Simon Says...Run

SAND BAGGING

2012-01-27T19:59:00.001-06:00

I'm #1, I'm #1...

Er, I mean, I'm #56, I'm #56, I'm #56! At least that's what Rick Kimbal says in his list of the top 100 running blogs. I didn't even realize there were still 100 running blogs out there. Things were a lot different when I started this thing back in 2005. It seemed like a really small community and every blogger seemed to follow every other blogger out there. Seven years later I have no idea whatever happened to most of those bloggers. Out of Rick's top 100, Andrew is the only other blog that I recognized.

I'm about 13 hours from the Winter Carnival Half Marathon. I know a couple of sand baggers that posted their goals for the race, so I thought I'd put my goals down on "paper" too. Based on my Meet of Miles time, my age graded % says I should be able to run 1:31:13. Keep in mind the Meet of Miles is run indoors, which equals no wind, a flat surface, and minimal apparel. Considering that and the fact that I haven't run more than 12 miles for months, I'm going to throw in a little sand and shoot for sub-1:32. On a great day a sub-1:30 may be possible.

I'm giving Steve and Mike a hard time about their predictions because they were both at the Meet of Miles too and they were like 60 and 40 seconds ahead of me, respectively. And both of them are talking about running like 1:28 tomorrow and maybe 1:25 on a great day. I'm betting they'll both break 1:25.

Quote of the day;

"You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." - Percy Cerutty

TRAINING UPDATE

2012-01-24T12:52:00.000-06:00

I’ve been so focused on the Trials that I haven’t written much about my own running lately.

My official Meet of Miles results came in and they had me at 5:53 instead of the 5:51 I had. With this year’s goals being all about improving as the year goes on, I thought I’d also track my age graded %. The one mile results calculate to right around 68%. I can’t remember ever being below 70%, so I have some work to do.

Before leaving for Houston I squeezed in a 4 mile tempo run at 6:54 pace. That was the first time I dipped under 7:00-pace this training cycle, so that was encouraging. Last Friday I followed that up with 5 miles at 6:53 pace. So things seem to be going in the right direction.

This new “Endless Season” approach emphasizes alternating short and long intervals every week. That’s one thing I haven’t been very good about incorporating. I did an okay job in December when the weather was still nice, but I went from December 26th to January 24th between interval workouts. In my defense, the meet of miles was on January 9th.

In any case, this morning I did 4 x 1 mile at my 10K pace with ½ mile jog in between. The workout actually called for five mile repeats, but I stopped after four because 1) it was my first such workout and I was more concerned with easing into it and 2) I’m running a half marathon on Saturday and don’t want to be trashed. Those seemed like good enough reasons at the time.

Mileage-wise I’ve been hovering between 50-60 MPW, but dropped to 40 during my trip to Houston. I have thoughts of going higher, but I keep reminding myself that the “Endless Season” is about consistency and mixing in speed and tempos. I’m just afraid if I creep up much higher, the workouts will fall from my program.

I will say that while I love to ski, I really needed a winter like this where I can focus on getting back into running shape – especially after my foot injury. If we would have had enough snow to ski on, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be running as much, which would delay me regaining my running fitness even further.

Quote of the Day;

"Then I heard I finished in 10th place and that was pretty exciting, and someone told me I won $4,000, too. But I don’t care about the money. That will go away, but the time never will.” - Jimmy Grabow, 10th at the Olympic Trials Marathon

HOUSTON RECAP

2012-01-18T12:57:00.001-06:00

That sound you hear is me recovering from Houston. For a running geek like me, it was an awesome weekend. Of course, the Olympic Trials races were the highlights, but here are a few other cool things I got to do;

Actually have fun at an Expo, rather than just pick up my bib and leave.
Drink beer about five feet from Brian Sell on Friday night.
Attend the post-race press conferences.
Drink beer with the most knowledgeable person in the sport that I know, Sean Hartnett.
Watch more friends run on Sunday.
Hang out with a ton of cool Minnesotans.
I won't mention anything about watching the Packer game.

It turns out Hall’s prediction of needing to run 2:09 to make the team were spot-on. I have to admit, I did not see four Americans running sub-2:10.

Overall, I think my predictions were okay. I entered the letruns.com prediction contest and here are my pick, along with their actual place.

MEN

1) Hall – 2nd
2) Gotcher – 5th
3) Lehmkuhle – 18th
4) Hartmann – 32nd
5) Meb – 1st
6) Arciniaga – 8th
7) Smyth – 22nd
8) Vaugh – DNF
9) Carlson – 6th
10) Gabrielson – DNF

WOMEN

1) Davila – 2nd
2) Flanagan – 1st
3) Hastings – 4th
4) Kastor – 6th
5) Cherobon-Bawcom - 5th
6) McGregor – 11th
7) Lewy-Boulet – 10th
8) Rothstein - DNF
9) Pritz - DNF
10) Peyton – DNF

Given the high stakes involved with finishing in the top-3, I think it’s fair to say that someone’s finish place in the trials doesn’t always represent their level of fitness. For example, Minnesotans Katie McGregor and Jason Lehmkuhle have finished 4th and 5th at the last trials. So there’s really no incentive for them to be conservative and worry about placing as high as possible – if that means not making the top-3. They are left with a go-for-broke game plan, which more often than not results in a late race meltdown. With that said, I was extremely happy to see both of them “Get after it!” as Carrie Tollefson would say. Even if it ultimately meant that they faded to 11th and 18th, respectively. With a conservative approach Lehm probably would have finished 5th, while McGregor would have been around 7th or 8th.

A couple of other things worth mentioning. Congrats to Michelle Frey who finished 22nd in 2:37:03. That wasn’t a PR, but she hasn’t run that fast since probably 2006 when her 2:35:51 landed her on the cover of Runner’s World. Congrats to Nichole Porath for her shiny new PR, 2:44:12. On the men’s side, one of the best performances of the weekend goes to Andrew Carlson who debuted with a 2:11:24 (7th fastest debut ever by an American). That was good enough for 6th place. And congrats to Mike Reneau who placed 20th in 2:14:37, a PR by 2:08. Other Minnesotans, Donovan Fellows, Chris Erichsen, Joe Moore, and Justin Grunewald also PR’d. Finally, after the race, Luke Watson announced his retirement. Congrats to him on a great career.

Enough of my babbling, here’s the latest Run Junkie

Quote of the Day;

"We figured I'd run 5:30s for the first 20 miles, then cut it down to 5:20s or 5:15s. Get into that uncomfortable range. One thing I've learned is the race really starts at the last 10-K. I want to get to that point as comfortably as possible. Then you've got to do something to force the race to go your way." – Desi Davila after this year’s Boston Marathon

WOMEN'S PREDICTIONS

2012-01-12T12:59:00.000-06:00

Still lots of great stuff on the Trials being posted. Letsrun.com has posted a men’s preview along with another article for their ten long shots. It’s nice to see some Minnesotans (and a former Team Minnesota runner) on those lists. They also put out their women’s preview.
Unfortunately, I’m not going to have time to write up my picks for the top 10 women. So I’ll just give my top 3 along with others to watch. Like everyone else, I can’t see how Desi Davila and Shalane Flanagan don’t make the team. I’m not sure who takes first place, but I’m going to have to go with Desi. That puts Flanagan second and I’ll round out the podium with Amy Hastings. For some reason I think Kara Goucher will have an off day and perhaps decide to save herself for the track. Like Mo Trafeh on the men’s side, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom scares the hell out of me. And I’m definitely not counting out Deena Kastor.

Of course, I’d love to see Team Minnesota’s Katie McGregor make the team, but she’s going to need to have her A game, and then some. Here’s a video of her as she talks about finishing 4th at the last two Trials at 10,000m.

Quote of the Day;

"If it’s a slow-paced race, like 2:28 to 2:30 pace, then the door opens for more people, and you could see 10 to 12 women in the hunt at halfway. If it goes out at 2:24 to 2:26 pace, then that number gets reduced by 50 percent.” – Terrence Mahon

MUST SEE

2012-01-11T12:56:00.004-06:00

I’m trying to get around to posting my women’s predictions, but every time I sit down at the computer I end up watching a bunch of videos and reading a bunch of blogs regarding the Trials.

For example, here’s a “must see” video of the Team MN guys.

Marathon Road from Paul Sanft on Vimeo.

And Run Junkie is back with their first episode of the year. Of course, much of it is about the Trials.

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

And here’s a nice write-up by Toni Reavis regarding the women’s field.

I’m so looking forward to this race. With all the pre-race coverage it’s really hard to decipher who’s really fit and who’s trying to convince themselves that their really fit. Not that I have to worry about it, but if I were in this race, I don’t think I’d look online or read emails for the month leading up to the event.

A few quick comments on my own running; Official results put me at 5:53 for the mile. Surprisingly, nothing is sore from that race, although my legs were pretty tired this morning. Right now I’m sticking around the 50-55 MPW range – the last 3 weeks have been 54, 50 and 55.

Quote of the Day;

"Running is just you, the work you put in, and the clock. You can't cheat yourself. If you don't put in the miles, you can't go to the starting line thinking you're going to pull a miracle out of nowhere. You get out exactly as much as you put in." – Desi Davila

OUTSIDE THE NORM

2012-01-10T06:58:00.000-06:00

Along with my new "Endless Season" approach to 2012, I've also decided to mix up other aspects of my training and racing. For example, in the past I've avoided lots of racing either because I wasn't in shape or the race didn't "fit" into the marathon buildup I was doing at the time. And if I did race it was usually 8K races or longer with maybe one or two 5Ks per year. It's easy to say (and think) you're going to mix things up, but until you actually do, it's just talk.

Well, last night I actually followed through by jumping in the Meet of Miles - an indoor track race at the U of M Fieldhouse. Basically, it's a night of 1 mile heats and you just sign up for the appropriate heat based on the time you think you'll run. Signing up for this was way outside of the norm for me. I haven't raced indoors since 1996 and I don't think I've run a mile since 1987.

When I got there, I really had no idea what heat to sign up for. I've been basing all my Endless Season workouts off a Jack Daniels' VDOT of 48, which equates to a 6:03 mile, 20:39 5K, 42:50 10K, 1:34:53 half and 3:17 marathon. So I initially signed up for the 6:00 - 6:30 heat - even though I was eyeballing the 5:45 - 6:00 heat sheet. I told a buddy what heat I was in and he rolled his eyes. I eventually went back and signed up for the faster heat instead.

I had 3 goals for this race; 1) don't get injured, 2) run controlled and 3) earn some points in the first MDRA Grand Prix race of the year. And, of course, work towards one of my overall goals for the year, regain a love of racing.

I'm happy to report that I achieved all those goals as I ended up running around 5:51 or 5:52. I didn't take any splits so I don't have any details. I just know it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be - kind of makes me want to plan for an indoor track season with some 3 and 5K races. But I'd better not get ahead of myself.

As I've mentioned before, one of the keys to the Endless Season is to run at the correct speed for each type of workout you're doing. With last night's race, now I have a better idea of what those paces should be. My time corresponds with a VDOT of 50 which equates to 19:57 for 5K, 41:21 for 10K, 1:31:35 half, and 3:10 marathon. Now that I have a benchmark, I can look to improve upon those times throughout the year.

Quote of the day;

"While there is nothing glorious about the way I’ve ended up committed to running – not yet anyhow - there is the possibility that come January 14 I’ll be able to perform at a level that pays homage to and says something powerfully rich about the people I’ve been fortunate enough to call training partners, coaches, and friends." - Patrick Smyth

MEN'S PREDICTIONS

2012-01-06T11:46:00.000-06:00

First off, if you read nothing else today, be sure to check out Runner’s World’s interview with Terrence Mahon. He offers some great insight into next weekend’s races.

Ever since I posted my Trials Preview a few weeks ago, I’ve been meaning to write a prediction segment as well. I thought I could just sit down and hammer out my predictions for the top three in each race. It seems easy enough to pick Hall, Ritz and Meb for the men and Davila, Goucher, and Flanagan for the women. However, things rarely go as planned with marathon training or the race itself, so picking the top-3 is not as easy as it sounds.

I began by narrowing each field to 17-18 runners that I think will be in the mix. Obviously, that’s still too many. Today I’ll try to narrow down the men’s side even further and eventually pick my top 3. In order to do this, I applied a few broad-sweeping exclusions. First, the guys had to run 2:12 or better. While it’s not impossible to go from 2:18 to 2:12, it’s not likely either. Second, I’ve excluded guys that have never run a marathon. That includes names like Galen Rupp, Mo Trafeh, Andrew Carlson, and Patrick Smyth. Obviously, all four of those guys have the talent to make the team, but I think making your debut at the trials puts you at a disadvantage. That leaves me with 8 guys to review below.

Here are the guys that should be in the top-10;

Ed Moran, ran a solid debut (2:11:46) at the 2011 NYC Marathon. But that means the first-timer has to recover, train and taper in just 10 weeks. I think that’s too much to ask.

Nick Archiniaga, has run 2:11:30, 2:11:48 and 2:13:46. I thought about picking him for my top-3, but his recent blog raised a couple of red flags. He talks about just now getting excited and gaining confidence. For me, I’ve run my best when I’m able to build my confidence over a long stretch. Two weeks doesn’t seem long enough to me, but maybe that’s normal for him.

Jason Hartmann, has run 2:11:06 and 2:12:09. I definitely think he has a shot at top-3, but I going to say top-5 is more likely.

Dathan Ritzenhein, at 29 years old, he’s already looking to make his third Olympic team. I’m a big fan of Ritz, but he basically missed all of 2011 due to Achilles surgery and complications. I think that may be too much to overcome. He’s one of the few guys in the field that could also make the team in the 5,000m or 10,000m. If he’s having a bad race he may save himself for the track.

Meb Keflezighi, his qualifying performances are amazing, especially considering he’s 36 years old; 2:09:13, 2:09:15, 2:09:21, 2:09:26 and 2:11:38. Like Moran, he ran at NYC too. I just don’t think that’s enough time to recover. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Meb proved me wrong.

And here’s my podium;

Brett Gotcher, although he’s only run one marathon, his 2:10:36 at the 2010 Houston Marathon was the 4th fastest debut by an American. He ran really well at the TC-10 mile and Archiniaga mentioned sticking with him for 1K repeats until the last one when Gotcher beat him by 13 seconds.

Jason Lehmkuhle, he’s this year’s Brian Sell – someone who gets close at the previous trials, sticks with it for 4 more years and then makes the team. He finished 5th in 2007 and has run 2:12:34, 2:13:40, and 2:14:39 since then. He’s smart, patient, and experienced. Plus, all the reports coming from the river roads are very encouraging.

Ryan Hall, the top three qualifying times and 5 of the top 10. Other than injury, I can’t think of a single scenario where this guy doesn’t make the team.

If you’re interested in reading some other articles, check out a list of underdogs ,11 guys to watch, and 12 runners to watch.

I’d love to hear what everyone else out there thinks. Who are your favorites and your dark horses?

I’ll share my women’s picks soon.

Quote of the Day;

“There are only one or two guys capable of going sub-2:10 [at the Trials]. Ryan and Meb. You have to remember that this isn’t a paced race, and I don’t see anyone running their lights out in the first half. It’s likely to just build slowly, with a 65 or 66 for the first half. From there, you’ve got to come back with at 63 or 64 to run sub-2:10. Not a lot of people can do that… In the Trials, it’s the smart, experienced runner who often nabs the open spot.” – Terrence Mahon

NO WONDER

2012-01-04T09:17:00.001-06:00

First off, be sure to check out this video of the Team Minnesota guys training for the trials.

Watch more video of USA Olympic Marathon Trials 2012 Houston on flotrack.org

Then read Matt’s latest thoughts.

This new program has me alternating between short and long intervals each week. I mentioned that my ½ mile repeats felt a lot easier than my ¼ mile repeats. I attributed that to 1) being more used to slower stuff and 2) getting a little more fit. The real reason they felt easier is because they were supposed to be 1 mile repeats at the pace I was running. So, it’s no wonder they felt easier.

Yesterday I relearned a couple of valuable lessons. First, running speed workouts outside in January in Minnesota is not easy. I thought I’d be able to do my mile repeats when it was 11 degrees at 6 AM, on a somewhat slippery trail. I talked myself out of them telling myself I’d run them the next day. Second, don’t rely on using the treadmills at work to do your key workouts – especially not right after the New Year. The Resolutionists will always show up this time of year and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to get in the workout you want. With that in mind, I’m trying to remind myself that it’s only January. If I skip or postpone an interval session, it’s not the end of the world. At this point it’s more important to maintain consistency and build on my December by putting in some solid mileage.

Speaking of December, I ended up running 28 of 31 days for 206 miles. I think that’s pretty solid given that my previous months were 17, 4, 92, 46 and 68. The last 2 month’s included a lot of roller skiing, but not much running. As you can guess, my mileage for the year really low. I closed with 1,544 miles. That’s my lowest total since 2003 when I was training for an Ironman.

Quote of the Day;

“I, for one, think that I am in the best fitness of my life including the few times I thought that I couldn’t get much fitter and went on to run 13:30 for 5000m. Even last June when I put together a 2:13 marathon, I wondered how I could gain the next 1% needed for a huge jump to that 2:11 give or take range; I’m not wondering how, but when. And that’s all good and exciting and everything.” – Matt Gabrielson

YEAR IN REVIEW

2012-01-02T18:55:00.001-06:00

I wasn't planning on putting this type of post together, but got the idea from my sister-in-law. I think it's a good idea to look back on the year to what you accomplished and what you wish you would have done. Here's a look back at 2011 for me.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Travelled to Arizona and Brainerd, MN, took a Disney cruise.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Not sure if I made any specific resolutions in 2011. So, if I did, I’m guessing I didn’t keep them. I’m not making any resolutions in 2012, but I am going to come up with some specific running goals for the year. Things I can work towards and be held accountable for.

3. What is the most interesting new place you visited?

The Grand Canyon.

4. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

I’d like to rediscover a love of racing, especially shorter stuff. I only did 2 races in 2011, Birkie and Grandma’s Marathon.

5. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March - it was the first time the girls’ and Amy’s spring break lined up, so we went on a Disney cruise to Florida and Mexico.

May – double crossing of the Grand Canyon (R2R2R).

August – first trip to Brainerd area.

December – overnight trip to Duluth, including skiing at Spirit Mountain, which was Katie’s first time skiing.

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Running the Grand Canyon.

7. What was your biggest failure?

Not sure I’d call it a failure, but not getting all the way to the north rim still bugs me a little.

8. Did you suffer illness or injury?

After R2R2R my right knee bothered me more than ever. Then in October my right foot swelled up. Between the two injuries there was a 5 month stretch where I only ran about 180 miles, total.

9. What was the best thing you bought?

We remodeled our lower level by ripping down a wall and opening up the house, along with new cabinets, countertops, lighting and flooring.

10. Where did most of your money go?

Remodeling project.

11. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

R2R2R and installing the new floor by myself.

12. What song will always remind you of 2011?

I listened to Disturbed’s Indestructable and Façade a lot while training for the Grand Canyon.

13. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

a) the same, b) fatter – need to lose 8-10 pounds to get to my ‘fighting weight’, c) poorer on paper due to the remodeling.

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Taking pictures, reading, listening to new music, interviewing more local runners, learning something new.

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Procratinating. Playing meaningless video games.

16. What was your favorite TV program?

I don’t want much TV any more. When I do, it’s usually something on either the Discovery or History channels, like Pawn Stars, American Restoration, American Pickers, Storage Wars.

17. What was the best book you read?

I didn’t read nearly enough in 2011, but two of my favorites were both written by Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit and Unbroken.

18. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Not sure I discovered anything musically in 2011. Although it is neat to see Katie start piano lessons and Kinsey take up the clarinet.

19. What was your favorite film of this year?

I don’t even remember if Amy and I went to a non-kids’ movie or not during the year.

20. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 42, but I don’t remember what we did. Probably ordered pizza.

23. What kept you sane?

This year, roller skiing kept me sane while I couldn’t run.

24. What’s the best thing you learned in 2011?

I’m a runner. Even though I spent much of the year doing P90X, taking spin classes or roller skiing, it all comes back to running for me.

TRULY AMAZING

2011-12-28T12:38:00.003-06:00

After my last post, I came up with one more unbelievable thing. The Timberwolves are actually fun to watch. At least they were in their first game. Last night was brutal. I was about to get on the Ricky Rubio bandwagon, but I’m going to wait a little bit. While he’s fun to watch in the open court, he’s pretty unspectacular in the half court game. And his defense needs some work. But with him, Love, Williams,etc., they could be fun to watch. I didn't include Beasley in that list because he pouts too much and doesn't pass the ball.

Readers might not know this, but basketball was my true love growing up. I used to love taking my “boom box” to the nearest court and shoot hoops for an hour or two. Even with all that shooting, I was just an average shot. But that’s okay because I enjoyed passing more than scoring. Isiah Thomas was my boyhood idol, so I’d try to mimic my game after him. That may be why I had more turnovers than assist.

I mentioned winning an iPad at the holiday Christmas party. I’m still trying to figure out all the bells and whistles that go with Apple products. It’s truly amazing, but part of me can’t help think of that Seinfeld episode where George is offered Superbowl tickets. While most people would be excited, all George can think about is how much it’s going to cost to fly to the game and get a hotel. He says something like, “This is really a bill for $2,000.” That’s how I feel. In order to tap into this amazing gadget, it’s going to cost some money.

As for running, I forgot to mention that I ran 54 miles last week. That seems about right for this new program at this point in the season. This morning I had another great 10 mile trail run at Hyland Park.

Like a billion other Americans, I’m thinking about trying to lose some weight after the New Year. Typically, when I was racing fit, I had been weighing in around 148 pounds or less. With my recent lack of running, I ended up getting up to 158. I’m now around 156, so I still have 8 pounds to go. Perhaps steady weeks of 50+ MPW will be enough, however, it wouldn’t hurt to watch what I eat and drink a little bit more.

Quote of the Day;

“It’s easy, once you get rolling, to keep doing more and more. The momentum just builds. But before long you get compulsive about it and start thinking that if you miss a workout, you’re going to turn into a pumpkin; or worse – your racing edge is going to disappear. I think that’s a lot of garbage.” – Herm Atkins, 2:11 marathoner

UNBELIEVABLE

2011-12-26T17:16:00.004-06:00

I’m not sure what’s more unbelievable;

1) It’s December 26th and I ran in shorts today.

2) It’s 50 degrees and sunny.

3) I ran 400 meter repeats.

4) I’m ready to throw in the towel on the x-c ski season – or lack thereof.

I’d have to look back in my logbook, but I’d guess number one has been done before since any nice little warming trend in the 40s would be enough to make that happen.

I’m pretty sure temps in the 40s in December is not that amazing. However, temps in the 50s seem unheard of. Who would have thought you could take down your Christmas lights the day after Christmas and it’d be warmer than when you put them up in November? Note: I said, “Could”. Ours are still up.

The third one is probably the most amazing just by itself. Throw in the fact that I did it outside, in shorts, on a dirt track and I think we have a winner.

Considering how much I was roller skiing in October and November, it’s hard to believe where the x-c ski season has gone. January is right around the corner and I haven’t even been on my skis yet. That puts the Birkie 9 weeks away. I don’t see any snow in the forecast for the upcoming week. Two weekend after that, I’ll be in Houston for the Trials. That leaves 6 weeks to get up to 50K. I’m thinking I may be better off by just continuing to focus on running this winter. That doesn’t mean I won’t ski if we get snow. It just means I won’t be trying to cram in a ski marathon.

Quote of the day;

“My only dream and ambition was to compete against the best in the world.” – Mark Plaatjes, gold medallists at the 1993 World Championships marathon

GETTING INTERESTING

2011-12-23T19:55:00.001-06:00

If I had been running all year, I’m sure I’d be looking forward to skiing. However, given that I wasn’t able to run much the second half of the year, this lack of snow hasn’t really bothered me. Now I’m to the point where I’m enjoying the fact that we’re going to have a short winter.

The only thing really different with this week’s training from last week’s is that Tuesday was long intervals, instead of last week’s short intervals. I did 5 x ½ mile between 6:44 and 6:49 pace with ¼ mile jog in between. It’s probably no surprise, but the longer intervals felt easier than last week’s ¼ mile intervals. I followed that up with a 10-mile trail run on Wednesday and a super easy 4-mile run on Thursday.

Today I hit the treadmill again for 8 miles, including 4 miles at 7:03 pace. It’s hard to compare last week’s 4 miles at 7:08 pace to today’s run because last week I was outside. Given my relative lack of fitness, I’m hoping I see some pretty significant gains pretty quickly.

Okay, there are lots of cool videos popping up lately, mostly related to the Olympic Trials Marathon. Below are some of my favorites. Speaking of the Trials, did you see that Galen Rupp threw his name in the mix? And now Jen Rhines has decided to run the marathon too. Things just got more interesting!

Here’s Minnesota’s Runner of the Year, Chris Erichsen.

Brooks-Hansons Distance Project – Desi Davila and Mike Morgan.

Scott McPherson going all “Quenton Cassidy”.

Jen Rhines talking about NYC and her decision to run the Trials.

New Run Junkie episode.

Finally, “The Chase”.

DIFFERENT TUNE

2011-12-19T12:21:00.001-06:00

In the intro of my last post I mentioned that I didn’t believe Hall’s and Davila’s comments about the kinds of times it was going to take to get on the podium at the trials. Scott Douglas didn’t believe them either and he put together this article explaining why.

Quick updated on my training. I finished my first week of the Endless Season program. Thursday’s run was what Rubio calls “True Recovery”. He calls for 0-30 minutes at an easy pace. I strolled around for 37 minutes and called it 4 miles. Friday I took advantage of having the day off and ran my tempo run outside. I ran 9 miles total, including 4 miles at 7:08 pace. Saturday was my second day off for the week. Given the time of year, with family being in town, I don’t worry about missing an extra day or two during the holidays. So I “only” had 37 miles last week. Yesterday everyone went home and I took advantage of the 43 degree weather to run 12 miles on the trails. There’s nothing like running in shorts on December 18th. Finally, this morning I ran an easy 6 miles.

I love winter more than the next guy, but since I basically had a 5 month stretch with limited running, I’m not missing winter too much. While I like to ski, I have no problem focusing on running until skiing presents itself. Of course, after trying to ski 50K on 2/25 I might be singing a different tune.

