9/14 - 9/20

Monday - felt like shit.. jogged a few laps at the park

Tuesday - still felt like shit... jogged less

Wednesday - Been beat up more psychologically than mentally, i think. Convinced myself to run 5-6ish

Thursday - Ran about 4 miles.. I don't know what this funk I've been in is. I feel like I really need to stretch more too, maybe that will help.

Rejuvenated (no lies)

Been running again for about a month... feels good.... went for my first long run yesterday of 12.5 miles. Felt it today, but was still able to move at an ok pace for 5 miles. I finially think i might stand a chance of getting in some type of decent shape as I've psyched into running everyday. Thats my only rule. I've tried doing this before and failed poorly. Anyways, its been working for 36 days now and it keeps me running every day and getting in shape. In addition to this I try to not think to much about mileage or about times/pace. Just go relatively and keep loose track of how things are going.

La Di Da

In other news today I was quite pleased when two teenage motorists gave me props while riding home today. Probably two of the few very positive vibes I've gotten while riding/commuting out here.

Wednesday, 9/9
Ran some... felt like shit... only ran about 2.5 miles

Thursday, 9/10
Went out for a 5-6er and felt good so went for about 10 at a moderate pace

Friday, 9/11
easy 6

Saturday, 9/12
didn't have much time, super easy 3

Sunday, 9/13
Hard 6, felt surprisingly good. just surprising since i don't think i've felt this comfortable going fast/hard in a while

Update: 7/13/2009

After having moved into my new apartment I've finally began to attempt running with a semi-regular schedule. I'm failing at that, but at any rate I'm succeeding in running a few days a week and feeling healthier. I suppose that the only real thing worth noting is that up until last thurday I was feeling somewhat tight and inhibited from going fast, despite running consistently, starting easy on each run, and stretching. Finally last thursday I just forced it out and it seemed to be feeilng easier by the end of the run. Today did a honest moderate 6 mile run, felt like I was maintaining a 6:40-ish pace, didn't feel too tired after.

Will update more later...

...

Update: 7/13/2009

Week of 5/18 - 5/24

Total Minutes: 30

5/18
P.M.: Short lap around UCLA, haven't ran in a few days. Felt ok... need to do this more often. Left hip felt a little funny at the start.

Week of 5/4 - 5/10

Total Minutes: 50

5/6
P.M.: Easy Jog around campus. Gym later in the evening for abs, back and chest plus a light few minute jog.

5/5
:(

5/4
P.M.: Gym with Derrick and Min. Not as sore as when I did it last Thursday. Not really sore at all

Week of 4/27-5/3

Total Minutes: 295

5/3
P.M.: Not feeling too tired but decided to take it easy.. also had a small lack of time :/ ... Did about 30 minutes around the park in my newly found brooks, good trainers at long last :).

5/2
P.M.: Took an easy jog around campus (45). Then like yesterday hit the abs at the gym. Tired myself out doing crunches and the like.

5/1
P.M.: Wait till about 8 p.m. and headed out for about 7 laps around the park. Felt ok. The blister I earned from running in my 5.0s yesterday subsided despite that I was yet again running in the old 5.0s. Hit up the gym afterward for a quick ab workout.

4/30
A.M.: Ran down sunset and back for about 60 minutes. My right big toe is kinda hurting since I did it in my 5.0s since I don't know where my Brooks are. If Mark would check the track closet for me... cough cough... ....
Late A.M.: Hit the gym with Derrick for a while

4/29
P.M.: Park goodness again. Still mean to go to the gym later. Maybe it will happen today.
Later: Went to the gym. Ran for 20 minutes first increasingly the pace steadily. Then hit the weights for about 50 minutes focusing on abs, arms and chest.

4/27
P.M.: Park goodness for a while, then home. Need to hope that mark finds my brooks at the gym. I can't keep running in 5.0s everyday, or can I?? I want to go to the gym later we'll see if that happens

Week of 4/6 - 4/12

Run
140 minutes

4/7
p.m.: Ran through the bel-air hills then around UCLA. Took the run pretty easy since I haven't had an easy/off day since friday. Felt ok. My toe ache seems to have subsided.

4/6
a.m.: Jogged an easy 20 minutes up Veteran, then on sunset for a bit and back. I can definitely feel my fitness returning as I had a rather long weekend (170 minutes) for this early in training and am not really sore.
p.m.: Ran down to Ohio then on Santa Monica, out and back for 60 minutes. Felt a little tight, but it came rather easy until the last 5 or 10 minutes. But overall I can feel my fitness coming back.

Week of 3/30 - 4/5

375 minutes
8 runs

4/5:
a.m. Ran Brown mountain with Ian and came back on the miller campground trail. I think its called palomino. The uphill hurt a bit, and I had an impending urge to shit towards the end. 70 minutes

4/4:
Went to Pomona to watch the annual track meet and such. Took a break between the 1500m and the 800's to go jog around for 100 minutes. Felt good. Toe hurt a little, but not nearly as bad as on thursday night.

4/3
Toe hurt, took today off.

4/2
noonish: kinda angry at ucla housing. Did a quick 35 minute run

4/1
a.m. Easy 20 minute jog. Didn't feel t0o tight.
p.m. Didn't have much time to run, but I still squeezed in a 30 minute run at medium to hard effort around campus. Off to midori's to binge on sushi.

3/31
p.m. 60 minute hill run through bel-air and around UCLA. Went easy for the first half and worked the last 1 1/2 miles or so a little.

3/30
a.m. 20 minute shake out jog. Really cleared some junk out of the legs.
p.m. 50 minute slightly harder (but nothing crazy) run. Ran some back roads in santa monica out and back. Felt a little tight at times and later in the evening.

