Some Running.

Steve - 6.7

2012-02-19T14:33:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-19T09:53:00.000-08:00

10.35mi, 86:56 (8:23)

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

Steve - 4.74

2012-02-17T23:49:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 41:04 (7:28)

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

Luke - 9

2012-02-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

60 (8:30)

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

Steve - 5.4

2012-02-14T23:54:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-14T19:50:00.001-08:00

4.25mi, 33:56 (7:59)

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

Luke - 8

2012-02-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 46:35 (8:28)

Rexius real easy.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 2/5-2/11

2012-02-12T00:01:00.001-08:00

Luke - 51.25 (6)

Steve - 24.86 (4)

76.11 miles in 10 runs by 2 runners.

Luke - 6

2012-02-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

6mi, 46:09 (7:41)

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

Steve - 6.9

2012-02-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-07T19:14:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Luke - 54.85 (8)

Steve - 6.98 (1)

James - 5.3 (2)

67.13 miles in 11 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 5.5

2012-02-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 40:18 (7:19)

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

Luke - 8.75

2012-02-03T16:36:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

84

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

Luke - 6.5

2012-02-01T21:31:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-01T05:01:00.000-08:00

4.25mi, 38:50 (9:08)

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

James - 2.2

2012-01-31T23:45:00.000-08:00

Time unknown

I've injured myself again, hooray.

So I ran to the library to return a DVD. It was a romance film, so needless to say, one of the happy couple was horribly killed by a truck or something. I promised Alison no such thing would happen to me on my run. As I was running home, I slipped and sprained my ankle.

I stared up at the moon in sympathy. Help, you bastard!

I was able to walk on it, just about. I was on the trail after dark (which is not allowed), so nobody was around to help. Thankfully I wasn't too far from where I left it, but I did limp over half a mile home. At least I didn't slip on the road and get run over by a car, I tell myself.

Hopefully I'll be able to run in a week or something, but I am pretty swollen, so maybe I'm being optimistic. Every hand, knee and other is also cut open or hurting. Alison is bedridden right now with sickness so trying to survive is going to be hard here for a few days.

Steve - 5.9

2012-01-31T23:21:00.000-08:00

Track workout. Having a hard time a week later remembering what my cool down was but I'm pretty sure I made myself do 2 miles so lets go with that.

7:55 wup
5K tempo in 20:49 (6:48,6:40,6:32,:49)
2mi cd

Luke - 8.25

2012-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

24' w/u; 2x3200m, 400r: 11:07 (80, 85, 82, 85, 84, 83, 82, 82), 11:03 (78, 84, 81, 83, 85, 82, 83, 83); 11' c/d.

Didn't feel too bad on this. A bit of stomach cramping on the second half of the second one, but nothing too bothersome. On the cooldown, however, it really kicked in and I could barely walk (hence cutting it short). Anyway the plan for the workout was somewhere in the 11:00-11:15 range for both, so mission accomplished or whatever.

Luke - 7.35

2012-01-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

7.35mi, 58:19 (7:56)

Did the 1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 12:38, then did four laps on the BMX track (fun!) before heading home.

Luke - 4.25

2012-01-30T04:54:00.000-08:00

4.25mi, 38:21 (9:01)

Mile loops of 9:07, 8:56, and 8:55, before work. Happy with the pace, as it's usually a struggle to even get below 9:30 pace at 3:45am.

James - 3.1

2012-01-29T23:59:00.001-08:00

26:30

A speed I am happy with since I am still not fully healthy.

Ran past a police officer who asked if I had just done a whole lap. He said one of the following:

"You make it look so hard!"
"How'd you go so far?"
"You make it look so fine!"

And variations thereof, etc.

Luke - 10

2012-01-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

10mi, 74:07 (7:24)

Zack and I took Pre's Trail East into Springfield and turned around at 39 minutes, where we figured would be about five miles, and came back the same way. We picked it up a bit on the way back, and miles 7½ through 9½ were particularly fast--probably close to 6-flat pace--and then we jogged the last half-mile as a bit of cool down. Saw lots of very fast runners out.

