Feeling the Pressure

This post is more than overdue, I'm not sure I'll be able to afford the late fees! But here it is, my past two events rolled into a little blog post. Truth is, after my PR at Rock N Roll Arizona, I haven't had a real training plan or real goals. Life was a little messy to keep it simple and RIDICULOUS amounts of snow and shit weather kept my from riding my bike till a few weeks ago. WIth that, the human body is freaking amazing and CAPABLE of extraordinary things.

​I kept the mileage pretty low going into the Fargo Marathon. Sure I ran pretty much all but 5 days the past few months but no crazy long runs. I had been focusing on pace over miles and it was either going to be a brilliant idea or an epic failure. I had cranked out a few half marathon to 15 mile runs with 7 minute miles as my pace. It wasn't until two weeks before Fargo that I had a run of over 20 miles and cranked out an 18 miler the Monday before. You know that word taper...ya, it simply is not in my vocabulary or training plan! So there I was, off to Fargo to enjoy the hospitality of Tiffany and Steve and got a great nights sleep and was off to the Fargo Dome bright and early. As I woke up at 4am all I could see was rain, rain and more rain. Only thing that could be worse is it being cold, well fudge, it was 46 degrees!

The race started in the Fargo Dome so at least we got to be dry and warm for a little bit. I found the 3:30 pacer and you can about image the plan...stick with him as long as possible! Similar to Grandma's, I'm terrible at running with a pacer. I don't like thier water station methods and sure shit I was over hydrated again and made two pit stops along the way. Luckily for me, there were like Formula 1 pit stops and I made up the time easily. What I did manage to do was loose the pacer and it was just my Garmin and I once again. This method is becoming a trend. It workd at Grandma's, would it work in Fargo?

​THERE ISN'T A MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT WITH A MARATHON THAT WAS WET, WINDY AND COLD. YOU KIND OF JUST SHUT YOUR BRAIN DOWN AND FOCUS ON PUTTING ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER TILL YOU SEE THE FARGO DOME COME BACK INTO VIEW. I FELT STRONG BUT ALSO KNEW I HAD PUSHED IT ALMOST TO THE MAX AS MY LEGS WERE ON FIRE, TIGHT AND I JUST WANTED TO BE DONE. WITH THAT, I ENTERED THE FARGO DOME AND ENJOYED THE LAST FEW HUNDRED FEET OF THE COURSE. IT WASN'T WINDY OR WET, WHY COULDN'T WE HAVE RAN THE WHOLE THING INSIDE!? AND ON THIS AWFUL DAY FOR RUNNING, I MANAGED ANOTHER PR, A HUGE PR! 3:30:47 WAS MY TIME.

23 MINUTES FASTER THAN LAST YEAR, 13 MINUTES FASTER THAN ARIZONA. NO PLAN, NO TRAINER, JUST A GUY AND HIS ASICS. THE BEST PART ABOUT THE RACE, THEY GAVE ME THIS REALLY COOL COASTER FOR FINISHING!

Buffalo Tri

Today was the return of the Buffalo Triathlon after a year off. Our beloved sport is seeing a reduction in both participants and events. Luckily a new company has come to the aid and the triathlon scene in central Minnesota should be just fine this summer and for years to come. While financially I shouldn't recommend the sport to anyone, my sport does need help. Triathlon isn't a cheap sport and it takes a huge time COMMITMENT also. The Buffalo Triathlon is special as it was the first event that really started this crazy journey for me. Again, like normal, no plan or training leading up to the race. I had only managed maybe 2 or 3 solid bike rides this year with the weather and with IMWI 70.3 days away, just needed to complete a tri before heading off to Madison. The plan was simple. Get used to an open water swim with a bunch of crazies, test out the bike legs and hold a good 20 MPH pace and then crush the run off the bike. What it turned into was an ice bath for .9 miles followed by a great brick workout! Water temps were mid 60's but race morning and day was picture perfect for us athletes. Buffalo olympic 2:33:24/

It was a great day out there. Not only did I get the dust blown off and the kinks worked out, I got to give the new Wattie kit a fair test and it is forking great! Kudos to Sean and Heather for making world class kits for us and couldn't be more proud to be part of the team. I also got some love from my Tribe peeps and feel good going into madison. I've said it before and will say it again and again. You simply can not find a better group of people to hang out with than these triathletes. Not sure what it is about us but everyone is just overflowing with kindness and support. In times of some rough seas, I'm glad to be back racing.

How long can the PR streak stay alive !?!?