LA Marathon

It wasn't an easy decision, "should I run the LA Marathon this year?" I have wanted to run LA for the last few years but, so far, had not worked in my schedule due to other races. This year, it wasn't another race that stood in the way, but the fact that I may not be properly trained in time for the race. Since my hernia surgery in early February, I have struggled to get my mileage up to pre surgery levels. I think I underestimated the time that your body needs to recover from surgery and thought I could just continue on without missing a step... Wrong!

Looking back at the previous 3 months before each of my marathons and comparing the miles, I only did about half the miles that I did at last years Long Beach Marathon, where I ran a PR of 4:07. So, it is really no surprise that I ran a 4:29:32 in LA. It is still disappointing. It's a few seconds slower than my first Marathon, making it my slowest. Each of my previous 3 marathons had progressively gotten faster, so this was a bit of a bummer. If I were to do it over?? I'd do it in a heartbeat, cause it was a BLAST!!!

I'll spare you all the gory details of the pain in the last few miles and instead focus on what went right. The running community was a little concerned about this race, particularly the change in date and the chance for much warmer temperatures than it's usual March date. Lickily we were blessed with perfect conditions. The temperatures held in the mid 60's assisted by a nice marine layer! It was truly a gorgeous day. The spectators were INCREDIBLE! I can't remember any significant section of the course that wasn't lined with enthusiastic supporters. It really was amazing. The race itself was very well run and organized. Even the parking was effortless. I left WAY too early, expecting traffic and hassles and they simply did not exist. Kudos to the new owner of the LA Marathon for a very enjoyable race. I will be there for my revenge next year.

I also had the pleasure of meeting some of my new twitter pals at the race. It was really cool to meet them in person after chatting for the past couple of weeks. We are all still chatting and now a bunch of us are planning on doing the Long Beach Marathon in October. Very, very cool!!

I apologize for the lack of links and pictures in this post, but I am writing this on my iPhone as I am on the trainer (that nasty multitasking thing) and the app that I am using is a somewhat limited program.

3rd place at Sycamore Canyon 18K?

Well..... my shoes got 3rd place, unfortunately I wasn't in them at the time. When I arrived at the race site, I parked just as my friends, Phil Moores and Lori Palmquist were getting out of their car.

Phil asked me if I had an extra pair of shoes. He had left his at home and I, by chance, had brought an extra pair. I was afraid that my trail shoes may be a little tight, so as a precaution I brought my street shoes. We wear the same size and I was happy to let him use them. The three of us were doing the 18K distance. I had hoped to do at least the 30K but hadn't logged nearly enough miles after my surgery to feel comfortable doing the 30. I opted for the 18K and was glad that I did. The weather was perfect! Sara and Wendell, the race directors put on the most amazing trail races and this race has become my favorite. The three of us started together, but us running together only lasted about a minute. Even though I planned on racing this as opposed to "surviving" a 50K, I knew that I still needed to pace myself and try for a middle of the pack finish. Phil and Lori.... well, they're just plain FAST! In the 2nd mile there is a VERY steep climb. When I hit this, my heart rate went through the roof. I'm still not really sure why. It was worse than last years 50K when the temps were in the 90's. I had to stop several times and let people behind me go ahead since it was single track and by the time I got to the top, I was feeling pretty dizzy. I think it may have been the fact that I had eaten 3 hours prior and I may have been low on fuel. Anyway, the plan was to keep my HR in check on the uphills and run as fast as I could on the downhills (brilliant, I know). In the 18K, you basically go over 2 mountains. 6 miles over 1 mountain to the aid station, then back to the start. Big change from the 50K where you go over 5. When I was about a half mile from the turn around I saw Lori headed back my way. Like I said.... she's fast!

She sure looks happy. I had already seen my shoes.... and Phil a mile or two back and well... never mind. I got to the aid station, loaded up on pretzels and chocolate and headed back. It's a bit easier on the return trip with a more gradual incline. Like I said the weather was perfect and there was a nice breeze. I stayed within my target heart rate and it served me well. By the time I got to the top, I had a lot left in me. I had stuck behind a couple for a good mile or so and when I took off, the guy said to me, "go get em" (trail runners are the coolest people!). So off I went. I felt great and made up a lot of time. I passed several people on the way down. I would see someone ahead of me and slowly reel them in. I was a little worried that I would trip, like I always seem to do, but I was wearing trail shoes which I think helped and my pace was faster than usual which I think also helped (less feet dragging). There was one final guy that I was trying to catch, but just couldn't quite do it. He finished 3 seconds ahead of me. He wasn't in my age group so that made it not hurt as bad. I wanted to finish around 2:15 and I finished in 2:18:49. My Garmin said 2:16:42 because I had it set to auto pause when I am stopped. That means I spent over 2 minutes stuffing my face with pretzels and chocolate. I'll have to work on that next time :) I ended up 32/60 overall and 7/12 in my age group. That is pretty much right where I wanted to be. Not bad considering no hill work and less than 2 months after surgery. I am looking forward to the next trail race. Here is a snapshot of the elevation gain.

