Race Report (with video) : V3 Hopfest 60 mile ride : Sept 19, 2015

A friend of mine knew I started cycling again and was looking for a good local race to 'break in my saddle'.  Dennis recommended a local race called Veteran's Victory Velo (v3) that combines 30/60/100 mile routes that tour the beautiful rolling San Ramon, Dublin, Livermore and Pleasanton hills with beer garden finish!  Earnings from the race primarily benefit the Sentinels of Freedom fund which helps severely injured veterans pursuit of higher education and integration into private-sector life.  Fun tour of the tri-county area, beer and benefit of local veterans group?  I was in!

Ride Stats: distance, start time, elevation gain, expected completion time...

Distance	Start Time	Elevation Gain	Rough Completion Time
30	9:30AM	1,131ft	2 Hours
60	8:00AM	2,500ft	4 Hours
100	7:30AM	6,867ft	7 Hours

Race Report : First ever Duathlon : 3.6 M Run/22 M Bike/1.8 M Run

A couple months back I decided for no reason to train and race in a Duathlon.  I knew I wanted to do a muli-sport, knew I wasn't a competitive swimmer, and settled on a Duathlon.  A duathlon is a two-sport race hence the name where you run, bike then run again.  Not to be confused with a bi-ahtlon that combines cross country skiing and shooting things with a rifle!  There are various distances just like in a Triathlon from sprint, Olympic to full. Read official distances here.

I consulted with a talented triathlete I know named 'Jim' who recommended a local race held by 'Wolf' in the San Pablo Dam area, Orinda, CA.  I knew the area was hilly,  beautiful and given the next race was a month away jumped at the chance to race it.

International Marathons : When there's not enough crazy locally

Tired of your local marathons and want to trick the significant other into a runner destination race?  Then here are some international marathons for you to consider, their ballot dates and fees to consider.  Three of these are all part of the World Marathon Majors (WMM). Link here.

Race Report : ITR Running 35k at Folsom Lake : Hydration Test #3

My friend and mentor, Dave, knew I wanted a longer sweat test time of 3-4 hours so being the thoughtful and clever runner he is suggested we run the Inside Trail Racing (ITR) Folsom Lake 35k (20 mile) race.  Dave was spot on and was one of the most pleasant trail runs I've enjoyed in some time. [Dave also had a good run but was suffering the aftermath of a questionable Ragu recipe from the night before]

I had completed the 50K twice before, knew the course, and how variable the weather could be this time of year in the area.  Two years ago the temperature had soared to 85 but last year was similar but more lush.  Race weekend it had rained all Friday night the night before. But, luckily it didn't rain on us and given the crushed granite composition of most of the trail there were very few muddy spots.

The weather race weekend in a word was 'perfect'!

Race Report : EPIC AR50 DNF at mile 40 with hydration rate discussion

I learned alot about running while completing four 50k trail races and three marathons last year (2014) and was able to apply tweaks, tips and lessons learned on AR50. Many things worked just perfectly on Saturday, April 4th.  However, near mile 37 nausea started in and by mile 40 I was done. Not "ohh you're just uncomfortable you just need to push through it" but done done. Not being able to hold down any water for 30 min sucks.

Illustration by Daniel Yagmin

Race Report : Way Too Cool (WTC) 50k, March 7, 2015

There are many race reports on one of California's most popular 50ks - Way Too Cool.  I'm not going review the reviews or review all the reasons why folks like the course.  I'm simply going to discuss what worked for this first timer and what I'm going to do differently next year.

Race Report : Part 3 - Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015, Three Days in Tokyo/Hakone

This is the third and final part of the 'Running Tokyo' series which will cover post race time activities. 

• Part1 : How to get to the race and reflections on the race itself
• Part2 : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
• (This Post) : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area) 

We only had the rest of race Sunday through Tuesday and were scheduled to leave that Wed night back to the States - so not a lot of time. If we had more time we would have stayed longer in Hakone and toured more of the Lake, Mt Fuji, taken the tram ride, etc.

Those three days can be broker down this way:

• [Saturday] : Tokyo Afternoon Tour
• Sunday : Recovery walk and shopping in Ginza shopping district
• Monday : Train ride to Hokone, tour of Venetian glass museum, hot springs
• Tuesday : Tour of park, stay at local business hotel

Race Report : Part 2 - Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015, Two Weeks In Taiwan

This is Part2 (of three total parts) detailing some interesting runs I had the pleasure of doing in Taiwan to prepare for the Tokyo marathon.  The three parts are:

• Part1 : How to got to the race and reflections on the race itself
• (This Part) : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
• Part3 : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area) 

 Knowing that jetlag would be an issue for any traveler crossing the international date line and sleeping in different beds, etc we planned on a couple of weeks first in Taiwan, ROC; which is only 1.5 hours by flight from Japan and only off by 1 hour in timezone.  This excuse also provided us with more vacation abroad, time to visit my wife's family and for me to try some new beers and hookup with hard-core trail runners in Taiwan!

I had the great pleasure of finding the informative blog (Taipei Runner) and connecting with its author Amber.  She also has a Facebook page you can find here.

Here are three fun runs you can do while in Taipei.  I'll provide links to other running groups also in Taipei that I didn't get a chance this time to run with but want to next time I'm in Taiwan.

