Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

Danny MacAskill Biking in a Wind Turbine Factory

>> Thursday, October 28, 2021

Two video posts in a row! That's unusual! (Yesterday was the cute 68 sec video from our trip to the North Shore).

Danny MacAskill ALWAYS entertains me! The things he can do on a bike are mind-blowing. Here's a video he released this past weekend:

Direct Link: youtu.be/XR4maEf-eCY

He has just an insane amount of skill on the bike! Here are a few more videos with Danny: when he's riding over kids toys, or descending huge slab rocks, or (one of my favs) pulling his daughter in a baby carrier.

Wordless Wednesday: Short Highlight Video from "Up North"

>> Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Here's 60-some seconds of beauty from our trip a week ago. I recommend full screen for the full effect:

Direct Link: youtu.be/_YHSwUJMBKY

Fantastic (Pointless) Long Run

>> Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Last week Monday (8 days ago and 15 days post-TC 10 Mile) I wanted to test my long run fitness. I was pretty sure I was going to do an October 30th half marathon with my wife's marathon buddy, and I wanted to make sure my legs were back. I've noticed this phenomenon where for maybe a month post-race, I feel much more at ease running harder miles. It's like long distance races act like solid training days for upcoming long distance races (once I rest enough and can SAFELY start bringing some effort back).

And that "more at ease running harder miles" phenomenon showed up on that run! Here's what I tweeted later in the day:

A funny thing happened: my wife was home so I knew she could take the boys to school. I woke up and just decided to run early. At the 1.5 mile mark of my run, I realized my phone alarm was going to start going off (BACK AT HOME) in about 20 minutes, and although my wife could have totally just turned it off, I had the guilty reasoning of "I'm out running and I don't want to do anything that would annoy her as she'll be getting the boys ready for school." So I turned my 2.5 mile warm-up into 3 miles by running back home to sneak in and quickly turn off my upcoming alarm (and I got to say hi to Charlie who had just gotten up). And THEN I started my harder "pace" miles. There was something mentally nice about that as I didn't end up as far from home, so I just felt like I hadn't gone that far (enough though I had).

Here were my half-mile splits during the harder part of that run:

3:16, 3:05, 3:14, 3:11, 3:15, 3:11, 3:07, 3:01, 3:00, 3:02, 3:04, 3:01 = 37:31 (6:15.17/mile!)

Mile splits: 6:21, 6:25, 6:26, 6:08, 6:02, 6:05

1:20:36 for 11.78 (6:51 pace overall)

I was soooo ready to sign up for that half marathon based on that run! But then I realized we had a church/school conflict, and even though our priest said we could miss some of these meetings, I sent him a note and he said this was a pretty important one. So I had to scrap the idea of doing a half marathon at the end of the month. Damn.

Even though I've given up on the idea of racing this weekend, I still went out for a longer long run yesterday as if it would be my last long run pre-race. (Maybe I'll do my own 13.1 race? I dunno.) I wanted to go a bit farther. The 6 miles "at pace" in the middle might have been a bit long, so here's what I ran during that run:

3:24, 3:15, 3:04, 3:07, 3:11, 3:06, 3:07, 3:08, 3:10, 3:14, 3:09, 2:58 = 37:56 (6:19.37/mile at 6 miles, 6:15.62/mile at 6.06 miles).

Mile splits: 6:39, 6:11, 6:17, 6:15, 6:24, 6:07

1:24:08 for 12.15 (6:55 pace overall)

First time cracking 12 miles in YEARS!! It didn't feel AS great as the run the week before, but I have 2 excuses for that: one, I didn't have the thought of a race on the horizon to push me; and two, we just got back from a big trip to the North Shore where I ate crap for 4 days.

