Had a fantastic experience today at a trail race in Oaxaca. It was called the Sanfe trail run (Sanfe, as in Colonia San Felipe.)
Near the La Salle school in the San Felipe Del Agua neighborhood of Oaxaca, the race started where the paved road gave way to dirt, and headed straight up the mountains to the north of Oaxaca.
Perhaps a bit over 200 runners lined up for their choice of an out-and-back course over 8K, 12K or 18K, all run simultaneously. I chose 8K, and started near the back of the pack.
The mob of runners bumped over rolling terrain for the first kilometer or so, then the serious climb from about 5300 feet to 6000 feet began in earnest. I focused on keeping a relaxed rhythm, and was amused to note that many runners were already "racing" on the way up the hill. Why waste the energy, thought I?
As the one of the very few non-Mexicans in the race, I may have provoked some local pride, such as, "here's how you run our hills, guero!". Indeed, the overall level of distance running and racing in Oaxaca is impressive, stacking up well against the fields in Portland, Oregon where I lived prior to Oaxaca.
I took roughly 30 minutes to hit the turnaround point, give or take, quite a slog. As I turned around, I found myself at the back of a pack of 5 runners, young guys gunning the downhill, full of race.
Normally I'd keep my own council, maintain rhythm, run my own race. Today, I got caught up in the fun of competing and went with the pack. We barreled down that hill like no one's business, passing and re-passing each other. I felt full of run, totally into the chase. it was exhilarating! The view of the city of Oaxaca was spectacular from our vantage point, but we kept our eyes on the trail as a spill would mean serious bruising.
I'd moved from 10th up to 7th place before faltering on some minor hills close to the finish. With a couple hundred meters to go, a guy came up on me to battle for 9th place. I could not sprint, but managed to out kick the dude.
I finished in 49 minutes and change. Right around ten minutes per mile. Quite a varied pace in truth, with some uphill portions passing in more like 15 minutes per mile, and no doubt some of the down hill bits in well under 5 minutes per mile.
The day's experience was running and racing at it's best, underlining the thrill of participation for it's own sake.
Steve Lafler
Email me if you'd like to book a running tour in Oaxaca.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Monday, August 4, 2014
Oaxaca Running Tours
For those lucky runners who visit the splendid highland city of
Oaxaca in southern Mexico, the array of running and training experiences
await you.
First (and perhaps foremost), you can enjoy long runs on the roads and trails on the mountainside north of the city proper, enjoying spectacular vistas while running between 5-6000 feet in altitude. Truly hearty souls can opt for longer runs, steeper hills and higher altitudes by simply running further up the mountainside.
For the 5K/10K racer, the Parque El Tequio offers a flat 5K loop with distance markers every 500 meters, ideal for time trials and interval training.
Oaxaca also boasts a lively racing scene, with races from 5K to the half marathon available most weekends. Prize money is often awarded in all age categories, but a word of warning--some darn good runners show up and it's not easy to get on the podium for a payday! The races with the best prize money attract the local contingent of Kenyans who train and race in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico.
I offer my services as a running guide in Oaxaca at a fee of $300 pesos per hour, plus gas. Drop me an email or call me via my Skype number at 503-213-3671.
Best Regards,
Steve Lafler
First (and perhaps foremost), you can enjoy long runs on the roads and trails on the mountainside north of the city proper, enjoying spectacular vistas while running between 5-6000 feet in altitude. Truly hearty souls can opt for longer runs, steeper hills and higher altitudes by simply running further up the mountainside.
For the 5K/10K racer, the Parque El Tequio offers a flat 5K loop with distance markers every 500 meters, ideal for time trials and interval training.
The author tries his luck at a Oaxaca 5K trail race--6000 feet, here we come!
Oaxaca also boasts a lively racing scene, with races from 5K to the half marathon available most weekends. Prize money is often awarded in all age categories, but a word of warning--some darn good runners show up and it's not easy to get on the podium for a payday! The races with the best prize money attract the local contingent of Kenyans who train and race in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico.
I offer my services as a running guide in Oaxaca at a fee of $300 pesos per hour, plus gas. Drop me an email or call me via my Skype number at 503-213-3671.
Best Regards,
Steve Lafler
Monday, July 28, 2014
Oaxaca Bound!
Time for a Grumpy Runner heads up!
I'm on the road, heading back to Oaxaca. We have a few stops and adventures planned on the way, but I'll be back in town ready to run on August 9th.
I'm looking forward to leading more running tours above and around my fantastic adopted city.
If you'd like to book a running tour, email me here or call 503-213-3671 (my US based Skype phone number.)
Happy Trails,
Steve Lafler
I'm on the road, heading back to Oaxaca. We have a few stops and adventures planned on the way, but I'll be back in town ready to run on August 9th.
