CIM Race Report- I am a marathoner (again)

Short Report:

Like i mentioned in my Shashta report, my whole year was planned around CIM. I started training for CIM in late June as soon as Shashta adventure was over. Even though i was running well till March, i knew i had to start from scratch with fresh mindset. I trained hard for 5.5 months leading upto the race. Every single minor details were planned and tested and fine tuned in training. This was something i learned during Shasta trip. Sweat on minor details. Starting from what to eat starting 24 hours before the race, what to eat and when to eat on race morning and finally how much and when to eat during the race. I went into the race with the goal of finishing the race in 5 hours 20 minutes based on how my training had happened and i finished it in 5 hours 22 minutes. No bonking, no hitting the wall. No dying out there. Everything went according to plan from start to finish. I finished with a big smile and sprint to the finish line. 

Was it a perfect race. Nope. There were few things in hindisght which could have been handled better but in general, it was close. I have no regrets. I am a MARATHONER (again). Last time, i did full marathon was 2013. I had forgotten how much commitment is needed when you sign up for a marathon. It still remains the hardest thing acomplished this year, both mentally and physically. 

Long Report:

CIM was always on my radar when i started running as it is a fairly big race and close to home. But on the flip side, it is in December which means training in cold and dark in November. First time, i had registered for it two year back but i did not commit to the training required to get to start line. I also ended up with a back injury when i tried to ramp up too much too quickly. Fast forward to 2018, i repeated some of the mistakes again. My body somehow cannot do 12 months of run training. Considering CIM is in December, it would also mean doing long miles towards the end of year after running through the year. As predicted, i was again feeling burn out by November and i decided to defer my registration to 2019.

By November, I was trained enough to do a half marathon and so i registered for monterey bay half marathon but unfortunately, the race got cancelled due to california fires. So now i had two defered races in 2019. Monterey Bay half in November and then CIM in December. Since monterey bay half marathon was cancelled, i continued training through winter months with the hope of doing Oakland half in March of 2019. 

Fast forward to January, I wanted to break this cycle of not being able finish training. After some serious introspection, I was committed to CIM this year. But to get to CIM, it was important to change the route i took in 2017 and 2018. So this year, after Oakland half marathon in March, i decided to take a break from running. My thought process was if I had to get to CIM in good state of mind, i would need 5-6 months of solid training under my belt. So there was no reason to continue doing random races before that and feel complete burn out by June. Instead, i wanted to spend time getting physically stronger between March and June. Luckily, i came across Asha Climbing program. That program ensured i stay physically active and get stronger with time.

Fast forward to June, i was rearing to go for CIM. After a long time, i was mentally fresh and ready to take marathon training head on. Even though i was starting again from scratch, i was not a typical couch potato. Climbing program helped me strengthen my body and also build decent endurance base. Carrying 40lb backpacks for extended periods of time can do amazing things to your body :)

Training and Nutrition

At high level, training plan was laid out with 2 half marathons before CIM. The goal of those two races was to try out race specific strategy (Nutrition, pacing etc) so those don't become issue in CIM.  Going into the training, i had also made commitment to follow

1) Do most run outside. In the past, I did most of weekday training on treadmill. This did not help me when i went for long runs outside. So to get the most of out of long runs, it was necessary to do short runs outside on concrete rather than treadmill. I had planned to use treadmill only if it is absolutely must.

2) Foam rolling/stretching every single day. Something I had ignored in past. Again a very small thing but absolutely must for getting through training.

3) Strength training consistency. I am not a big fan of gym but if i had to survive marathon training, this was absolute must. However little, but sneak atleast two sessions per week.

With the above template, I started increasing mileage very gradually. I had 5.5 months so there was no need for sharp increase. Initial few weeks were the toughest as legs had forgotten how to run. But once those initial weeks went by, recovery was lot more faster. The goal was to get 4-5 runs a week with long runs in the range of 16-20 (3 to 4 hours). Luckily, i had team asha east bay running buddies who were also training for various races including CIM. For most long runs, I had company and that helped me get through the long miles fairly comfortably. A big thanks to coach Bharathi who ran with me for all my long runs and ensured that i run them at proper paces and don't go too fast too early and always finish the long run with faster pace. 

Nutrition was broken down into pre-race and in race nutrition. After lot of trials and errors in training, I followed a specific plan for last 5-8 weeks for all my long runs. I wanted to make sure my stomach is not going to have any issues in race. For most Friday's i only had big bowl of pasta with simple tomato sauce. On Saturdays, 3 hours before the long run, eat 2 cliff bars and drink 16oz of electrolyte and then have a gel 30 minutes before the run. It was crucial to get it 3 hours before the race to avoid porta potty breaks in the race. Something i learned in Monterey half marathon where i cramped everything in two hour window and had to stop multiple times for porta potty breaks. Having 3 hour window helped me digest everything before the run. Once the run started, aim to get ~300 calories per hour. 160 calories from gel (1 every 30 minutes) and rest from electrolyte drinks. To make sure i can mimick the intake, i also switched the electrolyte drink to what was going to be served on course. Nuun endurance. I always aimed for 15-16 oz per hour which roughly translated to 150-160 calories. 

I followed the same protocol for all of long runs starting from 16 miles all the way to 20 miles while making mental notes on how i am feeling while running. When i finished my 20 miler (~4 hours), i immediately told Bharathi, if i feel this good in race, i am far certain to finish the race without issue. For once, nutrition was certainly working well for me. 

