It is almost a typical weekend, all peaceful and calm before the storm.
COVID19 is getting everyone on their nerve in the US. As a runner, I am kind of nervous since I signed up many races months beforehand and would not like any of them to be canceled.
While watching the status of my much smaller local races (the Reston X Miler (10 Miler) and the Seneca Creek Greenway run), since the State of Maryland has declared a state of emergency, I couldn’t help but drawn into the discussion about the LA Marathon. California too has declared a state of emergency. Personally, if the governor declared an emergency all should treat it as one. But many people do not. Many runners joked about 6 feet of separation the health officials advocated to runners and fans of the LA Marathon. We laughed about it since both races will be on this weekend. Mine is on a much smaller scale of several hundred people, but still the risk is there with any gathering of people of possible contagion.
As a runner, I wouldn’t want my race to be canceled. My race director sent out couple emails confirming our local race is still on in spite of everything.
And so, I got myself to bed early and hauled myself up before the crack of dawn. Here I am toeing at the start line.
This would be my 2nd big race of the year. Yes, there will be many more to come. This is like a testing run, a first trail marathon (50K) for the year.
I have been thinking much about it and did not have a handle on last Wednesday message. Given I arrived late and missed two third of the preaching, I did try my best to zero in on the closing point.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. II Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
I have been thinking that transformation is a gradual process, at least for me, I feel I haven’t improved a lot. It is only through looking back after some time has passed that I can see I am no longer what I used to be.
My pastor reminded me it required a deeper change – actually a total change from inside (being a new creation). We have a new identity. I don’t know how this is related to running. I tried not to. He even prayed at closing that the hearers would understand the message in the right way and not twist them or corrupt them.
One thing we do forget is that we are so used to our old ways of doing thing and we forget we have been made new. This I can relate to running.
I said I was going to change. I was going to wake up earlier on Wednesday and I would run in the morning. But I haven’t. It is so easy to just stay in bed after the alarm rings and I have been doing so for the ladt three weeks.
Transformation is realized we are no longer the same. We have to put to death our old self.
Saturday: hiking buckhollow-hanzel river loop – 20 mi (ran about final 2 mi downhill); completed in 7 hours
Sunday: 10k race
total: 28 mi + 20 mi hiking
Due to various reasons mainly tireness and being lazy, I didn’t run over the weekend. The hike was mostly compensated my run. It was not strenuous, but my ankles had a very good workout. The pace was good. I had done this hike twice before and in the past it took me 8 hours at a much shorter distance (18 miles). I know now I have improved a lot since. Couple massive hills during the hikes were nothing to me; I didn’t break a sweat. My partner though was panting and we took couple short breaks on the way up; she said she was out of shape. I didn’t think so. We ran the last two miles downhill.
20 miles is still 20 miles. Though I felt I could have an even harder workout if I ran the thing, I was tired by the time we left the trail. I slept through the drive home, then the whole next day…basically skiping my long run on Sunday. I felt I might able to do the long run if I pushed myself…but the extra day of rest should help me next weekend.
I did the 10K. The time was acceptable. Finished in 53 minutes. My fastest 10K was in 48 min. 52-53 is around my average / 8:30 pace. It was still an improvement from my last few 10K. This was after a long hike from the day before. I really didn’t feel fresh that morning. To able to pull a reverse split was something – I didn’t really plan for that either, I only ran at the pace my body felt comfortable and as the race went on, my body and legs became easier to run.
I didn’t put up big number this week. I could have, but I had no regret to switch up the runs with a hike. I was grateful for my friend who canceled her weekend backpacking trip to hike with me on Saturday.
Not sure when is Shamrock Day but Happy Leprechaun!
I am grateful to finally run it – the Pot of Gold 10K. It was a great day. Cold. I think it was 26/28 F (not sure about temp in Celcius, mayby -1 or -2) when we started. It got warmer once we were about a mile in the run. There were also some wind.
Hey usually I don’t do a race report on smaller races, since I do so many of these kind of races all the time. But since I drummed it up so much leading up to it, I should let everyone know how it went.
