Weekly Status - 9/20 to 9/26

• Mon 7, 5 at 07:36 pace
• Tue easy 4
• Wed 10, 8 at 07:28 pace - Goal pace! mostly around 7:32 splits, last mile in 7:02
• Thu 7.56, 1378 vert.
• Fri off
• Sat 21.88, 4485 vert. last 3 miles went from pathetic excuse for running to almost blacking out. 16:27 pace
• Sun 7.56 1378 vert.
• Total 58 miles, 7241 vertical
  

Found out I had not been counting one segment correctly, hence my long run increased by 2 miles, not one. I'm actually not worried about dying at the end of the long run. It was a hot day and I got low on water. Also, I kind of expect to have long runs that end like this while my body is getting reacquainted with running longer distances. Right achilles/calf was tight earlier in the week (from the 7:02 mile) but otherwise, legs have been performing well.
I was quite pleased to hit my goal pace - over 20 seconds faster pace than last week. The hill workouts are definitely driving the faster pace of track workouts.
On the track workouts, I've evolved into this format:

• Ride bike two miles to track.
• 1 mile jog with maybe a stride at the end
• Stretch (soleus, gastrocnemius, touch toes, quads, 2 hip stretches, hurdle stretches)
• 1 lap with two strides
• Run tempo run
• 3 lap warmdown
• Ride bike two miles home
  

Weekly Report - 9/13 - 9/19/2010

• 9/13 7 miles, 3 at8:22 pace
• 9/14 3.25 miles (in flats - rt. soleus started bothering me)
• 9/15 10 miles, 8 at 7:52 pace
• 9/16 7.56 miles, 1378' vertical
• 9/17 0
• 9/18 19.02 miles, 3812 vertical, 13:30 pace
• 9/19 7.56 miles, 1378 vertical
• Total 54.39 miles, 6568 vertical

I'm happy with the progress. For the trail workouts, my pace has been aggressive on the flats and uphills and prudent on the downhills. I'm very happy to be running this well on the trails. The track workouts are doing fine too.

Weekly Workouts

Great week. Hit all workouts except Friday recovery (walked instead).
Actually 5 more miles than last week, vertical is up about 950'. Paces were faster too.

• Mon - 5 on the track with 2 warmup.
  
• Tue - 4 easy - tight spot on calf
  
• Wed - 7 on the track with 2 warmup/warmdown. 7:52 pace, last mile in 7:12. Started conservatively with calf issue.
  
• Thu - 7.5 on trail
  
• Fri - Death of a friend - only walked
  
• Sat - 18 on trails, 3300'+ vertical, faster pace than last week (14 to 13 min/mile)
  
• Sun - 7.5 on trail - hauled on last uphill.
  
• Total - 53.3 miles, 6092 vertical
  

Last Week

• 8/30 - 2 mile warmup, 4 on track (8:15 pace)
• 8/31 - 2 mile warmup, 7 on track
• 9/1 - 4 barefoot easy in grass
• 9/2 - off - heel sore from running barefoot
• 9/3 - 5, about 800' vertical - El Modena Open Space - rocky and steep at times
• 9/4 - 16.93, 2962' vertical
• 9/5 - 7.56, 1378' vertical

August

Date	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
8/1							11
8/2		9		7.5	4	19
8/9		6		7.5	4		0.5
8/16	0.5	1	8	7.5	2	14	9.5
8/23	6	1.5	8	7.5	0.5		15
8/30	6	9

July

Date	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
7/1					4	16
7/5	7	4	12.5			8.4	14
7/12	10		4.75			11	3.85
7/19		11	10	5	5		11.33
7/26	3.5	10.5	0.5	2.5

June

Date	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5/31		8.75	8.6	8.6		6.25 2500'	8.5 9:16 pace
6/7	7	4.42	8.5	8.5		3	7.75 3000'
6/14	9.42	9.25 9:03	10	3.75 1500'		10 2500'	10 2000'
6/21	10.42	10 8:43	10	5 1400'	4	12 4000'	10 2000'
6/28	11.42	12 (11@8:36)	11

Issues during the month:

• Inside right ankle pain (tendonitis) at first when running downhill. Seems to be going away toward end of month.
  
• Foot pain (stone bruise? neuroma?) on right foot just behind index toe. Long standing problem getting worse. It's worst when running on pavement, for some reason worse in Pumas (softer). Started wearing NB XC flats when running in dirt where there are rocks. Also bought NB MT100 shoes on 7/2.
  
• Dealt with being worn out twice. First response (which was correct) was to return to taking iron supplements. Second response (which also was correct) was to incorporate more rest once my mileage got up to 11 mile days.

Changes during month:

• Started with 4 day rotation
  
• Went to 7 day pattern
  
• Incorporating more rest
  
• Got out to the mountains - Hooray!
  
• Reduced then eliminated pavement
  

I'm excited about my proposed workout schedule, as follows:

• Mon: 4 miles easy (grass), possibly with non-running drills
  
• Tue: Long tempo on track, building to 16 miles, reducing pace gradually with goal of 7:30
  
• Wed: 4 miles easy - may incorporate a little speed work - strides at first, maybe some 150's
  
• Thu: Hill repeats or possible interval workout at some time in the future.
  
• Fri: 4 miles easy (grass), possibly with non-running drills
  
• Sat: Mountains
  
• Sun: Trail or mountains
  

I'm happy with how the long tempo has been going. I'm gradually increasing the length and gradually increasing the pace. I was pretty tired going into it this past week and was surprised to bring the average pace down.

I'm happy with how the weekend runs are going.
I'm determined to be patient with the Thursday night hill repeats. I want to get these up to 10 miles with about 2800' of gain, then keep it at 10 miles but increase the gain to 4000'. I think these will start improving with my new plan to have short recovery days on Mon/Wed/Fri.

If I feel I'm doing enough vertical on the weekends, I may convert the Thu workout to intervals.

As far as the problems are concerned (foot pain, ankle), I think it is important to come up with a plan, execute the plan and if it doesn't work, adjust the plan.