Spin Class Gold's Gym

45 minute spin class
15 minutes weight lifting upper body
5:15 pm
More snow today around 3". We are shattering the record
books. For December we have had 45.6". That's nearly the
average for the whole season.

InCompetition

5.5 Miles 41:30
5:30 pm) 20's
Okay run felt good. Roads were good except for some ice.
GPS did not work again. I figured out the problem though.
The memory was full and would not allow me to download. So
I deleted old activities and it works now.
Tomorrow looks like more snow yeah! 3-5". I'm getting sick
of the white stuff.
I will do either spin class or elliptical at Gold's tomorrow.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

5 Miles 38:00
4:00 pm)
I feel out of shape. Not enough miles the past couple weeks.
I will pick the miles up a bit. Not going to really get serious till
Jan. 19. Then I will start my marathon training program. It will be
a 16 week program. The plan peaks at a 69 mile week. This plan only
calls for 5 workouts a week. I might do 6 instead and cut some miles
off a work out or two.

East De Pere

5.5 Miles 11:00 am) 40 degrees and very foggy
Never thought it would get this warm again after the winter
we have had so far. I actually ran in shorts and was warm.
Was not sure how the run would go since I hurt my lower back
Wednesday shoveling. It has got better and running did not seem
to aggravate it. I was going to do more than 5.5 miles but my GPS
was acting up due to low charge when I started. Plus I thought
no sense in over doing today.
I'm typing this blog on my new laptop computer. It's very nice.
Large 17" wide screen. I have it hooked up wireless so I can use
it anywhere in the house. Now I can multitask better.

Ashwaubenon

6 Miles 44:32 7:24 average.
10:00 am) upper 20's warmer light snow.
Ran with my screw shoes. It helped a lot. I still slipped
some but not as much as I would have. Some places the snow was
kind of deep and the screws would not make much contact with
the street so you would not have much grip. I think I will add
another 3 screws to each shoe to help even more. The srews held
up very good hardly any wear on them and did not loose any screws.

Srew Shoes

Just finished putting the screws in the shoes. I will try
them out tomorrow. Should be a good test with all the
snow on the ground.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

7 Miles 51:15
5:45 pm
Again too cold outside to run so I hit the treadmill.
I did not feel so good tonight. I really ran out of gas
the last 10 minutes or so. I had to slow it way down to
catch my breath. Still not a big fan of the treadmill but
it's nice when it's this cold out.

Stanley Bottle

My nickname is Stanley given to me by my nephew. Here is
a bottle I recently acquired from my dad. It's from Stanley
Wisconsin. I'm not even sure where that is? Must be a small
town. Bottle is from the year 1948.

Broadway

10 Miles 1:13:23 7:20 average
157 HR average
9:00 am) 15 degrees cloudy
First run outside in two weeks. I felt sluggish today.
Not sure if it was the cold air, slippery roads or
just tired. Probably all of the above. HR was high as
well.

Spin Class Gold's Gym

45 Minute spin class
5:15 p.m.
Was able to get a bike tonight. They only have 10 bikes
plus the instructor. The instructor was very nice and
helped me make adjustments to the bike so it would fit me
correctly. I was not the only first timer there was one
other so that made me feel more comfortable. I really
enjoyed the class. I will do it again for sure. It was
very hard but a good hard. I got in a very good workout.
I think this will be great cross training for my running.
I could feel myself using different muscles. On Wednesday's
they have a more extreme spin class but I think I will wait
a while before I consider trying that. This was tough enough.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

7 Miles 50:25
Hard run tonight decided I would push the pace some. I ran
5 minutes faster than Monday for the same distance. I want
to get faster on the treadmill and found out that running
faster makes you faster. What a concept!
Looks like another snow storm is headed our way. I'm not
happy. I'm ready for spring already!
Got my new shoes today finally. These are the ones I won at
the 50K back in October. They have the Boa system so no laces.
I have never tried these before so it will be interesting to
see how they are. I probably will just put them away till I
can run outside on some trails. They are made for road and
trail but I'm going to just use them on the trails. They are
called ARNUVA. Picture below.

Elliptical & Weights Gold's Gym

30 minutes Elliptical 4 miles
15 Minutes Upper Body weight lifting

Was going to do the spin class but all the bikes were
taken by the time I got there. I will try again on Thursday.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

7 Miles 55:20
Way too cold outside to run. With wind chill well below 0.
It was nice and warm inside. Run felt hard tonight. I'm not
in treadmill shape yet. Hope I get better at it.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

6 Miles 46:30
Was going to run yesterday but was not feeling good so
I ran today. Watched Packer game while on treadmill.
Packers are bad this year. Maybe next year. I'm getting
the itch to start picking it up again. I'm tired of
feeling lazy and my diet has really gone bad.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

5 Miles 37:27
First run since Saturday's marathon. Felt good. Kind of
surprised how fast I'm recovering from the marathon.
Will take it easy the next few days and pick it up slightly
next week.

Marathon Photo's

St. Jude Memphis Marathon

26.2 Miles 2:59:16 6:51 average
68th Place Overall
8:00 am) mid 30's at start
Well I finished in 2:59 not the 2:49 I was shooting for. Still not
bad. I realize my expectations were too high for my level of fitness
going into this race. I was not doing near the amount of volume in
training to perform to my goal. I hoped it would not be the case but
it was. Early into the race I new it would not happen. I was shooting
for 6:30 per mile and even in the first few miles I was not able to
hit those numbers. Usually I have to almost hold back the first few
miles to keep from going out too fast. I felt I was pushing it and
still not hitting the number. I new the second half would only be
harder as I fatigued and I was right.

The course was great had some rolling hills but nothing all that steep
or long. I enjoyed the sights along the course and they had bands,
Elvis interpreter and cheerleaders along the course. Water stops at
every mile marker was nice. We ran down Beale St twice that was fun.

My Uncle and Cousin also ran they did the Half Marathon. They both
did great. They are hooked. They signed up for Nashville Marathon
in April. It will be exciting to see how they do at the marathon
distance.

What's next? Nothing! I'm taking it easy for the rest of December. I
needsome rest. I will resume training in Januarary. My focus is going
to be Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. I will do a couple half marathons
before that as tune up races. But Green Bay will be my 'A' Race. I
don't want to say what I am shooting for time wise but a PR for sure.

Below is my splits per mile.
Mile/Pace
1/6:38-----15/6:46
2/6:33-----16/6:46
3/6:31-----17/6:53
4/6:41-----18/7:01
5/6:23-----19/7:03
6/6:36-----20/7:04
7/6:38-----21/7:04
8/6:45-----22/7:16
9/6:39-----23/7:15
10/6:42----24/7:29 Head Wind
11/6:38----25/7:11
12/6:41----26/6:54
13/6:42----.2/6:17
14/6:40

Treadmill Gold's Gym

5 Miles 37:04
6:00 p.m.
This might be my last run before Saturday's Marathon.
Tomorrow looks like snow and when I get home from work.
I will shovel and pack the car up and head down to my
parents. So I don't think I will get a run in tomorrow.
I have yet to pack so I am going to start tonight and
finish tomorrow evening. Hopefully the weather will be okay
and we can get off Thursday morning. The forecast for Memphis
is cold 31 at the start. Not what I would prefer. I will have
to dress in layers. I will post a race recap on Monday.

InCompetition

5.46 Miles 38:23 7:01 average
5:30 pm) 20's
It was a slippery run tonight. We had several inches of snow
last night. I wore my trail shoes for extra tracking. I felt
pretty good on this run especially towards the end.

2000+ miles

I added up my miles for November and I am over 2000 now for
the year. I know it's not as many as a lot of you run but for me
it's a lot. I have increased mileage every year since I started
in 2004. This was a goal of mine this year to do over 2000.
Next year I would like to do over 3000.
Here is my yearly mileage:
2004 - 783
2005 - 1147
2006 - 1374
2007 - 1538
2008 - 2024 and counting

Fox River Trail

8 Miles 54:35 6:49 average
157 HR average
8:45 am) low 20's sunny
Okay run. HR seemed to be running a little high.
Maybe it's from all the turkey I ate. I don't
think so I actually did not gain any weight.
I'm taking off tomorrow and doing a few more
short runs before taking off Thursday and Friday.
I would run Thursday but I will be in the van all
day. Only 1 week to go. I will be glad to get this
one done. I'm a bit nervous about it. I don't think my
training has been all that good for it. But on race day
I always seem to perform well so I hope that continues.
My goal is still 2:49 but I would be happy with anything
under 3:00. Plan is to run first half at 1:24-1:25 and
try to hold on for the second half. I just checked the
forcast it shows a low of 36 and a high of 57. That's
good if that holds up.

Fox River Trail on Turkey Day

7 Miles 44:52 6:24 average
10:15 am) upper 20's sunny
158 HR average

Good run this morning slept in a bit. Sure is nice to be off
for a few days. I'm heading down to my parents for Thanksgiving.
Can't wait to eat some turkey. A week from today I leave for
Memphis. We are driving down. I'm glad gas prices have dropped.

