Training Log Archive: Ari-o

And of course today is the day when Suunto decides to not sync.

End of month check in, and news, and new goals.

√ 200 miles (218)
√ 5000m D+ (5999)
√ Bounding (just once, though)
- Not getting injured surfing, other than a thigh bruise
√ Not a lot of yoga, more stretching, but blew through 1000 push up / sit ups this week
√ No 20 mile run, will blame the first May in SD history where every day topped 70˚
- Did not run to the InNOut

Some news: I have a repatriation plan. Flying back to Boston on Monday the 8th, bought a seat in F, wearing a mask, etc, etc. Heading up to Maine probably Sunday the 14th, when my family leaves, then isolating there until they come up the next weekend (which would be 13 days since my flight). Then Maine for the foreseeable future. Office closed until Sept at the earliest, good enough Internet there now to work from home (DSL better than advertised!).

So with that noted, goals for June:

* 200 miles of running. Will be some on trails. With shade.
* 10km D+. Maine is easier than here for D+, with mountains. (There are mountains here, but no shade, and the nearby trails are busy.)
* Bounding: lots, and easier, because the camp road is good for bounding.
* 1500 push ups and sit ups. This is very attainable if I keep my mind to it.
* Run to InNOut before I leave California
* Keep up with the last runner standing, meaning a 20 miler by EOM.
* Ride a metric century, prepare for a century in July.
* Mark out and start building a camp running trail.

Some more details …

* Plans for trails in Maine (I'm not supposed to leave Maine, but NH trails might be enticing, and I'm not going to catch crona out in the woods) are to go where they ain't, when they ain't. So Tumbledown on a weekend afternoon? Nosireebob. Tumbledown on a weekday morning before work? Sure, why not.
* Believe it or not my longest ever day on a bike was about 70 miles back in 2017. On an mtb biking down to the 3 Floyds Brewery from Chicago and back (the next year I did a slightly shorter ride on a 1970s Schwinn Varsity). But I'll have my road bike in Maine and lots of time, so no reason why 100 miles can't happen. I've mapped out some nice routes up there, probably starting with a 65 mile ride with really not much climbing on almost entirely back (non-state) roads.
* More hours! I'm getting in miles right now, but with only roads to run on, feel like it's hard to ramp up much/any more to avoid injury. Would love to mix in trails, bikes and rollerskiing while still running 40-50 miles each week.
* Got the idea to build some trails around camp, creating a loop and connecting over to some ski trails at the nearby school. Because having a 5 mile trail run out the door would be pretty darned nice.

Suunto app is failing today, their support is nonexistent and their UI is terrible.

But, I finally figured out how to export the .fit file (through the phone app, there seems to be no easy way to get into the watch through a desktop, so who knows if it doesn't download to the phone what I do) and now I'm sure it will sync with AP tomorrow.

Actually, they show up in the data import dialogue, but Suunto just hasn't pushed them yet!

Anyway, needed 16 miles for my contest, and still no marine layer, but at least some clouds. First 6 miles cloudy, and then I went and ran on the beach, which was good for my quad bruise. It was cool and breezy, the surf was quite high, and I ran all the way down the beach. That felt good, so I went back to the other end. Then it was just about the right distance home. Got real warm in the sun off the beach, my last mile was not fast.

HRM seemed to work pretty well, at least!

Then, burritos and farmers markets!

I got a chile relleno burrito, and then a chile relleno a la carte, and the guy offered to make it a chile relleno quersadilla, which was amazing, and also I ate a lot of food.

Probably 90% of my calorie intake today was Belinda's, and I am okay with that.

Ride wasn't bad, surprisingly not crowded on the bike path.

Downside of AP: If I forget to stop my watch, it doesn't autostop well. But I do get to see my heart rate during zero-movement time. And the wrist HRM seemed to work well here, although standing round waiting for my burrito at 44 bpm seems low.

Bike to La Jolla to get a book. Thought they were still closing at 4, so we pushed up the hill (single speed strong!) and flew down the other side and then they were open plenty long. But a good workout. Came back the flat way.

