Luck of the Irish (yeah, I'm Irish)

It's Monday morning, I have put in another good week of training, and I'm feeling really good about how everything is going right now. I am kind of shocking myself in some workouts right now with how I am performing... and that's a good thing.

Last week I made decision to run the St. Pattys day 10k. Beth was already planning on doing it along with quite a few other people that I know so I knew it would be a good time. But "a good time" is relative. 10k's on the road are hard. I would rather have my pace and effort be determined by the terrain (trail running) rather than how I feel or the guys I am racing with/against. Last year I ran 34:11 and finished 5th overall. So after a hard week of training I toed the line nice and early Saturday morning.

Pre-race dinner. $10.00 Wholefoods salad bar action.


Getting ready. Putting on the lucky pink headband Beth got me for Xmas.

My goal was to just to try and maintain contact with the lead pack and break 34 minutes on this long course (6.32 miles). When the gun went off, as usual, a bunch of guys took off... fast. I knew who the "fast" guys were so I just kept my eye on them and made sure they didn't get too far away. By the first mile there were 3 guys about 20 yards up the road and I was in the second pack of 4. I just sat in and stayed in control. Two of the guys in the front pack blew up around 2.5 miles in and we passed them. Local fast guy and eventual winner, Paul Wellman was in my pack and made a move to get to the leader and there was no way I could go with him. I hung back and ran shoulder to shoulder with a guy through 4.5 miles and we were in 3rd & 4th. During mile 5 the guy that I was running with got a little gap on me and started to pull away but I got back on his shoulder just before we got off Fiesta Island.

Last year I faded on the last mile and ran mile 6 in 5:34. This year I made sure I still had enough to throwdown a hard last mile. I was able to pull away and into 3rd place all by myself and maintain the gap to the finish... and Pr'd with a 33:56 taking third overall and first in my age group. Definitely pretty happy with the results, but it would be nice to rest up sometime to see what I can really do on fresh legs.

1st place in my AG got me a sweet sweatshirt and coupon for one large 2-topping pizza from Domino's. Stoked.


Here's the stats:
Time: 33:56
avg Hr: 189 bpm
max Hr: 197 bpm

Mile splits:
mile 1: 5:14
mile 2: 5:16
mile 3: 5:27
mile 4: 5:34
mile 5: 5:36
mile 6: 5:17
last .32: 5:18/mi pace

Beth had a killer race and Pr'd! Coming off the injuries she had last year and seeing what she has accomplished so far this year is pretty amazing. She's going to be fast.

After the race I headed home and got out on the mountain bike for 90 minutes. I just kept it mellow, kept the climbing to a minimum, and rode some of the fun single track right by my house.


with all the rain the trails have taken on a totally different look and feel. They are mega fast and green with flowers everywhere. It's pretty awesome out there right now.


Sunday morning was time to ride. I slept in a bit because we supposed to rain and gnarly wind all day Sunday so I was just going to wake up and let the weather determine my plan of attack. Well I woke up to clear skies and cool temps. Seriously, not a cloud in the sky. I don't know how much the weathermen that are forecasting San Diego weather are getting paid but it's way too much.

I have been thinking about a new loop leaving from house that would include a lot of climbing and not having to ride any of the climbs more that once. It ended being a killer loop and right out my door. 72+ miles and 6,000+ ft. of climbing!

A view from the bottom of Torrey Pines. A perfect So Cal day!(where the hell is the rain and wind?)


What is Beth doing to me? Post-ride recovery! Golden Spoon. Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter cup.