only person who participated in this race who would go to these lengths.

I will not be running the L.A. Marathon 5k next year.

James - 2

I decided a week was enough rest and went out for a short run today. I felt bad for neglecting this place, but it seems not much has happened! I see Luke has some updates to make, but still, there are days of silence here. I was wondering if we were going to do more combined updates than we did in April (with the advantage that May is a day longer) but we are like 20 updates behind. Maybe we could make that a combined goal for June? Hows that for team spirit?

1mile - 7:53
800m - 4:02
850m - 4:07
---
~2 miles - 16:02

It was hot today! I needed to stop for essential reasons. I'd been enjoying wearing the same clothes for a week what with not going out running ("Down with Capitalism" shirt that Luke found big enough for his massive torso). (Alison got it me.)

I'll go out again on Wednesday.

Luke - 6.2, Chris - 6.2

This is our joint blog post for our race.  I (Luke) will go first since I ran the first leg of the relay, and then I'll hand off (har har) to Chris.

So I didn't run much in the past week (I'll catch up on those blog posts later tonight), and was just running this for fun, but I definitely tried to run well.  I ran the full race two years ago and was way back in 19th, so I was surprised when I went right to the front at the beginning of the race today.  Right away 4 of us separated ourselves from the rest of the group.  A guy in white was at the front, I was a step behind him, a guy in green was a step behind me, and a shirtless guy was a step behind him.  The first mile is uphill, and although I was breathing pretty heavily, I didn't feel too bad, and I could hear the other guys breathing too so I figured I wasn't out of my league there.  After the first mile it's mostly downhill for a mile and I felt really good on that.  The trail was only wide enough for one at most points, so I figured once we got to the road at 2 miles we'd sort ourselves out by how we felt.  Coming down the hill I felt good enough that I was thinking about going to the lead once the route crossed the road and went up the second big hill...but there was a small uphill before the road and once I hit it I knew I wouldn't be making any big moves up the hill.

At the road the shirtless guy went to the lead and took off, with the rest of us retaining our order.  I was having a tough time up the hill and figured the guy in green would pass me, but I made it up the first uphill of the section still right behind the guy in white, and when it went to downhill for a bit I felt good.  After that, though, there was another big section of uphill, and green passed me, and white started pulling away then too.  After about a quarter-mile of that uphill I couldn't see either of them any more.  When it turned back to downhill I made it my goal to catch white by the time I got to the next road (around 4 miles into the race).  I was booking down the hills and was back to feeling good, and saw him ahead of me about a half mile from the road, and gradually caught up to him, and was with him when we got to the road.  At this point in the race the course goes down a hill for a mile and does a small loop and comes back up the same hill before handing off to the second part of the relay, so I saw Chris before heading down.  The guy in white let me go ahead of him into the trail since he could tell I was beating him on the downhill sections.  I've run this section of trail many many times and have a section that I always time myself on because I think it's about exactly a mile, so I hit my watch at the top and tore off down the hill.  

There were a lot of switchbacks, so it's really hard to get up a ton of speed...I think the fastest I've ever run that mile is 5:09.  I was definitely going pretty fast down it, but the course turned off a little before the place where I think the mile mark is, so I didn't get to gauge very accurately, but I think I was around 5:20 or so.  At the bottom of the hill there's a creek, and I didn't get my feet wet or anything, but I had to slow down to step on rocks to cross it.  After that it went back up the hill I just finished gleefully running down, and I had purposely not saved anything for it.  I knew it would be slow going up, and decided to just do my earlier running fast and concentrate on just making it up the hill.  As I was going up, people were coming down, and I had to dodge them...at one point a guy didn't give me quite enough room and I sorta fell, but I was able to get back up pretty easily.  A lot of the runners said "good job" as I passed them, and a few told me the next guy was really close and that I could catch him.  I didn't really believe them since I hadn't seen him in like 4 miles.  One guy said "I've been running for twenty seconds since I saw them" so I guess he was about 40 seconds ahead of me.  I never did see him, probably because there were a lot of switchbacks.  At the top of the hill I tried to kick, but it was really too steep to go much faster.  I managed to make it to Chris, and slapped his hand with my last bit of energy...

