Warren's Sweat Blog

Tuesday was our TNT Time Trial. You run as fast as you want and get seeded into groups so that the coaches know how long you’ll take for each training run. That way, the fast people start later than the slow people and we can all finish at more or less the same time.

Normally, I take it a little slower than my race pace, but this time, I pushed myself a little. I think it’ll be good to train with people who are faster than I am. But I do have to keep an eye on my knee and my calves, which are really tight for some reason. I have been rolling the right one with a lacrosse ball and lately, the left one has been getting a small knot in it, too. I may have to go back to using the foam roller. Ouch.

The good news: Strava says I ran my fastest 5k ever during the time trial. Hopefully, that will put me in wave four, but I wouldn’t mind being in wave three, either. They both go out at the same time, so I still get to sleep in the same, regardless. But wave four people are faster, so I would have to push myself harder to keep up with them. We’ll see. It’s not part of my goals for the season, so if it doesn’t happen, no big deal.

Thursday, I did the buddy run with Jen and her group. There’s a girl who’s got some lofty goals for her season: she’s a new runner, but wants to run the entire Nike Women’s Half Marathon and break two hours! I didn’t want to rain on her parade, but I did tell her about the course and what I think she’d have to do to reach her goals: Don’t train so hard that you get injured. That’s really my goal, too!

Today, we had a nice run in a new-to-me spot: the Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View. It’s a pretty flat trail, but there are some high pedestrian bridges over Hwy 101 and Central Expressway, so you get some hill work. It was nice and cool and the second half of the trail was shaded nicely. Then we had a little bagel brunch. Now, I am relaxing. I hope to get a little bike ride in tomorrow, then recharge for work on Monday.

So the knee feels a lot better, but I think it is still going to cause problems throughout the season…and possibly for the rest of my life (unless I get surgery to clean up the inside). But I’m okay with that. I have good health insurance and I am really going to try to train smart: to go easy when it’s time to go easy, to really work on increasing my cadence when I’m going hard, and to really concentrate on my form at all times. As Kevin Schwantz (and probably others) have said, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.” I have to be as close to perfect at all times to avoid further injury.

Today was a good example. I spent the weekend at my parents’ house and ran a pretty flat trail by the San Gabriel “River” (jerk quotes used because it’s almost completely paved at many stretches). Anyway, I warmed up for about a mile at about an 11:30/mile pace, then ran the next two miles at a comfortable 10:30/mile pace, then when I made my U-turn to head back, I ran at a tempo pace of 10:00/mile. I felt good afterward and the knee feels fine. Also, the knot in my calf is going away slowly, so that helps a lot. I tried to increase my cadence throughout, but without my watch (I tracked it with my iPhone), I have no way to know if I was successful or not.

Well, the good news is I am improving. I ran 6.5 miles at a good pace and don’t have any pain to show for it.

Since I did so well at the Capitola Half Marathon, I decided to achieve my goal of running my first trail event sooner rather than later. I chose the Nisene Marks Half Marathon (NMHM) because it’s a small event (only about 300 runners) and I’ve never been in that park.

I didn’t have much time to train for hill/trail running, and probably over-did it because I now have an issue with my right knee. So that kind of sucks. I may have to see a doctor about it, but I don’t think it will affect my plans to run the Portland Marathon with TNT in October.

In order to get used to running up and down hills, I ran a few times at St. Joseph’s Hill in Los Gatos. It’s a good workout and I know the trails well, so I didn’t have a problem running by myself. It did bring back memories of last year, when I got really dehydrated running this route in preparation for last year’s NMHM. I ended up going to urgent care because I couldn’t get my  heart rate below 120 bpm even an hour after the run! Well, I checked out normal, so they told me it must’ve been dehydration.

This time, when I trained in the heat, I made sure to drink a lot and take a lot of electrolyte capsules (I never put sports drink in my hydration backpack due to the fact that it’s hard to clean and I don’t want mold and bacteria to grow in there).

