SUN - 10.5 miles at Emerald Nuts Across the Bay 12k race in San Francisco. Split 11:23, 5:31, 10:37, 5:14, 5:25, and 2:30. 40:43 total. 5:28 average. 27th place overall. First ever 12k race! Right at mile three my mind began to mutter a bit, "Um, this is going to be a bit longer than you've ever gone before." By mile five the body felt a bit tired, but worked hard to push the last two miles. Thanks to the kindness of the Budweiser Brewing Company, I consumed a tasty beverage at their expo tent before my cool down. Then my buddy Micah put a crab in my shoe without telling me and I put my shoe on. Spent time in downtown Frisco, and hanging with some of the Cal guys. Great weekend!
MON - 9 miles easy with Potteys.
TUES - 9.5 miles on Late Loop at 5:30am. Rock Climbing in afternoon.
WED - 9.5 miles in afternoon through Rancho, followed by rock climbing session.
THUR - 5 miles around UNR at 6am; 3 miles shakeout in Pacific, CA along coastline!
FRI - 2 mile shakeout in AM; 5k at San Francisco State for 10 total. Split 5:08, 5:10, 4:59, and 32 for 15:51 overall. A great race experience! I focused on my own business really well during the warm up and got to the start line quite calm and relaxed. During the race I actually smiled a few times because it was fun. Effort didn't start to hurt until halfway through, but even then just kept focusing on each lap as it came.
SAT - Off.
WEEK - Recovery week at 58.5 miles. Really excited to be racing again.....a lot of travelling to get to the Bay Area for races, but really enjoying the experience.
MARCH 28 - APRIL 3
SUN - 10.5 w/ Potteys through Keystone Canyon with short strides on end of run.
MON - 10.5 along BLC route w/ 4-3-2-1 pickups. Pickups put in place to shake up the run and make the body do something besides just run.
TUES - 14 at Horsemans w/ Sean. Battled the gusty winds, blowing snow, and tired legs. Rock climb in afternoon.
WED - 8 along Truckee River before school. Real happy to log the miles before the full work day. For a 5:30am run, everything felt pretty fun and light-hearted. Rock climb in afternoon.
THUR - Truckee and Journal Jog route for 12.
FRI - 7 around UNR before work. Pretty tired when alarm went off, but fine once got out the door.
SAT - 2 mile shakeout in AM; 5k at American River College for 10 total in PM. Split 5:04, 5:14, 5:10, and 34 for 16:02. First mile felt real comfortable and went by quickly, but effort increased shortly after. Heading into last mile I kept somewhat engaged and didn't let up on pace or place. Real fun meet. Once again real calm and controlled on warm up - perhaps to a fault though as the overall tenacity felt low at the start line (could be I didn't eat for six hours prior to the race either).
WEEK - 74 miles. Felt much more focused this week. Actually outlined miles vs. just randomly running each day and reaching weekly total.
APRIL 4 - APRIL 10
SUN - Parker Training Center along Lakeside for 9. Pretty grumpy going into run....30mph winds may have had something to do with it.
MON - 7.5 miles in AM; Chiropractor in PM for tissue work. Wanted to run eleven on the day, but woke up to cold wind and snow in the front yard and body felt real beat up on the run. Mentally weak as well - didn't have a lot of fight.
TUES - Horsemans w/ Sean for 15. Woke up in a much better mood. Gas tank never felt empty on run either.
WED - Truckee River Path at 5:30am for 8 in AM - actually found the early morning run enjoyable; 4.5 miles around UNR in PM w/ 1x400 (75), 2x200 (37, 34), and 2x100 (16, 16) - wanted to give body another chance to readjust to running on the track surface and turns so did these few segments instead of strides.
THUR - Sean's Lakeside Loop for 12 in AM. Sitting in the PT's office later that day the thought occurred to me, "I'm racing tomorrow and I ran twelve miles this morning....hmmm.....well, guess we'll see what happens."
