Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 29, 2012

112 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Curt and Rick next to the Lexus - the prize
given to the person finishing 1st :o)

Weather was much nicer today. No lightening, no rain, a little wind but not much. Curt was able to join us for the first two loops before heading off to church.  Did a total of 19.6 miles in just shy of 3 hours. No land speed records set but legs are feeling great and we could have continued for much longer. The legs of our run are listed below:

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/87678327 - 9 miles - 1 hr 21 minutes

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/87679843 - 2.4 miles - 21 minutes

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/87681527 - 8.2 miles - 1 hr 14 minutes

Rick and Curt each took a picture but I must not have saved it on my phone so I'm not in any pictures today - no biggie. We're playing basketball tonight - should be a hard, fun workout. Taking tomorrow off. Had more great conversation today talking about Leadville - I'm really getting pumped for this race even though it is more than 3 1/2 months away. Came across a gigantic radio tower and while I"m not very good at estimating height it appeared that Hope Pass is 5 times as high as this extremely high tower - it really put the massive incline into perpsective.

Looking ahead to this week you can plan on joining us for any of the following...

Tues 5:15 Bett HS football stadium
Wed 5:00 Jumer's Hotel - Bettendorf (Utica Ridge)
Fri 5:15 Bett HS track
Sat 4:30 Crow Creek Park - loop back at 7 and 8:30 am

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 28, 2012

113 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

The reason we did not run this morning.

I don't enjoy running in the rain, unless it is hot outside, but I wasn't going to let rain prevent me from running - I guess it is a mental toughness thing. But lightning is a different story. I am expecting that we could see lightning at Leadville and I'll take my chances there but I don't think it is very smart to mess around with this in training. It was raining and lightning frequently at 2:55 a.m. and I made the decision to text those runners in my cell phone that Saturday morning's run had been canceled. If some of you did come out for the run I apologize but I hope the weather motivated you to stay home too. When I finally climbed out of bed at 7 am it looked like the rain and lightning had stopped. Maybe it was over with by 5 or 6 a.m. but I wasn't awake to find out. The run has been rescheduled for 5:30 a.m. tomorrow leaving from Rick Fountain's house at 4 Redstone Ct. LeClaire, IA.  Text me (563) 343-3909 if you plan to meet us so I can help you with directions or we know to wait for you. We'll loop back once at 7 a.m. and finish by 8:30 a.m. I was thinking of going longer but believe we're going to play basketball tomorrow night so we'll save our legs a bit.

Below are a couple of pictures from Wednesday at Jumer's that Katie had emailed to me. Jay and Rick don't look too happy on the left because this was at the beginning and they knew we had a big workout ahead of us. On the right, I and Jay look exhausted but happy because we were DONE with the 30 trips up the Tower!

Jay and Rick - Wednesday at Jumer's
in the stairwell basement



John and Jay on the 9th floor waiting
to go down the elevator after the 30th trip
up Jumer's Tower - Rick gets fired from
taking photographs in the future.
Too blurry - although he did just run
up the Tower 30 times :o)














Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 27, 2012

114 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Quick day at the track before basketball at 5:15 a.m.
Gordon Staley, Todd Hornbuckle, Rick Fountain, and myself. Originally I think Gordon and Todd were planning to come to Leadville to watch the race and tip back a few. Now I think they are planning to knock Rick and I on the head, leave us in the ditch, steal our race bibs and run it themselves.

800 M warm up jog
400 M  85 seconds   200 M walk
400 M  83 seconds   200 M walk
400 M  82 seconds   200 M walk
800 M  2:58 - off to play basketball

appropriate description of my shooting today...

Didn't play that well today but still had fun. Our team actually went 2-2 but upon further examination of my play, my teammates may have thought I was trying to ensure that we went 0-4. Dr. Naismith may be rolling over in his grave - I wouldn't blame him. One thing I've learned over the years is that if I don't take time to get warmed up with my shot by shooting around, I am not very good on offense.

Other amazing news from the other day - Jay said 'he's in' for coming out to Leadville in August! It is so cool that other people want to come out for this event. I know they will be glad they did - it is an amazing experience. Even if you have no interest in running the race, I think everyone's life would be enriched by getting to Leadville at least once - you'll never be the same afterwards - guaranteed!

Planning on a run at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning at Crow Creek Park on near Devils Glen Rd and Crow Creek Rd.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 26, 2012

115 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Below is a 10 minute video that includes actual footage from my 2005 Leadville race. Wow does this bring back some great memories! I think it gives you a nice perspective on what the course looks like. You can see how tired I get as the race moves forward. More significantly, you can see the critical role that loved ones are playing in getting me to the finish line - I don't believe I would have made it without them.

