I’ve never seen the movie “Freaks,” but several of my friends were quoting the movie all weekend long as we welcomed my wife into our group.  It’s a pretty exclusive group…of people who do really stupid athletic things.  We all became good friends while training for Ironman and since then have found crazy things to do- the most recent of which was running the back-to-back half marathons this past weekend.

When I started training for Ironman the first time, Laura decided to take up karate.  It’s something that she had always wanted to do and with me gone training all the time, it made sense for her to start her own training.  Last Friday Laura took (and passed) her test for her “blue-stripe” belt- putting her solidly into the upper level belts.  Now things get tough for her.

On Sunday Laura ran her first half marathon. 

She started making her way into our little group last Winter when Julie asked me if Laura would want to join the cycling class- I was a bit surprised when she said she would.  I was even more surprised when I learned just how strong her legs had gotten doing karate- she might not have the speed of the rest of the group, but she outlasted us all through climbing drills.

A few weeks ago when we were all training for the Centurion Bicycle race we sent Laura off on a different route- assuming that she’d never be able to keep up with us.  We finished our training ride and found out that Laura went about twice as far as we expected…and only a few miles less than us.

Sunday when she completed her first half marathon is when the “Freaks” quotes started…”We accept you!  One of us!  One of us!”  She tried to tell us that it was not only her first, but also her last half marathon.  Of course we didn’t accept that- we made her join us in the team picture and explained that she’s now in the club- or maybe it’s a gang- and she’s not allowed to quite the gang.

Yesterday she skipped karate and joined us for the Capital Brewery Tuesday night ride- followed by beers in the beer garden of course.  One little mishap at the end of the ride and she’s now got some nicely scraped up legs.  Kevin said it’s a little something to show for the effort.

Yeah- she’s one of us.

Day two of the two-day marathon took me and my friends up to Minneapolis for the Minneapolis 13.1 race.  We left Madison mid-afternoon on Saturday and headed to River Falls to stay at Julie’s parent’s house for the night.  Saturday night- a great meal of chicken on the grill and of course the traditional pre-race pasta followed by a rousing game of Farkle (Google it).

Early to bed- and early to rise.  5am wake-up followed by a quick breakfast and a 30 minute drive to Minneapolis and we were ready to race.  The race started at 7:13 am- get it- 13.1 mile race…7:13am?

As for the race itself…

I reached all but one of my goals- unfortunately the one goal I missed was the overall time goal of 3:30

I wanted to negative split over the 2 days- check.  I ran about 5 minutes faster on Sunday.

I wanted to negative split on Sunday- check.  Actually- I may be wrong on that, I’m not really sure how to read the final results and I don’t think the timing mat was right at the 1/2 way point- I think it was at 10k, I don’t remember running over it at all, but others told me it was by the 10k sign.

My results on Sunday were really good- I’m fairly certain it was a PR (by about a minute, I think). 

1 hour, 45 minutes

Overall: 199 out of 1892
Age-group: 16 out of 78
Gender: 159 out of 745

I felt pretty good on the run- although I will say that it seemed like most of the run was at least slightly uphill.  The course was nice in that most of it was shady and ran along the river for almost the entire course- so we always had a pretty nice view.

A couple of months ago a co-worker was running his first 5k and asked for my advice.  I told him to look for an attractive woman about his speed and follow her.  Let her set the pace.  Just keep your eye on her- it will take your mind off the run.

I used that advice on Sunday- I actually found an attractive young woman who was just a bit slower than me- but it worked out well because she NEVER stopped at an aid station- just kept running. 

Wasn’t carrying water. 

Never saw her take a GU. 

Never saw her eat a Shot-Block. 

She just ran.  And ran.  And ran. 

We’d get to an aid station and I would walk through the aid station- drink my water and Gatorade.  She would keep running and get a ways ahead of me.  I’d find her in the crowd and slowly catch up to her by the next aid station- when the exact same thing would happen again.  I even stopped for the rest room at one aid station and she kept running- and I caught her again my the next aid station. 

By mile 12 we were running side by side- even talked for a couple seconds and then I pulled ahead until the final 100 yards or so, when she caught me and sprinted for the finish line.  At that point I figured that she had helped me so much through the race that I wouldn’t race her to the finish- not sure I had it in me anyway, and there was nobody close behind, so I just took a nice easy stroll across the line.

