tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46155749115350637782024-03-20T03:23:11.329-05:00A Disturbing IronmanTaking a break from IM Moo, it's time to BQ!NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-70158214354100215132013-06-09T20:35:00.001-05:002013-06-09T20:35:57.280-05:00Run to Exile 10kI had another race this weekend. It was a 10k in Des Moines that ended at the Exile Brewing Company. I hesitate to refer to it now as a race. Yes, I paid an entry fee, had a race bib and timing chip, even got a finisher's medal, but that's about where all the similarities ended. It was a point to point race so we got bused out to the theoretical starting line. There was one volunteer at the park and she told us the actual start was a few blocks west. So we all started walking in that direction. I was expecting the start to be marked in some fashion, but it wasn't. Not even a chalk line on the ground. A few people had their phones and pulled up the course map to verify that we we in the right general area.<br />
<br />
So we stood around for awhile waiting. I went out for a quick warm up and came back. The official start time came and went. The one volunteer that was there told us that someone was coming to officially start us so we held tight for a few minutes. People were starting to get antsy and a small group decided to just take off running. A few minutes later they announced again that the starter was on his way out. I think it got to be over 20 minutes past when we supposed to start that another group took off. Then mob mentality took over and everyone just followed that group. There was four of us just kind of standing there after that. We looked at each other for a second, shrugged our shoulders, and took off after the pack.<br />
<br />
I spent the first mile getting past the majority of the runners. Ran a 6:00 first mile. Then I started thinking to myself how the results were going to meaningless anyway, with everyone taking off at different times. Decided to treat it as a tempo run and not turn myself inside out trying to set an unverifiable PR. It started raining midway through, which was nice at the time. Due to flooding they had to alter the course prior and the last five miles were virtually the same as the final miles of Dam to Dam. In some way it was kind of nice to be on familiar terrain, because it wasn't terribly well marked. Once we hit MLK I was pretty sure the course was going to be short. That and we met up with the 5k course which was filled with walkers, some of them 4 abreast. So that was dicey. Hit the finish line, which was approximately 5.7 miles from the "start line" in 39:00 even.<br />
<br />
I picked up my complimentary beer and hot dog and fries and had a good laugh over the whole debacle with friends. I don't think this race will be on the schedule next year. Great concept. Who doesn't want to run to a brewery? Poor execution though. It was an inaugural race so I expected some hiccups, not complete chaos. Maybe, if they prove they've worked out all the kinks next year, I'll consider it. If not I can always go for a six mile tempo run on my own and save myself some money.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-24781304044524284892013-06-02T20:49:00.002-05:002013-06-02T20:49:33.209-05:00Dam to Dam3rd race of the season was upon me before I knew it. Dam to Dam, America's largest (and possibly only) 20k was yesterday. I hadn't had a particularly good couple of weeks of training leading up to it so I really didn't know what to expect.<br />
<br />
The day always starts early for this race. Had to make the drive to Des
Moines and then catch the shuttle up to the race start. Barely had
time to use the restroom before the start. For the second year in a row
I had to do a little warm up jog along the outside of the corral to
make it to the front. Made it with a minute or two to spare and chatted
with a couple of friends of mine about race strategy before the gun
went off.<br />
<br />
So all week leading up to the race I had debated on how I was going to
approach pacing. I hadn't recovered real well from the relay race 3
weeks ago and my legs this week still weren't feeling particularly well.
While out on a short run Thursday I had the idea that it would be
beneficial to just go out at marathon pace (7:00 miles)
and consider it more of a training run. All of that changed as I got to
the Dam in the morning along with the other 7000 runners. The
competitive spirit kind of takes over and decided to go out hard and see
how the legs held up as the miles ticked by. <br />
<br />
So when the gun went off I was hauling ass at a pace I felt would be
sustainable if the legs decided to come around today. The first few
miles are always nice as there are some decent downhill portions so I
was able to keep the pace under 6:35 for the first four miles. By the
end of the fifth mile I could already tell that I was slowing a bit. A
PR was probably not in the cards so I dialed it back to a 7:00 pace and
ran comfortably for the next few miles. Hit the halfway mark at
41:50something which was pretty close to my 10k time from last year. <br />
<br />
When the climbs came on the second half I slowed the pace even more. A
lot of people were passing me, which usually bugs the crap out of me,
but I kept telling myself that the legs would appreciate it later next
week. Despite the slower pace I was still feeling pretty tired by the
end and ready to be done. With about a mile left I brought the pace
back down to a sub-7 level to see if I could hold that till the end. I
did and it was a nice mental victory to bring it in strong on tired
legs. I wish I would have noticed the clock time when I crossed because
apparently my timing chip didn't register. I'm not in the official
results anywhere. Probably a good thing I didn't PR because not having
an official record of it would drive me nuts. Had to use the garmin as my "official" time and the placings below are based off that.<br />
<br />
Time: 1:26:36<br />
Pace: 6:58 min/mile<br />
Overall place: 206/7087<br />
Age Group Place: 44/673<br />
<br />
So only a couple of minutes slower than last year's effort. I really can't complain considering how I changed my strategy mid race. It was a good workout on a beautiful morning and there was still free beer at the finish line so all was good. Hopefully the legs bounce back this week. I've got a 10k next Saturday and would like a legitimate shot at PRing that one. NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-76187101983490877512013-05-27T20:22:00.000-05:002013-05-27T20:22:39.608-05:00A Different Kind of WorkoutMost of the time I like to write these posts about how training is going or the most recent races I have participated in. Last weekend I didn't give much of that a thought as I traveled to Columbus, Ohio to visit my brother. I was slowly recovering from the relay race the weekend before and was little worried as to how I was going to fit in marathon training while out there. I decided to say screw it and not run and allow my legs some time to recover and just enjoy myself. It's not like I was going to be sitting on my ass all weekend. We had some golf planned and were then attending a three day rock festival known as Rock on the Range. It was going to be a much different weekend of workouts for me.<br />
<br />
Aside from running and triathlon one of my other longstanding passions is music. I listen to it all the time. Running, while in the car, sitting around at night. I probably buy at least a CD a week. And I have my brother to thank for influencing my tastes. We've listened to rock since we were kids and he even took me to my first Ozzfest shortly after I graduated high school. We used to go to concerts all the time when he lived in Iowa so I was really looking forward getting to see over forty bands with him again, a bunch of which I had not had the privelage of seeing yet.<br />
<br />
The first day of the concert began with an early morning round of golf, which was unfortunately shortened to 9 holes due to some lingering fog. It was probably a good thing because I broke my 3 iron and was shooting like crap. Once we got that out of the way it was on to the concert venue where we tailgated for a bit before starting a night of rock infused fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimMM7uzmhWjxh8s5_0QbaTwV8g-_CoDlG30KJ_U15nwz1UHjute7J1CkWU_CCjIxZ0bnzcZwL1WPOt2Q9Q3BIUPAHCWjGjOJ5oturraIoE7gAMTW-GZRv6QVTC8qDw6LdOaoM78c1245We/s1600/IMG_0129-crop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimMM7uzmhWjxh8s5_0QbaTwV8g-_CoDlG30KJ_U15nwz1UHjute7J1CkWU_CCjIxZ0bnzcZwL1WPOt2Q9Q3BIUPAHCWjGjOJ5oturraIoE7gAMTW-GZRv6QVTC8qDw6LdOaoM78c1245We/s320/IMG_0129-crop.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to Rock!</td></tr>
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The day opened with a couple of bands on the main stage that I had never seen before. Love and Death and the Hollywood Undead both put on good shows. We headed over to the side stage for most of the rest of the night. I was looking forward to watching In Flames. They were one of the first bands I listened to when I first started running to lose some weight so many years ago. They've released a few more albums since then, all of which make it into a normal rotation on my running playlists. We got right down in front for them and the show did not disappoint. Afterward, we headed back to the main stage to watch Korn cap off the night. I've seen them a few times, yet their show never fails to deliver.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Flames!</td></tr>
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After one exhausting first day, it was hard to think we had to do this another couple of days. I woke up a little sore and tired, but after a few morning wakeup beers was ready to do it again. The second day was probably my favorite of the three. It was busy day, with a lot of back and forth between the main stage and the side stages. Pop Evil started on the main, then over to Young Guns on the side, both bands I started listening to this winter/spring. Back to the main for All that Remains, which is always in my running playlists. Then back to the side for Otherwise, who was a staple of marathon training last fall. Halestorm on the main, Red Line Chemistry on the side, Bullet for my Valentine on the main, Black Veil Brides on the side, and Papa Roach on the main. After a quick bite to eat it was back up front for Three Days Grace, who was employing an inordinate amount of pyrotechnics for such a hot day.<br />
<br />
Up next was Stone Sour, who we made sure to get as close to the stage as we could. They were one of the first bands I listened to when I started training to race. I can vividly remember runs where I listened to their entire first album. I've seen them before, and Corey Taylor always puts on a great show. That night was no exception. Smashing Pumpkins wrapped up the second night, but we were so tired that we actually left a bit early before they wrapped up their set.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stone Sour</td></tr>
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Day three rolled around, and despite being exhausted and sore, I was still ready for a good day of music. Sick Puppies opened the day, followed by Sevendust. I took my first shot ever at crowd surfing during their set, and it was more fun than I would have imagined. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st time crowd surfing</td></tr>
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Red was next on the side stage and then Thousand Foot Krutch, whom I did some more surfing for. Back to the main for Skillet. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skillet raising up their strings</td></tr>
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Then I got up nice and close for Volbeat, who has been one of my favorites since hearing Still Counting several years ago and at the top of my list for "Need to see" bands during this concert. Needless to say they played a fantastic set and I had a ton of fun just a few rows back. After that I scrambled over to the side stage to watch David Draiman's Device.<br />
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It was time for some old school rock after that. Bush played, followed by Alice in Chains. I was surprised at how old Jerry Cantrell looked and how great of a show they still managed to put on. I went crowd surfing again during Rooster and Man in the Box, during which I got dropped hard on my head. Had bruises all along my shoulders the next day, but it was worth it. Soundgarden wrapped up the evening of nostalgic rock and capped off a great three days of music.<br />
<br />
So the weekend was a ton of fun. I was sore in places I usually don't get sore when running. A good core and upper body workout. My brother and I are already looking forward to next year's version of the concert. It took me a little while to detox and get back into running this week. My legs were experiencing all sorts of odd pains, but I managed to get in a decent long run yesterday and feel like I should be able to be back on track this week. Just in time for Dam to Dam on Saturday.<br />
<br />
NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-88116713244738882432013-05-14T20:22:00.003-05:002013-05-14T21:16:54.101-05:00Market to Market Relay: Race RecapOver the weekend I had the opportunity to partake in my second race of the season, and it was a unique event at that. The inaugural Iowa version of the Market to Market Relay was held on Saturday. It is a seventeen stage, 73 mile race starting in Jefferson and ending in downtown Des Moines. I have always wanted to participate in a race like this so when my old friend Jack contacted me a few months back about joining one of their teams I immediately said yes.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are Runners and We are Runners Too</td></tr>
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We fielded two six person teams, "We are Runners" and "We are Runners Too" and met up in the early morning hours to head up to Jefferson. At 6:30 am the wind was already blowing hard and we knew we were in for a blustery day. The good news I guess was that it wasn't snowing like the weekend before. The van ride up was fun as I got acquainted with my running mates for the day. We had some time to kill at the start line before our wave went off so we watched the wave before ours go off and tried to stay warm. We were in the last wave of the day, dubbed the "championship wave" since we had a legitimate shot of doing very well in our division based on our estimated finish time. That info surprised me a bit and I figured I may just have to run a little harder if we were going to be competitive.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are Runners - Pre Race</td></tr>
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Soon enough we were ready to go and Brian led us off. It was indeed a stacked wave as he later related that he ran the first mile at a sub 6:00 pace and was near the back of the pack. He held his own just fine though and reeled in some of those who went out too fast. The rest of us loaded into the van to meet him at the second check point. There wasn't a whole lot of down time after arrival at the exchange point and before long our second runner and team captain, Jaime, was taking over. Then we all piled in the van again to do it all over again.<br />
