Way Too Cool Not To Finish

It was a beautiful morning to race the Way Too Cool 50K.  With the race time temperature in the low 40’s I was excited to get going.  There were well over 1,200 for the 25^th anniversary running of the race which meant a wave start for the race, which was great for a slow poke for me.  At the end, Chris Vargo won the race in a blazing 3:16:51 hours quickly followed by Alex Varner at 3:17:04.  The duo were a full 18 minutes from the pack with Jason Rydman finishing still at a fast 3:35:56.  For a mere mortal like me finishing at 8:08 these times are incredible.

The course is beautiful, beginning with an eight mile mostly single track (the first 1.5 miles is on asphalt) loop that covers beautiful rolling hills above a bluff that overlooks the American River.  Since we have finally been getting rain here in California, the creeks were full which meant a couple knee to thigh-high crossings to clean off your shoes from the muddy slop that you would sometimes run through.  Since there was a two wave start, for the first time for this race, and I was in the second wave the single track was not too congested.

On the way back on the loop, I saw my wife and kids and gave them high fives as I passed before dropping into the more difficult parts of the race.

The next section of the race drops down into the American River Canyon.  The decent went pretty fast and uneventful – sans kicking a rock and almost taking a face plant.  This section did get muddy at times but went pretty fast to the Lower Quarry Aid station.

After the Lower Quarry Aid Station, I was treated to a run next to the river.  This part of the trail is more like fire trail with a good portion of it on unmaintained asphalt.  At times we climbed up some nice little hills only to drop back down to the river.  I found myself starting to slow down, but my strategy was to be able to keep somewhat of a healthy pace until the major climb out of the Canyon.  However, with each small hill I found myself slowing.  

I made it to the Maine Bar Aid station in no time which picked my spirits up just a bit.  Memorizing the map as well as the sign post indicated that I had 4.3 miles to the next aid station at the top of the canyon.  However, the location of the aid station did not align with where my watch indicated we were.  Come to find out from other runners who have done the course before that the aid station was in the wrong place meaning that the next aid would be at 6.5 miles instead of the 4.3.

So at mile 17 the climb out of the canyon began.  I was initially overtaken by the beauty of this area, so many waterfalls and creek crossings.  Then the reality hit of how long this hill is.  It was brutal four mile climb with some very steep grade sections.  Now I love up hill, but with the limited training schedule after Surf City, I can say my training suffered and it showed up here.  By mile 19 I was done and by mile 20ish I had decided that I would be dropping at the ALT aid station at mile 21.1.  I was sore and aching with all of my focus being on that instead of finishing.

I had reached the lowest point I have had in a race for some time when low and behold a stone bench appeared above the trail. I took a moment and climbed up and sat just to take in the view of the canyon below.  It was gorgeous.  A flock of birds flew in formation with a loud squawking noise.  A couple of runners looked up at me with an odd expression on their faces.  Another jokingly stated that there was no sitting in trail running and that I must have been listening to too many fast runners on the podcasts (and she was right).  After about five minutes I decided it was time to go but before I did, I realized my back was up against a plaque.  This spot was dedicated to a  Barbara Barsalou Schoener, a trail runner and mother of two who was killed by a mountain lion attack in 1994 near this spot.  I could see why her loved ones put this bench in this spot to commemorate her.  

This stop invigorated my and I found my pain was somewhat gone as well as my thoughts of dropping.  This was further solidified when I got to the ALT aid station to know I still had over a 30 minute lead over the cut-off so I would finish.  So after a Madeline dipped in salt and a couple of cups of Sprite, I was off.  I wanted at least to get to Goat Hill to see what the entire hullabaloo was about.

The next 5.3 miles was awesome and I ran a lot of it.  This was gorgeous terrain with several more creek crossings.  By this time, I realized that I had made a poor decision to leave my camera because I could have easily taken a lot of pictures on this race.  If I haven’t said it before, this is one beautiful course.  I came across one lady who had her sons Flat Stanly and commented on how awesome that was then joked with her about no pacers being allowed.  We laughed and made the time go by.  I was feeling no pain at this point that is until Goat Hill.

 

Source:lamaratonista.blogspot.com

Goat Hill occurs right at about mile 26.2, marathon distance.  It is a single track trail with 20% grade with some switch back for 0.2 miles.  I had been looking forward to this wall since I had heard about it and to experience it this late in the race was fun while challenging.  Because of the rain, the last two hundred feet was a slop fest with a small little stream coming down at you.  

At the top I was met with the best run aid station of the entire race, however there was a little bit of drama occurring.  A little boy that had been helping had disappeared so a couple of the aid staff were searching for him.  Then just moments after I arrived, the boy arrived with the safety patrol runner.  He had taken after the safety patrol runner and was well halfway to the other aid station before he was turned around and back with his family.  That said, the other aid station workers really were a crack team and they took care of all the runners very efficiently.

