Coastal 50k

WOOOHOOO!

I finished a goal race! Well, better even: I started! :-)

This may sound ridiculous, but after last December's CIM and last months Santa Rosa 1/2 marathon, I wasn't sure what to expect. I had trained well for both of these races, only to be unable to sleep the night before, and not toeing the line at all.

Not so last week! I made it to the starting line in Stinson Beach, and after 31 miles, and 5800ft of climbing and descending I also made it to the finish at Rodeo Beach 6:09:40 later. This was a bit slower than planned, but at the same time the course was a lot more challenging than expected.

I may have gone out a bit too fast as well: The first three miles were rather challenging, climbing up the Steep Ravine trail to Pantoll ranger station.

Around mile 20 I struggled with a bit of nausea, completely disgusted by the gels I had with me. Definitely a first! On top of that I had lost my little ziploc bag with my salt tabs, so that my quads were a little twitchy on the descent into Rodeo Valley... But all this aside it was an awesome event! The organization by Coastal Trail Runs was flawless and pretty much everyone had a great time.

The finish (start) was definitely good for my head, and I think I am ready for the next challenges this year.

Los Gatos Jungle Run

Last Sunday I joined 740 fellow runners for the Los Gatos Jungle Run 10k.
It was my first road race in quite a while, since December 2009 to be exact. My primary goal was to beat my time of 45:22 from the 2009 Turkey Trot in San Jose. Furthermore it was to stay under 45 minutes. With about 200ft of climbing the course was not quite as fast as the San Jose course. Still I managed to finish in 45:03, good for 38th overall.

2011 races

I spent the past weekend browsing websites and race calendars. Here's what I came up with for the coming year:

Mar 19 Pirates Cove 20k
Mar 26 Woodside 17k
May 1 Big Bear 5k
May 21 Horseshoe Lake 21k
Jun 5 Sierra Foothills 50k
Jul 10 Jungle Run 10k
Aug 14 Squaw to Donner 25k
Oct 2 SJ RnR 1/2 marathon
Oct 23 Silicon Valley marathon
Dec 3 North Face Endurace Challenge 50 miles

Let's see how it pans out!

Still alive!

Ok, since there are some people out there who actually check on this neglected corner of the interweb, I'll leave a new blurb. I promise: I'll try to be better!

Last Sunday I was supposed to run the last race of the year. The California International Marathon in Sacramento. This race was originally not on my schedule, since I had planned to run St. George in early October. Unfortunately I sprained my ankle rather badly in early August. The training for St. G. went completely down the drain... A total mileage of 89 miles in August and September are just not enough for a good effort.
So I decided to shift the focus to CIM, and use St. G. as a long, fun, supported trainings run (flights and hotel were booked after all). Once in the Southwest, I tagged on a visit to Zion NP, where I hiked the Narrows, and some climbing at Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas.
Once I was back I jumped into preparations for CIM. 140 miles in October, 120 in November. Good speed workouts, good hill work. Then... a week before the race I get a cold... Nothing too bad. I was still planning on going. Drove up to Sac on Saturday, picked up the bib, got dinner, was in bed at 8. Fell asleep...at 11. ugh! Woke up at 2! (Alarm was set for 4). At this point I decided not to run. A rather tough decision...
Even tougher is the decision to take some time off. Not to jump into planning events for next year. There are some events I'd really like to do, but I think I need some distance to be able to come up with a reasonable plan for 2011.

Angel Island 8k

After running Skyline to the Sea in April I ramped down my running a bit. Winning a spot for the St. George Marathon and signing up for the Santa Rosa 1/2 marathon in late August brought me back to a regular running regimen though.
A few weeks of relatively short runs made me itch for a race again. The PCTR Angel Island 8k seemed perfect. The previous weeks had seen a few speedy sub-10 mile runs, and I figured it would be good to try a short and fast race opposed to a long and slow one as S-2-S.

