Racing to a Wedding (again)

What a busy weekend! It is still kind of a blur. The haziness started Friday morning around 1 AM when I got a call from work that one of my machines was acting up. I was in from 1-5 AM trying to get the machine to stabilize (it is a horizontal copper plating machine that transports material and provides a cathodic connection through a series of segmented rollers; the issue is that the material is not staying in contact with these rollers, which leaves the plating current nowhere to go and causes the material to burn.) Then I went home and crashed for a few hours before going back to work on the problem. I thought I had made some headway by afternoon (I was wrong), and I had to leave in any case to make it to my friends Dave and Caitlin's wedding rehearsal, where I was playing the part of best man.

Dave and Caitlin getting ready to cut the Dala Horse Cake

It was a large wedding party, there were 7 groomsmen, so there was a lot to keep track of. The rehearsal went off pretty well though, and the grooms dinner was pasta, perfect for carbo loading before a Saturday race or wedding, or both in my case. They had a cake shaped like an enormous dala horse, which was delicious, and Dave's sister Tina decorated all the candle holders with a ski brand on one side and a geeky symbol (Star Trek, Dr. Who, Zelda, ect.) on the other. After the grooms dinner I sneaked off to my friend Jallie's birthday party for capture the flag and more cake. Then I headed to Jeff's to sleep so we could be up at 5:45 the next morning to head to the Stillwater Half Marathon.

Our plan was to use this race as test to gauge our fitness before Grandma's Marathon next month. I haven't run a road half in several years and was expecting a PR. I also hadn't had a competitive race this year so I was hoping to really go out there and make myself hurt.

Shorty shorts and a farmers tan, the height of fashion

I got my PR, but did not have the competitive race I was hoping for. One other runner followed me until a bit past the mile mark at 5:35 pace, then he backed off and I was alone from then on. I held a 5:41 pace fairly consistently to finish in 1:14:28, about 3 minutes faster than my previous PR. I'm hoping this is a good sign for Grandma's next month. This weeks hard workout was not so encouraging, my 15 minute tempo section I could only pull off 6:08 pace, but anyway, back to the weekend.

A very well framed finishing shot

Jeff and I had to boogey on out of town right after the race to make it to photo's for Dave's wedding. We picked up Andy at his girlfriends house on our way through, she was nice enough to let us shower there even, and were off to the chapel. Pictures went pretty smoothly despite the large number of people we were trying to herd around. I got the rings so they would be available when needed. Things went off alright as far as weddings go, then it was off for many more pictures before heading to the reception at Target Field. I made it through my best man toast. Coming up with the speech wasn't hard, I have a lot of good Dave stories, but this was probably the largest crowd I've spoken to, so that was just a little unnerving. Then it was on to dancing. I love skier weddings, because skiers have good dancing endurance, but not the best form by and large, so I fit right in. When things finally closed down Jeff and I headed to Erik and Elspeth's house to sleep.

Bride and Groom cutting the wedding cake, I had cake 4 days in a row this weekend

Sunday morning I was feeling pretty decent if definitely still sleep deprived, so Erik, Elspeth, Jeff, and I got out for a nice morning run then Erik made us pancakes. Then Erik and I went out paddling. We are racing the canoe leg of the Chippewa Triathlon together next month.

I placed well in this race last year, but since it is the weekend before Grandma's I'm planning to take it easy this time around. I plan to paddle hard and hopefully put Erik in a good position coming out of the boat while I take in the scenery and try not to fatigue the legs during the bike and run portions. Nichole tried to talk me out of signing up for this race, but it is such a fun weekend I couldn't say no. We'll find out at Grandma's if that was a bad decision on my part.

I have only been in a boat a couple times this year, so the paddling was a little hit and miss. It is nice to paddle with someone who knows what they are doing, but the wind and waves made the boat a bit tippy, so it took us a while to get into a good rhythm. We did alright with the tail wind, but when we tried to go cross wind along the north side of the lake the waves got to be a bit much and we ended up swimming. This was not too big of a deal, the day was warm, the water wasn't frigid, and we had lifejackets handy. We got to shore, dumped the boat, and decided to paddle back into the wind and cross at the calmer south end of the lake. This worked out much better and by the time we landed we were almost dry, technical fabrics FTW!