Here is the second of two trail runs prior to NMHM:

Trail running takes a bit more out of you because the ground is so unpredictable. But it’s supposed to be good for you, too, for that same reason. It works your small “stabilizer” muscles in your feet, ankles and legs, which can help you avoid injury when running on road or track surfaces. I also ran the small hill near me before work.

I think I did too much, too soon, because on Wednesday before the event, as I was running on the sidewalk near my house, I felt a sharp pain inside my knee. It bothered me all day at work when I would put weight on it during a twisting motion, such as turning around. I also got a calf cramp, which I can still feel, even though I have been massaging it with a lacrosse ball.

Well, I didn’t feel too bad on Friday, so I picked up my bib, set out my clothes and set my alarm for 4:30 a.m.

On race day, everything went smoothly. Went to my friend Chris’ house in Aptos and we carpooled because there is limited parking in that area. The race is hand-timed, which is a first for me. I’m used to running over timing strips that use radio waves to read a timing chip attached to my race bib.

The first part is paved and only has a gentle incline. Then you hit the unpaved trails and it starts to get steeper. Fortunately, it also gets more beautiful!

If only the whole race was this flat and even!

Near the highest point in the race, it was so lush and foggy, I kept expecting to see a hobbit!

On the way back, I came around this bend and saw something I’d never seen in any of my previous races…

…a water crossing! Okay, there wasn’t much water, but we’re in the middle of our worst drought in years.

Near the 9-mile point, there was a very tempting bench just off the trail. But I was feeling pretty good, so I didn’t have a seat.

At last! My Garmin said I did it in 2:54:37, but it also said it was 12.5 miles. So let’s just say I did my first trail 20k instead of my first trail half-marathon.

My goal was to finish in three hours, but since I’d never done anything like this, or been to this park, I had no idea if it was realistic. Turned out to be very realistic: I finished in just under that time (but the course was about a half mile short of 13.1 miles.

The NMHM was a great experience: well-organized and scenic. I escaped without further aggravating my knee, but I can tell that something is wrong, just don’t know what or how bad it is. But, that’s life. It’s still a lot better than what blood cancer patients have to deal with, so I’ll just have to suck it up and do what I can to manage it.

Speaking of blood cancer patients, Team in Training fall season started up again! It will be good to train with old friends and meet new ones while training for the Portland Marathon. Wish me luck—and please donate to the cause here!

Well, I have to say that losing 20lb. is a great way to get faster. I PR’d the Capitola Half by a LOT and finished in 2:14:48!

Like I said earlier, I had my doubts about this race because it’s got some short hills. I haven’t trained much and what training I did was on a flat track or the moderately flat Los Gatos Creek Trail. But my previous PR of 2:32:04 was two years ago at the San Jose Rock and Roll Half — a fast, perfectly flat course. I weighed around 205lb. back then. Today, I weigh around 185. I think two years of additional training, three full marathons, and losing 10% of my body weight made all the difference.

Now, the Capitola race is a little short of 13.1 miles. Everyone’s GPSs came in between 12.9 and 13.0. I knew this when I crossed the finish line, so after I thought about it for a few steps, I started my Garmin again to walk the last 0.1 miles. Have to get that Strava badge!

So, after walking halfway out to the end of the pier until the Garmin said “13.11,” my time was 2:19:10. Doesn’t matter: my race results say “2:14:48” and that’s all I care about 🙂

After finishing Tierra Bella, I wasn’t sure about this race. I hadn’t run very much and certainly hadn’t increased my mileage like I should have. But I was able to get a long run in last weekend — too long, in fact. I basically ran a half-marathon on my own!

At least I am more confident about my ability to do this at a relatively good pace. I don’t know if I’ll get a PR, but I hope to finish faster than last year’s 2:38:50.

Now my stuff is all prepped and ready to go. Pre-race jitters have begun, too, which is a good thing.

