Running into the fall

Lately I have not felt like much of a runner. Since June, after the Ragnar Relay, I've been mindlessly plodding out a few miles here and there. Going between decent weeks and sparse weeks mileage-wise. Even the weeks with good mileage numbers didn't feel all that great. Not bad, but I wasn't going for anything. There were a few reasons for the perceived malaise.
The fact that the Madison Marathon was called off meant I was not coming off a a fulfilling marathon going into the summer. Sure the half I ran was pretty good, a personal best time, but I usually take a slight break in the summer after the Madison Marathon and this time was somewhat unfufilling with it only being a half.
Another thing was that it was so incredibly hot this summer. Who feels fast in unbearable heat? Not me. So once late July and August came around and I started getting back into the 30 mile weeks I felt like I could not reach the peak I was at in April and May. Especially since I had such a solid plan and trained super hard for the potential marathon at the end of May.
Busy-ness always poses a problem, but I've always been able to work around that. I just lacked energy. I think the biggest reason I felt like a casual runner as opposed to a competitive runner was that I had no race coming up to look forward to. At this point in my professional career finding a marathon that will fit my schedule is getting pretty difficult and Koiné was scheduled to go on a long tour in the fall-which is the peak of racing season. It looked like I might not be racing at all this fall, which I would consider a disaster.
Well the tour got canceled, which is a bad thing, but then I started realizing I could do some of my old favorite races though! What a treat it would be to finally train like I hadn't before! I started thinking that if I put in the effort I could pull off a sub 1:20 half marathon! I had my sights set on the Tyranena Beer Run which is a great race put on by the Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills. Plus there is an excellent party after the race. Two of my favorite things. Dominating my personal best times in a long race and then drinking beer in the late morning. Last year I pulled off a 1:27 without training and was pretty happy about it. It was a fun course and I love running in Jefferson County. I noticed that my friend Bart came in 4th place with a 1:19 and I thought I might be able to compete with that if I put in the effort. What a great way to pull myself into serious running again. Finally.
Not to be. The race closed literally as I was about to pay my entry fee today. Apparently lots of people like this race and they can't accommodate more than 1500 runners-which isn't a lot. I emailed and begged but it looks like it's not to be. Big time let down.
I'm looking for other races and will probably do the Lakefront Discovery Run at the end of October. A race that is very special to me. I will tell the story tomorrow.

No pictures today. Here's my runkeeper stats and a music video instead.
RunKeeper

4 am run

Great morning run before the sun came up.

http://runkeeper.com/user/SethLK/activity/97697404?&mobile=false

Beerline Trail in the early a.m.

Winona, MN

Finally starting to get back into regular daily running. In Winona this past weekend I went out with my father in law, who is also an avid runner. We did a 7 mile out and back outside of Winona along the Mississippi River. You can see the map here:

http://runkeeper.com/user/SethLK/activity/96889064?&mobile=false

The pace was really good considering I haven't been running much lately and he's 50 I think. It was a lot of fun. It made me realize I really like running with people. So if anyone wants to run with me you can. Doesn't matter how fast you are or think you are. I'm usually starting at Gordon Park by my house, so meet me there any time.

Winona is beautiful and is a great river town to run in.

                         These pictures are not quite the same

Anyway. Getting up at 4 am tomorrow to fit it a few miles. Can't wait. Remember, Gordon Park is where I usually start if you want to join me in the morning. See you there.

Ragnar Chicago

June 8th and 9th was the Ragnar Relay from Madison to Chicago. Ragnar is a series of regional relays that cover around 200 miles and go for almost two full days. It's a fun even more than a race and most teams come up with funny names for their teams and decorate their vans accordingly. Most teams are made up of 12 runners and travel in two vans. Each van takes three sections of the 200 mile course. After each leg the van can go rest somewhere for three or four hours before meeting up with the other van to take over. Each runner runs three legs, somewhere between 5 and 10 miles each.

While it is a ton of fun, it's also very physically taxing. You drive and run through the night, don't sleep much if at all, and run 18 miles in less than two days. You also are supposed to predict your average pace per mile. I went with a 6:45 which is easily doable, but running hard then stopping and sitting for a few hours, then running hard and stopping and sitting in a car for a fews hours makes the legs pretty stiff. It was also 90 degrees during the day so the sweat and clothing can lead to serious chaffing, which I don't usually get, but did this time. In the bag they give to each team was a can of something called "Dry Goods". It's basically Gold Bond in an aerosol can with menthol for cooling. Let me tell you, it felt great.

Our team name was Mad-Chi (Madison-Chicago) Disease: Crazed Holsteins. We were given costumes made by our captain that were cow themed complete with ears and pinnies spray painted with black spots. They really looked like cows. We embraced the part with mooing and milking.

There was an unfortunate part of our decorations in that we had a mural of some tired runners. One of them was hunched over in exhaustion and one was so tired he fell onto all fours. It turns out they were drawn a little too close together and it looked like they passing the baton, to make up my own track-themed euphemism. Well of course that caused quite a stir among the rest of the teams. Every hand off location we pulled into came with the audible thud of the volunteer's and other team's jaws hitting the ground. It was kind of funny to see all the heads turning as we drove past. We left it up because at closer looks it was obvious what it was intended to be, plus our 55 year old mother in law grandmother team captain is the one who drew it. So it had to stay.

As far as running I ran a 6.5 or so mile leg on the Ice Age Trail to Dousman, WI. That was a fun one and I did it with about a 6:10 average pace which is flying for me. It was 6.5 miles (I think) in 37 minutes. It was also really hot. The next leg was a 7 miler at 2 in the morning through Racine. It ended at the Prairie School whatever that is. I was a little behind my anticipated pass but whatever. The last leg was through the Northwestern University campus. 5 miles and I got to run past their silly football stadium. Always great to combine two of my biggest hobbies, running and college football. That leg I got to the finish line about ten minutes before my van did so it seemed faster than it was.

All in all it's a very fun event. One I recommend to anyone who has the chance. They also put them on in Minnesota, Tennessee, Nevada, Florida, and others.

Every time I put up a video I use songs I guess I'm not supposed to. I'll still try. I think it's ok as long as I don't put them on youtube. Anyone who knows about that kind of stuff let me know what I can do.

Madison "Marathon" 2012

Holy crap it's been a very long time since I wrote on this blog I made. I've still been running a ton, more than ever really. Right now I want to write a little bit about my experience at the Madison Marathon two weeks ago.

I spent from March 11th to May 26th training my arse off in order to achieve my goal of finishing the marathon in under three hours. I put in many long runs, including four 20 milers, speedwork once a week, and regular runs of 10 miles. Thanks to Jack Daniels PhD I figured out my VDOT was a nice 54 and planned and ran accordingly. Briefly, a VDOT for me was based on previous race times and told me what pace to run on easy, threshold, repeat, interval, and marathon pace runs. A VDOT of 54 meant I was shooting for a marathon time of 6:56 or something close to that. Lofty goal, but I was up for it.

So I put in my miles, and track workouts. I listened to a few decent audio books (recommend: The Power of Habit), podcasts (Solid Verbal, any college football, Mohr Stories), and a few tunes as well ("new" M83 album, lots of rap). As May 27th approached I was feeling good. Confident. I was going to DO IT!!! This was going to be my fourth Madison Marathon and I knew the course well. My first year I pulled out a 3:25 without knowing what I was doing. Year two was a devastating 87 degrees and I stumbled in at 3:45. But last year I came in with a 3:16. That's certainly not my best marathon time at all, but Madison is a hilly course and while I was in good shape I wasn't really training that hard/eating that well/drinking that little. 3:00 this year was in sight.

Long story short they cancelled the race due to a forecast of 95 degrees. I was crushed I wouldn't be able to test my speed and endurance for 26.2 miles. At least the race directors let us who signed up for the full marathon participate in the half. I decided I was just going to sprint it and see how long I could hold on. Not a great race strategy but it was fun. I probably could've turned in a legitimately impressive time if not for me eating Pizza Hut at 10:30 the night before the race. My gastro system betrayed me but my 1:27 is still good for me. I doubt you can really see the pictures but my wife took some action shots:

 

Another good thing about the weekend was it was full of family. Mom ran the 10k on Saturday night, Dad, Brother, and Sis-in-law ran the half on Sunday. It was fun. I think they all had a good time. Grandparents came on Saturday night too:

And finally, here is a video of my mother's Saturday night 10k experience:

That's all from Madison! Next up is Ragnar Chicago this weekend. We'll see if any content comes out of it. Bye!