Around the Bay. Cool, cloudy, leg feeling much better. More silly HRM.

Test run. Iced my leg for a bit and ran. Could definitely feel it, but it was more uncomfortable than anything else. Went for about a 5k around the neighborhood.

A weird thing happened: around 3 o'clock the clouds rolled in and it was cool and not sunny and great running weather. So now I am hoping I am healed up because this is the San Diego I've been waiting for! (It sounds like we'll have a couple of weeks of May Gray/June Gloom for the rest of my time here.) Hoping I'm fully mended for some miles this weekend. Maybe even inland enough to go find some trails.

And the Great Covid Run Streak of 2020 is over!

I went out for a run and after a block my leg quickly reminded me that it had gotten bruised when a surfboard was whacked into it by a wave yesterday (and it was my most successful day, I almost stood up on said surfboard) and there was no sense in pushing through it, so a zero bar in the log for the first time in (shuffles papers) 68 days during which I've run 533 miles (7.8/day).

Also, I'm sitting on 777.5 miles for the year. Here are the dates I've passed 777.5 miles in recent years:

2014: 9/12
2015: 9/8
2016: 8/20
2017: 7/27
2018: 7/23
2019: 8/14

So being ~2 months ahead isn't too bad.

Let's see how things feel tomorrow. Maybe with some vitamin I.

C • Surfboard 2

I went bounding!

It was hot and sunny, but I had meetings before the marine layer vacated. Not too crowded in the park. Legs felt tired, though. Ran a mile or so to warm up, then did some easy bounding warmup on the park trails (which are pretty nice, actually, but completely exposed so hot and dusty) and then five times up a portion of the grassy hill, hard. This felt good to push. The first time up a passerby said "that looks hard." I could only nod in agreement.

Need to remember to wear the HRM … maybe it will start working.

Weekly progress …

Miles (200): on pace for 236
Vert (5000): on pace for 6400
Push ups/sit ups (1000): On pace for 1200. Was doing ~80/day but slacked off this weekend.
Bounding: Ugh, so there has been no marine layer, so the park is full of people. Maybe this week? Or I need to wake up earlier.
20 mile run: May happen this week, but again, if it's 75 and sunny it's hard to figure out how to do this without getting real dehydrated (there aren't trees here). The 15 went okay on the coolest day of the month, I guess.
InNOut: gotta do that!

May repatriate to the East Coast around June 5. Figuring out logistics of that.

Short run on some new roads. Surfing is tiring.

Not feeling great today, went out for a late run after getting sort of dehydrated. Slow on a route, but felt okay I guess.

There's a Strava thing called "last human running" and every week the amount you need to run in a single run or total increases by 2km (although more this week, because last week it was a half). So this week was 24km/15mi.

I plotted a nice route on some trails out up Rose Canyon, and while there was no marine layer clouds it was at least cooler today (looks like the first day in May it won't hit 70) so it was less struggly than last week. Ran 8s, slower on the trails and some hills, only saw a few people out, including one couple I passed twice, running 4 or 5 miles in the time they walked 1, and they commented on it, as I hadn't remembered passing them. Route was 14m, so I had to do a bit of a loop near the end for the even 15.

Also passed some bicyclists doing centuries per strava, apparently the Anaheim Pacific Surfliner station to San Diego is 100 miles even. Doesn't exactly seem essential, though.

Felt decent. HRM data still garbage. It looked good whenever I glanced at my watch, but every mile has a 213 max so there are random spikes the whole time. I even wet it before I put it on! Ugh.

Headed out up some new roads up on the hill. Marine layer blew in this afternoon for the first time in a long time, so clouds and a cool breeze in the 60s. Felt pretty great. My left sinus feels a bit out of whack, and a lot of snot rockets were blown at great social distance. Felt good otherwise.

Weekend looks nice. Need to run 15 to stay in the "last man standing" contest on Strava. Which apparently is still allowed on Strava. There's a 200m segment I ran today in 9th overall, but of course Strava killed the non-paying customer leaderboards, but I can still sort of see it, but do I really care enough to pay to see that? Not sure.

