Run for the Hungry 2009

November 26th, 2009 1 Comment

I had signed up for this turkey trot event last Thanksgiving, but I skipped it due to rain. I know. Wimpy. But that was a year ago.

This year I followed through on the race, doing the 5K event. I’ve been chasing after breaking the sub-20 minute barrier for the 5K distance. To that end, I need to maintain a pace of 6:24 or better on average. On this Thanksgiving morning it was not to be. My official time was 20:44. However, it was good enough for 1st place in my AG (out of 44) and 18th overall (out of 1440). So for those results, I am extremely pleased!

My strategy for this race was to try to do a negative split as advised by my fellow Breakaway team member, Dave P. For the first mile, I planned to run 6:30, followed by 6:25 for the second mile, and 6:15 for the last mile.

After waiting around for almost two hours for the race to start, I was feeling pretty antsy. So when the gun finally went off, I felt relieved and energized. As the lead group of runners ran out ahead, I purposely held back and let several people pass me. It was difficult at first to see so many people driving forward past me. But after the first mile or mile and one-half, I had passed most of the people easily by sticking to my plan.

I executed the plan flawlessly for two miles. By mile 3 though I was feeling a little tired. I managed to speed up for a few seconds here and there with short bursts of speed, but my pace during that last mile would not be fast enough to guarantee me a sub-20 finish. As I approached the last half-mile, I thought about sprinting as hard as I could. But I hesitated, thinking that I would not be able to sustain the speed and slow down too much by the time I reached the finish line.

At the end, I was off by only 45 seconds, which is basically about 15 seconds/mile off pace. So close. My regret for this race was that I did not sprint all out for that last half-mile. And due to that small miscalculation, I missed my goal time.

After resting for a bit and snacking on some post-race grub (bagels, water, electrolyte drinks, and even some pizza!), I checked out the results board and learned that I had won my division. For the awards we were given these nice blue aluminum water bottles. You know already… I would prefer to have a cheap plastic medal for a prize. But I’m happy my name is in the record books as the first place finisher in my age group.

At first I was just going to let this sub-20 thing go for this year, and just try again in 2010. But my coach says I should go for it. So I’ve signed up for another 5K in a couple of weeks. I plan to use the same strategy, and hopefully, I’ll have more juice at the end for the sprint to break the 20-minute barrier.

Silver Strand 2009

November 15th, 2009 1 Comment

You know something? I spend a lot of time comparing myself to other people, and then worrying about how I’m not doing well or progressing. Clearly, that’s not a healthy outlook on life or competitive sports. Only one person can be the best at any given time, and that glory of being Number One is just for a brief time. So then what about all the folks who train and don’t win? Success can’t only be measured by who takes home the gold! I learned something post-race today in an inspirational video about Ryan Hall: “Success is being faithful with what I have been entrusted.”

So with respect to athletics with what have I been entrusted?

  • A lean body
    • I’ll never abuse my body with food again.
  • Ability to quickly learn and adapt
    • I’ll continue to challenge myself to improve my swimming, cycling, and running.
  • Perseverance and determination
    • I’ll continue testing my limits because no cost or sacrifice can compare with One who has made an ultimate sacrifice.
  • Small measure of athletic talent
    • To whatever my potential is, I intend to pursue it and be satisfied with my best.

Today, I beat my previous half marathon PR by almost two full minutes. I’m stoked with my time of 1:41:37. Official results are in, and I placed 31 out of 184 in my age group, and finished 246 out of 2631 in the entire race. I think that’s fantastic compared to how I did in my first half marathon last January.

For a little more than half of the race, I kept up a 7:24 pace as I strived to finish the race in under 1:40:00. So while I did not reach my desired goal of breaking the 1:40 time barrier today, I rejoice in my efforts for about 7.5 miles at sustaining that pace.

When I examine my lap data, I saw that I spent most of the race in Zone 4, near my maximum heart rate. So it’s no surprise now that I could not sustain that sub-1:40 pace. However, I am confident that with time and more training, I’ll be able to keep that pace for a longer duration. It really hurt at mile 10 when we entered that Navy radar base. But I’m pleased with my sprint during the last half-mile of the race. I credit that last-minute effort to keeping my time in the very low 1:40s.

Next up on Thanksgiving Day is my next attempt at breaking the 20-minute barrier in a 5K.

P.S. When I looked at the results for the 5K in my age group, my previous time at Shelter Island would have been good for first place at the Silver Strand. That’s cool.

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.

