The Ice Bath

Wow, I look a little crazy in that picture, don't I? It's fitting, I guess, since I was about to hop in my first ice bath.

I suppose you're wondering why anyone in their right mind would sit in a tub of ice...as you should be. They claim it's good for recovery. It stops the inflammation caused by a hard workout and speeds up the recovery process.

I filled the tub with cold water, dumped my bag of ice in and then grabbed a copy of Marathon & Beyond so I could read the article about running an ultra marathon in the scorching heat of Las Vegas.

You would think the worst part of an ice bath would be....you know. But it wasn't, really. The whole thing is equal torture and it was so friggin cold at first I could hardly breathe. Talk about a shock to the system. It was clear that reading was out of the question. Remaining conscious was the new goal.

After a minute or so, you basically go numb from the waist down so the initial shock goes away. And that's about the time you realize you forgot to find out an important piece of information: How long does one sit in an ice bath? A minute? 10 minutes? An hour? I decided to wait until the ice melted, which probably took about 5 minutes but it's hard to say since I may or may not have blacked out.

So why did I need an ice bath in the first place? Cheri and I did 2 laps around the arboretum, our last big training run before the Madison Half Marathon in 2 weeks. The arb loop is a great training run for several reasons. 1. The university created a 10K route around the arb and marked all of the miles and quarter miles. 2. It's kind of hilly - no brutal climbs, but it's non-stop rollers with a couple of decent climbs. 3. Very little traffic. 4. Lots of runners.

There were quite a few runners with water bottles and fuel belts and you got the feeling that everyone was out there preparing for the marathon. My plan was to run 5K at my long run pace (about an 8 minute mile) then 10K at race pace (about 7 minute mile) and the last 5K at my long run pace. The run, I figured would take about 1 hour and 36 minutes. Cheri said she was going to go at a slow, comfortable pace so I should take a magazine to read while I waited for her. I figured she would be out there for about 2 hours and 5 minutes.

My run went well, although I struggled a bit in the middle, and I finished in 1:33:19. Cheri finished in 1:55:30. Pretty impressive for someone running at a "slow, comfortable pace."






After dinner, we decided to go to a movie. We wanted to see Run, Fatboy, Run but it wasn't playing anywhere. So we went to go see Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Based on the previews, our expectations were really low, but we figured we've seen a lot of bad movies so chances were that this wouldn't be the worst movie we've ever seen. Not the best reason to see a movie, but we felt like going to the theater.

This was one of those rare cases when the previews don't do the movie justice. It was hilarious. One of the best comedies I've seen in a long time. Lately comedies are so lacking in material they give you the good stuff in the preview and then the movie is a complete disappointment. Some of the scenes in the preview weren't even in this movie. Go see it.

Gun Show!

Yesterday was the gun show. If you don't remember - and you probably don't - the gun show is our Thursday lunch ride. It's a 22 mile route with 3 sprints. We roll out at noon and pick up the guys from Saris. The roll out is neutral until we get out of the residential neighborhoods and then it's on. The gun show started a few weeks ago, but this was the first one I've done this year.

All of my training this year has been steady state riding, so I don't really have a sprint so I thought I wouldn't have much chance to win the sprints. So I figured I would have a little fun and spend the whole time driving up the pace making guys work when they didn't want to.

I stayed in the pack for the first mile or so on the first sprint, but then I felt like doing some work so I went to the front and pulled hard for a while. I was hoping to get Mark set up to win the sprint, but he got boxed in by some of the Saris guys and couldn't make his move. As soon as everyone took off for the sprint, I sat up and rode easy the rest of the way figuring I would start pulling again as soon as the sprint was over....you know, keep the pace up and don't let anyone rest. We regroup after the sprints, and we had to wait a while for someone so everyone got a pretty good rest, but I took off right away anyway. I pulled for a good part of the second sprint before the group passed me and battled it out.

I didn't plan on doing that much pulling on the third sprint because I was getting tired, but when everyone regrouped the pace was pretty slow and for some reason I just didn't want to give everyone a break so I took off and opened a bit of a gap. The group quickly caught me and - probably to get even with me for me driving the pace up when everyone wanted to catch their breath - they let me pull most of the way. It was hard work, but I actually enjoyed it. It was good threshold work which is good for time trials.

