Nick Brown

Memorial Day finds me at home.  Mom’s place, in the hills on the outskirts of State College Pennsylvania.  I’m glad to be home, as I really needed a chance to decompress and reload after hectic begging to Spring.

Its my favorite time of year in Pennsylvania.  The leaves just came out, and the woods are bright green.  Mom is happy to see me, and is doing everything she can to make me fat.

When I grew up out here, I never really appreciated the area for what it is.  I had mountain bikes when I was a kid, and I frequented the state game lands and state forests around my home.  But I never truley understood what I had in my backyard until now.  Excuse me for breaking out the overused california term, but the running here is epic.  Miles and miles and miles of hiking trails, fire roads, gravel roads, dirt roads, single track and ATV paths.  All interwoven around, up and over the rolling hills of Appalachians.  Sure the mountains aren’t as big as out west, but that doesn’t mean there isnt ascent (and descent) to be had.  The land ROLLS out here and the scenery is great.  I’m lucky if I see another human on a 10 mile run out here.

I’ve been home for three days now and I have four runs and a swim under my belt.  Here are some pics I took on my first run.  I was shrugging off fatigue from a red eye into town and just wanted to stretch my legs, so I took the old camera phone, a-la Dave Platfoot.  Be careful San Diegan’s.  There is a lot of green to follow and you may not be used to it.

Leaving the front porch….

Turned right at the logging trucks sign (none were to be seen)

and was greeted by an endless amount of this:

Passed the “Sand Mountain” trail head…made a mental note and ran this the next morning.

Turned left at the creek, but only for a mile…..

Here is the creek….

No Hunting!

The road was blocked just past a bridge over the creek…

…turned around, and ran back to my original road.  Continued out of the State Forest…..

…through more of this…

…and into the local scout camp…

where I was reintroduced to humans (fishing in the left of the image).

Central PA or Easter Island?  I like how the statue and Felipe have the same haircut.

So I ran out of the scout camp and passed some hunting cabin’s down the road.  One had a familiar name, but Quentin wasn’t home.

All good things come to an end, and soon enough I was next to the highway, about a mile and a half from mom’s house.  Note how the sign says the road ends well before that…

This is where directions to my mom’s place instruct you to “turn off the paved road” and the banjos que in…

….home sweet home.

The cycling out here also looks amazing.  If I only would have known when I was younger.  I’d love to have three weeks or so back home with nothing to do but run, ride and swim (which requires a trip to town).  Maybe next spring…

Before I dig into my race recap, let me first profess my love for Wildflower.  Last year was eye opening, and this year was just as much fun.  Camping with about 4,000 fellow triathletes/nuts in one of California’s most beautiful settings…what could be better?  What a great excuse to skip out of 1.5 days of work and blow a bunch of money at REI.

It was great to hang out with Marty Taylor (who came out of his hole in the the mid-west), meet his girlfriend Linda, and goof around with Denner (implants), Patrick, Bryan, Greg (the tree hugger), Damian, Carl (I’m invisible to chicks when standing next to him), Sandra, Paul, Carrie and everybody else at our TNT alumni campsite (of which I am an impostor).

I skipped out of work early Thursday to drive up and meet Marty at the Wal-Mart in Paso Robles.  After stocking up on food (we bought beer but forgot dinner for two of our three nights), we headed towards Lake San Antonio to set up camp.  We showed up just in time to unload the vehicles before it got dark.  The campsite grew as a steady stream of various acquaintances streamed in.

Friday morning was devoted to race prep, which was smart because Friday afternoon brought rain.  A bunch of us were hoping it would hold out until race morning, hoping to feed off of everybody elses collective discomfort.  It didn’t, and race day ended up being pretty ideal.

My goals for the weekend were to 1) Have fun and relax (mission accomplished) and 2) race smart enough to run hard.  I have vivid memories of the horrors of miles four through six on the run left over from last year.  This year I had dreams of effortlessly bounding up the ranks as everybody else succumbed to the grade and the trails.  This was to be a “B” race for me (Oceanside was my early season priority, and my next major focus will be Ironman Louisville), so placing well wasn’t as important to me as the self confidence boost that would come from tearing up the run course.

The swim was realitively uneventful. I finished in just over 28 minutes (slower than last year, a bit concerning), continued my trend of slow and awkward T1s and started what was supposed to be a calm bike leg.  I did a pretty good job avoiding some early idiocy and settled into what I thought was a good tempo which would leave plenty of gas in the tank for the run.  Nasty grade would have its way with me though, and even when trying to hold back the last 15 miles or so of the course took a rough toll on my legs.

