Helen Klein 2009: perfect weather

One thing is sure about this year's edition of the Helen Klein Ultra Classic: the weather was perfect, from start to finish. Super clear sky with a moon almost full, cool temperature at the start, no wind, sunny morning and warm afternoon. A big big change from last year's persistent rain. A great way to celebrate the first part of Halloween on this very last day of October. As I was mentioning in last week's post, how lucky we are to live in California and have such a weather in the Fall. I am thinking of our friends training on muddy trails on the East Coast or in Europe...

This perfect weather played well for some, but not everybody. And I am part of the latter. 2006: 6hr42 for my first Helen Klein and my second 50-miler ever after I got the Dick Collins Rookie award a month earlier at Firetrails. 2007: 6:22, a blast and still my PR on the distance. 2008: 8:51, a heroic finish with a major asthma crisis and pulmonary edema symptoms. 2009: 7:12 with mild asthma. After my DNF on the same course at American River in April of this year, for asthma reasons, there is really something my body does not like in the area...

I left Cupertino at 4 am, after joining Sean and Pierre-Yves for our RhoQuick "team pooling." (RhoQuick is our Quisksilver Running Club team sponsored by Adam Blum's company, Rhomobile, just covering part of the race registration fees.) It was great to have Heidi as our driver to decrease the pre-race stress. Their dog, Gordy, enjoyed our company on the back seat. We arrived just in time to pick our bib numbers and listen to Norm's briefing at 6:30. The main point was that we were not starting on the levee again this year, but Norm assured that he measured the course and it was only a quarter of a mile longer. However, most of our GPS would later give a longer account, between 51.1 and 51.25 miles.
We started on the trail and in the dark; Chikara started like a rocket and disappeared after the first turn. I settled in 3rd once we hit the bike path (around mile 2), keeping Jamie Olson, a local runner, in sight. Quickly though, Jamie seemed to have issue with his quad and I passed him around mile 5. The first mile was slow because of the darkness (7:40 min/mile) and we significantly increased the pace on the asphalt. By mile 7 my average pace was down to 6:46 and would remain the same for 10 more miles as I was carrying two bottles and not stopping at aid stations.

I refilled my Gu2O bottle at mile 20 and lost a few seconds but felt ok, and actually decided to slow down a bit to save some energy for the second half. I reached the turn around (supposed to be 25 miles, but rather 25.5 miles) in 2:56 or 6:56 min/mile pace. I was in second and Chikara was still flying and had already a lead of more than 15 minutes. He must have run his first marathon around 2:45. Mine was just above 3 hours (3:03), yet another Boston qualifier if I had ended there.

As we were back on the same path, we had the opportunity to see all the other runners after the turn around. Jamie was still in third, followed by Pierre-Yves who seemed in perfect condition with a big smile. Right after him was Sean, without the smile... I actually do not recall if Ray Sanchez was behind or between them. At this time, I started having trouble breathing fully and slowed down significantly to 9-9:30 min/mile with some walking to help catch my breath and preserve my lungs. The rest of the run was mostly about trying to "shuffle" (running with short steps, an exclusive Jim Magill technique!) as long as possible, walking to breath, looking at my GPS to see my average pace increase (yikes), and looking behind to see if anyone was catching up.