<br />
My first leg was leg 4 and I took over from Jack who ran a smoking first effort. The leg was a straight shot south down the Raccoon River Valley Trail for 4.8 miles. The best part of that was that there was a sweet 20 mph tailwind shoving me along. It wouldn't be so sweet in later stages, but I was able to relax, let the wind do half the work, and save the legs a little. As I started the leg I could see one guy far up ahead in a black shirt and I made it my first goal to catch him.<br />
<br />
Taking part in my first relay race I was quickly introduced to some new lingo. Overtaking another runner in the race was referred to as a "kill" and the goal was to rack up as many of those as you could. Starting in the final wave of the day and fielding a fast team we were set up to score quite a few kills. We marked each one the team accumulated in chalk on the window of the van until we ran out of window space. Or maybe we just lost count. Either way there was a lot<br />
<br />
So I kept black shirt in my sights and slowly reeled him. And I do mean slowly. After the first couple miles ticked by it seemed I hadn't even closed half of the original gap. Either he gassed the next two miles or I picked up the pace, but I eventually caught him shortly after the 4 mile mark. The remainder of the leg I managed to pick off a few more people.<br />
<br />
Miles: 4.84<br />
Time: 31:12<br />
Pace: 6:27 min/mi<br />
Kills: 6<br />
<br />
After that it was back in the van to recover a bit while the other runners on the team continued to kick butt. Ryan and Liz had stellar first legs and soon enough we were preparing to start the second cycle of stages. Everyone was running hard and having so much fun it was just a great group to be a part of. By the time stage 10 rolled around I felt like I could at least run again, having fueled and recovered a bit, and was ready to do my part for the team.<br />
<br />
The route was now heading east so that super sweet tailwind was no more. Now it was a pain in the butt crosswind that tried to blow you off the trail if you weren't paying attention. There was a decent tree line along the trail, but every now and again there would be a break in it and you'd feel the wind full bore. So the second leg was much more of a struggle than the first, but we had caught back up to the meat of the teams running so the kills were plentiful.<br />
<br />
After the first couple miles I was feeling pretty spent. I decided to just put my head down and run and not look at my garmin to see where my pace had fallen off to. Apparently this strategy worked somewhat. I just kept trying to catch the next person ahead of me and didn't glance at the watch until there was about a half mile left to go. That made it seem like <i>only</i> a half mile and bringing it in didn't seem quite so bad, and looking at my total pace for the leg it really wasn't as bad as I thought it was.<br />
<br />
Miles: 5.11<br />
Time: 33:14<br />
Pace: 6:30 min/mi<br />
Kills: 17<br />
<br />
More recovery time in the van while my teammates had a go at it. Again, they were all running great in that nasty crosswind, and the team was slowly ticking off their final legs of the day. As the late stages of the race unfolded we were certain we were locked in a close battle for 3rd place in our division. By the time my final leg came up we were still behind by a bit.<br />
<br />
Luckily for me my last leg was also my shortest, a mere 2.8 miles. I kept telling myself that it would be a piece of cake. That wasn't even a 5k! I took the exchange from Jack, who came running in dueling with top hat guy, and I promptly took out top hat guy's teammate on a downhill section that made it feel like I was flying. Less than a 5k, no reason to hold back now.<br />
<br />
Apparently the legs didn't get the memo that I wanted to run fast because they were complaining big time. I did the best I could to keep the turnover going. The stage wound through water works park and it was easily the my most scenic leg of the day. It took my mind off my unresponsive legs a bit at least. With a half mile to go I started to ratchet up the pace until I was doing my best attempt at a sprint to finish things off.<br />
<br />
Miles: 2.81<br />
Time: 17:59<br />
Pace: 6:24<br />
Kills: 16<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHrIYNkUR_x25o7xOxU4YTLR34yDQzyWu4Qo_FYOcBVl3tgYhb2pyhjOj2M1q5FUJy87P8wdNvZJ5zm7MAmI5djRfAieNpgcWSqjvovBqtvwUDz0d94w0kZMXG8cLnekqLXdsCrwzTE3t/s1600/Neal+Netz+handoff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHrIYNkUR_x25o7xOxU4YTLR34yDQzyWu4Qo_FYOcBVl3tgYhb2pyhjOj2M1q5FUJy87P8wdNvZJ5zm7MAmI5djRfAieNpgcWSqjvovBqtvwUDz0d94w0kZMXG8cLnekqLXdsCrwzTE3t/s320/Neal+Netz+handoff.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Final Handoff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When I passed the "baton" off to our anchor leg, Ryan, we were still behind the third place team. As our team had waited at the exchange point they had identified who our anchor needed to catch so when we arrived near the finish line the anticipation to see who would show up first was growing. The finish area was in a unique spot in that you could see a good half to three quarters of a mile across the river to where the runners were running along. Both our team and the one we were competing with for third was squinting and trying to see which runner was coming along first. After a false alarm or two, Ryan finally came into view hauling ass along the river, with the other dude nowhere in sight.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
We happily joined him for the final short group run through the finish line. It turned into more of a haphazard free for all as no one could match each other's pace, but we eventually all crossed the line for a hard earned finish.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final Stats: 10/205 OA, 3/66 Open Div.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The second team finished not too long after ours in a very respectable 25th place, and we all met up for a post race celebration after such a productive day. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience and feel truly grateful to have met and run with such a great group of people. Running for the the most part is a very individual sport. You can go to races with friends, but you're the one racing the clock (or the field). For this race you have to rely on your teammates and it is the sum of their superb efforts that produce the final result. The best part about this team was that while we were competitive, there was a constant positive vibe and sense of fun from all of the members. That's what made the day. The time and placing on the final scorecard was just an added bonus.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We are Runners - Post Race</td></tr>
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<br />NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-76796257045407108242013-05-05T19:25:00.000-05:002013-05-05T19:25:17.760-05:00The big 5-OWell, another good week of training is in the books and I set a bit of a milestone in the process. This was my first 50 mile week since before Chicago last fall. Last December I came really close to hitting the 50 mile mark, but ended up getting injured with the peroneal issue just beforehand. This spring I've finally been able to slowly (maybe not slowly enough) get back to a reasonable mileage, and after the another solid week I rounded out at 52 miles for the week.<br />
<br />
So what does that mean? Well, that means I am ready to start the official marathon training plan that will put me ready to run in the beginning of September. And where would that be? Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Oh yeah. You know that destination race that everyone is clamoring for. In reality it's supposed to be flat and fast and if I put up a qualifying time I could run Boston in the spring. That would be ideal.<br />
<br />
Of course a guy still needs his outs. An early September race means I could potentially be ready for a late November/early December marathon. After putting all my eggs in the Chicago basket last year and spectacularly breaking my collarbone mid-training it will be nice to have some options this year. My eyes are set on either Richmond late November of California International early December.<br />
<br />
No matter what I choose I'm excited to start the official training plan this week. Had a great long run today, covering 15 miles in 1:55, which was way faster than I anticipated. Got a relay race this weekend that I'm looking forward to. I'm tempted to call this the official start to the season. Lots of miles and races in the foreseeable future and that has me excited! NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-82913826465356232692013-04-28T15:59:00.002-05:002013-04-28T16:01:57.354-05:00A Long RecoveryWell it's been 3 weeks since the race in DC and I am only now beginning to feel back to normal. Recovery from that one took way longer than expected. These early season efforts on minimal training just take it out of me. I felt pretty good the days following the race but still took three days off as a precaution. When I did finally try to run tight hamstrings let me know I wasn't quite ready.<br />
<br />
So more rest ensued. I bailed on a 10k I was thinking about running while in Clear Lake visiting the folks, the second year in a row I've skipped it due to slow recovery from another race. I did a few more test runs in between rain (and snow) showers that next week, but still was not feeling 100%. It was a little frustrating since in my mind I needed that week to continue building up mileage so I could comfortably start a marathon training plan the second week in May. Eventually though you have to tell yourself that getting healthy is the most important thing to worry about. It doesn't matter when you start a specific plan if you're not healthy enough to execute it.<br />
<br />
Two weeks after the race I set out on my routine Sunday long run. I had a decent short run the day before, but was pretty uncertain as to what the day would bring. I still wasn't feeling all that great so I was ready to accept that the run could be 5 miles or 15 or somewhere in between if my hamstrings were still upset at me. It's funny some times how the body will protest for so long, and then out of nowhere all the soreness you've been carrying around for the last couple of weeks just disappears. I cranked out 14 miles that afternoon and felt great the entire time. I was back! Finally.<br />
<br />
Following that run, I managed a decent week of workouts despite logging some long hours at work. Today's long run went even better than last weeks. I decided against racing again at the Drake Relays Half and instead just focused on putting in some quality miles. I really didn't need to deal with another 2 week recovery so soon. I am hoping that the next two weeks get me to where I need to be to comfortably start marathon training. I am excited to get back on a plan instead of making things up as I go and hoping the hard work will actually get me to the starting line in Boston next year. NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-5878532016398072532013-04-09T20:17:00.000-05:002013-04-09T20:20:02.763-05:00Race Report: Cherry Blossom 10 MilerWell my first race of the year took me out to Washington D.C. It was really a trip to see the kiddos (and my sister and BIL for that matter). As long as I'm traveling I like to squeeze in races to experience something new. The weekend was filled with the wee ones' sports but I managed to weasel my way in via a lottery to the annual Cherry Blossom 10 Miler in D.C. It was a great scenic run and the cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom so I felt very fortunate to be running such a race.<br />
<br />
The day began early. Up at 5 to eat. Out the door at 5:30 to the race site. Thankfully my
sister agreed to head in with me so she drove us to the metro and we
rode in with the other thousands of runners. It was nice not having to
worry about navigating my way in to the city or bag check that morning.
She was an excellent sherpa. Thanks! We got to washington monument
with plenty of time for me to hit up the bathroom, take a few pics and
make to the corral with plenty of time to spare.<br />
<br />
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Not much time for a warm up. After I left my sister I jogged to the corral for maybe 50 yards. Not sure that really counts.<br />
<br />
To say I was jazzed for the first race of the year was a bit of an
understatement. I was coming off another off season injury so there was
a little bit of uncertainty involved, but I was really just excited to
run and see where I was at from a fitness perspective. This would be a
pretty good indicator of where I was and how much work needed to be done
before kicking off marathon training. Plus this was a pretty kick ass
run around DC in great weather. How could you not be excited for this? <br />
<br />
Because of the injury I wasn't real sure how to approach pacing this. I
had only done a couple of runs over 10 miles up to this point and very
little speed work. I figured heading out at half marathon pace for the
first half and adjusting the pace based on how I felt after that would
be a safe bet. No need to kill myself early on. <br />
<br />
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<br />
Thankfully it being such a large race keeping myself in check early on
wasn't too much of a problem. There was a crowd for the first couple of
miles. Across memorial bridge and around the roundabout things were
tight. I held back until the way back across memorial where things
started to spread out and I decided to stretch the legs a bit. Hit the
first out and back and back along the tidal basin and we were already
halfway done. My garmin had decided not to turn on before the race start
so I was over a mile in before I got it up and running. I had to go
off clocks at the mile markers to get a semblance of pace. Not knowing
may have been a blessing in disguise. I went off feel and made sure I
was staying within my means. Comfortably hard was probably an adequate
description. Hit the halfway mark at 33:49 and then the 10k at 42:06
and was happy with the splits. <br />
<br />
Heading south along Potomac park was a little windy. I tried to tuck
behind other runners to minimize the impact, but at that point my legs
were feeling good and I was starting to pass quite a few people. Once
we got around the point the wind was at our backs and I was thankful for
that. A little over two miles to go and I decided to open it up even
more. I was surprised how good I felt and decided the weather had a lot
to do with it. Time to just put the foot on the gas and bring it in.
That stretch back up Potomac park I was just cruising past people,
making it a game to see how many people I could catch and pass. I was
so focused I missed my sister cheering at about mile nine. I heard my
name called out but wasn't sure if it was her or a random stranger since
we had names on our bibs. With a mile to go I really cut loose. The
legs were sore, but I knew I was on pace for a decent time so I fought
to see how fast I could finish things off. There was a little climb
before the finish, really the only incline of the day, and it sucked
hard, but I was kind of in the zone and just kept on pushing.
