The First Bike Ride of the Year

I like to go around lakes.  Maybe its because they provide a natural loop and make it easy to plan a route.  Maybe its because they don't let me wuss out part way through a workout.  Once I'm half way around one, its not like I can take a shortcut home.  Maybe it's just because they're nice to look at.  So, I suppose I'm fortunate to live in Minnesota where you can't help but trip over one whenever you leave your front step. 

On Wednesday, I did a nice long run around Medicine Lake.  So, naturally, when I did my first outdoor ride of the year, I headed towards Lake Minnetonka.  This was just going to be enough of a ride to knock the rust off my legs and enjoy the day. 

Lake Minnetonka is popular for local cyclists.  The roads are in good shape, the shoulders are wide and drivers are fairly tolerant of cyclists sharing their asphalt.  Plus, there's no shortage of little towns where you can stretch your legs and grab a bite to eat.  I stopped in Wayzata for a couple of minutes and snagged a photo of this adventurous fellow out kite-skiing.  He was waaaaay out there, but he was hauling tail. 

Then, immediately after I snapped a photo of my kite-skiing friend, a freight train came by and blocked my view of the lake.  So, I grabbed a shot of Rusty by a melting snow bank instead.

In any event, I hopped back on the road and continued around the eastern half of the lake.  It was a nice day and there were several other cyclists out there enjoying the warm weather.  Hey, for us in Minnesota, 50 degrees IS warm weather.

After rounding the lake, I continued east towards town and then back up north to get home.  Sure, it wasn't a 6-hour ride - I'll have plenty of chances for those in a month or two - but it was great to feel the wind and see something other than the inside of my own house. 

When I got home, my bike was filthy from all of the sand and crud still out on the roads, but I didn't care.  It was totally worth it.

Eew.  Gross.

Fresh air is good for you? Really? Yes. Really.

Spring is on its way.  Is it here in full swing?  Well, no, not yet.  Morning's are chilly, there's snow in the yard and foolhardy ice fishermen are still wandering out onto the lakes.  However, this last week, it felt like we've finally turned the corner.  Daylight savings is now in our favor.  For the most part, running paths are clear and the puddles left from melting snow no longer drown running shoes.  Plus - and this is my favorite part - I no longer need to bundle up before running.  On Wednesday I wore shorts. Yes, shorts.
I was so excited for doing a long outdoor run that I re-worked my training plan to do it a day early.  The thermometer read 53 degrees when I left the house, so it was a perfect day for shorts and a long-sleeved top.  I headed out on one of my favorite routes around Medicine Lake.  There's a good variety of terrain ranging from local streets, to paved bike paths, dirt paths and even two boardwalks.  There are a couple nice long hills.  One is along the west side of the lake and the other is on the north end as you climb out of French Regional Park.

The first long run of the year.

My training planned called for a nice easy run.  My high school cross-country coach called these "LSD Runs" for Long Slow Distance.  The idea is to build your endurance base with the added benefit of burning a heckuva lot of fat.  Last year, I would have kept a close eye on my heart rate and then backed off if it got much over 160 beats per minute.  This year, I'll still look at my heart rate at the end of the workout, but during the run I'm going more by feel.  On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1=slow walking and 10=running like a bat out of hell, I was aiming for about a 6.  

Again, the weather was right in my wheelhouse: warm enough to not freeze my nubbies and cool enough to keep from sweating like a pig.  I beat feet down towards the lake.  There was snow on either side of the path, but no ankle-twisting ice to worry about.  After my legs warmed up, I stopped on the first boardwalk for a little light stretching.  Then, I headed along the west end of the lake, the second half of which is essentially a 2-mile long uphill.  Yes, there was a little plodding involved, but I tried to stay light on my feet. 

When I turned to head east, I noticed the temperature drop quite a bit.  The wind was blowing from the south - over what is essentially a 3 mile long ice cube.  It wasn't terrible, but I was thankful to climb out of the park and away from the lake again.  As I finished out the last couple of miles I did a little math in my head and figured I could wrap up this long run with an average mile split of under 9:00. 

Now, my last 10-mile run was at the Monster Dash last fall, and I finished that with splits of 8:56.  Well, would you believe that I polished off that 10.4 mile 'easy' training run in under 1:33 which gave me splits of 8:56?  Well, it's nice to know that all those hours on the dread-mill this past winter were good for something.  I'll take it. 