This was my first trail run I've done, it's definitely a lot different than a normal road race. Pretty fun though! I was glad Luke came by us before doing the loop so I could cheer him on some before we slapped hands and I took off. I was pretty much by myself running through the woods for the first mile or two. I'd done a lot of mountain biking on this section of trail when I was living in Eugene, so it was fun to be able to know all the little twists and turns. I was feeling pretty good going through there, it's pretty rolling as far as up and downhills, so I could really let my legs fly on the little downhills let them carry me back up the little uphills. Toward the end of that section there's a fairly decent hill with a few switchbacks, and I knew once I hit those that I would be pretty slow going up the longer hills in my leg. I glanced back and saw a guy on a white shirt a bit back, and was hoping I could hold him off for awhile. Once that little hill tops off it goes straight back down and comes out by a road. It took me a few strides to get tall again after the climb, but I flew down it pretty quick. In fact the white shirt guy didn't pass me until after I had done the 180 onto the road and had been on it for a minute or two. He passed me fairly quickly so I felt good that I had held him off for as long as I did. After the road section it went back onto more trail that I've done mountain biking on many times before, and I knew I was in for a serious climb. I was feeling fairly decent going up the first bit, but as it continued and made a switchback my steps were becoming shorter and slower. Another guy in a white & black penny came up behind me pretty quick, so I waited a couple steps for when the trail widened a little and asked him if he wanted to pass. He said please so I stepped to the side off the trail a little and let him go on by. It continued uphill from there, and just when I thought I would have a little leveling off, they had us turn 90 degrees to the left and go straight up the side of this STEEP hill. (Normally when I mountain bike there, I byass this and go straight, since this hill is so steep). I hate to admit it, but after taking some strides up that part I realized I was barely running and seriously struggling, so I walked that tiny little uphill section and started running again as soon as I got to the top. Since there were so many hills on this course I was concerned about using too much energy early on trying to attack the hills, because this happened when I ran the Butte to Butte 10k a couple years ago - you go up a big hill for the first mile and I went out way way to fast and was really struggling the last few miles. I was by myself for a long time after the black & white penny guy passed me. There was a lot of downhill so I had fun careening down that and really letting my legs fly. At some parts I couldn't pick up a ton of speed because it was gravel and very short distances between switchbacks. This dumped out into a neighboorhood and from there I saw a few ladies that had started the 10k about 10-15 mins before I started out my leg, and the penny guy in front of them. I passed them but never came close to catching the penny guy. After that I passed a few more ladies (while I was passing some people I tried to be nice and say "keep it up" or "good job") and the course took a turn and went down a huge, steep section of road. It was kinda lame because it was so steep and long I couldn't get very tall and use my strides to my advantage. But after that it leveled out back onto some gravel. I was feeling pretty good at this point and passed a couple more 10kers, and then the gravel road went through a wooded donwhill section. I went absolutely flying down this section, and after the switchback I passed an older guy and said "finish strong!" to him and he said "likewise, and watch your step" - probably because I was going recklessly fast down this gravel decline. Then it turned into road again for a little flat section. An older guy that was running the full 20k passed me on this section, but as it went up a little hill up to the road (3/4 of a mile to the finish) I tried to push it and actually passed him a little by the end of the hill. But then as it leveled out and then started to go downhill again he passed me again and it was clear I wouldn't be able to keep up with him. I ended up passing one more 10k lady pretty close to the finish and came across the line by myself for a total team time of 1:28:06. Luke finished his leg in 44:15 and I finished mine in 43:51, so this obviously means I'm faster than Luke now! Then we stuck around for about 45 mins to wait for them to hand out awards. We got first in our "combined" age group, and third overall for the relay! So we got medals for that, and then some stupid people that did the relay didn't stick around for the awards, so they did a raffle for some extra swag and Luke and I won some sweatshirts! So that was pretty sweet, plus they had fresh fixings to make yummy burritos while we waited. Good times!

Steve - 3.5

Easy run through downtown. 36:10

Steve - 7.5

7.5 miles in 69:50(9:19). Mixed in several 30 second strides in the last mile.

Chris - 8.11

I think James said awhile ago that there's a lot more to talk about with longer runs. I have to agree! So this is the farthest I have ever run, and also the first time I've run for an hour or more continuously. It went pretty well I guess. Luke said to take it easy - I don't think I had much choice! Both of my thighs were burning pretty good by the midway point, I think this is happening from overuse or something. So much for running my first 15 mile week, I'm going to use all 3 days before the Ridgeline Ramble to rest up so my legs don't bother me during the race. I don't think I've ever been more actively hungry during a run. I swear at least half the time all I could think about was what I was going to eat for dinner when I got back home. Good motivation! Also after I hit the halfway point on my out & back, I realized exactly how far I was away from home, hah. Also I passed this idiot guy - running in the dark, with the traffic, with headphones in his ears! I doubt he'd hear a car coming to hit him, because by the time I was about to pass him he looked up and just about jumped out of his shoes he was so startled. I waited a few paces before I laughed out loud at his idiocy. Final time was 69:15 for a pace of 8:32. Time to go eat the house down!

Steve - 3.8

Easy run on grass. Recovery from speedwork yesterday.

Steve - 9.25

Here is the workout:

1200(4:50-1:35, 1:38, 1:37) 400r
800(3:18-1:40, 1:38) 400r
400(1:37) 400r

1200(4:53-1:40, 1:37, 1:36) 400r
800(3:13-1:35, 1:38) 400r
400(1:31) 400r

1600(6:36-1:38, 1:39, 1:40, 1:39)

4 miles of speedwork, 1.5 of recovery, plus 3.75 warmup/cooldown in 39:29

I wanted to run everything right around 20 min 5k pace(6:26 per mile, 1:36:30 per 400) so I could really know exactly how that pace felt for my upcoming 5K on Monday. I was pretty close to it for the most part. Despite doing what is a pretty high amount of speedwork for me(4 miles), it was actually a pretty comfortable workout. This is probably my best workout so far, at least based on how I felt afterwards. I felt like I could have banged out some more quality intervals, which is a good sign. I watched all the guys who probably run slower 5ks than me run their intervals at 6 min/mile pace or faster, knowing that running at my pace with an easier effort will do me a lot of good. One guy I talked to was astonished when I told him I planned on running even miles for my 5K. "You have to get out fast on the first mile," he said. We shall see about that, my friend, as I put this philosophy to the test...nothing but easy runs and striders the rest of the week.

Chris - 4.91

I did this run really late. I think I'm turning into Luke or something. I got back home from seeing Star Trek around 11 and decided I needed to go run since I've only run once since the 5k, and wanted to get in an 8-miler before the 10k race on Monday with Luke (Ridgeline Ramble). I figured I should do about 5 miles so I don't ramp up to doing 8 so quickly. It was sorta chilly out, but kinda neat to run on the streets when there were hardly any cars. A funny thing that run through my head as I was running - if I'm involved in a driveby shooting, I don't have my cell phone to call anyone to come get me and bring me to the hospital...which is funny because it's not like I like in the ghetto or something. Anyway, I tried to pace myself and avoid running too hard on the first half (did an out and back). I forgot to hit my watch but I'm pretty sure I had a negative split. I had enough legs at the end to pick it up, so I took that as a good sign that I controlled my tempo well. Final time was 37:53 for a pace of 7:42.

Steve - 4.5

4.5 miles in 46:15(10:16)
Easy effort in the AM. My right leg is still bothering me, some pain in the hip and knee. Not bad otherwise though. Trying to really hit the foam roller a lot.

Alison - 1

Distance: 1 mile; Time: 13; Locale: Incline Treadmill; Incline: 15.0

I slowed it way on down the line because I was doing inclines like crazy.