This morning we had a nice little run out into the country. We ran north of I-80 and eventually turned right at the road that takes many Bettendorf families to the BSA soccer fields.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/86924579 - 6.5 miles  -  57 minutes

We finished up with 3 sets of 25 pushups - another good day. Tomorrow we will be at the track at 5:15 for some 400's and an 800 - then off to basketball for the rest ot the early morning :o)

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 25, 2012

116 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

pictures forthcoming from dear Katie...

here they are!

Jay and Rick before 30 Jumer Tower trips...

John and Jay after 30 Jumer Tower trips...

Tough workout today! 30 trips up the Jumer's Tower in about 1 hr 10 minutes but I didn't look closely at my watch. Jay joined Rick and I for the experience. Our previous high was 28 trips so this was a bit of an improvement.

The most impressive part of today was Jay. This was his first time up Jumer's Tower for today and he did awesome! We only did 20 our first time - he did 30! Once we were into the workout we learned that he had completed some difficult running AND biking workouts yesterday!

Finished up with 2 sets of 25 push ups. A great way to start the day.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 24, 2012

117 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Todd snapped the photo and traded places
with me so I could make the photo

5:15 a.m. stair crew - Lindsay, Chirag, Curt,

Gordon, Rick and Todd



7 people today - the group is growing. Some people did a combination of stairs and laps around the track.  Our goal was 61 sets of stairs - mission accomplished! Following this we did a set of 41 push ups. Why 41? I don't know. It was more than the other sets we did last week of 25-30, it sounded like a good number. Gordon climbed half way up the stairs to get some action photos of Rick and I running up the stairs and running down the stairs. I think we were somewhere between 40 and 55 at the time of this photo - settled into a groove by this time.  



Rick & John - down the stairs



Rick and John - up the stairs -
take note who is leading the way!

Like the Saturday morning runs, it is fun getting people out early in the morning to get fit.  We are doing different things but they are all good things and there is no better feeling than the one you feel after a workout like today. I really do love the fitness but once I get around other people who are striving to get better, the camaraderie is much more significant than the actual workout. On the other hand, the camaraderies also pushes me ot higher levels and helps me perform better.

Tomorrow we are doing Jumer's Tower - we are set to have 3 others join us - it should be fun.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 22, 2012

119 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....


  My phone camera - I don't think it is as good (little blurry, less bright) - maybe I should solicit a sponsor to provide me with a higher quality camera? LOL

John Byrne, Curt Johnston, Rick Fountain after an 18 miler - Jeannie Fountain's camera - I think hers is better!

  


 you can ignore this picture - duplicate :o)

Another great day for a run! I have to admit, my legs were feeling a little tired from yesterday's 19 mile run but runs like today are necessary in order to properly prepare for Leadville. I picked up Mr. Johnston at 5:40 a.m. so we would be on time for a 6 a.m. departure from Rick's house. We actually did not depart on the first leg until 6:04 a.m. but close enough, right? First route went down to the river to run by much of south and west LeClaire. After a while the legs started to loosen up and it felt pretty good. The company was great and we proved to ourselves once again that our legs can take the pounding on the pavement.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85850207/?new_route=1     9.6 miles - 1 hr 28 minutes

After a brief refueling, we set out again for a run north of Rick's house out into the country. The best part of this run was a stop at a farmhouse about 4 miles to the north. We were getting to the bottom of the bottle of Gatorade mix Rick had been carrying and I was wondering about being dehydrated on the way back as there wasn't much liquid left. Rick spied a pump in the yard of the farmhouse. I filled up the bottle with 'well water' - man did that taste good! I suppose 9 out of 10 people would gag at the thought of having hard water but I absolutely love it! Some people say there are impurities in well water but I don't mind. It feels natural and I prefer it to anything coming out of the tap or the bottled water that I cannot bring myself to buy in the store. I still don't understand why people want to pay money for water, I'm not sure I ever will. While I've always loved water from the well, what made this really wonderful were the special thoughts it sparked about my days as a boy on my brother's farm. We had a pumphouse with an old rusty tin cup that I used to drink water from in between chores when I didn't want to go back into the farmhouse. It's amazing how our senses can so vividly spark our memories. I could instantly place myself back on the farm and smell the musty old pumphouse where I used to drink water out of a hose or out of that rusty old tin cup! 

Rick and Curt said they liked the water too - they might have been saying it to make me feel good or because they were so thirsty that anything would have tasted good. The second leg of this run is listed below.

  

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85853091/?new_route=1     9.0 miles 1 hr 28 minutes

This was Curt's first back to back day of long runs - he did great! He has made amazing progress in a short amount of time.

Finished up with 26.2 push ups - a marathon of push ups!