Shelter Island 5K 2009

November 11th, 2009 No Comments

20:58, good enough for 3rd place

20:58, good enough for 3rd place

I have fond memories of the Shelter Island 5K event. In 2008 it was my first race ever. Because I was running in the LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin 5K, the 2009 Shelter Island 5K was not scheduled to be part of my race calendar. But the LIVESTRONG 5K was not a real 5K, so when I received an email reminder about Shelter Island, I signed up.

For this race, I just had one goal: set a new PR by finishing the race in under 20 minutes. With an average pace of 6:29 during LIVESTRONG, I knew that it was possible. In order to finish 3.1 miles in under 20 minutes, I need to run at a max pace of 6:25. So I set my sights on running a 6:15 pace.

On the morning of November 8th, I arrived at the start line at 6:00 AM to pick up my bib number. It would be another 45 minutes before I planned to do a little warm-up jog. At about 6:50 AM I did a one-mile jog and some light stretching. The national anthem played at approximately 7:25 AM. I stood at the front of the start line where all the people who plan to finish strong start these short sprint races (I suppose this is true). Surprisingly, a fellow Breakaway athlete, Dave Platfoot, said hello. I guess Dave and I were the only two athletes to skip the planned trail run to do this 5K instead. At 7:30 the starting horn went off.

I started out very fast after clearing the messy and crowded start line. For some strange reason there was this old, gray-haired man in the front of the starting pack, and as soon as the horn went off he raised his arms in the air and just stood there. Now don’t get me wrong. Normally, I have tremendous respect for elderly folks, but this was ridiculous. As I moved close to this old guy on my right, I shoved him out of my way with my right arm, “Get out of the way.” I confess it now so that I won’t have to do it later on when my career is over like Andre Agassi. So yes, I shoved an old man at the start of the Shelter Island 5K.

So the leading group of runners, which included Dave and myself, led out at a super fast pace, about 5:15 (??). In any case, it was way too fast. Unfortunately, I tried to keep that pace for about half a mile. I slowed down a little bit for the rest of the first mile, but I think I was running way too fast for my current ability at about 6:05. By mile 1.5 and mile 2, I was definitely feeling the redline of my heart rate, and I had slowed down to about 6:30. I knew at this point that I would not be finishing the race in under 20 minutes. For about 30 seconds I felt a little sorry for myself and disappointed. I saw my average pace slow to about 6:40 – 6:45 with about 0.75 miles left in the race. For the last half mile I attempted to sprint, thinking that I should finish the race with a time that began with 20 minutes rather than 21 minutes.

As I approached the finished line, I saw the race clock very close to the 21-minute mark. I heard the announcer screaming that there were 10 seconds remaining before the 21-minute mark. As the announcer counted down the seconds to 1, I crossed the line. The volunteers at the line handed me a slip that said 21:01. I looked at my Garmin, and it said 20:59. I am compelled to go with the “official” time because that’s what’s in the record books. I felt really disappointed to have missed the 21-minute mark by two seconds. But I consoled myself quickly with the very nice champagne brunch and the fact that I just bested my previous PR by almost one minute.

For brunch, I enjoyed lots of fruit, some powdered scrambled eggs, a little bacon, and a little breakfast burrito with salsa. I stayed away from the juices and alcohol. The Platfoots joined me at the table where we made small talk with some new runners who had just recently gotten into running.

Talking with the noobs reminded me of myself a little more than one year ago. I did my first training run on October 12, 2008, and ran my first race, the Shelter Island 5K less than one month later. My time last year was 21:56. I remember how I thought I was going to finish the race in 18 minutes. Yes, laugh out loud. During my one month of running I saw my 5K times decrease by three minutes each time I did a practice 5K. I remember some of my earliest 5K times were like 28 minutes, then 24 minutes, and my fastest ever in practice was 21:38. All these times were attained during my pre-Breakaway Training days. Even my recent 5K PR was set in April at 21:55 at the Carlsbad 5000. I joined Breakaway one month later in May 2009. After seven months of training with Breakaway, I entered this 5K knowing that breaking 20 minutes was realistic. My downfall today (if you want to call it that) was that I ran the first mile too fast. Dave Platfoot suggested that I run at about a 6:10 and just try to ignore the fast starters at the beginning.

After brunch we decided to check the posted official times. Dave finished second in his age group (30-34). I found my name on the 3rd page (!!), so I was very surprised to see that I had finished 3rd in my age group with an official time of 20:58. Not only did I get under the 21-minute barrier, but it was good enough for the podium. Oh the sweetness of the podium. How I missed that exuberant feeling. I immediately called Maria to share the good news, and I also placed a call to Murray who was responsible for getting me into all this running and multisport stuff.

