Fountain to Sampson

BASTARDS! Tonight's 6:30pm practice will begin at Monrovia's Library Park. We'll take a quick jaunt up to the Waterfall in a practice of the F2F Course...then head to our End-Of-The-Month Business Meeting. If you can't make practice, but want to attend the meeting then head to Matt Denny's Alehouse in Arcadia by 8pm. We'll touch base about a few topics, then get a few small items out of the way. RSVP for one, the other or both in comments. Be in uniform or pay your fine...

Egad!  Fountain to Falls is a 7 mile race with some decent elevation gain.  The idea that Roadkill would consider that a "quick jaunt" is stretching the imagination just slightly.  Then Coach let us off the hook by saying we had a 60 minute cut off so that we'd be able to make the month-end meeting on time.  Whew!

Hearing the cut-off, plus having both Lynn and Kathy running with me relieved a huge amount of anxiety.  We all took off  together and the three of us hung pretty close through most of the climb out.  Granted I walked far more than they did, but I still stuck behind them, only falling back a bit on the steeper areas. You think it might have helped that Eric and Dawn were pulling sweep right behind me???

Eric was on his watch and called us to turn back at 7:05, but we were so close to reaching Sampson that  Kathy and Lynn wanted to keep running until we reached the bear, which Lynn said was right around the curve.  I'm such a sucker for peer pressure that I joined them and darn that Lynn, she lied!  It was more like four curves and took us another five minutes.

We had started at 6:30 and tagged Sampson's nose at 7:10, leaving us only 20 minutes to get back to the park, which meant hustle.  I love downhill running and like to dream that I may slowly be getting faster because I actually pulled away from the girls. That's the first time that's happened! I arrived back at the park at 7:32, about three minutes ahead of them.  Now, according to Lynn they had to stop to tie their shoe laces... Hmm, could be or could it be that Lynn is just a compulsive liar?  (lol! Totally kidding my friend!)  Round trip was 5.5 miles with about 1000ft of gain.

BTW... I checked Athlinks for my Fountain to Falls race time last year... 1:20:52.  I have some serious work ahead of me before May!

As for the month-end business meeting... Matt Denny's has my vote hands down!!!

Out of sync and punch drunk

Ever have one of those weeks where you're just out of sync with everything and everyone around you?  This is one of those weeks when the best I can do is just try to roll with the punches and apologize for punching back... especially when I hit the wrong person.

Monday... took a much needed rest day to recover from a super busy weekend and Sunday Chinatown.  Taking off a Monday is something I rarely do and it apparently set the tone for the week...

Tuesday... First, I'd wanted to do the AB training in the morning because I had an unbreakable commitment that night.  But, Coach vetoed the plan since the team was going to be helping with trail maintenance.  So I decided to CrossFit train in the morning, but ironically had to stop that no sooner than I had started.

Not an auspicious beginning to the week.

Today, opened quiet at the Academy so I opted to do yesterday's CrossFit training.  It was all arms, back and shoulders, including a couple exercises I'd never done. Powell Raises... who'd have thought a mere 5lb dumbbell could feel so freaking heavy by only the 3rd round!   AND, who came up with the torturous idea of "legless" airdyne sprints???   It was a very good session as my arms are still reminding me.

Then the day completely derailed and by late afternoon I found myself desperately needing to get in to the mountains... so with only an hour of daylight remaining I hit the Bailey Canyon trail with the goal of seeing how far I could get in 35 minutes. Of course it felt like I'd been hiking forever and must be just shy of the top, but when I checked the map tonight, I wasn't even close.  I had stopped just short of the final round of switchbacks, not quite two miles and still about 1.5 miles from Jones Peak.   NEXT TIME!

However, stopping early left me time to commune with the mountain and still make it down in time for an appointment.  (Thanks to Hope for suggesting the jacket and headlamp... I ended up using them both on the way down.)  Thankfully, the mountain worked it's magic as it always does and my head is quiet and ready to close the week still completely out of sync, but at least no longer punch drunk.

