2009 done

A good year for running for me. I was out of running for a few months in the winter due to a minor foot surgery and ended up with 1200 miles for the year, down from 2000 last year. On the bright side, the reduced running saved me from buying two pairs of shoes to cover the 800 mile deficit. :-)

My best race this year was the Twin Cities Marathon. What went right is that I ran it relaxed as if I were out on a long run with friends, and I also drank enough water and took enough shot bloks. I finished with a 3:37 PR.

My favorite race was the Door County Fall 50 team relay. Five (or less) runners, 50 miles, and beautiful Fall colors in Door County. In 2009 we were down to three runners and still had a great time! Can't wait to run that one again.

I have confirmed time and time again that with the training I do, if I get over 45 miles per week, I tend to break down. In the past few months I have switched over to doing a cycle class on Mondays and Fridays and running 30 to maybe 40 miles per week. I'll see how that changes my performance for better or worse in 2010.

I like race shirts. My favorite long sleeved this year was the bright blue Trail Mix shirt and my favorite short sleeve one is from the Keweenaw Trail Festival. It's soft organic cotton and very comfortable.

I'm looking forward to 2010 and my big races will be the Eau Claire Marathon where I will try for a sub-3:36 Boston Qualifier, the Afton 50K, and the American Birkebeiner Trail Marathon in Cable/Hayward, Wisconsin.

Happy New Year everyone!
--Mark

Superior Trail 50 mile race

In a comment to my previous post, I stated I was considering doing a longer than 50K Superior ultra in 2011. This morning on my 12-mile run, I met Brian Peterson and we talked for a minute, specifically about the Superior Trail 50 mile race. It's destiny, and now I have 20 months to prepare. I plan to enjoy the journey from now to the race.

--Mark

my 2010 race plans

My plans are starting to shape-up. My Spring will be busy and then just a few races through the rest of the year. I've been searching for an alternative to the Twin Cities Marathon and I think I have it! The new Birkebeiner Marathon in Hayward, Wisconsin. I grew up in that area and spent a lot of time XC skiing there so it will be good to get on those trails again. The Birkebeiner marathon is on September 25th - a week before the TCM (and half the entry $$$).

3/21 Human Race 8K
4/3 Ron Daws 25K
4/17 Trail Mix team (12.5K)
4/24 Get in Gear 10K
5/2 Eau Claire Marathon
7/3 Afton 25K
9/25 Birkebeiner Marathon
10/23 Door County Fall 50 (5 person relay)

That's it. I may add a few races here and there but not many.

--Mark

Holiday Cranberry Bread

I believe this may have been a Pampered Chef recipe that came with a stone quad-mini-loaf pan.

Holiday Cranberry Bread
3/4 cup milk mixed with 1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 c. oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 T. grated orange (use the peel and fruit and juice, discard large pieces of membrane - a food processor works great. Just cut into several pieces and process)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract

2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped toasted almonds or pecans (toasting brings out extra flavor)
2 cups chopped cranberries

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, stir together milk and lemon juice until milk is slightly thickened (about 1 minute). Add the next 6 ingredients and beat until well blended. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until just well blended. Do not over beat. Divide batter between 4 mini loaf pans (or two regular loaf pans) that have been greased and lightly floured. Place in a 325 degree oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack. When cool, drizzle tops with glaze. (optional, but very festive). Yields 4 mini loaves or two regular loaves.

Orange glaze:
1 T. orange juice
1/2 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsps. grated orange peel
1 T. finely chopped nuts.

My notes:
I cut frozen cranberries just in half.

I put the slivered almonds on a cookie sheet in the oven until lightly browned. Then I chop them when cool. Be sure to reserve the 1T for the glaze.

Works just as well in regular loaf pans

When cooled and glazed, freeze for maybe an hour. Then take out of freezer, slice, then wrap for freezing. Prevents a crumbly slicing job later.

I grease (Pam) the pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Springtime race plans

There is quite a bit of cross-training, hill running, tempo runs, and long runs between now and March, but here are my plans for Spring:

3/13 long run
3/21 Human Race 8K
3/28 long run
4/3 Ron Daws 25K
4/10 long run
4/17 Trail Mix team (12.5K)
4/24 Get in Gear 10K
5/2 Eau Claire Marathon

These dates are between traveling basketball and track/soccer season for my girls and I'm able to run more races. Most of the year I am a fan of my kids' sports and I do a lot of driving.

--Mark

simple winter goals

Lose 15 pounds to get to a good racing weight by the end of January.

Rebuild a good running base while cross-training on half the days I workout.

Keep focused on the longer term goal of running a good marathon in Eau Claire on May 2nd.

--Mark

Door County Fall 50 - 2009

The Door County Fall 50 was my favorite race last year and is my favorite race of 2009. Last year we had a team of 5 that also included Kristen, Dave, Karl, and Ted. This year we all signed-up again because of the great time we had in 2008. Unfortunately, Ted double-booked himself and the North Face Endurance Challenge (Madison) 50K won out over his old team-mates. :-( Down to 4 runners, we picked-up Brendan. Kristen suffered an injury a few weeks earlier and was still in on the race but as the race approached, running for her looked unlikely. Karl had to drop out on short notice so now what do we have? We have three runners.... me (Mark), Dave, and Brendan. Kristen was supporting us as our driver and Super-Captain.



Friday noon we met in St. Paul and drove towards Sturgeon Bay, WI. It was quite a drive as we had a large area in mid-WI with snow falling, 31 degree temps, and hazardous driving conditions with the slush that was accumulating on the roads. Numerous cars were in the ditches and thankfully we made it out of that weather cell in under an hour. Rain the whole rest of the way to Sturgeon Bay. Brendan was in Madison on business and was traveling to our hotel with his van, our race vehicle.

Packet pickup was at the Ladder House bar in Sturgeon Bay. We got our shirts and bibs and timing chips and headed for the bar for a beverage. When it was time to leave there and meet Brendan, Dave and Kristen headed out to the car while I chatted with a gal from team wiirn4beer (We run for beer). Next thing you know, I was chatting with her whole team and forgot all about Dave and Kristen who were waiting for me in the parking lot. Hmmm... I wonder why? :-)

I know that I'm forgetting things but it doesn't matter.

