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.

Marin Memorial Day 10K

Last week I was telling Dana (my lovely wife for those who don't know her) that I was really excited for the next two races - the Marin 10K and the Dipsea Race.  This spring season hadn't featured the consistently high mileage (by my standards) and epic workouts that I logged the prior spring, yet my race results have been much much better.  I decided to not get so caught up on how my training looked on paper, rather be patient - work really hard when I'm able, but rest when I needed to.  Also, a big mistake I made last year was trying to train through competitive races.  It has been a small adjustment, and if you compared my training log year over year you might say I'm not training as hard, but it's tough to argue this is working better when my 5K races have been ~30 seconds faster than the prior year. 

On memorial day I laced up the flats for the Marin Memorial Day 10K.  The race is on a flat, fast course in the shadows of Mt Tam (where I'll be racing the Dipsea in a week).  While it's a great opportunity to run fast, this race really had my number the prior two times I ran.  The only question mark for me was whether the 5K focused training would translate to twice the distance.  I just had to hope the occasional progressive tempo runs, the two 10 mile races from the early season, and even the Bay to Breakers centipede effort would fill the gap of not doing longer interval sessions.  Regardless, I told myself to push it all out of my head and just be confident as I've had great momentum recently.  The goal was to run 5:15 pace - a mid 32 minute effort.

The race went off & I just didn't feel very smooth.  In the 1st mile I settled in behind a couple masters runners, including the mighty 55 year old Brian Pilcher.  I was a little concerned with how I felt, but tried to stay as loose and relaxed as possible.  I hit the mile mark in 5:11, not a bad split, just wanted it to feel easier.  By the 2 mile mark, teammates Rookie and Gus ran by & opened a small gap.  I hit that split in 5:19.  It was a very slight uphill, but had to make the decision to ignore how I felt, and just trust the training that I'd be fine to push a bit harder.  So I threw a surge and caught up to my teammates, and even led the train for a while running the 3rd mile in 5:06.  There wasn't a 5k split but from the 3m I guessed half way was about 16:10.  Feeling more energized, on pace, and even thinking how I just ran the first half faster than most my 5K races last year, I kept pressing on. 

Our group strung out a bit in the second half of the race, but just kept as close to Gus as I could, telling myself to relax, and throwing little surges when I needed to catch up.  From half way I moved up 1-2 positions each mile.  The 4 mile split was 5:13, the 5th in 5:14, then the 6th in 5:21 (with a slight headwind).  The race ended with 250 meters on a track, and I kicked it in when I heard some footsteps behind.

The final time was 32:26 for 19th place - my fastest 10K since the 90s!  Our West Valley team had a very strong day with 7 guys under 33 minutes (I was the 5th).  It's exciting to see how well our team is doing, and that it's a combination of new guys joining, and existing guys working hard and getting faster.

The race was satisfying one because I set a challenging goal and accomplished it.  It also was good to have a day where thing didn't just automatically click - like those rare days you always dream about - but was able to stay tough and confident, and race hard the entire way. 

Next up is the 102nd Dipsea!  I've been pretty tired this week, but that's to be expected.  I'll take a decent taper week, and can't wait to show up in Mill Valley Sunday morning feeling strong.

* The finish

The Bay to Breakers Centipede

The annual Bay to Breakers race is one of the biggest events in San Francisco.  The 12K race offers big prize money to attract some of the best road racers in the world, and a great overall scene for serious runners, to joggers, to walkers, then finally to party goers.  All throughout there are creative costumes, and um a few people with no clothes on at all.  Last year I ran the 100^th annual race – which was first known as The Cross-City race.  Having raced 3 previous times (and joined the party a few times before that), I was still missing out on a very unique twist to the competition - The Centipede!

In 1978 a group of 13 guys from the Aggies running club said “hey let’s enter the race and see how fast we can run tied together” (or something like that).  After that the centipede division was born.  The Aggies have run every year since, although recently a group of mostly Bay Area Track Club runners sponsored by Linked In has stolen the show setting new centipede world records. 

I always wanted to run a ‘pede.  My West Valley teammates had discussed in the past, but never found the numbers to field the 13 members.  This year, with our ranks of open male runners growing, we finally got everyone on board and entered a centipede!  

It took a bit more planning than showing up for a normal race.  With 13 guys there was a fairly wide range of running abilities.  So we had to determine the right paces to run and have people communicate throughout the race.  Also there was the gear.  Turns out you can’t just show up at your local running store and ask for standard “centipede gear” so each team gets creative.  We bought some clipping nylon straps to wear as belts, with 4 foot carabineer bungee cords. 

*6am meeting spot

The race was an absolute blast.  People were soaking up the festive atmosphere, and chatting with various other runners we knew who were running near our group.  The bungees gave us a margin of error if you strayed too far out of our zig-zag formation, but let the stronger runners assist the less fit up the hills (the steep Hayes Street Hill in particular). 

