Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

4 Fun Things

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 26 May 2012 18:10:00 +0000

FIRST FUN THING:

The Cinco "Du" Mayo Duathlon had sweet age group awards. I couldn't stick around because I had to get Henry from the sitter's. But I stopped by TriFitness in WBL recently to pick up my award. Here's what I got for being 2nd overall and 2nd in my age group:

Sweet. Fill it with booze.

SECOND FUN THING:

I also wasn't able to stick around long after turning in a 4th place 1:20:54 finish at the New Prague Half Marathon - only this time I was trying to get to my brother-in-law's college graduation. But I found the race director and got my medal for first in my age group (along with the pin that every finisher receives):

THIRD FUN THING:

In my half marathon race report, I noted I was trying to catch a female in front of me who was running in 3rd OVERALL. We'll her name is Nicole, and she blogs too. Check out her speedy blog. You just have to scroll down a bit to see her breaking the tape as the first female at the New Prague Half.

FOURTH FUN THING:

Finally, this was how I spent my Wednesday night:

Friday Funny 331: For The Weekend...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:13:00 +0000

A little sentiment for my readers:

Friday Funny 330: Ridiculously Photogenic Guy (Asian Edition)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 25 May 2012 21:22:00 +0000

You guys all remember Ridiculous Photogenic Guy, right? He was the big thing just over a month ago. (Click here if you're not sure what I'm talking about.)

Well, there's a "copycat wanna-be" out there:

And in other news, Ridiculous Photogenic Guy might have a sister:

Friday Funny 329: Burning Calories While Swimming

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Dan makes a good point...

Friday Funny 328: Catchy Song

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:39:00 +0000

You've all heard this catchy song. Here are some things related to that from the internet that make me smile:

(Of COURSE the last guy is Italian)

And on a related "musical" note, you may enjoy this:

And this:

Did you sing this one? I totally did. It makes it better.

My Current Olympic Triathlon Training

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:24:00 +0000

Yeah, it's not great overall. Here's where I'm at:

SWIM: Not great.

I'm just over 10,000 yards FOR THE YEAR!! In 2010 (the year of my 2:15 Oly PR, I'd swam over 50,000 yards at this point in the year (which still ISN'T a lot for many people). And I still haven't had an OWS this year yet. Dang.

BIKE: Also not great. But still half-way decent (for me).

I hit the trainer a decent amount last year, and I didn't do well with that over this past winter. In 2011, I'd biked about 200 miles outside at this point. This year, I'm at 208 miles, so that's comparable. (I had a good March this year.)

Sunday, after Pharmie's triathlon, she watched Henry for a few hours and I went for a long ride. I did a big loop that I knew would be about 32 miles. I threw in three 10 minute intervals (with about 10 minutes of moderate riding between) near the middle of the ride. I picked some challenging areas to do my intervals, so I knew my interval splits wouldn't be the best. My 10:00 intervals averaged 18.7 mph, 21.0 mph, and 19.3 mph. So not super. I finished the ride with an 18.5 mph average.

I'm worried about my speed over a 24.8 mile Oly ride. (Especially one that starts with such a crazy climb!) We'll see what happens in 3 weeks. I'm afraid it won't be pretty.

RUN: Pretty damn stellar. I'm running pretty injury-free, and the MDRA Grand Prix series is treating me well.

I've ran 430 miles so far in 2012 whereas last year I had only ran about 240 miles at this point. (I had a nasty injury in February of last year.) I was really happy that I did the smart thing and DIDN'T race last weekend. My heel was sore for a day or 2 after the New Prague Half Marathon, and I expected that. But it was a little sore for a couple MORE days. So I wore the "night splint" for the majority of last week:

I sleep in this. It's not quite as bad as it seems.

And as I noted last week in this post, I give a lot of credit to Henry for my higher mileage AND my current lack of injury. Our morning "nap time" runs have been great for both of us!

BRICK WORKOUTS: Huh?

I've only done one SHORT duathlon (2 mile, 10 mile, 2 mile), and I only did one SUPER SHORT brick workout before that (16 mile ride with the last 7 at race pace with a 1 mile run-off). I'd like to fit in one longer brick workout before my Oly in 2.5 weeks - maybe a 25-30 mile ride with the last 15 at race pace, followed by about a 4 mile run-off.

STRENGTH / CORE: Surprisingly OK.