I only did one mile because I wanted to work on the Cybex machine and kinesis wall.

James - 6.2

Time: 46:27
Rank: 2306/~33,000

Sorry for keeping you in suspense! So, I am surprised I came so high in ranking. And really quite pleased with my time. I didn't get under 45 but Alison was eerily correct when she said I would do under 46:30. I must be honest, I did not feel like it was going great for much of the run. I got stitch-like pains just 5 minutes in, and towards the end found it really almost impossible to sprint or keep up an increased speed. But I tried my very best. My legs have been sore today, especially when walking to the health store in Hale (Luke and Alison know the work of this task). (Don't worry, my mum came to help me carry.)

The fact though that 10K didn't really seem that far must be a good thing, since that wasn't the case when I did the race 2 years ago and I had been training for a few months then too (almost knocked 5 mins off that time). There were signs for the first 6K but after that I didn't see any until it said 800m left, which was annoying. I seemed to be doing each one in about 4:30 until then, which if I'd kept it up would have been 45.

I know that there is room for improvement and that feels good (for one thing, gotta get a better sleep pattern). I am tempted to enter for another race. They do these large 10Ks all over the UK and Ireland, and there is one not far from here in September called The Great Yorkshire Run. It would give me reason to carry on the training since that is only 4 months off but I don't know if I would be burnt out and actually want to commit to that.

My dad came in at 01:04:38 (32nd place for his age group!). He was a bit disappointed because he thought he had done it in under an hour until we checked online, but he had calculated it wrong with regards to when he went under the start line. Especially since he wanted to beat his time of 1hr 2mins from last year. But I think he was alright. He also insisted he saw signs after 6K, bah.

I had forgotten what it was like running with so many people. It really is easy to find yourself going too fast to just try and overtake. But, even though the "atmosphere" often consisted of overplayed songs like Mr Brightside by The Killers and Eye of the Tiger being pumped from large speakers at the side of the road, it's hard not to feel some inspiration to push harder.

Thank you all for your inspiration and advice also!

After the run I met my mum and we went into the lobby of a fancy looking hotel (my dads wave was only just starting) and she drank tea while I drank nasty corporate PowerAde that was given to me in my goody bag (but tasted good right then). I was surprised they let runners in, but not many others came, surprisingly. She said I stank. It was gone 6pm when Usain Bolts race happened and it was a horrible rainy day (not during the morning thankfully, just cold enough to cause a cold sweat) so we watched it on TV. He was pretty astounding. One of the 4 women in the womens 150M was a 17yr old who ran at Sale Harriers (a club Luke went to during his time here).

I made a half-arsed attempt at raising money for this womens group called Object. I have raised a good few pounds. I know you are students but if you fancy donating, here is their website and their paypal donation page. Even if you (men) can't donate, have a look at some of the things they have to say. That would be decent stuff.

Here is a story about how the pro runners did, if you don't know already and are interested. And here's some geeky stats.

Age Group Position - 1484
Gender Position - 2149
Age Group and Gender Position - 1377
3K - 00:13:43
5K - 00:23:00
7.5K - 00:34:55

Steve - 10

92 minutes(9:12). Didn't feel great for this run. My body was telling me to quit the last 2 miles, but I kept going. Wanted to run over 10 today, but stopped there. Legs were hurting a lot. Can anyone recommend a good pair of earphones or headphones to wear while running? I couldn't get mine to stay in. I don't usually listen to music while running, but I thought for these long and slow runs it might be nice.

Luke - 5.25

5.25mi, 39:46 (7:34)  Ran so late that the only suitable place was the high school track, which wouldn't have been so bad, except there was an annoying bird there the whole time (no, James, I don't mean bird as in woman).  When it shut up for a while it was nice to just run in circles for a while though.  18 laps there, in the cool and dark.

Steve - 7.5

Tempo run on the famed wood chips trail of Manhattan Beach, the only decent running trail within 100 miles of my house. I have a bunch of excuses for not running as fast as I would liked on the tempo portion: wood chips are slower, i was sleepy, i ran nearly 7 mi less than 24 hrs before the run, and I didn't get much sleep during the week. On the cooldown, brought home the last 1.5 mile at 8 min/mile pace and felt really strong, so there's that at least.

2 mi warmup in 19:13
3 mi tempo in 22:13(7:30, 7:20, 7:23)
2.5 mi cd in 23:24
64:50, 7.5 miles

James - 2.15

18mins exactly.

A short run. Didn't feel great, but am hoping that will balance out tomorrow when it all really matters. Tried to go easy.

Today I have been getting ready. Making tofu scramble and electrolyte cocktail (Alisons creation) for breakfast. Writing "GREED" on the side of my Nike trainers in green pen so that when I wear my shirt with the Nike swoosh and the word Greed above it tomorrow I won't look ridiculous (not actually pictured there, but you get the idea). Writing my info on the back of my runners number, safety-pinning it to my shirt and eating a boatload of pasta.

This all means I will beat Haile Gebrselassie, right?

Steve - 6.75

6.75mi. in 70:00(10:22). Didnt get much sleep this week, but I had to get in a long run tonight.

Luke - 9.75

am - 3.25mi, 24:55 (7:40)

pm - 6.5mi, 45:44 (7:02)

Luke - 8.5

8.5mi, 67:10 (7:54)  Lots of hills.  This is in that new set of trails I found a month or two ago...I've found that anytime I run there it's gonna be tough...it's hilly to get there, and then there's barely any flat anywhere on the trails.  Found some good routes though.

Oh also I lost my key on my run!  I had it in a buttoned side pocket and it must have fallen out somehow.  People were always saying I'd lose my key because when I wear shorts with no pockets I tie it in my shoelaces, and I don't double-knot my shoes.  I sure showed them.

Anyway I got the key that my roommate's girlfriend usually has and I'll make a copy tomorrow.

