Martial artist, Triathlete, IronMan, UltraRunner, Mostly Just Plain Craziness

Follow me on my quest to figure out if "Impossible is Nothing"

lifeisshort

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

"The Past and the Present"

This past weekend was about that and much more. I really wanted to do a very long run this weekend. Something along the lines of 5 hours.

Urgghhh, 5 hours alone running would truly suck, but necessary.

But with several people gearing up for the Boston Marathon and some other spring events, several Triathletes were running 20 miles on Saturday. Bonus!! Maybe my planned long run would not be to bad after all. So with the e-mails flying around. MJ was able to muster up a group of people to run from 9 to 20 miles on the trail.

It is actually a rare occurrence for me these days to run with even 1 person and to have a whole group of people was pretty awesome.

One person mentioned I looked I was "ready for battle". I think I really was. With 3 weeks of Ultra training left I needed to put my game face on, go through a gear checklist, and truly train my race nutrition for the day. I think when you are planning to race for a very long time it is important to test everything out, from my shoes/socks, and even the hat I plan to wear that day. Maybe my O.C.D. is starting to kick in as well.

So eventhough I started earlier, time caught up with me and I had to head home by just doing 20 miles that morning... But the run went really well for me, felt strong the whole time.

But a strange thing happened. People asked about my Ultra training and what I think my finishing time will be. It was at that moment for the first time I actually was getting nervous about the race.

"What the hell am I planning to do, Oh this really might hurt".. I said to myself.

Hmmm, okay I'm signed up so I'm definitely going. So that's it.. End of negative thoughts..

So fast forward to the evening, eventhough I was tired, my O.C.D. impulses where still in full effect. I wanted to do at a least a marathon run today. Anything else would have not been acceptable. So thank goodness for 24 hours gym memberships. I headed to the gym and did another 6.50 miles of rolling hills on the treadmill.

So a Marathon day it was, albeit a split session, I will call it a marathon day nonetheless. Hopefully that still counts.

Sunday was a short running day, only had a hour to run before I go head out and revisit my past. So another 7 miles in the books.

Then I headed out and drove to something I had not done for a while now. A martial arts seminar. My instructor came in town for the weekend, I usually take care of all the logistics concerning this. Flight booking, seminar local bookings, flyer's, and make sure everybody signs the injury release form, so I'm not liable if they get injured (Always important), but luckily somebody else was able to step up and do it for me.

Like my title says "martial artist to IronMan," I was a dedicated student for the past 15+ years, instructor for almost 10 of those. But somehow the passion for this has been replaced with an addiction of something else. Yup, "Endurance Sports".

So my past collided with my present for at least a couple of hours. But the more I depart from my Martial arts ways and realize the things I did. In some ways they are both the same. Both have plyometrics, core, and cardio training. I also realized the most important thing, is to always, I mean always, try to be the best I can in whatever I do, and I'm the only one that can make that happen.

But I don't miss being throw around by my instructor during a seminar like a crash test dummy.
I let the newbie instructors have that pleasure.

(One of my buddies getting thrown, pretty hard I might add, oohh that must have hurted)

posted by RunBubbaRun at 6:40 PM 10 comments

Thursday, March 22, 2007

"Thinking Out Loud"

Lately, while I'm in the last weeks of training for my Ultra.. I try to read about inspirational stories to help me get through those rough patches while on my training runs and also implant these events in my head while trying to attempt to complete the 50 miler in a couple of weeks.

I'm reminded of this.

Interviewer: "So what do you think about when running an Ultra?"

Ultra-Runner: "I think about everything and almost nothing.."

I also right this post for Keri, my TRI club teammate. She finished her 1st Marathon last year in Chicago and planned to be back in '07. Then comes a foot injury and by a doctor's blunder, she is worst off than she was before. My thoughts are with her as she hopefully will finally have surgery to fix the problem that has plagued her the past couple of months. But the kicker is that the current doctor told her that she "might not" be able to run again. ~ Sorry, Keri you can tell me to F*off later, because I'm posting about your situation :). But, I wish the best for her and miss her having being my "unofficial" pacer on my training runs.

I do not pretend to know what she is going through. But from the stories of athletes who struggle to take that extra step or even a step at all. It does reaffirm my belief. If you are still have breath in you, you still have that opportunity to take that step.

