Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 13, 2012

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

Mt Ranier - Washington

This is the view looking east from the hotel I am staying at - sadly it was too cloudy this week that I haven't been able to see it yet. Maybe by the end of the week but with the rain and snow in the forecast I don't think it will happen.

Yesterday I did a treadmill workout consisting of...

0 – 5 minutes  level  5.0               12:00 mile pace
5 – 10 minutes  level  5.5             10:55 mile pace
10 – 15 minutes  level  6.0           10:00 mile pace
15 – 20 minutes  level  6.5           9:14 mile pace
20 – 25 minutes  level  7.0           8:30 mile pace
25 – 30 minutes  level  7.5           8:00 mile pace
30 – 35 minutes  level  8.0           7:30 mile pace
35 – 40 minutes  level  8.5           7:03 mile pace
40 – 45 minutes  level  9.0           6:40 mile pace
45 - 50 minutes  level  9.0            6:40 mile pace
50 - 55 minutes  level  9.0            6:40 mile pace
55 – 57 minutes  level  9.5           6:19 mile pace
57 – 60 minutes  level  10.0         6:00 mile pace

Bench press 3 sets of 10 at 185 lbs on a smith bench machine – easier than free bar – there must be something in the pulley system that makes it a little easier to bench.

I have mixed feelings about this workout.  My original plan was to continue increasing the speed level by .5, ending by running for 5 minutes at 10.5 (approximately 5:43 mile pace). Before starting, I thought  I shouldn’t be tired at all until 40 minutes since at that point I will have only run 5 minutes at the level 8.5 pace – which was  a far cry from last Thursday’s workout when I ran 45 minutes at level 8.5.  So I thought I could gut out four more 5 minute segments of 9.0, 9.5, 10.0, and 10.5. I was doing fine during my 5 minutes with level 9.0 but as I started thinking about the next 15 minutes I did not feel confident that I could continue to increase my pace. I also did not want to step backwards so I made a decision to stay at level 9.0 for at least 10 minutes at which time I wanted to move up to 9.5 for 5 minutes and 10.0 for the last 5 minutes. As I was approaching the 50 minute mark I felt like I could continue the pace I had set but did not have the confidence that I could finish the final 10 minutes at a higher level than 9.0. Therefore I stayed at this level for 5 more minutes. I had contemplated trying to jump straight to 10.0 for my final 5 minutes but I doubted if I could keep that pace. I did want to finish strong though so I convinced myself that I could do a combination of 9.5 and 10.0 for the last segment. I toyed with the idea of 3 minutes at 9.5 and 2 minutes at 10.0 and considered a 2:30/2:30 split. But in the back of my mind I also thought I could pull of 2 minutes at 9.5 and 3 minutes at 10.0. About 30 seconds before the 57 minute mark I made the decision I was going to try for my final 3 minutes at 10.0 – and I did it! I finished running about 8.5 miles in an hour which is something to be proud of. I didn’t achieve the crazy goal I had set at the beginning of the workout which is good for my humility. On the other hand, running the final 30 minutes at progressively faster paces from 7:30 down to 6:00 minute mile paces after getting in a good 30 minute warm up is a testament to the endurance we are starting to build with this training. I worked hard, it felt good, and I will keep training for the beast that I will encounter in August!

Today I ran 6.2 miles through the city of DuPont. It was a little cold and drizzling but the sun came out and it was good to get out for a run after being inside all day teaching a class for the US Army. I was attempting to make it to Puget Sound and thought I had it figured out on the map but I must have miscalculated. I ran up against a fence surrounding a corporate building that blocked my path to the water - so I went back and ran more through the city. Came across a young woman who turned onto the path and she was moving at a pretty good pace. I visited with her for about 5 minutes as we ran together and learned she was training for the Seattle marathon. Her goal was to break 4 hrs - her previous run was 4:17. At the pace she was moving I told her she would blow 4 hrs out of the water. I never asked her what her name was - just enjoyed visiting with another runner. She seemed to be a very happy person and was thoroughly enjoying her time outside. The route I ran is listed below...

http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/view/74926298 

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 12, 2012

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

Chicago Skyline

Went on a mini-vacation this past weekend with my family in Chicago. My wife Joan had a Physical Therapy continuing education conference while 4 of my 5 children and I played at the museums and I took 3 of my boys to see the Bulls defeat the Jazz at the United Center in an exciting game. Should have run up the Sears (Willis) Tower since I was in there but it never really crossed my mind at the time :o)

A relaxing weekend to be honest but I did get a little time in on the Embassy Suites hotel treadmill. Original plan was to go 60 minutes on the treadmill but felt a little pressed for time (and I was tired) so I cut it to 30 minutes :o)