*Nick feeling tired on the rollers

A smartly planned race got us through the first two miles at 5:45 pace, next two which included most the hills at 6 flat.  Through Golden Gate Park, some of the stronger runners were working the hardest from pulling on the cords during the rolling hills at low 5:30s pace.  Then on the downhill last couple miles most people were ready to roll, and we ran 5:17 and 5:18 for the last two full miles – both downhill.  At the faster pace we had to be careful not to run over the photographers up on their ladders.  The finishing time was 42:11 for the 3^rd place centipede – a 5:40 average.  It was also cool that we were passing runners most the way - some people various ones of us knew, and others we chatted with along the way. 

*Rolling through the park

My first centipede is in the books.  I have the gear stored away, and can’t wait for next year! 

Various people posted pics on Facebook, and some were great.  There was even a random picture on Instagram which was the best of all – and I don’t even know what Instagram is other than the company that Facebook bought for a gazillion dollars. 

Here's the random Instagram shot... pretty good! 

Here is the Linked-In team running 36:44 (4:56 pace)

The Aggies

West Valley making the turn for home!

Post race pose

California International Marathon - Part 1 - The Race

If you had talked to me recently (or read my blog update), you might have known I was gearing up for my first marathon in 6 years.  I often like to write down what I was thinking and how I was feeling before a race, and similarly record my post-race reaction.  I want to circle back, and fill in that part, but since I have 26.2 miles to cover, I'll break with my normal practice and jump right into the race.

The background info I'll quickly note is when I signed up for the race my goal was 2:33 - 2:35 (5:50 - 5:55 pace).  After running most my "marathon pace" workouts in the low 5:40s, I was more optimistic, but still wanted a conservative race plan - to run the first half marathon in 1:16:00 - 1:17:00 (5:48 - 5:52 pace).

The race morning was much like my last marathon 6 years ago - clear skies, calm winds, but pretty chilly (in the high 30s).  Just after daylight broke, I found myself on the starting line with a pair of gloves and arm-warmers.  Even though this wasn't a Chicago Marathon type field, I knew there enough elite runners - particularly those gunning for their last chance to make the Olympic Trials next month - that I didn't need to be anywhere close to the front row.  I figured spotting some of my eventual competitors 10 seconds early on was easily worth the trade off of not getting sucked into way too fast of an early pace.

As the starting horn went off, and I cross the start line 3 seconds later, it just didn't feel like a race.  It felt like a long run with a ton of other people, just a bit faster than my normal everyday running pace.  I chatted with other runners I knew as we all settled into our paces.  Shortly after the start I saw a large pack of women who I figured were gunning for their Olympic trials standard of 2:46 (and sure enough quite of few of them nailed it).  As the first few miles are mostly downhill I eased into a smooth comfortable pace, and slowly moved forward in the large pack.  The first mile was 5:48.  I was almost relieved - I was going fast enough but not too fast!  The second split was 5:52.  I quickly questioned - was that too slow?  was that too much effort?  But just as quick, I shut the mental rambling off - I had well over 2 overs left to run, and I was still getting warmed up, and there would surely be a lot of ups and downs.

In the 3rd mile I definitely started to feel good.  I figured out pretty early in the race that I was going to run my own race, rather than try to key off other runners.  Mile 3 was 5:38 - faster than I should be running this early, but didn't concern me as we're still going downhill.  Now I'm reeling in a large pack that includes the 3 female leaders, plus a couple West Valley teammates who are shooting to run sub 2:30.  The 4th mile was 5:33.  WHOA BUDDY - CHILL OUT!  At this point I pretty much slam on the breaks.  The last mile felt totally relaxed, but I knew there was probably no better way to torpedo a good marathon opportunity than to run way too fast in the first quarter of the race.

From the 5th mile through the half way point, I established a really smooth consistent rhythm.  Through that stretch - every mile split was 5:42-5:44 (other than one 5:40).  I was doing exactly what I told myself not to do - running faster than the 1:16 pace I set as a speed limit, but it just felt too easy not to put myself in a position to possibly break 2:30.  The short uphills would strain my breathing ever so slightly, but it would quickly return to normal on the flat & downhill sections.  At some point - probably around 6 miles - I felt the first hint of lactic acid in my legs, but nothing to fear, it had to happen at some point.  I just focused on keeping a smooth relaxed stride.

The pack of runners who I almost caught in the 4th mile, remained 50 or meters ahead.  Right around the 9th mile I finally caught up to them, announcing my presence to teammates Jonah B. and Jason "The Rookie".  The Rookie let out an excited "Hey Gifford!" while Jonah said much more calmly "Jamey's going for it."  I really thought I would relax and just run with this pack for a while.  However, the pace I had settled into slowly eased me ahead of the group.  Just ahead, I caught the three lead woman - one American and two Africans.  There were a handful of bicycles riding along side along with a motorcycle cop.  It was unclear if they were on course support for the leaders or just interested spectators.  One of the bikes was almost blocking my path to a water station; I knew getting worked up would only take away energy I needed to run, so I just eased off for a couple strides and cut over.  Just before 11 miles I pulled ahead of the women, but didn't realize I was serving as their temporary rabbit until I heard some words in Swahili (I assumed) right behind me.  That was a new experience for me!

