Fall Recap

Thanks to my friends and family who have kept up with my blog. I've found it helpful to offload the approach I've taken to training and racing, in addition to the emotions and techniques that have gotten me through my races. I hope that looking back at my running entries will better prepare me for future races - both physically and mentally. It means a lot to hear from a different people - both runners & non-runners - that they've enjoyed hearing my thoughts. Maybe a few people can learn from my approach, just as I've learned from listening to so many other runners. For those of you who were bored to tears by my long rambling recaps - I'm sorry & thanks for sparing my feelings by not telling me that (although constructive criticism is welcome).

With the decade, year, training cycle, and cross country + road seasons over, it's the perfect time to recap and reflect on this year. I'll save statistics till the end, but wanted to start with a qualitative analysis.

Things that went well:

• A more aggressive training approach: Last Spring I was too conservative on easy days. This year I still logged some easy days and days off when I felt run down, but for the most part, I replaced easy days with moderate effort runs.
• More consistent workouts: Prior to this season, I would consistently attend the WVTC Tuesday workouts, but struggled to get a second weekly workout in (especially for non-race weeks). It's not surprising that my race results hit a plateau last Spring. This Fall, I had at least 2 hard efforts every week, and occasionally a 3rd speed oriented session.
• Tempo runs: Tempos were almost non-existent prior to this season, so it's not a shock that I frequently faded toward the end of the year. Last summer, I made tempo work the cornerstone of my base buildup period. This led to stronger XC efforts - especially toward the end of races, as well as success at the half marathon and 30K distances.
• Relaxed racing approach. Sure I was a bit nervous before Club Nats and the PA Championships, but I did a great job of waking up "loose" on race mornings, and showing up to the starting line relaxed.
• Confident racing approach. Being confident makes it so much easier to be tough. It also makes it easier to be patient.
• I enjoyed it! This might be the most important aspect - seriously... I loved the workouts, the training runs, the long runs, the races, the camaraderie, and the competition. At this point in my life - I'm not running for money or Olympic glory. So if I'm not enjoying this sport and the people I'm running with, then there's no point in doing it.

Things that could go better: Luckily this list is shorter, but there is always room for improvement.

• The 5K distance. The 5K is the monkey on my back right now! It's driving me nuts that my post college PR is 16:07, and that my best over the past year has been 16:15. I've run so much better at longer distances, and even shown some speed in Kezar stadium (running a 2:00 for 800 meters the Tuesday after Club Nats). So why can't I run a damn 5K? My one serious attempt this Fall was 4 days after a demanding 6 mile XC race at the PA Champs. I was tired, but that didn't stop other people who ran both races from running well. I think the longer races are easier to plan, because what you do the first couple miles just don't matter as much (as long as you don't go out way too fast). But in the 5K that first 2 miles are 2/3 of the race! My plan is to run a few track races to get some 1500 / mile speed back in my legs, and then perhaps run a 5K on the track, where it's much easier to pace yourself intelligently.
• Over-racing. As I found myself learning to race well again, I kept wanting to run as many as I could! Over the cross country & road race season, I only took a pass on 1 event between the two circuits (not counting one XC race I was out of town for). I don't think there were any dire consequences to racing so often, but I do think I would have been better prepared for Club Nats if I'd had more time to recover and train between races.

Now for some stats & race specific comments:

• I had a couple goals for the XC season. I accomplished the one I had direct control over and didn't accomplish the one that I did not have as much control over. Goal #1 was knock significant amounts of time off my race times from last year. Ideally up to a minute on some courses. The other goal was to take advantage of less competitive races and score enough points to finish in the top 5 in the series - as the top 5 earns "comp" entry into the next XC season.
• Goal #1: drastic time improvements. I ran 6 races in 2009 that I had run in 2008, and improved my time in every race! For the 6 races, My average time improvement was 64 seconds over an average distance of 4.07 miles. If you throw out the Tamalpa race which was moved to a new (and most likely faster course) it is 50 seconds over 4.03 miles. Not counting Tamalpa (2 minutes 10 seconds but on a different course), my best improvement was the Presidio 3.55 miler in 1 minute 22 seconds, and smallest was the Garin 5K in 22 seconds). Mission accomplished.
• Goal #2: be in the running for a top 5 series finish... not even close! To mirror the nationwide trend, the level of competition really stepped up this year. There were new runners in the series, as well as existing runners who raced the series more frequently. I think the competition is a great thing because it motivates & inspires all of us to run faster. When the dust settled, despite running so much faster than last year, I dropped from 13th in the series in '08 to 16th in '09!
• A consolation to the point above was that last year, my best finish in a single race was 10th at Presidio, while this year, I finished 8th at Presidio and 6th at Willow Hills.

My long road race finishes were a very pleasant surprise

• Humboldt Half Marathon: In the early season, I felt like 1:12 was a stretch goal, but after some good workouts, I decided to pace myself for a faster time, which paid off with a 6th place finish in 1:11:08
• Clarksburg 30K: I thought this was just going to be a hard long run / long tempo run, then I got out there and ran 1:43:57 (5:35 pace for 18.3 miles) finishing with another 6th place run.

Best & Worst:

• Most disappointing race: The obvious answer would be my Turkey Trot 5K, but since that's too obvious I'll say the season opening Santa Cruz XC race. Even though I dropped 47 seconds off the prior year, I should dropped well over a minute considering I hardly slept prior to the '08 race was a bit .. um.. dehydrated. But more so, I ran really tight and nervous, and just didn't have any fight in me late in the race.
• Best regular season XC race: Definitely the Presidio. I had a tough week of running leading up, but ran a smart, tough race plan from the gun to the line and dropped 1 minute 22 seconds over 3.55 miles from the prior year.
• Biggest surprise: The Clarksburg 30K. I had no idea I could run 5:35 pace for 18+ miles... much less that I'd go out and do it!
• Best end of race kick: At the PA Champs, I outkicked several runners, including a teammate who I had never beaten before. Felt like the good old days :)

Looking forward:

• My 2010 racing season will start will actually start on 12/31/09 with a low key New Years Even road race in Chattanooga. I won this race in 1998, 1999, and 2001. Hopefully no college kids show up and I'll have a shot in 2009!
• My focus for the Spring is the 100th Dipsea race. Last year I ran in the Runner's section (i.e. non-Invitation) finishing 3rd in that group, with the 6th fastest time out of everyone. If we had all started with the invitational section my time would have placed me 25th, earning one of the 35 coveted black t-shirts. Single digits for the 100th race?
• I feel like I'm capable of a low 15 minute 5K, but let's start with a mid 15s. This will finally happen!
• As for PA races, I want to build on my success with the long road race series, and notch a good finish in the Redding 10 mile.
• I can't expect to run like I did when I was 21 years old overnight, but I want to keep focusing on knocking down my post college PRs. I feel like every time I step on the road or the track that I'll threaten a PR.

Finally thanks to all the West Valley Kezar crew who I've run with over the past year. T-Rose, Little Mike, Charlesworth, Jonah, Julian, Big Mike, Joe, TK, Mason, Dewey, Sparkle, Big John, Eric, Matty D, Matt, James, as well as out of towners Duke, Ben, Lars, Jann, Marzoff (and sorry if I've I missed some people - I'm sure I have). And of course coach Dr. Jack for all the workouts and coaching... no one can accuse you of being in this for the money!

Happy New Year!!

USATF National Club XC Championships

All good things come to an end! That's certainly how I feel about this past cross country season. I ran quite a few races since late August - 12 in total between cross country, 2 long road races, and the Corp Challenge. Quite a few were good, a couple were bad, and one was ugly, but regardless I improved as a runner, and had just a great time doing it. While the PA season was over, our club had one last piece of business to take care of - the USATF National Club XC Championships. Club 'Nats is team focused race (with individual bragging rights of course) that features many of the best semi-pro and amateur runners & clubs from across the country.

I ran my first Club Nationals last year in Spokane & let's just say the race wasn't a great experience. Last year's race features single digit temperatures + howling winds, which combined with an unimpressive fitness level placed me toward the back of the field. I was also super nervous the whole day before the race... bleh. (although it was GREAT to catch up with a couple college teammates the evening after the race).

Anyway, I waffled throughout the fall between continuing my momentum from the half marathon and 30K by running the California International Marathon or traveling to Kentucky for Club Nats. A couple factors tipped me toward Kentucky. One was not wanting to tack a marathon on top of such a busy racing season, and then the deciding factor was getting to see my parents who drove up from Lookout Mountain and my sister Alysia her family who drove from Louisville (sister Debby was going to drive up as well, but got knocked on her back with the flu).

After the PA Champs & Turkey Trot (the latter being the one ugly race) I had a great couple weeks of training. So I headed off to Kentucky exited to finish off the season on a good note. When I headed to the course the day of the race, I was so much more relaxed then last year. I had a race plan, and the confidence to execute it. The 40 degree race day temp felt tropical compared to last year.

The race was 10K total, which consisted of 3 times a 3 kilometer loop (just shy of 2 mile), then 1K mostly uphill to the finish line. The course was challenging with 2 long gradual hills on each loop, but fair & well suitable for a championship race. The grass course was in decent shape, but there were some sloppy sections leftover from a recent snow storm that had melted. A bonus feature was a digital clock at every mile mark.