Weekly Summary: 6/29

4 runs
170 minutes

Ran a few days this week and started out easy on monday with just a short run maybe 30 minutes. Came back and ran friday, saturday, and sunday. Decided that if I want to get back in shape I need some motivation other than track. I finally have it: 1) I'm getting fat 2) I'm gonna train for a marathon (k-way said he'd join me)

I know it might sound crazy for me to do a marathon, but i really think i need something different. Mark was probably on the right track by suggesting I do 5k or 10k. But I think I need to go even more extreme. Just the though of being on the track right now makes me work to hard to early then I wear out quickly. But the possiblity of eventually (late fall to winerish) of doing a marathon makes me comfortable with just taking a nice easy hour run. We'll see how this develops over the next few weeks. I'm gonna just be running time for now, trying to run new courses that I don't even know so that I'm not tempted to time myself. Additionally, I'm gonna try to do morning jogs a few days a week to keep things fresh.

Monday, Jan 26 5 miles

Went on a quick 5 during a 2 hour break. Saw a guy who was weaving back and forth running towards me. As I got closer I realized he was picking up trash as he ran. Not a bad idea I thought. Ran hard for the last mile or two.

Sunday, Jan 25 6 miles

Ran 6 miles. I'm pretty sure I saw Marlon Patterson.

Tuesday, Jan 20, 5 Miles

Took a few days off as I had a lot of studying to do and had been feeling rather sick. Finally got around to running 5 miles today in a new pair of shoes I got. Need to keep it up though :/

Thursday, Jan 15, 5 miles

Wanted to run in the afternoon but I was too hungry. Ran after I got home from group meeting at 6:00-ish. Got really angry at three people. First person liked my shorts. Second person looked me in the eye before turning in front of me. The last person gave me the inane comment "run forest, run".... these three incidents in one mile really pissed me off.... It really gets to me when people say stupid shit and treat runners and bikers like bugs. I nearly broke his window... oh well..

Wed, Jan 14, 7 miles

Got home from hearing Richard Schrock give a lecture on metathesis. It was rather interesting. Was tired from a long day of school, but I quickly left to go do seven by just doing a series of laps around the nearby park. Felt good and didn't really even notice the time go by. Wasn't really tired at all by the time I got home.

Mon, Jan 12, 6.5 Miles

Got home from school around 4 p.m. and promptly threw on my shorts and shoes to go for a run.
This truly was one of the better parts of my day. I was able to be on my own and just run however I felt. I started nice and easy for the first few miles and by the time I had about 2 miles left I was cruising at a nice pace, but not pushing it. I really think that if I can keep training I can be doing about 60-70 miles within 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not sure yet if I'll do any racing this season, but if I do I'll probably follow the advice mark gave me and just do the 5000 so that I'm not tempted to compare my results to last year (and thus be disappointed). But we'll see if I end up racing at all. I don't really even plan on doing much if anything in the way of formal track workouts.

Tales of (not) running alone

Weekly mileage: 40
Winter break wasn't as successful as I hoped. I didn't run every day. While I was home I only ran twice. On christmas day I did a super chill 15 with my dad in about 2 hours. Then a few days later I ran about 6 miles around town. Now that I'm back home I've been managing to run everyday. I think this is a result of both how I'm approaching the run both physically and mentally. Physically, I'm not treating each run as a necessary effort to me getting in good shape quickly. Instead I'm just starting out nice and slow and running for however far I feel like running. If I feel good I might go faster, otherwise, whatever. Mentally, I'm taking chris's advice from mid-november and viewing each run as a break from the day. An opportunity to have time to myself and think about whatever I want to think about. I've also noticed its somewhat easier to mentally enjoy the run when I'm not trying to completely drain myself physically.

So far this week I've taken two 5 miles runs a 4 mile yesterday, and a 7 mile run this morning.

Friday, 1/9
Against some of my desire to run (being it a friday and having had a long tiring day) I ran around 6 p.m. today. I headed out for an easy 5 just doing laps around the nearby park. I could have ran more, but I wanted to save my energy for a long run tomorrow.

Saturday, 1/10
I know that running 14 miles today is breaking the 25% rule, but whatever. I suppose the only two things I really have to say about today's run are that I got really mad at a motorist today and I saw billy. While running out, down sunset blvd., I was crossing a small neighborhood street that ended at sunset. There were cars going the same direction as me waiting to make a left turn onto this street, and cars on the small street waiting to go onto sunset. With a green light I crossed the street. As I did so the cars waiting to turn left had an opportunity and took it, cutting me off. I had to come to a sudden halt to avoid dying. I'm not too pleased when motorists take such a course of action, but I'm coming to accept that this is how LA drivers are (assholes, but whatever). What did kinda PO me though was the driver who I stopped in front of, (one of the drivers waiting to turn right from the small street onto sunset). He apparently was plotting to see me die there and angered by the fact that I had not been pulverized proceeded to honk his horn at me. But seriously who the fuck is this guy. I'm crossing the street legally. I nearly get run over. This guy gets mad at me for stopping in front of him. I'm pretty sure this is how people act in bazaro world. Oh well, as I ran away another motorist shouted out her window asking if I was ok. I responded that I was fine and thanked her for her concern. Some-odd miles later I was running back from the beach on san vicente when I find a certain man by the name of Billy Zdon. I see him coming up the opposite side of the street so I shout out "billy" a few times and he sees me. As I'm running on the median and he was on the sidewalk I wait for traffic to die so I can cross to meet him. When I have the opportunity we both jolt, crossing in the middle of the street like idiots. A minute later I crossed back and ran with him for a few minutes before turning around, knowing that every step I took with him was 2 steps i'd take total (sicne I was running away from my destination). Uggh... started getting tired at about 12.5 or 13 miles. Had sex with your mom.