267 Miles Later

Here is my full winter training log. I have finished 8 weeks of solid winter off-season base training. I am not injured but am I bit beat up, so I will take the final week before track starts off.

Sophomore Winter Training Log

10/28/07- 11/4/07- Off. Physical Therapy every day. Friday I ran 15 minutes on the N. field and it went pretty well. I still took the weekend off

11/5/07- Heated, stretched, and did a very nice relaxed 20 minutes around the N. field at just under 8 min pace. Heel felt fine. It was very cool and moist outside, which made for great running conditions. I think I will start slowly and carefully returning to training. Ultrasounded and Iced bath.

Miles: 2.5

11/6/07- Fairly sore, but not painful. Didn’t run, did the usual physical therapy.
Miles: 0

11/7/07- Felt a lot better today, a good sign. Ran 8 laps around the N. field at a moderate pace. 20 minutes total.
Miles: 2.5

11/8/07- Aside from a weird soreness near my 5th digit (R foot), felt good. Ran 7 laps of N. field at a quick pace.
Miles: 2

11/9/07- Foot felt pretty good. Ran ~30 min near campus and on N. field, mostly on grass. Started slow, was able to pick it up very comfortably. Foot felt fine afterwards.
Miles: 3.5

11/10/07- Huntington girl’s way with Julian. Took it slow, worked up to a nice moderate pace. Foot seemed fine the whole way. I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Played some ctf.
Miles: 5.5

Weekly Miles: 16

11/11/07- Off.
Miles: 0

11/12/07- Huntingson reverse. Took it out easy, accelerated to a medium pace. Between miles 1-3 5th digit R side of foot thing acting up, but it subsided. Heel felt a bit aggravated by the end but not bad.
Miles: 7

11/13/07- Huntington short way reverse medium.
Miles: 5.5

11/14/07- San Pasqual out to San Gabriel, N to Colorado, W to Sierra Madre, S to Lombardy back. Heel feels tingly, Achilles’ tight. Medium.
Miles: 5.5

11/15/07- Achilles a bit irritated at the insertion on the heel. Backing off a bit. Ran to Lacy, did 2 laps with Nathan easy.
Miles: 3.5

11/16/07- El Molino to Monterey back up by Lacy and the stairs. Medium.
Miles: 5

11/17/07- Huntington girls way with Julian. Wasn’t feeling too good, I think I was dehydrated and a bit sick. Slow.
Miles: 5

11/18/07- Off

Miles: 32

11/19/07- Huntington with J.R. Medium, not particularly comfortable. 47 min, so about 7:40 pace. Heel okay. “Do 8 miles at that pace every day.” Probably pretty good advice, if I'm healthy and in shape.
Miles: 6

11/20/07- Garfield Long way (up Virgina) easy. Took it chill from the start, couldn’t go that fast in the dark, still 8:15 or so. Foot getting better.
Miles: 6.5

11/21/07- Plane home for thanksgiving.
Miles: 0

11/22/07- Big Jungle Long way (back up gainsborough). Okay.
Miles: 6.5

11/23/07- 6 Miles on the canal, windy and quite cold (40 F), lungs very tight. Not that fast, hamstring tendons sore.
Miles: 6

11/24/07- Big Jungle plus 1 mile on the track with Tarik (=hard). Not a good run, colder (37 F) Tarik pulling away from me in miles 4 and 5. Lungs pretty tight.
Miles: 6

11/25/07- Off. Achilles' stiff this morning.

Miles: 31

11/26/07- River road trail much better. Easy first 3 miles, much warmer, 55 degrees, lots of energy and good speed coming back. Also doctor says that in addition to my high arches being terrible for shock absorption, and thus need orthodics, for some read my right ankle has a very limited up and down range of motion, which my be the cause of all of my right foot and lower leg injuries the past year.
Miles: 7

11/27/07- Good to be back in Pasadena. Garfield long way home, felt pretty good but pace was slow. Erin worked on my ankle for 15 min, very sore but already noticeable more flexible. Also sesamoid was swollen.
Miles: 6.5

11/28/07- Feeling good. Lower arroyo with a bit of exploring and cool down on N field with Anton. Averaged 8:15 pace, at times slower, accelerating once in the arroyo, down to 7:40 pace down California.
Miles: 8.5

11/29/07- Legs a bit tired. good. Huntington girls way pretty mellow. Swam for 45 minutes afterwards, prep for interhouse.
Miles: 5

11/30/07- 6 wonderful miles in the rain. Huntingson modified backwards,, got hit by car on los robles, kicked starting at the entrance to Huntington gardens, felt great.
Miles: 6.5
12/1/07- Upper Arroyo with Julian. Started out pretty chill, accelerating down to 7:30 pace or less like usual, julian with me every step of the way.
Miles: 7.5

12/2/07- Off. Lots of work

Weekly Miles: 41

12/3/07- Beautiful Day! Drove to Wedny's for epic lunch in paradisic weather. Parked in lot K of the Rose Bowl and ran to JPL with Anton. Out in 8:20 pace, back down to 7 min after Devil's Gate, Avg 7:45. One day will run from there to the Dam.
Miles: 7

12/4/07- Interhouse Swimming. A few hundred yards than 50 fly. Got second! Not sure about time. Lacy and back with Nathan and someone in my class who had flamed out. Shins stiff and sore.
Miles: 3.5

12/5/07- Huntington Girl's way. Was going to go longer but weird pain in left shin got me worried. Erin said I need to watch my shins as they are inflamed at the insertion of the tendon/where stress fractures commonly happen. Sesamoid sore as well. Going to tone it down this week.
Miles: 5

12/6/07- Interhouse swimming finals. Gave my shins and a sesamoid rest. Swam some fun 50 frees.
Miles: 0

12/7/07- Huntington Girl's way with chief. Shins feeling better. Quick pace, feeling good.
Miles: 5

12/8/07- Went to Mt. Baldy Ski resort to go sledding, ended up climbing Mt. Baldy in hurricane force, -10 F wind chill winds and white out conditions. Pretty cool, good workout!
Miles: (6)

12/9/07- Sesamoid pretty irritated.
Miles: 0

Weekly Miles: 26

12/10/07- Would have ran but Ph 5 project not looking so hot.
Miles: 0

12/11/07- Hunt ington Girl's way with Stef and Perrin.
Miles: 5

12/12/07- Some more huntington action with Julian. Got up to pretty quick pace, felt okay.
Miles: 6

12/13/07- Fantastic Run on huntington up to Los Robles and back through Lacy. &7:30 or less pace with ease, sesamoid okay. Where did this energy/speed come from!? Finals a lot of work.
Miles: 8

12/14/07-Huntington backwards with mr. horikoski. Legs like bricks from yesterday. A bit depressed.
Miles: 6

12/15/07- I was grudgingly paying some bills and tying up some loose ends before leave when a voice out in the hall caught my ear. I walked out into the hall and sure enough it was Kangway, arriving completely unannounced. I was completely at a loss for words. Man I miss that dude. Him coming back really showed me how different this place is without him. To make things better, we went running this morning. Legs still sluggish, probably also a result of the early morning hour. Ran thus usual but came back on Euston to Lacy for old times sake. Good Luck Kangway, do not give up running! Give Tech another shot.
Miles: 4.5

12/16/07- Went lifting at the P.C.C (Potomac Community Center) gym, jogged a bit with the A-rab.
Miles: 1

Weekly Miles: 31

12/17/07- Went to H.S. Track practice. 1 mile warm-up plus 7 miles of various running through the woods . At first chill pace, than pushing to aerobic limit. Cold, 35 degrees, but lungs held up okay.
Miles: 8

12/18/07- Again at H.S. Track practice. 3 Mile warm-up, did part of a ladder workout 1 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off...5 on at 6 min pace before peeling off to do a side 2.5 miles. For some reason this workout was somewhat harder than I had expected, I wasn't feeling very comfortable. Also I ended up cutting my toe pretty badly. I'll hold off on any sort of track or speed workouts for a while I think.
Miles: 9

12/19/07- Toe cut very painful. In other news Caltech guys were in D.C. went with John Shen to visit Dave, Jon Tsai and others, walked around a lot, but not much running.
Miles: 0


12/20/07- Ran on C.J. Trail from River Road up to the baseball fields and turned around. Pretty chillax, nice run.
Miles: 7

12/21/07- Not sure what I did but I am pretty sure it involved the C.J. trail again.
Miles: 7-8 ?

12/22/07- Drove to Chicago. As soon as we got to my Aunt's house in Willmette, I set off for a medium tempo workout. 3 mile warm-up, 3 mile at tempo (maybe starting out at 6 min pace, slowing to 6:30 pace), 2 mile cool down. Raining, at night, 44 degrees, slushy snow and grass/sidewalk most of the walk. Not a half bad workout.
Miles: 8

12/23/07- Very Very Cold in Chicago after cold front passed (-5 degrees with bad wind chill). Day off!

