A Running Commentary

The view down Parkway Calabasas, Mile 2

I was supposed to be running the La Jolla Canyon trail race, but alas it was cancelled. Since I already had my tickets to come to SoCal and I got to hangout with my parents, I came down anyway.

The new training schedule called for 18 miles with 14 at MRP + 10 to 20 seconds.  So I had to find 18 miles to run here in Calabasas.

I started pretty early, hitting the road at 6:41am, according to the watch and ran around the neighborhood to warmup.  It took a while to get the lead out of my legs.  My parents' neighborhood is extremely hilly and the first few miles had a few steep ups and downs, making the warmup not so great on the legs. The second was down an easy hill.

After getting down toward the freeway, I ran north along back roads which most likely have a 10,000 foot elevation change.  After about three miles on Everest the back road I headed West along Las Virgenes Road toward Malibu.  I ran by my middle school which somehow has gotten much smaller over the years and then headed into the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains.

While I was supposed to be running in those hills for a race, it wasn't so bad getting some solo running along a two lane highway...with some of my closets truck friends. 

Miles 6 though about 10

I headed back the way I came and only almost was hit by a car once; mom, that is a really low number of near-death encounters for a long run. I finished my 14 miles at pace just shy of three miles from home and slowed down just a bit to cool off.  I hit 18 miles, walked for about three minutes and then jogged home.

I was wearing shorts. Or was I? I was.

Thanks to an unheated pool in the backyard there was a perfect 58 degree ice bath waiting for me to "enjoy" after a bit a stretching.

I was able to hold on for about 25 minutes in the cold but I don't think it helped much.  I did stretch a bit, however I didn't do it enough. Whatever, I felt pretty good today after a hard 18 miles on a pretty hilly course.

This was my first long run with the new training program and it was hard but completely doable.  This run was a check of the fitness levels and I am pretty confident in say I could have hung on for another eight miles at or close to the pace I ran my entire training run.

While I won't be saying that this proves that I have 3:45 in the bag, I am pretty sure I will be able to hold on to 8:35 m/m for 26.2.  This would be five seconds slower per mile than this training run, even with the warmup and cool down miles.  If I could hold the pace for the MRP + 10 (which wasn't really +10) I got 3:35 or pretty damn close to it.

With well over a month to go to get stronger, faster, and thinner, I am feeling good about the Tacoma City Marathon.

Man Plans and God Laughs, Again

It is official: 2013 is the year of plan B.

Great friends are getting hitched on the NYC Marathon weekend which is nothing but fantastic. This is NOT to be construed as me complaining, it simply pushes my plan for New York off by a year. I still have no plans for a full in the fall.  Passover came out of no where (read: I didn't look at a calendar very closely) and starts the day after the Oakland Marathon. Clearly I had to postpone that race.  Now I am running the Tacoma City Marathon on May 5.

Today I got this email from Coastal Trail Runs:

We just received notice from the State Park of new requirements and additional, exorbitant permit-related costs. As a result, we regret that both events in the Malibu Sector are no longer viable and we need to cancel La Jolla Canyon (March 9th) and Malibu Canyon (December 7th). Full refunds to all paid entrants are being processed.

We know that many of you have been training and made travel plans since we opened registration last month. We apologize for any inconvenience. We only hope that you'll still come out and enjoy the trails in the amazing Santa Monica Mountains. We're sorry we're unable to make it an official event.

So that stinks.

Now I need another plan B trail race.

Head for the Hills

I have been on two trail runs.  One was a six mile up hill and six mile down hill slog in Malibu in late 2011 and the other was 16 mile run through the mud of Tennessee Valley in Marin this January. Both were extremely difficult runs but had breath taking views as consolation for my exhaustion.

Above the marine layer in Malibu, December 2011

Looking back towards San Francisco from Marin County, January 2013

With all of this experience under my feet, I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for a 30K (18.6411 mile) trail race in March.