1 week away

Well 1 week out from 140.6 of fun! This has been a great year of racing and early morning training. I am looking forward to the whole experience considering it all goes really, really, really well.

I hoping for awesome weather in the forecast, I cant wait to glide through the water faster then ever.
Pedaling my bike all 112 miles like a stage in the tour! And then run a blazing fast marathon with fresh legs and cruise into the finish line saying, "Wow, that wasn't that bad!"

What a race it will be, I seriously can't wait. I would have bought a book at Barnes & Noble and trained about 75% for this race. So I took a much different approach and have a coach who has helped me the whole way.

I have pedaled a few thousand miles, swam about a zillion miles more then ever and ran like a cheetah to prepare for this race.  I have made a new friend that I can train with locally, who has enormous potential. At the age of 31 I actually learned how to swim and can't wait to improve more in the leg of the race.

It has been a huge learning process and a test of strength and endurance that I have been long awaiting this challenge. In a week this race should be behind me and I cant wait to experience the whole event.

I am a National champion! again...

It went well... I won the overall! That was a whole lot of fun. From the beginning of the day, everything was cool about this race, from the venue to the award ceremony it was all a great experience. 

I took the first mile out in 4:39 and wanted to lead from the gun. I don't think i have done a multi sport event this short before. My coach and i knew the best strategic move was to light the fuze and just go. I thought of it as a fifty minute super high intensity workout and it worked.

I will add to this post later and more pics later. As for now i have my hometown triathlon race in 2 hours, against many of the same awesome athletes that raced either the sprint race yesterday or the standard race. 

So lets see what i can do today...

 I just arrived at thhope butonal Duathlon Championship in  St Paul. I also have have Heart of the Lakes triathlon tomorrow in Annandale. Let's hope for fast times and good memories. It's a two ap bike course each lap is 6 miles so we'll see how that goes. I hope there's not too much congestion and I heard theres alot of sharp corners should be fun! My  racer starts @ 11:45, later then usual. Here we go! Adios...

Afton 25k new course record!

 

To say Afton was a very hilly race would be a huge understatment! This course was a beast and requires. The ll you have to make it up these hills.  340 people showed up for the 25k and the weather was ideal. 

Not knowing the course at all and I didnt run to many trail miles for training i was ready for challenge. The gun went off and i was institantly in 3rd place for most of the race. 

I lost sight of those 2 lead guys after about 5 miles. Twisting and turning through the woods as fast as I could I was slowlt gaining on 2nd place. I came to a big donwhill where I could see the 2nd place guy (he also won the race the last years) from above on the trail. I caught and passed him around mile 11. 

As I passed him he said that the guy in 1st was only 40 seconds ahead, and that he was not very good on the uphills but he was really fast on the downhills. This was great news!

So I pushed onward and as i crested the next big hill i got a glimpse of him and that was all i needed. I could see victory right in front of me with every step that i took. We ran more downhill single track trails and then got to the bottom of the hills to a very rocky gravel bed trail, i was only a few seconds behind him. I glanced at my watch and as i did it beeped 14 miles and i was now right on the leaders heals. He hopped to the side of the trail and i said thanks and before i knew it I was leading the race with less then a mile to go. 

One last huge hill to go, then it flattened out on top to the finish line. I made a few surges and gaped my rival and ran as fast as i could up that last hill. I looked back about 3 times just to make sure i wasnt going to be suprised. Then i caught my breathe after that monster hill and took my hat off and waved like a lasso above my head as i crossed the finih line and the crowd went wild! 

What a run! And to win, wow it felt awesome. I beat the previous 4 time winner of the race, amd set a new course record! What a day, and i only run a few days a week and didnt trane on hills or trails much to prepare for this hilly monster dragon of a course. 

i loved the race and cant wait to do it again next year. Trail racing is really cool, it is like a really long cross country race with water stops. 

Afton Trail Race tomorrow

Happy 4th! Tomorrow I have the Afton Trail Race 25k. I am excited and love running trails. I think it goes way quicker then running on roads or streets. I like hills and took 2nd last year at the Birkie Half Marathon in Hayward, WI. And that was sseriously one ski hill after another. 

 And you really cant get any better weather then this cool summer we have had so far. 2 years ago it was 101 and last uear it was 90, no one is complaining this year!  I thought about carrying water with me tomorrow but  most likely wont. I shouldn't have to drink to much due tothe cool temos. I am hoping for good footing and not to much mud on the course. 

Wish me luck and lets see what happens!

Duluth Results!

Holy cats was it cold! It's still winter up in northern Minnesota. I had a great weekend with 2 races in less then 12 hours. 

I ran the 5k and was 2nd overall out of about 1,700 people. The course is very flat and the way back was into the wind. Myself and 2 others seperated early from the main pack and went through mile 1 around 4:34 and then mile 2 was into the wind so i sat in and drafted the whole mile. We went through mile 2 around 5:08 and then with a mile to go we started changing the lead and shacking things up a bit. Then rounding the backside of the DECC it was just he and I. We both made our moves and sprinted it out and Scott, a 24 year old from Duluth beat me by about 4 seconds. Hats off to him, it was a great race. 

Then I cooled down and  started getting ready for tomorrow.  I finished with a 15:22.

Up and at um early, we awoke to fog, mist, slight tail wind and 45 degrees... and the gun went off at the start of another Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon. What a sweet course, with great support and big crowds! Half way through i felt slugish and tierd but then with 2 miles 2 go i opened it up and bolted for the finish line. I saw my mom, my wife Janelle and our kids gave them a high five and ended up running the last mile in 5:10.

I took 53rd place out of 7,592 runners and ran my 3rd best time 1:11.58. Had i not ran the 5k I would have ran a new Personal Best.  And considering that i only run about 3 days a week, and that i am training specifically for a long distance endurance race in September. 

So another great weekend filled with fast times and good memories.  I will return next year to race but i dont know what race yet. It is to soon to tell, and next year i bet it will be hot weather.

I am now in Madison, Wisconsin and heading out the door to preview all 112 miles of bike course amd then run 6 miles and see how my legs feel.  

Adios!

Double Header!!!

This is one of the best weekends of the summer! And I have been going up to Duluth every year for this race since I was 13. This is a top notch race and is tough to beat the venue, the point A to point B race course, atmosphere, store fronts and dinning and of course the thousands of people volunteering there support. This race is a Minnesota favorite much like the State Fair!

My kids are doing the Whipper Snapper races on Friday afternoon, they love the Mascot run right before the kids race starts.

On Friday night I run the William A. Irvin 5K, I have ran this twice in the past helping pace my brother when we were younger. But this Friday night I get to blast off like a rocket and see how fast I can propel myself in 5k.

Then after the race I get re focused and get ready for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on Saturday morning.  This weekend has great potential for fast times and great memories. 

When the gun goes off, just ran as fast as you can!

Wish me luck!