I caught the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island at 8AM, and had some time for a little warm-up run and some stretching. The course essentially went straight to the top of the island, and back down. After a quarter mile it hit some stairs, which slowed the field down a bit. Despite walking up the stairs, I managed to pass some people, who had passed me off the starting line. The climb following the stairs wasn't too bad, but I was still glad to reach the top, and switch into cruising mode for the downhill section. The very top had a out and back section, and I counted that I was in 10 position at the summit. The 3 miles back to the finish area were quite pleasant. Nice single tracks, slightly downhill, with amazing views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge. An amazing day to be out on the island! Having run the last 1/2 mile of the course during the warm up paid off, since I caught up to some guys, who had problems finding the right trail, while I knew the way to go. I crossed the finish line after 42:44, good for 5th place overall and 3rd in my age group.

There was some time left, before the ferry left back to Tiburon, which was spent chatting with some friends and munching on the snacks provided by PCTR.
A great event on a great day!

Skyline to the Sea

A few weeks ago, I joined 249 runners for the Skyline to the Sea 50k and Marathon, organized by Pacific Coast Trail Runs. I thought the route starting at Skyline Blvd and finishing at the Ocean just north of Santa Cruz would be a good choice for my first ultra marathon. Despite the net elevation loss there were still 3000 feet of climbing, which made sure that the race wouldn't be too easy.

I lined up for the start in the first quarter of the pack, judging from the pace in the first miles this was a justified position. After about 5 miles I knew though that I was in trouble... I was still cruising along with people with way more experience and lots of ultras under their belts. The slight downhill had sucked me into a 8:00 pace. It was a lot of fun though!

It didn't too long until I reached the first aid station after 6 miles. I had dreaded this moment, since the first climb of the day (2 miles, 800ft) was just ahead. To get to China Grade, the next aid station, was a long haul. Here I got my water bottle refilled, and took two salt tabs. Not knowing the trail I had been looking forward for the next section, the drop into Big Basin State Park. A drop it was! Over exposed bedrock, and technical trail. The going here was a lot slower than I had anticipated. After spraining my ankle last spring I am a little paranoid about too uneven footing, so I ended up walking big chunks of the way down to Gazos Creek. From here I joined the 50k runners for a extra 5 mile loop, while the marathoners followed the Skyline-to-the-Sea Trail towards the finish. The additional loop included the second major climb of the day. I took a little more than an hour to get back to Gazos Creek, and more salt tabs and another water refill. The next aid station would be 13 miles ahead. Quite a haul in temperatures in the low 80's...
And yes, about half a mile out of the aid station was the third big hill of the day. It was a slog up there, but then something miraculous happend: All of a sudden I felt fresh and fast again! The miles 20 to 23 flew by! Never the less I realized at that point, that my goal to break 5 hours was out of reach. Well, it slipped further in the next 6 miles, which were a mix of slow jogging and walking. A couple of miles before the aid station I ran out of water, and was looking forward for my refill. Bad luck though! By the time I got there, the station had run out of water. Fortunately a hiker offered me some of her water. I was good to go the final two miles to the finish. Mostly in a slow jog... I crossed the finish line after 5:44. Good enough for 73rd overall and 31 in the age group.
In the finish area I used the opportunity to refuel on beef jerky, chilli, pretzels and other goodies provided by PCTR. The ice bath in the ocean was the perfect ending for a rough day.

After my first marathon I was sure that I would run another one. Even now, three weeks after my first 50k, I am not sure if I really have to run another one. Time will tell I guess...

Hoping...

...the lottery fairy is nice!

I entered the lottery for a race for the first time: The St. George Marathon in Utah, in October.
The results will be published tomorrow morning at 8.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Rest Days!

These are the days to pursue all the sports one can't do on days one is running, right?

Well, why all the running? After the exciting, fun, and (for me) successful CIM in December I signed up for a couple of races. The main event being the Skyline to the Sea 50k in April.

Anyway, Sundays are supposed to be rest days after a long run on Saturdays.
I took the chance to head up to Kirkwood yesterday, for a day of fantastic skiing, under blue skies. Fortunately the temperatures stayed crisp enough during the day, so that the snow conditions were perfect.

Fall races

After getting over the ankle sprain I suffered in March, I've been running regularly again. My weekly mileage is around 30 miles at the moment. In my point of view this is a good time to sign up for some races to help with the motivation. The first race will be the Palo Alto Moonlight Run on October 2, were I'll do the 10K, the second will be the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento on December 6. This will be my second 10k and marathon respectively. Comparing logs from last year to this year I think that both races should be successfull.

