Silicon Valley Turkey Trot

41st place in 15:43

Splits: 4:54, 10:05 (5:11), 15:11 (5:06)

I drove down to San Jose on Thanksgiving morning to race a 5K in the country's fastest turkey trot. I was entered in the PA/USATF championship, which was run together with the elite race and was featuring a loaded field. I made it to downtown San Jose around 9am and had about an hour and a half to spare before the start of the race. It did take me a while, though, to pick up my race bib and figure out where the start of the race was. There was also an open 5K and 10K before the championship/elite events, which were ran in the same area but on a different course. Any information I could find about the race only applied to the open race and asking event staff didn't help much either. I ended up starting my warm-up and wondering around, hoping to find some indication of the race start. Fortunately I went by the start just as the elite women were taking off and I had some time to sit for some stretching and to run enough strides before the start.

The course was flat and fast, consisting a 200m initial stretch and followed by 4 loops around Guadalupe River Park.  I was expecting the field to go out fast and it did not disappoint. I was gaped by a big group up front early on and I had to turn back to check that I wasn't dead last. I did try to settle into my own pace but it was rather inevitable to get carried away and get out faster than planned. I didn't have a good sense of pace and was even worried that I might have gotten out too slow but seeing the clock as I was finishing the first lap was reassuring. I was shooting for sub 16:00 and coming through the first mile in 4:54 meant that I had put plenty of time in the bank. I was running alone after the first half mile or so and started losing focus after the first mile, slowing down to a 5:11 for the second one. I was still under my goal pace so I kept thinking that I would post a good time if I kept it together reasonably well. I managed to pick things up a bit heading into the 3rd mile and I started closing on one guy ahead of me, which helped me stay focused. I passed him with about 1K to go and made a push to the finish, trying to close up on another couple of guys ahead. I didn't manage to get close in the end but had a good finish, including a good kick at the end, which made me think that I still had something left in the tank.

The race exceeded my expectations so I was fairly content with the result. I did feel that I wasn't race sharp, especially for something as short as a 5K but I put together a good effort. The field helped in dragging me to a fast time and even though I lost focus somewhere in the middle of the race I still managed to finish strong. This was my fastest race in the last 4 years so it's exciting to be getting back into competitive shape. It's still very early in the season and it's encouraging to see that my fitness is progressing well.

Zippy 5K

16:38

Splits: 5:17, 10:50 (5:33)

I had a range of goals heading into this race, ranging from conservative to very aggressive. On the more conservative end I wanted to run under 17:00, which would give me a seeded spot for Bay to Breakers. I knew of course that was a very soft goal and I thought something in the mid 16s would be more realistic. After my last workout, though, I started raising my expectations a bit and even entertained thoughts of running sub 16. And if I was gonna shoot for sub 16 I thought I might as well try to run faster than Schmeck's recent 15:52. In all seriousness, though, it was hard to know what to expect. I've been getting in better shape but I hadn't raced a 5K in ages and the biggest challenge was to get myself into a competitive mindset. After some thought I decided to shoot for a 5:10 opening mile and play it by ear from then on.

The race was at 8:30am and I got myself to Golden Gate Park around 7:15am so I had some time to spare. The weather wasn't great for sitting around, it had been raining overnight and everything around was wet. A few minutes before the start we got some more rain but it more or less died out by the time the gun went off. I was near the front at the start and stayed close to the leaders for the first few hundred meters. I knew of course that I had no business following those guys and I tried to settle to my goal pace. I didn't really have a good sense of pace and I kept trying to evaluate how I felt. I wasn't too excited to see a 5:17 at the mile mark as I wasn't too comfortable and I was hoping that I had perhaps gone out a bit too fast. I made an effort in the second mile to move up a bit and passed a few people but was a bit surprised to see a 5:33 split. It probably makes sense though as the second mile is the slowest of the course. There's a couple of short hills, some turns going around Stow Lake and not all that great footing. I ran this race 3 years ago and back then I had run a 15:34 with 4:50 and 5:10 for my first two splits. I can't really say that one should expect a 15-20 second deviation between the first two miles but I think it's safe to say at least that mile 2 is somewhat slower. I tried to push myself to finish strong but I wasn't really able to switch gears. I was sort of in no mans land, there was a group ahead of me but I wasn't able to gain on them much and I could hear some guy running behind me but I never got to see him either. I had a decent kick at the end and I finished feeling that I had more in the tank. I even went for an 8 mile cool-down afterwards and was feeling rather fresh.

