31 October 2011

core | commute

After a hard effort you are supposed to take it easy, right? So that's what I did.

I slept as late as possible, got the IMA at lunch and took it slow on my ride to and from work. Okay, that's a lie, I love going fast to work but it's all downhill.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day IMA - 12:15 PM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather upper 40s, damp ground, mostly dry sky, cloudy, calm
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 60, 40
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb
Results  
Time  
Distance 9 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

30 October 2011

SCOTT Cougar Mountain 20

Yesterday? Sun and low to mid 50s. Today? Rain and upper 40s.

But I Need to keep reminding myself of where I live and not to complain. Still, it was coming down hard this morning when I woke up.

Yesterday I was actually nervous. For sure I am not immune to race-day jitters but this was amplified and included apprehension of the unknown. Only once in my life have I run this far and that ONE time was last weekend when I ran 19. My longest run prior to last weekend? About 15 miles. On deck today was the last race in the SCOTT Cougar Mountain Trail Run series. Most everyone else was probably going to do the 50k but they added a 20 mile option which seemed perfect (read: doable) for me. Party on.

As usual I woke before my alarm. On the up side it gave me time to eat breakfast and let it digest.

I left home a couple of minutes after 7 and luckily Cougar is really close and there was not any traffic to speak of so I arrived around 7:30. Nice.

Although the rain was not pounding down when I parked it was still drizzling pretty steadily and I was more than a little damp after walking the 200 m to check in. get my number and then back to the car. Oh well, at least it was not cold!

I sat in the van sipping my gel flask and fretted over what to wear. Justin A had given me a Patagonia Houdini jacket which was VERY light and so I put it on over my undershirt. But then the rain stopped… I stepped outside to perform a temperature check and when shielded from the wind by my van it was not bad at all so at the last minute I swapped the jacket for my vest and called it good. I did keep Shelley's Nike running hat on as my concession to the potential cold. Finally it was time to walk back up to the start.

Of course hanging out here for just 15 minutes got me shivering like crazy. I spent half the time squatting as low as possible so my chest was pressed against my thighs for warmth.

Looking around it struck me how I do not have a clue how to gauge other runners. At cycling events - especially recreational ones - I can usually tell who is really fit and who is a poser. Not so for running. My current rule of thumb is the more gear they have the slower they will go. GPS watch and hydration belt? Don't need to worry about that guy. No GPS and not even a hand-held bottle? He's gonna tear it up.

So I'm looking around getting myself pretty psyched out when the organizer finally says GO. We take off for one lap around a grassy field before we hit the trail.

I was determined not to take off too fast today. After doing that big time and paying the price in Leavenworth I was hoping I had learned my lesson. So it came as a huge surprise to me when we exited the field and I was still in touch with the leaders! Of course then I realized that most of these guys were doing 50k today and so I kept my enthusiasm in check.

After just one mile of trail a lead group had been established and there was a second group as well and then there was me behind a couple of guys. Not more than two miles into this thing we started to descend and damn did it go down for a long time… all I could think was that we were going to have to gain all the elevation back! :(

Sure enough, after 10-15 solid minutes of descending we started to climb. The pace seemed very relaxed, so relaxed in fact that I passed these two guys in front of me. Was I going too fast…?! I DID NOT KNOW. But I didn't think so and carried on.

Having a bottle I went straight past the first aid station which opened up the gap behind me some more. "Easy… take it easy…" I kept telling myself. Eventually we started the descent to 900 and it put that first descent to shame. I was trying not to hammer the brakes much but it was too steep to just let lose and 'coast' plus I did not want to fly off one of the switchbacks. Going down this one guy caught me and we started chatting. Eventually he asked me what kind of time I was shooting for and when I told him I was just trying to finish and only dong the 20 he immediately said he had to stop and tie his shoe. I'm betting that if I had said I was doing the 50k he would not have stopped. :)

And he caught me in no time! Amazing.

The last bit of this descent is very steep. I asked him if he would be able to run up this on the way back and he gave me an emphatic NO so of course I resolved to give it a try myself since I was doing 11 miles less than him. HELL YES, I WAS GOING TO RUN THE HILL! At aid station #2 I grabbed a gel, had some water, turned around and started back the way I had come.

Not more than 100 m later I was walking. NO WAY IN HELL COULD I RUN THIS HILL!

And that is right about when things started to slow down. And the last time I had any company.

After walking roughly .5 miles I tried to jog again and it was hard! Kind of a shock to the system. Thank goodness the trail pitched up again and I could walk some more. :( It was sort of like swimming up stream going this way. There were only a handful of people in front of me as the organizer had let some folks (30?) start at 7:30 AM if they felt they needed extra time. Pretty nice of him. Everyone else was barreling down the trail.

I almost missed the turn off of this climb as the route did not backtrack all of the descent. I had just gone about 30' past an intersection when I noticed there were no confidence ribbons. I stopped, looked back and saw them behind me going a different way. Whew… the last thing I wanted to do today was log extra distance.

Eventually I got to running again but from here on in I never had the same pace as on the way out. At this point I had not slowed down too much but with my current fitness I feel fine for 10-12 miles and then anything longer is a bit of a chore.