I witnessed first hand the funniest thing I'd ever seen at the start of the race. Todd Rose, Jonathan Charlesworth, and I took the front row of our assigned starting box. The starter called "runners take your mark" then we waited what seemed like forever for the gun to fire. But how it really went was "runners take your mark" FART!!! Jonathan mistook Todd's flatulence for the starting gun, and almost took off before getting reset behind the line. Finally the gun fired and we took off with Todd & I laughing almost hysterically.

My plan was simply to run a conservative first mile+ then start moving forward - very similar to what I did at the PA Champs. I almost felt like I was running too easily in the first mile, which hit both of the long hills. I stayed relaxed, resisted the urge to shuffle positions, and dropped 10 - 15 meters back from Todd. I hit the split in 5:10 which was a decent pace for a net uphill mile. We headed downhill to the one flat part of the course, where I finally let myself pass a few runners. Throughout the 2nd mile, I started to move up considerably. I hit that split in 5:08. I kept moving through the 3rd mile - now having picked up quite a few spots - and hit the split in 15:28 (a 5:10 split). The 5K distance had been a monkey on back over the past year, and I had just ran my fastest 5K since college - at the half way split of a muddy, hilly, cross country course. I had a great race going, so time to keep rolling.

I passed a few people the 4th mile but slowed down a good bit, hitting the split in 20:58 (a 5:30 mile). I was pretty tired heading into the 5th mile, but just tried to focus and relax. I saw my niece Callie & nephew Conner jumping and cheering, which brought out a smile at a tough part of the race.

As the last loop started, I gave back a few of the many spots I had picked up. That net downhill mile was a more respectable 5:22 (26:20 total). With a mile left to go, I tried to take a deep breath and make a move toward the finish. Unfortunately, that move was short lived, and I just died, or the wheels fell off, or pick your cliche... it was ugly and painful. In the last half mile, I lost many if not most of the positions I had gained. The 6 mile mark was 32:00 (5:40) and a finishing time of 33:13 for 171st of 319 runners. West Valley finished a solid 27th out of 41 teams, beating our PA rivals, the River City Rebels, by just 2 team spots. Jonathan Charlesworth finished 92nd, and Todd finished 110th (exactly a minute in front of me).

My thoughts on the race echoed those of several people I talked to afterward, not great, but not terrible. If I hadn't fallen apart in the last mile, I think it would have been pretty good. But still, I ran my fastest post college times from 5K thru 10K. West Valley only brought 5 guys to the race (the minimum required to score a team) & everyone ran well. I thought Todd's race was particularly impressive. Also, congrats to the Aggies and Transports who put numerous runners in the top 50 to finish 4th and 5th respectively in the team competition.

Before the race I had hoped to be close to 100th place, but that might have been a little ambitious given how competitive the nationwide running scene has been. I'm happy with my improvement over last year, moving from the back of the pack to the middle. Just as long as I further improve on it next year!

The official post race party was a dud, but we met up with the Rebels team later in the evening, and had a great time celebrating the end of the season, and a closely contested year long rivalry.

Sunday morning I drove up to Louisville & enjoyed hanging out with Alysia & the family.





Moving up in the 2nd loop



Starting to hurt



Recovering and recapping with the Rebels



A post race treat (left to right: Jonathan Charlesworth, Mike Brandell, Duke Bristow, me, and Nicole Campbell)

PA XC Championships

One of the biggest events of the year in the Bay Area running community are the PA Cross Country Championsips in Golden Gate Park. It's not the biggest in terms of people running - very far from it - but definitely one of the best in terms of competition and excitement. Held the Sunday before Thanksgiving each year, the PA Champs wraps up our fall cross country circuit, as well as attracting some out of town runners. Also, my parents were in town for Thanksgiving, so the saw me race for the first time in a while.

Heading into the meet, I had a very heavy race load through the Fall between running most of the XC races, as well as a couple longer road races. I took a chance by racing hard at the Clarksburg 30K just two weeks prior. My rough rule of thumb for race recovery, (i.e. the number of days until I'm ready for another hard effort) is to take the distance (of the race i just ran) and multiply it by 2 / 3. That's a rough rule, so it's plus or minus a day or two.

I was pretty beat up after the 30K. It's not so much that my legs were tired, but my body was tired. Anytime I tried to push myself - or even ran up a big hill I just found my heartrate picking up and my lungs working more than usual.

But what do you know, on the Thursday before the race, I felt like I had my legs fully under me. I was ready to go! My rule of thumb predicted 12 days to recover, and I made it in 11 (with three days to spare).

The course is a deceptively tough 2 mile loop, which you run 3 times. It starts in a meadow, heads downhill on a dirt path, flattens onto a windy almost single track trail, opens into another meadow, jumps over a log, heads uphill on another single track, opens on a flat & wider dirt hill that ultimately heads back uphill, then a sharp left back to the original downhill dirt path, then the loop ends with a detour into the meadow where you start & finish. And thanks to rain throughout the weekend, the course was very sloppy.

You run loop 3 times, and there's no spot to settle in or get into a rhythm like you would on the road or track. Constantly turning, changing surfaces, shifting gears, etc. Some runners hate that... I love it!

When the gun went off I jumped off the line dashing through the meadow. Todd yelled "JAMEY RELAX." It was good advice. I tucked in a few spots behind him and let quite a few other runners go out too fast in front of me. I stayed pretty far back in the pack, but relaxed, through the first mile. As we hit the first single track train and the meadow around the mile mark, I'm thinking this was the point that I started picking people off & moving up in the 4 mile fall race. But this time I just wasn't feeling it. In fact my legs were feeling pretty heavy. As I ran back uphill I just wasn't happy with how I felt this early. But remember the lesson from earlier in the season - just run!

I finished up the first of three loops without changing my position very much. But the legs were just so heavy I wasn't sure how I could move up. Todd & the pack he was with had slipped away by 30 or 40 meters. But as I left the meadow to start the 2nd loop, I realized that even though my legs felt flat, I wasn't breathing hard at all. Maybe I wasn't going to blow up afterall. So as we head back downhill I look up for the next runner ahead of me. It was Gus Gibbs of the Rebels. It took me more than half a mile to catch him, but I finally caught up. Gus said "what's up" and we ran together for a bit. Then I looked up at the next runner ahead & caught him pretty quickly. Each time I caught somebody, I was already looking at the next runner. Pretty soon I was moving through the field.
















The PA Championship field is a lot deeper than our normal weekly races, so I don't know a lot of the runners around me, but green jersey, white jersey, red jersey, I just keep digging to catch and pass the other runners. From the 2 mile mark to the 5 mile, I probably moved up 15 spots. Just before the 5 mile mark, I see the 3rd man on the Rebels. As I'm currently 4th for West Valley, this was an important guy to catch for our team standings. I catch the rebel, then I look up and see teammate Todd Rose right in front of me.

I've always liked intra-team competition. It's a friendly competition, and one that can make us all better runners. You train together, race together, hangout together. But you still want to beat each other. Todd had been my best training partner over the past year. Our workouts are pretty similar, but he's such a good racer, and despite being close a few times, I'd never beaten him. Could I really catch him, pass, and keep going?

Just past the 5 mile mark, I pull up to Todd. And I don't know if there was a mental block of catching a guy who'd I'd never been able to beat, if Todd was responding to runners right in front of him, or if I finally hit some fatigue from my mid-race pace. But as soon as I catch him, I feel myself slow down a bit. As we start heading uphill in the last loop, and I'm just trying to maintain contact. Todd is there, as well two others including our top runner - Jonathan Charlesworth - who is not at his best having recently been sick.

When we head up the last hill, I lean in to give it one last shot to get myself past these three guys. All three are in contact, but Todd leads the group with a hard surge over the crest of the hill. My plan was to make that same move when I crested, but since Todd got there 10 or meters ahead of me, he opened up a gap & was pulling away. So I set my sight on Jonathan and passed him as we made the sharp left.

With about a quarter of a mile to go I completely open my stride up and sprint down the hill. I wasn't sure if I could catch anybody, but I had to try, plus there could always be someone coming from behind. When we hit the last meadow I'd made up some ground on Todd. I find another gear, then another, and then somehow another! I'm reeling Todd in quickly, but the finish line is flying toward us. With one last surge I catch him about 2 stride lengths from the line, and beat him by about a foot. I hadn't been able to kick like that since sometime in college! A funny moment was when my Dad was at the finish yelling GO JAMEY, GO JAMEY, YOU CAN CATCH HIM!" I had to ask him not to alert my competition next time I'm trying to catch them at the finish :)

Final result was 29th place in 32:45 (5:22 pace since the race was slightly more than 6 miles). I was almost a minute faster than last year despite the very sloppy conditions. West Valley finished 3rd in the meet to wrap up 3rd overall for the season (just ahead of the Rebels in both the meet and the final standings) What a great way to cap off what had been a very satisfying cross country season.

After the race I hung out in the park with the other West Valley runners, as well as a large group from the Rebels. It was a great feeling to be celebrating with both my teammates, plus friends I had made from other teams. As I've said before, running has really become fun again!