Weekly Miles: ~40

12/24/07- Close to dusk, Matt Wiesbard (close cousin who runs for Willamette) and I hit the trails by his house in Willmette, I.L. Very icy, about 20 degrees but okay. Ran to his old HS and back with some extra by myself to make a good 10.
Miles: 10.

12/25/07- Christmas morning run with Matt. Started in the same place as yesterday, head out in the other direction on the trails. Had a small hangover from way to much wine last night, but the run wasn’t half bad.
Miles:7

12/26/07- Early morning run in Mequon W.I.. Ran from the cousin’s house out to Lake Shore drive to Vermond Park. Running through the ankle deep snow and ice, I came upon the bluffs and stared out upon a perfectly calm Lake Michigan in the early morning winter sun light. Made two loops around the park and back. Pretty chill the whole way.
Miles: 5-6

12/27/07- Very nice long run along the CJ trail. Started out River Road, up to Tuckerman through the old HS XC course, back along 7 locks to the trail again. Moderate, relaxed pace, feeling good the whole way, a bit tired by the end.
Miles: 10

12/28/07- Close Calls: Cheating Death 3-The Drayna Aougab run. Drove to Berkeley Springs W.V. for a weekend away. We ran out from the cabin along some really creepy dirt roads which turned into loose dirt ATV tracks which turned into abandoned fire roads in the middle of nowhere. Started out 7:40 pace, down to 6:45 pace as we got steadily more and more freaked out. Tarik broke off after 8 to run into town. Very solid run, pretty tired.
Miles: 10-11

12/29/07- Nice day in W.V. Ran to the top of the Cacapon overlook and to the top of prospect peak and back. Climbed 1200 feet or so. Shins and feet sore, took it slow.
Miles: 7-8

12/30/07- Quite sore. Shins, sesamoid tendons, forefeet all fairly irritated. Going on NSAID therapy, cross training, light running for one week until track starts.
Miles:0

Weekly Miles: 51

This is the off season I should have had last year. I do miss cycling, but there will be plenty of time for that in future. My runs were fairly consistent with a good build up in mileage and a nice progression. I wish my shins and sesamoid were feeling better but 8 days off should help with both of those. Being consistent and staying (relatively) healthy, my two goals were accomplished. Plus I do feel a good deal stronger. I have now been training for 6 months almost straight (3 total weeks off, in seperate segments, by the start of track). We have almost one month of track for long base runs. I hope to quickly work up and sustain a mileage of 45-50 miles per week while lowering my base pace, then working in tempo and fartleks as we normally do. At this point though, I am optimistic and very pleased with my choice to focus heavily on running for the next 2 and a half years.

Total Off Season Miles: 267

From thanksgiving break

So my windows partition died so it has been hard to keep continuity in my log, but here is thanksgiving break and onwards.

>11/21/07- Plane home for thanksgiving.

Miles: 0

11/22/07- Big Jungle Long way (back up gainsborough). Okay.

Miles: 6.5

11/23/07- 6 Miles on the canal, windy and quite cold (40 F), lungs very tight. Not that fast, hamstring tendons sore.

Miles: 6

11/24/07- Big Jungle plus 1 mile on the track with Tarik (=hard). Not a good run, coolder (37 F) Tarik pulling away from me in miles 4 and 5. Lungs pretty tight.

Miles: 6

11/25/07- Off. Achilles' stiff this morning.

Miles: 31

11/26/07- River road trail much better. Easy first 3 miles, much warmer, 55 degrees, lots of energy and good speed coming back. Also doctor says that in addition to my high arches being terrible for shock absorption, and thus need orthodics, for some read my right ankle has a very limited up and down range of motion, which my be the cause of all of my right foot and lower leg injuries the past year.

Miles: 7

11/27/07- Good to be back in Pasadena. Garfield long way home, felt pretty good but pace was slow. Erin worked on my ankle for 15 min, very sore but already noticeable more flexible. Also sesamoid was swollen.

Miles: 6.5

11/28/07- Feeling good. Lower arroyo with a bit of exploring and cool down on N field with Anton. Averaged 8:15 pace, at times slower, accelerating once in the arroyo, down to 7:40 pace down California.

Miles: 8.5

11/29/07- Legs a bit tired. good. Huntington girls way pretty mellow. Swam for 45 minutes afterwards, prep for interhouse.

Miles: 5

11/30/07- 6wonderful miles in the rain. Huntingson modified backwards,, got hit by car on los robles, kicked starting at the entrance to Huntington gardens, felt great.

Miles: 6.5

12/1/07- Upper Arroyo with Julian. Started out pretty chill, accelerating down to 7:30 pace or less like usual, julian with me every step of the way.

Miles: 7.5

12/2/07- Off. Lots of work

Weekly Miles: 41

12/3/07- Beautiful Day! Drove to Wedny's for epic lunch in paradisic weather. Parked in lot K of the Rose Bowl and ran to JPL with Anton. Out in 8:20 pace, back down to 7 min after Devil's Gate, Avg 7:45. One day will run from there to the Dam.

Miles: 7

12/4/07- Interhouse Swimming. A few hundred yards than 50 fly. Got second! Not sure about time. Lacy and back with Nathan and someone in my class who had flamed out. Shins stiff and sore.

Miles: 3.5

12/5/07- Huntington Girl's way. Was going to go longer but weird pain in left shin got me worried. Erin said I need to watch my shins as they are inflamed at the insertion of the tendon/where stress fractures commonly happen. Sesamoid sore as well. Going to tone it down this week.

Miles: 5

12/6/07- Interhouse swimming finals. Gave my shins and a sesamoid rest. Swam some fun 50 frees.

Miles: 0

12/7/07- Huntington Girl's way with chief. Shins feeling better. Quick pace, feeling good.

Miles: 5

12/8/07- Went to Mt. Baldy Ski resort to go sledding, ended up climbing Mt. Baldy in hurricane force, -10 F wind chill winds and white out conditions. Pretty cool, good workout!

Miles: (6)

12/9/07- Sesamoid pretty irritated.

Miles: 0

Weekly Miles: 26

12/10/07- Would have ran but Ph 5 project not looking so hot.

Miles: 0

12/11/07- Hunt ington Girl's way with Stef and Perrin.

Miles: 5

12/12/07- Some more huntington action with Julian. Got up to pretty quick pace, felt okay.

Miles: 6

12/13/07- Fantastic Run on huntington up to Los Robles and back through Lacy. &7:30 or less pace with ease, sesamoid okay. Finals killing me

Miles: 8

The Off Season Begins

10/28/07- 11/4/07- Off. Physical Therapy every day. Friday I ran 15 minutes on the N. field and it went pretty well. I still took the weekend off

11/5/07- Heated, stretched, and did a very nice relaxed 20 minutes around the N. field at just under 8 min pace. Heel felt fine. It was very cool and moist outside, which made for great running conditions. I think I will start slowly and carefully returning to training. Ultrasounded and Iced bath.

Miles: 2.5

11/6/07- Fairly sore, but not painful. Didn’t run, did the usual physical therapy.

Miles: 0

11/7/07- Felt a lot better today, a good sign. Ran 8 laps around the N. field at a moderate pace. 20 minutes total.

Miles: 2.5

11/8/07- Aside from a weird soreness near my 5^th digit (R foot), felt good. Ran 7 laps of N. field at a quick pace.

Miles: 2

11/9/07- Foot felt pretty good. Ran ~30 min near campus and on N. field, mostly on grass. Started slow, was able to pick it up very comfortably. Foot felt fine afterwards.

Miles: 3.5

11/10/07- Huntington girl’s way with Julian. Took it slow, worked up to a nice moderate pace. Foot seemed fine the whole way. I guess we’ll see tomorrow. Played some ctf.

Miles: 5.5

Weekly Miles: 16

11/11/07- Off.

Miles: 0

11/12/07- Huntingson reverse. Took it out easy, accelerated to a medium pace. Between miles 1-3 5^th digit R side of foot thing acting up, but it subsided. Heel felt a bit aggravated by the end but not bad.

Miles: 7

11/13/07- Huntington short way reverse medium.

Miles: 5.5

11/14/07- San Pasqual out to San Gabriel, N to Colorado, W to Sierra Madre, S to Lombardy back. Heel feels tingly, Achilles’ tight. Medium.

Miles: 5.5

11/15/07- Achilles a bit irritated at the insertion on the heel. Backing off a bit. Ran to Lacy, did 2 laps with Nathan easy.

Miles: 3.5

11/16/07- El Molino to Monterey back up by Lacy and the stairs. Medium.