For dinner, I'd recommend a place we went: Inn at Cedar Crossing Restaurant. Yum. Dave had Grilled Chicken Risotto, I had Spaghetti with Marinara and Chicken Meatballs, Kristen had Braised Bison, and Brendan had who knows what (maybe walleye). A couple of bottles of wine with dinner and we topped it off by sharing Carrot cake and Cherry pie. Yum again.

Hotel... Hot tub... Made new friends with Team 250... and then it was time for sleep

We stayed at the Best Western Maritime Sturgeon Bay which had good Fall 50 room rates and a free breakfast. Good basic hotel and it was only a mile to mile and a half from the finish line.

The race has a 7am starting time for solo runners and 8am, 9am, or 10am start times for teams. This year we had a 10am start which meant we were in the fastest bunch of teams. After we were down to three runners, I estimated that we could hold an 8:00 average pace which would mean 6hr 40min of running. There are 10 legs so we were all running 16+ to 17+ each. We planned to run in the same order the whole race - Brendan then Dave then me. I took the last leg too and that made our miles work out fairly evenly. Kristen was our driver and awesome team-mate and support person.





I don't know when this was but someone must have said something funny!



The start was 50 miles up the peninsula at Gills' Rock. I think the temp was in the upper 30s when we got there and there was a brisk wind off the water. Cold. Cold. Cold. The picture below was right before the start. If you have sharp eyes, you can see Brendan waving... look below the second 'L' in FALL and his hand is below the lowest big window on the building in the background.



Although he is not in these pictures, I was happy to talk with Bruce for a few minutes at the start. I first met Bruce in the Afton 50K in 2008 and we ran together there for about 15 minutes. I also chatted with Bruce at the Fall 50 start last year and probably will again next year. You Minnesota trail runners will know who Bruce is if I say.... he has a long white beard.

And off they go!



Here comes Brendan after his first leg. Way to go Brendan!



We didn't support Brendan during that leg because it was easiest to take the van on a road different that where the runners were. Brendan told us when he finished that he had pulled his hamstring. Oh no! Would Dave and I need to run the last 46 miles? We had a 'stretching stick' in the van and Brendan started working on his leg right away.



While Dave was running, the rest of us discussed our plan. I could run my 5 and take Brendan's next leg too which was the awesome 7.4 mile run through Peninsula Park. Brendan thought he could take his 7.4 and I could just stop after my 5 miler. I love it cold when I'm running so I don't overheat. Short shorts, sleeveless shirt, Afton hat, and Boston Marathon gloves that my friends gave me after they ran it this year. I've never qualified but will wear my lucky Boston Marathon souvenir gloves. My red jacket will go right before I start.



You can see that I'm wearing my Garmin 310XT GPS. Normally I would be wearing my heart rate monitor strap too but I packed the Polar transmitter and left the Garmin transmitter at home, attached to the Polar strap. Oh well, it lets me run by GPS pace and feel. I never knew what my HR was while running so it didn't really matter.

Dave was finishing his leg I took off my jacket. Dave approached and I asked him to get the hand-off baton ready. Dave yelled, "I lost it". WTF. I yelled to Dave that we had to slap hands to make it legal. I don't know if that was in the rule book but it seemed like the best thing to do. The only thing better would maybe be to smack him on the side of the head. :-)



I am where I want to be! Cool weather and people to chase! I moved along at a good pace and was able to get by several runners. This was Leg 3 of the race and you can see my Garmin recording here. My average pace was a very nice 7:15. A few runners passed me and the only thing I wanted to do but couldn't was to catch two gals in the last mile that were a bit ahead of me. I just couldn't catch them. As I was nearing the exchange point I was strongly hoping that Brendan would be able to run his 7.4. I sure didn't want to run it anymore. Brendan was ready and we slapped hands together and off he went. The Peninsula Park is beautiful and I just love being there. The leaves were still very beautiful.









Rockstar Brendan found a race (wrist) baton that was dropped by another runner. Hooray! We are back in business. Dave promptly peeled off the outer red plastic material of the wrist-band baton so when I got it for my second leg it was uncomfortable to wear. At least we had one. My second leg was around the half way point where the aid station had a nice variety of foods for lunch. I love the chicken noodle soup they have there and was looking forward to it all year. This year I just got broth and had Brendan get me a container of soup for after my run. I almost missed the handoff from Dave and got my jacket off just in time.

My next leg, Leg 6, was 3.9 miles that I ran at a still-respectable 7:19 pace. Garmin data here.

The race continued on as planned. It was a lot of fun every minute of the way. Brendan finished his final leg and we had to have a picture taken. I asked Brendan to stand up for the picture and he said 'No, that's OK'.









Dave kept running strong the entire race.



Brendan is ready to unwind and I'm thinking...... 7.6 miles left for me.













A new friend of mine from Team 250 took this just before the finish.



But... there was a guy chasing me for the last few miles of the race. Every so often I could hear him and I'd just pick up the pace a little once in a while. The rest of the team was going to run across the finish with me but the guy after me was in a race with another guy and they were both chasing me. My team was yelling GO, MARK GO. I took off and kept running faster and faster until I was over the finish line. There was no way they were going catch me and they didn't. If you decide to look at my Garmin log (here), you can see my pace speeds-up significantly at the very end of the run. An awesome way to finish 16.5 miles for the day and 50 team miles!

We got our medals and participated in the all you can eat/drink pizza/beer/wine in the party tent at the finish. Great party last year and great party this year!

WE made it! Remember I predicted a 6:40 finish? We finished in 6:36:53. Beat it by just over 3 minutes!







Following the tent party I had a great time out with new friends until late into the night!

Since this was my favorite race two years in a row, I'll definitely be back next year!

--Mark

note: pics taken by the team and others

Twin Cities Marathon 2009

This is my third marathon. 2008 Fargo and Twin Cities were my first ones. I was going into today planning to run easy for 20 miles and then run as fast as I could from there to the finish. With the cooler weather, perfect weather for me, in my mind I set my easy pace be 8:45's.

This morning I met my running partners down at the start and hung back near the back of Corral 1. Others were ahead of me and some were in Corral 2. Kim said she wanted to run with me. I invited her to do that last week. Kim ran a 3:10 in Boston in April but has a nagging Butt injury so she was going to be happy taking it easier than normal.

