It is finished.

Well, the last race of the Blue Hills Adventure Race Series has come and gone, but not without leaving it's mark on many AR loving competitors. The field of 50 teams made this race the largest one yet this year with most of the regulars showing up for the finale. Teams Backwoods WildHares, Echelon, Lawrence Fire Dept, Hope to Survive, and many other regular faces came out to enjoy the second annual Eisenhower Challenge at Eisenhower State Park near Melvern, KS.
It was a beautiful day with temps starting in the 60's, but quickly climbing up into the 80s by race end. As teams began their setup in the transition area, race director Clay Meyers-Bowman walked around encouraging and thanking competitors for their participation. Many of the teams were last minute registrants much to the delight of race staff, but due to the larger than expected number of teams, the logistics of the race had to change slightly. During the pre-race meeting, teams were told what to expect during the race. When asked how many teams were first timers, approximately 20+ teams raised their hands. They were listening intently as Clay instructed them how to have the most successful race possible.

















After the meeting, teams received their maps and some instructions for beginning the race. For this race, the field would all do the same course, but the legs would be in different order based on divisions. The Co-ed and Masters divisions started the race on the trail run whereas the rest started a short run to the kayaks. This did a good job of separating the larger than normal cluster of adrenaline junkies. The wind was whipping up pretty well during the paddle section and it was humorous watching the teams battle the elements (and the inflatable kayaks) while zig-zagging all over the place.














Some of the co-ed and masters teams returned from the 4(+) mile trail run to encounter their first special test. They were to solve a word/number puzzle before receiving their next set of instructions. Many racers who may have done triathlons in the past soon learned that there are MANY differences between a tri and an adventure race. Some teams found it difficult to stop (or control) the adrenaline long enough to focus on a mental task so a 5th grade level math puzzle took longer than it otherwise might have in a different environment. Once this was successfully completed, teams were given their next set of instructions.















During this race, teams also had to make their way through a challenging bike course which included single track, horse trails, bush whacking through 7 feet tall thick brush, and some roads. There were several team positions changed during this part of the race due to the varying levels of mountain biking experience. One all female team even had to finish on two flat front tires! Now THAT'S showing some true grit! Good job girls! Some other teams also had to tough their way through flats and other mechanical issues to finish the bike leg.





























At the finish line, amongst the tired and dirty faces, there were lots of smiles, handshakes, and high-fives.
Although I didn't get to race today, it was still fun watching everyone else enjoying themselves while pushing beyond their normal comfort levels. Everyone I spoke with said that they loved the race and would like to do another one. Hopefully, they'll take advantage of the opportunity to do more of the Blue Hills races next year as well as checking out other Adventure Races. Then there will be fewer people calling ME crazy!

Tough Sprint Adventure Race!

This past weekend's Blue Hills Adventure Race was one of the top two toughest if not THE toughest one yet in this series! I decided to make it a little harder on myself by forgoing the necessary rest the night before. Getting a little over 2 hours of very bad quality sleep, I got up at 2:15 to load the car up, drive over to get Shane, and hit the road for the drive up to Kellog, IA for the race. Three quarters of the drive up was in pouring rain and it began to make us a little nervous thinking that we might have to slog it out in the mucky stuff. It's best to mentally prepare yourself for the worst just in case. Thankfully, the course was dry, but definitely not easy. This time, the guys from Blue Hills wanted to make sure we all got out money's worth of racing, so they made the course longer than in races past to ensure a MINIMUM of 3 hours racing for everyone. We ended up doing the events in the following order with approx distances:
1. run ~1 mi
2. kayak ~2 mi
3. run ~ 2.5 mi
4. bike ~10mi
5. kayak ~ 2 mi
6. run ~2.5 mi
7. bike ~10 mi
This course was also much hillier than I expected it to be. Lessons re-learned from this race include getting enough rest the night before and make SURE to eat a good breakfast the morning of a race. Coffee and hammer gel does NOT constitute a good breakfast. During the first bike leg, we met some race course officials on one of the roads that made us stop for a "mystery challenge". They gave us a card with instructions to drop our bikes in the ditch by the road and proceed on foot into a pine grove. In this grove, we were to find hidden checkpoints A, B, and C and punch the card with them. These were cleverly disguised hanging in the trees varying distances apart. Another special test had us collecting random objects from a list and putting them in a plaastic bag for race officials to check off. We had to find a bug, coin, credit card, leaf, rock, hammer gel, piece of litter, and a piece of toilet paper. Most of these things were readily in the transition area, but a few teams had to run back to their cars to complete their tasks. Although the kayak leg(s) seemed to go on and on and on, the biking was definitely the difficult part. A good part of it was cross country on newly mowed brush clearing which bridged some of the singletrack sections. The hills surrounding the lake seemed endless with one right after another and almost no flat areas to catch your breath.
Shane and I ended up taking second place in this race behind the Backwoods WildHares. I think we had a good race since we made no big mistakes and felt ok. I think we could've done better with some solid food in us and with a little more rest beforehand, but the team we lost to has been stronger than us all season thus far. It's a bit of a downer to keep finishing behind them, but it's also good for us to have to keep pushing ourselves to race UP to the level of competition they bring.