Pre-Race Night

Pre-race night was certainly one of the most nervous nights i have experienced in last few year. After going to bed at 9, i pretty much woke up every 30-40 mins right from 10 PM. The plan was to get up at 3:30 and start having the food for 7 AM start. Since i was getting up so many times, i decided to start chucking down electrolyte every time i woke up. Luckily, by 3:30 i was done with electrolyte and only had to worry about solid foods which was not an issue for me. In hindsight this was good move as all porta potty lines in the race were long and would have wasted several minutes just waiting in line. Lesson learnt from half marathon.

Race

Like i mentioned in the short report, race itself was really uneventful. I had put several hours in making sure it stays that way in the training. As soon as the gun went off, i was in the zone and was keeping an eye on pace to make sure i am not doing anything stupid. From my training experience, i knew miles 13-20 are the miles which are mentally tough and then miles 20-26 are physically tough. To make sure i stay distracted from negative thoughts for miles 13-20, i had carried my headpone with me which i only turned on after mile 13. Music helped me stay distracted till mile 20. After mile 20, it was just about mentally toughing it out for remaining time.

For most race, i felt in control. I did not experience any bonking. Mentally, i was there for all 26.2 miles. I had run through all scenarios in training and was prepared for each section of race, mentally as well as physically. I was also able to smile and sprint to finish line. 

Final Thoughts

When i had started training, if someone told me that i would be able to finish this well I would have taken it any day. Couple of things i think that i need to figure out for next race.

1) Fuel belt. During most long run, i trained with a specific fuel belt. But i never loaded it up with 10 gels. With that weight, it kept sliding down in the race. I spent every single walk break adjusting it for first hour or so before i got completely fed up with it. I threw the fuel belt and moved all the gels to pocket. I only kept one bottle in hand for emergency water need. This was bit unexpected and it turned out i had to waste crucial minutes refilling the bottles at aid station. For next race, i need to figure out better fuel carrying option.

2) Better strength training. My goal was to push after mile 20. Mentally, i was prepared for it but physically, my body was not ready for it. I had passed the 5:20 pacer in mile 2 and had planned not to see him again. At mile 24, when he passed me, i tried super hard to stay with him. But physically, my body was not ready for push. My thought is with better and bigger focus on strength, i might be able to over come the physical aspect of racing.

What next

Back in 2011 when i got introduce to edurance world with team asha, i always made sure i get the training right for any event. Somewhere, i lost that crucial aspect in 2017,2018. Haphazard inconsistent training, signing up for every race that shows up in calendar and running those race with no or very little training ending up with bad experience or more worse with injury. It feels like 2019 has been good comeback year. I only signed up for races for which i truly wanted to train or had a purpose in larger scheme of things.

This year, i ended with 4 half marathons and 1 full marathon and no injury and no deferrals. I haven't decided on any races for 2020 but i am far certain i will not be signing up for full marathon.

Right after finishing the race, first thing that crossed my mind was i want to get faster at this. My PR for half marathon is 1:50. I want to get close to that. In 2019, my best time for half marathon was 2:20 in Oakland. I want to move it closer to 2 hours as first step. So atleast for 2020, i want to focus on getting stronger and faster at half marathon distance. Which races and how is still in works :)

Mt. Shasta Climb-an unfinished business

Wow its been so long that i almost forgot i have this little piece of internet where i use to document my race reports for future reference. . Looking back at garmin files, 2014 and 2015 were good years in terms of cycling. I did low land double century in 2014 and Seattle to Portland double century in 2015 and few short races in 2016. But starting 2017, training and racing has been a bit off . I did few shorter road races here and there but nothing of substance. There were lot of start/stop to training due to one or that other reasons and consistency was never there. Sometimes, i lost the motivation, some times got swamped at work and at times ended up injuring myself due to lack of consistent strength training and general training.

Fast forward to late 2018, my itch to train and run well finally came back. I trained well (for most part) and was feeling very excited to run monterey bay half marathon in November. But unfortunately, on the race weekend, organizer had to cancel the race due to California fires that happened during that time. There's not much I could do so I decided to keep training and then target something early 2019. I targeted Oakland half marathon in March 2019. That race date was perfect. It was on my birthday weekend. Probably the best way to celebrate the start of new year :)

After training through early part of 2019, I was successfully able to finish a half marathon. Finally, the first one after a long time!!! after so many frustrating start/stop to training. And to my surprise, i was able to run a very solid half marathon. My goal was to do a 2:30 half but was able to run well in race and was able to finish it in 2 hour 20 minutes.

 In the past, seeing this i would have registered for several more races through the year and then would get injured. What i have realized through the years is running  the whole year is not for me. For one, i use to lose motivation half through the year and then wouldn't train consistently leading to injury and more frustration. So this year, i decided to do things differently.

After running Oakland half marathon, I decided to take a break from running. My ultimate goal is/was to run full marathon by year end but for that to happen i wouldn't need more than 5-6 months of solid training. So i targeted CIM and decided to start training for it from July.

But that decision also brought unique challenge for me. If i was not running from March to July then i had to do something. Initially, i decided to get back on biking but i was not getting motivated again for doing those long crazy rides which i use to love.

During some random surfing on facebook, i came across team asha seattle climbing website. The website said they were planning to start the program in sillicon valley. That peaked my interest !!! I learnt how to run and bike with Team Asha so it was no brainer to explore this.

