Another double workout day

You can't have mud without rain and we've certainly had our fair share of rain here in the land of mild seasons.  Of course rain alone does not a good mud make.  Clay is the key ingredient to a soft, sticky, shoe sucking mud and the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve has plenty of clay in the top soils.

So what's the net of the net?  As any experienced trail runners hailing from our muddy lands will tell you, it means an outsole made of, well.....mud.  Even the most agressive outsoles can't clear mud from between the lugs.  By the end of this mornings run the bottom of my shoes looked just like the trail I ran on.  Below is what my shoes looked like BEFORE running - squeaky clean.

Fellow NB Excelsior teammate Jonathan Kimura, his friend (and dog) and I headed out for an easy 6 mile hilly run on these mud caked trails.  It was perfect running weather out there - sunny, cool, light breeze.  The mud wasn't keeping other trail users away and we saw many other runners, hikers, mountain bikers and even a few folks on horseback.  Here is what my shoes looked like AFTER I beat most of the caked-on, baked-on mud off.

As you can see from the course profile on Strava there's not much flat at Fremont Older.  There are however excellent view of the entire South Bay.

Since I'm on the "if a little is good more is better" training plan I ran again this afternoon with my bride of 11 years.  Just an easy 4.7 miles on the Stevens Creek Trail.  Check out our blistering pace here: http://app.strava.com/runs/6746046.

Total running for the day - 10+ miles.  Beer me.

A double workout day. A double weather day.

Thunderstorms in California?  Yep, they blew through the Bay Area last night.  Thunderstorms were a common Springtime occurrence when I lived in the Northeast but since moving West in 2006 they've been few and far between.  The fireworks were gone by this morning but the dynamic weather was not (sun, rain, sun, rain.....).

This morning I ran 9 miles on the roads at just over 7 minute pace and focused primarily on technique.  It can be easy for moderate runs like this to become mindless "junk miles" so while my cardiovascular system wasn't be taxed I thought about several aspects of running form.

- Cadence. 86 to 87 strides per minute, light, quick and consistant.
- Arm swing & knee drive.  Drive the elbow back as the knee drives forward.
- Strong, stable core. Navel to spine.  A powerful, efficient stride starts with the abdominal muscles.
- Soft, supple and relaxed head, neck, shoulders, upper spine.
- Complete stride, engage & push with all core and leg muscles.  Feel each stride start and the core and end with toe push off.

Equipment list: Due to intermittent rain I opted for a tight fitting Salomon EXO top.  Still smarting from a little chaff after Tuesday's long run in the rain.  XR Crossmax shoes, XT 2 Light shorts, light hat and gloves.


This afternoon I went out for a 24 mile road bike ride with a 85% hard effort up Page Mill Rd from Arastradero to Moody.  I completed that 2.5 mile segment (670' climb) in 12:01 - short of my PR of 10:50 but a good hard & controlled effort.  With two bike races coming up next week at the Sea Otter Classic I really need my bike rides to have some quality (hard) efforts.

No rain this afternoon but the wind was up and dark clouds over the higher elevations looked threatening.  Thank goodness for the sun because the air temp today was only in the 50's and coming downhill was a chilly affair.  Note to self: bring a darn vest next time.

Equipment list: My Iron Data Thirsty Bear Cycling Team kit.  SIDI road shoes from 2005 (time for new shoes??), Rudy Project glasses and helmet, MASI Evoluzione with Dura-ace.

12 miles on the road at a brisk pace

I woke up at 5 AM to hear pouring rain and all I could think about was how wet my feet were going to get during today's run.  Fortunately I fell back asleep waking a couple hours later to clear skys and sun.  Following a long, slow trail run (Tuesday) and speed work (Wednesday), today's plan was to run 12ish miles on flat roads at under 7 minute pace.  I feel like these workouts will be a good foundation for speed work and help me in races longer than 10 miles.


In honor of the new Google+ UI design launched yesterday I wore white (#whitespace).

Equipment list: today's sunny skys mean the opportunity to try the multilaser blue lenses in my new Rudy Project Genetyk glasses.  Unlike most of the sunglasses I use, the Genetyk has a slightly larger single piece lens.  With better visibility over the nose bridge it's beter suited for cycling or cross country skiing but still makes a good pair of running sunglasses.  I also tried a new pair of shorts today - the Salomon EXO Motion shorts.  These shorts have more material and are heavier than the Twin Skin EXO S-Lab shorts but also have a built in "bike short" style liner.  Having used both I prefer the lighter and more sparten S-Lab version - especially in warmer weather conditions.  Shoes: XR Crossmax.  Shirt: ActiLite zip t-shirt.

The run was pretty uneventful.  I took my usual route North on the Stevens Creek Trail to the Bay Trail; around the Google campus and Shoreline Park.  My pace averaged under 7 minutes per mile as planned.  Overall I felt good and much stronger at the end of the run than I did after similar runs in January / February.  When May rolls around I'd like to start doing this kind of workout at sub 6:30.  We'll see how that feels at the end of the run.  :-)