But damn was it pretty out here… Have I mentioned that yet? It was an amazing day! It was NOT cold, the trees and ferns were BRIGHT green and the big leaves, which totally covered the trail at times, were GOLD. I recall thinking that my bright orange vest was kinda obnoxious at the start when we were standing in a field of dry grass but now it was totally eclipsed by the sea of gold (and yellow and orange) I was running through. There were several sections of trail that were 100% invisible. Good thing the footing was okay.

After the slog up from 900 there was another 'wall' (I forget the name) around mile 12 or 13 and just like that I was walking again.

At aid station #3 (the last one for me) there was Scott McCoubrey himself handing out the treats. I think I kind of surprised them because they were hanging out down the road when I ran up. He told me I had about 4.7 miles to go and to be aware that there was a good hill coming up before the finish. Here I grabbed another gel, a cup of some PowerBar energy drink, a bite of banana and took off. I still had half my bottle so did not top it off.

Man was it quiet out here… all you could hear was my breathing, the water dripping off the trees and the sound of my shoes striking the ground. And that's when it dawned on me. I was alone. ALONE IN 1ST PLACE.

Argh… I had told myself not to try and be competitive and just to try and enjoy this run as my main goal was simply finishing. But now I kept trying extra hard to listen for those footfalls that mean someone else is coming up behind you. It did take some of the pleasure out of it. :)

Shortly after the last aid station I got onto familiar trails that Justin has led me down. It was kind of cruel in a way as normally this trail meant we were almost done but not today. I pulled into the Red Town trailhead, turned up the road that we usually take to start our runs and promptly had to walk again. Ouch!

At the top of this first hill we ran down a long section of dirt road that was flat but I was now hating life. I had no zip at all and when the marking finally turned left up a hill I was almost glad as I figured I would lose less time to anyone behind me walking than running.

And walk I did. For what felt like 1.5 miles! Damn that was a long and steep climb. Killer really, especially this close to the finish! If anyone doing the 50k got here with company they would surely not be together by the top. When I got to the top it was a real effort to run again. I had to walk across a flat section and use a small downhill to get my legs moving at a different speed.

From here to the finish it was tolerable but I was sure not setting any speed records. I kept wondering if I could speed up at the end and figured I could so kept looking for anything that might clue me in and kept listening for those footfalls behind me. And then I was done.

The finish totally snuck up on me. One minute I was walking to crest a small climb and then the next thing I remembered I was rounding a corner and saw the finish line tent up the trail. I think I had just started running again like 10 seconds ago… I sped up - for like 100' - and then was done.

Food. I was suddenly pretty hungry. And thirsty! Good thing the organizer had all kinds of options for us so I ate an orange and then headed to my van to change. When I got back I had a bagel with humus, potato chips and hot soup! That hit the spot big time.

At some point while stuffing my face I remembered I had not stopped my watch right after I had finished so walked over to the results people and asked how I had done. That was when they told me my time. After picking up my schwag I strolled over to the results tent again and that's when I saw my number at the of the list. With the fastest time! Wow.

Before my head got too swollen I reminded myself that all the real studs were doing the 50k AND I could not hang with the first two groups for even the first 10 miles but I was still flying high. Especially after I saw that 2nd place was just 15 seconds behind me. Holy crap. Would I have been able to speed up if he had caught me on the trail? I'd like to think so but I'm also glad I never had to find out. Finishing with no one else in the picture is always a plus.

What did Martin learn today? That 4000' of elevation gain is hard. And that I need to drink more. I never cramped or even felt close but I essentially only consumed one bottle and that is not enough for three plush hours; you sweat a lot running. I also confirmed that waking up extra early to have breakfast helps.

In lieu of sponsors (I don't have any when it comes to running) I feel like I need to thank some people today.

Shelley - for letting me do what I enjoy and for encouraging me to do so.

FootWorks Physical Therapy - for getting me back in the game as fast as possible after my two mountain biking get-offs this summer.

Mobility Plus Healthcare - for chiropractic and massage without which I would not be able to run or ride.

Justin - for his constant encouragement, tips and clothing hand-me-downs. I ran in some of his old Patagonia shorts today and they have quickly become my favorites.

Matt Hart - for turning me onto Teko socks; they really are fantastic!

Now if I can just turn this experience into a building block and accomplish my real goal this fall, the Grand Ridge Marathon distance trail run in just three weeks! Yikes. Yesterday Lucca completed her big running goal for this season, the Autumn Leaves 50 mile. Very inspiring. Here's hoping I can do half that.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:15 AM - 3 pancakes (w/protein powder), banana, apple sauce
6:00 AM - large bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 2 scoops HEED
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 30 minutes prior to start - gel
run - small bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 1 scoop HEED, 2 gels, bit of banana, but of water, cup of sports drink
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 8:30 AM
Workout Type race
Weather upper 40s, wet ground, dry sky, cloudy, windy but we were sheltered
Course Cougar Mountain 20 (to 900 and back)
Results 1st overall
official results
Time 3:11:33
Distance 19.7 miles
Pace 9:43 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, wind vest, hat

28 October 2011

Go Beyond The Cover

I am a huge of the big reveal and this video does it in spades.

Sometimes companies find the perfect spokes person and I gotta say, when Dermablend found Rico Genest it was obviously meant to be.

My favorite quote? "I think I'm ready to go get a job now!" And don't forge the music… Zoo Brazil feat. Rasmus Kellerman - There Is Hope; so hypnotic and captivating. I love it.

Thanks to Shelley for pointing this video out to me.

Discovery Park run

Wind. Out. Of. Sails.

