Vineman 140.6 Relay

July 2015, edited later.

That was hot.  And hilly.  Not the big climbs I train for, but a never-ended slow grind of smaller hills that wear you down again and again and again.

Repeat offender for the cutest finisher award.

I ran the marathon portion of the Vineman 140.6 triathlon as part of a relay team, and it was hot.  I went out at my target pace, about 8:30 mpm, which would normally be sustainable.  I quickly realized it wasn’t, and near mile four, I decided that it would no longer a race for time, but a challenge to make a consistent effort with a strong finish.

The course is a triple out-and-back on a grid of rural roads emanating from Windsor high school.  The start was surprisingly fun, because while you can predict a swimmer’s time to within 10 minutes, a cyclists time can be off by an hour or more, either way.  So I warmed up to be ready to go an hour before his earliest expected time, and then hurried up and waited.  In the hot sun in the middle of the afternoon.  

I had woken up early to watch the swim and the swim-to-bike transition.  This race is so damn long that I then went about my day, having lunch, playing with the kid, etc, etc, until it was time to get out the door a second time.  

Back to mile 4.  I flipped my GPS watch to the heart rate display and decided to ignore everything else and focus on maintaining a HR zone, since it’s one thing that doesn’t lie about how hard you’re working.  It’s very easy for me to go too fast in heat and to quickly overheat/get sick/get tired/crash and burn/wait/hope/recover/etc/etc.  Like the middle portion of Lake Sonoma this spring.  I found myself running about 75% of the time and speed walking about 25% of the time to keep things under control, and I went with an ice bandana on the neck, which worked amazingly well at keeping me cool.

While the race was hot, it had this weird mix of dry rural farm road and pretty wine country vistas in the distance.  Most everyone was slogging.  Granted, I hadn’t biked over 100 miles, unlike a lot of the field.  At mile 22, SS passed by on the way out as I was headed in, wrapping up his full 140.6.

At mile 22 I let my target HR creep up one beat per mile and let it go completely in the last half mile, speeding up whenever I passed some landmark that I was deciding on the fly.  RR and RN joined in as I came in to the finish, and we ended up second in our relay division at 12:50 overall.  I ran 4:53ish, which I did’t even bother to check until two days later, since I was quite happy with how I executed this race and how well the finish went.  Even being a 140.6, I was surprised at how few sub-4-hour finishers there were.

The front of a 2.4 mile swim is eerily quiet.

Things done well:

• Ice bandana
• Using a target heart rate to maintain pace
• Strict management of pace increases toward the end let me finish strong, and feeling rather well over the next few days, considering I ran an ultra and a marathon in a week.   

Things to improve:

• Walk into hot races with an ice/HR management plan right from the beginning.  I had to learn this stuff as I went, but fortunately, I found a comfortable place pretty quickly.
• Heat training?
• Put a jacket in the finish line bag, even it's in the 80s during the race.

Strava

Tahoe Rim Trail 55k

July 2015, written a month later.

My race reports are too long.  I'm not getting motivated enough or finding the time to edit them.  Let's make this easier.

The TRT 55k/50m/100m is one of the bigger ultras within driving distance, and it caught my attention for simply being, in part, on the Tahoe Rim Trail, which is an important place for me.  I wanted to run a race at altitude this year, and after a lot of lottery luck, I was in for this.  I wanted to run the 50 mile course, but stuck with the 55k in case altitude didn't pan out well.

Altitude affected me, but I was fine.  What hit me unexpectedly was a muscle cramp on the steep descent of the red house loop that never really let up, and I ended up speed hiking the last 14ish miles to avoid having it turn to anything worse, as it was pretty bad.  But it was the TRT, so there was no way I was going to quit, I just stopped running for time and enjoyed the rest of the course.

My version of the laid-out-gear photo.  A pile of everything.  And sorry, that number has been changed.

And another pile of stuff to carry to the car.

Spooner Lake, the start, before dawn.

Start/Finish

The post-Hobart climb.  Lake Marlett above Lake Tahoe.

