Race Weekend Again - Big Sur Marathon

Bixby Bridge, halfway along the marathon route

I'm happy to get through the past three weekends uninjured and feeling pretty good overall. First was Lake Sonoma 50, then the Boston Marathon and finally the Big Sur Marathon. As well as enjoying three spectacular and incredible races, I wanted three sets of tough runs to host fitness for the summer 100s. Even by running Lake Sonoma at a comfy pace, it was still long and tough enough to be a perfect work-out. Then two marathons at fast (for me) but not quite 100% efforts worked on the speed when tired, especially by not taking backing off on the training much between races.

It's a fairly high risk strategy but over the past few years I've gained a good idea of where my red line is for injury and over-training. Plus with the proliferation of super-fast runners moving to ultras and succeeding, it's more and more important to work on speed - just look at the top men at Lake Sonoma this year, all with very fast marathon times.

Big Sur was as beautiful as ever along the hilly California Highway 1. Usually there's a fierce headwind but this time the air was fairly calm. I felt fast on the flats and downhills but the fatigue showed on the ascents, as can be seen in my highly erratic pacing, especially in the second half of the race. However, 2:41 following the 2:39 at Boston was very positive, particularly since it involved a slight negative split.

Much as I'm happy with the past few weeks and feel fitter and stronger, it doesn't remotely compare with Mike Wardian's win at the North Pole Marathon followed by a couple of fast short races the next weekend, then Boston (2:23) and a win at Big Sur (2:27). He set the masters' record for Big Sur as well as breaking his own record for Boston to Big Sur (that's an official thing which a lot of people enter) with 4:51 combined time. I'd say that sets him up well for a string run at Comrades in South Africa in a month...however, former Comrades winner and race team manager for Nedbank, Nick Bester, tweeted to Mike:

"Congrats on your marathon-just to (sic) close to @ComradesRace to take on the big dogs of Ultrarunning in the World."

In general I'd agree, but not in Mike's case.

The race was also a great chance to bump into plenty of ultra runners, both existing and new friends (all Bay Area races are like this now), plus Bart Yasso from Runners' World and the fastest American female marathoner ever, Olympic medalist Deena Kastor. Both are extremely friendly, approachable and have a lot of time for runners from all backgrounds, even those who want cheesy photos - just look at my grin!

How to look like a giant - stand next to a female pro marathoner!

Here are some scenic shots of the Big Sur race route, showing why the race sells out so fast. Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers, especially Stephen Butler who looked after the elites and made life easy for Amy to enjoy the trip down as a spectator too.

Big Sur International Marathon

This weekend I was down at the spectacular Big Sur International Marathon south of the Bay Area in California. What an amazing course! Two years ago there was a land slide that meant the course was an out-and-back and missed the first half of the normal course, so it was great to go back again this year to do the whole thing.

It's one of the most beautiful road marathon courses in the world, as the photos below show, plus it attracted a fair few ultrarunners this year - Mike Wardian getting back to form after injury, Badwater winner Oswaldo Lopez, Sean Meissner, Scott Dunlap and more. Always great to catch up with friends at races, but it doesn't happen as much at the road stuff as on trails.

Due to the 50k last weekend and Miwok 100k next weekend, my main aim was for a hard tempo run and to enjoy the views. However, it's traditionally a ridiculously windy course with around 2,000ft of climbing so it's not the fastest marathon out there. The first 6-7 miles were easy and fast but then we suddenly hit a wall of wind which increased the effort level exponentially. The strength of the wind ebbed and flowed but it was always a head-wind to the finish. In addition there are several other shorter races using the same course and all have significant number of walkers so the day is spent weaving around people but not in a way that slows the runners down.

Put this on your to-do list if you like road races...or even if you don't. Full results are here.

Big Sur Marathon and Bart Yasso

View from Nepenthe Restaurant (typical along the marathon course)

Nepenthe restaurant

Perfect weather down at Big Sur this weekend as the summer has hopefully kicked off (I'm optimistic, anyway). Amy and I fitted in a great lunch at Nepenthe restaurant, which has about the best views of any building I've ever been to then we headed to the expo to see Bart Yasso's presentation.

It was very interesting to get to chat to him and to hear about his marathon exploits, with accompanying photos. Man, that guy can captivate an audience so it was great to hear (and see) about some of the places he's been to for the pursuit of new running challenges. I couldn't help but empathize and I was surprised how closely my own running desires seem to match his, since I love nothing more than finding exotic places to experience as a way to see and understand other cultures.

Plus Bart has a well-documented love for Comrades, which was the last race on his must-do list. Due to his chronic Lyme disease it looked like he'd never get the chance to run it, until he found himself running a marathon in late 2009 and questioning whether that meant he'd be able to get to the finish in Durban. Well, he did and Runner's World had several video and written stories covering his build-up and race in 2010.

