run – Page 5 – Sexy Hermit

University City Memorial Day Run

A scant few hours after my last race I slammed my knee into a wall trying to step over a baby gate. You wouldn’t think this would knock me out of commission for several months, but you’d be wrong. All winter I struggled with running and particularly cycling. It took forever just to be able to do any training, let alone the type of training necessary to begin racing again. It’s a shame, because last fall I probably had the best fitness of my adult life.

Over the past couple months I’ve been gradually increasing my training, both running and cycling. For the most part now I can run and bike without much (if any) knee pain, though my knee is generally still a little sore after workouts. Last week when I was in Urbana I ran the Second Wind fun run at Meadowbrook park. Without any fast training I ran three miles in 18:41 with a friend, with some serious negative splits. On a lark I decided this meant I could probably start racing again any day now, just in time for the Memorial Day 5K run in our new hometown of University City.

I ran much better than I expected, finishing in 18:25 (5:55/mile pace), only 30 seconds slower than the Danville Memorial Day 5K last year. This was good enough for 8^th place out of 850 finishers, and 1^st in my age group. I felt no knee pain. I dealt with the 80˚F morning heat and blazing sun as well as I could have hoped. I dealt with the couple of hills as well as I could have hoped. I think with a few more miles in my legs this spring I wouldn’t have slowed down so much during the 3^rd mile, but I’m still pleased.

April 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

I had a minor setback involving a few weeks off from running after a foolish 14-miler with a lot of pain in the last two miles. Now I’m back at it and running pain free again.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
April	31.12 Mile	6	5.18667 Mile
Total	149.77 Mile	26	5.76038 Mile

Running 2011 4

Cycling

After nearly two months off the bike I can now ride again without knee pain. I ride Will to daycare a few times per week and we sometimes ride the tandem (Big Red) to the playground on the weekends.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	11.4 Mile	3	3.8 Mile
Big Red	10.6 Mile	2	5.3 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	9.75 Mile	1	9.75 Mile
Total	31.75 Mile	6	5.29167 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
April	31.75 Mile	6	5.29167 Mile
Total	70.07 Mile	11	6.37 Mile

Cycling 2011 4

Walking

We still walk either to or from daycare almost everyday.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
April	84.3 Mile	26	3.24231 Mile
Total	272.2 Mile	80	3.4025 Mile

Walking 2011 4

March 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

Good trend.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
March	71.64 Mile	10	7.164 Mile
Total	118.65 Mile	20	5.9325 Mile

Cycling

Not so much.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	3 Mile	1	3. Mile
Total	38.32 Mile	5	7.664 Mile

Walking

Good trend.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	47.6 Mile	14	3.4 Mile
March	83.4 Mile	24	3.475 Mile
Total	187.9 Mile	54	3.47963 Mile

February 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
February	33.47 Mile	7	4.78143 Mile
Total	47.01 Mile	10	4.701 Mile

Cycling

Well, so much for that.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile
February	0	0	0
Total	35.32 Mile	4	8.83 Mile

Walking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	56.9 Mile	16	3.55625 Mile
February	44. Mile	13	3.38462 Mile
Total	100.9 Mile	29	3.47931 Mile

January 2011

Photo of the Day

January 2011 Photo of the Day

I’m still going with the third year of my Photo of the Day project. I’ve been so busy lately that the quality of the photos has declined significantly (often just taking a photo of whatever I happen to see when the clock strikes 10 pm). I’d love to be able to devote more time to this (and a dozen other neglected projects).

Running

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile
Total	13.54 Mile	3	4.51333 Mile

I recently realized I now have over nine years of training data logged, so I might as well plot some historical trends. Here is monthly running mileage for the past nine years.

See if you can spot the injuries. The good news is my knee is slowly getting better and I was able to do a little bit of running in January.

