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September 2018 training recap

September 2018 training recap

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It’s probably redundant to begin each monthly recap here on le blog with sentiments conveying holy shit, how is another month behind us already????! …but damn.

How is September already behind us?!

It’s that time of year, and it’s awesome. There’s so much going on, so much to look forward to, and lots of opportunities for fresh beginnings, that on any given day, I just feel like I bop around (for lack of a better phrase) from task to task, doing lots of behind-the-scenes stuff to help keep The Ship moving in the right direction.

 

apple picking at the end of September with Brownie families at the ranch

It’s particularly during times like these that I am especially happy that I run and that I have chosen to train for, and race, marathons. It’s a luxury, and I get that, but damn, am I ever lucky and fortunate to have it.

although admittedly, sometimes I forget about this great luxury and just laugh at myself when I sorta piss myself (reason #197123497 why runners wear black shorts!)

I’m at a proverbial season in life that finds my days very segmented and regimented, leaving very little/virtually no wiggle room for error, so when it comes to my running, it’s important to me that every run has a purpose. Don’t get me wrong: I’m one of those types of runners who loves to run all the time, with or without something on the calendar. However, that said, I find that my enjoyment factor is significantly higher — and to be honest, I use my time much better — when I’ve got a deadline (a race) to work toward.

This is all to say that even though this is one of the busiest times of the year for my family and for me, I absolutely love — and am so incredibly grateful — to have begun training for CIM in earnest in September. I ended September with over 200 miles in the bank, about 213, and ran a few races in the mix, including the 6k GGP Open XC meet in SF, the 5k XC meet at Garin, and Viva Calle SJ’s inaugural 5k for fun (the day after Garin, and as part of a LR, woof. No RR because I’m lazy, but it was fun). I’m working under Lisa’s tutelage again for CIM, just as I did for SF ‘18 and CIM ‘17, and we’re having fun with it. On some runs, I feel like my ass is getting handed to me, but for the most part, my ass has been staying exactly where it should be… or something. At any rate, I’m getting stronger, and I feel really, really good.

 

At the GGP XC open, I felt strong throughout and paced it much better than I did in 2017, leading to a small XC PR for that course.
(PC: WRC)

 

first time racing Garin XC, and man, that was tough! …but also super fun. Runners are twisted. (PC: WRC)

 

lots of fun at VivaCalle SJ with Janet (also one day post-Garin) and Ashley. It was a super flat 5k course that would be very PR-conducive. (PC: Ashley)

Suffice it to say that September was good to me as it pertains to my running. Sure, there are definitely enormous dumpster fires going on in other areas of my life right now that leave me equal parts pissed and scratching my head in utter disdain, but as for running… hooray! Let’s keep it up! 

YAY RUNNING

————

Eliud effing Kipchoge. How amazing was it to watch him shatter the world marathon record in Berlin in the beginning of September? I know it’s old news by now, but man. We’re going to feel that reverberating for years (decades) to come. I think I read just about everything I could find on the subject on the internet and still feel like I didn’t get enough. Something that I find especially attractive about him (in a “you’re a really fantastic human being” type of sense) is his apparent humility and his absolute eloquence. So much of what I’ve read about him lately — as post-Berlin reactions or otherwise — seem to be completely surprised by how this super fast guy, from probably pretty humble beginnings, can be so supremely athletically gifted and incredibly philosophical and cerebral (if not professorial) simultaneously. You (we) don’t have to treat these tenets as being mutually exclusive. After all, runners often make terrific writers (and by extension, communicators), as we all are well aware. There’s so much online on the subject of runners being writers, and writers being runners, that it strikes me as odd that people seem to be so amazed that this guy’s (really, really) good at both.