I was pretty tired out by this point, but at least the strenuous part of the weekend was over. I headed home to my folks house to hang out with the family on Memorial day. This also conveniently put me in Amery for the Lake Wapogasset Luthern Bible Camp (WAPO) pancake breakfast. I never actually worked at this camp, but many of my good friends have, so I have a lot of connections to camp and have spent quite a bit of time there. It was great to catch up to people, and I heard a happy rumor that the Ngede Challenge might be happening again. I have done this race all 4 years it has existed and it never fails to be a challenge and a lot of fun. I posted about last years race here.

Well, on to another weekend soon. Tomorrow's run is 23 miles and it sounds like there will be a good crew of TNC runners and friends down to join in on the fun, so the miles should fly by. Just a little over 3 weeks until Grandma's, almost taper time.

Running Camp

So things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately. I'm working on a post about Biking that is turning out to be rather large, so Nichole wisely suggested that I split it into multiple posts to make it easier to digest. I will work on that, but for now on to more exciting things. I have been running lately, a lot actually.

I had three 50 mile weeks in April, and the last week of April was 85 miles. That was the most I had ever run in a week, and my legs were well aware of that fact. They hurt constantly from Sunday afternoon (Maple Syrup run plus 13 more miles in the afternoon) through the whole week. Tuesday was 8x5 minute tempo with 45 seconds rest, and Nate and I got out in driving wind and rain to get this workout done. We were both toast afterwards, but the weather was so bad all week that biking wasn't really an option, so I just kept running. I have been cautious of high miles because of past injuries that have left their mark on my body, but have thus far remained injury free. The next week was 70 miles, and this week that just finished I crossed the 100 mile barrier!

Not injured yet, and I always eat anything I want.

The reason last weeks mileage was so high is because of two fun events. The first happened while I was home in Amery last Saturday for my parents play. I got a text from my good friend and teammate since high-school Erik Teig. This guy is a huge inspiration for me. He is a great runner and has really worked hard to find his potential in running, nearly making it to the marathon Olympic trials. He is the runner I use as a mental image when I am trying to run fast and smooth. He happened to be back in WI for the weekend and suggested that I should drive up to Amery and go for a run. Since I was already in Amery it was a very easy decision to say yes. We put in 14 miles and had a good time catching up on life and everything.

Erik and I at Ragnar a couple years ago, this guy is FAST!

This was a good way to start the week out. Tuesday morning Nate and I ran 6+ miles at half marathon pace and I ran again with some co-workers at lunch for a total of 16 miles for the day. Then on Friday the mileage really picked up. Thursday evening Nate, Nichole, and I headed up to northern Wisconsin for the first ever TNC Endurance training camp. A dozen fun runners spanning a large range of age, ability, and geography, all got together to run a few workouts, talk shop, and generally have a good time. Nichole put in a lot of work planning and recruiting for this event, and it was great! Over the course of the 3 day camp I put in 48 miles, including a long, tough tempo workout Saturday that I am rather proud of.

A tough but rewarding workout, 20 miles with 50 min of tempo along the way.

The running part of the camp was fun, but best part by far was the camaraderie. There were meals cooked, bonfires lit, frisbee's thrown, and games played. I got to meet a lot of new runners I'll be keeping an eye out for at Grandma's next month. There was a strength contest where I had a pretty epic 15 minute wall sit showdown with a gal named Slaine and got creamed by Nate at pullups (again, although I did manage 17, my personal best).

An epic wall sitting showdown. It was exciting, really.

Jeff and I slept out under the stars (couldn't convince any other hearty souls to join us on that adventure). There was a lot of frisbee throwing, an activity I have sorely missed. Sharon made the trip up from Indiana for the weekend, and brought her friend Matt who's knowledge of geek culture and random internet meanderings overlapped Jeff's and mine to an almost eerie degree.

I feel much better after this 100 mile week then I did after running 85. I'm still planning on taking the next few days a bit easier though to really let that training sink in. I'm debating running the Stillwater Half Marathon next weekend because I haven't ran a race since March. It would be a good test of my fitness and a good way to defray some of the tension that is slowly building with Grandma's creeping ever closer. It is also the same day as my friend Dave's wedding however, so timing could be pretty close. I don't know what it is with people planning their weddings on race days this spring, although in Dave's defense his wedding was planned long before I had this race on my radar.

Have a great week dear reader, 5 weeks to Grandma's marathon, and summer is on the way.