Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 9, 2012

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

Today was a great day! It has been a really good winter to train - much of it outside in weather that hasn't been too rough. I've had great people to train and share information with about strategy and nutrition and enjoy fellowship with. Today we were inside going at it on the treadmill. I had 2 workouts in mind and decided to let Rick choose. Workout #1 - Run for 60 minutes on the treadmill at Level 10 - 2 minutes on, 1 minute off. Workout #2 - Run for 60 minutes on the treadmill at Level 8.2 - no rest. These were two workouts I have been thinking we should do but since we could only do one today, we would do what Rick selected. I preferred Workout #1 - thinking that I would appreciate the rest period every two minutes. Rick may have read my mind - so he picked Workout #2!

A couple weeks ago we did run 60 consecutive minutes - 30 minutes at Level 7.9 and 30 minutes at Level 8.2 - with a 1 minute rest in between the two sets. It wasn't easy but we did it and I thought we should try to ratchet it up a bit. I wondered if I could get the entire 60 minutes at 8.2, but I knew for sure that I could do at least 30 minutes at this speed.

I settled into a rhythm and felt pretty focused most of the time. I tried to keep my arms relaxed, my breathing steady, and running in a steady pattern. Physically the hardest part should have been 55 - 60 minutes into the workout. Mentally it was the easiest part because I knew it was almost over and I felt great knowing that the workout was 90% complete. The hardest part for me occurs in the 10 - 25 minute range as I begin to fatigue yet realize I have much more than 50% left. 30 minutes is a magical point to hit - knowing we become ever so closer to the finish with each passing second. Rick and I distract ourselves by calculating how many strides we have completed, how many we have yet to complete, the percentage of the workout that has been completed, the percentage of the workout that we have yet to complete, the number of minutes we have completed, and how many minutes we have yet to complete. Chad Uhde usually comes by about 40 minutes into the workout after he has finished running outside with the Crazies and we make him talk to us for a few minutes to help pass more time. He probably wants to say hi and move on but we ask him questions and make him give us more details on anything he is willing to talk about. When tired on the treadmill we are pretty shameless in making people stay and talk to us for as long as they are willing :o)

After the treadmill workout we knocked out 2 benchpress sets of 12 at 160 lbs.

Upon completion I was happy to feel like I could have kept on going. I don't think I've felt like this before after a hard run for 60 minutes and I really liked that feeling! Level 8.2 equates to a 7:19 minute mile pace - I was pleased to hold this pace for 60 consecutive minutes. I just discovered this treadmill conversion chart which gives an equivalent 'road' speed based on the combination of treadmill speed and treadmill incline %.

http://www.hillrunner.com/training/tmillchart.php

At an incline of 0, which I used, the 7:19 pace translates to a 7:38 mile - bummer :o( That's okay - I'm getting better. I'm happy with today's run although it is a far cry from Christian's consecutive 60 minutes on the treadmill at Level 10 (Christian is on the right with the beard).

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 8, 2012

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

Tom Beck - Bettendorf Y - Early morning  front desk man. Note two things here - first the smile on this man's face. Second, the time on the clock in the background - it is about 5:03 a.m. Normally these two things do not go together for human beings. Every so often in life you meet a person that you are so glad you've come to know - Tom is one of those people for me. . I've had the opportunity to talk to Tom before and after workouts and I am so grateful for his positive approach to people and his attitude toward life. Tom is a very faith filled person and that may well be his biggest secret weapon. He told me once that he loves working at the Y because he is inspired by all of the positive energy that people bring with them while they are working out and trying to improve themselves. I can see his point but to be honest, I find that he inspires me with his continued kindness and upbeat attitude. While the Y is supposed to open at 5 a.m. he shows up around 4 to open it up for those who want to get their workout in a little earlier. (I'm not one of those guys that shows up before 5 a.m. - that is early enough for me!) When I look back on all this training for Leadville, Tom will be one of those guys that I am going to credit with helping me along the way - he is a blessing to everyone who knows him.

Today's workout was on the stairs at the Bettendorf Footall Stadium. Rick and I did 62 trips up - 4 sets of 12 and 1 set of 14. All went well today - good workout!

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 7, 2012

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

These are our friends at the Y better known as 11 & 12.  We like to get these two because they are right in front of the TV that is tuned to ESPN.  Today was another power incline walking day. Rick and I met a little after 5 am and were into our hour long power walk at 5:18 a.m. Like we did the previous week our goal was to break through another barrier, which I’m proud to say that we did! I believe we would have had much more difficulty doing what we did today 2-3 weeks ago.

