Beermileage Weekly Round-up

So this past week I got out to another strong start with my mileage, 32 miles in the first 4 days...which was followed, not atypically, by 4 miles over the final 3 days. This is definitely something I need to work on...

Anyhow, here are the numbers:

1st Place: Brian - 27 Miles - 15 Beers = 12 pts

2nd Place: Danny - 24 Miles - 13 Beers = 11 pts

3rd Place: Joe - 36 Miles - 29!! Beers = 7 pts

Lofty Goals on Frozen Ground

Frigid weather has definitely hit the West Coast hard already with DC beginning to feel the chill as well. Both Portland and Spokane have been ice cold this past week and i'm sure that it has put a damper on the running communities there. Joe, however, seems to continue to laugh in the face of nature as he has climbs towards a new beermileage record. This time, its in miles!

Before we go and hand Joe the trophy, let's look back to last week's competition. Going into the weekend Danny was the mileage and points leader with Joe and myself close behind in miles. Joe had taken a quick lead on the beers consumed, but keep in mind that he had the Ducks to thank for that mid-week total. We ran the final tally on Monday to find major changes by Joe and decent progress by me.

Joe: 17 miles - 31 beers = -14 pts.

Danny: 21.5 miles - 11 beers = 10.5 pts.

Brian: 26.5 miles - 17 beers = 9.5 pts.

If we were playing golf, Joe would have embarrassed us. We, however, are not. Though the ducks weren't playing, Joe was still celebrating. My assumption that Danny was going to practically double his mileage most likely jinxed him, yet it did not help me in the end.

Congrats to Danny for the victory!

As for this week, danny had finals early on so his start is understandably slower than normal. I've tried to get out a steady number of runs and was feeling confident against my competition. That is of course until i realized the show that Joe was putting on for us to watch. As i mentioned above, Joe is approaching new realms of mileage per week for the beermileage crew. I won't jinx him here, but his goal is lofty, yet far from unattainable by him. Considering that he is doing this in frozen temperatures, i'm really looking forward to his final total Monday morning.

The current totals are:

Joe: 32 miles - 17 beers = 15 pts.

Danny: 7 miles - 6 beers = 1 pt.

Brian: 20 miles - 6 beers = 14 pts.

A lot of potential with these current numbers. We'll see who can grit their teeth through the cold and knock out some more miles. One mentality that we all share is that the best part of running during winter is that nothing warms you up after a run like a few beers.

Pre-Weekend Tally

The beermileage challenge resumed this week after taking some time off for the extended Thanksgiving weekend. Nothing too crazy with the numbers so far (for example Joe hasn't put us to shame with a 30+ mile showing like he did a couple weeks ago), which makes me think that this weekend will be fairly competitive.

Danny: 18 miles - 1 beer = 17 pts

Joe: 17 miles - 17 beers = 0 pts

Brian: 14.5 miles - 4 beers = 10.5 pts

In terms of mileage, its looking really close. As for beers, Danny and i need to find a reason to drink, hopefully in celebration, and then keep throwing on more miles. Joe has already had his celebratory beers after the big Ducks win last night so i wouldn't be surprised if he catches up in points pretty quickly.

Winter is definitely starting to kick in as we watch the temperatures drop and the hours of daylight continue to vanish. My hope is that this isn't a deterrent for us as we take advantage of some more adventurous and obstacle-laden trails. i found out firsthand last night that when the moon is out and the temps are above freezing there is no better time for a night run with the headlamp turned off. Hopefully, that wasn't my last of opportunity to do that this season, because it would be a great way to sneak in some extra miles Sunday night.

Recap of Last Week's Challenge

I should have known better than to go running my mouth like I had last weeks challenge sewed up on thursday. Over the last 3 days of the week I logged a grand total of 6.5 miles as fatigue from work and running slowed me down and the overwhelming desire to watch college football and drink beer put a stick in my spokes and launched my ass onto the couch. Anyhow, here are the numbers..

Danny: 35 Miles - 10 Beers = 25 pts *New Challenge Record*

Joe: 39 Miles - 23 Beers = 16 pts

Brian: 12 Miles (bum knee) - 10 Beers = 2 pts

-Joe

Mid-Week Update

As of Thursday evening:

Joe: 32.5 Miles - 6 beers = 26.5 pts

Brian: 11 Miles - 0 beers = 11 pts

Danny: 12.5 Miles - 6 beers = 6.5 pts


So far so good for me, wish I could say the same for Brian & Danny. I'm feeling really good this week, so I'm half tempted to rack the mileage up into the 60+ range...but coming off a couple 15 mile weeks that seems unwise. The current plan is to gradually ramp up to 70-80 mile weeks in preparation for the Purge & Splurge 60 Miler at the end of the year.

Though I may have a solid head start on Brian and Danny I'm not counting them out to sneak back on me. Brian may have the knees of an 80 year old, but he's stubborn as all get out, and Danny is a freak...and way better than Brian or I at drinking in moderation. In regards to that last statement, I do realize that Brian currently stands at zero beers for the week, that is the fluke of all flukes and I'm formally wagering a 30-pack of Milwaukee's Best Ice that he can't go the whole week.

-Joe

The last two weeks and a look ahead

First off, Joe and i would like to welcome Danny to the BeerMileage crew. As you can probably tell from his first post, he is a talented runner, writer and beer consumer. We are all looking forward to seeing how Danny's beer totals stack up to Joe's and mine because we know he won't slack on the miles. i already have a number of runs planned for the week in anticipation of some heated competition. Of course, i do have to celebrate Veteran's Day, a friends birthday and the coming and the passing of another weekend... We'll report on the "progress" mid-week.

