It's finally Spring! Time to think about some goals....

It's been ages since I posted anything.  The start of the year has been hectic with work and family life but I've kept running and riding (and even swimming a bit).  The spring half marathons have been my focus for the past three years, and this year is no different - although in past years I've been aiming to set a PR, I'm in some doubt that will be achievable in 2015.  Compared to 2014 I have run and ridden more in the first 3 months of the year mostly aided by the weather which was not as terrible as the "polar vortex" we enjoyed 12 months ago.

For 2015 I've been lucky enough to sign up as an ambassador for UGo Bars - a locally owned & operated sports nutrition business making wholesome energy bars from real, fresh ingredients.  They're based in Bloomington, I'm hoping to convince some shops in Columbus to stock the bars!  In the meantime check them out online at http://ugobars.com/

For the Quaff ON! running team, I'm competing in the Hoosier half marathon (April 11) and the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon (April 25).  The first of these is a hilly workout, definitely not a PR course, but a great race around Bloomington and Quaff ON! is the beer sponsor for the event - we'll have a big after party at Quaff ON Bloomington with all the team members, friends and family to celebrate.  The Kentucky race is flat and fast, I set my PR (1:17:45) there last year, winning the 40-44 age group.  This year, despite having run more, I feel less prepared.  I haven't put in the hard work at the track to build speed, so these races will be a bit of an adventure!

The one key workout that I have managed to repeat is my 3 x 5k run at the start of March.  In 2014, I used the Pink Power 5k race to do this, running the course twice before the actual race.  This year, I couldn't attend the race but managed to convince Quaff ON! team mate, Danny Fisher, to join me on the people train one Thursday evening for the same workout.  We had a strong head wind as we ran towards town making the first half of the 5k harder, while that hurt, the tail wind on the return was very welcome each time we made the turn!  It's a truly punishing workout, we ran an average of 5:54.9 per mile for the 9.3 miles, I was pretty broken by the end of it, the slow jog back to town as a cool down run was uncomfortable as my calves tightened and quads ached.  As the saying goes, no pain, no gain....

2015 3 x 5k workout with Danny - Strava Data via Garmin 910XT

There's 4 weeks until the Louisville race - I plan to get back into our Track Tuesday workouts and build upon what I've got.  I doubt I'll run a PR but I hope that I can repeat my AG win, which means something sub 1:19:00.

Spring Break, Spring Sickness....

We had a great Spring Break family vacation in Gulf Shores, AL - despite early season cool mornings and some showers there was plenty of time to relax with the family but also time to take advantage of the warmer temperatures to run and ride in short sleeves since, well it felt like forever.

We did a great ride out & over the Dauphin Island Bridge, including a ferry trip, puncture and time-trial effort back into town - see the Strava activity with pictures of this day out.



Returning to Columbus, I had a "big week" planned to boost my preparation for the Louisville race where I'm aiming to PR (target is to go under 1:18:00).  The big week went like this:

• Sunday - 11 miles with 6.5 miles at 5:58 pace
• Tuesday - Track work out, 2 sets of 2k - 400 - 1.2k - 400 - 1k - 400 with the "long" intervals at 5:40 pace and the 400's at 5:20 pace
• Wednesday - 7 miles recovery in Brown County State Park (pavement & trails)
• Friday - 13 miles with 9 miles at 5:58 pace

This left me feeling pretty tired and I was playing single Dad for the whole of the next week as Clare visited the UK so I knew the opportunities to train would be limited.  However, even my limited plans got thrown out when I was hit with a stomach bug Saturday night leaving me mostly in bed on Sunday and Monday morning.  Just as I started to recover, both kids were hit with the same thing Monday night so by Tuesday evening I had three straight nights with almost no sleep and almost no calories consumed.  I'd lost 5.5lbs and felt pretty weak.
Typically, the kids had bounced back much faster than me and were pretty lively come 5pm Tuesday so we agreed to go to Track Tuesday with the Quaff ON! team - it was a beautiful spring evening and they enjoyed messing around on the grass whilst I ran some repeats.  It was a light session in preparation for the Hoosier Half Marathon which was good news for me as I felt pretty much on the limit as we completed the following:

• 4 x 200; 2 x 400; 1 x 800; 2 x 400; 4 x 200 all at 5:20 pace

It was great to see so many people at the track taking advantage of the warm weather, these sessions are very inclusive - whilst there are groups running at different speeds, we all re-group over the rest periods and everyone's yelling encouragement as people go past.

Quaff ON! Track Tuesdays normally start at 6pm at the Northside Middle School track and everyone is welcome.  We normally retire to a Columbus location service Quaff ON! beer for a recovery drink at the end of the session.  All are welcome!

Pink Power 5k Race - Thinking of Spring....When will Winter end?

After the Ultra Cross race at Southern Cross my focus turns from cycling to running and Spring half marathons.  I'm aiming to break my PR of 1:19:48 when I run the Kentucky Derby Mini Marathon in Louisville, KY on April 19th.  I'm aiming to go under 1:18:00 with a target race pace of 5:54 min/mile.

The bad weather in Indiana has prevented most serious speed workouts with tracks covered in snow and roads icy or snow covered so there's lots of work to do. There are 8 weeks until the race to build up speed and the strength to sustain it over the race distance.

This week the weather was just about kind enough and the Quaff ON! team were able to meet up for "Track Tuesday" which has only happened on two other occasions in 2014.  On Satruday, after two easy days and a rest day, the Crossroads of Indiana Race Series Pink Power 5k race started at 9am.  I planned to use this race as part of a workout which I had dreamed up - in the cold wintry parking lot outside Hamilton Ice Center it was not feeling like such a good idea.... I planned to run the course 3 times at my target half marathon race pace, twice before the race, with a 4 minute recovery and then run the race after a 5-6 minute break.  It's easy to back out of hard sessions like this, particularly when it's something you're doing on your own, so I posted a message to my team mates on Friday evening with my plans by way of making the commitment & knowing they'd be chasing me up to see how I got on - that's enough peer pressure to make me follow-through!

I started my repeats at 8:15 and ran 18:22 for the first time over the race course which is twisty and if anything slightly long.  After a 4 minute recovery, I ran the second repeat in 18:46 - this was by far the hardest psychologically.  Finally, I lined up for the race with nearly 300 other people.  Team mates, Joe Bell and Sara Martin were there as well and I knew that with the other people around me in the race, the third repeat would be easier than the second.  Joe set a fast pace at the start opening a small gap by the mile mark, we were together with the rest of the field about 10 secs back.  In the middle of the race, Joe moved ahead as I was feeling the effects of the previous efforts however, my pace was still good as far as my training target.  Towards the end of the race, it felt like I as starting to close down the gap but Joe won easily about 9 secs ahead of me, my time being 18:13.  It was great to see Sara come home 3rd overall out kicking her rival for the women's victory, Melissa Truex, over the final tenth of a mile.  So the Quaff ON! team took 1, 2, 3 and 1st in the women's race - a great result on the day.  We were all surprised because in previous years, this event has drawn a fast field and our times would barely have been top 10 results in last years race (see below), but you've got to show up to end up in the results and a "W" is a "W" no matter what!

Here's a link to the race section on Strava

My 3 efforts today on the course:

The average pace over the 3 x 5k course distance is 5:54 / mile - exactly my target!

Results from 2014 and 2013

 The Quaff ON! Team finishing 1-2-3

Joe Bell

Tim Proctor

Sara Martin