GARRY BJORKLUND HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

Man, where to start with this race report? I guess I’ll start with my goal. The only thing I really had to go off of was my recent 19:14 5K. According to McMillan’s calculator, that projects to a 1:29-flat half or 6:48 pace, so I wanted to at least run sub-1:29.

I love the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, but since it’s held in conjunction with Grandma’s Marathon, I’ve only run the half three times; 1996, 2002 and 2013. Given that it’s been 11 years since the last time I ran this race, I had forgotten how much different it is than most half marathons that I run. With an expo, pre-race pasta dinner, bus ride to the start, drop bags, long lines to the biff and not much opportunity to warm up, it felt more like a marathon than a half. I had to keep reminding myself that I was only running 13.1 miles.

Before I jump into the race itself, I should mention that conditions were perfect. The temp was 50 degrees and foggy with a slight tailwind. For those that don’t know this course, it’s basically a straight line for 12 miles and then the last mile has a bunch of turns. So a tailwind at the start means a tailwind for the majority of the race.

Because my goal pace was 6:48s, I wanted to my first mile to be closer to 6:50 than 6:30. After the gun, I thought I settled in pretty quickly and was running very comfortably. The first mile passed in 6:40 and I settled in with Kim, one of my Saturday morning training partners. We stuck together for two more miles and I felt really comfortable. I remember another training partner, Scott, running a 1:28 half marathon last month and mentioning that at mile 3 he wasn’t sure he could hold his pace. He did hold it, but his thoughts on his perceived effort stuck with me. My race effort wasn’t feeling like that at all, so I was really pleased because I was still running low 6:40s.

Unfortunately, the memory on my watch is full, so it didn’t store my splits, so I’ll have to post based on memory and the results website. After my first mile, I didn’t look at my watch until mile 5. Leading up to that split, I told myself I wanted to see anything from 33:20 – 34:00 on my watch because that’s between 6:40 (my first mile) and 6:48 (my goal) pace. When I saw 33:28 I was really please. I was at the lower end of the range and I was feeling really good. Post-race results show that I ran the first 5K and second 5K BOTH in 20:46.

This was turning into one of those races where each mile marker seems to pass very quickly - and where no matter how much you pick up the pace, you never seem to get tired.

The only thing I remember during the third 5K is really trying to take advantage of the down hills on the course. That, and I started to focus on catching people.

Lemon Drop Hill is right around the 9-mile mark and that came and went quickly. As I approached mile 10, I tried to predict the time I wanted to see based on doubling my 5-mile split. Again, I had been hit my lap split at every mile, but not looking at my splits. Based on my 5-mile split of 33:28, I wanted to at least be at mile 10 in 1:07. I was pretty confident that I picked up the pace and was eager to see how much under that time I’d be. I ended up crossing that mile marker in 1:06:27, meaning I ran than 5-mile stretch in about 33-flat or 6:36 pace.

I also happened to glance at my mile split and saw that I ran up Lemon Drop (and down the other side) in 6:30. By now I’m doing some quick math in my head and I figured if I can run three 6:40s I’d be right around 1:27.

Miles 11 and 12 are both sub-6:30 by a second or two and now I know I’ll run sub-1:27. Not sure if that caused me to let up a little bit or if turning into the wind slowed me down, but my last mile was back around 6:40 pace. I ended up crossing the line in 1:26:38. That was good enough for 130th place out of 6,626 runners and 11th out of 323 in the 40-44 age-group.

Afterwards someone asked me if this was a PR. I said it wasn’t, but it was probably my fastest time in like 5 years. Of course, that got me thinking about my recent half marathon performances and how this ranks. It actually turned out to be my fast half in 3 years. Back in 2010 I ran 30 seconds faster than this race. Prior to that, in 2007, when I was racing really well leading up to my marathon PR, I ran 1:21:49. I also ran a 1:20, right after college, and a bunch of 1:23-1:25’s prior to turning 40. So this isn’t my best time ever, but based on age-grading it ranks up near the top.

It also means that my goal pace for TCM is creeping closer and closer to 3 hours.

WEEKS 2 & 3

Here’s a quick recap of Weeks #2 and #3:


June 9th – 15th

Sunday: Day Off
Monday: 8 miles on Hyland trails
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 10 miles on Hyland trails with Scott
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: 2 x 20 miles of bike commuting
Saturday: 13 miles with 8 @ MP – averaged 7:15 pace

Saturday’s workout is the only one worth mentioning. I wanted to hold 7:10 pace. Typically, I find these workouts difficult, especially if I’m running solo. During the warmup I was telling myself that it’d be okay to start a slow as 7:30 pace and then work into a faster pace throughout the workout. However, my first mile ended up being 7:02 and then I backed off to 7:08s. I went through the first 5 miles at 7:07 pace – then the big hills hit and my last 3 miles slowed, including a 7:45 up the biggest hill. Overall, I was really pleased with how my first MP workout went.

June 16th – 22nd

Sunday: Day Off
Monday: Day Off – drove 4 hours to see my parents
Tuesday: 10 miles on Whistlestop Marathon course
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Friday: Day Off
Saturday: 14 miles, including half marathon in 1:26:38 (race report to follow).

I felt a little guilty taking Monday off, but with a half marathon on Saturday, I wanted to make sure I was rested – especially after my MP workout.

