Bay 2 Breakers Centipede

Bay 2 Breakers is a HUGE (50k+ people), partying, 12k race from the Bay Bridge to the ocean, East to West, across San Francisco. Every year my running team fields at least 2 centipede teams. Each consists of 13 runners tied together by our super-secret-patented-speed tie system and 2 floating runners in case someone has a bad day or trips over a salmon-runner or gets hit by a rogue flying tortilla. Only one 3-block steep hill slows the runners at about 2.5 miles and the rest of the race is mostly downhill to the coast.

I've wanted to be a part of the women's centipede since I started with the Aggies in late 2004. It took 6 years of running, injury, time-off, self-coaching and finally hiring a coach to get my first chance, and it was definitely an experience. I'm not a fan of the 5-9 mile race distance yet, and wanted to see if this 12k would inch me toward liking it. Here's how it went:

I was hooked into the middle of the centipede, and was so glad I wasn't a floater! When the countdown clock hit 00:00, we were really close to the start, all lined up in a long column, so our front runner (wearing the antennae!) was about 3 rows back and I was about 6-10. We started out at 6:30 and I thought I may be able to keep up, but it was going to be hard. Some crazy was running back to the start in the first half mile and collided with us. A young naked guy ran past a little later. Tortillas were flying. Red Coats fired party-popper rifles. The hill caused my belt to squeeze me because the 'peders in front and behind me were too far away. At mile 4, I thought, "We are over halfway there!" And then I thought, "And the distance left is more than most of my running races!" A little after that marker, the ladies sped up and I was pulled for the rest of the race. We finished together! And finished first in the women's centipede division.

I had a lot of people encouraging me the whole way and making sure I stayed hooked in, and without them I likely would have bailed. I'm so happy I didn't. It was hard and a blast and I was sore for over a week.

But, I still am not keen on that race distance.

Kauai Loves You

First Olympic Triathlon

Lessons Learned:

1. Asking a ton of questions at the packet pickup the day before makes me feel a lot better.
   
2. Running and biking and swimming the course beforehand also makes me feel better.
   
3. Shoelaces make OK race belts in a pinch.
4. Taking a look at competitors on the start line at a small race might be a good idea.
   
5. Kauai is full of micro-climates.
6. Try to eat more during olympic distance tris than just 267 calories.
   

When signing up for the Kauai Loves You Triathlon, one had a choice of olympic or sprint distance. This benefitted the Kauai Aquatic Club, so a ton of the competitors were swimmers by nature. The olympic course consisted of a 2-lap open ocean swim in a "bay" with waves and swells. It went almost parallel to the beach back and forth, and measured about 100+ meters short of the traditional olympic distance of 1500m. The way out was aided by a current, so the way back was much slower. The bike portion was almost 4 miles short. It too was 2 laps. We went over a big hill and a fun little dip with a one-way bridge at the bottom, then slightly uphill until a turnaround when the backroad reached the highway. The run was through the Marriott golf course and by the Lihue airport. It went uphill for about 1.5 miles and then ever-so-slowly lost elevation until the turn around a smidge after 5k. Once back near the main Marriott road, we took a left and finished at the opposite end of the beach from which we started.

Triathlons in Hawaii need to be thought about differently than those in California. First of all, the water is much warmer, so wetsuits are not necessary. I usually put my number on my skinsuit under my wetsuit, but no wetsuit meant a number would be draggy in the water. I wanted to put it on for the run, but I didn't have a race belt. So, after futilely trying to take belts off of hiking pants, I finally pinned the number onto a shoelace and that worked ok.

My goals for this race were A) to swim hard, but survive the waves without a wetsuit and B) to bike time-trial hard.

My parents were my cheering section and the main job of the cheering section is not to cheer, but to yell out placing. I estimated there were about 8 women in the olympic distance race of 29 total participants. We started the swim briefly after the sprint-distance athletes, and soon we were really spread out. I had a hard time breathing with more than 2 strokes. The only thing notable about the swim, besides the quick swim to the far bouy and the slow swim back was that they moved the far buoy in closer during the second lap for some odd reason. As I ran toward transition, my parents notified me that there were 5 women in the olympic race who had already exited the water, and my declaration that I would be one of the slowest swimmers seemed to have come true.

Shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and I started out on the first mile, passing a lot of ladies. I didn’t know whether they were slower sprint swimmers or in my race. When I reached the first turnaround at the far end, it was pouring and my sunglasses were splotched. After lap 1, my parents said, “I think you’re in first?” I shrugged. I passed 2 more competitors in the second lap, we were spread out by then. The rain moved to the midpoint on the course during the out portion and then settled for pouring in transition when I completed the bike leg. Woo!

Now soaking, I tied my running shoes, grabbed the shoelace belt and my hat and headed out for the 10k. The rain ceased after about half a mile. The sun came out and started baking us and converting the rainwater to super-humidity. Yucko. A guy left transition a few seconds ahead of me and he was the only place I swapped with during the run, which felt great until about the 5k. The air felt still and sticky and warm after the turnaround and seemed to suck out energy. Every incline provided achy legs. Another guy in front of me probably felt the same way because he looked back at me at one point to see how far away I was. Fortunately, the finishing mile-plus was down hill and partially shady.

This was the longest race time-wise I've ever time-trialed. All my energy was gone at the finish, and I just wanted to take a nap on the grass and not move. Battles with the 10k run distance are now 0-2. I'm losing.

On a more pleasant note, it turns out that we had 12 women in the olympic distance race, so I was smack in the middle of the competition for the swim. I ended up placing 6th overall and 1st woman, thus winning a triathlon for the first time.

Humboldt Half 2009

Even though I didn't really race this one, I want to write a quick report as it was my first half marathon that I've actually entered in, and there are some points that I'd like to capture. First of all, this was the most gorgeous race I've run. It probably helped that it was longer and that I wasn't focused on running fast, so I could enjoy the scenery. The course was out and back along a road that took us through giant redwoods. Most of the time we were in their shade, but sometimes the light would filter through the needles and it was lovely. *sigh*

Second, it is important to note that no matter how much talking and mental prep-work I do beforehand, I'll still get a thrill out of passing people. The goal was to run between 8 and 8:30 minutes/mile pace. I believe I ran 51:25 for the out-leg (about 7:50/mile), and I only was able to do that by making a deal that if I stayed at an 'easy' pace back I could run faster on the way back. Of course, the return leg was about 49 minutes even though it was slightly farther. Weee!

Third, having a gel at the turnaround was great and the first time I've ever taken food while running faster than easy pace. So, that was cool.

Lastly, they have BEER as an age group prize! I was so lucky that very few fast people were in my age group and I got one. Local brewery too. Yum!

All in all, I don't hate half marathons like I hate 10ks. It all depends on the first experience.

Willow Hills XC Challenge 2009

I was totally wavering on whether to run this race or not. Because it was so far away, I told myself that I'd go if I found a carpool buddy. Found one on Friday, but Friday night I really didn't want to race. Too bad for me, now I was stuck. I think I'm mentally burnt from racing every weekend.

Another YouTube video, this time of the start and finish:


This course was two loops of about 2 longer hills and one really short, really steep bump, and some rollers. My first lap was about 10:28 and I finished in 21:03, which now seems better than if I said I positive-splitted in 6:30, 6:42 and 7:00 min/mile. Maybe the two laps weren't really that equal as we went around a lake two different ways for the two laps. I thought that my best time for this course was in the high 20s, so I was disappointed with a time of 21:03 but looking back, it seems that I was mistaken and it was in the high 21s instead. Two people I'd been finishing near beat me by several seconds. Gotta get them next time. Must note that I got a weird side-ache before the last long hill, but it went away in about a minute.

Presidio XC Challenge 2009

I was guessing that I'd probably finish around 26:30 by looking at past performances of others, so I was hoping to hit near that time. I didn't. Here's how it went.

