MTU Christmas Classic

This past weekend I raced in the first ski race of the season, the MTU Christmas Classic in Houghton Michigan. The race was at the MTU Nordic skiing training center, and let me tell you, there is a reason so many big races are held there every year – the trails are phenomenal! They are all very wide, well lit for night skiing, and the trails flow really nicely.
That’s not to say that the course is easy. No sir the race course was also one of the most difficult I have ever raced on. There is a lot of climbing, and most of the course after the 1k mark is either up or down.
I had a decent skate race on Saturday. I was feeling a little flat and really did not feel like I could crank it up to that next gear, but this is the first race and we have not even begun to do much speed work. I finished the skate race 6th on the CSS team just being beaten out by Stefan Hupperts. In the classic race on Sunday I felt much better. I think that the skate race the day before helped prep me. I finished 5th on my team after the classic, just ahead of Stefan this time. I think that our being so close to each other will help us both, not to mention the team.
My team is now adding some more intensity blocks to the program, so I think the rest of the season is looking good for me – especially with faster courses like Mt. Itasca and Telemark coming up!

West Yellowstone Ski Camp

Over Thanksgiving I traveled with the St. Scholastica ski team to West Yellowstone Montana for the West Yellowstone ski festival. The location is great for training - it is at about 7000 feet of elevation and normally has very reliable early season snow. I say normally because this year for the first three days of training we were snow-less in town and so we had to go the extra 1000 feet up to the plateau for any real snow skiing. But never fear on the third day of camp we got almost a foot of snow in town.

The camp was 10 day long and consisted of the usual early season base training. Most days I did a morning run, and AM hour too two hour workout, and a PM hour too two hour workout for a daily average of between 2:45 and 3:00 hours of training. After peaking for Cross Country, it was great to get back to the base endurance training that I really enjoy.

Not only was the training good, but my girlfriend Meg also happened to be in West Yellowstone. Between getting to chill with her (which was amazing) and training at altitude the camp could not have been better!

2006 Running Log

In an effort to conserve paper and space I have decided to move towards a paperless running log. This means that from January 1 on each month I will write a summary of the training I have done each month including the dates of major workouts in sequential order, weekly mileage, monthly mileage, and mileage since January 1 and add it to the blog. To start I will do a summary of 2006.

