JOSH

Ventura Half Marathon - Race Report

2012-02-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

[Edit: already with photos!]

(3rd in 35-39 age group; photo by Bob Carey Photography)

As I think I've mentioned, I am terrified of the LA Marathon, which is now just five weeks away. It's not that I'm particularly scared of the distance, it's more that I have to run that distance on pavement, on a comparatively "flat" course and need to try to do it quickly. I used to race on the roads a lot, but in the last three years, it's been pretty rare. So, with training progressing and me getting ideas about goals, I knew I needed to race a road half marathon - to hopefully gauge my fitness and speed and give me some confidence for LA.

I looked around and what seemed to be the best option was the Ventura Half Marathon, which was this morning in Ventura, CA. I'm really happy I chose this race. The race director - Josh Spiker (a 2:20-something marathoner!) - puts on a great race. Josh is a Ventura local and from the way he greeted people by name during the awards ceremony, he's obviously a big part of the running community there.

Everything about the race, from sign-up, to race morning packet pick-up, to the start, the aid stations, the finish line festival, raffle and awards ceremony were smooth and easy. Obviously it helps that the half marathon and 5k races combined only had around 600 participants, but I've been to small races that are chaotic. The proceeds from the race go to Habitat for Humanity. The long sleeve technical shirt for half marathoners is actually a quality shirt with a nice, simple design that I'll actually wear and they gave out finishers tiles as a nice change from the usual medals that just end up in a box in my closet:

There were awards for top-three in five-year age groups - I got a $10 gift certificate to Tri Running in Camarillo and a beer mug for my third place in the 35-39 age group:

The top three overall men and women each also got free Scott running shoes.

The course isn't anything special, but it's nice enough; an out-and-back along the Ventura-Ojai bike path. You can see mountains in the distance but honestly, any views would have been totally wasted on me today. Josh warned that the narrow-ish bike path might be crowded at times, but I never felt that this was an issue. It's a gentle climb on the way out (total gain probably 250 feet) and a gentle descent on the way back.

Another thing I loved is that the results and photos (from Bob Carey Photography) are already on the website! We expect this from the biggest races, but for smaller, local races like this (and even some of the medium size races), it seems like we're usually waiting days and days for either.

I would recommend this race to anyone in the area.

My race:

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect or to hope for. I wanted to test my fitness and hoped to beat the 1:29:05 PR I set at last year's Pasadena Half Marathon. I also wanted to see how my K-Swiss K-Ruuz 1.5's (my likely shoe choice for LA) would feel in a race.

This week I found out that a few other fast Coyotes: Kate, Joe and Chad would be running. So I figured I'd try to tag along with one of them and see what happened.

(you can see me hiding in the middle of the second row - look for the pink hat, duh; photo by Bob Carey Photography)

(again, hiding in the background; photo by Bob Carey Photography)

I ran the first seven miles with Kate (just like at Pasadena) and then watched her fade into the distance and beat me by a minute or so (just like at Pasadena). I spent the last couple of miles trying unsuccessfully to catch Joe.

(looking slightly less-than-fresh at the finish; photo by Bob Carey Photography)

I crushed my PR - ending up with a 1:26:07. And negative split the course in a big way. They didn't have a half-way marker, but here are my splits for the first six miles based on my watch (remember, slight uphill):
6:39
6:51
6:43
6:41
6:47
6:42
Total (1-6): 40:23

Mile 7 was 6:40

Miles 8-13 were:
6:19
6:19
6:17
6:33
6:30
6:35
Total (8-13): 38:33

0:37 (final 0.1)

My slowest mile in the second half was four seconds faster than my fastest mile in the first half! Even with the slight downhill on the way back in mind, I'm psyched about the successful negative split.

Obviously, I struggled in the last three miles. My legs were tired, of course, but I was suffering more mentally than physically at that point. The cure? Speed and tempo during the next few weeks to convince myself that I can maintain a faster pace than I'm comfortable with.

The BIG QUESTION: Could I have gone faster? What if I'd gone out a little faster and willed myself not to fade in those final three miles? I took my only gel of the race at around mile seven. Maybe taking two gels during the race would have helped me keep energy at the end? I know that I have a faster half marathon in me, what I don't know is whether it was in me today.

But now... the even BIGGER QUESTION: WHAT DOES THIS ACTUALLY MEAN FOR LA?

And I don't know the answer to that one either. It means I can imagine running a sub-3:00 marathon. It means that I can hold better than a sub-3:00 pace for half the distance on a less hilly course. But can I hold close to that pace for another 13.1 miles? Honestly, I have no idea! But I guess I'm gonna try.

Official time: 1:26:07
Pace: 6:34/mile
Overall: 19/383
Men: 16/181
Age Group (35-39): 3/25

Trail Rash

2012-02-09T19:32:00.000-08:00

The trail got me today. But while I did not escape un-harmed, thankfully, I did make it through un-injured. Read on!

The run started out great - as has become usual for Thursdays, I met Tyler and Ankur (Lukas was a no-show) at Peet's in Brentwood at 5:30am. From Peet's we ran San Vicente to 26th Street, over to Sunset, up Mandeville, over to Westridge Road and down Bayliss/Queensferry to the Sullivan Canyon trailhead. That gave us 5.5 miles, including some serious climbing in before we met up with the Coyotes. This week the Coyote run was Sullivan Canyon, so our group's run was through the Canyon, up to the ridge and down the ridge fire road to Bobsled Trail and back through the end of the Canyon to the start. 14.5 miles total.

Running with Ankur means running fast and nearly redlining just to keep him in sight. I kept within general spitting distance for the first 8 miles and then he pulled away. We re-grouped at the ridge and then soon after starting the descent, he was gone again. I was working hard and the run was going great.

Over13 miles done - just the steep, slippery, loose dirt Bobsled descent (it's not called "Bobsled" for nothing) and a bit of the Canyon to go.

Sim had joined up with me near the end of the Ridge fireroad and I was just behind him going down Bobsled, when something caught something and I was flying through the air and then skidding on the dirt. I felt like I was falling for a long time. Sim says he didn't hear me scream but he did see a cloud of dust explode behind him before coming back to see what happened. I stayed down for a few extra seconds to do a systems check. Luckily, other than a torn shirt, a cut on my shoulder, a bleeding stigmata on my left palm:

bloody right knuckles:

and a scraped up right knee and lower leg:

I seemed fine. I was dirty and bloody but it could have been much much worse!

I finished the run, got a little sympathy and cleaned up the wounds (all of the above photos are post-clean up).

Now, it just stings. Neosporin and ice are the prescription for the evening. Fingers crossed that it's not worse tomorrow morning.

No question, it was worth it for a great Thursday run!

Vega Sport

2012-02-01T12:34:00.000-08:00

For me, switching to a plant-based/vegan diet wasn't nearly as much of a struggle as I'd imagined it would be. I didn't really have any trouble giving up meat and dairy and eggs was even easier. But I definitely could not have done it without the use of all the great resources that are out there supporting and encouraging a plant-based diet. My main sources of education, advice and recipes have been Rich Roll and Brendan Brazier. Rich's e-cook book, Jai Seed eCookbook is $9.99 to download and his new book, Finding Ultra: Rejecting Middle Age, Becoming One of the World's Fittest Men, and Discovering Myself comes out in May but is available for pre-order now at Amazon. Brendan's first book, Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, is a fantastic read that I would recommend especially for any athlete considering trying out a plant-based diet.

Brendan is also the founder of Vega, a line of supplements that help enable people easily, conveniently and efficiently thrive on a plant-based diet. I started using Vega products in my morning Vitamix shake - I more-or-less alternated days, using either a scoop of the Whole Food Health Optimizer or half a scoop of Vega protein powder. And, as I've noted here many times, I've had great results from the switch. But while the rest of my diet has greatly benefited, it's a struggle to find convenient and easy plant-based products to use during training or for recovery.

That's where Vega Sport came in.

Last fall, in connection with Vega's launch of their new Vega Sport line of products, they offered to send me some samples to try out. Vega Sport is plant-based and all-natural, so of course the products don't have any dairy, gluten or soy or any artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners. And with Brendan at the helm, I figured the products would have to be effective. It sounded like a great idea.

So in December, I got a cool little box filled with goodies. Each side of the box had a different quote or statement. This one is my favorite:

But this one is pretty damn good too:

Vega Sport is a three-stage system: Prepare, Sustain and Recover, and there are different products for each stage.

I've now had a chance to use them all:

Prepare:

The "Prepare" product is a powder called Pre-Workout Energizer that comes in two flavors, Acai Berry and Lemon Lime. You're supposed to mix it with water and drink it 20 minutes before training for calories and sustainable energy. For all but my longest workouts, my usual pre-workout fuel is a half Clif Bar and half an apple. The Pre-Workout Energizer is 70 calories per serving, which is a little less than I'm used to. My problem with the Pre-Workout Engerizer is the taste. Both flavors tasted pretty similar to me, and neither was particularly good. From the looks of it when mixed with water, I expected it to taste earthy. It doesn't, strangely it tastes a little sweet and chemically (which I know it isn't). It's not squeeze-your-nose-and-choke-it-down, but it's probably not something I would choose to drink. On the other hand, both times I did drink it all and found that I had good energy for my training. But since the apple and half Clif Bar treat me well, I'll probably stick with that going forward. FEAR NOT, though, and keep reading. I promise, it gets much much better.

Sustain:

"Sustain" has three products, Electrolyte Hydrolator, Endurance Gel and Endurance Bar. They're all intended to be used during training.

My favorite product out of "Sustain" was the 190 calorie Endurance Bar. Other than my Clif Bar pre-workout, I don't usually use bars during training. I tried both flavors on different bike rides. I liked the Acai Berry flavor better than the Mocha flavor, but I liked them both and my preference might be related to the fact that I'm not a coffee drinker. The bars are just sweet enough to taste good and they're really easy to eat and digest.

I also really liked the Electrolyte Hydrolator. Actually, I really liked the Pom-Berry flavor Electrolyte Hydrolator. I didn't like the Lemon-lime flavor as much. I use Nuun all the time - both during training and in my water bottle at work. While the Electrolyte Hydrolator and Nuun are similar in function, one nice thing about the Electrolyte Hydrolator is that it doesn't fizz up in the bottle. Many many times, I've gotten a throat or face full of Nuun spray the first time I try to drink from a bottle. Also, I like the fact that it comes in single-use packs, which are easy to throw in a pocket or my hydration pack. I'll use both Nuun and the Electrolyte Hydrolator going forward.

I have mixed feelings about the 100 calorie Endurance Gel. On the nice side they're not nearly as sticky-sweet and gooey as most gels. I really like the fact that they're date-based (my new favorite desert is frozen dates) and that they have a little coconut oil in them. They have a decent amount of sodium (60mg) and a ton of potassium (730mg). The Raspberry flavor was much much better than the Orange Zest, which I struggled to get down. On the other hand, I bet the first time I tried a Gu, I choked on it as well.

Recover:

For me, "Recover" is where Vega Sport really shines. And that's great, because I haven't found any other vegan recovery products out there - most of them have whey protein, which I won't do anymore. I've purchased more of each of the three Vega Sport Recover products and will definitely continue using all of them.

The Recovery Accelerator is my favorite. It tastes great and has protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, maca, devil's claw, glucosamine, ginseng, tumeric and cayenne. I really only use it after my long (or long-ish) training sessions, but immediately after I'm done, I mix a packet or a scoop in water and chug it down. That's 80 quick calories, plus all those supplements. That 80 calories definitely isn't enough for recovery, but it buys me time to change out of sweaty clothes, let the dogs out, say hi to Elizabeth, stretch, etc. before eating (or drinking) something more substantial. I probably prefer the Apple Berry flavor to Tropical, but both taste good. Another great thing about the Recovery Accelerator (and most of the Vega Sport powder products) is that you can buy them in either single serving packets or a multi-serving tub. The packets are less economical, but so much easier for when I'm not finishing a workout at home or for carrying during training.

The Performance Protein is an almost-daily staple for me. As I mentioned above, most days I use about a half scoop of it (equals 13g protein) in my Vitamix shake. If I've had a particularly long training morning, I'll sometimes use more. The protein powder tastes better than the whey protein I used to supplment with and it dissolves nicely in my shake. I haven't tried drinking it just mixed with water or other liquid, so I'm not sure how it tastes or dissolves on its own. The protein is a mix of pea protein, Savi Seed(TM) sacha inchi protein, brown rice protein, hemp protein and alfalfa protein. It has glutamine and amino acids. I prefer the vanilla flavor and also liked the berry. I'm not much of a chocolate guy, so that would be my third choice.

The Protein Bars are also yummy. I have a slight preference for the Chocolate Coconut over the Chocolate Savi-Seed. I haven't actually used these bars for "recovery" after training like I use the Recovery Accelerator. When I finish training, my stomach usually isn't in the mood for solid food, especially not chocolate. Instead, I use these bars as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack. The 240 calories (with 15 grams of protein) is plenty to tide me over until the next meal. And the chocolate makes them seem like a "treat".

In summary, I really like this idea and love - and will use - a bunch of the products. As you probably know, I've been a loyal Infinit user for years. And as mentioned, I'm a big fan of Nuun. In general, I'd much prefer to train solely on liquids than on solid food or gels. I will definitely continue to use Infinit for training (my "run" formula doesn't have any protein and my new "bike" formula has soy - instead of the usual whey - protein). But I will use the Energy Bar for training days when I need something solid, will use the Electrolyte Hydrolator to switch it up from Nuun and can see myself keeping some of the Endurance Gels around. For recovery, I'm a strong Vega Sport convert.

As a final note, Vega Sport is in the middle of a MASSIVE(!) sweepstakes. Go to www.vegasport.com/sweepstakes to enter. You can enter until March 31, but there are weekly prizes, so don't wait a single second.

Check out the sick prizes:

One Grand Prize
Vega Sport Adventure Trip for 2:
Cycle, raft and explore your way through Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama for 15 days
$5,000 in Vega Sport product
($15,000 value)

Ten Runner Up Prizes
$1000 in Vega Sport products

Twenty Finalist Prizes
$200 in Vega Sport products

Five Weekly Prizes (per week for 11 weeks)
1 Vega Sport product
Weekly prize winners will be announced weekly via Twitter and Facebook.

With the addition of these great products to the supplement market, what's your excuse not to try a plant-based diet? :)

Monthly Summary - January 2012

2012-01-31T20:05:00.000-08:00

Here's January:

Swim: 9,900 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 147.5 miles
Cycling (indoors): 1:35 (hours)
Run: 137.7 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 8 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 47 hours

Weight: mostly unchanged, I'm guessing. maybe down a pound or so?

January went by pretty much in a flash. What happened? I signed up for a couple races and then bailed on the only one that's come up so far. I had a scare with some knee pain. Thankfully that went away and now I'm dealing with some hamstring and low back pain. It took me most of the month, but I finally feel like I'm getting into something of a rhythm with my running. And with the LA Marathon in less than 7 weeks, it really better be!

Race Schedule 2012 - Still a Work in Progress

2012-01-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

Despite recognizing in my 2011 Annual Summary that I'm a happier athlete (and person) when I have structured and defined training and race plans, I still haven't set my goals or finalized my race schedule for 2012. I have this constant internal debate over whether I want to be a triathlete or a road runner or a trail runner or an ultra runner or a cyclist (well, probably not that). All kinds of races and training excite me, but in order to be successful at any of them, I have to make some choices because I can't do it all!

So far, I am signed up for a few races:

After hearing fellow Pablove Triathlon Team members Mike and Warren rave and rave about what a great race Ironman 70.3 Hawai'i ("Honu") is, I decided that I'd make the trip this year and try to finally beat my 70.3 PR (which I set in my very first half-ironman race at Timberman in 2006). Although I am definitely excited for the trip to Hawai'i and the race experience, I am not really feeling the bike or swim training right now. Luckily, I have a little bit of time between now and June 2 to get fired up and put the time in.

After Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee forced the 2011 S.O.S. Triathlon course to be cut pretty much in half, I was determined to go back in 2012 and race the "real" course. So I'll be in New Paltz for the 2012 S.O.S. Triathlon on September 9.

I had such a great time at the Catalina Eco Marathon in November - also on a storm-altered course - so I'd like to go back and race there again in 2012. That's on November 12.

Then, last Sunday, in a fit of what I might end up considering madness, I signed up for the LA Marathon. It's a race that I've considered doing each of the last 2 years. At the 2010 race, I paced a couple friends and ended up running 30-something miles along the course. In 2011, I spent most of the morning on the rain soaked course, running with a bunch of different friends for a couple miles each. The 2012 race is eight weeks from today. I don't know if that's enough time for me to properly train to race the marathon that I know I'm capable of. And yesterday's long-ish road run didn't do a whole lot to give me confidence about it. Sure, I have a great base, but I haven't done a road marathon since an undertrained and underwhelming performance at Boston in 2009. In fact, I've barely done any road racing at all. So, I'm trying hard to temper my expectations. On the other hand, if I don't give it a shot, I'll never know. I'll find out on March 18 whether I would have been better off not knowing!

A road marathon, a 70.3, a crazy eight-stage triathlon that should take me between five and six hours and a trail marathon. Seems like a good schedule for 2012, right? It should be, but I do still feel like it's missing something. Something big. Hmmm... More to come on that.

As a reminder, in December, I reviewed KT Tape Pro, and had a discount offer to pass along. If you're interested in getting a roll, go to the KT Tape Pro store, choose your color and use this code - KTPRO11 - for 20% off. Hurry up and get on it, the promo code expires on January 31, 2012.

I wish I had a photo

2012-01-10T17:24:00.000-08:00

I've probably never appreciated LA as much as I did this morning while running up the Temescal Ridge Trail, racing to beat the sunrise with Lukas, Jimmy and John.

A full moon slowly setting in the west and a red-streaked sky waiting for the sun to rise in the east. Views stretching 360 degrees - the ocean in front of Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica and Palos Verdes, a quiet downtown LA, the San Gabriel Mountains, Topanga State Park, Malibu and back to the ocean.

I wish I had some photos to post, but I'm not sure they would do it justice. You should go see it for yourself. And the beauty of LA is that you can, just about any morning you choose.

Annual Summary - 2011

2012-01-04T10:50:00.000-08:00

Looking back, 2010 was a year marked by consistency in training and racing but inconsistency in the rest of "life". In 2011, on the other hand, life was pretty consistent, but training and racing were really just all over the place. 2011 was the first time in at least six years that I didn't ring in the new year with at least one "A" race already on the calendar. And without that key race to both motivate me and structure my training, for most of the year I was not in much of a training rhythm. It wasn't necessarily bad though - in some ways and at some times, it was liberating to train without racing goals.

But it did become pretty evident that I'm a happier athlete with a little more structure. During October and November when I put a training plan in place for The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Race, I was running really well and felt more fit than I had all year.

I'd love to take that lesson any apply it to 2012 by finding that "A" race for the year, but I'm prepping for some potential "life" instability and really can't make those race plans until life gets ironed out.

Here's 2011 in more pictures and fewer words:

In January, I "graduated" from six weeks of radiation therapy which started in late 2010.

In March, we launched the Pablove Triathlon Team and then Mike, Warren and I went to Wildflower and did our best to represent the team.

In April I ran the Pasadena Half Marathon and with Kate dragging me along, I broke the 1:30 barrier for the first time.

Later in April, I picked up my new Franco Balcom bike. It's a beautiful bike!

Then, in early June, I got invited up to Agoura Hills to participate in photo and video shoot for Franco. Riding around the Santa Monicas with those guys and the camera crew was a blast!

Our Backyard from Franco Bicycles on Vimeo.

A few weeks later, 60 miles into a Saturday ride and a half mile from home, I broke my clavicle and had surgery to repair it with a long metal plate. I actually only "lost" a few weeks of training, but the interruption was more than enough to throw off my summer training plans.

In July, we took a fantastic trip to Maui. We hiked and relaxed and went scuba diving and read and ate. I biked to the top of Haleakala and suffered most of the way.

In August, I did my one-month Vegan Challenge, which has turned into a full-time plant-based diet, centered around my morning fruit and veggie Vitamix shake.

September was a two-week trip to New York and the Hurricane Irene/Tropical Storm Lee modified Survival of the Shawangunks (SOS) Triathlon.

After SOS, we stopped in East Hampton for a few days and the boys got to run run run on the beach.

Then, I really started training for some fall running races and racked my bike for a few months.

In November, I grew a mustache (or tried to at least) for Movember.

And we spent a great weekend in Avalon, Catalina Island. The Eco Marathon was great fun (and I raced really well), but spending the weekend with that group of friends kicked ass.

On December 3, I ran the The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Race.

It was a pretty great year. Thanks for following along! Here's to a fantastic 2012! (Whatever it might bring...)

Since I diligently keep track of this stuff, here are my 2011 totals (all in all, a pretty balanced year):

Swim: 163,482 meters (101.5 miles)
Cycling (outdoors): 2,263.5 miles
Cycling (indoors): 47:03 (hours)
Run: 1,286.3 miles
Strength Training: 68 sessions
Approximate annual total training/racing time: 532 hours

Monthly Summary - December 2011

2011-12-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

Here's December:

Swim: 8,600 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 198.3 miles
Cycling (indoors): 2:55 (hours)
Run: 140.8 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 5 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 47.25 hours

Weight: low 160s?

