Tom = painfully slow

Painful run for Tom as we did our usual 70 minutes. He struggled from the gate. My heart rate was around 110 before we agreed to run separate. I was close to walking. Danny and I finished off the last 30 minutes together.  I could feel Sunday's hills. My quads were tired, but otherwise I was okay.

Villa run

Sunday: Ran 70 minutes with D. We cruised the college and then climbed the ladder all the way up to Villa Montavalo and back. Best hill run in a while. Heart rate stayed in the 120's going up hill. My recovery was good coming back down.

Dusted

Danny was out but Tom was waiting as I drove in to WVC. We ran 70 minutes. Tom did a step ahead on me so finally I cranked it up to 65-70% of max and dusted him. We laughed about it during our post run coffee.

70 minutes

I ran an easy 70 minutes on Tuesday morning with Tom and Danny. Great conditions. Sunny and cool.

Back to back

Rather than loading one day, I did back to back 55-60 minute runs. Saturday was pretty slow. Sunday included 35 minutes of stride, jog on the track.

MAF like

Tuesday and Thursday were each 70 minute slow runs. Thursday may have been one of my lowest average heart rate runs ever. 118-122. Almost MAF like. Danny showed Tuesday to run but walked Thursday. Tom was good for both runs.

AT 1500

Saturday: Quiet 35 minute jog chatting with Brian Conroy.

Sunday: D came over to my house to run a 1500 meter AT effort (88-92%) on the Blackberry Farm Course. We jogged over by a circuitous route (25 minutes) and did some strides.

The 1500 was pretty even. It was warm and slightly humid so I had no problems getting my HR up into range. We passed 800 meters in 3:37 and hit the finish in 6:43 which converts into a 7:15 mile.

We then jogged 25 minutes back to my house.

Danny showed up on time

Tom was down Santa Barbara way wine tasting. Danny showed up on time (shock) ready to run. We did an hour of easy stuff (nothing new there) under cool sunny skies. Went to breakfast afterward.

Walked Lucy over the 3000 meter course at Black Berry Farm mid day.

Slow as I could

Ran slow as I could with Tom. Danny showed for breakfast. He was beat up roofing his gazebo.

If Tom wears his HRM then I don't need to wear mind. His easy effort is really easy for me.

Slow weekend

Saturday consisted of a really slow and easy 40 minute run.

Sunday was 70 minutes of slow running with 30 minutes of 100 meters stride - jog thrown in.

60 minutes

Uneventful 60 minute run followed by a ten minute warm down walk. Danny, Tom and I. Very sunny. It warmed up fast. Not hot, but springlike rather than anything resembling winter. Danny and I had breakfast. Tom had to meet Bob the plumber to install a dishwasher.

Sue's been fighting off a UTI. I offered to go to Whole Foods and shop. It was like a flying circus in there. Came out with food and my scalp.

AT Run

Saturday: 30 minute easy run.

Sunday: D came to my house. We jogged over to the Stevens Creek Trail and headed down to the west end as a warm up. I've measured out a 3000 meter course (out and back). It's all composite surfaced trail. A few good rises and plenty of turns with a brutal fishhook right near the start-finish.

The plan was to run 3k at 85-90% which is what we proceeded to do. The weather was sunny, cool and with a slight breeze. Because I haven't done one of these in a long time, I had no idea what to expect. The biggest challenge was to figure out a conversion rate for 3k AT to 5K race potential.

Anyhow, I ran the thing in 15:08 with D on my shoulder. Rarely went as high as 90% until the last 400. Mostly 85-88%.

We then jogged a warm down replicating the warmup. 55 minutes all told including striders just before the AT run.

The only issue was that I felt my upper left achilles tweak once during the harder effort. I backed off slightly and the tweak backed off too. My guess is that the cause was a nice hill I ran yesterday. My left leg is not ready for prime time. Still, the leg didn't bother me during the warm down.

I iced and put on capsaicin afterwards.