Miles: 5

11/17/07- Huntington girls way with Julian. Wasn’t feeling too good, I think I was dehydrated and a bit sick. Slow.

Miles: 5

11/18/07- Off

Miles: 32

Sophomore Winter Training Log

10/28/07- 11/4/07- Off. Physical Therapy every day. Friday I ran 15 minutes on the N. field and it went pretty well. I still took the weekend off

11/5/07- Heated, stretched, and did a very nice relaxed 20 minutes around the N. field at just under 8 min pace. Heel felt fine. It was very cool and moist outside, which made for great running conditions. I think I will start slowly and carefully returning to training. Ultrasounded and Iced bath.

Miles: 2.5

11/6/07- Fairly sore, but not painful. Didn’t run, did the usual physical therapy.

Miles: 0

11/7/07- Felt a lot better today, a good sign. Ran 8 laps around the N. field at a moderate pace. 20 minutes total.

Miles: 2.5

11/8/07- Aside from a weird soreness near my 5^th digit (R foot), felt good. Ran 7 laps of N. field at a quick pace.

Miles: 2

11/9/07- Foot felt pretty good. Ran ~30 min near campus and on N. field, mostly on grass. Started slow, was able to pick it up very comfortably. Foot felt fine afterwards.

Miles: 3.5

The pitiful end of XC

10/13/07- Multi-duals at Prado. Feeling good, mainly due to Steve’s American flag running shorts. Rained overnight, still raining when we arrive, rain broke just in time for our race, but the course was quite muddy with plenty of ankle deep mud and standing water. Went out easy : 6:30ish and held strong through the entire race, never dropping more than 20 sec off that pace. Went much better than I feared given my sickness. Nathan still passed me at 3 miles. Even though I wasn’t going for time, I got to race people, which was more fun and less painful. I passed one Cal Lu and a Pomona guy in the first ½ mile, knocked off two Whittier guys in the 3^rd mile, and caught an Oxy guy in the last 800m. Pretty cool. Time was slow, performance was mediocre, but it was pretty fun. Plus we got to get covered in mud! Time: 34:10 . Last man in for Tech: that’s right, no techers in the bottom 5. Note: after being inspired by Kevin Chaves’ mad ripped legs, I have decided to train pretty hard during the off season and commence getting fast.

Miles: 9 ( played lots of ultimate egg afterwards)

10/14/07- I tried to run, had too much homework.

Miles: 0

Weekly Miles: 35

10/15/07- Lower arroyo medium/medium hard. Still congested but had lots of energy, so I pushed a bit. Felt good afterwards.

Miles: 8

10/16/07- 400 on 400 off x12 at ghetto park. Kind of tired from yesterday. Made it through the workout surprisingly well. It seemed very long. Extended warm-up, regular way back.

Miles: 10

10/17/07- Huntingson but back on oak knoll (hunting baby). Medium. Pushing the pace, felt good Steve + Nathan.

Miles: 5.5

10/18/07- 2 on 1 off x10 at lacy. Felt much less sick today. Had plenty of energy. Just under race pace for most of the ons, tried to also work the offs but it didn’t happen. Ran with Steve.

Miles: 7.5

10/19/07- Garfield park and back. Legs kinda tired but feeling okay, sinuses infected.

Miles: 5.5

10/20/07- 5k+ tempo in the arroyo: two Ian loops. Missed morning practice, so we ran at night. Cool and perfect. Ran very fast, felt great, not limited by anything. 20:10 for the whole thing. 6:10 pace? Need to be able to sustain now for 5 miles.

Miles: 8

10/21/07- Being a physics major is a lot of work.

Miles: 0

Weekly miles: 44

10/22/07- Ran Lower Arroyo medium easy with Nathan, Chris S., and Ben Lin. Great run, legs surprisingly tired, pretty hot out.

Miles: 8

10/23/07- Big fires, air smokey. Missed practice due to lab (practice was riding on the stationary bikes). Ran to Lacy and back with Julian.

Miles: 3.5

10/24/07- 400 on at race pace, 400 off at central (ghetto) park x 9 (I only did 8). Felt okay, more tiring than r.p. should have been. Air still sucks, lungs hurt.

Miles: 8

10/25/07- Lacy and back with 6 striders and 2 laps. Easy, felt okay, not completely rested.

Miles: 4

10/26/07- Pre-race. Legs tired, felt like I was having a hard time keeping up with the team. I’m sure tomorrow will be okay though. Go out and race, have fun, push myself. The end of this season marks a new quest to get fast. It won’t just come to me, although I will get stronger with age. I have to have quality training in the off season and stay away from injury. This winter, I want to average 45 miles a week with lots of aerobic and lactate threshold running. I need to use my base to build upon, get my base pace down, bring my sustainable speed up. This summer I will get an extensive base to be able to hold that for a 5 mile XC race. This is my goal for the next year. Also, minor plantar faschitis developing, saw Andre, doing some PT for it. With diligence we can keep that at a minimum through finals and then have it heal up. My goals for tomorrow. Start out at 6:30, pass 3 people, stay with Nathan for at least 1 mile when he passes me.

Miles: 3.5

10/27/07- XC Champs at La Mirada. Conditions: Overcast, humid, low 70s, air still Smokey, wet grass and some mud. I felt okay during the warmup, plenty of energy, looking forward to the race. Everyone, especially the seniors, had been talking about “going all out” and such. It was my last race of the season, plenty of energy, not sick anymore, why not? The gun goes off, I knew I was breathing a bit hard, possibly due to the air quality, but I still felt like I was holding back, especially in lieu of last Sat.’s breakthrough workout. At 800m going up the sidewalk, some old asian women had found her way on the course and must have been completely oblivious to the horde of brightly colored runners coming at her because she was decked. Luckily she managed to avoid being trampled. As I ran by she seemed completely petrified and was being helped up by course officials. First mile in 6:20. My goal was to go out just fast enough to be in striking range of people, but I found myself in an unfortunate gap, but wow that was a bit too fast, but it didn’t feel like it. Going up the hills, tough but not horrible. Coming by the start and up in front of the school I could feel it. Suddenly my pace dropped 30 seconds. I made a big mistake, Nathan comes by me and I already know I can’t keep up with him and I let him go. I was recovering my but slowly. I knew the damage had been done and my chances of moving up were finished. Already I had given up. What I had recovered was promptly removed by the wall, which dropped my pace another 10 or 20 seconds. Chris is catching me. I slowly lose time, just waiting to get the race over with. I can feel my heel starting to hurt. As I come by the tennis courts again, I noticed Chaves is still 30 seconds from passing me. Well at least I’m quicker than last year. Coming by the finish area I had basically lost all will to fight. The four mile mark sees a renewed effort to push. My slowly trudgery had given me more energy and I push enough to keep up a constant 10 m behind Chris. I already know my time sucks : 27:40 for 4 miles. I have no drive to finish strong, it is just not there. At least I was under 35, but what a disappointment. This was a lesson in poor pacing and resignation.

What were my expectations going into the season. I knew I wasn’t going to be under 30 as Ian had predicted, just because of my foot, but I still hoped. After running 35 minutes at San Diego, how could I have done so? I still hoped for low 31s, but my poor pacing again got the best of me. Alas, 32 flat is not bad at all, and it surpassed my goal from Freshman year, to run 32:30. But still, I had hope that I would run faster yet. As my sleep declined, so did my energy level and times. It was sort of by chance that conditions were bad at the last two races, but my race at Prado was well paced and actually enjoyable. However, that involved me going deliberately slow. Did I meet my goals for the season? My hopeful goals, no, my realistic goals, almost. I keep telling myself that I’m just not cut out for 5 miles, I am a miler, but they are too one in the same to say something like that. I need a base, I have come into the last two seasons off of several continual months off. And yes, while cycling did help my aerobic capacity, and my legs eventually turned around, running would have done much more. The lesson? At first I would say run more, get a better base, more miles, build endurance. But realistically, it is to stay uninjured an hold a consistent training through the winter. If I can stay healthy through track, quite a feat, I can get a good base during the summer. Right now I have to deal with my plantar fasciitis. Getting’ fast.

Miles: 8

Weekly Miles: 35

Season Milage: 436

Happy Birthday Kangway

9/9/07- Rode to RB and up mini chevy chase loop with Stephanie. Easy, left patella tendonitis hurting some, especially while cycling.

Miles: (20)

Weekly Miles: 55-56

Note: in reality we ran 86 over 8 in the first bit of preseason. This volume is significantly higher than anything I have ever done, and if my legs do come around this year (as opposed to last year when they didn’t), I might have a good shot as sub 31.