Chris - 1.7

So I haven't run since the race, partly because my grandparents were in town until Tuesday, partly because I've been working late every night, and partly because my left thigh has been strangely burning/in pain when I try to flex it much. I'm not sure if I got kneed in the thigh during my basketball game Monday night, but whatever it is it's making my thigh really tight and uncomfortable. At first I was going to run 2.5, but thought better of that cuz of my "injured" left thigh. Then I was going to run like 1.4, but I stretched it out a bit because I was feeling better than I thought I might. Good thing I didn't go too much farther though, toward the end the thigh started to bother me. I hope that goes away soon....final time was 11:41 for a 6:52 pace.

James - 3.8

30:57
6.16K

Late night run. Crisp air, little traffic, silly and romantic. Back to the roads which was enjoyable despite loving the canal runs lately. Felt really good, got some good speed going. It's like in the film where our hero has a devastating event shortly before the judgement day, but they perservere and find a way to win the trophy anyway! At least, that's what I hope. Also hope I can resist the urge to do more than a slow, couple-mile run on Saturday (race is Sunday).

Steve - 7.75

Speedwork with the Flyers at Caltech. Here is the workout:
3X800, 400r, 4x400, 100r, 2x800, 400r

800s:
3:14 (1:38, 1:36)
3:09 (1:36, 1:33)
3:02 (1:32, 1:30)

400s:
1:26, 1:25, 1:23, 1:21

800s:
3:08 (1:33, 1:35)
3:00 (1:31, 1:29)

I tried to not get caught up in racing, which is pretty hard to do in speed workouts. Just wanted to make sure I finished each set strong. 400s felt pretty good. I didn't need to push, it was more just snapping my body out of the 6:xx min/mile. The closing 81 was nice. Latched on to one of the faster guys for the whole way. I think the set of 400s really helps me get an idea for what it will be like I have to run a 1500 or 1600. There's very little recovery. If you add my times together, it would be a 5:35 for 1600. I think I could actually come close to that fresh. We'll see on the next time trial. Last 800 I tried to shadow the same guy as on the last 400 but he ran the first 100 in about 18 seconds, so I let him go. But it's a good sign I hit a negative split for the last rep.

3.25 miles of warmup/cooldown in 34:00 plus about 1 mile of recovery. (I didn't do all of the recovery). My knee was hurting today and my hip too, but I should be OK.

Luke - 9.75

am - 3.25mi, 24:32 (7:32)

pm - 6.5mi, 51:20 (7:53)  Really rainy and windy.

Need more sleep...think it'll be a month till I get that opportunity, though.

James - 3.2

24:58 - 5K

Did the fartlek running, two minutes on, two minutes off. Hard work! At first I ran too fast in the slow parts - didn't have that problem after about 8 minutes, hah.

Ran in a pair of Lukes magic shorts that he left here last year. Can't say it felt much different so maybe I will wear them on the day incase it keeps me less hot/for good luck! They have so many zips, toggles and buckles on them that I felt I was going to an English 70s punk show. No wonder Luke left them.

Bit of bad news though. Looks like I was measuring slightly wrong on google maps, I think, and haven't been doing quite 10K in the times I thought. I suppose it's better I found out now rather than being disappointed on the day. But I still think I can get a good time.

Steve - 5.1

Slow and easy. Nothing really of note except some fatass on a motorbike (motorcycle for you americans) cruised past me while blasting "Poker face, your poker face" by Lady Dada or whoever that hell that is. 57:42(11:18)

Luke - 8

8mi, 58:49 (7:21)  There was a guy running on the other side of the creek as me at about the same pace, so I went a little too fast at the beginning.

Luke - 9.5

am - 3.25mi, 25:40 (7:53)
pm - 6.25mi, 44:28 (7:06)

Good to be back to proper mileage.  My run yesterday was pretty late, so I actually did 19.5 miles in <24 hours.

James - 6.2

44:57

51 seconds slower than the other day for the same distance. I know not to be worried. Physically I could tell today wasn't going to be so easy. But I kept thinking "this could be race day," so dealt with everything - stitches, phlegm, pain, and the fact that the canal was more like a wind tunnel than ever. I felt like I was barely moving despite trying to run fast towards the end. I remembered the logic of aiming to the area behind your target when you throw a punch - aim for behind the finish line so you don't instinctively slow down before you get there.

I assumed I was going to be a few minutes slower, so it wasn't too bad. I may have been helped by the fact that I got a haircut yesterday. 14 months growth, so I went from nearly this to this. Purely in terms of hair, you understand. I bet we can outrun Statham.

Here is my plan for the week. Is it good? I wonder if it is too much running.

Tuesday: Work.
Wednesday: Speed running, with the fast and slow parts. Try wearing shorts (I normally wear full lengths).
Thursday: 10K practice run. Shorts.
Friday: Work.
Saturday: Small run to stay loose, maybe 2 or 3 miles. I can't run two days before the race due to work so this will have to do.
Sunday: Race.

Also, have you fine people any advice on what to eat/drink/do so as not to get too much spit and gross stuff like that? It was out in force this afternoon.

Luke - 10

10mi, 77:47 (7:46)  Was at about 7:20 pace the first 8 miles, then stomach started hurting.

Steve - 9.6

Good old Sunday long run. Wanted to do about 10 miles and I was right there. It was a typical hot summer's day in L.A. I headed out to Santa Monica and ran on a dirt trail with a great view of the ocean for half the run and did the rest on a soft grass median. Tried to keep it progressive and finished pretty strong, feeling good.

Here are some quasi splits(calculated using gmaps pedometer, since I'm a stat geek:

2.08 mi.- 20:47(9:59)
2.08- 19:57(9:35)
2.72- 24:24(8:58)
2.72- 22:06(8:07)

Total distance of 9.6 in 87:14(9:04)

I beat Luke in total miles last week for maybe the only time in my life. I ran 32.4 miles this week. Shooting for 35 this week(counting today). What did everyone else run? Let's all gloat about beating Luke!

