Simple thoughts on minimalism and running update

Lately I have been really digging deep on my thoughts about the concept of minimalist running. I am definitely all for it, having two pairs of Vibram FiveFingers (KSO and Sprint), Nike Free Runs, and Saucony Kinvaras. Right now I do not intentionally run in any of them to please my mother (love you), but I simply wear them for as every day shoes, walk around and do non-running related workouts in them - cross-training, awesome abs class, weight-lifting, etc. I also have a pair of Mizuno Wave Rider (not-minimalist) but lately running in them has kind of been painful. I am thinking that it has to do with my feet and lower leg muscles becoming stronger due to using the VFFs, Frees, and Kinvaras more than 'regular' shoes. Although yesterday my Wave Riders were wet from the day before, so I used my Frees just for an 8 mile stroll and it felt SO good and natural. So I think that I will probably make the switch to minimal running shoes soon... :)

I have been focusing a lot more on my running technique and form, not so much speed lately, because I need to develop a strong base. I am not doing what the guy in the picture does (he is landing on his heel) I have been focusing on making sure my form is right and most efficient - mid-foot strike/fore-foot natural strike, NOT heel to toe. I have also been focusing on cadence, too. 1-2-3-4, quick strides, not necessarily long strides because then it becomes 1....2... and I'd rather get my form down and not be so hoppy and inefficient. The speed and proper longer strides will come with more training and base of proper technique. And I tell you what, focusing on form and technique has made a world of difference in the way I feel while running! Like I said, I have not been focusing on speed, so these distances and times are not completely on the faster side.

(Left map) Friday 8.11 miles (1:00)

Saturday 7 miles (0:54) (Right map)

I have been putting much thought into running lately and have been reading the blog of top ultra-distance runners like Anton Krupicka to see what I need to do in order to become a great ultra runner that was I can finish the World's Toughest Mudder and do other exciting races like Leadville 100Mile Trail run, possibly the American River 50Miler, Western States 100, and more. I also really am diggin' Anton Krupicka's thoughts on minimalist running and how he says that he prefers to be as in-tune with the ground as possible to allow for a more natural feeling since humans are meant to run.

Today during my run, it was almost 80 degrees, so I decided to take a water bottle, but I did not want to completely have to hold onto it for the whole run. I do not have an Amphipod bottle or Nathan bottle that has one of the hand straps on it, so I took a string from an old pair of shorts and ghetto-rigged a hand strap onto a bottle. It works for now, but maybe after a couple stellar results in races I'll be able to pick up a hydration sponsor or a pro-deal! ;)

I'm really liking the idea that I can put up my running (or riding) routes on here using screen capture! Awesome! I just might keep doing that.

Regional Championships and new stuff!

Regionals were in St. Charles, Missouri for road cycling this season. We took the big ol' charter bus there, so it was kind of like we were traveling in style - kind of. We got to St. Louis and I had my headphones in, then looked up and saw these cars way close... all of a sudden, BOOM! Apparently the brakes were not working on the bus and we side swiped a couple cars and rear ended a Honda. No one was injured and the vehicles were still able to work, so things were fine. The police officer needed us to write down all of our names and he told us to write our real names down, not the goofynames like "Phillip MaGroin" or "Ben Dover" or anything like that. It caused everyone on the bus to laugh. We finally got to the hotel and we were all tired from our trip. Team Time Trial and Road Race on Saturday.

When Saturday came along, it was chilly in the morning. The TTT was an 8.5 mile out and back course. It was Nick, Dooley, Taylor and me. The first half of the race was hard into a sucky head wind, so it felt really slow. Once we got to the turn around, we started zooming because on the way back we were in a tail wind. ZOOM! Nick popped with about 3-3.5 miles left. Then I looked to the right and it looked like Dooley was popping at the same time, too.... Crap, I thought it was going to just be Taylor and me. We pushed on and kept going. I guess Dooley decided to suck it up and he hung on, which benefited us as a team. We rotated and could see the finish line and we pushed it hard. Our finish was almost perfect since all three of us were close to each other, so I felt pretty good about out time. Coach had us guesstimated at 21 minutes and 30 some seconds. Marian was our biggest threat. They started a couple minutes behind us and Coach said that their time was either 30 seconds slower than ours or 2 minutes and 30 seconds faster than ours... I was hoping that we beat them.

