Training Summary: May 19 - 25

FINALLY a good week! All the goals for the week were met (50+mi, 7 days, core circuit x2). I even got a mini workout in! Going forward I am going to roll the push-up circuit and core circuit into simply "core circuit"... mainly because I don't feel like typing the extra part.

Monday 5/19 - 8mi, 54:35, solo on the bay. Easy run post the crazy weekend.

Tuesday 5/20 - 8mi, 55:15, solo on the bay.

Wednesday 5/21 - 8+mi, 61:00, with JLew around PB. JLew always tries to get me to venture out of my normal running routes so it was nice to just run randomly for once. Core circuit with Di.

Thursday 5/22 - 8mi, 54:25, solo on the bay.

Friday 5/23 - 8mi, 53:50, solo on the bay. 6X100 strides mid-run on grass. Core circuit with Di.

Saturday 5/24 - 10mi, 63:22, solo progression run on the bay. This is my "long run" for the week and my only "workout". Decided to make my long run, as I do often, into a progression run. Averaged just under 6min pace for the last 5mi. Miles were as follows: 6:56, 6:56, 6:39, 6:26, 6:32 (strong wind), 6:21, 6:12, 5:58, 5:49, 5:34. Never felt like I was "pushing" but simply lengthened my stride and picked up my knees a little. It was very comfortable and surprised how easy it felt the entire run.

Sunday 5/25 - 7mi, 50:10, solo on the bay. Super easy/lazy Sunday run.

Totals: 57mi, 7 days. Overall a good first week back to normal training. I was able to get in a double digit progression run and averaged over 8mi a day. The "workout" wasn't anything earth-shattering but it was nice to feel that good on an up-tempo run. The plan is to keep consistent over the next few weeks and work in to the 60's with a progressively longer long run and insert a similar type progression run. After that I will try and set up a schedule as far as racing but I just want to get healthy first.

Weekend Update

Just thought I would throw out a few quick words on a lazy Saturday in San Diego. It is Memorial Day weekend which usually means craziness will being to ensue starting tonight. It is funny because when you live near the beach, or any other place people flock towards on a holiday, the one thing you want is to get away! It is fun but sometimes I wish I could have a long weekend that didn't involve people screaming and doing generally obnoxious things outside my window until 3am...

As far as running goes this week, it has been really good. I have kept to my goal of running every day and hitting in the 50's. So far I have run about an hour a day and assuming I actually head out for my run in a few minutes I will have a solid 7 day streak going! This is what I need to keep up with and just slowly build the mileage back in. I was able to get in my core circuit twice this week, which was my goal, and I even did strides yesterday! I feel like a new man...well at least a not so lazy man.

Hopefully I'll have a solid week of training to post up tomorrow evening. Until then have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Bay to Breakers Recap

So, we (Reebok) sponsor the race/insanity that is ING Bay to Breakers. This year was, astonishingly, the 97th running of Bay to Breakers. Now before I begin please bear in mind I think this event is amazing in all aspects. From number of participants to the amazing job the Race Directors do, you can't help but look by in awe. Now, if you have ever been to a Mardi Gras party, hosted by a nudist colony that happen to invite a couple dozen elite African runners...then you have a SLIGHT idea what it is like at Bay to Breakers. There are usually around 40,000 official runners, but estimates usually grow to about 60,000 actually on the course with another 200,000+ spectators. It is truly an amazing sight to see.

I have had the opportunity to have run the race last year (although I was in the top 100 and didn't really see any of the shenanigans until I finished) and this year I was able to watch from the start line. Well, I must admit as fun as running was, watching was exponentially more entertaining, yet fairly disturbing. To answer your question...yes I do have pictures. Now bear in mind there are others that I simply cannot post here, but here are a few...

NINTENDO FLOAT!

CREEPY SILVER GUY

OLD, CRAZY NAKED PEOPLE (EDITED FOR YOUR PROTECTION!)