Truth be told, i had no clue what climbing was. I had also missed the info session due to work. When the email for first hike came, i naively thought climbing is same as hiking. In my mind, this would be perfect for getting the muscles ready for full marathon and I LOVE hiking. So i signed up for it and icing on the cake was teaming up with Ramesh and Aparna from east bay. They also had joined the program so i had company from here. When we showed up for first hike, it was 4 miles long.

That was lot of fun. After the hike i decided to go all in with the program. I still had no clue what i am signing up for :) As weeks went by, we start going on weekly hikes on weekend exploring beautiful trails in bay area. After few weeks, I got the first taste of the seriousness. Since large number of people had signed up for the program and being the first year, climbing leads and coords wanted to limit the number of people. We all had to "qualify" for training program. Truthfully, it felt bit odd. I have being part of team asha from 2011 and none of their programs had "qualifications". The programs were run to make people fit. But i was game for it. The qualification process was simple. Climb Mt. Olympia in 2 hours 45 mins with 20 lb bag pack. I was barely able to qualify. I made it to top of Mt. Olympia in 2 hours 47 mins. I was very happy to get this qualification out of the way so i could continue hiking. I still had no clear understanding of what we are training for.

Well Hello Mt. Shasta
Few weeks into the program, on our drive to one of the hikes, Aparna broke the news to me on what we had signed up for. Since i had missed the info session, this was all new for me. But then i realized that this is not a hiking program but a climbing program and both are not same :)

Mt. Shashta from flight.

Hearing the details in one of our online meetup with the coordinator KD, I immediately realized this is completely new world for me. I was nervous and excited. I haven't felt like that from the days i started running and biking. In the hind sight joining the program without knowing anything about it was the best decision ever. I was up for the challenge. If i had known we were training to climb that thing in the picture, i would have immediately dropped from the program :) My immediate concerns/needs were

1) Tackling snow and snow skills
2) Acquiring all the gear
3) Getting basic bag packing skills for over night stay in snow
4) Getting stronger and fit for the climb

Weekly hikes took care of 4 but first three were also quite nerve wrecking for me. I have been in bay area for 12+ years but i hadn't put my foot on snow. So snow was a major concern for me. Same goes for 2 and 3. Anybody in mountaineering will tell you how big financial investment you need to make to get the right gear. Luckily, we had an amazing coordinator in KD who helped us pick the right gear for the climb. It is hilarious when i look back at those emails. Questions like, will this pants work, will this gloves work, should i buy this or that. He patiently answered all our questions and slowly and surely, i started acquiring all the gear.

On training front, our bag packs were getting heavier every week. Also, our hikes were getting longer. But being with so many amazing people made it fun. Every hike took a serious toll on my body and it always took 2-3 days to recover from it. But i also realized that i was getting fit and stronger. Week after week, we hiked several mountains in bay area.

2 X mission peak with 35+ lb bagpacks

The gang

Hardest of all hikes. Mt. Diablo with 30+lb backpacks. Ice cream at the summit was well worth the effort

Snow Skills

For me, the biggest hurdle was snow. Once i acquired most the gear, it was time to head to Tahoe to try out all the new gear and also learn essential snow skills for climbing. I did a full day snow skill session with ASI (Alpine skills international) on 4th May. We learnt several techniques to traverse the mountains 1) rest step 2) french technique 3) front pointing 4) Plunge stepping and glissading for descents. We also learnt about ice axe and self arrest technique. Well i guess if you don't want to die on the mountain, it is essential to know self arrest :) Slowly but surely, i was getting more and more confident on my snow skills. 

Date with Shashta

Finally, after all the training and hard work, it was time to finish the business. Plan was to divide the group into two groups and both groups would try to summit on different dates. First group was slated to go on 21st June weekend with Vaibhav as the guide and second group was slated to go on 28th June with KD. I and Aparna were slated to go in second group. In my last minute preparation, i decided to head back to Tahoe one more time on 15th June to refresh my snow skills and gain enough confidence for the climb. When i finished the second session, i felt good and ready for the climb. 

We drove to Shasta  on Friday. The plan was to meet KD and seattle group (Praful, Rekha, Preeti) on Saturday morning and start climbing around 10:30 via avalanche gulch route. We had plan to reach lake helen at 10,400 ft by 4:30 PM for the over night camping and then try to summit on Sunday morning at 14,179 ft and be back to car by evening.

Avalanche gulch route

As planned we met with the Seattle gang at the trail head. All the people coming from Seattle were pros who had submitted several peaks. This was a big advantage for our group. They helped us repack our bag packs the right way, removed all unnecessary stuff to reduce the weight. After all the details were ironed out and some pictures, we all started for lake helen. My backpack was quite heavy (I guess i still did not have all the layering sorted out) and it was close to 40 lb. With all the training, i was OK with the weight.  It was not a big concern for me. Slowly and surely we made it lake helen. Most of the trip was uneventful. I was fully focused on the task at hand. We took few breaks along the way and reached lake helen around 4:30ish. 

The whole group 2

Add caption

Once we reached, our immediate task was to setup the tents and start melting snow for the summit and for the way down next day. Since we were nine people, we had to get close to 45 liters of water (5 liter per person). We finished up the dinner around 9-9:30. The summit plan was to meet at 12:15 am and start at 12:30. I could not sleep for those 3 hours. I was quite nervous and excited for the summit. My body was feeling good and i was not feeling overly tired. I woke up at 12 and we all got ready by 12:30. Aparna and Sinny decided to stay back as they were not feeling well.

Summit Bid 

Due some stomach issue for one of the member we started the summit bid around 1:30. Weather was perfect in the morning. It was not that cold. The only challenge was to navigate the route in night with head lamps. 

