End of the year totals!

There is not much fluff in this, this is how it shook out!

Had it not been for a pesky bike crash in January it would have been a very different year…maybe!

January, continued training for IMSG, bike crash, out of commission for 2 weeks!

February; threw all the plans up in the air, focus shifted to the bike for 4 months.

March; big cycling month and coming to a head next month!

April; L’etape du California and Sufferlandrian Knighthood!

May; back to Triathlon training for Vineman 70.3!

June; continued Tri training and threw in a 6 hour MTB race, that nearly killed me!

July; Vineman 70.3, not the race I trained for, mechanical left me roadside for 90 mins!

August; hung up the bike and laced up running shoes!

September; run, run run and then run some more!

October; see what I did in September +33 miles in October!

November; solid day at the Santa Clarita Marathon, more time on the trails too.

December; 30k trail race as well as Fat Ass Marathon and 50k

Was pushing for 4000 total miles, but it seemed silly and arbitrary to go overboard!

Here’s to more of the same in 2015!

Santa Clarita Marathon

While this race was a stepping stone on the way to LD50 in April and bigger things in 2015 it will go down and quite probably the most sensibly executed race ever. As noted in a previous post my goal was 3:43, that was an 8:30 pace. It was a fairly arbitrary goal based on how the 13 weeks of training had gone. I was floating around from an 8:35 (3:45:02) to 8:25 (3:40:40) pace and in the end just settled on splitting the difference. If I ran a sensible race I would achieve it.

Some basics for people who want to know:

• Granola, yogurt and a cup of tea for breakfast
• Cup of coffee in the car on the way.
• No warm up or stretching
• Handheld water bottle with High5 (like Nuun carried the way round, refilled twice)
• A gel every 38 minutes, 6 in total
• Saucony Kinvara 5, Inferno Shorts and Shirt

Becca, who was running the half, suggested I follow the 3:45 pacer which seemed like a good idea. After some milling around and the national anthem the race started and we off. The Pacer went out a bit fast and the first 2 miles were some of the fastest for the race. Around M8 or so he ducked into the restrooms and I lost him. Becca caught up with me and gave me one of her gels, I was worried as I hadn’t seen any on course and had already taken the only one I was carrying. From there I ran on by myself. Around M10 I headed to the porta-john, this only added 30 seconds to the mile split so it was ok.

The Half and Full Marathon start together and at M13 the half runners turn off towards the finish. There were 1450+ half runners and less than 350 marathoners so as you can imagine the course got a bit empty for the second half. My concerns over gels were put to bed from M14 onwards. I made a point of stocking up when I saw them, much to the surprise of the Volunteer, when I grabbed three from her in one go.

I had set my Garmin 910xt to show 2 data fields, Lap Pace and Lap Time, this way I could check in on myself during each mile and ensure I was on track. My goal was to be as consistent on my splits as possible. Overall I wasn’t focused on negative splitting the course, I really wanted to run a solid 26.2 miles one mile at a time. With hindsight I wasn’t passed by anyone from M12 but I picked up a lot along the way.

Becca had left her Mountain Bike in the car with a view to coming to find me on the course and she caught up with me around M18. I was very much in the zone and just plugged away passing people as I went. The race course is pretty flat, there are some gentle ups and downs and a couple of short sharp hills as you come out of the footpaths that follow dried river beds etc. It’s a twisty turny course with plenty of double backs. It’s very varied and there is always a change of view just around the corner. Fortunately the more boring areas, industrial park etc are early so they go by without any worries.  

I got to the point where the wheels had fallen off in 2011, around M21, and maintained my pace without issue, neither speeding up nor slowing down. Miles 23 and 24 were a bit gritty but once I was past those I knew I was good. At this point I was catching Half Marathon walkers and the route took you over a couple of foot bridges which led out the the finish. I picked up the pace in the last .2 of a mile and crossed the line.

The official numbers etc;

• Overall: 68 out of 350
• Men: 63 out of 240
• M 45-49: 15 out of 37
• Age/Grade: 61.17% Place: 75
• Finish: 3:42:01 Pace: 8:28
• Chip Time: 3:42:01
• Gun Time: 3:42:45

What I am really pleased with is this;

• 5.5 Mile: 0:45:31 Pace: 8:16
• 15.3 Mile: 2:08:49 Pace: 8:25
• 21.5 Mile: 3:00:18 Pace: 8:23

Here are the splits graphed, remember I was looking for consistency, if I take out my 2 slowest and 2 fastest miles my variance is 18 seconds per mile for the remaining 22 miles.

Becca managed to grab a couple of good photos along the way too; 

 

By no means a PR but a well executed plan. If want a week by week play on my training you can see it on this page.

Onwards…

SCM Week 13

Race week, no real deviation away from my training plan. In fact all I was doing was adding 2.2 miles to my long run on Sunday.

Monday. 5 miles. treadmill. Nothing to see here…move on!

Tuesday. off!

Wednesday. 10 miles. The mid week long run is becoming quite regular now, it’s a cold dark early start to get it done before work but it’s doable. Nice and solid with an average pace of 8:05, basically race pace –25 seconds,

Thursday. 5 miles. Treadmill. tick!

Friday. 7 miles. Treadmill. yeah one of those weeks!

Saturday. off!

Sunday. Santa Clarita Marathon, you can read the report here 

So 7:48 and 54.45 miles for the week.

All the mid week runs were fairly easy, especially the treadmill ones, just to save something for the weekend. Friday’s run was the last on the month.

Santa Clarita Marathon; goal

That’s it…’nuff said.

SCM Week 12 (Step Back)

Ahhh Rest week, dialed down volume and dialed down intensity, enjoy it while you can!

Monday; 5 miles. On the treadmill, no real issues ankle is sore as a result from Sunday’s long run. Started easy and stayed that way!

Tuesday; off.

Wednesday; 6 miles. Ankle still sore, just taking this easy. New Kinvara 5s for this run, Threw in some Fartleks to check out the Garmin Run Dynamics features.

Thursday; off, just ran out of day, happy to do this as ankle needs some rest.

Friday; blah just ran out day.

Saturday; off

Sunday; 16 miles. Run with Becca and added a couple of extra miles which was fine as I was short a run this week. Ran three loops nice and easy. Ankle feeling better and it was nice to just run loops chatting.

So for the week 5:44:28 and 41.24 miles. By comparison a big drop off in mileage but that’s basically the point of a rest week!

SCM Week 11

Another week of training and now only two weeks to the Santa Clarita Marathon.

As a result of shifting my plan to align with what I can realistically do following lasts Sunday’s 12 mile long run, Monday was upping the ante on the back-to-back runs and was a 10 miler. But I am getting ahead of myself, so here we go;

Monday; 10 miles. On the treadmill, no real issues. Started easy and worked up and pushed down the pace.

Tuesday; off. Like a rock star!

Wednesday; 8 miles. I cut a longer local loop short and get this done early in the morning

Thursday; 5 miles. Nice and easy and I got to play with my new Garmin Fenix 2

Friday; 8 miles. Basically a rinse and repeat of Wednesday.

Saturday; off

Sunday; 22 miles. Reversed my usual loop and then added a couple of loop-da-loops to add mileage. Second run longer than 20 miles and really felt it on the final miles which were basically uphill followed by some more uphill. I hit the 22 mile mark and I was done. Final miles on my second pair of Kinvara 5s too, this pair lasted 241 miles. 2 miles longer than the first pair.

So for the week 7:44:28 and 55:01 miles. I am definitely noticing that the 20 mile mark is a threshold both physically and mentally. To that end the more of them I can do the better along with discipline around my hydration and nutrition.

SCM Week 10

It would seem that this month has simply become weekly summaries with the occasional product review interspersed with something funny I came across and if you were to say this I would say you are correct. Sometimes it’s just like that and you don’t really have anything much to say so you just shut up and run and that’s what’s been going on. Combined with a busy month or so at work and Becca’s Ironman training it’s all business really. So without further ado here’s the week that was!

