Steve - 7.62

65 (8:32)

Nike run. Calves super tight after pretty tough work on track yesterday. Felt good aerobically though when we dropped pace fast going downhill.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 40:45 (7:24)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:02.

Steve - 5.70

Track workout at SMC. I decided to run a 3200 and a 1600. The 3200 wasn't too bad. I was shooting for about 6:10 per mile but came up a bit short. Good hard effort. My second mile was 6 seconds slower though. The 1600 I had a few guys with me instead of being solo. Goal was to hit a 6 minute mile. We were 3 minute behind pace after 2 laps. I told one guy, who then immediately sped up. We made up 2 seconds in 200 meter and then another second in the next 200. Some jackass was totally in my way at one point as he was walking across the track without looking and I nearly stopped to avoid running him over like mack truck with my 150 lb frame. So the final lap I maintained and then the fast guy egged me into running the final 100 hard and I hit 5:58. It felt a bit tough but I wasn't dead or anything afterwards.

1200 wup in 6:19
400m in 85
12:30.6 3200
5:58.5 1600
6:10 cd on track (~.55 mi)
9:55 back to work (1.15 mi)

Luke - 6

6mi, 39:50 (6:38)

Worked a half day because my doctor's appointment was today. Headed out to the hospital on the North side of Springfield and got poked for a bit, and had a colonoscopy scheduled for the 26th. More waiting. Anyway, as the lady handed me the card with the appointment reminder on it I went to put it in my back pocket and realized my keys weren't there. I'd locked them in the car...set them down when I was getting all my paperwork ready and stuff, and forgotten to grab them when I left. I didn't want to pay $30 for a taxi so I walked home, about 6 miles. It started to rain about 2/3 of the way there. Picked up the house key and a car key from Zack on campus and sat down for a bit at home before going on my run, to the hospital to get my car. I was in a bad mood and just wanted to get it over with so I did a sort of tempo the whole way, on a lot of sidewalks and waiting at stoplights and stuff.

James - 1.5

~14:00

My first outdoor run in 4 weeks. Went slow but I didn't swell up as much after.

In my math class the other day the teacher was talking about distance conversions and singled me out to say how many miles were in 5K. I tried to explain that I knew it was 3.1 because I was a runner and not because (as she believed) I was English. I would never know that information otherwise. And she knows its true because I had to tell her when I was injured and couldn't make it in to class. Math seems to come up a lot on this blog lately and not just because we post a lot of numbers.

Steve - 8.77

79:08 (9:01)

Ran all around my neighborhood including a few miles on the beach barefoot. Took me forever to map this run on Gmaps. When did the elevation feature stop working? Sucks I can't see that anymore.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5318482

Luke - 14

14mi, 1:44:21 (7:27)

People were doing a long run on the logging road in Springfield...I didn't want to do 18 miles at 7:00 pace like they usually do so I said I'd show up if someone else wanted to go 13-14 at an easier pace. Ended up running with the German masters runner and a chick who's on OTC elite. The three of us took it pretty easy and turned around right at 7 miles. I stopped at about ten miles to head into the woods for a minute, and when I was done the German had stopped and waited for me a few hundred meters up. The OTC elite chick, along with a couple other guys that had gone a bit farther and had caught up, did the last three miles at tempo pace, so the other two of us just took it easy the rest of the way. 53:04 out, 51:17 back.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 2/19-2/25

Luke - 36.45 (5)

Steve - 29.84 (4)

James - 1.5 (2)

67.79 miles in 11 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 5.5

I assume this was the 1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail, but I have no idea my pace or time or anything because I'm writing this just over three months after doing it...I have an Excel spreadsheet where I write down my mileage (among other things) every day and I noticed I'd written 5.5 on February 25th but had no corresponding blog entry.  So here it is.  I'm betting no one ever reads this.  If someone does, Stephen, you should leave a comment and we'll all have a good laugh.

Steve - 8.92

73:23 (8:14)

LMU run. Did one extra loop on a trail that is 1.42 miles. Nice finish to the week. I needed the day off on Friday. I brought my shoes with me to work cuz I wanted to hit over 30 miles this week but I thought it would be better to take a day off. Plus ended up drinking and playing pool that night instead.

Luke - 9.75

9.75mi, 68:32 (7:01)

Went to Pre's Trail and did a fartlek. Pretty much the same as this run, but did the fartlek on all three loops. Real good workout, left my legs feeling very tired.

James - 1

16:05

This felt okay, but when I got home later I noticed my foot had swollen up again. It has gone down now and didn't hurt, but maybe it was a little warning to take it easy still.