Quote of the Day;

“There is a great advantage in training under unfavorable conditions. It is better to train under bad conditions, for the difference is then a tremendous relief in a race.” – Emil Zatopek

OLYMPIC TRIALS MARATHON PREVIEW

2011-12-16T10:54:00.000-06:00

As of tomorrow, the Olympic Trials Marathon will only be 4 weeks away. Yesterday Flotrack posted an article with quotes from the 2 favorites, Ryan Hall and Desiree Davila. Both runners think the races will be fast. Hall predicts the top-3 will have to run sub-2:10, while Davila thinks 2:24 will win it, with 2:28 getting you on the team. Given that the trials records are 2:09:02 (Hall in 2007) and 2:28:25 (Colleen De Reuck in 2004), I’m not sure I agree with those predictions. If I had to pick, I’d say the women are more likely to run those kinds of times.

Below is a preview I wrote for MDRA. If you’d rather read it online – with photos – you can check it out HERE. If you’re an MDRA member, this issue will be in the mail on Monday.

2012 Marathon Trials Preview
By: Chad Austin

With apologizes to The Clash, “London’s Calling,” as in the 2012 Olympic Games. But first, athletes must qualify. For the top marathoners in the U.S., this means finishing in the top three at the marathon trials in Houston, Texas, on January 14, 2012. For the first time ever, the men and women will run their trials in the same city on the same day.

Below is a break down the top runners, the favorites, the contender, the dark horses and the locals. Speaking of local runners, Minnesota will be very well represented in Houston, as we have 15 qualifiers for each of the races. That’s nearly 10 percent of the entire field.

THE WOMEN
Four years ago, I wrote that the women’s field was wide open, mainly due to the fact that two of the top five qualifiers chose to focus on the track instead. Not only is that not the case this time around, but many of the top track athletes, namely Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, and Katie McGregor, have moved up to the marathon since the last trials and they all have top 10 qualifying times. They’ll have to contend with the “old guard”, which includes Olympians, Magdalena Lewy Boulet, Deena Kastor, Blake Russell and even 47-year-old Colleen De Reuck.

The favorites

Desiree Davila. Age: 28, PR: 2:22:38, Qualifier: 2:22:38, Boston (’11)

Davila’s marathon progression looks like this: 2:44, 2:37, 2:31, 2:26, 2:22. Like Ryan Hall on the men’s side, her leading qualifying time was run at this year’s Boston Marathon, with a 20 m.p.h. tailwind, as was Kara Goucher’s second leading time. Throw those times out and Davila’s 2:26:20 at the 2010 Chicago Marathon is the top seeded time. Plus, this year, she PR’d at the 5,000 meters (15:08), 10,000 meters (31:37) and half marathon (1:10:34).

Kara Goucher. Age: 33, PR: 2:24:52, Qualifier: 2:24:52, Boston (’11)

Primarily a track runner throughout her career, Goucher made the jump to the marathon in New York City in 2008. She ended up placing third in 2:25:53, becoming the first American on the podium in 14 years. Since then she’s had two top five finishes at Boston, as well as a tenth place showing at the 2009 World Championships. Recently, she lit up the running messages boards when she split with her longtime coach, Alberto Salazar, only 14 weeks before the marathon trials.

Shalane Flanagan. Age: 30, PR: 2:28:40, Qualifier: 2:28:40, New York City (’10)

Flanagan is no stranger to the world stage. At the 2008 Olympics, she won the bronze medal in the 10,000 meters when she ran an American record of 30:22.22. Then, earlier this year, she placed third in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She moved up to the marathon in 2010 and finished second at New York City in 2:28:40.

Katie McGregor. Age: 34, PR: 2:31:01, Qualifier: 2:31:01, New York City (’10)

Team USA Minnesota’s Katie McGregor has had an outstanding career, including titles at the State, NCAA and National level. About the only thing missing is the title “Olympian,” which she barely missed out on when she finished fourth in the 10,000 meters at the last two trials. McGregor made her marathon debut in 2006 when she placed ninth in the New York City Marathon in 2:32:36. She returned to New York in 2008 and lowered her PR to 2:31:01. The flatter course in Houston may suit her track background.

The contenders

Magdalena Lewy Boulet. Age: 38, PR: 2:26:22, Qualifier: 2:26:22, Rotterdam (’10)

In 2004, Lewy Boulet placed fifth at the Olympic Trials. Four years later, she did everything in her power to make the Olympic Team, including taking the lead early and running her own race. Although Deena Kastor eventually caught her, Lewy Boulet was rewarded with a 2:30:19 PR and, more importantly, a second place finish. She could easily still be considered a favorite, however, at 38, age is not on her side.

Tera Moody. Age: 31, PR: 2:30:53, Qualifier: 2:30:53, Chicago (’10)

Four years ago, Moody’s qualifying time of 2:46:40 seeded her 152 out of 160 runners. At the trials, she proceeded to place fifth in 2:33:54. She’s proved that performance wasn’t a fluke by running three more sub 2:33 marathons since then. It’ll be interesting to see how she responds to being one of the top 10 seeds this time around.

Blake Russell. Age: 36, PR: 2:29:10, Qualifier: 1:11:55 (half marathon)

Eight years ago, Russell finished a disappointing fourth at the trials when she was passed in the final 400 meters. She redeemed herself in 2008 by placing third at the trials before going on to finish twenty-seventh in Beijing. Heading into the 2008 trials, she hadn’t run a marathon in over three years. She’ll have to rely on that experience again, because she dropped out of this year’s Boston Marathon and had to rely on her half marathon time for a qualifier.

Amy Hastings. Age: 25, PR: 2:27:03, Qualifier: 2:27:03, Los Angeles (’11)

In her marathon debut at this year’s Los Angeles Marathon, Hastings ran 2:27:03, the third fastest debut by an American ever. This makes the 10 time All-American at Arizona State University the fourth fastest qualifier and an immediate contender.

The dark horses

Denna Kastor. Age: 38, PR: 2:19:36, Qualifier: 2:36:20, London (’10)

Honestly, I have no idea where to place Kastor. On one hand, she’s the 2004 bronze medalist and the reigning American record holder at this distance. On the other hand, she’s nearly 39 years old and her 2:36 qualifier barely puts her in the top 25. With all that said, I think Kastor will be a factor in Houston.

Dot McMahan. Age: 35, PR: 2:31:48, Qualifier: 2:31:48, Grandma’s (’11)

Perhaps no one was more excited about their performance at this year’s Grandma’s Marathon than McMahan. The former 800 meter and mile specialist from Wisconsin ran 2:31:48 to PR by more than three minutes. In Houston, she’ll need to improve upon her eighth place finish in 2008.

Ilsa Paulson. Age: 23, PR: 2:31:49, Qualifier: 2:31:49, Twin Cities (’09)

You may remember Paulson from when she won the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon at the ripe old age of 20. She also won the Country Music Marathon six months later in 2:33:41. However, since then, things have been pretty quiet from her.

Colleen De Reuck. Age: 47, PR: 2:26:35, Qualifier: 2:30:51, Copenhagen (’10)

Four years ago, even at age 43, I had De Reuck as a contender, because she was the defending trials champion and a four time Olympian (three times for South Africa). Despite the fact that she did not finish in 2008, and she’s four years older, I’m still picking her as a dark horse, mainly because she’s proved she can still run in the low 2:30s. Plus, it’d make for a very interesting story.

Jen Houck. Age: 27, PR: 2:33:00, Qualifier: 2:33:00, Grandma’s (’11)

When Houck toes the line for a marathon, all she does is PR. In 2010, she ran Boston in 2:39:02 and Chicago in 2:37:16. This year, she returned to Boston with a 2:34:28 and then two months later ran 2:33:00 at Grandma’s. If she continues this trend, the former College of St. Scholastica star could turn some heads.

Janet Cherobon-Bowcom. Age: 33, PR: 2:37:27, Qualifier: 1:11:21 (half marathon)

Although she’s only run 2:37, I’m including the Kenyan born Cherobon-Bowcom as a dark horse because she’s consistently run sub 1:12s for the half marathon. Plus, she’s running well, having recently won the U.S. 20K and 10M champions in 1:08:31 and 54:15, respectively.

The locals

Meghan (Armstrong) Peyton. Age: 26, PR: N/A, Qualifier: 1:13:56 (half marathon)

Team USA Minnesota’s Peyton has had a solid year finishing in the top seven at four different U.S. championships ranging from 5K to 20K. Most recently, she placed sixth at the TC 10 Mile in 55:09. She’s using her half marathon time for a qualifier, so Houston will be her marathon debut.

Kristen Nicolini. Age: 34, PR: 2:35:06, Qualifier: 2:35:06, Twin Cities (’09)

Nicolini made her marathon debut at the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon. There she placed third in the U.S. Championships in 2:35:06. The trials will be this former Team USA Minnesota runner’s second marathon.

Leah Thorvilson. Age: 33, PR: 2:37:54, Qualifier: 2:39:43, Grandma’s (’11)

Thorvilson was a sprinter, hurdler and triple jumper at Armstrong High School before becoming a distance runner at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. She’s a three time winner of the Little Rock Marathon and at this year’s Grandma’s Marathon she placed seventeenth in 2:39:43.

Jenna Boren. Age: 33, PR: 2:40:45, Qualifier: 2:40:45, Grandma’s (’11)

Boren is a three time Minnesota Runner of the Year. The St. Olaf College graduate will be making her second trials appearance, having finished ninety-fourth in 2008. She’s had great success at Grandma’s Marathon over the years, including a 2:40:45 PR this year.

Michelle (Lilienthal) Frey. Age: 29, PR: 2:35:51, Qualifier: 2:42:31, Grand Int’l (’10)

Leading up to the 2008 trials, Frey dropped her times from 2:49 to 2:40 to 2:35. The latter time gave her the eighth fastest qualifying time. However, injuries slowed her down and she finished a disappointing eighty-fifth at the trials. The former Team USA Minnesota runner will look to rebound from that performance.

Katie Koski. Age: 38, PR: 2:42:33, Qualifier: 2:42:53, Twin Cities (’11)

This will be Koski’s third Olympic Trials marathon. What makes that even more impressive is that she failed to qualify for the 2008 trials. In her two previous appearances, the Duluth resident placed sixty-fifth (2000) and fifty-fourth (2004).

Nichole Porath. Age: 28, PR: 2:44:46, Qualifier: 2:44:46, Grandma’s (’11)

Porath’s improvement may be the most remarkable of anyone in the field. Three years ago, she sported a 3:03 PR. This quickly dropped like a rock to 2:58, 2:55 and 2:51 before running her 2:44:46 qualifier at Grandma’s this year.

Megan Grindall. Age: 30, PR: 2:45:16, Qualifier: 2:45:16, Boston (’11)

Grindall is originally from Minot, North Dakota, and she now lives in Moorehead. I’ll admit that she officially has me stumped. Between 2006 and 2009, she ran anywhere from 3:04 to 3:49, including a win at the 2006 Fargo Marathon. Those are not your typical times for Olympic Trials qualifiers. This year she went to Boston and ran 2:45:16, and she followed that up at TCM with a 2:52:58.

Nichole Cueno. Age: 32, PR: 2:42:03, Qualifier: 2:45:31, Chicago (’11)

Cueno made great strides leading up to the 2004 trials when she dropped her PR from 2:52 to 2:42. She ended up finishing fifty-fifth at the trials in 2:44:54. The former standout at Grinnell College won the 2009 Fargo Marathon in 2:53:15. She earned her qualifier at this year’s Chicago Marathon.

Stephanie Herbst-Lucke. Age: 46, PR: 2:42, Qualifier: 1:12:16 (half marathon)

Although she now lives in Atlanta, Herbst Lucke grew up in Chaska, Minnesota. She first qualified for the Olympic Track and Field Trials in 1988. She then proceeded to take a 20 year break from competition before returning as a Masters runner. In 2008, she placed fifty-ninth at the trials in 2:45:14.

It should be noted that former and current Team USA Minnesotans, Anne Bersagel and Meg Hogan have qualified for the marathon trials by way of their 10,000 meter times. However, I don’t believe they will be running in Houston.

THE MEN
Four years ago the trials field was considered to be the deepest since 1984. It featured former a world record holder, the reigning silver medalist and multiple Olympians at 10,000 meters. While the 2012 trials may not be as deep, it’s certainly close.

After placing first and second in 2008, Ryan Hall and Dathan Ritzenhein are back, and at 29 years old, they’re in their prime. Wiley veterans now include the 2004 silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, three time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman, and Minnesota’s Jason Lehmkuhle. Throw in a guy like Brett Gotcher, who debuted with the fourth fastest qualifier, and the field is very exciting.

The favorites

Ryan Hall. Age: 29, PR: 2:04:58, Qualifier: 2:04:58, Boston (’11)

Let’s be honest, even in the uncertain world of marathoning, this is a no-brainer. Four years ago, Hall simply pulled away from arguably the best field in trials history to win by more than two minutes. His time of 2:09:02 is a trials record. Sure, his sub 2:05 at Boston was run with a 20 m.p.h. tailwind. Take that away and his 2:08:04 still makes him the fastest qualifier. In fact, of the top nine qualifying times, Hall owns five of them.

Dathan Ritzenhein. Age: 29, PR: 2:10:00, Qualifier: 2:10:00, London (’09)

Ritzenhein is arguably America’s most versatile runner. He’s a three time U.S. cross country champion. In 2009, he set the then American Record for 5,000 meters in 12:56.27. And he’s already qualified for two Olympic Games, running the 10,000 meters (2004) and marathon (2008). It was Ritzenhein who finished second to Hall at the last trials. He comes into these trials as the third fastest qualifier. Unfortunately, he spent most of 2011 not running due to surgery on his Achilles, followed by complications caused by an allergic reaction to the stitches.

Meb Keflezighi. Age: 36, PR: 2:09:15, Qualifier: 2:09:15, New York City (’09)

To be honest, I’m kind of surprised to be including Meb as a favorite. It’s not that he doesn’t have the credentials. Heck, he won the silver medal in the marathon at the 2004 Games. However, he’s 36-years-old now, which is getting up there for elite runners. But the numbers don’t lie and after Hall’s top two performances, Keflezighi has the next three: all between 2:09:15 and 2:09:26. And he proved he can win big races when he won the New York City Marathon in 2009. This was the first American to do so since Alberto Salazar in 1982.

Jason Lehmkuhle. Age: 34, PR: 2:12:34, Qualifier: 2:12:34, Boston (’10)

Prior to the last trials, I wrote that Lehmkuhle was the best 2:16 marathoner in the U.S. The Team USA Minnesota runner proved me right by running 2:12:54 to finish fifth. He’s since lowered his PR and run sub 2:15 a couple of other times, as well as a 1:02:49 half marathon. He won’t catch anyone by surprise this time around, but if he’s healthy, he’ll be in the mix.

The contenders

Abdi Abdirahman. Age: 35, PR: 2:08:56, Qualifier: 2:14:00, New York City (’09)

Sure, Abdi “only” sports a 2:14:00 qualifier this time around, but can you ever really count out a three time Olympian? Yes, he ran the 10,000 meter in those three Olympics, but he’s also the only other sub 2:09 marathoner in the field besides Hall. Earlier this year he won the U.S. 20K title in 1:00:12 and then followed that up with a sixth place showing at the TC 10 Mile, running 47:00.

Brett Gotcher. Age: 28, PR: 2:10:36, Qualifier: 2:10:36, Houston (’10)

All Gotcher did a year ago in Houston was run the fourth fastest debut by an American. His 2:10:36 also makes him the fourth fastest qualifier and plants him firmly as a contender. On the down side, a sore hip forced him to miss this year’s Boston Marathon. However, he seems to have recovered having finished third in the TC 10 Mile in 46:51.

Jason Hartmann. Age: 30, PR: 2:11:06, Qualifier: 2:11:06, Chicago (’10)

You may recognize Hartmann’s name, because he won the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon in 2:12:09. He proved that performance was no fluke the following year when he ran 2:11:06 at Chicago, making him the fifth fastest qualifier. The six time All-American, while at Oregon, will look to improve upon his tenth place finish four years ago.

Nick Arciniaga. Age: 28, PR: 2:11:30, Qualifier: 2:11:30, Houston (’11)

As a 24-year-old, Arciniaga placed seventeenth at the last trials. The former Hansons-Brooks Distance Project runner consistently knocked out 2:16 and 2:17 marathons. Now with McMillan Elite, he’s run 2:13:46, 2:11:48 and 2:11:30. If he can run another sub 2:12 in Houston, he will be in contention.

The dark horses

Matt Gabrielson. Age: 33, PR: 2:13:28, Qualifier: 2:13:28, Grandma’s (’11)

An original member of Team USA Minnesota, Gabrielson has tremendous range. He’s run as fast as 4:02 for the mile and 13:30 for 5,000 meters. His breakthrough performance at the marathon came in June this year at Grandma’s where he finished sixth in 2:13:28. At the last trials, Gabrielson was focusing on the track, where he wound up eighth in the 5,000 meters. This will be his first marathon trials.

Antonio Vega. Age: 28, PR: 2:13:47, Qualifier: 2:13:47, Boston (’10)

2010 was a very good year for Vega. He was named the USATF Men’s Long Distance Runner of the Year, in part, because he won the USA Running Circuit. Along the way, he also claimed his first U.S. title when he won the half marathon championships in 1:01:54. His qualifying time of 2:13:47 gives Team USA Minnesota three runners in the top 11.

Mike Morgan. Age: 31, PR: 2:14:55, Qualifier: 2:14:55, Chicago (’10)

There are over a dozen runners in the 2:14 to 2:15 range. I’m picking Morgan for one of my dark horses, because Hansons-Brooks Distance Project runners tend to do well at the marathon trials. In 2007, they placed five runners in the top 20, including Morgan who finished twelfth.

Tim Nelson. Age: 27, PR: 2:15:06, Qualifier: 2:15:06, New York City (’10)

No, Nelson’s 2:15 marathon debut is not nearly as fast as Gotcher’s 2:10 debut. However, Nelson has wheels, having run 27:31 for 10,000 meters. Of course, there’s more to the marathon than having wheels. If Nelson can figure that out, he could be dangerous.

Andrew Carlson. Age: 29, PR: N/A, Qualifier: 1:02:21 (half marathon)

Honestly, I could have placed Carlson anywhere on this list: favorite, contender or dark horse. He’s a two time U.S. Champion in the15K and 25K, and his half marathon time converts to a sub 2:12. However, the Team USA Minnesotan didn’t start this year’s Twin Cities Marathon due to injury, so Houston will be his marathon debut.

The locals

Josh Moen. Age: 29, PR: 2:23:16, Qualifier: 1:02:53 (half marathon)

The former Division III star while at Wartburg College is probably best remembered for his dual with Abdirahman at the 2009 TC 10 Mile. Moen pushed the three time Olympian all the way to the line, finishing in 46:38, just three seconds behind Abdi. Unfortunately, the Team USA Minnesota member has yet to figure out the marathon. If he’s able to do it at Houston, things could get exciting.

Chris Raabe. Age: 32, PR: 2:15:13, Qualifier: 2:15:13, Grandma’s (’09)

Having grown up near St. Cloud, Raabe was the second runner with Minnesota ties at the last trials, placing sixteenth in 2:17:01. In 2009, he won Grandma’s Marathon, becoming the first native Minnesotan to do so since Dick Beardsley. His 2:15:13 makes him the twentieth fastest qualifier.

Luke Watson. Age: 31, PR: 2:15:29, Qualifier: 2:15:29, Twin Cities (’09)

Watson, who grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota, made his marathon debut at the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon. He also won the 2010 Steamtown Marathon in a course record time of 2:16:41. He’s a three time Olympic Trials qualifier, having run the Steeplechase and 5,000 meters at previous trials. His 3:57 mile PR shows he also possesses great speed.

Michael Reneau. Age: 33, PR: 2:16:45, Qualifier: 2:16:45, New York (’09)

Reneau will be making his second trials appearance. At the last trials, he finished thirty-second in 2:18:51. Forty years earlier, his father, Jeff, placed tenth at the 1968 trials. Reneau, who is originally from Hudson, Wisconsin, trained with Hansons-Brooks Distance Project for a while, but is now in the Twin Cities.

Chad Johnson. Age: 35, PR: 2:15:03, Qualifier: 2:17:41, Boston (’10)

Johnson began his college career at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point before transferring to the University of Minnesota. He is currently with Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, and he’ll also be making his second marathon trials appearance, having finished twentieth in 2:17:58 last trials.

Donovan Fellows. Age: 32, PR: 2:18:05, Qualifier: 2:18:05, Twin Cities (’10)

Four years ago, Fellow ran a very solid race at the trials to finish thirtieth in 2:18:45. He’s a former Big Ten champion at 10,000 meters while at Purdue. The Woodbury resident finished fourth at the City of Lakes 25K in a time of 1:26:18.

Chris Erichsen. Age: 25, PR: 2:18:24, Qualifier: 2:18:24, Virginia Beach (‘11)

The former MIAC athlete of the year while at St. Johns University made his marathon debut at the 2010 Fargo Marathon. Although he won, he missed the qualifying standard of 2:19 by less than a minute. He earned his qualifier at this year’s Virginia Beach Marathon and recently won the City of Lakes 25K in 1:20:38 and placed twelfth at the TC 10 Mile in 48:59.

Matt Hooley. Age: 29, PR: 2:18:42, Qualifier: 2:18:42, Eugene (’09)

Hooley is a former Division III All-American while at Carleton College. He won the 2009 Eugene Marathon in 2:18:42 and placed ninth at this year’s TCM. He’ll be looking to bounce back after dropping out of the 2008 trials.

Chris Lundstrom. Age: 35, PR: 2:17:34, Qualifier: 2:18:58, Twin Cities (’09)

Originally from Northfield, Minnesota, Lundstrom ran at Stanford University. He finished the last trials in thirty-seventh place in 2:19:21. He qualified for his second trials at the 2009 TCM by a mere two seconds. In addition to the roads, Lundstrom is one of the best trail runners around, having run several ultras. He even helped the U.S. to a silver medal at the 2010 World Mountain Running championships.

Mike Torchia. Age: 23, PR: N/A, Qualifier: 1:04:47 (half marathon)

Torchia is a Rochester, Minnesota, native who ran for the University of Minnesota. He’s currently in his first year of medical school there and will be making his marathon debut at the trials.

Justin Grunewald. Age: 25, PR: N/A, Qualifier: 1:04:50 (half marathon)

Like Torchia, Grunewald is another former Gopher that will be making his marathon debut at the trials. The third year medical student’s half marathon time of 1:04:50 was just 10 seconds under the qualifying standard.

There you have it, my preview of the 2012 U.S. Olympic marathon trials in Houston. With both men’s and women’s races on the same day, January 14, 2012, is sure to be historic when it comes to U.S. marathon history.

After writing this article, someone asked me what are the things to watch for. Given that I wrote this just after the Chicago Marathon, in October, there are a few more names that have “popped up”. On the women’s side Molly Pritz and Stephanie Rothstein come to mind. Pritz ran well at New York. That was only 10 weeks before the trials, so it’ll be interesting to see how she recovers. I’m curious to see how Deena Kastor and Blake Russell bounce back after giving birth. How will Goucher respond to her new coach? And, of course, will 47-year-old Colleen De Reuck, who comes in with the 8th fastest qualifying time, be able to make her FIFTH Olympic team? On the men’s side Ed Moran ran a top-10 qualifying time at NYC and Meb set a PR there too. Like with Pritz, I’ll be interested to see if they can bounce back in a short timeframe.

GREAT STUFF

2011-12-15T12:47:00.001-06:00

The new issue of Running Times magazine arrived yesterday. I’m pretty sure the whole thing was written with me in mind.

First, the main message on the front cover say; “Get Serious in 2012”. And one of the sub-headings is; “How To Train, Not Just Run”.

Greg McMillan’s article is titled “Hodgepodge isn’t a Training Program.” In it, he mentions, “I’m a firm believer that every workout you do should have a purpose.” Obviously, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this, however, the timing echoes nicely with the Rubio comments I’ve been posting lately.

Steve Magness has a nice piece on the benefits of two-a-days and “why non-elites should consider running twice a day.” Not only does he explain the benefits, but he also talks about when to incorporate them, based on the effect you’re trying to achieve.

Rachel Toor takes on the challenge of letting someone coach her and finds; 1) she cares about getting faster and 2) she’s willing to change (somewhat) to get there. I can relate to both of those things. She talks about finding out that her “endurance far exceeded her speed” and that all the sudden she was “running with a purpose.” Also relatable. Finally, today’s QOD probably applies to a lot of runners.

Of course, I have to mention the piece on Minnesota’s Lehmkuhles by local writer, Mackenzie Lobby.

These articles just represent the tip of the iceberg. There looks to be a lot of other interesting articles. Glancing through the magazine again, I just noticed that from page 30 to 66 there are only 2 advertisements. Otherwise, it’s article after article. Great stuff, RT!

Tomorrow I’m going to share my 2012 U.S. Olympic trials marathon preview, so be sure to check back.

Quote of the Day;

“Some puritanical part of me believed I shouldn’t have to ask for help, especially since, after two decades of running, I thought I knew this stuff.” – Rachel Toor

WISH LISTS

2011-12-15T07:25:00.002-06:00

It seems like everyone has published some sort of Gift Ideas list this Christmas season. I thought I should write my own for MDRA’s magazine. However, given the lag time with print media, it’s way too late for that. So I’ll just share my list here.

I’ll start with things every runner should have but may not want to buy for themselves;
Foam Roller – cheaper than a massage

Headlamp – great if your runner ventures out in the dark – or would like to

Reflective Vest – safety first

Road ID – no brainer

Arm warmers – come in handy for spring and fall races

Swiss ball – core, core core

The Strassburg Sock - if your runner has any sort of Achilles problems

Treadmill – if you really love the runner in your life

Homemade gift certificates for cross-training opportunities;
Spin class – places like Cycle Quest offer pay-as-you-go classes for around $13. They also have boot camp classes available.

Yoga/Pilates – there are also stand-alone yoga places, so you don’t have to be a member of a health club if all you want to do is yoga.

If you’re lucky enough to live where there’s snow, great cross training opportunities exist in the form of snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Don’t feel like buying equipment, there are plenty of rental opportunities around. And if your runner already has equipment, you can always get them a trail pass to their favorite park. Three Rivers Park passes cost $50. That’s good for such awesome parks as Hyland, Elm Creek, Baker, Murphy-Hanrehan, etc.

