Random Updates – Superbowl 10K, Boston Training Report January 2012

Last Sunday was the Superbowl 10K.  This the 11^th running of the race and it was my third year directing the event which sold out at 550 entrants on December 13.  As I’ve mentioned before, this race has been its share of inclement weather the past two years.  As race day approached, my eyes were glued to local weather predictions which noted the potential for a large storm event.  Luck was finally on my side and the storm stayed to our South.  After a great long run on Saturday AM, I was able to ride the course on my bike and measure it out.

Sunday AM we were treated to an overcast sky and temps in the low 30’s.  The volunteers never cease to amaze me and I can’t thank them enough.  I also want to thank my wife Lauren and my cohort Carly.  From parking to registration to timing to food prep, everything went seamlessly.  With the exception of a false start (how embarrassing!) due to technical difficulties, the race went off without a hitch and before you know it we were treated to bright sunshine!!

All total, a record number of finishers cross the line that day, 489 in all.  As an extra perk, the top 50 male and top 50 female finishers are recognized with custom Sockguy wool socks and Autumn and Joshua love to hand them out as the runners cross the line.  It’s really cool to see that this has become a staple of the race, many people thanked us as we handed them out saying that their goal was to get the socks!  

And they're off!

We did some neat things this year to set our race apart and add value to the event.  Long sleeve Brooks Running technical shirts were given to all participants, the socks were given out, there was cash and Brooks Running shoes given out to the top 3 overall, top masters and the most spirited Superbowl costume (seen above on the far left at the start), post race goodies included hot soup, pizza, soft pretzels, soda, water and Gatorade.  We had a fire going to keep the runners warm and we provided all of our 45+ volunteers with custom hooded sweatshirts.  On top of all that, we LOWERED the price to $27.50! 

The event donated ten spots to the HCMFoundation, a charity that provides services to individuals and families battling the effects of cancer.  Those ten spots raised MORE THAN $3000 for the Foundation.  On top of that the remainder of the proceeds go to the Lehigh ValleyRoad Runners and their mission of supporting youth running!

There are some things that can be improved on, but judging from the overwhelming positive feedback I think we’ve made some great changes.   I’m honored to be a part of such a great event.

My helpers, waiting for the first finishers.

As far as my training goes, well I’ve been enjoying the milder temps this winter and I feel like I’m starting to come to form….itching for that first “test”.  Through the first 5 weeks of the year I’ve run 300 miles, topping out at nearly 70 miles last week.  My tempo and speed workouts are right where I want them, my heart rate is gradually coming down for any given pace and my long runs have gone very well (four runs of 20 miles or more since January 1, 2011).  This week will be a down week of mileage and effort to try and recover from the 65-70 miles per week over the last three weeks. 

My first test will be the Frostbite 5 miler on 2/18, followed by a long run the day after.  The next weekend I’ll race the Ugly Mudder which will be my first trail race, probably a smart move considering my first 50k (also a trail race) is about 5 weeks away!

Next post I'd like to explore some of the great group/package event coaching/racing packages out there in triathlon and running, namely the Runnersworld Challenge and REV3's new event VIP coaching packages.

The wrath of mother nature

I've been bitten by good old mother nature many a times in my days.  Come to think of it, my dad has been struck by lighting twice, wonder if it runs in the family? 

Well, as my birthday weekend rolled around (and the previously discussed trip to Louisville, KY for some big race) it appeared that mother nature had planned to draw blood again!  My teammate Marten made it down a day before Greg and I did.  He got to pre-ride the course on Thursday and it was POURING.  A full day of racing / riding coupled with over an inch of rain left the course quite a mess. Enter Greg and I (who almost missed our connected flight due to, you guessed it, weather delays) on Thursday night.  It's now snowing and 20 degrees.  Fantastic! 

We got back to our rooms after getting our numbers, built up our bikes and prepared for our seeding qualifier the next day.  You see, I was concerned for the last three days as I was watching the weather.  "This is the WORST POSSIBLE SCENARIO you could imagine for a cross race.  FROZEN SOLID MUD RUTS".  We arrived at the course (freezing our asses off) to find a frozen tundra.

As we sat in the rental car getting our gear on, we witnessed something odd.  There was a "flyover" structure that you had to climb up stairs, hop on you bike on top and ride down while the course passed under you.  Well it was so cold that it was frozen to the point where people could not ride down it.  They were sliding their bikes and then sliding down on their asses!  Then we heard that the officials were going to delay the start because of that.  So we headed out for our site lap.  Basically all you could do was run, just about the whole course.  And it was painful running, rolling ankles in ruts from the day before, etc.

