Luke - 8

8mi, 62:45 (7:50)

At night. Mile loops of 8:08, 8:09, 8:21, 7:43, 7:32, and 6:41.

Luke - 7.25

7.25mi, 56:22 (7:46)

At night. Mile loops of 8:09, 8:01, 7:50, 7:47, 7:37, and 7:27.

James - 4

28:59

This was supposed to be an attempt at going faster over a shorter distance (Luke suggestion, again before he went into hibernation). But it turned into a survival 4 miles instead because it hurt like a bastard. Legs like lead, torso pain, but at least I pushed myself and did it.

Chris - 6

43:16 - 7:12 pace (splits: 21:04 - 22:12)

This run went really well. I'm very happy with the decrease in my time from Tuesday's run. I went shirtless again today and got one honk from a car. Although they always do it right as they're passing me so I don't have time to see who it is or have much of a reaction to them. I can't remember my palms sweating so much while exercising, it's really weird. Maybe that's because usually when I exercise this much it's while playing basketball and the sweat gets rubbed off on my shirt or the ball.

Steve - 4

4 mi in 41:00. Short and easy. Done mostly on dirt/sand area near my house.

Steve - 4

3k time trial. Luke (before he went into hibernation for the summer) recommended this as a tune-up for my 5k on Sunday. I was supposed to run this at about 90% effort. So my goal was to run about 6:20 per mile pace. Another guy in the Flyers was running in a tempo run at about the same pace so we ran together. Of course I stepped off the track after 7 and half laps and he did 21 laps at that pace! The pace ended up being a bit slower than we wanted, but it was a relaxed effort. I picked it up a bit on the final 200 and crossed the line in 12:04, which is 6:28 mile pace (a tad slower than 20 minute 5k pace). After a few laps and standing around for a few minutes, I decided to run a 200. Just to make sure I still had a little speed leftover. Hit 32.8 and felt like I could have kept going at that pace for another 200. Definitely feeling ready to drop some more seconds of my 5k PR this weekend...

1.25 warmup
3k + 200
1200 cd

Chris - 6

46:34 - 7:45 pace

I waited until it was about 10pm and 87* before I went on this run. I started out pretty quick, but then had to stop a couple times and finally decided to slow my pace a bunch because my right shin was really bothering me. Luckily it gradually went away, but I still played it safe and didn't try to push it a ton on the way back. Usually I get injuries because I'm never one to stop and turn around if something is bothering me; that's how I got shinsplints in college while playing basketball. First run this year I've done shirtless the whole way, and I'm sure glad I did!

On another topic I just found out that there's another 5k/10k race on August 16th, that benefits my old school district. The 10k ends at my old high school! Anyway, I still really want to do the Crawfish Crawl, because I've had that date in my mind for awhile and have been training hard for it. Plus a tech T is included with the entry fee, and I could use another one of those in this heat! Should I do another 5k just a week after running the Crawfish Crawl or do the 10k, or sign up for it at all? Another option is to skip the Crawfish Crawl since I haven't signed up for it yet, but I don't really want to do that. What do you all think?

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 49:54 (7:40)

106º out at the time. I had been sitting in my hot room so long my brain started to melt, to the point where I thought running in 106º heat would be a good idea. It actually wasn't so bad until I stopped running, at which point the heat caught up to me and I started losing sweat by the gallon.

Steve - 3

Cant remember how long this was or any other details.

James - 7.5

1:08:55

Longest run ever in terms of distance and time, hooray! Man did I go slow though. I thought I would have trouble going at a slower pace, but obviously not, and it was mostly leisurly. When I tried to push faster during the last few minutes though not much came out! A different kind of exhaustion.

My parents were walking along the canal to the pub and I came up behind them. They stood at the edge and cheered as I went past. I didn't see them until they did so, so at first I assumed I was being heckled by strangers. But no, that came later in this mammoth adventure.

When coming up to a never-before-run bend, I saw something heavy ripple in the water ahead and heard kids voices. At first fearing someone had fallen in the canal, I then saw it was a group of children throwing big rocks off a wall OVER THE PATH into the water. They let me pass before they carried on though.

Later I ran past a boat crammed with young teens, and one who looked familiar said hey it's the guy from co-op! And told me to fuck off etc. I returned the gestures and my now standard response to piss-takers which is to raise both my fists high and go "woo!" I decided that all parties involved enjoyed this exchange.

In other news, Alison started her new job today. You should all congratulate her! In short this means I will by the end of the year be running in Florida heat that will reduce my North European frame to crap. Woohoo!

Steve - 3.6

I wanted to do something short and "fartleky" today. I decided to alternate laps (400m) on a track with 7 minute mile pace and 8 minute mile pace. I started out too slow, so it turned more into a progressive workout. Here is how it went:

1200 wup in 6:55
1:51, 1:59, 1:51, 1:59, 1:48, 1:56, 1:42, 1:55, 1:43, 1:50, 1:40
200 cd in 2:01

Near the end my slow laps started catching up with my fast laps from the start. I felt great. Once I got going it was hard to go slow on the slower lap. I wanted this workout to go on a bit longer, but had to cut it short to accommodate the wife's schedule...

Chris - 7.07

53:19 - 7:32 pace (split: 27:18/26:01)

I should have done this run on Sunday. I needed to go to bed early since I had a tee time Sunday @ 6:30am, but instead I went on this run and ended up going to bed at like 11:30 and sleeping through my alarm. So not only did I have to wake up and rush out the door, I also played like crap and shot a 98. The run itself went pretty darn well, considering I destroyed the time I had on Tuesday for this same route. In other news, the guy I thought I was going to move in with backed out on me (idiot), so instead of having a relaxing weekend of golf and running, I'm stressing out about having a place to move into next weekend. Wish me luck!

James - 3

24:57

Fartleks!

GOD it hurt. And on a Saturday afternoon when it's hot I ran on the canal, not smart when I run during the week the rest of the time. I didn't even manage to run hard for half of this time, but still it felt like a massive workout. Next time I want to try going for my longest run ever going slower.