We also talked today about trying to set up a schedule of workouts a week in advance to help others who might care to join us on some of our workouts. It has been kind of fun having some different people join us already on some of our stair workouts. 

Looking ahead, here is what is planned for this coming week. If you think you want to join us, why don't you send me a text 563-343-3909 just in case we have a last minute change.

Tuesday, April 24th - 5:15 a.m. - Bettendorf High School football stadium - running stairs - feel free to come do whatever you want (stairs/track, combination) - Rick and I will plan to run stairs for about an hour

Wednesday, April 25th - 5:00 a.m. - Jumer's Tower - running stairs. These are a little tougher as it takes closer to 50 seconds to make a climb as opposed to 20 seconds at the football stadium. Rick and I will plan to run these for about an hour as well.

Saturday, April 27th - 4:30 a.m. - Crow Creek Park - running long. We will loop back at 6:00 a.m. to pick up others who want to start later. Unsure of whether there will be a 7:30 a.m. loop yet - not sure yet if I will be needed at home before 9 a.m.

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

                       





Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 21, 2012

120 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Rick Fountain & Katie Gaffney

 Another good day - all these Saturdays seem to be great. Katie Gaffney, Rick Fountain and I started at Crow Creek Park at 4:34 a.m. Katie sure knows how to push a fast pace. I'm reasonably confident that Rick and I would not have gone at this pace. But since there were 3 of us and Katie is so pleasant, it seemed much easier to keep pace with her. We ran a negative split on the back half - which always makes me happy. I never expect the 4:30 a.m. group to be very big so I wasn't disappointed. We had a feeling that many of those who typically join us might be participating in the Project Renewal race. Maurer and Uhde both posted PR's - way to go guys!
The first leg of the run is listed below...

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85690375/?new_route=1   9.75 miles  1 hr 23 minutes

Rick, Katie & John - perils of trying to be in a picture one is taking - sorry Rick for cutting your face off! Notice how I managed to get all of me in there :o) should probably just stick to being the guy who snaps the picture



Katie G, Emily B, Rick F, Curt S, Jay, Curt J




Katie stayed with us for the 2nd leg of this race and we were joined by Curt J, Emily B, Jay, and Curt S. Emily only wanted to do 6 today so we ran 3 miles out and came back to home base so she could get her miles in with some company. Rick and Curt J were pushing it fast on the back half of this run - good job men!

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85690601/?new_route=1 6.0 miles 50 minutes



After we dropped Emily off to her car we continued northward along Devil's Glen Road. With a plan to finish at 7:30 am, I thought we would run for 15 minutes and turn around. Jay asked if we could just run 2 miles out so he could run 2 more miles back and finish with 10 miles even. So it did put us back later than 7:30 (actually about 7:35 is when we finished. The 3rd leg of this run is detailed below.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85691075/?new_route=1 4.0 miles 34 minutes

Total distance   19.75 miles   Total time    2 hrs 47 mimutes

Planning on running for 3 hrs tomorrow morning as well. My legs are tired but this will be a good test.

Until my next post - have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 20, 2012

121 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Today was a speedwork day and basketball - a fun day - I love the game of basketball! Gordon Staley and Gordon Schneider joined Rick Fountain and I at the track at 5:15 a.m. Gordon Staley picked me up at 5:08 and Gordon Schneider at 5:10. There is something powerful about determining the night before that someone is going to pick you up for a workout - it means that you won't back out. I wasn't planning on backing out but this sort of seals the deal. I could also say I do it for environmental purposes (i.e. saving the environment) but the bigger reason is accountability and camaraderie.

I also learned that before Gordon picked me up, he had already been to the store to pick up donuts to take home to his family - WOW!

So once we met Rick at the track, we did a half mile warm up jog and ran 4 400's.

400 M    90 seconds   200 M walk
400 M    86 seconds   200 M walk
400 M    82 seconds   200 M walk
400 M    80 seconds   off to play hoops - awesome day!

Afterwards the Gordons joined me for some basketball - we played on the same team and won all our games :o)

Tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. - meeting at Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf w/ a refuel stop at 6:00 a.m.

message from Dave Jessen ....

Hey John, let everybody know the Happy Joes group is doing their 20 miler Sat am starting 7. I will have water & Gatorade set up (approx 6;45) at roundabout and BP gas at 18th&53rd. You guys are certainly welcome to partake!
Have a good run!
-Dave

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 19, 2012

122 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 mile run....

