GRAN FONDO

To recap this weekend’s Echelon Gran Fondo, in a word—AMAZING!  Saturday’s weather in Palo Alto was PERFECT as nearly 600 of us lined up to take part in this challenging event on an epically beautiful course.  I was fortunate enough to be the top fundraiser for the event (raising over $7500 for LIVESTRONG!) and was given the honor of rolling out at the front of the pack! 

TIME TRIAL

After putting in 70 miles from Palo Alto out to Hwy 1 and suffering through almost 7000 feet of climbing, it was time for the TUNITAS GRADE TIME TRIAL…over 8 miles long and climbing 2000 feet!  Groups of ~20 riders were sent off in 2:00 intervals from the tiny town of Pescadero.  Amazingly, as they counted down my wave’s starting time, I was realizing how good I felt.  I had been training for this 8 mile event for quite some time and the moment of truth was here!  In the first couple of miles I quickly dropped all riders in my group and was catching riders in the group 2:00 ahead of me.  By the halfway point up the climb, we were now fully shaded by 100’s of towering redwoods and I was starting to reel in riders that had started 4:00 and 6:00 ahead of me…I was feeling great!  I was lucky to have a strong rider ahead in the distance that I could focus on and this chase really helped me dig deep during the middle stages of the route.  As the signs counted down…3k to go…2k to go…1k to go, I was nearing my max heart-rate and my calves were cramping pretty badly.  I drank what I had left and fortunately the road settled down to a manageable ~4% grade for the last 1k and I got out of the saddle to give it all I had for the final couple of minutes.

WAITING GAME

After crossing the line in just over 37 minutes (my goal was ~38:00), I was pretty exhausted, but felt very proud of the effort that I had just put in.  It was now time to  bomb our final descent and then spin the final few miles back to Palo Alto and await the results.  The primary reason I was so focused on winning this event was that the grand prize was a top-of-the-line Power Trainer from LeMond Fitness, which meant that the day’s Guest of Honor, 3x Tour deFrance winner and one of my all-time heroes, GREG LEMOND, would be presenting the award.  Greg LeMond’s epic performance in winning the 1989 Tour was the reason I bought my first road bike 22 years ago!  As I stood with my family awaiting the results, they announced that I had won and I could hardly contain my excitement…I did it!  I got to spend the rest of the afternoon chatting with Greg LeMond, getting autographs and pictures with my all-time cycling hero…just an incredible experience!  This was truly one of the most memorable days of my life!

Well, here we are in June already (although you would never know it by the 60 degree weather outside!).  The Master’s Track & Field World Championships are less than 40 days away…this is where things get exciting!  Training has been going pretty well, but not without the need for SEVERAL ice baths and massage sessions over the last month or so.  The workouts have gotten harder and harder over the last few weeks and I am constantly reminded that it is not necessarily ABILITY that is impacted with age, it’s RECOVERY that is!  Just keeping my eye on the prize and enjoying the journey.  Like I always tell my kiddos…”anything worth having in life will likely be difficult to attain”.

PA-Open Track & Field Championships

Just last weekend, I participated in the USATF Pacific Association Track & Field Championships down at the College of San Mateo.  This would be my first track meet in 4 years and would mean competing mostly against “kids” half my age!  A fun road trip with fellow Granite Oaks track Coach Charlie Brenneman, some beautiful weather, and an awesome venue in San Mateo made for a very enjoyable return to the track!  The results were short of spectacular with 56.4 for the 400 and 2:15 for the 800…both far from my July goals, but good starting points for the summer.  I made some correctable mistakes and learned some things for the races still to come.  I definitely felt the inexperience, with nervousness, tentative racing, and serious cramps on the drive home!!

I NEED to keep reminding myself that I was told multiple times that my running days were behind me and that my dreams of racing on the track, earning All-American status, or toeing the line at “Worlds” were unfortunately unattainable.  This probably has a lot to do with my training song selection of late–Florence & The Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over”–it says it all for me!

Enjoy the tune and I’ll be back soon with training/racing updates as “World’s” draw near…

Florence and the Machine “DOG DAYS ARE OVER” Music Video from LEGS MEDIA on Vimeo.

Well, it’s been 9 months to the day since my last post, so it’s more than time to get back on it!  Today also marks 88 DAYS until the Master’s Track & Field World Championships come to Sacto! (Master’s World Champs) This is the first time in 2 decades that the Master’s Track Championships have been held in North America!!  This is the absolute athletic highlight of my entire year…in fact, I haven’t been this excited about a competition since school!  I just officially registered for the 200m, 400m, 800m, and applied for the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.  The open 400 meters is my absolute focus, with a trip to the finals (top 8 overall) being my ultimate goal.  Qualifying for the 400m final would also mean that I would rank top-4 in the US for 400 runners aged 40+, which would earn me a coveted invite to join the Team USA 4×400 relay.  Now it’s time to get to work!!!