HRM worked for about a mile of the run. HaRruMph.

Another bright sunshiney day, no marine layer, evening run.

Another garbage HRM data workout!

But a good run up and down the mountain.

Run around the bay. Not too warm today but breezy. A slow mile along Mission in the alleys. High surf for a couple more days, then going to try surfing again.

Forgot the HRM strap and the wrist data was trash.

C • Friendly button 1

Late start, short run, just down to the beach, along the beach (running on sand is hard, especially at high tide when you have to run on the soft bits) and then back up.

Funny time profile, two huge peaks when I ran for the light at Ingraham to make the green. On the way out it shows me peaking at a 4:47 mile! I should go find a track (I don't think they're open, alas).

Strava money-protected a bunch of features, and one of them is grade-adjusted pace. Which I don't really use that much, but is kind of sad to see go. Maybe one day I'll pay for Strava (but first I'd write my check to AP!).

My miles per day 30 day rolling average just dropped precipitously, because it just popped off the 36 miles I did when I ran my marathon and then 10 days the next day. But still, I'm not injured, running 50 mile weeks, and even riding some bikes now. I am sad to be missing seabreeze season in Boston, I'd kill for 55 to run in right now (another day in the 70s today; looks like it will likely be the first May, ever, in San Diego history, to hit 70 every day).

C • Pay for Attackpoint! 6

Jaunt up the hill and down. With the detour around the steep, crowded climb it's a 10k. With a hill.

Some janky HRM data, though, ugh.

Also, I've never been one to go on a running streak, but I've now run at least a mile (in fact, at least two) for 60 days straight.

Over to the LJ farmers market for burritos. Out on the bike path which was crowded, so on the way back I said "how about we try going up the hill."

No issue for Nadia, who has an e-bike. Issue for me: I have a singlespeed. Apparently an 8-9% sustained grade is just about the most I can do; I was standing on the pedals the whole way up at about 6 mph. Certainly not efficient, but I got a good little L3 in (because the other option was walking).

Then at the top there is a big banner for the website for Mount Soledad church:

"We're online! MOUTNTSOLEDAD.ORG"

.

Afternoon run. Timed this terribly. Marine layer all morning, and it broke right when I had time to run between family and friend zooms and burritos.

So not too fast. Up the bike path, then up a dirt path (fast hike, steep) and then down through La Jolla. Back into cloudy times for a while, so I shouldn't be too lobstered.

Progress report time!

Miles (200): On pace for 233
Vert (5000): On pace for 6900
Hill bounding: Still haven't gone! Tomorrow morning!
Sit/push (1000): On pace for 911 (up from 558 last week)
20 mile run: Did a hot half today. Will need cooler weather or to go early. It's been in the 70s every day this month, which already has the month in the top 20 of ~150. The median is about 8. The average temperature, so far is the second highest, just 0.2 degrees off the record highest. It does tend to be cooler later in the month, and this might all be based on water temperature (I don't know local climatology that well) but it would be a lot nicer to have every day in the 60s rather than 70s with the sun beating down several degrees higher in the sky than Boston in June as we're about 10 degrees latitude lower here.

[/rant] (have to use square brackets because AP eats invalid html tags :)

Haven't run to InNOut yet, but I did eat meat for the first time in nearly two months today since the burrito truck was out of chile relleno burritos. The chile verde was plenty good.

So today Nadia took her e-bike on the Farmers Market run (and just walked with it through the market; it's more expensive than my road bike!). This was good, because it tops out at 20 mph with the e-assist so we spent most of the way cruising at about 18, which was a nice workout for me and about 10 minutes faster than last week, each way. I definitely drafted on the way down into the wind :)

Only issue: the moronic drivers were let out of their cages today. One guy yelled at me for being in the middle of the lane at a red light (mostly to avoid the right turn lane) and of course was even more incensed when I caught up with him and told him to go read vehicle code and get back to me. Then on the way back some guy was trying to take a right turn in to a do not enter and someone else was sitting in the lane on their phone at 5 mph, amongst other transgressions. Nature is healing, I guess? Ugh.

A bit slower on the way back because we bought a lot of vegetables. Nadia has decided that all citrus must be made into sorbet and I can't argue with that.

On the good news: I updated the firmware of my Suunto last night and it works so much better! The wrist HRM works sometimes (which is better than never) and I bet the chest works better. The elevation works a lot better so I don't have to have Strava update the elevation every time. So, that's good. But how their firmware was so buggy earlier? Half the reason I updated it was that the date showed the wrong day of the week. I mean come on.

Anyway, hopefully this is a good trend.

Firmwear fixed!

Wow, it's much easier to, say, try to stay in L1 when your watch works. No janky spikes on the HRM, the elevation works at the end (but Strava seems to bump it up, so I'll take the extra vert) and it even gives me temperature. Amazing.

Now, why did they ship a watch with completely buggy software on it?

Tired of same old same old, I found some new roads today. Went out to the part of Loring I hadn't run, which was rollercoastery, then up Pacifica, no less steep, then some new roads up top of Kate Sessions, then a new way down from Alta La Jolla. Missed one turn at some point (memory-O, basically) and my punishment was running the Loring Cliff. Oof.

Good news is that other than some odd spikes the HRM strap worked! I think I need to turn off the wrist HRM which I think gives it spikes. I have no idea if I can do that.

Well I was going to be good and bound. And then I got a call to do some data work, and that took all day.

Ran the data while I ran, and it ran! Another nice run up the hill. I should be doing other things, but they put a hill here, goddamn it, and I want to run up it! I did get a 4:17 pace gunning for (and making) the India Street light going on to Foxtrot.

Going to put this as L2 as I ran pretty well. Nice breeze, feeling good, and avoiding the crowded park area by going looping on some side streets. 8:15s at the top of the hill and then speedy down. A guy going up the hill (slowly, on a bicycle, on the wrong side, swerving around) commented on my knees. Dude, these knees have seen much, much worse.

Then down to the grocery. Remembered my buff today!

Then a jog to the bank and then home. I'm rich!

Felt very blah today, and my run—at 8s around the bay—showed it.

About halfway through I realized I'd forgotten a face covering, so no trip to the grocery store for me! Whoops. Pie will have to wait until tomorrow.

Last mile it started … raining?

Week in review (because I have nothing better to do) …

Heat broke last week, so I was able to up my mileage a bit. Last few days were nice, fast hills and a fun long run. Also, I got a bicycle!

So, 10 days into May, where am I as far as my training goals?

200 miles: on pace for 230
5000m of vert: on pace for 6400
Hill bounding: have not gone yet
Surfing: hard! But with really nice conditions the other day I almost got up.
More yoga: less, need to work on this.
Pushups/Situps: 180/180, on pace for 558, but good progress in the last couple of days.
20 mile run: Not yet, might save it for the "last human standing" thing and do it towards the end of the month.

One addition: InNOut run, wherein I do a long run ending at the InNOut. I have not eaten meat in about two months! I don't really miss it. But I'm not going vegetarian. I don't eat that much anyway. But we have a lot of cheese!

This week looks cool and dry, and my work schedule does not appear to have any day-long zoom sessions.

Planning for East Coast repatriation is getting interesting. Camp is open in Maine, with social distancing regulations, but seems to be the place to go. Internet is questionable: if the cell network isn't back (it was great a couple years ago and has since been almost non-existent; we think they reaimed an antenna on a tower at the top of the hill) I think I can make do with DSL and doing some voice calls as necessary up the hill. Seems better than roommates in Cambridge. I would likely join my family's Maine-Boston quarantine pod, spending most time up north. Flights seem fine, especially going from less-effected (maybe due to a less virulent strain?) California to the east coast, and then trying to have as little contact in Mass until things are looking better there.

Then longer term planning gets interesting. I've had a great deal on an apartment in a neighborhood I love in Cambridge for nearly a decade, but given coronavirus + having a job, I could afford my own place and might want one. But I probably have time to look at getting one, and who knows what the rental market will look like in September (fewer students, lower demand, but maybe higher demand for 1BRs?). Sort of a holding pattern. I need to give notice on my current place by July 1 if I want to stay.

