Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Weekly Recap. 9/12-9/18

This week became a little hectic with work and the first full week of the boys being back in school. Training was difficult to fit in, but it may have been a blessing considering the marathon on Sunday. I am sure my body needed rest. I was able to get out on Tuesday and put in a little over 4.5 miles. I felt great and pretty strong. My body must have needed rest though, because I just could not get up early on Wednesday to run before work. With soccer practice for the boys in the evening that day, and back to school night, running was out of the question. On Thursday, I had an agent call off sick and had to cover that night. I worked from 6am-3:30pm, went home until 7pm and went back to work until 10am Friday morning. Needless to say, Thursday was out. Fortunately, on Friday evening, and having the most supportive and understanding wife, she encouraged me to go run. Although it was getting dark, I wanted to run in the State Park, however, when I arrived, the Ranger told me I could not enter. I pleaded and told her I was on only on foot, but she didn't budge. Therefore, I decided to make the best of it and run the hilly horse trails around. I got in 5 miles and felt pretty good.

The ridge on Aliso Canyon
On Saturday, I set out for a long run with some hills. I ran from home into Chino Hills State Park, which is about 2 miles of constant uphill. I ran down Bane Canyon and up Aliso Canyon Road to the top of the ridge. I followed that along for a few miles and turned back home. On the ridge, the view was gorgeous. I was above the fog layer that settled in between the hills. It looked like I could just run right into it and across the top. This run was truly an inspiring run and is the type that keeps me loving the sport. I felt miles away from the city and could not see a house, a car, a road, and for that matter, a person anywhere. It was just me, a tarantula, a coyote, some birds, and a few rabbits. What a way to end the week!
Weekly total:
50 miles
8 hours and 17 minutes

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sycamore Canyon Trail Marathon Recap

This Sunday, I completed my first trail marathon. I had initially signed up for the half marathon, but a few days prior to the event, I decided that I may as well do the full marathon. Going in, I knew trail marathons were a different animal than a street marathon, but what I did not know is that this was one of the toughest trail marathons in Southern California. The course was a 4 mile loop that we had to complete 6 times with a half loop to finish up the mileage. Upon arriving and meeting other runners, they asked if I had ever done this before. To which my answer was no, why? They pointed out that the hill in front of us was the start, and it continued on until we reached the top of the park. I began to reconsider the half marathon, but I was already committed to this and had some confidence because I have been running a lot of hills lately.
The race started very casually with the Race Director asking if everyone was ready and then said OK, go ahead. I could tell from there that this race was going to be run more like an ultra than a speed marathon. Knowing this, I started off slow, even though my legs felt fresh. I spent the first half of the first loop with Jim who was running the half marathon. He gave me some insight on the course and we chatted about ultras as well. Moving on I continued to take the first loop very easy and cautious. As Jim had mentioned, the single track downhills were rocky, off camber, and steep. These sure gave my quads a great workout. After finishing the first loop, I still felt strong and fresh, but knew I still had a ways to go, so I continued at an easy pace. At loop 3, I broke out the Gu "Chomps". I began to feel a little hungry at the end of lap 3 so I picked up a banana at the aid station and switched to Gatorade for laps 4-6. Upon heading out for lap 6, now 20 miles into the marathon, I began to really start feeling fatigued. I picked up another banana and headed back up the hill knowing this was my last full lap. On the backside of the lap, I tried a new gel called "Stinger". This was a little too sweet and mixed with Gatorade, made for a very upset stomach. For the remainder of lap I battled an upset stomach. At the final aid station, I filled my bottle with only water and set out. I met up with Ed, a veteran ultra runner, who did an early start for the marathon. He joined me up the final half lap. He was a great encouragement and really helped to pace me up the final 1.1 miles of up hill as well as kept my mind off my upset stomach. By the top, I felt much better and saw that I could possibly break the 5 hour mark. I took off down the hill, nearly missing turn offs. Upon my arrival at the bottom, the Race Director congratulated me on making it in under 5 hours. My final time was 4:59:55.
All in all, I met some great people, learned some valuable lessons, and had a lot of fun. Oh, and 1st place was nice too.
The numbers:
26.2 miles
5,874 feet elevation gain
4:59:55 time
148 Average HR

Monday, September 6, 2010

Weekly Recap 8/29 - 9/04

I started this week feeling good having just come off a 53 mile week last week. I had no real aches and pains that would cause any concern. The problem came the Friday night before my Saturday long run where I failed to hydrate and eat properly. I woke Saturday morning a little later than usual, lazed around a bit since the kids were away, and started at around 9am. In addition, the day was hot to start as well. I believe temperatures were around 100 by noon. I set out with plenty of water; using my new Nathan Hydration pack; and food. After about 4 miles of running, I stopped sweating and became very fatigued. Since I had chosen a very hilly course for this run, I thought it would be a great opportunity (excuse) to practice walking. The hills seemed relentless though and my muscles became sore. I continued to hydrate and ate some Gu Chomps, but nothing seemed to be helping. At a little over 6 miles, I decided to turn back. The run home was tough, and I finished nearly all of the 2 liters of water I was carrying and the remainder of the Gu Chomps. When I got in the front door, I sat on the stairs (now beginning to sweat a cold sweat), my vision went black and I lost all strength and slumped over. My wife quickly came with applesauce mixed with sugar and a bottle of Gatorade. Apparently my blood sugar was very low as well, because this helped quite a bit. Regaining some strength, I made it to the kitchen where I consumed more water, Gatorade, and Cytomax. Soon, I was feeling good enough for an ice bath which helped lower my body temperature and sooth my legs and joints. All in all it was an experience I did not want to have to go through again, but at the same time taught me a very valuable lesson on hydration and eating properly. It also gave my wife a glimpse of what it means to be a crew member and after that experience, I am confident she can handle anything quickly and effectively. She has a great gift of remaining calm in a crisis situation.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

September 2nd, 2010

Yesterday I decided to run hills for my mid-week semi-long run. I started from my house and ran to Chino Hills State Park. The first 3.5 miles were all uphill and most of the 1350 elevation gain was done during those first 3 miles. Upon starting out, my legs felt fine, but after about 3/4 of a mile my left calf felt very strange. It wasn't quite a cramp, but it wasn't loose either. I have no real way to describe it other than it felt like a lump of muscle just bouncing around. Fortunately, after about another half mile, things felt much better. As I continued my ascent, I started to feel pain in my left ankle. I slowed and tried to "work" things out and it seemed to help. When I reached the top of my ascent, everything felt fine.............then came the steep down hills and technical single track. It wasn't to long before my ankle was hurting again. In addition, my toes were slamming the front of my shoe. No matter how tight I tightened my shoe, I could not stop this. It made me think that either there is something wrong with my left shoe or my foot. Nonetheless, I took the remainder of the downhills easy. Once back on the main trail, things began to get back to normal. It is about a mile and a half steady climb out of the park and everything felt fine. Unfortunately, the last mile and a half home was downhill and on pavement. I chose to take it easy and finished the run feeling good. Before heading to bed last night, I made sure I iced up both shins just as a preventative measure.
Upon waking this morning, I definitely felt the muscle fatigue from the hills. While sore and a little stiff, it felt good and reminded me of the days when I was training for track, cross country, and duathalons. I even felt excited thinking about this coming Saturday's 3 hour run.