I'm too old to be trendy!

Good Training weekend

I'm tired.

This weekend, had some good training for me. Took third place in my age group at the XTerra 10k on Saturday morning, helped out (didn't have to substitute/ride in) for a 12 hour mtn bike race that afternoon, ran with the group Sunday morning,(NASTY ticks) and then got in some riding with my AR teammate Shane. This week, I'll train a little on Tuesday night, but for the rest of the week, I think I'll just hit the gym for light work on weights and swim a little. I also REALLY NEED to start eating better. I've been reverting back to junk lately. Not sure, why, but it's taking a toll on my body. The next Adventure Race is this coming weekend on Sunday. It's just a little east of Des Moines, IA. I think we'll be ready.

Fun Trail Run!

The Trail Nerds held their second of the series of trail races on Friday night. Before the run, I was wondering (nervously) how I'd do. I was feeling pretty good and wanted to do well, but realized that I was actually WORRYING about it! WHY? Not sure really, but on the way there, instead of the usual pre-race tunes, (Linkin Park, Prodigy, etc...) I put in some pretty chill ambient stuff and it relaxed me a bit. That helped me rearrange my goal for the race from wanting to do as well as I could, to just wanting to make it an enjoyable run. It went great and we had a very good turnout for such a low-key race. Instead of rehashing the whole thing, I'll just let someone else's well-written report suffice. Check out Jake's account of it here.
Dick Ross generously photographed the runners. His pictorial account of the race can be found here!

One thing I REALLY think I need to work on though is the pre-race warm-up. I HATE doing little runs before a race to warm up and I dont' think they've ever helped me. Could be wrong on that, but it's my perception. BUT, I also don't feel warmed up before the race and when I go out too hard, it hurts the lungs, and jacks my heartrate WAY up! Anyone have advice for this?

The post below shows what I have in the way of mtn bikes. I'll be selling those sometime and I think I'll get one of these!

A biking dilemma and AR Training

I've been contemplating getting a new mtn bike for a while. Of the three mtn bike's I've owned, I've only REALLY liked my Gary Fisher Sugar. Even though I still have it, I haven't put any money into it lately and the parts on it are worn out. I have a hard time justifying putting more money into it when I have and am currently racing on my Specialized Stumpjumper FSR. It's newer and rides farily nice, but I just don't like it as well. My Stumpy is a small frame (which is supposedly right for my height) but my Fisher is a medium and feels more right for my style of riding. NOW I'm getting to the point where the components on my Stumpy are getting worn and I'm wondering if I should continue to put any money into it or just get something I like better. Selling a used mountain bike is such a pain though.
Anyway, it's Tuesday again and this is another training night for biking first, then running. Last Saturday I ran with the group and we got in around 8 in the trails. It's been pretty hot lately. Hopefully, the heat won't hurt the training. Last night's run was very inconsistent. Started out strong, but had a side cramp twice during it and had to walk out the first and ran through the second one. Still got in a little over 6 on the roads. While running, my deltoids started tiring. I'll either have to cut back on the fly reps in the gym or increase my mileage so get the arms back where they need to be so I can run efficiently and keep the ribcage/diaphragm open.
During the last race, Shane and I paddled fairly well, but we were both sore in the shoulders afterwards. We both know that kayaking with proper form isn't supposed to use the arms completely, but in the inflatable little rubber duckies, it's almost impossible to maintain proper form. Hopefully, we'll be able to get in some paddling practice before the next race. If not, we'll just punish ourselves more and rely on strength, determination, and experience to help us continue winning.

against the odds

No, not the sappy Phil Collins song.