Thursday called for a short run and a quick bike.  My legs were still barking at me after the long run the day before, so when I hit the road again, I took it REALLY easy.  My legs warmed up after a few miles, but I'm a little worried about my abs.  My lower abs were still plenty sore - right along the left side of my belt-line and getting dangerously close to my special places. There wasn't any pain during the 60-minute spin session, just while running.  Strange.  I'll have to keep an eye on it and see the doc if it doesn't go away by next week.  I don't want it to be some kind of weird hernia or something.

Friday was a rest day.  That night it was just me, The Wife, some Chinese food and the NCAA basketball tournament.  Awesome.

Today was my first outdoor bike ride of the year.  It's past my bedtime though, so I'll tell you about that tomorrow.

G'night!

A Late-Season Ride around Lake Minnetonka

In Minnesota, November weather can be a real crap shoot.  Athletes around here know that we're working on borrowed time.  Make no mistake.  The snow is coming.  Sure, the hardest of the hard-core will keep running and cycling even if it means crampons and studded tires.  Us mortals though, well, we have several months of treadmill work and trainer sessions ahead of us.  Ugh.

On the other hand, sometimes November will bless you with a perfect fall day.  It'll be cool enough to demand an extra layer or two, but warm enough so that you never feel chilled.  That's what I got today, and I sure wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

The wind was coming from the South and West, so naturally, I started by heading South and West.  I wanted to earn a good tailwind for the 2nd half of the ride.  The first stop was the boardwalk that runs along the Southern edge of Medicine Lake.

 

Then, I kept heading South and West towards Lake Minnetonka.  My aim was to circle the southern half of the lake, so I hopped onto highway 101 and took it to Minnetonka Boulevard where I could follow the lake shore into Excelsior.

The roads around the Western half of the lake are excellent for cyclists.  The shoulders are wide, the traffic usually keeps it below 40 MPH, drivers are courteous and there are usually plenty of other riders out there.  During the summer, I usually ride these roads at least 3 times per week.  It's good stuff.  In any event, I kept following the shore line until it turned East and I came into Wayzata.  Be careful in this town.  The local authorities are notorious for ticketing cyclists that don't come to a complete stop at stop signs.  There's no rolling through allowed.  They want you stopped, un-clipped and with a foot on the pavement.  Don't get me wrong, they're doing the right thing.  If I want to use the roads, I should follow the same rules that everyone else has to.  I just wish all the motorists that rolled through stop signs got tickets too.

After passing through Wayzata, it was only a two-mile jaunt until I could hook up with the same trail system that would eventually take me back to Medicine Lake, and then home.

I couldn't really ask for more.  Sure, soon it'll be nice to have another goal to work towards.  You know, something at which I can focus my effort.   But sometimes it's fun just to enjoy biking, because, well, I actually DO enjoy biking.

Team Ortho Monster Dash 10-Miler Race Review

Pre-Race
I'm used to races starting at around 7am, meaning that I'm usually getting out of bed by 5:00.  So, you can imagine how good an 8:30 start on Saturday felt.  After a bowl of raisin bran and a a quick shower, I was out the door and on my way to South Minneapolis.  The course was point-to-point, which means we started at Lake Nokomis and finished several miles away at the Lake Harriet Band Shell.  Since I like to get to races early, I got a nice parking spot near the start line.

One lap around the lake, then down the parkway to a finish at the North end of Lake Harriet.

