Xterra Vulture Knob 15k

 

This was the most technical trail I have ever been on, I was so concern about staying up straight I wasn’t looking at the mileage. The course was very muddy due to al the rain and the bugs were out in full force.

The above tee is not the official one, the official one is black they were out of my size gave me an option to have it mail or take another color from last season when with last season since this year’s was black and all my bottoms are black or dark color.

Really amaze on how people ride this trail there is so many twists and turns that you are not really sure if some on is ahead or behind. The trail was hard to run since it is a single bike track so footing was tricky and there was so much water/puddle crossing my show and sock was complete soak by 0.3 miles into the race.

Driving to the race location was like going to the middle of no where, to find the location you have to look for the vulture pointing the way.

Decided to use the restroom before picking up my tee and I had my choice of potta potty or outhouse, oh where running have taken me.

After using the outhouse decided that if I had to go again I was heading to the woods, headed over to the start to pickup my tee.

Check out some of the pictures of the trail from this site , also here is the official website for Vulture Knob.

When done I was complete muddy but glad I was able to stay upright, great organization and fun.

Official Result

Time: 2:03:00

Pace 12:57

Age Group(40-49): 10/16

Overall: 75/108

Race Picture

It's amazing how when doing a race I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to pickup running and sign up for races but since the end of the race all I have wondered about is which marathon do I want to do next and which training program to use.

Why are race pictures so expensive, I'll think they will do more business if the price is more reasonable, as much as I like this picture, I am not willing to pay $17.99 for 1-5x7 picture.

5k run on the treadmill today, legs feel okay, left shin and right upper thigh feels better actually didn't notice them doing the run, just general soreness and slight twinge on left knee.

 Bike to and from work today, no rain actually saw the sun, was going to go to a running store Diva night but decided to mow the lawn instead since it looked like a mini jungle and DH is still out of the country. This was my first time using the riding mower had to figure out what all the knobs and switches meant, got stuck in the back lawn once, it was very wet and eroded also a downhill, had to lift up and move the mower am sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell I was doing.

Recovery

This is probably the best I have ever been after a race, not sure if it was because I didn't race it hard or I did everything right after the race. I was basically back to 100% by Monday morning except for the pain in my left shin and right groin, I took Monday off from work to clean my house since my mum is coming for a visit this weekend and staying for a while, also complete rest day.

Today  - did Supreme 90 Total Body, walked the 2.25 miles from the Transit center to work since I left my bike at work and got a ride to the transit center on Friday due to heavy rain, and then bike the 2.25 miles back to the transit center after work. Noticeable pain the bottom of my left shin and then my right upper quad not really my groin.  Not going to start back running until Thursday just to keep the tender areas shin and top of Quad time to completely heal.

Oh and yes it really hasn't stop raining

Cleveland Marathon

I really wasn’t sure what to wear for this race, the high was only going to be 60 but it was going to drizzle through out and slightly humid. So decided on a capri, short sleeve shirt with arm warmer, I was quite cold at the start but quickly warmup after the first mile.

Notice all the KT tape, those are the usual long run trouble spot so I just tape them before a race/run to minimize the damage to be done.
Added my long back sock and my life is good cap to complete the outfit.

I woke up at 4am, wash up, ate a bagel with peanut butter, made 2 cups of coffee and left the house by 4:40am even thou the race location is only about 40 mins from my house, most of the roads were going to be close by 6am and I didn’t want to park too far away.
I got to downtown and then it was a matter of finding a place to park, the first place I went to which was suppose to be a free city lot wanted $5 for parking and I just at this point DID not feel that was right so left that lot and went looking for another , final found one right behind the stadium that was free which funny enough when I was leaving the guy told me parking was $5, which I replied I guess I have decided not to park here then so am leaving and he wasn’t quite sure what to do so I left, this was suppose to be a free lot.
I got into the stadium was cold and really had to pee, it was nice to have real toilets and warmth in the inner stadium room, I was tired so I napped and people watch. Am not really a stretcher, do some joint mobility and that is all but I was amaze at what people were doing to their people before a race and kind of felt I must be missing something.
While waiting for the race to start I pee 4 time and this was going to be the theme of the race, as a kid I remember before going on long trip my mum with get us in the bathroom and turn the sink faucet to a trikle which eventally makes us pee, well with mother nature’s faucet open I had to pee just about every 6 miles, not just a little a waterfall.
There is something about Cleveland course that my body just doesn’t like, even thou it is a flat course, I just get injury from it, first race here ended up with PF and ITB issue and this time it was shin pain and ITB again, the normally pain I was expecting didn’t even come into play.
I felt strong but I knew there was problem at mile 3, if I was an elite runner being paid to run I would have pulled out so I can still be fresh for another race but since I am the sucker that paid them to run 26.2 miles in the rain, all I could do was access the situation and come up with a game plan. The plan was do not push the pace keep heart rate below 150bpm which means I will be keeping around base/recovery pace. This was hard, I had so much energy from Gu and caffeine also since I didn ‘t want to do Cleveland again, I needed to have a good finish so I can move on.
I noticed by mile 1, my Garmin was off by .21 but then how was I suppose to do the math to come in under my current PR, I decided to just finish strong and forgo a PR, so we had a plan all we had to do was rain in the energy.
This was  a long slow rainy run, probably cleaned my glasses close to 50x, normally with my cap the rain doesn’t bother me but the slight wind was enough to blow the drop unto the lenses, most of the times couldn’t see just followed the yellow center line.
The new course is much better, except for the fact that the road for the second half wasn’t close to traffic and most of them weren’t very happy having to stop to let us go by but the volunteer’s were great holding traffic.
Two of my favorite sign on the course
Teenage Boy “Better Run Fast, just Farted”
Young Lady “Men -Single and Supportive” she was on a bike and I saw her through out the whole race with different signs but that was my favorite.
 With the power of facebook I found my support crew Melissa, she was up and down the course biking and shouting inspiration. This picture is from her facebook page, such an awesome person.

