I’ve wanted to run this race since I’ve been an undergraduate at UCSD. But the race was always on a Friday and I either had class or work during that time. I remember walking through campus during the race one year and just watching other runners go by, which made me want to run it even more. This was the first year they moved it to a Saturday, so I finally got the chance to run this race (6 years after graduating!) The good thing about this race was since it was on campus, I was able to more or less memorize the course.

Most races are for a good cause, this one was no different with student scholarships. “Thank you for making the 2013 Triton 5K a huge success. Together, we have broken every record – from student and alumni participation to funds raised for our students. The Triton 5K is much more than just a race through campus. It’s knowing that outstanding students are attending UC San Diego because of you.”

• Rest – I usually try to get to bed around 10 pm the night before a race, especially if it’sa  longer race like a half or full. Unfortunately, I was in LA that Saturday and was still on the road around 10pm. I didn’t get home until 11:30ish, but since I was so tired during the day, I took a nap during the drive home. The problem I have with naps is that I usually can’t fall back asleep later that evening, which is what happened. I was basically lying in bed for most of the night and then had to get up at 4am to take a coaster shuttle to the race. 
• Hydrate – The reason I was in LA was to celebrate my two nephew’s birthday parties. They didn’t necessarily have race-focused snacks either. It was mostly fried foods, candy, soda, etc. In addition to that, I didn’t really start drinking any water until 5/6pm, which I will regret on race day. I was very dehydrated during the race, having multiple drinks at each station and wanting more! I can assume the dehydration was the cause of my cramps as well.
• Pace – As you can see on the split graph below, I started off way too fast. Again, my fault for trying to run with the other (faster) runners in corral 1. Instead of the negative (or at least even) splits that most runners strive for, I actually hit positive splits! I’m honestly surprised some of my later miles were not slower than they actually were, I felt super sluggish!
• Train – I don’t think I did that bad of a job training for this race (although there definitely could have been room for improvement. I was able to get a few long runs in before this race, including a 10-miler. I was also running at least 3-4 times a week, although nothing remotely close to the pace I tried to run during this half.

The one benefit for starting in corral 1 was being able to see Olympic runners Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi doing strides and starting the race right in front of us. Deena was really awesome, she kept waving to all the runners behind her and even ran along and gave high fives to some of the runners in our corral (before the race, of course). Meb and Deena ran quite well, placing 4th and 9th overall, in their respective genders.

Here are some race photos too:

I actually registered for this race months before, but as it got closer and closer to race day, I still wasn’t sure if I was going to do this 31 mile bike ride. That’s the problem with signing up for a race so far in advanced, you never know what plans you’ll have until a few weeks before. But at the end of the day, I was able to do the race and attend the other commitments I had afterwards. And since there was a chance I was going to do this ride, I prepared as much as I could for it. The weekend before, I completed an 18 mile ride so 31 would not feel as bad. In between those rides, I was still running as often as possible as well as working out at the gym. The race wasn’t even timed, since it was a ‘tour’ of the city. But I like to time everything, so here are my unofficial results: 30.42 mi, 1:49:46 (16.6 mph). The course was very straight forward, basically a giant square around the downtown area, which consisted of four terrains: dedicated bike path along the Los Angeles River (didn’t know this existed, not like the typical river you expect), backside city streets, down a similar dedicated bike path along the San Gabriel River (again, did not know this existed), and finish up along the Long Beach boardwalk. The problem I had when I did the 40 mile bike ride a few months ago was that because it was a smaller race, I ended up riding along for a lot of the race. This time, because of the big turnout, I always had someone to ride with and never worried about going the wrong way. The problem with these tours and fun rides is that I’m not really competing against others, it’s more casual to them. Then again, I don’t think I’d be prepared to really compete in a real bike race, I mean I don’t even own the proper gear (I wear basketball shorts, running tech tee and sneakers with my toe clips). 

What I noticed from the race is that I did a poor job staying hydrated. My brother actually did a 30-mile race on his own and I told him how I barely took a few sips out of my bottle the entire ride! I told him I just didn’t feel thirsty. I never felt tired during the ride, I guess that could be my fault for not riding as hard? But it might also be because I didn’t notice I was tired since all sweat is blown away from the wind. My hamstrings felt a little sore immediately after the race, so it might have been because I was dehydrated. I suppose I just need to force myself to have a drink every few miles. And speaking of miles, I noticed that the miles went by pretty fast during the race. I was using my AfterShokz Headphones which allowed me to hear outside noise during the ride (perfect time to use them since it allowed me to hear other riders around me as well as any cars or outside danger). My phone would call out the mile that passed and I would see mile markers throughout the course.

