switching gears
this morning i headed to the track at the high school which my oldest daughter currently attends. the same track was also the site of one of my last high school track meets – – twenty six years ago. as i would have done back in the day, i arrived sporting my high school colors of orange and black but opted to go shirtless for the workout.
after a two mile warm up i did a few strides to loosen up then toed the line for a rolling 6×800 meter workout with 400 meter recovery intervals. since it was a “rolling” effort, i used my watch to pace myself for the first 800 and everything else was based on “feel”.
| 800m | 400m |
|---|---|
| 2:59 | 2:04 |
| 2:59 | 2:06 |
| 2:55 | 2:05 |
| 2:55 | 2:05 |
| 2:53 | 2:04 |
| 2:53 | – |
it didn’t take long to catch my breath after the sixth 800. while i dug a bit deeper on that last rep, there was still more to give.
i headed home with a mile and a half cool down run then rifled through some stuff i’ve kept since my high school days. twenty six years earlier i had run the 1600 and 4×800 relay at the same track.
on that day, the track was abuzz with spectators, opponents and teammates. years later, i stood alone but the echo of the past continues to drive me forward.
4/9 – 15 miles
4/10 – 10 miles
4/11 – 7 miles
4/12 – 7 miles
4/13 – 7 miles
4/14 – 7 miles
4/15 – 7 miles
4/16 – 9 miles
4/17 – 7 miles
4/18 – 7 miles
4/19 – 7 miles
4/20 – 7 miles
4/21 – 7 miles
4/22 – 5 miles
4/23 – 10 miles
4/24 – 13 miles
4/25 – 7 miles
4/26 – 7 miles
4/27 – 7 miles
4/28 – 7 miles
4/29 – 10 miles
4/30 – 10 miles
April totals: 230.25 miles (32 Hours & 7 Minutes, 28/30 Days)
5/1 – 7 miles
5/2 – off
5/3 – 7 miles
5/4 – 7 miles
5/5 – 7 miles
5/6 – 7 miles
5/7 – 10 miles
5/8 – 8 miles
5/9 – 7 miles
5/10 – off
5/11 – 7 miles
5/12 – 7 miles
5/13 – 7 miles
5/14 – 10 miles
5/15 – 10 miles
5/16 – 7 miles
5/17 – 7 miles
5/18 – 7 miles
5/19 – 7 miles
5/20 – 7 miles
5/21 – 7 miles
5/22 – 9 miles
5/23 – 7 miles
5/24 – 7 miles
5/25 – 7 miles
5/26 – 7 miles
5/27 – 7 miles
5/28 – 7 miles
5/29 – 10 miles
5/30 – 10 miles
5/31 – off
May totals: 214 miles (29 Hours & 4 Minutes, 28/31 Days)
6/1 – 7 miles
6/2 – 7 miles
6/3 – 7 miles
6/4 – 2 mile w/u, 6×800 w/400 intervals, 1.5 mile c/d
MTD – 28.75 miles (3 Hours & 49 Minutes, 4/4 Days)
YTD – 1189.25 miles (168 Hours & 8 Minutes, 150/156 Days)
Odometer – 44,139 miles
all in
maybe it was a belated april fools day joke but the second of april looked more like winter than spring. snow was falling and accumulating as a slushy mix while a strong wind blew from the west.
we stood at the start of the trailbreaker half marathon and after the national anthem we were sent on our way with an air horn. within a few strides it seemed to me that no one had pushed forward to set the pace.
something clicked in my head and i surged to see what would happen.
no one went with me.
just past a mile i shouted to a friend who was watching the race WHERE ARE THEY and he shouted back that they weren’t close.
i couldn’t believe it.
over a snow covered bridge in the second mile. still in front.
in the third mile, turning onto the glacial drumlin bike trail.
still in front. running against the wind.
four miles. relax.
five miles. breathe.
six miles. focus.
just past seven miles i was approaching the aid station and the turnaround.