It was a new course to me. My first time running it. I have done severy races in the area of One Loudoun (shopping center), so it was not totally new to me. Still, the 10K course was the first time I was running it.
I have ran enough 10K to get a feel of the timing and pacing. I forgot to wear my Garmin watch so, I used my phone to track the run. I normally don’t like running with the phone. I ran with it this time, thinking I would take some pictures during the race (I didn’t).
A bonus was I got the reverse split. crazy right? The longer I ran, the faster I got during the race. That’s scary.
I was far from getting on the podium this time. I was ranked 12th in my age group.
A plug for my friend Isaiah Day who started this blog Player Development for athletes. I am anticipating his interview with an ultra distance runner next Tuesday 3/3 @10:00 ET.
More info about the interview can be found on his group Facebook page. ah…it is hard to link to FB.
Other news: This weekend probably won’t be much different.
Saturday! I will be hiking with my buddy K. No running… otherwise I would intimidate her. Actually I have seen her hiking faster than I can run on the trail. She is a downhill specialist.
We will be going to BuckHollow. It is one of my training destination. I have been lonely training for last five weeks and I have a partner to join me this weekend.
Sunday: Running the Pot of Gold 10K, which I wrote about in the previous entry. I am excited.
Rest of the day, I hope to squeeze in some long run.
There is actually quite a lot of things to do. Weekend is too short.
My tax refund is back and woohoo I celebrated by signing up races. It couldn’t come at a better time because I was so broke this week and wept about not able to sign up a race for this weekend.
Race#1 POT OF GOLD. Then a miracle! I saw the money in the bank. So I signed up the Pot of Gold 10K with the PRRaces. What a name! It was like I found a Pot of Gold to run in this race.
Long story, last year was the inaugural year for this race and I had a race pass, however, I didn’t know when I purchased the race pass at the beginning of the year (2019), it didn’t cover for this race. It took my race pass redemption code but I was never completely finished registering for it but I didn’t know. So on the morning of the race, I showed up to collect my bib and the volunteer there said I never registered. I was dumbfounded.
Later on, they had someone who looked into my registration said I had never finished paying for it. I don’t remember what the cost, but it was like $20 extra on top of my race pass. I was too angry about it, so I drove home instead of running in the race.
I didn’t mention it to anyone. It was my lost.
This year, I didn’t purchase a race pass. I am paying every race as they come. I make sure, I’m registered and paid for the race. Fingers crossed that I will finally run this race! Consider this as a Pre-race report.
Race #2 Reston 10 Miler. I signed up for March 8 (following Sunday) Reston 10 Miler! Nothing much to say about it. I ran it once or twice before. Once I remembered I had a bad knee and this race kind of broke me and I almost couldn’t finish. This time around might not be any better. I will be running a 50K the day before, so I might be limping through the 10 Miler again.
Race#3 MCM50K. Guess what!? I signed up. I saw the Facebook announcement on Sunday saying the registration for 50K is up. So I reshared it and posted if I should run it. Couple of my fans said Run It Antin! I debated until today. First mostly because I’m poor and the race is costly. I did it last year and so done and over with.
Then I told myself, MCM50K is going to be a lottery, so why not leave it to fate. Unbeknown to me, it is not a lottery entry. After I clicked on the submit button, it said congratulation, you are now officially registered for the MCM50K for October 25, 2020. Happy training! something like that. Yike! what good fortune.
This starts getting fun and I’m looking forward writing it.
This would be my fifth week. I have 15 more weeks before my Laurel Highlands race.
Total: 56-58 miles
Monday: rest. I didn’t want to rest because the week before I only did 9 miles* (plus 20+ miles of hiking), so I had fresh legs. In the end I rested anyhow because I wanted to put up big number again. Trust the plan, I told myself.
Tuesday: 4 mi. first day back running. It did feel heavy, not tired heavy but heavy from not haven’t run for a long time.