Before the sprint line on the third sprint, there are two hills, a left turn and then it's a gradual downhill and very, very fast (and fun). The route is different this year, and I forgot there were 2 hills. I thought there was one so when the pace didn't seem that fast on the first hill, I attacked thinking I could open a gap and maybe hold it to the sprint line since it was all downhill. Imagine my surprise when I saw the second hill. My legs were already burning, and of course the group was more prepared for the second hill than I was so they attacked that one and I struggled to hang on. I hit the downhill pretty hard - about 33 mph - but was nowhere near the sprint.

But it was a fun ride, and I got in some good, hard work. I probably won't ride the gun show next week. I have the Beloit Duathlon next Saturday, and that was my first multi-sport event ever (last year) so I really want to go back and do well. I struggled quite a bit last year because I went out way too hard on the bike and my average heart rate was 97% of my max (for 30 minutes! ouch) and I thought I was going to die on the second run. I had to walk for a little while to let my heart rate come down. I think I'll play it a little smarter this year.

Bike to Work Month & Peanut Butter Duathlon Results

May is bike to work month. We earn commuter bucks for biking to work, and to encourage us to ride to work this month commuter bucks have been tripled. That's right, tripled. That means that if I ride to work every day this month, I can get a free bike. Not a bad deal, huh?

Not a carbon bike or anything like that, but I will earn enough commuter bucks to buy a Schwinn Madison, which is our fixed gear bike. I kind of want a fixie, but I don't to buy one since it's not that high on my wish list. But for free...well, that's a different story. Plus, I rode the Madison for our 2008 catalog so it only makes since that I own one (that picture made the cover of our Japan catalog so I guess you could say I'm big in Japan). I've heard they have a tough time keeping the Madison in stock so I hope they have one for me when I earn enough moola. Here's a pic....



Today is a rest day, but I biked the 4 miles each way to work. This was my first ride on my road bike in 2 weeks and it felt really good to get back on a road bike. Tri bikes are fast, but not as much fun as a road bike.


They posted the results of the Peanut Butter Duathlon, and as it turns out I did place in my age group. I forgot the top 3 don't qualify for age group awards since they get to take home some cold, hard cash. So I ended up 7th overall and 3rd in my age group. My official time was 1:08:14.



Age Group...



To all those who found my blog looking for results, thanks for checking out my blog and congrats on a good race. It was a tough, but fun day. It's great to hear they had a record turnout on a cold, rainy day. Official results are posted at www.onlineraceresults.com.

Shower with your shoes on.

Today, the weather was great. Too bad yesterday wasn't like this. I woke up early and went out for a 10 mile run on the bike path. It was really nice... a little chilly but there wasn't a cloud in the sky, no wind, the birds were chirping...a great spring morning.

My run went really well. I started out at a comfortably fast pace and picked it up toward the end and finished fairly hard. I didn't realize how much of a hurtin the duathlon put on me until after my run. A 10 mile run will make my legs sore, but not that bad...usually. It only took about 2 hours for the pain to set in. So what did I do?

I went for a bike ride with Cheri. We headed out to Whitewater lake again. Many times a ride will loosen up my legs and they'll feel better but not today. They were really hurtin after the ride. Good thing this is a recovery week. I need a break.

Check this out. It's not Whitewater Lake. It's on the way to Whitewater Lake. It's a farmer's field...


That's what record snowfall will do for you.

I've been wanting to work on the fit of my tri bike so I had Cheri take some pictures of me while I rode the trainer. Here's one of them....



It's not too bad, but I've got some work to do. You can't really tell from this picture, but it looks like my saddle is a tad high and I think that may be why my power has been a little low on this bike vs my road bike. And it looks like I could drop the front end a bit and get a little more aero. I also need to angle the aerobars down a little, I think. You can see my wrist is at a goofy angle and that's why I'm getting pain in my wrists.

After that, I plugged my measurements into the fit calculator at www.competitivecyclist.com. The numbers that came up with agreed that I need to lower my saddle, and it says I can lower the front quite a bit.

After the duathlon yesterday, I put my shoes back on and hopped in the shower. They clean up pretty nice. You can't even tell I ran in the mud.


I'm kidding. I didn't actually shower with my shoes on, but I did give it some serious thought.