Some other more unique gifts I’ve received in the past;
A memory box of my first Boston – includes medal, bib # and race certificate

A quilt made out of my old race shirts

Some type of display case for medals would be really cool too

Miscellaneous;
Coaching services or online training program

MDRA membership

Entry fee into a race

A nice set of headphone that won’t slip out

Books;
There are lots of running books to choose from – here are the last 3 I’ve read;

Hot (Sweaty) Mamas - not just for women

Running the Edge - not your typical running book – this is more of a self-help book with running as a backdrop

Kara Goucher’s Running for Women

DVDs;
Like books, there are lots of running DVD on the market;

There’s the Hood to Coast documentary that I reviewed recently.

Even better is The Long Green Line documentary that follows Illinois high school coach, Joe Newton. This is great for any runner, but even better if you coach kids.

Last year I received McMillan’s core training DVDs

Of course, I’m a big Lauren Fleshman fan, so I’m all for supporting her side projects. She has Picky Bars and women’s apparel and a training journal geared towards women at Believe I Am. NOTE: while the training journal may have lots of flowers on it, it’s all about believing in yourself, so it’s not just for women.

Lynda.com offers online training videos for everything from home computing to photography to web design. Gift subscriptions are available for as little as $25 per month.

Finally, I had a friend mentioned getting a new phone, but struggling with having to figure it out.

There’s my wish list for this year. Hopefully, there are some helpful ideas on there.

GRAND PRIZE

2011-12-14T12:55:00.004-06:00

If you believe that there’s a correct pace for each workout, I’m pretty sure I’ve never trained correctly. Even when I was at my peak in college, I’m confident I was training too hard much of the time. Workouts would be run all-out – trying to impress the coach. Easy runs would be like a hard tempo effort – trying to hang with my teammates. Sure I got faster, but I also took many days off, either because I didn’t feel like running on the weekend after hammering all week, or because I would eventually get injured.

All of this has me excited to actually try and train properly while focusing just on the short stuff. Of course, I have no illusions of running the times I ran in college. However, it’ll be interesting to see if I can get down to some of my times from perhaps my mid-30s.

Yesterday I did my first interval session in probably a couple years. Typically, I just get by with mileage, tempos and hills. So it was kind of fun to be running “fast”. Given that it’s winter, even though it doesn’t feel like it, I did this workout on the treadmill; 8 x 400 meters at 2 mile race pace (I used 9.3 mph or 6:27 pace), with a 200 meter jog. It was a little difficult to do on the treadmill because of the time needed to get the belt up to speed and slow down, but I did the best I could.

Ideally, that should be like my half marathon pace, so I have a ways to go. But you gotta start somewhere.

This morning’s run reminded me of a spooky mid-October run more than a mid-December run. It was 35 degrees, misty, foggy and really dark. I managed 10 miles on the Hyland trails (sorry skiers, there’s no snow left).

Finally, I’ll close with a personal story. After 13 years, we finally upgraded to a 46” flat screen HDTV for our main level. Two weeks later, at my company Christmas party, my name was picked for the grand prize – a 46” flat screen HDTV. Luckily, since it was the grand prize, they allowed me to exchange it for something else on the list. I went with the iPad2 instead. Sweet! We wrapped it up, so it’ll be a surprise for the kids. The TV ended up going to another runner/skier. He’s just out of college, so he “needed” it more than me.

Quote of the Day;

“I wanted to be a hurdler or something. But when we had tryouts, I was so afraid to try out that I refused, kind of hung in the back of the crowd hoping I wouldn’t get noticed. The last event was the mile. And the coaches said: ‘Porter hasn’t done anything yet.’ So there I was committed; enter Pat Porter, distance runner.” – Pat Porter, who went on to become one of the most dominate U.S. runners of the 1980s

IT'S "OFFICIAL"

2011-12-12T12:42:00.000-06:00

Now that I have a new approach in place, I started looking at the 2012 racing calendar. I’m thinking about signing up for the MDRA Grand Prix. I won’t run every race on there, but I have my eyes on 9 or 10 of them. There are a few other races I like a lot (Human Race, Get in Gear, Victory), so I’ll try to run them too. Plus I want to enter a few of the classics that I’ve never run, like Raspberry Days, Firecracker, and maybe even some of the road miles.

Joe Rubio says that most runners tend to over-think their training. Basically, his plan for the Endless Season just alternates between the following 2 weeks;

Week #1

Sun: easy run - 50-60 minutes

Mon: maintenance run (slightly faster than easy) 50-60 minutes

Tues: short intervals like 8 x 400m @ 3K pace with 200m jog

Wed: progression run – 75-90 minutes

Thur: true recovery day – 0-30 minutes

Fri: tempo run – 2 mile w/up and cooldown with 4 miles at tempo

Sat: long run 90-100 minutes

Week #2

Everything is the same except for Tuesday

Tues: long intervals like 5 x 1 mile @ 10K pace with 800m jog

That’s it – pretty simple. He also mixes in strides and accelerations before the intervals and tempos. And if you’re racing on Saturday, you simply replace the tempo run with a maintenance run.

I mentioned that one of the key elements for this to work is running everything at the correct intensity. Rubio suggestions using something like Daniels’ book or McMillan’s site to determine your correct paces based on recent performances. Given that I haven’t raced lately, I (hope) am being conservative and going with a VDOT of 48. Based on Daniels’ charts that means I’m in about 20:30 5K shape and 42 minute 10K shape. That means my 3K pace is around 6:25, 10K pace is around 6:50 and tempo pace is around 7:00. The last two weeks I’ve run 3 mile tempos around 7-7:15 pace, so I think I’m in the ballpark.

The nice thing about being so slow is that I can even run my short intervals on a treadmill that only goes 10 MPH.

I’m “officially” starting this program today. Right now my plan is to focus on shorter races through July and then switch to a 10-11 week marathon cycle leading up to TCM. Of course, it’s only December, so this will likely change – especially once we get snow. But it’s where I’m at now.

Last week I ended up with 49 miles on the week.

Quote of the Day;

“Overall, I cannot believe I actually won and it shows how well I have progressed in a very short time under Coach [Dennis] Barker. I am very honored to be able to get my first USA win as a Team USA Minnesota athlete." – Jon Grey after winning the USATF club cross country championships

NEW APPROACH

2011-12-10T18:10:00.001-06:00

I've been thinking about 2012 a lot lately and my plans are to take a new approach to running and racing. I typically don't race a lot throughout the year, but 2011 was probably an all-time low. In the winter, I only skied the Birkie and then this summer, I only ran Grandma's Marathon. That's it, 2 whole races - both "marathons".

I saved an article from the May Running Times magazine by Joe Rubio called "Always Ready To Race". A lot of what Rubio had to say struck a cord with me. He claims that Americans don't race nearly enough. When he gets questions from runners that are training for a marathon, he'll review their training and see 4 to 6 months of workouts planned, but no racing.

Guilty!

He says "racing is a skill and to become proficient at any skill, you need to practice it repeatedly to show improvement.

And when we do race, we start the season by hammering everything, which makes us plateau very early in the season and fade from there.

Guitly!

I've often joked about how some of my best races of the year have been in March and April. Well, that's all going to change in 2012.

Rubio thinks weekend warriors that like to race would be better off if they DON'T build a huge base and then try to reach a peak (something else he thinks few runner know how to do). Instead, he suggests running your workouts more controlled and really monitoring your intensities. Even when racing, you shouldn't be hammering every single time you lace up your flats.

Recently, I posted something about not remembering the last time I did a speed workout. Combine that with my lack of racing and is it any wonder I'm slowing down? Normally, I believed I had to have some big base in place before toeing the line. However, Rubio suggest that "running fitness that leads to faster times is generally based on a continuum. All running speeds from fast to slow speeds and every major speed in between should be addressed consistently to see any significant progress in race times for the vast majority of athletes." His key components of this "Endless Season" are;

Midweek intervals
Weekend race or anerobic threshold run
Midweek longer aerobic thereshold run
Weekend easy long run when not racing
True recovery day
Strides and accelerations

And to tie this back to the Jack Daniels DVD I watched recently, he said most runners wait until they're in shape before running a race - like they're afraid to be embarassed by a slow time. He suggests that that's exactly when you should race because you'll be able to see the most progress in your running.

I'm not sure where this will get me, but it can't be any worse than where I've been recently.

Quote of the Day;

"Once an athlete has a solid background of training and racing in the endless season phase, they're only a few short weeks away from a peak level of performance if they choose to go that route. If the runner doesn't have a key race they're shooting for, they can train and race in an endless season manner and develop nicely over a long period of time without much of a break." - Joe Rubio

LINKS

2011-12-07T12:36:00.001-06:00

There’s nothing too exciting to report with my running. After two easy days of 5 miles, I’m planning on 7-8 tonight on the treadmill with 3-4 at a tempo pace. Since I don’t have anything else to report, I’ll just share some more links.

Here’s the latest edition of Run Junkie;

And Ryan Setter’s episode #10 is now available. In this episode he gets to run with Shalane Flanagan as he prepares for the NYC Marathon. I think these are interesting. Has anyone else been watching this?

Here’s a video about gals trying to qualify for the 2012 marathon trials. As someone mentions in the video, it’s hard to believe women weren’t allowed to run marathons, what 40-some years ago. Heck, they weren’t even allowed to run the marathon in the Olympics until 1984. Unbelievable.

And speaking of qualifying for the trials, HERE is a nice write up about trying to qualify at Cal International Marathon last weekend.

Quote of the Day;

“We cruised on, mile after mile. The energy among the group of women was electrifying. Unlike half-marathons I had run we were not there to win. We were not there to beat each other. We were there to qualify, and because of the one unified goal we helped each other.” – Kristen Carter

SOMEWHAT NORMAL

2011-12-06T12:39:00.001-06:00

I’ve always said it takes about 3 weeks of running, after a layoff, for things to start feeling somewhat normal. As I was walking around the office this morning I was thinking “I feel somewhat normal.” So I looked at my recent training and it’s been 20 days since I ran my “test mile” to see how my foot would respond. During those 20 days I’ve run 18 times for a total of 114 miles – that nearly matches the 167 miles I ran in the previous 5 months.

I have to remind myself not to watch the local weather reports. Last night I watched the weather report and they led me to believe we’re in store for a cold blast. Sure things have been mild lately and what’s in store will be about 10 degrees below average, but there’s no need to start hibernating yet.

Another thing I’ve always said is that if you dress correctly, 15-20 degree days are perfect. That’s what it was for this morning’s run and I really enjoyed it. I was chilled for the first 5-10 minutes, but after that it was very pleasant.

I finally got around to conducting another interview. Hopefully I can keep them rolling throughout the winter.

And finally, the other day I posted a bunch of links to other top Minnesota bloggers. Well, here’s one more for you to check out.

Quote of the Day;

“My goal always has been since turning 50 to every year to try to run as close as possible to my last year’s times. If I accomplish that I feel like I am racing well and had a good year.” - Denny Jordan.

HOOD TO COAST DVD REVIEW

2011-12-04T18:28:00.000-06:00

Over the last year or so I’ve mentioned wanting to branch out from the routine of just running 5K and 10K road races, along with one or two marathons a year. I came up with a list of events I eventually wanted to do – call it a bucket list if you’d like. Last year I crossed the Fat Tire 40 off the list and this spring I (kind of) crossed running the Grand Canyon off the list.

Another event I wrote down at the time was the Hood to Coast relay, the 197-mile relay that runs from Mt. Hood to the coast in Seaside, Oregon. I have some friends that have run this relay and their stories are always intriguing.

So far, my only relay experience came when I was stationed in Turkey as a 19 or 20-year-old. A couple guys organized a bunch of military personnel to run from the Black Sea to the capital city of Ankara to raise money for a Turkish orphanage. We only had one team, so it wasn’t a race like H2C, but it was still an incredible experience. Even though it was 20-some years ago, I still remember riding in the van, lack of sleep, and trying to get out of the van and prepare myself to run those second and third legs. And of course, there’s the camaraderie that can only be generated during such a unique experience.

Anyway, I digress. The reason I bring this up is because I was contacted by the group that put together a Hood to Coast documentary. They sent me a copy of the film and asked me to review it here.

Throughout the event, the film follows four widely different teams; 1) one team’s focus is on their 67-year-old friend who had a heart attack on the course the previous year, 2) a team of family and friends run to honor their husband/son/brother/friend that died within the year, 3) another team is basically made up of a bunch of non-runners who are in it entirely for the experience, and 4) a group of aging serious runners who combine being competitive with having a good time.

Overall, the film (110 minutes) is entertaining. They do a nice job of flipping between each of the teams, as well as filling us in on each of their back-stories. They also do a good job of letting the images of the runners speak for themselves. The one thing I think they could have done a better job with is asking some questions of the runners just after they finished their leg. A couple of times they try to rely on the runners to share their thoughts without much prompting and it seems awkward.

It doesn’t look like they have the single DVD available for sale, however, you can purchase the 2-disc collection for $21.95 from their store if you’re interested. In addition to the film I saw, the second DVD includes;

· 24 Additional Scenes
· “Where are They Now” Update with our main characters
· Making of Hood To Coast
· Director’s Commentary
· Shout-Outs from 2008 and 2010
· Training Tips
· Panel Discussion with Bart Yasso, Alberto Salazar and Mary Decker Slaney
· Tons of extra footage from the race

It could make a nice gift for that runner on your Christmas list.

PUT THE HAMMER DOWN

2011-12-01T12:54:00.002-06:00

Given my knee and foot issues recently, I knew I hadn’t been running much. Yesterday I took a look at my log book and was surprised to see how little it's actually been. In the last 20 weeks I’ve run a whopping 167 miles. Granted I did P90X for 2 months and roller skied for 2 more months, so I’m not brutally out of shape. However, those activities don’t necessarily lead to running fitness. I already knew this but yesterday’s run was a reminder. I strapped on my Garmin and headed out for a comfortably hard run. The first half was controlled at just under 8-minute pace, when I turned around I “put the hammer down” – all the way down to 7:28 pace. It felt good to be running hard again, even if it wasn’t as fast as I’d like.

My main concern is that my right knee still feels wonky. You’d think with what little running I’ve been doing, that it’d heal. Instead, there’s basically a dull ache pretty much all the time. I do wonder if it’s structural. I guess I’ll continue running until it gets worse.

Finally, here’s the latest episode of Run Junkie;

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

And don’t forget to check out Espisode #9 of the Ryan Sutter series. In that episode he works with Dathan Ritzenhein on some drills to ensure that he’s properly warmed up for key workouts and races.

Quote of the Day;

“I’ve come to believe that the majority of your satisfaction should come from your present circumstances, and a lesser amount should be reserved for what you hope to be.” - Joey Keillor

LOOKING AHEAD

2011-11-29T12:38:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend I was looking at a bunch of my old blog posts, including race reports and quotes of the day. I reread my Grandma’s Marathon race reports from 2007 and 2009. Both were hot days. I PR’d in 2007 and ran negative splits in 2009. It was kind of cool to go back and look at that stuff.

Some of the QODs were from Dr. George Sheehan where he talks about being a runner, rather than just someone who runs for fitness. John “the penguin” Bingham says “if you run, you are a runner”. Technically, that’s true. But I have to agree with Sheehan, there are differences between the two. Neither is better than the other, they’re just different.

It can be hard to explain the differences, but it seems to make sense when I think about the things I’m not. For example, when I was busy cross-training with P90X, spin classes, roller skis, etc., I enjoyed those activities, but I wouldn’t say I’m a fitness guru or a biker. Heck, I love skiing, but I’m not sure I’d define myself as a skier.

One way I can tell I’m a runner is that even though I may allow my mind to think about other fitness goals while I’m injured, as soon as I’m healthy, they all vanish and are replaced with thoughts of running. Just two weeks ago I was thinking about the ski season and what races I should do. Now that I’m running again, I’m already passed ski season and looking at 2012 road races.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be skiing this winter. It just means the running season won’t be far from my mind.

Quote of the Day;

“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.... then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health... and then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” - The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity

BY NOW

2011-11-28T12:52:00.001-06:00

As you probably know by now, I’m not very good at following my own advice. I recently talked about the benefits of running for just 30 minutes and how it’d be a great way to ease back into things. Well, Saturday I ended up running 10 miles, which gave me 33 miles for the week. I took Sunday off because I had exercised 10 days in a row, including 6 days of running in a row. And this morning I ran another 8 miles.

I guess I’ll keep those 30 minute runs in mind for those days when I don’t feel like running at all. Getting out the door for 30 minutes will be easier than telling myself I need to run at least 6 miles or it’s not worth it – something I’ve done in the past.

One of the things Jack Daniels talks about in his DVD is doing the least amount of work that gives you the biggest gains. For example, if you get 100% of the gains by running a particular workout at, say 6-minute pace, why would you ever go faster than that. You’d just run yourself into the ground without any added benefit. Sounds great. However, how many people know what that correct pace should be for each type of workout?

Another thing he talks about is the pace of our easy days. When we’re base building and working on Mitochondria development at a cellular level, he says time on our feet is the key and that pace does not matter. Again, that sounds great, but doesn’t it have to matter to some degree? Are the gains the same at 8:00 pace vs. 10:00 pace vs. 12:00 pace? What if I just walk – do I get the same gains? And what sparks those gains? Does running have to be involved or can I boost my Mitochondria by cross-country skiing, spinning, and any other activity that increases my heart rate?

I don’t have the answers – I’m just the question man today.

Quote of the Day;

“What I think about in my mind is never give up. I tried to push my body because I know today I was not in good shape but I push my body until the last kick.” – Sammy Wanjiru

LIGHT YEARS AWAY

2011-11-24T19:37:00.006-06:00

In that Jack Daniels video I mentioned in my last post, he’s actually pretty funny. He mentions how lucky we are when we get injured. It’s not because it’s our body’s way of telling us we need a break. He says it’s because it extends our running careers because we tell ourselves “Just wait until I get back in shape, man, I am going to tear it up.”

That’s where my mind is at right now – looking ahead to getting back into shape and tearing it up.

Last year I wrote a lot about not wanting to look back on my "career" and just see a bunch of 5K and 10K performances, with some marathons mixed in. So I started putting together a list of other things I wanted to try. I have marked a couple of things off my list and now I find myself missing road racing. Or maybe I’m missing being in the shape I was when I was racing more than I am now.

At the time, it seemed like I was never as fit as I wanted to be and I never seemed to be as fast as I wanted to be either. I was consistently so-so. Looking back, I can see that I was really just taking my fitness for granted. Being able to consistently run 30-minute 8Ks and 1:25 half marathons should have provided satisfaction, rather than frustration because I wasn’t running 29 minutes and 1:23 consistently.

Now I find myself struggling to get fit and stay healthy. Thoughts of running those old times are now appealing, but seem light years away. With these thoughts on my mind lately, it has me considering 2012 and actually putting together a road race season - complete with a training plan and, dare I say it, some real goals. Jack Daniels’ video has me convinced that even when I was running well, I wasn’t nearly maximizing my training. I mean, just thinking about intervals, I haven't done a hard interval workout in probably 5 or more years. I’m curious to see where a proper training plan will put me – hopefully not in the Doctor’s office.

In addition, I’m kicking around the idea of treating 2012 like my first year of running. I won’t compare my current fitness to my all-time PRs, my times from my 30s, or even my 40s. I will only compare myself to where I am right now and I’ll seek to improve from here and get faster as the year progresses.

Quote of the Day;

“You don’t think about the finish time. It is like the Olympics or World Championships; everybody thinks about the medal. Today was like that, I was thinking who was going to finish first. Kebede is my friend but today was about fighting together. He is my friend but when you go to the race you must fight each other.” – Sammy Wanjiru

EASING BACK

2011-11-22T12:57:00.002-06:00

Well, so much for jumping back into running conservatively. After last Thursday’s 1 mile run, I went 4 on Friday and then 9 on Saturday. The foot is feeling fine and my knee is even feeling pretty good. Maybe there’s hope after all.

Last weekend I watched a DVD I got for Christmas last year that basically shows Jack Daniels lecturing on his thoughts about running. One thing he talked about was the gains achieved from running vs. the risks. For example, a 10 minute run has low risk, but also low gains, whereas a 2 hour run has high risk and high gains. He talked about 30 minutes being an optimal range where your gains are fairly large, while the risk is still fairly low. Sure your gains for a 60 minute run are better, but you increase your odds of injury.

Of course, you’re not going to get super fit on 30 minutes a day, but I thought it’d be a great way to ease back into running – and I mean it this time - except for longer group runs on the weekend. The nice thing about 30 minutes is it’s easy to squeeze in just about any time of day and even twice a day; morning, noon and/or night. Or I can spin or ski in the morning and run 30 minutes over lunch. With that in mind, I ran 4 miles yesterday and this morning I took a spin class for an hour and then jumped on the treadmill for 3 miles.

Finally, congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers and Georgetown Hoyas for winning the men’s and women’s cross country titles yesterday. The nice thing about growing up in Wisconsin and now living in Minnesota is that I can root for both states. I recently heard someone say something like, “Show me someone that likes more than one NFL team and I’ll show you someone that doesn’t really like any team.” That’s probably true for me when it comes to pro football. However, as a fan of running, I like both programs – so it’s great to see the Badgers dominate.

Quote of the Day;

“NY Marathon is famous for the energy of its crowds, but since the pro women start 30 minutes before the other 47,000 participants, everywhere we go there is a feeling that we are a bit early for the party, the hosts still mixing the guacamole and figuring out where the guests will put their coats.” – Lauren Fleshman

ITCHING

2011-11-17T12:47:00.000-06:00

I mentioned briefly that I’ve added some biking to my routine in the form of rides on my trainer during football games on Sundays, as well as spin classes once a week. Each of the last three Thursdays I’ve started my day at Cycle Quest. As a runner, I tend to try to exert roughly the same amount of effort throughout a race. If there’s an uphill, I’ll slow down and keep a similar effort to the flats and vice versa on a downhill. That’s great for running, but I find it puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to biking or skiing. These athletes are constantly going hard and recovery, depending on the terrain. So it a ski race situation these guys are going hard up hills, knowing they’ll be able to recover at the top, whereas my “steady as she goes” philosophy gets left in the dust. I’m hoping these spin classes will help with that.

I’ve kind of been itching to run lately, so after spin class, I hopped on the treadmill for 1 mile. I’m being overly cautious because I haven’t run in 6 weeks and I want to avoid a setback. Plus my doctor gave me some metatarsal pads to add to my inserts and I want to be careful with adding something new like that to my shoe.

By now I’m sure you’ve all added Flotrack’s Run Junkie to your favorites. If not, here’s the latest episode;

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

Also, the 8th episode of Ryan Sutter’s season is up on Universal Sports. In this episode he takes on a half ironman with a goal of sub-5.

Meanwhile, I didn’t even know Adam Goucher had a blog, let alone a book. Has anyone read it? I’d be interested to hear what you think.

Finally, watching all the NYC Marathon coverage a couple of weeks ago has definitely moved that race up on my “must-do” list. I know it’s a hard race to get into, but they do have guaranteed entries based on half and full marathon standards. The problem is that they’ll be tightening those standards for 2013. Currently, a 40-44 year old man needs to run a 1:30 half. I don’t think that’s overly difficult - it’s about a 70 on an age-graded scale. After 2012, that time standard drops to 1:23, which is closer to 75 on an age-graded scale. Much harder, but I guess it’ll give me something to shoot for. Otherwise, there’s always the lottery route.

Quote of the Day;

“I like the high pace. You must do that tactic to kill the other people.” Sammy Wanjiru

FIGURING THINGS OUT

2011-11-16T06:47:00.001-06:00

Quick update on my foot; I don’t have a stress fracture. The foot feels about 98% and I could probably start running on it again. However, with no running races on the horizon, and since I have the ability to roller ski and bike/spin, there’s no reason to rush back.

What’s been bad for my running has been awesome for my skiing. I’ve already spent more time roller skiing this year than I spent on real skis all of last year. I try to stay on as flat terrain as possible for roller skiing. While that doesn’t help me work on my hill climbing, it helps keep me upright. I think it has also helped me figure a few things out when it comes to technique. When you’re on similar terrain on roller skis, you don’t have the same variations on the ski trails that come with the terrain and the snow conditions, so you can really feel the things that make you go faster. I feel like I’ve made improvements with the timing of my arm swing, getting my hips forward, and getting my weight over my glide ski and letting the ski do the work. I can’t wait for the snow to start flying.

Cool story of the week; while in New York City for the marathon, Minnesota’s own Erin Ward ended up rooming with the women’s champion, Dado Firehiwot.

A few years ago I used to mention the Runnerville website that used to post podcasts with Toni Reavis. It was a great site, but it disappeared as quickly as it showed up. This morning I came across House of Run, another website with running podcasts. I’m currently listening to Flotrack’s Ryan Fenton (one of the guys from the Run Junkie videos I’ve been posting) discuss his thoughts on NCAA X-C nationals.

I haven’t listened to any of their other podcasts, but I’ll check them out. I do like the bio the guys wrote up;

Mediocre high school runners turned podcasters, Jason Halpin and Kevin Sully, co-host the weekly House of Run podcast. Jason and Kevin analyze and discuss the latest news from the world of track and field, road racing, cross country. If running is a metaphor for life, then this podcast is pretty much about your life.

I can relate to the “mediocre high school runner” part.

Quote of the day;

“Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.” – Anselm LeBourne, 52, old person to break 2:00 for 800m

W2G NYRR

2011-11-08T12:49:00.001-06:00

Watching all the NYC Marathon coverage over the weekend has definitely moved that race up my list of must-do races. I know I mentioned that the Chicago Marathon was live-streamed this year. But honestly, the coverage at NYC is head and shoulders above any other marathon. Not only is it streamed live, but they also have tons of other live segments, as well as on-demand videos leading up to the race, as well as post-race. Great job, NYRR.

Since I don’t have much to write about running at this time, it seems like sharing links and videos is the way to go.

I found a couple of new Team USA Minnesota member blogs, so I thought I’d compile a list;

Matt Gabrielson
Josh Moen
Meghan Peyton
Emily Brown
Andrew Carlson
Heather Kampf
Chris Rombough
Matt Llano

Awhile ago I found a tribute to Sammy Wanjiru that my college coach wrote for Track & Field News.

While digging around on the T&FN website I came across a photo gallery of the last 10 or so NCAA champs for men and women. It’s kind of cool to look back over the last decade. I think they should try to find as many past champions as possible and add them to the gallaries.

