Manhattan Beach 10K

After moving to CA, I did not have much luck finding good road races in the Los Angeles area. For whatever reason, many courses are here are terrible with several out and backs. There's plenty of low key events, but competitive events with good courses seem to be a rarity. So I stumbled upon the Manhattan Beach 10K, no turnarounds, potentially competitive and an opportunity to finally put the 10K PR to rest and actually run to my ability in the distance. The only downside was it was 6 days after the Rock 'n' San Jose half and the longer races on the road can be taxing. I ran the Manchester Road race 5 days after Philadelphia half and was not fully recovered. But I did the Spring for the Trails half 6 days after Pittsburgh and was just fine. So a we'll see kind of deal. 

Course a little weird, but no turnarounds. 250' uphill, 300' downhill

Fast forward to race week and the half marathon destroyed me. Quads were completely wrecked for the first two days and easy pace a full 30 seconds slower per mile than usual. It slowly improved but I still had some sore spots and discomfort on Friday, the day before the race. I also was dealing with some achilles discomfort and this flared up a bit on Friday. I tried to massage it the best I could and not worry about it too much. With the combination of being really run down from San Jose and achilles discomfort, the smart thing to do would be to skip this one. Plus I had sunk very little money into it, just the $35 entry fee. But I don't bail on races I signed up for, and I had also convinced former NH teammate/roommate Matt Adams who moved to the area to race. So it would at least be worth it from a socializing perspective and having someone to run with. 

I got there probably an hour and 15 minute before the start and was disappointing registration was not set up yet despite being indicated on the website. I waited 10 minutes in the dark for them to get ready and got my bib. I was again disappointed to ask the volunteer where the bathrooms where and why there were two start lines and she didn't have a clue or care enough to find out. The bathrooms were literally across the street which I found by a short wander anyway. Warmed on the first few miles on the course with Matt and noticed right away my achilles was feeling sore and weak. Nothing to do at this point. The bathroom line was super long when we got because they didn't get enough bathrooms for the field. I only had times for a few strides. There were two starts on parallel streets so I just guessed and picked one. I guessed wrong because most of the top 10 eventual finishers were on the other start. 

Matt's a better runner than me, but had very little training under his belt and said he was just shooting for 6:30s. So it was funny when I went out around 4:50 pace and he was right on my tail. The one faster runner at our start I had dismissed as he was carrying his phone in his hand. I really don't know why people do this and he just looked like a fool. The first quarter mile felt decent from the adrenaline but it took very little time for my fatigue from through the week to catch up. I felt bad- flat legs, little/no drive and my achilles was noticeably sore and irritated. We merged with the other start and one guy was clearly well ahead and making a bid for the win. The next 5-6 guys strung out a bit in the battle for second. I settled into 3rd or so but got passed to 5th. The entire first mile was rolling and I felt powerless on the hills. 2nd was within reach but just felt too hard to run up there. Mile was a respectable 5:16 but not really trending in the right direction as the first quarter mile had been fairly quick. The slight uphills slowed me down and I ran an uninspiring 5:30 for mile 2. I found myself in 7th place, getting gapped and running 5:40s just after the 2 mile. I felt all around terrible and my achilles hurt. What was I doing out here? Should I just drop out? Run the rest at marathon effort? 

I decided to actually race and focus less on pace but rather running against those around me. Things had strung out a bit and it would take some time to catch up to 3rd/4th but it wasn't out of the question. Time probably wasn't going to be great but maybe I could at least race tough and catch some guys. I slowly closed the gap on the next runner. The 5K split wasn't very good around 16:50 but maybe if I closed well a PR was possible. I caught one runner shortly after and focused on getting two more just ahead. Rounded a few turns, pressed the uphills and found myself passing and dropping those two. Mile 4 was actually solid- 5:15. I was getting out my defeatist mood and trying to catch as many guys as possible. I looked at to the next guy and realized phone guy had dropped out, I was now in 3rd. 2nd was maybe 20s ahead and if I dug deep and really pressed maybe I could get him. The race was doomed from the start but I could make this a respectable effort if I moved from 7th to 2nd and closed well. 

Mile 5 was super hilly. We got a nice slight downhill to run fast on at first. Awkwardly crossed over grass in a park, then hit the biggest hill of the race- 80ft over a quarter mile. This was close to 10% grade and quite tough, I think I was running close to 7:00 minute pace here. But it was hurting 2nd place too and I was definitely making up ground. Steep downhill right after that and I didn't run it as fast as I had wanted, probably lost a few seconds. Few tight turns and we were on the strand- basically what the popular cement path along the beach in L.A. county is called. 

I had a flat mile to run down 2nd place, who was now about 10 seconds ahead. I thought if I dug really deep and found a sub-5:10 and a good kick, maybe I could nab him at the line. There was no such drama. I ran about 5:15 pace for a quarter mile before realized I was totally gassed and slowly fading. The flat path with no turns felt endless as I was simply exhausted and had zero extra gears. I'd check my watch only for the distance to have increased by 0.1 miles and now running 10s/mile slower. I ended up running as slow as 5:50 pace towards the end of the mile. He ended up closing fairly well and putting another 10s seconds on me anyway. Running on this path was terrible. I had managed it (in the Santa monica area) for a workout but in a race just not good. Basically a sidewalk and while not crowded, the openness/having pedestrains was quite annoying and killed my race mood. I managed a small, non-impressive kick to finish 3rd in 33:42. I wasn't sure how much extra distance I'd get and if I'd end up running under 34, so this could have been much worse. 

Ended up with a solid mile 1, 4, 5 and really dropped the ball (as in slower than half marathon pace) 2, 3, and 6.  With how flat and tired I felt the hilly course didn't do me any favors. Clearly I had not recovered from San Jose and the achilles problems set me back further. The smart thing to do would be skip this one, run easy and get healthy. Instead I pressed through and ran a poor race. The saving grace is that I didn't give up and pack it, instead I gritted my teeth and moved up the field. The effort was there, the result/body very much was not. After running 10K in 32:57 last weekend, 45 seconds slower today for less than half the distance was certainly a step back. Especially considering I ran 33:23 with half the race on a crowded sidewalk a month ago. 

I didn't think the course was very good or the race was well organized either. But good value at only $35 and the post race food was actually pretty good and I had a lot of snacks/drinks to bring home. It was nice to catch up with Matt who hadn't seen in a while and ran a respectable race for barely running at all. Full results here. This was my only race in the Los Angeles area so far, so at least I got that box checked. 

Lots of free food/drink!

Berkeley Half Marathon- Weekly Log: November 13 to 19

 Nice to finally drop back from mileage a bit after many weeks in a row over 80, and to finally get a race in. 43 days between races, which happens to be the same gap as Gate River to Clamdigger in the Spring. Felt that for sure, would ideally like to race every 3 weeks or less. 

Monday: 7 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Was kind of shocked to look at my mileage plan and see 6 for Monday. I've been doing the same 8 mile run in Camarillo for 7-8 weeks on Mondays that it felt really strange to vary up. I never really feel like running on Mondays, especially so now having run every day of the year so it didn't feel like a treat or anything. I think I was a bit heavy on this. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Typical Kimber park road/trail mixer. Lowlight was being told to stop running by horseback riders. I guess they're right but I don't really like being told what to do. I never really know how to deal with running past horses and I selfishly enjoyed that many trails in RI are not multi-use and foot travel only. Felt absolutely terrible for a few miles early on, no energy at all and then it kicked in later. Interesting how that works. Kind of makes sense if I didn't eat breakfast, but I had my usual oatmeal. 

