Running Addict

Perfect running weather + Absurdly downhill track = Personal Record.

1:24:23 at Fontana*. The asterisk is for downhill aided.

Sorry for the lack of posting. It’s not for the lack of running. I’ve maintained a solid 20-25 mile a week base over the last month, with a long run or two thrown in.

Tomorrow is Fontana, half marathon #6 for me on the year. Fontana bills itself as the World’s Fastest Half Marathon Course. I can attest to the validity of this statement, as two years ago I ran a blazing 1:25 half there. That’s a full 13 minutes better than my flat course PR. I hope to break 1:30 again tomorrow.

Fontana is in what is known as the “Inland Empire,” the extended LA metro area just before you get to the deserts of Palm Springs. It can get hot in the Inland Empire. Tomorrow looks almost perfect for running though. Overcast and in the 60s with a slight chance of rain. It could be slick going down the hills, but that is fun, right!

Was home today and finally got out of the door at 2pm. Weather was perfect and it was obvious to me that I needed to go long. About a half mile in I decided I would run a half marathon.

This was sketchy at best. I had 16 oz of fluids and a package of Clif blocks. It was warm.

I was actually cruising pretty good for the first half of the run. I ran alongside the W&OD Trail - all crushed stone and dirt goodness. At one point I might have been averaging 7:39.

I turned around after 6.7 miles and headed back. Immediately I felt very heavy and slow. The breeze was now in my face and the route seemed to slope gently upwards. I was running out of fluid. At 9 miles I walked for about 30 seconds, had a drink, and regrouped. I just put one foot in front of the other, knocked off mile after mile, and finally made it to 13.1 miles (according to the Garmin).

My time was 1:42. If I had run that in an official race, I would be pretty happy - so to run it for “fun” was pretty cool.

That said, I am wiped. Time for bed.

I went out this morning after a day off yesterday. It was cold and wet, but the run went quick. 43 minutes - which is a pretty good pace for me.

I wore my regular running shoes, but took the orthotics out. I am just not convinced that they are doing a whole lot to help me. So they are being retired.

I did wear my Zensah compression sleeve on my left leg - and I love it. It does a great job of supporting the muscles in that leg and seems to reduce shock.

Anyway - after this morning’s run I definitely feel closer than I have in a long time to being able to run a race. Just need to shed about 14 more pounds and do a 50 mile week and I’m there.

My bad pinkie toe actually helped me this morning. I can feel it every time I plant that foot, but I was able to use the sensation to calibrate my footstrike to a midfoot to splayed toes toe-off. Aches like hell now. HELL NAW, I am not going to stop running.

Another weekend, another half marathon. This time in Palos Verdes, which is on the very southern tip of metro Los Angeles. Another weekend of running by the sea.

This is a no frills half marathon. Only about 1200 horses. To make a long story short, I ran 1:39:11. Non-chip official time was 1:39:19. I finished 66th and 8th in my age group.

I also made a bit of a video blog. Not while running. Just before and after. Enjoy.

Race #4 in my year long challenge to run ten half marathons was the La Jolla Half Marathon. La Jolla is just outside of San Diego, and this is a very popular race not only in the San Diego area, but in Southern California as a whole. It sells out every year.

We have friends from La Jolla, and they’ve constantly prodded me to run the race. I wanted to add it to the calendar this year. But…by the time I got around to registering in late March, it had already reached the 6000 person cap. So, I scalped my way in, finding a willing seller the week before the race on Craigslist.

We drove down to La Jolla on Saturday morning, taking time out to meet some friends for lunch along the way. We checked into a great little hotel in La Jolla village, right up from the water. We met up with my bib seller, who turned out to be a very nice woman. Then we walked around town a bit, picked up some propel and water for the morning and headed to the hotel to relax a little before dinner. We had a nice dinner (gnocchi for me) and grabbed a beer before turning in pretty early.

I was up at 5:30 to catch the shuttle to the starting line, which was at Del Mar race track, literally 13 miles up the road.  I was on one of the first shuttles and had plenty of time at the start (more than an hour) before the 7:30 race start.  I listened to an audio book to pass the time.

Finally, it was time to line up.  They were starting the race in two waves, a sub-1:45 group and everyone else 8 minutes later.  It was a self selecting wave process, so it wasn’t perfect, but I was shocked to see that most people who lined up in the sub 1:45 group looked capable of running at that pace.

