IT LIVES

First off, it may have been nearly 6 months between interview, but it lives.

I had an okay week last week. I managed 37 miles running and 43K skiing. While the entire week was just okay, I had a packed “weekend”. I took Friday afternoon off and skied for 2:15 at Murphy-Hanrehan – aka the toughest ski trails around. Saturday I ran for 1:52, and then Sunday I skied for 1:50. All told, I closed out January with 162 miles and 165K.

I’m kind of struggling to run much more than 2 hours. Saturday I was hoping to go longer, but as I got back to my car, I had no desire to add on. February kicks off ski-race month with races on the 7th, 13th and 27th. Hopefully I can manage to squeeze in a couple of 2 hour runs.

Lots of things confuse me, including endurance nutrition. There are so many products on the market – all with fancy marketing literature and websites – that it’s hard to make heads or tails out of it all. Awhile ago, Kurt gave me a sample of VESPA to try.

I’m not talking about the scooter.

Rather I'm referring to an amino acid supplement.

It doesn’t boost performance. It’s not a fuel, an electrolyte replacement, or energy supplement. VESPA works by enabling the muscles to get their energy from a readily available and plentiful source in our bodies…fat.

Let me just start by saying I’m always skeptical going into anything like this. I believe in the mantra “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.”

Here is what some of their literature says;

The benefits include; 1) increased endurance/stamina derived from tapping into a plentiful energy source for aerobic muscle metabolism, 2) stabilized blood sugars to help you beat the bonk, 3) reduced lactates for improved recovery, 4) naturally-occurring ingredients.

Basically, you drink a packet 45 minutes before working out (used when going 2+ hours) and then you don’t eat or drink any carbs/sugars prior to beginning your workout. Keep hydrated. During longer durations workouts you may need some calories and electrolytes.

They claim what you “feel” is what you don’t “feel”. There’s no sugar rush or caffeine high, and you won’t get the lows either. You’ll just feel an even and sustainable energy. You may simple “feel” that you had a “good” day.

VESPA “works” in subtle yet significant ways. Note how you feel throughout your workout, immediately after, and in the recovery phase. Again, what you will notice is what you don’t notice (the ups and downs, the crashing, being completely wiped out after a workout and the relative level of soreness and recovery time.

Well, with all that said, I decided to put it to the test prior to Friday’s ski. I can honestly say, I didn’t feel a thing – just like they claimed. However, I was hoping to ski a little longer than I did, but I got so chilled, I couldn’t continue on. I have no idea if that was because of tapping into my fat supplies or it being 10 degrees out. While I was able to bounce back with nearly a 2 hour run the next day, the last mile or so was a struggle, and I had no desire to go further. And I did feel pretty wiped out all weekend. But it could be from cramming in nearly 6 hours of training in 3 days.

So basically my one-dose experiment is inconclusive. With some longer ski races and training sessions coming up, I’ll probably include a few more uses.

I would recommend that everyone experiment with different things to find out what works for them. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t ever feel like I get the high-highs or low-lows that seem common in others. Maybe that’s why it’s hard for me to notice what’s working and what’s not. That and the fact there are lots of other variables that need to be considered.

More to come.

Quote of the day;

“I wish I would have known that I would still be running 29 years later and that so many wonderful friendships would be formed by being a runner. My best friends are runners. It turned out that running is more than a sport. It is a way of life. I can’t imagine my life without it.” - Kathy Peterson

GLAZED OVER

Not much going on, so I thought I’d catch up on my recent training. Last week I managed 52 miles of running, plus 26K of skiing. That included an MP workout (8 miles at 7:00 pace), hills and the half marathon. I also was able to squeeze in two core workouts.

The half marathon left my calves trashed. It probably didn’t help that I didn’t run a single step for a cool down. I ran 8 miles on Monday and then took my first day off in 10 days. Yesterday I skied for an hour and this morning I ran 10 miles, 8 of which were with Scott. We hadn’t run together probably since November, so it was good to catch up. Plus, Scott has taken up skiing recently, so he’s my only running partner that I can talk to about skiing without having their eyes glaze over.

Speaking of skiing, I haven’t been out as much as I was last year, but you may remember that was part of my plan; run more, including hills and MP workouts, while using skiing for recovery days. And get in a long ski every week or two. If I just look at year-over-year duration of exercise for December and January, it appears I’ll have skied 10 less hours this season. However, I’ve run 30 more hours. Keeping in mind that I added some roller skiing in October and November, I think I’m much better off this year. At least I’ll keep telling myself that until results prove otherwise.

Quote of the day;

“A V-8 engine on a VW frame. He’ll destroy so many hearts, they’ll wish they weren’t born in his era. What a tough bastard.” – John Walker, referring to Noureddine Morceli

A MINNESOTA RUNNER'S YEARBOOK 2009

If you've been following along, you probably remember me mentioning something about a Runner of the Year project and the development of a 2009 Yearbook that basically summarizes the highlights from the roads of Minnesota during the year. We'll it's here...

Check out the great new layout and design by Pete Miller.

Here's a sample page where you can read about Jared's terrific season.

If you're familiar with past Yearbooks, you can see that we tried to make the data a little easier to read and the entire project a little more appealing with the front cover image and action photos throughout. We gave a little back on the data side, but hopefully not too much.

If you had a Yearbook in your hands right now, you could read about how Sonya (left) and Bonnie (right) battled it out in the women's 40-44 age group.

To get your copy by mail, send $10.00 (plus $2.00 shipping and handling) to:

USATF Minnesota
960 Douglas Road,
Mendota Heights, MN 55118

For more information, contact Craig Yotter at office@usatfmn.org.

Again, thanks to everyone who help support this project.

MUG SHOT

One of the best reasons to run the Winter Carnival Half Marathon every year is to collect the cool coffee mugs. I think I'm missing a couple, but still have a pretty good collection.

2000, 2002 and 2003

2006, 2007 and 2010

Notice the "brrrrrr" in "bring" on this year's mug. I do find it ironic that a race that touts such slogans as "the coolest race on earth" and "the few, the proud, the fozen" that in 2004 they shortened the race because it was "too cold".

WINTER CARNIVAL HALF MARATHON

Ahh, the Winter Carnival Half Marathon – one of my favorite races around. Prior to incorporating skiing over the last two winters, I used to run it nearly every winter. I would put in a lot of miles over the winter and then use this race as a benchmark leading into the spring racing season. When I looked back over the years I was actually surprised by how many times I’d run 1:24 on this course.

1/27/07 1:24:06
2/4/06 1:24:45
2/5/05 1:24:27
1/31/04 41:40 – shortened due to weather
2/1/03 1:27:59 – different (tougher) course due to construction
2/2/02 1:24:55
2/5/00 1:32:03

One of the hardest things with this race for me is that I never know exactly where I’m at fitness-wise. In most years, I probably haven’t raced for at least 3 months. And most of my mileage is long and slow. This usually means that for the entire race I’m constantly asking myself “how does this pace feel?”

On the other hand, one of the best things about this race is that I never know exactly where I’m at fitness-wise. As a result, I’m probably more in-tune with my body than during any other race during the year. By the time spring rolls around, I usually have a pretty good idea of what kind of shape I’m in and what pace I should be running.

Given that my long MP workouts on the treadmill have been at 7:00 pace, I thought that’d be a good goal (sub-1:32) for this race. But I secretly thought I might be able to break 1:30.

Obviously, when you race in Minnesota in January, you never know what the weather will bring. In 2004 the race was shortened when it was -10 degrees. Then in 2006 I can remember running in shorts and a t-shirt because it was 50 degrees. This year it was 25-35 and pretty windy. Right when the gun went off it started to rain. Luckily that only lasted about 5 minutes. Overall, I thought the conditions were better than they would be. This is an out-and-back course, trending uphill going out and downhill coming back. I thought the wind during the second half would be brutal – especially since the pack is usually strung out by then. But I wasn’t really bothered by it until the last mile.

A few things about this race lead me to not even check my splits; 1) the first mile has a huge downhill, so the splits are usually 20 seconds fast, 2) one year the mile markers were all over the place (short and long) and it was really frustrating, and 3) since I don’t know what shape I’m in, why worry about each individual split. I usually just take my halfway split and then try to run negative. This year I hit the turnaround in 45:25. I felt pretty good and thought I had a shot at sub-1:30.