Results were posted near the registration table.. 1st place in the TTT!

Next challenge was the 3 lap (21 miles/lap)- 63 mile road race. My front shifter was not working 100% correctly so the hills were going to be a challenge. Our race started and it was a slow pace to begin with, but it would soon speed up since there was a good size hill within the first three miles. I figured out how to get my shifter to work and pressed on with the group. It started to warm up as we got into the second lap. The first big hill came again during lap two and this time I could not get my shifter to work when I needed it to. The pack progressed without me as I finally got my shifter to work and I tried hard to catch them. They were within sight, probably 20-30 seconds up the road but riding in the headwind all by myself was just too much. I did not give up tho like some other people who would have just dropped out of the race. I knew I was in a good enough spot to earn points for the team, so I pushed forward. Lap three was extremely tough, especially the hilly first section with the huge hill. I actually puked and had to get off the bike for a couple seconds then climb back on and mash gears up to the top and work my way to the finish line. Ended up finishing 12th, which was in the points for the team. Mission accomplished and thrashed legs! YAY.

Sunday was the criterium and it was pretty warm out. No need for leg warmers or arm warmers! FINALLY! The course was a three-turn loop with a section of brick-type cobbles. It was pretty smooth but there were some rough parts that sent a few people flying in our race. There actually was a crash that happened right in front of me on the cobble section and luckily I avoided it. Taylor and two other dudes were in a breakaway from the rest of the group. My legs were feeling pretty sore from Saturday but I had to suck it up. It was only a 45 minute race, but it felt fast. I watched the time counter count down as we passed with each lap until it read about 5 laps to go. Then I knew I had to prepare for battle. Last lap I was sitting in a good spot - about third or fourth wheel going into the last turn. In the middle of the last turn there was a loud POP! Someone blew a tire and wrecked, luckily it was not me or any of my teammates. I ended up getting 12th, again, but still in the points, so I will take it. I also got prime lap points, too! I was pretty stoked about that! The team ended up 4th overall in the conference. We would have done better overall if so many people did not drop out of races, but what can ya do? We ended up getting back to Columbia at about 1230a.m. or something and I was glad I did not have classes Monday morning.

In non-cycling news, I did not receive the R.A. position for next year even though I was one of the top applicants and had a great interview. Oh well, their loss. Waiting until next Thursday on the result on the Begley scholarship, since I was invited to the Honors Convocation award ceremony. Not sure what I'll be getting, but hopefully some sort of good scholarship money that will be helpful. We shall see!!

There was an Earth Day 5k that I decided to do yesterday (Wednesday). I ended up getting third overall and 2nd place in the men's field. A LWC running team guy and a Kenyan LWC running girl beat me (by 2 seconds). It was a hilly course but lots of fun. Then I had to go and immediately teach abs class, so it was a good workout :)

I also have got in touch with Peter at Vespa Power

(www.vespapower.com) and will be using Vespa during long distance training and long races. Pretty excited about it and the adventure that is in front of me as I go down the path towards become an ultra runner. I've also been trying to find ultra runs during summer and even into the early fall semester for race prep for the World's Toughest Mudder but they all seem so far away. :/

I think that's it for now, I'll be back with more news and stuff later!

Marian and Purdue and other exciting news!

