Did the Warrior Dash down in Mt. Morris, MI today. It was a 3.25 mile event with 13 obstacles. It was pretty easy, but a lot of fun. We took this photo after we cleaned up a bit. Should have some mud pictures in a couple of days.
Tag Archives: run
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For the second year in a row I came home with 1st place in my age division at the Out for Blood Duathlon (5k run followed by 20k bike). This year it was the men’s 26-35 mountain bikers and last year it was the men’s 30-39 mountain bikers. No idea why they switched up the age divisions.
Duathlon 1st
Last Saturday I completed my first duathlon, the Out for Blood Duathlon in Mount Pleasant. It was a 5K run followed by a 20K bike ride. I timed myself at 24:13 for the 5K and my total finishing time was 1:12:32, so I beat my goal of 1:15:00.
I finished first in the 30-39 male mountain bike division, but now that results are posted, I see there was only one other guy to beat. I finished 5th out of 13 males (just over 5 minutes behind top time) who rode a mountain bike, so not bad.
It was a lot of fun! I’m looking forward to doing some other 5K runs and duathlons this summer.
Golfing and Running for Automattic’s Worldwide WP 5k
Today was the Automattic Worldwide WordPress 5k and what a beautiful day it was. Spring is just starting in Michigan, but the temperature rose above 80 degrees as if it was the middle of summer.
I participated in a couple of ways. In the morning, I played 18 holes of golf for a 4.5 mile walk shown on this map (click to view on RunKeeper.com).
I took a couple of videos so you could join me on the final hole and did my best to commentate in the spirit of Masters Sunday.
Since I had to get in a 40 minute run for duathlon training, I ran 4.6 miles before the sun went down. Map of the route is below (click for a detailed view).
I’ve been addicted to exercise since the beginning of the year so I was excited when we announced this 5k day. It’s a win for everyone when we can motivate people to get off the couch or away from the computer to burn some calories. I wonder how many kilometers in total people logged for the event. Next time we’ll have to set up a counter. My total for the day was 14.64k (9.1 miles).
My First Duathlon
My friend Dave has been training for a duathlon and I’ve always wanted to do one, so I signed up to join him. It’s called the Out for Blood Duathlon and is on April 16th, just over a month away. The duathlon consists of a 5K run followed by a 20K bike ride. I can complete both of those on their own so I just need to increase my fitness to be able to them together.
I found a decent 4 week program online, which I’ve adapted to create my training program:
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| Run 20 easy | Rest | Run 40 | Cycle 35 easy | Rest | Run 20 Cycle 45 |
Cycle 60 |
| Run 25 easy | Rest | Run 50 | Cycle 40 easy | Rest | Run 25 Cycle 50 |
Cycle 70 |
| Run 30 easy | Rest | Run 55 | Cycle 45 easy | Rest | Run 30 Cycle 60 |
Cycle 80 |
| Rest | Run 40 | Rest | Cycle 30 easy | Rest | Run 20 easy | RACE |
* All numbers are minutes.
My goal is to finish under 1:20:00 1:15:00 which is doable if I run 7 mph and ride 14 16 mph. (I found some 2004 riding data showing I consistently rode over 16 mph on my mountain bike, so adjusted my goal. If I hit those paces, I’ll have 2 minutes to spare on the goal time, which will be needed at the starting line and for the transition.) I better start training!
Hitting the Wall
Back in my younger days I ran quite a bit. I might have even enjoyed it once in awhile. During 8th grade and my freshmen year of high school I ran cross country. We had some fun during practices, but I can’t really say that I enjoyed the running aspect of the sport. I ran the distance events during my freshmen year of high school and just hated it. I was never a good long distance runner, which probably had something to do with it; I don’t like to lose.
At some point in every long distance (3+ miles) run I’ve ever made I’ve hit the wall. The wall is the point where you just can’t push your body any longer. Breathing would get hard and my legs would eventually give out. I’d either have to slow down or stop completely. As an athlete this was not fun. I don’t like to give up.