Face stuffage: salad and chips.

Steve - 6.5

58:46 (9:02). It's been awhile since I have run in Manhattan Beach on the trail. I wanted to get in some respectable mileage today, so it was worth the drive today. Ran pretty early (9ish) to avoid the heat. It was an easy pace again, but it didn't feel as smooth as my run of a similar distance and pace on Thursday. That might have been because half of that run was streets (instead of all on trail like today). Anyway, I picked it up a bit near the end and closed the last .75 miles in 6:06 without increasing my effort too much. I took another day off yesterday cuz my lower leg muscles were sore.

Oh later in the day I swapped out my old Nike + wristband for a new one. The display on the old one was all messed up and apparently its a known issue. Nike will swap it out for a newer model, no charge. If any of you guys have one, I'd recommend doing the same. They have a bit of a new look and seem to be nicer.

Luke - 7.5

7.5mi, 58:44 (7:49)

Very late. Did a (7:56) mile on the bark, then the lights were going off so I did the rest on the HS track. The sprinklers were going so I'd have to move out to lane 3 or 4 every once in a while. When I was about done, I decided I'd do a fast lap...as I crossed the start-finish line I hit my watch, and a step or two later the sprinkler right next to me sprang up and freaked me out. I think I got an adrenaline rush which pushed me for about the first 100, then for the rest of it I was pretty relaxed because I found it funny. The lap was 67 seconds.

Chris - 3.98

28:10 - 7:04 pace

This was a very fun and interesting run. After work I met my roommate and his work friends downtown at the Oregon Brewfest. I had planned on only having one beer, but of course that never happens. So I arrived home with a few beers in me and realized I still needed to run. The first 3 or so miles were really fun. When I heard something rustle in the bushes I made funny warbling sounds at it (ya know, to keep danger at bay). About 1.5 miles in there's a decline that turns 90* onto a sidewalk next to a busy street. So as I careened down the hill I put out my arms like an airplane as I flew around the corner. This was the first time I've done this route at night, and there was more than one unlit section where I had cars headlights in my face and could hardly see the trail. Another part was totally enclosed by vegetation and made me feel like I was in a Lord of The Rings movie. The last mile was really tough, I had to really concentrate to make my legs continue to move at a good pace and finish strong. Overall, I don't think I'd recommend running while intoxicated on a regular basis, haha. Good experience though!

Steve - 7.57

7.57 mi in 66 min(8:43). This is an out-and-back route with a turnaround point right near the beach. For about 2/5 of this run I can run on dirt and deep sand. The sand portion is really soft and can be tough to run through, but it's better than running on pavement. I think I'll start doing this run every week. I felt pretty good. Pace was easy and comfortable.

James - 5.1

38:05

Today I ran past a park which had a hummer limo parked outside of it (just incase you don't think the world is aware what an arsehole you are, you can now buy or rent these), and about a hundred schoolchildren were flocking towards it. It must have been a celebrity of some sort. I didn't stop to look in an effort to look cool, but then when you're running it probably isn't that much of a surprise to all the people with cameras over their faces.

Luke - 14

14mi, 1:46:47 (7:37)

1.6-mile loop in 12:39, 12:37; 1.4-mile loop in 10:24, 10:16, 10:12, 9:47.

Tried wearing no socks...felt fine, but my feet were SO dirty afterward. I scrubbed them for like 15 minutes and they are still not 100% clean. I think the bark dust is now part of my foot.

I think this is the least I've ever worn on a run, actually. Super-light shoes with no insoles, no socks, running shorts, no underwear, no shirt.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 42:59 (7:48)

20' warmup

1000@3:21

200 jog rest

800@2:38

400 jog rest

600@1:56

200 jog rest

400@74

400 jog rest

200@29

The workout was supposed to continue with 400, 600, 800, and 1000, but during the 200 I ran between a dog (on the infield) and the dog's owner (on the track) and the dog freaked out and started chasing me. I turned around while running so it wouldn't bit my ankles, and while I managed to scare it off, I tweaked my back in the process. After chastising the owner, I tried to start running again, but my back was hurting (and my mind wasn't really on running any more) so I stretched it a little bit and jogged home. It's still hurting; hopefully it will be better tomorrow.

Chris - 7.07

54:38 - 7:43 pace (split: 27:42/26:57 )

I wanted to increase my mileage a bunch this week since Luke and Steve were preaching more mileage as the way to race faster. Luke was nice enough to write me out a little training schedule for the 3 weeks before the Crawfish Crawl 5k race. This run went even better than expected. My last 7 miler took about 59 minutes, even though it was inaccurate due to my inattention during the wait at a couple stoplights. So I was trying to shoot for an 8 minute pace this time. I kept myself from running too fast at the start, and on the way back found out that I still had enough left to kick it up a notch! That was pretty cool. It looks like I'm going to end up doing about 18 miles this week if all goes well.

Steve - 3

3 miles in 28:07(9:22). First run after all the races this weekend. Body is starting to feel normal again after some soreness the last few days. I'm going to skip my track workout on Wednesday night. I don't think it would be a good idea to do a hard workout so soon after so many races in such a short amount of time. This week I'll things easy, but start increasing the distance of my runs again.

I decided I'm going to take another stab at breaking 19. I think I'm going to run the Free to Breathe 5K on August 3rd. It's real nearby where I live, so I might as well give it a shot...

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 52:41 (8:25)

Mile loops of 8:00, 7:50, 7:42, 7:40, 10:55 (yep: stomach).

James - 5.1

39:12

I must have been distracted today because I took a load of wrong turns, but when I measured it it came to about the same distance. Also I ran into a bunch of kids and dropped my water bottle so had to turn around there (and apologise and they said it was okay), so maybe my mind really wasn't with it.