January 2006: My resting heart rate during the day averaged 55 BPM and my true resting heart rate was 45 BPM. I did lots of skiing this month and some supplemental running, but overall it was mostly base work. Towards the end of the month I did some speed work including 1000’s at ANT pace and some longer ANT runs. My running mileage was 130 miles, and I did over 500k of skiing.
February 2006: In preparation for the Birkie I did several skis of over 50k at a time. I ran a few (2 or 3) long ANT runs of 3 to 5 miles for speed, but nothing over ANT zone. I ran 150 miles and skied 400k.
March 2006: This month I continued to increase my running mileage and cut the skiing down. I did more ANT pace running to develop my lactate threshold zone for outdoor track, but my overall focus stayed on building the base. I did some sets of 1000’s (in 3:10) and mile reps but all at ANT. Hill workouts were included for strength as well. My total running mileage was 220 miles.
April 2006: I started to increase my ANT runs (I did 5 ANT zone workouts) and also did 3 shorter speed sessions (400’at Race Pace zone). I had four outdoor track meets. In the middle of the month I had a sinus infection which kept me down for a few days. At the conference track meet I placed 4th in the 1500m and 4th in the 5000mTotal monthly mileage was 220 miles.
May 2006: I again switched to base after track. I also began doing ANT runs and mile reps at ANT pace. In retrospect it was too much with not enough recovery and base after track. The second week of May I was already doing ANT twice a week. Total mileage was 250 miles.
June 2006: I still was doing too much speed work. I was averaged two hard workouts a week, with one being ANT (5:30 to 5:40 per mile pace) and one being sub race pace (miles in 5:00 and 800’s in 2:15) It was good training, but was too intense for someone training for fall Cross Country. This month I also did my first ultra. I ran 65 miles in 10:30 – which is a 9:41 per mile pace. Total monthly mileage was 300 miles.
July 2006: Still doing 2 a week speed workout, one at ANT and one at RP. Nor enough true recovery days, and I still am too far along the training cycle for a fall season. Monthly mileage is 250 miles.
August 2006: I did several races in addition to my twice a week workouts. It is starting to catch up to me this month. I did am doing four mile tempo runs in 21:00 to 22:00 minutes, which brings up another problem. In addition to doing too many speed workouts, I am not in zone on many of my ANT days. I also do 2 workouts of 8x one miles, all in 5:00 or less. Great workouts – but the wrong timing and not enough recovery. Monthly mileage is 310 miles.
September 2006: As fall Cross Country season begins, my races start to go down hill. I am worn out, and in addition I had a bas ankle sprain at the second meet of the season at UMD which I never fully healed from. Training is now in proper zones due to my taking a lactate threshold test, but it is too little to late. Monthly mileage is 200 miles.
October 2006: I am doing some ANT work and mile reps, but I no longer have the zip that I had this summer. My race times are slow, and I don’t take enough time off to recover from the overstressing of this summer or the ankle injury. It may seem that I am being harsh on myself, but this kind of analysis is the best way to learn and improve. Mileage is 220 mile this month.
November 2006: In addition to all of my other problems this season, I discovered I have low blood Iron in November, which only added to the overtraining and injury woes. After Cross Country regions I took one full week to recover with only light runs of 5k or less. I now moved into base work fro skiing and begin to cut running mileage for skiing. In Yellowstone I do 2 to 4 hour training days. The long skiing and high volume will help me recover from the summer and recreate my base. The low impact of skiing should also let the ankle fully heal. Mileage is 180 mile this month. My mileage is 180 miles.
December 2006: I am now in base mode for skiing and doing much better. My ankle is healed, my Iron is under control, and I am finally feeling fresh again. I am dong a little speed work running, one ANT workout every week or every other week to begin developing my ANT threshold. I also did my second ultra this month, a 50K on the North Country trail in 4:10 (an 8:02 per mile pace) All the base I am doing now will help my get fresh legs again, and will be beneficial for outdoor track season as well.

Total Yearly Mileage= 2526 miles run

St. Olaf - Regionals

This year, St. Olaf was the host of the 2007 NCAA D-III XC regional meet. The race was the best organized regional meet I have ever run – possibly because the site will host the D-III national meet this year, so the race was a test run for the national meet. The course was exceptionally marked, the races ran on time, and of course the quality of the competition was top notch.
CSS’s starting box was at the far left end of the starting line, and the race’s first turn was to the right, so I knew that I had to go out fast if I did not want to be cut off. As the gun went off I took off like a shot. Perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm. I ended up leading the race through the first mile, and I was with the lead pack for almost the first half of the race. In the long run this might not have been a good race strategy, but seeing as this was my last colligate XC race I was willing to go out with a bang so to speak. Shortly after the half way point I began to fade slightly, but did stay consistent and really kicked it in the last mile. I finished in 27:26, was first on my team, and the first UMAC conference runner. My time was almost :25 seconds faster than the St. Olaf pre-nationals meet the month before. It was fun to lead the regional race, and even though I went out a little fast at the start I was happy to be able to have a course best at my last college XC race.
The rest of the CSS runners in the races (men’s and women’s) all did well too. There were several outstanding performances, including PR’s by Tyler Kjorstad, Amelia Donars, Tara Connolly, and fellow senior Maggie Kading. Julia Curry also had a great race receiving all region honors.
In some ways this race was a little bitter sweet for me because each fall for the last 12 years I have raced Cross Country. Now after having done this for over half of my life it is all over. But on the other hand it is exciting to (after ski season) begin a new chapter in my running career – competitive marathons and ultras!

