PR Weekend

OK, setting personal records wasn't something I had in mind when I started this running thing. It was done as part of trying to get healthier, to work with what I had achieved losing weight with WeightWatchers. Yet I find myself enjoying the sport and participating in several races now. This past weekend I signed up to do something different from the other races. I signed up for two races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The Saturday race was the Old Agoura 10K, and regardless of what my time was it was going to be a personal record as it was my first 10K race. The one on Sunday was the Coaster 5K down by Knott's Berry Park. This race was on a flat course so I had a chance to see whether all of the track workouts and LSD will help me get my fastest time to date.

The Old Agoura 10K was part of the Great Race of Agoura, which includes two half marathons, the 10K, a 5K and two other races intended to involve younger children. My friend Becky ran this race as well, and I was glad to see her before the start and hung out with her until we had to go running. The 10K ran through some neighborhood streets at first before turning in to a hilly neighborhood. Then about 2 1/2 mile in the route goes over a mile total on Chesebro, a nice gradual uphill which to my surprise I was able to complete without stopping. Between miles 4 and 5 were some pretty nasty hills, in my opinion. Very scenic neighborhood but those hills were a challenge. I was able to run on some of them while there were some I had to walk up portions, if not the entire hill. At mile 5 the people at the water station were telling us that there were no more hills, only one more mile to go. What a bunch of liars. There were a couple of hills left. Not too steep but one was pretty long. And then we had to go on a muddy section thanks to the recent rains. I emerged through it relatively unscathed and the last third of a mile was back on pavement, partly downhill before ending with a dash on the grass of Chumash Park. The official clock had me at 1:00:43. I didn't think I could complete the course in under an hour, not with all of the hills, and was thinking of a window of 62 to 72 minutes. But thanks to all of the recent workouts and LSD I was able to manage my race and not go out too fast in the beginning, saving enough for the hills.

Today's race was down in Orange County, right at Knott's Berry Farm. I specifically signed up to do this race with my friend Ron. It was very cloudy and rain was threatening to come down, but the temps were in the upper 50s lower 60s so it was quite comfortable. The Old Agoura 10K was ran in overcast skies and was a bit colder but rain stayed away. Right before the start of the 5K it actually started to sprinkle and it continued until about 5 minutes after the starting gun. There was some character from Knott's who shot off a rifle to signify the race start. Speaking of characters I was able to snag Snoopy for a pre-race picture. The Coaster Run consisted of a 5K and a 10K and they started at the same location and at the same time. This created for a very busy start, mostly because the race coordinator didn't request that walkers start at the back. I went to the middle of the starting area as usual, and this meant that I had to wade through a whole lot of people who were walking. I don't mind walkers in races as I walked my very first 5K, but it does create a traffic jam. With 2500 people registered for the two races it was quite a traffic jam. The one positive thing it did was it help me start off slowly and reminded me to keep an even pace. The course was fairly flat except for the portion where we went in a tunnel that went underneath a street. With the recent rains there were some puddles, some which I was unable to avoid but such is life. I crossed the 1 mile marker at 9:48, a lot slower than I wanted but I knew I had some reserved for the end. The crowd thinned out slowly and I tried to maintain a good pace. At what I thought was around the 2 mile mark I was able to see more daylight between people and I picked it up a little. Kept reminding myself to not go too fast until we were in sight of the finish line, about a half mile to go. With it in sight I kicked it up a notch and slowly picked off some people. At the last turn I saw a boy about ten years old who had stopped and was slowly running again. I tried to motivate him, telling him to kick it in gear. I heard someone from the crowd yell out, "Don't let that old man beat you!!". Had to laugh at that one and I kept telling the boy to pick it up, and he did, and I did and we were in kinda full sprint mode when we finished. He may have nipped me at the end but seeing the big smile on his face as he finished was worth it. That and high five exchanged is what it's all about. My time was officailly 27:19, which shatters my previous best of 28:09 but that was before I joined the running club and getting more miles and experience in this body of mine. Not sure how much faster I can do the races as all that really matters is that I am enjoying it. Yeah, that's the ticket ;)

New shoes

Late last week I noticed that the shoes with which I have been running, a pair of Nike Lunarglide+2, were worn out quite unevenly. The heel on the left shoe was worn a little more on the inside than the outside, and the front was worn out somewhat evenly. The right shoe however had a lot of wear on the outside heel. It was so worn out it was white, the black bottom was gone. I was hoping to keep this pair until after the Old Agoura 10K but since I already had bought a replacement of the same kind of shoe, I decided to start running with the new Nikes. I also decided to go to Inside Track and ask questions about the uneven wear on the shoes.

So on Friday I went in and showed off the old shoes. The first comment given to me even before I showed the sole of the shoes were that the pair was too big for me. I always thought that I had wide feet so I needed a wider shoe. Roadrunner Sports also checked things out and this was the pair that best fit me. I liked the wider toe box, as it didn't crush my toes like other shoes did. So I tried on some Brooks Ghost and in a size 8, vice the 8 1/2 of the Nikes. Again I was told that the Nikes were too big for me. I ran with the new shoes and they checked out my form. Was advised to try out a different pair of shoes, one that was neutral instead of a stability shoe. Again Roadrunner suggested a stability shoe for me. So I tried out a pair of Brooks Glycerin and my running form checked out again.

Guess this time around things looked better but still had no reason for the uneven wear on the heel other than a question as to whether I dragged my heel now and then. After thinking about it, I do believe I do drag my heel every few steps. I have seen similar wear on my dress shoes. So now I have a new pair of Brooks, first time I have ever worn the brand. Guess I can start using these shoes in time for the races this weekend. Tuesday is a track workout so that should be okay to break them in then. I will have to warm up before so that should give me enough feedback as to whether I can get used to them in time. I still have the newer Nikes as backup - guess that's what their role will be now. Or maybe I can alternate between the two. Have to ask if that's a good idea or not.