I hit the half marathon split - now just clear of the lead women - in 1:14:53.  So much for my planned pacing.  While I wouldn't call the effort really hard at this point, it definitely wasn't easy.  Mentally the first half of the race went by very quickly.  I knew the second half would be a lot harder.  Different parts of my legs and feet would ache, then go away.  I could deal with discomfort, I just didn't want to see anything turn into a muscle cramp.  The 15th and 16th miles were tough.  The mile 15 split was 5:52 - my first mile slower than 5:45 since the 2nd mile.  I'd lie if there wasn't a little concern that my early pace might be catching up with me.  Shortly after that, I hear footsteps behind - and it's The Rookie and Gus Gibbs (who had taken a pee stop) blowing past me as their running ~5:30 splits.  They invite me to jump on the train, but I'm not feeling it; I just need to keep my own race on track. 

After a rough couple miles, I hit the mile 16 with a 5:43 split.  I was back on pace.  I felt a big confidence boost.  Only 10 miles to go.  This might be the toughest 10 miles I'll run all year, but how many times have I run 10 miles the past 4 months (that was rhetorical)? 

From mile 16 - 20 it was back to focusing on a smooth stride.  My legs were hurting pretty consistently now, but I could deal with it.  I would see runners well ahead and slowly reel them in.  Mile 19 was my second fastest of the race in 5:37.  I started having visions of throwing the hammer down in the last 6 miles to put myself well under 2:30. 

The 20 mile mark was announced with a couple fake walls that you run between & a couple women dressed in grim reaper costumes.  I grabbed my last Gu gel, which just about made me barf.  After taking as much sports drink as I could, I figured I wouldn't need much more water.  Mile 21 was 5:43, but the legs were feeling really beat up.  The last hill of the course was the ramp to a bridge over the American River just before the 22 mark.  It's not a steep hill, but it HURTS at this point.  I tried to hold my pace up the ramp, but it hurt, and my legs never came back to me after that. 

The last four miles were rough.  I knew I was slowing down a little, but it was time to just grit it out.  Somehow I was still mostly passing people.  Miles 23 and 24 were both 5:53.  I'm slowing down, but the wheels aren't falling off.  With two miles to go a couple runners catch me, and I just try to latch on.  I'm even thinking I can find a gear and manage to run a couple fairly fast last miles.  But where the brain was willing the legs weren't.  Mile 25 was still a respectable 5:48, but then I just hit a level of pain I hadn't felt all race.  The 26th mile is a long straight shot down L street by the state capitol in Sacramento.  I keep looking ahead toward the first of two left turns before finishing right in front of the capitol.  As I look ahead it just doesn't seem to get closer.  Spectators cheer my effort, but as I grit I had to yell "let's go Gifford".  Somehow I thought I was thinking my finishing time might be 2:32, but that was clearly a lack of mental capacity late in the race. 

I hit the 26 split - 5:55 - my slowest of the race, but was elated I made the first left turn too see a race clock just over 2:30.  There was a huge crowd, and I made the final turn to the finish line with a huge smile on my face. 

The final time was 2:30:29!

I'll say more in part 2, but have to say a quick thanks to my wife Dana - of course for supporting my training, but for getting out on the course to cheer and support me.  Also to our coach Jack, for preparing us, and for great race day support as well.

Being the excel dork I am, here are a couple charts - the first with each mile split, and the second my projected finishing pace at each mile mark:

Finally - it was great to see little Jack at the finish line :)

Winter Training and the Redding 10 Miler

Winter time is the perfect season for building a mileage base.  After a break from the fall cross country and road racing season, it's time to re-charge and start building that endurance up with long runs, workouts, and overall mileage.  However the season comes with challenges like shorter days and bad weather (of course if rarely gets worse than rain and 50 degrees in the Bay Area).  In my case, I also have to balance training with my skiing habit as we head up to Kirkwood to hit the slopes most weekends this time of year.  I do have access to a treadmill up there, and if it's not dumping snow (which it often is) I can get out on the roads for a run, but that's assuming I'm not completely trashed from a long day of skiing.  This winter, instead of trying to force myself to log decent mileage before heading out to ski, or worse after skiing, I decided to shift from being a weekend warrior to a week day warrior!

Without having the weekends to log long runs and workouts, I had to be disciplined about scheduling a primary workout, long run, and secondary workout on the week days.  This usually meant Tuesday workout, Wednesday long run, then Friday secondary workout.  Once I got in the routine, my training really built on itself and everything fell into place.  I ran my first 60 mile week in almost a year in mid January, then proceeded to run at least 60 for six out of seven weeks through the end of February (60, 65, 61, 71, 70, 50, 66).  My workouts - which were mostly on the track - included a mix of longer, steady pace type intervals, 5k pace work, and even some speed.  My legs didn't feel fresh for a lot of the workouts, but I almost always felt strong.  There were a couple workouts where I felt really tired early on, but I could drop shoulders, relax my stride, and still make a quality session out of it. 

