Sweet Corn Challenge recap

This past Sunday was one of the larger rides in Northeast Ohio.  It is called the Sweet Corn Challenge and is located in the high hills of Summit County.  The ride consists of a 25, 50, and 100 mile options.  It is hosted by Eddy's Bike Shop and is easily the most well run bike tour in the area.  I was especially excited for this year as I was riding with my buddy Kent as well as new friends @Matty_083, @heatha262, @jamursch, @RunrJenRN,  and @Bliedmar.

I was especially nervous on this ride for several reasons.  This is one of the harder rides in our area and it was a new route, so I was worried that it would be harder than how I had described.  Also, we were crunched on time as several had places they needed to be and my buddy was getting off work just before we were to leave.  Also, add to the fact I did a 15 mile run /15 mile ride brick the day before and went to a winery with my sis the night before.  I was sporting quite hangover as my sis and I powered through 3 bottles of wine and I didn't get much sleep the night before as I was trying to re-hydrate as much as possible.

The plan all along was to have an easy ride.  This was a great plan as the route doesn't exactly fit my riding style.  Plus, I have a hard time finding people to ride with.  Its partly from my bragging on my blog or from friends, but I have a reputation as hammering 24/7 and people think they will have to hammer too if they ride with me.  So I was looking forward to a nice and relaxing ride.  Well, it didn't exactly turn out that way.

I arrived a little early to the ride and hit the registration area.  Eddy's does an excellent job with parking and there is a small army of volunteers there to help you find a spot.  The plan was to gather around 8 with my friend arriving around 8:15.  I met up with Matt first and it was great to finally get to ride with him as he is a local triathlete who is training for the Ironman in Sandusky.  Next to join the party was Heather and her husband Jay.  I recently had the pleasure of riding a portion of the Ice Cream Odyssey with them and was looking forward to seeing their brand new road bikes.  Shortly after they arrived, Jen and her husband arrived.  They made the trip up from Cincinnati.  They used to live in Hudson and Sweet Corn was their favorite ride.  8:15 quickly came and then 8:20.  We were still waiting on one more.  Most the group was already time crunched and decided to get the route started and the remaining three of us would catch up.  I bet if Matt had to do it over again, he would have left with the first group.  My buddy finally arrived around 9, so we were roughly 40 minutes behind everyone.  I really didn't think we would catch everyone and I was ready for a nice ride.  Boy, I was wrong.

As the three of us hit the road.  A pace was discussed and I decided to take the first turn as it was mostly flat and down for a couple miles.  Now, I swear I did not mean to hammer.  But I started us off in the mid 20's.  About 5 minutes in a random rider passed me and I decided to grab the wheel and let him do the work for awhile.  I didn't know this person and would have let him go if I knew how much of a pain he would be.  Within a mile this mystery rider gave up the pace and I decided it was time for us to drop him.  He ended up 4th in line drafting off my buddy and must have done something as he really irritated my buddy.  As we approached the first climb, my buddy took off like a rocket to follow in the slipstream with Matt and I in tow.  Surprisingly we were climbing Tour De France style at a speed over 20 mph.  So much for taking it easy.  The sufferfest continued as we eclipsed the first 20 miles in just under 31 minutes!

The next part of the ride was fairly similar as we kept climbing hill after hill.  Unfortunately, these hills were a bit steep for the pace we were setting and I was dropping off the back.  I was then aggressive on the short descents, feeling like Mark Cavendish trying to keep touch with the peloton.  I was keeping them in sight and catching them before the next climb.  Only to get dropped again.  We skipped the first rest stop as we all had plenty of fluids on board and were feeling too good to stop.  The route continued to climb around Hinckley and around Bath.  We arrived at the second stop and quickly refueled before heading back out.

After this stop it was a quick loop through CVNP, which is basically 5 minutes from my house and where I train 90% of the time.  I took pacing duties again on Riverview Rd led us out of the valley on Major Rd.  Then continued to climb through Richfield to the final rest stop.  At this point we were 10 miles from the finish.  They brought us back up route 21, which is a steady climb.   Kent and Matt were pulling away as I struggled to find my legs after that last stop.  I will not use any excuses, but one of them was using a granny gear.  Which I think is a form of cheating.  Lol.  Anyways, if it wasn't for them catching a few stop lights.  I would have been dropped for sure.  When we reached the top.  I miraculously got a second wind and headed back down hill setting a decent pace again.  We finally caught up with Jen and her husband at this point and I hopped in front to pace everyone to the finish.  Well, I must have been feeling better than I thought as they were gone by the next turn.  I decided to run with it.  Figuring I would get caught at the next climb.  I knew where I was and at this point the route was getting long.  Someone at Eddy's had one last surprise for us as the route had one final turn into a massive wall of a hill.  It hit it with good speed and tried not to run someone over as riders were diving off bikes left and right.  By the time I had crested, Kent had caught up to me and I paced him up the false flat to the finish.  At this point I was trying to make it in under 3 hrs and hammered the last two miles to come up 3 minutes short.

So, we all road really well and everyone survived the Sweet Corn Challenge.  My times was 3:03:37 with an average speed of 17.4 mph.  I still can't believe we went that fast on those hills.  A good time for sure.  Sweet Corn Challenge is an excellent event and definitely is a challenge.  I recommend everyone attempts it as it is a good experience.  Like I always say...Summer ain't Summer unless you do Sweet Corn.

Check out Heather's recap here:  Heather

Check out Matt's recap here:  Matt O

BEAL

A Shot in the Dark - Race Report

Ok.  I know I kind of left everyone hanging at the end of last week's race report, but I have been crazy busy.  Plus,  I'm always distracted this time of year watching the Tour De France.

I think a quick recap is in order for what had happened so far this day.  I had just completed a 64 mile bike tour called the Ice Cream Odyssey and was about to run A Shot in the Dark.  A 4 mile road race in downtown Cleveland.   My time  for the 64 miler was 3:29 and the bulk of it was into a 10 mph head wind.  The heat was almost unbearable and the Garmin was reading temps on the road of 105.6.  I had done a good job of keeping hydrated through out the morning.  My main issue at this point was lack of time.