I was able to pick up the pace and catch about 10 people during the second half, while only two passed me. With 1.1 miles to go, my calculations said I needed to run about 7:30 to break 1:30. I thought I could do it, but failed to factor in the wind and the steep uphill near the finish. I ended up hitting the line in 1:30:20, so I ran the second half in 44:55. Somehow I managed to finish 3rd in the 40-44 age group. HERE are the results.

Overall, I’m pleased with where I’m at. Of course, I’d love to bust out more 1:24s, but I think those days are gone, at least in the middle of January. I still have a lot of work to do, but I’m looking forward to it.

Prior to the race I finally got to meet Steve in a Speedo. If you don’t read his blog, I recommend you checking it out. We bumped into each other again after the race too. I was secretly hoping he’d take a self-picture of us shirtless with fogged-up glasses. But he had to run to a birthday party and I had to run to the annual MDRA party.

At the party, my name was drawn for a free entry into Grandma’s Marathon. Although I wasn’t planning on running Grandma’s this year, I think I may have to revisit Highway 61, come June.

Last night I had a really hard time sleeping because I was planning my training schedule. Oh wait, no, it was because of the Vikings. Having been happily married for nearly 12 years, I forgot what it’s like to have a rollercoaster ride-like relationship. Luckily, the Vikings never let me forget.

Quote of the day;

“Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God says, "Out on Highway 61." – Bob Dylan

2009 MINNESOTA RECAP

If you live in Minnesota and are a member of MDRA you may have seen this 2009 Recap already. If you live in Minnesota and you are not a MDRA member, why not? If you live outside of Minnesota, you might not be interested in the least in this post.

2009 Year in Review

It’s that time of year again. It’s the end of another year, which means it’s time to look back and appreciate all the hard work and great efforts that took place during the last 12 months. This article is a recap of the top performances, either in Minnesota or by Minnesotans in 2009. These are the ones that stand out most in my mind. Of course, this is a subjective list and with all the great runners in the state I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch.

Team USA Minnesota’s Emily Brown spent the latter half of 2008 bothered by a sacrum injury. She bounced back in early 2009 as she finished 7th at the BUPA Great Edinburgh Cross Country race in Scotland, finished runner-up at the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run 4 Mile in New York City, and finished 4th at the Antrim International Cross Country in Northern Ireland. Then Brown went on to win her first USA title at the USA Cross Country Championships.

Former Golden Gopher and former Team USA Minnesota athlete, Andrew Carlson, started the year off quickly too. He finished 4th at the USA Half Marathon Championships in Houston when he sped to a 1:02:21 PR. He followed that up with another PR at the Stanford Invitational, running 28:25:86 for 10,000 meters.

Current Golden Gophers where also busy tearing up the track. The teams were exceptionally strong in the middle- and long-distance events. In particular, the following athletes set school records, Championship records, won Drake relay titles, and, most importantly, lead the team to Big Ten titles in both the Indoor and Outdoor seasons; Heather Dorniden, Amy Laskowske, Megan Duwell, Ladia Albertson-Junkans, Elizabeth Yetzer, Nikki Swenson, Hassan Mead, Chris Rombough, Ben Blankenship, and Andy Richardson.

Elsewhere on the track, Burnsville alum Laura Hermanson (now Januszewski) of North Dakota State University won the Drake Relays 800 meter title, finish 2nd at the NCAA Championships, and then placed fifth at the U.S. Championships in 2:01.28. Winona alum and brothers, Garrett and Elliott Heath, were busy running fast times for Stanford. Indoors, the brothers both broke eight minutes for 3,000 meters. Elliott ran 7:53.64 to Garrett’s 7:55.50. Outdoors, they each lowered their 5,000 meter PRs with Garrett running 13:42.27 and Elliott running 13:42.59. Garrett added a 3:37.57 1500 to his resume too, while Elliott earned his first all-American title.

The St. Thomas men's track and field team won their 25th consecutive MIAC indoor track and field title.

Thom Weddle had a busy weekend at the USA Masters Indoor Championships in Landover, Maryland. During the three-day meet he won the 3,000 meter title for 70-74 year-olds and placed second in the mile and 800 meters. At the Outdoor Championships, Weddle was runner-up in the 800 meters in 2:58.73 and in the 1500 in 5:55.40.

Carleton College alum Matt Hooley won the Eugene Marathon in Oregon in 2:18:38. In the process, Hooley, who now resides in Madison, Wisconsin, qualified for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon.

Another Carleton College graduate, Katie Visco, also makes the list. Visco spent the year attempting to become the youngest female to run across the United States. She hoped to inspire people to follow their passion, to empower individuals to connect to what gives them life, and to raise funds for and promote Girls on the Run, a charity that empowers young girls through running. She planned on finishing up by the year’s end. See if she made it by logging on to http://www.paveyourlane.com/.

At the inaugural USA Road Mile Championship, held in conjunction with the Medtronic TC 1 Mile, David Torrence ran 3:59.3 for the win. The sub-4:00 finish earned him a $10,000 bonus. On the women’s side, Olympian Shannon Rowbury clocked 4:33.4.

At the state track and field meet, Harun Abda of Fridley topped the fastest prep runner in Minnesota history, Zach Mellon. Abda defeated the two-time Class AA champ from Buffalo in the 800 meters, 1:52:23 to 1:52:63. Mellon would go on to place second at the USA Junior Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. As a result he was the lone Minnesotan named to USA Today's All-USA high school track and field team.

Warroad's Moses Heppner, the 2008 Class A Cross Country champ won the 800/1600 double on the track, posting times of 1:55:77 and 4:16:17. His 1600 time put him more than 10 seconds up on second place and was better than this year’s Class AA marks.

Sauk Rapids native Christopher Raabe pulled away from the pack at mile 14 and went on to win Grandma's Marathon in 2:15:13. He became the first Minnesota man to win the race since Dick Beardsley in 1982. In the women’s race, Mary Akor joined Olympic bronze-medallist Lorraine Moller as a three-time Grandma's Marathon champion.

You may remember Jacub Zivec from last year’s cross country season. The Czech exchange student who attended Grand Rapids High School last fall, won the silver medal in the 5,000 meters at the European Junior Championships in Novi Sad, Serbia, running a PR 14:10.58. He also ran 3:46.36 and 8:10.82 for 1,500 and 3,000 meters, respectively in 2009.

Normally, I try to focus this list on distance running. However, when you’re the fastest 8-year-old in the country, I make an exception. That is the case with Jianna Cager who swept the 100, 200, and 400-meter races at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in Des Moines, Iowa.

Three Minnesotans represented the USA at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin. Team USA Minnesota’s Katie McGregor clocked 32:18.49 to finish 17th at 10,000 meters. In the marathon, her teammate, Matt Gabrielson, finished 36th, while Duluth-native Kara Goucher ran 2:27:48 to finish 10th.

On the roads this year, Duluth residents Jeremy Polson and Jennifer Houck earn Runner of the Year titles. And Jared Mondry was busy setting state age records in 10 of the 14 races he ran. Perhaps the 67-year-olds best performance of the year was his 3:01:56 at TCM. On the women’s side, Janet Rosen managed to set 6 state records.

Heading into this year’s Leadville Trail ultra-marathon, no Minnesotans had run faster than 23 hours. In his first-ever 100-mile event, Tony Kocanda changed that when he ran 21:05:27 to place 16th. He was able to barely hold off his training partner, Joe Ziegenfuss, who was one place back in 21:08:12.

Bruce Mortenson, the St. Louis Park alum who won the 1965 NCAA Steeplechase title, entered the University of Oregon Hall of Fame as a member of 1965 Duck track team that tied USC for the NCAA title.

Perhaps the best performance of 2009 belongs to Team USA Minnesota's Josh Moen. At the USA 10 Mile Championship, held in conjunction with the TC10, Moen gave three-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman all he could handle before ultimately finishing second, 46:38 to 46:35. On an age-graded basis, Moen’s performance places him squarely among all-time Minnesota greats Alex Ratelle, Dick Beardsley, and Garry Bjorklund.

20-year-old Ilsa Paulson became the youngest winner ever of the Twin Cities Marathon. She ran to victory and the USA title in 2:31:49. Team USA Minnesota’s Kristen Nicolini Lehmkuhle made her marathon debut in the same race and finished third in 2:35:06. Meanwhile her husband, Jason Lehmkuhle, finished 10th at the New York City Marathon running 2:14:39. That time was good enough for 5th place in the USA Men's Marathon Championship held in conjunction with the race.

