Indy Mini

Last Saturday was the 2016 Indy Mini Marathon.  While this was the 40th running of the event, it was the 11th time that I have participated (I had to miss the 2010 race due to injury).  This is usually my goal race each year - the jewel that I aim for.  This year's goal was to finish in the top 500 overall and get that second medal.  Going into my taper week, the Sunday prior I got an easy 10 mile run in and I felt really confident that my training was in a pretty good spot.

And then the wheels came off.  Wednesday morning, my throat was a little scratchy and by the end of the day my sinuses were donezo.  A cold had settled in.  Thursday night, Jess and I went to the expo and got my packet and I couldn't breathe through my nose.  We stopped for dinner at Scotty's Brewhouse on the way home and I ate super spicy foods which helped temporarily, but by Friday morning it was back to congestion-ville.  I ran by Walgreen's and got about as much over the counter medicine as I could without being suspicious of being a meth-head and I took everything I could for the rest of the day.

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 and realized I had actually slept decently (or however decent a person can sleep on just under 6 hours of sleep).  It was in the mid 50s out and a little breezy at race start.  I purposely held back - instead of shooting for top 500 I decided to take aim on running consistent 7:15-20 pace.

Through the first 5k, I was right on track with an average pace of 7:22.  Things felt pretty well - my body felt rested, I could breathe, and life was good.  I decided to take my gel around mile 6 which is a little early for me, but I found a water station and figured time-wise I needed it.  I cut some time off between the 5k and the Brickyard by averaging 7:18 pace.  However, that's when the wheels came off.

As I was going around the track, the clouds picked up and the winds came back and shortly after, my nose closed off.  My head felt stopped up and again I couldn't breathe well.  Between Brickyard and 11M marker I average 7:34 per mile.  It took all I could to push to the finish but my lungs were on fire.  I finished in 1:38:12 - good enough for 778th place overall.

I was left wondering what could have happened had I not been hit with the cold bug.  I feel that top 500 would have been pretty easy.  Oh well - next year.

However, Meb was the main attraction this year.  He started the waves and then after the last walkers started, he and his crew took off running to see how many he could pass.  While technically he did stop and take selfies with other runners, his finishing time was 1:41:18.  Yep - I beat Meb.  It's official.  It's on the internet so it must be true.  We did catch up post race to meet him and he is as genuine of a guy as there is - you can't not like him!

Another big name ran the race - Tony Kanaan.  Tony is an Indycar driver and won the Indy 500 back in 2013.  He ran the mini in 1:43:29 and after the race we spent some time talking to him, his wife, and their son.  All of them are world-class individuals as well!

On to the next round of training and racing...
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It's Race Week!

We are 5 days, 11 hours, and 26 minutes away from the One America Indy 500 Mini Marathon!  I remember blogging months ago about there being 75 or some odd days left and how things were going to get serious.  So where the hell did the time go?

Am I ready?  I think so.  My training as been on point this spring, outside of roughly two weeks where my ankle was weird.  Going to the doctor, getting the x-ray and putting my mind at ease is what I needed.  I don't feel that it has completely healed, but I believe the support with the brace has helped and has helped me stay focused without as much worry.  There is time to heal next week.

My training has included a little of everything.  Multiple runs of 10+ miles, fartleks, easy runs, mile repeats, and even one minute intervals.  And a lot of that has sucked.  Those one minute intervals really do help, but damn, do they hurt!?  I feel like my short speed has been at levels that I haven't had in years, as was evident with the Durbin Classic 5k race last month.  And I have logged more longer runs this spring than years past.

However, I am a little nervous.  I always am for this race.  It is THE race each year.  Am I ready?  Is my speed going to hold up for a longer duration?  Will my mind stay calm and I can stay focused?  I have a goal - I want to be Top 500.  Is that too aggressive?  All I know is I have done the miles, done the speed work, and the weather appears to be decent to start the race.  The rest is up to me!

However, I did spot this guy this morning on my 10 mile run.  Hopefully it isn't a sign or what my pace is going to be like Saturday

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So Here We Are...

