Journey to Leadville - Byrne - May 1, 2012

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

Happy May Day!

Early morning stairs crew - Gordon, Todd, Rick, Lindsay, and Curt

Gordon and Todd were especially excited about coming today as they thought I had left them May Day baskets full of candy at the top of the stadium stairs. Unfortunately the only treats available were bottles of Gatorade at the bottom of the stairs following the workout.

On our way to the stadium, I made Gordon honk at the 6b46 group from his big white pick up truck. It looked like a dozen or so were well into their run for the morning. Uhde and Maurer probably thought we were honking because of their legs - not true. The 6b46 group was very focused - they didn't even look up to wave.

Lindsay C, Curt J, Todd H, Gordon S, Rick F, and I made it to the stair workout today at Bettendorf High School football stadium (picture forthcoming). We knocked out 62 sets of stairs today and 26.2 pushups at the end. Once again we start out in the dark and the cold and finish with daylight and not so cold. Another good day of building the quads! Rick and I have been doing this for awhile but it's pretty cool that we now think of Lindsay, Curt, Todd, and Gordon as regulars and we can put them on the sign up list to bring donuts following our workouts.

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

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!