A quick update on my Biggest Looser progress, down just over 20 pounds in 6 weeks. With 2 weeks left in the contest I'm in the lead, now I just need to hang on through the end.
This years race schedule is starting to take shape. Right now Erin and I are signed up for the Fargo Marathon and Trail Mix. Trail Mix is April 16th in Bloomington, MN. It will be Erin's first 25k trail run, and my first 50k event. The Fargo Marathon is May 21 and will be Erin's first marathon. The other event on our calendar is a birthday run on March 26th. Rachel and I both have birthdays in late March. Initially she was planning a birthday marathon, but Maggie talked us into doing 30 miles for my 30th birthday. It's going to be fun to run with them on what will be my longest run ever. The schedule beyond May is still up in the air. I'm thinking about trying to do a half ironman on June 11th, but haven't committed myself to it yet and I'd like to do the 50k at Afton this year. This fall I'd like to find a 50 mile run to do, but haven't really locked in on any specific event yet. I may open the search to include 100k events. Between the big events we'll probably fill up the schedule with things like the Tour of Lakes bike ride, Turtlefest 5k, our anniversary run, and I'm trying to talk Erin and some others into doing Average Joe's for their first triathlon. It should be another busy summer.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Blizzard Changes Our Plans
Saturday mornings Erin and I run with a training group organized by The Fargo Running Company. The group is aimed at having people ready to run the Fargo marathon in May. Friday night, just after I've gone to bed Erin comes in with my phone and tells me I just missed a call from Rick. I call him back and learn that the group run is canceled because of the weather. So much for my plan to run to the store and with the group. Oh well, I turn off the alarm and decide that I'll sleep in. When I finally get up Saturday morning my body is screaming at me "WHY AREN'T YOU RUNNING". It's been quite a while since I've missed a Saturday long run. I look at the weather and decide I don't really want to go out with the wind as high as it was. I also decide I am not going to run on a treadmill for 3+ hours. This looks like a good spot for a step back week. Later in the day I get a text from Maggie about running on Sunday. We go back and forth for a bit before deciding to run from our house Sunday morning. The wind should have died down by then, but it will be a little colder, seems like a good trade off.
This morning we get up and get ready. When I first check the weather the wind is calm and it's 4° out. We finish getting dressed, Maggie comes over and we head out on our way. Although the air is cold it feels quite nice out. We're all dressed well for the conditions and the miles start to pass. Running along the Old Milwaukee trail we can start to see a runner approaching us. I ask Erin "Hey, does that look like Erik?" Sure enough one of our friends from the training group comes running up. We stop and chat for a bit, make some remark about what are the odds of passing each other and then continue on our way. Shortly after that we stop off at my parents house. After we'd made plans to run with Maggie, I dropped off some Poweraid there so we could top off our bottles today. It would up being about the perfect spot along to the route to use the bathroom and fill up. Our route takes us past the store on our way home and shortly after we pass it we see a couple of runners ahead. Kris and Maria, the other runners we normally run with on Saturday are running towards us. We stop and chat with them for a bit and then let them finish the little they have left of their run. Heading south along veterans was rough going. The sidewalk had not been plowed, but most of the drifts were hard enough to run on top of. The occasional spot where we'd break through the snow pack slowed us down, but we made it through without having to adjust the route. The last few miles Erin was feeling a little sluggish, it was the furthest she'd ever gone and a bigger jump then it should have been from the previous week. Maggie encouraged Erin to pick the pace up in a few spots and we made it back to the house still running strong. Erin was kind enough to fill up Maggie and my own bottles and then leaving Erin at the house we ventured out for a few bonus miles. We picked up the pace in places as we started our 5 mile loop, but evened things out with some walking. Maggie tends to run most of her miles on trails and gravel roads so the hard pavement was not treating her very well. We still managed to tough out enough miles to get 20 in for the day. It was a beautiful day for a run and I had a great time with Erin and Maggie.