December started with a BANG!

On December 3, I ran my last race of 2011, The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile. I went into loads and loads of detail about the day in my race report. The race didn't work out the way I'd hoped, but I did finish and I did beat my time from 2009. Also, I ran most of it with Lukas, with whom I've been training a ton this fall. And we got this sweet picture:

(photo by Brett Rivers)

My goal going into December was to do the race and then take the rest of December off from running. That hasn't really happened. I did decrease my run volume a ton, but I've maintained about three runs per week for about 25 miles per week. No offense to my fantastic training partners, but my favorite run might have been my solo Temescal ascent when I raced the sunrise to the peak (and won, just barely). And honestly, it was extra nice that I met up with the Coyotes for the descent. I did a couple extra swim workouts this month (mostly the "Aqua-X" workouts with Evan), but my actual swim volume was still really low.

The biggest change was that I did get back on the bike this month for my first rides outside since mid-September. We've been enjoying some beautiful weather, so riding has been really fun. My first ride back was the 5th Annual Fashion Show Holiday Charity Ride, benefiting Ralph's Riders. A group of 60 or 70 got together for the ride:

(photo by Brooklin Rosenstock)

We rode from Santa Monica through West LA, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood:

We finished at Bike Improve for some post-ride goodies and grabbed a (mostly) Team Pablove photo (with our host and Bike Improve owner, Nir, in the middle next to cycling Santa):

I also got out for a nice ride with Warren, Rom and Semira on Christmas Eve morning. We rode the PCH out to Trancas and on our way back detoured through Point Dume and got this photo overlooking the bright blue Pacific:

Except for a hill workout on Mandeville last Monday and a little speedy paceline work this morning, the riding has been mostly flat and steady, easy pace. My cycling fitness took a pretty big hit from the months off so I need to find my legs and heart before trying anything intense. And it's December, so there's no reason to push it!

December was a busy month. Lots going on in work and in life. As nice as it was to have a month without the stress of training for a specific race, it was also great to get out and enjoy the fresh air and clear my mind.

As a reminder, earlier this month I reviewed KT Tape Pro, and had a discount offer to pass along. If you're interested in getting a roll, go to the KT Tape Pro store, choose your color and use this code - KTPRO11 - for 20% off. Hurry up and get on it, the promo code expires on January 31, 2012.

2011 Annual Summary to come soon!

Happy New Year!

KT Tape Pro - Product Review (and discount offer)

2011-12-18T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'll preface this post by saying that I am a believer in kinesio tape. I'm not sure how it works (click here and scroll down about half-way if you want information about that) but I am convinced that it does. I've had success using kinesio tape for relief from pain and swelling due to various soft tissue issues, primarily in my IT bands, knees and achilles. I regularly used kinesio tape on those areas whenever I get that twinge that means some soft tissue is getting a little pissy. I've also put it on pro-actively before most of my bigger races, just in case.

I have a little history with the brand KT Tape and I've been using their tape for the last couple of years (you can read about that in several blog posts from 2010). I got an email from them a few weeks ago with an offer to send me a roll of a new version of their tape, called "KT Tape Pro". They describe KT Tape Pro as the world's first 100% synthetic version of kinesio tape (instead of cotton tape with acrylic adhesive) and say that it is a "high performance tape designed specifically to stick better, provide better support for a longer period of time and it stays on much better in water." In addition to my thoughts about the new KT Tape Pro, there's a 20% off discount code for your purchase of the tape below.

My roll of KT Tape Pro came at a great time - right as I was ramping up my weekly running mileage in training for the Catalina Eco Marathon and The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile. I've been using it for about six weeks now and I can happily say that it does what they claim. It gives me relief from those bothersome little twinges just like the original version of KT Tape, but the KT Tape Pro goes on and stays on! For example, I put a strip on my IT band the morning of the Catalina Eco Marathon. I never thought about it during the race and it stayed on perfectly for over a week after the race, including multiple more runs, a swim and at least one shower each day.^[*] It started to come a little loose around the edges the following weekend but it stayed on well for a couple more days of big running and I didn't actually tear it off until Monday evening. I'm sure it could have lasted a few more days if I'd wanted. Each other time I've applied the KT Tape Pro - and I've also tried in on my achilles, my lateral knee and the top of my foot - I've had similar results. If you look closely, you can see it on my left IT band in this photo of me crossing the finish at The North Face 50 a couple weekends ago.

The other really impressive thing about KT Tape Pro is how well it actually does stay on in the water. The original tape usually comes off the first time I swim. KT Tape Pro doesn't seem to be affected by the water and remained on during a swim and was still sticking just as well for a few days after. This would be a huge advantage for triathletes. (Disclaimer: I've only swam with it on my IT band and not with it on my knee or foot so I'm not sure if it would stay on as well in the water when it's applied around a joint.)

The last point I'll make about KT Tape Pro is that it looks pretty cool - there are eight color choices and they all have reflective silvery stripes.

The nice people at KT Tape have given me a promo code to pass along to all of you. If you're interested in getting a roll, go to the KT Tape Pro store, choose your color and use this code - KTPRO11 - for 20% off. Hurry up and get on it, the promo code expires on January 31, 2012.

One important thing that I've learned about applying KT Tape is that no matter how good the tape is, if you don't apply it right, it's not going to stick. Here are my tips (adapted from their website):

Clean the skin to completely remove lotion, dirt, and oils. I always wipe it off with rubbing alcohol. When I didn't have rubbing alcohol in Catalina, I used a little hand sanitizer. Also clip hair down (1/8") if it's excessive.
For any application where you need to cut the tape, make sure you round the corners; the tap will stay on longer that way.
Stretch/extend the area where the tape will be applied (i.e. bend the knee for IT band application, flex the foot for achilles application, bend the elbow, etc.).
Do not stretch the last 1.5-2 inches of the tape on either end; tension on the ends will cause the end to come up and then the whole thing will fall off quickly.
Before un-stretching the skin, give the application a good friction rub with the waxy side of the backing paper to generate some heat and activate the adhesive.
Apply the tape at least 30 minutes before exercising (they say an hour before is optimal).
The first skin the tape touches should be its ultimate location. Skin cells come off with the tape, making the 2nd application less effective.

There are tons of great instructional videos at KTTape.com. I usually watch the video a couple times just to make sure I'm doing it right.

If you have any questions about the tape, let me know!

^[*]In general, I've found that the original KT Tape will stay on my thighs and hips for at least three or four days, including training and showers. It almost always came off right away anytime I went swimming. It doesn't stay as long on my achilles or ankles, but I guess that's to be expected given the constant movement of the joints in those areas, pulling and pushing the tape around. That's a fine amount of time, but longer is definitely better, if it means saving money on new pieces of tape and time spent applying it.

The North Face Endurance Challenge - Race Report

2011-12-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

(photo by Brett Rivers)

It normally doesn't take me this long to write up a race report. But this hasn't been a "normal" week. In between finishing The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile race last Saturday afternoon and getting home last night, I slept in six different beds in five different cities in three different states. And I was busy the entire time. So, regardless of any desire to write this report, I would have struggled to find the time. And frankly, some mixed emotions about the race left me unsure about what I'd write. But once I got home last night I realized I had to had to get this done...
______________________________________________________________

When the plan is to run 50 miles, sometimes none of that matters.

I finished my pre-race-thoughts blog post with that sentence after discussing why I felt good going into the race. And last Saturday during the race, none of it mattered.

In the weeks leading up to the race I decided that my "A" goal was sub-9:00. My "B" goal was to beat my 9:33 from the 2009 race and my "C" goal, well, I guess it would have been sub-10 or sub-10:30, but I hoped it didn't get there. I finished the race in 9:17:39, placing 95th overall. So I hit my "B" goal and I know I have a lot to be proud of. My issue with the race is that I didn't run the race that I wanted to or am capable of and it hurt a lot more than I think it should have. And that burns. Without further rambling, here's the story:

Lukas, Tyler, Jason, Erin and I flew up to San Francisco Friday morning. We drove straight into the city to pick up our race packets at the North Face store. Packet pick-up was smooth, efficient and easy-peasy. Standing in line right behind us was Anna Frost who won the 50 miler last year. Lukas and I talked to her for a few minutes. She was super cool and friendly. We talked about her preparation for the race and she seemed calm and psyched to race. (Her prep definitely worked out for her again this year - she crushed the race, winning the women's race again with a time of 6:56:07, which was good enough for 12th overall!) One thing I love about ultras – there's very little pretension among the elites and they are grouped in right with the rest of us. Almost all the elites that I have met have been approachable and psyched to chat. (As a side note, I met Krissy Moehl this weekend and got to talk to her for a little bit and she was just as cool. Of course I was psyched to hear her talk about her race at North Face and getting selected to run Hardrock again in 2012, but she was asking me about my race at North Face and my plans for 2012 too. Ultramarathoners are mostly normal people with normal lives and jobs. They seem to really appreciate where they are and how they stay there.)

Anyway, after getting checked-in, we had a massive lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, stopped by Aaron’s office to say hi and then rolled out to Mill Valley to settle in for the evening.

Since the race started at 5am and we wanted to be there right around 4am, it was lights out before 10 with the hopes of getting at least some sleep.

Lukas and I were up at 2:45, out the door at 3:45 and at the race site a little after 4. After training together a lot during the last four or six weeks, Lukas and I were planning to start together and run as much of the race together as possible. We both knew that at some point one of us would pull ahead (or fall back) but until then, having company would be huge. We saw Dominic and Jack and some other Coyotes at the start line and then before we knew it, we were off. Lukas and I watched the front packs of headlamps twisting around that trails headlamps heading out towards Tennessee Valley.

It was a beautiful morning. Clear skies and a little cold at first, but it warmed up enough pretty quick. The first 14 or 15 miles of the race went great. With a very deep pool of top talent at the race, the front runners went out FAST. Lukas and I were running at what felt like a comfortable pace, but in retrospect may have been too fast for me, given my preparation and training. We hiked some steep hills, but were running everything else nice and smooth. At about mile 16 or 17, during the last parts of the climb to Cardiac, I started to feel "it". I made it to Cardiac (mile 18) in 2:50, right behind Lukas and Yanko (a guy who joined us around mile 10), but I was working hard to keep up with them. And it was far too early to be working hard.

(Cardiac aid station/drop bags. Photo by Pedro Martinez)

During the next stretch towards the McKennan Gulch out-and-back, I started suffering a bit. My legs were getting heavier and heavier. I kept generally with Lukas until about mile 20, then I just fell apart. It was around that point that my mind started getting to me. I was convincing myself that I'd done everything wrong – too little training, not enough calories, poor recovery since Catalina - and regardless of whether any of that was true, the negative took hold. During the last 2 miles before the turn-around, with Lukas out of sight, I'd convinced myself that it was time for my first DNF. The only thing that kept my mind positive was that I got to see most of the top men and all the top women fly by me headed back from the turn-around. Those runners were moving! It was especially fun to see Dominic and Jorge on their way back, running in the top 20-30.

By the time I rolled into the aid station at the turnaround (mile 22.8), I realized hadn't seen Lukas on his way back. Instead, I found him at the aid station. He was waiting for me. He said he was struggling, knew I was hurting and wanted us to fight through it together. I tried to convince him to go on ahead, but he wouldn’t listen and we stayed (mostly) together for the next 20 miles. I owe it to Lukas that I finished the race at all. I'm not sure I was mentally strong enough to do that second half on my own.

My diagnosis at the time was calorie deficit. I can't remember how many calories I took in during the first three hours, but I bet it was less than 300. And that is just plain dumb. I probably should have had twice that many. So, beginning at the McKennan Gulch aid station, I stuffed my face every chance I got - mostly with potatoes dipped in salt and GU chomps - and loaded up on the chomps and gels for the time in between aid stations.

Those 27 miles were tough. Despite the fact that the longest hill is the first climb to Cardiac from miles 14-18, there are five killer climbs in the last 20 miles of the race. I hiked (or willed my body up) them all. We ran the downhills and the little bits of flat. And just kept moving. And despite eating more than I ever have at any race, I don't think I ever recovered from not getting enough calories early. But I did make it so that I could survive to the finish. The pity is that on such a beautiful course, I could barely focus on enjoying it!

At about mile 29, during the climb up the Dipsea Trail, we ran into fellow Coyote, Pedro, who had some encouraging lies for us and took a couple photos. And we trudged along. Me just trying trying to keep up with Lukas.

(photo by Pedro Martinez)

With six or seven miles to go, Lukas took off and I couldn't keep pace.

The worst part of the race was the last 2 miles. I literally lost the will to run. With two miles to go, I let myself walk and get passed by a few more people. That sucked. The official photos (my bib number was 414) show me running it in to the finish, but that's only because I ran the last few hundred meters!

(photo by Aaron Spector)

(photo by Meganne Kanatani)

I can't remember ever being so happy to just be done with a race and can't remember ever feeling so shitty. But I did beat my time from 2009! I crossed to the cheers of Jimmy, Kate, Gareth, Lukas (he finished in 9:09) and Aaron and staggered around for a minute (you can sorta see the salt on my face and you can definitely see the sweet Pablove temporary tattoo!):

(photo by Aaron Spector)

then I chugged a couple bottles of coconut water:

(photo by Aaron Spector)

and collapsed:

(photo by Aaron Spector)

I have had the week to think about what went "wrong". Here's my list:

As I mentioned above, I didn't eat enough early. I usually don't take in very many calories at the beginning of runs or races, but that doesn't work for 50 miles. I was in a pretty deep calorie deficit three hours in and by the time I tried to fix it, it was sorta too late. From then on I ate a ton and that saved my race but the damage had already been done. This was a stupid rookie mistake that I shouldn't be making anymore.
I didn't put in enough miles in training. I was well prepared for a marathon or maybe a 50k, but not 50 miles. I needed probably 15-20% more miles each week - the 16-20 Saturdays plus 12 mile Sundays, should have been more like 20-24 mile Saturdays and 14-16 mile Sundays.
I don't think I was recovered enough from the Catalina Eco Marathon. In my mind Catalina was a training run, but I ran it more like a race. Trying to race those two races three weeks apart, on the training volume I'd done was too much.
I think Lukas and I went out a bit too fast for the first 15 or so. It was a super fast field up front and the front 40-50 were flying away from the start so it didn't seem like we were pushing too hard, but we must have been. Or at least I must have been!
I was coated in salt pretty early and remained that way throughout the race. I definitely didn't take in enough during those same first three hours, but from then on, nearly every time I ate I made sure to get electrolytes also. I don't know if that means I was taking too much or not enough salt, but I imagine it means something not so good!
Mental weakness. I needed to push through some of the hurt, especially towards the end. Getting passed so many times in the last 5 miles is utter bullshit.

It was a combination of them all, but the calories and training volume were probably my worst mistakes. Live and learn, right?!

Regardless of my mistakes, North Face is a great race. It's organized and run as smooth as butter. The course is beautiful (assuming you can enjoy it). And it's sick being out there with such an incredible field of lots of the world's best ultrarunners. The course had been changed a lot since the route I ran in 2009 - same idea and nearly all of the same trails, just hitting them in a different direction or order. This one felt harder than 2009, but that could be because I was feeling worse! Either way, it's a very challenging course, but who wants it to be easy?

North Face 2011 is in the books and so is my 2011 season. It was an up-and-down year of training and racing, but I'll have more to say about that in my annual review in a few weeks!

As always, thanks for all the love and support while I continue these crazy adventures.

Official results:
Time = 9:17:39
Pace = 11:10/mile
45/132 M30-39
82/280 Men
95/317 Finishers

North Face Endurance Challenge - Pre-Race

2011-12-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Bright and early tomorrow morning, I'm gonna show up at Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands ready to run the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile race.

The race starts at 5AM (I did say "early"!) and I'll hopefully be done sometime early/mid-afternoon. There is some sort of live tracking, but none of the emails have been clear about how it works. You can go here and sign up on facebook. But it's not clear to me whether the point of it is that my results get posted on my facebook page or if you can choose to have my results sent to you. Either way, I signed up - so if you're curious on Saturday, you should be able to check facebook profile page/wall...

I feel like my training has gone well, I tapered smart, am injury-free and generally physically and mentally ready for the race. When I ran this race two years ago, I finished in 9:33:47. I've done a lot of ultra training and racing since then and I feel like I know how to run much better. I'm headed up with training partners Lukas and Tyler and there will be a lot of SoCal Coyotes running in the 50 mile, 50k and marathon races and a large group spectating and supporting. It'll be great and encouraging to see a bunch of familiar faces out there. All of that all should point to a "good day" out there. But, when the plan is to run 50 miles, sometimes none of that matters.

Wish me luck!

Monthly Summary - November 2011

2011-11-30T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here's November:

Swim: 5,100 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 1:30 (hours)
Run: 181.5 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 5 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 35 hours

Weight: ??

My training volume was down a little this month, but between tapering for the Catalina Eco Marathon, traveling to NY for Thanksgiving and now tapering for my final race of the year, the NorthFace Endurance Challenge Championship 50 mile, that's to be expected. I had a couple pretty weeks and feel like I trained "smart". I'm looking forward to spending some time on the bike in December.

The NorthFace 50 is this Saturday in San Francisco. I had a great time there two years ago and I'm really looking forward to giving it another go.

My favorite picture of the month:

(photo by Rich Cruse)

Another run-focused month. Actually, another (nearly) run-only month. The difference this month was that I raced twice. I had a great day at the Catalina Eco Marathon. Actually, we had a great weekend on Catalina for the race.

My second race was the Montauk Turkey Run for Fun 6 mile race on Thanksgiving morning. Despite spending almost every Thanksgiving since 2001 on Long Island, this was the first time I ran this race. It's a small local race around Fort Pond in Montauk, with a three mile and six mile option. Everyone starts together, the three mile race is one loop and the six mile race is two. I guess you'd call the course slightly rolling, and there's one little climb in the second (and fifth) miles. The 600 starters were a mixed crowd - little kids, fast-looking college kids home for Thanksgiving break, families, a few serious-looking older runners. I was prepared to freeze my ass off, but it was actually a beautiful morning - sunny, clear and cool with temperatures in the high 40s. My official time was 37:25 (6:14/mile pace), which I'm happy with. If I could keep that pace for a 10K (and I definitely could), it would be a PR. I ran 10-15 seconds behind two people for most of the race and I thought I'd try to push the last half mile, but they matched my push and ended up maintaining their leads. I ended up around eighth overall. After finishing, I ran an extra few miles to get in 10 total for the morning.

The weather on Long Island over Thanksgiving weekend was awesome. It was sunny and relatively warm the entire time. We took Charlie and Gus to the beach every day.

My inlaws' Siberian Husky Neema loves playing at the beach. Charlie and Gus warily tag along.

The other "event" this November was Movember. In case you don't know, Movember is an annual month-long event when men grow moustaches in November to raise money and awareness for men's health issues, especially prostate cancer. To participate, you shave your face clean on October 31 and then grow a moustache for the month. Any style of moustache is permitted, but no beards or goatees. I've never grown a moustache before, so this seemed like a great excuse to see what it would look like (or... how ridiculous it would look!). I went with a handlebar moustache, which seems safer than the other styles. Here are a few pictures I took along the way:

November 1 - clean shaven:

November 9 - looks like most men's five o'clock shadow, wondering if it will look better or worse once it's grown in:

November 21 - growing in but much more in the "handlebars" than the upper lip:

November 27 - much more grown in, question answered, looks much more silly grown in:

Today, November 30:

I'm gonna keep the 'stache at least through tomorrow and probably through the weekend. It seems silly to shave it off before the race. Maybe it will give aid station volunteers something to laugh at.

Brooks PureProject Pure Connect - More Thoughts

2011-11-28T16:30:00.000-08:00

In early October, I got my pair of Brooks PureConnect. I took them right out for a six mile run and posted my initial thoughts. Overall, I thought they were OK, but I wasn't totally sold. I liked the way they looked, the 4mm heel-to-toe drop and the way they fit my funny shaped feet. But I thought they felt heavy for a 7.2 ounce shoe, were a little bulkier than the shoes I usually run in and was hoping for a more flexible shoe.

Since then, I've run over 150 miles in the shoes and feel like it's an appropriate time to update my thoughts. I thought they were a good looking shoe out of the box, but they really show dirt well too:

This shoe has really grown on me. In large part that's because, like most Brooks running shoes, it really fits my feet well - better than nearly any other shoe I've tried. However, I have changed my mind about one thing regarding the fit - the toe box is much narrower than I initially thought. I think that my initial impression of roominess was because they the shape of toebox has length in the center to comfortably fit my extra long middle toes. But the more I've run in them, the more I've noticed that the toe box is a bit narrow and tight. This doesn't bother me a ton, but I do notice it and wish it were a little wider.

One of my biggest initial concerns was that they felt bulky and heavy. But I'm over that. They still don't feel nearly as fast as my New Balance MT 101 or K-Swiss K-Ruuz. That means that these shoes wouldn't be my choice for speedwork or a race. But they've been great for everyday training.

I do a fair amount of my weekly mileage on trails and fireroads. The traction off-road is fine and the shoes are great on fireroads. The upper and sole have held up well so far.

The soles do leave a bit to be desired on rocky trails. Toward the end of one seven mile run on a rocky trail (Sullivan Canyon), the bottoms of my feet were a bit achy from pointy rocks poking into the sole. Also, the "gaps" in the foam in the forefoot of the sole are the perfect size for rocks to get stuck in.