When I came up with the idea of doing these two events in one day.  I thought there would be plenty of time in between to relax and rehydrate.  Unfortunately, that wasn't so.  I spent a bit too much time at the rest stops waiting on friends.  To be in Cleveland, I needed to leave my place in Stow around 3:30.  By the time I had wrapped up the ride.  It was 1:45 and I was still in Medina, which is about a 40 minute drive from where I live.  I hadn't planned on being this time crunched.  By the time I had grabbed a bite and made it home.  It was 2:45.  That gave me 45 minutes to eat, get cleaned up, and hydrate as much as possible.

I was able to get all of it done, but only took in a couple glasses of water and grabbed a powerade on the way out the door.  I made my way up to Cleveland and quickly chose a parking lot by the race.  How do  you know you picked the wrong lot?  When you give the attendant your money and he says to hide all your valuables.  Nice.  I quickly hid everything, grabbed my powerade and headed to the race.

Out of the 2,000 plus runners that were competing in this event.  I was fortunate enough to run into fellow run buds @CleCraftBeerRun and @Mojamala2.  We posed for a quick picture and made our way to the start.  I ended up starting towards the back as I really didn't know what to expect.  Shortly, the race began and the sea of people moved forward.  This race was in Cleveland, so of course walkers and slow runners lined up front.  It was a controlled chaos along Progressive field as people were not trying to trip over each other.  I established a nice pace at 9:00 per mile and was politely weaving amongst the people.   Everything was going well initially and the legs were feeling surprisingly decent.  The race began at 5:00 and the temps at this point were still above 90.  We made a right hand turn and began one of two climbs on the route, which was a bridge.  I started off well, but was zapped by the time I crested the bridge.  This climb took a lot more out of me than I had expected and the heat was already taking a toll.  I began to labor a bit and was thirsty.  The good news was that a water stop was only a half mile away.  I took my time threw it, taking in a lot of water and set back out on the course.  By this time, the pace was fluctuating between 9-9:30 per mile.  This portion of the route was flat and was similar to portions of the Cleveland Marathon route.  It was nice to see some of the route again and reflect back on the day.

The next water stop was just before mile 3 and things were going pretty well at this point.  When I did reach mile 3.  Things began to unravel.  I began to cramp bad in my right quad.  I stopped and tried to stretch.  Immediately, I cramped in my hamstring.  The next few minutes was spent walking it off and resumed running again.  About 30 seconds later, the cramp returned.  This cycle repeated several times and the cramps began to get worse.  It was beginning to feel like I had pulled a muscle.  At this point, my race was done.  Instead of quitting and achieving my first DNF.  I walked it in the rest of the way.  finishing with a blistering time of 44:56 for 4 miles.  The worst part was hearing the announcer state the final runner was a minute away as I crossed the finish line.  I was pretty embarrassed.

** Thank you Brightroom for catching this moment of me fight leg cramps.

The best part of this race was the block party afterwards.  It was a really nice atmosphere with a live band, beer gardens, and food.  It was great to spend some time with run buds and make new friends.  The best news is that it was cramps and not a pulled muscle.  I took the next day off to rest and have been training pain free since.  Hopefully both these events are on different days next year.  As I will have to think twice about doing a metric century and a 4 mile road race in the same day.  If you do live in the area.  Definitely do this race next year.  Probably the most festive race in the area and was a blast.

BEAL

Ice Cream Odyssey Recap

I decided to challenge myself this past Saturday.  One of my favorite rides of the year is the Ice Cream Odyssey in Medina Ohio and my new favorite road race A Shot in the Dark happened to fall on the same day.  A bike ride in the morning and a road race at night?  Sure, I can ride a metric century then spend the afternoon resting before a 4 mile road race.  Read on to see how it all went.

Falling asleep on a Friday evening when it is still light out does not do much for one's social life, but I needed to get some major rest before this day.  I was able to fall asleep fairly easily as I did a 25 mile ride after work to aid my recovery for Saturday's double header.  I was lucky and ended up with a good night's rest and arose early to enjoy some coffee while watching the tour.  Saturday was a mountain stage at the tour, so coverage began at 6:30.  Fortunately, I was able to soak in about 45 minutes of cycling inspiration before I had to leave.

I made my way to Medina despite a Garmin fail.  Not sure why I had to take route 8 to 303 when I could have easily taken Wyoga.  I arrived just before 8 and went to registration to get my map and coupons for ice cream.  This year they gave us a water bottle, which was really nice.  The past two years we received shirts and I am a little disappointed that we didn't get another one this year.  I made my way back to my car to get ready to go.  I was riding with my two trusty domestiques and the plan was for us to leave at 8:15.  We were running a little behind and did not make it out till 8:30.

The route we were on was 62 miles and we started by heading South.  That was South into a 12 mph headwind.  I was feeling pretty good at the start.  My domestiques ran into some friends and the paced slowed a bit.  I spent the next few miles riding ahead and then waiting for them to catch up.  The plan was to take it easy and I still was, but we were still on different paces.  After doing this for awhile, I decided to forge ahead on my own.  Fellow twitter ballers and blogging rock stars Heather + Jason Mursch were on the ride doing the 42 mile route.  I decided to see if I could bridge the gap before our routes split off.