CHEW ON THIS

As a marketer, we constantly talk about testing 1 variable at a time in order to figure out that variable's impact on the results.  Anything more than that and it's hard to tell what change led to the results you're seeing. The same thing goes for running.  What if you increase your mileage and add speedwork at the same time?  Then it's hard to know why you're running so great (or why your injured).

That's kind of the boat I'm in with my dietary changes.  I pretty much cut meat and reduced processed foods at the same time.  So I'm wondering which is more important.  I think I was originally leaning towards cutting meat, but, then again, I didn't eat a lot of meat to begin with - especially red meat.  Now I'm definitely thinking that cutting processed foods is much more important. 

I'm by no means, perfect.  I still find myself grabbing a handful of potato chips, throwing pretzels in my lunch, and grabbing a granola bar in a pinch.  But I've definitely reduced the amount of processed foods I'm consuming.  When you reduce those high caloric, nutritionally poor foods with low caloric, nutritionally rich substitues you are going to see, and feel, a big change.

The more I learn about this stuff, the more scared I get.  Did you know that kids born after 2000 are the first generation ever - EVER - predicted to have a life expectancy LESS than their parents?  That's my kids' generation.  I wish I could say I disagree, but then I look at what they are eating.  My youngest daughter is the worst.  If it weren't for apples, I swear she wouldn't have anything nutrional in her diet.  She lives on chicken nuggets, frozen waffles, cinnamon rolls, potato chips, string cheese and yogurt.  Of course, her yogurt has to be the kind with M&Ms or Oreos on the top.   

The other day I happened to look at the "individual" sized ice cream snacks in our freezer.  They're only 10 ounces - that's indivdual, right?  WRONG!!!  According to the nutritional label, that's 2.5 servings - at 150 calories per serving.  So my kids get home from school and immediately grab nearly 400 empty calories.  Maybe worst of all, my wife had no idea.  No, worst of all is that we're no different than the majority of parents.  We gravitate to what's quick, easy, cheap, and taste good.  Unfortunately, that's processed foods put out by major food manufacturers.

I can't say that this blog will get anyone to change their diet, but hopefully it'll get people thinking, talking, reading nutritional labels, etc.

If you're interested, here's one of the first videos I came across on this topic.  It's chef Jamie Oliver's TED talk.  If you subscribe to Netflix you can also watch it there, plus there are 13 other episode of their "Chew on This" series.

WEEK #1

Week #1 is in the books:

Sunday: 8K of roller skiing
Monday: 8 miles w/ 4 @ LT on Hyland trails + 12 mile bike ride
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 10 miles on Hyland trails with Scott
Thursday: Day Off
Friday: 2 x 21 miles of bike commuting
Saturday: 12 miles on Lebanon Hills trails

For Monday’s lactate threshold workout I thought about running on the treadmill in order to maintain a steady pace. However, it was so nice outside that I decided to run Hyland instead. I ran hard for 27 minutes in the middle of the run and called it LT.  At lunch it was so nice out that I went for a 12 mile ride.

Wednesday’s run with Scott was comfortably hard. I ran this loop solo the previous week in 82 minutes. With Scott it took 77 minutes, so 30 seconds faster per mile.

Thursday called for an easy 5 miles, but I woke up and felt like drinking coffee and planning some projects I need to get done. So I did.

The past 2 Fridays I’ve been commuting to work by bike. Typically, I drive to Lake Nokomis or Fort Snelling and then ride the Parkway to the lakes and then hop on the Greenway to get to Eden Prairie.

Here's my new road bike I bought last fall.  Love it! (Sorry for the crappy picture.)

Saturday was a great solo trail run on the hiking trails near the Lebanon Hills mountain bike trails. This is one of my favorite trails runs as it’s not nearly as busy as the main trails at Leb. Plus, it has some great hills!

There you have it, only 35 miles of running, but if you add up the skiing and biking, that’s nearly 9 hours of cardio for the week.

THERE'S A CHANCE

I think the older we get, the faster we used to be. I’m not talking about PRs. Like most runners, I know all my PRs by heart. I’m talking about all those other races throughout the season, and career, that aren’t run when you’re super fit.

I have all my race history written down somewhere. The problem is that it’s not in one convenient place. Anyway, after my recent 5K I started to wonder how that time compared to others I’ve run over the years. I remember one summer when I was racing a lot and I ran 17:40 and 18:15 within a couple of weeks of one another. However, I don’t think those courses were certified. After doing a little digging, I found out that that was way back in 2004. And in 2007 I remember running 17:52 at the Brian Kraft 5K. I was really fit the first 6 month of that year, leading up to my marathon PR. I ran a 37:47 10K and a 1:21:49 half before running 2:57:29 at Grandma’s.

So those are the outliers. What about all the other years? I know I didn’t run sub-18 any other years, but I must have been low-18s, right? Wrong! Just looking at times from the same race here’s what I found;

2002 – age 32 – 18:44
2004 – age 34 – 18:39
2007 – age 37 – 17:52
2008 – age 38 – 18:44
2009 – age 39 – 18:58
2013 – age 43 – 19:14

None of my other races were sub-18:30 - I was a little surprised by that. Of course, my 19:14 isn’t sub-18:30 either, but what if we look at my age-graded percentages over the years? It turns out that my recent race was my second best – only behind that great year I had in 2007.