What do you have to loose,,, nothing,,, but gain everything.

But that step cannot never be forced or be told to you. It has to be inside you, then only then, can you take another.

Danelle Ballangee

Her story you can listen on competitive radio or look at the video from the today show ~

"Danelle Ballengee is without a doubt one of the greatest endurance athletes on the planet having won everything from Eco Challenge to Primal Quest to the Duathlete of the Year title. She also climbed all 55 14,000 peaks in Colorado in a little over 14 days, completed seven IronMan races, won the Catalina Marathon and won the Mt. Taylor Quadrathlon 10 times. So when she took a 60 foot fall in Moab a few weeks ago, shattered her pelvis, lost one third of her blood volume and was exposed to the elements for over 56 hours, we all were obviously very concerned. She came on the show with Bob and Paul to share the amazing story and to tell us about how her dog Taz saved her life."

So listening to her interview I was pretty amazed about her attitude toward her life. She struggles each day to just sit up in a wheelchair now. But she is just happy to be alive. She has a lot of struggles to overcome but has the attitude to just take it one day at a time. Like everybody else, I know one day she will back doing what she loves most.

Plus, if you ever run with your dog you have to listen how Taz the "mutt" dog lead the rescuers to where she had fallen. Literally saved her life.

Besides of her amazing story, other things have come into my thought these days as well. Talking to my parents and hearing about my uncle starting Kidney Dialysis last week. He talked to my parents about what he could have done to avoid what he going through now. Regrets about how he has lived an unhealthy lifestyle.

So as I struggle to get out of bed some days to start my long runs, I start to "thinking about everything" out there.

What do I have to complain about?

Nothing really..

Minor aches and pains, nothing a little icing will not fix..

As long as I have the inner desire to take that step, then that extra step will be all I need.

Spring is here, kinda of anyway. Time for another long run and more steps to take along the way.

It's really great to be alive. Don't you think?

posted by RunBubbaRun at 10:52 PM 11 comments

Monday, March 19, 2007

"March Madness"

For the 3rd straight year, I have ran the March Madness 1/2 marathon. For the 3rd straight year, the hills seems to get a little steeper and bigger each time I do the race. A race that sells out every year faster than the year before. It's a very competitive race. A race with lots of rolling hills and I think pretty much the must do race around here if you are planning to tackle the Boston Marathon in a couple of weeks.

This year was no exception. While racing, all the conversations I heard was about Boston: "You going to do Boston?" "How is your training for Boston going?"

Okay, I'm not fast enough to do a 7:20-7:30 minute marathon pace needed to qualify for 40-45 male age group. But maybe one year I will surely try. This year will not be it.

The race day had clear skies and temps in the mid 30-40's. The announcer said it will be a great day and expected fast times this day. As for me I always try to have some goal when I race. I wanted to run under 1:40. My race time last year was 1:45:57. All week long, my workouts have been less than perfect. I think the burnout and fatigue was plaguing me the whole week. But I thought I at least had a shot at it.

My plan for the first half of the race was to keep an even pace and stay below zone 3. So mission accomplished for the first half, but my running time put me at 56 minutes at the 7 mile point. A 8:00 minute mile pace, not the 7:30-7:40 pace I was hoping for. But I had to remind myself that this was only a "C" race on my ultra training schedule. So I said, "just try to settle down and run a comfortable pace, don't do anything stupid 4 weeks from the ultra". So then the goal was just to be 1 second faster than last year.

So at the end, I ran a 1:44:54 by my trusty GPS watch and 1:45.09 officially. But there was no chip timing, so I'll go by my watch, a 7:57 pace. I like the sound of that better. So a couple of seconds faster and not "bonking" the last 3 miles of this race. That was the goal achieved this day. Overall, that was an improvement. I was pretty surprised how I felt the entire race: "dang good." So maybe a 8:00 minute marathon pace or faster could be in my future one day. I was really wondering if this "running slower" regiment on the trails actually had some benefits or actual downside to my running. Well, I must say it didn't hurt it.
(Picture after the race: I'm the one on the far right holding some hot chocolate after the race with some fellow TRI studs and studettes ~ Yes, Pam you are missing from this picture)

So, two more weeks of long miles on my ULTRA training schedule and then let the "taper" mind games begin. For now, I'm ready to tackle another week of long miles.