The next few miles were a mixture of flats and rollers into the headwind.  I was still taking it easy and riding between 20-22 mph.  Having a blast while passing people.  I came to stop sign where a fellow cyclist said I sounded like a car coming from behind.  That's the second time I have heard this and Zipps do have a distinct sound that rock.  At about mile 23, I was quickly approaching the final climb before the rest.  I lifted the pace to around 25 when I passed to riders that may or may not have been Heather + Jason.  I didn't want to slam on the breaks and it not be them so I stopped at the next street and waited to see if it was them.  It certainly was and I was lucky enough to ride with them to the stop.  It was nice to get to meet them in person and we discussed the ride, cycling, and running over ice cream.  Well, I had gatorade and they enjoyed ice cream.  No dairy for me on a double header day.  You can see Heather's event recap here A Kick in the pants

After getting back on time with my trusty domestiques.  We headed for the middle part of the ride.  This portion is easily the most scenic portion of the event.  It wasn't long before everybody was dropped, except my buddy Mitch.  We road the next portion of the route together.  I was really taking it easy at this point as the heat was starting to get bad and the past two years, there was a large climb before the last stop.  We averaged between 18-20 mph and I did about all the work.  I didn't care as this was his first ride at this distance and was conserving energy as well.  We made it too the next stop with no climb!  I was greatly disappointed as I felt cheated by taking it easy.  We waited for everybody to catch up and headed back out to finish the ride.


I was politely asked if I would pace everyone the rest of the way.  I was feeling good, so I asked what pace would they like.  They responded with a you chose.  The sooner we get back the better.  Well, that was bad news as the perfect storm hit.  The start was flat, this was the first portion without a headwind, and I was running way behind from spending time at the stop points.  I didn't think they could keep up at too fast of a pace, so I started at 18.  Still there.  Then 20, still there.  Then 22, still there.  Ok, so I haven't said much about it.  But the past few weeks, I've been really fast on the bike.  I'm not sure if its being in cycling shape or the weight loss.  Maybe a combination of both.  So, I decided to hammer and see what happened.  The pace was lifted to 28 and I was doing great holding it for a few miles.  Now, the road was flat and there was a tailwind.  Still, we were hauling the mail.  This led to one of the funnier moments of the day as a triathlete tried to keep up.  He told me later he felt good at 28 and wanted to show off by passing me.  Except when he jumped out of the pace line he couldn't pass.  This made my day.  I did more work until one of our riders had a tire issue.  It was quickly fixed and we headed back out again.  At this point we were in some rollers and back around 20 mph.  We then hit a climb.  Dialing it back to around 18 mph, I blew apart the group and they were gone.  The problem, was that this was the start of a 5 mile climb into a headwind.

I labored hard up this climb.  Looking back at the Garmin, the temp on this climb was 105.6.  I was literally cooked and still baking at this point.  The bike went into the 34x25 gear and I felt like Cav.  Trying just to survive.  I made my way back to the finish and waited for everybody else.  Garmin said the route was 63.3 miles and my time was 3 hours 29 minutes.  Unfortunately, I had wasted too much time stopped on the route and it was already 1:30!!!  I needed to leave for Cleveland in 2 hours and I had a 40 minute drive back to Stow.

At this point, I had not had lunch.  Was dehydrated from backing in the sun for 63.3 miles.  Had no time to rest.

What was I going to do?  How was I going to survive?  Tune in too the A Shot in the Dark report to see how the rest of my day went.

BEAL

Absolutely Beautiful Country Ride

This past Sunday, I participated in the ABC Ride.  ABC stands for Absolutely Beautiful Country and is the Akron Bicycle Club's main fundraising ride for the year.  This is the 3rd time I have done this event and the second time it has been on this route out of Medina.

I road again this year with my trusty domestiques, Mitch and Lisa.  We ended up doing the 65 mile route.  It is a nice route with a couple minor climbs.  It begins in Medina heads through Medina County and Wayne Counties.  It also passed through Orrville, Doylestown, Wadsworth, and Norton.  Its nice sometimes to get out in the middle of BFE where you can ride side by side in peace.  We did have an old guy go nuts on us in Medina.  We were riding single file, which was not good enough as he swerved to scare us off the road.  Sometimes I wonder why a cyclist has to be so hated.  I'm just out enjoying a beautiful morning trying to be fit.

I took it pretty easy on this ride and came through the 65 miles in 3 hours 47 minutes.  Not too bad for riding at about 70 percent.  The temperature was pretty bad the second half of the ride as my Garmin hit 98 degrees the last 30 miles.  My only complaint was some of the road marks were hard to read and they didn't color code the different distances.  Other than that, it was a great ride and I'll be back again next year.

Week 7 of Akron Marathon Training

This was another great week of training.  The weather was good here all week and I took advantage of having two days off to put in some quality miles.  I also completed a 5 mile running race and a Metric Century bike ride.  Only had two issues this week.  This first was battling with the humidity.  I found myself struggling to stay hydrated at points this week.  I probably need to look into intaking more sodium as I feel like I am not retaining what I am intaking.  This has led to a couple points last week where I was light headed and irritable during the day.  The second issue was that I didn't lose any weight this week.  I know I shouldn't be disgusted after loosing ten pounds the past month, but I burnt over 11 thousand calories during the week.  So I am disgusted and must have ate more over the holiday weekend than I thought.  Another big week is planned with a metric century and a 4 mile road race in the same day!  I'm looking forward to it.  Should be a great day.

Running miles:  24 with an average pace of 9:27

Cycling miles:  197 with an average speed of 16.5

Total miles for the week:  221

Time spent training:  15 hours 41 minutes.

Calories burned:  11,152

BEAL

Bay Days 5 miler Race report

This past July 4th I ran in the Bay Days 5 miler.  I decided to do this race for 2 reasons.  The first was I had heard it was one of the flattest races around.  Second, I had never been to Bay Village and wanted to check it out.  The race was 5 miles in distance and was hosted by the Cleveland West Road Runners Club.  This was my 3rd CWRRC race i've done and they always host a great event.  My only complaint on the first 2 were the lack of a computer timing system.  They did have a timing system at this race and will at future races.

I made my way up too Bay Village the morning of the race and was impressed to see someone riding a S-Works Shiv.  For those of you not familiar with cycling.  S-Works is a high end division of race bike made by Specialized.  You don't see too many S-works around here apart from mine and fellow buddies Jeff and Kent.  I was also impressed by how nice the area was.  The start/finish line was at the highschool and it was nice to have access to an actual rest room before the race versus a port-o-pot.