After I got home I watched my recording of the film The Long Run. I think anyone here who enjoys running could add a few points to the IMDb rating. It has some beautiful scenery of South Africa, rounded characters, funny and poignant scenes and some inspiring reminders that hey, you're shit compared to these lot. The star runner in the film is an African woman, which rules, and the main race is the 90K Comrades Marathon. What the hell. Maybe if you can rent it, you should. A film of the same name is coming out in 2011 but there is no information on it yet.

Chris - 3.98

27:58 - 7:01 pace

Does anyone mind if I turn some of my weekend running posts into pseudo golf posts too? =P Anyway I really wanted to run today because I'm going to run in that 5k in a few weeks, but I wasn't sure if I'd have energy after playing 18 holes under the afternoon sun. Except the buddy I played with wanted to rent a cart so I didn't do much walking and had plenty of energy after shooting a 91 (I played fairly well on the front, shot a 44 - and then was like +6 thru 3 holes on the back).

I tried to do a route my roomy did some loops of while training for the Portland Marathon, just cuz I felt like doing something other than what I normally do. Except I missed a street that didn't have a sign and put some extra mileage on it, but that was fine because I was feeling really good. Curt is going to run in this 5k with me and thinks we might be pretty evenly matched because he hasn't been doing much speedwork in trying to up his mileage in preparation for the marathon. So that gives me even more motivation, besides trying to break 20 and to get where Steve's at right now!

Luke - 11.25

11.25mi, 89:08 (7:55) Some stomach problems, but legs were fine.

Steve - 7

It was another 7 a.m start for the 10k race. I knew if I ran an honest pace I would have a huge PR since I haven't really run a hard 10k. I thought there was an outside chance of breaking 40, but with all the racing from yesterday, it was quite a long shot. I hit the halfway point at 20:45 and wasn't feeling great. Legs started feeling worse and worse. I slowed down for the next few miles. Finally with about 800 meters to go, I started surging and finished with a strong kick. Clock read 42:27 for a new PR by 5 minutes and 42 seconds. The 10k concluded my running activities for the weekend. I didn't even do a cooldown. Our 10k team took third place, thanks primarily to the other runners. The scores are calculated based on age groups. The 59-year-old guy who ran with me in the 5k beat me by more than a minute in the 10k. He's a beast! He's actually pretty cool too. Turns out he's a track and XC coach in Minnesota. On my way home, I got some Inn-N-Out to reward myself after having raced (a "Lukean" like) 18.6 km in the span of 24 hours!

Luke - 9.5

9.5mi, 78:05 (8:13) Mile loops of 7:55, 7:51, 7:47, 7:34, 7:36, 7:27, 7:22, and 10:17. That last one I was doing 6:30 pace and then the stomach hit and I could barely move. Other than that, successful run.

Steve - 9

I knew coming into this race that I was going to run faster than I ever have over the distance of 5 kilometers. The only question I had was exactly how fast. My legs were feeling fresh after cutting my mileage the last few weeks and getting in some quality work on the track. With a 7 a.m. start time, it seemed like it would be perfect weather conditions for my epic run. And I finally was able to arrive to a race early for once. I got there around 6:15 and got in a solid mile warmup and then did a bunch of drills and dynamic stretching. As the clock ticked down to 7, I felt ready.

My plan was to start out around 6:10 mile pace, speed up on the second mile and then finish with a 6:00 or faster mile. The first mile in a race is always so important. I knew if I went out any faster than 6:10, I would crash on the third mile. When the gun went off, I let everyone else sprint out of the gate and I gradually increased my pace and started cruising by those who had started too fast. I didn't see a mile marker for mile 1, but I felt like I was running the right pace. The course is an out-and-back on a paved trail along a resevoir. There are some turns and short hills to deal with. I hit the turn-around at exactly 9:30, on pace for 19:00, pretty much exactly what I was targeting. By this point the race had thinned out a great deal. I was running with a few other people but the leaders were a few minutes ahead. As I progressed through the second half of the course, I sensed I was tiring. One of my teammates from my company, who I found out after the race is 59 years old, caught up with me. He surged ahead of me a little bit, but he got a case of the dry heaves and fell back a bit. He caught up again a few minutes later as we approached a car on the road. The path is only slightly wider than the side of a large automobile. The car was stopped, and I swung out wide to run around it, and my teammate went inside. From that point it was another .4 miles or so to the finish, and I never saw him the rest of the way. I could feel that I had been slowing down in what must have been in the third mile, so I tried to put on a surge to the finish line. When I heard we had only a quarter mile left, I picked it up another gear. I didn't have enough for a sprint to the line, but I wanted to keep increasing my speed. With only 50 meters left, I saw the time clock said 19 but couldn't see the last 2 digits. I dialed up another gear for the final seconds of agony and crossed the line. Glancing at my watch, I was quite pleased to see a time of 19:17, a PR by 39 seconds!

In the track portion of my event, I ran in a distance relay where I had to run a 3200. I ran 12:45, slower than my 5k pace. We were way behind and it was like 100 degrees, so I just cruised. At the end of the day, I ran a 400 in another relay in 62 seconds. It was fun to run fast.

I did a total of 8600 meters of races for the day and maybe 3.5 miles in warmups and cooldowns, so let's call it a total of 9 miles. Found out later that night I was to run a 10k tomorrow at 7 a.m.

James - 5.1

38:56

Todays shirt - one that Luke bought me.
Todays shorts - ones that Luke left here.
Todays weather - pleasant but not roasting.
Todays overpriced health item - Alibi, which calls itself a "pretox" drink. It tasted like lime soda (that's translated for you lot) and to be honest the name makes you wonder if it's designed for before running or before getting fucked up. Well I am going out to drink soon so maybe we'll see.

So you'd think I'd have a good run! And you'd be about right.

Alibi also support a rather unusual but nevertheless interesting cause called POM354. They help Afghan farmers switch from opium production to pomegranates, which is timely given all the bad news that's come from that country lately (8 UK soldiers were killed in a single day, and over a dozen in a few days, and I'm sure things aren't much better for "your boys").

