Friday 10/26/07
Tempo run, 8 miles @ half marathon pace at Gunderson High

I tried to do the tempo run on Friday morning, but I had a really bad stomachache and had to quit 20 minutes into the run. I came back from work and feeling much better, attempted the tempo run again:

Mile Time (target time: 6:19/mile)
1 6:16
2 6:21
3 6:31
4 6:44
5 7:04

My quads were hurting, and I could feel my time getting progressively slower. I felt weak like I had no energy in my legs. I stopped right there at mile 5 and jogged back home. Running at a slower pace made me feel a little better.

Saturday 10/27/07
Recovery run at Quicksilver Park with Tony around 9:30am
45min (28 min out, 17 min back)


A great day for a trail run


Me running through the woods.


What's up, dawg? There were some dogs on the trail, but no horses today.


We took it easy on the short, but steep Day Tunnel Trail


7.4%, baby! (the body fat, not the grade of the slope!) Tony cruising down the Mine Hill Trail.


Back to the parking lot.

Sunday 10/28/07
11 mile tempo run at marathon pace at Los Alamitos Creek Trail.
~70F

I had some upset stomach in the morning and finally started my run around 11am.
I ran about 3 miles for warm-up, and then started to run at marathon pace:

Mile Time (target time: 6:44/mile)
1 7:06
2 7:34
3 7:35
4 7:25
5 8:29
6 7:37
7 7:12
8 8:02
9 8:19
10 8:34
11 8:22

From the first mile, I knew I wasn't hitting the target pace and I already felt like I've hit the wall. The upset stomach has really worn me down this week and I felt like I've already used up all my stored energy. But, this being my longest run before the Big Sur Half Marathon in two weeks and because I couldn't complete the run on Friday, I decided to finish this run and get some confidence back. But, as if to rub salt in the wound, I felt a twinge of shin splints in the right leg in the final three miles and that slowed me down even more. I tried different strides to see which one would reduce the pain, and I found I felt no pain going uphill and the pain got worse going downhill. After completing the 11 miles, I massaged my right leg, and jogged the dirt path on the trail, which felt much better. I chatted with another runner who was training for a half marathon in Santa Barbara. He said he will run the Kaiser Permanente SF half marathon next year in February, so I told him I will look for him there. It took me 50 minutes to cover 6 miles (it was a long cool down), but I made it back home at 1:50pm. Roughly 20 miles in 2:50.

I weighed myself before and after the run and my weight changed from 131.6lb to 127.8lb. I drank about 32oz. and had 2 GUs during the run, but apparently, that wasn’t enough.

I told my girlfriend if my stomach issue (and shin splints) doesn't get better by the Big Sur Half, I will tag along with her and take my time to enjoy the course. I'm not sure how I will do on the 5K I signed up for this weekend at the Metro Silicon Valley Marathon. My goal was to run it in 17:30 , but I'm not sure if I can do it this time. 17:30 is the qualifying time for sub-seeded division at Bay to Breakers, which I was hoping to run in Spiderman costume.