Among the reasons to take a two week break in the BeerMileage Challenge was for my running in the Potomac Heritage 50k on November 1st. i tried as much as i could to make the week of the race a sober one and felt that it would be a bit unfair to rack up a sizable amount of miles and just a few beers the same week as Halloween. Though he would have given a solid effort, Joe faced a severe disadvantage. The week afterwards was spent heavily drinking and i accompanied that with little running. Joe would have crushed me, but we both agree that it should at least be competitive.

Regarding the Potomac Heritage 50k, i would like to commend the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club on a well organized and overall adventurous race. The start and finish were conveniently located a short walking distance from my house, making this a must do "fat-ass." The rain naturally starting picking up immediately as we started, but the NW roots in me didn't seem to mind. Each of the aide stations were prepared, energetic and well spaced, allowing for a relatively fast first half. i ran with my girlfriend Sheila the whole way and as we made the turn under the American Legion Bridge, each of us had a knee that started to feel tight. This was a major turning point in the run for us, for up until that point, we felt pleased with our pace and easily had the physical energy and mental stamina to keep it up. We continued on, but as we reached a downhill section, though short in length, it was excruciating to run/walk down. Quickly we started seeing people that we had passed miles before catch up and overtake us.

i have become accustomed to running with pain and discomfort and i knew that despite how much she hated life at that point, Sheila and i would finish. This was Sheila's first 50k and her overall longest run by a decent margin. Though we both knew she trained enough to go the entire way, it was the extended distance on the knees that was making this run evermore challenging. We kept pushing and pulled ourselves through the mud and rising streams to the final aide station. i don't know if it was the m&m's, the reese's peanut butter cups or the overall competitive nature in us, but as we left that aide station it was easy to tell that we weren't going to give up on this one. The final six miles went by fairly quickly as we maintained a respectable pace (for our current condition) and chatted the last four with a fellow racer. It was a great feeling to finally step inside after finishing knowing that you didn't quit on yourself. For Sheila, i was especially proud of her for running her first (and far from her last) ultra and because this was my idea, i was very thankful she didn't leave me directly after.

For me, it's another race down and another experience to build on come the next adventure. Danny wrote earlier this week that running has a lot left to teach him and I can't agree with this more. I've noticed that one of the great mind games this sport plays is that you train and train for a specific run often to find out that you need to train more. Maybe it's a knee that tells you, 'hey, stretch more often' or 'you're not that young,' but we learn from our aches and try to alleviate the pains. If while respecting the body, you can push the body, then the end result will often be the pain free desired one. So as i look forward to conquering this zen-like conundrum, what better way to do this then through a BeerMileage Challenge.

See you Thursday!

Stumps

Lessons Learned

A little over a month ago, I began my second official marathon with one huge goal in mind--qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Everything on race morning was perfect; it was about 50 degrees and overcast, and somehow the local Portland weather system had worked its usual race day magic and managed to keep the rain at bay for the Marathon. I felt calm and confident because of the training I had knocked out. By the time the buildup for the race was over, I had done more mileage, by far, than I had ever done in my life, and had remained as injury-free as can be. Everything felt like it was coming together for this one race.

And for the first 15 miles of the race, everything was coming together. Needing a 3:10:59 or faster marathon to qualify, my goal was 7:15 a mile. By the fifth mile, I was at more like 7:00 a mile, and from then on I kept accidentally running sub 7:00 miles. I remember thinking that pace had never felt so easy. It wasn't until around mile 12 or so that I even felt like I was working. Somewhere after mile 15, however, I felt my hamstrings cramp in both legs. I actually stopped running, looked at my watch, and told myself, "Just walk for 1 minute, then you'll be fine." I did walk for one minute, but then I wasn't fine; I started running again, only to find that my legs began to cramp after another minute or two.

After my hamstrings (and later my calves and quads) started to cramp, the race became more about survival than any time goal. For the next 11 or so miles of the race, I would run until I cramped, then walk until they went away...rinse, wash, and repeat. I would end up watching every pace group from 3:10 to 3:50 pass me by the time it was finished. Watching each of those groups pass was probably the most defeated I have ever felt during any running competition.

I finished in 3:51:37 after passing through the first half in 1:32:10. You can do the math on that one...41+ minutes and about 1:36 a mile off my goal of qualifying, which might as well be forever. In the past month since the race, I've come to terms (somewhat) with the race. I've taken a couple positives from it: part of the journey was the training, and I made it through tougher stuff than I ever had before; regardless of how stupid it was to go out that fast, I went balls out for a goal that I thought was possible; and it's beneficial to get a good, ass-kicking humbling every now and again, as I learned quite a bit about what I can do differently next time around.

It's pretty damn disappointing to be in better shape than your time in a race indicates. And it's just really confusing and fun when the opposite happens. After two full weeks off running, and two slow weeks to get back into things, I ran a 5k that my classmates and I were putting on to raise money. I finished in 18:35, which dead-on tied my PR. I had no business running that fast, and am still not quite sure how it happened.

What I think this shows more than anything is that running has a lot left to teach me. And I'm excited to keep bumbling around like an idiot as I learn.

PS: I'll be joining in the BeerMileage challenge this week. School's starting to get a bit stressful, meaning I'll be doing a fair amount of beer drinking this week. Hopefully the mileage follows suit.

Dbrasch