The starting horn went off and away we went. As we started I felt a pain in my left foot. I was imagining at that point dropping out at mile 0.5 but that pain went away shortly. Then my right knee hurt and that never happens. That pain went away soon. Kim was talking about the nice run we were going to have at an easy pace. Miles 1 - 5 were: 7:57, 8:14, 8:15, 7:53, and 7:59. My plan was down the drain.

You see, I hit the 'wall' at mile 19 in Fargo and mile 16 in the TCM last year. I wanted to run easy in order to bust through the wall. My main goal was to run negative splits. That was not to happen this year.

Kim and I felt really good and a few times I told her something our friend Jim say..... We're just out on a long run with some friends. That's what we were doing. I was watching my heart rate to keep tabs on it in case it shot up. It really didn't. We ran at a comfortable pace which according to my Garmin was an 8:08.

We chatted a bit about a Boston qualifying time/pace for me. A BQ was not a goal for me but I am well aware that as a 50 year old, it's 3:35:59. What I didn't know was the pace but I told Kim I though it was an 8:15. We figured I was on track for that but we figured I would be right on the edge.

The entire run was great. Super weather. Great aid stations. Great spectators. I loved every minute of it. Speaking of aid stations, we talked about our hydration and fueling plans. I told Kim my plan of not taking energy (Shot Bloks for me, GU for her) until mile 9. This gives the body a chance to use up some of its reserves and not start counting on the shots of sugar from the stomach until later.

Here was my plan.... Two cups of water at every aid station. At the aid stations at miles 9, 13, 17, and 21, take 3 shot blok cubes and one S-Cap. This plan worked out very well and my stomach did not get upset, I got plenty of fluids, and I got plenty of energy. You see I stopped at mile 21. From there I was taking a little less as far as fluids go and I figures the shot bloks from 21 would carry me for awhile and then I would just gut it out to the finish. Good plan.

I finished in 3:37:51 (official time) so you may wonder why I didn't push it harder to get a Boston Qualifier. Well, it was not a goal. In addition, I had been carrying an 8:08 pace according to my Garmin. According to my Garmin. My total distance was 26.57 miles. At mile 25 I switched my watch to the display with the elapsed time and I thought.... Oooops, I have to run sub-8's from now to the finish to qualify. Really not going to happen. Although I should have had a little cushion based on the average pace on my Garmin, the distance was long (due to tangents not cut and GPS-error) so I really had an 8:18 pace going. It is what it is. Here are my Garmin paces from 21 onward: 8:18, 8:30, 8:24, 8:16, 8:53, 8:30 (last 0.57 miles). In my opinion that's not really a wall to me. A little slower, sure, but I was still moving right along.

I missed my negative split by a couple of minutes but still good in my book.

• First half: 1:47:49
• Second half: 1:50:02
• First 10K: 51:26
• Last 10K: 53:05
• Official time: 3:37:51
• Watch time: 3:37:34

You see the 17 seconds difference between chip time and watch time? People! Don't stop until you cross all the mats!!!! Runners crossed the first mat at the finish and stopped. I'm sure that where the difference is because it took some time to get over those mats. Ugh. [update 10/9: I was completely wrong here. What I figured out is that my Garmin was set on auto-pause 'when stopped'. There were two water stops where I grabbed two cups of water, got out of the way of the runners, and then stopped for several seconds to down my water. That's where I lost the seconds and not at the mats. I looked at a finish line photo and my time did stop at the first mat like it should have.]

That's one lesson learned.... keep plowing forward until all the mats are crossed. [update: Well, that plus turn off the auto-pause feature on the Garmin.]

The second lesson is that the Garmin average pace can get you screwed up if the distance runs long as it tends to do in a marathon. I'll just have to keep a fudge-factor in my head for future marathons.

Great race and I plan to do it next year.

update: What about Kim? She pulled ahead sometime after mile 21 or 22 and had an energy surge. She said her later miles were in the 7:10 range. Way to go Kim and I can't thank you enough for running with me.

Steve Q - Good to see you out there again this year.
Matt - You will see me on the trails next year.

--Mark

TCM - 1 week away

I ran the TCM last year. Cold, rainy, and fun. I'm looking forward to this year's marathon too.

Compared to last year, I have these 'negatives' going into the marathon next Sunday:

• I'm 10 pounds heavier
• I didn't adhere to a training plan and don't have many long runs under my belt.

I also have some positives:

• I am 100% injury free
• When well rested, I run strong
• I have a very achievable marathon plan

I plan to have a good taper week this week and I'm sticking with the marathon plan I posted previously: Run the first 20 at a 9:00 pace and then run the last 10K as fast as I can, which is hopefully faster than a 9:00 pace. What I really want to achieve is running a marathon with a negative split. Can I do it? I'll know this time next Sunday.

update - Saturday, 10/3: I ran two miles this morning and 9:00 was not a good pace to hold. I moved a bit smoother at 8:45's and that's likely what I'll run tomorrow.

--Mark

TC Marathon - 18 days away

I'm lightly trained but feeling good. Looking back I see my peak week was 47 miles and my low week was 10 the first week of September (I was on a business trip in Europe). I've switched two days of running to a spinning class so I'm getting some good, but different, exercising in.

I greatly changed my goal from the two marathons I ran last year. Both of those I was planning to average an 8:00 pace. The first one I walked most of the last 10K and I couldn't hold 8's after mile 16 at the TCM but I didn't have to walk. My preliminary plan is to run a 9:00 pace for the first 20 and then pickup the pace the last 10K. I want a negative split and I plan to have fun running it.

I'm running 15 tomorrow and then I suppose nothing longer than 10 or 12 until the TCM.

--Mark

Ragnar Relay - Great River

I'm wearing my standard red racing shirt.

I ran the Great River Relay for the third year in a row. This year was the 4th year of the race. The start was changed to Winona from LaCrosse and the finish was at Boom Island, Minneapolis. The route is up the Wisconsin side of the river to Stillwater and then down the MN side and over to St. Paul and up the river to Minneapolis.

You can search for other blogs that give very detailed accounts of the race. I don't feel like typing very much today so mine will be relatively short.