2007 UMAC Championships

As I hustled out the door for my morning run on October 27 I knew I was totally ready for the UMAC conference meet. The meet would be held at Far Par golf course, home turf for St. Scholastica as far par is only 3 miles away from our campus. Though the weather on race day was nearly ideal - about 55, sunny and a light breeze – the course was soft and soggy. The golf course is built on what is basically a bog, which makes for a slow course, but I knew today would not be about time. Today was all about place.
As the start time approached I warmed up with about 30 minutes of jogging and about 8 minutes of ANT running. After a few starting line strides, I shed my warm-ups. My plan was to go out fast for the first mile and take the lead pack with me. The middle 2 1/2 to 3 miles I would run with the lead pack, and then in the last mile to mile and a half I would play to my strength by really kicking it in. I knew that I had the endurance to sustain a kick over the last mile and few others would, so that would be my strategy.
When the race started, I shot to the front of the pack. My race plan unfolded perfectly. I lead the pack through the mile mark in 5:11. After that I settled in and let the other leaders pace me through miles 2, 3, and 4. At the 4 mile mark dropped the hammer. The last 2 runners who had kept the pace throughout the race fell away, and I cruised in with a 5:12 last mile and a first place finish!!!
The race had unfolded just as planned. I ran to my strengths and raced patiently – and it paid off. I was the 2007 UMAC XC champion. A great way to end my last college conference XC meet.

Brooks UW-Oshkosh Invite

Following a good performance on the soft and soggy course at the Pine hill Invite I was confident that I was ready to PR big at the Brooks Oshkosh Invite. The field was stacked with 3 of the top 15 D-III teams in the nation and the course was perfect for a great race. When I arrived at the course I could not have asked for better conditions. The temp was in low 60’s, there was no wind, and the course was firm with good footing.

As the gun went off I took flight. The first mile flashed by in 5:10. At the 3 mile mark I was at 16:15, and still feeling strong. With one mile to go I saw that I was on pace for a BIG PR, perhaps even a sub 27:00 performance. With 800 meters to go and my coach yelling I sprinted like a mad man. As I sped down the final straight away I saw the race clock ticking off the seconds. As I crossed the line I looked at my watch – 26:54! A new PR!!!

Indeed, the race was a PR by more than 40 seconds. What's more, the new PR had moved me into 2nd place on the CSS all time XC list! I had run a strong and intelligent race starting out fast, holding a strong pace for the middle three miles, and closing the race with a 5:15 final mile. This was just reinforcement that I had trained perfectly all summer, was in great racing form, and would be a favorite to win the UMAC XC championship on my home turf in two weeks.

U of M Griak and a wet Pine Hill Invite

Clearly, those of you who read this blog can see that recently I have not kept it as up to date as one would like. So, today I am going to fill you in on the U of M Griak invite and Pine Hill invite.

When I last left you, I had just run the St. Olaf pre nationals race. It was a strong race and I felt good about the results. Fast forward a week to the U of M Griak race. The weather is exactly what you would expect for a mid-fall Minnesota cross country meet. It is cold, windy, and rainy. As the gun goes off the field takes off and runs down the driving range at the U of M golf course. I went out fast, with a 5:12 first mile. Although I slowed down some on the back stretch of the course it can be expected – the Griak is much hillier than one would expect on a golf course. I ended up finishing in 28:26, and I placed 118 out of about 400 runners. The week prior to the race I was feeling a little congested and had some sinus pressure, but all in all it was not a bad finish. And the seasonal sinus pressure cleared up a few days after the race.

Photos of the U of M Griak:

Next we move on to the Pine Hill invite hosted by UMD at the Pine Hill golf course in Carlton, Minnesota. This race was held at the end of a week filled with lots of rain, which meant a race held basically in a lake. The course was soggy in the best places, and had standing water in many others. The temp was lower than ideal, but not entirely unexpected this time of year in northern Minnesota. Wind was breezy at times, but not as strong as Griak the week before. I went out with the lead pack from the gun – much easier with the smaller field. The race consisted of three complete loops and a partial finish loop. I began to feel sluggish at the three mile mark but managed hang on through mile four and run a strong last mile to finish in 28:05 – good for 10^th place. Though I was disappointed with the time, for the exceptionally soft course it was a good performance. Next up will be the Brooks Oshkosh Invite. It is a fast course, and was the site of the 1999 NCAA D-III nationals, so it had PR written all over it.

Photos of the Pine Hill Invite:

St. Olaf - the Pre Nationals Meet

This past weekend the St. Scholastica cross country team traveled to the St. Olaf invitational in Northfield Minnesota. This meet is a highly competitive meet with about 35 teams and 300 to 400 runners. The course is relatively flat, but has a few challenging hills. It is very wide and is only one loop. This year the course is also the host of the NCAA regional race, and the NCAA national championships – so lots of good teams were present to get course experience.