Last night I had the privilege of giving a talk on motivation at St. Ambrose University to about 50 members of the community. I LOVE to speak on motivation, goal setting, perseverance, and the importance of engaging others in your dreams. I really have a passion for this and I believe I have created a track record of credibility on the subject. I believe I am making a positive difference in other's lives when I speak which makes me feel even more called to do this. Referrals/connections you might have for speaking engagements would be most appreciated :o)

Teaching at the college level is my 2nd most favorite job in the world. #1 is motivational speaking - my life will be even more fulfilled when I am able to grow and develop this into a full time endeavor. Leadville and those I have been working out with were important subjects in my talk last night. I am also thrilled to report that Hand in Hand received more than $500 last night from my talk. Very cool organization - check them out!

http://www.handinhandqc.org/                                

Today I joined up with the 6 b4 6 group at the YMCA. I stopped in to see our good friend Tom at the front desk - it was great to see him again - I miss his upbeat attitude and enthusiastic voice. He asked me what I was going to do after August when Leadville was over. That question stumped me a bit and really made me reflect on the motivation of having a goal. In some ways I feel like the workouts we are doing and early morning risings seem a little extreme but given my goals and the difficulty of Leadville, it also feels necessary. Once Leadville is complete, I wondered whether I would be motivated to continue working out like I have been. Part of me wants to say "Yes" but another part of me thinks that I won't feel the drive and the purpose because the goal won't be there. I need to reflect on this some more. I'll probably move on to another goal - it just may not be a long distance running goal - or maybe it will? Time will tell....

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/85153523/?new_route=1 - 6.2 miles - 48 minutes

There were 9 of us running today - Aaron, Chad, Curt S., Brian, Curt J., Jay, Katherine, Jane, and me. I learned that Jay is the moped guy - I'll never think of him the same ever again :o) Had some great conversation about discipline surrounding diet, nutrition and weight loss. Another great day!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 18, 2012

123 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 mile run....

Rick Fountain, Gordon Schneider, Todd Hornbuckle, Gordon Staley - 5:15 a.m.

Cool story about today. Gordon Staley had already joined us a few times already at the track for some running and doing stairs and he has become a regular. The night before (Tuesday) we were eating pizza at Happy Joe's after my daughter Katie's track meet. Todd Hornbuckle's daughter (Madi) and Gordon Schneider's daughter (Annette) are also on the track team so we were all together - it was also Annette's birthday - Happy Birthday Annette! So as we were finishing up, I told Todd that Gordon Staley was picking me up at 5:10 the next morning to go run stairs and asked him if he wanted to go. The initial response was something to the effect that the bed sounded more appealing than the track. I think I pestered him a bit more and probably lied about how much fun it would be. I told him Gordon was coming by at 5:10 to my house and could swing by his house at 5:08. His wife Stacy gave me some support to and before I knew it, out of his mouth came the words "I'm In!"

The next obvious task was to turn my attention across the table to Gordon Schneider. Thinking that the magic phrase Todd uttered would work, I said, "Gordon, are you In?" He smiled and said, "I'll let you know if I decide to go". As I've been running for awhile now, I've come to know that the alternative definition of this phrase is "No way". I then offered that we would pick him up at 5:12. About 20 seconds later, Gordon said "I'm In!". 2 for 2 - I should have purchased a lottery ticket that morning!

When we picked up Gordon Schneider, Gordon Staley remarked, I've never had another friend named Gordon. Gordon Schneider replied, "Me neither". I thought that was funny. I also can't think of any other people I know named Gordon.

I was pretty excited to have 3 more of my friends join Rick and I at the track. We did have a good time - can't you see the smiles in the dark picture above!

Rick and I did 61 sets of stairs and 5 sets of pushups (30, 25, 20, 15, 10) for a total of 100. Gordon, Todd, and Gordon did a combination of stairs and running around the track. Rising early in the morning isn't easy but I think we are all glad we did it and the camaraderie of working out with others is quite inspiring. We've been experiencing it on our weekend runs and now it seems to be extending to some workouts during the week.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 17, 2012

124 days until the Leadville Trail 100 mile run...

Appropriate for me - took a while to get back on the blog - I did some workouts just didn't get back to the computer. My daughter Katie sent this pic to me - LOL.
Took Monday off - maybe I shouldn't have but what the heck :o) Today was a stairs day at the Bettendorf High School football stadium. Curt Johnston and I knocked out 61 sets of stairs - a PR for Curt - he had done 60 last week! Finished up with a set of 30 push ups. Rick was in Milwaukee for training so he wasn't able to join us.

Short blog today :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 15, 2012

126 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...


A group I was not a part of - not even as a photographer :o) - Jen Paul photographer extraordinaire

I would have liked to have joined this group - everyone looks very happy! Are they happy because I'm not there? Maybe... I tend to think, though, that they are happy because so many are in shorts and no jackets - and that it isn't 4:30 am! While I was in Marion at my son's soccer tournament, I'm guessing the weather was similar - 60+ degrees - perfect morning running weather for this 6 am run.

