Week Three- Carlsbad Half Marathon

Another week is over and it was wonderful... Okay, so I barely ran at all this week; however, San Diego caught up on some much needed rain. For those of you who live in this area, you know that the weather this week made it very difficult to get out there and get productive milage in. I tried to run a couple of days on the treadmill, but I quickly realized just how much I despise those blasted machines and each time I bailed after less than a little over a mile. I did my best! But my best sucked. As an excuse, I will say that I was preparing for the Carlsbad Half Marathon on Sunday, so I didn't want to put out to much an effort less I not run well in that race.

I got up Saturday morning with the intention of meeting the RnR group in an effort to put in a few miles before Sunday's race. When I awoke at 5:00 am, the last remnants of the storm where still overhead and I considered crawling back into bed to resume my sleep. But, after some self guilt, I decided that I might as well make an effort. Then, as I was getting ready, I got a text from Brent letting me know that him and Nena were going to sleep in-- damn! I thought to myself, I really should take the morning off. Something kept me up and I got ready and made my way down to Mission Bay. Needless to say, it rained the whole way down there-- wait, rain isn't exactly the right word: it freaking poured!

When I arrived in the parking lot, I parked next to Jessica and then Bob and Donna parked next to me. I then declared that even a drop of rain were to fall on the run, that I would pack it up and head home. I got the others to agree, which was odd, and we sat in my car and waited for 7:00 am. As luck would have it, it cleared up and we were off for an easy five miles around the bay.

Next day: Carlsbad Half Marathon. I carpooled with my wife (who was running her first half), and Jason and Jane. We got there early and met up with a couple of Track Club peeps. In addition, my brother was there (he was running his second half). I met up and stretched with Nina, as we planned on running the race together. After chatting with Brent and a few other, we into carrel one, which was nice. It was odd to be up there with all of the elite-- in addition, it was surprisingly empty so we had plenty of room to stretch out.

You have probably been told that Carlsbad is the easiest of the Triple Crown series; however, I disagree. The first mile is up hill (seriously) and then it is a series of small rollers until you get to the coast. Once at the coast the view is beautiful, but the hills continue all the way to mile 6, where the biggest hill in the course is. Nena, Jason, and I took it pretty quick, clocking off 7:30s most of the way out. At mile 8, Nena had enough of us and took off. I dropped Jason at 10 and finished with a respectable 1:39 (one minute slower than last year).

We stretched and waited a bit for Jane to finish and then Nicole rounded out the group with a strong finish in her first half! I am very, very proud of her. She ran the entire 13.1 miles alone, except for the tunes pumping through her iPod. I am stoked that she was willing, and able, to experience something that I am so very passionate about.

All in all, fairly good week of running (GREAT week of rain!). I was happy with my results from the half. Didn't really do much in the way of preparing for the American River as I took the race as a tempo run.

Stats for the week (fairly incomplete because my Garmin battery died):

Overall Place: 421 out of 7138

Men: 335 out of 2729

M 30-34: 66 out of 457

Age/Grade: 59.44% Place: 1207

Finish: 1:39:38 Pace: 7:36

Week Two-- Mission Bay Loop

Ah, the second week of training is complete-- and while it wasn't great, it was much, much better than the week before. I was only able to get a couple of runs in this week-- specifically any easy 5 on Monday and a spin class on Thursday night. I was still trying to let my body recover from the wonderful flu experience from the week prior.

Monday's run was nice-- a little out and back up Sabre Springs Parkway and then up the huge hill that leads to the trailhead at Ted Williams. I took any easy pace for the entire run, coming in at 9:02 for 5 miles. I have convinced myself that I need to hold a pace like this for most of my midweek runs if I am going to get used to it. I have to say, it is very, very different than running consistent 8:00s like we end up doing during most of our runs.

Thursday's spin class wasn't anything to write home about-- it was, for lack of a better expression, quite boring. Because Nicole had worked late the night before, she wanted to take a nap when I arrived home from work. Thus, rather than running, I let her sleep and then decided to go to spin at 5:30. Spinning is spinning-- horrible music, sweaty people, and nearly an hour spent watching the clock. I know that I need to mix in this type of training (and that I NEED to get back on the mountain bike) but it is tough. With the mountain biking I get so nervous about wrecking and messing up my training that I hardly ever hit the trails; with spin class, getting there in the morning is a huge pain in the ass and the evenings aren't any easier. However, I need to figure out a way to get on a bike at least once a week. I might go back to riding on Sunday's but just keeping it easy and careful. We will see (once football season is over).

