Glendora Ridge Run

This post is only a week late, but it was kind of an interesting run and I wanted to share it. This is the run I ran last Saturday, March 3. Joe took note of my pace (12:15) for the run and commented on it. This is just a little slower than I usually run. The followings will help explain that.

Tuesday of that week I had put in a run up on the Santa Fe Dam Bike Trail. It was a particularly breezy day so the skies were crisp and clear. Although the foothills and mountains are visible during the entire run, around the 2 mile mark heading NE, I had a really great view of the foothills above Glendora, the city just north of my own. Because of the clear skies and the angle of the sunset I could clearly make out a road along the ridge of the first set of foothills. Curiosity got me and I remembered by commitment to run more trails up in those hills.

That night I determined that the road was the Glendora Ridge Motorway. It is a dirt road, closed to traffic that traverses the ridge of the foothills. From the map it looked like the road took off in Azusa (the city just west of Glendora) and headed along the ridge ultimately meeting up with Glendora Mountain Road (GMR to the locals), a paved road, also closed to traffic and a popular destination for road bikers. So I mapped out the route with gmaps-pedometer. The plan was to follow Glendora Ridge from end to end, about 5 miles, tack on another 2.5 up GMR and back for 15.

Saturday morning I drove over my predetermined starting point only to be met by a 12 foot high chain link fence with No Trespassing Private Property signs. Fortunately I had a Plan B. Unfortunately, it included running up the Garcia Trail to get to Glendora Ridge. I found parking just as described on the link and headed up the trail. According to the site Garcia Trail climbs 1,040 feet in 1.2 miles. It took me 20:31 to get up the trail. I was forced to take a few walking breaks. This new starting place also threw off my route. I wasn't completely sure at what point the Ridge Motorway met Garcia. I was rewarded with some great views of the valley below.

I decided to head west back toward the original gate on Glendora Ridge. I eventually came upon a sign again warning of private property. Later I determined that I had gone 1.2 miles west. By this time I had nearly descended back down to the elevation I had started. I turned back, uphill to Garcia and continued on my original goal of completing the Motorway. The trail climbed for over 2 miles and then gently rolled along the ridge. It took me 1:10 to get to GMR about 7.25 miles. GMR was a slow steady climb for about 2 miles and then a slow steady descent back to the Glendora Ridge Motorway. It took me 23 minutes to go up and 19 come down.

Along the way I had come across deer twice. I tried to take photos but I couldn't get very close. This shot shows 3 of the deer and the trail along the ridge. The trip back down the Motor way and then down Garcia took 1:03. Down Garcia was pretty difficult. It is definitely single track and steep. The trail hugs the hills with a steep drop off on my right as I descended. Downhill is not my strong suit by any means so at the top steepest part there was more walking than anything and some pretty easy trotting the rest of the way. My final running time was 3:16. Afterward I plotted it all out on gmaps and came up with about 16.25 miles. (I plotted up Garcia, the out and back going west and just the out going east). This is the kind of run that really makes me wish for a Garmin or Polar, some kind of GPS so I would know how far I'd gone rather than guessing and trying to map it out later. How about a Father's Day, Birthday, Anniversary, Christmas gift? Are you reading, dear?

So climbing up from 840 ft to 1880, back down to around 1100 and eventually up to 3033 and back to 840 put me at a 12:15 pace. It has been awhile since I've run trail for that distance. I did enjoy myself immensely. The next few days, my quads and my times for the rest of the week were effected by the run. The only other people I saw were on or at the summit of Garcia, one guy hiking on the Motorway and 20 or so road bikers on GMA. I'm glad the Glendora Ridge Motorway revealed itself to me while running on my old familiar "dam" route.

Eugene Training - Week 9

Sunday, March 4, 2007 the 22nd running of the City of Los Angeles Marathon and the 13th Acura L.A. Bike Tour.

Bryan and I got up at 4:00 a.m. I was happy that I didn't get much argument from Bryan. He, like is mother, is NOT a morning person. We were on our way a few minutes after my planned departure time of 4:30. I had put the bikes on the back of the car the night before and our bottles were filled and in the refrigerator ready to go.

The contrast on the freeway was incredible. We had driven down the the Convention Center on Saturday with the usual crowded freeways. On Sunday morning we had our pick of lanes and speeds. The start of the bike tour was the Los Angeles Coliseum, home of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics. I heard the other day that LA is considering a bid for the 2016 Olympics too. Just after were made the connection to the 110 freeway from the 10 we were stopped by a half mile long line of cars, all with bikes. There are two off ramps for the Coliseum. Rather than sit in the line for the first ramp, I made the decision to take the next one, MLK Blvd. As soon as I passed the point of no return on the freeway we saw a sign saying "next exit closed". Now I would have to take the following exit, turn around and come back. This would add time I hadn't really planned into the schedule. Fortunately the road crew was just in the process of coning off the lane and I was one of the last people to get to exit at MLK. MLK would be closed as it was the beginning of the bike tour and mile 15 of the marathon.

We found parking easily and unloaded. At first Bryan was cold, but I think it was mostly nerves. I did wear my gloves but I might have been OK without. We both had on tights, shorts, a long sleeve shirt and our bike tour t's. Bryan told me at home that no one better mention that we matched, although it was originally his idea to do so. We lined up about 5:40 in a line that extended at least 1/4 in front of us and eventually that far behind as well.

After a fire works show over the Coliseum the tour began at 6:00. The crowd caused us to walk our bike basically to within feet of the starting line. And then we were off to the sounds of Randy Newman's "I Love LA", just like the marathon.

The crowds were pretty thick early on, much like in a marathon, except that finding a space and passing was complicated by the piece of equipment we were rolling down the street. Bryan was a little more fearless about weaving. I had cautioned him against doing so reckless for fear of causing crashes. We were able to hang together about 2 miles, although Bryan was obviously holding back. On the first little down hill he took advantage of the smoothness of his road bike and before I knew it he was out of my sight. From the back everyone wearing t-shirts with the word Acura printed on it all look the same. I was certain that he would go ahead but I'm not sure it would be this soon.

I enjoyed the ride from the perspective of a runner. I thought about the turns, the sights and the general downhill and longed to be running. Before the 6th St bridge I saw my first serious casualty of the race. The biker was down and being attended to by EMT's. The had a neck brace on the guy and there was a lot of blood on the ground. Prior to that I had seen a couple of little pile ups but nothing too severe, with the early crowds the pace was too slow to cause any real damage to bike or human. This was obviously a different story.

The other side of the bridge was a nice long downhill. I knew Bryan would be flying down that hill. This is when I started worrying about my son. At the bottom of the hill I witnessed another crash involving 3 people. They seemed to be shaken but not hurt. I pulled over a little later to check my cell phone. No call from Bryan so I had to assume he was OK. A few miles later I saw another pretty serious chain reaction crash. Bikes and limbs were flying every direction. At that point my worry level for Bryan went crazy. I thought this isn't any fun. I'm worried that he could be involved in one of these crashes due to his excitement over going fast and his inexperience in riding in crowds.

For some reason the saying "no guts, no glory" came to mind. I decided I would rather keep my guts, skin and bones in tact and rode on conservatively, checking the phone once or twice more. Finally while I was approaching mile 18 my phone rang. It was Bryan. He was back at the Coliseum, finished, elated and in one piece. He had ridden 20 miles in about 1:30. By the time he called me he had already picked up his medal, had some gatorade, some snacks and called his Mom. I got the the finish line about 20 minutes later. Within a few hundred feet of the finish we passed another down biker. The paramedics were performing CPR. I heard later on the news he had suffered a heart attack and died. It wasn't the best way to end a race.

Bryan had a great time, so did I really. We loaded up the bikes and were out of the Coliseum just about the time the marathon started at Universal City 14 miles away. We made it home by 9:00 and watched the local coverage of the race on TV. It was quite the finish.

Bryan is looking for other rides to do. I think he's found something he really enjoys. We talked about my marathon schedule and how I wouldn't be able to ride with him a lot for the next two months. He was willing to for me to drop in off at the trail and he'd go. "It's not like you can keep up with me anyway!" he said.

Later today, I was feeling pretty tired and took an unplanned nap. Later my stomach was feeling queasy, so I opted out of today's run. So that makes the third consecutive week that I've fallen short of my six day per week plan. The rest of the week went down like this:

Miles for the week: 41

M: Rest
T: 6 miles, 49:59 (8:20 pace)
W: 6 miles, 51:45 (8:38 pace)
H: 7 miles, 1:03:22 (9:03 pace), Fartleks 1-2-3-2-1
F: 6 miles, 50:20 (8:23 pace)
S: ~16 miles, 3:16 (12:15 pace)
S: 0 miles

I'll have to tell you about Saturday's run another time. It's late and I'm beat.

Steal Shamelessly

I work for a small division of a huge corporate entity based in Minnesota. Our previous chairman/CEO was a huge advocate of Six Sigma. All most everyone throughout the organization went through what is known as green belt training. One of hallmarks of the six sigma methodology is that everyone across the corporation would be using the same tools and language to make continuous improvements and most importantly to share holders, cut cost. One motto of the training was "steal shamelessly", not in the unethical, criminal sense but in the sense of why reinvent the wheel. There was a huge corporate database that tracked all the projects. We were encouraged to search the database for projects similar to ours and to replicate and use the best practices.

