Luke - 4.86

4.86mi, 40:00 (8:13)

Same run as yesterday, but with a shirt that felt even hotter.

Luke - 4.87

4.87mi, 40:00 (8:13)

Same run as this morning, but with a not-quite-as-good shirt.

Luke - 4.87

4.87mi, 40:00 (8:13)

A sportswear company needed runners to test some shirts, so I got hired to run for forty minutes in an "environmental chamber" at 89º heat and 45% humidity, twice today and once tomorrow. I was expecting it to be really bad, but they had me on a treadmill at 7.3mph on a 2% grade and although it was a bit hot and I got a bit wet, it didn't kill me and was actually kinda fun. It's 50ºs and raining here which made the conditions especially fun. The hardest part was drinking out of a little water bottle at speed without spilling or choking.

On Wednesday I got a bit of a cold, and it got worse on Thursday and I took the day off from work. I was better-enough by today that I could make it through the tests okay, but between the colonoscopy at the beginning of the week and the cold a couple days later my mileage this week is seriously lacking. I'd like to get it somewhat high again soon. The races on my docket include the Eugene Half Marathon April 29th, the Ridgeline Ramble (20k) May 26th, and then I suppose I'd like to do well at Butte To Butte (10k) on the 4th of July before gearing up for a fall marathon.

Steve - 8.5

66:39 (7:50)

Nike run group. Added on a bit to boost my mileage from the usual 7. We did a route where we went up a pretty tough set of stairs. This run was tough because the group was running a bit faster than I wanted to and I was struggling to keep up.

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 59:26 (7:37)

1.6-mile loop in 12:11, 1.4-mile loop in 10:35. Some stomach issues, but other than that felt good.

Steve - 7.25

Track workout. Ran by myself although there was a large group on the track that I sometimes train with. I wanted to do some 1600 repeats. So I did three of them with 400 recovery in between. First one was pretty solid. I was shooting for 6:05 or so pace. Once I did the 400 recovery I could tell the next one was going to be considerably harder. When I hit my first lap in about 1:33, I knew it was going to be tough. I dropped all the way down to 6:11. I didn't feel much better after 400 recovery and the last 1600 started miserably. I was at 1:36 on my first 400. I didn't want to drop below 6:10 for this one so I tried to concentrate on picking it up without pushing too hard. When I hit 800 a guy sometimes run with who's really fast jumped in with me. I told him I wanted to run 3:00 for 800 and he pushed me a bit and we almost ran exactly that, coming in at 6:09. I'm not sure what exactly this workout means for my 5k race on Sunday. I'd like to run under 19 which would mean faster than like 6:09 miles. I figure I'll start off around 6:05 if I can and take it from there.

1.5 mi 12:54 wup
3x1600 (6:06, 6:11, 6::09)
800 recovery (2x400
18:27 cd (2.25 mile)

Steve - 9.16

68:13 (7:27)

I wanted to run with the Nike group in Santa Monica but I got there a few minutes after they left. It was raining some but I figured it would probably stop after a while. Well it started pouring and I decided I would just keep going. I was running on grass mostly so my shoes were getting pretty soaked. When I hit my turnaround point, I decided to take my shirt off since it weighed like 3 lbs. I think I also picked it up considerably (partially cuz the 2nd half is slight downhill) and because I wanted to finish the run quickly. I think a run in tough conditions like this really shows one's resolve. I was glad that I hung with it and ended up probably doing the fastest pace for a long run I have done for several months.

First half was in 35:xx so that means second half 33:xx.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 31:33 (7:25)

Mile loops of 8:21, 7:03, and 6:22. My colonoscopy is tomorrow which means I can't eat today, so Zack and Erin convinced me to eschew the long run. I did allow myself a little acceleration though.

My goal for today, as I sit around and starve, is to catch up on all my posts. I have three weeks' worth.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 3/18-3/24

Luke - 35.15 (5)

Steve - 29.84 (4)

64.99 miles in 9 runs by 2 runners.

Steve - 8.92

75:58 (8:31)

Havent posted in forever but I have been running. I wanted to go to the USC track meet and see Oregon and Michigan but I got lazy. Did get this run in instead.

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 58:07 (7:27)

1.6-mile loop in 12:20, 1.4-mile loop in 10:42.