Wednesday: 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Peppertree workout on the usual hilly tempo loop. Did 4 mile warm-up, then 3 mile uphill tempo. On the longer efforts, I usually have a final mile or 2 on downhill Lynn road but with this being shorter I ended on a really tough/steep climb. Splits went about 5:45-5:55-6:10 but an even GAP with progressively harder hill. I've done enough workouts on this loop + a few faster hill workouts that hopefully I should be strong for the hills in Berkeley and Honolulu. Overall this felt like a good effort and not too hard. Actually rained a bit on Lynn Road and just past it, marking the first rain since arriving in Thousand Oaks in August.

Thursday: 10 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Usual short Cheeseboro loop. The short version of the loop (9.5 miles) is such a great run. Goes by quickly, some nice ups and downs, good scenery. Probably in my top 5 regular routes considering all of my RI/CT runs and NH. The route was different today post rain- a little green and the soil a lot less dry. Also got drenched early because it was quite humid for once. 

Friday: 8 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Peppertree 8 mile loop I've done before races. Felt really great on Cheeseboro Thursday but kind of generally below average on this. Did a few strides which felt neither good nor bad. I should really get into a routine with strides as they can make faster stuff more comfortable but I barely ever do them. 

Saturday: 5 Miles- Morgan Hill, CA

Like before San Jose, I ran on the coyote creek bike path in Morgan Hill (just south of San Jose city limit). Fairly long and boring drive up so it was nice to stretch the legs a little. I forgot to bring any trainers so I stopped by Dick's sporting goods and just picked up the cheapest decent looking pair I could find- tried out my first ASICS. I was a little nervous about trying out a new shoe right before a race but didn't really have another choice. 

On/off rain most of the day, but fortunately a dry window for the run. Not that I mind running in the rain, but it would have pretty inconvenient to get everything soaked going into a race without replacements. Last time here I felt pretty flat but managed 6:40 pace without really trying. Today I ran 6:30 feeling some stiffness and a bit of unresponsiveness from the shoes, but overall fairly smooth. I forgot how much of an impact supershoes make and felt great on the strides. Headed into Berkeley for packet pickup which I cut really close and then stayed the night in Oakland. 

Sunday: 18 Miles

4 Miles- Oakland, CA

Warm-up + cool down. Warm up did loops around the large hotel parking lots which was perfect as the loop was half a mile and well lit in the dark. Wasn't going to cool down but didn't feel terrible and it was a good extension for 70 on the week. OAB on the bike path. 

14 Miles- Berkeley, CA

Berkeley Half Marathon. Race went really well, pretty much a best case scenario which doesn't happen often. Definitely my best road race ever and in the running for one of my best period. 1:10:20 on a very hilly (650' of gain) course, feels like a small breakthrough and absolutely worth a sub-1:10 on a flat course. Getting there and a huge confirmation that grinding away at mileage, long runs and hills is working. I think if I do something similar next Spring and summer I'll finally see times I've been looking to run for years.

Andrew and I went to the Oakland zoo post race, which was decent but underwhelming. The 6 hour drive back was not fun. Speaking of Oakland, some of the areas I drove through were among the worst I've ever seen.  

Weekly Total: 70 Miles

Weekly Highlight: 31 second PR at Berkeley on a tough course. I'm making good progress and setting myself for success later on. 

Weekly Lowlight: This was a good running week. My only real complaint was just how tiring Sunday was and making a long, tedious drive back in the dark. 

3 weeks left to Honolulu. Mostly easy running until then as no more high 80s/low 90s week, no more 20+ long runs. Just some moderate workouts and then start to taper. What won't be so easy is schoolwork as with also 3 weeks left I have a lot of major projects, papers and exam due which will be a real grind. 

Rock 'n' Roll San Jose Half Marathon

 After 6-7 weeks of training in California including ramping up the mileage a bit, it was time to get in a longer race. I was definitely fit by this point, and a longer race would serve well as good fitness tester ahead of the final stretch of work pre marathon. With really limited competitive races in the Los Angeles area, this was a time I opted to head to the Bay Area for a race. This would be 2 of 3 trips I'd make this fall for Bay Area racing. 

The Giant 10K and the upcoming Berkeley Half are nothing special, but the competition at Rock 'n' Roll San Jose was excellent. I had long known of the rock n roll race series, but this was my first one. I think that's mainly because they don't have many (or any) events in the Northeast and there's already plenty of competitive alternative races in the area. In the West, there's a lot more Rock 'n' Roll events and a lot less alternative competitive races. That combined with getting a free entry despite being slightly slower than their standard made it an easy decision to go for this one. I hadn't run a half marathon since Pittsburgh and at this point had over 2 months of training under my belt, so it was a key race. That being said, while I knew I should be fit it was hard to known exactly where I'd be at. I set a range of 1:09:59-1:11:59 and would be happy with anything in there. Essentially going for A goal- sub 1:10, B goal- sub 1:11, C goal- sub 1:12. The course is very flat, around 200' elevation total but has quite a few turns. Overall still probably runs at least 30s faster, if not more than Philadelphia/Pittsburgh. I'd also have the advantage of racing in a full carbon fiber shoe for the first time, whereas I had been using the NB supercomp pacer (essentially a carbon fiber flat) for the past year. With a marathon coming up, it felt like a good time to get a better shoe. Goal wise, I thought if I was in phenomenal shape and executed the best race of my life then I could get the sub-1:10. I thought if I was in good shape but not quite there yet or felt a bit fatigued, then I could run just under sub-5:30 and that would be a pretty good result with 9-10 weeks until the marathon and not having tapered. Really a PR (1:11:18) would be a great run for me. I basically went in with the goal of breaking 1:12 but secretly wanting to run like 1:09:30. 

I actually felt very fatigued leading up into the race, getting heavy legs halfway into every run and feeling quite tired by the end. Just part of training harder, but I was surprised when it carried all the way to the day before the race and I just had to hope for the best. UPS totally dropped the ball delivering my new shoes, which had not come in on Friday, two days before the race. I ended up conducting a long internet search to see if any running stores had any carbon fiber shoes in stock in my size (basically none did). I ended up having to drive into Los Angeles and pick up from a New Balance. Got super lucky there. I tested out my new Supercomp Elite which felt kind of weird with the huge stack height. 

The day before, I made the drive North. Not terrible at 5 hours but not nothing either. That being said, this was much better than driving to LAX and flying, then taking public transit. I'm finding it's easier to drive in the big CA cities than East Coast, plus way more parking. Got in a 5 mile pre-meet at a very nice bike path in Morgan Hill. Ran 6:40 pace feeling effortless but still quite heavy unfortunately. Then took the VTA (San Jose light rail) into downtown. Really nice system, clean and free parking at all lots. Picked up my stuff quickly and headed back out. Stayed a pretty nice hotel in the Hilton Garden Inn Cupertino. Very nice city, and very reasonable hotel rate at around $130. Only complaint was getting woken up at 2am by the neighbors having very loud conversations. 

