2008—A Year In Review

A lot happened this year so I thought I would recap with my best and worst list.

There were a lot of close seconds and thirds, but here is what made the cut:

• Best road race course: Richmond Rollers—I was on my game that day
• Worst road race course: State Road Race—where the hell did some of those hills come from?
• Best road race moment: Ken Woods Road Race—It was wild to be riding sideways in the worst possible conditions
• Worst road race moment: Bonking on "the hill" at Square Lake and still had two more laps—almost DNF-ed.

• Best Crit course: Hopkins—hands down!
• Worst Crit course: Northfield Crit—oh god did that course hurt!
• Best Crit moment: Last Opus Crit—I was in the breakaway the entire time
• Worst Crit moment: Any race I got lapped or even worst lapped multiple times. Thanks Flanders girls!

• Best TT course: State TT—flat flat flat
• Worst TT course: Hamel TT
• Best TT moment: the last 500 meters at the Town Hall TTT—the four hellions worked together like a well oiled team
• Worst TT moment: State TT—did not feel conformable on the bike for one second

• Best non-racing moment: Getting my picture taken with Rory Sutherland!!!!!
• Worst non-racing moment: Listening to Mark Kermisch going down at the St. Cloud crit

• Best REGBRAI moment: There has to be multiples in this list
  1. The bus ride to the starting town—Mike Kunt, electronic blenders—this is where all the inside jokes start
  2. El Matador—Oleh!
  3. Rolling down the road picking up 30+ people in our paceline—we had great music this year
  4. The new rainbow umbrellas—hey hey hey
  5. Putting a on tattoo on a couple hot guys
• Worst REGBRAI moment: Dropped a chain and had to catch up to the group in headwinds. Not to mention it was a buzz killer.

• Best Group Ride: Tie between riding with the Proman Team and when Holly and I went out for a 40 mile ride in the pouring rain
• Best Group Ride moment: Telling Carol that we were going to do Ramsey Hill three times.

• Best Clothing Gear Improvement: Sidi Gen 5 Shoes
• Best Hardware Improvement: Of course, the Madone (and the new peddles I had to get after I got the new shoes)

• Best Solo Ride route: riding up a mountain in Amish country (Pennsylvania)
• Worst Solo Ride route: any ride I got lost on
• Best Solo Ride moment: The first day back on the bike in 2008
• Worst Solo Ride moment: When I realized that riding out in Amish country after a rain storm was probably not a good idea—they don’t clean up after the horses

• WTF moment: at mile marker one of the Apple Duathon—I am not a runner what the hell am I doing out here?
  
  *Note: the worst course list does not reflect against the promoter, it's purely based on my crappy performance that day.

Total Miles: 4,261

2008 Races and Placement

• April 15 - Opus Crit - last place
• April 26 - Ken Woods Road Race - 3rd place
• April 29 - Opus Crit - 12th place out of 20
• May 3 - Marty Road Race - 7th place out of 14
• May 13 - Opus Crit - 8th place out of 12
• May 21 - Opus Crit - 4th place out of 16 for the cat 4's
• May 24 - Apple Duathon - 5th out of 8 in my division - 2:07:33
• June 3 - State Fair Crit - 2nd place out of 5 for the cat 4's, 4th overall out of 8
• June 6 – MN State TT - 5th place 1:14 (40k)
• June 10 - State Fair Crit - 6th place out of 11 for the cat 4's
• June 14 - Mankato Crit - 6th place out of 7th - all 3/4 cat women
• June 17 - State Far Crit - 7th place out of 14 for the cat 4's
• June 21 - Richmond Roller Road Race - 4th place out of 18 for the cat 4's
• June 28 - Square Lake Road Race--11th out of 16 for the cat 4's
• June 29 - St. Cloud Crit - 9th out of 16 for the cat 4's
• July 4 - Northfield Crit - 10 out of 16 for the cat 4's
• July 5 - SPAM Jam RR- 4th place 2 in age group
• July 6 - Hamel TT - 5th place out of 14 35:21 12.5 miles
• July 12 - Sprinters Classic - 5th out of 12 for the cat 4's
• July 13 - Hopkins Crit - 7th out of 19 for the cat 4's
• July 20-23 REGBRAI - Most fun points
• July 27 - MN State Crit- 8th out of 12 for the cat 4's
• Aug 10 - Town Hall TTT - 2nd out of 5 teams
• Sep 20-21 Headwaters Road and MTB

