Laborious training on Labor Day weekend

I know, it’s shocking, I’ve been calling my running hobby, my second job. Short of family genes when it comes to sport, of training at altitude like the Kenyans, but not short of being… short, which might help when running hills but isn’t the best trait to go fast on roads, I’ve had to work hard to move up from the middle of the pack where I started in my first road races in France. I was barely training, swamped into the startup life, an amazing mix of excitement, passion and workaholism. I started running seriously upon moving to the Bay Area at the end of 1998. We were coming to spend 2 years in the US and I had set the goal of running a marathon, before our return to France. Then that turned to 27 marathons and 203 ultra races, and counting. Oops! Got addicted to the thrill of testing and pushing the envelope. I didn’t even know about Boston (the marathon) when I ran my first marathon in San Francisco. 3:30 after quite some… work already. Then San Jose in 3:25, albeit the additional work put into it. I was quite disappointed by the small increment but went on persevering. Working harder. Even starting speed work at the track (De Anza College) thanks to Don Murdoch’s motivating coaching. Will never forget, how that gave me the discipline to work harder and also be curious about running tips from the other members of the Stevens Creek Striders club. While I’ve been hard enough on myself not to need much additional help, I’m super grateful to that group which got me on the right (single) track. And foot. Plus the connection to Western States by becoming the aid station captain at Last Chance, for a few years. More fun. And more work too!

Fast forward 20 years and I need to work even harder to rebuild muscles and mind after two annoying injuries: a fissured tendon at the end of 2018 and torn meniscus in 2024, the latter leading to 7 months off running. Hard physically, and even harder mentally. To most watching, I’m back. Yes, mostly. But, and although not measured scientifically of course, my guess or estimate is that my shape is still 10% lower than where it could have been without these injuries. Speaking if science, maybe I should listen more to my Coros watch because it surely has A LOT to say, most notably that I rarely wait to fully recover between training days, and that some of these runs end up concluding in an Exhausted mode. Plus more than a dozen of metrics that I haven’t delved into. One is intriguing me the most since I resumed training a year ago, though: the predicted marathon time. In almost a year of, to continue on the theme of this post, rather hard word, I only shaved a few minutes off it and it’s now plateauing between 3:09 and 3:10. Not bad compared to the 3:45 Boston Qualifier time for my age group but 8 minutes off the law I had established in my early Masters years of running road marathons in 2 hours plus my age in minutes. Would now place me at 3:01… In optimal racing conditions that is. I’m thinking I should try again.

Writing this I reflect on the contrast there is between just working harder, versus with more discipline. And, yes, I tend to slide toward the former, just logging more miles and aiming at pushing the pace. I should do more cross-training, more speed work (scoop, Cupertino High School is refreshing their track of 20 years!) Meanwhile, it has been closed since June…), more strength training, more stretching. More…

Back to the title, how much labor did I put in this weekend? I had big plans, I wanted to at least do a 50-mile run to Fremont and back, like I did so many while (over)training for Spartathlon in 2023, with a couple of 200-mile weeks. On Saturday morning, we had a small backyard maintenance project, so it was already getting hot when I was ready to go, around 10:30. And rather late anyway for an 8 to 9-hour training run. I went on to run 25K along the Cupertino rail track, down to Campbell.

I was resolute to leave early on Sunday, to take advantage of a cool morning. Woke up at 5:30, got some breakfast and was ready to go by 7:15, loaded with a few GU Energy gels and chews, 8 S!Caps and my two Ultimate Direction bottles. But with a problem right off the bat: just before leaving, Agnès asking me “do you really need to do a 50-mile, why?” Ahh, the why which is questioning all that hard work and mining the mind and motivation. She was right, my next ultras will be in October and November so, why training hard now. Well, just because training for an ultra is a long game. Just because, you’d better do these long runs way ahead rather than showing up tired on race day (hence the tapering). But, again, it’s not science, or it is rocket science as a matter of fact. As we say in our ultra community, we are experiments of one.

The first mile was the toughest. First, nowadays with the additional years, and running almost every day, my body takes more time to get to a comfortable pace. On one end, it was 65F and it felt really nice for running, before the peak of 90F expected in the afternoon on the other side of the Bay. And I was happy with the minimal soreness after yesterday’s 15 miles. On the other, that “but why” resonating in my head… I settled in the next 10 miles for a pace of 8 minutes/mile, plus or minus 2 seconds. The streets were so quiet on this Sunday morning that I didn’t have to even stop my watch to cross De Anza boulevard, then Homestead or even Fremont. By mile 5.5 I was done with the street part of the course and on for 40 miles on the bike path to Fremont and back.

Because I didn’t have to stop my watch to cross the large arteries of Cupertino and Sunnyvale, I decided it was an opportunity to run to Fremont without any stop. I was on track until mile 10.5 when I got into this major trail closure at Shoreline. It’s unclear what they are working on except that they are moving mountains, literally. Between the creation of a new pond for wildlife, or expanding the marsh, they are also raising the levée along the sailing lake of Shoreline. There I was with my goal of not stopping my watch, I did press the button while find a forbidden way to go around... At least it was Sunday before Labor Day so there was no soul working on the pharaonic thing.

