WTRS 21k

Ok. So maybe I've been a bit lax in posting, but I have been running nonetheless. Last Saturday was the final of 4 races in the 2008 Winter Trail Series up at Blue Jay Campground. I drove up with Doug, Michelle Barton's dad and new trail runner, Jannay from the South Coast Roadrunners. I ran the race with Jannay at a leisurely pace except for our ascent of West Horsethief during which I pushed hard up the steep grade. The weather was a perfect 60 something degree morning with sunny skies. I didn't spot too many wild flowers along the trail compared to what I saw the prior weekend back in the Irvine Open Space. I wish Baz held more trail races but I can understand why he doesn't want the grief of doing more. Being an RD is a thankless job. Here's a picture of Baz Hawley holding court pre-race. Just remember not to talk when he's talking or you'll hear his wrath.

I'm continuing to train to April's Boston Marathon with two remaining long runs to go and four weeks of training before I begin my two week taper. If all goes well at Boston, where I plan to jog as a long run, I hope to run a half marathon in May in Victorville and shoot for sub 1:30. At least that's the plan as of today.

HB Distance Derby

I ran the 5 miler this morning at the Distance Derby and it was hot, sunny & humid. I finished in 33:29 equivalent to a 42 min 10k. I also won 2nd place in my age group and received a nice looking medal. Many thanks to all the fast guys for deciding to run the 10 miler. The second place runner in my age group for the 10 miler beat my time by 2 minutes for his halfway split. I had calculated that I'm in shape to run b/n a 41 and 42 minute 10k, I just didn't think I'd need to go all out to average 6:42 pace. I hope to improve a bit on that by November when I plan to peak. This was my first race at full effort since Feb. Running fast hurts. Of course, the pain is only fleeting and a few minutes after the finish I felt fine. I maxed my heart rate at 183 and averaged 180 for the last mile that I covered in 6:24. We had a big group of South Coast Roadrunners at the race and we won many age group awards.

Since I don't have any pictures of my race, I thought I'd add one of Jessica. This is her standard evening pose. As soon as I sit down on the couch she hops up and plops her head in my lap expectant of a long stomach rub.

Base Training

I've been base training for the past 3 months averaging 50mpw. This morning I ran my 3 mile fitness test at the Woodbridge track and I had my fastest time ever of 24:26 at a steady 140 heart rate. All those miles are going to pay off. Only 2 weeks ago I ran 24:56. I just added some workouts in over the past two weeks and my first test race is the 5 miler at the HB Distance Derby next Saturday. I haven't posting in a long time. Oops. Injury wise I'm feeling 100% and I'm still targeting to peak in December at the City of Angels Half Marathon.

Halcomb Valley Trail Race

Paul, Ted and I drove up to Big Bear on Sat. We brought mountain bikes up for a Saturday afternoon ride before Sunday's race. I found a nice, supposedly easy family ride in my mountain biking guide just past Running Springs and we discovered that the book was outdated and the fire road had been paved. It turned out to be a nice climb and Ted showed off his prowess in the saddle as he easily pedaled up the hill. Paul, not being much of a cyclist, brought along a Wal-Mart special that had seen better days or more likely decades. Paul had the seat down as far as it could go so he had his knees pointing way out. He looked like an adult riding a tricycle until Ted and I convinced him to raise the seat about 4 inches. Later on the downhill, Paul showed off his bike handling skills by taking his own picture cruising downhill at 20 mph, right hand on the brakes, left hand holding his camera. I was riding behind him praying that he wouldn't crash and watching his back wheel wobble, knowing that he had practically no brake pads left. Paul survived that escapade but lost his $12 Ralph’s sun glasses. After the ride we drove into Big Bear to the Motel 6 and checked in.