the volunteers were cheering and then there’s a flash from someone’s smartphone as they take a picture.
rounding the orange cone there’s someone right behind me. a few strides later he’s in front of me, and then a second runner.
they’re running side by side just ahead of me.
eight miles. stay in contact. use the tailwind.
nine miles. they’re talking to each other. are you kidding me?
ten miles. my pace slows while they pull further away.
eleven miles. twelve miles. hold steady. no one else passes.
back into the city. finish line in sight. one last push.
my watch stops with one hour, twenty seven minutes and change on the display then a volunteer kindly presents me with a finishers medal.
i get to say hello to another friend and we struck up a conversation with the two guys who finished ahead of me. they’re nice and i told them that i could see them talking back and forth while i was busting my rear end out there. turns out they were indeed racing but they were just working together.
to be honest, i was still smarting a bit from not being able to hold on for the win. that feeling eased after getting some dry clothes on and hanging out with them while we waited for our awards. both guys were in their twenties which meant that i had claimed the master’s title.
after we received our certificates we said goodbye and i shook the hand of the guy who finished second.
“see you next year” he said.
with a bit of a smirk, i replied.
“yep. we’ll see. next year.”
Finish – 1:27:08
3rd/168 Overall & 1st Master
————————————–
2/14 – 10.25 miles
2/15 – 7 miles
2/16 – 7 miles
2/17 – 7 miles
2/18 – 7 miles
2/19 – 7 miles
2/20 – 10 miles
2/21 – 7 miles
2/22 – 7 miles
2/23 – 7 miles
2/24 – 7 miles
2/25 – 7 miles
2/26 – 7 miles
2/27 – 15 miles
2/28 – 11 miles
2/29 – 7 miles
February Totals: 235 miles (29/29 Days, 33 Hours & 38 Minutes)
3/1 – 7 miles
3/2 – 7 miles
3/3 – 7 miles
3/4 – 7 miles
3/5 – 14 miles
3/6 – 16 miles
3/7 – 7 miles
3/8 – 7 miles
3/9 – 7 miles
3/10 – 7 miles
3/11 – 7 miles
3/12 – 9 miles
3/13 – 11 miles
3/14 – 7 miles
3/15 – 7 miles
3/16 – off
3/17 – 7 miles
3/18 – 7 miles
3/19 – 13 miles
3/20 – 13 miles
3/21 – 7 miles
3/22 – 7 miles
3/23 – 7 miles
3/24 – 7 miles
3/25 – 7 miles
3/26 – 10 miles
3/27 – 7 miles
3/28 – 12 miles
3/29 – 7 miles
3/30 – 7 miles
3/31 – 5 miles
March Totals: 250 miles (30/31 Days, 34 Hours and 30 Minutes)
4/1 – off
4/2 – 13.1 in 1:27:08 with 1.2 mile w/u
4/3 – 8 miles
4/4 – 7 miles
4/5 – 7 miles
4/6 – off
4/7 – 7 miles
4/8 – 7 miles
MTD – 50.25 miles (5/7 Days, 6 Hours & 56 Minutes)
YTD – 766.5 miles (96/99 Days, 110 Hours & 3 Minutes)
Odometer – 43,716.5 miles
wisconsin winters
by most accounts, this winter has been relatively mild. that said, i do remember my first winter of running back in 1989/90. track season was starting soon and i was running after school with my friends to get ready.
i remember waking up one morning to the news that school had been canceled. undaunted, a few of us met up in town to run the freshly plowed streets. we all agreed that it wasn’t that bad outside and a little snow wasn’t going to stop us from getting our miles in. the next day, friends who didn’t run with us just shook their heads in disbelief; which made it even better.
since those days, i’ve run through another twenty five wisconsin winters. just about all of the time i run by myself but the same sentiment remains – – it’s not that bad outside.
