Chilly Creeks Duathlon Race 1

Over the weekend, I decided to do something that I had never done before, but was interested in trying: a Duathlon.
I had been excited about this race since I signed up a few months ago, and did my best to try to ride here and there which I failed to do. About all I was able to do was use the exercise bike we have in the house, which I guess was better than nothing. I figured that I put in about 30-40 miles last week, and 35-50 the week before on the bike. Again, not the right way to train, but with the weather doing its thing lately I would have not ridden outside anyways.
So, Andy Rinne and I arrived early Saturday morning at the Marina at Cherry Creek State Park and noticed that it was very cold outside, and not warming up. We still had 2 hours before race time, so we were hoping that things would change. As we were sitting in the car, we started to look at the different types of bikes people had, ranging from MTB bikes to full on race bikes that were worth well over 5000.00. This is the first lesson about Duathlons: In order to be in the mix, you have to have a light, fast bike, and you also need to have some time on the bike. I was already at a big disadvantage being that my Giant ATX-970 Mtb from 1999 was most likely 30 lbs or heavier. I guess I should have entered the Fat Tire division, but oh well.
We finally got out and ran a little bit and noticed that any trail areas were snow packed and icy and had heard that the bike course had a far amount of ice and snow on it as well. We then got the bikes out, set them up in the staging area and went and ran more. Race time was 10:00, and it still was somewhat cold out, so we decided that running pants, gloves, hat and all the fun stuff was going to be what we used. We really had no idea of what the run course was like, and didn’t go out on the bike course at all, so we were unsure of how the race was going to play out. I was in Wave A and Rinne was in Wave C so he would start at 10:02. It was finally race time, and they gave us directions, lined us up and did the normal countdown and off we went. From about 10 meters until the rest of the run portion of the race, I was gone. I would guess that I took the mile out in high 4:30’s to low 4:40’s and never looked back from there. The first mile was on the road, and I finally hit the turn for the dirt portion of the run. It was snow packed and hilly which made it interesting. By the time I hit the timing mat at 4 miles and got my bike and went on, I was up by about 5 minutes. The run time was nothing great, 21:27, but I found out that it was 4.15 miles, not 4. I think the snow also slowed things down a bit.
Once I got on the bike, I just tried to settle in and enjoy the race. I was cruising along and feeling good and lead until about I would guess 7 or 8 miles into the race. Interesting enough, the guys with the light, fast bikes caught up and blazed past me like I was standing still. First it was one, then another and finally two more that caught and passed me. I just tried to ride as well as I could at this point and finally finish in 59 something. When I looked at the results, I saw that they were averaging about 23 Mph to my 18.1 Mph. Doesn’t seem like much, but damn what a difference it was. I saw one guy was riding at 32.1 Mph for his average!! So fifth overall in my race, and I guess 7th overall for combined races.

Nielson Challenge Record Broken

Well,
The record went down in a big way this weekend!!!! As many people know, a group of local runners here in the springs set out to break the 10 minute time at the 2 mile Nielson Challenge. Only one person had come close to getting under 10 minutes (Justin Chaston) so we decided it was time to go for attempt 1. I had worked with a few of my close running friends to set this up, so we make an event page on Face book, and Andy Rinne contacted someone at the Pikes Peak Road Runners and had them post something about it on their website.
The web posting helped attract people to come out and watch the event, and we had people telling us that they only came out to see us break the record. Talk about pressure!!! Now, the Nielson Challenge is not a big time event, and its free every month. Its a figure 8 course that has a 180 degree at the 800 meter turn around point. Kinda sucks to have to basically stop and get going again.
On race day, Ryan Hafer, Robby Young, Justin Ricks, Daniel Castaneda, Andy Rinne, Andrew Abdella and myself were there. Ryan, Robby, Justin and I talked about not going out like fools and focusing on running the 800 in about 2:20-2:23. We hit it in 2:22 I believe. The mile was about 4:53 or so, and right on target. The third 800 meter section of the course is the hardest and you are basically running uphill and not trying to die. We knew that this section would make or break the race, so Robby and I pushed hard and tried to maintain the pace. At this point Justin had fallen back a bit and Ryan was hanging on as well as he could. We finished the 1.5 miles of the race and had just the last 800 meters to go. This is the fastest part of the course and I decided that it was time to really make the final hard push to the finish and put a little gap on Robby. However, we had already talked about finishing together so I backed off just slightly and we ran it in finishing in 9:48, breaking the record by 13 seconds. Three of us broke the 10 minute barrier, and 6 total ran under 11 minutes. Almost perfect splits of 4:53 and 4:55 or so.
I was very impressed about the support we received from the other runners and thank them for being there. For a small race in November that usually doesn't get many people out because the time of the year, over 120 people showed up to participate. Again very impressed with the turnout. The PPRR people were great and really had a great time being part of something that had never been done before.
After the race I continued on with Robby and Justin and we did another 21 minute workout.
There are some pictures of the race on the PPRRUN.ORG website and a small write up about what we did.

