Trails and Travails

Mike MacLellan wrote:start enjoying the simple act of placing one foot in front of the other.

I'm going to save your post and read it back to myself when I need it. Good thoughts and you are awesome! 16 weeks? Funny how to some people that sounds like a long time, but I know that feeling when 4 months seems like a moment or two away...

Welcome back Mike. The running community has missed you. Running is fun and you should enjoy doing it. Sometimes you need to follow the KISS method!!

I'm in Auburn.

Ran this morning, packed the last of my stuff, and shed a few tears saying goodbye to Aileen. (Okay, a few = a lot.)

Got here at 6:30, set up fishtanks until 8:00 (of the... 21+4+13+6+2+5 fish I brought, no deaths!), ate a banana, and went on a run. Bonked 10 minutes in and ran a total of 3 miles. I've got 21.5 for the week. I wanted to have 26 by the end of today, but oh well.

I'm exhausted. It's time for bed.

Welcome back to NorCal!

Now go have some fun.

Fun was had this morning. Again, I just went without looking at my pace, and I only checked my watch when I hit the turn-around on Indian Hill to see if it was 1.5 or 1.75 miles to that point. Basically did an out-and-back followed by a loop out where I gathered those wild blackberries (still plenty there, going to have to take a walk and get more soon).

The loop has absolutely no flat surface, so I decided to go through with my original plan and make those 2-3 miles my one last "30k effort" interval before the race. Felt really good. No idea what the pace was, as I haven't uploaded the data. Don't really care; I just enjoyed it.

Finished up with just over 8 in just over an hour.

Just going to run by feel on Saturday and if I'm near the front, maybe I'll give the last 6 miles a bit more effort to see if I can snag a win.

EDIT: Oh, and I met a guy (he was cycling) who'd just run the WS100 earlier this year. We talked running and cycling and he gave me his contact info. Might have a running buddy here. Good first day, I'd say.

I just love those 'ahhhhhhhh' moments...you're finding them now. So much time ahead...no need to burn out now. Think we have a 'refreshed' Mike appearing before us.

Paula Sue wrote:I just love those 'ahhhhhhhh' moments...you're finding them now. So much time ahead...no need to burn out now. Think we have a 'refreshed' Mike appearing before us.

Heeeesss baaaaacckkk! That is awesome that you already found someone to talk shop with! Your going to do great!

6.more-than-a-half easy miles tonight. First 3 weren't as easy as I'd have liked (Auburn = not flat) and included a decent third mile or so of 8% incline followed by a half mile of 4% decline. Back 3.whatever were much easier. I think I found the flattest part of Auburn, but it's still not flat. Oh well.

6 and 4 tomorrow, 3 and 3 Friday, race Saturday.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Good first day, I'd say.

AWESOME first day, I'd say.

Good luck in your race this weekend Mike.

Sounds like the move went well and you're enjoying the new digs. If you want some flat ground occasionally, see if there are any rails-to-trails in the area. Guaranteed to be nearly pancake flat since trains can't really go up and down hills of any real grade.

And good luck this weekend!

When I saw Auburn, my first thought was "Why is Mike in Alabama?" Any way glad to hear you've settled in.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:When I saw Auburn, my first thought was "Why is Mike in Alabama?" Any way glad to hear you've settled in.

That's funny - I thought the same thing. I was thinking how cool it would be to have Mike close by and how much of a culture shock it would be for him!!!

John Kilpatrick wrote:

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:When I saw Auburn, my first thought was "Why is Mike in Alabama?" Any way glad to hear you've settled in.

That's funny - I thought the same thing. I was thinking how cool it would be to have Mike close by and how much of a culture shock it would be for him!!!

LOL, John! I have relatives in Auburn, Calif., and while it's not 'Bama, I can guarantee that he's going to find it a whole lot different than the OC, anyway.

Jim - Nice tip! I've run along one of the railroads for about .5 miles, but don't know how much more trail there is around any of them. I'll have to investigate

Michele/John/Mark - I didn't realize there was more than one Auburn until I was googling vegan restaurants around here and was directed to streets that don't exist in this city. And yes, I think I'd die of culture shock in Alabama. Up here definitely has its characters, but I've actually heard worse than it really is. That probably has something to do with the fact that I am constantly out running instead of... I don't know, what do people do around here?... so I'm meeting the active crowd.