Running blogs are a huge database of training ideas and techniques. Rather than learning everything the hard way we can learn from others what works, or not, races to try, routes to take, and training plans for every distance just to name a few. You name it we write and read about it daily.

Today was my planned speed work day. At spend at least part of my lunch hour most days reading a blog or two before heating up the days leftovers or frozen lunch. I read Steven's approach to speed work this week. He ran fartleks in some pretty tough conditions. As much as I "love" going to the track I decided to steal shamelessly and give the fartleks a try today. To replicate Steven's run, I planned on doing the 1-2-3-2-1 minute speed session, but separated with 3 minutes of slower running, which is closer to what I would get during a 400 meter at the track.

I wanted to figure out a fairly straight out and back 8 miler. When I got home from work, I spent about 2 minutes mapping out a route on gmaps pedometer. My route started out on the equestrian trail on Puente, left up the hill on Via Verde the left again down Raging Waters Drive. That made a 6 mile round trip so I quickly added some more on the end of the run with the gmaps. The warm up included getting all the way up the hill. I set my watch for one minute intervals and off I went. The fartleks went pretty well and were actually kind of fun. I had to double back on Raging Waters to get the last 1 minute speed in before I headed back down the hill and on to the extra add on to get me to 8 miles. My heart was sure beating in my throat and the 3 minutes seemed to last an eternity.

When I got back to the car my watch read 1:03. I was shocked. I had taken the 1.5 warm up pretty easy and it had included the hill. This meant a sub 8 pace. That just didn't seem right. After getting home, having dinner and showering, I sat back down at the computer and checked out the route I'd done before I left. I then realized that my add on was only 1/2 mile out and 1/2 back. My run was only 7 miles not 8. The new pace of 9:03 was in line with the way I felt. Other than the speedy 9 minutes, I had taken the run easy, even walking for a bit after each speed segment.

All in all it was a more enjoyable way to get in some speed and my Six Sigma coach should be happy that I learned at least something. Steal shamelessly and have some fun.

February 2007 Numbers

So far this week, Monday was a planned rest day. Tuesday and Wednesday had 6 scheduled. Tuesday I shut down the computer at 5:02, changed and drove over to the dam by 5:22. I was able to get the 6 miles done by the last little traces of daylight. It won't be long before I'll be able to get home, changed and over to Bonelli for some midweek runs before the sun sets. Am I excited about that, you bet I am. Wednesday I made it home and back out the door by 6:08. There was still just a little bit of daylight left when I got started.

These past two days have been on the chilly and windy side. While I can't exactly say that the winds are howling and biting, this is SoCal after all, but the weather was a little less hospitable than usual. So true to the old adage about March; "in like a lion, out like a lamb", it looks like we'll be getting the lion this year. I remember that saying from growing up in OH where it seemed to ring fairly true. Here in Covina, I think March will come in more like a mad alley cat than a lion, oh well.

My legs are definitely still feeling the effects of last weekend's 20 mile - 8K combo. I've got speed work scheduled for tomorrow. At this point I'm not expecting too much with the way the legs feel, but I'm set to go give it a try.

Because I'm a slave to the numbers, here's how February ended: 184 miles in 21 days of running. This is slightly higher than last month and not bad considering the shorter month and that I took 2 extra unplanned days off.

Eugene Training - Week 8

Friday ended up being a rest day after all. The only really good time to get the run in would have been in the morning. That meant getting up early and getting it done before work. It is a rare occasion when I do that.

For Saturday's 20 miler I was pretty much on my own. The Cruisers were all running short due to a race on Sunday. I headed down to Huntington Beach for a run along the bike path. The motto for the day was - Cruise Control. My only goal was to finish the 20 miles feeling strong and with some gas in the tank.

The run actually starts about a mile northeast of the beach. The training program from the Fountain Valley Snail's Pace running store has marked the mileage from there. The parking lots and bike paths at the extreme south end of the the beach were slurry coated sometime last fall so the first mile mark is at 4. My time at that point was 36:14. This put me smack dab in the middle of McMillan's long run pace. I hovered between 8:45 and 9:00 miles for the next 7 miles. On the way back I ended up clocking two miles at 8:15. My last four miles came in at 34:47, faster than the first four. Mission accomplished. I finished the 20 feeling strong. None of the dreaded 20 mile slow down on this run. I actually very slightly negatively split the run without trying, 1:29 out, 1:27 back, for a total time of 2:56.

I had a couple of reasons for wanting to take this run at a stress free pace. The first was that I had signed up for that same race that all the other Cruisers were running on Sunday, the Brea 8K. I ran this race last year at a pretty conservative pace. I was fairly certain I could better my time of 39:38. With the 20 miler on my legs I wasn't really sure what I would be capable of. The McMillan running calculator predicted a 35:30 time for an 8K. All the paces are based on the goal of a 3:30 marathon.

At the starting line I ran into this guy, Sam, who I run a few other races with. The first race I remember him, I beat him. At the Jingle Bob he was the second male, I was the third. At that point I really didn't give him much thought. Whereas last year I had no idea what to expect on the course, this year I knew exactly what I was in for. This course is pretty much rolling the entire 8K.

Mile 1 has its share of ups and downs. We started out heading west, circled the Civic Center and ended up passing the starting line heading east. I hadn't seen Sam since the horn sounded and hadn't really expected to. I finished Mile 1 in 7:32. I was pretty happy with that.

Mile 2 had a slow climb up Birch. I clocked 7:42. I was still OK with that, all things considered.

Mile 3 we turned left on Associated, and then another slow climb up Country Hills Rd, followed by a left onto Kraemer which includes the real uphill of the course, significant enough that it is marked on the course map as "up hill". Just after cresting the hill and turning left on Lambert, I hit the 3 mile mark in 7:51. From this point on the course was mostly downhill, with a really nice downhill back down Associated to Birch, so the 7:51 didn't completely demoralize me.

Mile 4 was at the corner as we turned right back to onto Birch and I missed it. Last year this mile came in at 7:22. I was pretty confident that I had at least gotten that his year.

Just around the corner, I came upon Sam. He was walking and obviously struggling. No big deal, I just kept running my race. Sam ended up running again and passed me. Soon he was coughing and breathing really heavily and had stopped to walk again. I just kept chugging along. It was then that I thought we've got a little challenge going here, I knew he had seen me go by. I ran the next half mile and had turned the 2nd to the last corner to the finish line when I heard really heavy breathing coming closer and closer. I picked up the pace on the home stretch. The breathing kept getting closer as did the pounding of shoes. I picked up the pace as much as I could. I was sure that Sam was hot on my tail. I don't think I've ever kicked as hard at the end. Sam passed me with about 5 feet before the finish line. At least I had made him fight for the win. It was a fun little adrenaline rush to end the race that way. My time for the last 1.97 miles was 14:11 for a 7:12 pace.

The unofficial finish time was 37:16 for a 7:30 pace overall and a pretty significant improvement at the 8K distance.

The rest of the weekend was filled with bike riding with Bryan. He is very into training for the bike tour next weekend. I guess I might be able to consider these sessions as reverse interrupted mini (RIM) bricks. Saturday after 20 in the morning, Bryan and I rode 9 in the afternoon. Sunday after the 8K in the morning, we rode 16 in the afternoon. So although I didn't hit my running mileage number for the week, I think I put in some pretty significant efforts combined.

Miles for the week: 44

M: Rest
T: 5 miles, Speedwork
W: 6 miles, 53:12 (8:52 pace)
H: 8 miles, 1:04 (8:04 pace)
F: Extra Rest Day
S: 20 miles, 2:56 (8:49 pace) and 9 miles bike
S: 5 miles, 37:16 (7:30 pace) and 16 miles bike

Stubborn Streak

I derive a lot of inspiration from reading others peoples trials and adventures in running. At least two of my runs so far this week were made a little better thinking about some of you. After the frustrating week I had last week, the feedback was pretty unanimously in favor of more rest. I decided that this week I was just going to concentrate on the miles and not worry about the time. Does this sound more than a little bit familiar to anyone? I'm beginning to sound like a broken record even to myself.

Tuesday I headed on over to the track. Bryan joined me. He wanted to run some laps as well as part of his training for the bike tour in less than 2 weeks. David is my current inspiration for speed work. He busted out 12-400's this week. Man oh man, I'd be thrilled with 6 or 8. But now I have a goal. The old track had just gotten a fresh layer of new dirt. It was nice and soft but pretty rutted up due to the rain on Monday. I was forced into what is probably lane 3 to avoid the worst of it. I put in a 400, 800, 600, 800, 400, and one last 400. The 600 was supposed to be an 800 but I pulled up short with a side stitch. I don't remember having a side stitch since running as a kid. All my times are about 5 to 8 seconds slower than the McMillan calculator.

Wednesday I headed out for 6 miles. I fell into a very comfortable pace that I felt I could keep up for a long time. The main goal was just to stay relaxed, not pushed or hurried or stressed over speed. My final pace was nearing 9:00 and I felt refreshed afterward.

