White Feet

20 Before 30: Update 1 - Shut Out

2012-02-07T21:00:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I felt rested and fresh enough to try hitting the track for a handful of paced 400s. There’s a high school just around the block so I did a little jog over there to use the track. I get a nice warm up run in, get all psyched up to do some hard running… and find the track gated up and locked. Disappointment. I’m not this hardcore so I just ended up doing a hard fast 2 mile run. Sure, it was still a run but I would have much rather done a speed workout doing laps on the track. Looking forward, I don’t know where I’m going to run now for speed work. I might just have to do it old school, and by that I mean like back in high school and laps on a nice flat city block. (I went to such a small school we didn’t have a track.) Perhaps I shouldn’t really be too concerned yet about doing speed work until I increase my mileage. As I’ve at most done 3 miles since starting up running again in November, I guess I shouldn’t worry myself about it again for a few weeks.

I can at least take solace in the fact that in the last two months my times for my 2 mile runs have gone significantly down. Times were just above the 17 minute mark, but now they are typically between 16 and 16:30. I don’t think I’m really doing anything to bring the times down, besides just simply running more. With that said, I think I can do better in that aspect as well. I’ve only been running three times a week now, but decided that I should be probably running four. Not only will I feel more “dedicated” that way, but also the weekly training plan will work out better that way. I can have a long run, a speed work day, and then two middle distance days. Well, that’s the plan for now anyway. My current at best 8 minute per mile pace is still a long way from 6:26…

2012 Goals

2012-01-21T22:14:00.002-06:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve made any real running/biking goals, ones that I’ve felt sure enough to write down anyway. Probably my last goal was to do the Madison Marathon, but when was that May, 2009? It’s been three years since that and athletically I’ve felt stagnant without direction. I feel better with some goal work myself forward towards. With that said here are my goals for 2012 –

Run the CrazyLegs Classic

Begin training to run a 5K under 20 minutes

Run commute to work

Bike a century (100 miles) on my single speed bike

First off, you can see that running is back into my world. I always seem to go back and forth with my focus, back and forth between running and biking. Running has taken a back seat the last two years really, so its return has been a long time coming. There were also a few things with running that I felt a really needed to do. The first of those was to do CrazyLegs this year. The 5 mile race is the largest running event in Madison, one that I really feel shamed not to do. I did it back in 2009 and had a blast – even in the rain.

The second goal there maybe needs some explanation. Ever since high school cross country, a sub-20 5K was always a goal. Back then, I just couldn’t quite get there. Now, a decade later, who knows if I still can but I want to give it a good try. I’ll have to run many miles to get to the 6:26 mile pace needed (my best run lately was an 8:15), so I know it won’t happen this year. I do want to reach the goal though before I turn 30. I’m tentatively calling this my “20 Before 30” goal.

The next goal – to run commute to work – was my latest goal to dream up. Yes, it’s a bit odd and random but also a fun idea (I think anyway). I’ll bike to work the morning of day one and then run home that afternoon. The next morning, day two, I’ll run to work and then bike home that afternoon. I’ll have to plan ahead and bring an extra change of clothes with me that first day when I bike but that will be easy. The running might be the hardest part as it will be a 4.5 mile run each way. I can’t fathom running 4.5 miles right now, let alone back to back one afternoon and then the next morning. Still, it’s not like it’ll be a marathon or anything.

The last goal, my only biking goal, is also a bit goofy. I’ve given up on really being competitive with biking (I last raced in college), and instead just made it a point to have fun and have adventures. That’s really what a single speed is all about. You can’t take yourself too seriously, go that fast, or miss the scenery. With that, what better way to enjoy a day of biking than on a single speed for a distance of 100 miles? There’s a 140 mile loop all on bike trails that I wouldn’t mind doing, or biking 120 miles from Madison to my parents in eastern Iowa. I don’t know if either of those will end up being my century ride or if I’ll just plan out an exact 100 mile course, but either way I’ll have fun on the bike.

Those are my four running and biking goals for 2012. Hopefully not only do I accomplish them all, but also write updates about them here. I also have a goal of eating better and losing 10 – 15 pounds, but that’s for another post and a different blog.

The Tauntaun Hasn't Left the Echo Base Lately

2012-01-21T21:07:00.003-06:00

Now that winter, more specifically the snow, finally hit Wisconsin a few weeks ago, I feel I must admit that I haven’t been biking to work much lately. Yep, lately the Snowspeeder (the car) has been used instead of the tauntaun (the bicycle) in the snowy Hoth-like outdoors. However, has it been the snow or cold that’s been keeping me off the bike? No, not really.

I was thrown of the biking routine in October because of a cold and I never really back going consistently since. Sure I had a few days here and there in October, November, and December but I haven’t had the same zeal about getting on the bike. I just don’t have the enthusiasm to get up that little bit earlier in the morning, brave the elements, and change into a different set of clothes when I get to work. Put more precisely, I feel burnt out.

I feel lazy saying that. Compared to some coworkers of who have 10 mile plus bike commutes, I only have a 5.5 mile commute each way. In the grand scheme though, it is more than just a jaunt down the block. In addition, looking back to 2010 and 2011, I collectively bike commuted 3899 miles. With that in mind, I think I’m warranted in taking a break. I’ll be back on the bike commuting routine eventually, but probably when the temps warm a bit and the snow on the ground starts to thin.

Welcome Back

2011-10-19T18:56:00.001-05:00

Exactly two weeks ago today, I officially picked up my second cold bug of the season (already). The first was a paralyzing head cold last month. This was a throat, ear canal, gross mucus flowing every direction in my head type cold. My ears were so plugged that my left eardrum would twitch every now and then from the pressure. Besides being out sick two days of work, I also stayed off the bike for awhile. I probably mistakenly rode into work on Tuesday the 4^th and then was out sick the next two days. I was at work after that but not well enough to ride in. Last week, I played it cautious and still drove in, which was probably a good call. This week though I started the week driving in. Not because I felt sick, but from just plain laziness. Once out of the routine of waking up that little bit earlier to bike in, it was hard to get motivated.

Well, I kicked myself in the pants today and got back on the horse…er…bike. My alarm went off at my normal early “bike commuting” time, I got up, went to the bathroom, thought about biking in or not, and then went back to bed. I even set my snooze timer. After maybe only two minutes lying there, I said. “No. Get up. Bike to work. You’ll regret it if you don’t.” So I got up a second time and got ready to go. (I’m sure that in the darkness my wife was rolling her eyes at my noticeable back and forth decision process.)

Today though maybe wasn’t the best day to get back to bike commuting. The high today I think was 48 degrees, but the worst was the wind. Traveling south, I didn’t notice it too bad in the morning, but there were sustained winds from the north at 20 mph, gusting to 30 mph. Biking back home after work though…yeah, that just plain sucked. I noticeably lost some fitness being off the bike for two weeks, but the rough headwind just killed me. I don’t remember a time that I have struggled in the wind so much. It was probably only a mile into my 5 ½ mi commute back home that I laughed at the depressing thought that I was already beat tired, but wasn’t even a quarter of the way.

What makes things even better is that tomorrow’s weather is more of the same. From the National Weather Service website:

“A 30 percent chance of rain before 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 50. Windy, with a north wind between 15 and 25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.”

Wonderful. I think I’ll get to bed early tonight.

Horses Don't Have Gears

2011-08-27T09:13:00.004-05:00

Adding my recreational and commuting miles together, I have biked 2146 miles so far this year. I really would have liked to have done more, especially recreational miles, but I digress. The thing that does however amaze me about my total miles is that every single pedal stroke of that total has been aboard a single speed bike. My burly mountain bike is single speed, my old 1978 Schwinn shifts so poorly that I ride it as a single speed, and my new Surly Cross Check I have set up as a single speed. I even did a 50 mile ride/race that had some pretty large hills.

There’s just something about riding with only one gear. All you have on your handlebars is your brakes. Things are just more simplistic and boiled down to a more raw relationship between bike and rider. When I’m on a downhill, I either spin the pedals like crazy or stop pedaling and coast, because the gear ratio can’t keep up to the fast coasting speed. On the flats, I just keep spinning a good fast cadence. On the hills, well on the hills I just go for it. Again, I have to keep a decent cadence. If it’s a long hill, I naturally get more and more tired, and with that said, my speed and my pedaling gets slower and slower. If I pedal too slowly, I basically come to a standstill. I guess really my strategy is just to attack a hill with a good sized effort right away and just hopefully hang on until the top.

Now of course, I can’t always hold on. There are times when I just have to get off and walk. Luckily for me this has been with hills that geared cyclists have or would have to walk up too. Walking is just part of the game. I totally accept it that I might have to from time to time. It has been said of single speed riders that you do actually have three gears – sitting, standing, and walking. It’s hard sometimes for my ego to take, but I always just say “Hey it’s a single speed!” right back to it. (My ego then just settles down, but still demands that I walk faster.)