Erika made some comment on some post of mine a few months ago, and her thoughts have been spot on. I was noting that I knew my "long burn" workouts at the Y were over. But Erika's comment was something like "Yeah, but you'll be doing shorter, more high-intensity workouts, and that's good for you too. Kinda like 'Crossfit' workouts." (That's not a direct quote, but it's the gist of what she said [or that's at least how I remember it].) And that's been about right. I sometimes do my "PT prescribed" leg exercises while Henry and I are playing with his toys on the floor. I've been known to bust out a quick core workout in my office when my office-mates are away. The workouts have been different, but I really can't say they've been much worse.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

I (of course) wish I had time to do EVERYTHING more - especially swimming and biking - but I can't really complain. I'm pretty happy with the actual amount of training that I'm getting in, but I know I won't be PRing in either of my Olys this summer. And I'm just fine with that. Mainly because of this guy:

Heading out for a quick walk.
(Henry loves to play with / chew on chives from our garden.)

p.s. I'm racing a 5K on Memorial Day! It's part of the MDRA "Grand Prix" series, and I'll be back on Tuesday with a full report.

Hillfest Bike Race

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:33:00 +0000

There's a local cycling event just out of the Metro area that's coming up in just under 2 weeks. It's called Hillfest, and they're offering 3 different distances on a hilly, hilly route (6000 feet of elevation gain on the longest route).

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED, KEEP READING BECAUSE I HAVE A DISCOUNT CODE FOR YOU BELOW!

I wrote an Examiner article about the race 2 weeks ago. There are a lot of good details in that article. They offer fun prizes for the best hill climbers, individual and team races, and 3 distances of 200K, 75K, and 25K (or 124.3, 46.6, and 15.5 miles). I'm THINKING about racing one of the 2 shorter distance races, but it's the day before my lovely wife is planning on racing the Buffalo Triathlon, so I'm not sure how much more we should cram into that weekend. (Hillfest is Sat June 2nd, and Buffalo is Sun June 3rd.)

Here's the big trophy for the best overall team, and this was homemade by one of the race directors!

If you're interested in signing up, use this code to save 10%:

Ilovehillfest

Maybe if I can't race it, I still might be able to spend the morning out there and soak in the atmosphere. It sounds like a fun bike event!

- Click here for the Hillfest website.
- Click here for my Examiner article with more details.
- And remember to use the code Ilovehillfest to save 10%!

Pharmie at the 'Land Between the Lakes' Triathlon!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:32:00 +0000

My lovely Pharmie raced a sprint triathlon yesterday in Albert Lea. As I noted in my last post, I was going to come along and cheer, but take the weekend off from racing just to let my heel rest after last weekend's 1:20 half marathon - it was a little achy all week.

Transition in the distance.

Pharmie talking with the race director Mark.

Standing around COLD pre-race.

It was CHILLY before the race started. The water was WAY warmer than the air, so many people stayed warm in the lake:

Staying warm or peeing? You decide.

An Instagram photo of Pharmie just before starting!

The men took off!

The ladies followed 3 minutes later.
(That's Pharmie's forearm sticking way out of the water just left-of-center)

Local tri-hunk Sam Janicki was first out of the water.
He held on to that lead then entire race and took the win.

"Tall nice-kid Kyle" was in the lead pack, and he held on for 2nd overall!

SIDE NOTE: You might remember me mentioning "Tall nice-kid Kyle" about a year ago. We ran the first run of the Oakdale Duathlon together, and we chatted a bit. Since then, he's been known to me as "tall nice-kid Kyle." In fact, when I introduced him to my wife at yesterday's race, she actually told him "Yeah, he still refers to you as 'tall nice-kid Kyle.'" He laughed. Or maybe got freaked out a bit.

Soon, Pharmie came busting out of the water:

My wife and her guns.

Starting the ride with a smile!

Old high-school buddy Tim finishing the ride!

Pharmie running back in to rack her bike!

I tried to stay warm and dry while she was on the 4 mile run. It was misting off-and-on all morning, but it started to get heavy while I was waiting for her to finish. When she rounded the corner in the distance, it was "heavily misting" pretty good:

Pharmie in the distance, mist in the air.

Running towards the finish with a smile!

I think that's the race director's son JAMMING out to the finish line music as my wife finishes! Awesome!

CONGRATS PHARMIE!!!