So, the Presidio course is the most challenging of all the races in the PAUSATF XC series. It races like a 4-mile cross country course, except that it is only 3.55. I was going to write that nobody is fond of this race, however, one of my teammates says this is her favorite race. Not sure if she counts though, as she is a total "mountain goat". The course does two-ish loops of sandy-hill, long-hill-along-road, steep-downhill, and steep-hill. Those are my names for them of course. Then, we finished going backwards down sandy-hill, and around a big grass field. All I can say is, "PAIN."

Found a video of the first time up the steep-hill! Thanks walkerfamilymedia!


This time was better than all the other times I've raced this course, so I was happy with the result. I beat my predicted time by almost 30 seconds! The flats and slight downhill were where people would pass me, but I seemed to do the passing on the steep ups and downs. Totally pooped out at the end and like 5 people passed me in the last 400m.

Garin Park XC Challenge 2009

I wasn't really focusing on this race with as much intensity as the previous XC races this season. Perhaps that was because I just wasn't as nervous for this one. I've proved to myself that I can race faster than prior years; I'm in the middle of my hard training and have been tired from it recently, and we weren't going to have a full team. Then, we got the e-mail that we had 5 gals! It didn't hit me that now I had pressure to run fast until I walked to registration this morning. "They are counting on me to get as many places as possible in the end," I thought. Nervousness ensued. I saw one teammate and we warmed up together, but we didn't see any more until about 15 minutes before the race. Only 2 more. We didn't have a 5th. So, the race started and the pressure was off... all of us.

Garin is pretty hilly in the middle miles. You start out in a valley and after about a half mile, the course climbs until the mile mark, then there is a slight downhill until a hairpin turn that takes you up a steep incline that eases out, brings you into a dip and then takes you up a shorter steep hill. Then we went careening down hill (FUN!) and into a loop with less steep inclines and declines. At about 2.5 miles, we lose all that elevation gain in a quarter mile or less and race back through the valley to the finish.

My splits from the Garmin were: 7:04, 7:09, 6:41, extra time to get to the finish. I don't have my official time yet, but my watch said 21:46. That is 5 seconds faster than my PR on that course. My legs aren't feeling wasted yet, so I didn't obliterate myself. Last weekend, I did a tempo interval workout at Garin and I could barely walk after. Either that helped, or I didn't push the hills as hard. Or both. This was mostly of the time-trial sort of race for me mentally than a competitive session.

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2009

Woo! I wasn't really focusing on this race and decided to use it as a workout, doing about tempo pace. The race is a super flat 3.5 miles around Chrissy Field in San Francisco. Here were my random goals/wants:

• Break 24 minutes (6:51 pace)
• Finish in the top 20 women

Boy, do goals really get you going fast. This was the second time this season where I felt I was actually racing instead of running a time trial. So, after a really short warmup, I started off at what I thought was a relaxed pace, only to find out at the mile mark that I ran 6:07. Whoops! Immediately after, we ran against a long 1+ mile headwind section. It felt like a bike race, where I just drafted behind guys and gals in front of me. I tried to stay with/keep in sight the gals with me and in front of me and we all pretty much did that, albeit much slower than the first mile. The second two miles were at 6:40 pace. By the way, I went through 3 miles at 19:35, which extrapolated to 3.1 would be about 20:15. I haven't done a 20:15 in a long while, and I think I can actually break the 20-minute barrier if I do a flat 5k road race this season. That was so exciting!

In the end I finished 18th woman at 22:57, a full minute faster than my goal, and good thing, because otherwise I wouldn't have made it in the top 20. This race (especially that first mile) was definitely a confidence booster.

Golden Gate Park Open 2009

Did I meet my goals? Barely no.

The course is two, 2-mile loops of grass, dirt trails and a bit of sand in places with a log-jump thrown in for good measure. A bunch of us were wearing Garmins during the race and pinned the total distance between 4.08 and 4.14 miles. Mine recorded 4.09.