When my Garmin got to 26 miles, I was so ready to be done and knew I wasn’t going to do that much damage since I only had less than a half mile to go so the last .49 was my fastest at a 8:55 pace, I was just so ready to be done, I was also cold and wet.
The finish in Cleveland just leaves you wanting more, got medal, banana, water,chip, chocolate milk ahh wait a minute where is my shiny blanket, they ran out. So after running 26.49 miles in the rain finishing by the lake with the wind blowing, teeth chattering I have an option of a cold beer or popsicle with no shiny space blanket. I did eat half a popsicle couldn't pass up and edy
I walked back to the stadium, got my gear, changed into dry clothes, drank my gatorade recovery drink, worked some of the kinks out and walked back to my car. Now you understand why I was in no mood to pay $5 for parking, I didn’t get my shiny blanket.
Got back home did a cold water soak, hot shower and for the first time wasn’t hungry, what a bummer burned 3000+ calorie and can’t think of a single cheat meal so made tea, popcorn and drank my 440 calorie chocolate milk (that’s a lot of calories better have some magical powers) watch a movie the Valentine I think with my legs up then eventually went for the evening church service.
With me finishing Cleveland with a good kick I can call it a success and move on, next on tap the Xterra trail series, also I think Cleveland does the half so well and struggle with the full so maybe it is tine to give the half a shot. There are some issues with my feet I need to address so I will be making an appointment with my Sport MD, what hurt the left shin, left arch, right ITB and right groin area in other of pain level apart from that no problem walking or going up and down stairs.

Nutrition was spot on, the bagel with peanut butter at 4:15am was fine, the Powerbar Harvest Energy bar at 6:45, Gatorade  2 and Perpetum in Nathan 4 speed bottle 2/2, use both Gatorade ad half of the first bottle of Perpetum @ mile 10, at first GU at 7 miles and then 4 miles after that with 1 Hammer gel espresso thrown for the 2x caffeine, did not take Powerade. I have missed all the above in training with no issue so wasn't willing to thrown in another brand.

Official time 4:40:06 Pace 10:41
Age Group 84/141
Overall 1887/2628
Female 598/1000

What does Garmin mean by moving time 3:44:30 expect for brief water stop and pee break I was moving the whole, none of that took an hour

Finally Here

After all the winter training run, the Cleveland Marathon  is finally here, Cleveland was my first marathon in 2008 and I do not have any fond memory of it. If I have had any sense probably shouldn't have ran it due to lack of training and multiple injury but oh well deep down I knew if I didn't probably would have stopped running for good again.

Went to the expo and picked up my bib and goody bag, only bought a 2010 tech tshirt for $2, not that much to buy and wasn't really that cheap based knowing the online price.

Right now am trying to decide on race outfit, this is Ohio, which means weather is always a big gamble, calling for a high of 62 with a low of 43 with thunderstorm, also you are suppose to have tried out race outfit well the temperature had been colder when I did most of my long runs so am just going to piece from different piece I have worn and hope they can go the distance.

The main goal remains to break 4 hrs, but not sure am quite there yet so the mini goal for this marathon is to break 4:30, so I will line up behind the 4:30 pace group and if all is well at the 20 mile mark, I'll move ahead and see what I am capable of. Last couple of days has been quite stressful with minimal sleep so not going in with the best frame of mind but

CLEVELAND HERE I COME

Mental game

So I spent all morning actually most of the day really from 10:45am to 2:20pm working the concession stands for the Solon High School where the middle school was hosting the relay games, I made 160 hotdogs, lots of bags of popcorn, pretzels and nacho, this was probably one of the busiest concession I ever worked with no room for breather. I was so proud of myself no nibble on the junk except for a fist full of popcorn on the way out.

