M'kay

18 miles in 2:23:33, 7:58/mi, HR 157.

A grand trail running adventure today. Goal was to run the hill route I'd tried last week when I was stymied by snow in order to discover the long lost great circle route that would loop back and intercept my road up in the state forest area. Armed with my trusty Forerunner and a refilled bottle of Powerade, I set off. Encountered hostiles at mile 1 but managed to escape, only to be trailed for another 5 miles by one of the hostile's buddies.
Hit the hill where I'd been forced to turn around last weekend and this time the way was clear. Up 400' elevation gain in 0.5 miles, it was rough going. Some level spots let me catch my breath on the way up a total of 1000', with some drops and climbs sprinkled in along the way, most of them pretty steep. Forced into walk mode in a couple of particularly long climbs, but keep my pace reasonable given the terrain.

Of course, in this grand adventure, all I had navigation-wise was a mental image of some poor overhead imagery that was dated, plus some topographic maps that did *not* show a connection between the two trail systems. But I knew there *had* to be a way to get there. At mile 10, I wasn't so sure. At mile 11, I was dreading turning around and retracing my steps, my legs pretty well trashed, running because I knew if I was right, most of the rest of my run would be a nice long gradual downhill. I hit the retrace route button, then decided to go for another mile before turning around. Mile 11.5, eureka! I found that the trail I was on was in fact the forest road as I'd hoped, and that I'd managed to find a new (but tough) long running route. Unfortunately, hitting the retrace route button on Garmin messed with my record of the workout, but at least I got the splits and distance, if not the elevation past the 12 mile mark. 16.3 miles total, with an extra 1.7 at the end of the loop to round things up to 18. Felt more like a 24-26 mile effort given some of the slopes I tackled, but truly a fun adventure today in our beautiful countryside on a wonderful day.

Asics GT 2120 - 149.83 miles.

8 miles in 1:01:44, 7:43/mi, HR 154.

Legs felt oh so tired today.  Last few miles seemed to drag on forever.  Got it done though.  Strange pain on inside of right ankle....had it yesterday for a while on some of the trails but wrote it off to using stability muscles not used to working.  Need to watch.

Brooks Trance - 486.51 miles.

Yasso 800s workout today. 30 minute 3.99 mi warmup (7:31/mi, HR 149). 18 minute 2.25 mi cooldown (8:01/mi, HR 135). 8x800s w/ 2:50 rest.

Sleep was pretty fitful last night.....dogs had me up twice for their midnight potty runs.  Original plan was 30 minute warmup, 10x800s in the 2:50-2:55 pace range, and 30 minute cooldown. Warmup went as planed but could tell right away that the weather wasn't going to cooperate....overcast, intermittent light rain, and worse, intermittent wind gusts. Decided to take the workout as far as I could.

First one wasn't too bad, but saw right away that the fast end of the target pace range was not going to be doable. #2-#4 were painful....I'm sure the gusts were hitting here, but I can't recall when/where....at most one 100m stretch at a time in the face. #5-8 I kept telling myself each was the last one, knowing I'd be lying each time of course. #8 felt like all I had to give and with a race on Saturday, some small hail the last repeat, some distinct stomach cramping, and a high school team descending on the track, I decided to pack it in. Went off on my cooldown run and decided to cut myself even more slack when I started suffering from the cold wind more in my now soaked clothes.

I'm glad I got this workout in but these speed workouts all hurt. Focusing on the one at hand is about the only way I can get through them successfully. I wonder how much easier they'd be if I had some running partners for these workouts? Ah well, at least I'm building mental toughness, right?

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 356.7 miles.

8 miles in 1:01:12, 7:39/mi, HR 147.  1 mile in 8:58, HR 127.

Fitful sleep again last night.  Easy effort today in an attempt to recover from 800s yesterday and prepare for Fartlek session tomorrow.  Dogs practically drug me their whole mile...obvious energy from having close to a week off.

Brooks Trance - 495.51 miles.

10.02 miles in 1:16:00, 7:34/mi, HR 155. 30 min warmup, 3.62 mi, 8:17/mi, HR 150. 8 x 1 min on/1 min off Fartleks. 30 min cooldown, 4.15, 7:13/mi, HR 152.

Good workout. These shorter intervals are much easier for me to do (duh!). Aside from the first where I was evidently just getting up my head of steam, they were all pretty quick (for me) and I managed to keep the pace between intervals at a slow jog as a minimum.