Had a few diversions today, so distance is, as always, approximate. Pretty happy with it. When I got back and was trying to decide what to eat I had a load of things that needed eating, including tortillas, hummus, tofu scramble, greens. So I threw them all together with onions and chili sauce and it turned out really well, which was weird.

Chris - 1.9

12:02 - 6:20 pace

I know this is a really short run, and I've only run twice this week, but I've been busy trying to look for a place to live next month. I wanted to run farther today but I had planned to go look at two houses that have rooms for rent after work. I was lucky enough to get off early and had time for a short run. It was about 90* out so it was probably good that I didn't run very far/long. Since it was short I wanted to try and run it pretty fast and really get my legs going. Mission success! It's going to be tough to run on the weekends if I keep playing golf as much as I am, but I think that's a good tradeoff =). At least I'm not at home drinking beer and being lazy right!? There's a 5k on August 8th that I'm thinking about doing called the Crawfish Crawl. I REALLY want to run under 20 the next 5k I do.

Luke - 13.5

13.5mi, 1:44:31 (7:44) I set my alarm for 9am and woke up at 1pm. My punishment was running in the 90º+ heat of the day. There were a couple of drinking fountains after 10 miles that made it possible for me to finish. When I got back my ears plugged up and I had like 5 glasses of water. I was fine after a cold shower though.

Steve - 3

3 in 25:29. Same run a minute slower 2 days ago and 2 minutes slower 3 days ago. I opened up the stride a bit towards the end for some striders. Now that's it a few hours later, my right hamstring is tight, but I dont think it will affect me too much. I used to always run with tight hamstrings. Anyway, here are my goals for the 5k tomorrow:

A. 18:30
B. 19:15
C. 19:35

Steve - 2.6

2.6 miles in 25:09. I did a track workout last night, so this run was only 12 hours after that. I'm never a fan of running early in the morning before work, but my 5k on Saturday is at 7am, so my body should be acclimated. Stomach felt awful, so I'll need to make sure I manage the situation better for the race. Nice and easy. Legs are a bit sore from the 200s yesterday. Should be ok by tomorrow.

Steve - 3.75

Final track session before my race on Saturday. 4x200. They weren't full speed, all-out, but they were a hard effort. I would say around 95% effort. They were smooth and I kept my form, so it might have been a hair lower than that effortwise. I wasn't breathing really really hard after, but I couldn't have kept the same pace for more than 30-40 meters longer. I recovered for about 3-4 minutes in between each. Times were 31, 30, 32, 31. I will edit this post later with the corrected times to decimal places because I'm anal like that. I feel like if I ran all out, I could have run 28 today. Perhaps in spikes a 27.

As usual, we went to Chipotle afterwards. I got a Burrito Bol with extra black beans and steak.

Luke - 8.75

am - 2.25mi, 18:51 (8:22)

pm - 6.5mi, 51:03 (7:51)

My am run was going to be 3 miles longer, but I was wearing the heavy shoes and they felt awful...I think I'll have to send them back early; they've gotten worse with each run. Way too much arch support for me (as well as being way too heavy). Think I'll stick to the Frees, and just use the Brooks for trails every once in a while.

James - 5.1

38:18

Hot weather, lack of strength - but another improved time! By almost another minute! Keep these sort of distances and improvements up and I am confident for the September 10.

Dropped into my mums chemist one last time even though she finished last week, and dropped off the letter for the boss. No response from him as yet. I sat on a chair for two minutes to rest like I always used to (just to be cheeky) before I handed it in at the counter. Anyway, some of you might have seen it on Facebook...

Steve - 3

3 miles in 27:20. Same exact run as yesterday just felt better today. Effort was the same but I was faster by 40 seconds. Felt pretty good. Track workout on Wednesday where I am going to do a few hard 200s. Should be fun.

Luke - 10

10mi, 69:52 (6:59) The first half of this was in 37:59, so that would make the second half 31:53, or 6:22 pace. I was feeling all right at the beginning, and then about 3 miles in my stomach started hurting a bit, so I took a pitstop, and after that I felt great so I picked it up.

Afterwards I had calzones.

Chris - 3.35

26:50 - 8:00 pace

I almost didn't go run today. I didn't yesterday because I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night and had no energy. This was because my 15 y/o nephew came over, and we played PS3 till 2am, then I got up at 8 for church and played 18 holes of golf with my dad in the afternoon (shot another 88, woo hoo!). But I sucked it up today and made myself go. The first part of this run really sucked. It got better after awhile. When I got home I think I was sweating from every pore in my body (which is kinda cool I think). Then I did some pushups and situps before I cleaned up. Good stuff!

James - 5.1

39:11

Hi guys. I haven't read many of your entries lately sorry, but I'll get round to it soon.

Faster again, almost by a minute. I decided to try and run a slightly faster pace from the beginning to try and achieve this goal, and it hurt pretty quickly. I was coughing stuff up but I guess it's better out than in.

Motorist incident 1 (not even sure what I did to upset this one, aside from running behind them when they were barely moving):

Passenger window rolls down
Passenger: Ey!
Me: What!
P: EY!
Me: WHAT!
Passenger window rolls up. My two fingers roll up at them.

Motorist incident 2:

Stepping into the road for about 3 steps in order to avoid a MOTHER with a buggy/stroller and a toddler on foot. Apparently this offended the drivers territoriality because he honked me. So he also got two fingers.

Steve - 3

I was really tired today for some reason all day. So this run didn't feel great, but I at least wanted to get in some easy miles (3 in 28:00). Mostly on long grass. I need to make sure I get a lot of sleep this week . I'm also trying to get my carbs primarily from fruits and vegetables, but it's damn hard.

Luke - 11

11mi, 90:43 (8:14) First time in I don't know how long that I haven't run on the bark trails...for a change I ran on the bike path along the river. I wore the heavy shoes and, man, they slow me down so much. Makes me remember what thinking of 11 miles as a long run feels like.

