Daytona Beach 5k race

 

I started out the month with a trip down to Daytona Beach for the USATF National convention.  I’ve gone to the convention at least a dozen times since 1993 and in recent years Paul Kirsch, Richard Bolt, and Jason Bryant have joined me and mayhem ensued.  This year we had a lot of fun in between meetings with the Mountain/Ultra/Trail (MUT) committee.

 

Paul and I kicked off the weekend with a visit to the highest point in Volusia County (120’).  We followed directions from the County High Point website (http://www.cohp.org/) and they were spot-on. We parked and knocked on the door of the house located at the high point. The owner was gracious and friendly. I had maps in hand and explained our goal. She noted "It's been a while since I've seen any of you guys". She told us to enjoy ourselves. That was pretty cool!  We took a couple of pictures and hit the road.

The next couple of days we found some interesting locations to run, I always try to find a good park or forest and even a fire tower or two if I can, which makes the run all the more interesting.  We crammed in some miles and on Saturday morning we also got to race.

The Convention hosts had a 5km race on the beach at Daytona.  I hadn’t been there since Spring Break in college and only vaguely recall a lot of drinking and a lot of long hot runs.  Race days was reasonably cool (high 50’s) at 6am when we headed out for a warm-up.  We did 3 miles then I switched into racing flats and headed out for another mile with some strides.  I felt pretty good and was hoping to run a fast time.

The tide was coming in so we were losing the best packed sand as time went on.  Just over 100 lined up and we took off into the wind for the first half-mile.  Earlier Jason had asked what I hoped to run and I had told him I was aiming for 5:30’s.  Richard mentioned “sixes” which I though was hokum.  I took it out and found myself in the lead at the ½ mile (2:43).  At the turn two guys went by and Jason and I tucked in.  We now had a tail-wind and it felt like we were moving.  We hit the mile in 5:21 and the two guys gapped me a bit as Jason fell back.  Both of the guys looked strong and were chatting the entire time, obviously this wasn’t a fast pace for them.  I kept them close through 2 miles (10:36) but right at the two mile mark they took off.  Just after two miles I had a spasm in my calf.  That was the first time it had done that in over a year.  I immediately backed off the pace and tried to not “toe-off”.  I was still hoping to break 17:00 but the combination of the calf and the strong head-wind worked against me.

Little did I know Richard was reeling me in as the leaders put 30 seconds on me.  Richard passed Jason around two miles and nearly got me at the line.  The two leaders ran in together and later I found that respectively they had run 13:25 for 5k and 2:13 for the marathon earlier this year.  I wonder if they even broke a sweat running 5:20 pace?  The top woman was also an elite runner, 51 year-old Doreen MCoubrie ran a 2:50 marathon last year and had qualified for the Olympic trials at age 48.

Here are the top ten plus some people I know…

 

Pl         Time     Name                City/St             Age      Gend    AG Pl

1          16:39    Patrick Rizzo        Boulder CO         29         M          1

2          16:40    Brandon Bethke  Lake Forest CA    25         M          2

3          17:10    Dave Dunham     Bradford MA       48         M          1

4          17:12    Richard Bolt        Mtn View CA      42         M          2

5          17:23    Jason Bryant       Elkin NC             40         M          3

6          17:48    Philip Dunn         San Diego CA      41         M          4

7          17:59    Unknown           unk                   M          3

8          18:19    Randy Reina        Helotes TX         52         M          1

9          18:37    Jim Garcia           Westford MA      54         M          2

10         18:46    Doreen McCoubrie Malvern PA       51         F           1

 

17         20:04    Paul Kirsch          Madison NH        46         M          6

29         21:24    Stephen Peckiconis Roslindale MA  53         M          9

30         21:31    Joe Jurczyk         Brecksville OH     48         M          9

48         23:46    Andy Carr           Alpharetta GA     49         M          11

60         25:36    Ellen Miller          Vail CO               53         F           4

 

I’m glad I raced but the calf spasm set me back a bit, I tentatively ran 10 on the beach the following day and slowly (very slowly) eased back to quicker running.

USATF Convention - Part 3

The Convention (day 3)

On Saturday we started with an early morning run.  I had entered the

Market Street

mile race but the injury left me barely able to hobble through the warm-up with Paul and Richard.  They both had a solid run with Richard taking third place overall and second in the 40+ with a fine 4:56; Paul ran his first road race in “a long time” running 5:44. 

Post race posing

USATF NE president and treasurer

Later in the day we headed through (not) scenic East St. Louis and bagged a county high point in Illinois.  After the HP we headed over to a very nice crushed stone path on top of a levee.  It was actually pretty scenic and would have been great if not for my calf and the constant strong winds.