Alison - 3

Distance: 3 miles; Time: 30 mins; Locale: Treadmill

I think I overdid it this week. I was wiped after today's run and barely got through it, even that slowly.

Alison 3.5

Distance: 3.5 miles; Time: 32 min; Locale: Treadmill; Incline: 10.0-12.0

Incline treadmills are evil.

Publish Post

James - 6.2

44:06 - 10K
Under my goal of 45 mins!

This felt like a good run from start to finish. That feeling of death which I talked about was largely gone, replaced with a pain I could deal with that allowed me to push - just slightly - at almost all times, and over a long distance shave quite a lot off. I dare say I still felt room for improvement. I only hope I can run this well on race day.

Luke - 2.25

2.25mi, 16:12 (7:12)

Steve - 7.5

After reading about Chris smashing my PR, it was all the fuel I needed to go bang out a tough tempo run. Plan was 4 miles at slightly above 7 min/mile pace. I went to the wood chips trail in Manhattan Beach and got to work. Pretty hot outside since it was about 1:30 when I got started, but I did have a bit of a breeze. Got in an easy warmup then let it fly. After about the third mile, it started getting tough. I could tell I didn't have as much energy as usual. I made it to the 3.75 mark and I was stating to really push it,so I decided to cut it short. Finished with a couple mile cooldown and called it a day. This is the first time I work Nike Frees on the trail and I got bunch of little rocks stuck in my the grooves. Somehow my ankle got some cuts on it too. I think the opposite shoe rubbed against that leg a few times by mistake and the rocks scratched it. Rocks aside, it was a solid workout. I finished the cooldown pretty strong at about 8:30 pace for the last mile, and felt good at the end.

1.5 mile warmup 14:07 (9:24)
3.75 mile tempo run (27:20-7:14, 7:11, 7:15, 5:40(7:33 pace)
2.25 mile cooldown 21:02 (9:37)

Chris - 4

Man I forgot how fun races are! I'm not sure if I should've run yesterday, my legs didn't feel very fresh at all this morning, but what else is new. I tried to warm up and stretch my legs as much as possible without exerting myself too much before the race. After reading about Steve getting stuck behind all of those people, I really made sure to get in the very front for the start. There were a few kids and people that didn't look very fast that lined up at the front, and also a sprinkling of running club looking guys with matching running jerseys on, so I figured they'd beat me pretty easy. The start felt pretty quick, which was fine I expected that. Although when I passed the first mile marker at 6:02 I was pretty surprised! I also became slightly concerned because the next mile has a few little hills and downslopes...and since my legs weren't feeling as springy as usual I had to really push myself. About 4 guys probably passed me up to that point, which isn't surprising considering my ridiculous start but still was a little knock on the confidence since I was struggling a little. Came through the second mile marker at 7:04...which kinda pissed me off, but the hills were done with and I think I picked up more speed on the switchback since ya know, you want to look good to all of the people that you're ahead of! Then for the last mile they had a few volunteers cheering us on which always helps - and then one of the last volunteers said it's all downhill from here so I tried to pick it up some....then I could hear a few people behind me and this guy comes up on my left pretty quick and goes "c'mon I can't do it by myself!" and puts out his hand so I gave him five and tried to fall in behind. I stayed with him for maybe a block but he was really pouring it on to the end so I just tried to stride out and when I hit the 3rd mile marker at 6:48 I didn't have enough to sprint but I really strided out and pushed through the finish, happy to hear my correct name called (see: my name being called for Sam Callero in the Eugene Marathon 5k), but even happier to see that I finished the last .1 in 29 seconds for a total time of 20:25 (official posting was 20:24)!! Oh man I was pumped but since I raced by myself I didn't have anyone to high five haha. But that's okay I was pretty tired after I crossed the finish line and had to wait a bit before I drank some water and had an orange slice. Then I drove home quite elated and ran a short cooldown up the street and back. Now I can't wait for my next race!

Chris - 1.5

Real easy short run, just wanted to shake out my legs a bit before the race tomorrow. I strided out a little toward the end but then slowed down again. Total time was 11:55 for a pace of 7:56

Luke - 2.25

2.25mi, 17:42 (7:49)  

Alison - 10

Distance: 10!!!; Time: 90+ mins; Locale: Incline Treadmill; Incline: 5.0

Today I had my best run in ages because I finally found my mp3 player. Here are some of my favorite running songs that are on today's playlist:

Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This
The Format - Time Bomb
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
Descendents - Cheer
New Pornographers - My Slow Descent into Alcoholism
Hellogoodbye - Here in Your Arms
Muse - Starlight
Bloc Party - Helicopter

After this, I switched to the salsa station. That's really excellent for getting your heart rate up. As soon as I turn on music, it really makes my running feel so much easier, and I enjoy it so much more.

I am off to eat now like a boy, even though I am a little girl. Running makes me hungry.

