Headlands150 Miler 2021

This is my video from last years Headlands 150 miler.  I ended up dropping at mile 62.  I went back to the start/finish area, sat in my car and had a pity party.  My friend Joseph was running the 100 mile event and had no pacer.  I decided that since I dropped out of my event I should help Joseph and at least pace him for the last 50 miles of his race.

This was my first DNF on this course.  Deep down I wanted the 150 miler to be my last ultra.  I haven't felt as driven to do this anymore.  I feel like running 100 mile races at one time consumed my life, but the fire is slowly burning out.  Between family, running, jiu jitsu, writing music, and work... I can only do so much.  I feel like running is taking a backseat.  

This coming weekend I'll attempt the finish my 11th Headlands 100.  It might me my last... but maybe I'll change my mind and be out there in 2023.

Training Progress

 My friend Joseph has been doing my workouts with me.  The workouts have been getting slowly harder.  We have been usually doing a long run on Monday's, 800 meter repeats on Thursday's, and hill repeats on Saturday's.

Yesterday (Monday) we didn't do a long run.  Instead we had 6 x 800 meter repeats on the schedule.  These have usually been at a 7 min per mile pace, but on this day it was a 6:30-6:40 pace on the schedule.  It was hard, and I was glad I had a partner pushing me.  If I did this workout solo, I probably would have stopped on the 4th repeat.  Doing 6 repeats felt like I was really being pushed.

This coming Thursday we have 6 x 800 scheduled again, but this time it will be at a 7 min mile pace, and I am really looking forward to the pace.  

I'm feeling more and more comfortable with my Garmin Training Program, and I think it will really help me in preparing for this years Headlands 100 miler.

I haven't signed up for the race yet, but I will be signing up very soon.

Time Management

 I was scheduled to do a training run on Thursday morning.  I had it all planned out.  Workout at the gym in the morning, take the kids to school, run as soon as I got home, take a fast shower, then go to work.  I couldn't run after work because my son and I were going to a Death Metal concert as soon as I got off from work.  Goatwhore was coming to town, and there was no way I was about to miss them.

It felt like a solid plan.  Then on Wednesday night I notice an email about a work meeting at 9:00am on Thursday morning.  Shit, how is this suppose to work?

I could have skipped my run, but instead I looked at my schedule.

1.  Get to the gym at 5:15am and get our workout started at 5:30am so we can be done at 6:10am

2.  Leave the gym by 6:15am so I can get home by 6:30am

3.  Start my run at 6:35am so I can finish by 7:25am (I was scheduled to do the same workout as last Thursday and it took me 50 mins, so I just needed to keep the effort, or run faster.)

4.  Leave the house at 7:30am to take the kids to school and be back home by 8:15am

5. Get home and take a fast shower.

6  Leave the house by 8:30am so I can get a breakfast burrito on the way to work and also get there on time.

This was the plan, and I nailed it.  I love having everything planned out on a schedule and having a visual reference to go off of.  I hate being late and not having a plan.

Luckily Brandon and Ashley are very self sufficient and if I tell them that I need them ready at a certain time, they are usually good to go.

My training run went well, and everything is still on track.  On Saturday my training plan calls for a hard effort 1 mile run after the usual warm-up, cadence drill, and acceleration drill.  I'm wondering what type of pace I can hold.  Hopefully a 6 min mile or faster. I guess I'll find out Saturday morning. 

7 Mile Run

 On Monday my scheduled workout was a 5 min easy warm-up, 7 miles at an "easy to moderate" pace, and then a 5 min cool down.

I ended up doing the workout in my neighborhood.  The loop that I started running is just short of 1 mile.  I think it's about .95 miles.  The run felt decent for the most part.  I did my warm-up, ran the 7 miles at an 8:15 min per mile average, and then did a 5 min cool down.  In the end with the warm-up, 7 miles, and 5 min cool down I covered 7.98 miles.

I did eat a little too much for breakfast.  Around mile 5 I really felt like throwing up might be a good idea, but I held my food down and finished my run.

When the workout was over I felt pretty good.  I pushed just hard enough on that day.

This coming Thursday I am going to repeat the 800 meter workout I did last week.  I really enjoyed that workout and I'm really looking forward to doing it again.  I've always enjoyed doing 400 and 800 meter repeats.

until next time...

Hill Repeats

Yesterday I had a pretty busy schedule, but I needed to do my hill repeat workout.  I figured that I would be off from work just before 7:00pm, and I would have about an hour of daylight after work to get my run in.

I haven't done any hill repeats in a long time and the workout called for 15 secs of running uphill and 15 secs of running down hill.  I haven't ran hills in so long that I had no idea what the actual distance would even look like.

There is a hill at Woodward Park that I usually did hill repeats on, and it's a pretty long hill, so I figured it would be a good choice.

The workout was very similar to the last workout I did with the 800 meter repeats on Thursday but with hill repeats substituted for the 800 meter repeats.

I started the workout with a 5 min warmup, and then did a cadence workout, followed by an acceleration drill.  After that I headed over to the hill I would do my repeats on.  I ran hard for 15 secs and made it half way up the hill.  The next step was to have a 1 min walking recovery.  I walked a little more up the hill anticipating that the distance I would cover running down hill would be greater that the covered going uphill.  I ran downhill for 15 secs and then once I hit the 15 sec mark, I turned around and ran back up the hill.  I did the run up, rest, then run down drill 4 times.  Since it was only 4 repeats I made sure to make my effort as hard as I was able to.