Steve - 6.98

2012-01-29T15:50:00.000-08:00

64 (9:10)

Did the same thing as last Sunday where I headed down to the beach and ran barefoot while carrying my shoes. When I was putting my shoes back on I got a nasty knot that took me forever to get undone so I had about 8 minutes of recovery on this run. I added an extra loop on the hill that goes down to the beach.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 1/22-1/28

2012-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

Luke - 78.7 (8)

Steve - 29.48 (5)

James - 5.5 (2)

113.68 miles in 15 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 13.25

2012-01-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

13.25mi, 2:03:08 (9:17)

Ribbon Trail to triple-looped Relentless Hills. Never done three loops of this before; it's beastly. My legs are now torched. My three loops were 25:49, 26:19, and 25:59.

I still don't know the length of this run. I looked back through the archives to see what I usually call Relentless Hills, and sometimes it's 7.25, and sometimes 7.75, and if I take Ribbon Trail to get there it's either 7.75, 8, or 8.25. So this 13.25-mile estimate is pretty conservative...anyway the pace is not indicative of the run; if this effort were on flat/solid ground the pace would be somewhere around 7:15.

Steve - 6.32

2012-01-28T15:50:00.000-08:00

52:32 (8:19)

Exploratory run where I was trying to see if this patch of dirt trail I drive by sometimes actually went somewhere. It went for about 400 meters and then ended. Later on I wanted to finish this run hard so I choose two major streets to start and finish it. I knew it was a little more than a mile. I covered the distance of 1.27 miles (which I gmapped later) in 8:47, which is about 6:55 pace. Pretty solid effort for me after a longish run. I mapped just this portion and it has a slight elevation gain of 65 feet.

James - 2.9

2012-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

30:22

There's an attractive badger in your underpants.

Steve - 4

2012-01-27T18:16:00.000-08:00

36

All on grass and dirt in Santa Monica.

Luke - 13.6

2012-01-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

13.6mi, 1:54:11 (8:23)

The Butte. Felt pretty good the first nine miles or so, then my stomach hurt off and on the rest of the way, and when it was bad it was bad. Progress on that front though: went to the doctor this morning, he's gonna get me in with a gastrointestinal guy and hopefully something can be done about this, my only flaw.

Anyway, splits: 12:30, 15:00, 9:20, 7:13, 7:58, 3:45, 3:23 (59:12) / 3:24, 2:40, 6:24, 6:23, 8:05, 15:09, 12:51.

Luke - 4.5

2012-01-26T23:41:00.000-08:00

4.5mi, 38:52 (8:38)

Mile loops of 8:44, 8:33, and 8:44. Almost didn't run at all today, but got out there at like 10:45 for a few dumb miles.

Luke - 10.35

2012-01-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

10.35mi, 89:05 (8:36)

Fox Hollow plus the 1.6-mile loop at the top. 9:37 up, 8:39 down (pretty dark). Stomach hurt a bit but it went away a little bit after the bottom of the hill. First half mile on Rexius just under 8-minute pace, then a 7:20 mile, then a 97-second quarter. Pretty good for the sogginess level.

Steve - 7

2012-01-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

58

Damn it. My watch (actually my wife's purple watch) reset the memory without my permission. Nike Run club. I think it was 58 minutes.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 54:47 (8:25)

Was going to run right when I got home, but then I sat down for a second and that was it. A couple hours later Zack came home so I used him for motivation to run...after watching an episode of Arrested Development, we ran a wet Rexius.

James - 2.6

2012-01-24T17:36:00.000-08:00

27:42

Had a few days off for a few reasons. Had a bit of a sore throat recently and that is why I took this one pretty easy.

Right before I got sick Alison and I did this bootcamp thing on Saturday morning. Get Fit With Pitt, some former football player that you all may know. He and his friends kicked our asses, 9:30 in the morning, making us do circuit training and exercises that only I didn't seem to be able to manage. There was also some light running. And that was enough exercise for one weekend.

Steve - 6

2012-01-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

I ran with a group at the track near my work. I'm probably going to run with these guys every week now. It's just too damn convenient for me not to. All the data from this workout was deleted, so I have to try to recreate from my memory. Workout was 1600, 1200, 800, 800, 400. I did a passive 3 min recovery between each interval. Took it nice and smooth on the first 1600. On the 1200 I can't quite remember what I ran so I put my best guess. First 800 was a bit fast. I was trying to hold off some jackass who thought it was a race. He was breathing so hard and pounding the track so loud with his awful form. I just decided I want to beat him on this one because for the preceding intervals he passed me in the backstretch with a kick that surely took everything out of him. I let him pass me on the next 800 since it's a workout and I shouldn't be running too hard. "Train, don't strain" as Mr. Lydiard might say. On the 400 I ran a pretty hard first 200 and then cruised in the final 200 for a solid 76. I felt pretty good after this workout. I think I got some good training benefit out of it--unlike that jackass that kept passing and/or trying to pass me in the last 100 of every interval. It's pretty pathetic and me and a few other guys were making fun of his awful form and overzealousnes when he was out of earshot.