Got invited to a neat birthday party yesterday. My friend Megan loves wine and bike riding, so she combined them on a tour of the wineries near her house in Morgan Hill. Some of her friends came from as far away as Sacramento and Windsor to attend! We had a blast riding from winery to winery, getting to know each other, and tasting some great, local wine. We covered about 30 miles — in 6.5 hours! — and visited five wineries: Kirigin, Fortino (where the birthday girl works on occasion), Solis, Satori, and Guglielmo. So much fun! But I didn’t drink enough…water. I was so dehydrated when I got home!

On my way to Monterey for the Big Sur International Marathon, my new car’s “Service Engine Soon” light came on. I am not familiar with BMWs, or any modern car for that matter, so I was a little worried. But it seemed to run okay and because it had just turned over 20,000 miles, I assumed it was just a routine maintenance thing and kept going. Nothing went wrong the whole weekend and the car continued to run as usual.

On Monday, I scheduled a service appointment at the dealer for Wednesday. When I brought it in, I just got a ride back to work on the shuttle van. But when I talked to the service guy, he said that my car has “conditions-based service,” meaning that it has a bunch of sensors that tell you when it needs service, not a fixed schedule based on mileage or wear. I was a little concerned that something would go wrong with such a relatively new car, but couldn’t do anything about it now. It turned out to be the eccentric shaft sensor that monitors a key component of the valve timing system. I also had a few minor things to fix that I had discovered since buying the car a month ago. Fortunately, everything was covered under warranty, so it just inconvenienced me a little because they needed to keep it overnight and fix it the next day.

Since this is a sports-related blog, you might wonder what my car troubles have to do with it. Well, I have had this idea in the back of my mind since last year. I live about 7 miles from work and thought it might be a fun/crazy idea to take the bus to work one day and run home. I had my run stuff with me because I missed running the day before and needed to train for the Capitola Half Marathon in 2.5 weeks. So, I decided that today was the day.

I put on my run stuff, stored my work clothes in my desk, and hit the road. I chose a route that I would never take by bike because it there are too many stop signs and I try to obey traffic laws on my bike. It turned out to cut about half a mile off my normal bike route. Around the 3-mile mark, there is a park where I could get a drink of water if I needed to, but it wasn’t too warm and I kept running. I thought about run/walking, but intersections gave me enough breaks, so I ran the entire way. It was a good workout, but I don’t know how often I’ll do it. The combination of lots of daylight and warm, but not hot, weather was ideal. Not sure how many of these days will happen regularly.

Doing the automobile shuffle.

On Thursday, I drove the Camry to work just in case the BMW wouldn’t be done on time. I also brought my run stuff to do my regular after-work run.

The dealer called and said my car would be ready right before closing time, so I had to figure out how to get it. My first thought was to get a ride over. Then I thought I’d ask a co-worker to go with me, then he (Rick) could drive the BMW to my house and I’d drive him back to work so he could get his car and I would buy him dinner. He had plans that evening, so I came up with another plan:

1. Drive the Camry to get the BMW
2. Drive the BMW to work
3. Run 4.5 miles back to the dealer to get the Camry
4. Drive it back to work
5. Drive the BMW home
6. Ride my bike to work on Friday
7. Put the bike in the Camry’s back seat and drive home after work

As you can see, I don’t do things the smart/easy way. I also got lost running to the dealer and hit a dead end, but a nice woman told me about an unlocked gate that led to an apartment complex. I thanked her and told her this shortcut would save me about half a mile! But it was fun sorting out the logistics and, although it was really hot on Thursday, it all worked out. As a plus, I got some bike commuting miles in ahead of “Bike to Work Day” later this month.

This race was probably the best DNF ever!

Sharing a house with six crazy women for the weekend could either be awesome or horrendous. It turned out to be the former.

