17 mile on LD50 course

I got up EARLY to get to the Lake Hughes Community Center (the start and finish of the LD50) by sun-up. I started running at 6:15 am in beautiful weather. I wore a jacket and was overdressed again, although there were some cold spots in the shade. Since I was ONLY doing 17 today I decided to push the effort a little bit faster than I would on race day. I also needed to get back in time for Andi to leave for her run at 9:30am. I ran the first 12.9 miles of the LD50 and then turned down the finish stretch for an extra 3.9 for a total of 17 miles. I don't have an exact time due to forgetting to restart my garmin at one point but I estimate my time was about 2 hours 18 minutes. Clay gave me some Accel-gel that I took at one hour and I liked it quite a bit. Clay was right when he said that it was not as sweet and sugary as some of the other gels and tasted like pudding. There is a good amount in each pouch as well. It took me four squeezes it get it all out. That lasted me until about the two hour mark and then I started to feel tired and hungry again. I will have to continue to practice on this "fueling on the run" thing. I have continued to use my camelback style backpack on the long trail runs but I don't think I will use it on race day. I sweat too much with it on.

At noon we loaded up the family for Thousand Oaks. I was asked by my brother-in-law Clark to speak at a small program to some student athletes at Cal Lutheran on sports injury prevention. With some small modifications, I was able to use some of the presentation on recovery that Clay and I are presenting next Saturday. We had about 10 athletes show up, and after some audio-video technical difficulties we all sat around the lap top and I presented my power point presentation to them. Most of the group was distance runners and I hope they took home some information that they can implement into their own training. Anyway, it was fun.

Monthly mileage total after a fairly consistent month of February was 174 miles. I am hoping for close to 200 in March!

4 mile recovery run

I bagged the trail run today due to a steady rain and wind most of the day. I just got in a 35 minute easy recovery run as my legs were still a little stiff from Thursday night's workout. I may try and head out in the morning.

Congratulations to my mom who ran her first 5k in 25 years and placed third in her age group with a time of 31:10! My step dad, who is one year recovered from major back surgery, walked the course in about an hour. A year ago he couldn't walk to the end of the block! Congratulations to both!

12 miles total (9 mile tempo run)!

The weather this evening was PERFECT! I left at about 8:30pm for my favorite long tempo run route. The Rancho Vista loop with 2 loops around Marie Kerr Park. I hadn't run hard in a while and I have a feeling that I am not going to get the planned mileage in for Saturday's long trail run (90% chance of rain). It started off as a 10 mile run like 2 weeks ago, but as I was running I decided to push through 10 and then do a 2 mile cool down.

The first mile was a progressive warmup in 7:06, then I dropped the hammer.

6:34, 6:26, 6:41, 6:20, 6:11, 6:32, 6:19, 6:28, 6:10!
(There are some long gradual downhills towards the end, hence the faster miles).

The cool down miles were 8:02 and 7:16.
Yeah I know 7:16 is not a cool down finish but I was so close to breaking 1 hour 20 minutes for 12 miles that I pushed it in. I hit 10 miles in 64:50 and I finished the 12 miles in 1:20:10 (avg 6:41 pace)!

The 9 tempo miles were done in 57:45 (6:25 pace)!

I felt stronger on the last 3 miles of the tempo portion than I did two weeks ago but both of my calves will be sore tomorrow.


I have been holding out on announcing a new race on my schedule until it was official. I am attending a medical conference at the University of Virginia with my colleague and friend Ron Gallagher at the beginning of April. The conference is titled Running Through the Ages and will focus on running related issues from adolescence through the mature years. The presenters will be physicians and physical therapists and the keynote speaker is 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter. See the information packet here. The main conference is Friday and Saturday afternoon there is research presentations. Saturday morning is the Charlottesville 10 miler which Ron and I are signed up for. I have been wanting to do a 10 miler for a while so I am excited. Based on the course and it being so close to LD50 I don't think it will be a PR situation but after tonight's run (64:50) I should be darn close. My PR is 62:20.

I am very excited to bring back some of the latest medical information on running to my readers and my patients in the clinic. It should be outstanding.

52 days til Boston Dale!

Leona Divide has 103 entrants to date.