Well if this blogging wasn't enough for me now I'm on Facebook
as well. It seems like a easy way to stay in touch with friends.
So far I have 7 friends.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Treadmill Gold's Gym

5 Miles 38:15
5:30 p.m.

InCompetition

5.43 Miles 37:41 6:57 average
5:30 pm) mid 30's
Roads were slippery from the snow we got last night.
I slipped a few times on some black ice but no falls.
Wore my new headlamp tonight. It's made by a company
called Princeton. It has 3 led lights and has 4 settings.
It worked very good.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 32:40 6:31 average
12:30 pm) Upper 30's cloudy
159 HR average
This ended up being a progression run.
Mile 1 6:47
Mile 2 6:44
Mile 3 6:34
Mile 4 6:24
Mile 5 6:08
Ran in new shoes today. Brooks ST3 Racers. I plan on
using these for the marathon.

Fox River Trail

13 Miles 1:31:24 7:02 average
149 HR average
7:00 am) COLD!!! Around 10 degrees at start
Ran first 8 with Scott.
Last 5 solo. The last mile I pushed it for a little speed work.
It was cold today. My face was freezing the first couple miles.
My hands also were cold the entire run. Today was opening day
for the deer hunting season (gun). I wore my blaze orange to be
on the safe side. I did not see any hunters or deer though.
Two weeks till Memphis.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

7 Miles 54:00
6:00 pm
Glad to run inside tonight. It is very cold and windy outside
today. My gym has two different treadmills tried out the other
one tonight. I liked it better it felt more stable. Also it has
a tv screen and a fan.

Treadmill Gold's Gym

5 Miles 42:00
5:30 pm
First workout at new gym. It went good. I was not used to
running inside though and got very warm. I will have to adjust
myself to that. Afterwards I walked around some to check it out.
Lots of weight equipment. I will have to get on a program at some
point. My plan is to wait till after Memphis marathon before I
start anything new. They also have spin classes a couple of times
a week I plan on doing those as well.

InCompetition

5.43 Miles 39:06 7:12 average
cold 20's windy
Good run tonight did not push the pace like last Monday.
I feel good. My cold is much better.

Scray Hill

20 Miles 2:20:52 7:03 average
157 HR average
7:45 am) mid 30's cloudy & breezy
This was not a fun run. I just didn't feel good today.
I ran the first 14 at around 7:00-7:10 pace. I tried to pick
it up for the last 6 miles but I couldn't. The last 2 miles
I was bonking. Mile 20 was my slowest of the run at 7:30 and
that was a struggle. I think the reason for my sub par run
is several factors.
1. Not at 100% still getting over cold.
2. Have not been getting in as many workouts the last 2 weeks
so I have lost some fitness.
3. Did not drink enough. I had maybe 20oz. of Powerade for 20
miles. That's not near what I should of had.
I'm glad I got this 20 miler in now I can cut back on my long
runs the next 2 weekends. Only 21 days till Memphis.

Joined Health Club

After work I went and took a tour at Gold's Gym. They
have a nice facility. They have treadmills that's all
that really matters. I do plan on doing some weights
but not a lot. They also have some classes that I might
do. The one I will do for sure is a class that focuses
on core. Yes I did join. It's a 2 year contract but I
can get out of it at anytime and pay no termination fee.
The price is good, $19.95 first 3 months then it goes to
$29.99 for the remainder. I did not run tonight I am
just going to rest up save it for Saturday's long run.
Sunday I plan on working out at the gym for the first time.

Fort Howard

5 Miles 35:00 7:00 average
148 HR average
5:30 pm) mid 40's nice, mist

I still have a cold but I needed to run tonight.
I wanted to run more but don't want to run myself
down anymore than I already am. The goal is still
to get my long run in on Saturday. My plan is to
do 20 miles. I want to run the first 14 at around
7:00-7:15 pace and run the last 6 at 6:30 pace.
Of course will see if I am still not feeling great
I might have to adjust this plan.

Tomorrow I am going to take a tour of Gold's Gym.
I want to join a gym so I can run inside when the
weather is bad outside. If I don't join the Gold's
Gym I will rejoin with Snap Fitness. I was going to
join a week ago or so but the weather was still nice
so I put it off.

In Competition

5.42 Miles 35:14 6:30 average
160 HR average
5:30 pm) upper 20's
Have not run this course since March or so. I will start
doing this run every Monday for the next few months. I like
it for a few reasons 1. It's hilly. 2. Lots of street lights.
3. I get to warm up and stretch inside the sporting good store.
Felt okay tonight but still have a cold and not at full power.

Luke Dog if you are reading this HI!!!

Scray Hill

15 Miles 1:41:41 6:47 average
158 HR average
8:15 am) mid 30's **SNOW**
Got out of bed this morning and looked out the window and
sure enough it was snowing. First snow of the season. It was
sticking to the grass but the roads were fine. I intended on
running around 7:00-7:15 pace but my legs felt good today
and I pushed a bit. Legs felt great but my HR and breathing
was not so good. I think part of it was I started out too fast
and was over dressed and sweated a lot. Not to mention this
course I ran today was challenging.
Hi Julie, Alicia and Stacy if you are reading this.

West De Pere

6 Miles 41:30 6:55 average
144 HR average
Upper 50's NICE
Another nice night for running. Did not feel very good
though. I feel like I might be coming down with another
cold. My throat is sore and nose is runny.
Got new shoes today so I broke them in tonight, felt good.
My other pair is getting up in mileage 330 so I will have to
retire them soon probably around 400 or so.

West De Pere

8 Miles 54:12 6:46 average
152 HR average
5:15 pm) mid 60's
After work I did my civic duty and voted. I was worried I
would have to wait in long lines but to my surprise none at all.
So I was in an out in no time and I had to change my address.
Tonight was PRT !!! (Perfect Running Temperature)
I was actually kind of hot. Hard to believe it's November.
Reality check is coming later this week when it cools
off big time. Felt good tonight pushed the pace the last 3
miles.

East De Pere

12 Miles 1:25:46 7:09 average
147 HR average
5:10 pm) Mid 50's
Great weather tonight for this time of year only bad thing
is it gets dark so early. I ran in the dark and did not
have my head lamp. I tried to run on streets that had
street lights. I did 12 miles instead of 6-8 since it was
so nice out. Tomorrow is going to be warm so I will
get a run in not as far as tonight though. I'm going to
vote after work tomorrow then run.

UWGB Trail

9.50 Miles 1:11:43 7:34 average
7:00 am) cold at the start 30's warmed up though.
Ran with 3 of my friends all of us did a ultra last weekend.
One of them did a 50 Mile run and finished 3rd overall.
He had won it the last 2 years. The other 2 guys did the
50k with me last weekend. We called this are fun run
celebrating our successful races. We even had a beer
afterwards. We probably wont be running together again
for a while now that the season is winding down. Of course
for me it's not over yet I still have one more race yet.

I will start doing my long runs on the roads to get my body
ready for the pounding. It's different on the joints than trail
running. So I have to prepare for that. It wont be too bad I
think I will only do 3 longs runs the next 3 weeks then maybe
a 2 week taper. Hopefully the weather will stay somewhat nice
till then.

***Forgot to mention I saw Julie, Alicia, Asher, Steve and Mike
out on the trail today. They were running very strong especially
Julie she is one fast girl. She is much faster than me!!!***

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 40:45 6:47 average
151 HR average
5:15 pm) sunny upper 50's NICE!!!
Great weather today can't believe it's almost November already.
I felt good tonight ran faster than I should have. I am recovering
very good from the race. I will be ready to up the mileage starting
Monday.
I'm going to re-join the health club this weekend so I have
the option of treadmill running on the colder days or when I need
a day of the roads. I also plan on using some of the weight
equipment. Not too much upper body stuff more of the core, leg
and hip exercises.

Boadview YMCA

5 Miles 40:00 8:00 average
6:00 pm) upper 40's
Ran with the Green Bay running club group.

West De Pere

4 Miles 28:28 7:07 average
5:15 pm) 40's sunny
Felt surprisingly good. I'm not really that sore from the 50k.
I'm glad because I need to recover quick due to my next race
is December 6th Memphis marathon. I will take it easy this week
and try to build mileage for a couple of weeks then taper and
be ready.

