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View albumBalance - Focus - Results
August 26
- Walking
- 40m
August 25
Race Report for Hood to Coast
It's in the race report section, but this is easier to read:
From Timberline Lodge all the way to Seaside Oregon. I don't really know where to start in describing this event. It's HUGE. I was amazed by how many people there were EVERYWHERE and so many vans, but also how smoothly everything ran. There were 1,000 teams, with two vans of 6 people, w/12 runners per team. I was in Van #1 and we ran 6 legs, then handed the baton to Van #2 and went to go shower/rest/eat while they ran their 6 legs. Repeat twice.My first leg (#4) was 7 miles of slightly downhill. My favorite! I love a mild downhill and this was perfect. I got a PB for this run - 8:06 miles all the way. WOW!! AND I got 12 “roadkills”. (passed 12 people). I was running with traffic on this leg, and the road camber did not agree. My left leg got tired fast, and when I was done, my left lower calf/ankle area was SORE!!!! Sitting in the van did not improve this. Ibuprofen is a good thing.
I handed off to Dennis who ran the infamous Leg #5 (which by definition includes 17 and 29). Experienced runners know ALL the legs, can tell you when they ran them last, what the weather was the first two times, etc. etc. etc. It was hilarious. Everywhere we went people would ask what leg we were running. (I think it’s the secret HtC greeting.) "Hi, nice to meet you, what leg are you doing?" We would then have a nice chat until they asked Dennis. Then it was, "Oh. I'm sorry." And it would get all quiet. Then we'd change the subject. I'm sure he was beginning to freak out. LOL!! In his defense, Leg 5 is a tough climb (rated very hard), and leg 29 is pure torture - 3.5 miles of a really steep uphill followed by 1.5 miles of steep downhill – also rated very hard.I thought that there would be a lot of down time, but there really wasn't. We would start the next runner, go park down the road and cheer and/or give them water, and then if it was a long leg, do it again. If it was a short one, then we’d go tot the next exchange, get in a big line to park, park, sit for maybe 10-15 minutes or stand in the porta-potty line, and go exchange runners again.
My second leg (#16) was at 3am along the highway just outside Portland. I had a headlamp so didn’t have to carry a flashlight. This run was only about 3.5 miles but I still passed 5 people. I got passed once. One of the elite team runners passed me like I was moving backwards. I only run like that in a dead sprint for 50 yards. LOL. I did manage a 8:10 pace for this leg and I’m totally excited by this.
After the last leg for our van, we went to Scapoose High School and for $2 we showered in their gym locker rooms – brings back memories!! and got a pancake, egg and sausage breakfast. It was okay. I’m not used to eating that early and the whole sleep/eat system was all messed up. We were all kinda cranky too. The other chick in my van got a shower that didn’t get warm, so she wasn’t real happy.
My third leg (#28) was at the base of the coast range. It was 4.1 miles of gradual uphill, rated easy. I don’t like uphills, but it wasn’t that bad. I was slower this time, 8:34 miles – pretty fast for me, and 8 roadkills. Woo hoo!!
I handed off to Dennis, and got in the van. We decided that even though he didn’t want a water stop, we would still stop and cheer. That was good – he ditched his cap the first time. And he liked the cheering. At the end, he said those 5.7 miles were harder than any run he’d ever done, even the half mary with the hills we did in April. Plus I think he got passed a lot. Most teams put their strongest runner on this leg, and he got passed by these two guys that were chatting on the way up doing sub-7s. They’re talking about the leg, saying, “Oh I always do #5, none of the others are any challenge…” just what you want to hear as you diesel up a vertical road.
The last runner on this segment asked for water at the top of the hill. One of our guys who always got the water, got some and went to the front of the van. I was standing at the back talking to Dennis about his run, and cheered for our guy. He says, “Where’s my water???” Water guy was in the van!!! Crap! So I kick off my sandals and sprint after our runner with a bottle of water, and then discover that running barefoot on crappy pavement is NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! Duh. I am stooopid. My heels are KILLING me today. I think I bruised them. He did get his water though and I got a ton of cheering from the vans lined up along the road. All good. :-)
After he was done, we drove to Seaside to meet Van #2 at the finish line. I lay down ‘for a minute” not expecting to sleep, and woke up to the Welcome to Seaside sign. So it was a quick trip for me.
The party afterwards was GREAT. We ran through the finish line with all the team. They had a beer garden and big soundstage area. We didn’t stay as our ride was going back, but chicken and mediocre yakisoba noodles never tasted so good.