Always feels great to have an elite bib, even though I am quite far from elite

They've really scaled back, but likely I'll do at least one more next year

Up at 5AM for an 8AM start. In theory, the earlier starts should be getting harder for me as I wake up anywhere from 7-9am now with the night classes, but felt totally fine today. Typical pre race breakfast of oatmeal and a bar. Had to make it quick as I drove back to the public transit lot. My goal was to take the 6:45AM train which would get me to the start at 6:55AM having already warmed up. You never know what the lines are going to look like, so better to have extra time than not enough. I got to the lot at 6:15AM thinking I had plenty of time. Having run in the warm weather of SoCal, 55 degrees (perfect for racing) felt a bit chilly as I hadn't thought to bring a long sleeve. I ran dark loops around the parking lot, but felt great. The leg fatigue from the past week wasn't there and I felt ready to go. I was having to pee every few minutes from being well hydrated. Then suddenly I had to go No 2. Shuffled over to the port-a-potties on the other side of the lots which were locked up. Very nearly had a complete disaster (almost pooped pants) but was able to make it work. I'll spare the details because it was pretty gross. 

I went to get the remaining miles. Ran to the parking lot on the other side of the train tracks for some variety until some homeless guy was running around and screaming. I think I was shooting for 2.5 but at 2.2 I realized with the bathroom debacle, I didn't have all that much and I didn't have much stuff ready to go. I scrambled back to the car and tried to get all my stuff ready. I had 4 minutes or so to spare, but as the train was coming I realized I forgot my bodyglide and sprinted to the car and back to get it. Train was there when I got back. 

Much less stressful going into the actual race. Pleasantly surprised to get to downtown San Jose and see zero bathroom or bag check lines. I spent a while in the bathroom then just sat around a bit, feeling kind of cold in my short sleeves. With 20 minutes to go, I changed into race gear, checked my bag and went pee a final time (now short lines). I did a brief second warm-up with some strides and headed over to the start line. Now with less than 10 minutes to go, the bathroom lines were too long and I had to pee again. Oh well. Better to have to pee during race than to be dehydrated. Went into the elite corral which wasn't enforced at all and I think some non-elites snuck in, but fortunately easy to get into. Went close to the back and there were some fast runners here and I didn't want to go out too hard like Pittsburgh. 

A few race announcements and we were off. I truly eased off the line, which I did not do at Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. I ran with the people I started around for the first few turns, only to look at my watch and see 5:45 pace. Okay, that's not good. This pace felt very easy so it's a bit disappointing to have to get back on track so early. I slowly accelerated, passing a bunch of people until my watch read 5:20s. I ended up hitting the mile in 5:19 (5:15 on the clock) so I may have overdone it. Ran with the lead women for a brief bit before passing her. The race was kind of a blur through 4 miles. While I picked it up to get back in the 5:20/just under range, it felt quite smooth and comfortable. I pretty much never workout at this pace as it just feels too intense to hit, so it's always interesting how much easier things are with super shoes and resting up a little bit. Unlike many other big city downtowns, San Jose is pretty unremarkable and boring. There's no huge skyscrapers, iconic sites or historic buildings, it's just kind of a grid. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as I was able to just focus on racing, but at the same time there were no cool moments like in Philadelphia going through downtown or past historic sites. I ended up passing a handful of people due to my slow start but eventually settled. My only real discomfort was that I had to pee, although this went away soon enough. Mile 2-4 splits via GPS: 5:17, 5:13, 5:12. Okay, so pretty quick and no conservative strategy here. I hadn't intended to get into the low 5:10s but was feeling great at this effort. It was a little scary because I was entering uncharted territory and the wheels could come off at any moment. 5K in 16:23 and 4 Miles right around 21:05-21:10 which funny enough is marginally slower than my PR. I probably had similar if not faster splits at Pittsburgh but totally fell apart and felt awful right after 5K. Philadelphia I paced well but probably 20s slower through 5K. 

Just as I wondering when the pace would fall off, my legs got fairly heavy and I started to struggle a little bit during Mile 5. This is probably where my first signs of fatigue pop up in a half marathon, but this was more concerning given I had gone out hard. Every time I checked my watch I would see 5:20s and think I was fading a bit. But still went through Mile 5 in a 5:15 and in the 26:30s. I was chasing some stragglers falling off their respective packs. I guess that had just been a brief rough patch as I was feeling great again Mile 6. But still a long way to go. Around 5.5 I passed black singlet guy who I'd go back and forth with the rest of the race. The race has a 10K option and I was thinking that would be great to finish up for 10K as I'd have a huge PR coming and not have to worry about struggling the last 7 miles. 

Just before 10K, I went under a tunnel and my GPS was showing 4:40 pace so I knew this mile split would be a little off- 5:06. There was a small bump of a hill that I surged up and past another guy. I took my gel and tried to take it slowly. Went down pretty well but by holding an open gel I got some on my fingers so my hands were sticky. We ran past where the San Jose Sharks play, but I didn't notice as this was where the water stop was. The rest of the race was a lollipop using the Alameda- a divided 6 lane road with a short loop to turnaround. I looked at my watch at the 10K split and saw 32:57- a full 40s faster than that split at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, plus an outright 26 second PR for the distance. I knew I was on track for a great run, but with 7 miles to go I didn't want to get cocky. 

I felt strong for the rest of the Alameda before turning into some quieter neighborhood roads. I noted a rough halfway split of 34:30, putting me right on 69:00 pace. I knew there was probably going to be some kind of fade, but if I held on enough this could be the sub-70 half. 5:16, 5:19 for miles 7 & 8. Just after 8 we went up a slight incline and all of sudden my legs got super heavy and I was running a lot closer to 5:30 pace. I had a few moments like this earlier on, so I tried to ignore it. Saw CJ Albertson run the opposite direction, he eventually would win the race. We turned onto a busier street and I was passed by a few guys and felt I was totally blowing up. Hit Mile 9 in 5:28, the first sign of decline. I tried to press through as best as I could but my legs were really holding me back. I also started to notice my watch was pretty far ahead of the actual course markers. I was hoping this wouldn't happen, but this would mean extra time I hadn't counted on. Mile 10 in 5:25 which wasn't too bad. I hit the Mile 10 marker in 53:35 which felt good in the fact that I've never run sub-54 for 10 miles before (and 50s or so faster than philly), but the problem was I was fading fast. I had mentally calculated that I would need a 53:20 to be on pace for sub-1:10 and this confirmed that wasn't happening. 

Mile 11 was somewhat back on track in 5:18, but then the return to the Alameda was mentally tough. Physically hurting quite a bit at this point but also having the stress that I had to give it my all to the finish to ensure a PR. Without any turns the road felt endless and the slight uphill of Mile 12 really hurt. I though if I ran close to 5:30 to the finish, I'd be just over 1:10. I was thinking maybe I could dig really deep and try to run 5:10 or faster the last mile to get under. Mile 12 was my slowest at 5:36. The last mile was a slight downhill and I absolutely hammered but could not run any faster than 5:20s at this point with the cumulative fatigue. I was just trying to get to the finish line in one piece. The last mile really went in slow motion as I was suffering. Got to the final few turns and realized my watch was way over the distance. I hit 13 miles on my watch at 1:09:30 or so but wouldn't get to the official marker for another 45 seconds. Only one turn left, except now I'm not sure I'll even break 1:11. Mustered what I had left to get to the line while starting at the finish clock. Went past a guy who totally packed it in and didn't even try to fight me to the line and crossed in just under 1:11. 5:28 final mile. Even the last .2 on my watch I couldn't run any faster than 5:20 pace. 