 

Boston. Fresher news in the running world revolves around Boston ‘19 and Boston ‘20 and namely, that in order to make Boston ‘19, runners had to run a BQ time -nearly 5 minutes. As if that isn’t powerful enough, the BAA tightened standards beginning for ‘20 and tightened everyone’s qualifying times by 5 minutes. For ‘20, that means just to qualify — not to guarantee your entry and secure a slot in the field — the youngest men will need to run no slower than a 3:00:00 and the youngest women, a 3:30:00. In reality, of course, assuming that the field continues to be as competitive as it was for ‘19, men and women in the youngest age groups (18-34) will likely need closer to a 2:54/2:53 or a 3:25/24 to stand a better chance of their qualifying time being fast enough to allow them entrance to the coveted field. Let that sink in for a minute. A 2:53 marathon. A 3:24 marathon. And those folks would be the slowest qualifiers in the fastest age-based field.

Honestly, I’m pretty stunned. Needing to be five minutes faster than your qualifying time is pretty huge. Boston times are already pretty fast, though I think the delta between men’s and women’s qualifying times may be worth examining. But to require BQ minus-5 minutes (or more) to ensure acceptance? I wonder how much longer it’ll take before BQ times are closer to that of NYC qualifiers.

Personally, essentially nothing has changed for me. I’m about to hop age groups, so my ‘20 qualifying time will stay the same (3:35:00). Unfortunately, I don’t have any solutions as to how the BAA can make this any easier on anyone — I think it boils down to supply/demand 101 — but man. My heart hurts for people who are on the cusp.

I’m really glad I ran Boston the two times I did, but at the second time — literally when I was within the first mile of the race (I remember it vividly, I was on the right side of the road) — I decided then and there that I didn’t want to return to Boston for a long, long time. I trained with people who have gone on to become my lifelong friends, we had an amazing training cycle together through a predictably shitty Chicago winter, and C and I had just an absolute blast in Boston together (pre-kiddos). The icing on my Boston cake was that I ran a great Boston, requalified, and just ran with great joy from start to finish. My Boston experience was positive, and while I feel confident that I can run a faster time there now, I don’t know if my cumulative experience can top what I already have. Sharing is caring, right? Why try to have a “better” experience if you’re already pretty damn happy and satisfied with what you already did? My personal opinion is that unless you are completely en fuego for Boston, don’t register for it. “Give” “your” “spot” to someone who wants to do it with all his/her heart and soul and who has been busting ass to get there. That’s just me, however. Do whatever you want. 

Continuing to qualify is still such a huge honor for me. That’s enough. At this point in my life, I’d much rather revel in my training partners’ and friends’ Boston trainings and experiences because I know how special it all is. I’ve been there. I understand. If you’re reading this and so badly want to be Boston-bound, take it from Desi. Keep.showing.up. I will gladly and enthusiastically support you. I get it. It’s a big deal, and if it’s important to you, keep grinding. You’ll get there.

showing up. (PC: Janet)

Reading. I was still in a bit of a lull this month with reading. I haven’t made any more progress on Handmaid’s. I started Dopesick, and while it’s pretty good, it’s just really, really hard to read because my mind goes to my cousin and starts playing all the hypothetical, what if? games. I finally, just recently, got my hands on a copy of Bad Blood (after waiting for it for a few months from the library), and holy shit, it is absolutely ridiculous in just about every way possible. I am so intrigued, enthralled, and disgusted, pretty much all at the same time. I have no words.

Listening. I came upon a new-to-me podcast called Bodies whose pilot I listened to (about birth control), and it was okay. I haven’t listened to another episode simply because I haven’t been in the mood for it. Lauren Fleshman’s and Jesse Thomas’ Work Play Life podcast has had some great episodes in the past month, and Lauren’s guest appearance on Mario’s podcast, the morning shakeout, this month is well worth a listen, too. I also really enjoyed Ben Rosario on Lindsey’s show, I’ll Have Another, and would recommend that to anyone, particularly — and especially — if you’re a fan of Hoka pro athletes. Lots of listening-about-running to be sure, but with it being fall marathon season and all, it’s to be expected.