I can't say that I was very pleased with my race although not terribly disappointed either. In the back of my head I was hoping to be close to 16:00 but maybe that was a bit overambitious. There's no doubt that I could have raced better but I can't beat myself up about it. I'm just starting to push myself in workouts and I can't say yet that I've managed to get outside my comfort zone. Even before my surgery I was training for a marathon and running longer races so for a long time I hadn't been in a competitive situation where I needed to be aggressive from the start. It's gonna take a while to get myself race sharp and saying there's quite a bit of rust to be busted would be a huge understatement. So I guess there are some positives to take away from this race; I am getting in better shape and I just need to stay motivated and keep at it.

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon

 1:10:39.  

Splits:  5:13, 10:35 (5:22), 15:55 (5:20), 21:24 (5:29), 26:44 (5:20), 32:20 (5:36), 37:34 (5:14), 43:00 (5:26), 48:30 (5:30), 53:57 (5:27), 59:17 (5:20), 1:04:42 (5:25)

My goal heading into this race was to break 1:10, which comes out to 5:20 pace. The course is as flat as it gets so I was expecting it to be fast. My only concern was the foot injury that I've been battling for the last few days and I wasn't sure if I'll be able to make it through the race. I was hurting a bit on the warm-up but I was hoping that it wouldn't be an issue once the race started. I didn't get to the start line until 5 minutes before the race, since I couldn't run any strides in my corral, so I couldn't get on the front line. I managed to get out well, though, and quickly joined the elite women pack. It felt like the pace wasn't as fast as I wanted so I moved out on my own and tried to catch up on a group of guys ahead. That didn't really work out, though, as they were moving faster so for the first mile I was running all by myself. In retrospect I should have stayed with the women as they came through close to 5:20 while I was a bit on the fast side. Somewhere in the second mile the pack, with the top women and a couple of other guys, caught up and I settled in. I was running at the front of the group and was basically setting the pace. I probably got some good TV coverage as there was a crew following the women closely. The only annoying thing was that the crowd kept yelling "go ladies", which felt somewhat embarassing. I wasn't feeling that great for the first 3 miles of the race, in part because my foot was hurting, and I was even considering dropping out. Pretty much like my last few workouts it took a while to find my rhythm but after the 3rd mile I got into the groove and even stopped noticing any foot pain. Not much changed until mile 6, I was still leading the pack, running fairly even, coming through the 5K in 16:39 and the 10K in 33:20. It didn't feel like we slowed down much on the 6th mile but we surprisingly split a 5:36. It's possible that the mile mark was slightly off since the 7th mile was a 5:14 and I didn't feel like I sped up. At the time I thought that I was slowing down as I dropped off the pack but I guess the pack might have picked things up. The first woman ended up finishing at 1:10:03, which was right where I wanted to be, but at that point my legs were already feeling it a bit and I knew I was only about halfway through so I didn't stick with it like I should. At least I didn't fall apart, though, and kept people in front of me in sight. I managed to move up a few places after mile 10 but that was mostly because other people were fading while I was maintaining my pace. Aerobically I wasn't feeling that tired but my legs were beat and I couldn't move any faster. It felt like I was moving faster towards the end but the times seem to disagree. I was spent at the end and had a hard time getting a decent cool-down in. I wasn't as fast as I wanted today but I still ran a PR so I can't be too disappointed. The last few days have been rather rough with my foot hurting and I'm just glad that I made it through the race and managed to come close to my goal. 

