Weekly Summary: Feb 14-20

2/14/2011
Mon- AM: 13.3 miles (1:48) Pogonip o&b, 1132'
Have to be honest...I kind of slacked off this week with keeping a running log, so most of this is by memory! Just too much to focus on this week. If I remember correctly though, I felt pretty good today. Just tried to keep it fairly easy and soak up some of the remaining sun!
PM: 5 miles (:38) West Cliff, 199'
Super easy shake-out...nothing special. Took me a bit to get motivated, but I'm glad I got outside. My legs are feeling pretty strong from yesterday's workout.


2/15/2011
Tues- AM: 8 miles (1:03) Nisene, 700'
My foot's been hurting, but not enough that I can't put weight on it, so I decided to head out for a few miles. It was chilly this morning, so motivation was lacking. The foot started acting up around mile 4 and my Garmin's battery died, so I decided to head home. =[
PM: 6 miles (:43) West Cliff, 220'
After a trip to Costco to stock up on groceries and a new Droid X (both compliments of the parents!) I headed out for an easy run. Unlike this morning, I actually felt good, but the top of my foot still feels funny.


2/16/2011
Wed- AM: 12 miles (1:32) West Cliff, 410'
Bleh. Super windy run this morning and my legs were heavy. I managed to miss most of the rain, but got hailed on while coming home. Needless to say, I kind of just wanted to get back to the apartment and veg in front of the TV.
PM: 6 miles (:46) Pogonip, 230'
Well, I wasn't planning on running again today, but the sun started to peek out, so I threw on my shoes and sauntered up to Pogonip. Lots of puddles and mud, which I absolutely love to splash through...got hit with a little drizzle on the way home. Watching the sunset from Pogonip with the light rain was amazing. =]


2/17/2011
Thurs- AM: 8 miles (1:02) Nisene, 692'
Just a bit of a shake-out in preparation for tonight's track workout. My legs felt really strong, so I had to remind myself to keep the pace easy.
PM: 1 mile w/up, 3x1mile @ tempo w/ 1 min recovery, 1 mile cool-down, Track
5:43, 5:38, 5:38
Another solid track sesh! Not too many SCE peeps were out there tonight due to the rain, but I'm glad I braved the weather. I haven't done one of these tempo runs before, so my track coach, Aaron, gave me a time to shoot for, and I hit it every split. Surprisingly, I only felt semi-uncomfortable. Maybe this is good? Not quite sure what to expect from this workout.


2/18/2011
Fri- AM: 10 miles (1:19) Pogonip, 925'
After holding out until the absolute last second, I laced up the 101's for a run in the rain. It was actually pleasant once I got soaked. I didn't really want to push it too hard on the mile climb through Pogonip, so I settled into an easy pace and focused on good form/footing for Sunday. All in all, a cold, but very enjoyable run. 


2/19/2011
Sat- AM: 6 miles (:44) West Cliff, 216'
My original plan for today was ~10 miles, but I decided to cut it short and save the legs for tomorrow. Not too jinx myself, but I'm feeling very strong and hopeful for tomorrow! The sun disappeared for the last 2 miles of my run and was replaced by rain, but the forecast is showing beautiful conditions for tomorrow!


2/20/2011
Sun- AM: PCTR Lake Chabot 50k (3:36:41), 4243'
I don't want to go into too much detail since I'm in the process of writing a race report, but...I (somehow) won! I toed the line as close to the front as I could and took off strong, holding the lead for the entire race. Looking at my splits after the race, I was shocked to see most of them in the low 7's with a handful in the 6's. Although the course was a bit short (I think it totaled around 29.5-30 miles), I still put forth a strong effort, and it paid off! Even with the added 2,000' of vertical gain as compared to the Folsom Point 50k, I shaved 10 minutes off my PR. I never had the feeling of "Oh my god, this sucks" like I felt at the last 50k in November...in fact, I kept waiting for it to hurt, but oddly enough the sensation never came. Not sure if that means I should have gone harder, or my training is paying off? Either way, I'm thankful that I was given the opportunity to race and need to remember that my main focus is still on WTC/ AR 50. Full report to come!


Totals
-Miles: 109
-Time: 13hr 53min
-Vertical: 8,967'
___________________________


What an absolutely crazy week! I honestly wasn't expecting to perform like I did on Sunday not only because I haven't raced in ~3 months, but also because of the amount of mileage I've been logging. These last few months have been a huge learning curve as I experiment and dial in my training, so my decision to include a mini-taper this week had me second guessing myself. During the week of my last 50k, I ran about 15 miles leading up to it, while this week my taper was ~80 miles. Granted I run more than twice as many miles compared to three months ago, but even still the doubt persists! I'm not sure my win from the Folsom Point 50k had totally sunk in yet either, and that just put more pressure on myself to perform and prove that it wasn't a fluke. Anyways, I'm happy to see results from my training and am thankful that the amount of time I spend running isn't all for naught! At this point, I really cannot ask for much more...I'm performing better than I ever thought possible, while still enjoying training/running as much as ever! Looking forward, I'm not sure if I'll continue with the 140 miles/week, but I do plan to stay above 115. I think that constantly training on tired legs was key to my success on Sunday, and at least for me, I find comfort in knowing that if I can run 140 miles in one week, I can absolutely run a strong 30 miles in one day.