We all waited for the awards ceremony to begin. They handed out awards to the youngest people first, so it took awhile. The overall race winner, a 16-year old, finished the race in 16:56. That’s just plain crazy. The cool thing about this awards ceremony is that there are lots of people there for it because of the super nice brunch they serve the finishers. So when they announced my name, I ran up to the stage amidst lots of congratulations and well-wishes from my fellow runners. So cool.

My prize was a $50 gift certificate for dinner at the Kona Kai hotel restaurant. Very nice. But honestly, I would have preferred a cheap medal instead. I know. I’m vain. But what can I say?

I’m so glad I signed up for the Shelter Island event this year. I have very fond memories of this race, my first race a year ago and my first running podium finish.

First Long Brick

August 30th, 2009 No Comments

Yesterday, I figured if I said let’s leave by 6:30 AM, then for sure we’d be out the door by 7:00 AM. Murray was never late for any of his personal training sessions with me at LA|FITNESS, but I’ve learned that if we need to be somewhere at a certain time, I need to plan for at least half an hour of “Murray” time.

We did leave by 7:00 for our two-hour bike ride to the coast in Carlsbad. It was a fairly comfortable ride for me, averaging a slower speed than what I usually ride. We rode at about 17 mph for 34 miles. Both of us had two hours on the bike as our planned workout.

Murray had a 10-mile run planned afterwards, and I figured it would be no big deal to join him. I was scheduled for a 20-minute brick run afterwards, but running 10 miles would be significantly longer than 20 minutes. I’m pleased to say that I did complete all 10 miles even though the temperature had risen to 105 degrees. The last two miles were pretty painful, nevertheless, I trudged on, refusing to walk. I think my average pace was about a 12-minute mile.

This milestone was a good wake up call for me. I know I have a long ways to go if I want to get close to my goal of going under 5:30 for my first half Ironman in March, 2010 @ California 70.3. By then I want to be at a level of fitness where I can handle that final half marathon run with no problem and still complete the run in under 1:40.

I have more than seven months to prepare.

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.

Triple Training

August 2nd, 2009 No Comments

3. Three sports. Multi-sport. This is triathlon training.

Swimming: I’ve probably had the three best days of swimming in the last five months that I’ve been training as a triathlete. Last Wednesday’s pool workout was my longest yardage at 2400 yards, but I felt fantastic afterwards. Friday’s cove swim was my fastest time ever for a 1-mile swim in the open ocean at 36 minutes with breaks at the buoys. While that’s not super fast, it does mean that I’m very capable of completing the half Ironman swim distance. The water at the cove was unusually calm and warm. Today’s open water swim at La Jolla Shores was also very good for me (2000 yards). We swam and ran afterwards. Not a single ounce of fatigue.

Running: Saturday I ran 14 miles. Today I ran a little over five miles. I recovered well and felt fantastic today.

Cycling: After the solid swim-run workout this morning, I went for an easy 22-mile bike ride in the afternoon. In the past I would have been exhausted and my legs would have been fatigued. Today, no problem after the ride.

All in all, this has been the best week of training in my young life as a triathlete!

The 7-min Barrier

July 9th, 2009 No Comments

I’ve been attending the Breakaway Tuesday night turbo spin class each week. As a veteran “spinner” at the gym, I can say that the turbo class put on by Breakaway is by far tougher than any spin class I have ever taken in the gym. It consists of race-pace or sprint intervals for about 45 minutes followed by a short run. In tri-language, that’s called a “brick”. Ever since my running debacle at my last race, I’ve been paying closer attention to my effort levels when I run. I think I’ve made a breakthrough in the last couple of run workouts. For whatever reason, I found an increased determination to push myself to sustain a high cadence while running, especially after the spin class. Typically, in my last two races, I’ve felt really tired after my bike segment, and then the run is a huge struggle. So to work on that endurance, I decided to push myself on my runs even more, especially if the runs occur after a bike ride.

My fastest race pace to date has been 7:05, which was when I set my 5K PR at the Carlsbad 5000 last April. This past Tuesday, I ran three miles after the turbo spin in 20:55, breaking the 7-min barrier for 6:59. And even though I felt out of breath after the run, I think I did a decent job of maintaining a consistent, high-rate cadence. Because of this recent breakthrough, I believe I can achieve a new Half Marathon PR in my upcoming race in August. I’d like to finish the AFC Half in 1:40 or better. I understand there are hills towards the end of the course. In the event that I don’t beat 1:40, I plan to beat that time in the Silver Strand Half in November because it’s a flat, point-to-point course.

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »