A few years later...

A few years later... Went back to read some of my old blog posts and found that it pretty enjoyable to track the progress/regression. Life has changed quite a bit since the last entry. I haven't been actively training for much lately and most of my focus is on yoga and running. Right now my training "schedule" is yoga on Mondays, Spin class followed by yoga on Wednesday nights and an occasional run on the weekends. This routine started at the beginning of the year. I've been pretty consistent so far. I did complete the Santa Monica Classic 10k run last month. Did it in 52 minutes, which was faster than my time two years ago in the same race. Maybe I will try for another half marathon - the LA Half was a real bummer and I would like to complete one and have a better experience.

Aimless

Been running a bit and also just got out for a 20 mile ride yesterday. It was cold and windy but felt good.

Going to Ojai to ride on Saturday. Maybe that'll inspire me. I'm still on fence about doing Wildflower this year. It'd take a serious push in training to do it, so I don't want to commit and then be laxed in preparing.

Starting with the bike

I've been riding the bike a bit. Also spending some time on the bike trainer a few times a week. Slowly getting back at it. The weather's warming up and daylight savings is in effect. Time to get ill.

Week 5 -6 (Half training)

Well I recovered from my cold in time for Halloween. I had to skip my scheduled speed work out at the track and picked up my training on the following Thursday.

Week 5
4-mile tempo run: 4 miles, 0:32 mins (8 mi/mile)
I followed that with a long run on Saturday. I woke up around 8am and had a bowl of oatmeal. It was a flavored instant packet and it tasted pretty bad. I think there was too much sugar in it. I waited about an hour and then headed up to San Vicente to start my run. When I got there I realized I had left my Nike+ thing at home and wouldnt' be able to determine my pace, not a huge deal but a little discouraging. About a mile into i'm not feeling good at all. 2 miles in I'm seriously thinking about calling it a wash and turning around. I take it mile-by-mile and just focus on getting through to the next. I eventually start to come around a little and end up finishing in a little slower than I would have liked, but it was good to push through a tough situation. I think it was a combination of being sick the previous week and my breakfast not sitting well.
Saturday Long Run: 10 miles - 1:32 (9:11 mi/mile)

Week 6
Speed workout: Pretty tough. After having a difficult preceding week I really hoped to feel better and home run the track workout. I ended up going out to fast and had to dig deep to finish on time. I'm not positive I made all my splits coz I was just so out of it after the first couple 800's that I wasn't paying close attention to my time. I know this is not good and I probably should wear a watch with a lap splits for the track. I plan on buying myself a heart rate monitor that will double as a watch. Maybe next week.
Stats: 4x800 @ 3:42 each w/ 2 mins rest in between.

Tempo: 8 miles
Another really challenging workout. I enjoyed my route quite a bit, but it's tough to get motivated when you get home and it's already dark and you have to resist the temptation of just plopping down on the couch and eat the dinner that's already cooked and ready when you get home.
But I managed to drag myself out. I got a good music playlist together and headed out. This was tough! 8 miles at 8:00 min/mile pace is no joke! This was the fastest i've gone at this distance. I really had to push the last couple miles. And at about 7.5 miles I got a serious stomach cramp that stopped me in my tracks. Not a regular cramp where you can run through it, it felt like I got kicked in the stomach. I managed to walk it off and then started up again and still made my pace + a few seconds/mile. I felt a little weird when I got home, like I probably pushed it a little harder than I should have, but after a lot of water and a warm meal I felt better.

Sunday Long Run: 8 miles
My legs were still feeling a little sore from Thursday! But I headed out very slow and enjoyed being out in the crisp cool air. I ran in a few neighborhoods i've never been to before so it kept it interesting. I ended up doing a very hilly route which was great. I had to really pace myself to get my heart rate back. The LA Half is a little bit hilly. The biggest hill is at 7 miles and there are a few rollers towards the end.

Half Marathon Training Week 4 (Long and Cold)

I completed my long run yesterday. Although I wouldn't call it a long run as it was the same distance (6 miles) as my tempo run this week. It felt great.

I have come down with a cold. I felt very sluggish after my run last night and I woke up this morning with what I figured was bad allergies. But it persisted through the day so I left work early and came home to take it easy and get some sleep. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I'm supposed to do a speed workout tomorrow.