9/10/07- (Morning) Patrician. Started off easy, worked hard on the hill and pushed on the way back. Legs had decent energy at both the start and end of the run. Ran with Steve and Chris the whole way. Through old pas and down on Lake, we pushed up to race pace at times.

Miles:10.5

(Afternoon) – 2.5 miles easy on grass, knee doing alright.

Total Miles: 13

9/11/07 (Morning)- Oak Groves tempo loops x6. Legs have energy! Even after patrician. First 4 were excellent, 5^th sucked, last one decent. Doing well, knees appear to be holding up. Very tired afterwards.

Miles: 9

(Afternoon) – 3-4 easy miles around the Lombardy area. Ran with the girls, legs really really tired.

Miles: 3

Total: 12

9/12/07 (Morning) Very easy Rosemead. Ran 9 minute pace. Legs very tired.

Miles: 6.7

(Afternoon) Lacy and back + two loops. Easy, saw HS XC race, was a bit nostalgic. Kinda wish I could go back to the good ole’ days at times.

Miles: 3.5

Total: 10ish

9/13/07- (Morning) Intervals ( apparently a tempo workout) at Garfield. 4 on 2 off, 30 sec off race pace. Legs exhausted, but got them moving below 7 min pace at times. Ran with Steve, we are both tired as hell.

Miles: 9.5

(Afternoon) Ran around San Marino with girls Orlando to Lombardy and back. Easy.

Miles: 2.5

Total: 12

9/14/07- (Morning) Pre race very easy. Legs really tired.

Miles: 3.5

(Afternoon) – 3 mile around the course at Balboa park, the weather was great, course looks fun but hard.

Miles 3.5

Total: 7

9/15/07- Aztec Invite. Okay race, bad times, legs very tired. Went out controlled with Steve, Chris, and Nathan. We were together in the back through 2 miles, than Nate and Steve pulled 20-30 sec ahead. Legs start to die on 3^rd mile, 4^th mile was horrible: 7:50 pace. Legs totally gone. Last mile, pushed hard along the very slight downhill and had good finish, back down around 6:45 pace. Really pumping with the arms. Legs really need to come around. Time: 35:09.

Miles: 8

Total Miles: 62-63

9/16/07- Well needed off day.

9/17/07- (Morning) Medium-easy trail run from RB aquatic center to JPL through the Devil’s Gate. Took it out leisurely but working, legs still very sore, turned around at JPL, 35 min in, once back through Devil’s Gate really opened up and had a great last 2.5 miles at 7:40 pace, felt effortless. Overcast and 65 degrees, wonderful weather, good run. Hope to do it again next year.

Miles: 8

(Afternoon) Lacy long way + 1 mile of the mile repeat course at medium pace. Relaxed, came in last.

Miles: 5

Total miles: 13

9/18/07- (Afternoon) Mile repeats at Lacy, going every 9 minutes. A good workout, very exhausted afterwards. 6:30, 6:29, 6:27, 6:38, 6:18 = 32:21.

Miles: 10

9/19/07- (Morning) Crazy tree. Easy. Tired. Nuff said.

Miles: 6.5

(Afternoon) Huntingon up Virginia, around Virgina, not the stairs. Felt really good surprisingly.

Miles: 5-5.5

Miles: 11.5-12

9/20/07- (Morning) 3 on , 2 off x8 at Garfield. Ran with Steve and Nathan. Felt okay, good workout, exhausted afterwards.

Miles: 10

(Afternoon) 20 min easy on N. field. Real damn tired.

Miles 2.5

Total: 12

9/21/07 – Huntingson medium-easy. I was going at a good 8:30-8:00 clip, but everyone seemed to pull away. Felt decent actually, despite feeling a bit under the weather earlier in the morning.

Miles: 7

9/22/07- 10k+ (6.4 mile) pick up tempo run. 4x Ian’s arroyo tempo loop. First lap 1 min off race pace, 40 sec off, 20 sec off, race pace. Not even breathing on the first, not feeling it on the 2^nd, last two tough. On the end of the 3rd lap almost all the way through the end, a pit bull broke it’s collar and started to chase us, tripping us and going after our feet. No one was bit, but it kind of messed up the last one. High 43s for the whole run.

Miles: 11

Weekly Miles: 65

9/23/07- Well deserved off day.

9/24/07- Full arroyo medium. Ran with Steve and Chief. Started out easy at 8:45 pace, dropped down 7:45 pace by the time we got out of the arroyo. Felt pretty good the whole way.

Miles: 10

9/25/07- 3 Mile threshold run at Garfield (6 laps + 1 warmup). Hard, couldn’t really get into it. The heat and afternoon probably have something to do it. It was okay.

Miles: 8.5

9/26/07- 9 miles medium. Legs really fresh! Ran Huntington to Los robles, turned around, went around Lacy and back. Saw Ian on the N. field and did 1 mile with him. Feeling really good.

Miles: 9

9/27/07- 5-4-3-2-1 at lacy, long way back. Started out slow, picked up pretty nicely. A bit tired from yesterday, but still looking good for sat.

Miles: 6.5

9/28/07 pre race.

Miles: 3

9/29/07- UC Riverside. 32:09-PR, Very comfortable through 12:15 2 mile, oxygen debt on the hill in the middle near 3 miles, 3 mile 18:45, 4^th mile starting to slow, really hurting 5^th mile. Stomach, not legs, limiting me in the end. Could have gone under 32 but would have puked. Good race, need to keep mileage up, do long tempo runs/threshold stuff. Need to pace a bit better, as usual.

Miles: 8

Weekley Miles: 43-44

9/30/07- ½ mile barefoot on the grass with anton, did abs, swam a bit. Calves still very sore.

Miles: 0.5

10/1/07- Calves better, still a bit sore. Ran a very nice full arroyo medium. Easy first few miles, pushed a bit in the canyon, awesome runner’s high coming back through old pas. Legs feeling very good.

Miles: 10

10/2/07- 8x800 at Garfield. Medium hard, not all out. Race pace but it was still pretty relaxed. Hot. 3:18, 3:15, 08, 10,12,10,15,04.

Miles: 9

10/3/07- Huntington Long way (up Los Robles). Pretty chill, pretty hot. Not super easy, still working a bit. Eh.

Miles: 8

10/4/07- 4 on 2 off x5 at Lacy. Cool out, legs a bit tired but not terrible. Responded pretty well to the workout. Started out at 7:00 pace, slowly dropping to 6 min pace on the last one. Stayed with Steve, Nathan, and Andrey the whole way.

Miles:8

10/5/07- Tu Madre medium easy with Steve. Feeling pretty good. Contemplative on the run, worrying about rotation.

Miles: 5

10/6/07- 8k (3 Ian’s arroyo tempo loop, perhaps 7600m) in the arroyo from tech. First lap 30 sec off race pace, 2^nd lap 15 sec off. Ran with Andrey and Nathan, Steve was taking the GRE’s with Rosen. Felt okay, last lap I was feeling it. 33:20 Tired on the way back.

Miles: 9.5

10/7/07- 1 hour easy ride around the rose bowl. Getting sick… frosh plague.

Miles: (15ish)

Weekly Miles: 50

Note: Anton, Sachith, Stephanie, and Perrin all ended up Lloyd!!! Happy day.

10/8/07- Sick with frosh plague. Garfield long way while everyone else did lower arroyo. Felt pretty bad, but it was doable.

Miles: 5

10/9/07- Slightly better today, still pretty sick. Ran down to Lacy with team, jogged laps while they did 800s.

Miles: 7.5

10/10/07- Completed the workout, albeit slowly, with the team. Garfield long way. Easy. Had energy for the first time.

Miles: 5

10/11/07- 5-4-3-2-1 at Lacy. Feeling a lot better, still congested, high end performance still suffers. Local HS XC race was there. Fun to watch, some of the high schoolers are faster than I remember..

Miles: 5.5

Racin' and Chasin'

9/8/07- First race of the season.

Conditions: Fairly hot, fairly humid, medium breeze from ocean.

Course: Constant gradual elevation change, mix of dirt, grass, and pavement. Moderate hilliness (somewhere between la Mirada and chino) .

Splits:

1: 6:00

2: 13:09 (possibly wrong)

3: 20:10

4: Unknow

5: 33:30

Well it was a PR but it felt quite slow. I went through the first mile with Steve. It was quite comfortable, and I thought my pace was sustainable. The 2^nd mile was substantially more hilly than the first, and while I approached and passed slightly into the oxygen debt right at 2 miles at the top, I couldn’t push too well on the downhill and after the next hill, I wasn’t able to achieve the pace of my first two miles. After this point, despite better than normal efforts to push back to the original pace, my body just could not respond. On my 2^nd to last lap, Dave passed me on his final and I was able to pick it up but this was not sustainable. Running with the two chapman guys really helped me to push while to catch them and made me feel as though I was racing. We did get into this unfortunate mentality of ‘just getting through it together’ and tended to fall of pace a bit. Overall an okay first race, so long as the legs come around and I can get them to respond during the latter portions of the race. Also Anton is awesome.