Wednesday: church and rested too because of time constraint. Ah, I know I need to wake up earlier so I could put in a run. Try again next week.
Thursday: 4 mi. second run for the week. Started to feel very good. Didn’t want to stop.
Friday: 13-14 mi. felt great and didn’t want to stop. Started the run early at 6 pm and finished by 8:30 pm. I would have ran some more but I had some work left at work to do and had to head back.
Saturday: 20 miles. I went back out to Buzzard Hill-Ashby Hollow. At first, I thought I wouldn’t able to do the whole thing because I got up late again, but lo, I was much much stronger this time. I could actually run some miles. At least for couple miles I could run under 17 min per mile! That’s the goal. I am still pretty slow though, 18 miles in 6 hours, that’s basically fast hiking (3 mph)!! I need to get that under 5.5 hours (race cut off speed). I double checked, my watch was showing 6k ft of elevation gain, so I had 12k ft of total elevation change. That’s a lot.
Sunday: 16 mi. Arlington/airport loop. The usual. Running on trail embarrasses me (frustrating too). I had to get back on road to feel that I could run. Running on trail now is still more like hiking than running. It was good feeling to know you could run and run fast. What a big different between trail and road!
I don’t hate long run now. Sunday has always been my best day. I do want to do Ashby Hollow again this weekend but also want to go somewhere else. Thinking about doing the Peak! Also The Little Devil’s Stair is cool too.
This post is already long enough, but while out on the trail, I met a volunteer who helped out at my last big race, the JFK50, he recommended me to try running up the Priest. This place is a bit far away, but it peeks my interest. I haven’t been there though (I was at the foot of it last time) could have gone up last year if not for the lyme desease.
Sunday Arlington Run – I love this route. Miles 7-11 have some big hills. My hill training out in the woods helped me finally able to run up on themBuzzard Hill & Ashby Hollow. My training ground. 2nd attempt. Hope some day able to run the whole thing in 5 hours, even 6 hours is good enough for me (currently took me 7.25 hrs to do)Friday run, Rock Creek to around Haine’s Point. I haven’t gone this far south for a long time. Very quiet place, but popular for cyclists during warmer time. My watch ran out of battery after mile 9 (I added our club run normal square route then to make it a 13 mile run). Haine’s Point is also part of the route for our local marathons and big races (DC RnR, Marine Corps, Air Force Half, and Cherry Blossom 10 miler)
If you don’t succeed the first time, try again. So this weekend I am heading back out to Ashby Hollow.
Last time I started about 7 miles north at Snicker’s Gap and ran to Ashby Hollow before turning around. I was planning to run the whole thing, but I started out a bit too late and I was a bit unmotivated…also the body just didn’t feel in the running condition. I ran but it wasn’t the good vibe.
This time I will start at Ashby Hollow and run south maybe 7 miles before heading back and if time allows I will run north for few miles (around 5). It should give me 20+ miles day.
–I filed my taxes today! My office manager helped me. I can do it myself and I used to do it myself but for last six years, it was my manager who helped me. One less headache.
–It is safer to hike/backpack with a friend. That was a big idea I had while on the trail last weekend. I took several tumbles (more like a dozen times) and I could have been seriously hurt! Sometimes though it is hard to find someone to have the time to hike with you.
–Tonight message (from my pastor’s preaching), was mind-blowing when I started applying them to my running. What I distilled from my pastor was 1. Got to be transformed 2. image – we are transforming to conform to an image (a model) 3. breaking out of our present mold (reality) to glory. 4. meaning giving up something that is holding you back. There were more but I didn’t catch them
None of these were new to me but it was like a wake up call. Like why did I not see it before? Now my running will definitely improve. I know my pastor means changing our life and walk closer to God for eternal good in doing what God wants us to do in our present life. Yet what is more practical for me is about improvement on running. I was no longer falling asleep at this time through the sermon but was wide eyed. Preach more pastor! I want to be a better runner!