I get asked all the time why I like to ride single speed so much, and while I like to explain that it’s easier to maintain my bike (specifically the drivetrain) or that it has taught me to have a better pedaling cadence, I often think of something else. The answer that I really want to say is along the lines of “well, horses don’t have gears.” It’s not the perfect analogy because horses can’t coast downhill, but think about it. Horses can do anything from pulling an Anheuser-Busch wagon, to racing in the Triple Crown, to long distance races like in Hidalgo. They can’t shift up or down. It’s all in their legs. It’s just like running, really I guess but with coasting and usually longer distances.

Hmm, saying single speeding is just longer distance running with coasting is tempting to use as my new explanation. Still, there’s something about comparing yourself to horses. It’s like I have Clydesdale power. Yeah, I’m definitely sticking with the horses. My ego likes that better.

The Iceman Cometh

2011-02-21T20:18:00.002-06:00

For the most part nothing surprises me much anymore in regards to the weather. Sure, I remarked last week about having a blizzard one week, below zero temperatures the next, and then hitting 50 degrees the next. Well today it was ice. I guess it really wasn’t full-on ice. Yesterday it rained, snowed, sleeted, and everything in between. As a result the roads were covered with a half frozen mix of snow, slush, and ice. It was probably my worst commute to work I’ve had.

The ride home wasn’t much better and was actually made worse by the freezing rain / sleet that were coming down. While it was nice to just up on a bike and leave work right away instead of having to scrape a car windshield like many others, I didn’t appreciate the pelting precipitation on my face. Safe to say I regretted trimming my beard last night. If I was going against the east wind, which of course was also the direction of the rain / sleet was from, it wasn’t so bad I suppose. I knew where the bad patches of icy and slush were from riding this morning and was able to ride more easily even in the waning sunlight. What did catch my attention was the layer of ice that was forming on my gloves. At first I thought it was road spray that was getting on my gloves and freezing. Then I got home, got off the bike, and took stock of the rest of my parts. Not only were my gloves covered in a layer of ice but so were my jacket, helmet, and backpack. This was a new one to me. I’ve been wet from rain and have had snow stuck to me but never ice. I suppose this is yet another good reason to bike every day. I never know what I could miss and what new experience is down the road.

What's With the Wild Wisconsin Weather?

2011-02-14T19:05:00.002-06:00

Two weeks ago we had our midweek blizzard, which kept me off the bike three out of five workdays. Last week I only biked to work on Monday as the rest of the week was too cold. If the morning air temperature wasn’t below zero, the wind chill factor always was. Not having eye / upper face protection and warmer gloves for that bitter cold, I regretfully took the car. In all of January I only missed biking to work one day out of the whole month. In the past two weeks, I’ve missed seven days out of ten.

With that all said, what does this week bring weather wise? Oh, it’s just a complete reverse of weather. This week the high temperatures range from 35 – 55F with low temperatures from 15 – 35F. This past Friday the morning low was -9F with a daytime high of 25F. Two days later, Sunday’s temperatures were a low of 29F and a high of 46F. I can’t remember the last time the weather took such a swing.

By no means am I complaining though. It was nice to be able to bike home tonight without as many layers and even without a jacket. I don’t know the last time I was able to only wear a single light pair of gloves. Instead of having to slow down for slippery snow, I instead had to slow down for the giant puddles that all of that snow had caused from melting. There was enough snow melted away that I might even be able to get Ol’ Blue out and leave the burly mountain bike at home in the stable. We’ll see. Of course I’m hoping winter is behind us, but as always I’m sure there’s at least one more substantial winter storm or two coming. Knowing this crazy weather, it will probably come in April.

My Other Bike Is a Tauntaun

2011-01-24T20:51:00.002-06:00

It’s been a solid week now since last week’s bike commute home, otherwise known as “Snowfest on Wheels.” The meteorologists all said we were only supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow during the day but by 1 pm there was already 3.5 inches on the ground and it was still going. By the time us regular bike commuters suited up to go home there was 4-5 inches on the ground.

As two of my coworkers and I set out for the ride, we all knew that it was going to be an adventure. The frontage road that we start off on gets traffic, but not like a through road, so the snow was plowed and driven on just enough so you could bike on it decently well as long as watched out for patches of slick slush. Once we turned off of the frontage road the real fun began.

The Southwest Commuter Path was full of unplowed snow that was however crisscrossed with ruts from other bikes that already had made the passage through. If your balance and handling was perfect, you could stay right in the track that someone else had made. As soon as you hit the side of that rut however, you had to jerk on the handlebars to stay upright and use all of your might to stay upright. I affectionately call this “pilates on wheels” as you’re using a lot of your core muscles to stay up and moving forward. The large 2.1 inch tires on my mountain bike were not helping my progress. Neither was seeing one of my coworkers just slice through the rutted snow with his inch wide tires. Normally, my big tires can float on fresh snow. That night however there was just too much wet heavy snow and too much traffic that had gone through it.

Normally I turn off onto the street after just over a half mile of the bike path, but when it snows enough I continue on the path and do my “snow route,” which takes me just a half mile further than my normal route. I struggled with my coworkers on another mile or so of path before I turned off onto another path that cuts along a golf course runs to a decent traveled road. As soon as I turned off, I hit rough snow and had to jump off and walk. Because of the rough snow, I wasn’t able to get back on the bike and ride so I had to trudge through the snow, dragging the bike to the road. Once I hit the road, I took to the sidewalk and the trudge continued. I finally got to a section of sidewalk that was freshly run through with a snowblower (I waved to the homeowner) and was able to mount my bike again and get going. Sure there was some covered sidewalks, but the snow was fresh enough to plow through, fresh enough that it was fun riding. Eventually I crossed the busy intersection that ends this stretch of route and made my way to a less traveled bike path beginning at a YMCA and running to my part of the city.

This bike path had far less action before I got there. There were only two sets of wheel tracks and one set of footprints (pretty sure it was someone pushing one of those aforementioned bikes). The snow was fresh and pristine so I got bulldoze through the snow in a good clip. Most of the time the snow was around the 4 inch mark, but every now and then there would be a drift that the snow was hub high. At those points I just had to build up momentum beforehand and hold on as I went through. The worst part was the hills, which normally are quite small. However, with all of the dense snow bogging the bike down, that simple small incline turned into a mountain. It’s been a long time since I biked (or did any exercise for that matter) that made me dry heave, but I needed that type of effort to even attempt to get up the ascent. On both of the two “major” hills, I needed to get off about ¾ of the way up to catch my breath and start walking. I know I stopped a third time somewhere along that stretch of path just from being so tired.

After the YMCA bike path, I was in the homestretch and had just a mile of road before home. Here I just took the road and dealt with the few cars that shared it with me. The road really wasn’t that bad – here I realized I should have just stayed on the roads and taken my normal route home. I biked that small stretch home and only stopped for a stoplight, where I’m sure all of the drivers around me thought I was crazy. At home, I opened the garage door and grabbed the ice scraper brush. I had to do something to dust all of the snow from the bike.

Once I managed to trudge up the stairs to our apartment, take a shower, and change, I felt completely dead. It took me a half hour longer to get home and I hate to fight to stay awake at only 7 pm. Still with that said, what did I do the next morning? I jumped on my bike and began another day of bike commuting.

Freedom

2009-10-11T22:33:00.000-05:00

The other day at work I had a phone conversation with a woman about many different topics on cycling. Initially it was just a call for a simple warranty part, but it turned out to be a half hour phone call. Among many other things, we talked about the topic of riding tandems with our significant others, the appeal of old bikes, and our habit of browsing bike shops even when we don’t need anything. However, it came up in the conversation how she couldn’t get her teenage kids out on their bikes even though she and her husband were very active cyclists. We basically shared our disappointment that kids today just don’t have the same relationship with a bike as kids of generations before.

I’ll be the first to say that I – growing up in the generation of TV, Nintendo, and early computers – probably didn’t ride my bike as much as some other kids, but at least I did. I knew someone in college that never even learned how to ride a bike! This was so appalling to me (and as well to others) because learning to ride a bike is a universal rite of passage. You learn to talk, you learn to walk, you learn to drink out of a big cup, and you learn how to ride a bike. (Ok, maybe there are a few others in there.) While as the others only welcome you on your way to adulthood, learning to bike gives you something much more – FREEDOM. For me it was freedom to ride over to my Grandma’s house, jump a dirt pile in the back yard, and do whatever else on two wheels. For others living in a city, it was maybe leaving home on your bike in the morning with some friends, getting into trouble on the other side of town, and biking back home just in time for dinner. With a bike, you could go anywhere and do anything.

That night on the bike ride home, I decided to ride with some of my coworkers toward downtown just to have a bit more of a ride instead of going straight home. Originally I said I would just turn around at the first place the bike path crossed a road, but then I kept going. My turn-around point kept get pushed further and further and eventually I just said, “It’s going to be easier if I just ride downtown and loop back home on another path.” Upon reaching downtown, my coworkers split off to go home and I was left to enjoy my ride. I figured that since I was downtown I could ride through campus and say hello to Joan. Even though we saw each other for just a few minutes it was worth seeing her surprised face. I then journeyed back to the apartment pedaling on bike path or zigzagging my way through suburban streets. It was one of those rides where I got off the bike, walked into the garage, and, having so many different emotions and thoughts in my head, just nodded and said, “Yeah…that was good.”

