I Hate Cedar Snow!

Yes I finally blogged again.  This was a good race for me.  This course is in southern CA and if known as the world's fastest half marathon.  It drops about 2000 ft, mostly in the first 6 miles.  To put it in perspective, last year I ran 1:12:26 here and 1:13:0? at Bryce half.  I was in a little better shape at Bryce, so i would say that Fontana is about 2 min. faster than Bryce.  Its a lot of fun.  Two guys from Australia smoked a 1:03 to take 1st and 2nd.  Then there are quite a few faster Hispanics that run this race. 

I started out in about 10th place for the first 2 miles.  You start the race in a winding downhill canyon.  The first 3 miles are very fast.  I forgot my Garmin (which made me mad), so i dont have exact splits.  I passed mile 3 in 15:47.  There was a decent headwind in the canyon, so i was trying to draft.  Unfortunately, the guys I was close to did not know how to run tangents and liked to surge a lot.  By mile 4, i was running with a guy for 6th and 7th place.  5th place was about 40 seconds ahead.  The guy i ran with refused to lead for more than 1/4 mile.  When he would draft off me, he would clip my heels.  I got mad and started to throw in 100 meter surges.  He always stayed close enough to catch back up.  Plus he would cough, spit, clear his throat, and shoot snot rockets every 20 seconds.  (this is no exaggeration!)  So at mile 6, i was feeling good.  When he slowed for water, i decided that now was my chance.  I took off and ran mile 7 in 5:20.  I dropped him for good.

This started part 2 of the race: staying focused and trying to catch 5th place.  By mile 7, you are out of the canyon.  There is still gradual downhill, but it is a boring straight shot to the finish.  In the past, I have averaged about 5:20-5:30 in the canyon, then 5:35-5:50 the rest of the race.  I wanted to really focus on staying consistent.  I knew that it would be tough with no one to push me.  I also knew that i had a good time going.  I was 38:24 at 7 miles.  So i decided to focus on catching 5th place.  He was about 40 seconds ahead.  The gap had stayed the same since mile 3.  I hit mile 10 in 54:35.  Then mile 11 in 59:55.  I knew a PR was in reach.  5th place guy was still about 30-40 seconds up on me.  Shortly after mile 11 though, i could see that 5th place did not look as smooth anymore.  He was starting to labor.  i was too by this time, but i decided that it was time to make myself hurt as much as possible.  By mile 12, the gap was 25 seconds or so.  I knew that I would probably not catch him, but i wanted to make it interesting.  There is a good supportive crowd going into the finish to pump you up, so i tried to use that.  As I approached the finish, i was really moving.  i could see the clock was at 1:10:4?.  I ended up in 1:11:10, which was 12 seconds behind 5th.  1st and 2nd were 1:03, 3rd was 1:07, 4th was 1:09, 5th was 1:10, and I was 1:11.  Money goes to the top 3.  It was a PR of 1:16 for me.  Plus I actually ran slightly faster the last half of the race which made me happy.

Now I really need to get back to some higher mileage.  I had originally planned on working up to 100 mpw and holding that for 6 weeks until 3 weeks before St George.  However, i have tried a new approach since Boston.  For some reason, I have only done 2 runs over 7:00 avg. since Boston.  most have been in the 6:30-6:50 range.  I know that as the mileage increases, i will have to do more recovery runs, but this pace has been feeling good.  I think it has paid off as it showed today.  So I plan to work up to 80 mpw by bryce, then go up to 90 mpw.  I will hold that through August and half of Sept.  i want to do more tempos, mile repeats, and MP miles this time.  I think if i can do that, then I will be able to PR by 8-12 min. at St George. 

So if you have read all of this, thanks for you time.  Sorry for any typos.  I typed it fast.  Feel free to give me some feedback.

Too much for my first day back.  Very sore.

Calf hurts

only left calf hurts.  Feels a little like a torn muscle.

I've decided to take the rest of the week off to rest the calf.

Treadmill because I had to babysit.  Calf still hurts.  Decided to run through it unless it gets worse.

ran 3 x 1 mile repeats in the middle.  Ran them on main st.  on downhill/flat.  Here are the times:    1) 5:37 felt easy  2) 5:21 working at about 85%  3)4:54 pretty much all out.  It felt really good though.  Good fitness right now.

First day of XC practice.  No watch.  Decent turnout for the first day.

Ran to practice, ran about 4.5 with the team, then ran home.  Pretty even pace most of the way.  7:08 avg.

6:35 avg. to New Harmony