Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Change of Seasons

Since most of my blogs have been about daughter Kelsey lately, I will continue the trend with this one. At the Trek Womens Triathlon on September 19th, Kelsey competed for the first time as an elite athlete. This meant that she got to start in the first wave. She crossed the finish line in second place, but ended up in fourth overall as two age group competitors finished with a lower total time. Nonetheless, it was a good race for Kelsey and she was happy with her time.
Cross country season is now underway and she is focused on that. I am trying to get back out on the trails some and increase my running mileage beyond 25 miles per month (yes, per month, not per week). Hope to see some familiar faces at the Ghost of Seattle and other runs through the end of the year.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Kesley kicks butt

Daughter Kelsey continues to impress and amaze me. In her first season of triathlons, she has placed first in her age group in every event and finished no worse than 5th for the women. Last Sunday was no exception. In the 2010 Seattle Danskin sprint triathlon, Kelsey competed with over 4,000 entrants and once again won the 20-24 age group. More impressively, she was third overall, beating all but one of the elite athletes. She started in the 25th heat and had to contend with 2,400 participants on the road in front of her. Kelsey took it out hard on the swim and picked up the pace on the bike. She looked for competition on the run to keep her motivated and was never passed. The funny part is she was disappointed by her run time.

Monday, August 09, 2010

August Update

Managed to finish STP respectably. Our time wasn't too fast, but it was better than last year and Kelsey was much stronger when she finished than last year. We got picked up and driven home than night, arriving at the house about 12:30 Sunday morning. After starting the day about 3:30 AM on Saturday, it made for a long day. Kelsey got up Sunday and left before 9:00 AM, headed to White Pass to volunteer as a counselor at the XC camp there. She ran all week on the trails with the campers and came home on Friday. Saturday morning we both ran the Aquafest 10k. She ran 44:06 and I ran 44:24. So she was tired and still beat the old man. Unfortunately, my right quad and hip did not work well and I had to walk a few times. Doesn't help the pace much.

Kelsey's rookie summer of triathlons continues to go well. She stepped up to the Olympic distance recently competing in the Whiskey Dick triathlon in Ellensburg. This is a tough event, with the swim (1 mile) in the Columbia River at Vantage. The bike portion climbs for 12 miles to Whiskey Dick Ridge and then is slightly down or flat on the next 16 miles into Ellensburg. As is often the case, the 16 miles were all into a solid headwind. The 10k run is in Ellensburg and Kelsey ended up with the fastest female time at 45:30. She was third female out of the water, but lost ground on the bike, ending up 5th female. Too much time lost to make it up, although she gained back over 4 minutes during the run on the winner. She was once again 1st in her age group.

Next up is Danskin this weekend. This will be a sprint distance, but will be MUCH larger than any event so far, with upwards of 3,500 participants. This will be her last event prior to XC season beginning at CWU. Looking at her times versus previous years times, I believe she has an excellent shot at the top 20; perhaps even top 10 with a strong race. We'll see on Sunday.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Likely no CCC


My motivation for running continues to be low and consequently so are my miles. Didn't run at all last week. I have been doing spin classes and trying to get in some bike rides in preparation for STP on July 17th. The weather has definitely not been cooperating there. Daughter Kelsey is doing extremely well in her sprint distance triathlons. She was fourth woman and first in her age group in her initial triathlon in Moses Lake. Two weeks later, she was 7th overall and first woman in another sprint triathlon, also at Moses Lake. She is signed up for a women only tri in Auburn on July 3rd, so it will be interesting to see how she does in a bit larger event. Now if she would just put the same effort into finding a job for the summer.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Watershed #3 - Still no 12 hour

This was my third running at the Watershed Preserve 12 hour race. Some day I may actually have to stay for the full 12 hours. In 2006, I ran 7 loops in 5:43:05. In 2007, I ran 6 loops in 5:02:01. For 2010, I wasn't sure even during the race how long or how far I was going to go. After completing every step of the marathon distance with good friend Mark Hartinger (and most of that with Michael Cartwright also adding the the general fun and mayhem), Mark went to get his trekking poles for some practice and I started running by myself. Lap six went pretty well and I headed back out for lap seven. Glancing at my watch, I figured if I kept the pace I could finish seven laps in 6:30 or a bit under. Had to push a bit to maintain the pace, but hit the aid station in 6:27:18. At that point, I called it a day. It was good to see so many familiar faces and to spend over four and a half hours running with Mark. I'm still waffling some about Cascade Crest, but I did just send in my entry for Blanchard Mt. Guess I'll keep running for a bit longer.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Not enough miles, not enough motivation

