Going the Distance at SOB

A week before the Sean O’Brien 30k I started to cough and continued doing so until Thursday when things finally turned around. I was in mega taper mode – no running all week – and that helped me get to the starting line.

Training
I usually run as much as I can on a race course for training, but driving an hour each way to Malibu wasn’t something I wanted to do. Instead, I spent some quality time on the Sisar Rd and Canyon Trails in Ojai, simulating the massive climb at the start of the SOB. I think it worked. I was able to do a 5 mile climb with almost zero whining, a nice mental win.

Plus, I still had my Ray Miller 30k build up under my belt, so I was in decent shape.

Pre-race
It was f-ing cold. My car thermometer had the temp at 30 degrees. I was bundled up as I went to the race check-in where I ran into Christophe who was doing the 50k. We ran together at the 3-Hour Time Trial fatass race in Sylmar’s Veteran’s Memorial Park, along with Marisol who was also doing the 50k.

After check-in I went back to the car to drop off my race shirt then headed back to snap some pics of the marathon/50k start.

Miles 0 to 7
The RD, Keira, started her race instructions as we all huddled near a tiny heater beneath a 10 x 10 pop up tent. We needed all the heat we could get. She reminded us that there would be a creek crossing at about mile 2 and there was a symphony of groans.

When we started I hung out in the back of the pack with a steady running pace until we got to the Little Chihuahua where I power hiked parts of that. It was only us 30k runners at this time so there wasn’t the usual conga line until the creek.

Once I crossed the creek and did the little climb to the Backbone Trail, I took out my trekking poles (aka “wizard sticks”). If you’ve never used trekking poles then try to use them in a race they are pretty much useless and at worse you’ll end up tripping over them or tripping someone else which is not cool. I’ve used them quite a bit during super steep climbs so I’m used to them. If I don’t have poles and I have a long steep climb I’ll usually hunt around for branches to serve as poles.

The climb was a piece of cake although I wasn’t pushing things too much. There was a point where a couple (father and daughter?) were just in front of me and I tried not to let them drop me so I kept my pace up.

The poles were really helping and next thing I knew I was cruising into the Corral Canyon Aid Station.

I grabbed a couple of chips, had some Coke and a pb & j corner then was off, leaving behind the couple I was following.

Miles 7 to 11
I was eating and walking on the downhill then finally finished snacking and started a moderate run down the mountain. This next section is a constant downhill so I was able to stretch the legs some. About a mile into it I ran into Mariela from our New Basin Blues running group and we did a photo off.

After the initial downhill there’s a flat section and my legs were starting to feel the fatigue. I had already climbed 3,000 ft and my quads felt it. Around mile 9.8 I finally reached the turnaround point where a volunteer gave me a wristband to indicate I had made it. He seemed a bit surprised that the last place person had not reached him yet and almost forgot to give me a wristband.

On the way back I saw Luisa who usually does the 50k but was nursing an injury and wanted to enjoy the 30k.

I finally made it back to Corral Canyon and felt decent. I should have loaded up with water but only had one small cup of water, some more Coke and a handful of chips. Chris was volunteering and was dressed as a donut. I saw him earlier and said that I had some coffee on me as well. I wish. But I was in more of a salty mood then a donut one so I headed back out. Yes, he actually had real donuts nearby.

Miles 11 to finish
This next section is always tricky. I jump out of the aid station and then charge up the space rock looking section then quickly crash. It’s rock, it’s uphill, and it’s longer than you think. I took it easy and just took it one step at a time and it wasn’t that bad a climb this time.

By this time I started doing math in my head and this former math teacher was trying to figure out what pace I had to run to finish the race within a total of 6 miles. That took me a few miles before I figured out that I wasn’t going to hit that particular metric.

The following climbs are usually soul sucking but this time they were a breeze. I know I keep saying it’s the sticks but this is the best shape I’ve been in since I did Leona Divide 50k in 2016.

There are some amazing and epic views on the ridge and I was enjoying them until I saw some big black clouds coming my way. I was just waiting to see a flash of light so I could chuck my fabulous poles so that I wouldn’t turn into a large lightening rod out there. But there was no rain and I kept cruising.

I was running the flats and downhills and power hiked the ups. During one section I heard some footsteps behind me but they didn’t pass me so I figured they were closing in on me but not that quickly. The footsteps caught up to me on an uphill and we quickly chatted about beer at the finish line. On the next downhill I opened it up and zoomed back past them.

