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!