tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2726284504470835502024-03-05T03:59:49.477-08:00Sweating it OffPatrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-19121331116514887532017-06-26T08:03:00.000-07:002017-06-26T08:03:11.105-07:00Marathon training rule 2: Surviving the TreadmillWhy is their a gun in my cup holder of my treadmill? I didn't load it did I? Please tell me I didn't load it! Lets not check maybe I ran out of bullets. Lets take our mind off it somehow. Lets looks to see how long we have been running it must be like 4 or 5 hours by now. 3 minutes, how the heck can it be just 3 minutes. This stupid thing is broken. I bet the gun isn't broken. Stupid treadmill. This must be how hamsters feel. Why isn't their a support group for hamsters and their wheels? Does PETA protest at pet stores the sale of hamster wheels, they should. I am going to write a letter to PETA just after I caress this gun a little. 4 minutes down, six bajillion to go.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLuKP8fvNg_HQ2KvnQPG13lWft91Lol4cg8Dj1q0B1WPAcg9zJDiQCxFpvVbIzkCCVvGOMhKG5olZMg6s430js_3GNlbdPXY7WPOa8D30nOrmMxa1Bz9mZe0OmENjNDabd_V9V1O3Lyg3/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLuKP8fvNg_HQ2KvnQPG13lWft91Lol4cg8Dj1q0B1WPAcg9zJDiQCxFpvVbIzkCCVvGOMhKG5olZMg6s430js_3GNlbdPXY7WPOa8D30nOrmMxa1Bz9mZe0OmENjNDabd_V9V1O3Lyg3/s320/images.jpg" width="320" height="248" data-original-width="256" data-original-height="198" /></a></div>
Running on the treadmill if you train for a fall marathon almost always becomes an evil necessity. These little horrible torture devices are only slightly better than running outside when its 110 degrees, only slightly. Lately I have become very picky about my treadmill's because not all treadmills or gyms with them or workout rooms are the same. But unless you want to roast to death being followed by vultures until you swallow your pride and knock on someones door and ask for a drink of water you get on one and try and pass the time as best as you can as one treadmill minute is equal to ten running outside. Here is a ranking of treadmills in different environments from worst to best to help you make it a little better.<br><br>
1. The Hotel treadmill. By far the worse treadmill you can find not because it might be cheap which it typically is or that it was bought in the 1980's which isn't uncommon but because of the room they put it in. Hotel treadmills are found in tiny little rooms with no circulation. Its like a mixture of hot yoga on a treadmill that can be so rickety you think Fred Flintstone once ran on it. Let me paint you a picture you are out of town on business in a seedy little trucking town where outside running doesn't seem like a good idea. You head down to the treadmill alas your training plan calls for speedwork. You don't even bother putting on a shirt because you know two miles in it will weigh 10 pounds so soaked in sweat you will look like you jumped in the pool fully dressed. If you could run fully naked you would but last time you did that the hotel manager had strong words for you. Half way through you have soaked the treadmill where it looks like you were having a water gun fight and all of sudden you slip and almost go off the back of it as the treadmill is so slick with your sweat it has now become a slip and slide. You pause the treadmill and towel it down so you don't die when you start running again. You finish your workout and our glad planes don't let you bring your treadmill gun with you because either you or the treadmill would have got a gap in its arse.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhapT6fd6NpMitEukwoFKyipBCKI1aVSvhFMnJcGFHxNnqXa6bjgq72589v_YiTUx5Kd6dZebsXC8rRtcqrd46CwXmJsGEpcsEJOox4Bcsd7LYznHLT1RngJGbwzUv18MQgb2CViWTTTpmL/s1600/sport-gym-workouts-workout-running-trainer-kkin123_low.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhapT6fd6NpMitEukwoFKyipBCKI1aVSvhFMnJcGFHxNnqXa6bjgq72589v_YiTUx5Kd6dZebsXC8rRtcqrd46CwXmJsGEpcsEJOox4Bcsd7LYznHLT1RngJGbwzUv18MQgb2CViWTTTpmL/s320/sport-gym-workouts-workout-running-trainer-kkin123_low.jpg" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="400" data-original-height="400" /></a></div>
2. The complex treadmill. If you are like me you might live in a complex with a treadmill. Hey free and close to home but just like the hotel treadmill they are in a little room made by the devil, seriously I am sure hell is just a tiny room with no circulation as you run on a treadmill. Only plus sides are is it only a two minute walk back to your house and you can bring your own fan which only makes it slightly better. Or even better yet half way through the run you can hop off the treadmill and say eff this I don't care if its 200 degrees outside I am finishing outside. Unless you make the mistake of texting your coach to say this and he says suck it up buttercup get your ass back on the treadmill and you go stick your head in the kitchen sink than finish the run back on the treadmill to make him proud. But he will never be proud of you but you do it anyways.<br><br>
3. Gym treadmills. Not all Gym treadmills are built the same. My favorite gym treadmill is on the second floor of the community center with wide open areas and tons of air flow. Its almost like running outside with AC for the airflow. Yea the treadmill is a little rickety and old and one of the treadmills shocks you if you dare put headphones into it to try and watch tv laughing at the fool who thought he could pass the time while on the hamster wheel. But the airflow is amazing, give me that airflow and that hotel treadmill I once ran on that was possessed by the treadmill gremlins and kept speeding up and changing incline for no reason like a bucking bronco trying to throw me off and I'd be happy. The gym treadmill usually has tv or a movie playing and depending on the gym some airflow, but the treadmills aren't well maintained and thousand of people have rode them into the ground. But do remember if someone gets on the treadmill next to you at the gym its a race you must race them and first person to fall off the back or puke loses. Pass the time efficiently.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUllP13gx6rzwMzDFiaI-bRK-m7qs8Qk9yUn0qtW5HWLozT3mnpj89zWaV6nuxmKpMZQMDv5ZHeti45loGX28ycAVi9KtkRtd7CSGiBNWD5zW8bWhrS0NrVCSTajozwqr0Bx3KlfbGyiA4/s1600/treadbarf1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUllP13gx6rzwMzDFiaI-bRK-m7qs8Qk9yUn0qtW5HWLozT3mnpj89zWaV6nuxmKpMZQMDv5ZHeti45loGX28ycAVi9KtkRtd7CSGiBNWD5zW8bWhrS0NrVCSTajozwqr0Bx3KlfbGyiA4/s320/treadbarf1.jpg" width="305" height="320" data-original-width="1000" data-original-height="1048" /></a></div>
4. Your home treadmill. You sir are a sick bastard how much did you pay to be able to torture yourself at will in your own home, seek help. Ok seriously with these you can set up 50 fans and get all the airflow you need, set the thermostat to 40 degrees until the kids yell dad we are out of blankets. And the best part is some strange person (me most likely) hasn't sweated on it so much you think they had a supersoaker filled with human sweat with them. You don't have to go anywhere to run and you can run anytime in front of your tv or in a basement surrounded by all your lovely medals from when you got to run outside. <br><br>
So make friends with the treadmill, make sure the gun is not loaded, and remember if someone is running beside you its a race. Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-12416968065564178712017-06-23T09:25:00.000-07:002017-06-23T09:25:24.362-07:00Seriously don't die, rule one of marathon trainingIn rule one of how to survive a marathon we went over an important step hydration and how to avoid buzzards. Before we move onto rule two we really should hit on rule one a little more.<br><br>
Imagine you are running on the surface of the sun, you thought you brought enough water but your desire to sleep in versus running outside when the temps say 110 is always battling itself. When the alarm so rudely buzzes at like 4 something in the morning when no sane person alive would get up much less get up to run 15-20 miles you turn that little nuisance off. You doze for a few more hours before you finally say well dang it lets get up and try not to die. Somewhere along the way you run out of water and the sun beats down on you and you are pretty sure you are going to die. The vultures and buzzards are following you, circling above you letting out a kakaw every now and then to let you now when you die your flesh will not go to waste. So nice of them to let you know this kakaw we will eat your flesh kakaw you look like a happy meal kakaw. Here are some tips on how to find extra water when your sure you are going to die. All of these have been tried and have worked, sometimes multiple times.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_OMoh0I_tP2csmDeCCPOjKhuqYGbhZ-2gthJQ8BZltY5NrNczFkWLKnb-Vl2Y5n5uqvcwwDIW3ioiNjHe5ByukGMlm3E7ArN6e_KLIdbE-p2SIhm5Am58x77ZOUQrs5e606ilWL1n7m1/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_OMoh0I_tP2csmDeCCPOjKhuqYGbhZ-2gthJQ8BZltY5NrNczFkWLKnb-Vl2Y5n5uqvcwwDIW3ioiNjHe5ByukGMlm3E7ArN6e_KLIdbE-p2SIhm5Am58x77ZOUQrs5e606ilWL1n7m1/s320/Capture.JPG" width="320" height="168" data-original-width="605" data-original-height="318" /></a></div><br><br>
1. Lawn sprinklers, not just for kids to run in when its hot or water to make green grass in a desert but lovely on the lips. Scales on a 1-5. Reliability scale: 2 (most don't water during the middle of the day as you shouldn't so you have to find the sneaky ones who just don't care about the rules, damn the man). Taste: 3 (who knows where this water is coming from and its usually pretty warm). Overall 3 (just because you can also run in it afterwords).<br><br>
2. Discarded half full water bottles. Now many people like to train on marathon courses and the sane ones also like to run in the morning and do some silly thing called water drops so by the middle of the day plenty to be found. If you are running on a marathon course these bottles are lovely, just don't drink the yellow ones. If night running hold the bottles up to the moon to check for a hint of yellow. If no moon close your eyes and pray to whatever god you want its not a yellow bottle. Reliability 2 (outside of marathon courses and water drops these bottles are a lot less infrequent and cannot be trusted as well either). Taste 2 (almost always piss warm and in the case of the yellow ones probably piss tasting as well). Overall 2 (there is a lot of shame in drinking from someones discarded water bottle but get over that quick buttercup).<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWfzcDTcqlr9QD6b2Ac0bbN0YgR-wJTbcAwOzkkGpl1aJ5m-3r5pSJ0mHqNHsWivv1G4pkWJogvwUiumBunJj5lg39f6_S-2Vy6UKudKlVjJrksxKS1aQ3QTEWXbfEZQGscYSpeBueqHe/s1600/dc3a76f57d28178c4eb8b48f335dffa9--cartoon-art-cartoon-jokes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWfzcDTcqlr9QD6b2Ac0bbN0YgR-wJTbcAwOzkkGpl1aJ5m-3r5pSJ0mHqNHsWivv1G4pkWJogvwUiumBunJj5lg39f6_S-2Vy6UKudKlVjJrksxKS1aQ3QTEWXbfEZQGscYSpeBueqHe/s320/dc3a76f57d28178c4eb8b48f335dffa9--cartoon-art-cartoon-jokes.jpg" width="248" height="320" data-original-width="236" data-original-height="305" /></a></div><br><br>
3. Knocking on someones door and asking for a drink of water. The first time you do this you will find yourself in a new low of despair so thirsty you aren't afraid to knock on someone's door and beg for a drink. But soon you don't mind because the buzzards won't stop following you. Reliability 4 (lots of houses to be found typically and most sane people are indoors enjoying AC). Taste 4 (the water is lovely with a little shame to wash it down). Overall 4 (yea people look at you weird but man that water is good).<br><br>
4. Gas Stations. This seems the simplest but a lot of times your route doesn't lead you pass many gas stations. Sure you get a few stares if you have ditched your shirt and look like some crazed lunatic from a bugs bunny cartoon escaping the desert but that water is ice cold and so yummy. Reliability 2 (I just don't seem to plan routes around these places). Taste 5 (that stuff is ice cold and in AC you may not wanna leave the AC). Overall 4 (just for the AC).<br><br>
5. Water fountains. Unless you are on the trails the city provides these are almost impossible to find and then for some reason they turn them off turn during the winter. We live in the desert not the arctic white north leave us our water gall darn it. Reliability 1 (just too hard to find). Taste 5 (I don't know what it but these are always ice cold and yummy). Overall 2 (great when you can find them).<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpG9viJzPwlNa4HwgqNOSlMx-u2x-mdjDNEnWdu5zceVVqRdFSga4PLyolCFCBHP833toPLOoVyJfkRx7DNBxw2Qc-QSMeVBKkQK1xF9aYO7CvmR02BLtI7PiZXqfaIVhGK8LnfXdLHWOU/s1600/truckerbomb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpG9viJzPwlNa4HwgqNOSlMx-u2x-mdjDNEnWdu5zceVVqRdFSga4PLyolCFCBHP833toPLOoVyJfkRx7DNBxw2Qc-QSMeVBKkQK1xF9aYO7CvmR02BLtI7PiZXqfaIVhGK8LnfXdLHWOU/s320/truckerbomb.jpg" width="240" height="320" data-original-width="600" data-original-height="800" /></a></div>
Until next time don't drink the yellow water. <br><br>Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-6706375780561216302017-06-19T14:21:00.000-07:002017-06-19T14:25:19.346-07:00Rule Number 1 of Marathon training, don't dieIts a blog, at one time everyone had a blog including me, wait I still do have a blog. I just never update it, probably post things people don't care about or do race reports. Well lets change this up a bit, maybe we can stay on this horse for a little bit this time. Last time I posted I was talking about goals and I still haven't met those goals. I might be chasing that darn sub 4 until I am trying to get it running with a walker and beating people out of the way with my cane but gall darn it I never seem to stop chasing it. I have missed triathlons this year after a year of marathon training, you dirty little race that bests me every time I will beat you or die trying, I am giving it one more valiant effort for sub 4 at Saint George marathon even with a coach this time. So next year I will be going back to triathlons but I am chasing that sub 4 one more time, one more round with the devil, one more round of trying to beat it before it beats me. <br><br>
I got some crazy goals for next year already, yes I will be doing a full ironman be it me doing it solo style on my own using gas stations as aid stations and drinking from sprinklers (so please leave your sprinklers on). The idea being to finally get to do the old full Saint George ironman course which has haunted my dreams or maybe its my nightmares from 2011 to now of always wanting to do it. That or doing a sanctioned course with those weird people who come out and volunteer and cheer us crazies on but it will happen. But for now lets changes this blog up. I am an emotional runner, I run with my heart and not my brain. I run too fast when I shouldn't, I run on days when I shouldn't, I end up lying on the ground taking a nap in the middle of a half marathon sick as a dog with the flu. It's who am I and what I do so lets make this the blog of what not to do.<br><br>
Running is simple right, you just need a pair of shoes and not even those sometimes some people just run barefoot, and miles of road ahead of you. Lace up and hit the roads, just got off work, let's run. No one likes to wake up to run early, run when you can. Somewhere along the road you caught that rare virus called raceitis. And now deep in its clutches you have signed up for a marathon. A marathon to be held the first week of October which means you gotta train during the summer. I also happen to live on the surface of the sun come July and August its true just ask anyone they will tell you as they cook their scrambled eggs for breakfast on the sidewalks. <br><br>
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So going to the trusty internet I find a plan by some man Called Hal. Hal seems like a trusty name right, I mean that's like a grandpa's name or that cool uncle that sets off fireworks in the street. Good ole Hal. Hal thinks you should run these things called long runs which start at like 10 miles and work its way up to 20 miles. I am starting to trust Hal less and less what kind of lunatic runs 20 miles on a Sunday. Maybe I was wrong that Hal seems like a seedy character after all. Oh well lets do this Hal, wait wasn't the computer from that Kubrik film called Hal, don't let me out a cargo bay door Hal.<br><br>
At first not too bad I've run four half marathons after all I can do these 15miles heck doing three five mile loops around my house isn't too bad throw a few gatorade on the window sill and some waters and you are good. But man everytime you pass your house and am like crap there is AC in there and my TV isn't 5 or 10 good enough, NO, lets keep doing this. Wait there is my house again, dang it, Hal you suck. Maybe we should try running marathon course, I mean get dropped off and run home then we don't have to pass the house so often and its promises of AC. Hal is saying we need to run 18 miles perfect, Veyo is 18 miles from my house, but I don't wanna run on my birthday on Saturday lets run on Sunday, yea Sunday sounds great. But I don't wanna get up early the day after my birthday lets get up around 8:30 then we are running by 9 or so yea thats a good idea lets do this.<br><br>
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Was that a buzzard? Are buzzards following me? Why is it so hot? When did I run out of water? What is water? Crap I have forgotten the taste of water? I know that buzzard is following me! Why didn't I bring more water? 32 ounces of water should have been enough where did it all go? So hot! So thirsty! We've been running what 4 miles without water now, that's not too bad no one can die from just 4 miles without water right? Only 4 more miles to go? That's what 57 miles without water right? Wait no 4? Crap I can't math anymore? 8 the number is 8 Regis, what do I win? Can I trade my winnings for a glass of water Vanna? Oh my gosh is that a church!?! It's Sunday, they have church on Sunday in August right? I am going into that church its gotta be open. Oh my gosh its open its open wheres the drinking fountain? Don't you judge me you tie wearing freaks I will stick my head in this drinking fountain if I want. Ahhhhhhhhhh. When did I take off my shirt? Who cares WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br><br>
Rule number 1 of marathon training, always bring more water than you need. Especially if for some reason you start running at 9am when the temps are going to be 109 that day, drop that water everywhere pretend you are throwing pokeballs and trying to catch pikachu. Until next time, yes I was that homeless looking shirtless sweaty crazy person that wandered into your church and proceeded to dunk his head in your drinking fountain and lap from it like a dog, no shame in this game.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQl_1x3O0eMUcSwvuqZfErBIu-dgMOCNuBT_LwBkL83DTB5qyDXmDBEba2gdsxqQtjmo0f39yZaI8gdUBgioxB49p6Amz2MH1oVk9hgI4vCQf_2fNAevDhWYBYAthw3ppGLN8K0mYo8-D/s1600/animals-vultures-deserts-carrion-waits-books-cgan1695_low.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilQl_1x3O0eMUcSwvuqZfErBIu-dgMOCNuBT_LwBkL83DTB5qyDXmDBEba2gdsxqQtjmo0f39yZaI8gdUBgioxB49p6Amz2MH1oVk9hgI4vCQf_2fNAevDhWYBYAthw3ppGLN8K0mYo8-D/s320/animals-vultures-deserts-carrion-waits-books-cgan1695_low.jpg" width="291" height="320" data-original-width="400" data-original-height="440" /></a></div>Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-58860453058603959652016-08-28T14:52:00.000-07:002016-08-28T14:52:15.402-07:00Goals anc achieving themI’ve decided to change this blog up. Up until now I have been doing the normal oh race report here maybe a little talk there but honestly do you really care about someone’s race report that much unless they take amazing pictures during the race which I don’t I am too focused. So lets make this a blog and not a journal look at what I did here and oh here and sure I might throw those in somewhere again but lets change things.<br><br>
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So what do we want to talk about lets talk about race goals first yep its still on my mind. So I hear people say sometimes oh I just wanted to have fun and oh I had no goal in mind but I almost always want to yea horse shit you have some idea of what you want to run. Maybe you don’t want to admit it out loud or maybe its buried deep down and you aren’t going to voice it. But yea even if you haven’t trained at all and have zero chance of doing it cmon admit it that sub 4 or that sub 2 or that 10 minute mole is still there in your mind. Yea sure you know you got no chance at it but you kind of want to go for it but you know your training or lack there of won’t allow it so you do it for fun.
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Now that’s not to say that sometimes yea you are just out there to run for fun or with no time goal but to finish heck even me who’s so competitive with myself has done that sometimes but I think most of the time you are like hell yea if I can go x in y time it would be amazing. I had an older gentleman once tell me that he does it for fun and that his pr day’s are gone so yea he’s just out there to do it and enjoy it still. I told him well I am still young and I can still pr so yea while I still can and before time catches me I am sure as hell going to try for it as often as I possibly can. Heck I can see myself at 65 just trying to set a new 60-70 year old pr, maybe my pr’s will need to change soon I can run as a master maybe I will have to make my new pr’s master pr’s but screw that I only started running when I was 33 I still can beat those times.
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So I started to look at my race goals normally I go into a race with a stretch goal, a A goal and a B goal. I know there is probably zero chance I make that stretch goal unless I have that one magical unicorn race and those are so rare and amazing by damn you don’t find that unicorn that often. It’s there though because it’s the goal that hey maybe you don’t get it today unless you have that magically perfect race but you won’t to get it eventually and it’s what you work at. As I have raced over the years that stretch goal has changed and evolved. When I first started running when I had no dreams of running a marathon it was to run a sub 30 5k and 2:11 half. Why a 2:11 half marathon well that happens to be exactly a 10 minute mile. I had no delusions of a sub 2 half I just wanted to beat a 10 minute mile for 13.1 miles that was all. So my first sub 2 was anticlimactic and actually might be the closest I have ever come to that magical unicorn race and meeting a stretch goal (heck I might have its hard to remember what your stretch goal was five years later unless you wrote it down) where and to date I still consider it the best race I have ever run.
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The reason being was because I was chasing that 10 minute mile which I got in August of 2011 running a 2:08:47 shortly before my first marathon and then the very next half marathon I ran I blew it out of the water running a 1:55:31 just that November. I remember knocking my gloves out of my pocket at mile 2 or 3 and actually backtracking to get them other than that it was a nearly perfect and flawless race for my current fitness. That’s when the goal became a sub 4 marathon because I just ran a sub 2 half. Just the month before my stretch goal had been a 4:30 marathon with a sub 5 as my A goal. All of a sudden the sub 4 was born off that one magical race.
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But those races when I hit my A goal have been so rare and far between that 1:55 half running my first sub 30 5k, running my first sub 1 hour 10k, running that sub 5 marathon and then surprisingly this year with my half ironman with my 7:16 as my stretch goal for the 70.3 has been and still is sub 7. My B goal is almost always to PR who doesn’t want to PR. That B goal always means every time you hit it it’s just going to be that much harder to hit it the next time and the next time. It’s hard to be sad about PRing although yea I have been disappointed in PRs like my half pr as I was on pace for my stretch goal of a 1:45 all the way up to mile 10 when I stopped to tie my shoes and couldn’t get going again. It’s devastating to go from running 8 minute miles to 9-10 minutes struggling to finish.
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The last few years I have had to settle for knowing all I was going to do was finish but even then I tried to hit some type of time goal. I wanted to run a 4:45 at the marathon last year I still wanted to run sub 2 at all my halves even though I knew I had let myself slip to where I couldn’t anymore. I think goals are important and your stretch goal is something you should always be reaching for I hope soon to finally get that sub 4 which would have been a stretch goal once and now is an A goal as my stretch goal is starting to look like a BQ. Always evolving always changing and always altering.
Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-21380357166851608902016-08-22T09:39:00.002-07:002016-08-22T09:46:57.463-07:00Is Boston possible?I think at one time or another every runner thinks about Boston at some point. It’s that pinnacle of running the one race you just can’t sign up for or throw your hat into a lottery to get in. It’s that race you have to qualify for and be somewhat good at this thing we call running and or our hobby to do so. I am aware of the charity route and I don’t look down on anyone who goes that route but to me that route personally would seem like cheating like buying an entry into the most prestigious marathon out there. The reason it feels like cheating is because I know deep down if I put the time in, the effort in, the blood, sweat and tears in I could qualify. It would be hard, it would be a lot of work, it would be a lot of sacrifices but I know I could do it. So buying my entry rather than earning my entry feels cheapened. To line up at Boston knowing that I put all that time, that effort, that hard work to get there would be the greatest feeling ever.<br><br>
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For the first time in years I can actually think about Boston again, when I was running 5 hour marathons because of lack of training or my focus being elsewhere (life or triathlon it makes no difference) Boston was a fleeting dream no where in the realm of reality. But after spending the last 10 months regaining my speed and training hard and going for my first sub 4 shortly I could actually possibly think about Boston once more. I know don’t get ahead of myself get that sub 4 first heck I’ll easily beat my 5:17 at Saint George last year without barely trying. But that leaves the realm of what now after spending the better part of the last year training hard. The thing is I know I have the speed my last timed mile was a 6:46 in February (I want to retime a mile after marathon training but don’t want to mess with my training to do so right now) so I know I can run the 7:27 mile my BQ would require me to run it. Heck I should be able to run a 5k around that range right now (I ran a 23:44 5k in March which is a 7:39 average close to what I would need) but the trick is getting it from a 5k to 26.2 miles. Do I want to spend the next year putting in the effort, the blood, the sweat and the tears. First things first though Big Cottonwood and the goal I have chased since 2011.
Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-18114523227191307482016-08-22T09:39:00.001-07:002016-08-22T09:43:13.173-07:00Back at it again Sub 4 or bustI think I have always had a love for running but never explored it until I was in my 30’s. You will always hear people say no way would I ever want to do High School again but me it’s different I would love to do High School again and join the track club and see how fast I could get when I was still young and before I let myself get so fat. I remember being 20 years old and my whole goal in running was just to have that six minute mile like the fast kids in High School and Middle School. I wasn’t fat in high school I just didn’t do much running so I was always that slow kid that ran the 12-13 minute mile during the mile tests they made you do. I remember redoing those miles tests at 20 and I did time myself in the 6 minute range but no idea how accurate that was as I am pretty sure I just figured the distance off the odometer of my car and used a wrist watch for the time (hey it was the late 90’s I am not even sure GPS existed yet much less your fancy garmin watch you probably were still using road maps or if you were fancy like me directions you printed off mapquest before making a trip). That was my whole goal when I was 20 just to run a fast mile to make up for those painfully slow ones in school. I don’t think I ever ran more than 2.5 miles, I didn’t know what a 5k was and was only vaguely aware of what a marathon was I just wanted a good mile time.<br><br>
Fast forward more than a decade and 200 plus pounds when I started running again was because yea I have always loved it. I started walking it was just a mile and half every day for the year of 2009 354 out of 365 days that year. Near the end of the year I started running bit by bit mostly just the last block home because who doesn’t like to sprint to the finish. When I did my first 5k after learning what one was (hey running has taught me the metric system better than school ever did) it was just 39-40 minutes I didn’t keep logs yet so I don’t know the exact times (the first logs I kept for my running has my 5k times in the 36-37 minute range). But I was happy with that I mean just two years prior I was so winded running to first base in a kickball league I had people offer to base run for me even though I told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine I will do my own base running even if I die thank you very much. <br><br>
I have always been gungho and kind of leap in with both feet I signed up for my first 5k in August of 2010 and by November of 2010 I was signed up for my first half marathon that I finished in disastrous fashion. But anyone who races knows the addiction better than crack and I am quite sure more expensive. So yea you want to do better so you sign up again forgetting the pain and in the beginning it is so easy to get faster it seems like you will pr forever. I pred in the first 16 races I did, I mean my half went from a 2:30, to a 2:20, to a 2:13, to a 2:08 to a 1:55 in rapid succession within a years’ time. Heck that 1:55 I ran in November of 2011 I still consider it one of the best races I have ever run to this day (still no Garmin just a cheap Timex watch I got for $15 at Target but better than my first half when I didn’t own a watch so I memorized songs every 15 minutes on my iPod so I knew how long I had been running oooh Indian Outlaw is on I must have been running for 45 minutes now) and it still stands as the 4th fastest half I have ever run.<br><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAA8ALz3LuuF8AVHPxzPPRlKeb4m5DQuykgncv-vQaALLfc47887p-g4z7Kc9k54lhtkIcCcsaqjoyX0HraxdE8BvoM7f9TcsB8GdUcU4GPt92fzsWLQ4LNGH1Qb7HkPFjTxarLIcgREm1/s1600/13165848_10207274786692196_4339802660502906331_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAA8ALz3LuuF8AVHPxzPPRlKeb4m5DQuykgncv-vQaALLfc47887p-g4z7Kc9k54lhtkIcCcsaqjoyX0HraxdE8BvoM7f9TcsB8GdUcU4GPt92fzsWLQ4LNGH1Qb7HkPFjTxarLIcgREm1/s320/13165848_10207274786692196_4339802660502906331_n.jpg" width="320" height="320" /></a></div>
So from 2010-2012 I got nothing but faster trimming my half from a 2:30 to a 1:50 and my marathon which was a pretty good debut of a 4:58 down to a 4:18. When I first started running I dreamed of a sub 20 5k then I realized I really don’t like 5ks (don’t get me wrong running a fast 5k can be as difficult as running a fast marathon maybe even more so it’s just not my cup of tea) heck I don’t even remember the last time I even tried to race a 5k maybe 2012 I have just been counting my 5k pr off splits from half marathons or a 10k because I seriously haven’t raced one in forever. So then my goal became a sub 2 half which I got pretty early on so I decided I wanted a sub 4 marathon and a 1:45 half. 2012 was my banner year it was when I was my fastest and all my pr’s were set. It seemed both those goals were just out of reach and I would get them soon.
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2013 I consider that little shelf right below the peak that makes you think oh I am still just right here but I am just a little off. I still was easily running sub 2’s (I ran 4 that year with also what I consider one of my better races of a 1:59 at STG half not because it was my fastest but because it was done on a much harder course then where I was setting my pr’s of Snow Canyon and Bryce or even Parowan. I have yet to do a true cheater course though like Big Cottonwood, Timp or Drop 13 as I consider Snow Canyon or Bryce a step below those as while yea you get some pretty good downhills the first half of those races the second half of those races suck in comparison and take some grit to hang on through rollers) and my marathon was decent with a 4:25. You are like I am still right there I will get that sub 4 soon, you can still see the peak you are still pretty close to it.
2014 wasn’t kind to me at all though. I had a rough first half of the year and decided to once more make an attempt for that elusive marathon pr. I knew it was unlikely at the time as my best half that year was a 2:01 I ran at Parowan as the peak was getting further and further away, I just couldn’t seem to close the gap any longer. Then I had my major bicycle accident that led to my worst marathon to date (to be fair no way should I have even done the race as I was just 6 weeks off a major accident and an ambulance ride to the ER without being able to run more than 4 miles because after that I would be pretty close to lying down and dying from sheer exhaustion (it’s an odd phenomenon to go from being able to run a half marathon every single weekend to being near death after just 4 miles). <br><br>
2015 was even worse, things arose that led me to me being my laziest in more than 5 years and all desire just kind of seeped out of me. I spent more time watching Netflix than I did running that summer but I did get through all 7 seasons of Buffy and a couple seasons of the Shield and was starting to round the corner on the X-Files. Those heights and speeds of 2012 were long gone, heck even running a sub 2 now seemed impossible something that had been so easy from 2012-2013. It was August and remembering how miserable my 2014 marathon had been on no training I was like oh crap I guess I should train. That led to what was basically a 4 week marathon training program that consisted of two half marathons (including my slowest Parowan in 2:09) and one 19 mile long run then a taper. On August 20th I weighed myself and I hit my highest weight since 2010 and was like no uh huh not happening and promptly lost 25 pounds in 5 weeks before the marathon. I didn’t run the most terrible race putting up a 5:17 but that was still almost an hour slower than my pr of 2012. <br><br>
Then I made a major mistake I decided to sign up for a second marathon a week later just to get into the Guinness book of world records. I hadn’t trained for the first marathon now I was doing a second one a week later. I came out of that not feeling very well and for the next three months I would be peeing blood after any hard workout and in an utter state of exhaustion the entire three months. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong I had wanted to do a full ironman in 2016 and had been saving up for it. But I could barely get through workouts and was crashing really hard. Then in January I woke up in major pain peeing blood again and ended up in the instacare the moment they opened. I had an infection, I had had the infection for probably three months which is what had caused the exhaustion. I was put on antibiotics and told not to ride my bike for 4 weeks which meant no ironman as I could no longer train for it. The antibiotics also seemed to rob me of my immune system as for the next 2 and half months I was non stop sick. I would get the flu on a Tuesday get over it by Friday then have a cold by Saturday night. All told I had the flu 3 times, 3 colds and 2 stomach bugs that seemed to stretch on for months on end.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOH8MazaIb_OEjvgDlwSXULGzy8b5uk3QRf7f9x-n4cSTK-nUnFWNA6eh5aAYEbb8YOD8ELfTBn-breUrYL-cmbfLkduApyUSxRBXVkfhlFs6UPZyuw8__uqV3oqug4wzrohr_Jsl3WfA/s1600/13007333_10207152084464717_212893963782917345_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheOH8MazaIb_OEjvgDlwSXULGzy8b5uk3QRf7f9x-n4cSTK-nUnFWNA6eh5aAYEbb8YOD8ELfTBn-breUrYL-cmbfLkduApyUSxRBXVkfhlFs6UPZyuw8__uqV3oqug4wzrohr_Jsl3WfA/s320/13007333_10207152084464717_212893963782917345_n.jpg" width="240" height="320" /></a></div>The only good thing that came out of being so sick as when I started to train in November I was base building for the ironman so I was doing a lot of speedwork. With the help of Justin Snyder who I cannot thank enough and months and months of relentless speedwork every week, week after week at the track all winter I suddenly found my speed again. When told not to bike I shifted all my focus to running and decided this would be the year I got that elusive sub 4. Non stop sick I still hit the track every week, my miles were low but my quality was high. I had saved up quite a bit for the ironman so decided to take my very first racecation and traveled to New York City for a half marathon. I had more fun than I had had in years. And I ran my fastest half since Parowan in 2014 taking it more as a training run with intentions of trying to race a pr the following Saturday at Southern Utah half marathon. After 5 days in New York averaging 10 miles a day walking and 24 miles the day of the half marathon I came home probably more tired than when I left. Southern Utah half did not go as planned as we were racing into a 25 mph headwind that never stopped the entire race coupled with the exhaustion I was still feeling from New York. I knew by mile 3 that if I tried to hold my pr pace that I would blow up sometime long before the finish so I made a tactical decision and let off the gas just three miles into the race deciding to try and run my first sub 2 since November of 2013 instead. I was very pleased with my results as I ran a 1:57 on very tired legs into a headwind that made me want to weep at times. I knew just six months prior that race would have easily been a 2:20 if not worse so I was happy with the end results.<br><br>
I made the decision that I wanted to make my sub 4 attempt at Big Cottonwood despite being told that Saint George was a lot easier. I wanted to move out of my comfort zone though somewhere I reside too often and do something new and different though. One of my greatest weaknesses has always been mental toughness when it comes to runs. Starting out walking then slowly running led me to taking walk breaks throughout my running career even long after I didn’t need them. I could pace or run an entire half marathon without walking as long as I was running with someone but if I would go for even a three mile run around my house I would be taking walk breaks every mile. I spent all winter conquering that weakness and now no longer take a single walk break on any of my runs (it took me over six months to totally break the habit and I recently finished a 20 mile run with zero walk breaks). My other weakness has been hills something I also worked on all winter running up and valley view drive over and over and over until I no longer even thought about the hills. So yes Saint George might be easier but for me I wanted to a race where I am not thinking oh look this is where the wheels fell off in 2012 or man I could have done better here in 2013.
My tune up half was Bryce Canyon and that was a disastrous race from my car catching on fire to getting picked up on the side of the road, to almost zero sleep, to completely running out of energy half way through the race. I wasn’t even trying to set a big pr just a minute or two and it still galls me even a month later. I know it’s my third fastest half I have ever run only behind the two pr’s I set at Snow Canyon and Bryce in 2012 but I really wanted that pr. I knew going in that I had run more miles then I had ever run in a 6 week period, I knew my legs were tired but I wanted it so bad and even though it was my fastest race since 2012 I walked away disappointed. I am trying to pump myself up I know my training is there, I know after a taper my legs won’t be so tired but that stupid self doubt won’t go away, had I got the pr at Bryce it would have boosted me. I broke down my 2012 race, with 18 miles to go I still only needed to average the 9:09 and was perfectly on pace as you should be negative splitting the second half of Saint George. Even at mile 21 and after Ledges with all that is left is the fast downhill to the finish and I still only needed to average a 8:30 mile but that’s where the wheels came off the bus and instead of running 5 miles in 45 minutes I ran 5 miles in 1:03. The pinnacle is right there again I can see it again I know I am right there once more. I am no longer near the bottom like I was in 2015 but after chasing a goal for so long and so many years I can’t but help but feel apprehensive. It seems like this goal that has been there for years and years just won’t let me grab it. I wrote this to clear my mind not even sure if I would post it, this isn’t taper madness this is peak training madness with legs that feel like veal cutlets hoping and praying all the hard work will finally pay off.
Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-52820810556688195142014-05-07T18:49:00.001-07:002014-05-07T18:49:42.825-07:00The first race I have cried afterwords, Saint George Half Ironman 70.3Over the last 2 year I have really transitioned from being a runner to a triathlete. I just found that I love triathlons more than running races and actually enjoy biking more than running as well. This has led me to focusing a lot of energy on biking and less on running the last couple of years and especially this year. Last year I did this same race and it was my first half ironman and was probably the single toughest race or thing I had ever done until yesterday. It was a train wreck of a race where I cut my foot on the walk to the start and then cramped for 69 miles gutting it out to just finish. I thought there could be nothing tougher that that and I was very wrong. After the race I spent several months melancholy wanting to get back on the horse so to speak but I could never find a race that fit into my training or travel plans (I only had one week of vacation last year and I used that when we had our second baby in October). So this years ironman was to be my redemption race.
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I have put more miles in this year than I would have ever thought possible increasing my training volume in the same time frame by almost %75 as last year. Coming into the race I had logged over 2006 total miles doubling my bike miles from last year while keeping the same run miles and also increasing my swim miles. I had done a lot of extra swimming in hopes of making some good strides there on my way to a pr as well as a lot more biking. I figured if I just didn't have any cramping issues a run pr would be easy as I had a train wreck of run last year that resulted in me getting a 3:10 run time. My goal was to redo this race and I had picked a fall half ironman and then this race again next year as prep for my first full ironman Coure D'alene next June.
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This year I have 13 days of vacation so I decided to use a whole week before the race as the wife really doesn't want to travel with the baby. I figured I could come in rested and relaxed for the race and just kill it with a great taper as by the end of training cycle I could feel my legs were dead. I didn't get in really big bricks like last year with my best brick being a 40 mile bike followed by a 6 mile run but I had way more of them this year doing a good sized brick about every three weeks. I had also logged three 60 mile rides in prep so I figured with having done the race and my training volume I would be ok.<br><br>
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It was nice having the week off I took a nap everyday and played with my kids and it was just really restful. I went to the expo Thursday as I really wanted to get a cycling jersey for this year races and didn't want them to be out of my size. But they didn't have any gear for this years race as they were behind and all you could do was order them to be shipped in like 4 weeks. They did have some of last years jerseys for half off but alas not in my size. I did go a little spend crazy having saved up some cash for this years expo as I got some 70.3 cycling shorts, 3 water bottles (one STG 70.3 official, and two red ironman ones that match my bike), a new 70.3 finisher name shirt, a ironbaby onesie for Mason, a new car sticker and a STG70.3 ironman glass.
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I had been obsessing over the weather the entire 2 weeks leading up to the race. In Saint George we get a windy season and when I mean windy I mean windy. There were rides leading up the race in 35-40 mph headwinds that just brutalized you. Problem was the windy season didn't seem like it was going to end before the ironman. But the wind started to look better the closer it got but then everyday the heat index just kept going up and up with it showing it would be 94 that day so it was guaranteed to be a hot day. I started taking Scaps (sodium tablets) around Wednesday to try and help come race day knowing how hot it was going to be. I took one Thursday morning before one last swim in the lake before the race and it really upset my stomach on the swim (glad I did it Thursday instead of Saturday race day). I felt like I was going to throw up for an hour afterwords. So I decided to not take any Scaps the morning of the race and I think it really psyched me out of the swim.
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On my way out I stopped and got a free chiro stretch out that they were offering. As he was working on my shoulders he commented that I had no range of motion in the one arm. This is the shoulder I had tendinitis in for several years and might be contributing to my slower swim times (only one factor though as there are others) he stretched it out and tried to give me some range of motion back in that arm and man did that hurt but I figured that it would be worth it if it helped on my swim. I didn't do much that night as I was going to go to another pro meet and greet but I had already gone to one on Tuesday meeting last years winner as he gave some really good tips that I planned to incorporate like setting up transition.
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I woke up Friday more nervous than I had ever been for a race in my life, I felt like I was going to throw up all day Friday and all the way until the swim start on Saturday. I also made the mistake of kind of packing Friday a little to full. Friday morning me and Oliver went to the triathlon club breakfast and played at the park it was held out. We came home and had some lunch and then I took him to see the Amazing Spiderman 2. Once we got home from the movie I ran bike out to the lake to do bike check-in taking most of my biking and swim stuff so I had less to take in the morning. I ran through my initial checklist of what I needed 2 tubes, 2 Co2 cartridges in case of flats, nutrition on the bike (I go with shot blocks), my Scaps, bike helmet, gloves, and bike shoes, wet suit, goggles and my swim cap. Most of my clothing I would do the next day.
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I got home grabbed dinner real quick and then we went and did the ironkids race with Oliver again this year. My wife talked me down from the 1 mile race and we just did the 200 meter race so he could finish with other kids as we were DFL last year. We then rode the carousel and my wife dropped me off at home where I put out the rest of my stuff for the morning. I must have gone over in my head a 1000 times a checklist to make sure I had everything I was so nervous, heck even though I knew I had taken goggles out with me to bike check-in I almost packed another pair I was that frantic. I set up everything I needed on the couch for the next morning cycling jersey, cycling shorts, race belt, run gear bag with shoes and extra shirt in case I wanted to change out of my cycling jersey for the run and flip flops I got from wal-mart for $2 that I could lose at the swim start so I didn't have a repeat of cutting my feet again like last year.
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I finally forced myself to go to sleep around 9:15 am with an alarm set for 4am. I woke up at 12:30 needing to pee and after that I was awake every 45 minutes to an hour as my nerves still wouldn't settle down. So the only good sleep I got was that 9:15-12:30 they say that Thursday is the more important but alas I didn't get much sleep that night either as Mason is teething and he woke up 4 times in the middle of the night. Not much you can do so I grabbed my stuff and my wife dropped me off at the busses so she would have the car at the end. One of my friends was on the bus so I sat with him and we talked and it was a nice ride out to the lake. My nerves still wouldn't calm down so I could only get half the peanut butter sandwich I had packed down and I couldn't even look at the banana (I had been eating 2 bananas a day since Sunday though as I didn't want a repeat issue of cramping this year). I also had a cliff bar and a shot block so I figured I would be ok nutrition wise prerace.
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I walked over to where the triclub was and talked to a few of them (for some odd reason I was the only one in our triclub that got a bib not below the 400 range but had some advantages as I was bib 1308 which means my bike rack was the very first bike rack to the left as you came into transition so I woildn't even need to look for my bike rack it did mean a long run out to the mount line but it would be nice to find my bike so easily. It also meant I had perfect access to the portapoties and I used them twice before the race). At 6:45 they kick you out of transition even if your swim wave is later like mine was being a 7:33am start. So we went down and watched the pro's go off at 6:50. Even they aren't perfect as we saw one pro keep getting outside the buoy line and almost hit a buoy at one point.
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We finally made our way down to the swim start and I noticed that they moved the swim start out further this year. You swim to a swim start point and you have 3 minutes to do so, I watched the two waves go in front of us and in both those waves half of them didn't make it to the swim start before there gun went off. Last year I made it and had to tread water for a minute before the gun went off. I knew that wasn't going to happen this year and it was likely several minutes before I actually crossed the swim start point after my gun went off. I was ok with that as I had hoped to shave 10 minutes or more off last years time and figured that wouldn't eat up too much of my time.
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Nothing felt wrong on the swim, I just didn't feel very fast. Up to turn 1 the water was pretty calm, we got some chop just minor chop on the way to turn 2 but nothing really bad. I didn't have any problems sighting and just stayed on the outside like I did last year until I had to make the turns. I might have gone a little wider than I should have this year as I did have to correct a few times and swim more into a beeline with the next buoy but it avoids me having to fight waves coming up from behind me me being a slower swimmer. It seemed to take forever to get to the second turn but finally we were on the last stretch and you could see the shoreline. This the part where I about lost my mind. 4 times on the way to the shore I had a kayaker park right in front of me so someone could hold on. They didn't go lengthwise but rather broadside so I had to swim around them and once he did it right in front me so I actually ran into the kayak. I was so frustrated that the last time it happened the swimmer swam right over the top me to get the kayak when he clearly saw me as he was backstroking that I wanted to scream. It also costs time to change direction like that constantly so I had no idea what my swim time would be. I didn't see the clock coming out so I didn't know until the end. I ended up swimming a 1:10:43 five minutes slower than last year and I am not sure where the time was lost if I was just slower or if its because I swam to wide or the longer swim to the start or constantly have to stop and start and change directions on the last stretch of the swim.
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Like last year I had to pee on the last stretch but couldn't so I again just stripped off my wetsuit and peed in the portapotty since they were right by my transition. I got in my cycling clothes and shoes and hit the bike I thought I had a better transition but again slowing to use the portapotty made t1 a 8:11. Now after freaking out about the Scap because of Thursdays problem I decided I wouldn't take one until an hour into the bike which ended up being a huge mistake as I completely forgot to take them at all when things started to go wrong,
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I felt pretty good on the bike and was doing really well knowing I was going to have a pretty big bike pr. I moved way up in the rankings 211 spots to be exact on the bike which meant I had to pass 211 (It actually averaged out to I was passing someone once a minute on the bike) people. Man that was excruciating at times it seemed I was constantly passing people and I swear some riders acted like it was there first time on a bike with zero bike etiquette like not staying to the right or riding side by side with someone where you were constantly yelling on your left to get past. But the bike was going well I was doing well on my nutrition and riding through the bike stops rather than stopping. It was at aid station 2 I started to feel a little warm and I took two waters one to drink and one to pour on myself. I shrugged it off knowing I was on the portion of the course I was the most familar with and I could really get into a groove here having ridden it hundreds of times.
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At aid station 3 at mile 40 I actually got off the bike and filled my water bottle that was gone on my bike (I was using dr pepper in my second bottle for the sugars) and got two more water bottles one to dump and one to drink. I knew something was wrong at this point I was incredibly hot and I couldn't seem to cool down. Mile 44 is where the worst hill of the entire course is Snow Canyon and I was completely overheating just getting up to it miles 41-44 are a steady climb before before that one last climb for a mile at 44 on a %12 grade. I couldn't get into a groove anywhere on 41-44 and I was just overheating I was starting to pour water on myself nonstop I couldn't get it under control. I had to get off the bike for a moment before the last big climb. But still didn't feel right on the decent into town. I was still passing people frequently but I just couldn't see to stop overheating. Just before the last hill my wife and kids were there waiting to cheer me on which was a pickme up and helped me get through the last 2 miles as I was already going into a dark place.
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I got to the last hill at mile 54 and had to again off for a second and pour the last of my water on myself and drink what I had left. I cruised into town just wanting something to drink so bad and something to pour on myself. I did end up setting a 5 minute pr on the bike despite the two stops and really slowing down the last 15 miles I was on my way to a huge pr before that my bike split ended up being 3:34:09 much slower than I anticipated and I was going for a 3:15 maybe a 3:10. I drank the last of my dr pepper in t2 and was kind of out of it I forgot everything in t2 didn't take my scaps with me didn't eat my apple I had left for nutrition in my run bag. All I could think about was getting some water. I was slow in t2 because of this I was in a complete and total fog and ended up with a 6:35 t2 slower than last year where I had to work out a cramp just to get off the bike.
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They had some water coming out of t2 but it was a small aid station but I grabbed 3 glasses two to dump on myself and one to drink. As I was trying to get going a friend noticed something was wrong and asked me what was wrong. I told her I was overheating and couldn't get my temp down. She told me to drink lots of water and salt and that was when I remembered my scaps for the first time and now it was too late to go get them. I couldn't run much that first mile I couldn't get my temp down and I couldn't seem to breathe the hotter I got. When I came through t2 I saw the clock and subtracked my 38 minutes from the pro start to my wave and knew if I could just manage under 3 on the run I would pr and go sub 8 that became my focus my sole focus the whole run. I finally made it to aid station one which is led by my friends and I knew most of the athletes there they could see I was struggling got me tons of extra water poured tons of water on me got me soda everything I needed and I started to feel a little better.
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I started to run a little more and started to focus on hitting my pace. I started to slip near the end though before aid station 2 as I began to overheat again. I was just hanging on at this point to get to the next aid station to get to the next water to get water poured on me. I unzipped my jersey half way down and my wife kids that I have a vneck sunburn as it was one of the few places I burned that and my neck and face. I finally make it to the second aid station get some more water I am taking as much as I can I dumping ice down my jersey so it will slowly melt in any effort to stay cool. After mile 2 is where the first really big hill is a %10 grade up I knew I couldn't run up it the way I was feeling and knew my time would slip but hopefully I could pick it back up on the descents. the walking helped some and when I got to aid station 3 I finally manged to cool down a little and feel a little better.
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After mile 4 you start to go downhill for 3 miles and I was starting to get my temp a little manageable. I ran into a friend and he became my running buddy most of the run we would go back and forth when one of us had to walk but I finally started to whittle away at the pace I wanted to hit. And knew if I could just hang on I could hit it the last 3 miles which were all downhill. I did pretty well until the turnaround at 6.55 as not only do you have to go back uphill but the aid stations were further apart as they wound you around the paths up on the red rocks. I could not seem to get to an aid station fast enough and my temp kept rising and rising and rising again. I was suffering just to try and make it to the last downhill stretch. I couldn't get enough water when I hit the aid stations and I would only get a little ways away before I felt really bad again.
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But I kept saying you worked too hard to not pr all you got to do is manage a 39 minute final 5k and you got this, you could run that in your sleep (I ended up doing it in 35 actually). It kept being just get to the next aid station get some water keep your times down. When we hit mile 11 on the run my wife was again out there with the kids my friend noticed and waved and had to tell me hey your wife is over there I was so out of it as I didn't even dawn on me who it was. I was completely lost in a fog I did my best to wave and knew I was so close to the finish it was great to see them. It was just finish keep your time down just finish keep your time down. My wife joked with me I checked my watch 10 times while I was passing them.
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Finally hit the last aid station and my friends had a ice cold dr pepper for me and lots of water again. One of them ran with me for a half a mile and kept encouraging me. I knew I was close I knew I needed to keep running so I would do so in spurts there was nothing left all I could do was think keep your time down keep your time down. Run walk run somemore try and not think of anything but moving forward. Finally hit the last stretch and my wife was there again it propelled me across the finish. I didn't want a staggering finish photo like I got last year so I tried to keep my head up until I was past the photographer didn't stop my watch or anything as I knew I had hit my times. I knew I had pred and got sub 3 on the run and sub 8 for the race. Run ended up being 2:56:32 and the single hardest thing I have ever done and final time ended up being 7:56:10 a 12:18 second pr.
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I had several volunteers try to take me to the med tent as I was staggering pretty bad and in a complete and total fog. But I declined all I wanted to do was find my family and sit down and then go lay in the splash pad (which I did several times). After laying in the splash pad and finally cooling down a little I told my wife I was going to go look for refreshments so I staggered to the refreshment tent. It was a long walk to the tent as it was half way across the town square. I began to fog up pretty good some people asked me if I was ok and I could barely talk. My breath was gone again I was completely and totally emotionally, mentally and physically spent. On the way back I started to cry as it was so far away back to the splash pad and I was never going to get there I was just so gone emotionally by this time. Finally made it back laid down again in the splash pad. And sat with my wife and she gave me the baby. I began to cry again because I had my baby I was just so happy to be done and have my baby it was just one of those moments.
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After awhile I walked to get my bike out of T2 when my core temp finally came down a little after some ice cream or as much of it as I could eat and I almost started crying again when I posted on facebook what happened just bringing back the emotions of what I just went through.