That's just how I feel about our performance after we won our most recent adv race despite making several mistakes that I thought WOULD have cost us the race.
Thankfully, we didn't have to travel too far for this one. The next race in the Blue Hills adventure Race series took us to Smithville Lake which us Trail Nerds have trained on before and I've raced this park last year. It was projected to be about 93 degrees with a heat index of around 110. In reality, the temp got up to 102 ACTUAL temperature later that day, but it didn't hurt anyone too badly. We had a puker, and someone stopped sweating halfway through her race, but other than that, most everyone hydrated pretty well and I didn't even notice the heat. The rude locals were harder to deal with than the heat, but that's just another part of the challenge in an adventure race.
After the pre-race meeting, everyone started off running down a short road toward an open grassy area strewn with ziplock bags with race numbers on them. These contained maps and the directions we were to follow for the race. After getting these we returned to the Transition Area and got on our bikes. We were warned/advised to take our running shoes with us on the bike leg. Of course I listened to this part due to some past mistakes. Certainly I wouldn't make it again...
We got about a minute and a half into the trails when I realized that in our transition rush, I in fact DID NOT strap my running shoes to my camelback! Not wanting to risk it this time, we turned around and headed back to the transition area to retrieve my running shoes and then continued on the first mountain biking section. We lost what seemed like about 3 or 4 minutes on this mental error, but it was probably only maybe 2 mins. Still, it wasn't good for our mental state so early in the race.
We hammered pretty hard on these trails passing what was a mostly courteous field, but once we got to the front few teams we had a little harder time passing them and their egoes. We did about 4-5 miles in the trails on the bike punching checkpoints along the way when the map brought us to a second Transition Area (TA2).
From here, we were instructed to drop the bikes and proceed on foot through the next four checkpoints. This portion was approximately 4 miles. The heat didn't really bother me, but for some reason, I was having a hard time catching my breath on this part and consequently, was running much slower than I wanted. Still, we didn't get caught by any other teams and we also caught the final (lead) team back at the Transition Area as we got back on the bikes. They took off a little before us, but we eventually caught them in the trails and left them behind. From here, we rode another 3 or 4 miles back to the start/Transition Area 1 for our next set of instructions. We received a special test telling us to run the half-mile down the road out of the park to a "General Store". Here we were to use 4 quarters that was in our ziplock bag to purchase an item (less than a dollar) and bring that item, the receipt, and any change back to the race officials. Shane picked up some sunflower seeds and we were out and on our way. This was a quick mile run and we were in the store for just at a minute.














Once back in the Transition Area, we had to get a kayak 2 paddles and 2 PFDs and head down to the kayak put in point on the lake. There were 3 check points to hit during this leg and although we saw several teams enter the water after us, we were well enough ahead that was never any threat of getting caught. After having raced together in several of these, Shane and I work well together in the inflatable boats and as long as it stays inflated, we normally gain ground of the rest of the field while paddling.
After exiting the water, we had to portage the boat, paddles and PFDs back to the TA and get our next special test.
This test was a word/number game with a set of 10 instructions for doing simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to get certain letters from their corresponding numbers. If you followed the directions carefully, it was very easy and we blew through it quickly spelling our words (appropriately enough) "the winner".
After this we were handed another set of instructions stating that the FINAL mountain bike leg would take us east in the park along some paved trail approximately 3 miles to the last checkpoint. Thankfully, Shane had a functional computer on his bike and he clocked the mileage. During this ride, my legs began to tire. When we hit the three mile mark, Shane let me know so we both started to keep an eye out for the checkpoint. After passing it and turning around, we saw it lying on the ground. I thought this to be odd since they're normally hanging securely from a tree in plain sight. We approached it and Shane grabbed the punch to punch our control card. I mentioned that we should probably hang it back up in the tree since I assumed it had fallen by accident when we both smelled this horrible stench of feces! After asking my teammate if he was feeling alright, we noticed that someone had intentionally ripped the checkpoint down and then did their own business on it! HOW RUDE! We were able to avoid the mess and still got the CP hung back up in the tree so that other teams didn't pass it like we did.
I don't mind helping out other teams, but I'm glad that others benefitting from our misfortune didn't cost us any placement in the race.
After this last punch on the control card, we rode the final three miles back to the Finish line with huge smiles on our faces. This race was a great win for us as we had to overcome several obstacles and some mental errors. This really helps build confidence.
Tonight, I think I'll do a recovery run of about 6-7 easy miles with the KC Track club. Then it's back to training as usual.

