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I’m officially faster.

All year we’ve been doing trail races, with little standard distances. Today I finally got a chance to put the pedal to the metal (in my still basically slow kind of way) and do something about my 5K time, dropping it from around 26:10 to 23:55 today. Of course I still can’t pace, especially not at sub-8:00/mile, so I went out way harder than my plan, spotting a 6:05 pace on my GPS before backing back to around 7:10-7:20/mile. My first mile went by in 7:10. The next mile was slower, but more like my target, 7:30. The third mile was punishment for my too fast start and my average pace faded off but was still under 8:00. It was only some fast little kid laboring along on my tail that propelled me up the final ‘hill’ to the finish.

That reminds me, when I was a kid the fastest runners could run less that 8 minutes for a single mile that they’d make us do in Phys-ed. I never could. Today I ran 3 miles in a row less that 8 minutes. It’s a small little running milestone in my mind.

There’s not much to say about a 5K. It’s over so fast, but man do they hurt. Back to long slow trail miles for me.

5K PR

Speaking of which, on the other end of the spectrum, at the least the other end for us, we had a great 17.5 mile run on Christmas day as we build back up to marathon level running. This 3hr 40 min run was at Lake Chabot, starting near Skyline Blvd (high) and running down and around the lake, finishing with the climb back up. Total gain/loss was about 3000ft and by the end I was pretty beat. I guess that’s about my endurance limit right now.

Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Marathons, Running, Trail Running

Last Saturday we finally made it to a group run. Now that they are back running trails we hope to join them more often. This time it was a new destination and another chance to use out EBMUD trail permit.

We were first to arrive except for Jim who was doing a pre-run run up some enormous hill on the road. This was his idea of tapering for Big Sur, logging a 70+ mile week.

The group gathered and most folks set off for a 6 miles out and back which took in some nice single track running. Six miles is a little small for our weekend runs these days, so we set off around the whole lake. Within the first few hundred meters Jim and Joe went by us. After that we didn’t see another sole until 10 miles later at the dam. This is not a very well traveled run!

Both of us didn’t have the best run, but we made it around eventually as we tried to take it easy. We are running the Xterra Redwood 15K race this weekend. That race is gratuitous hills, so we need our strength.

A page on this run, with a map and more photos can be found here.

Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Running Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Trail Running

This morning we headed to Lake Chabot for the so called Winter Challenge. Hosted by the Golden Bay runners this is a good event to get out on some trails and shake off some Christmas indulgence. In our case that would be a 3000 mile roadtrip and a lot of New Mexican food.

The Challenge wasn’t much of a ‘winter challenge’, as the day was spectacular and warm. But the long course around the lake is still a good solid run.

Gathering at the start area

There was at least twice as many people as last year! The good weather had everyone excited for a nice run in the woods!

Runners already stretched out in front of us

Most of the runners ran around to the jetty, a 6M round trip. Some took the 9M loop of the lake, which heads onto nice single track running, while others ran the official course of the Lake Chabot Trail Challenge half marathon (13.1M). We took the latter except chopped it short by skipping a couple of loops, making 11 miles.

The views of the lake were great. You could only wish for such nice weather even in the summer.

View of the Lake

Unfortunately the nice paved lakeside run lasts just 1.6 miles. After that there’s a giant steep hill. It’s a walker, for the most part. Here’s Patty striding up it:

Beginning of the big climb

View half way up the Big Hill around mile 2.5. You can see where the lake ends on the top right.

Patty powers up the big hill. The longest mile.

After the hill was done we stopped and took a shot, then headed down. A group of fast runners doing the full 13 mile run past us right before heading onto the second loop we planned to skip. About half and hour later they passed us a second time!

Here’s one more photo from the run, me headed up the hill beyond the stone bridge, the last decent hill. I ran 1 min, walked 1 min up this. At the top was a water fountain with nice cold water. Ah!

Running up the hill

Anyway, the run felt good though I was pretty glad to pull into the marina area and start picking at the nice pot luck that was laid out on the table.

Going forward from here we’re hoping to do a lot more trail running for the first half of the year. Not marathon (at least not a road one!) We’ll see how we feel after this run and gauge ourselves from there.

Events, Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Running, Trail Running Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Running, Trail Running

On Sunday I ran the 5K race at Lake Merritt.

For me it was a new PR although I had hoped to break 26 minutes. As it was I had to settle for 26:11 (’gun time’) or so, although my GPS recorded a 5K split of just under 26 minutes so that’s good enough for me to use 26:00-26:05 as the basis of the half marathon I plan to run in the Fall and also for a speed work class I’m taking in June.

Obviously this isn’t an especially fast 5K time, but since it was 33 seconds faster than the same time last year (my last 5K) and 4 minutes faster than 2 years ago, I think it’s at least headed in the right direction. It will be interesting to see if there’s much change after the speed work class as up to this point we’ve done almost nothing to try and increase speed, only long run endurance.