I made my way over to the start and the race quickly began after the national anthem was played via a trumpet.  As the race began, I established a fairly easy pace.  I had been riding a lot and the legs weren't rested.  The race itself was a winding course through some pleasant neighborhoods.  I was surprised at the amount of support from the town folk.  There were lot of of people on the route cheering us all on.  Even a few people had sprinklers out for us to cool off if we wanted.  Yes, it was hot and a lot more humid than I had anticipated.  At the finish, we completed a lap on the highschool track and that was a nice finish.  As it gave all the people a good opportunity to see everyone finish.  I ended up with a time of 41:55.  Not too bad considering the amount of running and riding I had done the 3 days leading up to the race.  They weren't lying about how flat the course was either.  My garmin showed a total elevation gain of 26 feet!  Now that's flat.

Overall, this was another great event by the CWRRC.  I had a great time at this event and will do it again in the future.  I was also very impressed with the area and how well the supported us runners.

BEAL

Week 6 of Akron Marathon Training

This marks the 1/3 point of my training and September 24th will probably be here before I know it.  Overall it was another decent week for me.  My major fail of the week was not playing the weather right on Friday and Saturday.  The plan was to run 13 miles on Friday and then do a long ride on Saturday.  Well, I didn't realize it was going to be as hot as it was on Friday.  Temps were close to 90 and the humidity was off the chart.  So, I bailed on the run after 7 miles.  On Saturday morning it was much cooler and raining.  I got out late for my ride and only get 40 miles in before I had to be somewhere.  If I would have swapped workouts.  Things would have been perfect.  As a result, I was down on miles this week.   The good news is that I have made up for it the past 2 days.  The best news of the week is that I lost another 3.2 pounds this week, which makes for a total of 10.6 pounds during the training.

Running:  18 miles with an average pace of 9:40

Cycling:  148 miles with an average speed of 16.6

Total miles:  166

Time training:  11 hrs 49 minutes

Calories burned:  8,043

Weight lost:  3.2 pounds

BEAL

Stats from the first 6 months of 2011

Hard to believe it is July already.  Just seems like yesterday that I was climbing onto the treadmill to kick off the training for my first ever marathon.  Despite the weather in Northeast Ohio.  It has been a pretty good year for me.  I've completed 10 races, one of which was my first ever marathon.  I thought I would take a quick second to share some data from Garmin Connect on my first 6 months of training.

Race breakdown:  1 Marathon, 2 Half Marathons, 2 10 Milers, 1 4 miler,  3 5Ks, and 1 100K Cycling Tour.

Total miles:  1,895

Running:  765

Cycling:  1,130

Time Training:  200 hours 46 Minutes

Calories burned:  187, 857

Weight Lost:  12 lbs.

Overall I am fairly satisfied with training.  It is hard to be upset when you've completed your first marathon, but I am roughy 1,000 miles short of my goal for 6 months.  That is the fault of the weather as I haven't gotten out on the bike until late May.  Good news, I have 6 months to make up for it.

So, what's planned for the rest of the year?  Some of the best events of the year are still to come.  Akron Marathon, ABC Tour, Ice Cream Odyssey and Shot in the Dark in the same day, MS 150, Sweet Corn Challenge, and LAS VEGAS at night!!

Stop back and see how it goes.

BEAL

Week 5 of Akron Marathon Training

It was another solid week of training and I was above 200 miles for the first time this year.  Apart from Thursday and Friday, the weather was pretty good. I did get poured on while riding Thursday and then again during Friday's first run.  The only thing I did not get accomplished this week was my long run.  It was to be 15 miles and I ended up doing 11.  Four of them were race miles and I did get plenty of riding in, so I am not too worried about it.  On Friday I completed my 10th race of the year and got a PR at the 4 mile distance.  The rest of the week was spent riding and getting prepared for some tours that are coming up in July.  The best news of the week is that I lost another 2 lbs!!  That is 4.8 the past two weeks and instantly put me in a good mood today.

This week will be more of the same.  I do not have a race or cycling event scheduled.  It is possible that I will do a 4 miler here in Stow on Monday.  Other than that.  I will be focusing on getting lighter, faster, and stronger.

Run miles:  14 with an average pace of 9:12

Cycling miles:  191 with an average speed of 16.7mph

Total miles:  205

Calories burned:  8,442

Time spent training:  13 hrs 24 minutes.


BEAL

Wadsworth Matchstick 4 Mile Race

This past Thursday I received a call from a friend who I ride and run with.  They wanted to know if I would be interested in running a night race in their town.  A combination of not seeing them in awhile as well as never saying no to a good race led to a big YES to that question.  Unfortunately, I did not realize the cost of the race as it was $30 dollars for a 4 miler.  I guess that is what I get for complaining about paying $50 for a 10 miler.

My main objective for this race was to have a good time and see some friends I hadn't seen in awhile.  Also, Friday was to be my long run of the week.  The plan I developed while at work was to go for a run when I got home.  Get cleaned up and then head to the race early to get some extra miles and then run the race.  

Fortunately,  I am allowed to work hours that are convenient to me.  I work early in the morning so I can avoid traffic as well as have more time to train after work.  I got home on Friday and headed out for a run.  As I got to the half mile mark, the rain came and continued through the whole run of 6 miles.  FML!

After the run, I made the 20 minute trip to Wadsworth.  Thankfully, the rain had stopped and the clouds had begun to break apart.  After arriving at the race.  I got registered and began to run again, trying to loosen up.  By this time, I only could only get a little over a mile in before the pre-race festivities began.  

The race itself is the Matchstick 4 miler and is part of the Blue Tip Festival in Wadsworth, Ohio.  For those of you not familiar with the area.  The Blue Tip matches used to be made there.  Every year, there would be a festival called the Blue Tip Festival.  Over the years, the factory is no loner open, but the festival still remains.  

