Our start time this morning was 5:01 am for a brisk 8 mile out and back at shady canyon in irvine- this was a good follow-up run considering how much leg stress I had yesterday. The hills at shady were pretty easy and soft compact sand made it even move inviting to push a little faster. This small group of early risers is simply amazing, we are all improving in so many ways and are always encouraging each other.
OMG- what an exhilarating training session I had this morning... It was one of sessions of what I call "confidence builder"- I started on the treadmill or dreadmill and ran for 25min at a easy 8min pace with my dear friend Camille.
Today was the first day back from this awful head cold, last night I was able to sneak out to the track for a modified version workout with the OC track club. I was able to soak in some good race stories from a fellow runner named Robert J. Baird. He had a wealth of information on Leona and other Ultra Races in California. Robert was able to ease alot of nerves concerning this daunting task. I am looking forward running some portion of the race with him on Saturday.
Today I was able to make it to a 6am spin class, my first in months, I was surprised the instructor still noticed me. It was a good class and I was able to maintain my old cadence of 95 :) After spin, I completed a 45min of resistant training...I was pretty much pooped by 8:30am.
Tmr is the real test, I plan on running a very easy 6-7mile trail in El Moro, just to make sure the legs still work.
Last weekend 2/10/08 a week after my Surfcity Marathon, I scheduled a 28mile trail training run. The run consisted looping El Moro 3 times. I was really impressed with the turnout of company. We had various level of athletes out for a good run. I was pretty much DONE by Loop 3, it was really hot and felt like it was 90 degrees.
While still in Recovery mode, I still wanted to attend our track workout on Tuesday. Not feeling 100%, I told the coach what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks, and he asked what I have been smoking.... He recommended that I do easy pace 4-1mile repeats. I recruited a fellow runner to run with with me, this runner usually runs with our group but sometimes has a hard time of keeping up. Like many new runners, he usually would start the race too fast and quickly fades at the end. I Encouraged him to run with me at a consistent running pace. I could tell he was pushing it, by his rapid breathing I gave him some tips as we were running talking to him about his running form, moving his arms etc... he found a new love of running. He was able to maintain a good pace for the entire workout without bonking... I believe it was a win/win I was able to recover and he was able to Re-Energize his running confidence. More importantly I felt good all around helping another runner and not focusing on myself.
Things are starting to take shape now in the new year. For the last 3 months I have working with a fellow runner train for a road marathon. I trained with her because I had a marathon myself in Feb. The endless road miles did begin to wear me down. At times I was running trails on Saturday, then running long road runs on Sunday. Now that my friend is off to Arizona for the Rock in Roll marathon this weekend, I can charge ahead, and really focus on whats ahead.
I have a small trail race on Saturday (21K), then on Sunday I managed to have others join me in a early 5am trail run out in El Moro, we will be using our headlamps for about 90min. With this large of a turnout I expect to have a blast.
This past week has been a big challenge getting back into the swing of training. After our local fires I pretty much had no training for the past 7-8 days. Y
esterdays trail run was cut short in terms of getting access to El Moro, due to a Red Flag warning the park ranger told us not to run inside the park. Instead we ran along Crystal Cove.
Today with the time change I was able to squeeze in 16 miles. The body felt better and I felt like I was back in rhythm. The fog along the beach kept me cool enough to finish strong.
This week is a big for me, I have a trail marathon on Saturday, then I plan to run 18 miles of the Surfcity Marathon course. So hopefully this will be good indicator to see where I am in terms if I can pull off this back to back 50K Ultra (TwinPeaks), and Surfcity race Superbowl weekend. I plan to be a good boy all week now that Halloween is over, I promise to eat all my fruits and veggies and drink plenty of water. By 10:00am next week I should be pulling out my credit card for my official entry in Surfcity. I will keep my fingers crossed. ;-)
Weekend of fun in the sun. I went into the trail race about 70%, I have been bothered by some IT band issues along my left leg. It started with a short 6 mile tempo run on Thursday. I was on the foam roller for the last 18hrs trying to iron out all the kinks. Going into this weekend was a big test. I wanted to see how my body would recover from back to back runs. Saturday Trail race included a 18K (2:06 finish time)run thru point mugu. I had alot of fun on Saturday, both during the race and after. A group of us from OCTRAILRunners carpooled, and opted for a post race dip into the ocean at Zuma Beach. The water was icy cold, but I think it did wonders for my ankles, and quads.
On Sunday, I went out for a long 17 mile road run in Huntington Beach, I tried doing much as possible of the Surf City Marathon course. I started out super early at 5:30am, I wanted to be done before 9am, I was finished by 8:30am. I kept a pretty easy pace for the first 10miles, and started to push what I had left in the tank for the last 7 miles. After the run, I felt like I just ran 17miles, and I couldn't wait to get home to veg out all day. I made a point of setting my alarm early for Monday for my recovery swim. Trust me it works! If you don't consider yourself a swimmer, just get a kickboard and do about 4-6 laps of kicking, it really helps flush out all of that nasty stuff in the legs. I am looking forward for my early trail run tmr, followed by a track workout tmr night. Next Sunday is the Long Beach City Half Marathon, I am debating on what to do on Saturdy, go for a 14mile trail run with the group or go for a 60+ mile bike ride?
I am using the next few days to rest up for a long month of racing.
Oct 6th Xterra Trail Race
Oct 14th Long Beach Half
Oct 27th Xterra Trail Race
Nov 10th Saddleback Marathon
These races should get me fully prepared for the Back-to-Back races in Feb, Twin Peaks 50K and Pacific Shoreline Marathon.
