February Update

I haven't had much info to update with since my last post in October; just general training and base building.

I did a couple of fall races in November:

Nov. 11 - I ran an 11k fun run @ the Avera Fitness Center on the bike trail towards downtown and back. 11k comes out to about 6.9 miles. I ran 44:23 - 6:26 mile pace. I was out ahead by myself the whole time and definitely lifted off a little bit the second half as my stomach was cramping.

Two weeks later on Friday Nov. 25 was the Jingle Bell 5k in downtown SF just before the Parade of Lights. It was a beautiful night, near 50 degrees. 431 runners finished the 5k, which I am sure was a record. I ended up finishing 7th overall in 15:56. *The course is actually 2.8 miles, not 3.1 so it is not an actual 5k - my pace according to the results was 5:08 but my actual pace according to my garmin for the correct distance was 5:51. Tyler Smit ran as well and finished 3rd. The winner was Bill Kogel, former Roosevelt grad who was an All-American at the D1 Cross Nationals just 4 days before this race for the University of Oklahoma. He's a little out of our range! RESULTS

The next 2+ months would consist of basic mileage including many beautiful unseasonably warm winter days so for the most part I was able to avoid that nasty treadmill!

Saturday, February 4th brought the annual Frostbite 4 in Beresford. Dubbed "South Dakota's premier winter road race," the Frostbite 4 is a fundraiser for the Beresford club and they have turned it into an awesome event when there is little else for winter road race options in this area. I competed in the "4" for the first time last year and finished in 5th place with a time of 24:27.

I have been able to get a little more quality training in this year due to the mild weather so I was expecting better results. We were bused out north of town to be able to run with the wind at our backs. I went out with the lead pack at the gun and came through the first mile in 5:30. I knew this pace would be tough to sustain and by mile 2 I was experiencing some pretty bad stomach cramps. From that point on my goal was to maintain the best pace possible and to finish the race. I ended up finishing in 6th place; 23:48; 5:57/mile. It would have been good enough for 2nd place last year but that is the way it goes sometimes. I did end up winning the 20-29 age group and won a small moose statue to go along with my snowman statue from winning the same age group last year. RESULTS

Tyler Shultz and I post-race. Tyler

finished 8th in 24:50.

The plan now is to continue building a strong base for this coming spring and to mix in some decent speed work and races. Right now my future racing plan includes:

-Irishman (5-mile, 5k, & mile) in Sioux Falls on March 17

-RiverRat 1/2 Marathon in Yankton on April 28

-Brookings 1/2 Marathon in Brookings on May 12

-Deadwood 1/2 Marathon in Deadwood on June 3

5-month Update

So this post is about 4 months late compared to when I should have put it on here. I resolve to do better. Much better.

On Sunday, June 5th, after a week and a half of staff training @ Outlaw near Custer I attempted to run the Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon which starts in the middle of nowhere and runs to Deadwood on the Mickelson Trail. My plan for the race was to run something in the area of 7:40 miles and just see where things went. Well, I was highly unprepared for a 26-mile run, especially this run in which the first 13 miles are all uphill (gradual, but still all uphill). I ended up hitting the wall in a big way around mile 18 and from mile 20 until the finish I had to walk for a considerable amount of time. My final time ended up being 4:03 which netted me 50th place overall out of around 300 runners. This race and time was a huge letdown but also a humbling and wonderful learning experience. I will most definitely be in WAY better shape and much more prepared before I embark on another marathon. A huge thank-you goes out to Megan Baker and Tyler Schultz for giving up their only morning off for 2 weeks go come along and cheer/help me during the race!!


Because I had to walk so much of the race, my legs recovered surprisingly fast; I still took 4 days off after the marathon but then I resumed training for the rest of the summer. Energy-wise was a different situation however. I felt like it took a full 2 to 3 weeks to get back to not feeling sluggish and tired all of the time. Youth camp with very limited time off (and very limited time to sleep in or get to bed before 11) is a hard time to catch up on sleep and restore energy however so it wasn't too shocking to not feel well for a while.


Other than the marathon I had my best summer of running since my junior year of high school. That was the only other summer that I trained this consistently and with this much mileage. My pace was usually slower than I would have liked but that is to be somewhat expected since camp is over 5000 feet of elevation and there is a rather large hill up the camp driveway to start each run.