More of Lake Marlett

Above 8000 ft.

Somewhere before Tunnel Creek, where I stopped taking photos.  Not that this was a smart decision, Snow Peak was gorgeous.

I finished in some absurd about of time, over 9 hours, but I was still nowhere near the back of the pack.
Things done well

• Managing speed at altitude using heart rate worked well.  Until I didn't need to try to limit it.  It especially worked well when it got really warm coming out of Red House.
• Deciding to power hike the way in after the muscle cramp.  I lost a lot of time, but it made for a much more enjoyable day.
• Limiting myself to a shorter distance than I really wanted to run to better handle everything that would be new for the first time running ultra-distance in the Sierras.

Things to improve

• Take a longer no-run break after a race to really work out mobility issues.  I blame Escape from Alcatraz for causing the muscle tightness that led to the cramp.
• Take more photos on Snow Peak.  Even if you don't want to.
• Pack a cold coffee drink in the car for the drive home, even if it's well past my normal coffee cutoff time.  
• Sign up for 16 more miles next time.

Observations

• Bob Shebest, the 50 mile winner, passed through Hobart on the way back while I was taking a long break to manage the annoying muscle cramp.  He was pushing hard, having multiple sponges of water dumped on his head in quick succession.
• Yes, this is the most gorgeous course I've been on.  Sorry Marin.
• Best aid stations and finish volunteers I've seen.  Cold smoothies at mile 24ish are awesome.

Strava

Sonora Pass

July, 2015, written later.

This isn't a race, it's not even a run, but I've been itching to start exploring the Sierras.  When I start looking for gaps in my Strava heatmap to find new places to run/explore, it's time to change things up.   

Having decided to take the very long way home from a 4th of July trip to Tahoe, we stopped at Sonora pass to have lunch and hike a short out-and-back on the PCT.  The weather was perfect, although it would snow here only a few days later.   

About where we stopped on the first climb, at 10,000 feet, and carrying a toddler.

A second climb on the south side

Strava

Escape From Alcatraz

June, 2015, edited much later

This was easily the most fun triathlon I’ve done.  And probably the most fun race I’ve done.  That wasn’t planned.  The plan was a hard race.  

A transition photo because I don't carry a camera during triathlons.

Waking well before dawn (the hardest part of any race for me) and finding parking (the second hardest part of races in cities), setting up my bike and triathlon gear in transition was fast and easy.  I feel like I’ve done this a few times now, this being my 6th triathlon.  It’s also been my longest racing break since I started in early 2012, at two months, and I had a really good stretch of training.  I was surprised to get in, given the race’s popularity and lottery process.  

The bus ride and ferry ride were long and sleepy.  I  question things when getting ready for an endurance race takes longer than the race itself.  The boat to swim transition itself was surreal.  One moment you’re warm, sleepy, and forcing yourself through the motions to get ready to swim, double dnd triple checking everything because you haven’t slept enough, and a few moments later you’ve jumped off the boat, you’re in the cold water, and you're moving at full speed.

The jump itself is funny.  Everyone i know who hasn’t done the race, but is contemplating it, fears this moment the most.  I did too, to some extent, but I also know that I’ll walk right through those moments without giving myself time to think about it, to get through it.  And the truth is that the jump has a lot less in height than the videos they publicize online.  The front-of-the-pack racers jump off the higher bow.  The mortals jump off more amidship, closer to the water.  And the mental game of jumping, getting out of the way, sighting to set your course, and starting your swim takes up enough mental bandwidth that you don’t even notice the cold.  At least that’s my story.  Honestly, I remember the moment right before the jump and the moment right after the jump, and the fact that I hesitated for about half a second to make sure I wasn't jumping on anyone, but I don’t recall jumping itself.  Must have been fine.  

The swim was fun.  I’ve swum from alcatraz to aquatic park before, and found it easier than expected, in comparison to swims across the golden gate.  This swim was similar.  Foggy, calm, and feeling warmer than in training swims.  The pack spreads out wide too, so you have much more space to yourself than a typical triathlon on a closed course.  But being a race, you push yourself harder than in an easier paced open water swim.  It was just plain fun, and I swam really well.  The two weeks of 650 yard repeats at the end of my training really worked.  