Before heading off to bed last night I mapped out an 8 mile route beginning at our church. My plan was to put in the miles right after the meeting, stop at home to shower and head into work a little late. When I got up, I started thinking about how it has been staying light until nearly 6:00 p.m. When I leave the meeting I get to work early so I decided push the run to the afternoon, leave work a little early and take advantage of the longer days. Only one obstacle lay in my way. The forecast called for rain. I don't pay much attention to the forecast, but at 4:00 the rain began. I was initially bummed and wished I had run in the morning. It wasn't raining then. But then I thought about Steven. He has commented often on his blog that if you won't run in the rain, then in his area, Oregon, you'll miss a lot of runs. I decided that if he and Mike could run in the cold rain in Oregon, I could run in the relatively balmy 60's in what we call rain.

I was out the door at work 4:45 and off to the Santa Fe River Trail at the dam for 8, in the rain. I had at least packed my baseball cap to keep the rain off my glasses. I pulled into the lot and lo and behold I was the only car there. I headed on up on top of the dam, fell into a groove and rain be damned. Luckily the weather was just showers, no winds or lightning. I was just one solitary guy out enjoying the weather. By mile 3 I was about as wet as I was going to get. You guys know what can happen running in a wet shirt. I've suffered through this before and bloody, sore nipples are no laughing matter. As a preemptive strike, I flipped the shirt up over my head. I'm usually too self conscious for this but I wasn't likely going to be seeing anybody else in the next 5 miles (I didn't) and any possible embarrassment on my part or theirs would be worth not suffering the dreaded rawness. Running bare skinned in the rain is not such a bad thing. I felt downright primal and the best part is I'm sitting here now pain free.

The pace for the romp in the rain, 8 miles in 1:04:32, 8:04 miles per minute. Where that came from I can't quite figure out. I was just out for a easy run and got rewarded with a near 8:00 pace and it felt easy. Last weekend I couldn't keep up an 8:00 pace for more than a few feet without feeling as though I was going to die. Running is such an unknowable thing sometimes.

I've been chasing a mileage goal for a while and this was supposed to be the week to get there. But with the extra biking I'll be doing with Bryan and the 20 miler on Saturday, taking Friday off is probably the prudent and wise thing to do. Thanks for the advice and the inspiration and hopefully we'll all keep learning something together.

A Boy and A Bike

Once upon a time a Dad and his son handed out water to marathoners of all ages, sizes, abilities, speeds and levels of committment. The Dad and his son had a wonderful day at the 2006 City of Los Angeles Marathon at the Mile 25 aid station, in March of that year.

The day started bright and early, nearly 30 minutes before the official start time of 8:30 and nearly 2 hours before even the fastest runner would get to Mile 25. So early that the Acura LA Bike Tour riders were still on the course. The son thought that was the coolest thing and vowed to do the ride next year.

The Dad had run the marathon in the two previous years and determined never to run it again. The father had already checked off California from his list of states. LA was the Dad's least favorite course. Then in a move the Dad hadn't expected, the powers that be changed the course for 2007. Oh, the dilema! Would the Dad run the new route or ride the Bike Tour with the son?

There were two perfectly good mountain bikes in the garage at the house where the Dad and son lived. One bike, a hot little red number, fit the Dad perfectly. The other bike, a heavy blue and white model, was far too small for the son. The heavy blue and white bike was purchased years before for the boy's older brother. Both boys now being full grown and exceeding their father in both height and weight had outgrown this little blue and white bike.

The boy's mother had the notion that a new bike could be purchased for $200 or less. The boy's mother doesn't know much about bikes. A week and a day before today the boy's family was enjoying lunch at a shopping center in which a bike shop was also located. The father wanted to show the mother just how much bikes really cost so decided to take the family into the bike shop. The mother was shocked to see the stickers on the shiny new bikes.

As is likely to happen when one enters a sales establishment to peruse the goods, one leaves with said goods. The boy became the proud owner of a brand spanking new KHS Flite 300 road bike. The Flite is an entry level bike and although the Dad is not very knowledgable about bike specs, the bike was within the price range the Dad was willing to pay and was able to convince the Mom that it was really a reasonable price for a shiny new bike.

The bike is a beautiful color of blue, darker than robins egg, lighter than navy. The boy was exceedingly happy and proud of his new bike. The Dad took the boy over to Bonelli that very afternoon for a little spin on the new bike. The Dad rode his red hot mountain bike. In the past the Dad always led the way when the son rode the old heavy, too small bike. Now the son was unstoppable. The Dad could not keep up with the boy no matter how hard he pedaled. What a difference the right equipement can make. The pair rode for 8 miles around the park. The boy said, "that was so much easier than the old bike!"

The pair took another spin two days ago, again in Bonelli between preparing the lasagna and the arrival of the guests. The Dad had run 15 miles that morning as well. Again the boy was thrilled with the new bike. The following day the pair headed over the the Santa Fe Dam Bike Trial to cover the same 15 miles the Dad had run the day before. The boy rode farther, with less effort, not complaining and with nothing but enjoyment. The Dad was left behind by about half a mile while the boy flew down the trail.

Tonight the price was paid for the entry to ride the traffic free streets of Los Angeles on March 4, 2007. The boy is very happy. The Dad wants a shiny new bike too. (He secretly doesn't like trailing that far behind the boy.) The Dad is happy too, riding with the boy is a very good thing.

And that good and faithful readers, is the story of a boy and a bike.

Eugene Training - Week 7

The week in which Darrell finally has a meltdown.

Upon returning from PA for the New Year's family vacation the first week of January, I began my new 6 day a week training program for the Eugene Marathon. I had tried this last summer for St. George and made it 3.5 weeks before my hip pain rearranged my schedule for me. After having taken the end of 2006 relatively easy I was ready to go again. From the beginning of Week 2 on January 8, I haven't missed a run, although I did cut one short by a mile. My weekly mileage has increased every week since week 1, from 30.2-36-38.4-40-42-47. This week was scheduled as the second half of another 10 days in a row and an cut back week. I judiciously swapped my day off from Friday to Wednesday (Valentine's Day, remember that?), giving me an 8 day streak instead. It had rained again early in the week so I had "saved" speed work till Thursday. But...

Thursday when I got home I was just spent; mentally, emotionally and physically. It wasn't just the thought of speed work either. My energy level had been lagging for a while, my legs were like lead and people around me have been pissing me off all too easily lately. I guess I should say I've been reacting to people negatively (my fault, not theirs). I was also increasingly frustrated with nothing but 6 mile runs mid week. Other training plans I've used have mixed distances up a little. Bottom line - I took Thursday night off and after 5.5 weeks of near perfect schedule I put a big fat goose egg in my log.

Ever since I discovered running I've loved it. I really like the marathon distance. I like knowing that pretty much on any given day I could cover the distance. What I'm not enjoying is the work required to get to a faster time goal. At least recently, that goal has sucked the joy out of running. What little God given ability I have has gotten me this far and now it just seems like work trying to get to the next level. I guess it should feel like work, but I'm not sure I have the mental or even physical capacity to get there.

Earlier in the week my runs hadn't really gone that badly. Friday evening, I tried to take it easy knowing I had a 15 miler on the schedule for the next morning. I was going to try to give the "last 4 miles at MP" thing another try. I had already planned this and Phil suggested using the medium long runs as a good place to insert this bit of training. My planned route for the day was the Santa Fe Dam Bike Path. From where I normally park at Mile 30 to the terminus of the bike trail at mile 37.5 makes a perfect out and back 15 miler.

The day was clear, sunny and warm. I got started about 8:00. I fell into a pace that I thought was easily sustainable and would still leave something for the end of the run, hovering just above 8:30 pace. I hit the half way point at 1:05; 8:40 pace overall. I could tell that the trip back was going to be a struggle. I was already running low on umphh. I had plenty of fluids with me and took half a gel at 9 and 12 miles.

At the 11 mile mark I picked up the pace to attempt my 8:00 miles and only made it a couple of steps before I decided that maybe I'd give it a try at the 12 mile mark. At 12, I walked for a minute to finish off the gel and still didn't have the energy to speed up. At mile 13 I didn't even give it a try. I was moving along at a somewhat faster pace but it was obvious to me that I wasn't going to be going very much faster for very long. That mile was my fastest since Mile 6. For the last mile I gave it one last shot at MP. I made it maybe the 100 yards before I was reduced to a walk. I thought to myself, "this shouldn't be this hard", but it was. One positive note from the run was my final time of 2:10:48. I had nearly even splits. So although I wasn't able to pick up the pace, I hadn't slowed down either.

All in all, I'm not sure I'm cut out for a 6 day a week training cycle. I definitely crave some variety in distances as well. Next week looks a little better on that front with 2-6's and 2-5's. It also has the added bonus of an 8 miler midweek. The first 20 miler on Saturday should be an interesting experience based on recent history. I'll deal with that next weekend.