Steve - 4.3

Well I had no plan to run tonight, so I decided to have a few adult beverages and take it easy. After consuming a dinner consisting of chocolate chip cookie dough, pasta, chips, and a Japanese sweet potato, I was feeling pretty good. It was approaching 11 o'clock, so I was faced with a decision. Run tonight or get up at 6 in the morning and run. To be Luke's weekly total for the first time in my life and get over 30 miles in the week, I had to do choose one. It turned out to be no decision at all. I threw on my running clothes, rolled on the foam roller for a few minutes and headed out the door. If you'll remember, I like to run as much as possible on grass these days to reduce the chance of overuse injuries. However, the park near my house has been closed for renovations for 6 months. Not only is it fenced off now, the field has been totally demolished with a bulldozer. I can't even sneak in to run on the grass anymore. Well, I had another idea. There is a golf course adjacent to the park. I don't usually run this late at night when no one is out there, so I never consider sneaking in. But tonight I decided I'd give it a shot. The other day I had spotted a perfect spot to jump the fence. So I ventured down to the spot and entered into the forbidden paradise of soft grass. Some sprinklers were running in a few areas, but for the most part it was a wide open oasis of soft running surface. I preceded to run all over to my heart's content. The grass was perfectly manicured, as one would expect. I ran in the fairways. I ran on the greens. I ran everywhere one can even dream of. It was everything I imagined and more. Then something happened. I glanced behind me and saw two lights a few hundred meters behind me. Uh oh. Well maybe they were there the whole time I thought. I quickened my a pace a bit. Since it was so dark, I didn't have very good depth perception. I couldn't tell if the lights were approaching me. They might just have been some stationary lights. Well I sped up a little more to to be safe. I was probably 90 seconds away from the fence. After about 10-15 seconds of running and looking behind my shoulder, I realized in fact it was a little car and it was closing in on me. As the car got with 30 meters of me, I heard a whistle and some yelling. I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to run away because it's not like I was stealing anything. I was just tres-running. A guy jumped out and said to me "What are you doing?" Not too angrily, but pretty aggressively. "I'm just running. They tore up the park where I used to run. I just wanted to run on the grass," I said. He seemed to be relieved. I don't exactly fit the image of a criminal. I'm wearing a t-shirt and short shorts. I even pressed pause on my Nike Plus wristband right after he pulled up next to me. So my story is believable, because it's actually the truth. "Ok, well just stay away from the lights," he says. "They have cameras there. Some people broke into the shed a few weeks ago, so that's what I thought when I saw you. But you can run here if you want. Just avoid the lights." I thanked him, and then renewed my orgiastic jaunt through the silky soft grass for about 10 more minutes. My stomach was starting to not like the fact that I had drank a bunch of beer and eaten a bunch of crap not too long a go. I returned home and called it a night. I'm thinking of making this a weekly tradition, assuming my groundskeeper friend continues his generosity.

For the run itself, it was an easy effort, about 10 min/mile pace on average. Pace wasn't really important though as I wanted to just get in some easy miles after my speed workout on Wednesday.

Chris - 3.14

I'm really happy with how I felt on this run, partly because I'm running in a 5k race on Saturday morning and partly because I haven't run since Sunday. This route had a pretty big hill, mapmyrun says I ascended about 312 ft, most of that over about 3/4 of a mile during the second mile. I didn't feel that awesome going through the first mile, but going up the hill I was pushing myself really well. The hill I came down was really steep for the most part so I couldn't pick up much speed without fear of messing up my still weak hip and screwing myself over for the race Saturday. But coming into the last part of the run, even with the hill I still had a bunch of energy left to really push hard into the end and sprint to the finish. Final time was 23:50 for a pace of 7:35.

So this race I'm doing (in fact I should sign up now before I forget...hang on....ok done!) is called The Lake Run. I'm going to do the 5k Run/Walk. Based on last year's times I could get top 20! I really want to go sub 21, but I'd much rather not only beat my PR of 20:50, but even possibly destroy Steve's PR of 20:36.....we'll see about that.

James - 6.5

49:11
10.5K - Fuck yeah!

Ran down canal, had to dodge a guy in a machine with large blades who was cutting the grass.

I see the everyday politics in running, but how about doing a 5K against the World Bank in Washington DC?

RUNNING THE GAUNTLET

Flush with the lion’s share of the $1.1trillion pledged by G20 to combat the the economic crisis (SchNEWS 671), the IMF and the World Bank met in Washington last week for their annual get together. The meeting sparked three days of protest by activists less than convinced that the IMF - with its history of disastrous economic interventions - could be trusted to do anything but exacerbate the crisis.

Protests began on Friday (24th) with a ‘Run on the Bank’ as activists staged a five kilometre ‘fun’ run from Malcolm X Park to the World Bank HQ. Activities continued on the Saturday with a ‘Peoples Economic Forum’ held against the backdrop of street protests which, although small scale, were met with large scale violence from the police.

* See also http://dc.indymedia.org

Luke - 3.25

3.25mi, 22:53 (7:02)

That makes 17.5 miles in 5 days.  I'll probably finish under 25 for the week.  Who's not gonna make it?

Steve - 7.5

The speed workout today was 400 with 100m recovery, then 1600, 1200, 800, 400 (with 400 recovery before each), and then a 300 with only 100m recovery. It was really hot tonight and for some stupid reason I wore long tights instead of shorter compression shirts. It was literally 80 degrees at about 6:30 when we got started. I decided I would take it easy and not kill myself on my intervals like last week. I just let it flow and tried to run even splits and speed up a hair on the intervals as they got shorter. Oh, and I convinced two other guys to run an 800 after we walked a lap after the 300. I told them I wanted to run at 6:50 mile pace. So one guy took the lead and paced it. We hit 200 at about 45 and then crossed 400 at 92. Way faster than 6:50 mile pace. That's real close to 6:00 pace. I felt pretty good though after we closed with a 95. The reason for doing the extra 800 was I was feeling good and figured running at that pace for another 800 meters would be fun, and it was. Definitely felt better than last week. (I have a goal of shattering my previous best in the 800 of 2:07 at some point. I think if I ran my hardest right now in an 800, I would run about 2:25, maybe a bit faster). Anyway, we went to Chipotle afterwards and I demolished a burrito but was still hungry. Guess I burned a few calories tonight....

Splits:

400 99
1600 6:49 (1:42, 1:42, 1:43, 1:42)
1200 5:01(1:43, 1:40, 1:38)
800 3:12(1:35, 1:37)
400 1:36
300 55.37
800 3:08 (93, 95)
Total of 3.19 miles of speed work. About 7.5 miles in total. I didn't warm up as much because it was so damn hot and my ridiculous tights made it feel like I was running on the Sun.

Alison - 8

Distance: 8 miles; Time: 75? Locale: Incline Treamill; Incline: 2.0

I am going to beat Luke this week. It is going to be awesome.