I was actually a little disappointed to cross the line because I thought I had a chance at sub 1:10 for much of the race and then barely broke 1:11. I ran 8 excellent miles, well ahead of where I was running for my PR at Philly last year, then struggled home the last 5 and added a lot of time. 1:10:51 official, so it still got me a 27 second PR and beat both the B and C goal so I'm still pretty happy with it. But shot for the moon and came up a bit short. I was about 45 seconds ahead of Philly at 10M, but only beat Philly by 27s. So giving up 18s in that last 5K right there. I finished 35th place, so this was a deep field. Full results here. Technically I ran 1:10:48 on chip time but unfortunately only the gun time is listed so I don't have any proof. Frustrating but it's only a few seconds. I know this was the time because my watch had me at 1:10:49, I know I lined up pretty far back from the start and the photos page show my time as 1:10:48. 

Here are some split comparisons below between Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Jose (some splits estimated):

Given I had a full training block under my belt and full taper at Philadelphia, I think this does demonstrate superior and improving fitness. I had a C goal of sub 1:12 because I didn't necessarily know where my fitness was but I'm very far ahead of October 1, 2022. I literally ran a 1:15:10 in October 2022. I think given the hills of Philadelphia and the fact that my shoes are a little better now, that Philadelphia was probably a slightly better run. I just happened to pace Philadelphia really well for where my fitness was and I went out a touch too hard here which ended up hurting me. 

Overall though this was a good, maybe even great run. I think sub-1:10 is right around the corner especially if I give it a full taper/block. I think I could run this same race again in late November with a taper in around 1:09:30. I probably won't see that time until next year though as my next half will be quite hilly. 

Watch distance ended up being 13.3 so I got a ton of extra distance. I almost certainly was not on pace for 1:09:00 at half, but estimated the half way point to be earlier than it was. That's a lot of extra distance/time as my watch calculated my half marathon to be just under 1:10. Of course running extra distance is just part of road racing, but .2 miles is a frustratingly high amount. Only way to avoid this I guess is specifically picking courses with few turns. 

I was destroyed after this race. I think with my previous halfs for Detroit I packed it in a bit, and then Philadelphia/Pittsburgh I had the advantage of a full taper. San Jose I truly went to the well and pushed probably a lot harder through a blow up and it really messed up my legs as I was sore for the entire week. 

As for the event, I really liked this one. Basically no lines and quite easy to get around race morning. The entire set up was quite professional, and the field was absolutely loaded for an event that isn't super well known. Generally going back to each major half, I can pick out a major problem with each one and that's not the case here. Possibly the best overall organized half marathon I've done. And I got free entry, despite only placing 35th. Free entry into a large and competitive half is a nice treat, but especially so when I'm nowhere near the top 10. This was a good fitness check and race before a long training block, and definitely looking to race some more Rock n Roll races while I'm on the West Coast for another year. Likely looking at Las Vegas next February for the next one. 

5th Avenue Mile

After settling in California for 3ish weeks, I made a quick trip back to the Northeast to run the 5th avenue mile. This was a long trip across the country (I had previously considered racing the New Haven Road Race the weekend prior, and am glad I didn't) that I'd probably avoid, but had signed up in June before I knew I'd be in California at that time. I'm not opposed to traveling further away for a race, but figured it'd be better to race in California/West Coast while I'm out there for only a year or so, and fulfill my Northeast bucket list races while I'm back in RI/New England and it's much easier to get around. 

The mile was only $50 or so (expensive for a mile, but not a ton of money to justify still flying out for it), but decided to still race because I had paid about $100 for a Billy Joel concert. Shortly after that he announced he won't being playing at Madison Square Garden anymore and scaling his concerts back significantly, causing all remaining NYC concerts to sell out immediately. So now with $150 down towards this trip and potentially a last chance to see him in concert, it felt more worth it to go. My fitness was coming around at this point but still nowhere near peak. For a mile I wouldn't have particularly high expectations but secretly wanted to break 4:30 on the fast downhill course. 

Flew over early Saturday morning with no time to run before a 6am flight. Flew on JetBlue for the first time which seemed to have good reviews, and I really enjoyed it. Definitely worth paying the extra $10/flight to get an aisle seat as it was easy enough to get up for the bathroom. Unlimited included snacks/drinks was a really nice perk and it did feel like there was extra leg room. Movie selection seemed limited but still found some stuff to watch in Dungeons and Dragons and Zoolander, both quite entertaining. The two people next to me were super quiet and pleasant not having annoying neighbors. Landed around 3:30PM at JFK, and still a long trip from there to Columbus Circle in Manhattan to pick up my bib, meet up with Andrew and get in a pre meet run in Central Park. I incorrectly thought the subway connected to JFK, but instead JFK has an airtrain that connects to the subway system, meaning an additional leg. It took quite a while to get to Manhattan with both legs of transport, waiting for trains and many stops on the subway. Some guy kept almost falling asleep on my shoulder on the subway and it was awkward. Bright side is there was an issue with the payment machine for the airtrain so I didn't have to pay the $10. 

Nice automated display on subway showing the upcoming stops

Andrew picked up my race supplies as I was running late, then I grabbed a bagel since I had so little to eat by then. NYC bagels never disappoint and are truly in a class of their own. We paid for the bounce luggage storage which is a good option for dropping your stuff in a city and running, and I was now comfortable with as I had done it a few times. Typical Central Park loop. I felt great although the humidity was very noticeable after running on the much less humid SoCal coast the last few weeks. Sometimes my feet will bother after a long travel days walking around in my running shoes and that was the only thing that felt off. Strides weren't great, but overall I felt about as good as I could expect. 

Stayed in Englewood, New Jersey which was a bit of pain. Took the subway as close to the GW bridge as I could. Tried to figure out the Bus system but it was really confusing and the bus wasn't showing up. This was my third time trying to figure bus systems for races (Jacksonville and Pittsburgh this spring) and it really feels like they try to make it as confusing as possible. Ended up bailing and taking an uber to the hotel. Unfortunate late night with the cross country flight and ate pretty late. Only slept about 6 hours having to get up for the race. Andrew and I would race at 9:40AM and we woke up around 5:30. Quick breakfast and out of there. Long legs of travel- uber to bus stations, successfully took the bus this time and then took the subway several legs to columbus circle. Andrew had to use Bounce again as he was only staying one night and couldn't leave his baggage in the hotel. I killed the time waiting for him by stretching a bit and jogging over to the finish, although the latter was quite uncomfortable given I was carrying a small bag with a lot of stuff in it. 

Andrew and I got in the remainder of the warm-up and both agreed it was really uncomfortable/unnatural running while carrying a stuffed gym bag. We decided to do some really short loops so we could drop our bags but monitor them so they couldn't get stolen. Racing in the big city is a big hassle! It's a lot easier if you stay really close to the start but the Manhattan hotel prices were ridiculous for that weekend and saved a lot of money staying in NJ. We had warmed up a little early and had plenty of time to use the port-a-potties. This was an all-morning event as each 5 year age group had their own start. Technically I could have qualified for the NYRR championship seeded heat as the standard was 4:28, but I didn't know about this and missed out. I wasn't too bummed given I'd be pretty close to dead last in that field anyway and would rather be competitive in my heat. 

With maybe 15-20 minutes to go, we dropped our bags at gear check and jogged over to the start + a few strides. I can't remember too well how I felt this day. I don't think I felt especially good but I'm not sure if it was terrible either. I don't remember being too confident. 

