Weekly Running Tally ending July 6, 2009

This week I felt more tired than usual on my runs. I ran two days less, I was aiming for 5 days but ran only 4. J*** was in town so I wanted to spend more time relaxing. I was shocked I did a run at 6:33 pace. I did have a scare on one of the runs when I felt a sharp pain in my left knee. I think I just need to not push as hard on the uphills. I found a hill on Seadrift Avenue near Irvine Terrace Park that is moderately challenging. No real pain in the abdomen. Today I ran 6.1 at 6:45 pace for my longest run yet post-surgery. I will be posting that in the log at the end of the week. Below is the latest log:

Date	Time	Mileage	Min per Mile	Observations	HR Max	HR Ave
June 29, 2009	30:38	4.49	6:49	It was a Monday run. I felt ok. Worked in some hills. Average HR was good. Trying to keep it around 80% of max.	166 (89%)	151 (81%)
July 1, 2009	31:04	4.57	6:47	Ran after a long day at work. I was tired and my HR showed it. I had to work extra hard to keep pace.	176 (94%)	156 (83%)
July 3, 2009	32:20	4.83	6:38	Wow, this was a tough run. I was breathing pretty hard. I pushed it a bit too much I think I felt a twinge in my left knee. I had to stop. It went away though.	174 (93%)	155 (83%)
July 4, 2009	29:52	4.55	6:33	Wow, my fastest pace yet. I was so in the mood to just get it over with. Happy 4th of July!	173 (93%)	155 (84%)
Week ending July 5, 2009	---	18.44	---	Trying to get at least 25 miles next week. I will try to run 6 days but pace slower. I don't want to overdo it.	172.2 (92%)	154 (83%)

J***'s visit was great. We did a lot. We went over to the Balboa Peninsula a bunch of times. The night he came in we took the Balboa ferry and ate at The Newport Landing on Thursday for their $1 tacos. We each had 4. They were good. It was super busy though and lots and lots of high school kids. I forgot what it is like to be a teenager. The kids in SoCal seem very spoiled though, much different than Boston teens.

Friday we didn't lay out on a beach but drove 2 miles over to Corona Del Mar, a section of Newport Beach. It has many cute shops and restaurants. We at at Thai Del Mar, a small place on Pacific Highway (PCH). We both had the lunch special for $6.99 but it was not enough food. I was left hungry and had to immediately eat a whole wheat bagel at Bruegger's across the street afterward.

We attempted to drive to Balboa Island and park my car, but there was not a single space left on the island. Yes, we made the grave mistake of actually driving off the island during 4th of July weekend. My roommate actually assumed we had walked to Corona Del Mar. So after 20 min of not finding a space we decided to head to Fashion Island up the road and check out some stores and walk around. We then parked in a neighborhood nearby and walked went to Corona Del Mar State beach. We took photos of The Wedge from afar. Waves can get insanly big there (up to 15 feet high). They were only 3-4 feet last weekend though.

Saturday we ended up taking the ferry again and going to the Balboa peninsula beach for a few hours. It was a perfect day with perfect sun. I didn't bring my boogie board since I don't think I am ready to do that just yet post-surgery. My abs still feel sore inside where the incisions were. We did go into the very COLD water though. The waves crash close so you can get pounded pretty easily. For lunch we initially headed to Great Mex for some great Mexican food. We were going to go on Friday, but it was way too busy and no places to sit. We then walked down the Pier and saw the over-priced menu items at the Ruby's diner. Later that night we want to Shanghai Pine Garden on the island for some great Chinese food. I had the steamed chicken and veggies with a garlic sauce on the side and J*** had shrimp with string beans and rice. The prices were $9-$11 for a lot of food. Granted, it's not the most fancy place, but it's convenient and good.

Sunday we went down to hike at El Moro Canyon at the Crystal Cove State Beach. We opted for the 3.1 mile loop since we were hungry and doing the 4-6 mile option was not going to be an option. In the future I would like to do a very long hike there. It's a nice workout with very steep inclines and declines. After grabbing some salads at Trader Joe's we headed to the Cystal Cove State Park's beach at Pelican Point, which is very nice. The $10 fee for doing the hike got us into the beach parking area too. Not a bad deal if you do both activities.

J*** left this AM and then I went into work early. I will miss him! I stayed until 6PM per usual. I become unproductive mid-day and then I get a lot done from like 3-6 so I just go with it. I should have left earlier since I came in at 7:30AM! Anyway, I am tired now and will go to bed.

Running without Stitches

Today I was given clearance to run again. I showed up to a general surgeon here in Newport as a follow up to my laparscopic appendectomy (see past post here) that I had on June 9. It's been 13 days since the surgery and 15 since I last went running. I walked 5 miles this past Saturday and about 4 miles yesterday. I was just itching to run so I walked at a fast pace. It was fine.

Today I finally ran for real. According to my Nike + iPod device, I covered 4.2 miles in 31:25 for a 7:20 minute per mile pace. That's about 20-30 seconds slower than my typical training pace, but I was pleased. My Polar SD200 heart rate monitor read that my average BPM was 151 (81% of maximum heart rate) and my max heart rate reached 172 (91% of max). For most of the run it hurt slightly, almost like I had a cramp in my abdominal region. My core is just very weak at this point. It will take time to adjust. By the end of the run I was getting used to it. My doctor told me I wasn't allowed to do any weights or ab work for at least another 2 weeks. But at least I can run. That's all that matters.

I had a very enjoyable Sunday here in Newport. I was supposed to go to LA to go to Milk to eat their blueberry chiffon blue velvet cake with white icing (YUM), but plans didn't work out with my friend. Instead, I just stayed here in Newport and took the Balboa Island Ferry (photo courtesy of balboaislandferry.com) to the Newport peninsula to go to the beach. My friend Newell from San Diego came up. It was really nice and took all of 10 min to get there by foot. The ferry from Balboa Island to the peninsula is just 5 min and runs all day, everyday until 2AM. It take 3 min to walk to the ferry. It costs $1 each way to take it.

After we got back my friend Steven and Joe came by to visit since Joe was working for the week in Newport and staying at the Hyatt, about a mile away. We walked around the island, watched the sunset and the abnormally high tide. The tide about 1 foot below the top of the concrete seawall. I can only imagine if there is a storm serge. My roommate said it does flood slightly but it's only ankle deep in the streets. They actually drain the canals around the island to prevent an overflow. It's so odd. We ended up eating at Picante Martin's, which is very good and cheap Mexican.