Training Log Archive: expresso

Joseph biked along next to me and we chatted the whole way. Keeping up with the bike made me push this Carmel loop a faster than usual.
Very enjoyable.

Jog to/from OS for the race (43 there, 45 back). I had to time my departure carefully so I arrived just about race time. This is a new strategy to finish warmup right at start time; it seems to work for me. As it was, I had time to drop my water bottle & extra shirt, eat a gu and get to the line for the announcements. As this was a charity event, the organizer went on for a while and I started to worry about cooling down. Practiced some mind adjustment about my concerns relative to those of the malnourished Haitian school children... Ok, talk all you want, educating us about their plight more important than my race fixation.
On the way back, met and briefly ran with a neighbor (Jeff Brandt) who I saw out at OS. His daughter Madeline and Katie are in the same grade.

Hope for the Hungry - 10k
The start line was a bit crowded as this was not chip timed. There was also a bottleneck right away as we got on the limestone path. I let the traffic go in front of me and then passed them in the first 1/3 mile. The start wound around a lake and I got to see the leaders pulling away with 7 people total in front of me as we entered the woods. The first mile felt pretty good and I slowly gained on a guy and passed him at 2 miles and then quickly went by a kid who had gone out too fast. Good to see a youth running this far so I said something encouraging as I went by.
I was on autopilot at this point because I'm familiar enough to almost run this OS loop with my eyes closed. The limestone felt great under my feet; it's hard but your foot slides a tiny distance with each landing and push off. This provides a small but welcome variety between each step. At about 3.5 miles the path does some tight turns so it was easy to glance back; sure enough there was someone ~100m behind me. I figured that he'd been closing on me over the past mile as I'd slowed on the many uphills in that stretch. I needed to pull away and remove his incentive of catching up to someone, so I did. Miles 3.5 - 5 were probably my hardest and I really pushed the hilly area as we passed through it a second time. He faded and by the end was out of sight and I was closing on a guy in front of me although I didn't catch him. Despite some soreness in my legs, I felt very good throughout the race.
Splits:
7:01, 6:52, 7:01, 6:58, 6:41, 7:04, 1:30
The GPS geeks all agreed that the course was long (~.15 mile) and that this error was located in the 6th mile and also in the final .2. Looking at my splits, I would tend to agree. I did not slow down to 7:04 in the last mile and 1:30 is also too long for the finish stretch. No matter but interesting to note.
Results...

C • hey good race! 3

Nice day for a ride. Standard route to 41 then Lake Forest loop to Laurel, down SV to Lake-Cook & home. Had a guy push me from 60 to LV.

Carmel lap plus jog down to check for DPR flooding. It's rising, again.
Legs felt better than yesterday; seem to be recovering quite well.

Pokey Carmel Lap. Legs felt ok but I didn't feel the need to push it today with the short recovery window between races.

Easy swim to loosen-up. Felt more like an anchor than a buoy after all my time off. Long jaccuz felt great.

Kids' doings rarely make it into my log for various reasons but sometimes things happen that I don't want to forget so I'll put them here in my only journal.
Tonight was their jr. high spring concert and Katie plays up in the 8th grade band so they were both performing. Near the end they gave out awards and Joseph received the annual conductor's award for his work in the jazz band. We were so proud if him (as was he).
Clearly he inherited his musical aptitude from Jill's side of the family. However, I know enough about music to be astounded at his natural talent. This is reinforced by every music teacher and band director he's had. It's hard for me to understand this gift as I can't recall having such an innate ability. Well, maybe, but it's not as readily apparent.
My big hope for him is that he continues to enjoy music as much as he does for as long as he wants. And a message to keep reminding myself... let him take this as far as he wants... including a career.

20 before race and then shuffled another 25 after. This will be my last run in these old Mizunos as I am handing them off to Joseph and going to break in my new pair. I really love the Wave Rider model.