I came into shore at the perfect spot, right before the arch to the half mile warmup run to T1.  Note to self for future reference—the tidal current is strongest closest to shore.  This is documented on the intertubes, but I hadn’t found it out until researching more after the race.  Anyway, the half mile run was like jogging in molasses; on his course the swim affects my run much more so than the bike.  I’m glad I did a few bay swim/run bricks to learn this ahead of time and know what to expect.  

I don’t remember T1.  Not a thing about it.

The bike was fun and fast.  And hard too, one short climb was just painful.  But it was short…it’s more hilly than I expected, which made for a fun ride.  I kept speed down a little on some descents, since I’m not the fastest downhill rider due to my limited biking experience, but otherwise I pushed hard the whole time.

T2 happened.  I’m sure it did.

In the run, I still felt the effect of the cold swim, coupled with the hard ride, and I was no where near my top speed, but I expected that.  The bike-to-run switch is a weak point for me; I’m likely riding too hard to be able to optimize running, but the bike being my weakest sport, it’s probably wearing me down the most.  That said, it’s been improving the fastest this year.  

The finish

I finished in 3:33 or so, somewhere in the middle, time-wise, with the swim being my strongest sport.  I think this has been my best executed race in a couple years, maybe altogether, despite the weak points.  I didn’t feel sore or tired the entire time and pushed hard for the entire course.  

Things done right:

• 650 yard swim repeats, thrice a week, for a few weeks before tapering.
• 5 mile bike repeats, thrice a week, for a few weeks before tapering.  I now have my bike pace up to a point that I raced consistently in the crowd around me throughout the race, except for the sand ladder, where I consistently passed people.
• Hill training and deadlifts.  The sand ladder climb, of all things, was my strongest split relative to the crowd.

Things to improve

• Wear lots of sunscreen in the horribly long and badly organized registration line.
• I have a problem with my psoas muscles getting tight, and it hit me on this run, probably because everything else was dead tired at this point, and I pushed hard through everything that was tired.  It would take weeks of mobility work to fix this after the race.  That’s probably something that needs regular attention.
• Bike strength is much better now, and technical riding on downhills is now my main limiting factor.  

Things of note:

• This triathlon has an older, and very experienced, demographic.  It might be the price and the bucket list nature of it for most racers, but I think I read that the average age was mid 40s.  
• There are a couple short and very steep sections on the bike course.  Squats with weights are your friend in training.  
• Legs were dead after the swim--from the cold.  I’m not sure how best to address this.  Maybe a short sprint after a cold bay swim instead of a longer run?  Maybe kicking more aggressively to keep legs warm?
• I did few run/bike bricks this time, to focus on bigger weaknesses.  That might be worth focusing on more next time  

Results

• Swim 43:36
• T1 10:52
• Bike 1:17:29
• T2 3:21
• Sand Ladder 3:59
• Run 1:18:10
• Total 3:33:27

Data

• Swim
• Bike
• Run 

Cutest finisher of the day.

Race/Event History

I can no longer remember it all.  Here's the list:

2016, Including Plans

• Crystal Springs 50k
• Oakland Marathon
• Mokelumne 50 Mile
• Canyons 100k
• Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne 50 mile fastpack
• Donner Lake Triathlon Half
• Kearsarge Pass and PCT toward Forrester Pass mountain run
• San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz 
• Mt Whitney 
• Yosemite Canyons 75 mile fastpack
• North Face Endurance Challenge SF 50 Mile

2015

• Coastal Steep Ravine 10k
• Brazen Coyote Hills 5k
• Coastal Golden Gate 30k
• ITR Chabot 50k
• ITR Marin Ultra Challenge 50k
• Lake Sonoma 50 mile
• Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon
• Tahoe Rim Trail 55k
• Lyell Canyon, Donahue Pass, Ansel Adams Wilderness--Solo 50ish k
• Ironman Tahoe 70.3
• Big Blue Adventure South Shore 2.4 Mile Swim, Lake Tahoe
• Overlook Endurance Runs 50k
• Brazen Quarry Turkey 5k
• North Face Endurance Challenge SF 50 Mile