This morning we get up and get ready. When I first check the weather the wind is calm and it's 4° out. We finish getting dressed, Maggie comes over and we head out on our way. Although the air is cold it feels quite nice out. We're all dressed well for the conditions and the miles start to pass. Running along the Old Milwaukee trail we can start to see a runner approaching us. I ask Erin "Hey, does that look like Erik?" Sure enough one of our friends from the training group comes running up. We stop and chat for a bit, make some remark about what are the odds of passing each other and then continue on our way. Shortly after that we stop off at my parents house. After we'd made plans to run with Maggie, I dropped off some Poweraid there so we could top off our bottles today. It would up being about the perfect spot along to the route to use the bathroom and fill up. Our route takes us past the store on our way home and shortly after we pass it we see a couple of runners ahead. Kris and Maria, the other runners we normally run with on Saturday are running towards us. We stop and chat with them for a bit and then let them finish the little they have left of their run. Heading south along veterans was rough going. The sidewalk had not been plowed, but most of the drifts were hard enough to run on top of. The occasional spot where we'd break through the snow pack slowed us down, but we made it through without having to adjust the route. The last few miles Erin was feeling a little sluggish, it was the furthest she'd ever gone and a bigger jump then it should have been from the previous week. Maggie encouraged Erin to pick the pace up in a few spots and we made it back to the house still running strong. Erin was kind enough to fill up Maggie and my own bottles and then leaving Erin at the house we ventured out for a few bonus miles. We picked up the pace in places as we started our 5 mile loop, but evened things out with some walking. Maggie tends to run most of her miles on trails and gravel roads so the hard pavement was not treating her very well. We still managed to tough out enough miles to get 20 in for the day. It was a beautiful day for a run and I had a great time with Erin and Maggie.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Two a Day Workouts
Most days I'll run in the morning and cross train after work. I find the cross training helps keep muscle groups in balance so I don't over develop one area and neglect another. Generally I'll treat 1 workout as a hard one and one as recovery, I may run hard in the morning, but the bike ride in the afternoon is relaxed and is all about just moving. Conversely I may have a recovery run but bust ass at the gym later in the day. I wouldn't recommend this to most people, but it's been working for me for the past few months.
Every couple of weeks I like to get together with some friends who are ultra runners. Running with them has always been fun for me. I admire what they've accomplished and the work that they have put in to make all their goals happen. They've been incredibly supportive and encouraging when I've gone out with them. Even though I knew they could easily outrun me they dialed back the pace a little and I've never felt like I was holding the group back. Erin also loves running with this group although when she first had a chance to run with them she was a bit intimidated by their accomplishments as well. It was her first trail run and Erin's running resume at the time was only a couple of half marathons, but after that first run, she was hooked.
Last night we meet up with our friends for a run. Being a Thursday we had run in the morning with the group from the store, so this would be the second run of the day. We meet up in Moorhead and soon were prowling the city in the dark. With the recent snowfall footing was hit and miss along the route. Some people had shoveled sidewalks and the warm weather had dried them off, while others had left the snow sit slowing us down considerably as we went single file. The wind was a bit stronger then I had expected and going into it was chilly, but when we turned around the cold was quickly forgotten. The 5 miles passed very quickly and Maggie and I had enough left to sprint at the end of the run. Runs like this help inspire me to put so much into my training. When I'm tired in the morning and would rather sleep in or it's just a day I don't feel like putting in the effort I can remember back to experiences like this and know it's all worth while.
Every couple of weeks I like to get together with some friends who are ultra runners. Running with them has always been fun for me. I admire what they've accomplished and the work that they have put in to make all their goals happen. They've been incredibly supportive and encouraging when I've gone out with them. Even though I knew they could easily outrun me they dialed back the pace a little and I've never felt like I was holding the group back. Erin also loves running with this group although when she first had a chance to run with them she was a bit intimidated by their accomplishments as well. It was her first trail run and Erin's running resume at the time was only a couple of half marathons, but after that first run, she was hooked.
Last night we meet up with our friends for a run. Being a Thursday we had run in the morning with the group from the store, so this would be the second run of the day. We meet up in Moorhead and soon were prowling the city in the dark. With the recent snowfall footing was hit and miss along the route. Some people had shoveled sidewalks and the warm weather had dried them off, while others had left the snow sit slowing us down considerably as we went single file. The wind was a bit stronger then I had expected and going into it was chilly, but when we turned around the cold was quickly forgotten. The 5 miles passed very quickly and Maggie and I had enough left to sprint at the end of the run. Runs like this help inspire me to put so much into my training. When I'm tired in the morning and would rather sleep in or it's just a day I don't feel like putting in the effort I can remember back to experiences like this and know it's all worth while.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Misc Updates and Todays Run With Erin
Biggest Looser Update
I dropped almost 15 pounds in February. Although I've only won 1 week of the competition I'm in the overall lead, each week I seem to be fairly consistent with my weight loss. There's another month to go, but I'm hopeful I can hang onto my lead to win this.
Swimming
About 2 weeks ago I heard about a relatively unknown pool in the area from a friend. I've been looking for a good place to start swimming, but I've been concerned about how busy most of the pools in the area are. I'm just getting started with swimming and I prefer not to embarrass myself too much. I've heard lane sharing is common at the Y so I've avoided going there, so for the past 2 weeks Erin and I have been going to this other pool and learning how to swim. It's not like we were completely new to the water, we've just never really focused on getting somewhere quickly in the water. Staring out was as hard as we expected. Wow do we suck. However we are making progress. We've gone 3 times so far but already we're becoming more confident, faster, and able to go longer. It's just like when we first started running, we had a hard time going 5 minutes on a treadmill.
Tempo Tuesdays
I do my speedwork on Tuesday mornings, lately it's been all treadmill running at the gym so I don't have to worry about footing. An added benefit of the treadmill is I can tightly control my pace and force myself to go as fast as I'm planning. A few weeks ago I did my first 1 hour 10k and last week I had a monster run getting almost 6.5 miles in 1 hour. It's nice to see improvements see the gap start to close between my abilities and those I strive to be like.
Saturday Group Runs
The past couple of Saturdays have been cold. 2 weeks ago I saw 22 below at a bank as I ran to meet the group and yesterday was just below zero when I headed out. Both weeks we've run from the downtown Y and I've run from our house to meet the group there. They've been solid runs for me, 20 miles 2 weeks ago and 21.75 yesterday. Unfortunately a problem has popped up for Erin. When we start off her hands are fine and on shorter runs there are no issues. On longer runs she has issues with her hands getting dangerously cold. 2 weeks ago we shortened the route by a mile because of how bad her hands felt, and yesterday Erin got a ride back to the Y from the final aid station with Rick's wife Kristy.
This Morning
Erin was feeling down about not getting her miles in yesterday and we had picked up some goose down mittens that she wanted to try out. I was a little tired, but wanted to get in a recovery run. We headed out without a definite plan or route, just seeing how it would go. Starting out we took the 6 mile route to the store and decided that we'd head back along 42nd street. I mentioned to Erin that if we got 10.5 miles in today she'd have 20 for the weekend. That seemed to help motivate her and we added in a loop to make sure we got the distance in. The first mile or 2 Erin's hands were almost too warm, but after that they adapted and she was comfortable the rest of the way. The pace was a little slow, but very enjoyable. The sun had already come up when we started our run and it snowed the entire time we were out. After our run we finished the morning with brunch at Famous Dave's.
I dropped almost 15 pounds in February. Although I've only won 1 week of the competition I'm in the overall lead, each week I seem to be fairly consistent with my weight loss. There's another month to go, but I'm hopeful I can hang onto my lead to win this.
Swimming
About 2 weeks ago I heard about a relatively unknown pool in the area from a friend. I've been looking for a good place to start swimming, but I've been concerned about how busy most of the pools in the area are. I'm just getting started with swimming and I prefer not to embarrass myself too much. I've heard lane sharing is common at the Y so I've avoided going there, so for the past 2 weeks Erin and I have been going to this other pool and learning how to swim. It's not like we were completely new to the water, we've just never really focused on getting somewhere quickly in the water. Staring out was as hard as we expected. Wow do we suck. However we are making progress. We've gone 3 times so far but already we're becoming more confident, faster, and able to go longer. It's just like when we first started running, we had a hard time going 5 minutes on a treadmill.
Tempo Tuesdays
I do my speedwork on Tuesday mornings, lately it's been all treadmill running at the gym so I don't have to worry about footing. An added benefit of the treadmill is I can tightly control my pace and force myself to go as fast as I'm planning. A few weeks ago I did my first 1 hour 10k and last week I had a monster run getting almost 6.5 miles in 1 hour. It's nice to see improvements see the gap start to close between my abilities and those I strive to be like.