Other highlights of the summer include getting up @ 6am on a day off to run up Harney Peak with Tyler Schultz (not sure how he talked me into this); competing in the Heart of the Hills 10.4 mile run in mid-July, averaging 6:56 pace for the race on a very hilly course; competing in the Spearfish Canyon Half-Marathon in late July (1 hr, 27 minutes); competing in the Custer Gold Discovery Days run the day after the half and just enjoying a summer full of beautiful and quiet (and hilly) scenic training runs. Almost all of my weekday runs were in the morning before my camp duties started so that meant waking up and being out the door by or before 6-6: 30am in most cases. This was a struggle many mornings but I never had a regret after completing an early morning run.


Since returning home after the summer I have mostly trained for and run in local 5k's for fun and to have something to look forward to on the calender. I have been able to run 3 successive PR's this fall and have lowered by 5k time to 17:28. For what's next, well hopefully I can run another 5k or two this fall and then hopefully this will be a mild winter and I can keep my training going and run some spring races, including a half or full marathon if I feel confident with my mileage.

Summertime!

Well I did not even put a post up last week mainly b/c the weather was horribly windy all week and I did not get much quality running in (only 22 miles all week), but this week was definitely a step in the right direction.

Week of May 2-8

Monday: Didn't Run; super windy and had plenty of homework to stay busy
Tuesday: 3 miles tempo run @ 6:30 pace; felt very sluggish and not good at all
Wednesday: 5 miles on Brokaw Trail in 7:05 pace; legs were tired and heavy at beginning but felt much better towards the end
Thursday: 3 miles easy; legs still do not feel sharp
Friday: 2 miles easy; pre-race day
Saturday: Avera Race Against Breast Cancer in SF just a couple blocks from our house; 18:15, 5th place overall out of 1,795 in the 5k; mile splits were (1) 5:55, (2) 5:49, (3) 5:49; average pace of 5:50; the weather was absolutely perfect - about 50 degrees with no wind, great day to run! I ran another 4 miles later in the afternoon since it was so nice outside; 8 miles total on the day
Link to Results and 5k male results
Sunday: Easy 6 miles Sunday evening with Jordan around Yankton; I shouldn't say evening, since it was actually about 9:30pm when we headed out; could barely run 8 minute pace; very sore but a nice easy conversational run

Total Miles: 27

Still not the mileage I need but I did get some very quality runs in amidst a busy week of school work. Not it's finals week and only 5 days until graduation and 3 more weeks until I leave for Custer for the summer at camp!

Running with the Rats by the River

Week of April 18-April 24

Monday: 7 miles through Yankton; 6:59 pace; felt great
Tuesday: 6 miles with Jordan around Yankton; 7:04 pace; felt decent
Wednesday: Didn't Run... Wanted to take a day off before the 1/2 marathon this week
Thursday: 6 miles in Sioux Falls; 7:07 pace; windy and ran a hilly route so it was a pretty good workout but felt good
Friday: 2 miles easy in Sioux Falls; felt great but wanted to keep mileage low for 1/2 tomorrow
Saturday: River Rat Half-Marathon in Yankton. This race started and finished on the river about 2 blocks from my house in Yankton so I decided it would be a great race and serve as a barometer for my Marathon in early June. The race started near the baseball field on the river just east of Broadway Ave and ran on the sidewalk towards the hospital and Mount Marty and then out towards the Dam before turning around and coming back. Sure enough, there was a pretty gusty headwind coming out of the west so the first half of the race was tough. Here is how it went by mile...

1- 6:47 - just trying to find a pace and settle in with some runners
2- 7:03 - ran in the back of a pack of 5 runners; very content to let somebody else lead into the strong headwinds
3- 6:35 - this included the large downhill just west of Yankton; our group of 5 split into 2 groups and I joined a group of 2 others up ahead
4- 6:43 - I was only planning to run 7-flats for the first half of the race but I was not going to run by myself in the wind so I just ran whatever pace the guy in front in the wind was running
5- 6:52 - wind was annoying but not terrible; just waiting to get done with this half of the race
6- 6:50
7- 6:44 - halfway through this mile we finally turned around and running with that wind at our back instead of into it felt AMAZING
8- 6:27- the 3 of us that were running together got some separation - probably about 10-20 seconds in-between each; the guy who ran out front was behind and I was in the middle
9- 6:27 - I only planned on running the 2nd half in 6:40-6:50 pace but I felt really good at this stage
10- 6:29
11- 6:55 - this included running back up the hill west of town
12- 6:16 - not sure what happened here; I honestly do not think that I could have run any faster or slower, my legs just felt like they were going on their own
13- 6:24 - started to feel a little pain by this time and I knew I wouldn't catch the guy in front of me and I could no longer see the guy behind me so just felt like I coasted in