North Face Endurance Challenge 50k

North Face Endurance Challenge 50k
Kettle Moraine State Park & Ice Age Trail
October 25, 2008
31 Miles 4:10:34 8:02 average
1st Overall out of 118
8:00 am) mid 40's cloudy
Wow is all I can say. I never would have thought I would actually win.
I really had only one goal and that was to finish being my first run of
this distance.
We started at 8:00 am and started at a easy pace. I ran with a couple
of my friends and we passed a few runners and got into a groove.
The early miles were tough lots of muddy sections from all the rain
we had the previous day and early in the morning. So it was a lot of
dodging trying not to get shoes to wet and dirty in the early stages
of the race. After a few miles it was just 4 of us running in a group
my friends and one other guy. I new there was still some runners in
front of us but I didn't know how many.
Eventually we caught up to a group of runners that was in front of
us and now we had a pack of 8-10 runners in our group. This was
probably around mile 13 or so not sure. I heard some of the runners
saying we are in the lead group other than one runner that was
ahead. I was kind of shocked that we were doing that well. I was
thinking to myself just stay with this group and use the energy from
them.
We came up to a aid station and that was when our group split up
some people would stop and drink and eat others would just keep
going or only stop briefly. I was usually one of the faster ones out
of the aid stations. At each aid station we had to call out our bib #'s
so they could record them. After this aid station it was just myself
and 2 other runners. I was behind the other 2. It was a single lane
path at this point so it was hard to pass and I liked having them
around to keep my pace in check. The guy in front of me dropped
his bottle so he stepped out of my way and he never caught back
up to me. So I was running with just the other guy at this point.
At the next aid station the two of us were still together we both
stopped for a drink and we started back up together. This time I
was ahead of him and I was feeling good and before I new it I had
a nice lead over him. So I figured I was on my own from this point
on no looking back. At this point I would say we were at mile 17 or
so. I got to mile 21&22 and there was some huge hills I decided to
power walk them to save energy. I thought to myself I hope they
don't all catch me now. But I'm sure everybody was walking these
hills they were steep. I could feel some pain in my IT band but it
was not slowing me down I just hoped it would hold up till the
finish it did.
The last aid station was around mile 28 and I stopped and got
some Pepsi and M&M's I needed sugar my energy level was getting
low. This really helped and I finished strong. When I crossed the line
the announcer said I was the first 50k runner. I was not sure of that
because I new there was that one runner out in front early in the
race. I learned later that he was disqualified.
We stuck around for the award ceremonies and my friend Mike
took 3rd overall so we were both super happy with our races. In the
picture above he is on the left and I'm on the right.
The course was challenging it had lots of different elements you had
hills, rocks, mud, open fields sandy sections and more. This was a
good course not as hard as some ultra marathons out there but
definitely not easy. I plan on doing more of these in the future for
sure. Maybe even a 50 miler next year.

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 45:16 7:33 average
140 HR average
5:15 pm) 40's cold

West De Pere

11 Miles 1:14:07 6:44 average
152 HR average
5:00 pm) cool upper 40's sunny
Did not plan on running at any certain pace but after the first mile
decided to push the pace. I will make this my last hard work out
for the week. I will go short and easy tomorrow and Thursday.
Take Friday off and race on Saturday.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 48:26 6:55 average
150 HR average
11:30 am) 50's & Windy
45 Miles for the week.

Fox River Trail

13.1 Miles 1:30:01 6:52 average
152 average HR
6:30 am) low 40's cold
Ran a little bit faster than planned but it felt good. HR is still
running a bit high especially when I am not pushing the pace
when I pick up the pace HR doesn't go up that much so that's good.
I think my cold is almost gone. One week till the 50k race. I am
looking forward to it.

Fox River Trail

10 Miles 1:09:55 6:59 average
145 average HR
5:10 pm) 50's Sunny
Feeling much better. HR was not running as high as it has been
lately. I feel like I loss some of my fitness in the last 2 weeks hope
I get it back soon.

UWGB Trail

10 Miles 1:12:00
5:15 pm) cool 50's
Forgot my watch. I don't do that very often. I went by Mike's time.
Ran 2 loops. First one was with just myself and Mike. The second
loop we met up with the 6:00 group. Small group tonight. When we
finished it was already dark out. It was getting hard to see where
you were going. I felt pretty good I still have a cold or something
but it seems to be getting better.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 35:15 7:03 average
151 HR average
5:00 pm) 70's warm
Still not feeling good. I think it's just a cold but it's making it hard
to train. Tonight HR was higher than normal plus I'm sore not sure
why it feels like I ran a marathon. Might take tomorrow off and try
to get better.

UWGB Trail

19 Miles 2:30:27 8:00 average
148 average HR
6:30 am) 50's Sunny
Felt okay for the most part but HR was running higher
than 2 weeks on this same run and pace was 30 seconds
a mile slower. I should have only run 3 loops and not the
4th loop. I really slowed down on the 4th loop. No energy
left. Amazing that when you are sick your HR runs
so much higher even at a slower pace. Hope I get over this
soon. Good news though my heel feels fine.

Rest Day

0 Miles again.
I am feeling very run down no energy. So I didn't run. No sense
in running when I feel like this it will just make it worse. I am
taking tomorrow off as well and will try to run 20 on Saturday.
The good thing is this rest will help with my heel. It has been a
challenging week first the heel problem now I feel like I got a bug.
Hope next week goes better I have a race in 2 weeks.

Fox River Trail

4 Miles 25:05 6:16 avg.
158 avg. HR
5:00 pm) sunny nice
Ran hard from the start. I tried to run on my toes more and
not heel strike to avoid the contact. The good news is my
heel is better. It still hurts some but much better than 24 hours
ago. I will test it tomorrow at UWGB trail and hopefully that goes
good so I will still be able to run long on Saturday at UWGB.

Tonight I went to the running club meeting. We had a guest speaker
it was on nutrition. A topic I need lots of improvement. I learned a
few things and basically I need to due a 180 on the way I eat. I eat
like a non athlete. I know it will help my running it's just a matter of
getting serious about it and taking the time to prepare the foods
rather than eating fast foods or frozen foods all the time. I have
started to eat a little bit better but I am far from where I should be.

Day off

O miles
Unscheduled day off. My heel hurts more today than yesterday.
I'm starting to wonder if it's not Plantar Fascitis? Standing on it
today at work was even painful and when I would walk I was
trying not to put pressure on it. I might not run tomorrow either.
I'm going to wait and see. I want it to heal and running on it will
not help. I have never had Plantar Fascitis so I don't know for sure
if that's what this is or it could just be bruised. Either way it hurts.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 47:24 6:46 avg.
148 avg. HR
5:00 pm) 50's
Felt tired at the start but by mile 4 I was feeling good.
My throat was sore today so I'm not sure if I'm coming
down with something. I hope not. Right heel still sore.
Tried to run more on my toes tonight to avoid the impact.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 36:21 7:16 avg.
143 avg. HR
11:45 am) upper 50's Sunny
Felt surprisingly good. Not sore from yesterday's long run.
The only thing that hurts is my right heel it feels as if I bruised it.
Couple of milestones for me this week.
1. 70 mile week first time.
2. 25 Mile training run my longest.
I am feeling better every week and I should be ready to go
for the 50k run. Looking forward to it.

Kettle Moraine State Park Eagle Wisconsin

25 Miles 3:18:00 7:55 avg.
145 avg. HR
7:45 am) cold at the start upper 30's
warmed up in low 50's by the finish.
Interesting run today. Started out normal enough.
First 6 miles were pretty easy kind of out in the open
not much for hills and lots of tall grass with a single
lane trail going through. That was the Yellow trail then
it ended and we picked up the Orange trail it had more
hills and after a couple miles it turned from packed dirt
to loose sand. The sand was like at the beach very deep
and soft. It was very hard to run in it. I tried to run
up on the shoulder when posible to avoid it. This sand
took a lot of the energy out of me and made for a long
day. We ran the orange trail till about mile 12 and had to
make a decision do we keep going and hope to find another
trail that would take us back to the car or just turn around
and run the 12 miles back. We decided not to risk it and
turned around. Well this would have been a good plan if we didn't
make a wrong turn some where along the line. We ended up running
in circles. We could not find the Yellow trail that would take
us back. Eventually we saw a highway it was highway 67. Well
we parked on highway 67 so we new we could follow that back
to the car. The only thing we didn't know how far it was back to
the car. At this point we had 21 miles in. We ran along the
highway till we hit mile 25. Luckily at mile 25 it happened to
be right in the town of Eagle. There was a gas station so we stoped
and asked how much further. They said about 2 more miles. We
decided we did not want to run anymore so we were going to walk the
rest. As we walked out of the gas station a lady was filling up her car
and said didn't I see you guys on the trail earlier. We got to
talking and told her we ran 25 miles and asked if she could
give us a lift to our car. She agreed she would do it even
though she was not heading in that direction. Well it turned
out to be 3 or 4 miles back. Thank goodness she gave us a ride.
So needless to say it was an interesting run. My body is very sore
and tired. Hope I recover quick.

UWGB Trail

10 Miles 1:17:28
137 average HR
Loop 1) 4.75 miles 36:37 7:41 avg. 136 HR
Loop 2) 4.75 miles 37:13 7:48 avg. 138 HR
.5 mile 4:38
Took it easy tonight. I did not feel real good.
Kind of sluggish. I'm going to take tomorrow off
so I will be fresh for Saturday's long run (23-25)

Howard Y

11 Miles 1:15:17 6:50 avg.
5:30 pm) 3 miles
6:00 pm) 8 miles
mid 50's cloudy cool
Ran 3 miles by myself then joined the running group
at 6:00 for 8 miles. I thought we would run around
7:30 pace especially after the first mile of 7:45.
As we went on each mile got faster. By the last mile
it was basically all out 5:57. Run felt good but I'm
tired. Have not pushed that hard in some time. No HR
info tonight. Probably a good thing. I think I maxed
out the last mile. I will take it easy tomorrow.