Luke - 12.75

12.75mi, 96:26 (7:33) It finally rained today, so once the lightning stopped (and the Mariners game was over) I went onto the trails because I figured they'd be a lot more fun after the rain. Steve, KB, and Chris have all run on this trail. I still haven't gone and gotten that burrito yet; I was planning on going after this run but when I got back my roommate's girlfriend told me I could have the gnocchi soup she had made. Maybe tomorrow.

Steve - 4.7

Ok time for another boring post recounting a precise track workout. Luke's recipe called for 3x3x300m. I did 200m slow jog in between each interval and 600m slow jog in between each set. My goal was to be right around 5:00 minute mile pace, which is a hair slower than 57 seconds for a 300. But I didn't want to strain too much or give an all-out effort to hit these times. Plus, it was almost 90 degrees when I ran at 3pm. Here are the times:

60, 57.95, 60.26
58.8, 56.69, 56.8,
57.98, 57.14, 54.3

I was able to stay on pace for the most part. The last interval I wanted to trim another few seconds and went into another gear, but it wasn't my all-out, on my toes gear. I definitely didn't sprint this workout. It was probably more like 88% effort. There's a chance I could run a 400m leg of a relay next week, so I'll be ready if called upon.

Oh, I almost pulled a Luke with my key too. I had my car door key in my pocket loose, but it fell out when I was doing some dynamic stretching in the grass. I didn't realize this until I got back to my car and my pocket was empty. Luckily, it was still in the grass and didn't require much effort to find.

2700m speedwork. wup 1 mi. cd .5 . recovery 1200+1200.

Luke - 10

10mi, 77:08 (7:42) Apparently I forgot to post this. It wasn't very eventful anyway.

James - 5.1

40:08

The fastest time for this route yet, which was very surprising. I didn't feel all that great (yeah I know I've been saying this a lot lately) and when checking my watch was sure I was behind average pace. But all I did was run hard for the last minute or two and was surprised to see that I had done it in the aforementioned time! Also, when running around park and past many groups of kids, I distinctly smelled weed, even though, I was running like a whirlwind. Ahhh summertime.

Today I got home and stuffed my face with a lovely scrummy tofu scramble, which ticked the healthy-feeling box too.

Luke - 7.25

7.25mi, 62:19 (8:35) Another late-night run. Planned on running till the lights turned off. I was wearing the shoes I can't tell you about, which I've found slow me down by :30-:60 per mile compared to the Frees, and also my stomach was acting up again. At the end of the run, I had 15 minutes and 55 seconds till the lights turned off as I turned around to start another mile-loop, so I figured I would be able to do two loops and finish just as they went off. My goal was 8:00 and 7:55...my previous loops had been all over the place from 8:02 to 8:43, depending on how bad my stomach felt for that particular loop. The second-to-last loop I came through in 8:06, so I needed a 7:49 to make it. The second 1/4-mile the stomach pain started hitting, but I pushed through as well I could and hit the half in 4:10. Right after that the pain reduced me to a walk, so I knew I wouldn't make it. I did manage to run for about a quarter mile of it, but I would have had to do the last 1/4 in :79, and about 100m into that I could barely walk. So I ended up doing the last 200m in the dark. :(

Steve - 4.3

I headed to the track of champions (at USC) again today for a 1600 time trial. I had visions of running a 5:30-5:40 mile coming into it. Admittedly a bit ambitious for a time trial. Regardless, I wanted to run a smooth, even (or slightly negative effort) without pushing myself too much. Well here's what I came out with: 5:59:00 on the nose. 1:28.98, 1:30.31, 1:30.73, 1:28.98. It's really crazy that my first and last lap were exactly the same time. I included extra sig figs to illustrate the point. I think this trial is a really good sign because I still felt good when I crossed the line. I think I could have trimmed 15-20 seconds with a hard effort, perhaps more. Now the question is this: Can I run this fast for 5000 meters. I will have that answer in 8 days. Stay tuned.

Chris - 5.15

38:51 - 7:32 pace

I had some celebratory beers with my lasagna dinner after my run tonight, because for the first time since I set this goal in 2007 or so, I ran 15+ miles during a training week! Woo hoo! I ended up running 15.36 miles, but who's counting really. This run was awesome. I felt really good the whole time and thoroughly enjoyed it. Part of that might be because I had to stop at a stoplight for way too long during the last 3/4 of the run (which sucked; I was pacing back and forth the whole time), but I just cranked it up afterward to make up for it. I really wanted to push myself hard on this run since I'm taking the weekend off and using 27 holes of golf as my exercise =).

As I was leaving work it was raining pretty good, which was refreshing because it was about 80* out - so I was really hoping the rain would continue long enough for me to get home and get out on my run. Alas by the time I got home the rain had stopped, so all I got was a slightly muggy run and tons of gnats and flies to contend with on the little neighborhood country roads I ran on. I think I caught about 4 in my mouth and another in the eye. That was a little annoying but I was in such a good mood it didn't matter very much.

Alison - 4

Distance: 4 miles; Time: 32.5 mins; Locale: Treadmill

Good to be back in the game with the running consistently. I enjoyed everyone's comments on my last blog post!

My friend (and James' and Luke's too) Corinne is doing a 5K called the First Annual Bubba's Belly Run. She lists on her blog some ways that you can support her run or the cause, which I know I will do, even if it is just heading over to her entry and giving her some encouragement.

What are your favorite causes to run in races for? (Luke is going to correct my grammar here, I bet).

James - 3.6

27:27

Decided to cut this shorter than the 5.1 mile template as I wasn't feeling 100%, and also it was my mums last day of work so I went to see her just before she finished. Ironically, I normally run on Wednesday but it was moved to Thursday because I did an extra shift at my work on Wednesday night. I'm now the only working stiff in the house! To comfort myself when coming to terms with this fact I stuffed my face with burritos.

Steve - 3.7

3.7 mi in 34:30. No fighting bums or robot dancing morons. Just me dodging L.A. traffic.