Quote of the Day;

"My plan was to push the limits, push my body. Our Kenyan bodies are not used to a slow pace, and a slow pace would have been suicidal.” – Sammy Wanjiru

PLEASANTLY SURPRISED

2011-11-05T20:25:00.003-05:00

Hope you were able to check out some of the links from yesterday. I totally forgot to include Carrie Tollefson's Daily cooldown;

nyrr on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

These were really good last year, and they're even better this year. As she describes it, these are sort of like the Entertainment Tonight of distance running. Her espisodes are a lot of fun, so be sure to check them all out.

Not only is it NYC Marathon weekend, but this weekend also represents the State x-c meet. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when my daughter Katie said she wanted to go and watch the meet with me. I thought she'd be a little bored having to wait 45 minutes between races. However, she did great and even seemed to enjoy the whole thing. She has expressed some interested in running x-c next year on the team I coach, so we'll see. Maybe I'll have a runner on my hands after all.

I've been having some thoughts lately about what else I can do to help improve coverage of our sport in Minnesota. I've mentioned Flotrack's Run Junkie videos a few times. I think it'd be fun to do something like that for just the Minnesota Scene. Watching today's meet has me thinking about a Running with the Buffaloes type project covering either a local high school team or a little bit of all-things Minnesota cross country. I haven't worked out a single detail, but it seems like these ideas could have some legs.

Quote of the day;

"Make friends with pain and you will never be lonely." - unknown

REALITY T.V.

2011-11-04T12:47:00.001-05:00

Just a quick update before I share a bunch of links with you. I had a great week of training which includes about 5 ½ hours of roller skiing (bumped my longest ski to 90 minutes) and 2 hours of biking – including my first spin class.

Since not much else is going on with me right now, I thought I’d share a bunch of link and videos I come across lately. First, here’s the latest episode of Run Junkie;

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

Flotrack has become my new Reality TV. I just go there and start clicking all kinds of videos. The other night I was watching a bunch of interviews of elites running the NYC Marathon this weekend, including Minnesota’s Jen Houck;

Watch more videos on Flotrack

My only gripe with the site is that I have to watch the same 30 second commercial prior to each video. I wish there was a way to skip it if they knew I already watched it. I will say that the commercial did pique my interest. It’s for a series that follows Ryan Sutter throughout the year while he trains for different endurance events. You may remember him from the Bachelor a few years ago.

Finally, with NYC Marathon this weekend, here’s a nice interview with Mary Wittenberg. She’s awesome for our sport!

Quote of the Day;

“Life is not a straight-up trajectory. There are going to be peaks and valleys. I remain utterly convinced today that climbing out of a valley gives you great strength and opportunity you wouldn't have had if life had continued on a straight path up. You don't always get what you want in life. You just don't. Hard work doesn't always translate a hundred percent to outcome. You have to know that in life. The journey is what matters.” – Mary Wittenberg

OFF TO A GOOD START

2011-11-01T12:46:00.002-05:00

As usual, I go 2 weeks without blogging and I have a ton of things on my mind. First, an update on the foot. It feels A LOT better, but still not 100%. The Dr. said to transition back to normal shoes once I’m pain free. I’ve done that even though I’m about 98% pain free. I still can’t push off of my big toe. I go back on the 11th for (hopefully) a last evaluation and maybe even a follow-up x-ray.

Not running in July or August doesn’t really bother me. Not being able to run in October really sucks. The good news is that I’ve been able to roller ski without much pain – again, I can’t fully extend my right leg because of the strain on my right big toe.

Typically, I think of skiing in terms of hours spent skiing, rather than miles or kilometers. During the 2009-2010 winter I roller skied about 10 hours before the snow arrived and another 40 hours on snow. The result was a 2:53 Birkie. Last winter I didn’t bother roller skiing at all and then I only spent 23 hours on snow. The result was a 3:25 Birkie. This season, with my foot injury, I’ve already been able to roller ski for 12 hours. So the ski season is off to a good start. Speaking of, I signed up for the Birkie last night - all $115 of it.

I’ve been hyping Lauren Fleshman’s website a lot lately. Sometimes it’s hard to explain why you like something. Luckily, Lauren did it for me in her recent interview with Runner’s World.

RW: Your blog has more of a two-way street going than most athlete blogs do. You have a lot of respondents and you address a lot of the content to them. What's the overall purpose of the blog, and have you learned things from the comments and queries?

LF: Definitely. I think most athlete web presences are very unidirectional. They're more like, "Here's what I've done, here's information about me," and it's generally to promote yourself and get sponsors and things like that. I just felt if I was going to do a blog, I wanted to add value and create content that people could get something out of on a fairly regular basis. I waited until I knew how to do that. I didn't have a website the first six years of my professional running career. And just the name of my website alone, asklauren fleshman.com instead of laurenfleshman.com, is meant to signify that there's a two-way street. You're going to get something out of it and I'm going to get something out of it. This is a communication. It started as an experiment. I didn't know what would really happen, but it's gone really well. For me to get feedback from athletes across the world is so cool, it's such a gift. And I'm really excited to do that, because running is a pretty lonely sport sometimes.

Another thing is to provide information on the successes and failures that I've had, in the hopes that other people don't have to go through the same thing but can learn from my mistakes so they can skip over those sand traps. And the last thing is to connect the recreational running community that's more interested in marathons and half-marathons and road races with the track community because most people have no idea what we do and we hardly exist in the collective consciousness. I think our sport needs to reach out to those marathoners who do love to run but don't understand track, and I'd like to be a connecting point for them. I think on all those accounts, I'm happy with where it's going and I'm going to keep working on it and see where it goes.

She gets it!

Unfortunately, she’s planning on running NYC this weekend and experienced some sharp knee pain within the last week. Hopefully, it’s one of those phantom injuries that we’ve all probably dealt with.

Quote of the Day;

“If I boiled it down, my major objectives are to provide something of value for the running community, to inspire young athletes–female athletes in particular–to grow their relationship with running in a deeper way, to let it into their life.” – Lauren Fleshman

GETTING THE BOOT

2011-10-17T13:07:00.001-05:00

Re-reading my last post, I didn’t appear overly concerned about my foot. After limping around for 4 days, I finally made an appt. to see Dr. Langer. I was able to get in on Friday before heading out of town. He took x-rays but wasn’t able to see a stress fracture. Still, he put me in one of these just to be safe;

His thoughts are that a couple of weeks in a walking boot early on are better than 6-12 months on lingering pain.

Today is actually the first day when the pain is barely noticeable. So maybe I’m progressing. Needless to say, I didn’t run the half marathon. I’ll call it an $80 donation to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.

I was thinking more about my running career post from the other day too. Typically, I’ve relied on my running, more than my career, when it comes to pushing myself and having things to focus on. Now that my running is in the crapper, I wondering if that exacerbates how I feel about my career. I’m just throwing ideas out there.

Finally, how’s this for lame? I subscribe to Rachael Ray’s magazine. No, it’s true. Anyway, I got a new issue the other day with a letter stating how big the issue was, along with all the fabulous stuff inside. Well, because the issue was so big, they decided to count it as 2 issues towards my subscription. I’ve never heard of anything so lame. Luckily, it was my last issue anyway.

Quote of the Day;

“Every marathon becomes a theater for heroic acts.” – Dr. George Sheehan

MOMENT OF WEAKNESS

2011-10-10T13:13:00.003-05:00

After Friday’s 10 miler I looked back in my log book and found that it’s been 14 weeks since my last double-digit run. I enjoyed it so much that I ran another 10 miles on Saturday, giving me 46 miles for the week. Should I be surprised that ball/big toe area of my right foot is sore today? The frustrating part is that it didn’t bother me at all yesterday. However, stay off my feet for 8 hours and all the sudden it hurts.

I was up at 5 anyway, so I got dressed to run. Eventually I made the wise decision to wait and see how things felt at lunch time. Well, it’s lunch time right now and I’m blogging rather than running, so it looks like a zero in the log book today. Hopefully it’s just a little tender and tomorrow morning I won’t even think about it.

I gotta give a shout out to NBC Chicago for live-streaming the Chicago Marathon. Not only that, but on the course they had Toni Reavis following the men, Joan Benoit following the women, and Ed Eyestone was in the studio. I thought the NBC staff also did a decent job of bringing up topics and asking questions and then letting Toni, Joan and Ed do their thing. They even managed to fill in with some special interest stories that didn’t seem to take away from the coverage. My one (minor) gripe is that kept flashing the World Record splits up on the screen even though it was pretty obvious that a new record wouldn’t be run.

So after my back-to-back 10 milers and watching the Chicago Marathon, but before my foot pain, I had a moment of weakness and I signed up for this weekend’s Whistlestop Half Marathon. My goals are very modest at best – I’d be shocked by a 1:40

Finally, congrats to Ryan Hall on his 5th place, 2:08:04 finish at Chicago. I know everyone thinks he should be running sub-2:05 every time he starts a marathon. But consider this, of the top-9 qualifying times for the Olympic Trials, Hall has 5 of them, including the 3 best times.

Quote of the Day;

“Regardless of what some people think about American distance running and it not being a big deal to be on top of that, I think it is. I’m going to go into the trials very low, very humble, and know that it’s going to take a war to get onto that team.” – Ryan Hall

RUNNING CAREER

2011-10-07T11:55:00.004-05:00

As the day progressed yesterday, I felt worse and worse - runny nose, constant sneezing, tired, etc. I didn't feel much better today, so I called in sick. I took advantage of the day off to catch up on some of the running-related emails that come through my in-box. Usually, I sign up for a bunch of stuff, but end up just deleting it or never reading due to lack of time. Well, today I had time so I clicked on an email from flotrack and ended up spending probably an hour watching various videos, including a bunch with Ryan Hall as he talks about running Chicago this weekend. There's also a fun series called Run Junkie where they review what's going on with the high school, college, and professional ranks.

After that I opened an email from competitor.com and saw that they have an online magazine. The October issue even features a couple of articles from Minneapolis's own, McKenzie Lobby.

Like most times when I have a cold, the best I feel during the day is when I'm out running. So I headed to Lebanon Hills and ended up running 10 beautiful miles. I'd have to look back, but that's probably the furthest I've run in 3 months. Not only was it a great run physically, it was a great run mentally. Actually, the whole morning was a great mental boost. So much so, that I'm ready to declare that I'm back. No, I'm not back physically - far from it. But I feel like I'm back mentally and want to focus on getting back into running shape. I'll even throw this out there, 2012 TCM, baby!

A whole bunch of things have kind of snowballed lately and they have me wondering if there's a career to be made with running. Obviously, I'm not talking about collecting prize money as a slow Masters runner. I'm referring to other avenues, such as, writing, coaching, running organizations, retail, etc. When I think about Flotrack, Letsrun, Runnerspace, Competitor.com, TCM, MDRA, Team MN, etc., there must be money to be made.

McKenzie has the following quote on her website;

"I think that if you were advising young people going out into the job market, in this very tough job market, I'd say: find something that you're passionate about, regardless of what the prospects are. Do what you are passionate about and stay interested in it and it will work out for you somehow, one way or another. Because there's unemployment among lawyers for Heaven's sake, there's unemployment among MBA's, so why go the practical route?" - Garrison Keillor

Along those lines I once read the advice "Find what you love to do and then find someone to pay you to do it." As a father, that's what I'd like to pass along to my kids. But it's kind of hypocritical if you're not passionate about what you do. Or is it just telling them not to go down the road you did? In any case, I don't hate my job - at least not most of the time, but I'm not passionate about it either. Is it too late or is there a way to make a living at the only thing I'm passionate about, running?

Quote of the day;

"There's no place I'd rather be than on the start line of a marathon. Man, you feel alive." - Ryan Hall

HERDING CATS

2011-10-05T11:52:00.000-05:00

Another year of coaching 3rd – 6th graders is in the books. Throughout the year we joked that it was like herding cats. It was definitely organized chaos, at best, when you have 37 kids and 2 coaches. We threw a lot of new stuff (games, relays, obstacle courses, etc.) at the kids this year in order to keep it fun. At times it’s really hard to get a feel for what they like and don’t like – especially given the rather large differences in age and abilities between our runners. After our last practice I got a very nice thank you card from one of our 6th graders. He mentioned how much he enjoyed running for us and much he’d miss it. He was very grateful for everything we taught him and said he’d be sure to use it throughout his “running career”. It was very touching.

I do try to share some “secrets” with the kids to help them improve, like running the tangents, keeping their effort up all the way over the hill, changing their stride to match the terrain – stuff like that. I feel like I can expand on this in the future, but I don’t want it to feel like I’m lecturing them either. I guess now that I know someone is listening and feels like it’s helpful information, I’ll try to add more next year.

In my last post I mentioned a glaring error on the Houston 2012 site. If you’re wondering what I was talking about, they listed results for 10,000km. It should be 10,000m or 10km – not 10,000km or 10m. I know it’s sad that; 1) I caught this in the first place, 2) it bothers me and 3) I blogged about it. But I have nothing better to do.

Running still has its ups and downs for me – and I’m not talking about the terrain. After a 34 mile week, I only ran once last week. I don’t even have an excuse why I didn’t run. This week I’ve run 6-7 miles every day. Both my knees have been achy. I’m wondering if it’s due to all the time off and my body getting used to the pounding again. The pain is the worst when I’m going up stairs.

Quote of the Day;

“You must be fast enough. You must have endurance. So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.” – Emil Zatopek

PASSING FANCY

2011-10-03T13:49:00.001-05:00

If you happened to go to the TCM expo (via 35E north) did you happen to notice the sign on the Children’s hospital that advertised their newly update Emergency Room? Almost makes me wish I’d gotten in an accident so I could check it out. If I’m in an accident in say Bloomington, now I’m going to have to request that the ambulance takes me all the way to St. Paul. Seriously, isn’t that a waste of advertising dollars? If I need an Emergency Room, I’m picking the closest one around.

I really enjoy the excitement and energy surrounding marathon expos. Sunday I woke up to nearly ideal racing conditions – ideal, at least, for the first 2 hours or so. After that, I imagine it got toasty along Summit for the runners. Things like that make me want to run another fall marathon some day. Then I think about running 20-milers in July and August and the moment passes. Maybe I can work something out where I jump in around mile 22 (after the St. Thomas hill) and run pass the TCRC RV at mile 24. Then I’ll loop back to the RV and hang out with everyone for the rest of the race. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I have a year to figure them out.

Sunday’s race also got me fired up for the 2012 trials in Houston. I was checking out the Houston 2012 website to get a better idea of the top qualifiers. For the second straight time, runners can also qualify by meeting standards for a half marathon or even a 10K. For a list of athletes that have qualified (as of 9/25), check out this page. One reason I bring it up is because there’s a glaring error. (Hint: look at the different qualifying distances.)

I don’t have a QOD handy today, so I’ll just “borrow” from Letsrun.com.

Quote of the Day;

“I prefer to celebrate and remember how great he was, how great an athlete. I had a wonderful conversation on how fast that he thought he could go. (He believed he could run at least 2:02.) That we won't see him again is hard." – Chicago Marathon director Carey Pinkowski talking about Sammy Wanjiru

CAN YOU SMELL IT?

2011-09-30T11:09:00.007-05:00

Can you smell it? It's that time of year again - fall! That means two things; 1) cross country season and 2) marathons.

For the second year in a row I'm the Program Director and co-coach the Eastview Athletic Association's 3rd-6th grade program. It's hard to believe our season is almost over. We have our final meet tonight and then we have a final practice on Monday. We run a time trial at our second practice and another one at our final practice, which allows us to see how much the kids (hopefully) improve during the season.

Here's a photo of the troops this year. I decided to stray from the traditional Eastview colors of black, blue and white. I figured neon green and yellow would be more fun. A huge thanks to Adam and his crew at TCRC. As I told Adam, without his support the kids would be wearing cotton t-shirts and getting dum-dum suckers for rewards.

We were at a meet last Saturday for 5th and 6th graders and one of the girls on another team wore her iPod during the 1 mile race. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I thought it was a little sad that she couldn't "unplug" for 10 minutes.

It's TCM weekend here too. I'll be out there cheering for both the 10-mile and marathon. I'm thinking about heading to the Expo just to check things out - maybe take in the elite press conference. Good luck to all the racers.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Lauren Fleshman is my new favorite runner. Apparantly the folks at Runner's World took note of my post and contacted Lauren because she'll be on the next cover. Lauren's so pumped that she'll even sign your cover if you send it to her.

One of the things I like about Lauren's journal is how she talks about the mental side of the sport and the belief she has in herself. She's even gone so far as to create a Believe I am website with apparel and what looks to be a cool training diary.

Quote of the day;

"My natural tendency is to fill my cup to the point of overflowing. I’ll just keep on pouring it in until I flood the whole damn kitchen. I’ve been that way since high school when I was taking five honors classes alongside cross country and working at In-N-Out Burger. I’d like to blame my parents for this but they are reasonable, laid back people who were always telling me to “chill the F out.” Since becoming a pro runner, I’ve had to learn to be extremely choosy about what to pour in my cup (I no longer waste my efforts on things that I’m not passionate about like I did in high school). I don’t like to be busy for the sake of being busy, but alas, for me to be “fulfilled,” I need to be “full” and “filled”." - Lauren Fleshman

ALL OR NOTHING

2011-09-23T12:43:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems to be all or nothing lately. I basically stopped P90X, cold turkey, and switched back to running. The whole time I was doing P90X, I was singing the praises of the added strength, balance, flexibility, etc. I’d think things like “No matter what, I have to keep these kinds of workouts in my fitness plan.” That being said, I haven’t done a P90X workout in 10 days. However, I’ve watched my weekly mileage go from 0 to 20 to 30 to 40. I didn’t really plan any of this, it just sort of coincided with my favorite running weather.

So far my body is holding together fairly well. My knee is still a little wonky, but all the other aches and pains associated with going from 0 to 40 MPW have taken my mind off my knee.

While I feel stronger, it’s no surprise that a 2 month break from running has hurt my cardio. I don’t care that P90X folks call Kenpo (their kickboxing workout) a cardio workout. It can’t replace a good old fashioned run.

Losing cardio fitness definitely has an impact on group runs. During this morning’s trail run, I was dropped within 2 miles. I took a short cut and ended up running 7 miles in the time everyone else ran 8.

Before my layoff I had thoughts of trying to get back into racing shape, then I shut things down and thought I had no desire to race again. Now I really have no idea what to expect, so I won’t make any more predictions – at least not for awhile.

Off topic, I’m wondering why there are a couple of blogs that I can’t comment on. They are blogspot blogs and everytime I go to comment, it makes me log in. Then it says I’m “anonymous” even though I select my user account. And then when I go to post anonymously, it sends me back to the log in screen and it’s a vicious cycle. Anyone else experience this?

Finally, here’s the QOD from the feel-good story of the week.

Quote of the Day;

"I didn't think about my race, I knew I needed to stop and help him. It was something I would expect my other teammates to do. I'm nothing special; I was just in the right place at the right time." - Josh Ripley

LET IT RIDE

2011-09-14T12:39:00.002-05:00

Ah yes, this is a “running” blog, so what’s new on that front?

My right knee was driving me crazy and I basically shut things down on July 8th. On July 18th I switched my focus to P90X. Typically, that’d mean I’m on week #9 of the program. However, back in August I was busy installing our floor, plus we went to the Brainerd Lakes area for 4 days. So I basically took a whole week off and just jumped back in once we got back. In any case, I’m on like day 52 right now. I wouldn’t say I’ve followed the program to a “T”, but I’ve probably done 90-95% of the workouts.

Oh yea, back to running. After 7 weeks off, I ended up going for a 4 mile run while in Brainerd – mainly because I just felt like it. I wouldn’t say the knee hurt, but it felt “funny”. I took another week off. Then without really thinking about it, I ended up with 21 miles last week. Obviously, relatively speaking, that’s not much at all. But maybe I’m heading in the right direction. P90X will continue towards the end of October. Perhaps I can continue mixing in 30 MPW of running. Once P90X is complete, I can switch to roller skiing and get ready for the snow. The knee still isn’t 100%, but I’ll let it ride and see what happens. If it’s not “fixed” after 8 weeks off, there’s a bigger problem.

Quote of the Day;

“We are lined up and led single file through various tunnels and small passageways through the belly of the stadium to a ladder that will pop us up 100 meters from the 5k start. Music and cheering gets louder as we approach the ladder until the sounds from up there make us forget we were chit chatting with the woman next to us, and the vibration of the arena seduces the performer in most of us and paralyzes a few with fear. A Japanese girl next to me starts shaking, pulling her hands to her face and groaning quietly, and I am distracted for a moment with empathy for her. I’ve been there and it’s awful. But in this moment, I look up towards the source of the vibration with wanting.”- Lauren Fleshman – talking about being led to the start of the World Championship 5,000m final

REMODELING BEFORE & AFTER

2011-09-11T11:10:00.023-05:00

Here are the much anticipated "before and after" photos from our recent home remodeling project. What was originally conceived as a new kitched turned into bascially a new whole lower level. The only things we didn't touch were our computer room and the mud room.

View upon entrying the front of our house - family room with vaulted ceiling and built-in shelving. The wall to my right will be removed.

New view from our entryway.

Looking back towards our front door.

Old living room.

Now it's a dining room.

Look into the kitchen - note the wall off to the right and the 2 peninsulas.

The wall is gone and we extended this penisula to make it a breakfast bar. And added pendant lights.

Looking through the old kitchen and into the dining room. Note the dome light.

Laminate counter top is now granite, second penisula is gone and new cherry cabinets.

Looking through the kitchen the other way and into the living room. Notice the floor.

New floor, penisula taken out, and new antique hutch.

Messy desk and refrigerator.

Cleaner looking area without the desk.

Old dining room.

New sitting room.

Recessed lighting. Also, since we lost some cabinet space when we removed the wall in the kitchen and the penisula, we decided to extend our new cabinets up to the ceiling. In the end, I think we ended up with more cabinet space. Of course, some of it requires the use of a step-stool.

My wife and I painted the new dining room, kitchen and sitting room and I installed the floor - otherwise we can't take any credit. Overall, it seemed to take longer than we initially thought, so it's nice to finally be done.

NEW FAVORITE

2011-09-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe it’s just mine, but it sure feels like blogs are dying. When I first started this thing 6 ½ years ago they seemed pretty new. Now I think everyone that had a blog back then has stopped updating it. I haven’t decided to stop, but obviously, updating it has become sporadic. I feel like I finally have some stuff to share, so here it goes;

It’s not every day I get to interview a member of the U.S. Track and Field team competing at the world meet. While my latest interview is not of a runner, it’s still worth checking out.

Speaking of interviews, years ago I interviewed Kara and Laurie. At the time they were going around sharing their secrets to balancing exercise and motherhood at various expos. Well, those secrets have evolved into a book; Hot (Sweaty) Mamas. I happened to find a copy at our library and decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised and ended up writing the following review;

Guys like Hot Sweaty Mamas too!

"This book is not just for women. I found it informative, funny, entertaining and insightful. I love the Mom2Mom quotes as well as Kara and Laurie's personal examples. The appendix is loaded with great lists and resources, along with a fitness challenge, priority inventory, and a great "sweat decision tree" which lets you know when it's okay to miss a workout or when you'd better suck it up and sweat.

As a running dad of 2 girls I tend to exercise early in the morning before they're awake. This book has made me realize it's okay for them to see me exercise and it's okay for me to involve them with my exercise routine."

If you want to check out more of their writing, you can check them out at Laurie’s blog and Kara’s blog. Then go pick up the book.

Finally, I hope you made it down this far because I want to share with you my new favorite runner, or perhaps new favorite writer. As a fan of this sport, I have lots of favorite runners. Over the weekend I added Lauren Fleshman to that list. I’ve been aware of Lauren for years, but I happened to come across her journal entry which described her day leading up to the finals in the 5,000m at the world meet. As someone who’s biggest events were a couple of conference meets, it’s interesting to read about life at the elite level. I enjoyed that post so much that I’ve been going back and reading all her post for the last 2 years or so. I’m guessing you’ll hear more about her writing here soon.

So maybe blogs aren’t dead.

Quote of the Day;

“I am barely surviving, reaching into the corners of the toothpaste tube to squeeze out just a little bit more, and I catch one more woman right before the finish line. I didn’t know who won, who got medals, who I pipped at the line, what time I ran, or what place I finished. Complete immersion into maximum effort drowned out all my senses.” - Lauren Fleshman

INDISTINGUISHABLE

2011-08-17T05:45:00.006-05:00

Okay, I'm through the first 4-week cycle of P90X and here are the results so far compared to Day 0.

Day 0.

Day 28.

Day 0.

Day 28.

Yeah, the photos are almost indistinguishable. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. I can see and feel little changes. For example, the other day I was making a lane change and as I checked my blind spot it sure felt like I was able to turn further around with less difficulty. I attribute this to the added stretching and yoga sessions included in the program.

It’d be easy to get frustrated with no visible results after 4 weeks, but then I was trying to compare P90X to a new running program. If I were to follow some 12 to 16 week running program, I’m pretty sure I would not be in much better shape after just 4 weeks. It takes longer for the body to adapt than that. I figure that first month was just for laying the foundation. Now I can build off of that.

Adding some cardio to my program would probably help too. During those first 4 weeks I did not do any other exercises outside of P90X. I’ll see if I can add some cardio during this next 4 week block of training.

I was hoping to be able to provide some before and after photos of our home renovations by now. However, things came to a stand-still as we waiting over a week for a city inspector to sign off on the wall we tore out. That finally happened last week, so the contractors were able to finish dry walling and painting the ceiling. Granite arrives today, so we’re getting close.

One other update, I sold the dining room set for $100. Probably could have got more for it, but that’s alright. The gal was excited and she appreciated the refinishing job.

Quote of the Day;

"It’s not the runner, but those impersonating the runner, who is at hazard.” – Dr. George Sheehan

SPEECHLESS

2011-08-14T08:45:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, I still consider this a running blog. With that said, be sure to check out my interview with Minnesota's newest Olympic Trials qualifier. Her progression over the last 2-3 years is truly inspiring.

I'm not exactly sure what's going on lately, but I've been receiving a lot of really nice emails.

This one came via Facebook on my birthday;

"You give everyone a present in each of your interviews; a heartfelt thanks for the insights gained reading them...no birthday $ for a gift, so this'll have to do." - Phillip G.S.

I got this one from someone I don't know;

"First, I enjoy reading your interviews with all of the good/famous/talented local runners. They are all really good interviews (and runners alike), and I've managed to glean a lot of good insight and information from quite a few of them." - Tom H.

Then I got this one from my buddy, Jim, who was my 2nd ever interview;

"You are an amazing person--what you accomplish and what's on your plate is inspirational. I'm really pleased to see that you have continued the interviews on Minnesota Running." - Jim G.