That pretty much sums up this morning's run.

I was going to meet Gabe T and Justin A at Cougar Mt for 10+ miles but then last night Gabe sent a text saying he had an 8:30 work meeting so he was gone. Then this morning Justin sent a text at 6:30 saying he was out on account of his kid having a meltdown. Rats.

Not knowing the Cougar route by heart I opted for Discovery Park and figured I could do two 5-mile loops.

Even on the drive over my enthusiasm was waning and by the time I parked I was more or less on auto-pilot meaning not so motivated.

I started out and right away I noticed that running alone with a headlamp is not so easy! Thinking back this is the first time I have done this as all my other early morning runs have been with other people. I really had to slow down for some corners and rooty sections.

Another thing I noticed is that within a mile or so I had already talked myself into doing one long loop and then one short one for 8 miles instead of 10. And then within about one more mile I had rationalized just doing one big loop for 5 miles. Good grief.

As I descended to the north beach trail I had to walk several sections it was so tricky and dark. But that was fun! I had expected to hear all kinds of animals but mostly it was just really, really quiet.

Cruising along the beach trail only confirmed my choice to abbreviate this run, I was not feeling it. Still, I was being hard on myself because half the time I pull the plug I'm not sure if I would have done fine going longer or harder had someone else been there to push me? To compensate I resolved to take all the stairs on the climb from the lighthouse to the bluff two at a time.

I made it. Until about 100 m to go when I suddenly slowed to a walk. Sheesh. After cresting the hill I again had to slow to a walk. This was not my day. I did not feel super tired or slow (as my time seems to indicate) but I had ZERO motivation. I finally got rolling again and got this run done. Whew.

The run sucked but being in the park when it's dark did NOT suck. Having it be so close to Halloween I started to imagine all kinds of things and it kept the run exciting.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:00 AM - 2 bananas, water
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 30 minutes prior to run - gel, water
run - 2 sips from a small bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 6:45 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 40s, mostly clear, dry, some wind in exposed sections
Course big loop
Results  
Time 38:39
Distance 4.5 miles?
Pace 8:35 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, long sleeve active T

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my new favorite songs

It seems like almost every day I hear something and bang! It's my new favorite. I'm so fickle.

GROUPLOVE…?

It's those vocals! I love 'em. The video? Whatever.

It's so damn catchy!

Not only does this song rule all other songs, the movie Drive kicked the ass of all other movies. Well, mostly all others. And it wasn't so much about driving by the way.

27 October 2011

core | commute

What a day! With only so many nice days in the fall I seized the opportunity to commute by bike and to take the long way home. Nice.

Core work has been extraordinarily tough these last couple of times… funny how you can do the same thing day in and day out and one day it's relatively easy and then one day it's wicked hard.

On my ride it home (I left work at 5) it got dark! That was a lot of fun. I had lights thank goodness and watching the city get all it up as I circled the Magnolia Bluff was very pretty.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 40s, dry, clear, calm
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 20 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing shorts, knee warmers, short sleeve active T, long sleeve active T, wind-front Patagonia fleece, knit gloves, cap

26 October 2011

run

Meh… That was the word for the run this morning. Good thing Thom W was there but our usual animated banter was pretty subdued today.

I was hoping to squeeze in my core routine prior to pounding the bricks (or belt in this case) but I got there sorta late and Thom got there sorta early and since I like company while running more than doing core work I bailed after the plank.

I felt okay during the first 15 or 20 minutes but then my breathing got a little more labored than I wanted it to be. And when I cranked up the speed it didn't get any less labored. :) If not for the company I would probably not have gone so hard to hooray for Thom.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course core - plank for 3 min
run - treadmill, 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 30 min
Distance run - 4.3 miles
Pace run - 25 min at 8.6 mph (6:58 min/mile) then I upped the pace .2 mph for each of the last five minutes so did the last minute at 6:15 min/mile
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
Clothing  

25 October 2011

core | commute

Oh yeah… after my run on Sunday pretty much everything is sore just a little.

And for some reason ALL my core exercises were tough. What gives? I was barely able to finish my leg scissors… Today I was that guy at the gym with the big grimace. :(

At least the commute felt gloria-us.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:15 AM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather mid 40s in the AM, mid 50s in the PM, dry, sunny, light breeze
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twisters 50, 25
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

23 October 2011

Tiger Mt trail run

Lots of firsts for me today.

  • It was my first time running with a vest.
  • It was my first time running with two hand-held bottles.
  • I learned that calluses are not necessarily a good thing.
  • I learned why the loop we did has the name it does.
  • Oh yeah, and IT WAS MY FIRST TIME RUNNING 19 MILES!

I wanted a longer run today and that is just what I got. Boom.

Running this fall has gained momentum for a couple of reasons.

  1. I hurt myself mountain biking and so can't tolerate cyclocross.
  2. Since I can't do what I originally planned this fall I decided to set an ambitious running goal instead.

What is my goal? To run the marathon distance at the Evergreen Trail Runs Grand Ridge event. If I have stated this before and am repeating myself it's just because I'm trying to psych myself up. Even three months ago attempting this would have been inconceivable to me.

As usual, I woke (4:00 AM) well before my alarm was scheduled to go off (5:00 AM)… On the upside it gave me the opportunity to have some food and hopefully allow it time to get assimilated prior to starting. How did I feel? Okay I guess. I was a little tired during yesterday's run but it was not for or fast so hopefully I was going to feel sharper today.