It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's damn annoying. But if I have to choose between taking a little weight out of the sole and occasionally getting a rock stuck in there, so far, I'll deal with the rocks.

My other complaint - and I think this is part of my issue with the comfort (just because it fits my foot, doesn't necessarily make it comfortable) - is that the midfoot of the shoe isn't flexible. And as I've gotten used to wearing more flexible shoes, I think the stiff sole of the PureConnect makes my feet achy.

Finally, I still don't know what that split toe design does. I don't notice any benefit from it, but since it doesn't bother me or seem to have any detrimental effect, I guess I don't really care.

After saying all of that, I can sum this review up in one sentence: The PureConnect might have its flaws, but I did just order a second pair and am planning on running in them at the NorthFace Endurance Challenge Championship 50 mile this weekend in San Francisco. If I'm choosing to run 50 miles in them, there's gotta be a lot good about them!

There are plenty of other reviews of the PureConnect online, mostly pretty mixed. Here are some of the ones I enjoyed reading: Jeroen Van Geelen on Slowtwitch, Runblogger and The Middle Miles.

Catalina Eco Marathon - Race Report

2011-11-18T10:42:00.000-08:00

I had a fantastic time on Catalina last weekend. And that's not only because I finished THIRD OVERALL at the marathon. In fact, it's not even mostly because of that. It would have been a fun weekend even if I'd come in dead last (although the marathon wouldn't have been as much fun!). It was a fantastic weekend with great friends (old and new), lots of yummy food and fun activities.

Elizabeth and I took the ferry out to Catalina early Friday afternoon and arrived to mostly clear skies.

We were sharing a house with 14 friends, most of whom were running the marathon on Saturday.

The forecast had been calling for rain overnight and potentially more during the race. At the pre-race briefing, the race director told us that the race was happening rain or shine and as of then, the course would not be changed. If it really poured overnight and the trails or access roads were affected, they might have to make some changes. The sky was beautiful - does it look like rain?

(photo Kristin Cooley)

We had an early dinner and hit the sack. The house was quiet by about 9:30 and I think I was fast asleep before 10. I woke up around 12:30 to the sounds of pounding rain. Despite the forecast, I didn't expect it to be coming down that hard. I fell right back to sleep but was already half-way awake when my alarm went off at 5:30. The race wasn't scheduled to start until 8am and the starting line was a five minute walk from the house, but I like getting up early to take care of business, eat and digest breakfast and have plenty of time to get ready.

It was still pouring rain when the rest of the house starting stirring. I kept hoping that the rain would let up before the race. Rain during the race might not be so so bad, but hard rain while we were standing around waiting for the start would be miserable. And then, sometime around 6:30 or 7, the rain stopped. Carl Bell, our friendly local NBC weathercaster, told us (via twitter) that he didn't see any rain coming back to the island anytime soon! Sweet!

The 11 of us from the house doing the marathon jogged to the start but before we got there, we found out the course (and the starting line) was being changed. A quick pre-race announcement let us know that the rain had washed out some of the single-track trails and it would be an out-and-back course with about half on trails and half on roads. This is map of the "revised" course (about half of the "usual" course is on single track trails on the interior of the island) (map from Jack Rosenfeld's GPS):

It was a little confusing at the start trying to understand where we would be running, but whatever. At least we still get to run!

(photo Brittny Burford)

I lined up at the front with Jack Rosenfeld, Steve Schuman, Wadley and a few other guys. The countdown ended and we were off. For the first couple of miles on Avalon Canyon Road, Jack, Steve, Wadley and I stuck together while Patrick Baldwin, the eventual winner, disappeared ahead of us. After we passed into the Wrigley Botanical Garden and started up the first trail climb, Jack and Steve dropped back a bit and I ran either with, or right behind, Wadley. And that's how it stayed for a while. The trails were muddy and a little slippery - not so bad on the way up, but I figured it would be a slip-and-slide on the way back down.

The initial climbing ended around mile four and the trail section ended around mile six. From from there until the turn-around it was rolling hills with a few serious - but relatively short - hills. Here's the elevation profile of the "revised" course (also from Jack's GPS):

Around mile 10, Wadley was running well and I was worried that I was pushing too hard so I let up a little bit and he ran ahead. I was never much more than a minute behind him.

The weather turned out to be pretty much perfect. It was overcast and a little cool but I was totally comfortable in my Brooks Rev Sleeveless shirt (my usual race shirt). It never rained all day. The views in this section were pretty amazing. When the clouds broke (or we got above them), we could see the ocean far down below. I've heard that the views in the "usual" course are even better.

The mile markers on the course were a little off, but I figured they were close until I got to the last couple near the turn-around where mile 13 came in at 4:31 and mile 14 at 3:21! I was moving, but only in my dreams do I run that quick! In the end, everyone's GPS confirmed that the course was about 1.5 miles short and I'm guessing most of that difference was between miles 13 and 14.

Rich Cruse got a great photo of me just after the turn-around:

Why was I smiling so big?? That photo and a bunch of his other great photos from the race got published on the Competitor website.

Before the turn-around, I got to see how far I was from the leader (FAR! And he was looking great. He finished in 2:48, 27 minutes ahead of me!) and after it, I saw how closely people were behind me (too close for comfort!). Wadley was a minute or 90 seconds ahead of me and my goal at that point was to put myself in contention for second place and, if by some chance Patrick blew up, the win. But then, around mile 15, another Patrick (Wauters) came storming from behind, slowed to say hi for a second and was quickly somewhere far in the distance. It seemed I was now fighting for third place. (He ended up beating me by 8 minutes, all put on in the last 11 miles.)

The miles in the rolling road section were clicking off relatively quickly. There was a massive headwind that I hadn't noticed on the way out, which wasn't much fun, but I still felt in control of my pace and heartrate. I saw all my friends on my way back in and everyone looked great. I don't love out-and-back courses, but being able to see and say hi to everyone was pretty fun.

Around mile 19, I caught up to Wadley. He was stopped, said he was cramping, and asked me if I had any salt. I hadn't taken any of my Saltstick and didn't expect to need it, so I gave him my little baggy of Saltstick capsules and took off. Third place. Now to keep it. I looked back every so often, but never saw anyone. The twisty trails made it hard to see more than a minute or two behind, so I was definitely running scared . Except for a little section between miles 20-22, I was feeling good. I figured it would take a pretty huge surge for anyone other than Wadley to catch me.

I did let my usual doubt start to creep in - "So what if he catches me? Fourth is just as good as third." But unlike usual, I called "bullshit" on myself. Fourth is not as good as third. I might not hold on to third place, but I wasn't going to make it easy for anyone. That mindset felt unusual, but it's the right way to think!

The last 4 miles were down the same hills we climbed at the start and I did good work going down them. The final section on the road from the Botanical Garden until the finish line seemed really long, but I knew I was almost done. About 50 meters before the finish line, I saw Brittny, Laura, Brian and Rider screaming wildly (I heard them well before that!). Rider ran out to run in with me.

(photos Brittny Burford)

Opix was also on the course taking the "official" photos. You can check mine out here (just in case you need it, my race number was 275).

There's also a great video of the finish that Brian Cooley posted on facebook. He video'ed a bunch of the finishers in our house - those are on his facebook page also

In the end, I'm very proud of how I raced. I probably could have run harder and risked blowing up, but this time I did a good job of walking the line between running hard but not too hard. My training (especially those Tuesdays at Temescal and Thursdays with the Coyotes) really put me in a great place to climb well at the start of the race. I trusted that I could go a little hard from the start and it worked. My nutrition and hydration were pretty much spot-on. At the start, my handheld bottle had water and 1.5 servings of my Infinit "ultra-run" formula. I drank that during the first half and then had two gels during the second half. I didn't take anything from the aid stations other than some water to refill the handheld. I probably would have taken a Saltstick around mile 20 if I hand't given them away, but it didn't really matter.

The course was a little short and didn't have as much climbing as the regular course (3,500' compared to about 4,100'). Now I just need to go back next year and see what the real course is all about!

After crossing the finish line and chatting with a few of the guys, I waded into the ocean for a few minutes. I'm sure that that icy cold water helped my legs to recover, but the immediate effect was that I was freezing and shivering. My lips turned a fantastic color blue.

(photo Colin Cooley)

The warm-ish clothes I had on helped, but it wasn't until I went back to the house for a hot shower that I started to feel my extremities and my lips turned back to flesh color!

Back at the finish line, we all shouted the rest of the house in.

(All finishers!)

(photo Kristin Cooley)

Between my third place and a bunch of age group awards, we were hoping there'd be a big awards ceremony. So we waited and waited, but in the end, they cancelled it! Supposedly because of the weather. LAME. So we did our own impromptu one at the finish line.

(Colleen, Kristin, Colin, Rod - all age group award winners - and me)

(photos Kristin Cooley)

And later that evening, Elizabeth, Kristin and Colleen organized another "awards ceremony" for our house - everyone in the house got hilarious very-much personalized awards.

(photos Kristin Cooley)

Great idea ladies!

Sunday morning I was up early - way too early - and once it was light out, I went out and met Jack and Steve for a run. I got in about six miles on the roads around Avalon.

Then, nine of us went on the Zipline Eco Tour. THAT was a blast! It was a beautiful sunny day and we got tons of great photos and videos.

(photos Kristin Cooley)

Colin took this totally rad 360 degree video with his iPhone and some special attachment.

Finally, after a massive lunch, we decided we couldn't stay on Catalina forever, so we headed home!

(Me, Rod, Colin.)

(photo Kristin Cooley)

Catalina Eco Marathon - results

2011-11-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

Post race photo with Colleen, Kristin, Colin, Rod and me, with our awards. Courtesy of Colin.

Full race report will be written and posted at some point soon-ish, but for now, here's the results:

THIRD OVERALL!

Yes, that's third overall.

Time: 3:15:15
Overall: 3/195

The course got re-routed at the last minute because it poured all night Friday and some of the trails got washed out. It also ended up being a little short (probably closer to 25 miles) but it still had nearly 3,500 feet of elevation gain.

I got beaten fair and square by the two guys ahead of me. The winner crushed the course and ran a 2:48 and the guy in second finished in 3:08. I wasn't ever in a position to catch either of them.

Full report, with lots more pictures from the race and the awesome weekend to come soon!

Taper Thoughts

2011-11-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here's what I'm thinking about with the start of the Catalina Eco Marathon less than 72 hours away.

1. I'm very excited to do this race, after signing up and being forced to bail in both 2009 and 2010. Over two years of anticipation, I'm hoping for a fun day out there!

This will be only my fourth race of the year and the longest running race since September 2010.

I am actually tapering for this race. A modified/Josh-style taper, but a taper nonetheless. I've run over 300 miles since I turned on the training about six and half weeks ago. "Real" training ended with 12 strong effort miles with Lukas in Sullivan Canyon/Mulholland on Saturday and I've have been keeping it easy since then. Today is a day off, I'll do a short run tomorrow and maybe a couple miles on Friday morning just to keep the legs moving.

I know this is going to be tough:

But I consider myself a good mountain runner and I always like the idea of a challenging course. We'll see if I'm still singing that tune during the climb between miles 14-20.

And it's supposed to rain. Last weekend, the 10-day forecast said rain but I figured that would change. Not so much. It's still saying 60% chance of rain and thunderstorms. I've raced in the rain plenty. So... Bring it!

No matter what, it's going to be a fun weekend with a bunch of friends.

2. Movember is in full force. Though that might be hard to tell by looking at my face!

Nine days of moustache growth and it's just beginning to show. I've never tried to grow a mustache before. And for good reason. For now, I'm going with the "horseshoe" style 'stache (think Joe Namath minus the soulpatch or Hulk Hogan). That style seems safe and easy for someone (me) whose upper lip hair doesn't grow so quickly. Later in the month, if it actually grows in maybe I'll transition to something more aggressive (yeah, right). Someone at work yesterday said that it will only get better as it grows in more. I'm not so sure. I'm fearing that it will look much much worse! But it's fun and raising awareness for prostate cancer is certainly a great excuse. Coach Jimmy has organized a Coyote Movember team, so at least when I'm with the running group, I'm not the only one with a ridiculous upper lip.

3. Catalina will be my first race since starting my Vegan Challenge on August 1. I feel like the plant-based diet has hooked me up in a lot of ways. I feel lean, but I haven't dropped much weight. Most days my energy and mood are constant throughout the day, even when I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like. I don't worry at all about getting enough calories or protein. Even though the moral and ethical issues weren't top of mind when I made the decision, I feel good about myself and how I'm contributing to our planet's health. What started as a one month experiment has now been over three months and I don't see any reason to stop any time soon. The Vitamix has been invaluable in my diet switch as has the advice of Rich Roll (Jai Lifestyle), Brendan Brazier (Vega Sport and Thrive) and other on-line vegan and no-meat resources. The support (and indulgence) of friends and family has also been huge, especially Elizabeth who seems to always deal well with my crazy shit.

4. The first year of the Pablove Triathlon Team is coming to an end and that means it's time for us to be out hitting the streets lining up sponsors for 2012. (This year's sponsors included Rudy Project, Infinit Nutrition, Race Day Wheels and Bike Improve.) We have a great group of athletes on the team (including Alana Kennedy-Nasser who took third place in her age group at Ironman Florida last weekend!) and we're growing quickly. We expect to have a good presence at a bunch of races next year, including the LA Marathon, Wildflower, Honu 70.3 and the Malibu Triathlon, among others. If you're interested in joining the team, check out our facebook page. If you're interested in sponsoring us, you can email at pablovetriathlonteam@gmail.com. Thanks!

Monthly Summary - October 2011

2011-10-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's October:

Swim: 7,500 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 2:00 (hours)
Run: 216.3 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 6 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 44.75 hours

Weight: mid-150's

This month has been almost exclusively about running. Lots of running. My biggest running month since last summer. And, for the most part, it's felt great. Little aches and pains here and there and a couple days where I was worried that the "little" ache might be developing into something more real, but (knock on wood), so far so good. As I wrote wrote the other week, I've been spending a ton of time in the Santa Monica mountains. These pictures are from Saturday's run through Temescal (photo above), Eagle Rock (first photo below), Garapito Trail, the Backbone (second photo below) and Rivas Canyon. Most weekends, I've been out in the Santa Monicas on both Saturday and Sunday (and Tuesday and Thursday during the week). This past weekend I logged over 33 miles (21.6 on Saturday, 12 on Sunday). That definitely qualifies as a big weekend for me. Catalina Eco Marathon is less than two weeks away - one week of moderate training, one week of taper.

Other than running, the only other training I really did this month was the "Swim-X"/swim bootcamp class that I mentioned before. It's been a perfect compliment to the running and a great off-season workout. The anaerobic strength training is fun and I'm learning some new swim strokes and technique that should be helpful once I get back into the endurance swimming in December or January.

I didn't spend a single minute outside on the bike this month. November probably won't be any different!

Now, since it's Halloween, I'll end this post with pictures of the boys in their costumes:

Bumble Gus:

Super Charlie:

Training Update

2011-10-20T21:10:00.000-07:00

In late September when I decided that I was going to spend the next seven weeks running and running and running to prepare for the Catalina Eco Marathon on November 12, I was a little worried. I felt good coming off a decent run at the SOS Triathlon, but I also knew that seven weeks might not be enough time to get from there to marathon shape. With that in mind, I just started running.

I started with three building weeks (33.6, 44.7 and 47.4 miles), then a recovery week (34.7 miles). This week I'm shooting for somewhere north of 50 miles, then I'll do another hard week and a half, before I finish with an eight or ten day taper.

I'm happy to say (knock on wood) that the running is going really well. Since the Eco Marathon is hilly instead of super fast, I've been spending a lot of time climbing hard on the trails. Most weeks, I've been doing serious climbs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays (mostly with some combination of Jimmy, Lukas and Tyler) and doing recovery runs with some tempo mixed in on Wednesdays and Sundays.

The other bonus of all the running is that over the last few weeks, I've seen the sun rise from up high in the Santa Monica Mountains about a half dozen times. Starting at the base of the climb in the pitch black darkness, running up the trail with headlamps while the sky slowly gets a bit more light. Then, no matter how tired I feel, seeing that first bit of the sun peek over the horizon instantly energizes me and reminds me exactly why I'm out there. I wish I had pictures to share, but trust me it's a beautiful sight.

I'm definitely not in marathon shape yet, but I feel like I'm making good progress. Now I just need to stay healthy!

In order to get the running miles in I've pretty much abandoned my bike. A few minutes on the trainer once a week is all I've been doing. I was going to hang up the swim goggles as well, but instead I've been going to this sweet "Swim-X"/swim bootcamp class that my friend Evan is starting up. It's upper and lower body strength mixed in with swimming. Swim 50 meters, jump out of the pool and do some push-ups, swim 50 meters, jump out do air squats or lunges or shoulder presses, etc. It definitely doesn't do much for my swim endurance, but it's huge for core strength and I love getting some anaerobic work in every week. Also, since I'm definitely the weakest swimmer in the group, I'm able to get some tips and watch some good swimmers swim, which should help my form once I turn back to the endurance swimming sometime after the marathon.

If you want something badly enough...

2011-10-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

When the K-Swiss people at the Malibu Triathlon told me that unless I went to Kona, there was no possible way to get my hands on a pair of the new K-Swiss K-Ruuz 1.5s until February 2012, I first got angry but then put a plan in action, and voila:

And these aren't even ready for sale:

I like that K-Swiss debuted them on their pros at Kona and made them available to the public on the island at the same time! Good move!

I owe thanks to Tyler who was there to spectate, not race (this year at least). I got my pair on Thursday and took them out for a little test drive this morning. My initial impressions (it's hard to comment on anything other than aesthetics and basic feel at this point):

I dig the red and yellow color scheme, they're flashy but not too gaudy and look fast!
The upper is way improved over the original K-Ruuz, it feels lighter, softer and more flexible and doesn't have the annoying, toe-destroying vinyl piece over the toes. I wore socks today, but will definitely try them sockless soon.
Like the originals, they're still light and low to the ground. These feel lighter than the originals, but that could be extra weight from accumulated dirt that I'm feeling!
The toe box feels a little roomier. I did go up a half-size, but my toes had lots more room than in the original.

I've done all my racing - and lots of training - this year in my pair of the original K-Ruuz, and they're showing their age. I'm sure I could eke out some more miles in them, but they badly want to be retired and now they can be.

And when it rains it pours. After not getting any new running shoes for six months, I've gotten three new pairs in the last two weeks. The Brooks PureConnect, these K-Swiss K-Ruuz 1.5s and a third pair that hasn't even touched the ground yet. More details on that third pair to come soon.

Seeing as how I've run 95 miles in the first 15 days of the month, I guess it's good timing to get the new shoes!

New shoes, plus a hike in Griffith Park with Elizabeth, Loren, Charlie and the dogs, makes for a great Saturday morning!

Brooks PureProject Pure Connect - First Look

2011-10-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

After months of anticipation, Brooks finally released their PureProject line of shoes on October 1.

As a member of the Brooks I.D. program, my pre-ordered pair arrived a couple of days early. But due to my running schedule, I wasn't able to take them for a test run until today.

One six mile run isn't nearly enough to post a real review, but since the shoes are brand-spankin' new and getting a fair amount of press (among running nerds, anyway), I wanted to get my initial thoughts posted right away. To be super brief: I liked, but didn't love the shoes today.

Here are some initial bullet point thoughts:

Pro:

They're pretty rad looking. I'm a huge fan of the green and grey color scheme
The mesh uppper is light and breathable
I wore socks today but I'm pretty sure that I could comfortably run sockless in them
The 4mm heel-toe offset feels good and natural
Roomy shape with a wide toebox

Con:

At 7.2 ounces, they're about the same weight as some of my other favorite shoes like the K-Swiss K-Ruuz, New Balance MT100 and Brooks Green Silence, but for some reason they feel heavier than any of those
In addition to feeling heavier than my other shoes, it's "more shoe" than I'm used to running in - I think that's because it has a bulkier sole and more structure than those other more racing-focused shoes
It's very stiff
The insole has more arch structure and support than I would prefer
There's a hard, stiff structured piece that surrounds the toes and another that cups the back of the heel; I'm not sure what the purpose of these are and again would just prefer less structure
I knew this shoe would fit between a racing flat and a trainer, but I was hoping it would fall closer to the flat than the trainer. But today at least it didn't feel like a "fast" shoe which will relegate it to training instead of racing for me

One other thought: Despite the fact that it's light and has a low heel-toe offset, I wouldn't consider it a "minimalist shoe" by the usual definitions. If you look at Runblogger's 8 key characteristics, the PureConnect meets 1, 2 (though I'd like an even lighter shoe), 3 and 5. It sort of meets 6 and 7. That's all pretty good on paper, but it's too structured and stiff and you really don't get any feel of the ground in these shoes.

Despite some initial misgivings, I like the shoes and I'll keep putting miles on them. I'll update here as I do.

Brooks came out with four models in the PureConnect line, including the "PureGrit" trail shoe. If you're a trail runner, definitely check out L.A. Runner's first impression of the PureGrit trail shoe.