While running through the Palo Alto Baylands, I crossed path with good friends walking their dog. Another good stop to catch-up. And talk about the why again. At that point, it was around 9:30 am and the temperature had already risen significantly. I decided I was going to cut this training run short, to only 50K, by turning around at the defunct Palo Alto yacht club. I contemplated adding the loop around the airport but the why had killed me. Well, not just that, it was also getting harder to maintain the 8:00 pace. I refilled my bottles at the parking lot, at mile 16, and retraced my route back. With the heat, I lost quite some sodium --this royal blue enhance the trace of salt-- as well as a few pounds of (body) water. In the why registry, not sure I need heat training anymore for the rest of the season...

This Monday, aka Labor Day, I was flying to Italy in the afternoon, for a wedding there, plus a visit of the Vatican. I rounded up this training weekend with another 15.5 miles (25K) by running loops in the neighborhood. It felt a bit less laborious, but still quite some labor to finish with an average pace of 7:57. For a total of 100K over the 3 days, and a 91-mile week, for a big change. The left knee is a bit sensitive, just enough to remind me that I can’t log as much as I used to…

Finishing this post after a good 6-hour sleep on my flight to Rome, thanks to an upgrade in Business. During my Monday run, the street traffic was pretty much inexistant, the neighborhood looked dead, except for some an interesting distraction: with so many people out of town, the Cupertino Fire brigade was dispatched to test all the fire hydrants. I stopped at one to thank one of the firefighters and teased him that this was work, on a Labor Day! He replied that, since there were on duty anyway, they may do something useful! At least I wasn't the only one working on our streets on Labor Day!

And you, did you work this Monday? At work or on your running?

Memorial Weekend Training trilogy: part 2, back to the Dammit memory lane!

After the hilly 35 miles on day 1, my plan was to log 16 easy flat miles along the rail track this Sunday then run my 50-mile route to Fremont on Monday. So I left home with only a pack of GU Chews and one bottle of GU Brew (aka GU2O). Although I typically take 1 S!Caps at the turn around on Winchester, but I even forgot to take any with me this time. I mention this because, 4 miles into my run, I started thinking I'd rather go longer to avoid having to spend 7 or 8 hours on my run on Monday. Maybe 20 miles? Or maybe even longer for another ultra training run?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about continuing onto Winchester, taking left, along the track. Not a great trail with lose rocks. This time I took right for 2 blocks, then left on Lark Avenue and there was the Los Gatos Creek Trail to score a few miles. I very rarely see any soul on the 6-mile segment along the track since it isn't an official trail, except for a couple of short sections within Saratoga. The contrast with the busy Los Gatos Creek Trail was quite a shock: walkers, runners, cyclists, you have to remain on your toes, literally! With so many humans, at least you get a few convenient drinking fountains at least.

Running that trail brought back many memories, including a San Jose marathon edition (maybe 1999 or 2000, I wasn't blogging back then, and the svmarathon.com website domain has disappeared in 2021; illustrating that even in our data intensive age, records aren't safe for ever; thankfully, the Internet/Web Archive, WayBack Machine, is still up; yet, I could access the 1999 results, but not the 2000 ones; nor could I retrieve the course map which was what I was looking for).

Anyway, after a few more miles, I got onto the final miles of Los Gatos Creek Trail and up the infamous Lexington Reservoir Dam: the terrain of the Dammit Run tradition which ran for several decades before being killed by the pandemic. A 5-mile loop from the Los Gatos High School track, mostly on trails and including some serious climbs. Short of blogging back then, and the loggatosdammitrun.com website being dead too, I still have my log to refresh my memory. According to this blog post, 2019 was the 47th and last edition.

Again, I wouldn't have remembered without the help of that log, I ran 4 editions:

• 2003: 30'17" (6:06 min/mile)
• 2004: 30'24" (6:07)
• 2005: 29'24" (5:55)
• 2006: 30'59" (6:14)

I have to say that, especially after struggling to slog the steep mile to climb over the Lexington Reservoir's dam, then the killer St. Joseph's hill this Sunday, I'm quite impressed with these times and pace averages. Time flies and speed is all relative, literally.

I retraced my way on Los Gatos Creek Trail except for a detour to pick some Gatorade and a Snickers bar since I hadn't properly planned for this long run. By some incredible serendipity again, in reference to that above April post for instance, Stevens Creek Striders club mate, Peter Hargreaves, spotted me while driving through Los Gatos. He couldn't stop so we just exchanged a quick sign but amazed at the odds.