In preparation for the big 11-day meet this July 7-17, I am still spending 3 days a week on the bike, but have decided to take a break from bike racing in order to focus on the track.  Unfortunately, my early-season track training has been limited as I have been dealing with a really nagging injury for the last 6 weeks — iliopsoas tendonitis.  However, I think I have had a huge breakthrough in the last two weeks with some fantastic deep-tissue massage from a former Rocklin Running & Racing regular, Jeff Johnston!!  I really feel like he has helped me work through an injury that has been plaguing me for years–if anyone reading this ever needs quality massage/treatment DEFINITELY drop Jeff a line (jeffery@up4running.com).  He’s VERY affordable and he’ll come out to your place too!!

Finally, the other exciting activity that I have been involved in recently is my first experience in school-level coaching.  This Spring I am working at Granite Oaks Middle School as assistant track coach primarily working with sprinters and relays.  What a blast!  I’ll have more info on my next post about what “coaching” 100 12 and 13 year old sprinters has been like…

Cutting the heels off my favorite trainers...can't heel-strike if you don't have heels!

One month of barefoot/minimalist/Chi/etc running in the books!  And I’m just now starting to feel like a “Runner” again!  It has only been just over a month, but it has felt like a lot longer than that!  Plenty of highs and lows ALREADY!  Really it has been just a series of inevitable growing pains that should be completely expected when totally changing the way something has been done for most of my life.  That being said…I still get high as a kite and want to sign up for an epic race after a “good” run and think my world is crashing down around me after a painful or “bad” run.  So, I guess I should apologize to my wife, Becky, for such a roller-coaster month…I’m pretty sure things will smooth out emotionally once I get some more miles under my belt:).

After my first couple of weeks of mostly running truly barefoot (see my nasty toes in my earlier post), I realized while that was a great way to quickly correct my heel-striking tendencies that caused all of my problems, it was also a painful and potentially injury-riddled way to improve my form.  So after a little more homework, I found what I think will be a safer, less painful way to achieve the same end goal (hopefully!).  First, I’ll spend most of my miles in protective “barefoot-like” footwear that keeps me off my heels…so, I ordered a new pair of Vibram Bikila’s and I cut the big bulky problem causing heels off my favorite lightweight running shoes.  Second, I end every run with a barefoot 5-10 minutes to make sure my “new” form is still progressing.  The shoes feel great without the heels…It really makes a mid-foot strike feel so much more natural!  And doing most of my running in REAL shoes (albeit lightweight trainers with no heels or my new Vibram’s) has done wonders for my scarred, blistered feet (Becky seems to really appreciate that side-effect!).  Finally (and most importantly), transition to this new style of running SLOWLY and GRADUALLY…this is a huge transition and my body will take plenty of time to adapt.

With the above strategy, my running is progressing nicely with my first hour run in the books just this last weekend.  However, like I mentioned earlier, I have had some bumps in the road.  My achilles tendons and ankles have had the expected growing pains from my new foot strike.  Every twinge in my problematic knees terrifies me…A week long bout with knee tendonitis scared the heck out of me, but seems to have been another temporary problem.  So, I’m pretty comfortably getting in 4 runs a week (with barefoot strides after each) and am being extra careful about soreness and pain.  This EARLY success has me already peeking at a few local trail events on the race calendar for later this year:).  I haven’t sent in my race reg just yet, but we’ll see!

See you on the trails…

MY HERO…
What are the reasons for wanting to run in minimalist shoes? Almost all shoes (even many racing flats) have an unnecessary amount of rise from the forefoot to the rearfoot. By training in a shoe with this sort of heel lift, the Achilles tendon is constantly shortened and underworked with each step. The raised heel also limits the range of motion in the ankle upon footstrike and promotes a heelstrike instead of a more midfoot or forefoot initial footplant. One’s footplant while running barefoot is much different than while running with shoes. If one were to run barefoot across a stretch of asphalt, I guarantee that he or she wouldn’t run with a heelstrike for very long! Thus, a big motivating factor—for me—in wearing minimalist shoes is to force my body to adopt a running gait (shorter, quicker strides that land closer to the body’s center of mass) that will allow my feet to take advantage of the most natural cushioning mechanism that was built into our anatomy—the resilience of the Achilles tendon, calf muscles, and ankle joint. Running with a fore-to-midfoot strike in minimalist shoes almost completely disallows overstriding; increases one’s agility on uneven terrain (a definite plus in trail running); strengthens all of the often overlooked supportive muscles, tendons and ligaments of the feet and lower legs; and, in the end, hopefully cultivates a more propulsive, strong, less injury-prone stride. Decent slow-motion shots of the kind of footplant and running style I’m talking about can be seen in this video clip. If one looks closely, he or she can see that the initial contact with the ground is with my outer forefoot; I then roll in, touch down with my heel, and push off (I’m not just running exclusively “on my toes”).

