04/05 Wildflower Run Morgan Hill 10 or 5K
04/26 Big Sur 21 miles
05/10 Skyline Ridge 37K
05/17 Big Basin 25K
05/31 SD RnR Marathon
09/11 Palo Alto Moonlight
09 Banana Chase
10 Run with the bulls Palo Alto
09/27 MV trailblazer 5K
10/04 SJ RnR 1/2
10/25 Silli Valley Marathon
12/05 Woodside PCTR 50K or LV marathon or CIM
where the trail races in April/May substitute for long training runs in preperation for the RnR marathon in San Diego after my bad experiences with long runs in the past fall.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Recovery...
...No more!
The last two weeks after the LV Marathoon were really slow, I went to yoga once, climbed once, and used a stationary bike once.
No more of this! Yesterday started a new trainings cycle... Some running, some exercises from the 'Dryland Skiing' cycle.
Today it will continue with some cycling and some strength work (barbell complex & abs/core work). Hopefully I'll finish up with some more running or 'skiing'.
The last two weeks after the LV Marathoon were really slow, I went to yoga once, climbed once, and used a stationary bike once.
No more of this! Yesterday started a new trainings cycle... Some running, some exercises from the 'Dryland Skiing' cycle.
Today it will continue with some cycling and some strength work (barbell complex & abs/core work). Hopefully I'll finish up with some more running or 'skiing'.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Hardest things I have done
Finishing my first marathon last Sunday brought up a question I had pondered about a few times over the past year: What is the hardest thing I've ever done? Thing meaning athletic/ adventurous endeavour. I am actually having a hard time coming up with things. Sure, the marathon was hard, it wore out my legs, and I cramped a lot, but endurance-wise I could have gone further. So what qualifies as hard? The amount of excertion during the activity? The time it takes to recover from the activity? The rating of the climb? I don't know.
Here's a few candidates though:
Here's a few candidates though:
- North Ridge of Mt. Conness with a late start and getting lost on the way back to the car
- Mt. Shasta
- Mt. Diablo 25K
- Las Vegas Marathon
- On Conness we had a late start, and both our headlamps died.
- On Shasta I didn't eat properly.
- Before Mt. Diablo I didn't run any hills, especially no downhills.
- Before Vegas I was sick and didn't stick to the long runs according to my plan.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Las Vegas Marathon
I made it! I finished my first marathon! Not that I had any real doubts about it, but hey, although I am not entirely happy with the outcome it was not a walk in the park. But let's start at the beginning:
Due to the early start I had set my alarm for 4:30AM, but was wide awake at 4:10. After getting ready, a breakfast of some pita bread with PB and honey, a coffee and some streching Lesley, who had decided to run the 1/2 marathon despite her injury, and I walked over to the starting line close to the Mandalay Bay. The temps were pretty good. Probably somewhere in the high 40's to low 50's. What I don't like about big races is that slow people are in spots where they should not be:
If you intend to walk - Don't be in the 1st 100 rows of starters! After weaving my way through the maze of slower runners and walkers I found a pretty good rythm, going at approximately an 8:15 pace. This was very comfortable for the first half... I hit the 13.1 mile marker at 1:52, and was quite pleased. My goal of finishing with a sub four hour time seemed very achievable... Until mile 18. Here I started having cramps, so that I had to walk for stretches... I don't really understand why I came down with cramps, since I had hydrated plenty, I had used GU gels and CLIF shot bloks... I was not excessively sweating... Well, of course it is a correlation, that the cramps started at mile 18, and my longest trainings run incidentally was 17 miles. Hm. What was disturbing was the fact that when I was able to start running again, and I was plodding along at a 9:30 pace, and thought: "OK, all I have to do is keep doing what I am doing now for the next hour and I will finish sub 4!" At exactly that point the next cramp would hit. Frustrating... What didn't help either was that I became increasingly hungry. The event webpage had announced an aid station with PowerGels and one with snacks from Emerald... Both stations were not available. A very poor effort on behalf of the organizers! Well, with a combination of walking, running and streching I made it to the finish line in 4:19,29. Here the disappointment with the organization continued... No space blankets for the finishers despite rather chilly temperatures. but what was worse: No food at this point either! I have no idea what I paid $95 for! This was definitely my last event with devine.
Despite all the negative things, overall it was a good experience and I am sure I will run another marathon and I will do it much faster!
Due to the early start I had set my alarm for 4:30AM, but was wide awake at 4:10. After getting ready, a breakfast of some pita bread with PB and honey, a coffee and some streching Lesley, who had decided to run the 1/2 marathon despite her injury, and I walked over to the starting line close to the Mandalay Bay. The temps were pretty good. Probably somewhere in the high 40's to low 50's. What I don't like about big races is that slow people are in spots where they should not be:
If you intend to walk - Don't be in the 1st 100 rows of starters! After weaving my way through the maze of slower runners and walkers I found a pretty good rythm, going at approximately an 8:15 pace. This was very comfortable for the first half... I hit the 13.1 mile marker at 1:52, and was quite pleased. My goal of finishing with a sub four hour time seemed very achievable... Until mile 18. Here I started having cramps, so that I had to walk for stretches... I don't really understand why I came down with cramps, since I had hydrated plenty, I had used GU gels and CLIF shot bloks... I was not excessively sweating... Well, of course it is a correlation, that the cramps started at mile 18, and my longest trainings run incidentally was 17 miles. Hm. What was disturbing was the fact that when I was able to start running again, and I was plodding along at a 9:30 pace, and thought: "OK, all I have to do is keep doing what I am doing now for the next hour and I will finish sub 4!" At exactly that point the next cramp would hit. Frustrating... What didn't help either was that I became increasingly hungry. The event webpage had announced an aid station with PowerGels and one with snacks from Emerald... Both stations were not available. A very poor effort on behalf of the organizers! Well, with a combination of walking, running and streching I made it to the finish line in 4:19,29. Here the disappointment with the organization continued... No space blankets for the finishers despite rather chilly temperatures. but what was worse: No food at this point either! I have no idea what I paid $95 for! This was definitely my last event with devine.
Despite all the negative things, overall it was a good experience and I am sure I will run another marathon and I will do it much faster!
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