Cycling

I climbed onto the trainer a few times in January, hoping I could spin the pedals. Each time my knee would be pretty sore for a few days.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	23 Mile	3	7.66667 Mile
Total	23 Mile	3	7.66667 Mile

Walking

While cycling is still a problem and running is partially problematic, my knee doesn’t mind walking at all. Mostly I just walked Will to daycare a few times per week.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	51.1 Mile	14	3.65 Mile
Total	51.1 Mile	14	3.65 Mile

Cross Country Skiing

We had a few days of snow and a few days when my knee felt up to it, but really only one day where both of those conditions were satisfied.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	2.92 Mile	1	2.92 Mile
Total	2.92 Mile	1	2.92 Mile

December 2010

I’ll be honest, December kind of sucked. Or at least I thought December sucked, but that was before January. The combination of physical injury/pain with stress from work and holidays made for a rough beginning of the month. What happened at the end of the month (which I’m not going to get into) made all that pale in comparison.

Photo of the Day

For the first, second, and third time in over two years I missed a day taking photos. I’m trying to get my act together. I don’t quite have the same joy for this project I once did. I’d like to regain that.

Running

December didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped. My knee problems made running difficult and I basically had to stop until my knee gets better.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	109.05 Mile	10	10.905 Mile
February	76.18 Mile	8	9.5225 Mile
March	84.86 Mile	10	8.486 Mile
April	83.15 Mile	9	9.23889 Mile
May	57.95 Mile	7	8.27857 Mile
June	17.98 Mile	3	5.99333 Mile
July	54.62 Mile	8	6.8275 Mile
August	65.78 Mile	9	7.30889 Mile
September	107.4 Mile	13	8.26154 Mile
October	144.087 Mile	17	8.47573 Mile
November	131.57 Mile	15	8.77133 Mile
December	10.8 Mile	3	3.6 Mile
Total	943.427 Mile	112	8.42346 Mile

Cycling

Cycling made my knee hurt even worse than running. I ended the year with roughly half the miles I would have hoped.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	166.25 Mile	20	8.3125 Mile
February	140.67 Mile	12	11.7225 Mile
March	508.83 Mile	18	28.2683 Mile
April	318.98 Mile	13	24.5369 Mile
May	365.89 Mile	20	18.2945 Mile
June	447.97 Mile	22	20.3623 Mile
July	390.59 Mile	19	20.5574 Mile
August	223. Mile	15	14.8667 Mile
September	146.5 Mile	17	8.61765 Mile
October	303.29 Mile	19	15.9626 Mile
November	128.21 Mile	14	9.15786 Mile
December	5.6 Mile	2	2.8 Mile
Total	3145.78 Mile	191	16.4701 Mile

Walking

I began walking a little more later in the month, as it wasn’t as hard on my knee as either running or cycling. Working from home, having no disposable income, and knowing practically nobody in area, my daily trips taking Will to and from daycare are often the only time I leave the house. Spending some time outside walking the 3.6 miles round trip seems to be preventing craziness from setting in. On the other hand, how would I know?

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	37.26 Mile	11	3.38727 Mile
February	51.45 Mile	16	3.21563 Mile
March	34.7 Mile	10	3.47 Mile
April	44.35 Mile	11	4.03182 Mile
May	48.75 Mile	14	3.48214 Mile
June	64.2 Mile	16	4.0125 Mile
July	56.3 Mile	15	3.75333 Mile
August	56.75 Mile	16	3.54688 Mile
September	28.84 Mile	7	4.12 Mile
October	32.1 Mile	12	2.675 Mile
November	15.9 Mile	4	3.975 Mile
December	20.4 Mile	8	2.55 Mile
Total	491. Mile	140	3.50714 Mile