KB - 5

I ran the same route as yesterday, minus the 3 minutes of bum-fight watching. Nothing interesting happened today.

Luke - 10.8

10.8mi, 80:19 (7:26) On the bark in the sun without a shirt. Now I'm all dirty.

KB - 5

So anybody who has ever visited Eugene knows about the homeless people. Well today, I was lucky enough to witness a bum-fight on my run. It was very exciting! So there are four bums. I'll arbitrarily name them Marvin, Larry, Jill, and Willy. So Larry and Jill appear to be a couple. Willy seems to be friends with Larry and Jill. Marvin apparently has no friends (sad). So Willy and Marvin seem to be arguing. Willy yells "No! You're wrong motherfucker!", and proceeds to haul off and land a haymaker right to Marvin's tweaker-looking face. Marvin takes this shotlike a champ, though. Then he returns fire with a very powerful kick right to Willy's kneecap. I'm thinking great shot. This could be a sweet fight. I was wrong. This kick did not phase Willy much because he then popped Marvin with a punch to the nose. Marvin goes down. Then Willy hops over and land at least 7 more punches to Marvin's face. Willy then retracts to jump up and yell "Yeah, bitch! Can't take me! Got nothin'!" So i thought, darn this is over. Nope, wrong again. Willy then goes in for another 7 or 8 shots to Marvin's face. He retracts, then goes for some more. All in all I'd say Marvin took about 20-25 punches to the face. Willy only sustained one kick to the knee. Marvin then sat up. His face is no longer just dirty from being a bum. It is now bloody beyond belief. Larry and Jill just stood there and drank Mountain Dew the whole time. It was hilarious.

Alison - 4

Distance: 4 miles; Time: 32.5 mins; Locale: Treadmill near a woman taken from the pages of a Tennessee Williams play


Hello gentlemen.

I was running today on little sleep and so I've thought everything was way funnier than it really is perhaps. I about exploded watching Abba's Mama Mia video. I think watching Abba videos is tantamount to what getting high must feel like.

Anyway, I was on the treadmill and this girl on an opposing treadmill was dancing but not in the cool Ok Go way. I don't know what she was listening to on her mp3-player, but she was mouthing the words and you know just really getting into it.

She started framing her face in different ways and then started doing the robot with her arms. I thought I was going to laugh my ass off my treadmill. Once when she was throwing the dice (a la Seth Rogen style in Knocked Up) I sprayed some water out of my mouth and eventually had to leave the spectacle to attend yoga class.

St Pete is a receptacle for the weirdest people ever. Come visit!

Steve - 4.75

2x4x400. 100 recovery in between each 400. 400 recovery between each set. I wanted to do these a bit faster than usual since I am in peaking mode. I did these in trainers because I am doing another track workout on Friday and my achilles was hurting a bit. I didn't need to push too hard to hit these times, but it definitely required a lot of concentration to keep the pace.

82, 84, 83, 82.5
85, 82.9, 83, 81

Oh, I wasn't sure if anyone was going to buy the whole Jonathan Robertsin story. If you didn't catch on already, I am Jonathan Robertsin and Jonathan Robertsin is me. It was the alias I used in my race since I wasn't running at full speed.

Chris - 7.07

Oh man this run kicked my butt. My left thigh was burning pretty good by the time I got back. I'm pretty sure that happens because my hammy and glute are still slightly underdeveloped cuz of my injury. I'm annoyed because I hit my watch to check what time it was and then forgot to switch it back to the stopwatch, and then had to stop at a couple intersections so my final time is probably a minute or so off. While I was waiting at one of the lights a couple came walking up behind me, so I turned back to them to say hello. They said hi and then the lady asked if I was wearing the Ducks shoes. I happily replied yes as I started to run across the intersection.

I definitely felt stronger during this run than I did during my 8 miler awhile ago so that's good. It also occured to me it'd be cool to bring along some sort of little recorder so I can remember all of the things that happen or that I think of during runs. Picture the Star Trek "Captain's Log, stardate blah blah" but instead it'd be me going "runner's log, July 8th..." I thought that'd be kinda cool, minus having to carry the recorder while running. My final time was 59:51 for a pace of 8:27.

KB - 6.5

Ran a route by rexius trail today and it felt good. could have felt better if i didnt get passed by the same guy twice. We got to the end-ish of the trail and he passed me. he then proceeded off the trail and i turned to take the other side of the trail back. 10 minutes later he passes me again. he must have done an extension to even out his mileage

Luke - 5.25

5.25, 43:09 (8:13) Felt pretty crappy and slow. I need to run more.

Steve - 3.3

Luke came up with a plan for my final 2 weeks before my big race on July 18. It's a corporate competition with road races and track relays. I'm going to run a 5k and possibly some intermediate distance events on the track. So I have been looking forward to it for awhile because I like to compete a lot. I am hoping to go sub-19 in my 5k on July 18, so I'm really going to try and make these next 11 days count. Luke's recipe called for an easy 3 miles today and I banged it out on a mixture of grass medians and streets near my house. Had to step over some dog shit in a few spots because people in L.A. don't like to pick up after their pets, but it was a good run otherwise. Tomorrow is another track workout...

KB - 4

pretty lame run to be honest.

Steve - 4.5

Track workout. 2x1000. 5-6 min recovery between. Convinced a friend of mine from the Flyers to join me. He's an 18 low 5k guy. 1000s are tough to run. The second 400 really sucks. It's hard to pace. I am pretty pleased with the results though. We decided to throw in a 200 for the hell of it and I ran my fastest 200 (31) in a couple years. Felt really good. Here are the times:

1000 -3:20 (78, 82, 40)
1000-3:25 (80, 85, 40)
200-31

Chris - 3.14

I had to backdate this post because after my run I had to shower and run to the store and go pick up my buddy and his wife coming back from their honeymoon in Mazatlan. Aaanyway, I couldn't make up my mind about how far to run and Luke suggested 7 miles, so since I didn't have time for that I'll do that long run on Wednesday. This run went pretty well, I've realized that running in Lake Oswego has probably done me some good because almost everywhere you run there's some sort of hills to challenge me. I took it a little easier than usual on this run; I just kinda wanted to enjoy being outdoors and away from the stresses of life. Gotta love running! Final time was 24:57 for a 7:56 pace. Oh by the way, I can't believe I hadn't done this yet, but I invited my roommate Curt to check out our blog and join it to post if he wants. He's a pretty avid runner and currently training for the Portland Marathon, so I hope he decides to join our awesome running clique!

