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.

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!

Ready or Not - It's Go-Time!

My favorite race of the year is here.  It's time for the 101st Dipsea Race tomorrow.  Heading in last year, I was just recovering from an injury, but managed to train very hard for a month, then put together a solid performance for my first black t-shirt in 19th place.  My training throughout 2011 has been great.  I've run more mileage and had stronger workouts leading up to the race than the prior two years, and even more importantly I've gone 9 whole months without any sort of injury.  Still, my running confidence has struggled the past couple months.  In April, a pesky cold slowed my training down for a couple weeks.  When finally recovered, I had a great string of workouts, only to push myself too hard, and suffer from the effects of overtraining throughout much of May.  Finally the past few weeks I've managed to feel strong at times by drastically cutting my mileage, and running much easier on days between workouts.  Then after a decent road mile race - running a somewhat hilly 4:35 - I came down with another cold.  So this week has seen a lot of vitamin C, sleep, and mostly easy running, but still not feeling 100%.  Tomorrow morning I'll head to the starting line knowing I have a great fitness base with a balance of speed, strength running, and anaerobic work (very key for that painful 20 min climb up Cardiac Hill).  I'll be well rested, so the key is to listen to my body early on, and just stay tough until I cross the finish line. 

Local newspapers have posted quite a few interesting profiles on runners leading up to the race.  There are several people running in honor of family members and a former inmate whose running is a key part of his rehabilitation.  My buddy Alex Varner talks about what it would take for a "scratch" runner (the male 19-30 age group that gets zero head start) to win.  I'll note Alex is an overwhelming favorite to win his 3rd straight fastest time trophy; it's just a matter of how much time he can make up on the older and younger runners who start well ahead of him.  Finally, 9 year old Reilly Johnson - the youngest ever defending champion - has been in the spotlight leading up to the race.  Last year's maximum 25 minute start is reduced to 19 minutes - 5 minutes for her age plus a 1 minute "winners penalty".  I saw her out on the course a few weeks looking pretty darn strong.  My prediction is that she'll make up 4 or those minutes, but she surprised everyone last year, so who's to say she can't do it again!  Maybe I'll pull off a miracle and catch her on the course, but I'll confess - I'm pretty intimidated by a 9 year old girl :)

The Nemesis

My nemesis hasn't been a person (but wouldn't that be fun), or a certain race course, or a workout.  My nemesis is the 5K.  A couple months after I first started showing up at West Valley TC workouts and slowly fighting my way back into shape, I ran my first race - a 5K in 16:29.  A year later, at the end of my first full season of consistent training in several years, I ran the second 5K of my age 30+ competitive career - finishing in 16:07. 

In two and a half years since that race, I've knocked 4 minutes off my best half marathon, run over a minute faster on a several cross country courses, plus trained faster, longer, and more consistently.  Yet despite all that, I can't seem to clock a good 5K.

My best was a 15:49 on the track in the Spring of 2010, but other than that it's just been a long string of blowups in the low to mid 16's. 

Heading into 2011, my goal was to focus my training around running a good 5K.  Being just fast enough to jump in college open meets, there are several opportunities to race the distance.  Surely just more time on the track would lead me to a sub 15:30 (that magical 5-flat per mile pace).  Throughout the winter I worked my mileage up to a an average of 60 miles per week - which I've held all year.  Our Tuesday workouts first featured longer intervals at hard tempo pace - which I'd often run 5:15 pace, then transitioned to faster somewhat shorter interval workouts.  Week after week I would run 3 - 4 miles of repeats, all between 71 - 75 second per laps.  One workout in particular, I ran 5 times 1000 meters averaging 3:02 - 15:10 5K pace.  I didn't think I'd hold that pace running each kilometer back to back, but surely everything pointed toward me running 15:30!

My first shot was the Hornet Invite - an open college meet at Sacramento State (the track where I ran my lifetime 1500 PR back in 2000).  Throughout the week, the forecast got worse and worse, and sure enough the morning of the race had a steady rain and 25-30 mph winds blowing right through the stadium.  I hit the split right around 5 flat with the leader, but as soon as it strung out, it got ugly.  In the second half I was red-lining pretty much every lap by the end of the front stretch, only to recover on the back stretch just in time to hit the wind again.  My splits got slower and slower, and I finished with an ugly 16:32. 