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I have heat exhaustion even today I still can't get my core temps where they need to be and I overheat even inside the air conditioned house. I took 3 cold showers when I got home and despite drinking over 100 ounce of ice water I am not peeing that much. I am drinking water non stop and can't seem to get enough. I woke up in the middle of night with charlie horses and at 2am my muscles hurt so bad I couldn't get back to sleep. So I was awake from 2:30-6am, I finally felt back asleep at 6am to be woken up with a charlie horse in the balls of my foot at 7:30. I just feel worn out.
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I still don't know how I pred or hit my run times I don't think I have ever gutted out a race so much. I am happy for the pr but I worked so hard for so much more it has left me totally bummed at the same time. I am again contemplating when I can do my next race just to get out there well after the first bout of never ever ever ever again.
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The final temp for the day ended up being 95 and it was that when I finished at 3:30. I will take the 12:18 pr that was for sure wore my medal the rest of the night because I earned that dang thing.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-21255614541922533532014-02-06T09:45:00.000-08:002014-02-06T09:45:01.868-08:00The sham that is the Biggest LoserMost days I have no idea why I still watch the Biggest Loser but every season I still tune in. It's probably the OCD side in me that just can't stop watching since I already started watching. Its one of those shows that I put on and only half pay attention as I play with my phone or try and beat the latest level of Candy Crush but yet I still tune in each season. When I first started watching I was over 415 pounds and I could relate with the contestants and try and live vicariously through them as they were getting a chance to do something I would love to do. I even applied to be on the show in June of 2009 after having lost about 40 pounds that year. I find as the years pass I can no longer relate with the contestants or the show and I find myself further and further away from even understanding them anymore. I never even got a call or an email to go with my application to the show most likely because I didn't have the sob story attached to it something they could play up on the big screen something they could sell you. I was fat because I liked food and I didn't move enough it was that simple. There was no emotional tragedy or event for Jillian to sit me in the corner and try and play armchair therapist to try and fix me. I liked food and I lived a sedentary lifestyle oh how simple and probably a greater reason for people being obese then what the show tries to portray. <br><br>
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But I plugged along I never had one of those amazing 15 pound weight loss weeks in fact the most I ever loss in a week was a paltry 4 pounds something the trainers and biggest loser would have shamed a contestant for losing in a week. But what I did have was consistency and the strive to keep moving forward. Between May of 2009 and June of 2010 I lost 2-3 pounds a week every single week and the weight slowly came off. The process ended up taking more than 2 years and when I got to my lowest of 187 right before my first marathon in October of 2011 I had spent nearly 3 years losing that weight. I was what some would probably call to skinny by that point like they have been calling Rachel out since season 15 finale aired and I was no where near as emancipated or skinny as she ended up being. I had lost %55 of my body weight about %5 less than she ended up losing and I didn't get a big cash prize all I got was the ability to be healthy and fit. I was about to run my first marathon and I was very fit, looking at Rachel with zero muscle and zero fat I wonder how fit she is being a former swimmer you would think she would want some muscle in her arms and legs. She looked more like a crash diet calorie deprived person rather than someone who would kick your butt in the pool. She took the game to what was going to eventually be its conclusion someone so interested in winning that they swung the pendulum the other direction to win. From eating too much to eating way too little all for good tv and all for a cash prize.<br><br>
Weight loss like that is unsustainable because with it comes misery. The misery of always being hungry the misery of the things you once used to enjoy being forever denied to you. The misery of doing something day in and day out that you hate. It's not a happy medium, it's a terrible place to be. That is one of the things that has made me like the show less and less over the years well one of the reasons. They make exercise seem like a medieval torture chamber something to be dreaded and something to be feared. Like being put on the rack and stretched until your arms and legs pop off or having your toenails ripped out one by one. There is crying, there is puking, there is despair. None of it looks fun all of it looks horrible. But working out and exercise doesn't have to be that way heck it actually can be lots of fun. I never knew that until I found my love for running and then eventually triathlons. Oh sure there is days where I'd love to be sitting on the couch watching tv and vegging like the old days but there is many glorious days where the runs seem seamless and fun and I wouldn't trade it for anything. And on those days when all the hard work accumulates to a pr or finishing something you would have never thought possible just a few years ago like a marathon and or a ironman it is totally worth it. It's the reason you see tons of runners signing up for marathons or ironman events not because they are being tortured to do so but because they enjoy it. Sure there are some who hate it and our doing it for that fitness aspect or to tick something off on a bucket list but you won't see them in a few years because that is unsustainable. No one is going to do something they hate for years and years its almost a matter of time before they quit.<br><br>
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And that is where the biggest loser fails, they never show the positive aspect or the joy of training or doing events like the marathon or an ironman. When one contestant wanted to try for a sub 4 marathon and only lost 2 pounds in a month they shamed him for losing so little even though he was at a pretty good and healthy weight. Working out is a torture device and do people who watch the show really want to be tortured or would they actually rather find something that they love and that is actually fun. Running can be fun, biking can be fun, swimming can be fun and working out can be fun and enjoyable. But we have for some reason started trying to make everyone think working our or running is torture. They do this in schools too you did something bad now go run laps. Running is a punishment, working out is torture. And they wonder why America is becoming fatter and fatter. And the Biggest Loser perpetuates this myth. This isn't healthy, this isn't normal, this isn't right. Stop the madness per se.<br><br>
So now we see a contestant finally take it too far and they feel they need to shame her my worry isn't that she's too skinny my worry is that she has done something she can't keep up. That once the show is over she will just put all the weight back on. Over %50 of the contestants do just that they put the wright right back on because the biggest loser didn't really help them. They put them in a torture bubble had them work out for 6 hours a day and eat nothing to lose the weight as quickly as possible for good television. No one wants to watch somebody lose 2-3 pounds a week for 3 years even though its the best way to lose the weight and to keep it off. They want results now and they want them fast so they can sell you yoghurt and jenny o turkey all in the name of good television. What Rachel accomplished was good but what would be even better and great is if she manages to keep the weight off.<br><br>
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Since I started in 2009 I have managed to keep the weight off for 5 years. No I am no longer at that low weight of 187 as I have but back on about 30 pounds of it but I am still close to 200 pounds down after 5 years and I don't see the weight coming back because I found something I love and I don't mind getting up in the morning to do. I love to run and I love to bike and I love triathlons and it keeps me motivated and it keeps me going. Working out isn't torture, it isn't something to dread, it is something to look forward too.<br><br>
This is where the trainers and the biggest loser fail. I have run with several Biggest Loser contestants over the years and I always wondered why they weren't faster or better than they were. Hadn't we came from the same background, being former obese people using running to help lose weight. When I did a 5k with them in March of 2011 I managed to beat every former contestant with just a low 26 minute 5k and I was still around 230 pounds. You watch the show and Jillian will turn that treadmill up to a 12mph and have them run on it for 10 seconds and after years of training I always watch that and ask why. It accomplishes nothing, in fact it is probably more adverse than helpful. Jillian herself brags about being able to sprint these amazing times and turning the treadmill up to a 12 or 14mph but when she failed abysmally at a triathlon last September she ran a 11:47 pace for the 4 mile run. Do you really think someone like Usain Bolt would average nearly 12 minute miles if you asked him to run 4 miles. She is a sham, she is a fraud but she makes good tv screaming in someones face until they burst into tears. She made tons of excuses why she had such a poor showing from her wet suit to her bike but never once admitted her abysmal running time something I could easily beat at 250 pounds and just after a year of training. It's all about bad training, they train them poorly, they don't give them the love and eventually they set them up to fail. They turn the treadmill to a 12 and don;t actually teach them how to run only how to be tortured. Once released from the bubble it's now up to them to maintain this weight loss but they weren't giving the sufficient tools to do so. That is the shame of the biggest loser and why I can no longer relate. I am not being tortured, I still eat the food I love hey it may mean I need to run an extra mile or two but I love running so that's not really a punishment. Hopefully Rachel can find that food and working out aren't the enemy and not fall back into old traps but I am doubtful.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-9994022688625606052013-06-11T13:58:00.000-07:002013-06-11T14:11:21.087-07:00STG Half Ironman 70.3 Pro ChampionshipsSeveral years ago I kind of got interested in triathlons, I like swimming and I like biking and of course I was coming from a running background being a runner and all. I liked the aspect of them they just seemed a nice challenge and added a little extra to races but at the time I was on a mountain bike and just using it for a short 5 mile roundtrip commute to work. I did my first sprint triathlon in April of 2011 and it just kind of got put on hold. I wanted a nicer bike to race on and wanted to put the proper training in as I did literally no training for that sprint triathlon and just kind of winged it on 2 swims and my bike commuting. <br><br>
2011 was also the year I decided to do my first marathon. So once done with my lone triathlon I went into full marathon training that consumed me. The race went well but I didn't meet any of the expectations I wanted for the race so I decided to wing another marathon in March of 2012 that was a complete disaster coming off ITBS in my knee it was one of the worst races I have ever done. I was burned out, I was done, I was losing my love for running. So I picked up a fairly cheap road bike in April and started to think about doing triathlons again maybe trying for an Olympic in the fall or next spring and redoing the sprint tri I did the previous year which had a winter version too in November. <br>
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In May everything changed though as the local ironman that had been a full became a half as they had trouble selling out the full the previous 2 years (I actually talked to one of the operators of the race on Friday and he let me in on the fact that what happened was that when they signed the 5 year contract they tried to get ironman to try and guarantee that they wouldn't put on any other earlier spring ironman events as most of the country can't train for one in the Winter and it would hurt STG. They wouldn't go for it though and ended up offering another full 3 weeks prior in Dallas which hurt registration for STG plus STG had gotten the rightly deserved reputation of being the hardest ironman in the country and one of the top ten hardest in the world). This altered my plans entirely as I was fairly confident I could be ready for a half in a years time so I decided to sign up.
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Luck would have it another coworker also wanted to do it and he actually got our employer to sponsor us for it and my work paid the registration fee (that is huge as the race cost $225). Getting into triathlon training completely reinvigorated me. I found my love again after what had been a pretty low couple of months. I actually can't imagine not triathlon training ever again I love it too much. Now that I was committed and registered I no longer could think about a spring Olympic I needed to do that fall Olympic. I had signed up for STG marathon again in October and luckily Kokopelli Olympic was exactly 3 weeks prior and could lead into a taper for the marathon. I still wanted redemption at the marathon so I decided to train for both at the same time. This led to some very odd training that I love. It was kind of done on a 3:1 basis. Heavy running for 3 weeks (40+ miles a week) with biking of around 40 miles and 1-2 swims a week, and then a 4th heavy bike week with light running (70+ miles biking with just 20-25 running).<br>
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Funny enough it actually worked really well for me, I ran a 1:51 half in July as my tune up for the marathon and started to contemplate trying to go for sub 4 for the marathon. Kokopelli went good but with lots of learning lessons having only done a sprint tri and that as a pool tri. Open water was a completely new beast and had lots of issues like sighting and the heat after being out for a couple of hours. Everything went great though and I was still contemplating a sub at STG in October but laid back and ended up with a 4:18 a 40 minute pr.
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Then came the winter of misery. After training for both an Olympic and a marathon at the same time I was completely burned out and took it easy in both October and November I still set a half pr in November of a 1:50 and then turned around and set a new sprint tri pr of 1:25 by 20 minutes 2 weeks later. December I started to get back into training for the HiM but started having mechanical issues on my $200 road bike I had bought. I missed several weeks of bike training when I had to get the crank and bottom brackets replaced. Then I got really sick on Christmas and had that lingering cough from the flu that didn't go away for a month. Making January rough again.<br>
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I didn't have many races planned and started to just pace so I could keep fresh but not have to race and I got free enteries. I paced the 2 hour group in January for STG half and then the 2:20 group for Zion national park half in March. I signed up for a dualathon (3.1 run, 24 mile bike, 3.1 run) in February that was a perfect brick training leading up to the half ironman. But it was a complete disaster where I got two flats on the bike course and rode 2 miles off course and it just wasn't a good day. Frustrated with the bike I decided I wanted a new bike and I wanted to get a triathlon bike. Originally we had been saving to go see my sister in Canada who had gotten cancer but she moved back locally in February because she had a better support system here. That meant I could save for a bike instead.
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The great local bike/triathlon shop I go to allowed me to get on a layaway plan and set me up with a nice Quintanaroo Kilo triathlon bike. I managed to get the bike a month before the HiM and got around 300 miles on it before the big race. But then I discovered something in March as to the reason i probably had a really low year the previous year its because I get really bad spring allergies that makes racing and running extremely difficult I never correlated the two before. I have suffered from spring allergies my whole life never thought on how much it would effect me racing wise and why my winter races are always so much better. But I fought through them and just kept plugging away at the miles.
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I did the spring sprint triathlon again and despite being sick and suffering from allergies set a 6 minute pr which was fantastic. Got back on track and 3 weeks prior got a great training day in. I swam a half mile in the lake, went for a 52 mile bike ride all on course then ran 8 miles on course afterwords for a nice 60.5 training day giving me a great boost and confidence that I had my 70.3 in the bag.<br>
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I do admit to adjusting to more of a 2 week taper as I wanted to get my running mileage over 100 for the month as I wanted to keep my streak alive of 100+ months running and this was my 30th straight. Taper went good although I was a little manic and a little freaked out.
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Not since my first marathon back in 2011 have I been so nervous and out of my mind the week before a race. I manically checked the weather everyday as wind can be brutal on the bike and swim. It looked to be hot upper 80's but I can deal with heat on the run, wind is another matter. Wednesday rolls around and we are seeing winds of 45mph out at the venue. Last year the wind was so bad for the full they pulled tons of people out of the water and I am not that good of a swimmer in chop so it had me freaked out even though the forecast kept showing winds of just 5mph the morning of.
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I took Friday off work because there is a lot to do. I went and did the triathlon club breakfast that I am involved in. Then we went to the expo and the mandatory meeting for athletes and did athlete check-in. Man athlete check-in for an ironman event is insane. You gotta sign a waiver first, then they shuttle you from one table after another getting bibs, and stickers and info, and then your swag and then your timing chip. Head off to lunch with the family and then go do bike check-in. You have to check-in your bike the day before to race. Next thing I know its 5pm. Really easy to forget about your nerves when you are so busy.<br>
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We came home and laid down for like an hour and half and then headed out to do the ironkids race with my three year old. I signed him up for the one mile event because he was able to do half of a 5k last September and he would have been ok had they started on time. I don't know if anyone has ever tried to corral a rambunctious three year old at a start line while the announcer prattles on for 15 minutes but you end up wanting to punch him in the face. Off we go Oliver is the typical run then get tired then walk then run some more. About 3/4 of the way through he wants me to carry him but I knew we were so close we just kept going. He did fantastic finished the whole mile and even though we were DFL he was so excited to get his medal and of course just like a three year old he completely forgot he just finished a mile and was complaining to be carried and went and ran in the splash pad and screamed when we made him leave.
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Went home and prepped all my bags for the race the next day. You have three bags a swim bag, a bike gear bag and a run bag and all your stuff must be in each bag for each portion. I didn't do much in my run gear bag just a running tech tee as I didn't want to run in my bike jersey. Get some dinner and off to bed by 10am. Alarm is for 4am because I want to get to the shuttles at 5am so I can drop off my run gear bag in T2. Of course I wake up before my alarm and just get up. Make some breakfast and am out of the house in perfect time. Even though I set up all my bags the night before I keep having that panic mode like I forgot something because I have forgotten things in my last 2 tris (my swim goggles and my helmet). Almost want to rifle through my bags to make sure I have everything.
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Bus ride out is a nervous ride and I don't really talk with anyone. Get out around 5:30 and my swim wave is at 7:33 so I know I got 2 hours before my start. Get marked for the swim and go to my bike to make sure my tires are good and everything is set up. Your not allowed to set up anything in your transition area I find out and everything has to stay in your bike bag. I checked the weather before I left and it said 55 but it was 50 in hurricane and I am little cold because I wore nothing extra just my bike jersey and triathlon shorts. Glad to realize I forgot nothing and use the portapotties real quick and then just stand around and talk and shiver a little. Go use the portapotties again around 6:15 and get back and the guy is announcing we have to be out of T1 by 6:30, I hadn't planned on leaving T1 until 7 with my start being at 7:33. Oh well I bag up my morning gear that is going back and start to line up to head out to the swim start. <br>
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This is where my day went completely went downhill. Most people used clips and biking shoes meaning that they had other shoes on for the walk down to the start. I use my running shoes and cages. with the new bike I didn't want to overwhelm myself with too much new stuff race day and will get clips in the next month or two but opted to not and try and get them before the race. This meant I was completely barefoot all the way to the start. The road was filled with gravel and pebbles and my feet were completely torn up, where as the people with shoes got to drop them off at the bag drop and had to walk less than half the distance because of it barefoot. The walk was probably 1/3 of mile and my feet were bleeding by the end from the rocks. (I mentioned it after the race to one of the people who put it on and she agreed they should do something and that they may lay down carpet next year for it).
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We watched the pros go off at 6:55 and actually finish before we even got in the water as most of them did it in 23-25 minutes meaning they were out of the water by 7:20. Line up for my swim start and am surprised they actually have you swim out to a start point in the lake. Its not much of a swim maybe 50 meters but still kind of odd. Waves go off every 3 minutes. So you get there and kind of tread water and bump into people and wait until an air horn goes off.
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The lake is cold probably like 58 but I had swam it twice in the last month so I was expecting it. I told myself just get your head down and you will be fine, settle in and don't worry about anyone around you as your slow and several waves will likely catch you (which they did). A lot of people went in a tight line to the buoys but I kept a little wider as I am slower and know eventually that some waves will catch me from behind and I am ok with that. It means I won't have to get swam over when they come from behind and it really doesn't add much to the swim except when i got to swim to the turn buoys and make up the little distance I am out.<br>
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Unlike Kokopelli sighting goes perfect for this race. We are not swimming into the sun and I bought some new clear goggles instead of my tinted ones on Monday (I know crazy first time using them for a race but I had the same exact brand and model just tinted before and I have 45000 meters on them this year and like them). I did use some anti-fog spray and my goggles stayed clear the whole time. I could spot up to 2-3 buoys at any given time as they had a lot more buoys out then Kokopelli and it just went great. Plus no real way to swim off course as they had kiyakers and boats all along the perimeter for assistance. This was to be my longest open water swim so I just settle in.
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The only time it got crazy was during the turns as everyone was tight in on the buoys (we had 2 turns it was kind of like an open ended square) and I swallowed a lot of water during these turns with all the packed bodies in kicking water up. Make my second turn and you can see the shore even if its off at a distance. Man that shore just never seemed to getting any closer drove me crazy. I know I am close and just want to be out of the water and on the bike. The swim was the only portion I was worried about as that would suck so bad to get pulled and that's it your day is over a years worth of training for just a swim. Finally hit the shore and am excited to get out of the water. I got an odd cramp near the end but just shrugged it off.
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Had to stop and use the portapotties for all the water I swallowed on the turns, I tried to pee in my wet suit to save time it was just too cold for me to pee. Get to transition and most of my bike rack is empty which I figured it would be with me being a slower swimmer. I was actually very happy with my swim time my best time of the day in my opinion for me. 1:05:01, which is great everyone with the swim watches said the swim was even a little long. I swam the 1500 meters at Kokopelli in a hour so this was great for me though. The swim cutoff is 1:10 but it goes off the last wave which was at 8 so I would have had 1:37 to the swim but I totally made the cutoff without even needing the extra time which made me so happy.<br>
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But as I go to put my shoes on all of a sudden I get a cramp. My feet bleeding and then getting salt water in them is making me crap something I have never had happen on a swim before. Ruh roh Shaggy its going to be a long day, no way am I freaking quitting though. Not a lot you can do about it though so I eat my chomp and get some water and get out on the bike. Yea with having to stop to use the bathroom and working out the cramp I ended up with a very slow T1 a 7;46.
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I am feeling ok though I would get some minor cramps every now and then on the bike and I would switch positions say to aero or out of aero and just work the cramp out. I know I am not putting in my fastest bike times but I have gotten really strong on the bike in the last year and knew I would be under an hour on the cutoff on the bike. The cramps forced me lay back a little and not take it too aggressive which cost me time. Now this bike course is brutal with almost 3600 feet of elevation gain in 56 miles. STG Half Ironman is still considered one of the toughest in the entire country if not toughest even as a half. But I had ridden 52 miles of the 56 so I knew what to expect. You really have 4 major climbs with tons of little ones in between and a fair share of downs too.
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The first portion was more of a nuisance than anything you are kind of packed in with one lane and can't use the shoulder because of the rumble strips and some bikers and racers are just complete jacktards. I had one lady illegally pass me then slow down then drive me crazy by keeping looking back and saying I was drafting off her. Or several riders who would ride right in the middle of the lane and you would have to call out on your left to pass them. I heard there were several accidents on course and I am not surprised. Get through the first major climb and am feeling ok.<br>
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Aid stations were at 11, 16 and 40. I am feeling the cramping so I make sure I stop at every aid station and not just ride through, get some Gatorade, some chomps and a banana every time. Volunteers were great helped out greatly at all the aid stations.
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Settle in for the long bike. My wife was tracking me and was expecting me at mile 35 on the bike up from the in-laws house. I am coming down the road and I am confused there are bikers coming up it though too and I am like am I lost I thought we weren't doing this hill. Trust me they found every single little extra hill they could find. The whole 4 miles I didn't ride were all uphill SOBs. See my wife and son and scream out Oliver as I am going fast and downhill and that was it they were gone haha. I guess they had just arrived so at least they got to see me on the bike, heard they saw me on the run too but don't know where.
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Climb number 4 is the most brutal and happens at mile 43. Pull into aid station 3 and hear you want a batman water, I actually did want a water to fill up my water bottle but I am like batman water huh. Look over and the volunteer was dressed as batman so yea I took a batman water. I get my chomps, get my banana, get my gatorade and take my last s-cap for the bike ride (was taking them every hour or so). Man climb number 4 really beats me up, I had trouble standing up at times because my calves are pretty much locked up into a massive cramp at this point. But I know if I can just get up this climb its all downhill baby to the finish (except for 2 hills one you take fast enough that its easy Ledges on the marathon course). Hit the downhill and am just happy to be nearly done, I pretty much hit the wall at mile 45 on the bike and the rest of the day would be all wall all day.<br>
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Find the stupid hill at mile 52, I mean they divert us off the road for half a mile just to climb this stupid hill, I swear they are actively looking for hills at this point. Get to T2 and am glad to be done even though I know several more hours await me. I actually can't even swing my leg off the bike it is so cramped up it takes me two full minutes to actually manage to get off my bike as I massage out the cramp in my calf. Bike time was ok not nearly anywhere as good as I normally am 3:39:35 (keep in mind I did the 52 miles on course just 3 weeks earlier in 3:13 and that was with me having to stop at lights as I wasn't on a managed course). I am ok with it though because it could have gone worse. Saw multiple flats and accidents (talked to a guy on the Snow Canyon climb completely covered in dirt and blood who wrecked on the bike course) and was happy no flats and no mechanical issues.
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T2 again is slow with me having to stop and work out the cramp 5:55 (I can do t2 in less than a minute as I don't switch shoes). Hit the run course after stopping for my first soda of many of the day (the sugar really helped me). I realize its going to be tough the bottom of my feet feel like I am running on broken glass from the bleeding in the morning and I am cramped up. Decide to run the downhills and straights and walk the uphills. Problem is the first 4 miles is all uphill its a brutal run course with nearly 1300 feet of elevation gain. Do my best and I stop at every aid station to dump water on myself and get soda I decided I wanted real food to help with the cramping rather than chomps or gus. So I take pretzels, chips, twizzlers, bananas, oranges and these yummy watermelon balls this one aid station had. There is an aid station every mile so I get a little of each of that at each station, Chips at one, oranges at another.<br>
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The volunteers were amazing and so accommodating and cheerful. Some even seemed to take sick joy out of it haha like the one volunteer who dumped ice water down my back which made me jump even though I asked for it and was expecting it. They were all so great as were the spectators there was one guy on the run course with a hose that I just let soak me to death with how hot it was and amazingly enough the only place I chafed was on my neck where my helmet strapped rub for some reason (never had that problem before).
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I hit mile 4 and seem to get a second wind might have helped that we are finally going downhill. Actually do my best running of the entire day between miles 4-7. I dropped my overall pace by nearly 1:30 minutes per mile. I would give it all back the last 4 miles though. Hit I think aid station 8 and the head volunteer comes up to and congratulates me as that is the aid station I volunteered at the last 2 years for the ironman and she remembered me. I hear my name a lot during the run but I just want to be done. I know I got the cutoff in the bag and will be an official finisher but you just want to be done. Its now hot outside about 90 degrees and you have been out there for more than 7 hours at this time.<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYlLh3b8Olzk5yCpStcwG4emt-JzDgxT6PNdSRR2U5_rB8lYAYm1ZLaLggzehQg0Vmqj00ybXOlCI3E-l_CELQmFWrv7HbRG-4zqaPlHaAeNszlJGt8-3BYRHMCcV_M8u9wMgpHGrjPpE/s1600/644692_10200127273768840_1199137393_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBYlLh3b8Olzk5yCpStcwG4emt-JzDgxT6PNdSRR2U5_rB8lYAYm1ZLaLggzehQg0Vmqj00ybXOlCI3E-l_CELQmFWrv7HbRG-4zqaPlHaAeNszlJGt8-3BYRHMCcV_M8u9wMgpHGrjPpE/s320/644692_10200127273768840_1199137393_n.jpg" /></a><br>
Get to about mile 11 and magically they found another hill for us to run up, they divert you off on a detour to run up a stupid quarter mile hill. Someone needs to show em they can do diverts without finding hills SOBs. At mile 12 I am expecting my friend who is going to have a slushee dr pepper waiting for me. I guess he got really sick the night before and dropped it off for me and the bike shop owner has it waiting for me instead (that baby was magical at the end as I sat on the park bench and drank it and watched my son run in the splash pad again) as he was running that aid station.