Since this was a point-to-point, there was a gear bag drop.  I stuffed my warmups and a clean t-shirt into a bag, and dropped it off so the officials could hauled it to the finish and my things would be waiting for me when I was done.  Most of the fun prior to the race (and during, and after the race) was people watching.  There were over 1900 folks in my race and another 3500 doing the 1/2 Marathon - and at least half of them were in costume.  I was dressed in my customary 'Man in Running Clothes' costume, but others were in some very elaborate get-ups.  Some of the most common costumes were Sesame Street characters, super heroes and, believe it or not, Thing 1 and Thing 2 - LOTS of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Do you have 2 red shirts, 2 white circles, 2 blue wigs and a friend?  Well, then you can be Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Now, I should mention that in the past, the course was an out-and-back, meaning that the start and finish line were both at Lake Harriet.  The course for both the 10-mile and the 1/2 Marathon was recently changed, and by 'recently' I mean 'within the last couple of weeks'.  As a result, some of the logistics for the event were a little, well, sloppy.  For example, there were only about 12 pot-o-potties at the 10-mile start area for 1900+ racers.  When there were only 5 minutes remaining until the start and several hundred people were still waiting to use the can, I knew that things were in bad shape.  It got to the point where people were squatting in the reeds near the lake.  Not fun.  I was feeling modest, so I decided to wait my turn.  The gun went off and I was still in line.  Ugh.  I wasn't too worried though - the race was chip-timed, so the clock wouldn't start for me until I crossed the timing mat.  In any event, I was eventually able to 'do my duties' and jog towards the start.

The Race

Getting stuck in line at the port-o-potties turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  Most of the racers were already out on the course when I started, so there wasn't nearly the crowd there could have been during the first few miles.  My goal for the day was a sub-1:31:00.  That meant holding splits of 9:05.

The plan was to run the first few miles conservatively, push harder for miles 6 through 8 and then hold on for dear life for the last 2 miles.

Mile 1: 9:01
I felt great, the weather was perfect and there were mostly clear roads ahead of me.  Other than dodging a few walkers, it was smooth.

Mile 2: 9:06
I was starting to catch up to a few more people, but it still wasn't bad,  I just tried to stay light on my feet and enjoy the day.

Mile 3: 9:12
We had just finished our lap around the lake.  It was starting to get a little crowded.  The running still felt easy though - perhaps a little too easy.

Mile 4: 9:09
This mile included one of the courses only significant uphills.  My time was pretty close to target, but I felt like I could squeeze out a little more effort without blowing a gasket.

Mile 5: 8:52
Ahh.  That's more like it.  I was in full-blown cruise control at this point.  The hardest part was passing runners in front of me.  I didn't want to be rude.  These folks wanted to have just as much fun as I did.  Though, it was a little frustrating having to weave through traffic.

Mile 6: 8:57
Cruise control was holding steady.  Whenever my Garmin told me my pace was dipping, I took a few quick steps to bring my speed back up


Mile 7: 9:00
The course was downright crowded at this point.  I tried to grab a drink at an aid station, but everyone seemed to want to stop at the tables rather than running through.  I said 'screw this' and just held on a couple more miles until the next station.

Mile 8: 8:52
By now, I was getting pretty pumped.  There was one pretty beefy uphill, but I managed to plug through it.  There were still tons of other racers on the road, and I had resorted to hopping up on the curb from time to time to get around everybody.  Note to other racers: if you are going to wear a costume, please don't choose one with WINGS.  It's hard enough to get around you on a normal day, but those wings make you about 5 feet wide.

Mile 9: 8:53
More of the same - I'm still pumped and the course is still crowded.  There's not much left to do here but gut it out to the finish.

Mile 10: 8:29
Okay.  I REALLY tried to speed things up for the last mile.  I was still passing people like crazy, but managed to avoid any accidents.  The crowds were great.  There were hundreds of people lining either side of the street for the last 1/2 mile.  I tried to 'Hulk Hogan' the crowd again, but I don't think they got it.  My Garmin read 1:29:30.  Not only did I meet my goal, but I broke 90 minutes to go along with it.  Sweet!

Mile 10.1: :40
Yep.  The course ran just a little long, or at least that's what my Garmin told me, and who do you think I'm gonna trust?  I hit the finish line and stopped my Garmin - 1:30:10.  Not bad for a fun little run.


Post Race

There wasn't a whole lot to this.  I got my bag, stripped out of my grodies and threw on a dry shirt.  The 5K racers were ready to go, so I decided to hang around to watch the start - it was good for a little more people watching and interesting costumes.  Some even dressed up their dogs for the '5K-9'.  I could almost see the Bark 'n' Sniffer at home rolling her eyes.

Shuttle buses had been arranged to transport the 10-mile and 1/2 Marathon racers back to Lake Nokomis.  I moseyed on over to the pickup site.  I thought, hey, this'll be great, I can grab a lift and make it home by noon.  Then I saw the line.  Crap.  Evidently, there were only 2 buses arranged for the 5400+ racers that needed a ride.