There were 216 teams that finished. Most were 12-person teams but several were ultra teams of 6 runners. Based on the team's estimated average pace, starting times were assigned from 7am to 4pm. I was on a 3pm team as were 9 other teams. 5 teams started at 4pm. There were no 2pm teams so you may see how this is going.... We started with other teams that were mostly faster than we were. A couple of teams were slower. The fast runners got ahead of us quickly and all the other teams had at least a 2 hour head start. The effect of this is that we were essentially running alone. It wasn't until the next morning when we were starting to catch earlier teams. I run faster when I'm chasing someone and it was my third leg when I finally saw a runner in front of me. I got so excited that I started running faster (sub-7:00 pace) and blew by the gal like she was standing still. A half a mile later I was done for the race. 18.9 miles total.

We finished 21/216 teams with a 7:41 average pace vs our 7:45 pace prediction. We were right on target! Way to go team!

I managed to charge my Garmin before I left for the race and recorded my runs: Leg 2, Leg 14, and Leg 26.

I had a great time with my friends and although I slept for only 5 minutes total, I managed to stay awake until 8pm Saturday night and can't wait to run it again next year.

Next year I'll be running slower as I want to run it as an ultra team. Last year at the race I told my friends to never let me run it as an ultra. Well, I've changed my mind. FYI - this year the 6 ultra runners each ran these totals: 35.7, 31.4, 40.3, 32.3, 27.8, 25.5.

NONE of my running friends have switched over to thinking of running this as an ultra but I have a year to work on them. :-) Even if I convince a few of them, I'm sure to have openings on my team. Keep me in mind if you are interested in running with me next year.

--Mark

Garmin 0% charged

I charged my Garmin 310XT last night because I'm leaving in 1.5 hours to run the Great River Relay from Winona to MPLS. I run less than 20 miles so it will be only 3 hours of running. I just took my Garmin off the charger and it's 0% charged. Wonderful. I have it on the charger now and I'll take what I can get.

There are worse things than just running by feel.

--Mark

Ragnar Relay - Great River - this Friday 8/21

Next race coming up is the Great River Relay. Third year for me and this year the start was changed from LaCrosse to Winona. Twelve runners per team and a 195 miles to cover. This year we plan to average a 7:45 pace and we have a chance if the weather is reasonable. The only thing working against us is that one of our runners had to drop due to a bad knee so we have one Van with only 5 runners.

Anyone out there up for the Fun and Challenge of joining my team for this race? Let me know. We (both Vans) are meeting in Woodbury at 11am Friday to head out to the start. My team has a 3pm start time so there will be 200+ teams in front of us, giving us plenty of runners to pass. :-)

--Mark

Garmin beginner and software pains

I'm still in Garmin 1st grade. I haven't learned the buttons by position yet. I mean the lap and start/stop buttons. After stopping for some water this morning we were going to take off at a fast pace. I took off and meant to push lap but hit the start/stop button. I was wondering why my distance wasn't updating. Ugh. I hit the start/stop several times and then hit the lap button. I'll learn. This was about 5 miles into a 9 mile run when we picked up the pace. I looked at my splits for those 4 miles (Franklin Bridge to Ford Bridge on the east side) and they were 7:34, 7:48 (St. Thomas hill here), 7:23, and 6:56 to finish. A good solid run for me.

An hour ago I had the Garmin linkup and upload to garminconnect.com via a wireless USB attachment. I logged into the website and saw my workout was NOT there. Huh? I looked at the status of the Garmin software and see there was a problem uploading to the Garmin server. Ugh. I have a setting in the software to delete the exercise from my Garmin after uploading it. You see what happened.... the software uploaded my data and then deleted it from my Garmin before verifying the upload was good. Oh well, I changed the setting and I'll deleted the data off the Garmin myself from now on.

Next challenge.... figuring out how to get a quick satellite lock after stepping outside to run.

--Mark

First long run today plus some updates

I'm behind in my marathon training. Today I ran 18.5 which is my longest run since the Twin Cities marathon last October. My body handled it just fine. Overall a sub-9:00 pace which is a very good long run pace for me. I have updates on two things today:

1) Heel lifts. I have my new vinyl heel lift and I did not tape it to my shoe insert. I was waiting to see what happened when my shoes got wet. Well, they got wet today because it was raining for most of the run. Around mile 11 the lift started sliding forward in my shoe so I stopped and took it out. That was confirmation that I definitely need to tape it to my shoe insert.

2) Garmin 310XT. I can't give a good review since this is the first GPS I have owned and since I have only used it once. It may become a future favorite of ultra runners since it has a maximum battery life of 20 hours. I don't know how the display compares to other models but this one can display up to 4 data fields simultaneously. I think there are 4 different displays you can scroll through. It will take me some time to figure out what I want to display on them and how many displays I want to use. The only display configuration I know I want displays: current pace, current heart rate, average pace, distance. I will need one with timers/clocks too which I may set up with: lap time, clock time, time so far, and distance. I will figure that out as I run more and think of data that I wish I could see during the run.

It has a configurable auto-lap option which I set to be every 0.25 miles. This is configurable to anything you want. I also had it display lap-pace. My idea was to get a current pace that is an average of the current lap so it would give me my pace that is an average of up to my previous quarter mile but not as 'instantaneous' as just displaying current pace. I didn't like it making a new lap so often so I'll switch it back to every mile. Like I wrote earlier, I'll figure this out as I run more. So far, so good.

--Mark

Track work

Tuesday morning I did track work with my running partners. I ran on the track once in my life and that was last year. I've been running hills on Tuesday mornings and have avoided the track like the plague. In a weak moment last week I said I'd run track with them this week.

Anyone in the TC metro area may remember that Tuesday (yesterday) morning it was raining. It rained running the 2.5 miles to the track, during our time there, and all the way back. Oh well, it was nice to be out running. The plan was to run Yasso 800s and my friends were stepping up to eight this week. Since I'm way behind them I just ran 4 in 3:11, 3:16, 3:13, 3:12. The thing about the Yasso 800s is that you work your way up to 10 and you should run them all at the same pace and it can help predict your marathon time. For example, running 10x Yasso 800s in 3:12 each predicts a 3h12min marathon.