I finished the bike and moved quickly through T2.  I could tell I was in trouble as my “cruise” pace wasn’t so easy to maintain over the first four miles.  Sure enough, when the trail turned up and away from the lake things went south for me.  I ended up walking the same sections as last year and my moral plummeted.  As I emerged beaten into the meadows above, I was not a happy camper and plotted along the flats at about 7:30 minute miles.

The quiet thuds of a big approaching group snapped me out of my funk.  I looked back to see a bunch of female pros I recognized from the bike leg, approaching in a pack.  “Why not?” I thought as I tried to latch onto my overtakers.  Amazingly, after following for a few minutes I ended up in front, shoulder to shoulder with a shorter and seemingly floating woman.  We built off each other and soon enough we had dropped the group behind.  I had my rabbit and I didn’t want to let her go.

It is pretty common for me to end up mixing it up with the lead females, especially since I’m usually in one of the first age group waves to start the race.  Their race always seems more important than mine, and I get uneasy when I think I might be in the way.  So as we made our way along the course I was being very mindful of the line I was following and the line she was following.  I tried to stay unobtrusive through aid stations and shared the trail when we were side by side.

And the 7:30 pace dropped to 6:30.  We were hauling ass.

We exchanged names; I didn’t recognize hers.  “Gina”.  In my year and a half in this sport I’ve become familiar with the identities of some pros.  Since I didn’t know who my guide to the left was, I figured she was a mid-level pro.  Turns out she was also a 40 year old mother of two!  A fact made even more impressive as the miles wore on and she drove the pace harder and harder.  When the broken and labored conversation turned to past races she surprised me again.  She had finished 4th at Kona!  In under 9:30!  CRAZINESS!!!

Gina was awesome.  She was adamant about how thankful she was to have somebody to run with, even though I felt like I was just hanging on.  I guess some women pros have their own regular age group men to work with and she was happy to stumble into me.

Somewhere around mile 11 the course descends and then runners backtrack up the hill.  At the bottom we caught Rachel Challis (another mother of two) and Gina surged.  I guess she didn’t want Rachel to latch on.  I couldn’t match Gina’s effort and Rachel and I were left on our own.

Although Gina dropped me like a bad habbit, I fought through the last mile or so and salvaged a pretty decent run.  Gina greeted me in the finishing chute and I got a big ‘ol hug.  She had fought her way into 7th place and got to take home a bit of cash.

I finished in 4:49:49.  Seven minutes and four seconds faster than last year.  Improvment isn’t as easy or rapid as it used to be.  I’m not to worried though, since I was more “rested” than “tapered” for this race.  The big positive from race day was running alongside an American Ironman Champion, who, more importantly, turned out to also be a very kind and good human being.

Ryan Denner had an awsome race.  Like breakthrough awsome.  He finished a scant minute and change behind me.  When we passed on the out and back on the hill, he looked VERY strong.  I’m sure if we would have started together, I would have been in his sites and he may have run me down.  If his calves weren’t so damn huge he may have had the power to weight ratio to overtake me in the hills.  I can only hope that this is the beggining of a very, very competitive relationship (in the most healthy of ways).

I stumbled around for the rest of Saturday (consuming several “Wildflower Burritos”) and splurged on a few beers that night.  Sunday I watched the Olympic Distance Race with the friends who were left before heading home.

A Solid Weekend.

I rode into work today.  Its a 15.8 mile trip, and most mornings I’m in no mood to rush things.  Today was no different.  I cruised in at 121bpm as the world woke up around me.

Arriving in Coronado, I swam before heading into the office.  3200 meters, main set consisted of 10×50s on a fifty second interval.  I’d rather swim long than fast, so this was uncomfortable.

Work sucked, which is to be expected on Mondays.  Everybody was complaining about A/C.  Why don’t people let me know their shit is broke before the temperature gets into the 90s? After I told a bunch of our Nation’s most deadly warriors to suck it up and use a fan, I got to turn my attention to more important issues.  Like trying to make buildings appear instantly, for no cost whatsoever.  As you can imagine, I had little luck

In the afternoon I try to leave the office at 20 after to catch the ferry at Naval Air Station North Island at 40 after (It takes me from 11 to 13 minutes to get from Naval Amphibious Base Coronado to NASNI).  I desperately wanted to leave at 1620 today, the 20th of April.  Not that I would partake in any festivities.  (Its not the frequent urinalysis I get at work, Its the fact that I’m already ALWAYS hungry and I don ‘t need to add to my persistent munchies)  Work kept me from making the early boat, and instead I escaped at 1720.