6 mile COLD morning run

I got out for a run this morning and man was it cold out there. The sky was clear and there was no wind at all but the temp was around 30 degrees. It took me 40 minutes to warm up and my run was 50 minutes long. I never run well in cold morning runs. Today was just about getting the time in.

I have been researching fall half marathon still and wanted to let my readers know that if anyone is thinking about running either Long Beach on October 17 or Santa Barbara International November 7 (marathon or half marathon), the early bird rates go up starting in March. So if you want a cheaper price and are certain to be running sign up now.

Leona Divide entrants now at 92!

53 days to go!

Pasadena Half Marathon

No, I didn't run the Pasadena Half Marathon this morning, but my wife Andi and her siblings (Louise and Clark) did with their dad Don for his 60th birthday! They snuck the race in between rain storms and had what Andi called perfect weather. It was overcast and cool, from the pictures it looked great. They kept a very even pace going through the 10k in 60:44 (9:47 pace) and even picked it up a little to finish all together in 2:07:10 (9:42 pace). I only hope that I can still run a half marathon when I am 60, but even more so, I hope that my boys are able to run one with me. I thought it was such a great idea for all Don's kids to run it with him. He has been building up his mileage over the past 4 months for this race. Congratulations Don and Happy Birthday! He was even in the top 10 in his age group! When's the next one Don?



It started pouring ran up here just before Andi got home and I told her that I wanted to get in a run so I got the treadmill all ready to go. Just as I started running the rain stopped, I jumped off the treadmill, went out to the living room and said, "never mind I'm running outside!" I got in a good 10 miler which included two times up 65th from M to M-8 and then up 70th to the aqueduct and back home. I pushed the pace a little on the aqueduct running around 6:50-7:10 pace and felt good about the effort involved considering my long run yesterday. I finished the 10 miles in 79 minutes (just under 8:00 pace).

31 miles for the weekend.

I have been reading some blogs and articles on training for an ultra-marathon and most of them suggest the back-to-back long run plan. One article suggested that even the elite ultra runners don't do too many runs longer than 30 miles but they would do 25 one day and 20 the next. If I can get in 30+ mile weekends for the next month I think I will be in good shape.

Breakfast atop Acton

Well I didn't make it into Acton but I got to the top of the hill/mountain where the road down into Acton branches off. I could see Palmdale behind me and Acton in front of me. It took me 1 hour 41 minutes to get to the top. I stopped to enjoy the view for a few minutes, had a Clif Z bar (marketed for kids) and some accelerade, and then turned back home.

I decided to try and take as much trail as I could to get there. I took the Joshua Ranch Trail to the end then went up the other side of the aqueduct and down to Elizabeth Lake Rd. I crossed over to catch the fire access road to catch back up with the aqueduct and got into Anaverde. Then ran up to the top to get to the trail which follows the power lines over the hill/mountain. It was exactly 1.5 miles to from the start of the trail to the top of the hill/mountain. The first 3/4 was easy but then it got steeper and steeper until I had to hike the last 1/4 mile or so. I figure I was on trail for at least 2/3 of the run.

I wasn't feeling great from the get go this morning. I don't know if it was lack of sleep, a slight cross breeze for most of the run, or the killer 30 min circuit workout I did on Friday. It was probably a combination of all three. Sometimes I start of sluggish but loosen up after 30-40 minutes. Today it was a struggle the whole way. My legs were tired. I figured it was good mental practice, trying to keep pushing forward and lifting the legs. I just wasn't feeling it today.

I thought I could get back faster as it is mostly up hill on the way out, and I was but only by 5 minutes or so. I couldn't find the start of the Joshua Ranch Trail coming back the other direction and had to bush-wack and hike up some steep hills to make it back to the trail. I finished the 21 mile run in 3:15:06 (avg 9:17 pace). Mile 11, which included hiking the last 1/2 mile up to the top and running the same 1/2 mile down, took me 14:03. I was closer to my sister-in-laws house in Acton than I was to my house in Quartz Hill.

Besides general leg fatigue I felt pretty good the rest of the day.


Congratulations to Dale Lister for his HUGE PR at the Bakersfield Half Marathon today with his time of 1:31:38! Good job not letting your watch dictate your pace. I knew you had it in ya!

By the way this is my 350th post for this blog!

9 mile Thursday!