It is only at Sunrise Bridge (~ mile 37) that I heard the aid station volunteers cheering up to welcome a runner as I had just left the station still working on a cup of soup. It was Ray who was having a great day today. He was shooting for 7 hours but finished in 6:45. I kept going with my slow pace, convinced that Pierre-Yves or Sean were going to pass me at any time, but kept going and finished in 7:12, good for third overall and 2nd Masters. Chikara had finished in an amazing time of 5:45, improving his own age group course record by 2 minutes despite the additional mile! And missing the overall course record set by Michael Buchanan in 2005 by mere 2 seconds, which makes his performance the best ever on this course. Worth some Thanksgiving dinner refueling:Sean finished in 5th (7:19) and Pierre-Yves in 8th (7:29). These performances should be good enough for our team to cash in quite a few points and solidify our position in the PA USATF ultra and mountain trail running Grand Prix. The rest of the team did well too: Keith Blom, 17th in 8:00, and Jim Magill, 34th in 9:16. As for me, I was glad that the field was less competitive than previous years and that Mark Lantz had decided not to toe the start line. As a matter of fact, we had crossed Eric Skaden and Mark on the trail in the morning arond mile 6 as they live close by and were training on the course. My win in the Grand Prix this year is not based on major performances (Mark got these ones), but my assiduity and persistence... The last race, the famous Quad Dipsea, will not change the odds but I'm going as (Tropical) John Medinger invited me based on my 3rd place last year. I just hope I will not break a leg or twist an ankle on this torturous course. And I will work on my... quads, in November...
A special mention for Bill Dodson, 74, from my other club, the Stevens Creek Striders, who is dominating his age group in the Grand Prix, this year again. Here is Bill, fresh after a 50-mile "promenade" in an amazing time of 9:34:A big thank you to Norm for perpetrating this running tradition in honor of his legendary wife, Helen. And for more than 40 years of race directing and volunteering in the ultra community! A big thank you to all the volunteers (including Helen, now 87!), some of them at aid stations open all day long. A big thank you to all the competitors for their encouragements as we crossed after the turn around! A big thank you to my RhoQuick teammates for their fighting spirit and emulation. And a big thank you to the sponsors, whose generosity makes such events possible and affordable.

Norm said that the tradition is all set to live; see you next year, then! And maybe at the reinstated Rio Del Lago in the meantime. Speaking of 100-milers, there are now 62 of them listed on Stan Jensen's run100s.com website! I remember the counter passing 40 just a few years ago, then 50 last year, this is another big increase. I put my name in the hat of next week's Western States lottery and, if not taken, this will be a sign that it is time to look at other 100-milers. Except that I'm now "stuck" for another year of "enjoying" the races of the regional Grand Prix... Like taxes, a good problem to have!

Train wisely and run happy!

PS: a few more pictures in my Picasa album.

A normal weekend?

I race a lot already (15-18 races a year), yet I have to refrain from running every race in the area: that is how blessed we are to live in the Bay Area. This weekend two races were really tempting: the San Francisco One Day and the San Jose Dean Karnazes Marathon. But it was not reasonable for me to run one of them just one week before Helen Klein 50-mile. Instead I "just" ran 44 miles in 6 hours this weekend...

A weekend like any other?

It was pitch dark at 6:30 am on Saturday morning and I was not so surprised to find the gate of the Rancho San Antonio Park closed then. I parked on the street one mile away and rushed to catch-up with my running buddies starting their training run from Rhus Ridge on the other side of the park. What surprised me though when I entered the park is to notice that the lot was almost full already! Some folks must know how to open the gate in the early morning... Again, despite the darkness, there were already hundreds of hikers, mostly Asian (see my previous post on Cupertino's healthy habits).
Running Chamise Trail, I saw several deers and I would see many more of them all morning. With the rain we got two weeks ago, there is a lot of fresh green grass, a treat for the deers. I also saw a coyote before getting to the Windmill Pasture. On my way up to Black Mountain, I caught-up with Mike Topper and Chris Garcia and we stayed together for the rest of the run, back to Rhus Ridge through Hidden Villa and running through the Palo Alto Foohills Park.
The weather was perfect and we reminded ourselves of the invaluable luck we have to live here. So many trails, views over the Bay and to the Ocean, a perfect weather, so many local races, not to forget the company, and the personal enrichment gained through the multicultural environment and the business connections.

Chris also joked about his luck to run with local elite runners. Between Mike and I, we have three Ohlone wins and many other Masters wins. Mike ran Western States 5 times (1996-2000) and placed in the top 10 Men 4 times. We also met Roger Dellor on his bike.
Roger started ultra running late, just before turning 50, but excelled at it and still holds the M60-69 course record at Western States in 20:28. He is now alternating running and biking to alleviate some knee issues.
I ended up doing exactly 31.1 miles or 50K on Saturday, with a cumulative elevation of 5,200 feet, in 4:45 of running time (more elapsed time with a few stops here and there).