I would walk 500 miles…

November 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

Running

A lot of good, hard miles run in November culminated in a pretty good showing at the FOLEPI 4-miler. Immediately after the race I slammed my knee into a wall and I’ve been in near constant pain since then. I can’t remember a time when a non-athletic-related injury took me out this badly. It sucks.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	109.05 Mile	10	10.905 Mile
February	76.18 Mile	8	9.5225 Mile
March	84.86 Mile	10	8.486 Mile
April	83.15 Mile	9	9.23889 Mile
May	57.95 Mile	7	8.27857 Mile
June	17.98 Mile	3	5.99333 Mile
July	54.62 Mile	8	6.8275 Mile
August	65.78 Mile	9	7.30889 Mile
September	107.4 Mile	13	8.26154 Mile
October	144.087 Mile	17	8.47573 Mile
November	131.57 Mile	15	8.77133 Mile
Total	939.827 Mile	111	8.46691 Mile

Cycling

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	34.4 Mile	6	5.73333 Mile
Pocket Rocket	48.24 Mile	6	8.04 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	35.57 Mile	1	35.57 Mile
Total	118.21 Mile	13	9.09308 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	166.25 Mile	20	8.3125 Mile
February	140.67 Mile	12	11.7225 Mile
March	508.83 Mile	18	28.2683 Mile
April	318.98 Mile	13	24.5369 Mile
May	365.89 Mile	20	18.2945 Mile
June	447.97 Mile	22	20.3623 Mile
July	390.59 Mile	19	20.5574 Mile
August	223. Mile	15	14.8667 Mile
September	146.5 Mile	17	8.61765 Mile
October	303.29 Mile	19	15.9626 Mile
November	128.21 Mile	14	9.15786 Mile
Total	3145.78 Mile	191	16.4701 Mile

Walking

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	28.66 Mile	9	3.18444 Mile
February	51.45 Mile	16	3.21563 Mile
March	34.7 Mile	10	3.47 Mile
April	44.35 Mile	11	4.03182 Mile
May	48.75 Mile	14	3.48214 Mile
June	64.2 Mile	16	4.0125 Mile
July	56.3 Mile	15	3.75333 Mile
August	56.75 Mile	16	3.54688 Mile
September	28.84 Mile	7	4.12 Mile
October	32.1 Mile	12	2.675 Mile
November	15.9 Mile	4	3.975 Mile
Total	464. Mile	132	3.51515 Mile

FOLEPI River Trail Classic

Another Thanksgiving in Peoria means another chance to run the unique FOLEPI river trail classic. The four mile race takes place on a paved shared-use path where the final three miles are entirely gradually downhill. This makes for super-fast running. In my 3^rd attempt I set a new PR, despite the very strong headwind nearly the entire length of the point-to-point course.

Interestingly, I executed the race more like a bike race than any foot race I’ve ever done before. Usually that’s probably not a great idea, but it somehow worked out well. I tried to start conservatively, which put me about 30-40 places back right from the gun (err, whistle). After a few hundred meters we turned into the wind and I hunkered down behind someone tall, hopping from one person to the next as speeds varied.

3/4 mile in I found myself in a bit of a conundrum in that I had moved past everyone in my group and there was a sizable gap up to the lead group… and they were also moving faster than I was. Rather than continue at my own pace I did what I wouldn’t hesitate for a single second to do in a bike race, though in a running race it was unthinkable–I burned a match. I put in a huge effort to accelerate and not only stop losing ground to the lead group, but also catch back up to them. The gap was probably only about 20-30 meters, which seems fairly small. But I’d say it took more than a minute running over 12mph to close the gap. I caught up right as we passed the first mile marker (the flat mile) in 5:18. It was a bit faster than I hoped, but I was in good position. Or so I thought.

Not a moment sooner than I joined the group did we hit the downhill where the group exploded. What had been 10 guys tightly bunched together blocking the wind for me quickly turned into singles spread out across the path. I stayed behind a young guy for the next mile or so just trying to recover from my earlier acceleration. But you can’t really recover running at that speed.