Here is a Relive.cc flyover with pictures and video clips of the Wildcat mini train at Vasona Lake:

6 days later, as I write this post, I'm back from a repeat, this time with some serious heat training with temperatures topping 93F. While I didn't die --phew!-- I have to admit the heat made it much more difficult. Not pressed by time, I actually stopped for 2 hours overall, including 30 minutes to cool down in the Los Gatos Creek Trail at mile 15, at the end of that Dammit loop. Quite some current in the creek and soaking my feet for 20 minutes felt so good. A luxury not available while racing...

At mile 24, I even stopped at the Seven Springs Fire Station to ask for some ice. And I got plenty! With all the stops at water fountains and bathrooms to cool down, it was already 6 pm so the shade was also helping. Overall, I didn't push to the whole 50K, only 29 miles this time.

If not faster, then further: I had never ran so much!

I have to admit, despite 18 years of ultra trail running, I have still no all the clues about what I am doing! As the saying goes, ultra running is a barely scientific experiment of n = 1 (even when the UTMB marketing machine makes it seem like n = 8,000). When my hamstring tendon fissured after training so hard to break the M50-54 100K record, and failing, after 8 years of averaging 100K a week, I figured out that the 62-mile weeks had become too much for my body.

Then I put my hat in the Spartathlon lottery because I felt there wasn't much time left to run that mythical race before I'm getting too old (this year, there are 20 entrants older than me, the older being 71 and 14 between 60 and 64). And I got in on the first try, although I still don't feel like I totally rebuilt after the 4-year injury.

Our team coordinator who already finished Spartathlon 9 times (!) gave us an training regimen that I had never heard of before. August had to include 2 weeks at 200 miles, we had been warned in March! I was torn between the fear of breaking something again, which happened to a few other entrants from our Team USA unfortunately, and this opportunity to explore unchartered territories again and set new limits, both physically and mentally.

With such a regimen, I went into Skyline 50K with only one day of tapering and absolutely no hill training, even after a stay in Chamonix in July where I mostly ran on roads, flat trails and hundreds of laps at the track. 2 weeks later, I took 4 days off before an even hillier trail 50K, Tamalpa Headlands. Definitely not on fresh legs but a great effort and reasonable result given the circumstances. Overall 11 ultra runs in August, including one 50-miler and 7 50Ks, phew. And a record monthly total of 537 miles for August (865 km) after another record month in July of 462 miles (744 km). With a 180-mile week then a record 205-mile one.

What did I learn? First and foremost, slowing down, finally! Thanks (!) to a constant muscle fatigue, and having to adapt to the heat and running at night, 

Second, I feel I indeed gained some mental strength in the process. Finding the motivation to run through the hottest part of the day during the weekends, or later at night after busy work days was a bigger deal at the beginning of the month.

And a few logistical tune up around chaffing prevention or running through a few blisters with some taping.

One thing I didn't do from the recommended training plan is the sleep deprivation part which consisted in alternating 2-hour sleep breaks with 2-hour runs/walks, for 48 hours. I'm already sleeping less than 6 hours most often, I believe sleep deprivation won't be the biggest obstacle on race day. Hard to do while working another full time job anyway.

Overall, I peaked at 82 miles/week for the first 8 months of 2023, a new threshold which I didn't know I could sustain.

Tapering now? Not quite yet according to the boss! He unveiled the September program which still includes 100-mile weeks until we travel to Greece. Yikes, I was eager to ease up after August... Well, 100-mile weeks after 180 to 200-mile ones, maybe that's easing up! ;-)

Most important now is not to break, not to get injured. While racing the Stevens Creek Reservoir half today for instance!

Back home for a last tune-down before Skyline 50K

After 5.5 weeks out of the country, it felt good to be back home and reconnect with my usual running routes and routine. Traveling has been amazing, with so many opportunities to see family and friends and the discovery of new places in South Africa and Namibia, but it has its toll on the running, especially when we join an organized group tour like in Namibia.

My first run after flying back from Africa on Wednesday was on my local neighborhood 5K loop, which I covered three times, getting faster and faster, down to the last mile in 5:58. Between the heat of the summer, the elevation in Winthoek and Johannesburg (5,500 feet), the steep and rocky terrain in the Alps, it has been months since I broke that pace on a mile, last time was probably during the Boston Marathon as a matter of fact. Well, except a short spike at 4:42 min/mile (!), flying down the Lion's Head mountain in Cape Town as Max noticed on my Relive.cc flyover.

On Friday, I ran 9 miles again, albeit slightly slower given the heat (92F) and the rolling terrain of our trail loop at work. And, after experimenting with much success my new pairs of Brooks Caldera since May, I broke a new pair of shoes: the other Brooks trail shoes, called Mazama (that makes 5 different trail running models with the well-known Cascadia, now in their 12th release, the light and fast PureGrit and the Adrenaline ASR 14).