I used to have nine mile Thursday every week when I was training for Boston in 2008. I usually did some form of progression run ending at threshold pace for a mile or two. Today I zig zagged my way through Quartz Hill area between 50th W. and 70th W. and got as far north as L-8 running hard up all the hills and finished the 9 miles in exactly 72 minutes (8:00 pace avg). It was a little breezy in the morning and it was gusty by the afternoon. Is this the start of the spring winds? I'm not looking forward to that. That's all I have for ya today. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Memories

My aide at work, Aimee Scott, was proposed marriage by Sergio Reyes this weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii after he won the Great Aloha Run 12k (41:12), and she accepted. Congratulations to Aimee and Sergio! It reminds me of my proposal to Andi almost exactly 8 years to the day, also after a run. Although I didn't win any race. We ran from Santa Monica to Venice and back where I proposed near the Santa Monica Pier. I had the ring in my small pocket inside my running shorts the whole time. I think Sergio did the same. Nice work Sergio!

Another 5 mile recovery run?

I failed to mention that on my trail run Saturday I rolled my left ankle twice on the way down the mountain. It was fine on Sunday, but my peroneals (lateral calf muscles) were really sore all day Monday. I had 45 minutes before work today to get in an easy run so I ran my Lane Park recovery loop totaling 5 miles in 41 minutes. It feels a little better today.

The USA cross country championships were last weekend and no surprise that Dathan and Shalane won their respective races. They are quite possibly the best male and female runners in the country right now. As I checked out the rest of the results I found that Blake Russell placed 8th in the women's race! I had not seen her in any race results since she was the only US female to finish the Olympic Marathon in Beijing. This was her first race since giving birth to her first child last April. There is a prerace interview on flotrack here. She says she gets asked all the time, "What is harder, marathoning , or child birth." She said "hands down child birth" was much harder, even with an epidural. I would love to take a poll from my female readers who have experienced both, let me know!

Here is my Blake Russell story. I was in Boston for the 2008 US Women's Olympic Trials Marathon the day before the Boston Marathon. Blake finished 3rd and earned a trip to Beijing where she placed 27th. She was the only American to finish the race after Magdalena and Deena DNF'd. After the Olympics I wrote to some of the athletes requesting autographs. I sent Blake some photos and mentioned that I was a physical therapist (she is also a PT). She sent the pictures back signed with a nice note and enclosed another 8x10 of the three US women who qualified at the trials, also signed. I hesitated to send it away but finally decided to send it to Magdelena and then Deena, all of whom were prompt in signing and returning the photo. It is now on my wall in my office at home. It is an inspiring photo will all the red, white, and blue.

7 mile recovery run

I got out for an hour while the boys were napping today. We have had a glorious weekend of weather. I was running in shorts sleeves and enjoying every step. I decided to try and get a few more miles on trail so I headed up to the end of 55th, ran under the aqueduct for the first time, and went up to the Joshua Ranch Trail. I didn't realize how nice of a trail that is. If I do run to Acton next week I will take that route. It may be a little longer than the road, but it is much more fun and scenic. I turned around at the second bench, the high point, which is exactly 5k from my house. I ran back on the aqueduct and came home on Godde Hill Rd. As I was running down the hill a man on a bike came up along side of me and slowed down. It was Clay! He was out for a recovery bike ride and had just been to the top of Godde. He coasted down to my house with me and I finished my 7 miles in 61 minutes. I wished I had time to go farther on the Joshua Ranch trail. By the time I got up to the top my legs were finally loosening up and ready to go.

Total weekend mileage: 25

Total weekend trail mileage: 21


Andi ran an "easy" 10 this morning in 79 minutes. She is running 1-2 treadmill workouts during the week and a longer run on the weekend. She is also swimming once a week with her mom and got in a 20 mile bike ride on Saturday. She is all signed up for the Iron Girl short course triathlon in Las Vegas May 15.

18 mile PCT run

New Balance 921 footprint

Clay and I decided to do a 3 hour out and back run on the LD50 course west of Lake Hughes Rd. From Lake Hughes Rd. the course is 13 mile out to the turnaround and back. We made it about 8.5 miles out and turned around today. The first two miles is a good climb. I was hitting 12 min/mi. Then it levels off with rolling hills and lots of turns. I hit 4 miles (Aid Station #4) in 45 minutes. At 7.5 miles (Aid Station #5) we were just under 5000ft and there were big patches of snow. It is on the north side of the mountain and stays well shaded. The trail gets much more technical after that aid station. I missed a PCT sign at about 8.5 miles and started downhill. I thought it was strange to be going downhill and realized when I got to the Upper Shake Campground that I had made a wrong turn. I headed back up to the PCT to find Clay and his dog Aurora waiting for me. We turned to head back and when I got back to the car I crossed Lake Hughes Rd and headed up the other side for a half mile to finish the run at 18 miles in just under 3 hours. The Garmin is not as accurate with all the elevation changes of the trail. I figure I was probably closer to 19 miles. My legs were beat after the steep downhill of mile 17 and 18. I wonder what it will feel like when it is mile 40 and 41?Aid Station #5

I watched an interview with 800m American record holder (1:42.6) Johnny Gray on Flotrack yesterday. He is now coaching for UCLA and he says,

Proper
Preparation
Prevents
Poor
Performace

Sounds like a good t-shirt to me!

Marathon pace run?

I didn't get in my morning run as planned so I decided to go after the boys went to bed. I decided not to go on Friday morning based on my history of not getting up for morning runs. I figured it is warmer now than it will be at 6:00am, so I put on my reflective vest and left for an 8-10 miler. I wasn't exactly sure how far I would feel like going. I decided to do the Ranco Vista loop which is 7.5 but can easily be extended. I left my house and got into a groove right away. I looked down at my watch at one mile and saw 6:26! Turns out when I got home and uploaded my Garmin there was a little glitch in the data but I'm sure it was under 7 min. Once I saw that and felt good I decided to just maintain this "groove" that I was in and not push any harder. There was a wind blowing from the west but I was running south east for the first 5 miles and didn't feel it until the second half of the run. I did a loop around Marie Kerr Park and then headed back home. I extended the end of the run by running up to the end of N-8 and came home on 55th. The 9 mile mark was up on the hill there and I just hit one hour exactly. I cruised downhill for the last mile and ended the run in 1:07:12 (6:43 pace). Only the last two miles, which included some uphill into the wind, were tough. I felt really good. Sometimes when you don't have a hard workout the next day and you feel good, it is ok to just go for it! I like to be able to run by feel. If I feel crappy I take it easy. If I feel good, then lets go. This evening was one of those runs that as I was finishing I was thinking, "I want more!" Here were my mile splits 6:26 (Garmin glitch), 7:09, 6:39, 6:44, 6:34, 6:45, 6:33, 6:43, 6:26. 7:07.

I just found this video of Jim Ryun winning the mile at the Kansas State HS meet in 3:58.3. There is no sound but you can almost hear what is going on when he crosses the finish line. Wonderful that someone was recording this race on video in 1965. He is still the only high school runner to break 4 minutes at a high school meet.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Here is a picture of the finish line. I found it on another blog and under the picture the blogger wrote, "I love this photo. From the jubilant official leaping in the air, to the thrill of the moment written plain on the faces of the fans, to Ryun's expression of pure agony and effort. This is a photo of a person who has reached the very limit of his potential, who has absolutely nothing left. I love the dirt track, the shoes, the uniform. I love everything about this photo." I couldn't agree more.

Short but effective

I had 45 minutes this morning to get in a run. I opted for the treadmill again because it has been wet and cold and I didn't want to spend the first 30 minutes trying to warm up. I started the treadmill at an incline of 3.0 and set the speed for 7.5 mph or about 8:00/mi. I continued there for 15 minutes of warm up. Then I started to increase the speed. For the next 5 minutes I ran at 8.5mph, then increase to 9.0 for another 5 minutes. After that I started increasing the speed by .1mph every minute until I got to 9.5 mph and then maxed out the speed on my treadmill at 10.0 mph for another mile. I finished with a cool down mile at 7.5 mph again. I finished the 6 miles at a 3.0 grade in 43:40 and got a good 20 minutes of threshold type running. The first 10 minutes were a little slower than T-pace and the last mile was a little faster than T-pace. It was a good workout in 45 minutes.


A few announcements:
Clay Patten and I are continuing our free running clinic series on March 6th at 11:00am at Valley Physical Therapy Group in Lancaster, CA. The topic is Recovery: The key to getting fitter and avoiding injury. We will be discussing post workout recovery, adding recovery into your training plans and a specific marathon recovery plan. I hope you all can come.

The following day, March 7th, Clay is hosting a mountian fun run starting at the PCT and San Fransisquito Rd on an out and back course that would be a maximum 15.5 miles. It is a great and challenging section of trail. See the high desert runner website for details.

Finally, reioutlet.com is having their annual super clearance sale starting Friday, Febuary 12th. Check it out online right away as many items go quickly.

73 entrants so far for the LD50. I think they usually get twice that. 66 days til the race.

Surf City Half Marathon?

My friend Ron from Las Vegas and his wife, along with a few of their friends ran the Surf City Half Marathon today. I knew he was going to try and run a PR and maybe even break 2 hours so I called him this week and asked if he wanted company and someone to help pace him. He liked the idea so I told him I would meet him at the 3 mile mark and run until about 12.5 miles with him.

I got up this morning to leave at 5:00am and made it to Huntington Beach area by 6:45! I parked at a Ralph's parking lot and ran to the 3 mile mark. It turned out to be a 2 mile warm up. I got there in time to see the lead runners go by. It was a beautiful morning at the beach. Completely different from the down pour yesterday and many of the runners and spectators were commenting on how nice the day was. On the advice of Clay, I bought a Los Angeles Dodgers balloon to help Ron find me through the crowds. We found each other easily and I hopped in with him. I have never been a bandit at a race before but it didn't bother me too much. The marathon and half marathon were sold out at 20,000. I took no fluids and tried to stay straight down the middle at all aid stations. Ok, I did take some "sharkies" but no one else was taking them! Ron started to struggle around mile 10 and we missed the sub 2 hour mark, but he did PR and was under 2:10 for the first time today with a 2:07! Congrats Ron! I got to run the last 10 miles with him. After talking with some of the others in his group from Vegas it sounded like almost everyone ran a PR today! It was a good day to do it. There was virtually no wind, but the sun was fairly intense and temperatures nearly reached 70 degrees.

I liked the course but that out and back on the PCH seemed to go on forever and you couldn't see the turn-around until just at the last minute. I would like to go back to run the whole thing some day.

I said my goodbyes while they waited for a few other finishers and I ran back to my car. I made one right turn when I should have made a left, but discovered my mistake in about a quarter mile and made it back to my car in 4 miles with no map!

Total mileage for today ended at 16!

Total weekend mileage ended at 36!
I think that is my all-time record for total weekend mileage. I ran 34 miles in two days the weekend of my 30 mile birthday run!


Speaking of half marathons, my dad recently sent this picture of me at the finish line of my first half marathon. I was 15 years old and the race was in January of 1995. The race was called the Las Vegas "Mini" Marathon. It started on Las Vegas Blvd and ran down the old Lake Mead Rd which is now St. Rose Pkwy. and finished with a right turn up Water St. into downtown Henderson. Yes, I was running in blue cotton Russell sweatpants and a baseball cap. My official time was 1:32:32. I think my long run was 8 miles before that day and I went out way to fast and struggled in the second half. I ran by myself. I don't remember why I wanted to do the race. I don't think anyone else from my team ran it. Fun memories though. I didn't run another half marathon until 2002 when, in my first year of physical therapy school, I ran the old downhill course Las Vegas Half Marathon with Andi in 1:33:21. I finally broke this PR set in high school in 2003 at the LV Half Marathon with a time of 1:21:09. I lowered it again the next year with a time that still stands as my PR in 1:20:00. I remember being so disappointed that I didn't break 1:20. I ran this course one more time the following year, 2005, on a very windy day in 1:23:49. The only other comparable half marathon time I have was in 2006 at the Santa Clarita Half Marathon where I ran 1:22:42.
Based on number of entrants the Running USA conference showed that the half marathon is the most popular distance in the country. There are many great half marathons in southern California. Many that I would like to try. Running Times Magazine listed the Fontana Days Half Marathon, Rock n' Roll San Jose, and the Bizz Johnson Trail Half Marathon on their list of "fastest half marathons in the country." Los Angeles Sports & Fitness Magazine listed the top 10 half marathons in Californa as Carlsbad, Buffalo Run (Catalina), Chesebro (Great Race of Agoura), Orange County, Palos Verdes, Laguna Hills, Fontana, America's Finest City (San Diego), Disneyland, and Rose Bowl. Of those 10 I have run the Buffalo Run (1:30:30) and Orange County (1:27:22). You can also see a list of half marathons in California here (there are a ton!) and they are listed by city.

What are some of your favorite half marathons?

Run to Acton?

Yesterday I decided that today would be the day to run to Acton. The forecast was calling for rain but it looked to be less chance in the morning so I set my alarm for 4:45 am with the plan of getting there around 8:00am. My alarm woke me up and I checked outside. "It doesn't look too bad," I thought. Then all of the sudden it was like someone cut an opening trough the clouds and it opened up the flood gates. I went back to bed.

I woke up again around 6:30 and couldn't hear the rain anymore. I looked outside and only saw a drizzle, so I laced up my shoes, put on my tights, jacket, gloves and hat and headed out. I decided to see if I could make it to Anaverde (the housing development where the trail starts to Acton). I ran down Rancho Vista to 30th then made a right and ran up to Highland High School. By then the rain was even less and I made it to 25th and Elizabeth Lake Rd. I made a right there and started looking left for the access road toward the aqueduct. Right away there was a "fire access road" sign but I thought, "It can't be that soon, I better keep going." Nothing else was coming up and I thought about turning around but then saw another road on the left side that looked like it was going in the right direction. After looking at Google Earth when I got home it was actually 40th St. West. I had run through another part of Anaverde to the West that was never finished due to the recession and housing crisis. The dirt road, which was mostly mud by this point, turned to the left and headed still in the right direction. It eventually became Edison Rd in Anaverde. I made my first right on Parkwood which took me to the highest point where the trail to Acton starts. I looked at my watch when I got to the top and it showed 11 miles! Yikes, now I have to run home. I looked up the trail a little ways and for a brief second thought about continuing, then turned around and tried to find the quickest way home. I was able to find my way quickly to the aqueduct and then found that fire access road that I missed which put me right at 25th and Elizabeth Lake Rd. I then retraced my steps home from there and it was exactly 8 miles from the top of Anaverde back to my house. I had gone 3 miles out of my way on the way there! By then my total was 19 miles and I continued around my neighborhood until I hit 20! A little crazy...yes, but besides my tights getting really wet I felt good most of the way. I ended the 20 miles in exactly 2 hours 40 minutes (8:00 pace). Next weekend I may have to attempt the run to Acton again, now that I know the shortest route to the trail. On Google Earth it is named Sierra Pellona Mountainway West. It doesn't look that much farther from there, just a mile or two over the mountain.

6 mile run in Quartz Hill

I got up this morning for a run before work. You could feel the weather coming. The forecast calls for rain the next two days. I ran 6 miles and each got progressively faster. I think it took me around 46 minutes for the run and after two miles of warm up I pushed it for a mile up 65th, then had a half mile downhill before another push up 60th, and headed home. My legs have felt good this week and I am hoping this leads to a good two months of training ahead.

If you like documentaries on runners or running coaches I have seen a few good ones lately. Running the Sahara was a great documentary that I received for Christmas, I highly recommend it. I also saw most of Run For Your Life, the life story of Fred Lebow (the director of the New York City Marathon. If you have netflix you can stream it on your computer. There is also a documentary titled The Long Green Line about York HS Coach Joe Newton. Coach Newton has written books on coaching high school runners and his team has won 25 state titles in Illinios in 50 years. You can watch the whole movie for free on hulu.com here.

7 mile run in Quartz Hill

I got out for 7 miles this afternoon and continued my hill training emphasis. I went up M-8 to 70th then down to L-8, up 65th for a mile of climbing and then up 60th for another half mile. Total mileage was 7.3 miles in 55:15 (avg 7:35 pace). Got into a groove for the last few miles and felt really good about it.

Last Friday Bernard Lagat won his record 8th Wanamaker Mile (indoor track) at the Millrose Games in NY. Here is the video of the race. It is truly beauty in motion. He is racing the Olympic champion and they both make 15 mph look effortless, then Lagat shows everyone that he has a whole other gear!