The legs did feel less snappy than at Santa Cruz, and the terrain was a little more slippery too, especially since I was wearing my XC waffles from HS and somehow they were a little too big. Weird. Hopefully, I'll get used to this new training intensity for the next race at Garin (in 2 weeks.)

I tried to go out conservatively, but that only worked for the first 300 meters and then I started passing people and got excited and motivated to pass more people until I petered out a little before mile 1. That is when people started passing me. I passed a few people who looked like they suddenly pooped out and a few going my pace, but overall I believe I was in the negative side of passing people the last 3 miles. I think I was positive in the uphill or downhill sections, but those silly flat parts...

According to the Garmin, my first mile was 6:36. Not bad. ;) My first 2 miles were 13:43 and the second two were 13:52. According to the race markings, my first lap was 13:48 (I think that is what it said...maybe it was 13:58?), and the second must have been 14:13 (or 14:03? that makes a bit more sense...), because I finished in 28:01. That's two seconds out of may goal. So close. But, it was exactly 30 seconds slower than Santa Cruz. heh! Magic 30 seconds.

I would like to note that my average heart rate for the last mile was 200. I didn't know I could hold that rate for that long, but I guess I was working hard...

Golden Gate Goals

This weekend comes the true test of fitness. I've run the Golden Gate XC course at least 6 times, so I have a great array of attempts and durations. Most importantly, I have results there when I've been my fittest post-collegiately. Looking at past results, it seems as if my best time is 28:43. Comparing other runners' times between same-year UCSC and Golden Gate results, it seems doable to finish within 30 seconds of my Santa Cruz time.

Goals:

• Break 28 minutes
• Hydrate this week
• Once again, start the race conservatively
  

My only worry is that this is the first week of longer speedwork -- I have two workouts during the week -- and I may be tired for the race. It isn't a big deal because this is still an early-season race, but I'd like to do well regardless.

UC Santa Cruz Challenge 2009

We had a bazillion and one ladies from my cross country team show up to race on Saturday in Santa Cruz. We had at least 11 at the line! It was just amazing for such a small race of 60 or so women, and a little reminiscent of the team domination at races with my cycling team.

The course is 4 miles on gravelly fireroads. The first 1+ miles starts with a steep wind-sucking uphill and then flattens for about 30 seconds and remains uphill for a long long time. Then it flattens out slightly, we do a 180 at a little less than 2 miles in, backtrack for a mile and come down a gradual decline until the last 200m which takes you past the starting line and up a bit of the first hill to the finish.

My goals were to beat my course best of 29:06, and to go out conservatively so I wouldn't blow up like I did last year. Therefore, I declared at the starting line that my goal was to be the last person up the first steep hill and placed myself in the back of our team line, where I belong anyway. (The other ladies would finish well under 28 minutes.) The starter announced that there were fires in the mountains north of us and for people with asthma to be cautious. I hadn't noticed any smoke on the warmup...

BANG! It's not very often that you get a gun-start at a tiny XC race, but we were off, and I was holding back as much as I could. For the first time, I could smell smoke, but that disappeared after a couple minutes. I just kept telling myself to stay relaxed and let it rip on the downhill. But then, I started catching teammates and all these positive thoughts went through my head and I got really excited. It is SO GREAT to be racing alongside teammates. I was a big dork and wore my Garmin that's as big as my head, but I have mile splits now! Ha! So, the first mile was about 7:20, which is excellent for an uphill mile, and right on pace to break 29.

There were at least 3 of us in a little group at the turn-around (possibly 5). For some reason I couldn't turn as efficiently as the other two ladies and I lost contact and couldn't seem to catch back up on the flats. One of our star runners who had a tough time with the smoke and the hill, flashed by me as if I were standing still and cheered some encouragement to follow her, but there was no way I was going to try to match the speed of a sub-6 minute/mile marathoner, even if she is out of shape. I'm out of shape too if she is. About this time, I recorded my second mile in about 6:55. Way cool! Now I'll really break 29. Anyway, another teammate passed me at a much slower rate, gave the same encouragement, and I latched on. She did all the work, and I did all I could to not get dropped on the long downhill. We passed the 3 mile mark and my split was about 6:35. By this time, I could no longer calculate chances of finishing time and just focused on staying near my teammate. One gal with great turnover passed us, but that was it. My teammate surged with about 600 to go and I couldn't respond. I caught back up to her on the finishing hill right as we crossed the line and left no space for anyone to sqeeze between us. I didn't see the official results, but my time ended up being about 27:30. The last mile was 6:15ish.