University of Minnesota junior Hassan Mead won his second straight Big Ten cross country title. In the process he joins Gopher legends Fred Watson and Garry Bjorklund as the only University of Minnesota harriers to have won multiple Big Ten titles. Watson (1913-15) and Bjorklund (1969-71) won three-straight titles.

Eden Prairie junior Aaron Bartnik (Eden Prairie), Marie Hauger (Shakopee), Mubarik Musa (Worthington), and Maddie McClellan won the MSHSL cross country titles.

Alyssa Sybilrud, a Burnsville alum, finished 21st at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships and led UW-Eau Claire to their first national title.

There you have it – the top performances and performers from Minnesota in 2009 that immediately come to mind. When you consider all the great Minnesota runners competing in high school, college, professionally, and at road races, you can see that it’s very difficult to limit such a list. Finally, I’d be remiss if I did not thank Charlie Mahler and his “staff” at Down the Backstretch for their incredible coverage of our great sport in Minnesota. Without this website, such a recap would have been exponentially more difficult to compile. If you’re not familiar with the site, please be sure to check it out HERE.

FULL-CIRCLE

Bringing my last two posts full-circle, anyone want to guess what the Birkie’s newsletter is called? Keep in mind it’s a skiing race.

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Carpe skiem!

See how everything ties together nicely?

Yesterday I continued my consistency… two days in a row of getting up at 5 AM. Once out on the roads I headed to the Bush Lake Road hill for 6 repeats.

I haven’t mentioned anything on my training for awhile. Here are some highlights. On the 10th I ran 15 miles on the treadmill. Ideally that’s not how I like to do my longer runs, however, I wanted to run for 2 hours and watch a 3-hour football game. Since I’m not in college any more – and can’t take 5 hours for myself – I had to multi-task. Last Friday I had my longer (and hilliest) ski of the season, 2:20 at Murphy-Hanrehan. Prior to that ski I hadn’t been very fired up about skiing this winter. However, now I am. Then on Sunday I ran 12 miles (again, on the treadmill during the Viking’s game) and included 8 miles at 7:00 pace.

There you have it, some medium-long runs, hills, an MP workout and a long ski.

For today’s Carpe Diem moment I want to direct you to Johanna Olson’s website; Save Johanna’s Brain. Johanna is a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier from Minnesota who’s currently battling her second brain tumor. If you’re interested, you can help by donating to her mounting medical bills. Or you can just stop by her blog and wish her well.

Carpe Diem!

Quote of the day;

“Remind yourself in your training that you are out there to make yourself happy. Challenging yourself will be part of the process.” – Gordon Bakoulis

WILLIE-NILLIE

As I think about my 6-week cycle of seizing the day a few more things come to mind. The biggest thing is getting consistent with my training. Consistency may be the number one thing our college coach used to harp on us about. It doesn’t necessarily mean starting a 30-year running streak all the sudden. It’s more about making the time to train and then sticking with it. If there’s day off planned, that counts too. It’s not about letting things interfere with your training, which causes you to move things around all willie-nillie - and leads to being inconsistent.

The best way for me to get consistent is to set my alarm for 5 AM and get out the door before work. Putting my workouts off until the evening often proves to be a disaster. On the front-end of getting up at 5, is getting to sleep by 9 or 9:30. If I get less than 7 ½ hours of sleep, I get cranky.

Also to keep me on-track, I’d thought I’d post my previous day’s successes and/or failures of staying on track.

Yesterday, literally seconds after submitting my blog post, I got this email;

Subject: Gingersnaps with Hershey's kisses

I have a dessert calendar this year, and I’m going to try to make the dessert each month. This month’s dessert is gingersnaps with Hershey’s kisses on top. Stop by my desk for a cookie!

It’s like someone above is testing me!

Five minutes later, this email came across my computer from a different co-worker;

In addition to those gingersnaps, I brought some more of those Death-by-Chocolate-Cookies from Friday. I don’t have many, but there is at least one here for each of you. Come get one if you want it.

Death-by-Chocolate? Come on, you’re killing me here!!!

So was it a success or a failure?

It was day 1. Of course it was a success as I avoided both temptations.

I’m also going to share other reasons to Carpe Diem as I come across them. For example, Sunday I was finishing up a Marathon Pace workout on the treadmill. I was near the end and as I was getting tired I was thinking about what I wanted to write in yesterday’s post. Right about that time the news of Gaines Adam’s death came across the TV. I can’t say I knew who he was, but he was in the NFL and only 26-years-old.

Carpe diem!

Quote of the day;

“My parents had a certain idea of what they wanted their ‘little girl’ to be and it did not include a budding track star.” – Grete Waitz

CARPE DIEM

All right, it’s been way too long between posts and I have too much stored up in my brain, not to post today.

A little over two weeks into the new year and I’m guessing most New Year’s Resolutions have already been abandoned. With turning 40 last August, flipping the calendar to a new year (and decade), and, especially, Cindy Brochman’s passing, all I can think about is Carpe Diem. As Wikipedia states;

The phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – "Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future", and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one's hopes to a brief future, and drink one's wine. Compare with the Biblical "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die", a conflation, with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting – an existential caution.

It all sounds very romantic, but how do we make that happen? I think one of the reasons resolutions fail is because a year is too long to commit to change – and it’s easier just to go back to the status quo. So, I’m going to focus on the next 6 weeks. Why 6 weeks? Well, first off, the Birkie is 6 weeks away. Second, I think it’s a short enough program that I’ll be able to stick with it, yet long enough to actually see some improvements. Third, I have a nice little 4 race season (3 skiing and 1 running) planned during that timeframe.

What do I hope to do during this timeframe? The easiest answer is to become a better skier without sacrificing my running (too much). The little things include; core strengthening, cutting out pop, limiting the crap I eat at work, getting the nutrition I need after my workouts into my body sooner, limiting my time playing Tiger Woods on Wii. Yes, I know I’ve written most of that stuff before without really sticking to a plan. But this time I’m going in with a 6 week timeframe. Hopefully that’ll help me maintain my focus.

Speaking of seizing the day, congrats to all the Minnesotans that ran great at Houston. Antonio Vega, Patrick Smyth, Josh Moen, Matt Gabrielson, and Meghan Armstrong all PR’d in the half marathon, with Vega taking the win. Meanwhile, in the marathon, Jenna Boren finished 7th in a near-PR 2:42:55 – despite a “huge positive split” of about two-and-a-half minutes. In the process she qualified for the Olympic Trials Marathon, again.

For a little inspiration when it comes to core workouts, here’s a cool video of Lindsey Vonn. For anyone that’s ever touched a stability ball, you know it’s not as easy as she’s making it look.



Finally, today’s quote of the day comes from my oldest daughter, Kinsey. Saturday she went downhill skiing for the first time ever at Buck Hill. Ironically, that is the same ski hill that Lindsey Vonn learned to ski on. Then that afternoon, I took her ice skating and she told me;

“This time of year I just feel like this is where I belong – outside skiing and skating.” - Kinsey Austin

SURVEY

Lots on my mind today, but no time to post. Instead I want to encourage everyone - especially Minnesotans - to partake in the MDRA survey.

DOWNWARD TREND

I was working on updating some of the links to the right and a noticed a trend. The number in parenthesis equals the number of posts I had each year. Man, I was really gung-ho in 2005 and 2006.

► 2009 (119)
► 2008 (176)
► 2007 (194)
► 2006 (270)
► 2005 (281)

2010 started off a little slow for me as I missed 2 of the first 3 days with family in town. But I’ve run 5 days in a row, including a hill workout and a tempo run. I haven’t been on my skis in a week. That’s mainly due to the cold weather. But it also has to do with a new strategy. Rather than trying to ski as much as possible and mix in a couple of runs each week, I’m trying to flip-flop that equation. I may be wrong, but I think I can ski a decent Birkie and be in better running shape in March if I keep up my running mileage while mixing in 2-3 skis a week. For this to work I think I have to continue running hills, tempos, MP workouts, and 2+ hour runs and one of those skis each week has to be 2+ hours.

It’s as simple as that. Or at least I hope so.

I’ve now scratched tomorrow’s Pre City of Lakes Loppet from my 2010 race plan. One reason is that a 16K ski race doesn’t excite me. Plus, it’s supposed to be 13 below. So my next race will be the Winter Carnival Half Marathon. I used to run this race every winter and it always provided a good base line of my fitness heading into spring.

