I had signed up for 2 triathlons in 2020 .... hence I am now signed up for 2 triathlons in 2021. The first one is on 8/7 and is an olympic distance - swim 1 mile, bike 22 miles and run 10k. The other one is a half Ironman - swim 1.2, bike 55, run 13.1.
My training has been ALL over the place with the one constant being CrossFit. 😅 Running has been pretty much shut down since Jim Thorpe in May due to a calf strain. I've slowly started adding in a very few miles.
Swimming has been pretty
Again.
Been several days without that little pull in the hamstring, so I'm planning another try on Monday. Suppose I could have waited until after I actually tried to run before I posted about it, but I'm a little antsy.
Other than that, not much happening here.
Latest books:
The Dark Tower (VII - last one). Stephen King. Sort of just wanted this one to be over. Hated the ending. King wrote that he added it after the first publication because everyone wanted a "real" endin
I ran the first Michigan Ragnar Trail relay at the Hanson's Recreation Area near Grayling, MI back in 2019 with a group of friends from our running group and had a great time. We signed up again for 2020 but it was canceled due to COVID and rescheduled for June 25-26, 2021.
The Ragnar trail relay is a little different from the road relay where you have 8 member teams and all teams camp out in the same place where the start and finish for all the runs are from the same location. The rela
...die in a fire-y car crash or fall from a plane at 30,000 feet without a parachute?
...lose an arm or a leg?
...go blind or deaf?
...have a strained Achilles or a strained hamstring?
After several slow weeks, trying to nurse this hamstring through its current issues no doubt related to the Achilles from earlier in the spring, I decided to call it what it is.
I'm injured.
I'd hoped that the four day weekend Mrs. Dave and I spent out of town would be enough rest, bu
I meant to write more often – I really did…Since I wrote in April I have run a couple in person races and some virtual races. I did an in person 10k that I also counted as a virtual 10k (because to me, virtual races barely count, and it isn’t as though I don’t cover that distance regularly anyway…) The in person 10k was the “Jim Schoemehl Run” to fundraise for ALS research. I also counted this for my virtual Flying Pig 10k, mainly because it was that weekend. I did the 3-way challenge, so as soo
A little background on me, I rarely post.
About 15 years ago I did 0 exercise. I was in my early 40s and weighed about 250.
Then I slowly started eating a little better and adding in light exercise.
About 12 years ago I bought a hybrid, and on the maiden voyage, likely a whopping 2 miles, I thought I was going to die.
Fast forward to about 5 years ago, I was at about 175, and running my first Mt Washington Hill run, I've done it a total of 4 times, and I use the word run, v
This is the hardest part.
Where you're running enough to know you're running. But not enough to feel good about it. Not long enough or far enough to feel the high, or even feel comfortable. Then there's that nagging hamstring or tight calf that keeps you from pushing the pace at all. You know if you could spend some time at a higher effort, then the easy will actually feel easy. But you've at least learned that lesson, so you keep it slow, constantly monitoring that left leg for signs of di
June 2021 in review!
Total mileage for the month: 332.4 (for 2093 miles for 2021 so far!)
May 31-June 6: 68.8
June 7-13: 73.1
June 14-20: 82.4
June 21-27: 93.9
June 28-July 4: projected at 70ish (cut back week)
Fast friends!
Races:
June 5: Hospital Hill Half Marathon in 1:25:27 for 1st overall female and tons of fun - not to mention hea
I'll give you my first race recap in forever and then I'll try to say why I've been so absent. If you remember me, you know I'm one for brevity but this one may stretch just a bit.
A colleague and friend has been working on getting his fitness back and we do virtual check-ins with FB messages a few mornings a week to report on running and mental health status. A local 5K I've been wanting to do was a "go" for this year and was held last Saturday. it's called the Higgins Lake Sunrise Run
Hopefully nothing serious.
Tuesday morning this week the weather went crazy. It was 41o when I woke up at 5:30. When is it 41o in Michigan 3 weeks into June? Never, that's when. My early meeting had been cancelled, so it was a golden opportunity for a longer than usual run. Of course, since Achilles isn't 100%, longer than usual means probably 5 miles.
Even wore a long sleeved shirt.
About a mile out Sammy the left hammy began to tighten up. Slowing down helped, but not fully and
The short:
I kept saying “it’s not a real race” before the Hospital Hill Half Marathon, but I am also well-aware that when I get into a race I will not run easy! Now, when it’s a sunny 74-80 degrees, the course is very hilly, I'm 3 weeks off a marathon, I am just off a rest phase, and I am 3 days off of a major vacation, that doesn't mean I am going to knock it out of the park, but I'll give it all I've got on the day. That is exactly what I did at Hospital Hill, and I was very happy with
Note to self: Try not to use your basement as a woodshop. The clean up is a bear.
Garages are for parking cars.
After finishing the floor and baseboard trim, and with no other project at the top of the priority list, I decided to make a thorough job of cleaning the basement. It's a half-finished space. In the unfinished half, there's a workbench where I keep my tools, paint and assorted pieces of junk and leftovers from other projects - wood, screws, wire, pipe, nuts & bolts, cast
Tomorrow California opens up. I'm calling it VC day (Victory over Covid). It's been 15 months where our lives changed in many, many ways. But this is a running blog, so I'll just focus on that.
The biggest change was the loss of in-person racing. I still ran. Even more than normal, actually. Last year was a record high for mileage. With no vacations, no work (I quit uber driving), no going out anywhere, the highlight of my calendar was my running schedule. So I stepped up to 5 days a week a
I feel like an old man.
Obviously, there are older men than me. Obviously, there are men my age and younger who are in worse health. Perspective is so important.
Aren't comparisons supposed to be with ourselves? That's supposed to keep us from falling into the rabbit hole of self pity, since there's always someone who's better-looking, stronger, faster, whatever than we are. So what happens when your ideal comparator - yourself from before - is all of that? The maxim falls apart at a c
Short memory.
It can be a strength sometimes. Sometimes not.
I think there would be fewer families with more than one child if mothers remembered exactly how much labor hurt.
As I start to put some miles on after this last injury, I have to be very purposeful in my approach. Too many miles, even if I keep it slow, are not a good idea. Don't think I'd consider myself fragile. Not an ironman, either. I'm just an old guy who wants to run. I think I'm done trying to be fast anymore,
May 2021 in review!
Total mileage for the month: 289.8
April 26-May 2: 60.2
May 3-9: 77.7
May 10-16: 63.0
May 17-23: 41.5
May 24-30: 69.1
We made the May OMRR newsletter cover!
Just a normal Thursday morning!
Races:
May 15: Tobacco Road Marathon (non-technical dirt tr
Pretty big, anyway.
It was 11 weeks ago tomorrow that I came up lame with my Achilles tendon hurting. I'll continue to blame the Cumulus. It was either a factory second (thus the clearance pricing from Asics?) or a lemon or maybe it was just sitting in a warehouse for too long. They were never right from the first mile. I had hoped they just needed some break in or that the change from the Rincons was more dramatic than I expected. Either way, it was the DL for who knew how long.
With
Woke up this morning, determined to be more diligent in my efforts to fix this Achilles.
Did a little more stretching while we were in Idaho for the wedding. Twice a day most days. Didn't see see much improvement, and of course getting more and more discouraged. Knowing that I'm going to need a new pair of shoes when I (hopefully) start again. Not even going to complain about starting from ground zero. Running is running, after all. But what's the point of spending $100+ on running shoes if
The Tobacco Road Marathon in Cary, North Carolina was exactly what I needed! When I initially decided to add a marathon to my season after my 50k, I wanted to PR-chase, but no options for that pursuit lined up (details here), which I now see as one of the biggest blessings God could have given me. I went into this race with no time goal because I wasn't sure how much the gravel would slow me down. My major goals were to enjoy it all, to be thankful, and to compete in the elite field. What I
Wow! 2 Loopettes at the same race! We will meet one day!
My friend H has been trying to get me to race more. He's convinced that I'm way faster than I think I am.
I hemmed and hawed about signing up for this 5k because it was only 2 weeks after the marathon. After the marathon I've been having some left calf pain/tightness. I think it's just fatigue so have been trying to give it some time to heal without completely sitting myself down (*shudder*).
I ran fast on the trails with H
YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! I get to write a race report again!!!!😍😁
My training has been inconsistent at best. There are some weeks I get in 15 miles with 1 workout and other weeks where I get 0 miles. So, I didn’t have much in the way of expectations, but my Mother’s Day present to myself was to race in person (without the stroller thanks to my mom sacrificing racing herself to watch DD and DS). Plus, an excuse to go to Cape May and the beach is always good!
My goal was under 24 minutes
You know, once this Achilles finally gets better (although, truth be told, I have times nearly every day when I wonder if it ever will), my next comeback to marathoning is going to be quite the adventure.
In the meantime, still working on the house. Things are going VERY slowly. I decided that since I'm doing so much trim I better do it better than I have before, which means I needed to learn a fair amount about how to do it correctly. I've never been happy with how my previous trim work ha
April 2021 in review!
Total mileage for the month: 307.1
March 29-April 4: 101.6
April 5-11: 92.0
April 12-18: 72.6
April 19-25: 52.5
April 26-May 2: 60.2
I take my best professional
race photos in training races
Though this one from mile 21 at
Frisco came out well #runhappy
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