I amassed several entertaining running references whilst I was injured. This first one is from great American writer Kurt Vonnegut, and his novel Jailbird. Our protagonist, Walter F. Starbuck, is taking in his first morning out of prison after being locked up for a minor role in Watergate:

Two joggers came down the path between me and the radio. They were a man and a woman in identical orange-and-gold sweatsuits and matching shoes. I already knew about the jogging craze. We had had many joggers in prison. I found them smug.

-- p.169-170

This hideous passage tells us that the book came out in the late 70s! I recently finished it and highly recommend it.

Steve - 7.72

67:09

Group run with Nike. I was feeling pretty sore from the track work the previous day. I just had to survive this run. I parked far away so I had to run extra

Luke - 6.5

23' w/u; 2x4x300m, 100/300r; 17' c/d.

51, 54, 53, 53 / 54, 53, 53, 56.

Was going to do these yesterday, but was lazy. Definitely should have done them then, because today it was stupid windy and I felt like crap. The 100m rest felt like nothing, and I was breathing really heavy pretty much the entire time. The wind made me feel even weaker, it was pretty bad. Been working a bit more, which doesn't help. Gonna cut that out in a couple weeks here when I start racing.

Luke - 3.25

3.25mi, 26:18 (8:05)

Mile loops of 8:11 and 8:00.

Steve - 6.5

Track workout. The group was doing 1600, 1200, 800 with 400s in between each longer interval. There was a shorter recovery, about 2 mins between the longer interval and the 400. Full lap recovery after the 400. I think I did pretty well. I stayed in a good range on the 400s and didn't sprint or go anaerobic on them. I tried to drop a few seconds per 400 on the longer intervals. Started off with about 1:35 per 400 for the 1600s, then dropped to 1:31 for the 1200, then dropped to 1:29 per 400 for the 800. Feeling like I am in pretty good shape.

I was thinking the other day that having to deal with my injury last year has made me really motivated and that it might turn out to be a good thing. Make me appreciate what I had/have.

8:27 wup
1600 in 6:22, 400 in 83.6, 1200 in 4:33, 400 in 1:24, 800 in 2:58, 400 in 82
3x400 recovery
16:43 cd

James - 0.5

~11:00

Hi guys! Looks like my prediction of running within a week was absurd. It's been 3 weeks. This was very delicate but I feel okay. I have been exercising in other ways as much as I can, and started to get a little stronger all over using weights, cycling and stuff. I think this will really help my running now that I'm into a habit. It's good to be back.

Luke - 6.6

6.6mi, 50:54 (7:42)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 12:55.

Steve - 6.7

54:20 (8:07)

Had to cut this shorter than I wanted to run. So instead I ran a bit faster. About half on dirt.

Luke - 10.35

10.35mi, 86:56 (8:23)

Fox Hollow plus the 1.6-mile loop at the top. 9:12 up, 7:49 down.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 2/12-2/18

Steve - 32.54 (5)

Luke - 32.25 (5)

64.79 miles in 10 runs by 2 runners.

Steve - 7.7

62 (8:03)

Damn it I didn't listen to myself. I ran on Saturday and waited til Tuesday to post it. Of course this stupid watch cleared its memory again and I lost it. I think I ran about 62 minutes.

Steve - 4.74

39:27 (8:19)

Just getting some miles in. Mostly in the grass in Santa Monica in the dark. Gearing up for big mileage on Saturday and Sunday. Need about 8 to hit 30 for the week on Saturday.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 41:04 (7:28)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:00.

Luke - 9

23' w/u; 3x1600m, 400r: 5:04, 5:05, 5:03; 25' c/d.

Happy with this workout. I was hoping for 5:10 or better but wasn't expecting to even hit that. I worked 4-4 Wednesday and today and hadn't gotten enough sleep. Also didn't run at all on Wednesday (when I was planning on doing this workout). Warmup was somewhat slow and I didn't think I'd have too good of a workout. Came through the first 800 in 2:31 and didn't feel bad so I kept it up. Had thought of doing 4 repeats, but after the third one (closed in 73 or 74) I had some real good hurtin' going on so I wrapped it up. The cooldown was good, after a half a mile or so I didn't feel like death, and I didn't cut it short as I so often do. All in all pretty good, especially all alone...bodes well for my next race (track 5000 on March 3 is the plan).

Steve - 7

60 (8:30)

Forgot my watch but was running with a group so no problem. Usual Nike Club run.