The race itself began at Isham Elementary School and headed East through downtown.  It was nice heading to town as a symbol of the festival is a 20 foot tall match that is lit during the festival.  We passed by the match and then did a small loop before heading North.  We then headed through a graveyard.  Yes, a graveyard.  I have never ran through a graveyard before and we proceeded to run switch backs through the whole place.  The next few miles were spent weaving through the neighborhood.  I was holding a decent pace in the low 8's and felt pretty strong for someone who was already 9 miles deep at this point.  We came to a water stop at the halfway point and all they had was water.  I was hoping for gatorade as I was in need of a little extra kick.  It was purely my fault as all I had besides water since lunch was 1 GU pack.  I had a little extra water and made my way through the next 2 miles.  

This race was part of the Subway Fresh Fit Series and there were some serious ballers competing in the race.  I almost wish I was a little more rested as I was doing pretty good for me, but could have been doing much better.  One thing I have notice the past two races and I am not sure if it's simply that I am in marathon shape and running shorter races or the fact that I am actually getting in better shape.  But for the the 2nd race in a row, in the last mile I was passing people.  Passing with authority and a lot of people too.   It probably doesn't hurt much too that I am also down over 7 1/2 pounds since the Cleveland Marathon.

My time end up being 33:56 with an average pace of  8:32.   A PR too!!!!!!!  Not too shabby with all the riding I had done that week and the 7 miles I ran before the race.  It was a fun time and a well organized race.  Just a rip off at 30 bucks, but oh well.  I had nothing else to do and it was great to see some friends that I hadn't seen in awhile.  Since I was alway from home.  I didn't get to celebrate with some Christmas Ale, so I did the next best thing and powered through a sixer of Summer Shandy.  It was good carb loading for my 60+ mile ride on Saturday.  

1.  Never Let Me Down Again (Eric Prydz Remix) by Depeche Mode
2.  Love Is Darkness (Original Mix) [feat. Carol Lee] by Sander van Doorn
3.  Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) [feat. T-Pain] by Pitbull
4.  Base On Acid by Mindbender
5.  In My World by Anthrax
6.  Worq It by Ignition Technician
7 . Moments by DJ Tatana

BEAL

Hermes Towpath 10-10 (part 2 of Towpath Trilogy) Race Report

This past Sunday I participated in the Towpath 10-10 race.  This year a Trilogy series was created to highlight the area Towpath.  The first race was a half marathon this past April.  The Towpath 10-10 was the second race in the series and the Towpath Marathon in October will be the final race in the trilogy.  This race had two options, a 10K and a 10 miler.  I participated in the 10 miler.

New for the second race was title sponsor, Progressive.  If you are not from around here.  Progressive Insurance is one larger employers in Northeast Ohio, quite possibly the largest.  It is cool to see one of the big companies in the area step up and support people being active.  Even with a new sponsor, this race was a bit pricey for a 10 miler.  With an on-line processing fee.  The cost for the 10 miler was 49 dollars and some change.  I'm pretty new to the running game, but that seems a bit pricey for 10 miles.  I did hear that the money does go towards OCC Towpath, which is good, because I really don't feel like I got my money's worth on this one.

Packet pickup was the day before the race at Quaker Steak and Lube.  My plan was to ride to and from packet pickup  as it would have been a nice 40 mile ride.  Unfortunately, I could not find my bike lock.  I moved this past October and apparently I misplaced my bike lock and I wasn't about to leave my new ride anywhere unprotected.  Also wasn't in the mood to roll my bike through the bar like a tool.  So, I road here locally and made the trip to Independence in the afternoon.  In retrospect I wish I would have eaten there as their wings are freaking outstanding, but I didn't want to miss out on carbs as I had been doing a lot of cardio the past few days.  Packet pickup was pretty easy except for a volunteer who was a little disgruntled that I wouldn't sign a petition.  Sorry, but with all the information stealing lately.  I'm signing a document for a complete stranger.

The race started pretty early on Sunday at 7am.  So, I was up at 4:30 going through my pre-race routine and made the quick trip to Valley View.  Parking was about a mile and a half from the start.  Yes, for fifty dollars the closest parking was a mile and a half away.  I think for the price they could have atleast shuttled people.  I made my way to the start and was feeling fairly nervous as my hip was tight.  I shrugged it off and made my way to the start.  Sipping water and GU along the way.

I grabbed a spot in the middle and actually saw fellow tweep @StephCharles.  Now, before I get into the details of the race.  Let me tell you my plan.  I didn't do this event to score a PR or set an amazing pace.  I was off this past Friday and made the decision to ride over 100 miles between Friday and Saturday then race the 10 miler on Sunday while being tired.  The plan was to try and hold a solid marathon pace of 9:00 per mile while exhausted and fight through the adversity no matter what.

As the race started the tightness went away.  I was running an easy pace while letting the crowd of runners sort out.  The start of the course was flat and I was maintaining an easy pace in the mid 8's.   The race began heading South towards Rockside Road and we looped around down by the train station before heading back north.  The trip North was flat as well except for two bridges that are fairly steep.  I made it through the first 6-6.5 miles in roughly an hour and was feeling pretty good.  That was until I hit the water stop and slammed a GU.  I started getting sick and almost earned a @Tridiesel pukie.  It wasn't from the GU.  There was goose shit everywhere!  After taking a gel then seeing crap everywhere, was enough to send my stomach into knots.  I fought through it and regained my stride making the turn back South.  At this point I began to tire and the humidity was starting to accelerate quite a bit.  A headwind had also picked up.  I tried to focus on the music.  At this point, my average was still below 9 by a few seconds.  I came to the two bridges next and lost a bit of time.  This was the first time I slipped above 9:00 and I was really starting to feel those 100 miles at this point.  At mile 9 I came up to a group of runners and was actually passing them.  This was surprising as I usually don't pass many people at these running events.  There was even a Brighhouse photographer there as I was passing the final two.  Hopefully the photo will come out pretty cool, but I am not getting my hopes up as I look pretty horrid in my running photos.  At this point I came to mile 9.5 and I looked at my watch.  The average pace had slipped to 9:02.  I could also see the finish line in the distance.