The week by the numbers: 37 miles (43 scheduled)

M: 6 miles, 49:04 (8:11 pace)
T: 6 miles, 51:03 (8:31 pace)
W: Rest
H: Mental health day
F: 6 miles, 51:10 (8:32 pace)
S: 15 miles, 2:10:48 (8:43 pace)
S: 4 miles, 36:45 (9:11 pace)

Other notable happenings during the week were having my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for dinner on Valentines Day. I grilled steak. I made lasagna (my MIL's recipe) for 12 friends on Saturday night. We played Pictionary, Battle of the Sexes. The guys won once, the girls won once. During Saturday's long run I was passed by over 100 bikers and saw at least 3 pelotons of 20 or more people. I love the sound of all those bikes going by. A lone bike pulled up next to me at mile 12 and stopped. It turned out to be the marketing brand manager for the project I'm on at work. Even that 10 minute chat break (off the clock of course) wasn't enough to improve the last 3 miles of the run.

I still owe you the story of the boy and the bike. Sorry, it was a tough and busy week. Let's just say it has a happy ending. I'll try to get to it this week.

Eugene Training - Week 6

Like a kid!

I snuck my run in on Friday by taking a half day vacation. I'm very lucky to have a large vacation balance. I stopped off at the Santa Fe Dam before going home. My intent was to keep the pace up, but not as crazy as Thursday's. I could feel the effect on my legs already from that effort. I was able to put in the 6 miles in 49:13. I took the rest of the afternoon as a chance to get the checkbook updated. Now that's some fun use of vacation time!

Saturday morning I was scheduled to meet the CA Cruiser at Rio Java for a jaunt along the Santa Ana River Bike Path. Our group was me, Dorothy, Renee, Kathleen and two of their friends. Dorothy was fresh from her 3rd place AG finish at the Pacific Shoreline Marathon last weekend. John was missing as he had arthroscopic surgery on a torn meniscus in this knee on Thursday after having also run Pacific Shoreline. He is supposed to be out for 6 to 8 weeks, but being a doctor himself, I'm not sure he'll be the most compliant patient. Pacific Shoreline was his 110th marathon.

After having a couple of hard efforts the last couple of days I decided to enjoy an easy start to Saturday's long run and ran with the "girls" for the first three miles. Our pace was nearing 12:00 per mile. I would have made it 4 with them except for having to stop at the bathroom. The girls turned back at that point.

On my own, I dropped down to around 9:00. I ended up having to stop twice more during this run for bowel related issues. I'm not sure what the exact problem was but I was able to run comfortably after the final stop. My route took me east along the trail for 5 miles and back, then west for 4 miles and back for a total of 18. This is the first loooong run of 5 for Eugene. There are 2-20's and 2-22's yet to come.

During the week I had thought about trying to run the last 4 miles at marathon pace, or 8:00 miles. This is something I was borrowing from Jeff. I completely forgot about doing it when I was out there running until I only had one mile left. I tried to kick up the pace, but soon realized that this was probably not the best mile to do so as there are a couple of little whoopty dos in this mile. I probably let that get to me too much, besides my legs were definitely feeling Thursday and Friday's efforts. My pace had stayed steady for the last 15 miles but there was not speeding up to be had. Mile 18 was faster than 17 but just in line with the rest of the run.

The final time for the run was 2:52:39, an overall pace of 9:35, which is just on the upper limit of my recommended long run pace. The pace for the 15 on my own was 9:12.

And finally the kid part. Sunday's forecast called for rain. My schedule called for 5 miles, so you know where I was headed; B-O-N-E-L-L-I. The rain was going to make it all the more fun. I awoke Sunday morning to the sound of rain. I was a happy camper. I made breakfast for the family as usual and planned my run for immediately after church. It was still raining nicely when we walked into church, but by the time we walked out the sky was clearing. I pulled out the 500 mile shoes I had worn at Tecumseh and Otter Creek. I wasn't ready to christen the newer ones. So although I didn't get wet, I did have plenty of mud to play in on the trails. There's something about running in the mud that brings out the kid in me.

Miles for the week: 47

M: Rest
T: 6 miles, speed with 3x400 and 2x800
W: 6 miles, 57:29 (9:35 pace)
H: 6 miles, 45:32 (7:35 pace)
F: 6 miles, 49:13 (8:12 pace)
S: 18 miles, 2:52:39 (9:35 pace)
S: 5 miles, 50:12 (10:02 pace)

I've got a story about a boy and bike, I'll tell you next time.

Pickin' Up the Pace

I’m going to try to keep this short. It seems like my last few posts have gotten much longer than intended.

Monday: Rest day (2 in a row, woohoo! After juggling last week a little to make room for Twin Peaks.)

Tuesday: Track day. I actually went there willingly and looking forward to it. My first 400 was 1:40, my best time since starting these 4 weeks ago. I followed that with 2x800 and then 2x400. My longest track session to date, but it pales in comparison to David’s 8x800.

Wednesday: I put in an easy 6 miler, 57:29, 9:35 pace. I felt very relaxed until I calculated my final pace. I worried that I was getting too used to this slower pace. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time lately in the 9:00 plus time frame. If I’m going to hit my goal of a sub 3:30 marathon I need to spend some more time at 8:00 pace.

That brings us to today, Thursday. I had 6 on the schedule again and decided that I was going to kick it in gear and see if I could get reasonably close to 8:00 miles. I chose a straight out and back route down a long street with a wide bicycle lane. I took off considerably faster than the pace of late and was able to keep it up, even picking up speed as I continued. I would slow a little at the lights to catch my breath and then ramp it right back up again. I finished the 6 miles in 45:32, a smoking 7:35 pace. I’m not sure how much longer I could keep that up, but it sure felt good while it lasted. It felt really good to know that I’m not “stuck” at 9:00 plus. Does this count as a tempo run?

310 words, short enough?

Eugene Training - Week 5

Another week in the bag. It turned out well, I think. I made it to the track, I got in all my runs and my new shoes came in the mail. On Saturday I finished up my week with a 13 mile run. I stayed close to home.

Nearly all the Cruisers were running in one of the races associated with the Pacific Shoreline Marathon, thus no scheduled run on Saturday. I woke up on my own around 7:30 and just hung around the house, lingering over my oatmeal and banana, waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit. By 10:00 when I finally got myself going it was nearing 70°F, another absolutely beautiful day. I headed over to Bonelli for a leisurely 13 miles. I ran my perimeter loop and doubled back for most of my 5 mile loop as well.

I was greeted by a family out for a hike at about mile 5 after reaching the top of one of the longest climbs in Bonelli. The wife was carrying a baby in a backpack and the dad was keeping his eye on a couple of 3 or 4 year old boys. The wife commented to me that they had watched me run up the hill and jokingly thought to themselves "show off", at least I think she was joking. We talked about how nice the day was. They asked me how far I was going. When I told them 13, the Dad said, "Well that explains the shirt then." I was wearing my new Marathon Maniacs singlet for the first time. I guess to a lot of people anyone running 13 miles is a bit of a maniac. I came across some horse riders who actually pulled over to let me pass. I thought that was funny. It turned out to be a really enjoyable run, with no major issues and I felt great when I was finished. 13 miles in 2:12; 10:10 pace was OK with me for a laid back run in Bonelli.

Miles for the week: 42

M: 6 miles, 54:49
T: 6 miles, 50:32
W: 6 miles, 55:11
H: 5 miles, with 3x400 & 1x800
F: 6 miles, 53:31
S: 13 miles, 2:12
S: Rest

Rest, yeah right! Well I didn't run but I'm not sure it was really a rest day. I volunteered at what may be the most blogged about race ever, the inaugural Twin Peaks Ultramarathon. My official duties were at the Holy Jim aid station at mile 27 of the 50 mile course. The day was a veritable who's who of Southern California blogging, with a little Tuscon thrown in. I knew a lot of people were going to be there but I wasn't sure who I'd actually get to meet. I signed in at 8:30 which was earlier than required but really quite late considering Jessica and Angie among others had been there since something crazy like 4:30 or something. Soon after checking in, I ran into Anne (Run-DMZ).

I still can't quite get over that "Hey, I know you!" feeling the first time I meet a blogger in person. I always instantly feel comfortable with them and as though we have a connection even though we've never met. That feeling was repeated several times that day. I didn't get to chat long with Anne before I had to leave the starting area to report to Holy Jim, about a 30 minute drive away.

We arrived about 45 minutes before the first runners came through. Carol and I, a new trail runner from Santa Monica, got the food set up and mixed up the electrolyte drink. Heiko manned the radio. While we were setting up a truck pulled up and I hear someone say, "I hear Darrell's around here somewhere." I turned around to find Angie (onepinkfuzzy). I got a big hug and just marveled at what a little dynamo she is. She was having a blast driving all over those mountains delivering water and supplies. She dropped us some more water and was off to her next stop. Carol and I were joined later by Patti, Sarah and Linda.

It wasn't long before the lead runners came into the aid station around 10:30. They had been on the course for about 4:30 when they reached us at about 27 miles. These two had run more than a marathon over some pretty tough terrain and looked as fresh as two guys out for a 10 mile training run. The each had a drop bag and were pretty much self sufficient. One guy was Dean Dobberteen, who's name I had seen at other trail races. The other guy turned out to be the eventual winner David Goggins. I didn't find this out until I got back to the finish hours later. Dave has an awesome reputation as well if you care to Google him.