I ended up waiting in line for just under 2 hours.  Yes.  I waited in line longer than I actually ran the race.  Were I smart, I would have packed my cell phone and wallet in my gear bag and simply called a cab.  Shoot, I probably could have invited a few strangers to share the cab to keep the cost down.  Oh well.  At least I got to chat with some other friendly running folks.

In the end, I had a great day.  Sure the logistics cramped things up a little bit, but the running itself went really well.  Plus, the swag was top-notch - and you KNOW how much I like my swag.  We all got running hoodies and medals with skulls on 'em.  Nice.

The only thing left to do now is to pick some more races.  The Wife was out of town visiting her dad in Tampa.  I'm hoping that if I play my cards right, I can convince her to let me do Ironman-Florida in November, 2011.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Getting Psyched About Running

For those of you who aren't from around the Twin Cities, you probably don't know about the incredibly AWESOME weather we've been enjoying for the last couple of weeks.  This time of year is usually when God flips the season switch from 'Summer' to 'Freeze-your-butt-off'.  This year, we've been blessed with sunny days and highs in the mid 70s.  If it wasn't for the fact that the sun starts to set at 6:30pm, you'd think it was June.

Since the weather is gorgeous, but the daylight is limited, I've been doing a lot more runs lately.  Yesterday, I did my first long run (more than 8 miles) since the Ironman.  My aim was to just get out and stretch my legs and 'see how it went'.  Unfortunately, my Garmin was out of juice, so I had to do the run 'al fresco' - no time, no heart rate, just me and the road.  So, I made a mental note of the time on the microwave and took off to run around Medicine Lake.

The run was great.  It was kinda nice not to have constant reminders of how fast (or slow) I was going.  I tried to keep track of how long I stayed stopped at stoplights and drinking fountains so I could subtract that from my total time and get a general idea about how my pace was.  I was a little surprised that there weren't more people out there, considering now nice it was, but who am I to judge?

I kept the pace steady.  It wasn't easy, but it wasn't too strenuous either.  I just wanted to enjoy the evening, so I went at the 'speed of fun'.  In any event, I eventually made it home, about 20 minutes before sunset.  I did a little math and determined that I had been running for about 1:44 - give or take.  Then I hopped on 'mapmyrun.com' to figure out how far I had gone - 10.94 miles to be exact.  So, to make a long story even longer, during my 'fun run' I kept the same pace as my 1/2 marathon during the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  Not too shabby.

Okay.  So, now I'm SUPER psyched about running.  In fact, I'm so psyched that I went ahead and signed up for the Team Ortho Monster Dash 10-Miler.  This will be my first running-only race since high school, and back in high school, we only ran 5Ks.  At more than 3 times that distance, this one will be interesting.

I'm also pretty excited for tomorrow.  The weather's supposed to be fantastic (again), and the Vikes don't play until Monday night, so I'm going to do a nice long bike ride, complete with photos and maybe even a good meal.  I'm going to enjoy tomorrow.  I'm going to enjoy the CRAP out of it.

In the mean time, I'm just going to kick my feet up with The Wife and enjoy what hopefully won't be the last Twins game of the year.  Good stuff.

Another Perfect Weekend

This last weekend was crazy good.  It had everything I love - in mass quantities.

Friday Night

Holding true to my every-other-day philosophy, Friday was a workout day.  The weather around here has been absolutely perfect for running.  Friday, I was blessed with 60 degrees and clear skies.  My legs have been feeling better and better lately, so I decided to to try out a new route.  Instead of heading towards Medicine Lake, I headed east instead. 

The first thing I discovered was that, well, would you believe we've been living in our home for 4 years and I never knew there was a dog park within a mile of the house?  Sheesh.  I should change up directions more often.  I passed the dog park and jogged through Bassett Creek Park.  This area has some special meaning for me.  It's where they used to hold a lot of my old Cross Country races back in high school.  The park hasn't changed a bit and the old memories started flooding back.  Good stuff.

