Harvest Hammer-Final Training

I am beginning to taper now for the race on Saturday and will take a complete rest day today and maybe do some low impact exercise tomorrow.

The last two days, I went out and did some low mileage running and biking, but at high intensity. On Tuesday I had a personal best (PB) of 6:45 on a mile run. Then yesterday I bettered that PB and turned in a 6:23 minute time. I switched yesterday from my regular running shoes to a light-weight shoe called racing flats. They do make a difference.

We are having some beautiful weather for this time of year. Better enjoy it while we can.

Harvest Hammer Training

My grandson, Evan, keeping up with grandpa on the trail.

The Harvest Hammer duathlon is nine days away and is held in Morrison, IL. It consists of a 5K run and a 20 mile bike ride.

On Tuesday I went out for a 10 mile time trial ride on a hilly coarse and averaged 21.5 mph, slightly higher than my speed on the QC Triathlon coarse back in June. I noticed afterwards when I put my aero-bars on my bike that I didn't get them adjusted at the same angle that I use. So I made a minor adjustment for my next ride. One of these days, if I continue to do these events I may need to get a tri-bike. Most people I have talked to indicate that it will increase your speed over a regular road bike.

Yesterday I went back to Wild Cat Den with family members, Lydia, Evan, Lori

and while they hiked the trails I ran the route of last Saturday's race and added some additional trails. I ended up with 4 miles of running, which is the longest run I have done at one time.

Our son-in-law, Casey, received a stem cell-bone marrow transplant on Monday of this week for his leukemia. His sister was the donor and he now has 6 to 8 weeks in the hospital as they chart his progress. There are a lot of friends and family lifting Casey up in prayer. Thank You!

Sept. 6-7: Savanna Bike Ride

With much enthusiasm and a decent weather forecast we left the Farm & Fleet parking lot in Muscatine at 8am on Saturday heading for the bike path in Moline. I decided at the last minute to run my very first 5K run at Wildcat Den State Park and the race started at 8am. My wife, Patti, dropped me off for the race and went ahead to meet the group. She returned just before I crossed the finish line and helped me limp over to the registration table to turn in my ID info. It would be Monday morning before I would find out that I placed 1st in my age group.

We reached the eastern parking lot at the Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline just a couple of minutes past 9am and the group was ready to go minus the Olson’s who had a flat tire on their car a mile back. The delay was minimal and we started on our 60 mile journey heading north into a slight headwind. Our group did a great job of staying together with a comfortable pace of 13-14 mph. Mark & Julie would leave Moline about 2 hours after we left as Julie competed in a triathlon at Scott County Park and she took 1st in her age group. Congratulation Julie!

Over the next 3 hours we passed through East Moline, Hampton, Rapid City, Port Byron, Cordova and finally Albany. Anytime I am on a bike up in this area, I make a point to stop at Julie’s Restaurant. You get more food for the money than any other place I know and the staff was very hospitable to our group. Originally we had planned on stopping in Fulton for lunch, but we couldn’t wait. The Nepple’s had taken out ahead of our group and did stop at Cousin’s Sub shop for lunch in Fulton.

In Fulton we took the trail that goes around the eastern edge of town and on the return trip the next day we will take the western trail that goes by the big windmill. Dan had a broken spoke on his bike in Albany and had taken a ride with one of our sag drivers to the town of Thomson for repairs at Arnold’s Bike Shop. He met us along the route in a nature preserve area that has a sandy/pea gravel trail. This trail has some soft spots and we had to be extra careful maneuvering the 2 miles through this area. In Thompson we took a short break at a Casey’s General Store.

North of Thomson we had to get on Hwy 84 for a short section before re-joining the trail for the last 5 miles into Savanna. The wooden bridge over the railroad tracks was the steepest climb of our trip. About half of the group elected to stay at the Super-8 and the rest headed north for a 3 mile ride to Palisades State Park, where we were camping for the night. The campground was pretty quiet as there weren’t a lot of campers. However, one little detail I forgot to tell the camping group ahead of time was the hourly train that passes by all night long. It kept Patti and me up till after midnight, then either the trains quit or I fell into a deep sleep.

That evening our group gathered at Domenics & Maria’s Restaurant for some home made pasta. I think everyone had a great meal that night. Some of our group made the rounds of a few bars before calling it a night.