What this all mean to me is how to get out of my stagnation. I feel I am in a hump (really!) and am ready to change – breaking out. I want to get better at my running and I am not satisfied with my current progress. I feel my runs has stagnated. Because I have fallen into a rut and at time being complacent with my training. I know back in 2016-2017 I would set alarm to wake up at 4AM and run! That was some dedication. Even at 10 PM when my friend would call me, if I want to go to the gym, I would immediately say yes, count me in. Let’s go! I lack that kind of enthusiasm now a day. I prefer let me sleep in a bit more. A lot of junks (bad habits) have creeped into my life too.
How do you deal with not being the same as before? I have been running for 3 years and what do I really want to accomplish? If I want to run faster, I really have to reach that goal. Maybe I am getting older and so I am getting slower. This calls for a need to transform. But how do you do that?
One needs to see what is happening and change it. Truth. We need the truth (to see what we did not see before) and the truth will set you free. Truth is revelation. We are constantly learning. Take in and evaluate. Sometimes it comes in a dream. We need to start dreaming. I get my inspiration about my running while I am on the trail, and listening preacher’s sermon. I need to use my off days to learn!
Ask yourself what do I have to change. Change is hard because we have accepted what we currently are doing is right and we have to see that it as not right. We have to turn things up-side-down. We can’t do things the same way and expect to have a different result.
-Thought#2 – embrace change. That was the biggest breakthrough I had tonight. I hate change. A girl has turned my life up-side-down too and it was too much. I wanted my sanity back and what I am comfortable with. No more craziness. But just as I decided to take the easier path and the calmer choice, my pastor preached about change. Why changes require taking the harder path? Looking back the changes I have been making were rather small!! I need to embrace bigger changes boldly. Doing things differently. It could me losing myself in the process! It will no longer be the me I know afterward.
This means we are willing to take some pain. Not so much physical but it means sacrificing comfort and ease. Giving up time of doing certain other things we like. It means certain areas of our life have to be cut back. Priority. Someone told me recently, we see our priority in the things we actually do, not what we say we want to do.
Objectively, we do something because we like it. I secretly want to run faster each year. Realistically though, I will improve but I will never be out-of-this world fast. This brings us to set a reasonable goal or expectation.
visioning/image. We can do it only when we can see ourselves doing it. We have an image of what success is for us. We push ourselves to change/evolve to match that image. I have been doing that each season. Changing our expectation to a new reality.
I feel each quarter or each year, I am making myself new again. Three years ago (summer 2016), if you tell me to run a marathon, I would have laugh at you silly. I did not run then. A mile maybe, but not a marathon.
Things have become too easy for me lately. After 3 years of training, I need to step up again. Change starts today!
At the end of each service is an altar call, where we rededicate ourselves to do good once again. It is usually most uplifting time of the worship. You feel you could take on the biggest struggle! I need that each week. A time to reaffirm I can do the run. I can put down my distraction.
-No more half heartedness effort but a full commitment
Last week was low mileage for me with a total about 9 miles. Lowest so far after having 50+ for last three consecutive weeks, but I figure I needed the low mileage rest.
As usual, Monday was a rest day. After three weeks of running, I was grateful for Monday
Tuesday: 4. Easy run with group. The weather is getting warmer. Legs were heavy.
Wednesday: 2nd rest day
Thursday: 5 miles. Also was a group run. Legs were still heavy but a bit better than Tuesday.
Friday: 0. traveling
Saturday-Sunday: *3-4ish. I would like to say it was supposed to be a run but turned out more a backpacking hike. Saturday, hiked 24 miles and Sunday 12. I won’t count them running though my body was sored from the activity.
~~~~Long version~~~~
The highlight was I went to Laurel Highlands to check on the trail, which I will be racing on it in June. The trail was not extremely hard, definitely runable in most section (‘groomed’ trail some say), but it is considerably a step up from my last ultra due to hilly terrains. It was not the most technical terrain I have seen, but I will be killed by a thousand cuts. It is flat on the elevation profile but it is anything but flat. 70-mile is not an impossibility but it won’t be a cake walk. People said to train for it as if it is a 100 mile race. One suggestion was to do 10k ft of hill climb per week. I intend to do just that.
