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...

My Sunday morning activity

20 miles at Rancho San Antonio... good fun!

Now: Food and nap on the couch :-)

Counting down: 11 days to go

Alright, there are several reasons I have been looking forward to the middle of March.
It being the start of the new CSA season being the main one. I can't wait to have a box full of fresh, tasty veggies from Two Small Farms waiting for me every week. I feel that I definitely eat better when there are fresh vegetables around.
This year the veggie box will be supplemented by a meat box. After reading Micheal Pollan's 'Omnivore's Dillema' and 'In Defense of Food' and after seeing 'Food, Inc.' I think trying to get locally, sustainably grown meat (beef, pork, lamb, poultry) is a good thing for me and the planet.
The box will be supplied by Marin Sun Farms. I am definitely looking forward to this new experience and the experiments in the kitchen.
On top of these two reasons is the fact that at the end of that week daylight savings starts! It will be longer bright than only 6:30.
Oh, yeah, there's also the first race of the year: The Pirates Cove 20k, put on by PCTR.
Anyway, four reasons for me to be excited!

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.

Wunderlich Park Trail Run

It was about time to get some serious mileage in before the San Diego RnR Marathon end of May.
The idea was to run bout 12 miles at Wunderlich County Park. I met up with Dan at 9:15AM in the parking lot off HW84. We started out on Bear Gulch trail up to the meadows. Since Dan dropped back a little I turned around once I reached the meadows and ran back down to meet up with her.
She decided that she didn't want to run up to Skyline as I had planned, so we parted ways. While she headed back down to the parking lot I continued on to Skyline. The climb was more than I expected. Well, I was aware that I was looking at a total of six miles climbing, but it dragged out longer than expected. The downhill afterwards was pretty fun though, lots of cruising on wide soft trails. To my surprise I bumped into Daniela, making her way up the hill. She had gotten a second wind and decided to add a second loop to her run. Together we continued down the hill, happily chatting along. This ended up being a problem... About three miles from the parking lot I twisted my ankle. I don't exactly know how I did it, I ight have stepped in a hole, on a root, a rock, or something else. All I know is that I sprained my ankle pretty bad, and that I could not walk for a few days. The training for San Diego has taken a big hit! I hope I manage to recover soon!

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

week 8

Sat: Wanted to do the weekly long run of 11 miles, but at about 3 miles in the tightness in m IT Band I had noticed the day before and some GI issues forced me to turn around and cut the run short: Ended up running 7 miles.

Sun: Too wimpy to stick to the plan and make up for the failed long run on Saturday. Climbed at PG B instead. Did a handful of 10's topped off by a couple of 11a's. Finished the day's workout with 90 minutes of yoga with Annika. It was the first time I took her class. It was pretty nice! A good balance between relaxation and exercise. Also good for my ITB.

Mon: Climbing at PG B with Dan. 4 leads 10a-c. 1 TR 10c to cool down.

Tue: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B. Last night I researched IT Band issues on the web: It seems that a combination of strength training, stretching, applications of a foamroller and anti-inflamatories should work to keep things in check. As a first step I stretched 20 minutes right after getting up, followed by some 'rolling'. I stretched for another 2o minutes after my run, before I hit the weight room for some deadlifts and squats. The deadlifts were a surprise! It was the first time I "went heavy" and worked my way up to body weight. Not to bad for the beginning. My legs were tired after the workout, but felt good otherwise. Also learned that a few more spots opened up for the Big Sur 21 miler...Need to sign up!

Wed: Skipped the scheduled 6 mile run. Stretched and rolled for 10 min just after getting up. Went climbing with Ben at PG SV in the evening. Awesome session! A few TRs to warm up, 10a, 10d, 11a, 11c and then some easy leads (9s & 10a). Now I am wired and can't go to sleep :-(

Thu: Coughing and sneezing... AGAIN! :-( Rest day!

Fri: Rest Day, try to recover enough for tomorrows 8k Juana Run in Palo Alto.

Week 7

Wow! This blog is degrading to a list of workouts... :-(
Unfortunately there's not too much more happening at the moment. When I am not in NM the weather here doesn't allow for any climbing outside. I guess skiing would be an option...
Anyway, last weeks workouts:

Sat: 9 mile run on the trails in the desert around Carlsbad, NM
Sun: Rest
Mon: 5 mile run
Tue: 3 mile run
Wed: 6 mile run (back in Cali SCT)
Thu: 3 miles on treadmill at PG B, 45 minutes of bouldering, mostly long traverses to increase endurance
Fri: Rest, noticed some tightness in the IT Band of my right thigh.

mileage (Sat - Fri): 26

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.

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:

• 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

Huh, looking at this list, it's all things were either something went wrong and/or I was not prepared well enough.

• 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.

There's a lesson to be learned I guess...

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!