I blasted down the hill for over a mile until my right pinky toe started feeling like it was getting an electric shock. I slowed down and it was still shooting pain. I was down to a power hike on the still steep downhill and I used my sticks to take some of the weight on the toe and that helped.

This had happened before after doing hard downhill running and also when I was using that toe more when I had the heel blister the previous month.

That kind of sucked but I kept moving forward. I thought that maybe it was a nutrition thing but then I went to suck some water out of my hydration pack and it was empty. Gah! When I do long training runs I don’t even drink a full liter in 13 miles and now I had gone through 2 liters.

I hit the last Backbone Trail section and then ran into the volunteer at the water-only station. I drank a couple of cups of water then headed out.

The entire day had cold so the creek crossing wasn’t my favorite although it did clean my shoes off some. I hiked the rest of the flat part up to the Angry Chihuahua climb then hit that hard.

The sun came out and my shoes started to dry quickly. I was looking at my watch and was enjoying the climb as I checked my watch as it inched closer to 4,000 feet of elevation. Yes, I was going to hit my 2000 meter mark for the Strava Run Climbing Challenge, or so I thought.

At the downhill section I opened it up and the legs were behaving. No cramping and the little toe was cool. I passed the amazing Patricia Devita and kept running for the finish line.

I haven’t looked at all my 30k race stats but I was within 30 minutes of a PR. When you adjust for the actual length of the course this was right up there.

I must say that the volunteers were great as usual. It was also a blast see so many friends out there and seeing other runners who came out to do a training run, end support and inspire like Gerardo and Deysi.

Big shoutout to all my New Basin Blues, Anytime Runners and Conejo Valley Trail Runners out there who crushed the course.

What’s Next?
I signed up for Leona Divide 50k so I have to ride this race and keep training for that.

What’s your next race? Did you do SOB? How did it go?

 

Ray Miller 30K 2019 Race Recap

After a great race at Rocky Peak, hitting the sub-6 hour mark in a tough 30k, part of me wished I had signed up for the Ray Miller 50k. But, the way the last few weeks of training ended up, the 30K was the right decision.

Leading up to the race on Dec. 7th, I had some very solid training days on the same Ray Miller course. I did several runs over 10 miles up to a 14.5 miles and they all went great up to the second to last one when disaster almost hit.

I had gone on a training run with the Anytime Runners group at Ray Miller and shortly after the start, I got a rock in my shoe. I didn’t want to stop because I felt it would give me an excuse to slow down overall.

That was a bad mistake.

I thought I could run through the rock and just smash it as I ran but after I had turned around and was about to do the big descent down the Ray Miller trail, I decided to chuck the stone so I could power down the trail. When I checked my shoe, there was no rock, but I still felt something.

Yup, a blister had started. I put my shoe back on an decided to crush down the trail anyways. Turn after turn I cold feel the blister area get hotter and hotter and I knew it was getting worse. But I didn’t want to finish the run strong and I thought catch up to everyone else on the group run. When I got down to the trailhead I started limping and knew I had messed up big time.

I’ll spare you the blister photo but my entire heel area had opened up and smushed a top layer of skin back. Yeah, pretty gross. I moved the skin back into place and B helped me tape things up. We didn’t have any medical tape so she used some of her craft washi tape and a large bandage.

Luckily, the blister healed up well and in a week I was able to run on it again with confidence.

For the past few weeks I have been extremely diligent in dealing with our dogs by feeding them, cleaning up poop and also picking up fallen oranges early in the morning. This early morning routine along with daily runs help prep me for race day. Getting up at 4am was a breeze and all of my morning routines worked well.

The race is only 30 minutes from my house and there is plenty of parking along the Pacific Coast Highway so I didn’t have to rush to get there on time.

After I said hi to folks I could recognize in the dark, I checked in and got my goodie bag just in time to catch the 50k race start.

Once I walked back to my car to drop off the goodie bag, I had to decide if I was going to keep my light sweatshirt on or take it off and only use my race shirt and light rain shell. I took off the sweatshirt and didn’t shiver so I felt I’d be OK. This was a bit of a gamble. If it got super windy at the top of the first climb that could be enough to make things very miserable very quickly. It had been raining for the past couple of days and there had already been some light rain that morning but I went with the lighter gear.

