Good luck Rock n' Rollers!

As I sit here writing, the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon is in full swing! The runners should be enjoying the heavy and deep marine layer today. In fact, it's drizzling outside here as I write. That bodes well for some of by blogging buddies running today (Chic Runner, Magazine Smiles, Rookie on the Run, I Love Steaks, On Your Left). Also, a bunch of my Tweeps, and a bunch of others from Runner's World Forums are running. Best of luck to all of you! I'm hoping that I have a ton of race reports to read this coming week!

Speaking of a deep marine layer - I used that to my full benefit yesterday to put in the 13 miles on my plan. I slept in a little and got out the door late, but with May Gray in full swing, I was pretty sure the sun was not going to be making an appearance until Noon at the earliest. I headed up the San Diego Creek trail at a slow comfortable pace.

In my search for new trails and routes, I figured something out last week. The San Diego Creek trail that I run on a regular basis is actually a route used by a couple of organized trail systems. One is the San Diego Creek trail, which I usually follow. This trail provides a 20 mile round trip through Irvine from our Saturday morning start point at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach.

I found out this week though, the Mountains to the Sea Trail uses some of the same route. This trail splits away from the San Diego Creek trail six miles from my start point and heads north into the hills. According to the trail's description, there's an additional 16 miles of trail (one way) from where it leaves the San Diego Creek trail. Yesterday, I poked my head up that trail by going about three quarters a mile on it. Looks like I will have something new to check out as my runs get longer over the next few weeks!
Final stats for yesterday - 13 miles at a nice easy pace of 10:27 with an average heart rate of 75% of max. On the schedule for today - 4 recovery miles.

P.S. - My running buddy Charlie Prokop (remember him from my last half marathon?) just passed the 21 mile point in 2:22. That's a 6:49 pace. Wow! A fifty something year old running at that pace. Makes me tired just thinking about it!

Absolutely Wiped Out

That's how I'm feeling right now. It's 5:45 in the morning. I've had my first cup of coffee. I can *barely* keep my eyes open.

It all started last night. I had an eight mile general aerobic run on the schedule. I wasn't pushing too hard. Just a nice run. Heart rate was low in the aerobic range. It was cool out. Everything was going well. I got the "out" portion of the run done and turned around to head back.

Hmm. No wonder everything seemed so perfect. I had been running with the wind at my back. Okay - no problem. Put my head down and push a little harder. My Garmin was telling me that my heart rate was at 3.1 - low in the aerobic range. So no problem if I cranked my heart rate up to a 3.4 or 3.5 (aerobic range on my Garmin is set to anything between 3 and 4). I pushed a little harder through miles 5 and 6. Then it happened. A feeling I haven't had in about a year. The last time this happened was about mile 17 in a little jog I took last June. I was done. Toast. Empty. Nothing left in the tank. (I'm trying to come up with a few more trite analogies, but I'm drawing a blank).

The last two miles were *really* tough. I kept my legs moving, but each step seemed like I was lifting concrete shoes. It felt like I was working *really* hard. My heart rate was still down though, and I wasn't breathing exceptionally hard. I had just run out of fuel. I so wanted to give up and walk it in. But, I kept putting one foot in front of the other and my legs moving. I ended up completing the run in 1:19:02 (9:54 pace) and an average heart rate of 76% of max. But I was spent. I had to collect myself before driving home.

The real comedy started when I got home though. Obviously what I had done is just not eaten enough during the day. I was *ravenous*. I grabbed some dinner (BBQ'd Tri tip, wild rice, steamed veggies). I sat down, turned on the Cavs/Magic game, and promptly fell asleep! That's right folks - down for the count at 7:30 PM!

On the schedule today - rest. Total rest. (Sigh of relief)

Recovery Day

Yesterday was a short recovery day. Went out and finished four slow miles on the lower Back Bay. If I had doubts that I could run on Tuesday, I should have had similar doubts for the same reasons yesterday. Ten miles of hiking Monday along with a hard eight mile workout Tuesday had left me limping and shuffling yesterday. I toyed with rescheduling, but I figured since it was supposed to be a slow, easy run, I would be better to get it over with and keep my Friday free. After all, the purpose of the recovery run is to help with recovery, right?

Well, it took a little longer to get all the kinks and soreness worked out, but in the end I put in the four miles. Put in really easy miles at an average pace of 10:15. Average heart rate was 73% of max. I'm none the worse for wear. I have some lingering muscle soreness, but nothing seems to be pulled/strained. All systems are go!

I actually made it to the gym last night and finished up my day with stretching and core/ab work. I've added leg lifts to my workout. Great. Another set of sore muscles....

Today's schedule is an eight mile general aerobic run. That means another CDM to Crystal Cove run. Woo hoo!