After the Bassett Creek, I headed over Highway 100 via a nice new footbridge and followed the creek with some nicely paved paths.  If I were to have kept heading east, I would have eventually run into the Theodore Wirth area.  The Wirth trails can eventually hook up with just about every trail in town.  I'll have to keep this route in mind for some longer weekend runs.

When I noticed that the sun was starting to go down, it was time to head back towards home.  Once I crossed back over (actually UNDER) the highway, I was in familiar territory again.  There wasn't a lot of light left, so I made a bee-line home.  I covered the 7.6 mile run in under 1:15 but still kept the effort nice and relaxed.  My body is REALLY digging the cooler weather lately.  It's nice to be able to run longer and faster without it feeling harder.

Pretty much everything in the Northeast portion of the route was new to me.

Once I got home, The Wife and I decided to go out on an honest to goodness date.  Cash has been pretty tight lately, especially since we spent so much dough during Ironman weekend.  So, we've been holding back on any extra spending.  I'm officially in 'thrifty' mode, so it wasn't easy to get me out, but I have to admit that a pizza and a couple of beers with my sweetie sure felt good.

Saturday

Saturday was another perfect day on the weather front.  My cousin plays soccer for Minnehaha Academy, so The Wife and I decided to catch the homecoming game.  The only bad thing about this plan was that the school is right on the West River road, which is part of the route for the TC 10-Miler and the Twin Cities Marathon, so a bunch of the roads were blocked for race weekend.   We ended up a few minutes late, but fortunately didn't miss any scoring. 

The Minnehaha boys did a great job and ended up winning 2-0.  Way to go guys!  After the game, we met up with my Uncle, Aunt and cousin.  My aunt's mom and sister also came to the game.  Her sister was in town to run the Marathon on Sunday.  It was cool to talk with her.  She's a wicked strong runner - she's done ump-teen marathons and has even qualified for Boston.  She even tried her hand at a tri this past summer, but didn't care too much for the swim.  I don't blame her.  That was one of the roughest parts for me at my first tri. 

On Saturday evening, The Wife and I headed over to some friends' house to just chill and hang out.  Or at least, that's what she TOLD me we would be doing.  Instead, when I walked in their door, I heard about a dozen people yell 'SURPRISE!'.  Then I saw my mother in-law, and my parents and many of our closest friends.  Honestly, at first I thought that they were all together to celebrate something The Wife did.  But then I saw all the Ironman-themed decorations.  Holy Crap!  This party was for ME!. 

It was great.  I hadn't seen most of these people since the race and it was the perfect way to catch up with them.  Plus, if you've ever known someone that's completed an Ironman, you know that they LOVE to keep talking about the race.  They had all kinds of great snacks and even a Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake!  A freakin' Dairy Queen ICE CREAM CAKE!  Sweet!

I've gotta hand it to The Wife for keeping this a secret.  I heard that she had wanted to have the get-together the week after the race, but I was too knocked out by the flu.  Keeping the secret for that long had to have been killing her.  Well played Honey.  Well played.

Sunday

After all the shenanigans on Saturday, I decided to go for a nice bike ride down the Greenway trail on Sunday morning.  Eventually the trail meets up with the river, right around mile 20 of the marathon.  I got going a little late, but was pleased to see that there were still plenty of racers out on the course.  These weren't the speed machines that finish in 3 hours or less.  These were the average Joe and Jane Schmos that just wanted to finish a marathon, no matter how long it took.  It was encouraging to see them slog it out through the toughest part of the course while there were will still thousands of volunteers and cheer crews lining the streets. 

I headed back home and thew on some comfy clothes.  I spent the next several hours with The Wife alternating between 'Football Time' and 'Nappy Time'.  It was a well-spent afternoon.

It was a great weekend.  With family, friends, races, football and even Ice Cream Cake, I couldn't have asked for more.

If you frequent this site, then you've got a few things to look forward to,  I'm finally solidifying my fall and spring schedule, plus I'm working on my next product review.  This one will actually be a comparison between two popular anti-chafing products.  After all, friction is an athlete's worst enemy. 

My Workouts have Multiple-Personality Disorder

I just finished the last few workouts in the most intense stretch of the year.  I'm tired.  A rest week couldn't come at a better time.  Here's what I've been up to:

Thursday

Nobody ever said that training for an Ironman would be easy.  Last Thursday turned out to be one of the least successful workouts of the year.  Going in, the plan was to do another 3-hour run, similar to the one from last week.  The only change is that I planned to go around Medicine Lake clockwise this time around.