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.”

- HG Wells

Catching Up

2009-10-04T16:37:00.002-05:00

Now this is sad. I know I haven't updated this in quite awhile, but February? Really, it's been that long?? I was thinking more along the lines of sometime in March...

Well maybe I should do a quick list of some of the major things that have happened since then:

- Crazylegs Classic, April 25th - an annual 8K in Madison that I did with a friend of mine (at that time also Joan's roommate) It was quite fun for me to run in the rain (always love it) but she needed some convincing.

- Madison Marathon, May 24th - Days and weeks after the race, I kept referring to it as a "non-event," which should be considered odd for a race of 26.2 miles. Working up to race day, I was getting burned out on running - so much that I didn't care. I also didn't train enough, mostly not long enough. The actual marathon went great...for the first half anyway. I felt great for the first 13.1 miles, but then got to the halfway marker to realize I went out too fast. If I remember right, I was about 10 minutes ahead of where I should have been. From then on it was just a mix of running/waddling/walking to the finish. My end time was 4:50:30, my worst marathon time, not far from an hour behind what I ran at Marine Corps. Oh well, at least I finished.

- Biking to work - Yes, not really an event like the others, yet something to be talked about. Although, I didn't bike everyday through the summer, I did do it pretty consistently through July and August. I always wanted to start bike commuting more but just never did it. However, after my car got a flat tire one weekend, it just pushed me over the edge. I was just sick of dealing with my car. I haven't been so good about biking in lately, but I'm hoping to jump back on track this week. I'm also trying to fix up Ol' Blue (my old '78 Schwinn Traveler) to be my main commuting bike so I don't always beat up my nicer road bike.

- Dousman Duathlon, Sept 20th - This was probably my highlight of the season. I had never done a multi-sport race before so I didn't really know what to expect. The race was comprised of a 2 mile run, a 20 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. Conservatively, I was hoping for a time of a time around 1 hour and 40 minutes. The first run leg I probably ran too fast, but I was pulling back the reigns some to keep enough gas for the rest of the race. Looking back I could have made the fist transition faster, but being my first race I just wanted to take my time and not get caught up in racing. My bike leg was awesome, passing a lot of people along the way. I knew the biking was going to be my strong part, but I was just flying. It really felt good to be passing all the tri-geeks on their super bikes with aero-bars and carbon deep-rim wheels, especially since I was just using my normal road bike and my normal training wheels. Gaining confidence from the great bike ride, I sped up my transition and got running as quick as I could. Running after biking always hurts and this was no exception. My legs were dead but I just kept going. As long as I was passing just as many people as were passing me than I was doing good. During the last mile, I was coughing and dry heaving, but I just shook it off. I did have a final sprint for the finish line, as I always do in a race, but not as long of a sprint as usual. Still I finished with a time of 1:35:24, a time that I was quite excited about.

Well I think that gets things caught up for the most part. I did want to write more, but I think I'll do that in another post that I promise to do soon...

New Look

2009-02-17T20:12:00.017-06:00

So I decided to try on a new look for my blog. I was getting a bit tired of the old look, especially with the disco dots and, in my opinion, some sort of The Price is Right flair. Anyway, I'm liking the design of the new layout but feel free to leave your comments and let me know what you think.

"Things do not change; we change."
- Henry David Thoreau

Can It Be Spring Yet?

2009-02-15T22:37:00.013-06:00

I guess not.

After enjoying temperatures in the high 40s and even in the 50s last weekend, it snowed Friday night and then dropped into the 20s. Then this Thursday the forecast is for a possible 2-6 inches of snow. It’s alright since we’ll be leaving for the Twin Cites for the weekend, but it better be drivable. There’s no way I’m missing Flogging Molly again. But anyway, back to the topic at hand. It was so nice doing my 12 miler in just one layer of tights and sans jacket last weekend, that I really don’t like the thought of doing longer runs back in the snow and cold temps. I’ve had enough of that.

On the bright side of things I’m doing alright on my New Year’s resolutions. Yep, I did actually make some and yep, I am just first mentioning resolutions now a month and a half into the New Year. Ok, ok, so maybe doing more frequent blog updates should be included…

1) Lose 30 pounds – Already lost 5!

2) Finish a marathon under 4 hours – Don’t think it’ll be the Madison Marathon in May but doing it at the TC Marathon is a definite possibility.

3) Eat better

a) Salad every other day – Mostly doing this

b) Oatmeal ever other day – Granola counts right??

c) No fried food – Not any that I can think of

d) Have pizza no more than twice a month – On track, and surprisingly not missing pizza at all.

e) Make real dinners – a.k.a. ones that actually give you leftovers; not ones that come pre-made from the freezer section

4) Run a total of 1000 miles in the year – should happen

5) Some sort of biking milestone – Bike commute 1000 miles? Ride the bike 1000 miles? Put more mileage on the bikes than on my car?

As far as eating better, I made thing of Tater Tot Casserole the other night and have made a new favorite – sweet potato fries – a few times now. I guess I’ve always like sweet potato fries since discovering them in of all places, the cafeteria at Luther. My homemade fries are super tasty with the curry ketchup that I get at Bavaria Sausage, a German grocery / butcher shop. Of course, I also get my ration of brötchen (German hard rolls) and salami there as well.

While I’m on the topic of food, I have to mention two other things as well. First at Pasqual’s (a small local Mexican restaurant chain) I had their tamale burrito. Tamales hands down are my favorite Mexican dish and coincidentally enough I ordered there 3 tamale meal last time we were there. However, I couldn’t pass up the ridiculous but delicious idea of the tamale burrito. So imagine – take a flour tortilla, cover it with refried beans, lettuce and tomato, and then most importantly flop a chicken tamale in the middle and roll it up. Of course it was too big to pick up and eat, but really, you can’t complain having edible gluttony all rolled up for your enjoyment.

Second, this weekend while grocery shopping, I discovered two beers that have become new favorites. Both brews were by the New Glarus Brewery, just from the town of New Glarus, down the road from Madison. Both the Berliner Weiss and the Bohemian Lager are part of the brewery’s “Unplugged” series, limited time only beers where they basically just let their brewmaster go loose. The Berliner Weiss is a golden Euro styled pilsner that’s simply just right. Nice blend of hops, caramel, and malt tones. The Berliner Weiss is a strange beast that I’m not sure if I can simply call a beer. It’s made with Pinot Grigio and Riesling grapes as well as Wisconsin white wheat. As noted on the bottle, Napoleon once called the style of beer the “Champagne of the north,” and I’m not going to disagree with the short-statured Frenchie. I would rather open a bottle of this on a special occasion then popping open a bottle of Champagne. It’s a slow drinking beer, in part to it’s complexity but also due to an addictive tart sweetness. If you find either of these beers in the beer aisle near you, don’t hesitate; put them in your cart!

"Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!"

- Martin Luther (joking a bit of course)

Epic

2008-12-16T22:39:00.004-06:00

“You’re gonna die.” When you hear those words, you know a run is going to be epic. Sure it’s an exaggeration, but really it means that a person (or people in this case) think that you are absolutely crazy, and/or stupid, for going out and running. Now, I’ve had epics before – a 20 miler in a downpour comes to mind – but I’ve never run when it was 4 degrees and snowing. Sure I was cold, sure I was wet, but I wouldn’t have changed things one bit.

It’s these epic runs that really make you stop thinking about running and start thinking about, well, anything and everything else. The conditions are so extreme that it distracts you from paying attention to every foot strike, every breath, or even your time. Today my mind wandered. First, I saw another set of footprints in the snow. “Are these somehow mine?” I thought to myself. Then of course, “Maybe I can catch up to whoever it is.” However, eventually they veered off the road to the snow-less shoulder and then disappeared.

Desperately glancing around for the lost tracks, I looked up and saw a fox watching me from up the road. Now, rarely do you ever see a fox, and am unable to remember the last time I’ve seen one, or for that matter if I have ever even at all. This does seem odd to me that although growing up on a farm and usually seeing multitudes of wildlife, my memory file seems to be blank in the fox category. In any case, my fox friend disappeared as well, running into the woods hopefully to be seen another day.