2014

• Brazen New Year's Day Half Marathon
• Coastal Steep Ravine Marathon -- first trail marathon
• ITR Fort Ord 35k
• ITR Chabot 50k  -- first 50k
• Brazen Diablo Trails Challenge 50k
• Big Sur International Marathon
• Brazen Wildcat Half Marathon
• Hawai'i 70.3 Half Ironman -- first 70.3
• Double Dipsea
• ITR Reservoir Dogs 35k
• Brazen Bad Bass 5k
• Brazen Bear Creek 5k
• Swim Art Trans Golden Gate Swim
• Brazen Trail Hog Half Marathon
• Malibu Triathlon Classic Distance
• JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge
• Coastal 50k
• Brazen Rocky Ridge Half Marathon
• Rainshadow Running Oregon Coast 50k
• ITR Mt. Tam 50k
• North Face Endurance Challenge SF 50 mile

2013

• Brazen Coyote Hills 10k  -- first trail run
• Coastal Golden Gate Half Marathon -- first half marathon
• Brazen Bay Breeze 10k, at Quarry Lakes
• Brazen Badger Cove 10k
• Oakland Half Marathon
• Coastal Grizzly Peak 30k -- first 30k
• Swim Art Trans Golden Gate Swim -- first distance open water swim
• Coastal Canyon Meadow 30k
• San Francisco Marathon
• Coastal Golden Gate Half Marathon
• Tri for Fun -- first tri
• Coastal Cinderella Half Marathon
• JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge SF 3.5 mile
• Malibu Triathlon Classic Distance -- first real tri
• Brazen Drag-N-Fly Half Marathon
• Tough Mudder Norcal at Tahoe
• Swim Art Alcatraz Swim
• ITR Dirty Dare 25k
• Marin County Triathlon Olympic -- first olympic tri
• Coastal Lake Chabot 30k
• Berkeley Half Marathon -- first sub 2 hr half marathon
• Brazen Quarry Turkey Half Marathon
• ITR Woodside Ramble 35k -- first 35k
• Brazen New Year’s Eve Half Marathon

2012

• Oakland 5k -- first race
• San Francisco Marathon -- first marathon
• JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge
• Tough Mudder

Lake Sonoma 50 Mile

Somewhere around Mile upper twenty something, the electrolyte drink in my hydration pack started tasting horrible.  It was the third of the three harder climbs in the middle section of the course.  I was annoyed for a bit, thinking it was the aftertaste of some soda mixing with it.  But then it got worse, which really didn’t make sense.  I was hiking uphill at the pace needed to hit a goal time, but it was an exposed trail, and it was warm and sunny by this point.  I stopped for a few seconds to massage a muscle knot that crept up and felt a little light headed, and my stomach protested.  That’s a first, and I’ve done a number of these long runs on exposed trails on much warmer days, so I don’t really know why it happened.

I found a shady spot, stopped, sat down to rest it out, and took stock.  I planned to limit myself to five minutes, to cool off the immediate heat reaction and get my stomach to calm down, since I wanted to get to a place, physically, where I could keep moving well the rest of the day.  At five minutes, I wasn’t there.  It took eight minutes, and I got up, and kept moving.  It seemed like half the people in the race passed me during that rest, and I bailed on my time goal to focus on keeping myself feeling well enough to make it back to a less exposed portion of the course.  Finishing was more important than keeping up my earlier pace, which wasn’t even a hard pace, but if I had kept it up with how I was feeling, I probably would have had to bail.  

Getting to the Madrone aid station, I drank a lot of water, switched to the race-supplied electrolyte drink, and ate a little, and a volunteer poured water poured over my head.  I used the next section to gear back up gradually, since  I still felt off.  After a refill at the Wulflow aid station, I picked my pace back up for about five miles, passing a number of people.  It took about 3-4 hours for everything to recover from the heat sickness, but the resulting fatigue lasted the rest of the day.  I’d repeat the pattern of hike/walk about two miles, letting myself lose time, run faster for 3-5 miles until tired, repeat, for the rest of the day.

