Week Twenty-One

This week was a short, eight-mile recovery run, and I really needed it after last week's twenty-three miler! I had felt fine after last Sunday's run, but developed some very sore hamstrings after a day or two, and once again didn't manage to get my mid-week runs in (although I did walk home from the BART station on Tuesday, which took about 50 minutes and was almost as good as a run), so I was a bit stiff today. We did our original 3:2 run/walk ratio, which I haven't done in a while, having missed the last few short runs, so it was a little odd to get back into it. We were also keeping more or less to our 14 minute/mile pace.

We ran down Great Highway to Sloat and back, then up MLK Drive to Transverse, and back along the bridle trails near Fulton. It went pretty well, aside from some pain in my right leg around the middle of the run. But I kept going and it went away, so it wasn't a problem. I finally got around to getting some new shoes yesterday—I wanted to get another pair of Nikes, like my last ones, but they didn't have any, so I got Sauconys instead. I was a bit concerned about whether the leather side piece would rub against the joint on my right little toe, which tends to get sore if the shoe's too snug, but it was fine for eight miles, so I think they'll be okay. My left big toe, which is my other sore spot, also feels fine. So yay! Good new shoes and a good run.

Week Twenty

Twenty-three miles today! I was a bit worried about it, since I've missed the last two ten-mile runs, and haven't even been able to get all my maintenance runs in. I've been tired, and busy, and allergic, and running back and forth to Tehachapi buying a new home (which I'm very excited about, but it's a lot of work!). Last weekend, I had to go back down to meet with the seller, who was only available on Sundays, since he works every other day of the week. I'd hoped to be able to fit in a ten-miler on my own when I got back, but the six-hour drive from here to there takes too much out of me. I shouldn't have to go back down until after the sale closes on November 1, but then I'll be making trips down to start working on getting the place fixed up to move into, so I may end up missing some more runs in November, but I'm going to try hard to get as many done as possible, since the marathon is coming soon!

Anyway, the twenty-three miler went really well, considering. I need new shoes pretty badly -- my feet were feeling the pounding of the pavement—and I hadn't gotten around to stocking up on goo, so I didn't have my usual snacks, but in a way I think that worked in my favor, because I ended up eating some different things that turned out to make me feel pretty good. For one thing, I'd bought a Starbucks Frappuccino at the corner store last night and drank it this morning for a little boost of caffeine and milk before the run. So I was feeling pretty peppy right off the bat. Then, one of the people in my group gave me a couple of goos, so I had those. And then, when we passed by our starting place at mile 15, our volunteers had pizza for us! (Probably for the people finishing, but hey! If we'd waited until we finished, it would have been long gone!) Now, ordinarily, I'd never eat anything that substantial during a run, and especially not pizza, but I was really hungry today for some reason, and I just couldn't resist a slice of cheese pizza. And it was great! Really gave me a lift. Also did my usual trick of taking aspirin at about 15 miles, and that also helped me feel better for the last stretch. So I finished the run feeling pretty good. Tired and sore, but not exhausted or wiped out.

The route was similar to the twenty-miler, with a few added bits. It was the same three-loop course, first going around the polo field and then down Sunset to Pine Lake Park and around the lake. Then we continued down Sunset to Ocean and back. Second loop was up Great Highway to the Cliff House, then down Great Highway to Sloat and back. Then the third loop was through Golden Gate Park to the Panhandle, out to Masonic and back. It was a cool and cloudy day for the most part, with the sun only breaking through for an hour or so, which was nice weather for running. We finished in about 6:40, running a 2:2 run/walk ratio, and a target pace of 16 minute miles. Averaged about 17:39 minutes/mile with bathroom and water breaks and so on, which is just about right.

I'm pretty happy that I was able to do so well on a twenty-three mile run, even after missing two weeks of long runs. Go me!

Week Eighteen

I didn't run this week. Sigh. I was down in Tehachapi all week, visiting my brother and looking at properties to buy, and even though I came home on Friday, with the intention of having a full day to rest and recover before my run, I was completely exhausted and feeling sick so I didn't run on Sunday. I thought if I felt better, I'd do the run on my own on Monday, but I was still feeling pretty lousy so I decided to just skip it. It would have been a ten-mile run recovery run, so I figured I could afford to miss it this once, especially since next Sunday is another ten-miler, and we don't do another long run until the week after.

So I've been concentrating on doing my maintenance runs during the week, and trying to get lots of rest, and preparing for this week's run.