Results are in at the Winona Daily News.
Good news for me: my time was only 12 seconds off of my best 5k time ever and 4:30 faster than my time last year. So what I've learned: it only takes 18 months to get back into peak running shape post-baby.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Upcoming Local Races
Contemplating running one of these races? Have any experience with them? Please share.
September 8 Pickwick, MN Pickwick Mill Day
September 15 Winona, MN Morrie Miller 5K
September 15 Blair, WI Blair Cheese Chase
September 19 LaCrosse YMCA Maple Leaf Road Races
September 8 Pickwick, MN Pickwick Mill Day
September 15 Winona, MN Morrie Miller 5K
September 15 Blair, WI Blair Cheese Chase
September 19 LaCrosse YMCA Maple Leaf Road Races
Goodview Gallop 2007
The Goodview Gallop was a rainy one this morning. It started sprinkling about when I hit mile 2 and was pouring by the finish. Nonetheless, it was a good, fun run. When I ran the Gallop last year, I knew that it would quickly become a regular race for me and not just because I live so near. I love the fireworks they shoot off during the star spangled banner, the small town feel of having the announcer wish community members "Happy Birthday", the flat course, and the playing of "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" right before the gun goes off. The ambiance of the race is priceless.
Anyway, my biggest complaint, the only complaint, is that the only place results are posted appears to be the Winona Daily News. So I will wait until tomorrow to see what my official time is. In the meantime, I know from having mentioned the Goodview Gallop in another blog that I am not the only person that has been frustrated trying to search for the results. I am including the Goodview Gallop 2006 results in this post and will create another post with the 2007 results.
I really noticed a difference in how I felt racing after having tried an actual 5k running plan that included intervals and some hills work. In all honesty, I probably should have pushed myself further with the plan. Even so, the race felt more comfortable than any race I have run in a long, long time. I know my splits at the 1 mile and 2 mile intervals were pretty close to exactly where I was training for. However, I forgot to stop my watch when I was crossing the finish line, and didn't hear a time, so I will have to wait for official results. The downpour prevented me from getting my time before coming home. I have some early indication that my time dropped dramatically from my last 5k in January.
I did start too far back in the pack and probably cost myself a couple of seconds there. With all the pre-race activity, it is difficult to stay warmed up and not find yourself in the back of the pack behind walkers. Walkers pushing strollers.
Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned my favorite part of the race. Near the end, there was a small redhead and a bearded man looking my way and a quiet "Go, Roars" cheer. Thank you, my little family. It made the race special.
Anyway, my biggest complaint, the only complaint, is that the only place results are posted appears to be the Winona Daily News. So I will wait until tomorrow to see what my official time is. In the meantime, I know from having mentioned the Goodview Gallop in another blog that I am not the only person that has been frustrated trying to search for the results. I am including the Goodview Gallop 2006 results in this post and will create another post with the 2007 results.
I really noticed a difference in how I felt racing after having tried an actual 5k running plan that included intervals and some hills work. In all honesty, I probably should have pushed myself further with the plan. Even so, the race felt more comfortable than any race I have run in a long, long time. I know my splits at the 1 mile and 2 mile intervals were pretty close to exactly where I was training for. However, I forgot to stop my watch when I was crossing the finish line, and didn't hear a time, so I will have to wait for official results. The downpour prevented me from getting my time before coming home. I have some early indication that my time dropped dramatically from my last 5k in January.
I did start too far back in the pack and probably cost myself a couple of seconds there. With all the pre-race activity, it is difficult to stay warmed up and not find yourself in the back of the pack behind walkers. Walkers pushing strollers.
Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned my favorite part of the race. Near the end, there was a small redhead and a bearded man looking my way and a quiet "Go, Roars" cheer. Thank you, my little family. It made the race special.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Not SE Minnesota relevant.
A couple of weeks ago, I was going to a WI family reunion. We were discussing the reunion with some cousins and one of them suggested I run the Racine Lighthouse 4 mile run. The race holds a special place in my heart for sentimental reasons, so I agreed. I went 2 hours out of my way, requiring an extra Amtrak ride, but I did run the race.
I was disappointed in my performance. My time was a full minute slower than the last time I ran the race, when I felt so terrible it tipped me off that I was pregnant. It was warmer this year, but I started out too slow and never made up the time.