FRI - 2 mile shakeout in AM in Berkeley; 5k at Chico State in PM for 10 total. Split 5:10, 5:10, 5:10, and 34 for a 16:04 total. My individual lap splits were all over the place! We opened in an 80 (no wonder I thought, "This feels real nice!") and the race was full of surge-and-slow-and-catch-the-next-group-and-sit-with-them. Consistent good job of relaxing on warm up and focusing on my business. Didn't feel overly great inside of the race. I think I missed out on a great "learning" opportunity this time as the race pace fluctuated pretty much every lap. While I ran the race I never fully engaged into "savage" mode to be fully focused/aware of what was occurring. Cooled down with roommate Micah. The last time I ran with him was summer of 2007, and since then he has gone through almost half a dozen surgeries to rebuild his body after being struck by an SUV while road biking.
SAT - Micah forced me to drive back to Berkeley after the dinner stop at Wendy's. This would not be noteworthy except that we were in his car - a manual. I don't know how to drive a manual. Thankfully we were travelling after midnight since the race started at 9pm. So at 2:30am I finally hiccuped the car into Berkeley and Micah forced me into sleeping neighborhoods for a tutorial. Later that morning I ran 7 along the Firetrail trail located just past the Cal football stadium. Felt great given the race went down yesterday - stride loose and arms relaxed. Almost stepped on a banana slug. Watched The Big Meet later that day. Stanford and Cal claim a HUGE rivalry and The Big Meet is the track dual between the two teams. Go Bears!!!
WEEK - 75 miles. Front end of week was real rough, but that could have resulted from the 5k at American River College. Chiro work helped a lot to improve how the body felt, and getting away from Reno to a different place helped the ol' mind. Great to hit another mid-70 week with a solid race effort included.
APRIL 11 - APRIL 17
SUN - Skyline trails w/ Cal guys for 10. Pouring rain, but awesome run. This week is Washoe County School District's spring break!!!
MON - Tour of Berkeley Campus for 11.
TUES - 10 miles along a random part of the California coastline. Legs didn't feel all that well, and ended up running through some really bumpy and marshy terrain and got pretty angry. Stretched afterwards while drinking a beer. Pictures are on the book of faces.
WED - Rancho/UNR for 9 after driving back from CA coastline. Body shabby at the start, but after the first half everything loosened up pretty well. Actually enjoyed myself.
THUR - Mayberry Park for 12 w/ Sean and Hannah. Ran pretty chill pace, but body pretty tired by the end.
FRI - Horsemans for 10 w/ Sean and Hannah. Felt great - body took a few miles to warm up, but then flowed really well and really relaxed. Massage in evening.
SAT - 8.5 in AM w/ 2x800 (2:30-2:26) and 10x400 (74-72-72-72-75-71-72-72-1:45...went through 600) to help Sean with workout. Planned workout was 12x800 w/ 60 seconds recovery. I didn't feel it was out of my league and actually looked forward to a good, hard Saturday morning track session. However, the body thought otherwise and after the first two I cut to just doing the first quarter. In typical fashion though, I felt better as the workout progressed. For example, on the final repeat I led Sean through the quarter in 70, and then dropped another 35. I probably could have finished in close to a 35 or 36 which would have given me a 2:20, and at this point I felt actually strong and in control of the effort (vs. running the last eight-hundred of a race like it felt I was doing in those first two repeats). Sean ran really well and hit his 12x800 averaging like 2:26 or 27 with only sixty seconds recovery in between. Good luck to him in pursuit of his sub 2:30 marathon in a few weeks! 4 miles through Rancho in PM - first snake sighting of spring!
WEEK - 74.5 miles - good way to end the last three weeks. First week in a long time without a race.
May will be a month of road racing. The Reno Marathon also puts on a 10k and I will use that as practice for the Bay to Breakers 12k in San Fran. The Asics Aggies are eying the long standing centipede record (5:02's for 7.46 miles) and I might be running with. Unsure of my ability to run that quick of a pace that long the plan to run hard from the gun at the Reno 10k and see what happens. Finally there is a 10k race in Roseville, CA on Memorial Day. I had a real good string of races on the track - learned to control the warm up and go in relaxed. Now it is time to build on that positive work and redevelop the savage mindset while in the race. More important than time or place finish in these next races is the tenacious mindset.
Thanks for reading.
Find your gifts - use them to the fullest.