  

At this point I was freezing, and quite frankly scared.  Scared that I'd spend the rest of January like I did last year.....injured and on the DL.  I wasn't scared about a big fall, but scared about twisting a knee or an ankle that would mess up my next two big races, the HAT50K and the Boston Marathon.

Back on track here.  Our race was scheduled to start at 9:45.  We were pretty sure we heard the officials say it was starting at 10:00.  Well, we were in the car pinning up our numbers when all the sudden we see our race take off!  This is only a seeding race for start position so I wasn't too worried, but we did get out there, and had spotted the field 3 minutes.  I was running just about the whole course, it was a windy 21 degress and I was cold.  I was however still smiling, and I somehow managed to catch and pass someone!  Long story short, I finished 2nd from last.

Our main event was scheduled for 3pm the next day.  Temps were not supposed to get above freezing.  The sun did come out and turned the top layer of the course to a greasy, sticky mud with some fun icy ruts throughout the course.  My heart just wasn't in this one.  It was a bummer for me.  I had taken a good shot to the groin in a site lap crash which took the breath out of me, so when we lined up, all I hoped for was a safe finish.

We took off, I made a couple of passes from the back row and Greg and I were marking each other until I got caught up with someone who had gone down in front of me.  About halfway through the first lap I could tell my bike was pretty heavy from the mud, then I started to experience shifting issues.  As I was about to complete the first lap, I was carrying my now 3 times the weight bike up the runup and I felt a pull in my knee.  This worried me.  I got to the top, put my bike down hoping to hop on and ride out the pain, but now not only was my chain skipping, my tires were so clogged they wouldn't move.  That was it, game over.  Save myself and save my equipment.  There will be more days.  Not what I had planned / dreamed in my head, and yet another blow from mother nature, but I was safe and still smiling.

I was glad that I pulled out in the long run.  Of the three other people that I knew in my race, two of them broke their rear derailleurs.  The other guy had two bikes, so he would ride a lap, grab a clean bike, ride a lap, grab clean bike, etc.  That was the only way you could have finished.  It was brutal.  My hats off and congratulations to not only the winners and the new world champions, but to those who simply finished!

So now on to bigger and better.  I had a great week this week training.  Nearly 65 miles last week as well.  My speed and tempo workouts are spot on.  Now I'm getting anxious to test the legs out in a race.

UCI Masters Cyclocross World Championships by Exergy Preview, Louisville

Cross season finished up nearly a month ago in these parts.  I haven't ridden in the grass since then, but that will change this weekend.  My race bike is en route to Louisville, as will myself and three Lamprey teammates, to race the Masters World Cyclocross Championships.  I hadn't planned on racing this initially, but when we got to bench racing and talking about it, it sounded like a great opportunity to check it out.  Now, I'm glad we're going and I'm pretty damn excited about it too! 

Wednesday Greg and I glued up my first set up tubulars, Easton EA70x wheelset with Challenge Fango (ft) / Grifo (rr) tires.  We packed our bikes into the cases, shipped down a car rack and bike stand and we're on our way!  Cross Nationals are happening RIGHT NOW and seeing the coverage of that is peaking my excitement more!

So as I begin my official Boston training, I'll be squeazing in some grass workouts on the bike and a couple on the trainer, lowering my run miles for the week and (on Thursday) heading down to Louisville.  My seeding qualifier is Friday morning which will set our call ups for the main event on Saturday January 14.  I'll be racing for my place in the world rankings in the 35-39 age group.  As of now there are nearly 60 people registered for my age group, if we hit 80 our seeding qualifier will be our chance to make it to the main event. 

The course looks awesome.  Even includes a "flyover" which is my personal favorite (well, I think it is cool, but I've never officially done one)!  As for my goals, well GOAL #1 is to have fun.  On top of that, a top 50% finish, maybe even a top 20 would just be icing on the cake.

Have a great weekend.

2011 by the numbers

Being the engineering type, I like to look at data...so I've collected endless data.  So as I wrapped up 2011 I compared the basic numbers to previous years...

YEAR	Run Mi	Run Time	Bike Mi (road)	Bike Time (total)	TOTAL HRS	DELTA
2008	2,643	310:00	1,650	88:00	398:00
2009	1,961	233:09	3,548	233:19	466:28	68:28
2010	1,878	230:16	4,337	257:02	487:18	20:50
2011	1,889	225:53	4,503	289:40	515:33	28:15

Some good data in there.  2008 was the year of many PR's in running, but it was also when I more seriously considered multisport.  Frankly, I do miss the running (not that I don't run now).  The thing with running is that it's easy.  All you need is a pair of shoe's and you're off.  You can travel to neat destinations, I can run with my wife, etc.  Last fall I started to realize that I miss running, so I suspect I may see more running mileage in 2012.  The interesting thing to note about 2011 is that due to injury I could only run 11 months of the year, so considering that it was a decent year.