2002 – age 32 – 69.25%
2004 – age 34 – 69.56%
2007 – age 37 – 73.89%
2008 – age 38 – 70.96%
2009 – age 39 – 70.57%
2013 – age 43 – 71.62%

I keep harping on it, but what I find most amazing is that I’m not running a lot of miles. I only had 151 miles in May, along with 25K of roller skiing and 125 miles of biking. Maybe placing more emphasis on cross-training is leaving me fresher, but I think my new diet has even more to do with it. I mean, when you’re lighter than you’ve been in 25 years, it’s going to have an affect on your race times.

As you can imagine, all of this has combined to fire me up. So I said what the hell and signed up for TCM. That happens to be 18 weeks from today. Long-time readers know I like Pfitz’s marathon training plans, one of which happens to be 18 weeks long. Normally, I’d shoot for the 70 MPW plan, but this time around I’m going with the 55 MPW plan because it includes 1-2 cross-training days per week, so I’ll be able to get on my bike or roller ski. Hopefully, that’ll help keep me fresh and motivated throughout the entire summer.

I don’t have a goal yet, but if you believe all the calculators out there, 3:05-3:10 appears to be the range I’m in right now. One of the downsides of WAVA is that you start to play with it and see what the possibilities are – or aren’t. For example, a sub-3 marathon for a 44-year old man equates to 73.45%. That’s means I have to get back into the shape I was in 2007 to even have a shot at that kind of time. Of course, that reminds me of the scene from Dumb and Dumber.

Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?

Mary: Well, Lloyd, that's difficult to say. I mean, we don't really...

Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?

Mary: Not good.

Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?

Mary: I'd say more like one out of a million.

[pause]

Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance... *YEAH!*

BRIAN KRAFT 5K

As I mentioned last time, the little ‘5K’ at work got me excited to see what I could do on a certified course. In the Twin Cities, Memorial Day means the Brian Kraft Memorial 5K. I’ve written about this race numerous times. It’s just over one lap around Lake Nokomis and the lagoon, making it flat and fast. It’s also small (this year’s race only had 474 finishers), but nearly every fast runner in the state is there. I had a solid race this year, but I was still 158th place overall, 136th man out of 292, and in the 40-49 age group I was right in the middle, placing 32nd out of 65 runners.

More importantly, I was about 15 seconds faster than my work 5K. My splits still need a little work, as I ran 6:03, 6:12, 6:20, and :39 for a final time of 19:14. But while I slowed a little during each of the miles, I was moving up in the field throughout the entire race. Again, this is about 15 seconds per mile faster than I was racing 18 months ago, so things are looking up.

Now I have to decide what to do. The marathon is constantly tugging at me, but I honestly don’t know if I want to go down that route again. On the other hand, if I just run short stuff, there aren’t a whole lot of races that I’d run that wouldn’t fit in with marathon training. So I guess that means I’m leaning towards TCM.

Here are the complete results for the men and women.

WHAT RUNNERS WANT TO KNOW

You can probably tell that I like books, especially when I’m trying to learn something new. I have a ton of books on running and I love following the Minnesota running scene. So it’s safe to assume I’ve read Minnesota-native, Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run. But actually I hadn’t read his book until just recently. I guess I figured, I don’t run ultras and I’m not a vegan, so his book isn’t for me.

With my recent dietary changes, I finally got around to reading it – and I’m glad I did. I guess I was expecting more of a diet book or an ultra training manual, but really, it was neither. Scott simply tells a bunch of great stories about his running career, while weaving in his experiences with food and how he gradually transitioned towards a plant-based diet.

While reading the book, it helped a little that I “know of” his buddy Dusty that he mentions throughout the book. Back in 2003 I crewed for Dave Dehart at the Ed Fitz 100K. Dave had a great race, if I remember correctly he was 4th in about 6:45. One of the guys ahead of him was Dusty. I seem to remember him dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, baggy shorts and a bandanna. Plus, he always seemed to have a smile on his face, which I thought was odd for a 62-mile race. Anyway, he left a lasting impression on his way to 2nd place.

As I was reading the book, I came across Jess Koski’s name too. He lives in the Duluth area, has written some great Minnesota-related running articles in the past, and Jurek mentioned that Jess is also a vegan/vegetarian. Jess and I happen to be Facebook friends – we’ve probably communicated more through Facebook messaging than face-to-face conversations. So I sent him a note telling him I was reading the book and asked for some advice. He gave me a couple of good tips, but what stands out most was his last sentence, “Even as a runner you’ll lose five pounds in the first month or so.”

I touched on this at the end of my last post, but Jess was so right. Last year I was typically around 150 pounds. During my brief marathon training stint, before getting hurt, I was around 145 pounds. Keep in mind I was running 50+ MPW. Now I’m around 141-142 pounds and I’m only running 30-40 MPW. I can only reason that it has to do with cutting out meat and cow’s milk, and reducing processed foods.

“That’s great,” you say, “but what about race results? Will this help my running?” That's really what runners want to know, right? Well, yesterday we held a 5K at work. It wasn’t certified so I wore my GPS. It ended up being 3.14 miles and I ran 19:38 with splits of 5:52, 6:22, and 6:24. Not very good pacing, but I haven’t raced in a long time.