Final Time: 1 hr 26 mins 39 seconds

I finished 4th overall of about 130 runners. Thomas Madut won the race and Michael Hoffman was 2nd. Thomas was a year behind me @ Lincoln High School in SF so I ran against him a bunch in HS and Hoffman runs for DSU in Madison and I know him quite well so it was fun to see those guys run well. The guy who finished 3rd goes to SDSU and has a pretty sweet blog... www.runningonthewhiteline.com

Complete results here

This was only my 2nd ever half-marathon and my first was not as competitive as I was just helping to pace some female teammates. I felt WAY better than I thought I would and in hindsight could have run a little faster, especially with better weather. Definitely a confidence booster for Deadwood

Sunday: Ran 3 miles easy in Marshall after going to church with my grandparents. Legs were a little sore but the run was toughest because the whole time I was starving and all I could think of was the meal that Grandma would have ready for Easter dinner when I got back!

Total Miles: 37

All in all a really good week. I realize that I will not get the mileage I originally wanted before my race but I should be ok as long as I get a couple more decent long runs in. My main goal is still to break 3 hours and I think it should be pretty close. I think the biggest thing will be to run smart and keep my pace under control the first half of the marathon.

Winter Returns!

April 11-17

Monday: 4 miles; 2 miles @ 6 minute pace but could not manage any further
Tuesday: Ran west of town and back; 7 miles; felt slow and sluggish
Wednesday: Didn't run; shins sore
Thursday: 4 miles; 7:17 pace; windy & cold
Friday: Didn't run; windy and snowing and slushy and just did not want to run in these conditions
Saturday: 5 miles on bike trail; 7:09 pace; cool and windy but felt pretty good
Sunday: 2 miles easy @ 6:54 pace; just trying to break in some new racing shoes and it was cold!

Total Miles: 22

Definitely not the mileage I was looking for this week but I had some shin soreness and decided to do less rather than more and hopefully feel better in the coming weeks; not to mention the weather in the 2nd half of the week really sucked so it was a good week to take a little time off. Signed up to run the River Rat Half Marathon in Yankton this Saturday morning. Should be a fun race. Main goal is to run first half @ 7 minute mile pace and then drop down to 6:50-6:40 pace for the 2nd half.

Building Building Mileage

Week of April 4 - 10

• Monday: 5 miles easy around Yankton; 7:17 pace; very windy!


• Tuesday: Ran west on bike trial 6.5 miles & back. 13 miles. 1:37:11, 7:28 pace. Felt ok but last couple of miles were a struggle


• Wednesday: 35:10, 7:02 pace, 5 miles easy on bike trail west of town


• Thursday: Ran to HS track and did 6x800 with 3:00 rest: 2:52-2:57-2:50-2:50-2:48-2:44, felt ok; mile cool down and mile warm up - 5 miles total


• Friday: Day off


• Saturday: 5k @ Summit Center; Missouri Valley Christian Acadamy fundraiser; 18:50, won by over 3 minutes; fun run but would have been nice to have somebody to race


• Sunday: Super windy; ran 6 miles in Yankton; first couple of miles were over 8 minute pace but picked it up throughout the run and finished at a 7:07 pace overall


• Total Miles: 37 Good week of running...

• I'm hoping to get a longer 14-15 miler in sometime later this week and then maybe run a half-marathon in Yankton on Easter weekend... but we'll see.

Long Overdue

Haven't updated in quite a while so I'm not gong to recap everything I have done since the last blog post (way back in February). I went to France for Spring break so there was no running at all during that trip. We did so much walking every day that I don't think my feet could of handled much running, plus I just didn't want to drag all of those extra clothes and shoes along. Following our return from France I left with some students to the Crow Creed Indian Reservation for a 2-day documentary making trip at the elementary school so that was a couple of more days off. I have finally got back into the running routine and managed to get just over 30 miles this week. There are 9 weeks until the Deadwood Marathon so that means I have 7 weeks max of quality training time before a short taper before the race. I need to reassess my training plan and will hopefully get something rather concrete figured out this week. Definitely need to start working on some serious long runs. On a very bright note... the weather has finally taken a turn towards spring and I can definitely handle running in 40 and 50 degree temps! :)