These are the wheels that came with my bike. I really want to throw them on and go for a ride to see what they're like, but I'm not going to . I've decided to sell them, and it's better selling a set of wheels that have never been ridden than trying to convince someone they only have 20 miles on them. Plus, if I don't ride them I won't know what I'm missing...if anything. I doubt I would prefer them over my Reynolds wheels.

Race Report: Peanut Butter Duathlon

Peanut butter jelly, peanut butter jelly peanut, butter jelly with a baseball bat.

This morning was the Peanut Butter Duathlon in Rockford, IL. 2 mile run, 14 mile bike, 2 mile run. I was hoping for one of those great spring days, but instead I got 45 degrees and rain. It was one of those days that make you wish you hadn't preregistered. Oh yeah, the run was a trail run.

Remember when I posted about my bright yellow Zoots that looked like this?




Now they look like this:




First off, I have to say I don't understand triathletes and why they refuse to dress warm. It was mid 40s and raining and some guys were wearing shorts and a short sleeve jersey. At the very least you have to put on some knee warmers to protect your knees. Anything under 70 degrees and your knees should be covered. Anyway, I was bundled up so I guess it doesn't matter.

Also, you can call my aero helmet goofy (because it is) but it's not as goofy as doing the run with your helmet on....which someone did.

Run 1: The first run started really fast. The official results haven't been posted yet so I'm not sure how many runners were there, but I would guess around 100. At the quarter mile mark I would say I was running at about the top 25% mark, which really surprised me since our pace was 5:55. I knew that was too fast for me so I backed off a bit and let a few guys get by me figuring there were a lot of people who headed out too fast. I finished the first mile at a 6:30 pace and started picking off guys who had gone out too fast. Then the mud got deep, ankle deep in some spots. It was slippery and really tough to keep your pace up without slipping. Unofficial time: 13:01.

Transition 1: I practiced transitions this week and was ready to do a fast transition with my shoes already clipped in. However, with the weather the way it was I didn't think that would be a good idea. The start of the bike was downhill with a few turns and wet and raining and I was wearing a thin pair of gloves which would make slipping into my shoes while riding more difficult so I opted to leave my shoes off the bike and play it safe. The Zoot shoes are really easy to get out of so I got those off really fast and got into my cycling shoes. Then, as many times as I've practiced putting my aero helmet on, I still screwed it up and I forgot to pull the ear flaps out and I smacked myself in the head with the helmet. The local news had some cameras there and one of them was in the transition area so maybe they'll show me smacking myself in the face with my helmet on the news tonight. Not smooth, but my first transition was still pretty fast. Unofficial time: :59

Bike: The bike was 3 laps around the park and had a lot of rolling hills. There was a guy that finished the run right in front of me a few yards in front of me on the bike so I pushed hard and passed him...then he passed me back and pulled a bit of a gap. Both of us then settled in and held that pace for the next 2 laps while working our way through some of the faster runners. Being a 3 lap course, we passed a lot of riders on the second and third lap and I spotted quite a few Schwinns. Good to see we were representing. Anyway, I had made up a little time on him on lap 2 and passed him early on lap 3. I was hoping to pull a gap, but figured he would get remotivated when he saw me pass and stay with me...and he did. Coming into T2, I slipped out of my shoes and that slowed me down enough for him to get by me again. He didn't get out of his shoes prior to the transition so I was anxious to see if I would put some time on him getting out of my shoes early. He had to come to a complete stop to get unclipped, and I came into transition riding side saddle and ran into transition getting by him while he was getting off his bike. Unofficial time: 40:52

T2: Not much to say. It went pretty smooth. I unclipped my helmet as I was running to rack my bike. Then I slipped into my Zoots, pulled the cord to tighten the laces, grabbed my number and hat and was off. I put about 7 seconds on the guy I came into transition with by not having to take my shoes off. Unofficial time :39

Run 2: The second run went pretty well. I checked back a few times to see if he was closing on me and I noticed about the 3/4 mile mark that I was putting a little more time on him so I stopped worrying about him and focused on keeping my pace steady and not slipping in the mud. Unofficial time: 13:19

Unofficial time: 1:08:12. I took 7th place overall and 6th in my age group. I would've liked to have had a faster bike leg, but I'm really happy with my results today. The hard training is paying off. However, I am a little disappointed I finished 7th overall and didn't place in my age group.