I decided my focus for the upcoming season would be the 5k distance.  That didn't mean I wouldn't race longer distances, but last year lacked a big picture as I tried to cater toward too many individual races and distances.  Does running higher mileage to focus on a shorter distance seem contradictory?  Not necessarily...  My view is running better mileage (which still isn't "high mileage" in the grand scheme of things), will get me through longer workouts at a quality pace, which will ultimately allow me to handle faster paces into the 3rd mile of the 5k. 

Before the 5k races cranked up, I headed up to Redding to run the first PA race of the season - the NorCal 10 miler.  Normally I'd approach a 10 mile race much like a half marathon - good overall mileage (check), consistent long runs (check), and long tempo runs (somewhat missing in favor of more time on the track).  Even if training wasn't focused on this distance, I felt confident that my strength could translate into a solid race.  I allowed myself an easier week - even without the race, it's not a terrible idea to get my legs back under me every so often. 

The plan for the 10 mile race was to hang back and run comfortably for 4 miles, then try to start moving my way up after that.  I also decided that I wasn't going to look at my splits until at least half way through the race.  I figured at this point knowing my splits would either psych me out if I was too fast, or psych me out if I was too slow. 

As the race got underway there was a lead pack, then a few stragglers (including a couple teammates), then I was in the first chase pack.  I fought the urge to jostle or surge by telling myself to relax.   The first 3 miles were pretty uneventful.  Looking at splits wasn't even an issue because the first mile marker we saw was the 5th.  Somewhere around mile 3 I was pulling away from most the guys in my initial pack as I caught up with teammate Jonah, and close to teammate Matt.  In the 5th mile as we left the bike trail to loop through a neighborhood, I tried to reel in Mike from the River City Rebels and two guys he was running with less than 5 seconds ahead.  A slight attempt at a surge sent me from feeling pretty good, to feeling tired for the first time.  Shortly after that, they started to slip away, and Jonah caught back up with me.  At the 5 mile mark, I decided not to look at my watch - since I was starting to hurt but had someone to run w/, although did click the split button to look at after the race (27:16 at 5 miles).  The 6th mile included the roller coaster hills that we hit on the way out.  I stayed with Jonah, though a couple times using the downhills to surge and catch up.  The hills ended just before the 7 mile mark, but I was pretty stretched at that point and Jonah started to pull away.  In the 8th mile I just tried to keep Jonah from pulling further away.  At the 8 mile mark, I finally looked at my watch for the first time - 44:15.  I was a little disappointed to be just over 5:30 pace, but knew I needed to push harder to maintain that average pace.  It was really hurting now, and I hit 9 miles at 49:52 - 5:37 for that mile.  As the bridge we would cross to the finish got closer, Jonah had slipped too far away to have a shot.  Then just before the bridge, I heard the one thing I didn't want to hear - footsteps.  I was hurting, and had faith in my ability to kick, but didn't want it to come to that.  I surged up the very slight slope onto the bridge.  I was fully expecting to die toward the end of the bridge, but at that point there would be less than 200 meters to go, including an 180 degree turn, followed by a 90 degree turn.  My pursuer had friends cheering for him, but I used it as motivation.  Sure enough I was out of gas coming off the bridge, but got ready for one last kick just in case.  I never needed it, as my move over the bridge opened the gap back up.  I crossed the line in 55:16 for 13th place.  My last mile was 5:23 - nothing amazing, but happy I was tough to suck it up when I was really hurting. 

Splits were 27:16 for the first 5, then 5:42 (hilly), 5:33, 5:42, 5:37, 5:23.

Heading in I had hoped to run around 54 minutes, which was my split during my half marathon PR. Even falling short of my pre-race goal, it was a solid race on a tough course.  I think I had several chances to pack it in during the 2nd half, but kept pressing.  Even though I've had a faster 10 mile split, it's a PR for an actual 10 mile race, so have to be happy with that.  Plus it's nice to run a race for the 3rd year in a road and clock my fastest time. 

Next race will be a track 5K - possibly in 2 weeks, and definitely one in 3 weeks.  Back to the track to work on that speed!

The Road Mile

This morning I took a slight detour from my Dipsea training to run the San Rafael Road Mile - a new addition to the Pacific Association schedule.  I hadn't even committed myself to running this race until the night before, but figured what the heck, it would be fun to race my first mile since college, and it should be a good final sharpening for the Dipsea in a week. 

Before the race, I had NO IDEA what to expect.  I've become increasingly confident with my fitness over the past two weeks, but that fitness has been focused toward hilly trail running, not fast road racing.  I'd only run a small handful of track workouts since resuming my training in late April.  My only speed work at all was a set of 6x200 in 29-32 at the end of a workout. 

