Share The Trail And Don’t Screw It Up

IRONMAN LOUISVILLE 2020 TRAINING

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WEEK 2 – MARCH 23 > 29, 2020

IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC – PART II

When the state of Illinois mandated that we all quarantine ourselves by staying in place or staying at home, the governor allowed us to still be able to go outside to exercise as long as we maintain a safe “social” distance of six feet of separation. It was great seeing people out walking, riding bikes, and running on sidewalks and trails that were pretty much just taken advantage of by the regulars – runners and bikers like me that I see all the time, and the few neighbors that will go on a daily walk. People were making an effort to enjoy the time to get some fresh air and utilize trails that are a great benefit to our community. Until the people ruined it.

People ruin everything. Give them an inch and they’ll take a yard. In the case of our gift of being able to get outside, people ignored the mandate of avoiding group activities, openly playing soccer and basketball, and riding and running in groups. It got so bad in the city of Chicago that the mayor gave them a stern warning. And what did the people do? They ignored the warning forcing the mayor to take action and closing the Lakefront Trail, one of the most used trails in the state. No more getting exercise outdoors.

I was riding my bike on my local trail this week and I also encountered groups of people walking on the trails together and other gatherings of kids playing at parks and team related sports like basketball. I guess everyone figures if they aren’t affecting you directly there really isn’t any harm. But that isn’t true, and the reason we are staying in place and avoiding each other is to stop the spread of this deadly virus. But now I fear that our local trail may get closed as well, and that won’t make me happy. I’m betting that won’t happen, but here’s what we can do to help make sure it doesn’t happen:

Train alone instead of groups. The runners in our local running club are pretty good about doing the right thing, but group runs were still going on. Our local running club leaders implored runners to stop posting group photos so that it wasn’t appearing that we were ignoring the rules, and to consider running in much smaller groups or running alone.
Follow the safe social distancing rules as well as the trail rules. The six feet of separation rules apply to families as well as friends and other trail users. Also, if you are new to using the trail, follow the posted rules that are posted at nearly all of the trail street crossings and trailheads. The most abused trail rule of them all is “All Users Stay Right / Pass Left” yet I encounter groups all the time and have to remind them to share the trail. Other trail users following the rules shouldn’t have to be inconvenienced by someone not following the rules.
Be courteous. We are all trying to enjoy the outdoors and people need to understand that what you are doing shouldn’t hinder what other trail users are doing. Walk your dog on a leash and keep him on the correct side. Cyclists should yield to pedestrians. All users should follow the signage and stop at road crossings. Be safe.

Training Week Wrap-up

Week 2 was a typical spring training week. The weather was iffy this week, so I did spend some time training indoors. This is my fifth time training for an Ironman and I have to remind myself not to overdo it too much in these early training weeks. This week I found myself pushing my running pace more than I should have and that could lead to bad things. It’s a long journey to get to race day and blowing myself up in week two is not in the plan.

TOTALS FOR WEEK 2:

Swim: 0 / 0 yards
Bike: 3 rides / 44 miles
Run: 5 runs / 19 miles

Gunners-2-1 — Getting off my soapbox for now.

Ironman Louisville 2020 Week 1!

IRONMAN LOUISVILLE 2020 TRAINING

WEEK 1 – MARCH 16 > 22, 2020

IRONMAN TRAINING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC

Training for Ironman #5 has begun! But not without some concern. Usually, my concerns are about some nagging injury that is giving me doubt about completing my workouts, or some forgotten conflict that may pop up and cause me to miss something important, or some other dumb thing on my mind. But I never thought that a global pandemic might derail not only my training but the race itself.

When my buddies and I committed to doing Louisville again back in January, I had no idea that I would be sitting around inside my house with the government telling me to stay home and not go anywhere other than essential travel, i.e. to work, to get groceries, etc. But here we are. When the race dominoes started falling, races like the Boston Marathon and others, I knew that this might be a little more of a worry than what we were telling ourselves. Pools are now closed. Gyms are now closed. Running trails are open, but the toilets are locked! (Maybe that’s only a problem for me.) Getting the workouts in maybe a little difficult for some, but Ironman triathletes are a hardy bunch. Heck, if we can get through an actual Ironman race, we can get around these training obstacles.