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You round the corner and can see the finish line oh how magical it looks. Oliver is waiting for me to give me a high five as I go through the shoot and they announce your name. What a long day I had hoped to do the run in 2:30 but when the cramping started I hoped to just be under 3 neither happened as I finished in 3:10;11 but I could care less I just finished 70.3 with over 69 miles of it cramping My overall time was 8:08:28 about an hour after what I wanted to finish in but I finished and it was glorious.<br>
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I no longer really see myself as a runner anymore and more of triathlete now. I am going to train for STG marathon again and try and get my sub 4 but I am also going to train for Kokopelli again too and do better there too. I think I will be back next year for the HiM and to get a little revenge on the course with some flip flops haha<br>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIayu2a-j3UMBQ0KTbWIyFln36YTC1ykEJy7zBZz4u8iMs89djD98N_sIJxxfWlTQL549xs-F57K4uzAyHlwIfWxS_aJg3wc8eMWB8Q6Vu6ad5KNJMnc21gO65aJqSsU2QYEPVdeXpZnZG/s1600/945351_10152390386089460_1144720152_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIayu2a-j3UMBQ0KTbWIyFln36YTC1ykEJy7zBZz4u8iMs89djD98N_sIJxxfWlTQL549xs-F57K4uzAyHlwIfWxS_aJg3wc8eMWB8Q6Vu6ad5KNJMnc21gO65aJqSsU2QYEPVdeXpZnZG/s320/945351_10152390386089460_1144720152_n.jpg" /></a> Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-83762453372485771572012-11-06T15:42:00.000-08:002012-11-06T15:42:22.606-08:00Snow Canyon Half Marathon, new 10k and half pr.Ok the Snow Canyon half marathon is my favorite race of all time, it was my first half marathon, and I have set a pr on it every single time I have run it trimming my time by 40 minutes in 2 years on the course. I love it so much I actually talked Justin out of running the really big free marathon and Katrina as well out of that race to run this race instead. I look forward to this race all year and it is always a race I want to go for a big pr on.
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My training has been a little off since the marathon as I pushed myself so hard with marathon training and triathlon training that I have had a little struggle wanting to run anything more than 25-30 miles a week in the last month and a half. I felt a lot more confident going into this race last year but knew that I could get a pr with a good race. Also I made the mistake of doing my last 4 miler on Thursday in shoes with nearly 1000 miles on them which made calves hurt. I commute to work a couple of times a week on my bicycle and I turned a pair of old running shoes with nearly a 1000 miles on them into my biking shoes. I use cages on my pedals and my shoes would keep coming untied and wrapping around my pedals nearly causing me to wreck as I couldn't get my foot out with it wrapped around the pedal. So I bought yankz that you just cinch up and don't tie and put them on a old pair of running shoes. When I got home from work on Thursday I knew I needed to hurry as my wife needed to work at 6pm so I forgot to change out my shoes in my hurry and used my really old shoes. This wore out my legs a little but I figured oh well nothing you can do about it.
This week has been a little crazy as it was my little boys third birthday on Monday and then trick or treating on Wednesday just made it a hectic week. Yesterday morning I left for work an hour early so I could get off a little earlier to pick up my packet and it may have ended up saving my life. Since I was leaving earlier I took Bluff and the Blvd roads normally a lot more traffic crazywise when i leave at my normal time. Normally when I leave at my normal time I go down Dixie drive and get on the freeway to avoid the traffic, its a little longer route but takes less time with the less traffic. But leaving earlier I went the shorter route as there is less traffic that early. As I am driving up the BLVD I get a complete blowout (it looked like someone shot my tire with a shot gun). Had I not been leaving early to get my packet after work I would have taken my normal route and been on the freeway when I got the blowout this meant I would have been doing 75 MPH instead of the 35 when the tire blew. Running saves your life in more ways than one I tell you.
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So here I am at 7am in a Maverik parking lot trying to put on my donut. I am parked on a slope as I was afraid to drive the car any further and all of a sudden my car falls of the jack. I realize its because I am on the slope and not wanting to drive any further but needing a flat surface I decide to inch up on the sidewalk and change the tire there. The car falls off the jack a second time and I examine the jack and realize I bent the jack when it fell off on the slope. So now I am like crap and call my boss as I know he should be on that end of town on his way to work to see if he can bring me a jack. Some random stranger offers a hydraulic jack and I get my tire changed and drive it up the street to Big-O to get a new tire. Evidently my alignment was off and it wore the inside of the tire to the threads which caused it to blow and my other front tire was really close to blowing as well. So 2 new tires and 3 hours later I finally get to work.
This means I was not able to get my packet early and by the time I got it it was nearly 7pm. It also meant as I was so late getting there I also didn't get a race shirt as they run out of both mens L and XL shirts. They did take your name and said they would mail you one. I picked up mine and Katrina's packet (she got a shirt guess it pays to be a skinny minnie) and got home around 7:30. This meant I didn't get to sit around and chill like I had wanted too. I got to bed around 11pm after finalizing my new running playlist for the race.
Katrina was picking me up at 6:45 to give me a ride to the buses. I initially was going to just ride my bicycle to the buses as my wife had to work at 11 and needed the car and was going to drop Oliver off at the grandparents on her way to work. But as I had Katrina's packet she just agreed to pick me up as my house is only like a half mile detour and I am only about 3 miles from the finish line. Funny thing is I forgot to set my alarm but since I get up at 5:50am everyday anyways I woke up at 5:55 regardless. I had set out all my stuff the night before including a couple bags of Gu for Justin and Katrine. If you come see me for a race you get a bag of GU LOL i gotta get rid of em somehow (I got an entire diaper box of them for volunteering for the ironman 1000's of them and I rarely use GU (I used 0 today, just ate a bonk breaker and had a gatorade before the race). So come see me for a race and a bag of GU.
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Get my morning business done and get a text from Katrina that she was a little early so gather everything up and head out for my ride. I took her some trick or treat candy because I felt bad her house didn't do candy and she funningly had the same idea and brought me some fruit snacks her healthier treat. We get there and meet up with my friend and head to the start. It is a little cold at the start and have to stand around for 40 minutes. I decide to use the restroom but screw those porta potty lines so for the first race ever I go find me a bush to pee so much better.
I know its not going to be a great day as I am feeling a little tense and tight usually a bad sign that it is not going to be my day running-wise. I know there is nothing I can do about it so I make a decision most runners would think was a crazy race strategy (I suggested it to Katrina for her race and she laughed at me). I know I am tense and tight but I also know how the course is laid out and know if I wait too long to make my move I will not pr with how I am feeling for the day. All the best downhills happen in the first 7 miles and if I want to pr I will need to take advantage of those hills. So i decide to go out at 1:45 pace and run 8 minute flat miles as long as I can. I know I will likely blow up with how I am feeling that day but also know I should be able to hang on to a pr. I am thinking heck best case scenario is hey I get the 1:45 but I know its unlikely with how I feel that day.
I am running pretty good and come in to the 5k point at 24:45. I get passed by batman at this point and the 1:45 pacers which is odd because I was on a 1:45 pace all the way to mile 9. I hit the 10k point at 48:25 a pr by almost 3 minutes for a 10k which also means that second 5k of the race was ran in 23:40. It also means I ran my very first sub 50 10k ever and set a new 10k pr and nearly set a 5k pr as I my 5k pr is 23:05. This is what I knew I needed to do if I was going to pr because I know how hard the second half of the race is having run this race the last 2 years.
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My shoelaces drove me crazy the entire race, I had to tie them 3 times and I can't remember the last time I had to retie my shoes in a race. I didn't want to stop or slow down to tie them so I would run a mile before tying them when I hit a aid station so I could get a drink and retie them. I really don't like running with my shoes untied that I found out it made my ankles hurt but I didn't want to stop. When I hit mile 9 aid station I decided to stop and retie my shoe one last time and actually walk the aid station and get a gatorade and water in me and do a little walk.
Bad bad bad bad idea when I started back up I could no longer hit the 8 minute miles. I had been right at a 8:00 pace at the mile 9 station and hit it at 1:12xx. But after my little break I found all I could muster anymore was a 9mm. I knew pretty quick a 1:45 was no longer going to happen so i decided to just make sure I pr and hopefully go sub 1:50.
The last 4 miles were pure misery but I knew I just needed to hang on. I finally crossed the finish line at 1:50:46 which is a 1:09 pr and I am very happy with it.
I hung around at the end with Justin and we went and got our drop bags and loaded up on goodies (he finished in 1:40 he has gotten so fast last year he ran it in 2:07 and his first half marathon a year and half ago in 2:27) while we waited for Katrina to finish (she took my advice she won't admit it though and went for a sub 2 and did awesome and got it). It was then I got to scar Katrina for life and I hope the bag of Gus offset the scarring. At some point my tape came off my left nipple and I was about a mile away from having a full on bloody nipple. Luckily it was only slightly bloody but I am sure her getting to see my bloody nipple ruined her
We hung around for prizes and I danced for my dinner. I got up on stage and danced to win me and my wife dinner and cramped up from it LOL advice to others do not funky dance after a pr half marathon it will not end well Katrina laughed that she should have video taped it, I felt bad she didn't get to win a prize but I guess getting to see me dance is prize enough.
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She gave me a ride home and I took a quick shower before having to walk up to get my son from the grandparents house. Ok that 3.5 mile walk sucks after a race I will tell you that. My wife had dropped off the stoller off but about a half mile from our house Oliver wanted to get out and run and I can't deny the kid running. So even though hes not a very fast runner I had to run the last half mile home way too early to be running gall darn it.
All in all a great race and still my favorite race of all time. A 10k pr, my first sub 50 10k, a half marathon pr and nearly a 5k pr, and free dinner for me and wife at a place I love to eat what more can you ask for.
My Splits
Mile 1: 8:02 (good start pace, not going out to fast)
MIle 2: 8:08 (still doing good not going out to fast)
Mile 3: 7:53 (starting to speed up went through the first 5k in 24:45)
Mile 4: 7:37 (second fastest mile of the race)
Mile 5: 7:41
Mile 6: 7:34 (fastest mile of the day, went through the 10k at 48:25 and the second 5k was a 23:40)
Mile 7: 7:48 (still doing good)
Mile 8: 9:09 (this was one of my shoe lace related problems as I stopped at the 7.7 aid station to tie it and it came loose less than a half mile later arghhhh)
Mile 9: 8:01 (still doing good but this is where I stopped tied my shoe, walked the aid station and couldn't get back up to pace but came in at 1:12xx for the first 9 miles right on pace)
Mile 10: 8:54
Mile 11: 9:36
Mile 12: 9:07 (tried to speed up to make the sub 1:50 which I failed at)
Mile 13: 9:36
last .15 (course was slightly long everone got 13.15-13.2 depending on how you ran the tangents) 8:57 pace/Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-15148954453276737822012-11-06T15:29:00.002-08:002012-11-06T15:29:56.806-08:00Saint George Marathon 2012, getting close to sub 4.The short of it I ran 4:18:14 today at which is a 40:41 marathon pr from last years Saint George marathon and an an 1:13 minute improvement over Sand Hollow in March plus while I ran a positive split it was a vastly improved positive split. My first marathon positive split was 28 minutes, my second marathon's positive split was an hour and one minute, this marathon I only ran a 12:06 minute positive split. Plus the wall officially moved from mile 20 to mile 24 this time. I still got a lot to learn but I did much better in everything today from pacing and just running a smarter race.
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Now the long of it. My training hasn't been what you would call optimal because my main focus has been getting ready for a half ironman coming up next May plus my very first Olympic Triathlon that I did in September. When I signed up for this race back in April I had intended to try and train to run a sub 4 and get my running mileage up to 50 a week average. But when I switched goals to be more focused on triathlons then running I wasn't sure what to go with come race day. My typical weeks were 40 miles running, 40 miles biking and 2 miles swimming for 3 weeks then a cutback in running to focus more on biking the 4th week. I would do just 20-25 miles running that 4th week, 80-90 miles biking and still 2 miles swimming. I did have a really great tune up half in July of 1:51:55 that made me wonder if sub 4 might still be possible. Most of 20 mile long runs were kind of in the realm as well but I knew I would need to run a perfect race if it were to even be possible. I did 19.4 in 3:10, 19.4 in 3:30 (I had a 24 hour flu and this run you can chalk up to dizzy idiocy as I shouldn't have run it) and 20.3 in 3:19. I also ran the first 14.5 miles of marathon course in 2:19 coming into the halfway point at 2:08. So I wasn't sure what I should do.
Three weeks before the marathon I did my very first Olympic triathlon which was my A race for the year and had a pretty good race but afterwords I realized how run down I was. All the training for months on end had run me into the ground so I was determined to have a very restful taper. I even took my vacation last week so I could sleep in everyday and get rested for the race. It did seem to help as my energy level was much better this week instead of the state of exhaustion I have been in the last couple of weeks.
I literally made myself manic this week not sure what pace to set on. I debated and debated with myself if I should try for sub 4. So much so I actually printed two wrist bands with splits for race day, the left wrist was my sub 4 eff this lets go for it band and my right wrist had a more conservative 4:05 and 4:10 splits on it. I literally had no idea which goal I would go for even up to the moment the starting gun went off this morning.
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I picked up my packet and enjoyed myself at the expo for a couple of hours. Last year I bought an extra marathon t-shirt as for some reason they think long sleeve shirts are a good idea in the desert this year I decided I wanted a hoodie instead (I love it, has the STG marathon logo on it and 26.2 right below the pocket). Because as a no longer fat man I get freezing cold all the time now. I played a small game of Marco Pollo with Katrina at the expo but could never find her (and yes I did walk around the expo hollering put Marco).
Last night I met with Katrina (redsparkle) and me and her husband Asa had dinner together at Brick Oven Pizza. Justin was going to dinner with another of group of runners so it was an intimate FE just the 3 of us and a crazy little toddler. My wife had a root canal on Thursday so wasn't up to dinner but I think she wanted a couple hours of quiet time so I took Oliver with me. I think I might have cured Asa and Katrina from wanting kids for a couple of years with the little bundle of dizzy craziness I brought along (think of me bundled into a little 3 foot package of crazy haha).
I went home and laid out all my marathon stuff and was in bed my 9pm with an alarm set for 4pm. Me and the running group were all meeting at 5am to ride the buses up together so I opted out of the early bird prizes and having to sit for 2 hours at the start this year for just and hour and I am glad with how cold it was at the start (fatman get cold now). I did wake up at 2am and could not go back to sleep so much that I almost got up and said screw it and was tempted to just get on the 4am buses anyways.
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I have been so nervous and manic the last 2 days I have constantly felt like I was going to throw up. Debating over paces and splits and strategy was driving me insane. I made my breakfast and got out of the house at 4:40 am and got to the start at 4:50am to meet my people. We rode the buses up together but I promptly lost everyone the moment we got there.
So I just kind of walked around and actually went and huddled around a campfire as I was cold (this made me happy if its so warm you don't need the bonfires at the start you are in big trouble in a couple hours).
I lined up just in front of the 4:00 pacer still not knowing what I was going run. I finally said I am driving myself crazy why don't I just run what is comfortable and I will look at my time in a mile or two. I turned my music up to ear drum shattering levels to drive all thoughts out so I could just run and not worry about it. the very first time I even looked at my watch was at mile 2 and I was at a 9:13 average pace evidently what felt comfortable was the 4:05-4:10 more conservative approach.
I was like ok I am ok with that, that will still be a massive pr lets run the conservative race and have a good race for once. I hit the 10k marker in 56:xx (for some reason it never posted my 10k splits but I did look at my watch). I stayed conservative all the way up to Veyo where I decided to try my running coaches advice. He had advised me my strategy of running 1/4 of Veyo Hill (550 feet gain in a mile) then walking 1/4, then running 1/4 and then walking 1/4 was probably a little too laid back and that I should do 1/4,1/8,1/4,1/8,1/4 and reduce my walks. I was feeling pretty good and it seemed like a good strategy that way I would still conserve energy on Veyo but not lose as much time as I had been losing in training (I trained with the 1/4, 1/4 strategy). I ended up doing 1/2 run, .15 walk, .15 run, then .15 walk so much less walking then I had done in training. It seemed to help as I wasn't too tired at the top and I didn't lose as much time getting over the hill.
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The next 4-5 miles are still pretty uphill until you hit the true downhills of the course. So I was staying conservative and it was working, I walked through the aid stations to get small rests but the hills didn't bother me at all like they did last year. I took an s-cap and a GU at mile 5, mile 11, mile 17 and then was taking oranges near the finish. I hit the 13.1 marker at 2:03:04 perfect. I don't think I have the endurance to run a big negative split so I wanted to get as close to an even split as possible and that put me at a 4:06 right smack in the middle of the 4:05-4:10 I was shooting for. i figured I might have a small positive split and end up closer to the 4:10 but I was ok with that.
I did pretty good through Snow Canyon and all the way to Ledges. I was feeling good but it was at this point I was like how the heck did I ever finish two marathons at 95+ degrees. It was only 70 and we had a nice 4 MPH tailwind the first 7 miles but I was like I am freaking hot as heck. I started to dump water on my head at this point. I came into the 30k split at 2:55:14. Again perfect as that had a projected finish time of 4:06:27. I did lose a lot of time on Ledges though as I had always planned to walk a portion of it (this was the second hill I was going to do a run walk strategy up). At this point I was way more tired then Veyo and I just wanted to walk the way up that darn hill. I had to force myself to run portions of it. I figure I lost a good 2-3 minutes on that hill (I will check my splits on my garmin later too tired to go downstairs and get it right now). But I was still feeling good and I was like I can still do the 4:10 that lost couple of minutes will be fine.
I was still in a good mood and I like to high five all the little kids when I run past them so I am so happy when they have a crowd as it gives me a little boost. We had lots of little kids to give high fives to coming through town. I was starting to feel the exhaustion setting in around mile 21 but I was still doing pretty good.
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It wasn't somewhere between mile 23 and 24 that the cramps set in. These are those muscle spasms craps I used to suffer from doing half marathons in the beginning and what I have suffered from my first two marathons. So it became run until the cramps come on then walk until they subside, rinse and repeat the last couple of miles.
We come up on aid station 24 and a guy is handing out ice cold coca cola. He wasn't an official volunteer or an aid station some guy out just handing out ice cold coke. That dude deserves a medal and like a billion hugs. I never thought that a coke would taste better then a gatorade in a race and was wondering why the ironman chose the coke over gatorade when I volunteered for it but that thing hit the spot. Was freaking delicious. Just shortly after that Justin catches up with me and I was like what the heck are you doing behind me (he was shooting for a 3:38 a 1:50xx pr from his marathon in July he still set a 1:17 pr in the race though). I guess he started way more in the back then me and while it took me only 5 minutes to get across the start line it took him 12. He said he passed me on Veyo but I had just passed him back probably didn't notice as I was enjoying my yummy ice cold coca cola.
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So we decided to run the last 2 miles together. We were both hurting pretty bad and I was cramping up pretty bad (in new places too last year it was just my calves this year it was my calves and thighs). So we would run until I cramped then walk until they subsided. About a half mile before the finish I went to take a walk break and he decided to go on without me. I took a small walk break and then realized I had actually been running slower then I needed to stay with him as I actually was able to speed up and catch him even despite the two walk breaks I took. I probably cost my self 2 minutes there by running slower than I needed to on my run segments but I really don't care it was so nice to run with someone when your just hurting like that. And we ended up finishing together (he did beat my by 7 minutes because he lined up so far in the back) so I was happy with that.
I am happy with the race and I am glad I went with the conservative approach I cannot even begin to fathom what my positive split would have been like had I went out aggressive. It would have probably been like last year or even worst like Sand Hollow in March.
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At the finish line was my son, that always makes me happy my wife wasn't sure if she was going to make it this year as she hasn't felt good at all the last two days. I love seeing his smiling face at the finish line. My dad brought me a gatorade again at the finish line something other then lemon line he rocks I get so sick of lemon lime by the end of the race. We walked around and I loaded up on ice cream to take home (LOL I took like 6 ice cream bars to put in my fridge) last year I was grumpy and took nothing from the finish line but sweet ice cream for a week.
My wife has a finish line video I will post it later.
If you read all that you rock too, not as much as that dude at mile 24 or my dad with his fruit punch gatorade but you still rock.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-57381561133823847832012-11-06T15:15:00.002-08:002012-11-06T15:15:59.114-08:00Swiss Days 5k, where I set a personal worst :)Ok it was slow on purpose because I was running it with a 2 year old and I think I ended up carrying him for over a mile plus I am pretty sure I ran backwards for a 1/4 mile to a 1/2 mile.
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So we decided to make the Swiss Days a family 5k every year we probably jumped the gun by a year because Oliver who turns 3 in a month was unable to finish but he did have a blast. I am not sure of their thinking and timing on this race as it is a week before the marathon but if I were running it I think I would have a good chance to AG (Justin took 3rd in our AG with a 22:16 and we are about the same speed and run a lot of race together with similar times) as it seems not a lot of the super fast run it with the marathon next week. I am one of those I didn't want to injure myself with just a week to go so it has just become a family fun run to do (it was my wives first ever 5k today).
The race starts at 7am and you have to shuttle in my 6:30am but the race is less than 5 minutes from my house so it sucks but at least you don't have to drive that far to get there. It still meant waking an almost 3 year old up at 6am who gives you that what the frak are you thinking look do you know what time it is (I think he would do better at an 8am or 9am event).
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So we get everything together and get out the door for the shuttles. My sister in law was also doing the race for her weight watchers as her first ever 5k and because she also gets a discount on her health insurance by doing a 5k. So we met up there with her at the start where they do this crazy aerobic workout before the race. I thought it was crazy 2 years ago and I still think its crazy now (this was the 3rd race I ever did in 2010).
We line up all the way in the back and we take off. My sister in law stayed with us for maybe the first 1/4 mile before she ran on. Oliver was having a ton of fun running with everybody but about mile 1 he began to poop out. So I picked him up and carried him the next half mile or so (you think running is hard try doing it carrying 40 pounds). I was trying to keep us away from the sweep van (well i don't think they swept anybody but it was a cop car at the end of the race following us). My wife got a little grumpy with me when she had to run to catch up but at least I got a good lead on that darn sweep car.
It was at this point Oliver got a second wind and I put him down and he took off again, it was funny to see him with a second wind. I was running backwards at this point (do they give awards for the person who runs the biggest portion of the race backwards because they should as I probably ran 1/2 mile backwards) to urge him on and he was chasing me. He tired out again around mile 2 and I ended up carrying him so more.
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He did pretty good he probably ran half of the race to maybe 2 miles. What was funny is after the race while we are waiting for the raffle (we won 2 free shirts and a hat with our 3 bibs) he is running around all crazy like. I think a later start and he could have finished the race as he definitely had plenty of energy after he woke up. He didn't get to win youngest racer because I carried him about a mile of the race (a little 2 year old girl did run the whole thing she was back there with us and pretty awesome) but he had a blast and so did I.
I think our time was like an hour, my watch kept auto-stopping because I forgot to take off that feature and I kept stopping to help him it said 2.88 in 53:xx but I think we were closer to an hour so yeaaaaaaaa new personal worst. Final time ended up being 1:01:19.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-47630145715338205782012-11-06T15:09:00.000-08:002012-11-06T15:09:20.511-08:00Kokopelli Olympic Triathlon, my first OlympicI don't think i have ever been this nervous for a race in my life, not my first marathon, not my first half marathon which I was completely unprepared for, not ever. If something goes wrong in the middle of a lake its not like you can just start walking its like ok now we are going to drown.
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My training has been good, I have been getting 40 miles a week on the bike for 5 months now with every 4th week doing a super long bike ride of 50 miles. Of course my running is strong I could run a 10k in my sleep and I think I have done so. My swim training has been ok my bike training was definitely better but my swim can still use some work. I have been doing two swims a week (I will increase that to 3 maybe 4 for half ironman training after my marathon cycle is over) with an Open Water Swim on Wednesdays and a pool swim on Fridays. What cost me is it seemed every time I skipped a swim it was my OWS because my wife was working that night or just the logistics of getting out to Sand Hollow Reservoir. This meant I had 5 OWS but none above 1000 meters, where my pool swims would be typically 1650-2000 meters which might have saved me as I could easily swim the 1500 meters and probably swam 2000 today during the race more on that later.
The most grueling part of training was also fitting in marathon training at the same time. It has left me completely burned out the last couple weeks and I have smartly taken extra cutback weeks and didn't do much this week with how fried I am. I have never looked forward to a taper more than I did this one, there were weeks when I was completely exhausted with all the extra training. But I have felt fantastic the last 2 weeks and even had a great 20mile run last Saturday (20.3 miles in 3:18xx) and one of my most amazing runs on Tuesday ever which I should share with you sometime. I think this was due to 2 cutback weeks I took that were unplanned one for my birthday at the end of August.
So I spent most of Friday in a very nervous state. It was an anxiety that had me on pins and needles and a little scared. I picked up my packet after work and got marked for the race so I didn't have to worry about it in the morning. I even bought these little shoe ties that make it so you can cinch your shoes real quick and save time in transition. My main reason for buying them though was I use cages instead of clipless and my shoelaces tend to get untied and then wrap around my pedal very dangerous as you can't get out of the cages with your shoelace wrapped and this would allow me to not have to worry about that anymore.
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So I get home and set up all my race stuff for in the morning so I don't have to worry about it. I make a bag to take with me and holy heck does a triathlon require way more stuff. Wet suit, bike helmet, bike gloves, nutrition for transitions, water and gatorade for first transition and of course the garmin, run shoes, running shorts and tech tee.
I set my alarm for 6am as transition opened at 6am but my wave didn't start until 8:15am. No reason to be super early because I was already marked figured that would get me out of the house by 7am and to the race by 7:30 with 45 minutes to spare. I woke up at 5:30am though, its been awhile since I have woke up for a race before my alarm went off. All that morning before the race I felt like I was going to vomit I was so nervous.
I got my breakfast in me despite wanting to vomit the whole time and got all my morning stuff done and was out of the house at 6:50. Its about a 30 minute drive to the race start. So I arrived at 7:20 and felt a little foolish here I am with my bike riding in my trunk of my car and all these people have the nice bike racks with the super fancy carbon fiber bikes and I am on my mid-level road bike that I love and that did kick some arse during the race though.