I wasn't sure how it would go, but I tried a quick turn around to race a super competitive 5K road race 4 days later on Thanksgiving morning. The 5K distance has been a bit of a monkey on my back as I feel certain I'm ready to run in the mid 15 minute range or faster, but have been stuck in the low 16s. Thanksgiving wasn't meant to be my day. I felt really tired running after the XC race. I ran the opening mile of the 5K in 4:50. Even though I was well off the pace of most the field, that split still buried me. I tried to keep it up, but I kept going slower and slower, sputtering across the line in 16:15. I wasn't happy, but I know that's no indication of my fitness. I'll have my day at that distance. I guess this time the 2 / 3 rule of thumb was off by a day.

After the 5K, I was able to really focus on training for the first time in a while as I got a week and a half of solid runs and workouts. One highlight was pacing a friend through the first lap of an 800 meter in 56 seconds! I had no idea I could still run that fast!

Now I'm on my way to Kentucky for the USATF Club XC Nationals with West Valley. My parents and both sisters are meeting me in Lexington.

Brain vs. Body

My brain just had a conversation with my body...

Jamey’s Brain: Hey Body, what was the deal with Sunday?

Jamey’s Body: Hey Brain! Wait what? What are you talking about?

Brain: We went out for an easy 13 mile long run and you were sore and sluggish the whole way. We’ve been running 50-60 miles for the last 4+ months & usually going for much longer – and faster - runs every weekend. Why would an easy 13 be a such a big deal.

Body: Um, hello! You’re supposed to be the smart one! I just take oxygen in through the lungs, stick it in the blood stream, use my heart to pump that blood all over the place, mix the oxygen with glucose, which I burn in order to stuff energy into ATP molecules, which I then convert to ADP molecules, which releases bursts of energy, which finally causes those precious muscle fibers to twitch, propelling you forward for whatever reason you find that so darn important!

Brain: That sounded pretty smart.

Body: I have no idea what that means – I just stole that from your 1993 memory archives. What is this: Mr. Tatum’s biology class?

Brain: Anyway, back to the point. What’s the deal, yo?

Body: Hello?! What was the deal with making me run that 30K. We had an agreement. You were going to run hard for part of the race, but you push me for 18.64 stinkin’ miles! That’s digging pretty deep in the well. I can’t refill it overnight bro!

Brain: C’mon! You’re still whining about that? That was a week ago!

Body: Then what about Saturday. I had to run a hard workout – first downhill, then uphill, dirt, then grass – 24 minutes total of HARD running!

Brain: Well look, I let you take that whole week pretty easy. At some point we have to tune up for next Sunday’s cross country race – this one’s a big one!

Body: Sigh... always something coming up. If last week was so easy then what was Thursday all about.

Brain: Oh that... 5 x 400 meters? That’s about the shortest workout I’ve ever done! The intervals were short, and I only ran the 2nd half of them all that hard. And as soon as the legs started aching, I quit the workout. The whole point of some short turnover was to make you feel better without adding too much stress.

Body: Nice work genius – that sure did the trick! It’s bad enough I have to allocate so much blood, sugar, and oxygen to your precious thinking functions. Not to mention, you just happen to stick yourself at the highest point of the body.

Brain: Look, that’s how God created us, it seems to work pretty well.

Body: Ok, fine, I’ll let that part go. So we’ll just have to agree to disagree about how we felt Sunday.

Brain: Ok, fair enough... can we talk about next week.

Body: I figured it would be something. So now what.

Brain: The Pacific Association Cross Country race is on Sunday. It’s the longest and most competitive cross country race we’ll run all season. This is one of the main races I’ve been gearing up for all fall. I’m sorry I put you through so much stress in the 30K last Sunday, but can we be ready for this coming Sunday?

Body: Ok, that’s fair. I think we can arrange that. You aren’t going to bury me in any workouts this week, are you?

Brain: No, definitely won’t. Tuesday we’re to run one of our favorites – alternating 800s & 300s. The 800s will be a bit faster than cross country race pace, and the 300s will be pretty fast.

Body: Ahhh... I usually feel pretty sharp after something like that. Running those 300s immediately after a longer interval gets me ready for one of those finish line sprints. Just don’t do too many of them.

Brain: Nah, don’t worry, only 4 sets – 4400 meters of hard running – less than 3 miles.

Body: Sounds good – and the rest of the week?

Brain: Some shorter runs, then some long strides on Thursday.

Body: A mini-taper? Sounds good. We’ll be ready to go Sunday! Well.... as long as you don’t do something crazy like make me run another race a few days later.

Brain: DEAL!

Body: Cool. WAIT! WHAT! Your... I mean my... fingers are crossed!

Brain: Oh yeah, I guess I wasn’t going to sneak that one by you.

Body: So what’s this other important race?

Brain: A fast competitive 5K road race. Our post college PR is a little embarrassing. I’m not expecting a world record, but can we at least knock 30 seconds off that time?

Body: I guess I don’t have any choice.

Brain: What do you mean? Sure you have a say...

Body: I do have a say, but you’ve gotten much much better at ignoring my pleas to slow down and stop running. Searing lungs, and burning muslces just don’t get your attention as much.

Brain: Yeah, I’ve been working on that... But seriously, I appreciate you being a good sport.

Body: It’s a thankless job. But at least I enjoy being in good shape.

Brain: Just a few weeks left until you get a rest. That I can promise.

Body: Thanks. I look forward to it.

Clarksburg 30K

Sunday I rode up to Clarksburg - a rural area outside of Sacramento for the annual Clarksburg 30K.

The Pacific Association race schedule is broken up into the cross country series (which I've mainly focused on this fall), long road races (12K and up), and short road races (10K and shorter). Each has its own cumulative point standings. The top 15 in each of the road series, and top 5 in XC are rewarded comp (i.e. free) entry to all the races in that series for the next year.

After my half marathon, I stood 9th in the long road series. Even though I'm opting out of the California International Marathon (the final race in the long road series), a good showing at Clarksburg (the penultimate long road race) would almost certainly lock in my spot in the top 15 on the season.

Enough explaining our points system... I sound like I'm talking about NASCAR talking about "points racing," but that was the idea Sunday.

Heading up to the race, I really had no intention of turning this into a full race effort. I trained hard throughout the week, then made sure I enjoyed myself the first half of the weekend. The day before I was drinking cold beverages and sitting in the sun screaming my head off as Stanford football took down Oregon! Also, I didn't want to risk not recovering in time for the PA Cross Country Championships in 2 weeks.

My race plan was to start off at an easy pace for a few miles (most likely 6 flat miles) then work into a quicker pace toward the end (maybe 5:40 miles). I barely warmed up at all, and got ready to start my easy jog. The gun fired & the jogging began. There were some slower & older runners in front of me, but I just kept my jog. A runner from the Aggies (Larry) who I had just met actually checks up for a few strides & waits for me as he likes my plan. Larry & I chat as we pass some of the early runners who realize they've started way too fast for an 18.6 mile race. I see my teammates Mike & Jonah up ahead who planned on running 5:40s the whole way (and who I planned to let go). As I jog through the mile mark I look at my watch... WHOA! 5:45! We have 17 miles to go!. But it feels so easy. Larry & I keep passing guys until we tuck in right behind Mike & Jonah. I say what's up guys so they'll know I'm with them. They're a little surprised to see me, but not really.

I still haven't decided what to do, but as long as the pace feels this easy, I'm going to roll with Mike, Jonah, Larry, plus a few others with the group. We're all talking to each other, even joking about how far we have left to run & ways to make it feel shorter. 2 miles in 11:27, 3 miles in 17:02 (a 5:35 meaning we'd picked up the pace a bit), 4 in 22:41. The 5th mile was 28:16 - another 5:35. Jonah and Larry make a conscious decision to back off a bit, while Mike, a Sacramento runner, and I keep going. Through the 6th mile we keep chatting. We hit 7 miles in 39:24 (11:07 for the last 2 - so the pace has continued to quicken). Now for the first time we see a runner from the lead pack of 6 who went out WAY ahead of us. In mile 8, I take the lead in my group for the first time as I can't help myself but to try to reel in the runner who I finally recognize as Andrew Timmons from the Rebels - who had beaten me at the end of the Humboldt Half Marathon. I run the 8th mile in 5:26 (44:50). At this point Mike & the other runner back off. I'm committed to this race now, but realize trying to run the next 10 miles by myself and/or running too fast in the middle is a terrible idea. I relax a bit, and the others catch back up with me. Mike even tells me he backed off intentionally from my little surge. Right at 9 miles we catch Timmons. Even though I relaxed, that split was 5:27 (50:18). Andrew tucks in and we keep rolling. Running a pace that's only about 10 seconds per mile slower than my half marathon I'm feeling way better right now than I did at the half way point of that race - not to mention what I felt like at the 9 mile mark of that race.

In the 10th mile I lead our group up the one hill of the course for a 5:31 (55:49 total for 10 miles). 5:34 11th mile, then a 5:28 12th. For the first time I'm getting a bit tired. So I tuck in behind Timmons, but quickly pull around him and back behind Mike. The couple minutes of not pressing the pace makes me feel really fresh again. At this point a weird thing happened. I wanted to keep working with Mike, but didn't want to lose to Timmons (I didn't mention that West Valley is 2nd in the team road racing standings just behind the Rebels). As I see the one downhill ahead I sense Timmons slightly struggling, so I throw a surge. Then on the downhill I lean in and let gravity carry me down. I've opened a very small gap.

