Newfangled Dad

I ran 8 miles last night. Normally, that's not worth blogging about. But it is when--without injury--it was the first time you'd gone over 6 miles in nearly a year. Usually, I take a month off after a marathon with very little exercise. So we're talking November for a fall race. And, by then, the holidays are here. And it's dark and cold. So it turns into a winter hibernation with me ready to climb back on the horse come February or March. This season, my one and only commitment was a triathlon in June so I needed to hit the pool early and often. And I've been in love with cycling lately so that my time in running shoes was very minimal--even for a minimalist like me--getting in only a few 10k before race day. Mostly just to work on getting my speed faster than my default marathon pace. Which was silly considering I raced on an 80 degree day with no shade after swimming a mile and biking in the hot sun first. I know better now. That's the nature of enduran...

Last year at this time, we'd had an amazingly warm, dry spring. Ok, so my half marathon in June was 90 degrees by 8am and everybody had nearly slowed to a walk by the finish. But you could do outdoor activities without looking at the forecast. So what if the crops died and Lake Michigan is so dry that it's at record low levels, right? I remember the day of our local wine festival where we loaded the kids up in the stroller and wheeled them down our street from tent to tent sampling local vintages. It was gorgeous weather with a cheerful atmosphere. Fast forward to a year later and we've had one of the wettest springs ever with a week full of wave after wave of thunderstorms. Kelly and I are thankful that poor Kieran didn't have to suffer her severe weather panic and pacing on top of her illness. We made the right decision for her in more ways than one. I'm tentatively agreeing to go along with a couple of Wisconsin-resident triathletes who live near my upcoming ...

This week marks about 6 weeks until my first triathlon. A little less when you consider packet pickup is the weekend before. On one hand, I'm feeling prepared. On the other, it's getting down to crunch time. I'm actually fairly confident with where my fitness is currently. Or, should I say, I'm not going to make huge gains over the next month and a half. At this point, it's more about staying healthy, avoiding injury, calming my nerves, being prepared. Going over the day in my head. Kelly wants to bring the kids...which is awesome. But that will also be a long, long day considering I will want to be AT the transition area (that's the "homebase" where you rack your bike and lay out your gear for you non-tri folks) at 4:30am when it opens. Which means leaving the house by 3:30am or so. The race starts at 6:30am and you figure the kids won't be that interested in staring out into a lake to try to find the little swimming people--let alone me specifi...

Edit: just giving equal time... Runners World has got an article debunking lots of this (written in response to the WSJ below.  I'm intrigued. Really, whenever my interests collide, I love it. Learning the physics of a bicycle. The chemistry of coffee. How statistics modeling correctly predicted the outcome of the November election. So the health effects of endurance sports intrigues me. Usually, we get a steady stream of data showing that exercise is good for us. Very, very good for us. Don't let this post convince you not to exercise. But, on the other hand, I like the phrase of one of the links below...there are "upper limits." You CAN have too much of a good thing. A cup of coffee may be a great way to start your day, but it is possible to have a caffeine overdose--granted, it's nearly impossible. If running a mile is good for you, 26.2 must be great? Right? Well, this morning I dived down the rabbit hole when someone posted to a tri message board abou...

Time to hop in the way back machine and visit right around my birthday on September 1. Remember this post about my new shoes for the Chicago Marathon? Well, as some of you may know, the running store ran my credit card, I had a receipt but the transaction never showed up on my account. And I debated. Who knows where the error was...store, bank, credit card company. I figured it would sort itself out and in the meantime I had done my finances so I knew the money "wasn't really there." The thought of free shoes was interesting, but I assumed somebody would eventually notice when nearly $200 was missing from their books. Which brings us up to today...I got an e-mail from the store at lunch saying that the transactions were never closed that day in Sept, they apologize, and they would be finally debiting my card for the amount. So. Much. Wrong. I'm a pretty fair guy. I bought the shoes. I'll pay for the shoes. I wrote the owner back saying I had no problem w...

I'm sure some of my endurance sports readers are wondering, "hey, didn't that guy sign up for a triathlon? He's been oddly quiet about his training." Well, dear readers, I can confirm that our gym membership is being started tomorrow. Of course, with Kelly out of town next week, it will probably be the end of the month before I can really start to hit the pool, but I'm getting myself mentally prepared. I've literally done almost no exercise since setting a PR in the Chicago Marathon in October. So it's going to be a bit of a climb back to decent condition. But I'm fully ready to having my old gym bag packed to go and I've been itching to get back on the bike...though I will confess to being the typical outdoors-lover who doesn't relish the thought of being in the basement on the trainer. And, you know, I'll have to start eating well...says the man currently still working on the big bag of famous Chicago caramel corn Kelly brought home...