James - 5.1

40:34

About the same distance, had to make a small diversion. Still feeling under the weather somewhat. Went to the dentist today and got shitty treatment. I hate my dentist! I saw him "running" to his car and leaving before I had even left, so obviously he had rushed through my appointment somewhat.

Toothache is also causing me to have weird sleeping times, so I ran at nearly 10pm, which I haven't done in a long time. It got dark by the time I got back. At least it wasn't as hot.

8 minute miles. I'm happy with the distance but not that pace. I entered that 10K race which is already under 2 months away on 6th September, so I want to get ready.

Luke - 10

10mi, 75:58 (7:35) Felt pretty okay. Lower legs hurting, I'm wondering if racing that uphill/downhil was such a good idea. Anyway, I should be back on schedule now after a week or two of lower mileage.

Steve - 7.5

Headed out to Manhattan Beach wood chips for a nice easy run. It was pretty hot out. Maybe not 90 degrees like Eugene, but I ran at 3pm, so it had to be close. I wanted to ease into the run and then close strong with a sub-7 minute mile. I felt pretty good throughout on this run. I am feeling strong after logging all that mileage in Eugene. In one 7-day stretch from June 24-30, I did 48 miles. That's definitely most I have ever done in that time frame. Anyway, here are the mile splits:

9:17, 8:26, 8:19, 8:24, 8:34, 8:02, 4:05, 6:57

Jonathan - 6

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonathan Robertsin. I met Steve recently and he told me all about this blog. He suggested I join the group, even though I am not even close to him when it comes to running talent. I don't run that much, but what the hell. I ran a race on the 4th of July, so I might as well share it with the world, or at least the 5 others who read this blog. Actually, I was hoping to run the race with Steve, but he's training for a big race in 2 weeks. He wants to save his best effort for that race. I even suggested he run the race at a tempo effort, but he refused. Quite devoted is this fellow. Anyway, the race was a 5K in Huntington Beach(aka Surf City). A late start at 8 am promised some high temperatures, but I was undaunted. There was a locals only race at 7 am. For some reason they wanted to separate Huntingon Beach residents from everyone else. This would later bother me more after the race when I noticed all the bananas and oranges had been consumed by the locals and nothing was left for the Surf City invaders.

My objective was to run evenly throughout the race. Steve, who was the race to watch his wife run, told me before the race that to achieve my best possible time, each of my mile times should be within 5% of another. I took this advice to heart and followed it splendidly. My time was 21:44. I went 7:04 for the first, 7:05 for the second, and 7:35 for the final 1.1, which is 6:53 mile pace. I felt pretty good after the race. Steve congratulated me after the race on my fine time, although I heard him telling his wife that he could have done a tempo run at that pace. What an arrogant ass! Despite not participating in the race, Steve seemed pretty happy because his wife ran 24:39, a PR by over a minute.

Luke - 12.5

I decided on Friday night to do the Butte to Butte, the local 4th of July race here. The course starts out with a mile steep uphill, then the second mile is steep downhill, and the rest of it is mostly flat, slightly downhill. There are special prizes for the first to the mile mark (King of the Hill) and first to the 2.2-mile mark (King of the Downhill), but smart racers know "the race starts at the bottom of the hill," that is, you shouldn't waste all your energy getting up the hill fast and you shouldn't let yourself fly down the hill and waste all your energy there.

I wasn't taking the race seriously (in fact, I drank the night before and didn't get to bed till 2) so I decided to treat it like a one-mile uphill race, and see how close I could be to King of the Hill. Last year's king of the hill was a friend of mine who ran a 14:10 5k, so I figured I wouldn't have a real shot at actually being first up...usually the first up is also the first down and also the first to the finish line. This is a big race in Eugene, so the fast people actually show up.

My plan was to run a slightly long route to the start for a 5-mile warmup, then run the uphill mile hard, then have an 8-mile cooldown made up of the rest of the race and the three miles home.

On the warmup I was feeling slow, which was fine, but then my stomach started hurting. It's actually been a while since I've had stomach problems (I'm now convinced they were psycho-somatic, and since school ended I've had a lot less stress) so I stopped at a portaloo and cut about a mile off the warmup so I could get to the race on time. At the start I had a couple cups of water because I realized I was pretty dehydrated. Did some strides from the start line, listened to a very slow rendition of the national anthem, and then the race finally started.

I sprinted out with the leaders, and my it was fast. I kept reminding myself to treat it like a mile race, which is a lot faster than a 5k or 10k. It has actually been a long time since I've raced anything shorter than 5k. The pace stayed fast until the base of the hill, about 250 meters in. The leaders were already 10+ meters in front of me, and there were probably 20-30 guys within 15 meters of me, so a fairly big pack up front. Going up the hill I was thinking, "Man, why'd I do this...I'm not good at uphills, I'm good at downhills." The two leaders were fairly well out of reach by halfway up the hill, and a group of three was a bit behind them, and then a bunch of us were a bit back of that. I had used Google Streetview to check out the hill, and I knew that at a certain fire hydrant there was only one stretch of hill left to the top. By the time I got to it I didn't have a chance of catching the top 5, but I made a final push anyway, and ended up in 8th or 9th at the mile mark. After passing it I slowed down and swung wide around the corner to let the guy behind me go past on the inside, and then a few seconds later thought "What the hell" and decided to run the downhill mile fast, too, since that's my specialty. So I picked it up and passed all but the top 5 within the first 600 meters or so, and then focused on the group of 3. The last guy I passed stayed with me, and at almost the 2-mile mark asked me how much downhill was left. I said a quarter mile and he was like, "All right, so should we catch them now or later?" I told him I was all but dropping out at the bottom of the hill, and he seemed surprised. The group of 3 was about 50m in front of me for the last half mile of the downhill; I was never quite able to catch them. I did get a bit of distance on the guy that talked to me, so I was in sixth after the downhill. My uphill mile was 6:01, and my downhill mile was 5:01; I was pretty happy with that and thought it might be worth a 10-flat 2-mile on a track.