The ride home was a bit breezy and warm.  My legs were tired from a good weekend.  Oddly enough, when I got in the door I felt the urge to run.  I changed into running gear (which is almost naked) and bounded down the street.  The fatigue I felt on the bike was instantly gone.  The late afternoon/early evening warmth felt great, almost cleansing.  As I descended into rose canyon, I turned east and ran a trail which only exists because the terraine on either side is to steep to develop.   I made a solid effort to run w/o looking at the Garmin, gauging my effort by feel (I would call it an “easy fast” pace).  The evening was cooling off, the air was quiet and I was happy.  Eventually my trail ended and I was back amidst the hustle and bustle of Genesse and Nobel at peak traffic hours.  I kept my focus on mainting my intensity and finished the 4.5 mile run feeling very good about life and all that it entails.  I’m also now convinced that moving north to the middle of nowhere will not be all that bad come September.

A few minutes ago, I looked into what the Garmin had to say about my run.  I’ve never seen HR data so steady.  The Garmin shows an almost a straight line, gradually increasing from 145 bpm to 165 bpm, regardless of grade or footing (my LT or AT or whatever is 174 bpm, I think…).  The run started by running down into the canyon, and ended by running up out of it.  I think its neat how my internal governor slowly lifted as the run progressed.

I know.  I’m a dork.

Time to turn in….tomorrow is another day.

Work keeps messing with my training plans.  First Tuesday;I ended up at work until 6PM and had to kick my own ass on my trainer late at night, alone.  Then today.  Again at the office until 6PM and I had to improvise a fartlek run instead of hitting the track w/ my buddies.

I ran my hour course at a slightly moderate pace and did 8 45 second pickups at what I gauged to be my mile pace.  The pace for the surges varied from 5:40 (one of the first ones up a slight grade) to 5:06 (perfectly flat section after I was well warmed up).  It was fun to run that fast, as even at the track I rarely dip down into the low 5’s.  Students on campus were looking at me like I was mad as I screamed by them.

Even though work keeps pushing my workouts into the evening, I haven’t missed anything yet.  (knock on wood).

This morning I did my “hour” loop with Chris.  8.4 miles in 58:45.  The intent was to take it easy, but aparently Chris and I are recovered and feeling pretty good.  About 20 minutes of the run was at more of a tempo pace.  The run was a bit sporatic; we took small detors to run through the park below my apartment and through the eucleptas forest behind the UCSD track.  All in all, a good way to spend the morning.

Less enjoyable was the swim after the run.  However, the antics at the end were pretty cool. Whitney (not Melinda) and I schooled Chris and Dave in a two man 4×50 yard relay.  Chris was blaming Dave’s turns for the loss but I sure did gap him on the starts…

Next week should be solid.  I’m looking forward to the challange of building up for IM Louisville.

Here we go.  Race Report.  Its a week late and these can be kind of bland so I will try to keep this brief.

The night before the race I had to get all dolled up in my choker whites to put on a little S-word arch for my buddy Bill Wohead’s wedding.  The timing was bad, as I would have preferred to be off my feet resting at home, but a buddy is a buddy and I was happy to be part of the event.  Even by taking two days off work, I still felt rushed with everything I had going on.

I spent the night of the race at the Simpson’s place in Oceanside, for which I am very thankful.  Having him to talk to calmed the nerves.  I couldn’t have picked a better person to crash with.

Race morning was cold, which made the 59 degree water feel warm for the swim.  Still, I had a hard time finding rhythm.  I started off the hip of Chris and Eric, but fell off their pace and ended up in no-mans land between groups.  Out of the water, I had a hard time moving through T1.  For some reason I am always pretty messed up after ocean swims.  I have trouble getting my bearings and my heart rate seems to peg as soon as I stand up.

Once on the bike, it took me about 40 minutes to calm down and start to feel normal.  There were two significant climbs in Camp Pendleton and the trip south seemed slow (probably the wind).  As soon as the course turned East (last ten miles?) the offshore breeze was at my back.  I felt like I had to make up time. I was happy to hammer along and was tangling with female pros.  In retrospect, not the smartest move.

The run was tough from start to finish.  The twice out and back course looked pretty fast and I would like to think that if I had played my cards right on the bike I may have ran well under 1:25.  I gutted out a 1:28 run split and finished exausted and with a very bloody right foot.

I love to run w/o socks, but if I get blisters or break skin I only ever notice AFTER I’ve stopped.

I finished in 4:34 and 8th in my age group.  It was a pretty solid race, though I think I could have squeezed out a few more minutes had I been smarter.

Afterwords, I had the chance to register for a summer Ironman.  I picked Ironman Louisville to give myself plenty of time to prepare.  While at least 20 people asked for every other M dot race, strangely only three of us asked for Louisville.  What do they all know that I don’t?.

It doesn’t matter.  Louisville will be my last shot at qualifying for Kona this year.  Even if the Navy gives me a slot, I want to feel like I earned it.

Loitering on societies periphery…I like that…..