Long time no update…

Posted on January 27, 2012 by jimmy76mac

Yep.

I realized I haven’t updated a training log since the 11th, so here’s tricks since then:

12th – 7.29 miles (Thursday night group run in the Redwoods)

13th – rest

14th – 6.76 mi (Redwoods, AM)

15th – 15.03 miles (San Francisco run with my friend Carl, was able to keep up with him at 8min/miles until mile 11, then I bonked and fell way off pace)

16th – rest

17th – 7.31 mi

18th – 9.08 miles (Redwoods night run with Pat)

19th – rest

20th – 5.3 miles (speed workout on track)

21st – 15.26 miles (Redwoods, AM run- 1800+ feet of climbing)

22nd – rest

23rd – 5.97 miles (wanted ~6, hit it)

24th – 4.91 mi (speed work on track, targeted ~5)

25th – 4.09 mi (easy run around Lake Merritt with Cameron, targeted ~4)

26th – 3.40 mi (Sibley Volcano run, targeted ~3)

27th – rest

Feeling really good about the taper I had this week, this race tomorrow should be a pretty accurate determinant of the skill set I’ve picked up in the last few weeks incorporating a lot of hills, speed work and super technical trails. I’m eating mostly carbs these last few days, sleeping really well; bring on the Steep Ravine.

Here’s a look at the course map, I love these Marin trails:


 

I’m really psyched. 3,470 feet of climbing- I’m hoping the combo of speed work and hills (and speed work on hills!) gives me the legs I need to tackle two major climbs.

I’ll keep you posted…

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 24, 2012 by jimmy76mac

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Yes! This is one of my favorite places in the entire world to run, I think the bottom shot is from the Columbine Trail, the second greatest single track I’ve ever run on (the SCA in Marin is #1). I … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

15.26 today…

Posted on January 22, 2012 by jimmy76mac

…and it felt great. Got a little bonky around mile 11 again (seems to be my “trouble” mile) but fought through it.

Did the Redwoods, it was muddy as all hell and rained off and on throughout the 2 hour and 32 minute run. Took the Canyon like a champ right after I fought that near-bonk of and cruised home solidly.

There were some points on the flat sections where I was gliding along at a near 7-minute/mile pace, miles 12 through 15; that felt really promising and encouraging for next week’s race.

I’m gonna taper down Mon/Tues/Weds/Thurs with the 6-5-4-3 miles thing I did right before the Lake Chabot Trail Half back in November.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 17, 2012 by jimmy76mac

The day after a rest day (after a long run day) are always fast days. I’m taking off tomorrow morning, gonna run the Redwoods Wednesday night. Storm coming, I need to ski or I’m going to freak out.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Name Change?

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jimmy76mac

Shit.

I just realized I inadvertently named my blog the same as the Bryon Powell book (his ultimate guide to ultramarathon running).

Damn.

It must have been buried deep in my subconscious; I’m glad there’s no cease-and-desist orders coming my way.  

Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons

I’m gonna throw down on a name change.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Posted on January 15, 2012 by jimmy76mac

Did 15 miles in San Francisco today. Here’s the Golden Gate from Lincoln Blvd, the only part I really struggled. Feeling great, wanna run?

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

2012 Training Log (so far…)

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jimmy76mac

Okay, so I was challenged to run the Steep Ravine 30k race up in Stinson Beach on the 28th of January by my homie Errico (who ran with me the last race). Here’s what I’m in for: Steep Ravine Trail Run

Look at these insane elevation profiles:

If the last race has any bearing on what to expect, I’d say I’ll run this first hill section (looks like 1500 feet up in only 5k) with no problems and then die again about 10 minutes into the next section.

In the last race, hydration and nutrition were a huge issue for me as well as tired legs- I didn’t do my usual taper week before that race and ended up with no “get up and go”. I’m going back to my training schedule that I used before the Lake Chabot race- I felt awesome that day and would like to mimic the results of that.