And what about Lori...... and....... my shoes????? Lori finished 1st in her age group and 10th overall with 1:49:10... AMAZING! And Phil finished 1st in his (and my) age group and 3rd overall!!! He gave me back my shoes and I think I saw some smoke coming off the heels. I love my friends but they do make me feel slow. I'm hoping some of that speed rubs off on me.

Ok, now that I have finally gotten my month old race report out of the way, on to some new business. I am going to start talking more about my other passions. I have touched on it before but since there hasn't been much to report, I haven't really said much. Hopefully, the endurance junkies will find this interesting as well. Luckily this first bit has a nice tie in.

First a bit of history. I am a musician and I have played in bands since I was in high school. The bulk of my performing was in the late 80's to mid 90's. I was in a band called Dirty Dealin' and we played in southern California. We were a metal band along the lines of Metallica and Skid Row. We cut an album and then........ Nirvana came along. You get the picture. After that I started doing some acting. I studied, did a play, some work, and got my SAG card. I also starting producing other artists. And, through all this time I have continued to write and record my own music. I've had a few successes with a couple of those songs, but, life being what it is and the need to make money, the majority of my time is spent doing sound work for other people. Sadly, at the end of the day, I am so spent that it is hard to work on my own stuff. And, frankly, I haven't had that much to say. Luckily, I am feeling different lately and am writing again. I am going to keep writing until I have a complete album (does that even matter anymore, with iTunes?). And I am actively looking for an agent for the acting thing.

That's the history, now, the present. Brett over at Zen and the Art of Triathlon, has put my cover of "Eyes Without a Face" in one of his recent podcasts. He's used another one of my songs on another show and I really appreciate him using my music. If any of you haven't already heard his podcast (his is one of the top Tri podcasts) you have to check it out. He used to live in SoCal and now lives in Texas with his wife Emily and his son Kai. He does a great show about endurance sports and talks a lot about Zen. Really cool stuff and great to listen to on those long runs and rides.

Another one of my songs "Red Bloody Sun" was used in "Friday Night Lights" Episode 6 from last season. Cool!

Also, my good friend, and PR Superwoman, Cindy Rakowitz has a show on Voice America called "Stars of PR". She uses my song "Pop Icon" for her opening and I love her for it. She gives you the scoop on PR and how to promote and.... well, I guess that's what I'm doing now... a little shameless self promotion. But, more to put into context where I am at, as I will be talking about it more. And I am hoping that talking about it here will keep me motivated to have something good to report. It's funny, when I am in a race, knowing that I will have to talk about it here always makes me push a little harder and suffer a little more.

Paul

Past, Present and Future

It's been a couple of months since my last blog. There has been so much to talk about but very little time. Rather than wait until have I enough time to write about everything in one shot I figured I would give a brief synopsis of the goings on and then divide it up into 3 separate blogs with more detail.... Hence the name. I have also found a way to write one blog and have that update on Blogger, my website and even my facebook page. 

Ahhh yes, facebook. Facebook is a great place to keep in contact with family and friends and as it turns out an amazing way to find people from your PAST! While I spent a large portion of the last 2 months preparing for a gathering with a group of people from my past, I also continued training for my 3rd "Surf City" race in Huntington Beach. This time doing the half marathon as I didn't want to be too tired for the event that would happen later that evening, on, yes, Super Bowl Sunday.  

I love to race and there are very few things I will allow to get in the way of it. But sometimes it is unavoidable. I have had a hernia for the last year or so and have known that I would need to find time to get it taken care of sooner or later. I decided to shoe horn it in, between "Surf City" and the "Sycamore Canyon 50K", coming up on March 29th. As I sit here NOW,  I am one week post-op and still pretty sore. I have been able to walk between a mile and 2 miles for the past few days, but I am a good week away from doing any sort of running.

Having so much time sitting on my butt, has given me the opportunity to really think about the FUTURE. Something about remembering who you were, and where you are, can certainly lead you to ponder where you are going. I have always been a very goal oriented person and am pretty good at setting goals and achieving them. Part of successful goal setting is being precise on what it is that you want. Well, this has been my biggest problem the last few years, deciding on  what I want. I am getting much closer to the answer and am now getting down to defining those goals and getting very specific on how to go about making them a reality. 

Life is great right now. I know so much of our world is uneasy due to tough economic times. But, I hope that things don't get too bad and we are just in for a readjustment and, perhaps, a reassessment of priorities. It's too easy to get caught up in a routine where you start "going through the motions". Pretty soon you are no longer living the life you wanted, but just living. Next thing you know, life has passed you by. I am glad that I have had to slow down these past couple of weeks,  Long enough to look around and make sure I am going down the right road. 