Wanderings often turn into perseverance to finish out a run strong. Still, I didn’t think of every little technical aspect of the run, I just gave it all I had. It becomes a battle against the weather. Each gust of wind, each eyeful of snowflakes just made me hunker down more and just go. Sure the weather threw a few good blows with snow covered ice patches, but I ultimately came out the victor. I ran my best 3 mile time since picking up running again and had a blast doing it.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd & thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

- "The Charge of the Light Brigade," Alfred, Lord Tennyson

You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows

2008-12-15T21:18:00.003-06:00

Those sorry sorry souls. Every night I drive past them. Dozens of runners at the YMCA running on treadmills, going nowhere. They just remain there in one place the whole time. Sure they have the treadmills all lined up by the window so it seems like they’re running outside, but really come on. They’re just a bunch of lab rats on their little spinning wheels. Really, they should just be flushed. You’ve spent how much money on a gym membership just to run by a window, pretending you’re outside? (Especially for a window view of the beltline highways!)You could have spent the same amount of money or less on some cold weather running gear, maybe a light or two, and hell maybe even still had the cash for Wii Fit if you needed some extra entertainment. What’s so wrong with exercising outdoors anymore?!

Is it snowing? I think I’ll go for a run. Rain? Hmm, a run might be nice. Sub-zero temperatures? Fancy that, a warming scamper around the block will warm things right up. Just stop complaining, stop making excuses, stop thinking and GO!

I’ve already run through just about everything this winter and it’s more than a week till Christmas. Last week we had seven inches of snow, today it was negative degree wind-chills. Rough weather sure, but nothing that layering, donning a face mask, and wearing some wool socks doesn’t fix. Plus, the difficult miles I put in now will only make the miles easier come marathon in May.

Oh, did I mention any of that yet? So yes, I’m planning on doing the Madison Marathon at the end of May. First off, I’m about thirty pounds overweight and second off I haven’t done a marathon since fall of ’06. Basically a marathon was way beyond due. I’m just going to run it to get back into a exercise schedule again and, as I’ve said to a few people, to make friends with running again. I’d like to finish under four hours but if I don’t I’m not going to hate myself.

I’m also playing with the idea of doing the Twin Cities Marathon in October as well. Any cycling passion has been seriously dulled by a daily beating of it at work. Just like I used a bike-less semester in DC a few years back to accomplish the goal of simply finishing a marathon, I’ll use this to qualify – or to see how close I can get to qualifying – for the Boston Marathon. Now, the qualifying time for my age group is 3:10. Right now that’s incredibly fast. Of course, I don’t think it’ll be this next year, possibly not even the next. However, I want to see for myself if 3:10 is impossibly fast. I don’t know, and I won’t know, until I try and push myself to go for it.

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
- Will Rogers

A Foodie's Delight

2008-11-17T15:51:00.004-06:00

I’ve often been known to have a random personality. Well no, I’m not an emotional flip-flopper; I just have what maybe is sometimes a short attention span or a vividly streaming thought process. Of course I’m used to this – and my friends reluctantly are as well – but I’m still amused when this randomness spills over into the events of my social life. For what could have been a “blah” weekend, off-the-cuff suggestions came into fruition and well, fun times were had by all.

After hellish weeks, Friday night left Joan and I hopelessly and lackadaisically pondering where to head for dinner. (My apartment was devoid of food – especially when you leave out the sour milk, spoiled salami, and moldy cheeses in the fridge, but then again I suppose you can’t really count those as food anyway.) We had gone to Panera too often, sandwich places like Potbelly and Quiznos were uninspiring, Qdoba and Chipotle - gourmet fast-food Mexican places – were for once too exotic, and Noodles was too bland (plus I had already gone there for lunch). However faces were brightened with the quick suggestion, “Well I suppose we could go to the Grumpy Troll?”

For those who are not Madison locals, the Troll (as I often call it) is appropriately located in the Norwegian heritage heavy burg of Mount Horeb, about 30 minutes west of Madison. I must admit while growing up I always thought the name was funny. On family car trips through the area, I always had the fascination of change the road signs to read “Mount Horeble.” Now, we never did actually drive through the town itself so I wasn’t being harshly judgmental about the town, just merely doing the easy adolescent word-play on the town’s name. The town indeed is actually quite nice, your typical quaint small Midwestern town. It has a cute bookstore on the corner, the bridal boutique down the street, and the small grocery / general store as well. Of course the “Nor-Vee-jun” flair as well – the Norwegian housewares and knick-knack shop as well as the Scandinavian styled roofline on the steeple of the local Lutheran church. Of course it goes without saying that there are also most likely a few businesses titled Carlson’s, Larson’s, or Olufson’s in the title.

Although while all this is specific to Mount Horeb, it does still fit into that small town pattern, The Grumpy Troll however does not. The Troll is located in the building that once housed the local creamery, now instead of milk and cheese the building produces great food and more importantly fantastic beer. The brewpub produces nearly a dozen beers at a time, ranging from stouts to lambics, IPAs to wheats, and even a wildly exotic chile pepper flavored beer. I opted to go with their uber sharp Maggie IPA but really it’s impossible to go wrong (well maybe with that chili beer but I haven’t had it so who am I to judge). No wait, you can definitely do wrong at the Troll, as the table next to us proved. Instead of ordering one of the dozen handcrafted small-batch beers, they ordered a round of Miller Lites. Seriously? How does the thought process work on that one? “Hmm, this pale-ale sounds interesting. Oh, this stout has hints of coffee, chocolate, and a nutty after-taste. Wait, hold on. They have Miller Lite bottles?! Done. That’s my drink tonight. Who needs a good microbrew when you came have mass-produced piss in a bottle?” Alright, I digress and will just finish by saying that their beer has won countless awards and well, is amazingly good.

Not only is the beer great but the food is outstanding as well. This always surprises me because I think of the Grumpy Troll as a brewpub version of Kalmes’, the restaurant I grew up with at home where the food is good, but not outstanding. The Troll though does many simple things really well. Take for example their Grump Chips which we ordered for our appetizer. These are basically just a play on homemade potato chips, but done so the chips are perfectly crisp, not oily at all, and not heavily salted. They’re just piled high and sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese. My other favorite dish is the Chicken Enchilada Soup. Now, the soup of the day was Clam Chowder, which I almost never pass up. On this night however, I ordered the Chicken Enchilada Soup without hesitation. It’s surprising that this would be so good from what could be considered a hole-in-the-wall Wisconsin restaurant, but I could eat the stuff everyday from here on out. It’s the perfect mix of cheese, beans, chicken, and tortilla strips. I also had the Reuben, which was good, but to be honest I’ve never had one Reuben that stood out from every other one I’ve ever had. However, it was good enough to make me realize that maybe I do actually like sauerkraut. It also reminded me off my father’s liking for the Happy Joe special – a Canadian bacon and sauerkraut pizza – when we out for pizza as a family to Happy Joe’s. Hmm, maybe I’ll have to make a suggestion the next time the whole family is at my parents.

Saturday evening was much of the same enjoyable randomness but with a starting plan. A handful of us wanted to go out for drinks and dessert. Being my favorite restaurant in Madison, I suggested Brocach Irish Pub and we were on our way. However after entering the packed pub and doing so behind a mustached drunk of a redneck, we decided that Brocach wasn’t the place for the night. We walked down the street and around the corner to Tutto Pasta Cucina Italiana, a nice Italian restaurant just off the capital square. It’s only mildly expensive, so you don’t feel bad going there – I guess I probably wouldn’t make it a weekly venture though either. However, the extra price is well worth it. Once arriving we did have to wait ten minutes for an open table. I didn’t mind as it allowed me to watch the action in Tutto’s open kitchen. A curiosity sparked by reading a third of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, I watched the cooks arranging nearly a dozen pans on a stove of only four or six burners. Every bit of food was being watched, in what was wonder of multi-tasking. Not a thing was burned, everything was done perfectly.

Eventually sitting down and ordering our first round of drinks (a simply ordered a Peroni, an Italian beer), we each find out that our stomachs all need a bit more than alcohol and sweets. We all ordered what Tutto Pasta does best, simple ingredients all put together in an equally simple presentation. Again, you pay for good ingredients and good end product, not an over-elaborate presentation that dulls the food. A few salads were ordered, a pizza, and for myself, gnocchi with pesto sauce. I’ve been tempted to order the gnocchi a few times before but never ended up doing so. Well, it was delicious and definitely did not disappoint – well except for the fact that I had passed over it before. One final round of drinks – me having a soothing Italian version of an Irish coffee – and we were ready to wade through the stark cold mid-November night and eventually slide comfortably into bed with satiated souls and stomachs.

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

No Matter What

2008-10-27T22:16:00.001-05:00

It snowed today. Sure not a huge stretch of the imagination considering I live in Wisconsin and it snowed 100+ inches of snow last year. Fine, whatever, but look at the date. October 27th – October twenty-FREAKING-seventh! And it snowed! Although none of the snow stuck it came as a very heeded warning. Last spring seemed to have been non-existent, summer flew by, and now fall is waning as well. Long story short, I have to stop waiting, get my ass in gear, and get out the door.

Lately the cold autumn days have been rainy or just plain gray leaving the trails mostly soft, not allowing the mountain bike see much action. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything. I’ve started running again. Why? I’m not quite sure except that I miss it. Just down the street is a conservation park where I can get in some trail running and of course there are some quiet neighborhood streets as well. I have coworkers that run and now I also have a girlfriend that’s doing it as well. Sunday afternoon we went for a run in the park and really had a good time in what were 20-30 mph winds. Today with the snow flying, she said to me on the phone, “No matter what I’m going for a run.” And she did. I think she’s officially caught the bug.