That may work for some people but not me. I'm heavy on the fast twitch muscle fibers and after racing 2.5 hours my fast twitchers seem to be gone and my pace drops. I think I'm about 30 minutes slower than my Yasso times but I'll be back next Tuesday to run on the track again. I'm still an inexperienced marathoner and have trouble (injuries) when I average more than 40 miles per week. Therefore, I won't be able to become a better long distance runner by adding more miles. Hopefully more hills and some speed will help my marathon times.

I had trouble yesterday with my heel lift. With all the rain, my feet got soaked and after a couple 800s, my heel lift shifted forward under my mid-foot. Not good. Between laps I had to take my shoe off and put the lift back in place. I ordered some vinyl lifts this morning that I'll tape down to my shoe so they don't shift. I'm very surprised that I didn't have this problem running in the Twin Cities Monsoon-athon last October.

update: After I wrote this I remembered that I did have my heal lift taped to my shoe insert when I ran the TC Marathon.

--Mark

Keweenaw Trail Running Festival 10K

The Keweenaw Trail Running Festival was held on July 11-12 this year in Copper Harbor, Michigan. For those who don't know, Copper Harbor is the northernmost town in Michigan. I heard of this race series last year while I was on vacation in the area. This year I was able to run one of the races in the series before heading home from vacation.

The race series is three races:

• 10K at 8am Saturday
• 5.8K hill climb (917' elev. gain) at 6pm Saturday
• 25K at 7am Sunday
  

I was staying in McClain State Park outside of Hancock, MI for the week with my family. Friday afternoon we drove to the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge outside of Copper Harbor for my race packet and then did some sightseeing and hit some gift shops in town. The race packet was minimal - T-shirt, race bib, and 4 pins - nothing else and nothing to throw away. Nice.

I woke up a dozen times Friday night wondering what time it was and if my alarm was going to ring. Eventually it did and I was up at 4:35 and off to Copper Harbor by 5:10. It's about a 40 mile drive for where I was staying and I wanted to get there around 6am when the bus was going to take runners to the start. I'm always early so it's not surprising that I was the third runner on the bus. One was a woman from Ontario (Janice) that has run the series several times and the other was a young woman from Minneapolis (Melissa) that has never run on a trail in her life. Eventually enough runners were on the bus so we were shuttled to the start at Ft. Wilkins State Park. There we got our timing chips which were velcro ankle bands.

The weather was very good for running - 58 degrees, sunny, strong breezes, and very low humidity. At race time we got our instructions on how to watch for the flags so we wouldn't get lost. I had earlier planned to line up at around one-quarter back from the start. I was chatting too much with Janice and Melissa and the starting line was more wide than deep and I think I ended up starting about 60% back. Oh well. At the sound of the horn we were off and everyone (150 runners) was heading for a path 100 yards ahead. We hit the path and there were a few spots where we slowed due to too many people on such a narrow path. This was a flatter area of the course at the beginning but I was limited by the speed of those in front of me. I suppose it let me warm up better and save energy for later.

Here is the course description from the race website:

The course starts in the grassy field overlooking Lake Fanny Hooe at Ft. Wilkins State Park. It follows a wide trail along the lake until crossing the Lake Manganese Rd and entering Clyde's Meadow which surrounds runners with wildflowers, ponds, and wild birds. Runners then enter a dense cedar forest and follow a winding trail before crossing a small stream. After crossing the main road into Copper Harbor, runners jump onto the exquisite single track of the Garden Brook Trail that winds its way up along the brook for several miles before recrossing the main road and entering the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge trail system. The trail remains narrow single track and winds gracefully through the rolling terrain and forests north and east of the lodge. The trail emerges from the forest at 5.9 miles. The last third of a mile takes runners over the soft grass of Fairway 9 to the finish behind the lodge.

The description above sounds 'lovely'. Half way though the course I was trying to think of the proper word to describe the hilly trails. I couldn't decide if it was a Bitch or a Bastard. Something missing from the description is that the trails were heavily hiked and therefore tree roots were greatly exposed. Also, since we were in copper country, there were rocks, not big ones, just bedrock and small rocks, many that were the size to fill your hand and were not easy to run on. It was very difficult to get around people on this single track but if you really needed to get by every so often there were spots to run off the trail to pass. I'm sure the forest was beautiful but I didn't see it. I had to keep my eyes on the ground nearly the entire race. The race map shows 1,258 feet of climbing and 765 feet of descending. The roots, rocks, and hills made for a great race.

Below are my splits. The first mile was slower than it should be because I wasn't in the right spot at the start. My last mile is faster because there were fewer roots/hills.

mile 1 - 8:20
mile 2 - 9:18
mile 3 - 9:43
mile 4 - 9:29
mile 5 - 9:20
mile 6 - 6:32
last .2 - 1:20 (6:39 pace)

I finished in 54:02 according to my watch. My new friend Janice finished 2 minutes behind me and was second in her age group. I didn't bother waiting for results (update: I was 6/10 of age 45-49) to see if I placed since there were several guys around my age and they started out, and finished, in front of me. Melissa took a little longer to finish and I was excited to hear what she thought since it was her first time running on trails.... She loved it. I recommended that she check out the Upper Midwest Trail Runners website when she gets back home for races and places to run. I had some water, a banana, and a mini Cliff Bar to get some energy back before I headed back to McClain to pack and drive the family home.

My thoughts about this race: I loved the 10K and next year I hope to be able to run the full series. If I did that I would definately stay in/near Copper Harbor for the weekend to cut down on the driving.

update: I found the race results. I was 6/10 in my age group and 39/77 for males.

--Mark

trusty heart rate monitor

I have a Polar 610i heart rate monitor, and according to my records, I started using it on 7/17/2005. I have not worn it for every workout, but most of them. It keeps a total of the calories and hours. The total I have now is 672,843 calories and 1,333 hours. That's 500 calories per hour and 28 hours per month which is about what I expected. Only one battery change so far and I have had no problems at all with it. The reason I'm taking a look at this data is because I have a Garmin on order. My trusty Polar may get pushed to the bottom of my gym bag, only to come out to play in Kickboxing class or when I'm on the treadmill.

The Garmin I've pre-ordered is a 310XT. It's like the 305 except it has improved water resistance and a 20 hour battery life. I should have by the end of July, hopefully sooner. I'm excited about going out to run without mapping the mileage on my computer.