While motivating myself to finish strong.  I remembered a video I had seen earlier in the week.  It was all about setting yourself on fire.  The video was of a State Championship Track meet where a kid ran like there was no tomorrow.  I'll link the video below.  As I thought of this, I decided to set myself on fire and run as hard as I could.  I kept running and running for what seemed like an eternity.  I came to the finish and tried to look cool for the finisher photo by flashing the number 9 as this was my 9th race of 2011.  At the finish, I stopped my watch.....finished in 1:29:39...making it exactly at 9:00 average per mile.

So, I collected my finisher medal and headed to the bar to enjoy a tasty beer.  I was pretty proud that I achieved my goal of riding 100 miles then running a 10 miler with a 9:00 minute pace.  It was also nice that Quaker Steak was open for us runners that morning and I got the visit with fellow tweeps @Stephcharles, @raymondromero, and @jeffreytrottier.  The Towpath 10-10 was a great race eventhough it didn't rank too high in the bang for your buck category.

Race Playlist


1. The Ecstasy Of Gold by Metallica
2. Never Let Me Down Again (Eric Prydz Remix)  by Depeche Mode
3. Love Is Darkness (Original Mix) by Sander van Doorn
4. Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) [feat. T-Pain] by Pitbull
5. Moments by DJ Tatana
6. Transmission (Public Domain Remix)  by Fast
7. Encore Une Fois - Future Breeze by Sash!
8. Enviromental Product by Brisk & Vagabond
9. World Painted Blood by Slayer
10. In My World by Anthrax
11. Crazy Horse by Black Label Society
12. Nitro by Awesome!
13. DJ Virus by Future
14. Thomas Trouble by ECHOES
15. Zwitter by Rammstein
16. Worq It by Ignition
17. Track 2 by Vicious Vic
18. Matt Darey by Electro Buzz
19. Live For This by Hatebreed
20. Exhale by Armin van Buuren featuring System F

BEAL

Week 4 of Akron Marathon Training

It was another great week of training for me.  The weather was very cooperative this week and I was able to get a lot of good work in.  I spent most of the week riding, except for Thursday and Sunday.  Those days were solely for running.  On Friday, I had a vacation day and took advantage of the weather.  Getting my longest ride of the year in at 70 miles.  On Sunday, I participated in the Towpath 10 mile race.   I'll provide more details on the race in my recap, which should be up either tomorrow or Wednesday.  The best news of the week was that I lost another 2.8 lbs!  This brings my 4 week total to 5.6 lbs.  This will be a very important week as I am at my usual plateau mark.  I will be focusing this week on busting through it and continuing on my weight loss journey.  Hopefully with another good week of weather.  I'll be able to do that.  In other good news, it I can feel my cycling legs coming back as my average speed increased to 17.2 mph for the week.  This is pretty good for the area I live in.  Nothing too exciting to going on in the week ahead.  As of now, no races or bike tours are scheduled this week.  It has been 30 days since the Cleveland Marathon and I've been holding back a little so it will be good to accelerate things and work on getting in better shape.   My long run of the week will be 15 miles and my long ride will probably be in the 60-70 range.

Running miles for the week:  22 with an average pace of 9:12

Cycling miles for the week:  151 with an average speed of 17.2

Total miles:  173

Total calories burned:  9,005

Time spent training:  12 hours 1 minute.

Run song of the week - 6.17.11

Going with a classic this week.  The song is Moments by Dj Tatana.  Enjoy, its a great listen while getting your run on.

BEAL

Sunday in June Cycling, Burton Ohio - Cycling recap

There are several large cycling organizations in the area and each one holds atleast one large ride during the year.  Typically, this is one of their clubs main fundraisers for the year too.  This past Sunday I participated in Cleveland Touring Club's Sunday in June Ride.  The ride is a tour of Geauga County and began in Burton, Ohio.  The ride consisted of various distances of 27 miles, 50 miles, 64 miles, and 100 miles.  I choose the 100K route (64 miles).  I road this route for the first time back in 2009 (unfortunately it was rainy in 2010 and I may/may not have been nursing a hangover).  It is one of the more scenic routes in Northeast Ohio.  The terrain is fairly smooth for a rural area and consists of a series of rolling hills with a couple climbs.  It is through the heart of Amish country, so you will need to dodge some road apples and horse buggies.

I woke up at 5 for the second day in a row this weekend and began my pre-event routine.  It is definitely a lot easier preparing for a running event as you can pretty much walk out the door with everything you need.  Cycling is much different as you're trying not to forget shoes, helmet, spare accessories, GU, fluids, bike, and etc.  I got everything neatly packed in and made the 50 mile trek up to Burton.  Now, I am not sure if the forecast changed or the weather person dropped the ball because it was supposed to be partly cloudy with temps around 70.  Well, is was foggy and barely 60 degrees.  It was pretty similar to the weather we had during the Cleveland Marathon.  I didn't think too much about it as I thought the sun would burn off the clouds and it would warm up.  So, I arrived at the event about 15 minutes prior to registration and thankfully they were letting people register early.  As two years ago, the lines were quite long.  I was quickly registered and headed back to get ready.

It was close to 8 now and the weather had not changed a bit.  I did not have arm warmers or knee warmers.  Heck, I wasn't even wearing an undershirt under my jersey.  At this point I still wasn't concerned with the weather yet.  My main worry was how windy it was.  It was gusting pretty hard and I had my 808's on, which is a 81 millimeter deep wheel.  For the non-cycling people who are reading this.  The deeper the wheel, the faster you go.  The draw back is.  Your bike can be a handful in gusty conditions.

The route begins with mostly downhill and I took my time getting loosened up.  I came to a cross street at mile 5 and I could already here sirens on the route.  About a mile later there was a cyclist being loaded onto the ambulance.  It didn't look like it was a car accident and it wasn't a tricky spot, so I am not sure what happened.  Hopefully they are ok.  I spent the next few mile establishing a nice pace between 18-20 mph.  I was having fun waving at the amish as they walked to church.  I came up with the bright idea that I would speak spanish to them.  Not sure why, but I thought it would be funny.  My favorite part was during the first real climb as I approach a horse and carriage.  Surprisingly I was able to pass it on the hill.  So, I know now I have atleast 1 horse power in these legs.  I also can not confirm nor deny giving the horse the Lance to Ulrich "look" as I sped up the hill.