Shortly before the race started I took a selfie with Dick and Caryn from our New Basin Blues running group and also with Karla who I know from Instagram and who had cheered me on during the Bulldog race.

New Basin Blues representing!

Nice running with Karla

Miles 0 to 3

I made my way to the back of the pack before the race started. I figured that I didn’t want to hold back the faster people since the first miles are mostly single track. But once we got going it turned into a long conga line for almost a half mile. I think that overall it was better that I did start a bit slower as that kept me from burning too hot too early.

About a mile up the trail I took off my shell jacket and tied it around my waist then rolled it up so it did’t turn into a flapping skirt. It wasn’t that windy so I felt that I wouldn’t need to put it back on for a while, not until the rain rolled in.

I leap frogged a few people and there were actually people behind me by the time I got to the end of the Ray Miller trail.

Miles 3 to 5

We dumped onto to Overlook trail and made our way to the hell Hill aid station. This is one of the sections where my daily runs have helped me out. There are mild climbs and drops but it’s also easy to take it easy here and walk parts out. During my first run back after the blister incident I had run this section with champion runner Alejandra Ruiz and  Gerardo Torres who were running my pace because they had just crushed the No Name 30k race the day before and their quads were still bouncing back. I ran easy and ran well and the same happened during the race.

Every now and then I’d take a look to the south and see the amazing views near Sandstone Peak. That’s where the 50 milers were headed.

I grabbed a few nibbles at the aid station then started on the La Jolla Loop section.

View of Sandstone Peak

Miles 5 to 10

During all of my training runs leading up to the race I had not done the La Jolla Loop. The last time I had been on the loop was earlier this year and it was crazy uncomfortably overgrown so I avoided that madness.

It turns out that by race day the trail was fairly clear. I got a rock in my shoe and pulled over to empty out the rock and then a couple of people passed me. I hate when that happens.

I kept powering on and shortly after that caught up with a group of women who asked me to take a photo of them. I wasn’t in contention for the win or anything so it was no problem and they were happy with the photo I took.

I was on the big climb leading up to the Mugu Peak area and had found a good walking stick. I used that as a trekking pole and pushed on.

On the downhill section near Mugu Peak I took it easy so I didn’t burn my quads and was able to run down to the flat section of the loop.

The trail was fairly muddy and was sucking my shoes as I ran. Ah, this section is always challenging and I rarely can run here. There is a deceiving grade here and that just zaps energy.

I ran into my Dirtbag Runner friend Jeannine here and she wasn’t doing too hot but she was moving forward. I kept on and finally got back to the Hell Hill aid station. My legs were in decent shape and I had been running near another group of women for the last few miles. I took off quickly from the aid station with a handful of food – a pb&j square, some chips and a cup of Coke.

Miles 10 to 15

I now realize that this climb up the Guadalasca trail is also tricky. It seems like a fairly mild climb but it’s longer than it looks and I always end up quite worked by the time I get to the top. The same thing happened again and my quads were pretty fried.

I was still running near that group of women but they took off on the downhill section of this Guadalasca loop. By the way, there is another sign on the loop and that reads “Guadalasco” so not sure what the actual name of the trail is.

I ran into Karla who was cramping up and was heading back to the Hell Hill aid station. She didn’t say she was going to quit but she was going in the opposite direction. Shortly after that her friend came up the trail and I told him that she had turned back but did not really say she was dropping.

I tried to slow jog down the mountain but the legs were just spent. After a couple of miles of this and I started to do the math on the next aid station timing. I had to get there by 1pm and if I got even slower I was afraid I would be cutting it close.

Once I got to the flatter section of the loop leading up to the base of Hell Hill, I started taking down sports bean and those started to pick me up.

That was it, I should have been popping these bad boys on the Guadalasca climb and I probably would have been able to run a much faster time on the downhill.

Well, at least things started improving which is always the hope you have in a long race and can turn into a mantra – things can get better.

That second group of women who I helped out with the photo caught up with me and we did the Hell Hill climb together. My friend Freddy was out on the trail running up and down the steep AF trail and encouraging runners. Another Anytime Runner, Nelson, was also out there doing repeats on this challenging section.

I found another walking stick and used it help me up the hill. By the time I got to the top, I started assessing my race goals. I had not studied segments or split times at all, leading up to the race.