On Saturday, after these two runs, I felt quite bullish and aimed at running a 50K, to the top of Black Mountain plus 3 Bella Vista/Indian Creek trail loops, which I've never done more than 2 at a time. Although I was up early thanks to the jet lag, I only left the house at 10 am and got stuck at the top of Black Mountain in the middle of the blazing heat, which I was completely unprepared for after enjoying the winter season for 2 weeks, down under. I actually had pushed quite a lot on the climb up to Montebello Road, passing 2 bikes and being passed by 2 other bikes (which is rare on this steep climb), just before the top. 

At the beginning of the first loop down Bella Vista, I ran into Chuck Wilson and we chatted for 5 minutes about many topics: Namibia and South Africa, which he visited too, Vespa, his recent switch to a low carb diet, where to find the best water in the area, etc. As I resumed my run, I started feeling dizzy but that passed after another mile of down hill. To save some energy for the next loops, I alternated running and power walking in my first climb on Indian Creek, but even walking was hard in this heat.

I stopped for 3-4 minutes at the backpack campground to refill my bottles and cool off a bit in the shade, but was still hopeful of completing the three loops. However, struggling on the second climb, over heating, I decided it was more reasonable to cut it short and return home and keep the 3-loop goal for later in August as another UTMB-prep exercise. Before hitting Montebello Road again on the way back, I still went on the Waterwheel trail detour for a total of 31.2 miles, and I stopped at every creek on Montebello Road to cool off. Despite some walking, even in the last flat miles across Cupertino, I was stunned to see that my overall average pace ended up close to 9 min/mile, I certainly had pushed too much in the first climb! It took me a few hours and a good night of sleep to recover, and I was able to run 9 miles before jumping on a plane again this Sunday morning, this time for Dallas, Texas. As a side data for this ultra experiment, I weighted 137 lb after my 2-day trip back from Namibia and 124 lb after this challenging 50K training run, quite a difference over 3 days! Thinking about it, I believe the main reason I bonked is that I only ingested 300 calories (1 Snickers bar, 1 GU gel) for the whole run; while it was a good test of how hard it is to switch to fat burning without using Vespa, it was on the risky side. Lesson learned.

The Strava map and profile (Strava activity):

And the Relive.cc fly-over:

Well, instead of a tune-up, I'm calling this 50K a tune-down before next week's Skyline 50K race (I know, tune-down isn't in dictionary, but that fits well with the context...). At least I got some last minute heat training, in case it's getting hot on race day. It will be my 11th consecutive participation, I've very much looking forward to it, I really like this fast course and local ultra reunion! This will be my 64th 50K race in 11 years, time flies and how much things have change that I now run a 50K to train for another one a week later... But it's more than, like many others, we use ultra races to train for bigger and longer goals (UTMB on 9/1 for me). What an ultra life! ;-)

There are quite a few Quicksilver teammates signed up, should be fun! See many of you there on Sunday (I won't show up on Saturday this time... ;-)!

Running in Arabia

It promised to be hot, and hot it has been. I'm not even back to California yet but, for what it is worth as we are in the Fall, I managed to log quite a few miles of good heat training. 13 miles upon my arrival in Dubai, 16 miles just before leaving to Riyad, 23 miles in Riyadh on Friday (which is their only "week-end" day but I still managed to work 10 hours with Europe and the US for another long and busy day until 3 AM...), an 8-mile tour of the city at midnight upon my arrival in Bahrain, and 16 miles again in Riyadh. Between the 11 and 10-hour jet lags over the past 2 weeks, the work on Saturday and Sunday, the multiple visas to hop back and forth between these three countries in Arabia, the three different currencies, the 8 immigration control points, the traveling in coach with the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia or travelers to India in particular, I must admit that I'm on one hand completely disoriented and exhausted and, and the other hand, glad and excited about this business opportunity to discover new countries and cultures.

Speaking of cultures, what a difference between so close countries! Dubai reminded me of Singapore while you can feel Riyadh is closer to Africa... Oh well, we have our own interesting diversity for instance in Europe between Germany and Italy to pick only two, or San Francisco and New York in the US. The main similarities between these three places are the language and some sky-scraper competition although Dubai easily wins in this area. Here is my preferred one: the twisted Infinity Tower (still growing... ;-):

So, I'm tired but not from running, which provides such a stress relief. I was excited to blog on tips about running in these three countries but I'll be frank, these aren't the best places on the planet to run. Beyond the heat and humidity, the locals even discourage you to go out given the associated dangers of running either close to the traffic or to make bad encounters. I did check the web for some local runner tips or experiences and couldn't find much up to date. Yet, few cities "resist" to my eager to discover them with my Brooks running shoes and, for the lucky readers who have the opportunity to visit one of all these three places, here are a few tips. To your own risk...