Alumni Meet

I wasn't really sure what to expect coming in this race so I didn't spent that much time coming up with a plan. I knew I was in fairly good shape but far from being race sharp. Plus I hadn't run a cross country race in almost two years (last year's alumni meet doesn't really count) so I was hesitant to get out and hammer from the start. I was content with getting out at whatever the early pace was and figured I would start pushing somewhere between miles 2 and 3. I was expecting Yermie to get out in the lead and was somewhat surprised that I was all the way to the front by the time we rounded the first corner. It was pretty hot and muggy today so that may have contributed to everyone being a little more conservative. For the first mile I was running side by side with Schmeck and we came through in a pedestrian 5:20. It felt like we were running slow but I was secretely hoping that the pace was reasonably fast and just felt easy  because I was in such great shape. Of course that was not the case and once I heard our split I figured I should get moving. I picked up the pace and only Yermie stayed on my heels. That only lasted until we reached Bear Cage where I started building a gap on the way up. Climbing Bear Cage felt easier than ever before and I felt strong topping the hill. I thought that Yermie would try to close the gap on the way down but that didn't happen and I figured I should keep pushing the pace and put the race away early. I came through the 2 mile mark in 10:47 and by the time I got into the Wilderness I couldn't hear anyone close. With no one around to push me for the rest of the way it felt more like I was running a workout rather than racing. I was just going through the motions and didn't really stay focused the entire time. I'm not sure about my exact mile splits, from what I remember hearing I was around 16:15 at mile 3 and 21:50 at mile 4. As Schmeck pointed out, this was the slowest winning time for the Alumni meet since we can get results for. I sure can't argue against calling this a slow race, despite the far from ideal weather conditions. A win is a win, though, I ran as hard as I had to and it's not my fault that Yermie can talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I didn't do anything to prepare specifically for this race and didn't cut back the mileage at all so overall I'm satisfied with how things turned out. After all it's hard to be disappointed after a win, especially since this was my first cross country win ever (excluding high school). 

Sunday, May 18, 2008 [18M]

Bay to Breakers 12K, 40:07. I drove up to the city this morning and was there by 6:30AM, with some time to spare before the 8AM start. The course was point-to-point, starting at the Embarcadero and finishing by Ocean beach, and I didn't have any option to drop off warm-up clothes so I had to get to the start area with my racing shoes, running shorts, singlet and a T-shirt which I threw away at the start. It was a bit foggy and chilly in the morning, which made for nice racing weather but not exactly comfortable for standing around in shorts and a t-shirt. The whole atmosphere at the start was unlike anything else I've ever encountered. I was up front with all the seeded runners and elites, which wasn't anything unusual since everyone was going through the normal pre-race routine. The back, however, was one big party. Music blasting and lots of people in costumes (or no costume at all) doing crazy things like tossing tortillas. I did my regular meet warm-up out and back on Howard St, stretched for a while and put in a good number of streets before lining up for the start. I couldn't get right up front with so many elites, seeded runners and centipedes and I had to dodge a few people at the start before I got rolling. My plan was to be a bit conservative for the first 2-3 miles and pick it up after going up the hill at Hayes St. I got out slower than I would have liked, though, 5:18 and 5:25 for the first two miles and did a rather poor job on the climb, splitting a 6:09 for the 3rd mile. Even though I ran slow going uphill my legs took a mile or two to recover. Eventually I started rolling towards the end, averaging sub 5:00 for my last 2.5 miles, and throwing a huge surge in the last quarter to kick past one of the elite Africans. I was hoping to run a bit faster today but I guess it wasn't too bad of a race. I should have been more aggressive at the start, seeing how much I had left at the end. The legendary hill at Hayes St was pretty tough, it was 0.69 miles long and rising over 200ft, but I should have done a better job at it. After the race I ran back to my car and ended up doing a pretty long cool-down. For the most part I ran the course backwards and got to witness all the craziness. There's some things that you only get to see in San Francisco.

Sunday, April 27, 2008 [12M]

Big Sur 5K. 15th place in 16:17. The race was at 7:30AM so I had to get up ridiculously early on another Sunday. I'm not used to going to bed before midnight so I always have a hard time sleeping early before these races and usually end up getting only a couple of hours of sleep. That was pretty much the case today as I woke up at 4AM to get some breakfast but I went back to bed afterwards and stayed in a bit longer than usual, since I wasn't really that concerned about the race. There's really not that much to go over about the race, all I wanted was to put in a decent effort and that's pretty much all I did. I was planning to start out slow and gradually bring the pace down as the race progressed. I was surprisingly slow in the first mile thanks to the big hill right before the mile mark, coming through in 5:27. I picked it up a bit in the second mile but it was hard to get moving on the dirt path. I tried to avoid the sandy parts but it wasn't always possible since the trail was narrow and there were a lot of people around. I split 5:18 for the second mile and sped up some more, trying to take advantage of the downhill part to get the legs moving. I had some trouble breathing in the last mile, still feeling a bit sick I suppose, and knowing that I wasn't running very fast I couldn't find much motivation to push the pace much. I was probably around 5:00 for the 3rd mile and at least this time I dind't lose any places in the last mile. There's not much to take out of this race, obviously a slow time but I really wasn't looking to run anything fast. Times in general were slow across the board, a lot of the guys raced Zippy last week as well and most were about 25-35 seconds slower today, which I guess shows that I put in a decent effort. Cooled down with Rachel for about 7 miles, putting in some decent mileage for the day.