She wasn't sure about doing the race as we were driving to the race after leaving Henry at Grandma's house, but she was all smiles and happy that she did it on the way home! :)

Click here for more photos from the race on my Examiner page.

Triathlon Today! But Not For Me...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:20:00 +0000

No race for me... but hopefully a great one for my lovely wife! She's going to be doing the "Land Between The Lakes" Triathlon in Albert Lea today, and I'll be cheering her on!

I'm being smart today. Yeah, it's a change, I know. I've raced a lot lately, and my body needs some time to heal. Here's what the last week of April, all of May, and a bit into June looks like for me:

So if I would have done the race today, that'd be FIVE STRAIGHT weekends of racing, 1 weekend off, and then my first Olympic Distance Triathlon of 2012 the next weekend. And being I get injured easily, that just sounds stupid.

I REALLY wanted to do the tri today as a "feeler" for my Oly in 3 weeks (*gulp*.... THREE WEEKS!), but I'll be smart. Instead, I packed my wetsuit so that I can go for a little open water swim pre-race, and then cheer the athletes on during the race. THAT sounds smart!

Keep an eye on my twitter account (and my TwitPics and Instagram accounts too) because I'll be posting photos along with updates on how Pharmie is doing. Check back tomorrow for a full report!

Instagram of the Day: 4 Henry Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:17:00 +0000

OK, OK... these aren't from today, but they are just 4 Instagram photos I want to share from hanging out with Henry this past week. (School is done for me, so I'm hanging out a LOT more with my little dude!)

Henry's learned to climb stairs. He got up his first step about 2 weeks ago with the help of Uncle Jon. Here's a photo from just a few days ago as he ZIPS up Uncle Jon and Auntie Steph's stairs:

Big steps!!

Swinging in our hammock!

Riding an elevator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts yesterday!

Dwarfed by artwork at the MIA.

Look for "stevestenzel" on Instagram if you ~~want~~ need more cute pics of my boy. :)

Friday Funny 327: Cheering Sign

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 19 May 2012 00:07:00 +0000

Nice.

And on the note of "cheering at a race," it looks like Pharmie's going to be doing her first tri of the year this weekend!! I'll be cheering her on and taking photos! Check back Monday for her race report.

Happy weekend!!

Friday Funny 326: Outlet Placement

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Not right.

Friday Funny 325: Best Teacher Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:04:00 +0000

When the semester ended, I collected my student's "process journals" to grade some of their process work from throughout the semester. On the first page of one of my student's journal, I found "BEST TEACHER QUOTES." I got her permission to post these, and I've blurred out the quotes from other teachers. (I have 7 of the 10 quotes she wrote down - I say some random stuff in my classes.)

See below for a legible interpretation and any back-story.

1. "In a whiney voice, 'Can someone help me? I don't know what to do?" I was being dramatic with regards to our color solid, and I wanted the students to figure out what I was doing wrong (I was messing up on purpose).

2. "This is a really expensive piece of equipment held together with someones' garter." As in the sexy thing on your leg to hold your stockings up. Yep. True story.

3. "This is starting to look... atheist or something..." I remember saying that, but I forget why.

4. "Does this make sense? Does this all taste magically delicious right now?" I'm pretty proud of that line.

5. "If you don't have good primaries, you probably should be murdered." Well, it WAS a Color Theory class, so I kinda stand by that line...

6. "Those big TVs that sat on your parents floor and gave off radiation and made Dad sterile." OK, as I said in the last point, it was a Color Theory class... so... no... I have NO idea how this came up...

7. "What's the opposite of orange?... Tuesday?" Probably my best quote of the class. Well, either this one or the 'you should be murdered' one.

Friday Funny 324: If Sporting Equipment Ads Told The Truth

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:27:00 +0000

Some fantastic fake ads from Jockular:

Official Photos from the New Prague Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:22:00 +0000

The photos are in from my most perfect race ever. Here are just a few I'd like to share:

You can barely see me to the far left - just left of the guy in white.

350+ runners on their way!

Now I'm just right of the guy in white.

The winner SMOKED everyone in 1:12:36!!!

So, even though I mentioned in my race report that everything just came together PERFECTLY for me at this race, I WAS still working. Want proof? Here... look at me near the finish line:

Putting the "gross" in "Steve in a Speedo? Gross!"
Super. Un. Sexy.

And here were the 2 guys that really pulled me through those middle miles. This is Bob who finished just behind me, found my race report, and commented "Saturday was a 'perfect race' for me too, a 4 minute PR, thanks you for pushing me while I was trying to hold you off!..."