Back at it

Well it has been awhile since I have been on this blog. Lots of stuff to do, and not enough time! I am getting ready to student teach in January so my time right now is focused on the rest of the classes I have right now. On the running front, things have been going well and hopefully will continue in that direction. I have raced a little more lately and even won some nice stuff like a flat screen TV and some cash at the Manitou Springs Mayors Cup. The big challenge this week is the Neilson Challenge Sub 10 Minute event that myself and some friends are trying to do. Now, I am sure most of you are saying 10 minutes for 2 miles isn’t that hard. Well let me tell you that in all of the years that this has been going on, not one person has done it, and were talking about past Olympic runners, and people of that caliber! Our goal is to have a good group and work together as a team. This is not going to be one of those races where everybody goes out like idiots and dies. We would much rather run even splits and get as many guys under 10 minutes as possible.
I think overall, this year has been ok for running. At this point in the year, I tend to re-evaluate what I did for the year and look for areas that I can improve for next year. One of the things that I am already trying to do differently is to add workouts back into my weekly running. I neglected this for long enough and have realized that if I want to continue to improve and possibly get closer to my running goals, I need to put the work in. I hit 3000 miles at least 3-4 weeks ago, and will most likely have another year at above 3600. I really don’t care what I end up hitting, but care most about being consistent with the mileage every year. I did a lot of things differently this year which taught me what to do and what not to do. The biggest thing that I learned was what the exact maximum of weekly mileage I can handle before becoming slower was. For me, I have concluded that 80-85 MPW is as much as I will let myself get to. I had the 90+ mile weeks this year and it did nothing but tear me down! I also realized that I need to train for myself. I know what works for me and need to stay with that.
The last thing I want to hit on here is about how erratic pacing ruins races. I was guilty of going out in about 4:28 at Manitou Springs. Why I did this remains a mystery! I sometimes wonder what could have happened if I would have ran 4:45, or even 4:50. Would I have died as bad in the third mile of the race? I commonly find myself going out crazy hard for the first mile of a race, and just kind of put cruise control on after that. I need to find a balance to fix this problem and become more efficient in my pacing. I lose plenty of time in races because I can recover after blazing a mile! I guess it is just another part of the process of figuring it all out.

Mindset

Sometimes it seems that in running we sometimes forget to enjoy the moment and embrace our success. We run slower then we want to, don't finish were we expect and get down in the dirt, worrying that our training isn't going as planned, or that its time to train harder. So when we hit that point, what do we do? Do we start over, do we increase the training load or just finish out the year. Running can be an enjoyable and fantastic experience, but during the hard training we sometimes forget it as is basic purpose and find new ways to be unhappy with it.
I have been having a much harder time this particular year really getting focused on improving my own running and just haven't had the desire to do better and do what it takes to become faster. Strides, drills, stretching, lifting and intervals all add together to make the athlete better, but its the desire to actually do what is required to be the best that is always hard to find in anybody.
I am guilty for not enjoying the moment, and instead find myself worrying about why I was 21 seconds slower then last year at the Classic 10k, or why I cant run faster then 3 years ago at one of my favorite 5k's. I found myself thing about all of this today, and realized that its time to figure out what I want to get out of my running. What do I want to do, hit pr's in the 5 and 10k, get faster and stronger or just enjoy running. I will sit down with the guy that was coaching me for quite a while and figure this all out. I need to figure out what workouts I enjoy, and what I don't and find a balance. The base it there, but the wheels can't run faster without working out faster. I think I will stick to my goals of someday running under 14:20 for the 5k, and under 29:30 for the 10k. You always have to have a good goal in mind to push for. I have been very lucky to have a great group of guys to run with this summer. Everyday we all just run all around Colorado Springs on the many different trails that we are lucky to have. It amazes me to think that I can run somewhere different every day and not hit the same trails all the time. By the way, on a Sunday run with Robby Young recently we concluded that Gold Camp road is out Magnolia road and we would not have it any other way. I think we saw one other person in 8 miles of climbing that day are were rewarded with fantastic views of Colorado Springs from about 9500+ feet up.