I arrived Saturday afternoon and went to the race expo with Kimberly and Sue to pick up Kimberly’s team’s bibs and shirts, then attend the relay meeting where we would get our instructions for the next morning. I breezed through the race expo before they’d even gotten out of the first booth. Oh well, the mantra for the whole weekend, as I would learn at the relay meeting, was “I will be patient.” I suck at that, but it all worked out in the end.

That night at dinner, we thought we were being smart and all activated our “Find My Friends” apps on our iPhones the night before, but we would discover that there was no cell coverage along most of the race. Mother Nature: 1, Technology, 0.

0-dark-thirty.

Because they have to close down one lane of Highway 1 for several hours to run this beautiful, iconic race, runners have to be shuttled to their starting points long before their starting times. Christina and Carrie were running the full marathon, and Julia was our team’s first runner, so they had to be at the bus pickup locations super-early: like 3:30 a.m. for a 6:45 a.m. start. Sue, Kimberly and I were running the last two legs, so we left for the pickup area together and Kimberly and I tried to snooze a little in the car before our bus left for the relay leg 4 starting area. Not sure how successful we were at that, but we would have LOTS of time to nap at our starting area.

Our bus ride was short and many people got off the bus. Why? I have no idea. The sun was just coming up; it was still cold outside; and there was really nothing to do for a few hours until the first runners came through. But it opened up lots of seats so we could nap without fear of slumping over onto a neighbor’s shoulder. But we were in school buses made for kids, so there was no leg room and after awhile, I felt like my body was being contorted into a weird position.

The roar of the crowd.

People on the bus started getting restless, wondering when the first runners were coming through. It made it hard to sleep, but I didn’t care. At least I knew I was sleeping because, occasionally, I would catch myself snoring and wake up.

As the first runners passed by, people would cheer and pound on the bus windows, putting an end to any sleep I hoped to get. So I got up around 8:00 and walked around the staging area. There was hot coffee, bagels, and other rest stop food to snack on. Oh, and the porta-potties were brand, spankin’ new (i.e., clean and fully stocked.)! Life was good!

The view from the relay area: just one of many spectacular sights!

Around this time, I discovered the lack of cell service. I would have to be kinda vigilant in watching when Sue would come through the relay point because I had her change of clothes and she was to carry my stuff to the finish area. This carefully crafted plan would need some improvisation, though, because, unbeknownst to me, our second relay runner had a hard time with her part. Stacy had just flown in from a Las Vegas party night, got in a car with Christina and drove to Monterey, so it was totally understandable. Like me, she was a last-minute replacement, so it was great that she could fill in at all. But that put Sue behind schedule and I was concerned about being able to hit Mile 22 by noon, which was the cut-off time.

Kimberly was also concerned, but she didn’t have any clothing to hand off to her teammate Mara, so we agreed that she would take off without the relay tracking bracelet so she would finish without getting swept. I would have to either deal with Mara or Sue, whichever one arrived first.

Christina was the first full marathoner to come through our rest stop/relay area. She seemed in good spirits for having run over 17 miles and climbed about 2200′. Carrie was a few minutes behind her and was also looking good at that point. After they left, Kimberly took off, leaving me as the last relay runner. The rest stop volunteers kept asking me if I was waiting for anyone and started breaking down the stop. It was nervous time!

Just before my personal deadline, Mara showed up. I handed her the bags with Sue’s fresh clothes and my old clothes, told her what was going on, and took her relay bracelet. I was now a member of Team Run Girls running their final leg 🙂

Big, Beautiful Sur!

Off I went into the teeth of a vicious headwind, which also played a part in slowing down every runner. I didn’t want to dampen anyone’s spirits, but I looked at the weather forecast and knew the night before that we would be looking at 10-15MPH headwinds the entire day. So, I was mentally prepared for it. My plan was to run the first 5 miles to get to Mile 22 before the cut-off time, then see how I was feeling and finish accordingly.