This past weekend was a split weekend. Saturday was at Marian, while Sunday was at Purdue. The Thursday before we went to the race, I decided to try my shot at upgrading to Men's B from C. Sent in the race resume to USACycling and received an approval within 30 seconds - literally. SWEET! Now I can help out Dooley, Tay, and Nick. That is exactly what I did, except Taylor was the only one I really helped because Dooley popped in the Crit on Saturday and the Road Race Sunday. Both of the races, the Crit and Road Race, I did lots of teamwork for Taylor, which ended up causing me to pop, but I still did what I needed to do to help the LWC team. I earned prime points and finishing points in the Crit, while covering moves and such for Taylor until I popped, then he ended up getting 6th. So I will say that is a check next to the teamwork section of racing for me. Regionals at Lindenwood is my time to shine.

The Team Time Trial on Sunday was going to be my event. I love TTT's. Time started and we were rolling! The course was basically like lollipop style - meaning you ride out, go around a loop, then head back. It was sure to be domination between Dooley, Taylor and me. We were going, and then all of a sudden Dooley decided to turn left when we were supposed to go straight. We were in echelon-type pace line, so my bars were at his hip and Taylor's were at mine. His wheel crossed mine and I ended up falling on my a$$$$ and sliding for like 10-15 feet. Taylor almost went down, too, but did not. I was pissed. Skin suit was ripped, right butt cheek was on FIRE, and we pretty much automatically lost the TTT. Taylor's wheel decided to not work, so he needed my wheel, so it was up to the two of them to finish. I coasted back to the start finish and switched into normal bibs to keep riding around so my leg did not stiffen up. 4th out of 4 teams. Whatever, we still got the team points, I guess. Dooley kind of avoided me for half of the day after the TTT, but 'we cool'. The road race, like I said earlier, consisted of me being the 'domestique' for Taylor, which is fine. The wind out there... was... insane! Last lap of the road race I was riding solo and was going as hard as I could into the wind but was only going EIGHT miles per hour... say WHAAAT! yeah, apparently there were 50 mile per hour gusts and I believe it. Once the race was over and we headed back, my right cheek started hurttttting. No pain, no gain. It's all healed now.

Okay, so done with biking stuff for now....

In other news, I was officially nominated for the Begley Scholarship at LWC. I have to write an essay about the Cordoba Initiative and the proposal for the Islamic mosque near the 9/11 site. The scholarship is a full-ride for one year! Let's hope I write one kick-a$$ essay because my brain has not been cooperating with me in terms of letting me get anything done so far this weekend.

AND!!!! I have a group R.A. interview on Tuesday! AND.... I am receiving a leadership award from the school sometime later in April! It's not a scholarship or anything, more like a piece of paper, but I'll take it!

Finally... the best news so far (besides nomination for the Begley)...

I received THE email from Tough Mudder HeadQuarters announcing that I OFFICIALLY qualified for THE WORLD'S TOUGHEST MUDDER! It is going to be in December in New Jersey! (If you're interested to check what it will consist of... http://toughmudder.com/events/worlds-toughest-mudder-series-finals/ )

I am pretty stoked! Jimbo qualified, too. I am definitely doing it whether he does it or not. 36 weeks out from race date - today exactly. I'm going to actually train for this event considering it is technically a World Championship! I will be ready and in fighting shape, too, even more so than now. Not literally fighting shape, but in good enough shape to run circles for 24 hours around the other contestants. Time to get serious.

The last little bit of news I've got for ya.. Insanity: The Asylum is now available! I think right now it is only available through Team BeachBody Coaches, like me! So email me if you're interested in getting it.

Okay, enough from me... time to get stuff done, I hope! I'll update mid-week after the Begley essay is turned in and the group R.A. interview.

Peace!

Post Spring Break and Notre Dame

The week after Spring Break was JAM packed it felt like. I was constantly moving from like 7am until like 10, 11pm. But, that's how I know I am doing what I need to do, right?? Awesome Abs class was still rockin' and rollin' and it actually made me sore, probably because I took Spring Break off from doing the Awesome Abs routine. It felt good to be sore again in my core! More school, work, blah blah blah and then the weekend came around and it was time to go to Notre Dame for racing. We took the big charter bus again and it was neat. It was a 6-7 hour drive and you could tell everyone was excited to finally get there 1) because it was a long drive, 2) people were hungry, and 3) our hotel was the bomb and was right on the Criterium course - so we could actually watch the race from our hotel room if we chose to.

