track training

First time at track last night after a long sabbatical and I decided to run Yasso 800s. Yasso 800s, named after Bart Yasso, the race services manager at Runner's World, is based off the pace time you can run 800 meters. Whatever that time is will likely be your average marathon time. For example, if you want to run a 3:40 marathon, run your 800s in 3:40.

Training theory is complex when you have to consider all the other variables like pace, pulse, max VO2, lactate threshold, etc. Not to mention the variables you have no control over on race day like weather, injury, etc. Several of my friends have trained using Yasso 800s theory and it has worked for them. I thought it would be good for me to give it a try.

I only did four rotations averaging 3:40-3:45 pace to start. Eventually, I'll build up to 10 800s in the next several months. My next marathon will likely be the Seattle Rock n Roll and I'll try to qualify for Boston then.

climbing fake rocks

I've taken up indoor rock climbing since climbing trees at my age isn't social acceptable anymore. I threw down dough for climbing shoes and a harness at REI the other day. Now that I've invested in equipment, my brother and I are climbing at the new Planet Granite in Presidio. It's clean (read: doesn't smell like years of dried sweat on the walls), fairly spacious and has a well thought out bouldering area, and it's not crowded like Mission Cliffs. Woo!

the first ride

Thanks to the guys at SB, my bike's in working order and I took it for a spin on the morning of the Nike marathon. The plan was to ride along Brotherhood Way to Lake Merced and up the Great Highway since the roads will be closed for the race. I was a little nervous riding on the bumpy roads and every time I hit a pothole, I wanted to put my foot down. When I got near the race finish line, I was forced to cut through the park to reach the 10 mile mark to cheer for my friends. Then I waited, and waited and waited. I didn't see a single person I recognized. Thinking I may have missed them, I rode alongside the runners, scanning the crowds and not paying attention to the roads narrowing until I fell off my bike into a patch of grass. At least it wasn't concrete.

I ended up riding to a friend's place on Taravel for our pre-scheduled bike ride which consisted of a leasurely ride around the lake so he could check out all the women runners.

no Nike race for me..boo

I decided to sell my bib for the Nike half earlier this week. I figured my health was more important than a race. Posted my entry on CL and got a dozen or so emails but I chose the first legit one in my inbox. I went down to the Nike expo yesterday to pick up the packet with the assumption that I would be avoiding the majority of the crowds. Wrong!

I arrive in Union Square around 4:35p (doors opened at 4p) and was directed to the END of the packet pick-up line that snaked around the square. There were two guys "monitoring" the line to control the flow of people in that itty bitty tent they have up in Union Square. Apparently, the line monitors allowed 15 people in every minute.



Stupid idea when TnT and Nike know very well they have 20k+ registered runners that need to pick up their packet this weekend. If there's a line today, imagine what it will be like the next two days.



Yes, that was the guy above that was "monitoring" the line. Once I got in the tent 30 minutes later, I got my bib and had to walk through the sales booths, past the massage tables and manicure lounge.

things to complete..

1) Heal
2) Start exercising (i.e. weight lifting, core strengthening, jogging slowly to avoid bouncing)
3) Fix right gear shift on bike, true tires, check derailers)

how ironic

I just noticed my "About Me" tag line.. Apparently, I did use my head after all. HA!

no strenuous activities

I cancelled my travel plans for St. George and won't be running my marathon after all. No running, biking or any activity that involves bouncy or jerky head movements until my facial bones start to set. Boo..

if only I went for a run instead of a bike ride

There are days when you look back and think about the decisions you made and all the what ifs that could have changed your current predicament. Today is one of those days.

What if I decided to go for a run instead of a bike ride? What if I chose to walk my dog or hop in my car and drive to the beach instead. What if I wore my bike gloves and kept my sweatshirt on while biking down Illinois St. rather than stop earlier on 3rd St. and resort to wearing my tank top because it was getting warm?

Of course, it's pointless to think about the what ifs because the damage is already done. I had a bike accident.

I left my house that Sunday morning around 10:30a and rode down Geneva to Bayshore to the blocked off streets designated by the Sunday Streets event. Once I arrived, I felt safer and more confident riding without worrying about vehicles. Maybe the false sense of security made me too confident.