My next post will be about my 8th grade MGM reunion. That's right.... 8th grade..... and it was AMAZING!

Paul

Santa Monica Mountains 50K

It's amazing what a difference 25 degrees and proper nutrition will make in a race! I went into last Sundays 50K a little nervous due to my first experience in an Ultra Marathon. Last Mays race pretty much wrecked me so I went into this race with the goal of finishing without bonking. My theory was that nutrition, mainly not taking in enough calories, had a significant part in my troubles. And then obviously the heat (in the 90's) was the largest reason that I and everyone else had such a rough day. The theory sounds obvious, but it was possible that the distance of 31 miles was just too much for me or maybe the 5,000' + elevation change. So, not knowing precisely why I felt like dying last May and having to do it all again, was both intriguing and a little intimidating.

Unfortunately the weather is something we have no control of. Fortunately, the weather was perfect. Well, perfect for the race that is. We camped Saturday night and it was FREEZING!

OK, camping is really cool, but camping the night before an Ultra Marathon isn't the best time to enjoy the great outdoors. You're supposed to get a good nights rest, not sleep with a rock jammed into your femur and be so cold that you lay there weighing the cost/benefit of the temporary warmth you might gain by peeing in your jammies vs. leaving your tent to relieve yourself the more civilized way. Due to my stellar pre race hydration plan, I was able to ponder that decision multiple times (I chose the 2nd option). In any event, it was nice to be 2 miles away from the start of the race.

So, it looked like the weather was shaping up to be perfect. I am gonna guess that it was in the low to mid 50's by the time we got to the race start at around 8:00 am. With about 30 minutes till the start of the race, I made one last check of my nutrition for the day. I would do a Power Gel every 30 minutes along with Nuun tablets added to my water. This part of my nutrition would be carried in my Nathan hydration pack and would be supplemented by aid station food approximately every 6 miles.

Besides nutrition and weather, I also planned to keep my heart rate at a level that I felt I could sustain for 7-8 hours. I picked a number that was, perhaps, a bit on the conservative side, I went with 170-175 bpm. That may seem high, but my max heart rate is 210 and 170-75 is my usual marathon range, so it would seem logical. But, when going up steep inclines, it is really hard to not let the old heart rate creep up. So to keep it in check will mean walking a good portion of the uphills and running the flat and downhill portions of the course.

With all of these details on my mind, I didn't get to enjoy the start as much as I would have liked to. I gave a quick wave to Wendell and Sarah (the most AWESOME race directors AND insane ultra runners). I talked briefly to my running buddy Lori

who I met at the race back in May and Phil, with whom I did the MT. Disappointment training run for the race that never happened.

Off we went! It's funny, I have built this story up so much, I feel like there should be more of a payoff. The truth is, the race was pretty uneventful. I felt really good the majority of the time. Maybe too good. Lori and Phil did the 30K and they waited for me when I came in to the aid station and said I looked like I just got home from work (yeah right, haha) I think I could have gone a little harder on the uphills. By the way, Lori and Phil are FAST! Lori got 3rd place in her age group and 1st in her AG for the series. Maybe trying to keep up with her in May is what did me in haha. Anyway, I kept to my plan, according to my Garmin I had an avg. heart rate of 170 and finished in 8:03. thats an hour and half faster than the last one. But most importantly I felt really good and am no longer intimidated by the distance. Next time I will race it and try to knock a whole lot more minutes off my finish time. Then I will most likely start this whole process over again with the 50 mile distance.

Here are some pictures from the trail. Notice the real technical parts of the trail where "running" is next to impossible. I think I could have shaved a good 10 minutes off my time had I not snapped so many pictures. But, it was a beautiful day on a stellar course with amazing people. What more could you ask for?

This is where I had problems last race.



This is the view from the place I sat for an hour. Notice that the only potential shade seems to be around that mountain.





This was the view for the last 2 miles. It's amazing how GREAT you can feel at the end of 31 miles when this is the scenery!

Paul

Again...... With the 50K

I have been meaning to sit down and write about my next race in the Santa Monica Mountains. I like to fill my blogs with as many links and pictures as possible, but that requires writing it on my laptop, which also means setting aside a block of time dedicicated to ONE thing. In a perfect world, I would NEVER multitask. We do not live in a perfect world, so I am tapping this into my iPhone while getting my miles in on the stationary bike.

I will be running the "Santa Monica Mountains 50K" next Sunday, Nov. 23rd. It will be an important race in terms of dialing in my nutrition and pacing, but at the same time, I will be running it with the top priority being "to have fun". The course is run on the same trails as my first 50k last May. The Sycamore Canyon 50k was a VERY challenging race for me and I go back with the goal of finishing in better shape than I did the first time. Brittany and I will be camping on Saturday night so I don't have to make the long drive Sunday morning.

