Shorts

Nope this isn't about those socially unacceptable split shorts that everyone with a running addiction secretly likes.  Since I haven't visited my own blog in so long, it's time to catch up on with a handful of short posts merged into one hopefully-not-to-long post!

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In June I ran the Dipsea race for the 4th time, and won my 2nd Black T-Shirt with my 24th place finish!  I usually write an extensive post on what's my favorite race, but just didn't happen this time (click the Dipsea tag below if you're really curious about prior years).  My spring season had been rolling, but I hadn't trained specifically for the unique trail race (which I always said was necessary).  Still, coming off my best 10K in 10 years, and one really strong workout on the Dipsea course, I expected both my best place and best time on the course.  These days I'm usually calm and relaxed on race mornings, but this time I had nerves of Jelly starting the afternoon before!  Race morning was HOT.  I felt flat and out of rhythm for the first 20 minutes of the race, but finally turned it on during the second half of the big climb.  Realizing the heat seemed to be affecting a lot of people, I was rolling with little resistance on the most technical downhill section when boom, I feel a tweak in my ankle (the same one I had injured twice previously).  I saw my black shirt aspirations fly out the window, but at the bottom of the stairs I realized I could still run on it.  It was time to stop feeling sorry for myself and keep rolling - just a little more cautiously.  My time of 33:40 was exactly a minute slower than my 2010 best, and 5 places back, but I was happy to overcome some adversity and get that Black T-Shirt for finishing in the top 35!

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My son Jackson turned 1 last week!  Yes - everybody who told me that it would go by so fast, you were right!  He's walking, learning new words every week, and been a ton of fun.  I really hoped to keep my running going after becoming a dad, and thanks so much to Dana for being so supportive.  Some good advice I got from another dad runner was to treat running like a time management exercise - find the time, get it done, and be efficient.  It helps that I leave for work between 5:15 - 5:30am then get home early.  We've had quite a few days where I'll go to work before dawn, get home at 4pm, Dana heads out for a run while I play with Jack, after spending a little time with all three of us together, then she starts to get him ready for bed while I head out for a run.  Then dinner around 8pm, bed at 9.   We've enjoyed our weekends, which are far less hectic!  Here's me playing with my cute little guy!

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I'm still stoked at how the US mid-distance and distance runners performed in the Olympics.  The highlight for me by far was seeing Galen Rupp battle with the Ethiopians on the last lap, storming down the home stretch for the silver.  I made quite a scene watching it from an airport bar.  I was pretty close to buying a round for the whole bar, which luckily only would have been three other people.  I thought Leo Manzano could be a sleeper if he found his best stuff, and sure enough he did coming out of nowhere for a silver.  After that we had 4 other 4th place finishes (Duane Soloman - 800, Matt Centrowitz - 1500, Bernard Lagat - 5000, Meb Keflezighi - marathon).  Also depth wise on the men's side we saw 2 in the top 5 in the 800, 3 in the top 10 of the 5000, and 2 in the top 8 in the steeplechase.

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The morning before Rupp won his silver, I finished second place in a somewhat less significant race - the 50th annual John Kelley 11.6 mile road race in New London Connecticut.   The race is completely free and run in honor of the former Boston Marathon winner and two-time Olympian.  In addition to being the 50th anniversary of the race, it was the first running since John passed away in 2011.  It was long, humid, but a lot of fun.  Averaged 5:39 pace which I was happy with given the weather and how early in the season it was.

Here's the wiki article on John Kelley

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_J._Kelley

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The PA cross country season has started.  The West Valley TC men's open team keeps attracting more and more talented runners to the club.  While, I have to resist the urge to over-train on the workout days (instead of saving the best efforts for race-day), it has been fun to chase the faster guys.  I'm definitely feeling fitter and faster!  Despite getting faster, I keep getting pushed down the WVTC depth chart.  But that's a good thing - it's fun to be a part of such a strong team, and sets the bar higher which helps me get better.  Through the first 4 races of the season, and team has won 3 times and runner up once.  I finished in the top 10 in the 3 races I've run.  Here I am in the 2nd race:

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I plan to write a separate post on training.  The bullet points:  I'm getting better and listening to my body like I did successfully back in high school.  Once you experience the benefits of increasing your mileage (and there are many), it's so easy to become a slave to your weekly mileage.  It is by far the most quantifiable measure of training, so naturally many runners - myself included - make irrational decisions around weekly mileage.  At times I've been a slave to it.  Sometimes a runner needs a day or two of easy or no running to realize the benefits of prior training.  Consistency and the trend of mileage/workouts/recovery over the course of a training cycle is what leads to good results, not arbitrary benchmarks in a given week.

PA Cross Country Championships

My life hasn't been all marathon training.  On November 20th, I laced up my spikes for one of my favorite annual races - the PA Cross Country Championships.  The race - 3 times around a hilly 2 mile loop in SF's Golden Gate Park.  It's a nice challenging race to cap off the cross country season, and fun to get all the club teams together in the same race. 

With rain falling for much of the week leading up, I knew it would be muddy one!  Here's a quick recap.