Basically we jumped up our initial speed by .2 from 4.0 to 4.2 – perhaps it wasn’t a significant jump but it was an improvement and it meant that with our increases during the last 30 minutes, we worked harder than we did the week before and the week before that. We continue to make very good progress and I’m excited to see where we are several weeks from now. It was a good workout but honestly I’m not sure I was as tired as I was the previous week when we did a workout of less difficulty – could this possibly mean we are starting to get in shape?

Listed below is a comparison of our last 3 weeks of power walking on a steep incline:

Time           February 7^th                           January 31st                           January 24th
0-30 min     Level 4.2 Incline 12.0             Level 4.0  Incline 12.0            Level 3.7  Incline 12.0
30-35 min   Level 4.3 incline 12.0             Level 4.0  Incline 12.5            Level 3.8  Incline 12.0
35-40 min   Level 4.3 Incline 12.5             Level 4.0  Incline 13.0            Level 3.9  Incline 12.0
40-45 min   Level 4.4 Incline 12.5             Level 4.0  Incline 13.5            Level 4.0  Incline 12.0
45-50 min   Level 4.4 Incline 13.0             Level 4.1  Incline 13.5            Level 4.0  Incline 12.5
50-55 min   Level 4.5 Incline 13.0             Level 4.2  Incline 13.5            Level 4.0  Incline 13.0
55-60 min   Level 4.5 Incline 13.5             Level 4.3  Incline 13.5            Level 4.0  Incline 13.5

We then wrapped up our day with 3 sets of 10 on the bench press at 160 lbs.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 5, 2012

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

Fun Superbowl! I love close games!!!! Incredible to think that the Hail Mary pass at the end of the game was almost caught!

                                           My good friend Doug Himmelman.

I met Doug 6 years ago when our sons played baseball together and came to know him better through school activities, coaching together, and doing a lot of training together. Doug is a great guy, has an awesome family with his wife Jody and their boys Johnathan and Carter, is a great role model for me and many others with his relentless desire to do the right thing by God and in the community, and he is a tireless worker - a trait I admire so much in a person. I'm not sure if I've met anyone who is so committed to staying physically active whether it is weightlifting, running, swimming, biking, or cross training. He embodies the spirit of an athlete - often training for a marathon, half-marathon, triathalon, obstacle course run, bench press goal, Leadville, or something else cool.

I had the honor of going to Colorado in 2007 with Doug and his family when he entered the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run. It was fun sharing my prior knowledge and experiences from Leadville with Doug and training with him. There aren't too many friends you can find who will go run 20, 30, and 40 miles with you - I'm lucky to have a few friends like that.

Doug played football for St. Ambrose University in the mid-late 80's and is a member of the Hall of Fame - although you would never know it by talking to him - he's pretty humble. Doug is an incredibly strong man. Recently he benched 300 lbs - after having completed 74 reps of lighter weights laddering up to 300 lbs! I was blown away when I learned this; on the other hand, it should't surprise me. I know Doug has a goal of hitting 325 - 5 lbs more than he benched in college and I would bet anything that he will achieve it. He knows how to set goals and how to persevere enough to complete them.

Doug is a two time champion of the Himmelman Distance Classic (est 2010) - an annual marathon that occurs in Bettendorf, IA. How many people do you know who have a race named after them and who have won all of its races?

Recently he has had some issues with his hip so he has been joining us on some slow bike rides along side of us while he is getting healed up. I can't put into words how meaningful that is to me to have a friend who is willing to rise early in the morning to spend time with us.

Below are maps of the two legs we ran this morning. Mr. Reliable, Rick Fountain, showed up  ready to go at 5:30 am this morning. Our legs were a little tired and a little sore from yesterday's 20 mile run but we were doing well and know this is the type of training we must continue to put our bodies through. A great lift occurred on the 2nd leg when Doug showed up on the bike to haul our Gatorade and water, provide conversation to motivate us and keep us distracted from thinking about tired legs :o)

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/67876176  9.08 miles

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/67876458/?new_route=1   8.98 miles

Total                                                                                                    18.06 miles

I was really happy with the distance we covered and the pace at which we ran today. I truly felt like we finished quite strong and felt like we could have kept going for a while longer if we wanted to. We didn't plan to go further and I needed to get to church so stopping at 8:30 am worked out just fine and I made it on time :o)

We finished the weekend running a little short of 6 hrs and covering over 37 miles. We take tomorrow off - looking forward to the rest - I think we've earned it :o)

Rick and I talked about our attitude toward running on Sunday when we had just ran 3 hrs on Saturday. If it weren't for Leadville we would not feel so motivated to run Sunday. But since we want to be successful at Leadville, Sunday's workout felt necessary. It didn't really matter if it rained, sleeted, or snowed (we did have beautiful weather though) or if we had plenty of sleep the night before - we were GOING to run this morning.