My plan for this Ironman is to once again follow Don Fink’s “Be Iron Fit” competitive training plan for the next 30 weeks. It has served me well in my past four races and I have tweaked it over time to fit my abilities and needs. I don’t follow the swim plans like I did the first two times I used it. The past two races went well with just two 45-minute swims per week with a handful of longer open water swims thrown in. I won’t be able to swim for a while, as it hasn’t warmed up enough for me to open my own pool. I suspect I will start swimming in late May.

It is on the cusp of being nice enough to bike outside, but if the weather prevents that I have both a trainer at home or a spin bike at work that I can use if necessary.

I’m in pretty good shape for running this time around. I had been training for an ultramarathon that was to take place on April 3rd but it fell victim to the pandemic and got postponed. My goal for this year’s race is to try to go sub-4 hours on the run. In 2017 my run split was 4:05 at Louisville, so I think that it is reachable. I just got to learn to stay out of the porta-potties on the run course, which always rob me of time. If they are locked on race day it might not be an issue!

My ultramarathon got postponed until 12 days after Ironman Louisville, so I hope to use the 30-weeks of training to prepare me for that event as well.

So here’s to a safe 30-weeks of training, and I hope my buddies and I and everyone else training for Ironman Louisville stays healthy.

TOTALS FOR WEEK 1:

Swim: 0 / 0 yards

Bike: 3 rides / 31.5 miles

Run: 5 runs / 18 miles

Big Hill Bonk Race Update

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My first attempt at doing an ultramarathon distance running event will have to wait, as the race director has informed us that the officials in the town and county in which our event is being held have told him that he cannot have the event at this time. In a world that has been overrun by a virus that no one really knows enough about, caution must be exercised to avoid a fate worse than the pandemic that has already been declared.

The race director has given us a ray of hope, however, by informing us that the race isn’t canceled but rather postponed until late October. That made me feel a lot better about this dumb running event because I wasn’t really prepared for it as I would have liked. After overdoing it in the fall with an Ironman, a marathon, and a couple of local road races in a span of a month and a half, I needed to give my 56-year-old legs a break rather than continue to beat them up. I had created an ultra training plan and then kept editing it down in mileage after my persistent leg injury just wouldn’t heal. I finally got it down to what was similar to a marathon training plan, but I was still cutting runs short and running slower to make sure that I could at least get to the starting line of this dumb idea. After going up to Beloit and running three loops of the course I felt pretty good about having a good chance of at least reaching my goal of getting over 50K.

So maybe I might be better off running the race in the fall and take advantage of a full summer of training. But then I checked the calendar and see that the new race date falls on October 23, 2020, twelve days after Ironman Louisville. At first, I thought that the new race date might be too close to the Ironman for me to have enough time to recover, but I think I might be alright. My current plan is to now train for the Ironman for the next 30 weeks since I have made it my “A” race, and then take the days leading up to the ultramarathon event very easy or off and show up being adequately prepared. One thing I have learned about Ironman training is that it will get me ready for anything.

See you in October for the Big Hill Bonk – Last Runner Standing!

Big Hill Bonk Course Preview Run

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BIG HILL BONK – LAST RUNNER STANDING TRAINING REPORT UPDATE

In 2013 I learned the value of knowing what I was getting into when it comes to a race that I had signed up for. I had joined my lifelong buddies Dave and John in signing up for Ironman Wisconsin in 2013 and we were definitely newbies to the sport. We basically chose Madison for our first Ironman because it was the closest to us. But we also had heard that the bike course was one of the toughest on the Ironman circuit. So we went up to Madison to ride the course and see what it was about. What it was about for me was a demoralizing, soul-crushing experience. I had the pleasure of getting three flat tires and a broken spoke and the humiliation of watching Dave and John ride the course easily while I struggled. It almost broke me. I really thought that I might not be able to get through the ride come race day. But fortunately, it was early in the training and as I got fitter and became a better rider the course didn’t seem so tough when I rode it again in practice a month or so later. On race day, I knew the course well. I rode it confidently and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

When the opportunity for an informal course preview for the Big Hill Bonk Last Runner Standing came up, I clicked on the “GOING” button and made plans to go see what it was about. I had looked at the race location on Google Maps many times. I had looked at the photos that had been posted there as well as the photos that are on the Ultra Signup page for the event, but I got the feeling that they weren’t telling the whole story of this course. So my local running friend Jodi, who is also doing this dumb running event, and I jumped in my car and headed to Beloit, Wisconsin to run about four loops of the course.