Luke - 6.25

Bring In Spring 5k, 16:16 (1st place)

After it snowed 8" Wednesday morning and more was forecast for today, I wondered how bad the conditions would be for this race, but the second storm ended up missing us and it was actually high 40ºs and dry by the time the race rolled around. They did have to change the course because of downed trees on the bike path, but the race director did a good job of making a new course and shoveling all the snow from it. The new course might have been better than the old one; it was two loops, mostly on streets, with about a half-mile on the bike path each loop. A good number of turns but not really any sharp ones. The only not-great part was a little out-and-back to the start/finish line at halfway (had to cross the timing-chip mat and do a 180º). The nice thing about that was that we got first half/second half splits.

During my warmup I saw a guy I didn't recognize who looked fairly fast; I also knew Josh Gordon would be running but wasn't sure how much of an effort he planned on giving (he has been having trouble with compartment syndrome lately). I wasn't super-fresh for the race (didn't back off on mileage, didn't get enough sleep this week) but I still wanted to give it a real hard effort and try to win--after all, the winner gets a 22 of Spring Reign. At the start line I talked to Josh who said he would see during the race how he felt and go from there. There were a few other familiar faces but mostly I figured if I had competition it would be from the two I mentioned.

From the gun I took off in first, taking it somewhat easy but still going pretty fast, as I always end up doing at the start of road races. There was a pack of I think four to six of us in the first quarter-mile. By a half mile or so it was me and Josh at the lead, this guy Orestes Gutierrez who usually does shorter races but is still pretty fast a couple strides back, and the guy I didn't know a few seconds back of him. For the next mile or so Josh and I pushed pretty well and had a bit of back-and-forth, testing ourselves and each other. We came through the first mile at 5:16 and I decided that was a bit slow so I tried to pick it up a bit. Josh couldn't hang (it was his injury flaring up more than my little surge, I reckon) so I took sole possession of the lead, with Orestes a couple strides back. At halfway the half-block out and back allowed me to see how far he was behind me, and it was probably only 10-15 meters. For the next mile he was right there pushing hard to catch me, and I knew if I didn't shake him before the finish he would almost certainly outkick me. I didn't see the second mile marker (or the third, for that matter) so I wasn't quite sure how I was doing pace-wise, but each time I would hear him getting close I was able to pick it up enough that he never could pass me. Finally, at about 2.5 miles, one of my surges got me some real distance on him and I pushed hard the last half-mile to finish in first, with him right about ten seconds behind.

After the race I went to my car and changed my shoes and put on more clothes, and then joined Josh, Orestes, and two others for a cooldown. Afterward I drove a couple blocks to the Ninkasi tasting room, where the awards would be, and changed into street clothes, had a beer, a cup of soup, and a hunk of focaccia bread (all free, woo) and hung out chatting with the people I cooled down with for a good long while. For the win I got a sweatshirt and a comped entry to a Cinco de Mayo race in addition to my bottle of beer.

Overall the race was fine, I would definitely have liked a longer warmup (I got there a bit later than I'd hoped/planned/should've) but other than that the only thing I could have done better was get more rest in the week prior. The cold and wind and having gotten up at 4:40 to work on my feet for ten hours made it a bit slower, nothing I can do about that.

results

Luke - 3.25

3.25mi, 29:17 (9:00)

This morning it snowed 8"-10", then rained for seven hours, then Zack and I went out to run. It was fucking awful out, and we got on the bark trail and it was all slush. We had to go around downed trees and wade through freezing-cold puddles. The worst was when the splash from stepping in slush got snow sitting on the top of my sock...I don't know why that was the worst part but it was. My feet went numb after about a half-mile. We did two loops, which took 9:10 and 9:04. This was the second day of Spring.

Steve - 7

56:07

Had a Linear Algebra test the next day so I just wanted to do a quick run and get home to study. Mostly on grass with some dirt.

Steve - 5.4

Track workout. Decided to run a 3200 and 1600 after a little bit of recovery. I can't remember if I did a 400 recovery in between so I'll assume I just did a standing recovery for a few minutes. I usually don't do a full recovery for workouts like this. Also my cooldown got deleted but I'm sure I did at least 1 mile.

13:12 wup
3200 in 12:46
1600 in 6:04
1 mile cd?

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 38:17 (9:00)

Mile loops of 9:09, 9:05, and 8:54. At 3:45am. Was going to run twice today but got lazy. Lame!