Alex Hoag Run for Sunshine

Sailin Shoes 10k

Well I haven't been at this very much lately due to no real specific reason. I think trying to get one all the time and let everybody know what I am doing every day for training would be plan boring. So, I look at this post and reflect on what has been a very different year of running so far to this point.

For many people who follow me in racing around Colorado, they most likely have not seen my name much recently in results. Since the beginning of the year, I really started to run less races and really focus on ones that were important to me. In the past I would run the Winter Series, the race on new years day and some random ones in between such as the races in Pueblo last year. One of those races, the Cinco De Mayo Run For the Rose decided to drop the pretty nice prize purse that was offered last year, so I had no reason to drive to Pueblo for a race I was not really wanting to do. I also spent a pretty good chunk of time driving from the springs to Pueblo three days a week for school during the spring, so I try to not do it in the summer if at all possible. Another factor this year has been motivation to race. It just hasn't been there like in the past. I stopped doing workouts basically last April, and did just a few in January and February. I did run a few indoor meets which are always fun, but that was about it. Getting sick in March didn't help at all and made racing a chore rather then something I enjoy doing. I have found that there is a thin line between doing something such as racing all the time and getting sick and tired of showing up just to be there and I don't want to end up on the bad side of that line. The last factor is one that has made a big difference as well: I no longer run for a running store team and have to pay fr all of the races I do. I didn't have to pay for races for almost 2 and a half years which saved me alot of money. Now if I want to race here and go to Denver the next day it costs a pretty good amount of money when you factor in gas and food.

Lately I have raced a little bit, running Alex Hoag Run For Sunshine here in the Springs, the Mile High Mile in Denver and Sailin Shoes here in the Springs. I had the chance to race the Boulder Bolder citizens race winner in Denver and was blown away as many of us are now. I have never seen someone run 4:16 like it was nothing, and run 29:46 the next week, run 50 minutes for 10 miles in the Garden and then turn around and run 14:34 in Denver the next week. If this dude runs the Classic or one of the races at Evergreen we could see times that may never be approched again. What a runner!


On a side note about races, I wish that if a race director says the course is 6.2 miles, it was actually 6.2 miles, not 6.33 or 6.34. How hard is it to actually make an effort to get it right? We pay good money to race, so it should not be too much to ask to have an accurate course.

Milage progression

I guess I have been too bored today with all of the posts I have done. Here is another one that kinda goes along with running progressions.

2002- 20 races 1185.47 miles
2003- 30 races 2109.7 miles
2004- 27 races 3008.81 miles
2005- 21 races 3477.23 miles
2006- 26 races 3377.05 miles
2007- 19 races 3793.5 miles
2008- 21 races 3898.85 miles
2009- 5 races 1277.38 miles so far.

22127 miles in 7 years. 169 races.

Website link to article

Here is a link to an article written about me by Jeff Arnold of the Southern Colorado Runners Club.
http://socorunners.org/news/articles/2006/AdamRichStory_2006Dec.htm