The first half of the course went great, moving from gently sloped roads to up-and-down twisting trail (my favorite part) to the first two fire road climbs.  I stayed well ahead of my goal pace through No Name Flat at mile 25.2.  I ran through the creek crossings on the way out, never getting completely water-logged.  Keeping the slower pace of a 50 miler felt strange, since most of my running has been at significantly faster speeds lately.  I haven't built the faster pace up to longer distances, so I went out deliberately slow.  Relatively speaking.

Somewhere on the way back, I wondered why I was at this race.  And why I run any ultras.  And I told myself I should quit running ultras and just run 20-milers and under, where I am a significantly stronger runner.  Running fast and finishing in a reasonable amount of time is so much more fun.  And easier to wrangle with the rest of life.  And finishing before most of the crowd in a short race is psychologically much more of a high than coming in at the very back of a 50 miler.  Three days later, as I write this, the reason is the mental journey.  There’s a certain mental clarity that comes after one of these races that lasts for weeks.  

When I passed the one-mile-to-go sign, I very quickly got out of my just-finish-it mindset and into a time-goal mindset.  I decided to finish under 13:30, a reasonable, but challenging goal of the 50th mile, and I picked up the pace a lot.  Everything stopped hurting too. I came at 13:29:21, a half hour before the race ended.  I was surprised at how many very strong runners dropped out of this race, some of whom I saw walking back while I was running out.  But we all have our days.  

After the fact, feet were the biggest problem, but less than expected, and I had no strength/cramping issues left at the end of the race.  I actually felt better than after any marathon or ultra I’ve run before.  Something tells me that most of what’s left to tackle to run these better is a psychological fear of failure.  I’d rather come in late than risk dropping.

My next fifty is in eight months (unless I add one in early fall).  I’ve taking some time off running to allow for some overdue longer-term recovery, and I'm planning to focus on form and strength for a while, followed by a few months of reduced volume training to do other things.  There are a couple summer races planned, but each is more to finish than to race hard, since they'll each be a new kind of race for me.  After that is another run of endurance training in the fall.

https://www.strava.com/activities/283660309

Marin Ultra Challenge 50k

The beginning.

We started before dark.  It was quite the crowd for only 50k and 50 mile runners starting at 6:00 AM.  I had been toying with moving up to the 50 mile distance a few times over the past couple weeks, but it didn’t make sense in the big picture, since I wanted to run a harder 50k this month. 

Starting up from Fort Baker, I started out on what’s been a consistently increasing uphill pace for endurance length runs.  The second half of this climb was crowded single track in the dark, so the pace was mostly fixed for about a mile.  Reaching the top, we ran down the coastal trail while sunlight was slowly growing.  I kept speed in check here, and also along the flat stretch through the valley to the second climb up Hill 88.  

The second hill (up Coastal, down Old Springs) was steady, but not my fastest effort here, since there was a lot more course to go.  I realized I was working harder than I thought as I started the descent, since my hamstrings were feeling sore.  Coming into Tennessee Valley, some wild turkeys were on the attack, chasing us while a park service worker watched from his truck with a smile on his face.  

Pirate’s cove was fun, as always—it was great being this far along this early in the morning.  I made my first water refill at Muir Beach, since it would start to warm up soon, and the next stretch of the course would be 7.4 miles.  I kept the same steady pace through this loop, along Redwood Creek (where the 50 milers split off to visit Stinson Beach and Muir Woods), up Miwok, and back along Dias Ridge.  By the time I finished this loop, it was hot, and I was sucking down water, now refilling my pack at every aid station.  I was also well ahead of my stretch goal in terms of pace.  