Here is a link to my photo album of the day. (Much different views from my last coverage of this run back in the Spring).

This Sunday, I went for a 10-mile tempo run at the De Anza College track. I wanted to run the 10 miles under an hour but missed my goal by 15 seconds. Actually, 40 laps represent a bit more than 10 miles (10.25 according to my Garmin GPS), but I have been able to do 40 laps in the past under 58 minutes. Granted, not the day following a long and hilly run like I did yesterday. Besides, there was a bit of wind (6 to 14 mph according to the web) which bothered me in the last 5 miles. I also started a bit too fast (5:44 for the first four laps).

Here is a view from the satellite. Sometime these satellites must wonder what goes in our mind for running in circle like that for an hour... ;-)

San Francisco One Day

While Sarah and Wendell must still be counting the laps, here are the preliminary results they posted this morning. They setup a webcast so it was cool to get an hourly update, although I admit I didn't stay up all night to watch. The race started at 9 am on Saturday at Crissy Field in San Francisco (a flat 1.061-mile loop).

#	Runner	Gender	Age	Laps	Distance (miles)
1	Brian Krogmann	M	31	132	140.1
2	Suzanna Bon	F	45	127	134.7
3	Mark Tanaka	M	42	111	117.8
4	Daniel Fabun	M	35	105	111.4
5	Mike Nuttall	M	60	101	107.2
6	Joey Bryan	M	40	100	106.1
7	Marianne Paulson	F	45	98	104.0
8	Charles Wickersham	M	37	95	100.8
9	Andy Kumeda	M	41	95	100.8
10	Vance Roget	M	55	95	100.8
11	Steve Klang	M	42	95	100.8
12	Nathan Yanko	M	27	95	100.8

In total, between the 24 and 12-hour runners, participants logged 6,938 laps and 7,361 miles!! I really want to enter a 24-hr event at some point, hope my calendar allows it next year.

Overall, not your ordinary weekend but one of the many we, ultra runners, can enjoy in the Bay Area. Blessed are we!

Helen Klein 50 miles: did finish!

2006, the Helen Klein Classic was my second 50-miler, a few weeks after my first one at Firetrails. I was not blogging yet, but I remember I had great hope to set a fast PR, falsely considering a road ultra as being much easier than a hilly trail one. Sure enough, I started too fast and struggled on the way back of this out and back, finishing in 6:52 with many cramps in the final stretch to Cavitt School.

2007, you can look at the whole story. Again, a fast start and a tougher back but a much better time of 6:22.

In 2008 my hope was two-fold: first improve my time and PR (the Farther Faster part of me) and, second, put points in the bank for the USATF Grand Prix. The first goal surely turned out not being reasonable given the terrible weather conditions (rain and wind) as well as the same trail detour as at Rio Del Lago to get around the on going construction on the levee. As for the second goal, without Steve Stovers, Mark Tanaka, Mark Lantz, Gary Wang and Ron Gutierrez at the start as usual contenders in my age group, we were left with Ray Sanchez and Charles Blakeney for the ones I know (our age group has 29 people in the standings so far this year, versus 55 last year).

I car pooled to the start on race morning with Pierre-Yves Couteau, whom I met earlier this year at the Cupertino Big Bunny Fun Run 5K. But today was not Pierre's first venture in ultra: he has run Firetrails 50 already among other ultras and he is progressing very fast as you will see below.

We arrived at Cavitt School just on time to pick our race packet and listen to Norm's briefing at 6:15. Norm had spent the night in the gymnasium but did not get much sleep, between the noise of the rain on the roof all night and the worries coming from race directing in bad weather conditions. He actually delayed the start of the 50-mile from 7 to 7:10am so we had more light for the first detour around the levee.