Oddly enough, this year I managed to place fourth in my age group, and I received a medal in the mail. I have to admit a little hardware makes me feel a little bit better about my performance. Does that make me shallow?
Sunday, June 10, 2007
BK 5k Race
I meant to make a post about this a long time ago, but failed. Here are the Results
The registration form was this link:
http://www.winonasteamboatdays.com/downloads/BK5K.pdf
I wonder if it will be the same next yer
The registration form was this link:
http://www.winonasteamboatdays.com/downloads/BK5K.pdf
I wonder if it will be the same next yer
Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Day after
Yesterday was the 9th Annual Root River Triathlon in Houston, Minnesota. I competed, as did my sister. In fact, we were partners for one portion.
This was the first triathlon either of us had competed in, so the Root River Triathlon had specific appeal. It was local (about 15 minutes from where we grew up) and featured one unusual tri event: a canoe ride instead of a swim. Because it is so difficult for two mothers of toddlers to practice canoeing, especially for a mid-May event in Minnesota, part of the appeal was the knowledge that we would need to approach this race rather casually. We soon found out, however, that at least 30% of the field has a much less casual approach to the canoeing portion of the triathlon. Many other participants had practiced their strokes. A lot.
We tried our best with the canoeing, but our best included near-constant jokes about ice bergs, apologies for splashing, and a couple of late-race chants for the last bridge to appear.
The bike ride was brutal. We had biked the route of the triathlon the weekend before, so we had an idea of what we were in for. Or so we thought. After our trial ride, we both came away thinking the route was much more manageable than we had anticipated. However, the day we did the pre-ride we hit wind at one corner. Yesterday a 15-25 mile an hour wind was in our face almost the entire time. It was a slow ride, and if you compare last year's results to this year's, you'll find that average bike time was much, much slower.
It should be mentioned that this year the race organizers seem not to have recorded a transition time between the canoe and bike portion, as they have done in previous years. It appears that most of the transition time got added as the bike time, so that also lengthened the average bike time.
The run was good and flat, but fairly hot. I was surprised at how many athletes walked the final event. It's fairly clear from that experience, as well as the gear the athletes brought, that the event attracts more bikers than runners. That was contrary to my assumptions about the race since the run was, proportionally, a longer event than the bike.
My sister and I picked up a lot of things we would do differently. A major thing would be doing more multisport training in the same day. We both commented afterward that it took to about the halfway point in both the bike ride and the run to start feeling our rhythm, when the event went from a struggle to feeling like a challenge we could master. We also need to canoe more. Maybe she and I will do that some this summer and in summers to come, rather than waiting until April before our next Root River Triathlon.
Anyway, if you want results, you can find them here. And if you want the homepage of the race, you can find that here.
Best quote of the day:
"God, even their life jackets are belly shirts."
Edited to include:
One final note about this tri: the support was fantastic. My sister recruited her mother-in-law to watch our two girls so that our husbands could take care of our equipment. It turns out that our husbands did more fishing than equipment wrangling because of the great volunteers at all of the transitions. Now, the husbands did load the canoes and bikes onto and into the cars, so they didn't get off free, but they did make the high school aged volunteers carry the canoes up the hill to the car. These were the same high school volunteers that caught the canoes and brought them to shore in the transition between canoeing and biking. Another great feature was the elementary school aged kids at the water stop. They were so excited to be passing out water, you felt bad when you turned it down.
This was the first triathlon either of us had competed in, so the Root River Triathlon had specific appeal. It was local (about 15 minutes from where we grew up) and featured one unusual tri event: a canoe ride instead of a swim. Because it is so difficult for two mothers of toddlers to practice canoeing, especially for a mid-May event in Minnesota, part of the appeal was the knowledge that we would need to approach this race rather casually. We soon found out, however, that at least 30% of the field has a much less casual approach to the canoeing portion of the triathlon. Many other participants had practiced their strokes. A lot.
We tried our best with the canoeing, but our best included near-constant jokes about ice bergs, apologies for splashing, and a couple of late-race chants for the last bridge to appear.
The bike ride was brutal. We had biked the route of the triathlon the weekend before, so we had an idea of what we were in for. Or so we thought. After our trial ride, we both came away thinking the route was much more manageable than we had anticipated. However, the day we did the pre-ride we hit wind at one corner. Yesterday a 15-25 mile an hour wind was in our face almost the entire time. It was a slow ride, and if you compare last year's results to this year's, you'll find that average bike time was much, much slower.
