When I started up with this blog again, it was because I wanted to keep centered with any investments I was making in my athletic aspirations. I have definitely found that it is helpful, but I think I may be in a very different place in my relationship with athletics than I have been before. As I have talked about, I worry about being over-invested in any big goals because I don't want any goals to take away from time with family. But I think I also was too hard on myself in the past when I was racing full time, and that made me overly fearful of losing perspective. When I was racing, it was a much bigger part of my life. And because of that, I think I lived and died with my progress and performance to a much greater degree. Now, because it is a hobby, and I have lots of other stuff in my life that is more important, I don't feel all that worried about everything going perfectly. Interestingly, this may be helping with my performance.
I really got the bug again while racing Dirt Dog last year. I had some good results and thought with more consistent, targeted and efficient training I could put up some good numbers again. Those tweaks really paid off, and with a PR in the 5k at Carlsbad 5000 and a strong run at the Kook, I was feeling very good about my fitness. One of the lofty goals I had in the back of my head was to take a shot at the USATF LDR Road Series for San Diego. I knew I couldn't do the whole series, but only three races score and I had a first and a second at the 5000 and Kook respectively in my age group. I set about refining and squeezing the most out of my regular weekly routine for a couple of months to target the Scripps Ranch Old Pros 10K on the 4th of July. This was the last race of the series, and with a flatter course I knew I might be able to hang with some of the faster masters runners if I had a stellar day.
Training went smoothly leading up to the race and my legs were feeling good the whole week before. My father-in-law tagged along race morning which was a huge help to have someone at the ready with water and fuel to get topped off before the race. This event was much bigger than I realized with a few thousand toeing the line, and a lot of really fast runners. This is always good because the more people you have to draft off of or chase, the easier it is to keep motivated when it gets tough.
I did not set any time goals for the race. I knew that the series rankings really only depended on how I stacked up against the other leaders Chuck McKeown and Yari Fontebasso. I found them at the front of the starting group and slotted in. All the PRT team members are super friendly and I have had a great time chasing them in these events the past year. Chuck gave some words of encouragement in his usual ultra-positive spirit. I know, on a good day, I cannot beat Chuck or Yari in a head to head 10K and I would have to conserve energy and they would have to have off days for me to beat them...so that was the plan.
When the gun went off there was a wave of fast men immediately well ahead. Many of them would run well faster than me so I just focused on staying within myself and keeping an eye on the PRT men. After about a half mile, things shook out a bit and I slotted in behind a group that was running just under 5:30 pace because I knew, based on training numbers, that would be the absolute maximum average I could pull off. I could see Chuck just tagging onto the group ahead of us...less than 30 seconds ahead, so still in reach. We clipped through mile two in 5:22 which was probably outside my threshold, but overall I felt like I was hanging on.
In mile 3, things started to change. It was overcast, but warm and humid, and I was already feeling pretty hot. I think others were too and some people began to fade while others were able to keep on with the pace. Through mile 3, Chuck started to fade and later he told me that he had not been feeling well lately. By mile 4 I had passed him and had a sizeable gap. However, somewhere in mile 4, my lack of base started to catch up with me. The 10K is a very hard distance. It is just too long to hammer unless you have regular 50 to 60 mile weeks under your belt. I am not able to get those kinds of miles in, and in mile 4 is where that reality hit. I really started to feel the effort, and my heart rate was pinned to the ceiling. I did my best to focus on trailing along behind the people that I had been pacing off of up to that point. However, most of them slowly started pulling away.
The Old Pros course winds around Lake Miramar and is a beautiful course skirting the water almost the whole way. The bends around the inlets also provide a good vantage for checking where others are at. Around mile 5 I glanced over and it looked like I still had about 30 seconds on Chuck which provided some motivation to just hang on at my limit as long as possible. Mile 5 was a 5:51 and I was on my limit the whole way. The last mile or so comes off the lake and heads down through the neighborhoods to a small park nearby. The downhill lets some of the effort off, but the effort had weighed my legs down and I was not able to let my legs open up to gravity. I was really just hanging on. Chuck and Yari got a lot of time on me in the last mile and a half but somehow I held them off...Yari finishing only 3 seconds behind me and Chuck just another 5.
It was a great result. Despite struggling the last 2 miles and change, the overall average was down to 5:36 per mile. This is a big improvement on the numbers I have put up since I started training again. With the win in my age group (Masters 40-45) it also meant that Chuck and I were tied for the win in the Road Series. Maybe it was the full Chemex I had with breakfast, but I was so amped. I put in a lot of hard work in the last year and it is very exciting to see the results.
I had a nice cool down and headed out quickly, because I was catching a flight later in the day to Northern California. My family had left the day before and I couldn't wait to catch up with them. I grew up in the east Bay Area and my sister was out from the east coast with her family as well. It is rare that we all get to spend time together and I was really looking forward to it. We had a very fun weekend. The temperature was in the 100s almost every day, but we ran around in the sprinklers to stay cool and spent time in air conditioned spaces.
Outside performance, there are several adventures that I constantly crave. Charging up mountains is the main one. Whenever I am back home, Mount Diablo is the destination that calls me. I had been hoping my legs would recover from the 10K and there would be time and weather allowing a traverse up to the summit. On Sunday, I got up at 4:30 a.m. and stuffed down some breakfast and coffee to get ahead of the heat.
The route to the summit is almost a straight shot up a steep valley flanked by windswept sandstone and overhanging with oak trees to the base of the mountain. Then it starts to rise on Barbeque Terrace gaining nearly 4,000 feet in a couple of miles. It was already in the 70s before 6:00 a.m. and dry and I went through almost 2 liters of water by the time I got to the summit.
It was a beautiful morning, and the early start allowed me to stay in the shade of the mountain the whole way up. My legs felt great and it was exhilarating to scale the mountain feeling powerful, then to rest comfortable at the summit to look down over most of sleepy northern California. Like a raptor slinging to aloft off of a friendly thermal.
Two great days of running in a week and I definitely needed some rest. But I have finally established the base for some goals I am excited about. Nothing I am doing is groundbreaking, and of course I will not ever be as strong as I once was. But I am having fun. And I think having the hobby to work on and foals to look forward to has been keeping me healthy, energetic and balanced. This has been the real goal and I hope I can keep it up.