I on the other hand, chose to sleep in Saturday :o) (and I don't regret it one bit!). I did, however, get up this morning and went for a total of a little over 18 miles in about 2 hrs and 30 minutes. It wasn't as much fun going by myself - I spent more time thinking about tired muscles and missed out on the enjoyable conversation and pacing that I have when I run with others. But, as I've said before, running on my own sometimes is good for me - helps build the discipline I need.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/83929081/?new_route=1
1st leg - 38 minutes - 4.64 miles

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/83929709/?new_route=1
2nd leg - 1 hr 50 minutes - 13.45 miles

First leg of the run went great - at the end I met the father of a friend of mine from grade school/high school (Carol (Burke) Kraayenbrink) and was able to catch up on what was going on with her life - I'm glad we crossed paths.

The second leg of the run went pretty well until I was about 1.6 miles from home. The night before I was up late working on my taxes and my mom made a pan of brownies. Stupid me ate too many brownies and they weren't feeling so good by the end of the run. To make a long story short and not put you through the ugly details, my stomach was not happy with my poor choices the night before and I decided I needed to stop running. I'm a bit embarrassed that I walked the last 1.6 miles back to the house but it was the right decision at the time. Hopefully I also learned the lesson that I need to watch what I eat the night before a long weekend run.

There were a number of hills on this route as well so I mixed in a combination of running and walking and I believe that helped me keep a decent pace going.

Attached is a picture of my new shoes that I promised to post - they are working out great...

If you are around Wednesday night at 7 pm I will be speaking at the Rogalski Center to the Graduate Students at St. Ambrose University on motivation - the talk is free and open to the public - I would love to see you there!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

 

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 13, 2012

128 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

if I had realized this when I woke up, maybe I wouldn't have worked out - NOT

Did not even think about this ominous date - so far nothing bad has happened :o) Is it just me or does it seem like we have had a large number of Friday the 13th's in the past decade? This morning I decided to play some basketball up at the high school so we did our running earlier on the Bettendorf High School track. Rick Fountain, Gordon Staley, and I made it to the track around 5:20 a.m. It has probably been at least 7 months since I've done any speed work on the track. I have done some on the treadmill but not at the track. It was a short workout but it felt good to kick in some semi-sprints. During the run the legs and lungs feel taxed and tired but it was good sort of taxing and tiredness :o)

1/2 mile warm up
200 M ~ :38 - 200 M walk
200 M ~ :38 - 200 M walk
400 M ~ 1:18 - 350 M walk
800 M ~ 2:38 - off to play basketball :o)

Gordon joined me for basketball. Rick headed over to the Y to do some treadmill running. I am heading up to Mom's tonight - my youngest son Joe has a soccer tournament near her house so we will stay with her this weekend - I'm looking forward to it. I wiill plan to get in at least one good longer run.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 12, 2012

129 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run....

Ran about 6.75 miles today with Curt Johnston and Rick Fountain - went north out into the country from Curt's house in Lakehurst - I love the country roads! They bring back very pleasant memories from my days on the farm as a kid. Our route is posted below...

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/82880761/?new_route=1

The last run was almost 5 days ago! We took off Easter Sunday and then again Monday. We did work out on Tuesday and Wednesday but they were stair workout days and not running days.

Picture forthcoming of my new shoes :o) I bought a pair of Asics shoes from Kohl's last week.

new shoes - Asics - extra wide!

The store did not make the size I wanted (14) but I was able to order a size 15 online.  Normally I would prefer to try a shoe on before buying it but I'm familiar with Asics and they feel good. Plus this shoe was extra wide, which felt good. When my feet do hurt it is usually on the wide part of my foot (inside and outside) in the area where my toes are attached to my feet. I've been building up callouses and have been taking the pummel stone to my feet but that isn't any fun. I was a litlte worried because the length is a good 3/4" too long in front of the tops of my toes. Yet after a 6.7 mile run, my feet feel wonderful. I appreciate the extra width and the extra length didn't seem to bother me at all. From now on, I'm buying extra wide running shoes!

I will be out of town Friday night - Sunday night so I won't be engaging in any running in Bettendorf. I'll do some running on my own in Marion at my mom's house. I'm checking with Aaron Maurer but I believe there will be a group meeting at Crow Creek Park on Saturday - most likely a 6 am departure but I will check for sure. You can reach Aaron Maurer at amaurer@bettendorf.k12.ia.us

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 11, 2012

130 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

pictures forthcoming from my darling Katie :o)

9th floor of Jumer's Tower - looking down (see my foot?)