I made good time through the first two rest stops at 15 and 27.  We headed north at the half way point.  This is when things got miserable.  I battled a headwind for about 25 miles that included several climbs.  The temp seemed to plummet and my toes were absolutely freezing.  I considered heading back, but forged on as I still felt strong.  It was just frigid temps.  Thankfully, I found myself at the last stop with about 18 or so miles to go.  The rest was with a tailwind and it was a breeze getting back.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with how I road.  I'm behind on my cycling form as the weather this spring had been terrible and I was concentrating on the marathon.  So, it was good to get the first 100K ride out of the way.  The Zipps handled the wind better than I thought and I finished the ride in 3:45 for an average speed of 16.5.  I was surprised that I was only passed twice the whole time and I road easily with a couple of the teams that were there.  I did get unhitched a little on the large climbs, so I will need to focus training on that.

It was a great weekend.  I call it my 105 weekend as it was 5K running race on Saturday and a 100K ride on Sunday.  I truly do enjoy this time of year.  If you are a cyclist in the area, definitely check this ride out.  It is 20 dollars to pre-register and 27 the day of.  It includes 3 stops and a huge pasta dinner.  I skipped the dinner as I wanted to reward myself with a steak and some peanut m+ms.

BEAL

If you don't know what the "look" is....check out this video.

Week 3 of Akron Marathon Training

This was another good week of training for me.  We were blessed again with some great weather this week.  Well, except for Wednesday as the heat index was 103.  Since it was so hot, I got the bright idea to run and suffered through a horrid 5 miles.  My thought was that it would be easier to run shorter than ride longer.  It didn't work out so well.  The rest of the week was spent riding in the hills of CVNP as I was trying to build form for Sunday's 100K bike tour through Geauga County.  I took a week off from having a long run and did some good work over the weekend.  Friday was a long ride, a 5K on Saturday, and a 100K tour on Sunday.  You can see my 5K race report here under Mayfield Run for Life and I'll post a summary on Sunday tomorrow.  The weather is looking much cooler this week, so I will be splitting my time between running and riding again.  Also on the horizon will be a 10 mile race this Sunday.   In somewhat ok, but still disappointing news.  I only lost 1/2 a pound this week.  I'm a little disgruntled over it, but atleast I am lighter than I was the week before.

Running miles for the week:  8.2 with an average pace of 9:24

Cycling miles for the week:  164 with and average speed of 16.5 mph.

Total miles for the week:  172.2

Caloried burned:  7,742

Time spent training:  11 hours 12 minutes.

BEAL

Mayfield Run for Life 5K - Race report

The plan all along this week was to participate in the 100K (64 miles) cycling tour of Geauga County.  It is called the Sunday in June ride and is Cleveland Touring Club's main ride for the year.  This ride was on Sunday and I had been struggling with what workout to do on Saturday.  I hadn't ridden that distance this year, so I didn't want to do anything too strenuous.  A long run was out of the question and I didn't want to ride too much either.  Then I received an email from @JillMEarle that solved my problem.  A 5K race in Mayfield, Ohio.  It was perfect.  A nice flat course that would be a hard workout,  but not too hard.  So, I replied to the email with a big YES to that race.

I am really glad I went to this race as it is definitely the best "bang for my buck" that I've experienced at a running race.  The cost was only $15.00 and this is what was included:  A closed course, timed race, 1 water stop, t-shirt, Livestrong bracelet, a handbag, fruit and water at the finish, and a free BEER!!  The best news?  Still with all the goodies, all the money went to charity.  So, this was all sponsorship driven.  Really cool to see the sponsors set up for this event.

I rode fairly hard Friday evening, but awoke feeling pretty fresh Saturday morning.  I was up early as usual getting my coffee and going through my routine.  The race started and finished at the Boneyard in Mayfield, Ohio.  So, I made the quick trip up their and went through packet pick up.  Next, I warmed up some and did some stretching.  I typically never stretch before a workout, but since it was a 5K.  I thought it would be best.  I haven't done a 5K since January.  Actually, I have ran more half marathon than 5Ks during my short running adventure.  I've always wanted to run a flat 5k as all the ones so far had been hilly.  Plus, I have been pretty disgruntled with my running this year and I needed a PR in a big way.  At this time, Jill had arrived and we headed to the start.  It wasn't a large race, but everybody packed together pretty tight at the start.

As the race began I jetted too just outside the closed lane cones at it was the only place with room to move.  The course was flat as described.  There were a few false flats, but since the course zig-zagged.  They were even.  I was running pretty well in the 7's and started to fatigue a little around the halfway point and settled in the 8's.  I've been slacking on my on my speedwork.  So, this was a good way to get started.  I rounded the final turn and made a quick sprint to the finish at the Boneyard.  The final result?  25:20...good enough for a PR of 30 seconds!

This was a great race and I had a blast at it and will be back next year.


1 - Never Let Me Down Again (Eric Prydz Remix) by Depeche Mode
2 - Love Is Darkness (Original Mix) [feat. Carol Lee] by Sander van Doorn
3 - Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) [feat. T-Pain] by Pitbull
4 - In My World by Anthrax
5 - Worq It (live) by Ignition Technician
6 - Moments by DJ Tatana

This ended being a pretty good mix, but for a 5K I may need to go with a little bit faster music.

BEAL

Run song of the week.

This week's song is a brand new and it's going straight to the run mix.  I've never been a Depeche Mode fan, but the Eric Prydz Remix of Never gonna let you down again....is badass.  Check it out.  It can be found on Itunes.

BEAL

Lake Distance Classic Half Marathon - Race Report

On Sunday June 5th, I ran in the Lake Distance Classic Half Marathon.  The race itself was located in a very scenic area of Concord Township/Painesville Ohio.  I really hadn't planned on running this race until just before the online registration closed.  It has only been 3 weeks since I ran the Cleveland Marathon and I hadn't ran more than 5 miles at one time the past two weeks.  Until this past Thursday, my stride has been lacking the power it had prior to the marathon.  It returned that day and my run was the best i've had in months.  So, I took the my new found confidence and registered for the race.