Saturday Group Runs
The past couple of Saturdays have been cold. 2 weeks ago I saw 22 below at a bank as I ran to meet the group and yesterday was just below zero when I headed out. Both weeks we've run from the downtown Y and I've run from our house to meet the group there. They've been solid runs for me, 20 miles 2 weeks ago and 21.75 yesterday. Unfortunately a problem has popped up for Erin. When we start off her hands are fine and on shorter runs there are no issues. On longer runs she has issues with her hands getting dangerously cold. 2 weeks ago we shortened the route by a mile because of how bad her hands felt, and yesterday Erin got a ride back to the Y from the final aid station with Rick's wife Kristy.
This Morning
Erin was feeling down about not getting her miles in yesterday and we had picked up some goose down mittens that she wanted to try out. I was a little tired, but wanted to get in a recovery run. We headed out without a definite plan or route, just seeing how it would go. Starting out we took the 6 mile route to the store and decided that we'd head back along 42nd street. I mentioned to Erin that if we got 10.5 miles in today she'd have 20 for the weekend. That seemed to help motivate her and we added in a loop to make sure we got the distance in. The first mile or 2 Erin's hands were almost too warm, but after that they adapted and she was comfortable the rest of the way. The pace was a little slow, but very enjoyable. The sun had already come up when we started our run and it snowed the entire time we were out. After our run we finished the morning with brunch at Famous Dave's.
Monday, February 21, 2011
My Weekend
Saturdays Group Run
This weeks group run was 10 miles from the downtown Y. The route took us north along the marathon route and a bit past the dome to get our distance in. This week Rick was kind enough to mark the route ahead of time so we wouldn't get lost like the previous week. A couple of miles into the run a pack formed with Kris, Maria, Rick, Erin and myself. Our pack held together for the rest of the run and we were joined on the way back by Eric and Mark. I love when a good sized pack forms. As you run you tend to speed up and slow down periodically. The natural pace variations within the group causes people to drift within the group, giving you the opportunity to talk with different people as you run. The conditions were cold but the roads were mainly dry after the warm up the week before. When we got back to the Y I stopped to use the bathroom and headed out for my bonus miles. Erin drove home from the Y, but I had planned to run the 8.5 miles home to get in a little extra. Starting out on my own I quickly found a comfortable pace and headed in the general direction of home. I hadn't really thought about what route I would take until now so I passed the time by thinking of different ways to get home. I had managed to stay on top of fueling and hydration so far and was feeling good 13 miles into my run. I decided I'd head over to the Old Milwaukee Trail again as that route worked well last week. As I neared mile 15 I began to feel fatigued. I focused on drinking more and had a few shot blocks and some endurolytes. I let myself do some walking, but tried to limit it to short periods. The run was starting to get unpleasant, but my goal was to push through the ugliness and finish strong. I felt like my pace was slowing down, but in reality it was speeding up as I went. I started to think of what I wanted to eat when I was done and remembered Stewarts Deli had beer cheese soup today. I decided that we'd hit up the deli and I'd get soup and my normal sandwich with a few additions; bacon, pepper jack cheese, and more bacon. Thinking about the upcoming meal I finished the run very strong. Without digging into my past logs too much I'm confident this is the fastest I'd ever covered this particular distance. I was tired and a little sore, but the sandwich afterward made it all worth while.
Sundays Gear Test
Friday night Erin and I went shopping for some new gear. I had one a few challenges on The Daily Mile and had some Visa gift cards to use up. We wound up each getting a Sugoi jacket made with their firewall fabric. We were both excited to try them out, but thought Saturdays long run would be a poor time to try out something new. Sunday morning was 8° with the wind around 20 mph out of the N. Not the most fun to be running in, but great weather to test out gear in. Leaving the house I didn't have a route or goal distance in mind. I figured I'd see how things went after doing 18 the previous day and how warm I was able to stay. After a mile or two I decided that I'd shoot for a 10 mile run. That would get me to 51 miles for the week, the same amount as the previous 2 weeks. The route I chose had me running into the wind for the first half of the run. The wind was strong enough that I could feel it slow my pace, it felt like running up a hill all the way until the turn around point. The jacket was supposed to be wind proof, but it felt like some of the wind was making it through. I was a little under dressed, but still in the range where things were tolerable. After I turned around I warmed up somewhat and went a little faster. I fell behind on fueling and hydration and started to drag with 3 miles left, it wasn't unpleasant, but I could tell the legs didn't have as much in them as on my way out. At that point I drank what I could and pushed through the remaining distance. When I got home I passed on sitting in the snowbank, I was cold enough already and was eager to get out of the wind. The morning ended with a hot shower, a nap, and then brunch at WF Maxwells. Not a bad way to end the weekend.