I was standing to the left when this photo was taken before I rode ahead ten minutes later. When I reached Illinois St., there were old train tracks criss-crossing the road. I tried to cross perpendicular to the tracks and failed miserably when my front tire fell into the track groove. I fell down on my left and my face managed to break my fall first. My helmet was unscathed and probably saved me from a concussion. I suffered various lacerations to my hands, shoulder, side and wrist as well as bruising along my thigh, hip and arm.

My left side of my face received the worse damage. I fractured my left cheek bone and dented it inward. There's minimal road rash on my face but I'll have a huge black and blue mark around my eye and cheek in a week.
There's likely nerve damage because my face is still numb from below the eye socket down to my upper lip.

I can't open my mouth that much without feeling a dull pain. There's a constant smell of dry blood from my left nostril. I have one of those freakish half smiles that looks more like an evil smirk. If I stand up or move my head around too quickly, I can feel the blood flowing through my face. It leaves a tingling sensation like crawling ants and I have to let the feeling subside before I get too lightheaded.

Since the accident, I'm down to 128lbs. That's fairly slight for my frame. I think I lost most of the weight from throwing up all day in the emergency room Sunday. Everything made me nauseous. I'm eating more now but it'll be a while before I can gain the weight back. I can already tell that my body is breaking down muscle mass for energy.

I'm currently taking Augmentin, a penicillin type of antibiotic. And I was also given Phenergan to treat nausea and vomiting as well as Vicodin. Despite the dull pain in my face, I'm not taking Vicodin for the time being. I figure after surgery, I'll need it but right now, I can deal with the discomfort.

Calorie intake

An article posted on the Wall Street Journal explained how many calories Olympian Michael Phelps takes in daily to maintain his training and racing regime. His diet of 12,000 calories consists of sandwiches, pasta, pizza, and energy drinks.

I'd be lucky to consume 2,000 calories in a day, which leads me to believe I'm not eating enough to sustain myself during my long runs. Take a look at the American Heart Association Calorie chart below.


I usually run about a 5.5mph during my long runs so I would burn about 570 calories per hour for my weight. Last Sat, I ran approximately 15 miles, skipped breakfast, had a banana and later a bowl of pho for lunch. Ran some errands and had a salad, bowl of rice, and a handful of carrots before attending a wine and cheese fundraiser. I ate a lot of cheese and crackers that night so I'm guessing my total calorie intake for that day hovered around 2200. Wine has calories too so I might be a little off in my guesttimate. But I pissed most of it out so maybe not.

What does this all mean? I should probably eat more as I'm looking a bit thin in photos these days..

playing catch up

My training has slacked off since the relay and I've been putzing around and not getting my mileage in for the last month. I finally took care of my hotel and air transportation for my trip to St. George so I guess I am going to run that marathon after all. All this means is that I need to get my act together and start running on a regular basis.

In three days, I have the SF half marathon. I'm not prepared. I got food poisoning last Saturday and spent the weekend with massive stomach pains until my system flushed out the bacteria but not before I passed out from dehydration while shopping for bathroom tile at Floorcraft. I shouldn't have drank that beer and wine 12 hrs ago. I lost three pounds and for me, three pounds is a lot of weight to lose.

hah! We kicked ASS!

Am I surprised? Not at all! My teammates are awesome!


To recap our adventure weekend:
With only 11 runners, Allen graciously stepped up to the plate and started our team off in a great race position. Alas, we couldn't persuade Allen to stay in Van 1 (we begged) when Van 2 arrived to claim him back. Sonia and Mark, both with painful injuries, ran their first legs in great times before David's most difficult run in the race (Leg 4), Downer's Downfall. David ran his leg in an amazing time (the 16th fastest) that none of us actually saw him finish! Jenn, with a bad cough and also injured, was a trooper and ran all her legs without complaint with her last leg running UP a hill to the exchange point.

Van 2 couldn't wait to get on the course and ran very consistent and strong times for all their legs. Robin, Pierre, David and Aaron all broke a 7min/mile pace on one of their legs during the race with Aaron posting the team's fastest average pace time (6:22!) for his last and most difficult leg. Did Van 2 have a secret stash of performance enhancement drugs? We wonder.

Van 1 didn't waste a moment for their 2nd leg rotation with Sonia biting the bullet and running her second and last leg of the race faster than her first and with Mark charging up the hill soon after on his most difficult leg despite his nagging injury. Van 1 clocked in impressive times (all under 9min/mile pace) leaving Van 2 to wake up
just after midnight with only an hour or so of sleep. Van 1 worried there would be payback...

Aaron started his Van's 2nd leg rotation with a steep 2.5 mile climb so Robin and Pierre can sprint back down the other side in the dark of night. Both Aaron and Scott (sleep deprived yet wide-eyed) both took on additional legs in the pre-dawn hours when injuries set Van 1 back. On Mark's 3rd and final leg, he practically sprinted in for the quick hand off to David who finished his 3rd leg with his fastest pace time.

Van 2's last set of legs were probably the hardest and definitely the longest (7.5miles) for Scott and Chris but I'm sure the view they had of Reno was magnificent.

Chris, our youngest member and running the most miles (19) for the team, ran strong and hard despite the worsening knee pain. He didn't give up and continued to run all his assigned legs in spectacular time until Aaron took over the last few miles of that leg. Allen, our last runner, sprinted us home to the finish line!

Official time: 24:40:57 8:19/mile pace
Overall place: 28th out of 97 teams

Memorial run

Rather than a traditional BBQ on Memorial Day, I ran the Marin 10k sponsored by the Tamalpa Runners. It was perfect running weather; light breeze, overcast skies, and just enough sun for comfort. The course was fast and fairly flat that took us through neighborhoods and along a bike path around the College of Marin before finishing on the track.

It doesn't look like I'm running very fast compared to everyone else but I did PR and averaged an approximate 7:34min/mile.

my ride on BIKE TO WORK DAY! YAY!

near death experience

Okay, it wasn't quite a near death experience but it was pretty darn close. In preparation for Bike to Work day (tomorrow!!), I decided to do a trial run yesterday.

After studying the city map, I figured the best route would be to take Geneva down to Bayshore Blvd which turns into 3rd St. 3rd street is a straight shot all the way down to the AT&T park and the general area where I work. Seems easy enough.

I left later than usual that morning after dropping my kid off at the vet thereby missing the morning commute traffic. The ride to work was uneventful albeit a long 8m ride door to door. There's a designated bike path along parts of Geneva and Bayshore. But after that point, I had to ride with the cars down 3rd. There were narrow sections along 3rd where a couple vehicles came very close to me but otherwise, I stayed the course. Total commute time: ~45 min

Heading back home would be a little more dangerous. I couldn't follow my morning route back because there wasn't a bike path that crossed over the 101. I IMed my bike friends and they gave me different suggestions but the general consensus was to take Howard south, cut up 11th, cross Mission to Valencia. Take Valencia down to San Jose Ave, and from there get to Alemany.

I left work as usual and hopped on my bike on the sidewalk in front of my building. What I didn't see was a driver flying up 2nd St.

The driver had the green light and so did I but I would have lost that battle whether I had the right of way or not. I started crossing the intersection when the driver came up around the corner to make a right against me. He slammed on the breaks and stopped a foot from my leg. I managed to jump off my bike and got back on the sidewalk. I was in complete shock. People were asking if I was okay and I just kept saying "yeah, I'm okay" over and over. I was visibly shaken.

I had no choice but to get on my bike and ride home to pick up my kid from the vet before they closed shop. I managed to hustle my ass down Howard but missed the 11th St turn. Rather than cross another dangerous intersection at South Van Ness, I walked my bike down to Harrison and rode south until I reached Cesar Chavez, made a right up and managed to get onto San Jose which eventually got me to Alemany Blvd. A longer ride than I expected but I made it to the vet's all sweaty and still alive and in one piece.

Knowing me, I'll probably ride to work tomorrow but I'm taking Bart back home. As one friend said, "Riding your bike downtown is a death wish."

I should buy a lottery ticket

Yay! I can't believe it! I'm in for St. George! This is the second race lottery I entered and I'm in! I should probably buy a lottery ticket and see if my luck is still with me.

Time to seriously train for the full and plan for my trip to Utah.

Eugene race recap

The run itself was mediocre.
I briefly studied the map and took note of the small hills along the course. I woke up early and made my way to the shuttle buses for the short ride to the start line. I walked around in a daze and spent time around the corral of port-a-potties. I caught sight of a few people I recognized and said hello. I wandered about until the race director shouted out the start time countdown. I stuffed my sweats in the sturdy green re-useable goodie bag, double knotted and tossed it on top of everyone else's sweat bag, and ran a couple laps around the block before lining up at the start. It wasn't too cold and the sun was making it's way out from the grey clouds. I figured I would warm up four miles in. The gun went off, cheering ensued and the mass of runners started/stopped until we reached the timing pad. Then it was a moderate jog for a half mile until enough runners spaced out and we all could run at our own pace.



The route was uneventful.
I remember a bunch of tree lined streets, uneven pavement, ranch style homes with early morning risers, coffee in hand, watching us run by their front porches. Then we ran through Amazon park where more spectators cheered and whistled us on. We reached the Autzen footbridge and crossed Willamette River. With three miles to go, I ran out of energy. I was hoping I would hit the psychological wall and run on adrenaline but that didn't happen. I ended up walking/jogging along the Willamette River bike path wondering how far the finish line was and if I'll ever get there. By the time I reached mile 12, I had just enough energy to drag myself to the finish chutes. I couldn't pass the woman in front of me.



I heard the announcer call my name and hometown as I crossed the timing pad. Then I looked up at the clock. 1:50:26

The post race food was unusual.
They passed out the standard bottled water, bananas, bagels, and cliff shot samples. Then there were the assortment of artificially flavored dorito chips, stale looking Subway sandwiches, chocolate brownies, cherry pie slices, Nestle Nesquik chocolate milk, and other foods that a runner finishing a race shouldn't be eating. I wasn't surprised that so many people were stocking up on all the free goods as though there was some food shortage that out of towners didn't know about. I didn't take any of it.

The sweat bag pickup was ridiculous.
I've experienced enough races to know how sweat bag pickups work. I'm sure all my fellow runners standing in the long line that looped through the finish area knew how sweat bag pickups work. Apparently, the volunteers didn't. Our bags were piled in a semi-disorderly fashion under one small tent next to the truck that delivered the bags from the start to the finish. I stood in line and watched the hunched over volunteers, glancing at each and every bag tag until the one they were looking for was found and tossed to that runner before starting all over again. This took forever. We were at a standstill and the line didn't move more than five steps every five minutes until I realized that people were cutting in line. When I got within ten feet of the tent, chaos ensued. Everyone was taking off their bibs and waving them above their heads to catch the attention of one volunteer who can find their bag. I managed to catch the eye of one such volunteer after I elbowed my way to the front and this is when I realized that these volunteers were just as overwhelmed as I was. "what does your bag look like?" she asked. I must have looked confused because she asked me again. "It's green." I said. She rolled her eyes and wanted to know if my bag was tied, had a rubber band on it, half full, full, empty. Was this a joke? My bag looked like every other bag here. "I double knotted it and it's full. Eh, three quarters full with two sweats in it." I figured if I was more specific, it would help. After 20 seconds of searching, she found my bag with the matching bib number and I was out of there. Sort of.


Where was the shuttle bus?
This irks me to no end. The parking lot is huge at Autzen Stadium. The only information I got from my race packet was that the return shuttle bus would be at the same location as the morning pick up. Unfortunately, I was at a different morning pick up location from this one. I roamed through all the tents and asked various people where the shuttle bus would be. No one knew. Not the runners, not the volunteers, not the workers at the food tents, no one. I had to trek from one end of the parking lot and circle the edge until I spotted a shuttle bus slowly pull away from a 8"x11" neon green SHUTTLE PICK UP sign haphazardly taped on a pole a quarter mile from where I stood.

Four and a half hours after I woke up that morning, I was back at my friend's place for a shower and soon after, a short hike to Skinner's Butte and a trek through town in search of food.

some captain I am..

I'm such a f***up. Okay, maybe that's too harsh a word but I know better. I've run this relay several times but this time around, I completely underestimated my fellow teammates. They told me their approximate running pace so I had an idea when I should be ready at my exchange point. Alas, I wasn't wearing my watch because I gave it to my brother to use.

An hour or so into the race, I grudgingly got off the cramped school bus I was napping in and took the usual port-a-potty break, lathered on sunblock and removed my sweats. And then I hear my name. Completely oblivious, I look to my right and then to my left and lo, there's my brother rushing up to me cursing..."Where the hell were you? I was screaming your name. Why aren't you ready? You got to go now!"