I met Justin A at the Issaquah Community Center at 6:45 and we realized that headlamps were going to be in order for sure as it was still pretty darn dark out. On the up side was not cold at all and I debated even wearing my wind vest. In the end I opted to bring it along just to see how it felt and just in case it got colder up top. Turns out I did not overheat and there was one stretch near the top when we started to descend where it felt good so that was not a bad decision.

On the docket today was a modified Fat Ass loop in reverse. Stands to reason then that a larger loop than a 'fat ass' is a 'cottage cheese ass'… It actually took Justin explaining that to me before I got it. Sheesh.

After running a few blocks through Issaquah and stopping twice so that Justin could fine tune his watch alarms we were in the woods. The trail starts out by going pretty much straight up for a little longer than I wanted. And since my tendency is to start a little too fast I was breathing pretty good by the time we got to the upper Tiger parking lot and hit the Tiger Trail proper.

I had been told that it was pretty much up for 90 minutes but I guess that did not sink in properly until we gone about 30. We've all been there, right? It's that feeling of being sort of spent already and then looking at your watch and realizing you are not even close to half way to where you want to be. Ouch. I tried to hang in and think I did okay. Luckily we walked the steepest pitches including the last on up a gravel road to one of the Tiger summits where we passed a 'hiker's hut'.

I had to stop and peek inside… Talk about Spartan facilities! There is a bench around the inside and that's it. No wait, there was a metal sign leaning up against the wall behind the bench that was riddled with bullet holes. Then it was down the mountain on that trail to the left of the hut.

During my last couple of runs my left big toe had been bothering me. For some reason I was developing a blister right at the edge of my foot where the sole meets the upper. I had mentioned this to Justin and he said, "Sounds like a callus issue to me." Damn if he wasn't right. I guess experience is worth something. So last night I diligently buffed the callus down and even put on a preventative Band-Aid under my sock this morning to help reduce the friction. As we started down I could tell right away that my feet were swimming around way too much in my shoes so had to pull over and tighten them both. Much better.

As we got moving again Justin said something like, "Whew, I finally feel like I'm warming up!" and proceeded to put about 20' into me on the very next incline. It was times like these that made me just a little concerned about whether or not I had bitten off more than I could chew. And as we approached the two hour mark I experienced something pretty similar.

There was one climb on the 'descent' from the summit that was a bit of a bear. Justin warned me about it but in my state of exhaustion I did not quite catch all the words and so did not know how long it was. In retrospect I think he said two minutes but at the time I had no idea. As the trail tipped up I instantly had to walk. It was pretty nice to hear Justin tell me that it was all downhill from here once I reached the summit.

I gotta say, in spite of being tired the descents were a blast! I never got the point of having rubbery legs and never bonked; my tiredness was just from not having ever gone this distance before. I actually managed my nutrition well! I had my first gel at the Tiger summit, another about halfway down and sipped at my bottles all the time. Calories were definitely not the issue here. In fact, my stomach felt a little too full of fluid towards the end…

We never flew down the trail but we did lay off the brakes some and it was fun. At one point Justin overshot a corner and ran off the trail to the outside of a turn. I was hauling ass right behind him and followed his route only I was not able to correct in time and did a summersault in the brush. Luckily it was not big deal and we carried on right away.

Some of the wood bridges - especially the older ones - are like walking on ice! One that was in a serious state of disrepair (it was listing to one side) we totally avoided and forded the creek beneath the bridge. Another was so slick I was able to skate across at least half of it - on purpose of course. :) It was really nice when they were covered with chicken wire or when the wood was newer and not so covered in slime.

I had a couple more 'interesting' sections were I had perhaps too much momentum or just was not able to properly direct my momentum but luckily did not go down again.

The last part of the descent was perhaps not quite so much fun as it was very rocky and you had to be careful or turn your ankle. Which I almost did once. No biggie luckily, I was able to walk it off in very short order and start running again.

When we finally exited the woods by Issaquah High School we crossed the street and got on a beautiful but very firm concrete path. It's amazing how hard this felt after spending all day on pretty perfect dirt covered with pine needles in places. It was HARD. Thank goodness we covered that in less than five minutes and then popped out in the parking lot where we started.

Wow… considering my effort I felt pretty good. I never bonked, I only had to jam on the brakes and walk (when Justin was still running) twice and one of those times was that last two-minute climb. This run was a great exercise in pacing for me as it was the classic LSD outing and that is exactly what I need to do if I want to run another seven miles.

I did some stretching, changed my shirt, drove home, had some food and four Ibuprofen and felt not bad at all. Will I be sore tomorrow? For sure. But hopefully not incredibly and hopefully after a couple of rest or active recovery days I will be able to ramp up for another good run next weekend. Lather, rinse, repeat. :)

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 4:30 AM - apple sauce, pumpkin seeds, avocado, glass of water w/3 scoops Caffe Latte Perpetuem
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 1.5 small bottles each w/2 scoops Caffe Latte Perpetuem and 2 Endurolytes, 2 gels (one contained caffeine)
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 6:50 AM
Workout Type long, slow distance
Weather mid 50s, wet ground, dry sky, partly cloudy at the start, partly sunny at the end, calm
Course Cottage Cheese Ass loop on Tiger Mt
Results I finished my longest run ever!
Time 3:00:13 (total time)
Distance 19 miles
Pace 9:29 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, 2 hand-held bottles
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, wind vest

22 October 2011

Redmond Watershed trail run

Today was my first ever run with friend and teammate Gabe T and guess what, this guy has serious running roots!