Listen up! (RD Norm Klein, who has directed Western States 100 for 14 years, and completed the run too)
Even his wife, Helen (middle), is listening carefully to the last minute instructions (although officially retired from competitive running, Helen ran the 30K on Saturday, in 4:50):
With the pouring rain, I was happy to see this runner on the course without his cave man costume!
A picture with Helen before the start:
The race

The detour was the only trail part, about 1 mile each way. It was a bit slippery but not too bad. I followed Todd Braje for the first miles but he quickly went out of sight after Negro Bar. With the tricky trail section, our first mile was slow and we picked up the pace when reaching the bike path with sections ran in 6:30-6:15. Fast but keep in mind that the first 25 miles are going down along the American River, with 300 ft elevation loss in the first 10 miles. Seeing Todd winning Way Too Cool last march in 3:30, I knew that was his race. Actually, course record holder Michael Buchanan was on the entrants list but did not show-up. That would have been a great match to watch!

The rain was not too bad at the start and came and went. When the rain stopped, the wind accelerated the drying of our tops but not the shoes. The first 10 miles were eventless. It was my third attempt at using Vespa in races and Peter advised me not to eat anything in the first miles so my stops to the aid stations were short, just to grab some water to complement the Gu2O I was carrying in my bottle.

When I got to the Sunrise Bridge aid station, I had already slown down to 7+ min/mile pace but I was already quite breathless, potentially announcing another crisis of exercise-induced asthma. Sure enough, by the next aid station, Rossmoor Bar which is marking the turn around of the 50K, I knew it was not going to be a good day (in addition to the rain). Like my last big asthma crisis at American River last April.

I kept slowing down and saw Todd on his way back, 1.5 miles from the turn around, going strong and easy. I reached the Guy West Bridge aid station in second place, a few seconds before Pierre-Yves, then Michael and Ray. We reached the turn around in 3:11.

Out of breath, I let Pierre-Yves, Michael and Ray go, not without some regrets to be missing the good allure. Eduardo Vazquez stoped when passing me to propose some salt caps. I thanked him but replied I was suffering from asthma. Alternating walking and jogging, I crossed the rest of the 50-mile participants. I saw Charles Blakeney when we were 2.5 miles from the turn around and figured out he will catch-up with me in the remaining 23 miles. In many occasions I looked for him, behind, but the field was thin and sparsed so I did not get passed by too many runners.

On the long way back, the most important event happened at the 50K mark, the Goethe Park aid station. I choked for the first time there, feeling so much fluid in my lungs (I don't wish you this experience if you can avoid!). I was spitting orange mucus, something that never happened during previous crisis, so that did not sound good. With that, I seriously considered dropping at this point. At American River, two things were different. First, I had never experienced a DNF and felt that asthma could prevent me from performing well but was not a good enough excuse to drop if I could still make the cut-off times. Second, Agnès and Grégoire were there to crew me and provide assistance, including my inhaler. If you follow my blog regularly, you will remember that I did have a DNF in August. And I had no crew this Saturday. Fortunately, one volunteer proposed me her inhaler. Unable to take a full breath, or even a small one for the matter, I barely took a puff but that definitely helped for the next two hours. The other reason I did not dropped is that, despite all the support of the volunteers, I could sense that it was not practical to get me back to the start. One of the volunteers even mentioned that the next station was only 2 miles away so I should try. So, after stopping for 14 long minutes, I went on with my alternance of waling and jogging.

At Rossmoor Bar (mile 34) I decided to give another try for the next station. Helen Klein Classic is known for the numerous aid stations. Some are as close as 1.8 miles, and the longest stretch is just above 3 miles. It is great because you don't have to carry much, but, if you are here for a PR, you don't want to spend two much time stopping at each (17 stations total). Now, if you are not on the front of the pack, you certainly enjoy these frequent opportunities to get some support as I experienced today.