The course was slightly net downhill.  You start on a downslope, make two right turns as you pass the finish line at the 1/4 mark.  Then it is 3/8 (~600 meteres) on a gradual upslope, the a 180 degree turn and 3/8 of a mile downhill to the finish. 

I watched the masters race a half an hour before the open men's race, and noticed that most the runners were not dying at the finish.  I tweaked my strategy from "don't go out like a bat out of hell" to "don't go out like a bat out of hell, but don't be afraid to push hard to the top of the hill". 

As we started I jumped fast off the line, then told myself to stay composed on the downhill first quarter mile.  As we made the 2 right turns and headed back uphill, a few runners passed me - including Gus Gibbs & Alan Jackson of the Rebels.  But feeling good around 600 meters, I picked up my knees and tried to keep them in contact, as well as keeping my eyes on Todd Rose just head of them.  At the half mile mark, I'm still feeling good and kept pressing and moved around Alan with the turn around 200 meters away.  Before the race, I told myself to take that turn hard because it was likely to be a spot where tired runners would lose momentum.  As I banked into the 180 degree turn I almost ran right into the back of a Transports runner who sure enough had slowed around the turn.  If there was a spot of the race where I cost myself some time it was from the turn around until about 300 meters to go as I wasn't pressing the downhill hard enough.  Alan blew by me (triggering a memory of his decisive downhill move at the Humboldt Half Marathon), along with another runner.  Finally I told myself to go, and held my spot to the finish line.  Final time 4:30.

I don't think my time was a particularly grand performance, but I'm very happy with how I competed.  I finished right with a group of guys who beat me by 1-2 minutes at the 10K last weekend.  Overall it went surprisingly smoothly considering I hadn't raced the distance in 8 years.  Based on what the front runners ran, it seems like somewhat of a slow course will the hill and the turns. 

The Dipsea is 1 week away.  I'm ready & I'm excited!

Emerald Nuts and Blue Sky

Emerald Nuts

Yesterday I ran a 12K PR at the Emerald Nuts Across the Bay race from which runs from Sausalito, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and into San Francisco.  It felt great to get my racing season back on track after a really rough (i.e. slow and painful) 10 mile race a couple weeks earlier.

After Redding, I was struggling with my running confidence.  Some recent runs and workouts felt like a chore to get myself out the door.  Tuesday, I tried to fit my workout in between a busy day at work and a work dinner that night.  Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that when I rushed to log my primary workout of the week that I felt tight and tired.  That day I punted on what was to be 2-3 sets of 1000, 600, 300 meter cuts downs after the first 1000 & 600 to give another go the next day.  Wednesday I made it home from work, relaxed for an hour, then headed back into the park.  As I was driving in, I had a thought - what about a cross country style workout rather than hitting the track again?  Last fall I was focusing heavily on XC workouts, and I had some great road race results.  Then what would you know, as soon as I get to the park, I see that the track is closed, so I grabbed my flats, jogged down to the Golden Gate Park XC course, and ran 2 loops of the course as a 3 minute on, 2 minute off Fartlek.  It felt good to switch gears, running on the different parts of the course.  I was able to move fast during the 3 minute intervals without over-stressing my body.  I drove home with a smile on my face, all of a sudden enjoying myself again.  Although I didn't appreciate that somebody stole my trainers while I was working out in my flat!

Heading into the race, I finally felt confident in the training I've logged so far this year.  The course is a weird one as it's net downhill, but fairly challenging.  You start the race running downhill, then climb up a long steady hill in the 2nd half of the first mile to the GG Bridge west sidewalk.  Then once on the bridge the first half is a gradual climb due to the camber of the bridge, then you go back down.  After the bridge as you're approaching the 4M mark you have a downhill section, but with some sharp turns.  After that it's a few miles on the flats before one last moderate hill in the last half mile (with a sprinting downhill that leaves you less than 100 meters from the line.  My plan was to take it really easy at the beginning and wait until around 3 miles to start racing.

When the gun went off I was behind most of my teammates.  The pace felt very easy, but most the field wasn't too terribly far ahead.  When we started heading uphill, I told myself to relax.  I held my position on the first half, and just focused on a light relaxed stride the whole way up.  As we go to the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk, I pulled up to a pack of teammates including Jonah & Chris (who would be first place masters runners).  I moved up a few spots with Chris, just gradually reeling in runners up ahead.  By halfway across the bridge I caught Alan Jackson of the Rebels, who always runs a smarts race.  We worked together reeling in more runners, and eventually pulled close to Todd Rose as we finished the downhill sections of the course.  I really didn't have much going through my head early in the race, but dug in and ran fairly aggressively in the 3rd and 4th miles.