Saturday's run was picture perfect. It was my first back with the San Diego Track Club's Rock N' Roll Marathon Training Program. I spent the money on the program even through I am not sure how many runs we are going to do with them. With Noah and Taylor still out of town (lucky bastards), Jessica, Nena, Brent and I set out to do any easy twelve around Mission Bay. It was great to see some of the other RnR runners, like Richard, Jameson, and Lindsey (not to mention Bob-- who should NOT be running right now but does so anyways). With most of the RnR group doing less that an hour, we knew we would spend much of the run on our own.

As we left Hospitallity Point, we were clipping along at a pretty fast pace-- holding 8:20s for the first 3 miles. I stuck to the back of the group for the first few miles as I told myself not to get stuck with the speedsters and that I need to get used to running at "ultra-pace." Then I asked Brent (my resident Ultra guru) what pace I should be holding for a run like this (12 miles) and he suggested to look at it as a tempo run-- thus, I did. Part of the run used a significant portion of the RnR San Diego Marathon course (which I HATE). However, I have to overcome that nonsense. As we rounded Crown Point, the little group that I was running with turned around and I ran alone along Mission Bay High School, through the bike path, and finally caught up with the group at a water fountain right after De Anza.

After the faster group took off, Jessica, Nena, Brent, a guy whose name I forgot, and I decided to head around the entire bay, rather than turn around and run an 'out and back.' (Just a note, I hate 'out and backs' for long runs like this). Even after mentioning that we should slow the pace a tad, we still averaged 8:10s all the way back. Part of the problem was that we run that route nearly every week, as it is the standard Thursday night tempo run, so we just clipped along like it was any other Thursday night. Although we were moving, we still held a conversation the entire way back and nobody seemed to be too bothered by the speed.

All in all, it was a great Saturday run. While I often flirt with the idea of moving somewhere else, like Washington, Boston, New York, etc., you simply cannot beat the weather. We ran in short sleeves and shorts, it was 65 degrees nearly the whole run, sunny, and just perfect. I cannot, and will not, complain. While the housing market here in San Diego blows, you cannot beat the weather. While the rest of the county is in the midst of a deep freeze, we are in heaven.

Final Stats for the run:

Distance: 12 miles

Time: 1:34 54

Average Pace: 8:15

Elevation Gain: 399 ft (flat course today).

No real complaints about injury or anything of that nature. I only had a banana this morning, so it wasn't the best prep. for food. In addition, while I brought a GU, I didn't use it-- too short of a distance.

Next Week: Carlsbad Half Marathon. While I am supposed to run 14 miles, I am going to do the race instead and not add on. I am planning on running with Nena at about a 7:45 pace, so I am not going to run anywhere near Ultra pace. If Nena runs a 1:37, she earns an automatic qualification for the New York Marathon, and after running a 1:38 there last year (my half marathon PR). So rather than 14, I am going to run a hard 13.1.

First Week of Training-- Ted Williams Trails 8 Miler

Well, the first week of training is over and I cannot exactly call it wonderful. The week started last Saturday with my daughter, Avery (pictured to the right after she finished the SBI Marathon), coming down with a mild version of the stomach flu. While her case was indeed mild, what my wife, Nicole, and I came down with on Monday night was nothing of the sort. I have not been that sick in a very long time. I spent most of the day Tuesday in two places: bathroom and bed. Needless to say, I didn't get much training done that day. I did muster the strength to get back to work on Wednesday, however, I decided to forgo training that day because frankly I didn't have the strength. With a mild relapse of the flu on Thursday, I decided that this simply wasn't my week to get in any runs (don't mind the pun there).

By Saturday morning my sickness had passed and I ventured out with Jason, Jessica (who is training with me for the 50), Nena and Brent to run the trails of Ted Williams for our first official long run of the 50 mile training. (Both Taylor and Noah-- the other two training for the American River 50-- are out of town for this and the next couple of runs). Since this is indeed the first run, I decided to start messing around with food consumption. This morning I kept it light: one English muffin with some Nutella. Nutella, not peanut butter, because I don't care for peanut butter a great deal. I did not consume anything else pre-run.