I was glad to be welcomed by the cheering volunteers at Sunrise Bridge. They conveniently relocated the aid station a few yards from the original place, under the overpass, like the Guy West Bridge aidstation did too. In particular I received personal encouragements from runningfreeusa, from the Runner's Wold blog, who proposed me hot chocolate or broccoli-cream soup. I first instinctively leant toward what I like the most, hot chocolate, but decided soup was probably much better, with an S!Cap. The soup was hot, making up for my cold wet clothes and socks, and I left the station, walking and sipping the delicious and nutritious beverage. Just a half-marathon to go...

Had my Gu2O bottle refilled with the powder I was carrying, at Fish Hatchery (mile 39.5) and went up the bridge on which I could not even jog, between the short breath and the strong wind. At Main Street, the volunteers had set a convenient RV, stucked as they were in a sampy area. I choked for the second time when leaving the station and really scared me with this feeling of the lungs full of liquid, unable to breath. It passed after a few long seconds and I continued walking, albeit even slower. Fortunately, the next aid station, Negro Bar, was less than 2 miles away. There, one of the volunteers found in his car an old inhaler from which I took too small puffs.

At the last aid station, Folsom Dam Park, I was welcomed by the joyful Winni and Lee Jebian. Despite the bad weather and knowing about my asthma, they were cheerful and gave me some boost for the final miles. I got passed by three runners in the very final mile which is quite unsual for me. Actually I was going to jog the last hundreds yards down from the levee but choked for the fourth time, when Michael Persak and his crew (wife?) passed me. I choked quite badly again just 300 yards from the gymasium, explaining the 3 minutes separating me from Michael. When I approached the gymnasium, Norm yelled: "come'on, nobody ever crossed this finish line walking!" Well, it may have been a first, but I was surely satisfied enough to just pass this damned finish line. 14 miles of good running and 36.5 of walking in apnea and in the rain, that was a long enough torture for me today... Oh, no, it was just the fun of ultra endurance, the one I and we all like, right? ;-)

Post-race

Todd had won in 5:49, not a course record (5:36) but a blazing time given the weather condition, the muddy trail detour and the extra lenght of the course this year (about 0.8 to 1.2 miles I believe). Pierre-Yves could not keep up the initial pace and finished 5th, yet in a great time of 7:15. Second was Ray, in 7:01, less than 40 seconds before 16-year old Michael Kanning. Complete 2008 results on the UltraRunner.net website.

As for me, Norm, Helen and Pierre-Yves took care of me, letting me lay down for a while until I could find some enough air and energy to take a very recomforting hot shower. Before leaving, we enjoyed the Thanksgiving dinner, and the carrot cake was the final touch for my recovery. As I write this post on Sunday afternoon I still have a very limited breathing condition, but I don't have any soreness from the limited physical effort given my current fitness. Now, if someone can just provide me with a trick or cure to avoid these random occurences of exercise-induced asthma! Something different from the "you should stop running" which I get a lot after such incidents... Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the traditional carrot cake:
Charles finished 8 minutes behind me. I thanked him for the mental push although he probably did not realize he was that close at the end.
Here I am with Steve Holman (10:06) who recently joined our ultraholics group:
Here are the traditional pictures with the Kleins. First, with Pierre-Yves, the "other" Californian Frenchie:
Thank you again, Norm and Helen, for the opportunity to run in your area and for another perfectly organized event. Norm, I'm glad Helen is letting you directing "her" Classic next year. And hope you find someone to take over Rio Del Lago.
And, before closing this post, two major things:

1. First, a special thank to the volunteers. More than the traditional thank you, which is still well deserved when you realize that no event would run without you. But a special one in these terrible weather conditions. It is one thing to stay in the heat for a day, and not run a race when you are a runner, but the pouring rain and wind made it so much more difficult, especially the stations which did not have an overpass bridge near by or canopies. THANK YOU!
2. Last but not least, running on thin air made me think during all the run of my friend Tom Kaisersatt who is fighting to keep his lungs. Keep it up Tom, your fighting spirit helped me again yesterday to get to the finish line!