West De Pere

9 Miles 1:03:53 7:06 avg.
143 avg. HR
5:30 pm) cool 50's cloudy
Good run a little sore from yesterdays workout.
Had a lot on my mind tonight so running was good
medicine for me. Nice to have a hobby that you can
use to release stress from. I feel much better now.

Fox River Trail

10 Miles 1:04:51 6:29 avg.
155 avg. HR
5:15 pm) cool & cloudy
Goal was to run this at my marathon pace.
I am shooting for a 2:50 marathon in Dec. so that
is 6:30 pace. I ran this run right at 6:30 pace.
It did not feel too bad. However the last few
miles it was more difficult to hold the pace.
I got a little tired. I will try to do this again
in a week or so and see if it gets any easier.
I plan on doing some longer runs like this but
keeping the effort on the easier side for the
first 15 miles or so then increase the pace the
last 5 miles to marathon pace. This will teach my
body to still run fast even when fatigue sets in.

Not sure what I am doing right now I'm training for
a 50k but have a marathon coming up as well and trying
to train for both at the same time. On one hand I have
a 50k trail run my first ultra that I basically am running
just to do it no big goals just finish. And on the other
hand I have a marathon a little over a month after the
ultra which is my "A" race. So I am trying to do some
specific training for both with some trail running,
road running, slower paced runs, faster paced runs, longer
runs, shorter runs. Not sure what I'm doing but I'm having fun!

UWGB Trail

20 Miles 2:30:10 7:30 average
144 avg. HR
50's Sunny Nice!
Ran this with 3 other guys. We are all training
for a ultra. Three of us are doing the 50k and
the other guy is doing a 50 miler up in Door County.
We ran fairly easy pace until the last loop. I felt
good but got tired the last loop. I have run 60 miles
in 5 days that's a lot for me. Plan is to run 25 miles
next Saturday on the course so I can get a feel for it.
We will leave around 4:30 a.m. It's around 2.5 hour drive
each way. Rest day tomorrow.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 36:50 7:22 avg.
140 avg. HR
6:15 am) cold 40's
Legs did not want to move today. I should have
just slept in. Felt tired at work as well.
Long run tomorrow morning 15-20 miles.

Fox River Tail & Lost Dauphin

15 Miles 2 Runs 1:44:47

6:15 am) 5 Miles 36:15 7:15 avg. per mile
It was chilly this morning mid 40's. I wore
gloves and a hat. Resting HR before run was 39.

5:30 pm) 10 Miles 1:08:32 6:51 avg. per mile
70's Sunny Nice.
147 avg. HR. I was surprised my HR was not
higher since I pushed the pace a little.

UWGB Trail

10 Miles 1:14:15
70's sunny Perfect!
Loop 1 4.77 miles 35:06 7:22 avg. 143 avg. HR
Loop 2 4.77 miles 34:53 7:19 avg. 148 avg. HR
.5 mile cool down 4:15
Ran this one on the easier side and I felt great.
Quads are still sore but felt better. This was
a fun run. No music just enjoyed mother nature.
Days like this is why I love running so much!

Fox River Trail

10 Miles 1:12:05 7:12 average
147 average HR
5:20 pm) 70's breezy & sunny
Legs are still sore from Sunday's Half Marathon.
Felt a bit low in energy but that's normal after
racing. I will be good in a couple of days.

Fox Cities Half Marathon

13.1 Miles 1:21:40 *PR* 6:14 average
8:00 am) 50's overcast Perfect Conditions
Mile/Pace
1/6:04
2/6:08
3/6:06
4/6:10
5/6:19
6/6:11
7/6:10
8/6:27
9/6:25
10/6:19
11/6:19
12/6:09
13/6:09
13.1/1:21:40
Great Day felt awesome except for miles 8-11.
I got a side ache and had to slow the pace down.
It went away thank goodness and I was able to finish
strong. I exceeded my goal of 1:22-1:23 so very happy.
I was questioning myself this morning as to why I signed
up for this race. I was not feeling I was in my best shape
but I new I could probably at least improve on my half
marathon from 2 weeks ago. So now that it's over yes I'm glad
I did it. Great course and good crowd support. No Heart Rate
Monitor today. I decided to go without it because I felt it
holds me back in races. I rather go by feel on race day and
if I was wearing it I would probably hold back some if the
heart rate increased too much. I only looked at my pace at
the mile splits again not wanting to now too much info. I let
my body tell me when to speed up or slow down I believe on
race day that's the way to go. I placed 8th overall and 3rd
in my age bracket (35-39). Now I can relax for a day or two.
Packer party tonight. Go Pack!

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 43:38 7:16 average
144 average HR
6:10 am) Mid 50's & Humid
Felt slow on this run I think it was because it was
so humid 94%. I'm taking tomorrow off since I have a
half marathon on Sunday. Waiting around for the cable
guy he is going to install the HD receiver box. So I
will get my channels in High Def. Looking forward to
it. Just in time for the fall season and all the new
shows.

West De Pere

7 Miles 50:17 7:11 average
5:45 pm) 60's sunny
143 average HR

Fox River Trail

9 Miles 1:00:04 6:40 average
5:20 pm) low 70's sunny
Tempo Run
Mile/Pace
1/warm up
2/warm up
3/6:07/160 (goal on these was 6:15)
4/6:12/163
5/6:09/164
6/6:12/165
7/6:13/166
8/cool down
9/cool down
Run felt pretty good. The last two miles of the
tempo run was hard.

Fox River Trail

10 Miles 1:11:53 7:11 average
147 avg. HR
5:45 pm) 70 sunny nice
Felt tired on this run. I was tired before
I even started so I new this would not be
the best run. Hope I feel better tomorrow
I am doing a tempo run.

Lost Dauphin

7 Miles 48:14 6:53 average
6:00 am) cool 40's
Felt good.
Got a new TV today Big Screen 51".
Not really new but new to me. I got it
from my brother. He is getting a new
flat screen TV. The TV is awesome watched
Monday night football with a couple of friends.
Can't wait to watch the Packer games on it.

I did it!

Well it's official I am crazy! I just signed up for
my first ultra marathon 50k 31 miles. I have been
debating whether or not I should do this and finally
said okay I'm just going to do it. So I guess I'm going
to have to do some training. The ultra is October 25th.
It's called the North Face Endurance Challenge. It run
on a trail. I have the link under my race schedule.
Wish me luck.

Fox River Trail

18 Miles 2:09:58 7:13 average
142 average HR
6:00 am) 60's cloudy/drizzle
Ran this with a friend of mine. We ran a nice steady pace.
It was a nice morning no wind and perfect temp. I felt
really good once we got past the first couple of miles.
It usually takes me that long to find my pace and get my
breathing pattern down. Then it was smooth sailing HR was
steady the whole run. When we finished the rain started.
Glad we started early. It was hard getting up so early
but I'm glad I did.

Lost Dauphin

10 Miles 1:08:39 6:52 average
153 average HR
5:40 a.m. 67 degrees Humid
Was dark this morning I ran about 5 miles
before it started to become day light. Not
really a problem though with street lights.
My headlight that I wore did not have much
effect. I like getting these early runs in
but the draw back is at work my legs are tired.
My job requires me to be on my feet the whole
day. I think I will limit my week day morning runs
to 5-7 miles from now on. I will do the longer
ones in the evening. That way I can rest after.
Tomorrow morning I am going to do 16-18 miles.
This will be my longest since the marathon.

No running

0 Miles
I planned on doing 8 miles after work. I got home it
was raining hard and I just didn't have the desire to
run in it. Plus I am tired today I worked hard at work.
I am listening to my body. I will go bed early tonight so
I can get up and do 10 miles in the morning.

Fox River Trail & UWGB Trail

12 miles 2 runs 1:27:41

6:00 am) 7 miles
cold 41 degrees
2 mile warm up
1 mile speedwork 5:59 (HR 163) target 5:49
.5 mile jog
1 mile speedwork 5:51 (HR 166) target 5:49
2.5 mile cool down
Could not get mile repeats to the time I was shooting
for but was close. It was cold and my legs did not
seem to want to run that fast.

6:00 pm) 5 miles 37:25
cool 60's
Ran with group took it easy.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 51:12 7:19 avg. 141 HR avg.
5:15 p.m. sunny low 60's
Took it easy on this run. It actually felt as
hard as when I push it more. I guess my body
is not use to this pace. I normally run 6:45 pace
on these runs. I ran by HR not pace and I wanted to
keep it low as possible.

Fox River Trail & Grant St

2 Runs 9 Miles total 1:00:47

6:15 am) 5 miles 34:04 6:49 average
149 average HR
Felt okay but legs felt heavy.

5:00 pm) 4 miles 26:38 6:39 average
147 average HR
Felt great. Had to hurry up on this run to
get home so I could watch the season opener
for the Packers.

