Silver Strand 2009 Pre-race

November 14th, 2009 No Comments

“So how do you feel?”, my coach (Luke Walton, no not that lame one on the Lakers) asked me at the race expo.

“I feel great!”, I responded sincerely. Didn’t even hesitate one second with that response.

Despite a crazy work and school schedule this fall, I believe I’m prepared and as ready as I’ll ever be for my fourth half marathon tomorrow.

My training volume has been a little lower than what I would normally do, but I’ve got a little bit of business to take care of before 2009 is over. So the decreased volume is fine. I still feel sharp, and I do my best when my legs are fresh.

For tomorrow’s race, I just have one goal: get my time in the 1:30s. So that would put me at 1:39:59. I need to run a max pace of 7:37. I’m getting a feel for running at this faster pace, but it’s still a little strange to me. I’d like to stay within a pace range of 7:14 – 7:37. If I’m successful in doing this, my finish time should be between 1:35:00 and 1:39:59.

At the expo, I spoke with Luke about my 2010 race schedule. I’m excited to focus on the 70.3 half-Iron distance. I’ve signed up for two A races so far, Ironman 70.3 California in Oceanside and Vineman Ironman 70.3 in Sonoma. Depending on what happens with my Kona lottery bid, I may or may not do the Longhorn Ironman 70.3 in Austin, Texas. In discussing the possibility of doing the Kona Ironman, Luke advised not to race a marathon since it would be close in proximity to the Vineman race. Instead, we would just be increasing my runs to get ready in the event that I get the Kona slot.

Mentally, I feel elevated by my swim in the gym pool yesterday. I swam 1.2 miles continuously, and felt more comfortable than ever before with the flip turns. It feels good to notice improvement in my swimming, especially not feeling so tired. Yes, I do have more work to do in the pool to get totally comfortable with the turns and to attain a minimum fitness level that would give me confidence in my ability to complete and compete at a swim distance of 1.2 miles. I guess coach was right, just a little patience and hard work is needed. So glad to be seeing results in the water.

Looking forward to reporting about this race. Over and out to do a little 20-minute jog.

The Story of Running and the Triple Crown

August 16th, 2009 No Comments

Today I completed my first Triple Crown. When I take a step back to think about it, I am amazed, especially when I recall that I have only been running since October 2008.

I started running because my personal trainer at LA|FITNESS recommended that I try it, just to mix things up. I had been “stuck” in the gym lifting weights. My spinning had already drastically decreased because of my cycling on the road.

I’ll never forget my first training run on October 12, 2008. I wanted to turn around and go home after the first 15 seconds. My muscles were so unused to running. I was amazed at how out of breath I was given that I had recently achieved a level of fitness that allowed me to complete a 100-mile bike ride. Despite the initial pain of learning to run, I didn’t give up.

A few weeks after I started running, a co-worker suggested that I run a half marathon. I politely declined. I was satisfied with just short distances like 5Ks and 10Ks. She then told me about the Triple Crown and the cool medal you get when you complete it, and the rest is history. I made that my main goal for 2009.

And so that is how today fulfills a goal I set for myself 10 months ago.

AFC 2009

August 16th, 2009 No Comments

What an amazing race for me, my third half marathon and the final leg of the Triple Crown.

Official Results:
Time = 1:43:14
Gun Time = 1:45:01
Overall Place = 624/7070
Division Place = 74/473

Pre-race: Last night I went to bed at about 8:30 PM in the hopes of getting 8 hours of sleep. But even with Benadryl I managed to sleep fitfully, waking up suddenly before midnight, and then falling back to sleep until 3:00 AM. Sleep total, about six hours. But I felt rested anyways.

I decided to leave home early so that I could get to Balboa Park early. The race information sheet stated that athletes should allow 30 minutes for parking. Buses taking athletes to the start line start at 4:30 AM, and we had to be in line for the buses by 5:30 AM. I was out the door by 4:00 AM, and on a  bus by 4:50 AM.

Have you ever tried using a porta-potty in the dark? That’s not fun. Neither is waiting around for the race to start for two hours.

I met up with my MBA colleague, Daniel Rio, who was planning to pace the race to finish at 1:42:00, a 7:46 min/mile pace.

Honestly, despite my rigorous training with Breakaway Training, I doubted whether or not I could sustain that pace for longer than four or five miles, which is the longest distance I’ve sustained those speeds at the track workouts.

The Race: Because there were over 7000 people running the half, it took about two minutes to cross the actual start line. On the Garmin 310XT, I pressed the Lap button instead of the Start button, so my timer started a few seconds after I crossed the start line. The beginning of the race from Cabrillo Monument was downhill out of Fort Rosecrans. It took Daniel and I two miles to clear the lollygaggers and have room to run freely. I think the first three or four miles were downhill, and so I followed my original plan of blazing a trail downhill.

What surprised me about the downhill portion was that although I wanted to go fast early on, I was concerned that the pace Daniel was setting was too fast at 7:15 min/mil. We ran at that pace for about four miles or so until we reached the flats near Harbor Blvd.

Once on the flat road, I knew that I needed to maintain a speed of at least 8 mph to reach mile 11 where I knew the final climb to the finish line would test what I had left in my legs. Unfortunately, I dropped my buddy Daniel. Later I would find out he just couldn’t sustain the pace.

Much to my surprise, all the training I’ve been doing paid off. I kept my pace at 8 mph and hovered at a 7:40 min/mile for next seven miles, reaching mile 11 at about 1:23. I knew I had about 15-20 minutes to make the ascent if I had any chance of finishing in under 1:42.

I thought I conquered that hill after a half mile or so. Is that all you got?

And then it got steeper. The thoughts I had of finishing in under 1:42 were slipping away. As I headed up another climb, I started to lose hope. I mean, I knew I was going to set a new PR and probably beat my original time goal of 1:45. But for a brief time I thought going under 1:40 and even 1:42 was possible. Looks like I need to work on my power while climbing hills.

When I had resigned myself to my original goal, I heard, “Go Gerry!”. And there was one of my buddies from Breakaway, Jay Simbulan, cheering me on, running with me up that hill, and taking pictures. That was exactly what I needed at the time, and I sped up as fast as I could.

I finally reached the summit and the entrance to Balboa Park. With less than two minutes to spare at 1:40 I began a final sprint trying to make up 3/4 miles. With only a few several yards from the finish line, I saw the elapsed time on my watch passed 1:43. I had beaten my goal of 1:45, but was just shy of 1:42.

All in all, I am very pleased with my race. I know I have what it takes to sustain that pace. I’m ready to do it again and see if I can get my time into the 1:30s.

AFC Pre-race

August 5th, 2009 No Comments

I said AFC, not KFC. America’s Finest City Half Marathon. 11 days from now.

Last October 2008 I started running and set a goal to complete the Triple Crown. I didn’t know what I was capable of back then as a novice runner, but surprisingly I completed the first two races in under two hours. As the third race approaches, it’s a given that I must complete the final half marathon in under two hours, but I hope to set a new PR.

I’d like to finish the race in under 1:45, which means I have to run an average of 7.5 mph or an 8:00 pace for the entire race.

I’m pretty confident that I can sustain an 8-8.5 mph speed for the race, so it seems like a done deal. Fatigue and the course itself look like the only barriers to setting a new PR.

I hear the course has some hills the last four miles with lots of downhill at the beginning of the race. My strategy is to go as fast as I can early on to have a buffer of time to attack the late hills towards the end of the course in order to finish under my time goal.

I look forward to setting a new PR in honor of Team Tuma, my dedication for all of this summer’s races.