The next 5K, which was the one I really had circled on the calendar, was the SF State Distance Carnival.  It's a meet with deep, fast fields, at a great venue - I bet this is the least windy track in the Bay Area.  For some reason on race-day my mind was in the wrong place.  I knew my training was going great, so I had no reason not to have confidence.  Instead, I kept thinking of every way I could have a bad race.  I wasn't thinking about crushing the race, I was thinking about not having a bad race.  It was like I was battling all demons that plagued my performances for much my college career.  I raced the slowest of 3 heats, but with a group that would be running in the mid 15 minute range.  The pace was perfect - we were clicking off 74-75 second laps, hitting the mile just under 5 minutes.  I hit half way thinking this is going well, but a lap later the pain really hit & I just wanted to quit.  I hit 2 miles in 10:07, then 3 miles in 15:28, finishing in 16:04.  This was the first race in a long time where I was really beating myself up for a while afterward - just felt like a wasted opportunity. 

The 3rd race was the Carlsbad 5000 (near San Diego) with my West Valley teammates where I would run in an age group 30-39 race (no young guns!).  It was a fun trip, even though Southwest canceled our flight getting us in pretty late.  I went out conservatively, but still found myself right in the thick of a chase pack that let lead 3 runners go.  I moved myself toward the front, again hitting the mile right around 5 flat.  I felt great for the first part of the second mile, thinking this was my day.  I led the chase pack shortly after the mile.  Then for the third week in a row, things went south quickly.  A couple guys passed me, then 3 more went by.  I went from leading the chase pack to trying to hang on.  I hit the 2 mile mark in 10:15 - REALLY I just slowed down that much??  I don't think I totally gave up in the last mile, but surely wasn't digging deep as I ran the last mile in a pathetic 5:30 for a finishing time of 16:18.  On a positive note, watching the elite race was AWESOME as former 5K world champ Eliud Kipchoge got kicked down at the finish (13:10 was the winning time).

So there you have it.  My big goal for the season has been an epic failure so far.  Training has been an ongoing success.  So what gives?  I wish I had an easy answer...  I think mentally I've gotten so used to underperforming at this distance that it's turned into a self fulfilling prophecy.  For most of my good races I was there with my buddies, having a good time, and feeling loose before the race.  Lately I'm analysing my race before it even starts.  Physically, it's a tough distance.  It always starts hurting pretty bad about half way, when you still have 7 minutes of hard painful running to go.  When building up my speed and fitness, I need to run my workouts under control in order to benefit from consistency.  But I think I really need to push the envelope every few workouts, otherwise I won't know how to dig deep into the well on race day.  Finally, the workout that's been missing is the fast tempo (as opposed to the longer half marathon pace runs).

So how does this end?  I really don't know.  I just know I'm not ready to say "I'm too old for the 5K" and throw in the towel in favor of longer distances!

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!

Training and Racing - Thoughts from 2010

I think I’ve set a new pr for a belated blog post – reviewing last year 44 days into the new year. I think handful of short paragraphs would be more appropriate than a long essay.

In 2010 I ran less, ran fewer miles, raced less, and was overall slower than 2009. While none of that is positive, I did have some good moments, learned some valuable lessons, and finished the year on the right track.

Looking back at most of 2010, my training was hot & cold. At times I was pushing my training too hard, and other times cutting corners when what I really needed was consistency.

My first mistake was trying to jump right into a serious racing schedule after a long & busy season over the 2nd half of 2009. I only took one week off, and was right back into race specific workouts to run the New Year Eve race in Chattanooga. After that, I tried (unsuccessfully) to PR at the Kaiser Half Marathon in February, then the plan was to be ready for a 12k and 10miler in march, then in 5k shape for the April races, and then of course be a mountain running machine for the Dipsea Race in June.