Now that I'm running (barely) alone in 6th place I think I see a runner way head. So I try to use him as my motivation rather than staying ahead of the runners right behind me. I turn onto a long stretch of road & quickly learn I'll be running into the breeze for most of the remainder of the race. It's a very light breeze, but when you're getting tired it's very unwelcome.

I run a 5:27 13th mile (1:12:16) & hit the half marathon split in 1:12:50 - easily my 2nd fastest half ever. 14th mile was 5:35 (1:17:53). Now it's getting hard. Every few minutes I'm telling myself to relax but keep the stride rolling. I'm now breaking the distance into very small segments. It makes the miles go by less quickly, but keeps my head in the race. The 15th mile was the first one that I really slowed down on - 5:43. This is getting tough. I want to pack it in and jog to the finish, but I can't make a move in the 12th mile & give up before they catch me, so I try to hold my small gap. I haven't looked back yet, but I can judge from the joggers still running outward on the course and cheering for us, that Mike and Andrew can't be more than 5 seconds back.

In the 16th mile we turned out of the wind and I definitely see a runner coming back. He's going to really need to die for me to catch him, but the faster I run, the better chance I have. The 16th split is 5:30 (1:29:07). Then we turn back into the wind and life gets tough again. I sneak a look back and I have less than 10 seconds on the runners behind me. The 17th mile is another (painful) 5:43. I keep my eyes on the runner ahead (almost a minute ahead still). He's coming back to me, but too slowly. I hit the mile to go sign thinking 6th place is locked up.

Then the moment of panic hits. I hear Mike's voice behind me, meaning he must be talking to Timmons. I make the last turn with roughly 3/4 of a mile to go & glance back. They're not far behind me (maybe 10 or 15 seconds) & I swear I see 4 runners!! Are the other runners part of the half marathon which share the same course but started later? Am I at risk of dropping from 6th to 10th? I don't know how I'm going to hold them off, but I have to try.

There was nothing fun about that last mile until I hit 100 meters to go. I just attacked it one small segment at a time. Get to that road sign, get to that spectator. Finally get to the 400 meters to go sign. After running 18.4 miles, I tried to picture myself starting the last lap of a track race. Nobody is going to pass me on the last lap. I hit the 200 meters to go sign, quickly glanced back, & knew I finally had it. I let myself enjoy the last 100 meters as the announcer says "let's see who this is coming in quickly... Jamey Gifford of San Francisco." It felt great and I gave a little fist pump across the line.

My final time was 1:43:57 for 6th place and a 5:35 average pace for 18.6 miles. Mike Little finished 8th (just behind Andrew Timmons) in 1:44:27, and Jonah had his best race in quite some time in 9th @ 1:45:31. Of the 4 runners I saw chasing me, one of them was in fact from the half marathon race, and the other was a figment of my imagination.

There were a few things particularly satisfying about this race. First it was how unexpected my performance was. And it felt good to be the first finisher in our chase pack. It's great to run a fast pace and feel comfortable for so long - a true sign of fitness. Finally, comparing this to Bay to Breakers in the May, I just ran a faster pace for 30K than I had for 12K! I hate to say it, but it looks like as a 30s age group runner, I've lost my speedster status, and I'm turning into a long distance runner. Well... hopefully I'll prove myself in some shorter races soon. Also, hopefully I can recover before the XC championships in 2 weeks.

This race puts me (temporarily) in a tie for 2nd in the long road race standings. I'll fall back at least a few spots by not running the marathon, but it should still be a solid final standing. I'm a little bummed I'm not signed up for the marathon, but I'll enjoy my last 2 cross country races (plus a road 5K).

Flying through the night

There's so many things I like about our cross country season. The team camaraderie, the frequent races, and the hills, trails, and dirt. Another thing I like so much is moving our Tuesday evening workouts off the track to the trails around Golden Gate Park & the Presidio. I feel like running hard on a great trail is just mentally so much easier than running hard around the track. So as the road race season takes a break at the end of June, we'll move those Tuesday workouts off the track until Daylight Savings ends. The hills, the turns, and the variable footing has always been my type of running. It builds strength & it builds character.

But at some point toward the end of the season, it comes time to sharpen everything up. Running on the trails, and logging your tempo runs will make you a really strong runner. But for me there's only one way I'll be able to launch that devastating surge or kick during a race - the key are track intervals. It just so happens the shorter days creates the perfect transition to moving our workouts onto the track. I've never like to depend on running workouts at race pace. I like running intervals quite a bit faster. I want that race pace to feel easy for the first half of the race. I ran a cross race last Saturday. It was a solid, but not great race. My one problem, is I just couldn't shift gears.

My tempo and strength work has done wonders for me this season. But no doubt, it's time to hit the track!

Tuesday night we had our West Valley workout under the dim lights on the track - 8 x 600s. The 600 isn't a strength interval, it's about speed. It doesn't have that near sprint feel of a 200 or 400, but it's short enough where you can roll & recover. The idea for this workout was to run the odd intervals at 5k pace, and the even ones at 3k pace (or maybe my 21 year old 3k pace). Between intervals, we'd jog for 200 meters (which including time for the pack to regroup, took about 90 seconds). I ran my first "5k pace" in 1:51 (15:25 pace), then the rest in 1:49 (15:10 pace). I felt well recovered after these. Then the "3k pace" intervals I ran progressively faster - 1:42, 1:42, 1:40, 1:37. I wasn't fully recovered after these, but that's the nature of the workout. I felt great running fast on the track, but left wanting a chance to run a fast pace for at least 800 meters (a half mile).

So despite running a hard workout Tuesday, and having a 30k race (which I planned to run as a long workout), I went back to the track Thursday night on my own to log a shorter version of an interval workout - 4 x 800s. The idea was to run the first at current 5k and knock the pace down on each one. After a long warmup, I started off. The pace felt comfortable - almost slow on the first one. After dodging runners from other clubs who meet at the track, I finished and looked at my watch - 2:27. Really? That felt way slower, but that's good. My next interval I let myself pick up the pace, but kept the pace under control - 2:21. Wow- that was almost too easy. Now for the 3rd, I open it up & run 2:16. I ran that pace in a workout in the Spring, but it felt like a sprint. I was pushing hard on this one, but it actually wasn't that hard! Finally on my last one it was time to really push the pace. I hit the first lap in 67. I almost felt like I fell asleep by not running faster. So i dug in on the 2nd lap. As I came off the last turn, I saw a wall of joggers ahead, but after I desperately yelled TRACK! they scattered out of the way. I hit the line in 2:12 - my fastest 800 interval since college. I bent over to catch my breath, but felt great as I recovered.

Last week was about flying through the night. Next time I need to find the next gear in a race, I should be ready.

Grinning like a jerk

It's starting to get a little embarrassing that people keep snapping photos at the starts of my races, and there I am with a goofy grin! Usually it's because somebody is making a crack right as we start running.

The second picture was posted on the San Jose Examiner website, where a masters runner - Lynn Walker - has been contributing a series of good write-ups of all the PA Cross Country races.

As goofy as these pictures are, I've realized something. It's that I'm really enjoying my running again.

1:11:08

I love it when a good plan comes together.

Sunday I ran in the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon. This was the mid-season race that I was really gearing up for. On Saturday Dana & I drove 4 hours north into the middle of nowhere. We spent the night in quaint Garberville, then drove the last half hour Sunday morning to the Avenue of the Giants in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park for the race.

My first observation on race day was my lack of nerves. I don't ever help myself by feeling uptight before a race - and I was the exact opposite. I was almost too loose at 19 minutes before the race, when I still had to get back to the car to put on my race jersey, flats, and timing chip, make a pit stop, and do a few strides. With no panic I got all that done and was on the start line 5 minutes before the scheduled start (and 10 minutes before the actual start).

As the race went off, my teammate Todd Rose made his normal wise crack - which means I'll probably have a goofy grin in somebody's photo of the start. The front four runners, including Todd, took off, while I settled into a comfortable pace behind them. Shortly before the mile mark, we established a pack of 5 runners, including my teammate Mike Little and 3 of the rival River City Rebels.

We hit the mile mark in 5:20 - which was 10 seconds faster than my planned 5:30 pace. From training I felt like I could run 5:30s forever, but that 5:20s would wear me down a bit too quickly. I told my teammates & promised myself that I wouldn't run faster than 5:30s for the first few miles. But the pace felt just fine. I figured that over the next hour and five to seven minutes that running a little faster with 4 other people would be a lot easier than running a little slower by myself.

So I committed to this pack and settled in. The pace and the turnover felt pretty quick, but all systems were in the green - legs, stride, lungs, heart. For the next couple of miles I tucked in behind Mike and Rebel Alan Jackson (both over 6 feet tall, so great to draft off of). I felt the first small ache in my legs in the 3rd mile, but nothing big - just keep running. We hit the 2nd mile in 5:24, the 3rd in 5:22 (16:06 total). Rebel Andrew Timmins tells his teammates that he just ran a 5k PR. I took a turn at the lead in the 4th mile (5:20) as we picked up one of the lead 4 runners who fell off. After the 5 mile mark (5:22) I saw Todd Rose not too far ahead. I had told myself not to press anything until after 5 miles. Even though we ran faster than I expected to this point I was feeling good about how the race was unfolding.

