Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but they also work in lieu of toilet paper

That means I got in a long trail run today.
I'm reporting for two weeks. Last week - life intervened. Life also intervened this week but I managed to get my workouts in for the most part.

Last week, I missed my long run because I had to help my daughter with important errands on Thursday. Also missed Saturday because of weather, at least that's my excuse. Sunday however turned out to be a good workout - back to "Run To Failure" since I was unable to run the mile home from the track.

• Tue, 1/17 - 13 Turnbull Canyon hill repeats, 3k+ climb, 7.5 miles
  
• Wed, 1/18 - Easy but hilly 4 at Signal Hill
  
• Sun, 1/22 - 1 mile warmup, 14 in 1:57:50 at Cypress College - 8:25 pace. I did 8:34 pace for 8 miles last year (post-op) so this is improvement. I think I'll run on the track every other Thursday.
  

This week (and last), I was working a lot. I worked 13+ hours on Tuesday so I delayed my hill repeats until Wednesday. I did 4k worth of climb on both hill repeat days which had an effect on both subsequent days.

• Mon, 1/23 - 2 easy in the park
  
• Wed, 1/25 - 17 Turnbull hill repeats, 4k climb, 9.8 miles
  
• Thu, 1/26 - 10 miles road. Right hip was bothering me so I cut the long run short.
  
• Sat, 1/28 - 17 Turnbull hill repeats
  
• Sun, 1/29 - Whittier/Schabarum trail loop - about 19 miles. I didn't bonk like the previous time but my pace was pretty pathetic at the end so I didn't lengthen it.
  

Back in the saddle - last two weeks

I was still recovering at the beginning of last week but was on vacation this week and had plenty of opportunity to get in the workouts. And the workouts are going to change slightly to be like this:

• Tue - Hill Repeats or possibly intervals
  
• Wed - Easy 4
  
• Thu - Long road run (17 miles) or long track run (16 miles)
  
• Sat - Hill Repeats
  
• Sun - Long trail run
  

The goal for both hill repeat workouts is 4k' climb in 10 miles.
The Thu run is going to stay at around 17 miles.
The Sun run hopefully is going to grow to 50k as preparation for 50 mile races.

Since John Davis proposed the Baldy Peaks 100 mile run and I started training for that, I've found that hill repeats not only prepare me for mountain running, they also improve my speed. And the other thing I'm finding these days is that you can run the next day.
So -

• Tue 1/3/2012 - 2x2k in Twyla Reid park (I was still recovering)
  
• Thu 1/5/2012 - 17 miles (Seal Beach run)
  
• Sat 1/7/2012 - 4xS Ridge (2k' climb, 5 miles)
  
• Sun 1/8/2012 - Whittier - Schabarum Park loop - 19 hilly miles (I bonked)
  
• Tue 1/10/2012 - 5xS Ridge (2.5k' climb, 6.25 miles) - felt very comfortable. Could easily have done more.
  
• Wed 1/11/2012 - 4 miles easy at Signal Hill (hilly)
  
• Thu 1/12/2012 - Harding Truck Trail - first time in a long while, maybe a year. 3300' climb, 18.3 miles
  
• Sat 1/14/2012 - 13xRose Hills Road (new and really like it). 3k+ climb, 7.8 miles
  
• Sun 1/15/2012 - Seal Beach run - 17 miles. Probably cut about 1 min/mile off previous pace.

So obviously from the Sunday run, I'm feeling pretty good. I was pretty much over the cough from December until the 1/8 run. That brought it back.

The advantages of the new Rose Hill Road repeats are

• Much less likely to get kicked out because the park is closed compared to S Ridge hill.
  
• Nice surface, even climb. This plus the shorter distance allows me to run this repeat better than S Ridge, both up and down.
  
• Not as popular as S Ridge. Minor advantage but this reduces distractions.

Rose Hills Road:


Harding Truck Trail (to 9.15 mile mark):

End the year - with a whimper

I got sick - the same cold everyone has been getting. On 12/21 I tried going for a 6 mile jog. That run exhausted me to the point that I got chills. I started recovering a bit on Xmas when I ran 3 times this hill in Whittier. I think I should be mostly recovered this next week although I am going to slowly ramp up the interval workouts on Tuesday.

Gary and Pam Hilliard are the new RD's for the Orange Curtain races. These are scheduled for 3/3/2012 so I plan to run the 50k. I think I should be running 50k on the weekends by then if things go well.