So that gives you the slightest idea of what it is like at Bay to Breakers. It is definitely a San Francisco born and raised event. I will argue that there is nothing like this in the world. This race truly transcends running. It is far less about running and more about the atmosphere. Outside of the top 1000 people (or so) I would venture to guess everyone is walking, drinking and being generally ridiculous. Where else do you see people smoking a cigarette, pushing a keg in a shopping cart all while wearing running shoes and a bib number? Nowhere...that's where!

Watching it really makes you forget that there is a $25k equalizer first prize! Some of the best runners in the world lead this circus from Embarcadero to the beach at Golden Gate Park. Imagine seeing this fiasco run down the road after the leaders at the Peachtree 10k in Atlanta or Steamboat 4mi in Peoria!?!?! I think not. Only in San Francisco...

Training Summary: May 12 - 18

Not what I had hoped for but it works. Lost 2 days from work/travel and only did core once, but it is a step forward. Oh yea...and I never ran Bay to Breakers because I never set my alarm, I'm an idiot.

Monday 7/12 - off, traveling from Williamsburg

Tuesday 7/13 - 9mi 31:00, solo on the bay. Easy run on the bay. Core and push-ups.

Wednesday 7/14 - 6mi, 41:45, solo on the bay. Easy run before the flight to San Fran.

Thursday 7/15 - 7mi, 50min, Embarcadero/Fisherman's Warf in San Fran with Patrick Joyce and Blake Russell. Fun to get out somewhere new and catch up.

Friday 7/16 - 9+mi, 61:05, same route as yesterday with Steve Mienelt. Felt good and felt like we were moving along pretty well.

Saturday 7/17 - off, had to work and had a VERY LONG night the night before...craziness=no running.

Sunday 7/18 - 6mi, 40min, same route again with Patrick. Missed the race and ran with Patrick instead.

Totals: 37mi, 5 days. Not good but it was what I had to work with. Working the expo make running hard and getting insanely drunk one of those nights doesn't help either. Had a good run with Mienelt on Friday which was a confidence boost that I am not in terrible shape. Although, I need to hit in the 50's this week or I suck.

Off to San Fran

I'll be in San Francisco until Sunday. I will attempt to update while I am there. I'll try to give an inside look at the expo with some photos as well.

Training Summary: May 5 - 11

So my first week back wasn't really good because of the traveling to Ryan's graduation and traveling up the coast...but I got in some runs, so that counts for something!

Monday 5/11 - 6mi, 41:45, solo on the bay. Nothing exciting just an easy run in the sun.

Tuesday 5/12 - off, traveling all day and never found a time to run, gotta stop using this excuse.

Wednesday 5/13 - 8mi, 60:35, with Garret in Santa Barbara. Easy run with Garret (manager SB Running) through Santa Barbara. We ended up running through a weekly race and got stuck running slow with some mid-packers.

Thursday 5/14 -~7-8mi, 56:30, with Jason and Aubie (sp?) in San Marcos. Crazy hilly run in San Marcos with J-Lew and his dog. It is nice to hit the trails and some nice long hills. Running with Aubie is really fun, she is probably the greatest running dog ever.

Friday 5/15 - off. Traveling all day to Williamsburg, VA for Ryan's graduation. In other words too lazy to get up early.

Saturday 5/16 - 8mi, 55:00, solo in Williamsburg. Found a route from the hotel, through Colonial Williamsburg and past the school. Nice run and nice to feel a cool drizzle on a run!

Sunday 5/17 - 7mi, 49:00, solo in Williamsburg. Easy run nothing exciting.

Totals: 5 days, ~38mi. Just a crappy week with traveling, resulting in only 5 days on the feet. One sort of exciting thing was the return to core and push-ups! I haven't been "regularly" doing core work on push-ups for about...3 years and this is my attempt. This is supposed to keep me more on track and if I am going to be serious again this is a must. Eventually I want to be back doing this 3 days a week on my old normal schedule.