A couple of months ago a few friends came up with the idea of running 2 half-marathons in 2 days.  We would start with the Madison Mini Marathon on Saturday.  We would then drive to the twin cities for the Minneapolis 13.1 half marathon on Sunday.

This was the weekend for the adventure.  Matt, Julie, Tags, John and I all ran the Madison Mini Marathon on Saturday and then were joined by Laura (my wife) as we headed up to Minneapolis for the second half of our adventure.  Laura ran her first ever half-marathon on Sunday.

I set a few of goals for the weekend-

1) negative split each race- that is run the second half faster than the first half.

2) negative split between the 2 days- that is run day 2 faster than day 1

3) 1:45 – 1:50 on Saturday

4) 1:40 – 1:45 on Sunday

5) total time of 3:30

I’m fairly certain that I negative split on Saturday. I did the first 9 miles at an 8:30 pace and then picked it up for the last 4 miles- usually between 7:30 and 8 minute pace.  Unfortunately when I checked the results my split time was missing- so I don’t have anything official that shows that I reached that goal- but judging from what I saw on my watch, I can check off that goal.

I came pretty close to the second goal by running the Madison Mini Marathon in 1:50:19, but with that time it’s gonna be really tough to do an over-all negative split and get my total goal of 3:30

The race itself today was really fun- a great route, great support, lots of spectators, great race announcer, nice post-race party. The only negative was the heat- and for some reason I wasn’t expecting that- I knew we were expecting a high in the 80s, but I thought the race was early enough that we wouldn’t have to worry about it- so I brought NO salt tablets. I learned something for the Sunday run.

Tomorrow- part 2…the Minneapolis 13.1

A couple of months ago an e-mail went around to a bunch of my friends suggesting it might be fun to all head to Minneapolis on Sunday, August 22 for the Minneapolis 13.1 race- a half marathon that is part of a series similar to the “Rock & Roll Marathon” series. 

When someone pointed out that it happens on the same weekend as the Madison Mini Marathon and most of us are planning on running that- the decision was made…

A Two Day Marathon!

We’ll run the first 13.1 miles on Saturday in Madison.  Then we’ll all jump in our cars and head to Minneapolis for part two of our two day marathon on Sunday. 

Now here we are- the big weekend is upon us.  Most of us have done marathons before (well I guess all of us have during Ironman, but that’s different), but none of us have done 2 half marathons in 2 days- so we have no idea of what to expect.

As for me- I’m setting goals.  I have no idea if my goals are realistic.  But I’m setting goals.

Goal #1: Run a 3:30 marathon.  This is the time I need to qualify for Boston.  This is the time that I want to do at the Chicago Marathon when I run with Team In Training.  3:30 over the course of 2 half marathons will NOT qualify me for Boston- but it will be a nice mental hurdle to get over.

Goal #2: Negative Split.  This basically means to run the second half of the race faster than the first half.  Essentially you are saving energy during the first half for the second half.  This takes some discipline for a couple reasons- 1) you are feeling really good and have a whole bunch of adrenaline during the first half- so it’s really hard to convince yourself to slow down, and 2) (and this is my problem) it’s hard to convince yourself that the energy really will be there for the second half.  If I run slow for the first half- will I really have enough energy to run fast enough to make up the lost time? 

Taking all that into consideration, I would like to finish Saturday’s Madison Mini Marathon somewhere between 1:45 and 1:50 and finish Sunday’s Minneapolis 13.1 somewhere between 1:40 and 1:45. 

One more thing that should be mentioned- Sunday is also Laura and my 23rd wedding anniversary- so she’s joining me and all my crazy friends for the Sunday portion of the fun.  This will be her first (and quite possibly last) half-marathon.

Go Laura!

Strange morning.  The day started with me hitting the snooze button…twice!  The third time the alarm went off, the clock said 5:10am (I set my clock 10 minutes fast- so it was really 5am).  I jumped out of bed, got dressed quickly and sprinted out the door.  As I left, I remembered that my car was running on empty (now you have that ear-worm, have a good day), so I loaded all my stuff into Laura’s car, jumped in my car to move it and noticed that Laura had filled the tank.  Thanks Laura!  So I took all my gear out of Laura’s car, loaded it in my car and got ready to leave, and then…

The phone rang.  I assumed it was my friend Julie (odd- she doesn’t usually call, she sends a text if she’s not going to make it to class), so I answered.  It wasn’t Julie- it was the 9-1-1 center, claiming that I had just called.  I hadn’t – in fact I had looked at the phone just before it rang- it was on the text screen with a series of texts from Julie on the screen.  I explained that I had not called- they explained that they still had to follow up.

