2012 Lake Hodges 5K Trail Run Race Report

in ,

Since 2010, the Sun Strides Foundation has been continually expanding their Trail Run Series. The start of the series begins with a 5K out and back course at Lake Hodges in Escondido, California. This year, the Trail Run Series consists of three runs: a 5K, 7K ending with a 10K. If you're not familiar with their mission statement, here it is -- "To provide sustainable energy solutions for people with limited resources throughout the developing world." Pre Race: Friday was a long day and was extended into the early morning hours resulting in a total of two hours of sleep. I didn't feel rested but at the same time, the motivation was ever presernt. Lien Vo chose to run and of course, it was Ryan Espiritu who said I should do it. I didn't know about this series or the Lake Hodges 5K until the Friday the day before so I thought, why not? No training (my usual enemy) and spontaneity suits me best so, once again, why not? I woke up to an early alarm and text that Lien was at the house already and I got going. Putting on my 2XU Men's Elite Compression Tights paired with their Men's Active Run Top MR1810A, I felt good. I chose to wear my Asics GT-2150s because I didn't think my Newton's would perform so well on the trail. I'm still not sure if that was a good idea or not. I stopped by Starbucks for a bagel and coffee, drank an FRS, registered and waited until the start.

Race Course: I didn't expect the hills, nor did I expect that many loose rocks so of course, along the way, my ankles continued to roll on me but overall I felt great. Not a 10 by any means, but I did clock my first mile at 8:48! The average temperature was a hot 78F by the time the race started and the sun present and in summer's strength. It felg good indeed! After that first mile, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest and that's when my body yelled, "YOU SLEPT 2 HOURS!"

I did finish under 30 minutes clocking 29:59 with their Road I.D. chip timing but the course did fall short at 3.0 miles. All in all, I felt okay but I'm more than determined now to get my 5K on!

Avg Moving Pace - 9:52 min/mi Avg HR - 171 bpm Avg Temp - 78.8F

P.S. I will have the Miami Rock 'n' Roll and Ragnar Florida Keys up soon. I promise!

End of the Week

in

Getting back into the groove always proves to be difficult but this time, I'm really setting my sights on something big...something REALLY big. I'm talking about the Oceanside Half Ironman at the end of March 2012. Granted, I'm coming up with a workout regiment and can't wait to join up with the San Diego Tri-Club, but my schedule has already taken a turn for October making it difficult to partake in any of the activities. Here are two runs from this week. I'm still sore in my calves as well as my left foot from when I sanded / buffed over it so we'll see in the coming month if and when I can actually work things out. More or less, I think I'll be able to do my biking and running at the overnights while I'm out and the swimming, I'll have to do when I'm in town at the local 24 Hour Fitness or maybe join up with the YMCA. Does anyone know what kind of skill set you need to have in order to join a Masters' swim course? On a scale from one to ten, I give myself a six in swimming competency. I need to work on my form and breathing. (I guess that's an understatement). I also have a picture of me breaking my 60 minute 10-K barrier at the 2011 Cow Harbor Race!

Monday's Run

Today's Run

Post Marathon Runs

in , ,

Getting on a redeye the following day after a marathon that you didn't train for isn't necessarily the best way to "recover." During the day, I even did a light jog trying to exchange my season tickets for some awesome seats at the the night's Padre game. Dreading the flight, I wasn't necessarily hurting that much and the flight was relatively easy as I was upgraded to first class. I wore my Injinji Compression socks which helped a lot and found myself walking again with a normal gait. The quads and hamstrings weren't bothering me too much when I got off of the flight which was a good feeling. Tight yes, but limping, no. Well, this last four day trip allowed for two days of running. Tuesday was a straight recovery and it was in Jackson, MS (not MI) so it wasn't like there was an outdoor path or the best of indoor exercise facilities. Wednesday was a fun day. Over 20 hours in Washington D.C. always proves to have some good times and it all started with an awesome lunch. Mentioning "best" and "chinese" to the captain there was no convincing. We headed over to Sichuan Pavilion on K Street and gorged on some awesome Chinese food. We even got 10% off our bill because we had finished and left before 12:30pm! That's what I call a lunch special. I'm always happy when the company I bring enjoy their food. We agreed to head back and hang out at the hotel before the afternoon happy hour so I lounged around a bit up until my planned 15 minute treadmill run; a breaking in of not only my shoes, but my fresh off a marathon legs. Did I mention that I ran the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon?