shaking off the vacation cob webs...

I'm a little behind with this, but here's a summary. The week after we got back from our Colorado trip was hectic preparing for going to Orlando and catching up on work, getting a sick cat back to health, and a few other things. Then we headed down South to our previous home in Orlando, FL where WE are now the tourists! :-D The trip went ok but we spent way too much money. :-( I got in 2 runs and 2 light workouts while there so maybe that prevented me from gaining a full 20 pounds. My sister ran with me once and during that, I realized how much I'd missed the heat and the humidity. Of course you all think it sounds crazy, but I really do like the humidity! It's comforting and I LOVE to sweat. The heat is comforting and feels good to me. No insanity comments necessary: I think that's already been established, but I'm just different.
Anyway, tonight, I'm going to run with the road running group and then hit the trails tomorrow night for a full session of biking and then running with the group. Looking forward to that. I've missed it for a while!
A little off topic, but still something I find interesting... a few weeks ago, I was riding with some local mtn bikers and afterwards we were all discussing some of the things that make us different with regard to how we feel about the equipment we use. One of the guys said that he orders stuff often, but keeps it on the shelves. He's neurotic about using it and doesn't want to wear it out so he keeps brand new stuff around often without even using it. One of the other guys said that he can't race on something unless it's been ridden on hard for at least several months. He doesn't wash his bike and rarely lubes it. He does MINIMAL maintanence on it and is afraid to race on new parts for fear of the unknown. I, on the other hand, am still different from the former two. Often I obsess that my components are worn out, broken, mal-adjusted (freudian slip?) or otherwise just not right. Consequently, I am constantly tweaking/adjusting my bike and am psyching myself out during a race that I'm not as fast as my mind wants me to be because my bike isn't operating at peak performance! This is probably a lot more common than we all realize, but I thought it was interesting how two guys/riders/fellow racers that I admire and respect also have somewhat irrational (neurotically motivational?) fears just as I do. One other difference is that they win often and I'm usually finishing in the top 5 so MY fears are probably justified! ;-)

Forgot to add...

During our trip to CO, I forgot to mention what a great time we all had going white water rafting on the Arkansas River. Our guide was great and since it was the first time for Allison and myself, it was quite an adventure for us.