Big Sur Marathon weekend

The Big Sur International Marathion is taking place this weekend. Local runners are raving about it in different blogs, the media coverage is increasing, and the excitement is big.
Not for me though. I was supposed to run the 21 miles as a long trainings run in preparation for the Rock'n'Roll Marathon in San Diego in the end of May. But I haven't run in almost five weeks after spraining my ankle on a trail run in Wunderlich Park. The rehab is taking longer than expected. Cycling, climbing, walking are fine, but running is still a no-no.
So no 21 miles in Big Sur and consequently no marathon in San Diego...

Quite the change of plans for the spring...

I hope to be able to get back in shape for a fall marathon.

Juana Run 09

It's amazing to see that races still keep my inner alarm clock set. Although my alarm was set for 6:30 I woke up half an hour early feeling quite good. Meaning way better than the previous mornings where I had to fight the symptoms of my cold quite badly. The stretching during the last few days also seems to have worked, since my quads felt a lot better too. So things seemed to be on track for the Juana Run 2009. It is a five mile race and the first race of the Palo Alto Grand Prix series.
After I picked up my bib and the goodie bag, I jogged about a mile and stretched before I went to the start area. Just after 8:30 the gun went off and a few hundred runners set out for the course. Due to my cold I was aiming for a 7:30 pace, which would put me to the finish line at 37:30. The first mile felt pretty hard, actually the whole race felt pretty hard, except for the stretch between mile 2.5 and mile 3. I was really looking forward to the final stretch... After 37:00 I crossed the finish line and was rather glad I was done. Even a little faster than aimed for.
A pancake breakfast was waiting for all the finishers. A yummy finale for a tough, but nice morning.

Official time: 37:02
28/59 in age group
167 overall

Another week...time flies!

Ok, here's the next weekly activity/training update:
Saturday:
5 miles running on the SCT at race pace. The 8 min miles felt tough today...especially mile 5.
45 minutes bouldering at PG Belmont rating 10 (I sucked!)
90 minutes Yoga class. Was awesome... nice and relaxing, just what my legs and I needed!

Sunday:
I was way to tired to get out of bed for a long (8 mile) run this morning, so I decided to switch Monday and Sunday on the training schedule, and cross trained by hiking up Mission Peak .

Monday:
'Long Run' of 8 miles: Figure 8 consisting of "The Dish" and "Campus Loop" starting from the driving range.

Tuesday:
3 miles on the treadmill at PG B.
Climbing at PG with Daniela. I haven't climbed in a while, and haven't lead in even longer. So I was overgripping a lot. After about 5 leads my forearms were shot... Added a couple of topropes at the end.

Wednesday:
5 mile run around campus.

Thursday:
Climbing at PG Belmont with Ben. Forearms still toast... some toproping on the harder side.
Although the running schedule asked for 3 miles today, I did not run and decided to do Saturday's 5 mile pace run on Friday, due to exciting weekend plans.

Friday:
5 miles at race pace. This time it felt way better than previous Saturday...

Mileage this week: 26 miles (Sat. - Fri.)

Signed up for the 'Juna Run' in Palo Alto on Feb 28. Should be a nice fast 5 miler!

Trainings notes

For the coming Fridays I'll try to summarize the past weeks activities and workouts. Mostly to keep track of things.

This week stood out a bit, since it was pretty much the first 'regular' week at home since mid-December. So much of it was used to get back into the rythm of daily life.