With the Goat Hill behind me now and knowing that there were only 4.7 mile to go and feeling great, I was in get er’ done mode. I knew I was going to finish and there was still a strong possibility that I could still finish under 8 hours.  However, the clock was slowly ticking and by the time I had gotten to the last aid station 1.1 mile from the finish I had 15 minutes to be under that point.  

I quickly realized that I would not be able to achieve this feat with some pretty fun and challenging technical up hill.  There were a lot of roots and rocks and streams of mud to overcome before getting to the last 0.5 victory lap. 

With one last splash through a muddy puddle and high fives from family and friends I got to the finish at 8:08 hours.  

I can say I loved this race just for the shear amount of single track as well as the technical aspects of the course.  This is a beautiful course and, other than the misplaced aid station, well run.  I would probably run this race again; however my training would be more focused on this race, especially uphill.  And I probably would not be doing a road marathon 5 weeks earlier like I did here.

A shout out to Brazen Racing - I saw a lot of the Brazen Racing family there.  RD Sam and Jasmin were running this race with Sam’s brother.  Marie would jump out periodically to take pictures of us at different times ( how she got so quickly to the various spots before any of the runners really surprised me!).  One runner I came across had a Bay Breeze race shirt on which is one of Brazen Racing’s flattest half marathon races.   We joked how this race was just like that one if you take out the hills with 20% grades and shortened it to a 13.1 mile distance. In fact, I would say race shirt/logo wise, Brazen was well represented.

In all, this was a great race.  I learned a lot about pushing through and overcoming.  And as I stated in my last post, there was no time goals here, just to finish and to have fun.  Mission accomplished!

Am I Ready to be Way Too Cool?

Mount Diablo facing Wall Road Trail

The past 5 weeks since the Surf City Marathon has flown by with the Way Too Cool 50K being this weekend.  The compressed recovery, training, taper has been strange and has left a little bit of uncertainty about my readiness.  This is partially due to some of my training choices but I have little doubt I will finish.  I have focused on quality instead of quantity runs so hopefully this plays well for the race this Saturday.

Recovery from Surf City was pretty uneventful.  I was amazed how well I felt directly after the run as well as the following week.  In fact, my pace on my recovery runs were close to my normal training (I know you shouldn’t do this) which lead to questioning how much I may have left on the race course.  But the subsequent mid-week runs have been fun and uneventful.

 

Since there is a bit of downhill on the race, the couple of trail training runs focused on downhill.  The last run in particular, two weeks out from the race I might add, was a strictly downhill run from the top of Mount Diablo down to Castle Rock Regional Park.  This was an 11.5 mile 4,500 foot elevation drop run with the sole purpose of beating up my quads and developing DOMS (delayed muscle soreness).

So this may seem counter intuitive. But keep in mind that the week leading up to Surf City Marathon and the couple of weeks after I did not run hills.  So I needed to rebuild my hill legs, specifically my downhill quad durability.  I have also read several studies over the years specifically focusing on downhill running and the effects a couple of weeks after the run.  These studies found that the quad muscles rebuild in such a way that within two weeks maximum adaptation to running downhill has occurred.

So the upside was DOMS was accomplished at this run.  The downside, I couldn’t run 5 days later, so definitely too much downhill! And I could definitely use the taper mileage after. But, I am pretty confident now that that I am ready for the 3 miles of downhill at mile 9. 

Since I experienced the DOMS, taper has been pretty much non-existent.  I did do a my last run today with the lunchtime running group at work and felt pretty good.  This was pretty much to shake out the cobwebs in my legs as well as my mind.  The legs are fresh and ready to go for Saturday.

This will be the first race in a few years that I have not run at least part of the course and this has been psyching me out a little. At this point, the distance and elevation is not scary, that is just part of the run.  What I am a bit clueless on is the terrain and what to expect.  I have read a lot of race reports and looked at the associated pictures (thanks again to Mr.NotthatLucas (not his real name)!) but I don’t like that I have the feel of the trail.

For example, it has been raining off and on for the last couple of weeks.  I do know we have several creek crossings so will there be a lot or little water in the creeks?  Also, how much mud will there be on the trail versus rock and technical since California has been in a drought?  The first eight miles is relatively tame; however, because of the single track at this part of the course, how do I place myself at the start so I don’t go out too fast or too slow?

Looking back towards the top of Mount Diablo from Wall Road.

One element I have added to my run is taking an electrolyte during the run.  After my pace falloff at mile 18 at Surf City, the realization that I had not taken electrolyte up to that point was glaring.  As I stated in my previous post, my primary source of fuel is PocketFuel so I steered clear of the electrolyte drink at the marathon because I did not want to add the sugar.  I will be using Hammer Endurolytes and hopefully this will address this problem.