Luke - 2.5

2.5mi, 17:44 (7:05)

Steve - 5.1

46:55(9:12)

I felt pretty beat up on Sunday night after my 5k and subsequent 4 mile cooldown. Definitely needed a day off on Monday. I ran in the Nike Frees on the streets for about 4-5 miles on Sunday and I think that might be why I was hurting. I just ordered a new high density foam roller and the cryocup(for icing). The roller is pretty painful, but it helps loosen up the legs pretty well. If you have knee pain ever or any tight leg muscles, I'd recommend it. Anyway, so today's run was done almost exclusively on grass. It's the only way I can get my miles up to my weekly goal of 40. Although some of the grass I run on is so long, it takes a lot more effort. This run felt a bit harder than usual, but probably cuz it was hot and the stupid grass.

Luke - 6

6mi, 43:05 (7:10)  The Canadian 800m runners staying in my living room did not steal my computer while I was gone, so this run was a success.

Did more miles today than Sunday and Monday combined!  Are you keeping up?

James - 5.7

47:35

It rained on me like a storm today. So back to the road route. I had to stop for about 30 seconds at 29 minutes to cross a road, which was annoying.

9.2K. Hmmm.

While I am pleased with the distances I'm getting and am seeing a little improvement in times, I lately feel like I'm far from my potential. On these runs I start to feel fucked about 3 minutes in and it never really goes away, both in my calves and torso. So I can barely concentrate on going faster, just surviving. There does come a point where you've done most of the run and it almost becomes robotic, but that's as good as it gets. Then really close to the end I find I have the energy to almost sprint and am finishing not feeling dead, which makes me think I am not pushing myself hard enough.

Have any of you any advice on how I can reverse this, to feel dead at the end instead? And sore calf advice maybe. Thanks.

Luke - 3.5

3.5mi, 21:53 (6:15)  Just had some fun.  3/4 mile into it ran a 400 on the track in 76...then felt good on the rest so did bark trail mile loops of 6:23 and 5:47.  Started raining pretty heavily a few minutes in...even though I was out there less than 22 minutes, I was soaked by the time I got back.

For those of you keeping track at home, that's 5.75 miles in two days.  Everyone will do more than me this week!

Oh some news you might find interesting--a couple of guys are going to be staying here this week...they ran in the invitational down at Stanford this last weekend and are going to be running at the track meet here this coming Saturday and they didn't want to fly back to the east coast and then fly back out to this coast again a few days later, so they asked the LetsRun.com message board if anyone in Eugene had a couch, and I Emailed them.  They're getting in tomorrow at about noon.  The guy I have been communicating with gave me his name and I looked up his results from two days ago...he was one place ahead of Galen Rupp in the 800, running 1:49.62.  There's only two other guys from his team in the results for last weekend's meet, so it's either another 1:50 guy or American Record holder in the steeplechase Daniel Lincoln.

Fast guys!

Luke - 2.25

2.25mi, 17:51 (7:56)  How fun and easy!

I think I've decided I'm not going to run the 5k next weekend, just gonna call it a season and have a recovery week and then start the real cycle.  If ever you wanted to run more miles than me in a week, this would be the week to do it!  I'll probably be under 25.

Oh if you didn't see my race report it's down thar so check it out.

Steve - 8

I never manage to secure a good spot in the front of the pack at the start of a race. For bigger races, I always get stuck behind a huge group of people. Since I like doing a bunch of drills and stuff right before the start of the race, I always meander to the start right before the gun so I can be loose. But I played it a little too close this morning and my first 1/4 mile suffered immensely. I had to zig and zag through a huge group of kids and portly slow-moving adults and it cost me precious seconds. When I finally hit the first mile marker, my watch showed 7:14. Even with the slow start, I just didn't push the pace enough. My goal going in was 20:30. That is 6:39 per mile. So clearly I had a lot of work to do to even get under 21 minutes. Well I just decided to go for it anyway. I didn't wear the Nike Plus today, so I was just running by feel. I surged past all the people who ran the first mile too fast and continued to pass people for the next 2 miles. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the race crew managed to botch the 2nd and 3rd mile markers. I never even saw them. Apparently they were on the ground. What a great place for the 2000 people running in the race to see them!(Some people I talked to after the race didn't see them either). Anyway, it could be a good thing(during the race) so I wouldn't be overanalyzing my mile splits too much. It's just better to run sometimes. Well, once I hit the turnaround with roughly .5 miles left, I went into another gear. I took it up another notch and hammered it all the way home. The legs responded well and when I hit the mat the clock said 21:14(6:50 per/mile), which means I averaged 6:35min/pace in the final 2.125 miles. Despite not reaching my time goal, I felt pretty good knowing I ran the last two miles at close to a 20 flat 5k pace. And afterwards I still felt strong. I then knocked out about 4 miles of cooldown to complete the day. Next up is the L.A. Marathon 5k on May 25. I should be ready to run a sub 20 5k by that time...

Chris - 1.9

I made myself go on this run because I just needed to get out of the apartment and be outside. This past week was pretty crappy so it was nice to get out. I guess I'm getting in better shape because I thought this run would be horrible, I started out slow - didn't feel like I had much energy, my knee was real tight at the beginning, but about halfway through I really hit my stride and loosened up and ran pretty hard. I didn't have any left at the end to sprint which was odd but whatever. I'm thinking about doing a 5k I just learned about, here in Lake Oswego next weekend. My final time was 12:09 for a pace of 6:23

Steve - 6

Easy run the day before the 5k. Made sure I had enough today to get to 30 for the week again...

56:14

Luke - 7

5k race!

My warmup wasn't quite as long as I'd prefer, but not too bad.  Lined up at the front with my friend Sam who was taking Chris' spot.  He said he was shooting for sub-6 pace, so 18:42, and as we were about to start he was like "I'm gonna go to the back..." and I was like, uh, no, you're gonna stay up here.  He was like, "Don't they do it by time?  I don't want to start in front of a bunch of people that are gonna beat me."  I had to tell him that he would most certainly be top 20, and that since the start line fit that many people on it, he would be very fine starting right at the front.