When I left the house, loaded with pockets full of PowerGel, it was about 95 degrees.  At first, I thought about postponing the run until the weekend when the weather was cooler.  But, then I said to myself, "Self: don't puss out now.  You need to be prepared for a really hot run during the Ironman."  I should have listened to my gut, rather than my ego.

The first few miles were okay.  It usually takes me a mile or two to warm up my legs and get into a groove.  Today felt weird.  Maybe the fatigue from the last few weeks was getting to me, or maybe the heat does funny things to you, or maybe the fact I was a little 'backed up' was doing a number on my body.  Heck, it could have been all three, or none of the above.

All I know, is that by the time I hit mile 5, I was toast.  My heart rate was jumping into the high 160s even on a slow jog, I had a wicked side stitch, back spasms, and the black flies were eating me alive.  Add to that the fact that I now had a large lake between myself and home-sweet-home and you have a recipe for one sad panda.

I ended up walking most of miles 6-8, and was finally able to get a jog going again for the last mile or so towards the homestead.  My 3-hour 18+ mile run had turned into an 11-mile slog that took 2:20.  Blah.

Friday

Friday was a pool workout.  I like the pool.  I like to swim.  Shoot.  At this point, I'll do anything that will get me out of running shoes for a day.  The workout was a real confidence booster.  After a quick warmup   I had 3 intervals of 700 yards each, with increasing intensity.  This was identical to a workout from just a couple weeks ago, and the results were close to the same:

700y RPE3 - 11:27 = 1:38/100y
700y RPE4 - 11:02 = 1:34/100y
700y RPE5 - 10:43 = 1:31/100y


I was pleased.  After the disaster that Thursday turned out to be, it was nice to feel normal and somewhat successful.

Saturday

This was a beautiful day for a bike ride.  I did a variation on a 90-mile ride from 2 weeks ago, but added an extra 10 miles to make it an even century ride.  I tried to simulate race day as best I could.  I kept to gels, Shot Bloks and Endurolytes at regular intervals.  I did stop for water, Gatorade and a banana along the way - but water and bananas will be available on the course in Madison, and Gatorade was the only available energy drink at SuperAmerica that day.  I think this will be about as close as I'll get to race-day nutrition.

There weren't any major hiccups on the fuel side of things, which is a good sign.  The last thing I want is a bad case of The Toots when I'm on the run. 

It was a nice relaxed pace overall, but there were quite a few stoplights, especially along the southern portion of the route.  If you take out all the stops and starts, I'm guessing that my average speed could be a good 1 MPH faster.  If I can average 17 MPH during the Ironman, that'll get me out of the saddle in just a hair over 6.5 hours.  I'll take that any day.

In fact, to reward myself for another century ride, I decided to treat myself to not one, but TWO icee-fun-pops!

Sunday

Sunday was scheduled to be a rest day, but I was still cranky about my run on Thursday.  After taking most of the day easy, my ego decided that I wanted to go for a quick run to get my 'mojo' back.  It wouldn't be anything crazy - I was supposed to be starting a rest week after all.

I headed out from home along one of my normal  4.5 mile routes.  My first mile - mostly uphill - clocked in at 9:10.  Okay.  That's nice.  But can I do it again?  Mile number 2 was mostly flat.  It registered at 8:50.  Huh.  A negative split.  Papa likes.

Mile 3 had a bit of a downhill, so when I checked my Garmin and it said 8:27, I was pleased, but wanted more.  For mile 4 I hit the gas a little more.  I hammered it up the steep hill leading up to 36th Avenue and then booked it towards home as the seconds ticked away.  I managed to finish mile #4 in 8:08.  Wow-Four negative splits in a row.  That IS nice.

I ran the last 1/5 of a mile towards home at a near sprint before taking a breather and then heading out for a 15-minute cooldown. Man.  That felt good.

I know that a 5-mile run doesn't require anywhere near the effort that a 18+ mile run does, but it feels good to know that I've still got some good efforts in me somewhere.  Hopefully, I'll be able to find some more of that mojo come race day.