The experience Part 2

Well at this point in my life, I was at the gym all of the time. I had really started to focus more on basketball, and was playing sometimes 4-5 hours a night. I was hitting the plyometrics harder then ever and had forgot all about running. I had pretty much decided that I didn't care about doing it anymore and just left it behind. I was working at Best Buy and decided that I would ride my bike to work every day, which I did for almost a year. I bought a Giant ATX-970 Norba Downhill Bike and proceeded to replace everything on it. I spent something like 2 grand on all new components and thought I would ride it alot. I would also ride to Palmer Park, ride home, and ride to work some times. This could be considered my replacement for running. Well at this point a fellow worker of mine challenged me to train for the Boulder Bolder. This was in January of 02. I was still in my I don't want to run mode and told him that I didn't run anymore. Well he kept asking about training and I finally gave in. I started running again in March of 02, and jumped right back into it, too fast I might add! I thought that going to Palmer Park every day and hammering out 8 miles was the way to go, and I was using an old pair of Nike Prestos which was another bad decision. I got Patella Tendinitis very quickly, and had it in the Boulder Bolder. We didn't know about qualifying times back then, and were put in the QQ and the ZZ waves. I ran I believe 48 minutes on their official time and think that I started out like 8 minutes after my wave got going. If anybody wonders why I never run the Boulder Bolder, its because of my experience with the 02 race. Now I know it would be completely different now, but I just have never felt motivated to go back. We kept training that whole summer and ran 20 or 30 races that year, so we were now becoming runners.
I would keep going about the progressions that I had from year to year, but that would just bore everybody. The short of it:
I ended up finally running for Western State back in 05-06, transferred to UCCS where I sat out for a full year because of the transfer, decided that I didn't like UCCS, switched schools again and have been at CSU Pueblo ever since. I have not completed in college running since 06, and will never get to use up my 3 years that I have left. I still train just as hard as I was back then and can be seen around at the races. I hope every has a good season. Have a good one.

The experience Part 1

Well I have had a good time reading about where everybody came from as far as their running, and decided that I would throw my story out there.
I don't have much of a cool story but here we go:
I started what I call "running" in around 6th grade. I would get in trouble or have an attitude problem and my mom on time said go take the dog for a run and cool off. Well this little thing became a routine for me, and I started to go run just for the heck of it. I had this route that I ran with the dog and we tried to run as fast is we could go every time. I remember doing well in the 6th grade track meet, but didn't think much of it. I got to middle school and ran a mile on your old dirt track in 6 something, but I really wasn't into running back then. I continued the running with the dog training, and started to focus more on learning how to jump higher instead of running. This became something that I did all of the time. You could catch me out in the middle of the street doing plyometrics with jump soles on. I even was dumb enough to go run 3 miles with those things on one time!! Could not walk right for a week because my calf's were in so much pain. I finally decided to give running a try my senior year of high school. I remember going on the cross country retreat somewhere outside of Canyon City at Coach Millers cabin. Doug Hugill was still the coach when I was there. My first experience with a distance run was during the retreat. They put everybody in vans and drove out this dirt road. At every mile, they asked who wanted to get out and run back to the cabin. I finally got out a 8 or 9 miles and headed back. This was the hardest thing I had done, and I remember thinking, "How on earth will I make it back??!!!" Well I did fine and feel that that jump started my season. The season went pretty well as I progressed quickly and was in the 16's. I ran well for the rest of the season but did not run well at state. That's part one of the experience:

I ran track as well, but just wasn't into it as much. I remember running the 4x800 at regionals as I led off. I ran what I would call the dumbest race ever, running behind, running in the pack, running almost on the dq line and finally running in the front. I came through in 2 flat and handed off the baton, but somehow tripped in the process and fell right down on the track scraping my stomach and shoulder pretty badly. I had to run the mile later that day, and ran horribly. At this point, I had missed out on qualifying for state and started what I call the decline period of running. At the same time, Coach Vandenbusche from Western State wanted me to run for them, but I just wasn't into running enough to make that type of commitment. I pretty much stopped running, and ran I believe one more race in 1999, the Jingle Bell Run here in Colorado Springs.

Getting back to it.

I actually ended up having a pretty good rest of last week.
Friday was a good 10 mile run in Palmer Park. Saturday was not great weather wise, but the run in Red Rocks was good, about 11 miles or so. I actually did a fairly long Sunday run of 20 miles, which I hardly ever do. Ran from El Pomar all the way south until the trail stops and ran back. The wind on the way back killed the pacing, but overall it was a good run. Today was another 10 miles in Palmer Park.
I feel that if I can just keep up the normal training for the next few weeks I should be able to run fairly well at the Cherry Creek Sneak.