Crap.... it's been a month since I was last on here?  Yeah, I am a failure.... A lot has happened over the last month so let me see if I can recap some of it.

A)  Jess ran her first "real" race by doing the Carmel 5k a week and a half ago.  I say "real" because it actually had more than 200 people.  So far, she has done small races and I was curious how a bigger race such as this one would make her feel.  The girls and I made signs and cheered as loud as we could.  You could tell that Jess was nervous, but I was anxious for her.  As I thought might happen, she admitted to going out a little fast.  It's hard not to - a large crowd like that just gets your adrenaline going!  Smartly she reeled it in and finished within about 20 seconds of her PR time.  We were so proud of her!  And now she has the bug to jump into another one ASAP.  

After her race, we got some food and then found a spot around the 10 mile marker for the marathon (the what?).  Ella wasn't done cheering, and we were still on a runner's high, so we got out and cheered on the rest of pack coming through all the way up to the pick-up bus.  It was a blast... well, except for Ananbell.  She is like a 90 year old woman and just wants to be at home.

B)  We signed the girls up for the Indy 500 Rookie Run.  The week after the mini (so about two weeks from now) the girls will get to run as part of the Indy 500 festivities.  I think Annabell has to do like a 1/3 mile and Ella has slightly more.  Since they have both run 5k's before, they probably won't have any trouble with the race but they do get cool finisher medals.

C)  The Blue Man Group!  Jess and I voyaged to Dayton this past weekend for a little getaway as she had bought me tix to see BMG.  She had never seen them before, so I was curious what she might think - but she loved it!  Those guys put on quite a show.  OH - and before the show we ran into some Super Friends just across the street from the convention center....

D)  Indy Mini is now 10 days 21 hours 55 minutes away... but let's not talk about that just yet.  I don't want to get MY nerves going.

Left, Right, Repeat

Durbin Classic

My left foot has been bothering me all week, but yesterday I decided to test it and test my speed.  Jess, Chuck, and I met Jonathon and Ian for the Durbin Classic 5k.  It was about 34 degrees with a slight breeze from the south which just made it feel colder.  I had noticed in the past that the winning times for the 5k were just faster than 20 minutes, so I had planned to run somewhere around 21 - 21:30 and come in the top 3 or 4.

What pre-race jitters?

I made my way to the front of the group and started right behind a group of guys and about 10 kids under the age of 15.  I figured out right away, with the race being for the benefit of the Durbin Elementary School, that these kids were going to go out hard and have fun.  And I was right.  Gotta give them credit - many of them stayed up there for the first half to 3/4 miles.

About that time, four of us guys took off.  The race had both a 5k and 10k and I had no idea who was running which race.  The overall leader took off - he must have been running just over 6 minute mile pace.  After a mile or so, I made my way up to second place after running the first mile in 6:26.  Then the breeze kicked me.

My second mile dropped to almost 6:40 and I was sucking that cold air hard.  Just after the second mile marker, someone passed me and I could tell another guy was on his way.  That was about the time I could see the school and the race finish in the distance and it set in that nobody else was going to pass me.

I kept the second place guy in my sights and then made my move in the last quarter mile.  With just a couple hundred meters to go, I passed him and strided out to the finish.  It was at that point that I found out the guy who was in overall first was running the 10k - which meant I had just won the 5k in 20:27!

Striding hard to the finish

I went back to the course and cheered everyone else along.  I saw Jess and Chuck coming down the road.  I ran with Jess the last little bit, and while trying to provide inspiration to help her to the finish line, she essentially told me off.  She told me she had nothing left in the tank.  However, what she didn't know until later was that she had ran some of that second mile at a pace faster than she has done before (thanks Chuck!) so it made sense.  When all was said and done, she had actually ran a new PR in a time of 31:54!

Jess and me after the race

Not too bad for either of us, considering we only got about 5.5 hours of sleep after staying up for the entire IU game the night before.