Quote of the Day;

“Remember, the watch is just a tool. Control it; don’t let it control you.” – Chris Lundstorm, in an article on Hi-Tech Watches for Midwest Events

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hmm, I updated the template of my blog to get more features and this is the result. I “lost” the photo at the top, but what the heck, it’s a new year – time for a fresh outlook. I did the same to my other blog and it messed up links along the side. I’ll have to try to find time to get those fixed.

With the new year it looks like everyone is busy recapping 2009 and setting goals for 2010. I guess I should do the same. Overall, I’d say 2009 was a disappointment, at least running-wise. While I finished my first Birkie, I can’t think of a single running race that I was pleased with in 2009. Mileage-wise, I finished the year at 2,294 or about 44 MPW, which is lowest since 2003 when I was doing tris. That probably has a lot to do with my 2009 season.

In addition to maintaining a log book, I used to have a spreadsheet that tracked my monthly and yearly mileage. Somewhere along the way I lost that file and decided not to rebuild it. Last year I tried using a new log book which included keeping a lot fewer details. I won’t blame these changes entirely for my lackluster year, but everything kind of goes together. Sometimes people think analyzing all the numbers is overkill, but I find that it can also be motivating. I think when that went away, I started to care less about tracking my training and, as a result, my actual training and fitness suffered.

So one of my goals for 2010 is to switch back to my old log book and pay attention to the numbers again. Hopefully that’ll lead to actually putting forth some effort with my running again. With that said, I need to listen to my body a lot more too. I can’t go gung-ho and train hard for 3 weeks, only to find myself in a funk afterwards. It’s a balancing act.

I’ve already mentioned in some previous posts a few other time related goals that I hope to achieve in 2010, so I won’t repeat those here. I’d also like to get back to conducting more interviews. I still think that website is one of my best ideas every. And there are just too many great runners around to let the thing die.

I’m not going to get into setting a bunch of goals like lifting more, stretching more, eating better, etc. Those things require more of a lifestyle change than just wishful thinking. And I’ve proven over the years that I’m not willing to make those changes. As I get more motivated and more fit, those things tend to creep into my life more and more anyway. So I don’t see a reason to force them in because it usually just leads to me stewing over not doing them.

Some other non-running goals for the new year; finish the Harry Potter series (I’m on book 6 of 7), learn to use our dSLR camera to take better photos, and cook at least one new recipe a week.

Bring it on, 2010!

Today’s Quote of the Day is for one of my training partners – you know who you are;

“If the 10 mile loop turns out to be – God forbid, only 9.79 miles – you are not compelled by law to add on the couple of blocks necessary to make it 10.00. The training benefit of plus or minus a few tenths or hundredths of a mile is negligible.” – Chris Lundstorm, in an article on Hi-Tech Watches for Midwest Events

LIMITED OPTIONS

Holidays used to be a time when I was able to use my time off to ramp up my training. That wasn’t the case this Thanksgiving or Christmas. Last week started off with 3 runs and 3 skis in the first 4 days, then the holidays arrived – along with the snow – and I only managed 1 more ski the rest of the week. I finished up with only 23 miles of running, but also had 60K of skiing, along with a foot of snow shoveling. The important part is that we had a great Christmas and now I’m refreshed and ready to take on 2010.

While I do love all the snow, especially for skiing, it really sucks for running. I’m not sure if it’s because of the timing with the holidays and/or the weekend or the sheer amount of snow, or what, but none of the local sidewalks are plowed. With a new work week, I’m hoping they get plowed today, but I have a feeling we might not see pavement again until April. Anyway, that really limits your options when it comes to exercising. You can do loops around your neighborhood, drive somewhere, hit the treadmill, take the day off, or strap on the skis. Whatever the case, I need to make a better attempt as the New Year’s holidays approach.

On a sad note, RIP Cindy Brochman.

I pulled today's Quote of the Day off of a comment by Tim O'Brien on her Caring Bridge site;

“Do not stand by my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond in the snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle Autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry:

I am not there, I did not die....."

MYSTICAL/MAGICAL

Last week I wrote about trying to get to 60 MPW like it was some mystical/magical number. It’s not. It just happens to be the next 10-mile increment over where I’ve been. In any case, I did manage 61 miles last week. The week included 6 hill repeats on Monday, 10 miles on Wednesday with 6 of them at 7:00 pace, and I finally got over 2 hours again on Saturday’s group run. Throw in an hour of skiing and I had over 9.5 hours of training for the week.

A few weeks ago I was laying out my upcoming racing schedule and I came across another run, bike, ski triathlon. I did one last March and it was a blast. However, after thinking about it for awhile, I decided not to do this one. It looks like I didn’t miss much, as the results show that only 12 individuals and 5 teams participated. Right now my winter races look like this;

1/9 Pre City of Lakes Loppet 15K X-C
1/23 Winter Carnival Half Marathon
2/7 City of Lakes Loppet 35K X-C
2/13 Pre-Birkie 42K X-C
2/27 Birkie 50K X-C

Anyone else out there getting Running Times? Is it just me or does it seem like they’ve been doing a great job lately? I’m not sure if it has to do with them and Runner’s World being under one company now or not, but it sure seems like the two magazines are a lot more differentiated lately.

The latest RT talks about stuff like comparing past training cycles, figuring out if you’re stuck in a rut, and, if so, how to break out of it. It hit home with me because last year I entered the spring in pretty crappy running shape. Then after Grandma’s I convinced myself I was in a rut and I needed to change things around. It was pretty easy to blame it on poor running on skiing. However, as I look back, I think it has a lot more to do with my lack of running. Or maybe it was my lack of running and skiing. Cutting back on running to ski would be fine – if I were actually skiing an equivalent amount. Now that I look back, I see that I was averaging less than 7 hours a week of aerobic activity last winter. If I look back two years, when I was running fairly well, I see I was averaging over 8 hours. It doesn’t sound like a bunch, but if you calculate that out for the three months leading up to the Birkie, that’s nearly three more weeks of training.

I’ve already run more this December than I did last December and January, combined. And with some upcoming time-off, I’m thinking my skiing will catch up to last year’s too. So, as of right now, I think I’m in a good position to ski well at the Birkie and be a lot more fit entering the spring racing season.

Quote of the Day;

“Wow, this weather is incredible.” – Some gal getting out of her car at Hyland on Friday when it was 25 and sunny

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I'M TRYING

I’m trying to increase my weekly mileage – it’s just not happening. After finally getting into the 60-mile range last week, I was back to 50 miles this week. But I won’t complain too much because I had a few solid runs; tempo, hills and progression runs.

I had a 4 week stretch where I ran a tempo run once a week. I followed that up with a 3 week stretch of not doing a tempo run. Last Sunday I managed 10 miles, including 5 at 7:03 pace. That’s better than the tempos I was doing back in early November, so I’m making progress. Tuesday my run included 6 times Bush Lake Road hill. Saturday I ran an 8 mile progression run where I dropped down to 6:30 pace at the end.

I really need to start including at least a 2-hour run once a week – especially if I really want to get over 60 MPW consistently. When you don’t run further than 10 miles on any given day, it makes it hard to run that kind of mileage.

Some readers may be surprised to hear that I still haven’t strapped on my skis yet. With our initial snowfall last week, the opportunity never really presented itself. This morning we received another few inches of snow that’s definitely going to open up more skiing options. So I may not get to 60 MPW until March. Who knows?

I will say that I do love running in the winter. I know some people hate it, but I think it’s awesome. Sure 20 below sucks. The footing can be really shitty a lot of the time. And I don’t need 6 months of the stuff. But I’ll take it over 74 and sunny every day of the year. Give me the variety. Make me feel alive. And make me feel like I’m the only one on the roads.

Quote of the Day;

“Joanie, if marathons make you look like this, please don’t run any more.” – Joan Benoit Samuelson’s mom, in a letter after seeing Joan’s exhausted face in a newspaper photo after running 2:22:43 to win Boston

THE CLYMB

The more I blog, the more stuff I see coming across my virtual desk. Of course, some of it’s better than other stuff. And some of it sucks and gets deleted right away. Today I want to share a site that I heard about back in early November. It’s called “The Clymb” and as the email said;

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.

I totally love the idea of this site, but I’ll be honest, I haven’t ordered anything from it yet. My problem is that unless it’s running or skiing stuff, I’m not really much of a gear guy. If you’re into hiking, rock climbing, camping, and such, this is the site for you. In the last month they’ve done exactly what they’ve said they’d do, which is offer over 50% off of name brand outdoor products. I’ve seen Merino wool sweaters, winter jackets, backpacks, sunglasses, ski goggles, and helmets so far.