1. Follow the main arteries. The maps you can find on the Internet or at hotels are rarely in English and rather simplified anyway, focusing on highlighting the largest roads for cars. Indeed, here, given the hot weather and cheap gas, everything is designed around and for cars, so you need to get along, especially in the new Jumeira suburb of Dubai. Of course, as always, or like the salmons coming back to their breeding place which I saw in Issaquah 2 weeks ago, run against the traffic so you see cars coming.
2. Don't be ashamed to appear like a zombie. As I could see, and that was confirmed to me by a few locals, nobody runs here so you'll appear like an alien. Many drivers will use their horn, and I'm not sure if it's in a nice or bad way (I hate it anyway...). You'll also get a weird look from people in the street. Keep going...
3. Keep a low profile. Both in Riyadh and Bahrain, I ran into areas patrolled by the army (like the Ministry of Interior in Riyadh, but in Bahrain too next to the Pearl Monument). I asked where they wanted me to go, I can tell you they were quite surprised to see a runner so close. In retrospective, colleagues told me it was really dangerous to play around such places in the Saudi Kingdom in particular. Watch your steps... And, oh ladies, I can't imagine how locals would take seeing you in running shorts or skirt, or a sport bra...
4. Carry your own water. Don't count on finding drinking fountains! Actually, you will see quite a few at the entrance of the many mosques, but I'm not sure the water is meant to be drunk, rather used for ablutions (like men use the lavatory sinks at the airports to wash their feet... which isn't so elegant...). For my long run in Riyadh, I carried 2 bottles which wasn't even enough for 3 hours in 100F/38C temperatures. On my way back to Olaya, I stopped by a very large and modern supermarket and, with assurance, got in before a security guy pulled me out because I was wearing shorts in a muslim place. I know it wasn't appropriate for a mosque but a supermarket... Several others guards arrived and I made the case that I was going to pass out (not really although I was definitely very thirsty and I had lost a lot of salt again on my shirt), that was enough to get an exception (and weird looks again from shoppers, both women and men, oops).
5. Day or night. On this one, I don't have a clear cut. Late night is better in terms of traffic (less of it) and lower temperatures. But you aren't visible from drivers in certain dark places and this is less picturesque too. By the day, you will see more but suffer from the heat. For instance, in Riyadh, it was 29C at night, 38C at mid day. And October is the nice season, temperature goes up to 55C in summer... But, pick either late night or the day, avoid the end of the day where drivers are tired and not accustomed with the dimming light.

In Dubai, I was staying at the Marina in Jumeira and ran on Al Sufouh Road, a wide avenue parallel to the sea. A few sandy sections, a few with nice grass along luxurious hotels, but mostly sidewalks otherwise. See a few pictures in my Picasa album.

In Riyadh, I was staying in the Olaya district and decided to run South, the most difficult being to cross the huge highway interchange next to the hotel (Holiday Inn Olaya which I don't recommend between the super noisy rooms and some mean personnel at the front desk). It took me 8 miles of not so pleasant run along the busy King Fahd Road to reach Wadu Hanifah, but that was really worth the pain. There, I found a river and ran 3 miles along it on a nice trail, plus 3 miles back, far away from the car traffic. I could have gone further, beyond Fath Makkah Road but I had to come back to the hotel to deliver a web presentation to our European team. From 5 pm on my day off, I went on with emails and calls until 3 am... Here is a link to my photo album.

In Manama (Bahrain's capital), I went around the city, starting South on Lulu Avenue, left on Salmaniya Avenue, right on Shaik Daij Avenue toward the Gulf, left on Al Fateh Highway (there is a boardwalk on the other side but you have to cross eight lanes before the interchanges of the highways going to the airport and the Muharraq island). Another alternative is to take Exhibition Avenue then Government Avenue. This circuit was fine at midnight as the traffic was light and I barely stopped to cross the main intersections, but that must be another story during the day. Since I ran at midnight, I didn't carry my camera, just took a few pictures from my hotel room and from the cab the next day.

Hope that gave you a flavor of these Arabian places and some insights in case you have the opportunity to visit and plan on running. Talk to you next time from sunny and ideally-temperated Bay Area!

PS: tonight, I was invited by the local team to a traditional Saudi restaurant in Riyadh and, to stay on the running tips topic, two colleagues indicated to me a 6-km loop around and across the Prince Sultan National College (close to crossing of King Abdullahbin Abdul Aziz and Abi Bakr As Siddiq Roads). If you know or discover other places to run in Riyadh or Dubai, please leave a comment!

PS: for some reasons (connectivity bandwidth?) Sporttracks didn't download the maps when I uploaded my GPS information while I was in the Gulf. Here are three of them to give you more insights about the places I ran.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

Manama, Bahrain:

Western States training: alea jacta est!

