Cherry Red Chapstick of Running

I couldn't have asked for a better picture
In fact, I didn't ask for this one.

I switched my training program. And I liked.  (Let that sink in for a minute.)

The SFRRC is mixing up our training programs and I am beta testing the marathon program for the intermediate runners.  A number of our top guys (and women too I believe) have been using this program for a while with wonderful results. So we are going to see if it works for the normal people rest of the club.

There are a few major changes in the program.

1. There is much more marathon race pace (MRP) training. This includes MRP + 10-20 for long runs, MRP in place of tempo runs for longer periods, and other MRP based fun
2. We run more Fartleks. That is fun.
3. There every weekend has a different kind of long run.

Without giving away the milk without buying the cow, I will say that I think I really like this change.

Over the past year I have followed a very regimented weekly running schedule of Easy-Track-Easy-Tempo-Off-Long Slow Distance-Off, rinse and repeat.  This makes it more interesting for sure.

Granted today was the first work out that was new.  It was also started at 5:50am, which is also out of the norm. But like the new plan, I think I will be doing at least some of my longer weekday runs in the morning. It makes life much nicer.  I missed the AM rush and freedom of the evening.

But back to the kissing a girl new training program. Clearly I will continue to update all of you on the merits of the new program, again while protecting our running IP. 

This blog post is pretty boring. Sorry about that. 

Something about Jack Kerouac

On the Road. Get it? It was funny. Ok. Sorry.

This weekend was filled with running goodness.  I was asked to cover the Pace Group Leader Duties as Burton was up in Napa for the aptly named Napa Valley Marathon. I was scheduled for 18 miles this weekend so I got in two before I meet up with the club for 16 more.

For the most part the Pace Group Leadership went pretty well.  I had some technical issues with the watch for the 8:1 run to walk beeps but it worked out alright.  Then we got to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

My running chum Susan from New York is terrified of heights.  So I spoke to her to distract her while we ran across the bridge and completely lost track of the pace. We went a bit fast...but after the pace group we passed on the San Francisco side of the bridge as they were using the rest rooms, had trouble catching up with us, we got the message to slow down.

The views were pretty.

The nine minute pace group taking the Southern Tower

View from the back of the group.

Hitting the Road, Again

After taking most of last week off for my bum ankle I hit the road on Saturday and the trails on Sunday for some mileage. And as any smart, risk-averse runner would do, I ran nearly 30 miles in two days.

Ok, not the best idea but it was fun.

Many of you know that Friday was National Margarita Day.  So like any good celebrators of stupid and/or made-up holidays, Abby and I sent out an urgent email to people from the 'hood to celebrate this important event.  We had expected about six or seven people to join us so we figured one bottle of tequila would have done the job well.

Turns out Jenni and Stephen were the only two people who also celebrate stupid/made-up holidays/could join in the mandatory celebration on short notice.  But we soldiered on and celebrated.  Fueled with homemade, from scratch margaritas and delicious Mexican food we had a lovely time. We fired up the heater outside and sang 80s song until about 11pm.

It also turns out drinking loads of tequila and beer doesn't make good fuel for a 10 mile run.

Classing it up with TJ's Tequila
(It is actually pretty good)

I was aiming to get about 12 or 14 miles on Saturday, but could only muster 10, and those 10 miles were very hard.  After running to the start and doing the club announcement as the board member on duty, I dragged through eight more miles of hills and heart burn. 

The rest of the day was spent on the couch and resting (read: passed out on the couch). 

Sunday was another day and I was not hungover. I planned on getting in about 15 miles on trails.  But I did 19.32 miles after needing to take a week off for my ankle. Yeah that wasn't the best idea but the run was beautiful.  (Are you sensing a theme yet?)

See:

DAMN. Mile 4

Top of the Hill

Mile 17. I was tired.

Lots of accents and descents, we ran out of water about half way through but just in time came to a bathroom and water fountain, and the views (see above) were incredible. It was hard, but fantastico.  While I did flip my ankle at about mile 14ish on a really torn up switch-back, over all we kept a pretty solid pace, were able to FLY down hill and hiked fast up the nasty grades. (3:47 for 19.32 miles)

The entire day took longer than I thought it would take and I missed some cool stuff in the city, and I am sorry about that.

My ankle wasn't pleased but it was a ton of fun.  Over the next few days my ankle worked better and the run was still pretty epic.

The over all lesson of the last weekend was don't drink a load of tequila before running and don't roll your ankle.  These are words to live by.

The Tale of Two Runs

Coming up with a witty title for this post is proving more difficult than I thought.  This weekend was a tale of two runs (and tacos), so I went with the obvious. 

I woke up on Saturday to find that the carbing with red wine that worked so well last weekend, didn't workout as well on the second try.  I ran from our house to Ocean Beach to meet up with the club.  I was planning on running 16 miles on Saturday -- four to Ocean Beach, eight with the club, and four back home.  This didn't happen. 

Taking left turns was extremely painful and the uneven path along Great Highway was giving my tender left ankle more than it could deal with.  So after 12 miles, right on pace I called it quits.

The route, out on Great Highway and back into Golden Gate Park, was alright and the crew was nice but I just wasn't feeling another four miles up hill to get home and neither was my ankle.  So hitched a ride and called it a day. I iced, ate a Sandwich Spot sandwich and watched some IU basketball.

I was getting pretty nervous about the trail run I was leading the next day.  My ankle was really sore and if the uneven path on Great Highway was giving me trouble, I was screwed in the Marin Headlands on Sunday.

The Kaiser Half - A PR on a Perfect Day

Keeping to my new format has been harder than I thought so I figured I would go out first with a tried and true method of a race review.

THIS GUY. (with a heel strike like whoa)

But this review has to start a few years back in Brooklyn. On May 21, 2011 I raced my last half-marathon. I crossed the finish on that kind of warm day in 1:46:59.

This was a great race for me, at the time.  I went out too fast by a few seconds per mile and after I was tired I was only about 25 seconds off per mile at my worst.  It was about 75 degrees when I finished the race and the middle miles were through an Orthodox Jewish community on Saturday morning, so there wasn't much in the way of support on the course.

However, I did get to run a significant portion of the race with a my running chum Ali and I nailed a really solid PR, by over three minutes, if memory serves me correctly.

Fast forward a year and move-cross-country later, I was all set to help my lovely wife pack our house, say good-bye to our friends in New York, and for me to run one last race as a New Yorker.  I was going to PR in Brooklyn.

Then I put down a dust buster and threw out my back.