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Total Week Mileage

10/21/08: The story of my summer was a break. A total break from running. I decided that after 8 years of no significant breaks (greater than a week or two, if that) it was time to part ways with running and see if we naturally found our way back together.

Looking for a relief from high gas prices and knowing that I would get fat without some consistent athletic outlet I decided that these two problems could be solved by cycling to work. The nearly 20 mile (one-way) venture took a lot out of me, and I saw myself eating more than I ever did when I was running. It was also very taxing energetically in a way that running had never challenged me. I lasted several weeks doing this between 3 and 5 days a week. But eventually I couldn't take it much more and knew it was time for a change.

Back to Running.

A few days before the start of preseason '08 I went on my first run in nearly two months. It hurt. I ran the next day and it still hurt. I ran again on wednesday with the team on the traditional Hungtinon run and it hurt. I hadn't hurt like this since I first started running. I took a few days off, maybe ran once more. On monday I ventured to do the long labor day run with the team which this year had managed to find its way to the JPL trails. It felt great, I ran far, fast and it didn't hurt... at first. Then I remembered that I had worn my nike 3.0's and it started hurting, a lot.

Over the following several weeks I ran occaisionally doing anywhere between 20 and 30 miles per week. some short tempos, some long ones, some easy days.

Now I'm ready to train again.