Having run 5 previous 5K races with cool and overcast conditions, it took a bright and sunny day along with a fast, flat course to power Val to a new 5K PR of 21:15:9 which is 13 seconds faster than her PR set last year, July 4th, in Huntington Beach.
When I saw the men come in hot and fast and then Mary Akor, I knew Val would be on pace for breaking a personal record and she was strong in the finish.
Val’s 2008 racing season, this being her fifth race, have all been marked by cool, overcast conditions with little or no breeze and that suits her just fine since she “runs hot” anyway. This was another of her sub-7:00 minute/mile races which also keeps her time for this 5K (3.1 mile) distance at under 22:00. She bettered her time here last year by over 30 seconds. Here are some additional pictures of Val in the Corona del Mar 5K event. Keyword:CDM. Go here and you can find race video.
Two races in the next two weeks have Val racing in Anaheim, where she has a good chance to get a best time and on the sand in Manhattan Beach the following week.
Like the previous races, I am her “caddy”. By the way, besides being a golfing term, the American Heritage Dictionary in the #2. definition defines caddy as “A boy who does odd jobs.” Yep, that pretty well describes what I do!
These two ladies were no match for Val, but they competed in the 71-99 year old category. One of them came in at an impressive time of about 34 minutes.
Following the race, Val and I drove to the Fleet Feet store in Laguna Niguel where they had appearances by two members of the Newton Racing Team, Michellie Jones, Olympic silver medalist in the 2000 Games in Sydney and Ironman champion and Josh Cox, a US men’s marathoner who qualified for the men’s Olympic Marathon team in 2000 and was the youngest American to do so. Each gave a short but fascinating look into their careers and answered questions from those in attendance about training and the Newton shoes.
We had the opportunity to try out the revolutionary Newton running shoe, which is quite a bit different than any shoe in production today.
Val and 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist, Michellie Jones
Two Members of the Newton Racing Team and a Newton rep.
Memorial Day weekend is traditionally time for racing with the Indy 500. Instead, our focus was on Val’s 5K race in Brentwood on Sunday. My job, bleary-eyed as I was from the previous day’s Highland Games, was to get Val to Brentwood on time, ready to go. It worked out beautifully. Weather conditions according to a girl working at a nearby runners store were described as “cool, overcast and gross”. Translated, that means great for runners. What was great for me was the route was a flat, out and back course with the start and finish on opposite sides of the boulevard in Brentwood. I just had to walk the street! The start was memorable in that a race official sang the seldom heard last stanza of the Star Spangled Banner”. Starts are exciting, but take a look at her finish…
Val’s time of 21:43:71 was 15 seconds off her fastest time ever at the distance. We couldn’t figure out with a course so flat and so fast how she did not beat her best time at the distance, that is until she took her shoes off. Remember a few weeks ago she won a $12 pair of socks with right foot and left foot design. When she took her shoes off we discovered she did not match her socks with her feet. Yep, that cost her at least 15 seconds off her best time and she kept pulling to the left!
Seriously, though, she was a little bummed about her time but she thinks she can get personal bests everytime she is out there.
The second half of the road racing doubleheader came on Memorial Day; another 5K race, this time in Laguna Hills at the Laguna Hills Memorial Half Marathon and 5K. Last year, Val did the half and this time, she continues her successful 5K events. In this race, on a tougher course and with legs not fully recovered, she improved on yesterday’s race by posting a 21:41 time to cover the 3.1 mile distance.
As an added surprise, Val’s sister, Melanie and her niece Jacklyn came to watch. Again, ideal conditions, especially for the runners.
Maybe it was because I woke up this morning tired, achy and a little cranky that I come across the topic of overtraining. I have been guilty of this and good things don’t come of it. I don’t have that and I am not aware of any other syndrome going on at the moment and yes, I realize denial is the first sign. By the way, when did we start having all these new maladies called “syndromes” and then broken down to their initials, like CFS?
Overtraining can happen to elite athletes and to the exercise-obsessive rest of us. I have had it as a runner and a skater and bordered on it at times doing Crossfit, though never to the degree examined in this article on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
The article is from Active.com where they primarily cater to runners, cyclists and triathletes, who coincidentally are the folks most likely to overtrain in the first place.
Coach Romanov, the founder of the POSE System, posted this useful article about stretching and flexibility. It may change the way you train in ways other than just running.
4 REASONS TO NEVER STRETCH AGAIN
STRETCHING DOESN’T DO WHAT IS CLAIMED The general claim is that stretching will help you warm up and relax your muscles, and it’s good for you. It is actually believed that it is important to stretch before training or racing. Sorry to disappoint you but stretching does not do any of those things. To warm up before training, you need to actually do a “warm up” routine. Instead of relaxing muscles, stretching actually tenses them and can tear the muscles, so if you feel sore and tense after your stretching routines, now you know why.
STRETCHING CAN TEAR MUSCLES As mentioned above, stretching can tear muscles. Stretching is a very damaging, violent and forceful action upon your muscles whether you’re doing it fast or slow. As part of a human body, muscles have only 2 functions - to contract and to relax. When you start stretching your muscles, which goes against their natural state of being or working, they react by contracting which puts an unexpected and unnecessary stress on the tissue and can tear it.