Within 30-45 mins into the climb, my crampon came off. This made me quite nervous. I some how managed to put it back on. Initially, i thought may be i did not tighten it properly. So this time, i put proper pressure and locked them up. But within few minutes, i could feel they were getting loose again. This really scared me. Being a complete novice at this, I panicked and decided to stop and return back and just like that my summit bid was over. In the hindsight i could have handled it much better if i had thought through it. On my return trip, crampon came off again. But i was so pissed that i just took that one crampon in hand and climbed down to base camp. Once i reached base camp, i realized that the tube of my water bladder had also frozen so i had no access to water. So in hindsight it turned out to be a good decision. Our amazing group was able to summit successfully. We all returned back to our car by 7ish PM and then drove back to bay area by 1 am in the night.

Lesson learnt

I felt really really bad for few hours. This was first time ever where i turned back from a challenge for which i had put in so many hours. Once the sun came out, i met up with Aparna and Sinny and we just hanged out at base camp. Since i could not sleep whole night, i decided to take couple of hours nap in the morning. Once the team returned from the summit, i explained my crampon situation to KD and within minutes, he was able to tell the problem. The crampons were not fitted properly by the shop from where i had rented them. I could not figure that out looking at them. 

Lesson 1: Sweat the details.

I relied on rental folks for several key parts of my trip and that royally screwed me at the last minute. Along, with crampon issue, they had given me wrong sleeping bag. The sleeping bag cover was for zero degree but the actual sleeping bag within it was for 36 degree. I did not open and check the sleeping bag and i was miserable when i returned to base camp from failed crampon. I could not sleep and kept shivering till the sun came out. Although, on the phone they mentioned that they would be able to rent me crampons for my mountaineering shoes, they turned back at the last minute and i was forced to rent mountaineering boots from them. This was quite nerve wrecking as i was very use to my shoes and last minute shoe change could have caused giant problems for me. Luckily, rented shoe worked out OK. Big lesson learnt. 

Lesson 2: Build the fitness

Mt. Shasta was only third time on snow for me. To some extend i under estimated the strength and endurance required for it. Having experienced it first hand, i knew i would have struggled coming back to car if i had summited that day. Mt. Shasta is hard climb. It is no joke and requires really strong preparation. 

What next

If you made it to here then congratulations :) Like i mentioned, the whole climbing thing happened like an accident. But now that it is behind me, i am back on marathon train. I have signed up for couple of half marathons (San Jose Rock n Roll and Monterey Bay half) leading upto CIM in December. For a change i am really looking forward to train hard for December marathon. Good thing is i am going into it with lot less variables and hell lot stronger body :)

While on the mountain, i kept telling Aparna and Sinny that snow is not my thing and how stressful this whole experience was for me (I guess that was all knee jerk reaction for all things going wrong at the last minute). But once i returned home and gave it a good thought I realized that being able to get upto 10,400 ft in itself was such a big achievement for me and i am really grateful to Team Asha Seattle chapter, especially KD, Suhas and Deepti  to introduce this program in bay area and train us for it.

All said and done, i still have unfinished business with Shasta. I am looking forward to train harder and get on that mountain summit in 2020. 

Mt. Shasta, we are still not done ! 

SF to LA bike ride report

Wow! where do we begin...sometimes you end up doing something that makes no sense when you think about it. Last week I ended up doing something like that..I rode my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 7 days covering 545 miles as part of Aids LifeCycle Ride. I had never been to LA before and had never thought that my first trip down south would be on a bike :)

I did it!!

I did not know something like this existed. But while training for Napa century ride last year someone mentioned about it. My initial thought was that's just nuts. Who does that. I mean I don't even know if i can finish a century ride in one day let alone 5.5 back to back century rides in 7 days. More power to nuts who do it. I am never doing it.. As i was planning out all the races this year, I suddenly remembered about this ride. I was looking for a new challenge on bike. Yes doing a century ride is challenging, infact very challenging. But I had already done it and i was looking for something more than that. I went through ALC website and figured out how this thing works and  I registered for it on 26th Nov.. While registering I had no clue what I am getting myself into or neither how to train for such a ride. Only thing I knew was it would involve a LOT of biking. And that should be lot of fun.

One good thing about having an good coach by your side is you don't have to worry about the how part..that's their job :) All you do is blindly follow the plan and believe it will work out in the end. When I mentioned about it to her I think her first reaction was pretty similar to lot of other people..he has completely lost it ;) but I insisted I wanted to do it and I manged to convince her.  The other part of the puzzle was this was not the only thing i was training for. I had 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon (OO crap I still haven't written a race report for it) to tackle before we even get to this ride. Again, not my problem. That's a coach problem to train me through it :) My job was to simply follow the plan.

Looking back at the training logs right from December until the ride I think it was not that much biking as I had thought. Yes I did biked on an average 3-4 times a week, 2-3 weekday rides and 1 weekend ride (Other days being the run days). But most weekday rides were between only 60-90 minutes on bike trainer. But those rides were very hard focused rides. Not the usual picnic/leisure rides that I use to do last year while training for Napa century. Weekend rides were the long rides. Since I had a group of friends who were training for death ride ( the other set of nut people)  I decided to do those long rides with them for two reasons 1) Doing long rides alone is boring and I have the tendency to get lost if I don't ride with group...I still do but chances are less..and if I do they will find me..lol 2) They would be doing a LOT of climbing. This would be perfect to build leg strength further. I did western pacific marathon on 4th may (again please remind me to write a report...at least scribble whatever I remember now). From that point until the ride my training focus was biking. Yes I did run bit here and there but it was mostly biking.