I had planned to run in the morning before going to work concession but I was engrossed in a cycling for women book and before I knew it, it was too late to go for a run, so after being on  my feet for about 4 hours I realized I still needed to get my run in, I was already in running clothes, I ate a Powerbar peanut butter crunch, drank some gatorade, suck down a tropical hammer gel, switch shoes and took off long pants, since all I had all day was a slice of cinnamon toast I needed some calories in me.

Starting out my legs where tired and my schedule was calling for 12 miles, I know I wasn't up for 12 just too tired and too late in the day since I promised my son I'll take him driving. With my car at the community park I ran down route 91 towards Twinsburg, decided to make a left on Pettibone and run towards Route 43 but when I got to Liberty I decided to turn around and head back but I then decided if I wasn't going to run 12 then I needed to run the miles fast to make up for the missing miles, remember I am tired.

Average pace at turn around was about 10:24, mental game if I can run the 5 miles in less than a 10 mins pace I did not have to run more than 5 but I will have to run a mile for every 0.1 after 10 with a max of 12 miles. Well, did my pace change

Mile 1 ; 10:30
Mile 2: 10:23
Mile 3: 9:45
Mile 4: 9:10
Mile 5: 9:05
Did 5 miles for an average pace of 9:48, this tells me that I can run my paces faster than I tend to run them even though my heart rate was slight elevated which I attribute to heat, the pace was really not an am going to die pace. Even though I meet the goal I felt I still had some extra jolt of hammer gel in me and so as not to let it got to wait I went out for an extra 2 miles  as my cool down for a total of 7







Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there.

Great Day

Woke up to the birds chirping out my window it was a beautiful day with no rain, and knee feels better. Got up and got on the treadmill to spend some time with Coach Sean doing Cardio Coach vol1 revised, did it twice to get the miles in, really nice workout mix of hill training and sprint.

Rode my bike to and from the transit center to work, getting better at it and not so afraid to be on the road as much but I think I need a mirror to make it easier to see behind me when I want to cross the road instead of having to keep stopping and looking behind me.

After work, went trail running with the crooked river group, going to the Valley Bridle trail to Brandywine falls, the fall was beautiful and everything is nice and green now especially with all the rain we have been having, the trail was hilly and muddy. Legs feel great, and I was able to keep up with some of the front runners and not die off. :)

More Rain

The saying was April Showers bring May flowers well that is not really happening all I have in my beds are lots of weeds, and the little bit of flowers that are trying to poke their head out are drowning in all the rain we continue to have. It was cold and wet again today, couldn't ride bike and didn't feel like walking  the distance to work so waited around for the second bus that takes me close to work and then left work early enough to caught the bus back to the transit center.

Didn't get up either to workout this morning was up till after midnight with work problem and I think I needed my sleep instead of a 4:30am workout so got my workout in right after work but I have to say, I am not an after work exerciser, my brain is just to alert and away of all the aches and pain to get in a decent workout.

I was suppose to do 6 miles easy but just wasn't feeling the love, slight pain in right knee and glute so did 4 miles @ a 10:35 pace and called it done just to late in the game to get an injury. To make up for the 2 miles I was short added on Supreme 90 Cardio Challenge a great plyo cardio workout and then the 5 mins stretch.

Decided to take a rest day yesterday, was fine to run but noticed some tell tale signs of over training especially not being able to sleep. I went through my training log which I moved to Training Peak with the recent crash of Buckeye outdoors I felt I need another backup plan, so I spend the weekend recreating my log in TP.

Was tired this morning, since once I finally fell back asleep last night after talking to work, my sister in law was nice enough to wake me back up at 11:30pm to share the Ben Ladin new, slept in and move the workout to after work.

After dinner, waited 1 hour then hit the treadmill for 200 repeat, wasn't sure I was going to be able to do this since I really hate evening workout, not pretty but got it done did not hit my pace but there is always next time.

1 mile warmup
10x200 with 400 recovery target pace was 56mins
1 mile cool down

1 - 59:93
2 - 58:95
3 - 58:59
4 - 1:00:17
5 - 58:95
6- 58:40
7 - 58:10
8 - 58:96
9 - 48:05  Really feel like puking, how can people run this fast for any length of time OMG
10 - 58:45

Rounded it off with S90: Arms & Shoulder for 22 mins
Biked to and from work today, weather is still crappy, cloudy and only 50s was cold

Signed up for the 2011 Xterra trail series
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