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Now they don't let you park in the actual state park (this is at Sand Hollow Reservoir part of a state park) but actually down on the road about a mile away. This is completely fine as I am early enough the hike into the transition area I figured would be a nice little warmup oh but I had another warmup coming a horribly unexpected one. So I get in and set up my stuff in transition and am chatting away with the other racers when at about 7:50 am I realize I left my goggles in the car.
I keep a separate swim bag with my goggles in them so I can hit the pool or the lake to train and even reminded myself on the drive to get my goggles out but totally forgot with all the nerves. If it had been anything else I would have said screw it and done the race without but I hate swimming without my goggles. So I take off to run back to the car for a nice 2 mile warmup run to get them. I grab them and head back to the start as everyone is filing down to the water for the first wave. I was in the second wave.
In my rush to get my goggles I forgot to put my anti-fog drops on them another thing I reminded myself on during the car ride. Well first wave is off and we are told to get in the water. There weren't too many in our wave a nice big group but not a huge group that I was going to get trampled at the start. I line up or swim up in the back not wanting to interfere with anyone knowing I am not the fastest swimmer. But just before we start the guy starting the race makes everyone back up now your bumping and jostling and its crazy.
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We take off and I am doing good, got a good swim going on and staying with the pack for the most part but they are separating a little and with it being a smaller pack I quickly find myself on my own. My goggles are completely fogged up and we are swimming into the sun. I did ask about the logistics of where we go before the race. We were supposed to keep the orange buoys to our left and we would hit a green buoy for the sprint turnaround then another green buoy for the Olympic turnaround. We were then to swim 50 meters to the left and go around an orange buoy and then keep the orange buoys to our left on the way back.
Pretty simple huh except with fogged up goggles and swimming alone and into the sun I was soon lost as I could not see the next orange buoy for the life of me. Then all of a sudden I got a kiyaker by me saying you need to go around the orange buoy and I am like what fraking buoy I don't see a buoy. I guess I had swam 25 meters over and was starting to come close to the lane people would be heading back in. She keeps tell me you need to swim around the buoy and I kept informing her I cannot bloody see a buoy what fraking buoy. Eventually I do see the buoy and get back on course. But its not long before I got another kiyaker saying you need to swim around the buoy, what fraking buoy. This kiyaker was a little better at directions with swim right, swim left and found the buoy a little easier this time.
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About at the sprint turnaround the wave behind me catches up with me with all my deviations to course. Now I didn't get swam over at the start but dear lord those guys don't even bother to swim around you in the middle of the lake I got swam over many times and actually slowed down so they wouldn't drown me. I don't know if they just couldn't see me because of the sun but I would never swim over the top of somebody 750 meters into a race.
I managed to get lost a 3rd time and again swim around the buoy and the what fraking buoy game was played. I am starting to wonder if I will ever see the turnaround at this point. It was at this point I was all alone again in the middle of the lake, no kiyakers around either and I started to yell where the frak do I go, somebody tell me where the frak do I go. I am treading water completely lost and then all of a sudden I see the green buoy.
Oh you sweet green buoy, you beautiful gorgeous, wonderful amazing, sexy green buoy. How I want to make sweet passionate love to you right here in the middle of the lake. I am going to hump the crap out of you. Ok I didn't but how sweet that buoy was because it means I get to head away from the sun and not have to swim into it anymore.
I make a break for it and this is when the third wave catches me I don't care I have found the green buoy and am swimming again. Because I was so lost and was constantly having to try and sight I ended up swimming most of the first 750 meters with my head above the water. Now I can see the buoys and I am not heading into the sun anymore and can start keeping my head down and under the water.
I would just pick the next buoy on the horizon and make a beeline for it. So freaking easy right. Well it was on the way back. My goggles did eventually get so fogged up that i stopped with about 2 buoys to go to unfog them a little and sight the next buoy. And all of a sudden my leg starts to cramp something fierce because I am treading water now and did something weird when I stopped to get my goggles fixed. A kayaker comes over to help me and had he tried to pull me out of the water when I could finally see the shoreline he might have got knocked off his kayak, no way after what I had been through was I getting pulled. I work the cramp out and let him know I am ok and make a beeline for the gorgeous shore ahead of me. All in all the second half of the swim went great. I am glad I was in the habit of doing way more than the 1500 meters in training though as I am sure with all my random wanderings I swam 2000 meters. Swim time 1:00:12, about what it takes me to swim 2000 meters not the 35-40 minutes it takes me to swim 1500 meters and what I was hoping for the race.
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Get out of the water and out of my wet suit pretty quick. I am glad I bought those shoe things as it made getting my shoes on a cinch. Grab my gatorade and a little water and a powerbar and start walking out of transition. I then break into a little run for the mounting area and wow what a weird feeling that is after swimming for an hour. Pull on my gloves and get on my bike. I am little slow in T1 as this is completely new for me. T1 4:14 but most people took about 4 minutes for T1 the leaders did it on the other hand in about a minute. Something I can easily work on with more races.
Feels great to be out of the water and on my bike. I already start to pass a few people, all that bike training seems to have come in handy as I remember my first and only other triathlon a sprint tri where I was easily one of the worst bikers that day. About mile 4 you hit nemesis mister el diablo. If you remember from some of my race reports like Hurricane half or Sand Hollow marathon nemesis is a 561 foot climb in about a mile and one heck of a brutal hill. And man does it takes it toll on you, I think my average bike pace slipped to 12 MPH by the end of the hill that i would get back above 14 by the end of the race. I was tempted to walk up but that felt like cheating to me we are on the bike leg I need to bike up this hill. So I kept chugging away and biked right up it. Didn't see anyone walking up it on our way up but it seemed everyone I passed on the way down was walking their bike up it.
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This is where I found a racer I never ever want to race with again, simply one of the worst racers ever etiquette wise. She would not keep a steady pace at all and I swear I would pass her and on that hill just a little while later she was passing me right back. At one point I am passing another lady and she goes to pass me back and makes the rude comments your supposed to stay to the right and not ride beside someone unless passing. I wanted to knock her off her bike she really irritated the heck out of me (she also p!ssed me off really bad during the run too). Here I am on this huge steep climb trying to pass someone so no I am not going to go shooting by them, she actually passes us in between the other rider and me arghhhhh.
I did meet a nice biker on the race though she commented that it looked like we would be race buddies after we switched positions a few times. I saw her on the end of the run as I was coming up on mile 4 and she was heading out to the 3.1 turnaround and she commented I knew you would beat me I couldn't keep up with you on the bike uphills made my whole race.
Everything was out and back for the race, swim, bike and run. So it was always nice to hit those turnarounds and know you were halfway through a leg. I only got passed by the super fast sprinters during the bike and passed almost all the other bikers made me feel good about my training. It was a tough course with tons of hills so I was happy with my time. as we are riding back down nemesis I am flying pass people on these carbon fiber bikes and here I am on my aluminum mid range bike. I was like fatman on a downhill let the gravity do work haha. Bike portion 1:28:00 a little slower than wanted as I had hoped for 1:15 but it was a tough course and I was happy with it.
Hit T2 not really much to do except rack my bike, and discard my helmet. I do waste a little time because I got to scoot all the bikes down because some jacktard put his bike in my transition spot. T2 1:57.
Hit the run and I am feeling it, its starting to get hot and its been a long day already. I am just trying to stay at about a 10:45 pace as I know that is about all I have in me right now. Get to aid station 1 or mile 1 and ignorant horrible race lady is back, she takes 3 waters, 2 to pour on herself and one to drink so I don't even get a water. I really want to trip her. She again continues with the crazy pace, I am running an even pace but since I am walking the water stations and she is running them she keeps getting in front of me, Then it just becomes my goal to catch her before the next aid station so I can get a water or a gatorade before she snags them all. I hear a lot of way to go Patrick from people and I am not sure who any of them are (and no our names aren't on our bibs, somewhere along the line I have become a local race celebrity somehow honoring all former fat people everywhere). The run goes good but again the course is not friendly we are back on the bike course and lots of little hills that just sap you.
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So nice to hit that last turnaround and know all you got left is a 5k. My pace did slip a little at the end as I start to run out of energy but I was happy with the run for the most part. take off for the finish at a dead sprint (even had a race official come up to me afterwords and congratulate me on my strong finish). Run time 1:08:45 (about 17 minutes off my 10k pr but hey I was tired LOL).
Final time 3:43:07.
I learned a ton, first off I need to work on open water sighting and be better prepared prerace. I can easily make the half ironman swim cutoff as its 1:10 for 1941 meters and I did that today I am pretty sure but I won't make it if I am getting lost again in a race. The swim does need to be my focus. Also I think I should work on transition 1 as I can trim some time there, Also I need more bricks my legs gave out on me a little near the end plus I think I need to start doing swim to bike bricks as that would help too.
Loved the race, got a cool medal and a first timers pin (not officially my first triathlon but it sure the heck felt like it).Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-82792481503057037142012-11-06T12:26:00.001-08:002012-11-06T12:26:38.076-08:00Parowan Half Marathon, sandbagging can be fun.Ok I had no intention of doing this race after finishing Bryce Canyon three weeks ago which was my tune up half for the marathon. But some running friends talked me into it and I decided to treat it like a long run as I needed 13.1 for my long anyways this weekend. This would be the very first race I have paid for that I went in with no intention of trying to pr (I won a 5k back in May that I didn't try and race as well but that one was a won race).
I figured since it was an impromptu race with no intention of PRing I would honor my bet with Angel at the same time and wear a skirt, alas this didn't work out but I will include the story and pic anyways. So I went to the DI (Deseret Industries its a Mormon goodwill store in Utah) Friday night and found a bright pink skirt.
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I got some really strange looks when I held it up to myself to see if it looked like it fit. I chose it because it was pink and because it had a tie string I figured if it was too big I could tie it. I didn't try it on because man I could see those DI people kicking me out or calling the cops on me haha for trying on a woman's skirt.
Well I woke up at 4am to get ready to go glad I wasn't driving as we were car pooling as the drive was about an hour a way. I put on the skirt and it fit but it was so tight there was no way I was going to be able to run in it so I had to ditch it. My wife told me after the race even though it said it was an L that it was a size 11 and evidently I am not a size 11 whatever that means haha (why do women gotta compliment things why isn't a 11 a size large) and that I should have gone with a waist band. She showed me a pink skirt i can wear that she has that I can wear on September 29th for a 5k I am doing. Oh well i was even going to run shirtless today in the skirt as a joke a pink skirt and no shirt oh and it would have been so funny had I been able to do it with how the race unfolded. Imagine getting passed by a guy only wearing a bright pink skirt in a half marathon.
So we get in line for the porta potties and I lose Justin but after I am lining up for the race start all of a sudden my Uncle comes over who was running the race and gave me a hug. He didn't even tell me he was driving down (he lives in Loveland Colorado and its like a 6-7 hour drive for them) and running the race because I said there was no way I was doing it on facebook. He tells me he wants to beat his time of 1:59xx is all and I should have told him just stick with me then haha as I am getting pretty good at pacing a 2 hour half.
So off we go into what must be the single worst road ever imaginable on the face of the planet for 3 miles. It was this hard packed country mountain dirt road with rocks jutting out of it all over the place. Then couple in the fact that the race has a 2700 foot drop much of it during the early miles on this craptastic mountain road and I am thinking dear lord what did I get myself into.
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The whole first three miles I am weaving in an out trying to find a non crappy portion of the road to run on and trying not to faceplant because of all the rocks. It was also extremely humid so I am like sweating bullets as we are up in the mountains running next to a mountain stream that made me think I am running in some kind of swamp. So I kept pulling back my pace and slowing down. My typical half mile splits were low 9's and 9:15's and even one 10:08 for the first several miles.
Oh and a side not trying to slow down on huge steep downhills and avoid rocks makes ones balls hurt and also my shins were just killing me from the crappy road. I was so ecstatic at mile 3 when we finally hit some paved roads. Granted it was country paved roads that were only slightly better than the dirt roads as you now no longer had to worry about the jutting rocks. It was about here that I started to speed up a little dropping my half mile splits into the high 8's.
I was really enjoying myself and having a good time on this nice mountain run that when I hit mile 5 and I was feeling fantastic I decided to drop the hammer a little. This is where all my long runs seemed to come in to play and the fact that I took the first 5 miles so conservatively. Evidently everyone else must have hammered those fast first 5 miles despite the crappy road conditions. During the next 7 miles it was like fish in a barrel after I passed one runner after another as my times started to dip into the low 8's. I was running with the 9 minute crowd running 8 minute miles.
I literately had an image of myself standing over a barrel full of fish with a shotgun in my hand just blowing them out of the water over and over. I must have passed 50-60 people the last 7 miles and got passed by no one. I was like you better not slow down or walk because I am coming for you. It was an absolute blast and I felt so great. Best part of it was it was after the vicious downhills so I didn't even trash my legs as it was just a nice sloping downhill at this point.
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I caught my uncle at mile 7, and finished 4 minutes ahead of him even though he must have been quite a bit ahead of me as he left me when I was taking the miles slow.
I was in such a jovial mood I was kidding with the crowds, at mile 10 we were passing a line of cars that had been diverted for the race and I challenged some of the cheerers in the car to a race and I beat their car in the traffic haha. I also passed my favorite shirt at this point as on the back of it it said you just got passed my a fat man. I so want one of those shirts i even commented to them as I passed them that I loved the shirt and they were getting passed by a former 400 pound fatty.
My finish time was 1:58:00 flat and my third sub 2 half. My uncle came in at 2:02 and Justin came in at 1:42:34 freaking sandbagger I have no idea how he ran this race 2 minutes faster than Bryce. while yes the race is more downhill I found the tough technical aspects of the first 3 miles and even the country road aspect up to 5 or 6 making it a way harder race.
I feel great no soreness and I basically took it as a great training run for STG marathon as I need to do that in back to back halves to get my goal of a sub 4 and I think i can do it I was still running great at the end and passing people. I trimmed my first 5 mile pace which was a 9:15 all the way to 8:51 at one point and just slowed and enjoyed the last 2 miles in town.
Oh and it was so much fun to pass so many people I might need to line up in the back one of these days haha Clearly half marathons are the races I am best at. Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-87411204828581009432012-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:002012-11-06T12:14:31.764-08:00Bryce Canyon Half Marathon, a new shiny pr after months of strugglesOk after doing a half marathon and or a marathon every single month from October to March I kind of hit a wall and was losing touch with racing. My races weren't getting better they had become stagnant and I had lost a little love of racing. So I stopped racing after my disastrous marathon in March and just went back to focusing on training.
The idea was I wanted to try and run a sub 4 at STG marathon this October so I was going to try and be more focused in what I was doing. This meant adding speedwork once a week with the running club and focusing on my training. Well in May they announced that the local ironman was going to go from a full to a half next May. Now the Ironman has been a dream of mine since I started running but I knew that I was at least 3-4 years away from even contemplating one if not more. I knew I needed to master the marathon first as well as each of the disciplines before attempting one. But the half on the other hand I knew I could do in a years time.
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Another worker at my job managed to get us sponsorships through my employer so it was on. This meant scrapping my goal of trying for a sub 4 as I knew I needed to start triathlon training right away. I had just purchased a road bike so I decide to alter my training completely. I was still going to train for the marathon in October but I was also going to spend at least one hard core week each 4 weeks doing some bike training and cutting back on the running.
So I devised a 3/1 week 40/40-20-80 plan. This consisted of me running 3 weeks of 40+ mpw in addition too 40 miles biking for those three weeks. On the 4th week I cut back my running drastically to 20 miles and then upped my biking for those week to 80+. I also cut one of my 2 rest days and turned it into a swim day and then added a double in the middle of the week for another swim day (this has been my open water swim day).
So not having raced in 4 months and completely altering my training I had no idea what kind of running shape I was in so I decided I needed a tune up half marathon to gauge myself and then set my marathon goal in accordance to that half. The idea was I would run a July or August half marathon then set my marathon goal as double plus 20 for goal A and double plus 30 for goal B.
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Races dry up here during the summer as it is the desert and we get really hot. That left me with 3 options the Bryce Canyon half, the Parowan half and or the one I ran last year the Washington County fair half. Well I scrapped the County fair one instantly as it was the poorest planned half I ever run as it was set up as a relay. The Parowan half was an inaugural last year and I heard some negative things about it like them running out of water. So I decided on the Bryce Canyon half.
I regretted this almost instantly as I had not looked into the logistics of it at all. I thought it was like the Parowan half which is an hour drive and starts at 8am meaning get up at 5 and hit the road by 6 easy piecy. No this half is a 2-2/12 hour drive with it starting at 6am and I have no clue how to get there.
So last week I started to look for a hotel room hoping I could still get one but the only rooms I could find were more than a $150 for one night. I really didn't want to spend that much for a race so I was still just thinking about riding up in the morning and leaving at like 3am to get there (which would have been a disaster).
Justin was doing it too and Tuesday he texted me asking me if I wanted to do some downhill warmups on marathon course for it Wednesday morning (Bryce Canyon is a fairly downhill race so we planned on running the most downhill portion of STG marathon from ledges to Bluff also it had a similar start to Bryce with the first mile being uphill then going into downhills). I had planned a mini taper for the week of 5-4-3 T-W-TH. He wanted to do 6-7 and I told him if I did it I would want to do 4-5. So we agreed on 5 (ended up being 5.4). So we go up on course and I think we ended up pushing each other and I ended up running the thing with a 8:08 pace way to quick during a taper week and he did it with a 7:52. So it ended up being a tempo run.
Well Justin ended up offering to let me sleep in their tents up there as they had rented a camp site. I figured this was a good idea as then I could drive up Friday after work and be right at the start line for the race.
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On Tuesday the summer cold hit our house (I got it, my wife got it and my son got it). I was mostly recovered by Friday but I was in that area where you are just worn out and really just need some sleep but then Friday the 13th came with lots of rain and during the middle of the night the AC unit went off in the computer room from all the lightening and power glitches heating the room up to 116. That meant I ended up at work several hours early on Friday still sick and now extra tired. I figured it would be ok as I could leave an hour early and go home and grab a nap before having to drive up.
So we get home and we are laying down (family nap time is awesome) and the power goes off at our house. This meant no nap for anyone so we decided to just go pick up dinner and I would leave at like 6:45. I am glad I decided to leave early too as the drive nearly made me want to drink. My phone needed to download an upgrade for my GPS so I figured I could download it on the way and pull over in Parowan and load my maps there. Well I get to Parowan to load my maps and whammo zero cellular service like nothing at all. So luckily I had loaded some google maps and decided to follow those.
Problem is driving with no voice GPS means you miss turns easily as I missed the turn off the freeway and had to backtrack down and was about to lose my mind. But in one of those small world moments my wife had found out that her boss at work was Justins sister in law and that she was too running the half. So I get a call as she called my wife for my work cell which is what I was using and they actually managed to guide me.
By the time I get there it is pitch black though and raining. We decide to just hang it in and go to bed as it is nearly 10pm now. I had brought two sleeping bags one to use for cushioning which honestly did nothing at all as we were sleeping on the ground in a tent. A couple hours in I decided too double up the second sleeping bag which helped a little but is very odd as your hips are lower than your back so it hard to get comfortable. So another night of miserable sleep and with a back that is killing me dang the ground is hard I am glad we have beds and mattresses.
We set out alarms for 4:30am which was ok as I was mostly awake anyways not having slept well at all. We do our morning business and head to the start line.
For the race I had three goals, A sub 2 hours, B pr and C if I was up to it shoot for sub 1:50. I had talked to them last night and was told the best strategy for the race was to go out at the pace you wanted for the first 2 miles as it is mostly uphill for the start and then try and bank time the next 5 miles as you have some steep downhills before getting 5 miles of rollers to finish the race. I went up and talked the 1:50 pacer and he actually stated that was what he was going to do. They planned to run the first 2 at 8:30 then sub 8 for the next 2 and then settling into a pace of 8-15-8:30 depending on where they were in the rollers.
I decided that was a good strategy and tucked in right behind them and said if I wasn't feeling it I would drop back with the 2 hour pacer. Well the first 2 miles hammered me, I am a notoriously slow starter and those 2 miles just hammered me. I let the pacers go somewhere in between miles 1 and 2 as I averaged an 8:36 for the first 2 miles. Justin passed me about a mile an half on his way to an awesome pr of 1:44xx 13 minutes faster than his February pr and 42 minutes faster than he ran Bryce in last year as his first half ever.
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Well just as you get to the top of the hill at mile 2 you see a sign that says %8 grade coming up. They weren't kidding about the downhills from miles 3 and 4 were they. So I just start flying down the hills and actually banking time like planned. Next thing I know my average pace has gone from a 8:36 to a 8:10 and there is the 1:50 pacers all over again.
At mile 3.5 I had one of my best moments ever. I have constantly got comments and accolades for being the former fatman running but never gotten many as a runner. Well this lady at mile 3.5 asks me hey you ran Dogtown half right I was trying to beat you the entire time and you just kept managing to stay in front of me and I could never catch you well I was determined to beat you next race. Made my entire race to get recognized as a runner not a former fatman (oh and I beat her by a minute today haha)
So I tuck back in behind the 1:50 pacers again as we take the next 3 less steep downhills. I wish I had looked at my watch at this point as I am sure I set a 10k pr as when i did look I was at 52:10 in 6.4 miles and my 10k pr is 51:11. I decided I didn't want to give back any of the time I had banked by walking the water stations. So I decided to run the water stations and man I think I spilled as much gatorade on myself as I actually managed to get in me but it was working and I was staying with the 1:50 pacers.
Well about mile 7 the downhills end and the rollers begin and this is when I first start feeling the effects of being sick all week and the lack of sleep the previous two days. My back is killing me from sleeping on the ground and I am like suck it up buttercup if you don't get a sub 2 half I will freaking stab you. I mean I could run 10 minute miles at this point and still get a sub 2. This is my thought process through much of the rest of the race. Shut up you run you sorry sack of sh!t run or I will beat you with a baseball bat.
I did decide there is no way I am going to make the pr if I don't allow myself to walk the water stations and I make the decision I am going to sacrifice my chance at the sub 1:50 for a pr instead. I am flagging a little and I just need that little boost and to get some gatorade in me rather than on me. So I decide from aid station 8 on that I will walk them and get some gatorade. I actually still keep the 1:50 pacer in sight until mile 9 but at this point I feel like I have been beat head to toe with a baseball bat.
At this point I think I ended up running the gutsiest 4 miles I have ever ran in my life. I was hurting, I was tired, I was flagging but by god and baby Jesus was I going to pr if it killed me. My thought process became a math problem to distract me from the pain I was in. It was ok I can run 11 minute miles and still run sub 2 and 10 minute miles and get a pr. Ok now I can run 12 minutes for sub 2 and 11 minutes for a pr. It was a constant math equation just to keep myself moving (oh and I never went much above the low 9's all the way in anyways).
The same lady I saw at 3.5 asks me where we are at 1:30 in as she wanted a sub 2 and I am like we could walk it at this point and still likely get a sub 2 we got 2.3 miles to go in 30 minutes.
Those last miles were me just gutting it out refusing to quit, refusing to not pr no matter how tired I was no matter how much I hurt. I wasn't going to walk eventually I got to the point where I am like listen here I don't care about a sub 2 I don't care about even a sub 1:55 your time is going to say something like 1:51 or I will beat you to death while you sleep now start picking it up and running faster you sorry sack of sh!t.
Finish time was 1:51:52 completely spent and but I still manged the last .1 in a 7:36.
I just walked around in a daze after that I was completely and utterly spent and then it began to rain in earnest and now I am shivering and cold and wet as we stayed around to cheer on the others of our group. Justin's father in law came in at 1:52 (he used to be a former high school teacher of mine another small world moment), his brother came in at 2:31 and then we waited for my wives boss who finished in 2:50 (I thought she did great as this was her first half and she wanted sub 3 as she had never run one in training faster than 3:15).
So we are all soaking wet and freezing cold and they have a hot tub on the camp site so we all went and soaked in the hot tub so awesome and then my friends father in law cooked us brunch before we drove home (didn't get home until 2pm).
I mean it was an awesome race and I don't think I could have done a single thing better than I did. For the conditions I think I may have run the best race I have ever run in my life and I gutted it out not letting myself quit when I wanted to. Plus I made smart decisions I think if I had tried to hold onto the sub 1:50 I would have ended up missing my pr I was still far enough ahead that I would have gotten a sub 2 but not the pr.
They tried talking me into parowan in 3 weeks not sure if I want to do it but it was so nice to go out there and run fast and I would like to see what another day brings me crap now I am contemplating it.
my splits
8:27
8:48 (the second uphill mile took a toll on me)
7:36 (start of the 2 steepest downhills)
7:51
8:13
8:06
8:22
8:38 (start of the rollers)
9:14 (first walked through aid station, I lost about 30 seconds a mile by walking through the aid stations and they were like 1.5 miles apart)
9:01
8:57
9:30 (toughest of the last rollers and my slowest mile of the day)
8:41 (told myself to suck it up buttercup you got a mile to go and you better get a 1:51xx)
last .1 7:36
Final time: 1:51:52 Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-47177721774338100392012-11-06T11:27:00.000-08:002012-11-06T11:27:52.456-08:00Sand Hollow Marathon, one of my worst races ever.I will start off with full disclosure as there somethings I haven't mentioned here not want to get all the derision that I know would come from mentioning these things.
I will also say this is a race I should have DNS or at worse DNF instead being too stubborn to admit defeat I finished it in agonizing pain.
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First with the disclosure when I ran my 21 miler 4 weeks prior to the ace I hit the stoplight about a mile from my house and had to wait for it to change to cross the street. I nearly passed out at the light I was so dehydrated when a massive dizzy spell hit me. So if anyone is wondering why I felt I needed to hydrated so much the last week before the marathon that was one of the main reasons. I lost 12 pounds in two days, got sunburnt and so massively dehydrated I nearly passed out from that single 21 mile run that I decided I needed to do something so it wouldn't happen again.