• Fun Run 1 : Riverside Park (JiLong aka KeeLung River)
• Fun Run 2 : Da-An Forest Park
• Fun Run 3 : YangMing Park:  QiXing Mountain Summit- aka Amber's Run

Race Report : Running the 6th World Major, Tokyo Marathon, Feb 22, 2015 - Part 1

It's 2:48AM, Saturday Feb 28th, six days after completing the Tokyo Marathon, and I'm wide awake sitting on my couch in sunny northern California wondering why did take a nap after landing at noon in the States!  Yes, major jet lag.

Since, I have nothing better to do on an early Saturday morning let's talk about participating in the 6th World Major Marathon as well as logistics of getting to the marathon and faux pah for the foreign traveler to be aware of.  Let's break this up into three parts:

1. (This Post): This part about how to get to the race and reflections on the race itself
2. Part2 : The two weeks we spent in Taiwan prior to the race
3. Part3 : The three days we spent after the race in Tokyo/Hakone (Hot Springs Area)

If you have never heard of the World Marathon Major Races then you should read about each of them here as each has a rich history of their own.  Tokyo was the last marathon to be added and is the largest marathon in Asia.  Each year more than 300,000 people apply to get in and only about 35,000 are accepted.  It's even harder for local Japanese to get in.

Race Report : Kaiser Permanente (KP) SF HM 02/01/2015 (3rd year running)

This is the third year I've run the KP San Francisco Golden Gate Half Marathon and probably the most fun for three reasons:

• The weather was stunning perfect
• PR'ed by nearly six minutes over last year
• Was able to encourage more fellow KP-IT employees to run this year

Last year (2014) was a HM PR for me but under challenging conditions.  If you want to read about the storm conditions we ran in and my slip on a manhole cover read the gory details here.

Strava has a nice feature that once you name a run a 'route' then it will automatically compare them.  Here Strava compares my last three races.  You can clearly see a nice ~7 min improvement from 2013->2014, then a nice ~6 min improvement from 2014->2015.  I'd sure like to think if I continued to train and improve that I could knock off another ~5 off for a 1:42 next year!  Clearly not linear and it is going to be fun to see over time how fast I can become on the same course. If I had not been suffering from that dang cough that has been going around for the last four weeks I think I could have nailed my ~7:45min/mile average I was actually shooting for (not the 8:03 I measured with my Garmin 310xt).  However, I'm not unhappy.  In fact, I was downright giddy passing the finish with the clock showing a 1:47!

Product Review : Orange Mud HydraQuiver (Single Barrel)

My friend and running buddy Jacob 'Jake' Dinardi (http://HikeItLikeIt.com/) and I were talking the other day and thought it would be rad to do some sort of collaborative post since both of us are blogging nuts. We put our heads together and came up with the idea to talk about some hydration vests. BOOM! I'm going to talk about the Orange Mud HydraQuiver Single Barrel and the Ultimate Direction Anton Krupicka (“AK”) Race Vest; whereas, Jake will be covering the Ultimate Direction Peter Bakwin (“PB”) Adventure Vest, and the Nathan HPL 020 Hydration Vest. There are a lot of hydra-vests on the market of course, but this small group covers the bases pretty well from the most minimal all the way up to something an adventure racer would reach for. In this installment we'll review Orange Mud's Single Barrel Quiver. Check it out and let us know what your favorite vest is!

Product Review : Ultimate Direction AK Race Vest (2.0)

My friend and running buddy Jacob 'Jake' Dinardi (http://HikeItLikeIt.com/) and I were talking the other day and thought it would be rad to do some sort of collaborative post since both of us are blogging nuts. We put our heads together and came up with the idea to talk about some hydration vests. BOOM! I'm going to talk about the Orange Mud HydraQuiver Single Barrel and the Ultimate Direction Anton Krupicka (“AK”) Race Vest; whereas, Jake will be covering the Ultimate Direction Peter Bakwin (“PB”) Adventure Vest, and the Nathan HPL 020 Hydration Vest. There are a lot of hydra-vests on the market of course, but this small group covers the bases pretty well from the most minimal all the way up to something an adventure racer would reach for. In this installment we'll review Ultimate Direction's AK Race Vest (version 2). Check it out and let us know what your favorite vest is!

Overview of The Hydra Vests in this Roundup

• Orange Mud Single Barrel: A minimalist vest that offers an alternative to carrying a handheld. (Read more at Dirty Trail Shoes)
• Nathan HPL 020:A small vest that carries a 70 oz hydration bladder and provides just enough room for some snacks or small items. (Read more at Hike It Like It!)
• Ultimate Direction AK 2.0: A small vest with the ability to carry two 20 oz bottles AND up to a 70 oz hydration bladder, or other gear.
• Ultimate Direction PB 2.0: A large vest with the ability to carry two 20 oz bottles, up to a 70 oz hydration bladder, AND room for clothing/other gear. (Read more at Hike It Like It!)

Race Report : Pleasanton Double (10K + 5K) 12/21/2014

I had joined Bob Anderson's, co-founder of Runners World Magazine, UjENA Fit Club some time ago but never ran a 'Double' because of race conflicts.  That is until I signed my 13 year-old son and I up for the Pleasanton Double December 21, 2014 for some father/son bonding!

Group shot with Bob after race. Bob doesn't even look tired!