Time trial

The other day members of the running club were timed to see how fast they can run a mile. It was done as part of a Run and Bowl social event. Take the time, in seconds, how fast one runs a mile on the track on Tuesday, and then subtract the highest bowling score of two games on Thursday, and that is a person's score. The lowest score wins some prize, as well as the highest (maybe?). If that is the case then I have a shot of winning the highest score. I was able to complete the mile in 8:14, my fastest mile by almost 30 seconds!

Fortunately I was able to complete the mile. Setting things up, I arrived at VHS and did my warm-up. One lap of walking followed by 5 laps of a jog. Or what I thought was a jog. Halfway thru my jog I was joined by others in the club and they tod me that we were going at a 9 minute pace. That may have been slow to them but not really that slow for me. When the rest of the group showed up, our official warm-ups started. We did 4 sets of 200s, a "fast" 200 followed by a "slow" 200, and then do that for four laps. I pretty much followed behind people and hung out at the back with Brandy. We did our 4 laps at a little over 9 minutes, and that included slow 200s! We weren't looking forward to the mile.

We followed this warm up with some strides, and it actually felt good to just run a little faster than normal. I like being able to take longer strides for the really short distance knowing that I have about 30 seconds in between strides, plenty of time to rest up. After the strides and some time to rest some more, we were given our instructions. Line up along the curved line, start about a step behind actually until told "Runners set", and then take off at "Go". There was a clock about 9 meters past the finish line, since 5280 feet is 1609 meters, so we were told not to stop running until we past the clock and go into the chute set up past the clock.

I made sure to start off at lane 6 - that's me above as the "gun went off", giving the faster runners enough room for the inside. Off we went and I got in a rhythm, which I thought was a bit fast. The runners ahead of me slowly got further ahead but by 200 meters they were only about 20 meters ahead. This s when I knew I was going a little too fast for my own good. I yelled out to Brandy that I think I was going too fast. She quickly said, "Yes, you are". So I slowed down to let her catch up. As we turned the corner for the last 100 of the first lap I could see thclock and it read 1:25! Positive proof that I was going too fast. I was hoping to go for 2:10 first lap but at this pace we were going for to cross at 1:53. Since I was a little ahead I had to set thepace for the two slow runners. We finally crossed at 1:59. We slowed the pace a little more and crossed the line on our second lap at 4:06.

We continued with this pace and finished lap 3 at 6:16. At this point I knew we were both going to get new personal bests for our mile. It didn't matter that most of the others passed us - the first one to pass us was at about the 600m mark, the second one just before we finished the curve into the straightaway to the finish line, and most passed us as we were crossing the line. Then we had the track all to ourselves. Finally able to get to the inside lanes we picked up the pace a little. At 1400m we kicked it up a notch, relatively speaking. Brandy and I were still side by side until the last 30m when I somehow was able to lengthen my strides a little more and finished maybe two seconds ahead. She did give me credit for running on the outside of her for the whole distance, which probably meant an extra 20 meters. Regardless I just finished my fastest mile and I was ecstatic, although too tired to really show it. I know one mile doesn't a runner make, but it lets me know that I have plenty of room to improve and that 2 hour half marathon is ripe for the picking. Ripe especially since I have almost three months to train for it.

Carbo loading

Tonight, in preparation for a potential long run of 7 or 8 miles tomorrow morning, I decided to go for pasta dinner. OK, people may not think much of Presto Pasta - it's fast food pasta, not real Italian,etc. Well, it's a whole lot cheaper than other "Italian" places around here and I actually like the place. The food taste very good and the portion size is more than adequate. Tonight, however, I decided to go for the pasta combo. Got the spaghetti with meat sauce and a meatball, with a slice of garlic bread and a cup of minestrone. That thing filled me up and I actually still feel a little stuffed. Maybe next time I will order the pasta with just marinara sauce and the meatball, skip the meat sauce.

Normally I would feel bad after a meal like that. What happened to the weight watchers guy? That meal was probably worth over 30 points alone, if not more. Well, I think I calculated it out to be about 32 points. Any ways, I did some form of exercise today and I have that long run planned for tomorrow. Today was our regular off Friday and I got a little jog in, three mile round trip from San Pedro Street to the turnaround on the promenade, before trying to play some volleyball. Was able to average under ten minute miles, which was faster than what I wanted especially if I was going to play vball afterwards. My training plan calls out for 11 minute miles during my slow runs but my head keeps telling me to go a little faster. Today was also the first time I ran without headphones on, trying to get more in tune with my body during a run. All it did was let me know how much I was breathing during my run. My endurance is still not there, but I have three weeks before the 10K in Agoura. And this past Tuesday I was able to join the running club and we did some more hills, this time 4 reps running up about a 350m incline followed by a jog down.

As for the vball after my run, well, it turned out to be not much. I was able to play in one game of 4 on 4, and it was a good one. Unfortunately my left calf started to act up a little and it seemed that any sudden starts may re-pull the muscle. I couldn't really try going for balls and risk hurting myself and then I wouldn't be able to run the 10K. I am able to run since my running doesn't have any quick starts or sudden change of directions. Lame excuse but I am enjoying being able to run and I don't want to lose that right now. While we were at the beach we were graced with the presence of two Olympic gold medalists. Yep, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhauser, 2008 Olympic gold medalists in beach volleyball, were in the court next to us getting some practice before they head on overseas. It was amazing to see how high they can jump, how fast they can cover that court, just how good they were. People have paid a lot of money to see them play for about 20 minutes, while we got to see them play for about an hour and a half for free. They are in the background of this picture, to the right.