The American Birkebeiner http://www.birkie.com/ is the boston marathon of cross country skiing. A 51k point to point nordic ski race in the northwoods of wisconsin from Cable to Hayward that attracts more than 7,000 skiers from across the U.S. and world. The top finishers are often composed of World Cup and Olympic champions. This was my first year at the race, and it was a good year to race- as the snow conditions were the best in recent memory. Due to the large number of skiers, the race is split into a wave start, and I would be starting in wave 5 based on my qualification race at the Badger State Games a couple weeks ago. My one concern was the cold temps, -10deg when we woke up, then about 2deg at the start, but it wound up warming up nicely to 25deg by the time I finished. The start of the race went really well, I had a good line-up in the second row and got out really quick with another skier to take the lead in our wave. We worked together for the first 5k until we started hitting the back end of wave 4. The rest of the way would be a battle attempting to get through all of the skiers infront of us, as there is only so much room on the trail. I did manage to get through the crowds without any broken poles or skis, so that is always a bonus of any ski race. My goal time was 3hrs, and at the halfway mark, I was close to 8minutes ahead of my pace, and I was still feeling very comfortable. This time I also nailed my nutrition, thanks in no part to my bonk in the last race. Coming to the finish you are skiing right down Main street in Hayward where the crowds are unbelieveable and you feel like you are in the olympics. But only in Wisconsin will you find a cold Miller Genuine Draft waiting for you at the finish!! I ended up finishing in 2:45:17, and 363 overall out of 3219 finishers in the freestyle race. A great result considering the race traffic I had to work through. This result will put me into Wave 1 for future years so I will hopefully be able to improve on my finish next time.

The Winner of the Race was Ivan Babikov of Russia in a time of 2:07:08. Check out the finish video, and the sprint for second!!

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNsjv43mzzE

Just recently I completed the Jeremy Wright Snowshoe Championships held in scenic Beaver Creek, CO and it was a tough race.  Nikki and the boys and I all drove up Sunday morning battling ski traffic and arrived about an hour before the race.  It’s a 10K that starts at a park at the top of a mountain, about 10,500 ft.  As it’s championship name implies, the race certainly attracts the fastest snowshoers around and this year wasn’t any different. I was 12th overall here in 2006 so my goals were  to just improve on my place, but still give it a good hard effort.  When I got to the starting area about 30 min. before race start, my luck took a turn for the worse when I was in the port-a-pottie and my data recorder came unclipped from my tights and fell right in! I did what anyone would do to retrieve a heavily valued piece of training equipment: I held my breath and reached in until I found it.  After 5 quality hand washings later, I was ready to go, with my data recorder working at 100%.  But man, I hope that never happens again! 

Before the race, there is a traditional “dash for cash” sprint where anyone can sprint for 100 yards for $100 cash prize.  I gave it a go, but a snowshoe malfunction made it difficult to keep up with the top guys.  After the real race started, I pushed hard up the 1st hill and soon settled in my pace.  A few people passed me here and there, but kept up my effort. After mile 2, we headed into a very fun & challenging down hill of all powder.  As we headed for the finish, it was all uphill and by this point I was just trying to keep my position.  I finished 11th overall and had a lot of fun!  Now, I am focusing on some longer rides & runs to prepare for Oceanside 70.3 in March and Strongman Japan on April 20!  Hope all of you are doing well & thanks for reading!
 
Tim

A few too many lagers at the brew pub during bowl games (or the Hola pizza eating contest for that matter) & the off-season is the easiest time of year to gain a few extra pounds..and in my case its always in the mid section.  This is probably healthy for a lot of us that train & race all too often the other ten months of the year though.   Even the slightest bit of extra weight can be really tough on your lower back while we attempt to run our way back to where we were in the fall.  The fact of the matter is our bodies had become so use to running with a certain amount of weight and now its like we are carrying a dumbbell around with us.  Living in Florida, I actually rely on the heat & humidity to help me shed those last few winter pounds that I have gained.  During this time each season (February/March) though, I start getting back into the swing of things but the real heat hasn’t arrived yet. 

With this in mind, I began working with TP’s stability pods that we carry in our store this past week in an effort to balance/ align my body while strengthening my core & lower back.  As with most of TP’s products, after a few days of using the pods, I could really feel difference.   Its like they are working my whole body all at once.  While I have used a chiropractor to help these issues in the past, unlike a Doc,  the stability pods were making my core stronger in the process. 

There are a bunch of different ways to incorporate the Pods (see http://www.tpmassageball.com/core-stability-pods.php ) into your workout but I have just been doing the Single Leg Exercises shown below. 

Long story short.  So today, I am using the TP Pods in the store & in walks Lisa Bentley & her guy Dave (Cracknell).  Lisa is known for her amazing running (which she mostly attributes to her solid core).  I show Lisa the TP Pods & the exercises I have been doing.  Sure enough (with huge tri bookbag on back) she hops on the largest of the pods & whips out a few sets like nothing.   It was amazing.  I am still trying to get the hang of the two easiest pods and she just does them with no sweat. 

So there ya go.  I challenge you to give these TP Pods a try.  They really do the trick & I will be sure to keep using mine.