Fortunately our bibs were marked to be in the fastest section of our heat as there was a seeded group of about 16 guys. Andrew and I had been worried as we couldn't enter a seed but rather was converted to a 10K pace based on previous NYRR races (just Dash to the Finish 5K for me)- which looked like I was being seeded around 5:25. I lined up towards the back of the group, not wanting to start too aggressive. Goal was to get under 4:30- no turns, no downhills but that seemed a little out of reach with my lack of speed lately and the challenging travel circumstances. Some NYRR official kept gesturing at someone in the seeded corral to move, but I could not tell who he was pointing to or what they wanted him to do. Feel like this happens in every big race. Someone's always angry.  

Soon enough we were off. I remember wanting to go out in 66/67 and put myself in a position for sub-4:30 without setting myself up a big positive split. It's tough to properly pace for a road mile as it really feels like an all out sprint. My legs felt kind of heavy and flat at this pace (versus controlled during a longer race) but I still managed to get out fast. Hit the quarter mile in 64, a bit ahead of schedule but a 15 foot drop. 

The second quarter was the toughest with a 16 foot uphill. The fast start and not feeling super comfortable with the pace led to a big slow down even though I was moving up well on the group and in the 3rd to 5th range. I think I hit the half mile in 2:14/2:15. 

The last half mile was just all out racing without much tactics. We had around a 20 foot drop in this quarter mile so it was pretty fast and kept me from falling off the pace. This is likely the quarter mile I really fall off during the Bottone Mile. I actually moved back to 7th/8th as a lot of people were making their moves. 

Final quarter mile is pretty much flat with the finish line in sight the entire way. Not much to recap from the race, ran as hard as I could to the line and got caught by one guy which is pretty typical as I'm not a great kicker in the shorter races. Eyes on the clock to see what I'd hit and unlike Millennium Mile, I was able to get there before the clock hit 4:30. Saw 4:28 when I crossed (or maybe 4:29 but I started a second back) and 4:28 on my watch, but NYRR gave a round-up to 4:29. Regardless, sub-4:30 is sub 4:30 and I was happy this one. Absolutely not working on speed in the slightest, still pretty early in this training block, and the travel made for non-ideal circumstance. But I got it done and took 5 seconds off previous PR off Bottone. According to strava, the total net downhill is 23 feet, which isn't nothing but not crazy either and there's probably 20 feet in there as well. So I'll count as a PR as it's not a massive downhill boost. Full results.

While the effort felt all out and no room to go faster, I interesting was not completely cooked like Millennium Mile or some track races. For both Millennium Mile and my first two 4:25 indoor miles this past January, I had horrible chest burn for 30 minutes-hour post race. 5th ave felt far less fatigued than most races this year. 

Post race Andrew and I did a 6 mile cooldown exploring lots of Central Park. There are so many interior paths (versus doing the popular 6 mile outer road loop) and a decent amount of soft surface as well. Briefly got on some steep technical trails. Was pretty tired but good to explore. Originally I had considered a workout but didn't have it in me. I had the good idea of switching my race shoes/singlet out of my checked bag but leaving there (so I could cool down/not to have to carry bag) which absolutely baffled the volunteers (you guys are putting your bags back?). It's strange to me that 99% of racers seem to warm up and cool down in supershoes, but it is better from a convenience standpoint. 

Absolutely poured the last 2 miles and they ended up cancelling the NY championship heat, so I'm quite glad I didn't end up in that one. Explored midtown a bit after, got some decent food, watched the elite heat. What wasn't so fun was the trip back to New Jersey on a really tight window then getting 3ish hours sleep having to get over to JFK the next morning for my flight. I ubered over to the GW bridge as the the buses didn't run that early (at 5AM) with plans to walk over the bridge to the subway. Only to find the bridge was locked and I had to get a second uber. The freaks were out on the subway too with a guy screaming f-bombs and hitting things with a stick. And then the previous night a military guy screaming at a lady that she doesn't have the intestinal fortitude (whatever that means) to serve, and called her a civilian bitch. Had to throw out a favorite water bottle in the airport because the TSA guy was being a total jerk and the only other option was to go back in line with security (half hour wait). The flight back was not great either as I noticed a guy was my seat. He asked to trade his middle seat with my aisle seat so he could sit with his wife, which I declined for a 6 hour flight. Not sure that was the best move though, as the (obese) wife had a baby that proceeded to scream and cry, kick me and steal my snacks on and off for the flight. 

On the whole though despite a miserable travel experience, I raced well, enjoyed most of my time in Manhattan. Glad to cross off a bucket list race and I'd definitely do it again. Would be much better coming in from New England and not California as well. I think it was pretty lame NYRR cancelled the NY championship heat but otherwise no real complaints. 

Weekly Log: November 6 to 12

 Pretty much the final key week of training before the Honolulu Marathon. Last near-90 mile week and last 20 miler/big marathon workout. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Typical Camarillo loop. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Usual Tuesday loop, except I was less lazy than usual starting at 9am instead of 11am. And weather was great- low 60s and not as sunny as usual. Felt good Monday and Tuesday. 

Wednesday: 16 Miles

Last double of the block fortunately as my late morning starts just don't feel good for doubles. 

AM 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Hilly workout loop I've been doing from Peppertree. Sometimes it's nice to break the workout up, but can't deny the effectiveness of the 6 mile tempo. Just a good hard simple workout. First 4 miles are uphill then 2 miles downhill. Pace was a bit on the slow side- I think 5:57 ish average, but a solid continuous effort when factoring in conditions- hilly (450' up, 300' down) and windy (19mph winds). Uphill splits were only slightly slower than usual as I didn't have much of a headwind, but just couldn't make up much time of the downhill with the stiff headwind. Good workout and didn't feel too cooked. 

PM 4 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

From the apartment. Felt okay but still pretty tired from the workout given only 3ish hours recovery. 

Thursday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

More exploration, this time checking out Westlake Village (first city in L.A. county, one West of Thousand Oaks). Ran a hilly trail for first 3-4 miles in South Ranch park which was really scenic and I enjoyed that the trail was fairly rocky for a change. Very nice trail running. Then got on some busy roads that I thought would be better. Some okay sections as there's so many neighborhoods here, but really a mediocre route I won't go back to. 

Friday: 10 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Cheeseboro short version. The shorter version feels so nice and goes by quickly. This is like my Burlingame loop of California (a go to always enjoyable trail run). Overheard a conversation with a dad telling his young son (both on mountain bikes) that he needs to share the trail with other users. Unfortunately the minority of bikers seem to feel this way. I felt great on this one. Sometime I get really flat and struggle on the uphill but it felt easy today. Was going up one of the tougher (and one of the few technical) uphill sections and an older guy was cheering me on. He turned to another older guy and said "Remember when we used to be like that?" The other guy responded "I was never like that!". Anyway, it's pleasant when people are nice and friendly versus mountain bikers clogging the trails and being jerks. 

Saturday: 22 Miles- Ventura, CA

Last 20+ run. Typical 6 mile warm up, 12 workout and 4 cool down. Felt super sluggish on the warm up and temperature was already in the 70s by 10am so I wasn't sure how it would go. Goal today was 2x5 Mile at goal MP (5:50 or so) with a 5 mile jog in the middle. I take a lot of time between the warm-up/workout and workout/cool down as it's mentally tough to go out and back three times, but I'm not sure how else I'd format it to fuel properly. 