I joke with Rick that I give our other friends an option as to whether they will join us or whether they want to go 1.5 or 3 hours with us on our 4.5 hour runs - but he does not have an option. In part, it is true - I want him to succeed so badly and know that the harder we work, the less difficult Leadville will be. I feel so good about what we have done to date and I truly believe that we have built an extremely strong base to continue getting better and have a couple of great days when August arrives. We need to keep working though - and our friends have been an instrumental part of us being able to continue working hard and running long.

Weighed in tonight at about 196 lbs - I'm supposed to be at 192 lbs. No big deal but it is time to really get serious about what I'm putting in my body. I've had people ask me what my diet plan is and I'm a little sheepish when I say I really don't have one. As a result, I do tend to eat what is in front of me and what looks good at the moment. While I'm not overweight and can maintain with this heavy workout schedule, I know that I must become disciplined in my diet if I intend to lose 16 more pounds. I'll take some tips on diet if you wish to offer some. I will consciously try to eat more soup for meals and cut out bread and desserts.

When I think about it, the hard part ought to be getting up so early in the morning and putting in the work in that we do - which we have done a great job at. It would seem that getting adequate rest and eating properly should be the easy part. But since it doesn't seem to be for me, I need to buckle down and get to work. This week served as a wake up call for me. I WILL have a good week eating and look forward to reporting better results next weekend.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 4, 2012

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

Great morning! We went running for about 3 hours and covered 19-20 miles - I will finalize once I map out this route. Those who joined us are listed above - Rick Fountain, Mike Thavenet, Katie Gaffney, Chad Uhde, and Curt Johnston. This picture was taken near Interstate 80 north of Bettendorf. We did a 1 hr 40 minute loop as well as a 1 hr 16 minute loop - finishing just short of a 3 hour run. Curt and Mike joined us for the second loop. It was awesome having so many people join us.

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/67874726/?new_route=1  - 10.86 miles

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/67875076/?new_route=1  - 8.98 miles

Total                                                                                                     19.84 miles total

We had some great conversation about improving the quality of one's life by spending time with positive people - I was sure in great company this morning. There is something special about a group of people that are willing to join in a run beginning at 4:33 a.m.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 2, 2012

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

February 2 - Happy Groundhog Day! Foggy here today, I'm guessing he won't see his shadow - he doesn't even look like he can see his toes! If I look like him come time for Leadville, I probably won't finish :o)

Great day and bummer day at the same time. The bummer was that my buddy Rick is nursing a sore hip. When I spoke to him last night he told me that he had tweaked his hip playing basketball. I asked how it happened - he replied, "You know what it's like when you go up and you get caught in the rim? I landed funny on the way down and tweaked my hip." I immediately laughed while replying, "No, I don't know what it is like to get caught in the rim!" I wish I did but that isn't a problem I have had to deal with. Nonetheless he thought he'd make it in the morning. This morning I looked at my cell phone just as I was getting ready to leave and it was from Rick saying that his hip was still really sore and he felt like he needed to rest it. I completely agree - it is foolish to run on an injured body - I told him to heal up.

So I was faced with the dilemma as to what to do. In the past, I have gone back to bed. This time I decided to go - I was already ready and we're taking tomorrow off from running as a break before our 3 hour runs on Saturday and Sunday. 

Our intended workout was to work hard on the treadmill toward the seemingly unreachable treadmill workout of my friend Christian Robbins who runs 60 minutes on the treadmill at Level 10 nonstop (6 minute mile pace). Today was both an exciting and humbling experience for me. Exciting in that I did better than I ever have before with this type of workout. Humbling because I had to ease up on the last half hour a bit - which increased the admiration I have for what Christian does on a regular basis. I truly appreciate having him to look up to and to keep striving toward this amazing achievement. So here is what I did...