The pancake was running, of course, and a guy I sorta know who is a lot faster than me was dressed as a fork (shirtless, duct tape hat thing that sorta looked like a fork...pretty clever I guess) and also the Nesquik Rabbit was running.  Because the fork was running I knew I wouldn't win.  Didn't care, just wanted to beat the pancake.

The start was one of the fastest I've ever been in.  Those guys took off at sub-4 pace before slowing down to their regular race pace about 100m in.  The start was slightly uphill, which was good because the finish was down the same road so I knew it'd be downhill.  The finish was actually a block past the start, so there was an even steeper bit of downhill right at the end.

I was in 6th about a quarter mile in, and I didn't know it, but the pancake was right behind me (I will link a video at the end of this post).  About a half mile in I passed a guy like he was standing still.  I figured he went out way above his ability.  Just after I passed him, the course took a right turn, and I was like "wait, this isn't the road I thought we turned on..."  I thought the course went around Skinner's Butte (heh heh funny name), but apparently it went over!  Terribly steep hill, 200-300m long.  Funny thing is when Sam and I were looking for parking he asked if we saw this hill and I was like "Good thing we don't have to go up here, that would suck."  (I apologized to him after the race..)

After the downhill there's a comparable downhill, slightly less steep and longer (which is how courses should be: I'd rather have steep uphill than steep downhill, and I'd rather have gradual downhill than any uphill).  I caught another guy at the bottom of that hill to get into 4th place at the first mile.  My first mile split was 5:31.  Definitely a bit slow, because of the hill.  The second mile I ran alone.  At points I could see the top 3, but they were a ways ahead of me, fork in first, a guy in blue in second about 30 seconds back, and a guy in red another 5 seconds back.  Just before the second mile marker, there's a left hand turn, and that's where I could see everyone in front of me.  They looked deceptively close.  When I turned the corner I looked behind me and saw the pancake way too close to me!  I was thinking oh man that would suck if he beat me...I'd be so embarrassed, I've told like everyone that I'm gonna beat this pancake.  And I wasn't feeling very fast even in the flat second mile.  Came through at 5:29 and was like uuuugggghhhh I'm dying.

In the third mile I didn't see the pancake behind me when I made the turns, but I hadn't really looked.  I was just focused on keeping up the pace.  I heard someone behind me at probably a little before 2.5 miles...thought briefly about slowing down and drafting off of them, but then realized that would have been a terrible idea.  Kept pushing towards the finish, came through mile 3 at 5:34, but I'm sure the sign was in the wrong place--more on that later.  I wasn't sure how close whoever was behind me was.  As I was coming down the hill to the finish the crowd was cheering pretty loud and it seemed like they were cheering at a race, not just cheering for a finisher.  I heard someone say something like "Come on, reel him in," so I figured there must have been someone behind me.  I kicked hard and the downhill definitely helped.  I crossed the line at 16:56, which would be a 22-second last .1, which is faster than I can go, so I'm pretty sure the 3rd mile marker was a little bit off, maybe 10 seconds.

The person who finished right behind me was the guy I'd passed a half a mile into the race, who I thought had gone out way too fast.  According to the results I beat him by .5 seconds.  The pancake was just over 30 seconds back, in 6th place at 17:31.  The surprise of the day was Sam "Christopher Breen from Lake Oswego" Callero, who finished in 18:14 for eighth place!  I thought his 6-minute pace was optimistic and figured the hill would slow him down to maybe mid- to high-19s, but he managed 5:53 pace.  His training was running about 5k, give or take, pretty fast, four times a week, for a few months.  It's not fair how talented he is.  If he trained for it he could probably beat me a year from now.

At the awards ceremony, I got second in my age group and Sam got third--if he'd been in his own age group, 20-24 instead of Chris' 25-29, he would have been 4th--and we got little plaques.  They had the 5 people who beat the pancake come up to receive their "year's supply of pancake mix", but they hadn't brought enough I guess, because instead of the promised 40 pounds, the top 2 finishers got 3 7-pound bags and the other 3 of us got 2 7-pound bags.  I guess they figured only 2 people would beat Flap Jack, and didn't have a backup plan so they just divided the two year's supplies among five of us.  I'm sure I'm the only one who cared.

There are some videos up online:

The Start shows the Nesquik Rabbit a bit, and you can see me in the all black, and the pancake close behind me.

The Finish has a good shot of The Fork, and also a good view of my finish, with accompanying announcing, and then the hot-shot Flap Jack showing off for the crowd.  Also watch Sam's finish to hear Chris' name.

5:31, 5:29, 5:34, :22 = 16:56

I felt like death at the end of the race...not sure right now whether I'll do the 5k next Saturday or not.  I'd probably PR slightly since it's flatter, but I doubt it'd feel good.  I'm tempted to take my not-great time from this race and then when I race a 5k next year I'll show a lot of improvement...

James - 5.3

46:29

Might have a run a bit further than this, it's hard to measure. I decided to run along the canal since it was a sunny Saturday afternoon, which meant dodging lots of dogs/fishers/cyclist/other runners/rocks. Even managed a sprint at the end.

Luke - 1

Played ultimate tonight, jogged around a bit after.  I'll call it one mile on the day even though it was definitely a lot more if you include the actual game (which we won, by the way).  Also walked a lot (to and from packet pick-up; to and from frisbee game).

Going to bed right soon to be up early tomorrow.  I've fairly decided that I will run the (5k) race next weekend if I feel up for it.  If I don't run well tomorrow I'll want to race again to improve, and if I do run well tomorrow I'll want to race again to hold the peak I have.  I guess the only situation in which I wouldn't run it is if I feel dead at the end of the race tomorrow...that's a sign your peak has passed and it's time to start a new cycle.  So since I have next week if I need it, there's no pressure to be near 16-flat or anything crazy like that; I can just relax, have fun, and win a year's supply of pancake mix.