Cheesehead Half Marathon

1:24:30 13.1 Miles 6:28 average
160 average HR 168 max.
upper 50's partly sunny & windy
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:14/151
2/6:21/159
3/6:28/159
4/6:30/160
5/6:26/161
6/6:23/160
7/6:28/162
8/6:28/162
9/6:30/162
10/6:25/163
11/6:25/162
12/6:29/162
13/6:32/163
13.1/?/? 1:24:30
Not the time I was looking for. I was thinking 1:23 or better.
I'm just not in great shape right now. I think part of it is
I did a marathon 3 weeks ago and my legs just are not fresh.
I was happy that I basically held the same pace over the entire
run and my HR was not too high. I can use this as a base and try
to build from this. First time I have run this half marathon it
was well run. It's put on my a group of runners called the
Pace Setters. The course is out on country roads so not much to
look at. My brother and his friend from California did the half
marathon as well. We had a good time. I will do this one again.
Now I need to recover and get ready to do another half marathon
in two weeks. Hope I will be ready.

Fox River Trail

6.5 Miles 43:47 6:44 average per mile
148 average HR
5:15 p.m rain
Ran this in a nice rain not too bad but enough
to be totally wet when I got home. With the rain and
cooler weather my heart rate was lower than normal.
I was able to run fairly fast without it going too
high. I am taking tomorrow off since I have a race on
Saturday it's a half marathon. I don't expect to run
super fast but it will be good to see where I'm at as
far as my fitness level.

Fox River Trail & Howard Y

13.5 Miles Total 2 runs
6:00 a.m) 8 miles 54:30 6:49 average
65 degrees
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:27/138 warm up
2/7:22/147 warm up
3/6:22/159 tempo (goal was 6:14 on each of these)
4/6:17/162 tempo
5/6:10/165 tempo
6/5:58/168 tempo
7/7:18/158 cool down
8/7:34/151 cool down
Good run overall was a little slow on the first
mile of the tempo run but then I got going good.
Second run
6:00 p.m.) 5.5 miles 37:19 6:47 average
149 average HR
68 degrees
1/7:29/133
2/6:57/147
3/6:49/152
4/6:31/154
5/6:06/162
5.5/3:24(6:46)/158
Ran this with a couple guys from the running club.
We said lets run at around 7:30 pace which was fine with
me considering I did a tempo run earlier in the day.
Well that lasted the first mile then we pushed it.

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 44:36 7:25 average
147 average HR
7:00 p.m. Warm mid 80's
I tried to keep this run easy and also keep HR from
going too high. With the heat that was not easy.
Good news it's cooling off later tonight and the
rest of the week is going to be almost cold 60's and
70's. Will be PRT (Perfect Running Temperature).
Tomorrow I will run with the group or do a solo run
with 4 miles at tempo pace. I want to do both. What do
I do? both?

Lost Dauphin

10 Miles 1:08:43 6:52 average
164 average HR
9:00 a.m. 70-80 degrees sunny HOT
I should have started earlier and should have taken
some water. My HR was 10-15 beats higher than
normal due to heat and no water. Last mile I hit
a new high on my HR 175. I kept a even pace though
even at the end when I felt bad. I kept pace under
7:00 minute miles every mile.

Fox River Trail

12 Miles 1:30:38 7:33 average
142 average HR
7:00 a.m sunny and nice 50's
Was planning on running with the Saturday running
group but I only saw a few runners and did not
know them. I decided to run by myself. I went 3 miles
out and 3 miles back stopped at my car and took a
gel and some water then went out again and caught
up with a couple of my friends and ran with them
for a few miles then finished the last 2 miles on
my own. Good run today felt good. I ran first 7
miles in 48:08. This was faster than I wanted to
run but it didn't feel hard. Rest day tomorrow.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 49:23 7:03 average
146 average HR
6:00 a.m.
Woke up at 5:45 am and noticed we are losing more
and more daylight savings. Kind of depressing.
Soon I will be running morning runs and evening
runs in the dark. Except for the weekends. I wish
summer lasted longer like all year.

Diet & Goals

I have decided it's time I finally start eating better.
I am going to start buying healthier foods and start
cooking more. I believe not only will this be healthier
for me but improve my running. I plan on starting after
the Labor Day holiday. I will have to go shopping this
weekend before I start because I don't have any healthy
foods on hand.
I have been very motivated lately to go out and run
but have held back and listened to body as it recovers
from the marathon. I am going to pick the miles back up
starting Monday and I can't wait. I also have set my goals
high. I want to work on building my mileage, adding speed
work, core strengthening exercises and of course the diet
thing. I'm going out on a limb and state I am going for a
2:40 marathon in the spring. I don't know if that is too
aggressive of a goal but I like to set my goals high.
Without goals I do not push myself to my full potential.
I am still trying to see what that is. I hope to keep
improving into my early 40's.

Fox River Trail

8 Miles 55:30 6:56 average
151 average HR
6:30 p.m. partly sunny 70's
I'm going to take tomorrow off. Still not
recovered from marathon. My legs still
have some soreness but getting better.
My blisters on my heels are healed and
not a issue anymore.

Fox River Trail & Grant St

10 miles total 2 runs

6:15 am) Fox River Trail
5 miles 33:08 6:37 average

6:30 pm) Grant Street
5 miles 32:17 6:27 average

Was going to run the second run easy but was feeling
good so I pushed it.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 35:41 7:07 average
First run since last Sunday's marathon. First mile felt
rusty. Each mile felt better. Calves are still sore though.
I will run more this week but still keep the mileage down.
Then the following week I will get on a 14 week schedule
for Memphis Marathon. I will follow it some what I have
a few other races before Memphis so I will make some
adjustments to it. The plan calls for 6 runs a week and
building up to 74 miles a week. Should be good for me.
I have peaked at 63 miles before so this will be a bit
more. Plan calls for some track work as well which I have
not done before and I think will help with my speed.
Good Stuff!

Running Thoughts

I have been doing a lot of reflecting the last couple days on my
run at the Pikes Peak Marathon. I am happy with my race and loved
visiting Colorado. However I am never satisfied it seems. I want
to do better. I know I can. Therefore I think I have decided I will
do it again. I would like to be in better shape next year and run
most of the climb up the mountain and only walk occasionally. Unlike
this year walked most of the climb and ran occasionally. I need to
prevent getting blisters so I can fly on the downhill. If I can
do this I can run this Marathon in 4:30 or better.
I have not run since Sunday and plan on waiting till this Sunday
to give it a go. My blister on my heel is getting much better.
My calves are still sore but also much better. I plan on getting
back into running slowly and gradually building the mileage back.