Miles:8

Hanging in there, barely

9/2/07- Chilling at the pool.

Miles: 0

9/3/07- (Morning) Monrovia Canyon trail. Steep at the beginning, mostly pavement the whole way. Medium. 41 minutes out, ? back, maybe 30 minutes. Pretty slow pace out but calves burned, controlled on the way down, but legs and hips sore on the descent.

Miles: 7-8

(Afternoon) 500 or 600 yards lap swimming, sprained R pinky trying to do a dive.

9/4/07- (Morning) Shenandoah’s-Hard. R Knee a little painful the first mile, went away. Stomach not so hot but survived. Felt okay. 5:10, 5:15, 5:05, 5:10, 4:58.

Miles: 10.5

(Afternoon) Lacy and Back plus 2.5 laps at Lacy. Legs tired but moving, pain still there in R knee. Went to Erin afterwards, she says its brunt force damage to the patella from so many hills.

Miles: 4.5

Total Miles: 15

9/5/07- (Morning) Knees hurt more today. Exhausted, legs shot. Huntingson painfully slow.

Miles: 7

(Afternoon) 2 barefoot miles on grass plus 20 min on stationary bike. Knees a bit better.

Miles: 2

Total Miles:9

9/6/07 (Morning) – Achilles’ sore in the morning, R knee a bit worse than yesterday, L knee also now starting to feel it, possible Patella tendonitis. Ran with the team extended Lacy long way, than 4x 5 on 2 off medium. 3 at 7:30-7:15 pace, last one at race pace. Felt okay, knees hurting a bit.

Miles: 8

(Afternoon) Did some PT with Andre and then jogged 3 miles on the N. field. Knees felt okay actually. Still tired, still filled with tons of minor injuries.

Miles: 3

Total Miles: 11

9/7/07 (Morning) – Garfield long way real easy. Knees feel better, rickety. Legs very tired, but felt better after stick massage and ice bath.

Miles: 5

Camping

(Afternoon): Went to see Erin. She thinks it is soft tissue damage, which I guess is good. Got new cushioning shoes that will help my foot roll the right way and all. Swam 700 or 800 yards plus 10 minutes of aqua jogging.

8/31/07 (Morning) – 6x Cannons, plus 1 warmup cannon, plus 20-25 minutes of warmup/cool down. Hard. Legs had energy and the weather was more tolerable. Stuck with Steve on all of them. Felt stronger than ever ( except on the 5^th one where I almost hurled). Foot sore this morning, but pain, as usual, went away during the run.

Miles: 7.5

(Afternoon) – 42 minutes medium-easy around the campground at Chilao recreation area-5000 ft. Steep trail running and very out of breath from altitude. Achilles’ a bit tight, but nothing sore, just a bit tired, stomach a little un easy.

Miles: 4.5

Total miles: 12

9/1/07 (Morning) – High adventures high in San Gabriel’s. Hard, 50 minutes out, 41 minutes back on the Silver Moccasin backpacking trail. Switchbacks climbing over 1000 ft., very out of breath, maxed out HR several times. Stomach bothering me.

Miles: 10-10.5

(Afternoon) – Down to the visitor center and back, medium-easy.

Miles: 4.5

Total Miles: 14-15

Weekly Miles: 45-46

Preseason Starts

PRESEASON!!!!!

8/29/07- Huntington. Medium, pushed up the hill. Hot and humid, felt tingly Goosebumps at times but things seemed to be working well, in order. Foot felt okay during the day but during the run, the acheiness started to go away! Some of the foot muscles were sore from not being used while in the insoles, but it felt good the whole way. I think I can carry on as planned so long as I keep a very watchful eye on everything.

Miles: 6

8/30/07 ( Morning) – Full arroyo, medium-hard. Hot and Humid. Took it out a bit fast, worked hard in the canyon. The last few miles the dehydration and overheating really got to me. Other than that foot felt decent, passable, and legs felt good. Foot sore but okay later.

Miles: 10

Time to Run Hard (Losing follows shortly)

8/26/07- Foot slight better again today. Went swimming and aqua jogging, about 1000 yards total.

Miles:0

Weekely Miles: 32

8/27/07- Foot again better. Preseason okay? We’ll have to see. Rode Chantry again today. Cycling legs felt much stronger already. Rocketed to the top.

Miles (bike) : 25

8/28/07- Foot about same, during the day it ached a bit when walking. Decided to try running a bit considering preseason is tomorrow. Jogged down to the track, but it still hurt. Shit. Decided to take off the shoes, run a bit barefoot to isolate the problem. This however, felt much better. The Insoles! Those were what killed me! Ran without insoles on the inside of the grass, foot pain almost went away. Good sign. 2.5 miles, did some aqua jogging and lap swimming too. The rest of the night the foot felt fine, a good sign I suppose. Ice, and later did some Achilles’ exercises.

Miles: 3 ish

Familiar Territory-Foot injuries

Something in my right foot is sprained. Its not that same as my big injury from the Spring, and I think it is certainly less serious, but I am going to be really conservative. My legs honestly need the rest anyways. With any luck, Ill be back in action on day 1 of preseason. If it takes a bit longer, I'm not going to complain, so long as I have a healthy season.

8/22/07- Was going to do Lower Arroyo but foot felt kinda weird so I aborted. Not the old injury, just general funkiness. Went down El Molino left on Monterey, to Lacy and back up to tech. Did 3 miles on the grass with Matt and Ian, who were way too fast for me. Foot felt okay towards the end.

Miles: 8

8/23/07- Woah foot not okay. Can’t tell what exactly hurts, but it’s the very outside right two digits, closer towards the ankle than the forefoot. Walking around today was a painful at times. Swam 1000 yards.

8/24/07- Foot felt much better during the day. Ran Lacy park long way, but it still was bothering me. I have decided to take off as much time as I need until preseason until it gets better.

Miles: 4.5

8/25/07- Biked to Chantry flats. Left mid-day, it was hot as hell, sweated dripping off. My cycling muscles are out of shape, it was quite tough. Foot hurt a bit at first when out of the saddle but by the end of the ride it was pain free. Perhaps (and hopefully) it is a sprain or ligamental, as opposed to a stress fracture or something serious. I guess my foot was in a kind of fine balance. Once something failed, everything went to hell.

Miles (bike): 25

Also I found this really cool video about Matt Withrow's Senior year of HS XC. It is pretty ridiculous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPT9qTbaGH0&mode=related&search=

If you haven't watched the video of his win at 2003 Foot Locker you should see that first.

Preseason Approaches! - last hard base training before the season starts

8/19/07- 35 min easy around campus+ N. field, a bit with Ian. Legs tired.

Miles: 4

Weekly miles: 58

8/20/07- How do you spell FUN? P-A-T-R-I-C-I-A-N! Went with Dave, moderate out- a controlled warm up, hard up the climb (need to work on climbing form), hard back through Pas, as low as 7:30 pace the last 2 miles. Felt quite good! Lots of energy, a little dehydrated at the end. Much stronger than last year, and it's not even preseason.

Miles: 11.5

8/21/07- Huntingson from Lloyd+ 2 laps at Lacy. Tiiiiired. Trudged through it in fairly painful and slow 65-70 minutes. On the plus side, no sign of injury, just tiredness. Saw Dave and Matt. Side note: Matt is a beast, I wouldn't be surprised if he runs consistently in the 25s, or possibly less.

Miles: 7.5-8

More solid training

I wonder if I'll ever be fast...

8/17/07- Another awesome run. Matt, Mark, Ian, and I drove up to the chantry flats ranger station at about 6 p.m perhaps. Ran up to the helipad, where they dropped me and then up the gravel fire road for 34 minutes, 26 back. Made it up to a really good overlook. Legs felt quite good the whole way, and I kept a reasonable, medium pace. Achilles’ sore at first, went away soon. Beautiful run, felt like a real runner.

Miles: 7

8/18/07- California to the arroyo easy warm up. 3x Ian’s tempo loop: 11:50, 10:40, 11:20 with 30-60 sec active recovery. Pushed hard on 2^nd and last. Exhausted by the time I got home.

Miles: 10

8/19/07- 35 min easy around campus+ N. field with Ian. Legs tired.