Once we got to chrissy field, I threw a small surge as I was eager to catch up to Todd.  As I pulled right behind Todd, Alan kept surging and caught up to a group of mostly Aggies team runners just ahead.  Having a spent a lot of juice to pass numerous runners, I tucked in right behind, then along side of Todd as Alan pulled away.  I was breathing pretty hard, so couldn't say much more than "let's go" & he managed to grunt out "5:20 pace", which since I hadn't seen a mile marker yet, was good news.  Shortly after that I see a large road construction sign, which I realize wasn't a road construction sign, but the 5 mile mark.  I hit it around 26:30 (5:18 pace) & was pretty stoked to have a great race going both in terms of pace and position wise.  At this point Todd had opened a few seconds up, but I just kept my eyes on him and tried to reel him in.  While I lost just a second or two on him in the 6th mile (31:57) and 7th (~37:20) focusing on trying to reel him in kept me running a good pace.

Just after the 7th mile mark (with 0.45 miles to go) I hit the hill at Fort Mason.  It's steep for the first 50 meters then slowly levels out.  2 runners - JT Service (an Aggie) & Stephen Donohue (who was 9th overall in the Dipsea last year) passed me as I pretty much stumbled up the first part of the hill.  I told myself there was less than a half mile to go, and managed to keep Stephen fairly close.  I pulled even closer on the downhill then gave it a good hard kick to get around Stephen right after we rounded the last turn with a flat 100 meter finish.

It's funny that I finished 16th place in each of the first 2 PA races.  I would have so said no way I'd finish that poorly in Redding, and unlikely I'd run that well at this race!  I was definitely happy with both my place, and my time - especially given that it's a hilly course.  Last fall, I felt like I could run much faster than my old 12K pr of 41:54.  But saying "I just lowered my 12K PR by 2+ minutes" sounds a lot better than saying "I could lower my PR by 2+ minutes!"

Next up will either be the Zippy 5K, unless I jump into a track meet prior to that.

*This was taken as I'm rounding the final turn of the race.





















Blue Sky

Between all the running and skiing, my aviation pursuits had taken a back seat recently.  But after the race Sunday, I scheduled time with my instructor just to go for a flight.  The dual purpose was just a proficiency check since I hadn't flown in a few months, but we also decided to use it as my "bi-annual flight review", which is required every 2 years to keep your license active.  It felt great to get up in the air, and was happy that Bob (my instructor) had very little to comment on.  We flew through SF International airspace on the way out, and Oakland on the way back.  He had me execute a couple of steep turns - meaning a 360 degree turn to the right at a 45 degree bank, followed by the same thing to the left.  It's one of the required maneuvers for the private pilot checkride.  The key challenge is to maintain a steady airspeed and altitude.  I think I pulled off two of my best steep turns ever!  I look forward to flying much more often this Spring and Summer. 

I'll save my health care / Pelosi rant for another day...

Bouncing Back

Last Saturday I ran my first Pacific Association race of the year (and 2nd overall) at the NorCal 10 miler in Redding. I'll sum up my performance in 1 word - BLEH!

After a very consistent month of training in January, I had a disappointing day at my first race of the year - the Kaiser Half Marathon. Although I was excited to head to Redding in a month, I felt like I lacked a bit of direction in the week after Kaiser. But still - I had a great tempo run 4 days after that race, and was back to consistent training for the next few weeks. The only hitch to race prep was a ski trip to Big Sky, MT (getting back 3 days before). I wasn't worried. I would train hard before leaving the week before, then get some light turnover on the track the day I got back (which I felt good running 8x300 in 48-49).

The morning of the race, we woke up to surprisingly warm temperatures. I wouldn't say it ever got hot, but temps close to 70 degrees by the end of the race sure felt hot when I'd hadn't run in warmer than 60 degree whether since the fall. The race course runs out on a bike path along the Sacramento River in Redding, makes a loop through a neighborhood midway, then backtracks toward the start, and finally crossing a bridge and finishing on the other side of the river. It is pretty flat except for some rolling hills in the 3rd & 4th miles, which you hit on the way back in the 6th & 7th miles.

When the gun went off, Sergio Reyes (who ran 48-something for 10 miles last year) took off with 2 runners chasing him. I was part of the next chase group, including teammates Todd Rose & Julian Marsh, which hit the first mile in 5:19 & the 2nd in 5:30. The pace was no problem, and I was right on pace to run around 54 minutes. In the 3rd mile, Todd started surging through the series of hills. I backed off a bit, but hit 4 miles in 21:40 - still just over 54 min pace. But at this point, it was really starting to hurt, especially for so early in the race. It was hot, and I just couldn't find a good rhythm. As we headed into the neighborhood in the 5th mile, I just tried to focus my sight on Carlos Siqueiros up ahead of me. At that point 2 runners from the Strawberry Canyon club blew past me, and masters phenom Jim Sorenson caught me. I tried to relax & focus on a smooth stride to stay with Jim. I kept Jim in contact for several minutes, but every time I tried to relax & increase the pace, I quickly red-lined.

