Author: sexyhermit

Earth, Wind, & Fire

This morning was the Earth, Wind, & Fire 5K on campus. This three year old race coincides with the Institute of Natural Resources Sustainability expo (which coincides with Engineering Open House). I ran this 5K two years ago when it when it was 13˚ with 25 mph winds. Today we only had to contend with the misty morning. I’ve been ridiculously busy at work lately. In fact, I didn’t get much more than four hours sleep any night this week. 7:30 came way too soon this morning.

The start is less than a mile from home so I ran over, registered, stretched, and headed to starting line. There would be no practice start this year. One guy immediately shot off the front and built a huge lead in the first 100 meters.

Leaders after 100 meters

It took me a good ¼ mile to settle into a good rhythm, after which point I held the leader in my sights at roughly the same distance for about 1½ miles.

Just after start

Large pack

I slowed significantly in the second half of the race. The leader pulled away from me, but there was also quite a bit of space behind me. The gaps were large.

All by myself on the second lap

Despite fading at the end I still finished in a respectable time of 18:33 (5:59/mile pace). This isn’t where I would want to be in August, but for March I’ll take it. In order to keep things interesting I do mostly long distance training (with very little speed work) during the winter and I do mostly short/fast training (with very little distance) during the summer. Coming up with a little speed this early in the year is encouraging.

Finishing

I finished 2nd overall and 1st in the 30-39 age group. The awards were a unique (for a race award) plaster cast of a Trilobite fossil.

Trilobite fossil casting race award

After the race I ran home with my Trilobite, gulped a bit of water, then headed back out for another 9 miles (14 total). You see, there’s this marathon coming up, and running a short race doesn’t get me off the hook for my weekly long run (though apparently a 108 mile bike ride does?).

Many thanks to Melissa and Will for coming out to cheer me on and take photos. The bright/distinctive shoes/gloves/shirt sure must make it easy for them to spot me out on the course.

February 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

February 2010

Too many indoor shots here. I need to get out more.

Running

Dry

After taking some time to recover from the Riddle Run, I actually got did pretty good running in February. I was quite happy to see my heart rate stay below 150 for several miles at 7:30 pace during medium and long runs. I’m actually feeling quite fit at the moment.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
Total 185.23 Mile 18 10.2906 Mile

Cycling

On the bright side, I got my first (and only) outdoor training ride of the year in last weekend.

February 2010

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 18. Mile 5 3.6 Mile
Pocket Rocket 27.67 Mile 1 27.67 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 95. Mile 6 15.8333 Mile
Total 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile

January – February 2010

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 18. Mile 5 3.6 Mile
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Pocket Rocket 27.67 Mile 1 27.67 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 220.35 Mile 15 14.69 Mile
Total 306.92 Mile 32 9.59125 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
Total 306.92 Mile 32 9.59125 Mile

Cross Country Skiing

Hobby

Snow is good for one thing, I suppose.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 6.07 Mile 2 3.035 Mile
February 19.73 Mile 5 3.946 Mile
Total 25.8 Mile 7 3.68571 Mile

Walking

Snowy

I’m still not quite sure what got into me here. I ended up walking to work more times than I biked to work last month. I guess I’ll blame the weather for the frequently-unsuitable-for-riding conditions.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
Total 80.11 Mile 25 3.2044 Mile

The Great Room Swap of ‘010

For the past few months William has been getting up at night. A lot. Melissa heard from some of her friends who have babies Will’s age that they sleep better in a separate room. He’s been sleeping in our bedroom downstairs since he was born. We weren’t quite ready to put him in his own room all the way upstairs. After a brief conversation Friday evening we decided that we should move the office downstairs and move our bedroom upstairs right next to his. This way Will could sleep in his own bedroom and we wouldn’t be that far away. The problem is that our bed wouldn’t fit in the office, so we had to move Will’s room into the office and move our room into Will’s room. We basically decided to completely rotate the three bedrooms.

Great, so how do we do this? Each of these rooms has furniture (some if it quite large), and numerous smaller items. Also, Melissa is injured and can’t really carry anything. I arranged for my dad to come over on Sunday to help carry some of the largest items up/down stairs. But given the monumental size of this task I couldn’t wait until Sunday to get it started. All Saturday morning I pondered the best strategy to proceed while Will was napping in the Baby Bjorn strapped around me (which was just the start of a rough day for my back). When he woke up I got going.