The die has been cast, training is over for the Big Dance of next week! So long for the heat training, barely sweat this year despite a few runs with three black layers of long sleeves on, more than what I use for my winter runs... And no training at all in the snow, which we should have several miles of in the first 20 miles according to the latest news posted on the Western States website in the June 11 update:

Lots of talk about the snow:

Over the last month we've been asked numerous times about the possibility of course changes due to the late snow melt in the Sierras. We have a plan "B" if snow conditions dictate a route change. This decision will be made on Sunday, Jun 20th, after a report from the aid station captains whose aid stations are most impeded by snow drifts. If the Lyon Ridge and Red Star aid stations are accessible, we'll use the standard course published in the WS program and Participant Guide.
If either of these aid station locations is inaccessible, the course will be changed as follows:

After exiting Granite Chief Wilderness Area, the normal route descends a gravel road and T's into Road 96 at approximately mile nine. Rather than turning right and following Road 96 to Lyon Ridge for 1.5 miles, the snow course will turn LEFT onto Road 96 and descend on this road to French Meadows. This is a dirt and gravel road that descends gradually for ten miles before becoming pavement when reaching the French Meadows camp area.
On reaching the camp area, the snow route will turn off the pavement and join the Poppy Trail, following the north shore of French Meadows, and then climbing northwest behind the dam tender's house and rejoining the standard course at the Duncan Canyon aid station.
The mileage is identical on both courses. Rather than having aid stations at Lyon Ridge (mile 10.5) and Red Star Ridge (mile 16), there will be aid stations at Talbot Creek (~ mile 13) and French Meadows (~mile 19).
There will be no other changes to the course and no changes to crew access. Duncan Canyon will remain the only crew accessible aid station before Robinson Flat.

A course decision will be posted on the WS website on Sunday evening, June 20th. The plan "B" course map can be found here.

Oh well, I feel already so lucky to have the opportunity to toe the start line for the 3rd time, I will be happy with any conditions we get. I usually do better in the heat, so I'm mentally prepared. If it's cool, then it will be easier for everybody and that's great too. As far as the snow, this will provide a good excuse for starting slower, although I've heard that it is really taxing and tiring to run in the snow, if not dangerous for the ankles. But better having a snow year than wildfires as in 2008!

After my 57-mile day "to" the beach two weeks ago, I ran 97 miles the following week for some decent mileage. Then, last weekend, I did a 3-peat tour of Rancho, starting twice with the hilly PG&E and once via Rogue (the Rancho San Antonio insiders will understand). At last the thermometer reached 88F and my two layers made up for a few more degrees to make me feel like in some familiar canyons. I covered the 28 miles and 5,000 feet of vertical in 4 hours and 55 minutes, some good time on my feet. The day before, I had done a reasonable fast round trip to the top of Black Mountain from my house in 3:09 (23 miles and 3,300 vertical feet).

I did my last run with two colleagues from IBM at Rancho this past Friday.

Completely missing the heat training again with temperatures in the low 70s, but it was an opportunity to get Max back on the trail for the 9.3-mile loop before he paces me from Foresthill down to the river next Saturday.

Alea jacta est for the training, I now need to work on the drop bags and the luggage for our trip to Tahoe. It's actually not completely over. I'm doing a carbless diet for a few days to renew the carbs in my blood/muscles (the Nordic or dissociated diet) and still some core and strength training. And Pierre-Yves and I should join other Striders on Tuesday night for a short run to test our lights and pacing strategy.

With this year's training, I'm ready to say "Veni, Vedi" as we prepare to get up to Squaw Valley in the middle of the week, but not "Veci" yet. No pressure, let's wait for next Sunday and see...

Western States training camp: so long for me

I cannot believe how much difference a year and external conditions can make... Last year I was all fired up to do the second edition of my own local camp instead of driving up to Auburn for the official Western States Memorial Weekend training camp. Of course I was sorry to miss the fun of running with so many other Western States aficionados, furthermore training on the mythical Western States trail, but I was looking forward to replacing the time driving up there and staying out of town with some valuable family time. So, in 2009, I ran 122 crazy miles in three days and more than 28,000 feet of cumulative elevation, all that in the heat.

Based on my great racing this year, I thought I would top that. However, a big difference from last year: I entered the long weekend not only tired after a few short nights, but with a big milestone at work over the weekend (proposal due on Sunday and presentation on Monday night). So long for a public holiday... With that, I was not able to enjoy the time on the trails, I always felt I could use the hours to put in the project and other professional to dos. The good news though is that, albeit in a limited time, I could experience my first heat crashes of the season, for my first heat training steps this year. At least and at last...

Mission Peak Madness

On Saturday, I drove back to the parking lot of Mission Peak Park, on Stanford Avenue in Fremont, 6 days after Ohlone. Despite the expected affluence for such a special weekend, I just had to wait a few minutes to find a parking spot, so I could set my personal aid station in the trunk of my car. The weather was as wonderful and clear as a week ago, with a nice breeze and gorgeous views all over the Bay. During the first climb, I forced myself to walk some sections to save some energy for later. I reached the summit pole in 35', using the short and straight fire trail (as opposed to the Southern trail we use in the Ohlone race). On the way down, I ran, or rather flew, for a couple of miles with a group of mountain bikers. While they were putting on their brakes by courtesy for the many hikers, I saw no reason for using my brakes and just let it go. After taking an S!Cap and changing bottles, I was up for the second loop, 57' after starting my run. I had thought a reasonable pace would be 1:10-1:15 per loop, evidently I was not on the correct pace.