My biggest training block was two weeks before the actual ride where I did two back to back century rides on a weekend.  102 miles with 10k+ ft elevation on Saturday  and 104 miles with 4k+ elevation in extremely hot weather on Sunday. What i wanted to see how i feel after doing back to back long rides because this is what I will have to deal with on the actual ride for 7 days...Those ride did go well except for last 10 miles on Sunday. I pretty much had to drag my a** to my car and it took me two days to overcome the soreness. That was probably the first time self doubt crept in that may be i underestimated the ride, may be I don't have that kind of biking experience or biking legs but then it was too late to back out. Everything was already in place: Donations raised, return tickets booked etc.

3 days before the ride coach emailed me to check if I had thought about a plan for each day. Until that time I did not know the exact miles on each day. I looked at the ALC website that evening. Holy crap!! Riding 7 days was a challenge in itself for me but riding 82.5,109.2, 66.7, 97.7, 42, 84.3, 60.7 miles was completely on a different level in my mind. My reply was simple. I am freaking out. I don't want to think beyond 1 day. I will think about the next day when i am done with one (if I get through one) .

Her reply:

Trust yourself, trust your training and most of all, remember - this is a fun one.  Yes, it will be hard toward the end, but that is what makes it fun, when you work through all of those tough places and come out on the other side a stronger athlete and person.

You got this!!

Boyaah!! I read this email atleast 20 times in last 3 days. Whenever I got a negative thought I would read it. Most of all I convinced myself this is NOT a race its a ride. I have trained hard and I am ready. Go out and  have fun. Going into ride plan was simple. Take each day as it comes. LA is far. Don't worry about next day. Ride with lower HR and as much as high cadence possible. Also, eat LOT of carbs every night and hydrate hydrate hydrate alot on the ride and after the ride.

Ride day came and there I was with 2200 other anxious riders at cow palace in daly city bright and early at 5 AM. Orientation finished and we all rode out to a large cheers at 7ish.

Day 1 was probably the toughest day in my view. When you ride out of San Francisco you are bound to hit lot of hills. So until lunch point (when we were out of SF) it was relentless rolling hills. Other issue was everyone started at the same time. Imagine 2200 people going through single traffic light. Sometimes I had to wait for 4-5 times until I crossed the single light. Frustrating!! But once we were out of SF we started to settle down in our paces and riders spread out. Also, now we were on highway 1. No more lights and amazing views of ocean. Our first camp site was Santa Cruz. At the last part of the ride I was starting to have a very nagging knee pain. As the ride finished I was really worried. Wow! its only day 1 I am already having knee issues. I immediately checked with the medical staff. It turned out my IT band was really tight  and that was causing the pain and I was advised to make foam roller my best friend for next 6 days.

Day 1: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454780

Day 2 was one of the longest day on the ride. 106 miles. More than the distance it was the heat that worried me. It was suppose to be a super HOT day with a very boring route. My plan was to increase my electrolyte and add an extra sodium tablet to each bottle to combat heat. Luckly, my knee pain had vanished by morning but my quads and hamstrings were bit sore but nothing too scary. Other thing I learned from day 1 was importance of stretching regularly. So my new rule of thumb was to stretch properly at each rest stop and that did certainly help on the ride. Once I came back to camp site, king city I spent good 40-45 mins on foam roller to really stretch out those muscles. Ah you got to love the foam roller pain after a long day of biking. This was the new routine after each day of riding.

Day 2: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454637

Day 3 was relatively short  with 66 miles but nicked name "Quadbuster". With all the hill training that I did with DR people i was relatively ready to tackle any sort of hill. The hill itself was not that bad. It was just a long and relatively steep climb. With fresh legs that would be a easy climb but with ~200 miles already on the bike it did took some effort to get up. Rest of day was again long rolling hills with strong head wind towards the end. Our day 3 camp site was Paso robles

Day 3: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454538

Day 4 was another long day on the saddle. 94 miles of fun. From Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Two long climbs nick named "evil twin sister climb". More importantly, at the end of second climb we would have reached half way to LA. Again, with fresh legs those would be easy climbs for me but after 3 days of riding and less than ideal recovery those hills were bit of a challenge. I finally made it to the top huffing and puffing. That was the time it dawned on me. Wow!! I am half way through. Am I tired. May be. But more importantly am I having fun..a whole lot of it. After couple of pictures it was back to business on bike. There were lot of miles left after twin sister climb. It was important to stay on top of nutrition and hydration and finish another day strong. I kept reminding that to myself all along the way and soon enough I finished day 4

Day 4: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454417

Half way vista point

Day 5 was the shortest and most fun day of the ride. Red dress day. Its hard to describe it in words. Its like fancy dress competition among bikers :) I will leave it there and you can judge from the video. It was short day but again had two LONG climbs. Nobody talks about those climbs in all the red dress excitement until you start climbing them. Then comes out all the swearing, huffing and puffing.