Writing. Less freelancing this month due to some structural changes for the company/guy for whom I was ghostwriting this past month, but still a little bit, which was fun. I think I may be starting to write under my own actual name (what a novelty!), so maybe I’ll start linking to some of it here on le blog if it actually transpires.

Racing. Racing definitely played a part in my September, including two XC PA races at Garin and in GGP, and for funsies, the inaugural VivaCalle SJ 5k. Come October, I’ll likely do some more XC action as well as a half marathon (gasp!) and some 10ks as part of my build for CIM. In my book, anytime of year is a fantastic time to be a runner, but there’s just something so awesome about running and racing in the autumn.

crispy mornings is part of the autumnal running fun! sorry I blurred your face, Janet!

Family. September was pretty stacked, thanks to the beginning of the school year and the “beginnings” of other life aspects starting up again in earnest, and unfortunately, included in that mix was the eventual folding of my eldest’s swim program. What was a thirty-plus year-old institution is now gone, and the organization that came in to essentially “save” them has also quickly come and gone, leading some to believe that something nefarious may be underfoot, something that starts with E and ends with mbezzlement. Yeah. Not good. Trying to explain business stuff is hard enough as it is, particularly if you’re not equipped with a robust business acumen (ahem), but trying to explain lots of changes to a 7 year-old who’s invested lots of time and energy into being part of one particular team, at one particular location, with particular coaches and teammates — who then had it all taken out from under her — is tough. She’s not alone, obviously, which just makes the magnitude of suckery that much worse. She’s since begun swimming with another organization, so life has gone on, but we could have done without that dumpster fire that consumed the better part of the month.

pre-swim goofing around. IIRC, we just finished doing push-ups just cuz.

In preschooler news, she loves it and gave me a good meltdown the other night when I told her we couldn’t go to school at 7pm because it wasn’t open. When she asked me again at 7am if it was time to go, and I said no, another meltdown ensued. How sweet it is to genuinely love school that much.

besides being completely filthy after school, she also comes home with produce they’ve picked from the garden, which is awesome for all the obvious reasons.

That’s about it for September. I felt like I was surrounded by dumpster fires in many regards, fires that seemed futile to try to put out, but I guess just like anything else in life, control that which you can and let go of that which you cannot. Knowing your limits can be empowering, or it can be frustrating. Like just about anything else in life, it’s your choice, your call to make.

we got a lot of wear out of that Wonder Woman costume in September

Final quarter of 2018.

…!

2018 Golden Gate Park XC Open (San Francisco, CA) – race report

2018 Golden Gate Park XC Open (San Francisco, CA) – race report

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As was the case last fall, I’m training to race CIM in December, and Coach Lisa and I have decided to throw some cross country (XC) action into the training mix where/when it makes sense. It is fall, after all, so it’s high time for some PA XC action!

Last year, I ran the Santa Cruz race, this GGP open, and the championship race at GGP in November. So far, this time around, I’ve run Santa Cruz (feeling not 100% recovered at all from TSFM, nearly a month+ later) and the GGP open again and hope to do some more between now and December.

WRC at the 2018 GGP open, ladies edition (plus pups) (PC: WRC)

Sorta like the 2017 v 2018 SC race, the 2018 GGP open was a pretty similar experience and set-up compared to last year. The biggest difference — maybe the only difference — that I could recall was that in this year’s race, once you entered the woods off the polo fields, runners could participate in a “choose your own adventure” of sorts as they determined their paths: over a short and steep root-strewn single-track-ish hill or over one longer and more gradual. (I chose the steep option because I’m a fool who apparently likes to make things needlessly more challenging). That, and the fact that the grass was dry on the back end of the course (circa mile 2.1, 2.2 and change) struck me as the only differences from last year’s course to this year’s.

off the line and feeling jazzed to be racing (and in a new singlet, woot woot) (PC: I can’t remember)

