5K Time Trial

Today marked the half way point of my 8 week training plan. That means that it was time to run a 5K time trial to evaluate my progress toward a 5K PR. The result of my time trial run was a new 5K PR

New 5K PR

My time of 28:13 bested my previous PR of 28:39, set in September 2016. With just under 4 weeks to go until race day, I'm certainly on the right track!

IMT Des Moines Marathon Relay

For the second year in a row, I competed in the marathon relay at the IMT Des Moines marathon, and for the second year in a row, we had a blast on race day. The relay is the same distance and course as the marathon, but is divided up between 5 team members. This year's team consisted of 3 returning team members, Megan (a co-worker of mine at Pioneer), Erin (my lovely wife), and me. In addition, we had 2 newcomers in Dan (Megan's husband) and Justin (a friend of mine from middle school and high school).

The weather could not have been more different than last year. Last years race was humid with fog and got quite warm by the end of the race. This year it was cold and very windy. Erin started us off running the first 4 miles that included a big hill at the end. I ran the next 6 miles before handing off to Dan to run mile 10 - 15 that included a lap around the blue oval at Drake Stadium. Megan took the baton from Dan to run the big down hill into Water Works Park before handing off to our final runner, Justin, at mile 20. Everyone on the team ran fast today and we ended up finishing in 4:20:02.

Freezing and wishing the race would start

Time and pace is a personal thing, so I can only truly speak for myself, but I was EXTREMELY happy with how I ran today. My average pace for my 6 miles was 9:39/mi which beat the 9:45/mi that Erin challenged me to this year. In addition, it was faster then the 9:53/mi that I averaged for my 6 mile leg last year and is the fastest 6 miles that I have run in my entire life. If that didn't make me happy enough, when I got home and uploaded from my watch to Garmin Connect, I saw that my leg included 352 feet of elevation gain. That is 120 feet more than the route that I ran last year.

Crushed it!

Transition 2 and 3 were less than a mile apart so after I handed off to Dan, we walked to the next transition. With about 40 minutes to wait, I noticed that the water station that was at this transition was very understaffed and they were struggling to even get cups filled to keep up with the runners coming by. At this point, the marathoners were almost 15 miles into the race and I know from experience what can happen when hydration is compromised. Since we were waiting anyways, I decided to spend the next 30 minutes or so helping to hand water to the runners as they came by. 

Working the water station

The sun finally came out late in the race, and we all joined Justin around mile 26 to cross the finish line "together" (ok, so maybe we spread out a little bit, but we all found each other after finishing). 

The proud finishers

I can't state enough how fun it is to compete in a relay. This will most likely remain a staple on my race calendar every year, and it has me looking for more relay opportunities. In fact, I'm currently working to put a team together for the Market to Market relay next May. 75 miles from Jefferson, IA to Des Moines, IA split between 6 - 8 runners. In fact, I still have a few spots to fill out, so if this is something that you would be interested in doing, be sure to let me know. Runners of all experience levels are welcome!

It is hard for me to believe that we are already half way through the month of October. With only 1 race remaining on my schedule for the year, things are really winding down and the time for reflection, as well as planning for next year is upon us. For now though, it is time to get back to work. 

2017 Goals Update

The end of September marked 3/4 of the way through 2017 so I thought it would be good time to provide a status update on my goals for the year. Note this progress is through the end of September and does not include the first 3 days of October.

Goal 1
This goal was to run a combined 2017 miles with my wife, Erin. We are absolutely crushing this goal! To date, we have combined to run 1,686.2 miles leaving us with just 330.8 miles left for the year!

Goal 2
This goal was to bike 2,500 miles. I am currently at 2,131.52 miles and well on my way to completing this goal as well.

2017 Cycling Update

Goal 3

Swim 75 miles. This might be the one that I am most proud of as I am still very new to swimming, but I am furthest along in this goal as I have already completed 64.67 miles combined in the pool and open water.

2017 Swimming Update

Goal 4

Complete 150 strength training sessions in 2017. I am happy to say that even though I was behind where I should have been at half way through the year, I have managed to catch up since that time. As of the end of September I had completed 114 strength training sessions and am happy to state that I am the strongest that I have ever been in my life. 

2017 Strength Training Progress

Even with the good progress so far, I have no plans of slowing down anytime soon. In fact, I'm hoping to finish off my goals early so that I can take a short break from training around the holidays to let my body recovery leading into all of the big plans that I have for next year.