Week 11: 8/20 - 8/26

Weekly Summary
This was supposed to be a "recovery week" for me, but I still ended up finally breaking 100 miles, thanks to the 31 mile "long run" on Sunday. Other than the ultramarathon, the week was pretty boring -- a lot of slow mileage and one easy speed workout on the track that made my calves hurt for a few days. As long as I am able to recover quickly, I think the ultramarathon will make me stronger. I'm a little bit worried that my resting HR has been increasing over the past two weeks, but I don't think it's at a level yet where I need to start worrying about over-training.
Resting HR: 66
Total Weekly Mileage: 101

Sunday 8/26
AM - Golden Gate Headlands: USATF National 50K Trail Championship. 4:04:43, 4th place. Here is a map of the 31-mile course. Here is the brutal elevation. And here are the results on Scott Dunlap's Blog.

This race killed me, but not until the last 3 miles. The race started at 7am, so I woke up around 4:30am and drove up to San Francisco. The temperature was very cool, and I felt pretty good at the start. After about 1 mile, three of us had already gapped most of the other people. One of the guys fell off after about 10 miles, and I stayed right behind Bryan Dayton (the guy from Colorado who won the race last year) until about mile 22, at which point I decided to pass him and pick up the pace (Bryan had almost lost me several times during some of the more technical downhill terrain, so I figured I'd pick up the pace during the flatter stuff). I stayed in first place for the next 6 miles and was able to gap him by a couple of minutes, I think, after running a few miles at ~5:15 pace. However, at around mile 28, during the last killer hill, I blew up (Bryan had told me during the race that the last part was especially steep, and he wasn't joking!). I started to see stars and my arms started to tingle. I was tempted to just lie down on the ground and rest. It's weird, I had never felt like this before. So I walked most of the rest of the way to the finish, during which Brian passed me as well as two other guys at the very end. I lost all sense of competition during this time, and just wanted to get to the finish line alive. The two guys passed me at the end with less than a mile to go, but I didn't even feel like trying to beat them.

I think the main problem was that I didn't stay hydrated during the race. The other guys all ran with their own water bottles, which seemed kind of silly to me at first, but towards the end of the race, I sure was wishing I had had my own water bottle (I should have taken the advice that I got from Scott Dunlap). The aid stations were about 5 miles apart, which seemed close at the beginning, but far at the end. I didn't have any gu during the race b/c I was afraid it would upset my stomach, but I tried eating half a balance bar at one point, which was probably a bad idea. Since I didn't have any liquids to wash it down, I wasn't able to swallow the balance bar, and it just stayed dry in my mouth and made it more difficult to breathe.

Anyway, I now have more respect for these races, and next time I do one, I'll be more careful, and stay more hydrated. I was a bit disappointed with the way the race ended today, but at least it was a good workout, if nothing else. I drove back to Palo Alto after the race, sat in the cold whirlpool at 46 degrees for 15 minutes, and then went to have dim sum with Sarah at Ming's. For some reason, I tend to crave greasy Chinese food after long races.
31 miles

Saturday 8/25
AM - Menlo Park. I went on an easy run with the Palo Alto High School team today. It was fun to meet them, and reminded me of what running was like back when I was in high school. I think I had more fun running in high school than just about anywhere else.
5 miles

Friday 8/24
AM - Atherton. I haven't run this route in a while. I ran along the train tracks and then along Middlefield into Atherton and back. When I got back, I got my cold whirlpool out of the closet, which I actually haven't used since I've moved out to California. I filled it with water and put about 30 pounds of ice in it to get the temperature down to 48 degrees. Then I sat in it for 15 minutes, which felt cold, but good. I'm not sure if I'll do an afternoon run today. I might just do an easy run tomorrow before the 50K on Sunday.
10 miles

Thursday 8/23
AM - Windy Hill. This morning I drove over to Windy Hill and ran a 10-mile loop up Hamms Gulch trail and back down Razorback Ridge trail. It was a really nice run, and didn't seem as steep as I had remembered it. There was lots of wildlife out this morning. I saw several rabbits and I also saw what I think was a fox in the trail right ahead of me in the middle of the run. The fox made eye contact with me and then started running away from me down the trail. I took it pretty easy this morning.

PM - Baylands. This evening, I jogged from my apartment to the Baylands and back. It was a pretty slow and boring run. The Baylands were especially windy today, so when I turned around, it was not very pleasant. I got a sports massage earlier today, and as a result my legs kind of feel like a wreck now. I'm thinking of running in the Golden Gate Headlands 50K trail race on Sunday morning. The course elevation looks pretty intense!
20 miles

Wednesday 8/22
AM - Track workout @ Stanford. 10 x 400m with 200m jog (65, 67, 63, 66, 65, 65, 66, 65, 66, 64). Met up with the guys at 6:15am this morning. Since this week is officially a "recovery week", we just did an easy 10x400m workout on the track with the usual 3 mile warm-up, and a 2-mile cool-down barefoot on the grass. I haven't run up on my toes like this in a while. At the time, it felt fairly easy, and I was even tempted to do more than 10, but afterwards, my arches were pretty sore from being on my toes.

PM - Arastradero. I got in an 80 minute run in Arastradero today. I like running there in the late afternoon because that's when I tend to see the most wildlife. Today I saw a few deer. I felt pretty sluggish at the beginning of the run, but by the end of the run, I felt much better. However, I once again kind of felt like I was going to puke during this run. I feel like I might be missing something in my diet right now, but I'm not sure what...
20 miles

Tuesday 8/21
AM - Wunderlich Park. I went on a very slow run in Wunderlich Park today. For some reason, I was pretty tired and I kind of felt like I was going to puke during the run, even though I was going really slow. I ran towards Huddart Park, but didn't make it all the way. This was the second run I've done in my new orthotics, and I think they still need to get worn in.
15 miles

Monday 8/20
Another day of rest. I needed it today. I was hung-over from Sarah's party last night, and then I flew back to California from Boston in the afternoon.
0 miles