I can’t WAIT to do it again next year. NightOwl?
- Health data: Soreness: 3
August 24
- 2h 02m 28s
- 14.85 miles
- -----
Hood to Coast actual run time.
7.15 miles @ 8:06 pace
3.52 miles @ 8:10 pace
4.18 miles @ 8:34 pace
August 23
- 1h 45m
- 33.49 miles
- 18.86 Mi/hr
- Yard Work
- 1h 00m
Cleaned up the dog yard, mowed the back, pulled some weeds in the back, pulled a bunch in the front, clipped back the roses and dug up some roots from under a couple patio stones. Whew!
Today is a rest day since I'm running the Hood to Coast tomorrow and my first leg is 7 miles. So we just went on a little easy... HAMMERFEST!!!!!
As always, the Thursday Night Wheelmen ride was a blast. We did intend to dial it back a bit - today being a rest day and all. We decided no sprints and no pulling. I discovered that there is a place called "the back of the pack". What?!?! Sounding it out slowly... bbb back of the ppp pack.... Who knew?
We took off from the park at a reasonable speed, which made me think (wrongly) that it would be a slower day. There were two other chicks tonight, but one was on a tandem with a guy. Does that count as one bike or two people? Anyway, we got to Rocky Butte and motored on up. I managed to pass two people, and got a PB up the hill! Woohoo!! 7:15 - only 9 seconds behind hubby today. I do have to say that he was tired though. Still, 7:15 and I was not full-out trying. Excellent!
The group got split at the light where we turn onto Sandy. The first group got easily a minute on us there, then more seconds at the next light where we turn onto Prescott, then more again at 102nd. We just could not catch a green to save ourselves. Hubby and I ended up in a group of 5 on the hill from Prescott to Fremont (I hate this hill.) Once onto Fremont, the lead guy pulled us at 30 like he was trying to catch the other group. ??? What on earth for? With at least 90 seconds on us, we couldn't even SEE them anymore. But off we went. Once past 122nd, I pulled us at about 30 for a bit to give the guy a rest, then he took over, bumped it up to 33 and for once I was able to signal him to go by, keep my speed up and then catch the last wheel. Yay!! I think that was a first! Seems like it would not be hard, but it is and I often get dropped when I try to do it.
After the postoffice regroup area, we chose again to be at the back going out Airport Way. Which was great. Do you know how many butts you get to look at when you're at the back??? Noice! :) Also, white sweaty bike shorts are slightly less than fully opaque. Don't tell the guys though. So I jumped on white shorts guy's wheel (heh heh heh) and conveniently he was fast enough to go around all the slow people and catch the front group. Excellent! Sadly, I was getting a bit tired and since today IS a rest day, hubby and I decided that 27-28 was too fast and we would back it off. So we did, and were not part of the sprint at the end. Oh well.
The group got separated again at a light coming back Airport Way, but white-shorts-guy caught us up again (and yes, I WAS on his wheel again.) This time I ended up being 3rd as we turned onto Cornfoot Rd. There was me, british guy (less annoying this week) and another guy. We took turns pulling: brit, me, 3rd guy. Then 3rd guy sped up a bit. I was on his wheel, and since I thought there were other people behind me, I kept his wheel. (That's my job when I'm in the paceline - keep the wheel of the guy ahead no matter what so that they don't glare at me because they have to come around me to catch up to the guy ahead of me.) Anyway, 3rd guy keeps speeding up, I stay on, then look behind me. No one. We dropped them all, even british guy. Now I'm starting to fade a little. Then, he stands up and starts pulling away. Dammit. I remember that I have 7 miles to run tomorrow, and decide to drop off. I SOOOOO should have sprinted out that last bit. I could've done it. Next time.
I waited for the rest of the pack (hubby was back there) and turned up the hill toward the park. One of the other guys comes up and rides with me and says, "That headwind wasn't bothering you at all. What team do you ride for?" And he was serious! How cool is that? He was amazed when I said I didn't ride for a team.
For fun, I took off from the light at Columbia. We always have to wait for the light there. It's really long - but that makes it a good rest. Just after we cross Columbia, there's a curvy fairly steep hill before we get to our turnoff. For some reason, I can really go fast up that one. At least for about 2/3 of the way. So I take off, ahead of everyone by just a little, and power up the hill at about 17, making sure I'm sitting down for it the whole way. I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard. At about 2/3, I'm down to about 13 and they start to pass me. LOL! I really made them work to do it. Brit, 3rd guy, white shorts, and two others, all standing up pedalling hard so they won't be chicked at the top. Hee hee hee. That's FUNNY!! Am I awful or what? :) I know they were trying hard because our ride leader told me. :) Ha ha, you shoulda seen those guys chase you...