STRETCHING IS NOT FLEXIBILITY Majority of people do not know the difference between the two, and many consider both one and the same, but it is a guarantee that everyone is after being flexible not stretchable. Dictionary.com provides very good meanings for both words:
Stretching-To lengthen, widen, or distend-To extend or enlarge beyond the usual or proper limits-To wrench or strain (a muscle, for example)-To subject to undue strain
Flexibility-the property of being flexible; easily bent
STRETCHING HAS VERY LIMITED PURPOSE AND EFFECT While stretching does have a purpose, it is a very limited one and has nothing to do with sports. Stretching can be used for rehabilitation purpose and can be relatively useful, but there are other and better ways of rehabilitating.
So next time out training, start with a good warm up routine appropriate for your sport instead of mindlessly stretching yourself to injuries.
Back “in the day”, running was my favorite thing to do but that hasn’t been the case for many years. Nevertheless, as long as I am still going to run a little, I might as well do it better than I have in the past. When I ran, it was all about the shoes and clothes, the miles, splits, logbooks, the endorphines etc. No one I knew or read, talked about the technique of running. Yet, in any athletic endeavor, technique is crucial.
About a year ago, Val and I went to Fleet Feet to get some shoes and it was there where we first heard about the POSE Method. At the time, Val seemed to have mild interest but she was already being coached and I wasn’t interested in it for me at all since I was scarcely even running.
Some time later, we met Brian MacKenzie, a ultramarathoner and trainer who had just become a Crossfit affiliate, Crossfit Newport Beach. Our interest in POSE has been piqued again after we read articles and videos by Mackenzie and Michael Collins, an advanced POSE trainer in this month’s Crossfit Journal.Adding to this interest is Val’s groin injury which has put her on the shelf for a while.
While we look into POSE some more, I went out for a 5K run tonight and tried to incorporate some of the things they teach. I have no idea how it looked, but it seemed to be better on my body. My lower back didn’t hurt and I actually enjoyed the run, which I guess was no faster or slower than the last time, so my time was a hair under 30 minutes.
We got up early this morning, not to put a turkey in the oven but to get Val down to beautiful Dana Point for the annual Dana Point Turkey Trot 5 & 10K runs. On Valerie’s menu was the 10K event, which started at 7:00 AM which would get us home in time to watch the Green Bay Packers play beat the Detroit Lions for the first of three Turkey Day games.
(Go Pack)!
Val said it was a perfect day for a race with the temps in the mid-50’s and no wind. This race gets a great turnout every year and this year was no different with an estimated 10,000 runners and walkers for all the events.
Val’s official time, in her third 10K race was 46:22, which gave her an average pace of 7:28/mile. I asked Val which distance she like racing the best and she had no clear favorite, but did lean toward the 3.1 mile event over the 6.2. Whatever. She prepares and races well regardless of the distance and today was no exception.
It was a great day to race the 2007 Long Beach Marathon and everything fell into place nicely. (Well, at least for me…I didn’t run the race)! This year, we drove a different way to avoid the crowds and easily found a place to park close to the starting line. We didn’t have to stress getting to the starting line before the gun went off. Val, having more race experience is much better at managing race day anxiety than a year ago and I believe that only helped her performance as it did today with another half marathon personal best time of 1:40:34. (See the stats below).
The weather was ideal for a race with a starting temperature of 58 degrees and no wind. Humidity was high, but not a factor.I skated the course, looking for photo ops to catch Val in flight. As it turned out, I skated about the same distance as the half marathon, so I consider that my training workout for the day and I assure you it was much easier than Val’s effort. At the points along the race course where I caught up with her, Val looked strong and confident and totally immersed in the race. Val is one of those competitors who lives for race day and once the gun goes off, she goes off. She ran a strong, smart race. I’m am proud of her and inspired by her. Great race, Foo!
One week out from the targeted and very popularLong Beach Marathon and Half Marathon, Val tested her conditioning and peaking by running a tight, local race, theChapman University 5K. Not only was Val just seconds off her personal best in the distance with a time of 21:45, she placed 2nd in her age group, her highest placing yet. Here Val proudlly shows off her trophy.
She says she did not feel all that competitive and would have gotten a PR had I been there. Uh-huh. (I think she would have gotten the PR if she knew a certain competitior would be in the race but was not).
Val ran an excellent tune-up race and is definitely ready to knock down a half marathon PR in Long Beach next weekend.
Meanwhile, I slept in but when I got up I did a workout entirely with the rings, which I enjoyed.
Ring Push-ups: 20/20e/20e/20e/ (e means legs were elevated 24″)Ring Dips: 7/8/6 My right shoulder was beginning to lag on the 3rd set.Ring Pull-ups: 7/7/7/8/.Ring Body Pulls: 10/10/10/10e/
I began the day early to get Val ready to race the Surf City 5K run in Huntington Beach at 8:00 AM. As it is July 4th, I felt a good way to begin the day’s festivities was to listen to Red Skelton’s recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. It is always a good reminder to understand the meaning behind the words.
The day started out overcast and a bit humid and warm, but that did not slow down Valerie, who ran to yet another personal best time of 21:29 at 6:54 min/mile. She kept wondering where the finish line was and at the last turn, where I stood yelling and imploring her to a fast finish, she must have heard me and found another gear to get her across the finish line.After the race, where she finished 5th in her division, we watched the 4th of July parade on Main St. which was as as traditional Americana you will get anywhere in the country, yet with it’s own “Surf City” flavor. After all the years of living here, this is the first time I have been to the parade, and I am not even a “parade guy”! I hope to be here next year.
This parade had it all…in the parade and the crowd of spectators. From surfer bands and woodys to military trucks, tanks and soldiers to Shriners in little cars and scooters. Tattoos and bikinis, families, kids, dogs and thousands of beach cruisers. This is what a parade is all about!
Have a great 4th of July everyone. Get a good spot for the fireworks!