• Monday; 5 miles. Recovery run.
• Tuesday off. Yup managed that but no PR!
• Wednesday. Midweek long run. 10 miles. Got out early to get it in before leaving the house for the school run so I was on the road by 4:45am. It’s dark and cold at that time of the day, so there’s no hanging about. 10 miles in 1:18. I was happy.
• Thursday; 5 miles. Nice and easy on the treadmill.
• Friday; 8 miles. Mid tempo,so just under 8:00 pace.
• Saturday; off.
• Sunday; 12 miles. I had planned to run the XTerra Pt Mugu 18k but the entry fee was just under $100! That’s really steep especially when you consider the Santa Clarita Marathon was only $85! So I passed and headed to Westlake Village to run a well worn loop around the lake. Unlike where I live it’s pretty flat and would be a good race terrain practice run. My training plan doesn’t specify paces so I thought I would target 7:45-8:00. I went out much too fast and struggled to hang onto the last 3 miles. Such a rookie mistake but a good reminder that negative splits are crucial! I ended up with an average of 7:24 for the 12 miles but it should have been around 7:30 and more in control! Better to make stupid mistakes in training though!

So the week’s totals were;

5 runs, 5:22, 41.25 miles. All three main runs were sub 8:00, that’s a good thing. This is a bit of a step back in miles from last week but Sunday’s run will be followed up by a 10 miler on Monday which if I was following the plan day-to-day would have made this week 47 miles as it would have been in last week’s totals.

So I am ten weeks in; 57 runs and 460 miles. The Marathon is only 3 weeks away, this weekend I have a 22 miler, then a step back week and then race week. It feels about right given that’s it only a training race and stepping stone to LD50.

SCM Week 9

After last week’s step back week, this was a build week. It included the first 20 mile (of 6, 20 miles or longer) run between now and April. I have another in two weeks and then the week after that is Santa Clarita Marathon, the second training race on the way to Leona Divide, Bulldog 25k was the first back in August.

This is how it all fell into place;

• Monday. 5.55 miles recovery, nice and easy on the treadmill.
• Tuesday. off. Yup check!
• Wednesday. 10 miles. Nice long midweek run, I was out the door by 5:30 and back before 7am. Needless to say very happy to have clicked this off at just over a 8:00 pace.

• Thursday. 5.76 miles. Nice and easy on the treadmill.
• Friday. 8.13 miles at race pace (8:35), more on my goal in another post.
• Saturday. off. That was easy!
• Sunday. Forecast was for crazy hot temperatures and so I was on the road by 5:45am! I made a point of getting up early and having breakfast, a cup of tea and let nature take it’s course and that set me up for a solid run. Goal was to average race pace for the run. While the terrain is rolling and there are couple of tasty hills at the beginning and towards the end. I hit it square on! Becca came out to cheer me on in the last mile and that helped with a strong finish. Missing the heat of sun made the run very doable and compared to a couple of long runs ago this was very manageable! A telling sign is how I feel later and while I was a bit tired I think this was more a function of the alarm clock of than the run.

A couple of doozy hills; Mile 2-3 and 16-18.

Very happy with the consistency of the splits for the middle miles.

Sunrise and long shadows!

So the week’s totals;

5 runs, 7:02:16 and 50.15 miles in the bank! This week sees a difference with the long run being split over a back-to-back days so recovery will be important!

SCM Week 8 (Step Back)

This week was a step back. It’s pretty standard practice to build for 2 – 3 weeks and then step back to rest and capitalize on the gains. It’s come on the back on a solid three weeks of 40+ miles each and also coinciding with a pretty busy and stressful week at work so it was well timed;

So this is how it shook out;

• Monday. 5 miles Recovery. I decided to have some fun in my neighborhood

Round and round and round…

• Tuesday. Off, check
• Wednesday. Oops missed.
• Thursday. 6 miles. Ran my local 6 mile out and back on a teeny tiny single track trail. It was much harder than it needed to be, reflective of bad week at work and not such a clever diet

Playing with Google Photo Sphere, click on image for link…it’s pretty cool!

• Friday. 4 miles. Fudged up the first mile with my Garmin and then just muddled through the last 3 miles…really blargh!
• Saturday. 6 miles. Another run on the treadmill, actually felt good for this one and felt that my mojo was coming back
• Sunday. 14 miles. After a tough trail run during the week I knocked these out on a local trail. I followed my nose and made up a nice loop with a fair bit (2720’) of climbing

  And that was the week. Back on chain gang next week. Pt Mugu race in 2 weeks and Santa Clarita Marathon in 5 weeks!

