First week of school.
Monday: 8 Miles- Charlestown, RI
Last one in RI for a bit- likely back in mid-day post Spring semester. Possibly looking at running the USATF-NE 5K at the Great Bear Run in Needham, MA and then a 5K or 10K the following weekend at the Ottawa marathon weekend. Haven't finalized that yet. Alternatively I'd head up to San Francisco and run the big race Bay to Breakers 12K, but it doesn't seem all that competitive and is a weird distance, plus may actually be more expensive than the NE plans when considering hotel costs. So probably leaning towards coming back for Great Bear. Technically could return for Spring Break, but given I have to stay for L.A. marathon the first weekend anyway (meaning only 7 days after that available), miss two days out of those due to flying cross country and could use the opportunity to do some cool hikes in CA, I'll elect to stay in CA for that period.
This was the last run of a very cold period- 15 degrees for this. Took me a full two miles to warm-up. I'm usually pretty tough in the cold, but definitely felt it more this time around- wondering if that's being in much warmer climate up until mid-December. Typical VG loop with Dad + Brady. Really excellent trail conditions in spots- firm, grippy ground with the frozen dirt. But super icy in areas that received more rain.
Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA
Typical loop from Kimber Park with mostly trail and some road connectors. This is a good hilly one with about 1,000' elevation change but doesn't feel too difficult, no steep climbs or descents. After coming from cold and snowy RI the warm weather, sun and palm trees felt a bit different. In the fall, the landscape was dry and brown, which had changed since then as it rained many times while I was on break. The biggest observation was the hills turned from brown to green and was instantly a nicer scenery. The more obvious change was that the ground was no longer dry and dusty, but soft and wet and even many places with puddles or mud which I hadn't seen before here. The unexpected change was that the dozens of lizards running across the trail on these kinds of runs were nowhere to be seen.
Felt pretty good on this one and averaged 7:04- my fastest for this hilly loop. Heavy legs to start but felt better as I went on. One frustrating thing about how infrequently it rains here is that some of the trails get closed due to some mud and puddles that they call hazardous conditions. I noticed this in Orange County in August (although those trail were completely gated and parking closed as well), and it was disappointing to see on the second half of trails here. I ran through anyway and while there were many wet and slick spots, I'm not sure why the trail was closed.
Wednesday: 16 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA
AM 12 Miles
Peppertree Wednesday 12 mile workouts again. Went for 6xOld Conejo hill, was hoping to get 8 in but felt flat pretty much right away and it was a struggle just to finish the 6 which was my minimum. Overall splits weren't bad, but not great either. That being said, the Wednesday workouts are really just about getting the effort in and there isn't much of a strict time goal there (with weekend workouts being more important). Saw a fit-looking female (masters?) runner wearing carbon fiber shoes in the parking lot which seemed strange given I've never seen any serious runners in Thousand Oaks and I don't think I've seen someone put on carbon fiber shoes outside of a racing setting anywhere.
PM 4 Miles
Double before class. Wednesday is my double day which was easy enough last semester without class, but will be trickier to get in this semester. The bright side with this being a short block is that I already only have two more of these left (of 7 weeks). Expected to feel terrible and felt okay, so I'll take that.
Thursday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA
Lollipop from Conejo creek park on mostly trails with some really hilly but quite scenic stuff in the middle. 1,100' elevation gain total. Some new trails to me in there.
Friday: 12 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA
Back to Cheeseboro Fridays- had the long version with a bigger mileage week. Didn't really enjoy this one as it was hot, I felt weak, and I had some unexpected stomach issues. Legs felt totally exhausted the last few miles which is unpleasant but tends to happen during the higher mileage weeks. Passing horses on the trail is still a mystery. Now I just slow way down and do as the horse riders ask- pleasantly surprised the first two groups let me run right past and even the last person to ask me to walk past was still really friendly about it.
Saturday: 20 Miles- Ventura, CA
Normally getting into these long runs is a real slog/low motivation especially with a triple OAB format on the ventura river trail (bike path). Felt a bit weak on the typical 6 mile warm-up. Today was a 10 mile OAB for the workout portion with a goal of 4x2 miles at 5:50 pace/11:40 on half mile jog rest (for a total of 10). The high in ventura was high 70s and already low 70s when I started just after 9am so I adjusted the time down a bit from 5:45 goal. These long interval workouts seem really easy on paper- I just did 6 miles continuous at 5:45, so surely two miles at a time should be pretty easy. For whatever reason, I struggle more with them than a long tempo at a similar pace as it's really hard for me to pick it up again after a jog. I was a little nervous for this one too as I had failed this workout twice in the fall, totally bonking/falling apart and having a miserable run back on fumes.
Started off right around pace feeling decent but it didn't take long for that pace to feel fairly hard. I was wondering why running 5:55 pace felt so good at Burlingame two weeks but that's probably because I was fairly fresh and now I'm deep into mileage/training. Marathon pace is simply not easy for me in most workouts and I have to have an excellent day to hit half marathon pace for anything longer than mile repeats. First two felt fairly hard but I maintained pace throughout. Headwind and slight uphill out so I was looking forward to hopefully feeling a little easier on the return. 11:28, 11:20, 11:05, 11:17 for the reps- comfortably under 11:40 for each. Felt pretty tired on the last one and was holding on, but quite glad to finish this workout after fails the last time and while it felt hard throughout, never felt brutal/close to racing (I could hold the pace longer if needed). Normally I take a long break before the 4 mile cooldown and feel terrible on that, but today was better as I only took 5 minutes in between (I've taken up to 20) and felt pretty good on the last 4.
Sunday: 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA
Hilly mountain/canyon loop from Santa Rosa Valley park. Ran almost all the way up Elliot Mountain- about 1,000' of climbing in the first 3 miles. Excellent views near the top. Mostly with switchbacks so little was steep. I fully expected to really struggle on this hilly route after yesterday, but was surprising to feel decent in the climbs. I find trail climbs to be really enjoyable when feeling good, and absolutely miserable when you don't have it. This was a really hot day with temps starting in mid-70s and very little shade. Felt decent through halfway then just became a struggle after that, plus some minor discomfort in achilles and top of foot. Stream crossings here were deeper than before, got wet on 2/4. Saw lizards for the first time this week!
Weekly Total: 90 Miles
Weekly Highlight: Hitting my mileage and long run goals, it's always great to have a big week like that behind me now.
Weekly Lowlight: A lot of tough runs, struggling a bit this week. In the end, I got it all done which is what matters but I have to say a lot more runs than usual this week weren't particularly enjoyable.
Movies Watched: Past Lives, Crazy Stupid Love, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Inception
TV Watched: Loki S2
Might add a race to this block and go for a track 3K either 3/1 in Riverside or 3/2 in Long Beach. Post-marathon, I probably won't be track fit until mid-April at the earliest and all those meets offer 5K only, so if I want to attempt a 3K PR this would be the opportunity to do it. It also shouldn't hurt my half marathon on 02/25 being after that and marathon 03/17 having a full 15+ days between and able to start the taper after that. Riverside is a little further away but it would be easier to race Friday and then do the long run Sunday with a day to recover, especially as these meets will be late night and it'd be tough to run it around for a long run in the morning. The question will be how I recover from the half as it's only 5-6 days after and I certainly was not ready to go after the last two halfs.
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