10 min wup
1600: 6:20
1200: 4:40?
800: 2:59
800: 3:04
400: 76
18:15 cd

Luke - 6

2012-01-23T18:34:00.001-08:00

6mi, 48:24 (8:03)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 13:08, right when I got off work. Kicked today's ass.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 62:12 (9:34)

Rexius early early in the morning.

Steve - 6.16

2012-01-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

56:07 (9:06)

Did my usual neighborhood run. Instead of turning around where I usually do, I decided to head down to the beach and do some barefoot running alongside the water. I did about 20 minutes in the sand, running shoes in hand. Then put the shoes back on headed home. Overall pace is slower than usual cuz barefoot was slower and I underestimated on the distance I think.

4.28 + 1.88

Luke - 18

2012-01-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

18mi, 2:12:03 (7:20)

Ran out on the logging road in Springfield with a fairly large group, including Zack. There were 14 of us (and one dog) to start, but three or four guys went ahead a lot faster and half the people turned around somewhere before nine miles. I was going to turn around at ~8.25 miles because I only wanted to do 16.5, but another guy convinced me to go the rest of the way with them. I felt all right on the way out (68:37, 7:37 pace)...on the way back we picked it up a little and at about three miles to go I was falling off the back of the group. I made an effort to catch back up at about two miles to go, but my legs started hurting in a not-just-fatigue way so I backed off. Last mile and a half was a struggle (should have just done 16.5!) but I still negative-split by almost nine minutes (63:26, 7:02 pace).

Afterwards, went home and watched football all day.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 1/15-1/21

2012-01-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Luke - 61.1 (8)

Steve - 28.55 (5)

James - 5.3 (2)

Chris - 1 (1)

95.95 miles in 16 runs by 4 runners.

Luke - 5.5

2012-01-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 43:26 (7:53)

Pre's Trail easy.

Steve - 6.5

2012-01-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

54:36 (8:24)

Ran at Manhattan Beach on the bark. Hadn't been out there for awhile since I'm always too lazy to drive 5 miles to run. Pretty solid run. This one put me at ~28 miles for the week. I'm getting to the point where I forget about my (bad) foot during runs. I'm really close to being 100% I think

Luke - 7.75

2012-01-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

7.75mi, 68:00 (8:46)

Ribbon Trail to Relentless Hills, with Zack. It's rained a ton this week so the trails were quite muddy. It started to rain as we started, but cleared up a few miles in and there were blue skies for the second half of the run. Looked like a beautiful Spring day out there. Lots of hills, a few thorn-scrapes, mud all over, some rain and some sun.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 50:06 (7:42)

Did Rexius with Zack, except we took an alternate (road) route for the first two miles, just for a little variety. The run went pretty well, and we did a few pullups on the way back.

Luke - 10.35

2012-01-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

10.35mi, 88:42 (8:34)

While at work I made a Master Plan for my evening: right when I got home I would run Fox Hollow plus the extra loop at the top, then when I got home I'd shower and then call DoughCo and I'd have calzones and beer while watching Parks And Recreation and The Office.

The run went pretty danged well compared to the rest of my runs this week. 9:32 up, 8:44 down, and under 8-minute pace on the way back on soggy Rexius. It was a bit darker than when I was on the same trails last week...last week was later, but this week I was inside a cloud.

My brother got me this beer for Christmas (and a couple others but that was the only one left) so I noted the food pairings and made my calzone selection based on that--got a BBQ Steak Zone and a Most Meat Zone. The delivery took way longer than normal but they arrived just in time for the shows to start. I was very happy with how my plan came to fruition.

Steve - 7

2012-01-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

63:14 (9:02)

Easy cruise around Santa Monica. Took it a bit slower after tougher effort yesterday. Big week of mileage for me!