Part of the reason I really enjoyed this course last year — and what I think makes it super fun to race on and also super challenging — is that runners encounter a ton of different terrain in a really short distance. This year’s race was just shy of a 6k, I guess, and in that abbreviated distance, we covered the flatlands of the polo fields, loose dirt and gravel, singletrack, woods, a little bit of pavement, grass, mud, and surely more that I can’t recall. It’s like a constant exercise in switching gears and determining when to push and when to hold back, all while chasing those around you and trying to not get passed. It’s so freaking fun!

presumably from the start (PC: Robin)

We fielded two great full teams this year for our men’s and women’s races, and it just made for a lovely morning. Another big difference for me between this year’s race and that of last year is that this time around, I never looked at my watch to see my pace. Before the race, I was going to look up my 2017 time to have it “for reference purposes” going in, and somewhere along the drive to SF, I decided I just didn’t care. Instead of going off the feedback I was getting from my watch, I wanted to approach this more … intuitively, I guess … and let my bodily feedback (and my experience on this course from last year) dictate my approach.

on my way to the woods (PC: Lisa)

I was just in it for a) the opportunity to help us field a full team and b) the opportunity to have a hard effort. Time was sorta irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

coming off one full lap of the polo fields and about to enter the woods for the first time (PC: Lisa)

 

The short version is that I think this different approach paid off. From start to finish of the race, I felt strong and in control, which is more or less in direct opposition to how I felt during this year’s Santa Cruz XC challenge just a few weeks before. There, I began feeling ok (not great) and then deteriorated … and then deteriorated some more … and then began questioning my life’s choices and wondering how in righteous hell I had raced a marathon four weeks prior.

when you’re really excited to see friends mid-race (PC: Robin)

I’m happy to say that at this’s year GGP open, I felt strong from the get-go, tried to trust in my pacing and in how I was responding to the terrain, and finished feeling appropriately gassed but without feeling like I was knocking on death’s door. I recalled from the ’17 race that I had come out of the gates too hard and just compleeeeeeeeeeeetely tanked like a fool.

over the field and through the woods… or something (PC: Isaac, I think)

This time around, absolutely my pace slowed from start to finish — as I think most everyone’s did — but I had enough left at the end to finish on the polo fields at a sub-mile pace (5:18!) for at least a few strides to try to chase down other women ahead of me. I didn’t know it until Lisa mentioned it to me later, but I notched a PR for the course on Sunday too, which was unexpected and very cool. Maybe there is something to running “blind,” so to speak.

somewhere on the polo fields, perhaps approaching the finish (PC: WRC)

 

looking a bit taxed trying to “sprint” it in but feeling strong (PC: WRC)

A huge bonus to the day’s festivities, too, was that Angela decided to run her first XC race in forever, so I was just tickled to see her on race morning and to share the experience with her. I think I may have introduced her to every person I knew (sorry!), and post-race, she, Janet, Ida, and I ran a long cool-down and yapped the entire time. It was awesome. And of course, it was lovely to see Robin that morning and to finally meet Sarah. The running world is so small sometimes, and I just love it. I should have taken pictures to document all of this, but alas. My bad.

the gang’s all here! our women’s team at the GGP open (PC: WRC)

The nice thing about all this PA XC action is that it’s open to anyone, regardless of your pace, age, team affiliation (or lack thereof), or whatever. It’s hard to describe, but it really is so much fun to try to run as hard and fast as you can over/through random shit, for lack of a better word. It’s definitely not road racing, and it’s not trail racing, but it’s a sweet marriage of the two.

This is all to say that local friends, if you are itching to get a little XC action this fall but don’t know where to start, let’s talk! I’d love to see you on a starting line soon and would be *more* than happy to chat with you.

I can’t help but think that testing yourself in this gritty XC way lends itself quite readily to developing grittiness from which you can draw in other racing environs. I’ll lyk. I’m excited to find out.