Miles 15 to Race Finish

Once again, I took out my collapsible cup, took down a couple of servings of Coke and grabbed a handful of chips then headed out onto the Overlook trail. Shortly after that, I ran into Mauricio who I knew from Strava and social media. He was out there helping with the race. We hiked and ran together for a bit and had a good conversation on races and told me about his Leona Divide 50 mile day.

I kept taking down 2 or 3 sports beans at a time and I felt great. I told Mauricio that I was going for a personal course record. I had run the 30K a few years before somewhere around 6:25 or 6:35. I though I could beat that so we both picked up the pace. He ran ahead to join the group of women and I finally caught up on the Ray Miller downhill.

It took me a bit to finally turn on the rockets and burn passed this group and I tore down the trail. I passed a few people and was opening up my stride even after 19 miles. With about half a mile to go, a couple of 50K runners were gaining on me although I was still going at a good pace. I didn’t want to block them or slow them down in any way to I stopped to let them passed then chased after them. They put a little gap on me but I mostly hung on.

The last time I did the 30K I cramped up towards the end big time and barely finish standing up. This time I kept chasing the two 50K dudes and finished strong.

The last few feet are kind of strange in that there is a downhill but there are always a lot of people near the finish line and that kind of makes you stop before you cross the line. I was glad to see that I had beat my course PR by at least 15 minutes.

Great job by Race Director Keira on making sure the course was well marked and big thanks to all the great volunteers who helped make this a successful race, especially Tony C and Sheny and all the folks who got there crazy early for parking and to set up the aid stations.

What’s Next?

I’m signed up for the Sean O’Brien 30k which I believe is a new race. I’ve done the marathon race a couple of times so this shorter distance should be fun. I’m probably going to do Leona Divide and will probably do the 50k although part of me wants to give the 50 miler a shot. I’d have to seriously ramp up my training to nail that distance.

What about you? What’s next on your race schedule?

Finish line medal with RD Keira Henninger. Photo by Sheny Espino

Rocky Peak Redemption

I skipped a few race reports so will mention other races briefly.

I signed up for the Leona Divide 30k but was sick as a dog right before the race and had to take a DNS.

This summer I volunteered at the Cirque du Griffith Park and then ran the 6 hour race, nabbing a 17 mile run. I felt great after those miles and could have kept going.

Redemption was mine at the Bulldog 25k. Despite a rough go, I managed to zombie walk my way to a finish.

Rocky Peak 30k

Leading up to the Rocky Peak race this year, I was afraid that it would end up being like the Bulldog slow walk fest but I felt mentally strong. I was on staycation the week before and got in some miles for a nice reverse taper. Legs were still fresh though.

The day before the race I looked at my past performance on as many Strava segments on the course as possible. I also ended up creating some new ones.

I wanted to see what my best times were on sections like the start to Rocky Peak Road, from there to Chumash and  the Chumash descent. This was a really useful exercise as it reminded me that I can run well sometimes. It also gave me a realistic view of what I could expect to put out from the low side to the high.

For instance, when I looked at my splits from Las Llajas all the way back up to Chumash, I saw that my best run was twice as fast as my time in the last race. The faster activity was part of a 10-mile run I did last year with my New Basin Blues running group. Because that run was only 10 miles and it started at Las Llajas, I didn’t expect to surpass that time during the race when I would have already have an extra 7+ miles on my legs at the start of that segment.

This review of segment times also included some epic runs I did in 2014 when I had really ramped up my mileage. I felt good after going through this planning exercise and it gave me a solid range of expected times.

Download a blank template of the Race Day Planner here for free. Race-Day-Splits-Template-Segments I’ll be adding more forms to this site over time so check back!

Race Day

I got up before my 4am alarm and made my coffee and had a protein shake. I wasn’t hungry yet so just went with that. I fed the doggies, packed up the car and hit the road.

The weather report was pretty good. The fire in the nearby Porter Ranch area has stopped and the air quality wasn’t too bad. The temperature was supposed to only be in the low 80’s for the day so that was promising. The morning was crisp so I didn’t bring my arm sleeves with me.

Race check-in

When I got to the race in Simi Valley’s Corrigainville Park, it was chilly and we had to park about a half mile away from race start. That was a mini warm-up but it also meant that I would be too lazy to go all the way back to the car to drop off my race shirt.