After I was done with the hill repeats I did a 5 min recovery jog back to my car.

The workout only took around 25 mins by the time I was done.  It's been nice not overtraining like I tend to do.

Tomorrow I have a pretty straightforward workout.  5 min warmup, a 7 mile run at a relaxed pace, then a 5 min cool down.

I'll probably just do the 1 mile loop I mapped out around my house.  I've always liked doing loops, even if they can get a little boring.

until next time...

My 2nd Workout

 Today I did my second workout on my Garmin Connect Coaching App.  The first workout was pretty straight forward.  I did a 2 min warm-up, 5 mins at a working effort, and a 2 min cool down.  This was the benchmark workout.

Todays workout had a little more to it.

The workout started with a 5 min warm-up.  After I was warmed up I did a cadence drill where the goal was to maintain around 180 steps per min (spm) for 30 secs, and then walk for 30 seconds.  I did this 4 times.  My normal cadence is usually around 180 spm, so this wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me.  This drill was followed by an acceleration drill. I did a 4 x 30 sec drill where I would start at a walking pace and smoothly build to a fast effort in 15 seconds and then slow back down to a walking pace within 15 seconds.  After the acceleration drill I did 5 x 800 meter repeats at a 7 min per mile pace with a 3 min walk break after each 800 meter repeat.  I ended with a 5 min cool down.

My next workout will be on Saturday and will include hill repeats.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the next several weeks have instore.  

Starting Over

I have decided to start over and do a reset with my running.

I have always wanted to check out the training programs on Garmin Connect so I figured I would finally do it.  I haven't been very motivated to run lately, so I figure this will be something that will hold me accountable to keep up some kind of training.  I selected a half marathon distance with a goal time of 1 hour and 32 mins as my target time.  When I was in pretty decent shape a few years ago 1 hour and 30 mins for a half marathon was within my range.  The goal of 1 hour 32 mins is the fastest that Garmin Connect will let me pick from.

I started my training program yesterday (Monday) and it went pretty well.  I only had to run for 9 mins, so it was a nice change of pace.  I ran a benchmark workout so that the watch could figure out my fitness level and use that to make my program.  I did a 2 min warmup, 5 mins at a working pace, and a 2 min cooldown.  From what I understand the app will use my metrics to build my training plan.  I think it's suppose to take into consideration if I'm actually hitting the goals it gives me, or if I'm not hitting them or surpassing them.

The program has me running on Mon, Thurs, and Sat.  I picked these days myself because I think it will work the best with my schedule.  I'm going to try my best to keep updates after every workout I do.  My end date in sometime at the end of August.  

I'm a little unsure if I'll be running any ultras this year, Headlands 100 is up in the air and I really don't know at this point if I have the desire to tackle that distance anymore... but only time will tell on that one.  I have said that I would never do another 100 miler a bunch of times, and I keep finding myself doing them.

At this point in time I'm just focused on this training program. 

Our New Fresno Hondo

On Sunday April 24th, 2022 I had the privilege of attending the Grand Opening of the new Fresno Buddhist Hondo that has, after a few delays, finally officially opened.  

I officially joined the Fresno Buddhist Temple just a couple weeks ago, and I'm very excited about this new (old) path.  Just a couple weeks ago I ran 70 miles from all the Temples in the Central Valley.  During my 70 mile run I visited Visalia, Reedley, Parlier, Kingsburg, Fowler, and Fresno.  I did this as a fundraiser for a local program that will put all the money we raised (so far $2,200.00) to a Buddhist Ministry program.  The reason I chose to do this was so that I could give back to my local Buddhist community.  Around July of last year I decided I wanted to explore Buddhism again, like I had several years ago... only this time I would do it correctly. 

* Link To Donate To Fundraiser *

The path that led me away from my Christian upbringing, later to Buddhism, then back to Christianity, and then eventually back to Buddhism is a long and complicated one, and will take me quite a bit of time to write... but I have started writing it.  Look for that blog post in about a month or two.  

Back on track...  Around July of last year I visited the Fresno Buddhist Temples website and saw that while they were not having in person services yet because of Covid, they were having services on YouTube and also a monthly Buddhism 101 class on Zoom.

I started watching the weekly services on YouTube and attending the monthly class on Zoom.

After attending classes for a few months I decided this was a path I wanted to continue on.  I felt compelled to give back to the local community in someone way, and a fundraiser that would involve running made the most sense.  I started researching where all the local Buddhist Temples were, and with the help of my new friend Reverend Kaz, I was on my way to running and taking a tour of the local Temples.

On April 2nd I ran from one temple to the next.  I had huge support from my family, friends, local running community, and local Buddhist Sangha. 

A few days before the run Reverend Kaz gave me a tour of the almost finished Fresno Hondo.  The building is breathtaking from the outside, and even more so on the inside.  I was really excited about doing the run and eventually being able to attend a service in person in the new Hondo.

The day after my run, an in person service was held outside the Hondo.  I was able to attend and meet several of the temple members.  Everyone was so inviting to me.  I was able to talk to members before and after the service, and I can honestly say that I felt like this is the place and community I've been searching for.

After attending my first in person service and talking to several members, I decided I would officially join the Sangha. 

When I later recieved an invitation to the ribbon cutting and in person service, I filled out the RSVP right away.

It was very exciting to be a part of the Fresno Temples next big step.  I look forward to the Dharma talks and being a new part of the Fresno Betsuin Family. 

Gassho