The views were truly spectacular and made me appreciate why this race is so popular. Several times, I ran backwards so I could see certain vistas from the north. I may do it again so I can run different legs and take in more scenery.

My leg of the relay was the longest because it was also the flattest (and I learned later that the race used to have five legs, but for logistical reasons, the last two legs were consolidated). But I still did some climbing, so I paid attention to how I was feeling. The longest hill I’ve climbed this year was the underpass at San Tomas Expressway on the Los Gatos Creek Trail!

Just after Mile 22, I caught up with Carrie and Kimberly. I made some smart-ass remark about pickup lines in the “bite me” zone, then asked her how she was doing. She said she was feeling nauseous. I figured my jokes wouldn’t help, and she was in good hands with Kimberly, so I told her where she was relative to the 6-hour pace runner (about five minutes ahead), wished her well and took off after Christina.

I caught Christina about a mile later. She is an amazingly strong runner and was doing fine physically, but I think she was starting to fade mentally. So, I abandoned any hope of putting Team Run Girls on the podium* and decided to run her in.

* Offer void where prohibited by reality.

I did my best coach imitation, kept talking to her to keep her mind off the fact that she had already run 23 hilly miles, and just did whatever she wanted to do. Keep running even though your watch says you’re on a walk break? Okay! Walk up that hill? Okay! Shut the fuck up because you’re tired of the sound of my voice and want to stab me in the face? Okay!

So, despite the fact that she is a terrific runner and worked her ass off, I take full credit for her sub-six-hour finish at this grueling race!

Just as I was ready to let her cross the finish line by herself, we heard the inimitable sound of Stacy’s voice from about two miles away.**

** This may be a slight exaggeration.

Of course, it was appropriate to let besties cross the finish line together, so I turned around and looked for Carrie. She never accepted the Find My Friends invitation, but Kimberly did. We had cell service here, so by the time I remembered that and checked the app, I saw that they were about half a mile away. I also remembered that I hadn’t crossed the finish line myself, and wanted to make sure that Team Run Girls got their medals, so I sprinted about a half mile, picked up four medals for the team, and waited for Carrie at the finish line.

Carrie and Kimberly finished shortly afterward — right before they tore down the finish line. She didn’t reach her goal time of six hours, but she finished and to be honest, this was an absurdly hard race. It is not one I think I could finish in six hours and I have no plans to test that theory. It’s that hard.

The aftermath.

Of course, there was much eating, drinking and celebrating! We dined at the same place Paulie, Sandi, Jen and Carrie found during last year’s Monterey 20-miler: Joe Rombi’s La Piccola Casa. I was going to leave, but Julia and Stacy both reported horrible traffic, so we got drunk and played Cards Against Humanity, which was hilarious!

I sobered up and got back around 10 p.m., exhausted, but happy, which I guess is a pretty good way to spend a weekend.

A few days ago, a friend from TNT pings me on Facebook. He’s registered for the Big Sur International Marathon with some other TNT peeps, but he’s injured and can’t run. He wants to know if I can take his place. Even though it’s free (he already paid for everything), I’m still not sure. He’s running the anchor leg: 9.2 miles. I’m training for my first race of the year in May and should run 8-9 this weekend, so it’s perfect. 

I decided to do it, even though I haven’t run more than a 10k since CIM in December. Hope I don’t overdo it and get injured myself! I feel pretty good, and plan on run/walking it. It’s my first relay race and I have no idea what to expect, other than I will be waiting a long time for my turn to run. Also, there’s supposed to be a 6-hour time limit to get a medal. Wish me luck!

Short version:
Got lost, started late, rode strong through the first half (including the Henry Coe climb), hit the wall at Mile 66 due to strong headwinds and not eating/drinking enough, recovered and finished strong. Had a great time riding with Alex G. and Mark J.!

Long version:
After thinking I was under-trained for this challenge, I finished preparations for Tierra Bella with a 78-mile ride that included the Henry Coe climb. I felt okay afterward and declared myself as ready as I was going to be.