The 50k race got started at 7am. I knew a few people doing the 50 and wished them well before they headed out.

Miles 0 to 4.5

We had kind of a small group for the race and the only people I knew in the group were ND and Patricia Devita. We got our instructions and the race was on. I settled into the back of the pack as we made our way to the first little switchbacks. By the time I got to the tunnel going under the 118 highway, there were only about 2 or 3 people behind me. I was OK with that.

I got to the Wildlife Corridor trail and made steady progress. I was a little conservative here and didn’t try to push too hard since it was early in the race. That would be a rookie mistake. I did run the few flats and little downhills though.

The climb up to Rocky Peak fire road is steep and has a lot of little false summits. Whenever it looked like I was near the top, I just said, “nope, not yet.” Eventually I finished that climb and made my way up Rocky Peak road. Once again, I ran the flats and the downhills but it is mostly one big climb. As I neared the top a couple of runners passed me and they had a nice run pace. The younger of the two would run then hike some then go back to running. It turns out they were leading the 15k race and only had another half mile or so before they turned around to head back down to the park.

The climb up Rocky Peak fire road, a view of the Simi Valley/Northridge/Porter Ranch area.

4.5 to 7

I got to the first aid station at the crossroads of Rocky Peak road and Chumash. I filled up a water bottle and grabbed a half banana and a cracker with peanut butter. (Split 1- Race start to Chumash, 4.5 miles, was around 1:30 – my second best climb ever.)

I had told myself that from that point I would try to have fun on the Chumash descent and not worry about destroying my quads. I shot down and had a blast. By the time I got down to the next aid station, I had passed 3 or 4 people and caught up to a couple more. (Split 2 – Rocky Peak to Chumash, 2.6 miles, was around 36 minutes, by best descent ever.)

I ran into Alex at the aid station and he asked if I was hydrating. I had taken down one small water bottle to that point and made sure to start chugging water as much as possible. It’s easy to get behind on hydration and on food. Even though I once again got nibbles at the aid station, I made sure to keep taking down gels.

7 to 14

This next section was going to suck. In 2017 I was already dehydrated, was zombie walking and started to know that I was either going to drop at the aid station or would time out. This year I took it a bit easy this time and settled into a hike, even on the relatively flat parts. TMI alert: I also had to use the restroom and spent a lot of time looking for a place to take a pit stop.

This next section was almost 6 miles long and had around 1,500 of climbing. During a training run with New Basin Blues I had crushed this section and ran up part of the steep climb. I didn’t try that this time but made steady progress.

At 2:30 into the race I noticed that I was half way done. Would it be possible to hold the same overall pace for the second half of the race and get a 5 hour finish? I thought that was super unlikely but kept that thought at the back of my mind.

The first flatfish part was longer than I remembered and I thought that I should have taken that part harder and pushed. I finally made it to the top and zoomed down the hill, making my way back to the Chumash aid station. This is the part where I had given up in 2017 so it felt good still being strong at this point. The only time I slowed down was when I could tell my heart rate was shooting over 175 bpm.

When I got to Chumash again more of the 50k runners were showing up. The first female, Alejandra Ruiz was just getting there. I got some snacks and was starting to feel the fatigue in my legs. There was a chair there but I knew that if I sat down it would take too long to get back up. I loaded up my Salomon Speed Bob hat with ice, sucked down some more snacks and filled up my bottles. I probably should have added some ice to my hydration pack which I had as backup but didn’t want to take the time.

14 to finish

I headed off and had a quick chat with Alejandra. I mentioned that I recognized her from one of the race photos my friend Nico’s crew had taken of her at a recent race that she had won (the Hiawatha race). I also briefly hiked with Gustavo who I think I had called “Tony” (his brother’s name) when I first saw him at the aid station. Sorry about that Gus!

My hips and glutes were starting to feel heavy so that told me that either it was cumulutive fatigue, a sign that I was dehydrated, or that I wasn’t eating enough. I couldn’t do much about the first but I made sure to nibble food and drink as much as I could on the descent. I didn’t quite feel as good as I did in a previous run where I was in the flow and felt like I was flying down the mountain but I felt pretty decent.

At this point I did a time check and saw that I had a chance at a 30k PR and possibly could get a sub 6 hour finish. That was interesting and worth pushing for. I got to work and kept jetting down the mountain.