Steve - 5.4

I really need to stop waiting to enter my runs. My stupid watch reset the memory again. I really should buy a new one instead of using this stupid purple, lady's watch. So I did a 3 mile tempo on the track and I think I remember what I ran. It was definitely faster than the last 2 times I did this same workout. I think I ran 19:50 (6:37 pace)--last week I did 20:02. First mile was about 6:40, second mile 6:38, third mile was 6:32. Cooldown was about 13 minutes. Warmup was one mile in 8:30.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 33:56 (7:59)

Mile loops of 8:07, 8:08, and 7:58.

Luke - 8

8mi, 59:06 (7:23)

2.25mi w/u, 3.5mi tempo in 21:38 (6:10 pace), 2.25mi c/d.

Warmed up out to the bike path and did my out-and-back tempo there. First half 10:55, second half 10:42.

Steve - 7.7

60:36 (7:51)

I've finally found a good route near my house where I can cover most of the mileage on soft ground. I feel like an idiot because it might have been there for the longest time and I haven't been running on it. There's a 1.5 mile-ish loop on bark and dirt that is only one mile from my house. It's sort of hidden so I never saw it til recently. There are two fences I have to jump over that say it's private property but I kept seeing people walking their dogs there. There were also signs about rattlesnakes. After I did the 1.5 loop, I crossed the street and went onto the LMU trail. It's about 2 miles and all dirt. Pretty awesome. I assume this is the training ground of LMU runners. I always wondered where they trained but I have never met one so I didn't have the chance to ask. After I finished the LMU loop, I ran up a pretty steep hill that is about .1 miles. Probably a good place to do repeats at some point. Then I ran home pretty hard. Covered .94 miles in 6:32. I want to run the course with someone who has GPS so I can get a more accurate distance on it. It's a huge pain in the ass entering it on Gmaps. I might try a buy a used GPS off Craiglist or something.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5297123

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 46:35 (8:28)

Rexius real easy.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 2/5-2/11

Luke - 51.25 (6)

Steve - 24.86 (4)

76.11 miles in 10 runs by 2 runners.

Luke - 6

6mi, 46:09 (7:41)

1.6-mile loop in 12:27. Easy, felt good.

Steve - 6.9

60 (8:35)

I found a trail near LMU campus and ran on it a bit. There was a dirt portion that ran parallel to where I was running that I couldn't access til the end. I was running on a paved trail for about 1.5 miles. But next time I run there I know where to enter so I can run on the dirt. Ran a bit more on some grass near my house so probably about half of this run was on soft ground.

Steve - 4.96

43:39 (8:48)

I started Linear Algebra yesterday. It's a 3 hour class in freaking East L.A. every Thursday. It's a hellish commute for me. So running on that day is gonna be tough. I gotta run Fridays instead. Basically just got this run to build mileage. Professor seems like less of a douche than the one from Santa Monica I tried to add last semester.

Luke - 9.5

9.5mi, 69:00 (7:15)

Went to Pre's Trail and scouted out a loop for fartleks. Did it once normal pace to map it out in my head, then twice with fast sections at designated spots. It starts by going through some singletrack trail easy, then about a half-mile on asphalt fast, then about 600m on asphalt and bark easy, then 300m on bark fast, then about a quarter mile on bark easy, then a loop of the BMX track fast. It took 12:57 both times, and my legs were really feeling it after.

Luke - 9.5

22' w/u; 10x400m, 200r: 76, 76, 75, 76, 73, 71, 74, 75, 74, 72; 25' c/d.

Ran this all with this German guy that runs about 16:15 for the 5k. My stomach hurt throughout, but not in the usual way--I felt like I was going to throw up. I've never thrown up from running (except at Beer Miles) so I tried going hard enough to do so (but never did). These were a bit slower than I would hope, but it was pretty much my first fast session of the year, and the stomach thing.

Steve - 7

56:58 (8:08)

Was bit of a struggle on this run cuz I ate too much before the run. Thankfully, I had a few guys in the run club to keep me going.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 50:42 (8:06)

Drove up to a short distance from the Relentless Hills area so that I could do some trails without having to go too long. I planned on not going to the top of The Wall, but I ended up going up the back side of it, which is almost as steep, 5-10 times as long, and a lot muddier. Went on a bunch of random trails and came out on a road, which I took to the Ribbon Trail. Got back to within about two blocks of my car, on a slick grass field, and while being very careful not to fall, fell. Didn't hurt but I got all muddy and had to take my shirt off and turn it inside out to sit on in the car.

Luke - 8

8mi, 59:37 (7:27)

Ran to Pre's Trail and did a 3-mile tempo. It was two laps of the 1.5-mile loop, and my splits were 9:24 and 9:19 for a total of 18:44 (6:14 pace). My stomach started cramping up even before I'd started the tempo, and got really bad for the latter half of the second loop. Very painful. Legs and stuff were fine though.