Eventually the finish line showed up and I crossed, crazy happy about
the time. Some guy next to me blew chunks after finishing and I
wondered if I could have pushed a little harder. I've never puked after
a race, but maybe not from lack of trying. I think this was a first
long race I have ever pulled off a negative split. I was at a 6:47 pace
after 10k, but finished at a 6:44 pace for the entire race. Actually
kind of fun finishing things off with a little something something in
the tank. <br />
<br />
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<br />
Time: 1:07:21<br />
Pace: 6:44/mile<br />
Overall: 506/17530<br />
AG place: 106/1455<br />
<br />
The race site had some interesting stats post race. I finished ahead of
99% of the women, meaning I only got chicked by a small percentage of
the field. I also passed 83 people in the second half of the race and
was only passed by 8. Thanks you very much Mr. Negative Split. The pace
also translated to an 8.9 mph pace. They also showed where I was on the
course when the men's and women's winners finished. That is still
humbling. I think the winner ran a 46:XX. Craziness! <br />
<br />
After I walked down and picked up food. Waited for my sister and some warm
clothes. Then we walked to the Jefferson memorial and watched the back
of packers finish up. For being injured in the offseason and my tubby butt still needing to lose about 10 pounds to lose to get down to a reasonable race weight I was happy. I was super stoked with
how things went. I am in much better shape than I anticipated I would
be at this time of year. Things are looking up for marathon training
and setting more PRs this summer if I stay healthy. This was a great
course and quite scenic when I remembered to take a look around. I feel
fortunate to get in through the lottery and to have my sister there to
cheer me on.<br />
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<br />NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-8600269459604608732013-04-03T21:06:00.000-05:002013-04-03T21:06:29.734-05:00It's almost race time!First race of the year is finally on the docket for this weekend. After having to opt out of the New Orleans half in February I'm finally healthy enough to run and race this weekend and super excited to do so.<br />
<br />
I hopping on the plane bright and early in the morning to head out to Washington DC. I'll be visiting my sister and her family and just happened to get in to the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. It was the second time I've entered a race that had a lottery for entry (the first being escape from alcatraz three years ago) and the second time I've been selected. Maybe I should enter a lottery that's giving away money instead of essentially volunteering for a supervised pain session?<br />
<br />
I'll embrace the pain like always though, especially since just a couple of months ago I was suffering the pain of injury. A strained tendon in my foot sidelined me for much of the winter months, but since the end of February I've built my base back up from essentially nothing to hitting my first 40 mile week last week. After that build block I have been thoroughly enjoying the taper this week. I needed the reduced mileage to recover a bit so I'm ready on Sunday. <br />
<br />
I've never run a 10 mile race before so the good news is that this will be a PR regardless of how I finish. While my mileage is up I'm not sure my race legs will be under me or not. I think I'll pace it like a half marathon and crank it up the last three miles if there's anything left in the tank. That seems like a conservative approach, which I'm not really known for. Whatever happens it will sure be a fun romp around the capitol.<br />
<br />
Short post. I'm off to bed soon. Something about getting plenty sleep before a race and whatnot.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-53883420199899977202013-03-24T17:54:00.000-05:002013-03-24T17:54:28.789-05:00Bilateral breathing.....for Runners?So every once in awhile I come across a piece of information or an article in a magazine about training that really resonates with me. Last year I read Scott Jurek's book and decided I needed to clean up my diet and became what I would call an 80% Vegan. I still enjoyed my post long run steaks and ate whatever when I went out with friends and family. I think it did make an impact on my season last year and allowed me to get down to a relatively lean race weight for a change.<br />
<br />
Anyway, this post isn't about diet, but rather another article I read this week in Runner's World that got me thinking about a part of running that I usually don't pay much attention to and that is breathing. Most runs I tend to go out and just run because I enjoy it and I just let my mind wander and before I know it the day's prescribed mileage is up and I'm done. For races and speedwork days I loosely monitor my breathing as a way to tell how hard I'm going. Unless it's a 5k I shouldn't be out of breath. If I'm doing speedwork and I'm hitting my paces and my breathing is under control then all is well.<br />
<br />
The article, which can be found <a href="http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/running-air-breathing-technique" target="_blank">here</a>, put the act of breathing in a whole new light for me. There is evidence out there that suggest the greatest impact stress occurs when you exhale at the same time of a foot strike. The argument was made that many runners will tend to exhale when the same foot strikes (ie always on the right foot strike or left foot strike) and that puts an unbalanced amount of stress on the body which can in turn lead to injury.<br />
<br />
I thought about that for a bit and realized that every injury I've sustained while running has a occurred on my right side. Hip bursitis, Achilles tendon, and now the peroneal tendon. Coincidence? I don't know. Maybe I just have one leg that's shorter than the other one. That's possible too. Anyway the article went on to explain a method for breathing in which you exhale on opposite foot strikes, with the easiest pattern to be a 3 step inhale, 2 step exhale so that way you're alternating exhalations on the left and right. I figured I would go ahead and try and employ this next time out to see what it felt like. There was really nothing to lose. It's not likely that I would injure myself trying a new breathing method. More likely that I would be annoyed with counting steps and doing something that didn't feel natural that I would give it up within a few miles.<br />
<br />
So Thursday I gave it a shot. It was a little weird because like I said it's not something I normally think about. I found out that the 3:2 pattern was too short for an easy run and made me feel like I was forcing my breaths. A 5:2 pattern was much more doable at my pace. The only weird thing I noticed was a tended to look to the right or left depending on which foot strike I was exhaling too. It reminded me of that scene in the Wayne's World movie where they're doing the five second countdown and Wayne and Garth kept nodding their heads and mouthing the countdown.<br />
<br />
I've spent a couple more runs since then practicing on and off. I did my weekly long run this morning (13 miles!) and would focus on it for a bit and then let my mind wander. A few times I checked myself and found I was starting to subconsciously keep the new pattern up. A few more times out and maybe it will be ingrained a little better and not feel so forced. Like I said I think the switch is pretty low risk. Maybe it won't help with injuries, but if it does then bonus. If anything, it can't hurt to be a little more conscious of how I'm breathing out there when I'm running. NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-71918625459187266812013-03-18T20:14:00.000-05:002013-03-18T20:14:41.438-05:00Eeny, meeny, miny, marathonWell it's that time of the year again where I start thinking about what my "A" race for the year is going to be. For the second year in row it's going to be a marathon and my sole intent is to take another shot at qualifying for Boston since things didn't quite come all the way together for me at Chicago last year.<br />
<br />
There's no shortage of options out there so that's a good thing, but there's a lot of little things to take into consideration. Course type, location, time of year, etc., etc. Chicago was a lot of fun last year. It's a great city to visit and the course was exceptionally flat and speedy, but I'm thinking I don't need to do another mega-marathon again this year. Don't get me wrong, the big races can be a lot of fun with all the crowd support and entertainment, but sometimes it's nice just to run and not be knocking elbows with the person next to you.<br />
<br />
The single biggest draw for me right now is a flat, fast course. It's not that I don't like hills or am afraid of them, but when qualifying is based purely on time I might as well maximize my chances and pick a course that I'm more likely to post a fast time on. If at some point down the road I want to take on some gnarly hilly race to get some sort of masochistic pleasure out of the challenge I will do so. For now I just want to be fast.<br />
<br />
Then question then remains, when do I want to be fast? Or maybe when can I be fast? The choice of fall marathons run from September to November with plenty of options in those months. I have to realistically look at where my training and mileage is at. I still consider myself to be easing back into training after an injury, but I did manage to put away 31 miles this last week. At the start of an 18 week training plan I would like to be up to 55 miles a week so I still have a ways to go to get built back up. With a race heavy April the build will be slower as I'll have to allow for recovery as needed from the hard efforts. So I'm likely looking at the end of May to be back up to snuff and that would again put me on schedule for an early October marathon at the earliest. I was looking at some tantalizing September options though that, if I don't hit my goal time, would allow me to still try a November marathon too. Part of me doesn't want to have that "out" but still tempting nonetheless.<br />
<br />
The last part of the equation is just where the heck do I go to do this at? I like to travel and a race is a good excuse head somewhere new. Just how far though? Do I stay within driving distance so my favorite sherpas (mom and dad) can come along or do I hop a flight with my running shoes to find a new place to run? The nice thing about running races is that I don't have to haul a bike along. What a pain that is. Just toss some shoes in a suitcase and I'm good to go!<br />
<br />
Like I said the good news is that there are plenty of options out there and whatever I decide I'm sure I can find something that fits all of my criteria. I enjoy browsing race websites, looking at course maps and reading reviews for an entire evenings at a time. So I'll spend a few more weeks doing that to further narrow things down and hopefully come up with a plan for this fall. Now if only I could dedicate this much time to job hunting.... NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-74761950780700239192013-03-10T20:39:00.000-05:002013-03-10T20:39:15.197-05:00Resurrection.....2013 EditionWell it's that time of year again where I start to getting excited about the impending race season and say, "Hey, maybe I should start updating the old blog again so others can share in the enthusiasm." I'm not sure why the inspiration suddenly hit me. Especially considering ma nature has decided to dump a bunch of snow on us again today. I just looked out my window and I'm not gonna lie, it's disgusting. Seriously, it had just pretty much all melted again and thoughts of spring had me wondering just how soon I could start stashing my tights and hats and gloves and stuff. Of course it could be that I had just completed my first 10 mile run in 3 months in the rain and sleet this morning and every successful run since the latest injury leaves me slightly euphoric and optimistic that the 2013 campaign can still turn into a good one.<br />
<br />
So after coming up just 3 minutes short of qualifying for Boston at the Chicago Marathon last October I still have a major goal to focus on this year. I really want that sub-3:05 time (heck, who am I kidding. I want that sub-3:00 time), which is what another run focused year will propel me toward. To reach that goal I'll have to make sure I follow a sub-set of goals such as stay injury free and no drinking and biking. When Chicago wrapped, I knew that my training plan had been solid and the collarbone setback and cost me a lot. I wanted to rest up, keep my mileage manageable the last couple months of the year, and get ready to train for a spring marathon come January.<br />
<br />
Now I'm notorious for end of the season injuries. For some reason my body gets angry with me if I don't take adequate time off after my last marathon or Ironman of the year. The last few years I've dealt with hip bursitis, an achilles injury, and some nasty shin splints. I was really hoping this year would be different. I took two whole weeks off from any activity post Chicago, which is extremely hard for me to do. After that I did all easy pace runs and was only logging 20 mile weeks (as opposed to the 70+ leading up to Chicago) for a few weeks. After that I added about 4 miles a week, which seemed reasonable considering what I had been doing for the past year. By mid December I was in the mid 40s for weekly mileage and feeling good about starting serious training come the new year.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately my foot had different plans. I had just finished up a routine easy 5 miler and noticed upon walking around later that night that my ankle hurt a little bit. I just figured I had twisted it at some point during the run. I tend to space out from time to time so it's not entirely implausible that I veered off the path and twisted it on some uneven ground or tripped on a stick or a crack in the trail or small animal darting in front of me or a dog not being watched by it's owner. I waited a couple days for it to feel better and ran again but ended up with a sharp pain under the bony point on the outside of the ankle. I rested some more which was extremely hard for me to do at this point. The ankle felt fine walking and biking and lifting and going up and down the stairs at work, why couldn't I run? The especially frustrating part was that occasionally I would have a good run or two in a row without pain and then it would show up again the next time out. It was taunting me and I wasn't a fan.<br />
