Steve - 5.5

52:13 (9:30)

Up and down the hills of Griffith Park. Easy effort.

Chris - 3.47

26:35 - 7:39 pace

Took it a bit easy on the way out, then pushed it a bit coming back. Wasn't sure how much energy I would have since I was pretty hungry before I even left.

splits: 13:30 - 13:04

Luke - 12.5

12.5mi, 1:45:22 (8:25)

This run. It was not as hot this time, which helped. Also I didn't fall into a ditch, so that was nice.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 47:24 (7:17)

Rexius trail, pushed it slightly for funsies.

Luke - 10

10mi, 75:12 (7:31)

With Zack: 1.6-mile loop in 12:19, 1.4-mile loop in 10:29, 2 miles barefoot in the grass.

Steve - 5.5

46:01 (8:11)

Easy run at Manhattan Beach. First mile a smidge under 9, middle miles around 8:20, last mile in 7:20. Solid run.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 8/22-8/28

Luke - 38.75 (5)

Chris - 17.78 (4)

Steve - 12.1 (3)

Zack - 4.25 (1)

Chris - 3.5

Did an interval workout with Luke today. First one I've done in years! We jumped a 6 ft fence to warm up in the grass, then did 2 sets of 4 400's with 600 rest in between. I ran the first one way too fast, but after that did okay. I'm proud that I broke 90 on the last one! Oh and I almost got speared by a clarinet held by one of the kids from the marching band.

77, 86, 88, 93 / 93, 94, 95, 88

Luke - 3.5

Interval workout with Chris in Portland. 10min warmup on grass, then 2x4x400m, 200/600r @ 73, 74, 73, 73 / 78, 75, 77, 75. All of it was barefoot because I left my shoes at another friend's house, and while my ligaments etc. were fine, the bottoms of my feet hurt by the end. Also we had to dodge the high school marching band and their equipment as they were practicing on the field.

Chris - 3.47

27:35 - 7:56 pace

Was really tired after work, so went nice and easy. Saw 4 hot girls drive by me on my route. Going to meet Luke and friends at a British pub in NE PDX for beer and darts tonight!

Steve - 4.8

41:02 (8:33)

Out in 21:00, back in 20 on flat Griffith Park trail. I'm starting to get back to feeling strong again, although I can't go an hour without blowing my nose a billion times.

Luke - 7.25

7.25mi, 52:14 (7:12)

In Portland, ran from my friends' place to a park with a bark loop around it, ran that loop 10x, and went back. Splits for the loop: 4:46, 4:44, 4:40, 4:34, 4:34, 4:25, 4:15, 4:06, 3:45, and 3:28.

Zack - 4.25

4.25 mi 31:01 (7:17)

Amazon easy night loops of 7:33, 7:32, 7:25.

For the past two weeks I have run only a few times a week as a sort of rest period. I planned this during my recent travels. I was fortunate enough to visit and enjoy Portland, San Fran, Oahu, and Kaua'i. Ran 9 miles in SF, a few hilly, tropical runs in Oahu, and did lots of surfing, hiking, swimming, and hanging out at the beach. After these amazing travels, it is back to work in the lab and time to run hard again!

Chris - 4.17

33:42 - 8:04 pace

I think I'm lucky to have simply survived this run. I never get enough sleep the weeks I work 7-4 after I'm 11-8, and then add in the 92* heat and I was struggling pretty bad about 2 miles in. Not much of the run was in the shade either. Hoping to get more rest toward the end of this week so I can have a good tempo run on Friday and then intervals on Saturday with Luke before the concert.

Chris - 6.64

52:25 - 7:53 pace

First Magneto run of the year under 8 min pace! I had to take a little detour toward the end to say hi to a port-o-pottie. Also about a mile in some muscles on the bottom middle/front of my right foot started to hurt, but because I'm a badass I kept going. Luckily it went away after another mile or so. I definitely need to get some more sleep tonight so I have more energy for my run on Wednesday.