The runners came through one or two at a time for the next 4 hours, 48 of them in all. Greg came through in a group of about 6 runners. He was just grinning from ear to ear and having the time of his life. His energy level is pretty infectious. The other runners with him were obviously having fun as well. A little while later, Mike came through. I had run with Greg and Mike on this trail back in November. Mike changed his shoes, filled up his bottles and off he went. The next thing I know he was back at the aid station. He had decided to call it quits with foot issues.

Another runner, Mike Kennedy, got to the aid station just as his sister in law and three nieces pulled up. It was quite a coincidence and had to have brightened "Uncle Mike's" day to see all the familiar faces. His brother, Tom, was out there walking the course.

One guy came through near the end that had never run 50 miles before. In fact he had never run a marathon before. He does run 10 miles with his dog. He had seen the race announcements and decided that it sounded like a good idea. He was in his 50's and looked pretty healthy. He seemed to be in pretty good condition for just having run 27 miles for the first time. He did say he wasn't sure he would ever to this again. I wish I had gotten his name to know how his race turned out.

Tom, the walking brother, finally made it to the aid station after 11 hours on the trail. He was the last one through. He looked fine and said that he felt good and was really enjoying himself. Unfortunately he ultimately DNF'd.

Before Tom got to us, Nattie (accounts of madness) came in. It had been quite a while since anyone had come through so I decided to walk back up the trail to see if I could meet Nattie. I didn't get very far before she was there. She of course greeted me with that big Nattie smile. She walked in but went about getting resupplied and was on her way. She seemed a little disoriented to me, but determined to go on. Later, just before I finally left the finish line I heard that she had passed the Santiago Peak aid station just before 6:00 p.m. which meant she still had 15 miles to go. I wondered for the rest of the night and most of today how she had fared. I know now (the official results are up) that she DNF'd. I will be interested to read her story of the day.

After the last runner came through, we packed up everything in Patty's SUV and headed back to the finish line. I unloaded the drop bags for the first finishers along with all the leftover food and supplies. I found Jessica and asked her about Matt (igotblistersonmyblisters). He was running the 50K so didn't go through my aid station. He is the one SoCal blogger I hadn't had a chance to meet and I was hoping I wouldn't miss my chance. Jessica wasn't sure if he had finished yet. I did some miscellaneous stuff that needed to be done and had just decided to walk up the trail to see if I could meet up with Matt on the way down. Just before I did, I hear Jess call out my name and there was Matt. It turns out he had been finished for awhile and was napping on the picnic table the entire time I was there. What a pleasure it was to meet Matt. He and I chatted for probably nearly an hour. He's a very unassuming, genuine guy. I love Jeff's description of him. I'm hoping to meet Matt again at a couple of races we are both planning on doing, Malibu Creek and the Great Race of Agoura. Matt has a great story about how this race almost didn't happen for him, I'll let him tell it if he chooses to. After having met him, I think it personifies him completely.

With all those meet ups, I didn't get a chance to catch up with Jeff or to meet Kim or Ashley. But on a rest day, I had a great day out there supporting the 50 mile runners and meeting some old friends. Maybe next year, I'll work up the nerve to try the 50K. By all accounts Twin Peaks is a great race. So what are you doing next year on SuperBowl Sunday?

Weirdness

I was tagged by Bob back on Tuesday. Ever since then I've been trying to figure out just exactly to respond to this particular tag. Bob has threatened Mafia hit men so I'd better figure it out soon. And just why is this so hard? I'm supposed to list 6 weird things about myself. I always considered myself pretty a middle of the road, go with the flow, status quo, don't rock the boat kind of guy. What could there possibly be weird about me. I'm sure I could poll the people around me, but I'm not really sure I want to know. So here goes:

1. The fact that I agonized over a "6 Weird Things about You" tag, makes me weird.

2. My kids think its weird that when I was a kid I carried my lunch to school in a brown paper bag. I wasn't really that weird in the 70's, except that I had to use the same bag for a week. Everyday I would fold it neatly and carry it around for the rest of the day in my back pocket.

3. In grade school we had to use measure different body parts to use as estimations of length in some math exercise we were doing. It turns out my ear is 3 inches long. I still use that as a point of reference.

4. In my closet all my shirts are hung facing to the left. When I wash them I hang them back up on the right end of the rod and I when I'm getting dressed in the morning I almost always chose a shirt from the left end of the rod. This assures that every shirt goes through the rotation the same number of times. Same thing with my underwear. Its stack in the drawer, the just washed stuff goes on top and I pull from the bottom of the stack every morning.

5. When I was a kid I had a lot of dreams in which I was able to float up into the air. Or alternately I dreamed that certain body parts, say one leg or arm, swelled up supernaturally.

6. I love to do the laundry. I like to watch the clothes go round and round in the washer and dryer. We just got those new high efficiency machines from LG. I could stand there for hours watching them.

OK, tag fulfilled. I'm sure there's even weirder stuff, some too weird to share here, and probably some so weird I won't even admit it to myself.

Busted

I spend a good portion of my drive time home thinking about the run I will be doing when I get there. I already know the mileage to cover, I just have to decide what route I want to take. Today was no different.

Friday was a planned rest day, but because of my weekend plans I was considering moving the rest day to Sunday. I was even thinking of taking today off as well. I mentioned last week that Thursday is my long day. By the end of the day I'm tired. A day off sounded like not such a bad idea. I was thinking about my training in January. I've had a pretty good month. My mileage came in at 162.6, not the highest ever but right up there in the top 5. I had completed 3 weeks of 6 day/week runs and was well on my way through the fourth week. I had run 26 of 31 days, an 84% completion rate. I'd even added track workouts back into the mix.

I had been talking to my wife on the cell on the way home and we talked some more when I got home. All of a sudden she said, "I know why you don't feel like running today. It's track day!" Ah, she knows me well. I had put the track off on Tuesday due to the rain. I had no real excuse today. I was shamed into getting out there and over to the track by my non-running wife.

So I got ready to go but I had already decided that if the first 400 sucked, I would give it one more and then if it still sucked I would call it a day. Not exactly the best attitude going in but...

I made it over to the track after a 2 mile warm up. I hit the starting line and off I went. The first 400 came in at 1:43:54, not exactly stellar, but it didn't totally suck so I held my ground at the track. The second 400 came in at 1:41:77. Dang it all, it still didn't suck. I guess I was in for the long haul.

During my recovering lap I entertained the idea of going for an 800. It must be that elusive runner's high. How else do you explain going from "I think I'll take a day off" to "Let's try an 800." The 800 felt better than I expected it to. I got it done in 3:34:05 and didn't fall on my face at the end. My target pace for 800's is 3:18 to 3:27. I've still got some work to do but I was closer to the target than I expected I'd be. I ended the session with one last 400 at 1:42:40. All in all, not such a sucky effort after all.

I did only get in a total of 5 miles, when the schedule called for 6, but 5 is better than a DNS. Thanks! for busting me Dear .

Just in case you hadn't seen this comment way at the bottom of my last post, I'm reposting this from my wife: "...thank you Bloggers for the get well wishes. I am feeling much better now, thanks to the prayers and good thoughts sent my way."

Another One Bites the Dust

I don't know if anyone noticed the comments or not, but this is pretty exciting stuff. At least for me, the Dad. My son Tyler, the culinary student, started a blog of his own. And why did he start a blog? He has decided to come on over to the dark side and he's beginning the Couch to 5K program on coolrunning.com. I'm pretty psyched for him. This is something that he decided to do on his own and so far he seems to have taken real ownership of it. I'm so glad that he has taken an interest in his health. I look forward to the day I came cheer him on at the finish line of his 5K. In addition to that we got a letter the other day from his school to let us know that he made the Honor Roll for his first quarter at culinary school. Needless to say we are very proud of him. Stop by, check on his progress, and give Tyler some blogger love.

On the running front, the big news is that I need new shoes. I usually like to have three pair in rotation. On Christmas Eve I retired a pair of Brooks Trance. I began scanning the Internet for some replacements but I couldn't come across any Trance in my size or at a reasonable price. I'm just not ready yet to spent three figures on a pair of shoes. Last Saturday another pair of Trance hit the magic 500 mile mark and ended up in the pile in the garage. Those shoes got me through all 4 marathons I ran in 2006.

This stack represents about 4500 miles. There are 7 pairs of Brooks Trance, a pair of New Balance 765 and a pair of Saucony Grid Omni's in there. I think I've kept all but maybe the first two pairs of shoes I ever had. Finally Sunday night I came across a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6 at a reasonable price. They will put me back to two pairs, both Adrenalines. I need (want) to have three so I think I will look for a pair of trail shoes to round out the current rotation. I would ideally like to already have another pair of something stashed in the closet as replacement for the current GTS 6 that are over 200 miles themselves. I've got some shopping to do.