Finally, the youth cross country program that I'm the program director and assistant coach for has started up again. We have 35 kids in grades 3-6 signed up. This is my second year with the program and we've made an effort to focus more on fun, in the form of relays, games, obstacle courses, etc., and less on race results. We're only two practices in, so I was really surprised to receive this email;

"I wanted to let you know that after practice Thursday, Molly told me she now wants to be a cross country coach when she grows up. You guys are very inspirational. Thanks for all your hard work." - Julie H.

WOW - that one leaves me speechless!

I wish I could take credit for all the new cool stuff we're doing this year, however, I have to admit I'm "borrowing" a lot of ideas from this awesome site put out by the New York Road Runners. Anyone that coaches kids cross country should check it out.

Check back in the next day or two for some P90X 4-week progress photos, along with an update.
As for quotes of the day, it doesn't get any better than what I've already posted.

ONE MORE

2011-07-31T20:27:00.005-05:00

I mentioned before that I had refinished another dresser a few years ago. It's probably my favorite. I still can't believe someone covered this beautiful wood up with white paint.

BEFORE & AFTER

2011-07-31T18:09:00.010-05:00

Here are some before and after photos of two of the projects I've been working on. The first is dining room table and chairs that we picked up from my wife's uncle's estate when we moved him to an assisted living facility. We tried to sell it for $100 at his estate sale, but no one bought it. I thought maybe refinishing it would help increase it's value - but mainly I thought it'd be fun. I refinished a similar dining room set a few years ago for my family. If I'd been doing this set for our family I'd have put another coat of polyurothene on it and I'd have re-upholstered the chairs. But since it's 90 degrees outside with a dew point of 70, I just wanted to get this thing done with.

And here's the dresser I brought back from my parent's place. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I don't know what kind of wood makes up this "tiger stripe" pattern. All I know if that I like using a light stain on it in order to highlight the pattern. I originally bought single handles to go on the top two drawers, but when I filled in the two holes left from the old knobs, it looked bad, so I went back to knobs. I can't tell you how long that Pizza Pub sticker has been on this dresser. I think I put it on there when I was about my kids' age.

SO FAR AWAY

2011-07-30T10:29:00.000-05:00

Pretty quiet week, but I’m still here. The remodeling project at home is in full-swing. Luckily, we still had a stove last week. That changed yesterday and we are now without a stove, kitchen sink, and dishwasher. Basically, everything is in the basement except the fridge. Whenever we make a meal it seems like we’re walking up and down the stairs 3 or 4 times because we keep forgetting things. New cabinets arrive on Monday, so hopefully things will be semi-back to normal by next Friday. In an effort to save some money, I (foolishly?) agreed to install the new laminate flooring myself. I did this about 10 years ago in our first house and back then you had to glue all the pieces together. Now everything is click and snap, so it should be easier. The only difference is last time I replaced about 200 square feet, this time it’ll be more like 800 square feet. It’s look great when it’s all done, but right now that seems so far away.

The dining set and dresser are coming along great. I started staining them yesterday and may even be done tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have some photos to share soon.

As for P90X, I’m still plugging along. Yesterday was the first workout that I missed – mainly because I took the day off from work and was working on the projects mentioned above – but I’ll just rearrange the schedule a little and still get everything in this week. The program does call for either one day off or a day of stretching each week. Maybe I’m looking too hard, but at almost 2 weeks in I can see subtle changes. Two more weeks and I’ll post photos of my progress.

All of these restoration projects have somehow lead me to discover my new favorite TV show, American Restoration on the History Channel. It is amazing the things these guys can restore no matter how rusted and dented they may be. It’s shows like this that make me question my career path. Seriously, I think doing that kind of work would be so much more fun than sitting at a computer all day looking at spreadsheets. Even the work our contractor is doing would be so much more fun and rewarding.

Finally, here’s today’s recommended read regarding the Afton Trail Ultra and the difficulties overcome by race director John Storkamp had to overcome given the state shutdown. Looking at the byline, I don’t think I’ve read anything by Alex Kurt before, but I look forward to seeing more of his stuff in the future.

Quote of the day;

“I never considered canceling the event. Trail running and ultrarunning is not for quitters. We would have had it on a track, in a parking lot, or in my backyard if we had no other choice.” – John Storkamp

AS PROMISED

2011-07-22T05:34:00.012-05:00

As promised, here are a couple of before pictures of me without my shirt.

I know what you’re thinking, “Dang, those look like after pictures.” I know it’s hard to think I can improve upon on this, but I’m going to try.

Yesterday was a yoga day, which led to this email to my buddy Scott; Running makes it easy to think we’re these super-fit athletes that can do anything. Then when we try something new, like yoga, you realize how limited we are with range of motion, flexibility and balance.

Instead of sending in before and after still shots, I think P90X users should send in actual videos from their first and last workouts. Now that would be comical – watching people struggle with seemingly easy movements (and I’m not just talking about the yogo portion of the program). And it’d be impressive to see how people improve over the 90 days. I’ve done the Ab Ripper X workout 3 times now. The first time was a huge struggle, but things went a lot better today – expect for the Oblique V-ups. That is impossible at this point. But I find the challenge kind of fun.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have some other projects to keep me occupied this summer. Here’s a dining room set that I’m working on refinishing. The table is stripped down and I’m working on the chairs. I should say, I would be working on the chairs is the heat index weren’t 110 degrees all week. If anyone is looking for a new dining room set, let me know. It’s 42” wide and ranges from 28” to 78” long depending on whether you fold down the ends or insert one of three leaves. I’m not sure what color to stain it yet – perhaps I’ll just let the natural color of the wood shine through. Of course, if someone is interested in it, I’ll stain it whatever color they’d like.

And here’s a dresser I plan on refinishing too. I brought it back from my parent’s house. I refinished a similar dresser for them a few years ago and it turned out awesome. I’ll dig those photos up sometime too.

Finally, just for fun, here’s a photo from a recent Twins game. Back row!

Quote of the Day;

"Being an athlete is a state of mind which is not bound by age, performance or place in the running pack.” – Jeff Galloway

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

2011-07-20T13:01:00.000-05:00

Probably like most runners out there, I’ve gone through numerous running lives over the years. These can be split up by different phases of your life; high school, college, pre-children, etc. Between two of my phases I spent 4 years in the Navy where running took a backseat and I spent more of my time playing basketball and lifting weights. I don’t know if I’d call myself a bodybuilder during those years as my super-fast metabolism wouldn’t let me weigh more than 160 pounds. However, magazines like Muscle & Fitness and Flex replaced my Runner’s World subscription. I can remember stretches during this time where I paid a lot of attention to the foods I ate. I was very disciplined, placing emphasis on how healthy foods were, rather than how they tasted.

I bring all this up mainly as a reminder to myself as I begin this P90X journey. I’m on day 3 so far and the workouts are going pretty well. There’s an issue with trying to do the new exercises correctly, as well as figuring out how much weight to use. However, overall things have started off rather well. I did take some “before” photos, but I haven’t loaded them to the computer yet. I hope to do that for my next post.

While a new set of P90X DVDs runs $140 on their site, I was able to get a set that had not been opened from Amazon for $90. It also includes their nutrition guide. I’ve decided not to follow that – it’s just too hard with family dinners. For right now I’m focusing on cutting out as much crap as possible – especially those times when I find myself digging in the pantry for no other reason than there’s a commercial on TV. And instead of eating all 4 Snackwell cookies in the package, I’ve just been eating one to help curb that sweet tooth. Another change is to only drink alcohol during social settings. No more beer just because we’re grilling out, or wine while reading at night. I’ll see what kind of impact those small changes have to begin with. I can always adjust as I go.

So that’s where I’m at right now. There will definitely be more to follow on this topic.

Quote of the Day;

"If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” - unknown

NAKED FOOT

2011-07-15T13:08:00.002-05:00

Let’s start off by posting a link to another interview. Enjoy.

I have a couple of more race entries to giveaway. These are for the Naked Foot 5K to be held around Lake Nokomis on Saturday August 20th. As the race director told me, “I know barefoot running is quite the polarizing topic in running circles, but our event is all about getting out there and having fun.” The websites says they're not about the 'barefoot movement, but rather the 'movement movement'. And although the title of the event suggest it’s exclusively for barefoot runners, that’s NOT the case - they do not discriminate against those of us the wear shoes. They also mention this is not just another 5K. They have an all-grass 1-mile race, a free kids 1K, games, face painting, er I mean, foot painting, prizes and other healthy living vendors will be there as well. They are also collecting shoes for Soles4Souls. Sounds like a fun new event!

If you’re interested in a free entry leave a comment or shoot me an email or facebook message. I promise I’ll be more patient this time when it comes to selecting the winners.

Okay, I have to close the week with a gripe. At work we have free coffee set up in each wing of the building. The coffee maker has 3 separate burners, so there are 2 pots for regular and 1 for decaf. The decaf pot is rarely used. Typically, in the mornings there are 2 pots in use and then only 1 in the afternoon. All this makes sense. The gripe I have is when people finish off the pot and then place it back on the burner – without turning the burner off. Seriously, either make another pot or at least turn the burner off. If this happened once a month it wouldn’t bother me. But I would bet 3 times a week I end up removing an empty pot from a burner. Anyone else have this problem in the office?

Quote of the Day;

"I always knew that ‘some day’ I would get back into it, it was just a matter of that desire coming back and coinciding with life circumstances that were conducive to running.” - Amy Halseth.

QUALITY POSTS

2011-07-13T12:55:00.000-05:00

The problem with shutting down your running when you have a running blog is that things get really boring very quickly.

I’ll try to keep posting so you can learn valuable things about me like this;

Last night it occurred to me that I like fruit and I like ice cream/custard, but I really don’t like fruit in my ice cream/custard. This occurred while eating a very berry cobbler from Culver’s. The very berry cobbler would have been a yummy dessert by itself – same with the custard – but mix them together and it was just okay. The same goes with seafood and pasta for me. I love them separately, but mix them together and I’m not a big fan.

See, this is the kind of quality posts you can expect while I’m not running.

I haven’t run since last Friday and am doing my best to turn into a fat blob before starting my P90X program next week. I figure a nice double butter burger and a very berry cobbler dessert will “help” with my before photos. Given how I haven’t really been able to stick with any sort of routine lately, I have no idea how the P90X program will go. It might turn into P10X, where 10 is the number of days I actually follow through with the program. Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to it, so I’m guessing I’ll stick with it fairly well.

Besides a new workout program starting next week, I have some other transformation projects on my plate. These include a kitchen remodeling, as well as refinishing a couple of pieces of furniture. Hopefully, these projects will keep me busy during my down time – and provide some material for blogging.

Quote of the Day;

"I was never a graceful runner, but then, I never have thought an athletic event should be a beauty show.” – Clarence DeMar

ACCURATE ASSESSMENT

2011-07-08T12:51:00.001-05:00

Looking through the results from last year’s Minneapolis 13.1, I only recognized about 2 names. So I wasn’t sure if anyone would jump at the two free entries I had to giveaway or not. Besides, I never know who’s reading this thing – other than me. Anyway, after not getting any responses, I sent out a mass first-come-first-served email. That sparked a little interest and I was able to give them away. Then, of course, readers of my blog started to chime in. I guess the moral of the story is that I need to be more patient. In the future I’ll give people a chance to actually respond before giving away the good. Thanks for your interest.

Friday mornings I typically do group trail run in Hyland Park. This morning I showed up intentionally late. I figure with the shape I’m in, there’s no way I could hang with the group. Instead, I ran the course backwards and met up with them for about the last 2 miles. Given that I couldn’t even keep up with them for that short stretch, I’d say my thinking was right on the money. In the brief time I was with the group one of the guys mentioned that I’d fallen off the face of the earth since running the Grand Canyon. That’s a pretty accurate assessment. That’s basically how I feel about my running right now. Another guy mentioned he was thinking about a little forced break from running in order to recharge his batteries. I like that idea too. Typically, I perform my best when I have a long run-way to build up my base. For me, in the past, this is what winter is all about. Shutting things down, recharging, building back up. That’s where I see things heading right now, it's just that the shutting down process will start earlier in the year. If that’s enough to help heal my knee, then I’m all for it. Of course, one never knows if that’s enough or not.

Quote of the Day;

"I’ve strained my body to the bounds of endurance and running had become a nightmare.” – Herb Elliott, upon his retirement at age 22

MY PROBLEM

2011-07-06T12:57:00.001-05:00

This is the problem I’ve been having lately; I say one thing and do the opposite. I talk about getting consistent and building off of the previous week and then I proceed to take 3 of the next 4 days off. Granted I had some family commitments that required physical labor, but that’s just an excuse to help get me through the week.

To make matters worse, my knee was bothering me again when I finally laced my shoes again. I ended up struggling through a mile and then walking 3 more. I figure I had the time, I might as well try and burn some calories. For the first time in my life I find myself thinking of exercise as a way to stay fit rather than doing it in order to compete.

Now I’m trying to figure out what kinds of exercise I can do to stay fit and still help my knee recover. Do I break out my bike again, continue running, dust of my roller skis, walk, lift, hit the elliptical, etc.? I broke down and ordered P90X yesterday. I figure if I can’t run it’ll be a good way to gain some strength and burn some calories. Maybe if you’re lucky I’ll post some photos, without my shirt, along the way.

GIVEAWAY
Any readers out there interested in running the Minneapolis 13.1 on August 22nd? I may have the opportunity to giveaway some free entries and I wanted to see if there’s any interest out there. Either leave a comment or send me an email.

Finally, I’ve mentioned my neighbor’s blog before because he takes tons of great photos and has lots of great info on biking. Well, he posted a couple of photos of our daughters at their horseback riding lessons. Mine is the one with the braids in her hair.

Quote of the Day;

"Part of a runner’s training consists of pushing back the limits of the mind, of proving to his doubting intellect that 66 seconds a lap for 12 laps won’t reduce him to another cinder on the track.” – Kenny Moore

BUILD OFF OF IT

2011-06-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

I’m up to 48 miles in the last 7 days. Nothing spectacular, but I have to start somewhere. The important thing is to build off of it. When training isn’t going that well, I find it very easy to skip the only hard workouts that I typically do; tempos and marathon paced runs. Once that cycle starts, it’s easy to continue. Usually, I’m able to justify it by tell myself I’m not fit enough to do a workout. I figure if I can’t improve upon the last workout, why do it. Well, now I don’t care how bad my workout times are, I need to start somewhere. So this week I did a 3 mile tempo at 6:54 pace. Sure, that’s a lot slower than “normal”, but things haven’t been “normal” for awhile. This is the new me for right now and, as with my mileage, I’ll build off of it.

Last weekend were the U.S. Track & Field Championships. I really didn’t follow along until the meet was over. Then I went to Letsrun.com for their recap and was able to watch some videos. Here are my random thoughts. Jen Rhines continues to impress. I don’t have her info handy, but she must be 36 or so. She been an Olympian at 5K, 10K and the marathon. Last weekend she made like her 10th U.S. team. She never seems to get a lot of recognition, perhaps because she’s always solid, but never spectacular. Just looked it up, she’ll be 37 tomorrow. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite runners!

On the other hand there’s Christin Wurth-Thomas. I don’t know a lot about her, but every time I see her race she zooms right to the front and then gets passed by everyone. Last weekend was no different. She built a HUGE lead and then was passed by 3 women in the last 100 meters. She finished 4th, 0.01 seconds from qualifying. What really bugged me was summed up nicely by Pre’s Mustache. In her post race interview she talked about food poisoning and lack of sleep and then said “But I’m not making excuses.” Umm, yes you are.

With sites like Flotrack, Runnerspace, etc. all interviewing these runners after their races, fans are getting a lot more exposure to these athletes. Of course, this can be either good or bad and what they say can leave lasting impressions on the relatively small fan-base surrounding track & field. While runners like Wurth-Thomas and Will Leer made excuses, youngster Matt Centrowitz said all the right things and made some fans along the way.

Quote of the Day;

"I don't think it's set in yet. Taking a victory lap with guys like Lagat and Leo Manzano is just exciting and just to be running alongside of them and to be mentioned with them is an honor. I'm pumped." – Matt Centrowitz, after winning the U.S 1500 meter title

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

2011-06-27T12:58:00.001-05:00

First off today, happy 13th anniversary to my wife – that means we’ve been together 16 years total. Hard to believe anyone could put up with me for so long. Even my parents could see the light at the end of the tunnel after 16 years.

I’ve talked about being fired up lately and getting more serious about my training. As always, it all starts with getting out the door on a consistent basis. Luckily, my knee is feeling better, so that makes being consistent a little easier. Who would have thought running 26.2 miles would help make the pain go away?

Since I don’t have much going on right now, I wanted to share a couple of other websites that you might enjoy. Dave Elger’s site is one of those sites I always forget I have saved in my favorites. Yet every time I go back, I tend to find some little nugget. Toni Reavis is one of the best promoters of our sport around. You may happen to remember the Runnerville Podcast that I enjoyed awhile ago. Toni was a big part of those.

Big weekend in running with the U.S. Championships as well as Western States. I hope to share some thoughts on those later this week.

Quote of the Day;

“There's something intensely satisfying about racing and pushing yourself as far as you can but it's not necessarily fun at the time, especially if you fail at your goal, whatever it may be. That's why I couldn't let the hard day's work go to waste.” - Ian Sharman talking about his 10th place finish at Western States

ON THE BEATEN PATH

2011-06-24T12:57:00.002-05:00

I'm going to close out the week by sharing an article I recently wrote for MDRA.

On the beaten path by Chad Austin

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a road runner. Sure, I do a fair amount of my training on trails and I’ll jump in a trail race or two during the year. But for the most part I stick to the roads and races ranging from 5K to marathons. Like most roadies, thoughts of running an ultra marathon have been the furthest thing from my mind. I’ve been too consumed with finding flat, fast courses in order to lower my times as far as possible. However, somewhere along the line the order of importance for me has shifted from setting PRs to experiencing new things. I’m guessing this is a natural progression that occurs as we age and PRs become fewer and farther between. One thing I haven’t experienced is running more than 26.2 miles. So now that I’ve set the last of my road PRs, I find thoughts of trying an ultra marathon creeping into my head.

Over the last couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of running once a week with some of the best local ultra marathoners. Earlier this spring I was fortunate enough to travel with many of these guys to Arizona where we ran the Grand Canyon. While this wasn’t a race, the experience gave me an inside look into the ultra world. During this trip I couldn’t help by think about the difference between roadies and trail runners. For example, road racers put a lot of emphasis on their pace per mile. In fact, as little as 5-10 seconds per mile, faster or slower, is often the difference between a great race and a terrible race. Given the variability of trails, little to no importance is placed on mile splits. Instead, these runners focus more on being in-tune with their body and how it’s responding to the stresses placed upon it. Another example, marathoners try to avoid bonking at all costs. We know once a bonk arrives, it can be a miserable shuffle the rest of the way. The only thing we can do is watch our mile splits get slower and slower. The ultra marathoners I ran with know a bonk, or two, is coming and they almost look forward to them. They place bets on who will reach Bonk City first and joke about 3 bonks and you’re out. Their lighthearted approach is due to the fact that they know they have time to refuel on the run and can pull themselves out of a bonk. Finally, I even think the camaraderie between the two groups is different. Post-road race conversations are typically about finish time and place. Roadies will go into minute detail about ever mile split along the course and tell you who they beat and didn’t beat. On the other hand, the trail runners seem more genuinely concerned with everyone’s experience; how they felt, what they thought of the course, how was their nutrition, etc. It’s hard to explain, but it reminds me of my time in boot camp where everyone looks out for everyone else.

I’m not sure what each group thinks of the other, but I get the sense that roadies think they are better runners. The sheer number of roadies almost guarantees that they’re faster, however, the trails have their fair share of fast runners too. For example, three-time XTERRA Trail Champion, Max King has run 14:23 for 5K. And earlier this spring California resident Ian Sharman ran 100 miles in 12 hours and 44 minutes, that’s 7:51 pace. Another way to look at it, he ran 24:20 for 5K 32 times in a row.

Of course, the two groups aren’t mutually exclusive, former Team USA Minnesota runner, Chris Lundstrom who boasts a 2:17 marathon, is also one of the most successful trail runners around. As for Lundstrom’s love of the trails, he says, “Trail races, particularly ultras, are less about competing with other runners and more about testing yourself and your own fortitude. There are a lot more variables than in road racing. You may encounter a wide variety of conditions and challenges, such as poor footing, down trees, heat and humidity or snow and cold, dehydration and energy depletion...the list goes on and on. Ultimately these events are about continuing to move forward to the best of your ability, despite the challenges. They're also about appreciating some of the beautiful natural areas that we have around us. A great trail race is one where you aren't thinking about racing, but rather are simply cruising along, enjoying the trail and the natural surroundings.” For more reasons to hit the trails, see the sidebar.

If your interest in trail and/or ultra running is piqued, you can learn more on the Upper Midwest Trail Runners website. There you’ll find at least a dozen ultras between Minnesota and Wisconsin. They also have a variety of different series events that you can enter. Two consist entirely of all ultras, another ranges from 10K to the marathon, and they even have a 5K trail series for those looking to get away from the roads and on the beaten path.

SIDEBAR
My buddy Joe Uhan is fairly new to ultras. He recently posted the top 10 reasons he loves ultra marathons on his blog.

10. Best of All Worlds - It combines my three favorite things: running, being surrounded by nature, and eating!

9. Nutrition, Hydration, Electrolytes - It's more than just running. You ultimately have to manage these things well in order to do your best.

8. Youth - In a sport where the average competitor is 40+, it's fun to be "the young guy" again.

7. Resiliency & Forgiveness - The ability to run a hard 50-mile race, then be able to come back the next day and run an "easy 14" without consequence.

6. Race Reports - In what other sport does the individual competitor provide their blow-by-blow account? Reading their blogs is a fascinating perspective into their race.

5. Sustainability of pace, of training, of body - Success, both short and long-term, in ultra running depends on sustainability, of the stride, of fueling, of training. To learn sustainability is to learn to love the feel of effortless running.

4. Race Dynamics - The marathon comes close, but only in ultra running can you be at death's door and be resurrected. The ability of both body and spirit to "turn the tide" makes the battle, of the competition and of self, so rewarding.

3. It's a "Pure Sport" - Challenging oneself, and challenging your competitors by giving them your best. Your best is achieved only through your competitor giving their best.

2. Mentorship & Stewardship - The sport has plenty of guys who are not only mentors to us "young road guys", but models for stewardship of the competition, the arena, and the competitive spirit.

1. Camaraderie & Community - Pre-race, post-race and in-between. Top guys will hang around at the finish to ask us middle-of-the-pack runners how it went. The true spirit of running, as a sport, is through community, including communal sacrifice, support, and celebration.

REVITALIZED

2011-06-23T12:39:00.000-05:00

Too many people ran well at Grandma’s to cover them all in one post. Congrats to Erin who inspired this article. I don’t know if she followed my advice or not, but I’m happy to take credit for her 11-minute, Boston-qualifying PR. While Kelly didn’t inspire an article, her 1:15 (that’s 1 hour and 15 minutes) PR is nothing short of spectacular. Had I know she’d run 3:27, I’d have been looking over my shoulder. Finally, congrats to my roommate for the weekend, Jared. The 69-year-old negative split a 3:17 and won his age-group by 27 minutes. That’s not supposed to happen when you’re at the far end of your age group.

As I alluded to in my last post, I’m feeling pretty fired up lately. Maybe it’s because I got to hang out with so many people that had such great performances on Saturday. Thinking about it some more, I really miss the whole process of setting a goal and training for it. I miss everything from planning tune-up races, dealing with nagging injuries, trying to peak on race day, worrying about the weather, developing a race strategy and then watching the race unfold in front of you. At the end of the day, this is what I really miss – the race times are just the icing on the cake.

With all that said, I’m going to see if I can become a “competitive” runner again. For me that means getting back into to a lifestyle that involves paying attention to weekly and monthly mileage, taking planned days offs, setting some goals, blogging regularly and so on. I don’t know if they body can hold up, or the mind, but I’m willing to give it another shot.

I haven’t set any goals yet but I’m kicking around the idea of jumping in a shorter race, just so I’m able to see some improvement between now and the fall. Perhaps I’ll find a fall half marathon to run too. We’ll see…

Before I forget, here’s a nice Q&A with Matt Gabrielson who always provides good quotes. With all the talk of Grandma’s lately, here’s a nice video by Carrie Tollefson that summarizes the weekend in a nutshell.

Quote of the Day;

“This most recent run on Old Hwy 61 [Grandma’s Marathon] has revitalized my entire career. It's like I've been given a fresh shot.” – Matt Gabrielson

GRANDMA'S MARATHON RACE REPORT

2011-06-21T13:02:00.000-05:00

Well, that didn’t last long. Three days after posting that I may not race in 2011, I jumped into Grandma’s Marathon. At the time I knew I was going to run it, but I didn’t plan on racing it. NOTE: I use the term “race” VERY loosely here. This was my 17th marathon and only 2 have been slower.

My plan was to meet up with a friend at the start and run with him while he tried to keep his string of running every Grandma’s intact. Since I couldn’t find him, I decided to run with Jared for as long as possible. That lasted until about mile 11 when I had to stop and go to the bathroom for the third time. The first two were quick pee breaks alongside the road and I was able to catch back up within a mile or two. This time it was a full on stop with sitting involved. There was no catching up after that.

During that stop the 3:20 group went by and I decided to hang a little ways back from them. I went through the half in 1:40:43 and was pretty confident that I would not be negative splitting. About 3 miles later I could already feel the pounding in my legs. I have 3 reasons for this; 1) lack of mileage, 2) long runs being on dirt, and 3) wearing too light of a shoe. I thought about wearing a heavier trainer, but all my non-trail trainers have 500+ miles on them. I didn’t think it’d be smart to wear them in a marathon.

Grandma’s is far and away my favorite marathon. I especially like the section from just after mile 18. From that point there’s a long gradual downhill and then there seem to be plenty of key points to look forward to; London Road, mile 20, the college kids with their beer, Lemon Drop Hill, Superior Street, Fitger’s, Lake Street, and mile 25 before making that final turn towards the DECC, William Irvin and the finish line. During this stretch I told myself to keep things under 8:00 pace for as long as possible. This lasted through mile 22, before Lemon Drop resulted in an 8:05. I think 24 and 25 were slightly over 8s too. At mile 25 I was pretty confident I could sneak under 3:25. I seriously couldn’t remember if my BQ was 3:20 or 3:25 (it’s 3:20), so I thought I’d at least try to get under 3:25. Yes, I know Boston gives you an extra 59 seconds. I hung on and crossed the line in 3:24:43.