No matter what, I need to start biking. Every time I jump in the car and drive to work I feel guilty. I could be saving money and shedding the weight and commuting in by bike. Today’s snow isn’t helping my decision, but the goal of trying to bike to work everyday “no matter what” is really starting to steep in my brain. I’ve really wanted to start a writing project about my own bike commuting / errand running exploits and hopefully include other people in it as well. My birthday is coming up this Thursday and it seems like a good starting point. If I can run a marathon on my 21st, I can begin a year of bike commuting on my 24th.

As always the year is winding down with me getting anxious to get back outside because of lost opportunities or just plain laziness this past year. The racing / event schedule is taking shape. Focus on running in the spring, then mountain biking in the summer and fall. It should make for a fun year of new experiences. We’ll just take it one day at a time for now. Remember, it’s October and the snow is already falling.

Falling into place

2008-09-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

Things are finally starting up again on the biking side of things. Of course, this is as the temperatures get lower and more disappointingly as the daylight gets shorter. All this is against me as I pedal a few miles – either to work, on the trails, or for back road exploration – just to make the most of the outdoor season I have left.

With that, the orange beast of a mountain bike was built up just in time for Labor Day weekend and has been ridden a good amount since. I haven’t gotten out on an epic weekend adventure yet but hopefully that will come in the next few weeks. For now, I’ve just been doing laps on a small bit of single track just down the road from work – albeit a seven mile ride from home. Although it’s just a short loop of trail, it makes up for it in diversity of obstacles and one bitch of a hill. The trail is on the backside of a rock quarry so that gives you an idea. One lap consists of the following: nice simple single track – short but steep loose rock incline – small incline – BIG ASS HILL, otherwise known as a bluff – nice peaceful clearing – downhill – curving loose dirt and rocks downhill drop-off (CRAP!! How did I not fall?!?!?!) – downhill – downhill – sharp turn with berm that I avoid because I always fall over – nice single track – short steep rocky incline – some nice single track – and back to the start. Nothing that is really that bad anymore. I just need to work on the leg strength to push the single speed up the big hills and need to find the balance for the drop-offs and bumps along the trail. I’ll be going home to my parents and to the farm so hopefully I can get some nice flowing miles under the big wheels.

As far as the bike itself, it turned out exactly how I wanted - built like a tank and simplistic. I don’t have to worry about things breaking when it bashes into things like I would on the road bike. There’s also just something to be said for a bike with only one gear. I can concentrate on the trail and don’t have to worry about shifting and being in the right gear. Yes, it can totally suck but I like the extra challenge. My other favorite part of the bike is the hydraulic disc brakes. I don’t totally understand all the bits about them yet but it’s nice to have bike parts like that so you learn about them as you ride. If I get a chance I’ll get the camera out and take a picture one of these days.

Work has also been going pretty well – so my post from two months ago is pretty much null and void. Blame it on some “lost in the moment” dramatics. Anyway, the summer rush at work seems to have died and I feel caught up for the first time in months. Today of course however I learn that I have a boatload of orders coming from Interbike, so I’ll be busy with that for the next week or two. I’m staying optimistic for now; we’ll see how it all shakes down.

It's coming...

2008-08-24T21:59:00.002-05:00

A box full of bike parts, wheels all ready to go, and a final shipment of goodies on their way…the beast will finally come to be. For more than three years I’ve wanted to get a mountain bike. Hopefully it will have finally happened by next weekend. I’ll have many pics to share soon.

The bike is coming at a good time too. I’m in the worst shape that I’ve ever been in. That’s said so often that it’s usually not taken at face value but I mean in full-heartily. I can fee that my blood pressure is higher than ever before and I get winded at activities that were the simplest of tasks before. The new bike should be that extra push of motivation to get out and really start riding, or doing anything, again. It’ll be a new fresh start – one that I’ve needed on the bike, and for myself, for quite sometime.

We’ll see how much life lets me get out on the new bike, but just in case I’ve been very tempted to start training for next year’s Madison Marathon. I do really miss running and really enjoy it when I go out for a run every now and then. I could do it as my spring focus and then mountain biking in the summer and fall. We’ll see. It’s only August now so I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself. Stay posted.

The Spring of Discontent - The Summer of...well...some Content

2007-07-31T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here's an update I meant to post a month ago:

Early to bed, Early to rise...ugh, but damn I'm so tired I think I'm trying to kill myself...

Maybe it was youthful optimism to set a goal of cycling 1000 miles in the month of July. Wait, or is it youthful stupidity? I think the real answer is that I feel - wait, check, I AM - out of shape. Also ,for the second year in a row, I've had a very disappointing racing season. Bad luck with flats, wrecks, and broken wheels squashed hope for good results and a need to enjoy my senior year of college kicked in. So to recap I didn't race enough and drank too much - thus the shape I'm in. (Of course I write that while sipping a Heineken on the deck enjoying the sunset.) But I deserve it - I'm plum tuckered out!

Why so tired? Well I don't quite know. In the last two days I've only ridden 72 mi, which could easily be the total for one day. Yesterday I did 46 mi and struggled in the final miles. Today it was 26 and I had a hard time getting a rhythm - the driving west wind didn't help much either. I'm hoping the culprit is just a lack of sleep, which I'm hopin the afforementioned Heineken will help me achieve.

Whatever I'm lacking, I better get it soon. Although its already July 10th I'm still getting below 200 miles ridden for the month. That's more that 800 miles still to ride in 3 weeks. I'll need a couple of long days in there which will prepare my legs for my second goal of the month - to ride a century on the last day of RAGBRAI. I plan on starting from home, riding to the overnight town of Dyersville, and then riding back with the RAGBRAI flow to Bellevue. Depending on how I feel I may ride the extra few miles back home. I've done centuries before - the last one 2-3 years ago - so it shouldn't be too bad. Plus from Dyersville on I'll have help from the stream of cross-state riders.