Miles: 4

Weekly miles: 58

Possibly my best run ever

Sometimes, you just have a run that feels amazing, is amazingly quick, and represents something wonderful to you. My twilight full Arroyo run today was quite possibly my best run ever, and at least in the top three, which already includes an upper arroyo from the winter off-season. Everything about this run was almost surreal and aesthetically amazing. Last night I had met Mark, Ian, and Matt cooling down after running a blazing full arroyo (Matt casually stated that they were down around 5:15 pace for the last stretch through old Pas). I was inspired. At some point in the 105 degree heat of the afternoon, I decided I would leave at 7 p.m., hoping to make it out of the arroyo just after it became too dark to discern the rocks and bumps on trail, and I would run it hard. I remember after reading Running with the Buffaloes, the Colorado guys do a hard 10 mile run at altitude. Combining hearing about Mark, Matt, and Ian's run last night and this story had an impressionable me ready for some work. I got really hydrated during the day, ate a 6 inch subway sandwich at 2 p.m., some pudding at 5:30, and some tortilla strips at 6:20, watched a youtube video of Haile G setting the 10k world record, and was ready to go. I rolled out of Lloyd at 6:57pm, and cruised out to the Brown gym.

Already by the time I got there, I could tell my legs were surprisingly fresh and filled with energy. No whining, no bitching, just a sudden full tank of gas. The temperature was already comfortably below 90 degrees, as I cruised over to El Molino. I held steady at my medium-easy base pace, maybe 8:30, at times 8:15 when descending the fault. I had also noticed, or failed to notice per say, my Achilles's tendinitis, which had been mildly bothering me the last 2 or so weeks. It just wasn't really there today, at all. I effortlessly made my to Garfield park, thinking about Alan Webb and Worlds, and Haile G. I stopped only for 1 or 2 minutes to stretch out the Achilles' and was on my Merry way. By the time I reached the Arroyo, the sun had already set, and it was at that nice and lazy summer dusk that just never seems to quite fade into night. As I ran by the horse stables, my legs brimming energy, I decided I would step it up to an easy tempo pace, about 7:30-7:15. Remembering Multi-duals, that fateful race where I was moderately sick, threw up between 7 and 10 times, filled my shoe with blood, and ran as slow as 7:30 pace at times, I figured tempo-ing at this pace was fine. As I accelerated into the twilight of a redder and redder arroyo canyon, I passed into a state of blissful runner's reveire. Everything about the arroyo seemed like that idyllic red rock desert river canyon, from somewhere in a picture when I was very little. All you could here were the birds, bugs, and the slight trickle of water. As I ran north of the casting pond, now at least more than a mile into my tempo pace, I noticed a dog up ahead with no owner. Then I realized it was no dog but a Coyote. I moved to the far side of the trail to give it way and it trotted right by me, no more than 10 feet away.

I emerged from the canyon just south of the Rose Bowl Aquatic center, just where you can see directly up into the mountains. The sky was a pastel smear of red, violet, and blue, and the lights of altadena dotted the hills. Perfect twilight. I stopped for a minute to get a drink at the aquatic center and take a leak. Feeling just amazing at this point; tired but not too tired, completely high on endorphins, I headed up the hill at a steady pace, and begin a series of sprints through old pas. I did my best to Jay-walk (Mexican style as we called it in High School), make as many lights, but at times I was limited to as little as 200m of running with little breaks in between. As I flew along Green Street, I pushed a controlled race feeling pace of 6:45 to 6:15. Now almost completely dark, the gentle white lights and deep green trees of old pas made a continually beautiful backdrop for the run. Pulling onto the Lake I flew at top speed through throngs of Thursday night Pasadena town-goers, now feeling the toll of more than 5 miles of fast pace. Finally arriving at the Brown Gym an hour and 1:45 min later, I was fairly exhausted. The North Field, dark and empty, seemed a bit anti-climatic to my rugged desert/urban promenade adventure, but I jogged 4 contented laps and jogged back to Lloyd.

I lost 6 pounds over the run, including a water break at the aquatic center and hearty gulping at the Brown Gym. This run has really shown me how I actually have progressed alot since August 16th of last year. Coming off of 7 months of basically not running, at this point last year I basically trying to be able to run 9 or 10 miles. And while I didn't run for 3 1/2 months this spring, I could tell today that a good season lies in store for. Everything just felt like it was falling together, working properly. No injuries, no pain, no sucking, just a very satisfying run. UCI invite is 3 weeks and 1 day from now. I ran 34:04 there last year for my first 8k. I think I can break 33 at least there barring any injury. We'll see where I go from there. Maybe Ian's inebriated but honest prediction of 30 minutes this year isn't quite as hopeless as I once thought (although I still don't think I'll hit it).

Miles: 12

2 weeks to go

8/13/07- Easy Lacy long way with 2 laps at lacy and 1 mile cool down with Mark.

Miles: 7

8/14/07- Easy Eichenlaub grassy special out, tempo back to lacy, 5-4-3-2-1 at Lacy, easy back + cool down. Legs okay, Achilles’ a bit sore, felt good to run fast once again.

Miles: 10

8/15/07- Moderate Huntingson backwards with l mile a Lacy. Legs okay, Achilles’ decent, felt much better once the sun went down and the temp got below 95 degrees. Saw Mark, Ian, and Matt at cool down from their blazing full arroyo.

Miles: 8

Managing things

This weekend ended on a somewhat lackluster note. While my Achilles is faring decently, my legs were still feeling pretty dead after about a 40 mile week. Two off days on the weekend will hopefully mean some refreshed legs, a much more resilient Achilles. Already after one day off, the Achilles feels much better, good deal. So what, I may not be as fast as I hoped this season, I may still be running off the back of the pack all by myself once more. Get some consistent training, be patient, and take it easy in school- get sleep. Who knows, maybe as soon as track this year, i might see some quick times.

8/8/07- Huntingson + lap at Lacy and 1.5 mile cool down. Felt great, quick pace, Achilles’s sore at times but otherwise okay. I think the faster pace is a result of 5 weeks solid training plus good rest last 4 days Achilles’ stiff/sore during barefoot cooldown.

Miles: 8.5

8/9/07- Achilles’ a bit more sore today, probably from yesterday. Still not terribly painful but being very careful. Easy Lacy long with 2 laps in Lacy. Lots of stretching. Legs kind of tired.

Miles: 5.5

8/10/07- Achilles’ pretty good today. Legs however, quite dead. Lower Arroyo. Legs weight over 300 pounds until climbing out of the Arroyo. Sleep not good?

Miles: 8.5

8/11/07- Went to El Pescador Beach 5 miles north of Malibu. Did some nice body surfing. Then celebrated the evening with some BEvERage. Achilles’ pretty sore, but not really painful.

Miles: 0

8/12/07- Achilles’ completely painless. Swam ~1 mile. 500 free warmup + butterfly drills and buttefly.

Miles: 0

Weekly miles: ~36

Easy does it

8/5/07- Feels much better but I would rather be safe than sorry.

Miles: 0

8/6/07- No noticeable pain when walking, standing or sitting. Dave was is in town, so we ran Huntington to Lacy, did some laps there, and back. Felt a bit sore at times but didn’t really hurt. Iced. Note: Dave is fast.

Miles: 6.5

8/7/07- Achilles’ felt good today, ran out Lombardy and back plus barefoot cool down on track, again with dave, again pretty quick. Still sore but never hurt hurt. Iced a ton.

Miles: 6

Some unplanned down time

So right now my Achilles' is bothering me a tiny bit. Nothing serious, but after seeing Kangway, Mark, and hearing about Ian struggle with it more severe Achilles' injuries, I am doing some cross training and hopefully taking no more than 3 days off.

8/2/07- Eichenlaub grassy especial, 74 minutes. Ran at 4 so it was hot as hell. Was late for SURF dinner so pushed hard. Getting below 8 min was harder than I thought, and the extra effort just made the heat problem worse. On the plus side, legs were feeling great and pretty good pace for soft grass.

Miles: 9

8/3/07- Eichenlaub grassy special medium to Oak Knoll with Ian. Good convo, showed me the lab afterwards. After shower and dinner, Achilles’ tendon feeling worse than in days past. Iced, probably will take tomorrow off to be careful.

Miles: 8.5

8/4/07- Day off. Achilles’ better but decided not to run on it. Heated, stretched, massaged, stretched, iced, swam 1000 yards of various strokes at the pool, and iced. Tomorrow probably off again just to be careful.

Miles: 0.

Back in West Side

Even with 3 rest days last week, my legs are still tired and complain a lot the first 60% of my runs. I think I will begin "ascending to full volume" very gradually. I'll try to finish off the week in 55-60 ( right now at 26 so I need a long run later this week), take a slightly down week 2nd week of august, 65-70 3rd week, 45-50 last week of preseason, 3 rest days before the start.