I set the treadmill on Level 4.5 with an incline of 12.5. This was pretty difficult. Less than 5 minutes into the workout I could feel the outer front muscle of my left shin begin to hurt (pain, throb, burn - take your pick). I didn't attribute it to an injury - part of me thought that maybe I hadn't stretched enough ahead of time. I was a bit confused because the outer front muscle on my right shin did not hurt. Another part of me thought that perhaps this was just my muscles working hard at a level/incline they had not been exposed to. After about 20 minutes I started feeling a similar pain in my right leg. I'm not sure I ever figured out the answer. Once I finished it no longer hurt so I ended up attributing this to growing pains associated with taxing my body a little bit more than I had previously.

So I didn't go the entire hour which was a slight setback from what Rick and I have done for the past month or more. On the other hand it was a rigorous power walk workout and I think it was a positive day for my training for Leadville.

Rick is doing some stair running and long running out in San Diego - I'll keep tabs on him during the week. I'm heading to the state of Washington to teach a course for the US Army tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm excited to see the beautiful scenery and it is always an honor to work with the wonderful people who serve our country in the military and as civilians.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 8, 2012

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

Double rainbow - awesome! Isn't nature beautiful? Rick and I had plans to run outside for an hour today - we were expecting the weather to be as wonderful as yesterday (in the 60's). The thought of running outside in shorts and a long sleeve or short sleeve t-shirt was very appealing given some of the cold weather we had been running in over the last couple of months. However, when I woke up, it seemed colder and more windy than I had predicted so I quickly texted Rick to see if he wanted to forego the outside for the inside treadmill - he chose the treadmill in a New York minute.

By the time we made it to the Y and warmed up, we were a little more pressed for time so we opted for a 45 minute run instead of a 60 minute run. The big question for the day was 'what level do we aim for?' Since I had been able to get 30 minutes in at level 8.5 last week and actually felt like I had a little more in me, I took a chance and aimed for 8.5 for 45 minutes. I wanted to get at least 30 minutes in at this level to match what I did last week but wasn't sure how I would do with 45 minutes. Rick said he felt the same way. Nonetheless we decided to give it a go - and wouldn't you know it?.... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Actually at minute 44 we cranked up the speed to Level 9 and finished really strong. When it was all over I was really feeling like I could have kept going longer.

I would be lying to you if I told you I thought this was going to be easy - I didn't. Actually I was questioning whether I could do it and was a little fearful of failing - not sure why I was afraid of that. If I fail at a workout, so what? At least I know where I'm at and what I need to work on.  I guess I didn't put too much thought into it, we made a quick decision to try it, turned the treadmill on, and off we went!

So today's lesson might be another example of Ken Chlouber's quote that I love so much "You are better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can". Maybe I just need to have a little more faith in myself, not worry about failure, and push myself as much as I can. The level 10 for 60 minutes that my friend Christian Robbins has done still seems so much like a pipe dream for me but I do feel like I'm getting closer. I'm quite confident that I could have finished 60 minutes at Level 8.5 today if I had taken the time to stay on the treadmill. I'm also confident that I could maintain Level 10 for 20 minutes - it makes me wonder if I could do 25 minutes? 30 minutes? I guess there is only one way to find out and I expect to make that attempt in the future :o)

We finished the day on the bench press with 3 sets of 8 at 180 lbs - Rick's third set was 10 reps instead of 8 - he's extremely strong on the bench press - I don't ever expect to surpass him but if I can stay somewhat close, I'll be very happy with the results.

This weekend my family and I are headed to Chicago for a mini vacation and my wife's continuing education conference for her Physical Therapy license - next week I will be in the state of Washington for a work assignment. I expect to do some running and blogging but if you don't see as frequent of blogs over the next week, that is the reason why.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 7, 2012

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

prize for 3rd person to show up for stairs this morning at Bettendorf High School football stadium - bummer!

I feel horrible I wasn't able to give away this gift intended for the 3rd person to join us on our venture with the stairs this morning :o) Rick misunderstood - thinking it was for the second person (which was him). Maybe this is another one of those life lessons - sometimes when you don't take advantage of a great opportunity, you may never get a second chance. March 7, 2012's workout is in the books - but you can join us for a future one in a couple of weeks. Don't expect me to bring this much money next time!

Today we ran 76 sets of stairs altogether (4 sets of 15, 1 set of 16). Not much to report - feeling great after yesterday's workout and really enjoyed the 55 degree weather at 5:30 a.m. I ran this one in shorts and wasn't the least bit cold! Some of the sets went faster than the others, primarily due to distraction from talking to each other. We get into some very tough topic life issues which makes the morning doubly good.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 6, 2012

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

Sauna room at the Bettendorf YMCA

I always like entering this room, not because it is 100 + degrees, rather because it signifies we have completed our workout for the day. It also feels good to sweat and stretch out in the hot sauna.