Anyway; here goes the training log from day 1 of this new year:

January 1st – rest (ran 20k race on December 31st)

Jan. 2nd – 4.3 miles

Jan 3 – 4.2 miles

1/4 – 5.6 miles

1/5 – 5.3 miles

1/6 – rest

1/7 – 5.5 miles

1/8 – 12.13 miles (all trail, Redwoods Regional)

1/9 – rest

1/10 – 7.08 miles

1/11 – 5.18 miles (speed workout on track)* 

* I’m going to incorporate a speed workout on Wednesdays, take off Thursday mornings and do an easy group run on Thursday nights. The speed workout is a Nike+ thing, you can download it off their iTunes page- basically (if you want to save the $) it’s Australian runner Craig Mottram’s voice over music, set to tempo. 10 minutes of warm-up, followed by 3 minutes of 80% intensity followed by 3 mins of warm-up pace again. 4 repeats of that, 10 mins of cool down). It kicked my ass yesterday.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Rodeo Beach updated results

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jimmy76mac

Okay, the official results are in- apparently I ended up with a faster time but lower place than previously reported, I shoulda just stayed quiet until I got the final official results.

Here we go:

Bib # 616 

James Mccaffrey M 35 Oakland CA

01:53:51 

14th in M30-39 

45th overall

LINK

No photos- the company that put the event on (I should say the company that took the money, Pacific Coast Trail Runs) had to hand the race over to another company (Inside Trail Racing) because of some legal issues. I’m not quite sure what’s going on with PCTR, they had to cancel a bunch of races last year and just posted on their website (and Facebook page). Here’s the scoop on ITR’s page:  http://www.insidetrail.com/2012/01/moving/

Anyway, there’s like 3-4 other companies in and around the Bay Area that offer spectacular trail racing events, looks like until PCTR can figure out their whole deal I’ll be most likely entering Coastal Trail Runs‘ events- they were awesome.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, I’ve been running. I’ll try to get a training log posted right after this one (this post was sitting in “draft” mode for 4-5 days, lol). Thanks for reading.

Posted in Race Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Rodeo Beach 20k yesterday…

Posted on January 1, 2012 by jimmy76mac

The company that hosted the event (Pacific Coast Trail Runs) hasn’t posted the results online yet, but I was able to see the unofficial results as they were posting them yesterday as folks were finishing the race.

20k (12.4 miles)

2,180 feet of climbing

1:54.21

42nd overall

11th in the 30-39 men’s division

All in all, I have to say I was a little disappointed in my performance; I walked too many of the uphill sections (the second big climb really tore me up) and I finished somewhat strong (started my kick too early) so there’s some areas where I can see a need to improve, which is what competing is really all about for me.

I’ll probably do one more short race before I do the Oakland Marathon last weekend of March. I’m also gonna do the San Francisco Marathon end of July. I’d like to sneak something in between them, maybe do my first Ultra (but I’m thinking October or November would be more feasible).

I’ll post the official results and any photos soon as I get them.

2011, you were an awesome year for me, 1,015.17 miles, competed in 4 races, had a lot of fun. One minor injury that taught me a lot about my stretching habits and a lot of fun runs with friends. 

Bring on 2012.

Posted in Race Reports, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Since we last spoke…

Posted on December 27, 2011 by jimmy76mac

…here’s a quick look at my training log for the past week (give or take a few days).

Dec 18th – 13.6 miles (all road, ran 3.5 of those around the lake with Cameron)

Dec 19th – rest (could’ve ran, wasn’t sore at all)

Dec 20th – 6.4 miles (before work, all road miles- cold and foggy)

12/21 – 9.3 miles (did the Piedmont loop, up Mandana, down Trestle Glen)

12/22 – 7.9 miles (ran all trail miles, at night with headlamps; Cameron, Pat, Will & Carl all ran- this was probably the most fun I’ve ever had running outside of a race)

12/23 – rest (totally could’ve run, but wanted to give myself at least 24 hours to recover from the week’s mileage. Oh, and I had to finish Christmas shopping…)

12/24 – 16.3 miles (Lake Chabot trails, got lost and ran about 2+ miles more than I had intended. Outran my iPhone’s battery as well, had to go back and look at a trail map to check mileage. Was bonking hard the last 3-4 miles, legs just were intermittently working at best. Most miles I’ve ever ran, btw)

12/25 – rest (needed this day, was really sore and achy)

12/26 – 8.8 miles (was sore as hell until about mile 6, broke through something and was able to finish really strong. Thought something was really wrong with my calves; usually I’m able to “run it out” after a mile or two but this was really painful- right around mile 6 it was like “poof” and gone- finished real strong, did the last two miles in under 7:30 per)

Today will be a rest day, planning on doing about 8+ tomorrow night up in the Redwoods with the gang. I’ll probably do a really easy run (~5 miles?) on Thursday and rest again Friday because Saturday is (wait for it…)

Rodeo Beach New Year’s Eve 20k Trail Race!

Damn, I love to run.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment