Ready for Spring

I like running in the winter. The treadmill and I have made peace. I don't mind wearing two long sleeved running shirts underneath a running jacket to stay warm. It's OK that sometimes I have to run with shoes that have sheet metal screws drilled to the bottom of them or Yak Trax strapped onto them. I even enjoy throwing on some snowshoes and getting out on a slow, snowy trail run.

It is, however, time for spring to start. Tomorrow is the first day of March and my chin is tired from holding icicles on the ends of my whiskers. My washer is tired from washing the layers upon layers of clothing required for running in single digit temperatures. There's still got to be over a foot of snow on the ground and it's time for it to leave. I'm ready to put on some shorts, a running shirt, and shoes that don't have enhanced traction, and get outside and run.

The past two weekends have been exciting for weekend long runs. Two Saturdays ago I went out for 18 miles in Rochester and the route I had meticulously planned was all for naught when the trail I wanted to run on hadn't been cleared. One thing that really tires me out about winter running is running around random neighborhoods and doing little loops to get enough miles in for a long run.

Then, this Saturday I had a 20 mile run scheduled. I was all layered up, had a gel and some water ready and was just about to leave when I heard from our housemate that her husband, Jared, had started his run outside and had given up and gone to the gym after falling a couple of times. Then, she and my wife proceeded to talk me into the unthinkable: 20 miles on a treadmill. I did it. It happened. Two episodes of Top Chef, part of a fishing show, and part of a basketball game and I was done. Two hours, thirty six minutes. On a treadmill. Spring can show up pretty much any time.

I did enjoy a nice run on Sunday on a snowy trail by our place. I saw some Eagles flapping around by the river and the fresh snow looked nice. Last week was also my first week running over 70 miles in one week and that was pretty exciting.


Here's a nice shot of my icy face from a couple weeks ago (that's real frozen sweat there):

Yukon Days Race Report

It's time for a very late Yukon Days race report. The thing I like about the Yukon Days races are the novelty of it all. This year I decided to run my first snowshoe race--6 miles of pure fun. I also signed up for the 3 mile no-snowshoe race. The 6 mile snowshoe went pretty well--the 3 mile race not so much.

The 6 mile race was an interesting course--and none too exciting. They had to change the course from the planned three mile loop due to fog. Their change consisted of a one mile out and back along with a half mile out and back--each run twice. It was kind of cool running in the fog, but also very monotonous with zero to look at besides snow and fog.

Before the race started the director announced that there would be awards for the top three men and the top three women. There were 12 of us at the start line and we look around and kind of chuckled because half of us would be getting awards. Then, when the race began I took off at what I believe to be a reasonable pace. After a few seconds I got a little worried that I'd run off in the wrong direction because no one was next to or in front of me. I turned around and I was already about 40m ahead of the rest of the snowshoe runners. That was pretty much how it went for the rest of the race.

At the turn around of the one mile out and back I was about a quarter mile ahead of the next runner and by the end I believe I was about 12 minutes ahead of the second place finisher. I wasn't exactly blazing fast--this was the first year of the 6 mile race and with only 11 other runners I don't think I was facing the top snowshoe runners in the area. It didn't matter though--I still had a nice time.

The thing that probably made the race the toughest was that 15 minutes into it the snowshoeless 6 mile race started. On the first part of the course I was able to run in the tire tracks of the pickup that drove the course. Then, all the six mile runners had the same idea and with all their passing each other and such the surface was much tougher to run on following them.

I was also signed up for the three mile snowshoeless race, but after the 6 mile my IT band was really acting up. Anytime I've run on an uneven surface it's really given me trouble, so perhaps trying a snowshoe race in the midst of training for Boston wasn't the brightest idea. Oh well.

The three mile race was the same course and after stretching out my IT band and running a mile warmup I decided I'd try it. If running the snowshoe race on an uneven surface was stupid this was an even worse idea. My knee was killing me from the start and running without snowshoes made it even worse as I slipped and slid all over the place. Me knee was killing me so after the mile out and back and didn't even bother trying the half mile out and back. My knee was telling me I was finished.