Well I should probably get to bed soon. Tomorrow constists of a morning ride of at least 50 mi and then I have an afternoon of building fence. Then more riding for the rest of the week: Hill drills Thursday, and long miles on Friday and Saturday. I have excitement and dread at the same time

~~~~~

Now here's a guest commentary that wrote that will be appearing in this week's Bellevue Herald-Leader:

I think I’m too competitive.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you to Dyersville?” was the question I was always asked when I explained I would be doing a revised version of the last day of RAGBRAI. My plan was to start at home, just northwest of La Motte, ride to Dyersville, and then ride to Bellevue. My goal was to ride a century, the cycling term for a ride of one hundred miles. I had done two previous centuries and thought I could handle it with my recent training regime that had me bike two hundred mile weeks, initially planned to return my legs back to racing shape. I would blame my desire to race and to do centuries on a passion for cycling, a strong need of a challenge, and a will to do something different. Most people just call me crazy.

Waking at 5 am on a Saturday morning had me thinking exactly that, “Am I crazy?” My whole body seemed to be fighting against my plans of some morning cycling. At 5:10, when I finally attempted to open my eyes, it felt like every eyelash was clinging on for dear life to keep my eyelids shut. Eventually mind won over body and I started my day quickly. Fueled with a quick bowl of cereal and some good strong Irish Breakfast Tea, I headed out the door just before 7 am.

All was quiet as I headed through La Motte, soon to be filled with thousands of cyclists who would be taking a much needed respite in the town park. I continued on through Zwingle, up the Washington Mills hill and on to Bernard. To my surprise a large contingent of early morning riders were already in attendance at the town park. Again I rode on, heading north of town and trying to pick up speed so I wasn’t left in the dust by the time I got to Dyersville. My path led me on back roads of southern Dubuque County, some of my local biking grounds. I rode just south of the New Melleray Abbey, riding west, then north through Farley, and finally west again to Dyersville. The first leg of the trip, all forty-three miles, was finished around 9:30 am. I would need to pick up speed if I wanted to finish my century under five and a half hours.

RAGBRAI and bicycle racing are completely different. Once I reached Dyersville, it was like stepping out of the cornfield and onto a certain nearby ball field. The cross-state ride features bikes that are chosen because they are comfortable, affordable, or people have on hand. They’re not high-tech racing machines built for speed. People are relaxed – taking their time, talking, and riding spaced apart. No fast speeds, pace lines, or packs that are four abreast in one lane of traffic requiring the riders to brush shoulders with each other – without falling mind you. The relaxed atmosphere of the ride took some getting used to.

My refuel of liquids in Cascade was a first taste of the real point of RAGBRAI. I happened to stumble upon a local couple whom I know who had been riding their first big cycling event. We had a quick conversation, the normal biking tour chat that focuses on hills, weather, fatigue, and most importantly how one’s posterior is holding up. Once you stuff yourself into form-fitting spandex shorts no topic is too far. We eventually went our separate ways; they to find the rest of their group and I to head further down the road.

I must admit that even though I had a few chats in Cascade, I still wasn’t grasped by the Iowan ideal of overwhelming friendliness. Once the route reached Bernard I was on my home training roads and my competitive streak again took over. I had to be the first over every hill. I had to be the passer, not the one being passed. At the crossing on Highway 61, where the Highway Patrol was escorting riders across, I felt I had to out sprint another rider who took off in front of me. This momentum carried me quickly to La Motte.

Like Cascade, a refuel in La Motte threw me back into the RAGBRAI spirit. I must admit it was awesome seeing thousands of cyclists in my hometown when it’s typically just lonely me. It was very clearly my hometown when, while waiting for water and Gatorade, I was recognized as “a Schroeder kid” and was then subsequently confused for my brother, which has happened my whole life. Being now officially acknowledged as a local, I felt it my duty to enter myself into strangers’ conversations to tell them how the route was the rest of the way. Every tired face brightened as they learned the worst hills were behind them. However some would suffer worse challenges the hills.

On a two mile stretch of road between La Motte and Cottonville, two riders went down as I was riding. The first was being loaded into an ambulance as I arrived. It’s always disheartening to see a road stained with blood and a fellow rider being rushed to the hospital. That feeling was exemplified by the fact that I ride that stretch of road nearly every day. I pushed the feelings of fear and worry out of my mind by getting back into my normal cycling rhythm, which was now starting to fade at mile eighty-four. However my rhythm would not last long.

Barely two miles down the road, a second rider had gone down. At first I regretfully rode on by but quickly turned around when I heard the question, “Does anyone know where we are?” “If it helps, I’m from here,” I said as I arrived. I was quickly given a cell phone to tell the dispatchers our exact location and eventually became the official phone correspondent. The fallen rider, who I learned was Dorothy of Jacksonville, Florida, initially laid on the road motionless for at least three minutes with every breath a resounding hoarse gurgle. Eventually she regained consciousness, was able to talk, and even eventually sit up. I could selfishly say she started to recover because of my volunteered bottle of Gatorade but it was because of the great group of riders that came to her rescue. In all we had three first responders, a physician, the woman riding behind Dorothy, and myself “the local.” It was also a great performance by the La Motte and RAGBRAI paramedic teams who arrived quickly and did a great job, especially considering they had two incidents within fifteen minutes.

Before I go any further I must apologize to a fellow cyclist-come-rescuer, the woman who handed me the phone. Although we were the last two riders to leave the scene and introduced ourselves to each other, I quickly forgot your name. I was so focused on Dorothy’s care that all I was thinking at the time, and for the rest of the day, was “Dorothy of Jacksonville.” I could have been asked who won last year’s Tour de France and would have responded with “Dorothy of Jacksonville” even though I can recite every Tour de France winner since the mid-eighties.

Following the rescue, my ride took a more relaxed pace. I stopped in Cottonville and chatted with high school friend and his father, neither of whom I had seen since graduation now four years ago. Further down Bellevue-Cascade Road, I used every ounce of conviction to fend off stopping at a root beer float stand. “After you’re finished,” I said to myself. I fought off the dreamy soda ice cream concoction proudly...but then stopped for a frozen smoothie a mile down the road. On the brink of brain freeze, I slurped down the strawberry banana drink quickly and got back on the road.

A very quick five miles later I was in Bellevue. To my surprise however, my wheels crossed the railroad tracks with the bike computer only registering ninety-nine miles. A leisurely ride through town to meet my family easily fulfilled my century goal.

All of my RAGBRAI rides have been commemorated with an official ride t-shirt. It is a bit misleading to purchase a shirt with the week’s route printed on the back even though you only rode one day. I’ll admit that. But this day’s ride was different. I was proud of accomplishing another century, but what I really wanted to remember were the non-cycling events of the day – the chats, the food, being a local, and being a rescuer. I didn’t think of it at the time but my chosen shirt perfectly represents, even says, what I learned what RAGBRAI is about. The ride isn’t about riding five hundred miles across Iowa, or accomplishing any other cycling feat for that matter. The ride is about community – the cyclists, the support crews, and the towns they roll through. If I ever forget, my shirt will be a reminder – “Is this France? No, this is Iowa!”

~~~~~

And now for a quick update:

The 1000 miles just isn't going to happen. A quick look at the calendar shows that it's already July 31st and a quick look at my cycling log shows I've only ridden 747.4 miles in July. I'm not about to go for a 252.6 miler today, probably something 50 mi or shorter. Starting last week my upper calf muscle has been tight and sore. Not sure what's causing it. Usually it works itself out on the bike - except for a few times during the century when it was a strong stinging pain. I should probably take a few days off, but I've been able to do more than one because I go crazy if I don't ride. We'll see. I keep pondering the idea of doing the Iowa State RR this weekend more or less for something to do. However I'm not sure if I'm in race shape yet and don't know if I want to waste time, money, and effort to race if I'm not.

Well this has been my longest post ever. Thanks for reading through it all!

Salty early season rants

2007-02-26T23:36:00.000-06:00

Snow. The white death. Pestilence. Seriously, what the hell? Mid-week of last week I was basking the the glory of finally riding outdoors. The sun was reaching its winter snow reflective glory and was melting down the snow. Come Friday it rained - and a half-inch think layer of ice on the remaining six inches of snow. Then a dusting of snow. Repeat for Saturday morning. "What next?" we seemingly asked Jack Frost, Old Man Winter. "More snow bitches!!" they replied. Non-stop snow from Saturday afternoon til Monday morning. Feet of snow - with and ice layer surprise. Cars stranded in the parking lots, buildings collapsing, events cancelled, schools closing, squirrels saying "WTF?" - but of course we still have classes on Monday. Damn professors all living in town. I blame the Norwegians. Be prepared for someone to ski past with a gun strapped to their back.

Time to put the trainer tires back on the bike and hit the rollers again. Let's see if I remember the whole routine back after a week absence...
1) Stare aimlessly ahead at a white cinder block wall. CHECK!
2) Perilously waver side-to-side, balance upright amidst many sharp-corners - desk, bed post, chair, heater - that will pierce your skull if you should fall down. CHECK!
3) Bike til your naughty bits are numb from the vibration of the rollers and the lack of being able to stand up - limiting your chances of eventually having children CHECK!
4) Ride quietly at 32 mph while not waking up your sleeping neighbors CHECK!
5) Stare out the steamed up window at the menacing frozen abyss CHECK!

The rollers at least give me some sense of cycling enjoyment. Not enough though apparently as I was horribly slow in my outdoor cycling adventures last week. Either the resistance unit needs to learn how to be turned up or I'm sacrificing a towel to be put under the rollers for friction. Poor towel, doesn't know what's coming.

I really just want to get out and ride - and race. I'm pining. As Queen sung - "I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like." I need that suicidal, homicidal, leg burning, lung busting sport I love. Rollers aren't where the bike is supposed to be. It's out on the road doing lactate threshold intervals, maxing out the heart rate, hill repeats, or even just a good ol' ride to enjoy the countryside. The rollers just leave me unfulfilled. After cycling on the rollers, I towel off, and look at my training schedule, my racing schedule in child-like anticipation. March 18th - races begin, with a race (or two) every weekend up to May 6th. Driving around Iowa, racing my ass off, training my ass off, and somewhere fitting in homework, class, and work. Races...bliss.

I'm Back

2006-11-21T22:07:00.000-06:00

Well yet again it's been a long month since my last post. Since then I've done a marathon, sat around during my off time, and did one heck of a muddy run. Oh, and to top it all off I had a birthday, found myself a little sweet little lady, and finished my senior paper.

First, everyone's probably wondering how the Des Moines Marathon went. Well to be brutally honest it was horrible. Much, no all of the problems I had in the race were due to the fact that there was no food, no gels, on the course as the race directors had promised. For someone like me who plans their long runs around food, to be without food totally depleted all chances I had to run a good race. I ran fine until around mile 15 when my body just started to fail because of a lack of fuel. Luckily around mile 19, my sister handed me a few Clif bars. (I had seen her at mile 11 and complained that there wasn't any food.) After getting some food in me, I was able to walk slightly less than I had already been doing. However the last 10 miles were mostly walking. A few times I would start running and get dizzy because of the lack of food. My finish time was 4:15:17. My half marathon splits dramatically show how my body was breaking down. The first half was 1:45:50; the second half was 2:29:27. A second half that was 45 minutes slower than the first. Safe to say it might be awhile before I do the Des Moines Marathon again.

Since the marathon I really haven't done much running, biking, or anything. I rode the bike once on the rollers and I also went out for an eventful ride the night before my birthday. Hoping to get in a 3 hour ride I went an hour earlier than I did for a 2 hour ride. However I forgot to factor in the time change and got stuck out in the dark. Accepting my defeat I sat at the Kwik Trip in Cresco, 20 miles from Decorah, called around and finally got picked up.