We met up at the Redmond Watershed Preserve and ran a couple of loops and boy are the trails well maintained over here. The main trails are massive, doubletrack but there are also plenty of fun singletrack options. To me it's always funny to see signs of horses so close to the city… Living in Seattle I know Redmond is out there but I never think of horses. Well they obviously come here quite a bit.

Turns out Gabe got his start in athletics by running. On trails. He has even done the Chuckanut Mountain Ki. Pretty cool. The more I run the more trying one of these longer events sounds appealing…

It was this fateful event (where Gabe got a stress fracture) that caused him to turn to cycling and I guess then triathlon. And since he broke his elbow in a bike race this summer and had to take quite a chunk of time off, running is still all he can do. Lucky for me.

Gabe knows all the big names in the NW running scene, and I mean ALL. He was rattling off famous people and recalling running memories that made me realize I was in the presence of someone with a lot of experience.

We also talked about diet. Turns out both Gabe and I have been vegetarian for a long time and have both tried Paleo; and now we are not doing the same thing. Interesting. I am always eager to hear why people do what they do and how they justify actions.

And it was warm! I started with a light jacket because I was worried about the wet and cold, I needn't have been. That's always a plus.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 5:15 AM - Rice Krispies
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 30 minutes prior to run - gel
run - small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 8:00 AM
Workout Type active recovery
Weather low to mid 50s, wet ground but hardly any rain, calm
Course  
Results  
Time 52:52
Distance not sure… 5 miles or so?
Pace  
Equipment Brooks Defyance, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, Craft short sleeve undershirt, Patagonia Houdini jacket

21 October 2011

Cougar Mt trail run

Hell yes! Even when I don't feel great (I had two 23 oz beers last night) and even when it's not a bright sunny day, this thing called trail running is pretty damn fun.

Okay, I did skin my knee but after my shower the scrape was embarrassingly small so no biggie. Still, before the shower…? DRAMA.

Trail Running: only real men need apply. For some reason my application is still pending...

Last night Justin A gave me a shout and asked if I'd like to roll the standard Cougar 10 and I was like, "You're damn right I'd like to…!" I guess I was so pumped up (or something) I forgot to sleep. Top that off with a slight hangover and I was primed.

Thank goodness Justin was coming off of three stout efforts and wanted to take it easy so everything worked out in my favor. Besides, he talked the whole time so all I had to do was breath and run.

The trail was in excellent shape today! It had rained hard about two days ago and portions were already dry. There also was hardly any fog so visibility was better than the last time I was out here. Interestingly, there were a lot of leaves on the ground and they seemed to reflect the light from our headlamps in a weird way or maybe they were just distracting… bottom line is they made it hard to see and both of us almost rolled our ankles about five times.

And we each fell down.

Last time we were here I chastised Justin for verbally pointing out obstacles in the trail. I guess I felt a little like I was on a bike ride with a bunch of n00bs where everyone is shouting stuff like CAR BACK and HOLE at the top of their lungs. So it probably serves me right because this time he just made a subtle hand gesture and I promptly ran into the stump he was indicating I should avoid. D'oh…!

We were going uphill and so pretty slow and the fall was not bad at all. I just stuffed my left hand and got my right knee a little dirty and we carried on.

About a mile or two later Justin had the sympathy fall. He was going a little faster and tumbled down the trail a bit. I joked that he was much worse off than I and we continued.

And by continued I of course mean that Justin continued to talk while I listened. I heard all about the highs and lows of trying to find a teaching position at a university, a wicked cool new bike he just got (hello, jealous!) and we discussed some of the finer points of cycling culture.

As we coasted to a stop and walked the last bit to the car I noticed he had a bit of blood on his elbow and reiterated that he sure had gotten the worst of our falls. Then I looked down and boy was I wrong. My knee looked positively gory compared to his little, red elbow.

I'm always amazed at how accurately Justin can judge our pace on this route. As we finished he said, "That felt like a 1:29." Damn if he wasn't right. I just felt okay and so it was a good thing we were going really mellow. Another thing that amazes me is how much of a difference in pace is required to shave five minutes off this time. It's significant.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 4:15 AM - 2 bananas, sample size LARABAR, sample size Builder's bar, water
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food 30 minutes prior to start - gel
run - half a small bottle w/1 tablet Cola Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
Injuries I got a blister on my left big toe pad
Therapy  
Time of Day 6:30 AM
Workout Type  
Weather low 50s, mostly cloudy, dry at start, light rain at end, calm
Course standard Cougar Mt 10
Results  
Time 1:29:32
Distance 10 miles
Pace 8:57 min/mile
Equipment Brooks Cascadia, headlamp, hand-held bottle
Clothing shorts, short sleeve active T

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19 October 2011

core | run | ride

What a day…! It's so beautiful out.

Today I was multi-sport athlete extraordinaire (in my mind). I went to the gym, did my core routine, ran with my friend Thom W and then after a meeting with our architects and builder got cancelled I decided to go ride my bike.

I know…!

Of course I grabbed my Paddy Wagon.