Then two weeks prior to the race I was struggling to finish 6 mile runs, three of them in a row in fact it took a massive toll on my confidence and had me severely questioning this marathon. I think it was my body's way of telling me it needs a break and that the marathon was not a good idea, I wish I had listened. I will not be running this week at all, I am going to listen to my body its been almost 2 1/2 years since I took an entire week off and I think I need it both physically and mentally.
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So I have been absolutely scared spitless about this race for weeks now, I never let on thinking I could just power through it but the marathon will humble you and I am very humble right now.
At 3am last night I woke with a massive cramp in my calf that hurt so bad I actually woke my wife when i scream out in pain. I got another one at 5am but managed not to wake my wife for that one. I really nearly bagged the race at that point but my pride got in the way and I still went ahead with it.
I woke up at 6am and did all my usual things, got some breakfast, used the facilities and made it out of the door just shortly before 6:40 which is perfect as the race started at 7:30. Got there around 7:10 and getting out of the car I was extremely stiff and nearly DNS one more time.
Funny thing is when the race started everything felt fantastic around mile 4 I had never felt so good in a race before. Since I was feeling so good I decided to go with plan A that was to run the easier half of the race in a 2:08 and then run the harder second half in a 2:14 walking most of the massive hill at mile 18 and just planning to lose that time and still come in with a 4:22 or a 10mm.
I noticed about mile 7 my nipples were killing me as I had not taped them. At the mile 9 aid station as I was walking away with my gatorade I saw they had Vaseline not wanting to go back I said perfect I will get some at mile 11. At mile 11 I stopped and applied some Vaseline to my very sore nipples by this time and I noticed when i tried to run from the aid station that my knee had locked up while I was applying the Vaseline.
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The ITBS in my right knee which hasn't bothered me since January was back in full force. It was ok at first when I ran but when i walked through the water stations it would hurt so bad. At mile 13 I got some more Vaseline and again from stopping my knee locked up again. It took me a minute to get going but I managed to finally get going again.
I was actually behind the pace I wanted at the half way point I think i was at 2:12 but I was fine with that I decided I wasn't going to try to make up time and instead just stick to the plan and just try and keep it around a 10mm and only walk the water stations.
At mile 15 I decided I would try some icy hot for my knee and some more Vaseline for my nipples. I was hurting quite a bit and it made my mind all fuzzy at first I tried to apply the icy hot with my gloves on. then I almost left my glove when I did remember to take it off.
This extended stop only made matters worse, mile 16 was beyond miserable I was all alone there was no one else around me and my knee was hurting quite horribly. This is the point where I decided I didn't care about a pr anymore and just wanted to finish, I had just endured 5 miles of torture and wanted something to show for it. This was also the first time I decided to walk (the 16 miles before taking a walk break is the single longest I have ever done). I actually was still on pace for like a 4:25 at this point and had been doing so fantastic.
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The next 2 miles were a mixture of gallowalking whenever my knee hurt. I stuck to the plan still walking up the massive hill wanting to conserve energy for the downhills at the end which might be the only reason I even managed to finish. It was about mile 18 I ran into Justin who had friended me on facebook this week as I post on our local running center and marathon facebook pages. We actually talked quite a bit and he told me how he had gone out too fast and how he had crashed and burned at STG last year finished in 6:16 and having to go to the medical tent for saline. He also ran Mesquite in 5:41 in November. I told him I would help him get to a sub 5 because at mile 19 even after walking the massive hill we were still on pace for like a 4:40 and could do like 11-12mm to the finish and still get a sub 5.
We actually did really good the next 3 miles all the way up to mile 21, we were talking and keeping a good pace. It was at mile 21 after we left the aid station I realized I could not run anymore my knee hurt so bad but I really wanted to finish and I didn't want to hold him back so I told him to go on ahead without me. Sadly he must have gone out too fast as I caught up with him at the mile 23 aid station and two runners were pouring water on his head and he had to bag it and take a ride back to the finish line. I wish he had just walked with me because we would have gotten him a pr walking.
Those last 5 miles were the single most agonizing miles of my entire life. But after 10 miles of pain dear god I wanted to finish. I walked the entire last 5 miles as my knee just wouldn't let me run at all. Every time I passed an aid station I kept thinking about bagging it and taking a ride to the finish like and just DNFing I hurt so bad. At mile 22 I was nearly in tears it hurt so bad but I kept plugging away I swear I checked the mileage every .05 the entire last 4 miles. Only 3.9 to go ok now only 3.85 to go now only 3.8.
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I finished but with a miserable time of 5:33:45 and I really wish I had just dnsed or even dnfed. I had to sit in my car for like 40 minutes before I could even drive home (my wife didn't come out since it was so far away and we only have the one car). When I got home my knee hurt so bad I couldn't even lift it to take my shoe off and my wife had to do it for me.
Feel free to deride me and call me stupid, this is who I am, sometimes I wish it could be different but that's who I am. If you ever wonder how I lost 220 pounds, that is how I am too stupid and too stubborn to know when to quit. I am an all or in person, I give it my all if I fail I fail there will always be tomorrow and tomorrow I will succeed. I still plan on training to try and run a sub 4 for STG in October using Hudson.
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I have never been so humble in my life. Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-60105851814891337932012-11-06T11:03:00.000-08:002012-11-06T11:03:57.224-08:00Saint George Half Marathon 2012, the end of my pr streak.Up until this race I had run 16 consecutive prs (I threw out a 5k on a short course and the Hostess half as that was a unique course eating twinkies). This was one of those tough races where you find yourself humbled and realize all streak must end sometime. The Saint George half marathon was is like %75 uphill and raining and just not a friendly course, this course chewed me up and spit me out. Normally I would go through the details first but I am going to jump to the end of the race instead and the best thing about running it first.
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If you remember my race report from last year I suffered massive muscle spasms and cramps and waited in line for over an hour to get a massage. So after sticking around and getting my official time (miserable 2:06:08 but more on that later) I look over and the massage tent doesn't have a line. So I am like sweet I am so going to get a massage even though I wasn't really cramping or any pain (my knee did not hurt the entire race). One benefit of it raining no lines for the free massages.
The Chiropractor, I found out that he is a Doctor and a Sports Chiropractor that specializes in athletes and runners asks me what area I'd like to focus on. I tell him my it band has been acting up and I like to do my legs mostly. So he starts the massage and then asks me after a little while if I have lost some weight. I tell him that I have lost 220 pounds and he lets me know that I have a hip imbalance. He explains that because my body was so used to carrying so much extra weight (remember I went from a size 58 pant to a 36 that's nearly 2 feet of less belly I have now) that my pelvis is having to realign to adjust to not carrying so much weight which is what is causing my it bands to hurt.
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He then explained how the it band starts in the hips and runs through the knees and because my pelvis is realigning that is why I have a hip imbalance and what is causing my it bands to hurt. He told me I should do some hip strengthening and lateral exercises to help it out.
This explains why all conventional wisdom on it bands has not worked on me because I am not having them because of conventional reasons but because I lost so much weight. This is why the it strap didn't work for me and actually made it worse and why the back massager works really well for me (he told me that and my foam roller are great ways to alleviate the tension as my pelvis realigns). This also explains why my left it band just magically seemed to get better because my pelvis was done realigning for the time being. If you remember when my right it band started hurting 3 weeks ago it started hurting in my hip first then my knee started to hurt. So now I know what is wrong and my insurance kicks in next month and I am so going back to this doctor.
Ok on with the rest of race report. If you remember from last year I almost missed the start of the race because of traffic getting there and then having to run into cracker barrel to throw my wallet at my wife (she no longer goes to races with me alas). So this year I decided to leave a little early and in my rush to get out of the house earlier I took my ipod but not my headphones so this would be my first half sans music (I have done a 5k and a 10k sans). It was raining really hard this morning. In Saint George and the desert we get two kinds of rain the torrential downpour that last for like 30 minutes max or the steady constant drizzle that can go on for hours. It was doing the torrential this morning but during the race it switched the constant drizzle.
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Get to the race and just chill in my car as its cold and raining. Am torn if I want to wear my hoodie or not with it being cold and rainy outside. I decide to wear it and ditch at an aid station so I get out and go walk around for like 30 minutes just to stretch my legs as I don't want to do a conventional warmup not knowing how my knee is going to go and add extra miles onto it. I decide just before the race starts that I have regretted having the hoodie the last two races and go drop it off in my car and exchange it for my beanie instead which can be stashed in my pocket.
I line up with the 1:50 pacer and check that she is going to be doing a 8:25 pace, I lost her long before we hit mile 1. This is the largest half marathon in Southern Utah and there was like 2000-3000 runners which meant we went out slow and at one point the 1:50 pacer took off to get up too pace and there was too many people in front of me to even try and keep with her but I wasn't feeling it anyways and a 9mm was about all I had in me today.
The first 7 miles were all uphill, then you got a few small downhills then the last 6 miles were either flat or with a slight uphill. The course just chewed me up and spit me out. Keep in mind because of my knee issues I haven't had a quality run in since the first of the year. I know you don't lose a lot of fitness in 2-3 weeks but couple that with the fact that the course was brutal and I just could never get moving very well.
At the first aid station the 1:55 pacer paced me, I tried to catch up to him but I just didn't have it in me so I just let him go and was trying to stay in front of the 2 hour pacer. Also around mile 3 I got passed by two clowns, one with a bright rainbow colored wig, which is worse getting beat by a 13 year old or a clown? The hills were just beating me up at this point it was around mile 5 that the 2:00 pacer caught up with me. I hear him commenting to his other pacer that they are a minute ahead of pace so the runners must just love running hills. I wanted to beat him with a stick.
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I stayed with him for a little while but mile 6 had the worst hill of the race and I just kind of lost him. Now not running with music is very very interesting like sometimes I worried some runners were going to hyperventilate they were breathing so heavy. And some of the snip-its of conversations you hear is quite fun.
After mile 7 you get one nice downhill then the rest is kind of flat or a much smaller incline at this point I am just done and beat up. If this was one of my long runs I might have just called it quits as I was completely trashed at this point, soaked and wet and completely miserable. It was at this point I wish I had some music to take my mind off the miserable weather. But I just kept going knowing there is no way I am going to pr or even get another sub 2 my goal just became to not get passed by the 2:05 pacer (I didn't see him so I don't know if he fell of pace as I finished 2:06:08).
No kick at the finish but my knee didn't hurt the entire time so I am going to be grateful for that. I ran a better race stopping to eat twinkies ever couple of miles just last month.
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I feel very humbled right now, which is funny as I ran this race last year in 2:20:20 on a much easier course. But I am glad I know what is going on with my it bands know and it totally made the race worth it.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-69934363261699501452011-12-22T10:29:00.000-08:002011-12-22T10:38:33.143-08:00Hostess Half Marathon RR or holy crap I almost ran a sub 2 with 5 twinkies in my stomach and some powder sugar drool on my chinOn a whim I decided to the Hostess Half Marathon put on by a local runner. He likes to run a half or a full every month (been doing so for something like 2+ years now) and since there was no halves in December he created his own along with his love of Hostess products. The rules were you had to consume one hostess product at every aid station (there was 5) and then try and not throw up as you ran 13.1 miles (although there was an award for the person who threw up the most). <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3xW2NSF6_oHkuNT29o6d6i4ErUXRq0BogMTcCH8JOsYHs6UY1mg2vfeX15GiDW42eUoKta0LghXP1G-89PFD_7vslw8WF9QyQXH-jppy5jKv8EBGKQZhHRC_6Hen5QLL4W8j2Gc5ntRu/s1600/Running+Group.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3xW2NSF6_oHkuNT29o6d6i4ErUXRq0BogMTcCH8JOsYHs6UY1mg2vfeX15GiDW42eUoKta0LghXP1G-89PFD_7vslw8WF9QyQXH-jppy5jKv8EBGKQZhHRC_6Hen5QLL4W8j2Gc5ntRu/s320/Running+Group.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689022790301363218" /></a><br /><br />Sounds like fun and just craziness something to get away from the seriousness and uber competitive nature I find myself in all the time when I run. I went Christmas shopping for my wife with my sister who is down from Canada afterwords and she actually called me uber competitive in an unrelated story. I guess they have been watching the Biggest Loser and her husband came up with the idea of if you went on you would have a family member as your trainer and said he would like me as his trainer. My sister laughed at him and said I would be meaner that Dolvett because of my uber competitive nature so haha.<br /><br />I actually had not even treated this race as like a pr race or a big calendar race at all and was just going to have fun with it and treat it more like a long easy run (my competitive nature totally nixed that come race morning but more on that later). I had done some speed work on Wendesday and did no taper at all for the race so my legs were a little wooden this morning for well over 3-4 miles.<br /><br />I got up at 6:30am and headed out to Hurricane for the race around 7:20 as its a half hour drive. And boy was it bloody cold again this morning (28 degrees at race start and 39 and the finish). So now I am faced with the darn hoodie dilema again but decided to take the advice that was given here and wear it for the first few miles then tie it around my waist. <br /><br />The first few miles were crap for me (looking at my splits on my garmin all my worst half mile splits came in the first 4 miles and after that I hit and maintained a steady 9-9:30 pace all the way to the finish after the first 4 miles). I had that foot asleep problem again because of how cold it is as well. It feels like your feet are asleep because of how cold it is and is an odd feeling to run on.<br /><br />Aid station 1 comes up and I glance over the table of hostess products and decide on one of the little powdered sugar donuts as they seem the smallest. Tie my hoodie around my waist and take off once more. Somewhere between aid station 1 and 2 a chick passes me and gives me the thumbs up as she passes me it at this point I am still struggling to warm up and am really really grumpy about my race as it is not going well at all at this point and the thumbs up just made me so mad for some reason. Like kicking dirt on a wounded man, haha I am passing you and also giving you the thumbs up, I know it was just a good gestured thing but I was severly grumpy at the time at how bad my race was going. After that it became my goal to beat this lady if it killed me. She actually commented to me afterwords that I really pushed her the whole race and she ran a great race because of it.<br /><br />The hoodie tied around my waist was also driving me crazy as I had to keep pulling it tight time and time again (I wouldn't think to knot it until like mile 10 so I didn't have to fight it) and trust me tightening a hoodie on your stomach with a belly full of processed sugar is not fun.<br /><br />About mile 4 we come out of the shadows of the hills and actually got some sun and I finally seem to warm up at hit my strides.<br /><br />Aid station 2 I grab another sugar donut thinking they are small and start my game of leap frog at the aid station with the lady who passed me. She took longer to eat her hostess products than me but was running slightly faster than me so I would hold her off as long as I could between aid stations then shoot past her at the aid stations. I decide to drop off my hoodie at aid station 2 that way at least I can be without it for 4 miles as its an out and back course. <br /><br />Me and clothes are a weird thing because I was so big at times and how hard it was to get clothes I am like a hoarder when it comes ot them as I had so little of them at times. Heck I still have all my fatman clothes in boxes in the closet. So I don't like loosing clothes and it was hard for to me to leave my hoodie at the aid station but I was tired of tieing it and this decision would cost me later on.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiWiGZnsmxnX7YMeAMWC_8gwNGrC_AayyTqHdoZfw3Tbf82L8p9Gf1wmyxdwGVYf1lluCCaH-dEqigN5awGWbnfOroa-cB08mqTNY8urCKVu2vKGxBhdd2_tfP15YtXfeDo6A8AelNXmV/s1600/Food.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeiWiGZnsmxnX7YMeAMWC_8gwNGrC_AayyTqHdoZfw3Tbf82L8p9Gf1wmyxdwGVYf1lluCCaH-dEqigN5awGWbnfOroa-cB08mqTNY8urCKVu2vKGxBhdd2_tfP15YtXfeDo6A8AelNXmV/s320/Food.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689022882422274514" /></a><br /><br />Aid station 3 I decide to go with a twinkie because if you have never run with a powdered donut you would never know that the powdered sugar sticks in your throat and it becomes so nasty after awhile. The twinkie wasn't much better either but at least no powdered sugar clogging my airways.<br /><br />Aid station 4 I am thinking I will go with one of those chocalate donuts because man that twinkie did not go well. But since this is an out and back and the leaders have already gone by as well as most of the stragglers all the tiny little donuts are gone. Crap you mean I got to eat another twinkie or something else. I decide to go with one of those hostess cupcakes not to bad but man they are big. Funny as I am choking down my cupcake someone started asking what all the calories were on everything and the cupcake was 200 calories and the twinkies only 150 crap I should have gone with a zinger maybe.<br /><br />Take off and got a good lead on the lady again then about a quarter mile out I realize I forgot my hoodie at the aid station so back I go to collect my hoodie. They laugh at me why I am running back to them gran my hoodie and tie it back on (alas I wouldn't think to knot it for like 3 more miles). This wasn't bad because the course was short and my detour actually made it a full half marathon for me at least where had I not detoured it would have been .4 of a mile short. At this point the lady has got a good lead on me but I am doing everything I can to cut that lead determined to beat her (uber competitve me).<br /><br />As I pull into aid station 5 she is just leaving. The volunteer laughs at me when I grimace at eating another hostess product. I go with a sugar powdered donut because I don't think I can take an other twinkie or cupcake as they are so darn big. <br /><br />After that its just me trying to cut the lead of the lady in front of me. Trying to close on her, I never caught her in the end but I did give her a good run for her money thats for sure.<br /><br />12 miles in its like I got a brick in my stomach ughhh a couple burps weren't very pretty and could have gone the wrong way for sure.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacMgbn7mtCZqDv-4_hflz97VV6-3s7dKSSMLE09DD4nDuieG1k5melctHGvFUPu2TtoouJsWxNhN0MXZU-XB8kyNazqQpYpLT_UR23cKqA6-rkBHojXsnyJQmGKcP9hBChVBShNLe4jOm/s1600/Medal.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgacMgbn7mtCZqDv-4_hflz97VV6-3s7dKSSMLE09DD4nDuieG1k5melctHGvFUPu2TtoouJsWxNhN0MXZU-XB8kyNazqQpYpLT_UR23cKqA6-rkBHojXsnyJQmGKcP9hBChVBShNLe4jOm/s320/Medal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689022954051829090" /></a><br /><br />I finished in 2:01:41 which amazingly enough would have been a pr back in November before I ran my 1:55xx at Snow Canyon. My worst half mile split for the entire race were 2.5-3.0 and 3.0-3,5 (10:09 and 10:18) and the only time I ran over a 10mm the entire race, hence me being so grumpy. In comparison I ran a 9:00 at mile 11-11.5 and a 9:05 from 11.5-12 talk about finishing strong even with a belly full of hostess products. <br /><br />I then went shopping with my sister and got some real food in me (we went to Chilis for lunch and I had their salad and soup). I liked the race and would totally do it again but just make sure I take the chocolate donuts next time. One crazy fool had 12 hostess products (you got an award for eating the most) I was happy with my bare minimum I didn't need anymore flair.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-77376184181408780082011-12-22T10:26:00.001-08:002011-12-22T10:29:24.539-08:00Snow Canyon Half MarathonThe short of it I ran Snow Canyon half marathon in the brutal freezing cold this morning in 1:55:31 smashing and shattering my pr from August by 13:16 and beating my time on the same course in a years time of racing by 35:04. The 8:49 mm I ran would equal to a 27:20 5k very close to the best 5k race I have ever run (so time to do a new 5k starting next Saturday :) ).<br /><br />Now the long of it, somedays I think put a lot of pressure on myself to pr in every race and up this point it has actually worked very well. I have pred or auto pred in every race I have done going 14 for 14 now. So while the half marathon distance no longer scares me (it is still my favorite race to run) I still was feeling the pressure of pring and getting my goal of a sub 2. I was worried I didn't get enough sleep Thursday or Friday as I only got around 6 and half hours each day and I always put myself in a little of a tizzy prerace. But I felt good as I have been runnning lots of intervals the last few weeks (twice a week) to go for my goal half here.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW7SQB69KdgVLRJuzoOKI-Hc3dFYNA22mw0z8j0C8p3cc6XM1F1U0TvFxYMb7S6bxCZmLdE6rRaME7HXYdABhYCNn1H-7OGmYurOszUE3zA6X1tEgUfo3GJGBCpKH4FRf8524wTp79UOC/s1600/3db7013b-83c2-4114-83b7-6e419fbab124.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW7SQB69KdgVLRJuzoOKI-Hc3dFYNA22mw0z8j0C8p3cc6XM1F1U0TvFxYMb7S6bxCZmLdE6rRaME7HXYdABhYCNn1H-7OGmYurOszUE3zA6X1tEgUfo3GJGBCpKH4FRf8524wTp79UOC/s320/3db7013b-83c2-4114-83b7-6e419fbab124.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689021037665736082" /></a><br /><br />I have also been looking forward to this half since January when I beat my time on a different half by more than 10 minutes on a much harder course. This half was the very first half I ever ran completely untrained on 5 weeks training with two 10's and one 8 as my longs and a week lost because of the flu. So I have been wanting to run this race so very bad for nearly a year now so just some added pressure there too.<br /><br />I went and got my packet after work on Friday and as I am walking in the door someone commented that they see me running all the time in the neighborhood and how much weight I have loss and how much of an inspiration I am. I somehow evidently became the poster child for weight loss in Southern Utah as I seem to get these comments at least once a week if not more. Nothing too exciting happened at the expo and packet pickup, just walked around got my packet picked up some race brochures for ones I want to run and bought a cliff shot for the race.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8vGlk6whALjFcFjEzWds5Y2o3TBAC4VojN_b4va8Ua_RVccHCYZocbDjj1ZPFhboojqxLdKwJ4XoxlmNI0VO7lEJcFoVwGzDde8FNAhu4RuZ_ylBybid6oAehI8mHJ3XvWMAsRTHfh6C/s1600/51e56c42-c427-4a31-b85d-7a205be955cf.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_8vGlk6whALjFcFjEzWds5Y2o3TBAC4VojN_b4va8Ua_RVccHCYZocbDjj1ZPFhboojqxLdKwJ4XoxlmNI0VO7lEJcFoVwGzDde8FNAhu4RuZ_ylBybid6oAehI8mHJ3XvWMAsRTHfh6C/s320/51e56c42-c427-4a31-b85d-7a205be955cf.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689021107350843362" /></a><br /><br />Got home and got a good nights sleep even if it wasn't the 8 hours I'd like. Since the half no longer scares me I don't find myself waking up hours before the race anymore so excited and nervous. Got my normal premorning breakfast on (a banana, handful of peanuts) and headed out the door to the freezing cold. I had a throw away shirt again, my gloves and my beanie and I needed them all. It was freezing and a very cold wind was blowing through (it was in the high 20's/low 30's). I was glad it stopped raining in the middle of the night but it was still very cold.<br /><br />The busses to the start didn't leave until everyone was loaded as it was even colder at the start and they wanted to let us sit on the busses as long as possible. Now had I known this I would have picked a different seat, I took a seat with the darn tire wheel cover on it sticking up meaning I was sitting at a weird angle for a very long time. Plus we had to be 2-3 to a seat because they weren't making multiple trips. This meant by the time we got the start I was a little stiff from the odd angle I had to sit at. Got to the start and their is snow on the ground, there should never be snow on the ground for the start of a race brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Walked to the portapotties and was glad I got on the first bus because of how late they took us up there wasn't much time before the race started.<br /><br />Lined up close to the front but not at the very front as I didn't want to weave too much in the beginning. And it always surprises me some of the people who line up at the front, like a lady I talked to in the lines for the portapotties who told me she was walking the entire thing was right up there in the front. The gun goes off and I am so glad to be moving finally. About 500 feet in almost have a head on collision with the moron picture takers who for some odd reason are walking right into the start of the race.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYXwY6eYSNYdFVbjDfchm2oUuepwfldIB95f9pE4XeeYSoVWKCgBEaIfAuxYnF51pg3UGID_NbqiHcQvtnw8Rh8RTlumeCcIO9h5gg8NEFwRMSWYIzXVspM3zbwcgygVxaVk93xNQChm3/s1600/68a8ad2d-bbc1-44d7-8f00-28969c648462.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYXwY6eYSNYdFVbjDfchm2oUuepwfldIB95f9pE4XeeYSoVWKCgBEaIfAuxYnF51pg3UGID_NbqiHcQvtnw8Rh8RTlumeCcIO9h5gg8NEFwRMSWYIzXVspM3zbwcgygVxaVk93xNQChm3/s320/68a8ad2d-bbc1-44d7-8f00-28969c648462.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689021206195305122" /></a><br /><br />The first mile might have been on of the toughest I have ever run, because I was so cold my foot felt like it was asleep. You know that tingly sensation you get right when it wakes up that is what my foot felt like. Took all my will power to not stop and walk. Hit mile 1 in 8:32 which is absolutly perfect as I wanted to run 8:30-845 most miles as I planned to walk the water stations and those miles would be perfect for the sub 2 finish I wanted with the water station walking.<br /><br /> I finally warm up sometime between mile one and two and decide its time to ditch my throw away. As I am taking off my shirt my beanie comes off my head and I am like that's ok I will stuff it in my pocket. Throw my shirt to the side of the road and continue to run then I go to stuff my beanie in my pocket and realize its gone. Oh crap, I can't leave my beanie because it was a birthday present from my wife. A pr is cool but a birthday present from your wife is more important. So I turn around and start running in the other direction. I check to see if its in my shirt and its not, then I decide I got to just continue running back up the course tell I find it. Luckily I find it in the middle of the road and stuff it in my pocket glad I found it. I probably wasted a minute right there but somethings are more important. I hit mile 2 at 17:50 and realize yep I lost sometime as mile 2 is probably one of the few if not the only mile I run slower than 9mm but I can live with a 9;20 knowing I got some fast miles coming up.