Cupertino-Fremont 50-mile: a blip back into ultra training

After 4 posts about PCTR's Bay Area 9 Peak Challenge, back to flat and many more miles. I attempted this run back in February, while ramping up my mileage after the aborted Jed Smith 50-mile where I dropped at 35 miles. One week after that race, I did manage to run from Cupertino to Fremont, crossing the Bay on Dumbarton Bridge but, on the way back, I felt lazy and called Max for a pick up in Palo Alto, ending up with 38 miles. Progress.

Fast forward 3 weeks, on Saturday March 27, I left with the strong resolution of covering the distance, what ever time it will take. Kind of taking one full day off for a change! This time the plan was to stick to a 8 min/mile pace, instead of the 7:15 I had run the first 25 miles at previously. But even 7:45 was an uncomfortable pace, way too... slow. Every time I was getting under 7:40, I was slapping my mind and trying to run in slow motion or very short strides. I still have so much to learn to run slower when I feel good!

In general, I don't like to drive to run, at least for training runs, so that means I have to first go through some urban areas. This course is actually quite cool: after crossing Stevens Creek Blvd, De Anza Blvd, Homestead Road and Fremont Ave, 4 major arteries, I'm 4 miles in and there is no more road crossing, 21 miles of bike path!

After Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View (Stevens Creek trail and Shoreline Park), Palo Alto (Baylands, airport, golf), East Palo Alto and Fremont. Not quite the terminus, just turning around at Coyote Regional Park.

In 2015, I had run over there to cheer for Greg who was running his first half marathon, and ended up running 50K that day. Back then, I had to run on Embarcadero Road, the entrance of the busy Dumbarton Bridge, which was definitely the low of that course. To my surprise this March, I believe I ran right after a new trail section got open there. The asphalt was pristine, like it was applied a couple of days before. Very cool, a great addition to the Bay Trail!

Crossing the bridge is definitely doable albeit not the highlight of this run, with nearby traffic going full speed on the cement. Cool to see Fremont's city border starting halfway, they own a lot of water surface from the Bay!

Just before the bridge, two signs reminding us of the evolution of the watershed of the centuries. I particularly like the map showing all the Native American tribes established here before the Gold Rush. I've so much respect for their osmose with Mother Nature and love the tribute we pay them with events such as Miwok and Ohlone for instance.

On the way back, I noticed this odd construction project: a super mini site for testing self-driving cars, in Palo Alto. Not an entire circuit, just one curved 4-lane road section finishing in... the trail fence! Beware when this opens and operates, duh!

As for Shoreline, Google's new office and mega project continues taking shape, not sure about the geometry, but figuratively speaking at least! ;-)

I ran each of the first 45 miles under 8 minutes, then I  finally found a way to run slower miles than 8 minutes, phew! Apart from taking Vespa, I didn't prepare well for this run and had packed only 1 Snicker bar and 2 GU Energy gels so I got tempted to make a detour to stop by In and Out Burgers in Mountain View on the way back. With such a name I've always thought that they would be the perfect sponsor for aid stations: in and out!

But, geez, running after eating a burger (even one without cheese, cheese I've done while training on the UTMB course, and that didn't work well), a portion of French (go figure) fries, and a Coke... pathetic bloating! I was reduced to jogging a few hundred yards, then stop, then repeat, for the next three miles. Blurp! But I managed to hold everything up and barely break 8 minutes for each of the last 2 miles. Avoiding that stop for a full menu and taking just one gel would have been a smarter idea. By the way, all these sub 8 min miles don't count stops to refill my bottles or take pictures. As a matter of fact, except for the last miles, I don't really explain why it took me 2 more hours than the 6:24 of running time reported by Strava.

At least I finally managed to cover 50 miles on one go, first time in a year, after the very last race before the COVID shut down, Paulo's Single Track 2020 50-mile Trail Nationals, Pioneer Spirit. While there is so much to rebuild physically and mentally, at least the tendon of my left hamstring isn't yelling any more. 2 years and a few months, that was so long to heal. Oh, and some preliminary heat training too!

Here is for the traditional 3D flyover (this link or a click on that image) so you do 50 miles yourself from your couch! ;-)

For those paying close attention, I have no idea where the 3,100 feet of elevation comes from! Starting from Cupertino's elevation of ~220 feet, most of the run is at sea level, except for the Dumbarton bridge climb. Strava already gives 850 feet which I believe is extra generous. Weird.

Anyway, it feels good to get back to some ultra training, even if that shows the hard road ahead for getting back to more speed and endurance. If ultra running was easy, then it wouldn't be as fun, right? ;-)