Onward and Upward

Another year is in the books. Since this is mostly a training/racing blog, and because that is what I spend a lot of time doing, much of this year end post will be athletics related. I'll start with the non-athletic events though, for anyone not interested in that stuff.

Touring the Purdue Campus

I had a couple of fun trips this year. In the spring Nate, Nichole, and I carpooled out to Indiana to try out our snazzy pink arm warmers pacing one of Nichole's athlete's Sharon to a half marathon PR.
In May Nichole hosted the first TNC (Team Nichole Coaching) camp and a fun group of folks all spent a weekend up at the Porath cabin near Hayward, did a lot of running, a strength competition, ate lots of good food, had a bonfire, threw around a frisbee, and did other fun cabiny things. I won the strength contest mostly due to cleaning up bonus points for an epic 15 minute wall sit segment.

TNC Training Camp

During the summer I helped crew/pace for my friends Jeff and Rob for the Voyagers 50 miler and the Sawtooth 100 ultramarathons. Rob had an amazing race at the 100 miler, finishing 12th in under 27 hours. Jeff survived his first 100 miler, finishing in a little over 34 hours.

Jeff on the Sawtooth course - Photo: Todd Rowe

I joined some co-workers of mine on a bicycling bar tour around Rice county and had a good chance to try out my new headlamp for the later part of the ride.

EMVC Rice County Brew Tour

I also joined my friends Jallie, Kevin, Joe, and John on a tour of some craft breweries around the Twin Cities.

Tour de Brew

In the fall I made a trip out to Ohio to join Sharon for the Columbus 1/2 marathon and spend a week with my friends Garrison and Kristen and their new baby Maggie. The day before I left I was also able to meet Nate and Nichole's brand new baby girl Greta.

Nichole teaching Greta how to do a proper pushup. Important life skills.

Kristen, Garrison, and the Moogle in her Halloween costume.

I had an adorable, fuzzy housemate named Mozzarella.

Unfortunately I found out this summer that she had cancer, and she passed away in November. She was a lot of fun to have around and the house seemed pretty quiet without her. That didn't last long though, because after Thanksgiving my brother and his cat Oryx moved in. He is house hunting and living with me until he finds the right house.

On to the racing review. This was by far my best ski season yet. The extra rollerski miles, a December trip to Silver Star before the race season started, and actually learning good ski technique paid off. I won my first ever Dala Horse at Mora, my first axe at the Minnesota Finlandia, and I finally jumped over to the Birkie classic race and won my first ever age group award and got a top 10 finish! In most races I was in the lead pack for a good portion of the race and got a lot more comfortable there as the season went on.

Nikolai - my first Dala Horse

After the Pepsi Challenge and a fun weekend skiing at Giant's Ridge it was a quick transition to running season for the Sam Costa half marathon. I was pacing for someone, so it wasn't a full out effort, but ramping up for a 1:30 half marathon 3 weeks after ski season was a good way to get back into the running groove.

After doing a couple gravel races in 2013 I had big aspirations for some more bike racing in 2014, but racing part of the Ragnarok 105 before dropping to head to my friend Sam's wedding was the only one I actually got in. It was a good excuse to go explore some gravel roads in the spring though, and the only reason I had over 1000 miles on the bike this year.

By and large my spring and summer were consumed by running. This was partly due to the wet, cold, rainy weather not being conducive to much else (it wasn't fun running in 35F and rain/snow, biking would have been worse) and partially because running was probably the most enjoyable it has ever been for me this past spring and Grandma's marathon was a big goal. Ever since my first miserable marathon experience at a very wet and cold Twin Cities marathon I've been a wimp about running hte rain, but this spring if I didn't run in the rain I would hardly have trained at all, so I embraced the discomfort and got my workouts in, often dragging Nate out with me.

A soggy crew out for a 17 mile training run before Grandma's

The highlight of the training season had to be the TNC Training Camp which included perhaps the hardest workout Nichole and I used to do. 20-15-10-5 minute tempo. Nichole was nice for this camp and included some easy miles between the 15 and 10 minute sections. There had been times where this workout crushed us, and times when it went so well you felt like you could accomplish anything. The training camp also culminated for me in my first 100+ mile week of running. In years past I always felt like higher mileage and consecutive days of running beat me down, but this year I actually recovered on my recovery runs and just kept getting stronger. This was by far my biggest year ever in total hours trained and in miles run, and it paid off!

TNC almost sweeps the Maple Syrup run awards

I had a string of race wins throughout the summer including the Maple Syrup 10k, a win and new half marathon PR (1:14:28) at the Stillwater 1/2, the Lift Bridge 10 mile, Ngede Challenge, Urban Trail 1/2 Marathon, my first Marathon win at the Birkie Trail Marathon, and the Arctic Commando 5k. My best race however was the one where I placed the worst. I set a new marathon PR by 13 minutes at Grandma's Marathon (2:38:47). I also dusted off my speedy legs to throw down a 4:46 at the TNC invitational mile.

First new PR of the year, Stillwater 1/2 Marathon

I found new paddling partners for both of my adventure Triathlons this summer, paddling with Erik Pieh for the Chippewa Triathlon and Dave Rowe for the Tri-loppet. Because these races were the weekends before and after Grandma's neither of them were my best effort, but they were too fun to pass up. There were big waves at both races, but I didn't flip the boat at either, a fact I'm rather proud of.

Dave and I at the Tri-loppet - Photo: Kevin Corrigan

I had my coldest ever running race at the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in November (8F) before having my warmest ever ski race a few weeks later at the Hoigaard's Relays (42F), which Vakava Skier Sarah Daniels and I teamed up for to win the co-ed division. Yesterday was my last race of this year, but it is still early in the ski racing season, so expect more updates as racing continues on the first day of the new year.

2014 Running down the numbers:
611 Hours total training
1,632 Miles Run
1,156 Miles Biked
831 Miles Rollerskied
697 Miles Skate Skied
403 Miles Classic Skied
76 Miles Canoed
41 Blog Posts

Thanks for tuning in. I want to thank everyone who stopped by to check out this blog in 2014, and stay tuned for more random adventures in 2015. Happy New Year!