I took off as soon as I convinced them that I was o.k.

I got about 3 or 4 blocks from home when I realized that I forgot my wetsuit.  I returned home, grabbed the wetsuit and took off again.  I was almost to Law Park (I live about 20 minutes away from Law Park) when the phone rang again- this time it’s the police following up on the 9-1-1 call.  I explained that it was a mistake and again they explained that they had to follow up.  They were headed to my house. 

When I got to class I was telling the story when my friend Pam said I should call home to warn Laura that the police where coming- so she didn’t freak out when a cop showed up at the front door while I was out swimming.

Turns out Laura didn’t freak out until a little later.  She slept through my call and the call from the police- they were sitting in the driveway at the time and called before I did. 

When Laura woke up, she listened to the new messages- the first one from the police.  Now she freaked out.  I was gone swimming and the police had called- what happened?  She finally got to my call that explained the whole thing- but it still took some time for her to calm down.

I was on vacation all last week- and like most people I spent my time off relaxing.  For me- relaxing means…

Training Hard!

So hard, in fact, that half way through the week a friend asked me if I had a “secret Ironman entry” that nobody knew about?

No secret Ironman entry- just a lot of free time on my hands and Laura just started a new job- so she didn’t have any vacation to burn.  So left to my own devices- I ran.  And swam.  And biked.  A lot!

The week actually started poorly in that regard.  My plan was to race the 100 mile Centurion on Sunday, August 8.  I got up at about 4:30 Sunday morning and started prepping for the race.  I live just a couple miles from the start line, so I decided to ride to the race.  As I left home, the fist of the lightning started.  And it didn’t stop for much of the morning.  By about 6:30 it was getting really nasty and they moved all the racers into an airplane hanger to keep us safe.  Eventually they announced that the race would start at 7:30 instead of 7.  Then they announced that the 100 mile race would be cancelled and the 50 and 25 mile races would start at 9am. 

Me and my friends went for breakfast. 

The races did get going at about 9:30am- but by that time me and all my friends had decided to call it a day.  I’ve heard from several people who did race that it was a fantastic race- in fact I came back to the watch a little bit of the finish later in the day and talked to several people as they crossed the finish line- all had a great time.  Sorry I wimped out and took a nap instead.

Monday started with the usual Open Water Swim Class and then later in the day- feeling guilty about missing the Centurion race- a couple of friends and I went for a ride.  We intended to ride from their house and then do the Ironman loop- it would be close to 70 miles.  In the end we figured that we didn’t have enough daylight to do 70 miles so we did a really cool 40 mile route that took us out to Mt. Vernon and back along country roads the entire time.  A hot ride for sure- but a whole lot of fun.

I had to run to the office for a couple minutes on Tuesday morning- so I decided to turn it into a workout.  I drove in, did the couple things that needed doing and then ran home…in the heat!  I got home with just enough time to hop on my bike and ride back to the office to pick up the car and drive to Harbor Athletic, where I had a session with my personal trainer.  Tuesday wrapped up with the regular Tuesday night Capital Brewery ride.  20 more miles in the extreme heat.  And we rode it fast.

I decided to take it easy on Wednesday- went for a short, easy run.  Although with the continued heat- it wasn’t all that easy.  4 miles through the Pheasant Branch Nature Conservancy.  I was a sweaty mess by the time I got back home.

Thursday came and it was back to the crazy schedule.  6am a team swim in a beautiful private lake followed by what I thought was going to be a shortened version of the Ironman loop on my bike.  I thought I was chopping about 10 miles off the loop- turns out I chopped about 2 miles off- so I ended up going 39.5 miles, again in the extreme heat.  And I had to do it at a decent pace, as I had to make it back to Harbor Athletic for another session with my personal trainer.  I skipped the Harbor Athletic ride that night- instead my wife wanted to run.  I told her she had to run indoors (it’s o.k. for me to run outside in the heat- but nobody else.  Nice double standard).  We ran a mile on the track @ Harbor, then walked a mile on the track (she wanted to check her speed walking- knowing that she would have to walk a bit in her upcoming half-marathon), we then went upstairs to the treadmills and I ran 3 more miles while she ran two more.

