Let's Go Racin'!

This week’s workouts:

Mon:  Walk 1.3 miles; Run 4.01 miles (9:56 pace)

Tue:   Walk 1.7 miles; Ride 16 miles (trainer drills)

Wed:  Run 4.06 miles (9:56 pace)

Wed:  Walk 1.8 miles

Thu:   Walk 2.3 miles

Sat:    Run 6.18 miles (9:17 pace) (3 mile warm up + 5K race)

Sun:   Run 3.75 miles (8:11 pace) (6K race); Ride 8.11 miles (mechanical problems)

Nothing significant to report on the workout front other than a small ramp-up in run mileage due to an upcoming half marathon, and I haven’t been swimming because I’m comfortable with where my base is right now.  I’ll cover my bike miles later.  I have continued to walk a few miles over my lunch hour whenever possible as a form of light cross training and to keep everything loose.

I have been enjoying my last few weeks of the “offseason” with some racing!  This past weekend I raced a 5K and 6K, and I’m racing a half marathon next Saturday.  There is a definite distinction between running a race (feels good), and racing a race (feels like death).  Let’s be clear – I’m not going to be winning any of these races – it’s all about pushing yourself and battling against your own times.

The first race was the Undy 5000 at Forest Park on Saturday which is put on by the Colon Cancer Alliance.  We ran as a member of Nancy Jean’s Running Machines which is a team put together by a fellow Honey Badger in memory of her mom.  We met early to get 3 miles in before the race.  We ran some of the interior trails of the park that we typically don’t run – something we need to do more often, despite the fact that we crossed paths with a young male holding a baseball bat (wonder how many cars were broken into at the Visitor’s Center lot that morning). 

Nancy Jean's Running Machines

Honey Badgers in their special undies

After the warm-up, everyone put their undies on and got ready for the 5K.  Most sane people just added undies over their running gear.  I have to give these guys (right) some credit – they went for it on a really cold morning.  The race was crowded as most charity races are, but I eventually found a happy pace on the hills of Forest Park, recording splits of 8:49, 8:15, and 8:30.  The first mile included a lot of weaving in and out due to traffic, and the last mile included a few hills which I have dreaded ever since running the Frostbite series a few years ago.  My official time was 26:39 for an average of 8:47/mile – 98^th out of 1,395 finishers, 17 of 79 in M40-49 (obviously some disconnect with my Garmin because I didn’t reset after the warm-up miles).

On Sunday, we participated in the Taste of Achievement 6K and 1-mile fun run at Creve Coeur Park put on by the St. Louis Dietetic Association.  One of the Honey Badgers is a member of the Association, so a number of us registered to support her in the first year for this race.  We brought the kids along to run the 1-mile run, and we baited them into running fast when we saw that of the 10 or so people running the 1-miler, they had a good chance to place highly (their competition included toddlers and people who obviously planned on walking, outside of one serious runner who finished with a sub-six mile).  Emily and Adam ended up finishing 2^nd and 3^rd, well behind the winner’s time of 5:XX.

After the kids started, we began the 6K on the interior loop of Creve Coeur Lake.  I didn’t run any warm up before this race, so it was all about starting cold, hoping to warm up, and hanging on.  I saw that the field for this race was pretty small, so I thought I would push it since this may be my only chance for a top-3 age group finish.  My mile splits were 8:08, 8:10, 8:12, and 8:17.  I obviously faded a bit in this race, but it felt good to push a bit on a flat track.  I ended up 11^th out of 92, and 2^nd out of 5 in the male 40-49 age group.  I shall bask in the glory of my 2^nd place AG finish, and forget that there were only 5 of us. 

After Emily cleaned up at the raffle, I rushed home to get everything together to meet up with a group for a bike ride at the MCT trails in Collinsville, IL.  It was a beautiful day for a ride, but almost immediately I could tell something was off with my front derailleur and it looked like the chain ring was wobbling as I pedaled.  At the 4 mile mark I stopped to check, and the entire bottom bracket could slide in and out about 1/4^th inch.  Considering that there should be zero movement here, I turned around and headed to Big Shark (where I bought the bike).  Despite it being a beautiful Sunday, a mechanic got me right in for some quick correction and gear adjustments, and I was on my way home.  Hopefully I can get out and ride this week to see if everything is back to normal.  I seriously cannot say enough about the great service I receive at Big Shark!

Up on the stand within 2 minutes of walking in the door

Hey look - no gap!

This abbreviated ride was my first one using all of the data points available on my Garmin 901xt, which includes speed, distance, heart rate, and cadence.  You can see from the data that I was preoccupied with trying to diagnose my problem so it’s all over the place, but I am excited to see what I can glean from this data over the summer.

This, the last week of my offseason, will be filled with getting some family health issues in order, trying to keep up to date at work, and the Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon on Saturday.  I should have some good GoPro footage for you next week.

Giving Winter the Stink Eye

Last week's training:

Sun:  Walk 8.2 miles (Washington DC)
Mon:  Walk 8.6 miles (Washington DC)
Tue:  Walk 7.5 miles (Washington DC)
Wed:  No workout
Thu:  No workout
Fri:  No workout
Sat:  Run 6.52 miles

I am at that point where I need the training schedule to keep me accountable.  I'm really good at following a schedule, but no so good when I'm just doing some maintenance running.  Two more weeks and I'll be on the clock for IML.

On the Ironman front, I'm looking around for those final supplies I will need - cooling arm/calf sleeves, rear hydration rack for the bike, aero helmet, nutritionals, etc.  Nothing major.  Five months until race day, and 2 weeks until formal training begins.

