Summer Ended and Autumn Began, but No One Told the Weatherman

The coolest summer I've ever recalled ended last Wednesday and Autumn began on the 23rd. Two days later, we're into not only the hottest weather of the year, but all-time record temperatures on Monday, the 27th (it reached 113 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles before the thermometer apparently broke).

Sandwiched in there, my plans were to do a 20+ miler on Sunday, come hell or high water. And I did. It wasn't pretty though.

My previous 22 milers went without a hitch. Nice and steady, mostly road runs in overcast conditions.

Sunday's run was different. I knew we were in for high temps, so I opted to run to PCH from Newbury Park down Sycamore Canyon. My first foray down there for about 3 months. The most brutal aspect of this run is coming back up the 800 foot ascent from the canyon.

With the help of an alarm, I was out the door at 6 a.m. It was still dark out and thankfully not hot yet. In fact, it was on the cool side. Better yet, it stayed cool pretty much the entire journey down to PCH, where I ran through the campground at Sycamore Canyon.

At PCH I headed west and ran until I reached the entrance of Thornehill Broome Beach, where you see all the RVs lined up enjoying the ocean. From there I turned around and successfully navigated my way back up the canyon, where it continued to stay cool until I reached the steep ascent. From there it was a slow journey in about 80 degree 8:30 a.m. heat. Total distance covered was 21 miles.

I was sore the next day but in a "good" way. Looking forward now to this coming Sunday, where I will get a reprieve from the 20 miler and try my luck at the Camarillo Half Marathon. My goal there is to run about a 1 hour, 20 minute race, which is about 6:06 per mile. That might be a stretch but if I can do that, I'll be comfortable with a 2:50 to 2:55 marathon target.

One rookie move came on Saturday...in my haste to eat on Saturday, I downed a can of Chunky Beef Chili. Mistake. Did not sit well with me on Sunday. I survived. But...note to self...keep the food simple the day before a long run or race.

Tune Up For the Marathon by Alternating Long Runs with Races

In my last post I highlighted my training plans leading up to the Malibu Marathon in mid-November. After nailing a couple decent 22 milers, a couple 17s and a 19, I felt I had developed plenty of endurance for the marathon. Now what I need to do is stay healthy and starting tuning up my speed for the distance.

Since I don't have the time or desire to do speedwork on the track (admittedly this would be good for me to do, but I know my body and schedule and don't feel I can commit myself to doing this weekly), the next best thing is to find some local races.

My goal in these races is not necessarily to go all out and go as fast as I possibly can. To do that would mean I would have to lay off the training for a day or two before each race. And I don't want to do that in the middle of training for a marathon.  The goal is to use the race as speedwork, test how my body feels running faster than I normally run and get used to running in a race.

I would prefer to run 10Ks and half marathons every other weekend, alternating long runs on non-race weekends. But life does get in the way...kids' soccer games, birthday parties, etc. So I did find a 5K race this past Sunday, a half marathon in another week, then another 5K in 3 weeks.

My 5K on Sunday went slightly better than expected. My goal was to run anything under 18 minutes. I ran 17:34 and won the race outright, which was a lot of fun! For my efforts I won a $40 gift card at a local restaurant. Not a bad return on investment!

My favorite book on marathon training, Hal Higdon's "Marathon: The Ultimate Training and Racing Guide," has a performance prediction table that indicates a 17:34 5K equates to a possible 2:49:22 marathon time if you do the proper marathon training and a fast course, good weather and a rested runner.

So it looks like I'm on the right track with my training and am crossing my fingers the weather continues to be courteous. (Unfortunately, forecasts for this weekend indicate Santa Ana winds and major heat...gulp!).

22 Miler Today - Training for the Malibu Marathon in 9 Weeks

Today I nailed another 22 miler in 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was easily my best long run of the year as it consumed very little effort on my part. The long distance training is starting to pay off.

Last week after my little 1 mile fun downhill race on Saturday, I was unable to muster up much energy the next day for a long run. Good enough. I had run a 22 miler the week before.