Camping and running, sounds like a perfect weekend!

Paul

When 4th becomes 3rd

I received an email from the Race Director of the Run Through The Pines 1/2 marathon today.

“Yes, you did place third.  Someone ran with the wrong bib.  We will be sending the trophies out on Friday.  You should receive by next tuesday.  Congratulations.”

I have been waiting to hear back from them as I was confused by the official results. At the race it was posted that I had placed 4th and the results said 3rd. I’m stoked! This is my first top 3 finish in my age group and although I had a finish time close to 11 minutes slower than my fastest 1/2 marathon time, the race was at a much higher elevation than I am used to running in and there were a lot of hills. I still don’t know how many people were in my age group, but I do know that I did race this and feel like I earned my 3rd place. About mile 11, I was feeling pretty spent and was starting slow a bit. I saw a guy a good 400 meters ahead of me and did my best to not let him pull any further ahead. By mile 12 I started to use some of the mental tricks that I have read about, like imagining a rope pulling you toward the person. I kept my cadence high and thought about anything BUT the discomfort I was feeling. The course turned around and doubled back onto a trail for the last mile. All of the trail running I have been doing helped in this part and I slowly gained of him. I caught up to him and passed him at around 12 1/2 miles. I had a feeling that he may have been in my age group. After I passed him it took everything I had to maintain my lead.



The last 1/4 mile was a nasty uphill section that we had done 4 times already, since it was a 4 loop course. I had to walk up the hill this last time even though I had run up it easily the other 4 times. I was scared that the guy was gonna catch me. I looked back and he was hurtin’ too. Once it leveled out I was back on pace and had a pretty good sprint left for the end.



I ended up finishing 9 seconds ahead of him and sure enough he was in my age group. So, although I don’t know the complete statistics of my age group, I do know that I had a pretty good race with this guy and I was pleased that I had a taste of what is is like to compete, even if it was 47 minutes behind the leader :).

I am now completely focused on Long Beach. The marathon is less than 2 months away. I have a clear goal of finishing under 4 hours this time. According to this with my recent 5k of 23:26 and my recent 1/2 of 1:48:08, I could finish in 3:48. I know that these calculators can’t predict what you can do especially if you don’t have the fitness to a run much longer race and maintain the same relative pace. Besides, anything can happen in a marathon. However, I am training at the recommended paces in all of my training runs and if I handle my nutrition right, which I have a much better handle on in road marathons, I am hopefully on track to break 4 hours.

Along with marathon training, Brittany and I have been hitting the weights hard. It feels great to do strength training again. It’ll really come in handy next year when I start training for Triathlon again. We also did some Yoga this morning. It has been a couple months since I went and I sure felt it. It was Brittany’s first time and she really enjoyed it. We’ll probably try to go 2 or 3 times a week.

I haven’t had much time to ride my bike to work the last few weeks. It seems work is really starting to infringe on my training... ha ha. But seriously, If I could find a way to make money while I was running, cycling or lifting, perhaps I would. Oh, wait..... thats a lot of peoples dream. Dreams, I have plenty and in typical fashion I move too quickly. Therefore I am concentrating on fulfilling (and living) some lifelong dreams of mine that I have already invested a lot of time, energy and yes, money in. I am entering into the “write it down, and make it real” stage. It is really important to be specific in what you want and since I know that I need to be careful what I wish for, I want to be very clear and sure of WHAT I want to do. Once I get more specific, I look forward to talking about it here. I’m sure it will be refreshing to hear about something other than running once in awhile.

Paul

Procrastination

procrastinate |prəˈkrastəˌnāt; prō-|
verb [ intrans. ]
delay or postpone action; put off doing something : it won't be this price for long, so don't procrastinate.

Uh, yeah..... We all know what it means. And I have been meaning to stop doing it, procrastinating, that is. But, well..... In another stellar example of a bad character trait. I put off registering for the race this weekend. There was a semi valid reason other than sheer laziness. You could only register via snail mail. No online registration available. You had to print out the form along with proof of a prior marathon finish, to the Race Director. Arghhh! So many details. I finally sat down on Saturday evening at 10 PM to fill out the form, when I saw this...



Needles to say, my heart sank. I had NO idea this race would sell out. In fact the website mentioned registering the day before the race. I feel like such an idiot, ashamed almost. I trained for this race for the last 2 months. I did the training run on the course. My daughter Brittany, her boyfriend and I planned a camping trip around the race, and now.... nada, nothing, ZIP!

Well, after feeling sorry for myself for about an hour, I decided to come up with a plan B. I found a race at Lake Gregory this weekend. It is a 5K (which Brittany will do) and a half marathon that I will run. We found a really cool campsite in the area and are going to have a blast for 2 days in the mountains.