<br />
So shortly after Christmas I decided two full weeks of rest were in order. Combing through resources on the internet, my armchair diagnosis was that it was a peroneal tendon injury and unless it was badly torn (I'm pretty sure I would have noticed that) the treatment was pretty much rest along with some specific stretches and strengthening exercises. I figured two weeks off would be sufficient to recover. It wasn't. I ended up heading into the doctor to get an official diagnosis, but because my symptoms weren't acute at the time the podiatrist could only speculate the it was the peroneal tendon (Ha! I was right). He did give me the most undoctorly advice I'd ever gotten: Go run until it hurts again and then come back in. Really? Did a doctor just tell me to go hurt myself?<br />
<br />
The "Go hurt yourself" run never came to fruition though. Not because I didn't want to go do it. I was desperate for some answers and a treatment plan that would get me back in the game. Instead I ended up getting sick. And not just my typical feeling bad for a day or two and then recovering type sicknesses. This was a full fledged multi-week sickness, the likes of which I don't think I've ever experienced. I usually pride myself on my superior immune system, but it let me down this time for sure. I was out of commission for 3 weeks, not on my deathbed type sick, but feeling bad enough that after suffering through a day of work all I wanted to was curl up on the couch and sleep.<br />
<br />
The sickness may have been a blessing in disguise though. When it finally passed I cautiously started running again. The runs were short and slow, but more importantly pain free. I've been able to string several weeks of pain free running together and even reached a few milestones that don't seem like much, but have left me optimistic: I've been able to run on consecutive days a few times and just today I completed my first 10 miler since December (Actually a 9.75 miler, but I'm rounding up so there :P). Today felt especially badass because of the cold, wind, rain, and sleet I had to deal with. I was alone on the trail and singing and enjoying myself, but by the end I was still wet and cold. When I got home I prepared a new concoction: Recovery hot cocoa. Hot cocoa with an extra scoop of chocolate protein powder and it sure did the trick of warming me up.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WoE6pu8EgenXry-C6ozfzgM3GfkI1pYU4LnpHr0KKXTTNvpLF7XLjnSLNq9Ro8W45JGjwAn-NFzxGSIjuxOQguuEalZ4b4gg-MtYrkCmffGrSFm64saJicQ3TLyqr3cCnYFFa4mtaAkI/s1600/cocoa.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WoE6pu8EgenXry-C6ozfzgM3GfkI1pYU4LnpHr0KKXTTNvpLF7XLjnSLNq9Ro8W45JGjwAn-NFzxGSIjuxOQguuEalZ4b4gg-MtYrkCmffGrSFm64saJicQ3TLyqr3cCnYFFa4mtaAkI/s320/cocoa.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmmm....chocolate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Now if only the weather would warm up too. I've got races to get ready for! <br />
<br />
NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-39022033543917704562012-10-15T20:58:00.002-05:002012-10-15T21:09:57.314-05:00Chicago Marathon - A 12 minute PR!Boy this race sure seemed to show up in a hurry. When I started training last spring it seemed like I had forever to get ready. Next thing I knew it was October and I was ready to run my first Chicago Marathon. I found myself arriving in Chicago likely a little under trained due to the latest Ragbrai incident, but still with a goal of running a 3:05, which would qualify me for Boston. <br />
<br />
My parents and I rolled into town Friday. Saturday, all I had to do was
hit up the expo. The rest of the day was spent watching football in
order to stay off my feet. I woke up at 5:30 on race day to down some
breakfast then rocked out to some tunes while letting that digest. The
hotel was just a couple of blocks to the start so that helped a ton. We
got there with plenty of time to spare, but I chatted with my parents
until about 10 minutes before the corrals closed. This was a mistake as
there were lots of people heading in at that time and it took 10
minutes to get to the actual corral. I barely had time to try and move
up and probably started back a little further than I wanted to. Oh
well. Before I knew it we were ready to go.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6d_WxA6_3-fOXYI6K8BhqRDmf-h10kmMYBPcOjyPRd0ey2-zVeLGTlLv-sY-ct73XYzcaqJyv4lE8JQlaQI6fRrMNRo3StZBZyRLX95Wg-mCUIWSQaJ8Q_2Jg7b7TGIabyiux0724yrnn/s1600/tn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6d_WxA6_3-fOXYI6K8BhqRDmf-h10kmMYBPcOjyPRd0ey2-zVeLGTlLv-sY-ct73XYzcaqJyv4lE8JQlaQI6fRrMNRo3StZBZyRLX95Wg-mCUIWSQaJ8Q_2Jg7b7TGIabyiux0724yrnn/s1600/tn.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6d_WxA6_3-fOXYI6K8BhqRDmf-h10kmMYBPcOjyPRd0ey2-zVeLGTlLv-sY-ct73XYzcaqJyv4lE8JQlaQI6fRrMNRo3StZBZyRLX95Wg-mCUIWSQaJ8Q_2Jg7b7TGIabyiux0724yrnn/s320/tn.jpg" width="180" /></a><br />
<br />
Ooh baby, marathon #4! I was ready to run and the people of Chicago were
ready to cheer. The start of the race was nuts with all of the
spectators lining the route. There were a couple of times I found myself
smiling in awe at the sight of it. When I wasn't smiling, I was
working my way around people, although it was tough in the packed
streets. As a result my first 5k was a little slower than I wanted it
to be. Things started to thin out a bit after that and I settled in
near a 7:00 pace. For all the fans that were on the course I was
disappointed in the originality of the signage. Laughed a bit at the
the "Don't poop you pants" sign but that was about it. Thankfully the
bowels were cooperating. <br />
<br />
I took stock of how I felt at this point. The pace felt easy. The
heart rate wasn't up and I wasn't breathing too heavily. The weather
was great and I felt quite comfortable in my lightest singlet and
shorts, even though I was sweating quite a bit. If I could run in 40
degree weather all the time I would a happy man. I made a brief mental
note of all the old injuries that kind of cropped back up after forcing
too many miles in September after my bone healing hiatus. <br />
<br />
Achilles....that feels good. Right hip.....nothing there. Left
shin.....good as gold. Shin splints had reappeared the last week of
taper out of nowhere so I was particularly worried about that. I had to
take a few extra rest days, but as I got going it felt great. All
good, all right, let's run. <br />
<br />
The pace felt easy, even in to the slight wind as we headed north. I
was shooting for 7:00 miles so as I passed each mile marker the math was
nice and easy. After the slow start I saw my times dropping. I was
slowly catching the pace groups that started ahead of me. By the time I
passed the 3:10 group I knew I was right where I needed to be. I stuck
to my nutrition plan for the most part: Gu and salt tab every 45
minutes, but by the time I was nearing the halfway point I was already
starting to feel some soreness in the ol legs. That did not bode well. <br />
<br />
There were lots of spectators around that halfway mark so that was
exciting. Crossed the checkpoint at 1:32:02 so I was right on track at
that point and really not too far off my PR at that distance. At that
point I started taking in some Gatorade at each aid station to help
stave off the cramps, but it didn't do a lot to slow them down. I was
in pretty much "go hard or go home" mode from the outset so the goal was
just to survive as long as I could at the pace I was at. Whether that
was 15 miles or 26.2 miles so be it. The cramps started slowly getting
worse, but thankfully slowly enough that I managed to get in a few more
miles at seven minute pace. <br />
<br />
My first two marathons I started blowing up around mile 18-20 so when I
got past those miles I was relieved. Mile 21 came and I was hurting,
but I was so focused on mentally exceeding those efforts that I was able
to ignore the pain. MCM last year was the first marathon where I
didn't have to walk and knowing that I kept myself going. There is no
backtracking, only progress. So while I was probably cramping the worst
I ever have in a marathon, I was still running, and I was still holding
out on the hope that a BQ was in the cards. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxcOPJmER336kC022NApCtwhgx0z5osKAWUQQzBhPx6JpL2FJmHao_dGh4BOGavKLbTIxAcRsPQXzR3di8J_17o2dBfclMF4HRXDPqtVOWjyGdCIekIsu4e0PjJwupkgXnp-lBxcE2jsZ/s1600/chi2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWxcOPJmER336kC022NApCtwhgx0z5osKAWUQQzBhPx6JpL2FJmHao_dGh4BOGavKLbTIxAcRsPQXzR3di8J_17o2dBfclMF4HRXDPqtVOWjyGdCIekIsu4e0PjJwupkgXnp-lBxcE2jsZ/s320/chi2.jpg" width="237" /></a><br />
But I was starting to breath heavy and the legs were so hard to turnover
that I knew I was starting to lose some time. I was keeping a good eye
on the pace and when I started losing ground to some of the people I
had been running with the last 10 or so miles with I knew things were in
danger. I knew this was a possibility from the start so instead I
started concentrating on how I could still set a huge PR if I just kept
on running. I thought back to all of those ungodly early morning runs and running one armed in a sling. I didn't want all that hard work to go to waste so I kept pushing. <br />
<br />
At mile 23 I remember thinking if I could crank out 3 sub 7 miles it
just might still be doable, but the legs were having nothing of it. I
was running hard, because I wanted it so badly, ignoring the pain, but
the body just wasn't cooperating. I was resigned to running the fastest
pace I could and seeing how things would play out. It was kind of a
blur running up Michigan Ave. The 3:10 pace group passed me, but I knew
if I stayed in contact I'd still run a sub-3:10. Then, before I knew it
the turn on to Roosevelt came and I knew the end was quite close. I
pushed hard up that stupid final incline and then rounded the corner.
There's the finish! I staggered across the finish line in a time I was
quite proud of, 3:08:43, but just short of a BQ.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="list-table names" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><thead>
<tr>
<th class="desc">Split</th>
<th class="time_day">Time Of Day</th>
<th class="time">Time</th>
<th class="diff">Diff</th>
<th class="min_km">min/mile</th>
<th class="kmh last">miles/h</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr class="list-highlight">
<td class="desc">05K</td>
<td class="time_day">07:54:50AM</td>
<td class="time">00:22:21</td>
<td class="diff"> 22:21</td>
<td class="min_km">07:12</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.35</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="desc">10K</td>
<td class="time_day">08:16:39AM</td>
<td class="time">00:44:09</td>
<td class="diff"> 21:48</td>
<td class="min_km">07:02</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.55</td>
</tr>
<tr class="list-highlight">
<td class="desc">15K</td>
<td class="time_day">08:38:11AM</td>
<td class="time">01:05:41</td>
<td class="diff"> 21:32 </td>
<td class="min_km">06:56</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.66</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="desc">20K</td>
<td class="time_day">08:59:44AM</td>
<td class="time">01:27:14</td>
<td class="diff"> 21:33</td>
<td class="min_km">06:57</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.65</td>
</tr>
<tr class="list-highlight">
<td class="desc">HALF</td>
<td class="time_day">09:04:32AM</td>
<td class="time">01:32:02</td>
<td class="diff"> 04:48 </td>
<td class="min_km">07:03</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.52</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="desc">25K</td>
<td class="time_day">09:21:30AM</td>
<td class="time">01:49:01 </td>
<td class="diff">16:59</td>
<td class="min_km">07:00</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.58</td>
</tr>
<tr class="list-highlight">
<td class="desc">30K</td>
<td class="time_day">09:43:26AM</td>
<td class="time">02:10:57</td>
<td class="diff">21:56</td>
<td class="min_km">07:04</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.50</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="desc">35K</td>
<td class="time_day">10:06:12AM</td>
<td class="time">02:33:42</td>
<td class="diff">22:45</td>
<td class="min_km">07:20</td>
<td class="kmh last">8.19</td>
</tr>
<tr class="list-highlight">
<td class="desc">40K</td>
<td class="time_day">10:30:53AM</td>
<td class="time">02:58:24</td>
<td class="diff">24:42</td>
<td class="min_km">07:57</td>
<td class="kmh last">7.55</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="desc">Finish</td>
<td class="time_day">10:41:13AM</td>
<td class="time">03:08:43</td>
<td class="diff">10:19</td>
<td class="min_km">07:35</td>
<td class="kmh last">7.92</td><td class="kmh last"></td><td class="kmh last"></td><td class="kmh last"></td><td class="kmh last"></td><td class="kmh last"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Time: 3:08:43<br />
Overall Rank: <span class="racetext">1429/37314</span><br />
<span class="racetext">Age Group Rank: </span><span class="racetext"><span class="racetext">289/3502</span> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittZPT44OkhpBXLx17hTN2NjXx7BVs_gjU6-UP521gBNfdDmFXfo6a1tC3hWbQg_gglboXWwJ2LuyhXj52ZKSLUnl-NvnkM0PTQ0ckXzth9C6Njv6MV_1MkyT_2UdiSELKljCpy7fM_l9p/s1600/tn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittZPT44OkhpBXLx17hTN2NjXx7BVs_gjU6-UP521gBNfdDmFXfo6a1tC3hWbQg_gglboXWwJ2LuyhXj52ZKSLUnl-NvnkM0PTQ0ckXzth9C6Njv6MV_1MkyT_2UdiSELKljCpy7fM_l9p/s320/tn2.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
After running that hard walking takes a little getting used to. I stumbled around a bit then found some food and drink and then BEER! It
seemed like a crazy long walk to the post race party/meetup area. Waited
around for my parents who were on Roosevelt but failed to see me come
in. Facebook updates let them know I finished. We sat at the park for a
bit while my dad and I enjoyed a few post race beers.<br />
<br />
Overall I thought this was a fantastic race! It was extremely organized, and had tons of volunteers and spectators.
