Minneapolis Marathon:Preview

Only 2 days until that Minneapolis Marathon, which is my big race for the spring. I am feeling pretty good and my training has gone well. I ran well 2 weeks ago at the Fargo 1/2 marathon, so I should be on target to run a good time on Sunday. My goal is to run a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is a 6:06 minute mile pace. This will certainly be a challenge, being that my current personal best is a 2 hour 51 minutes which is a 6:31 minute mile pace, so a pretty big jump but I think I can do it.

I ran the inaugural Minneapolis marathon last year and it was a fun race and pretty well organized for the first year. Below is a video preview of the course, I will post race results and a race report soon. I know there are a number of friends that I know that are running this weekends, best of luck to everyone.

National Running Day:

Today is National Running Day, which is meant to promote running. For the runner's out there this might seem a bit redundant, but this occasion is meant to help promote a healthier lifestyle through running. Below is a link to the National Running Day website that has several events to help promote running.

For those of you in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area we have numerous run clubs that our out and celebrating the day with several events. I myself am going to celebrate with a 8 mile run after work. I would challenge you to get out and do something you have never done before. Test your limits of what you thought you were capable of, that is what I enjoy the most about running. Enjoy the day!

National Running Day

Fast Fact:Coffee

Quick article about the effects of coffee. I myself don't think that coffee is bad for you, yes if you drink 2 pots a day there will be some negative effects. Like everything else moderation is the key.

I am currently not drinking much coffee right now, primarily because the gels that I use when I race have caffeine in them 50mg (equal to 1/2 cup of coffee) and if you lay off the coffee for a month or two prior to the race you will feel the effects of the gels more. After this Sunday though I'll be back on the bean.

Fast Facts: Coffee

Running Jargon:

Like any group, association, profession or industry there are words and phases that each of those communities understands that outsiders just don't know about. Here are a few Running Terms that you may have heard and don't know what they mean.

"Bandit"-A person that runs a race that has not registered. The most famous bandit of all time is Rosie Ruiz, who road the subway during the 1980 Boston marathon and for a moment won the Boston marathon. Running Times Article about the hoax

"Getting Chicked"- When a male runner is passed and beat by a female runner. More of a common phrase in the ultra running community as males are more frequently "Chicked"

Fargo Marathon 2001:Race Report

The 2010 Fargo Marathon is in the books and marked in the win column for me. The weather was not quite perfect but certainly better than last year when it was 33 degrees out when we started. This year it was rainy, which actually helped with the heat, it was in the mid 60's most of the race with a bit of wind.

A high school friend and I ran the 2-man relay this year. I am trying to not run as many full marathons this year in hopes of improving my time. I ran the first leg of the race, which for whatever reason was 15miles long and my friend ran the second part 11.2 miles. Because the distance was and odd length I was more concerned with my pace. I have posted the race results and my Garmin watch readings below. I ran a 5min 50 sec mile pace and crossed the 1/2 marathon mark at 1 hour and 16 mins. I was very happy with this pace and the overall time.

The course, as you can guess, in Fargo was flat and fast. You start outside of the Fargo Dome and wind your way through Fargo, ND and parts of Moorhead, MN. The only difficult part is that some parts of the course are through residential areas that you have to wind through and causes you to turn a lot, but not a big deal for me. Because I started and was only running 15 miles I was running with the elite runners throughout the race. I was in 6th place for most of the race, but because there were not a lot of runners at that speed I often found myself running alone, which make it difficult for me to keep a consistent pace, as you can see from my Garmin read out.

All in all another great race and a fun weekend, several family members and friends ran in the full marathon, 1/2 marathon, marathon relay and 10K. One of the fun parts for me was getting to see two family members finish their first marathon, I even got to run the last few miles with one of them Finishing my first marathon was such an amazing feeling and accomplishment in my life and has obviously had an affect on my life and to get to be there when they both finished theirs was a lot of fun and something that, hopefully, they'll remember for the rest of their lives.

Race Results:

Garmin Results:

Fargo Marathon 2010:2-Person Relay

I am offer to Fargo for the 2-Person relay that I'm doing with a friend from high school. Should be a fast and fun event, the weather forecast looks nice around 62 degrees tomorrow which sounds a lot better than the 30 degrees it was last year.

I am doing the first leg of the marathon, for some reason it the first leg is 14.7 miles instead of 13.1 for a normal half marathon, but oh well. I have a lot of friends and family running and going to the race so should be a lot of fun. Good luck to everyone and I'll post the results and a race report soon.

You can look up my results on the Fargo Marathon website if you can't wait. Our team name is "Fat Kids Win At Teeter Tooter. "

2010 Mile Stone:

I have just ran over 1000 miles this year! Not too bad considering I probably ran close to 1600-1900 miles last year and that was when I did 6 marathons, 2 ultra marathons and 1 other shorter race.

Women's 600m - 2008 Big 10 Indoor Track Championships

Any UNREAL performance by Heather Dorniden of the University of Minnesota in the 2008 Big 10 Indoor Track Championships.

The Trial of Miles, Miles of Trials

Just ran 32.5 miles in a 24 hour period...and actually don't feel too bad.

A Little Recovery:

If you have been following my workouts that pat week you will notice that I have been taking it easy, to say the least. I believe that last week I ran close to 20 miles total, in my defense I was sick one day and had some nagging problems with my left leg. I think it is an IT band issue, but I'm not 100% sure. I know that I have been running on some worn out racing flats and switched to the Nike Free 3.0, which are a very minimal shoe that is suppose to simulate barefoot running.

All of this has lead to some minor problems with my leg and so I have been trying not to aggravate it. I rested quite a bit last week and have taken it easy the first few days of this week. Light run on Monday and substituted a spin class for my workout on Tuesday. Wednesday though I did a pretty hard workout on the track, 1200 meter repeats at 5k pace (5:00 minute per mile pace) and I felt really good. It was nice to have fresh legs and for once my cardio was what was limiting my not so much leg fatigue. I really felt strong and even though I was close to a 5 minute pace for most of my repeats it didn't feel that bad.

I have posted the workout below, hopefully my leg won't give me any more problems. Just 1-2 more weeks then its tappering time.

13.5 miles total (6x1200m @5k pace (5min) by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details