One month ago, July 4th 2013, was the 20th anniversary of the beginning of my running career. What started out as a fun run with a friend turned into high school cross country and track, college cross country and track, marathons, triathlons, bike racing, ultramarathons, and obstacle course racing.

A few months ago when my grandpa moved out of his house and into an apartment he handed me a manila folder stuffed to the gills with decades-old newspaper clippings that mentioned my name, mostly from high school, and mostly involving athletics. I recently took the time to look at them all and scan them into my computer. Here are a few interesting clippings:

Struggling? Settled? This seems a bit like a backhanded complement, like telling a girl she’s too pretty to kiss.

In the words of Jonathan Coulton, I crush everything.

I really wish I still had those socks.

Variety is the spice of life. I enjoy doing races I’ve never done before and traveling to places I’ve never been. At the same time, there’s just some races you enjoy so much you want to do them every year. I’ve done the Forest Park XC Festival open 4K all three years we’ve lived in Saint Louis, as well as the Macklind Mile. Last Saturday I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run the Gravois Kiwanis XC 5K for the third year in a row. It’s fairly small and very low-key. The course is all grass on rolling hills.

As was the case last year, the race fell two weeks before my much more important objective–the Howl at the Moon 8 Hour race. So this wasn’t going to be a quick-run-and-then-head-home kind of day. I planned to be at Jefferson Barracks park for several hours. I ran the full 5K course as a warmup, finishing just before the race start.

With a very slow warmup and no strides I was ill prepared for the extremely fast race start, but I settled into it after a quarter mile or so. By that time I had passed nearly all the quick starters, save one. He was really moving. I was going to have my work cut out for me. I gained significant ground on the downhill in the second quarter mile, but we turned a corner, went back uphill, and I lost him for good.

I continued to run hard and steady the rest of the race, despite losing ground to the leader, and despite knowing full well I would be running a few more hours after the race. I crossed the finish line in 18:19, 39 seconds faster than last year (when I finished 3rd), and 1:17 faster than two years ago (when I finished 1st). So this year’s 2nd place finish rounds out the podium for me.

I spent about 10 minutes recovering before heading back out, very slowly, for another loop. After that came the awards, then about two more hours of running. I finished the day with 21 miles, which was actually not very difficult given the cooler weather we had. The race was quite enjoyable again this year.

After first racing the New Town Triathlon last year, I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while.

I still liked the staggered swim start instead of the more common wave/mass start because it was far less congested in the early meters. One change they made this year was rather than starting in the order you registered (which put me at the very end last year) they started all members of the same age group in a row. Which is nice.

Photo courtesy of Big Shark

I was quite happy with my 1000m swim. Sure, I was minutes slower than the leaders (I’m not the strongest swimmer), but I was a full minute faster than last year. I’ve been working a lot on my swimming and I’ve been focusing on this distance.

Photo courtesy of New Town Triathlon

The one thing about this race that didn’t go perfectly was completely out of my control. Most races assign ranges of numbers to specific bike racks in the transition area and the first people to arrive take the locations nearest to the entrance/exit. This time they assigned specific locations to each individual number… and my space was at the very end of the rack as far away entrance/exit as possible. So my transition times were both several seconds slower than they could have been.

Photo courtesy of New Town Triathlon

Photo courtesy of Big Shark

I was a bit scared of the bike leg to be honest. I simply haven’t put in enough work on the bike this season to race at a very high level. I’ve been relying on my running fitness to carry me through the few bike races I’ve done. But this was a 20 mile time trial with nowhere to hide. Fortunately, I felt really good and I was able to do the best ride I could. In the end I finished the bike leg 11 seconds faster than last year. I did have a bit of an off day during the bike leg of this race last summer. It was a good sign that, despite being the last person from my bike rack in the transition area to start the race, I was the first person to return from the bike.

Photo courtesy of Big Shark

I was really looking forward to the run. I did well last year, but it was super hot. I’ve been running much faster this year and the temperature was much more bearable. I eased into the first mile (which is always difficult after transitioning from a fast bike leg) before letting it rip for the last three miles. I ran 40 seconds faster than last year, averaging 5:54/mile for the four mile course.

Photo courtesy of New Town Triathlon

Last year I finished in 1:35:39 for 14th place overall (not including elite racers) and 3rd place in the 30-34 age group. This year I finished in 1:34:16 for 8th place overall and 2nd place in the 35-39 age group. It’s rare to have a race (particularly a triathlon) where everything goes as well as possible. I’m quite pleased about that.

Photo courtesy of Big Shark

After the race I caught my breath, then went running for another hour. Howl at the Moon isn’t going to train for itself.

Well, that didn’t take long. I did another obstacle race: MuckFest MS. Compared to the last one this was longer and hotter, had a greater quantity and variety of obstacles, and had more participants. I didn’t prepare at all (in fact I did a three hour run just two days prior), this was really just for fun.