Bob.

And Grand Prix runner Dave.

Finally, I have a ridiculously photogenic photo of my former student Jeremy who ran a 1:34 PR on Saturday. You should NOT look this good at the end of a half marathon:

I think Jeremy might be giving Ridiculously Photogenic Marathon Guy a run for his money.... :)

p.s. If you want to see a few more photos from the race, check out my race report and / or my Examiner write-up on the race. Thanks!

How to Have a 'Dialed In' Half Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:02:00 +0000

I've been thinking about HOW I was able to have such a surprisingly good performance at last weekend's half marathon. Actually, I was even starting to theorize DURING the last few miles of the race. Here are my 3 thoughts:

• 10% chance it's due to PureFit Bars.

Before most half marathons, my routine is something like this: PowerBar 2 hours pre-race, Sharkies after that (just enough to not get hungry), Roctane Gel 20 minutes pre-race, and another Rotane or Gu during the race (around mile 7-8). I did exactly that at the New Prague Half Marathon on Saturday, but instead of a PowerBar I had a PureFit bar. I REALLY don't think that made THAT large of a difference at the race, but being it was a new factor, it DID enter my mind.

(Full disclosure: I was sent some PureFit Bars about a year ago to try. I never raced with them until this last weekend. They state they are "the all-natural, gluten-free and wheat-free, dairy-free, vegan, kosher, high in protein, diabetic-friendly, that tastes great nutrition bar." It was pretty good!)

• 20% chance it's due to more rest.

I was nervous going into this race because my last long run was 3 weeks prior. I usually like to have my last long run about 10 days prior to race-day. But 2 weeks before the race was the Get in Gear 10K, and 1 week before the race was the Cinco "Du" Mayo Duathlon. All of my weekday runs between all of those races were pretty much easy recovery runs or easy pre-race runs. So yes, I DID race 3 weeks in a row (which can lead to tired legs), but those were shorter races - I even noted right after the duathlon (2m, 10m, 2m) that my legs still felt fresh.

But here's the biggest reason I think I had such a great race on Saturday...

• 70% chance it's due to Henry (my 11 month old son).

In the past few years, you've seen me post about track workout after track workout. I used to do nearly EVERY workout at 100%, or "all out" (including long runs). Some people (especially her and her) finally convinced me that easy running can be the key to faster racing. Really.

And Henry's been doing his part to make me listen to those 2 ladies. Being he loves "stroller runs," I do a lot of running with him. I've been doing easier and longer runs than I have in the past. Henry and I have already logged over 194 miles together in 2012!!

Let's quick look at my training leading up to my old half marathon PR in 2010 compared with my training leading up to this race last weekend:

4 weeks of long runs pre-race in 2010: 10, 6, 10, and 6 for a total of 71 miles over those 4 weeks. All long runs were at a pretty fast pace.

4 weeks of long runs pre-race leading up to this past race: 13, 6.5, 13.5, and 13.5 for a total of 101 miles of those 4 weeks. These long runs were all done mainly at an easier pace with just a few faster miles in the middle.

This is a big change from "the norm." I'm usually faster at shorter races because I USED TO do so much speed work and not do as much longer-distance training. Now that I'm doing less speed work and more longer runs, I've become a bit a of a more "well rounded" runner, but I'm sure I've lost some short-distance speed. I guess we'll find out in 2 weeks at my next 5K!

Easy recovery run with Henry yesterday morning along the Mississippi River.
This was just MOMENTS after a coyote sprinted across the trail in front of us!

And if you don't know what I'm talking about regarding this amazing race I had last weekend, click here (or scroll down 2 posts) to read about my new 1:20:54 half marathon PR.

Still Holding On...

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:18:00 +0000

Here are the Minnesota Distance Running Association's "Grand Prix" standings after last weekend's half marathon:

I got my first "perfect" 1000-point race!! But notice there were a fair amount of "0"s down the "NP Half" list - a good number of "Grand Prix" racers didn't show up. But the ones that DID show up didn't disappoint: at a quick glance of the results, "Grand Prix" racers took 4th, 6th, 8th, and 11th overall.