I now kind of have two different, competing views of what the season should be like. One is the old Mark Wetmore season. Ascend to a high full volume, plateau out, and then speed up towards the very end. This would involve sitting out of some of the early speed workouts Scott has us do for longer steady state runs, i.e, doing a hard 7 mile run instead of those 400m Hills at the end of the first week. I mean, whats the point!?

The other viewpoint is the Ian Shapiro type summer. Lots of rest, pretty big flucations, relatively moderate mileage: 20-40-25-45-30-50-25-55-30-45...etc. This would leave me less tired and probably less injured. However, seeing as how I am coming off 4 months out, I think I need to do a good job of reestablishing my base, and then maybe in the fall/winter get my base pace down to mid-high 7s. Anyways heres the last 3 days.

7/30/07- Achilles sore from walking and standing in NYC, legs still kinda tired but much better. Last run in MD. On and off thundershowers, bright white clouds on a deep blue sky, reminded me of Hawaii. CJ trail from River road up to old high school XC course. Took it out medium, pretty quick on the way back.

Miles: 8-8.5

7/31/07- Huntington. Medium. Felt okay, was hoping for more. 51 min-2 min for stops=49 min.

Miles: 6.5

8/1/07- Full Arroyo from Lloyd. Still took a while to get into it, as usual. In the words of Dave, legs being whiny bitches. Finally started dropping under 8 min pace after casting pond with last 2.5-3 being excellent. Didn’t even feel that tired at the end. Hopefully I can get my base pace below 8 by the end of this month.

Miles: 10.5

Tired

7/22/07- Day off. Wasn’t planning it but a lazy Sunday can be very persuading.

Miles: 0

7/23/07- Long Run. River road trail full + 2 miles more at the end. Minutes 10-45 burning pain in calves, feet numb at times, exacerbated by steep terrain. Pain almost unbearable at times. This always happens the day back! After topping out at school at 6.5 miles and massaging and stretching like mad, pain finally mellowed out. Last 6.5 miles at 7:40 pace, occasionally faster.

Total time: 1:47

Avg. HR: 163

Max HR: 185

Avg. Temp: 83

Max Temp: 93

Kcals: ~1600

Miles: 13-13.5

7/24/07- Extended Big Jungle plus cool down on track. Very tired. Calves not so sore, but still took 35 minutes to get legs really moving decently. After viewing Ian’s mileage for his time in college, I realized I don’t need to risk injury by ramping up from 0 to 70 in 4 or 5 weeks. Already having done approximately 0-20-40-50, I think ill call it a rest week after this, let the early miles go to work while I can still sleep 12 hours a day.

Miles: 7

7/25/07- Same run again today. Legs even more tired. I need some rest

Miles: 7

7/26/07- Swam a mile with intervals of free and IM.

Miles: 0

7/27/07- Got up early, sat around for an hour after drinking a cup of apple juice and went for a 4.5 mile run around the community. It was 12:30 and 90 degrees and humid. This probably was one of the most painful runs I have ever done. I trudged around at 9 min pace, dying from the heat. Thank god I’m going back to tech.

Miles: 4.5

7/28/07- A ton a walking in NYC, legs very sore.

Miles: 4 equivalent

7/29/07- Walked through the rain in NYC, soaked. Bough $23 Rolex in Chinatown.

Miles: 2 equivalent

Weekly Miles: 36-37ish

I 'recover' 13 hours a day

7/17/07- Ran 7 miles from school, down to Bradley on CJ trail. Nice and chill. Mid 8s.

Miles: 7

7/18/07- Decided I would break out the ice bucket to help with the foot. Iced before I ran, felt much better. Did my first 10 miler since I don’t even know when, maybe a full arroyo around the beginning of track season, at least 6 months. Basically did yesterday’s run but when all the way down to river road, for 9.5 miles and then ½ mile cool down at school.

Total time: 1:22 for the 9.5. ß so pretty slow, exacerbated by steepness/technical nature of the trail. Felt gooooooood, relaxed the whole way, not too tired by the end, although on the cool down felt pretty drained. What can you expect from your first 10 miler in 6 months.

Avg HR 160

Max HR: 180 (final hill)

Avg temp 88

Max temp 92 ß this was a hot and sticky one

Calories: 1452 ß oh yeah

Miles: 10.5

7/19/07- I was planning for a easy run but Tarik called, and thus said idea promptly flew out the window. Ran extension of big jungle including lap at the campgrounds for a total of 8 miles at between about 7:20-7:45 pace. Started out fairly easy, surprisingly, and slowly picked it up. Was able to hold a good conversation for the first 4 miles, which, knowing Tarik, started out running related and ended up science related. After that, started pushing real hard on the climbs back up to the school. Every time I run with Tarik, I get a good workout. Unfortunately, I tend to be somewhat of a burden to him I feel, so I have to make sure I do it on his recovery days.

Miles: 8

7/20/07- Thanks to a cold front, the weather was very tolerable. I ran in the early afternoon with Ryan, nice and easy, big rectangle variation. Easy, but I didn’t feel too great… Mid 8s

Miles: 5.5

7/21/07- Ran extended big rectangle + small square. Very cool, dark. Good run. It took several miles to get into it, but after 6 or so, it settled in nicely. Some bad chaffing though hmmm. 7:50-8:00 pace

Miles: 8.5

I am a runner again, I think

7/9/07: Huntington Jr. (girl’s team way) with Ali. Pretty mellow, legs tired, stomach ached a bit, cramped. Foot sore in beginning but basically went away. Didn’t wear watch or HR monitor. Prob just less than 9 minute pace.

Miles: 5

7/10/07- Plane trip home. Traveled all day.

7/11/07- Ran at midnight around the field of the Glen Hills. ½ mile loops about, 10 laps. Lights cut out with 1 mile to go so ran under the glow of the DC summer night sky. Good pace, ~ 8 mins.

Total time: 40:43

Avg. HR: 173

Max HR: 186

Kcals: 649

F. Avg. : 82

Total miles: 5

7/12/07- Morning: Swam 1000 yards at the local pool.

Afternoon:

Ran on Power lines 22 minutes out down Gainsborough, got as far as uncrossable stream. Old school XC running: 3 stream crossings total. Turned around, ran back to Tuckerman, finished hard, maybe 8 min pace including fence jumping, stream crossings, and knee high grass. 7:40-7:30 pace equivalent on good roads. Medium hard- hard. Maybe 5 ½ miles + mile of warm up/cool down

Time: 46:19

Avg. HR: 173

Max: 195 (not even all out, but I didn’t feel like I had a whole lot of energy left)

Kcals: 750

Ascent 300 feet (going down into the streams)

F. Avg: 85 degrees

Total miles: 6.5-7

7/13/07- Morning: Ran 4.5 mile loop around Clopper Lake with Shof. Pretty easy (8:30). Very humid, ran with shirt on, mistake.

Afternoon: Ran 4.5 mile on pavement with Tim, matched him step for step, then did 1 mile cool down on grass , 4 barefoot grass striders and 2 on track. Tired from running 5 hours earlier, foot felt great on pavement.

Total miles: 10

7/14/07- Pretty tired today. Ran on river road trail 2.6 out and back. Took it pretty slow, controlled. Over 9 min pace, but considering the difficulty of the run, not a bad recovery run. 48 minutes total. Foot a bit sore at times, nothing serious.

Miles: 5.2

7/15/07- Ran a fairly slow base pace 7 miles on the river road trails again. At times I would like at the HR monitor and it would show 154 or 156 and I would have to get myself to pick it up. Maybe I will stay around 160 for the next week as I up mileage

Miles: 7

Weekly milage: 39 <---hmm maybe that was a bit quick. This week more chill, all mileage in 1 run.

7/16/07- Foot a bit sore from the increase in mileage. Manageable, but decided for a day off.

Miles: 0

First Run in Forever

I really had forgotten what running was like. Everything about it. Just going out and running, being alone with nothing but your body and mind for an hour, as Belle and Sebastian would say "wear terry underwear, feel the city air against your body." I listened to that song so much towards what would be the end of my track season. I first heard it on Ian's CD that he always has in his car, coming back from the UCLA road race in Palmdale. We were all wiped out and Kangway really wanted to drive, so we all fell right asleep. I remember, waking up for a brief moment in a sleepy haze, Ian and Matt completely passed out, Kangway hunched over the wheel, Stars of Track and Field playing as we came through Verdugo hills on the 210. A clear winter day, the sun shone bright in the very deep blue sky as we passed under the emerald green hills and I feel back asleep. I'll remember that for a long time. That moment sort of signified my becoming a true athlete for me, and I don't know why. Sure my 1500 time was just passing below 5 minutes, not that quick, sure I just finish in the middle of the pack of the Men's C race, but for some reason, this was the first time I felt like a true runner. From them on, Belle and Sebastian also meant running for me. Every time I listened to that song, their words really struck home. Something about the music and lyrics and my powerful new outlook on running really hit the spot.
Lately though, I couldn't really listen to that song. I know it seems corny to judge my running based on how I listen to a song, but songs in general become a million times better for me when their words and chords resonate with my state of mind. Today, I that song still doesn't quite mesh, but it has come a long way back. On my run today, I did wear my terry underwear and I did feel the city air against my body. It did feel like running once again. Maybe it will never be quite the same. Kangway is gone, Ian is probably leaving soon (I hope not), Matt will graduate. That car ride will of course never happen again, but soon I think, I will feel like a runner again. And who knows, maybe my times will reflect that. I mean, it sure would be nice to run against other people. Anyways here is my entry for this afternoon's run:

Afternoon: Huntington ! Awesome 6 miles. First real run in 4 months. Kept it controlled the whole way. Foot a bit sore the last bit after 2 miles on pavement but it went right away.