The competitive wave was the last to start (I would have thought it should be the first?), so the course was quite sloppy by 1:30 PM. It was brutally hot at 90˚F. You would think the copious quantities of mud on the course would help to cool you down, but you’d be wrong because the mud was hot too.

I started in the front row but quickly got swarmed before the first obstacle just 30 meters into the race.

Photo by Melissa

Photo by Melissa

There were longer runs between the next few obstacles, so I was able to catch up to and pass the leaders. Then I was knocked into a deep pool of mud by large swinging orange balls. I got mud in my eyes and couldn’t see… but I couldn’t wipe the mud out because my hands and clothes were covered in mud as well. Fun times.

Photo by MuckFest MS

Most of the obstacles were straightforward. A few were new to me and non-obvious. The volunteers were generally helpful in explaining things, though not always in the timeframe I would have hoped for. I only had a few delays though. I cruised through many of the early obstacles just as fast as anyone else, but I was running faster. So I built up a sizable lead in the first half. In the second half, while baking in the sun, I eased up.

Then I reached The Spinner. It looks simple enough, but it was the hardest thing on the course for me. You have to hang onto a rope, suspended over water/mud for half a revolution (about 20-ish seconds?). All the ropes had knots tied at the bottom (so you could stand or sit on them)… except the one I grabbed onto. With no place to stand or sit I had to hang on tightly using my nonexistent upper body strength for what seemed an eternity when I was hypoxic. It completely took the impetus out of my effort.

I continued to run well the last mile, but I slowed significantly on the obstacles, making many silly mistakes. What I didn’t know was the guy in second place was finishing strong. 100 meters and three obstacles from the end I was rather surprised to see him starting the obstacle just as I was finishing.

Photo by Melissa

I managed to keep it together for a few more seconds to finish in first place by just 13 seconds. I completed the “5” mile course (it was closer to 4) in 32m33s. I wasn’t proud of my collapse at the end, but it was a really fun event. The obstacles were just right in the spectrum of easy to challenging-but-not-impossible.

Photo by Melissa

Judging from the number of people lighting up cigarettes as soon as they crossed the finish line, most of the 1600+ participants weren’t too interested in the competition. They were interested in running, jumping, climbing, crawling, sliding, swimming, and playing in the mud like children.

Just like I was.

Running

Photo from here

June was a recovery month, despite four races and not-particularly-low mileage. My runs were shorter, yet more frequent than usual. Now to ramp back up for Howl at the Moon in August.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	131.5 Mile	13	10.1154 Mile
February	87.4286 Mile	10	8.74286 Mile
March	162.84 Mile	17	9.57882 Mile
April	169.12 Mile	16	10.57 Mile
May	133.61 Mile	12	11.1342 Mile
June	127.39 Mile	16	7.96188 Mile
Total	811.889 Mile	84	9.66534 Mile

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Cycling

Photo courtesy of Karen Einig

I regularly used to ride farther in a week than I rode all last month. It’s kind of depressing to look at the plot below, but despite the low mileage last year was the strongest I’ve ever been on the bike. Right now I’m a little behind where I was last year, but not as much as one would think. I’m pretty sure my running fitness is carrying me at the moment.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	3.7 Mile	1	3.7 Mile
February	15.2 Mile	4	3.8 Mile
March	123.14 Mile	16	7.69625 Mile
April	114.22 Mile	12	9.51833 Mile
May	157.33 Mile	14	11.2379 Mile
June	217.6 Mile	10	21.76 Mile
Total	631.19 Mile	57	11.0735 Mile

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Swimming

My first open water swim of the year went pretty well. My performance has plateaued and I’m not really improving any more, but I’m okay with that for now. I’d like to just maintain my swimming for the rest of the summer, then perhaps work on improving more in the offseason (which is to say I probably won’t put in the effort then either).

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	3950. Yard	3	1316.67 Yard
March	18900. Yard	11	1718.18 Yard
April	15600. Yard	10	1560. Yard
May	13200. Yard	8	1650. Yard
June	11580. Yard	8	1447.5 Yard
Total	63230. Yard	40	1580.75 Yard

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Walking/Hiking

Will is out of daycare for the summer so I’ve put in far fewer miles walking than usual.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	37.64 Mile	12	3.13667 Mile
February	50.6 Mile	21	2.40952 Mile
March	92.9 Mile	37	2.51081 Mile
April	41.5 Mile	21	1.97619 Mile
May	91.75 Mile	33	2.7803 Mile
June	32.03 Mile	21	1.52524 Mile
Total	346.42 Mile	145	2.3891 Mile

The Macklind Mile was last weekend. For the third consecutive year I’ve looked forward to this race, both with excitement and terror. It’s fun because it’s different (my last foot race was 50 miles) and I can compare my old decrepit self against my teenage self. But it’s just so short and so fast and it hurts so much. For a couple minutes, at least.