At this point I took the lead from Rebel Gus Gibbs, and tried to close the gap on Todd. My little surge put some pressure on the group as Mike dropped slightly off, as did the runner we picked up from the initial lead group. We hit 6 miles in 31:58 (a 5:10 mile), although I think that mile marker was off by 10 to 15 seconds. After 6 miles I had in my mind that there was a mile and a half until the half way turn around. I was a little surprised to see a sign saying "turn around 200 meters". Of course Einstein - 13 divided by 2 is in fact 6.5! Maybe I'm pushing my body a bit harder than I thought... But while the effort wasn't easy anymore, I was still under control and ready for the real race to start after the turn-around.

We turned around & shortly caught Todd. It was now Todd & me, plus 3 Rebels fighting for 3rd through 7th place. I led the group at the 7 mile mark (5:44, but like I said I think the last mile mark was a touch early). After that Todd, Alan Jackson, and Timmons took turns leading. I missed the 8 mile split, but somewhere near there I felt a weird sensation. It was almost a slight dizziness. Or maybe it was the feeling when you waited too long to eat lunch. Regardless, I needed to preserve my energy. I knew it was time to let the rest of the group do the work for a while. At the same time, I decided I just need to keep running with the pack. The group stayed 5 runners strong.

I hate the annoyance of grabbing and slamming down water cups while I'm racing, but the sports drink would help me out. I probably managed 1 sip at each of the last 3 aid stations (the rest on my jersey, the ground, and one accidental splash all over a competitor), but I'm sure that shot of electrolyte and those few calories helped me. I got my split at 9 miles (10:46 for the prior two miles & 48:29 total). The effort was getting really hard at this point, but I told myself just keep running! I could drop back at anytime between now and the finish, but I only had this shot to stay with the group (still 5 strong). There was an aid station around the 10 mile mark, where I lost a few strides on the pack. Gus lost a few additional strides on me. Now it was a real decision to make. It didn't take long as I put my head down and tucked back in behind the 3 runners. Gus' footsteps faded, but 15 seconds later I heard them again. I held my hand back in encouragement. We were 5 runners competing from 2 different track clubs, but after spending the last hour running fast together, it felt like we were one team.

The 10 mile split was 54:04. Man I'm hurting at this point but felt encouraged by knocking well over a minute off my 10 mile PR (I forgot to mention that at every step past 5 miles I was setting a post-college PR for that distance). As tough as it was here, I could start to taste the finish.

After the 10 mile mark, Gus' footsteps disappeared. Then I lost contact - barely. The 3 runners weren't far in front of me, but I wasn't part of the group anymore. I didn't give up, and a few times I even closed some of the gap. 5:36 for the 11th mile. I had slowed down, but not egregiously. The 3 runners weren't far ahead. Surge this slight uphill. Surge this slight downhill. They didn't get away but they didn't get any closer. Now inside of 2 miles, I'm throwing any and all caution out of the window. It was going to hurt, but I was going to finish, and finish with a really fast time. The 3 runners weren't getting any further away, and 2nd place came into the view for the first time since maybe 4 miles into the race.

Somehow, my 12th mile was one of the fastest of the race in 5:19. At 1:05:01 & my brain seeming capable of simple math again, I figured out I needed to run a few seconds faster than 5:30 pace for the last 1.1 miles to crack under 71 minutes. To do that, I had to contend with the toughest feature of the course. The Highway 101 overpass was a very short, but deceptively steep hill just past the 12 mile mark. As the 3 man pack hit the slope they suddenly seemed in reach again.

I leaned into the hill and gave it everything I had. The gap was closing down to 10 meters. Then as they crested, Alan Jackson made his decisive move. Those few strides that he sprinted downhill while I was grinding out my last uphill strides were all it took. He was gone. Rebel Andrew Timmons responded, and Todd was just behind him. The gap grew to 20 meters, then 30, and it only got worse. I leaned into the downhill, but just had nothing left.

With a half mile to go, my 6th place finish was set in stone. I was running against the clock. True to Humboldt county's reputation, someone was smoking dope on the side of the road. While one to two breaths tasted terrible, I cracked a smile, and tried to use that to push harder. As I neared the finish I was tying up & my stride started to fall apart. My last mile was 5:34 (+33 sec for the final 0.1) for a finishing time of 1:11:08. It was a 5:26 average pace.

Todd Rose finished 5th in 1:10:51, right behind Alan Jackson & Andrew Timmins in 1:10:45 and 1:10:48. Gus Gibbs, who had been battling the flu for 3 weeks, had a solid half marathon debut in 1:12:08 for 8th, and my teammate Mike Little was 9th in 1:12:31.

While I lost the race for 3rd place, I have no regrets. I ran an aggressive, mostly intelligent race, and I ran tough as hell. I felt like after the race I had given it my all. My training over the past 4 months has paid off enormously. I've had some strong cross country races, but there's nothing quite as satisfying as running a huge PR. I could update pretty much all of my PRs on my blog page to the right, but I'll save those till I run those official distances.

Sorry this was longer than usual. It was a memorable race for me (and fun) so I wanted to get my thoughts down. So if you got this far thanks for reading. And if you scrolled ahead to see how it ended, thanks as well for reading.

Rest & Recovery

It's tough to back way off when you've gotten used to training hard, but it's time to rest for the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon is Sunday. I had a good performance in my last XC race - 6th place was my best finish ever in a Pacific Association race, and the time of 16:19 was actually pretty good given the course (apparently high school kids routinely run 50 seconds faster on their state meet course). After that it was 13 miles Sunday, and then the taper started.

Tuesday's workout could have gotten me a little discouraged. I ran 2 x 2400 meters (roughly 1.5 miles) on the track just a little faster than the half marathon race pace. I felt fine on the first interval, but quickly got tired on the 2nd one. I took a short cool down, ate a burrito, then went to bed early. Wednesday I ran 7 miles at an easy pace & still felt tired. Then yesterday I finally got my legs back under me. I ran 5 miles easy in Golden Gate Park, then 8x200 in 32 seconds on the track (a quick pace, but short enough to knock the rust out of your legs without making you tired). After yesterday's run, I got home really excited about my chances to run well this weekend. I'll run short easy runs the next two days, and be ready to kill it on Sunday!

In a lot of ways it doesn't feel right to have such a light week of training. But I've been busting my ass since mid summer, and I think it's the perfect time to give my body a little break. After all the work I've done, I certainly won't lose any fitness - especially given the race I'm about to run. Then hopefully a week after the half marathon I'll be ready to gear up for the final phase of training for the season where we shorten the workouts but increase the intensity.

Dana is also running the race on Sunday. Would cool if the Giffords combined for a sub 3 hour total time :)

Monster Workout

Every runner has natural strengths and weaknesses. Some are speedy fast-twitch runners, while others are long distance slow-twitch grinders. Although I was always happy with my balance of both speed and endurance, I have my own natural strengths and weaknesses. My strength is the ability to push hard right on the edge of the anaerobic zone. For this reason, I’ll be able to run impressive interval workouts in front of runners who consistently beat me in actual races. My weakness has always been running in a rhythm. By rhythm, I mean running at a fast, steady, and sustained pace, but one that is below the anaerobic threshold. That is why I could run competitive 10k cross country races, but not as well in 10k track or road races.

This season I have focused on training my weakness. I have increased my mileage & run high volume trail workouts, but the key has been the tempo run. A tempo run is one of the most boring workouts. It is a long, steady, sustained effort. It is fast, but not as fast your interval workouts. If you run a 5 mile tempo, you might be running 20 seconds per mile slower pace than your 5 mile race. You also run tempo runs in the midst of your training cycle - there's no taper. I am great at running hard on the track or the trails for an interval (for example 1000 meters), then briefly resting, then going at it again. But if your body is used to taking brief, but frequent rests, you can see the problem with translating interval prowess to race day - when there is no rest between the starting gun and the finish line. The tempo runs complete the puzzle.

My next big race is the Humboldt Redwoods Half Marathon on October 18th. My goal since the summer has been to drop my PR from 1:15 to 1:12 (a 5:30 mile pace).

Tuesday I tackled my last key workout before the race – an 8 mile tempo. A typical tempo run for me would be 4-6 miles. A long tempo is both mentally challenging and physically grueling. But I had a great training partner – Todd Rose the tempo king. Todd is my West Valley teammate who I have been training with frequently, and who I like to key off of in races (I’ve been close to him, but never beaten him). We started the run with the 2 mile “Strawberry Hill loop” in Golden Gate Park. This loop includes a 650 meter long hill that you run up and back down. That 2-mile loop was 11:15 (which was the fastest I’d ever run that particular loop). I felt a hint of anxiety early on when I thought about how long & fast we’d be running for the next 45 minutes. But I quickly knocked those thoughts out of my head & said “JUST RUN!” I let Todd and another teammate set the pace for the first 2 miles, and just run about 2 stride lengths behind them. At the end of the 2 mile loop we ran a lightly rolling circuit on the roads, which thanks to GMAP Pedometer, I figured out was 2.34 miles. We hit leg in 12:34 (5:24 pace). As we neared the track I wanted to back off; I wanted to let Todd go. But I knew it would be so much harder to run this on my own. Take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders. JUST RUN. We hit the track, and started the first of our 16 laps on the track (just short of 4 miles). As soon as we hit the track, I felt great. Don’t think about the distance, just hit your pace. Todd and I switched the lead every two laps. Mile 1 in 5:27, mile 2 in 5:27. After that, we executed our plan of picking up the pace for the last two miles. As the light faded, we ran the next mile in 5:23. At this point it was really starting to get hard, but we were on the track, and I knew I could keep grinding. In the last mile, as we lost our daylight, Todd finally slipped away from me, but I kept increasing my own pace and run a 5:17 final mile.