If you haven’t heard, conditions were nearly perfect. Temps never got much over 50 degrees and it was cloudy with a nice tailwind. As you can imagine it was a regular PR-fest. Congrats to Matt on his 4-minute PR (2:13:28) that earned him 7th place, Jennifer who dropped dropping roughly 90 seconds to lower her PR to 2:33:01, Jenna on her 2-minute PR (2:40:45), her fiancé Chris who PR’d by 6 minutes (2:38:27), Nichole who’s dropped her PR from 3:03:08 to 2:44:46 in the last 2.5 years and earned a spot in the Oly Trials, and all the other runners that had great races.

I will say, while I’m more sore than I’ve ever been after any marathon, for some reason I’m feeling more fired up than I have in a long time. Maybe it’s due to the fact that so many people ran so well on a day when I didn’t. Whatever the reason, I’m going to see if I can feed off of it and get back into the swing of things – after I recover, of course.

Finally, as promised, here’s my latest interview.

Quote of the Day;

“As luck would have it, the year when I don't feel like I'm in the best shape is the year with the best conditions you could hope to find.” – Chris Lundstrom

FORCING MOTIVATION

2011-06-15T18:04:00.002-05:00

I've been joking that I need to find some slower friends before I run the Grand Canyon again. However, really I just need to put forth a little more effort in my training. Sure our group included awesome runners like Brian, Joe, Tony, and John who's won this event three times, but I should be capable of hanging with the other guys in the group.

I wrote an article recently where I stated, "somewhere along the line the order of importance for me has shifted from setting PRs to experiencing new things." That's all fine and good, but that doesn't mean I can't try to excel at these new things too. I've been at this long enough to know you can't force motivation. I don't know how to get it back, but I know you can't force it.

All of this is moot right now as I try to figure out my right knee. It's to the point where I either want it to break or heal because it's in just enough pain to make running no fun. I was considering running a 50K and 50 miler this year, but now those are out the window. 2011 could seriously be the first time I don't race in like 15 years.

I will end with some good news. Frequent commentor, Double, who I interviewed here has (finally) started a blog. If he blogs like he comments, I think you'll find it enjoyable. And, finally, speaking of interviews, I'm happy to announce that they'll be back shortly. I can't believe it's been over year since my last one. There are too many interesting people out there to let it die. So I'm hoping to pump new life into the site.

Quote of the day;

"When all is said and done, I believe I am a 2:12 marathoner on my absolutely greatest, most perfect day. That result may or may not happen in a week, but I will go into this sucker with a smart race plan and nothing but positive energy flowing through the veins." - Matt Gabrielson

RIM-2-RIM-2-RIM

2011-05-08T21:39:00.021-05:00

If you’ve been reading along for awhile you probably realize that my training for rim-to-rim-to-rim has mainly consisted of a few back-to-back long runs and 90 minutes of hill repeats at the local ski hill. Almost all of this training was done at around 1,000 feet and I’m sure it was not above 40 degrees on many occasions. I topped off my training in the last couple of weeks by catching up on episodes of Dual Survival, where Dave and Cody remind me how quickly heat can kill, which bark I can eat for carbs and how to filter water through my dirty, sweaty sock. I’ve got 44 miles ahead of me, along with 10,000 feet of climbing and descending and temps sure to be in the 90s. I’m set!

This is a mandatory image for all rim-cubed blog postings.

The trip includes 14 guys that will split into two groups. I’ll be in the first group with 7 other guys who will begin our trek at 4:30 AM. The second group will start an hour later and probably catch us near the North Rim. As we check into the lodge they tell us Friday’s forecast calls for 33 degrees in the morning on the South Rim with highs in the canyon around 90.

Thursday evening before our journey.

At 4:31 we fired up our headlamps and begin heading down the South Kaibab Trail. Not concerned with my time, I don’t start my stopwatch. Instead I set the Timer to go off every 15 minutes, which will remind me to eat and/or drink throughout the day. Within minutes we all realize it never got down to 33 degrees. Temps are probably 10 degrees warmer and we soon stop to shed our long sleeves.
It’s a little weird heading into the canyon in the dark, but it’s also really cool. Within 30 minutes the sun begins creeping up over the horizon. While it’s not as spectacular as what you’d see in a book, seeing it first-hand makes up for it. With the added sunlight a few of us take out our cameras and begin taking pictures. Unfortunately, every time we stop the main pack pulls away. Early on it’s easy to catch up, but that doesn’t last long.

Fairly early on we pass a hiker coming up the canyon and all he says to me is “You signed up for this?” My only response is “ask me again in 10 hours.”

After about 1:40 of constant downhill running we reach Phantom Ranch in the base of the canyon. Here we stop to fill up our water bottles, eat some calories and point out the way to Bright Angel Trail, which we’ll take on our return trip. For some reason things feel rushed – at least more rushed than I thought they’d be. I think maybe it’s just due to the gnats and flies swarming all over us.

We head out of Phantom Ranch on the North Kaibab Trail. The trail gradually begins to rise and our next stop, Cottonwood, is roughly 6 miles away. It doesn’t take long before I begin to fall off the back. Although it’s probably important to stick together, I figure it’s equally important to stay within myself. Beside, I know the second group will be coming along soon – in fact, sooner than I thought. As I pull into Cottonwood, the first group is about to leave. I tell them I’m fine and am just going at my own pace. Five minutes later the second group arrives – and leaves within minutes. I head out with them, but that companionship is short lived and I’m soon alone again.

Roaring Springs is only about 2 miles away and the stretch goes by quickly. This is the last water stop before the North Rim. With 5 miles still to go to the North Rim, that means this water will need to last a total of 10 miles. And I’m not talking about the 10 miles you cover during a normal day. I’m talking a 10-mile stretch that probably includes 4,000 feet of climbing and descending. To make matters worse, things are heating up quickly and there’s not a cloud in the sky. I filled up my 50 oz. Camelbak, along with a 20 oz. bottle in my waist pack and set off up the trail. As I forge on, I think about what the veterans have said; monitor your body, eat, drink, CFM (constant forward motion) and, most importantly, before you commit to the top, be sure of yourself because at the point you’re “all in”.

I’ve already walked quite a bit so far, but now all I’m doing is walking. For the first time I break out my iPod thinking somehow it will magically propel me to the top. It doesn’t propel me at all. I’m probably about 2 miles beyond Roaring Springs and when I find one of the few shaded areas, I decide to take a break and refuel. I shut my iPod off and the silence is refreshing. It’s time to reassess the situation.

My main concern is that I’m already in “last place”. Being last doesn’t bother me, but if I continue my way to the top, the others will soon be making their way back down. Not having anyone from my party around for the return trip would definitely be concerning and probably a huge mistake. If I turn back now I’ll have the advantage of being caught and at least being able to check in with the group. Heck, we may even be able to “run” up the South Rim together. I’m nearly 5 hours into the trip and the decision to turn back is made. I take one last photo from my northern most point, pack things up, and head back towards the South Rim.

This is as close as I got.

Obviously, the return trip to Roaring Springs is downhill and it goes by in 30 minutes. To my surprise, just before I arrive, I find myself sucking air out of my Camelbak. With only 10 ounces left in my bottle, there’s no way I could have made it to the North Rim and back without running out of fluids. Later I find out a bunch of guys did in fact run out of water during this stretch.

By now I’ve gone from walking any uphill to also walking all of the rocky sections. The last thing I want is to fall down out here by myself. The stretch to Cottonwood is a relatively quick 2 miles. After a quick break I’m looking forward to the smoother, more gradual, trail leading back to Phantom Ranch. There’s not much traffic on the North Kaibab Trail and I try to calculate when I’ll start seeing the other guys. I figure I’ll see them at Phantom Ranch where I plan on taking a longer break before heading back out of the canyon.

I seem to be making good progress along this stretch, but all of the sudden, I’m sucking air out of my pack again. Shit! I only have about 6-8 ounces of fluid left. I’m pretty sure I left Cottonwood about an hour ago. Since it’s only about a 6-mile stretch, I figure I must be getting close to Phantom Ranch. I finish off my bottle and decide to walk it the rest of the way to the ranch. It’s frustrating because I’m on some of the most runnable trail all day and I’m reduced to walking. However, it’s brutally hot and sunny and I’m all alone. I make sure to do a quick assessment. I feel fine and mentally aware of what’s going on. I’m confident I can make it to water without much difficulty.

To make things more frustrating, every turn looks like the previous one. I constantly think the ranch is around the next corner, but it never seems to materialize. Finally, I see a hiker and he says I’m about a mile out. Sure enough, a few minutes later I see a ¾ mile sign. By the time I reach Phantom Ranch my timer has gone off twice and I’ve been without nutrition or liquids for close to 45 minutes. Not good!

I monitor myself again and seem fine – despite my mistake. I find it hard to believe I blew through 70 oz. during that stretch. I can only guess that I must not have filled my pack all the way up to the top. I guzzle half a bottle of water before refilling it with 20 oz of Gatorade. I vow to suck down the entire bottle and consume a 300-calorie “brownie” before I leave. Luckily, the gnats and flies that were driving us crazy five hours earlier have disappeared and I’m able to eat my “lunch” in peace. I take my time knowing that it’s all up hill from here – plus I’m half hoping I’ll see someone I know. I wait until 1 PM, but no one arrives. I decide to start the 9.7-mile ascent up Bright Angel Trail by myself.

I see more hikers during the first 15 minutes on Bright Angel than I saw during 5 hours on North Kaibab – or at least it seems that way. Maybe I’m craving social interaction because I try to make friendly banter with everyone I see. I even ran into a group from Minnesota. One of the guys was “nice” enough to tell me that I had a long way to go. He spent the last 7 hours coming down the trail. That’s not what I wanted to hear at this point.

I have no idea where the water stops are on this trail. Not wanting to run out again, I begin asking the hikers coming down how far away the next water stop is. They’re all concerned that I’ve run out, but I tell them I just want to ration my supplies accordingly. Before I know it I’m at Indian Garden. A map tells me I’m now only 4.7 miles from the top and a thermometer tells me it’s 90 degrees in the shade. Later it was reported to be 105 degrees in the canyon – a far cry from what I’ve been training in back home.

After another 15-minute break I decided to push on. I try to write “Chad 2:50” in the dirt with a rock – a message to my friends representing the time I took off - but it’s unreadable. I put my iPod on for the second time today and head up the trail. For some reason I take one last look back and I happen to see Joe and Brian coming into Indian Garden. It’s great to finally see some familiar faces and get some details on what’s happening with the rest of the group. Unfortunately, it sounded like things weren’t going very smoothly – more on that in another post.

The three of us leave Indian Garden together. With my own interest in mind, I’m happy to find out that they’re only able to power hike. I’m able to stick with them for about a mile and am awed by these tremendous athletes. To be able to watch them in action at this point of their “race” is one of my highlights from the trip. With 4 miles to go Brian is trying to convince Joe that they can get under his time from two years about if they “just” maintain 20-minute miles. Joe’s not buying Brian’s motivational tactics today.

By the time we reach the 3 Mile Rest House, those guys have begun to pull away. I stop for water and find four hikers that have been struggling in the heat. I’m able to share some salt capsules and my final Nuun electrolyte tablet. For some reason I forget to offer some of the energy bars or Shot Bloks that I still have in my pack. They’re grateful anyway and I press on.

I throw my iPod on again and this time Disturbed hits the spot, especially songs like Divide and Indestructible.

The stretch to the 1.5 Mile Rest House takes a long time, but it’s relatively uneventful. As I near the top, the trail is becoming more and more crowded – both with people making there way out as well as those coming down to see the canyon in the few remaining hours of sunlight. At one point I cross paths with some teenage boys that are actually sprinting down the trail at full speed. I can only picture them clipping a rock and sailing through the air, head first. I never heard any screaming behind me, so apparently that didn’t happen.

I think to myself that I have to be getting close to the top. As a hiker approaches, I make the mistake of saying something like “I must be getting close” only to hear “You still have a ways to go” in return. Damn it! I continue to trudge on but have reached the point where I don’t want to eat anything else. I continue drinking, but that’s about all I can manage. Finally, I crossed the “finish line” around 5:15 PM – 12:45 after setting off on this crazy adventure.

Overall, I believe I covered about 38 miles. I’m guessing only half of those were done while running. Although I was probably only 3 miles from the North Rim, I later found out that that stretch included another 3,000 feet of climbing. Thinking back to how I felt during that last mile, I’m so glad I turned back early. Maybe some will consider that a DNF, but given the circumstances, I'm fine with my decision. Of course, I would have loved making it to the North Rim, but I’ll just have to save that for another day.

There are so many other aspects of this trip that I want to write about and photos that I want to post, but I’ll wrap this up now and save those for another day. There are also a bunch of quotes that could be used to wrap up this post. I happened to come across this one on the plane ride home that seems to some things up.

Quote of the day;

“We swung north to the Arizona mountains, Flagstaff, clifftowns. I had a book with me… but I preferred reading the American landscape as we went along. Every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.” – Jack Kerouac, On the Road

WELL AWARE

2011-05-02T12:53:00.002-05:00

It’s been awhile. A couple of weeks ago I had a bunch to say, but no time to get things written. Last week I had time, but forgot all the things I wanted to say. In any case, “race week” is upon us. The current group sits at 14 and we are flying out on Thursday. If nothing else, I’m looking forward to running in shorts. Seriously, it’s May 2nd and during this morning’s run it was 36 degrees. I had on pants, a jacket, a winter hat and mittens – and I wasn’t over dressed. The only thing worse than the weather, locally, is the play of our beloved Minnesota Twins. If you don’t follow baseball, I won’t bore you with the details. If you do, then you probably already know the story.

I haven't done much Canyon-specific training since my last post. The only “real” workout I’ve done was 90 minutes worth of hill repeats at the Hyland ski hill. Other than that it’s all been maintenance runs. I thought about doing one of two separate 50K races, but family things got in the way. I thought about another solo long run, but that never happened either. I’ve been a little concerned about my right knee lately. I’ve had some chronic pain that flares up from time to time. It’s been “active” the last few weeks. I’m sure running down Hyland didn’t help matters. So far it doesn’t get any worse, so we’ll see what happens.

Two weeks ago I was really freaked out and worried about this whole adventure. However, I figured sitting around worrying about it for 3 weeks wouldn’t help anything, so I’ve just accepted where I’m at. I’ll enjoy the adventure and deal with things on “race day”.

One thing I wish I’d have done differently is kept my mouth shut at work. I mention the trip to a co-worker that runs and now a bunch of people keep asking me about it. You’d think that someone who (occasionally) blogs would be okay with talking about this stuff, but I’d rather keep it to myself. I mean, who wants to hear about how crazy this thing sounds from other people. I’m well aware.

Speaking of crazy, I recently picked up a copy of Outdoor magazine and they had a list of like 10 people doing really crazy stuff, like spending over 2 years walking 4,000 miles through the Amazon. Each one of the people made running 44 miles through the Grand Canyon seem like a cake walk. I’m going to re-read their adventures on the plane and keep them in mind while I run.

Quote of the Day;

“If I’m looking better than he is, then he must be dead.” – Jeff Tinley racing Scott Molina

NIFTY 50

2011-04-04T13:12:00.001-05:00

While it feels like I aged 8.5 years over the weekend, the title of this post doesn’t refer to me turning 50. I’m referring to the 50 miles I ran over the WEEKEND.

With less than 5 weeks remaining until our Grand Canyon adventure, I was beginning to get a little worried that my training wasn’t sufficient – especially after WEEKS of 38 and 28 miles. Looking at the calendar, I really only have two big weekends of training left, so figured I’d better get serious.

Saturday we had a group of nearly a dozen runners meet at 5:30 AM. We all basically ran the first 20 mile somewhat “together”. After refueling, Scott and I ended up adding on another 10 miles on the flat path out to Hopkins. Overall, we covered 30 miles in a total time of 4:37, which includes bathroom and refueling breaks.

While 30 miles is great, it’s nowhere near the 44 miles needed to cover the Canyon. Plus, I was feeling a little guilty about running the last 10 miles on Saturday over pancake-flat terrain. With all that running around in my head, I decided to head out Sunday for a hilly 20-mile run. I immediately cursed the fact that our “spring” weather (or lack thereof) relegated Saturday’s run to the roads and bike paths – rather than the nice soft trails. As a result, my legs were much more sore than I would have liked. I just adjusted by slowing the pace way down and just focusing on time on my feet. In the end, the 20 miles took me 3:17, including about 5.5 miles of climbing.

So that weekend’s training gives me a lot more confidence that I can cover the distance. Now I can turn my attention to worrying about the altitude, heat, hills, fueling, etc.

Here are a few things I’ve learned from some of my recent long runs. 1) Just because the manufacturer says that you can double the recommended strength of their sports drink, doesn’t make it a good idea – especially if it’s the first time you ever use their product. I learned that a week ago after walking the last 3 miles of a 20 miler because my stomach was upset. 2) When drinking gels from a flask, take twice as much as you think. I learned this on Sunday when I took 3 gels, only to find out later than I only consumed 1.5 gels. 3) There’s definitely something wrong with my left foot, namely the nerves running through the middle toe. I’ve known this for probably a couple of years. After the Canyon I may have to have it checked out.

Quote of the Day;

“She’ll come in handy when I need knee replacements.” – Keith Brantly on his marriage to an orthopedic surgeon

IN MY ABSENCE

2011-03-14T12:55:00.000-05:00

I’m trying to determine if it’s good or bad that I don’t have some massive weekend of training to report. On one hand it’s probably a good thing because I’m sure my body can’t handle mileage like last weekend over and over. Plus, I’m guessing that type of training is not needed every weekend. However, spring break starts this Friday for our family. With a Disney cruise on the horizon, that shoots the next 2 weekends in the foot. The best I can hope for is a long run the day after returning.

In any case, I’m not going to worry too much. I’m already feeling a lot fitter than just a couple of months ago when I was about 6-8 pounds heavier. Once I return I’ll have about 6 weeks until R-cubed. That’ll be enough for two more big weekends.

In my absence, here are some blogs I’ve come across recently.

Former Gopher, Andrew Carlson, who’s back with Team USA Minnesota for a second stint. He has some of the best interviews on Flotrack and his blog is pretty good too.

My good friend Jenna Boren looks to be putting her Dr. skills to the test and blog about injury diagnosis, treatments, etc. Note: you may have to shift through some stuff about some team called the Packers. Feel free to reach out to her and tell her to blog more often.

Finally, back in February, Ian Sharman, ran the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler in 12:44:33.

I’ll give you a minute to do the math.

Yes, that’s 7:50/mile!!! If you read his (long) race report, you’d think he just won a local 5K in 20 minutes.

And how did he follow up that race? He simply set a marathon World Record for super heroes when he ran 2:40 dressed as Spiderman at Napa Valley. Unfortunately, that only lasted a week because Michael Wardian ran 2:35 last weekend.

Quote of the Day;

“Some might say that it’s easier to be the runner than the runner’s family.” – Rob de Castella

COMFORT ZONE

2011-03-06T18:40:00.004-06:00

It's pretty clear that I'm not exactly sure what I should be doing to train for this adventure. However, I think it's pretty important to get outside of my comfort zone and do things I've never done before. It's safe to say I did that this weekend.

Saturday's run started at 6 AM, 2 hours before my running buddies showed up at Ft. Snelling. I spent those 2 hours running snow-covered hill repeats from the trail near Pike Island to the dog park and back. Then I'd run up the steep hill leading to the Fort. Once my buddies showed up, I did a 14+ mile loop with Paul, which took another 2 hours. Hard to tell how far I ran on the snow-covered trails, so I'm calling it a conservative 27 mile day.

Is it bad when 50% of your weekly mileage is done in one run?

The last time I did a 4 hour run, I preceded it with a 2 hour run the day before. This time I decided to follow up my 4 hour run with a 'normal' long run the day after. Today that meant 17 miles in 2:33. After 5 easy miles I included 5 hill repeats up McAndrews hill near County Rd 5. That took me to about mile 12. It was the 3 mile gradual downhill stretch after that, when running down hill felt like running up hill, that told me I was outside my comfort zone. I finished the run off by running up the steep Camp Sacajawea hill 3 times.

All told that's 44 miles and over 6 /12 hours in 2 days. I was actually surprised by how good my legs felt this morning. Makes me wonder if I have a knack for all this running long and slow stuff.

Quote of the day;

"At the Canyon you will see so much and at times you have to remind yourself why you are there. At times it seems like this isn't a big deal endurance wise, but at other times you are reminded how serious you have to be there." - Double

WHAT YOU GET

2011-03-02T12:57:00.000-06:00

You’ve heard of “You get what you pay for.” Well after skiing last weekend’s Birkie, I realized it’s really “You get what you train for.”

As soon as I put R-cubed on my calendar I knew this year’s Birkie experience would suffer. There’s only 10 weeks between the two events. If I focused on skiing all winter, there wouldn’t be enough time to build up towards R-cubed. Hopefully the tradeoff is that I suffered for nearly 3.5 hours on February 26th instead of suffering for 12+ hours on May 6th.

The good news is that I’ve been running quite a bit lately. I’ve run as far as 26 miles and have put together weekly mileage in the low 60s. So I should be able to ratchet things up rather quickly for the next 2 months.

Even though I had a lackluster ski season, I’m still learning a bunch of things about the sport. For example, I’m starting to realize that runners and skier have different mindsets. My coach explained it this way; runners tend to pour out their energy evenly throughout the course of an event, whereas skiers (and bikers) tend to go hard over and over while recovering on the downhills or while drafting. That’s something I’m going to have to work on in the future. If I want to perform any better I can’t ski scared for 47K and then pick up the pace when I hit the flat final 3K.

This may tie in with the previous lesson, but I think I have to be more explosive, which means I have to work on my upper body strength. Perhaps adding a double-pole workout once a week would be enough.

I wonder what I could do if I actually laid out a training plan that included tempo and marathon-paced type workouts. And I definitely need to race more prior to my goal race. Without these things prior to the Birkie, it’s a recipe for conservatism – and slow times.

Quote of the Day;

“That's why it is a great trip. The anticipation, the planning, the what if? When you’re out there, you are the people they want to talk to. It was my best adventure of all time.” – ‘Double’ on R-cubed

SHIFTED PRIORITIES

2011-02-07T13:12:00.001-06:00

My recent MPW build-up looks like this; 20, 43, 48, 61, 53. I was feeling pretty tired last week, so I had no problems backing down to 33 miles (along with some skiing). Saturday I went out for a solo 14 miler and bumped into Evan. We were able to run together for about 5 miles before we had to split up. I followed that up yesterday with my longest non-marathon run ever. Distance-wise it was probably only 22 miles. However, since I was running on snow-packed trails for 4 hours, effort-wise, it was more like 26 miles. And that’s what I called it in my logbook – sue me if you’d like.

Nothing like a 40 mile weekEND! I think I held up pretty well although my hip flexors were killing me the last 90 minutes. As they say, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.

Of course, the bad news is that my skiing is suffering. With 3 weeks to the Birkie, I have a single session over 2 hours. Hopefully I can get 1-2 more long skis in. Either way, I’m not too worried about my time/place this year because I realize my priorities have shifted. That’s what happens when you run for 4 hours and realized you probably still have 8 hours to go to reach your main goal.

Thanks to Scott for forwarding this video;

Quote of the Day;

“There are only 2 hills.” – Dave ‘Double’ Dehart

ALL SET

2011-02-01T12:43:00.000-06:00

I came across this interesting tidbit the other day;

“Only ten miles from rim to rim as the crow flies, the North Rim is 215 miles (about 4 1/2 hours) from the South Rim by car.”

I guess there won’t be any quitting halfway.

After only running 35 miles in December, I started 2011 off with a solid 213 miles, plus another 118K of skiing. I also managed 9 core workouts during the month. I’d like to do 3 per week, but I’ve only been doing 2. Honestly though, I’d rather do 2 per week up until R-cubed, rather than 3 per week for a month or two.

I had some solid back-to-back workouts during the month too. The most impressive was last Friday when I ran 5 miles, took an hour ski lesson and then after grabbing a cup of coffee I skied 20 miles. The next day I ran 20 miles. That was like 7 hours of training in 2 day.

Now if I can just double that in half the amount of time, I’ll be all set.

Quote of the Day;

“Running is about defeating death, not inflicting it.” – John Jerome

DOUBLE-CROSSING

2011-01-17T13:02:00.001-06:00

I’m so out of touch with my blog that I can’t remember what I’ve written lately. As Beth pointed out, my reference to R-cubed wasn’t very clear in my last post. R-cubed is also known as R2R2R or rim-to-rim-to-rim. It’s a double-crossing of the Grand Canyon. I tried to find it on Wikipedia, but it’s not there. However, you can Google rim-to-rim-to-rim and come up with some links, including some youtube videos.

This will definitely require a drastic change in my approach to training. No longer will my focus be on weekly mileage and pace. Instead I’ll focus on time on my feet and nutrition. “Time on my feet” will largely be affected by back-to-back long runs over the weekend. For example, Saturday night I ran on the treadmill for 2 hours and then Sunday I hit some trails for 2:45. I’m sure I wasn’t very fast at all on the trails, but that wasn’t my concern. Goal #1 was to build strength and goal #2 was to see how my body could handle eating a PBJ sandwich during a run. I think both goals were achieved.

For the week I had 48 miles of running, 33K of skiing, and two sessions of core workouts. For my core workouts, I’ve been following along with McMillan’s DVDs. They are one of those things I wanted, but didn’t want to pay for – so I asked for them for Christmas. I like them because they show me exactly what to do and they’re less than 30 minutes. My goal is to follow along 2-3 times per week. Hopefully it’ll be enough to make me look good in my speedo.

Quote of the Day;

“Be the hero of your own life story.” – Jodie Foster in Nim’s Island

IT'S ON

2011-01-14T12:27:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s on. After my initial trepidation, I signed up for R-cubed. And by “signed up” I mean bought a plane ticket.

Immediately after doing so, I realized how much over my head I really am. In addition to the mileage, we’re talking about 10,000 feet of descending and climbing and temps that could be in the 100s. This all sounds right up my alley given that I’m a terrible hill climber and heat runner.

And coming off of an injury doesn’t really help either. Last Saturday I ran 14 miles and felt pretty good about that. Then I checked emails and found out that the other guys running R-cubed with me ran between 20 and 31 miles. Hopefully I made up a little bit of ground by getting in 15 miles the next day.