They gave out a nice medal this year--it looks pretty much the same as the Resolution Solution one. My wife put it with the dress up clothes for our future children along with the other medals I've one. Now I can look forward to the day when our kids pretend to be Olympic athletes as they wear medals from prestigious events like the Resolution Solution 5k.

There were also several runners from the Minnesota Running Wild there as well. It's a fun group of people and it was cool to get together with them between and after the races.


The exciting start to the 6 mile snowshoe race:

The sweet fog:

Finishing with my eyes frozen shut:

The crew from MN Running Wild:

Chugging Along

I suppose tiptoeing along would be more accurate. Since my IT band started acting up I've been redlining it for the last month--training on that thin, invisible line where me knee hurts just enough to make it interesting. I haven't had to cut any runs short or miss any workouts because of it, so I'm going to say that so far I've done a pretty good job. I've made it two weeks in a row of 50+ miles and this week should be number three.

It's so much fun to have a hobby that constantly has me thinking about how much more of my hobby I can handle before the hobby becomes impossible. I'm trying to imagine other hobbies where people are faced with this same dilemma. How many more stamps can I press in this book before I get arthritis in my finger? I'd love to put in one more quilt a year but I'm afraid a stress fracture might keep me from my goal.

OK, so maybe casual tennis players and golfers might deal with an occasional sore elbow or a bad back. I seriously doubt, however, that they're often limited in how much of their hobby they can take before one of their body parts begins to break down.

I don't care--I'll take running anyway. Part of the fun of it is coming up with a training plan where I think I've got a good shot at improving while at the same time avoiding injury.


This weekend I'm head to White Bear Lake for Yukon Days. Last year was a good time so I thought I'd give it another whirl. They've added a couple of races so I'm going to see if I can run both the 6 mile races along with the one mile. Should be a fun weekend.

Hello 2011

It's been a great 2010 and 2011 has started out halfway decent. How 'bout a 2011 rundown and then a 2011 "to do" list.

2010 Rundown


The Highlights: Crushed my PR in the marathon with a 3:02 and qualified for Boston. Won a couple of small local races (Yukon Day's mile, Resolution Solution 5k, Pioneer Indian Days 5k) and got an age group award in a marathon and a 20k. Ran over 1600 miles for the year and never went more than 2 weeks without a run.

The Lowlights: Injuries. Posterior Tibial Tendinitis, ITBS, and a freak accident concussion. If it weren't for these injuries I probably would've got in at least 100 more miles for the year and likely run a little better marathon time. I also took it too easy in the off season. July was hot but looking back at my training log I managed a measly 67 miles for the month.

2011 "To Do"

I've got some steep goals for 2011. I'd like to set a PR in the marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k. Maybe that's a little ambitious, but I think it's doable. I haven't run an all-out 10k for over a year and haven't run in a major 5k forever. I also haven't raced a half marathon since last January so I think those three PRs are pretty soft. The marathon PR's going to be a little tougher, especially since I'm only planning one marathon and it's a tough course (Boston). Also, missing 2 1/2 weeks of quality training with ITBS might hamper my efforts at a sub-3 hour marathon but if I can stay relatively healthy I still have a pretty good shot.

My non-race related goals are to complete a 50k and log over 1800 miles for the year. If I don't buttercup it this summer the miles should take care of themselves and if I can run the Afton 50k like I'm planning then that goal should go OK too.

First Race of the Year

Just like last year I started of the year by running the "Resolution Solution 5k" in White Bear Lake. This year the wind chill was below 0 and although the air temperature was higher than last year the conditions were worse. It's an out and back course and the back was right into the wind. My eyes kept freezing shut during the last mile but I was still able to hold on for the win at a pedestrian 6:21 / mile. With the cold temperatures and the icy footing it was an OK effort. My buddy Jared was nice enough to come out with me and he ended up taking 3rd in our age group. It was a pretty fun time besides being freezing, freezing cold.