Monthly Summary - September 2011

2011-09-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Here's September:

Swim: 5,004 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 100.2 miles
Cycling (indoors): 0:30 (hours)
Run: 102.5 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 8 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 28.75 hours

Weight:??

This was a relatively low volume month. Between traveling to New York for two weeks, including an extended taper for SOS, and then recovery from SOS, I spent about half as much time training as usual. But that certainly doesn't make it a "bad" month! In fact, I ran more in September than I have in any month since April. And generally felt good doing it.

September 21 marked one year since my spinal surgery. Someone I don't see all that often asked me about my back the other day and it took me a minute to realize what they were talking about. I rarely think about it at all!

The highlight of the month was S.O.S. Triathlon and my second place age group finish.

After finishing my final triathlon of the year, I decided to dedicate the rest of September and October and November to running, especially trail running. Between now and December, the bike and the swim goggles will be in semi-retirement, probably only coming out to play once a week. I've put in some good miles on my feet over the last two weeks and am planning on slowly increasing my weekly the mileage in preparation for the Catalina Eco Marathon on November 12. So far, so good on that front. In fact, during the last two weeks I've had some of my best runs of the year. The trick is going to be keeping that up without getting too excited and pushing too hard!

S.O.S. Triathlon (Survival of the Shawangunks) Race Report

2011-09-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

It’s unusual for me to wait this long to post a race report. And I definitely don’t have a good excuse. I don't have very many pictures and am hoping that some official ones will be posted at some point.

Summary: I had a fun day at S.O.S. It's a great event and I’m pretty pleased with my result. I think that with more determined and focused training (and without a slight hiccup at transition) I could have raced faster and more comfortably, but I pretty much say that after every race. Hopefully I can take this as a lesson for next season.

Week pre-race:

We flew to NYC on Thursday, September 1, ten days before SOS. It was a busy ten days and it ended up being more a "break" than a "taper". First, we went out to Princeton, NJ for Gal and Jenny’s wedding. The wedding was a blast and we got to spend time with a bunch of good friends we don’t see very often. On Saturday I got out for a ride in Princeton. I went looking for some hills, but the best I could really do were some bumps. Nevertheless, I'm really glad I got that ride in, because I didn't touch the bike again until race morning! Sunday (our anniversary!) we drove into the City and checked into our hotel in Union Square, where we were staying for the week. My plan was to taper for the week, but still get in a few good, short, intense training sessions. In the end, the only of those adjectives I achieved was "short". The weather was abysmal pretty much all week – I’m not afraid to train in the rain, but I wasn’t interested in being out and about in the City in the pouring rain that was came down most of the time we were there. I ran a couple times on the hotel treadmill, did some strength work and ran the stairs in the hotel. My legs were definitely well rested for the race!

The weather cleared up just in time for Gen Art's fall fashion show on Friday evening. Elizabeth had been working around the clock all week to make it happen and I was excited to see that it was a huge success.

Saturday we drove out to New Paltz for SOS. During the week, Don Davis, the race director, sent out an email explaining that Hurricane Irene had destroyed sections of the course so the race would be changed from eight stages to four, cutting out two swims and two runs. Then, at the pre-race meeting, we heard that due to Tropical Storm Lee, some of the roads were closed and the bike course was changed.

Race Morning:

Up at 4:30. A Clif Bar, an apple and a coconut water for breakfast and we were off to the Ulster County Fairgrounds for the start. It was already in the low-60’s by 6:30. SOS is a wave start, with the waves starting one minute apart. The first wave was the Open division and men under 30. I was in the second wave.

Leg #1: 28 mile bike: 1:32:43

I biked well. I was maybe a little too conservative at the beginning. In SOS, especially with the shortened course, there was a real opportunity to push it on the bike. The primary difference between this course and the “normal” one was an additional hill early on – it started at about mile 4 and climbed about 750 feet over 2.2 miles. After the climb, there was a fast descent. While going about 40mph down the hill, the dude in front of me hit some loose gravel, slowed down on the side of the road and fell over. I considered stopping but he didn’t fall hard, looked OK and I was going 40 downhill. Stopping would have been dangerous. It turned out he passed me around mile 17 and then ended up coming in 4th place overall. I talked with him after the race and he agreed that I shouldn’t have stopped!) After the descent, there are 12 flat/rolling miles and then the final climb. You climb about 1,100 feet in 6 miles. It’s tough and a lot different than the rest of the course, but I feel like I’m a decent climber and got through it just fine. I was the first in my age group off the bike.

Transition: 3:17

Transition at SOS should be really quick. Hand off your bike and helmet to your crew person (every racer has to have a crew person), grab running shoes and goggles and go. My transition had a little snafu and I lost at least two minutes there.

Leg #2: 10-11 mile run: 1:16

When I finally got off for the run, I was feeling great. I passed a few guys right away and settled into a just-barely-uncomfortable pace. The first seven miles of the run were downhill or flat. For the entire run I ran with or slightly behind a guy in my age group named Brian McDonald. About two-thirds of the way through, someone passed us and Brian made a little surge to stick with the guy. I didn’t go with him. Instead, from that point on, I was thirty or forty feet back. He was always in my sight, but I never pushed to try to catch him. Just like at Wildflower, I’m a little upset at myself for not making it hurt more. Brian got into the lake about 30 seconds ahead of me.

Leg #3: 0.5 mile swim: 13:28

My swim sucked. Wow. Granted, I lost a lot of swim fitness because of the broken collarbone, but if I'm gonna race triathlons next year, I need to put in some serious pool time. The other part of the reason it sucked was that I swam with my shoes on. When I did SOS in 2008, for each swim, I took off my shoes, shoved them into the back of my shorts and then put them back on after the swim. That worked great. But this year, since it was just the one swim, I decided not to waste the time taking them off and putting them back on. Swimming with shoes – even light ones like the K-Ruuz – is not fun. My feet were heavy and dragging, but the worst part was that every pull felt like I was wearing massive paddles or pulling through thick pudding. If I go back for SOS in 2012, I’ll have to think hard about the shoe strategy. On the other hand, the water was a perfect temperature and it felt great to be in the lake.

Leg #4: 0.7 mile run: 5:53

The final run was tough. And it’s supposed to be. It’s a short 0.7 miles run, but it’s essentially straight up hill. You’re dizzy from just getting out of the lake and trying hard to will your legs to move at all, let alone carry you up the hill. I was a little slower than 2008. I did get a little "assist" up part of the trail by an awesome three year old boy who paced me for a few hundred feet!

Final result: 3:10:50
Age group: 2/14
Overall: 22/141

Post-Race:

I crossed the finish line mostly feeling relieved. And extra relief that Hurricane Irene forced the course changes so that I only had to swim half a mile instead of 2.1 miles.

Brian came over and told me that we’d taken first and second in the age group. I had spent the race assuming there was at least one person in front of us. Podium! Goody!

The post-race lunch at the awards ceremony is as fantastic as everyone says it is! Even my sorry-ass vegan self found plenty of delicious stuff to eat.

After the race we drove out to Wainscott to spend a few chill days at the house there. The weather was beautiful on long island and we spent a few hours each day on a the uncrowded, post-Labor Day beach with the dogs.

Were you looking for me?

2011-09-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

You can find me here (yes, that's the front page of Franco Bike's redesigned website):

And if you're too lazy to follow the link, here's the photo:

That picture was taken the same day earlier this summer as this video:

Our Backyard from Franco Bicycles on Vimeo.

Franco's doing some pretty cool stuff with bikes and southern California cycling these days. Top-notch personal customer service. Customizable builds. Their Triunfo Speed TT bike is now on the market and looks just as pretty as the Balcom road bike featured above. I'm super stoked about mine.

p.s. Today marks the one year anniversary of my spinal surgery. It's been a pretty wacky year.

14 weeks later

2011-09-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

I "graduated" from clavicle surgery this morning. Dr. Modabber looked at the X-ray and pronounced the bone "at least as strong as it was before the crash".

I've been feeling - and acting - that way for a bunch of weeks now, but it was still good to hear from the doctor. The spot of the fracture is pretty much impossible to miss (but I added the arrow just in case!). It looks like there are some gaps in the bone, but Dr. Modabber said it's pretty well fused.

Also, today I'm starting an eight-week training plan for the Catalina Eco Marathon on November 12. No, eight weeks isn't really enough time to properly train for a marathon. And no, I don't really have the run fitness currently to "fake it". So, I'm gonna try to find a smart mix of getting enough miles under my feet without doing too much too quickly. In other words, I'm going to try to train "smart". This is the third year in a row that I've signed up for the race. In 2009, achilles tendinitis took me out, and last year, I had to bail because of spinal surgery. I'm sure hoping that the third time's the charm! With all that in mind, I'll start the training with a rest day!

This weekend I spent a lot of time spectating at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon. I had a bunch of friends and Pablove Triathlon Team members racing both days. I tried getting a bunch of good pictures, instead I mostly ended up with blurry, poorly composed shots. This post-race one of the group of friends from college who do the race most years is one of the better ones (of course I didn't take it!)

You can see the rest of Saturday's pictures here in an album on Facebook. Hopefully I'll upload Sunday's photos to the same album tonight. Watching a triathlon is friggin' stressful - the anxiety of trying to catch multiple people come through on a bike for a split second each is exhausting!In three years of living in LA, I'd never made it to Malibu to race or watch the triathlons.

After watching both days, I got a little more fired up for racing in general. Depending on how I work out my 2012 race schedule, I'm going to try to fit the International Distance race (Saturday) in next year. It looks like a nice course, is definitely competitive and I'm sure to know a bunch of people out there. On the other hand, the "Classic"/sprint race (Sunday) is not one I see myself doing - it seemed like there were just way too many people and it just looked like chaos, especially around the transition area.

Welcome home!

2011-09-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of traveling, we got home yesterday afternoon. There are a lot of reasons why I'm happy to be home, but these are among the top:

Thursday morning Coyote trail run. This week was Los Liones. Tyler and I lollygagged on the way up but pushed a bit towards the top and then hustled on the way down. I was hoping for a great view of the Malibu coast, but we were completely fogged in.

Breakfast at home. Getting back to my morning Vitamix fruit and veggie shake. This morning was kale, celery, carrots, apple, pineapple, ginger, pepitas, Vega Sport protein, chlorella, maca, chia seeds, Udo's oil, nutritional yeast and water. Yum!

SOS - Results

2011-09-11T19:06:00.000-07:00

The race went really well today. I ended up 2nd in my age group (35-39) and 22nd overall. My time was 3:10:40 (or so). The picture above is from the awards ceremony - from left to right Brian, me and Park, 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the age group, separated by something like 1:30.

The official splits aren't posted yet, but as I expected, the bike felt good, the run felt good and the swim felt like sh*t. If I'm gonna race triathlons next year, I've gotta spend a lot of time this winter in the pool!

I'm pretty thankful they cut out those two swims this year!

Special thanks to Elizabeth for crewing me today!

I'll post a full report with some more pictures soon!

SOS, here I come?

2011-09-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the lovely Super 8 New Paltz.

The SOS pre-race meeting is done, all my stuff for tomorrow is fairly well laid out and the alarm is set for a 4:30am wake up.

In addition to the changes to the run and swim legs I wrote about last Saturday, heavy rains this past week have flooded a section of the usual bike course, so that's been changed now too!

Here's the revised-revised course:

- 28 mile bike, now with two climbing sections instead of just one. Click here for the course map and elevation profile. The first climb (the new one) is near the beginning of the race and is about 2.5 miles long with 750 feet of gain. The second climb (the same one as in the usual course) comes around mile 22 and is 5.5 miles long with 1,100 feet of gain.

- 11 mile run, finishing at the end of the usual third run leg

- 0.5 mile swim across Lake Mohonk (same as third swim)

- 0.7 mile run to the usual finish line

Although I am disappointed not to do the "real" SOS course, this revised course should work in a little in my favor. I like climbing on the bike and have been doing a fair amount of it in training. A single 11 mile run doesn't make much difference to me. I haven't been swimming enough, so reducing the total swim from 2.1 miles to 0.5 miles works well! On the other hand, since it's shorter, the intensity should be higher, which does scare me a little.

I definitely do not feel anywhere close to tip-top racing shape. During our travels, I've been taking "taper" to the extreme. I got on the bike last Saturday in Princeton for a nice little ride, but haven't been on the bike since (the constant rain was a good excuse). I didn't search too hard for a pool in NYC and haven't been in the water for 10 days. I did run a few times, but never with any purpose. I've done more than my share of eating. And my sleeping has been a mess - going to bed late, up early some days, sleeping in some others. This is definitely not how you prepare for a race!

Between the new course and how I'm feeling, I have absolutely no idea how long tomorrow will take me. In 2008, I finished the real SOS course in 5:11:17. But there's no way to compare that result to tomorrow's race. If I race well, I'm guessing tomorrow will be somewhere around 3:40. But it could just as easily take me over four hours. The shorter course should mean that the top racers, including pro triathletes Rebeccah and Laurel Wassner, won't beat me by as many minutes!

Tomorrow is just another chapter in what's been a very "interesting" season!

Vegan Traveler

2011-09-05T20:13:00.000-07:00

I made it through my Vegan Challenge and decided that I'm sticking with it. I like the way I feel. I have great energy, feel lean and fit and my athletic performance hasn't suffered one bit. (We'll see what I think about suffering next Sunday at SOS, but that's another story!). To the contrary, August was a relatively high training-volume month for me and the plant-power kept me fueled and strong. I'm ready to keep this "experiment" going!

When I started the Vegan Challenge, I wrote that the environmental and ethical concerns weren't my primary motivation. But as I get more "into" this diet and spend time educating myself about it, I'm finding those issues increasingly impossible to ignore. There is no question that a plant-based diet is better for the environment and for everyone living on it. And that is becoming part of my motivation to continue the vegan diet. I've been trying to avoid being preachy here, but I'm sure I'll write more on those thoughts soon.

Right as the Vegan Challenge ended, a few weeks of heavy travel began. Flying to the east coast with a fair amount of traveling while there. I'll be mostly staying in hotels without my refrigerator full of fruits and veggies and without my precious Vitamix. We went to a rehearsal dinner and a wedding in Princeton over the weekend. During this coming week I have more time in a hotel, some work events and meals out with friends. It will definitely take a lot more focus and determination to stay on a vegan diet while I'm away than it does while I'm at home. I have to accept that during travels I won't be "perfect". And that's fine.

During the weekend in Princeton, I did pretty well. When we got into town, I did some research and found the Whole Earth Center Grocery Store. That place is awesome. In addition to tons of organic and natural grocery items, they have a nice juice bar and good prepared food. They have this delicious salad with kale, almonds, brown rice, tofu, carrots and some other yummy stuff. There's also a Whole Foods in Princeton, but the beauty of the World Earth Center is that it's right near the middle of everything on Nassau Street. I did break down a little at the wedding itself. For dinner, they actually had a vegan option (a delicious lentil and beans dish), but there was some cream in the pasta during cocktail hour and I bet there was a pound of butter in the tiny piece of dessert I had.

Yesterday afternoon we drove to the City and are staying near Union Square. The location is totally hooking me up! There's a Whole Foods a five minute walk from the hotel. I'd read about Liquiteria - a juice bar in the East Village. I went over there today and had one of their green juices for breakfast. Frankly, I was disappointed. First, now that I'm used to the "meaty" juices I get out of the Vitamix, whole fruits and veggies, fortified with goodies like maca, chia, chlorella, green protein, nutritional yeast and coconut oil, the juice at Liquiteria didn't really do it for me. Second, paying the exorbitant prices they charge was a little unsettling when I was thinking about what exactly I was getting! Tomorrow morning, I'll walk over to Jus instead. Their juices still won't compare to the Vitamix, but if memory serves, they're better than Liquiteria. Tonight, I had a delicious falafel sandwich and sweet potato fries from Maoz. There are a few well-reviewed vegan restaurants around the City. I'll try to hit some of them during the week while we're here.

Things will get tougher for the rest of the week as the social commitments kick in. But again, I'll do the best I can.

SOS update

2011-09-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

The new post-Irene course description was posted to the race website today.

There will be more detail posted soon, but what I know now is that the race will be:
- the same (or very similar) 30 mile bike
- a long run
- one swim across Mohonk Lake
- Then the final uphill run to the usual finish line.

We're losing two runs and two swims.

I know that the race directors are doing everything they can to put on a good race and I'm trying not to be disappointed, but it is a bummer. On the other hand, a shorter course is probably better for me and my deficient fitness this year! And I guess I'll just have to come back next year!

Monthly Summary - August 2011

2011-08-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Here's August:

Swim: 20,214 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 302.6 miles
Cycling (indoors): 5:59 (hours)
Run: 88.6 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 7 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 52:20

In August I finally, sorta, re-found my training groove. It was my highest volume training month since April and I finally got back in the pool after busting my collarbone in June. Thanks to some very helpful guidance from Coach Rom, I feel like I trained smart in August. I added in a decent amount of intensity in all three sports for the first time this year. Despite that, though, I'm still feeling underprepared for SOS on September 11.* I'm sure I'll be fine, but I'm not in the race shape that I hoped to be in before my crash. Shit happens, and I'm really just thankful that I'm healthy and fit enough to participate in the race at all. If preparing to race in New York on the 10 year anniversary of September 11 doesn't put things into perspective, what will?

August was also notable for our one-month Vegan Challenge. Today marks the official end of it, so I'm going to celebrate by having a big slice of:

Home made Vegan (and gluten free) Sweet Potato Pie!

It was super easy to make. I got the recipe courtesy of Rich Roll's e-cookbook (available for purchase/download here). I swapped out the pumpkin for sweet potatoes that I baked and peeled.

It's an almond, vegan butter and honey-based crust:

and the filling is sweet potato, soft tofu, maple syrup, honey and spices all mashed together:

The finished product was for a party at work. It came out pretty damn good (if I do say so myself!). The one issue I had with it was that the filling took longer to cook than I expected and the crust got a little burned around the edges.

I decided a few weeks ago that I'm going to extend the Vegan Challenge indefinitely (and probably can't call it "Vegan Challenge" any longer...). I feel healthy and full of energy. Thanks to advice from friends and strangers, I've found pretty easy ways to get more than my share of food, including protein. I've put the Vitamix to good work and had a shake nearly every day this month. Elizabeth is constantly amazed at how much fresh veggies we always have in the fridge. I can't say that I won't "cheat", especially when I'm out of town, but there's no question that that will be the exception rather than the rule.

__________________________________________________________________
* We got this email from Don Davis, the SOS race director today:

"Minnewaska State Park where much of our running and swimming takes place was extremely hard hit by Hurricane Irene and is closed for the foreseeable future. Your race committee is working to plot a new course for this year's race that will be both challenging and scenic. We will send you further information via another email by Monday September 5th."

Bummer, but I'm sure they're scrambling now to put together a challenging and fun alternate course.

Once

2011-08-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

365 days ago, I was reveling in the joy of this:

That was a good day!

What a year it's been.

Vegan Challenge continues

2011-08-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Eighteen days into the Vegan Challenge and this is really becoming less and less of a "challenge." I'm still enjoying the vegan diet and haven't really struggled to find enough good things to eat.

The only tough meal last week was a surprising one. Elizabeth and I both got home from work late one night so I decided I'd run over to Whole Foods and grab dinner from their prepared foods section. I figured that for certain Whole Foods would have a bunch of vegan options. Maybe I picked the wrong night, but the vegan choices were few and far between and pretty disappointing. The basic salad bar is fine, but I can do that easily at home. There was a lentil salad and an edamame salad and some dry-as-cardboard vegan meatballs, but that was about it. Everything else that was meat-free (including the quinoa burgers and veggie burgers) had dairy and/or eggs. I ended up with a big salad, including some of the lentils and edamame. It was fine, but I was expecting more from Whole Foods. I was going to write "lesson learned" but I'm not sure what that lesson is!

We were at home in San Diego last weekend and my mom indulged us with a delicious vegan dinner - cold mango soup and roasted veggies and orzo. That dinner totally deserved a picture to post on the blog. Oops!

And yesterday, I met Pete at Native Foods in Culver City for lunch. On our way in, we ran into Tanya Petrovna, the chef and founder of Native Foods. She was super cool and gave us a quick lesson about how they make tempeh. I could definitely eat there every day. Yum!

In the "confessions" section of this update, I do have one to make. For years, my favorite cereals have been Kashi GoLean and Kashi GoLean Crunch. They're delicious, have a bunch of soy protein and seem relatively healthy for breakfast or a snack. I just assumed they were vegan. Silly me. In fact, they are sweetened, in part, with honey. It's pretty far down the ingredients list, but it's still there. This "revelation" brought up an interesting question for me - Is avoiding honey going "too far"? To my mind, meat and dairy and eggs are all in the same family of animal products, but if I'm doing this Vegan Challenge primarily for health, as opposed to moral, reasons, do I need to also cut out all honey? And what about all refined sugar. In truth, both honey and refined sugar are a minuscule part of my diet, but is eating any of it "cheating" or somehow diminishing my Vegan Challenge goals? For now, at least, I say "No". Or am I just rationalizing now so I can "cheat"?

As for how I'm feeling, it's tough to tell. At the same time I started the diet, I started ramping up my training in preparation for SOS. So while I feel leaner and more fit every day, what portion of that is due to diet and what portion to the training? Either way, I do feel better about myself. I like having the fruit and veggie shake nearly every morning. I like eating tons of fruit and veggies. I like filling up shopping bags at the local farmers' market at least once a week. And I've been having fun exploring on-line resources and talking to people about veganism.