James - 3.3

2012-01-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

37:33

Was feeling very sore today, so went slow even for a slow day. I hope resisting the temptation to go faster will help me out later.

I went home and read the first chapter of a book called Punkzilla that Alison bought from an indie bookstore. In this first chapter, the 14-year-old protagonist details how he would hit runners over the head in a Portland park with a giant clock then steal their iPods.

So uh, be careful in parks and stay away from portable music, I guess.

Steve - 7

2012-01-18T22:04:00.000-08:00

53:45 (7:41)

Nike run club. Tried to keep up with the only other people running 7. Going up was tough but I kept them within a few meters all the way up. Once we got to the halfway point, turned, and started heading downhill, they started putting some distance on me. I kept them within 40-50 meters for most of the run though.

Luke - 5.5

2012-01-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 46:44 (8:29)

I took Tuesday off, partially because my foot had a weird pain in it, but mostly because I was starving when I got home from (12 hours at) work, and after eating a bunch I realized I was super-tired so I went to bed at like 7pm. Then today it was raining like crazy, and Zack and I both felt even worse than the weather, so we went for the shortened version of Rexius. The bark was a river, and worse than the rain was the wind. Then about three miles into the run my stomach started hurting, and got extremely painful in the next mile. I kept having to stop for a minute before going again...one of the worst bouts I've had in a while. Stopped at the bathroom a half-mile from home, so the last half-mile was about the only good bit of running the whole time.

Chris - 1 mile & stairs

2012-01-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

jeeni and i ran down the street to wilson high school to run some stairs. we ran two laps for a warm up. then we both did about five stadiums. i did every step, then every other, then hopped up on one foot then two feet. by the way i'm doing this post from my new 4g galaxy nexus smartphone!

James - 2

2012-01-17T23:52:00.000-08:00

22:13

Took it easy. Then we went out for all-you-can-eat tacos with friends and I ate 13 of them. Considering I am normally superstitious about accidentally doing 13 reps on a machine at the gym I am not sure why I didn't eat one more.

Steve - 3.95

2012-01-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

34:09 (8:39)

Had a company dinner to attend in downtown SaMo, but I also wanted to run. It was a pretty expensive (and pretentious) place with Latin American and Asian fusion food items. I got a ton of food and had a few drinks. I somehow coaxed 3.95 miles out of my body only 25 minutes or so after the dinner and it didn't feel too bad.

Luke - 8

2012-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

8mi, 69:42 (8:42)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 14:02, 1.4-mile loop in 12:32. So slow!

Luke - 5.5

2012-01-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 51:22 (9:20)

Rexius without the loop at the top. Before work (hence the slowness).

Steve - 4.1

2012-01-15T22:08:00.000-08:00

Today was my date with destiny. Racing the bear. As some of you may recall, I had a duel with the Bear last year. If you beat the Bear you get a free pair of running shoes. Last year the Bear ran 18:46. Based on my track workout from earlier in the week, I knew breaking 19 was a long-shot. Nevertheless, I held out hope. Race day was incredibly cold for L.A. It was definitely below 50 for the 7:15 am start. There were several fast-looking HS runners and a few other fast looking older runners. I basically wanted to hang close to the Bear as long as I could and see what I could do. At the start I gave the bear a few meters of distance and settled into a comfortable pace. The course was a bit odd. We run about a mile, then turn around and run roughly 2 miles back in the same direction. The Bear seemed to start a bit slow as a bunch of people took off ahead of him. But I stuck relatively close to him. After the turn (which was supposed to be a mile but was definitely longer), I was probably about 5-6 seconds behind him. I figured I should start moving up so as not to let him get away. Apparently he had the same idea as he gradually accelerated and continued to put a gap on me. Once we hit what was supposed to be the 2 mile point (it was most definitely not), I figured I was about 15-20 seconds behind. I knew it would be tough to make up that much time in the final mile and change, but didn't give up hope. I started to surge as best as I could. But, alas, the Bear did as well. There was no marker for mile 3 but I was still about 20 seconds the Bear when we near the ~3 mile point. There was a nice downhill finish for the last 50 meters so I tried to finish strong at least. I hit the tape in 21:20, confirming my belief that the course was long. I asked a few other guys that had GPS watches if the course was long. One guy said 3.3 and another said 3.4. So most likely confirmation. On the race website the course measures 3.22 miles. Not sure what that means. Anyway, I will have to wait another year to beat the Bear. I think if I can get a full year of training in, I will destroy the Bear.