The real action was when I returned home. The vacant (wooded) lot next door had company. Now the last time folks decided to camp out there, the sheriff found a mobile meth lab, so I was a bit more cautious this time around. After approaching the car that was pulled into the lot, the male driver occupant announced they were stuck. I asked what they were doing there and he said camping. Then I asked the tough question....."Do you know the property owner?" at which point he punted and pointed to his passenger, a young female, who said Michael. I said "Ah, well then that's okay." and walked off, quickly taking a picture of the license plate on the way out, and jogged up the road to call the *real* owner, right after I summoned the police. Long story short, the young lady evidently took a trip to jail for some outstanding warrants and the young man was read some type of riot act but let go since someone has torn down the "No Tresspassing" signs again. I plan to have a long chat with the property owner (who lives about an hour away) about policing up some of the stuff that invites these people next door. But at least I got to practice my emergency action procedures, like securing the family inside, breaking out the home defense equipment, etc. Now if I could just bottle this adrenaline boost and use it at the races on Saturday.....

Asics GT 2120 - 159.85 miles.

6.5 miles in 49:45, 7:39/mi, HR 153.  1 mile in 9:15, HR 128 with the dogs.

Ah, finally good solid sleep...it's been a few days.  Unfortunately, not enough.  Run felt a bit tougher than it should've but got it done.  Got the dogs some needed exercise afterwards.  15K tomorrow!

Brooks Trance - 503.01 miles.  RETIRED.

2 miles warmup with 0.5 at Threshold in 15:36, 7:48/mi, HR 150. 15K race in 59:02, 6:20/mi, HR 174. Garmin splits: 6:20, 6:21, 6:28, 6:29, 6:22, 6:15, 6:23, 6:21, 6:15, 1:45. 9 miles in 1:11:22, 7:55/mi, HR 153.

Woke up to cold and rainy conditions at 6am after not so sound sleep. Got prepared and drove to Orting, WA to run in their 15K race today. Goals for myself were to PR, which was easy since I'd never run a 15K before, try to finish in under an hour, and to keep as close to a 6:20/mi pace or under as possible. About 400 runners total for the three races (5K, 10K, 15K) which was more than I'd expected. Since this is the first time they'd offered a 15K, I guessed that the field would not be too large.

The course was an out and back on the Foothills trail, a former rail right-of-way converted to an asphalt trail that I'd run on several times in the past. It's not quite flat-as-a-pancake but relative to where I normally run it sure feels like it. The route departs the middle-school west of town and actually runs back through town with several 90 degree turns, pops out the other side and straightens out to run along stretches of the Puyallup river, farm fields (including an ostrich farm), and some roads. The 5/10/15K races all start together in a mass start and proceed along the same course.

About 35 minutes before the start, I went out on a 2 mile warmup. I decided to throw in a 0.5 mile stretch at a 6:15-6:20 pace in an attempt to get my body used to running at that speed. Since Tempo pace is supposed to be the pace you could hold for an hour, and I was trying to run the 15K in about an hour, and knowing that the first stretch of tempo runs are usually hard for me, I wanted to give my body a taste of what was to come. Great plan somewhat spoiled by a late start, as they didn't begin the race until around 9:11 (9:00 scheduled start).

Since the three races all started together, I really didn't have a good idea who the competition was. There was one guy who I believe I'd run in a race with in the past and who'd finished quite a bit faster than me that I knew was running the 15K, so I added another goal of making sure I at least kept him in sight. The call went out for the "elite" runners, defined by the announcer as those running sub 7-minute miles, to make their way to the front. The very first time in my life I've ever fit anyone's definition of "elite".

So finally at 9:11 we were off. Miraculously, the rain quit about 30 minutes before the race so the weather was fairly nice. I was in a long sleeve shirt, gloves and my CW-X tights fearing I might have overdressed a bit (I didn't). There's a guy in the area that must run every single 5K race there is as I see him at all of them who shot to the lead, and I started about 12-15 folks back. Quickly settled into a good 6:20 pace that felt tempo-like. During my 0.5 tempo warmup, my legs felt tired but for now the magic of race-gear had me feeling good as I got into a good rhythm. Worked my way through town and passed a few folks on the way to hit the 1 mile mark in 6:20. Perfect. At the 5K turnaround, several of the folks ahead of me made the turn, which left two or three folks ahead of me. The guy I'd remembered from a previous race had the lead and I noticed I was gaining on him ever so slightly, so I tried to stay loose and to keep the effort as hard as I felt I could sustain. Second mile in 6:21, still feeling pretty good by my breathing was starting to transition out of my comfortable 3-3 into a 3-2 rhythm. I decided not to panic and to find out if 2-2 was really sustainable for a longer race and kept after the leader. I was able to reel him in to within a couple of feet by the 3 mile mark despite a slower split (6:28). Hmmm, it really felt like I was running sub-6:20s at the time, but I wasn't paying much attention to Garmin but rather was pushing by effort.