I have to say in all my years of cross country, that this was probably the sloppiest course that I have ever run on!  It was muddy last year, but my footing was firm enough with spikes on. This year I was sliding all over the place even with my spikes on.  After watching the men's master's race, I noticed there was a tight lead pack of 5-6 runners but after that the field spread out quickly.  In past PA Champs I liked to go out pretty conservatively on the first loop, then work my way up, but this year I was thinking "track position" (to use a NASCAR term) seemed pretty important.  I had confidence from my increased mileage and the longer tempo work from marathon training that I could hold on after a quicker early pace.  It was a weird experience to be within 5 seconds of teammate Neville Davey (who has won several PA races recently) & others at the mile mark, but a quick internal systems check told me the pace was ok.  I gave up a few positions at the end of the first loop as I let myself regroup, then started moving forward again at the bottom of the hill on the second loop.  Close to halfway the race seemed to be going by fast.  3 miles in I felt confident I could keep pressing hard without blowing up, so I made an effort to surge by any runners who appeared to be falling back.  On the 3rd and final loop I was battling with a strawberry canyon runner.  He opened a 5 second gap on the flat section by the polo field.  Up the last hill and down into the meadow I was reeling him in, but just ran out of room near the finish as he crossed 1 second in front. While this wasn't my best time ever on the course (I ran about a minute faster under dry conditions), I feel pretty good that this was my best effort of the 5 PA champs I've run.  Final results - 32nd place in 33:34 (6.1 miles)


It's now the day before CIM.  We're about to load up the car for Sacramento.  I'll check back in after the race!

Feeling the Marathon Groove

For most of my life, most of the people who have known me, know that I'm a runner.  And man, if I had a dollar for every time I heard:

How many marathons have you run?
Oh you so run a lot of marathons?
What's your fastest marathon?

I always kept a few snarky responses in my repitoir like "I like to run fast, not far" or "Oprah ran a marathon, real men run fast."  Usually I would be far more gracious and briefly explain how I like traing to get faster at shorter distances (as if running 5K's and 10K's makes me a sprinter).

In 2005 - when I was 3 years out of college, I felt like I needed a project outside of work.  It's not terribly far from the truth to say that I finally realized it would be less work to just go run a marathon rather than keep explaining why I've never run one.  I turned my 3 - 4 days a week of afternoon 4 or 5 mile runs into the same distance 5 days a week plus a weekend long run.  I showed up at the California International Marathon, and dispite some digestive complications ran a solid 2:43.  That 20 mile bonk never happened, in fact I didn't slow at all in the later miles, it just started to hurt worse and worse!

After that 2005 CIM I was excited to run another, but as other interests crept into my life, I was running less and less...  A few years later, I joined the West Valley Track Club & started training again, but I was having so much fun working on getting my speed back, that I never looked toward the 26.2 distance, at least not in the near term.

Heading into this fall's cross country season, I knew I needed more overall endurance.  The couple years I have been comfortable rolling on fast intervals on the track, but couldn't hold paces anywhere close during races of 5K and longer.  I always like hearing what elite runners have to about their races, and something that my college teammate Lauren Fleshman said really struck me.  Lauren finished a very impressive 7th at the World Championships 5,000 meter race, staying in contact with the leaders until 2 laps to go!  Afterward she was asked if she would work on her speed so that she could run a 60 second last lap like the best in the world could do.  Her response (paraphrased) - I've run 60 seconds at the end of a 5K before, but off a slower pace.  I don't need more speed, I need more strength so I can tap into my speed at the end of a fast pace like this. 

I had been realizing the same thing about my running.  All the track speed in the world won't help me run a 5K or 10K if the wheels are going to fall off after 10 minutes of hard running.  I also looked back at prior seasons and just saw myself taking way too many short cuts.  I needed that true pyramid style training program.  First build the volume, then the endurance, then after the foundation was in place start working on the higher quality work. 

Over the summer I looked to build my mileage to consistently be at 60-70 miles per week, with frequent tempo and progression runs, and finally long runs around 2 hours (~17 miles).  Other than occasional strides, I wasn't worried about tapping into speed and fast interval work until well after the cross country races started in late August.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had the thought - if everything goes well, let's look toward finally returning to the Cal International Marathon, 6 years later.

Building endurance (or as runners call it "strength") over sharpness worked well.  Out of the 6 PA cross country races I ran, I hit my fastest times ever on 4 of those courses.  In late September & early October, when it came time to add more race specific fitness, the workout paces felt fast, but I found myself just not getting as tired toward the end of workouts as I used to. 

Encouraged by my mileage, and the consistency of my longer workouts, I decided to pull the trigger and enter this year's CIM.  Still I felt the need to cap my training cycle with a good 3 weeks of high volume, and marathon specific workouts.  Over the previous three weeks, I hit weekly mileage over 70, and long runs of 20, 20, 23, 21 miles.  Toward the end of last week, the training was taking it's toll.  I was tired most the time, and ALWAYS sore.  I told my wife that I was loving the feeling of being fit, but really looking forward to starting my taper. 