KJG

Last weekend I went to Birmingham for the Mercedes Half Marathon. Overall the race went really well and the weekend was a lot of fun.

I headed over the race site around 5:45 for a 7:03 start so I could find a place to park and warm up. After jogging around a bit and taking a few restroom breaks, it was game time. The weather forcast at the start was low 40s and sunny and it actually felt surprising warm. I went with shorts, a jersey, and gloves as I remembered last year in the half I did Brendan decided NOT to wear gloves and he ended up regretting it big time. I also saw my running buddy, David Riddle, at the start so we decided to take it out together even though I had a pretty good idea he would be dropping me before too long.

So the gun finally went off and we were on our way. About halfway into the first mile, David says, “just to let you know, the first mile is notoriously fast so dont freak out.” I thought he was referring to races in general when people go out too hard so I thought maybe we’d be 5:20-5:25 pace (since I wanted to run 5:30s at the beginning.) First mile: 4:52. HA! Wow, he wasnt kidding. Must be downhill. Anyway, I settled in and was still feeling really good. David took off around mile 2 which was fine with me as I knew he was in better shape.

I knew there were hills between miles 4.5 and 9 so I was trying to take it pretty conservatively up until that point. After about 3 miles I was more or less in no man’s land, clicking along, waiting for the hills to start. Finally there was a long uphill between 5 and 6 which, looking back, I probably couldve pushed a little harder. Up until that point I was still ahead of 5:30 pace but that mile was around 6:00 which really hurt the average. At that point I was 33:20 which put me 20 sec off 5:30 pace. At this point I decided to pick it up a bit and try to get my head in the game a little more. Luckily I saw a guy up the road so I set my sights on catching him. That happened around 6.5 and I came through 7 in 38:46 (5:25) and wanted to try to get to 9 in 49:30. That way, I would have 4 basically downhill or flat miles leaving me well under 5:30 pace. 

7-8 was partially rolling which transitioned into a long climb and then 8-9 was more of the rolling stuff leaving me at 49:56 through 9 miles. I was still feeling pretty good and had up my effort a bit but I believe those miles are both net uphill which caused them to be a bit slower. After passing the 9 mile marker I had a steep uphill to crest then it was all down. I kept it under control up the hill and then opened it up on the way down which, BTW, was really steep. IMHO, this is what cost a lot of time. Its so hard to make up time when you are going down a really steep hill.

So I came through 10 at 55:30 which meant I was 30sec over 5:30 pace, which was my minimum goal. That meant I just had to run at least 5:20 pace for the last three to get those 30sec back. So I took off and it felt great to open it up a bit. The last three miles took us back into downtown and I ran them in 5:11, 5:23, 5:52 (including the 0.1) and best of all I passed two guys in the last couple of miles. The last I passed was a Kenyan with about a half mile to go. I’m sure he had already mailed it in for the day so he can go road whore somewhere else next weekend, but it still felt good to pass him.

As I came across the line, I tried to sneak under 1:12, and sure enough, the results had me at 1:11:59 for a 5:30 average, which I felt pretty good with. You can never be upset with a PR on a hard course and better yet, I felt REALLY good the whole time. Totally in control the whole race which gives me some confidence heading into the season. Now if I can only learn to ride a bike I’ll be all set…

Splits: 4:52, 10:23(5:31), 15:30(5:07), 21:35(6:04), 27:15(5:40), 33:20(6:04), 38:46(5:25), 44:23(5:37), 49:56(5:32), 55:31(5:35), 1:00:43(5:11), 1:06:07(5:23), 1:12:00(5:52 for 1.1)

Official results can be found here. 

Lots of Tucson talk this winter. But there are a lot of us still loving Clermont.

With the middle of the chilly season up North, we have many elites in town enjoying the nice weather here in the Central Florida/Clermont area. It is definately exciting for us as we love our sport & love gettting to know these folks that are at the top of their game.

The USA Olympic Tri Team just left a week or so ago & it was nice hanging out with Cliff English & his athletes. If fact, I even got to sit down & do a Laura Tingle Special with Hunter Kemper for my Windermere Roadie forum http://www.windermereroadies.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3773 …check it out. Hunter was nice enough to bring us by one of his signed Wheaties boxes for our tri store.; good stuff & many thanks to Hunter. It’s always neat to swim in the lane next to a Brian Flieshmann or a Sarah Haskins and just watch how they move through the water. Amazing. Sam McGlone was here training with that Olympic group as well.

We also have Lisa Bentley (w/husband David Cracknell) that has made this their winter home again. Timex’s own Blake Becker is running around here somewhere (make sure to hit the Becker Buzz sometime; http://blakebecker.blogspot.com/). Nicole & Wolfgang Guembel, Dr. Len Gooch, Nina Kraft, Chris Boudreaux, Danielle Sullivan, & finally Timexer Tamara Kozulina to name a few others.

There has been a lot of talk about Tucson, AZ being the new winter hot spot, but I must say Clermont is still alive & kicking. If any of you guys can skip away for a few days or a week, let me know as I am sure you will agree with our weather here. I am also sure we can help you out during your stay some how. Hope the off-season is going nicely for & see you at the races soon enough.

KJG - www.KevinGrogan.com