The course was crazy flat as advertised and should have been prime for
BQing. Although I didn't quite manage to BQ (Dang lower standards!),
I was still extremely pleased with the result. A 12 minute PR is
nothing to sneeze at and once I shape up race goals for next year I know
I will easily put up a qualifying time. I'll just have to make sure to
avoid broken bones in the meantime. NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-32583422636695674142012-10-02T20:32:00.001-05:002012-10-02T20:32:36.049-05:00Pre-Chicago Marathon UpdateOkay, it's been awhile since I stopped by here and a lot has happened since then. Here's the short short version for those who don't want to read on. After Dam to Dam the official marathon training plan started. I ran a lot in June. I ran even more in July. Did a couple of local races. Went on RAGBRAI. Got drunk and wrecked my bike and broke my collarbone. Got depressed while I took some time off to heal. Got better and ran a lot in September. Now I'm ready to go run a marathon.<br />
<br />
Whew. Okay now for the long extended version. Let's cover the good stuff first. After Dam to Dam I took about a week off to recover and get ready to start an 18 week focused plan that would get me to the start line of Chicago. The plan would be a bit of a departure from what I had been doing up to that point. Essentially that spring I had gotten my legs to the point of tolerating 50 mile weeks. The plan would add even more miles, along with focused speed work and marathon pace long runs. I was excited to get started.<br />
<br />
The first few weeks went well. I had a great week while vacationing in Holland, Michigan. I love the variety of running somewhere new. It didn't hurt that there were trails galore there. I was able to sleep in, go knock a workout off, then either relax by the pool or go hack around the golf course. By the next workout I was nice and recovered and able to get a good run in. Coming back to Iowa though was a bit of a wake up call. Back to work and back to being on my feet all day. Not to mention this was about the time that we started hitting our streak of 90+ degree days. It compounded together to give me a streak of poor workouts. I knew I needed to change something and that meant waking up early while it was cool(er) out before work. Now I'm usually at work by 6 or 7 in the morning so early morning runs started sometime between 3 and 5 depending on how far I had to go. Waking up early was never easy, but it was a necessity, and something about running 15 miles in the wee hours of the morning before most people wake up just makes you feel good about yourself. Speed work was a little difficult in the dark, but the workouts definitely got better from there on out. I was seeing improvement from week to week and completing my key workouts with success.<br />
<br />
My next race rolled around on the fourth of July. It was a 5k held at the park I do a lot of my running at so I couldn't pass it up. Plus I wanted to see what kind of 5k speed I had because I wasn't particularly training for that. I got left in the dust by a couple of high school kids, but still managed a respectable 19:50 finish for a 6:23/mile pace. Not bad.<br />
<br />
Midnight Madness, Ames's annual 5k/10k race was just around the corner a week and a half later. I've run this race a few times, but this year I was crazy enough to run both the 5k and the 10k race. The 5k was up first and I took it a little conservatively knowing I had to run another race shortly after. Surprisingly I finished in 19:40 for a 6:19/mile pace and a finish of 99/1634 people and 4/62 in my age group. I wasn't really too keen on running another race at that point, but 40 minutes later I was at the start line for the 10k. That races started okay, but I couldn't a fast pace and faded hard the last half. I managed a finish in 41:56 for a 6:44/mile pace and a finish of 58/488 overall and 5/32 in my age group. They kept track of combined times so when compared to other insanos that did the double I was 18/145 overall and 2nd in my age group (out of 11). All in all a pretty successful night of running. I'm not sure if I would ever do the double again because that hurt. I think I would prefer to just go run a half marathon.<br />
<br />
Little recovery time was needed after that I was back to training. Soon enough the week of RAGBRAI crept up on me. I squeezed in one last long run the morning of departure (21 miles at 4:30 in the morning) before meeting up with the Butt Ice bike team to take me to the start at Sioux Center. The original arrangement was for me to ride with my friend's dad in their gear truck. I was looking forward to napping and recovering after the workout. Instead, they had extra room on their team bus and they invited me aboard. When you get on a bus with a bar in the back and four or five coolers full of beer in the middle it's hard to not get a little sauced on a five hour bus ride. My hosts were nice and made sure I always had a beer in my hands so by the time we rolled into town I was pretty well obliterated.<br />
<br />
Details get a little fuzzy here, but I know I called my friends I was to be riding with to come and pick me up and take me to camp. They laughed at me while I struggled to put up my tent and it was at that point that my drunk ass should've just crawled into said tent and called it a night. Instead we decided to go ride and find some food. At some point I got separated from our group and in an attempt to pull a u-turn I hit some gravel and laid the bike down, landing on my shoulder hard. I was bleeding a bit from road rash so I found my way to the medical center (thankfully close by). They cleaned up the scrapes, but my drunken machismo was talking for me and I played off how hurt the shoulder was so no x-rays at the time. I finally made it back to my tent later and promptly passed out only to wake up to one stiff and sore shoulder.<br />
<br />
I was getting sharp pains with certain motions and it generally just hurt like hell so I opted to drive the van for our group. Driving wasn't too bad. I got to meet the guys halfway through the day and then go find a campsite and sit around and drink beer while I waited for them all to get in. After drinking all night I would talk big and say I was going to ride the next day, but by morning the alcohol numbed pain would have returned. So I drove all week and only rode a little bit one night to test it out (even with beer painkillers it hurt a lot). When I got back to Ames I schedule a doctor's appointment right away. It had been 5 days with little reduction in pain and still swollen as hell. I was about 95% sure I had a broken collarbone at that point, but just needed to confirm it. One quick x-ray later and yup, I was right.<br />
<br />
It was small hairline fracture that ran pretty much perpendicular along the end of the scapula. It was a little hard to believe that small little crack caused that much pain. The good thing was no surgery and no chances of it healing incorrectly. The doc said six weeks in a sling and no running. Yeah right. After a small protest she got on the phone to an orthopedist and came back with a much better number: 3 weeks no running. Okay, I thought, 2 weeks it is.To be honest, those two weeks were not a whole lot of fun. I was down on myself for doing something so stupid and generally just irritated at all of the training I was missing out on. Eventually I got to the point where I knew it was pointless to keep dwelling on what happened and instead look to the future and focus on what I could do to maximize my return on training and give myself a shot at my goal of qualifying for Boston.<br />
<br />
So two weeks after the crash I went for my first test run in my sling. I made it four miles. The shoulder didn't hurt too much, but I was cramping badly in one of my quads and calf. Having that arm stuck by my side was really screwing with my form. It's funny how you take for granted how much your arms are used for balance and propulsion. Turns out my shoulder got really sore in the days after that run so I decided the doctor might be right and waited another week before attempting another one. I kept the runs short at first and made sure I took a rest day in between each one. Eventually I lost the sling while running and I quickly found out how weak my shoulder had gotten during all those weeks in the sling. After four or five miles of running it would cramp up so bad I would have to stop and rest.<br />
<br />
At that point I was 5 weeks post break, out of the sling completely, and starting to regain a bit of range of motion. The cramping got better and I was able to stretch the runs out a little longer. Once September hit I was pretty much back on a regular schedule. In hindsight I may have ramped up the mileage a little too quickly. A few of my old nagging injuries have cropped back up in the last few weeks, but hopefully the reduced workload of the taper will wipe those away. Aside from that it was a good month. I ran around 230 miles, including one long run of 20 miles and some successful speed sessions that have gone a long way to restoring some of my confidence.<br />
<br />
I know I didn't just lose a month of training. I basically lost two months as this month September was used to get me back to where I was in July fitness-wise. Will that be enough for me to run a Boston qualifying time? I don't know, but I at least feel that I've done the best I can given the circumstances. If anything it's taken a bit of the pressure off of myself. I'll show up on race day and run as hard as I can and see what happens. I'm hoping I'll be pleasantly surprised like I was at Ironman in 2010 when injuries wiped out my last month of training. If not, it's still looking to be a fun weekend in Chicago. NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-36274475118890339132012-06-18T20:56:00.003-05:002012-06-18T20:56:55.137-05:00Dam to Dam Race ReportWell this report is long overdue. The race was over two weeks ago, but due to an extremely busy work week and then a nice relaxing vacation in Michigan I'm just now getting around to this. Dam to Dam is a 20k race (12.4 miles) that starts at the Saylorville Dam and ends in downtown Des Moines. I haven't been able to run this race since 2008, which was when I first started doing the running/triathlon, so I was pretty excited to run this. Plus the 2 weeks leading up to the race the training had been going fairly well. I felt due for a good race.<br />
<br />
I was upp at 3:30 for this one. Ugh! I had to make the drive to Des Moines
and the shuttles started taking people to the start at 5:00. I always
like to give myself plenty of time. Probably more than necessary, but
I've done races where I've had to scramble to get to the start on time
and I really don't need that stress. So I kind of hung out and tried to
time my last bathroom trip so I could get out of there and make my way
to the start close to when the gun would go off. As I started wading through the sea of people in the
corral, I realized that it was going to take far too long to get there
so I hopped the railing fencing everyone in and jogged along the
embankment up to the front of the line. I made it with a few minutes to
spare so I chatted with a coworker of mine until the gun went off.<br />
<br />
I went out fast. It's hard not to. My coworker said he wanted to hang
with me for a while, but I didn't wait around for him to keep up. Such a
nice guy I am. The legs felt good and the slight downhill sections in
the first few miles were fun to cruise on down. I was running 6:40-6:45
pace for the most part and kind of in shock at how much easier this
felt than the last half marathon I ran when I tried to hold the same
pace. I was working hard, but not overly taxing the system. Maybe the
training is starting to pay off? <br />
<br />
There were plenty of spectators along the route to keep things
interesting so the first half went by pretty quickly. There was a slight
wind out of the south in our faces so I tried to tuck in behind a
couple of people running about the same pace. I hit the 10k mark at
41:36 and was satisfied with the split, knowing that the second half
would have a couple of climbs mixed in whereas the first half was mostly
downhill or flat. <br />
<br />
I took the first climb pretty well and the next couple miles still felt
good. Around that point in time some guy caught up with me and said,
"Let's go pick some people off." "Sounds like a plan," I replied. We
did just that and ran hard together for at least a mile. Turns out he
was friends with one of my old college roommates (who ran a blistering 1:20:26)
and they both ran Boston in April. So we talked running and triathlon
for a bit until he started to pull away. I tried my best to keep up,
but my legs couldn't move any faster. I told him to go on ahead and I
did my best to keep the pace as high as I could. There was only a
couple of miles left and I gutted them out. When that finish line came
into view I sprinted in as best as I could, happy to cross, and thrilled
with the time. <br />
<br />
Time: 1:24:36<br />
Pace 6:48 min/mile<br />
Overall Place: 177/6895<br />
Age Group Place: <span class="racetext">36/589</span><br />
<br />
Afterwards, I had a chocolate milk and beer (not together) and walked for awhile. Chatted a bit with the coworker I left at the start (he finished less than a minute behind me) and my late mile running buddy and my old roommate<span class="racetext">. It ended up being a pretty darn good day for a race. </span>I can't believe it has has doubled in
size since I last ran it four years ago. It's still well run and I
liked the slight course change and the finish area is much better than
before. First race this year where I've felt like things came together and I've been really pleased with the
result. It was a 4.5 minute PR for me and nice to finally see some
payoff with the high training volume. Now I just need to get to work
the next 18 weeks so that pace feels easy in Chicago<span class="racetext"> </span>NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-58463223975929557862012-06-01T20:14:00.001-05:002012-06-01T20:14:53.092-05:00Records, Recovery, and RacingWell it's the eve of my fourth race of the season. Tomorrow is Dam to Dam, a 20k run that is Iowa's largest road race. I'm excited to run because I haven't done this race since 2008. That was the year I started in endurance sports so I'd like to see if all the miles in the past four years have had any sort of positive impact. I did take a look at my time and I ran a respectable 1:29 so if want to PR at this distance then I am going to have to run pretty hard. It's an overall downhill course so if I have a good day it's doable. I think I'm recovered from my debacle last week so that helps too.<br />
<br />
So a little more on that debacle. I once again learned (I guess maybe "again learned" is not the proper phrasing if since this happens from time to time) how important recovery is. I had my race on Sunday and started to feel a sore throat coming on at that time. The sore throat lingered around during the week. My Tuesday run did not go well. I had a hard time at the end of the run and chalked it up to the not being used to the heat. So Wednesday was a recovery run, but I tacked on a couple of extra miles because I wanted to hit 55 miles for the week. 55 is the starting point of my official training plan for Chicago which I start next week and I wanted to make sure I could handle that volume. Well the recovery run was nothing of the sort and I was forced to walk at the end. The Thursday morning run to work was just as bad. My legs felt overly fatigued, my heart rate was way up and more walking ensued. The run back wasn't any better. I finally took a much needed rest day on Friday. Slept 9+ hours instead of 6 or 7 that night. I had an easy Saturday with a short 5 miler that actually felt like a recovery run. By Sunday I was feeling much better and hammered out a 16 mile long run around the lake that felt phenomenal. In hindsight I really needed to focus on working that recovery and rest into the middle of the week instead of cramming crappy miles in. All the signs of fatigue were there, but I got caught up trying hit that 55 mile mark and ignored. Lesson learned hopefully.<br />
<br />
The only good to come out of that was that my junk miles helped contribute to a record month of running. I logged 184 miles in the month of May, despite a week of recovery after the Cap City Half the first weekend of the month. June should be even bigger once the official training plan gets under way so that should be fun. I'm looking forward to it!NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-58555201017114804322012-05-26T13:48:00.001-05:002012-05-26T13:48:20.436-05:00Bluff Creek TriathlonLast weekend was the first triathlon of the season for me. I started the year with Bluff Creek, a race that has been on my schedule every year since they started running it 3 years ago. It's a local sprint race that consists of a 546 yd swim, a 15 mile bike, and a 5k run. This year's approach was much different than year's prior, as my focus have been on building up the run mileage and not focusing on the swimming and biking as I normally would. So I really had no expectations going into the race, which was refreshing approach for me. I was just going to have some fun and see what happens.<br />
<br />
I woke up early Sunday morning and
assessed the sore throat situation. I had felt one coming on the day
before but it really didn't feel any worse so I figured I was good to
go. I had some breakfast and then got on my way to Ogden. Transition
setup was easy peasy and soon enough I was shuttled over to the swim
start. The beach was freezing. The wind had picked up quite a bit and
it was blowing right at us. The water temp was actually warmer than the
air temp so getting in the water seemed like a good idea to stay warm. I figured
since I have only swam a whopping two times all year I might as swim a
few yards to make sure I remembered how. It didn't take too long to
feel a little fatigued. Okay, Mr. Twoswims lets call that good and save
it for the race.<br />
<br />
<b>The Swim: </b><br />
<br />
This was a good old fashioned swim start. Ran in, got kicked and
punched around a bit and then eventually got into a bit of a groove. It
didn't take too long for me to start wishing the swim was over.
Fatigue set in pretty quickly and I couldn't keep up any sort of speed.