Even though we started the race fairly early, I still got a slight sunburn on my neck, which is barely healing. I guess that’s my fault for not preparing even though I knew I was going to be outdoors for almost 2 hours. I had lunch with my family not long after the race and got about a 30 minute nap before they all decided to take a swim at my sister-in-law’s pool. It would have been better to go a little bit earlier, but it was still nice to do a few laps since I haven’t in so long. Once summer arrives, I’ll try to go on more rides and swims and finally complete that dreaded triathlon!

When Daylight Savings took place in early March, I had decided that I would start running in the mornings again. It took a while to get used to waking up earlier than usual to run, shower and then head to work. But every day that I completed made it feel more and more like routine. I was still working out at the gym pretty often too, so I had decided to add some leg workouts in conjunction to my training runs. And to top things off, I planned an interval workout the week before the race, which I felt went really well. I had also ran a 10K trail race the week before that (which I had won 2^nd in my AG). Now even though I was not running very fast in my training runs, I was at least running every day, which at least allowed me to build up my mileage.

I was really afraid I was going to end up running positive splits. I used my previous 5K that I ran a month ago as a gauge of what pace I should and would ideally want to run. But once the gun goes off, your race strategy may change since there are other (faster) runners out there that you want to try and beat. As I mentioned earlier, my friend ran a low six minute first mile. I wasn’t too far behind and ran about 6:26, which is the fastest mile I’ve ran in months! I was afraid my last 2 miles would have been significantly slower, but those morning runs actually paid off and I had the stamina to keep going at that same pace (6:34, 6:25). We actually got to finish the race inside the race track, too bad the dirt was really soft (almost like running on the beach).

I ran this race a little bit slower last year but I forget how much I was running at the time. I do remember that a few of us ran a little bit longer because the turnaround was poorly marked. This year, the course was chalked at important crossroads and intersections and had volunteers throughout as well. As you can see in the course map below, there were a lot of confusing turns, fortunately I didn’t get lost this year.

The course wasn’t too bad, it’s one of the easier trail races I’ve ran before. I’ve ran an even tougher race here before, with one of the hills called the widowmaker. The first half of this course was relatively flat, but mile 4 was where we hit the biggest hill which was about a 350 feet ascend for about 1.5 miles. I was able to pick up the pace a little bit on the downhills but not too much since it was kind of steep with rocks all over the place. The good thing is that I did not start off too fast, so I was able to keep a consistent pace when it was flat and wasn’t too tired during the latter part of the race. Splits: 7:15, 7:51, 7:15, 9:45, 7:36, 6:53, :12.

This race was smaller than I had expected, which can partially explain such a great showing in the placing. What I also noticed before the race was that there were a lot of younger runners in this race, which I hate. I don’t necessarily hate the younger runners, but they’re just too fast! They usually run pretty fast since they’re still in high school cross country and I always try to run with them, which just tires me out for the rest of the race. So the first few miles of the race, I was running with a few younger women runners. And then toward the end of the race, I was running with some other younger male runners. About 200-300 meters before the finish, a dad was cheering on his son and then started running with him to the finish. He stopped running just before the finish line to let him finish on his own. I was running behind them the entire time and was going to just finish the race behind him. But out of nowhere, another younger runner pass both of us and the competitive side of me just took over. I started sprinting to the finish line as well and ended up passing both of the kids. Probably doesn’t look good that I was trying to beat a bunch of kids, but I’m sure it was an exciting finish for everyone watching. And because I did sprint to the finish line, I was able to beat the person in 3^rd by just over 1 second. I got 6^th in my age group last year and had a feeling I was going to place better than that, but did not expect to get into the top 3. This is the first time placing in my age group in quite some time, which feels good. I’ve been feeling really motivated to run lately, my body is already getting used to waking up early before work to run. And these great race results will just motivate me even more!

I have a 5k in two weeks that is really important. A few old high school runner friends are also doing that race, they actually told me to sign up for it. It’s going to be a very competitive race, so I’m hoping I can keep up with my running streak and maybe even do some intervals in the next week or so.