1/8 – 7 miles
1/9 – 7 miles
1/10 – 10 miles
1/11 – 7 miles
1/12 – 7 miles
1/13 – 7 miles
1/14 – 7 miles
1/15 – 7 miles
1/16 – 10 miles
1/17 – 7 miles
1/18 – 7 miles
1/19 – 7 miles
1/20 – 7 miles
1/21 – 7 miles
1/22 – 7 miles
1/23 – 10 miles
1/24 – 7 miles
1/25 – 7 miles
1/26 – 7 miles
1/27 – 7 miles
1/28 – 7 miles
1/29 – 7 miles
1/30 – 8 miles
1/31 – 8 miles
Jan: 231.25 miles (31/31 Days, 35 Hours)
2/1 – 7 miles
2/2 – 7 miles
2/3 – 7 miles
2/4 – 7 miles
2/5 – 7 miles
2/6 – 13 miles
2/7 – 12.5 miles
2/8 – 7 miles
2/9 – 7 miles
2/10 – 7 miles
2/11 – 7 miles
2/12 – 7 miles
2/13 – 9.25 miles
MTD: 104.75 Miles (13/13 Days, 15 Hours & 10 Minutes)
YTD: 336 Miles (44/44 Days, 50 Hours & 10 Minutes)
Odometer: 43,286 Miles
numbers game
one of the ways i stay motivated is to keep track of the miles i run. with a few weeks left in the year, i usually take a look at where i am at for my mileage and choose a number to shoot for before midnight on new years.
in years past, i have resorted to running in the dark on the evening of the 31st to get in those last few miles in. however, this year i was able to get it done with a day to spare. looking back at 2015, there are a few numbers that stand out.
340 – Days Run in 2015 (340/365 = 93% AKA “A”)
2,800 – Miles Run in 2015 (new personal record by 189 miles)
Looking a bit further back, i also noticed…
10,225 – Cumulative Miles Run during 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015 (averaging 49 miles per week)
…and 7 days into the new year i was able to roll past 43,000 on my odometer.
not bad. we’ll see what the rest of 2016 brings. 😉
11/23 – 7 miles
11/24 – 7 miles
11/25 – 7 miles
11/26 – 6 miles
11/27 – 10 miles
11/28 – 7 miles
11/29 – 7 miles
11/30 – 5 miles
November Totals: 194.2 Miles (26/30 Days, 28 hours & 41 minutes)
12/1 – 7 miles
12/2 – 7 miles
12/3 – 7 miles
12/4 – off
12/5 – 8 miles
12/6 – 10 miles
12/7 – 7 miles
12/8 – 7 miles
12/9 – 7 miles
12/10 – 7 miles
12/11 – 7 miles
12/12 – 12.5 miles
12/13 – 13 miles
12/14 – 7 miles
12/15 – 6 miles
12/16 – 7 miles
12/17 – 7 miles
12/18 – 7 miles
12/19 – 10 miles
12/20 – 7 miles AM, 8 miles PM
12/21 – 7 miles
12/22 – 9 miles
12/23 – 13 miles
12/24 – 7 miles
12/25 – 9 miles
12/26 – 7 miles
12/27 – 12.5 miles
12/28 – 9.25 miles
12/29 – 7 miles
12/30 – 7 miles
12/31 – off
December Totals: 245.25 Miles (29/31 Days, 35 hours & 50 minutes)
2015 Totals: 2,800 Miles (340/365 Days, 410 hours & 54 minutes)
1/1 – 10 miles
1/2 – 7 miles
1/3 – 7 miles snowshoeing
1/4 – 7.25 miles
1/5 – 7 miles
1/6 – 7 miles
1/7 – 7 miles
MTD/YTD – 52.25 Miles (7/7 Days, 8 hours & 11 minutes)
Odometer – 43,002 Miles
roughly right
actually, by mid-September i was “all right” when i lined up on wisconsin avenue for al’s run. i had no pain in my right calf and was able to average 6:10 per mile pace for 8K (4.97 miles) which put me second in the M40-44 age group. as a team hillrunner.com, we finished fifth and three of us received age group awards.