No, I'm not talking about the NHL lockout, NFL touchdown dances, or NBA antics. This is a rant about the technique-obsessed everyday exerciser. Forgive the Romper Room reference, but maybe I'm just more of a Do-Bee than Mr. Don't Bee. I can talk much more extensively about my background in running, but I'm finding that one of the first hurdles to triathlon training is the off-putting way that the sport is filled with drill, schedule, and good form dictators. Oh, it's present in the running community don't get me wrong. But one of the beautiful things--there are many negatives--about the spread and popularity of running has become the lack of attitude about back of the packers mixing with elites. There are still many who insist that the folks completing a 6.5 hour marathon aren't really "racing." But the snob factor is the minority. And a newbie will find far more training programs geared to completing than qualifying for Boston these days. Chal...

*Housekeeping note: I looked at the data for what browser my readers are using & a full 34% of you are using Internet Explorer...the one with errors in reading the new Endurance tab for sports posts. So I'm ending that experiment for now & going back to mixing running/tri into the main blog feed. It's not ideal for the 75% of you who want to read parenting posts, but neither is having a third of my readers unable to see certain updates.  Greetings from Personal Record land! It was a busy weekend around my house, obviously, so I'll try to get to everything in posts this week...though one of the things to blog about is the wave of colds that has taken over. So we'll see how far I get. I'm the last one standing and even this morning I have a blah feeling that is combining with sniffles to make me think it isn't just marathon recovery. Whatever happened, I sure ran a heck of a race though so you won't get medical complaints here. I lowered my PR by o...

The irony is that this was supposed  to be my 2nd running-related post today. (It will be Oct by the time you read this--Race Week--but I'm writing it the same day in July as the news breaks about updated Start Corrals for the Chicago Marathon.) In reality, it's my 3rd running post today. The wave start in Grant Park isn't the deciding factor for me...really it's not that big a deal. But I find it funny that in my head I was already moving away from marathoning when this happens. Something I read earlier today about what event to do said, "do what you want, not what you should." I think I'm going to take that advice and go with it. This week marks my 5th marathon. 3x in Chicago now. It's not currently my PR course...though we'll see after Oct. 7...but it was the race that sucked me into endurance sports. It was what inspired me, convinced me that I am capable of whatever I put my mind to, gave me self-confidence, and is just a good fun time. Th...

I'm brand loyal. I'm one of those people who meticulously researches major purchases before buying, is usually not disappointed, then sticks with that item. I'm an Adidas guy. Or so I thought. When I first came back to running in 2009 after a decade away, I did my duty of going to my local running store and letting them evaluate my form and style to get a good fit. I came home with some Supernova Sequence and have been in them ever since--buying 2 more pairs online the fit for me is so good. My current pair is 2 marathons old, 2 summers of training, and...to quote the nice lady at the running store today..."shot." My plan had been to simply log on to the Adidas website, buy my usual and be done. But the twists and turns of the story took me elsewhere. That's ok, it's only the single most important piece of equipment we have as marathoners. And, yes, I believe in shoes...sorry to all you barefoot let's run like our ancestor types. Civilization h...

Several of you have said you have enjoyed my posts about race-day fueling strategy. So I thought I'd offer a bit of a wrap-up with what I've settled into. I looked at my training calendar last night and realized that after I return from our trip to Ohio there will be 8 weeks left until Race Week. Halfway there! And I'm feeling good. I think it's a combination of many causes. The cross-training on the bike. The new nutrition plan. More experience in knowing when/how to push myself during workouts...and when to back off. I loved the granola. There was even a sale on the half-bars I would have wanted to use. In the end, they're not for Race Day, I've decided. The North Shore Half was a nice, fair test drive for them and they proved to be too sticky, too crumbly, and hard to get down on a hot day. Granted, I hope the Chicago Marathon doesn't have a finish line high temp of 91, but you have to be prepared for anything. Lately, on my long runs I've bee...

There are only so many things you can do as a runner when the finish line temperature is 91. Yesterday was not a day for PRs or learning much about my new nutrition strategy. It was mostly a day for desperately trying to stay hydrated, cool, and finding a way to tolerate a few calories when absolutely nothing sounds good. Points to the North Shore Half Marathon--RAM Racing organized a pretty decent event. It had a lot of bells and whistles that other races don't have. They did a great job of encouraging runners to slow down in the heat, drop back to the 5k distance if they had doubts, check in with First Aid, etc.. They had a couple of sponge stations with enough for everyone and wet towels at the finish which were very, very welcome. But there were a few important things that could have been done better that really made for a miserable day. The water stations were fairly far apart. I also really would have liked to have seen more sponges and cooling off closer to the start. It...

Kelly and I laughed--half depressed--in the car during afternoon rush hour yesterday that the travel time from inner suburb to downtown Chicago and the travel time on Sunday morning to a race 30 miles away on the North Shore will probably take about the same amount of time. Gotta love Chicago expressway traffic. Actually, travel time at 5:30am on a Sunday morning will probably be faster to the race. But if I wanted to pick up my packet anywhere nearby, it had to be at the west Lincoln Park location of the running store.  Just like race morning, I volunteered to go by myself to packet pickup, but appreciate the company. It maybe wasn't the most pleasant journey in stop-and-go with the kids, finding parking, then quickly back in the car. By the time we got home it was Cole's bedtime. Kelly was so sweet, however, insisting that someone who puts the  hard work in to run 13.1 miles deserves support. She'll have her hands full with the kids while I race. Luckily, we should hav...