As we passed the 2^nd mile marker inside of 11:00 another guy came up from behind and passed us. Not really thinking in my hypoxic state I latched on behind him and took off. This guy maintained a very steady pace, which was good. I stayed glued to him, as he was running exactly the pace I wanted to be going. In the final half mile he started to waiver a bit so I moved in front of him to return the favor for him blocking the wind. He seemed to recover a bit, as he passed me with a couple hundred meters to go.

I finished in 22:05 (5:31/mile), my fastest time yet at this race. This was reassuring at a time when I’ve been doing lots of long runs and very little speedwork. I was 10^th overall and 2^nd in my age group (behind the guy who I ran with most of the race).

October Stats

Hey, I turned 32 (0x20, 2⁵). Melissa was kind enough to build me a cake, which William promptly devoured. Okay, I helped devour it too.

Photo of the Day

Running

Well, I’ve been feeling better and better about my running for several months now and I finally took the leap from running 2-3 times per week and started running 3-4 times a week. Now, you may ask how could I run four times per week if there are seven days in a week and my cardinal rule is to not run on two consecutive days? There’s no funny math here, I’m simply breaking my cardinal rule for the first time since my knee surgery in 2004. So far it’s been great. It’s possible I could come to both rue and lament that decision, but I’ve been feeling good enough lately that I probably won’t.

The net affect of this change is that my mileage shot way, way up. 144 miles in one month doesn’t seem like much to me for some reason, particularly considering I regularly ran 75 miles per week when I was 18. But back then I ran every day. It’s kind of remarkable (even to me) that (on average) I ran 8.5 miles on 17 separate occasions.

I had a couple of decent races, both times finishing behind the same person. Perhaps I need to start training with that guy.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	109.05 Mile	10	10.905 Mile
February	76.18 Mile	8	9.5225 Mile
March	84.86 Mile	10	8.486 Mile
April	83.15 Mile	9	9.23889 Mile
May	57.95 Mile	7	8.27857 Mile
June	17.98 Mile	3	5.99333 Mile
July	54.62 Mile	8	6.8275 Mile
August	65.78 Mile	9	7.30889 Mile
September	107.4 Mile	13	8.26154 Mile
October	144.087 Mile	17	8.47573 Mile
Total	801.057 Mile	94	8.52189 Mile

Cycling

It’s pretty rare that my cycling mileage would go up in October. I got in a few good long hard rides with my friends Nick and Mike and I also did a couple of the Big Shark rides. So despite the stupid traffic I’m managing to get some riding in… perhaps not as much as in Champaign-Urbana, but the rides I am doing are on more difficult terrain.

I did one cyclocross race that was okay, but not great. I hope to do a few more before the season ends.

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	59.13 Mile	9	6.57 Mile
Pocket Rocket	24.4 Mile	5	4.88 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	219.76 Mile	5	43.952 Mile
Total	303.29 Mile	19	15.9626 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	166.25 Mile	20	8.3125 Mile
February	140.67 Mile	12	11.7225 Mile
March	508.83 Mile	18	28.2683 Mile
April	318.98 Mile	13	24.5369 Mile
May	365.89 Mile	20	18.2945 Mile
June	447.97 Mile	22	20.3623 Mile
July	390.59 Mile	19	20.5574 Mile
August	223. Mile	15	14.8667 Mile
September	146.5 Mile	17	8.61765 Mile
October	303.29 Mile	19	15.9626 Mile
Total	3011.97 Mile	175	17.2113 Mile

Walking

It’s not too cold yet, and the boy still loves going for walks.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	28.66 Mile	9	3.18444 Mile
February	51.45 Mile	16	3.21563 Mile
March	34.7 Mile	10	3.47 Mile
April	44.35 Mile	11	4.03182 Mile
May	48.75 Mile	14	3.48214 Mile
June	64.2 Mile	16	4.0125 Mile
July	56.3 Mile	15	3.75333 Mile
August	56.75 Mile	16	3.54688 Mile
September	28.84 Mile	7	4.12 Mile
October	32.1 Mile	12	2.675 Mile
Total	446.1 Mile	126	3.54048 Mile