Anyone notice something?  Yeah, no swimming in there!  Well, there's a reason for that, I don't swim all that much!  I probably swam more distance in races this year that I actually trained.  Sad, but true.  Swimming is tough at this season of life.  Kids in daycare and school, a spouse that works part time and is also a runner, etc.  I fit in what I can, and I don't worry too much about it.  Expect to see me race more duathlons this year, it ain't getting easier to find swim time!  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy triathlons immensely, I just have to do what works for me.

So, some of my personal successes in 2011...

• Finished my first road race (Tour of the Battenkill), a TOUGH Spring Classic in New York.  64 miles, >4000' climbing, 20mi of dirt roads. It was fun, I will be back.
• ONE WEEK later I ran the Boston Marathon and despite coming off of a foot injury and racing Battenkill the week before, I ran a decent time at 2:51.
• I pulled off the Quassy Challenge, the OLY and HALF back to back.  And I won my AG in the OLY to boot!
• I managed to win both Duathlons that I did overall. (Wilkes Barre, Sunset)
• I won my age group at the Steelman Triathlon
• I had a great race at the ING Philly Half Marathon, my second sub 1:15 half
• I paced Gasparilla Distance Classic, St. Lukes Half Marathon and Wineglass Marathon
• I had a great fall of running and cyclocross
• The Superbowl 10k (sold out at 550) and Town Hall Cross (240 registrants) both went off without a hitch.
• Remained safe and injury free!

Some rough goals for 2012:

• Have fun at Cross Worlds in Louisville
• A marathon PR at Boston (gulp) sub 2:47
• My first 50K (HAT 50K)
• Podium in my age group at Long Course Duathlon Nationals
• HAVE FUN, STAY SAFE and REMAIN INJURY FREE
• Expand on my coaching (obtain USATF certificate)

So, Boston training has begun.  I put my plan together below.  Two key components this year are having one rest day per week (at least) and having a down week every fourth week.  I'll expand on this training plan as I progress through it, but I'm excited to get rolling!

I wish everyone a successful, fun and injury free 2012!!

Sell Out

Well the Superbowl 10K I mentioned in the last post has sold out already!  This race has become a classic winter race in the Lehigh Valley, I wish we could handle more runners but if there's snow on the ground we lose most of our parking capacity which is the real limit to the number of participants we can hold.  The event has endured snow storms, ice storms and cold temperatures the past few years, but each and every year the crowd of hardy runners show up to test themselves in the middle of winter, likely to see how they're post Holiday / pre-spring goals are shaping up.  I'm headed to a local municipal meeting tonight to (hopefully) obtain the final blessing on the portion of the course that traverses through an established residential neighborhood.  The shirts are ordered, going with the "nightlife" green long sleeve Brooks shirts again this year.  The Sock Guy wool socks are in production, this year they'll be given out to the top 50 male and top 50 female finishers as an extra pat on the back.

I'm also excited that two of our area's premier specialty running stores The Finish Line and Aardvark have again stepped up to provide gift certificates to the top three finishers in each age group.  And as a special thank you to our runners, we'll have all kinds of Brooks goodies including Run Happy sweat towels, tote bags and wrist bands.  Brooks has also thrown a few gift certificates in which will go to our top Masters finishers and our most spirited runners.  A HUGE thanks to Brooks!

My wife, Lauren, has also stepped up and offered to enhance our post race food selection (previously a pizza, soda and BYOB party).  We're looking at providing some hot soup and soft pretzels to add to the mix.  Hopefully our runners will feel that they've been taken care of!

Since I can't race this race anymore, I've been seeking my own winter "test" race.  Looking like I'll be shooting to race the next weekend at the very competitive Frostbite 5 Miler on 2/12.  Last year there were over 1,000 runners!  I'm feeling good, yet a bit antsy as I build up my mileage with all aerobic, easy riding and running.  I'll hit over 50 miles this week, take a step down week next week then it's full blow marathon training.  The goal is to build up to 80 miles per week at my peak, then make a solid run at Boston in April, maybe bring that PR down??

I'm excited for the upcoming Christmas holiday.  Our children are at such a great age (4 and 8) and they're so excited.  You can't put a price on that!