Additionally, I am a big proponent of simplifying my life (and thus, my running), and believe that the human body was meant to run, and that simple biological evolution couldn’t have been so wrong, so why not let the foot and lower leg do what it was designed to do (I’ve read many peer-reviewed articles that have concluded that the human body evolved to run) and not inhibit it with some big clunky shoe? Of course, basically from birth, the majority of the human population is corrupted by being placed in very “supportive” almost cast-like shoes and our feet and lower legs become very weak. I myself used to run in so-called stability shoes with hard plastic, custom orthotics, but over the past three years I’ve tried–and succeeded in–leaving those albatrosses behind. Because so many folks have grown up wearing shoes and the medical industry constantly pushes more and more restrictive orthotics and shoes that simply weaken the foot further, most people can’t imagine running hundreds and thousands of miles over rocky trails in such flimsy flats as I do. It’s something that needs to be worked up to gradually, but I believe that as long as the running surface is natural (no concrete, asphalt, etc.) the human foot is well-designed to handle any running stress we’re willing to impart on it (provided you give it enough adaptive time).

Over my recent vacation I read the highly recommended book, BORN TO RUN.  The book was mainly about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico and their incredible ability to run endless distances over brutal terrain.  However, the section of the book that really struck home and had me rereading every page was the chapter that discussed the rapidly growing trend of BAREFOOT RUNNING.  The merits of barefoot running are beyond things like “feeling” the earth and going back to our “roots”.   The benefit that hit home with me was the resulting change in running form that going barefoot brings…staying off your heels and running only on the balls of your feet and the measurable reduction in the related impact.  It made perfect sense…stay off your heels, run “lighter” with less impact and the rest of your body (especially your knees) will benefit.  In fact, the book references numerous runners afflicted with osteoarthritis in their knees (like me) who were able to successfully continue running (even Ultra-Marathons) because of the transformation related to running barefoot.  After finishing this chapter, I immediately threw down the book, put on ONLY a pair of shorts and ran straight for the park.  Even though I hadn’t run in a year since my orthopedic surgeon said my running days were over, I now had renewed hope and had to give it a go IMMEDIATELY!

While circling the park on the grass for just over 20 minutes, I could immediately feel the difference.  Without the big cushy running shoe underfoot just asking me to slam my heels into the ground, I naturally ran on the balls of my feet and struck the ground a lot lighter.  One of the challenges the book warned of was the inherent weakness of feet that have been stuck in highly cushioned, restrictive shoes for years.  Sure enough, my arches, achilles tendons, and calves were quickly fatigued and could barely get me home…not to mention the blood blisters that almost immediately covered the bottom of each big toe – OUCH!  I figured these problems would be a small price to pay in the short-term if this transformation would allow to me to resume the one athletic activity that I have always LOVED!  A year ago I transitioned to bike racing after my surgeon warned me of the real possibility of having debilitating knee problems as early as my 50′s if I continued running.  I have enjoyed cycling (sometimes a lot), but never LOVED it like I did running for over 20 years. I plan to keep riding, but can’t deny that I daydream about spending hours running on “my” old trails someday soon.

I’m 2 weeks into my return to running and other than some painful blisters, things are progressing nicely.  My fingers (& toes) are crossed for now…I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

-BAREFOOT DON

On Sunday May 23 I took part in an incredible event in the Napa Valley.  I participated in the inaugural Echelon Gran Fondo benefiting LIVESTRONG and the Cancer Treatment Center at the St. Helena Hospital.  I was able to raise in excess of $7000 and proudly finished as the second highest fundraiser for an event that drew 1000 riders from all over the World!  The event was a blast with perfect weather and a course that wound 100 miles through the Napa Valley, around Lake Berryessa, and back to Downtown Napa.  The support was incredible and my competitive streak was even served with a chip-timed hill-climb section in the middle of the course.  To make the event even more special, I was able to bring my family down to Napa for the weekend and the event hosts took wonderful care of Becky and the kiddos!  Needless to say, I definitely look to make this awesome ride for such a fantastic cause a fixture on my calendar.