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Damn Ankle

This has been a pissy week for me.  Last Thursday, I woke early and nailed 2 mile repeats.  Completely kicked my butt, but felt good.  After work, I met Jess and we did a "Brew Mile".  Think about it - for $5 you get to participate in a 1 mile run / walk and then afterwards get a free beer!  A pure genius came up with this idea!  Maybe someone can come up with a 2 mile fun run and you would get TWO beers afterwards.  Or maybe....

Anyway, I didn't run Friday but Jess and I hit the gym on Saturday.  I struggled through 4 easy miles.  My left ankle felt weak and sore on the outside by the ankle joint.  I spent the afternoon icing it and relaxing.

Due to a busy week, and wanting to play it safe, I took a few days off.  Outside of getting my 10,000 daily steps (damn Fitbit...) and volleyball on Tuesday, I did nothing.  It was somewhat glorious, but I also felt very lazy and anxious.

Thursday finally rolled around, and we hit the gym.  I tested it with just over 3 easy miles.  A little sore, but maybe I was just being overly nervous and careful due to not wanting to make it worse.  Regardless, I got through it, no issues afterwards, and have been nursing it all day today.

Tomorrow, Jess and I have a 5k with many of our friends.  That will be the real test.  I plan to do some easy jogging warm up to get it ready and then see what it can do.  I am shooting for somewhere around 21 or 21:30 tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

Oh, also over the last week I have done Pilates twice with Jess at gym - once Sunday, and once this morning.  My abs have hurt from both days!  We'll see how that factors into tomorrow's adventure.

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Selection Sunday and Running Ramblings

Today is a big day if you like college basketball - we are about 4 hours away from Selection Sunday announcements.  Being a fan of the Indiana Hoosiers, I am keeping my fingers crossed that we get a 4 seed in the Midwest, but time will tell.  All I can say is that this year's tournament is going to be a blast.  There are a couple teams right now playing as well as anyone, but really there are 15-20 teams that have a chance of winning it all.  I believe my brackets will be toast by the evening games on Thursday.

Jess has been creating a revolution with LA Fitness to get Sunday kids club hours at our location (if you are a LA Fitness member, please call the Noblesville, IN location at 317-774-0900 and tell them you want Sunday kids club hours!).  It would be nice to be able to do some of the classes on Sundays, but having children makes that difficult.  Today we split up the morning - I got to the gym right as it opened at 8 am and got 10 miles in on the treadmill, and Jess brought the girls at 9:30 to trade off so she could go to a Pilates class.  It worked, but that lost hour from the time change last night is really taking its toll on me as the day goes on.  My foot felt weak early on, but after ten minutes of running it felt fine and the rest of the run was no problem.  Think I may have to be a little more proactive with my foot stretching and warming up.

Anyway, after today I have now logged roughly 54 miles for the month.  In January and February I averaged around 83 miles per month, so I am way ahead of where I was the first two months of the year and all I can see is a big ole' "100 miles" waiting ahead.  I am also now 24 miles ahead of my pace for 1000 for the year.  I figured as the weather turned nicer, and once I started getting longer weekend runs, that the mileage would increase.  Still gotta keep the focus, understanding that I am very lazy in November and December, so I have to rack up the miles while I can before then.

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Sunday Runday ... and Pain Day

I finally caved.  Jess has wanted me to join her for a Pilates class at LA Fitness for as long as I can remember.  Typically, she does a class on Thursday's and Saturday's and that gives me a chance to spend an hour on the treadmill.  Seeing a tire around my midsection, I have realized I need to work on my core, so when she found a class on the schedule for today, I told her I would join her.

Ok - I told her I would join her a couple days ago.  Then we decided that last night we would grill out and play some board games with friends.  That also included having a few beers, and staying up about 3 hours past our normal bed time.  And to top that off, I still woke up about 6 AM this morning.  Needless to say, I was not as excited about the 9:45 class this morning when she reminded me about it.  But I sucked it up and off we went.

I found out that my legs are in great shape.  Not overly surprising, since I run races all year long.  But I also found out I probably have the worst abdominal muscles of anyone that was present in class.  And that included all the senior citizen ladies that were in there.  Yeah, my abs are like jelly, and will probably be pretty pissed off at me tomorrow morning.  But, in all fairness, I did like the class.  And I probably will try to incorporate it into my routine.  I realized there is a lot that a class like that offers the could help my running long term.