Elgin Fox Trot - 10 mile
I have run this race before and botched my pacing so I decided to make some chenges. First, I would set a reasonable goal and try to stick to it (7:15/mile). Second, and turned out to be most important, do a full 20 minute warmup immediately before the start and come in hot for the gun.
So I got all set to race and, 22 minutes before the start, set out backwards on the course for 10 minutes and then returned. They were already making the announcements and *bang* off we went. I felt pretty good as my aerobic system was already online.
With the chip timing there was no pressure and I started in the middle of the pack but passed dozens and dozens of people in the first mile. At that point, I settled in the company with whom I would run the whole race. The first 4 miles were relatively hilly and, while everyone else seems to, I never really slow myself on the descents and end up passing a lot of people. Conversely, I don't like to raise my HR dragging my fat arse up the hills so I tend to slow and get passed. Takeway lesson, lose the fat and push the uphills too!! The rest of the race was flat and I tried to keep up my pace but it was hard when my legs started to complain. I did my best. The last mile is a gentle downhill but it sure didn't feel like it. I had left almost nothing on the race course and poured the rest out during this mile and passed some folks. Love that euphoric, wobbly feeling of crossing the finish after a great race.
Splits:
7:19, 7:07, 6:53, 7:15, 6:46, 7:08, 7:15, 7:26, 7:32, 6:48
Not sure about the accuracy of the early mile markers, although the hills throw it off, there sure is a wide variance. Clearly, I was fading near the end because I didn't feel that slow.
Results...

It's been a long time since I ran this lake & neighborhood loop. Nice morning; lots of friendly neighbors & pooping dogs.

Beautiful day, again. After spending the morning at the hardware and grocery stores, was really itching to get out. Felt so good. Made it south to Park Ave. in the time I had.

First run in brand new Wave Riders. Ahhhh. I love this model.
Although it was cool out, something got to me and made me sweat funny and ever feel a bit woozy at times. It felt like an energy low but that was unlikely considering my intake. Something told me I'd had too much sodium salt and accompanying water in me. Will study this hypothesis.

13 minute warmup before tempo run and the remainder after it. Bit warm but might slowly becoming accustomed to the heat. Another gorgeous day. Saw a lot of other runners and bikers all enjoying themselves.
After Carmel lap, route took me around Adler lap along the river. The trail is finally dry and should stay that way until next spring.

Bit of an ad hoc tempo run as I did not know what pace to run because I don't feel the vdot from my last races is accurate. So I just measured out a loop on gmap and decided to just run it and judge by my breathing. We'll check back here later.

Easy ride to Lake Cook. Beautiful (if breezy) day & saw lots of other bikers.

Carmel Lap. Getting warm, nice breeze, beautiful. Legs felt much better than yesterday but still decided to give them a running rest tomorrow.

Had two hours while K at softball practice so I decided to do an OS lap from the fields. This was more than I wanted to do but it was better than any lazy alternatives. Legs dead from yesterday but got through it.
Just ordered a new pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 10s online. I decided to give J my current pair because he runs every day after school.

CAOC Meet - Poplar Creek Score - O
Gorgeous day and when I got there I learned that Maricel would have swept course had he not mistranscribed one of the circles on the map. Decided that I would go for it and started with the long run to the northern controls to get warmed-up. It is not a hard map and I know it pretty well. Ran hard and fairly clean but came in 5 minutes overtime after the sweep. Good course, very enjoyable time.

Running to fetch the northern controls for pickup. Also a brief warmup run before race.

Adler Lap. Haven't done this one in a while and I remembered why as I ran along the low spot under the train trestle and around the lagoon a bit north of there. The Des Plaines River was still cresting over the trail and it got about 6in. deep for a decent stretch. Further, there were smelly fish who had been stranded by the receding river. We'll give that spot another week or so before we try again. Felt good despite the drizzle.

IG Lap. Gorgeous day. Nice & breezy.

Rode to get my car. Unbelievable work!! It looks as good as new. Riding home with the windows down I noticed some new rattle noises since last fall. I'm still determined to get to 300k with it though.

Easy jog to OS and finished at Highland. Slight drizzle but nice cool temps.

Biked back from the body shop. Getting some rust sanded off my car and touch-up paint so it doesn't look like it has 205K miles on it.

Gorgeous day, wish I could run forever. Legs didn't feel too bad but 5 was enough for today.