I'm looking forward to leading more running tours above and around my fantastic adopted city.
If you'd like to book a running tour, email me here or call 503-213-3671 (my US based Skype phone number.)
Happy Trails,
Steve Lafler
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Los Muertos de Oaxaca, New T-Shirt Design
Here's my new Los Muertos De Oaxaca T-Shirt design, the companion T with my new comic book Death in Oaxaca.
It's available at my Redbubble T-Shirt shop here.
I'm stateside just now. While I can't lead Oaxaca running tours at present, I can put you in touch with professional tour guides/runners who can lead fantastic runs in the Oaxaca hills.
Email Steve or call 503-213-3671
It's available at my Redbubble T-Shirt shop here.
I'm stateside just now. While I can't lead Oaxaca running tours at present, I can put you in touch with professional tour guides/runners who can lead fantastic runs in the Oaxaca hills.
Email Steve or call 503-213-3671
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
The Hungry T-Shirt Printer
My company Manx Media is offering super pricing on orders of 100 Custom Printed Tshirts through June 6!
Details here.
Steve Lafler 503-213-3671
The Gildan #500 Heavy Cotton T comes in 63 colors.
Details here.
Steve Lafler 503-213-3671
The Gildan #500 Heavy Cotton T comes in 63 colors.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Steve's Summer 2014 Running Log
What could be more boring than someone else's running log? Their dream log maybe, but not much else. But I'm gonna put this up anyway!
I've spent the past nine months in Oaxaca, Mexico at 5000 feet running about 30 miles a week. Most of the time I ran in hills between 5-6000 feet, some very beautiful and challenging turf. Anyway, for a geezer like me, I figure I've built in some decent base fitness. Can't say I did much speed work, beyond a week on the beach in January at San Agustinillo, Oaxaca.
This week of May 8 - 14 was spent in my beat up 2002 Toyota Rav4, driving 2960 miles from Oaxaca to Santa Rosa, CA with my family, our base in the US for the next 2.5 months. My final Oaxaca run for now was a sweet one, on May 7, confirming good overall fitness, a 1:18:35 long run from my house up the mountainside with a nice pick up over the last 20 minutes or so.
My premise with this blog entry is to track my stateside running; I'll be interested to see how my hard-earned Oaxaca altitude fitness plays out in the near sea level flatlands. Ideally I'll do some speedwork and racing, we'll see how it goes!
May 15. Ran 42:20 medium effort, a rust buster after a week in a car. Threw in a 1:40 fast stride halfway through and felt pretty strong. Actually, I did a wee bit of running on the road last week; a 20 minute treadmill run in Laredo, TX at the Springhill Suites Marriot, and 19 minutes of very slow running in Flagstaff, Arizona at 7000 feet.
May 16. The looooooong drive caught up with me today. I wanted a 5K tempo run to assess my fitness, and after a first mile in 7:18 I stopped, really tired. I threw in a 400 and a 600 at a faster pace, turning it into a light interval workout, but man I had NOTHING today.
May 18. Even worse! Tried for the 5K tempo run again, stopped after 5 1/2 laps on the track, it was not happening.
May 20. On the road again! A side trip from California to Oregon to take care of some business. I ran 49:22 easy on the Willamette river bike path in Eugene. My old stomping grounds, some three decades back I lived in Eugene in the heyday of Alberto Salazar. I was just starting my cartoon career as Al topped the marathon rankings for 2-3 years. Me, I raced 33:52 for 10K and 26:31 over 5 miles along the same river paths. A bit slower than Alberto.
May 21. I hit the treadmill at the hotel in Portland for sixteen minutes, cranking the speed up pretty high for the last 3-4 minutes.
May 23. Drove 600 miles back to Cali yesterday, this morning a 20:25 medium pace run. Legs perky, the rest of me tired.
May 24. Back to the track for some fast tempo running, and I crashed again after 3.5 laps.
The problem is a condition known as electrical heart block (not atherosclerosis, which can cause heart attacks). I've had this since I was a kid running 4:01 for 1500 meters; if I'm tired or consuming too much sugar, caffeine or alcohol, it acts up. Having been on the road, it's acting up!
The symptom is an irregular heart beat. My cardiologist identified the condition, and assured me I can run with it.
May 25. A sparkling sunny Sunday morning in Santa Rosa CA, I hit a good rhythm for a medium to medium hard effort on streets and river bike paths for a 57:13 run. I'm running a 10K event in nearby Healdsburgh two weeks from today, so this is a nice indicator that I can do well. Note to Steve: Cut back the coffee and no sweets! Booze, I don't do too bad, one drink about every other day.