It’s great to have big goals, but I really lacked a big picture. After a disappointing race at Kaiser, I let my training slack off a bit through February. Then after regrouping toward the end of March, a sprained ankle knocked me out for a month. A crash course training schedule got me ready for the Dipsea on 5 weeks of training. After that, an inconsistent summer ended with a calf injury. Finally in September, I focused on getting myself healthy, and slowly building my weekly mileage starting from an easy 30, up to 55 by the end of the fall.

There were a few bright spots. I was very happy with the Across the Bay 12K in March running a PR of 39:42, and finishing 16th in a competitive PA race. Then just 5 days later I ran my best 5K since college in 15:49 at a track meet. The Dipsea was a very solid and exiting race despite very limited preparation. Finally I capped off a limited cross country season with a good race at the PA Championships.

2010 vs 2009 comparisons
2028 total miles run (2272 in 2009)
273 days run (295 in 2009)
Averaged 5.6 miles / day (6.2 in 2009)
Averaged 7.4 miles per day that I ran (7.7 in 2009)
4 PRs (12K, 5K, mile, Dipsea) vs. PRs in just about every distance except the 5k for 2009
Best finish in a PA race – 16th: twice – Redding 10 miler, and Across the Bay 12K vs 3 different 6th place finishes in 2009)
Times I lost to a girl: once in 2010 (to Kate O’Neil at the Marin 10K) vs once in 2009 (to Kate O’Neil at the Kaiser Half Marathon)

Looking ahead: While I plan to race at a range of distances in the first half of 2011, my training is geared toward a single focus – improving my 5K performances. I’m well on my way to toward building a good mileage base, and this time around emphasizing track workouts over tempo runs (although still getting a couple tempos in each month). I’m also spending more time working on my speed. If I can improve this part of my running repertoire, I think it will pay dividends across the board.

Summer downtime

I haven't talked about my running here since the Dipsea, because there really hasn't been much to talk about.  My grand intentions to log some substantial mileage this summer has fallen pretty flat.  Since I was injured for several weeks in April, I figured I'd keep training hard after the Dipsea, and gear up for some summer races.  Following that race, I was both physically and mentally tired, so a week later I decided to back the training off and start building some base mileage.  I backed off, but just haven't gotten back on track yet.  There hasn't been a big reason for my inconsistency, just a lot of little reasons.  I had a minor reaggrivation of my sprained ankle, a busy weekday schedule, felt a little sick for a few days, went on the Mt Whitney trip (which certainly doesn't count as slacking off).  I've been running most days, but just don't feel like I've been training.  With the exception of one week where I managed 59 miles, most weeks haven't been less than 40.

Looking at the big picture, I'd rather be enjoying the sport and running well when I'm 40 than have a couple big years of racing, then be too injured or burned out to keep running. 

I did run 2 races this summer off my limited training.  West Valley decided to enter a distance medly relay (DMR) at a meet in San Francisco.  The DMR consists of a 1200, 400, 800, then 1600 meter leg.  I was asked to show up at practice the Tuesday before to "try-out" for the race, even though I was supposed to be resting.  Still I agreed - it sounded fun - and ran a 600 meter time trial with Alex Mason (a very fast 800 meter runner, but who was coming back from a long injury break).  I basically sprinted all out & ran 1:29, 1 second behind Alex.  Our teammates were thoroughly entertained/amused/impressed with the effort, that they decided Alex & I would both run.  So I ran the 1200 meters to lead us off & managed a 3:15 split - not bad off no speedwork!

The next race was the JP Morgan Corporate Challege - a 3.5 mile race organized by company teams.  I represented the Wells Fargo team for the 4th year in a row & had my best finish yet for this race finishing in 8th place running 18:32 for 3.5 miles.  I was happy given my current fitness, but still waiting for the year when everything comes together in this race. 

I'm spending this week with Dana's family at the beach in New London.  Hopefully all these little aches and pains will go away, and I can get down to some good running!

Catching up

I have to say the 'ole blog has been suffering from some neglect considering it's been 5 weeks.  Fortunately it hasn't been a lack of running to report on, but rather a busy and tiring work schedule.  Our new business is off to a good start, and I'm very excited about my roll.  Of course if you've read the papers you know that the financial markets have been in a bit of turmoul this past month, as fears of a European meltdown have spilled all around the globe.  For a trader in my business, market volatility typically creates profitable opportunities.  But when you're dealing with potential events such as large as large sovereign debt defaults, the dreaded term contagion sneaks in - meaning fear in one market pours over to most others.  At a time like this diversification has little benefit because asset classes tend to become highly correlated, decoupling into risky assets - stocks, corporate bonds, energy & industrial commodities, and in this case even the Euro, and into non-risky assets - in this case US treasury bonds & at times gold.  With markets behaving badly, I've had to spend up to 10 hours a week longer at the office than normal evaluating and managing the risks in our portfolio.  But enough of the boring stuff, because luckily getting my evening runs and workouts has been a great unwind for me. 

On Saturday May 1st I saw one of the greatest distance running thrills of my life at the Cardinal Invitational at Stanford.  At this same meet in 2001 I was standing on the edge of the track when Meb Keflezhighi broke the American 10K record running 27:13.  On this Saturday, former Oregon runner Galen Rupp had his sights set on beating the 9 year old record.  Rupp - well more his coach Alberto Salazar - had created some controversy before the race as he wavered between running the Oregon relays the night before (which had a bad weather forcast), Stanford on Saturday (which had a severe polin count), or a last minute race set up just for him on Saturday in Eugene.  To the delight of Northern California residents, he chose to race at Stanford, joining one of the deepest 10K fields on US soil in years.  In addition to Rupp, collegiate 10K record holder Sam Chelenga, Kenyan Daniel Salel, Chris Solinsky, and behind them a who's who of US 10K studs were all running. 

After a conservative first lap, the race developed as expected with Rupp tucking in behind his 2 pace setters clicking off staggering 65 second laps (which was the record pace).  The group hit the 5K split in 13:34 - right on pace.  It was still the 2 pacesetters followed by Rupp, Chelenga, Salel, and Solinsky still tagging along for the ride.  By the 4 mile mark, the 2 pacesetters had dropped off, and Rupp chased after history with 3 runners still in tow.  Rupped stayed on pace at first, but as he neared the end of 5 miles, the pace fell a second or two off target.  At this point, I was debating with my buddies in the stands whether or not Rupp would get the record.  I still had faith thinking that with 4 runners still in contention that the final mile would be fast enough. 

With 4 laps to go, the crowd was suddenly buzzing about Chris Solinsky.  The 6'2", 160 pound runner (which is very large for an elite 10K runner) was making his debut at the distance and was looking completely comfortable at US record pace with a mile to go.  Chris had been a high school & college national champion.  He had been an elite post collegian, but not yet a national champion at that level.  With 3 laps to go, Solinksy surged past the 2 african runners and tucked in right behind Rupp.  Could he possibly be in contention for the win here???  Coming off the turn with 2 laps to go, Solinsky moves out on Rupp's shoulder and after a slight delay surges into the lead.  By the backstretch he had opened up 10 meters, with Rupp surging after him.  With 2 Americans flying through the night with 600 meters to go, we all knew the record would fall.  Solinsky hit the bell lap and the announcer calls out his split of 60.2 seconds - and he looked effortless doing it!  The clock read 26:03.  Now the real kick began.  The last time down the back stretch there was no question that he would win the race and break the record... only a question of what time would he run.  As he hit 200 meters to go, there was a new possibility, COULD HE BREAK 27 MINUTES??  In the last straightaway, Solinsky lifted his knees, pumped his arms, finally showed his first signs of fatigue, but never slowed.  He crossed the line freezing the clock at 26:59.60!!  I doubt there's ever been quite an eruption from the Cobb Track grandstands.  Gupp finished 4th in 27:10 - under the old American Record.

In the days following the race, bloggers and message board posters tried to accuse Rupp of bad sportsmanship somehow.  Both runners quickly put an end to it.  The race video clearly shows Rupp congratulating Solinsky.  You can't blame Rupp for not jumping up and down and celebrating, but he showed class afterward.  The next day, Solinsky gave Rupp credit for leading through the toughest part of the race, and acknowledged he wouldn't have broken the record otherwise.  Then later in the week in an interview Rupp conceded that he was of course disappointed, but happy for his buddy Chris (as they both run for Nike in the Portland area).  What a great time for US distance running with Ryan Hall, Meb, Dathan Ritzhenheim, Matt Tegencamp, Galen Rupp, and now Chris Solinsky running at a world class level. 

Here's a great video of the race - if you haven't seen it, I'd highly recommend watching at least the last mile of the Flotrack video (middle link at 22 minutes).  Note you'll have to let it load for a few minutes before jumping ahead.

http://www.letsrun.com/2010/solinskyvideo0502.php


On a slower note, my running is back on track after the sprained ankle.  I started jogging the last week of April, and was consistently training by mid may.  It was a struggle at first, but the past two weeks I've felt consistently strong.  I ran Bay to Breakers as a tempo hoping to still match last year's time (I fell about 20 seconds short running 42:08 for 12K).  Then this morning, I ran 33:45 for the Marin 10K.  My first thought was great, just ran the same crappy time as last year.  I was running good splits early on (10:25 at 2 miles and 15:50 at 3 miles), but slowed badly in the 2nd half.  But a few hours later I think that's somewhat encouraging I matched last year's time, since my training has been focused almost entirely on hill stregnth for the Dipsea.  Plus the morning was pretty warm by the end of the race. 

I'm feeling good about my chances at the Dipsea.  I think when I taper back, my crash course fitness plan will be well timed to win my first black t-shirt... and hopefully one with a low number on it :)

Here's a pic I took of the AR 10K race with 500 meters to go...

The Monkey & The Hay

The Monkey

Is off my back. It was a small monkey, and I didn't exactly kick it to the ground, but it's off my back. Over the past year+ I've really struggled at the 5K distance. I would run fast in track workouts, then long at strong in race distances from 10 miles to 30K. But despite workouts pointing toward mid 15 minute 5K times, I couldn't seem run under 16 minutes for the life of me. I thought a 16:07 in the fall of 2008 (which was 4 days after a 6 mile XC race and 24 hours after a red-eye flight) would fall quickly in 2009. But sigh... despite improving at every other distance in 2009, I got slower at the 5K.

On Thursday night, I went down to the track on my own to run the workout the rest of the team had done Tuesday. It called for a 5000 meters at "hard tempo" pace (i.e. slightly slower than a 10K race pace), followed by a little bit more work at a faster pace. Based on recent workouts, I figured I'd go for 5:10 - 5:15 on the track for my fast tempo. Before the run I was a bit tired from some birthday celebrating (32 now!) the night before. Then when I got to the track, it was packed with joggers from local running groups. I basically almost talked myself out of the workout twice. But when I got running, 77 second laps felt pretty good. I tried not to focus on the distance and just run. My first two 1600 meter splits were 5:07 & 5:08. At that point I realized I was on pace to run right around 16 flat, so I looked at my watch with a lap to go, then picked it up to a 74 second last lap to run 15:59. I capped the workout off with 800 meters in 2:25 & 300 meters in 46 seconds.

Funny how it was it was a crowded Thursday night where I ran by myself to get that monkey off my back. Maybe 16 minutes had turned into a mental barrier, or maybe I was putting too much pressure on myself. Now hopefully I can knock some serious time off my new post college PR.

The Hay

Is in the barn. I just ran my last workout before the Kaiser Half Marathon. 3 x mile in 5:05, 5:03, 4:56, followed by a 2:20 800. The past month was the most consistent month of training that I've had. 270 miles total, with 2 solid workouts every week, my fastest 5K in 8+ years, and my best long tempo run. It time to taper this week, then see what I can do Sunday!

On Deck: SF Kaiser Half Marathon

When I first started showing up for West Valley track workouts in late 2007, I made a few rules about me being a “runner” again. 1) I would only run on days I felt like running. Or perhaps more accurately, I wouldn’t run if I really didn’t feel it. 2) Running wouldn’t get in the way of being social. 3) I would have fun.

At first I enjoyed showing up at the track & developing my speed again. But outside of Tuesday workouts, overall mileage was light, long runs were occasional, and secondary workouts were non-existent.