More Mega Miles

I'm tired.  Like, really tired.  I'm in the meatiest part of my training plan right now.  Here's a quick summary of the last few days.

Thursday

Last Thursday, I had my longest run workout ever. Yes. My Longest.  Run. Ever. In. My. Life.

I got home from work and hit the road as soon as I could - knowing that I'd probably need all the daylight I could get.  I wore my new De Soto shorts and jersey for two major reasons.  First, I'm planning on wearing the same kit for the Ironman and wanted to get the best simulation I could for race day.  Second, the jersey has 3 big pockets, and I needed to carry half a dozen Power Gels to keep fueled for the run.

The route I picked out started by heading West to Medicine Lake.  Then I did 2 laps around the lake.  The good news was that I only had to carry one 12-ounce water bottle since there are several parks around the lake with drinking fountains when I needed a refill.

The map is courtesy of my Garmin FR305 and SportTracks.

The run itself was definitely a learning experience.  My goal was to average 10-minute miles as long as I could and then just wait to see what happened.  Things went fine for about the first 10 miles.  It got a little weird from about mile 12-15.  My heart rate started to drop and I felt sleepy.  My best guess is that even with a gel every 30-minutes, I was low on calories.  For future long runs, I'll likely have to up my gel intake to 1 every 20 minutes.

In the end, I ran for 3 hours and averaged 10:17 per mile.  It's not nearly as fast as my run leg during the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  But, I didn't have adrenalin on my side this time around.  My goal for Madison is a sub-5-hour marathon.  A 10:17 pace puts me in at 4:30.  There will be no way to know for sure if I'll break 5-hours on the run, but I'm still optimistic.

Oh yeah.  And as a reward, I treated myself to Kentucky Fried Chicken for a recovery meal.  Take THAT nutrition plan.

Friday

Friday was a rest day, as in 'butt in recliner, watching TV and going to bed early'.  It felt freaking GREAT.

Saturday

The plan called for a 5 1/2-hour bike.  This coincided perfectly with Tour de Tonka, a great community ride that leaves from Minnetonka High School and continues on to a few different route choices ranging from 16 to 100 miles.  Of course, since I'm in Mega-Miles-Mode, I did the Century.  Here's a photo of me just before the ride started all dolled-up in my Twin Cities Spoke jersey.

This is my 'excited' face.

The weather was a little dreary for the first half.  By 'dreary' I mean, it rained from mile 2 until 49.  It wasn't terrible.  The rain helped cool things off - just don't ride immediately behind someone with your mouth open.  Eew.

The skies magically cleared up for the 2nd half of the race and we were treated to a beautiful 50 miles.  The wind was even at our backs once we made the turn and started heading East towards Waconia.

This is my 3rd year doing Tour de Tonka.  They always seem to do a good job.  One would think that a community ride with half-a-dozen different routes and over 2000 participants would be a logistical nightmare.  But, these guys pull it off well.  The courses are well marked, rest stops are well stocked and there are volunteers everywhere - even on the Century course.  Well done.

Sunday

Sunday was a simple open water swim.  I drove over to Lake Independence.  It's the same lake that held the swim for the Liberty 1/2 Iron.  They have a long stretch of beach that is protected by buoys, so I was safe from playing bumper-cars with the speedboats and jetskis.

The swim was nice and relaxing.  I put my Garmin in a zip-lock back and tucked it into my swim cap to try to track my route.  It worked out pretty well -

I wanted to swim for 75 minutes - which would have brought me pretty close to race distance for the Ironman.  But when I saw lightning on the horizon I decided that maybe Mother Nature wanted me to go home have some leftover KFC.  Thanks Mother Nature, you're a real pal.

Monday

Today was another long pool workout.  It was a combination of a ladder and some 100-yard repeats.  For the most part, it was uneventful - except for the parts when the lane lines kept coming unhooked from the edges of the pool and floating into my lane.  Bah.

I'll be hitting more heavy-duty hours on the road, in the water and on the bike this week, but I've got a recovery week coming up, so I suppose I can tolerate just a little more suffering.

A Long-Overdue Vacation

Everyone deserves a break, and mine was last week.  The Wife and I, along with 8 of our closest friends, headed down to Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

We went riiiiiight there - under the first 'n' in Cancun.