Vegan Challenge update + Vitamix

2011-08-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

Nine days in and the Vegan Challenge is going great so far. I haven't had any cravings for anything outside of the diet and I haven't been particularly tempted to "cheat". The only time I questioned it was while sitting at the sushi counter at Izaka-ya by Katsu-ya watching my friend chow some nice looking pieces of fish. But I filled up on Shishito peppers, seaweed salad and some tofu with veggies and was (almost) perfectly happy.

I haven't really noticed much of a change in how I feel. As I mentioned in the initial Vegan Challenge blog post, this isn't a huge change in diet for me, so I'm sure what to expect. I do notice that I don't feel the need to snack as much during the day. My activity level is higher than it's been in a couple months, so the lack of constant hunger is something of a surprise. Maybe it's because what I am eating is more nutrient dense? I'm also feeling a bit leaner (though not lighter - i.e. more muscle), but that is also related at least in part to the increased training volume.

Before we started the Vegan Challenge, we bought a Vitamix blender. Whether we bought the Vitamix to help with the Vegan Challenge or if we decided to do the Vegan Challenge to justify the purchase of the Vitamix remains an open question! :)

I made a shake every day last week. Most days, I have it after my morning training. I'll admit that the shakes I made the first couple days we're all that good. But through trial and error I'm figuring it out. Initially, I tried to jam too much in there at once and my first few shakes were pretty much all veggie, with a little bit of fruit thrown in almost as an afterthought. But I've learned that more fruit is definitely better. Also, unlike a juicer, you do have to add water or coconut water or fruit juice or you'll end up with a "shake" that's closer to the consistency of tar.

I've also learned that what would usually be considered a very strange combination of foods, might actually taste good once it's been through the Vitamix. Sunday's was one of my best: some kale, one stalk of celery, a handful of grapes, three or four strawberries, about a quarter grapefruit, about half a scoop of Vega protein, a chunk of fresh ginger, a couple almonds, some chia seeds, a teaspoon or so of Udo's oil and about 1.5 cups of water. Today's combination (pictured above) is similar, but with apple and carrots instead of grapefruit.

I've also done combinations with pears, lemon, garlic, jalapeño, parsley, avocado, pineapple, blueberries (fresh and frozen), beets, red pepper, and probably some other things I'm forgetting.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful suggestions and guidance!

Vegan Challenge

2011-08-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

This month is a special month in our house. Yesterday, Elizabeth and I started a month-long "Vegan Challenge"!

That's right, Elizabeth and I are going to eat a vegan diet for the month.* Just in case, that means we're cutting out all animal products - including meat, eggs, dairy and even honey.

The obvious question is "WHY?"

The standard reason for a vegan diet are:

ethical concerns about the mis-treatment of animals;
worries about the environmental effects of raising animals for food; and
health reasons

Although the way animals are treated and processed at factory farms is pretty disgusting and I do believe that raising animals for food has all kinds of nasty environmental effects, such as deforestation, and water and air pollution, I'm probably too selfish for those concerns alone to cause me to make a wholesale change to my diet. Proponents of veganism cite studies claiming that a vegan diet helps people lose weight, keep blood pressure and cholesterol under control and stave off heart disease. Honestly, though, none of those are big issues for me right now.

For me, it's mostly a health experiment. I'm very curious, especially when it comes to health, fitness and diet. I've done research and have been finding out about all kinds of people who are vegan (including incredible athletes like Rich Roll, Scott Jurek, Brendan Brazier, Mac Danzig, Mike Tyson, Carl Lewis, etc. etc.). I want to see how cutting out all animal products affects my energy and mood and endurance and general well-being. One big vegan diet claim is that people have higher energy levels and feel "lighter". I want to test it for myself and see how I feel. And, if nothing else, eating more fruit and veggies (and being conscious about it) is definitely a healthy thing. This is part of the reason I'm initially only doing it for a month.

I'm not very concerned that the "Vegan Challenge" will be too much of an actual "challenge" for me. I already maintain a generally healthy diet. I already eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. I stopped eating red meat a few months ago and while I eat poultry, I think I mostly eat it because it's a convenient, easy source of protein. I don't eat much dairy and really only have eggs once or twice a month. The main thing that I'll miss is seafood; I really like salmon and I love sushi. I enjoy the occasional cookie or ice cream (what really hurts is that Coolhaus is opening a brick-and-mortar shop in Culver City, right around the corner from my office). But I know that I can live without those things. Weekday lunches will take a little more thought; I'll adapt when eating out and I'll have to find vegan options for my occasional craving for sweets. Getting enough protein will be a challenge initially, but there are so many vegan options that I already like (tofu, tempeh, quinoa, nuts, lentils, beans, etc.) and I'll just have to get used to eating more of those.

There are a few exceptions to the vegan diet that I already know I'm going to make. First, I have a cheeseburger with bacon for dinner most nights... ha! For real though, pretty much every day for the last three years, I've taken Metabolic Diet Joint Support IV. It's a mulitvitamin/supplement that promotes joint and soft tissue health and controls inflammation. Each serving has a little fish oil and shark cartilage, so therefore is not vegan. I know there are similar supplements that are vegan, but I believe in this product, so I'm going to continue taking it. Also, my bike "mix" from Infinit contains 3.22 grams of whey protein per 280 calorie serving. I average 3-4 servings per week. Infinit works great for me and I'm not going to give that up. Elizabeth has a few of her own small exceptions.

We've been doing our research and collecting recipes and vegan food ideas, but if you have any suggestions or resources, please send them my way!

*True veganism actually includes cutting out animal products for all purposes, including clothing. I don't have much leather clothes, but I'm not getting rid of my belts or dress shoes. For me, for now, it's just about the diet.

Monthly Summary - July 2011

2011-07-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Here's July:

Swim: 0 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 255.6 miles
Cycling (indoors): 9:19 (hours)
Run: 49.8 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 4 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 44.5 hours

This was the third month out of the the last 10 that was a "get back into training month". I'm a little tired of it. :)

That being said, July was a good month. Coming off breaking my collarbone on June 11 and surgery to fix it on June 21, I did some decent training in July and feel like I put myself in a position to have a strong August in preparation for SOS. My bike fitness is coming along well. The running definitely isn't "there" just yet, but I'm working on it. I haven't been in the pool since June 10, but hopefully swim form and fitness will come back quick.

I spent the first two weeks in the basement gym of our building on the trainer and treadmill glued to the Tour de France.

The third week (plus a few days) was spent on Maui, which meant a bunch of this:

and this:

and a ride to the summit of Haleakala, which is pretty much the opposite of being on a trainer in the basement.

During this last week of the month, I've been getting back into the swing of things at home and work.

Yesterday was a fun ride with the Pablove crew. I haven't mentioned it here yet, but this summer, Pablove and Team Pablove are working on a special project. At the beginning of the summer, Pablove was selected to work with The People's Fleet. Sponsored by Ford Motor Company, The People’s Fleet gave four local non-profits a 2012 Ford Focus and a team of filmmakers and sent them out to spread their message. Each organization has a bunch of publicity and social-media-driven goals to complete over the summer, and, assuming they each complete their project by September 16, they'll get a $5,000 grant from Ford. Pablove and Team Pablove's goal is to recruit 46* new members for the team. Please go to the Pablove People's Fleet page and help us meet our goals - it's easy stuff, watch a video (like the one below), RSVP to an event, spread the word through Facebook, etc.

In connection with the project, yesterday, a group of 11 of us went out and rode around Silver Lake, Griffith Park and Burbank with the camera crew. It was a fun, easy ride (except for a few miles on the LA River bike path where everyone really picked up the pace for a bit!). Here are some pictures from the morning:

Pre-ride:

Jeff Castelaz (co-founder and Chairman of the Board of the Pablove Foundation) doing an interview with the camera crew for the next video:

Me:

Onward!

* 46 = the number of families that are told EVERY DAY that their child has been diagnosed with cancer!

Vacation recap

2011-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

We're back from an incredible trip to Maui. It was pretty much a perfect vacation. We spent nine days doing whatever we felt like doing - sleeping, sitting on the beach, playing in the ocean, reading, eating (lots and lots of eating), hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving, walking around and whatever else we felt like doing. I didn't feel much like wearing socks, so, except for the three times I rode my rented bike (see below), I didn't. In fact, I barely ever wore shoes. Now that's a win.

I also did a fair amount of good training. I rented a Scott road bike from Maui Cyclery and put it to pretty good use, doing three rides for a total of 168 miles with over 17,200 feet of climbing. I also ran about 17.5 miles and did a couple strength/core workouts. I spent a ton of time in the ocean and day-dreamed about some open water swimming, but I tried swimming a few times during the trip and my collarbone still isn't happy with the pull.

The highlights of the trip were:

Paia:

We spent the first afternoon and night of the trip at the Paia Inn Hotel in the small town of Paia, on the north coast of Maui a short drive down the Hana Highway from the airport. I picked out the town and the hotel sort of by chance because it sounded like a cool little place and made for a convenient stop for the night before we rolled out to Hana. It was much more than that. Paia and the hotel have a fantastic, chill vibe. The hotel is a very short walk (they say 100 steps) to the Paia beach.

The main part of town, which is really just a few blocks around the "T" intersection of the Hana Highway and Baldwin Avenue has little strip of boutiques and restaurants, including incredible gelato at Ono Gelato and a great natural foods grocery store called Mana Foods, a cheaper and chiller version of Whole Foods. There's also a fantastic little roadside community farm stand just "outside town" a mile or so up Baldwin Road from the Hana Highway that benefits the La'a Kea Foundation, a charity working to build a "sustainable and integrated community on 12 acres of farm land in Maui where adults with autism and developmental disabilities can live, learn and work in an atmosphere of care and respect." (from their Facebook page). I bought fresh, organic kale, broccoli, avocados, corn and jicama there one afternoon.

Paia is at the base of Haleakala so it's also an excellent spot to start your drive or ride up to the top of the volcano. It's also where most people (including me) start their ride to the top. It's also the last real town before starting the road to Hana.

Next time we're in Maui, we're definitely spending at least one extra night at the Paia Inn.

The Road to Hana and Hana:

We left Paia mid-morning on Saturday and drove the Hana Highway to Hana. I'd heard mixed reactions about the drive, but most of the complaints came from people who tried to do the whole thing, there-and-back in one day. That would definitely suck. We took our time heading out there, stopped where we wanted to hike or look at a waterfall or jump in the ocean or eat some banana bread at a roadside shop. The views from the road are pretty and the waterfalls and hikes are nice, but I definitely don't think it would be worth doing if you had to jam it into a single day.

After the drive, we spent two nights at the Travaasa Hana Hotel. The hotel and grounds are beautiful and I'd totally stay there again if I was in Hana, but now that I've been there once, I'm not sure I would make the drive again anytime soon...

On our first full day in Hana we woke up and watched the USA women lose in a very exciting Women's World Cup finals and then spent the afternoon at Hamoa Beach, a few miles from the hotel.

Monday we got up early and drove out to hike the four mile Pipiwai Trail up to the 400 foot Waimoku Falls. The hike was muddy, there were tons of mosquitos and the falls were flowing too strong to swim, but hiking through the forest

and then through the bamboo

and finally being up close at the bottom of the falls was awesome!

My other favorite thing about Hana was our vegetarian lunch at Cafe Romantica. It's just a roadside food-bus equipped with a kitchen, but the food there was some of my favorite during the whole trip.

Eating:

We ate a TON of great food. Lots and lots of fresh local fish. Lots and lots of fresh local fruit. Every night in Ka'anapali we had dinner as a group, sometimes on the lanai (balcony) at our hotel room and some nights at great local restaurants. The best dinner of the week was at I'O Restaurant on Front Street in Lahaina. It's a beautiful setting and the service and food are top-notch. The great thing for me about Maui is that even the relatively "nice" restaurants are still casual and chill. Shorts seem to always be acceptable!

Cycling:

As I mentioned above and wrote about last week, I rented a road bike and did some good riding on Maui. It's not a big island and there only seem to be four or five real cycling routes, but if you lived and trained there full time, you could be a great cyclist. Most of the roads I saw were in really good condition. I also found that the roads with moderate/heavy car traffic had good bike lanes or shoulders. Some of the roads - especially on the northwest part of the island were relatively car-free in the mornings. There's tons of good climbing.

I did three rides:

Tuesday I rode the 58 mile West Maui Loop. I started in Ka'anapali and rode clockwise through Kapalua, Kahakuloa, Waihee-Waiehu, Wailuku, then along the western edge of the island through Lahaina and back to Ka'anapali. It's a challenging ride with 3,700 feet of elevation gain, including the half-mile "Wall" where my Garmin showed between 16-19% grade for a bit! There are some good descents, but I was riding in the rain and couldn't bring myself to open it up too much around those wet turns. I also ate a nasty headwind for big chunks of the first half of the ride. The views in that section are pretty amazing - they put the ocean views from the PCH to shame.

The reward for all the climbing was the long, sweeping descent down into Wailuku and then the sick tailwind through the middle part of the island (hitting 40+mph without much effort!).

Thursday I did the climb to the summit of Haleakala. That ride is a bitch! And I'm not sure what the reward is other than to be able to say that I did it. The ride up is a solid 32 miles of straight climbing without really any relief. (About 10 miles in, there's one quarter-mile or so section of slight descent, but it's also got speed bumps!) It's rarely super steep, it's just a constant 5-6-7-8% grade. Also, I did it in pouring rain and strong winds.

The summit is somewhere "up there":

Entering the Park - 11 wet, uphill miles to go. That smile is totally fake. This is the first ride I've ever done that I actually seriously considered quitting.

Finally at the summit. 5 hours, 10 minutes (or so) later. This smile is a little less fake. It's more a grin of relief than a smile, really. It was sunny and clear at the summit. But also windy and chilly. And I knew that I'd be riding right back through the clouds and the rain.

The descent was tough to enjoy because the roads were wet and I was freezing my ass off! All that being said, I'm definitely planning to do it again next time we're in Maui - hopefully I'll be in better shape and can see how much faster and more comfortably I can do it! If you're planning on doing the climb, check out this excellent guide. He's got lots of pictures and information about the only real wrong turn you can make on the climb. (The trick is about 8 miles into the climb, you turn right at the Rodeo Stadium. If you miss that turn you'll do extra climbing and eventually hit a dead-end!)

Saturday I did an out-and-back on the West Maui Loop.

The weather was much better for this ride; it only rained on me a little. I met up with a few local riders and we rode out to Kahakuloa where we stopped for water and banana bread at Lorraine's Shave Ice. She wasn't open when I did the ride on Tuesday, but if you're out that way, I definitely recommend stopping in. Don't sit there for 40 minutes like the local guys I rode with wanted to, but it's worth a hello, a look at her backyard view, a water bottle refill and a loaf of banana bread to take back to the family if nothing else! There are a few other imitators in Kahakuloa, but skip those and hit up Lorraine.

Lorraine's backyard view:

Diving:

I used to dive a ton. There were a few years immediately after law school where Marc and I were doing 2-3 weeks per year of diving all over the Caribbean. But it's been years since I've done it. Until last week. Elizabeth, her dad Mark and I did two dives one morning. We dove with Ed Robinson's Diving Adventures (who I'd 100% recommend) and did the first dive off Molokini and the second one near Wailea. And I loved it. I was a bit worried, but it all came back to me in a flash. We saw tons of fish, eels, a turtle, lobsters and shrimp and some (surprisingly) healthy coral. There was a guy on our boat who promised to send me a few photos. I'll post them if he sends them!

Shopping:

Yeah right. A trip with a stop at the chotzke store was pretty much the extent of my shopping:

Now can I go back? Please.

I'll call it a tie

2011-07-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

As I get myself back into shape after the clavicle surgery, I've actually been able to get back on the bike before doing any serious running or any swimming whatsoever. After a few weeks on the trainer at home, our trip to Maui came at a perfect time and I've been out for two great long-ish rides on the island. This morning (and well into the afternoon), I challenged myself with a climb to the summit of Haleakala volcano. It's 36 miles each way with 10,000 feet of elevation gain. And unlike a lot of courses, it's just straight up. There are no real breaks in the climbing. You start at sea level, climb 10,023 feet and finish at 10,023 feet. Then you turn around and fly down 10,023 feet in 36 miles. Today's conditions were cold and rainy with a headwind. Fun stuff.

It was by far the toughest ride I have ever done. In my fight against the volcano, I'll call it a tie because even though I made it to the top, the volcano nearly had me crying on the way. I actually thought about quitting a few times. But I pushed through and made it to the top (see proof above)! Next time, I'm gonna kick it's ass.

You can be sure that I'll write up a full report of the Haleakala climb and my other rides on Maui at some point soon!

The other point of this blog post is that my two favorite races ever are both going on this weekend: Angeles Crest 100 beginning Saturday at 5am PDT and Ironman Lake Placid on Sunday at 7am EDT. There's a big contingent of Coyotes and a bunch of other friends running AC100, which means I'll be following Twitter, Facebook and the official feed very closely Saturday and Sunday. Good luck, strong legs and fast feet to all!

Update - Making Progress!

2011-07-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

I'm now four weeks out from the accident when I broke my collarbone and nearly three weeks out from surgery to fix it (19 days to be exact). Things seem to be healing really well. I don't have any pain and don't even really have much discomfort for "normal" life things.

As for training, I took the first week or so after surgery completely off. Since then, I've been spending just about every morning in the gym in the basement of our new apartment building. The set-up down there is pretty nice - treadmill, elliptical and the new addition of my Computrainer. I've mostly been using the trainer, but also spending a little time on the elliptical and treadmill and using the dumbbells for lunges and squats. As best I can tell no one else in our building uses the gym.

As an added bonus, there's a TV with a DVR, and I have it set to record the Tour de France every morning. So I go down to the gym, set the Guru up on the trainer and fire up the Versus coverage of the Tour on the DVR. I usually start my workout 60-90 minutes into Tour coverage. Then I fast forward through the commercials (and some of the cycling coverage itself) so I usually catch up right about 8am, just in time to watch the finish of that day's stage live. I've watched more of the Tour than ever before and am really enjoying it! (I do have new appreciation for the injuries those guys suffer - by my count through the first eight stages, at least four of the cyclists who have withdrawn did so because they broke their collarbones: Janez Brajkovic, Ivan Velasco, Bradley Wiggins, Rémi Pauriol).

Today though, after nine days in the basement, I decided to switch it up and try riding outside. I rode from home to the corner at Ocean and San Vicente to say hi to my friends who start their Saturday ride from there, then did an extra San Vicente loop and headed home for a total of 24.5 miles. Getting out on the bike this morning felt great - my collarbone wasn't uncomfortable from either the road vibration or holding onto the handlebars. My fitness has taken a beating, but I wasn't nervous to be on the roads and didn't forget how to ride! And I know the fitness will come back!

Monthly Summary - June 2011

2011-06-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

Here's June 2011:

June 13:

June 21:

That pretty much sums it up.

Despite a promising start to the month, breaking my collarbone was a great way to derail training. Absolutely zero training from June 12-28. I finally did a little easy cardio last night on the elliptical and incline walking on the treadmill. It's definitely gonna take me a few more weeks to get back into any kind of rhythm, but I'll do my best to be patient...

Swim: 7,254 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 185.5 miles
Cycling (indoors): 0 (hours)
Run: 38.8 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 3 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 24.5 hours

Weight: 164

Double Doctor Day

2011-06-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

This morning, when I realized that my car's GPS has two doctor's listed as "Favorite Locations", I got a little bummed out. I used to pride myself on not needing to go to the doctor very often. I guess this is what happens when you start getting old! :)

The nice thing though is that both appointments held good news.

The first stop was to Dr. Modabber for follow-up on the surgery to fix my busted clavicle. First was the x-ray, which looked like this:

Pretty rad, right? The doc wasn't joking when he said it was a long 10-hole plate and nine screws. He couldn't put a screw in the middle hole because (as you can see) there's no bone there to anchor it to! He again re-iterated how bad a break it was and told me that he had to do some funky stuff to tie a few fragments in place. The good news is that it looks good and he expects it to heal up just fine. It'll probably be 12 weeks before I'm back to "normal" but in the meantime, my only real restriction is to not force the clavicle to bear weight. Sounds good to me. He did warn me that the jarring from running and vibration from handlebars will not be particularly comfortable for a few weeks. So for starters, I'm gonna start with some hiking and short runs on soft surfaces and I'll get back to being very friendly with my trainer!

Appointment #2 was with the radiation oncologist for a six-month post-radiation follow-up. The MRI I had a couple weeks showed absolutely no re-growth of tumor tissue! That's awesome news! It doesn't mean that I'm definitely 100% out of the woods - last time around it took a few years before any re-growth was noticeable - but I'll take it!

Can I now be done with doctor's visits for at least a little while???

Franco Bikes

2011-06-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago - just a few days before I broke my clavicle - I had the privilege of participating in a video and photo shoot for Franco Bicycles. I've actually been meaning and meaning to write a post about Franco and the great services and products they offer, but I kept putting it off. I'll get to that post at some point soon.