We left my house around 7:00 am and head out for the two and a half mile climb that starts the actual trail section. On the way up the hill I noticed that I was significantly weaker than usual. I guess the week of sickness was still lingering a bit. I kept the pace slow (around 8:45) on the way up Sabre Spring Parkway and even walked the significant incline near the trailhead. At the top of the hill I did notice a tad bit of nausea; however, I am not sure if it is a result of the stomach flu or the Nutella (I will have to eat it next week I guess to figure it out).

The trails were wonderful. Perfect morning for a run and the group did well. We easily cruised through the first section of single track, dealing with the ruts and the roots quite well. It is always a trip to run through the patches of cold air then to blasted by the heat and moisture of the warm sections. As we completed the first section, we got a nice glimpse of the sun coming up over the hills of Ted Williams. After the first significant climb up the fire roads, we took a quick breather to look out over Poway. No matter how often I run or ride these trails, I still get astounded by the views.

After the break, we headed up another section of single track up to the peek of our run (1,142 feet). Once to the top, we hung out and enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then began the descent back into Poway. The downhill was awesome-- my fellow runner Bob refers to it as the Goat Trail because it very technical-- and we stopped again briefly at Andy's Memorial-- a cross that memorializes Andy-- a father that died mountain biking in that area. We came out of the trail region after a little less than an hour and about 5 miles. Once out of the trails, we hit Poway road for about 3/4 of mile and then went back down to the hard-packed trail/fire roads in the eastern region of PQ canyon. We took the last couple of miles at a very mellow and conversational pace, which was perfect.

All in all, good run. Despite the horrendous week, I ran fairly well. My only concern was the nausea, but I cannot credit that to any one source. I ran with trail shoes, because of the course, and there was no problem with them. In addition, I carried water and I consumed 3/4 of the bottle.

Thank you to Jason, Jessica, Nena, and Brent for coming along for the run.

Final stats for the run:

Distance: 7.66 miles

Time: 1:16 57

Average Pace: 10:02

Elevation Gain: 1191 ft.

Next week: 12 miler. Need to work more on training for a 50 miler. While the pace for the long was indeed slow, 10:00 pace, we didn't practice any of the strategies and techniques that we would utilize in the 50. However, I can blame this on the short distance.

Curro, ergo sum.

The Schedule

50 AR Running Schedule	In Hours	Miles (More or Less)
1/9/10	1:00	8 Miles
1/16/10	1:30	12 Miles
1/23/10	2:00	14 Miles
1/30/10	2:30	16 Miles
2/6/10	3:00	19 Miles
2/13/10	1:00	8 Miles
2/14/10	Race	13.1 Miles
2/20/10	4:00	22 Miles
2/27/10	3:00	19 Miles
3/6/10	5:00	30 Miles
3/13/10	3:30	22 Miles
3/20/10	6:00	33 Miles
3/27/10	3:00	19 Miles
4/3/10	1:30	10 Miles
4/10/10	Race	THE BIG 50!

Here We Go!

If you want, follow along as I prepare to run my first Ultra Marathon-- the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run on April 10th. I will try to check in every week or so to let you know how the training is going.

According to their website:

"American River has become the second largest 50 miler in the United States. The race attracts both veterans and novices alike. Whether you are attempting your first 50 miler, seeking a personal record and or dreaming of a qualifier for the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, this race is for you! Music, motivational quote signs, superb aid stations and encouraging volunteers will inspire you all the way to Auburn.

Course Description

The race begins approximately one mile south of the Guy West Bridge in Sacramento on the American River Parkway. The American River Parkway is the nation’s longest, continuous wild and scenic riparian parkway in a major metropolitan area and the jewel of the Sacramento region.

Runners will follow the American River Parkway for the first 19 miles to the Hazel Bluffs. This first part of the race is on pavement. However, the shoulder of the bike trail has decomposed granite for a softer running surface. After crossing the Hazel Avenue Bridge, runners will ascend on a single track trail to the Hazel Bluffs. Upon descending from the Hazel Bluffs, the course will re-connect with the bike trail and intermix with fire roads and single track trails through mile 22. From mile 22 to mile 27, the course re-joins the pavement. After reaching Beal’s Point at mile 27, runners will enjoy single track trails for the duration of the run to Auburn. At mile 46, runners will climb the infamous “Dam Wall.” Runners will be greeted at the summit by the Last Gasp aid station. With 3 miles to go, motivational mile mark signs, will boost your spirits as you tackle the last climb. The “Party at Mile 48” with cheering enthusiasts, an inflatable frog and ice cold cokes will send you off on your victory mile to Auburn."