But then I got to thinking … if things are looking pretty work-from-home-y for the long term, what could I do next winter? Had a crazy thought that I could spend the fall in my parents' basement (they hosted my sister and brother-in-law for several months after they got married) and then look at finding a well-situated winter-long rental. Well-situated meaning somewhere with good Internet in, say, the NEK or northwest Wisconsin. I mean, why not?

C • Bike 2

I said I would go out for 45 minutes and was out for … 45 minutes.

Didn't feel great going up, and it wasn't my fastest time on the loop, but my legs might be tired after the weekend adventure.

Over to La Jolla, and then to the spiral bridge, and then up the trail there. It was quite eroded, but steep with great views. Felt very good to be in nature, at least for a few minutes. Mostly fast hiking up there at at 20-30% grade. A couple of cops shooting the breeze at the top. From there, Strava said I could run on a road which appeared to be gated, and it was, but there was a pedestrian bypass. It went by the entrance to a huge estate, with a not-very-friendly German Shepherd sitting inside, so if you wanted to get in with a car, that's two gates and a German Shepherd, at a minimum. I did not say hello, and went through the next gate, and up more hill to the top.

Then down, not very fast, after 10+ miles. Via La Jolla Alta, because there's a Strava "Last Human Standing" challenge which is like a Last Man Standing race but a weekly race which increases in distance by 2 km every week, for both single run and total distance, until the creator gets a vaccine. This week was 18km, so I was looking for 11.2 miles.

The big house is owned by Joan Waitt, the ex-wife of the founder of Gateway Computers. She has done well for herself, it seems (and he is half as rich as he was and remarried to a supermodel, because of course).

Taking the new bike for a spin to the farmers' market. Not a bad machine. A bit small but not painfully so, pretty light and fast when I needed it to be. Perfectly comfy for 80m of easy riding. Not bad for the low low price of a free borrowed bicycle! Single speed, so today's route avoiding any big hills was fine. La Jolla would be fine too (but tomorrow we are picking up a tray of enchiladas, so driving). Over the hill? Not so much.

Doesn't fit the surf board rack, alas, so there might be a beach cruiser purchase to get to the ocean.

Morning surf and my shoulder hurts, then biking, then going to buy a surf bike rack, and then finally running. Also, feeling like I drank the ocean this morning.

But once out running, I felt good, so did more than the 4 I was planning. Up Soledad, down the north road. The 6:30 downhill miles are feeling not bad, might have to crank up some downhill intervals one of these days.

And get out early to do bounding, the park is packed in the evening.

Cooler for the foreseeable future!

I should also see if I can make my HRM work, the elevation-adjusted pace for these runs is pushing into marathon pace, and it's probably got some L2 and L3 going down. Well, you're supposed to train faster for running. It took the marathon getting canceled for me to really become a runner. Since I got here and started running every day I've run 51 straight days (my longest streak of running by far) and 404 miles. It helps to not have any other toys (rollerskis, bicycle, etc) so just my feet. So far they're holding up.

Blue - Splits

642 miles so far this year running.

Last year I made 642 on my birthday in July.

Earliest ever before: June 19.

I'll be pushing 1000 by June 19 (probably a bit shy).

This will be off the charts. Literally. My annual running mileage chart only goes to 1400. My last four years have been:

1276.5 1350 1371 1392.5

So unless I get injured, I should be able to push past the 1400 marker by mid-fall.

Did the #IRunWithMaud with Nadia. Out at a respectable pace (for her): 9:20s, but she was wheezing pretty well as we made the turn for home.

And then a loop on my own, which was pretty nice. Pushed a bit over the top to do a <8 mile and then <6:30s down the hill, feeling good. Hopefully some adventuring this weekend, it should be cool!

The first 9 days of May in the history of San Diego have had 125 days 75˚ or warmer. The last 9 days of the month: 66.

It's twice as likely to be warm in the first part of the month and, in fact, late May is the least likely time to be over 75 of the year.