Pikes Peak Marathon

Sunday August 17, 2008
Woke up at 4:30 a.m. I always like to get up early on race day.
I took a hot shower to wake up. I had a banana and half a bagel
with some peanut butter on it. Drank some Gatorade and water as
well. Gathered all my gear and headed out around 5:45. Drove to
the start line it was about 6/10's of a mile from my hotel.
I could have walked it but the finish line is an additional half
mile down the rode further. It would have been over a mile walk
back to motel after marathon and I figured I would be in no shape
to walk that far. I was right as I will get to later. I got lucky
found a good parking spot near the start. Sat in my car till 6:30.
As I was sitting there I realized I forgot my water bottle that
I was going to carry with me. Too late to go back for it. I got
out of the car and went over to the bag drop and left them my
gear so I would have some dry clothes afterwards. Then I realized
I forgot 2 of my gels in the car. I did not feel like going back to
the car so I did without those 2. I still had 4 with me. I took one
15 minutes before the start. I had 3 left for the run. Normally that
would be fine for me but this is not a 3 hour marathon for me so I
would like to have extra. Standing at the start line I was very
nervous. It was clear sky and you could see the top of Pikes Peak.
It was so far away and it was snow covered. Friday and Saturday it
snowed up on top 2-4 inches. Like this wasn't going to be hard
enough as it was. Not I get to run on snow and ice as well. The
temp. at the start was perfect 50 degrees but I knew that would
change as I climbed up the mountain. The gun went off at 7:00 a.m.
and we were on are way. The first mile is on the street's of Manitou
Springs until you get to Barr Trail. I ran the first mile a little
over 8 minutes. Then as you go to get on the trail it's very steep
and I had to walk up this section so did lots of others. Some would
run but it was using more energy than if you just hike up it. I found
this to be my best option for most of the run up the trail. It was
just to hard to run it in most sections. I was walking faster than
most of the runners that where running it and I wanted to save energy
for above treeline where it was snow covered and cold. Plus I
figured I could save some energy for the descent. Where I could run
the 13 miles down at a fast pace. As you are going up you would have
sections that would be easier than others so I would run when I felt
it was worth the effort and walked the other times. This was not my
strategy going into this race but sometimes you have to make
adjustments and not be stupid and have your ego get in the way. I
thought I would be able to run up the whole way but I didn't know
what thin air would do to me plus running on a treadmill at incline
is nothing like this trail it has rocks, boulders,tree roots, loose
rock and uneven surfaces. At times it was like running up stairs
instead the stairs were rocks. This was my 15Th marathon and I
never had to stop to use restroom but I could not hold it anymore.
I guess I was over hydrated. The weather was fine until I reached
A frame. This is just before you get above treeline. The temperature
then dropped into the low 30's and it started to snow. The last three
miles to the summit are the hardest not because it's the steepest but
because the trail is so rocky and slippery and dangerous. Oh yeah and
not much air either. Made it up to the Summit in 3:18. Not bad
considering I walked most of it. I was probably in around 50th
position out of 800 starters. So now it was time to go down the
mountain and the first 3 miles down was scary. I was slipping and
sliding all over the place and fell twice in those 3 miles. The first
time I slid into a boulder and got a nice bump on my chin. It hurt
but no time for pain I had a race to do. Then about a mile further
down I fell again this time doing the Superman slide face first into
some runners that were on there way up. Luckily no damage just my
pride was hurt this time. So I got up and continued. I was a bit
cautious after that one. I didn't want to go to the ER. Once I got
down below treeline then the rain began and it rained hard. I was
getting soaked and my shoes where getting wet as well. Then it
started thundering and hailing. What's next I thought to myself. I
think I have seen all 4 seasons in one day. I had to relieve myself
again twice in one marathon what's going on? I was running along
and all of a sudden my heel was hurting bad. I thought I had a rock in
my shoe. I continued on but then could not take it anymore. I stopped
took my shoe off and thought where is that rock. Put my shoe back on
and took a few steps and the pain was back again. I did not want to
stop again so I kept running. Now at this point my pace was
slowing every time I landed I was in pain. I dealt with the pain for
a while and stopped again took of the shoe and tried to get rock out
of shoe.Put shoe back on again same thing. I decided to just run and
try to forget about it. I didn't stop again but it was affecting my
running. Runners that I had passed earlier were now flying by me. I
pushed through the pain and finished. This was my goal all along to
finish time was not as important. I would like to have been able to
run the descent faster but what can I do. I did my best that's all that
matters. After crossing the finish line in 5:33:54 73 overall I grabbed
some drink and food. I got my gear and sat down and took off my sock so
I could see what was going on with my heel. Where is that rock I
thought. As it turned out it was not a rock poking me it was a bad
blister It was not pretty. I had a huge blister it covered most of my
heel. I went over to the medical tent to get some help. First time in
15 marathons I needed help afterwards. The guy looked at it and said
he needs to lance the blister. So he grabbed a pair of scissors and
cut it off and then bandaged it up. My other heel hurt as well but the
blister was smaller and not torn open so we left it alone. I guess my
socks got wet and the friction from running downhill caused the problem.
I put body glide on my toes so I would not have problems but didn't
think to put it on my heels. I have never had this happened before.
Lesson learned I guess for next time. I still had the half mile walk
back to my car so I walked on my toes the whole way back to the car.
It took forever to get there. This was a great experience for me and
I will never forget it. As of today I don't know if I will do this one
again. I would say probably not but you never know. I would recommend
this race to others just be prepared it's like nothing else you will
ever do. Today I am still very sore my calves are killing me. My quads
are not that bad though. Heel still sore to walk on. The pain is only
temporary but the memories are forever.

Wednesday - Saturday Colorado visit

I left Green Bay on Wednesday morning and arrived in Colorado
Springs around 1:30 p.m. mountain time. I picked up my rental
car and found a grocery store and picked up a few items for my
stay. My motel had a small fridge and microwave. I then drove
to Manitou Springs only a few miles west of Colorado Springs.
I then checked into my motel. Unpacked a few things and drove
downtown Manitou Springs. This is a very small and tourist town.
So I walked around town for a bit. Found a Mexican restaurant
called The Loop so I decided that would be good for dinner. It
was very good food. I went back to my motel room and relaxed and
watched some Olympics.
Day 2 Thursday August 14, 2008.
Woke up early grabbed some breakfast and headed out. Got on the
Pikes Peak Highway and drove the 19 miles to the summit. This was
quite the experience. I have never driven up a mountain before
and I was a little bit scared. It's not bad the first few miles
but it gets worse the higher you go up plus no guard rails except
in a few spots. I had to be focused on the road and not sight see
too much or I might drive right off. Plus the car a rented was a
economy car with no power. I had to keep shifting to the lower
gears on the steep sections. So after an hour or so I finally made
it to the top. I got out and the temp.was much colder than when I
left the motel. It was in the 40's and windy but nice and sunny
and you could see forever. I took some pictures checked out the gift
shop picked up a few souvenir's. Then I found the Barr Trail and
walked down a bit then back up. This is the trail you run up and
then down in the marathon. The trail head starts in Manitou Springs.
I was finding it hard to breathe on the way back up the trail. The
air is a lot thinner at 14,110'. I went to the car and put on my
Garmin 405 and decided I would time myself one mile down and one
mile back up. Wow that was hard. I could not even run the mile up.
It was steep with rocks and I was having hard time catching my
breath. After the two miles I was tired and breathing harder than
normal. I stuck around for a little longer and decided I would head
back. The drive down was not much easier on my nerves you had to
make sure you did not use the brakes too much or they could
overheat and fail to work. I used the lower gear to keep car from
going too fast and having to apply the brakes. I did a good job. I
stopped at a check point wherethey check the temperature of your
brake pads and mine was 165 degrees that's good. If it's over 300
they make you pullover and wait till they cool off.



I made it down okay and ate some lunch and then drove to the
Garden of the Gods. Below is some pictures. This is neat place
they even have a 10 mile race that runs through here every year.
Lots of trails for walking or hiking.



Afterwards went to Sonic and had dinner. Back to motel to
watch the Olympics and chill.
Day 3 Friday August 15, 2008
Got up drove to Cave of the Winds and did the tour.
Was about a 45 minute tour was good. Pictures below.


Drove to the park where the packet pickup was and got my bib #
and bought a few things at the expo. Then went to a place
called the Cliff Dwellings. This is where the Native Americans
used to live. Some pictures below. Self guided tour.
I drove around some in Colorado Springs then decided to go
back to Manitou Springs and run some on the Barr Trail.
I parked in the lot near the trail head and ran two miles
up then ran two miles down. It felt better than when I tried
running at the summit more oxygen always helps although this
was a very steep section of the trail and my legs felt it
on Saturday. I was a bit concerned if my legs are sore after
4 miles what will 26.2 miles do to them?



Dinner was pasta at the pasta dinner for runners.
Went back to motel and watched more Olympics.
Day 4 Saturday August 16, 2008
Slept in. Cold and raining 50's. Drove around some.
Mostly just hung around the motel. I went to the
pasta dinner again for second time. Talked to a
couple runners at dinner one from Colorado and
the other from Indiana. Both first timers as well.
Went to bed early. Alarm set for 4:30 a.m.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 36:11 7:14 average
141 average HR
6:00 p.m. Cloudy & Humid
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:01/136
2/7:17/142
3/7:23/141
4/7:15/144
5/7:11/146
Last run before heading to airport in the morning.
I arrive in Colorado Springs at 1:30 p.m. I will
then rent a car and drive to Manitou Springs. The
weather looks cold actually for the next few days
50's and 60's warming up into the 70's for the
marathon on Sunday. Low 50's at the start. I like
that. I don't care for the heat anyways as far as
running in it. I'm getting nervous but also very
excited about what lays ahead of me. I will not post
again till Tuesday. So to the 3 people that reads this
come back then I will post race recap and pictures.
Later.

Scray Hill

8 Miles 56:12 7:01 average
6:00 p.m. 70's sunny
155 average HR
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:52/139
2/7:20/155
3/7:46/156
4/7:05/158
5/7:27/158
6/6:26/161
7/6:26/158
8/6:48/159
Did 4 hill repeats on Scray Hill. Felt good.

Fox River Trail

8 miles 56:32 7:04 average
11:00 a.m. sunny nice
150 average HR
Felt tired today. I raced hard yesterday and felt it
today. Less than a week till race day. Next Sunday
morning 7:00 a.m. I leave Wednesday morning. So I will
have a few days to sight see. I'm thinking of visiting
Garden of the Gods, Caves of the Winds, 7 Falls, Olympic
Training Center and of course summit of Pikes Peak. I will
take a bunch of pictures and post some on here.
33 miles for the week yes I'm tapering.

PFC. Ryan Jerabek USMC Memorial Challenge

4 Miles 23:46
3rd overall 1st in age bracket
9:00 a.m. Four Season's Park Hobart WI
Partly Sunny 70's
Mile/Pace/HR
1/5:39/156
2/5:53/165
3/6:11/169
4/5:50/171
This was the 3rd annual run. I have participated in all 3.
The run is a Memorial run for Pfc. Ryan Jerabek and all the
fallen heroes from Northeast Wisconsin. The run is a 4 mile
loop that Ryan would train on to get ready for boot camp.
The run is challenging as it has some good hills on it.
As for the race I was happy with my results. I ran it faster
than the previous 2 years. Mile 3 is the hardest mile you run
up a couple steep hills. Then the last mile is flat. I was
very tired by the finish I looked at my watch and my HR was 174.
That is very high for me. I have only hit 174 one other time.
I believe this is very close to my max HR. So it was a good day
and I saw many of my running buddies and even had some brats and
burgers afterwards.
+ 3 miles for warm up and cool down 7 miles total

West De Pere

8 Miles 53:59 6:45 average
6:00 a.m partly sunny nice
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:10/129
2/7:05/143
3/7:01/144
4/6:47/147
5/6:44/147
6/6:29/148
7/6:24/152
8/6:16/156
Ran each mile faster as the run went on. Was not the plan
but after 5 miles I realized each mile was getting faster
so I decided to try keep running faster the last 3 miles.
I'm getting excited I leave in less than a week for Colorado.
Race day is less than 10 days away. It's almost here!

