Human Race Re-Cap

Man oh man I am late with this one. Hard to believe it has been just over a week since the race. Sorry for being slow on this but lets just say it has been crazy at the store and home as of late.

So as many of you know the Human race 8k was my first race since last October and the Fall 50 mile. Not only has it been a long time since racing but hmm 50 miles and 5 miles are a bit different to say the least. But with the solid weeks of a little speed work and my solid weeks of long runs I thought I could pop a good one. I just needed to get my head around it all. I was pretty nervous about it going into race day.

Sonya racing hard to be the 3rd masters runner

As race day came I figured I would just look to start out at 5:50ish pace and go from there. If I could run that I would be around 29 mins and I would be ok with that. Deep down though I hoped to run 28:30-28:45 or so. I hit the first mile in like 5:52 or so and felt pretty good. As we made our way to mile 2 I tried to bridge a gap up to a few runners ahead of me as I was pretty much all alone. I think my second mile was like 5:55 or so? The 3rd mile is always slow as you go around William Mitchell law school and you have 4 turns to do so. I think I was like 5:55 or so aging for that mile. I find mile 3-4 to be the trick one as you have a slight uphill for over half of it so you are working harder than you think. I was thinking to myself to be solid and get myself in a good spot for the final .98 of a mile since that is fast and starts with a good downhill. I closed good and ran the final mile in like 5:22ish? Sorry for not having the exact splits as I have had my watch all cleared out by now. I hit the line in 29:07 a 5:50 mile average.

Happy to be racing once more

At first I was a bit bumbed out about my time. Then I thought about it all and was pretty happy with it. Racing is something you need to do often if you want to run your best. It is about feel. What I mean is knowing the feel of if I am pushing hard enough or maybe to hard. I found myself many times in this race thinking about that. I know if I ran this race right now I could be faster just by knowing what it all feels like once more. All in all it was a good day. Next up is supposed to be Ron Daws 25k this weekend but I am not sure yet if it will all work out or not. But for sure I have Trail Mix 50k in just a few weeks. Running has been feeling good since then so I am really looking forward to it. Happy running!!!

Steady Man

One more week gone by and one more week closer to running on some dirt. With the weather we are going to be having all week I feel like my first run on the dirt is so close I can taste it. My good buddy Paul was down in Arkansas for a long weekend and got to run on some dirt trails, man so so jealous buddy.

So for this week I thought I would bring it down a bit like I said before. As much as I was rolling I needed to make sure I was got cranking it up to much to fast for the time of the year. So I ended up taking two days off during the week. It was nice to have the days to rest and know that I was not taking them because 1) I was being lazy or 2) I was totally fried. I still kept my solid indoor track workout in Tuesday night. One more week down and feeling fast, go figure.

When the weekend came I got in a solid pace 17 miler in with KJ down at the lakes. It has been great getting to know him more and have one more person to add to my super mix of running friends. Toward the end of the run we got to see the leaders of the Irish for a Day 10 miler go by!!! On Sunday lucky old me got to run another 17 miler with Sonya thanks to my Mom taking the kids. Thanks Mom. This week it was just Sonya and me so we got to talk about all the things we always want to talk about all week but never get to because we are doing like 1 million different things for the kids. This was great. Another great part of Sundays run was that I got to try my new Salomon Advance skin water vest for the first time. All I can say is wow!!! Man what a great fit as I never knew I had it on. I think this is going to be the ticket come Grand Canyon R2R2R and for the Black Hills 100 miler.

This week will also be down a bit as I get ready for the St. Patricks Human Race 8k on Sunday but I will keep things not to easy as I need to keep my eye on the prize at the end of June. I will leave you with these two great videos from last years Western States 100 done by local gal Audrey Weber. She did a super job!!!

Biggest week yet!!

One more week down and one more super solid week of training. I feel like I have hit a solid groove with everything. You know keep it simple. One solid day of speed training and one solid long run. As I have said before in other posts the filler days will get much easier once the snow is gone and I can get back on my dirt trails; until then just keep it day to day. This week was highlighted by 4 real good runs........

My Tuesday night speed sessions at the EP indoor track have been super. I have in 10 weeks in a row now which makes me very happy. I was joined this week but Pete Miller. It was Pete's first week doing this with me and since I had had two weeks in a row of faster longer stuff we did on and off laps. Each lap there is like 260 meters I believe so it is a solid workout as you do not get much rest. We did like 10 or 11 of them I think then got in some nice cool down running. It was great to have new company, thanks Pete.

I was also luck to be able to run Thursday night at the Dome with the help of Sonya. She was able to get some help for us with Evan so I was able to run some ice free/ in shorts miles. What was super nice was the fact that I even got to run my first 30 mins with Sonya !!! When it was all said and done I was happy to see that I got in 10 miles that felt real easy at a steady 6:40ish pace.

Saturday found me meeting up with KJ and Paul for a fun 9 miles from the shop. It was nice as always to run with Paul and get to run once more with KJ. Since he is back in the cities I hope to log a whole bunch more miles with him in the future. Per normal as conversation got going so did my pace. A big problem at times is that I get so fired up that I find myself picking up the pace. Sorry guys. After our opening 9 miles with looped back to the store to run a easy 6 or 7 more with Adam and John "Mr. Afton" Storkamp. I was sure to stay in the back as not to be the one to pick up the pace to much. All in all a great run with a super breakfast at Woody's grill after.

The last of my super days this week was my Sunday long run with Sonya. My Dad helped us out so we could run together as we needed to get in 30 miles and it would have taking up the whole day if we would have had to run separate. We went back to French Park a place by my parent that we have done this before at. French works out great as I have a loop around the lake that is 9.9 miles so all we had to do is 3 laps and then a little add on at the end. This is also a good loop as we can re-fill our water and grab some more gels every 10 miles. Plus the lake path is clear for the most part. Adam Schwartz-Lowe joined us for the first 12+ miles which was nice. After that it was just Sonya and I. The weather worked out real well for a run like this. Not to windy and temps in the mid 20's I think. It was great to be able to spend this time with her. She is one tuff person and if this run was any preview she will do great at the upcoming Mad City 100k in a few weeks. After getting done we saw that we got faster each lap!! We ended with a total time of 4:05ish for 30 miles. Nice day to say the least. I do wonder what the people who live around the lake think when they see us go by 3 times over that many hours?

till spring comes I guess old Kilian video's will have to do

I ended the week with a solid 78 miles on 6 days of running which was great. Now this week I think I will take a bit of a down week since I have had like 70+ weeks like 4 in a row? My running log has not been kept up so I am not sure but either way a week of some rest will be good.