The Convention (day 4)

On Sunday morning we only had the closing session to attend, but Richard and Nancy had an early flight so we were back out on the bike path for a wake up run.  We had plenty of time for a large peppermint mocha at Starbucks (no they don’t come with a pink umbrella!) before heading to the final meeting.  After the meeting it was back to the bike path for a final tour of the water-front.  This time the weather had changed for the worse with temperatures dropping into the mid-40’s and the rain coming down pretty heavily.  For me that meant a long day of wearing wet shoes (I only brought one pair).  Even with the lousy calf and the less than ideal weather it was a blast going to the convention.  I ended up volunteering for a bunch of tasks for this year (despite saying I’d be cutting back) and had a super time hanging out with Richard, Paul, and Jason Bryant. 

 

USATF convention - part 2

The Convention (day 2)

On Friday we did an early morning run (sunrise) along the Mississippi River.  The River Trail was a trail in name only.  Mostly it was just the paved road with a painted lane for biking.  It was flat which was what I needed with my balky calf.  Richard noted that it was definitely “a working riverfront”.  The most scenic part of the run had to be the finish under the Gateway Arch and the historic courthouse. 

In between meetings we took a short drive out to the St Louis zoo and the large park that had some great paths around it.  We got some running in on crushed stone and some paved bike path.  My calf was not happy and I was icing it every spare moment.  After our run we drove to the St Louis city high point. The city is its own county so we had a city and county high point rolled into one.  It was located in a small park not too far from the zoo.  We spent all of 2 minutes at the HP taking a couple of pictures.  Then it was back for more meetings.

Richard at the county high point

Action Dave meets Olympic gold medalist Jon Drummond

USATF convention - part 1

The Convention (day 1)

I’ve been going to the USATF convention off and on since 1992 or so.  This year the convention was held on the traditional first weekend in December in St Louis Missouri.  As with any trip I go on, during the planning phase I worked on some unusual locations to visit.  For this trip I located a bunch of parks and trails and a few County High points to visit.

Paul in a rare moment on the computer :-)

The last couple of years Richard Bolt (now living in CA) and Paul Kirsch have joined me in whatever I came up with to visit.  Paul and I arrived on Thursday and headed out right from the airport to visit the St Louis County high point.  This was just a “drive up” and the trails in the area were a bit too hilly for me as I was nursing a tender calf/Achilles.  After “bagging” the 900’ high point (we climbed about 5’) we headed to the Chubb Trail which was located in a big park and had a flat section along a railroad and scenic river.

St Louis County High Point

Heh, heh, you said "Chubb" trail

California county high point

I went out to California just to do some running with Boltski (Richard Bolt).  Actually I went out to run the Lithia Loop Trail marathon but due to injury I wasn't ready to race.  I went out anyway because hanging out with Richard is always fun.

We went right from the airport to the hills above Mountain View and headed out for a 7 mile run that included an ascent/descent of Black Mountain (2,800').  Not much to see due to the fog rolling in, but we did see a lot of deer.  Temps drop to low 40's and I wished I brough gloves!

After bagging Black Mountain Richard and I drove over to Castle Rock State Park (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=538) to get the Santa Clara county high point.  We checked out the driveway mentioned in the other trip reports but didn’t feel confident about parking there.  We went back to the nearest Castle Rock parking area and ran the 6/10^th of a mile to the gated driveway.  One gate was open and signed the other was closed but unsigned.  We quietly jogged up the dirt road and spotted a tree heavily flagged with orange surveyor tape.

The benchmark was located next to the tree.  The highest ground appeared to be a few feet SW of the benchmark.  We took a few pictures and headed back to the car.  Total time including taking pictures was 15 minutes for the approximately 1.5 miles round trip run.

Mt Ashland Hill Climb - 08-07-10

Mount Ashland Hill Climb

I had decided back in April while laying on the couch recovering from Topaz surgery (plantar fascia) that I wanted a goal race. I figured that I could be in reasonable shape by August if all went well. I checked some of the National trail championships, but ultimately decided on the Mt Ashland hill climb. It looked like the perfect challenge. One of the longest continuous climbs for a Mountain race in the U.S., and I knew the area having run the Lithia Loop marathon in Ashland last fall. The fact that the race had over 30 years of history made it just that much more interesting. My training was going great right up until two weeks before the race when it decided to flare up badly. I missed 5 days of running and my training was seriously curtailed for the two weeks. I got a cortisone shot, began walking in “the boot” and hoped to struggle through.