If you fancy yourself an Outdoor Person and you’re into this kind stuff, be sure to check out their site; here’s an invitation.

Just to be honest, the email also stated;

Additionally if you like what we are doing you can invite friends and receive $10 off a future purchase for each friend that signs up and purchases something.

That’s nice, but it's not a big deal to me. I just know there are a bunch of people out there that like their gear and they might find this site right up their alley.

Quote of the Day;

“Ignore, when, whether you are tall and thin or short and stocky – whether they laughed at you at home or at school. Indeed – to hell with the lot of them if you ‘feel’ you can do it.” – Percy Cerutty

NUMBERS DON'T LIE

All right, things seem to have settled down in my life, so let’s see if I can get this thing fired up again. I’ve actually been feeling pretty good about my running lately. After a cutback week the week of Thanksgiving, I bounced back with 62 miles last week. That’s basically my highest week since July.

However, yesterday we received our first significant snowfall of the year, so I’m sure I’ll be strapping on the skis soon. The weird thing is that I’m not super fired up about it yet. I am signed up for the Birkie and I do want to ski well there. However, I’m just not taking the approach that I have to ski as much as possible this season. When I think about last year, there were quite a few days that I tried to ski even though the conditions weren’t very conducive. For example, if it gets too cold your skis just won’t glide. This year I’m just going to go for a run instead. No sense banging my head against a wall.

I mentioned that one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging is that I was busy working on a Minnesota Runner of the Year project. The way it basically works is that there are a set of standards for various distances for each age group and sex. Anyone that meets those standards qualifies to receive points at each distance. Simply put, the person with the most points wins.

If you look at the standards, you’ll see that some are much easier to achieve than others. Typically speaking, distances like 20K and 30K that aren’t run too frequently are much easier to meet than the often run 5K and 10K. As a 40-year-old man, I’d have to run 35:30 for 10K (5:42 pace) or 2:06 for 30K (6:48 pace). If you’re familiar with a WAVA age-grading calculator, the 10K converts to 78.5% compared to 70.7%. That’s a huge difference. My all-time 10K PR only converts to 77.2%.

The reason I bring all this up is because the numbers don’t lie. The thing I noticed while working on the Runner of the Year project is that each runner is usually racing within a very narrow WAVA % band. They’re usually running between something like 83 and 85%, for example. They’re not running 76% one week and then 89% the next.

I understand that’s not an earth-shattering realization. But I got to thinking about my past racing, WAVA %, the standards for 40-44 year old men and how I could use this info for setting up my goals for 2010. If I look at my best races recently – say, the last 3 years – they convert to WAVA % between 71.4% and 73.9%. Now, if I convert the Runner of the Year standards to WAVA %, there are only 6 distances that fall within that range; 12K, 15K, 20K, 25K, 20M and 30K.

I’ve been trying to determine a 2010 race schedule based on meeting some of these standards. As I mentioned before, most of these are seldom run distances, so it’s not as easy as it sounds. There’s basically one race in the state for 12K, 20K, 25K and only two for 20M and 30K. Throw in the fact that the 12K and one of the 20M are the same day and that I’ll be on a vacation at the end of May. Therefore, it looks like I might only be left with 2 or 3 chances to meet those goals during the first half of 2010.

There will be more to come on the topic as I give it more thought.

Quote of the Day;

“God determines how fast you’re going to run; I can help only with the mechanics.” – Bill Bowerman

NOTHING FANCY

Wow, has it really been 2 weeks since my last post? I've been super busy with work as we prepare for 2010. I'm also working on two other running-related projects that are time consuming. I haven't even skied in over two weeks, so you know it's been rough.

I've basically been keeping my mileage in the low 50 MPW range. After four weeks of that I cut back to 40 miles last week. Nothing fancy, but it was good enough to post 213 miles in November.

Trust me, I have a good post in my head - I just need to find time to type it up. In the meantime, I'll share a little more "F minus" that Eric sent to me. Since I don't have a QOD, this will have to do.

JUST BARELY

You may be able to tell from last week’s post that I’m leaning towards trying new things in 2010. But I was thinking, why wait until next year? With the USATF MN x-c championship less than a mile from my house, I decided to jump in. I did run x-c in high school and college, so this wasn’t a totally new experience for me. However, I think I’ve run one x-c race in the last 14 years and that was a 5K - I’ve never covered 10K in a x-c race.

As I warmed up for the race I only saw about 10 other runners. Goal #1 became not to come in last. With 71-year-old stud Thom Weddle in the field I was pretty sure that wouldn’t happen. I’ll “let” a 67-year-old beat me, but not someone who’s older than my dad – at least if their names not Ed Whitlock.

Then I heard we were running 4 x 2.5K laps. Goal #2 became not to get lapped. With former Gopher varsity runners in the field, I wasn’t too sure about achieving this goal.

I’m happy to announce that I achieved both goals – but just barely. I ended up beating 4 people (including Thom – but not the Gopher runners) and I avoided being lapped by about 40 seconds (by one of the said Gopher runners). Unfortunately, the women ran a separate 5K, so there weren’t even any 50-year-old women that I could feel good about beating. If you’re really bored, here are the results.

After I got home I spent a half hour in front of the mirror repeating; “You are a good runner… You are a good runner… You are a good runner…” over and over in an attempt to rebuild a little self-esteem. That didn’t work, so I sat down at the computer and looked up other results for the (few) people around me. Seeing that I was in the same general ballpark that I was during other races throughout the year made me feel a little better. Just a little.

On a side note; as I was looking at results from earlier this year I came across one that said; Chad Austin, 40, Apple Valley. Seeing “40” just looked really weird – like it was a mistake.

Anyway, I’d like to think that my performance helped inspire my alma mater during their National Qualifying performance at the Midwest Regional. The team placed fifth at the always tough WIAC (WSUC – aka W-suck for you old schoolers) conference meet. Then on Saturday they managed to beat two of those teams to finish fifth and earn an at-large bid to Nationals. So congrats to the Blugolds – and no, I didn’t forget the “e” in blue – who will be heading back to Nationals for the first time in 10 years.

Quote of the Day;

“He was too small for football and he got tired of sitting on the bench all the time.” – Ray Prefontaine, on how his son Steve got started in running

HERE'S PROOF

Remember how I said that my cool neighbor takes awesome pictures? Well, here's proof.

A LITTLE EERIE

Last night I was reading an article in Men’s Health, entitled Everything You Know About Muscle is Wrong. It talks about fascia, which is the connective tissue that runs throughout our body. I haven’t finished the entire article, so I won’t comment on it yet. However, I thought one section was interesting;

"Once it's formed into position, it'll stick there. You can contort all you want in search of that mythical ideal alignment, but the odds are against you. The pull of your fascia is so ingrained in your movements, your friends can recognize you instantly at a distance before they even see your face.”

The last bit of that paragraph came into play during this morning’s group trail run at Hyland. This was only my third time meeting this group, which has consisted of 10-15 runners every Friday. The runs start at 6 AM, so it’s still dark outside and it’s hard to tell who you’re running with. Then towards the end of the run it’s light enough to shut off your headlamp. Anyway, when I could finally see the person about 10 feet in front of me, I said that guys runs exactly like Chris Lundstrom. No one else said anything and we kept running as our conversations turned to other topics. 10 minutes later this guy really looks like Chris… because it is Chris. I guess I never expected a guy that just ran sub-2:19 at TCM to be out slogging the hills of Hyland at 8-minute pace.

And it’s a little eerie that I recognized him by his arm-carriage and stride. I mean it’s not like we’re life-long training partners. I’ve only seen him at a handful of races. Weird.

Quote of the Day;

“I didn’t realize I was in such good shape.” – Scott LaFrenz, 2:57 marathoner, after running with 2:18 marathoner, Chris Lundstrom this morning

CREEPING UP

Let’s see if I can actually post something today that’s not basically a recap of my training. Instead let’s talk about where my training is going and some things I’ve been thinking about in 2010.

I mentioned how not having a running race on the horizon has removed a lot of pressure. No longer am I worried about specific workouts, paces, exact mileage, etc. I just lace them up and go out and run however I feel. I’ve been hitting the trails a lot more lately. During Friday’s group run we were talking about how strong the trails make you and how that strength just sort of creeps up without you even knowing it.