I haven’t decided for sure yet, but I am strongly considering doing the BullDog 50K on Aug 23rd. It is in the same area as The Sycamore Canyon 50K I did in May.

Well, this was a hard post to write, I feel stupid, and I have been so busy it has been tough to find the time to blog. So busy in fact that I still need to register us for this weekends race..... Yeah, that’s right, it’s Wednesday and I still haven’t registered. Sheesh, some people never learn.

Paul

Mt. Disappointment training run

A friend of mine told me recently, that I didn’t have enough pictures on my blog. I will attempt to make up for it with plenty of pictures in this entry. Yesterday I did what was supposed to be a 15 mile training run (more on that in a minute) in the San Gabriel mountains. It was in preparation for the Mt. Disappointment 50K that I will be running on Aug 9th. The run started at Red Box at 8:00 am. REd Box is a section of the actual course that will serve as an aid station on race day.





My day, however, started a few hours earlier. I got up about 5 am, ate breakfast, got everything together, checked and rechecked my gear and hopped into the old gas guzzler for the hour or so drive to Pasadena. I REALLY hate driving these days, but if I’ve gotta drive, it sure helps if it is to a race, or in this case, an exceptionally scenic trail run. It was a beautiful morning, there was no traffic and I made good time. I was able to test out the GPS feature on my iPhone 3G. I’ve had an iPhone since the 1st generation came out over a year ago. But, this thing just keeps getting better and better and the many ways that it makes your life easier is really cool.

This training run was a bit of a first for me. Up until now, I have for the most part trained alone. Besides the times when I run with Brittany or swim with Jasmine, It has been a solitary sport. I do belong to the OC Triathlon Club, but I’ve only done a few group rides with them. It’s a shame really because I love endurance sports so much and to hang out with like minded people is really important (and fun) but for whatever reason I have just not been able to connect with a group of people to train with. So, it was a pleasant surprise, how the day transpired.

I met up with Lori, Marisol and Phil at 6:45 in Pasadena. I met Lori and Mari at the Sycamore Canyon 50K race back in May.



I ran a good portion of the race with them and since then we have kept in contact. A friend of theirs is doing Mt. Disappointment and although they aren’t doing the race, they knew about the training runs and told me about them. SInce you need a pass to park up at Red Box, Lori was kind enough to offer to drive us up Angeles Crest Highway, about 20 miles, to the start.

I don’t know what it is about endurance athletes, but there just seems to be an almost different level of consciousness. Maybe when you push yourself to such a level, you have a certain appreciation for life. I have noticed that when I get around these type of people I can feel an energy. A love for life. It’s really cool! So, needless to say, we had a great ride up to the start and spent about 15 minutes getting ready for the run. Everyone got a good laugh watching me contemplate whether or not my new Nathan 020 was too dorky too wear.



The start would be pretty much the last time we would see Phil for the next 6 hours or so. Again, more on that in a minute.



The first 4 1/2 miles were awesome. We met more great people. We met Hugh and Paul who are both Triathletes and raced IMAZ ’08, so we had plenty to talk about. I didn’t realize that so many triathletes trail run. But, it makes sense. The hill work is great and with all the road work that you do for Ironman, it is rather nice to run on trails.



About 4 1/2 miles into the run, we were given specific instructions to make a right turn at a fork in the road. I swear, I never saw it. We were all having such a great time, we just blew right by it. About 2 miles further down the trail, we ran into a few people who informed us that if we were doing the 15 mile run, we missed a turn. Luckily, the part we just ran was uphill so retracing our steps would be downhill. This foible would add another 4 miles to our run. None of us seemed too bummed and I was actually really happy since 19 miles would be closer to the 24 that I had scheduled.

Once we got back to the turn that we missed, we were able to refill our water bottles. The water came out of a pipe that was attached to a big water tower. I am not sure where the water was coming from, which was a little scary, but since no one got sick, I guess it was okay.



Once we were back on track the run got a little tougher. The next 5 or so miles is actually the last 5 miles of the 50K race. It is the long steep incline to the top of Mt. Wilson,





My strategy this run,was to walk the uphills and try to keep my heart rate under control so I would have plenty left for the flats and downhills. It worked for the most part, but these girls are fast and I had a tough time on a couple occasions and had to stop and to let my heart rate settle down. It is a real testament to hill training as Lori and Mari said they have been hammering the hills like crazy. I plan to do lots of hills the next 2 weeks.

After a lot of this!



We arrived at the top of Mt. Wilson and refilled our water bottles again. We headed out for the last 5 1/2 miles. The first mile or so was downhill on a paved road. We were running at a pretty good clip. Their were 2 options, you could take the road all the way down or go off the road and take the trail which would add about a 1/2 mile. Paul and Hugh opted for the road (Paul was having stomach issues) and we took the trail. Once we got off the road we got to a really cool tunnel. Not only was it cool looking, it was cool inside (shaded).