Back to the photo shoot: The owners, Franco and Julian, invited five of us, including the newly-out-of-retirement pro cyclist Ivan Dominguez (a/k/a The Cuban Missile) and plant-powered super ultra athlete Rich Roll to come up to Agoura Hills one morning and ride around Agoura Hills, the Malibu Canyons and the PCH for a few hours while a video and camera crew followed along. It was awesome fun hanging out with the other cyclists and feeling a bit like a rock star with an entourage. :)

Today Franco Bikes posted this kick-ass video from the day. Check it out on
Vimeo and on the Franco Bikes Facebook page. Or you can just watch it here:

Our Backyard from Franco Bicycles on Vimeo.

More about Franco to come soon!

Quick surgery/recovery update: After a couple rough days immediately after the surgery, I've been getting better and better by leaps and bounds every day. I'm now six days post-surgery and while the area of the break/plate and screws is pretty tender and my shoulder and neck are sore, I have great mobility in my shoulder and no real "pain". I haven't worn the stupid sling in a couple days (shh... don't tell the surgeon or my parents). I have a follow-up with the surgeon on Wednesday and should get the stitches out then. So far, I'm really pleased with the decision to have surgery. The real test will come the first time I jump on the trainer or try to go for a short run!

Post-Surgery #1

2011-06-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

Surgery today went really well. It was a bit longer than expected and I have a fuzzy memory of a conversation with Dr. Modabber in the recovery room about there being more small fragments than he could see on the X-ray. Anyway, I have a long plate (the longest they make - always striving to be the best!) and nine screws. After surgery, I came home and took a long nap and have just been sitting around the house, relaxing and eating since. All things considered, I feel pretty good. I'm expecting tomorrow to be a tougher day, as the hospital pain meds wear off and the soreness sets in. But I'll take that as - and when - it comes.

A few photos of my day:

This looks familiar:

All smiles on the outside (before surgery):

Recovery room anesthesia and percoset-induced smile (and check out the "NO" on my right shoulder, there's a "YES" on the left one covered up by the ice pack and bandage):

Finally, not such a convincing smile:

I got tons of text message, email and twitter love today. Thanks to all!

And extra special thanks to Elizabeth and Mom and Dad for taking such good care of me yesterday! Mom's tomato soup is the best!

Here we go again!

2011-06-20T21:44:00.000-07:00

Are you people starting to think that I actually enjoy surgery?

I promise that I don't.

Nonetheless, for the second time in less than a year, tomorrow morning I'm going under. This one doesn't seem like such a big deal and, compared to the last time, I guess it's not. But it's still surgery, it's still general anesthesia and, honestly, it's still pretty scary. The fact that I am choosing to have surgery is weighing heavily on my mind. I strongly believe it's the right choice, but the fact that it is a choice - and one I've been sitting on for over a week - has caused me to do a lot of second-guessing.

Surgery at 9:30 tomorrow morning. And assuming all goes as planned, an hour or so later I should be in recovery and by early afternoon, I should be on my way home. Then I could be back on my feet tomorrow evening. In a few days, I should be able to get out and start getting the heart working a little again.

And now, as promised, here's what actually happened:

That Saturday morning (June 11), I left home at 6:45 for my regular Saturday ride. Home to Ocean and San Vicente where I met up with the group. Then we rode the PCH out nearly to Pepperdine and on the way back I split from the group for a little climbing. Up Topanga and Old Topanga, back down and headed for home. Through Santa Monica, Brentwood, Westwood, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood. Now I'm half a mile from home. Feeling good and ready to get a busy day started (some stuff for the move, then meeting a friend for a run in Newport Beach, then family dinner in Long Beach). I stopped at the light at La Cienega and Melrose. For some reason, I stopped in between the second and third lane (instead of outside the third lane). I think I thought the guy on my right was going to turn right, but I don't know why I thought that. When the light turned green, I shot out and realized I was between lanes. I wanted to get over and the car on my right was a bit behind me, maybe to let me get over. I turned to signal him; to thank him and let him know I was going to get over. And then I fell. I couldn't have been going very fast; I'd only been pedaling for a second or two. I think I looked over my left shoulder to see the car on my right and raised my left hand to make the signal and just lost my balance. Maybe. Either way, I landed square on my shoulder. And I felt it right away. I was in the middle of the intersection and thankfully didn't get hit. I picked up my bike and the bar-end cap that fell out and moved to the sidewalk across the street. On my way, I knew I was f'ed. My shoulder hurt and I could feel a huge bump in the middle of my left collarbone. Maybe something is dislocated, I thought. But then I quickly realized there's no joint in the middle there. So I knew. I checked my bike and kit and realized there was really no damage to either. It was the least violent crash I've ever had. No road rash. A small bruise on my left hip. And a broken clavicle. I got back on the bike and rode home. I changed out of my kit (but not my base layer, which I couldn't pull over my head), apologized to the dogs waiting to go out and drove to the Cedar Sinai ER. The rest you should know.

p.s. Edwin, if you checked back in, click here for a picture of my break. In my research I've found that the surgery decision depends a lot on the location and severity of the break, but also on the attitude of the doctor you see and your own feelings about the surgery. Good luck!

Broken clavicle update and surgery decision

2011-06-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

After breaking my clavicle on Saturday morning, I spent most of Sunday doing research on the injury. I read articles and blog posts online, spoke with friends and friends-of-friends who have either broken their clavicle or are orthopedic surgeons who treat the injury and tried to find surgeons in LA to see on Monday to discuss my options.

The main thing I found out is that in most cases, it is not necessary to have surgery to fix a broken clavicle. With time, most fractured clavicles will heal on their own and come back as strong (or nearly as strong) as before. Unlike a broken arm or foot that can be re-set and secured with a cast, a broken clavicle cannot be re-set because, with no way to secure it with a cast, it wouldn't stay in place. But the body will grow fibrous tissue to reconnect the broken pieces of bone and eventually that fibrous tissue turns into bone. Even if it's not perfectly lined up, most people end up with a strong and stable clavicle that allows return to full function.

For severe breaks, where doctors are worried that the bone won't heal correctly and for professional athletes whose livelihood depends on a full recovery (like Lance Armstrong), surgery may be recommended. (But not always, for example, I don't think either Tony Romo or Tyler Hamilton had surgery when they had the injury. Insert your own Tyler Hamilton joke here!) Surgery can ensure that the bone is re-aligned and often results in a considerably quicker recovery.

My orthopedic surgeon-friends in New York and Montana who looked at my emailed x-ray image on Sunday said that I fell in a middle area - it's not an awful break or one that requires surgery, but it is somewhat displaced and there's a bit of risk it won't fully heal, or it could heal a little "shortened" because of how the broken ends will reconnect. Also, since I want to continue being semi-competitive in triathlons, I have less tolerance for the risk of a partial recovery. The consensus was that it should heal fine on it's own, but surgery was an option that could result in a better and quicker recovery.

My first call Monday morning was to Dr. Ramin Modabber, a local orthopedic surgeon who operated on Dan Empfield (of Quintana Roo and Slowtwitch fame) to fix his broken clavicle after Dan crashed during the Tour of California Time Trial last May. I got in to see Dr. Modabber that morning and he suggested that I have the surgery. He was very clear that, if I wanted I could just let it heal. And most likely it would heal just fine. Either way, once it was fully healed, I probably wouldn't know the difference. The thing I heard many times was that I was choosing between having a bump (from the bones resetting a little off) or a scar (from the surgery).

Dr. Modabber's concern was that given the relative location of the bone pieces, they might reconnect a little "off" and I could end up with a slightly shortened left shoulder. Also the fibrous tissue and re-grown bone that fills in the empty spaces between the broken bone pieces might not be as strong as the original bone. Would either of those things have any functional difference? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's hard to know.

The other advantage to having the surgery is that - assuming all goes as planned - it should accelerate my recovery time by up to four weeks. Without surgery, I'm looking at 6+ weeks before I can really start strengthening my shoulder. With the surgery, it could be as short as 10 days or two weeks.

Briefly, during surgery they re-set/re-allign the bones and put in a plate like this to hold it in place while it heals. Dr. Modabber told me that the plates come in a lot of different shapes and sizes.

This is what it looks like when it's in place:

There's a chance that they'll have to go back in later and remove the plate, but that depends more on whether I can feel the plate and if it's bothering me. That would be pretty beat, but I'll deal with that when/if it becomes an issue.

Surgery always has some risks - anesthesia, infection, nerve damage - but the risks are pretty low and I believe Dr. Modabber and his staff will do a great job.

So... surgery is scheduled for next Tuesday (June 21). No doubt I'll have more to say between now and then!

Thanks to everyone for your support and advice and suggestions!

Broken. For real.

2011-06-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is what your clavicle is supposed to look like:

This is what mine looks like after a little bike crash yesterday morning:

I'll explain more about the accident/fall soon. Thankfully, other than the clavicle, I'm fine and my bike escaped totally unscathed.

Right now, I'm in a sling, doing research to find an orthopedic surgeon to evaluate whether I should have surgery or simply let it heal. In most cases with a broken clavicle, they just let it heal without surgery and it usually eventually comes back 100%. But there are some potential advantages to surgery. And some risks.

Either way, I'm out of commission for the near future. What a bummer. But broken bones heal and - at some point - I'll be back, good as new!

Monthly Summary - May 2011

2011-05-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

Here's May 2011:

Swim: 13,600 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 264.9 miles
Cycling (indoors): 0:30 (hours)
Run: 98.0 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 6 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 40.5 hours

Weight: ?

And with that, May is over. There was Wildflower and then it was May and now it's June. I'm not entirely sure where it went. It was an "off" month. And I mean that in a bunch of different ways. I came out of Wildflower, needed time (more than expected) to recover, then ran the Pasadena Half Marathon, needed time (more than expected) to recover and then the month was over. I never got into a training rhythm. And I've been feeling particularly unsettled. I'm feeling "unsettled" for a bunch of reasons - in life primarily because we found out a few weeks ago we have to move, which is a daunting, massive pain in the ass and because I feel like there are some other life changes coming soon (exciting, I hope, but still making it hard to feel that the ground is stable beneath my feet). "Unsettled" with training because for first time in five years, summer is here and I'm not in the middle of training for a big "A" race. I really need to fix that. May was a nice break, but I'd like to focus. As I mentioned earlier this month, I won't be adding a long race to my schedule, but I need something on the calendar to keep me motivated and alert.

The training highlight of the month was my PR at the Pasadena Half Marathon. But I bet I remember this photo a lot longer than I remember the PR:

The "life" highlight of May was a quick trip Elizabeth, the dogs and I took to Joshua Tree for Memorial Day weekend with our friends Ze and Jody. We spent two nights at the Rattler Ranch Cabins. I'd highly recommend a visit. Rattler Ranch is two cabins a few miles from the entrance to Joshua Tree - they both have a kitchen and are simple and comfortable. Going with another couple was great - we cooked, played games, read and relaxed. We went on a couple hikes - a short one with the boys and a longer one without them. We went out one night to the Joshua Tree Saloon for dinner, pool and darts.

Last year, I went for a long-ish solo run in Joshua Tree National Park. That was a great way to see a fair amount of the Park. This year, we hiked five or six miles but spent a bunch of time playing on the rock formations.

A few photos from our hike with the dogs:

Sunset:

A few from our longer hike/bouldering Sunday morning hike without the dogs:

More Pasadena Half Marathon Photos

2011-05-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

This time without the annoying "proof" watermark.

It's sorta obvious that Kate was just having fun, while I was really working!

Pasadena Half Marathon Photo

2011-05-18T15:39:00.000-07:00

Since I wasn't wearing a bib/race number (explained in my race report), I can't find my official race photos. But I'm in a bunch of Kate's. This one is the best. Obviously.

Also, check the facebook comments for some good humor courtesy of Billy and Colin.

Altra Instinct - Shoe Review

2011-05-17T10:16:00.000-07:00

The other week when I posted my review of the K-Swiss R-Ruuz racing flat, I mentioned that I had another shoe review in the works. Today, I'm reviewing the Instinct from brand new running shoe company, Altra Running.

I found the Instinct somewhat by chance. In my search this year for a new lightweight everyday trainer for road running, I've read about and/or tried on a bunch of different shoes. But I've struggled to find a shoe that combines the following:

relatively light (hopefully 6.5 - 8 ounces)
low to the ground
flexible
has a low heel-toe drop
and most important, is comfortable on my foot

On the "comfort" side, the main issue I've been running into is that my second and third toes are longer than my "big" toe. Since most shoes have a pretty drastic curve from the big toe around to the little toe side of the foot, the result is that when I find a shoe that "fits" me in the traditional sense (big toe distance from the inside of the shoe and heel fit), generally my middle toes are bumping into the front of the shoe. If I go to a bigger size to accommodate my middle toes, the heel gets too loose. This issue alone has eliminated a lot of shoes for me (including the New Balance Minimus line, the Terra Plana EVOs and recently, even some of my beloved Brooks). In late March, I read a review of the Instinct on Runblogger and was intrigued. I checked out their website and saw that they weren't yet in stores, but would be in the next few days.

Altra's website further explained two of their biggest selling points: that their shoes are "zero drop" - meaning that the heel is no higher than the toe - and that the shoes are actually foot shaped. You can see from this photo that the toe box is wider and much less curved than the sharply curved toebox in most running shoes.

The width of the Instinct allows the toes to spread out while running and the more rounded toe box allows room for my middle toes to stretch out. (I don't know if my funny shaped feet are what Altra mean by "foot shaped", but it works for me!)

The weekend after reading about the Instinct, I happened to be in Sherman Oaks and stopped into Runnergy for the first time. And there were the Instincts. They had just gotten them in a couple days earlier. Almost immediately after trying them on, I decided I was going to take them home. In the last five weeks I've put a little over 50 miles on them.

The Instinct is the first shoe I'd found that fit almost all of the qualifications above and so far, I'm really enjoying running in them. The right size for my heel and big toe (11.5) also gave the rest of my toes rooms to breathe. It has just enough cushion to be comfortable on a long run but I still get a decent feel for the ground. The zero drop helps promote good running form and keeps me on my forefoot and midfoot. It's quickly become my go-to everyday road trainer and after a few weeks of 4-6 mile runs in them, I've started using them on my longer runs. My calves were a little sore after my 9 mile (longest so far) run in them, but that's to be expected as I increase the mileage in the zero drop shoes. Also, frankly, I liked the sore calf feeling, it told me I was really working my calf muscles!

My only complaint about the Instinct is that they're a little heavy. They're listed at about 9oz for size 9, and that makes them the heaviest shoe I run in by nearly two ounces. On the other hand, they do feel lighter than the 9-10oz shoes I was running in last year. Given that, I'll train in the Instincts, but doubt I'll race in them for any distance. (They have another model, the Adam, coming out soon, and I'll check it out, but it doesn't look like a racing shoe and it's tough to tell from looking at it how it would fit into my shoe rotation. I did read somewhere that a racing flat-type shoe is in the works. I'll definitely give that a shot when/if it appears.)

I will readily admit that the Instinct is weird looking. The shape makes it look boxy and maybe even a little clunky. It does not necessarily inspire "speed". I also generally like flashier, brighter running shoes. When I first looked at them, these concerns crossed my mind but they went away once I put them on and ran down the block. Comfort definitely trumps styling here.

As a side note, I've read a few complaints online from Vibram loyalists who don't like the Instinct. The Instinct is not a "barefoot" shoe. It is much more "shoe" than the Vibram - less flexible and more cushioned. For long runs, I find the Instinct to be more comfortable than my Vibrams. But if you're looking for a shoe that mimics the Vibram, this isn't it.

Pasadena Half Marathon Race Report

2011-05-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

I swear, this one is actually going to be relatively short.

I signed up for this half marathon knowing that I was not fully recovered from Wildflower and that I definitely wasn't trained to set any speed records in a road half marathon. But since it had been over four years since I raced a half marathon, I wanted to see what I could do today and set a benchmark time for the near future.

I got out to Pasadena at about 5:15 for a 6:30 start. The morning was a little chaotic because, despite the fact that I'd paid extra for race-day packet pick-up, my packet wasn't there. That meant I had to wait until right before the race to get a no-show's bib and timing chip. It was a bit of a hassle, but the race director, Israel, and his staff, handled it well. I got my timing chip and bib at about 6:25, quickly put the chip on my shoe, decided I didn't have time to pin my bib on and started weaving my way through the crowd to get close to front.

As I was making my way through the crowd, I ran into Kate Freeman, who told me that she was going for sub-1:30 (= running 6:50/mile or so). I figured I'd tag along with her for as long as I could, knowing that with her recent 3:11 at the LA Marathon, she might be dropping me before too long.

Running with Kate was great and we ticked off the miles, running pretty uneven splits, from low-6's to high-6's. The course has a couple "big-for-road-racing" climbs, but we cruised up each of them. Running through Pasadena makes for some nice scenery, but this time, instead of enjoying the sights, I pretty much kept my eyes on the road and concentrated on running. It started raining just after the race began and continued a steady drizzle/rain for the entire race. Except for making my shorts a little water-logged and heavy, the rain didn't bother me at all. I ran in my K-Swiss K-Ruuz and they held up great, both for the distance and in the rain. They didn't hold much water and never felt particularly heavy.

I felt strong through about 10 miles (the end of the last climb) but struggled to find my kick for the final 5k. The last 2 miles are a long, steady descent and even though I ran the final 5k in 20:14 (~6:31 pace), it could have been a time to really drop the hammer, which Kate did, finally dropping me to finish a bit ahead of me.

In the end, my official time was 1:29:05, good enough for 36th overall, 33rd man, 7th in my age group and most importantly, a 2:50 PR. It felt good to run hard and push the pace. I am excited to have gone sub-1:30 and am confident that this leaves me room for improvement! (It also gave me renewed appreciation for how hard it is to go sub-3 in a marathon. Running at that pace for another 13.1 seems crazy!)

As for my thoughts about the race itself, the course is fair, with some good climbs and descents and nice scenery. The online course profile makes it look like there's a steady two mile climb from miles eight to ten. In reality, there was a steep, probably 1/2 mile climb starting around mile 8 and then only a slight grade for the next 1.5 miles. The final two miles are a fast descent. The race start and finish were smooth and well organized. My only complaint with the race was that the mile markers were a little inconsistent. I got used to not having them in trail races, but in a road race where splits really count, I was hoping for a conspicuous marker at every mile. I might have missed a couple, but I'd estimate they only had them about at 50% of the miles.

Official time: 1:29:05
Pace: 6:48/mile
Overall: 36/2,450
Men: 33/1,048
Age Group (35-39): 7/181

Wildflower's Done, What's Next??

2011-05-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Coming down the finish chute at Wildflower. That Pablove Triathlon Team kit looks damn good!

And here's a finish line video from Wildflower. Push start and you can see me coming into the finish. My signature pink hat stands out nicely.

Wildflower is behind me and the only other 2011 race I'm signed up for is SOS in mid-September. I'd like to sign up for a few other races, but first, there's a bigger question to answer - what kind of races do I want to do? Do I want to do triathlons, road races or trail races? I know there's some overlap, and with SOS on the horizon, I'll need to continue swimming, cycling and running, but since I only want to add a couple more to my schedule, I need to make some choices. The only thing I know for certain is that I will not be doing an Ironman or 100 mile ultra this year. I've had one of those on the calendar each of the last four years and physically and mentally, I need a break from that kind of distance and the disciplined training it requires.

For starters, I just signed up for this Sunday's Pasadena Half Marathon. I haven't run a non-triathlon half marathon in over four years, when I ran my 1:31:55 PR at the April 2007 New York Road Runners Brooklyn Half Marathon. I'd like to beat that PR. I'm in very "different" shape now than I was then - I have four more years of endurance racing experience and 13.1 miles no longer seems nearly as long as it used to. On the other hand, as I mentioned the other day, so many years focused on going long has made me sacrifice speed over endurance. Either way, I'm interested in setting a benchmark time on Sunday to see where I'm at with road racing. I guess I'll find out on Sunday!

Then, I'd like to do two or three other races between this Sunday and SOS. Depending on how Pasadena goes, maybe I'll find another half marathon to do or maybe I'll look for a summer road marathon. I'm also considering the Santa Barbara Triathlon (Long Course) in late August. It's a little close to SOS, but I might be able to make it work. Depending on my dad's cycling schedule, I might do the Grand Tour double century on June 25. There are a few 50k or 50 mile ultras either before or after SOS that I'll look at as well.

In other words, I have tons of options and no plan. I sort of expected to write this post and find the answer. Any suggestions?? Stay tuned!

K-Swiss K-Ruuz Shoe Review

2011-05-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have lots of pairs of running shoes. And most of them are Brooks. But recently I've been running in a couple different non-Brooks shoes. Today, I'm going to briefly review the K-Swiss K-Ruuz racing flat. (Billy wisely explained to me that "K-Ruuz" is K-Swiss speak for "cruise") . I'm also working on a review of the other non-Brooks shoe.

Despite the fact that I have a lot of running shoes and most of them are pretty light, coming into this season I didn't have a pair of road racing flats. With Wildflower on the horizon I knew I needed something to race in. While I was trying to decide whether to get a pair of the Brooks T7 Racers, I was given a pair of K-Swiss K-Ruuz to check out. (The shoes did come from K-Swiss, but were not given to me as part of the blog or with any promise of a review.) In 2008, I tested and reviewed one of K-Swiss's earliest running shoes, the Ultra Natural Run. It was a decent first effort, but not really a good shoe and I ended up giving them away very lightly used. That was the last pair of K-Swiss shoes I tried.