Zippy 5K

20th place in 15:34.
Splits: 4:50, 10:00 (5:10), 15:04 (5:04)

I wasn't sure what to expect out of this race for many different reasons. Since coming back from my last injury I've had a hard time gaging my fitness and one thing I wanted to get out of this was a better sense of where I stand. Obviously I didn't have any race sharpness, I haven't done any fast workouts in a long time and considering that my last race was a half marathon I had to convince myself that this race would perhaps feel uncomfortably fast. I hadn't seen the course before the race but it was a fairly simple loop in Golden Gate Park. We started in front of the conservatory of flowers, went out for about a mile along JKF Dr, looped around Stow Lake and headed back along JFK again. I can't say that the course was particularly hilly but it didn't seem that fast either. The first mile was a gradual incline (and obviously the last mile was a gradual decline), and there were a couple of short, steeper hills on the second mile. Looking at past results it seemed like the race was won each year in some time in the 14:40s-14:50s by guys who have track PRs in the low 14s. With all these in mind, I was content with finishing somewhere in the mid 15s. Before the race I was thinking of going out somewhat conservatively, maybe around 5:00 for the first mile, but I once the gun went off my racing instincts took over and I went out with the lead pack. I was expecting the field to be competitive but I was a bit surprised to see around 15 guys in the lead group. The early pace didn't feel too fast and aerobically at least I was feeling fairly comfortable. I was still in the lead group coming through the mile in 4:50 but got gapped right after. I wasn't really focused and aggressive enough to make an effort to stay close. As soon as the gap developed my legs started feeling a bit tired and I could tell that I had slowed down a lot. Going into the 3rd mile I made an effort to pick up the pace, trying to take advantage of the gradual downhill part. I had a hard time getting my legs moving much faster, though, and was only marginally faster than the 2nd mile. I lost a few more places in the last mile, which is not something I'm used to. The low point of my race was getting passed by a guy in long shorts and a wife beater but despite feeling the need to pass him for pride reasons I simply couldn't react. I had a decent kick in the last 200m, trying to run down one guy and coming really close but he managed to summon enough kick to hold me off. I wasn't too excited at the finish, looking at how many people beat me, but after thinking about it for a while I was satisfied with the outcome. There were definitely a lot of things I could do better from a racing standpoint but I know that it takes a few races to get the mental part right. I could have probably run faster if I had gone out closer to 5:00 for the first mile but I can't blame myself for getting a bit too aggressive. Finishing in 20th place was kind of tough to swallow, even though the field was pretty competitive, but I guess getting a good ass-kicking every now and then is good motivation to keep training hard.

Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon, 1:11:00, 4th place - 17 Miles

Splits: 5:33, 10:59 (5:26), 16:43 (5:43), 22:13 (5:30), 27:37 (5:23), 32:46 (5:08), 38:03 (5:17), 43:16 (5:13), 48:28 (5:11), 53:48 (5:19), 1:05:05 (11:16), 1:11:00 (5:55 for the last 1.1 which is 5:22 pace)