This months field was weakened by the Tilden Tough Ten the previous weekend, with many of the regular fast runners sitting this one out. Amazingly I actually placed 3rd in my age group (30-39 Male), and came in 16th out of 71 overall. Easily my best Lake Merritt placing. Unfortunately I didn’t stay around for the awards.

Here’s the pace/HR vs distance graph. At this point my my AT is just over 192 bpm and equates to around an 8:25 min/mile pace. Above this HR my running quickly goes anaerobic. I was feeling pretty good holding a little below this level through the 2nd mile. Interestingly at this point a couple of (small) hills and some pace fluctuations (it wasn’t a closed course), didn’t really alter my HR by more than a few bpm. Into the 3rd mile I decided to push the pace as best I could and see if I exploded. That didn’t happen, and I did manage to keep it together. My fastest mile was the last one.

Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Race reports, Running

This weekend Patty and I ran the Christmas Relays at Lake Merced in San Francisco. Our running club put together 9 teams, each of 4 runners. Each runner completed one lap of the lake, about 4.5 miles.

On my team one runner couldn’t run because of a knee problem, so Ken stepped up to run two legs, each at a spectacular pace (sub 6 min/mile). My leg of the race went well and I held roughly my previous 5K pace for the 50% longer distance. Of course, that meant I was passed by a lot of people as the position Ken had put us in was totally out of my league. At one point I was running down a hill at just under 7 min/mile and people were flying by me on both sides like I wasn’t moving at all.

The course itself was tougher than I thought when I drove around it. There’s a hill at the start which you run too hard because it’s the start, then a lot of downhill with a lot of people moving faster than you. Here you fly, too fast. By the third mile it’s a slow uphill and the reality of how fast you ran the first two miles and how far it is still to go sets in. The final push to the finish also had a untimely hill. On top of that, the whole time you know there’s a guy standing at the finish waiting for you. That keeps it moving along. I finished my leg in about 39 mins. Our team was the second LMJS team to finish.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. After the race Patty, Patrick and I ran around the lake again to keep our miles up. It was a little rough as Patty and I were thinking 12 min/mile and Patrick was thinking 10 min/mile. Oh well, the legs were already trashed from the race, so what did it matter.

Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Race reports, Running

Last year we started to run some of the monthly 4th Sunday runs at Lake Merritt. There are 5K, 10K and 15K races (1, 2 and 3 laps of the lake). There is also a kids race every second month.

The club which organizes these is called the Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders. This year we became members, as one of our goals for the year was to be more of a part of the running community.

So far it seems like a great group.

Yesterday we practically spent the whole day with LMJS activities. By the end of the day our heads were spinning with running and runners.

9am: We met at Skyline Gate trailhead in Redwood Regional Park. About a dozen runners from the club gathered as the rain started to drizzle down. The forest surrounding us was shrouded in mist but was beautiful and inviting nonetheless.

Our running plan had this week being a fallback week but here we were out for an 8 mile trail run with a running club. Sometimes you have to give in and go with whatever feels right. We headed off down the trail as the rain picked up.

The pace warmed us quickly. Our HRs left our training zone within minutes. These were runners. These were runners who get up on a Saturday morning in the rain and want to do a brisk 8 miles in the forest. These were runners who could leave us in the dust (or mud, in this case) whenever they wanted. But they didn’t. At least not by too much.

As we continued the rain got harder. It was pouring as we crossed Skyline Blvd and entered Jouquin Miller park. Trails had become rivers. We couldn’t get wetter but still made an effort to avoid the lake-sized mud holes. It’s hard to say why. The runners in front of us disappeared into the mist and the redwoods and we were left to run by ourselves. Those who had been behind us decided to take a shorter option, leaving us at the back of the pack.

As we neared the turn-around point, we realized we weren’t very far behind. It wasn’t a race. A while later the run organizer Karen was waiting at a trail junction in case we got confused which way to go (although these are our trails, we know them pretty well). We ran with her for awhile (she recently won her age group in the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle , the largest 8K race in the world). We talked for a while until she effortlessly pulled away from us.

10:30am: after the run we were all covered in mud and soaked to the bone. Hard work behind us, we headed to the club president’s house for brunch. Much needed calories made of bagels and warm coffee and chocolate covered cherries!

Several of the founding members of the club were there including Ruth Anderson, one of the pioneers of women’s ultra marathon running.

3pm: nap.

6pm: In the evening we attended the 30th anniversary club dinner. It was filled with stories about the founding of the club and the characters which have kept it going for 30 years. By the time the music kicked up we left it to the old guys to party the night away. Old guys who can run 6:00 miles.

9pm: Driving home I feel all the more determined to become a stronger runner. Now that I’ve found the running community I just have to be able to keep up with them!

Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders, Running