The K-Ruuz is listed on the K-Swiss website at 6.5oz for both the men's and women's shoe. Running Wearhouse lists them at 7.1oz for men's size 9. The 7.1oz weight seems right to me, but I don't have a scale to verify. That weight makes them a little heavier than some racing flats out there, but puts it about on par with my much-loved New Balance MT100 trail shoes. The shoe feels relatively low to the ground, even if it does have 10mm of rise between the toes and heel. They look like American flag bowling shoes and that might turn some people off, but I dig the look. My initial impression running in the K-Ruuz was that it made me feel fast. And really, that's what a racing flat is all about.

Over the few weeks leading up to Wildflower I put about 40 miles on them, with a long run of 7 miles. I swapped out the stock laces with some Yankz, my favorite quick lace system. A few people questioned my use of the K-Ruuz on the Wildflower "trails", but that wasn't an issue. Mostly because the "trails" at Wildflower are really just dirt roads, and the K-Ruuz will hold up just fine on any dirt surface that isn't too technical or super rocky.

They're well ventilated with a bunch of holes at the heel and the toe and they have a long set of drainage holes down the middle of the sole. I was hoping to do some sockless running in them before Wildflower but only wore them without socks for one short run. I think they'd be fine sockless, but I'll have to do more trials of that before using them in a race without socks. For triathletes especially, they have tabs at the top of the tongue and the heel to help get them on more quickly.

There's a little bit of cushioning, enough to make them totally comfortable for a half-marathon, even one on moderately rocky dirt roads like Wildflower. I think that I could wear these shoes for some longer marathon training runs and hopefully even for a marathon itself.

The sizing is a little strange: I usually wear an 11.5 in Brooks and New Balance. But I was warned to go down a half-size for the K-Ruuz, so I went with a 11. And they're still a little big. At first I was worried that I would have too much room in the forefoot, but I actually like the way they fit and am thinking about going a 1/2 size up in some of my other shoes.

The K-Ruuz were great for Wildflower and I plan on using them for other road races I do in the coming months.

p.s. Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom and to all mothers out there!

Wildflower Long Course Race Report

2011-05-04T11:49:00.000-07:00

My plan was to go with a "more photos, less words" theme for this race report. But if you've been reading my reports over the years, you know that's not really my style. So, it looks like you get "more photos, more words". Lucky you!

One of the most exciting parts of Wildflower was that it was our first race representing the Pablove Triathlon Team in our new kick-ass kits. We also had Pablove stickers to put on our bikes and helmets but I decided to take it a step further and on Wednesday, I visited Brandon at Bolt Barbers for a little hair art.

That evening, I met Mike at his place, then we picked up Warren and got a send-off from his brother Ken.

Then we drove up to Paso Robles to spend the night at the Travelodge. I wouldn't call the Travelodge a "dump", but that's not a huge stretch! My favorite part was the Spanish serenade we got at 6:30 Thursday morning from the dudes hanging out outside our room.

Once up we had breakfast at the Cowgirl Cafe in Paso Robles.

Then we hit Trader Joe's for a giant cart-full of groceries.

And then we drove to the race site at Lake San Antonio. We walked around there for a little bit while we waited for Pete, Kimberly and Bruce to get in so we could get into the rental house. The race site was still being set up and there weren't very many people around.

The house Pete found for us was great! It was about 20 minutes from the race and had amazing views of Lake Nacimiento.

Once we unloaded all our crap, Mike, Pete, Kimberly, Bruce and I went for a little hilly run on a dirt road just outside the housing development where we were staying. After making lunch, Mike, Warren and I went back to the race site to jump in the lake and paddle around for a few minutes in our wetsuits. The water felt great. A little crisp when we first jumped in but just right for a race swim. Then we went to packet pick-up and checked in for the race.

Thursday evening, we (and by "we", I mean our resident chef Mike), cooked a big, delicious hungry-man dinner of grains, spinach and salmon. And then, well, in a house with six triathletes, it was bedtime.

Friday morning started with a bike ride on part of the race course. The ride went well and the few fast pick-ups I did felt great. I was feeling strong and fast. Friday afternoon, we went back down to the race site and walked around a bit before settling back at home for an early dinner of pasta, salmon, spinach and veggies. We spent a couple hours setting up bikes and getting everything in order for the morning.

Some of the Pablove stickers on my bike:

Warren's all ready:

I fell right asleep and slept great. When my alarm went off at 4:30, I was mostly ready to get up and moving. Breakfast, a couple of trips to the bathroom, final gear prep and we loaded the car and were off. Getting into the parking area was really easy.

And we were in the transition area at pretty much exactly 7am.

We had plenty of time to get set up, go for an easy warm-up run and take a few Pablove Triathlon Team photos (I just noticed that I don't have any photos of us in our kits. Bummer. That will have to wait until the official race photos are out).

The pro men started at 8am. My wave was scheduled to go off at 8:30, so at about 8:10, I made my way down to the swim start.

(Quick interlude before I get into the race: I haven't raced very many half ironmans. And my PR is still from the first one I did, Timberman in 2006, where my time was 5:12:19. It's crazy that that is still my PR. I was self-coaching, just learning how to be an endurance athlete and did the race on my alloy/carbon Felt road bike with clip-on aerobars. I'm more experienced and more fit than I was then. But it's still my PR. The main reason is that I just haven't done the distance very often. In my heart, I was hoping to beat my Timberman time at Wildflower. In fact, I really hoped to do around (or even sub) five hours. That's a time I have in me. But as you'll see, it's unlikely to happen at Wildflower and definitely wasn't happening last Saturday.)

Finally, the race report begins. And unfortunately, this is also where the photos end. For now at least.

Swim:

The first few minutes of the swim were an unmitigated disaster. I dove in right behind the front guys and started swimming without too much contact, but pretty much right away I felt like I couldn't breath. I tried slowing down my stroke, breathing more often, poking my head up a bit, but I felt like I was going to drown. This went on for what seemed ten minutes, but couldn't have been more than one or two. I wasn't even at the first buoy and I thought I might have go find a kayak and call it a day. Seriously. So I stopped and put my head up. I took a few deep breaths, cleared my goggles and started slowly swimming again. And somehow I found something of a rhythm. I don't know what it was - I really don't think I started off too hard. Maybe it was because I wasn't used to the wetsuit? Thankfully, the rest of the swim was uneventful. I felt smooth enough and swam fine. I never found any feet to draft off for more than a few seconds at a time, but I was just happy to be moving through the water and breathing.

Swim time: 33:22 (354th overall; 1:43/100 meters. It wasn't my best half iron swim, but I'll take it)

T1:

I moved efficiently through T1. My wetsuit came off relatively quickly and other than a bit of a traffic jam at the bike exit, I barely remember T1. With some practice, I can shave time off this pretty easily.

Time: 2:37

Bike:

Ugh. The bike. My time (3:00:43) really disappointed me at first. I really thought I could do it closer to 2:40. I rode 2:50 last year at Oceanside and put a lot more time on the bike leading into Wildflower than I did last year. I know Wildflower is a harder course, but I still thought 2:40 was realistic on this course. In retrospect, I didn't appreciate how hilly it is and there was no way I could have ever predicted the damn wind. (In fact, before the race, people were telling me that based on history, I should expect either no wind or a tail-wind for big chunks of the race...) It seemed like the only times there wasn't a headwind pushing against us, there was a nasty cross-wind, threatening to knock us over. Battling the wind was exhausting and stressful and slowed me down a lot. There aren't a lot of "flat" sections of the bike course, but there are long sections of the course where you should be able to get down on the aerobars and cruise. But on Saturday, being in aero meant getting pushed around even more by the wind and there were a bunch of times when it felt dangerous to stay on the aerobars. So I sat up, became a bigger target for the wind and slowed down. Dammit.

For nutrition, I had one super-concentrated 840 calorie bottle of Infinit on my downtube and the Aerodrink between my aerobars. I put one Nuun tab into the Aerodrink before the race. I took a sip of the Infinit about every 20 minutes and washed it down with water. I refilled the Aerodrink with water from the aid stations. The Aerodrink isn't particularly pretty to look at, but it works. By the end of the bike, I'd nearly finished the bottle of Infinit and felt well hydrated.

Anyway, I got through it just fine. I felt good on the climbs and maintained a relatively comfortable level of effort. The long steep hill at around mile 41 (lovingly called "Nasty Grade") was tough, but I just put it into a high gear and spun my way up. I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get anywhere close to 2:40 and realized that my hopes of beating my Timberman PR were pretty much definitely dashed. I tried not to get down on myself but it was a struggle. I think I started losing confidence and that stopped me from pushing harder. Either way, I cruised down the hill into T2 and hopped off the bike, hoping for a good run.

Bike time: 3:00:48 (274nd overall; 18.50mph)

T2:

Fine, just fine. I should be at least 30 seconds faster, but again, transitions take practice and I haven't worked on this at all.

Time: 2:28

Run:

When I started the run, my legs felt good but my head was still a little mixed up from my "disappointing" bike. Immediately after exiting transition, you run through a pretty big crowd. I got some nice comments about the Pablove kit and got a big shout from Kimberly.

I got to the first mile marker (mile markers? I missed those things racing ultras!) and looked at my watch. 9:23. Really? WTF? I felt like I was moving considerably faster than that, but I think the bike bummer caused me to think that running a 9:23 first mile was actually possible. I just stuck with it and kept moving my legs. I was running at a steady, relatively even pace, moving through people and not being passed by very many. The second and third miles came at 7:31 and 7:25 (full splits are below). I was taking water at every aid station - one cup in my mouth and one on the head. Mile 5 includes a long hill and I actually took a lesson from my ultra book and walked the steep parts. Miles 6, 7, 8 and 9 are rolling and cruise through the crowds in the campgrounds. This was my favorite part of the entire race. It's a fast section of the course and the crowds provide a huge boost. I was feeling good and having a great time - smiling and shouting at people, cheering them on and generally having fun. I took my second gel at around the 9 mile marker. Miles 10 and 11 are an out-and-back where you go up a hill, down the other side, then back up and back down. I walked parts of each climb - probably not because I had to, but because I felt like that was a smart strategy. In retrospect, I probably should have been willing to seek a little more pain. It's a cruise from mile 11 to mile 12.5 and from there it's a steep descent down to the finish line. I still had good legs under me for that descent and passed a bunch of people.

(As it turns out, I didn't hit the "lap" button on my way out of transition, so that 9:23 was T2 plus the first mile of the run. This makes much more sense and I'm surprised I didn't figure it out during the run.)

Run time: 1:40:48 (131st overall; 7:41/mile pace)

Total time: 5:19:58 (26/212 age group, 142/1240 male, 152/1667 overall)

I crossed the finish line feeling good. Maybe too good. Don't get me wrong, I was very very happy to be done, but I felt like I still had juice in my legs.

After I finished, I ate about a dozen fresh strawberries and waited for Mike, Pete and Warren to finish. We went and stood in the lake for a little bit to "ice" our legs before going back to transition to change out of our kits. Then, it was a giant ice cream cone, a 10 pound burrito and some garlic french fries while we sat on the grass listening to some live music and re-capping the race.

Post-race reflections:

My race result was completely "decent". I didn't PR the distance or any individual leg of the race. On the other hand... well, I could make excuses until Wildflower 2012, but I won't. I finished strong in my first real race since my surgery last September and, even if my time wasn't what I'd hoped for, I did relatively well against the field. For example, I thought I could do a 2:40 on the bike. But if I'd done that, my bike split would have been the 30th fastest among age groupers. I don't belong there! I also don't think I should have been 274th, but I need to recognize that not achieving my goals wasn't a "failure". I underestimated how difficult a course Wildflower is and let the winds on the bike get to me psychologically.

The other big "error" I made is a hold-over from my year of ultramarathon training. Coming back from surgery and my hip pain and with ultra training on my brain, I spent nearly all of my training time in the sort of "middle" training zone. (I wrote about exactly this before the race.) Consistently working moderately hard, but rarely doing anything too intense. That was a good strategy for 100 mile ultra training where long-sustained steady effort is required and it was a good strategy for recovery from surgery/injury because I didn't want to re-aggravate any injury. But it doesn't work so well when I want to push myself in a race. I walked steep hills at Wildflower even though I was feeling good enough to run them. That's what you do in an ultramarathon because feeling good on a hill at mile 10 has nothing to do with how you'll feel at mile 35 or 65 or 85. But when the run is only 13.1 miles long, I could have and should have pushed harder the entire time. I think that I've just forgotten how it feels to go "hard" and was too scared that if I found that zone I might fail altogether. So before I take on any other challenges this summer, I need to incorporate regular speed and threshold work into my training.

During and after the race, people commented on the fact that I was smiling and happy during the run. I love having that reputation, but maybe I should work on smiling a little less - not because I'm unhappy but because I'm working too hard to be that happy!

A couple other thoughts about Wildflower. The race is really well organized, especially when you consider how big it is and how remote the race site is. The volunteers at the expo, along the course and at the finish line were great. A bunch of the volunteers on the course commented on our rad pink and grey Pablove kits, which was fun. Running through the spectators in the campgrounds was a blast! I'd do the race over and over again just to have that experience. I'm not sure if there will be a re-match for me in 2012, but I wouldn't count it out just yet.

Run splits:

mile 1 - 6:55
2 - 7:31
3 - 7:25
4 - 8:01
5 - 9:51
6 - 6:24
7 - 7:06
8 - 7:52
9 - 7:09
10 - 8:35
11 - 8:40
12 - 8:14
13.1 - 7:08

Monthly Summary - April 2011

2011-05-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

(Wildflower finish line on Friday - taken hoping I'd see it from the other

direction sometime early Saturday afternoon)

Here's April 2011:

Swim: 23,835 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 373.1 miles
Cycling (indoors): 4:25 (hours)
Run: 118.7 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 2 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 54.5 hours

April was a good month. My training was fine and I didn't have to take any unplanned time off, but mostly April was good because it represented my return to racing after a seven month "break" (and my return to triathlons after 13 months!). I closed out the month with a great long weekend up at Wildflower and a generally successful race.

Here are the race "vitals":

Swim - 33:22
T1 - 2:37
Bike - 3:00:43
T2 - 2:28
Run - 1:40:48
Total - 5:19:58 (26/212 age group, 142/1240 male, 152/1667 overall)

My detailed results are here and full searchable race results are available here.

It's a tough course that was made even more challenging on Saturday by a crazy headwind on the bike. And I posted the other day, I've been worried about some weaknesses in my training and the race exposed them. Hopefully I'll learn from the experience for future races. I know I'm being cryptic, but I'll go into it all in my race report, which I'll hopefully post (along with a lot of photos) within a few days.

In addition to finally getting back to racing, in April I started running with the Coyotes again. I hit the trails with Jimmy five times in April. It was great to get back out there for some early mornings in the Santa Monica Mountains and I pushed myself on each run, something I hadn't done enough of during the first few months of training this year.

My final "accomplishment" this month was that during April, my total swim and outside cycling distances for the year surpassed the amount that I swam and rode outside in all of 2010. Of course, my running distance is way, way off, but I guess that's what being a well-rounded triathlete is all about!

Wildflower - HERE WE GO!

2011-04-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

After thinking about this weekend for a few months, the gun for my wave at Wildflower will go off in just about 14 hours.

Mike, Warren, Pete, Kim, Bruce and I got up here Thursday morning (Mike, Warren and I made a pit stop at the swanky Travelodge in Paso Robles on Wednesday night). Since arriving, we've been eating, drinking (water, of course), warming up our legs and arms with some short training sessions, getting gear ready for tomorrow and trying our best to relax. I feel like we've been generally successful in all those things.

My wave is scheduled to start the race tomorrow at 8:30am. My bib number is 817. I don't know if there will be live tracking during the race, but if there is, you'll find it here, on the official Tri California/Wildflower website.

Since I haven't raced a triathlon in over a year and the last year has been anything but a usual year for me and since I've never biked or ran the course, I have no idea what tomorrow will bring and am hesitant to make any public predictions. But I've been feeling good recently and I feel rested and healthy today. I'm gonna go out, push myself and try to have some fun. Sometime early tomorrow afternoon we'll know how that race "plan" worked out!

Wish me luck and send me some fast vibes, please!

(I've been taking tons of photos but I've given up on uploading them out here in the boonies so I'll have to wait until I'm home to get those up on the blog.)

Successful Weekend; Initial Pre-Wildflower Thoughts

2011-04-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Wildflower is in less than a week and I've begun slowly shutting my training down. After last weekend's bonk, I started getting a worried that I was over-trained. Coach Rom talked me through it and we concluded that instead of being over-trained, I'm probably under-recovered. The distinction wasn't totally obvious at first, but the way I understand it (apologies Rom if I'm explaining it wrong) the mistake I might have made wasn't that I was training too intensely, it was that I hadn't been taking enough easy and off days. Looking back at my training log, there is no question that that is true! The result was too much moderately intense training and cumulative exhaustion. Of course there are plenty of fitness benefits from lots of moderate intensity, but I probably could have gotten more out of myself by doing more of both high- and low-intensity training.

With less than two weeks to raceday, there wasn't a whole lot I could do about any past training mistakes I might have made, but what I could do was to make sure I concentrated on recovery leading up to the race. So last week I cut out a few training sessions, decreased the time of most of my other workouts and even took Friday completely off. Friday was my first off day this month and only my third off day since February 1. Compulsive? Nah...

At the same time that I cut down the total amount of time I spent training, I made sure to include some hard intervals in many of my workouts. I pushed the hills on both my trail runs last week and during yesterday's out-and-back on the PCH, I included six eight-to-ten minute intervals at what was definitely faster than my projected Wildflower race pace. The fast, hard stuff felt good, during both the running and cycling. And, regardless of what it actually did for my pre-race fitness at this point, it restored some of the confidence I'd lost during last Saturday's bonk.

The highlight of the week though was the mile ocean swim I did this morning with the LA Tri Club at Manhattan Beach. It was an overcast, grey morning and the ocean was cold (supposedly somewhere between 60-63 degrees), but a lot of people came out for the swim (including some I haven't seen in over a year) and it felt awesome to be in the ocean. My stroke felt great (for me at least) and the mile went by quickly. I didn't hurt that there was a strong current behind us that cut at least five minutes off what my time should have been! (It was also nice to confirm that my wetsuit still fits and didn't get eaten by neoprene-hungry moths in the last 13 months.) I wish I had some pictures to share!

Regardless of any training mistakes I might have made, I still feel like I've set myself up for a good race at Wildflower. More pre-race reflections to come over the course of the week.

Weekend in the Desert

2011-04-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth and I went to Palm Springs for the weekend to get a little R&R out of town. It was Coachella weekend out there but just like when we made the trip out there last year, neither of us had plans to go see any music.

Last year I was getting ready for ultra season so I did two long desert runs, but this time, with Wildflower right around the corner, I brought the Guru and got out for two decent rides. The cycling out there was a nice change for a weekend. I found good quality, low traffic roads with bike lanes or nice shoulders. The area is surrounded on all sides by mountains, so the views are nice.

I skipped the really steep climbing in favor of some steady-grade stuff and spent a lot of time in aero on long straightaways.

I ended up doing different variations on the same ride both days. It was nice riding out there, but I wouldn't trade our rides in the Santa Monicas for it.

My goal for Saturday was to ride 50+ miles and then run for at least an hour. I was hoping for one of those confidence-inspiring race-simulation workouts. The ride went great and the run started off good enough, but I completely fell apart after only about 25 minutes on my feet. My legs just didn't want to move. I was having serious flashbacks to my marathon "run" at Ironman Canada. It was hot (low 90s) and I was probably dehydrated. I'd trained pretty hard last week (including a fast, hard run with some speedster Coyotes in Sullivan Ridge/Canyon on Thursday) so my legs were pretty beat up. And, sometimes this just happens. Better that it happened on Saturday than during Wildflower, right? I ended up doing run-walk intervals for another 20 minutes and then called it a day. I spent a little time feeling sorry for myself about the busted training but with some cheering-up from friends via Twitter, I got over it.

After a dip in the pool, a nice long nap and a gigantic dinner, we all got ready to go out to a Coachella party. We didn't even get to the party until midnight! I felt like a 22 year old. And a rock star. The party - The Neon Carnival - was a blast!

There were a bunch of carnival rides and midway games.

And it wasn't even that crowded. I went down the slide and rode the swing:

and went on one ride that felt like "superman":

Then we played some midway games and did some fun(ny) people watching (hipsters always make me laugh). I got home a 3AM!! I haven't done that in ages!

Sunday morning, after not nearly enough sleep, I got up and went back out on the bike. It was another hot morning and I was pretty tired, but I ended up having a good, strong ride.

After refueling, I went to hang out by the pool where we found this little guy swimming around:

What do you do with a turtle in the pool? The chlorine can't possibly be safe for it. There was no way it could climb out of the pool. So I carried it over to a water hazard on the golf course. I'm still not sure if that was the right call, but it was definitely going to die in the pool. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a long turtle life!

And now, it's less than two weeks until Wildflower!

Kona Lottery Results

2011-04-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

The Ironman Hawaii lottery results were posted this morning.

This was the first year in five or six that I didn't apply for the lottery. Last year I sorta agonized over the decision, but, despite the fact that I was already committed to run Angeles Crest 100, I threw my name - and my money - in the hat. This year, I decided to pass. I'm enjoying the training-as-it-comes regimen that I've got going and I just don't have it in me to commit to train for an Ironman. So, even though I know I'd love to experience racing in Kona someday, it won't be in 2011.

Congrats to everyone who got selected!!

Brooks PureProject (minimalist shoes) Update!

2011-04-01T18:36:00.000-07:00

As you could probably tell from this blog post a few weeks ago, I'm pretty excited about the Brooks PureProject line-up of minimalist shoes. The shoes aren't coming out until October, but Brooks recently released some photos of the four different models, which makes me even more excited.

Here's the rad-looking neutral, 7.2 oz, 4mm heel/forefoot drop, Pure Connect:

I'm gonna be lazy this evening and instead of writing up something myself, I'll point you to Runblogger.com, where Pete's done a bang-up job of that himself.

Monthly Summary - March 2011

2011-03-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Here's March 2011:

Swim: 26,800 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 161.0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 9:05 (hours)
Run: 131.6 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 7 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 57.25 hours

This was a decent training month. I certainly spent a lot of time training, but I'm not confident that it was as targeted as it could have been. I think it's a combination of the fact that I'm still being a little careful with myself in my general training and that I haven't raced or really tested myself recently. I know my fitness is improving all the time, but it's hard to evaluate how much it's improving or where I really stand. I had a great day being out and about during the L.A. Marathon and loved my 18 miles on the Backbone Trail. Both training days were a blast, but maybe not the best specific training for my upcoming goals. (At least partially because I don't have my long run training legs yet and each of those long runs hobbled me for a couple days!)

Wildflower is just about four weeks away. I'm really looking forward to racing but I feel like I really need these next few weeks of training.

The biggest thing for me this month was the announcement of Pablove Triathlon Team. We're really excited about the team and the ways we can support The Pablove Foundation. Our racing kits are still on schedule to be delivered before Wildflower. All the team members are doing on-going fundraising for Pablove. Huge thank you to those of you who already donated; for anyone else interested in donating, here's the link to MY PERSONAL FUNDRAISING PAGE.

The team is growing and anyone can join the team by signing up on the Triathlon Team website. In addition to helping Pablove and their efforts to fight childhood cancer, the team will have social events (the first one is next Wednesday in Silverlake) and team members get to take advantage of some sweet discounts from our sponsors.

Spending (half) a day on the Backbone Trail

2011-03-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

The Backbone Trail stretches 68 (or so) miles through the Santa Monica Mountains from Point Mugu State Park in northern Malibu to Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades.

The Backbone is popular with runners because there's lots of single track, good climbing and descending, a wide variety of terrain, it's underused so there aren't a ton of people out there and most of all, it's a friggin' beautiful place to be. For Southern California ultrarunners, tackling the whole stretch of the Backbone Trail is a badge of honor. One I have yet to achieve. The hardiest try to do it all in one day. A group of friends of mine decided to do it last weekend, but they made the relatively "sane" decision of splitting it up to do half on Saturday and half on Sunday.

I decided to join them on Sunday for the first 18 miles of the day. It seemed like a good idea to me because (a) it would be with a great group of people, (b) I knew they'd have heavy, tired legs from Saturday and probably would go at a pace I could keep up with and (c) I miss spending time on the trails. A lot.

Sunday morning I met up with Billy, Andee, Helen, Erin and Jack at Corral Canyon. Helen, Erin and Jack had run the whole 37-mile first half on Saturday (along with Colin, Kristin, Matt and some others). Andee did about 25 miles of it. Billy was on fresh legs like me.

We got started at 8:30.

(photo by Jack)

And after running past this:

and around this:

(photo by Jack)

and through this:

(photo by Jack)

and past this:

and this:

(photo by Billy)

and through this:

(photo by Billy)

Nearly five hours later I finished here (nice aid station, right? Thanks Matt and Dave):

I was muddy and tired and smiling from ear to ear (not only because I got to call it quits while the rest of them trudged on towards Will Rogers, but partially because of that!)

All five of them finished the trail sometime early in the evening. Congrats to them!!

Most of the trail was ankle-deep mud, except when we were crossing streams. We had sunny, sorta warm weather, light rain, deep fog and chills, and pretty much everything in between. The views were fantastic. As was the company.

There's no way I should have gone out and ran 18 miles. I'm paying for it this week with sore, tired legs. But it was worth it! And next time, I'm doing the whole damn thing!

My Morning at the LA Marathon

2011-03-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I thought I would be running the LA Marathon today. Actually as Billy reminded me a little bit ago, I'd actually mentioned running a there-and-back (i.e. double) LA Marathon today. Today is the six month anniversary of my surgery and I thought it would be a pretty great way to prove (mainly to myself) how quickly I was able to come back. But as I've written here ad nauseam, my spring training plans didn't work out exactly as hoped.

So, instead of running the marathon today, I did the next best thing: spectating and cheering and supported those who were out there running.

First off for any of my readers who weren't in LA today, let me set the scene: As of 5:30am, the forecast for the day read something like 90-100% of rain, heavy at times, temperatures in the low 50s, and wind gusting up to 25mph. Sweet! But contrary to what Reggie Bush might think (tweet from March 20 at 11am), runners don't stay home when it's gonna rain.

It didn't start actually raining this morning until right about 7:30, which was conveniently the start time for the race. Well goody.

I started my morning at 6:45 with a 5.5 mile run from home to The Pablove Foundation HQ at Sunset and Lucile, just before mile 8 on the course.

I hung out there with the Pablove team, waiting mostly patiently for the runners to start coming by. Standing outside in the cold and rain, cooling down after the first run of the morning, I started getting really cold. But then racers started streaming by which made it easy to forget any cold I was feeling! First were the wheelchairs and handcycles (who started first):

(this guy was either the second or third wheelchair at mile 8)

Then the elite women (next wave):

Then the elite men (who started 17-or-so minutes after the women):

I waited at Pablove until Jimmy and Tyler came by, at their blazing fast 6:30-something pace. I jumped in and ran with them for about two miles, which was just about as long as I could last at that speed:

(best I could do, while trying to keep up with wet cold hands)

At mile 10, I stopped and waited for Kate. She came by with Travis and Justin (?) and I jumped in with them for a couple miles at a somewhat more reasonable 7:15-or-so pace.

A little past mile 12, I stopped again to wait for the next friends to come by - Colin and Kristin weren't too far behind. So I jumped in with them for a few miles through West Hollywood:

At around mile 15.5, I stopped again and this time waited just a minute or two for Billy and Sam. By now, the constant-and-sometimes-hard rain had become much of just a constant, hard rain, so I couldn't take any more pictures. I'd also already run over 13 miles on the day, which was more than I'd planned and I still had to go at least 2 to get home. So I only ran with them for a few hundred meters before stopping to wait for Pete. When Pete came, I ran with him for about a half mile before turning for home. Running for home I ran across many semi-flooded streets, I felt like a little kid jumping directly into the puddles. Credit to my awesome DryMax socks for keeping my feet comfy and blister-free all day long!

Even though while I was out there I was mostly wishing I was actually running it, I made the most of it and had a blast today. In all, I ran about 16.6 miles. Congrats to all my friends who braved the rain and kicked ass!

Pablove Triathlon Team!!

2011-03-18T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have some very exciting news to (finally) report!

The Pablove Triathlon Team has officially launched. I've had the privilege over the last few weeks of working with team founders, Warren and Mike, and the awesome staff at The Pablove Foundation to get the team off the ground. We've designed a racing kit, rounded up some awesome team sponsors and partners and recruited a strong group of local age-group athletes to join the team. But first...

The Pablove Foundation is a Southern California charitable foundation dedicated to fighting childhood cancer with love. The Foundation name honors Pablo Thrailkill Castelaz, who was six when he lost his battle with bilateral Wilms' Tumor, a rare form of childhood cancer. Pablo's parents, Jo Ann and Jeff started the Foundation in order to raise money to fund pediatric cancer research and advances in treatment, to educate and empower cancer families, and to improve the quality of life for children living with cancer through hospital play, music and arts programs. There's plenty more information on at pablove.org.

Their primary fundraising is through benefit concerts (Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of Dangerbird Records, a local independent record label) and through the annual Pablove Across America bike ride. During the summer, Jeff and other participating riders spend up to three weeks riding through a portion of the country, flying the Pablove colors and stopping at children's hospitals and cancer centers, meeting kids and families. The current issue of Peleton magazine has an article by Jeff about Pablove Across America, you can read an excerpt here.

And here's a video also from Peleton about the ride:

Pablove is small but they are making an impact. And Warren and Mike were excited to help. So they started talking to Pablove and recruiting local age-group (i.e. glorified weekend warrior) triathletes to join the cause. And now we're here. As of today, we have 14 members but that number is sure to grow quickly, especially as the word starts to get out. We're a triathlon team at heart, but we also race marathons and trail races and ultramarathons and cycling races and participate in all other sports as well. We are all dedicated to raising money and awareness for Pablove. All team members set their own individual fund-raising goal. And each team member can be as involved with Pablove as they want. The only pressure to raise money or participate is the drive to help Pablove do their good work. I think we're all going to be very surprised at how much we can add to Pablove's mission.

Here's me riding last weekend on the PCH in the Pablove cycling kit.

Our tri race kits have a similar design, including the awesome Pablo-drawn "punch guy" texturing all over the kit. Look closely and you can see it, but here's original design, as drawn by Pablo:

We're hopeful that our flashy cool kits will be ready in time to show off at Wildflower on April 30 and May 1.

Team members will be racing all over the country and the world this season. Currently, all of our members are in Los Angeles, but that's gonna change. We'll be a national team soon enough. And, even though we're triathlon focused, you don't have to be a triathlete to be a team member.

If you're interested in joining the team, you can register at pablove.org/triteam. Check out more information at the triathlon team facebook page.

You will be hearing lots and lots more about Pablove and the Pablove Triathlon Team from me over the coming months. But for now, I'm leaving you with my little plea:

Click HERE to go to my personal fundraising page and help me raise money for The Pablove Foundation - all of the money raised by the Triathlon Team goes directly to the Foundation. (The team is paying it's own way for all events and team merchandise - hopefully with the help of a few team sponsors!)

I believe strongly in the goals of The Pablove Foundation. They are doing wonders to help fund cancer research and to provide support and encouragement to children with cancer and to their families. And I know that we can help. I've set what I believe to be a very modest initial fundraising goal. I will reach that goal quickly and then set another and another. That doesn't mean I'm asking YOU for a large donation. Any amount will help.

If you go to my fundraising page, you'll notice that I haven't donated to myself yet. So... to make this a little more fun, I'll match dollar-for-dollar any donations that I get between now and April 1 up to a total of at least $1,500. (I thought about typing that sentence for a while and yes, I am a little scared to have written it, but let's do it! Just please don't tell Elizabeth! :) Remember, dear, it's for the kids.)

As always, THANK YOU!

(edited 8:39am to make it clear that fundraising is for The Pablove Foundation, not the Triathlon Team!)

Brooks Minimalist Shoes???

2011-03-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

I've been reading up on some very exciting news from Brooks recently!

They're finally adding some truly minimalist shoes to their line-up. The PureProject line will debut in October. From their official blog post, it sounds like they're going to come out with five different models of minimalist, light-weight shoes with varying degrees of support. The goal for these shoes will be to "promote a natural ride" and give runners a stronger connection with, and feel for, the road (and hopefully trails) beneath them.

For more info, you can read the official post on the Brooks blog and definitely check out Pete Larson's take at his blog, Runblogger. (Runblogger is one of my favorite blogs - really smart news and reviews about all things running, especially minimalist running shoes and studies on running form. He has detailed reviews of most of the shoes listed below, and tons of others. If you're a runner, you should be reading his blog.)

I'm really excited about this announcement. I'm a loyal Brooks shoe wearer. For the past three or four years, I've logged probably 90% of my road miles in Brooks shoes - I've gone through lots of pairs of Defyance, Launch, Cascadia, Racer ST, Green Silence and Mach 12's. Their shoes consistently fit my feet better than any running shoes I've tried.* Early last year I became a member of Brooks ID, which is a nice Brooks-affiliated running community and gets me a discount on their products.

The collection of Brooks shoes currently in my closet. The only ones I'm wearing now are the green and black Green Silence and the yellow and black Mach 12s in the right of the photo. This doesn't include the pairs I've given away in the past or the two pairs still in their unopened boxes.

BUT. My first Brooks shoes were the 10.something ounce first generation Defyance. I went through a bunch of pairs of those over a couple years. Since then I have been moving to progressively lighter and more minimalist shoes. Last year I ran a ton of miles in a few pairs of the Launch. And still I want to go lighter. So, right now I'm rotating between the Green Silence and the Mach 12. I'm tempted to get a pair of the 6 ounce T7 Racer but the 12mm drop from heel to toe bothers me. I like them all, but none of those shoes is exactly what I'm looking for. While Brooks makes some light-weight shoes, they don't make anything really low profile, with a zero or small drop and a roomy toe box. And as I look around at what other shoe companies are doing - especially Saucony (the Kinvara and A4) and New Balance (the Minimus line) - I've been getting serious shoe envy. For the first time in years, I'm seriously tempted to branch out and try some other brands of road shoes. (Those New Balance Minimuses look sweet and are getting great early reviews.) So for a while now, I've been dreaming about the day that Brooks would come out with truly minimalist shoes.

Now it seems I just have to wait until October.

*The big exception here is the New Balance MT100. I love running trails in those shoes. Low to the ground, light-weight, fast, comfortable. Brooks doesn't make anything even close to comparable. Yet. *fingers tightly crossed*

Monthly Summary - February 2011

2011-02-28T20:22:00.000-08:00

Here's February 2011:

Swim: 22,600 meters
Cycling (outdoors): 148.8 miles
Cycling (indoors): 7:05 (hours)
Run: 82.5 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 5 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 45:30 hours

Weight: a few pounds too heavy... whatever

I'm still finding my way back into this stuff. And trying to find the place where I'm doing enough to make me happy and fit but not so much that I get myself overwhelmed or injured. I feel like I'm finding something like that these days.

I'm in a general rhythm with the swimming, getting there with the cycling (though I do need to get on the bike more, especially outside on the bike more) and the run is finally starting to come back as well. The biggest challenge I'm having is squeezing it all in each week. Being a runner - even an ultrarunner - is so much easier than trying to be a triathlete. Looking at my numbers from the month, I think I did a pretty good job balancing it all.

We got back today from spending a few days in Washington DC visiting family. We had one day of rain but the rest of the weekend was beautiful, cool, sunny, pre-spring weather. I went for a couple good runs, including one through the Rock Creek Park trails with Assaf. He pushed me a little and we ran a nice route with rolling hills.

The big news this month was making the decision to race at Wildflower. After thinking about it for a couple months, I finally decided I was in a good enough mental and physical place to sign up for a tough half ironman. My training is going well enough that I think I can get prepared without cramming.

If my training during March and April are like February, I'll toe the line at Wildflower feeling pretty good about myself.

We've been doing a fair amount of hiking with the boys this year. Regular trip to Runyon and most weekends we'll meet up with Loren and person-Charlie and their dogs, Birdie and Oscar, to go for a hike. Here's a picture of the crowd during a recent hike at Griffith Park:

And this is what generally happens on the way home from a hike:

And this is, well... I'm not sure what this is. Except maybe the craziest way to sleep ever:

4 signs that I'm "becoming" a triathlete again

2011-02-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

I was a runner first, but before I was an ultrarunner I was a triathlete. After racing at Oceanside 70.3 last March, I pretty much swore off triathlons in favor of ultrarunning. I was even seriously considering trying to sell my newly repaired and repainted Guru. But it's definitely looking like last year was more of a "break" from triathlon than a farewell. (That's not to say I'm saying farewell to ultrarunning, I'll be back at that soon enough too, I hope!)

Here are the top four signs I know that I'm making a return to triathlon:

1) The term "brick" is finding its way back into my training log.

2) I'm spending a lot of time in the pool and even doing different workouts like swimming for technique and some speed instead of just fitness.

3) I just bought a new road bike. It's currently being built up at the shop and by the time it's built and I get fit on it, I probably won't have it to ride for a couple weeks. I'll get pictures up here as soon as I can - but trust me it's RAD.

4) I signed up for another triathlon. That's two for 2011, so far. In the fall I signed up for SOS sort of on a lark. It's one of my favorite races I've ever done and two good friends were also signing up, so I figured what the hell, I could add it into an ultrarunning season as a "fun" event. But this time, I signed for a race that I'm planning on racing:

Wildflower Triathlon, at San Antonio Lake, California (a little north of Paso Robles) is nicknamed "The Woodstock of Triathlon". It's a HUGE triathlon festival during the first weekend of May with 8,000 racers choosing among three races over the course of the weekend. It's one of those races that I've always been told to put on my "must-do" list. Tons of people camp out all weekend and supposedly it's a huge party atmosphere. Just for the record, I will NOT be camping! I've been thinking about it for a couple months and I finally signed up to race the long course event (half-ironman). I'm psyched. I know a bunch of people going up there to race or spectate. The whole weekend should a blast!

As you can see below, the bike (top) and run (bottom) are both pretty hilly - that hill around mile 41 of the bike should is gonna be a ton of "fun".

And 60% of the run is on trails. Climbing and trails... this should totally be my type of triathlon. I feel like my swim and bike are coming along really well. The run still needs a lot of work, but I've still got nine weeks to get there.

Depending on how Wildflower and my summer training go, SOS may have to be a little less fun and a little more fast!

Thank goodness I didn't sell this sexy Guru, it looks like I'm gonna need it!

Fresh Air Fund - NYC Half Marathon Team

2011-02-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

In October, I wrote about the Fresh Air Fund, a NYC-based non-profit that helps city kids experience the world outside NYC, with an emphasis on spending time outdoors. At the time they were trying to fill a few spots on their NYC Marathon team.

They recently contacted me again asking if I would let my NYC readers (and anyone else interested) know about their Half Marathon Team for the NYC Half Marathon on March 20. If you're not familiar with the NYC Half Marathon, it's an awesome race. (I ran the inaugural race in August 2006 - it started in the dark and then poured rain but was still a blast - here are a few photos.)

The race starts in Central Park and runs right smack dab through the center of Times Square, then down the West Side Highway and finishing in Lower Manhattan. This year, runners will line up with superstar runners like Kara Goucher (we like Kara!), Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman. Sweet!

Because it's an awesome race, there's huge demand. And because there's huge demand, they have a lottery to get in. This year less than one-third of the lottery entrants got a spot!

So... if you wanted to do the race but were one of the 23,000+ people who didn't get a spot (or if you didn't enter the lottery at all) here's your chance to run the race and raise money for a great cause.

Go to the Fresh Air Fund Half Marathon Team website or contact them directly at kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org or (212) 897-8890 to find out more information about joining the team and running the sold-out race.

In addition to filling their NYC Half Marathon team, the Fresh Air Fund is looking for host families for this summer. Sara from Fresh Air Fund said that host families are "volunteers who open their hearts and home to a child from the city to give them a fresh air experience they never forget." If you're interested, click here for a ton of information about the process, including a slideshow of photos of the kids headed out of the City last summer and answers to FAQ.

The Good "Hurt"

2011-02-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

This morning I was supposed to get up and go for another relatively easy run, but I woke up with sore and tired legs. Not "injured" or "painful" legs. More like "sore" and "tired" legs from a few days of pretty intense training. This was the first time I'd felt that way in months. Instead of running, I played with the boys in the back yard, had a leisurely breakfast and got into work nice and early. I've never been so happy to take a day off running!

Monthly Summary - January 2011

2011-01-31T19:21:00.000-08:00

Here's January 2011:

Swim: 22,975 meters

Cycling (outdoors): 273.5 miles

Cycling (indoors): 3:45 (hours)

Run: 37.2 miles

Strength Training/Yoga: 10 sessions

Approximate monthly total training time: 57:30

Weight: a little too much

This month's theme was "Rediscovering My Inner Triathlete". I swam and biked more than I have in any month since I actually was a triathlete! It's been exactly one year since I had a month like this one - January 2011 pretty much mirrors January 2010. The main difference is that last January I was getting ready to ramp up the running for a big ultra season and this January, I'm getting ready to, well, do something else. I'll let you know when I figure out exactly what that something else is!

I had a great time this month on the bike, particularly on the Saturday morning LA Tri Club Westside ride. We've been doing a fair amount of climbing, including doing Latigo twice this month. The picture above is at the top of Latigo last weekend (thanks to ride organizer Warren Selko for the picture).

I'm slowly, slowly finding my way back into running. My low back and hip are pretty much 100%, but I'm being super careful to come back slow and easy. I think the biggest barrier to my running right now is mental. I'm scared that I'll do something wrong or come back too quickly and then be back to not running at all. It's definitely a confidence thing, but each little run/walk I do, my confidence grows. And anyway, there's absolutely no reason to rush it.

My biggest "accomplishment" this month was finishing radiation. As I've stated ad naseum here, it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared, but it was still a huge relief to get it over with.

The other news that's been developing this month is about a new triathlon team that I'm joining. It's an effort - spearheaded by Warren Selko and Mike Ireland - to raise money and awareness for a non-profit dedicated to fighting childhood cancer. More to come about this soon!