Since three rooms would need to be rotated I started with an empty space in one room, moved one piece of furniture in, replaced that piece in the second room with a piece from the third room, then replaced a piece in the third room with a piece from the first room. And so on. Over the next 6-8 hours I disassembled our queen sized bed, a futon, a crib, a dresser, a desk, a filing cabinet, etc. and carried these items up/down stairs by myself. By the end of Saturday I was exhausted and my back was aching, but the move was over half completed.

Today I woke up and ran 12 miles. I took a short break to watch the Olympics 50km Cross Country Ski race. Then my parents arrived and we got to work moving the remaining desk, dresser, filing cabinet, changing table, and numerous smaller items. We got everything moved into the correct rooms. We still have a fair amount of work to go to get all the slightly differently sized closets organized.

We really should have done this move before Will was born, but we thought it would be too much work. Now that it’s (nearly) done I can say that it definitely was a lot of work, but I think it will be totally worth it.

January Stats

Photo of the Day

Running

Riddle Run 2010

Lot of running. Lot of running. Exactly the same mileage as January 2009.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
Total 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile

Cycling

Tubular

I finally got my butt into gear and started riding on the trainer at night after Will (and usually Melissa) goes to bed. Riding on the trainer is not my favorite thing to do, but when it’s dark and icy out the trainer is just about my only option.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
El Fuego 40.9 Mile 11 3.71818 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 125.35 Mile 9 13.9278 Mile
Total 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
Total 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile

Cross Country Skiing

Urbana welcomes you

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 6.07 Mile 2 3.035 Mile
Total 6.07 Mile 2 3.035 Mile

Walking

A hazy shade of winter

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
Total 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile

Riddle Run 11

Yesterday I ran Riddle Run 11. This is a 28 mile ultramarathon held each January. You may recall that I was the first finisher at Riddle Run 10 last year, for which I was awarded the traveling trophy (a roll of toilet paper signed by the previous winners).

Trophy

Last year I was in great shape, but the course was covered in 4″ of mushy show. I must have ended up running twice the official distance just from my feet slipping around so much. I ran nice and easy, finishing in 4h56m. It just so happened that nobody else ran faster, so I was first.

This year I knew I wasn’t in quite as good shape as last year, but we only had about 1″ of snow on the ground (which, while not ideal, is much easier to run through than 4″). I was really disappointed with my run at Tecumseh last month, so I had something to prove to myself.

Tower

I started the run very easy. I picked a big group to run with and we talked and laughed the entire first (of seven) four-mile loop. I’m notorious for starting too fast and (like last year’s Rockford marathon) I made damn sure not to make that mistake yesterday.

The second loop I picked up the pace a little bit, from 9:30 to 9:00 to 8:30. By the end of the second loop I was running slightly faster than 8:00 miles and I would stay at this pace for the next 12 miles or so. At the end of each loop I stopped by my car for 30-60 seconds to drink some gatorade and water and to grab a bite to eat.

“Ultras are just eating and drinking contests, with a little exercise and scenery thrown in.”

-Sunny Blende, nutritionist (from Born to Run)

Over the course of 28 miles I ended up eating four mini Clif Bars, a banana, two flasks of chia gel, a bottle of Gatorade, a bottle of water, and six Enduralytes (electrolyte pills)… and it still wasn’t enough. My stomach was growling the last eight miles.

During the middle part of the run the miles just flew by. Each time I finished a lap I thought to myself, I was just here a few minutes ago. I was flying and the miles were coming so easily, but it wouldn’t last forever.

I started to tire around mile 20. I quickly realized could no longer maintain sub-8:00 miles and I started to question whether I would finish at all. After eating I started my 6th loop much slower and I felt a lot better. I could definitely finish by running closer to 9:00 pace.

Riddle Run 2010

The last two laps were a bit of a slog, but I kept shuffling along, and I never stopped to walk (a feat I’ve only accomplished one other time, at Rockford). Three miles from the end a fellow runner Jason and his friend absolutely flew past me. I had last seen them exactly 20 miles earlier when I had just started to pick up the pace. It was amazing how strong they were finishing. I crossed the 26.2 mile mark at 3h46m, making this my third fastest marathon ever. On a trail. Covered in snow.