May 27. Today 58:35 medium hard on the Santa Rosa creek bike trails. Very nice in the a.m. on the shaded trails. Ran a 1:03 negative split on this out and back course. Compared to the hills and altitude of Oaxaca, Mexico where I live, a long run can be executed much faster here on flat trails near sea level.
May 29. This morning I hit the same bike trails, but maybe 70 - 80 meters longer with a couple bridge crossings added to vary which side of the creek I was on. Running for 58:06; it took a half minute longer to get to the turnaround point, but I came back 29 seconds faster. The final half mile was pretty tough. Just the run I was looking for; the day when you just cruise, part of the reward for all the work.
May 31. Today an easy to medium 7 miler, untimed. Running every other day this week allowed me to a couple good workouts, while building in some rest for the 10K I'll be racing in a week.
June 2. Tempo 5K, negative splits. 23:25, that would be a good race pace for me next Sunday in the Healdsburg 10K. Yup it's slow but I'm a geezer! Out in 12:10, back in 11:15.
June 3. Out and back loop 1:00:24. A variation on the creek trail run, this time from the house as my car is in the shop. Out in 32:06, back in 28:18. Practicing my negative split strategy to good effect. The last 1.5 miles was a real break through, I took it to a fresh level of intensity. Certainly faster than the second half of my run yesterday. Very happy. (Now it's night and my legs h-u-r-t, in a good way.)
June 5. Medium easy 21:40, it's Thursday and I'm doing a min-taper for the Healdsburg 10K race on Sunday. My calves are still sore from my Mon/Tues workouts, I take that as a good sign.
June 6. Easy 22:14.
June 7. Easy 23:33, hilly course. One of those runs on the day before the race where you feel like a bag of rocks. We all have those, right?
June 8. Healdsburg Fitch Mountain Foot Race 3K/10K (36th) on a gorgeous sunny summer morning; I ran 46:16 for 21st place, out of maybe a couple hundred runners. Felt excellent! Negative splits, as I hit 5K in 23:48, with a second half of 22:28.
There was a big hill from about 1.75 to 2.25 miles (Fitch Mountain, I guess). Compared to the hills of Oaxaca it's no big deal. I think I won my division (55-59), will check back for official results.
I was a bit unsure where the finish was, kicked hard over the final 150 when I saw it, but had too much left. But, it's wonderful to finish a run well, and best of all I had no problem with my irregular heart beat thing.
June 11. After 2 days off, ran 22:46 easy on a cool morning.
The Jig is Up!
Turns out I won't be able to keep running this summer at the level I want to; my freelance business is slow, so I've taken a full time press operator job for the next 6-7 weeks. Money trumps running! I'll still be able to fit in some running, but consistent long runs won't be on the table while I'm working this gig.
So it goes. I had a fine time with my series of hour long runs (more or less), and was happy to run my fastest 10K since 2008 (having run 41:25 in '07, and 46-something in '08.)
I've spent the past nine months in Oaxaca, Mexico at 5000 feet running about 30 miles a week. Most of the time I ran in hills between 5-6000 feet, some very beautiful and challenging turf. Anyway, for a geezer like me, I figure I've built in some decent base fitness. Can't say I did much speed work, beyond a week on the beach in January at San Agustinillo, Oaxaca.
This week of May 8 - 14 was spent in my beat up 2002 Toyota Rav4, driving 2960 miles from Oaxaca to Santa Rosa, CA with my family, our base in the US for the next 2.5 months. My final Oaxaca run for now was a sweet one, on May 7, confirming good overall fitness, a 1:18:35 long run from my house up the mountainside with a nice pick up over the last 20 minutes or so.
My premise with this blog entry is to track my stateside running; I'll be interested to see how my hard-earned Oaxaca altitude fitness plays out in the near sea level flatlands. Ideally I'll do some speedwork and racing, we'll see how it goes!
May 15. Ran 42:20 medium effort, a rust buster after a week in a car. Threw in a 1:40 fast stride halfway through and felt pretty strong. Actually, I did a wee bit of running on the road last week; a 20 minute treadmill run in Laredo, TX at the Springhill Suites Marriot, and 19 minutes of very slow running in Flagstaff, Arizona at 7000 feet.
May 16. The looooooong drive caught up with me today. I wanted a 5K tempo run to assess my fitness, and after a first mile in 7:18 I stopped, really tired. I threw in a 400 and a 600 at a faster pace, turning it into a light interval workout, but man I had NOTHING today.
May 18. Even worse! Tried for the 5K tempo run again, stopped after 5 1/2 laps on the track, it was not happening.
May 20. On the road again! A side trip from California to Oregon to take care of some business. I ran 49:22 easy on the Willamette river bike path in Eugene. My old stomping grounds, some three decades back I lived in Eugene in the heyday of Alberto Salazar. I was just starting my cartoon career as Al topped the marathon rankings for 2-3 years. Me, I raced 33:52 for 10K and 26:31 over 5 miles along the same river paths. A bit slower than Alberto.
