Motivational Movie Monday

The Triathlon Song


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Fw1GdRKkc

T Minus 7

Ironman Arizona - November 21, 2010 is only 7 months away!

Over the last month I've logged a half marathon and a hilly century into the IM training bank.

I'd still like to find a good, fast half marathon course so I can try to set a new PR this year.

I've got the San Diego Century coming up on May 22, and my first triathlon of the season is at the end of June.

Motivational Movie Monday

Dr. Randy Pausch on the Oprah Winfrey show


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ya9BXClRw

The Breakaway Ride - Race Report

The Breakaway Ride - Stage 8 was last weekend (Sunday, April 11, 2010).

There were 3 options for the ride.  Short ~ 36 miles, Medium ~ 62 miles, and Long ~106 miles.  I signed up for the Long ride which included 4 circuits around the Rock Store Loop.

According to the race director, 900 cyclists signed up to ride in the event.  From the website count, it looks like around 200 of those signed up for the long ride.

The long course was designed to roughly mimic Stage 8 of the Tour of California - though it's not an exact duplicate since the pros wont start or finish where we did.


The major uphill section of the loop climbs from around 720ft to around 1950ft with the curviest section of the ride known to local motorcycle riders as "The Snake"

Major climb repeats 4 times at mile 20, 42, 64, and 86

Now for the results.


My official time is listed as 8:01:25.  My worst century result as far as total riding time. A full two hours slower than my sub-six hour effort in Palm Springs  My total riding time was 7:31:23.  The other 30 minutes were spent at rest stops along the way, or stuck at stop-lights and stop signs.


As I was descending Decker Canyon after finishing my second climb, it started to rain and I seriously considered heading back to the start and just skipping the final two loops.  I was cold, and I was not looking forward to finishing two more difficult loops in the rain. But then I snapped out of it and remembered that these events are all just deposits in the Ironman training bank. And if I DNF during my training rides, how can I expect to finish the real deal. Race day might be windy, hot, cold, or raining, so I figured I needed to stick it out and gain the experience  and finished what I started.  Luckily, the rain never hit full force and the roads never became really wet or unsafe.  In fact, after that brief rain during the second loop, it didn't rain again.


During the race we wore a timing chip (which are common in triathlons and running events, but not too common in cycling events).  At the bottom and top of the Rock Store climb, they captured times so they could give out a KOM (King Of the Mountain) award to the fastest male, and a QOM (Queen Of the Mountain) award to the fastest female climber.


My climb times were as follows:


#1: 18:58
#2: 20:12
#3: 23:06
#4: 22:31
for a total KOM time of 1:24:50

Climbing The Snake on my 3rd loop

For comparison, the fastest male climber posted times of 12:48, 13:33, 14:06, and 15:04 for a total KOM time of 0:55:33.


The QOM winner posted times of 19:32, 19:21, 20:09, and 19:46.396 for a total time of 1:18:50


Of the 200 who entered the Long course event, 70 DNS (Did Not Start), and 57 DNF (Did Not Finish) the full distance.


Overall I was 60th out of 73 finishers, which doesn't sound too good. But I honestly feel really good about the day because of how difficult it was and the fact that I stuck it out and finished the ride.

Motivational Movie Monday

A tribute to Ironman


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ragbcOPm_w

Breakaway Ride

This Sunday is the Breakaway Ride which duplicates Stage 8 of the Tour of California.

I'm signed up for the 106 mile long course, which is four loops around a very well known and hilly local loop called the Rock Store loop.

Stay tuned for a race report after the ride!

Motivational Movie Monday

I bet I could get more of my friends to help me train if I used this technique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk

Chesebro Race Results

The 2010 Chesebro Half Marathon was a great event.  It's actually just one part of The Great Race of Agoura Hills.  The whole event is made up of two separate half marathons, a 10k, 5k, and a kids 1 mile run.

The Chesebro Half  wanders through Old Agoura, down Chesebro Road and onto the Cheeseboro Canyon Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. (Yes, the road is Chesebro and the trail is Cheeseboro).