Holy cow, I just ran faster per mile in a 4-mile XC race than I did at a flat road 5k 7 weeks ago! And I totally blew my previous best out of the water.

Today, I can barely walk.

Cross Country Season is Upon Us

Alright. Goals:

• Beat all my times from all past PA races.
• Stay injury-free by being careful and mindful.
• Learn about how I improve (and fail to improve) by following a specific training plan tailored to me.

Santa Cruz is coming up on Saturday and looking at my past times on the course, I would like to run 28 minutes. Previous best from 2005 is 29:06, and last year I wasn't running much and completely bonked after the steep, uphill start, coming just under 31. This course is up up up for the first mile, flat for the 2nd and 3rd miles and a nice long downhill for the 4th mile. The finish is about 200 meters uphill. I've been practicing the uphill, so if I relax, I think I'll be able to finish strong.
Santa Cruz Goals:

• Break 29 minutes
• Go out at a moderate pace up the first steep hill. Pick off runners later.
• Hammer the last two miles.

I'm looking forward to racing with tons of teammates this year and hopefully blowing my old times out of the water. (But I say that every year. *sigh*)

Pozo 5k Race Report -July 4 2009

I guess my attitude toward the Pozo 5k was less race than milestone. I only just started running again at the end of May and Pozo was on July 4th. 6 weeks of 17-31 miles a week and no speed-work resulted in a time that wasn't embarrassing and was a good starting point for improvement, 21:28. Since I hadn't raced a 5k on the road since maybe Pozo 2 years ago, my goal was to start off conservatively and pick it up from there. That is exactly what happened, and I turned in negative splits, possibly for the first time on that course (7:01, 6:57, 6:47). The splits are from the Garmin instead of the chalk markers, so maybe that helped. It was nice for a change to pass the runners who normally pass me after the turn-around.

Early Bird Criterium #3 2009

I was totally tired before this race. I had practically done a road race the day before, climbing OLH and Tunitas Creek with some pretty fast folks and my lungs were still recovering. Even though this criterium wasn't a *real* race, our team talked about a race plan and learned a lot during the race. I attacked the peloton twice during the race. The first time was in the first or second lap and I didn't realize that they had caught up with me until I looked back and saw that I was pulling the whole group. oops. Made a mental note to learn how to find out if someone is on my wheel. The second time was slightly more successful and I was out front for about 1/4 of a lap, making the other ladies work hard to latch back on.

My goals for this race were to become more comfortable in the pack, follow wheels moving up, and keep my wheel through the corners (so I wouldn't have to sprint as much out of a corner). I think I met those goals. Because of that, I found myself in the front group of riders for the last 2 laps. That put me in a position to be in the running for the final sprint. I think I was 4th wheel coming into the long finish straight-away. I passed two gals, but the winner came around all of us on the right-hand side, and I finished 3rd! I was surprised because I wasn't planning to try for the sprint when I started the race. Cycling does that to me. I love putting on some speed and passing people.