We thought that the rest of the run would be downhill. There was however another good 800’ to climb before getting back to Red Box. By now, I was really feeling the miles and the elevation. But it was manageable and by the time we started to descend again, we all were back to running a pretty good pace. When we finally reached the road, Phil (remember Phil?) was waiting with the car. He was worried about us. He is really fast (3:30 marathon PR) and had doubled back a couple miles to try and find us and couldn’t. He was happy to see us and we were happy to see him.

The girls brought some great recovery food and we all brought our favorite beer. We hung out for about an hour, talked and had a blast.

Here’s to trail running ......... And most of all new friends!









Life is good!

PAUL

Father's Day

I had a really great Father’s Day! Brittany and I went on a run on the trail that we mountain biked on 2 weeks ago. I have been dying to go back there, so I was very excited when Brittany told me that that is what we were going to do today. Last year she surprised me with a 5K race in LA called the “Dad’s Day Dash”. I am sensing a trend here. She sure knows her Daddy.



After our run, we headed back to the house and had a BBQ. Brittany, Jasmine and I took some Father’s Day photos and after some very close scrutiny, we agreed on A picture. I have posted the 1 approved picture below.



Time is a crazy thing. The older you get the faster it seems to go by. The most recent way that this phenomenon has reared is ugly head is in the fact that Jasmine, my youngest daughter, has gotten her learners permit. Up until this point, she has driven with her Mom. Today she said that she wanted to drive with me. I am not the most patient person in the world and my girls know this so I think she was a little nervous. And so was I. But, I am here (thank God) to say that I kept my cool which wasn’t hard at all because she is pretty good behind the wheel.



It is so hard and scary when your kids get to this age. All they want to do is grow up and all you want to do is protect them. I am so lucky to have such wonderful girls as they made today a VERY special Father’s Day!

Paul

Sycamore Canyon 50K

Well, now I feel like I have just done a race. Not since my first marathon, have I felt this wrecked. And, I can almost assuredly attribute it to bonking. Or to be more descriptive, sitting on the side of a mountain in the blazing sun for 45 minutes, without seeing anyone, ready to puke, almost out of water, knowing you would be better off a couple hundred yards down the trail where there might be shade, but too dizzy to stand and get there. Yes, trail running gives a whole new meaning to the word bonk!

The Sycamore Canyon 50K is the first trail race that I have participated in. The thought of trail running appeals to me for obvious reasons. Beautiful scenery, lots of hill work (which I rarely do) and really great people! So, I was very excited about this race and figured I could finish the 31 miles in 6-6 1/2 hours. Oh ignorance is bliss. Not only did I pick the longest distance for this particular race but I also did ALL of my training on the road. I mean seriously, what was I thinking? For someone that can be sorta preachy at times with “learn from your mistakes” I can sure fail to heed my own advice. Because on top of everything else, once again I failed to get my nutrition right.

On to the race.




Point Mugu/ Sycamore Canyon is about 75 miles from my house in Huntington Beach. I had contemplated getting a hotel Saturday night, but figured that with an 8:30 am start I could leave around 5:30 which wouldn’t make it any earlier than any other race morning. So, I left in the morning and the drive was great. There was virtually no traffic that early on Sunday morning. Driving up PCH through Malibu is so beautiful. I haven’t been up there for a long time so the drive really got me in the mood for the day.

I arrived at the race site around 7 am. Plenty of time to get all of my stuff together and head to the start. This race was MUCH smaller than what I have become used to in road races. The overall vibe was a lot different and VERY cool. Everyone was very nice and there was more of a sense of belonging to a club than a competitive race. There’s nothing wrong with being competitive and believe me I wish I was ..lol... But since I am a mid packer (on a good day), the only person I am competing against is myself. So for me “races” are always about the experience and the social aspect of being with fellow runners. Anyway, I went to the registration table and gave Sarah, the race director, my name. She was so cool. She new that this was my first trail race and that I was doing the 50K. I wonder if she new what kind of trouble I would get into, would she have advised me to switch to the 30K?

There were 4 distances. 8K, 18K, 30K and 50K. I chose the 50K because my plan has been to do a 50 miler in August and you need to do a 50K before you can register for that race. The 18, 30 and 50K all started together at 8:30 and the 8K started at 8:45. After hearing the course directions from Wendell, the other race director, we were off.