Oceans are weird.

Long zoom day, but cooler today, so I went for a run. Felt crampy, but it shook out, so I went over to Nautilus. On the bike path there were two pairs of people walking six feet apart. Lots of people trying to pass and they didn't move. Uh, guys, it's not just social distancing from yourselves. I had words for them, but I should have just gone by and sneezed.

Then a nice run up, and a fast run down, came down well under 8s.

Should be the warmest day for a while. The chance of an 80˚ day in SD in early May is 3x the chance of an 80˚ day in late may.

Another hot day. Finally went out, late. Full moon, smelly sea foam.

Watch didn't start.

Busy day so morning run between calls.

It's warm again, and in the sun was hot, even at 10:30 sun. Also, the bioluminescent algae is dying off and everything smells of rotting algae (and maybe rotting fish, if there's a lack of oxygen) and it's not as bad up the hill, but still kind of smells like a fish market.

Went up to the top of the hill, up the stairs there, and then down. Sweated a lot, glad I brought water.

Calls wound up going late, so I went on a quick sunset run. Up to ALJ and back. Unremarkable except when I was going down Delta and approaching India (Delta has been converted into a no thru traffic street which is nice) and about 25 feet from the light noticed it was a stale green with a flashing walk sign. I broke into a sprint as the light changed to yellow and let out an audible "shit" as I quickened my stride. A woman walking on the sidewalk laughed at that, and then cheered as I made it across India on the yellow and I raised my hand for victory.

On the way down Lima towards Bravo, I saw traffic approaching the light's loop detectors. The lights here are very hostile to non-cars, most require pedestrians push a button to get a signal, and otherwise have very short cycles for cars on the secondary street before resetting. In fact, I've seen a light stay red when a car was detected, took a right on red, and the main street went green-yellow-red-immediately green while the cross street never changed. This is just an absolute deference to cars, in somewhere which should be very walkable. And don't get me started on missing curb cuts and the fact that there are very few painted crosswalks. But once you learn them you can sometimes use them for running. So I saw a car approaching the loop detectors, quickened my stride, and made it through the light as it changed to yellow.

Then we went to another neighborhood to borrow a bike. Thanks November Project! It's a bit small, and single speed, but should be fine for getting to/from the beach. Especially once I get a surf board rack :)

* I refer to the alphabetized streets here by their NATO phonetic names. Makes it easier than remembering them. Except sometimes Noyes, which I will call No Yes.

C • Real Americans 7

Sunday exploration! Out to Ocean Beach. They could do a hell of a lot better by bicyclists and pedestrians here. But at least the running was nice.

Surprisingly sore yesterday from the surfing, getting bashed around. Shoulders a bit sore from paddling. So, more core. Breezy today so the surfing was not so great. Not too warm, some clouds, and drank a lot of water.

Event: 7 Sisters
 

We went surfing this morning. Well, I made some valiant attempts and drank a lot of salt water. And two hours in the sun and sea and I was dehydrated all day.

Finally went out for a run, felt decent. In the dark, a bit cooler.

I had some emotional "what the fuck is going on with the world" unloading and needed to go for a good, hard run. This was good and reasonably hard. I forgot some of my troubles, and even thought of a better way to write some code I an trying to run.

So a good run.

It's May 1, so it's time to set some goals for May, since time is a flat circle. I thought about this a bit, too. After the "marathon" in April I slacked off a bit, I didn't want to get injured, and I really have nothing to train for. I guess Birkie registration is open? But who knows.

Anyway, I thought about this some, too. So May goals:

1) 200 miles of running. Some can be on trails.
2) 5000m of vert
3) As part of 2), some hill bounding. The park is open, and there's a nice punchy hill to run there.
4) I am the proud owner of a <$100 wetsuit, and there is a surf board for me to use, so, goal: try not to get injured surfing.
5) Do more yoga/yoga sculpt and, say, 1000 push ups and 1000 sit ups for core strength. Maybe more.
6) At least one run of 20 miles. Maybe more.

C • Birkie 2