Yesterday I wasn't terribly thrilled at the prospect of waking up early for a long run, but the weather was my savior. Without an alarm, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and was out the door 15 minutes later under early morning cloud cover that stuck with my for about 80% of my run. It was a nice, cool morning run that I was able to really enjoy.

My marathon training started 3 months ago when I committed to run the Singapore Marathon in early December. But my friend may or may not run the marathon now due to work demands, so I used that as a cue to bail out (thus saving me about $3,000 in travel expense!) and find a more local race.

My local options are the Santa Barbara Marathon that I ran last year, the inaugural Camarillo Marathon next month or the Malibu Marathon on November 14th. I opted to try something new, leaving Santa Barbara out of the running. Camarillo sounds like a nice flat course but is too soon for me. So I'm doing Malibu!

The Malibu Marathon starts at the Camarillo Airport and heads down past Naval Base Ventura County to PCH, where it runs some hills along the ocean to Zuma. It does not appear to be a particularly fast course and there appears to be about a 200 foot climb from mile 18 to 24, but its all downhill after that. I'm not looking to do a personal best...my goal is to just go under 3 hours and have some fun.

Malibu International Marathon Elevation Chart

So now that I have a new marathon in the works that is only 9 weeks away, I've got about 6 more weeks of training left before a 3 week taper. Working within the bounds of my son's Saturday soccer games, birthday parties and other activities, I used the CVG listing of running events to map out a schedule that intertwines long runs with races.

So my current weekend long run and race schedule is:

Sept 19th: 5K Race in Camarillo - To start developing some speed; a 10K would have been better but a local one wasn't available.

Sept 26th: Long run (20+)

Oct 3rd - Camarillo Half Marathon - Goal is to run at a pace that translates into a 2:58 or better marathon. My rule of thumb is that a half marathon times 2.1 = projected marathon time. For me this means I'll target running the half in less than 1 hour, 25 minutes (2:58 = 178 minutes, divided by 2.1 = 85 minutes).

Oct 10th - Long run (20+)

Oct 17th - 5K Race in Westlake Village - Again, would be nice to do a 10K but I want to stay local.

Oct 24th - This is only 3 week pre-marathon, which is getting pretty close. I'll probably run 16 but I'll see how I feel.  Doing a 22 miler today in my opinion and experience WILL NOT help my marathon performance at this point but some may disagree.

Oct 31st - Not aware of any local races this weekend so I will probably opt to do 10 to 12 miles at marathon pace.

Nov 7th - We're gaining an hour of sleep this day (YAY, my favorite day of the year!) and I'll do at most 8 miles. Nothing too strenuous.

Nov 14th - Malibu Marathon

One Week Break From the Long Run

Since last writing in mid-August, I ran 2 consecutively longer training runs leading up to Labor Day weekend. 19 miles on August 21st and 22 miles on August 28th. I felt fine after both endurance building runs. My weight has been steadily dropping too, down to 141 lbs from about 146 lbs when I started training in earnest exactly 3 months ago.

I've also decided not to run the Singapore Marathon in early December due to logistical and financial reasons. Just isn't quite worth it spending $3,000 to run a marathon on the other side of the world at this point. So now I'm looking at several local marathons. Mind isn't made up yet but I better choose one soon.

Yesterday I took a different path and ran The Oaks Mile, an inaugural 1 mile race down Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. It was a fun diversion but I'm not exactly sure it was the best move for me. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to test my speed. I ran a 5:15 mile, about 15 seconds slower than what I'd be happy with, but not a surprise given my lack of any speed training (heck I haven't really done any track work for over 10 years) and 1 week off a 22 miler.

But after the race a familiar, nagging little soreness reappeared in my left knee. Not so bad that I can't run or walk, but something that I better take care of with ice and Advil.

So today I intended to go long again, but 45 minutes into the run realized the 1 mile race made my legs stiff and slightly sore. I bumped into some friends halfway down Sycamore Canyon and ran back up with them. Time for a nap!