At a glance, the course looked pretty straightforward: ride up the coast, make a u-turn and back and you’re done. But getting to the coast involved making a bunch of turns along smaller streets and neighborhoods, which came out to almost 10 miles before we finally got to Highway 101. By the time we got to the coast, the sun was out and we got a nice view of the beaches and other runners and riders as well. Before that, we had to climb a few hills which were tough, but I was able to keep riding the whole way. It was weird seeing a bunch of riders stopped at the peak resting from that one hill, it just seemed early for people to be getting tired. But as you can see in the elevation profile, the hills were fairly steep for a decent number of miles too. I feel like I pushed it pretty hard on the uphills; I was breathing pretty hard and my legs were burning the whole way.

I don’t think I rode as hard the entire ride since I didn’t feel that tired by the end of the race (by comparison, I’ve felt more tired on other 10-15 mile runs..) I know bike rides are as hard as you make them since you’re the one determining what type of cadence you want to ride at. I didn’t want to go too hard in the beginning just in case I’d be too tired at the end (my longest ride before this was a few 20-milers) and I didn’t want to take off from the current group of riders unless I saw a rider up ahead. The reason why I didn’t want to ride alone was more of a safety precaution; I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss a turn. And for the last 2-3 miles, I felt like I did miss a turn since it was taking longer to finish than I was expecting (and I was well over the estimated 42 mile distance). I finally saw a landmark I recognized and was able to ride it to the finish.

One nice perk to the race was at the rest stop on the half way mark of the race. People were able to meet up with friends that may have lost each other during the ride, but also get some rest and use the restrooms too. In addition, they had some really delicious baked goods, fruit and drinks to snack on as well as technicians available for any fixes needed to people’s bikes.

I have 3 weeks until my next race, which is a 10K trail run. It will be nice to have a few weeks to rest and recover my next race. Hopefully I will sign up for another bike ride as well. The weather has been pretty good lately; I’ll try and go for a few swims and maybe, just maybe I’ll finally bite the bullet and sign up for my first triathlon!

The course is pretty straightforward: you start by running about half a mile north along the park, make a U-turn and pass the starting line, going into the park and finishing near the starting line. The race was so big, there were still runners waiting to start the race after my first mile and we got to run by them on the other side of the road. The thing I don’t like about running out-and-back courses (other than the obvious fact that you’re running the same thing over and over), is that if you’re running downhill at one point, you know that you’re going to have to run up it on the way back. That happened at least 2-3 times, which kind of sucked. But these hills were nothing compared to last week’s 10K in LA. I was very pleased with my pace throughout the race too: 6:50, 6;49, 7:02, :50. With most of my 5Ks, I tend to start off too fast and am pretty tired the last two miles. I was able to hold back just a little bit which made for a more pleasant finish, although I was still tired at the end.

I’m hoping this 5K won’t affect me too much during tomorrow’s 40-miler. The good thing about cyling is if you’re tired, you can easily just cruise (unless you’re uphill, of course) until you recover. Like I said earlier, I’m hoping to just have a good time, enjoy my first cycling race and see if I enjoy cycling competitively. This will also give a feel of what it’s like to compete in a triathlon, which is still on my list of races to complete. Of course, I still need to master the swimming portion which I know is still my achilles’ heel. I’m hoping to get tomorrow’s race report up just as quickly as this one.

The past two year’s 10K course was a little bit different than this year’s. The hills, however, were still present early and often. The first mile is relatively flat, but just before the first mile, you begin what is about a 1.5 mile ascend toward Echo Park. It flattens out a little bit but overall, it’s a gradual uphill climb, which can kill you for the rest of the race if you go out too hard. Just like most of my other races this past year or so, I had not run much prior to this race. But I did my best to prepare for this race by doing some trail runs to focus on hill training as well as leg-specific workouts at the gym. The first half of the race was still tough, but I’m hoping that those previous workouts did help at least a little bit. The rest of the race was mostly downhill, which helped me pick up my pace as well as passing people who were purposely slowing down to prevent any unwanted knee injuries. There were at least 2 smaller hills that I was not expecting before finally finishing back in Chinatown. Splits: 7:22, 8:13, 7:54, 7:02, 7:24, 7:24, :43.

My sisters had finished their 5K before me and my brother’s 10K, so they were able to watch us cross the line. But the main event was really the 1K kiddie run. 3 weeks ago, I went on an easy 3-mile run with my sister. While we were hanging out in the living room after the run, my nephew told us he wanted to go running too. So he went back home to change into his running gear and we put our running shoes back on to go for a short run to the end of the block.

