Archive for the 'The Bowlegged Runner' category

Wall? What wall?

Apr 06 2008 Published by Ben Chong under The Bowlegged Runner

I ran 23 miles today. It was supposed to be 22 miles, but I got ambitious.

At the end of it, I was aching all over with aches in the legs, back and stomach. I had run continuously for 4 hours with stops only at traffic lights. But other than the aches, I was fine. Gu and the 2-liters of electrolyte water that I was lugging around probably helped.

When you run on public roads, you are always a moron away from getting killed or maimed. Today was no different as a guy in a Toyota Camry sped along Piedmont Road, almost missed his exit and turned into a side street in a hurry. Just as I was crossing it. The sad part about these people is that someone else invariably pays for their stupidity, whether with a life or higher insurance costs.

This 23-miler is the end of the Big Sur Marathon build-up. Next week, I’ll taper down to maybe 16 miles and probably 8-10 miles after that. And then, it’ll be the EVENT itself. Yay!

I am already looking beyond Big Sur with plans for running Silicon Valley Marathon (all 26.2 miles) and the California International Marathon . So I’ll probably do at least one 22-miler every month just to keep in shape.

Comments are off for this post

Intervals with the Palo Alto Run Club

Mar 26 2008 Published by Ben Chong under The Bowlegged Runner

Yesterday, I joined my running club, the PARC, for intervals training.

The runs are every Tuesday at  Angell Field track at Stanford University.

This was the second time I joined in the Tuesday runs. Normally, Stanford U is a little far from home and where I work (both in San Jose). But this Tuesday was a special event. We were celebrating the time change (to daylight savings) and the availability of “more sunlight”, and so there was a raffle of interesting items from various sponsors etc. I won myself a little running cap from Zombie Runner.

Readers of this blog will know that I have been trying to get faster. This, for me, means an 8 min/mile pace for a 1/2 marathon sometime this year. The long term goal is to qualify for Boston, which means the same pace for 26.2 miles. Oh yeah, I am insane, all right…

So I have been doing some interval training. Generally, I have been doing laps of 400 meters at less than 2 min/lap followed by a recovery lap. Last week, I started running 800m intervals with Phil (a colleague). The target pace then was something like 1.50 min/lap. One lap is 400m or one round of the track.

Now, with the PARC folks, 1.50 min/lap is REALLY slow.

Picture this: I was doing intervals with the group of “slow” runners. I did the 800m runs at something like 1.35-1.40 min/lap pace and I was DEAD LAST in the group. Everyone else was at least 20 yards ahead.

Man!

Not only was I running faster (than with Phil), I was also running more. My own training is for 2×800. These guys were doing 5×800.

I am now quite motivated to drive to Stanford every Tuesday. Yes, I just love the pain. And the speed, of course.

Comments are off for this post

Pushing the limits at 20 miles

Mar 23 2008 Published by Ben Chong under The Bowlegged Runner

I finally got around to doing a 20-mile run today. I got up late (after 7am), didn’t start running until about 9.15am and did a solid 3 1/2 hours of running.

It was hot in San Jose today, so I was a fair bit slower than my last 18-mile run; running mostly at a pace of 10 min/mile or more.

Like the 18-mile run, I did try to push hard on the last two miles to do a strong “finish”, running at better than 9:20 min/mile. But that was really pushing my limits.

After the run, I was completely out of it and ached all over.

Boston is looking further and further away…

The good thing is that my ITB didn’t bother me before or after the run. So it looks like I have just one more session with the physiotherapist and that will be it. Yay! I am healed!

Next week, I will do a 16-mile run, followed by a 22-miler the week after. Now, that will be a killer.

Comments are off for this post

Emerald Across the Bay 12K

Mar 16 2008 Published by Ben Chong under The Bowlegged Runner

I just ran this today.

It was a last minute thing. I was a little bored on Tuesday, looked at the training calendar and thought that a fast 12K run might be better than a 20-miler, especially since I had just done an 18-miler last Sunday.

So there I was, at some awful hour on Sunday morning, driving up to San Francisco with Mark. I initially thought that leaving before 6am was too early. But we were lucky to arrive at the time we did. We parked at Ghirardelli Square and when we arrived (just before 7am), it was already almost full. The “nice” thing is that they take your car keys and leave you a receipt (so no need to run with keys). The flip side is that it cost $10 to park. Oh well…

Since I had signed up at the last minute, I had to pick up the bib which was fast and easy. Then there was a long queue for the buses that would take us to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge where the start point was (East Fort Baker).

It was pretty cold, although not as cold nor wet like the Kaiser Permanante 1/2 Marathon.

We basically wore our outer clothing until the absolute last minute, before putting them in the sweats check bins.

To their credit, RhodyCo had the event pretty well organized, with bins all marked out with  bib numbers, plastic bags and lots of permanent markers.

5000 people had signed up for the event. So runners were split up into 3 waves. Presumably the first wave had “faster” runners. Even then, runners did not always followed the pace start lines and there was a little bit of a traffic jam at the beginning.

However, at about 1/2 a mile or so after the start, we hit the first hill. And it was a little bit of a killer. At least for this old dude. It seemed like it was never ending and brought us up to the Golden Gate Bridge. I started off going a little fast up the hill and by the time I reached the bridge, I was quite pooped. So it was quite disheartening to see people I had passed on the hill pass me on the bridge…

The weather was great and the view was magnifique. So the pain was at least bearable.

The path near Fort Point was interesting because it was high tide and waves were washing over the running path. So before race started, they warned us that we might get wet, but that it was not dangerous. I did see a photographer get splash by a large wave. It was quite amusing, perhaps not so for the camera (it was an expensive looking SLR).

I found my running legs only at around the 6th mile or so. From that point onwards, things got a little better. I started overtaking people. Having learned my lesson, I slowed down when I hit the uphill going up Fort Mason. Then half-way up, I opened up, coasted over the top, zoomed down to the on the other side and really gave it all in the last couple of hundred yards. In many ways, it helped to be familiar with the area and where the end point was.

Result? I finished in under 60 minutes, which translates to a sub-8-minute/mile pace. So I met my goal. Yay! Now, if I can do that for a 1/2 marathon…

Mark did pretty well too: 52 minutes or a 7 min/mile pace.

Post-race festivities was the usual: live band (pretty good music), bottle water, nuts (it’s sponsored by Emerald after all) and various promotional tents (Subaru, GEICO etc).

Would I do the race again next year?

Defintely!

UPDATE:  The official results are out (look for Benedict Chong). I got in at 59:48 race time which translated to 8:01 min/mile. Since I passed the start at 15 seconds after the official clock, I could argue that I really did 8:00 min/mile or better. But that’s just splitting hairs. I aimed for <60 minutes and I got it. That’s why I like running: the ability to achieve my goals.

Comments are off for this post

« Newer posts Older posts »