On the morning of the event, I picked up a friend of a friend who was going to ride the event solo because his friend got sick and had to cancel. I’d ridden with Alex once and he is an amazing endurance athlete: 19-times IM finisher, Boston Marathon runner and good enough at triathlons to get free stuff from manufacturers. I told him I expected to finish Tierra Bella in ten hours. He said he’d never taken that long to ride 100 miles! It was going to be an interesting day for both of us.

On the way down to Gilroy, we chatted about racing and stuff and I completely missed the exit for Gavilan College (the start/finish point). So, I had to call Mark and tell him we were going to be late. By the time we finally arrived (after Apple Maps got us lost a second time), we were an hour late and got rolling around 8am instead of 7am. Fortunately, we were all just interesting in finishing the event.

The first half of the ride has all of the major climbs. I was feeling pretty confident about them since I’d done them during the winter. I just didn’t know how I’d feel toward the end. But at the first rest stop at Gilroy Hot Springs, we were all smiles.

After a beautiful descent into the golden foothills of Pacheco Pass, we headed North toward Morgan Hill and the start of the Henry Coe climb. We stopped at every rest stop and repeated our Team in Training cycle team mantra: “Never pass up an opportunity to top-off your water bottles or pee.”

We had good weather for the ride and by the time we started up Dunne Avenue to Henry Coe State Park, it was still very comfortable. That was good because it’s pretty exposed to the sun with only about 40% of the 10-mile climb shaded by trees. Mark got to the top about 5 minutes ahead of me (and he took a bathroom break about 20% into it), but I beat my best time up there by 10 minutes, mostly because I didn’t stop along the way. I was pretty proud of that! Alex was on a tri bike with a regular double-chainring setup, so he got to the top about 30 second behind me. But because he’s such a stud on a bike, I felt pretty proud about that, too. 😉

Since he had never been up that road, he decided to take his time going down and take lots of pictures. So, Mark and I waited for him near the bottom. When he caught up with us, we headed into Morgan Hill for the second half of the ride.

Now, I was told ahead of time that Alex had been going through a nasty breakup and that we might hear about it during the ride. We did! You might think that talking about a relationship gone wrong for four hours would be a bad thing, but it really made the miles fly by. That’s the great thing about endurance sports: you really get to know the people you run/ride with. I felt bad for the guy, too. Seems like the more he opened up about it, the worse the details got. But by the time we were at the 75-mile mark, we were bros for life! He just needed to vent and we were only too happy to let him.

Leaving downtown Morgan Hill, we hit my personal low spot: Hale Ave./Santa Teresa Blvd. This road faced straight into a stiff headwind. The flags by the side of the road were pulled out straight! Also, due to the spacing of the rest stops, I hadn’t eaten anything since the bottom of Dunne Ave., so my reserves were low. I entered the “bite me” zone where low-blood sugar had me in a foul mood. I knew the route would turn left and the headwind would be behind me, but it was a long four or five miles before that intersection and I didn’t want to stop halfway only to have to start again and face that wind. It’s kind of like stopping in the middle of a climb; you don’t do it if you don’t have to.

I told Mark and Alex as they passed me that I wanted to take a break after the left turn at Bailey Ave., so they waited for me there. I quickly ate two GU packs and started to feel better in minutes.

The rest of the ride had a few small climbs, but there was nothing over a few hundred feet. And we knew that the wind would be at our backs most of the way home, so we finished pretty strong. I stopped my Garmin and it said we did 100.6 miles in 9:59:03 — 57 seconds shy of ten hours!

Afterward, we stopped for beers and burgers: more chatting, more stories about all the events we’d done, and a little more therapy for Alex. All told, it was a great day and I wasn’t even that sore the next day!

Now I turn my attention toward running. I’m signed up for the Portland Marathon in October with Team in Training!