My second loop was slightly slower, 40' to the top and 1:06 for the round trip. I was wearing two layers of long sleeves to simulate the heat training and was getting quite hot and sweaty with the bright sun and as we were approaching noon. The third loop was still pleasant and completed in 1:04. With the focus on work instead of preparing this running weekend, I left home without much of my usual ultra food such as potato chips or banana, but only a couple of Snickers bars.

One mile into the 4th lap, a hiker asked me if it was my second or third time up. I replied 4th and I still felt OK but wondering if I could indeed keep up with this pace and do the 8 laps as I was hoping for, or at least 6 like last year. The last 2 miles were tough on this loop and I started walking more, completing the loop in 1:22. Back to the car, I thought I will take my camera only for the 6th loop, to make sure I was keeping some motivation for going more than 5 loops. Unfortunately for the pictures of the gorgeous views, I walked so much in the 5th loop that I decided to call it a day after completing this last round trip in 1:29, thinking that it would take me at least 2 hours to crawl the next one. So no picture to share with you, sorry... I am still calling the run Mission Peak Madness like last year because people completing the loop once can relate, this is quite a brutal climb of just over 2,000 feet, worth a canyon on the Western Sates course. Here is the distorted elevation/time chart from SportTracks:

And, as you can see below, I lost quite some salt, this one on my shorts doesn't come from a swim in the Ocean!

By the way, as an occupation in my 4th and 5th laps, I started "collecting" trash along the trail and here is what I found. Sorry for the picture, on the gross side, but I hope that makes the point: watch your pockets, ladies and gentlemen on the trail!

PG&E repeats

Last year I had run the entire Quicksilver 50-mile course on day 2 of my local camp. I certainly did not have the time nor the energy to go for that this Sunday after the set back on Mission Peak, so I decided to go to Rancho to do a repeat. The most I've done there is 4 times the outside loop, alternating the climbs to Vista Point via PG&E (shorter and harder) and Rogue (respectively clockwise and anti-clockwise).

Like on Saturday I put on two layers of black long sleeve tops and felt quite warm just a few miles into the PG&E climb. Before starting I had seen Cathy and Muriel who were looking for a parking spot and told them that I was setting up my camp for 9 hours on the trail as I was hoping to complete 6 repeats to make up for the previous day, in a conservative 1:30 for each lap (my lap record is just below 1:05).

I was back to the parking lot after 1:22 of running, taking 6 minutes to eat and refill my bottles as I was already over heating and it was not even mid day... It took me a lot of walking in the second climb, stops at every creek on the way to cool down and a total of 1:41 for reaching the parking lot for the second time and without the will to go further. With that, I was back home early enough to have lunch with the family, take a nap and go back to work until 11 PM... From a running perspective, I need to re-learn how to behave in the heat. After these two runs, I was down to 121 pounds, 4 less than what I consider my optimal race weight.

This Monday the weather was still great, nice breeze, some clouds in the morning, but I did not feel at all up for running and worked all day instead, except for writing this blog post and shortly sneaking in my FaceBook account to see how much fun others had in the real and official camp up there (some even saw a mountain lion crossing the trail, phew!). I am looking forward to seeing you all in 4 weeks!

Ahh, sometimes, life/work balance means less running and more work. I hope to catch-up with some hill and heat training next weekend, after a 2-day trip to DC tomorrow for the departure ceremony of Alex on Capitol Hill (the end of his amazing Congressional Page program). Still 4 weeks before the big dance!

Rain in June: what is going on?

You remember my post on Miwok which I titled "Is it May yet?" And our start in the fog at Ohlone least week? Well, it rained again this week in the Bay Area. Something I had not seen for the ten years I have been living here, and which came to the surprise of many other long-time Californians! Just a few drops but enough clouds to keep the temperatures really nice for running. That is, nice if you are not trying to get some heat training before Western States... By the way, thunderstorms and snow on the Sierras were expected for this weekend, so I do not know what this means for us in 3 weeks. At least the canyons will not have stored and accumulated as much heat as in previous years. With this unpredictable weather, no wonder it is so hard to make people act on the global warming issue... which global warming anyway...?