It should be mentioned that this year the race organizers seem not to have recorded a transition time between the canoe and bike portion, as they have done in previous years. It appears that most of the transition time got added as the bike time, so that also lengthened the average bike time.
The run was good and flat, but fairly hot. I was surprised at how many athletes walked the final event. It's fairly clear from that experience, as well as the gear the athletes brought, that the event attracts more bikers than runners. That was contrary to my assumptions about the race since the run was, proportionally, a longer event than the bike.
My sister and I picked up a lot of things we would do differently. A major thing would be doing more multisport training in the same day. We both commented afterward that it took to about the halfway point in both the bike ride and the run to start feeling our rhythm, when the event went from a struggle to feeling like a challenge we could master. We also need to canoe more. Maybe she and I will do that some this summer and in summers to come, rather than waiting until April before our next Root River Triathlon.
Anyway, if you want results, you can find them here. And if you want the homepage of the race, you can find that here.
Best quote of the day:
"God, even their life jackets are belly shirts."
Edited to include:
One final note about this tri: the support was fantastic. My sister recruited her mother-in-law to watch our two girls so that our husbands could take care of our equipment. It turns out that our husbands did more fishing than equipment wrangling because of the great volunteers at all of the transitions. Now, the husbands did load the canoes and bikes onto and into the cars, so they didn't get off free, but they did make the high school aged volunteers carry the canoes up the hill to the car. These were the same high school volunteers that caught the canoes and brought them to shore in the transition between canoeing and biking. Another great feature was the elementary school aged kids at the water stop. They were so excited to be passing out water, you felt bad when you turned it down.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Social Mapping
I have started a Sanoodi account. The maps themselves don't appear much different from the usual mapping sites, but Sanoodi does have one advantage. They are making these maps part of a social network. So not only can you get a map of all the activities you've completed in your neighborhood, you can also find everyone else in your neighborhood and contact them. I find the USATF site a little easier when creating a map, but it is impossible to contact anyone else who's mapped any local routes. Well, at least not if you don't want to appear like a creepy stalker. On USATF you can see the runs that have happened in the neighborhood, and the user that mapped them, but you can't see the real life person attached to that username.
Heart & SOUL Row, Run & Ride Triathlon
One of the people I ran Cross-Country with in college now works for an organization that is running a triathlon on April 29. This one looks a little more difficult than the Root River Triathlon, because it is slightly more miles. It still looks fun.
Root River Triathlon
I believe my next race will be the Root River Triathlon on May 19 in Houston, MN. I've been looking for a triathlon, but have not yet signed up. I need some help with the swimming portion, and I have yet to convince my local Y to provide a stroke clinic, like I've seen offered at other Ys. Luckily, this one starts with a canoe rather than a swim. It is also weighted toward the runner, with an 8 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. Most tris I've seen are 12 mile bike rides and 5k runs.
Fools Five
I did not run in the Fools Five in Lewiston. However, I did look at the results. Looks like it was a good race and I missed out. Maybe I'll make the 30th year race.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
River City Running Club
I drove down to LaCrosse this morning to run with the River City Running Club. It was so great to have a group run again. The time flew by as I met interesting people. Now, if only I didn't have to drive 45 minutes each way...
Any Winona runners out there looking to organize? Leave a comment or drop me a line.
Edit: I've gotten hits from people searching Google for the River City Running Club. They have a new account, which may mean they've been harder to find? Hopefully this link will get you there:
http://www.rivercityrunningclub.com/
Any Winona runners out there looking to organize? Leave a comment or drop me a line.
Edit: I've gotten hits from people searching Google for the River City Running Club. They have a new account, which may mean they've been harder to find? Hopefully this link will get you there:
http://www.rivercityrunningclub.com/
Rochester Resolution Run
The results for the Rochester Resolution Run can be found on the Rochester Track Club site. This race was actually run on New Year's Day. What a great way to ring in a new year.
LaCrosse Y New Year's Resolution Run
I returned to the LaCrosse Family Y (Onalaska location) for the second in the Y's holiday running season. They made an announcement before the race that the course for both the 5k and 5 mile runs had changed from that of the Jingle Bell Run. It had been, indeed, long. So we all ran much better times in 2007. See the times at their site.
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