UWGB Trail

10 Miles
low 80's sunny
Loop 1 counter clockwise
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:10/143
2/7:07/154
3/6:59/154
4/7:43/155
4.75/4:21(6:36)156
33:20 152 avg. HR
Loop 2 clockwise
1/6:48/156
2/6:14/165
3/6:44/165
4/6:01/165
4.75/4:44(5:54)168
30:31 163 avg. HR
1/2 mile cool down total of 10
First loop felt okay but not great. I wanted to push the
second loop tonight and see if I could run it faster
than previous times. My best second loop was 31:07.
Tonight was 30:31 36 seconds faster. I was happy with that.
I still think I can break 30:00 at some point. HR was high
on both loops tonight. Especially second loop I was pushing
about as hard as I could go. Good speed work.

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 42:41 7:06 average
146 average HR
83 sunny/windy 2:00 p.m.
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:04/134
2/7:12/145
3/7:12/147
4/7:01/150
5/7:09/151
6/6:59/154
Good run. Legs felt a bit heavy after yesterday's run.
Was warm and windy.
50 miles for the week.

Pikes Peak ascent time test

13.32 miles 2:35:15
10:00 a.m.
Mile/Incline
0.3/3.2% HR 120
1.25/5.3% HR 137
1.65/16.5% (15%)HR 150
2.8/13.3% HR 153
3.02/12.1%
4.3/12.2% HR 153
5.3/12.0% (61:00 took first break)
5.9/2.5%
7.0/6.6% HR 140
7.6/10.9% HR 148
8.7/11.5% HR 149
9.4/13.3% HR 151
10.2/12.7% (1:55:35 took second break)HR 151
11.3/13.9% HR 147
11.9/15.7% (15%)HR 149
12.2/10.1% HR 150
13.02/10.6% HR 150
13.32/16.1% (15%)(2:35:15) HR 157
The GOOD: I ran slightly faster than 2 weeks ago when I did this.
Last long run on treadmill!!!

The BAD: HR was higher and felt much more tired. Had to walk some
at mile 11.3 to 11.9. I was only running 4.3 mph at the time and
decided to try to walk some so I lowered the speed to 3.8 and
walked for a bit. Kind of good to know that if I get tired on race
day I can walk fairly quick at steep inclines and not lose too much
time and get HR down in the process and recover some. Of course
this is with plenty of air who knows what will happen on the
mountain.Walking and running at altitude will be a whole different
ball game.

Glad this run is over and I am going to start taking it
easy the next 2 weeks. I will still do some higher intensity
workouts but at shorter distances and weekly mileage will decrease.
I am going to take 2 days off next week. I have a 4 mile race on
Saturday so that will be my speed work. Time to go lay down and rest.

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 42:35 7:06 average
6:00 a.m mid 60's and Humid 93%
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:15/127
2/7:06/148 HR was not working properly
3/7:06/139
4/6:56/144
5/7:07/148
6/7:03/146
Good run even though I was not really awake. Did not
sleep good last night. The movie (ultra marathon man)
last night was very good. I thought they did a good
job with it. Dean is amazing!!!
July 235 miles

High Cliff State Park

12 Miles 1:23:43 6:58 average
153 average HR
6:00 p.m. 80's Sunny
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:28/135
2/7:24/150
3/7:18/151
4/6:53/156
5/6:56/157
6/6:51/158
7/6:57/156
8/7:01/157
9/6:46/156
10/6:59/156
11/6:41/156
12/6:27/154
Ran with a co-worker down at High Cliff State Park. First
time I have run there. I liked the trails very much. The
run however did not feel so good. The first 4 miles I felt
tired. Then I started to feel better but not as good as I
would like to have. I never run very well in the heat anyway.
Give me 50 degrees and I'm happy. Tomorrow night going to
see the documentary film about Dean Karnazes the guy who ran
50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. Should be interesting
to see what all he went through to do that. I can't imagine
doing back to back marathons much less doing it 50 times.

Treadmill

6 Miles 62:30
149 average HR
Mile/Speed/Incline/HR
1/7.0/2%/132
2/6.0/10%/148
3/5.5/12%/153
4/5.2/12%/153
5/4.8/15%/157
6/6.0-7.0/0%/142
Hard run like usual. Some improvement over
previous runs of same distance and incline.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 52:29 7:29 average
138 average HR 147 max HR
6:00 p.m. sunny mid 70's
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:16/134
2/7:23/141
3/7:29/140
4/7:29/140
5/7:29/139
6/7:39/139
7/7:42/139
Goal was to run this easy and not to push it.
I wanted to keep it at 140 and I was right on.
Good run. 12 Tomorrow at High Cliff State Park.
Have not run there before should be fun.

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 47:25 6:46 average
152 average HR
4:15 p.m. low 80's sunny & warm
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:11/136
2/6:50/147
3/6:50/151
4/6:44/154
5/6:40/157
6/6:44/160
7/6:23/163
Started a bit sore from yesterdays run but loosened up
fairly quickly. I pushed the pace a little bit harder
than I should have especially the last 3 miles. Felt
good though.
63 Miles for the week. Most in a week for me.

7 Hills Rd

16 Miles 1:57:42 7:21 average
152 average HR 164 max
2:30 P.M. low 80's sunny and breezy
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:53/138
2/7:14/151
3/7:06/152
4/7:38/152
5/7:22/154
6/7:06/153
7/7:45/156
8/7:34/152
9/7:25/153
10/7:12/150
11/7:16/153
12/7:02/155
12.41/7:09/(2:58)/157
13.41/7:49/148
14.41/7:29/154
15.41/7:29/156
16/7:15/(4:23/159
Drove 45 miles south to do this run on a road called 7 hills.
The road is 8 miles in length and it has 7 major hills in that
8 mile stretch. Running down some of these was just as hard as
going up because you had to do some breaking just to keep from
going out of control. This was a hard run. I was breathing hard
from the start. I was thinking to myself what have I got myself
into. As the run went on I settled down a bit. Never really found
much of a rhythm though. Soon as you would start to feel good
then you would have to climb another hill. Overall I'm happy with
this run. Got a late start and the sun was at full force. At least
it was not humid. Will do this run again just not in the near future.
The picture of the hills does not do it justice. Windmills were all
over the place. Kind of neat.

Fox River Trail

6 Miles 43:12 7:12 average
141 average HR
6:15 a.m. mid 60's Humid
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:11/130
2/7:18/141
3/7:12/144
4/7:05/145
5/7:11/146
6/7:12/146
Okay run. Felt like my breathing was harder than it
should have been for the pace. Long run tomorrow.

Fox River Trail

9 Miles 1:03:37 7:04 average
146 average HR
6:30 p.m 70's sunny nice
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:12/135
2/7:11/145
3/7:10/146
4/7:07/147
5/7:05/148
6/7:04/148
7/6:53/148
8/6:59/149
9/6:54/150
Felt good tonight.

UWGB Trail

10 Miles 1:10:24
Loop 1 clockwise
4.75 miles 33:39 145 average HR
Loop 2 counter clockwise
4.75 miles 32:45 152 average HR
1/2 mile cool down
Legs were tired from yesterdays run so I kept this
on the easier side.

Fox River Trail

15 Miles 1:47:02 7:08 average
5:45 p.m. 75 degrees light rain
148 average HR
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:11/138
2/7:23/148
3/7:12/147
4/7:06/147
5/7:09/148
6/7:06/148
7/7:10/149
8/7:08/151
9/7:07/148
10/7:06/148
11/7:06/149
12/7:07/149
13/6:52/150
14/7:05/151
15/7:04/150
Felt good most of the run my energy levels seemed
to come and go at times. I just tried to keep HR
between 148-152. Did a good job on that. I did not
drink as much as I should have just 16 oz. on the run.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 35:57 7:11 average
3:00 p.m. sunny Hot 82 degrees
149 average HR
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:57/137
2/7:05/150
3/7:10/152
4/7:20/153
5/7:21/154
Tried to keep HR down but with the heat & humidity
it was a challenge. HR went up every mile and pace
went down every mile.
45 miles for week. Ran 5 days this week. Next week
will be 6 days and around 60-65 miles. Then it will be
time to start tapering.