after not having any issues with running at a faster pace, i stepped up the training volume so i could run a fall marathon. late in october, i tweaked my calf again – – twice. once on the run and another time when mowing the lawn. being a bit of a blockhead, i signed up for the marathon anyway.
to take a bit of pressure off my calves, i slipped heel lifts into my running shoes and toed the line for the inaugural milwaukee running festival marathon. i ran at a reasonable pace for the first half but was putting a lot of effort into maintaining it on a fairly windy day on a challenging course. shortly after the half, i began to slow and the reality of it not being my day began to sink in.
with six miles to go, the course turned east which put the wind at our backs. i’ve been there before, struggling through the later miles of a marathon. my focus shifted to simply left – right – repeat and i eventually crossed the finish line in 3:25:56.
on a bad day for me, i was still able to muster my 9th fastest marathon with an average pace of less than eight minutes a mile. to be honest, my calf really wasn’t an issue but my quads were real sore which suggests i wasn’t prepared enough for the hills.
i’d say that i bounced back fairly quick from the marathon and was able to take advantage of an early snowfall to do some snowshoeing. for the year i’m up to nearly 2,500 miles on a little more than 300 days of running. i don’t have any races in mind for the rest of the year but i am aiming to push my miles past my current best of 2,610 miles.
9/1 – 7 miles
9/2 – 7 miles
9/3 – 7 miles
9/4 – 7 miles
9/5 – 8 miles
9/6 – 7.25 miles
9/7 – 7 miles
9/8 – 7 miles
9/9 – 7 miles
9/10 – 7 miles
9/11 – 7 miles
9/12 – 18 miles
9/13 – 7 miles
9/14 – 7 miles
9/15 – 7 miles
9/16 – 6 miles
9/17 – 5 miles
9/18 – off
9/19 – 1 mile w/u, 8K (4.97 miles) in 30:52
9/20 – 9.25 miles
9/21 – 7 miles
9/22 – 7 miles
9/23 – 7 miles
9/24 – 7 miles
9/25 – 7 miles
9/26 – 14 miles
9/27 – 21 miles
9/28 – 7 miles
9/29 – off
9/30 – 7 miles
September Totals: 227.5 miles (28/30 Days, 32 hours & 40 minutes)
10/1 – 7 miles
10/2 – 7 miles
10/3 – 11 miles
10/4 – 14 miles
10/5 – 7 miles
10/6 – 7 miles
10/7 – 7 miles
10/8 – 7 miles
10/9 – 7 miles
10/10 – 11 miles
10/11 – 14 miles
10/12 – 7 miles
10/13 – 7 miles
10/14 – 7 miles
10/15 – 7 miles
10/16 – 7 miles
10/17 – 11 miles
10/18 – 7 miles
10/19 – 7 miles
10/20 – 7 miles
10/21 – 7 miles
10/22 – 7.5 miles
10/23 – 6 miles
10/24 – 6 miles
10/25 – 6 miles
10/26 – 6 miles
10/27 – off
10/28 – off
10/29 – 5 miles
10/30 – 3 miles
10/31 – off
October Totals: 212.5 Miles (28/31 Days, 30 hours & 50 minutes)
11/1 – 26.2 miles in 3:25:56
11/2 – off
11/3 – 4 miles
11/4 – 5 miles
11/5 – 6 miles
11/6 – 7 miles
11/7 – 7 miles
11/8 – 7 miles
11/9 – 5 miles
11/10 – 7 miles
11/11 – 7 miles
11/12 – off
11/13 – 6 miles
11/14 – 8 miles
11/15 – 7 miles
11/16 – 7 miles
11/17 – 5 miles
11/18 – off
11/19 – off
11/20 – 7 miles
11/21 – 6 miles (snowshoeing)
11/22 – 11 miles
MTD – 138.25 miles (18/22 Days, 20 hours & 31 minutes)
YTD – 2,499 miles (303/326 Days, 366 hours & 50 minutes)
Odometer – 42,648 miles