When we arrived we were pleased to see that others had also decided to check out the course and we were greeted by the race director Tyler, who greeted me by saying had read my previous blog (My First Ultramarathon?) and loved it. Tyler answered our questions and then led us for our first loop and look at the course.

o1CRXGFYRHOAKpLOfizZQw — Can’t miss this sign, nor the apropos name of the park.

The run start and finish are located at the Welty Environmental Center. The group of about 18 runners took time for a quick photo and then we were off.

Tyler led us down the road a little bit until we came to a small opening in the fence line. This led to a little grassy path that was about 0.5 miles in length and wasn’t all that remarkable.

TbAw5Qu4RDSGm86HtY4biQ — Leaving the road and heading onto the grass.

EL%tLvqQSVaMxbtYdanJ2w — The grassy path led to a paved bike route that we weren’t on for too long. We were encountering some slick snowy and icy spots and were glad to have worn trail shoes. Hopefully, the snow will be gone on race day.

hGQlAEFyTZGGyCJl9zIu5A — The paved bike path ended quickly and we were led to a trail that quickly became steep and tough to run up due to the icy conditions. Those with more experience than what I have walked this hill and I followed suit.

itvONBg7QyifKt0lfoCkpg — The hill eventually leveled off and led to an opening in the woods where there is a nearby toilet about 1.5 miles from the start. We get to run on paved roads again until we hop onto a trail that will take us quite a bit down in elevation. Jodi seemed to be enjoying this run a little too much.

UjurrHBpTmGvlo4OB7d2Yw — This picture and the others I took of the hill do not do it justice. It was a pretty steep grade at points, and icy too. We tried to stay far right because we were afraid of slipping and getting thrown down the hill. I’m guessing this is the hill in the name Big Hill Park.

Image 3-8-20 at 5.09 PM.JPG — The layout of the course, including a few missed turns and a detour to use the toilet. Lots of slow mile splits thanks to walking the icy hills and slowing for the snowy and muddy parts.

The rest of the route included more paved, grassy and muddy trails that were mostly flat and not as challenging as the giant hill we had just walked up. We finished the first loop in about 48 minutes, which is was much slower than what I was anticipating. We did two more loops for practice and by then we had learned enough to be satisfied that we were familiar enough with the course and what we were going to be facing.

So what were the main lessons learned? Here are the key points for me:

The hills will need to be respected and I will definitely power walk up them. No sense in burning energy that I can save for later and walking will be much less taxing on my quads. There’s about 350 feet of elevation gain per loop. That will take a toll after a while.
Our time per loop of about 50 minutes or so was influenced by the icy conditions on a lot of the trail. I would guess an ice-free course will take me about 5 minutes less per loop.
The distance from the runner rest area to the start/finish is not far enough to worry about it. If the weather is bad though, I was planning to stay in my car in between loops, which is a little farther away. I’ll have to make a game-day decision on where to relax between loops if it is really bad out.
TRAIL SHOES ARE A MUST! I have been breaking in a new pair of Hoka One One Challenger ATR’s trail shoes to use if I needed them and this preview proved that I will definitely need them. One thing I learned about the shoes though was that even though they were fairly new and just broken in, they kind of felt worn out by the time I finished the third loop. My foot seemed to move around more in them as I navigated the terrain. I may have to tighten the shoestrings a little and hope that I don’t get ten blackened toenails by the end of my tour of this dumb running event.
Although there were some logs to jump over and some gnarly tree roots and other loose impediments to concern myself with, they weren’t overly technical. However, running over these things in the dark maybe be quite the challenge. I will definitely be relying on my headlamps and I may even carry a small flashlight to use on the steep downhills.
I will need to bring extra running gear. We started the day with a very chilly temperature of about 25 degrees or so and I was sweating pretty good. We did notice that when we were in the woods it felt warmer than the open areas.
I felt pretty good after each of the three loops I ran. They weren’t overly taxing on my legs, and I think I will easily manage 5 to 8 loops. After that, I have no idea. I will be very proud of whatever distance I can accomplish for this course. It was much tougher than the flat paved trail that I normally run.

So there you have it, I got a run in on a course that I knew nothing about, got a few questions answered by the awesome race director Tyler, and learned enough about the course to be pretty confident come race day. Looks like this dumb running event might turn out to be pretty fun.