Anyway, these numbers mean nothing without a baseline for comparison. Well two winters ago I did a few indoor track races, including a mile and two 5Ks. I ran 5:53, 19:50-something and 20-flat. If you’re familiar with age-graded calculations, recently my age-performance percentages have been slipping under 70%. Yesterday’s time calculates to just under 72%. That may not sound like a lot, but the difference between 70% and 72% equates to 10 seconds per mile. That’ll save you over 30 seconds for a 5K or 5 minutes for a marathon.

As with anything else, when you start to see improvement, things start to feed upon themselves.  Needless to say I'm excited to see these numbers and to keep them going.  Now I just need to figure out where I want to take them.  I've been kicking around the idea of running TCM in the fall, but I'm not really sure if I want to run a marathon or not.  I have to think about that some more.  In the meantime, I think I'll jump in the (certified) Brian Kraft 5K and throw in a couple more tempo runs leading up to the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon.

Here’s a trailer for Jurek’s book;

TC1 MILE

TC1 Mile - USATF wave.

TC1 Mile - Elite women's wave.

Two of my favorites, Jamie Cheever and Carrie Tollefson.

Garrett Heath after placing 2nd.

Will Leer, bundled up (for good reason) before the start.  He went on to place 4th.



Proof that all Kiwis know one another.  Olympic silver medalist, and TC1 Mile champ, Nick Willis, along with Evan Roberts.



This year I was recruited by Twin Cities in Motion to help tweet about the elites during the TC1 Mile.  I was able to hang out at the start and watch them warmup.  Little known fact, defending champ, Heather Kampf barely made it to the start line.  She had trouble getting her tights off and ended up taking her shoes off, but then she had problems getting her shoes back on.  Since the start times are pre-set, the starter has to begin the race at the set time.  Heather literally made it to the line with about 8 seconds to spare.

After the women started, I hopped in a van than led the men down the course.  During their race I was on the phone, giving play by play, with a guy that the finish.  This sounds easy, but when you consider that the race is less than 4 minutes, it's over before you know what was going on.

Anyway, it was still a pretty fun experience.  Other highlights from the night; 1) a brief chat with Jamie Cheever, congratulating her on her 22-second PR in the steeplechase recently.  Pretty crazy for a sub-10 minute race.  I didn't realize that she also has a blog.  2) Meeting longtime blogger, Eric Sondag of North Dakota. 3) Talking with Charlie Peterson (aka Mr. Carrie Tollefson) about their soon to be second child.  4) Hanging out at the finish line only to look up and see my friend, Evan Roberts, chatting with Nick Willis.  It turns out their parents are friends back in the motherland.

Quick update on my own running.  I'm only running 5-6 days per week, typically between 25-40 miles.  Plus, I'll throw in some cross training that usually gets me to 7-8 hours of exercise per week.  Solid, but not over-the-top.  I'm not following any type of training plan.  I was trying to mix in tempo and speed work on the treadmill, but now that it's nice out I haven't really been doing that.  I have done a couple of hill workouts instead, along with some strides.  My long run is up to 15 miles. 

Last weekend I had a great 3 hour bike ride.  I made the mistake of riding the first 25 miles with a tailwind.  Then I turn around, bonked, ate a Picky Bar, and barely made it home.  Today I had an awesome 2 hour trail run with just 20 ounces of water.  After both of those long workouts, I weighed in at 141 pounds.  I don't remember what I weighed in college, but I doubt it was less than that.  I think I was around 135 as a senior in high school.  More importantly, I've been feeling good lately and I'm enjoying "training". 

THE KIND LIFE

My last post was mostly about The China Study.  I great book with a bad title.  I think the publisher would have been better off with a different name - at least in terms of getting people to randomly pick the book from the shelf at the store or library.  Anyway, it's written by a scientist and he talks a lot about his studies and presents a lot of charts and graphs.  If you're looking for something in an easy-to-read format that just says what's good and bad and why, then check out Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet.

Some of the reviews say she's a little too preachy and that her recipes contain too many hard-to-find ingredients.  I can understand that she can come off as too preachy, but I think she does a good job of explaining why certain foods are good and why some are bad.  They're short, quick explanations, rather than having to read through some scientific study.  Honestly, I haven't read through her recipes yet, so I can't comment on that.

I mentioned this book to my co-workers and they immediately told me about Alicia making news recently for basically regurgitating the food for her toddler.  Okay, that's a little over the top, but it doesn't keep me from recommending her book.

I'm finding out that people definitely need to make their own decision when it comes to eating habits.  These same co-workers and I have been talking about diet a lot more recently.  No only because of my changes, but because they've been doing Weight Watchers and they've also watched Fat Sick & Nearly Dead.  One gal even bought a juicer after watching that.  Even though I've mentioned the books I've read, shows I've watched, and improvements I've experienced, I don't think they're buying it.  

BE THE CHANGE

In a recent post, I mentioned the food documentary Forks Over Knives. Much of that movie talks about Dr. T. Colin Campbell and his book, The China Study. I was able to pick this up at my local library and just finished the other day. Dr. Campbell points out a lot of interesting things that really got me thinking. He talks about his study on animal proteins, including cows’ milk and the cancer rates he saw in mice. He talks about how strong the meat and dairy industries are and how they are able to control everything from the USDA’s food pyramid to what gets served in our schools’ lunches. He talks about how the pharmaceutical companies basically control the hospitals and doctors. Then, of course, there’s the influence each of these industries has over our government.