1/2 mile warm up jog
0 - 30 minutes Level 10 - 2:10 on  :50 off
30 - 42 minutes Level 10 - 2:00 on 1:00 off
42 - 60 minutes Level 10 - 1:50 on 1:10 off
3 sets of 8 on the benchpress - 160 lbs

I was beat at the end of this workout! Sweat all over the place - my running shoes were drenched as well as the clothes I was wearing. Small puddles of sweat gathered on pockets of the treadmill machine - would have been a great opportunity for the Bounty company to test the absorption power of its paper towels. I was doing well for 20 minutes and then found it began getting harder. I made up my mind that I wouldn't ease up until I had hit the 30 minute mark. At that point I was adamant about going the entire 60 minutes so I thought it would be wise to back off a bit - giving myself an extra 10 seconds of rest and reducing my run by 10 seconds for the remainder of the workout. I wish I would have run 1 additional set at the 2:00 on 1:00 off pace for 25% of my workout but I wasn't thinking clearly as I actually started the workout 4:00 into the time clock on the treadmill. My fatigue also encouraged me to move to the last run/rest ratio. Once I moved to the final run/rest ratio of 1:50/1:10, I really didn't want to ease up any more. During a few of my rests as I was bent over trying to catch my breath, I'd focus on my Dig Deep bracelet and tell myself this was the time to hang in there and keep going. I did and I feel proud. There certainly is room for improvement but I think I did well today.

The improvements came in a couple areas from our last run like this:
1. I ran for 60 minutes instead of 45 minutes - a 33% increase at a high speed workout - I'll take that anyday
2. For the first 30 minutes I ran 10 seconds longer and rested 10 seconds less than the previous workout - doesn't seem like much but it adds up
3. For the next 12 minutes I matched what we had done last week 2:00 on/1:00 off. No improvement per se but it followed 30 minutes of a higher instensity workout
4. For the remaining 18 minutes I had to scale back but it was still a good workout and I pressed on for an additional 15 minutes.

The treadmill said I burned up over 1100 calories in a time frame of 60 minutes - that made me feel good. I missed having Rick today and I hope his hip recovers soon but it was also good for my mental toughness to be able to go do a hard workout on my own.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - February 1, 2012

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

                              The road to Winfield - miles 47 - 52

Anothe picturesque shot of Leadville. This may be the most beautiful race in the world in terms of scenery. Unfortunately between darkness, fatigue, and focusing on the race, I don't think I appreciated its beauty in 2005 as much as I should have. I'll try to enjoy it more this time :o)

The road to Winfield - a deserted ghost town that marks the 50 mile turnaround point. Just coming off Hope Pass, it is a 2.5 mile run along a gravel road to the halfway point and 2.5 miles back to the base of Hope Pass. It sounds like an easy run after coming off a steep mountain but it feels twice as long as it actually is. The 2.5 mile run to Winfield is a gradual uphill and is quite tiring - probably because 47.5 miles preceded it. The run back is a gradual downhill and while it feels good, those good feelings are offset by knowing that the steeper climb up the back side of Hope Pass is waiting...

My training for Leadville 2012 officially began on Sept 1, 2012 - 352 days prior to the race. The half way point is coming up soon - February 24, 2012 to be exact. However, we will substantially taper our training by August 6th - 2 weeks prior to the race. So using August 6th as the date where serious training ends, the half way point will actually be February 17th - only 16 days away - wow!  There have been plenty of times I see my alarm clock before 5 a.m. and I will enjoy those future days when I do sleep in longer (or maybe I'll move on to some other challenge which will keep me rising earlier - who knows?). I do need to get to bed earlier though - an area I can definitely improve on - the body needs rest when it is being physically challenged.

I'm beginning to reflect on approaching the halfway point of our training - just like Winfield is the halfway point at Leadville. I am proud of what we have accomplished and I truly feel like we've accomplished what we set out to do in August. I also know we have a long ways to go - and the tougher half of my training awaits. That's okay because we have prepared ourselves to meet this challenge. The workouts we have been posting lately would have been unthinkable last September.

This morning's workout was our regular stair workout at the Bettendorf High School football stadium. Rick and I pounded out 61 sets of stairs in a little less than an hour - 5 sets of 10 and 1 set of 11 (we usually like to do an extra set during the last round - just to dig deep a little more). I felt really good after this workout - felt like we could have gone much longer if we had time.

Looking to go for a couple 3 hour runs this weekend - 4:30 am from my house on Saturday and 5:00 am on Sunday from either my house or Rick's house. We will loop back after an hour and a half to pick up or drop off anyone who would rather only run 1.5 hours.

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