Training Log Archive: runninghils

Did the Checkpoint Challenge with Katie. Fun to catch up with an old friend, even if our weaknesses were ill-matched. She hadn't mountain biked in years and was on a borrowed bike. I was in terrible running shape. I don't like this marked course follow the arrows thing. After CP3, we missed the turn-off and rode all the way back down to the road the way we came in and got turned back... lost at least 30 minutes there since we had to ride back up to the top of the hill. Fun single track down, but Katie wasn't comfortable and was very cautious on the hills - especially with her back brake starting to lock up. The single track was about 12 miles or something, and I thought it was pretty cool. We got back and did the second kayak section, which went well. Unfortunately, when we got back, they informed us that we couldn't do the trek because we were over the time limit. There was a father-son team that had been with us on the bike who were in the same situation. The others were trying to convince them that we should be able to continue. I said "how about if we go pick up the course?" The RD agreed, so we went out and the 4 of us picked up all the signs, the flag, and all the flagging from the course. It was fun, and we got to take it at a relaxed pace (with lots of slow-down and stops to pick up flagging and signs). It was a cool trek, so i'm glad we did it. John (the father of the father-son team) thanked us and said that without us, they never would have finished the course or gone out on the trek. SO, despite not winning or even having a fast time, I was overall happy with how things ended up. Plus, they gave us a free entry to the next race for picking up the course! What's not to like about that? Next time, Katie will practice mountain biking beforehand and I will be in better running shape.

Track workout. Felt tired, but thought I'd knock it out anyway.
200 - 0:53
200 - 0:50
400 - 2:00
800 - 4:03
400 - 2:00
200 - 0:56
200 - 0:54

Based on these times, I guess I didn't push it hard enough on the shorter distances if I could run almost the same pace for an 800. 400s were slower than last week, but I ran and hiked on hills yesterday whereas last Sunday I just paddled.

Run a lap around Arroyo Verde, but the hills are steep in places and I can't run up all of them yet. Jeff said it took him two years, but i'm planning to be able to run the whole loop sooner than that.
I walked this same loop before I ran it, but since I was talking to my cousin on the phone, I didn't count it. She just moved to the South Bay area for her new job with Google. Trip up to the Bay is definitely in the plans.
It's crazy - on one side of the park closer to the ocean, it's overcast, but on the other side, it's sunny. Sometimes, it's only foggy/cloudy over the ocean.

Forgot to start my watch, but I went out with the Hokuloa club. Today was just an easy intro and there were kids, so we kept it short. They were impressed that I already had the basics down. I think I'm going to join and start racing outrigger canoes. That should be a fun new thing to do!

Rode the trail along the ocean up to Carpinteria. Kind of a "trial commute" though I don't know if I'd actually do it. Maybe if there were road closures or something (and the trail was open?) It was all into the wind on the way out since the coast is facing northwest in this area. Beautiful ride along the ocean. I often forgot that 101 was right there. Oh, there was a weird section where you actually have to ride on the side of the freeway. Freaked me out a bit, but that's the bike route.

Ran the botanical gardens loop. Second day of running in a row, so I wasn't feeling quite as energetic as yesterday. Forgot HRM strap.
hill climb time: 8:45.1

After work run up the Ventura Botanical Garden trail. I was feeling great for the first part of the run and managed to run the whole trail from the parking lot to the road with no walking! Woo hoo! Felt like my legs could move faster after practicing it on the track Monday. I made a dramatic reduction in my climb time:
3-16-16 - 7:53
3-6-16 - 9:02
2-22-16 - 9:09
It's like being a new runner again - the PRs come frequently and dramatically. Fun!

Unfortunately, after getting to the peak, I suddenly had the need for a pit stop, but there was no place to go, so I had a long walk back. When I got back down to the road, I was feeling better, so I focused on faster cadence run back home.