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Went to Davis and picked up the motorcycle. Took it to a shop here in Auburn. If it's not ready by Sunday, I get to pick it up and drive it home. This isn't really an issue, since I know full well how to ride a motorcycle; I just haven't done it in a couple (many) years. Eep.

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4 this evening. Went to Placer High and did 6 laps on the track. Was bored to tears by lap 2 and calmer than a Buddhist cow by the end of the 4th. Those last 2 were pure bliss. Didn't even care that I was running a 9 minute pace.

3 recovery before breakfast. Noticing a trend: 2 sucky runs, 1 good run. Started on Monday afternoon (good), and has continued. Meaning today's should both suck and tomorrow's race should be good. Let's just hope that keeps going. Not that this morning's sucked, really, but it was just getting in the miles.

I hope tomorrow's race goes great! Glad you found some new motivation and pleasure in running, too. Like you, I really don't like racing either, my favorite runs are less than 16 miles, I mean, if I were going out for a long run not training for anything I couldn't see going more than 16 for the fun of it. But then marathons give me something to train for and a goal and more focus and it gives me more excuses to run, which I do enjoy.

There's an Auburn in Nebraska, too. I wonder how many states have Auburns now.

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum regarding distance. If my body would hold up to it, I'd go 30-50 miles every day. I don't even find a groove until 8-10 usually.

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Read this on a website about ultra-distance endurance sports:
"The result of too much exertion, day after day, is called staleness or over-training syndrome, and the symptoms include lowered performance, sleep disturbances, unusual muscle soreness and a feeling of heaviness, even depression."
Unfortunately, I don't tend to sleep very solidly anyway (unless someone's next to me; weird, right?) so that's not a good indicator. Same with the feeling of heaviness/mental depression, since I was going through the whole moving-away thing. The muscle soreness was likely due to the killer workout last Wednesday... Either way, I'll keep an eye out and see if any of this keeps up for the next 2 weeks. It seems to come and go pretty much at random.

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3 this evening just to shake out the cobwebs. .5 at/above 30k pace around the track. Felt really good and smooth at 7:00 (goal pace)... Way better than at the 8:00-9:00 that bookended the run. Hopefully I can keep that pace up for just over 2 hours tomorrow...

Mike MacLellan wrote:I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum regarding distance. If my body would hold up to it, I'd go 30-50 miles every day. I don't even find a groove until 8-10 usually.

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Read this on a website about ultra-distance endurance sports:
"The result of too much exertion, day after day, is called staleness or over-training syndrome, and the symptoms include lowered performance, sleep disturbances, unusual muscle soreness and a feeling of heaviness, even depression."
Unfortunately, I don't tend to sleep very solidly anyway (unless someone's next to me; weird, right?) so that's not a good indicator. Same with the feeling of heaviness/mental depression, since I was going through the whole moving-away thing. The muscle soreness was likely due to the killer workout last Wednesday... Either way, I'll keep an eye out and see if any of this keeps up for the next 2 weeks. It seems to come and go pretty much at random.

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3 this evening just to shake out the cobwebs. .5 at/above 30k pace around the track. Felt really good and smooth at 7:00 (goal pace)... Way better than at the 8:00-9:00 that bookended the run. Hopefully I can keep that pace up for just over 2 hours tomorrow...

Congrats on finishing up the move to NorCal, Mike. I sure hope you like it up there, I know I loved living in NorCal when I was there and hope to return again some day. And you are a lucky bastard to be right there in Auburn to were you can hit some beautiful trails!

Also please do me a favor and be careful when you pick-up that motorcycle and have to drive the thing home and make sure you wear a helmet!!!

Ok now on to the running nice information that you found on Ultra running.

"The result of too much exertion, day after day, is called staleness or over-training syndrome, and the symptoms include lowered performance, sleep disturbances, unusual muscle soreness and a feeling of heaviness, even depression."

There is no doubt that I'm paying attention to some of signs especially with running the weekend back to back long runs. Sounds to me that you are not over-trained just some other life stresses that have entered the picture of late. Keep an eye on it but I think you will be fine and you find yourself right back into a groove.

Hey don't you have a race today?? Good luck with that and hope it goes well or went well already!

Thanks Schuey - yep, the move is going nicely. And helmets are the law in CA, so I'll be wearing one for sure.

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Yes, I had a race today; the Rattlesnake 30k. Drumroll please....