I put on my brand spanking new Newton Running Shoes and made my way downstairs to the basement. I stretched a little bit and got onto the treadmill at an easy 6.0 then decided that I should run a little faster. I finished with a feel good pace finishing @ 18 minutes w/ 1.94 miles completed. Since I programmed the machine for 15 minutes, it gave me a 3 minute cool down and I increased my speed to 10.0 to try to make it to the 2 mile mark but it forcefully stopped. I got off of the treadmill, stretched, did a few other quick workout but felt great!

I took a quick shower, dressed and headed back downstairs. It was a balmy 98F in DC with an index of 100 or so and after the shower, I was still perspiring like a dog. Mixed in with the heat, I was just soaking. The walk to Georgetown didn't prove any cooler.

The next day, after a long MSP-IAH flight blocking in at just over two hours, I found out that we were next to Memorial Park in Downtown, Houston. After reading reviews, I was convinced that I had to check this course out which clocks in at just under 3 miles. I'm all about running outside and since this was an awesome running trail, why not? I was able to once again easily convince the captain that it was a good idea to sweat it out on the track, in the heat and that I would stay pace with him.

Good stuff all around! As the reviews on yelp pointed out, there are a lot of great athletes of all experience levels and a bunch of shirtless doods. Lots of spandex to be had, you'd think that there was a 5K going on! I decided that I wanted to actually reach the 5K mark and taking it easy on the trail with my Newtons, I was just in for a the loosening up.

After a good 11 min mile, we waited for the van driver to pick us back up and then I proceeded to do 20 mins on the bicycle finishing just over 7 miles. Good stuff! I think I'm on my way to some good workout routines & habits! I'm addicted by the way to working out again! Feeling good and staying fit. Now, only if I can keep a steady diet and do without some of the overeating and indulging that goes on a couple nights a week! =)

Training here and there...

in

Over the last few weeks, I've been on and off the bicycle trainer, out and about on the road with an occasional 3 mile run and even a 5 miler the other day, but it's still sporadic. Getting to a hotel and motivating myself to put on the running clothes is sometimes just a little much after a 7.5 hr day of flying and 11 hours of being at work. Nutrition on the road is a little hard to actually maintain and my habits don't help. On the other hand, I've noticed that my interest in keeping it up has been regaining it's pre sprint triathlon status. *thumbs up* That fire that was absent for a bit now it's back. I'm going to try to stay on track this time and mimic my June / July fitness habits. It's quite amazing how much I was actually working out back then.

This time around, I've been actively using RunKeeperPro on my iPhone 4 and am pleased with the results. I've been running with my Garmin 500 and the more that I use it, the more I want a "true" running watch e.g Timex Ironman GPS Global Trainer (view DC Rainmaker's Review here) or maybe the Garmin Forerunner 310xt (another awesome review by DC Rainmaker), but I'll hold off just a little while longer. I have too many gadgets as is. We'll see how long I

My First Not so Nite Moves (@NiteMovesSD) #FAIL

in ,

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been attending a weekly 5K in San Diego called Nites Moves SD which takes place on every Wednesday night at Liberty Station Park in Pt. Loma. I've been improving constantly (by seconds almost a minute one week ago), finding my rhythm & stride and what I initially thought was good headway. That is, up until last night's performance. I finished a miserable 28:45 which makes it my worse time in four tries! I've been running treadmills a lot lately on a incline of 1.0 at a steady speed of 6.5 / 7.0 so that might have made this run a little slower but I thought that I could best my 27 minute wall. Granted the last few days looked like this:

Monday/Tuesday Morning: I worked all day and was delayed on the flight back to San Diego for 2 hours arriving at 2:00AM not going to bed till shortly after.

Tuesday: Woke up around 8:00am motivating myself for the move to the new apartment in Downtown San Diego. Excited but somewhat exhausted

Tuesday Night: Definitely had a hard time falling asleep being anxious, excited and just new

Wednesday Day: Breakfast was a quick bar, daily mass, meeting w/ our priest to tie up loose ends before the wedding, coffee, head home to pack up more stuff, spill the full venti caramel macchiato in fiance's car, meet up w/ the caterer for finalization and payment, show mom the new apartment, grab lunch at JWok which is conveniently around the corner from our new apartment, head to Vons in PQ, drop off mom, go the bank on the way back to the apartment, get ready for the 5K.