And…we were off.  The first three miles are relatively flat and I went out a little faster than I thought I should, running about 7:30’s.  Mile 4 was a pretty decent hill, followed by a nice easy downhill through miles four and five.   This is also a spot of incredible scenery, with the hill descending into a clearing right by the ocean. 

Mile 6 starts THE HILL.  There is a climb from the coast up the cliffs to Torrey Pines (yes the Torrey Pines golf course).   The elevation gain is about 400 feet in just more than a mile.  It is tough.  The worst part is, there is no real relief for the weary.  The next few miles are light rolling hills with no real downhill. 

I felt ok going up the hill.  Evidently, I felt relatively better than everyone else at the top of the hill, as I really started passing people.  

You get the reward for the hill in mile ten, when you make this super fast descent into La Jolla Shores, which is the neighborhood where our friends’ family lives.  Down the hill, the course flattens out again for another spell right by the ocean.  I knew to look for my fans here.  All four (plus a baby) were present.  And there’s video to prove it.

Past my cheering section, I finished up the flat 12th mile before an absolutely diabolical final mile. Another hill. Big elevation gain, followed by a short downhill sprint into the end.

Now I had forgottem my Garmin, so I wasn’t truly aware of my pace. La Jolla, though has electronic clocks at every mile, so I was able to track my time. At the eighth mile, I was at 1:02 and change. A pretty good clip. However, with the downhills, I thought I might be able to break 1:40 again. I turned it up a bit. The miles started clicking off. I even pushed it up the final diabolical hill.

It paid off. I crossed the tape at 1:38:36. New best non-Fontana time. My bib purchaser’s name was Sabine on the finish results. I placed her fourth in her age group. Felt great after and enjoyed a beer in the beer garden before meeting up with our friends for brunch.

The good:
The Course. Beautiful. Challenging.
The organization. Electronic timing at every mile. Water and vitalite frequently on the course.
The post race beer garden.

The Not as good:
Another race that is hard to complain about…
Having to arrive so early via s is a bit of a bummer.
And of course the last diabolical hill!

Nothing is worse than being hurt and not being able to run. Nothing. I will never take being healthy and being able to run for granted again.

My toe still aches and my guess is it will still ache for a long time - but around lunchtime I sucked it up and went out for a six miler and it was fantastic. I am going back out Sunday morning with my neighbor. Can’t wait.

The one thing that does kind of suck is that I don’t think I am going to be able to slide into a May race like I was hoping. In the first week of April I had done a few 30 mile weeks and was feeling good, but I am no where close right now. No worries though. I still need to lose about 15 pounds to get near racing shape and then we’ll see what happens.

Would help if this toe healed up a little more, too.

I am sitting here at my desk with my left shoe off. Why? Because my ^%@# toe hurts almost as bad as it did the day I cracked it on the side of the tub. I am slowly beginning to realize that I have to find an alternate method of exercise until this thing heals up.

With that in mind, I am going to buy an aqua jogger and try pool running and see if that doesn’t tide me over for a while. I am also going to order a pair of the Vibram Five Fingers and see if I can handle running barefoot on grass (shoes are bad for my toe right now because they smash everything together - or maybe it just feels that way.)

Anyway, at least my weight is stabilizing (175 this morning)  - still would like to get closer to 170 before the end of the month but that’s probably not happening. Maybe by Memorial Day.

My brother sent an article to me recently that highlighted an interesting paradox. The more advanced and expensive running shoes have become, the more injuries runners seem to incur.

Now, there are so many factors involved in running injuries, that it seems like an oversimplified conclusion - but I think the article is on to something. When I run, I try and consciously land midfoot and toe-off and my shoes make it near impossible to do anything but jam a heel into the ground. I have also been injured non-stop and it seems that even when I reasonably ease into a running program, pain ensues.

There is certainly a school of thought out there that believes that humans run best with little between their foot and the ground. That our natural gait and the numerous bones and nerves and muscles in our feet are more advanced than any shoe could ever hope to be.

Well, I am a sucker for contrarian thinking. So I am looking hard at investing in a pair of Vibram Five Fingers for a few runs per week. Runner’s World had a nice review last Fall and there are a growing number of runners that swear by them.

Should be interesting.

Ran for 11 miles yesterday, or 1 hour and 30 minutes. I got out pretty early, because it is freaking hot here. I was on the road by 7:40, but that probably wasn’t early enough. I’m guessing it was 80+ when I finished a little after 9.

I have successfully negotiated a purchase of a number for La Jolla, so that will be race #4.