The other big news today is that it rained. Today being Tuesday, is speed work day. The track I run on is in pretty sad condition. I was afraid that with the rain the track would be a real mess. So I opted to postpone the speed work until later in the week. Hey, I don't have to try very hard to find an excuse for getting out of speed work. Instead I did a tempo run. I ran out and back on a three miles course. The first mile or so I took it easy and then accelerated up to a decent pace. It was a hard effort but an effort I could sustain. I kept at it for the last 5 miles and ended up with an 8:25 pace overall and 7:59 for the back 3 miles. Although I felt as though I was running significantly harder than the night before which was an easy effort run, my pace was only about 30 seconds a mile faster. McMillan suggests 7:17 to 7:36 for tempo runs. I'm terrible at judging pace. I need to slow down my pace on recovery days and speed it up on the tempo days. Practice makes perfect, but a set of calibrated legs and lungs would be nice.

Eugene Training - Week 4

One of the unfortunate byproducts of my ramped up marathon schedule is the return of the "pain in the butt". My left piriformis muscle and/or sciatic are acting up again in full force. This happened last year when I tried to ramp up to 6 day weeks and got a little better with 2 days off, lower mileage and visits to a chiropractor for adjustments and massages. Although it never completely went away it was greatly diminished in intensity. It felt the best in December on less than 100 miles that month. Having now run four complete 6 day weeks the pain is back and gets worse each week. The pain is most intense while seated, especially while driving. The computer chair at home is none too comfortable but I don't seem to notice the pain much at work although I spend a lot of time at my desk.

Friday I saw the chiropractor. Initially things felt quite good, but now 2 days later the pain is back. I am thankful that it doesn't really bother me while running, I'm sure it has to have an effect on stride and form and thus an effect on pace. While running surely increases the irritation, a complete back away from running is nearly an impossibility for me to mentally stomach. So, probably to my own detriment long term, I continue to run.

Saturday I got to do something both new and familiar. Familiar in that I finally met up with the CA Cruisers after having scheduling conflicts since the Saturday before Christmas. New in that we met at Tagge's Gym at the corner of Wabash and Prospect for a loop trail I hadn't been on before. The planned loop is a 3 mile trail around a new upscale neighborhood in the northern hills of Yorba Linda. One of the runners knew of a grove of Coastal Redwoods that had been planted in 1975 near there so we took a detour to see them. After the Redwoods the trail continues on and many of the plants are identified along the route. We ended up to my surprise at Carbon Canyon Park which is really a nice park but more importantly it is the back way into the wonderful trails of Chino Hills State Park. I ran a variety of paces that day as I would switch between the lead group and the trailing group to make sure I knew where to go and to keep them on track as well. The loop ended up measuring 6 miles. Because of the frequent stops and starts I messed up my watch and don't have an accurate time. Dr. John, Cathe and I continued south on Prospect and joined the equestrian trail system in Yorba Linda for some additional miles. I was looking to do 15. Dr. John and Cathe turned back after 3 miles. I continued on alone for another mile and a half and turned around as well. I missed a turn on the way back and ended up with 15.4 miles for the day. I was definitely having a struggle for the last couple of miles but I had stupidly forgotten my Fuel Belt on this run. My last couple of 13-15 milers I've consumed 28 ounces of fluids and today I had none. I drank a lot once I got back to the car and took some Ibuprofen at home and was able to fend off my usual dehydration headache.

Sunday I headed over to Bonelli and ran the loop along the west side of the park. It is trails for about 2.5 miles then roads back to the car. The schedule called for 4 miles. When I checked the mileage back at home I realized I was short at 3.6 miles. I thought my 32:58 time was awfully fast for a 4 mile trail run. At 3.6 miles the pace was 9:10 about what I would expect on that particular mix of trail and road. I felt pretty strong once I hit the road section and kept the pace on the high side for a nice finish to the week.

The extra wrong turn mileage from Saturday and the short course on Sunday evened themselves out quite nicely and I was able to reach my weekly goal of 40 miles. For next week, all the midweek runs increase to 6 miles so I will spend some time this evening mapping new routes from my house. My usual 6 mile routes are in Bonelli or at the Dam neither of which I can do after work until Daylight Savings Time kicks in, so the streets of my neighborhood will have to suffice for now. Next weeks day off is Friday again followed by two running days and then Monday off. I will be looking forward to that.

My wife is recovering fairly well. She was able to go to church this morning and then after an hour or so rest at home she felt strong enough to go out for lunch; Italian. Tyler is home for the weekend so both boys joined us as well. She's napping now. I will wake her for dinner in the next hour or so.

Total miles for the week: 40

M: 5 miles, 48:02
T: 5 miles with 4x400
W: 6 miles, Hills, 1:01
H: 5 miles, 42:27
F: Rest
S: 15.4 miles, operator/watch malfunction
S: 3.6 miles, Hills, 32:58

Ten Days

I really did it. Ten consecutive days running and my legs didn’t fall off. There have been a couple of challenges along the way, but I determined to do it and did.

Thursdays are my longest day of the week. I start out the day with a men’s meeting at church at 5:30 a.m. For the record that’s earlier than I even get out of bed the rest of the week. After that I came home, picked up the HS junior and took him to school. Its finals week, so traffic is at it absolute worst. Then it was off to the office to put the finishing touches on a presentation for management on Friday on our big project.

But first we had a ‘state of the business’ address and our general manager announced his retirement. His replacement was announced, a guy from corporate. Our current GM is highly regarded and a man a great integrity, but its probably time for a change. Anyway I find out midway in preparing my presentation that the new GM will be at our meeting tomorrow. No big deal you say, except that our project is about the biggest thing going at the moment and I have the dubious distinction of being the very first presenter. No added stress there. Me, setting the tone and making the first impression for the team, imagine that. I ended up staying till after 6:00 to finalize the thing and then ran an errand for my wife. I got home and normally I would get my run in first before dinner got started. My wife is out of commission at the moment (a little about that later) so it was up to me to get dinner on the table tonight. As an added stressor, the HS dude that lives at the other end of the house won’t start homework until after dinner. So I opted to cook first, its finals week remember and he needs all the study time he can get. Dinner – grilled chicken over pasta with raspberry vinaigrette was on the table and on its way to the stomach just before 8:00 p.m.

I had run nine days so far and figured I still had 4 good hours to get my tenth run in; a 5 miler at an easy pace. I updated the checkbook, read some blogs and then feeling a whole lot like Wes I walked out the door at 9:23 p.m. It was a nice 54°F, a cloudless sky with a half moon in the west. My legs felt surprisingly fresh. I hummed along at a moderate pace along a route I’ve dubbed the Bonnie Cove 5. It is a route I’ve been running quite a bit lately. I needed to come up with a shorter name for my written log rather than listing all the streets on the loop. Bonnie Cove is unique to this loop so the name stuck. I thought it had a better ring to it than Gladstone 5 or Lyman 5. The final time was 42:27 for an 8:29 pace. That’s not too bad I think for 10 day old legs. Tomorrow, Friday, will be a rest day and I am going to enjoy it immensely.

The rest of the week went like this: Monday, Day #7, I did the Bonnie Cove 5 at an easy 9:36 pace as a recovery from Sunday’s speedy long run. Tuesday, Day #8, I reluctantly dragged myself over to the track and did a repeat of last weeks 4 x 400. My times were: 1:43, 1:45, 1:41 and 1:41, in that order. I was shocked (and happy) that I finished the last one faster than the first. It was really hard to stay motivated to do those laps.

Wednesday, Day #9, I was on vacation. My wife was having a procedure done as an outpatient. I needed and wanted to be there with her. We had discussed my run and decided that while she was in recovery would be the best time to get out. So once the doc came to tell me that everything went smoothly I headed over to Bonelli for 6 miles in the sun at 77°. It was so nice to be back there. I hadn’t made it over there since Christmas day, nearly 4 weeks ago. Of course as things work out, we waited forever in the morning before she was called into surgery, the surgery itself took longer than planned but the one thing that went quickly was her recovery. She was awake and alert and wondering just where the heck I was for longer than a person who just came out of surgery wants to wait to see a familiar face. After I got back and apologized another hour went by before she was discharged. I got her back home around 5:00 and she was able to eat a light dinner. She slept most of today but was able to enjoy dinner with us tonight. She’ll be off again tomorrow and hopefully back up to full speed on Monday morning.

Now its late, it has been a long day, so I’m off to bed.

Eugene Training - Week 3

“Life is bigger than running, but it's better with running.” – Mike

Week 3 went off pretty much without a hitch. I got myself over to the track to do some 400’s on Tuesday. That was a confidence booster to be able to do them ever so slightly faster than this same time last year. Wednesday nights run was pretty unremarkable. I tried hard to keep the effort on the easy side and did OK with a 9:02 pace.

Thursday, I was in San Diego for the second time in less than a week. This time I was visiting a doc in the evaluation. I was on my feet, in dress shoes no less, for about 4 hours. I could feel the residual effects of Tuesday’s track session in my quads. Traffic was bad so I spent another six hours behind the wheel of a stick shift. That evening the weather had warmed up a bit from the “cold” we had been experiencing. I was able to jump out the door at 6:30 without the slightest hesitation. I usually hem and haw a little when the temps are on the cool side. I felt really good on this run. The conditions were just about perfect running weather. I felt neither too hot nor too cold. It was somewhere in the low 60’s. I had worn a long sleeve, but a short sleeve would have been just fine. I resorted to a tactic I used last year when I was all anxious about my training time. I left the watch at home. That allows me to get my run in and saves me all the mental anguish over the clock.

I left work a little early on Friday and was able to get in my 4 mile run over on the equestrian trail in Via Verde. It was nice to get out and back before sunset during the week.

Saturday I attended all day training (thus the early departure on Friday) for our sales representative. The training was in Huntington Beach. Three of the docs I had visited for the evaluation were speaking. It was a good chance to catch up with them and to rub shoulders with the reps. The reps are invaluable in getting doctor cooperation in evaluating new products. Part of my job involves trouble shooting and the reps are often the ones that call in. It is always nice to put a face with the name. I of course packed up my running stuff so I could hit the beach board walk bike path at the end of the day. We didn’t finish up until nearly 6:00 p.m. so I flip flopped my work out for the second weekend in a row and ran 5 miles in 41:51. Needless to say I was quite pleased with this pace. It was sort of eerie to be running that path in the dark. I actually saw about 6 other guys out there running in the dark too.

I resorted to running my 13 miler in the afternoon on Sunday rather than first thing in the morning. My goal this week was to do the long run at an 8:30 pace. Sunday afternoon was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless day. It was one of those days I like to call a Rose Parade Day. During the Rose Parade the rest of the country, usually in the middle of some wonderfully cold winter weather, gets to see a glimpse of our winter weather and decide to add to the population explosion. Today was one of those days. I checked the temp when I left. It was only 60°. Does anyone else not get why 60 and sunny feels so much warmer than 60 and dark. Isn’t 60, 60 no matter what?

I headed over to the Santa Fe Dam Bike Trail in a sleeveless. Hey, it’s never too early to start working on that tan. Anyway back to the run. The one thing I don’t like about the dam is that right off the bat you have to climb up on top of the thing, 70 feet in the first quarter of a mile. Admittedly it is a little hill but, right from the get go, without a chance to warm up at all, it is always a little bit of a chore. The first mile clocked at 8:56 and seemed about right. Mile 2 came in at 8:07. This was quite a bit faster than I was planning, but I felt good so I kept on going. Mile 3 was 8:07 too. Mile 4 was 8:10. During mile 5 my legs were beginning to feel this effort. I began to think that maybe at mile 5 I would take a walk break to intentionally slow things down a little. When I hit the Mile 5 marker in 7:51, you bet I took a walk break.

Mile 6 was at 8:41 including the walking. After that I ended up with three more sub 8:00 minute miles. I guess I was just in a groove and decided not to fight it. I took two more walk breaks after miles 9 and 11. My final time was 1:47:17, 8:15 pace overall. I calculated my pace without the initial mile and the three walk break miles and ended up at 8:01. Whoa, what a difference from this same route 2 weeks ago at 1:56 and a huge difference from last weekend’s 9:26 pace. I don’t really understand how this happens, but I’ll just go with it. I am happy to report that although I felt like I was working harder than last week; it wasn’t out of my reach.

There has been one interesting little twist in the schedule. I thought I had 2 days off for the next two weeks. I misread the schedule. I still run 6 days a week but for some reason the day off is Friday rather than Monday. Friday actually fits the rest of my life better, but this means that I will be running 10 days straight between week 3 and 4. I’ve never tried this before, should be interesting.

Total miles: 38.4

M: Rest
T: 5.4 miles with 4x400
W: 6 mile, 54:11
H: 5 miles, no watch
F: 4 miles, 35:05
S: 5 miles, 41:51
S: 13 miles, 1:47

I've already run more miles in the first three weeks of January than I did the whole month of December.

Just to Prove It To Myself

Last post I was lamenting my lack of speed. I've been in this place before. Last week I promised ex-Ohioan, Neese, that I would get back to the track this week after reading about her track session. I avoid speed work, especially at the track, even though most programs call for it and I realize the benefits of some form of speed or another.

I went back and checked my log and found out that I started track work last year at the end of January with 4 x 400's in 1:44, 1:48, 1:51, and 1:49. I committed to getting back to it. On Joe's advice I checked out the Macmillan Pace Calculator. I punched in my goal time to see my paces for different training runs. Macmillan suggested 1:34.6 to 1:40.0 for 400's. I wasn't sure I could meet that, but it gave me something to shoot for. The other good thing I found was suggested paces for long runs at 8:31 to 9:31. That made me feel better about Sunday's run.

So Tuesday, I got home from work, changed and walked out the front door intent on putting in a mile of speed at the track. After nearly a 2 mile warm up, I got to the track and started off my first 400. 1:42:01. That didn't seem so bad. A recovery lap then off for #2. 1:43:63. OK, I could still do this. Recovery lap, then #3. 1:45:13. Slowing down a bit, but I expected that. One more recovery one then the 4th and last 400. 1:42:70. Then I ran home feeling a whole lot better about my speed.

400's probably aren't a very reliable predictor of marathon speed, but now I know that I can do at least the minimum speed and do it at a pace slightly faster than last year. I will work some tempo pace runs into the mix and go from there.

On the 10:00 news they just said that it snowed today in Malibu. It hasn't snowed there in 24 years. Running in Malibu Creek State Park would have been an experience today.

Eugene Training - Week 2

I'm not sure I'll continue with this title throughout the next 15 weeks or so, but it'll work today.

I got serious (sort of) with the program this week and did all six days of training and the mileage called for each day. The major issue I've got, and only I can fix it, is the lack of speed. I started off the week on Tuesday with a 5 miler at 8:32 pace, followed by another one on Wednesday at 8:18. Those were numbers that I could live with. Thursday I headed over to the equestrian trail for 4 miles and was shocked to see my 8:54 pace. I felt faster than that. To get Friday's run in I had to get up and go before work (something I rarely do). My legs were pretty heavy and I clocked a whopping 9:05 pace. See a trend here.

Saturday is usually long run day, but we had some other obligations to take care of and there was a chance of meeting up with Planet3rry in San Diego for a little jog. It appears that he had flight delays, so we weren't able to meet up. I went over to Mission Bay and ran for 27 minutes and called it 3 miles. I could figure it out with gmaps pedometer, but don't really see the need.

After the run, I picked up my oldest son and we had a great dinner together in Little Italy on the northwest side of downtown San Diego. He has taken up walking lately and has been doing it in his skater shoes. His shins have been giving him a bad time of it. He went to a running store and was a little overwhelmed and didn't really have the funds to buy the shoes anyway. I got him a pair of Brooks Beasts on ebay this evening, as recommended at the store. He said they felt the best of the shoes he tried on. From what little knowledge I have on shoes, they seem to be a good choice for him. He broke his ankle when he was 10 or so and that foot is smaller and shaped differently. Oddly the other leg is giving him the most trouble. Perhaps it is over compensating.

Sunday meant long run day. I opted to run in the afternoon. We are in the middle of the coldest snap so far this winter. Like most places we have had a very mild one so far. It was 80° on Monday, while today the highs were in the mid 50's with overnight lows in the 30's. Nothing like going from summer to winter in the span of a week. Our poor furnace ran off and on overnight just to keep the house at 62°. Normally it doesn't run at all after midnight until it cranks up to 68 about an hour before I get out of bed. So rather than run in 30-40 degree weather, I opted for the midday 50's. The sky was clear and there was a light breeze. I ran Brian's Loop, a 15 mile loop through Philips Ranch, Walnut, Diamond Bar and Chino Hills. There are 6 nice hills along this route. I felt good in the sun, and was a little chilled in the shade. I kept a nice relaxed pace and felt really good the entire way. I don't run this route often, so I don't have very good mileage milestones. I went through 21 ounces of 50/50 Gatorade Endurance/water mixture and 1 GU (compliments of my younger son from Christmas).

The 15 miles took me 2:21:35 or an unbelievable 9:26 pace. No wonder I felt good the whole way. 9:26 pace puts me back at 4:00 plus marathon time. That freaks me out. I guess it is still early in the training cycle, but I have a huge doubt and fear in my head. And while I know that it is not all bad to take the long runs slow, I also know that long slow runs lead to long slow marathons, at least for me. At the moment I'm at a loss to figure out exactly how I'm supposed to get my legs moving at sub 8:00 pace. I obviously have a lot of work to do. Errrr.

Total mileage for the week was 36. Next week calls for another 6 day week and 38 miles (hopefully some of them faster!!).

M: Rest
T: 5 miles, 42:40
W: 5 miles, 41:29
H: 4 miles, 35:36
F: 4 miles, 36:20
S: 3 miles, 26:54 (ran by time, not distance)
S: 15 miles, 2:21:35

Identity Crisis

Never mind the age old debate over vegetable or fruit; this is one conflicted box of produce.

Another Fifty Stater

I left work today at 5:15 for the first time in a long time and was happily surprised to see that it was not pitch dark outside. A later sunset will make runs at the dam right after work an option again. This is good because I was just trying to decide where I would do my 5 mile runs. Even after over three years of running I don't have a convenient 5 mile route out my front door, except for Bonelli which I can't do until sunset is delayed even more.

Seeing the longer days reminded me of something my wife told me the other day about Daylight Savings Time. Is anyone else as excited as I am about this news? I'm sure there is some subset of the population that thinks it is some kind of conspiracy or sign of the end times, but I'm thrilled about more DST.

On my way home from the dam on Saturday I heard a song on the radio (KROQ) that was kind of simple and melodic. Afterward the DJ (on air personality) said that the artist was attempting to make an album for each of the 50 states. I didn't catch the name. I Googled "50 states albums" and found Sufjan Stephens. (as as aside; isn't it funny that the word "googled" can be understood as a verb?) I wonder what would be harder, 50 albums or 50 marathons. Personally I think the marathons would be easier. I read some of the online reviews and it seems that people either love or hate his music. Click here for a listen to the song I heard. I can relate to the lyric "I made a lot of mistakes, in my mind."

Today is my rest day from running, but one little running tidbit:
When I filled out my log last night my lifetime total was 5105.5. I figured out I've run from my home in California to my parent's home in Ohio and back and I'm almost through Utah on my second trip to Ohio. That just seems crazy.

To OC or not To OC

Friday evening I was able to take a good look at my plan for Eugene. I am giving the NYRR plan a try again; the plan that calls for running 6 days a week. It is an 18 week program, but starting on January 1st gives me 17 weeks. I cut Week 1 out in 2006 and adjusted Week 2 with the trip to PA.

The plan called for 13 miles on Saturday. I already knew that I wouldn’t be running with the Cruisers as they had only an easy 3 planned since several Cruisers were running the OC Marathon on Sunday. I realized that there was a half marathon option at OC. I fell asleep Friday night pondering my options.

The adventurous side said, “Go run the OC Half. If you are going to run 13 miles anyway you might as well get a t-shirt and a medal.” The rational boring side said, “Save the $60 bucks and go run somewhere else. Besides do you really need another t-shirt?”

Apparently the rational side won out because I went over to the Santa Fe Dam and ran the bike trail. The skies were clear after yesterday’s wind storms and luckily the winds had died down. The temperature was 45°F at 8:30. Anything below 50 always has me second guessing; long sleeves or short, one layer or two. The forecast called for 60° by 10:00 so I opted for short sleeves. I had decided that I was going to keep the pace easy as I eased back into serious marathon training. As I ran along at 9:00 pace I felt comfortable, but in the back of my mind I knew that eventually I was going to have to step up the effort to get to my BQ. I’ve been in slow and easy mode since October. I’m afraid that it may take an act of Congress to get me moving faster again. I guess recognition is the first step. I finished up the 13 miles in 1:56 (8:58 pace).

As I headed north along the bike path I had great clear views of the San Gabriel Mountains and it reminded me of my mid-year resolution to explore the trails up there. This is the perfect time of the year to do so.

Sunday morning I stuck to my intention to run the mountains instead of Bonelli. The plan only called for 3 miles but I was a little light already. Also if I was driving potentially 20-30 minutes to a trail putting in only 3 miles seemed a waste of the effort. I opted for 5. I considered trying Monrovia Canyon. This was recommended by a coworker and it is close to my office. My second thought and final choice was Claremont Hills Wilderness Park. It is about 20 minutes east of my house. It is a straight forward loop, up Cobal Canyon on one side to the summit and back down the other side on Burbank. The “trail” is a wide fire road and a 5 mile round trip. Claremont Hills is way more popular than Bonelli. Even at 3:30 in the afternoon I shared the trail with between 20-30 people. In Bonelli I may see 1 or 2, but more often zero. This was a nice nostalgic run for me though. The last, and only, time I ran this loop was with my first running bud, Brian, before he went off to dental school in August 2004.

It was a fun run but I guess I really didn’t fulfill my resolution to explore “new” trails in the mountains. The Monrovia Canyon trail is about 3 miles and if I stick to the schedule as written it will fit nicely on next Sunday.

I finished up the week with 30.2 miles, just shy of the 33 planned. I only ran 4 days rather than planned 6. The next two weeks will be 6 day weeks with 36 and 38 miles. The mid week runs are at 4 and 5 miles for now. The two weeks after that cut back to 5 days. I’m hoping that the piriformis will respond well to the increased mileage.
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To answer Juls: Yes, Bryan “with a y” is our 16 year old son who loved PA. Brian “with an i” as mentioned above and on My Maps was my first running partner.

2006 Recap

Miles for December: 96.4

This month includes 2 marathons and is still my 2nd lowest month in 2006. I made a conscious effort to keep the miles low through the end of the year before ramping up in 2007.

2006 represents my third complete year of running and my first full year of blogging. I've "met" a whole bunch of great people through the blog. Those I've met in person have proven to be top notch people. I look forward to meeting more of you.

I can recap the year in these two graphs: my monthly and weekly totals for the year. January was a short month due to my trip to India, but then I got right back into it getting ready for SEAFAIR. With some motivation from more experienced runners I tried to increase my weekly mileage to 50 average from about 35 during the buildup to SEAFAIR. I never got there but I was rewarded with my highest mileage month during May with 181.3. June represents the three week taper and July is the recovery. In August I switched schedules to a 6 day a week program topping out at 50 mpw. August, at 182.5 topped May by just over a mile. September would have been even higher but, I only made it through 3 weeks of the 6 day per week schedule before my left piriformis revolted. It has responded somewhat to chiropractic therapy as well as the decline in mileage since September. Thankfully is doesn't bother me much while running.


This view shows the weekly totals. The little orange diamonds represent marathons. My attempted mileage increase shows up clearly in August with a decline to pre-SEAFAIR levels after that. I purposely kept my mileage low after St. George to help the piriformis and because I had no real time goal for Tecumseh in December.

My total mileage for 2006 was an all time high of 1629, a nearly 12% increase over 2005. My average weekly mileage in 2005 was 28.0 while 2006 was 34.6. I would like to get that closer to 40 in 2007. I definitely saw an improvement in marathon times with increased mileage.

High points of 2006:
1. Breaking 4 hours at the SEAFAIR Marathon.
2. Starting and finishing SEAFAIR with Rob, although I never saw him for 26 miles.
3. Setting a 3:40 PR at the St. George Marathon.
4. Running along side both Sam Thompson and Dean Karnazes in SEAFAIR and St. George respectively.
5. Training runs with Jeff.
6. Meeting other southern California runner/bloggers: Jessica, Nattie, Greg.
7. Planning and running the Tecumseh Trail Marathon with Joe.
8. Adding Otter Creek to the schedule 1 week after Tecumseh.
9. Qualifying for the Marathon Maniacs (#440 - Thank you).

I had one marathon planned for 2006 - SEAFAIR, with one more possible based on lottery results - St. George. The two trail marathons can accurately be ascribed to serendipity. They were a blast and although my times were slow after coming off the PR, I would consider more trail marathons in the future. I nearly doubled my state total, not to mention changing the blog title four times, in 2006.

2006 was a pretty darn good year in terms of running. I look forward to what 2007 has in store.

The Last Four Days in PA

I hate when this happens. I had detailed descriptions of the last four days of our vacation and blogger threw it all out. So now I'm going to put the abridged version in print, which is probably better anyway.

Monday, New Year's Day we watched the Rose Parade and then went bowling. We enjoyed escarole and bean soup, know as manaste and beans for dinner. This is wonderful Italian comfort food I only get when I visit my in-laws.

Tuesday I worked in the morning visiting a PA orthodontist that is part of the customer evaluation. My wife and son and I enjoyed lunch and a visit at S&S Grilling in New Holland. S&S is owned by my cousin Jackie, my Uncle Chuck and Jackie's son Scott is the chef. Scott went to culinary school. S&S Grilling started as a traveling outfit winning many awards for pulled pork, brisket and other bbq's meat. They opened the restaurant a little over a year ago. Their tag line is "We're not fancy, we're family". Very good food. Stop in if you ever find yourself in southeastern PA. Tell them Darrell sent you. Dinner Tuesday, was more Italian comfort food - sausage and peppers.

Wednesday we went to the huge Cabela's in Hamburg, PA followed by lunch at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant. I was able to get in a 5.4 mile run into downtown Annville and used the facilities at the Heilman Fitness Center at Lebanon Valley College. Dinner Wednesday was at The Batdorf Restaurant in downtown Annville, a southwestern place owned by the Rotunda brothers of Italian/Mexican heritage.

Thursday I made it over to Cornwall for a 6.8 mile run on the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail, a very nice cinder trail through the woods, yet still within eye or earshot of civilization. Although it was in mid 30's when I ran in the late morning the temps got up into the mid 60's in the afternoon.

Bryan fell in love with PA, much like he did OH this spring. He enjoys the open spaces, fewer people and the darkness and quiet at night. He talked constantly of moving there after high school. I'm not so sure that he just might do it. Although I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere I'm not sure I share Bryan's desire to be in PA full time. The risks associated with relocation are far greater at my age than at his. We all encouraged him to follow his dream. I know his grandparents would be thrilled to have him nearby. The peace and solitude of the country seems to suit him. For now we are back in CA, a place I initially found very foreign compared to my hometown in OH, but a place I have now grown comfortable in. I hope Bryan can find that place for himself as well.