New trails were next, heading up Middle Green Gulch, which passed through a farm and into a hot climb where I had my first moment of feeling tired, although it only took a few minutes to walk myself out of it.  At the top, we switched to some single track I haven’t run that parallels Miwok.  A few of us got lost for a moment at a confusing intersection before heading back down to Tennessee Valley, but we managed to stay on course after deciding on the single track.  

Marincello, I could complain about this all day, so yeah, let’s do that.  It was hot, slow, steady, and about as long as usual.  It was much more fun in the dark back in December.  Reaching the top, I backed off the pace a bit and just enjoyed the run along the ridgelines and back down to Fort Baker, since I was still well ahead of my stretch goal.  I finished in 6:55:12, my second fastest 50k, and my fastest time in the headlands.  This really surprised me, given the amount of climbing on this course.  Keeping the steady pace throughout really paid off.  I stuck around to watch the 50 mile winner come in about an hour later, and it took about that long to reconnect with the world, since the heat had me beat down a bit.  

The end.

https://www.strava.com/activities/268232013

ITR Chabot 50k, 2015

I ran this a year ago as my first 50k.  It's close to home, an easier course (relatively speaking), and at a convenient time, so I ran it again to see how things stand at the 50k distance as compared to last year.  

I ran the first four hours at a faster pace, staying below 12 min/mile, but something caught up with me, and I dramatically slowed down for a few miles in the second loop when my left ankle started acting up.  I picked up the pace again for the last 4-5 miles along the lake shore, finishing in 6:25, a 50k PR.  

Not much more to say this time around, it was very much a long effort to build up to the MUC and Lake Sonoma as well a personal 50k time trial, and I've run here too many times to say much new about the course.  It was warm, peaceful, and a good mix of hills and flat sections, trail and pavement.  The guns were firing, the lake was toxic, good food/beer at the end, so all's good.

https://www.strava.com/activities/258130909

Golden Gate 30k

Rain falling lightly, then harder, then lighter again, as a small crowd stood under a very small shelter to stay dry.  Waves crashing against the surfing beach across the road, below the Headlands.  Green and wet hills under light fog in a warm breeze.  The tops of the hills would be windy today.  And the rain was forecast to last all morning.    

It’s weather like this that really brings trail running to life for me, and the Golden Gate 30k really shined in this regard.  I ran this to start building distance back up, but the wet muddy weather really made it the perfect training run.  The plan was to run it harder than any long races from last year, and to let myself blow up if needed, mainly to get the training effect in.  Fortunately, that didn’t happen.  

Driving, pouring rain.  Ankle deep mud.  Fog.  Wind gusts, some over 40mph.  And a clear glimpse of the bay every now and then.  The race would run through all variations of wet and muddy weather.  At one point, I expected hail, but that didn’t come.

The first climb out of Rodeo Beach went fast, and I zoned out for a while, not thinking about much.  The climb up fox was a fast hike that came and went without much thought.  The Pirate’s Cove trail brought me back around, since this is where everything went to muck at the North Face 50.  This run was much better, and I kept the pace up through it.

IT band tightness.  A short stretch break. Concentrated uphill running.  And a long set of hike/run intervals up Marincello.  Up here things became interesting.

And by interesting, I mean ridiculous.  And by ridiculous I mean fun.  The rain was pouring so hard it became difficult to look very far ahead.  Puddles became splash fests.  But it was warm.

After the last aid station, I ran fast down the last part of the Coastal trail, and then quickly hiked up the last hill to the road section, where I planned to run fast back down.  Then the 40 mph wind blasts came, redefining ridiculous.  I couldn’t not laugh.  Somewhere here I decided to wrap it up at a fun pace instead of pushing all out to the end.  

This race was over fast, mentally.  I covered this ground at my faster pace to date.  I originally planned to run the 5 mile, but I’m glad I moved up in distance, since it really was the right time to move back up to endurance pace.  Since my last long race in December, there was a definite change in mental perception of the hills.  I’ve been running/hiking a lot of hill repeats with 800 feet of climbing over the last two months, so nothing here felt long in comparison.  My time was 3:38:40, 32/95, and my fastest run on almost every section of the course.

https://www.strava.com/activities/252342548