I won. By like 20 minutes. More later.

Mike MacLellan wrote:Thanks Schuey - yep, the move is going nicely. And helmets are the law in CA, so I'll be wearing one for sure.

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Yes, I had a race today; the Rattlesnake 30k. Drumroll please....

I won. By like 20 minutes. More later.

Well that is fucking awesome, I can't wait to hear the details about the 30k!!!

Mike MacLellan wrote:Yes, I had a race today; the Rattlesnake 30k. Drumroll please....

I won. By like 20 minutes. More later.

Wow! Congrats!

Can't wait to hear the details.

20 minutes? Wow. Cool!

Holy smokes - the kid is smokin! That is fantastic!!!!!! More details, more details!!!!!

YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much guys. I think Michael's onto something with his disbelief of the 20 minutes thing. Not that it didn't really happen (at least, that's what I was told as I crossed the finish line... didn't stick around long as I wanted food NOW) but that there's a caveat to it... There were only 8 people in my field. And 7 in the 50k. Smaaaaaall race.

Just a few more details until the report goes up (probably tomorrow night, as I'm not at home and don't have my computer for the elevation chart). 18.11 miles on the Garmin, but I think it reads short on trails. Either way, somewhere between 18 and 30k (18.3). Including all the little rollers, 4.4k' gain loss, with ~2.9k' of "real" hills. Average pace was 7:47, I think, (7:11 NGP) which is slightly inflated due to a really easy first 6 miles.

Okay, here's a short-version race report:
Why an easy first 6? Well, at the start, a whopping two of us actually broke into a jog. The rest, since the first .25 mile of the course was a rude awakening of an ascent, power walked. So I fell into second and watched a just-barely-in-sight gap open up in front of me. Lost sight of the leader a few times, but started bombing every downhill I could and caught him within a mile and a half. I asked him if he was in the 30k and he said no, the 50k. Which meant we both had our races completely in the bag within the first 12 minutes.

So, I let him pace me (offered numerous times to run pace, since he had a much longer day ahead of him; he didn't mind leading) until around mile 6, where I took over for 2.5 miles, then we ran to the first aid station/30k turnaround together. Said our farewells, wished each other luck, and I turned back.

Passed the next runner 6 minutes later, which meant he was 12 minutes behind me, and I knew for sure the race was mine. Which was simultaneously neat and kind of a bummer. It meant I'd have no motivation but myself to keep up a strong pace and make this run a race effort. I kept up the pressure pretty good for the entire way back, but found that when I hit any sort of hill, my quads immediately started whining and burning. Made it tough to bomb the downhills, as they needed a good minute to recoup and the hills were maybe only a minute each way.

Not that I was surprised about this. There was a part of the uphill (around mile 8 I think) where I looked down and saw that we were pushing a 7 minute pace (we averaged 8 minute miles for the first 6), and then I completely bombed the first 3 miles on the way back (all downhill), so yeah, my quads had a right to be shot. Something to work on in future runs - keeping that refresh time short and not blowing out the legs early on.

Got to the last mile at 2:13 (slower than I wanted, as I was hoping to finish in 2:10-2:15) and really pushed the mental barrier. "C'mon Mike, strong effort and let's break 2:20." I took the ring hanging on my wrist (guess whose...) and pushed my pinkie into it. Held a great pace for a quarter mile and then hit a half mile of a steady 4-5% slog and knew that 2:20 wasn't going to happen. Pushed hard to the last quarter mile, which was too technical to really open up on, and came around the last corner to my parents, brother, and the RD. Quite the unceremonious finish, but that was fine. RD called out my time: 2:20:5x. I guess I technically got 2:20, but really, this run was much more of a hard training run than an actual race, so I won't get caught up on the numbers. Not that I'm not excited about it, but like I keep reiterating, this wasn't a race. Just some nice miles in my legs, a nice mental boost from the win, and I'm getting an engraved medal mailed to me in the next week. I'll take it.

Oh, and I rolled an ankle pretty nicely at one point. No injuries, fortunately. I also ran into a blackberry bush and ripped a few thorns out in my fingers at mile 3. Removing blackberry thorns while navigating a trail and chatting with another runner: maybe the definition of ultra-races?

...That wasn't exactly brief. Oh well. I'll post a "full" report in that forum when I have the elevation chart.

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3 hours tomorrow to break 90 for the week.