About the same time I managed to pass the other runner, I got passed! I was not happy about that, especially since I could tell he was trying to put me away with an unsustainable acceleration (I hoped), so I hung on his shoulder to the 10K turnaround in around 19:38. He made the turn and I found myself in uncharted territory, in the lead of the 15K. After a brief mental celebration, I realized now I was in the unenviable position of having to push myself without daring to look back to see if my pursuers were gaining or falling behind. It was definitely hard going now and my breathing had just transitioned to 2-2, so I knew I was at my max sustainable velocity for the distance. Mile four came in 6:29 which seems a bit slow, but it did have a small uphill section to deal with leading to a bridge. Hit the 15K turnaround in about 29:37ish, so I knew I had a small cushion to hit a sub-60 minute race, but not much.

I had two pursuers within about 20-30 seconds of me I got to see at the turn point, so I put on my best "I feel good despite laboring for air" face as they passed. Fortunately that didn't have to last long as I was really working to maintain speed. Mile 5s split was 6:22 and mile 6s split was 6:15, getting better and taking advantage of the smaller downhill section. I hit 10K in around 39:33 I believe, and I knew I just had 5K left so I started doling out the little bit of energy I had in reserve. Coming back upon some of the other runners running the 5/10K helped mentally and I hit mile 7 in 6:23 and mile 8 in 6:21.

With about a mile and a half to go, I could feel my form starting to get away from me. It was mentally difficult to stay focused and to keep on pushing but I kept comparing the distance in my mind to a familiar stretch of road on my street, which helped. Mile 9 came in 6:16 but I was starting to really lose focus and could tell I was about spent. The last .3 went by mercifully fast in 1:45 and I crossed the finish in 59:06 according to my watch (official times to be posted sometime in the coming week).

I'd won! Not just my age group but the race itself. Wow, I really didn't expect that. Now I know the competition was exactly world class but I had not expected to win a race yet for some time so I was (and am) ecstatic! I'm sure the finish line photo will have a nicely frame view of my grimace when its ready, but I managed to hang on and meet my sub-60 minute goal. I was even pretty darned close to maintaining a 6:20 pace the whole way.

Even without winning, the race schwag was decent. Now maybe I'm a cheap date, but any race that gives away a free 24oz Emerald City Smoothie is tops in my book. Plus, I don't know the yogurt brand they had after the race, but it was the best darned yogurt I've ever tasted in my entire life. Really. Plus, for winning I got a nice ribbon, a free entry to next year's race ($20 was this year's fee) plus a gift certificate for South Sound Running (a local shoe store) for a free pair of shoes. Woo hoo! And I got a free giant chocolate candy bar of some sort. I must have found heaven on earth!

After all the the festivities and awards, I went out for another 9 miles to finish the day a little about 20 miles (since this was long run day *and* I was on top of the world, the last 9 felt great too!). I'm really happy with my time since the McMillan predictor now shows I've got a sub-3 hour marathon in me and I still have a couple of months before the marathon. Plus, the bonus of actually winning a race is a huge lift that have me impossible to live with for at least the rest of the day! My only regret is that I foolishly hadn't ordered a FRB singlet early enough before the ran out of stock, and just talked to Steve the other day about when they'd be in. Frankly, I was a bit embarrassed to wear one unless I felt like I was doing well in races and I never guessed that I'd be in the position I found myself in today. Other than that, a great running day!

Oh, and I almost forgot. I went to claim my smoothie and talked for quite a while with the store owner (new owner actually). She's a runner too that'd wanted to run today but had to work. In any event, after talking for quite some time about Seattle and Portland (which she's run too), she starts heaping product samples into a bag for me to try. Now normally I'm all over anything free, but I really felt like she was giving away too much (3 doses of Accelerade and a handful of their gel shots) and I tried to protest, but she'd have none of it. Needless to say, that store is now officially my favorite post-Foothills Trail run pit-stop from here on out. I tend to run the trail more often in the summer on long run days, so I'll be sure to repay the favor and buy as many smoothies as I can handle!

Brooks Adrenaline (Yellow) - 377 miles.

Official results posted today (3/17) had my time at 59:02, probably more accurate since I didn't hit my watch right at the finish.