What better way to finish off your last training run before your half marathon (complete with limping 3 miles of it due to a suddenly tight calf) than taking your toddler to the swimming pool for the first time this summer? The soreness in my leg I'm chalking up to a combination of poor eating/hydration lately and overuse from stepping up my runs. Last week I did a 12 mile run much harder than usual and the week before was a rare track workout. Not my typical routine. Injury. That's the way with distance running. For race week, I've dedicated myself to proper hydration and nutrition as I taper off the miles and add carbs for Sunday. The goal with taking Cole to the pool despite the temps only being in the mid 70's was to see how he reacted before I took Leda in a baby carrier. Trying to be prepared. He was a funny little guy. Chattering teeth and lips turning blue from almost the minute we got there, but a smile on his face. It wasn't that cold if you were in ...

(More on my continuing series on sports nutrition can be found using the tag cloud on the left or clicking on the Natural Nutrition For Runners label at the bottom of this post.) I always think it speaks volumes about a product when a reviewer begins with a critical mindset, but ends up changing their mind. In this case, Honey Stinger was another company who promised review samples, but they never arrived. So I went out and bought my own from the local running store. Super excited about the waffles, I also threw in some Gold energy gel. Not sure what I was expecting from the waffles the first time around. They were much denser and sweeter than I imagined. Less like a toaster waffle and closer to the texture of the bottom of an old-school shoe. Thin and little too much of a sugar rush, I wrote them off as not for me. On another run, I turned to the gel...which, by the way, tastes like honey and pretty much is  honey with some nutrition added...and was neither pleased nor ...

The weather certainly has us all thinking ahead. It's not even April yet and the air conditioners have gone in windows with the temperatures soaring into the 80's. But we're looking forward to summer for different reasons. Between when my son was born and when my daughter was born, I'd continued to work part-time at the museum. This meant a delicate balancing act of Kelly working M-F with me working the weekend. Simply trade off the kids with little family time other than evenings. Then last summer I took a supervisory role in my department which meant a negotiated extra day. It required some juggling on our part, but the position was technically supposed to be full-time so no complaints about the evenings it required as well. Last summer, however, it was an endless stream of Kelly alone at the Farmer's Market to pick up our CSA box. It was squeezing outdoor grill time into the window when I got home from work after a dog walk. It was no time to go places or att...

There are only two places where points could be deducted from Nuun. It was one of two companies who told me they would send me samples for review but did not. The other is that when ordering from Nuun's website there were shipping charges. The same day I ordered from other companies, got free shipping, and Nuun's paid-for rate ended up being the last to arrive. But don't get me wrong, the product inside the box--or plastic tube as it were--is amazing. For those new to sports nutrition, it's not a powder or a typical sports drink even. It's a tablet which self-dissolves in 16 oz. of water into a refreshing electrolyte beverage--with more essential nutrients that the popular Gatorade Endurance, I might add. Not to mention that it lacks the sugars/carbs of many sports drinks which means you can A) get your calories elsewhere and B) not get an upset stomach from the syrupy, artificial flavors of typical hydration. The Nuun flavors are mild, pleasant, quench thirst...

By the time you're reading this, I'm in Grant Park helping runners find the Start Line. And wishing I was racing today. I'll never forget the first time I stood on a chilly, early morning Columbus Drive staring at the skyline as the sun came up while I was trying to imagine making it the whole way. I've learned a lot since then and grown pretty passionate about the sport. It's not unlike coffee in that the deeper involved you get the more refined your tastes get. This year, the race expo and packet pickup moved to an even bigger hall at the convention center. Which, to me, looked like all you really got was an even larger Nike store. Not that Nike doesn't make some fine gear--I use their watch and love their running shorts. But my interest in the culture of marathon racing has gone beyond wanting to see a few booths of other races and buy a t-shirt. Given the size and importance of this race, I was really hoping to see a lot more of the nutrition and hydrati...

Everything I have to say about running TCM has to be viewed through the lens of how difficult a marathon is whether you're Kenyan or a turtle-slow middle aged guy. I suppose the very thing that made the race great was also the most frustrating--that it very nearly could have been my best. I was coming off a hot, uphill 5:05 with less training than I like, but armed with near-perfect conditions for the start of this race. It was in the 40's, slightly breezy, lots of shade and I hit the halfway mark a full five minutes under a 5 hour pace. Heck, at Mile 17 I was still on pace for a 4:57. The start of the race is at the Metrodome and has a great atmosphere as it winds through downtown Minneapolis, quiet residential neighborhoods, past a series of lakes, and along a parkway towards St. Paul. But somewhere around the Mississippi River, the sun came out, the temps soared into the 70's, and the course makes a series of uphill climbs towards the state capital. As we ran through S...

If you're looking for a new entry in the next few days, you won't find one. Newfangled Dad will be hitting the road for his 4th marathon. The 30th annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Check back next week for another exciting episode! ...Or maybe not so exciting after he runs 26.2 miles and travels home 8 hours with a toddler in the car.