Merry ITBS!

I'm down to stress fractures and Achilles tendinitis and I think I'll have run the spectrum of running-related injuries. Last Saturday my IT band started acting up making ITBS my latest running injury. Fortunately I was halfway smart and after it flared up again on Sunday I shut it down for a week. I've done the elliptical a couple times and today I ran a mile for the first time in a week. Tomorrow I'm going to try for two miles and see if I can make it without pain.

It's too bad because I felt like I was in a pretty good place in the base building phase of my Boston training plan. I'd averaged over 50 miles a week for three weeks but at the end of that third week my evil IT band derailed me.

I think my downfalls were building up mileage too fast after a decent-length layoff and neglecting any sort of core training. Fortunately this week has given me ample opportunity to get in some core training and I'm going to try to keep it up and prevent these nagging little injuries.

I hope everyone's having a great holiday season. Happy running!

'Tis the Season

It's been an exciting month of running--so exciting that I haven't bothered to post about it. There's been a lot of snow and I've been doing most of my running without going anywhere whatsoever. I've been trying to time my runs so I can watch reruns of The Simpsons but inevitably I end up having to settle for Sportscenter or something like that.

I can run outside in the cold, snow, and darkness of winter just fine except that the lack of plowed sidewalks has been a problem. An inch or less of snow could be dealt with with some Yaktrax or screw shoes, but this winter has left about 20" of snow on the sidewalks in Eagan. The clearing of the sidewalks has been spotty at best and the last couple runs I've done outside have forced me to run in loops of just over a mile--not too exciting.

I've also run into the joy of being harassed by poor winter drivers. On Monday night a friend and I drove to the chain of lakes in Minneapolis only to find out that the city had yet to clear the trails. We ran on the streets and some friendly drivers honked at us. What do they think they're accomplishing with their angry honks? Do they think we're going to hear the honking and all of a sudden come to our senses and leave the road to try and make it through 20" of snow on the unplowed sidewalks?

Last night there were some particularly great drivers. First I almost got smacked by a girl trying to turn right on red and not bothering to see if there was anyone in the crosswalk. Then, a driver on his cell phone rolled through a stop sign right into my outstretched hand. Fortunately he was rolling slowly and didn't inflict any damage on my stiff arm. Ah, the joys of winter running in Minnesota.

I Heart Treadmills

I can't decide whether the title of this post is a tongue in cheek, ironic start to yet another rant about treadmills based on my total lack of creativity or whether I'm really starting to get used to the things.

Several treadmill runs in the past several weeks have been bearable. After my first treadmill run in months gave me the typical feeling of wanting to quit every half mile (I only managed to hang on for three miles), the last three have actually been OK. Today I made it over six miles of stationary running with very little giveuppedness.

This new determination to put significant mileage in without actually going anywhere is due to several factors. First of all, to get a discount on our YMCA membership through our insurance my wife and I have to go at least 12 times a month each. Sure, I could go run around in the dark, cold Minnesota evenings, or, I could drive to the YMCA and watch Virginia Tech play Kansas State.

Which brings me to another factor I fear--there's been slim to no carryover from the winter toughness I built up last year. It's only been down in the 20s but I'm still not feeling it. Am I loosing my edge? I did manage to get out a couple times in the cool evening darkness the past couple weeks but it hasn't exactly been nirvana.

The major factor in my lack of hatred for the treadmill, I believe, is that there's been decent things to watch on the built-in TV set. I caught a couple decent football games last Saturday, a decent college basketball game this past Wednesday, and "A Knight's Tale" this morning. When I'm actually somewhat into what's on the screen I don't get the nearly irresistible urge to give up that normally comes with the treadmill.

Tomorrow I'm planning on getting outside--of course there's snow in the forecast. Still, as much as the treadmill and I are making peace I can't see myself getting 12 miles in while watching football all afternoon.