Luke - 10

10mi, 75:31 (7:33)

1.6-mile loop in 12:19, 1.4-mile loop in 10:07, 2 miles barefoot in the grass.

Steve - 4

Silver Lake Resevoir. Mostly on trail. I forgot my watch so it was probably about 38 minutes.

Luke - 6

6mi, 45:42 (7:37)

1.6-mile loop in 11:58.

There is a canal that runs along part of Pre's Trail, where people sometimes kayak or canoe, but because of construction some sections are closed. They put up a sign to warn of these closures, and the sign was promptly vandalized. The vandal just removed one letter from the sign, which now reads: Use anal With Caution.

hehehehehhehehehhehheheh butt jokes

Steve 3.3

28:17

My first run in a week! I got really sick last week and am almost recovered now. I guess my body broke down after all the training the last few months.

Luke - 12

12mi, 95:26 (7:57)

Last night as I was leaving for work I found my bike had a flat tire, so I had to take a taxi to the place where I pick up my taxi...so instead of biking home this morning, I ran home. I found a good route so that I wouldn't have to run through town on main streets. Basically up one street for about 3 miles, to the very Western end of the Ridgeline Trail (where the Ridgeline Ramble starts), then along Ridgeline for about 4 miles to Fox Hollow, and back home the same route as the out-and-back 8.75-miler Zack and I do most Wednesdays. I was 7:26 down the hill, and 7:15 pace on the bark on the way back. I had to push the last few miles to get under my goal of 8-minute pace overall.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 8/15-8/21

Luke - 30.75 (4)

Chris - 15.36 (4)
Steve - 10.5 (1)

Luke - 7.5

7.5mi, 53:43 (7:09)

1.4-mile loop in 9:47, 2 miles barefoot in the grass.

Luke - 10.25

10.25mi, 79:28 (7:45)

Mile loops of 8:32, 8:21, 8:00, 7:44, 7:44, 7:39, 7:20, 7:00, and 6:01.

Chris - 3.47

27:30 - 7:55 pace

Wanted to get a short run in after work, since my legs were feeling pretty good. Considering the lack of energy they seemed to have though, I think I'm going to do intervals on Sunday instead of tomorrow, so I get more out of them. Time to get cleaned up and go meet a friend for burgers and beer....

splits: 13:54 - 13:36

Chris - 6.45

52:45 - 8:10 pace

Pretty good run overall. Toward the end some dipshit with no shirt on was hanging out of the back window if his buddies SUV saying something to me, so I threw up the middle finger even though I couldn't hear what he was saying, and then yelled "F**k you you little b*tch!". Then they kept driving of course and I was super fired up so I put my hands to my mouth and yelled "Come got some!" or something like that. I really wanted them to stop so we could do some more bantering. But it made me run the last .2 of my run that much harder, haha. I seriously hope one day I piss off someone enough with my retort that they turn around and come back toward me, or stop in the road or something....that would be so awesome.

Also since I'm thinking about it - on Monday during my run when I was crossing a street there was this guy diagonal to me that literally intermittently hit the crosswalk button like 5 separate times in the span of 30 seconds (enough to really get my attention). There wasn't even that much traffic since he was trying to cross a sidestreet. So as I ran across toward him down the sidestreet, of course he hit the button AGAIN, so I couldn't help but commenting to him very sarcastically, "it actually works better if you hit it a few more times...".

Haha, I love being a loud sarcastic jackass when I get the chance ;)

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 66:54 (7:38)

Fox Hollow. 8:57 up, 6:48 down, 7:10 pace on the bark on the way back.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 33:20 (7:50)

Mile loops of 8:01, 7:44, and 7:39. I have been crazy tired the last few days, hence missing running every day that I worked. Lame.

Chris - 1.97

13:44 - 6:58 pace

This run makes me wonder if I didn't get enough rest before the race on Saturday. How the hell do I run 7 min pace for 2 miles on a training run and only 10 seconds faster for 3 miles in a race? Anyway, the run went well and I actually ran faster than I had hoped so that makes me happy! I'm going to keep doing these periodically to keep up my speed. I'm also hoping to drive to a track on Saturday to do some intervals, since unfortunately some plans I had made with friends (that I was really looking forward to) fell through.