Half Marathon Training Week 4 (Griffith Park tempo)

Ran into a couple of these guys last night. I did my 6 mile tempo run around Griffith Park right after work. It started to get dark about half way through. I went down what I thguoht would be a safer path that runs parallel to the main road (where the cars travel) and saw a black blur run across the path. I went towards it a few feet then saw this beautiful dark colored big coyote stick his head out. I stopped and stood still for a few seconds and he started to emerge from the bush. He looked at me and I slowly started to walk backwards. I know they are generally not too dangerous but I didn't really feel like finding out for myself. I started to job in the opposite direction and he was slowly following me. When I stopped he would stop and it went on like that for a few hundred meters. IT was really cool but a little scary. So I ducked through this ravine and back onto the main road. I ended up at my turn around point in the Zoo parking lot. At this point it was completely dark and i was thankful for the street lights that lined the lot. As i was turning around I saw another smaller coyote run across the lot. It darted back and forth and started to look at me and I just kept running and picked up the pace a little. Overall the run was very exciting and a little harrowing at times. The wildlife and cars made for some close calls. I finished the run back at my car in 48 minutes.

Thursday: Tempo Run
6 miles 48 minutes (8 mi/miles avg.)

Half Marathon Training Week 4

Unfortunately a large portion of SoCal was and/or is on fire this week. This led to some very bad air quality and thus I decided to skip the speedwork last night. The air seems a little better tonight so I will see if I can get to the track.

Tonight (hopefully): Speedwork
6x400's

Tomorrow: Tempo Run
6 miles
I feel like I have a lot of nervous energy not working out at all since Saturday. I'm looking forward to tonight.
these are some pictures I received from a friend who works at Pepperdine University. These are all taken on campus, I believe.

Half Marathon Training Week 3 (tempo and long run)

Thursday was a tough day. I felt run down the whole day. Riding to work wasn't bad in the morning but I felt sluggish. Riding home was very tough. I had no power in my legs and I struggled to maintain 15-17 mph on straights. Oh well. Time to go home and do a 5 mile tempo run.
Since it was dark when I got home I decided to run the short distance to the track and do the rest of run on the track. I'd never run that long a distance on a track before. It was very boring. I had my ipod fortunately, but it really dragged on. I completed the run in 40 minutes.
Thursday: Tempo Run
5 miles - 40 minutes

Saturday morning I set out for a 10 mile long run. It went very smoothly and I felt solid. Mile 7 and 8 was a rough mentally just because I got a bit bored and my running partner was struggling a bit and our conversation started to lull. So I decided to really pick up the pace for the last 2 miles. I brought it home almost exactly on time at a 8:59 min/mile pace.

Saturday: Long Run
10 miles - 1h 30 minutes

Half Marathon Training Week 3

Tuesday: Speed work
1600x3. I did these at around 7:30 mi/mile pace. It felt great. I held back until the last repeat and felt strong enough to push it to about 7:00-7:15. I know it's not that fast but I feel stronger and can feel my turnover improving. Last night at the track there were 3 women running repeats super fast. I was watching their cadence and sure enough they were all around 90rpm. I tried to emulate it, but I couldn't keep it up when I would start to get tired. I'm going to focus on my turnover during my tempo run tonight.

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In other news, I got a new messenger bag. it's a Timbuk2 medium classic bag. It's so awesome, I can't get over how much more comfortable riding to work was this morning.
This is a wonderful website:
http://www.followyourfolly.com

Half Marathon Training Week 2

My recent training runs have been great. I've tried to be very consistent. So far I haven't missed any workouts. I switched my long run from Saturday to Sunday but that's the only deviation. Here's the breakdown

Tuesday: Speed work at the SMC track.
4x800's. These was pretty tough. I tend to go out too fast and did just that. I was able to complete the 800's but that last one was pretty rough. Overall, I felt good.

Thursday: I ran first thing in the morning since I was going to Disneyland after. I think I should have eaten something because a few miles into the run I felt lightheaded and close to throwing up. I stopped at a light for a minute and then felt better. I slowed down a little bit during the 3rd mile but I was able to make my time by a little surge at the end.
4 miles: 33 minutes.

Sunday: Long Run
From 7th and San Vicente through Brentwood up to Sunset and then back around. I forgot part of my ipod connector thing so I couldn't keep track of pace and distance. I knew roughly where I wanted to go, but I ended up doing 7.6 miles instead of the full 8. I finished in 1:13 which is slower than I expected. I should have pushed it more at the beginning. Since I didn't have my ipod Nike+ in effect I was more conservative.
7.6 miles: 1:13
I feel pretty good this morning. Overall, it was a good week of running.