On the weather front, this is me giving winter the stink eye.  I'm no fan of the heat, but this is getting crazy.  It's March 24th - I went out for a run tonight and got blasted with snowflakes in my eyes.  Enough already.

Pre-Training Vacation?

Last week's training (don't laugh):

Mon:  rest/recover from QQ half
Tue:   rest/recover from QQ half
Wed:  bike 16 miles (1-hour trainer drills)
Thu:   run 6 miles (Forest Park)
Fri:     no workout, but walked 7.35 miles (Washington, DC)
Sat:     no formal workout, but walked 6.8 miles (Washington, DC)

This post is late because I was on a spring break trip with Amy and Adam to Washington, DC.  I planned to run in DC, but it just never quite worked out.  However, we walked almost everywhere we went, and logged some serious foot mileage.

We got into DC late Friday night and as I was going to sleep, I found out that the Rock n Roll marathon series was in town on Saturday morning...and wasn't sold out.  Bummer - if I would have found out just a few hours earlier, I would have high tailed it over to the expo and registered.  What a better way to see the city than a point-to-point half marathon from the Washington Monument to RFK stadium, along with a sweet medal.  Ugh - I'm still disappointed about that one!

Since I have no remarkable training to tell you about, here are some pictures from our trip instead.

Formal training begins in 2.5 weeks!

Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon

This week's workouts:

Monday:   Run 2 miles (track), Swim 2800 yards
Tuesday:  Walk
Wednesday:  Run 4 miles (neighborhood)
Thursday:  Walk
Friday:  Bike 9 miles (trainer)
Saturday:  Walk
Sunday:  Run 13.1 miles

This week was a mini-taper to prepare for Sunday's Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon.  On Monday, I tried a workout that I found through the iPhone app My TriSwimCoach.  This app looks like it could be pretty good.  You put in your general skill level and your 100 yard split, provide your goal distance (in my case, Ironman distance swim), and the app creates a workout tailored to you.  The app also includes videos to demonstrate the various drills.

The workout I tried on Monday consisted of:

Warmup:  1x400 swim; 6x75 pull w/20sec rest
Drills:  Bilateral breathing 3x50 w/30sec rest
Workout:  1x600 @ 80% w/90sec rest; 2x300 @ 85% w/45sec rets; 6x50 @ 85% w/20sec rest
Cooldown:  1x50 swim; 1x50 kick; 1x50 swim

By the time I was done, my shoulders were shredded.  I felt like this was one of the more useful pool swims I've had in a while.

The main event of the week was Quivering Quads at Quivre River State Park in Troy, MO.  There were 6 Honey Badgers running the race this year (out of a field capped at 500) and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  We had clear skies and cool temps - enough to keep the mud frozen for the first hour of the race.

This race was put on by Fleet Feet St. Louis and was very well organized.  Parking was in remote lots with shuttle vans to the start/finish area.  Volunteers were stationed to direct traffic and to keep people out of lots that were full and there were plenty of vans so the wait for a shuttle was not more than a few minutes.

The starting area had plenty of port a potties, changing tents, and a bag drop (literally a tarp where you drop your bag if you have one).  There were two of my teammates in my starting group which took off at 9:33am (the race is organized by pace - fastest to slowest based on road half marathon time).  I had a few simple goals for this race:

1.  Don't break any bones and screw up Ironman training
2.  Don't get injured and screw up Ironman training
3.  Don't fall
4.  Don't get lost
5.  Have fun

Despite single track, narrow trails, my size 15 Nike's managed to keep me upright for the entire race.  I am happy to report that I met all 5 goals.  As for the race - it was challenging!  The course featured a half-mile out-and-back, an 11-mile loop, and then a repeat of the half-mile out-and-back with an extra tenth thrown in to complete the 13.1 miles.

The trail was a roller coaster - up and down from about 600 feet to 800 feet - with lots of twists and turns.  This was definitely a "technical" run - you had to keep your eyes on the ground or you were going to eat it.

I ran this race for the experience, and not for time, so my official time was over 3 hours.  I think if I raced it, I would be somewhere between 2:30-2:45.  I ran with a training partner, so that made the miles click by.

I don't know that I would go out of my way to run a lot of trails in the future, but I could see myself signing up for this race again if the weather conditions are right.

A few pictures and a video recap of the race:

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One Month Until Training

Last week's workouts:

Mon:  Bike 17 miles (trainer drills)

Tue:  Run 5 miles (Clayton to Forest Park, 9:49/mi)

Wed:  Bike 17 miles (trainer drills)

Thu:  Run 5 miles (Glendale/Kirkwood, 10:18/mi)

Fri:  Rest

Sat:  Run 10 miles (Glendale/Kirkwood, 10:37/mi)

Sun:  Took several walks (injured)

Aside from a face-plant, there isn't much to report from last week.  I logged some decent workouts in advance of next weekend's trail half marathon.  I took a tumble at mile 8.5 of my 10-miler on Saturday and my knees were skinned, swollen, and pretty bruised up so I just walked on Sunday.  Hopefully this means my falls are out of the way and I'll stay upright this weekend.  Or it could just be foreshadowing for next week's post.

I found myself thinking that I wished I wore my GoPro to capture the wipe-out.  Maybe this means I have a GoPro addiction?  Speaking of GoPro, I took a time lapse video last weekend of a storm that didn't really materialize.  Made for some interesting video nonetheless.

5 weeks until formal Ironman training begins!