I can’t stand to hear my own voice on an answering machine and I generally hate reading things that I wrote but since my running blog is all about my trials and tribulations, I thought it would be go back and read about my serious tribulations at the Malibu Creek 22k race. After reading my post Malibu Creek race blogs, I get that this race has not been to kind to me but I returned today to blog about my race performance at the race this past Saturday on a positive note for a change. Since 2011, it has been no secret that this race has just kicked my ass. There really are no positives at all but this year, I had to stop and think of what was wrong with my running and where was I struggling and I realized that in 2010 and 2011, I was averaging about 14 running events per year. I was in such a great groove, running probably at least a race each month and sometimes two weekends in a row but that production fell in 2012 and 2013 and my overall -running fitness fell and my running times suffered tremendously. I was second guessing myself in every race and lacked the confidence I once had. It is no secret that running is about volume and my volume shrank. I was running maybe 1 day a week and occasionally on the weekends and trust me that just does not work. So this year, I went back the drawing board and challenged myself to get back to running a high volume of races and doing more training days and this past Saturday, I was able to finally finish the Malibu Creek 22k with a smile on my face but it still remains my ultimate challenge so far.
In the last month, I have run about four 5k’s. 3 5k’s in consecutive weekends. People will say 5k is nothing and they are right but in order to excel at higher distances, you need to do speed work and hill work. It is a fact. This is what allowed me to have a lot of success in 2010 and 2011 and I went away from that. It certainly was not easy just jumping back into running 5k’s for time. You just don’t show up and start running a 7 minute mile and in fact I realized I could barely run a 8 minute mile for 3 miles but with work, it was slowly coming back. In a 5k, you have to learn to pace yourself and keep it together for a sustained period of time. Go out too fast in the race and you could be sucking wind for 2 miles but the goal is to know when and where to push it. These things all transfer to running the higher distances. I was not sure how well prepared I would be for Malibu because even though I was building back my speed and endurance, I just had not spent enough time on the trails so what I was banking on was that I had been running a high volume. I had a lot of nerves about the race because 14 miles on a trail no matter where you are is no small feat and at Malibu once you are up at a certain point, you are simply at the mercy of no man’s land.
When the race started, I just stuck with my own pace and three quarters of a mile the first hill arrives and the sun was blasting already and I could tell what type race it would be but I stuck to my plan and took that first hill at a conservative pace and kept it pretty casual. When we hit mile 3, I was feeling a little sluggish but that is all due to not sleeping well the entire week due to heat and mile 3 to 4 starts the Bulldog part of the trail that can send people home in a body bag. The crowd of runners were starting to slow considerably and people who looked like they would be ripping it up were reduced to slow turtle like walkers. I was dripping sweat and felt hot as hell but continued to drink my fluids and pressed and pressed and once we got to the top of Bulldog, I had memories of last year when I started cramping and thinking how am I going to go 8 more miles like this but not this year. I took the downhill to mile 7 feeling calm and relaxed. When we went back up, I was expecting to feel tired but I was feeling inspired and strong and when I hit mile 8 and realized that I was still strong and passing runners left and right, I knew this was a different year.
I embraced trail, I enjoyed the scenery and I allowed myself to enjoy the moment. At mile 10 when the race goes downhill for about 2 miles, I took off like a rocket passing another 15 runners. At one point, I was running with no one in sight and when I took that exit out of the park where you run part of the road with oncoming cars, I felt like this is the race I had hoped for but I knew the uphill at mile 13 was coming. It was here that I was just spent but still in a good place mentally and I gave it what I had and when I crossed that finish line, I thought shit, I didn’t cramp or anything. I had a goal of running 2:30 or 2:40 but finished 2:57 but it really wasn’t about the time. This race was about re-establishing that feeling of knowing that I can power through anything and more importantly I had fun. As I sit here today, a little bruised and tired, I feel like I am about to go on a running tear and I am so energized to get back to doing what I love and that is competing and enjoying life to the fullest!!
Only way to conquer a mountain is to go over the top of it!!