When I got all the way down to the final switchbacks in Corrigainville Park I had started to dread the final loop which I thought would suck. We do the loop as the 50k runners had at the beginning and now I would probably slow down like crazy and miss hitting the sup 6-hour mark. I kept at it and finally got to the turnoff to do the loop but all the arrows were pointing the other direction. I was confused then the third place female got to that spot and we decided we both were ready to finish this thing and followed the arrows. We got to a fork in the road so as Yogi Berra would say, we took it. This would be a tiny loop that would send us to the finish line. I was happy as hell and started digging. I wanted the sub 6!

I crossed the line at 5:58 with a half hour 30k PR!

By this time, it was really hot and there is very little shade but I grabbed some pizza and flopped down in the dirt next to the Anytime Runners group of Sheny, Gus and Tony. It wasn’t super comfortable but it felt good to take a small rest. I would have gone for a towel to sit on but my car was like a bazillion miles away so I took off shortly after that.

Wrap-up

A big thank you to all the volunteers and organizers who were out there making the race work, from Kenneth who helped mark the entire 30k course the day before to RD Nancy, to Alex, Jennifer, Keith and Sheny and to whoever left the water jugs at the top of the mountain for us. Runners were well taken care of out there.

My next race is scheduled to be the Ray Miller 30k in early December. We’ll see if I can knock out another 30k PR!

Mission accomplished

 

 

 

Paramount Ranch Trail Race Report – 2018

I had a blast at the Paramount Ranch Trail Race at Griffith Park. I ended up here through a circuitous route. When the Ray Miller race was cancelled due to the wildfires that devastated the majority of the Santa Monica Mountains, I was left without a race for the end of the year. When the opportunity came up to run the Paramount Ranch Trail Race, I took it. Oh, by the way, the Paramount Ranch site also burned up so the race was relocated to Griffith Park.

With the wildfires, the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks and the crazy shooter at Malibu Creek State Park it’s been a tough year for many. I was healthy and partially trained up so I went for it and was glad to be able to run strong.

Race Day

Griffith Park is about 90 minutes away so I didn’t have to get out the door at too crazy a time. By 5:15 am I was off with coffee in hand. The sun rose as I made my way along the 5 freeway into Los Angeles.

When I got to the Merry Go Round parking lot I saw trail running friends who were funneling runners to the closest lot. I’ve done the parking volunteering before and those folks get up extra super early, I appreciate them!

I checked in and it was a cool morning so after that I went back to my car to switch into a long-sleeve shirt. I generally heat up fairly quickly during races but I had a feeling the day would stay cool. I was right.

I chatted with friends and noticed some of the fun costumes. One runner had on a Grinch outfit and her dog, which was sniffing me, had on reindeer ears. After the race I realized that she was an Instagram friend, Lori.

Just before race start, I noticed that some of the New Basin Blues running crew was taking photos. I went over to join them and said hi.

“Haven’t seen you in a while,” Mariela said with a smile. She is one of the New Basin Blues leaders and had a great race that day. Yup, work’s been a bit crazy and the wildfires dampened my running stoke so I haven’t made it to any team events lately.

Race day gear. I switched over to a long sleeve shirt because of the cold.

Race Director Keira Henninger started giving instructions and as we got ready to start the race, we parted to let some speedy 50K runners get through the start/finish line as they completed their first of five loops.

Because my training had tapered off once I knew the Ray Miller race had been cancelled, I figured the Half Marathon distance would be the right call today. I set a goal to finish the race in under 4 hours which was not a super lofty goal but if I got under that time I wouldn’t feel as if it was a compete sh*t show. I also had a softer goal and that was to run hard and not just cruise. I wasn’t sure what my body would allow me to put out that day but I knew I could push hard for much of a half.

Given that 5 years ago I was 40 pounds heavier, suffering from diabetes and literally could barely run to the end of a short block, I felt very grateful to make it to the start line of a half marathon healthy and ready to go.

Miles 0 to 4

When Keira gave us the go, we were off. I was towards the back but because people were bunched around the start/finish line, by the time I got a few hundred yards away I ended up mid pack. I kept cruising and felt pretty good. Sometimes I start running and feel like the Tin Man without his morning oil but today I was good and stretched out. We went onto an out and back section and saw some of the 50K runners coming back towards us. I focused on keeping my breathing steady and not going out too fast. In previous races I’ve pushed way too hard at first and ended up paying for it later on in the race.