It is interesting how our attitudes are shaped by the events and experiences surrounding them. Even today, unpleasant feelings enter my head when I hear the song from Captain and Tenille "Do that to me one more time" because it always seemed to be the first song that went off on my alarm clock radio at 5:30 a.m. the winter we had 6:00 a.m. basketball practices when I was a freshman in high school.

Today was a bit different than normal. When I was talking to my friend Christian Robbins about treadmill workouts, he suggested that a good one to try was 60 minutes on the treadmill at incline of 6 and level 6. I had been wanting to try it and Rick said he was up for it, so we decided to give it a shot. Going into it I was wondering how long I'd be able to go. While the 6 incline wasn't too intimidating given that we had been working at inclines of 12-15, the thought of moving at a 10 minute mile pace at this incline for an hour straight seemed like a great challenge.

About 10 minutes into the workout, I began to feel more tired than when I had started and the leg muscles were feeling slightly challenged. Much to my surprise, the feeling stayed the same (didn't get any worse) for the remainder of the workout. We were contemplating how we might shift to something different at 30 minutes but as we approached the midpoint, we decided to just keep going. I believe our long weekend runs and hill training was great preparation for today's workout. For the last minute, we cranked up the speed to 7.0 and that didn't seem difficult at all. Actually we both commented that we felt like we could have continued at this pace for a while longer.

We finished the day with 2 sets of 8 at 180 lbs on the benchpress.

To say that today was easy would not be an accurate statement - our shirts were drenched in sweat and we did work hard; however, we had more energy remaining inside of us than we normally do at the end of our workouts. It was a good day!

For anyone interested we will be running stadium stairs at the Bettendorf High School football stadium at 5:30 a.m. tomorrow morning - we'd love to see you there. We usually run for close to an hour but feel free to come and go as you please.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 3, 2012

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




Indiana Ave - 1/4 mile north of I-80 and Middle Rd - Bettendorf, IA
from left to right - Phil Pancrazio, Chad Uhde, John O'Brien, Brian Tritt, Katie Gaffney, Aaron Maurer, Rick Fountain, and Curt Johnston - John Byrne (photographer)



Just north of the I-80 and Middle Rd exit. Group debating on the Big Question - whether to run to Chicago or Des Moines?  from left to right...Brian Tritt, Curt Johnston, Rick Fountain, Katie Gaffney, John O'Brien, Aaron Maurer, Chad Uhde, Phil Pancrazio - John Byrne (photographer)


18.2 miles in 2 hrs 52 minutes - total distance and running time for Saturday morning.

Our first 90 minute leg started at 4:32 am - we had five runners, more than I was expecting today. Aaron Maurer, Katie Gaffney, Chad Uhde, Rick Fountain, and myself. I was under the impression that a few of these people had prior commitments and wouldn't be able to make it so it was a pleasant surprise when the additional cars pulled up to my house.

I'm not sure how many people find much joy in getting up at 4 a.m. followed by running many miles but this group of people makes it fun. Five minutes into the run I am always so glad to be on the road with this bunch. Parts of the path were a bit icy but not too bad. We always start off a little slow - it takes the body a little distance before it gets warmed up. Once we get moving, we pick up the pace quite nicely and usually finish with a negative split on the trip back. The first leg of the run was a a 9 mile run through parts of Bettendorf and on the bike path.

At 5:58 am we arrived back at my house expecting to find two more people who said they planned to be there. Given the snow Friday and the relatively cold weather I wouldn't have been surprised if people had changed my mind. Little did I know that there would be 4 people awaiting our arrival - WOW! This has never happened before. Since we didn't lose any runners for the second leg, we actually had 9 runners leaving my house at 6 am. The street looked like I had an overnight party with all the cars parked out front of my house. The five who started chose to continue on and we picked up four new runners (Brian Tritt, Curt Johnston, Phil Pancrazio, and John O'Brien). This 9.2 mile leg took us out through northeast Bettendorf and north past Interstate 80. In the past we had made it within about 1/4 mile of reaching an east-west street called Indiana Avenue. I've always wanted to show this to Aaron Maurer since he was raised in this state. Today was the day. For some reason when we took off from my house we were running at a faster pace than normal and were able to reach Indiana Ave - and in less time than we normally run in that direction. We reached Indiana Ave in 42 minutes - surprising to me since we haven't reached it in the past running for 45 minutes. Part of the reason might have been due to the wind that seemed to be at our backs on the way out. This was the same wind hitting us in the face on the way back :o)

I must say that I've enjoyed running in groups of 2-6 but there is something powerful that occurs as the group grows in size. We have never run in a group of 9 before - it was awesome!