--Mark

Crossed the mileage line

I keep wanting to run more miles per week than I have in past years. Every time I work my mileage up I eventually have to step it back as I start to get injured. This running season is no different than last year. I finished last week with 60 miles and this afternoon my left knee is telling me to take it easy. My knees almost never hurt.

I'll try to shoot for 45 to 50 mile weeks for the next month and see how that works out. If my knee pain continues this week will be a sub-40 mile week.

--Mark

Apple Blossom half marathon

I did a couple of things I never have done before: 1) Run a race without tapering for it, and 2) deciding the day before a race to run it.

I ran the Apple Blossom half marathon in Hastings this morning. It's run from the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center and this year was the 29th running.

It was a beautiful day for a race. Early morning temps were in the upper 30's and race temps were still cool. Going into this one I decided to race it. I needed a benchmark to see how I'm doing and to help tune my training paces this summer. I didn't have a hard goal but I was hoping for a 1:45.

We were all bussed a mile or two north of the Carpenter Nature Center to a St. Croix Park. I used to camp there 25 years ago when Control Data Corporation owned it. It's nice that it's a public park now so everyone can use it.

There were three races starting simultaneously from different starting lines. 5K 'in front' in the left lane; Half-marathon behind the 5K'ers in the right lane, and 10K'ers about a mile behind. This year the race had chip timing for the first time. The only timing mat was at the finish so we all had the same start time synchronized to the gun.

I met my running partners Kristen and Karl there, put my extra clothes in a drop bag and a few minutes later we were off and running. This is a fairly hilly race so it's a good thing I like hills. I remembered to hit my lap timer for each mile. Here are my splits:

1 8:01
2 7:11
3 7:18
4 7:53
5 7:57
6 8:27
7 7:47
8 7:45
9 7:40
10 8:11
11 7:25
12 7:39
13 7:31
13.1 0:47 (0.1 miles at 7:45 pace)

I finished in 1:41:36 and had a not-too-high heart rate average of 162.

The variation in my splits is mostly due to hills. On a flat course I'm sure they would be more even. I estimated the midpoint time and was happy to get negative-splits 51:07/50:29 or (7:48/7:43) 1st/2nd half paces.

I didn't really feel good until mile 8 and then I felt like I really wanted to run. It could have been the Shot Bloks. There were plenty of aid stations for water and a 'sports drink'. I just stuck to water but at mile 6 I took ONE Shot Blok and chewed it up right away. I also took one S!Cap shortly after for sodium/potassium. 2 miles later I felt great. At mile 8 I took another Blok and this time I just sucked on it and kept it in my mouth, biting off tiny pieces from time to time. I finished it about mile 9.5. At mile 10 I took my third Blok, sucked on it for half a mile then ate it. I took another S!Cap then too. From my splits you can see I'm averaging near a 7:30 pace for the last three miles. I remember running uphill and into the wind during that time too. I had a nice finish and then got together and with Kristen and Karl to relax in the sun for awhile before heading home.

I would like to run this one again next year but I hope the shirts are a different color. Powder-blue is not my color.
--Mark

nothing much new

Still ramping up the miles and should get to 43 this week. No problems so far increasing by about 10% per week.

I have added something new to my training. Tuesday mornings I go to Discover Strength in Plymouth for strength training. I'm thinking of dropping out after a total of 5 sessions and doing similar workouts at my primary gym. You can check out Discover Stength at: http://www.discoverstrength.com/

--Mark

12.7 miles today

This was my longest run of the year and I ran the final two miles faster than the first ten! I felt good at the finish but my muscles feel a somewhat tired now. My goal is 34 miles this week which I will meet if I can get in a 9.3 miles river loop on Sunday.

Last Sunday I yelled 'Uncle' at the 2 mile mark into my river loop run. It was 41 degrees, raining cats and dogs, and some heavy duty lightning/thunder. I was completely soaked and turned around for a wet run back to the club. I was wearing my 2008 Twin Cities Marathon shirt which I am convinced was the reason for the cold rain. I won't be wearing it this Sunday.

My goal for the next month is to work my way up to 50 miles per week and then start into an 18-week marathon training plan. At the end of that I will run the Twin Cities Marathon.

--Mark

Back in Gear

I ran the Get in Gear 10K this morning. There was no rain and it was perfect for racing. I had a goal to run 7:30's today and I met that goal. After not running in January or February, it took 160 miles of running over the past two months to get me back to where I am today. I'm very happy and am ready to jump back into running with my friends for distances up to 12 miles. Soon enough I'll be running longer with them too.

At the race today I started too far back. At mile one I was thinking that the race was way too big and why the heck did I even decide to run it. It took about two miles to get around most of the people that had a slower target pace than me. At that point I could just settle in to a pace and run. Here are my paces:

Mile 1: 8:00
Mile 2: 7:11
Mile 3: 7:28
Mile 4: 7:25
Mile 5: 7:34
Last 1.2: 7:38 pace (9:00 time)

from the results online:

bib number:	1048
age:	49
gender:	M
location:	Eagan, MN
overall place:	485 out of 3419
division place:	37 out of 174
gender place:	389 out of 1647
time:	46:49
pace:	7:32

Looking at my paces I'm slightly disappointed that my pace dropped off 10 to 15 seconds for the last two miles but I'll get that back in time. I ran at a harder effort than the Trail Mix last Saturday but I maintained a good breathing pattern all the way to the finish. I wasn't sucking wind loudly like some of those I passed. My legs feel good, my feet feel good and I think I'll just run some easy miles tomorrow.
--Mark

Get in Gear 10K coming up

I ran 6.25 miles this morning at an 8:04 average pace. That run was on the Ford Bridge / Lake Street Bridge Mississippi River loop which is most of the Get in Gear 10K course. Although I'm not back to the running shape I was in last year, I'm starting to get stronger. While I held back a bit at the Trail Mix 12.5K, I'll run at the fastest pace I think I can sustain for 10K. Right now I would be very happy with a 7:30 pace. The weather forecast is 46 degrees, rainy, and 15 mph winds. I love that weather for racing (except for the wind) but not for sitting around chatting with my friends after the race.