I got up early Sunday morning and hit the coffee shop and began my pre-race routine.  I always do the same thing in the exact same order.  Not sure why, but I guess i'm just a little quirky like that.  I finished my routine and made the nice trip up to the race.  

Garmin routed me straight to the event and the start finish line sat in a brand new strip mall located just off I-90.  Registration was at the new Panini's.  If you are ever in the area, definitely check it out as it was a very nice place with a beautiful  patio.  So, I got my bib and timing chip and headed back to the car to consume my last few carbs and do my final preparations.  

I noticed while registering that in the course description that it mentioned "4 miles that would challenge your fitness".  I thought it may be some incline to the course, but I had no idea how bad it was.  Until I saw the elevation chart that was sent with my registration confirmation - nice.  I also got some information from fellow runner @JillMEarle.  She had ran the race last year and described the course as pretty rough.  At this point, I decided that I wouldn't focus on time and would use this as a gauge of what form I had returned to from the marathon.  Also, I will be running the Akron Marathon in September and it is a hilly course as well and I figured this would be perfect training.  

So, this race consisted of Half Marathon walkers, 5K, and the Half Marathon.  The Half Marathon walk started at 7:30 and then rest started at 8.  They separated us and we actually began first and ran a lap around the strip mall.  While we were doing that, the 5K started.  This was pretty interesting and I was laughing to my self as I am a bit of a nascar fan and couldn't help thinking I was on a pace lap.  When I came through the start the second time, I couldn't help but here the nascar spotter saying green green green.  The race itself continued through a pretty affluent neighborhood.  I was surprised that there were a few people out to cheer us on.  As we wound around neighborhood.  You could see a few golfers who were stuck in their driveway waiting for us.  The only issue, was one idiot lady in a Lexus who decided she was going to drive right through the running traffic.  I'm not sure what the hurry was, but I guess she could wait 5 minutes for the running traffic to clear.  Next, we headed to a bike path.  It was at a slight decline and was very shaded.  This was very welcomed as the humid was rapidly climbing.  Which ended up being a major fail.  The weather forecast was for temps in the 60's, but the race ended up being in the upper 80's.  At this point I was running like I had never ran before.  I had an average pace in the low 8's and I felt strong and my stride was free-n-easy.  The only problem?  I had to pee and I had to pee now.  I couldn't go before the race and the 5k'ers where all in line and I had no time to go before my start.  So, I dove into the woods and took care of business.  It was kind of funny as I burst out of the woods and surprised the runners on the path.  I looped around behind them and quickly made up the time lost.

The climbing was at the end and I was holding back, but still running a great time.  Even with the pit-stop I was over 7 miles in an hour.  The climbing began just before the 6 mile mark.  I should have known I was in trouble as there were signs everywhere that said.  The first 5 is the warm up and the next 5 is the real race.  I reached the bottom of the hill and began to climb.  The climb itself lasted from just before 6 and lasted till just after mile 10.  The climb started off in levels.  I attacked the first three levels and felt great, not losing any time.  The next 3 levels began to hurt a little and at this time I felt like I was working harder than how fast I was going.  I reached mile 9, which was 80% up the final climb.  At this point, the wheels came completely off.  I was done.  The heat and humidity had cooked me and it hurt just walking up the hill.  Of course there was a camera man at the top of the hill to take my picture walking.  I wanted to yell...REALLY!?!  I kept my mouth shut and ran again, hoping he would take another photo.  At this point I tried a combination of running and walking as it was all I had left.  The heat at this point felt like it was boiling and I labored through the last bit.  I got to mile 12 and luckily caught a second wind.  I rounded the final turn and was surprised at how many people were there to cheer me in.  I finished with a time of 2:16 and I went from a PR to wondering if I'd finish all within a mile.  Unfortunately,  it is my worst half marathon time.  I'm trying to focus on the positive as I was pretty disappointed with how I did.  It was a hard course and I shouldn't expect too much 21 days from a marathon.  Plus, riding over 60 miles the day before probably didn't help much.  The good news is a learned a lot.  I need to respect these races more and rest a little prior to the race and I need to drop some weight if I am going to handle these climbs in Akron's Marathon.  

I know this course is absolutely insane, but it was a very good race.  They had water stops every 2 miles and 2 GU stops.  Cops were at every major intersection and there were tons of volunteers.  The cost was 40 bucks and it was worth every penny.  It's a safe bet that I will be back next year to fight that hill again.  

BEAL

Week 2 of Akron Marathon Training

This was a pretty good week of training.  Here in Northeast Ohio the rains have stopped and we are in our second straight week of great weather.  Most of the week was split between running and riding for me.  I ran horribly early on in the week as I struggled with a muggy run with the temps reaching into the low 90's.  I recovered two days later to have one of my best runs in the past two months.  After that run, I felt confident enough to run the Lake Distance Half Marathon yesterday.  I'll get more into that in tomorrow's race report.  I am continuing to spend more and more quality time on the bike.  Adding more climbs and miles each week.  This week will be focused mostly on cycling.  I'll be riding a lot early as I rest the running legs and then will do some running Thursday and Friday.  This weekend will be full of racing fun as I will be attending the Mayfield Run for Life 5K on Saturday at the Boneyard in Mayfield, Ohio.  On Sunday, I'll be participating in the Sunday in June 64 mile bike tour of Geauga County.  The weather is looking good so far, with only some pop up storms occasionally.  So, it should be another great week.  Oh, can't believe I almost forgot.  I lost another 2.5 pounds this week.  I'm definitely excited about that and will be looking to lose more by September 24th.

Running: 24 miles with an average pace of 9:42

Cycling:  104 miles with an average speed of 16.4 mph.

Total miles 128

Total time spent training:  10 hrs 11 mins.

Calories burned:  8,134

BEAL