I also haven't been doing much running as of late. The two ones I got in were pretty good ones though. The first was a 'Turkey Trot' 5K that we did for my Wellness class last Wednesday. For not running a whole month before then, I did fairly well coming in 5th behind some cross country guys. This past weekend I ran the Living History Farms XC Race out in Des Moines. It's definitely not a race to go fast. It's all about getting cold, wet, muddy, and having one hell of a time doing it. Now four days later, my shoes are still attempting to dry. I guess that makes sense considering one fell off in some creek mud. If I remain in the Midwest the Living History Farm XC will be an end of the season tradition.

Well I'm gonna get to bed early for once, something that my senior paper hadn't let me do. Tomorrow I'm planning to start training for next season with a morning bike ride. Then I'm heading home for Thanksgiving, some R&R, and, alas, to do some homework. Happy Turkey Day everyone!

It's About TIme

2006-10-13T13:42:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post before I jump in the old Malibu and head off to Des Moines.

Training these last couple of weeks to be an honest have been pretty blah. No long runs just keeping it easy. I tried to mix it up a bit with some new routes, like a 5 miler through Phelps Park, but still just wasn't making the blahs go away. This week didn't really help either in that it was freezing cold which makes me not want to go outside, let alone run. That being said I'm really ready to get this marathon done with.

That might be good though. I'm not nervous at all about the marathon, it's just like I'm treating it like any other race. So hopefully that means I'll have an outstanding finishing time. I'm optimistically shooting for 3:30:59 but I'll be very satisfied with any time under 3:45, which is 20 mins off my marathon time at the Marine Corps last year. Hopefully I'll be able to post a race report by Monday night.

I am very excited for this weekend though and just to get off campus. This past week was midterms and well I'm just getting sick of school. I'm planning on hanging out with my sister and just doing fun stuff this weekend - German pub, Farmers Market, runners expo, etc. However once I get home though I have to rip on my senior writing project.

Oddly enough I don't plan to rest too much after this Sunday, I'll just take off a few days while I'm at home for fall break. Next Thursday though I'm starting a new training schedule of both running and biking. I'll be cycling three days a week, running two, doing a day of speedwork/drills in both, and then of course a rest day. Hopefully the weather warms up so it's pleasant biking out. I'm excited to be riding rollers indoors this year, but I really don't want to start riding them yet.

"We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon." - Emil Zatopek

Toenail Update

2006-09-25T23:22:00.000-05:00

Just to keep everyone posted...

My "ring-finger" toe toenail fell off tonight while I was reading in the library. Well, ok, it didn't just "fall" off. I was tweeking it a little bit - which I've been doing from time to time to promote its detachment - and it came off in my hand. Kinda gross, I know. It's a lot better though now that it's off. The loose nail doesn't catch on my sock or on the toe next to it. It also won't catch when I squinch up my toes to loosen them up during my runs. So anyway, if everyones counting, that's two toenails thus far...and no more look like they plan to - sorry to disappoint anyone.

My 24 miler yesterday was to say the least, horrible. So bad in fact, that I had to settle for a 20 miler. Most of the problem was that I didn't incorporate enough water stops into the run. My last two 20+ milers I ran in the rain so it wasn't a problem. But because of the nice and sunny weather, I was hurting. At the end of the run, my black shirt and my face was covered with salt - I joked that it was enough to season an entire Las Vegas buffet. My mouth also had the "I just squirted a whole bottle of Elmer's glue in my mouth" thing going on as well. I felt pretty tired and light headed for the rest of the day and into today as well. I had to skip Italian this morning because I still felt sick. All in all, not a good experience to have for my last long run before race day.

Just Push

2006-09-24T13:47:00.000-05:00

Sorry it’s been a little while…

Shortly after my last update, my toenail of my middle toe on my left foot did fall off. So I guess I have fully turned myself into a marathoner. It actually looks a whole lot less gross with it off then it did with a black dead toenail hanging on. However, now my ‘ring-finger toe’ toenail is now black and loose. So if it doesn’t come off before the marathon, it will definitely be off a few days after it.

Speaking of the marathon, it’s only three weeks away. That means after today’s 24 miler I’m officially in taper mode. As bad as it is to say, I’m glad too because I’m just ready for the marathon to be over. I’m just getting a little sick of only running. I went for a bike ride this past Tuesday (which I maybe shouldn’t have done) and it was great to do something different for once. If I had my bike this past summer, it would probably be a different story right now. My anticipation for next year’s cycling season is also getting to me, especially because of a lack of a racing season this past year. I’m looking forward to going to Colorado to do some riding during spring break and oddly enough I’m ready to get out the rollers to ride inside. I really just want to get back on my bike. I want to hit my training hard. I want to move from the back of the pack in Cat 4 and blow people up. I want to come out of nowhere.

Lots of ambition? Hell yeah. I’m also not gonna stop running (as much as it’s bothering my now). I’m already planning to do some duathlons next spring/summer and then I also of course plan on doing a marathon next fall as well. Like my cycling season, I want to train super hard for that marathon so I can get a qualifying time for Boston. Ambition? Drive? Insanity? I’ll take it all.

Speaking of insanity, my last two 20+ mile runs have been pretty interesting to say the least. I did a 20 miler on the 9-3 and a 23.5 miler on 9-10. For the 20 miler, I waited to go out because it was raining like all day, and I saw a break in the storm on the radar. Of course however, at about mile 3, I just got dumped on with rain, and then continued to get dumped on until I finished the 20 miles. For running in a downpour, I had a very good pace, 8:14. The following weekend for the 23.5 miler, I was sprinkling and cold, so I didn’t really want to go out, but after the previous weekend I pushed myself out the door. With running two 20+ weekends in a row and not really wanting to run in the first place, I had a much slower pace, 8:54. Today there are clear skies and it’s in the 60s, so today will be an awesome day for a marathon practice run.

There’s a little bit of me that is a little mixed up right now. All of the doping controversies in cycling have me kind of lost. It started with Tyler Hamilton, then it was ‘Operation Puerto’ with it taking Ullrich and Basso out of the Tour, now it’s the Landis case, and just a little more than a week ago Frankie Andreu admitted to doping when he was still racing. A part of me has that sinking feeling; that my favorite sport has been lying to me. But then there’s that other part of me that makes me realize that it’s not the pro riders that I love the most about the sport. It’s my bicycle, myself, and the joining of the two that keeps me going. Luckily that part of me that makes me realize this is the part that I listen to. It makes me not care what any other rider is doing or taking, it makes me care about me, only me. It’s the part of me that keeps me going, keeps me pushing, keeps me me. That part of me yells, and my body yells back.

When you've got big feet...

2006-09-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

...you have some big ass shoes! I stopped by the Shoe Shack when I was home last weekend and bought myself a new pair of running shoes. You know, a pair that, oh I dunno, won't give my toes blisters, give me black toenails, and make my toenails start to fall off! The shoes that I were running with were already size 13, so with my insoles, the folks at the Shoe Shack (thanks Alan - I think it was) fitted me with size 14. I had my doubts at first, but it definitely felt good to have room in my shoes for my feet to breath. They also are definitely lighter and faster feeling than my Asics Gel Kayanos, and anything helps when you're always one of the biggest guys in a race.

I also have to include a blatant advertisement for my SOLE custom insoles. I use them in my running and cycling shoes. However until this weekend I had never actually customized them to my feet. I had just been wearing them as is straight out of the box. But damn, I didn't know what I was missing! I stuck my new size 14 insoles in the oven for a bit (according to the directions), put them in my shoes, stood in them, walked around a bit, and my feet were like, "Where have you been all my life?!" Not only do my feet now feel better in my running shoes, but they also run better. I can noticably tell that my feet also are straighter and strike better with every step. So with all that, what are you waiting for? Go get some SOLEs!

As I touched on at the start of this entry, my feet, specifically my left foot, are not looking the best. The toes on my right foot are a little roughed up but my left food is well, freakin disgusting. It's middle toe and, for lack of a better description, ring-finger toe are blistered at the tip and their toenails are dead. Not only are they dead, but the nails are hanging on for dear life. The ring-finger toe toenail is black and has a good 'foot hold' on its toe, but the middle toe toenail is clinging on to its perch by a finger nail. You know the TV commercial where the little foot fungus guy flips open the big toenail like the trunk of a car? Yeah, my toenail can do that. I'm just waiting for it to come loose in my shoe or to get caught while I'm putting on jeans and get yanked off.

As I'm running at least 20 miles tomorrow, it's time for bed.

So Far, So Good - Until this week...

2006-08-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

So marathon training, and training for whatever else, has gone pretty good up to this point. I've been running basically everyday, have been feeling fine, so on and so forth. What could go wrong? Well Monday night I went off to do a 20 mi run, and 1.5 miles into it - BAM! - shin splints in my left leg. It twinged a bit on me before the run, when I was moving a mini-fridge for a friend, but I thought it would clear up as I ran. Oops, guess not. In retrospect, my current running shoes and the insoles probably have enough miles on them to replaced. And walking around barefoot all day at Noah's Ark, America's largest waterpark, on Sunday probably didn't help any either. While I can't change the past, I can get new shoes. Shoe Shack here I come!