Another great Eurocross race, 7th overall. Terrain running is definitely my preference and where I get my best results.
Much more relaxed about this race than I was two years ago. I knew that I wouldn't have any trouble finishing it but did have some concerns about how hard I could go considering that I my fitness level is not where it was. Another issue was that last week's practice half-marathon in Kenosha was still lingering in my legs. I'd done what I could for recovery but they were not 100%. Following the lesson from before, my plan was to run in a pack or at least behind someone who was familiar with the trail. The trick would be to find the folks running the right pace for me.
Awoke to rain and drove through it for an hour to the race. It was pretty dreary, windy & cool. This wind & rain had me regretting not bringing a base layer as all I had was one very thin layer since the temps were forecast in the lower 50s. Just killed a bit of time before the start hanging out in a sheltered beach house, trying to stay out of the strong wind. It was a relief to finally start as the rain let-up and I could start to warm up.
With no mile markers or other way to determine my pace, I used my breathing to judge as best I could. I kept it at 3 steps/breath for the first mile or so to make sure that I didn't start too fast. With no real warmup, I needed to give myself some time. We were grouped with the marathon racers at the start but split with them and headed on to the path after a half mile. I focused on this split and counted 14 people enter the trees ahead of me; this would be the last I saw of three of them until the finish. Although I kept my pace easy, I quickly passed 3 people who seemed uncomfortable with the rough terrain. A group of 5 guys coalesced about 2 miles into the race as it is difficult for a leader to break away from a group because the others have the advantage of learning from what the leader does. There were many places where the path went through obscure areas such that the leader has to decide where to go or how to negotiate an obstacle. The pace seemed perfect for me and the first hour passed quickly and I started to look for the yacht club at around 70 mintes out. I was surprised that we hit this a couple minutes behind schedule but I think that the headwind and muddy footing conditions must have slowed us.
I recall there being a water stop on the south side of the lake but I never saw it this year (we could have missed it due to a construction detour). Luckily I was carrying gatorade and food. The were many opportunities for me to drink and eat on flat stretches because any ground I lost was easily recovered as soon as the terrain got harsh and the leaders inevitably slowed. None of the others carried water and I saw only one guy eating. I hoped they would all eventually fade as they got behind in the nutrition race. Sure enough, when we got to the half way point in Fontana, two of them stopped to eat and drink. I slowed briefly to refill and quickly passed one guy who hadn't stopped. The other guy (Daryl) seized the daylight and pegged his pace so the others could not reattach. It was like catching a gazelle but I finally pulled behind him and we burned along the north side under the observatory.
Charlie was waiting for me at the park in Williams Bay to run the last 8 miles with me. He reported that I was in 7th place with the 5th place runner about 3 minutes ahead of us. I think this motivated Daryl because he found yet another gear and began to pull away. Although I had enough energy and was well hydrated, my legs were almost dead at this point and I could not respond. I think the half marathon last week took its toll, ugh. I pushed hard and stayed mostly within sight of him and eventually the other runner, but I could not close. It was a hard last few miles and Charlie started to catch me. The park finally appeared and the finish tent was a welcome sight.
My time was 9 minutes off my race two years ago. Certainly some of this was lost due to my lower fitness but I believe that most of it was from the less ideal running conditions. The soggy ground sapped a bit from every step and I think that accumulated over the whole race. Of yeah, as fun as it was last week, I need to rethink doing the Kenosha half next year. Yes, I want to race this again. I love the variety, obstacles & surprises. I spent so many summer days sailing on this lake as a kid that these great memories are like an energy source for me. Such a great time.
Followed the whole thing with a soak in the frigid lake; chowed a Potbelly sandwich & milkshake to refuel... Ahhhhh !!!

Was googling for Eurocross gps tracks and my old race report came up. Hilarious to think that others found it outside of AP. It will be difficult to match that finish time and impossible to write so much about a race again.

C • That was good write up! 4

OO out & back. Beautiful day.
Planned this after running an errand but realized that I only had the ancient pair of running shoes that I was wearing. They have been almost my only casual footwear since I retired them 3 years ago so they have no cushion at all. Luckily the path was soft and I was just poking along anyway.

Carmel Lap. Legs still a bit sore from Sat. Was hard to run on all roads in that race.

Cruised around town to visit all my neighbors and see what they were up to on this fine day.

1st Ever Wisconsin (Half) Marathon in Kenosha
Bit of a panic the night before when I looked at their web site to get directions and read that there was no packet pickup on race day, Yikes!! Decided to make the trip anyway and run as a bandit if I couldn't get the packet. Of course, in the morning I got it from a pile of over a hundred folks in my same situation. They had one of those disposable chips in it. A good evolution in timing technology.
The start did a short spectator loop and then headed out to the rest of the course. I was misdirected (by an under-trained volunteer) to do a second loop. A few others, like me, who were taken by this spoof finally figured it out and headed back by her to the real course. Luckily, I only lost a minute to this. This was never a goal race for me but rather more of a test and hard workout. I decided to start slowly and ramp up my pace later depending how I felt. So I poked along for the first half and then started to look for Charlie near the turnaround. Sure enough, there was Soupbone, jogging along looking for me. This inspired me and we ramped-up the pace for the last half and it felt good all the way to the finish. The overall time is not so great but it was fun to run in this inaugural event.
Splits:
8:56, 8:46, 8:35, 8:22, 8:23, 8:22, 8:22, 8:21, 7:43, 7:36, 7:44, 7:39, 7:14, :45

C • Great work! 3