The next race I do with Darren, I'd better kick his ass.

And break 19:30.

splits: 6:46 - 6:58

Chris - 3.47

27:18 - 7:52 pace

Had to take it easy on this one because of the heat (95*). I also stopped toward the end for a little breather, I was running directly in the sun and felt like I was getting a little too overheated. The plan is to run 6.5 Wednesday, and hopefully if I feel good the next day I'll do this route again and then a 5'er on Friday evening.

Steve - 10.5

86:32 (8:14)

Easy run with a fast closing 6:30 or so mile. I got really sick that night and didn't run for a week.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 8/8-8/14

Luke - 68.75 (8)

Steve - 25.5 (4)

Chris - 11.61 (3)

Zack - 4.25 (1)

Alison/James - 1.1 (1)

Luke - 6

6mi, 48:20 (8:03)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 13:04. The added runs have really slowed me down.

Chris - 3.1

Crawfish Crawl 5k - 21:11 - 6:50 pace

Goddammit I'm slow. My buddy Darren beat me. Four other guys I also work with actually ran in it, which I didn't know until I saw them while I was getting my packet this morning. I also forgot to hit my watch at the 2nd mile mark. Guess this can be my motivation to run more before I do another race in a month or two. I decided I'm going to screw all of these long ass runs just to get mileage for the week, and start running shorter routes as hard as I can until I whip my ass into good shape, with some longer runs thrown in for good measure.

Disappointed and pissed.

mile 1 - 6:31

mile 2 and 3 - 14:07

last .1 - 31 sec

Steve - 7.5

61:48 (8:14)

Out in 32, back in 29:48 on the old MB trail. Final mile in 7:30. Most miles around 8:20 or so. Felt pretty good. Gonna shoot for high 30s in mileage next week. It all starts with the Sunday long run..

Luke - 7.75

7.75mi, 68:45 (8:52)

Relentless Hills early in the a.m. Man, this run is hard.

Luke - 10

10mi, 77:03 (7:42)

1.6-mile loop in 12:33, 1.4-mile loop in 10:23, 2 miles barefoot in the grass. Mileage!

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 69:11 (7:54)

Fox Hollow at 6am. 7:15 up the hill (1 second off my PR), 8:20 down it (the first time I've been slower down than up).

Steve - 7

64:27 (9:12)

Tough run through Griffith Park. My friend took me on a run through some trails I have never been on. Lots of hills going up and down. Kept a respectable pace.

Luke - 11.5

11.5mi, 87:07 (7:34)

Did the 1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail but forgot to hit my watch, then did the 1.4-mile loop of it in 9:57 and 10:02, then did 17 minutes of barefoot on the grass. My legs were pretty tired by the end.

Chris - 3.47

26:39 - 7:40 pace

This was a horrible run. I was hoping it would be kick-ass since the 5k is 2 days away. It's hot out (85*), and I ran way too hard the first half because I was all excited. Now I'm just hoping my race pace won't be shit from mile to mile since I haven't done many tempo runs.

splits: 12:32 - 14:07

Steve - 5.25

45:06 (8:39)

Did a bunch of easyish running on the track. Did two 7:2o or so miles in the middle with about 1.75 miles cooldown barefoot. I'm taking it easy this week after lots of speed the last month.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 67:20 (7:41)

Fox Hollow, no Zack because he left for his trip to Hawaii today (lucky dog!). 8:26 up the hill, 7:02 down, 6:45 pace on the bark on the way back.

Luke - 10

10mi, 74:50 (7:29)

1.6-mile loop in 12:14, 1.4-mile loop in 9:38, 2 miles barefoot in the grass.

Steve - 5.75

53:45 (9:21)

Usual Monday run at Griffith Park. Climb up for a few miles and downhill for a few miles. Pretty easy effort. Gonna take it easy for a while after races and a lot of fast stuff on the track recently.