Last few weeks of nothing good.

Well it seems like I have been just having a terrible time training lately. I did a few races over March that were sub-par efforts compared to what I am used to doing. I also thought that I could just run like normal and race like normal while being pretty sick for most of the month. I few days before spring break from CSU-Pueblo, I had been running ok, and started to feel bad again on that Wednesday. Thursday was spent taking care of my son who had his ear drum burst in addition to some other issues in his chest. Top that off with me getting even sicker, and something had to give. I spent the next five days doing no running at all which was strange for me. I did go down to New Mexico for a few days which was great. I will tell you that five days off is strange in itself, but its the first few days back running that are scary! I thought I had not run in years!!! The pain in my legs and knees was something that I only felt back in 2002 when I started this running journey again. I seem to be getting back together now though even though I still can't get rid of this stuff, whatever it is.
Last week:
Sunday nothing
Monday nothing
Tuesday 8 miles in MVP. Horrible run!!
Wednesday 11 miles in Palmer Park
Thursday nothing. The snow was blasting everything down here
Friday 13 miles in MVP
Saturday 13 miles in MVP
This week:
Sunday 16 miles in MVP.
Monday 10 Miles at the Garden
Tuesday 10 miles at Woodman to Air Force Academy and back.
Wednesday Nothing. Too much going on.
Thursday 13 miles in MVP. 1'13"10. This is a typical run I do when I feel like normal.
Tomorrow: hopefully 10 or so miles in Palmer Park
I guess the timing was good to get sick and have some down time because it seems that the racing around here has been very limited. I was sad to see that the Pueblo Cinco De Mayo run dropped the prize money. Oh well.

Last week and misc ramblings

Last week ended up being OK, just a little sick still.
Sunday: Nothing. 16 miles on the bike at home.
Monday: Palmer Park. 9 miles
Tuesday: 5.3 miles am, workout pm. 10x400 in around 60 flat. 10th one in about 59.80
Wednesday: Red Rocks. 9 miles.
Thursday: 9 miles around Mvp and Bear Creek east.
Friday: 10 miles in the Garden.
Saturday: 10 or 11 in Palmer Park.
Not a bad week, but more consistency needed with the mileage.
There were some incredible running performances over the weekend including German Fernandez with the 3:55 7:57 double!
I saw some interesting talk about performance enhancing drugs in other posts. The Bigger, Faster, Stronger film is really a great one to watch on the subject. I also really enjoyed reading "Game of Shadows". Too many athletes take the easy way out and forget that hard work, dedication and the motivation t be the best is what got them to where they are. I can't understand why guys making 10+ million dollars a year do this stuff. I have also seen interesting talk about the "weekend warrior" type of individuals that use drugs. I guess from my perspective, if I had to take drugs to enjoy my sport, then I would have no reason to compete. I believe that working hard and achieving a goals the reward. Many of us will never run world class times; however we can all do everything that is within legal and ethical means to get there whatever out goals may be. have a good one!

Different links I like

Here are a few links that I really enjoy:
www.athlinks.com
www.letsrun.com
www.coloradorunnermag.com
www.si.com
www.mcintoshlabs.com
and the one that I use to track my running: www.nikerunning.com

I have been using the nike running training log since 2002. Free and easy to use. I also really like athlinks. It tracks races for you for free and is a good source of information about races, runners you may know and other interesting stuff.

Red Light running

I saw that a good friend of mine was in a car wreck this weekend. I hope he recovers quickly. I guess someone ran a red light and nailed him. This happens all too often here in the springs. We seem to have a bunch of drivers that got their liscense out of a Cracker Jack Box.

Week in review

A better week than the last few ones.
The little one has been sick and now I have whatever he had. Oh well.
Sunday 14-15 miles in Palmer Park. I love to get away from MVP and have a good time running in Palmer Park. I recommend it to anyone that is in the springs.
Monday 10.0 in the Garden.
Tuesday: Was going to do 8x800 workout, however the wind here in the springs was gusting to 62 mph!! Ran 8.5 to 9.0 in about 44:00 flat later in the evening. Good run.
Wednesday: 8.0 in the am and 6.0 in the pm. Nothing special.
Thursday: Finally did the 8x800 workout. Ended up being a total waste. I had to run at about 10:30 at night and it was about 20 degrees at the Colorado College track. I guess I averaged about 2:24 for 8 of them which is well off what I should be doing. Oh well, its early in the year.
Friday: 13 miles in 1'14"10. Good effort.
Saturday: 12 miles.
Total for the week: 83 or 84 miles. I wish the wind would calm down a bit. Its been very annoying around here lately.
I think I will finally run a 5k soon, the Spring Runoff in Pueblo.