It is going to be a beautiful day with temperatures in the low 70’s at race finish.  With the uncertainties with this race, I will not declare a time goal even though I have a few.  And because of the uncertainties with this race, I am finding that I am a bit more excited about it and will be having more fun with it.  To finish, run strong, and to have fun….that is the goal!

Taper Fun…..random thoughts……

It is a little over a week from the Surf City Marathon and I am as ready as I will ever be.  I have been in week two of the taper with a focus on dropping volume and increasing intensity.  If I could sustain this week’s pace (8:55 per mile) for the marathon I would be thrilled; however, I am a realist.  My PR in a road marathon is 4:42 which is a more respectable 10:46 pace and my final long run I was able to sustain a 10:32 pace.  If I can sustain that pace, I should finish in 4:35….a stone throw from my true goal 4:30.

Getting Mental Prepared

I find that there are certain things that have helped me get ready for any marathon or greater race mentally.  I like to get one new item for the race.  This time around I will be working with new socks. Ok, I know what you are thinking; however, I normally run with Champion socks I get from Target. 
 

However, last weekend we took the kids to John Muir Beach which gave me the perfect excuse to stop by the San Francisco RunningCompany.  The main purpose was to find out if they carry any FRS shots (looks like they have been discontinued – thanks Lance!); however, I was met by Jorge Maravilla one week after his win at the Bandera 100K (which I didn’t know until after).  I was able to ask about socks since I typically have problems with my Morton’s toe and the rubbing that normally occurs.  He directed me to the Injinji  2.0 mid-weight running toe sock. 

 I have heard a lot about these socks from the podcast and thought about trying them; however, have shied away from them.  However, with Way Too Cool following closely behind Surf City, I felt the time was right to try something out.  I have been running in them this week and so far so good, I love these socks.  I will post a review soon.

What I love about the San Francisco Running Company is the number of experienced ultra-runners there are that work there and there openness to talk shop.  I have been to other running stores and have gotten some poor running advice or the crazy look when I say I like to run longer distances. But just as it is common in the trail running community, everyone is there to support everyone, so it is easy to talk with even an elite runner in his shop without getting too star struck.

 So part two of my discussion with him focused on nutrition where I quickly found out that this is an area that he has struggled with in the past also but surprisingly is not on any crazy specific diet – only quality calories.  Simple but true.

The third stop, and again this kind of helps in the preparing mentally section, was to the M.H. Bread and Butter Cafe in San Anselmo for a wonderful loaf of bread.  This café is run by both Nathan and Devon Yanko who are ultra-runners themselves. In fact Devon has won the San Francisco Marathon a few times as well as was an Olympic Trials qualifier at the last Olympics.  I will have to say the baked goods here are the best in the Bay Area!  Our son Myles got a slice of carrot cake this time and with help from mom and dad quickly devoured it.  I also purchased a large country style loaf to eat over this week.  So yes, buying a loaf of bread to help with my carb loading has definitely help mentally prepare for Surf City.

Finally, I have been reviewing and going over mentally this race.  The great news is that I have run most of it as the half marathon.  I do have some question marks, especially from mile 3 to mile 8 which drops into what looks like a pit.  We will drive this section the day before after we stop by the expo.  I am pretty excited though.  Mile 2 to 3 is up hill so it should help temper me from going out too fast and knowing that I have to do it again at mile 8 going in the opposite direction should set up for negative splits, that is if I can keep a reasonable pace.

All in all, this has stacked up to be a good training session.  The only soreness is my Achilles, but that hasn’t stopped me slowing down.  I am excited to run!

Way Too Cool 50K 5 weeks later

So with all the focus on the imminent marathon, I am not forgetting Way Too Cool five weeks later.   In fact I was able to get a good training schedule from the Hal Higdon site that I will modify for my needs.  My main concern was the week directly after Surf City and not losing my endurance in recovery.  I am modifying the 4 week schedule with the 6 week schedule which allows for a good recovery, a nice build and even a taper for the 5 weeks.

Doing this research lead me to the Marathon Maniacs website.  I have heard a lot about this group over the years, and is definitely promoted on the Marathon Training Academy podcast; however, I never realized that the group is based in my old home town of Tacoma.  In fact, it is one block away from my old middle school.  What is even more exciting is that I would be able to qualify to be a Marathon Maniac if I am able to complete both Way Too Cool and the Diablo Challenge 50K 8 weeks later. The bronze level membership requires three events 26.2  miles or greater in under 90 days.  My three events will be completed in 78 days!

Really this is stacking up to be a great year of running.  Now queue the Beach Boys……I am ready to run Surf City, USA.