Luckily it was a short swim and it really didn't take that long to get
out of the water. After that I just had to contend with the super long
run to the transition area, during which my mom snapped this attractive picture of my trying to get the wetsuit unzipped.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflZ8CNH5_n3SPj3KewN_wEHCEvWdcJgxjmKM-ShRhvhL2tzSbrPoFMMqgYkVYNxMWW1E9zBPXefleE3HL2IMFzUsmDlV0hmg2Im5B8OrTb3DfYQ_Jh2DBEmRSa0Fum4MnFGj3VLgFM9E2/s1600/IMG00175-20120520-0823.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjflZ8CNH5_n3SPj3KewN_wEHCEvWdcJgxjmKM-ShRhvhL2tzSbrPoFMMqgYkVYNxMWW1E9zBPXefleE3HL2IMFzUsmDlV0hmg2Im5B8OrTb3DfYQ_Jh2DBEmRSa0Fum4MnFGj3VLgFM9E2/s320/IMG00175-20120520-0823.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Swim Time: 11:20<br />
Swim Pace: 2:04/100 yds<br />
Age Group Place: 9/22<br />
Overall Place: 54/196<br />
<br />
I was in and out of transition in 55 seconds. Nice and speedy for me.<br />
<br />
<b>The Bike:</b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1grlI3ue2Mt2jJYwrwjUPuI1YWzyCbPLzzktV-7I7JUPUijuQNzt1zgRxOnV04UPZhXXJI0iKOCOjowNshv7c_39bm50eympfByGnzbTUADKJwr2UrOQmtFNVpUrBhJ1jaM0olVWNjtuA/s1600/IMG00176-20120520-0907.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1grlI3ue2Mt2jJYwrwjUPuI1YWzyCbPLzzktV-7I7JUPUijuQNzt1zgRxOnV04UPZhXXJI0iKOCOjowNshv7c_39bm50eympfByGnzbTUADKJwr2UrOQmtFNVpUrBhJ1jaM0olVWNjtuA/s1600/IMG00176-20120520-0907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Alright, bike time! Like the swim I had
been neglecting my bike training as well. In fact, I had just gotten
around to taking my bike off the trainer the weekend before. The couple
of rides I had gone on felt good so I wasn't overly concerned with
getting through it. I was more worried about how my legs would respond
after a hard ride. <br />
<br />
Made it out of the park and headed north. Passed a few people right and
got passed once or twice. The wind was out of the NW and blowing
pretty good. Not nearly as bad as two years ago, but still enough to
make a guy feel slow. I at least didn't have to leave the big ring and
was able to keep things moving forward. As I neared the turn around I
started counting racers coming back to see if I was having a good day or
not. I lost track around ten when I saw some guy wipe out up ahead of
me when one of his tires slid off the road and onto the gravel shoulder.
It looked painful, but he hopped right up and was getting back on as I
passed. I asked if he was okay and got a grunt that resembled a "yes"
so I kept moving. <br />
<br />
Soon I hit the 180 turnaround and started the way back. The semi-tail
wind was glorious and I was able to crank a big gear all the way. I
think I only passed one more person on the way but still made great
time. Got slowed up a bit by a car at the entrance to the park. He was
being held up my the cop, but there were Oly racers coming out of the
park and I didn't want to encroach on their lane too much. I eventually
squeezed by then popped my feet out of my shoes before getting slowed
down a bit by and ambulance navigating its way out. It's never good to
see an ambulance in use on race day. I jumped off my bike and ran it
in.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1grlI3ue2Mt2jJYwrwjUPuI1YWzyCbPLzzktV-7I7JUPUijuQNzt1zgRxOnV04UPZhXXJI0iKOCOjowNshv7c_39bm50eympfByGnzbTUADKJwr2UrOQmtFNVpUrBhJ1jaM0olVWNjtuA/s1600/IMG00176-20120520-0907.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1grlI3ue2Mt2jJYwrwjUPuI1YWzyCbPLzzktV-7I7JUPUijuQNzt1zgRxOnV04UPZhXXJI0iKOCOjowNshv7c_39bm50eympfByGnzbTUADKJwr2UrOQmtFNVpUrBhJ1jaM0olVWNjtuA/s320/IMG00176-20120520-0907.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Bike Time: 41:57<br />
Bike Pace: 21.45 mph<br />
Age Group Place: 6/22<br />
Overall Place: 16/196<br />
<br />
Transitions are second nature now. Although they did add in a little switchback on
the way to the exit this year which surprised me, because it didn't seem like it
served any real purpose. "This is new," I told the volunteers. "We
like to keep you on your toes," one guy replied. Thanks dude. Still in and out in 28 seconds.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WmdidTMfkWEPMQzcL9znahiZjqr7DIkNQ7v8TkK1r9PqkiMJKZ7L5XMb0jyujLRmAdTnVQS84fO8qOThLSgqH23yr8rcnnQs9lYmXX9_KuFakyfBEaOIqCw6N2jIn3zNUl7lp3korS5T/s1600/IMG00177-20120520-0907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2WmdidTMfkWEPMQzcL9znahiZjqr7DIkNQ7v8TkK1r9PqkiMJKZ7L5XMb0jyujLRmAdTnVQS84fO8qOThLSgqH23yr8rcnnQs9lYmXX9_KuFakyfBEaOIqCw6N2jIn3zNUl7lp3korS5T/s320/IMG00177-20120520-0907.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>The Run:</b><br />
<br />
I was looking forward to the run because that was essentially the only
discipline that I have been training for. Granted I wasn't training for
5k speed, but knocking out 50 mile weeks can't hurt either. Now I knew
a hard ride could potentially render all that training useless so I was
hoping my legs would respond favorable. <br />
<br />
They were pretty sluggish to start, especially navigating through the
grassy and dirt parts before finally hitting the pavement. Once I got
out there I could see a couple of guys a few hundred yards ahead. Might
as well see if I can catch them. My legs were starting to feel better
with each stride and I closed a bit of that gap on the way to the
turnaround. <br />
<br />
Once I hit the halfway mark and was on the way back I picked it up
another notch, figuring it was only 10 minutes of pain. I caught one of
my rabbits just before the big hill with about a mile to go, but the
other one was staying just out of reach. I was closing the gap, but not
quick enough. He kept glancing over his shoulder to see where I was at
and running harder. By the time we reached the final turn I knew I
wasn't going to catch him and finished just a few seconds back. It was
okay though, the chase probably made me run a bit harder.<br />
<b> </b><br />
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<br />
Run Time: 20:51<br />
Bike Pace: 6:42 / mile
<br />
Age Group Place: 4/22<br />
Overall Place: 14/196<br />
<br />
Final Time: 1:15:32<br />
Age Group Place: 6/22<br />
Overall Place 16/196<br />
<br />
After the race I found my parents and walked a bit to cool off. I was a little surprised at how well the legs felt. It was alright with me though as I was able to go home and run another 12 miles that afternoon. I really enjoy this race and it is a good season opener. As far as my performance goes I was extremely pleased. I did fairly
well on minimal training. A few minutes off my personal best here, but I
crushed my horrendous time from last year's race by 8 minutes so that
felt good to make up for that mess. I also had my best 5k split in a
sprint by a few seconds so that was another good take away. All that running may be paying off.<br />
<br />
My next race is just around the corner on June 2. It's a 20k run that I haven't done since 2008 so I'm pretty excited to see if I've made in sort of progress in four years. As far as training goes this week was my last build week to get my weekly mileage up to 55 miles, the distance my official marathon training plan starts at. This week is a recovery/taper week and that aforementioned training plan will be enacted the week after. Then it's just 18 hard weeks until Chicago. I bet they fly by. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-78970301831777474272012-05-20T20:50:00.000-05:002012-05-20T20:50:13.344-05:00Going Vegan?????On my lunch breaks at work I like to read to pass the time and this past week I was perusing the latest issue of <i>Runner's World</i> when I happened upon an intriguing article. It was about prominent ultra-marathoner, Scott Jurek, and his Vegan diet. Now, I've always been in the camp that a Vegan diet and endurance sports just didn't go hand. Where the hell do you get get all the protein you need? The article went on to dispel that fear and other myths that are associated with such diet. I started to think maybe there is something to it and started doing some research online to gather a little more information.<br />
<br />
In doing so I stumbled upon a "diet," for lack of a better term, developed by professional triathlete Brendan Brazier. It's called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thrive-Nutrition-Optimal-Performance-Sports/dp/0738212547/ref=pd_sim_b_1">Thrive</a>, and is essentially a vegan diet catered to endurance athletes. I browsed the <a href="http://thrivein30.com/sign-up-now/">website</a> for a bit and then decided to pull the trigger on the book (Thank you Kindle!). I spent last weekend reading through it and a lot of the concepts within made sense to me.<br />
<br />
The premise behind it is to eat nutrient dense "one-step" foods. This includes fruits, veggies, beans, and seeds that are fueled directly from the sun. Meat would be a two-step food since the animal has to get it's fuel from plants. The reasoning behind this was to limit the body's amount of stress. As athletes we put our bodies under more stress than the average person and by limiting the amount of stress from our diet we are promoting health and well being. Highly processed "multi-step" foods put the body under additional stress due to the difficulty to digest. More stress = more cortisol production = more fat storage. By limiting the nutritional aspect of stress and eating one step foods, we can lower our overall stress and fat storage. Additionally, if the body is not working as hard to digest the foods we are taking in, it can get to work repairing all the muscle damage we've done.<br />
<br />
He threw in plenty of science to back up the claims, but as much as it seems to make sense I always remain a bit skeptical. It was his anecdote about his weight gain during Ironman training was what really resonated with me. A few years ago before adopting the diet he was experiencing wait gain during a his training. The natural assumption was that he was taking in too many calories so he cut back calories and he started gaining the weight at an even faster rate. So what was it then? Overtraining? Some would call it that, but instead he reasoned that if he could eliminate the other stresses in his life that he could continue to train at a high level. So he started to tweak his diet and eventually the Thrive diet evolved out of that.<br />
<br />
As someone who struggles with their weight, even with some insane training volume, this struck a chord with me. Over the years I've tried a variety of diets, from strict calorie counting to the Paleo diet, all with mediocre results. For me, I've found that it's just not as simple as calories out > calories in and frankly I always get a little pissed off when dietary experts tout that adage. I'm living proof it's not true. I always (like since high school) have carried an extra ten pounds (or more) around that midsection that seems to never go away, regardless of diet and training volume. I like to joke that I have the largest gut on the podium at races. It seems I'm always the chunky guy doing well at these race because of a little natural talent, a determined work ethic, and a heightened capacity for suffering. Still, there's always a part of me saying ,"just imagine what you could be doing without that spare tire."<br />
<br />
I'm going to cut myself off there to avoid turning this post into more of a rant than it already is. Simply put, it's time for a change with the diet. There was an article in <i>Bicycling </i>last month that calculated your ideal body weight based not only on height but body frame as well and I should be around 152 pounds. That is the goal racing weight for Chicago. I have dropped over 20 since the first of the year, but have since been stuck at my normal plateau of 160-162 for the last month or so. I am going to start incorporating parts of the plan in the next few weeks in order to get my body used to the transition with hopes of being fully committed in a month. I have a few vices that will need to be weened off like cheese and peanut butter (which I probably abuse too much) and I don't know if I'll ever be able to give up my post long run steak (it was delicious tonight by the way). I've already tried a few recipes and started stocking my cupboards with all kinds of weird ass stuff like amaranth and dulse and tahini and hemp protein that I had never known existed until just a few days ago. There's nothing like starting a new diet to coincide with the start of marathon training. This should be fun!<br />
<br />
Oh, I also had my first triathlon of the season today, but that will have to wait for another post <br />
<br />
<br />NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-53700588158865099382012-05-10T21:03:00.003-05:002012-05-10T21:03:49.520-05:00Capitol City Half MarathonSo before I knew it the second race of the season was upon me. After my longer than anticipated recovery from the last one I had only managed really just one good week of solid training before tapering a short week before this one. All in all I felt pretty good leading up to it though, and I thought I had a legitimate shot at cracking the 1:30 mark given my performance in Hollywood a month prior.<br />
<br />
This was another travel race for me. Since my brother moved to Columbus last spring I have been meaning to head out there and pay him a visit. I figured as long as I was traveling that way I might as well schedule my trip the same weekend as a race of some. What better way to explore the city of Columbus than by running 13.1 miles around its city street, right?<br />
<br />
I got into town Thursday night. The drive was a relatively easy 10 hours from home. I wasn't too sure how the legs would like being cramped up for that long so I made sure I did plenty of walking on Friday around the expo and downtown Columbus searching for a brew pub to eat lunch at.<br />
<br />
Race morning went smoothly. Got up and had a bagel then drove and found a
parking spot near the finish line with plenty of time to spare to walk
to the start. I got up near the front and watched the guest speakers come on stage. Soon enough the gun was going off. They were cranking some Volbeat at the start so it was easy
to get pumped up and go out fast. For the first mile I was up near the front and by a
couple of guys who said they were shooting for a 1:30 pace. Perfect. I hung with them for a bit and it didn't
feel too hard the first few miles so I was pretty surprised to hit the 3
mile mark at 20:20. So far so good, but I decided to dial it back just
a touch. Got to see the horseshoe around mile 5, which was really neat.
I'm not a Buckeye fan, but still cool to see. Hit mile 6 at 41:40.