I gotta say, riding felt kind of foreign! It has been at least a week since I was even on a bike and then at least a week prior to that one time. Yikes. But it was a great day, the weather was much warmer than I expected and on the way home I saw Jeff W (friend and teammate) so we chatted for a bit. Good times.

Sleep 7
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food gym - water
ride - small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:15 AM
ride - 8:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 40s to low 50s, sunny, dry, some wind
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
twisters 50
run - treadmill, 1% incline
Results  
Time run - 30 min
ride - 1:26
Distance run - 4.3 miles
ride - 22 miles
Pace run - 6:58 min/mile
Equipment run - Brooks Defyance
ride - Single Speed Bike
Clothing ride - knit shoe covers, knee warmers, bib shorts, Craft long sleeve undershirt, short sleeve jersey, arm warmers, wind vest, cotton gloves, cap

18 October 2011

core | commute | stairs

Oh Gold's Gym, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways.

  1. You are close to home.
  2. Some of my friends go there.
  3. You are close to home.

Oh well, two ways isn't bad.

Bottom line is I did manage to do my core work and I did some stretching which was great as I'm still somewhat stiff from my run on Saturday. And since the weather was fabulous again I hopped on my bike and rolled down the hill to work.

when I got home Shelley was up for some stairs so we headed out again. I was not really feeling it but maintained a reasonable speed and just trimmed a couple of flights off of what I have been doing lately. All-in-all not so bad.

Oh yeah, at the gym I tired to do one push-up and was not able to. My hand still hurts like a mother when I apply any pressure to the pad of my thumb. Rats.

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:30 AM
stairs - 6:15 PM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 50s, clear, dry, calm
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twister machine 50 each side - 90 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb
stairs - Howe Street
Results  
Time stairs - 28:26
Distance commute - 9 miles
stairs - 8 flights
Pace  
Equipment commute - Town Bike
stairs - Brooks Defyance
Clothing  

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the emotional roller coaster that is elite athletics

Or not. Whatever. Here is my story.

Last Saturday I ran the Leavenworth Half Marathon. As I crossed the line I was on freaking cloud nine as my time was awesome!

After much celebration and even after posting on this blog that I had won my age division I got a couple of wakeup calls.

first my friend and co-worker that had run with me pointed out that when you click on the results link by your name it takes you to the list RIGHT AT YOUR NAME. Of course there were people below AND above me but I was too out of my mind with my time that I assumed I had won and never even bothered to scroll up. Oh well, I can live with 3rd place. I still had a kick-ass time and a PR by no less than nine minutes. I was walking on air.

Then my friend and I got an email from the event.

Turns out the race organizer had hired some 'professional traffic control company' to direct the runners and because of some fiasco the dude who was stationed at the dogleg about three miles from the finish was asleep at the wheel and did not tell the early runners (read: most everyone) to head down the dogleg thus shortening the course by .8 miles for the majority of the field. Here is a portion of the message.

As you may know, we had a problem on the course and the early finishers missed a turn, shortening the course by approximately 0.8 for some of them.  We have directed dozens of events over ten years and have never had such an issue.  In fact our greatest pride over the years has been the quality of the course and making a safe and enjoyable run for our participants.  As you can imagine, we have lost a lot of sleep over the last two nights because of this.   If you were one of these runners, we are very sorry.  There is no excuse, but as an explanation, we hired a professional traffic control company for the first time this year.  This was our first event working with this group.  They apparently had a last minute ?no show? on their crew and had to replace the planned person on this corner.  The replacement person was obviously not clear on the course route.  I also understand that our markings were obscured by the traffic control, water station, and spectators.  Again, no excuse, but this is why it happened.  We can assure you that our course markings and marshals will be stellar next October.

Oops…

Suddenly I was falling from the sky like Icarus.

So instead of my completely outrageous time and pace of:

1:26:12
6:35

I'm probably looking at something more like this:

1:31:48
7:00

This is still a PR by over three minutes and I still got a legitimate 3rd place because all of the other top placers shortened the course just like me but dang it, I can't get over that initial euphoria. I suppose it's only natural.

my super secret goal going into this race was to go under 1:30. Could I have done that? I don't know. I was checking my watch pretty religiously until about four miles to go at which point I still had - I thought - 30 seconds in the bank to make my goal. And I don't think I slowed down. Somewhere between three and four miles to go we were supposed to turn left off of Icicle Creek and run that dogleg.

I did reply to the race organizer asking what turn was missed in the hopes that perhaps it was not the dog leg and I had indeed run all 13.1 miles but they never got back to me. I suspect they are swamped with complaints and I suspect it IS that damn dogleg.

Why didn't I just turn left knowing that the dogleg was coming up?

  1. Mostly because no one else did…
  2. The course could have changed at the last minute.
  3. Lots of other excuses.

By now (three days after the run) I'm okay with my time. It just means I will need to run another half marathon at some point and try to get under 1:30. :) Shit happens at events and it could be a broken shoelace in a run or broken spokes on a ride or any number of things. That's just me trying to talk myself off the roller coaster.

17 October 2011

commute

No sleep last night! Oh man was I tired this morning… Not from the one night but because this has been the third night in a row.

Still, the forecast was fantastic so I at least rolled to work and then took a tiny detour on the way home.

Sleep 4
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day  
Workout Type  
Weather  
Course  
Results  
Time  
Distance 12 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

15 October 2011

Leavenworth Half Marathon

Nice.