We were hoping he would be just as enthusiastic to run the 1K, but also afraid he’d be nervous around other people and runners that he didn’t know. When the race started, he was scared and my sister had to carry him for 100 meters or so. He finally got comfortable and took off to run on his own. But after running for a little bit, he wanted my sister to carry him again. We kept trying to get him to run, and even ran ahead of him as he cried for my sister to pick him up. And then for the last 200 meters or so, my nephew just took off (kicking to the finish line, I wonder where he gets that from He ran by his mom, my brother and his wife and he even stopped for two random girls who was cheering for him that I’m assuming he mistook for someone he recognized? It was a great finish and from the pictures below, you can tell how much fun he had, which was a great way to finish the day.

The 2^nd annual Cardiff Kook 10K took place on Super Bowl Sunday, which was a great way to justify all of the junk food that was going to be eaten later on that evening. As usual, I had not run very much prior to this race (twice in the past 2 weeks). To make things worse, I went snowboarding at Big Bear all day just two days before this race and was still super sore from that. The day before, I went for an easy 3 mile shakeout run with my sister to try and loosen up my legs. I’m sure it didn’t matter, but after we came home from our run, my 2-year-old nephew said he wanted to go running too! So we put our running shoes back on and jogged together to the end of the block, which he loved. I was able to get my brother and sisters to sign up for this 5K and 10K in 3 weeks and they also had a 1K kiddie run which I signed my nephew up for. It’s going to be such a fun day, I can’t wait for it!

Going back to this race, I was very surprised with the results: 6.20 miles, 45:45 (7:23 min/mile), 12/37 AG, 80/712 overall. The course was very straightforward: 3 miles south along the coast, make a U-turn back to the start. It was pretty scenic if you made the effort to look at the ocean on either side, but boring course if you ask me. There were a lot of people dressed up in costume, which was pretty fun to see. The website didn’t specify the course elevation and the only way I learned about it was from another runner who was talking about it right before we started. The first half went downhill and the 2^nd half was more uphill. I suppose my splits reflected that since miles 1-3 were significantly faster than miles 4-6. I couldn’t really tell when I was running uphill during the race, which meant the incline was very gradual (and according to the elevation profile pretty long!). My goal was to shoot for ~7:30 min/mile the first few miles and see how I felt the rest of the race. But like the rest of my poorly run races, I started off too fast (even saw myself in the 6 min/mile pace for a while). When a runner passed me, I didn’t really make the effort to try and run with them. But there were a few runners that I did run with during the first half of the race that I was able to eventually pass in the 2^nd half (unless they just slowed more than me..)

I was supposed to run the Rose Bowl half the week before but ended up going on a road trip to Arizona instead. That probably worked out for the better, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to properly compete in a half (would have been more of a 13.1 long run than anything). As I mentioned before, I have the Firecracker 10K in LA in 3 weeks. All of my brother’s runner friends have registered so it’s going to be a very big race for me; I need to make sure I keep my crown (of beating them for the past 2 years).  I’m hoping to go for a few longer runs (7-8 miles) and maybe some hill training before my next race. But we’ll see if any of that actually happens!

From a competition standpoint, I actually ran the most races in 2012 than the previous 2.5 years of running that I’ve done. I ran 15 races in 2012, up 1 from 2011 and a few more than the previous years. I suppose that means I should compete in (at least) 16 races in 2013, we’ll see if that happens.

I’m actually on pace to compete in 16 races as you’ll see below. Since I haven’t been and don’t plan to run as much again this year, I’m trying to stay away from half and full marathons and stick to shorter trail races instead. They’re cheaper, more scenic and in some cases even tougher than a half or full.

Here is a list of races I have already registered for this year, including this random fitness test tomorrow morning!

• 1/5/2013 – EZIA Fitness Challenege
• 1/27/2013 – Rose Bowl Half Marathon
• 2/3/2013 – 2nd Annual Cardiff Kook Run 10k Run
• 2/24/2013 – LA Chinatown Firecrack 10K
• 3/2/2013 – Finish Chelsea’s Run 5K Run/Walk
• 3/3/2013 – Senorita Century Coast Tour (40mi)
• 3/23/2013 – Mission Driven Eco Run 10K