Post Chinatown Firecracker 10k

Gosh, so much to write about!

Coming off of Thursday night's run, I'd planned to take two rest days focus on sleep, perfect nutrition and recovery, in prep for Sunday's Firecracker 10k.  So much for the plans of mice and men...

Friday morning I was up at 4:30 and down at the Academy covering for a sick coach (which was a absolute blast I might add), then a full day of prepping the building for Saturday's competition.  There's nothing like the motivation of a big event to get projects completed, and that stupid table that's been in the back yard for months is finally gone.  (Who'd have thought a trash truck could actually take it?)  After a late dinner at The Hook (My first time there, and oh yeah, their lettuce wrapped hickory burgers are fabulous!), the rest of the evening was spent Prius shopping... damn cool cars, but the  verdict is still pending.

Saturday was another 4:30 morning, along with another long day and night down at the Academy for the Diamond of the Tough competition with the Academy hosting at least 400 people for a good 10 hours solid.  I had the pleasure of being Corlyn's "Handler", whose sole job was to make sure she ate, rested, warmed up, recovered, and didn't miss any of the competition requirements.  It was such an AMAZING DAY.  Donna, Corlyn, Tom, Brian and Chris all performed excellently, were absolutely phenomenal to watch and I am so incredibly proud of them.  

So much for rest, recovery or perfect nutrition in prep of a race... 

Enter Sunday morning, 5:30 rise and shine, because we're picking up friends and taking the train down to Chinatown for the race at 8:30.  OMG!  I had no idea what this race would be like, but I was completely unprepared to be sharing it with over 5000 other participants.  My friends and I quickly became separated while we were waiting for the race to start, and what a hoot because I kept bumping in to old friends and casual acquaintances, something that probably wouldn't have happened if I'd stuck too close to my friends.

The race opened with the roar of 100,000 firecrackers and we were off.  Around the first bend, we hit the Taiko Drummers... such energizing power in that sound, incredible!   The race was hard just like I'd been told to expect.  No getting around it.  I'd like to say I didn't walk any of the hills, but I'd be lying.  It wasn't that the hills were so steep, because I was able to jog the majority of the climbs, it was that they stretched for longer spans than I'd ever encountered while running.  The combination of mental doubt and leg fatigue set me walking on four different occasions. It took me almost 29 minutes to cover the first 2.5 miles to the peak. Knowing that, I did my best to run extra hard on the downhills. (I also carried water so I didn't need to stop at any of the break stations.) I kept watching the mile markers and was slowly making up time, but fatigue was catching up after I passed the 5 mile marker... then I heard those amazing drummers and the fatigue literally fell away, just in time to round the bend and see the finish line.  1:04:19... still not sub 60 like I used to run, but definitely better than my 1:10 goal.  And that's good enough for today.

By the way, we have a rule in the Arrogant Bastards that we ALWAYS race in our team jersey and there's a $5.00 fine for racing out of uniform. No excuses.  You'll see in all my photos that I'm dodging and weaving the inevitable... coach's eagle eye.  Of course he busted me along with the other two team newbies, but boy we had a riotous time trying to hide me in the pictures!!!

 After the race, Hope had a cop give us directions to what was supposed to be a Chinese American breakfast house... uh, not quite.  Instead we all shared some very fine Chinese food and Roadkill got to end her meal with the most perfect fortune cookie she could have asked for...

Roadkill's Nightmare

BASTARDS! Tonight's 6:30pm practice will be at the Qualifier start at Eaton Canyon. We'll break into two teams and hammer out a challenging Team Competition. This course will be part trail and part cement. Bring your headlamps and your reflective vests. RSVP in comments if you are attending.

Just reading that post sent chills up my spine and created a knot in my belly... because it obviously meant that it would require maximum Roadkill effort just to keep up. Not that all of our training sessions aren't challenging for me, it's just that the team events require by far the the most effort because I am trying to work at a level beyond my current ability.