Day 5: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454312

Day 5 ended quite early and we finally had some time to relax. For me that translated into more foam rolling, stretching and socializing. Day 6 was another relatively long day. 88 miles of fun. Our last day camp site was Ventura beach. Awesome. Camping on beach. Sounds awesome but we need to ride 88 miles before that. Most of my ride was uneventful with lot of time smiling, talking to fellow riders and thanking/hi-fing local's who came out to support the riders

Day 6: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454244

When day 6 ended it finally hit me. I have done it. OK we had 60 miles still left for the last day. But it was only 60 miles. My legs were sore and tired but it did not matter. I was just happy and ready to end this ride strong and with a smile. As we entered LA, my heart was beating really high. I could feel the excitement. I started seeing lot more people on the road side cheering us. Lot more people honking at us. As I made the final turn there was a HUGE crowd to welcome us. Rockstar moment!! One big fist pump and it finally dawned on me. Yes I did it. I have rode 545 miles from SF to LA in 7 days. Its hard to describe such feelings in words. Pure Bliss. Those are the moments you look forward to. When all your training, hard work pays off.

Day 7: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/325454174

For all the number nerds out there.here is small snapshot of entire ride combined

Distance: 540.29 miles
Elevation gain: 20,614 ft
Avg Speed: 14.91 miles per hour
Avg Cadence: 84 rpm

The entire adventure was just amazing. To see myself grow in confidence from 3 days before the ride when i was thinking what i have got myself into to the belief that i was truly trained and super ready for it was a new kind of feeling. With each passing day my confidence just grew stronger and stronger. I was also amazed with the fact on all the days I was 50-60th rider to finish the ride. No I was not racing nor i cared about it. I know this from the fact every day when we ride into the camp site the volunteer would speak your number loudly so that other volunteer can note it down. This way they kept track of how many people have safely made it to the camp site. But every day that number further re-assured me that i was truly ready both physically and mentally for the ride. I was also amazed with what my body could handle without breaking down. Except for that first day scare I never had to go to medical tent. I rode the entire ride and I never had to take the SAG vehicle to the camp site. This ride has definitely given me sort of new self belief. Now, I truly believe we are all capable of doing more than we think we can if we put our mind to it.

So that explains one part of my ride experience. But there was much more that happened on the ride. Something that just touched me very deeply. The ALC Community. For that one week every one on the ride was there with single mission: To raise awareness about HIV, To ride, help each other finish the ride and be warm and welcoming irrespective of gender, sex or sexual orientation. From volunteers who worked tirelessly for long hours with a big smile before riders arrived at the camp site and after they left and catering to their smallest needs when they were on the camp site, medical staff who took utmost care of all the riders who needed help, all the volunteers on the road who would stand at each turn to guide and cheer the riders, all the volunteers at each of the rest stop who would dress up to entertain us, all the honks and cheers from the local people as we rolled through the towns. For that one week I met some amazing people who had very touching stories, some uber fast yet very humble cyclists, some of the most welcoming and friendly people. In fact, i fell in love with the community so much that on day 5 itself I registered for the ride next year.  Not for the challenge but to do my bit for the community that cared so much for us when we were there... Their tag line is so true-"You belong here". You only realize that once you experience it.

Points I need to remember for next year:

1) When coach says eat lot of carbs..it has to be done wisely. I started the ride thinking i might end up loosing 3-4 pounds but I ended up gaining 1 pound at the end of 7 days. No kidding. Carbo loading is good. Carbo overloading is not good.
2) Carry marathon stick in the bike jersey to stretch IT band. One muscle that just kept getting tight all the time
3) When you carry sun screen in the bike jersey you have to use it. Otherwise, there is chance people might not recognize you after the ride like this time around.
4) Beat my each day time by at least 20 mins (At the end of it I am still very competitive at heart :))

Red Dress Day video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpDDVxW8SdE


Entire Ride Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3G9-a1kH8

Some pictures I took with my cell phone:
https://plus.google.com/photos/116684896749330648209/albums/5887932805602024849?authkey=CP3-oM-8v8eLPQ


Now that this adventure is over. It back to my first love, running !! One of my goals this year was to break 1:50 at half marathon distance. In the previous two attempts this year i have come very close to it. 1:51 at Norcal half and 1:52 at Oakland half but I haven't been able to break it. Its about time I break it. Next up Napa to Sonoma half marathon, followed by Chicago marathon and CIM marathon. sub 1:50 or bust ?? Wait and watch!!

Oakland Half Marathon Race Report

Wow! Once again I disappear after the race without putting my thoughts about it. With so many things happening in life there is only so much time for blogging. But I still like to put down my thoughts about the race so that 1) Its kind of cool to look back at these reports when you redo the race 2) Lot of times I look back and see what worked and what did not on the race day

My PB (personal best) for half marathon distance is 1:50:xx. I achieved that last september at norcal half marathon and one of the my goals for this year is to break that time. My first opportunity came in Feb. when I ran the norcal half marathon again. While dealing with injury and only few short weeks of training prior to it I knew it would be difficult to do it. I did come pretty close to it and finished it in 1:51. While planning the season, Norcal half was suppose to be training race for Oakland full marathon but with hardly any long run running a full marathon was a big risk so I decided to downgrade it to another half marathon. In a way it was perfect. I will have full four weeks where i can put in good training miles and try to chase 1:50 again :)

Going into the race, my plan was simple. First 4-5 miles stay in Z2-Z3 and then go into Z4 and stay there for the remainder of the race. Coach also had instructed that once I get into Z4 she didn't wanted to see my HR go below again. So when to get into Z4 was kind of an important decision and she had left that to me.

