The Not-So-Accidental Accidental Half Marathon

This past weekend was Halloween weekend here in the states and as of a few years ago a new Halloween tradition was set in Minneapolis. That tradition is to run the Monster Dash half marathon despite the fact that Anoka, which is in the northwest burbs, is the Halloween capital of the world.

This detail aside, the Monster Dash is really the event to do. Thousands of people as crazy as I am line up along the north end of Lake Harriet and pound out 13.1 miles. As fate would have it, I just happened to be doing a 13.1 mile training run that day and I also coincidentally happened to be doing it around the lakes so timing was perfect. Of course I provided my own assistance but it was still fun to run with a group of people instead of just by myself.

A lot of fun was had by all and I did get to run with some friends which was a blast. What made it great was I had negative splits the whole way. I don't do that too often so it was nice to see it happen.

Until the next event (that would be Thanksgiving day when I'm doing a 3.1 mile training run. Not sure where I'll do it but I haven't trained downtown in a while...)

How Wonderful of POM Wonderful

Many thanks and much love to my friends at POM Wonderful (@POMonline if you're a Twitter fiend) for the samples. I just got them and they're as excellent as I remember. And healthy too. Check out the research on pomegranate juice. Yes, I realize the link is at the POM Wonderful website and I do realize no company would put scathing remarks of their own product on their website (Microsoft of course being the exception because they sell Windows and Windows, as everyone knows, is a complete steaming pile of crap). But seriously. Other than an incredible amount of [natural] sugar, what have you ever read that's negative about pomegranates?

Huh? I can't hear you? Nothing? Yes. That's right. Nothing. As long as you get it in your mouth and not on your clothes (which it will instantaneous stain and ruin), pomegranates are one of natures super fruits.

BTW, if you're interested in sponsoring an athlete, it just so happens I'm currently available for sponsorship and am training for my first Ironman triathlon — Ironman Wisconsin in Madison on September 12, 2010. See how great I look next to a bottle of POM. :-D

The Munger Trail Almost-Century

This past weekend some friends and I attempted our last bike ride of the season before retiring our bikes for the winter. This adventure took us to the Willard Munger Trail north of the cities. And other than a few bumps in the road it was a spectacular day. You almost couldn't ask for better.

The south-most trail head, in Hinckley, is the closest point of the trail to the cities and that's about a 1.5 hour drive on clear days — and days where 35W isn't torn to shreds between the Crosstown and downtown Minneapolis. Lucky for me I got to take the scenic route to Hinckley which also turned out to be the long way.

No matter. After the little detour on Hiawatha I got a chance to hop back on 35W and resume the day. It's a good thing I left at 6:00 or else traffic may be bad. One observation I did make on the drive north was on the southbound lane. I noticed the highway had been reduced to one lane but that didn't bother me. I wasn't on that side of the highway. And at that time of day it didn't even cross my mind that I'd be on that side of the highway coming back.

At about 7:30 I reached Hinckley and just before getting off the highway I got a txt from Elizabetsy Brownderstone: "Just getting on the road!"

"Hmmm..." I thought. Interesting txt. Especially since they live in St. Paul which is NOT a 30 minute drive in as much as it's an 80 minute drive. Long story short, I had the opportunity to visit with a few friends who did show up on time while waiting for the others. At the end of the day this turned out to be a good thing because it would have been too darn cold to ride at 8:00. The frost was melting in the sun and as it dripped off the low hanging signs I knew this was all for the greater good.

When everyone arrived we quickly got everything together and hit the trail.

Because of the odd fall, we didn't have a brilliant display of colors like I had hoped but it was still beautiful in its own sense. There was still plenty of fall colors to see along the way. Plus, the rivers we crossed added to the natural beauty all around us.

The only problem I had on the bike was a slight failure of equipment. As it turns out, my shoe booties and biking gloves are not as windproof as they bill themselves to be. Luckily my brother-from-another-mother Karl came to the rescue with 1¢ sandwich bags for my feet and toes. I kid you not. I wore sandwich bags in my shoes and over my gloves and they provided more warmth and protection than the $45 gloves and $50 shoe booties. Needless to say, those got promptly returned.