As I mentioned though, everything up to this point has been going pretty well. First I guess I should mention that I finally got my bike back. Brand new frame and it's white like the old one, and this years model, and better, and more carbon! Safe to say, I've been tooling around on that during my running rest days. It seems slightly lighter than the old frame, which makes sense. It's very nice to have a bike back again.

Secondly I ran the Elvelopet 15k for Nordic Fest on July 29th. I didn't do as good as I wanted to or as good as I thought I would. My finish time was 1 hr 13 min 48 sec, but I think I could have done a good deal better, maybe 5 mins better...if I didn't wake up and run most of the way with a slight hangover. I didn't think I had that much to drink the night before, but I guess I am in college, and I had to introduce some friends to house partying. So maybe its not ALL my fault?

I got my bike back the weekend before the Elvelopet, so I looked at my calendar and saw, "what do we have here?" - the State RR in two weeks. So the week leading up to the Elvelopet I did three double days in a row, running in the early afternoon and biking in the late afternoon. Hmm...maybe that could have fatigued me a bit for the race. Anyway, the week after the Elvelopet, the week leading up to the RR, all I did was biking. Many of my bike rides in the two weeks was in the rain, which was great! I don't know what it is but I can haul ass in the rain. Anyway, moving on to the race, I didn't do that bad considering I had only ridden my bike for two weeks prior to the race. I was up in the main pack up until the second lap when a rider went down in front of me which caused the pack to split up. I had basically caught up to the lead pack on the second biggest hill of the course but then I dropped my chain. I got a push start from the race official who was luckily in the truck following right behind me. However by the time I got back going again, the lead pack was gone and there was no way off catching back up by myself, as all the riders I passed were fading. So I just picked off the stragglers and rode it like a fast tempo training ride. I placed mid-pack, but like I said, not bad for only riding 2 weeks. Also almost 1/3 of the riders dropped out, so that was an added boost of confidence.

Since the race weeks I've just been trying to fit back into my marathon training schedule, move to my dorm for the year, and enjoy my summer. Hopefully I'll be better in updating this, and won't have a gap of almost 2 months again. Thats all for now, I need to ice my shin...

My Body Aches - It's Been A Good Week

2006-06-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's been about a week since I posted and today was a rest day so I have no excuse not to enter a new post.

Yesterday's run was a killer. Well, just the first half. It was all hills, well really just too big ones. I didn't know that when I mapped out the course online, I was including the two biggest hills in Decorah. The run began with a nice steep "warm up" up President's hill. It did occur to me the instant after I completed mapping the course that I'd be running up the hill. However, I kept it in because I remembered it was hard, but that I could do it. Yeah, I forgot just how long and steep it was. I definitely was waaay more than "warmed up" barely just one mile into a 7 mile run. About a mile or so later I got to the other big hill of the day - the Quarry hill. This time however I was at the top and not at the bottom. A downhill is usually easier than an uphill but not when its a loose gravel road - because of the dump truck from the quarry - super twisty, and easily over a mile long. It was a bit nuts. Eventually I did get back down to the flatland and back into Decorah where I finished off the run on the river trail and around by the campgrounds. All in all, it wasn't a bad run - especially when the hills were over. I felt great with 3 miles to go and under, and finished with a final time 61.19 - 8.46 min per mile.

I did finally get a training plan together for the Nordic Fest run. I basically just entered my stats into a program on runnersworld.com and boom - a training plan. It only has me running 4 days a week and the 'easy run' pace is waay slow so I'm changing things a bit, making things harder, so that can only be a good thing right? If I don't get a good race time I'll at least have a good base to start my marathon training. Which reminds me I really need to register for that...

Besides just a training plan, I've also enforced a stricter diet upon myself. I've cut out desserts of all kinds. My sweets now consist of fruit and yogurt. I've also cut out fried foods, breaded foods, and oily/fatty meats. Don't worry however, I'm not cutting out beer - although I haven't been drinking as much lately. I'll still have plenty of reviews though!

This last week I decided that after I get done with this next marathon, I'm going to train for triathlons. However, I can't swim worth a damn, but I decided I'd take a step to change that. I got myself a pair of goggles (after a couple tries) and then went to the public pool during lap swim. To make a the story short I learned that just because you can run a marathon and bike a century, that doesn't automatically make you a decent swimmer. Hell, it doesn't even mean that you can swim across a 25 yard pool. I'm sure I made a made one hell of a sight only swimming halfway acroos the pool and standing up gasping for air because I can't get my breathing right. Since I should be getting a bike back soon, I think I'm just going to wait until the school's pool reopens when school starts to start swim training again, basically so I don't have to pay $3 everytime I swim - or do whatever you call the the thing that I did in the water.

Speaking about the bike - I hoped to get it back this last weekend, but when I stopped in the shop it wasn't quite done. The new frame has a wider seat tube so the front derailleur clamp that I had was too small, so the shop called Masi to send the right size. So more waiting... However there is some really great news. The new frame is not only a frame model from this current year but its also the next model up. This frame - a Gran Criterium instead of my old Gran Corsa - has carbon seatstays like the other frame but it also has carbon chainstays too, not to mention a larger, and thus stiffer, bottom bracket area. Oh, and the best thing - its white! And its somehow even a better looking white too! So there's some good news mixed with some bad, but I should get a bike back soon.

One last thing. In many conversations I've had over the last week, I've been asked what my motivation or reason for cycling, running, swimming, etc.; or why it is I'm such a crazy endurance freak. Basically I've come up with this: You're not really living unless you find what limits you can take your body and then how far you can stretch them. In a nutshell, the day is not complete unless I test my body - unless I run, bike, whatever.

Well thats all for now. It's time for bed, plus I've just finished the beer I was drinking while writing this. Until next time...

Inside The Bottle - my beer reviews explained

2006-06-18T17:43:00.000-05:00

Before I actually do any of my beer reviews, I better do some explaining of how I'm going about it.

First of all, to be consistent, all of the beers that are being reviewed - and being drunk - are from the bottle. True, beers out of the bottle have a much different taste than ones on tap, however I want to be consistent in all the beers I review - and again drink. As a college student as well, I drink waaay more beer out of the bottle anyway. Plus it's fun to make magnets out of all the different beer bottle caps (We'll see some of those in later blogs I'm sure). I'm also not reviewing tap beers because I would look pretty rediculous sitting at a bar writing down notes about the beer I'm drinking.

I should also mention that I'm being lazy and just drinking the beer straight from the bottle and not pouring into a proper ale, lager, stout, whatever glass. So because of that I'm focusing just on the mouth feel, taste, and complexity of beers - and leaving out the color. Who really cares about the color anyway?

Oh, and one last final point. No American crap beers!!! So don't expect any Miller, Budweiser, Coors, etc. to make their way into this blog. The most mainstream American beers I'll be covering is some Sam Adams brews - and I have mixed feelings on covering some of those already. You can expect many micro-brews as well as many foreign beers.

Hopefully, I've sparked some curiosity and interest in a few of you, so I should have a review or two posted soon.

- happy biking, happy running, happy drinking, happy life.

UPDATE 10-02-06 ~ An executive decision has been made by the higher-ups (me) that the beer reviewing will no longer be a part of this blog. As readers may have noticed, this blog has been going for almost 4 months and still no reviews. I've been drinking less of the foamy beverage since I've been running and biking more. Plus, the higher ups (again, me) felt that it detracted from the most important subject of the blog, the biking and running. There may be a future blog however for just beer reviews. We'll see...

Finally...

2006-06-16T21:08:00.000-05:00

After much deliberation I got a name for my blog and here I am! Look for lots of updates this summer because life is pretty dull working 40 hours a week and living the summer on campus.

I just got back from an easy run tonight, I've been pretty zapped from my recent 14-day long work streak. Finally that ends tomorrow and I'll have Sunday off, so a long run is in store for then. Anyway, tonight I just kept it easy and did a 1/2 mile warm-up, a timed mile on the track, and then a 1/2 mile cool-down. I normally would have done more, but I wanted to time a 'race pace' mile on the track so I could figure out a good training schedule for the Nordic Fest 15K at the end of July. My mile wasn't horrible, 6.37, but I think I could've gone way faster if I was actually running against someone. To set up my schedule I think I'm going to use a 6.30 pace, maybe being more accurate to 'race pace.'

For those of you who don't know, I'm currently without my bike and have been for a little over a month now. I got a crack in the frame on one of the chainstays. So the frame got sent back to the company for replacement. I did get a confirmation this week from my bike shop that the frame is in fact going to be replaced, and the 'limited' in 'lifetime limited warranty' isn't going to bite me in the ass. However, its going to be replaced with the a model from the current year, which is blue and not my beloved white. I guess I should just be thankful that I'm getting it replaced.

Sniff...sniff...I'll miss you white frame! :(

More later!