Last week

It would seem that overall last week was a wash. The workouts didn't go perfectly, I missed a run on Friday which ended up setting me back for the race on Saturday and fell apart in the 3k at Air Force. I felt bad about the run because the coaches at Air Force were nice enough to let me run the race. I have come to the conclusion that not running the day before a race is very bad for me. I seem to have bad races and feel flat. Makes no sense, but oh well.
Sunday 15 miles MVP.
Monday 13 miles Mvp.
Tuesday Workout 8x400 in 60 seconds with 3 min rest- 10 miles total
Wednesday 13 miles Mvp
Thursday 12x200 meters avg about 30 seconds- 11 miles total
Friday- 0!! bad move on my part.
Saturday Race at Air Force. About 7 miles total

I seem to be stuck in the 65 to 75 mile range right now. This will be my third week of workouts and I am having a hard time adjusting to them after a very long lapse.

1st week of February

Not much to really speak of lately. I just keep doing the miles hopeing that I will have a good race at the Air Force Invitational. I finally got into this meet after what seems like forever. I hope to run between 8:35 and 8:45, but I just don't know where I am at right now. I did my first workout of the year yesterday 8x 400 in as close to 60 seconds as possible. Still feeling the effects from that. I had a nice easy run in Ute Valley park this morning and will most likely take the dog out tonight for some more milage.
So far this week:
Sunday:13.0 Miles in MVP.
Monday: 8 or 9 miles in Garden of the Gods.
Tuesday: Workout: about 10 miles total. 3 miles with the dog in the evening.
Wednesday: 8-9 Miles in Ute Valley park. Possibly 5-8 tonight.
I just can't seem to get back to the usual 80 mile weeks that I desire.

Oatmeal Festival

I finally ran this one on Saturday. I was surprised at the turnout, 1100+. Not bad for a cold 20 degree morning. This is a more difficult course than the typical 5k and there were some fast guys there including Ewen North, Peter Reamian and Mr. Keino from Arvada. Peter and I knew that we would have to take the race out hard if we wanted to beat Keino, so that's exactly what we did. For the first half of the race which is basically all uphill, we just kept increasing the pace. By the turnaround, we had put a pretty good gap on him. The rest of the race was basically Peter and I running side by side with him eventually pulling away for the win with 200 meters to go. Good race for both of us, and not a bad way to start the new year winning some money. I may run a track race in Nebraska soon.

Last week:
Sun: 16-18 miles in Mvp. Turned into a fast run with 4 of the 6 of us being sponsored runners. Ran with James Carney, Trent Briney Ian Burell, Ryan Hafer and Ryan K.
Mon: 10 Miles in AFA.
Tue: 13 miles in MVP.
Wed: 25min AT workout with Matt Williams and Dan Castle of AFA. About 11 miles total.
Thurs: 11 Miles in MVP. 5 in about 26 min.
Fri: 10 miles on bike.
Sat: 13 miles in MVP with Andy Rinne.
Not a great week, but not bad. About 73 miles for the week.

At the crossroads

Its now 2009, and I find myself at a point where I have never been before. I have to start making decisions about training and racing and finally see what I can do. I have thought about my running goals (14:20 5k and 29:30 10k) and with some constructive feedback from some very good and elite runners, realized that my training methods were getting me nowhere. These individuals have known me for 6 years now and feel that I have not come close to running at my full potential. I feel that a small part of that has to do with the fact that I race at 6000+ feet all the time. If I am going to run fast, I will have to commit to a difficult and different training regime that I am not used to doing. I will also have to find a way to get to a fast sea level race such as the Mt.Sac Relays in April. Its time to figure out what I need to do to run faster and train smarter.