The rest of the ride was pretty straight forward. Only Elizabetsy and I made it 40 miles out and back for an 80 mile round trip. But honestly I think everyone else came with the idea they'd do 25 out and back for 50 total. Regardless of the distance and despite the fact that no one made the full 100 miles, we all had a blast. As far as I'm concerned that alone made the ride a complete success. Quality time with friends far outweighs any illusion of an arbitrary goal set for a fun ride. The only "goal" should be to have fun.

When everyone was done we headed over to Tobies for some post ride recovery and it was home from there.

Oh, I almost forgot. The ride home. Well, turns out traffic is much more dense in the evenings. Especially on the weekends and especially in the direction of a city. Any sort of a biker's high I had going into that drive was completely ruined by that horrid traffic. But I lived and am ready to fight another day.

Here's the ride we did. The next time I take this trail on it's Duluth or bust.

A Little Breather

I know it's been virtually forever since I posted an update. Rest assured I am still around and kicking. My training is in a low right now as I spend my time recovering from the season we just finished. For the time being my fitness consists of running from time to time, strength training and stretching.

As the season starts to pick up again at the beginning of the year I plan on posting more frequent but shorter posts. Time won't be a luxury like it is right now. Until then, I'll post here from time to time when something interesting pops up.

Less is More

I was recently given this advice and it looks like I have no choice but to stick to it. Today's goal was a 19 mile run but instead I made it about 3. My right foot is hurting something fierce today. Looks like this week is going to be full of R&R. Hopefully I'll have good news to share at the end of the week.

Activity Details for 9 Mile Pace Run - Week 11 Marathon Training

9 Mile Pace Run - Week 11 Marathon Training: This was a tough run but thankfully I ran into the TNT marathon team as well as some other TNT folks from the triathlon team. They really helped me pull through this one.

(Via Garmin Connect.)

2009 Breakwater Half Ironman Triathlon

Introduction

This has definitely been a busy sport year. For someone who professed nine months ago that this would be a "down" year, a lot has gotten done. So far 2009 saw me finish two marathons, three half Ironman triathlons and a sprint triathlon. Now I'm gearing up to do a marathon in North Carolina as well as a return to Disney World in January 2010 for the Disney marathon weekend.

Not only have I finished a number of events, I've also had my share of ups and downs in the form of injury and also burnout. 2009 has been long, tumultuous and exciting all wrapped up in a recession-laden coat. Considering all that could have gone wrong but hasn't I've been a very blessed person.

But this post isn't about recapping my life and times this year. I've got a bigger fish to fry: the Breakwater Triathlon in Petoskey, MI.

As you'll see, this race was a mix of good and bad. This event challenged me in ways I've never been challenged. It also offered some easy stretches when needed.

It started out early on Friday morning. I packed up the car the night before so nothing would get left behind by a half awake driver. The alarm clock went off at 4:30 and a half hour later I was on the road to Michigan. The drive there as well as back was relaxing and uneventful. In my time I've grown to appreciate these long drives. They offer great scenery and time for reflection on life, the universe and everything.

When I finally rolled into Petoskey it was around dinner time. My friends in Charlevoix, just 15 minutes south of Petoskey, offered me room and board for the night so I stayed down there and enjoyed some good food and great company.

Saturday was a big day. After a good night sleep my friend and I drove down to Traverse City to run a few errands. First and foremost was to visit my high school neighbor who relocated to the area with his wife and kids. It's always good to see them. And he never forgets to remind me about our friendly (so far non-existent) competition in the mountain bike world. For the record, Mike, you'd own me in that. No contest. But I'll play fair and get a mountain bike and train for an off road event.

The other major event for Saturday involved purchasing and installing Snow Leopard. In case you've been stuck on a remote island for the past few months, Snow Leopard is the new operating system for the Macintosh computer. It's absolutely wonderful by the way. You can read an exhaustive and detailed review at Ars Technica.

The rest of Saturday involved my driving back to Petoskey, checking into a hotel, picking up my race packet, laying everything out for Race Day and attempting to get a good nights rest for the event. I say "attempting" because between the overload of coffee drank and the new computer OS to play with I got a max of 3 hours of actual sleep despite my best efforts.

Race Day

Four o'clock couldn't have come any earlier. Not only was I sleep deprived from roughly 3 hours of sleep and a very long drive two days before hand but it's three o'clock according to my body clock because of the time zone change from Central to Eastern. Needless to say, I wasn't entirely there. But, the show must go on and so must I.