Scooter

That’s right, I broke the scooter back out. Mostly this is simply due to logistics of getting William to and from daycare. Sometimes I run him there in the morning and leave the stroller there while I finish my run. Then when I pick him up in the evening I can’t take the bike because I need to bring the jogging stroller home. So a few times I’ve ridden the scooter to daycare (it’s almost entirely downhill or flat) then walk back with Will in the stroller and the scooter in the stroller’s storage area.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	1.8 Mile	1	1.8 Mile
September	0	0	0
October	10.1 Mile	5	2.02 Mile
Total	11.9 Mile	6	1.98333 Mile

Inline skating

That’s right, I got a pair of inline skates for my birthday. Why not try something new to mix things up? Well, after numerous laps back and forth on my street I finally got up the nerve to venture out of the neighborhood and across the WUSTL campus. I didn’t fall down, and I didn’t hurt myself… at least one of which I half expected.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	2 Mile	1	2 Mile
Total	2 Mile	1	2 Mile

Bubba Cross 3

Having missed out on doing any cyclocross races last year (something about a newborn child and the races being three hours away in Chicago) I was excited to be closer to the action this fall now that we’re living in St. Louis. I found a series of events that not only included cyclocross bicycling race, but also cross country running races. Jackpot.

Start of the women’s race

On Sunday I headed southwest to Antire Park off of I-44 for the third event in the series. I showed up an hour early for the 5K XC run. They were still setting up the course and I saw few competitors. I wondered how many people were going to show up. After waiting around for 20 minutes or so I went to register for the races, only to discover I didn’t bring enough money with me to pay the entrance fee. Shit.

I ran back to the car and bolted out of the parking lot, back onto the highway to the next exit where I found an ATM and made it back to the park with 20 minutes to spare. Only this time the registration line was much longer. With 10 minutes to go I finally registered and prepared my clothes, shoes, number, etc. With no warm up I toed the line with a whopping five other men (one was a small child) and three women.

Three of us stayed together for the first mile in a little under six minutes on a horribly lumpy and uneven course. One faded away as I led with another guy on my heels. I couldn’t tell whether he was toying with me or struggling to keep up. As we finished the first of two laps my GPS read 1.97 miles. This was going be the longest 5K I’d ever run. Shortly into the second lap the other guy flew past me and pulled away decisively. Question answered. I slowed quite a bit on the second lap, now knowing I was running 30% farther than I had planned. I finished in second with an okay, but not great, run.

Women running over the barriers

After the run was a juniors race and a womens race, so I had a little bit of time to recover. I changed clothes, got my bike ready, and headed out for a practice lap. Oh, my, goodness. I thought the course was rough on foot, but it was nothing compared to trying to ride a bike over it. This was the bumpiest ground I’ve ever ridden on something other than a mountain bike. Perhaps I should have brought my MTB.

First lap of the men’s B race

The “C” race was after the womens race. Despite my best intentions I ended up with a shitty starting position, which became even shittier once I started and people were passing me. In my cyclocross experience there’s a very high correlation between one’s position 400m into the race and their finishing position… and I was 3/4 of the way back in the field.

Jumping the barriers in the men’s B race

Jumping the barriers in the men’s B race

On the few smooth parts I opened up and made big gains, only to lose some of it on the more technical and bumpy sections. At one point the jarring of the bumpy ground was enough to knock the chain off the rings and I had to do some delicate acrobatics to get it back on while coasting downhill. I gradually worked my way up, passing a couple people each lap, but it wasn’t fast enough. I was going nearly all out for 50 minutes, which after a hard run earlier in the day left me exhausted. I rolled across the line 18th of 41 finishers. Cyclocross, despite being very enjoyable in a masochistic way, is one of my least successful athletic endeavors, and this race was no different. Finishing in the top half of the field is about all I can hope.

Cyclocross is hard.