Steve - 6

Did basically the same track workout as last week. This was tougher though because I had 4 days off and I was recovering from being in smoky rooms from my Super Bowl vegas trip. I did manage to stay on 6:40 pace though and not push too hard. The group was doing some 400s so I joined for one afterwards and knocked out an 80 smoothly.

8:36 wup
3 mi tempo in 20:02 (6:43.7, 6:39, 6:38.8)
400 in 80
15:53 cd

Luke - 12

Zena Road Race 15k, 54:00, 5th place.

Had a fun little race the morning of the Super Bowl up in the farmland just northwest of Salem. A lot of the people from the group of Eugene runners I often work out with were going too, so we carpooled. I knew at least a couple people faster than me who were running so I wasn't expecting to contend for the win. The course started by going up a pretty steep hill for a mile, then had rolling uphills for the next two miles, then had two miles of pretty steep downhill, and then the last four miles or so were rolling hills. My plan was to take it somewhat easy on the first three miles and just keep Josh Gordon in sight (he's a bit faster than me and usually pretty smart about tactics), then use the downhill to reel him in a bit, then at six miles give it everything I can for the last 3.3 miles. The race pretty much went according to plan...up the first hill I did pretty well; a few people passed me near the top, so for miles 2-3 the order was the top two guys, Josh, a group of five guys, then me leading a group of three guys. During those miles the group ahead of me started to spread out, and I could tell I was stronger than the guys I was with so I pulled away from them. I picked off three of the people in the group ahead of me, so going into the downhill it was Josh still in third, a guy in white/gray about 40m back of him, a guy named Mike Blackmore (50-year-old who is faster than me, sets national age records) just behind him, and me about 40m back. Down the hill I really tried to push it, but the guys in front of me were also going strong. Blackmore was flying down the hill and by the bottom had caught up to Josh. I checked my watch when they passed a cone at about 4.5 miles and again when I passed it, and they had about 35 seconds on me at that point, so I thought I'd have a chance at catching them. I was pretty much going as fast as I could; I felt strong but not really fast. I haven't really done any fast workouts since like November so it made sense. Blackmore passed Josh and put a little distance on him, but then Josh started feeling good and passed him back and took off from me pretty well too. I felt like I was reeling in Blackmore and the guy in front of me, but if they were coming back to me they weren't coming back fast enough. The guy in front of me passed Blackmore at 8.5 or 9 miles, but really it was more Mike coming back than the other guy making a move. I passed him too with about a half a mile to go, and since we're friendly I asked him, "Can we catch this guy?" He said his calves had given out and just didn't have anything left, otherwise he would have. I gave chase but just didn't have the speed to quite get him. He finished about 9 seconds in front of me and I finished 16 seconds in front of Blackmore.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the race; I know I don't have any speed right now so I think I did the best I could with what I had. Maybe could have gained a few seconds in the second mile without it hurting my second half, but that's pretty much nothing and other than that I think I executed quite well.

I pretty much just did mileage for January in preparation for this race; now I'm going to do a bit less mileage and a lot more speedwork in order to get fit for a fast 5000 in March/April. I'm going to scout out a few track meets that will have some good competition for me. If I can I'll go down and join Steve for the Carlsbad 5000 on April 1; and if I somehow get fast enough I might be able to get into some really good meets around here in May. Good to have a plan again!

Edit 2/14: Wanted to write down my splits here...they don't mean much since the hills decided the pace, but if I ever do this race again I can compare. 6:37, 12:20 (2mi), 5:07, 5:11, 5:19, 12:07 (2mi), 5:32, 1:43 (.3mi).

Weekly Mileage Totals, 1/29-2/4

Luke - 54.85 (8)

Steve - 6.98 (1)

James - 5.3 (2)

67.13 miles in 11 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 40:18 (7:19)

Easy run on Pre's with Zack. Weather was cool but nice.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 66:21 (7:34)

Fox Hollow. It was sunny out so I ran with just shorts and a t-shirt. Was warm enough except when I went into the woods and was instantly cold. 8:35 up, 6:40 down. Felt good.

Steve - 9.4

84

Long run around Santa Monica. Probably about 3 miles on dirt, the rest concrete.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 53:49 (8:16)

Went to Amazon with Zack and warmed up with him then ran easy while he did a 3x800m workout. I ended up joining him on his last one and ran a 2:35, and then ran with him while he cooled down.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 38:50 (9:08)

Mile loops of 9:12, 9:06, and 9:10, before work.