Saturday rolled around and it consisted of the Team Time Trial (TTT) and Road Race. I did the Men's B TTT with Matt, Taylor, and Nick. It was about 20-25 degrees outside, but luckily not raining! Matt popped off within the first 1.5 miles of the 10 mile race. I'm guessing he did not do enough of a warm up. We were doing pretty well, then at about mile 8 or so, Taylor dropped off, too. It was left up to Nick and me to finish strong for the Men's B team. We crossed the line knowing that we could have done better, but we did our best. It did not help that we lost a teammate within the first 5 minutes, but that's part of TTT racing. We ended up 3rd - 22 seconds behind the leader (Marian, of course).

The road race was still chilly, although it had warmed up a degree or two. I felt strong and ready, since I was pleased with my TTT performance. Our road race was a three lap race(~13.5 miles each lap). I was trying to just let everyone do the work for the beginning of the race, but somehow I ended up right at the front again. A group of four sketchy dudes decided to try to break away, and their gap began to grow. Only one other dude, besides myself, tried to reel them in, but since he and I were doing the work, it did not happen, but we caught one of them. It came down to the last couple miles near the finish and I could not move up in position to get ready for the sprint because it was about 5-wide in a one lane road, so I was mid-pack in the 20s somewhere. People started to sprint towards the line and I couldn't let out my Cavendish-like sprint (haha) because there were so many people who were near the front but could not sprint, which caused me to end up getting 15th. I was not completely happy with that position, especially since Souers got 6th and Andrew got 11th and I know I could out-sprint them in a heart beat. The day went on and in the other categories, lots of our LWC riders were dropping out of the race for no reason other than they "didn't feel it" which kind of upset me. But it was still a good day for me at least :)

Sunday was FREEZING and was the crit - more my style of racing. The gun shot and I should have bet money on what was going to happen. This little asian dude from northwestern sprinted to the front and led us with a good size gap, but we reeled him back in within the first lap and a half, and I did not see him again. He does that every race!!!! hahaha. Anyways, the roads were pot-hole filled, but it was a good course. The first prime-lap bell rang and I wanted points. I ended up sprinting for it, and took first in the points. Then I let people do the work again. Second prime-lap bell rang and I wanted more points. Sprinted the crap out of Trixie (my bike) and took first in points in that sprint, too, by a hair. Sat in the pack again and let my legs get ready for the three lap countdown that was approaching. One lap to go, and the pace slowed down dramatically and I was sitting fourth-wheel. I did not want to go slow last lap and then have the whole pack swarm around us, so I decided to man-up, take the lead and I time-trialed the sh!t out of that last lap. Came into the last corner still in first but I could hear people right behind me. I started sprinting, but hit a pothole and it threw me off and ended up getting 4th by less than a bike length. It was a great day, I acheived both of my goals for the day - 1) get points in both primes, 2) get top 5. Check!

So I've been gearing up mentally and physically for the next couple races. I decided to try to upgrade to Men's B... and received an approval email from Jeff Hansen within 30 seconds of submitting the request. WOO! I also received good news that I was approved for the LWC Cycling Internship this summer to cover my internship program requirement! SWEET! Then.... I had a letter in the mail from the Office of the President of LWC saying that I was nominated for the Begley Scholarship for next year. It's been a great week. AND... last week and this week, I've been able to skype with my mom! You da bomb, mom!

This weekend is at Marian on Saturday - Crit, and Purdue (Pur-don't) on Sunday - TTT and Circuit Race that they are calling a Road Race. It's on like Donkey Kong!