We still got out for a long run this afternoon.  Even with a 12 mph wind, we nailed down 10 miles of me running while Jess rode the bike next to me.  I had planned on it being an easy run, but that didn't end up happening.  Thanks to analytical tools on Strava, I found out that I spent over half of the run in my "tempo" speed range.  

Speaking of Strava, I got my first "premium" training program email today.  It let me know that tomorrow is a rest day and I have no workout scheduled.  Kind of defeats the purpose of the email, but whatever.  I am excited to have a day of no exercise - I'm sure I will need a rest day as I slither down the stairway in the morning in pain.

Left, right, repeat

February Blues?

After two months, my training log is consistent workouts but lower miles than I would like to have at this moment.  In January, I had 14 run entries covering 88 miles.  After my run tonight, I ended February with 16 runs covering 83 miles.  That puts me at 171 miles YTD, which means I am currently 7 miles ahead of pace to break 1,000 miles for the year.

That last sentence makes me happy.  My goal from day one has been to top the century mark for the year.  Last year, I finished somewhere around 750 miles and felt that 1,000 was a pretty good leap but something within reason.  It's nice to be on pace for it, but I also fear the fact that my November and December months typically suck pretty badly when it comes to mileage.

While I am happy to be ahead of pace, I'm also kind of disappointed right now.  Had you told me on January 1st that through two months I would have 30 runs I would have figured it would have totaled somewhere closer to 200 miles.  My runs have been consistently in the 5-7 mile range each time out, but I really don't have any distance to speak of yet.  Hopefully over the next couple weekends I can log a 10 miler.

Yesterday was a first for me, and one that I will remember for a long time.  It was probably my best 2 mile run ever.  With the weather being nice (although extremely windy), Jess and I planned to run a couple easy miles while the girls (ages 8 and 5) rode their bikes next to us.  I figured it would be a slow go, especially with the wind, but we did 2 miles at about a 11:55 / mile average pace!  Granted, we had to have a stop at the playground, but with that being Annabell's first bike ride on a "big girl's bike" I was extremely surprised and happy that we managed that distance at that pace.  I foresee that type of activity happening a few more times over the summer.

My legs feel like jelly tonight.  Feeling rested, I decided to nail some Yasso 800's this evening on the treadmill.  After my warm up, I clocked 5 x half miler at 8.5 mph with a short recovery jog between each set.  That was my first speed workout in a while, and couple that with the gym being roughly the temperature of the sun's surface, I was exhausted afterwards.  But it's done, in the books, and I'm happy about it.

I have an easy run planned for tomorrow, then volleyball game at 9:30 (yikes), then some miles Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week.  March hopefully will have a spike in miles.

Left, right, repeat!

Countdown to the Indy Mini

The Indy Mini (indymini.com) is MY race.  I first ran it in 2005, and to be honest, I sucked.  Years before, I could run a race of any distance without much thought, and do it well.  However, as college and first few years of post-college went by, things had changed.  That race is when I realized that I was completely out of shape and a little hefty.  And that started my push to lose weight and get back to what I was capable of doing.

Since then, I have been hooked on running and specifically, this race.  I have only missed the Indy Mini one year since then, and that was due to an injury.  It's the race that I have marked on my calendar every year as the one I absolutely must perform well.

My training this year has been solid - as of right now, I have 135 miles YTD and I am 4 miles behind my pace of running 1,000 miles for the year.  My times on speed and tempo and have been spot on, and I have had some consistent longer runs as well.  Compared to years past, I should be happy with where I am at in mid February.  However, this morning I find myself scared.

I just realized - the Indy Mini is 76 days 22 hours and 49 minutes from now.  That seems like a long ways away, but for training purposes, it's really not.  The countdown is officially on; the training must kick into action over the next 10 weeks.  It's almost here....

Left, right, repeat!