He spoke about the race with such passion in his presentation and did a fantastic job of conveying the special atmosphere which really makes it stand out and makes me (and hundreds of others in North America) want to fly half way around the world every year. He even teared up as he read an email of support which he was sent before the 2010 race from someone he didn't even know in South Africa.

So that was a real buzz for me, especially when I got a chance to meet him on stage. I even bought his book, "My Life on the Run," which I'm really looking forward to reading.

Bart Yasso and his slide show of running memories

And on top of all this, I had one of the most scenic road marathons in the world to look forward to in the morning. I wish I'd taken my camera on the run, but I also wanted to hit one more marathon minute in my game - 2:41. Given it's a hilly and windy course and they basically tell people to forget about the time and enjoy the views, I suspected that I'd probably have to dig in hard to achieve this.

These photos are from an earlier trip as well as Nepenthe, but the whole coastal road is like this. However, the most memorable parts of the normal point-to-point course were missing due to an unavoidable course change to an out-and-back route from the normal finish line. This was thanks to part of the road falling into the sea last month, just next to the Bixby Bridge which is the most famous part of the course. Sadly the turning point of the new course was just before you could even see that bridge, but I have no complaints as it was still stunning to take in the views. The new course also avoided the biggest hill at Hurricane Point, so was a little easier than in a normal year.

In summary of my race, I ran eight miles with a guy called Neil who was a Scot living in Australia doing his second marathon. Then I let him go off as I felt tired, plus we were heading towards about a 2:38 time, which was quicker than I wanted. I then ran alone but had people from the many other race distances to see going along in the other direction. On the way back I got to see all the marathoners heading out so it really reminded me of the Edinburgh marathon in that respect.

With a few miles away I had a few seconds in the bag for my 2:41 time so cruised in a little slower to make sure I wouldn't arrive too early. However, the mile markers weren't all that accurate (probably due to the unusual course change) and I thought I had an easy jog left from the 25-mile marker. The only problem was that the last few mile markers were short so it was about 1.15 miles for the 26th mile and I suddenly found myself needing to sprint to have any chance of hitting 2:41. The drama didn't last long and, luckily, I just managed to squeeze in and hit my target in 2:41:58 (2:41:59 by the gun).

It may seem like a silly or pointless game to try to hit various marathon minutes but it's very satisfying to learn to pace different speeds and helps a lot in keeping a steady pace in ultras too. And I've enjoyed the added challenge it provides, now that there's just one gap in my minutes from 3:10 down to my best of 2:32 (only 2:34 missing).

So it was beautiful, sunny and an event I'd recommend to anyone. They even have a Boston2Big Sur Challenge for people to run both. I hadn't officially entered since that cost extra, but I did run both with a combined time of 5:26:12. Maybe that'd be a fun target for next year and an excuse to run the full course here.

Bixby Bridge, which we saw but not during the race this year

Big Sur also ended my long run training for Comrades on roads, which is just a month away now. I tried to do the marathon minute game around doing runs a bit faster than Comrades pace and have survived marathons (uninjured and hopefully not exhausted) in the last month in 2:37, 2:44, 2:41 plus a 3:10 50k and American River 50 miler. That's exactly what I'd aimed for, but there's never a guarantee and injuries, fatigue or numerous reasons could have interrupted it. So it gives me confidence that I can enjoy Comrades with my best shot. Three weeks until I fly out there and I'm even more excited after Bart's talk.

Full results from today are here and I'm particularly impressed by all the people who chose this relatively hard road marathon as their first one.

Ruth Anderson 50k

After using a double-header weekend in April last year to get ready for Comrades (Salt Lake City Marathon on a Saturday then Boston on the Monday), I wanted to do the same this year. But the closest I could fit in was Boston on last Monday then one of the Ruth Anderson Ultra distances on the Saturday. It was just a case of choosing what distance would be the best for me as well as the most fun - 50k, 50 miles or 100k. All I knew was that previous times were fast and it involved running around a lake in San Francisco, although I wasn't sure whether it was on a trail or if it had any hills.

Lucky, Race Director Rajeev Patel was really helpful and I opted for the 50k (on a basically flat bike path, it turns out) since I didn't want to be too tired to train well for the last few weeks before Comrades. It's against my general principle of running the longest distance if there's a choice, but 100k was really a bit much and something shorter and faster made more sense.

The course is around Lake Merced and all the distances involve combinations of laps and part laps of the accurate 4.47 mile route. I'd never been before so it was a good excuse to see somewhere new and not too far from home, plus it's a really fun race with a great, friendly atmosphere (well, it's an ultra so this isn't unexpected). Rajeev definitely knows what he's doing and it's a very efficient and effective operation.