Then came the text that I was in charge of delivering the training for the night... and the knot in my belly grew to a huge solid ice ball.  It was one of the Roadkill Nightmares that are bound to occasionally occur...

1. Line the team up by 5k time

2. Starting at the fastest, count 1,2,1,2,1, 2 ans so on down the line

3. All 1's go together

4. All 2's go together

5. Both teams are required to go in opposite directions on the course, BUT do both sides

6. North-side: One figure 8 through the canyon  (approx 3.5 miles)

7. South-side:  Down to PHS for an 800m effort  (approx 2.5 miles)

8. Teams MUST stay together as a team, moving and motivating their slowest

9. Team with the overall fastest north + south route wins

I drew Team 2, which meant we were heading south downhill to PHS for an 800m time trial, then back up hill for a 5k trail run... On Team 2, we had Monty, Katelyn, Jill, Dave, Dave O, Rocky, Marleigh and me.  Wow!  All of these people can run and even at minimal effort, they kept pulling away from me.  Thankfully, on our way back up the from the track, either Dave O or Monte would hold back and set a pace that I could follow, allowing me to let go of the pressure of trying to chase the team, and just focus on settling in to a pace that I could maintain without falling in to the trap of surging and walking.  The rest of the team would wait for us at every signal, which was wonderful rest for them, and of course, nothing but a cruel tease for RK.  (lol)

We passed the other team as we were heading up Altadena, just before reaching the center of the figure eight, where we dropped in to the park.  Everyone called out encouragement to each other, and I clearly heard their back of the packers call out to me, but honestly, by that time I was sucking wind so bad, I didn't have the breath to respond... and then they were gone and we finished the last of the climb to the gate.  I've driven by that entrance 1000 times through the years, but this was the first time I've ever stopped.  It is a very cool somewhat rocky single track, that gave me a good opportunity to catch my breath while we descended to the stream, crossed it, then scrambled back up the bank to the main trail.   Huge appreciation to Katelyn for gently saving the "gigantic" millipede without flicking it on me by accident!

From there we went up the trail with the intent of climbing the concrete hill, running down the road back to the place we entered, then crossing the stream and heading south on the trail back to the main gate for finish.  What actually happened was the racers on our team climbed the concrete hill and found the gate already locked.  (Team 1 had made it through before us, so we must have just missed the locking and it wasn't even 7:30 yet.)  Our racers caught the rest of us about two-thirds of the way up and we all just turned around opted to run the qualifier course home.  While that part of the course is a fun run, the best part of that return trip was running side by side with Dave O and just feeling like a part of the team even though we were in the back. Dave, I adore you.  Thank you!  End result of the competition... Team 1 beat us to the gate by just over a minute with approx. 1:09.

After we all high-fived each other and the racers had started to go home, my peers from the other team quietly said to me, "that was really awful!"  As much as I felt for them, it was music to my ears knowing that they had really struggled to keep up too.  I just love my peeps.  They help me maintain a healthy perspective when being Roadkill on the Arrogant Bastards Trail Racing Team threatens to become an overwhelming order.  

Oh, BTW... 

I took yesterday as a rest day (no CrossFit), but went in today since it was a Z-1 recovery day. It was a nice opportunity for me to practice double-unders, pull-ups, dips, not to mention spend some intimate time with my favorite foam roller.

CrossFitting and Racing the Rain!

So, I realized that I've still not been giving a complete picture of my training since I've been neglecting to post about CrossFitting, which I also do with relative consistency. So, starting this week, my AB posts will also reflect the rest of my training...

Monday CrossFit @ 9am:
10 V-Ups + 10 (CTD) Push-ups x 10 rounds or 15 minutes = 170 score (8.5 rounds completed in 15 minutes)

Tuesday CrossFit @ 9am:
(I don't always CF on AB days, it depends on the WOD. Today there was a good chance of AB rain out, so I trained in the am just in case the night was a bust. So glad I did. The workout was an absolute blast, especially since I was able to do it to standard. A vary rare treat possible only because of age bracketing.