Due to the trail being a point to point (not a loop), it was difficult to plan the training run logistically. I decided to ‘play it safe’ because of the cold weather and I camped at the race to-be checkpoint #1 (Mile 18) and intended to study the trail from mile 18 to 0. I was very tempted to run the whole thing in a day, knowing my ability I can do 18 miles any given day, however because of the remoteness and ‘what-ifs’, I decided to backpack by hiking it instead. It was definitely a wise decision.
I was much weaker than I anticipated. Even with just the hike, it exhausted me. If the previous weekend running in the woods an indicator, this weekend’s message was loud and clear: I was in no condition to ‘trail run’ it. I might call it running, but if I couldn’t put up 3 miles an hour, it was anything but running. On race day, doing 3 miles an hour will not get me to the finish line under 22 hours. I am not alarmed, given I have about 12-14 weeks left, I could train up for it.
The first night there was just straight camping. I hiked around for an hour looking for camp but that was just my stupidity of not studying the map before hand. I figured the camp was only about half mile at most from the parking area and I could bump into it. You can only go north or south on the trail, how hard can it be in finding the camp? I walked first north the back south and turned around went back north (I was so near then before turning around!) and explored some of the side trails, while really needed to use the bathroom! Yes and it costed me an hour wandering around in the middle of the night. The camp was really half mile away (South). It was 2AM by the time I close my eyes. My hiking leader would be laughing at me if she knew (she didn’t go; well if she had gone, I wouldn’t be in a jam).
Camped in the snow on the first night; happy to arrived
The next day, bright and early, I decided to take my pack to camp#2 (at Mile 6), which is about 12 mile hike. Trust my plan, I kept saying to myself. Luckily, the snow on the ground was not much and they were fresh, about quarter to half an inch of snow on the ground. It didn’t make running impossible but the cold was a big factor for me to play it safe and decided to hike it with my pack instead of dropping the pack at where I parked and running the thing. Indeed, the ground was icy in part and I took too many falls to the ground myself. I left my trekking poles at home when the time I needed them the most was now; I had micro spikes in my pack but I was too stubborn to put them on — again my hike leader would shake her head if she saw me, like for all these years of camping and I still haven’t learned.
Tiny shelters (huts) down in the valley. I had the whole campground to myself at my second day camp site
I arrived at the second camp by noon, exhausted, and also not haven’t eaten breakfast. I dropped my pack, set camp, ate and by 2 PM then proceeded to hike/run the remaining six miles (to Mile 0) on an out and back.
reached mile marker 0
They say these six miles would be hardest in the race in term of elevation gain. It is probably a joke to those on the west coast that we complain about a thousand or two ft of elevation gain over couple miles, but to us here it is hard running! Everything is relative.
Indeed, I could hardly run it. I came across many runners on the trail in this last (first) section and one of them has ran the Laurel Ultra a few years back. He said, he knew of no one who would run up it, specifically on Spring Hill.
Next morning, woke up with body pretty much in a bad shape (bad meaning I didn’t want to run). I felt I couldn’t walk another mile. I asked myself, do I want to repeat to run to mile 0 and back, since it would be a perfect day for running it. It was much warmer and snow had melted. It would make great numbers for my runner log.
I pretty much knew the answer. I can’t find any resolve to beat my body any more but to hike (crawl) back to the car. I could definitely do it if I had to, but it would be pushing myself beyond uncomfortable. I knew it was not happening. It was really pointless to stay another night if I am not running it. Also I only had carried one day of food with me on my pack and I ate them the day before…unless I go back to the car. I always had more food in the car. But if I go to the car, why not just go home. The hike back was literally a crawl for me. That’s a wrap for the weekend.
someone’s snow graffitihunting parking lot – it advises runners/hikers to wear bright orange color clothing. PA has a lot of public hunting grounds. Larel highlands trail runs through some.around mile 13-14
In awe 