Luke - 13.6

13.6mi, 1:58:35 (8:43)

The Butte. Felt all right, never got too slow, but then never got too fast either. When I left it was raining a bit, but about a half-mile from the top it got super-clear and was sunny the rest of the way. Did four (4) pull-ups on the way back. Splits: 12:38, 16:06, 8:57, 7:31, 8:57, 4:19, 3:43 (62:05) / 3:41, 3:01, 6:59, 6:23, 8:06, 15:43, 12:24.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 3/11-3/17

Luke - 56.15 (7)

Steve - 32.54 (5)

James - 1.4 (1)

90.09 miles in 13 runs by 3 runners.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 41:47 (7:35)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:04.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 55:40 (8:33)

A soggy Rexius run fairly early in the morning.

Steve - 7

59:46 (8:28)

I did a run in Las Vegas somehow! I ran in the morning and headed towards downtown because I wanted to get away from people that might heckle me.

Luke - 10

10mi, 74:06 (7:24)

Did three loops of my fun/tough fartlek run. The splits were 13:12, 13:34, and 13:59, but the extra time on each was in the rest portions; my fast bits were all pretty much the same time each loop.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 41:26 (7:32)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:03. Easy birthday run. Afterwards went to Little Big Burger and then to The Bier Stein.

Luke - 10.5

10.5mi, 1:42:05 (9:43)

Double-looped Relentless Hills. Just took it easy, which over this terrain means super-slow. First loop was 29:35, second loop was 29:11.

Steve - 6

3 mile tempo on the track. I ran it in 19:39. Splits were 6:31, 6:32, 6:36. I honestly don't remember much about this damn run cuz it was a few weeks ago and it was the day before my Vegas trip that includes lots of drinking and other things that are blocking my memory. Lost the cooldown run again somehow. I'm thinking I did 1.5 for cooldown. Who the hell knows.

14:59 wup
19:39 (6:31, 6:32, 6:36)

James - 1.4

18:00

I still do not seem to be improving much and I wonder if I'm delaying my recovery. Walking feels normal so I think that's okay, but the thought of waiting longer to run even while doing other exercise is so grah.

I am backdating this, but right now it is after midnight EST in the early hours of the 14th, and that means I get to say: Happy Birthday Luke!

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 61:00 (7:49)

1.6-mile and 1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail. Didn't get a split on the first but the shorter one was 11:04.

Steve - 5

40:27

Ran at Griffith Park because I had a tax appt in Glendale.

Luke - 10.35

10.35mi, 88:50 (8:34)

Fox Hollow plus the 1.6-mile loop at the top. 9:23 up, 8:16 down. Pretty relaxed effort. Stomach hurt last couple miles.

Steve - 8

68:19

I should not wait so long to post my runs. I sometimes forget what I actually ran. I think I did about I'm just gonna say I did 8 miles.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 3/4-3/10

Luke - 30.25 (5)

Steve - 27.86 (4)

James - 2.9 (2)

Alison - 1.3 (1)

62.31 miles in 12 runs by 4 runners.

Luke - 4.5

Lane Opener 3000m, 9:14.93 (10th place)

Went with my mom up to Lane Community College so she could see me race. They didn't have a 5000m, so I had to make do with a 3000. I didn't time it very well and ended up getting a short warmup and didn't use the bathroom or do leg swings and only limited strides.

On the start line the guy next to me said he was pretty sure he knew everyone in the race (25 people) except me. I have actually gone on two runs with him (10+ people each time and we didn't run together or anything) so he knew everyone. He asked my name and when I told him he said "Oh I heard you ran a fast 5000 last weekend." So that was pretty cool that people I barely know heard about that.

My plan for the race was to PR in the mile and then kick the last 1400m. I didn't really have a plan. I went out somewhat fast and tried to keep going fast. My splits ended up being 71, 72, 73, 73, 74, 76, 75, 36. I was happy that the average was faster than my average lap from the 5000, but the last 200 was slower and the time is, of course, a much weaker performance. It was cold and windy, and 3000s are too short. No more of that.

Steve - 7.7

68:19 (8:52)

I was trudging through this run cuz my legs felt like garbage after yesterday's track workout. Had only about 14 hrs in between runs. My right leg was so tight. I have to run several days in a row cuz I was traveling for a few days this week and I'm going to be traveling next week too. On this particular run sometimes I run up this steep hill near the end of the run that is about 160 meters. Made it up in 59 seconds on this day.

