July 30

PM: 18 miles easy

After surfing in the morning, I went out in the heat of the day for my long run around the back bay in Newport Beach. I came back with dry mouth and sunburn for my efforts in the first run where I've really felt the heat here in California.

July 29

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

Following an easy morning run on the creek path, I had to bag my race in San Francisco this weekend because Wilson got pretty sick. I'm going to shoot for a 15k trail race in San Diego in two weeks instead.

July 28

AM: 11 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

Easy recovery run on the creek path, and then a shake-out run with Valerie in the evening.

July 27

AM: 2-mile, 800m, 2-mile, 800m, with 3:00 jog recoveries - 10 miles
PM: weights, core

I ran this workout on the creek trail, using the Garmin to take splits. I'd say I felt good enough, trying to hit half-marathon pace on the long reps and 5k pace on the short reps.

Splits: 10:48, 2:30, 10:49, 2:28

July 25

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

Today was a pair of east runs on the creek path: one to the back bay in the morning, and another to the Civic Center in Irvine in the evening.

July 25

AM: 9 miles easy

Morning run on the creek path before a long day at work with a presentation and late deadline.

July 24 (76 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles moderate

I ventured out again for an out-and-back on the creek trail for my long run this morning. Obviously, I haven't really grown tired of this run yet. There's all of one stoplight with constantly changing scenery, so it's difficult to get too boring or monotonous.

This morning was one of the best runs of the summer: my legs felt fantastic. I floated the last 6.5 miles in 40 minutes without trying to pick up the pace at all or really pushing too much. I hope I can carry these loose legs and positive feelings into the half marathon in San Francisco next weekend.

July 23

AM: 12 miles easy

I got in a morning run on the creek trail and along the back bay. I didn't really feel much staleness at all from taking yesterday off.

July 22

AM: weights, core

I managed to lift in the morning, but I unfortunately abandoned my afternoon run amid a big project deadline at work and a late night at the office.

July 21

AM: 8 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

Easy in the morning along the creek path, and then again in the afternoon with Valerie.

July 20

AM: 10 miles easy, hill sprints

I felt surprisingly solid this morning along the creek path, as well as afterward on the hill sprints.

It's harder to write about something new in California because the weather is the same every day, and I do the same variation of run just about every day.

July 19

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

One unsettling trend I've noticed this spring and summer is that it's rare if I feel good on the second run of an afternoon double. This is one of those runner-dilemmas where I'm not sure if I'll feel better by running less or running more (or more frequently, in terms of running twice per day).

July 18

AM: 75-minute progression run - 13+ miles
PM: weights, core

I worked from home today and was thus able to knock out my workout at lunchtime. The advantage there is that I'm more awake, but the mid-day sun proved a little crippling. I hit the first 4 miles in 25:15 along the creek trail. I brought the pace down to 6:00 by the turnaround, and I closed the last 4-plus miles in 22 minutes, jogging back from the trail as a short cooldown.

July 17 (66 miles/week)

AM: 11 miles easy

I concluded a travel/light week with a morning run through Moorestown, NJ, finding my way out to some country roads past corn fields. I flew back to California that afternoon, which is a strange feeling to be going home to the West Coast. I apparently had Weird Al Yankovich with me on my flight back. I didn't get a good look at him (Weird Al flies first-class!), but that marks my first LA-celebrity sighting: a fitting one, at that.

July 16

AM: 7 miles easy

This was basically the same run as yesterday but shorter on account of all-day wedding stuff.

July 15

AM: 9 miles easy

I still felt like crap from not sleeping Wednesday night, but I got in a slow 65-minute run through Morrestown, NJ.

July 14

PM: 5 miles easy

I was a total zombie from logging only two or three hours of broken sleep last night while flying across country, but I was still able to stumble out the door from Samy's parent's house for a shake-out run through Maple Shade.

July 13

AM: 12 x 2:00 on/1:00 off - 11 miles

I posted a decent workout on the creek trail in the morning before taking a red-eye out of LAX in the evening to Samy's wedding in New Jersey and Philadelphia.

July 12

AM: 10 miles easy

I had a surprising spring in my step on the creek trail this morning. I felt like I hadn't slept in days when my alarm went off at 5:30, yet I knew from my first step this that my legs felt fantastic and fresh, carrying the rest of my ragged skin and bones along the way.

July 11

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: weights, core

I felt more or less horrible on my morning run, but I was happy to get into the gym after work.

July 10 (86 miles/week)

AM: 18 miles easy

I ran back to Shady Canyon for my long run today. We got in late last night, so I didn't get started until around 11:30. "Shady" is a definite misnomer for this run. I felt like I was wearing the sun as a hat the entire time. That being said, it's still a great loop with varied terrain and surfaces, as well as some quality scenery in the above area that's an affluent OC suburb with a ton of preserved open space and trails.

I was hoping to hit more miles this week, but I'll take 86 miles on 8 runs with a week of work travel. Next week will also have some question marks regarding training, starting with a red-eye Wednesday night: I'm flying to Philadelphia for my college roommate's wedding (Samy) and will be there through Sunday.