Went out for the 5 and felt strong and able to hit mid-5:30s which was a bit quicker than planned. But just went with it. Did get some rare compliments from bikers who thought I was fast. Felt great through 3 and warmed up a bit/got a bit hard the last two but finished out the block feeling strong in 28:19 (5:40 average, 5:30 GAP with the slight uphill) so a great rep. Thought the second one would feel harder with the fatigue but hopefully could run a similar effort with the downhill. Struggled to get down a gel dry (dehydrated), then flipped and went into it. Was only running marginally slower than rep #1, but it felt much worse and was cooked. Told myself to get through at 3 and it the hurt the whole way, so I finished up there in 17:10 (5:44 pace). I guess in terms of GAP 5:30 is a lot faster than 5:47 but cumulative fatigue definitely counts, and I was feeling the effects of the heat/dehydration as well in the rep. Also felt like there was a bit of headwind on return. 3 miles easy back to car felt okay. Thought the last 4 "cooldown" was going to be a real struggle but it didn't feel too bad. Stunning views of the ocean at the turnaround of cooldown. Absolutely depleted for several hours after this one. Overall not quite what I wanted but 2x5 was always going to be pretty hard and I got in some quality work. 

Sunday: 10 Miles- Moorpark, CA

Goal was 88 instead of 92 this week, which I think was a nice move for me (10 mile runs Friday and Sunday instead of 12). With the higher mileage I've doing, 10 feels like a nice "shorter" day even it's just cutting off a few miles. There's so much to explore here within a 30 minute drive, but the problem is most of the trails are brutally hilly (1,500'+ elevation over 10 miles) so I incorporate a lot of road into the runs. Trying to run in all 10 municipalities of Ventura County, so went for Moorpark today. Mostly quiet roads and even some nice shaded sections lined with pine trees. Maybe 3ish miles of flat dirt in there. Felt really flat/tight to start but much better by the end. Almost had a really bad bathroom issue, but suddenly got to a park with public restrooms. I could make a long list of things better and worse here than RI, public restrooms + water fountains is definitely a big plus. 

Weekly Total: 88 Miles

Weekly Highlight: A good training week, good long tempo sessions both Wednesday and Saturday. Felt like I got back into a groove after struggling a little bit the previous week. 

Weekly Lowlight: This was a good running week, no real complaints. No significant achilles problems. 

Movies Watched: The Stranger, Black Adam

I have 4 weeks left in the block, which will look this:

November 19- Berkeley Half Marathon (Tune-Up for Honolulu)

November 26- Last higher volume week/big travel with Thanksgiving

December 3- Start to taper

December 10- Honolulu Marathon

I'm feeling very confident about where my fitness is. I'm not so sure it will pay off in either race given Berkeley is considerably hillier than any of the half marathons I've done (600' gain) and Honolulu will almost certainly be a warm race. We'll see what happens and regardless, the goal of this block was to build a lot of fitness and test out marathon training. The fact that I've been largely pain-free since April and haven't had significant injury since last November bodes well for the next block, which will be abbreviated but I hope to really get after faster races in better conditions. The next set of races is coming up pretty quick, but I'll finish out this block and time in Hawaii before committing to 2024 races. I plan to have a race schedule determined through March 2024 around Christmastime. 

Weekly Log: October 30 to November 5

 Pushing through the long grind of higher mileage with no racing. Low motivation this week. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Typical Camarillo bike path loop, except there was 21mph winds which is unusual for here. Windy yesterday so continued trend of that. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Typical Tuesday trail loop. Warm run (76 at start) unfortunately after some cooler days. Noted that my October final mileage was 383, which was significantly higher than any other month. This isn't surprising, given I only raced the first few weekends (without much mileage drop), then pushed higher mileage than I've ever done for most of the month including my first time in the 90s twice. But feels strange just how much of a mileage PR this was as my previous was 341. Might not hit that again in a while as it was combination of no races + high training. 

Wednesday: 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

6xOld Conejo hill, third time doing this workout. Was thinking 6 was the minimum and shoot for 8. Went out conservative with the goal of doing 8 and the first one felt really easy. Suddenly my legs felt crap and I was struggling a bit so I finished out with a slight progression and then pushing the last one harder. Didn't have much in the tank for a cooldown. Not an awful day, but not great either. 

Thursday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Another central thousand oaks explore. Started from Conejo Community park and went in various trails. Hilly loop at 1,000' gain but still a lot less than I had explored trails further. This route was pretty nice was it was warm out, my legs felt bad and I got really dehydrated without water fountains. 

Friday: 10 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Ran earlier (7AM) because they shut the apartment water off for a few hours and I didn't want to be stuck not being able to shower. Felt good on this one, but first long sleeve run in CA. Actually felt frigid the first few miles with my hands getting really cold. Then comfortable through the mid-way point and got a bit warm in the sun at the high points of the route. Massive cold pockets for sure as once I got out of the sun again, it was very cold. Interesting. Definitely deacclimated from cold somewhat and probably going be very cold when I'm in RI for a bit at Christmas. 

Saturday: 17 Miles- Calabasas, CA

Went to attempt another FKT. There was a half marathon trail race on the Channel Islands I had really wanted to do but it sold out. The FKT options aren't really great around here but I settled for this 13.5 mile loop with 2,300' of elevation change, lots of big ups and downs. Set the alarm for 5:45AM and snoozed quite a bit. Just couldn't do an early rise two days in a row (7am is early for me at the moment). 

Did a 3 mile warm-up on roads feeling pretty relaxed. Saw a bunch of bikers head out before getting after it myself. Wasn't feeling too motivated and didn't want to hammer such a long and hilly route, so I opted for the approach hard uphills, relax on the downs. Thought I ran the first mile pretty well (7:45 for 350') then started to unintentionally slow. Kept a solid effort for two more miles but nowhere near race pace, and made a wrong turn. The second major climb around Mile 4 started to have some overgrowth and became a preview of what I had in store. The trail was surprisingly very narrow, got next to steep drop offs and was pretty much empty. The third major climb was much more overgrown that I had to walk. Kind of intimidating as flowers would droop over the trail so I'd walk through hundreds of bees going about their day. Fortunately they didn't mind. 

The next section was more runnable and I started to get back on track a little as few downhills were overgrown. The 4th big climb came and was truly awful. Overgrown like before, but with very sharp, thorny plants that would detach in my skin. I had some blood coming out in parts and was stopping to pull thorns out of me. Absolutely horrible half mile (my continuous mile split for this one was 18 minutes), so I completely gave up. Fortunately the last 3-4 miles were runnable again but I was tired and didn't really want to push. Skipped the cooldown, although I only had a mile or so planned. Lots of switchbacks throughout which were great on the uphills but killed momentum on the downs. 

Turns out there's a race on this route anyway and the FKT is probably only the 100th fastest effort, so even if I had a great effort in good conditions it wouldn't have counted. 

Sunday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Better than expected. Ran a bit late so I could watch the NYC marathon. Wasn't looking forward to it, but went well and felt pretty good. Wore a pack as it was warm and had no issues. Santa Rosa Valley-Conejo canyon loop. 

One of the very few stream crossings around here

Weekly Total: 80 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Finishing out a great October of training. Easily the best month I've ever put up in terms of volume and long runs. Still mostly healthy too, supporting that intensity is what gets me injured not mileage.

Weekly Lowlight: Kind of a lousy training week- small step back mileage wise and both harder efforts didn't feel very strong. Saturday run's ended up not being enjoyable with all the overgrowth. 

Movies Watched: Couples Retreat, Midnight Run, Hustle

Finally caught up, at least with the weekly logs. Now we'll see how far back I'll fall go going into difficult coursework/end of semester and some weekend races. 

Weekly Log: October 23 to 29

 Hard week of training. 

Monday: 8 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Typical Camarillo bike path loop. Felt good for once. 