Obviously, I’ve added roller skiing into the mix too. At first I thought I’d try to gradually add more and more of it until the snow arrives. However, the other night I read that once a week is enough – at least neurologically speaking. And given my recent falls on Sunday, I really have no desire to roller ski much more than that anyway. Besides, the falls - and fear of falling - make me slow down, which probably compromises my fitness in the long run. I’m probably better off, aerobically, if I stick with running the vast majority of the time.

As for 2010, I don’t have a race schedule set or even penciled in at this point. Part of me wants to race a lot, part of me wants to try a bunch of new events, part of me wants to race on trails more, part of me would like to do some tris again, etc.

These won’t all happen in 2010, but here are some things I’d like to do;

Grand Canyon rim-to-rim-to-rim
Pikes Peak
Hood to Coast Relay
Paavo Nurmi Marathon
50K
70.3 half IM
140.6 full IM

Probably the most likely to occur on this list next year are a 50K and Paavo. We’ll see what happens. As I was thinking about 2010, I got an email that included info on an upcoming Run, Bike, Ski Triathlon. Looks like I’d better hop on my bike a few more times in the next 5 weeks.

Quote of the Day;

“There are a lot of guys out there who were great marathoners, who people talk about all the time, who never broke 2:14. It opened my eyes a little bit and put some more realistic dreams in my mind.” - Nick Arciniaga after running 2:13:46 at NYC, a PR by nearly two-and-a-half minutes

I'LL SPARE YOU

Blogging has become little more than a recap of my weekly training. This post is really no different.

Here are last week’s workouts;

Sunday – 99-minute run on treadmill during Vikings/Packers game
Monday – 60 minutes of roller skiing
Tuesday – Day Off because Nate made me feel guilty
Wednesday – 77-minute run with 6 miles @ 7:09 pace on treadmill
Thursday – 51 minutes of very easy running
Friday – 80-minute group trail run in AM, 40 minutes of double-poling in PM
Saturday – 107-minute group trail run

Overall, a solid week; 6:54 (~51 miles) of running and an additional 1:40 of roller skiing. Over 8.5 hours total. Plus, I added a mile to my weekly MP run.

Last Friday I took the day off of work to take advantage of one of our last 60 degree days. It helps when it’s November and you still have 7 days of vacation to use. Anyway, I had a great group trail run in Hyland, put some time in on a project related to the Minnesota Runners of the Year, raked the leaves, and did a little skiing.

Yesterday, with the Vikings on a bye week and temps above 60, I decided to get in a nice long ski. I managed 90 minutes but in the process I fell very hard on my ass – TWICE! If I thought anyone cared, I’d take a photo and post it. But I’ll spare you. Needless to say I’m eager for the snow to arrive.

I’m trying to figure out what is more of a hot-button issue; runners with iPods or whether or not leaving courses open for 7-8 hours is “ruining” marathons. Steve had a post on the iPod debate a couple of weeks ago. A lot of people said they never wear them for racing because they want to be in-tune with their body. Sounds good to me. I was just wondering how many of those same people don’t have a problem talking/texting on their cell phone while driving. As for slower runners ruining marathons, the NYT had a couple or articles last week on the topic.

Quote of the Day;

“If it wasn’t for the run-walkers, you wouldn’t be finishing in front of anybody.” – Greg Meyer

SECRET FORMULA

With the addition of cross-training in my program, I’m paying more attention to duration of exercise. I’m trying to figure out if X hours running equals Y+Z hours of running and roller skiing. The secret formula is probably different if I throw biking into the mix too because I wouldn’t say an hour biking equals an hour running. But an hour roller skiing is probably pretty close to an hour running.

Anyway, here are last week’s workouts;

Sunday – 78-minute progression run
Monday – 45 minutes of double poling (that’s x-c ski lingo for you runners)
Tuesday – 60 minutes of easy trail running
Wednesday – 60 minutes of roller skiing and 60-minute run with 5 miles @ 7:08 pace on treadmill
Thursday – 45 minutes of very easy running
Friday – 68-minute trail run
Saturday – 100-minute group run

Overall, a solid week; 6:51 (~50 miles) of running and an additional 1:45 of roller skiing. Over 8.5 hours total. Plus, I dropped the pace of my workout from 7:13 to 7:08. I guess I’ll call that an MP workout, given that it’s around my Whistlestop pace. Ideally, I’d like to get that to be more of a tempo workout, but I’m easing into it right now.

Thanks to Jim for sending this interesting link.

Nice job at the ING New York City Marathon to Lehm who finished 10th in 2:14:39 and Reneau, who was 15th in 2:16:45. Unfortunately, it looks like Moen dropped out around mile 16. But he’s had a great season with PRs at 5K, 10K and 10M. He’ll be a force again next year for sure.

Quote of the Day;

“I guess I’m getting older. But, you know, I would liken it to people who need their coffee. I don’t need coffee in the morning; I like coffee in the morning. But I sort of need a run to get my day going.” – Joan Benoit Samuelson, who ran 2:49 at NYC yesterday.

EXERCISING

Hmm, that article didn’t generate any comments. That can’t be good, can it?

I’ve actually been feeling more motivated to train lately than I was leading up to Whistlestop. I even put in 49 miles during a 7 day stretch. Maybe it has something to do with removing all the pressure to put up a good time. Now I’m just “exercising” rather than “training”.

Here are last week’s workouts;

Sunday – 90 minutes of biking
Monday – 60 minutes of easy trail running
Tuesday – 60 minutes of easy trail running
Wednesday – 40-minute run and 60 minutes of biking
Thursday – 60-minute run with 5 miles @ 7:13 pace on treadmill
Friday – Day off
Saturday – 100-minute group run

Right now I’m looking to gradually bump up a mid-week medium-long run to 10-12 miles, continue to build on that 5 miles @ 7:13 pace – either longer and/or faster, and bump up my long runs. After that it’s just easy runs and cross-training.

Hopefully Sunday I’ll be able to fit this in; NBC Sports will televise the 40th running of the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. (Eastern). Good luck to all those that are racing, especially Lehm, Moen - who now blogs - and Reneau.

Quote of the Day;

“The goal for me in a marathon this top-heavy is to run a smart race, finish well over the last four miles and, in the process, maybe run down a few guys who should beat me on paper." – Jason Lehmkuhle

CONFESSIONS OF AN AGING RUNNER

Nearly all of my MDRA articles come from my ramblings on this blog. The latest ramblings have led to this article;

Confessions of an Aging Runner
By Chad Austin 10/2/09

Time flies. It seems like just yesterday I was a snot-nose kid idolizing professional athletes that were much older than me. Today they’re all younger than me, even Brett Favre. I recently read an article in the paper that questioned whether or not a particular player was past his prime. He’s 33 years old. Poor guy.

Each of the last 15 years I’ve entered the season convinced that I could still break PRs that I set in college. It didn’t seem to matter that I had not come within 20 seconds per mile of my best times. I kept holding out hope that “everything would come together” – whatever that means – and I’d run like never before. As I entered the Master ranks this summer, it finally occurred to me that I will never run those kinds of times ever again.

Still, I secretly hoped that the sheer act of turning 40 would be magical enough, in and of itself, that it’d lead to a summer of fast times. While some people can find motivation in joining a new age group, I could not. The realization that my physical skills were deteriorating lead to a lack of motivation. While I was still able to get out and run, I wasn’t motivated enough to actually train. Training plans that looked great on paper went out the window as I avoided hard workout after hard workout. Of course, this led to even worse race results. I figured I’d better look for ways out of this vicious cycle before thoughts of turning into a couch potato became any more attractive.

Ever notice when you’re at a crossroads in life that it seems like everyone else is in the same boat too? Getting married? Good luck finding a reception hall. Having a baby? All the sudden baby strollers are everywhere. You get the picture. Well, apparently it’s the same for getting old and slow. Suddenly, I came across magazine articles, websites, and message board threads with information and advice on this topic. If you’re getting old(er) and slow(er) like me, or if you just find yourself lacking motivation at times, here are some ideas to help you break the cycle and increase your motivation.

MIX IT UP
You may be able to break out of your slump by simply mixing up one aspect of your day-to-day training. Do you find yourself running the same two or three routes all the time? Then it’s time to find a new course. If you live in the suburbs, venture into the Twin Cities and see why they are constantly ranked at the top of the best cities for running. If you constantly find yourself running the lakes, check out the Greenway, the Parkway, Pike Island, the River Roads, or any number of trails in the area. If you don’t live in the metro area, you might not have as many options, but I’m sure you can find a new route if you look hard enough.