Shit. I throw my sweats down and start running off forgetting to take my watch from my brother. I have no idea what my pace or time was but I ran through every water stop and passed as many people as I could along the way.

All I know is when I started my leg, estimated marathon finish time would have been 3:58. By the end of my leg, estimated finish time was 3:50.

My team finished 50th overall with a final time of 3:43.

less than a week to Big Sur

The Big Sur race is next Sunday and although I'm only running a small section with my relay team, my leg is the toughest one: 6.9 miles with a 2mile climb. I've ran this leg twice before, once because no one wanted to do it, and the second time because I had energy to burn after running the second leg.

This year, I'm running the relay with my family. Given that I'm the team captain, I was unanimously nominated to run the toughest leg again. It is one of the few times when democracy doesn't work in my favor.

I ran 11m in 1:30 Sunday, will add a set of 8 hill repeats in my neighborhood tomorrow, and a few more shorter runs with hills later this week. Hopefully, I'll be ready by Sunday.

in like Flynn

It looks like I made the Nike marathon lottery cut last week. Active.com charged my card and I'm officially registered for the Nike half later this October. Whoohoo!

One lottery down, one more to go (for St. George)...

(thanks for the correction, Chris)

still caught on camera

Whenever I run a race, I try to avoid the photographers along the course. I just don't want to be captured on film. I know I have terrible running form complete with the broken left wrist flapping about, the leg shuffle and the gapping mouth. Who wants to see photos of someone who can't run correctly? I certainly don't. But in my attempts to hide behind my fellow runners during the Emerald 12k this past Sunday, I'm still caught on film. Probably because I was wearing the Pamakids jersey. Oh, well. On to the next race.

New half marathon PR!

Today was my first race of the year, the Kaiser Half Marathon, and despite the impeding forecast of showers today, I was undaunted.

I awoke at 5am and in my car just before 6am on my race to the parking lot along the Great Highway. In darkness, there was already a line of cars entering and exiting the lot. I circled through the lot twice, missed several parking spaces (bad parking karma) and figured I would have better luck on the street. Fortunately, I found a spot along Lincoln and 41st St. and soon made my way to the shuttle buses that would take me to the start.

The wind was starting to pick up. The skies had pockets of blue among the dark clouds looming above but no rain. I bumped into a couple people I knew, or rather they spotted me. I'm not a morning person and I tend to zone out and focus on one goal and make a beeline to that location like the port-o-potty line, or the water station, or the bag check. I caught up with the Pamakids, warmed up for a couple miles before we all got wet from a five minute shower burst.

Several minutes later, we were off. The first four miles, I ran a steady 8min/mile. The next three miles led us on a slight downhill out of GGP to the Great Highway. It started to rain heavily. At one point, it felt like I was being pelted by hail. The only good thing about getting soaked was that the wind was on our backs going south toward the zoo. I tried to pace myself with two other people who were running slightly ahead of me. Once I reached the zoo and rounded that corner for the last 3 mile stretch, I felt like I stepped into a wind and rain tunnel. The head wind was so strong I had to lean forward and shuffle through it. Along the highway, people were pointing out the rainbow ahead of us. "Run for the rainbow", this guy called to me. Yeah, the rainbow was nice and all but my knee was locking and my ass muscles started to tense up. I just wanted to finish. With a mile to go, there was a break in the weather and the sun briefly came out.

I sprinted the last 400 yards to the finisher chute with a time of 1:48:13. The clock listed 1:49 or thereabouts as the official time but it might be more than that because one guy in the chute decided to stop and not move. We couldn't get around the poor guy to hand off our bib tag. He was obviously dehydrated, weaving side to side and very nearly passed out in front of us.

All in all, it wasn't a bad race despite the weather. Now I have a new time to beat!

another year, another race

Yea! It's a new year! And well, the second month also. I'm a little late in posting, not to mention my slacker training schedule. I blame the weather though. It's been rainy and windy. This city is thoroughly in the midst of winter season which makes it a little more difficult to run and bike outdoors. No gym membership to speak of so running in place doesn't qualify for a great cardio workout.

In any case, I have my first race of the year in less than two days. The Kaiser Half marathon is this coming Sunday and rain or shine, I'll be running for the Pamakids racing team. Of course, this means I will be wearing their kick-ass green and white jersey that won't keep me warm in freezing rain and wind. But that's a-okay. I'll just run faster, won't I?