Being burnt out, fatigued, and bitching about stuff all last week is now over!!

Hopefully another 40+ mile jaunt this weekend and one more 50k road training race in two weeks, a race that started me on this path of "Ultra-addiction."

It is starting to get exciting here folks on the Ultra race info. I got an e-mail about the current race conditions of the race course for the McNaughton Ultra:

"Thursday night camping is available at Delwood Camp which is right near the horse stables" ~Don't they know I'm horse crap-phobic!!!

"Creeks - Your feet will get wet twice per loop. The creeks can be dry and can be eight feet deep. Depends on the rain. Right now they are about shin deep for most." ~Okay, 8 foot streams would suck. Especially 5 loops of that. Shin deep only.. OKAY- that's manageable, still sucks, but I did sign up for this.

I just have to remember to bring more socks and less underwear if the water is less than knee high. That is always a bonus..

posted by RunBubbaRun at 6:26 PM 6 comments

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

"Dreams"

Last year while I was training for Iron-Man Wisconsin I had one or two dreams about the race. The one I still remember is me standing at the finish line breaking the tape without much fanfare. When you get focused on events I figure things like that happen. So I had my 1st trail running dream a couple of days ago.

I dreamed I was running on the trails and my wife yelled out, "watch out for the horse crap". I jumped as far as I could to avoid it, but somehow I still landed on top of it. Okay not a pleasant dream, but one that somehow provided meaning for the weekend.

As I headed to one of my usual trail running spots to start one of my long runs, I kept thinking about the dream. Arrived at the trail at twilight, I was the only one there (some-days I really do wonder how truly crazy I'am). Even-though the day was supposed to be 40 and it had rained the night before I thought the trails wouldn't be to bad. As I started out all I saw was sheets of ice on the trail and you guessed it, horse crap. But I tried to make the best of it. I tried running around the ice on the side of the trail, always looking down for you know what. But after taking 30 minutes to run over 2 miles, I had enough, plus somehow my dream kept haunting me. I think slipping on the ice and falling in that stuff would not be a good thing. If I did, I would have told myself, "I told you so". Yes, I know it is the trails, but I'm still a city boy raised on concrete trying to run out there. And horse crap was something you would find at the local events that had pony rides.

So I just ran on the sides of the road aimlessly until I got to 21 miles. Now that was quit boring, but at least alot of other runners was out there with the same idea. There was actually one lady who was bent over on the side of the road, pretty much on the verge of "tossing her cookies" every couple of seconds. So I offered a helping hand, not sure why that stuff does not bother me and horse crap does. She said she was okay and I went on my way. She did make it back thou, looking alot better than before.

So this week is a recovery week for me, even-though I was not able to get all the running mileage this weekend I wanted to, only 21 & 18 mile long runs for the weekend. (Dang, Daylight savings time, I hate it I tell you). I somehow managed to post 19+ hours of training, DANG, that is alot, how did that happen. I think I needed this week to rest a bit even-though I have a very competitive and sold-out 1/2 marathon race on Sunday.

Will see if this crap-phobic dude has some speed.

For now, I think I will just go back to sleep and hope for a more pleasant dream.

posted by RunBubbaRun at 5:46 PM 13 comments

Friday, March 09, 2007

"More MOO Riding"

Okay, active.com you did it again, you have my info and you signed me up for another crazy hilly bicycle ride. So I guess I will put it on my race/event list schedule now.

Another crazy 200k (124 mile) bike ride up the Wisconsin hills, appropriately named the "Dairy-land Dare".
Okay, with a little bit of Moo-Crew peer pressure, I guess I will let you (active.com) off the hook for now. I guess they say Iron-Man is all "about the bike," and last year I was disappointed in my overall bike performance so I'm going to test this theory out.
What do you all think, you agree? "Is IT ALL about the bike?"

Okay, back to the running. If you get a chance to listen to the latest "Zen in the Art of Triathlon" Pod-cast, they had a interview with a very inspirational and I must say Bad-Ass ultra-runner Catra Corbett .