Today's race was scheduled to start at 8AM so I got up at 4 to eat something then went back to bed for another hour before waking up for good. I barely got any sleep as I was tossing and turning in bed last night for quite a while. I was at the course by 6:30 and had plenty of time to take the shuttle to the start, pickup my bib number and do the usual preparations before going for a warm-up. With 15 minutes to the start I switched to my flats and jogged towards the start for some strides. I opted to run the race with my Zoom Streak XC flats, which in retrospect wasn't the best idea. I've only wore these shoes up to 10K and I kind of knew they would be too lightweight to wear for a half but I still decided to give them a shot instead of running in my trainers. I didn't really have too much trouble in the race but my feet were a bit sore at the end. I think I should invest on another racing shoe, though, if I want to keep running these longer races. I managed to get myself to the front of the starting line and got a clean start to the race. After seeing last year's results I was expecting a decent sized group to be up front but after the first few hundred meters it seemed like the field wasn't as competitive this year. I was in 8th place, running by myself and looking to start out at 5:30 pace, a couple of guys up front started at around 5:00 pace and everyone else was spread around in between. I was fairly confident that I could hold on to 5:30 pace the whole way, which would give me a time just over 1:12, but didn't want to go out any faster. My more ambitious goal was to run faster than 1:10:55, which is what Alexandros Kalogerogiannis ran last week to win the Cyprus Half Marathon National Championship. I was just off my goal pace at the mile and picked it up a bit to move up to the guy in 7th place. I got up to him by mile 2 and we ran together for less than a mile before I broke away. I moved up another place in the next mile, despite the slow 3rd mile, which I can attribute to having to run into a strong headwind for a big part of it. After I moved into 6th place I could see a group of 3 guys about 40 seconds ahead of me but it seemed like I was closing the gap. It was a big gap, though, so I was in no mans land for quite a while. Eventually I passed one of the guys who had fallen off, just as we turned onto Great Highway around mile 7. We had to do almost a 3 mile out-and-back along this long stretch, which at least meant I could see the other guys ahead of me, giving me a target to work on. We had the wind on our back on the way out, which helped me get rolling. I found a good rhythm and felt like I was turning the legs over very smoothly. I moved into 4th place shortly after the 9 mile mark, just before the turning point. With a little over 3 miles to go I had my eyes on 3rd place, who still had a decent lead but definitely not out of reach. We had to run into a 20 mph headwind on the way back, though, and my legs were starting to feel tired so I didn't really make up any ground between miles 10-12. I started digging deeper and working harder in the last mile and finally started closing in. I had my ugly face in full display and finished strong but I still came up short and finished a couple of seconds behind. It would sound better if I had shaved off another second and dipped under 1:11 but I was definitely happy with this race. The half marathon is ways different than anything else I've raced in the past and I'm still approaching it somewhat conservatively and trying to learn how to race it. I must say, though, that I'm getting increasingly more confident about my capabilities in the longer distances. I haven't done any specific preparation for this race, haven't cut back mileage at all and the weather was far from ideal so there's definitely a lot more room for improvement.

Kaiser Half Results

http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?pubID=1&rsID=59202

Alumni Meet

Alumni Meet. Ran the mile in 4:25.54 for 4th and the 5K in 15:46.01 for 5th. Ran the usual 2 mile warm-up loop with Schmeck and put in a good number of strides before the race. I wasn't feeling great but not too bad either. I got a decent start to the race and settled somewhere in the middle of the pack. The pace was slow and we came through 400 in 67 but that was about as uncomfortable as I've ever felt on that pace. The pace stayed roughly the same for the next quarter and I was around 2:13-2:14 at the 800. The pace picked up a bit going into the 3rd quarter but my head wasn't in the race and I fell back. I think I was at 3:22 at 1200, about 10m behind the front group. I got my second wind going into the last 400 and moved a lot on the backstretch. Moving into the homestretch with a lap to go I went by Schmeck and Paul and moved to second place. I started closing on Jake who had a decent lead and managed to close the gap a bit on the backstretch. As I was rounding the last turn I started realizing that I wasn't closing the gap fast enough and then my legs started giving up on me. Schmeck and Paul passed me in the last 20m or so and at that point it was impossible to respond. My legs were really tired after the mile and coming back in the 5K turned out to be a lot tougher than I expected. I knew I was in trouble about 800m into the race and managed to stay with Schmeck and Yermie only for the first 2K, coming through I think in 6:08. It all went downhill from there. I made an effort to move up again when Jacokes passed me but I let him go after a while. Chris Wong went by as well shortly after and I didn't even put up a fight. For the last half of the race I was pretty much just trying to get myself to the finish and not really racing. I was completely wiped out at the end of it and struggled to put in a 2 mile cool-down with Schmeck. Overall a rather disappointing day, especially since I didn't score a single point. The mile was decent time-wise, considering I haven't run one in a long time, but my racing was pretty bad and I should have at least managed to get second place. I've never doubled back in a 5K after a mile so I'm not sure how to judge this but obviously it wasn't a good race.