Log: Jun 9 - 15 2008

Mon: Bike to/from work (31.4 mph on the flat going home!)
Tue: Bike to/from work
Treadmill run 30 min (3.75)
Wed: Run 30 minutes (3.5)
Thu: Bike to/from work
Fri: Bike to/from work
Run 31 minutes (4)
Sat: Ran hard a bit volunteering for bike race (1.5)
Sun: DNE

Totals
Run: 12.75 miles
Bike: 140 miles

Log: Jun 2 - 8 2008

Mon: Bike to/from work w/ Frank
Tue: Bike to/from work
run on treadmill (2), 1/2 pullup at level 2, 4 min abs, some weights, 55 minutes bike home!
run to/from voting location (2.5)
Wed: 2.5 miles on treadmill at 8 min/mile pace, 5 min abs
Thu: Bike to work, bike to CalTrain, bike from Union City BART (25)
Fri: Bike to/from work (54 minutes home!), two laps around complex w/ Max and Patrick at >7:30 pace (26:20).
Sat: 30 min run easy (3.5)
Sun: 66 min run long (8)

Totals
Run: 17.5 miles
Bike: 130 miles

Log: May 26 - Jun 1 2008

Mon: DNE
Tue: run 1.75 on treadmill, 7 pull-ups at level 5
Bike to/from work
Wed: run 39 min (3.75)
Bike to work
Thu: run 39 min around work (3.5)
Bike to/from work
Fri: Bike to/from work
Sat: DNE
Sun: 61 mile bike ride up to Berkeley Hills Road Race course, did a loop and stopped in Orinda (+2 from BART)24:48 up Palomares!

Totals
Run: 9 miles
Bike: 185 miles

Log: May 19 - 25 2008

Mon: 40 min run (3.75)
.5 mile swim
Tue: Bike to/from work, slightly sick
Wed: Sick, but worked
Thu: Sick, stayed at home
Fri: bike to/from bike shop, backpack in Sunol (3)
Sat: 14 mile backpack
Sun: 2.5 backpack

Totals
Run: 3.75 miles
Bike: 35 miles

Log: May 12 - May 18 2008

Mon: Bike to/from work 59.5 min THERE (with some drafting)
2.5 mile run on treadmill at 7mph, 3.5 min abs
Tue: Bike to/from work
1.25 mile speed walk, 10 pull-ups at level 6, 3 min abs
Wed: 42 min run (5)
Bike to/from work
.5 mile swim
walk around complex
Thu: Bike to/from work
Fri: 30 min run (3.5)
Bike to/from work
1 pull-up at level 3 !!!! 3.5 min abs
Sat: Bike to/from work (yes, I worked)
Sun: 28 min run. (3.25)

Totals
Run: 14.25 miles
Bike: 210 miles
Swim: .5 miles

Log: May 5 - May 11 2008

Mon: 28 min run (3.5)
Bike to/from work, 3+ min abs
Tue: 32 min run (3.75)
Wed: Bike to/from work
3.5 mile tempo run w/ Max
Thu: Bike to/from work
Fri: Bike to work
15 min treadmill (1.75), 3.5 min abs 5 pull-ups at level 6
Sat: EBC Crit 10 min warmup, 40 min race, avg 23.3mph according to another racer. (~20 miles w/ warmup+lap and cool down lap)
Sun: 2.5 hour hike in Huddard, 63 min run to Garin park (7)

Totals
Run: 18.5 miles
Bike: 137 miles

Log: Apr 28 - May 4 2008

Mon: Attempted to bike to work, back tire blew out from screw at about 4 miles.
38 minutes on spin bike, with about 15 minutes of standing.
45 minutes on spin bike, 5-4-3-2-1 w/ 1 minute recovery 10 minutes at fast cadence, hard.
Tue: 30 min run (3.5),
Bike to/from work,
Weights: 3lb. running and front and side raises, 2x10 tricep rope pull-downs, 1x10 pull-ups at level 7, .75 pull-ups at level 4, 3 min abs.
Wed: Bike to/from work,
10 min wm, 5x 2min @9mph w/ 2 min recovery @ 7mph, total 30 min (3.75)
Windy walk around complex with Shawn
Thu: Bike to/from work,
34.5 minutes running with Matt T. (3.75)
Fri: DNE
Sat: Mt. Hamilton, hill in 1:59:45 (80 miles)
Sun: 70 min ride (17 miles), 33 min hilly run (3.5?)

Totals
Run: 14.5 miles
Bike: 206 miles (plus 80 minutes on the spin bike)