--Mark

Gait Analysis update

Last June I had a Gait Analysis done by Wendi P. at Gear West. The appointment was 40 minutes and Wendi figured out my shoes were wrong, I needed SuperFeet inserts and my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. The shoes, inserts, and heel lift made great progress in reducing the intermittent foot pain I was having.

Occasionally, I would still get foot pain and it was mostly after running hills. Lately my feet would have pain after nearly every run. I was coming off a few months of not running so I didn't worry too much. Two weeks ago I had my final post-foot-surgery checkup with my podiatrist. At that appointment I asked about the foot pain I was having. He knew I had a 5mm heel lift (from Wendi) and wanted to verify my leg length difference via X-Ray. Today I had the results faxed to my Doc and I was a little surprised that the measurements from the X-Ray found that my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. I find it amazing that Wendi could feel my hips and watch me run and determine that 5mm was the proper heel lift thickness without using any measuring devices. The same measurement determined by X-Ray machine. Amazing.

If you read back a few blog posts you will see that I found my shoe laces were loose and that's what I found caused my recent intermittent pain problem. Something simple but it's doing the trick for now.

--Mark

Trail Mix mini report

This was my third year running the Trail Mix team race. My team from last year abandoned me as they all qualified for Boston and I didn't. None of them felt that running 7.75 miles in the hills just 2 days before Boston was a very good idea. The Boston bunch all got PRs Monday - Jim 3:27, Karl 3:28, and Kim 3:10 (4th MN woman). Congrats to them!

Now back to the Trail Mix... I'm still coming off not running this winter and my pace is not what it used to be. The Trail Mix would be my first hard run since I last raced in October. Not wanting to suffer sudden death or just blow an artery or something, I decided at the last minute to run by heart rate. I picked a number, 163, to try to keep my heart rate at. Sure, it jumped past that on the hills, but I would try to keep it near 163 overall. That strategy wasn't going to get me a good time but it seemed to keep me at the right level of effort for the day. Half way though the race I adjusted my HR goal upward and tried to keep it around 165. Besides walking up the back of the ski hill (everyone was when I came though) I had to walk up the top half of the grassy hill near the south end of the course. I felt good at the finish now know I could have pushed harder. Oh, my average HR was 166 for the race so I did well in sticking to my running plan.

Last year on a shortened course I ran 7:20's in mud. I ran 8:40's this year in perfect running conditions. When my Boston marathon friends are done with their recovery I'll be just about ready to run with them. I think it may be a month before I'll be able to run with them comfortably on their moderate days but they will help me become faster in a hurry.

Next race: Get in Gear 10K on 4/25.

--Mark

p.s. Since I started tying my shoes tighter 9 days ago I have had no problems with foot pain.

learning to tie my shoes...

I've been having too much mid-foot pain and it's been a recurring problem over many months. I was reading something online the other day about foot and shoe problems. One podiatry article listed some foot issues that may be caused by problems with the 'lacing system' of the running shoes.

Sunday morning I was planning to run hills with a friend. I dread the hills as I was sure my feet were going to hurt; the last time I ran the hills was in December. I also remembered what I read in the podiatry article and laced my shoes tighter at every pair of eyelets. Usually I only have the laces tight at the top and the rest a bit loose. Now I had the laces snug, but not too tight, from bottom to top.

Guess what? No pain on the hills and no pain during my 6 mile run this morning. Last Friday I couldn't run 4 miles without stopping due to pain. Could it be that simple? I first learned to tie my shoes when I was 4 years old. Now, 45 years later, I'm learning to tie them again.

--Mark

A few nice miles today

I ran an easy 6 miles this morning and will do the same two or three more times this week. My feet felt good. Yesterday I had my final foot-surgery checkup and that went fine --- I'm all healed.

While there, I asked my Doc about my foot pain from running hard or hills or longer distances. I showed him exactly where I was getting pain and he told me a lot of things (about feet) that I have already forgotten. Last year I had a 'gait analysis' done and while that helped my foot situation quite a bit, there is room for improvement. He had me get an x-ray taken from my hips to my heels to get an accurate measurement of leg bone lengths to verify or change that 5mm heel lift I now wear in my right shoe. I expect to get custom orthotics in the near future.

Next race: Trail Mix 50K team race (12.5K each)

Ron Daws 25K

I ran a few easy miles this morning because I'm running the Ron Daws 25K tomorrow. Scratch that.... I'll just be watching the other runners now. I have a few twinges of pain in my foot (not related to the surgery I had) so I can't see that running 15.5 miles will do anything to improve my fitness. Even if I feel great in the morning, I think it will be best to take it easy for the next few days.
--Mark

post race update: I ran until I met my friend Dave near the 2 mile point providing informal race support and I hung out for an hour or so and then ran back to the finish to see the leaders come in. 3.5 miles for me; the first in 7:42. I was starting to get warmed up and feeling good before I dropped back and out. I see my Dr. tomorrow for what will be my final post foot-surgery checkup. The surgery spot has healed just fine, I just have other foot issues to deal with now. Although my foot issues have been a little better when I had a gait analysis done and changed shoes/inserts, there are some other things I think I need to do to minimize pain after hard/fast/hilly races. I may find a sports doc next.

another good day....

Last Thursday I couldn't run 2 miles without walking. This morning I ran 6.2 with my friends that are deep into their marathon training. While the run was tougher than Tuesday's run that I ran at a 9:40 average pace, I was able to average an 8:35 pace today. I'm feeling like I am getting over 'the hump'! Tomorrow I'll be running a 12 miler, solo, at a much slower pace.

Next week - 6 on Tues, 6 on Thurs, 3 on Fri, and Ron Daws 25K on Sat.

--Mark

ramping up

Today I ran a nice 6.2 miler without stopping to walk. In all of my runs prior to today I felt the need to walk every couple of miles. Not today. My pace was 9:40 which is much slower than my pre-injury pace but it was nice just to get out and run for an hour. My next big day is 12 that I'm planning for Friday. I will take a walking water/shot-blok break half way though that one. If the 12 goes well, I have a shot at completing the Ron Daws 25K in 2:30. That's my goal.
--Mark

Tough going after long break

I had over six weeks off following foot surgery and was able to start aerobic exercise last Tuesday. Running was tough and my legs didn't have their former strength. Now I'm getting stronger but my heart is lagging.