Friday- it says “Rest Day” on my schedule.  So other than another personal trainer session, I spent the day resting.  I do what I’m told…for the most part.

Saturday morning I hit the road on the bike and did the Saturday Morning Harbor Atheletic Ride.  Same ride that I did with my friends on Monday night- but not quite as hot as it was on Monday.

Wrapped up the vacation on Sunday morning with a 10 mile run with the “My First Half” training group.  I think they are all ready for the Madison Mini Marathon this weekend.

I’m doing the race this weekend with some friends and then we are heading up to Minneapolis for the Minneapolis 13.1 half marathon on Sunday morning.

The Centurion Wisconsin Bicycle race is this Sunday.  There are three different races ranging in length from 25 to 100 miles.  Registration is open right up until race-day.  If you are not up for doing the race- you can still join in the fun as a spectator. 

The race starts and ends at the Middleton Municipal Airport- which is conveniently located just of the Beltline on – get this – Airport Road in Middleton.  This would be an obvious place to watch the race, and of course there’s a few more good places to be a spectator…

1) The Village of Blue Mounds.  There will be a complimentary shuttle running from the Middleton Airport out to Blue Mounds, leaving every 30 minutes.  From Blue Mounds, you will be able to see the 100 mile race pass by twice (it’s a 2-loop course and Blue Mounds is in the middle of that loop).

2) Black Earth.  Both the 50 and 100 mile courses run through Black Earth.  The 25 mile course turns off before it gets out to Black Earth- so you won’t get to see those folks in Black Earth- but you will have a chance to cheer on everyone else.

3) Cross Plains at Baer Park.  If you want to be sure to see ALL of the riders- Cross Plains is the place.  All three races pass through Cross Plains.  The 25 mile race turns right on County Rd. P at the end of Airport Road, the other two races wind through town a bit more.  Baer Park is the recommended spot for watching the 50 and 100 mile races in Cross Plains. 

4) Brigmam Park.  If I remember right, Brigham Park is just as the race is leaving Blue Mounds and it’s right at the top of a BIG (and rare) downhill section of the 100 mile race.  The park is beautiful and offers a nice place to lay out a blanket and watch the race while you picnic. 

Another thought- if you are not up for the race, but would like to ride a little bit of the course- head out to Brigham Park in a few weeks when the leaves start to change colors and ride from there.  I did a ride from Brigham Park last fall and it may be the most beautiful ride I have ever done.

If the spectating experience has you inspired to start riding- check out the Centurion Expo- also at the Middleton Municipal Airport.  The Expo is open 10am – 4pm on Sunday and there will be live music from 2009 Project M Champion Mike Droho and Compass Rose from 11 until 3.

Just a couple (o.k. four) races left on my schedule for the season.  I’m doing the Chicago Marathon in October as part of Team In Training- raising money for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.  Make a donation to the efforts here.  Training has been going well for the Chicago Marathon- although I feel like I’ve been a little distracted with some other races.  But more than that- I feel like I’ve been really distracted from the fundraising.  That’s a big part of the Team In Training experience and I’ve let that slide a little bit.  So here’s me begging…please make a donation!  Yeah, I know- asking for the sale is not my strong suit.

As for the other races- a bunch of friends and I are doing back-to-back half marathons later this month.  Saturday, August 21st is the Madison Mini Marathon- we’re racing that and then jumping in our cars and heading to Minneapolis for the Minneapolis 13.1 race on Sunday, August 22nd.  There’s another big event on August 22- Laura and I celebrate our anniversary…23 years!  Hey, here’s an idea- make a donation of $1 for each year that Laura and I have been married…for the math impaired, that would be $23 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Round it up to $25 if that’s easier for you.

Then of course there’s the Centurion Bicycle Race this weekend.  Many of the same friends are racing – some of us doing the 50 mile race, others (me included) doing the 100 mile race (you could donate $1 for every mile I ride in the Centurion- I’d even do it twice if enough people agreed to that).  The same folks who started Ironman Wisconsin are responsible for the Centurion.  If you have ever taken in any of the Ironman- as a spectator or as an athlete, you know that these folks know what their doing.  This is going to be a great race.  Very challenging with some tough hills.  Our team was riding the course last weekend when I noticed on the ground on one of the hills, somebody had written 12%…13%…14%, etc.  The numbers referred to the percent grade of that hill.  I’m not sure exactly how % grade is figured out- but I can tell you for sure that anywhere in that range is some tough climbing.  In fact tough enough that this race will reward a “King of the Mountains” prize- just like the Tour de France. 