When the race started we made incredible numbers of turns winding around the city of Oakland in the first few miles. It was lot of fun to see so many people come out on course for cheer and support. At around mile 4 or mile 5 I broke into Z4. Now it was time to work hard and stay there. For most of the remaining race I was able to do it but the engine started going off towards the end around mile 12. Last 2-3 miles were extremely tough for me and I once again faced some cramping issues in the calf. I even had to take couple of quick walking breaks around mile 12. I hate walking in the race. But then there is not much you can do when your body just doesn't want to move forward..I crossed the finish line and saw my garmin it said 1:52..wow!! I was certainly very disappointed. Up until mile 7 I thought i was in control and i knew i was on course to break 1:50. But the humidity, hills and cramping legs towards the end was way too much to handle for me...

I took public transportation to the race location so while coming back I kept thinking about what went wrong and here are few things that stick out for me
1) I definitely need to sort out my sodium intake issue. Being a heavy sweater I definitely need to compensate lot more sodium than most of the people. I take powerbar gel every 30 mins. That's close to  220 calories and 400 mg of sodium plus the sports drinks available on the course. This seem to work for most the race before I start blowing up towards the end. I am planning to try out some salt tablets and see how my body reacts to it
2) My fitness is no where near last year but this is something i am not too worried about. With time and training it will come around
3) Race laces. This is such a bummer. For some odd reason my shoe laces never untie when I am training and then in races (almost always) I will have incident where my shoe lace would untie and I have suddenly stop and take care about it. It happened again in this race. I need to get those laces without the knots for the races

Here is bit of fun fact that I realized when I came home and saw my garmin file. So to run a 1:48 half marathon my average pace per mile needs to be 8:24 and my avg pace per mile was 8:23. So unofficially, I did break 1:50 ;) It would have been official if only I had run 13.1..I ended up running 13.4 miles. Those 0.3 miles cost me dearly in the end. Anyways, next time when I line up for half marathon I am determined to crush 1:50..But for now I need to continue my training for it. Up next its time to tackle 26.2 one more time in 4 weeks time..western pacific marathon

Garmin File:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288509458

Norcal Half Marathon Race Report

Wow! its been a while I visited this little corner of internet that belongs to me. Time for another race report. The actual race happened on 24th Feb but i haven't had the chance to put down the report for it. So here it is..

This was my second year doing the norcal half marathon. I had very happy memories for the first one. It was at this race that I actually got my PR. You can read about it here. Last year this race happened in Sept. I was in middle of my marathon training and was in great shape. This year it was very different. First the race was moved from Sept to Feb and the course was also moved from San Jose to Fremont. No complains on the second one as this was really close to home. I had a pretty bad start to the year with a knee injury and that took away three-four weeks completely with hardly any running. I started running little more consistently from beginning of Feb. Considering  i had only 3 weeks of some sort of running (most of them slow and short) I was very realistic about my performance. When my coach asked me about the goals about the race my only goal was to get through the race uninjured.

Going into the race the plan was to run in Z3 and lower Z4  for first 3 miles (168-175 bpm) and then run next 7 miles in higher Z4 (175-180) and then go really hard for the remaining 3 miles with HR > 180 bpm. When i read that plan I wouldn't say i was very excited. To be honest i was bit worried. Considering how little i have run beyond Z2 this would be something incredible if I am able to pull it off without getting injured.

Fast forward to race. I was up early and had a large banana, 1 powerbar energy bar and 22 oz electrolyte drink for breakfast. I reached the race start at 6:30 for a 7:30 start. It was freaking  cold. I just kept moving/running to keep myself warm for the next 45 mins. With 15 mins to go I lined myself up behind the 1:55 pacer. My thought process was that 1:55 pace would be comfortable for first 3 relatively slower miles and then I can run my own race. After the bit of chit chat with fellow runners and national anthem off we went. I kept up with the 1:55 pacer for first 3 miles with relative ease.  It was time to up the tempo. So I decided to push my pace.

Surprisingly, I was feeling quite good. So instead of waiting until mile 10 I decided to push my pace even more from mile 6-7. In the hindsight it was bit too aggressive for the amount of training i had. But anyways, things went relatively smooth until mile 12 where my wheels came off. I was completely out of breath and my left calf was cramping a bit. I had to take couple of walking breaks to catch my breath. Last mile was quite a torture to say the least and I crossed the finish line in 1:51.

It was quite surprise seeing the final time. It was only 1 min slower than my PR time. Looking back I think quite a few things clicked :
1) My fear that i might get injured again was finally going away. Last year I had run ~700 miles without a down time due to injury for a single day. The injury at the beginning of year did dent my confidence quite a bit
2) Last year my nutrition plan was 1 gel/30 mins with electrolyte from the water stops. This might seems very aggressive for some people but works great for me. After the race I realized that I had forgotten the gel at 1:30 mark and that might be the reason for my bonk at mile 12. I am sticking with this plan. I am experimenting with increasing my sodium intake in some of my training run. So that is something I might include in my future races. Beyond that I am not going to touch it.
3) Gaining the confidence to run my own race. If you go through all my races last year I always try to stick with the pacer. In some ways I don't have the confidence that I can run a smart race and stick to the plan. This race I followed the plan very closely with the exception of getting overly aggressive little too early.

Things that I think I still need to work on:
1) I need to re-look into my electrolyte intake before and during the race. I think that 22 oz of liquid in the morning did not stick well in my stomach. I also had some cramping issue towards the end portion of the race even after following my aggressive gel schedule. That is the reason I am experimenting with little more sodium intake
2) Train more consistently. Off late with a new job life has been hectic and I end up missing workouts every now and then. Hopefully, once I settle down at work this will be back to where I want it to be

Garmin File
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/277196654

coyote hills 10k race report

When the year started I started training with really high hopes and then lets just say things did not go according to plan. I got a bumped knee. When you run a whole year (almost 700 miles) without ever getting injured and start the new year with a injury it does make you one grumpy, angry person. It was almost comical when you take break (in between changing jobs) from your work with the hope that you will be able to put in some solid training and then immediately you are told you cannot run. Only good thing about the break was a one week visit to family in Chicago. I really needed that !! Every time I saw a run workout it would be running in Z1 of 30-40 mins and I did not like that. My awesome coach knew I was not in happy state (I made it ample clear in my notes :P) and she did keep reminding me that its really early in the season to be that worried.