<br /><br />I continue to hit my 8:45 miles and take my first water station walk at mile 4. I am doing really good and feeling great so much better than last year. At mile 6 I followed a very nice looking lady for nearly a mile and the Klown will be happy to know I was not looking at her swing pony tail at all but other things .<br /><br />Also about mile 7 and the next water station I have a guy say to me hey didn't you run this race last year (going to need to look him up he was bib # 51) and weren't you heavier. I was like yea that was me, and he tells me that we passed each other a lot around those miles playing leap frog for quite a ways. I actually ended up talking to him off an on tell nearly mile 10. Which was cool because I commented you must be a lot faster this year as we are well under a 2 hour pace and he told me his time last year was 2:18 and that he wanted to run it this year in 1:54 as he is 54 (sadly he didn't get that time I am sure).<br /><br />So we pushed each other for the next 3-4 miles and I kept clocking sub 9 minute miles one after another. We were on pace for the 1:54 tell right after mile 10 and he was like you go on I gotta walk and then I never saw him again sadly. It was around mile 10 I realized sub 2 was in the bank, I don't know if you have ever felt that euphoria knowing you have got your goal beat with miles to go and just seeing how much you can beat it by at that point. I came in to mile 10 around 1:26-27 or so so I knew I had around 33-34 minutes to run the last 5k which I was confident I could do (ran them in 27-28 in fact).<br /><br />I really felt like a runner I mean a good runner that was reaching their full pontential at this point. There was hardly anyone stopping to walk and it felt like I was with some of the faster people and not so low on the totem pole plus I was picking off people left and right. That felt great to just be picking off runner after runner in the last 5k of a half marathon and with almost no one passing me (I probably passed several hundred the last 5k and got passed by maybe 10 or so).<br /><br />When I hit mile 11 and my watch was showing 1:36 its like holy crikey I got 22 minutes to do the last 2.1 miles then you hit mile 12 and it shows 1:45 and your like wow now I got 15 minutes for the last 1.1 miles. I mean it is such a great feeling and at that point I just embraced the pain cave and was like let see how much I can shatter my goal by and how many people I can pass. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIc04Gu0Wvp7CZzHjAuuYfNhr6bA84iHu9KsOMHFqDjGUQEvbp8OYxr7ssZVUL6TV8B9i_VQ6wrOdX1UnEDKROp8RRKXLaQknXwHOPJ7RKAGhHrA7_sxGu5vGVgK1Nr5aqmFmO3q415NP0/s1600/e9f498bd-fed6-4f83-ab8e-2145702b6700.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIc04Gu0Wvp7CZzHjAuuYfNhr6bA84iHu9KsOMHFqDjGUQEvbp8OYxr7ssZVUL6TV8B9i_VQ6wrOdX1UnEDKROp8RRKXLaQknXwHOPJ7RKAGhHrA7_sxGu5vGVgK1Nr5aqmFmO3q415NP0/s320/e9f498bd-fed6-4f83-ab8e-2145702b6700.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5689021312511504178" /></a><br /><br />Best race I have ever run (even with losing a minute to go find my beanie and the freezing cold), I raised my hands in triumpth as I crossed the finish line having shattered every goal I set out for. This race is the closest I think I have ever run to my full current pontential in the 14 races I have done and I think it might be hard to beat for a little bit and my stop my streak of pr's the next time I run a half. Despite the comedy of errors and the bitter cold I ran my single best race ever and it's an amazing feeling.<br /><br />Stuck around and cheered on the late finishers as I had a coworker who ran it and I wanted to cheer her on. But it was so cold and at around 2:40 on the clock I gave up as I was freezing and needed to get out of the cold even though I hadn't seen my coworker yet (she said she hoped for sub 3 but not sure if I missed her or if she just hadn't finished yet).<br /><br />SO I AM SUB 2 BABYPatrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-27763310386123609342011-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:002011-12-22T10:25:48.018-08:00Run Run Reindeer new 10k pr.Just like Tebow who all he does is win<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXkYTQxS38s all I do is pr wheeeeeeee<br /><br />The short of it, holy crap it was cold I mean like dear lord cold, hard course and finish time of 51:11 (first in my AG although there was only 4 people on my AG).<br /><br />The long of it, I had been a little worried about this race because I started to ramp my base for 2012 this week and did two days of hill repeats with the increased mileage as well. I took it easy on my Thursday run though lowering my pace to closer to 10mm versus the 9mm I had been running lately as my easy pace and nixed the hill repeats and then took Friday off. Even with the easy day on Thursday and the day off on Friday my calves were sore Friday and a little this morning too. <br /><br />It was a race day packet pickup with the race scheduled at 9:15am. So sadly it meant I had to get up at 7am ~internal groan~ as I was still tired from last weeks Black Friday craziness and a long work week and increased miles. I crashed hard Thursday night and was sound asleep before 10pm which meant I wasn't as tired Friday meaning I didn't fall alseep tell midnight. A couple snoozes later and I was up and ready to go. I got out of the house at 8pm and got a mile from my house before realizing I forgot my toy. It was a toys for tots race and along with your race fee you were supposed to bring a toy. So I swung back and picked up my toy to donate.<br /><br />Got there around 8:25 and picked up my bib and it was freezing arse cold. I mean it was probably on 28-30 degrees but there was this bitter bitter cold wind blowing that just chilled you to the bone and froze you to death. I have found since I lost all the weight that I freeze somedays and just can't get warm (only time i ever miss my fat). So I decided to go pin my bib in the car as I am too cold to want to stay outside for 45 minutes. Funny thing is they only gave me 3 safety pins and one broke but being a runner I have extra pins in my car which made me laugh. I also got bib 55 which made me smile as I was like ok gotta run faster than my bib number.<br /><br />I pin the bib to my shirt under my hoodie planning to do my normal ditch the hoodie in the car prerace. But when I get out of the car at 8:45 and I am just shivering I change my mind and decide to pin my bib to my hoodie and wear the hoodie for the race. I have never ever run with my hoodie normally I warm up on my runs and I sweat a lot so I never worry about such things. I usually just run with gloves and a beanie and ditch the beanie a couple miles in when I warm up. Just before the start of the race I start thinking maybe I should pin the bib to my shorts instead in case I want to take my hoodie off but by that time its too late to make another change. <br /><br />It's one of those moments when you start running you are so glad to be running. You are so cold it feels so good to finally start moving. My shoelace came untied like a quarter mile in and I had another one of those runner moments as I had double tied them having learned my lesson in my first 5k to always double time them so you don't waste time retying them. So I ran with the shoelace loose the entire race. Which is funny as this older gentleman who ran with me almost the entire race commented that my shoelace was untied like 2 miles in. I did kick it the last mile and beat him by like 30 seconds though.<br /><br />I again had that your foot feels asleep for the first mile moment again i was so cold. It almost feels like running on extra cushion or a foot that is all puffed up. I admit I went out way too fast the first mile as it felt so good to be finally running and the first and last miles were the only downhills in the course the rest was bloody and relentlessly uphill. I hit mile 1 with a 7:13 time and I was SOB where was that mile time for the first mile 2 weeks ago when I ran my 5k. I am always a little of slow starter and really kick it into gear like miles 3 and 4 normally on my runs. It actually wasn't hard to ease back after this because after the first mile the next 4 were relentlessly uphill<br /><br /><br />It was at about mile 2 I got really hot and so wanted to take off my hoodie but because of my bib I could not. So I ditched my beanie instead and that helped a little but I was sweltering the rest of the race.<br /><br />The course was kind of boring it was what I would call a typical incity suburb run. It was all pretty much done in neighborhoods and since there was only like 40 10kers for the race it was me and the older gentleman and lady I got chicked by as she really flew from miles 4 on. Mile 2 was my mirage moment I thought I saw the water station ahead of me and it kept getting further and further away then I realized it was runners ahead of me I was seeing. Also I saw a guy that made me think of these forums at mile 4 too. I hadn't seen him all race and he comes up on me at mile 4 and passes me and then proceeded to beat me by 2 full minutes. He had one heck of a negative split for the race easily running the second 5k way faster than the first 5k. <br /><br />Mile 4 was the toughest for me as it had the steepest climbs and at this point I am like dear lord do these hills ever end. I had looked at the elevation chart and knew we had a little of dropoff at the end and I kept looking for that dropoff like darn hills please end.<br /><br />Once I did hit that downhill stretch I took off and this is where I lost the older gentleman (who had a pretty good time for a 54 year old I think like 52:xx so he beat his age in the 10k). Passed a single 5ker on my way to the finish as they were mostly done.<br /><br />Got my pr by over 8 minutes and was a little disappointed I didn't get the sub 50 I wanted but the course just beat me up. I had a chance around mile 4 or so when I hit mile 4 at like 34 minutes and knew if I cranked out sub 8 minute miles (gotta make up for the .2 at the end) I could get it but I just didn't have that kick at mile 4 and that is where the worst hills were.<br /><br />Happy with my 51:11 though, loaded up on donuts and ice cream haha I also won a $25 gift certificate to the local sports store and as I was leaving the guy asked me if I had won anything and I told him the gift certificate. He said well here you go you won these too because the person didn't pick them up so I also got a pair of reindeer sports socks (who knew they made reindeer sports socks).<br /><br />Ok I may do the hostess half marathon in 2 weeks for pure fun (you have to eat a hostess product at every aid station to earn a medal) and if I do that may end my pr streak as I would do it more for fun but I am now 16 for 16 on prs in races. I like the 10 distance this is only my 2nd one and the first was when i was struggling with ITBS my next one will be in March.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-56387853795561793452011-12-22T10:23:00.000-08:002011-12-22T10:24:22.723-08:00Turkey Trot new 5k PRThe short of it, I ran 23:05 good enough to beat my race day pr by 3:11 and beat my pb by 12 seconds. This actually was the first race I ever ran sub 30 coming in with a 29:49 last year.<br /><br />I forgot how much I hated this 5k in a years time though and the only reason it seems I sign up for it as its so cheap and close to home. Last year it was just 3 cans of food, this year 3 cans of food and $5. I think I need to swear it off next year as it is easily my least favorite 5k I have done. <br /><br />This is only the second race I have ever done more than once (the first being the Snow Canyon half I ran 3 weeks ago) so I was at least familar with the course. And I like that it is a STG race meaning it is measured accuratly something that wasn't done last week.<br /><br />My son didn't want to go to sleep Thursday night probably because of all the excitement and the Tebowmania that was going on in the house (yes I am finally sold on Tebow and asked the wife to get me a Tebow jersey for Christmas). Lots of screaming at the tv was to be had and a riled up 2 year old who wouldn't go to bed tell almost 12:30. So I got less than 6 hours of sleep all night and was so tired at work Friday. This did mean I went to bed early on Friday and got a nice 9 and half hours of sleep being so exhausted from the previous day. <br /><br />Woke up around 7:30 and had the usual morning breakfast, banana some peanuts and leftovers from the fridge (spaghetti pie). Left the house around 8:30 and got to the race just a little before 9. Signed up and then chilled while I waited for the start. I realized on the drive over I had forgot my ipod but was ok with that as I wanted to set a pr and honestly a 5k is less than 25 minutes I can run easily without music for that short of time.<br /><br />Met up with my usual stalker lady from my local races (not sure if its me stalking her or if she is stalking me) that I see in almost every 5k I do as well as a few halves and the one 12k. We talk for a bit and she tells me she is not going for a time. It seems so odd a year ago she smoked me at a 5k when I flamed out the last mile and had a 31:xx and now I am beating her by 14 minutes (stayed around and cheered her at the finish and she came in at 37:xx).<br /><br />They announce for us to line up and they are doing a 5k and fun run 1miler and they are both starting at the same time. This means the entire front of the lineup was all kids running the mile. Inner groan goes off but I know most kids will flame out soon enough and I can get past the mob soon enough. Sure enough I did pass every kid before we hit their half mile turn around.<br /><br />This is an out and back course and about a half mile in you hit the area that makes me hate this 5k so much. It's a farmers dirt track road for a half mile (and of course a half mile on the way back too) that just makes my shins ache running on it. I am city runner all streets and sidewalks for me I hate trails and dirt tracks. I just never seem to be able to kick it up on these dirt tracks and I know that while a pr is going to be in the bag I am going to have to kick butt on the rest of the race to insure a pb as well.<br /><br />I am so glad when get back to the street just before the mile marker and I notch it up a little. I clocked a 7:45 mile for the first mile a little slower than I wanted to go. The first mile would actually be my slowest mile of the day as I would end up averaging a 7:26 pace for the day. Being back in the city streets I kick up the second mile to a 7:30 and come in to the 2mile mark at 15:16. Still a little slower than what I want to be knowing I have to deal with the darn dirt track once more.<br /><br />When I hit the dirt track just shortly after mile 2 I so wanted to walk, I really hate that thing and it just makes my shins scream. But I deny that urge really wanting to run my first 5k without any walk breaks (I can't count last week as it was not a full 5k and I actually did stop for 15-30 seconds at the water station trying to see if I needed to turn around). I am glad the galloway walk thing is behind me as I also didn't walk at all in my half three weeks ago.<br /><br />Once we get back on the road again with half a mile to go I decide to take off once more. That whole half mile I could hear the guy behind me urging someone else on. It was almost like a drill seargeant screaming at me the whole time. And I am kicking it up a notch to not let this guy pass me or whoever he is urging on either. I think we might have kicked it up several notches that last half mile stretch and it was easily the fastest half mile stretch I ran all day. Sadly he did catch me just before the 3 mile mark but I held off the person he was urging on it seems he left her to finish strong himself. Saw her cross the line and she looked to be about 12, cmon ya gotta let the 12 year old beat ya if your pushing them (not me I am glad I beat her). That guy trying to pass me easily made me run what had to be less that a 7mm pace the entire way to the finish I just didn't want to let him pass me so I kept kicking it up.<br /><br />So I got my new shiny pr and pb which is good as I have no 5ks in sight tell at least March or May (next 3 races are a 10k in 2 weeks, a half in January and a half in February). I thought I ran a much better race last week which sucks as they didn't measure it right. If I run this race again next year it will be because I forgot once more how much I hate that dirt farmers road and only look at the price again. You gotta take what you can get and a pr is always nice when you have to fight for it. <br /><br />I did a 5k cool down when I got home to get my miles for the day and yea the second 5k was much harder than last weeks second 5k. Felt like I was dragging wooden legs the entire time.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-29202869163282665452011-12-22T08:24:00.000-08:002011-12-22T10:22:16.239-08:00Saint George MatathonThe short of it oh dear lord I thought I had the electrolyte issue down but the last 6 miles taught me otherwise. Best thing on the day was my smiling son's face at the finish line so happy to see me (I didn't get to see him at all yesterday because for the short time I was home he was napping). Best sign I saw of all the signs was a little 8 year old girl holding a sign somewhere between miles 23 and 24 that said "you're not almost there" made me laugh and smile. Time should be somewhere around 4:58 or so as I forgot to start my watch and stop it and it read 4:58, the clock said 5:07 but it took us more than 9 minutes to get across the start line, so I got my sub 5. Oh and the heat hammered me I didn't expect that what moron dressed me all in black today oh that's right it was me. Final time ended up being 4:58:55.<br /><br />The long of it stick with me here.<br /><br />Strangest thing yesterday and today is I never really got nervous, I had this manic energy about me all day yesterday but I never got nervous. I am ADD and OCD so I am always a little manic but I just had this palpable energy all day yesterday like I wanted to run circles around the building and everywhere I went I couldn't help but speed or get frustrated if things too long. I am sure tagalong or happyutahrunner some of the people I met from Runners Wolrd who went to a couple clinics can attest to my manic persona haha. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wDvam8h15ieVnNTQ0TbO1hnwuZJS493Nar05fW-3v8Bj4efTvxiViw7Kle12gPLT58kJYXR4nvDiI1v97xbCkTXKIakRAODtbqas4O533fBtxOexG-MmF2OK9PGp8rb05QezCg_MDPhn/s1600/5e694ef2-fa42-4105-8303-1db740003e33.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8wDvam8h15ieVnNTQ0TbO1hnwuZJS493Nar05fW-3v8Bj4efTvxiViw7Kle12gPLT58kJYXR4nvDiI1v97xbCkTXKIakRAODtbqas4O533fBtxOexG-MmF2OK9PGp8rb05QezCg_MDPhn/s320/5e694ef2-fa42-4105-8303-1db740003e33.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688990204488128098" /></a><br /><br />I had arranged for yesterday to be a half day so I could attend a couple clinics, go to the expo and meet some RW peeps. It seemed like I was running behind all day, I swear I was cursing the sonic people and my wife for wanting sonic for lunch for taking so long as I wanted everything to be quick quick and snappy. I got to the clinic around 2:45 and me and JordanLee walked around and checked some of the merchandise. I got not 1 but 2 26.2 stickers so haha there (ok one came with our packets but I bought another so did Jordan). I also bought me a short sleeve STG marathon shirt as I find it hilarious that they do a long sleeve shirt when in STG you can wear that for like 3 months.<br /><br />Had the hardest time getting my bib as we went to the one guy who was doing the 3000 range bibs (your bib number was assigned by your projected time so the higher up the slower you are, giving people complexes I see at the marathon expo). He then sent us to the Washington County area for bibs who then again sent us back to other guy saying sometimes they file them wrong. Then they sent us to the weight division as I had signed up as a Clydesdale. I then promptly failed the weight test for being a Clydesdale so they put me back in the regular divisions.<br /><br />Me, Jordan and Happyutahrunner went to the first timers clinic after that, which was pretty much fun but since I had run two of my training runs on the course it really didn't tell me anything except allowing me to make snarky comments. Tagalong joined us at the end and then her and Jordan left to get some dinner. Happyutahrunner (please forgive me if I got you and tagalong mixed up I remember your real names and am not sure if you want those posted her but can't remember your online names as well) and me then set through the pace group meeting which was useful but since I didn't use any of the info again just allowed me to make snarky comments.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6tGki3hCCoe2X79LY3XDrD9KT-1n9MzC_oFoX-rtOu6uqFXnfL87-Ocy5SzzxeWW14sFeXvt0DwVGpM2QbuleLMV9IZlh2qb23-7e8c9js68FABQu5aVLyA2NkG9n3NgIJeCpKgbVqn8R/s1600/4676ebaf-f233-4a9f-834d-e791976a870f.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6tGki3hCCoe2X79LY3XDrD9KT-1n9MzC_oFoX-rtOu6uqFXnfL87-Ocy5SzzxeWW14sFeXvt0DwVGpM2QbuleLMV9IZlh2qb23-7e8c9js68FABQu5aVLyA2NkG9n3NgIJeCpKgbVqn8R/s320/4676ebaf-f233-4a9f-834d-e791976a870f.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688990385516138690" /></a><br /><br />After that I went to the all you can eat pasta dinner and said hello to runningute who had a table of ice cream, I mean that is the way to party in style. Runningute was like a ghost he was hard to track down, I did see him at the finish line and know his time but I will let him tell you his story. After that I went home and actually for the first race ever set out all my running stuff for the morning so I didn't have to do anything the next day. I picked my old fatman shirt for my throwaway and made it into bed around 8pm.<br /><br />Surprisingly enough I actually slept ok, I think because of all the manic energy I had going on all day I was just plain exhausted by the time it was time to go bed and I just crashed. Alarm was set for 3:15 and got up pretty easily and grabbed all my stuff and headed for the 4am shuttles so I could be entered in the early bird prizes. I was suppose to meet up with a few of the others to ride shuttles with them but didn't see anyone so I got on the second bus heading to the start line and let me tell you that was a great decision. If you do that there isn't many people there when you get there and no lines for the portapotties and you can pick out a sweet spot on the fences to lay down on so you don't have to stand around for two hours.<br /><br />Had the breakfast I had packed last night around 5:30 and was actually glad I brought some throwaways as it was a little cold but not cold enough for the bonfires. Did get back in line for the portapotties around 6 again and they were taking photos of people in the line for the crappers. I mean seriously who is going to buy a photo of themselves in line for the crapper made me laugh. I then lined up with the 4:30 pace group where I ran into happyutahrunner again (again sorry if I am mixing you and tagalong up I remember your real name though so forgive me). She was going to stay with the 4:30 pace group and we started together for the first half mile or so and I thought about staying with them too but decided to run my race and not the pacers race. I actually didn't see either of them tell I started to cramp around mile 19 and was doing great up until that point.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNju-SHHFJ6Y_V9vr1bBIKWmB-osM8DGarW4-qYb5CbiFJkOX2FISmpCSLzE0Xg4xbmwT48HA7XK8ewdkypGYuR1LBmqDtVHLjx3LmE195sLLHBm7yMa-yFB1OTP7h1MBkX_N2P7k8aTaf/s1600/e3678f7e-2135-441c-9300-dc5c59ce4a84.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNju-SHHFJ6Y_V9vr1bBIKWmB-osM8DGarW4-qYb5CbiFJkOX2FISmpCSLzE0Xg4xbmwT48HA7XK8ewdkypGYuR1LBmqDtVHLjx3LmE195sLLHBm7yMa-yFB1OTP7h1MBkX_N2P7k8aTaf/s320/e3678f7e-2135-441c-9300-dc5c59ce4a84.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688990536897976610" /></a><br /><br />I don't remember a lot of the miles and actually was just enjoying everything around me while just running my race. I took the first couple of miles slow like I wanted too which was easy as it's like a cattle call at the start. It took us 9 minutes just to hit the start line from the 4:30 pace group in the back. I didn't want to waste a lot of time in the beginning playing the weaving game and wasting all that energy trying to weave in an out so I just took it casual until it thinned out. <br /><br />Everything went to plan and I just enjoyed myself looking at the signs people had made and enjoying the crowds and my other runners. 2 miles in I saw my first runner head for the bushes instead of the portapotties and this was a bold runner too as there was no bushes or trees so basically he pulled of the road and said screw it don't look people. Saw my first cell phone at mile 5. Saw road kill at mile 6 and me and two other runners joked the elites must have come through pretty fast to squash that squirrel or raccoon like that. <br /><br />Veyo surprised me as they had a marching band and tons of people out to cheer you on it was pretty cool. I did exactly what I wanted on Veyo I had decided miles 7-12 would be taken easy and walk breaks if I needed them so I could save energy for the fast downhills at the end (I flew through Snow Canyon) and I could make up anytime lost if I did so. <br /><br />I kept resisting the urge to pull over to a bush and pee but somewhere just after Snow Canyon and mile 14 I came up to the portapotties and saw no line and was like sweet. But then some jacktard cut in front of me, is it illegal to commit homicide if someone cuts in line for a portapotty because it shouldn't be. So I lost a minute or two there, I really should have just used a bush but there was no line until I got cut in front of.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmVdKOyW46lVzOCxDornumcXIMpzCSHv_0hDc081EfkPUm3Vc9hJHXOfqH6UthKDjFnEv2575S6tkbgVCwqN1PCfzeWzgQy60ciBPnJbYg4ka2kiKtoQRLGoEnooD0Er42JCIWZEofjFl/s1600/stg6.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRmVdKOyW46lVzOCxDornumcXIMpzCSHv_0hDc081EfkPUm3Vc9hJHXOfqH6UthKDjFnEv2575S6tkbgVCwqN1PCfzeWzgQy60ciBPnJbYg4ka2kiKtoQRLGoEnooD0Er42JCIWZEofjFl/s320/stg6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5688990876516929234" /></a><br /><br />I ran a positive split, I came into the half way point around 2:20 but more on that later or right now for that matter. Like I said everything was going pretty good until mile 19 or so, I stayed in front of the 4:30 pacer but then I started to cramp. I had taken gatorade at every aid station but it just wasn't enough. After mile 21 I started to take two gatorades at every aid station which actually got me to the finish line but just barely. It became that run as far as I can go before I started to cramp then walk tell the cramps went away and then rinse and repeat for the last 6 miles or so.<br /><br />Mile 23 aid station was pretty odd and sureal, last night during the first timers clinic the guy mentioned how the aid station at 23 had people on a waiting list for 6 years to man it and that everyone on there had been manning it for years and years. Well I take an ice water and all of a sudden I hear a Hi son, my mom was the one who handed me the ice water and I was so out of it at the time I didn't even notice. I guess she volunteers every year and is at the coveted aid station. <br /><br />The last 6 miles hurt so bad but I just powered through them. I knew my goal of 4:30 was gone because of the cramps and only being able to run in spurts but I was he!! bent on getting the sub 5 at all costs. Best mile marker ever had to be mile marker 25.2 they even told you it was the best mile marker, funny they did a 25.2. There was also a mile marker for 26 and I tried to sprint in and did my very best I probably looked like a wounded duck as I was cramping severely but I am sure I got my sub 5.<br /><br />I saw runningute at the finish line, grabbed an ice cream bar that I had no appetite for and walked around for a bit. I did win an early bird prize a STG marathon tech hat which is cool and worth getting on the early bus for. And then headed to the car as my wife waited longer than I told her (didn't expect the slow time to get started and then i finished 28 minutes later than anticipated). My dad brought me a gatorade best gift at the finish line as it wasn't a lemon lime gatorade I never want to drink that stuff again as long as I live. I was downing it like crazy after mile 21 taking two at a time. I would have drank ditch water over lemon lime gatorade at that point.<br /><br />Even though we walked around a bit I found I could not sit in the car as I cramped up something fierce the moment I sat. So I downed the whole gatorade my dad brought me and a gu and walked around some more. Plan was to get up to Smiths to get another gatorade and apple. But because all the traffic was diverted it was slow as heck. At one point I had my wife let me out and I walked another block as I couldn't sit in the car any longer or I cramped. Funny thing is a lady stopped and offered me a ride while I was walking which made me smile. Finally got to smiths where the cashier gave me this dude is crazy look as I had already drank an entire gatorade before I checked out and asked her to charge me for it and throw it away. I did still have my medal on so that counts right.<br /><br />Things I learned, A work more on the electrolyte issue try some other solutions than gatorade and GUs. B marathons are fun and crazy and for crazy people as I can't wait to do another even though I spent the last 6 miles in utter misery. C the heat was more of a factor than I thought it would be sure 91 doesn't seem that bad when you trained in 100's but put 20 miles in front of you before you hit that 90 and it sucks monkey balls. D a smiling baby boy is the best thing at a finish line ever.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-16287310198593561672011-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:002011-05-10T13:33:16.034-07:00Ironman Ivins Fitness Festival 10k and Volunteering for the Ironman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGoYXN1M3qZ1aIXJ_cc7us2eKNTpqxwlwifDu59pgIlIrXuZ0ookpBDVUgNjCvO4sFsHqAMVbwzi6MR2S2YvM8olv1DQIl1iTR9NcPuS-0IL-aoGbt20LFUoU9NxI2xko_iCAuK3syXdfH/s1600/Ivins-fitness1.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGoYXN1M3qZ1aIXJ_cc7us2eKNTpqxwlwifDu59pgIlIrXuZ0ookpBDVUgNjCvO4sFsHqAMVbwzi6MR2S2YvM8olv1DQIl1iTR9NcPuS-0IL-aoGbt20LFUoU9NxI2xko_iCAuK3syXdfH/s320/Ivins-fitness1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605188212848083522" /></a><br />This was a race that many more experienced runners probably could have a I told you so moment. I had waited to sign up for this race to see how I felt after my half marathon the weekend before and found out they had actually closed registration on the Thursday before. Still determined to get in and not wanting to give up I emailed the race director and begged to get in and was allowed a late entry. So I signed up Tuesday morning and went for my normal five mile run afterwords and came up a little sore in my left knee afterwords. Tried to run on Wednesday and was only able to get two and half miles in before realizing I had a case of ITBS in my left knee. I went to the running store on Thursday and bought a foam roller and took the day off. I then just went for a walk on Friday with some mild running and each time I tried to run my knee hurt a little. I decided to do the race anyways because I had begged to get in and was hoping with the extra rest I would be ok. I figured I could drop out and DNF if it got too bad and then take the next week off from running. The short of the story is that I did pr by over a minute despite my knee and the single worst course known to man (I got to stop running courses designed by sadomasochists), final time 58:46 good for 2nd overall men as it was a small event of a 100 runners.<br /><br />I felt great Saturday morning, zero pain, zero discomfort so I decided to go ahead with the 10k. I decided to see if it was my new shoes that was causing the pain as it is one of the few things I have changed in the last couple of weeks. So I switched back to my old shoes that had 760 miles on them and had done me so well. Once again I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off despite it being a 5am alarm, typical race morning anxiety. I had trouble using the restroom and it sucks to have to go the bathroom mid-race so I waited around tell I could actually go which had me running late. I rushed out of the house knowing packet pickup was at 5:45 and not really sure where I was going. I got there around 5:55 and didn't really need to worry about being late as it was a small event and was easy to get my packet.<br /><br />It was about this time that I realized in my rush to get out of the house I forgot my ipod. I was like oh well this a great race to not have my ipod so I can listen to my body and my knee plus it might be fun to try and run without one for once and feel like an elite. I heard a funny conversation waiting for the race start as a lady was telling one of the volunteers she was running the Saint George marathon this year. I mentioned I was running it too and was a little flabbergasted by how lightly she was taking it when we got to talking about training. I told her it was not a good idea to run a marathon so soon into your running life and her answer was "oh I have been running since January and am doing a race a month until then." I didn't want to get more into it with her because obviously she is set on doing it and good for her I hope she doesn't crash and burn she did mention she is going a Galloway plan.<br /><br />It was also pre-race when I had my first groan as the announcer mentioned mile 4 for the 10kers was on a dirt road. Funny thing is I was bib #1 (not sure if it is because I begged to get in but I got a lot of hey #1's during and after the race). We start off and I am feeling great, I had no pain the first two miles or so. For the first half mile I am running behind Sam and Adam from the Biggest Loser but I think they went out too fast for themselves as they seemed to blow up and slow down around half a mile in and I passed them and never saw them again in the race. I actually thought they ended up doing the 5k as the 5kers ran with us for a mile and a half before turning off for their finish. But then I saw Sam come in after me at the finish line as he was the 3rd overall male and Adam came in several minutes after that.<br /><br />This course was beyond horrible, I think there was a quarter mile downhill and maybe a half mile straight stretch near the finish and after that the rest of the course was completely uphill. The first two miles were on a steady uphill that never seemed to end. At mile 3 we hit a really large uphill and this is where my knee first started to hurt. It was also where I got passed the only time in the race, I actually did catch the lady a little further on and we talked for like a half mile about knees as hers was hurting too but then she passed me at mile 4 on the next horrible hill. I had thought about DNFing if I hurt but since it was such a small race there actually was nowhere to drop out so I just kept plugging along.<br /><br />Mile 4 we hit the dirt road and that road was the thing of nightmares and what ended up making my knee hurt more than anything else in the world. It was also at mile 4 that we had the worst uphill in the entire race, not as bad as last weeks half hill but pretty darn close (it was just shorter is all same elevation change but only a half mile instead of full mile last week), I had to walk potions of that hill and the lady once again passed me. Around mile 5 we got back on paved roads and I have never been happier in my life to see a paved road. By this time my knee was in agony but I knew I was close to the finish line and I didn't want to get passed again.<br /><br />The funny thing is without an ipod I could hear everyone behind me and it helped me from getting passed and kept me motivated to keep running. The people I heard at mile 5 were actually rabbits for the race and funny thing is I held them off not knowing they were rabbits tell the finish line. Around mile 5 we actually caught back up with the 5kers the hour long ones at least. I swear I saw 3-4 camelbaks on those 5kers and just had to chuckle. I tried to encourage them to run to the finish line but none did. I did congratulate them as I ran past them though. My knee was hurting but I finished strong and it wasn't tell afterwords when I realized how much it actually was hurting when I was limping severely afterwords. Finish time was 58:46.<br /><br />I cheered some of the runners in and that is when I realized wow Sam and Adam were a couple minutes behind me the entire way. I kidded with Adam that they didn't train the Biggest Loser people well enough that if a gimpy person like me outran them, and I was truly gimpy by this point.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1VP3saqCXLKatrao-xcPGLoxzHvoWqhMrSS3F5SNUTGT0tTAufeR61cSkjheCH04_NZAxn65eYck2bOLUhdO-gEhe_7L2qFilgmezHOluJIWRvQzSmKutQKShLb0Hi6i4Ogr94YOaHMB/s1600/6928eb70-8c17-4767-b22a-2dffe09eb322.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ1VP3saqCXLKatrao-xcPGLoxzHvoWqhMrSS3F5SNUTGT0tTAufeR61cSkjheCH04_NZAxn65eYck2bOLUhdO-gEhe_7L2qFilgmezHOluJIWRvQzSmKutQKShLb0Hi6i4Ogr94YOaHMB/s320/6928eb70-8c17-4767-b22a-2dffe09eb322.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605186657625738354" /></a><br /><br />Limped over to the awards ceremony where I was surprised that I took 2nd overall for men and since the first place winner actually donated the prizes he deferred and I got the first place prize pack. I got a biggest loser cookbook, a BL workout video, a workout bag, a camelbak waterbottle, a bl t-shirt, a bandanna, a biggest loser resort shirt, bodyglide, chap stix, those nice fancy socks everyone talks about and I even got the race shirt as they included it in my packet even though they said I wouldn't get one since I signed up so late. Sam took 3rd overall for the men which would have been my prize if the winner hadn't differed and its funny as I think I saw a shirt and a workout video from the biggest loser resort and he works for the resort.<br /><br />I ended up talking with the same lady who has been running since January for the marathon. And she mentions the expected time you have to write on your application form of when you expect to finish and she said 5 and half hours, I think she was like an hour 30-45 minute finisher at the 10k today, that makes a time time goal for me of three hours seem optimistic (this is a joke goal me and someone had on facebook as it is my BQ time). I also talked to Adam who ran the Boston marathon for a charity last month in six hours, I love hearing Boston stories. Got to see Sionne again but he didn't run as he said he surgery last week (he didn't say what kind of surgery), and Sarah and Sam's fiance was there too.<br /><br />I honestly don't regret running it because my knee felt fine tell mile 3 so there was no way I could have known the terror those hills and that stupid dirt road would do to me. I could have likely done the 5k pain free as that didn't seem anywhere as nearly hilly as our course. Plus how often am I going to get to finish 2nd overall and outrun Biggest Loser contestants for a second race (I smoked them all in the 5k last month too) and win a huge pack of prizes for $10. Plan is now to take a week off and just walk, foam roll the heck out of my IT band and try and get back healthy before marathon training begins at the end of the month. I will reassess next week to see if I need another week off.<br /><br />Watched the ironman for a bit too those bikers are super speedy holy crap. Worst part is I drove out before they closed the roads to race this morning and on the way back it was a nightmare trying to get home because I ended up behind enemy lines and had to get past all the closed roads.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVGebdGW-MKeYEhlvMJ175jXnAHzBIedfgn0tMhTREA716hVj2gHGK3_hh1VGCvZuNxxyVKZcarhobzDjVTu0vDVzBWYDNSbnaeMjNaO4sxY8KVzUUnYm1izQnmZUiQKIijQK9tX1c5Vd/s1600/michael_weiss_ironman_st_george.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVGebdGW-MKeYEhlvMJ175jXnAHzBIedfgn0tMhTREA716hVj2gHGK3_hh1VGCvZuNxxyVKZcarhobzDjVTu0vDVzBWYDNSbnaeMjNaO4sxY8KVzUUnYm1izQnmZUiQKIijQK9tX1c5Vd/s320/michael_weiss_ironman_st_george.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5605187491597669746" /></a><br /><br />I also volunteered for the 11pm-midnight shift for the Ironman so I could see the last people coming in and cheer them on. I picked the last shift because I wanted to cheer the people coming in trying to make it in before the cutoff and I thought they needed it the most. As we were cleaning up they told us volunteers to take whatever extra supplies we wanted. This I did not expect at all I just wanted to volunteer and cheer those ironman on. I ended up with two boxes of gels (48 total thats like $50 at the running store), two boxes of powerbars, half a dozen Ironman performance drinks (wish I had grabbed more I wasn't sure what they were), a bag of chips, a dozen oranges, half a dozen bananas and a huge box of pretzels. I totally didn't expect that and I ended up making off like a bandit with like $70-80 worth of training stuff or more. If I ever get healthy I am totally set for marathon training.<br /><br />It was a blast to watch them come in and I learned some things I didn't know. Like most of the ironman at the end preferred soda instead of gatorade as they were coming in (I am guessing for the calories and sugar and carbs) I had never seen soda at an aid station before. I just wish I knew if that guy who came through at 11:41pm booking to make the cutoff (he had 19 minutes and just less than 2 miles to go and he seemed to be running a 9-10mm) made it. Most of them were walking but it was fun to see them booking it too. Had one guy I offered water to tell me no eyes on the prize made me crack up. I tried to stay way from the cliche "almost there" and instead would say two miles to go. I felt really bad for the three people who got swept at the end. At 11:55 they told us there was four people on the course still about three miles from the finish and they were debating on whether to let them finish or not. They let one guy finish because he was running and he came through at 12:05 after the cutoff so he won't get an official finish but they swept the other three of the course who were walking. I can't imagine how heart breaking that would be 17 hours in and three miles from the finish after finishing 137.6 of the 140.6 miles and getting swept off the course and not being allowed to finish.<br /><br />All in all in was an amazing weekend and I came away with like $150 worth of stuff for a $10 entry fee and volunteering, WOW.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-14086433127603170182011-05-02T08:57:00.000-07:002011-05-02T09:32:17.095-07:00Hurricane Half Marathon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqviVxWXM4qcJO7xezOQyook6BuvX1TZrZdO_sReRezY_yk_XywBc40YBx1iSbFhTPPeQkmnMYo65FQWuHBouldF9FJRTtHIur2vFI_yyZHe9Vl9HkzrZgAwPEd2PkCSU2UeOsAKOAchmV/s1600/Hurricane-Half-Marathon1-300x144.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqviVxWXM4qcJO7xezOQyook6BuvX1TZrZdO_sReRezY_yk_XywBc40YBx1iSbFhTPPeQkmnMYo65FQWuHBouldF9FJRTtHIur2vFI_yyZHe9Vl9HkzrZgAwPEd2PkCSU2UeOsAKOAchmV/s320/Hurricane-Half-Marathon1-300x144.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602157482785406210" /></a><br />This weekend I ran my third half marathon, I am loving half marathon's more than any other distance I have run and can't wait to my next. I picked the Hurricane half marathon as my third and have been looking forward to it for several weeks now not knowing what was in store for me. Follow my logic here someone was drunk one night and was like man let's invent the craziest half marathon ever. Lets put a mountain (I am not calling that darn thing a hill) around mile 5 oooooh and lets do it out at Hurricane (I get the name now geebezus above and below who the freak turned the wind on) and make sure it's a headwind or crosswind the entire way and crank it up to like 20-30 MPH. Ok maybe they couldn't have planned that last part but dear lord I never want to run in the wind again as long as I live.<br /><br />Oh and I kicked the trash out of that course, I set a 7:05 second pr despite the wind, despite that freaking mountain (not gonna call it a hill), and despite I think a road called pothole central that or you might as well be running on a trail this road sucks. Final time 2:13:15 and I cannot imagine running a better race on a worst course than today.<br /><br />Now the down and dirty and long winded details. I have become a hypochondriac the last week or so freaking out about this race. I like desterilized my desk when I found out the other IT guy was sick and was freaking out about a little tightness in my calf and thigh this morning. If you sneezed around me I probably rushed to the bathroom to wash my hands the moment after. I don't think i would have worried so much had I known how horrible this course was or how bad the conditions were going to be this morning.<br /><br />I tried to get into bed at 9pm the night before with my alarm set for 4am. I know I wasn't asleep tell well past 10 though, I even watched a little tv at 9:30 hoping it would put me to sleep. I never sleep good before a race and despite a 4am alarm I still woke up at 3:55 and just waited for my alarm to go off like permission to get out of bed or something. I got a new morning ritual for long runs or races and I knew we were being shuttled to the start line so I just made breakfast and planned on eating it at the packet pick up or on the shuttle. I made it out of the house by 4:35 all ready to go and packed up and go to the shuttle area (also the finish line) just a little after 5am. I really like their race shirt its the first race shirt I have ever seen with zero advertisements on it and its a nice black tech tee.<br /><br />I had time to kill before the shuttle so I ate my breakfast there (my new routine a PB&J sandwich, a banana, packet of peanuts and a gatorade). It was nice to stay inside as it was bloody cold outside. Around 5:30 we loaded the buses to get taken to the start line. After getting off the bus I was like dear lord I should have stayed on the bus it's too fraking cold and windy for anyone in their right mind to want to stand out here in this but the buses left to shuttle the 5kers so it was like crap I guess we stand out in the wind. I was standing around and I realized everyone was lined up for the porta-potties and I was like sweet I stood between two lines and let the lines half shelter to me from the freezing wind. It was a 20-30 MPH freezing cold wind and the sun wasn't up yet.<br /><br />Best thing happened right around 6:30 we were told we could finally run and hopefully warm up although there was no escaping that wind. The first half mile was a cruel joke it was the only time in the entire race we were running in a tailwind after that it was nothing but headwinds and crosswinds. I had decided to take the first few miles pretty easy like suggested by some more veteran runners knowing I had what at this point I was thinking was a hill at mile 5. It was cold and the wind was blowing hard so I think for the first 3 miles I looked at nothing but my feet trying to stay out of the wind. It's pretty bad when you see people wearing trash bags in a race. I think around 25 minutes in I looked over and was like hey we are running next to a lake didn't even see that (Sand Hollow reservoir) where did that lake come from. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61-Haig8CKxb5u-Szrn2AaDCbasZyiICC5no1ssCeAv4iSl0gc58O_CnTyNvm47PSclg7Klw2xt5LOm-lqBhJrd-yZncjMufS-R7PIRKO8YXafrKzkPn3smXVL3Kvf7T6TXrDDxz33itQ/s1600/CRW_9177.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61-Haig8CKxb5u-Szrn2AaDCbasZyiICC5no1ssCeAv4iSl0gc58O_CnTyNvm47PSclg7Klw2xt5LOm-lqBhJrd-yZncjMufS-R7PIRKO8YXafrKzkPn3smXVL3Kvf7T6TXrDDxz33itQ/s320/CRW_9177.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602154567301401058" /></a><br /><br />I didn't see any mile markers tell mile 3 and looked down at my watch and was like good 28:30 we are right where we want to be. At mile 4 I made the mistake of looking up and was like wait where the heck did that mountain come from. The first 4 miles were on a pretty steady incline and I was thinking the hill would be similar, nope that thing was gargantuan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlV0QBqKpQi-zWEhlBFsQ7f-ZHb9aB3yYDNxCRLht2fXjKQZFKiSAqr7dB9PfJppuTTuX6CbqamTtKf7Q3fIa75YNTu0XbrGDWVpv_jkYEChs43EdVWE6BWDcbif-gr9fib5IkJhWgCOL/s1600/283b01b8-9b3c-44c9-ada7-c74942c54e6e.Medium.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 171px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRlV0QBqKpQi-zWEhlBFsQ7f-ZHb9aB3yYDNxCRLht2fXjKQZFKiSAqr7dB9PfJppuTTuX6CbqamTtKf7Q3fIa75YNTu0XbrGDWVpv_jkYEChs43EdVWE6BWDcbif-gr9fib5IkJhWgCOL/s320/283b01b8-9b3c-44c9-ada7-c74942c54e6e.Medium.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5602154974013837330" /></a><br /><br />I walked through the aid station and grabbed a gatorade at mile 4, I skipped the aid station at mile 2 as it was too early and was crowded. I made sure I got a gatorade at every aid station during the race after that too. I decided when I hit the bottom of the mountain it was a good time for my GU so I took a small walk break there too. I tried to run that mountain but it was short bursts of running then walking and I don't even feel bad, I would look around when I was running and I was the only person running that monster everyone else was walking and was like screw this thing.<br /><br />I hit mile 6 around 1:02xx and knew that any shot of a sub 2 or even a 2:10 might be impossible in the conditions but I decided I still wanted to pr and run the best race possible. The first downhill we got to enjoy just after mile 6 was ruined by the nastiest crosswind of the entire race like the gods were laughing at us stupid runners. <br /><br />I think around mile 9 I was like dear lord I don't even want a downhill or a flat stretch just for the love of all that's good and right can we just run away from the wind instead of into it. That's all I want stupid freaking wind go away, I even cursed during some of the worst gusts like come on leave me the frak alone. Miles 8-10 were on pothole central, that road was horrible it was like some backwoods bumpkins joke of a road, hey its paved but haha its paved like a drunk person.<br /><br />Mile 10 was all nice and newly paved and awesome but the wind still mocked us. At this point some runners I know would have come up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss because I realized despite wanting to take walk breaks there was no way I was going to pr in the wind if I took any so I said screw the walk breaks and just kept on running. I was finding it hard to maintain a 10 minute pace at this time as the wind had me thoroughly exhausted. Mile 7 was 1:12, mile 8 1:22, mile 9 1:33, mile 10 1:44 and mile 11 1:55. So I was bleeding a little time even without walking.<br /><br />At mile 11 I went to the pain cave and was like screw it I am finishing strong wind be darned. I ran the last 2.1 miles in 18 minutes by best miles since miles 1-4. I don't think I have ever been as exhausted as I was at mile 12 as I was here but despite being so tired I could just lay down I never got a single muscle spasm and cramp. So for those who say it was an exhaustion thing and not an electrolyte imbalance can kiss the whitest part of my arse. I took gatorade at every station, had one pre-race and despite being exhausted ran my best half ever without a single cramp. It was strange as I have suffered some severe cramps and spasms in my two previous halves and to be at mile 12 completely exhausted and hammered and to not be cramping was surreal. <br /><br />I could not believe the finish clock when I rounded the corner as it was showing 2:13, I hadn't even looked at my watch since like mile 11 as I was deep in the pain cave at this point. I took off at a sprint for the finish line and came across in 2:13:15. That is a 7:05 pr in 3 months on the toughest course I have ever ran in my life. I think I need to pick an easy course so I can run a sub 2, if I was doing the Snow Canyon half today and running that course again (minus the wind of course) with today's effort and race I would have easily done a sub 2.<br /><br />I have decided that I am going to do the Parowan half as my next half in August. For one after making my subsequent halves noticeably harder each time it might be nice to do a much easier half for once. Secondly because it will be a nice precursor and warmup for the Saint George marathon (my first marathon) in October as the course drops 2300 feet. This should be a nice half to get used to the second half of the marathon that drops a similar distance in a similar amount of miles. Thirdly because it should be a lot cooler than Saint George which will be in the middle of full blow summer by then and most races dry up come summer time here in the desert. And lastly because I really want a sub 2 half this year and I will get it here or at Snow Canyon in November come hell or high water.<br /><br />So wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee a new shiney pr on a mean and brutal course.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-272628450447083550.post-88194265104226919992011-04-11T21:26:00.001-07:002011-04-11T21:45:04.828-07:00I will beat you long run if it's the last thing I ever do<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQPXrUs0sRkvQs9hRizcct4ifquuhB6PIj-45lX4qbFktUta6zZfoDHe5ALTA_0gC3CokKdDNDV0mnNQrF9AesYHKSLqlTkQIPDSyCDzqvp6oBcXp6yJsK3QP_RZcdX_rxjMrVfvbnApy/s1600/mission_impossible_logo.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQPXrUs0sRkvQs9hRizcct4ifquuhB6PIj-45lX4qbFktUta6zZfoDHe5ALTA_0gC3CokKdDNDV0mnNQrF9AesYHKSLqlTkQIPDSyCDzqvp6oBcXp6yJsK3QP_RZcdX_rxjMrVfvbnApy/s320/mission_impossible_logo.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594552288770888322" /></a><br />Me and runs longer than 12miles don't get along. We are like two cats in a box and trying to claw each others eyes out too stubborn to concede victory to the other. Last week ended up being my first 40 mile week running week ever, something I attempted last month but failed miserably at but it seems I am making progress either with my stubbornness to not give up or actually becoming a better runner. I have been following a suggestion given to me on Runners World to increase one of my midweek runs so that my long run is not double or triple the rest of my weekly runs. This means I am still getting my 5milers in on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday but I have increased my Wednesday run to 8miles. That meant this week to get my first 40mile week all I needed was a 12miler for my long run instead of the dreaded 15miler.<br /><br />This 12 miler would also become my very first run at the butt crack of dawn to prepare for doing the same during the summer. This will likely be a fairly common thing come summer when it's still 100 degrees until after 10pm at night and the only way to get a long run in without roasting is to do it at the butt crack of dawn. Up until now all my long runs have taken place at no earlier than 10am and normally more in the afternoon around 1pm or 2pm.<br /><br />But my wife worked Sunday at 10am and it was just me and the kid all day tell after 7pm so that means for my 12miler I set an alarm for 6:30am to get the run in before she went to work. I had hoped to do it Saturday instead and have the grandparents watch the kid but by the time they showed up all I had time was for my normal 5miler. They had cousins down for a tennis match and it kept getting rained out and they didn't want to take Oliver out in the rain and the cold.<br /><br />The worst part was for some reason it decided to get cold Friday and rain all weekend. My run on Friday was 38 degrees and a slight drizzle rain the entire way. My run Saturday was 42 degrees but with a biting cold wind that made it feel 10 times colder than Friday and both of these runs were done in the afternoon which makes me go oh dear lord how cold is going to be at 7am. <br /><br />It ended up being one of most single miserable runs I have had to date. It was 30 degrees yesterday morning when I started and the sun wasn't up yet, although it was up within 15 minutes of me running. I think it got to around 35-40 degrees by the end of my run near 9am. I also think I am getting old, not because of the run but because my body is getting one of those old men kind of schedules when it comes to using the bathroom in the morning. Race mornings I normally have to do two rounds because my body is like uh huh mister it's to early you need to wait but we will give you half a round and then see you in a hour or so. So do one when you get up and then round 2 when you hit wherever your racing but that doesn't work just for a training run. I got 3 miles in and was like oh dear lord someone kill me now, luckily I was only about a quarter mile from my house at this point as my loop takes me near my house at that point. I did have to walk that quarter of a mile or risk crapping my pants (too visual oh well sue me). So with a detour to the house and luckily being close enough I didn't have to resort to missing a sock somewhere on my run like some have mentioned (use your imagination where that sock disappears too).<br /><br />At some point I realized I wore my beanie too long as I am not used to having a hat on my head and was getting very hot and light headed from it once I started to warm up. I finally pocked the beanie around mile 7 or so and that made me feel better. Mile 7 takes me past my house once more and even though I had a gatorade stashed in the bushes I was like I am not touching that nasty stuff right now as my stomach never really healed from the 3 miles of trying to get home to use the restroom. But I think I like my new idea of having a gatorade with my breakfast as it seemed to help no cramps even though I did 12.5 miles, I guess getting some electrolytes in prerun or race will help I am going to have to try that on my half on the 30th. I think it was somewhere around mile 8 that I got jelly like legs and was like how the heck is it so freaking humid when its not even 40 degrees (it did rain non stop the last two days, although the sky was clear and the sun was out Sunday morning) I didn't even think it was possible to get humid when it's that bloody cold. <br /><br />Mile 9 resulted in me very grumpily at this point swearing at a car. For some reason people around here attack every stop sign with the intention of running them and only slowing down or stopping if absolutely forced to. Then they act all shocked and surprised when crap now I got to jam on my break because I just about hit someone running or biking. Well I was very grumpy by this point and I yelled very loudly STOP SIGN YOU %$&$& $*%&$*( emphasized with me pointing to where the stop sign was. Some days I swear I feel like I am playing a live action version of frogger and it's just a matter of time when these frakers who rush every stop sign actually hits me, oh wait that already happened last summer. That actually made me feel a little better and I know they heard me because I was very loud yelling and standing in front of their car from where they almost hit me, I was already in the intersection when they came rushing the stop sign had they bothered to slow for it they would have easily have seen me. <br /><br />I don't know if getting to yell at a car made me feel better but the last 3 miles went by with ease. I actually ended up doing 12.5 miles with the half mile detour for the bathroom. So early morning run one down, sucky and miserable but still a success. Got home took a shower, fed the baby, played with him and once he was napping I also took a nap.<br /><br />I am still daunted by the marathon and anything longer than 12 miles but I will beat this darn road block if it kills me. This week I have 43 miles planned M,T,F,SAT 5milers, WED 8miler and Sunday the dreaded 15miler once more, going to kick it's arse once and for all.Patrick Rodgershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04472389916414809700noreply@blogger.com1