Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Fox River Trail

5 Miles 35:21 7:04 average per mile
5:45 pm) upper 70's
First run since Saturday. I'm still very sore. I am getting
better each day though. Will look to take it easy for a little
while. My next race is August 22nd so I have over a month to
prepare for it.

b/a10/240

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Dances with Dirt Baraboo, Wisconsin

50 Miles 9:54:07 11:53 average per mile
8th Overall 2nd Age Group (35-39)
5:30 am) Sunny Warm
This was one long day of running/walking. I have never been
on my feet in a race for over 7:13 so this was much longer.
I would have to say this was the toughest race I have ever
done even harder than Pike Peak marathon due to the time
on my feet, the course and the heat. I also had a shoe foot
problem. My shoe at around mile 27 started to rub against my
ankle and became so bad I couldn't run even though I felt
good at that point and wanted to. Not sure why it was rubbing
on my ankle like it was. I was wearing Brooks Cascadia's that
I am new to. I did a 20 mile run in them with no problems.
So I had a drop bag at mile 34 so I got to change my shoes
then to my Brooks Adrenaline trail shoes. That was a life
saver. I was able to run again without pain. Not much else
happened from that point on to the finish other than running
when I could and walking all the hills. I did have one fall
at around mile 48. I tripped on a tree root and fell off the
trail into the grass. I immediately got a cramp in my calf
and couldn't get up for a couple of minutes. I'm bummed
about that because I could have finished in 6th place. The
6th and 7th place finishers where both under 2 minutes
faster than me and the one was in my age group. He should not
have even been in front of me as I passed him with 4 miles to
go and he never passed me even when I went down. He cut the
course short. He admitted at the finish line that he must
have missed part of the course. It's not hard to miss a turn
that late in the race when you are exhausted. I got lost
once on the race but after running in the wrong direction
for a couple of minutes I figured it out and went back to
where I missed the turn.
The course was brutal you start with a 4.5 mile loop that
takes you back to the start before heading out again. The loop
was up a ski mountain and then back down. So basically your
walking in the first my of a 50 miler. Then you run 2 loops
around Devils Lake. These 2 loops are not much easier you
have some steep climbs up rock like steps. Once you get to
the top the views were amazing. You could look down and
see the lake and all the trees below you. I wish I could
have stopped and enjoyed it. I didn't have a camera on me
but wish I had. After you run these 2 loops you start
running back towards the start but you don't get to finish
they make you run the original 4.5 mile loop back up the ski
mountain.
Will I run this again probably not. Was it fun well sort
of. I was sick afterwards. I couldn't do anything. I ate
some watermelon that's all that my stomach could handle.
I did jump in the lake to clean off somewhat didn't
want to be to smelly for the 3 hour drive home. Mike and
I did stop later and I got some real food in my belly.
By the way Mike was 11th overall in the 50k and 1st in
his age group. I wish I would have done the 50k. They
even gave runners a chance at mile 25 to drop down to the
50k distance but I didn't.
This morning I'm very sore and can hardly walk. I think I
need a few days off. Up next is Pikes Peak marathon. So
at least I got a great training run in yesterday for that.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Mid Valley Dr

6 Miles 39:11 6:31 average per mile
7:45 pm) 70's Humid!
Was going to run around 5:30 but decided to wait for it to
cool off. Then it started raining so waited for it to stop.
I felt good on this run probably because I had not run since
Monday morning.

b/a10/235

Monday, July 5, 2010

Fox River Trail

7 Miles 47:14 6:44 average per mile
8:45 am) 70's cloudy
Met up with Mike this morning. We both raced yesterday so I
figured he would want to run slow. Well we ran slow for 1 mile
after that he was wanting to push the pace. I kept telling
him we should slow down well that never happened. Last mile
was 5:59. Not much planned this week I will run Wednesday
and Thursday that's it.

b/a10/229

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Kaukauna 5k

3.1 Miles 17:52 5:45 average per mile
9th Overall out of 1218 2nd in age group 35-39
8:00 am) warm & windy
Not my best race for sure. I made a huge mistake from the
start. I didn't get a good starting position and was
immediately way off the lead pack from the start. I had
to use a lot of energy to try and get around slower runners.
I hit mile 1 in 5:50 much slower than anticipated and I
was already winded. I just struggled the rest of the way
to try and hold on. I did pass runners the entire run
and was not passed by anyone.
Time to rest up for my 50 mile ultra Saturday. I will do
very little this week I want to be as fresh as possible for
this race. It's going to be a tough one with my lack of long
runs and not doing any serious hill running.

35.75 miles for the week.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Pulaski

10 Miles 1:17:50 7:25 average per mile
6:00 am) upper 60's Sunny
Ran with a group of 10 guys today. Funny thing I was the young
one at 39 years old. Good to feel young again. We started out
pretty easy first mile was 8:24 then we picked it up some from
there. At mile 4.5 Scott and I were running alone and we picked
the pace up some more but not too much. Glad to get the run done
early will be a warm one today.
Tomorrow still planning on doing a 5k hope to do well but who
knows I have not run a 5k since I did this one 2 years ago.

b/a10/230

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Fox River Trail

8 Miles 52:39 6:34 average per mile
5:30 pm) mid 70's sunny
Was going to run on the treadmill but changed my mind it was just
to nice outside to run indoors. I would have done incline but
maybe that would have been a bad idea anyway. My legs were a bit
sore from yesterdays track workout.
I felt okay tonight after a few miles. Legs were heavy and did
not want to move. I ended up feeling good the last 3 miles and
ran them hard. I can't seem to just go out and run a whole run
easy. Not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe
neither? I do take off 1-2 days a week so I don't think I really
need a lot of slower running. Now if I ran 7 days a week I would
definitely need to learn to have some easy runs.

b/a10/220