Oops, didn't need to dial it back that much. At that point I decided
holding 7's would be adequate, but that soon became a struggle. I
watched my time slowly drop the next few miles and when the cop at an
intersection stopped a bunch of us to let an ambulance and fire truck
across I knew a PR was out the question. A few
people continued to dart in front of it as it was turning, but I figured my time wasn't as important as someone's who may have been getting transported out of there. Once I got
going again I tried to get back to pace but the legs just weren't
cooperating with me. I could not get them to turn over for the life of
me. Feeling fatigued, the last couple of miles ticked by pretty slowly as I tried to
finish best as I could. Eventually the finish line showed up and I was
just happy to get across at that point.<br />
<br />
<span class="racetext"><b>Total Time</b> = 1h 36m 43s</span><br />
<span class="racetext"><b>Pace</b> = 7:23/mile<br /><b>Overall Rank</b> = 236/8056<br /><b>Age Group</b> = 30-34</span><br /><span class="racetext"> <b>Age Group Rank</b> = 39/549</span><br />
<br />
I walked around and found some food and
scored some chocolate milk. Yum! I found my brother and his girlfriend
and we hit up the post race concert so I could get my free beer, which unfortunately was a Michelob Ultra. I did pass on the free sparkling wine though. The
band was playing some LMFAO covers so we didn't stick around too long.<span class="racetext"> </span><br />
<span class="racetext"><br /></span><br />
<span class="racetext">All in all, </span>this was a well run race, with plenty of volunteers and entertainment
along a nice route through Columbus. Just a top notch effort. So while
I am disappointed with my results, I have really nothing to complain
about regarding the race itself and how it was run. I was just really surprised to start feeling fatigue around mile 7/8 especially when I held solid 7s at Hollywood for 11 miles before that hill at the end. Compound that with the fact that come October I'll need to run 7:15 miles over the course of a marathon it's got me feeling a little down. I realize that race is still 5 months away and there's plenty of time for improvement and that I can't expect to have a great race every time I go out. Still, there's a bit a disappointment, but luckily I have the drive to turn that into fuel for the training fire. The next 5 months will be a lot of hard work, but I'm definitely looking forward to the challengeNealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-49172649152513733042012-04-28T13:23:00.002-05:002012-04-28T13:23:46.482-05:00Back to Normal.......FinallyWell recovery from the Hollywood Half Marathon three weeks ago took much much longer than anticipated. One week after the race I was scheduled to run a 10k but a short run that morning sent shooting pains up my calves so I wisely pulled the plug on that one. A couple days later I tried again on Boston Marathon Monday. I couldn't not run on that day, seeing as the whole goal of this season is to qualify for that race. It wasn't a pretty run, but there was no shooting pains and I was able to grind out 5 miles. <br />
<br />
I took it slow the first week back as my calves were still protesting a bit, but by the time my long run rolled around I was feeling pretty good. I knocked out 15 easy miles and discovered that peanut butter flavored GU is by far the best gel I've ever had. It was good to feel normal again. This week I crammed in 50 miles for my highest mileage week to date. Along the way I had to make the tough choice of dropping out of the Drake Relays Half Marathon which was supposed to take place today. After the slow recovery from the last one and the Capitol City Half marathon looming just a week away I didn't want to risk not being ready for that race. Turns out the weather was spectaculalry crappy this morning so I felt a lot better about the call I made.<br />
<br />
This week will be a nice, easy dial back of the mileage before I depart for Columbus on Thursday. The race itself is looking to be a fun time. 13,000 runners for three different distances. Their website is touting 52 different musical along the way. That's a lot to cram in! The best part though, no 2 mile hill to end the race. With that in mind I'd like to think that beating my time from 3 weeks is quite possible and I'm looking forward to trying to do just that.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-48076087656809840832012-04-11T20:20:00.004-05:002012-04-11T21:13:04.448-05:00Hollywood Half MarathonThe first race of the 2012 season was last weekend! I had been looking forward to this for some time now. Not only was I running a half marathon, I was heading to sunny Los Angeles to do so. A little vacation time, a little running. It was going to be a good weekend.<br /><br />I got into town late Wednesday to give me plenty of time to enjoy myself. Did some touristy things like head to six flags and Universal Studios. Here I am nerding out in front of the Green Lantern ride at six flags.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToN3k8tiLPT8xiHyYL8apJKBD6TYeShmH5C0a4p-Ng6Rd76ujGp_WzGmhoErGgL4ALCUrSqMZxs4lC1h8EH5USEup7SMS-mYUToIC96zrb5Uvt-gYKf6d-fDzzt3hqdiCjYTTM49u4whM/s1600/IMG_0032.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgToN3k8tiLPT8xiHyYL8apJKBD6TYeShmH5C0a4p-Ng6Rd76ujGp_WzGmhoErGgL4ALCUrSqMZxs4lC1h8EH5USEup7SMS-mYUToIC96zrb5Uvt-gYKf6d-fDzzt3hqdiCjYTTM49u4whM/s400/IMG_0032.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730330865069756338" border="0" /></a>Race morning came soon enough and I was psyched to get going. Training has been going well and I was eager to see how "race ready" I was. This race had an crazy early start time of 6 am so the wake up call came early. Had time for a bit of breakfast which consisted of a banana and half a danish since Melissa and I forgot to pick up breakfast supplies. Seriously, after all of our race experience we forgot about breakfast. We cobbled together what was left over from the previous day's continental breakfast and it worked well enough for me. After that we made the short walk to the race start near the entrance to Universal Studios. Staying at the nearby Sheraton was worth it just to make that part of race morning easing. I waited with Melissa until just a few minutes till the race start and then waded through the sea of people to get next to the 7:00 pace sign in the corrals.<br /><br />So it turns out the group near the 7:00 pace sign was running nowhere near 7:00 miles. We ended up being the third group out and the first part of the race was through the narrow city walk so I spent the first half mile finding gaps to dart around slower runners and the people stopping in the middle of the street to take pictures (I seriously nearly plowed over more than one person doing this).<br /><br />After getting out of the city walk and out on a normal street things cleared up a bit. Soon the downhill portion of the race started. My original plan was to take this part conservatively. I figured bounding down a two mile hill would be detrimental to my legs later on, but after a mile of that approach I said screw it. I knew coming back up was going to suck later no matter what so why not bank some time now? Probably not smart, but I had gravity on my side and flew!<br /><br />After that the course leveled off and miles 4-11 along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard were some of the flattest I've ever run. The sun was up now and it was a great morning to run. Starting further back in the race allowed me to have plenty of targets to pick off so heading out to the turnaround I just concentrated on getting by as many people as I could. My calves started cramping early on and I blamed the downhill charge. I've been running 40+ miles a week in training so a four mile run shouldn't cause cramping. I started a search for sports drink at the next couple of aid stations but came up empty and cursed myself for not wearing my compression socks. Hit the 10k point and saw I was around 42 minutes, which was right where I wanted to be pace wise.<br /><br />The aid station at the turn around had some sports drink. Score! I was happy to have over half the race behind me at that point. The cramps were getting a little worse but I was holding my pace. In fact those middle 8 miles were all within a few seconds of eachother.<br /><br />Mile 10 had a clif shot station. I thought it was a little late in the race for that but grabbed one anyway. Raspberry...mmmm. I was looking for a water station shortly after that to wash it down with but had to wait another mile to get some. Poor planning there.<br /><br />I didn't have time to fret about it too much because the "hill" was about to start. Although hill may be a bit of an understatement. I've done plenty of steep climbs in my day, but 2 straight miles of climbing a 4-5% grade at that point in a race was a new experience all together. Of course at that point I could feel the wind in my face to for the perfect storm of "suck." I decided to embrace the suck and just keep the feet moving. Lots of people were resorting to walking at that point, even at the front end of the field. I took some solace in the fact that my legs still felt good enough to run and that there wasn't much race left.<br /><br />I somehow managed a 7:53 the first mile and an 8:23 the second so the hill was definitely doing some damage. After what seemed like forever the ground leveled off, revealing the finish line, which was quite a welcome sight. There was even a bit of a downhill leading up to it so I was able to come through feeling strong.<br /><br /><span class="racetext"><b>Total Time</b> = 1h 33m 26s<br /><b>Overall Rank</b> = 114/6099<br /><b>Age Group</b> = 30-34</span><br /><span class="racetext"> <b>Age Group Rank</b> = 18/401</span><br /><br />I grabbed my sweet finisher's medal and scarfed down some food. They had protein shakes which made my day! Then I waited for Melissa to finish before taking the "party" limo bus back to the race start. We celebrated with post-race beers, a day at Universal Studios, and more post-race beers at a local brew pub that evening where I tried my first ever Beer Float. A red ale, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup. It was surprisingly tasty.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7or3wUzquxXpaakLjGFWfXSudkCSi9_VqEXxX4TQhEGRZ4VinDWvlKJ_qiWH7oqmKqYoxAJfGd6b5zVVVcXrLESR5IfnCZz6PgNHtcwCmNL4pVXrtr3ewucEcOs5SH4rFOfQx-zQo6fn/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 334px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht7or3wUzquxXpaakLjGFWfXSudkCSi9_VqEXxX4TQhEGRZ4VinDWvlKJ_qiWH7oqmKqYoxAJfGd6b5zVVVcXrLESR5IfnCZz6PgNHtcwCmNL4pVXrtr3ewucEcOs5SH4rFOfQx-zQo6fn/s400/IMG_0035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730331014312376194" border="0" /></a>All in all I was pretty pleased with the result. Not my speediest, but that hill wreaked havoc on a lot of times that day. I was surprised with how high my overall placement was. Not only did I beat nearly 6000 people, but also a couple of minor celebrities like one of the New Kids on the Block and Rudy.<br /><br />I've got a local 10k this weekend in Clear Lake and I'm hoping that my legs have recovered by then. The hill did a number on my calves and I'm still waiting for them to come around. They should be back under me by Saturday. If not, it could be a fun dayNealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-19816737624818797012012-04-02T21:01:00.003-05:002012-04-02T21:52:24.760-05:00It's a record!Well March has come and gone already. Usually we are just digging out of the snow, but this year's weather has been a little different. I was able to ditch the tights and sleeves months ago and it's been a definite factor in piling up the mileage. Even so, I was surprised when I looked at the monthly totals:<br /><br /><table cellpadding="2'" cellspacing="0" width="100%" align="center"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;">March's totals:</td></tr><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="35%">Bike:</td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="65%">12h 00m 05s - 224.86 Mi</td></tr><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="35%">Run:</td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="65%">23h 09m 21s - 172.02 Mi</td></tr><tr><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="35%">Swim:</td><td class="smalltext" nowrap="nowrap" width="65%">23m - 1200 Yd</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I'm including all three sports to give it some perspective (and to prove that I did in fact make it to the pool once this month). Time-wise the bike and run are probably flip flopped from years past, and just goes to show how the focus has shifted this year.<br /><br />Still, I'm quite proud of that 172. My previous best was 140 miles back in July of 2010. I probably would have hit 170 that month but I took the last week off to ride RAGBRAI and promptly smack my head into the pavement.<br /><br />The best part about this is that I've managed to keep my nagging injuries at bay. That was my biggest concern bringing the mileage up. Now the racing starts in just 5 days (3 half marathons and a 10k in the next 5 weeks) so it will be just as interesting to see how the body holds up. I've surprised myself thus far and I hope I continue to do so.<br /><br />I leave for L.A. in just two days for the Hollywood half marathon on Saturday. I'm looking forward to see where my fitness stands compared to years past, and more importantly to see just how many celebrities I can beat across the finish line.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-4736799617159833502012-03-30T19:00:00.003-05:002012-03-30T19:53:36.712-05:00Review: Cheyenne Vapor Running BackpackLast week I wrote about how I started run commuting into work as a more efficient use of my time to get some mileage in. Well, aside from dealing with missing key hallucinations, I had a few other issues to contend with. One of the big ones was logistics.<br /><br />Let's say I wanted to run to work on Tuesday. On Sunday night I would have to pack a bag with Tuesday's work clothes, Tuesday's run home clothes, and both Monday's and Tuesday's lunch and massive amount of snacks I consume throughout the day. Lunch\snacks would get put in the fridge and clothes in the locker on Monday when I got to work. This was maddening to me because having to plan for a run two days in advance was just too much for my short term memory.<br /><br />The solution was to find a suitable backpack to run with so I would only have to think one day in advance, which is much more suitable for my attention span. I visited several forums, read product reviews, and weighed that in finally making a decision. What I landed on was the Nike Cheyenne Vapor Running Backpack.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0WAyA1MhYNsgY9X9bjPhYqtusos25Stpbwl3NbEd120EcCNYtLUVTsn3XPdRei1BgcwehyphenhyphenRd_Emzb7_A1NN0CuDCHLMfgGNvgrpc7i2b7l26KBL_m2mnHWddwMMxi5YeiTEkFLUKKbBQ/s1600/LIVESTRONG-Cheyenne-Vapor-Running-Backpack-BZ9243_067_A.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 306px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM0WAyA1MhYNsgY9X9bjPhYqtusos25Stpbwl3NbEd120EcCNYtLUVTsn3XPdRei1BgcwehyphenhyphenRd_Emzb7_A1NN0CuDCHLMfgGNvgrpc7i2b7l26KBL_m2mnHWddwMMxi5YeiTEkFLUKKbBQ/s400/LIVESTRONG-Cheyenne-Vapor-Running-Backpack-BZ9243_067_A.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725857299452267986" border="0" /></a><br />Normally I don't do Nike for running because I believe several other companies cater to the niche better than they do, but the product had gotten good review, the Livestrong version was 40 bucks off, and I had a gift certificate to the Nike Store. So for a little under 40 dollars I snagged this $90 retail puppy, which seemed like a steal to me.