TEST DAY - Maverick - Precursor to the Legendary Competitors Diamond of The Tough Masters Competition we are hosting on Saturday... (Shameless plug:  We have 6 super tough master athletes competing.  Come join us any time, we'll be there from 8am to at least 6pm and the bigger the cheering section the better.)

Given 5 minutes, establish:
3RM Front Squat = my score 105#
Rest 2 minutes
AMRAP5: 7 box jumps (20in) + 7 pull-ups = my score 2 rounds
Rest 2 minutes
AMRAP 5: 7 burpees + 7 power cleans (65#) = my score 3 rounds
Rest 2 minutes
AMRAP5: 7 thrusters (65#) + 7 TTB = my score 2 rounds

Then evening fell and what do you know, Eric's cadre actually does control the weather because contrary to all weather reports it wasn't raining!

BASTARDS: Tonight's 6:30pm practice will begin at the Bastard Qualifier Course. Bring your headlamp and your trail shoes. There will be a quick GoRuck re-cap after practice at Lucky Baldwins for those interested. IF IT RAINS, go straight to LBs. RSVP in comments if you're attending one, the other, or both.

I was one of about a dozen of the diehard Bastards to show up at Eaton Canyon for what was originally going to be a suck fest of double qualifiers. Instead he gave us a number of options. I think almost all of us chose the same game, we just ran it in 2 different groups.

My group started off just me and Marleigh, going out the qualifier course to find the waterfall and back. (About 5 miles according to Joe.) Since neither of us have ever been there we knew we had an adventure ahead of us.

Before we'd gone far Maggie and Crazy Joe caught up with us. I love the idea that when a racer needs to rehab a strained muscle they come hang at the back of the pack. It was the first time I've run with Joe and he was an absolutely fabulous leader! He led the three of us all the way to the falls at a quick but totally manageable pace. It was a very good thing we had him too because I'd have never been able to find the path through all seven water crossings.  (Note on the water crossings... I was the only one who opted to just walk through the water, versus rock hopping, on the way back since it was much faster and safer and my feet didn't mind being wet in the slightest.)

On the final leg out it started to rain very lightly, so we didn't hang out at the falls, but turned back immediately. Joe had a strong sense of urgency that we not dally and boy was he right. No sooner had we started back when it started to actually rain. Not super hard, just steady.  Here's a really nice picture of the waterfall, minus the graffiti some jerk left...

As soon as we made it back to the bridge and on to the main trail we opened it up a bit and at least Roadkill raced the rain home. Everyone else was still laughing and chatting, but then we all know RK has to work twice as hard as the rest of the team. It's just the nature of the position and I'm definitely used to it now. Total time on the trail 60 minutes max.

I can't hardly describe just how much fun the run was, rock hopping, laughing in the rain, running with headlamps... tonight was the most perfect example of why I wanted on this team so bad... great fun, great adventure and absolutely great people!

Tonight I'm blogging from my phone, while laying in a nice hot epsom salt bath... so lovely for tired muscles but not so nice for the scrape from a missed box jump this morning.  So, one leg in and one leg in, sting, out, in, sting, out, in, sting, out...  Get the picture?  lol!

Until Thursday night, be well and enjoy the rain my friends!

Loving Razorback Ridge

This morning Mount Wilson Trail Race training for beginners was one round of Kersting Court up Razorback Ridge and back down again... for completion.  Eric assigned me the extra task of making it max effort for time.

Now, I adore Razorback.  It was the first official trail Eric introduced me during that original cycle of bootcamp back in 2006.  Since then, I've run that quarter mile of dirt at least 30-40 times so it no longer has the power to scare me.  Which gave me a slight advantage today over a couple of my teammates.