Last year I finished the run with mile 28 being my fastest. This year it was my slowest (the second slowest this year was the first mile). I dragged myself across the finish line in 4h04m, my fastest Riddle Run by more than a half hour, and a full 50 minutes faster than last year (almost two minutes per mile!).

Jason and his friend had gained six minutes on me in the last three miles, and they finished first. Matt and another guy were in between us. It’s rather amazing to me that the first five of us finished within six minutes of each other after such a long run.

So that was my fourth Riddle Run, my fifth ultra-distance run, my seventh trail marathon/ultra, and my 11th marathon or beyond. Of all those runs, this one was the third fastest, yet at the same time probably the easiest for me. Considering I didn’t do any training specifically for this run, and I didn’t taper at all, I guess I’d have to say that I’m in a little better shape than I thought I was. That’s a good sign.

Shortlist

So there’s a “Photographic Print Competition” next month at Lincoln Square Mall. Both my wife and my father have suggested to me that I enter the competition, and they’re both pretty smart so I better do what they say.

I noticed the competition is sponsored by the Champaign County Camera Club, a club I had never heard of before, but sounded somewhat appealing to me. I checked out their website last Monday, just in time to notice one of their bi-monthly meetings was happening that evening on campus. I decided to go check it out. It was indeed interesting.

One of the odd things I learned at the meeting was the club members are not allowed to enter this competition for some reason. I’m still not exactly clear why this is the case. I mean, Second Wind Running Club puts on races in which club members are encouraged to participate. The same thing happens with events put on by Wild Card Cycling or Prairie Cycle Club.

Anyway, I didn’t join the club yet… and now I’m going to hold off doing so until after the competition. Speaking of which, I put together a shortlist of photos from 2009 I’m thinking about entering. Participants are allowed a maximum of three entries. There are multiple categories into which these photos might fit, most of which are fairly strictly defined:

  1. Architecture
  2. Animals
  3. People
  4. Nature (absolutely nothing human-made)
  5. General
  6. Manipulated (does not interest me)
  7. Youth division (ineligible)

Here are the photos currently at the top of my list:

Dragonflies

Nature, Animals, General

Bzzzzzzzz

Nature, Animals, General

Urbana High School

Architecture, General

Sock monkey

People, General

I’d really appreciate any feedback on which photos people think are the best. I’m sure with this audience any picture of Will will probably get an automatic vote, but try to keep in mind that photo contest judges may not be as interested in Will as many of you.

Little guy

This little guy decided to join us inside at some point (in the last few days?). Well it was pretty weak and barely moving by today. We trapped it under a glass long enough for me to take a few photos then I let it go outside. With the 0˚F temperature, I’m not sure whether this was better or worse for the Yellowjacket wasp than just letting it die inside. We’ll never know.

Yellowjacket

Yellowjacket

For what it’s worth, here’s how I took the photos. The little guy was crawling around on a piece of paper with an upside-down glass covering him. I had my trusty Canon 50D on a tripod just barely above that level with the lens about 8″ away. I used my 60 mm EF-S macro lens at f/18 for a relatively large depth of field. I had a studio strobe with a soft box at 3/4 power just off my right shoulder, providing ample light for the fast shutter speed (1/125 second), small aperture (f/18), and low ISO speed (100).

The little guy was crawling around, so I waited until he was in a good position. I then focused on it, briefly tiled the glass back (for an unobstructed shot), quickly pressed the shutter, then set the glass back down (so the thing would fly away). The final images here are cropped to roughly half the width and height of the original 15 megapixel images.

Commuteski

We got a fair amount of snow last night and into the day today. I skied the 1.8 miles into work, which in these conditions was A) faster than walking and B) safer than cycling.

Most of my trip follows Kirby/Florida Ave which has a lot of grass off to the side, perfect for skiing. It gets a little tough around the Assembly Hall where there’s a whole lot of pavement and not much grass.

Urbana welcomes you

I expected to be pretty sweaty by the time I arrived at work, but I wasn’t that bad. I had a brutal headwind the whole way there.