I started out the race at a 5:18 pace. I was about 8 seconds slower that I would have liked, but with the number of runners on the course it was hard for me to get around the pack. This was a good wake up call for the Griak in two weeks though, at big races I need to go out fast! At the 5K mark I came by in 16:28. Still a little slow, but not bad. Just past the 6K mark I made a strong move up a 200 meter long shallow hill. I moved ahead of a group of about 6 runners and was able to sustain the surge most of the rest of the race.

In the end I race a 27:40, which moved me up to 7^th on the St. Scholastica all time XC performance list. I was also first on our team, which placed 20^th overall. We took down some large schools outside of our conference, and beat all of the schools from our conference as well. I think it was a good individual race performance, though I still have more left in me.

This coming week is a high intensity training week, and then I have a medium volume week going into Griak which should leave me in good shape of the second half of the season. But i’m especially looking forward to Pine Hill and Oshkosh because they are first-class courses – and at these races moving up to the top 5 or even 3 on the CSS all time XC performance list is a distinct possibility.

Images from the race:

The UMD Meet

The week leading up to the UMD meet was another hard week for me. The plan was/is to push me at a higher intensity for the week of August 27 and September 3, then the week of September 10 would be a high volume week followed be an easy week going into the U of M Griak meet.

On September 4, I did one of my ANT workouts for the week. I ran 6x10 minute ANT repeats. It was hard, but I felt really strong at the end of the session. My heart rate during the repeats ranged between 170 to 183 beats per minute. I also had my blood lactic acid concentration measured during the workout. After the first repeat I was at 3.4 mm of lactic acid, and I was up to 6.0 mm after my 6^th. This is exactly the kind of build up of lactic acid that I was looking for in this workout. This kind of long ANT workout is designed to help your body adjust to having lactic acid in your system for longer periods of times – like races. In total, my Tuesday workout saw me run 14 miles, with about 11 of those mile being at ANT pace. This was a swell training day!

On Friday September 7^th, I tried a new pre race workout. I ran 5 x 800m at race pace. The first two were at the low end of my race pace zone, the next two were at the high end of my zone, and the last one was back at the low end again. The idea was that a bit of running at race pace the day before competition would help prep my legs and mind for competition.

Saturday, September 8^th was the day of the UMD meet. The day was unusually calm and cool for this time of year. The temperature was only in the 60’s. As I lined up at the starting line I felt really good, I was ready to pop a good race today. As the race started I settled into pace and was running near the front of the lead pack. I went through the first mile in 5:15, and the three miles in 16:21.

At this point in the race, the pack should have turned to take another lap, but instead was directed to take the finish loop. Despite knowing that this was the wrong way, I could not be the only one on the course going the correct way – so I followed. I ended up finishing the race in 10^th with a 21:15 four mile time. Despite these results I can’t help but be disappointed in the shortened race. I was on pace to break 27:20 and possibly place in the top 6 or 8. But the fact remains that I placed well, and ran an excellent race.

The coming week will be another supreme week of training, and my next race at St. Olaf is on a fast course so I think another good performance is highly likely.

Tom Berry Invite

The first cross country meet of the season came at the end of a fairly hard week, but that did not seem to slow me down much at all. The meet was Tom Berry Invite hosted by St. Norbert’s college in Green Bay. The course is a good one – two laps of a public park at the edge of the city. A few rolling hills dot the course, but not much for elevation change. The temperature was nearly 90, so times were slower than one might expect for the course. At the start of the race, I went out conservatively coming to the mile marker in 5:25. With my exceptional early season fitness I began to pick people off in the next miles and moved up the pack.

The four mile race seemed short to me, not only because longer distances are my strong suit, but because the race was only four miles as opposed to the normal five miles. I finished in 21:56, which was good for 6 place out of 120 runners. I felt very strong, and even had energy left at the end of the race. I think I could have gone out the first mile in 5:15 and still been fine for the rest of the race. But, I think it was a good first race of the season for me. Finishing in the top ten while feeling that I had more to give is a good place to be at this point in the season.