Econolodge and OR Welcome Ctr

I got up at 2:30 AM on Friday morning and hit the bike for an hour before heading to the airport. Twelve hours later I was in the tiny Medford OR airport and soon after found myself tooling down the highway in a Kia Soul. The ad with hamsters (or are they hipster hamsters?) going through my mind. Richard Bolt showed up later in the afternoon, driving eight hours from his new digs near San Francisco. He is one move away from being categorized by the census as “transient”. We headed out for a relaxing 4 mile run on the bike path on the outskirts of town. It was 90 degrees and I felt every degree of it. I also was happily surprised that my foot could be categorized as “manageable”. I went from 50/50 to 90/10 as to whether I’d even start the race.

Kia Soul

Race day dawn with near ideal conditions, about 50 degrees and sunny but most of the course was shaded so it would be comfortable most of the way. We showed up at Lithia Park and found very few runners around, someone commented about how different it was from a New England race where the entire field would practically be lined up 45 minutes before the start. We did a nice easy “short 2” warm-up and did our final preparations. The field of about 220 (the Park only allows a permit for 250) headed off for the first couple of miles of paved road. I found myself in the top 15 right behind a group of “gabbers”. I just don’t understand all of the early race chatter, save your breath for later. It made me wish for my shuffle, but instead I upped the tempo and moved into 10th or so. Max King was already out of sight with Eric Skaggs shadowing him.

By the time we hit the first aid station at 3.8 miles (climbing at an average grade of 6.5%) I had moved up to 8th place and was feeling very comfortable. I could see TiVO moving through the pack and I’d passed Richard around 3 miles. I was pretty sure that I was in 2nd in the 40+, but you never can tell. I knew it was too early to worry about place; I just wanted to run as smart as possible. After the first aid station two guys caught me and I started to run with them. I was worried that I’d gotten too conservative and it felt good to up the tempo. My goal was to stay with them to at least the 6.5 mile aid station then reassess.

We passed a couple of guys during the next couple of miles then one of the guys stopped at the aid station and another slowly fell behind. We (me & #85) passed 6.5 miles in 51:39, covering the last 2.7 miles in 23:21 or 8:39 pace. The average grade during that section was 7.5%. I was now in 6th place running with one guy. The course winds so much that cutting tangents is very important, it is not easy to cut 20-30 tangents a mile with another guy trying to do the same. I was happy to be working with this guy, he was stronger on the flatter stuff and I was stronger on the steeper stuff so we each spent a fair amount of time leading the other. During this 3.9 mile stretch I held it together for the first 2.4 but the final 1.5 was super fast with even a little downhill thrown in. I estimated that I was 45 seconds to a minute behind, losing that all in the final downhill mile to the aid station. The average grade for that 3.9 mile section was only 4.5% due to the downhill (actually the first 2.4 averaged 7.4%). I was still feeling good at 10.5 (1:23:16) as I grabbed a water and Gatorade to wash down my third and final Gu of the day.

The next 2.4 was tough single-track with a few switch-backs to help see where the competition was. I couldn’t see anyone behind me and I reeled in #85 catching him about a mile into the climb. I thought I’d blow right by because I’d really made up ground but he had different ideas.   He tucked right in and matched every move I made.  We stayed together to the 12.8 mile aid station which brougth us to the base of the mountain.  The 2.4 miles took me 21:34 (8:59 pace) climbing at an average grade of just under 10%.  I think I was feeling the higher altitude (nearly 7,000' at that point) and the distance of the race was catching up to me.  I had been looking forward to the final steep climb where I hoped to really push.  Now I just wanted to maintain position.

View of the final push from the aid station (on the left of the building) and the finish (by the giant "golf ball").

Checking out the competition

I was running out of gas, but heck I was still running.  Many were reduced to power walking on the singletrack and cat-track on the mountain.  I was still keeping a running form but slowing, just trying to hold on.  I took a look back just before turning on to the final straight up the side of the mountain scramble and was surprised to see four guys pretty close behind.

Just before the scramble

The final part was very steep almost as steep as the Stark Mountain climb (1 mile in 23 min) add to that the 13 miles already covered and it was a leg burner.  I closed on a bandit who had jumped in about 400 meters into the race, but not on any official entrants.  Somehow I managed to hold off the guys closing on me despite my calves, shins, and quads starting to give out.  I staggered across the line, it was so steep that the last few yards had me on all fours. My time was 1:58:05, so the last 1.3 miles were run at 10:12 pace over an average grade of 19%, the final part was well into the 30%+ range.   After crossing the line I moved away and sat down in the shade to try and get my composure.  Tivo ended up having a great race, finishing 3rd overall and breaking the masters record (running a 1:55:33).  I surpassed my stretch goal of 2:00-2:05, and my realistic goal was 2:05-2:10, definitely a surprise to run that "fast.  So all in all it was a sucessful day for me.  Richard Bolt had a solid run in his first race as a master, taking 15th overall (5th 40+) approximately half-way between his two previous times on the course.