The end of the out and back portion had a couple of people volunteering there.

“All the way to this line then turn around,” one volunteer said.

There was no real landmark there so he had dragged a turnaround line across the double track trail.

I’m usually way at the back of the pack so it was interesting to see that there were still a lot of people behind me as I made my way down the hill on the out and back. We eventually turned up and then started on the big climb of the day. This is the hill coming up from the first merry go round parking lot that is steep enough that if you go for a hike in Keds, you’re likely to slip back down the hill because it’s somewhat steep. Yeah, I was going to hike this part.

I alternated between pushing my hands on my quads like pistons on the steepest parts and then switched to standing up taller and using my arms to help me get up the hill. I’ve been working on this to keep from getting tired on steep climbs. Standing up tall with a slight forward lean helps you get in more air and reinforces the use of your larger muscles, your glutes. I also didn’t want to over tax my quads because there were also some big descents in the race and I didn’t want to overcook them early on in the race.

The climb doesn’t go all the way up the mountain so that was a welcome relief. Now we had a massive downhill portion and that was fun. I kept a nice steady pace. I wanted to save something for the second part of the race so I didn’t go balls to the wall yet.

When Keira described this new course, she mentioned that it had a little more climbing than the Paramount Ranch course but that it would be a much easier terrain because it was manicured double track fire road, no rocks and had two big descents.

Of course, because the race has two big descents that means that there are two big climbs but I appreciated the “mental framing” of saying it featured two big descents.

First big climb of the course.

Miles 5-6

I felt pretty good and wondered if I would be able to get under 1:30 for the first 10K loop. I think that was my time for last year’s Paramount Ranch race but I knew that if I ran the first loop too hard that it could slow me way down on the second loop.

The second big climb came up and I tried to push hard up the hill with a steady pace. I had already cruised past the first aid station, just waving and saying hi to the volunteers for being out there. When the second big descent came, the next aid station was there and I also continued on past them as well. The 1:30 time was looking good and I still had water left so I was good.

Keira had let us know the first loop (10K) was a bit short. I did make the 1:30 time on the first loop but my Garmin showed around 6.1 miles. I stopped at the aid station to re-fill my water bottle and down some potato chips and pb&j squares. I stuffed some chips in my pocket and headed out, still feeling good.

Miles 7-10

I headed for the out and back and this time there was only one volunteer and there was no line. I kept running past the volunteer looking for the line and he just told me to turnaround since I had already gone beyond the turnaround point.

The second time I hit the big climb it wasn’t any easier but I got through it fairly efficiently. I’m not the greatest of uphill climbers but I’ve really been working on it out on the Ray Miller trail where I can now run up a majority of the 3 mile route. I know that I can run up parts of a steep hill and I just have to mentally push and see what my muscles and breathing can do.

Nutrition check

I carried Gu gels in my one water bottle and had taken down a couple of those. I also had around 5 of the enduro bites treats that I had whipped up the night before. They are made up of a mixture of medjool dates, nuts and oats and are yummy goodness.

Enduro bites, ready to put them into the fridge for the night. These helped me get through the race. I’ll post the recipe in a future blog post.

Back to the race

On the second loop, even though I had already been running for a couple of hours, I was still getting cold on the shady section. I was glad that I had gone with the long-sleeve shirt. It also meant that I might not have been running hard enough on those sections, so that thought pushed me to run up some of those uphill sections.

Great running into Steph who was crushing the 50K race and will be tackling the AC 100 in 2019.

Miles 11-finish

A new goal started to set in my mind. I was running pretty well and knew that unless I completely blew up, I’d be just over the 3 hour mark which is only around half an hour above my road half marathon PR time.

I pushed hard on the second climb and saw Patricia Devita out there making her way up the hill. She is tough as nails at the tender age of 84 and when other runners asked if she was doing OK she said she was managing and kept powering up the hill.

At this last big downhill section Ruperto Romero zoomed by. He was on his way to win the marathon by 49 minutes. I still had some zoom left and was still running well.

I hit the section of the race by the old zoo which still has old cages. 45 years earlier I had climbed up to the Griffith Park peak from the Observatory side with my dad and was gleefully amazed to see that there was a zoo on the other side.