I admit I found this book fascinating, but I also wanted to keep an open mind. After reading, I starting searching the internet for what others were saying about this book. Of course, there was a lot of praise out there. And, of course, there was a lot criticism as well.

I just pulled one example of each in order to present both sides of the “argument”. I don’t want to come here and say “Eat this, not that. Or Else.” I mean, what credibility do I have? It hasn’t even been 3 weeks since I gave up meat. Instead, I want to encourage you to at least think about what you put in your mouth and how it relates to your health. And to do some research on your own.

Granted, this request probably sounds weird coming from someone without any health issues, who exercises a lot, and, at 5’10” and 145 pounds, is well within the normal range of BMI. Unfortunately, while I may be “normal”, we all know that the vast majority of Americans are overweight or even obese. We hear about this all the time! You can’t turn on the news without hearing about America’s poor health – even though we’re spending more on health care than any other country in the world!

How can that be? How can we spend more and more on health care, but get sicker and sicker?  As Dr. Campbell says, it should be called a disease care system instead.

I find it interesting that people all (now) seem to agree that smoking leads to higher rates of cancer. Yet, people don’t seem to think that the foods they eat and drink have any bearing on their health. Sure, we agree that eating like crap can lead to obesity. But, isn’t it at least feasible to think that the foods we eat and drink (namely the animal-based proteins that Dr. Campbell writes about) can also lead to diabetes, cancers, autoimmune diseases, etc.?

Again, I encourage you to at least think about it. Watch some food documentaries, pick up some books at the local library, visit some websites and read the comments. Learn about the meat, dairy, and pharmaceutical industries and the health care system and how (I believe) they’re all connected in some way to many of the major problems facing the U.S. and the world.

Quote of the day;

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

ALL BUT FORGOTTEN

Just a short post because I said I'd try to post at least once a week.  It's been just over 2 weeks without meat and things are going well.  The real challenge came last weekend during back-to-back guys' nights out.  Burgers and beers have always sounded good, but I opted for the Portabella Mushroom burger one night and the Veggie burger the other night.  And last night we grilled out at home and I replaced the Johnsonville brats that I normally eat with spicy black bean burgers that were yummy. 

Tonight I have another happy hour.  Luckily the place we go has a nice salad bar, so I'll choose that over the sliders, pulled pork and nachoes. 

April turned out to be my biggest running month since last June.  I ran 164 miles and biked an additional 136 miles.  I also did 6 core workout and lifted 4 times.  The number of core and lifting workouts has been slowly dropping since I was all gung-ho in January.  The good news is that I'm still doing something a couple of times a week - because typically these types of workouts would be all but forgotten by this time of the new year.

PHOTO EVIDENCE

I thought it'd be fun to look back at some before and after photos.  Back in the summer of 2011 I attempted P90X.  Actually, I call it P60X because I only lasted 60 days, instead of the 90 days the program is supposed to go for.  Anyway, I thought I took photos at the beginning and after one and two months, but I couldn't find any 60 day photos.

So the first two photos below are from the start of the program and the second two photos are after one month.  At the time, I blogged that the results were indistinguishable.  While I was stronger, it was hard to see visual evidence.  Looking back, I think part of the issue was that I wasn't doing any cardio work at the time, due to injury, so P90X basically just replaced running.  Also, I didn't adjust my diet at all.

Fast forward to the last two photos which I took yesterday and I think you can see more of a difference than anything I did during P90X.  While I'd love to say this is just from changing my breakfasts from cereal to Nutriblasts or from switching to a plant-based diet.  However, I just added the Nutriblasts at the beginning of April and I've only been without meat for one week.  I think this really all goes back to the start of the year when I started trying to mix in some salads and avoid all the sweets at work.  In addition, I also started adding in a second workout each day.  Basically, I'd try to do my cardio in the mornings, as usual, but then at lunch time I'd go into our fitness center and alternate days of core work with days of lifting weights.  Of course, x-c skiing all winter doesn't hurt either when it comes to things like triceps, abs and shoulders.

After gorging from Halloween through Christmas, I was up to 158 pounds.  Yesterday I weighed in at 145 pounds.  Best of all, I feel great.  Yesterday I had my longest run in probably 7 or 8 months.  I made it 15 miles at 7:45 pace and felt great at the end.  That gave me 50 miles for the week on 6 runs, plus an hour long spin class - and of course, 2 sessions of core and 2 sessions of weights.

July 2011 - before start of P90X

July 2011

August 2011 - after 28 days of P90X

August 2011

April 2013 - 145 lbs

April 2013

MAKE A RESOLUTION

The new experiment that I alluded to in my last post has to deal with eating more of a plant-based diet and minimizing the amount of processed food. I don’t want to put a title like vegetarian or vegan on it at this point, but that’s the direction I’m heading.


It all started innocently enough. At work, I was asked to be on a wellness committee aimed and making our employees more aware of some of the benefits we offer, as well as, expanding those benefits. One of the things we do is hang up poster throughout the building on different topics, such as, drinking or texting while driving, eating better, exercising more, etc. One such sign, located by a microwave, simply said “Food Matters”. As I was heating my lunch up one day, a co-worker came by and said, “That was a good movie” as she pointed at the sign. The sign was so simple that I did realize it was a movie.