Leadville Marathon

Most of my friends who understand what I do for fun think I'm crazy. My family, who doesn't understand what I do for fun, just thinks that I like to run 5k or 10k races. They have a hard time grasping the adventure part of the races that I do. I don't find a whole lot of adventure in your average 5k or 10k road run. That's why I take most of my running and biking off road and in the trails whenever possible.
Since moving to Kansas, I have enjoyed being part of a trail running group that has inspired me and motivated me to run distances that I've never considered before. Earlier this year I took part in two 50k (31+ miles) trail runs and enjoyed them immensely. Running on the roads, I had never done more than a ½ marathon (13.1 miles) at one time before. In trail running we reguarly do fun runs over 12 miles and it's easier on the body than doing 7 or 8 miles on the road. Even though I had already done the 50k runs, I had never just done a marathon. So I decided to go ahead and do one and get that under my belt.
Considering my love for adventure and trail running, a road marathon just didn't seem like a fun option. So when looking for a trail marathon, the options are a bit fewer since most organized trail runs are set up for ultra (50k and higher) distances. Being the tech weenie that I am, I immediately began using the internet to help me search for a trail marathon. When I discovered the one in Leadville, CO, I thought that sounded like a good idea because I've heard of Leadville before with regard to the Leadville Trail 100. I thought to myself, “how hard could it be? I've already done longer runs”. I guess I have a knack for underestimating things or over estimating myself.
Allison and I arrived in Leadville a day and half before the race started to try and get acclimated to the altitude. Please bear in mind that living in Kansas City (800 feet above sea level) doesn't afford me the opportunity to do much altitude training. My adventure race teammate, Shane also decided to this marathon. He and I decided to do a short warm up run on Friday while exploring part of the course. We quickly realized the race was going to hurt more than we thought, but hey, I love challenging adventures right? So instead of fearing the potential pain, I embraced it and was looking forward to it.
Leadville is at 10,000 feet elevation and this marathon course would take us up to the top of Mosquito Pass at 13,200 feet elevation, with lots more big ups and downs in between. This was a very well organized and supported race and about 360 people participated in it or the Heavy Half Marathon. We began promptly at 8 am on the road leading up into the mountains. The first and last ¾ of a mile contains the only asphalt that you encounter during this run. The rest is all dirt and rock with much of it being gravel roads and some of it being single track. Getting into a regular rhythm is almost impossible during this race due to the constantly changing incline. The first 3.2 miles is all up hill with only a short respite of downhill after the first aide station. After the short downhill, we resumed climbing which lead us above the timberline, through some snow patches, and around Ball Mountain. Coming down from Ball Mountain there was quite a bit of downhill, (approximately 4.3 miles) and even though this gave your hamstrings and calves some rest, the downhill exhaust your quads. After another aide station, we began the long and torturous climb up Mosiqito Pass. At the base of Mosiqito Pass, a fellow runner told me his Garmin was reading 11,100 feet elevation. This meant that over the next 3.1 miles, we would be gaining about 2,100 feet of elevation, it felt like 5,000. Although the scenery was breathtaking, the switchbacks up the side of the mountain seemed endless and the footing on the trail was not entirely stable. The higher we got, the temperture kept dropping causing me to put on gloves and a hat. I had also brought a light weight Go-Lite top just in case the weather got really bad. Near the summit of Mosiqito Pass to say that breathing was labored would be an understatement. I couldn't get enough air to keep my brain happy much less my screaming and exhausted muscles. The peak of Mosiqito Pass was the halfway/turnaround point of the marathon, so I knew what I had to look forward to for the rest of the run. More climbing for a downhill finish. A few times during the run I actually got very lightheaded but I never got dizzy so I was able to push through it. After downing three gels already, I decided my body needed somethimg more substantial to get me through this run, so at the aide station at the base of Mosiqito Pass, I shoved down a half of a banana and continued on. It was right after this (between mile 16 & 17) that I started really hurting. The balls of my feet were getting tenderized from all the sharp rocks on the downhills and turning my legs over step after step was getting harder and harder due to the lack of oxygen to use whatever energy I may have had in my body. Between miles 18 and 22, I just wanted to sit down or lie down and wait for some other runners to come along and encourage me. I never did though because I knew that stopping would probably end up being more than just temporary. During the run, I was able to slow down enough several times to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery. After reaching the last aid station, I knew that I just had a 3.4 mile downhill run remaining to the finish. Even though I love the fun downhill stuff, every step of this last part was painful. Although I am going to loose the toenail on my second toe of my right foot (again), I didn't get any blisters. The last ¾ of a mile on the pavement to the finish hurt worse than the trails (stupid asphalt) but no matter how bad I wanted to, I couldn't walk it, I had to finish strong. So to the cheers of my favorite cheerleader (my wife), I strided across the finish line full of pride. Mentally, this was very challenging and physically it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I'm glad I did it and would recommend it to anyone.
While out there, Shane and I got the chance to do some biking. That was a lot of fun. Dinner at Wynkoop's brewery was excellent as was their beer. We also took the families to see a Colorado Rockies Game on July 4th. It had an hour and a half rain delay but after the rain, the Rockies finished beating the SF Giants and then we got to see one of the best fireworks shows I've ever been to! All in all, it was a very fun trip.