I'm enjoying my 800 point lead, but like I said 2 weeks ago when I first took the series lead, I do NOT expect this to last. Look at 13th and 14th overall - they've both scored 2 perfect 1000s, and they both have a 3rd solid score. If they finish out the series, I'll go down easily. (Only 10 of your finishes count in the 14 race series, so you can skip a few and have it NOT affect your series results.) Anyway, I'll enjoy it while it lasts!!

And it's super fitting that I got my first "perfect 1000" at such an amazing race! If you missed yesterday's race report, either scroll down or click here to check it out.

I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on how I was able to race SOOOO much better than expected this past weekend.

New Prague Half Marathon Race Report

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:17:00 +0000

I hit the road for the 45 minute drive to New Prague at 5:40 on Saturday morning. As I got close, the countryside started to look like this...

... and I knew I could like this race! These are the kinds of roads I grew up on!

I got my race packet and then did this:

*splash*

I actually tweeted that photo, and then a twitter followed tweeted "Mental note: Don't ask to borrow Steve's phone." Love it. :)

I ran into Jeremy, a former student who I talked into signing up for the MDRA "Grand Prix." We chatted for a while.

I also ran into Scott and his wife pre-race. I don't know Scott that well, but he's got a big smile, and I usually like "big smilers." Scott was the guy who was really hurting at the end of the Human Race 8K who I was TRYING to catch:

Scott and me at the 8K in March

We were both wearing the SAME thing for this race. Scott was going to treat it as a long training run without going too hard, and shoot for around 1:30. I was shooting for sub-1:25, so I was hoping I could finish in front of him and earn more Grand Prix points.

I ran into lots of "race buddies," and Jeremy and I worked our way to the starting line.

A cool, overcast morning - PERFECT for racing!

I was hoping to run the first half with "one gear left," and then I wanted to really race hard for the last half. I wanted to enjoy myself, but I was going to make myself suffer too. My brother-in-law Mike let me skip his college graduation ceremony to do this race, so I HAD to race hard to make it worth while!! (I met up with him after the ceremony to celebrate with family.)

We lined up and got ready to race. Here was the course we were about to run:

Out of town with a big (boring) 10 mile loop.

I took off in the top 10. I didn't know if that was crazy or not... should I be up there? First, second, and third were already way out there on their own, and a big pack of us soon took up position vying for 4th. About a half mile in, we had spread out a bit, and I was running in 7th.

Oh, and a cool thing about running a "small town race" is that there wasn't a biker who was leading us. No, not a motorcycle cop, a regular car, or even a cop car. There was a big ole firetruck with it's lights on leading the way! Awesome!!

MILE 1: 6:17. "Good starting pace! Nice place to be!"

Over the next mile, I passed a guy to move into 6th. I still didn't know if this was where I should be or not. I felt good, but I didn't know if I was pushing the pace too much.

Coming up to the second mile marker, there was a 6-8 piece polka band playing on the side of the road! I gave them all a wave, and they were all smiles!

MILE 2: 6:12. "Really? I'm HOLDING this?"

We had a bigger climb in front of us. First was WAY the hell out there. I climbed and ran up along side of 5th place. We chatted for a moment and knew we'd maybe hit the breeze a bit more in the closing miles. But we both agreed that it was a GREAT day for a race!

MILE 3: 6:17. "OK, time to assess everything... can you maintain this?"

We curved to the south, and I told myself to ease up a little up the next hill. But it didn't show in my next mile split...

MILE 4: 6:17. "Really?!? OK, so my 1:22:51 half PR would have had WHAT for mile splits?... Damn it, I hate doing math during a race!"

I realized my PR was at about 6:20 pace. I was NOT thinking PR yet, but I WAS curious as to what I could do. I was still just a few seconds behind 5th who was just a few seconds behind 4th.

MILE 5: 6:13. "These 5 miles have been fast, and all within 5 seconds of each other! That's a GOOD SIGN!"

MILE 6: 6:14. "What was that thing that Uncle John was talking about at Easter? ...about races where it just feels 'right?'"

My wife's Uncle John (former collegiate runner) and I had a nice chat about running on Easter. He talked about those runs where everything just feels dialed in, and you hit the finish line having given it your all, but you still feel fantastic. I had no idea what he was talking about. He spoke of races / runs where everything just comes together and it feels like you could go forever. I was miles from the finish line, but I thought I might be experiencing that for the first time.

MILE 7: 6:10. "Good God. I'm still doing this!"

At this point, we'd made another turn, and we were running the south edge of the course. I ran up along side of 5th place again, and we said hi. The sun had JUST come out, but it was at our backs, so we weren't going to start overheating.

MILE 8: 6:18. "When can you make your move?!?"

We were still running in the middle of nowhere on rolling hills. The mile 8 marker was at a short flat spot between 2 decent little uphill stretches. We were getting ready to make the turn back north towards town. I actually had a smile on my face when we made that turn. I was 8.5 miles into a 13.1 mile race, but I felt like I was having one of those "perfect races" that Uncle John was talking about. Don't get me wrong: I was breathing hard, I didn't know if I'd "bonk," I had a right-side side-stitch, and my feet were killing me, but it still just felt amazing.

I told myself at the next mile marker (mile 9), I'd try to start reeling in the guy in front of me. But just after rounding a corner around mile 8.5, I looked back for the first time all race. There was an orange jersey about 60 seconds back!! That was Scott! He must have been having a great race too - he told me he was going to keep it easy and do a 1:30 "training run," but he was well within striking distance. So I made my move right away. "Let's see what I can do..."

MILE 9: 6:21. "OK, that was our first turn into the wind. Keep this as your slowest mile, and you're golden. You just got 5th place, now go for 4th."

I came up on 4th place soon, and I "tucked in" behind him for a moment to have him help break the wind. I shot around to pass, and he teased: "It's about time you passed! I've heard you back there for a while!" And as I pulled away, he said "Go get her up there!" That's right... HER. Third place overall was female, but she was WAY up there. I laughed and said, "Oh, I'd LOVE to!" ...meaning I'd love to be able to make up that much ground.

Oh, and being I was running into the wind on a cool 50-degree morning, my penis had gone a numb. Yep ladies, it happens. (And it's happened a few times to me in the past - here's a shocking account of the first time I BADLY froze my junk.) Being my 1970s track shorts had probably run out of elastic in the mid-80s, my "stuff" was hanging a bit low and flopping around. It's not uncomfortable, it's just that it's not held TIGHTLY against my body. So it was sticking out all "exposed" to the elements. "Whatever.... this is shaping up to be a great race. Stop thinking about your penis."

MILE 10: 6:11. "Steve, your total time right now is 1:02:35 at the 10-mile marker. You've ran five 10 mile races over the last 2.5 years, and your 1st and 3rd 10-mile races were SLOWER than your 10-mile spilt at this race! You're having a 'magical' run!! ENJOY THIS, BUT THROW THE HAMMER DOWN AND GO HARD!! What can you do?!?!" I was practically laughing out loud at this point at this insane race going down!

MILE 11: 6:08. "PR, here I come! Hold on to this suffering..."

I was NOT making up any ground on the female in front of me. I glanced back at about mile 11.5 (while making a turn) to see if I could see Scott back there in the orange. The two guys who I had passed a few miles back were still just 30 seconds back, and sure enough, I saw Scott in the orange just a bit behind them! I had to hold him off for the sake of earning more MDRA "Grand Prix" points!!

Shortly after that corner was the slowest I ran all race. We had (another) slight uphill where we rounded another corner to come up to mile-marker 12. I was kinda "stomping" and not running well. I hit the mile marker ready to use the downhill back into town, and ready to kill that last mile!

MILE 12: 6:10. "JUST GO!!"

I used the downhill well. I waved at the old lady in the parka standing next to the cop. I ran past a few groups of people on their cool-down jog after running the 5K. I was hauling ass. And my penis was feeling better.

Near the final turn, I looked back just to make sure I was going to hold off the 2 guys that I had passed along with Scott from the Grand Prix series. They were all back there, but they were not going to catch me.

MILE 13: 5:23. "Holy cats. This is a hell of a race!

I booked it to the finish, bent over to catch my breath for a minute, and cheered in the runners behind me.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel
31, M, St. Paul

1:20:54 chip time
6:10.3 / mile pace
4th out of 356 overall
1st out of 20 in the 30-35 age group

That's a 2 minute PR on a HILLY and CERTIFIED course! I was thrilled!!

I talked with the 2 guys who finished just behind me - the guy 2 spots behind me (50 seconds back) was doing the MDRA "Grand Prix" too! So it was GOOD I caught him and stayed ahead of him! I saw Scott in the orange jersey coming to the finish in the distance for 7th place overall, and I soon realized that it was NOT Scott!!! That wasn't Scott chasing me down! He was farther back there! But this guy gave me a good push!

I cheered former student Jeremy into the finish line AND A NEW PR!!

And Scott was just behind him:

This is the REAL Scott in the orange jersey! :)

On the drive to go party with my brother-in-law post race, I had to stop at Taco Bell to get changed and take "Hobo bath." Here's a photo of all my clothes on the floor of the Eagan Taco Bell bathroom:

And then on my way to Wisconsin, "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane came on the radio:

I've learned I can NOT have a bad day when I hear that song, and apparently it's retroactive to the beginning of the day even if I hear that song at 11:09 am! :) So I turned it up and (poorly) sang along with the 1/3 of the words I knew.

What a great day.

FOUR FINAL THINGS:

- Take out my fastest mile (which was the final mile), and all of my other mile splits were within 13 seconds!! That consistency helped make that great race possible. I don't know how I did that on those hills!

- Even though I was racing hard, I was waving, smiling, and talking to EVERYONE! I waved and thanked most police officers. Around mile 7ish, I cut quick to the right to give a high-5 to a little boy and girl. I cheered for the swim team who was "hosting" the mile 10 aid station. I was so chatty, and I loved it! :) I HATE racing too seriously.

- I chafed the inside of my butt crack pretty badly. It wasn't from the shorts... it was from my butt cheeks rubbing on each other. It looked like a bad diaper rash (yes, I found a way to look at it), and it felt horrible. I NEARLY used some of Henry's diaper cream on Saturday night, but instead I just pushed my boxers up my crack a bit while I slept. That actually helped quite a bit. Everything feels much better now!

- Finally, a big congrats to Mike for graduating from college!! I got to celebrate with him after the race, but here he was just before I saw him... he's with his nephew and niece: our little Henry, and 3-week old Evie:

Congrats Mikey!!

Back with more on this race soon, including what I think helped me blow this race out of the water. I have a few thoughts, but I'm pretty sure I know why I was able to do so much better than I thought. Back with that shortly!

p.s. Here's my Examiner write-up on the race, and there's a slideshow in that link, so check it out.

Hell-a-va Half Marathon Yesterday!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:14:00 +0000

The New Prague Half Marathon (part of the "MDRA Grand Prix" series) was yesterday, and I have SUCH a story to tell!!! I'll be back with the full report tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's a photo of all of my clothes in a pile post-race on a floor of a Taco Bell bathroom:

Come to think of it, I took this photo while ONLY wearing my calf sleeves. Gross.

Full report tomorrow! Stop back then!

Half Marathon Today!!

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Hopefully I've just recently wrapped up my 7th half marathon. (I wrote this up yesterday and have it scheduled to post.) Here's what I know about the race:

It's in the middle of gosh darn nowhere.

I can say that because I grew up even FARTHER into the middle of nowhere.

I've learned to run in the country, but it gets depressing. Look at that map. I'll be able to see across a field a few miles to mile 8 while I'm still at mile 2. And at mile 7, I'll easily be able to see the town off in the distance and know THAT'S where I have to get to in order to finish. Super.

It's supposed to be fairly hilly. I'm ready for them. I've logged a lot of miles running up and down hills with the stroller, so bring on these non-stroller hills.

I think I'll approach it much like the Securian Run Half Marathon back in January. At that race, I took off a little easy, and I had a pretty major negative split (44:31 / 40:51). That negative split was wind-aided, so unless this race is windy on the way out too, I hope to NOT negative split it THAT much, but I'll race in a similar manner.

I'm not going to PR. Not on a hilly course in the middle of nowhere. I hope to be between my Securian Run time (1:25:22) and my PR (1:22:51). Anything just under 1:24 would be spectacular, but I'll just go race and see what happens.

Check my twitter feed for post-race updates! It's an MDRA "Grand Prix" race, so I hope to finish strong and out-kick some of the competition! :)

Back soon with how it all went down!!

Friday Funny 323: Black Toenails

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:22:00 +0000

Here are 2 funny cards from the Runner's World blog - you get to choose which sex you want to hear it from:

On that note... I'm running a half marathon tomorrow!! Keep an eye on my twitter feed for race updates. I'll post a bit about the race tomorrow, and maybe a quick photo on Sunday, and then a full race report on Monday. Should be fun! (I hope!....)

Happy weekend!!

Friday Funny 322: Weirdest Chili's Ad

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:18:00 +0000

I'm leaving that one alone....

