Race day I did'nt sleep well. I was up at 4 in the morning. I ate about 1,000 calories of toast bannana's and chia seeds. This may sound like a lot but I think it's the least I have ever eaten before a race. I was real excited for my sister who was doing the 1/2 marathon which started 30 mins later and would run 1/2 of the there and back course. I new if I ran fast I would see her and I was excited to root her on.
The plan for the race was to start fast stay fast and finish fast. It's fun running shorter races like this that are all about speed, no need to pace myself, the race will only last a few hours not all day. My training is pretty unique for an ultra runner or marathon runner. I work out almost exclusivly barefoot on the soft sand of the beach I rarely wear shoes. I rarely run man made surfaces and I hardly ever run hills and never train on trails outside of races. The PV course is very hilly tough marathon with most of the downhill portion on the first half. Barefoot or Five Finger running is great for going uphill or on flat ground but for sprinting downhill it can be a little nerve racking. My plan was to go out fast with reccluess abandon on the downhills knowing that If I could just keep from falling I would have some extra time to use climbing on the return, where I felt I could have an advantage over my compitiion. Anyway I set the virtual partner on my watch for 6:30 miles and thought that would be a good number to try and hang with as an optimistic goal. To tell the truth I was'nt even that confident that my first mile would be a 6:30.
When the race started I got right up in the front and jumped out at very comfortable 5:30-45 pace for the first 2 miles. It felt good I was'nt trying too hard and was joined by one other runner beside me and the cop motorcycle in front. We hit Western Blvd a super steep .4 mile climb, I held a 7 min pace and distanced myself from the other runner. Next came about four miles of mostly downhill running (not my fortay in Fivefingers) I decided I would run this stretch faster than I wanted to and deal with the consequences. I was flying down the hill pretty quickly at about a 5:30 pace, nobody was around it was just me and the Motorcycle and the Voodoo Glow Skulls. I managed to sneak up on the water stations, on six of my first nine attempts to grab water I failed. Thank you to all the volunteers, I take full responsibility for the failed hand offs, it's funny that when your running in front the volunteers have no practice handing out water many of these exchanges looked like a water balloon being popped between our hands. I love running with my Ultimate direction handheld, it is probably the most important piece of running equipment I own and it goes with me everywhere, but since a marathon is all about speed I didn't want to worry about filling a bottle mid race.
I kept telling myself to hold onto this pace. I hit the 10 mile mark in about 59 mins. I knew I was capable of 10mph but don't think I had ever kept it up for this long. Just after 14 miles came the turn around where I would finally see what kind a lead I had. I saw 2 runners one was about 5 minutes back and the other was seven minutes back. I new I would be slower on the return but realized if I could stay around a 6:30 pace I would be hard to catch going uphill. My feet were feeling great no blisters and the fivefingers were holding up good. I saw Dan Westergarrd and Barefoot Jullian on the return which gave me gave me an adrenaline boost of encouragement. It was a lot of fun running back everything felt good and I was getting cheered on by the rest of the marathoners who were still on the first half of the race. I could hear a lot of people commenting about me being in "vibrams" or in "the barefoot shoes." Everyone was super positive and I was having a great time. The motorcycle in front of me would stop go, talk to his cop buddies and direct people out of my way. I felt like I was getting presidential treatment.
I hit mile 20 at About 1:59:00 and could hardly believe it. I was climbing uphill and it felt easier than the decent. I had no idea how far back the competition was as I entered the home stretch. The last 4th of the race is very congested as it meets up with the slower 1/2 marathoners. I found myself having to run into the lane of vehicular traffic as continued to pound the pavement uphill past the 1/2 marathon walkers. I wanted very much to still be in first by the time I caught up with my sister running the half. I kept waiting for the hills to get difficult but they never did. I guess the soft sand training did it's job. A lot of people were taking my picture along the way back I think they wanted to show their friends that anything is possible if this dumb ass could be in first place. I even overheard a lady tell her friend "unf**king believable" as I jammed past (made me smile). I am a little worried however that many of them may go purchase five fingers for their next race. I definitely think the right approach is to go barefoot before using Vibrams. It's too easy to over work dormant foot muscles by going too far or too fast when your foot is accustomed to the cast that is the modern running shoe. The 7,200 nerve endings in each foot will tell you real fast when you need to stop.



All in all it was a good day. I capped it off by rolling around on the floor with my girlfriend "Layona" the foam roller and rewarded myself with a $26 bottle of Bourbon. Next up the San Diego 100 miler in my KSO Trek's on 6/12/2010
Garmin Data
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/33382984
News articles from race
Patch.com
Daily Breeze
He'll yeah! Way to go dude!!! Just ran my first ultra (ever) in a pair of the treks back in march.
ReplyDeleteGood job man. Also, sweet tunes! I just started re-listening to Voodoo Glow Skulls this year while cycling and it was pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteI just started running barefoot early last month. I have VFFs but as I'm learning I'm trying to be barefoot as much as possible. My goal is the LA Marathon next year barefoot. I saw Julian run it this year and was totally inspired.
Good luck in all your adventures!
You're an inspiration. Way to go. I'll be taking on my first Ultra (in FiveFingers) in October and reading stories like yours helps me to keep on keeping on.
ReplyDeleteI was deeply interested in your article. I started running with KSO two weeks ago (already ran a 10 km in 40 minutes) and plan to run a sub 3:15 marathon in october and I was wondering if the KSO were best suited for the event. What's your opinion ? KSO or Bikila ?
ReplyDeleteThanks.
FRED www.wanarun.net
I can't run In standard Kso's. I love the way they feel but something about the fit causes them to rip open on the toe seem almost instantly if I try to go fast. In the bikila's you may be faster but you won't get as much feedback from the ground. For me the sprints exceeded my expectations. My feet felt great afterwards and the sprints showed no wear. What works for me may not work for you. That being said I paid $30 in shipping to get Bikila's next day air in time to run P.V. If they had fit well my first run in them would have been the marathon. I'm kind of glad they didn't fit.
ReplyDeleteSomeone try to wear this on kilt. I think its better combination and comfortable for Running.
ReplyDeleteTactical Kilt
I love how you describe your mental shift and newfound confidence in your abilities.
ReplyDelete