Once on flat ground again, I let the guy pass me and I told him good luck, and I slowed way down...it was kind of funny to be going so slow while still in the top 10. A guy had a hose on a ladder spraying onto the street, so I walked through the refreshing mist, and the people standing and watching laughed a bit at me taking my time there (I was probably still top 20 at that point). My third mile was just over 7 minutes, and more and more people were passing me. It was kind of weird thinking that the people passing me at 18 minutes were going a very-respectable 6-minute mile pace. My fourth mile was a little over 8 minutes, my fifth a little over 9, and my sixth also over 9. My legs were hurting from the first 2 miles, and I think I might have felt better if I had stayed going somewhat fast. My finish time was 46:48, and I just realized that my bib number was 4846, so that's kinda weird I suppose. I used a fake name (Ralen Gupp) for the race, so my good name will not be tainted by a time over 12 minutes slower than my PR.

My stomach had started hurting again in the last mile of the race, so I used a toilet again at the finish, and after having some lovely stale bagels and water, I jogged home. My stomach and legs still hurt, but I did get a shout of "Nice legs!" from a guy in a truck.

After getting home I went back to bed for like five hours, and then watched the Mariners beat the Red Sox the second day in a row.

James - 5.1

40:49

Same route, same distance, 5 seconds slower.
Same downpour of rain at the exact same spot on the route!

I'm surprised it wasn't slower, as I've had toothache since Wendesday night and that has led to throat-nastiness and that isn't nice to run through. And a stiff thigh too.

Tonight I recorded a film called The Long Run! Anyone seen it?

Chris - 4.51

Well it's supposed to be 90* today so I wasn't going to run until later tonight, except I've told myself that the past two days and then by the time it gets that late I don't feel like going running anymore (I'm lame I know). I had semi-planned on getting up earlier today and going, but after I woke up at 8:30 I didn't wake up again till 10:45. So I decided not to be a sissy about the heat and went out for a run around noon. I think it was about 77* when I left. It was actually really nice at the beginning, with a slight breeze blowing on me running in the shade. But after the first part I was running mostly directly under the sun, so it gradually began to wear on me. It kinda reminded me of the Butte to Butte I ran in 2007 with Curt (my roommate) and Luke. It wasn't that bad until the last 3/4 of the run, then it got kinda brutal. My legs didn't feel that tired, but I did feel like I was barely moving forward. I ended up going for 36:29 for a pace of 8:05.

KB - lame

yeah thats right... lame. I went water running for about 45 minutes. I did it pretty hard too. when i got out of the pool i had to sit there for a few minutes before i was capable of standing up. Its boring and exhausting, but worth it to strengthen and prevent further injury

Luke - 8.5

8.5mi, 67:00 (7:52) Waited til almost 10 to run, because it was over 90º during the day, so I ran on the mile-loop trail til the lights turned off, which was at 11. Again today started out super slow, feeling not so great. Here are my mile splits for anyone who likes that sort of thing (Steve):

8:23, 8:05, 7:58, 7:49, 7:44, 7:32, 7:19.

Steve - 5

5 miles in 42 min. Yep.

KB - 4

So today I ran about 4 miles. The weather was less than delightful. Word on the street in that it reached about 90 degree today. I'll go out on a limb and say that it reached it's peak temperature around 2 or 3ish. And then the big blue ribbon winner for biggest dumbass of the day goes to (drumroll) ME! I ran right about 2:15. I'm a moron. Sorry about being lame on posting. I really have no excuse. Its not even like I have a full time job. I was just lazy. So I ran monday though and my knee started to hurt really bad. I think it may be jammed up. Tomorrow I will be bowing out to water-run at the YMCA. Maybe doing that like twice a week isn't such a bad idea. Less pounding on my knees.

James - 5.1

40:44

The heat here caused me to have a terrible nights sleep, so I woke up really late and feeling sluggish and shit. So I made 2 electrolyte cocktails (one for before, one for after), ate a bagel and went out as soon as possible after it settled. I had a goal to run for 5 miles and over 40 mins, both of which I just about managed. It was boiling hot until about minute 15 when it started to thunderstorm. Lightning, thunder and a proper downpour meant I got home with my clothes matted to me. But as you will know, when it's that hot and you're running, it really feels good. The extra weight probably slowed me but it did seem to make the run easier to digest.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 49:24 (7:36) Started out really slow, feeling pretty crappy. About halfway through felt a bit better, and managed to have a few random quarter-miles under 90.

Steve - 7.75

Todays speed workout with the flyers called for 6x800. Since I just did a grueling session with Luke on Sunday, I wanted to take it easy a bit. I started out nice and slow and then started to pick up toward the end. I figured a friend of mine who always runs too hard at the beginning and dies at the end of workouts would be at about the same pace as me at the end. He was fading when we got to the 6th rep and I was primed to finish strong. We hit the first 400 in 88 and with some urging from my friend, closed in 85 for a 2:53. It was hard but not too hard. Here are the splits:

3:09 (95, 94)
3:10 (96, 94)
3:06 (95, 91)
3:00 (90, 90)
3:01 (91, 90)
2:53 (88, 85)

400 recovery between each interval. 1.5 mile warmup , 2 mile cd. 3
miles of intervals. In retrospect, I probably should have gone easier
since the muscle right above my knee has been hurting for a few days.