Today was a Jumer's Tower day! 28 trips up the 9 story tower for a total of 252 stories. Rick Fountain and I went solo today but I didn't expect anything different. Not a lot of conversation occurred at the top while waiting for the elevator as we were huffing and puffing trying to recover. I find it interesting, somewhat perplexing, and pleasing that I don't feel much different on the 20th trip than I do on the 5th trip. I basically feel a constant tiredness at the top of the stairs. The first three floors go fairly easy, floors 4-6 are a little harder, and the legs start to burn a bit on floors 7-9. On the one hand I wish I didn't feel tired after only a few trips up the tower but it is what it is. On the other hand, it doesn't feel much different after that - I feel like I could keep going for quite a while longer. I've had similar feelings on the stadium steps at Bettendorf High School and to a degree, on the long weekend runs - mile 3 and mile 17 don't seem to feel much different - I feel a constant fatigue but feel like I can keep working. Maybe this is a sign that I'm building some endurance?

Regardless it was a great day - we did 3 more trips (or 27 stories) up the tower than last week in little over an hour. I felt good after that workout.

Then we headed over to St. Ambrose to tackle the bench press. You may remember last week when I took a step backwards from the week before. This week was a bit of redemption. We put 185 lbs on the bar and I was able to do 2 sets of 10 and a 3rd set of 7 reps. When I can push up 3 sets of 10, I'll move up to 190 lbs. Rick, no surprise did 2 sets of 12 and a 3rd set of 10. It irritated me a bit when he filed his nails and took a call on his cell phone while doing his 3rd set - I'll have to figure out a way to challenge him more in the future :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 10, 2012

131 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

it didn't look like this - actually I don't think we did see the sun this morning!

Another pic forthcoming.....

Lindsay, Curt, Rick, Chirag - 5:15 am 4/10/12 - BHS stadium

Cool crisp morning! We brought out the hat and gloves again as it was considerably colder than the past two weeks of stairs at the football stadium. Biggest stair party to date - we had 5! Mr. Reliable aka...Rick was there of course. We were also joined by Curt Johnston, my student and friend from St. Ambrose, Lindsay Caes, and her friend Chirag (Cheech). These three were first timers on the stairs and did extremely well. The first few times Rick and I did these we stopped at 30-40. Curt did 60! We warned him to stretch his quads today - he might be a little sore :o) Cheech and Lindsay were not much further behind - they actually had to leave a little earlier but they were awesome! Lindsay decided to mix some running in with her stair climbing. Rick and I finished 61 trips up - 5 sets of 10 and a final set of 11. It was dark most of the time but toward the end the sun below the horizon shed light on the bleachers and we could feel the energy of morning upon us. Jumer's Tower at 5 am tomorrow morning (Wednesday) - text me if you are interested in joining 563-343-3909. We'll take on at least 25 trips up the tower, maybe more :o)

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 7, 2012

134 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...



Aaron Maurer Day - sorry he couldn't be there to enjoy it :o)
Saturday morning crew 6 a.m. (Leg 2 of 3 leg run) - GREAT group of people - too many - I don't know everyone's names :o( - John Byrne photographer using Jen Paul's camera :o)

 The main thing missing on this run was Aaron Maurer. Good for him as we know he was enjoying the Easter weekend with his family in Wisconsin. Aaron is THE reason these Saturday runs have exploded in terms of numbers - it has been pretty awesome. Even though he wasn't going to be here this weekend, he wanted to make sure to get the word out to everyone else. http://coffeeforthebrain.blogspot.com/ Everyone knows how committed Aaron is to his training and he is a really talented athlete; however, I think he has a bigger purpose - motivating others to improve themselves. I've been a beneficiary of his mission to get people together who are making positive strides to better themselves and improve their self esteem. Therefore I decree Saturday, April 7, 2012 to be Aaron Maurer Day - instead of giving him a key to the city we'll probably give him a used spike from an old track shoe - Katie or Jane, can you help me out on this one?

The 4:30 am crew - Tom Waterman, Rick Fountain, Curt Johnston, Katie Gaffney, Chad Uhde - John Byrne photographer

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/81679553 - 9.5 miles

We had a very good run - did 9.5 miles in roughly 1 hr 20 minutes - ran out north of I-80 and almost to Wells Ferry Rd. that goes north to McCausland. As you can see, only 2 of the group were smart enough to wear something reflective - a good idea when running in the dark. Having a group of 6 at 4:30 am is quite wonderful - may be the largest group to date at this time of the morning. Everyone in this group chose to start the 2nd loop too. As we were coming back to base I couldn't believe the number of cars and people I saw waiting for us - it was energizing! That was a nice boost to have, especially since we had just completed 9.5 miles. As we were coming in, a little tired and a lot sweaty, a group of 12 new runners was awaiting us - buzzing with chatter and shivering a bit - it is cold when you are standing around waiting for others.