That night I went home and watch it. It definitely got me thinking, but I wouldn’t say it was a come-to-Jesus moment. It did lead me to seek out other food documentaries like, Get Vegucated, Fat Sick & Nearly Dead, Forks Over Knives, Fire Engine #2 Diet, Mad Cowboy. These documentaries typically focus on either the health benefits of a plant-based diet or the cruelty to animals (and environment) side of the argument. If I had to pick one, I’d go with Forks Over Knives. However, if you’re obese and looking for a “solution” then Fat Sick & Nearly Dead is worth 90 minutes of your time.

Probably not surprising, I’m more concerned with the health benefits. We constantly hear about the Western Diet and the correlation between our health care woes. We hear it so much that it’s hard for me to think anyone in this country isn’t aware that “food matters.” We just don’t want to do anything about it. We like the taste of our meat, dairy, sweets, chips, etc. And we like the convenience of our highly processed, pre-packaged food. But as any of the documentaries will tell you, these foods are high in calories and low in nutrients.

I like to think I was eating healthy. Breakfast typically consisted of a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, or similar cereal, with a banana and milk. Then I’d have yogurt for a morning snack. Lunch was usually leftovers from the previous dinner or canned soup if I was in a pinch. Almost every lunch also included carrots, pretzels and an apple. Dinners didn’t include a lot of red meat, but we like chicken and probably eat brats once or twice a week in the summer. There’s frozen pizza most Friday nights. Once in awhile we’ll throw in canned veggies like peas or corn.

It’s hard to go from all that to plant-based over night, but like I said, I’m heading that direction. One thing eliminated is the cereal and milk for breakfast. I’ve replaced that with a NutriBlast. Basically, it involves filing a “blender” half with leafy greens and half with fruit, plus you can throw in some nuts, seeds, powder, etc., and add some water. It’s a simple as that.

Other than that I’ve just been keeping an eye on processed foods. Instead of eating a granola bar or graham crackers after lunch, I’ll reach for some extra fruit. I think this is a process like running. It’s hard to know where to begin at first, but once you jump in and start seeing some results, you can’t wait to proceed even further.

Today I was thinking about all the New Year’s Resolutions about getting healthy that have probably already been forgotten. I think people would have an easier time keeping these resolutions if they educated themselves about healthy eating, at the time they were making their resolution, rather than just saying, “I’m going to eat healthy”.

Of course, you don’t need a new year to make a resolution.

NEW EXPERIMENT

Given that it's been over 6 months since my last post, I highly doubt anyone will see post, unless they're using some kind of website to track me.  Anyway, as I commented on my last post "maybe after 7 years of blogging I've run out of things to say."  That may be true with running, but I have a new experiment in mind and I'd like to use this blog to document the process.  More on that in a minute, but here's recap of what's been going on.

As I stated in my last post, I'm really focusing more on exercising, rather than "just" running.  Sure there are days where I think to myself that I should crank things back up and see what's still left in the tank.  However, things are going pretty well with 4-5 runs per week, plus x-c skiing in the winter and, typically, 1 spin class per week.

Probably the best news is that my knee is fine.  If I had to place a percent on it, I'd say it's like 98% healed.  I feel it from time to time, mainly while x-c skiing.  I think what finally helped it the most was actually backing off my PT.  Right away I was gung-ho and doing my exercises every day.  Like any other muscle group, I needed to rest and let the training load "soak in".  Once I got into a routine of 2-3 strengthening sessions per week, things progressed quickly. 

While I'm not running a ton, I have been mixing in tempo runs and intervals, like 400m and 1 mile repeats.  All of these types of workouts have been done on the treadmill.  My long run is at 13 miles, which is fine because the only race I have on the horizon is the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon.

One of the reasons I haven't been blogging much, other than not having anything to say, is that, since January, I've been trying to incorporate strength training over my lunch hour.  It was during my lunch hour that I did most of my blogging.  Now I'm spending that time in our fitness center, alternating days of core work with days of lifting.  My core work involves following one of McMillan's Core Strength Training for Runners DVDs, which I watch on a mini DVD player.  I've also added in some other core exercises that I found through Pinterest.  As weird as it sounds, most of these are from women's magazines, like Self.  I've done the McMillan DVDs in the past, but usually I peter out after a month or two.  But this time, my New Year's Resolution seems to be sticking and I'm happy with the results.

Another part of my New Year's Resolution was eating healthier.  That's been going okay, but it could be better.  That's where this "new experiment" that I mentioned at the beginning of this post comes in.  Lots of little things have occurred recently that have me thinking about my diet more than ever.  I want to make some changes to my diet and I thought firing this blog up again would be a great way to document the experiment.

I'll share what little things occurred that got me thinking about this, but it'll have to wait till my next post because this is already getting longer than I expected.  I doubt I'll be blogging everyday, like I did about running.  However, I'll try to post at least once per week to share my findings, my struggles, my successes, etc.

Let the experiment begin...

EXERCISING

Someone actually left a comment recently asking if I were alive and running. The answers are ‘yes’ and ‘technically, yes’.