All told we ran 8.32 miles in 45:27 – a 5:28 average pace, and a remarkably consistent pace throughout.

I’m ready for Humboldt. Perhaps even more than I realized!

Confidence

Last week I felt aweful running. Just terrible. That's what happens when you push the envelope repeatedly.

Two Saturdays ago I ran in the Garin Park XC race, which my club hosts. The race is a 5k with a fairly flat first and last kilometer, and a roller coaster middle 3k. I have felt great about my hill training as every week I've felt stronger and stronger running on hills - in part to the team hill workouts & in part to living in a hilly section of San Fran. When the race started, I ran the flat part within myself then charged hard up the first hill. About a mile into the race, I'm looking up seeing myself just a few seconds behind some of the best runners in the Bay Area. Well this quickly proved to be a mistake as I felt no recovery between where the first hill finally leveled off and the 2nd steep hill began. Long story short is I spent the second half of the race hanging on for dear life. I dropped from 10th to 13th in the second mile, but held my spot in the last mile, even holding off a challenge from a rival Transports runner. Although I ran a poorly timed race, I walked away happy knowing how tough I had run - especially how bad I wanted to throw in the towel midway. In the finishing chute my teammate's wife was nice enough to laugh as I tried to look forward through my slits of eyelids. Just after the chute when I went to my hands and knees, one of my teammates was nice enough to say "unless you're going to puke get your ass up." You get the idea... I was completely red-lined at the end.

The next day, I started my run slowly, but found myself feeling surprisingly fresh. I ran to where my teammates were meeting, then across the golden gate bridge, through the headlands and back home. All told I ran for 2 hours 15 minutes, which I logged at 19.5 miles (don't ask how I came up with that number). The idea is if I want to have the option of a late year marathon, I'll need that mileage. I spent the rest of the day not wanting to move off the couch.

Well... it was a big weekend, capping off a strong week of training, and my body cried UNCLE! I took Monday off, then it was mile repeats with the team Tuesday (alternating uphill and downhill miles). First downhill in 5:09. Felt flat but no big deal. Then uphill in 5:14.. OUCH that hurt. Then downhill in 4:52. I picked up my stride, but it was downhill, shouldn't be a big deal. Then back uphill in 5:15 and I was falling off the group. My heart rate was through the roof and my head spinning. 2/3 of the way through the workout and I was done. The next day I'm going to run a very easy 8 miles (which has become as routine and brushing my teeth), but 15 minutes into the run my slow jog felt like a race so I turned around and slowly jogged home.

I had a few things going through my head. Back in August, I talked about a more aggressive approach. This meant not making excuses & taking chances with my training. But I also knew pushing through this type of fatigue is a quick way to send your season down the toilet. Then I finally remembered back to my sophomore college XC season. I had returned from summer break in fantastic shape, rebounding from a bumpy freshman year. Half way through the season, my 85 mile weeks caught up with me, and I had a bad race followed by a rough week of training. I was hanging my heading thinking everything I had worked for was slipping away. So my coach pulls me aside before practice one day and says "I see you with a big question mark over your head. I don't have any question about you. I want to see an exclamation point over your head!" I took my tired legs and toughed out that day's workout, and went on to represent our team at NCAA nationals (which was my big goal for the season).

I realized that during any heavy training cycle you'll hit the wall at some point. It's not a big deal. REST. You've earned it.

My fatigue forced me to run easier for the rest of the week heading into the hilly Presidio XC race near my house. This race is 3.5 miles of the hilliest cross country you can imagine. It's up and down and up down, and steep at that. None of the hills are long, but there's 4 main climbs, and every one of them is waiting to eat you up if you take it out too hard. I finally had a race where I positioned myself well, but not too aggressively during the first half. Then over the 2nd half of the race, I pulled away from the runner I was battling with, and nearly reeled in a couple others. I finished 8th, which is my best finish to date in a Pacific Association race, and my time on the course was 1 minute, 22 seconds faster than last year!

I'm confident now. I've trained hard. I've tested the limits. And I've come back even stronger.

Here's a few pics Dana took of my West Valley teammates and I. After the race, we had people over for a fun little BBQ... our first time to host a decent size group in our new apartment.

On Sunday, Dana ran in the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon. She was happy with her training, but worried her recent work travel might affect her. Well, I can't say it did, because she ran an 8 minute PR with her 1:44! The impressive thing is her last 3 miles were the fastest. Nice job!

Some cool pics

Right before I grabbed some dinner I noticed the sky looked pretty cool. So I grabbed my camera and jumped out on the fire escape...

Mammoth pictures

Over Labor Day we went camping in Mammoth Lakes with our friends Mike and Cindy (also newlyweds). It was a great weekend all around. Good times with our friends, nice weather, and some good hikes. The first afternoon, we did a low key hike to Devil's Postpile (a volcanic formation) and Rainbow Falls. Then the next day, we did a 13 mile round trip hike to Minaret Lake. We all agreed it was one of the best - if not the best - hikes any of us had been on. And the amazing thing, is that there were very few others on the trail. Even though it was a holiday weekend.

Here are the pics...

The Battle

In my recent post I talked about racing to enjoy the battle versus racing with anxiety. I finally felt like I engaged in the battle last Saturday in the 4 mile Golden Gate Park XC Open. My overall place wasn't spectacular - 22nd in a very competitive field - but I beat some guys I've never beaten before, came very close to others, and put a few of the guys who I was neck and neck throughout the Spring road races 45-90 seconds in my rearview mirror. I also beat one of last year's top Dipsea finishers by over a minute, and was only 20 seconds behind the guy who won the fastest time trophy. Should I be shooting for a single digit black t-shirt in June? Well, don't want to get too far ahead of myself!

What else felt good was in the last mile as we headed up and over the last hill, I passed a group of 4 runners in front of me, holding the final guy off in an all out kick. It was great to win my part of the battle. Here was a pic taken just before the finish (I'm a little off balance thanks to a downhill turn on the finishing stretch).




The third guy in the photo tried to yell "on your left" to me on a single track section in the last mile... Hope he learned his lesson there.

Next up is the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge tomorrow night. It's a flat, but usually windy 3.5 miler. It's a fun race, but competitive. I'll just try to enjoy it, while hopefully running a fast time.

Also, mammoth was amazing two weekends ago. I have some great pics, that I'll hopefully post soon.

Race for the Chase

When I stared this blog, I threatened to write about NASCAR but never did. Well tonight I'm excited to watcth the last race before the 10 race playoff starts. After tonight, the top 12 drivers have a shot at the championship, and everone else is driving in circles.

I haven't been to any races yet this year, and haven't even watched many races, but it has been an interesting season. After 25 races, only 4 drivers have mathematically locked in a spot in the 12 driver playoff (the chase for the championship). The 5th place driver (Carl Edwards) could potentially miss the playoff, and the 15th place driver (David Reutimann) could sneak in. I'm excited to see the race!

Biggest surprise this year: Has to be Tony Stewart. He left his team where we won two Cup titles to become a majority owner/driver of a 2nd tier team. I thought he was throwing his career away for money. Well, he's won 3 races (plus the all star race) and is leading the points.

Biggest choke: Kyle Busch. He won 8 races last year, dominating the regular season. After he choked in last year's chase, he's 14th in the Standings with one race to go before the Chase - despite winning 4 races. WEAK.

Most obvious prediction: Jimmy Johnson will win his 4th championship. This team is just too good, and they use the whole season getting ready to be perfect for the chase. He'll win again. People won't be happy, and poeple won't be mad. And it's bad for NASCAR.

Biggest breakthrough this year / Dark Horse for next year: Marcos Ambrose. The Australian has posted top 5's this year on the road courses, at Talledega, and at Pocono. If he can figure out the shorter tracks, he'll be a force next year.

Last year's dark horse who choked this year: David Regan. He drives for UPS and I don't think I've heard his name all year. TERRIBLE.

GREEN FLAG!!!

Races, Long Runs, Workouts, and Days Missed

Jeff Edmonds has a fascinating blog. In his most recent post he talks about the extremes of philosphy in its purest form & racing in its purest form. While Jeff finished his PH.D in philosophy this past spring, I know very little on the matter. But I'll take a quote from his blog (hopefully not out of context): "philosophy in its purest form, like all living things, can never be completed."

As a runner, training can never be completed. Steve Prefontaine said "If you are a runner your never completely satisfied unless you get a World's Record." I dare say that Steve Prefontaine would not have been completely satisfied even if he did break a world record. This is the man who held the American record at 2000 meters, 3000 meters, 2 miles, 3 miles, 5000 meters, 6 miles, and 10000 meters the night he died.

So why did I fall in love with a sport in high school, come to loath it by the end of college, and rediscover a passion for it in my 30's? A sport where you can never be completely satisfied? Well... what do I look like? A man with all the answers?