By mile 6, the wheels started coming off. Through the hills in the 7th and 8th miles, I hit both splits slower than 6 minutes. I slowed down to get a full drink of water at the last water stop and couldn't believe how thirsty I was. At least I dropped my pace back under 6 minutes for the last 3 miles, but I fell from 8th place at the 4 mile mark, to 16th at the finish. I'm glad I didn't realize that 48 year old Linda Summers-Smith was less than 30 seconds back, enroute to a new American age group record, because I probably would have gotten scared & run slower. Congrats to her for setting yet another age group record, as well as the women's course record. She also holds the course record for the next PA race on the schedule, which she set in 1995! My final result was 16th place in 56:54.

Shortly after the race I started getting the chills, despite the heat. I wasn't the only runner who struggled, as quite a few runners ran 1-2 minutes slower than they normally would (I was almost 4 minutes slower than my 10 mile split at the Humboldt Half Marathon). Among my buddies, Todd ran well, finishing 4th in 53:47, and Rebel's runner Mike Styczynski ran a PR for 5th in 53:52. Dana joined me for the trip, and although her longest recent run was 6 miles, she felt good over 10 miles, running 1:28. She's excited to use this as a kickstart for her running this Spring.

On the drive home, I had plenty of time to think about the race. If I came up with anything wrong I had done in training, I'd be completely nit-picking. I've run consistent mileage (most weeks between 55 and 65 miles), and gotten 2 solid workouts in every week without over doing it. Maybe I hadn't done a lot of race sharpening work, but that doesn't mean I was unprepared. Maybe I was a little run-down from having been at 8000 feet for 5 days the prior week, or maybe I had a low grade illness (I was feeling a bit "off" after work the day before). Or perhaps I was just unlucky that my 2 off days in 2010 happened to be my race days.

The only thing I can say I was doing wrong was to let a bit of anxiety sneak into some of my workouts & the races. I need to get back to my "just run" philosophy that treated me so well last Fall, and to enjoy the ability that God has given me.

I'll sign off by sharing something I read in Running Times which came in the mail today. Greg McMillan, who coaches several elite runners, including 2:10 marathoner Brett Gotcher, listed "The Five Habits of Highly Effective Runners" (with my own comments)

#1: Don't Dwell: The idea is to shake off bad workouts or races move forward. Every runner has a few bad ones every season, and the best runners drop them and move forward. Well... I know I just wrote a blog post about my crappy race, but hopefully the point comes across that my training is there, so I just need to keep it going. But I am the very analytical type, so this is hard for me sometimes.

#2: Fine Your Sweet Spot in Training: When I first read this, I thought it meant to train your strengths, but I was wrong. The idea is to train at a consistency where you advance your fitness, but not so hard that you struggle to get from workout to workout. This is one thing I have done very well recently.

#3: Focus on Consistency: I really think this is an extension of #2. Don't be a hero in one workout, then barely be able to run the rest of the week. Rather train in such a way where you're building momentum throughout the season.

#4: Be tenacious: I've summed this idea up several times by saying "just run". Being tenacious is important on many levels. You have to be tenacious throughout the grind of training, and over the miles of a race. I'm realizing that "just run" is really an abbreviation for "just keep running and stop thinking so damn much".

#5: Build Your Confidence Consistently: Trust your preparation!

Great points from someone who coaches some amazing runners!

The next race for me will be the Across the Bay 12K a week from Sunday.

Not My Day - Kaiser Recap

This morning I ran 1:13:13 for 9th place in the SF Kaiser Half Marathon. While I ran 3 minutes faster than last year, and had a decent place in a race with 7000 runners, I can't help but be disappointed. Heading into the race, I thought all signs pointed to a PR - good overall mileage, and consistently strong workouts in terms of pace and volume. But early on, as the race started to unfold, it just didn't seem like my day.

The plan was to pace ourselves at 5:20 per mile, with teammates James, Jonathan, Todd (who was just running the first half of the race), and I working together. The first mile in 5:20 didn't feel too bad, but then on a slight downhill we picked up the pace to 5:14. Even before the split it felt a little too fast, so I started to back off. Alone in 6th place now, I tried to keep a steady pace in the 3rd mile, while I watched a group of 4 pull away. I hit my 3rd mile in 5:21 (15:55 total), although I think the mile market was about 5 seconds too far forward. My 4th and 5th miles - still running alone - fell off badly in 5:38 & 5:40. In the 6th we headed downhill toward the ocean, and Todd fell back to run with me. I picked up the pace on the downhill (shocker), and averaged 5:23 for the next 3 miles. I went from struggling to pace myself alone after going out too fast, to feeling some serious tightness on the outside of my lower right leg, which radiated up to my hamstring. The pain wasn't terrible, but it was very distracting and made it that much harder to find a smooth stride and rhythm.