Yes, I’m still alive – as you can tell by me actually updating my blog.

Technically, I am still running. I had 14 miles in September. It took 4 runs to get in the kind of mileage, but I managed.

Since my last post was 2 months ago, I suppose I should back up a little. After that post I ran 15K race, where my time was close to my marathon pace – not because I was doing a MP workout, but because I’d lost so much fitness with my achy knee. The following weekend I ran the Ragnar Relay. I had a blast and our team came in 4th. The following week I ran a 20 miler because I still had TCM on the brain. Even though I was running, I couldn’t get consistent and my mileage bounced around between 25 and 45 miles. And motivation was seriously lacking.

At the start of September I realized that I didn’t want to run TCM just to finish and that I’d lost too much fitness to do anything other than try to finish. Plus, my knee still wasn’t 100% and I didn’t want to run TCM which would delay my recovery even further.

In the process I’ve discovered a new term for cross-training. It’s called exercising. I’ve just been exercising; biking, elliptical, spin class, walking the dog, roller skiing, etc. I’ve only recently added in runs of 2-3 miles and that’s been mainly to test my knee. It actually feels better when I run, but it still aches afterwards. Biking seems to be the best exercise for my knee. Of course, that makes sense given the lack of pounding.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy coaching the 3rd – 6th grade youth cross country program. We had 50 kids out for the team, including my youngest daughter. It was another great season and we’re already looking at ways to improve it for next year.

There you have it, that’s what I’ve been up to in the last 2 months.

TWEET TWEET

Wow, my last blog was like 3 weeks ago. At the time I gave the following update regarding my training, “Overall, it’s been going really well.” Unfortunately, that all changed overnight. Two days after that post I went for an easy 5 mile run and felt a stabbing pain in my right knee – the same knee that’s had a dull ache for over a year. I was only stabbed a handful of times in the first couple of minutes, then it went away. I took the next day off and then the following day had a tempo run planned. The run started out with same way and after the stabbing pain subsided, I managed 10 miles with 6 at 6:50 pace.

Well, obviously, something wasn’t right, so I made an appointment with the one and only Dr. Voight. It took a week to get in to see her and I didn’t run that whole time. The good news is that she thinks I just have tendonitis in my distal quad tendon and recommended PT and said I could resume running.

Soon after that appointment, we went on vacation to Michigan where I ran roughly every other day – nothing long or fast. I had my first PT appointment yesterday and it sounds like my left glute is weak, which is causing the problems in my right knee. I have a bunch of exercises to work on this and I’ve started wearing kinesio tape. So hopefully I’m on the path to recovery.

I should report that I ran my first 20 miler on Sunday, so things aren’t all bad.

One other thing that’s new with me (and I never thought I’d say), I’m on Twitter. You can follow me @MinnesotaRunner. I haven’t figured everything out yet, so I mainly retweet, rather than come up with my own tweets. With the Olympics going on, I really like the interaction or behind the scenes look you get from the athletes.

Regarding the Olympics, I’m about to give up on NBC’s primetime coverage. I’ve been trying to avoid social media during the day and then watch during primetime. However, I’m tired a sitting through gymnastics and beach volleyball, in order to get to see the heats of the 100m dash. I’m finding I’d rather follow Facebook and Twitter and if I can catch events live on NBC’s live app, I’ll do that. Otherwise, I’ll watch the highlights on their Olympics app.

Quote of the Day;

“Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete.” – Willie Shoemaker

TRAINING UPDATE

If you’re interested, I posted my final thoughts and photos regarding the Track & Field Trials on the MDRA blog. Since they flew me out there, it seemed to make the most sense to post that article there.


Wow, I haven’t shared anything regarding my training for about 3 weeks. Overall, it’s been going really well. The biggest “glitch” came with travelling to and from Oregon, when I ended up taking an extra day off each of those weeks. As a result, my overall mileage was at 56 and 58 miles, instead of the 62 and 63 I was supposed to be at. Not a big deal, but it comes into play when I’m supposed to be making the next bump into the mid-to-upper 60s.

One other small change I made last week was splitting my medium-long run into two runs, since the weather was so nasty. I guess my focus is on staying motivated and not getting run-down.

My best workouts lately were an 18 miler in Eugene on Pre’s trails, 9 miles with 5 at half marathon pace on July 3rd, and 18 miles with 10 at marathon pace last Saturday. This has been a cutback week, then I’ll try to crank into those mid-to-upper 60s next week.

Finally, I’m trying to apply my direct marketing background to the electronic world and help promote my favorite store. So if you’re on facebook, please “like” TC Running Company. It doesn’t matter if you’re not local, I’ll try to include info that’s relevant to all runners and include some fun, interactive posts. Also, if you prefer Twitter, follow them at @tcrunningco.

Quote of the Day;

“I would rather have won this race than be President of the United States.” – Thomas Hicks on his 3:28:53 marathon win in St. Louis in 1904

TRACK & FIELD TRIALS PHOTOS

Well, the trials have come and gone. I can honestly say it was the best sporting event I've ever gone to – way better than I ever imagined. As a distance runner I was really looking forward to the 1500m, Steeplechase and 5,000m races. However, I really enjoyed the women’s high jump, long jump, and javelin too - as well as the sprints.

When I have more time I’ll post some thoughts around the meet, but right now I just want to share some of my favorite photos from the weekend.

