Over the weekend, I did my second 10k in 3 weeks. A running club in San Jose holds an annual trail running event with different distances. I chose to do the 10k distance as that is right now the longest distance I'm comfortable running.

The course was located in the hills south west of San Jose and the start was in a little valley at the edge of the Quicksilver park. The course description mentioned that there were going to be hills along the route, but I was not prepared for what the course actually consisted of. At the start was a topo of the route, and, being the map lover I am, I spent time reading the course layout. The starting line was somewhere around 600 feet. From there, the course would wind up a road to a single track trail, where it would continue to ascend. The ascent continued until about the 10k half-way point, where it then began the descent. In all, I read that there was about 1000 feet of elevation gain. Most of which was continuous. So it was quite difficult.

I didn't feel particularly confident in my run up the mountain, and went slightly slower down the second half since I didn't want to injure my knees. Somewhere in the last kilometer, a guy passed me, and actually scared me when he came up. I didn't think about it, but it turned out I had been in the lead, and this guy just overtook me for the lead. I followed him closely to the finish, finishing 7 seconds behind him. This put me in second place overall for the 10k! I could have won! Despite that stupid mistake, I did get second place and finished in 56 minutes, 58 seconds ...

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This morning I did my second triathlon of 2008. It was the 15th Annual Tri For Real. This is the triathlon which the Tri for Fun series is supposed to prepare you for. The race was good, and I felt decently comfortable for the swim and bike. As usual, the bike seemed to be a weak spot, as a lot of people gained and passed me, after I did really well on the swim. For the run, my legs were really tired, and my right leg started getting almost tight. It wasn't a cramp, more that the area below the calf was just tight and sore.

I kept track of my splits and posted them here as a record for myself.

Comparing these results to my results from the last Pleasanton tri, I can see that I swam only slightly slower, biked faster, and ran a bit slower. I am stoked about the results, as it shows I'm making progress. The run should have been faster, and by next time, I'll have worked out the tightness / cramp issue. Again, without any practice, my swim is pretty good. Unfortunately, this race didn't have a timing chip, so I won't be able to compare my split with those of others; I'd be interested to see how my splits match up with others. My transition times also got a lot better. Some of the things I tried this time definitely helped out it seems.

The ...

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Tonight I completed my first competitive 10k. Two weeks ago, I did the Nike+ Human Race, though I don't really consider that in the same level, since it was by my self and there weren't others to get the same competitive drive.

So I did the Palo Alto Online Moonlight run in 46 minutes, 29 seconds. That is about a 7 minute 28 second average mile. Not the greatest, and I was hoping for better. But, on the plus side, I got a sweet shirt.

Update: The results got posted online and it looks like I got 99th overall. I was off on my time as well. I updated my time and pace above to reflect the official race results.

This morning I did my first triathlon of 2008. It was the 21st Annual Tri For Fun #3, which is prep race for the 21st Annual Tri For Real. The race was good, and I felt pretty comfortable the whole time. So I just wanted to post my splits that I took on my watch as a record for myself.

So it is pretty clear that my transition times need a lot of work. I'm not at all surprised by the speed I was running at. I was passing other people, but I also felt that I was going really slow. I'd really like to see how I did in the swim compared to other people, as I think that the swim is still a strength. I definitely finished near the very beginning of the group. So either it is a strength, or I'm not as good at conserving energy as the other racers.

Some notes about things to bring for the next tri. I need a better way to wipe off my feet after the swim. Having a tupperware dish with water in it will be crucial as well as a towel for the sole purpose of wiping off the feet. Having a spare swim cap in case the one next time rips too. Having some sort of food for while I'm on the bike. I think that eating something will be a good way to keep ...

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