Zack - 4.25

4.25 miles 28:31 (6:42)

Worked 9-8 and was pretty tired from Saturday's long hilly run. However, I started to run and settled into a tempo and then near 5km-10km race pace! Very fast 3 mile effort solo, 10:00PM, and on bark!

Splits: 6:47, 6:21, 5:59.

Chris - 5.04

39:17 - 7:47 pace

Pretty solid, non-eventful run. My left knee is still feeling tight here and there. Busy day at work today, so it felt great to get home and get out on the road and in the warm weather.

Alison/James - 1.1

8:39

Round a local park, dodging dogs, dog owners, swimming pools, cannonballing teenagers, squirrels, birds, rabbits, turtles, cats, otters, astronauts, Stalinists, Z-list celebrities, the cast of Battlestar Galactica, graffiti artists, pulp writers, Taliban leaders, the staff of your local DMV, and Gods.

Luke - 6

6mi, 47:13 (7:52)

1.6-mile loop in 12:25. Would have done more but I woke up too late and had to go to work.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 8/1-8/7

Luke - 50 (6)

Steve - 30.76 (6)

Chris - 16.53 (3)

Zack - 12.5 (1)

Zack - 12.5

12.5 miles 1:51:50 (8:56)

EPIC hilly run with Luke, roughly 80F. Up to Hendricks Park, Ribbon Trail, Spring Blvd, Mt. Baldy, Dillard East/West, Fox Hollow to Willlamette, and home. Estimated 2000' vertical. Felt pretty solid climbing to Mt. Baldy in 47:13 and continued steady on Ridgeline. Took a gel 45 min in which seemed to help. The legs started to die hitting 52nd and Willamette, about 5 vicious up and downhills took the remaining wind out of my sails. No water until Amazon with 1 mile to go. Pace appears very slow, but actually the run was quite strong until the last few miles when Luke and I fell apart. Luke also took quite a fall on the trail after the switchbacks past Fox Hollow on some rocky downhill and cut himself up. Seemed to be okay except for some scrapes/blood. One of the hardest runs of the year.

Chris - 6.45

53:19 - 8:15 pace

Feeling so good after this run! I felt strong the whole way, and even sprinted a couple times going down hills and across streets to get out of the way of cars. This run makes me way more excited about the race next week and my chances to do well. My knee was feeling better too.

Luke - 12.5

12.5mi, 1:52:13 (8:58)

Lots and lots of hills, fell and slid into a ditch once, hardest part was the 3-4 miles of downhill at the end. I swear it was faster than this, but Zack measured it online and this is what he got.

Steve - 5

18:17! I am fast!

So here's the recap of my race. It was a pretty big race with lots of fast high school kids and adults. I was rocking my Asics Sortie Supermagic 2s, which weigh like -5 oz. The start area was pretty crowded and I wasn't able to slide up to the front. When the gun went off, a bunch of stupid middle school age or so kids that shouldn't have been in the front fell down right by the timing mat. The first wave of runners got off clean, but I was stuck for about 10 seconds. Luckily I didn't cross the mat so my time wasn't affected. I felt bad for the kids, but the announcer mentioned like 100 times for them to move back and for the fastest runners to be up front. Anyway, I had to do a lot of zigging and zagging for the first 600 meters or so. I wanted to make sure I didn't fall of my goal pace of 6:00 for my first mile. The course was really flat and had a reputation for being fast. At mile 1 I came through at 6:05, which was good considering the mess at the beginning. I now began focusing on passing runners cuz I knew if I wasn't passing runners, I was slowing down. Legs were feeling great so I continued to up the pace and drop other runners. Mile 2 came in at 5:56, putting me at 12:01. We took one final turn and I knew we were on the final straightaway. This was the moment of the race where I realized my goal was within reach and I decided to go for it. I started to feel the pain in my legs but I still felt really strong. I couldn't help but glance at my watch a few times to see how many more minutes of running I would have to struggle through. As I closed in on the finish, I didn't feel like I had a big kick in me but I was passing some runners and other runners were catching me. When I approached the first finishing mat I saw 18:0x and I surged to the second mat, hitting a time of 18:17. My final 1.1 mile split was 6:16(5:42 pace). It was a great feeling to finally have everything come together in a race. The course could have been a bit short like I said in the comments, but I know I was in shape to run about this fast. I'm psyched to have a new PR!

12:15 wup ~1.3 mi
5k in 18:17 (6:05, 5:56, 6:16(1.1 mi))
6:36 cd ~.6 mi

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 49:44 (7:39)

Did Rexius late at night with Zack, and it sorta turned into a tempoish accelerationish fartlekish run...just went fast when it was light enough to see the trail, and backed off when going through the shadows. Missed some of the quarter splits because I couldn't see the posts, but the last four were 89, 97, 90, and 80.

Steve - 2.95

25:26 (8:37)

Easy run on mostly grass.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 48:44 (7:47)

Mile loops of 8:06, 7:49, 7:42, 7:34, and 7:30.

Chris - 5.04

40:42 - 8:04 pace

Decent run, felt like I was dying at the end though. Managed to summon enough energy to power my legs up my little steep hill at the end to my house. My stupid knee has been bothering me this week, hope that goes away soon.

I need to do a shorter run this week or next to get the feeling of speed back in my legs before the race! Speaking of which I need to sign up for that...DONE!

Steve - 6.2

52:33 (8:29)

Easy 6. Partially on sand and dirt so the pace was actually pretty solid.

Steve - 4.86

Track workout with the Flyas. I'm doing a 5k this Saturday so I wanted to keep the workout pretty easy. I decided to go with alternating 100m sprint and jog for about 2 miles. Once I was all warmed up and ready to go, a group of guys were about to start an 800m rep. I decided to jump in and ran a pretty easy 3:01. After a few minutes, I went on to do 7 laps of fartlek action (about 18 for the sprint and 32-35 for the jog).

1.5 mi wup in 14
800m in 3:01
1.75 mi fartlek in 12:03
barefoot 1.1 mi cd in 10:30

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 67:20 (7:41)

Fox Hollow with Zack. 8:05 up, 6:32 down. Felt good the whole run, and Zack PRed up the hill (8:15).

Chris - 5.04

41:04 - 8:08 pace

I had fully planned on running 3-4 times last week, but ended up being really busy. Driving range after work on Wed, basketball Thu, 9 holes after work on Fri, worked Sat 11-8 (I should have run during my lunch, but I was sore and tired from golf/bball), then went to a 'tinfoil hat' party after I got off work. Slept in Sunday and hung out with my nephew all day. Then I played 18 holes on Monday with my dad, and played horrible at that. We played at the hardest course in the Portland area...and I will never play there again, lol.

I'm planning on running in a 5k with a friend from work on the 14th, The Crawfish Crawl, which I also ran in last year. I don't know if I'll be able to run 19:30 again, but we'll see. I'd like to get in 15+ this week, and then 10 next week and take Thu/Fri off before the race on Saturday morning. After I'm done with the race I'm playing in my church's little annual 9 hole tournament scramble at King City G.C.

Steve - 5.75

52:25 (9:07)

Some good hills in Griffith Park. Pretty easy effort.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 49:43 (7:38)

Luke - 9.5

9.5mi, 72:47 (7:39)

1.6-mile loop in 12:05, 1.4-mile loop in 10:16, 13:27 barefoot in the grass. Saw a snake on Pre's Trail, spooked me a bit after I almost stepped on it.

Steve - 6

48:11 (8:02)

3 miles out in 24:36. 3 miles back in 23:34. Final mile in 7:27. Ran on the wood chips in Manhattan Beach. Pretty solid, easy run.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 7/25-7/31

Luke - 44.75 (5)

Zack - 25.25 (3)

Steve - 23.87 (4)

Chris - 7.65 (2)

James - 1.6 (1)