October 22 ~ October 28, 2011

10/22/2011 – I had a long workday on Friday.  So I slept in some till 07:00, woke up, grabbed some coffee and oatmeal while I put beans, rice, and peanut into a crock pot, and then around 08:55, I headed out and started my 14 miles long run on Matthew Hanson Trail via RCP Trail.  My house is located near mile 12th on MHT; so I ran south toward Bethesda.  Most part of the run is on Parks Half Marathon course, which I pretty familiar with.  I got to mile fifth at 53:29, and then I turn around 7.08 miles, and headed back home.  I clocked 52:00 flat for the return trip.  I felt great.  I think probably because the cool temp in the autumn made my run easy. 

As I return home, I took out very much tender cooked beans and peanut out of the slow cooker and pour into a stove top pot.  Then I added in a can of coconut milk and rock sugar.  It is for the dessert for Jake Manner’s cookout party.  I took the pot out to the RCP and spend an excellent afternoon with my friends.  I honestly did not spend lots of time Jake, but I truly enjoy the time that we ran together, the cookout, and most notably, his home brew.  I wish them all the best in the Green Mountain State and hope will see them again in the future.

10/23/2011 – I drank good amount of alcohol in the cookout the day before; but I still manage to get out of bed early enough to ran an easy 36:06, approx.4.75 miles in Aspen Hill.  Around noon, my friend Mark came by my house and helps me haul several dozen pounds of pine needle to the curb.  It was hard work, but a good exercise for shoulders and arms.

10/24/2011 – After spoke with few friends after Akron marathon, they all suggested me to add in a second workout during the week.  So, started this week, I added (back) tempo run into my training plan.  The plan is 4 x 1 mile repeat at the pace between 6:00 and 6:15. 

I jogged from my office to East Potomac Park as warm up for approx. 1.5 mile.  I started my tempo run under the Fourteenth Street Bridge toward Hais Point.  I ran precisely 1.04 mile in each repetition and clocked 6m’31s’, 6m’31s’, 6m’24s’, and 6m’19s’; which 6m’16s’, 6m’16s’, 6m’09s’, and 6m’04s’.  At the end, I finished with the workout with 2.3 miles jog back to office from Lincoln Memorial.  I finished with 53:20 of approx. total 7.7 miles for the day.

10/25/2011 – I had a good night sleep and don’t feel the soreness from the tempo run.  However, I still took it easy for my run during lunch hour.  I ran for 52:13 for approx. 7.0 miles from office to TR Island and back.

10/26/2011 – Track workout.  It was my second workout for the week.  I planned to run 2x800 at 2m’56 & 2m’54 with 3 minutes break, 3x3200 at 12m’44, 12m’36, & 12m’28 with 3 minutes break, 4x400 at 88s, 86s, 84s, &82s with 1.5 minutes break.

Then I ended up with:
  800 –   2’59    2’55
3200 – 12’47  12’47  13’01
  400 –   1’28    1’26    1’25   1’18
then plus warm up and down, I ended with approx. 10.25 miles for the day.

10/27/2011 – I had a solid eight hours sleep after Wednesday’s workout and felt good.  However, I still try to have maximum rest hour, so I started my mid-distance run around 14:00 to Iwo Jima Memorial to check out the MCM finish line.  I have been doing this for the past four years.  It is not like I will run that race anytime soon; but I just wanna see how they have that set up.  Lots of friends ask me why not run MCM; my response is ‘I want to run the capital city of each state.’ But I think I skipped this race probably because I work in DC and I kind of want to travel to different marathon to see different town, rather than something I already see too much day-in-and-day-out.  So I think I will likely to run Richmond (or other VA city’s) marathon in the future, rather than marathons in DC.  I ran easy to finished line and they have tons of fluid set up Sunday’s race.  I would say they are ready for it.  The forecast is dry and cool for the weekend.  I wish my friends B Young and C Sloane will have the best run of their life.  I ended up with 50:34 approx. 7.1 miles.

10/28/2011 – I don’t know the exact reason why I woke up with a sore left knee.  I think it may due to newly started two-workout this week and my body is trying to recover from each workout.  So I decide today is not a good day for speed and since most of my shoes are over-the-hill; therefore, I start use a pair of new shoes (New Balance 749) today to give me some extra padding.  I ran out easy during lunch for 39:01 approx. 5.6 miles.  I also ice this as soon as I got back to desk. 

I am going to take tomorrow off from running and continuous take care this.  I hope is nothing serious.  I am going to run long this Sunday morning for 23 miles before head out for a massage.  I was thinking to run south from Susanna Lane to Georgetown and then run up Wisconsin Ave from bottom of K; but I just remember MCM is this Sunday, roads are close and packed with people – probably not a very good idea to go by there.  So I more than likely to run the same route as last weekend, en route from MHT to RCP Trail, then turn around at the Line.  That should be pretty easy to handle.