Summer Training Ends

As you can tell, for the last few weeks I have failed to keep up with my postings. School has once again started and so I have to deal with the normal pains associated with such a transition. (Class schedule changes, moving in, club meetings, and of course practice) I will now attempt to recap the past few weeks and first two cross country races of the 2007-2008 season in a series of posts.

August brought me 2 high volume weeks followed by a recovery week and finally a high intensity week to start off the cross country season. The first week in August I ran 80 miles and trained a total of 11 hours. The second week in August saw me run 70 miles and do 15:00 hours of training. During this second week I did a lot of cross training in addition to my running to increase my total training volume. Most of this cross training was roller skiing, but I also had several long bike rides, including a very enjoyable 50 miler.

The third week in August brought me to my Cross Country pre-season camp in northern Minnesota. Overall the week of training was not the most difficult I have had all summer, but I did have a hard ANT interval session on the second day of camp. I did 10 mile repeats at ANT (or anaerobic threshold pace – commonly called tempo) pace. For me this pace was around 5:45 per mile at the time.

As August came to a close, I had an intense week of training. The team had a time trial at the beginning of the week, I had my fall lactic threshold test in the middle of the week, and the season’s first meet was on Saturday.

My lactic threshold test results were a big source of confidence for me. The test measures the accumulation of lactic acid in your muscles over a period of time. For those of you who have never experienced one of these tests, they involve running on a treadmill at increasing speeds and taking blood samples every few minutes. The results show you how hard you should be training during different workouts and allows for much more exact and scientific training. My results showed a huge improvement from the spring. I was able to run at a 6:00 per mile pace and only accumulate 1.7 mm of lactic acid! At a 5:45 per mile pace I was still at just 2.7 mm!! In short the results were phenomenal. These test results were a great way to close my summer training.

A High Intensity Week

This week has been a low volume and high intensity week for me. Though I prefer the high volume weeks myself, intensity is fun too. I will finish the week with only about 62 to 65 miles, but will have done three relatively intense workouts. On Tuesday I did 8x4 min at ANT (anaerobic threshold pace – the pace at which you are going fast enough that your body can no longer remove the lactic acid your muscles are producing) and felt strong through the entire workout despite the heat and humidity. On Thursday I did 3x3000m at ANT and felt so fast and light on my feet I was amazed. The first 3000m rep. was in 10:17, the second in 10:10 and the third in 10:05. To be sure, these were not race pace reps. I was very in control and comfortable the entire way. I was also sure to keep my heart rate on the low end of my ANT zone because I don’t want to be pushing it really high this early. My heart rate for all three put together averaged 168 BPM. I was really happy with the workout. On Saturday I will have one more intensity workout for the week, 5x800m at race pace. I am excited to test my self with this one because it will be my first track session in some months.

The Park Point 5 Miler

This past Friday I ran in the Park Point 5 miler. It is a great race on Park Point in Duluth, MN sponsored by Grandma’s. It had somewhere around 400 people racing in the 5 mile run, 2 mile walk, and numerous youth races. The evening start time and proximity to the lake provided some relief to the normal July heat and allowed for some fast times.
After a 20-minute 3 mile-ish warm up run and 3x400 race pace stride outs I lined up on the starting line with the other 5-mile racers. As the horn sounded we took off down the road toward the lift bridge. I started in third, and went through the first mile 5:10. Feeling strong I maintained the pace, but was passed by a small chase pack of 3 runners shortly after the 1 mile mark. After hitting the turn around I hit the 3-mile checkpoint in 16:27. Still feeling good, I maintained my pace as best as I could and cruised to a 27:26 (PR) - good for 7th place overall and second in my age group. The course and conditions could not have been better for a race.
All told, I am happy with the Park Point 5 miler results. I am currently training for cross country in the fall, and have not done more than 4 speed or tempo workouts yet, but my result is a good sign for things to come in cross country season.

The Start of Something Good

This would be the inaugural post on my inaugural blog, ‘Exploring the Limits…’ I really like that phrase because it best describes the way I live my life, always pushing things to the edge and testing myself. In this blog I will document my training, racing, and random adventures as well as training principles and other general information I learn along the way. i hope it proves to be educational and entertaining.