This weeks group run was 10 miles from the downtown Y. The route took us north along the marathon route and a bit past the dome to get our distance in. This week Rick was kind enough to mark the route ahead of time so we wouldn't get lost like the previous week. A couple of miles into the run a pack formed with Kris, Maria, Rick, Erin and myself. Our pack held together for the rest of the run and we were joined on the way back by Eric and Mark. I love when a good sized pack forms. As you run you tend to speed up and slow down periodically. The natural pace variations within the group causes people to drift within the group, giving you the opportunity to talk with different people as you run. The conditions were cold but the roads were mainly dry after the warm up the week before. When we got back to the Y I stopped to use the bathroom and headed out for my bonus miles. Erin drove home from the Y, but I had planned to run the 8.5 miles home to get in a little extra. Starting out on my own I quickly found a comfortable pace and headed in the general direction of home. I hadn't really thought about what route I would take until now so I passed the time by thinking of different ways to get home. I had managed to stay on top of fueling and hydration so far and was feeling good 13 miles into my run. I decided I'd head over to the Old Milwaukee Trail again as that route worked well last week. As I neared mile 15 I began to feel fatigued. I focused on drinking more and had a few shot blocks and some endurolytes. I let myself do some walking, but tried to limit it to short periods. The run was starting to get unpleasant, but my goal was to push through the ugliness and finish strong. I felt like my pace was slowing down, but in reality it was speeding up as I went. I started to think of what I wanted to eat when I was done and remembered Stewarts Deli had beer cheese soup today. I decided that we'd hit up the deli and I'd get soup and my normal sandwich with a few additions; bacon, pepper jack cheese, and more bacon. Thinking about the upcoming meal I finished the run very strong. Without digging into my past logs too much I'm confident this is the fastest I'd ever covered this particular distance. I was tired and a little sore, but the sandwich afterward made it all worth while.
Sundays Gear Test
Friday night Erin and I went shopping for some new gear. I had one a few challenges on The Daily Mile and had some Visa gift cards to use up. We wound up each getting a Sugoi jacket made with their firewall fabric. We were both excited to try them out, but thought Saturdays long run would be a poor time to try out something new. Sunday morning was 8° with the wind around 20 mph out of the N. Not the most fun to be running in, but great weather to test out gear in. Leaving the house I didn't have a route or goal distance in mind. I figured I'd see how things went after doing 18 the previous day and how warm I was able to stay. After a mile or two I decided that I'd shoot for a 10 mile run. That would get me to 51 miles for the week, the same amount as the previous 2 weeks. The route I chose had me running into the wind for the first half of the run. The wind was strong enough that I could feel it slow my pace, it felt like running up a hill all the way until the turn around point. The jacket was supposed to be wind proof, but it felt like some of the wind was making it through. I was a little under dressed, but still in the range where things were tolerable. After I turned around I warmed up somewhat and went a little faster. I fell behind on fueling and hydration and started to drag with 3 miles left, it wasn't unpleasant, but I could tell the legs didn't have as much in them as on my way out. At that point I drank what I could and pushed through the remaining distance. When I got home I passed on sitting in the snowbank, I was cold enough already and was eager to get out of the wind. The morning ended with a hot shower, a nap, and then brunch at WF Maxwells. Not a bad way to end the weekend.
Biggest Loser
Today is the end of the third week of my biggest loser competition. I've been making steady progress and I'm down a total of 11 pounds so far. It hasn't been easy, but I've also been able to be a indulge a few times a week because of the large amount of running I've been doing. This week I'd like to really focus on eating well and see if I can make it without having any "bad" meals. I'm not necessarily cutting down on calories from previous weeks, just looking to avoid the feeling of 'I could have done better' when I'm done eating a meal.
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