After Ohlone, my goal this week was primarily heat training, more than miles or speed. I ended up putting in 65 miles, for a weekly total of 96 including last Sunday's race, with a mix of experiences, see for yourself:

1. Monday - 6.5-mile recovery jog on road just below 7 min/mile.
   
2. Tuesday - 6-mile jog at the track at 6 am, so definitely no heat training.
   
3. Wednesday - 9.3-mile Rogue/PG&E loop, 1,500 ft elevation, with three long layers on
4. Thursday - 4.5 miles including one of the most difficult speed work sessions I have had with Bob in a while: a series of 12 200-meter repeats in 30 to 33 seconds each, with 30-second rests. That left me breathless...
5. Friday - The same 9.3-mile Rogue/PG&E loop in 1:08 (4 minutes off my PR), with three long and black layers on for a good sweat
   
6. Saturday - 29 miles and 4,700 ft elevation, see below for the details.
   

This Saturday, our weekly group run which rotates across 4 locations between Woodside and Cupertino, was starting from the Rhus Ridge entrance into Rancho San Antonio County Park. I parked at the main entrance and gathered with the rest of the group at the top of Chamise, on our way to Black Mountain. I had three layers on again, more than what I ever wear in Winter even when training at Lake Tahoe. It was not hot by any mean, but that was enough to give me a good sweat going up hill. The group first did split at the top of Black Mountain then, later on at Foothills. I ran back to Rhus Ridge with Ianni back to Rhus Ridge, and returned solo to the main parking lot.

Not only was I feeling tired after the lack of rest since Ohlone, but I felt so heavy carrying my soaked layers. I managed to complete the loop in 4:35 of effective running time and 5:05 of elapsed time, allowing for good breaks to socialize with the rest of the group. Now, here is a few additional numbers showing that I still need to work on my heat training and hydration. I really felt exhausted after this run and there may be a physiological reason. First, I did it on only 3 GU gels, i.e. 300 calories (instead of the 2,900 calories reported by SportTracks). Second, I felt like I had drunk enough with 2 20-oz bottles of GU2O and 4 16-oz bottles of water, but that was surely not enough according to the following experiment. When I got back home, I rushed on the scale: 125 pounds with all my layers (except the shoes) and 119.5 pounds without. The following day, the same dry clothes were weighting 1.5 pounds, which meant they were carrying 4 pounds of sweat. Furthermore, I've never gone below 120 pounds, estimating my optimal racing weight to be around 125-126 lbs.
The problem was not much that I was "carrying" these extra 4 pounds, but that these 4 pounds of fluid were outside my body! Thankfully I had refuelled by the end of the day. Getting so depleted is surely not something I want to experience on race day in 3 weeks, and I will make sure to leverage all the aid stations along the way, my favorite part of ultras!

At the time I write this post on Sunday afternoon, the sky is pure blue, free from any cloud, and the temperature above 70F so maybe this week will be hot enough to get some real and natural heat training.

Have a good week!

Heat training: at last

Yes, 99 Farenheit, at last! This is a strange situation: I am not particularly found of heat, I actually prefer cold weather and my skin is not handling the sun very well. I am also very concerned with Global Warming. But, these days, I was hoping the temperatures would rise as high as possible to give me a chance to get acclimated to the heat before Western States.

I went for a run at lunch time on Monday but the temperature was around 75F (24C). Ran at the track with Bob on Tuesday morning, at dawn, then at Rancho again later in the day when the temperature had raised to 85F (29C). Had lunches on Wednesday and Thursday and ran again at Rancho on Friday, finally in a decent heat (96F / 36C), and no breeze. With two layers of my warmest winter gear and black running tights on, that started looking like running in the Western States canyons.

On Saturday, record temperatures were forecast again. I went at Rancho with Max at mid day and the temperature got to 100F (38C) which provided some insight to Max for what to expect after Foresthill on the way down to the river (Max will pace me from Foresthill to Rucky Chucky). Again, two layers of black and warm running gear provided another good sweat and prepared my body and mind for next Saturday.

At last, above 99F (37.2C), the title of the French movie Betty Blue, hence the above picture...

I cannot believe how lucky we are we the weather here: I wished for some heat and here it comes, just in time. Gone during the night so we can still have a good sleep. And gone this Sunday when I'm done with running and all set for a good week of tapering. The Bay Area is such a unique place!

While I'm on the heat training topic, Scott (Dunlap) was telling me the other day at Mount Diablo about other techniques he had heard about:

• Hal Korner jogging in place for one hour in a sauna;
• Graham Cooper racing Mount Diablo last year with several black layers on and a hat;
• Turning the heat on while driving your car.
  

I tried the second technique this year, plus the spa often (104F) and not putting the air conditioning on in the car even when temperatures got above 100F; we will see how it works and goes. I realize that last year was exceptional at Western Sates with no snow and reasonable temperatures in the canyons (in the 90s). I'm not sure what to expect this year but I feel much better acclimated to heat than I was in the middle of the winter when running the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica.

See the lucky ones enrolled in Western States this Thursday (raising of the flag) and Friday (check-up and briefing). 'Till then, have a great tapering. And, for the others, see you on the Western States webcast (bib #44) for near real-time tracking!

Farther, Faster...

PS: and you think I am crazy? Check out what runners will do this July again for the Badwater 135-mile. My ultraholic buddy Alan (Giraldi) was training there this weekend in 120F (49C)! No shade, no breeze, just the sole of your shoes melting on the black road. Yes, there is always something further in ultra (and more insane, I concede...).