Steve - 5.4

This may go down as one of my worst track workouts ever. I wanted to make up for missing my track workout earlier in the week so I ran at a track a few miles from my house on Friday night. It's a 5 lane track and is mostly used by walkers. There's also tons of soccer games going on in the infield. It was basically a disaster with people always standing in lane 1 and not paying attention and soccer balls going on the track repeatedly. Not to mention it was windy. I wanted to do some 800s and the times were pretty bad. I got through four of them (with about 2 min recovery for each) before I scrapped the workout and did a 1600. Got through that and then did a cool down and got the hell out of there.

1 mile wup in 9:48
Jog turn, accelerate the straights for 600m in 2:23
4x800m in (3:04, 3:10, 3:06, 3:08)
1600 in 6:26
10:18
1 mile+ cd

Luke - 3.25

I think I lost the time on this one, but it was a couple easy 1-mile loops in the morning before hanging out with my mom all day. She gets up really early so even though I picked her up from the airport at a half hour past midnight and didn't get to bed til an hour after that, I had to get up at 6 to run so that she wouldn't have to wait for me for more than a couple hours.

I should also mention that we hiked up the butte, so not running but a tough walk.

Luke - 6

I reckon this was the 1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail, but I didn't write a time down for it. Oops.

Steve - 5.76

50:46 (8:49)

Just got back to L.A. and got in an easy 50 minutes. I thought I had done 6+ miles but Gmaps says no. Damn you gmaps. Mostly on dirt.

James - 1.6

20:35

Warning: this entry is going to be a downer. We got some bad news a few days ago. A friend of mine back in Manchester, Gary, passed away. We were friends for 15 years but one of the few things we did together regularly after leaving school was go running together.

He actually took me on my first run in 2006. A bunch of us were doing jujitsu on Tuesday evenings and to supplement that exercise he and I started running on Thursday evenings, after he finished work, and Saturday mornings, when he had to drag me out of bed. That first time he had me going for 41 minutes (with only a couple of breaks) and tried to convince me that much less time had passed while we were doing it. Total bastard! A tough-love training method that wasn't exactly his regular personality. We ended the run going up a slope near my house alongside the canal, a place where I would begin and end most of my runs until I moved away. He reached the top before me and when I caught up I pounced on him with a comical scream of pain. We used to spend a lot of time at the top of that slope talking as well, not just following runs, but after nights out, and after we finished late shifts together at a local shop as teenagers. It was just a good spot to go separate ways to our homes. Sometimes the sun came up before we were done, as cliche as that sounds.

After helping me get started his own running trailed off over the last few years. But he had been training for the Manchester 10K in May this year. I had been hoping to get home in time to do that with him and another friend, but that probably won't be happening. I'm not in good enough shape in any case. As soon as I am able to do a race though, he'll be on my mind. Maybe I'll finally get why so many people do dedication runs.

Luke - 7.75

I reckon this was Relentless Hills, but I don't have a time written down for it. Oops.

Alison/James - 1.3

~12:30

Another run in the panhandle before we returned home. Though I never intended it, I kept to a 2-day schedule for a full week - thanks to Alison - when normally, being there makes that more difficult.

Steve - 9

69:24 (7:43)

Headed out to Santa Monica to run with my Wednesday night crew. Pace was pretty fast for a long this long. For the first 7 miles I was with the group and we were probably averaging about 7:20-7:30. Final 2 miles I did slowly on my own in the grass. Doing runs like this are good for me because I was trying to keep up with faster runners for most of the way. I don't want to always run this fast on longish runs though as I think it could be counterproductive in the long term.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 74:45 (8:32)

Fox Hollow. 9:49 up, 8:19 down. Half the slowness is due to a soggy Rexius trail; the other half is due to racing yesterday.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 2/26-3/3

Luke - 44.75 (7)

Steve - 33.18 (5)

James - 4.3 (3)

Alison - 1.8 (1)

84.03 miles in 16 runs by 4 runners.

Alison/James - 1.8

Alison was kind enough to join injured-me here in the Panhandle. We did walk/run fartleks, and it started out raining only to get heavier while we were out. When we weren't neck and neck she was ahead of me!

Steve - 7.49

65:59 (8:48)

Ran a bit later than I wanted. This led to me running a bit on the slower side. But no problem as tomorrow turned out to be a fast run. Went over 30 this week again. Mileage gonna be tough next week cuz I m traveling to Denver for work and then I have a test coming in Linear Algebra, which is turning out to be pretty hard.