The next morning we met at 8am for breakfast at Aunt Mannie’s Kitchen. We were essentially the only patrons they had, but they were ill-prepared for this large of group. About two-thirds of our group took the buffet and the rest of us ordered off the menu. The last of our group finally received their food around 9am. Not a good start to our day. We all agreed that this place will not be on our list for next year’s ride.

The weather forecast the night before had mentioned showers after midnight and into the morning. We were fortunate that the weather forecasters were wrong again. We had beautiful weather on both of our days with daytime highs in the low 70’s. Today we would have a slight headwind and crosswind all day long.

On our trip back we stopped for a short break in Fulton to see the large windmill along the Mississippi River. After a few pictures we passed through Albany and on into Cordova for lunch at the Farmer’s Table. None of us had eaten here before, but by and large it was an ok stop. There weren’t many patrons there when we arrived and we got decent service and the food was ok.

We arrived back at our vehicles a little before 3:30 and ended up with close to 123 miles for those that had also biked to the campground in Savanna. The scenery along this route is just gorgeous as it follows the Mississippi River most of the way. Our average speed for the whole route was 13.5 mph. This pace allowed us to enjoy the scenery and carry on conversation with our friends. We had 17 riders and 8 non-riders join us for this first ride. Look for this route to be an annual event.

A special thanks to our sag drivers: Joyce, Bill, & Becky.

Sept. 6-Wildcat Den 5K Run

With some trepidation I decided to go ahead and run my first 5K run. The venue was at Wildcat Den State Park and the 5K (3.1 mile) run consisted of about 1/3 pavement and 2/3 trails. The trails were vertically challenging to say the least. The race started at 8am and before I decided to do this race, I had already volunteered to be the leader of a bike ride over this week-end and about 20 riders were supposed to meet me at 8am in Muscatine that morning. I sent my faithful wife, Patti, to meet the group after she dropped me off.

There were 87 runners for this race and I believe this was the second year they had offered this particular race. I did not recognize any fellow cyclists at the race, so believe that all participants were true runners. The odd thing about this race is that once I completed the run this would be the longest distance I have ever ran at one time. Since I began my running career back in mid-July the longest distance I have ever ran was 2.5 miles. Most of my training runs consisted of 1-2 mile runs.

The race starter fired his pistol and we began a 1/4 mile descent down the pavement adjacent to the covered picnic area on the top level. Running at speed downhill is harder than it looks and is very hard on your legs and especially your quads. At the bottom we turned south on the pavement and went to the end of the pavement and turned back west on a trail through the woods. This trail had a slight ascent and eventually crossed the paved road we had initially come down. Once we entered the western area of the park, the terrain became very hilly and one descent was so steep you almost had to walk it to avoid slipping. The opposite side was much the same and I was unable to run all the way up the steep grade. The first 2 miles seemed to go pretty fast, but the 3rd mile was like slow motion. I could coax my legs into moving faster, but only for a short time as my cardio-vascular system was unable to replenish my oxygen to my muscles fast enough. I didn't have anyone pass me during the first 2 mile stretch, but during the last mile I had 7 runners go by me (all much younger than me).

I finished 21st out of the group and 1st in my age group (8 runners) with a time of 24:55 (Race Results). Once you pull up this web-site, schroll down to the appropriate race and click on results.

That's not me about to pass out, I am in the blue going through the finish area.

Wildcat Den State Park 5K Run Preview

This Saturday there is a 5K (3.1 miles) run at the State Park 2 miles from my home. I have been toying with the idea of running this race. This race is like a cross-country race, since it follows paths and trails in the park. I went down today and ran a 1.5 mile route over some of the trails. It is a very hilly course and difficult. My running at home is mostly on a trail that I keep mowed back in my wooded acreage. This trail is also hilly and resembles what I would encounter at the State Park.

This race doesn't include any biking and therefore all the participants are true runners. I checked the results on-line for last year's race and think I could run a pace that could place me 2nd or 3rd in my age group. The only wrinkle is that our bike club has a ride this week-end that starts very close to the same time as this race and I am the organizer or leader of this ride. So I will have to see if I can coordinate this into the schedule without causing any problems for the riders joining me on the bike ride.