Plan is to actually try and run 6-7 days next week, core and a push-up circuit twice, and run Bay to Breakers on Sunday. It should be fun up in San Fran all week, but it will be a challenge getting in my runs with the expo and other various work things that need to get done with in San Fran.

Billy and The Bitch Graduation

So I have been in Williamsburg for my brothers graduation for the past few days and got home late last night. It was a fun weekend and nice to see family for a little bit. The graduation speaker was Mike Tomlin, coach of the Steelers, which was pretty interesting. According to my brother lots of the "intellectual" W&M grads thought it was terrible but I liked it. I guess they actually thought he wasn't going to use football as a metaphor for life. I don't get what they expected from him...I guess they hoped for a dry, boring lecture by some high powered politician or intellectual, but whatever. I thought he was entertaining and memorable, which is about all you can ask for from a graduation speaker.

It was nice getting to meet some of Ryan's friends from school. The only time I was at W&M before this weekend was when I helped him move in Freshman year. Most of his friends are from Virginia so I never had the chance to meet any of them, so it was nice to be able to do that.

I got in a few runs through Colonial Williamsburg (or "CW" as I found it is referred to). It was pretty cool running there and I wish I had the chance to hit the trails because they were supposed to be nice. Unfortunately I never get used to the jet lag and we were busy each day and all I could muster out of myself was a mindless run down some streets.

Congrats again Ryan!

Colonial Weekend

So I have been doing some running this week which is nice. I spent most of the week up the coast in LA, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo doing random work stuff. I got some nice runs in up there and hope to keep the consistency up for the next few weeks as I build mileage back up. I am currently packing to head off to Virginia to watch Ryan's graduation. It should be a fun weekend and I'll be back on Monday. I'll plan on posting an update when I get back to SD.

Boston Marathon Recap

Ok, at long last here is the Boston Marathon report. I have been really busy with things at work and have had no chance to put this up until now.

The plan for the "race" was to run with Di and hopefully get her across the line around 2:55 or so. Well...we were pretty much on schedule through the half but things fell apart about a mile or two before that.

The first 2 miles were a bit fast but not a big deal, I think we averaged about 6:30 for those first two miles but quickly settled in to hitting miles between 6:40-6:50. This was perfect and right on our pace. I could tell that after about 8 miles Dianna wasn't doing very well because she had already stopped talking and I thought it was a bit early for that. I could see her laboring but hoped it was just some nerves getting out and that things would turn around by 10mi or so. Well that never happened and the remainder of the run consisted of about 10 stops, including one stint of her sitting in a medical tent. We stopped our watches for each stop and our the watch read about 3:05 when we crossed the line...unfortunately we had stopped for over 21 minutes and the clock read 3:26 as we crossed in front of the Boston Library.

What seemed to happen was that her calves just never warmed up and were shot by the half marathon. It was very warm in the sun and with the wind blowing it was very easy to get dehydrated. Each stop consisted of her stretching her calves and catching her breathe from some slight dizzy spells. I think the dizziness was also caused by the dehydration. In the future, if she wants to actually run a good marathon, we need to really practice taking fluids and whatever else (gu, etc.) she needs. Although she would say she drank lots, I watched her and not much actually went down her throat.

I was pretty sore for a few days, and I blame this on two things. One, I didn't run anything more than a 2 hour run and the race lasted an additional 1.5 hours. Additionally, the stop and go nature of the last 12+ miles really made me tight and it was really hard to run like that.

Overall, not the greatest day but it is a story to tell. I'm glad I was there for her through the tough day and I hope I helped her to the finish. I think her next idea is to drop back down to the 5-10k distances and work back there for a bit. This is good and I think where she should be. I, on the other hand, am starting back slow but plan to run a good half this fall, potentially the BAA Half.

That's all I got. I'll start "normal" running again next week and will begin posting my training again. More to come...