Do you run by yourself all the time? Try finding a group to run with or a new training partner. With the popularity of running and the help of the Internet, I’m betting that you won’t have any problems finding someone to join you. Of course, if you always run with a group, it wouldn’t hurt to get out and run by yourself.

Are you a gear junkie? Do you find that you can’t run without your iPod, GPS, heart-rate monitor, etc.? Try leaving those things at home for a change. Even something as simply as leaving your watch at home is enough to break up the monotony. The same can be true if you fashion yourself “Old School”. Strapping on a GPS and getting instant feedback on something like your pace could help spur you on.

NEW COMPARISONS
The fact that the stopwatch does not lie can be a double-edged sword in our sport. It’s great that it spells out our performance in black and white, rather than leaving it up to some judge’s interpretation. On the other hand, it’s very easy to get so caught up in our race times that our sheer enjoyment of the sport depends on those numbers. As those times start to deteriorate, it may be helpful to look at new ways to compare your results.

One way is to look at how you’re doing compared to other runners in your age-group. Granted, we can’t control our competition, but we’re still able to use them as motivation. Scanning the results after a handful of races should give you a pretty good idea of some of the runners near you in your age group. While you may not know what you’ll look like, seeing their name just ahead of yours in the results may be enough get you to train harder.

Another way to compare your results is using an age-grading calculator, like the one created by the World Association of Veteran Athletes (WAVA). To find a calculator online, simply Google age-grading calculator. Once you find a site, key in your age, sex, race time and distance, and hit calculate. The calculator attempts to account for slowing with age by giving a correction factor for our race times, dependent upon age, sex, and distance. You’ll also see a percentage that you can use to calculate how a particular performance would correspond across ages and distances.

NEW CHALLENGES
There are so many different challenges within the running world and there’s a good chance you haven’t tried them all. If you find yourself running on the roads all the time, it may be time to hit the trails.

Constantly running a couple of marathons every year? Maybe rekindling your speed with a bunch of short races is just what you need. If you’re looking for a new PR, try finding a new distance to race. You may have to look hard, but you can find less common distances like 12K, 20K, 30K on our race calendars. If you don’t want to race that far, seek out a 2, 3 or 4-mile race. Perhaps jumping up to an ultra marathon is something that’s crossed your mind. Even something as simple as doing a 5K or 10K that you’ve never done before is enough to get your running juices flowing again.

Another option would be to take a break from racing. Not having to worry about an upcoming race can relieve the pressures that can lead to staleness. Get out and run for the pure enjoyment of the sport and how it makes you feel.

NEW AEROBIC SPORT
One of the great things about running is that it’s terrific at building an aerobic base that can be carried over to other aerobic-based sports like; biking, swimming, triathlons, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, rollerblading, kayaking, etc. Sure there can be a lot of technique involved with some of these, but your aerobic conditioning from running will give you a head start. Besides, learning a new sport, especially after running for many years, can be very exciting. The chances are that after cross-training, you’ll be more eager when you do lace up your running shoes.

Maybe you’re not slowing down at all, but you simply find your running lacking motivation from time to time. Try incorporating some of these tips to help keep your running enjoyable - and hopefully fast.

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE

Every once in awhile I get asked how I’m able to handle everything. Besides work and family, there’s running, blogging, writing articles, interviewing runners, etc. It never seemed to be that big of a deal. But now I find myself wanting to venture into other areas and I just don’t know how I’ll make it fit.

Something has to give.

Somethings are relatively easy to fit in, like finally getting around to reading the Harry Potter series. I figure it’s time and I’m currently on book four, out of seven.

Another thing I’d like to do is take better photos. We seem to spend lots of money on cameras with all kinds of features and then all we do is turn them on, point and click. After seeing my neighbor’s photos, it’s apparent I can learn a thing or two. Be sure to check out his photography page and his photo gallery too.

From a fitness standpoint, I think I need to make a serious effort to add some strength/explosiveness training. The thing I struggle with is what exercises to do and how to go about incorporating them. I’m from the school of bench press, curls, military press, squats, etc. And I’m not sure those return the biggest bang for their buck for an endurance athlete.

Time and resources are limited. I need to get the most benefit out of the least amount of time. I’ve thought about everything from joining a gym, giving Crossfit a try, going to a personal trainer, gathering a bunch of books, magazine articles, online videos, etc. and just creating my own program at home. I’ll probably just try the latter route to save some money. I’ve been hearing about this P90X lately, but I really don’t have any idea what it is.

Of course, I’m trying to fit in rollerskiing – the Birkie is less than 18 weeks away – and eventually x-c skiing. And I’ve been biking a little more lately. I love not having to pound the pavement all the time, but I have yet figured out how to do it without losing running fitness. Running Times had a nice article on Lydiard’s principles - #1 being building a huge aerobic engine through base training. I totally agree. However, I wonder if my aerobic engine cares whether I do it by running, biking, skiing, swimming, etc. Or does it have more to do with my running-specific muscles?

So those are all the thoughts in my head right now. I’m working on plotting my weekly schedule just to show me what times I have available to workout. In the meantime, I’ve gone back to doing what I love – hitting the trails every morning for an hour-long run.

Quote of the Day;

“When I went up to Oxford, I wanted to take part in sport. I was too light for rowing, and I wasn’t skilled enough for rugby. But I knew I could run.” – Sir Roger Bannister

SNAP IT - PRODUCT REVIEW

I've written numerous times about the different product review opportunties that have come my way since starting this blog. There's been Accelerade, some headphones, a book review, some yummy POM Wonderful (which I never got around to writing about), and probably another one or two that I can't remember right now.

Well, the other day I was asked to write a review of SnapIt Screen Capture. I'd never heard of this product, but I was intrigued as soon as I read;

"Capture anything you see on your PC screen! Don't waste time cropping your captures. Take a "snapshot" of anything exactly what you need, with just a click."

There are a lot of cool blogs out there with lots of images and photo to help spice them up. This is not one of them. The few photos I posted the other day is an aberration. Not that I wouldn't like to include more than just words - it just seems so tedious; find an image or photo, save it - assuming you're even allowed to do that, perhaps crop the photo, re-save it, etc.

SnapIt makes it a lot easier. I literally downloaded the 14-day trial software at the bottom of this page and was able to download the following image in 3 easy steps.



I simply went to Steve's blog, started SnapIt, pressed the Print Screen key and then dragged my mouse over what I wanted to copy. Then I right clicked on the SnapIt icon and clicked save as. It's that simple.

And you know those sites that won't let you download their images - it's like they want you to pay for them or something? Well, SnapIt lets you take a snapshot of them too.

One thing I've noticed is that the software is a little sensitive when you are dragging your mouse to select the image you want to capture. Once you stop moving your mouse, that's the image you'll get. You can't restart the dragging process. It's a little annoying but not a big deal, as nothing has been saved at that point (if you don't have the autosave feature on) - simply start the dragging process over again and try to do it in one smooth motion.

If you're looking for ways to easily spice up your blog, website, facebook account, etc. with photos, images, or anything else you see on your computer screen, be sure to give SnapIt a try.

ANYONE'S GUESS

Prior to the marathon I wrote;

In 2008 the 40-44 age-group was won in 3:00:15 – poor guy just missed sub-3. And then there were another 9 guys in that age-group between 3:11 and 3:20. A 3:10 would put you about 25th place overall. I’m guessing that’s the kind of shape I’m in right about now. I’ll probably finish 4th in my age-group and then be pissed that I didn’t train harder.

Either I’m so in-tune with my body that it’s scary or I just run as fast as I need to in order to meet a certain time.

While I finished 6th in my age-group, I was only 10 seconds/mile out of 3rd place and a spot on the podium. I wouldn’t say I’m pissed, but a 3:06 should be attainable for me.

Beth wanted to know what I thought about my performance. I guess the easy answer is that you get what you ask for. Or as my friend Eric puts it; the harder he trains, the faster he runs. I didn’t train hard, therefore I didn’t run fast. While I’d like to be upset at running an average marathon, I only have myself to blame given that my training during/after our trip to Disney World consisted of the following weekly mileage; 15, 80, 26, 53, 43, 8, 21. Sure there was some rollerskiing and biking thrown in there too, but not really enough to make up for that kind of training.

My last 4 marathons have been 3:12, 3:05, 3:09 and 3:10. The good news is that none of them had kick-ass training leading up to them. So I guess I’m just basically a 3:10 marathoner on normal training. If I happen to put in a very solid training block, then perhaps I still have a shot at sub-3. Whether or not that happens is anyone's guess.