After a decent two loop run at Lord Hill on May 1st, I spent the next week out of town and not running. 12 hour days at a business expo don't offer much opportunity to fit in even a treadmill run. A weekend with one day spent at the UW track as a spectator and the other day being Mother's Day meant a zero mileage total for the weekend.
I am still struggling with the knowledge of how many miles I need to log to be capable of running Cascade Crest at the end of August. Just can't get excited about committing my summer to running and not having much time to do anything else. The Watershed 12 hour run is this Saturday. I would like to complete 50 miles in well under 10 hours. Not sure if this is practical given my current fitness level, but we will see how things go.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Mt Si #11 Done

Yesterday, I managed to finish my 11th running at the Mt Si Relay and Ultra run. The first eight times were 50 miles or more, with the last three being the 50k event.

1999 54 miles 8:27:10 9:24 pace
2000 50 miles 7:23:34 8:52 pace
2001 50 miles 7:06:45 8:32 pace
2002 50 miles 6:57:15 8:21 pace
2003 50 miles 7:09:14 8:35 pace
2004 50 miles 7:13:15 8:40 pace
2005 50 miles 6:56:23 8:20 pace
2006 50 miles 8:00:20 9:36 pace
2007 50k 4:37:00 8:54 pace
2008 50k 4:29:37 8:40 pace
2010 50k 4:27:03 8:35 pace

While the run yesterday was harder than I would have liked, my time was about what I had anticipated to be able to run and was faster than the last two 50k's. I just need to be more patient and not expect to be able to run as fast or as far as I did five years ago, at least not given my current training level. I just need to leave my watch at home and go play at Lord Hill or Tiger Mt. with friends.







Friday, April 09, 2010

Exercise in futility

Given the migration to Facebook instead of blogging, posting anything to my blog is likely mostly akin to a note to myself, but so be it. My progress in running has been frustrating. I can't seem to really improve my endurance. My speed is gone - any time I try to push the pace, my right leg stops working properly. I am convinced it is all related to some long standing back issues I have had. I was diagnosed in high school with Spondylolisthesis. Over the past 8 years or so, I have experienced some disc degeneration and this seems to be aggravating the condition. I had hoped to keep it at bay with extra core strengthening, but this doesn't seem to be gaining anything.
I hope I can continue training and build up miles this spring and summer, as I am already entered in White River and Cascade Crest.
As I get slower, daughter Kelsey gets faster. At a recent track meet for CWU, she ran a 5:18 1500 meters, a 69 second leg in a 4 x 400 relay, and a 2:33 800 meters, all in a single afternoon. She complained about the 800 being slow. All the improvement in leg turnover bodes well for next fall's XC season.
I did manage to finish Chuckanut this year. My time of 5:26 wasn't fast, but it was great to see a lot of old friends again and get to run with the Guide Dog for several miles. The last 10k was a challenge. Ended up walking much more than I should have.
Oh well, enough of this post to myself - back to work.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Off to a good start

I actually managed to put in some decent running mileage over the holidays. Nothing like tc or many others out there, but certainly a lot more than I had been. The best part was most of it was on trails. It reminded me that I REALLY like to run trails. Rocky, rooty, muddy - whatever. Just throw in some downhill and I'm having fun. The Western Washington Fat Ass was a great opportunity to see some old friends and get lied to by the Cheetah. Yeah, Jim - you're really out of shape and sloth-like. Why is it that you were done way before me and waiting at the cars? Daughter Kelsey had some down moments, but ran really well overall. In 2008, she ran 3:51 for the Half Ass. This year, she ran 2:58. I better get my butt back in shape or soon she will be pushing me to pick up the pace. See some of you at Bridle Trails.