SCM Week 7

This week was basically a rinse and repeat of last week although it cooled off some so I managed to avoid the treadmill with the exception of one day!

• Monday. 6 miles Recovery
• Tuesday. off
• Wednesday. 7 miles. Nice and Easy
• Thursday. 5 miles. Pyramid run, a couple in the high 7s
• Friday. 7 miles on the Treadmill, nice Tempo run and back into the mid 7s
• Saturday. off
• Sunday. Same route as last week, managed to get out 30 minutes early and it was cloudy! So much better!

 

Next week is a rest week…phew need it!

SCM Week 6

Another build week. Just racking up the miles. This week the temperature went up a notch, the week got warmer and warmer as we got closer to the weekend! Additionally it was just one of those weeks from work when all you can do is fit stuff in around it, as a result 4 out of 5 runs were on the treadmill!

• Monday 5 miles. Recovery, nice and easy
• Tuesday off!
• Wednesday 7.66 miles on the ‘mill. Started off easy and then picked it up and eased off at the end
• Thursday 5.6 miles. Hill-work on the treadmill. I used one of the built in workouts and managed 1700’ of gain! The weather was freaky and I was hoping that the rain would last…it didn’t!

 

• Friday Pushed today’s run over to Saturday
• Saturday 7 miles easy
• Sunday 18 miles. Was good through M14 then got hit with the heat and probably a bit underfueled. I was very happy to have finished my run by around 10:30am…it got crazy in the afternoon!

Onward to Week 7

SCM Week 4 (Step Back)

This week was a step back. It’s pretty standard practice to build for 2 – 3 weeks and then step back to rest and capitalize on the gains. The fact that it coincided with the kids going back to school and my Birthday was also a bonus and having the extra time during the week was nice.

So this is how it shook out;

• Monday. Off. With the Bulldog 25k on Saturday my Back to Back run was on Sunday
• Tuesday. 5 miles. Ran this as a pyramid. I am enjoying throwing in some simple speedwork like this and getting my splits into the early 7s is very rewarding
• Wednesday. 3 miles. Easy run on the Treadmill, I ran one of the built in runs. The first 15 minutes were uphill and the second 15 minutes downhill.
• Thursday. 5.4 miles. Another Pyramid, this time I was a bit more accurate than Tuesday’s run with the coming down splits!
• Friday. 3 miles. Easy run on the Treadmill
• Saturday. Off!
• Sunday. 14 miles. Knocked these out on the road as my next big race is actually a road marathon so getting some solid black-top miles is good for the legs. Also broke out a new pair of Kinvara 5s without any problems, my old ones had 240 miles on them, not bad seeing as I had predicted a life of 250 miles!

Tuesday	Thursday

So no Trail miles this week, the split between the Road and Treadmill was;

• Road; 24.42 (78%)
• Trail; 6.80 (22%)

Back on the trails this week, I am hoping to get a chance to get out onto the Xterra Pt Mugu course which is 6 weeks away. This coming weekend’s long run is up to 16 so my mileage will be back in the early 40s.

SCM Week 3

This was a big week, last build week before Week 4 which is a step back, it was skewed as it actually was 6 runs when normally I would have 5. That being said I am not having any issues from the volume and hopefully it will remain that way. This is how is broke down.

• Monday. 5 miles Recovery. Nice and easy around a local loop.
• Tuesday. Off.
• Wednesday. 7 miles easy. Should have been 6 but rounded the time up to an hour and hit 7 in total.
• Thursday. 6 miles easy. Nice and chatty with Becca at 5am.
• Friday. 5 mile pyramid. Happy with this, was working for sure but pleased to see a low 7 minute mile, see the data below.
• Saturday. Off.
• Sunday. Bulldog 25k Race.

Totals 6 runs, 6:55:19, 43:11 miles

• Road; 28.26 (65%)
• Trail; 14.85 (35%0

With a down week this week it looks like this month I should tap out just over 160 miles, so far so good. I’ll be springing for a new pair of shoe as my Knivara 5s will blow throw 250 miles and they’re feeling a bit flat. This week’s long run will be on the road so that should just about kill them.

In other news this month I hit 120 posts for the year so 2014 becomes the 4th blogiest year since this blog started in 2007!