December 2010

A new adventure began on November 21st, 2011 when I signed up for the 2012 Ironman Arizona. Before I get into my thoughts and expectations on that, I think it’d be fun to reminisce at what’s transpired in the year since I finished IMAZ 2010.

DECEMBER 2010

Wanting to really improve on my running “skills”, I reluctantly agreed to sign up for the Ragnar Del Sol Ultra relay (February 25th, 2011) with James, Erik Svans, Buddy Huttanus, Ben Gherardi, and Bill Jones. This is basically a 200 mile, non-stop, relay race from Wickenburg, AZ to Phoenix, AZ. The “normal” relay teams consist of 12 people that run 3 different legs ranging between 10 miles and 3 miles. The “ultra” teams only have 6 people and run double the mileage. Looking back on it, what the heck was I thinking?!? At any rate, my Ragnar training started 9 days after Ironman (November 30th) with a 3 mile run at a 9:07 pace. Since James was doing the relay as well, we figured that it would be a good time to train together. Since James is a huge fan of trail running, I started to incorporate more of those into my plan. My trusted Power line trail, Squaw Peak, Pinnacle Peak, and McDowell Mountain Preserve were all fair game. I also included a few hikes as well. One was up Black Mountain and the other was a quickie with the kids in tow (about 1.5 miles total). Ultimately, I was surprised to see my average come way down after heading back to the black top. 5 miles @ 8:15, 7 @ 8:26, and 10 @ 8:34. My running really seemed to be coming together as I was advancing both physically and mentally. During these runs, I was never pushing the pace or running out of gas. These were comfortable paces which is a far cry from what “comfortable” was during my IM training. To me, this was the beginning of something beautiful. The first indication, however, that something may not be quite right was after that 10 mile / 8:34 pace run. I noticed that my left knee was having some mild discomfort just under the knee cap, but I quickly dismissed it. During the month of December, I was also swimming about 3 times per week and cycling about two.