July 9

AM: 2 x 2-mile @ half-marathon pace (3:00 recovery), 2 x 1-mile @ 10k pace (1:30 recovery) - 11+ miles

I obviously was not meant to be on the track today. When I showed up following my warmup to UCI, I again found every gate padlocked with an ominous sign not unlike the one above. I sulked and went back to the creek trail and ran the workout as planned, hitting 10:54, 10:48, 5:15, and 5:15. All of those times are probably realistic for my ongoing stalled/regressed level of fitness. But you can't keep a good man down: Valerie and I spent the rest of the day at Disneyland (again), which can only be described as a pleasant sensory overload.

July 8

PM: 13 miles easy

I ran slowly on the creek trail after work and flying back from Sacramento. My legs felt stiff and terrible, but I explored some new dirt trails that zig-zag across the paved creek trail.

July 7

PM: 9 miles easy/moderate, treadmill

After a long day of work that started at 7:00, I got in a treadmill run at the hotel, opting to watch Man v. Food instead of experiencing a real man-versus-food battle while running in the central California heat. The treadmill was a little shaky but got the job done.

July 6

AM: 11 miles easy

Slow morning run along the creek trail. I flew up to Sacramento for work in the evening.

July 5

AM: 9 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

These were just a pair of runs along the creek trail. I'm whipped-tired from a long weekend.

July 4 - Scripps Ranch 10k

AM: 10k road race, 32:42, 6th place - 10 miles

I went on a surprisingly muggy morning inland from Carlsbad with my brother Eric, Valerie, and Wilson to jump in a race to see where my fitness was. The race directors and fellow Maryland Terp Eric Marenburg billed this as a fast course, which it was. The first mile was gradually uphill, climbing up to Miramar reservoir, before bombing downhill for the last mile. After a hilly warmup and a weird start where the race director didn't so much ask as demand all men to remove their caps for the national anthem, we were on our way.

I had no idea what to expect other than that the race is usually won in sub-31:00. By the time the racers separated from the chuckleheads in the first mile, I was behind a chase pack. I missed the first mile marker but had wanted to go out in a conservative 5:15, so I was happy when I hit the 2-mile in 10:30. I was not happy, however, with how I was feeling. I began to labor under the morning's humidity, and to top it off I was running alone. I hit the next mile in 5:19 and told myself to get tough for just ten more minutes, and, for the love of god, to relax a little. I started getting passed by other runners as my next two mile splits were an agonizing 5:35 and 5:29 as I fought every mini-battle, step for step to hold my position. By the time we got to mile 5, I'd written the race off as a bad day with work to be done, as I was sitting as high as ninth place. I was done.

Or so I thought. I've been told before that I'm a good downhill runner. To me, that's somewhat of a backhanded compliment given that running downhill seems like the easiest part of running, like telling a baseball player, "you recover really well on the bench between innings." Running downhill toward the the finish, I noticed guys started coming back to me as we careened around the turn, I almost linebackered a little girl who wandered into the course from an adjacently held fun run.

The runner immediately in front of me was making a move to pass another guy who appeared to be hurting on the downhill, and I saw my window. The passed runner looked left at the guy passing him, and I jumped on that fleeting moment to pull the trigger on the right, passing them on the blind side as they exchanged glances with each other. I worked hard to hold them off in the next 600m, catching one more runner in the process and kicking like hell to do so. After I crossed the finish, one of the guys approached me and said, "Nice kick. That was a great move."

Let's just say it's been a while since I've heard anything like that. I have know where that burst of speed came from.

Whether the mile markers were off or I actually did have a strong kick today (probably some of both), that means I closed my last 1.2 miles in 5:48--considerably faster than the five miles that preceded it. While much of that was downhill, it was also at the very end of a 10k where I thought I was in serious trouble, and the last 300m were still decidedly flat and thus an "even" playing field for a sprint finish.

I'm not sure what to make of it all, except that a bad race turned into an OK race because of some unforeseen speed. I'm not racing again until the end of the month (at the SF Half Marathon), so we'll see what comes of it.

July 3 (77 miles/week)

AM: 8 miles easy, hill sprints

I snuck in an easy run along the PCH in the morning while the rest of my family was at church. I'm racing in the morning and am looking forward to testing the waters again.

July 2

AM: 13 miles easy/moderate

I ran an out-and-back to the Back Bay in the morning before we drove to Carlsbad for the weekend in the afternoon to visit my brother Eric and his family. I felt pretty chipper.

July 1

AM: 4 miles easy

I could only fit in a slow shake-out shuffle this morning before an early flight and all-day work outing in Sacramento.

June 30

AM: 16 miles easy/moderate

I got a little turned around and went farther than I expected while exploring a new route through Shady Canyon. This meant I had to high-tail it home to get to work, ducking under 6:00 pace by the time I got to the creek trail. That being said, the run featured some modest climbing, really nice homes, and proved to be the prettiest run I've had in California so far this summer.

June 29

AM: 9 x 3:00 on/1:00 off - 11 miles

More garbage legs this morning. I decided to grind through the workout, but it wasn't pretty.

June 28

AM: weights, core
PM: 11 miles easy

I waited until after work to run because I had to take my car into the shop, and my legs felt like absolute garbage when I did.

June 27

AM: 10 miles easy
PM: 4 miles easy

Easy morning run on the San Diego Creek Trail, and then a shake-out with Valerie after work.