But I'm not going to let that get me down. I had a good race, had some fun despite the weather, and ended with my best finish in a multi-sport event. A good day, I'd say. Now I can't wait for the Beloit Duathlon in 2 weeks. That was my first ever multi-sport event so I'm looking forward to improving on last year's time. Hopefully the weather will be a little nicer...warmer at least.

Long brick

The forecast for this morning was upper 30s and a rain/snow mix so I was second guessing doing the Harvard time trial. What sealed the deal was my post Crazylegs ride. I planned on an easy 90 minute ride, nothing that would wear me out. I knew it was windy, but I figured I'd keep my power down and not worry about how slow I was going.

The wind was a little scary...well, really scary. We had gusts of 25+ mph. A headwind or tailwind wasn't that bad, but a crosswind was pretty scary. I had to lean into the wind and I had a tough time staying out of traffic when the gusts hit. I should've stayed home. Some days aren't safe to ride.

Anyway, the wind wasn't the killer. It turns out it was Crazylegs. I had nothing left in my legs and holding my power in my endurance zone was really hard work. There was no way I would be ready for a TT, so I figured I would stick with my original plan - a long brick.

I got lucky and the weather cleared up. No rain or snow, but it was a little cold - upper 40s and kind of windy - nothing like yesterday, though. I decided to try out the time trial routes I mapped out. I did 2 40k TTs and 1 20K TT with a few minutes of rest between time trials. I kept my power in my endurance zone so it was far from 3 all out TTs, but it was hard work and very tiring...especially since I still haven't recovered from Crazylegs.

After the TTs, I ran for an hour.

After the run, I...well...I thought I was going to die. This workout got the best of me, that's for sure. The worst part about a long workout in the cold is the 30 minute coughing fit afterwards. Cold air really tears up my throat. You'd think I'd be used to it by now, but clearly I'm not.

Next Saturday is my first multi-sport event of the year - The Peanut Butter Duathlon. It's a 2 mile run, 14 mile bike, 2 mile run. I'd like to do well, so I'm going to keep my workouts pretty easy this week so I'm well rested for the event. I also need to find some time to practice my transitions because they're pretty weak and I haven't practiced them yet this year.

Crazylegs Classic

Crazylegs is insane (you thought I was going to say crazy, didn't you?). Crazylegs is an 8K race benefitting UW Athletics. The race starts on the Capitol Square and finishes in Camp Randall - where the party starts... a band, beer, Bucky...what more could you want? There's usually about 10,000 runners along with several thousand walkers. It's one of those events that everyone does. Even people who rarely run dig out their running shoes for Crazylegs.

Cheri and I had some pretty aggressive goals for Crazylegs this year. I wanted to run it in 32:30 and Cheri was shooting for 42:30. The weather this morning wasn't quite what we were hoping for - mid 40s and windy. Not ideal, but the sun came out and the temps warmed up a bit so it wasn't too bad. The wind was tough, but not as bad as we thought it was going to be.

My race went pretty well. I started on pace, but lost about 10 seconds climbing Observatory...10 seconds I was never able to make up. I felt okay the rest of the race, but I just didn't have enough left in the tank to make up the time I lost on Observatory. So I finished in 32:40. I missed my goal by a bit, but I'm really happy with my time. It was an aggressive goal so to come as close as I did is encouraging and tells me that my goal wasn't unrealistic. I finished 280 out of 10,174 runners - 53 out of 885 in my age group.

Cheri doesn't race as much as I do so Crazylegs means more to her than it does to me. She spent a lot of time this year training to hit her goal, and I really wanted her to finish in under 42:30 so I let her use my Garmin figuring it would help her pace herself and keep her on track. I use my Garmin so much it's tough to run without it, but I figured if only one of us makes our goal I would rather it be her (running with my Garmin wouldn't have helped me make up those 10 seconds so it's all good). She said it helped a lot and she can't wait for hers to arrive (I'm getting her a Garmin 405 for her b-day - not much of a surprise).

Anyway, Cheri tore it up. She finished in 41:58, way ahead of her goal. That's an 8:26 pace, and I think she's finally starting to believe me when I tell her she can run 9s at the Mad City Half Marathon. She finished 3210 out of 10,174 and 159 out of 1106 in her age group. That puts her in the top 1/3 overall, so I told her she can no longer say she's not really a runner.

Here are a few pics I found online. I'll post more when they post them on the website later next week....


Bucky...




Camp Randall...




Puppy...