This morning in a cycle class I got a bit dizzy and nauseous after 40 minutes of moderate (I thought) exercise. I left class and did something I shouldn't have done --- I sat down. I noticed my that my heart rate was dropping like a rock. It plummeted to 40. I checked my pulse and the HRM was correct. Yikes! I felt fine and got up to walk around and my heart rate moved up to normal. I went back to class and finished by cycling with a light effort level. I realize my aerobic fitness will take some time to improve now, but I need some guidelines for getting back into aerobic shape. Any suggestions?
--Mark

first run of the year this morning

It's about time! I ran for 2 miles on the treadmill. My heart rate to pace ratio was very high, but not unexpected. I'll do 2 or 3 miles tomorrow and figure out some sort of running plan for my next few weeks.

My next scheduled race is the Ron Daws 25K on April 4th. That's too soon to run it fast so my goal may be to run it in 2:20 to 2:30.

I also plan to go to the Human Race 8K on March 22nd to watch my friends race. I don't dare enter that one myself as I'm afraid I would over-do something.

--Mark

not yet running

I had my stitches out and it's great to not need crutches to move and I don't have to crawl up/down the stairs like a baby. :-) I know my foot is not healed enough to run yet, and it won't be for 3 weeks or so. My first race I'm planning to run is the Ron Daws 25K on April 4th. I should be able to run it at an easy pace but not sub-2 hours like last year.

--Mark

On the mend

Maybe TMI... I had what grew to be a very painful Plantar Wart on the bottom of my right foot, mid-foot but under the area near the outside that receives a lot of pressure when walking or running. Last Friday I had it removed as an outpatient procedure in a Hospital. The operation was more extensive than a quick office procedure. I was to be given anesthesia that was not 'general anesthesia' but I would be asleep. The Anesthesiologist said, Well, your heart rate is 48. That's certainly going to set off the alarms that usually go off at under 60. She said if my HR goes too low they can give me something to boost it up 5 to 10 beats. They knew I was a runner so there was nothing unusual about my HR.

The doctor cut out the Plantar Wart and then cut a skin flap nearby the site and rotated it to cover the wound. He then sewed the skin flap in place. It's important that I don't put pressure on that area to ensure the skin heals in place properly and doesn't form excess scar tissue that could cause me more problems down the road. I woke up in recovery and the Dr. came to tell me that it all went well, etc, etc. My wife was there too. A few minutes after the Dr. left, I asked my wife if the Dr. talked with me. I thought he was there but couldn't quite remember anymore. Then I told her I hoped she could remember what he said because I was forgetting in just a few minutes. That was a strange feeling.

Another strange thing was the following morning when the pain-block injection was wearing off in my foot and I stepped up to two Vicodin's at at time. I had been logging onto my laptop every few hours to check/send e-mails and surf the internet. Well, the drug effect made me forget how to spell my password. It's not difficult to remember as it's just a long word with a few special character modifcations. I remembered the modifications but I could not remember how to spell the word. I figured out that I would type it phonetically and that was my problem. My brain would only allow me to type it how it sounded, not how it was spelled. At one point I had to get one of my kids to look it up in the dictionary for me so I could write it down. My mind was still pretty clear, not like if I was drinking. I now understand why some people may have trouble spelling words.... not that they're on Vicodin, but just the way their brain works. I've been off Vicodin for 35 hours and now my pain is totally gone.

I had a post-op check with my Dr. yesterday. It all looks great and there is no bruising. I think with all the stitches it looks like a small birds-nest on the bottom of my foot. In three weeks I go back to get the stitches taken out but until then I can't put weight on that foot. Then he says I'll have little adhesive bandages across the area for awhile to hold things secure but I will be wearing shoes at that time. I've been doing a lot of standing on my left leg so that will get strong but I'm not sure when I'll be running again. Hopefully the end of February or early March.

I've also wanted to get 'off' caffiene for a while now. I did that too. Last Friday morning was my last cup of coffee. I still plan to go for coffee with friends from time to time but I'll make it a treat, not a daily habit.

update 1/28: I tried to count the number of stitches this morning and it looks like there are 17, plus or minus a few.

--Mark

Weather forecast

I normally run in the early morning, usually around 5am. I like to pack my running clothes the night before and I use the National Weather Service web page for a very good forecast. The forecast is hour by hour and also includes wind speed/direction and wind chill too as well as many other factors. I also use the data to talk over with my running partners to help determine if we will be running outside or on the treadmill. I'm an engineer and love graphs and tables so that's another thing I love about the NWS site.

See: National Weather Service Forecast - Twin Cities

Once at the website, you can click on the graph for the data in a tabular format.

One Block Fun Run

My first race of the year will be a One Block Fun Run this Saturday, January 17th. Dick's Bar and Grill in Hudson, WI is the race location and some of my running friends and I are planning to run it for the first time. It's been an annual event for over 25 years and is a fundraiser for United Cerebal Palsy of Central Wisconsin. This may be my wife's first running event!

Registration is at Dick's Bar until race time and, for this one time only, I won't be wearing a heart rate monitor. :-)

--Mark

Foot surgery coming...

I don't complain about pain very much but every step I take feels like there is a little knife poking up into the bottom of my foot. I saw a Podiatrist on Monday and he verified that I do indeed have a plantar wart. After discussing my treatment options, their success rates, and treatment timelines, I decided to have the thing cut out on Jan. 23rd. For approximately 3 weeks after that I'll need to keep pressure off that area in order for it to heal properly and minimize scaring and ripping out of stitches.

I should be back to walking normally in shoes mid February. I'm guessing by mid March I'll be back getting some miles in but maybe not more than 25 per week. The reason I'm figuring this out is to see how ready I can be for a Spring and/or a Summer marathon. I've determined that it doesn't make sense for me to run the Eau Claire marathon on May 3rd, and I'll skip Grandma's in June.

I'll run whatever I can when I'm ready.

--Mark

Not running today...

I'm not running until I get the pain in my foot fixed. I'm seeing a Podiatrist next Monday so hopefully I'll be on the mend soon.

I took a 2hr Spinning class yesterday to end the year and a 75 minute class today to start the new year.

I'm not making any New Years Resolutions for 2009 so there will be none to break. :-)

--Mark