My best ever half marathon was achieved at the Leavenworth Half Marathon and based on the results it was a relatively close contest with 3rd-9th all within about five minutes of each other. What a great feeling! What makes it even better is that this is after I had two big falls from my bicycle (each one requiring a full week of no activity). I am really proud of myself.

Also heartfelt thanks to Shelley for supporting me yet again in an athletic activity. It means a lot.

CIMG8001

I did not get a ton of sleep (read: about four hours) Thursday night and also did not sleep a lot the night before but what can you do? Drink Cola-flavored Nuun, that's what. I learned recently - since I obviously don't read labels - that the Cola flavor has caffeine so that is what I put in my bottle today. I can't say I'm a huge fan of caffeine but sometimes it sure gets the job done.

The forecast was for cool so I tossed a selection of tops in the car and off we went to the start. There was a lot of parking so we only got there about on hour in advance and it was plenty. I had already pinned my number on and was wearing my shorts under my sweats so really there was not much to do except for check out the start/finish, stretch a little and kill some time.

The course was VERY different this year than last year. Last year we only were on dirt through the Waterfront Park but this year we ran the first two miles on dirt and sand, then some pavement, through the park, more pavement and then two more miles of dirt and sand at the finish. I liked that. But it was unexpected and it did slow you down some.

I would be lying if I said I was confident of achieving my goal. I knew I could go under 1:40, was hoping to go under 1:35 and my dream was to go better than 1:30. Seeing as my running progression had no been ideal and since I had only done about three or four 'fast' runs I was slightly nervous. Of course I was going to try and post a 1:30 and of course I wanted to run that fast but I also did not want to blow in the process. My friend and running mentor keeps telling me to start under control and then speed up if possible. When I told him I was going to Leavenworth he said make to sure my first mile was my slowest and my last mile my fastest. Knowing that my tendency is to go out hard and then try to hang on I was resolved to try.

Once near the start I walked past the line to see what the first bit of the course looked like and it was cool. They were heading us straight into the woods.

By the time I was done stretching and eating my gel and sipping the last of my pre-event bottle and standing in line at the porta-potty twice I was pretty pumped up. And the weather was cooperating big time. With about eight minutes to go before the start I stripped out of my pants and jackets, handed them to Shelley, grabbed my bottle and headed up to the start line.

CIMG8002

ASIDE - I had opted for the hand-held bottle thinking it would make the whole run more relaxing. No worrying about spilling liquid all over myself at the aid stations and no worrying about forgetting to grab a gel at the halfway point. Funny too as I used to hate these things but after using them for a while it is not a problem to run with it. That decision was easy.

Off we went.

07

The lead bunch formed really quick and I forced myself not to keep up. There were a few people getting tailed off of the lead pack so I decided to keep them in sight. I am not very good at determining my own pace yet so I had resolved to simply look at my watch at every mile marker. Since my goal was to run 1:30 I knew I had to average about 7 minutes per mile which made the math really easy. One mile was 7 minutes, two miles was 14 minutes, you get the idea.

We were cruising right along for sure and I thought it might be a little fast but was not breathing that hard so carried on. We ran down a paved path for a few hundred meters and then hung a left and were in the dirt.

actually it was dirt mixed with sand that had been packed in two narrow strips by some sort of vehicle. The leaders were already up the road and so around me it was not hard to stay in one of the tire tracks and keep from sinking into the softer ground. There were a couple of guys near me and one woman so I decided to keep up with them and see what happened. We passed the one mile marker and I glanced at my watch.

5:40

Oh no…

This is not the strategy I had planned. I made a huge mental effort and slowed down. The two guys and the one woman slowly pulled ahead but I stuck with it and let them go. At mile two I think we were were still in the sand and I glanced at my watch.

13:00

Yikes! Still not slow enough. But I felt great! But on reflection of course I felt great… the race had hardly started. And I knew I was NOT going to feel so great after half way if I kept up this pace so I tried again to slow down just a little. At 2.25 miles we exited the dirt and hit the road, shortly after at mile three I looked at my watch.

20:30

Whew, that was more like it. Now if I could just maintain this pace and then hopefully ramp it up just slightly at the end I was golden. IF.

The next couple of miles were a flat road into town. I felt my pace was very steady and yet I was slowly reeling in this woman and one of the guys that left me behind at the start. I was a little concerned at first that they were coming back to me so quick but then I had an epiphany, I was probably not the only person who had started too fast. :) By the time we hit Highway 2 I had left them behind and was trying to keep pace with this other guy in front of me.

As soon as we got on the highway we turned left and got right back off of it. Then we ran along a side street for a couple of blocks and dropped down to the park. Through here I was passed by at least six guys. I guess they had started further back in the pack (I had started right in the front) and were obviously faster than me and it was a bit disheartening as they came streaming by one by one. Two were running together and chatting up a storm as they passed me. One was saying to the other how he was just not feeling it today. A very relative thing obviously.

At the end of the park was a hill. According to the (totally incorrect) MapMyRide route for this race the hill was one mile long and climbed 700'…?! I knew this was not possible but was steeling myself for a substantial climb anyway just in case. I think the hill was about 100 m long and climbed less than 100'. Oaky, it was steep but not that bad. I just shortened up my stride some, slowed down just a little and managed to pass at least four on the way up. That felt good.