If you notice, my nutrition and liquid intake prior to the 5K wasn't all that great. I didn't get to stretch that well nor was I feeling the tip top shape that I've been use to the previous weeks. It's crunch time and August is a big month . Good times! I'm just glad that it's somewhat smooth sailing from here. *crossing fingers*

Also, if you haven't already had the chance to see my tweet or facebook profile update, make sure to check out @DCRainMakerBlog on twitter, follow him and also navigate your way to his webpage for a chance to enter into his contest for a free Garmin 310xt! Check out his website here! http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveaway.html

Books & My First Brick

in , ,

As previously noted just a day ago, I signed up for my first Sprint Tri.  More specifically, I signed up for the San Diego Tri-Rock which is just under 58 days from the publishing of this post.  I have the bug and I can't deny it.  Buying a couple of magazines tonight and reading the last two editions of Competitor Magazine San Diego Edition, I'm all about getting fit and doing it right.  Well, starting off on the right foot at least.  I thought that I could get off to a simple easy start w/ more magazines so I set out to Barnes and Nobles in Mira Mesa and picked up a couple more.

One of my friend's had a book entitled "Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance" by Matt Fitzgerald which looked good so I thought of picking that up too.  Of course, the only one that they had in stock was on hold but I might as well just buy the book from Amazon anyways.  I also found another book by critically acclaimed trainer, coach and athlete Joe Friel conveniently titled "Your First Triathlon" so I added that to the cart too.  Expect reviews on adellelijah.com in the upcoming weeks.

Click on these links below to check them out via my amazon affiliate link!

Since I decided a couple of days ago to do this sprint tri, I thought that I should get a head start and do the bicycle and running portion of the race.  Apparently this is called a brick with whom I was enlightened by Mr. Espiritu (@ly0n123).  Today was the first full day that I was back in San Diego, so I made it my goal to do the 4S Ranch CC Loop (which conveniently happens to be a 20K (12.4 miles)) followed by a 5K (3.1 miles).  I also got to ride with a new colleague, Mr. Juan M. (@juanrcm)who found me on Twitter as a cyclist in his neighborhood.  I kept a great pace with a goal in mind to beat my previous 55 minute trial and riding alongside Juan made it easier and more enjoyable. Check them out here via my Garmin Edge 500 from Garmin Connect. note: I still have yet to pick up the Garmin Quick Release kit so that I can wear my G500 on my wrist instead of gripping it in my hand while jogging. Maybe I'll pick it up tomorrow at REI in Convoy.

I had a 10 minute transition which included changing my outfit + shoes and waiting for my sister. It all worked out in the end, but I copped out and only completed 2 miles. Here's my excuse if you care to know: It was getting dark and I decided that I should head in.

I still think that I did a pretty awesome job with it being my first brick workout and all. I'm going to be at Nite Moves SD tomorrow night anyways for a full 5K so I don't feel that bad. Come check it out!

If you're asking, I'm thinking about swimming tomorrow or sometime later in the week. Not open water just yet, but we'll see.

Nite Moves SD 2010 a.k.a NiteMovesSD via @NiteMovesSD

in ,

This afternoon, only because my friend and fellow blogger Ryan Espiritu's very convincing methods, I signed up to run one session in the Nite Moves SD 5K happening today at 6:30pm.  I'm actually looking forward to the Tacos and Beer!

Post-Race Party Details

5:30pm: Race registration
6:30pm: 5K race starts
6:30-8:00 Kids run, Firestone beer garden at Joao's Tin Fish, tacos from Tabe BBQ truck, live local band, giveaways, swag, family fun!

I'll have some details and update to follow! Wish me luck! As of this posting, I was also able to recruit my sister and another buddy, Jerome C.! LET'S DO THIS!!!

UPDATE: my time was 28:19 averaging a 9:07 pace.  I have to be honest that I launched rather aggressively trying to follow a buddy that has ran a couple of marathons, 10Ks and 5Ks and even has a trainer and that just basically wiped me out about 1.5 miles into it.  I pulled through though and enjoyed the rest.  It might have been a personal best for me even.  Check it out here at my Garmin Connect Profile Nite Moves SD 2010 5K Track