Can't quite see it?  Okay.  Here's a closer look.

The red dot?  That's our room.  The yellow dot?  That's the pool bar - AKA 'Home Base'.  

That big blue thing?  The Caribbean Sea.  Not too shabby.

Here are a few other photos from the week.

 The pool - with bar.  So. Many. Prune. Hands.

The Wife hanging out on the resort grounds.  OOOhhh.  Purdy. 

Chairs placed around the resort grounds that are eerily reminiscent of the 

old Saturday Night Live commercial for the 'Love Toilet'.

Enjoying the walk from our hotel to downtown Playa del Carmen.  I would swim the same trip (about 2 miles round trip) later in the week as one of my few 'official' workouts.

Proof that Playa del Carmen is, in fact, the perfect place to live.

Now, you may be thinking 'That sounds like fun.  But, how did the training go?'  Well.  If you count 'general frolicking' as a workout, then put me down for about 40-50 hours of training.  That'll include bouncing up and down with the ocean waves, laps around the pool and the occasional chicken fight.  However, as far as focused workouts go, I only had about 4 hours worth.  That includes a treadmill run and some open water swims up and down the coast.

Honestly, it wasn't my best week.  I know that there's a little bit of wiggle room with the training plan, and taking a day off from time to time won't do too much damage.  But, this is a critical time in my training and I hope that this week off doesn't greatly impact my fitness.

But hey.  The Wife and I haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation together since our honeymoon.  I'll gladly sacrifice a week of training for good times like that.

The only bad news is that I seem to have come down with a case of the flu since returning from our trip.  So far, it's taken 2 days  from my training this week.  I'm hoping to get back in the saddle tomorrow.  Then it'll be time to kick it into high gear this weekend with a couple hard-core bricks.

A Great Week to be a Minnesota Cyclist

It's been a great week so far.  Like I mentioned in my last post, its been bike-heavy.  This means that I've been giving my legs a much needed beat-down.  The weather has also been ABSO-FREAKIN'-LUTELY GORGEOUS.  There have been good temperatures, clear skies, light breezes and even a few happy little clouds. Aaahhh.

Monday, I did a 2-hour tempo workout in the western suburbs along the same county roads that held the cycling leg of the Liberty 1/2 Ironman.  Everything was clicking just right.  Normally, I try to push the tempo workouts, but then end up pussing out after an hour or so.  Then I just kind of cruise along at no particular pace.  But on Monday, when I felt a little worn down, I just pushed a little harder.  I ended up chewing up 39 miles with a 19.2 average.  Nice.

Tuesday was a nice relaxed 90-minute ride.  My training plan said that I was supposed to make mental notes about my comfort and make mechanical adjustments along the ride.  Since I haven't had any comfort issues, and the Liberty race seemed to go well, I just used it as an opportunity to meander through Maple Grove, Plymouth and New Hope.  Good times.

Yesterday was a medium-length swim workout followed by the weekly 6pm group ride with the Twin Cities Spoke.   We left from Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie just after 6pm and put in about 37 miles through Minnetonka, Wayzata and Excelsior.  It was great to ride in a long pace-line with everyone wearing our club jerseys. 

There's no workout for me today - it's a rest day.  So, I'm catching up on some of my favorite blogs.  Steve in a Speedo (local runner, triathlete and all-around fun guy) is having a giveaway for Sugoi and Ryder's sunglasses.  I also entered a giveaway on DC Rainmaker's site for a free Garmin Forerunner 110.  He runs a great site and is the unofficial authority for all of your tech-y related tri needs.  Sure, I already have a Garmin Forerunner 305, but who am I to argue with FREE?

Tomorrow I'm going to give running another try with a quick 30-minute jog around the neighborhood.  There hasn't been any pain for several days, so I'm hoping that means that I can do my run-centric week starting on Monday.  If things go well, you'll probably see my 2nd gear review - for the Superfeet I picked up at REI to help my poor footsie.

Keep your fingers crossed, or toes, or eyes, or whatEVER.

What I'm REALLY looking forward to is Saturday.  It'll be my first official 'long' ride of the year.  I'm planning on around 4 hours - somewhere between 70 and 80 miles, and will likely spend way too much time tomorrow planning my route on Map My Ride when I should be working.