All the races started together soon after sunrise and I found myself running in the lead with a French guy, Martin, for almost three laps. The trusty Garmin was there to keep me honest around a 6:15/mile pace (3:14 in total for the 50k) but Martin was pushing me faster and I couldn't help but stick with him.

Laps flew by and the legs seemed to be fine, even after a run up and down Mt Diablo two days before (Western States fear is kicking in as it's not far away). I managed to keep the pace even throughout, which is the main aim of a training run, but I couldn't settle down into Comrades pace at the 6:15s. It was weird but every time I tried to correct my pace I'd go too slow so I just had to stick with something a little closer to 6s since then I could then keep it even. As issues go, this is certainly better than if I could only settle into a pace that was too slow, but the main aim was to focus on learning the right pace.

The aid stations were great and everyone was really supportive as the laps ticked off until I got to the finish feeling a little more tired than I'd intended and having tried harder than I meant to. But I got a course record in just under 3:11 and felt like I could have kept going, although not for 40k more, as at Comrades. However, I'm really happy with my progress so far this year and it was very enjoyable. I did feel a bit left out when I saw everyone keep going but I'll wait a few months before doing a road 100k. Joe Binder knocked out an impressive 7:00 and a few seconds for a great win although I'm sure he's disappointed to get so close to breaking 7h. Full results here.

I've been mentioning Comrades more on the blog recently because I'm definitely getting more obsessed as it gets closer, and now it's just five weeks away. But if I can hit the target time of 2:41 next weekend at the Big Sur Marathon (to fill in one of two remaining gaps in my marathon minute game, as mentioned in earlier posts) then I'll feel like all's perfectly on track after about six weekends in a row of long races at a decent pace. Which will just leave the Miwok 100k the following weekend, but that's going to be at a much more comfortable pace and the leaders will have washed and showered by the time I finish. It was one of my most enjoyable runs last year and this year should be equally as good, plus I'll know a lot more of the guys this time around.

Big Sur River Run 10k and Training Thoughts

Nice views in Big Sur.

Post-race fat loading at Nepenthe along Route 1.

After not running a 10k for over a year, I decided I should try it again and learn how to do it properly. Luckily, I chose the Big Sur River Run in Pfeiffer State Park.

The park is in the famous Big Sur area and gave Amy and myself a chance to see the a long section of coastline used in the Big Sur marathon (which I'm now really excited about doing next year), including the 1932 Bixby Bridge.

Even though the race was in the park, it followed the river and was on the roads instead of trails so was a fast course. It's also fairly old and established, with this being the 30th running.

Anyway, I've felt more normal in training for the past week so tried a 5k on the treadmill on Thursday and almost collapsed during it, but managed 16:29 for a PB. Wasn't sure whether that would leave me too tired for Saturday morning (it was a really tough session and I've avoided hard sessions for a while), but today went well with a new 10k PB of 34:38 and third. Had to run myself into the ground to not slow down and spent the whole time trying to hold on to the coat tails of the guy in third until I just squeezed past near the end.

So it was satisfying to have two mentally and physically tough runs close together. From what I've been learning from Tim Noakes' 'Lore of Running' (am still getting through this bible-sized tome), teaching the brain's 'central governor' how to push harder and allow me to run faster is the key to improving. That should mean that every hard run I do where I don't give in and allow myself to slow, even as my heart rate soars, would make it easier for next time. This isn't just improving mental toughness, but teaching the mind's natural mechanism for protecting the heart muscle from oxygen depletion how to accept higher effort levels (it's too conservative and has been shown by Noakes to be more of a limiting factor than oxygen and energy stores to the legs and arms).

His book is fascinating and completely science-based, explaining the flaw in the generally accepted paradigm that an athlete's performance is determined mainly by VO2 max. He shows how performance drops off even though there is still energy and oxygen enough for the outer muscles. Instead, it's the oxygen available to the heart that sends triggers to the brain to force the 'central governor' to kick in and force the body to feel more fatigue than the arms and legs justify. I've butchered the explanation and shortened many chapters into two paragraphs, but I can appreciate the logic and science he uses to back it up. Plus I'm sure I'm not the only one who knows how much easier it is to do a particular time or performance for the second time. This was very clear to me in my second sub 3-hour marathon, which was much easier than the first because my brain was willing to accept I could take it, so it didn't try to hold me back to protect the heart. It had been taught that that level of effort was ok, even though I hadn't got any fitter in the intervening month.

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur

I'll be taking on board what I've learned from Prof. Noakes to hopefully significantly improve my running in 2011. Step one will be to race hard in long races less often. It's a tough one, but I'll force myself to jog more long races and just focus on the ones that count...well, I'll try.