Luke - 12

2012-01-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

12mi, 1:45:02 (8:45)

Zack and I headed up to Fox Hollow road to get in a long run on rolling hills. It had been snowing off and on all weekend, and was really coming down as we were driving up there. We decided to take advantage of the snow by going to the top of the Butte. We started by going downhill on a road for a mile, then back up. From there we went into the trails, all the way up to the top of the Butte. We had a gel real quick and then headed back down to the road. We figured we'd done just under seven miles at that point so we headed out the road to get another five in to make twelve. The snow was pretty deep (by that I mean a couple inches) where we were running, and it made for nice soft footing. We were about nine miles total into the run when my stomach started hurting, and it felt like my legs and everything were tired but after a pitstop I was feeling great and I realized my stomach hurting makes it seem like everything's hurting. I now have a doctor's appointment scheduled for January 27th, so hopefully I can get some help in that area...if so I think I'll see a ridiculous improvement in my running.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 1/8-1/14

2012-01-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

Luke - 70.1 (9)

Steve - 19.47 (3)

James - 14 (4)

103.57 miles in 16 runs by 3 runners.

James - 3.4

2012-01-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

31:06

The temperature has been up and down somewhat recently, but today it has definitely been down. I don't think I've worn gloves while running since I moved here but if this keeps up it might be about to happen. Pretty happy with this week.

Luke - 7.75

2012-01-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

7.75mi, 65:20 (8:25)

Relentless Hills. Ran in the morning (8:30am, not 3:45am)...was going to run again in the evening but we had some of Zack's relatives in town and we hung out with them all day...did walk up the Butte with them, so that's a little extra exercise.

Steve - 5.92

2012-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

50:16

I did my neighborhood run down to the beach. Instead of my usual 5.1, I did a third hill loop. This was my first run in my blazing red pair of Asics DS Trainer 16s that I ordered off Zappos.com. They seem good so far. A little bit narrower than I'm used to though. They are lightweight stability shoes. On a related note, I got an email from Zappos a few days later that they got hacked and my PW might have been stolen along with other personal information. Yay.

Luke - 13.6

2012-01-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

13.6mi, 1:51:40 (8:12)

The Butte. Felt pretty good heading out, definitely faster than some of my Rexius runs lately. Up Fox Hollow in under 9, and a good effort the rest of the way up too. Was a bit out of breath at the top when I was eating my gel. Came down pretty fast...maybe a little too fast...I was pushing it a lot more when I could have just let it come to me instead. Down Fox Hollow was okay, but by the time I got onto Rexius my legs were toast. Plodded along for a mile and a half with heavy-feeling legs, but the last mile and a half was a bit better.

The past couple days my legs have been feeling the mileage for the first time in a while...it kinda hurts but it feels good.

Splits: 12:23, 14:34, 8:55, 7:03, 7:54, 3:43, 3:28 (58:02) / 3:31, 2:36, 5:53, 6:14, 7:48, 15:33, 12:01.

James - 3.2

2012-01-12T23:16:00.000-08:00

30:08

My first visit to the gym of the new year. Didn't feel too bad.

GUNNING FOR GOLD
OLYMPIC RINGS OF STEEL AS UK PREPARES FOR MILITARY LOCKDOWN

The deployment of up to 13,500 military personnel, two of the navy's largest warships, unspecified numbers of military attack helicopters staffed by snipers, typhoon fighter jets, surface to air missiles, support from the SAS and Navy Marines 12,000 police officers, 300 MI5 agents, 20,000 private security guards and up to 1000 US agents including 500 FBI. The extension of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act across the whole of Britain. All costing in the region of £6million.

So the invasion of Iran? The military contingent sent to join Arab Spring rebel groups? The recent deployment in Libya? No – it's just a few folk running and seeing who can throw something the furthest. In the capital city of a country that according to the Country Risk Index is one of the most stable in the world. East London is set to resemble a warzone (again) as the Olympic Games 2012 rolls into town.