 



http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/81680943 - 9.6 miles

The 2nd leg was great as well. A funny thing happened on the way to the bike path..... I was running on the inside of the sidewalk and had brushed up against some tree branches. Eventually a branch caught me just right on my right shoulder and ripped a hugh hole on the side and back of my shoulder! it made for some nice laughs and conversation. I didn't mind too much, except it was a Notre Dame long sleeved shirt - and I love my Notre Dame clothes! http://www.und.com/ The branch scraped my shoulder but nothing serious. For some reason, even though I had mittens, my hands were freezing from holding my bottles. Chad Uhde and Jen Paul were gracious enough to carry my water and gatorade bottles for a bit until my hands warmed up again - thank you, you two! With this large a group it is more difficult to stay together so a few groups moving at different paces develop. This leg took closer to 1 hr 30 minutes for the group I was running with but there were some who finished earlier and they were actually gone before I made it back to say good-bye. So I'll say it here "Good-bye"  :o)

I did not take a picture for the 3rd leg - wish I had :o( I believe we had 6 little Indians left. A little into the run I started running a pace with Michelle Russell and John O'Brien - it felt like we were moving quite fast (maybe some of that had to do with the fact that I had already run about 19 miles). Anyway, John's Garmin reported that we ran our last 5 miles at approximately a 7:30 mile pace. I was very pleased and it felt really good! 
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/81681475  - 5.1 miles

I have a feeling that our future group runs on Saturday mornings will not drop below 15. Many of the newcomers seem to be members of the LiveUncommon organization - and they are the nicest people you would ever want to meet. http://www.liveuncommon.org/  I'm already finding that I'm looking forward to the next run with this group of people :o)

Happy Easter -I'm very grateful and humbled when I reflect on the suffering Christ endured on the cross - for us. Hopefully we live our lives in a way that honors Him.

Until my next post, have a great day!  DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 5, 2012

136 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Curt Johnston and Rick Fountain arrived at my house around 5:00 am and we knocked out a 6.6 mile run in a little under an hour. Pictures forthcoming - you know the drill - being held hostage by my daughter Katie :o)


Rick Fountain and Curt Johnston - we started in the dark so this picture is appropriate :o)

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80931919/?new_route=1

Afterwards we headed over to St. Ambrose to try our hand at the bench press. The goal was 3 sets of 10 at 185 lbs. Rick, as usual, popped them out like he was doing it in his sleep. I think he pretended to struggle on one or two reps, probably just to make me feel good. I didn't do so well today. I did manage to do the 1st set of 10. The 2nd set I could only get 9 and the 3rd set I could only muster 5. I was not a happy camper. It was a bit discouraging since I did 2 sets of 10 last week at this weight. The last couple days we have been doing some push ups and I have not been getting much sleep the last few nights. Don't these sound like good excuses? LOL. As our friend Aaron Maurer quoted earlier in his blog "If the cows don't get fed, the cows don't get fed." Bottom line - I didn't hit today's goal - I'll try again next time. If I think I need more sleep, I need to go to bed and not waste people's time whining about not getting enough sleep. It was great having Curt join us - I think he's on board for some stairs at the Bettendorf football stadium next Tuesday. It has been fun getting reacquainted with him more through all this running.

Rick Fountain on the bench press





Curt Johnston on the bench press


It is with mixed feelings that I write about not entering the 24 hour run in Eldridge on May 5th this year. I had fully intended to run this race - excited about the prospect of seeing where we were at in this training, enjoying the camaraderie of the Cornbelt Running Club members, supporting their efforts to fund youth running events, and having a date circled on the calendar where I would see how far I can go in 24 hrs. Yesterday John O'Brien, LiveUncommon member, had offered to come run some of it with me to keep me company and help me out. I volunteered last year to be a lap counter and made the decision at that time that I was going to run it.