PM saw Adam Sandler standup on his tour in Anaheim. It was pretty good and definitely glad I went. He had Rob Schneider, Joseph Vecsey, Judd Apatow and John Mulaney as openers. I went there mostly on public transportation so I got to explore that for another city. 

Here are the transportation legs I took:

L.A. metro subway red line- not great. Dirty but not the worst I've seen. Coming back was awful as there were a bunch of freaks on the subway and I found a cockroach crawling on my legs. Ample and easy ($3 for the day) parking at subway station though. 

L.A. metrolink commuter rail- pretty nice. Probably better than Boston's or NYC's commuter rail which are the only other ones I've taken. 

Amtrak Pacific surfliner- fine, but not great for amtrak standards. Certainly not as nice as Northeast regional or downeaster which I've taken more. Double decker. 

Also walked a few miles in Downtown Los Angeles, which I had never been to before. Was okay overall- the skyscraper sections weren't as nice as Boston or NYC but I went through a fairly nice park next to the city hall. I hadn't seen a ton of the notorious homeless issues in Los Angeles until today- large homeless encampment outside of Union Station and the North Hollywood subway station. Both union station and anaheim train station were nice, but nowhere near as nice as the Northeast train station. Makes sense as there's much more of a driving culture here where there's more emphasis on public transport in the Northeast. Overall, Los Angeles feel like a real mixed bag as there's a lot of good things and a lot of bad. 

Tallest building in CA

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Los Angeles City Hall

Homeless encampment outside Union Station

Union Station

Anaheim Train Station

Subway/Light rail Rankings:

1. Washington, D.C. (Washington Metro)- clean, sophisticated, lots of lines

2. San Francisco (BART + Muni)- clean, BART connects most of the bay area, but not as extensive in SF proper

3. Boston (MBTA)- cleanliness varies, but runs frequently and connects most of the city

4. Chicago (CTA)- very extensive system, but dirtier/cheaper

5. New York City (MTA)- very extensive system, but doesn't leave the city proper and is very filthy/can be sketchy. some sophistication with electronic displays

6. San Jose (VTA)- technically could include BART as well, but feel like SF is the more prominent city and more options there. This is a two line light rail system and only runs every half hours, but free parking at every station and very nice + clean trains. Certainly enjoyed more than Chicago + NYC but a much smaller system. 

7. Los Angeles (LA metro)- fairly dirty and not an extensive system at all, was quite sketchy at night

8. Philadelphia (SEPTA)- worst in every category- dirty, sketchy, not very extensive. do not enjoy riding this one

Hard to rank the commuter rails- I've only done Boston, NYC and LA. Los Angeles had the comfiest trains for sure, but doesn't run very late or early. Boston's seats aren't very good but it goes basically everywhere in Greater Boston. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Usual trail loop. Totally wiped out from getting back really late and ran in the evening. The bright side is the weather is so much better at that hour. 70 degrees usually feels fairly warm, but hardly any sunlight in the evening meant it was pretty comfortable. The scenery was better too. Saw a coyote.

Wednesday: 16 Miles

AM 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Did a basic cutdown fartlek going 6-5-4-3-2-1-30s for hard portions and half rest really trying to keep it steady/not jog (6:40s or so). Uphill for the majority (until 2 minutes hard) so the splits weren't super fast, but I managed in picking up every single one except the 3 minute which was on a pretty steep hill (and the rest was on a steep hill so I felt tired going in). Last 3 downhill and got hammering towards the end (low 4s for the 30s). Good to touch different paces and do some up and down work. Was happy with this one. 

PM 4 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Zero achilles discomfort this morning running hard, but really bothering me on this one. My late morning runs just don't work well for doubles at all as I'm not really recovered and not in the mood to run again. Fortunately it's only necessary for the 90 mile weeks so I don't have to do it often. The pleasant valley soccer fields are empty in the morning but absolutely packed at night. It's a huge complex with the field probably .4x.1 miles and every single field was being used. Made it kind of awkward to run on the edge of fields of games but it was okay. 

Thursday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Santa Rosa Valley double lollipop I've now done a few times. Just generally a pretty nice loop mostly soft surface but a lot less hilly than the alternatives. Achilles felt a bit weak but not too bad. Another coyote sighting. 

Friday: 12 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Long cheeseboro loop in pretty good weather (upper 50s). Loop comes out to 11.4 or so and adding on is annoying. 

Saturday: 22 Miles- Ventura, CA

Big long run. I had progressed from 14 to 16 to 18 to 20. And now another step up for 22. That's a bit intimidating as it's a lot of miles and my legs had been feeling tired lately. Last run in NB Rebels which were wearing out and I probably should have retired them sooner. Did 6 miles warmup feeling pretty relaxed although my legs were already starting to tire which wasn't a great sign. 

My goal for today was 12 hard at MP effort going for 6:00. I told myself 6:10 would be fine on the way out as it's a slight uphill and I'd likely pick it up coming back with the downhill. It felt somewhat hard pretty early on which was disappointing as I was only running 5:55 pace or so. Really didn't feel much more comfortable than running 5:30 pace a few weeks ago. Did 2 miles just over 5:55 then found myself fading to over 6:00 and not feeling super confident. Just pressed on and somehow the pace corrected itself back to low 5:50s and gave me a small buffer if needed. Took a gel at mile 7. I had terrible bonks here the last two times and was thinking that was from trying to do 12 miles hard without a gel inbetween. Didn't feel great today but nowhere near bonking either. Uneventful return, felt slightly easier with the downhill and was running closer to 5:40 but it wasn't easy either. The last mile got super hard and I was definitely hanging on. In the end- 12 miles averaging 5:49, so a pretty solid effort. I've only done more than 8 in a workout once and that was 10 at 5:52 pace, so this was a little better. Felt like trash getting those last 4 for 22 but got it done. This was a good one, happy to have this session under my belt. Feeling almost ready. 

Sunday: 12 Miles- Calabasas, CA

Was trying to explore a new route and found one in Calabasas that didn't have crazy elevation. Wasn't looking forward to this one with the fatigue from the week but ended up being some fun exploration. Crazy windy out with 25 mph winds but rarely had a headwind. Ran 3ish miles on roads which were somewhat busy but most had huge shoulders so it was nice running. Then a lot of non-technical trails through Malibu creek state park that were well maintained and good views.   

Weekly Total: 92 Miles (most I've ever done)

Weekly Highlight: Good training week. Good workout, mileage and long run. 

Weekly Lowlight: Mid-week achilles discomfort. 

Movies Watched: You're So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

Weekly Log: October 16 to 22

 Monday: 8 Miles- Camarillo, CA

Typical Camarillo loop. Continued warm weather, was going to check out another spot but already in the 80s there. 

Tuesday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Typical Tuesday trail loop I've been doing. Warm and sunny.

Wednesday: 12 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

Tried something a bit different this week with my hard efforts on trails. There are some cool trails around here and I was hoping to do some trail races, but some were sold out. Others seemed either too expensive or just too difficult to put my current training. Settled for an FKT attempt instead and used the weekday workout to get in a trail tempo. I do think most training for a road race should be done on road, but it really doesn't hurt to change it up on the trails every once in a while. Note I would have really liked to run the Grills trail race this year but it just didn't work out with my location/having to fly back. 