Sure, going from 0 to 50 MPW may not be the smartest training plan, but nobody ever said I was smart.

Anyway, with all that said, I’m super excited. It’s one of those goals that you can’t stop thinking about. Morning, noon, and night my mind thinks about R-cubed. Of course, I have a ton of work to do before May 6th, however, that’s part of the appeal.

Quote of the Day;

“It’s not a race, but you will need to be pretty fit to be able to at least enjoy most of it.” – Tony Kocanda, regarding R-cubed

RECONSIDERING

2010-12-20T12:55:00.000-06:00

With a new year on the horizon, I’ve decided to reconsider pulling the plug on R-cubed. If there’s one thing I learned in 2010, it’s that life is too short to sit around and watch it go by. So my plan is to take the rest of 2010 off from running – that’ll be six weeks from when the pain was at its peak. Then I’ll spend 4 months focused on building up my training in order to complete R-cubed.

Part of my trepidation last week is that this trip will be with some very accomplished ultramarathoners. Running 44-miles is practically an every weekend occurrence for these guys. Plus, they’re fast. So heading into uncharted waters, undertrained, is not the best idea.

I was wondering the other day, if I make this thing, does that mean I’m an ultramarthoner? I mean, there won’t be any medal or t-shirt afterwards. That’s how you distinguish between events that matter and those that don’t, right?

Quote of the Day;

“I like hills because you can see the top. I know that sounds glib, but you know that the hill is not going to keep appearing; it’s there and once you get to the top it’s behind you, and you feel as though you have conquered something.” – Rob de Castella

ICING ON THE CAKE

2010-12-15T12:43:00.002-06:00

I made it 23 miles in my first week back and then my shin started to feel weird again, so I decided to shut running down for awhile. The good news is that after receiving 16” or more of snow last weekend, we now have a nice base for x-c skiing. When it comes to skiing, I started a new rule this year; if it’s below 10 degrees – don’t bother skiing. That’s mainly due to lack of glide rather than being a wuss, but I’m not positive. Anyway, now we just need to temps to warm up a little in order to get out and enjoy all that new snow.

Since I can’t run and haven’t been skiing, I’ve “made friends” with the local elliptical machine. I don’t know how fit the elliptical will keep me – I’m just trying to stop the weight gain at 8 pounds. I’ve actually been doing a decent job of including some strength training, drill, and stretching afterwards. The drills include stuff like lunges, butt kicks, high knees, straight leg march (I use the term “straight” very loosely), etc. One thing I’ve noticed about doing these drills is how far removed I’ve been from doing anything other than running or skiing. It’s been years since I’ve had a physical education class. I don’t play any other sports, like basketball, soccer, softball, etc. AND I CAN TELL!!! Holy cow, every non-running movement is new, awkward and incredible hard – at least at first. After doing them 3-4 different days, things feel a lot better. I’m not sure how much these types of things will help my running. Frankly, that’s not the reason I’ve included them. I’m doing them because I need to, if for no other reasons than increased coordination, better balance, increased range of motion, etc. It just makes me feel good. Increased power, improved running form, injury prevention, etc. will just be icing on the cake.

Not being able to run makes me think that R-cubed will have to until another time. Hopefully there will be other opportunities.

Quote of the Day;

“I don’t know how the creative process works, but it always seems, as I’m running, that thoughts start coming in; sentences start coming in.” – Robert A. Caro, biographer

ON THE HORIZON

2010-12-06T12:54:00.000-06:00

With the shin problems, Thanksgiving, and busy time at work, I ended up taking a week-and-a-half off. The good news is that the shin feels fine. The bad news is that I feel fat and out of shape. I just seemed to be getting in some decent mileage, along with some good tempo runs. Then the next thing I know, all thoughts of 200-250 miles in November went out the window. Anyway, I’m slowly building back up – emphasis on “slowly” as my first run back was literally 3 miles.

Friday and Saturday we got about 8” on snow dumped on us. I hadn’t even really thought about skiing yet – and ski racing was the furthest thing from my mind. Then I got an email from the Birkie stating that my wave only had 50 open spots remaining. Needless to say, I couldn’t afford to wait and I broke out my credit card. So I at least have one race on the horizon.

I used my down time to go through all the magazines that tend to pile up over time. I came this article that asks the question, “Is it time to get over the marathon?” It has some great points and has me seriously considering skipping another marathon in 2011.

I also compiled all the drills and strength-training articles I could find. I want to give this type of training some serious consideration in the upcoming year. After years of telling myself that “just running” is enough, I’m pretty sure that there are gains to be made with these types of exercises. At least I intent to find out.

Finally, here’s another article I came across regarding R-cubed. I’m still not sure if I’ll do this in 2011 or not.

Quote of the Day;

“Conventional wisdom views the progression of distances, from 5K to 10K, on to the half marathon and the marathon, as a progression of ability and seriousness.” – Jonathan Beverly

BETTER LATE...

2010-11-23T05:56:00.006-06:00

This time of year is always busy for me at work and this year has been no different. I've had lots on my mind, but not much time to write anything down.

I could have mentioned how winter arrived overnight, literally, a couple of weeks ago. We went from 68 degrees to 6" of snow in the span of about 36 hours. I don't think the temp has been much over 30 degrees since. Right now it's 9 degrees outside. It's November 23rd! If this keeps up it's going to be a long winter.

I wanted to mention that after writing that base building article I was fired up again and managed weeks of 50 and 60 miles. Now my shin has flared up. I've never had shin splits or a stress fracture, so I don't know if it's one or the other - or neither. In either case, I need to figure it out soon before I put on 50 pounds before the holidays even arrive.

I was going to ask what everyone does with all their medals. As I was laying around, not exercising, I decided to go through a bunch of stuff. I never realized how many medals I had just sitting in boxes and drawers. Maybe that's the best place for them, but I was wondering if anyone does anything special with theirs?

Finally, here are some photos from Halloween. We hosted a party for the kids and it turned out to be a very busy day for me;

BUILDING A BIGGER BASE

2010-11-09T12:29:00.001-06:00

Almost 6 months to the day I wrote this post where I was seeking help regarding writing an article about mileage trumping ancillary training. I finally got around to writing this article. I didn’t include any specific examples yet, but I’m still considering it.

Building a Bigger Base
A friend of mine ran a fall marathon with the outside goal of qualifying for Boston. Entering the race, she needed to drop 14-minutes from her PR. That’s a rather large chuck of time to drop in one race, but it’s doable. She had a very good race and was able to shave seven minutes from her PR. Like most runners, she started to think about a spring marathon and the training that would finally get her a well-earned Boston Qualifier (BQ). With winter on the horizon she told me, “I want to focus on speed.” Her plan is to cut her mileage and include more speed work because that’s what she thinks is holding her back from her BQ.

At first, I just bit my lip and nodded. The whole time I was thinking she has it backwards. Looking at her race splits, she was on-pace for her BQ until mile 23. Then the wheels started to fall off and she lost roughly two minutes per mile the rest of the way. To me, that means she can handle the pace needed to reach her goal, she just lacks the strength to carry that speed for 26.2 miles. Finally, I spoke up and told her I thought this winter would be the perfect time to focus on more miles, not fewer miles. I think developing a bigger mileage base will more likely push her to her goal, than more speed.

Of course, this isn’t an original thought. The famous New Zealand coach, Arthur Lydiard deserves much of the credit. His training philosophy revolves around the concept of stamina and endurance being prerequisites to which speed is later added. As he put it, “Speed and the ability to run while in oxygen debt can be developed in four to five weeks, so why waste a lot of time running intervals and speed work when performance is governed by the aerobic capacity?” Instead, Lydiard preached running a lot of miles and building a huge base, saying, “You must do as much aerobic running as you can. The minimum is three months. Four months is better, five is better still but anything less than three months is not enough.”

When I think about setting aside 3-5 months for base building, I can’t help but think of our Minnesota winters. If there’s a better time for base building in this area, I haven’t found it. If you think about it, the local road-racing scene typically lasts from March to October. That leaves the other four months of the year for building your aerobic capacity. Sure, winters can be tough around here, but I like to live by the adage “there isn’t bad weather, just bad clothing.” When you combine things like high-tech clothing, treadmills, indoor tracks, running at the Metrodome, etc., you’ll find that you can indeed thrive during a Minnesota winter, instead of just survive.

If your interest is piqued and you’d like to build a bigger base, there’s no better source than Lydiard. While his training philosophy may be misconstrued among the masses, it is well regarded among other coaches. Many people think his entire program simply involves slogging through at least 100 miles per week. However, that’s not the case at all. As Olympian Ron Daws, who was a big proponent of Lydiard, puts it in his book, Running Your Best, “Mileage is important, but it isn’t everything. During your buildup ideally you should run the highest mileage you can without injury or exhaustion. As you become fitter and have reached a high but endurable weekly mileage, you shouldn’t try to run more miles, but more at or near the fastest pace you can without becoming anaerobic. Never make your target mileage a contest to see how much you can run. If you run so far you never run fast, you are doing it wrong.”

I used to hate reading any training article that included the phrase, “find what works for you.” I wondered why I couldn’t just read in black and white what to do to achieve my best results. Finding what works is often a trial and error approach that can be time consuming and frustrating. However, now I understand what a friend of mine means when he says, “We’re all an experiment of one.” Each runner is different in many ways (see sidebar) and we all have to experiment to find out what works best for us. This holds true whether we’re adding speed workouts, incorporating recovery days, or building our base mileage.

While there are many ways to go about increasing one’s mileage and building a bigger base, here are a few tactics that I’ve used with success. First, the 10% rule states that you should never increase your previous week’s mileage by more than 10%. I find this rule is most useful when you are building your mileage to levels you never reached before. If you ran 40 MPW all last year, but now you’re at 20 MPW, the 10% rule doesn’t really apply. You can ratchet back to 40 MPW quicker than the 10% rule would allow. However, if you want to take your mileage from, say 40 to 60 MPW, then increasing by no more than 10% each week is a wise move. Second, after building your weekly mileage for two or three weeks in a row, incorporate a cutback week where you reduce your mileage for the week. This will allow your body to recover and adapt to the increased stressed placed upon it before beginning another two to three week building phase. Third, as poet William Blake said, “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.” As you continue to build your mileage, be sure to listen to your body and be on the look out for signs of injury and exhaustion. Re-evaluate often and be flexible with your plan as problems arise. Finally, as you experiment with what level of weekly mileage is right for you, be aware that it will change over time as your season and career develop. Just because you got injured once at a certain level of training doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to handle that level again.

I understand that this type of program is not for everyone. It does take commitment and as Daws puts it, “Making a commitment to run comes down to how badly you want to explore your limits. It means honestly confronting your excuses. It means making time to train. If you do that, it will be incredible – running and improving from mileage formerly thought beyond your ability.” So, if you are serious about improving your running and pushing your limits, I encourage you to take a good hard look at your base building this winter. Lay out a plan that is beyond anything you’ve done before. Then once the snow is gone you can worry about adding speed workouts on top of your biggest base ever.

SIDEBAR
From Ron Daws’s Running Your Best
Ten common factors affecting mileage are:
1 - Previous running experience.
2 - Mental tenacity.
3 – Durability.
4 - The events that you are training for.
5 - The speed at which you train.
6 - Outside activities.
7 - Amount of sleep.
8 - Emotional pressures.
9 - Phase of training (goals in training).
10 - One or two-a-day workouts.

UNBELIEVABLE

2010-11-08T13:01:00.002-06:00

Wow! The New York Road Runners took marathon coverage to a new level over the weekend. They had incredible coverage leading up to the New York City Marathon; live streaming, on-demand video of press conferences, documentaries, and a fun segment called the Daily Cool Down, which was hosted by Carrie Tollefson who did a terrific job! You can still find many of these videos HERE.

After the race they even had a video of Haile Gebrselassie’s press conference where the greatest runner ever shocked the press corp. by announcing his retirement. I find it hard to believe that we won’t see him in another race. If you watch his pre-race press conference with Paul Tergat, he talks about coming back to NYC until he wins the event. Hopefully, he was just caught up in the heat of the moment after DNF’ing.

I know there’s a lot of debate as to whether he is the greatest ever or not. To me, it’s no contest. This guy was setting world records when I was in college in the mid-90s. Then he set the marathon world record a couple of years ago. There’s like 18 year between his first and last world record. Unbelievable!

Here's a video of the last 2 laps of the 10,000m in Sydney. When Tergat makes his move at about 1:30 into the video, watch Gebrselassie's teammate. I think he says something to Geb about Tergat making his move because Geb starts picking it up before he ever sees Tergat.

Quote of the Day;

“Without me, there’s no Paul Tergat. Without Paul Tergat, there’s no Haile Gebrselassie.” - Haile Gebrselassie

STILL INTACT

2010-11-05T12:54:00.001-05:00

Back on October 14th, I challenged myself to become more consistent with my running during the rest of the month. I think I did a pretty good job. During the first 12 days of the month I took 5 days off, but during the last 19 days of the month, I only took 4 days off – and none were back to back. My weekly mileage jumped from 36 MPW to 49 MPW. After a bunch of months where I averaged about 140 miles, I ended up with 192 in October. All of this means things are heading in the right direction and I’m feeling pretty good lately.

I’ve mentioned the importance of being consistent with my training in order to improve. For me, that means getting into a routine that involves running before work. As the seasons change, I’ve noticed that the number of people exercising in the mornings has decreased significantly since the summer when there was much more daylight. That has me wondering where all those people went. Do they go indoors, switch their exercise schedules, start hibernating, etc.?

I should mention that the thought of rim-2-rim-2-rim (which be referred to as rim-cubed from now on – at least on this blog) has me more fired up than anything else I’ve done lately. I like the idea that it’s a new and exciting challenge that would take place in a part of the country I’ve never been to. Plus, it’s not a race, so my retirement would still be intact.

Quote of the Day;

“The day I retire is the day they drop me into the fire or bury me.” – Ron Hill

DING, DING, DING

2010-10-29T12:42:00.001-05:00

After this post two weeks ago, I decided to break out a calendar to see when the 2011 Winter Carnival Half Marathon occurs. It falls on January 29th, which, at the time, was 15 weeks away. Then I cracked open my copy of Road Racing for Serious Runners to look at their half marathon training plan. It turns out that it’s a 15 week schedule.

Ding, ding, ding!

They have two programs; one is between 30-50 MPW while the other is between 50-72 MPW. I laid them both out and for the first two weeks, I’ve been right in the middle. I’m not sure what will happen once the snow flies and skis start calling my name, but at least having this running race on the horizon should help keep me motivated.

The other day, my neighbor posted some thoughts that I can easily relate to. Although he’s a biker, we’re the same age, have the same number of kids that are in the same age range, both work full-time, etc. So I often find that we ponder the same issues. Anyway, he wrote that he’s always envied those folks that can race and compete in those epic events that are out. And he knows that he can do it too. The real question is does he want to?

That’s where I find myself a lot of the time. I’m envious. I know I could do those things. But do I want to?

One such case came up during this morning’s group run. One of the things on my bucket list came up. It turns out some of the guys are heading to Arizona in May and running rim-2-rim-2-rim, which is roughly 42 miles. Perfect, since I’ll be 42-years-old next year.

Now I just have to decide if I really want to do it.

Quote of the Day;

“Roger Bannister studied the four-minute mile the way Jonas Salk studied polio – with a view to eradicating.” – Jim Murray

PIGEONHOLING

2010-10-19T12:52:00.001-05:00

I get the whole concept that we’re really only competing against ourselves in this sport. However, I can’t help but look through the results to see how well other people are running. Then, immediately after that, I remind myself that so and so isn’t married, that person doesn’t have any kids, his wife is also a runner, that guy is only 28-years-old, and so on.

Of course, if I try hard enough, I can pretty much pigeonhole everyone that’s faster than me into a finite group of categories – even if I have to use the all-encompassing “genetically gifted” category the majority of the time. It’s kind of like coming up with an alibi, there’s always one there, you just have to dig a little.

That’s where I’m going to lump my college teammate, Jim, who I eluded to here. He’s married with 3 kids, his wife doesn’t run, he works full-time, and he’s 39-years old. So I can’t really use any of the standard categories - although 39 IS different than 41. : -)

Why do I lump him in the “genetically gifted” category? Well, he hasn’t been competitive in the last 15 years, yet last weekend he proceeded to run a sub-37 minute trail 10K off of minimal training. That’s faster than anything I’ve run in peak condition during the last 15 years. Given that he ran roughly 30 seconds per mile faster than me while in college, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. However, you’d think 15 years of little-to-no exercise would help close that gap.

I guess it would have if he’d been racing 40 pounds ago.

Quote of the Day;

“The first 75 guys are professionals, so you have to throw them out. The next 75 guys are 19-year-olds living in their parent’s basement, so you have to throw them out. That means you were in the top-100, which is pretty impressive.” – Scott’s friend after he was a little bummed with “only” finishing in the top-250 at TCM

GIVING BACK

2010-10-15T12:51:00.003-05:00

I’m not sure it’s a conscious or subconscious decision, but during the last few years I’ve seemed to be searching for ways to give back to the sport that’s given me so much over the last 30+ years. I’ve been writing for the MDRA newsletter for probably 4-5 years now. Then I started my interview blog back in October of 2006. There was the year of writing press releases for TCM in 2008 before working on the Yearbook last year.

This year the opportunity arose to become the program director/coach of the Eastview Athletic Association cross country program which is geared towards 3rd – 6th graders. The previous program director emailed a very long list of duties, and to be honest, I was a little reluctant to take over the program. However, cross-country is one of those programs with a high likely-hood that no one will take over and the program just fades away.

I agreed to do it as long as I could find another person to help with the coaching duties. Luckily, Val was eager to jump in and give coaching a shot even though she’s never run cross-country. Given that we had no idea what we were getting into, it’s safe to say that we were pretty darn scared before the season started. Then we had our first practice and 30+ kids showed up. Now we were really scared!!! Somehow we were able to muddle through everything.

Before we knew it, the season was over. We had our final practice last night, a time trial, followed by an ice cream social while going over each kid’s improvement during the season. In the end, it was an absolute blast. And it’s actually sad that we’ll have to wait 10 months before we get to do it again.

I wish I could go through each kid’s season here and talk about the highs and lows, but I won’t. I will say that we had one girl in tears after the first couple of meets. She was super fast when it came to sprinting, but she had no concept of pacing. As a result, she spent a lot of time walking and ended up with mile times around 11-minutes. Once she figured out pacing (with the awesome help of her coaches, of course), she dropped her PR to 7:59. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone more excited.

That’s what it’s all about and that’s just one example that I think made the season a huge success. We sent out a survey recently, and luckily, the parents seem to think the same way as Val and I have received some high marks.

Quote of the Day;

“Positive, friendly atmosphere was wonderful--it seems good running stems from kids being willing to both succeed AND fail in front of their teammate and coaches, so they can take the risks to do their best. Starting out too fast is a lesson, leaving too much energy at the end is a lesson, and the kids seemed to trust in this learning environment.” – Survey response

NOT FOR ME

2010-10-14T12:51:00.001-05:00

I’m starting to think that this “recreational” running is not for me. I just can’t find any motivation when there’s not a race on the horizon – even a distant horizon is better than nothing. After a solid start to October for the first 8 days, I “decided” to take the next 4 days off. I wish I had a good excuse, but the best I can come up with is that I travelled over the weekend and then I stayed up late Monday watching football.

In any case, I may have to consider putting a race on my calendar just to “force” me to train, er, I mean run. Heck with “training” I need to start by “running”.

However, I have been thinking about the whole “training” vs. “running” issue lately. Steve had a great post the other day where he compares being UN-coached to being SELF-coached. If you’re not familiar with Steve, he spent the end of the season focusing on breaking 60-minutes for the TC-10. He hired a coach, followed her workouts religiously, and proceeded to crack off a 59:05.

That’s great, but like me, he finds himself not willing to pay a coach on a long-term basis. Now he’s trying to apply what he learned from his coach in hopes of moving from un-coached to self-coached.

If nothing else, his post has me thinking about my own training. My extent of being coached is copying a marathon training program out of a book and following that. I can’t think of the last time I did a speed workout or the last time I really focused on anything other than a marathon. Maybe 2011 should be the year of speed for me. It’d be interesting to train for races between 5K and half marathon, instead of just throwing them into the mix during a marathon build up.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I’ll hire a coach, but if I want to make those races worthwhile, I should probably put a little more focus on speed work – and possible locate the nearest track.

In either case, step one is to get consistent. Normally it takes me 3 weeks of training before I can feel myself getting into a groove. So I'm challenging myself to build up my consistency through the end of the month. After that I'll think about putting a race on the horizon - however distant it may be.

Quote of the Day;

“Don’t run hard till you can run easy.” – Ron Daws

HERE THEY COME

2010-10-12T12:36:00.002-05:00

As the years have gone by, it seems like fewer and fewer of my college teammates are still running. That’s understandable as work and family commitments take up more time over the years. I’ve always felt that once these guys turned 40 that’d experience some mid-life crisis that would either lead them to buy a motorcycle or start running again. If they did the latter, I “feared” they’d whip themselves into shape faster than I could say “once a runner” and they’d begin to tear up the local racing scene.

We’ll it appears that process has begun. Within the last two weeks I’ve talked with two former teammates who’ve both started training again. Each has lost 40 pounds recently and they both have races on the horizon. One looks a smooth as he did 15 years ago and is already kicking my ass during our Friday morning group runs. At least the other one is in Madison, so I won’t have to experience an ass kicking from him very often.

It’s great to hear these guys are back at it and I’m sure it’s not the last I’ll hear from old college teammates.

Here a team photo from my freshmen year of college.

I had a great weekend. Saturday morning the family ventured to Elm Creek Park for the Autumn Woods Classic. They had a 1K event that the girls signed up for, as well as some of my cross-country kids. It was super-fun to see the girls in their first running race. I doubt this will be their sport of choice, but it’s still nice to see them give it a try.

Afterwards I made a solo trip to Ashland to partake in the post-Whistlestop Marathon festivities. Since I grew up there, I still have some friends in town as well as friends that ran the race, so I didn’t have to party solo. While this is probably not a race that everyone wants to run every year, I think it’s one that everyone should try once. It’s just a great time of year to drive up north and check out the fall colors. The course is on crushed limestone, so it’s different than most races. I think the town does a great job supporting the event. The post race activities are fun. And there’s a great brew pub/restaurant and a great coffee shop in town. What more do you want?

Quote of the Day;

“I can't complain about third place when I'm beat by a three-time Olympian and an American record-holder." – Katie McGregor after placing third at yesterday’s U.S. 10K championship

DEAR OLD DAD

2010-10-08T10:45:00.002-05:00

If you’ve ever read my bio it basically reiterates what I wrote yesterday; "I'm a runner at heart. I followed my dad out the door when I was 10 and have been at it ever since."

As I was digging through all my old stuff, I found a bunch of photos of my dad running that I thought would be fun to share.

1981 - age 41

1986 - age 46

1991 - age 51

1997 - age 57

1968 - age 28

Just kidding, of course that last photo is Steve in a Speedo wearing his famous “bowl full of sunshine” shorts. Little did he know that my dad actually started the trend of wearing yellow short-shorts. And if you look close enough, you’ll see that my dad was wearing black socks before it was ever cool – long before any NBA player ever started wearing them.

While I don’t think my dad is wearing the same pair of yellow shorts in all of those photos, I wouldn’t doubt that it’s the same pair in 1991 and 1997. Those 2 photos crack me up because he has on the same shorts, same socks, same shoes and he even has a tissue on the right side of his shorts in both photos.

I don’t know if he’s raced since 1997, but at 70, he still gets out every other day whether he needs to or not.

I definitely have him to “blame” for getting me wrapped up in this crazy sport. I still have the card my parents gave me after my Ironman and his note is today’s QOD.

Quote of the Day;

“You have truly raised the bar with your recent Ironman efforts. It must be inspiring to you and help you better deal with all of life’s endeavors. I think of you starting out on your marathon after the swim and bike and find it difficult to imagine going that distance. I see that in a much different way now after seeing the efforts of you and your fellow participants. It is inspiring.” – Ed Austin

BILLY OR JOHNNY

2010-10-05T21:59:00.003-05:00

As I was watching TCM on Sunday it really hit me that I am a runner. Of course, I’ve known this all along, but for some reason it really occurred to me during this race. While I may jump in a mtn. bike race once in awhile, ski in the winter, think of doing another triathlon – deep down I’m a runner. When you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, there’s really no denying it. And while there may be days when I wish I could change it, I think doing so would be nearly impossible.

And it’s not just about the running itself. I just relate best to other runners. It didn’t matter who I was talking with or cheering for on Sunday; old friends, new friends, Olympic Trials qualifiers, quiet friends taking photos, loud friends shouting into a microphone, multi-time state record holders, people hoping to qualify for Boston, etc. They were all cool – and I can’t imagine my life without running or my running friends.

Of course, I didn’t know all this 30 years ago. At that time I was probably thinking more about being the next Johnny Bench than I was about being the next Bill Rodgers.

10-year-old Johnny Bench wanna-be.

Running a half marathon at 12 - finished in 1:53:20.

Quote of the Day;

“The marathon can humble you.” – Bill Rodgers

IN THE BEGINNING

2010-10-05T11:26:00.004-05:00

I love running during this time of year for a lot of reasons; the cooler weather, the changing colors, it’s cross country season, and there are a ton of great marathons in the fall. I also like the fall because it’s when I started running 31 years ago. I’ve lost track a little over the years, but I think the actual anniversary is like October 3rd or 4th.

What’s a 10 year old supposed to do a week-and-a-half after starting to run? Jump in a race, of course.

If you flip open the jogger’s diary that I posted yesterday, you’ll see that the first entry is from a 4 mile race I ran on October 13, 1979. I’d like to believe I ran 34:36 for 4 miles, as a 10-year-old. However, I realize they probably clocked this course by driving in their car.

I was actually able to find a photo that my mom took too. For some reason it’s a photo of our back. In case you can’t tell, I’m the short one. While it’s not a very good photo, believe it or not, she got everyone entered in the race in one shot. Yep, there were a total of 4 people in this race. If I remember correctly, I ended up losing a sprint and finishing 2nd. I sure hope I beat that guy that’s blatantly cutting the course.

Speaking of photos, be sure to check out Evan’s photos from TCM.

Quote of the Day;

“I was really ready and didn’t get the breaks. That’s life… you work hard for just a few chances.” – Steve Prefontaine

JOGGER'S WORLD

2010-10-04T05:16:00.001-05:00

The good news is that the juices are flowing again. The bad news is that the 2010 season is over.