She has done fifty 100 milers, doing the 150 McNaughton trail race (I'm only doing the 50 miler part). And is planning in May along with a french dude to conquer the Pacific Coast Trail. A unsupported trek and hopefully at record pace of under 82 days. The Pacific Coast Trail starts from the border of Mexico and finishes at the border of Canada.. Can I get a "YIKES"

Another obscene crazy event is this event:
"On Feb 1st 2007 Martin Strel is going to start swimming all the way from Atalaya (Peru) to the Atlantic Ocean at Belém (Brazil). He is planning to reach 3,375 mile (5,430 kms) long ultimate challenge in 70 days." He is attempting to swim the amazon river with all the crazy creatures in the water. That is just insane... but fascinating. But the most important part is his attention to "Amazon" preservation. You can track him at http://www.amazonswim.com.

So as I embark on my long runs this weekend, with weather reaching above 40 degrees, can I get a "whoop, whoop", I do sometimes daydream of what I could do next, do I want to attempt a outrageous crazy endurance events. Hmm, okay not really! Since I even haven't completed my 1st 50 miler. But I'm already looking at the 100 miler races on the things to do list. More than 24 hours of running, okay maybe just think about it a little bit. But I'm also sometimes reminded by these events that the only limit to our abilities is the one we put on ourselves.
So I say get out there if you can, one step, one mile, or even one trip around the block. I think you'll feel better for it.

As for me for now, as long as I get home before more crazy packages catches the eye of my wife at my doorstep from EBay and Amazon.com, that will be enough of an endurance event for me..
For now..

posted by RunBubbaRun at 6:53 PM 10 comments

Sunday, March 04, 2007

"Active.com, you suck.."

So March 1st was the registration for the HHH (Horrible Hilly Hundred). A bicycle ride that sold out in 3 to 4 hours. Can you believe it. Not even a race and there was a Internet backup trying to register for this thing. I think it was pure carnage, people double booked, refunds given, and total craziness. I think signing up for IronMan Wisconsin was easier than this.

What's up with these 7 dollar registration fees?

But I'm in for the 200k route along with my fellow TRI-Club Moo Crew. But before that I finally registered for my 1st triathlon of 2007. The Rock-man Half IM, which is a week before the HHH. More "???" off my race list.

Actually my big goal for the year is to PR all my races, except for the ultras, then again it will be my 1st 50 miler, and if I finish upright I will have a PR... Woohoo.

Do I have High expectations for myself, maybe so, "In Search of suffering," probably a "YEAH"... But hopefully I can deliver, If not. I'm going to have as much fun as I can this crazy year.

So on the running front, after being injured last weekend with a knee tendon sprain or lets just say " shooting pain". I was going to take as long as I needed to let it heal. That pretty much lasted 2 days. Besides from giving up donuts and cheese danishes for Lent, I was so wound up by the 3rd day. I felt like the energizer bunny without his drum.



Plus strange things start appearing from Amazon.com, eBay, and bike websites at my doorstep when I have to much time off.

You like my new edition to "pimping up my ride?"

But 2 days of complete rest did make me feel stronger in all my workouts for the week. I guess there is something to rest.. So from a total of 17 running miles last week, I had a big task (for me anyways) to complete this weekend. 7 hours of total running scheduled over the weekend. You know what, It was hard, but I was able to do it with the help of some of my training buddies. So 21 miles & 3.5 hours on Saturday on the road, then 4 hours & 23+ mile trail run on Sunday.

Hmmm, 17 miles last week and a little over 62 running miles for this week. I guess I never was a firm believer of the 10% increase training rule per week theory. Even-though I didn't complete all of my swim and biking workouts I wanted to do last week, I think I met my overall goal.

Now hopefully spring weather will come this weekend. I really like the snow, but I must tell you, after this weekend I'm really tired of running in the snow and cold. I know soon it will change then I can start bitching how "hot" it is.

posted by RunBubbaRun at 12:11 PM 6 comments

About Me

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Name: RunBubbaRun
Location: Chicagoland, Illinois, United States

I'm a 40+yr old married IronMan Triathlete preparing for just some crazy Adventures. I'm a parent with a crazy kid. Loving and understanding wife who deals with my craziness. Studied martial arts for 15 yrs+ before doing triathlons.

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RACES

  • TenTative 2009 Race Schedule
  • Ice Age 50 miler???
  • RockMan Half IM Triathlon???
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  • Bangs Lake Olympic Triathlon
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TRI Links & Blogs

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  • Previous Posts

    • It's Time?Well I have been MIA for a long while in...
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