But as cool as this running community thing is, I was reminded last night that it should not supercede everything else. My son Joseph has an out of town double-header in soccer and Michael (fingers crossed) will find his prom date and have an After-Prom party at the high school - which parents are asked to help at. I see many of Joseph's soccer games and we have good friends that I completely trust so I didn't think it was a big deal to ship him off with friends. As for Prom, it isn't me that is going so I didn't see the big deal for me to be around. Sort of forgot about the After-Prom party but still figured that the kids could/would have the same amount of fun regardless if I were there. As my wife Joan and I were 'discussing' my desire to do the 24 hr run, she reminded me that it would be nice for me to be around that day. She also inquired why I needed to go to Eldridge to run for 24 hours. I reflected on her inquiry and came to the conclusion that she was right. While the 24 hr run in Eldridge would be fun and cool, I can get this 'reality check' in my training outside of the 24 hr run. So....Rick and I plan to do our own 24 hour run - and it may not be entirely around a track. We may do some of it around a track, especially so people can come join us to watch and/or run but we are likely to run around town and perhaps to neighboring towns. So we will set a date in the near future and reach out to see if some of our local friends would be interested in joining us for an hour (or more...or less) during this run. I'm guessing that we'll probably do our lap running at Bettendorf High School instead of North Scott High School. We'll put together a plan with estimated routes/times and solicit some people to incorporate us into their run for the day. Who knows - maybe this could be the 8th LiveUncommon event for 2012? Probably not as the organization is most likely looking for more than 2 participants for its events :o)

Oftentimes in life we don't get or do exactly what we had intended to but that isn't always a bad thing. This is a minor adjustment in the training plan but a good test to see how I respond and to make sure I get the date and details coordinated.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 4, 2012

137 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...

Looking down from the top of the stairs at Bettendorf high School

Rick Fountain running the stairs at Bettendorf High School

Another good morning at the Bettendorf High School football stadium - 66 sets of stairs - 6 sets of 10, 1 set of 6. Gordon Staley joined us again this morning - actually he was already running them by the time we arrived. We decided to start a little earlier this morning - hitting the first set around 5:20 a.m. Upon arriving, Chad Uhde, Katie Gaffney, and Aaron Maurer were doing their speed work around the track running 800's. Usually we are the only ones there at this time - it was nice to see other faces. Following our stair workout we finished with a set of 40 pushups.

Planning on a weekend run on Saturday at 4:30 a.m. from Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf. Will loop back at 6 and 7:30 for those who want to join in - should finish up around 9:00 a.m.

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - April 3, 2012

138 days until the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run ....

Sorry for being so late with this post. Something called life sort of got in the way :o) I had some good runs with some great people on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. Monday was a day off - today (Tuesday) Rick and I ran the stairs at the Jumer's Tower in Bettendorf. Today's workout was determined by how many times we could climb the 9 story Jumer's Tower in 1 hour - we made it up 25 times (225 floors) - I thought that was quite good. We were huffing and puffing after the first time up but it really didn't seem to get much worse - just tired on top of tired. The trips up take roughly a minute - it is a tough minute but it doesn't last forever. I found myself thinking about running around a track so I suppose this was somewhat like running a bunch of 300 meter dashes. Of course we weren't sprinting but we were trying to move at a good pace. This was a 25% improvement over last week's performance. We'll try to work up to the level of the Honorable "Stair Master" Thomas Waterman, Esq. Tom regularly knocks out 33 1/3 trips up the Jumer Tower stairs (300 floors) so we have a bit to go before we are in his league but we are closing in on it :o)  It was another good day!

March 31st - Saturday's run - pictures forthcoming....- sorry for the blurriness - didn't think my hands were unsteady at the time. Great day - knocked out about 23 miles - a little cold - at one time we had about 25 runners running the last of 3 legs. We started out with 4 of us at 4:30 a.m. I helped the group get off to a 20 minute late start because my phone volume was set on silent - it went off but of course I didn't hear it. I was disappointed that I let the group down - I'm the one always telling people they need to arrive 5 minutes early before our scheduled run time. Fortunately I texted Rick about 4:39 a.m. and he had his phone nearby - he said they would wait for me. Our first leg was a little over an hour and we ran a good pace.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80014249

The second leg we did get close to 90 minutes in and our group grew from 4 to 12. Had some nice conversation, meeting some new people and talking about their running history and goals - it was quite inspiring.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80014587

On the 3rd leg we dropped a few but picked up another bunch of people, primarily Jane Wheeler's track and cross country girls from Pleasant Valley. They looked cold but warmed up shortly after we started moving.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80014765


April 1st

Rick and I wanted to get another back to back weekend in. Today we ran about 18 miles. We were out fairly late Saturday night at the Annual Bulldog Bash - fundraiser dinner/party for the Bettendorf Booster Club. Had a blast seeing many people we like - just made it a little more challenging to get up in the morning - so we didn't start until 6:30 am. The legs were feeling tired but after the first mile they started to loosen up.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80014943

Our good friend Merredyth Beno joined us on this second loop where we knocked out another 3.1 miles. I forgot to snap a photo so Rick says this means she has to come back!
http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80015123

The final leg of our run today went very well. Considering we were approaching 41 miles for the weekend, we finished very strong for the day. We oontinue to battle through these long runs and I like our chances for success in Leadville this summer!

Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!


http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/80015327