In 2008 I started racing again on a regular basis. My initial results were uninspiring (not like my recent results are either), but I raced my way back into shape and steadily improved. With each mini breakthrough, I saw the opportunity to improve aspects of my training. I also got a taste of that fire back!

Fast forward to now, and I’ve thrown rules #1 & #2 out the window. Last Sunday night, I drove back from skiing, rather tired, but still got myself out the door for 7.5 miles when I’d have preferred the TV & a beer. The Friday before that, I passed on a happy hour to make sure I got a secondary workout in the books.

The key – and I’ve talked about this frequently, is that I’ve stuck very true to #3. The West Valley crew is exactly the type of team I want to train and race with. We workout hard, but have a fun time doing it. Running doesn’t consume anybody’s life, but something we all love doing, and work hard at. I’ve also enjoyed running with and competing against runners from other teams.

If a runner can’t enjoy the grind of training, he’ll ultimately lose the focus and desire necessary to carry on. Races will become stressful rather than exciting. But if he can enjoy track workouts, tempo runs, hill workouts, regular runs, and long runs, then race day becomes a privilege where all the pieces come together.

While I there are days I won’t feel like running, but I’ll push myself out the door anyway, these days are the exception. Most days I’ve been excited to get out and run. Quite often I’m feeling good out on a run, and extending what would have been a 7-8 mile run into 9-10. Even with weekend ski trips, I’ve only missed 1 day (a well deserved day off) all month. I’ve averaged 59 miles the past 4 weeks. In workouts, I don’t feel a lot of speed right now, but my tempo runs and strength intervals have been very consistent with a lot of volume in the low 5 min / mile pace range. There hasn’t been a single workout that I feel like I’ve just crushed, but every single one has been solid.

My next race is the Kaiser Half Marathon in SF the morning of the Super Bowl (Feb 7th). I’ve been happy with my strength and volume, but just wasn’t sure if I was ready for the race until Monday night. Our top runner – Jonathan Charlesworth – decided to join me for a long tempo run. With Charlesworth tagging along, I knew the pace wouldn’t be slow. We immediately ran faster than the 5:25 pace I had planned, hitting the first 3 miles at 5:15 pace. I slowed down a little toward the end but finished 7.5 miles @ 5:23 pace. A week and a half before my 1:11:08 PR last fall, I ran an 8 mile tempo at 5:28 pace. I’m feeling ready for this race!

Now if I could only manage to run 5-flat pace for a 5K!

2009 mileage stats

In 2009 I ran:
2272 miles
295 days (with 70 days off) - running 81% of the days

On average:
43.6 miles / week
6.2 miles / day
7.7 miles / days not taken off

There were a few periods of downtime (a January ski trip, a sore foot in March, my wedding and honeymoon in June, then my post season break this year in December). Excluding those 42 days, and any light runs during those times, my stats breakdown:

2233 miles over 323 calendar days and 284 days running (88%) for an average of 6.15 days run / week.

On average:
48.4 miles per week
6.9 miles per day
7.9 miles per days not taken off

I like to emphasize quality over quantity, but mileage still matters. In the summer & fall I improved my consistency over the first half of the year, with a decent number of 60+ mile weeks. For 2010, I need to avoid numerous sub 50 mile weeks, and push into the 70 range when I can. I've always thought downtime is important between seasons, but the 6 weeks total that I took in 2009 was a bit too much. Fitness wise, I'm ready for a heavier load, after completing my first full, uninterrupted calendar year of training since college. The key is to find the balance between marriage, training, work, and other friendships & relationships. Dana has been very supportive and encouraging of my running. It's been fun to see her improve as a runner as well - dropping her half marathon PR from 1:52 down to 1:44 this year!

Brain vs. Body

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

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

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

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

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

Brain: That sounded pretty smart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brain: DEAL!

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

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

Body: So what’s this other important race?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body: Thanks. I look forward to it.

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.

Rest & Recovery

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

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

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

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

Monster Workout

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

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

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

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

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

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

Confidence

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Dammit Run & 71 mile week

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

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

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

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

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

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

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