Last Train[ing] to Clarksburg

The Clarksburg Country Run Half-Marathon is next weekend.  Time for the third in my fall training update series. 

Weekly Progress

Week 8: (10/11 - 10/17) This was the week with the Humboldt Redwoods Half-Marathon.  My muscles were feeling a bit tired early in the week.  I did two weeknight runs instead of three and a short tune-up on Saturday.  The race, with warm-up, was my long run (15 miles) and fast run for the week.  Total mileage of 29.8.  In case you are new to this blog and have not seen the race report, it is HERE.

Week 7: (10/18 - 10/24) Recovery week from the half-marathon.  No tempo run, but otherwise a normal week.  Long run of 21 miles and total miles of 47.4.  There was steady rain on Sunday, my long run day.  I set new personal records for distance and time on the treadmill: 21 miles and 2:49.  I was tired, but OK at mile 20.  I bonked before I hit 21 (or, more like mile 21 hit me).  I was disoriented, light headed, nauseous and weak.  It reminded me why I swore off marathons over 10 years ago. 

Week 6: (10/25 - 10/31) Again, a normal week in terms of number and type of runs.  A tempo run of 22 minutes mixed in a 10 mile run on Thursday.  Sunday was a 22.5 mile long run at Lake Merced.  After hitting the wall the prior week, I have a sharper focus on finding a strategy for food and water.  This week I used a hand bottle with Gatorade.  I hated the specific hand bottle and did not like the general hand bottle concept too much.  Although, I could probably adapt to it.  I was good through 21 miles.  My legs started to lose power between 21 and 22.5.  No light head problems, though.  Maybe not enough carbohydrate with the Gatorade and hand bottle.  Still, much better than the prior week's crash and burn.  Total miles of 49.7.

Week 5: (11/1 - 11/7) Normal week nights with another 22 minute tempo run during a 10 mile run on Wednesday.  Had to shuffle the rest nights owing to a late phone call at work.  Rain predicted for Sunday, just like two weeks ago.  I am not going to set another treadmill record.  So, I skipped the normal Golden Gate Park group run on Saturday and went to Lake Merced for the long run.  This is the second to last extended long run and I am now wishing I had two extra long runs.  Although I had planned to top out the long run at 22 miles, I decided to go 24.5 this week.  I was tempted to do a full additional loop, making 27 miles,  but realized that is asking for trouble.  This week's experiment was a water bottle belt, plain water and three energy gel packets.  Clif Shot Turbo Gel in Chocolate Cherry was my favorite.  It tasted good, was a little easier to swallow than the others and Clif has the litter leash.  I also had a GU Chocolate Mint.  Much better than the orange vanilla I had at Humboldt.  Finally, I had a Clif Shot regular Chocolate.  Pretty close to eating frosting.  Also good.  I ran a total of 51.3 miles for the week. 

Giants Parade

Early in the Parade

My wife and I attended the World Champion San Francisco Giants celebration parade last Wednesday.  It has nothing to do with running, but it was a San Francisco experience. 

Everyone from Willie Mays to the stadium staff, to Giants administration to selected political figures, a couple of marching bands and the players were included.  By one estimate, there were 1,000,000 people in THE CITY to watch the parade.  The total residential population of THE CITY is only  815,000.  It was crowded and busy.  BART had its highest one day ridership ever. 

The parade stared at 11:00 a.m., but the best viewing spots were snared between 7:00 and maybe 9:00.  We arrived around 10:30 a.m.  So, our vantage point was not the best.  The players rode on fake cable cars that are mounted on truck frames.  The crowd was enthusiastic and made up of everyone from the region.  Former Mayor and continuing political heavy weight Willie Brown called it "the greatest and best-behaved collection of sports fans I have seen in my life." 



Tim Lincecum Tossing Goodies to the Crowd



The parade followed the same route as the parade that welcomed the Giants to THE CITY from New York in 1958.  It started on Montgomery at Washington and ended at the Civic Center.  The parade went down Montgomery, turned right on Market and then accessed the Civil Center between Polk and Van Ness via McAlister.  This is the first World Championship since the Giants have been in THE CITY.  Their last championship was in 1954. 

One of the secretaries in the office, who is from Russia, wanted to know why it is the World Series when it is only American teams that play.  Contemplate that as you await my race report from Clarksburg.



The Aftermath on Montgomery at Sutter