But that’s alright. I always love wiping the slate clean at the end of a season and starting fresh the following year. It doesn’t matter whether I have a great year or a crappy year – wiping that slate clean is always part of the process.

The spectacular conditions at TCM probably helped get those juices flowing. If I had to pencil in perfect marathon weather, it’d have been what the runners experienced yesterday; 40 degrees at the start, calm and sunny with temps rising to probably 50-55 degrees during the race. Maybe I’d choose “overcast” instead of “sunny” but that’s about my only change.

Congrats to everyone who ran – whether you met your goal or not. And congrats to Katie McGregor on winning her third U.S. title in 2010. Maybe she’s so successful because she posts videos like this on her facebook page.

After watching the marathon yesterday, I ended up going through a bunch of running stuff I’ve collected over the years; medals, news paper articles, log books, bib numbers, etc. I thought it’d be fun to start sharing some of that stuff on here. With that said, here’s a picture of my first-ever “jogging diary”. I guess back in 1979, “jogging” wasn’t a four-letter word.

If you look very closely above the “ing” you’ll see a little stick figure that’s running. Fortunately, my running and writing has gotten better over the years. However, my artistic abilities have not evolved in over 30 years.

Now that the juices are flowing, maybe I’ll even post here more than once a week.

Quote of the Day;

“Thank you everyone for all the support! It was so great to win at home and have so many spectators cheering for me. Congrats to all the weekend's finishers. A beautiful day for running in the Twin Cities!” – Katie McGregor

CARBO LOAD

2010-09-30T12:49:00.000-05:00

What runner doesn’t like pasta? Recently I heard Mario Batali promoting a free downloadable Celebrity Cookbook. I just downloaded it, so I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet, but they look great. There are 12 in all. If you try any, let me know what you think.

Quote of the Day;

“Once you’ve put your groceries in the car, the quality of your dinner has already been decided.” – Mario Batali

AGONY & GLORY

2010-09-27T12:33:00.001-05:00

Not much is new, but I have some time over lunch so I thought I’d try to blog a little bit. After averaging just over 40 MPW for the last 3 weeks my left arch flared up. Not sure if it was plantar fasciitis or not. Since I’ve never had PF before, I doubt that it was – especially considering my low mileage. Unless PF can be caused by biking an hour longer than you’re used too – but that seems unlikely. Anyway, I wore the sock for 4 nights in a row and it feels better.

I ended up taking 3 days off from running, but dusted off my tri bike to help maintain some fitness. Sunday we had a great group ride that was nearly 50 miles. We were greeted by perfect conditions, sunny, calm and crisp. It has me thinking of some duathlons for next year.

On Saturday there was a meet for the kids I’m helping to coach. While they only run 1 mile these meets are bringing back a ton of memories for me. It’s fun to see the older kids jogging the course in a big pack before their race and seeing them throw a football around as they try to kill time. There’s also the sound of spikes on concrete and the smell of wet grass and mud that remind me of high school and college cross country. And the look of excitement on their face after running a PR or beating someone for the first time is awesome. Too bad the season is so short.

Quote of the Day;

“We told our guys to hold on for 30 minutes of agony for 12 months of glory.” – John McDonnell, Arkansas coach after winning the 1993 NCAA Cross-Country title

FAT & 40

2010-09-21T12:34:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I did my first race since Grandma’s Marathon. The Fat Tire 40 was actually my first mountain bike race ever. The course follows much of the Birkie trail between Hayward and Cable, along with some gravel roads. While I had fun, it wasn’t nearly as fun as skiing – maybe not even as fun as running. In any case, I’m glad I tried it.

Running is picking up a little, as I’m averaging about 40 MPW in September. Recently, I’ve done a few things that are starting to get the juices flowing.

First, the weekend of Ironman Wisconsin I happened to be the Wisconsin Dells with the family. The morning of the race I decided to get up early, drive to Madison and watch the start of the race. I’ve done this a few times and it’s always cool. The energy radiating from the fans and the participants is amazing. The Monona Terrace is the perfect set up for the race and this year the weather couldn’t have been any better. Wish I could have stayed longer, but I had to leave after the swim.

Second, the youth cross country program that I’m helping out with is in full swing. We have 34 kids ranging from 3rd and 6th graders. So far we’ve had a time trial, a dual meet, and ran in a larger invitational. The invitational had 8 races in all and a total of 2000 runners. Again, the energy these kids put out is amazing. And seeing a kid go from 15 minutes for 1 mile, down to 10:40, or seeing someone run the entire mile for the first time without walking is inspirational.

So while I’m not blogging as often, things are still good.

Quote of the Day;

“There’s a lot of b.s. that goes down in that race. It’s unavoidable. But the race also offers a lot of people the chance for self-knowledge, and nobody’s immune to it, from the guy who finishes last to the guy who finishes first. That’s the big draw for people.” – Scott Tinley

AN ABSOLUTE JOKE

2010-09-03T13:43:00.003-05:00

9 of the last 10 weeks have been below 38 MPW. I ran a whopping 138 miles in August this year. The weather has turned the corner (at least temporarily) and hopefully my attitude has too (at least temporarily).

For awhile I felt like a kid again – at least in the sense that I wanted to achieve great things without working for them.

Now I have just enough time to train in order to get in shape for… winter!

But when you’re retired from racing, I guess that doesn’t matter.

Lately, I been watching a bunch of survival shows of the Discovery Channel like Man vs. Wild (Bear Grylls is the craziest man around), Man, Woman, Wild (the girls even like this one), and Dual Survival (I like Cody’s dry sense of humor). Perhaps the most interesting is Surviving the Cut. As the website says, “Surviving the Cut takes viewers into the intense world of military elite forces training. From divers and snipers to para-rescue men and bomb specialists, the elite and how they earn a place in the coveted units are the focus in this compelling all new series.” Basically, they take all these military personnel that want to join different elite forces and they try to break them physically and mentally.

Watching this show makes running a marathon look like an absolute joke. The show has definitely made me stop and think about things. Of course, I feel like a candy ass for not wanting to run TCM because I haven’t trained properly. There’s no way these guys/gals could train properly for their elite forces training, yet they’re out there doing it – pushing themselves to their limits and beyond. Check out an episode before your next big event and see if it changes your mindset.

Finally, I was writing an article about running in the ‘90s recently. I was in college during the ‘90s and I can really only remember 2 great U.S. runners, Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams. They were head and shoulders above the rest of the U.S. runners. Of course there were other greats, like Bob Kempainen, but he didn’t race a lot due to medical school. Anyway, as part of my research, I came across a great interview that Duncan did recently with Williams.

Quote of the Day;

“Jujitsu is a wrestling art. It’s more grappling-based. I didn’t take it, because I wanted to be an ass kicker; I took it, because I wanted something else in my life that could fill the void of the competitive side of me that was outside the job I had in sales and marketing with Adidas. As far as the drive, it’s been awesome. It’s been a great replacement, because I started in a lower level. I didn’t know anything, just like I didn’t know anything about running when I started out.” - Todd Williams.

SOUTH DAKOTA PHOTOS

2010-08-24T08:47:00.014-05:00

I finally got around to uploading some photos from our South Dakota vacation.

Here's the family at the Badlands.

Do not try this at home!

One more shot of the Badlands.

Custer State Park.

Objects may be closer than they appear!

Buffalo.

Big buffalo!

Sylan Lake.

Kinsey saving Katie's life.

Katie saving Kinsey's life - with just one finger!

Another photo of beautiful Sylan Lake.

Tunnel along Needles Highway.

Mount Rushmore - of course.

This was the best deal around. $10 for then entire carload.

PERIODIZATION

2010-08-12T12:33:00.001-05:00

Hmm, I got accused of “pulling a Favre” after my last post. I know we have a lot of similarities; we’re both 40-41 years old, incredibly athletic with rugged good looks, and we both make about $17 million a year. And we’re both divas. But other than that, we’re totally different.

As much as I’d like to retire from racing, I’m not sure it will happen. You know “old dog – new tricks” and “leopard changing his spots” etc.

What I really need is a good periodization plan that lays out what I should be focusing on the entire year. Scott and I talked about this on a couple of runs and here’s what we came up with;

July and August – do whatever makes me happy (run, bike, roller ski, lift, etc).
September and October – transition to running and enter a few late-season races
November – transition to roller skiing
December to February – peak x-c season
March – transition to running
April to June – peak running season

I figure most people around here lay low in the winter. I’d rather ski in the winter and lay low when it’s hot and sticky. Not focusing on running in July and August would open up options for other events; bike races, tris, etc. Plus, family vacations would probably be more enjoyable.

One issue with not running much in July and August is that it would make a fast fall marathon difficult, unless I travelled somewhere for a November race. But maybe one marathon per year is the way to go. Running Times had a nice interview with the Brooks-Hanson coaches and they basically limit their runners to 3 marathons every 2 years. They said anything more than that and their not developing, their just moving from one marathon to the next.

Quote of the Day;

“I can make a comeback if George Foreman can. He’s 11 years older than I am, and none of my rivals is trying to punch me.” – Said Aouita

I MEAN IT

2010-08-03T12:53:00.002-05:00

I “borrowed” this image from Steve in a Speedo because it’s true.

If you flip the image upside-down, it basically represents my weekly mileage – the huge dip representing what happens when I go on vacation.

We had a great time in South Dakota. We didn’t do all the tourist stuff, but we must have been close; Badlands, Wall Drug, Custer State Park, Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, Bear Country USA, Reptile Garden, Storybook Island, Cowboy dinner, Mammoth site in Hot Springs, Jewel Cave, and Laura Ingalls Wilder site in De Smet. Good times – I highly recommend it.

On the running front, I’ve been considering retiring from racing – again. This time I mean it. I’d still run 45 to 60 minutes a day, but I won’t have to worry about getting in long runs, running some arbitrary amount of weekly miles, or being fast. As long as I can keep my “killer body” I’ll be happy.

This is different in years passed, as I’m not worn down from training. I actually feel fine. I just don’t have any desire to race. It’s even more than that this time, as there’s not much desire to blog, write articles, or interview other runners.

Maybe this will pass, along with the hottest week of the year, but I’m not so sure.

Quote of the Day;

“I never retired… I just did other things.” – Edwin Moses

ENDORSEMENTS

2010-07-21T13:05:00.001-05:00

If I have any readers out there anymore, I thought I’d share some endorsements with them.

1) Road ID: watching the Tour de France, you can’t help by hear about Road ID. I’ve “joked” here before about running on some remote single-track trails where if anything happened to me no one would fine me for weeks. Well, they still won’t find me for weeks, but at least they’ll be able to identify my decaying body by my Road ID. Seriously, for the amount of solo running I do, especially away from my neighborhood, it only makes sense to own one of these.

2) ExtremeMac Sportsband: I probably only run with an iPod about once a week. Typically I just make sure to wear a pair of shorts with a pocket, then throw the iPod in there. So when someone offered me a free sample if I reviewed their product, I jumped at the chance. PROS: It’s a great alternative to just using the pocket in my shorts – especially in the summer when shorts can become soaked. It’s sturdy, yet comfortable and I don’t even realize I’m wearing it. Even though there’s a see-through window, I’m still able to operate the control panel without taking it out of the sportsband. There’s a handy clip that allows you to wrap up the excess cord from the headphones. They have models that fit your iPod or your iPhone. CONS: The first time I used this product, there was some condensation around the window. Keep in mind that the dew point was about 60 that day. My second con has more to do with receiving the product than the actual product itself. Whoever contacted me was from Europe and it literally took 3 months to receive the product. It was so long, that I completely forgot about agreeing to review it. The good news is that you won’t have to wait as long, as their products are available at Amazon.com, Best Buy, Office Max, Staples, etc. For all my European readers, be sure to check out MobileFun.

3) Garmin 205: I bought one of these probably 2 years ago. After about 15 months, the face pulled apart from the watch and it wouldn’t stay on. I didn’t want to pay $75 to fix a $125 product, so I decided to live without it. Training for Grandma’s I did lots of tempo workouts. Although I had a ballpark idea of the pace I was running, I really didn’t know for sure. Not really a big deal for me. What really pushed me over the edge to buy another one was the 30K I did in May. The mile markers were all screwed up, so I had no idea what kind of pace I was running. That’s extremely frustrating when you’re trying to gauge things for an upcoming race.

4) The Clymb: This is probably the third time I’ve mentioned this site. It’s a private sale network that will give you access to insider pricing from an amazing group of outdoor brands. If you climb, hike, run, ride, paddle or ski, you’re gonna love this. Here’s how it works: you accept this invite and The Clymb will hook you up with deep discounts, usually 50-70% off retail, on gear from a different leading brand each week. Each brand’s product is available for 3 days only or until it’s sold out. Membership is free and by invite only. That’s why I’m inviting you – just follow this this link. So far I’ve purchased some Craft apparel, a Camelbak, and some Keen shoes. Although I’ve mentioned this site before, I forgot one key feature. As you spread the word to your friends, every time they purchase, you receive $10 off towards your future purchases. Here’s an example; the Keen shoes I just bought were on sale for $48. Shipping and handling is a flat rate of $10. The total was $58, but I had four $10 credits to my account, so I only had to pay $18. Can’t beat that!

We're heading to South Dakota next week, so there won’t be any updates to the blog – but you should be used to that by now.

Quote of the Day;

“What I earn on the roads is someday going to be considered laughable by the top athletes.” – Bill Rodgers

JUST IN TIME

2010-07-12T12:23:00.003-05:00

Not much is going on with me. I finally started to feel good last Friday. Just in time to start a new 12-week cycle for TCM. I'm going with a plan from Pfitz's 2nd edition this time around. Since I tend to go through a phase during the summer where I start to despise running, I'm going to include 1 day off from running each week.

No quote of the day - how about a photo of the day instead. Here's Kinsey and Katie and their first Twins game outdoors on the 4th of July.

PISSER

2010-06-30T12:41:00.001-05:00

So TCM is trying to become more like the NYRR. Instead of just having one weekend of events during the year, they’re creating new events (or buying someone else’s), so they have multiple events throughout the year. This weekend they have the Red, White and Boom half marathon. Scott is running it and he sent me this fine print from their website;

Also of special note: the course crosses over several sets of railroad tracks. Due to Homeland Security rules, we do not know the train schedule and it is highly likely that trains will be crossing the course. For your safety, PLEASE do not attempt to outrun a train!

That would be a pisser.

Back to soccer and the World Cup, I actually watched the U.S. vs. Ghana and was mildly entertained. I was more entertained by the first half the Germany vs. England match – although not entertained enough to watch the second half.

After watching the U.S. match I facebooked that it’d be really hard to be a passionate fan about U.S. distance running AND U.S. soccer. I think both groups think there sport doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

I had the idea of adding referees to running races, then whenever someone passed me during a race, I’d hit the ground. When I got back up I’d throw my hands in the air in disgust and glare at the referee. And if a train came along during the race and cut me off, you can bet I’d give the referee the evil eye while muttering under my breath.

Somehow I didn’t mind Bill Laimbeer flopping when he was on “my” team, but since then, I can’t stand watching these NBA players flopping all the time. And soccer seems even worse.

Yesterday Rocco had a great idea for a YouTube video; Show a soccer player flopping and rolling around like his leg fell off. Then show a baseball player getting beaned in the leg and refusing to show any sign of pain as he walks to first. Then show another soccer flop. Then another baseball beaning. Repeat over and over for five minutes.

Now that would be entertaining.

Finally, congrats to Tony for his 26th place finish at the Western States 100-mile in 19:28. Today’s QOD is for him.

Quote of the Day;

“Try the meditation of the trail, just walk along looking at the trail at your feet and don’t look about and just fall into a trance as the ground zips by. Trails are like that: you’re floating along in a Shakespearean Arden paradise and expect to see nymphs and fluteboys, then suddenly you’re struggling in a hot broiling sun of hell in dust and nettles and poison oak… just like life.” Jack Keouac in The Dharma Bums

8 IS ENOUGH

2010-06-29T12:47:00.000-05:00

After 8 days off and 8 added pounds – that’s enough. It’s time to start lacing up my running shoes again. I have 2 weeks to get into the swing of things again before starting Pfitz’s 12-week program for TCM. After using Daniels for Gma’s, I decided to switch to Pfitz for a couple of reasons; 1) the program from his 2nd Edition has more MP work than the 1st Edition, 2) there seems to be a wider variety of workouts than Daniels, and 3) Scott is using the same program and since we train together a couple of times a week, it’d be nice to be on the same page.

Last night I laid out Pfitz’s 55-70 and 70-85 plans on the same sheet of paper. There’s a lot of overlap with the main difference in the mileage being a day off per week with the 55-70 mpw program. Right now I’m leaning towards incorporating 1 day off from running per week. Hopefully that’ll help keep me fresh and motivated. Plus, I’d like to use that day off to mountain bike in case I go through with the Fat Tire 40 in September.

I was a little surprised that Pfitz only has two 20+ milers in his program. I guess he makes up for it with lots of 17-19 milers. And of course there are lots of mid-week 15 milers that I’ll need to get used to doing again.

Note to self: after taking time off after a marathon, don’t include barefoot strides on your first run back. I did that Monday and after today’s run, my left foot is bothering me. Hopefully it’s just a mild strain.

I had one more observation from Gma’s that I forgot to include last time. There’s a local guy that always wears a heart rate monitor when he runs and I always seem to beat him – including last year when it was hot. I thought his HRM would keep him from crashing in the heat, but apparently not. Anyway, this year he didn’t have his HRM on during the race and he beat me by 3 or 4 minutes. What does all that mean?

Quote of the Day;

“Poetry, music, forests, oceans, solitude – they were what developed enormous spiritual strength. I came to realize that spirit, as much or more than physical conditioning had to be stored up before a race.” – Herb Elliott

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

2010-06-23T13:04:00.001-05:00

Okay, I have a few more random thoughts;

Anyone else think it’s kind of sad that to be in the Top 100 men at Grandma’s you only needed to run 2:59:12 or faster? To be in the Top 100 women, they needed to run 3:35 or faster.

My last 6 marathons, dating back to 2008, have been 3:12, 3:05, 3:12, 3:09, 3:10, 3:09. I really am just a 3:10 marathoner.

Not to go unnoticed, I did set a Masters PR by about one minute.

I didn’t qualify for Boston in my first 3 marathons. Since then, 12 of my 13 marathons have been under my BQ. The only one that wasn’t was Boston in 2004 when it was 90+ degrees at the start.

Yesterday I got a comment from Kevin suggesting that I scale back my racing and mileage a bit and give myself a longer taper. And I got an email from my friend Eric suggesting that I basically train through a marathon with no more than a 3 day taper.

I was actually thinking about racing more this summer – but I’d include more short races so that MP feels easy. Given my vacation 4 weeks out, I basically took a longer taper than normal this time around, so extending that even further doesn’t make sense to me.

Right now my plan is to take this entire week off and then spend the next 2 weeks running however I feel. That’ll leave 12 weeks for a yet to be determined plan that will lead up to my 3:10 at TCM.

Quote of the Day;

“Successful marathoners must lose their cool, and allow this irrational, animal consciousness to take over.” – Bill Rodgers

TIME TO SECOND-GUESS

2010-06-22T12:57:00.001-05:00

Here are some more random thoughts about Grandma’s Marathon weekend;

It was nice to see that they finally switched from Ultima to Poweraid at the aid stations.

People like to complain about the cost of hotels, but you can still find cheap lodging. Our group of 4 stayed at the College of St. Scholastica in a 4 bedroom dorm room with a kitchenette. It cost $388 for the entire weekend – less than $100 each.

I was “surprised” to hear that Mary Akor ended up in the medical tent. Does she end up in the medical tent after every marathon or just after every Grandma’s?

Be sure to check out Wayne’s photo gallery from the half and full. It includes 205 photos of lots of people hugging, raising their arms in victory, dressing alike, etc. You can also find the customary photos of the race medal, the lift bridge, people in their space blanket, lying down or taking an ice bath in Lake Superior. You can also see yours truly (photo #138 and #141).

Now, it’s that time again – time to second-guess everything leading up to Grandma’s.

I was thinking that I wouldn’t have a problem with running all these 3:10s if that’s all I thought I was capable of. I mean, I’ve run marathons where everything feels great and I run a fast time. I know it’s possible. I just haven’t done it for awhile. So the questions become, how do I do it again? What changes do I need to make? What went wrong this time?

I think one easy answer has to do with going on vacation 4 weeks out and only running about 35 miles that week. I never felt good again after getting back home. I don’t think it was entirely from going on vacation, but probably had to do with trying to cram in two 2-week cycles with only two easy days in between before going on vacation. And each of those cycles ended with a rather long race; a half marathon and a 30K. That may be too close together for such long races. Maybe my weekly mileage was too high and I’d be better off with 70 MPW with one day off every week.

With 15 weeks until TCM, these are some things I’ll have to reflect upon as I recover from Grandma’s.

Quote of the Day;

“Let us live so that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry.” – Mark Twain

GRANDMA'S MARATHON RACE REPORT

2010-06-21T12:53:00.003-05:00

I’ve come to the realization that the marathon is not my best event. That’s not to say that I still don’t enjoy the challenge. I’m just saying that if I had to pick the event that I’m best at, it’d probably have to be the 20K or half marathon. Anything over 13.1 miles and I start to freak out and get intimidated by the sheer magnitude of the distance. Heck, even my best 25K times don’t correspond with my best half marathon times.

This year’s Grandma’s Marathon provided another case in point on this topic. Having run a 1:26:08 half marathon last month, it seemed like something in the low 3-hour range wouldn’t be that difficult. What’s the rule of thumb, double your half marathon and add 10-minutes? That’d put me at 3:02. 7-minute pace is 3:03:15, so that seemed like a reasonable, conservative goal. Perhaps on a great day I could sneak under 3 hours.

As I drove into town on Friday evening, the temp was 87 and sunny with a strong south wind, which would be a headwind. Needless to say, that was a little concerning the night before the race. Luckily, race day conditions proved to be nicer than that. Temps started out in the low 60s and never got much higher than 65. The dew point was in the mid-50s and there was significant cloud coverage. While the winds did die down some from Friday, we still had a steady 8+ mph head/crosswind to deal with. For those of you not familiar with the course, it’s basically a straight line for 25 miles. So when you have a headwind, you have it the whole way.

Nothing too exciting happened before gun went off. I settled in quickly with my first 3 splits all between 6:54 and 6:56. However, by mile 3 I already felt like I was working too hard too early in the race and I made a conscious effort to slow down. The next four miles were between 7:02 and 7:11. By now, after bucking the wind for 7 miles, I pretty much realized that it wasn’t a day to run fast. I tried to tuck in behind other runners as much as possible, but there were some stretches where that wasn’t possible due to the wind direction or not having anyone around at the time.

By mile 12 I figured if I couldn’t run fast I might as well be comfortable and I stopped for about 45 seconds to take a leak. This never used to be a problem, but during the last 3 years or so, I’ve ended up stopping a couple of times during each marathon. I gotta figure that out sometime, otherwise I’ll have to subtract 90 seconds from each goal in the future.

The halfway point comes and goes in 1:34:12. Maybe if I don’t crash and burn I can break 3:10. Around the aid station at mile 16 I heard people cheering for the 3:10 pace group. Given my experience with the pace group last year, where I wrote “I was quickly losing patience with the inconsistent pacing, getting annoyed with all the rah-rah banter and tired of the congestion at each water stop” I decided to try and hold them off as long as possible – after I stop for one more pee break.

After a couple of 7:17s and a downhill 7:06, I run the 20th mile in 7:26 – my slowest of the day. I hold off the 3:10 pack until mile 22. They catch me at the base of Lemon Drop hill and I jump in with them. Luckily, by now, they’re all rah-rah’d out and are only focused on finishing. A few guys pick up the pace and even more fall off the back. We’re passing quite a few people and it’s kind of hard to get a sense for who’s in the group and who’s not. I guess it doesn’t matter as long as I stick with the guy with the balloons.

Speaking of that, I get a kick out of the spectators that don’t know what the balloons mean. You can see a lot of the spectators looking at the balloons, trying to read the writing on them. And then, of course, you hear the “Nice balloons!” comments along the way. It’s kind of funny.

Grandma’s is one of those courses that gets better the further you go, at least when it comes to spectators. Early in the race there are pockets of spectators here and there, with a few sections that are fairly crowded and loud. However, around mile 19 you start to make your way into town and the crowds get thicker and thicker and they keep building all the way to the finish. I love the beer drinkers around mile 21, the group at Lemon Drop just after 22, all the folks near Fitger’s, and, of course, everyone along Superior Street, especially at the corner of Lake – that has to be the loudest section of all. Just passed this section is the 25 mile marker. I glance at the clock and see 3:00:41. Given that there “should” be about 9 minutes of running left, it seems like sub-3:10 will be reached. No major catastrophes during the last 1.2 and I cross the line in 3:09:42.

I knew I ran 3:09 last year too, but didn’t realize it was 3:09:43. With that rate of improvement, I figure I’ll break 3 hours in 583 years. Here are my splits from the last 2 years;

Split – 2009 - 2010
6.2 miles – 45:34 – 43:33
13.1 miles – 49:45 – 50:39
20 miles – 49:32 – 50:22
26.2 miles – 45:02 – 45:07

I originally thought the consistency from 6.2 to13.1 and 13.1 to 20 was a little eerie. But I think it gets back to being intimidated by the sheer magnitude of the distance. There’s something about the races over 13.1 miles that make me scared to put my neck on the line. Maybe there’s some burning desire to avoid blowing up and walking it in. I don’t know for sure, but I should try to figure it out – or at least change my expectations and be content with being a 3:10 marathoner.

Looking at the results from 2009 and 2010, it appears people are less affected by the wind than the heat. Last year I placed 152nd out of 5998. This year I was 238th out of 5597. I guess I’ll pray for heat in the future.

Finally, I’m not sure I’ve seen this before, but this year, not only do the results show your time at each check point, but they also show your place (overall, age group and sex). It’s cool to see that I was in 309th place at the half, 288th at 20 miles and 238th at the finish. Pretty cool.

If you’re a stats geek, here are my mile splits;

6:54
6:56
6:55
7:02
7:05
7:11
7:07
7:17
7:24
7:08
7:16
7:55 – pee
7:18
7:08
7:10
7:44 – pee
7:17
7:17
7:06
7:26
7:16 – Lemon Drop
7:10
7:17
7:08
7:24
1:36

Thanks for reading. I should have more thoughts tomorrow – hopefully with a few photos.