6x 400m at the track. Did a warm-up running on the trail around the entire facility until I found the track entrance. I also figured out how to get on the trail that climbs 5 miles up the mountain. That's for another day, though. Lap times for each 400m interval were as follows:
1 - 1:56.7
2 - 1:58.2
3 - 1:50.1 (note: 2 small children running behind me. could not be passed by small children)
4 - 1:53.1
5 - 1:59.7
6 - 1:58.2
Walked 200m in between laps. I tried to run a cool down to the trail head, but I was tired, so I called it and walked back to the car.

The other surf skier in the club, Bev, came out and we spent a little time behind the break wall, but I wasn't feeling like I wanted to go out into the swells for 2 hours. I only have about 30 minutes of swell paddling in me right now. Bev preferred to paddle in the harbor, so she showed me the harbor loop that I can go on when the ocean is too big or when I'm alone. It was very nice, but my watch died.
We all went out to lunch afterward and the restaurant gave us free soup, salad, and edamame. I guess they go there every week.

Met up with Jeff to check out the Arroyo Verde trails. He was late so I did some exploring on foot. Lots of climbing here! Even walking, the calves were burning. Tried to run as much as possible, but on the route we did, it was just too steep in many places and tricky footing in others. Beautiful sunny day. Note to self: bring water next time... and food in case of adventuring.

Quick run around town. Two more work days until Daylight Saving Time! Yay!! (I can't be the only one who counts down to this, right?) Was feeling good and not going to walk at all today, but had about 30 seconds to walk to get my digestive system to settle down. Then, all was good again. Woo! I have a 3-4 hour light AR coming up in 2 weeks with Katie, which should be fun. Then, April 20 is the corporate games 5K, so I need to start stepping it up. I think that since I can run continuously now, I should start adding in some speed workouts to teach my legs to turn over again. Maybe start with some 400s.

C • it's spring ahead 2

Went to the harbor to paddle today, but it was super windy! There was a high surf advisory, but I thought I could maybe paddle in the harbor, but it was too windy even for that!

Ran much of the way, but walked up the steep hills. I did that loop that I'd identified last weekend as a potential nice 6 miler into the mountains. It was all going well until I hit the end of the fire road, where I encountered a fence. Yep, I was on private property. I was lucky that there was a lady coming up to the fence who was relatively understanding. She explained that fire roads are still often private property and that they have video surveillance and police surveillance on their property. I assured her that I was not going to do this route again and was on my way. (I was lucky she was there, or I would have had to go all the way back for an unplanned 9 miler.) I also encountered some random dogs running on the street and made something of an attempt to find their homes, but I wasn't willing to grab the collar to look at the tag because you don't know how a random dog will react to that.

I'm so bummed that it looks like many of the "good loops" are on private property. I hear that the famous "two trees" hike actually gets police patrols sometimes.

Also, botanical garden trail parking lot to the road was 9:02. A 7 second improvement.

Took the Ojai Valley Trail from Ventura to the end in Ojai. It was a gentle climb for much of the way out, so the return was easier/faster. I think I could ride my road bike on it, but there are a few bumpy/rough sections. It was a cloudy day, so I missed a lot of the views, but it was still pretty once I got out of the industrial area. It rained for about 45 minutes on the way back, but it was light enough that I was only wet on the front side. I even passed 10 people and got passed by zero. Butt needs to get reacclimatized to the saddle. One more week to DST and more time to ride after work.

Intended to go for a run, but having only slept 4 hours Thursday night, I had no energy. It's a long day leaving Long Beach at 5 am in order to miss the traffic on the 405 to make it back to Ventura at 6:30 to get ready for work. I was so tired I went to bed at 8 pm and slept 11 hours. Seriously wondering how parents manage the sleep deprivation. I'm such a baby I felt like I was suffering all day at work Friday.

Left a bit late for my run, but was able to run through a neighborhood and then through Downtown Ventura. It was a nice evening, but I will admit I wore a long sleeve for half of the run. Ha! Ran uphill a bit and took two 1-minute walk breaks during the long uphill section, though looking at the total vertical, it seems wimpy. Anyway, I'm getting pretty close to continuous running again! Though, i'm sure I'll walk some for a while when I'm doing the botanic garden climb.

C • re: long sleeve on a nice evening 2