Finally last Sunday, the last day of that three week (plus one day counting the previous week's long run) stretch, was the day to do my toughest marathon workout.  The idea was to run 8 miles, starting slow then progressing the pace, then finishing with 12 miles at marathon pace - targeting 5:50 to 5:55 per mile.  I woke up super early to eat so that I could start the workout at 7am - the time the race would be starting.  Sawyer Camp in San Mateo is a favorite place to work out with it's half mile distance markers and scenic views.  The first 8 miles went smoothly, I started at 7 min per mile and ended just over 6 min pace, averaging 6:25 / mile.  Back at the car I quickly changed to some lighter shoes, ate a gel, and headed out for the fun part.  The excitement got to me quickly as I rolled through the first mile in 5:35.  That was lesson 1 of what not to do in the race.  I settled down and then ran between 5:45 - 5:50 for the next 3 miles. I was going faster than I intended but felt comfortable enough.  Miles 5 and 6 were uphill, so I wasn't worred the pace was slower than 6:00.  At the turn around, I let gravity do the work running 5:25 and 5:30 for 7 & 8.  I knew the last 4 miles would be tough as I'd be tired and going from downhill to flat running again.  Regardless the pace never wavered as I hit splits of 5:34 - 5:38 for the last 4.  My average pace for the 12 miles was 5:43 pace - exactly 2:30 marathon pace! 

It's great when you have that one workout that gives you a huge confidence boost heding into a big race.  I was feeling the marathon groove.  The race is 15 days away, I'm ready to go!

PA Championships

I think a race recap a month and a half after the actual race must be a new PR!  Life has been busy lately - which certainly isn't a bad thing - but I wanted to get a few thoughts down before they completely fade from my memory. 

The Pacific Association Cross Country Championships is a highly competitive race that caps off our local XC season in late November.  The race typically draws a handful of elite runners, and a large number of sub-elites who train in northern California.  I first ran the race (poorly) way back in my freshman year of college, and have run the past three years. 

My cross country training got off to a slow part thanks to a minor injury at the end of the summer.  I spent most the fall just trying to gradually build my mileage back into 50 mpw range, rather than hammering some interval workouts.  I jumped into three XC races in October and November to race my way into shape.  The results weren't spectacular, but respectable for my fitness level.

The one race where I really wanted to run well and help out my West Valley TC team, was the PA Championships.  In the couple weeks leading up to the race, I finally got a couple workouts in where I felt fast again, and I was feeling snappy on my runs. 

The morning of the race, I felt nervous for the first time in a while.  I was confident, but felt good to be jumping into a race where I thought I'd be ready to run.  The weather was cloudy & cool, but steady rains the prior week left the course extremely muddy.  Warming up, I realized that the thing I love about the Golden Gate Park course is that everyone else hates it.  If you jogged the course you might not realize how challenging it is considering there's no major hills.  It's just the type of course that's constantly changing - hard dirt, soft dirt, uneven grass, long gradual hills, short steep hills - so it's really tough to get in a rhythm over the 6 mile race. 

When the gun went off, I tried to settle into a good but comfortable pace on the first of 3 loops.  The field seemed larger than the last couple years, but I was feeling alright, and saw four of my teammates 5-10 seconds ahead who I know would be good people to key off of.  About a mile into the race, I was feeling pretty good, but knew it was too early to charge forward and catch them.  At the end of the first loop, I had caught two of my four teammates, and would work with them for the rest of the race.  The mud was proving to be a big factor, and I was really glad I wore spikes.  You could tell the guys who were wearing flats, because it seemed like they just stopped moving in certain spots. 

As the race went on, I did a good job of avoiding mid-race analysis.  I just tried to stay with my teammates, and keep rolling whenever I felt the pain creeping in.  By the last lap, I was right behind veteran Todd Rose, and quickly improving newcomer Matt Kane.  There were three other runners (who I didn't know) from other teams that were battling right with us.  With just over a mile to go, Matt threw a surge to move ahead of us, and Todd was just behind them.  As they started to pull away from the other three competitors, I knew I was in the number 5 spot for West Valley, so I needed to take every spot I could.  At one point with about a mile to go, the pain really hit, but I told myself to just keep pushing and don't think too far ahead.  As we charged up the last hill, there was only one runner left between Todd and me, but he was 15 yards ahead. 

One advantage of running on this course so much - both in workouts and as part of normal runs, is knowing where you can attack, and particularly how long you can hold that final kick.  Cresting the last hill, I kept my eyes on this guy's back & kept saying to myself I'm gonna get him, I'm gonna get him.  As I headed down, and made a sharp left turn, I kept winding my kick up and moving faster, slowly cutting into the lead.  With about 100 meters to go, we dropped into the meadow which was very muddy.  At this point I'm digging for that last gear & closing the last bit of the gap.  Just when I think I had him, he speeds up.  For a split second I thought I'd run out of time, but then I found that last gear and passed him a couple strides before the line. 

My final time was 33:30 (for ~ 6.1 miles) and 51st place.  Most people ran around a minute slower than last year due to the conditions, so after only losing 45 seconds over last year was very encouraging.  I also finished right with guys who had beaten me by huge margins only a couple weeks ago.  It felt great to end a short training season with a satisfying performance.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.