Week 6 -- Sept 11, 13 and 17th 2006

This was going to be the week i was planning on doing my longest run. On Monday, Sept 11th; i did a 6 mile run at about 10:30 pace that included some 400 meter speed reps towards the end ...

On Wednesday, Sept 13th; i did a 5.5 mile run at ~ 10:30 to 11 min/mile pace ... threw in some speed bursts towards the end.

On Sunday, Sept 17th; i did my longest run of 12 miles outside on the Sawyer trail starting at about 1:45 pm or so in the afternoon ... had rested well during the later part of the week in preparation for this ... My original plan was to go a steady 10 min/mile pace over the whole distance to finish up in 2 hours ... Gaurav and I started off together, Gaurav was planning on doing 9 miles ... We reached the 2 mile mark in just around 20 mins where we decided to split up ... since it was my benchmark run, i wanted to try and maintain the 10 min/mile pace as much as possible and went ahead trying to keep up with the pace ... I was finding it tough to maintain the pace consistently (knock knock, reality check ... maybe i should start off at a more comfortable 11 min/mile pace in the first two miles) so took a walk break around the 3.5 mile marker near the water stop ... I knew the looping hill would start after the 4.5 mile marker and decided to walk the quarter mile before 5 mile marker ... it was more or less flat till about 5.4 and then the hill all the way to the end at the 6 miler marker ... it had taken me 66 minutes for the 6 miles ... I took my energy gel near the water fountain on the north end of the sawyer trail and zoomed down the first mile on the roundtrip back in 7 mins (nah i don't do 7 min/miles ... it was just the steep downhill all the way helping me out there) ...

Overall I ended up taking 2:09:59 :-) ... Gaurav finished up the 9 miles earlier (turned back from the 4.5 mile marker) and was stretching and waiting at the finish line ...

I was happy to have just beaten 2:10:00 but way off the 2 hour mark ... I am going to try and aim for a 2:10 time at the half marathon (extrapolating the 12 mile timing, factoring in the lack of direct sun in the early morning start and the flat SJ half marathon course + a bit extra push in the latter half of the race) ...

My heel felt alright in the race though it hurt bit afterwards ... i took some NSAITS tablets and iced it couple of times

Week 5

This was kind of a short week for running since i did the long run for the previous week on Tuesday ... I did a cross training workout on Thursday (swimming + leg exercises) and a second semi-tempo, semi-hillworkout of 6 miles on friday at a little under 10 min/mile pace ... I did this workout as a replacement for the speed workout and also since i did not plan on another long run over the weekend.

Rest of week 4 - Aug 28th, Aug 29th and Sept 5th 2006

On Monday, Aug 28th; I did my weekly run of 3.5 miles in the gym in around 40 mins.

Tuesday, Aug 29th was cross training day and i swam 32 laps followed by some leg press reps for the quads and hamstrings.

Because of the labor day long weekend (we went to Hearst Castle and Solvang), i could not get my long run in till today, Sept 5th (Tuesday of the following week). I took off a bit early from work since i wanted to run outdoors for this long run of 10 miles. Still it was 6:45 pm by the time i started running on the Sawyer Trail and it was dark by the time i finished but fortunately, there were still some people walking on the trail ... was a bit cautious because of the niggle in the heal (had taken Aleve tablets to reduce the inflamation over the past couple of days) but fortunately was feeling fine though still not 100% ... ran at an average pace of ~ 10:30/mile for about 9.5 to 10 miles, got quite dark towards the end so had to hurry back ... My right heal is feeling fine so far, planning on icing it over the next few days and will take a break from the speed workout this week.

My fourth Yasso 800 --- Aug 31st 2006

On Thursday, i did my fourth Yasso 800. I warmed up for abt 7 mins or so, jogging along at 5.0 to 5.5 mph and then started my repeats of 4 mins at 7.5 mph (and jogs between at around 4.5 to 5 mph). I slowed the pace down slightly to about 7 mph for the last two repeats (was starting to feel bit tired) so could complete the slated 7 repeats for the week. Was totally exhausted. The next three speed workouts are going be quite tough. The next day, I felt pain in my right heel; maybe i was stamping my foot a bit too hard during the speed workout or the treadmill's cushioning system may not have been proper. I am hoping its nothing major and just a niggle.