View of Mt Shasta

I found the course to be excellent, a classing mountain race (over 30 years old) mostly a steady climb but flatter and steeper sections to mix it up.  After the initial 1.5m of paved road most of the race was on forest access roads (dirt).  There was over a mile from about 9-10 that was flat and down.  The last part was quite steep and the very last unmarked section was a brutal scramble up the ski slope.  Great day, great race.

Splits:
3.8 - 28:17 (28:17) +1,305’
6.5 - 23:21 (51:39) +1,080’
10.4 -31:37 (1:23:16) +940’
12.8 -21:34 (1:44:50) +1,260’
13.5 -13:16 (1:58:05) +953’

Week ending 08-08-10

Week ending 08-08-10
Started feeling pretty good but maybe ran to hard on the Plantar Fascia. Made it through the mountain race in pretty decent shape.

M – Winni 5 32:14 felt great except foot

T – AM Bike 1 hour, PM Winni 5 31:10 felt great except foot even worse

W – AM Bike 1 hour, PM Musquash swamp run 46:29

Th – AM Bike 1 hour, PM Winni 5 – 35:02 felt a bit better

F – 2:30 AM Bike 1 hour, flight to Oregon, PM 4m o/b on Bike Path in Ashland with Richard 32:33

Sat – 1.6 warm-up 13:57, 13.4 Mountain race up Mt Ashland 1:58:05, 5th place, 2nd 40+

The final 1,000+ feet of climb

Sun – 7am 4m o/b on bike Path with Richard 31:35

Totals:
43 miles running
Bike 4 hours

Looking ahead:
Plan is to stay in the boot when not running and stay at 4-5 miles per day for 3 weeks while getting PT and continuing with cross-training. Only 6 weeks until the Mt Whitney trip, so I have to tread carefully!

Richard Bolt approaching the final steep part

Latest from Running times

Rich Bolt was featured in a section on cross-training, talking about mountain running. I also included Adam Chase's take on "kickbiking"....

Oregon

First full day in Oregon today. I got in late last night (late for me). After a decent 8 hour sleep Rich and I headed out for an easy 4m run on the trails in Forest Park (http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?PropertyID=127&action=ViewPark). Then after a couple of very strong cups of coffee we were on our way to White River sno park on the slopes of Mt Hood. The 90 minute drive took us from drizzle to rain to snow as we went from sea-level to over 4,000'.

The race site was a parking lot and nothing more. We arrived prior to the time for course inspection, figuring to get in a trot around the 5km loop then pick up our numbers and head home. We headed out into a howling wind and blinding driving snow. With heads down we glanced up looking for orange flags which marked the course. Rich had run a trail race in the same area so he was familiar with where we needed to go. About a mile in, and after a good amount of climb, we ran into the course-setters and USSSA sports director Mark Elmore. Mark was making sure the course would be safe and accurate.

After a brief chat we headed on further up the valley, but with no flags to follow we kind of made our own way. A bit later we headed left and then turned back down the valley running somewhat parallel to where we had come up. This part of the run was nice as we had the wind at our backs and a gentle downhill helping us along. We returned to the parking lot then added on a bit more to get in a 4 mile run. This was a short day for me but there was nowhere else to run on the pass as the main road was not safe for running and I don't want to mess up my ankle (any worse than it is) by doing a lot of snowshoeing.

After getting into dry clothes we tried to pick up numbers but the race direction appears to be a bit scattershot and we were told we could get them "sometime later, or tomorrow". That was good enough for us and we hit the road.

We stopped for lunch in Hood river and marveled at the folks out on the Columbia river in the extremely windy conditions. The wind was so intense that the spray from the white caps caused a rainbow that hugged the ground. After fueling up Rich drove us to a touristy location, Multnomah falls (http://www.oregonwaterfalls.net/multnmh.htm). It was actually quite interesting and I'd enjoy going back for a run up the trail (1m or further up to a mountain pass).

We continued back to Portland and made a brief stop back at the house for a map of the highest point in the city of Portland. We headed to a cemetery on top of skyline drive and easily located the high point. Then we continued on and found the highest point on the Tualatin mountains. The final site to check out was the Willamette stone. This marked where all of Oregon was laid out from. It was interesting in a geeky map way (I'm really into maps). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Meridian

Figuring this was a pretty full day, we headed home for a quick soak in the hot tub and a relaxing evening resting up for tomorrows race.

Tomorrow.....USSSA national snowshoe championship race!