Despite a cold I managed to go to the gym on Saturday. Did a few climbs -on which I felt very weak, really struggling on a 10c- and 90 minutes of yoga, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I felt the benefits of the core workouts I had done in Germany and New Mexico.
Sunday I did a quick 5.5 mile hike at Wunderlich County Park, which inspired me to watch 'The Fellowship of the Ring'... and that was the rest of the day :-)
Tuesday was the first day of the 18-week marathon training plan. Based on my experience in Las Vegas I decided against going with the Crossfit Endurance plan and for the Inermediate-I Marathon Plan from Hal Hidgeon. Back in Vegas I hit the wall, or better my legs hit the wall, exactly a mile further than my longest run was. I blame to little mileage, hence the plan with a higher mileage. The Intermediate I plan starts with 24 miles/week and peaks at 44 miles/week.
Also I'll run 5 days a week compared to 3 days as I did before Vegas following the RW smartcoach.
Anyway, the first run on Tuesday was a really mellow 3 miles on the SCT. Afterwards I did a short workout on the Rock Rings in the backyard.
Wednesday saw the second run, it called for 5 miles, I did 5.3 on the SCT.
The third run was scheduled for Thursday. I ran the 3 miles on the treadmill at PG Belmont. Something remarkable about this: It was the first run on a treadmill I actually enjoyed! Funny. The second part of the Thursday workout consisted of bouldering. For the first five minutes I stayed on the wall without a break, doing a bunch of consecutive V0's and V1's. Following this I tried to do through problems quickly to work on strength and stamina. The 'Boulder Rating' for the evening was 22 (or 23 don't remember exactly).
Today is a rest day.
The plans for the weekend include a 5 mile run at marathon goal pace on Saturday and a long run of 8 miles on Sunday. The later one will probably be at Rancho San Antonio. I'll also try to get some yoga and climbing in tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, yes, I signed up for the San Diego RnR Marathon in May...
There's also some preliminary talk about a climbing trip to Red Rocks in March.

Tentative Race Calendar 2009

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.

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!

San Jose Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon

To make it short: What an awesome race!

It was so good, or felt so good because, as evident in the previous post, I was quite nervous about this race. I hadn't felt too well for the entire week, and on top of that hadn't gotten much sleep two nights before the run. But as soon as my alarm went of at 5:30 I felt good... a quick shower, two PB&H pitas, a coffee, and some water and I was ready to go. Lesley and her friend picked me up at 6:30 and we got to downtown San Jose in about 20 minutes. The parking was surprisingly easy... About a 8 minute walk from the start area. The temperatures this morning were in the 50's which felt ok, if not a little too chilly. Around 7:30 I dropped my long sleeve and my long pants at the gear check and went looking for my starting corral. I had given an estimated finishing time of 1:45.30, which put me in corral 3. Honestly, I was surprised to be that far up front (there were 13 coralls). Lesley was in corall 4, so we hung out for a bit anc chatted etc. With ten minutes to go we took our positions. During this waiting period I was quite happy that I had brought a 'space blanket' that I wrapped around my legs, and which kept me nice and warm. This race featured 'pace groups': Some runners carried signs saying 1:45 for example, and they were expected to run at the pace to get you to the finish in exactly that time. I spotted one a few meters in front of me and figured that I might tag along...
Then at 8:02 the starting horn went off. The start was, compared to other races, a pleasure! The corral system worked! No one walking or running extremely slowly, so that I could get into my pace right away. And that pace was fast. My plan was to run the first mile at 8:30, but checking my watch I was doing 7:30...ah well...it felt alright. The miles went by and I felt good... always a tad behind the pace group guy...by perhaps 30 seconds to a minute... At some point I caught up and even passed him. By mile 7 or 8 the group passed me again and essentially took off. Checking my watch revealed that I was on the right pace, so that I didn't worry too much. Around mile 10 I switched my soundtrack from "Live after Death" to my "Hate Crew Death Roll". I instantly felt the boost... Without the GI problems I had during the Kaiser 1/2 in February and with more long runs under my belt the last two miles were a pleasure compared to my previous half marathons. At some point during the last mile I passed the 1:30 pace group guy... No sign of the 1:45 group though. Shortly past the 13 mile marker I turned into the final stretch and see the time ticking away: 1:44...1:44.05...
I wanted to stay below the 1:45 mark, and managed to in 1:44,45. I took almost 14 minutes off my previous PR.
So what did I learn? Don't trust 'pace groups' but stick to your own pace!

This race was definitely different from Las Vegas: Crossing the finish line there I ate almost everything they handed me...Bananas, Oranges, cookies, pretzels...Here I was disgusted by the idea of food. I had half a banana, that was it...
After picking up my gear I came across the Widmer Brother's booth though...One free beer for every participant! Now that was something I could not say no to! What an excellent recovery drink :-)
After meeting up with Lesley I got back to my place around 11... Met up with my parents and went for a huge breakfast at Stack's...Now I was ready to eat...