Pikes Peak Ascent Time Trial

13.32 miles 2:36:34 + .68 cool down total 14 miles 2:43:24
9:00 a.m.
Mile/Incline
0.3/3.2%
1.25/5.3%
1.65/16.5% (15%)
2.8/13.3%
3.02/12.1%
4.3/12.2%
5.3/12.0% (63.22 took first break to change clothes)
5.9/2.5%
7.0/6.6%
7.6/10.9%
8.7/11.5%
9.4/13.3%
10.2/12.7%
11.3/13.9% (2:12:49 took second break to change shirt)
11.9/15.7% (15%)
12.2/10.1%
13.02/10.6%
13.32/16.1% (15%) (2:36:34)
14/0%/(2:43:24)
I kept track of my HR info on each split but I accidentally
deleted it. It was 145 to 150 the entire time. Did not
push real hard just kept it steady. I had to stop to change
clothes 2 times because the were soaked. I'm happy with
this run an plan on doing it one more time in 2 weeks.
Drank about 90 oz water-Gatorade, 2 bananas, 3 Gels, energy
bar and still lost 3 lbs.

Treadmill

6 Miles 64 minutes
5:30 a.m.
Mile/Incline/Speed/HR
1/2%/7.0
2/10%/6.0/146
3/12%/5.2/150
4/12%/5.0/151
5/15%.4.5/153
6/0%/7.0-8.0/144
First time running on treadmill before work.
Got up at 5:00 a.m. Felt okay but still hard
workout. Only 30 days till marathon. After next
weekend I will start tapering. Looking forward
to it.

Fox River Trail

10 Miles 1:07:17 6:44 average
5:15 p.m. HOT & Sunny 86 degrees 92 Heat Index
155 average HR 171 max HR
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:11/132
2/6:54/146
3/6:38/151
4/6:39/155
5/6:30/159
6/6:39/156
7/6:49/161
8/6:50/162
9/6:41/164
10/6:25/168
Ran with a co-worker.
It was HOT one tonight! We still pushed the pace though.
HR was high due to pushing hard in the heat. I don't like
running in these conditions but I guess it will make me
adapt to it better. Makes you appreciate more those days
when there is a chill in the air and you have to work to get
a sweat going.

UWGB Trail

10 Miles 1:10:41
upper 70's sunny
Loop 1 counter clockwise
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:17/135
2/7:12/150
3/7:21/150
4/7:19/151
4.75/5:01(6:48)152
34:11 147 avg. HR
Loop 2 clockwise
1/6:59/153
2/6:55/159
3/7:06/160
4/6:17/162
4.75/4:14(6:14)162
31:30 158 avg. HR
1/2 mile cool down total of 10
First loop was slower than usual and it felt hard.
Second loop I pushed hard and felt okay. Legs felt heavy
tonight.

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 36:14 7:15 average.
2:30 p.m. low 70's partly sunny and windy
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:05/No HR was not working correctly.
2/7:13/142
3/7:11/142
4/7:21/142
5/7:23/143
Kept it easy after yesterdays effort. Legs still sore
from yesterday.
57 Miles for the week.

Howard Hills

15 Miles 1:46:30 7:06 average
150 avg. HR 160 max.
8:30 a.m. sunny low 70's
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:33/130---9/7:09/154
2/7:11/147---10/7:02/154
3/7:08/152---11/7:17/150
4/6:36/149---12/7:01/150
5/7:19/155---13/6:59/151
6/6:58/152---14/7:03/151
7/7:01/152---15/6:46/153
8/7:26/154
Ran 1st mile as warm up then ran 6 hill repeats up
Shawano Ave. by AMS in Howard. Miles 9.5 - 15 were
basically flat with some small hills. HR was in the
157-159 range going up the hills. Good run today felt
better after first 2 hill repeats.

Fox River Trail

Thursday July 10, 2008
6 Miles 43:47 7:12 average
5:15 p.m. cloudy 141 avg HR
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:29/131
2/7:12/140
3/7:21/143
4/7:15/145
5/7:25/146
6/7:02/147
Seven days in a row of running. Taking Friday off.
Long on Saturday with hill repeats.

Mountain Bay Trail

16 Miles 1:55:23 7:12 average
145 avg HR
5:45 p.m. 70's sunny nice
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:19/133----9/7:16/144
2/7:25/144----10/6:54/144
3/7:16/147----11/6:50/149
4/7:10/148----12/7:05/146
5/7:22/147----13/7:19/148
6/7:11/147----14/7:18/148
7/7:08/146----15/7:13/147
8/7:22/145----16/7:08/148
Good run. Kept HR under 150 every mile.

Treadmill Run

5 Miles 54:00
6:15 p.m.
Mile/Incline/Speed/HR
1/2%/7.0
2/10%/5.7/145
3/12%/5.2/151
4/15%.4.5/154
5/0%/6.0/135
I usually do 6 on Tuesdays but I was not feeling great
so I listened to my body. Tried to keep HR lower as well
after yesterdays run with higher HR than I should have
run it at. I didn't listen yesterday. Live and learn.

UWGB Trail

Monday July 7 2008
10 Miles 1:09:00
5:30 p.m mid 80's Hot & Humid
Loop 1 33:00 4.75 miles
Loop 2 31:56 4.75 miles
1/2 mile cool down
HR was higher than normal due to the conditions
and me pushing the pace harder than I should have.
Did not wear HR monitor on the second loop. I know it
was high and did not want to see it.

Fox River Trail

6.5 Miles 45:47 7:02 average
147 avg. HR 155 max.
10:30 a.m. 75 sunny
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:55/135
2/7:03/146
3/7:04/149
4/6:58/150
5/6:55/151
6/7:15/151
6.5/3:35(7:03)/151
Okay run but felt tired from yesterdays run.
55 miles for the week.

Treadmill Run

13 Miles 2:20:00
10:00 a.m.
Mile/Incline/Speed/HR
1/2%/7.0
2/5%/6.5/145//////8/12%/5.2/150
3/10%/5.5/150////9/12%/5.2/150
4/10%/5.5/152////10/12%/5.2/150
5/10%/5.5/152////11/15%/4.7/151
6/10%/5.5/151////12/15%/5.0/155
7/12%/5.2/148////13/0%/6.0/130
Good run but very hard. Tried to keep HR in the
low 150's. Drank about 45 oz. during the run and had a gel
before and at the 1 hour mark. Weighed when I got home and
was 147. I think I was around 152 before the run so yes I
lost lots of water weight. Need to drink more before run
and during.

The Fox Firecracker 5k

3.1 Miles 17:47 5:43 average
8:00 a.m sunny PERFECT
Mile 1 5:47
Mile 2 5:41
Mile 3 5:45
Mile 3.1 :33 (5:20)
Good run only 8 seconds of PR. Course was challenging.
Placed 5th overall. This was the first annual run put on
by the Fox Cities Triathlon Club. They did a Awesome Job!!!
Great turnout over 500 runners! Lots of good food at the
finish and the t-shirts are awesome. Rode down with my
brother he ran it as well. It was a good time. Can't wait
till next year!
2 Mile warm up 5 miles total.
Coolest mailbox in the world! My nephew painted this for
my brother.

Fox River Trail

15 Miles 1:43:13 6:53 average
6:00 p.m. cloudy 60's
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:00---------10/6:41/149
2/6:52/145----11/6:48/149
3/6:56/148----12/6:50/150
4/6:56/149----13/6:46/148
5/6:57/147----14/6:47/151
6/7:09/145----15/6:27/154
7/7:09/147----148 avg. HR
8/7:03/147
9/6:44/149
Great Run! Felt good. HR was nice and steady.

Treadmill Run

6 Miles 63:00
Mile/Incline/Speed/HR
1/2%/7.0-7.5
2/10%/6.0/155
3/12%/5.0/150
4/12%/5.0/154
5/15%/4.5/158
6/0%/7.0-9.0/156
Okay run. Sweated alot.

UWGB Trail

9.5 Miles 1:04:27 6:47 average
5:30 P.M. 70's sunny
Loop 1 Counter Clockwise
Mile/Pace/HR
1/6:52/139
2/7:17/155
3/6:50/155
4/6:49/156
4.75/5:01 (6:55)/158
4.75 Miles 32:50 6:53 average
Avg HR 152
Loop 2 Clockwise
1/6:42/153
2/7:00/156
3/7:26/161
4/6:26/161
4.77/4:34 (6:12)/165
4.75 Miles 31:37 6:44 average
Avg HR 158
Ran with a co-worker. He is fast this was a easy pace for him.
Legs felt a little heavy from yesterday's run.

Fox River Trail

16.5 Miles 1:53:21 6:52 average
9:30 a.m. 60's light rain.
Mile/Pace/HR
1/7:02/135-----10/6:47/150
2/6:47/149-----11/6:59/148
3/6:41/152-----12/6:51/149
4/6:50/152-----13/6:54/148
5/6:51/151-----14/6:46/149
6/6:52/152-----15/6:43/152
7/6:51/152-----16/6:58/151
8/7:07/151-----16.5/3:25(6:47)151
9/6:57/150-----149 average HR
------------------155 max HR
My HR was very steady today did not change much at all
the whole run it was between 148 and 152. That's a good sign
especially since I only drank 30 oz. on this run. Plus with
the race yesterday I figured it would be all over.
60 Miles on the week.
Less than 50 days till PPM !!!