Did a 7 mile tempo mostly on the trails with a bit of road connector. Starting from Del Prado playfield, ran through the Sycamore park trail before some road to the Vista del Mar trail. When I feel good these trails feel easy on runs, but it's a totally different story when hammering. Overall the uphills felt brutal and descents much more controlled/manageable. Went onto the sierra vista trail, which is a bit steeper than vista del mar and started to feel pretty fatigued at the 5 mile mark. This was up a steep climb and quite hot on the exposed ridge, so not surprised. Made a wrong turn after and more or less just cruised back to the playfield. Was aiming for 6, but figured I'd finish out the mile after the wrong. Some woman seemed to think I ran too close to her and was appalled. Kind of passive aggressive "Excuse me! Have a good day!". 

Overall felt fairly strong on this and averaged close to 6:00 GAP (no technicality on these trails) so a solid effort. Achilles felt a bit strained which has been an issue since late September but never a real concern. 

Thursday: 11 Miles- Thousand Oaks, CA

A central thousand oaks run rather than Newbury park. Ran through some of the ridge trails near California Lutheran University which is really nice running, although the trails get very close to large groups of cacti (if you were running hard or not paying attention, it'd be quite easy to run into a cactus). Haven't really gotten used to seeing cacti really, and I don't really like the dry desert like environment. Some roads over to Conejo Creek park which is excellent as there's a lot flat dirt running there + water fountains/bathrooms. Many of the Thousand Oaks roads are fairly busy (city with over 100,000 people) but many also have very wide shoulders so the road running is decent. 

The problem is more with traffic stops. They're avoidable running near the edges of the city, but I had to stop a lot in the last few miles on this and it was pretty warm out again (79 at start apparently, although that may have been wrong). 

 Friday: 12 Miles- Agoura Hills, CA

Long cheeseboro loop. I generally don't get up very early but this loop is an exception as it can get really hot. Highs in the 90s again so running at 7am is the best way to go. Don't remember this one too well. 

Saturday: 18 Miles- Los Angeles, CA

There were a handful of FKTs within a 30 minute drive, but the Victory-Cheeseboro loop seemed the best one to tackle at 12 miles and 1,800'. Decently long and decently hilly without being outrageous in either (I think any other FKT in the area was longer/hillier). I had also wanted to check out Las Virgenes Canyon which is adjacent to Cheeseboro where I've been running on Fridays. The drive is a bit longer and the trails are quite a bit hillier, but this was a good opportunity to explore that. 

The trailhead was on the absolute edge of Western Los Angeles and the loop headed towards the Cheeseboro Canyon. I wrote a lengthy recap on the FKT site so I'll just post that here:

Ran the unsupported Victory-Cheeseboro Loop FKT in Los Angeles, CA on 10/21/2023 (Saturday) with a time of 1:19:36. Former FKT was 1:24:12. I tried to get there early to avoid heat and crowds. I arrived at the trailhead just before sunrise. It turns out the gates had just opened (park is closed during dark) so I'm glad I didn't try to go any earlier. Note it costs $3 cash to park there but there is also free street parking on the roads. Did a 3 mile warm up on the first part of the course which is a gradual downhill on a fire road. I've run the adjacent Cheeseboro Canyon loop many times, but this was my first time here and it was quite nice. 

For the FKT effort, I wore a pack with one 17mL soft flask filled with water and one gel. I wasn't sure if I'd need either but I figured it would be better to have in case I bonked. With minimal materials, it really doesn't add any burden to carry either. My goal was to run an effort close to 6:00 GAP and hopefully have a few minutes cushion on the FKT. I had downloaded the gpx file from the previous FKT holder Alexander Parker 's strava and monitored that on my watch closely as this route was entirely new to me. 

Got out comfortably for the downhill miles with sub-6s and feeling pretty good. Throughout the run, there were groups of hikers but generally didn't get in the way. Mile 3 was more rolling but still felt pretty comfortable. Mile 4 ascends the ridge into Cheeseboro Canyon and is a tough 300' climb. Did well on this but it felt brutal. A couple easy downhill miles again before another 300' climb in Mile 6 which wasn't quite as hard. There are more intersections for the rest of the run and navigation is more important here. I took my gel just before Mile 7. There are some switchback up and downs for a few miles, then the remainder of the route is quite difficult as you're at a net downhill at this point and have to climb back up. There was about 500' of climbing from mile 8.8 to 10.2 and this felt really hard. Felt pretty tired after that but just tried to hang on. Started and finished at the beginning of the trail where the gate is. 

This was a really cool loop and had many scenic spots. It's challenging without being too hard for inexperienced runners. 

A few notes on route variations. 1) At Mile 6.1, I made a wrong turn in the switchback sections. This is probably easy to do in this area. Quickly turned around and only cost me 10 seconds or so. 2) At Mile 8.2, the FKT route has you turn left onto Las Virgenes Road. I did so and I had to awkwardly run through construction. At the end of the road where the trail picks up, the gate/fence was locked up and I had to go left and around, adding some extra distance. There was a left turn just before the road that would have avoided the construction/locked gate, and I think it should be acceptable for future FKT runners to take that (it would cut off probably 30s or so) rather than run through the construction zone. Again, I stayed on the standard route and only ran extra distance. 3) At Mile 9.6 while climbing, I took a spur adjacent to the route which goes straight here. This is technically a route deviation, but I only followed it because the former FKT holder Alexander Parker ran this. It adds .15 miles (.29 mile spur or .14 mile straightaway) although is slightly less steep. I do not think taking this route variation matters as the previous FKT holder did so, and it only adds more time.

Advice to future attempts or runs on this route. Start early- it gets very hot here, and was somewhat crowded for me despite a 7:40AM start. Hikers aren't too difficult to get around, but bikers or horses could certainly cause issues. Gates are supposed to be locked sunrise-sunset so a dark run is probably not advisable. In terms of the route structure, there's a lot of downhill early and a lot of uphill late. Basically don't count on coasting in easy the last 3-4 miles as those will likely feel the hardest. I think starting this from Cheeseboro Canyon or Las Virgenes road would be a little easier as you run uphill first and get to finish with a significant downhill. Although this would be harder from a logistical standpoint as neither point on the route has a trailhead (meaning you'd need to run in from somewhere) and you'd have to run the victory trailhead part out and back.

Sunday: 12 Miles- Simi Valley, CA

Exploring a new municipality for me. I had wanted to run here for a while as there's a lot of bike paths, but it gets so hot that I didn't run this until now (on a milder day). Basically an OAB on the bike paths from one park to another. Much of the bike was really nice, much wider and straighter surface than the Ventura bike path, but the road crossings were very busy. That combined with a section of the bike path that was closed (had to run on unmaintained trails and got a bit lost) meant probably not worth coming back to. This run felt really long for some reason and I was glad to finish. I've had on/off mild achilles discomfort since late September but it felt pretty weak on this run. 

Surprised to see Geese in warm Sunny SoCal

Weekly Total: 84 Miles

Weekly Highlight: Getting back into a groove. Had a few weeks post half marathon where energy in hard efforts was a real struggle for me. Tried something different on the trails this week and it felt like I was back to my normal self. Plus it was nice to get another FKT on the board after a 2.5 year hiatus. This was mostly due to the return of trail races + ankle issues and while I won't be super active in FKTs going forward, I do like the concept and hope to run one from time to time. 

Weekly Lowlight: A good week, but a few days of achilles discomfort wasn't too enjoyable. It's quite mild compared to past injuries though so I won't complain. 

Movies Watched: The Covenant, 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street

In this in between period between races with the next one being Berkeley half November 19th. Feels weird going 43 days between races.