Luke - 6.25

Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker 5000m, 15:40 (7th place)

Drove up to McMinnville in the early afternoon and got in just after 3. My race was scheduled to start at 5:20, and I had to check in an hour before, but track meets are almost never right on schedule so I wanted to get there early just in case. I got my race number and took a seat in the stands, and found that they were in fact running well ahead of schedule. I sat for about ten minutes and then took my bag to the infield and started jogging around real easy. I only did so for about 10-15 minutes total, and checked in with the clerk while I was at it. Stayed real relaxed, had plenty of time to go to the bathroom and stuff, and put my spikes on while the women were running their 5000. Did some strides on the infield, and after the women were finished did more on the track. I did more strides than usual, which felt good; I think I'll give myself time to do that from now on.

There were 25 people in the race, so they had us line up in two rows with the slower people in back. The starter didn't really know how to divide us, but a guy next to me said "Anyone under 16?" and those of us that were got in front and it worked out pretty well. At the start I went out fairly quick and was in sixth or so at 50m, and some people passed me around the bend. I stayed relaxed in the pack and just tried to stay on the inside for the first lap, and passed people on the straights when I needed to. I was shooting for 15:50, which is exactly 76 seconds per lap, and I came through the first lap at 75, feeling good. There was a lot of traffic for the first three or four laps before it spread out...it was nice to have people to run with but I did have to dodge people and put my hands up a few times in order to not get tripped up. Every curve I tried to stay on the inside, and most straights I would pass one or more people without too much work. I came through the mile in 5:01 and thought I might be able to keep that pace up the whole race. I was passing people and being passed by people the whole time, and my splits were staying with a second or two of 75. I came through two miles in 10:00, which is the fastest I've ever done that. At that point it had thinned out somewhat and I led a group of 3 or 4, trying my hardest to break them and/or catch up to the next guy, about 20m in front of me. With three or four laps to go I was starting to feel it and was just trying to hang on to the pace. I didn't think I'd have much of a kick so I was trying to put enough distance between myself and the guys behind me that they wouldn't be able to blow past me at the end. I slowed down somewhat but my worst lap was a 77 so I wasn't completely dead. My third mile was a 5:04 and I was at 15:05 so I knew I just needed better than a 39 last 200 to PR. Two guys went around me with about 150 to go but I held off a couple more. My last 200 was 34 so those guys had a hell of a kick. My watch said 15:39.28, but when the official results came through they had me at 15:40.02. Was very happy and surprised to have done that well. Now feast your eyes on my splits, as they are impressively consistent:

75, 74, 74, 76, 75, 73, 75, 75, 75, 77, 76, 75, 34.

Also the people working the meet got splits for all the runners starting at 600m and gave us the sheet after the race (pretty cool), so I know that my last 400m was 72. (The guy taking the splits had my time at 15:39 also.)

Luke - 1

Beer Mile, 7:51

Got to the track just before they were about to start, so I'm glad I left when I did. Stripped down to nothing but short shorts and my racing flats and got my beers (Budweiser) ready. I decided to take splits, which slowed me down a second or two each beer. First one took about 11 seconds, and I got to the second at 93 seconds. Didn't go crazy trying to chug super-fast because no one was near me, so it took 37 seconds. Second lap was 79, third beer was 45, third lap was 84, fourth beer was 41, and last lap was 89. Threw up about ten seconds after the finish, but I feel like I only got rid of maybe a beer and a half.

I wasn't really in Beer Mile shape, so this was just for fun, and I did win. Afterwards we went to a bar and had some pitchers, even though I had a real race the next day.

Steve - 3.6

36:53 (10:14)

Getting in some easy miles on a Friday night. Had a horrible bathroom situation where I was forced to stop running and thankfully made it just in time to a bathroom. Finished off the run after that. All on grass and dirt. Conservative on distance cuz I'm not sure.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 39:19 (7:08)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 10:17.

James - 1

16:00

Ahh.. "View Web Version"!

Running music that would be entirely inappropriate to run to!

"Dark and controversial music video for the song Run by French band Air."



Holy girl
Don't get up
For running

Stay with me
I feel sad
When you run

Sands of time
Are lying
On my chest

Stay in bed
I feel sad
When you run

Stay like this
On the hills
Of my chest

Don't wake up
I feel strange
When you go

Stop the night
Hold me tight
Holy girl

Don't stand up
I feel strange
When you go

Luke - 6.5

23' w/u; 400m@73, 400r, 800m@2:33, 400r, 1200m@3:46; 15' c/d.

Wanted to do 4/8/12 at 5:00 pace and was fairly close.