All in all, a very good day - another one to feel good about. Playing basketball tomorrow so I'll be taking Monday off.

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

Journey to Leadville - Byrne - March 2, 2012

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

pretty cool picture, don't you think?  keep persevering!

YES! Another one of those GREAT workouts. I seem to have many of those when I"m around others - maybe there is a lot of wisdom in that. I took yesterday off - had a wondeful opportunity to speak to a local Rotary International Group about Leadville at 7 a.m. so I didn't want to risk being late from a workout. I had plans to take either Thursday or Friday off so on Wednesday I decided that day would be Thursday.

So I planned on this morning being a treadmill day - just wasn't sure what to do. We have been doing a couple different types of workouts.

The first type of workout is to run for 60 consecutive minutes at as fast a pace as we think we can sustain without any rest. The last time we did this workout was at level 8.3 (approximately a 7:20 minute mile).

The second type of workout is running at level 10 (6:00 minute mile pace) for 60 minutes with rest interspersed throughout. The last time we did this workout we did 2 minute/1 minute run/rest intervals for 20 sets (equal to 1 hr), except ran the last 1 minute rest period to end up with 41 minutes of running and 19 minutes of resting at the 6:00 minute mile pace.

The ultimate goal is to get to where my friend Christian Robbins from Denver, CO has been - running 60 consecutive minutes at level 10. It seems so far away sometimes yet we keep ratcheting it up, getting closer than where we were before.

I always feel good afterwards but it is intimidating to think about beforehand because both workouts are very hard and I know I"m going to be tired early into the workout. So, as I've done in the past, I avoid responsibility and pawn off the tough decisions on Rick. I was leaning toward trying to do an 8.5 level run for 60 minutes and was rueing the fatigue I thought I'd be going through but I didn't say anything. Instead, when I asked him what he thought we should do, he responded, "Let's try a combination workout where we do a little of each." Hmm - that sounded interesting. On the one hand, 30 minutes of each sounded less intimidating that 60 minutes of either. On the other hand, we would have the blessing of getting kicked in the tail two different ways - how fun! But since I asked him what he thought I also felt like I should try what he recommended. Staying true to my 'no whining' policy, I said, "Sure, let's do it."

So for the first 30 minutes, I set the treadmill to level 8.5 and took off.  Psychologically it felt good because we only had to run 30 minutes without resting instead of 60 minutes without resting. It wasn't easy but it went fairly well. The good news is that this was an increase from last time's level of 8.3 to today's level of 8.5. I was happy to complete it and felt proud to realize the improvement. A far cry from the 6 minute mile pace we are striving for but we're making progress :o)

It was my call to take a 5 minute break in between this segment and the next segment. I suppose we could have gone right into phase two but I convinced myself that the reward for an improved run was deserving of a 5 minute rest. Maybe it was a poor decision but did it ever feel good!

So on to phase two... the plan here was to do 10 segments at level 10 of 2:10 run / :50 rest. Each segment totaled 3 minutes and the total time was 30 minutes. I did it! Run time totaled 21:40 and rest time totaled 8:20. The most recent performance on this workout was doing a 2:00 run / 1:00 rest for 60 minutes. A few weeks prior I had done 2:10 run / :50 rest for 10 sets, backed off to 2:00 run / 1:00 rest for 4 sets, and 1:50 run / 1:10 rest for 6 sets. The part I'm pleased with is that I was able to achieve the 2:10 / :50 split following 30 minutes of running at 7:00 mile pace albeit I did have the 5 minute rest.

So, yes, I'm pretty excited that while both of these were 1/2 workouts so to speak, there was a noticeable improvement on each half. As we keep working hard, good things will continue to happen!

Following this challenging treadmill workout, we headed over to the benchpress, an area where Rick shines, as well as my buddies Erol Melik and Doug Himmelman. I'm a bench press wannabee and will keep working at it. Rick placates me by doing whatever I want on the bench but I strongly suspect he can usually do more than what I propose.

Today we were working toward 3 sets of 10 at 175 lbs. Rick knocked them out - 10, 10, 10 - no surprise.
John did 10, 10, 9 and almost 10 :o( - I just could not push out that last one - DARN! Oh well, it's good to be humbled and I'll keep working at it. Locking out that 10th rep would have made it a perfect workout :o) 

Tomorrow we start at 4:30 am for a quick 3 hr run - looping back at the house at 6:00 am for a quick refuel - join us if you like. Text me if you need directions....563-343-3909.

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