<br /><br />When it finally showed up on my door step I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't too big and bulky, which I was afraid of, but had just enough space to hold a change of clothes and my bag o' food for the day. In addition, there was a separate compartment for wet storage, which was a bonus to keep my sweaty stuff away from everything else. Also there is a rainfly that comes out of another zippered pocket. I haven't had to use it yet, but its seems handy to keep clothes and a phone dry should the weather turn nasty. My favorite feature though was a small pouch on one of the arm straps to hold my work keycard and apartment key, giving me easy access without having to take off the backpack to get to it. In fact, I can hold my shoulder up to the sensor at work and it recognizes the keycard inside without me having to remove it.<br /><br />The only negative I've found is that the pack chafes a little. This may just be an unavoidable side effect of having something strapped to your back. I've got the back and side straps as tight as I can comfortably tolerate, but there is still just a bit of bouncing that I can feel on the sides of my neck after 5 miles. Now, I have no idea if this is typical or not, but it was definitely noticeable to be. I'll keep playing with the fit to see if it gets better or maybe I'll just develop giant neck calluses once it gets broken in. Either way, the pack seems to be serving it's purpose. I no longer have to long term plan for a run. I can just throw all my stuff in the night before or morning of and set off on the road. And like I said last week, run commuting just makes you feel incredibly cool, much more so than bike commuting. The looks I get from coworkers when I tell them it's 5.5 miles each way, not roundtrip, is priceless.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-48625001201328333952012-03-22T20:59:00.004-05:002012-03-22T22:19:04.513-05:00Run commuting seemed like a good idea.....So with my new focus this year my approach to training has had to change. If you compare my training to years past you'll see that my time spent swimming (admittedly nonexistent right now) and biking is dramatically lower than usual. I've come to realize that I'm no longer a triathlete who does marathons, but rather a runner who does triathlons. My weekly running mileage is ramping up steadily so I'm looking for new and inventive ways to get it all in, while still leaving time to do a little biking and swimming (soon, I swear).<br /><br />In a moment of brilliance I realized I could traverse the 5 miles to and from work on foot. 10 mile mid-week runs are popping up on the schedule so why not do them as a commute. I eliminate 25-30 minutes of sitting in my car a day and replace it with a quality workout, effectively freeing up extra time in my day that than be put towards other workouts (or lounging in front of the TV).<br /><br />I quickly worked out the logistics of it. I didn't own a backpack suitable for running with (I do now) so I had to bring work clothes, breakfast, lunch, snacks, and afternoon running clothes with me the day before I planned to run in to make sure it was all there waiting. I was sure I would forget something since it was actually a fair bit of planning, but was pleasantly surprised come commute day when the only thing I didn't have was a pair of sunglasses to run home with. No biggie.<br /><br />The run to work that morning was great. It was nice and cool out at 4:45 in the morning and I made it to work without a problem. I waved hello to the morning smokers who were looking at me weird and went inside and showered and ate my ginormous breakfast. First half executed perfectly.<br /><br />The run home, on the other hand was a near disaster. It started out alright. I set off on my merry way after getting more strange looks from the afternoon smokers and the gaggle of people that had congregated outside to watch emergency responders deal with a semi that had overturned while attempting to turn at a nearby intersection.<br /><br />About a mile in I reach down and feel for my apartment key, which I always slip into the inside pocket of my running shorts. This is a nervous habit that I've developed over the years. While I've never had a key fall out of the pocket, it's still just a pouch with a cloth flap over it. Although the pouch of these particular pair of shorts is better constructed than others that I own. Still out of habit I feel to see if it's there every once in awhile. So I reach down and come up empty!<br /><br />Crap! I stop alongside of the busy road and have a good look down my shorts to try and find it. Nothing. Well, no key that is. I assume it fell out somewhere along the way and decide to retrace my steps back to work in hope of sighting it. As I run I can think about what to do if I can't find it, something I've never really pondered before. I realize I'm actually in a better predicament than I would be if I was running a normal run. I have my phone, which I usually don't carry with me so I can call people. Not sure who that would be since I don't think locksmith's will open apartment doors without ID (I don't think my work badge counts). Also, I'm awfully close to my realtor on this side of town. I figure if I make it back to work and haven't found the key they are only another mile or so away and they may have an extra key.<br /><br />I make it back to work but find nothing. As I head in the direction of the realtor (around the jackknifed semi) I start to think that the brief liner in the shorts is fairly snug and it would take some time for a key to work its way out of there and in doing so there's no way I wouldn't feel it. So I stop again (along another busy road) and shove my hand down there...um....under things. Meanwhile I'm hoping the semi serves as a distraction so no one notices my digging and count myself lucky that I'm not within a hundred yards of school because I'm pretty sure what I'm doing would be construed as illegal. Lo and behold my rummaging pays off and I find the key! I'm not really sure how I didn't feel it down there while I was running along. It doesn't matter though. I breathe a sigh of relief and continue on my way back home. My five miler turned into a little over 7, but I can't really complain about the two bonus miles.<br /><br />Upon arriving home, I immediately dug out a little zippered pouch that can attach to the shoe for key stowage and tested it out over the weekend. I could feel the key flopping around inside and that bugged me so I'm investigating other option for keeping the key safe. I really don't need to repeat that experience anytime soon.<br /><br />Needless to say, today's run commute went much smoother than the first. I did sleep in a bit in an attempt to miss the rain, but it started in anyway during the run with about two miles to go. I got more weird looks as I arrived sopping wet, but I'm getting used to them now. At least the run home was drier.<br /><br />Despite the hiccups, the run commute is going to remain a staple of my training this year. It seems to be a very efficient way to get miles in (I was home by 4:30 today with plenty of time for other workouts). My running backpack just arrived in the mail today so I'm excited to experiment with that next week in hopes of cutting out some of the planning that goes into this. My only regret is that I didn't think of this sooner (ie. last year during IM training).NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-34750773534504846402012-03-16T19:26:00.002-05:002012-03-16T20:23:19.703-05:00Back from the Dead!Time for a revival of sorts. Of the blog that is. I haven't posted here in over a year and frankly, let's just pretend like last year never happened.<br /><br />Oh I trained and I raced, but there was nothing really to write home about (or to post online for a select group of readers to dissect). 2011 was a year of mediocrity. Plain and simple. I focused on other areas of my life and the training volume/intensity just wasn't there to replicate or improve upon my 2010 season. I did finish my second Ironman race, which is an accomplishment in and of itself, but it was a tough race and I just really wasn't satisfied with the result. There's a race report on BT somewhere if you want the gory details, but in short it was undertraining + GI issues/cramping = slow result.<br /><br />I also finished my third stand alone marathon at an awesome venue running the Marine Corps Marathon in October. It was a really fun race, but being overweight and out of shape made it quite difficult to finish under 4 hours. The funny thing was I was pleased with the result. Not so much the finish time, but the fact I was able to run the entire thing and not walk at all, something I hadn't accomplished in the previous two, faster marathons. That sort of thing boded well for my next undertaking, which I will get into a bit later.<br /><br />After the marathon, the off season was upon me. For most this a is a time to cut back on training and rest and recover from a long season of training. For me it was time to eat and drink and get even more out of shape than I already was. By Christmas I had ballooned up to 185 pounds, my highest weight since dropping 50 pounds 5 years ago. Things had gotten out of hand.<br /><br />At the same time I was evaluating what went wrong the season prior and what I wanted to accomplish. It was clear I didn't want to race Ironman again (yet). The hours training had burnt me out. While I hadn't trained as much last year, it still takes quite a bit to just scrape by at the Ironman distance. I was sick of swimming, sick of my bike, and I really just wanted to run. At the same time, after resuming mild training after MCM my achilles of all things was acting up and I had to take a running hiatus in November and December. It was at that time that I realized I really just wanted to run. It was the only of the three disciplines that I truly missed.<br /><br />I started to think about goals and things I want to accomplish. Tri-wise I still have goals out there, but with the burn-out I need to recover from maybe I needed to focus my efforts elsewhere. One of my non-tri goals is to qualify for the Boston marathon. So I started to think, if I could get healthy and really focus on running what could I do? In the past I've bookended my marathon training onto the latter part of long course tri training, more of an afterthought than anything, and still managed a 3:20 PR at the Twin Cities martahon in 2009. A 3:10 (the time I would need to hit to qualify for Boston) with proper training seems entirely possible.<br /><br />I started to get excited again. I had a clear cut goal that my heart was actually into achieving. The possibility was exhilarating. So as cliche as it sounds, the first of the year brought about a change for me. A conscious effort at a diet plan, an execution of a running schedule that took care not to get me re-injured. I was a full fledged resolutioner. And it's paid off.<br /><br />I'm down 18 pounds since the beginning of January. I ran 68 miles in January. I've run 75 in the first two weeks of March. I'm excited. I'm focused. And I'm ready for a fun 2012.<br /><br />The blog is back from the dead in part because I'm excited to share in the journey that accompanies this new challenge. Aside from that I also took some time to examine what made 2010 so successful versus 2011. I tried to look at habits contributed to that success and I deemed that this blog was one of them. There's nothing like being held accountable to family and friends to motivate one's self. That and I just like to write.<br /><br />So that said I'm happy to be back. Feel free to yell at me if I go more than a week without a post. I already have the topic of the next post in mind as I'm set to relate my trials and tribulations of run commuting to work. Till then take care.NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4615574911535063778.post-91230050469884150462011-02-13T19:58:00.004-06:002011-02-13T20:39:38.895-06:00And I Thought Chicks had a lot of ShoesA big brown package arrived on my doorstep this week. Now, I have a pretty bad amazon.com shopping habit so this isn't at all unusual. This was a package that I had been looking forward to for awhile though.<br /><br />This last fall I had developed a case a shin splints that eventually sidelined me for an extended period of time. Thus, as you may recall, I faked my way through a half marathon that a wiser person would never have run. The thing with shin splints is that you can't continue to run through them. I learned this the hard way. Pretty much the only way to get past them is rest. There's some calf strengthening exercises that I've been doing to prevent a recurrence of them but really the only way to prevent them is to identify what was causing them in the first place and eliminate that cause.<br /><br />Now, I've never had shin splints in all of my short running "career" so, being the master detective that I am, I was able to deduce that something had to have changed in my routine to cause this. I immediately identified three culprits.<br /><br />1) I took two weeks off of physical activity after IMMOO last fall and after that I started running. There's a possibility that my body had not recovered from the stress of an Ironman yet and was more prone to injury.<br /><br />2) After the break I was so sick of swimming and biking that I needed an alternate source of exercise to keep me active. Enter P90X. The shin splints always seemed to be worse after the plyometrics workout. Damn you Tony Horton.<br /><br />3) Upon resuming running I switched exclusively to a new shoe, the Brooks Ghost 3. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Brooks products. I'm pretty much a 5' 8" Brooks advertisement when I'm out running and will continue to use their products. Prior to the new shoe I was running in the previous model, the Ghost 2. I think they made some changes in the new model and I never really liked them as much as the Ghost 2, mostly because they were a little heavier.<br /><br />So three variables. I'm a scientist and when I'm running an experiment I don't like changing more than one variable because then the result you get cannot with certainty be attributed to a single variable. In this case though, if the end result is pain free running I really don't care.<br /><br />I took a couple more weeks off. I cut plyometrics from the P90X workouts and eventually the workouts ended altogether (and I still don't have a 6-pack! WTH!). And I switched back to my old Ghost 2s when I cleared myself to start running again. Oh, and I also started wearing some calf compression sleeves, so fourth variable.<br /><br />Running from that point forward has been relatively pain free and I made it through that half marathon with no shin pain (my hip on the other hand.....). So what does this have to do with the package I got the other day? It was a box with four pairs of Brooks Ghost 2 shoes. I figured I get about 500 miles out of a pair so that will get me through another two seasons worth of running. I feel kind of ridiculous with that many pairs of shoes, but hey, if that's what gets me through another season of Ironman training then it's worth it. In fact, maybe I should have gotten more. Now where did I put my credit card......... <br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjq8yDA9B-Xmj-nAx-ZXnNwzf3CZI38jxrMSXb_7wafVWTiuFAiKhmKDFGHzabbYEmu2NvWxeje_1c2kV4vivSFyzAS6XLyVJCvIPuC3eSXxnv0eyYM8ASoi_DfEVcOiSrarBunJzTTzAz/s1600/P1000451.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjq8yDA9B-Xmj-nAx-ZXnNwzf3CZI38jxrMSXb_7wafVWTiuFAiKhmKDFGHzabbYEmu2NvWxeje_1c2kV4vivSFyzAS6XLyVJCvIPuC3eSXxnv0eyYM8ASoi_DfEVcOiSrarBunJzTTzAz/s400/P1000451.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573368057372410354" border="0" /></a>NealDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16282973346526362685noreply@blogger.com0