As many of you know, a few weeks ago I lost a very special friend and mentor in a tragic car accident. Rip Rouse was an incredible person…a great husband and father and a true friend and mentor to those looking for guidance.  The comments at Ripper’s “Celebration of Life” from those young and old were nothing short of amazing.  The impact he had on so many, was incredible.

Ripper confided in me several times that he wanted to find a way to make a living mentoring and guiding others that needed some direction.  Little did he realize, he had already succeeded at doing just that — in large scale too!  The thing I have to constantly remind myself is that Ripper evolved into that type of selfless person and that evolution didn’t come about without a lot of hard work and dedication — a true commitment to be a better person.  With that in mind, I closed my comments at Rip’s memorial with a promise to not let his impact fade.  My wife, Becky, and I each made a commitment to change something about ourselves to become better spouses, parents, and friends in his honor.

To be continued…

TT: 1st (2-way tie)
Circuit Race: 1st (15 secs in bonuses)
Road Race: 3rd (4 sec time bonus)
GC (Overall): 2nd (lost by 7 secs!)

DAY One…

The first edition of the TOPSPORT Stage Race, located in Copperopolis, (funky little town near Angels Camp) was my focus (“A”) race for the early part of the season and I really felt good in the final few days leading up to the race.  I was intending to have this as my first CAT4 race, but my upgrade was denied (for some bogus reasons) early in the week, so this would be my final CAT5 weekend:)! Wanted to go out with a bang!!  Even though I wanted to challenge myself against the 4′s, the 5 race would definitely be tough with 5 of the top 7 finishers from Madera.

TIME-TRIAL: As I was driving down HWY 4 with nothing around me for miles and wondering where this place could be, I came over a hill to see this bizarre little “town” of Copperopolis that looked more like a movie set than a real town…kind of eerie actually!  Still not sure how all of those businesses survive off a local population of 2,000 and an annual Frog Jumping Contest?!?  The other thing I noticed was how COLD it was…38 degrees – not quite ideal for a lung-busting time-trial:).   I watched the website video of the TT course, but was NOT ready for the hills or the extra distance (10.95mi instead of the 10mi norm)…OUCH that effort hurt! (I know, I say that after every TT!)  That was a tough course and the early start time and COLD temps def did not help…oh well, everyone had to deal with the same elements.  Now it was time to go hurry up and recover for 90 mins before the start of the CIRCUIT RACE:)!

CIRCUIT RACE: Had a blast! Great fast course and beautiful weather…5 6-mile laps with a cool section that rolled “crit-style” through the town square.  To keep things interesting, laps 2-3-4 would provide a 5sec time bonus to the sprint winner.  As we rolled out of the Town Square a Team Rancho rider slowly rode off the front and ended up getting ~1 minute away.  It was clear he wouldn’t be able to stay away, but he did get the first 5sec prime. I got into position for the 2nd bonus…I was on the perfect wheel and made my jump with 100 to go and BAM my chain shot off my front ring (repeat problem!).  Fortunately, I was able to reach down and pull my chain back on and catch back up as we rolled through the Town Square.  One bonus to go…I WANTED that one. Stayed front 5 through the next lap and got into perfect position (again) and with 100 to go jumped and no problems:)…got the prime by a good bike length – those feel sooooo good!  That led us to the last lap…I told myself to just do the same thing as the last 2 laps (with no chain prob!).  I couldn’t believe none of the teams in the race tried much of anything, so I just stayed up front and found myself in great position again…jumped with 100 to go and felt really good – looked left and right and had enough of a gap to throw the arms up as I crossed for MY FIRST WIN!!!! Now that felt great!

Day 1 results were in…I was in the OVERALL LEAD by 10secs over 2nd, 40secs over 3rd and 1min+ over 4th!