Mt. Hood from the airplane.

Historic Hayward Field

Jordan Hasay

Galen Rupp

Lauren Fleshman

Allyson Felix

Men's 1500m team; Manzano, Wheating, Centrowitz

This is where I stood for most of the meet!

 

Panoramic view of King Estate Winery

Finally, here's a video after the women's 200m that proves I was really there.  32 seconds into the video I appear behind Allyson Felix's right shoulder.

BEING HELD RESPONSIBLE

Last week I was concerned with getting in my 15 miler with family in town. I ended up getting up at 5:30, ran 16 miles, and was back just as everyone was beginning their day. Motivation is a good thing!

That gave me 59 miles for the week.

On Friday, I picked up these sweet shoes at TCRC. I pulled them right out of the box and used them for my 16 miler.  Love 'em! 

Nike Lunar Glide 4

I leave for Track Town tomorrow. I was originally thinking that it’d be difficult to get my training in while I’m there. But then it occurred to me, there probably isn’t a better time/place for me to get my training in. Each day’s meet doesn’t start until the mid-afternoon and I don’t have any real responsibilities while I’m there. So there shouldn’t be any excuses.

With Pfitz, Wednesdays mean mid-week, medium-long runs. Today that meant 14 miles. When the alarm went off at 4:45, I really wanted to go back to sleep. I didn’t sleep well and Scott was out of town, so no one was holding me responsible. But I knew my week would be shot if I didn’t “git ‘er done.” I headed back to Hopkins and ran on the Ron Daws 25K course again. The inner loop (along Dominick Road), combined with the outer loop (along Baker, Rowland, Bren, and Shady Oak) is exactly 7 miles. I ran that twice which allowed me to re-fill my water bottle halfway through my run. I counted at least 8 hills on each lap, so it’s a lot of “fun”. While it’s tough getting motivated for these runs in the middle of the week, it’s always a great feeling when I enter them into my log book.

Finally, I’ll close with a couple of Trials-related links. First, Lauren Fleshman continues to provide great quotes. Check out this article after she made the finals in the 5,000m despite only being able to sprint due to IT Band issues.

Locally, Bruce Brothers wrote a nice piece on 1500m hopeful, Gabe Anderson. If that’s not enough, Carrie Tollefson interviewed Gabe in this video;



Quote of the Day;

“Being a good athlete is about being delusional and forgetting the gravity of situations you are about to enter. I had been exceptional at tuning that out for so long. I had to decide with this being as good as it gets, do I still want to do this.” – Lauren Fleshman

HERE WE GO

As if I don’t have enough running-related “work” on my plate, I’ve been updating the MDRA blog lately too. I started to provide a single source for all the race results from the previous week – instead of having runners scour 12 different sites looking for their results. I’ve also been previewing some of the Olympic Trials events that have Minnesotans in them.

I never fully recapped last week’s training. I ended up running everything as prescribed by Pfitz’s plan; Sunday – recovery day, Monday – 5 easy miles, Tuesday – 8 miles with strides, Wednesday - 12 miles, Thursday – 5 miles, Friday – 9 miles, Saturday – 16 miles with 8 at marathon pace. 55 miles for the week.

This week isn’t over, but I might as well recap that too. Sunday – recovery day, Monday – 5 easy miles, Tuesday – 11 miles, Wednesday - 13 miles, Thursday – 5 miles, Friday – 9 miles with 4 at 6:39 pace. Tomorrow I’m supposed to run 15, I have family coming into town tonight, so we’ll see what I can get accomplished.

Wednesday’s run was a confidence booster. No, it wasn’t a hard workout or anything. However, it was 80 degrees with a dew point of 67 at 5:45 AM. I sucked it up, strapped on my water bottle belt, and hit the Ron Daws 25K course.

Even though it was perfect out this morning, 62 degrees and calm with a dew point of 57, I ventured inside for my run. The last time I tried a tempo run outside, it didn’t go as planned. I cut it a mile short and had no idea what pace I was running. Today I wanted to make sure I had a good workout, so I hopped on the treadmill. It worked because I felt great and ran a solid tempo.

Let me close the week with a couple of random things I’ve seen lately. Did anyone notice that Rob Finnerty earned the Olympic Trials A-standard in the 1500 last week, running 3:38.60. You may remember that Finnerty broke Garry Bjorklund’s 39-year-old record for the mile, running 4:01.09. Oh yeah, that was just over 4 years ago. Nice to see he’s coming around again. You can see his recent race below;


Watch more video of Rob Finnerty on flotrack.org


Last week I mentioned that Alex Ratelle passed away. Jack at raceberryjam.com paid Alex a tribute and laid out many of his unbelievable stats.

Quote of the Day;

"BELIEVE. Belief overrides confidence %100 of the time. Every champion waivers in confidence, it can be lowest right before the biggest wins. Mine was. No champion however waivers in their belief of who they are and what they can accomplish. Solidify your belief and use it! Doubt your doubts. Embrace your fears and insecurities believing in yourself and your greatness. Lean into every emotion, feeling, nerve ending as it transpires appreciating the opportunity. Above all...Trust yourself! Your instincts are organic, you know what to do and how to do it. Believe THAT!" – Arielle Verhaaren, 2012 BMX Olympian