Transition

This was interesting. In most transitions you pick your spot but this one we had assigned spots. The negative side of this is you're very unlikely to get a coveted end spot. End spots give you the most space. The plus side is you can sleep in because there's no point in waking up at the crack of dawn to beat everyone there. Transition opened at 4:30 (yes, FOUR frigging THIRTY) with a race start of 6:45 (yes, SIX frigging FOURTY-FIVE).

When I got there it was too dark to see anything but I had the good fortune of packing my head lamp. That turned out to be a godsend because it not only helped me get my spot set up but I could also help a lot of the people around me too. Speaking of the people around me, #113 (I was #114) didn't show up so as fate would have it I had all the room anyone could ask for anyway for transition.

The only actual downside with transition was at the far end by "BIKE IN/OUT". It had been raining for days prior to race day so there was an unavoidable swamp over there. Good thing I leave my cleats locked on my bike or else that would have been a very bad thing. I can't speak for everyone else though.

Another interesting point to note about transition was the hike we had to make. As soon as we left the actual transition area we couldn't mount our bikes until we climbed four sets of stairs and crossed under a highway. This was very unique and not necessarily a bad thing. Just something different.

Swim

Due to inclement weather the swim course was changed. Originally we were scheduled to swim a very interesting "R" shaped course. Instead it was changed to two loops around the middle dock in the link above. That also changed the distance from 1.2 miles to 0.91. I was not happy with this but what can you do? Fortunately the water temp was around 65°F so it was a very comfortable swim. Ironically the water temp was warmer than the air temp so it was nice staying in the water.

My swim went okay except for the head-on collision I caused because I was having a bad steering day. On the way back from the second loop, when we were at the end of the dock, I sighted incorrectly and swam right into some of the women. Oops. On an even more fun note I also swam right into one of the large buoys too. Yes, it was a bad swim day for me. Here's a link to my swim.

Bike

It's not clear to me there are words in the English language that can fully capture the experience of this bike. It was, by far, the hardest bike I've ever done, training or otherwise. Earlier this year I participated with the Team in Training at a half Ironman event in Sunriver, OR. There, we not only had elevation to deal with but we also climbed a mountain.

That was easier than the bike portion of the Breakwater triathlon.

So we're clear, this isn't a complaint about the bike. This is a statement of fact. It was HARD! Other than wishing I had packed my booties because at times my toes were cold it was a pretty smooth bike. My only main problem with it was the two hairpin turns we needed to make to lengthen the course to 56 miles. They will hopefully be able to figure out something next year to avoid this but hopefully they leave the course pretty much unchanged. Personally, I think the extreme challenge of the bike course will be what draws in the crowd. You definitely need to do this to understand. Check out my map of the ride including elevation, HR, cadence, etc. Seeing is believing.

Run

This was the best part of the event. The run was along the Lake Michigan shoreline on a dedicated pedestrian path. The path itself is mostly tree lined and very well kept. It gives the feeling of being out in the wilderness despite being right along a highway. The run itself was mostly flat and very forgiving. Despite being an out-and-back run it was definitely scenery you didn't mind seeing twice.

My only regret with the run was not bringing my camera. The scenery was simply stunning. We ran through a tunnel which was fun but the best part was the first 2 miles and the last 2 miles. This section of the path is along a cliff so you can see the Lake Michigan shoreline below you but also the town across the bay as well as a semi-arial view of the break wall (e.g. finish line). Simply magnificent. Check out my run. It was slow because I've not been running much and my heart rate was getting high. Despite this it was a lot of fun.

The results are broken down by age group and by overall. Not my best performance but still a good time.

An Event Worth Doing

Practically perfect weather headlined an excellent event. Despite the unwelcome change in the swim course (uncontrollable) and the swamp in the transition area (uncontrollable) the event planners did a stellar job. As I mentioned, one of the most notable aspects of this event is the challenging bike course. Hopefully the race director will leave this unchanged because it will be a significant draw for people in the years to come. Everyone is looking for a challenge and this is something completely unique to this race. And if the bike course isn't enough to draw in a crowd then the run will certainly do the trick.

All in all I'm happy with the event and glad I was fortunate enough to be able to do it. This is definitely one to check out in the years to come.