But then it started. Tiny shocks of lightning started throbbing in each calf. I was less than a mile from the finish line and I wanted to finish strong but I was getting close to cramping up. I checked my water bottle to pull out a mustard packet but it wasn’t there. I must have left them in my cooler in my car. With no salt pills I had to slow down some but the pulses continued.

This is where I did  something pretty gross but also maybe a bit ingenious.

I remembered previous training run tests where when I felt super sluggish I would take out a piece of hard candy and just lick it for a couple of seconds. The sluggishness would immediately start to go away. The sluggishness is often attributed to lack of energy which means you haven’t been taking in the enough or the right nutrition.

But something more devious is going on. We have a governor process in our brain that helps watch out for us by giving messages to our body to keep us from either pushing too hard, getting dehydrated, or starving. It make sure that we don’t run ourselves into the ground and die so it provides warnings. Those painful pre-cramp pulses does not mean that you are out of salt, it means that you are running low.

So, I licked my sweaty and salty hand.

I would have licked my arm but I was wearing long sleeves so I would have wasted more time fumbling around with my shirt than had I started walking. I was still running at this point. I had actually read somewhere about a person licking their arm during a race but I don’t think they mentioned if it helped.

I still felt the pulses so I found another spot and licked again then again.

Finally, the pulses stopped and with about a quarter mile to go I was hauling ass.

I crossed the finish line at 3:10:01, 50 minutes faster than I had hoped for and I still felt good.

After the race I had a chance to briefly talk with male marathon race winner/legend Ruperto and with male 50k runner winner Benjamin Atkins who has had some great races this year.

There’s an outside chance that I’ll race again this year but if not then this was a great way to close out the year. Even though I only stopped at the start/finish line for aid, all the volunteers were awesome and this was another great race event by Keira and team.

Got it done!

 

 

Boogie Nights 5k on the Beach

Had a blast at the Boogie Nights 5k run on “Pirates night,” July 11th. The race series is on Wednesday’s in the summer and we get to run along the Beach in Ventura. Pretty frogging cool.

I did a few of these races a few years back and was turning into a speed demon. Well, actually by the fourth race my knees started to feel it a bit.

Work has been crazy but there was a tiny break so I jumped into the race at the last minute.

The course goes along the Ventura promenade and into a nearby park for a loop then back up to Surfer’s Point for the last turnaround.

I had no idea how I would do and had actually run 4 hard miles in the morning – less than ideal.

It was great hanging out with the crew from Conejo Valley although now I feel like I’m tagging along with them a bunch. Is that how you make friends? Annoy friends?

I warmed up a bit and felt OK. My quads were a little tight so I didn’t warm up too much.

At race start I went out at a “don’t embarrass yourself by walking” run pace. It felt sustainable and I didn’t fret too much about the pace. I checked a couple of times and I was around an 11-minutes per mile. I was OK with this given I hadn’t been doing any speed work.

Once we got into the camp area of the park I slowed down and people passed me and I passed a couple. A young woman passed me and I liked her pace so I hung on for about a mile.

After finishing that little loop there’s a straightaway that has a little incline which is tough if you’ve been burning it hot. I had been maintaining so it wasn’t too bad and my legs didn’t feel like lead yet.

There’s a tiny incline just heading towards the pier but then it leads to a small downhill and another woman and I had been leapfrogging a bit. I wanted to turn to her and say “It’s time to hurt!” But I kept the comment to myself then picked up the pace.

My legs responded!

I caught up to the young woman that I had been pacing off for a while and I kept picking up the pace. Next thing I knew I was at the pier and feeling good so I went for another gear. By the time I got back to the start line I knew that I could keep pushing. I saw some of the Conejo Valley ladies heading for the finish and cheered them on. I heard the announcer call the time and knew one friend was seconds away from hitting a PR.

Once you pass near the start/ finish line you still have to head up another quarter mile of so to the Surfer’s Point turnaround. I kept looking and finding a faster gear. At the turnaround I found a few people ahead of me and I gained on them and passed them up. There was one more person and I was practically sprinting down the last bit to catch her just before the finish line.

I crossed the finish line at 34:47 which is about 6 minutes faster than my 5k PR which was set when I was doing only road running.

Besides hanging out a bit with the crew and taking down a beer my favorite part of the race was running the last mile split the fastest. But now I wonder if I could have run the first two miles faster and still have had some gas in the tank for a strong finish. We’ll have to see at the next race!