44 people started the 50K. I was a little surprised at everyones pace. I had planned on going out a little slower, but I got caught up in the excitement and kept up for the first few miles. My heart rate was a good 8-10 BPM more than what I planned and I am sure it greatly contributed to my problems later in the day. The first aid station was about 6 miles into the course. The first 2 1/2 miles being a slow ascent of around 1,100 ft. I ran a good portion of this. It would have been better to walk ALL of these climbs and save the running for the flats and downhills. Again, I know this but sometimes in a race... well, you just make the same mistakes over and over again. Anyway, I got to the first aid station pretty uneventfully. I felt good and had eaten 2 gels. I headed off for the 2nd of 5 loops. This loop would turn out to be much more technical with some steeper climbs and some cool little zig zags. It was really cool running through all of those little obstacles. I felt like a real trail runner, agile and light on my feet. I met a couple of really cool girls and we talked for a good portion of that loop. We have done a lot of the same races and have been running about the same length of time. Our paces stayed the same most of the loop but towards the end I decided to slow it down a little because they were doing the 30K and they could afford to push it a little more than me.



The end of the second loop brings you back to where you started the loop. Mile 12 1/2 and I was still feeling really good. I loaded up on water and ate some pretzels and m&m’s. Then, headed out on the third loop which takes you back to the start. On the way out it was a 2 1/2 mile ascent and a 3 1/2 mile descent. Going back was much more difficult and this is where things starting going bad. I let the people I was running with go ahead as we started the climb. It was about 11:45 and the sun was really starting to beat down. This side of the climb had direct exposure with no shade for about 2 miles. I had probably had about 4 gels by now and 6- 20 oz bottles of water with nuun. Maybe it was the m&m’s but about 1 1/2 miles in I started to feel sick. These stomach issues are new to me. I usually never get sick to my stomach. It happened in the Ironman and now this race. I am wondering if the fuel belt that I am wearing is too tight? When I loosened it, it felt a little better. Or it is a problem with my nutrition and the duration of the events. On any note, this 6 mile leg back was tough. I had to stop and rest for the first time and try to get my heart rate down. Power hiking up this trail, had my HR over my average HR for a half marathon. There is simply no way that I can sustain that for over 6 or 7 hours. I started looking at my Garmin and doing the math and also started questioning whether I could make the cutoff of 8 1/2 hours. What if I dropped? The 30K finish was back at the start of the race. What happens if I go out there feeling like this, or worse? It’s not like a road race where there is an out just about everywhere. If I continue on, I am committed. I had a couple miles to think about it and those couple of miles were downhill and partially in the shade. I was feeling better. I was running a decent pace and even passing a few people.

I got back to the start at about 1:15 p.m.. I had completed a little over 19 miles. 5:45 into the race with another 11 miles to go, I would have to do each loop in around 1:45. This didn’t seem doable but when I arrived, Sarah asked how I was doing and I said “OK” and she said “well you look like you're doing good”. So that, along with the fact that I feel like quitting or not finishing what I start is like a cancer that grows if you let it in. I filled my bottles, ate some more pretzels, said goodbye to my new friends who just finished their 30K and were off to the pool, and headed back out on loop 4. I figured that if I get to the next aid station and can’t go any further or can’t make the cutoff, I can drop at that point and get a ride back. I will pretty much doing anything to not DNF. But you have to be smart and realize when you are stopping because you don’t WANT to go on or stopping because you CAN’T.

So, I am now committed to another 6 miles. But right now I feel alright except for some hoarseness in my voice, another interesting side affect that happens to me in endurance events. This first mile or so goes pretty well. I am alternating between a slow run and a power hike. It’s around 2:30 now and it’s getting pretty hot. I start hearing sirens way in the distance. first one or two then several. It sounded like they were around the base camp area. I of course thought “I hope thats not for one of the runners”. A few minutes later I saw a helicopter and it became clear that someone on the mountain was in trouble. About 10 minutes later 4 emergency vehicles came up the fire road. By the time I got to where they were parked, I found out that one of the runners had been airlifted out. Heat exhaustion, but he’ll be okay. I was able to get 4 little water bottles from one of the trucks. I filled my bottles up and one went over my head. It is amazing how important water becomes in situations like these.

I got back out to the last aid station at around 3:30. 7 hours into the race. Obviously there was NO way I was going to make it back 6 miles in 1 1/2 hours. Especially with that being the worst stretch in the hottest part of the day. So I started planning how I would get back to the start from the aid station. I figured they would drive me back since by road it is only about 5 minutes. I was really bummed but figured that they would have a cutoff at the last aid station. When I got there, Flora (the girl at the aid station) was very cool and asked me what she could get me. I sat down, emptied the rocks out of my shoes and asked her if I was the last 50K runner because I hadn’t seen anyone for a while. She said that there might be someone else but that several people had dropped at the 30K mark. I asked her about the cutoff and she said not too worry about it, that they would wait for me. So there it was, if I dropped it would have been because I didn’t want to keep going. So, I kept going.