Lighter but not slimmer?

The last few days have been pretty hectic. Last weekend, (Saturday morning) the Trail Nerds had the first in the series of trail races. I didn't do this one, but instead decided to help out with timing, pictures and course clean up afterwards since Shane and I were doing another adventure race on Sunday. After the race I went home, showered, packed up, picked up Shane and headed up to Lincoln, NE for our race on Sunday. We stayed with fellow trail and ultra runner Rick Hoopes. He and his wife generously hosted us at their place so we didn't have such a long drive to make the day of the race.
The adventure race was fun and we were happy with our third place finish until we realized that we only came in behind the second place team by a minute and a half. We could EASILY have done better if we didn't have to stop and change two flat tires and air them up another two times during the race. THAT was frustrating.
Even WITH the third place finish, we still retained the series lead in the points standings. I'd normally have a race report done for this by now, but I have way too much going on to do one of those at the moment.
Today after work, Allison and I are headed to Leadville, CO. We're meeting Shane and his wife Brandi there. We'll stop in Highlands Ranch so I can work on Thursday before continuing on to Leadville for our marathon on Saturday. While out there, we're going to try to get in some biking and maybe even attempt a fourteener if we have time.

In all of the preparations, training, helping, racing, and working, I haven't weighed myself in a while. I know this may not seem significant to most of you, but I had put on 25+ lbs a while back and have been working on getting it off the healthy way for the past year. When I first came to KC from Orlando, I was just over 165 lbs and am happy to say that I'm FINALLY back down to 133 as of this morning! It's been hovering between 137 and 140 for a while but I guess the race last weekend helped me get that last 4-5 lbs off! Now I just need to get in the gym and get the body composition back to a more respectable level and maybe I'll be racing stronger! Peoples' reactions to hearing about my weight is funny because first, they can't believe that I'm that light now (I look 140-150) and they can't imagine that I was ever 165+. Maybe it's because of my frame I hold weight proportionately or maybe I just wore baggier clothes, but either way, nobody but me ever really noticed.

Adventure Racing: What it is and why I do it

Even amongst mountain bikers, trail runners, and multi-sport athletes, I often get asked "What is an adventure race?" It seems everyone knows what a triathlon is, (although most NON-triathletes automatically think of Ironman) but relatively few people know what an adventure race is. My usual response is that an adventure race is like an off-road triathlon, but instead of the traditional swim, bike, run, the events are trail running, mountain biking, and kayaking (in no particular order) with special tests or mystery events throughout the race. As with triathlons, there are varying distances, but this is pretty much where the similarities end.

Triathlons usually consist of a sprint, olympic distance, half-ironman, or ironman distance, but the disciplines and order of events are always (borishly in my opinion) consistent. Swim - transition - Bike - transition - Run. Triathlons are a great way to motivate some people to stay healthy and they're a decent measure of fitness, but they are also a decent way to get people to push themselves physically and mentally more than they otherwise might in their daily routines or hobbies.

Adventure Racing not only incorporates these physical disciplines, it also adds several other dimensions like scenery, interacting with the varying terrains, mental/intellectual challenges, team building skills, and an unpretentious comraderie amongst competitors that is hard to find in triathletes. I know this from first-hand experience. Many adventure racers were once triathletes that (like myself) made the cross over and stuck with it after discovering how much there is to love about it.

There are no prerequisites to be an adventure racer other than having a love of life and wanting to have fun. There are a few solo ARs, but most are team events consisting of 2, 3, or 4 person teams. The rules for adventure racing are simple. During the race, teammates must stay together and complete each event as a team. This is for safety as well as a necessity for completing the race successfully. Racers must respect the land they're racing on and practice the "Leave no trace" philosophy. During ARs, competitors cannot receive assistance from spectators or anyone outside the race, but MAY get help from other racers. This happens frequently and is sometimes necessary to complete a race. The "special tests/mystery events" can be anything from orienteering/navigation, an obstacle course, completing a run while zip-tied to your teammate at the wrist, crawling through a mud pit, solving a rubix cube, guessing a movie from clues, solving a sudoku puzzle, hitting paintball targets, or various other mental and physical challenges.

