…post training logs!

I swear I have a race in like 2.5 weeks. That’s what all the following stuff is about.

Let’s pick up where we left off:

3/8 – 6.74 miles, group run at Tilden with Pat, Jamison & Carl. Super fun, a lot of hills. Was able to sprint the last 1.5 miles very comfortably. Also, got a new pair of Brooks PureGrit; this is my second pair and I’m contemplating buying 10 pairs of these; I also scored a pair of gaiters and was psyched- it was my first “rock and pebble-free” run on trails ever.

3/9 – rest day

3/10 – 24.48 miles (in 4:48:30), this was a modified version of the marathon course, I cut out 1.5 miles in the middle of the second loop, so I still had to do the big climbs. I’m going to conservatively estimate that I still did about 5500 feet of climbing. I took a crazy-ass ice bath after.

mileage for the week: 50.67 miles, 9 hours 4 mins

3/11 – rest day, not feeling so great, I think I’m getting…

3/12 – …sick!

3/13 – sick!!

3/14 – SICK!!!

3/15 – wore the trusty old Mizunos for this night run at Redwoods, did 9.93 with Pat. It’s been raining for 4 days straight, like Noah’s Arc deluging. East Ridge was the worst I’ve ever seen it, it was akin to pudding or brownie batter. Literally thought my shoes were going to be sucked off my feet by the mud at some points.

3/16 – rest day

3/17 – 11.27 miles; Redwoods. East Ridge was still awful- French Trail however was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen it; there were waterfalls on Toyon and Golden Spike coming down the canyon walls; it was awesome. When it rains like this, stick to the single-tracks and stay off the fire trails I guess. Coastal was doing a run here today, the Canyon Meadow #1 (I’m running the 50K for the 2nd installment on June 3rd). Looked like fun, I ran by their staging area at like 7:50 am.

3/18 – Pat was begging me to design him a 16-miler as his last long run before his race (a 30K up at Rodeo with PCTR this weekend). So we hit Tilden and Wildcat Canyon for a 16.59 mile run (3:09:17) with 4,116 feet of climbing. Oh, I got an altimeter, so I can have accurate elevation readings (it also has a heart rate monitor; more on that later). We were slogging through the muck at many points; some of the trails weren’t fit for horses let alone human foot traffic.

mileage for the week: 37.79 miles; 6 hours, 44 minutes

3/19 – 6.82 miles; this was the 4-hills run I like to do (Monte Vista, Mandana x2 and Linda). Used it mostly as a recovery run; ran it in 1:03:05 (9:15 pace). Also, ran new road shoes- the Brooks PureConnect. I am happy to say both of my main running shoes are now Brooks; I’ve completely freed myself from Nike and their awful imperialistic business practices.

3/20 – tempo run; 6.22 miles in 51:06 (8:13 pace). Ran the first and last miles at about 9 per and ramped the middle ~4 up to 7:45 pace. Feel great in the new sneaks. I’m also (ha!) off of the iPhone and its related GPS apps. Nike+ doesn’t work, MotionX sucks, Runmeter was a total waste. I’m using MapMyRun, an online map that utilizes Google Maps and has a point-and-click option, and is about 99.9% accurate. Its elevation totals also match my altimeter readings, so that’s a plus.

3/21 – DOUBLE DAY! Ran 8×400 intervals in the morning with 400 meters cool down between. Used the heart rate monitor, warmed up at 10 mins at 60-70% of heart rate and then did the sprints at 90+% and let it cool down to ~70% for each recovery jog. Totaled 5.39 miles.

Night time: ran 9.06 miles; the middle 3.5 were with Pat as his last taper run before his race Saturday. We ran the lake; I hella love Oakland.

…and that’s it. I wish I had other stuff to post; but that’s why this is a running blog, no?