San Jose Rock'n'Roll Half - 3 days

Later today will be the last workout before the SJ RnR 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. A 3 mile tempo run... I am getting antsy to get the race over with. I have been training well, had a few good long runs, really good fast runs... I should be well prepared. Still I am nervous... today I feel tired and drained of energy. I didn't sleep well the last few nights, although I still got 7+ hours every night.
I wonder if last weekend's climbing is still taking its toll. Although it shouldn't! I mean, that's why I do all this endurance training, right? To reduce recovery times.
My legs feel funny... I can't quite tell if they feel tired, or if they are screaming: "Let me run!" The last real run was last Friday, since then I just did some miles on the treadmill... That might have been a bad idea as well...to change that in the last week before a race...
Another thing which contributes to my 'antsyness': For my first two 1/2s I just wanted to finish, and I put hardly any training in... This time around I have a goal...and I have put quite some effort and work into the race preperation... Will it work out? Will I be able to achieve the goal? Did I prepare right? Am I on the right way to the second goal of the season, the Las Vegas Marathon?

I guess Sunday will tell!

Moonlight Run

I just finished the Palo Alto Weekly Moonlight Run. It was my first 10km run, and the first of the planned races for this fall. It was quite exciting! Although my training went really well lately, I didn't have to big expectations, since my right glute was pretty tight since last night. A thorough warm-up took care of that though...No problems after about 1.4 miles of easy jogging and stretching...
The race started at 8:15PM under an almost full moon. It was amazing to have a race in the dark. I managed to get away from the crowds right in the beginning and settle to a good pace... Between mile 2 and 3 something weird happened: I was completely zoned out... I had a song in my head, and actually don't have any recollection of how I ran that section... At mile 5 I decided that no one would pass me anymore until the finish line... It worked :-) It was a hard 2km, but hey, who said it should be easy. It's pretty much as Dean Karnazes said in his presentation last night: "We can do more than we think we can." Anyway, I finished in (approx. taken with my Garmin) 47:33, a 7:27 pace. Definitely the fastest run of that duration I ever did. And also a PR (well it was my first 10k :-)).

Splits:
mile 1 - 7:36
mile 2 - 7:33 15:09
mile 3 - 7:26 22:35
mile 4 - 7:40 30:14
mile 5 - 7:36 37:50
mile 6 - 7:08 44:57
finish - 47:33

Update:
Official result: 47:29 22/149 AgeGroup 99/479 Gender 114/920 Overall

Some thoughts on goals and training

I have thought about some long term goals. They include:

• A triathlon (hopefully an Ironman)
  
• An ultra-marathon (50 or 100 miles)
• more alpine routes
• climb as many of the 50 classics as possible
• climb all California 14ers
• climb a few Bigwalls

As for the training:
I've been following a trainings plan from RunnersWorld.com, and it seems to work well for me. I'll know more in a few days, after having raced in the Palo Alto Moonlight run. I intend to stick with this plan/plans for the upcoming half and full marathons as well.
However, I came across crossfitendurance.com, and it seems very interesting, since the actual volume of the workouts seems to be smaller and less time consuming. Additionally, the regular crossfit workouts, which are incorporated in their program seem to be beneficial to my climbing plans too. Furthermore, looking at a 50miler trainings plan on RunnersWorld.com, their emphasis on strength training increases as well. So it might be worth a shot...
I've also toyed with the idea of joining a local Triathlon Team. Seems like a fun thing to do.

Las Vegas Marathon

Yesterday I signed up for the Las Vegas Marathon on Dec. 7.
That leaves me with exactly 100 days... or 63 days after the San Jose RnR half marathon.

This week is going pretty well so far. I posted about Tuesdays Temporun earlier, last night I did some yoga, and I had a really nice easy 3 mile run this morning. It was actually the first enjoyable morning run (pre-work) I ever did. I managed to maintain an average heartrate of 148 bpm while keeping a 8:27 pace. It seems I am getting used to it! :-)