Around mile 7, we left Golden Gate Park, and headed for a roughly 3 miles out & 3 miles back section of the Great Highway along the Pacific Ocean. While it's a beautiful stretch, being able to see so far ahead with almost no scenery change, plus an almost guaranteed headwind one of the 2 directions, makes it a serious mental challenge. Todd dropped off around 7 miles, and said "find your rhythm" as I started down the Great Highway alone. I just tried to keep my sights set on James up ahead. From 7 miles to 9 miles, I barely ever took my eyes off his back. A 20 second deficit shrunk to 12 seconds, then finally to 6 right before we turned around. Miles 9 & 10 were in 11:02 to hit 10 miles in a respectable 54:29 (still under 1:12 pace).

On the run out on the Great Highway, I felt no wind, despite seeing the mile marker flags ripple in the wind. So sure enough at the turnaround just before the 10 mile mark, I felt the fierce wind that I would have to fight for 3 miles. I wish I could say I didn't give up at that point, but the numbers don't lie. My last 3.1 miles were run in 18:40 - slower than 6 minute pace. My legs felt completely dead & it was a struggle to keep a decent pace going. I lost two spots in the last 3 miles, but didn't put up any fight to stay with them.

I should be happy that on a day when nothing really went the right way for me, that I finished with a respectable half marathon time, and 9th place out of 7000 runners. But it was a tough one to swallow. I hadn't had a bad workout in 2010, and my bad day had to come on race day. Maybe I didn't back off enough on my training this past week. But I had trained pretty hard up to the Clarksburg 30K last fall, and that didn't bother me. Perhaps I was nervous leading up to it. But I felt pretty loose on race morning.

I think I have to just chalk it up to an off day. A runner's body is a fickle instrument. You train hard & smart to prepare yourself for race day. But despite your best efforts, every now and then it just doesn't come together. One thing I could control, that I should have done better, was to keep focused and pushing hard even when the day was going great. Being prepared is crucial, but you still have to fight during the race. On a day when you feel great, it's pretty easy, but the rest those days it takes a lot of toughness.

Next up will be the Redding 10 miler on March 6th. Until then, I'll keep the mileage rolling, the workouts strong, oh and make some good ski turns :) I'll be ready to roll in Redding!

Karen Lawrence New Year's Eve run

I've enjoyed bringing Dana back to Lookout Mountain, GA for the past week to spend Christmas and New Years with my family and some old friends. I went for a couple long(ish) runs on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield trails - including a 10 miler with my high school teammate Jeff.

On New Year's Eve, I rekindled an old tradition of running the Karen Lawrence Run for St. Jude's (Children's Research Hospital). The race - which has been run in Chattanooga every year since 1979 - was started by Karen and her family to raise money for St. Judes, which had treated Karen for leukemia over the prior year. Sadly, Karen's condition relapsed, and she passed away in 1980 at the age of 11. Every year since, hundreds of runners have gathered in the evening on New Year's Eve to support the hospital, and to bring in the new year with a fun 4 mile run through downtown Chattanooga. This year Karen Lawrence's niece rang the siren to start the race.

I can't remember for sure, but I'd guess this was my 7th or 8th time running the race - my first year was (I think) in 1993 and the most recent in 2002. I won in 1997, 1998, and 2001 - all during my college years - with a best time of 19:57 over the moderately hilly course in '97. I was hoping to average around 5:10 miles this year. I figured that pace had an outside chance of winning, but most years would be 2nd or 3rd.

Since I took a week off following Kentucky (but jumped right back into to training afterward) - I wanted to go out conservatively, and certainly not lead. At the gun two college runners took off and immediately opened a gap, while I settled back with the chase pack. I didn't get a mile split, but I think I was around 5:20 (net uphill), and the 2 leaders were about 10 seconds ahead. As we started back downhill I picked up my pace to try to catch the leaders. At times it felt like the gap was shrinking, but was we ended the first of 2 loops, Patrick Hall - who was my sister Debby's assistant cross country coach at Covenant College - pulled along side of me. I knew I needed to stay with him, and I momentarily matched his pace. Patrick had no interest in letting it come to a late race kick, so he kept the hammer down, opening a gap heading back up the hill. I kept pressing in the last mile, but all my efforts only kept the gap at a steady 10 seconds.

My final finish was 21:11 for 4th place. It was a weird race, as I never felt like I was hurting that bad, but I just had no zip in my legs. The winner finished in 20:30, with 2nd place in 20:50. I wasn't thrilled with my performance & particularly my time, but it wasn't a terrible effort either.

Debby surprised herself running in the mid 26 minute range (after saying she'd run 28 minutes), and finished as the 2nd woman. Dana finished around 32 minutes, launching a nice kick at the end.

After the race I was really flattered as people still remembered my high school days in Chattanooga. In particular I was touched by the applause I received when I picked up my 30-34 age group award. It was also great to catch up with John Hunt - who had covered local cross country & track for the Chattanooga Free Press while I was in high school.

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!!

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).

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.