Posted on Apr 13, 2010 under Race |
The Carlsbad 5000, the “World’s Fastest 5K”, celebrated its 25th anniversary this past weekend. This fast and scenic course was the perfect place to PR for my 5K. And what better place to PR in the 5K than the same city I PR’ed in the half marathon? Official results: 18:58, 6:06 min/mile; 122/1250 overall; 95th male. As happy as I was to break 19 and PR, I was not too pleased with the way I paced myself for this race: 5:47, 6:13, 6:29, :27. But overall, it was a fun experience. It was a really big turnout and some elite world class athletes running too. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Apr 10, 2010 under Training |
This is the first (of 3) weeks where I have to modify my Sunday long run and run during my off days to make up for it. I have a 5K tomorrow, which I’m definitely underestimating. Ever since I ran the half marathon, I feel like any race shorter than that distance is easy, which is totally not the case. Shorter races involve a lot more speed and you have to strategize about how much speed to use at what time. For all of my past 5Ks, I have started off too fast, which just tired me out for the rest of the race (you’d think I learned after the first time..). What I liked about the half marathon is that running that fast so soon at the beginning of a 13.1 mile race is literally suicide. So when I held back the first couple of miles of my half, I was surprised (and happy) to see how much more energy I still had even after running so many miles already. I finally got the concept of pacing, too bad it took me over a year of racing to finally understand.. 🙂 Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Apr 04, 2010 under Training |
I am happy to be able to say that I have the first week of my first marathon training in the books. I have been anticipating this for quite some time now. I never thought I would doing something like this when I started running again a little over a year ago. I randomly signed up for a local 5K and realized how long it’s been since I’ve experienced a race. I worked my way up to running a half marathon (and fast), which I have to say is pretty tough. But now I’m going to try and double that with a full marathon? What am I thinking? We’ll see how it goes. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Mar 30, 2010 under running |
It seems like a lot has been going on these days, none of it is necessarily bad news, which is always good. Just..busy. There are a couple of things I want to update on though, running-wise.
Marathon Training
My first full marathon training program has been ironed out (technically, today was day 1: rest/cross-train: run for 20 min, basketball for the evening). This came directly from my internet-running-coach and fellow runner, Caleb Masland [Twitter, DailyMile, Blog]. I hope he doesn’t mind, but if you ever need running tips or advice, he’s definitely the one to go to. I have provided a screenshot of the program below. The weekly miles are going to be more than I have run consistently for quite some time. And assuming I still run on the days I have for rest/cross-training, then it will a lot more! I still have a 5K and half marathon planned for next month, so I’ll do my best to make sure I can still get an equivalent workout in for the day.
Run on the Trail
I came back from a weekend in LA and hit up the local high school trail that I ran when I was in cross country. It was roughly an 8 mile run and hit just over an hour. Although I wasn’t able to measure the mile markers accurately, I did keep track of the splits for each checkpoint and was pleased to run negative splits. As to not confuse you with actual street names, I’ve labeled them with just letters. One thing I noticed was that after the run, my body felt very drained. It was probably a combination of the heat (Spring has arrived!) and the distance. I had to drop my sister off at the airport which was only a 30 minute drive, but I was still nervous about falling asleep at the wheel. I survived that trip, but was definitely dreading the 2 hour drive back to San Diego. Fortunately, I was able to get a power nap (although not very successful) and had an energy drink to help keep me up.
Splits:
A-B: 8:22
B-C: 7:55
C-D: 9:21
D-E-D: 5:10
D-C: 9:00
C-B: 7:06
B-A: 6:39
100 Pushups Program
I completed the first week of the 100 pushups program. Technically it was the 3rd week since the program tells you to move ahead if you can do more than a certain amount during the initial test. It’s only 3 times a week, but pretty tough none-the-less. The first day was harder than I expected, but by the 3rd day, I was surprised at how much more pushups I was able to do. Only 3 more weeks and I’m supposed to be able to do 100 straight pushups, sounds hard right? I think the same thing. What you’re supposed to do after the 6th week is do the final 100 pushups test. But if you’re not able to do it, it tells you to go back a week or two and try again. I have a feeling that is going to happen for a couple of weeks, but who knows. I definitely feel stronger after each day and I’m hoping that it’ll pay off come race day!
Posted on Mar 30, 2010 under Race |
Found some cool race pictures from the Black Mountain Summit 7K. There were definitely some nice views, too bad there was no time to enjoy it during the race! I’m going to have to come here on my own one day and hike (not run!) this very scenic trail. Like always, comparing my race pictures from the beginning of the race to the end is like day and night. But of course, it’s always better that I look like that at the end rather than the beginning!