Overall, the weekend was a blast. Road tripping, hanging out in my hometown, beautiful fall colors, great food, beer, music, and friends.

If you’re a stats geek and desperate for some numbers, here were my splits;

1 – missed
2 – 14:29
3 – 7:20
4 – 7:05
5 – 7:06
6 – 7:00
7 – 7:24
8 – 7:16
9 – 7:11
10 – 7:16
11 – 7:37 (including ~ :30 pee break)
12 – 6:40
13 – 7:19
14 – 7:06
15 – 7:13
16 – 7:09
17 – 7:13
18 – 7:20
19 – 7:40 (including :36 pee break)
20 – 7:11
21 – 7:11
22 – 7:14
23 – 7:33 (the switch is thrown)
24 – 7:38
25 – 7:30
26.2 – 8:54

Quote of the Day;

“Running is essentially private and, if you like, selfish, and all the more valuable for being so.” – Roger Robinson

WEEKEND RECAP IN PHOTOS

Riding in style in the TC/RC RV!


Kevin in shock as he scrapes his window prior to driving to the start.


Pre-race porta-potty line. Notice all the warm clothes - and snow.


Post-race 'rehydration' efforts (me, Kevin, Adam, Kelly, Kim, and Rick).


Okay, a little better attempt at rehydration by Rick and Adam.


Ugliest shirt ever? You be the judge.

WHISTLESTOP RACE REPORT

If you’re interested in the short version of my Whistlestop race report it’s this; I basically ran 7:10 pace for the first 22 miles. Then a switch was thrown and I immediately slowed to 7:40 pace the rest of the way to finish in 3:10:36. That placed me 51st out of 887 overall and 6th out of 87 in my age group. Complete results can be found HERE.

As for the long version…

It turns out I knew at least a dozen people running the marathon. As with my last couple of marathons, the weather the day before and the day after were perfect. The day off? Not so much. We woke to temps below 30 with probably half an inch of snow on the ground and a 20+ mph west wind that made the “feels like” temp 18 degrees. The good news is that we got all our precipitation over night and race day was dry. Perhaps the worst part was standing around outside for about half an hour waiting for the start. Once we got going, I thought the conditions were nice.

Before the race I bumped into Tad and Ryan – two other Ashland natives – who were shooting for sub-3:15 Boston Qualifiers and were looking to go out at 7:15 pace. In addition, Nate was hoping to run sub-3:10 or faster. We talked about starting out together, but once the gun went off, Nate and I eased into it more than Tad and Ryan. We stayed together for 3 miles before Nate dropped back.

I continued running 7:05 – 7:15 miles and was soon joined by Darren. He’s one of those guys that I "know" but have never met. He was running very strong and the next thing I knew we were at mile 10. We had a nice pack of 4 or 5 working together at that point but I had to stop and pee. Since this race is pretty small, I thought I’d try to work back up to Darren and the pack, rather than spend the next 15 miles alone. I proceeded to run a 6:40 mile and just hoped it wasn’t too much too soon.

We went through the half in 1:34:26. A couple of the guys were looking for a 3:10 BQ, so we were right on pace. Just after the half we caught up to Ryan. He still had an extra 5-6 minutes to play with for his BQ and I thought he was in good shape. Unfortunately, he ended up running 3:20.

Around mile 16 things seemed to get a little harder. Our pack was falling apart, but Darren and I were still together. At mile 18 I stopped for another pee and Darren was gone for good – going on to run 3:08. I thought I was in for a long last 8 miles, but I got into a groove of 7:10s and decided to hold it as long as possible. After mile 22 my splits slowed 30 seconds per mile. I thought I was slowing, I still passed Tad around 24. He was able to hold on and run just under 3:12. Not bad for a 400m stud in college.

I ended up crossing the line in 3:10:36 (1:34:26/1:36:10). I turned around just in time to see Nate finish 10 seconds behind me with a new PR. Another quarter mile and he’d have caught me.

As for others, congrats to Katie who was the first woman overall in 2:54. My awesome training partner, Kim, continues to break sub-3. She finished in 2:58 – first Masters woman - lowering the Masters course record by 6 minutes. Nate’s sister missed a BQ at TCM last weekend, jumped in Whistlestop and earned her BQ. Brian needed a 3:20:59 for a BQ and he ran 3:21:06. He’s going to email the BAA and try to get in. If not, he’ll get it next time out – along with John and Tomme, who are seeking that illusive qualifier. And speaking of running both TCM and Whistlestop, Allison just did that. Oh yeah, and she’s running Des Moines this Sunday.

Alright, that’s pretty much it for a race recap. I have a bunch of pictures I’ll try to post in the very near future, along with some non-race details, a new fueling strategy, and other various random thoughts.

Quote of the Day;

“Racing is where I have to face the truth about myself.” – Joe Henderson

ONE LESS THING TO WORRY ABOUT

One day closer to Whistlestop and the forecast went from 30% chance of precipitation to 60%. And the low has gone from 30 to 28.

I guess I don’t have to worry about over-heating.

I saw a facebook post that said we might have a 15-20 mph tailwind. It’s a silver lining, but I’m not holding out hope. I remember when I ran this race in 2002 it seemed like we’d have a tailwind. Then about 15 minutes before the start, one of the race announcers said something to the affect that the wind usually somehow swings around and ends up being a headwind. He was correct. Luckily, the course is sheltered by trees, so we should be okay.

The question regarding the size of this race has surfaced a lot lately. Last year’s results show 755 finishers in the marathon. The 40-44 age-group was won in 3:00:15 – poor guy just missed sub-3. And then there were another 9 guys in that age-group between 3:11 and 3:20. A 3:10 would put you about 25th place overall. I’m guessing that’s the kind of shape I’m in right about now. I’ll probably finish 4th in my age-group and then be pissed that I didn’t train harder.

Oh well, I’ve been working on my list of alibis already – so I should be ready to go in that department.

Adam recently purchased an RV for his store. He’s invited me to ride up with a few other runners. Sweet! The road trip starts around noon tomorrow.

Quote of the Day;

“Three hours? Three hours? I don’t even like to do things that feel GOOD for three hours!” – Gwyneth Paltrow, responding to a reporter who said it’d take him about 3 hours to run the NYCM.

EXTREME TAPER

I finally got around to registering for Whistlestop last week. The next day I woke up with a cold. Luckily, it only lasted about 3 days.

Last week’s taper was a little extreme – at least on the running side of things;

Sunday – mountain bike 75 minutes with Rick
Monday – tri bike 50 minutes
Tuesday – run 62 minutes with Scott
Wednesday – roller-ski for 60 minutes (30 min. w/o poles, 30 min. double-pole)
Thursday – day off due to cold
Friday – tri bike 90 minutes
Saturday – day off – drove to WI Dells

While the folks at TCM seemed to have ideal conditions, things for Whistlestop look a little chilly. Right now they’re calling for a low of 30 and a high of 42 with rain/snow showers. I’d take those temps, but adding precipitation on top of that would not be my first choice.

Friday I took the day off of work to attend the TCM press conferences. While I was there I got to see Olympians Abdi Abdirahman, Colleen De Reuck, and Carrie Tollefson up close, along with a bunch of Team USA Minnesota runners.

Unfortunately, I missed race day, but congrats to all those that ran. Special congrats to Josh for battling Abdi down to the wire. 46:38 – damn! And to Lehm. Although he “only” finished 4th, his 47:16 was 32 seconds faster than in 2007 when he went on to run 2:12:54 and place 5th at the marathon trials. Hopefully these results bode well for both of them in NYC. Nice debuts by Luke (2:15) and Kristen (2:35). Of course, 67-year-old Jared never ceases to amaze – running 3:01:52 and winning his age group by nearly 28 minutes. Nas kept his Grandma’s/TCM streak alive with a stellar 3:21. And after not racing seriously for years due to back problems, training partner, Scott, kicked out a 2:57 – less than a minute from his PR which is probably nearly 10 years old.

In non-TCM news, congrats to Ryan for winning the Lakefront Marathon in 2:24:53 and to Finchy for winning the Portland Marathon in 2:24:13. If you don’t know the story, these two were high school teammates, along with 2:16 marathoner, Mike.

I found today’s Quote of the Day uttered by both the men’s and women’s runner-up at TCM;

“I got tired.” - Colleen De Reuck and Augustus Kavutu Mbusya