At the top I even remembered to eat my gel! It took a little longer than I wanted to rip the packet open, suck down the contents and stow the wrapper than I wanted but hey, I think it helped. I even remembered to chase it with a couple of swallows from my bottle and by then I was totally out of breath from eating and drinking and not breathing!

From here it was back on Highway 2 for a short stretch and then left on Icicle Creek. More than half way done I told myself and tried to keep my pace steady. At every mile marker since mile three I was consistently 30 seconds ahead of my target time so I knew may pace had been exactly 7 minutes/mile for the last few miles and I was just hoping I could maintain.

Icicle Creek has some slight ups and downs but nothing to worry about. Except for the event photographer that is. He caught me at my most glamorous for sure.

10

I even saw him well in advance and tried to look all casual and not labored. Oh well.

The race route map said we were going to do some dogleg and then get back on Icicle Creek. It never happened. WE just kept going straight all the way up to the Sleeping Lady and then turned off the road into the dirt which was the cross country ski trails.

I had been pretty confident that my pace had not slowed on the road but the effort of maintaining it was increasing without a doubt. As I ran onto the dirt I was excited and at the same time worried as I knew this was going to slow me down just a little. I knew there was only about two miles left so I tried to stay focused. The reason I was so excited is I had looked at my watch with two miles to go and I had plenty of time in had to make my goal. If I recall correctly I had about 17 minutes to spare and I would still make it in under 1:30 so that helped motivate me for sure.

Turns out not only is my sense of pace impaired but so is my sense of distance. Those last two miles were looooooong. How do I know this? Because after a while I saw the fish hatchery where we started in the distance and picked up my pace. As I rounded what I thought was the last corner it was just the corner next to the ONE MILE TO GO SIGN. Damn. That kinda hit me hard. Especially when we did a 180 degree turn and headed back the way we had just come meaning away from the fish hatchery. Argh…

I tried to rally and now slow down but I think I did some. After winding my way through the forest for what seemed like at least two miles I was finally headed back towards the finish. This time the finish surprised me and I did not know it was approaching until I hit the pavement with maybe 50 m to go. I sped up and it turns out I had plenty left in the tank for this short acceleration. Luckily.

Finishing and feeling good about it!

When I crossed the line and stopped my watch I could not believe what I saw. 1:26:14. YES. I had not looked down at all the last two miles for fear of learning that the sandy soil was slowing me down but it appears I managed to pick up the pace some there at the end. Whew.

Shelley was right there when I finished and gave me a big hug. Awesome. Then some guy that had been trying to catch me congratulated me on my run. Fantastic. Did I mention it was sunny out and my clothing choice had been perfect? And my bottle was almost totally empty meaning I had carried just the right amount of liquid. It was a good day.

Two of my friends were here as well and they ended up having great runs too. And a friend of a friend who was running his first half finished with a huge smile. Good times.

CIMG8007

Did I mention that it was Oktoberfest in Leavenworth…? Oh yes.

CIMG8011

CIMG8012

CIMG8015

Of course I was drinking by 1:30 PM and of course I over-compensated for that 1.5 hours of exercise but hey, that's the way I roll.

Congratulations to Andy G and Grace W for showing up and having great days and to Jim for finishing his first ever half marathon. That is huge. And what a course! With literally five miles of dirt this is not what I had expected but it was a fun surprise.

Here are all the pictures and video.

Sleep 5
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast 6:30 AM - LARABAR, half a Clif Bar, banana, half a large bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 2 scoops HEED
Lunch 11:00 AM - potato chips, cookie, some crackers, water, banana
Dinner 2-5 PM - 2 spicy bratwurst w/mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut and bun, 3 beers, ice cream
Workout Food 30 minutes before start - gel
race - small bottle w/1 tablet Nuun and 1 scoop HEED, gel
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day 9:00 AM
Workout Type  
Weather mid 40s to mid 50s, clear, sun at the end, calm
Course 2 miles of flat dirt and sand, 3-4 miles of flat pavement, 1 mile of hard pack dirt, 3 miles of pavement, 2 miles of dirt. One short hill of note at mile 7.
Results Male 45-49 - 3rd
official results
Time 1:26:12 (1:31:48?)
Distance 13.1 miles (12.3?)
Pace 6:35 min/mile (7:00?)
Equipment Brooks Defyance, hand-held bottle
Clothing Patagonia shorts, sleeveless active T

13 October 2011

core | commute

Man… today was my first day on a bike in what seems like ages.

I have not been riding much because it has been wet (there is no place for me store a wet bike or wet clothes at work) and because my injuries hurt more riding than running so running has been the focus.

That said the commute was a blast. I think I have about the best commute going to work that there is. I get to bomb Interlaken (which is amazingly scenic) and if I don't want to, I don't have to break a sweat at all. Then on the way home there are only a million detours I can take to stretch it out.

I even took the trails through the Interlaken Ravine once on the way to work. Fun!

Sleep 6
Waking HR  
Body Weight  
Body Fat  
Breakfast  
Lunch  
Dinner  
Workout Food water
Injuries  
Therapy  
Time of Day gym - 5:45 AM
Workout Type  
Weather upper 40s in the AM, mid 50s in the PM, calm, dry, mostly sunny
Course
plank 3 min
back extensions 3 x 40
clam knee lifts 100 each leg
side leg lifts 100 each leg
leg scissors 100
twister machine 50 each side - 80 lb.
hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results  
Time  
Distance 9 miles
Pace  
Equipment Town Bike
Clothing  

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