DAY Two…

I decided to drive home on Sat night instead of staying in a hotel…great call! Played with the kids, had dinner with the family, slept in my own bed and morning java with my wife before heading back down Hwy 99 for my 11:40 start time in the final stage – a 69mile road race.  Having the lead meant I had to protect that slim lead for nearly 70 miles!  The 3-loop race would be tough with warm temps, plenty of rollers, and a ROUGH ~6mile section from the infamous Copperopolis Road Race course.  I had places 2 through 5 marked and was ready to cover any attempt to get away…several attempts were made, but I quickly jumped on every wheel that tried to get off the front.  People were giving me crap, but what else did they think I was going to do?!?  About half way though the race, after covering a dozen or so attempts, the fourth place guy got off the front with a real “squirrely” guy who wrecked the day before. I told myself there was no way the 4th place guy could get away with that guy!  NEVER underestimate an opponent…turns out the “squirrely” guy was in his first bike race after racing Ironman triathlons for years!!! The one thing he was good at – long sustained efforts – I NEVER saw those two again!! One bad decision is all it takes:).   Nobody would work with me to bridge the growing gap and when the moto went by and said 2+ minutes  for the gap with 20 miles to go, I yelled at the group that they were all getting jumped in the GC by this guy! (I used a few other colorful words too)   I got the 2nd place guy to go with me and found out why no one else was going earlier…as soon as we started to pick up the pace – BAM! – everyone else fell off the back!  It was now the two of us and the two of them and I had to get the lead down below 1 minute or I’d lose the overall.  As we finished the rough section, I estimated the deficit to be ~1:20 with 10miles to go…getting there! The guy I was with was really struggling and I started to think about when I would need to go solo. ..with ~5 miles to go he said his front tire was losing air…time for me to go!  I pushed as hard as I could and figured I needed to make up ~30 secs in the last 5 miles to be safe…I could do that.  Unfortunately, I totally lost track of where I was and the course was short! – with 65 miles showing on my computer I rolled over a hill and saw the finish tent ~1mile away…oh no!  I hammered to the line and immediately asked for the gap…”59 secs” I was told. With the time bonuses involved I know it would be close.  The 4th place guy who got away was across the road sitting on the ground looking totally spent.  I rolled over to him and congratulated him on a great break.  He thought he was 1:03 behind…with his 59 sec win and time bonuses he would win by 7 secs…HE WAS RIGHT!

The scenario of not covering that one break has played through my head a hundred times already…that’s bike racing!  You learn something new every race…unfortunately every race is different:)!  I’ll just need to revel in my success on Sat and learn from my mistake on Sunday and FINALLY move up to join my teammates in the 4′s!  Can’t wait!!!

Tue Night marked my first trip out to the local Tuesday Night TT Series.  This is an annual March-Sept series that regularly brings out some of the local BIG GUNS!  Last year saw Paul Mach of Team Bissell throw down an AMAZING 19:53 (Avg 30.2mph) on an out-and-back course with a few quick rhythm breaking overpasses and a halfway point turnaround.  The canal is perfect for TT training with no traffic and a good surface…but wind is usually an issue, one direction or the other!

I was able to get out of work in plenty of time to head over to Rancho Cordova and take my time getting warmed-up and ready to see how much my TT had improved since my last time out here in January (24:08).  It was hard to assess my Madera TT, since it was brutally windy, slightly long at 10.44mi, and came just a couple of hours after the Criterium.

With the Top Sport Stage Race this weekend that kicks off with a 10mi TT on Sat, I really wanted to get in a good effort at the Canal to build some confidence heading into what is my early-season “A-RACE”!  As I rode to the course to get a warm-up run-through I noticed immediately (Just as I described earlier) the wind was there!  We would start off with a decent little headwind all the way out.   After a good warm-up run through the 10 mile course I signed in as #21 and waited in line.  I saw a couple of familiar CAT 1/2 faces that I recognized from previous races and knew there would be some smokin’ times out there!  Looked like ~25 riders showed up for the second TT in the series…pretty good turnout!

As I rolled off the line my plan was to ramp up the effort each of the first three miles and then really “peg it” the last couple of miles before the turnaround and the resulting tailwind.  I decided not to ride with a Heart-Rate monitor because I really wanted to just go by feel today and see what I had, so I had to be careful not to go too hard into the headwind.  I caught the 30 second and one minute riders that started ahead of me and had ramped up according to plan (23.3mph/23.3/23.8/24/24.5)…TURNAROUND.  As I made the u-turn to head home I immediately saw the Pro 1/2 guy that started behind me! (Keith Hillier from Davis – Top 20 Pro finish at Madera).  I really hit that 6th mile hard, but heard the always unwelcomed “on your left” as I went through the 6th mile.  That pass actually worked out well as I used him to motivate me and was able to keep him within 30-40 yards for the final 4 miles.   I passed another two riders and was getting blurry but feeling good (except for the nose of my saddle which DEFINITELY needs to get dropped a bit – OUCH!).  As I rolled over the last overpass with 1 mile to go I hit it hard and averaged 30.2 for that final mile!!!  I blurted out my #21 as I crossed the line and peeked at my computer…23:34 (25.5avg) — 34 secs better than Jan!  Man that hurt!, but I was VERY happy with that effort and definitely ready to let ‘er rip on Sat!  I REALLY want that first win:)…

http://folsombike.com/about/south-canal-tt-results-pg174.htm