Run fast

2 hour hille road bike ride

Track

Following 2:15 hilly road bike ride

Very hilly, 2:12

Treadmill

Treadmill, 1:02

Very hilly

Marin Street from the Marin Circle to Grizzly Peak, 190 meters climb in 1.5 km distance, steeepest block over 25% grade

Treadmill, 800 intervals, 1.5 miles@5:20 at end

Emeryville course.  

17 mile up Half Dome in Yosemite.  I don't recommend doing it in the rain.

Knees didn't feel great after Half Dome hike the day before.

Spruce, Grizzley Peak, down Claremont

Treadmill

Treadmill

Up Marin and down Spruce.

Emeryville route in 1:30.  Head wind on the water totally sucked and my legs weren't feeling chipper.  Looking forward to a long bike ride tomorrow to let the knees and achilles recoup.

Very short run after 3 hour bike ride.

2:32, Emeryville +

Treadmill

Treadmill

El Cerrito

1:03:30 on Treadmill

Treadmill in 60 mins.

I admit the competition at smaller races in California doesn't come close to the competition in Utah.  But I will take a win any time I can get it.  There were 684 finishers, 480 men and 204 women.  Best part of it is that for a $60 entry fee (the director only gave me $20 off) I walked away with a new NordicTrack treadmill and a Southwest ticket anywhere in the country.  Can someone calculate the return on that deal? 

I felt good about the race considering I finished chemo three months and I broke my collar bone two months ago.  I figure I would have run near my PR of 2:34:18 if the course was a little flatter.  I probably would have bettered my PR if the course was a gravity aided, point-to-point like many of the courses in Utah.

I highly recommend this race if you are looking for a low-key race on a shady, rolling course with great weather.  The race is on flat streets for the first and last 5 miles and in between it goes long the Los Gatos Creek Trail in San Jose.  There is great aid throughout and great prizes, as I mentioned before.

I might be inspired to actually write about the race later.

saucony omni 7 - 29.7

Stair Climber

Treadmill in 60 mins

very hilly, 2:35

6:18 pace, flat run

This course is a quad killer.  I would equate it to 1.5 times the Wahsatch Steeplechase.  28.4 miles and 9,200 ft. of elevation gain and you get to go up and down a section with 676 stairs twice.  Basically you run the Dipsea Race (oldest trail race in the US) four times. I have run the Double Dipsea twice but that doesn't come close to the Quad. 

I ended up finishing 2^nd overall but the gap between me and the winner was huge.  The winner named, Erik Skaggs, finished in a record time of 3:52.  Erik and his brother are incredible ultra runners so I guess I shouldn’t complain.  The winner’s brother, Kyle Skaggs, has the best time for the Hardrock 100 (33,000 elevation gain) which is considered the hardest 100 miler in the US.  He broke the previous record held by Scott Jurek by 3 HOURS!    Here is a funny video of the two brothers competing to see how far each can go at a 15% grade on a treadmill.  Sounds like fun, huh?

http://blog.irunfar.com/2008/08/uphill-challenge-2008-erik-vs-kyle.html

As for the race, I felt pretty good until the last quarter when I had to return from Stinson Beach.  My quads were screaming on even the smallest incline.  At that point I was in survival mode and I just made sure to keep moving.  I definitely could have been better prepared considering that my longest training run was only 2:40 and the race lasted 4:15.  I knew this going in so the results were pretty much what I had expected.

Besides the running part, it was a perfect day to run and the views were incredible.

 View up one of the staircases.  Don't trip on the way down!

Treadmill tempo

1 hour spin class before short run on treadmill

1 hour on treadmill.  Last 2, 5:30/mile.