Posted on Mar 21, 2010 under Race |
In only my second trail race in less than one year back from running, I ran the Black Mountain Summit 7K. And it is also only the 2nd time in my ‘running career’, that I won my age group! Results: 31:08, 1st in AG, 7th overall (only 159 runners..) The splits make sense knowing that it’s an out and back course: 18:19 uphill, 12:47 downhill. It was definitely a surprise win for me considering I was not all that prepared to run such a tough course. But I did have the opportunity to get a few hill workouts in a couple of weeks before and I got some inside information about the course, so I was not too surprised on race day. But going into the race, I did start doubting myself thinking, ‘how am I going to run uphill continuously for over 2 miles?!’ Fortunately there were a few downhills and some flat trails on the way up, which allowed me to rest my legs as they were shot soon just after going up the first few hills. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Mar 11, 2010 under running, Trail |
I have been hoping to finally run on some trails for the past couple of months, but things kept getting in the way. First, it was training for my first half marathon and my incessant need to stick to the schedule. Then, it was a matter of actually finding good trails to run on, which is a task in itself. Once I finally figured out worthy trails to run on, out of nowhere, it rained every weekend for at least 3 weeks straight. And this is in San Diego, where it never rains! I finally found a weekend where rain was not forecasted. Actually, it rained later that afternoon, but I had finished just before it started. It may have been perfect timing since it is just a few weeks before only the 2nd trail race I’ve ever ran, the Black Mountain Summit 7K. What I’m hoping is that combining these trail runs before and after racing the 7K, I will be more than prepared for my next half marathon, the La Jolla Half Marathon (2nd half of the Half Marathon Triple Crown). This half, I heard, has a few daunting hills within this scenic 13.1 mile course.
So the trail I found is called the Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, which has (at least) two main entrances to the trail. You actually have to pay ($3) to park at the lot by the entrances, but there is a park just down the road that is free to park in. I didn’t want to pull a muscle while running the trails, so…I chose to park down the road and ‘warm up’ to the entrance (good excuse, right?). What I learned at the end of the run is that there is actually a path to get to the same point from the park! Anyways, once I got to started, I noticed that the trail is very wide, which accommodates walkers/runners, bikers as well as equestrians. Because of the rains, there were not many people on the trails that morning, which was OK since there weren’t really any forks in the main road that would potentially get me lost all alone. There were a lot of side trails that led to to what looked like steeper, funner, hilly trails. But again, the rain had caused these paths to temporarily close; definitely piqued my interest though. The only problem with veering off to these trails is I have NO idea where it’ll lead me. The main path is supposed to be about 5 miles East to West and about 3 miles West is supposed to be a fun stop at a waterfall.
It was nice being able to run to a destination as opposed to just doing one big loop. However, when I got to said destination, I was a little disappointed (only a little because I read other people’s account of this majestic waterfall and they were not too impressed either). It looked more like a rapid flowing river with lots of rocks surrounding than a Niagara Falls-esque waterfall. What was cool was if you wanted to cross the ‘river’ to get to the trail on the other end, you had to very carefully walk across the rocks that were laid across. That would have been quite an adventure (if I did it)! Check out the photos below as well as the secret bridge/path to the park that I took back to my car. I’m hoping to take another stab at this trail in the future, and if I’m daring enough to follow “the road less traveled” 🙂
Posted on Mar 08, 2010 under Reviews |
An important running accessory that I’ve started using in my daily routine is the Marathon Stick, a very simple and easy-to-use self-massaging tool to help alleviate sore muscles and speed recovery. There is actually a variety of different Sticks that vary in length and firmness depending on a person’s size, muscle density, and pressure preference. The Marathon Stick was the perfect one for me, a runner, and it is named appropriately. “Measuring 20 inches with 10 (1-inch) spindles, this model was made popular by world-class distance runners. Most flexible of the small models, it is preferred for those with lean muscle mass.”
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Posted on Mar 06, 2010 under Reviews |
I was sent a package of Sof Sole insoles and performance socks many months ago after complaining about how my old running shoes had given me massive blisters after running my first half marathon. They were kind enough to send quite a few products for me to try out, hopefully eliminating any more blister breakouts on my next race. By replacing the worn out, paper-thin insoles on my running shoes and wearing real running socks, I have not experienced any new blisters and it may have also played a vital role in keeping me injury free as well, which is important for all runners. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted on Feb 17, 2010 under running |
Why you should join DailyMile 🙂
It has been a while since I wrote a running update. The reason for that is because I haven’t had any breakthrough runs since my race over 3 weeks ago. My typical routine after a race is to take a couple of days off to rest and recover, then just continue running so that I don’t get too out of shape when it comes time to start a new training program. It’s strange because weeks prior to my half marathon, I was not really running very fast times, but I ended up running my fastest half ever. That trend has continued after my half, and I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m running in the mornings. It has become apparent that I am not a morning person. I never want to get out of bed in the mornings and am tired throughout most of the run. I don’t eat breakfast before my runs, so I think if I woke up a little bit earlier, the time I spent eating breakfast would help me wake up. But waking up earlier would involve sleeping less (technically), which I hate. I know people who wake up at 4 AM to run or have to endure ridiculously horrible running conditions (i.e. snow), so I don’t really have much to complain about. Read the rest of this entry »