Not that I’ll be wearing Polka Dot on Sunday- but you never know.

It all started normal- I headed out to do one loop of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and then down along the stream to Laura’s Karate class.  I was about a block from Parmenter Street (my ultimate destination) when I heard a noise coming from in the woods.  I looked to see what I believed to be a homeless man down on the trail that leads off the main path.  He couldn’t get up, one of his shoes was off and he really couldn’t communicate very well.  He motioned for me to come help him and pointed to his shoe.  I promised I would try not to hurt him as I put his shoe back on- he then motioned for me to take is leg brace off and held his hand out for me to help him up.  I tried several times, but couldn’t lift him.  Eventually I flagged down a cyclist on the path and the two of us tried, unsuccessfully to help him up.  The man was still not able to communicate with us beyond a few grunts and groans and a motion that looked like a gun to his head.  I told him he didn’t want to do that, to which he shook his head no, I asked if he had been shot and he nodded yes- there was a big gnarley scar right where he kept pointing the “gun.”  Eventually we realized that we weren’t going to get him up and he was obviously hurting, so we called 911.

It took a disturbingly long time for the police and rescue team to arrive, but when they got there they seemed to know him and were able to help.  I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, so I took off before they finished with him.  When I got to Laura’s karate class, I realized that I had left my water bottle by the side of the path, so Laura and I walked back to pick it up and were able to get an update from the officers when we did- everything is going to be o.k.

There’s a couple of things that I’ve been training for lately- I’m getting ready for this weekend’s 100 mile Centurion Bicycle race with a group of friends on a team we’re calling “Something About Mary” in honor of our friend Mary who we lost during Ironman training last year.  I’m also in the middle of training for the Chicago Marathon with Team In Training- and along the way raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  You can make a donation to those efforts here.

Between the two efforts- this weekend was “one step up and one step back.”

Starting with the Centurion training- Something About Mary hit the road early on Saturday morning and rode about 70 of the 100 mile course.  We rode about 35 of it last weekend and I had a horrible ride.  About 25 miles into last weekend’s ride I BONKED- I got dizzy, felt really weak and thought I was going to throw up.

So after last weekend’s debacle- it felt good to get out on this course and ride it like I know we can, or more precisely- like I know I can, as I was the one having problems last weekend.

We started at Uphill Grind in Cross Plains and rode out to the loop- did one loop plus a smaller loop that included the big Enchanted Valley hill.  I felt good throughout the ride- maybe a little tired by the end of the Enchanted Valley loop- but really good overall.

On the course we ran into a couple guys riding from Oregon to Maine.  When we got back to Cross Plains after the big loop we stopped for a water refill at Uphill Grind before heading out for the last few miles.  As we left Uphill Grind, we saw the cross-county travelers again, so we rode back to them and told them about Uphill Grind.  When we finished our ride they were still there, telling stories of their adventures to all the other riders that were hanging out at Uphill Grind.

We finished off the day with a great smoothie- definitely hit the spot after the ride.

That was the “one step up” part of the weekend.  The “one step back” part came on Sunday.  It was a step back, in that I didn’t get out for the planned Team In Training run on Sunday afternoon, but it was worth it.  I spent the day working as the race announcer for the Bicycle Races at the U.S. Transplant Games.  I remember from the last time I was a race announcer (about 15 years ago at Madison Marathon- long before I was active myself), that this is a really tough gig.  Even now that I am a fairly active guy, this is still a tough day- in fact I’d say this is actually harder than racing.

This was a particularly inspiring race to work- transplant patients from all across the country come together once every other year for the games- they rotate through cities- last time Philadelphia, this time Madison.  1500 athletes + family and friends and some doners and their families too.  It makes for a pretty emotional event.

Beyond the obvious emotion of the event and the inspirational part of watching every athlete- fast and slow alike- come across the finish line, the coolest non-race moment came when I was looking down at my notes- I noticed out of the corner of my eye a Felt bike with an argyle patern ride past- I looked up just in time to be staring Christian Vande Velde from team Garmin/Slipstream in the eye.  Christian has had a couple of top 10 finishes at the Tour de France.  Christian’s brother Ian was competing and won his age group in both the 5k time-trial and the 20k race.  A woman who I assume was his grandmother wanted to introduce us, but I was too busy at the moment…maybe next time.