Race morning started early. I was awakened by Paul at 5:15 as he repacked his baggage and packed up his sleeping bag. Apparently he couldn't sleep so he decided we deserved the same fate. I got out of bed at 5:30 and we left for the start at 6:15 while Ted stayed back hike 4 miles to a fast food breakfast joint and then catch up on his sleep. We met up with the OCTR crew at the start. We had around ten entrants between the 15 and 33 mile races. Our race went off in waves starting at 7:30 and Paul was in the 2nd wave and I was in the 5th and final wave. The course started with a nice long climb under the shade of a pine forest and dumped us out at 3.8 miles onto a fire road for a gradual decent of 500 fee before heading into another long climb out in the sun. The temps warmed up from 45 at the start to low 70's. At the top of the climb, we entered a long meandering single-track on a soft groomed trail with no rocks and I picked up my pace. This was one of the nicest trail sections I've run on in a while. It looped down and eventually led us back to the first section we had travelled for the final 3.8 miles downhill. On this last section, I really noticed the rocks and roots that didn't affect me much on the climb. I focused all my attention on lifting my feet and I managed to get down without taking a header. Paul's running partner, Jennifer, wasn't so lucky, she fell and broke her finger after Paul distracted her with his camera. I saw a few other bloody knees and arms back at the finish. Trail running can be a contact sport at times. I caught up to Paul and pased him around the 12 mile mark. He ran a great race considering that he'd just finished the Shadow of the Giants 50k the prior Saturday. Although the race starts at 6,700 feet and rises to 8,000 feet, I didn't feel it too much bit then again I wasn't racing all out.

I ran a good chunk of the race with Laurie from Long Beach, a prospective new member for the OC Trail runners. It was her first trail race and she finished well up in her age group. Laurie kept me entertained with her tales about her road runner friends that she drove up with and all of their boring talk about their races and times. I plead guilty as charged.

Paul won a nice sweatshirt in the raffle and I still had a hard time convincing him that it was a net gain weekend for him since he was really struggling to accept the loss of his cheap sun glasses. He must have searched through his plentiful gear three or four times searching for those glasses. We also came home with those beautiful finisher's plates. I almost forgot to mention that I fit all my weekend gear into a backpack and Paul showed up with a full backpack and a large duffle bag full of stuff. I have no idea what he had in his bags but they were stuffed full. He also was kind enough to bring a cooler of drinks, 1 large bag of chips, 1 large bag of pretzels, 1 extra large tray of Oreo cookies and a few apples for sharing. In addition, for his own nourishment, he brought along a bag full of assorted power and energy bars. The man enjoys his food.

Holcomb Valley

Tomorrow is the Corona del Mar 5k that I'm planning to run as a tempo run and next Saturday is the Holcomb Valley 15 mile fun run up at Big Bear. My training is coming right along. My base miles are adding up. I finished May with 220 miles including 58 last week. Base training continues through mid-July so I've got another 6 weeks of lotsa miles.

Taking the lead

It ocurred to me that running with a partner is like dancing and one person has to lead or you'll end up stepping on each other's feet. I prefer to lead since most of my fellow runners seem to either run too fast, or too slow for my taste or at an uneven pace. I can run mile splits within a second of each other on flat courses. Of course if you're going to lead you better know where you're going so I try to map my trail runs out in advance so I don't get my friends lost.

Solvang Half Marathon

Solvang is my kind of town. Yes, I know you're thinking what's a guy gonna like about a little dinky town with a bunch of curio shops. Well how's about 5 bakeries within 5 minutes walk of the finish line. Now you're talking danish.The expo consisted of registration, t-shirt pickup and two vendor booths, one for a new kind of herbal water from Austria and another for wine tasting.
Meredith and I ate at Pea Soup Anderson's on Saturday night before the race. It was the first time we'd eaten at this classic restaurant and the food was good and the atmosphere brought back memories of small town life from Long Island.

I had the bright idea or so it seemed at the time to run the four miles from my hotel in Buellton into Solvang to pick up the pre-race bus to the start in order to let Meredith sleep in and keep the car so she could drive into town at nine and meet me at the finish. What I hadn't figured out was that it would be pitch black at five a.m. when I left the hotel. I ran the first mile on the sidewalk then I had to switch to the shoulder. I enjoyed the warm up and I was serenaded by roosters and peacocks along the way but it was a little scary to run on the shoulder in the pitch black.

I arrived in town in time to grab a huge coffee cake at one of the aforementioned bakeries and then hopped on one of the last busses to the start. For a race we had a very laid back crowd. Just about everyone I spotted was there for the scenery, nary a club jersey to be seen amidst the hordes of ambling pre-race runners.

The weather was 50 ish and cloudy perfect for running and I ran the race as a training run keeping my heart rate below 135 the whole way for a time of 2:05. The first 5 miles were flat to rolling until we hit the one significant climb called cork screw hill at mile 6 and the last 5 miles were all downhill including some quad burning decents.

All in all it was a well organized race and good time. Post race they had some wine tasting but I opted to head back to my hotel for a shower and I caught the end of the continental breakfast before the 11am checkout.