I finished the race in 1:46:39

That's an average pace of 8:07 per mile
82nd place out of 1038 participants
10th out of 86 in my age group

My goal was 8:00 minute miles which would have been a new PR. I was about 2 minutes slower than my goal and less than a minute slower than my Half Marathon PR of 1:45:48

It was mostly trail running with a couple miles of street running at the start and finish of the race.  The first 8 miles were mostly uphill, with steep climbs at the 8mile and 10 mile marks.

I'm so close to a PR at this distance.  I'm looking for a flatter 13.1 course in April or May that might be a good candidate for a breaking my record.

Here are my mile splits for the race:

Split Time         Distance
1 0:07:27 1
2 0:07:49 1
3 0:08:00 1
4 0:08:03 1
5 0:08:02 1
6 0:08:47 1
7 0:08:43 1
8 0:10:08 1 (Steep climb here really killed my time)
9 0:07:34 1
10 0:07:28 1
11 0:08:16 1
12 0:07:29 1
13 0:07:54 1
14 0:00:56 0.14
Tot  1:46:41 13.14

Motivational Movie Monday

West Texas piano player Doug Smith has had a passion for music his entire life. This video documents his struggle to once again play after a paralyzing car accident.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA0LoIhjnkc

Half Marathon Race Plan

The Great Race of Agoura Hills - Chesebro Half Marathon is tomorrow morning at 7am.

My race plan for tomorrow is simple.

I'm going to start out at about an 8 min mile pace and try to hold that pace the entire run.  I don't actually think I'll be able to maintain a steady 8 min mile pace over the hilly, off-road terrain, but my goal tomorrow is to be fatigued in the last several miles and see how I'm able to deal with it, and push through it mentally and physically.

If I'm not struggling to hold 8 minute miles on the trail, then I'll pick up the pace.  I really want to struggle in the last several miles and see how well I can hold the pace at the end.

Motivational Movie Monday

More basketball themed motivation in honor of March Madness


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-EyRUgp9Mk

T Minus 8

March 21st - Eight months until race day and about 15 weeks until the real training starts.

The next three weekends are event heavy:

Next Saturday is the Great Race of Agoura Hills Half Marathon.
Saturday, April 3, is the Santa Clarita Century.
Sunday, April 11th, I'm planning to ride in the Stage 8 Tour of California Breakaway Ride.

AND, Congratulations to all my endurance runner friends in LA who finished the 2010 LA Marathon today.  It looks like the new Stadium to Sea course would be fun to run.  Maybe I'll put it on the calendar for 2011.

Motivational Movie Monday

In honor of March Madness, here's a little motivation Bobby Knight style.

(If you don't want to hear profanity, don't click on the link)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw7KijRfU-c

Motivational Movie Monday

Here's part two to complete last weeks Motivational Movie.  This is where the work pays off!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7ZpLgkVxA

Kids on the Run - 10k

The Kids on the Run 10k charity event was last Sunday, February 28th.

The 5k and 10k events both started at the same time and ran on the same course.  The 5k runners did one loop, while the 10k runners did two loops.  The race started right around 9:15am with roughly 500 runners - most of them (around 375) in the 5k event.

I knew it was a fast course.  It's the same course where I set my 44:01 PR in 2007.

When the gun went off, I started out a little fast to stay ahead of the masses.  I counted 13 runners in front of me, and then tried to settle in at a 7min mile pace.

Here are the splits

Mile 1: 6:56

Mile 2: 6:55

Mile 3: 6:47

Mile 4: 7:08

Mile 5: 7:21 (this one was a struggle)

Mile 6: 7:01

Final .3 miles:  1:59 

(per my GPS reading, the course was a little longer than 6.2 miles)

I took 2nd place in my age group with a finishing time of 44:07 - just 6 seconds slower than my fastest 10k. I also placed 8th overall. 

It's still early, so there's plenty of time for new running PRs before this year is over.  And of course, I'm guaranteed a new PR at Ironman Arizona this year as long as I can finish the race.