Geler Votre Cul & Limestone Cross at the Kiln Final Mac Weekend RR's

 This past weekend marked the final weekend of local cross racing, and the series finale of the MAC series.  After taking a month off of formal training and racing for anything bicycle related, I was getting excited for a fun weekend.  A weekend cold front (temps in the 30's at race time for both days) piled on top of a storm that dumped 3" of rain to many parts of the East Coast midweek could potentially make for some gnarly conditions.

I was the lone man from Team Lamprey / St. Lukes making the trek to Northeast Maryland, so after an uneventful 90 minute ride I arrived at Fair Hill, part of a huge nature preserve that was formally DuPont land.  It was sunny, but COLD and WINDY.  I was prepared, but worried about cold fingers and toes...which surprisingly were not an issue!  I had put my skinsuit on before I left to avoid changing in the cold.  Grabbed my number and hit the course for a preview.  The course was the most unique course I've ever ridden.  Something for everyone...two sets of barriers, a series of four logs, a steep/short/muddy run up, off cambers, sand, gravel, sawdust, single track through the woods and three trips through some form of structure!!  All totaled, you were off your bike five times per lap...and the lap times were nearly 11 minutes!

I had burned myself out, expecting too much of myself, etc.  So I decided today was total chill, just enjoy the day, be thankful to be out there and finish with a smile.  The start call-ups got a little hectic and somehow I got squeezed out, no worries.  I felt a little rusty in warmups, the lack of riding for the last month was evident...as was the 40 miles of running I had put in Tues/Wed/Thurs/Friday leading up to the race.

Off we went, I made a few good choices early and found myself top 15 in the field of 40+ riders.  Then someone bobbled in the mud in front of me, forcing me to stop and a good 10 or more riders to pass me.  Off to work I went.  I played "yo yo" with my friend Johan...I'd catch him, then fall, then catch him, then fall.  With two to go I found my groove, started consistently catching and passing people.

One of the 3 buildings we went through.  I'm tucked in behind Johan.
(photo credit http://crosswife.blogspot.com/)

 With a lap to go I had just passed Johan and set my sites on two guys fighting it out in front of me.  By the last turn I was dangling just behind them, but came up just seconds short of them.

Last lap out of the sand area, trying to bridge the gap.  Would not be.  Note the soil sample on my leg warmers.
(photo credit http://crosswife.blogspot.com/)

In the end I was 17th.  A solid day, lots of fun and got some of the rust out.  Went home and got geared up for day two.

Day two was only 10 minutes from home.  It's a cool venue at an old camp, located down in the valley which meant COLD and FROST.  I basically wore the same setup to stay warm, no wind today but cooler temps in the low 30's.  The sun was out, but only hitting certain areas due to shadows.  The course was tough, a few good climbs which got slippery, some hard/frozen corners and the rest was greasy, thawed out mud.  Plenty of corners that rewarded flow.

I didn't miss out on the call up today, grabbed a spot in the middle of the second row behind a few friends.  I hadn't felt too good in warm ups, feeling the lack of riding and the race the day before....plus I was FREEZING!  Game time came, and I put my game face (a big smile) on.  We were off, and I had a great jump and shift through the first straight...coming out into the first few turns in the top 8 or so.  Perfect, right where I wanted to be.  I think my tire pressure in my Michelin Mud2's was dialed in on my Easton's, my cornering was really helping me, and I was riding the two consecutive uphills well.  Three guys got off the front and I was dangling off the second group of three.  I tried to drill the first few laps to get some separation, focusing on just being smooth.  I kept checking the gap, and with two to go I could see Chad catching me.  I was consistent enough in the long run, keeping nearly 30 sec on Chad and finishing in 7th.  I was pretty stoked with this ride, my highest finish in this competitive field....and my first time in the money in a MAC race....sweet!  A check for $35 won't pay the bills, but it soothes the soul!

Passing "the kiln" before hitting the climbs
(photo credit www.cyclingcaptured.com)

By this point the sun was out, temps in the mid 30's....just a beautiful day.  I loaded my stuff up, grabbed a beer and enjoyed some great cyclocross racing.  Got to chat with Johan, Joe, Fatmarc, etc.  I was on the fence about racing this weekend, thought I'd just go for a long run and put cross 2011 behind me.  I'm glad I raced....cross is filled with good people who like to ride bikes.  I'm glad I'm part of it.  I also want to thank the promoters of both races.  Cross racing in December isn't priority on many people's list, but for those die-hards, and the ones racing Nationals and Worlds, Cross in December is a must.  Props for saving the best two courses for the end!

Now to build up my running base in preparation for HAT50K and Boston in the spring....but I'm also going to mix it up with a trip to Masters Cyclocross World Championships in Louisville in Janauary....CAN.NOT.WAIT!