May 21. I hit the treadmill at the hotel in Portland for sixteen minutes, cranking the speed up pretty high for the last 3-4 minutes.
May 23. Drove 600 miles back to Cali yesterday, this morning a 20:25 medium pace run. Legs perky, the rest of me tired.
May 24. Back to the track for some fast tempo running, and I crashed again after 3.5 laps.
The problem is a condition known as electrical heart block (not atherosclerosis, which can cause heart attacks). I've had this since I was a kid running 4:01 for 1500 meters; if I'm tired or consuming too much sugar, caffeine or alcohol, it acts up. Having been on the road, it's acting up!
The symptom is an irregular heart beat. My cardiologist identified the condition, and assured me I can run with it.
May 25. A sparkling sunny Sunday morning in Santa Rosa CA, I hit a good rhythm for a medium to medium hard effort on streets and river bike paths for a 57:13 run. I'm running a 10K event in nearby Healdsburgh two weeks from today, so this is a nice indicator that I can do well. Note to Steve: Cut back the coffee and no sweets! Booze, I don't do too bad, one drink about every other day.
May 27. Today 58:35 medium hard on the Santa Rosa creek bike trails. Very nice in the a.m. on the shaded trails. Ran a 1:03 negative split on this out and back course. Compared to the hills and altitude of Oaxaca, Mexico where I live, a long run can be executed much faster here on flat trails near sea level.
May 29. This morning I hit the same bike trails, but maybe 70 - 80 meters longer with a couple bridge crossings added to vary which side of the creek I was on. Running for 58:06; it took a half minute longer to get to the turnaround point, but I came back 29 seconds faster. The final half mile was pretty tough. Just the run I was looking for; the day when you just cruise, part of the reward for all the work.
May 31. Today an easy to medium 7 miler, untimed. Running every other day this week allowed me to a couple good workouts, while building in some rest for the 10K I'll be racing in a week.
June 2. Tempo 5K, negative splits. 23:25, that would be a good race pace for me next Sunday in the Healdsburg 10K. Yup it's slow but I'm a geezer! Out in 12:10, back in 11:15.
June 3. Out and back loop 1:00:24. A variation on the creek trail run, this time from the house as my car is in the shop. Out in 32:06, back in 28:18. Practicing my negative split strategy to good effect. The last 1.5 miles was a real break through, I took it to a fresh level of intensity. Certainly faster than the second half of my run yesterday. Very happy. (Now it's night and my legs h-u-r-t, in a good way.)
June 5. Medium easy 21:40, it's Thursday and I'm doing a min-taper for the Healdsburg 10K race on Sunday. My calves are still sore from my Mon/Tues workouts, I take that as a good sign.
June 6. Easy 22:14.
June 7. Easy 23:33, hilly course. One of those runs on the day before the race where you feel like a bag of rocks. We all have those, right?
June 8. Healdsburg Fitch Mountain Foot Race 3K/10K (36th) on a gorgeous sunny summer morning; I ran 46:16 for 21st place, out of maybe a couple hundred runners. Felt excellent! Negative splits, as I hit 5K in 23:48, with a second half of 22:28.
There was a big hill from about 1.75 to 2.25 miles (Fitch Mountain, I guess). Compared to the hills of Oaxaca it's no big deal. I think I won my division (55-59), will check back for official results.
I was a bit unsure where the finish was, kicked hard over the final 150 when I saw it, but had too much left. But, it's wonderful to finish a run well, and best of all I had no problem with my irregular heart beat thing.
June 11. After 2 days off, ran 22:46 easy on a cool morning.
The Jig is Up!
Turns out I won't be able to keep running this summer at the level I want to; my freelance business is slow, so I've taken a full time press operator job for the next 6-7 weeks. Money trumps running! I'll still be able to fit in some running, but consistent long runs won't be on the table while I'm working this gig.
So it goes. I had a fine time with my series of hour long runs (more or less), and was happy to run my fastest 10K since 2008 (having run 41:25 in '07, and 46-something in '08.)
Monday, May 5, 2014
Big 10K win for Mexico's Juan Luis Barrios
Mexico's Juan Luis Barrios won the men's 10,000 meter run at the 2014 Payton Jordan Memorial track meet at Stanford University over the weekend, clocking 27:34.40.
Barrios beat top Canadian distance ace Cam Levins for the win. Levins was timed in 27:36.00.
Story at this link on Let's Run.
Barrios beat top Canadian distance ace Cam Levins for the win. Levins was timed in 27:36.00.
Story at this link on Let's Run.
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