We got to the park last - we stopped so hubby could fix his bottle cage that was trying to come off. On the way home we decided to go have burgers. So for dinner, we went to Milo's and put 2 cokes, a salad, a half pound burger and some roasted potatoes through the glycogen window. YUM!!! And a brownie and coffee when we got home. I need to get some extra water so I'll be good and hydrated for tomorrow.
Wish me luck for the relay! Dennis' foot is better, so now I don't feel like I should offer to swap leg assignments. I would have - that plantar fasciitis sounds awful - but his legs are really hard, and mine are all three really easy. I'm kinda selfish, but I swear I would have traded though. ;) Full report Sunday when I get back!
August 22
- 20m
- 2.22 miles
- -----
Ran a couple miles to keep limber for Friday. It was for sure a little over 2 miles, but we didn't check the time, just ran slow. We'll call it 20 minutes.
August 21
- 40m
EXERCISE
SetsMin
repsMax
repsMin
wt.(lb)Max
wt.(lb)- BICEPS - DB Curls212121010
- CORE - Pushups (FB)2121200
- LEGS - 2 Leg Squats312122530
- LEGS - Hamstring curl112126060
- LEGS - Lunges1202000
- LEGS - Quad Extensions112124545
- TRICEPS - Rope pulldown112122020
Weeny weight workout. Dennis would not be proud. But we went and did it. Oh, add a set of those Men's Health Rows - only 10 pounds and I had arm shake. Pathetic.
- Dog Training
- 10m
Roller and hamstring stretches. I'm a bit tight after yesterday's run.
Kona got to have little teeny bits of hotdog for being a good sitter. She's catching on to this "sit" thing pretty well. "Down" is a different story. She's not *that* interested in the hotdog. The big dog thinks this is great. She gets hotdogs for showing the little one how to do it. The little one then wants a treat but is still working out how to get it. Competitiveness works with dogs too.
- Stretching
- 15m
Roller and hamstring stretches. I'm a bit tight after yesterday's run.
Kona got to have little teeny bits of hotdog for being a good sitter. She's catching on to this "sit" thing pretty well. "Down" is a different story. She's not *that* interested in the hotdog. The big dog thinks this is great. She gets hotdogs for showing the little one how to do it. The little one then wants a treat but is still working out how to get it. Competitiveness works with dogs too.
August 20
- 42m 18s
- 5.08 miles
- 08m 19s /Mi
Slightly modified Alameda loop. I think this is some sort of slight taper week for HTC, but we had such a good pace going, that we kicked it. No HR info, the thing needs batteries again, but I felt good, at least until the last 3/4 mile. Hubby pushed it HARD! And finished 20 seconds ahead of me.
Hood to Coast relay starts in 4 days!! I'm very excited. I have easy leg assignments, and there's a BIG party at the end. Our team starts at 3:45pm on Friday, and runs sections of the route for the next 28 hours around the clock.
Since I have easy sections, I'm still riding the Thursday night Wheelmen ride. And then running 7 miles 23 hours later. And then 3 miles and then 4 miles over the next 19 hours. We'll see what my legs can handle. That last 4 miles might be kinda slow.
Hood to Coast is a running relay that goes 197 miles from Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood
all the way to the beach at Seaside, Oregon:
The big party will be on the beach just off the right side of the picture.
Here's a bird's eye view of our route.
I am in Van #1, so we run our 6 sections starting at 3:45pm, then go rest while Van #2 does theirs. We start again at about midnight and my section will be at around 4am. Dark! Fortunately it will be all nice and flat. I checked and it will be 3 days from a full moon, so since it's supposed to be mostly clear skies, maybe it won't be quite so dark after all. Then a shower, some breakfast, shut eye and do it all again starting at 10am. We should get into Seaside by around 6:45pm. Exhausted no doubt.
To give you an idea of the size of the event, there are 1,000 12 person running teams, and 400 8-person walking teams with 3 volunteers for each team. Also there is a high school team section, so there are approximately 20,000 people in addition to the organizers, booth vendors, massage people, everyone's friends who meet them in Seaside, etc. It's been going for 26 years now. 33 teams are from foreign countries.
I am collecting pledges for the American Cancer Society if anyone would like to PM me and donate. Any amount will be greatly appreciated.
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