Hopefully, this gives at least a basic understanding of what adventure racing is. That being said, hopefully you'll want to get involved in one some day.

Happy Trails!

I don't lern too good

You'd think I'd learn more as I get older. Not necessarily the case. I keep finding new mistakes or new ways of making the same old mistakes. What would really help is if I could be consistent enough (in training, diet, and pretty much everything) to learn how to recover correctly and/or completely. That's such a necessary part of training, but still not a part that I'm embracing very well. After taking off thursday and Friday last week after Wednesday's fiasco, I went for a bike ride on Saturday with a couple of guys. One was the current mountain biking champion of Missouri and the other is a phenomenal rider who used to work for and ride for Manitou. He also wins many of the area bike races so I knew I'd be in for a workout. Riding with these guys is fun and makes me better. I was really hoping others would show up for this ride to help keep the pace down, but it ended up just being the three of us. I held my own and dont' think I held them up too much, but I also had to hold back a bit as I knew I was going to TRY to do 2 loops at Wyco on Sunday. Didn't matter. I let my pride get the best of me and used my quads harder than I should've on the ride and felt it on Sunday's run. My knee is also bothering me a little worse now. It was feeling a bit better most of last week so this has me concerned.
The next three weekends are all race weekends with the first (this Saturday & Sunday) being the first in the Trail Nerds Trail run series. As soon as that's over, Shane and I head up to Lincoln, NE for our next Adventure Race on Sunday. THEN, we leave next Thursday morning for Leadville, CO where we'll be doing the Leadville Marathon and the weekend after that is another adventure race. Hope my knee holds out because my confidence in my training isn't.

Overtraining?

Wednesday night runs are usually pretty easy ones for me. Those are the pot-luck dinner runs that are hosted at a different person's home each week and the host provides the route and the main dish. Every one else brings their appetite and a side dish and it's usually a laid back pace allowing us to see different parts of Kansas City and the surrounding areas.
This past one, I was coming off two (relatively) fast runs on Monday night and Tuesday night back to back after running 11 on Sunday. I had planned on doing about 7-8 on Wed nite and since I knew the route, I felt comfortable with it. Starting out, my legs immediately felt like I had done a HARD bike ride that day (which I had not) and took them a while to get warmed up. Even once they did warm up, they still didn't get much energy to them. I was struggling to keep up a medium pace with the lead guys and eventually fell off. I told myself that it was alright and I'd just run my own pace to finish. Didn't happen. After the turn around point, I did one more mile and had to walk it back. Did about 4.5 or 5 miles running and did the final 2 or 2.5 walking! My legs HURT the rest of the evening. So I had to take Thursday off even though I REALLY wanted to hit the newly remodeled Psycho Wyco trails on our thursday night runs. Shane and I want to do 2 laps this weekend at Wyco to get in at least 20 miles of hills, and I think I'll be ok for that, but I'm also thinking about riding Clinton lake on Saturday with the guys from Cowtown cycling. If I do that, I may not have enough left for Wyco on Sunday. I guess all this rambling leads me to conclude that eight years of racing STILL has not taught me how to balance pushing it to get stronger without hurting myself by overtraining. I HATE this because it makes me feel like such a friggin weakling!

Fun but short weekend

Allison and I headed out to Eden, UT for a wedding reception of some friends of ours. While there, I got to go for a great bike ride and an awesome mountain run in the Wasatch mountains as well as getting to party with our friends. The weather was gorgeous. 70s and low 80s during the day and 40s at night. They still have a LOT of snow on the ground and Brighton (the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon) even got a foot of fresh snow on Memorial Day weekend before climbing back up into the 80s again. Strange weather, but it sure is beautiful!
One of the friends we stayed with is a Doctor and after talking with him about some of my knee troubles, we've pretty much concluded that I have a bruised Meniscus in my right knee. Not too threatening, but it is a bit uncomfortable and if not allowed to heal, it could lead to worse. Somehow, I have to find a way to get in some longer runs this month in preparation for the Leadville Marathon on July 1st while still somehow taking it easy on my right knee. Looks like lots of ice and anti-inflamatory stuff is in order.