I think the answer is that I enjoy the challenge of training again. I'm excited for my track workouts, and not anxious. As a runner if you don't enjoy that grind, then you'll be way too impatient if you don't see the race results immediately. A recent Wall Street Journal article featuring Kara Goucher discussed the approaches that African runners take compared to Americans runners. "Africans 'enjoy the battle' in endurance running while most Westerners 'race with anxiety.'" I still have some anxiety in races, which must be part of why my races haven't reflected my training.

Moving on.. I had my first race of the year 2 weeks ago finishing 19th in the Santa Cruz XC race in 22:11 (compared to 21st place in 22:57 last year). I'd rate the performance as not bad, but not great. My place didn't improve much from last year, but that was due to a much more competitive turnout. The race climbs steadily for the 1st mile, mostly uphill (but rolling) for the 2nd mile, then turns around and runs back down. Somehow I managed to die in the last mile going downhill. But had I held my position it would have been a good race. One thing I promised myself this year was to not get too disappointed anytime I significantly improved a performance from last year. So I'll stick to that.

Next up is a 4 mile race in Golden Gate park. This is a course I've raced several times, but usually on the 6 mile course (which is just one additional 2 mile loop). I ran the 6m course - the league championship - at 5:31 pace last year. My last race on the 4 mile course was my 5th year of college coming back from injuries. I ran that race in 21:15. If I can get anywhere close to that time I'll be really happy.

My best workout of the summer were 5 times a ~1400 meter (7/8 mile) loop where we ran 800 meters around the base of a big hill, then 600 meters charging up the hill. I managed to stay relaxed on the flat part, then be able to really attack the top of the hill. It's been the only time I've ever managed to push our top runner all the way through a workout. On the last interval he was 10 meters in front, when I caught him looking back. That was all I needed to quickly catch him, then sprint along side to the top. After the Santa Cruz race (where he finished in 2nd place roughly 2 minutes ahead of me), he joked how when he was tired at one point of the race he told himself "this is nothing compared to running the hills with Gifford". Well... glad I could help him with that one aspect of his training. Now I just need to work on running flats and downills!

Other than that, I've gotten a lot of good mileage & long runs. Last week was frustrating because I had hoped for a good week of mileage, but missed running all together on Friday when we headed to Washington, DC, and I only managed a very short run Sunday. But Dana & I had a great time at Tyson's wedding, then kicked around the Mall and the Air & Space Museum Sunday. So it was a great weekend. And I'm sure I won't have any problem making up for the runs missed.

This weekend we're heading up to Mammoth Lakes for some camping and hiking.

Sorry to alarm

Two family members were reading my last post and panicked thinking the story was going to end with "I got hit by a car". I promise if something like that were to ever happen to me, I wouldn't first tell you about it in a blog post :)

Dammit Run & 71 mile week

It hit me right after I ran the Bay to Breakers race in May that I was racing just like I was training. I was running decent races for a washed up 31 year old with a serious job, but I had turned into a Runners World runner; always in that comfort zone. I was doing some hard workouts, but so many days I was overcautious about backing off when I was tired. In addition to not having the conditioning I needed, I found myself unable to gut it out in the middle of a race when the pace started to hurt. I started to change my approach the last month of the season, and it paid off with a very rewarding finish at The Dipsea.

After the Dipsea it was off to the East Coast for the wedding. I was happy to take 3 weeks off (not counting the wedding 5k and a few short runs on the honeymoon) to focus on the big day and the honeymoon.

When I got settled in back home, I was ready to start running hard, but had to balance an aggressive approach with an intelligent build up. I wanted to focus on 2 things over the summer: building mileage into the cross country season, and consistent tempo runs (2x a week). For one of my running routes - the 7.5 mile Immigrant Point to Chrissy Field loop - I made a rule that I had to put the hammer down for 1 mile along Chrissy Field. I've done this run once every week or two and usually hit 5:15 to 5:20.

Two weeks ago I ran a good 61 mile week with solid workouts. One of the workouts was the 5 mile Los Gatos Dammit Run last Saturday. I knew this had been a competitive race in the past, but had no idea how hard the course was going to be. I got to the race really late (only warmed up about a half mile), so took the first mile super easy. I was in about 10th place for the half mile. Then shortly before the mile mark, the course started climbing uphill, and I was finally warmed up. I quickly passed some high schoolers who went out too fast, and was in 2nd place by a mile and a half. At this point we were climbing a steep grade up to the Lexington Dam. I had closed ground on the leader (Kevin Pierpoint - one of the top Bay Area runners). We reached the dam, and I thought that was the high point on the course. I still heard the 2nd place runner's footsteps, so I tried to run smoothly & quickly on the flat while I waited for the inevitable downhill. OOPS! We made a left turn and I realized the steepest hill of the race was straight ahead. Half way up, I felt like I was barely running, but Pierpoint was still in sight, and the footsteps behind me were gone. I never saw Pierpoint again after he crested the hill in front of me, but I kept the hammer all the way down the steep trail back into Los Gatos, and finished the race in 2nd place. I don't have a great benchmark for my performance, but felt like I ran hard & smart and that my fitness is right where it needs to be.

With Saturday's race, a hilly Sunday long run, and consistently high mileage, I felt pretty tired heading into Tuesday's workout. But I had a great workout running 3 x 2 mile "tempo" intervals at last season's race pace on the Golden Gate Park cross country course. As the week went on, I kept the mileage going, including a hilly 12 miler on Thursday. Then Friday, I decided to wake up at 4am and run before work, since I was playing golf right after work (running after beer and hot dogs isn't much fun). I wouldn't do it often, but I thought the morning air was pretty invigorating. Then the mishap occurred. I was running on a road through the Presidio when a car was coming. The road had a wide shoulder, so I drifted more and more to the left. Then SMACK I didn't even see the little ditch on the side. I landed hard on my hands and knees. I saw the car slow down to (presumably to make sure I was ok), but I just jumped up and kept running. As soon as I came to a street light I stopped for a sec. I was bleeding from both my hands and knees and the pain was throbbing, but I toughed it out for the 2.5 miles home. Cleaning it out was painful, and I had to bandage it all up for work. I still played golf, but sat out a number of the holes (I did manage a par on a par 3).

I didn't know how my weekend running would go. I started off Saturday and my knees were sore, but after the first few steps, I was comfortable the bruises wouldn't be any worse from running. I ran 7 Saturday morning, 4 Saturday afternoon with some hill sprints, then 14 Sunday. A 71 mile week! I've averaged 60 miles a week for the last 4 weeks.

I'll be backing it off this week, then next Saturday I have my first race of the Pacific Association cross country season - a hilly 4 miler in Santa Cruz. I'm very happy with how my summer training went, and I think I've taken a better mental approach to my workouts.

Obama's Answer: Drink Beer

Obama, Gates, Crowly get their drink on

To alcohol! The cause of -- and solution to -- all of life's problems!
-Homer J. Simpson

Nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away!
-Lenny (Homer's friend)

Harris Ranch Steakhouse

A couple weeks ago I had the impulsive thought to head down and take a plane up for a quick flight. I didn't get to fly much during the spring because of running and wedding planning. But this Monday, Dana was out of town, and I was going to take the day off running, so an after work flight seemed like the perfect activity. Since work was not busy, I left before 3:00 and headed down. As I left my house I decided to see if Jonathan Stevens (who lives near the airport) wanted to go, and he tagged along. We flew the "Bay Tour" where you fly right next to SFO (assuming the tower will grant you a Bravo airspace clearance) and over the city. Jonathan enjoyed the flight so I suggested another adventure.

This past Friday night, Jonathan, Jenn Stevens, Dana, and I took off from San Carlos and headed South to Coalinga, CA, 120 miles South in the central valley. Coalinga is pretty much just known for the Harris Ranch, which sends beef all over California (and other places I'm sure). Right off Intestate 5 & in the middle of nowhere is the Harris Ranch Steakhouse. The website states that the steakhouse is "Conveniently located midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles". Well since these 2 cities are a 6 hour drive apart, I'd say that's only convenient to the cows that live there and haven't realized they're going to be steaks soon. So with this in mind, they stuck a small landing strip parallel to the freeway - The Harris Ranch Airport. The airport consists of a 2800 foot runway that's a mere 30 feet wide with no taxi-ways. It's a crazy landing because it looks like you're aiming toward a pencil when you're on final approach. And if you drift off the centerline you'll probably land it in the gravel. My landing wasn't pretty, but I hit the marks.

We enjoyed some delicious fresh steaks with the Stevenses (unfortunately no wine for me as the pilot). I also picked up a couple vacuum sealed racks of tri tip steak to cook if we get around to having a housewarming party. So after dinner and after nightfall we climbed back in the plane to head back to San Carlos. It was a bit interesting heading back into the Bay Area as a very thin, but low cloud layer had settled over most of the Bay. The approach control warned me that San Francisco International was reporting instrument conditions (which I'm not rated to fly in), and San Jose had a very low ceiling. The San Carlos tower was closed, but there's a frequency that broadcasts the automated weather conditions... Somehow they were reporting clear skies. This was clearly an error since it was only 9 miles south of SFO, which was completely fogged in. But as I got close to the Bay, I slipped under the initial cloud layer, and sure enough when I approached San Carlos, the skies were clear. Weird summer weather in the Bay Area!

We stayed in the city the rest of the weekend. Saturday night went to Tyson Hendrickson's engagement party - praise the Lord that man found a girl! Then I rolled out of bed at 5am Sunday morning to combine a long run with SF Marathon spectating (the race starts at 5:30 so that they can incorporate the Golden Gate Bridge). I ran with a guy I bet at a recent race who I've recruited to run with West Valley, and I got to see a couple friends run well in the race.

Dolphin South End Runners

Sunday morning I decided to give my running an ego-boost and hit the Dolphin South End race (DSE for short). The DSE running club is low-key club that hosts a race almost every weekend of the year for the unbeatable price of $5 per race. There's no t-shirt's, fancy aid stations, etc. Just a race in a different (often scenic) location each week. I say it's an ego boost because you rarely see any of the competitive runners who kick my butt in the Pacific Association series. Not a hint of prize money, nor fancy trophies, just a ribbon for finishing and a ribbon if you win.

My first DSE race was two years ago. I had been running more than I had in a while, feeling good, so I decided to find a race and jump in. I did the 5k that day, while most runners ran the more challenging 6.8 miler. I won the shorter race pretty easily in a very slow 18 minutes. That day was really the start of what I'm calling my 2nd running career (or alternatively my 30+ running career).

So Sunday was my 2nd DSE race. It was the same event, but I went back for the 6.8 miler. The course was a 3.4 mile / 1000 foot climb straight up San Bruno Mountain, then straight back down. I averaged just over 6 min / mile pace to win by about 4 minutes. 2nd place was a rising high school junior is hoping to make his varsity squad for the first time this year. You'd always like to say you dusted some stiff competition, but it was my first win since the last DSE race, so I'll take it.

I didn't get to pick up my ribbon because I rushed back to the city to go to church with Dana.

Here's a picture of San Bruno Mountain















* Interesting fact: In 1998 a United Airlines 747 buzzed San Bruno Mountain by a mere 100 feet. One of the right engines had failed on takeoff, and the inexperienced pilot tried to compensate for the uneven thrust by rolling the wings to the left, instead of the proper procedure of using the left rudder to keep the plane level with the nose still pointed forward. He then had to push the nose down to pick up speed and avoid a stall. Unfortunately they were now headed straight for the mountain. Thank God the plane just cleared the mountain and the 307 people of board were spared. Perhaps if I ever train for a multi-engine certificate I'll post an entry on proper lost engine procedures.

Wedding pics

As you can imagine I was bit to busy to be snapping photos, so no original material here. But my groomsman Jonathan Stevens put together a shutterfly page where people have posted some good pictures. Here's the link.

http://giffordsgetmarried.shutterfly.com/

Honeymoon!

Dana & I had a great time spending 5 nights in St Martin (the French side of St Martin), 5 nights in St Lucia, and then one final night back in St Maarten (the dutch side of the St Martin). The first leg of the trip was quiet and relaxing as we stayed on a beautiful beach. I kept thinking it looked like a Corona commercial. We made some new friends in St Martin as a couple cats - which we named Simon & Boogers - hung around all week to eat any leftover food we had. We took a day trip over to St. Barth's where after I narrowly avoided puking on the boat ride over, we rented scooters to ride around the island.

After that we went to St Lucia to stay at a fancy pants all inclusive. In addition to some more beach time, we got to wake board, jet ski, hobbie cat, take a boat tour, and snorkel.

The honeymoon was a great time all around. It was nice being on such a long vacation, and after the excitement of the wedding it was nice to spend time with just the two of us.

And thanks to everyone for making the wedding such an amazing day! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend.

Since a picture's worth a thousand words, I won't say too much more. Here are the pics. Enjoy!

The Dipsea

Sunday morning, I ran the 99th Dipsea Race. The Dipsea is the 2nd oldest race in America behind the Boston marathon, and there’s no race like it. You start the race in Mill Valley, almost immediately climb 671 stairs, keep running uphill, then run down a steep narrow chute called Suicide, then climb 1300 feet up to Cardiac Hill, down through the Swoop & Steep Ravine (might as well be Suicide part II with stairs to sprint down), then choose from a couple different options to finish the race in Stinson Beach. All told it’s 7.1, or 7.4, or 7.5 miles – depending on who you ask and which exact route you run.

The rules of the Dipsea race are also a bit complicated. First of all it’s a handicap race, like the Wauhatchie Trail run that we used to do in Chattanooga. So the old and the young start first, and 19-30 year old males starts last (I had a 1 minute headstart). Furthermore, they break the entire field into two sections. The Invitation is limited to returning runners who ran fast enough the prior year. Then everybody else (including me as a first timer) runs in the Dipsea Runners section. The DR section starts after all the invitational runners are on their way. So I knew going in that I couldn’t place highly overall, but I was shooting for a top finish in the DR section, and to secure an automatic entry (I forgot to mention this race is hard to get into) as an Invitational runner next year for the 100th Dipsea.

The race… Luckily I had been out running on the course. I ran up Cardiac Hill a couple times with the 2008 winner – 52 year old Roy Rivers (don’t let the age fool you… he is STRONG). I also ran the course out and back 2 weeks before the race with two guys who would finish in the top 15 overall. It was good to train for the long burn of cardiac, and for the required technical skills to race downhill. I also went to Stinson Beach 2 days before the race to look at the last mile again. I ran into a man in his 60’s who I had met on my training runs. He had run over 20 Dipseas, but was still out there to scout out his favorite short cuts. He gave some last minute advice – including don’t be afraid to use your right arm to move people out of the way if they won’t let you by on the left.

I started in my group with a single minute handicap, and was already catching the group in front of me (with an additional minute headstart) less than two minutes in. By the time I got to the stairs, I hit a wall of people walking. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT! LEFT! It didn’t work very well, and it was too early to start pushing people out of the way, so I wiggled through people, and ran up to the side of the stairs where I could. Perhaps the congestion was helpful in that it kept me from red-lining too early in the race. As I got toward the top of the stairs it cleared up a bit and I could move at my desired pace. I hit the mile-mark in 9 flat… Pretty slow considering I ran my first mile of a recent 10 mile race in 5:15. But I heard that Mark McManus, who won last year’s fastest time trophy (for best non-handicap adjusted time), ran that mile in 8:30, so I knew I couldn’t be far off pace. Shortly after the mile mark, I crested the hill, and started downhill on the first single track trail. ON YOUR LEFT! LEFT!!! Hey dude, in front of me, either pass some people or get of the damn way! This is where I had to put my arm out and move a few people out of the way. Then after a short downhill section on the road, I hit Suicide. This was crazy… so steep, so crowded, dust flying everywhere. I wanted to fly, but I just couldn’t get by people. Luckily it was short, and onto Cardiac Hill. My plan was to run as comfortably as possible at the bottom, since I had almost 20 minutes of uphill running. I passed a lot of people on the first few switchbacks, but then the crowds seemed to be thinning out. Now I was catching some women in their 60’s, pre-teen boys, and middle to high school girls. A lot of these runners looked pretty strong. I saw a man in his 40’s toward his top who was running very well. As I caught him, he managed to hold a steady 30 yard interval over me thru the last few minutes and over the crest of Cardiac. I took a cup of water at the top… I hate drinking water during races, and forcing it down felt like a punch in the stomach, but I think it helped. Then I looked ahead and realized… we’re all alone! A minute into the downhill (gradual at first), I caught the guy in front. He yelled back TELL ME WHEN YOU WANT TO PASS, so I collected my energy & yelled GOING BY NOW. After I sprinted by I passed a race official who said I was 3rd in the Dipsea Runners section (they could tell by the color of our bib numbers). At this point I was flying. My legs were turning over very quickly, and gravity did the work. As I hit the steep downhills, I just tried to keep a fast pace, and had faith that between the time I put my foot out and when it hit the ground, that I would find a place to land. It worked pretty well, except for a couple stairs that I stumped on & actually put a hand on the ground. So I flew and I flew toward the finish. I would pass a runner every minute or so, but they were all stragglers off the back end of the invitational section. When I hit the road with just over a quarter mile to go, I felt the burn again, but just tried to pass every runner I could see.

I never caught the last two Dipsea Runners – a man & a woman both in their mid 50’s, but I finished the race in 53:29, which was the 6th fastest time out of everybody. I was very happy with the time, especially being my first race. Realistically I thought I would run 55ish. I’m already thinking of spots where I can shave time off that for next year – some technical spots like the downhill steps, and some more conditioning to drop 30 to 60 seconds off cardiac. The top 35 runners each receive a coveted plain black t-shirt with their finishing place on it. If I had been in the Invitational, I would have placed in the 20’s. I’m already thinking about a black T-shirt for next year (hopefully with a low number)!

So if you’ve gotten this far, you can tell how much fun this was for me. Congrats to 52 year old Brian Pilcher for winning the overall race – despite a pretty serious running injury about a week ago. I owe a lot to Alex Varner, Gus Gibbs, and Roy Rivers (who all ran very well this year) for helping me train on the course. Can’t wait till next year!

Here are the results. You’ll find me in 593rd place overall (but 3rd in the DR section – 19 seconds behind the winner who had nearly a 10 minute headstart). You can also see my 3 training buddies in the top 20 overall.

http://www.dipsea.org/2009/2009_prelim.html

Oh & finally 1 note on Roy River’s race: Because he was last year’s champion, he received a 4 minute “winner’s penalty” (reduced head start) for last year’s win. It drops to 3 minutes next year, then 2, then 1. Just another unique twist of the Dipsea Race!