...
SPONSORED RUN

It's not just those with a passion for thuggery that are getting to swing their dicks. The Olympics are fast turning out to be an excuse for the corporate elite to show exactly what they're made of. Each corporate brand that is an official sponsor for the games (Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and others) will be bringing their own security teams - no doubt to help protect their advertising rights by prohibiting the expression of any other opinion apart from “I'm lovin' it” in a two hundred mile exclusion zone of the games.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-12T18:52:00.001-08:00

6.5mi, 51:39 (7:56)

Did the East part of Pre's Trail, then finished it by going on the trail around the pond. Was going to do some loops on the BMX track, but some kids were using it for its intended purpose.

Steve - 7.2

2012-01-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

64:03 (8:54)

Ran with Nike club. My groin was pretty tight and sore from yesterday's track workout. Took it pretty easy on this run.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 55:02 (8:28)

Rexius with Zack. I put a yam in the oven before we left, but when I got home I realized that I'd turned it to 375º but hadn't actually put it on bake. So instead we went to Mezza Luna, and ordered a few slices...when we went to pay the guy told us it'd be $7 total between the two of us, because they were closing soon and they'd've thrown it out anyway...and then they also had a pizza someone had ordered and not picked up, so they gave that to us for free too! It was good, too: chicken sausage, peppers, spinach, and gorgonzola. Serendipitous meal.

Luke - 5.5

2012-01-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

5.5mi, 51:00 (9:16)

Rexius without the top mile, at 3:45am. The ground was frozen for the first time this season...it's been a weirdly warm and dry winter so far in Eugene.

James - 3.9

2012-01-10T23:01:00.000-08:00

~36:30

We went to the local park (Chris may remember it) and I ran around the perimeter. I probably ran too far considering that I was sleep deprived and had only eaten Frosted Rice Crispies. I was going to turn around at a certain marker and didn't see it, went too far, grarrrrr.

We saw another addiction show. This one guy had 2000 calories of maple syrup a day. But he did also go running.

Steve - 6.35

2012-01-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Ran over from work to a local college cuz the parking is usually a nightmare. Met a friend and did a workout on the track. I wanted to get a good idea of what I can run a 5k right now since I'm running one this weekend. I had a goal of doing 3x1600 in 6:15 with 3 minutes recovery in between each. It turned out to be too ambitious as I sort of fell apart on the last one. Came through 800 at 3:08 but then ran 3:20 one the final 800 and felt pretty horrible on last 400. Otherwise I did ok running 6:16 and 6:18 on the first two. I think that means I should be able to run a 5k around 6:20 pace, but who knows.

1.13 miles in 9:38.
1.22 miles in 12:14
Total warmup of 2.35 miles in 21:52
3x1600 in (6:16, 6:18, 6:28) with 3 min passive recovery
1 mile 10:00 cooldown

Luke - 8.5

2012-01-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

8.5mi, 79:43 (9:22)

Drove up to the base of Fox Hollow, did a mile on the Rexius bark, headed up Fox Hollow the alternate route (the one with a stream crossing), did the 1.6-mile loop at the top, came down Fox Hollow (in the dark), and did the whole loop of Rexius. Didn't feel crazy bad, but my times were absurdly slow. Sad face.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-09T18:44:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 54:18 (8:21)

Rexius with Zack.

Luke - 3.25

2012-01-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

3.25mi, 29:54 (9:12)

Mile loops of 9:09 and 9:10, at 3:45 in the morning.

James - 3.5

2012-01-08T23:58:00.000-08:00

~32:00

I ran near the house of our friends Luke'n'Mike. They live on a peninsula on a peninsula on a peninsula (this one being Florida). I realised that if I stretched this run out in a line I could go almost entirely across the initial peninsula. Which is a pretty exciting idea.

A few days ago Alison watched this show about people with addictice personalities. One guy was addicted to running. He started after his marriage ended and then his running cost him his new partner. He does 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening. He started in 2005 and already does 100-mile races that take him over a day and also did 4 marathons in 4 days.

Luke - 12

2012-01-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

12mi, 82:00 (6:50)

Zack and I drove up to the house of our running friends Josh and Renee, and seven of us drove down to Cottage Grove lake for a long run. The plan was for two laps around the lake for a total of 17.2 miles. We started pretty quick and I hung back a little instead of diving right in to sub-7 pace, but caught up to the group after about a mile. We were doing 6:50s and I was struggling to keep up...I just didn't feel very fast. I was hoping to feel better on the second half or at least be able power through, but when we started the second lap the group picked it up even more and I just wasn't able. The group was getting farther away from me and I couldn't make up ground, so when Renee turned around a little after a mile and a half into the second loop, I joined her. We went a little slower, but it was still sub-7 pace...just not the 6:30s the group was doing. Zack ended up doing the whole 17 miles, at about 6:45 pace! Great run for him.