I knew I had about 3 1/2 miles that were going to be rough. The sun was relentless at this point and this side was completely exposed. I didn’t even make it to the spot were I had problems the first time around. I started getting dizzy and nauseous. My HR was high and I had a hard time walking straight. I also started to feel my calves cramping. I had thought I was taking plenty of electrolytes but the cramping was worrying me. I sat down and rested briefly and got back up to keep going. I went about another 5 minutes and then it got worse. I went to sit down and I felt a cramp in my hip. I didn’t even know I could get one in my hip. I sat down on a stretch of trail that had no shade and was completely exposed. I ate another gel and drank some water and tried to get up. Whenever I tried to get up I would get very dizzy and sick. I had a shirt that Sarah gave me back at the 30K mark and I had soaked it in ice water back at the last aid station. I was using that to shield my face from the sun. I could see what I assumed would be a shaded section of the trail about 500 ft around a corner. But I couldn’t seem to get up. All kinds of crazy thoughts were going through my head. I’d only seen one person since the aid station and I was pretty sure that there was no one behind me. What if I couldn’t get up? I was already running out of water and I still had about 4 miles to go. I was stuck. I sat there for about 30 minutes, fly’s buzzing around me, rationing water and trying my best to get off my ass and keep going. If I wanted a challenge, this was it.

I sat there for what seemed like an eternity when Flora from the aid station came around the corner. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see someone. She asked me how I was doing and I told her I was really struggling. She asked me about fluids and electrolytes. I told her I could use some water. She filled me up and then gave me some Clif Shot Blocks. She said to take my time and she wouldn’t hang all over me. She understood how it is when you are feeling that bad. Some people like to talk some don’t. I am the “don’t like to talk” kind. Then she said that it would be better if I was sitting in the shade. I said that I thought there might be some around that corner but so far couldn’t get to it. The Shot Blocks really seemed to help. I sat there for another five minutes or so and was able to get up. I made it around the corner and found a rock with a bush over it and escaped the sun for another 5 or so minutes. She caught up to me again and gave me a few more shot blocks and I was good to go.

The rest of the way up and back down were much better. Aside from a severe cramp in my left calf that happened when I bent down to take the rocks out of my shoe, I went nonstop the rest of the way.

My official time was 9:35:46. Of the 44 people who started the 50K, 22 dropped. I finished 22nd. I can’t thank Wendell and Sarah enough for allowing me to finish the race even though they could have imposed a cutoff. I am extremely glad that I was able to finish and am looking forward to applying the things that I learned to the next race. I’ll tell you one thing for sure. Whether it is another couple 50K’s or a 50 miler, I will be training on lots of trails!

Paul

Ultras

Recovery? Well, I kinda skipped that part after IMAZ and went right to training for my first 50K ultramarathon that I will be running in Point Mugu, CA. on Sunday May 18th.

I am not sure if it is an indication that I didn’t go hard enough in Arizona, but since I had to start training in the middle of a 50K program, I did an 18 miler 6 days after my IronMan. And last week I did 79 miles. But, I feel great and I love running and as long as I am not getting injured I think I’ll be ok. I did a 24 1/2 miler last weekend and ran it at the same pace as my last full marathon and was able to do 10 miles the next day. This has me thinking that a sub 4 hour marathon is right around the corner. Anyway, next Sunday is the 50K and I am very excited. This will be my first ultramarathon and my first trail race. I plan to just enjoy it and try not to break an ankle or something, since I tend to be less than agile. I won’t worry too much about time since this will be another new experience with enough new variables that I will not be sure exactly what to expect.

So, with all of this “just finish” nonsense, I am itching to do a little race against the clock. So, I am considering doing the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half Marathon. I did the 5K last year in preparation for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. I have half a mind to just do the Marathon in San Diego on June 1st and see if I can’t break that 4 hour mark. I am keeping close tabs on how I feel and if I feel alright after the 50K I think that is what I will do. The nice thing about running races is they don’t usually sell out and the don’t cost nearly as much to do as triathlons, so you don’t have make make plans a year in advance like you do for an Ironman.

With all of this running, I am sad to say I have only swam once in the past 4 weeks. I have, however done some cycling and at a higher intensity than what I was doing. Now that I know I can do 112 miles on the bike in 95 degree weather, I figure it is time to step it up. I plan to do 1 or 2 more Triathlons this season and I will definitely be going all out so I need to start pushing hard on the bike. I also finally started a yoga class. I have done 2 so far. One being “Hot Yoga”. How ironic that I do an Ironman and am sore for a day and this yoga business has my whole body sore for going on 3 days now. Go figure. I have also been hitting the weights 3 times a week. I have gotten used to eating enough calories to support 15-20 hours of training. I must now find that much training to do or drastically cut calories. I wonder how many calories yoga burns an hour?

Paul