All quiet on the West Coast front

Well it’s been a quiet week, Monday I rested, I should have pushed weights but I was pretty spent after the weekend's long runs so I skipped it. It proved to be the right choice as my easy run on Tuesday went well, I dropped my car of at the VW dealership, it was well overdue for a service and ran back home for just over 9, clicking off the first 8 miles in 1:08:02, a nice even 8:30 pace. Wednesday was intervals, I was forced onto the treadmill and managed to get a nice set of negative splits, over the four miles; 8:52 (eek, that was horrible), 7:11 (that’s better), 6:52 (getting there) and 6:47 (ok now were firing on all four cylinders, just to keep the car theme going), of course none of this data would be possible without the Garmin footpod, trust me if you use a 205 or 305 and run on a treadmill, get one (Marcy, Amazon have them at 67% off!) Thursday was a tempo run, again I had to use the treadmill, but the splits were:

8:36
8:25
8:05:
7:57
7:54
8:10
12:26 cool down and walk

Somehow I missed the middle two miles at tempo pace?!? Put it down to old age. Friday I rested. Saturday started early and I managed just over 20 miles on the trails at Cheeseboro Canyon, another park nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, my Garmin decided to run out of battery before I had even started, I think I turned it on instead of off the night before so it just drained out overnight! Duh, told you I was losing my mind as I got older! In addition to the header picture, here are some photos of the trails. These trail are the ones used for the Great Race of Agoura which is the first weekend of April, I am kicking around the idea running it as my last long run before I start my taper for Leona Divide, I ran it last year and it’s a lot of fun, it's 85% full already so I need make up my mind asap . Sunday night was a headlamp and highway session for another 14.5 miles making a total of just over 35 miles for the weekend and 57.56 for the week. This week was supposed to be a step back, but I am away next weekend and have the LA Marathon the following one so I switched so I can have an easier week and then a mini taper for the marathon. Not surprising my quads are pretty shot but I am treating them to liberal doses of Flex-Power, yeah I know it sounds super cheesy but it's good stuff, and they are responding pretty well, heat seems to help rather than ice.

On the shoe front I am having a bit of a nightmare, I returned the Merrells with the bad sole pattern and have received and returned a pair of Montrail Hardrocks or "Hardkicks" they were so stiff and a pair of Merrell Overdrive IIs; different sole pattern but an uncomfortable "vamp" (see page 90 Runners World March 08), I am going to try some Vasques next, finger crossed!

So, other than the footwear issue, a good week all in all and I’ll take a large box of good weeks between now and Leona Divide thank you very much!