So.... It's been awhile

I admit it - I have become lazy on this whole blogging thing. My wife reminds me (constantly) that I have not blogged in 6 weeks. This blog was intended to simply hush her up (since she will read it) but now as I type this, I feel like I have a lot to talk about. So what all is new running-wise over the last 6 weeks? Well...

1) How about those Olympic Trials this past Saturday? Jess and I watched the entire three hours of it, and were completely inspired by what we saw. Rupp, Meb, and Ward leading the way for the men and Cragg, Desi Linden, and Shalane (a favorite of Jess and mine) for the women. People think we are crazy because we enjoy watching people run 26.2 miles on TV - but how could you not think Saturday was great for the sport? Given the weather conditions, those six as well as everyone else who finished were awesome.  Check out this section of the USA Track & Field website and you can see all their mile and split times.  I would love to run just one segment similar to what these guys do for an entire race.

2) Speaking of Meb, he's coming to the Indy Mini! OK, so Shalane is a favorite of ours - but Meb is Meb! It was like Christmas for me when I found out last month that Meb was coming to town to be part of a race that I am an ambassador. For more, check this out!

3) Keeping with the running theme and the Indy Mini, two weeks ago Jess and I ran the 3 miler - the first leg of the three race training series. I came in 28th overall (out of 1,441) and Jess set yet another PR! Sooooo proud of her, since she did this completely on her own and she owned that race! Her training is paying off and she will be under 30 minutes easily this year.

4) Speaking of races, as I laced up my gear this past Sunday to go outside and run in 19 degree weather that felt like 7 degrees, Ella told me she wants to do another family race. I have another runner in the making there. Guess Jess and I will have to do some research and find a 5k that the four of us can do sometime.

5) And to round out all this running conversation, I checked out my Strava account this evening.  My goal January 1st was to run 1000 miles this year.  I had something like 770 miles last year.  As of right now, after doing 5 miles today, I am right on pace for 1000.  I feel like that is an accomplishment as after 6 weeks I have kept it up, however I also understand that I need to get some major miles banked up between now and the fall.  Historically speaking, my November and December miles simply suck.  Like, big time.  So I must get as many miles as possible between now and October to be safe.

I probably left some stuff out, but that's all I can think of right now, plus my Indiana Hoosiers are getting ready to tip off.

Left, right, repeat!

Welcome to 2016's Goals

Happy New Years! It's difficult to believe that 2016 is already here. My wife and I were talking tonight how quickly the last month has gone, but in reality, the entire year has been a blur. 2015 was simply a great year. From a family standpoint, we made so many memories throughout the year that we all will remember. From a running perspective, it was also a fantastic year. I ran three half marathons in one month, ran a few 5k's (one with all of my family and others helping my wife to her PR), and finished another marathon. Benjamin Franklin said "If you fail to plan then plan to fail". Or at least I think it was Franklin. Maybe he said "Don't always believe what you read on the internet". Regardless of who said it, the statement is true. So with that mind, I have come up with some goals for my running: 1) The year's Indy Mini (#indymini) will be my fastest one yet. Not fastest half marathon, but fastest Indy Mini. I think due to the crowd, and the excitement, it just takes longer to dodge people compared to smaller half marathons that I have done. So, my goal for the Indy Mini is to be under 1:36:42. 2) Help my wife get under 30 minutes for a 5k. She has cut close to 2 minutes off each of her last two races and if she does that again, she has this goal. I think with her training using hills and speed, that this goal will be crossed off early in the year and an even faster goal made for the second part of the year. 3) Run another family 5k. No PR here - well maybe Ella and Jess can go after a PR for Ella, but Annabell and I will just want to finish. 4) A Boston Marathon qualifying time in December for me. I am looking at the St Jude's marathon in Memphis. If my calculations are correct, that would be a time frame for the 2018 marathon at which time I would be 40 years old. The qualifying time for a 40 year old is 3:15:00. I think on the right course with the proper training, I should be able to do that. I had the training down for West Palm a couple years ago - just got to keep the focus in October and early November! That's it - for now. We'll revisit the goals in a couple months to see how they are coming along. Until then, it's just left, right, repeat!