Just to torture myself, I wanted to look back in my training log to around my last half marathon: the 2017 Minneapolis Halloween Half. That year, I ran 1 second faster in the TC 10 Mile (1:01:59 then vs 1:02:00 this year). So you could argue my fitness going into it was similar. But this year, I've had these 2 SOLID long runs (of 11.78 and 12.15 miles) between the TC 10 Mile and what would have been the half marathon. In 2017, I only had one 11.0 mile run, and it was slower than these 2 runs this year: 1:16:49 for 11.0 miles (6:59 pace overall), with 6 pace miles averaging 6:26/mile (with more unimpressive [but at least consistent] mile splits of 6:34, 6:35, 6:26, 6:19, 6:21, and 6:20). And I turned in my 2nd fastest half marathon that year in 1:21:53.

So I truly don't know what I'll do with this "distance fitness" right now. Will I race a fake half marathon to see what I can do? (It's never truly the same as racing a "real" race.) Do I look for a race the following weekend? (Not likely to find one.) Or do I just say "yep, I'm in good shape, but no use 'fake racing' only to possibly injury myself" and just get on with life? I really don't know. Ideas? Stay tuned...

EVERY STATE PARK IN MINNESOTA!!!

>> Monday, October 25, 2021

I don't know that I've ever had a title in all caps, but this is an appropriate one to be capitalized. I've been busy this past weekend, so here's a quick post that I shared on Instagram on Friday night:

DONE!!! After 4 years and 3 months, the boys (and I) have hit every state park in Minnesota, and they filled their State Park passport books! We celebrated with s’mores in Tettegouche.

From an overlook in Tettegouche State Park, with the
300-foot Palaside Head cliff in the upper left.

Charlie making his final stamp!

Henry with his final stamp!

S'mores after our final stamp!

The boys showing their full passports after s'mores.

We had a great time, and we were thrilled that my wife could be with us for the final 7 stamps, which were all along the North Shore: Wednesday night we hit Split Rock Lighthouse; Thursday was Grand Portage, Judge CR Magney, and Cascade River; and Friday was Temperance River, George Crosby Manitou, and Tettegouche.

I'll be back with normal training updates, but at some point I'll have lots of photos to share! It was a great trip full of great sights!

TC 10 Mile Finish Photos

>> Saturday, October 23, 2021

I waved "hi" to "race buddy" Tom R in the starting corral of the TC 10 Mile. He had a friend stationed at the finish with a camera and got photos of the 10 Mile finishers through about 74 minutes. Here are a few I'd like to share:

This shows the scale of the flag over the end of the course - it's HUGE.

10 Mile winner Danny D coming under the flag.

Danny in 49:19, winning the 5K and 10K the previous day as well!!

Nadir in 2nd in 50:00. I heard him being interviewed post-race and he
mentioned how hard the course was. I love/hate those elevation changes.

That's a respectable "final kick" face.

And here's this guy... just not working at all... turning in a casual 51:47. NBD.

Another great face.

This guy was just in front of me in the starting corral. (His splits show
that: he passed 60 people and was passed by only 4 in the first half.)

First masters female breaking 60!

I've NEVER seen nipples that bad in a 10 mile! Especially for a 60:xx finisher!

Former student Jeremy had a rough race (after some KILLER 15:xx 5Ks this summer!!).

These guys also started around me.

She was on the horizon in front of me for the majority of the race.
(0:20 ahead of me at mile 5, and 0:28 ahead of me at the finish.)

DKT.

Gracia (who we met and helped at her duathlon debut years ago) beat me by 11 seconds! Nice race!

Here's where I start peaking into Tom's photos...

I look like I'm standing still here. Super.

At least I look like I'm MOVING here... albeit it I look like a drunk duck.

Working hard.

I couldn't wait for the finish line.

Jared looks HUGE here! He went 0:20 slower than his
65 min goal. (And he was seen in this post 10 days ago.)

I've never seen a finshing/gasping face quite like this.

She was making it through many photos!

"Get off my ~~finishline~~ lawn."

Angie (who you saw starting right in front of me in my race report).

Bobby P.

Most people masked around the starting area, maybe 30% masked in the starting
corral (around me at least), but this was the first guy I saw finishing with a mask.