After the run we drove back to Josh and Renee's and I sat in the hot tub for a bit and then we ate french toast, waffles, pancakes, sausages, and juice for breakfast.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 1/1-1/7

2012-01-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

Luke - 46.75 (6)

Steve - 25.33 (6)

James - 8.1 (2)

80.18 miles in 14 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 9.2

2012-01-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

Drove out to Pre's Trail in the morning to meet up with a few folks for an easy nine miler with Craig Leon, who will be running the Olympic Trials Marathon next weekend. 7:15 pace but felt good.

Luke - 12.8

2012-01-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

Drove up to the East end of Ridgeline and ran to the far West end and back. Easy pace.

Steve - 4.28

2012-01-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

35:47 (8:22)

Brisk run on a brisk night. This was my 6th day of running in a row to start out 2012. Unfortunately this run was the end of my glorious streak as I did not run the next day. But all in all it was a very strong start to 2012. 6 runs and 25 miles is the best week of running mileage-wise I've had in probably 8 months. I think this is also the fastest I have done my 4.28 loop since I have started running it regularly.

James - 4.8

2012-01-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

~45:30

Yyyyyyyyyyyyeah. I'm not sure why I ended up going so far when this was meant to be a relaxed week, but I did. I just didn't know how far I was going, and while it was hard it wasn't awful. Strong start to the year after all.

Steve - 2.27

2012-01-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

21:55 (9:39)

Day 5 complete. Ran easy in grass and dirt in Santa Monica

Luke - 6

2012-01-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

6mi, 48:59 (8:09)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's in 13:23. Easy easy.

Zack - 2011 Running Log Statistics

2012-01-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

Despite not posting much lately, I thought a yearly recap would be fun to post. It was a great year, where I have lowered all of my PRs and ran my first marathon last February. I think this is directly correlated with a sustained increase in miles and smart training that inhibited injuries.

2011 Running Statistics/Totals:

Year: 2109 miles, 40.56 mi/wk (5.79 mi/day)

Days ran: 306

# of runs: 324

Runs over 10 miles: 32

Fox Hollows: 30

Lifetime: 3915 miles (2010+2011) Since I started keeping track.

For a comparison, refer to my post last year: http://somerunning.blogspot.com/2011/01/zack-46-and-2010-brief-statistical.html. 303 more miles this year and 43 more days.

Cheers and happy running in 2012 Somerunners.

Luke - 6.5

2012-01-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

6.5mi, 52:58 (8:08)

Rexius in the dark. Legs felt good but stomach gave me some trouble.

Steve - 7

2012-01-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

54:34 (7:48)

Ran with Nike run club. It's an out-and-back course that is uphill on the way out. I stayed with the group and ended up going too fast. The way back was painful and I fell off from the pace leader and the other fast guy running with him. Me and another run guy ran together and pushed each other all the way back. Tough run. We were flying on the last mile. Day 4 complete.

Luke - 7

2012-01-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

7mi, 61:27 (7:46)

Right after work I drove up to the base of Fox Hollow with Zack. We did a mile on Rexius, then took an alternate route up Fox Hollow (including a stream crossing), did the 1.6-mile loop at the top, then down Fox Hollow the normal way (pretty slowly because it was getting real dark) and finished up with two more miles on Rexius. A good first run back in Eugene for both Zack and me.

Steve - 2.4

2012-01-03T17:03:00.000-08:00

21:45 (9:04)

All on grass. Easy recovery run. Day 3 complete.

James - 3.3

2012-01-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

~31:00

I wanted to run on the first day of the year and do a high mileage week, but we were out all day with various friends. Instead I'll do a strong 3-dayer this week and do some of the 'tactical' runs that I've been meaning to do for ages.

If this world does end this year, I plan to be running when it happens.

Steve - 5.1

2012-01-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

43:53 (8:36)

My neighborhood Magneto run. 2 short hill loops. Day 2 complete.