Last year I did this 10k and I was really happy with the way it was organized. Considering this was just 10 miles drive from my place I really wanted to do it. But with almost no running (atleast consistent running) up to this point I knew it would be crazy to even think about it. But never the less I emailed Kim if I could do it. I think she was not very comfortable in allowing me to do it. For one if I bumped my knee again I would end up where I was 3 weeks back!! But I ensured her that I would not do any crazy running. I will keep it steady and would start to walk immediately if I got that pain back. With that conversation I signed up for it day before the race.

For me this race was not about time, PR etc. It was simple. I just wanted to go out and run. Some people might not get it but think this way...if you are really passionate about something, something that really makes you happy and you are forced not to do it for 3 weeks....you might get it. Running means that too me. It is something I look forward to day in day out.

Screw up
I knew this race is a very popular local race but I had no idea it was so popular. I reached the parking lot (which was about 2 mile from the start line) about 1 hour earlier. But with only 3 or 4 mini shuttles between the parking lot and start line and 100's of people waiting to get there it was taking eternity to get into the shuttle. Finally when I got to the start location I could see 10k people starting their race from the shuttle. I still had to collect my bib, check in my bag, signed the waiver, blah blah before I  could even start running. So by the time I got down off the shuttle and did all that stuff there was no one in sight..all 10k people had already left. This has never happened to me before and I was one nervous rat. I asked the organizer now what should I do and they said just start running..we are anyways going to give you chip time...so with no warm up etc. I just started running almost 10 mins after everybody had left.

Descision time

No I am not having heart attack :P

As soon as I started running I knew I would be encountering lot of slow runners/walkers and I will need to quickly navigate through them. My HR was no where near it was suppose to be. It had sky rocketed to another level. When the first mile beeped on my garmin and showed me 8:34..Holy crap!! I can never sustain that pace for next 5.2 miles. More importantly, I was really worried looking at my HR. I was hovering near my max HR. But at the same I was just really really happy to be doing this. Yes, it was very very uncomfortable. For most of that first mile I felt like I having some sort of heart attack and instead of running to finish line I was running to a hospital :) But somewhere I also felt in control. Its hard to explain but I knew what I was doing. That's when I made the "royal decision" to not look at the watch until the finish line. Just go
with how you feel. I was also ready to just walk if something went wrong with the knee. But until that time..no looking at the watch and just run and have fun!!

Done!

I ran most of the race with really free mind and happy feeling. Yes it was no where near what I agreed to do with the coach. But then I really needed this race to clear my mind. I wanted to re-affirm myself that whatever I have been doing in the gym to get back to running is working and all hope is not lost. I know this might have been lucky escape for me in the sense I did not hurt myself again and I need to be cautious for next few weeks before getting back to consistent running but for now I will take it as positive sign..

Last year I did this course it was my PR time for 10k (1:05) this year I reach the finish line little earlier (53:57). Trust me if I did not see that finish line I would have ended up running half marathon without any regrets ;)

Garmin file
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/266227940

Adios 2012!

Holly Molly!! Its been a while I updated this blog. Its time to reflect and say good bye to 2012 !!

Since this is mostly a training/racing blog I will focus only on those. I had few goals that I wanted to hit before the year ended

Things that went according to plan:

• Learn how to bike properly..how to use cleats (without falling), gears etc properly
• Finish a century ride
• run in minimalist shoes
• run a sub-2 hour half marathon--(bonus--1:50 half marathon)
• run a marathon 

Things that did not go according to plan:

• Learn how to swim
• Do a triathlon
• Run a sub-4 marathon

Miles on saddle and in shoes:

• Bike: 1,963.10 miles
• Run:  716.07 miles

I started the year with the hope of doing an olympic distance triathlon by the end of the year. Only caveat was I had never biked or swim before. While my biking and running has come a long way, my swimming hasn't. Somewhere in the middle of the year I dropped the ball on swimming out of fustration and focussed only on biking and running. If I ever want to do a triathlon I will need to put lot more effort in water and be really PATIENT. I think that is going to be key for 2013. Swimming has not come naturally to me and its going to take lot more work in the pool. The other goal that I did not hit was running a sub-4 marathon. To be honest, I had high hopes of nailing that one at MCM but that did not happen. I am hoping to nail that one this year either at Oakland Marathon or more realistically at Chicago marathon.

Few wonderful moments from 2012

Graduating batch of Team Asha-East Bay 2012. New runners and friends for life!!

Awesome training buddies--Samar and Vishal (Ramesh missing)--Always fun chasing them in training like in the picture!!

1:50 Half marathon at Norcal half--My first  half in 2011 took me 2:58 mins.--I have come a long way!!

I am marathoner !!

During tour of Napa 100 miler!!

We finished century ride together and formed new friendship over the year training for it!!

Amazing TVTC!! Awesome people and athletes!!

Final ride to Mt. Diablo to cap off a great year!!

Here's to 2012!! Happy new year and have a safe, healthy and prosperous  2013!!