There were about ten beginners this week and I led us at the start, but by half way up Baldwin Parker had passed me moving strong and steady (I'd say the man has just about regained his wind!) Sachiko caught me just before the stairs (she has a truly relentless lower gear), then I found Haddy hanging on my heels for the real climb.  Parker passed us on his return while we were still about 50 meters from the top and he was flying down.  He is one scary dude with his history and total lack of fear!

Once I started back down, none of the gals could stay with me. Again, I don't think it's necessarily that I'm such a fast down hill runner (because I'm not!), it's just that I'm very experienced with that particular trail.  As a side note, this was the first time a shoe lace has come undone while running, which is really unnerving! But I was just positive Sach was hot on my heels so I didn't dare stop.  Good thing, because she was!

Bottom line:

Parker 26:19
Kellie  30:28
Sachiko  31:00 (approx)
Haddy  32:30 (approx)
Colleen, Alex and 3-4 other runners all came in at later times

Afterwards, Haddy and I were cooling down and I asked her what happened to her.  She said she got a side stitch and was just slow.  That is so not true... I reminded her that she simply hasn't focused on this sport, and as soon as she figures out how to breathe and runs consistently, she will be a trail terror.  Just like she is in the gym... I have no doubt that the day will come in the not too distant future when she will be unstoppable.

Such a Fun, Fun, Morning... only way it could have been better would have been to repeat it!

First a Rant then a Run...

All right first a bit of a rant, then I'll talk about tonight...

Yesterday was my 30 day check-in for the paleo challenge... ready?  Virtually no change in weight or BF percentage.  WTF!  After doing one of my typical 12 hour pity parties, I started really analyzing my food intake this last month.  With the exception of that one movie night, I'd been off sugar, dairy, grain and coffee for the last month and my BF% should have been dropping steadily. Except we're talking about carb addict Kellie here and when I really looked at my food history for this last month, I found it riddled with lots of "good paleo carbs" like sweet potatoes, plantain chips, oranges, tangerines and grapefruits... all in quantities I rationalized my escalated training required.  Ha, what a bunch of crap!

What I actually did was simply dodge the majority of carbohydrate withdrawals by substituting sources.  I am nothing if not a very creative addict!  So, no one to blame but myself.  The good thing is that since I've been as clean as I have it should be relatively simple to dial it in correctly. Here are the changes I've implemented:  Terminated Netflix (I'm a mindless eater when in front of a TV and I've seen all the current series, so I'll pick it up again when the new seasons of SOA, Dexter and Touch come out), stop buying plantains, sweet potatoes and all the awesome winter citrus out there.  I'll still eat occasional potato and fruit when in restaurants, but no more stocking it in the house.   And, I'm keeping a detailed food journal. No excuses. We'll see my standing next month.

Which brings me to tonight's run...
Bastards! A little twist to the training venue tonight at 6:30pm. Please be gathered in front of the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center just south of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Bring either your trail shoes or your street shoes as there will be two options available for training this evening. RSVP in comments...
Unsurprisingly, it was a small group who willingly traveled to Pasadena in rush hour.  I was very happy to have Carrie and Kathy (and Marc who was rehabbing a sore ham) for teammates.  We all opted for the trail version, and were told to run a 5k or work our way as far down the arroyo and back in 45 minutes.  Carrie led the way and set a easy pace for her, but challenging pace for me (but then what pace isn't freaking challenging for me on this team!) and we all just fell in behind her. I have never been there before so I made sure I stayed close and hung on. It was an awesome trail... relatively wide and stable with some river rock, but nothing treacherous. Carrie turned us back at 1.7 miles, opting for the 5k distance, which was fine by me, I was already feeling the heat.  By the time we got back, I was totally and completely spent.  (3.43 miles in 36:27 minutes)

I know the day will come when I'll find these runs easier, I just need to hang in there through the process.  No doubt dialing in the food will make a huge difference... that and I MUST get to bed earlier, so good night my friends.  Sleep well!