Total time: 48:22 (doesn’t include 2 stop lights)

Avg. HR: 165

Max HR: 183 ( I wonder where???)

Kcals: 766

Avg. Temp: 86 on wrist. (very dry and pleasant)

Pace: ~8:00

Felt amazing, like I never really got out of shape. The only stopping me was my foot.

Miles : 6

Weekely Milage: 20.5 running

40 biking

Some Biking

7/6/07- Ran 8 slightly extended laps around the inside of the Lacy park, reversing direction after 4. Used HR monitor for first time. Felt controlled, moderate. Here are the stats:

Total time: 34:05

Avg. HR: 169

Max HR: 181 (quick finish)

Avg. Temp: 82 F on wrist

Kcals: 540

Miles: 4.1

Avg. Pace: 8:20

This is so cool.

7/707- Biked Chantry flats harder than normal. Total ride time: 1:52 minutes

Miles 22.2

Elevation gain: 2280 ft

Avg. HR 142

Max HR 179

KCals: 1433

Avg Temp 84 F

Max Temp 93 F

Avg Speed: 15.9 mph

Max Speed 41 mph

Felt pretty good, quads sore from first ride in 6 days.

7/8/07- Morning: Rode to Rose Bowl with Tim and Max and did 2 laps easy.

Ride time: 1:25

Miles: 15

Polar HR monitor + VO2 max test

So I finnnnalllllly got my Polar S725X cycling computer/HR monitor in the mail today. Turns out pay pal refused to put MSCs on the packages, making them take ages to arrive here. So i put on speed sensor and got everything set up. I also noticed that the S725X model comes with a test for your " ownIndex ", apparently their best guess at your VO2 max based on only HR stuff. So I decided I would take the ownIndex test right now just to see what it was. I took at at about 4:30 pm, middle of the day, nothing special. My resting HR is 53 and my VO2 max is 67. Ill keep testing occasionally and see where it goes.

Getting Back Into It

I woke up this morning and for about 10 whole minutes I completely forgot any part of me was ever injured. Maybe I'll try 4 miles today, sobre el asped, por su puesto. I think I spelled asped wrong. Yeah so good news. This is quite similiar to the start I had last year. Last year, I began running June 28th, every other day, with 3-4 milers. Of course last year, I had basically taken 4 months off without exercising at all, not to mention I didn't have two pretty solid seasons of long distance running behind. So, maybe I can't make good on Ian's prediction of getting down to the 30s or under, but I definitely think I can be faster than last year, especially with smart and efficient training. In the spirit of Ians drunken predictions, I want to make some predictions too, just for fun:

Matt K 25s-26s-- yea I think he can break 26 minutes if he gets his mileage up w.o injury
Dave R 26-27s-- He just needs to put in the milage, but I think a return to his frosh year 26:43 is completely plausible
A new Kid (anton or sacith) <29. Not sure which, but both new kids are quite strong.
Steve +Chris 29s The are certainly working hard now that its their last year and were getting pretty fast last year. I think its reasonable for both of them
Ben F- 30s If he trains, which is a big ? He might hold off the inevitable decline
Other new kid -30s
Jon T 30s- Seems to be working pretty hard. Althought injury ruined both his last seasons, he is pretty talented
Me- 30s-32s- A big ? considering the unpredictability of my performance in races and the yet again late start in my training. I think I can get into the 32s for sure. I think last year if I didn't oversleep Riverside I could have broke 33 there.
Ben + Paul+ Tommy?: 33s- Paul is pretty talented but his work level is pretty low and Ben seems to be try pretty hard. So same time for Paul, improvement for Ben

There are other people I am sure I am forgetting (including girls but ill steer clear of that one), including potential other frosh like me. From what I gather looking back, Kangway was the big recruit of our year, having run 16s for 5k along with, Ben Flora, with Jon, Paul, and Me being ?s. So one of the frosh could be a flake, although I would say Sachith, who I talk to a good deal, seems to be really working hard. Hopefully he won't get injured. Oh yeah here is my training:

7/4/07- Ran 3 miles around Lacy. Over a mile on pavement due to 4^th of july celebration. Felt alright.

Miles: 3

7/5/07- Ran 5 laps around the interior field of Lacy. Foot painless.

Miles: 2

More Training and Such

6/26/07- Attempted Rose Bowl Ride. Got there 5 minutes late and missed the neutral 1^st lap. Got dropped 3 times, spent at most 3 consecutive laps with the pack. Pushed really hard in places.

Miles :40

6/27/07- Jogged 5 laps around the inside of the track. Foot felt a bit stiff and sore, seemed to be okay afterwards.

Miles: 1.25

6/28/07- Did Big Tujunga canyon again. Felt much better this time, had a lot more power this time. Still hot and low on water.

Miles: 50+

6/29/07- Morning: jogged 6 laps around inside of the track. Felt okay. Got a bit irritated afterwards, iced 3 times that day.

Afternoon: Bike to Rose Bowl + 3 Laps. Nice and easy

Miles 1.5 + 20

6/30/07- Was going to do Baldy, didn’t feel like It. Ran 6 Laps around the N field with Russell. Foot felt much better than yesterday.

Miles : 2

7/1/07- Mt. Baldy Village from GMR. Ride from Hell. Really bad heat exhaustion. Ran out of water, over 100 degrees. Made it but it sucked.

Miles: 80, 4500 v. feet

7/2/07- Ran 2.5 miles combined N field + inside of track. Felt completely pain free.

Miles: 2.5

7/3/07- Ran 3 miles inside of track. Felt some soreness between miles 1 and 2, but kind of went away. Felt fine afterwards.

Miles: 3

Training 6/4/07-6/25/07

Basically I got really out of it. First injury took biking away from me, and then Kangway left, and then Ian broke his shoulder. Man I feel like everything is breaking down. Oh and did I mention my stress fracture has healed, only to reveal a deeper, possibly more serious problem: a Morton's Neuroma. It's when the nerves to your 2nd and 3rd toes gets repeated traumatized to they point that they swell and harden, forming a tumor like thing that gets pissed when ever you run too much. Basically right now I am trying to control it with anti-imflammatories and consistent icing. Soon I will try running, really slowly carefully. Sometime in the next 2 weeks I will get a cortisone shot. Hopefully this will bring it to the level where it can be managed until I am allowed to get my next cortisone shot. I don't want the surgery and will try everything possible to keep the neuroma manageable, but I have come to face with a problem that will be with me for the rest of my life. I just hope I can run competatively again...

I took of another week from the biking injury, got a new anatomical special male seat, lowered it slightly and began to bike again this past week. I rode about 100 miles last week, just getting back into it. The new seat seems to have fixed a lot of problems, which is very encouraging. Starting this Friday, I have moved aggressively back into cycling

6/22/07- Rode up Big Tujunga Canyon from Caltech. Wanted Easy 50 mile ride, got very hard 50 mile ride. First you have to climb over 1000 feet on Foothill into Verdugo Hills, and descend it all going into Sunland. Then the climb, which ascends to 3700 feet, is not direct, and descends over 1000 feet of it in various places. Did I mention it was 105 degrees. Went through 4 water bottles.

Miles: 51, ~5000 vertical feet
6/23/07- Went to Malibu, did some light open water swimming

6/24/07- Rode up GMR from Caltech, descended by way of E fork + 39. Ran into road closures from huge accident. A car went off the cliff on the 39 and into the damn. A 17 year old girl died. Scary... Otherwise excellent ride.

Miles: 63 ~3500 vertical feet

6/25/07- Went on the Chevy Chase loop except went up Mountain Street in honor of Kangway. It was super steep, climbed over 1500 steep vertical feet all together. Took just under 2 hours.

Miles: 26, ~1500 vertical feet.

Maybe I will run tomorrow morning on the North Field super easy. Ice like crazy take a least 1 day off afterwards.