Friday Funny 321: What If All The Avengers Posed Like Black Widow?

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Fri, 11 May 2012 10:24:00 +0000

I actually think that's better. But if you remember my last post, you'd expect that from me.

Dat Ass

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Wed, 09 May 2012 19:45:00 +0000

"DAT ASS": A positive vernacular expression used when one sees the buttocks of another, (usually in a pic posted on an internet board) expressing delight and a possible suggestion of sexual interest. (source)

Erica, the wife of racing buddy Chad, sent me some photos from last weekend's duathlon. Here are 6 of people looking at my ass. Below I show the full size image of each, followed by a close-up.

Nordica, I'm taken. Find another ass. And stop licking your lips.

You're already a bit creepy in your hoodie. Looking at my ass doesn't help your cause.

That's a lot of people looking at my ass, but I find the woman
walking past in green while staring the best.

Your head is positioned in such a way so you do NOT look like you're looking,
but your eyes tell a different story. Sheriff.

Dat Ass.

You're both too young for this. Divert your eyes.

p.s. I KNOW they're not really looking at my non-existant ass. They're just looking at the shorts. Looking at my ass for the sake of looking at my ass is like looking into a black hole. The photos above are just for fun. I'm not really that vain. Just wanted to let you know.

'Tall Guy' Speaks Out (with Race Photos)

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Stenzel) — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:39:00 +0000

So if you read my race report from the Cinco "Du" Mayo Duathlon (and I hope you have - it's a good one!), you heard me mention "tall guy" a lot. He was one of the 2 guys around me, and he was the ONLY person to beat me to the finish.

Well, over the magic of Facebook, a mutual friend "introduced" us. It turns out "tall guy" has a name (Erich), and he also has a blog. Here are some quotes from his race report, and I LOVE seeing a different perspective on my race report.

Here he talks about me catching him on the first run:

However, I could hear one distinct set of footsteps that I suspected might be Steve. I didn't bother turning to look back and it appeared there were just two of us out in front. Sure enough, about .5 miles out, Steve passed me. 'Good morning!' he said in a way too enthusiastic tone. I laughed and greeted him back as he passed.

That's me... "way too enthusiastic!" :)

Here are 2 photos of Erich and I nearing the turn-around shortly after I passed him:

Heading back the other way.

Then on the bike, I noted that "tall guy" caught me near the top of the first real hill about 1 mile into the ride. Here's what he wrote on his blog:

I knew there were some tough hills in the first couple miles and understood that was where I'd probably catch him, if I was going to. It didn't take long, right about one mile in and on the first steep hill when I caught him. Steve said something as I went past, but I didn't catch it or have the breath to reply. It sounded friendly though. :)

I'm glad if people can't fully understand me, they at LEAST assume it's friendly! :) I don't remember what I said, but it was probably something like "hey there" or "nice pace."

On the final run, I noted "giving 110%." I had to try to catch Erich who was on his way back to the finish:

At this point in the race, Erich said this:

As I turned and ran back for the finish, I saw Pete in second. It seemed like he was closer than he actually was. As he ran past, he said, 'Nice race, Erich.' 'Shoot,' I thought, 'it's not over yet!' A few seconds after seeing Pete, there was Steve. He didn't make eye contact as we criss-crossed and looked very determined. Oh man.....

I had first noted in my race report that I had no shot at the lead, but I still went HARD in case something happened to "tall guy" up there. And it's not that I didn't WANT to make eye contact... it's just that I was dying. Well, not "dying"... just giving it EVERYTHING I had:

Passing long-course athletes, feeling like hell.

Passing "man in black" to take 2nd place.

Running away with second.

In my race report, I noted looking for "tall guy" on the final run: "But when I got to the top of the hill with about a half mile left, "tall guy" was no where to be found. He was well on his way to a victory." It was probably right around that SAME moment that that Erich looked back:

I rounded the top of the hill coming back in and saw the sign for the park. As I turned right, I shot a look back over my shoulder. No one there. I looked at my watch. 51+. I looked to be in real good shape!

Oh yeah, he was in good shape to take the win AND TO SET A NEW COURSE RECORD!! So I REALLY can't complain about not being able to catch a guy who just set a course record. I'm JUST fine with 2nd, thankyouverymuch. :)

So stop by Erich's blog to read his race recap, and make sure to scroll down (or click here) to read my race report. (And here's my Examiner article with more photos if you're interested.)