Every year I plan to do months worth of interval training to prepare. Two years ago I ended up doing one interval workout the week before the race. Last year I did one interval workout the week before the race. This year I actually faired a bit better by doing two interval workouts starting three weeks before the race. I also started doing 150 meter stride accelerations at the end of most of my runs just to get used to going really fast. I think the strides helped a lot more than the intervals to be honest.

I had a weird sensation during the race. I wasn’t held back by my aerobic system or by the strength of my legs. The thing that prevented a lower time was that I simply could not turn my legs over any faster. I usually run with a cadence between 88-96 rpm and I was well above that range during this race. If I’m going to run faster I need to do more speed work to try to increase my maximum cadence.

I ran as hard as I could for a few minutes before crossing the finish line in 4:47, about 5 seconds faster than last year. That’s about what I expected, though I kind of hoped to do a few seconds better. I guess that means I have to run it again next year.

My parents were visiting and my mom ran the race again this year, taking over two minutes off her time from last year. Will took part in his third ¼ mile dash, also scoring his fastest time yet. So it was a good day all around.

For a few years now I’ve wanted to try a XTERRA (off-road) triathlon. Granted, mountain biking is not my forte (though I do find it enjoyable), but the swim would be similar to any other triathlon and I love trail running. I was hoping to have fun more than a top performance.

Last weekend I was able to make it over to Boonville, IN for the Scales Lake XTERRA sprint race. This was the third consecutive weekend in June I participated in a type of race I’ve never attempted before. Melissa, Will, and I went over the day before the race and camped in the park where the race would take place. This gave me the opportunity to quickly reconnoitre the mountain bike course. And I’m glad I did. Most of the trail was fairly straightforward, but there were a couple places where I had to stop my bike and think for a moment, how am I going to get through this section alive? I didn’t want that to happen during the race. Really the only reason I raced the Lost Valley Luau the previous weekend was to gain enough confidence in my mountain biking skills to attempt this one.

Our last night-before-race camping experience at Berryman was quite different, as everybody camping there was participating in the race the next morning and all went to sleep at a reasonable hour. This campground was full of people on summer vacation. There were unsupervised children still playing at the playground next to our campsite at midnight, and cars were driving in and out all night long. Despite the lack of sleep, I fortunately didn’t feel like a zombie when I awoke in the morning.

I arrived early to check in at the race and to get a good spot in the first-come-first-serve transition area. This left me a lot of time to kill before the race, which is better than rushing around at the last minute. I did a quick warmup on a short section of the bike course before running the last section of the run course. A half mile from the finish I passed a sign reading “Mile 4”, which was particularly interesting given the run was advertised as 3.3 miles. A longer running course would be an advantage to me, but would it be enough to make up for my relatively weak mountain biking?

Finally it was time to head down to the water to get ready for the start of the half mile swim leg. The swim start was fast. The swim start is always fast. After I settled down into a good rhythm I could look up ahead and see a couple leaders way in front of me, but there weren’t that many people between us. I noticed there was a guy in a bright red suit just in front of me and he was moving at the exact same speed. So I was able to keep my eye on him to make sure I was swimming in a straight line, looking up to see the orange buoys less frequently (looking up slows you down). I was 11th out of the water and began the run across the road to the transition area.

A couple people passed me early on the 11 mile bike course. I would stay with them for a short while before eventually falling behind. I was really glad I rode the course the night before. Nothing caught me really off guard. Of course, I was going much faster during the race. The higher speed made some of the obstacles easier (there were lots of short, super-steep hills) and some of the numerous tight turns more difficult. A total of five people passed me during the first 5.5 mile loop. On the second loop one person passed me, but I passed a different person, so I maintained my position. Towards the end of the second lap I was passing slower riders who were still on their first lap. Since there was a big difference in speed, these passes weren’t too difficult.

Towards the end of the second lap I thought to myself, I’m starting to get the hang of this, I could go for another lap. Just in time to get off the bike and start running. My run started fast. Normally in a triathlon I’m a bit cooked after the bike and I have to ease into the run a bit more gradually. This time I wasn’t held back on the bike at all by my fitness, I was held back by my moutain biking skills (e.g. making extraordinarily tight turns at high speed).

I was pretty fresh for the run, and it went by fast. I passed one person in my race, and several people who were on relays or who did the shorter one-bike-loop race. I really had no idea how well I was doing, but I finished strong anyway. I got a medal at the finish line, which I promptly gave to Will, who was waiting there for me with Melissa. Will is really into Wreck-it-Ralph at the moment. One of the central points to the plot of the movie is that the protagonist wants a medal. So Will loved the medal.

I finished in 1:47:48 for 9th place overall and 3rd in the 35-39 age group (I’m 34, but I will turn 35 before the end of the year). Everyone who finished ahead of me absolutely destroyed me on the bike, while I faired better at the run and swim. It’s clear where I need improvement for this type of race. But I absolutely did meet my goal of having fun.