Running down memory lane

I just got back from North Dakota. HOLY CRAP is it cold up there! Average temp was around Zero. The low was -23 the high 29—an average 15 degree difference between Grand Forks and Minneapolis. There is plenty of snow up there to make any avid skier feel like they are in wonderland, but with flat lands, and few shelter belts, the frigid wind can kill any fun you are expecting!!

Tuesday’s drive up north was scary. Black Ice—the worst kind, ice you can’t see on the road—kept speeds far below the speed limit. About an hour into my 4.5 hour drive, I looked in my rear view mirror and noticed a car spinning out of control about 10 feet behind me. 15 years of winter driving experience came rushing through my mind—stay in control of my vehicle, stay in front of the driver, don’t slam on the breaks, no sudden turns of my wheels, be ready to throw your vehicle in Neutral, repeating “OH SHIT!” over and over, etc. All this while fixated on watching the car behind me in my review mirror. Wow, what a adrenaline rush!

Three hours later some—yes I’m going there—ass hole swerved into my lane making it look like he lost control of his DHL truck due to the ice—but the roads were good in this area. I was in the process of passing him when this incident happened. Moments later when I did pass, he was on his phone with an expression like nothing happened. The Ass Hole was probably reaching for his phone and went into my lane in the process. It seemed no matter how careful I was that day someone next to me was not.

Christmas was pretty good. Mom cooked for the family. Two of my six siblings were there. I tried to gather the courage to go out for a short run that morning, but with temps below zero—it wasn’t that important. It was hard enough to take the dogs out for a quick walk—I wish they would understand they were on a QUICK walk.

Friday morning I finally went for this anticipated run. My route was up to the new—yes it’s still new after 10 years—104+ million dollar Engelstad arena (noted as the most amazing hockey arena in the country), to the far corner of campus, through the heart of UND, back home. So many memories flooded back when I passed buildings that were so familiar—the high school I went to, the university football field where games that were so hard to attend because it was so cold (they now have a new indoor building). The old Engelstad arena where many Hockey games were played (Hockey is the heart of the town)—we got out of school for two days every year to attend the ND state Finals/Championship game which my HS won many times. The bridge I road my bike on many times. The Red Pepper, the Mexican sub shop that is a must when you’re in town. The campus housing my siblings lived in while attending. The spot I got pulled over and received my first “warning”. All this in just 6.5 miles—wow it always felt like it was “so far away” to go across town. It’s exactly 2 miles to the nearest stop light by my house in MN, it’s 2 miles to get to the heart of the campus from my parents place on the south side of town.

Now that the holidays are over and the cookies are out of the house it's time to put all my focus on the half marathon and training for the upcoming season.

By the way, congratulations to Erika she had a 6.7 lbs boy on Dec 19th Jake Alexander Lohn. Erika was lifting weights, running, and working out up until she gave birth—which in turn she had a fairly easy labor.

Heading home

I’m going home for the holidays. Temps can be about 5 to 10 degrees colder then the twin cities.

Grand Forks, ND

Minneapolis, MN

If I have the courage I’ll try to get in a run or two—there is a possible high of 12 degrees on Christmas day. Heat wave!

White Sand

I love this picture of myself—not something I say often. When I pulled at my balaclava on the home stretch and found that it was frozen to my bottom right eyelash, I knew a photo op was needed. Ok, you have to think of something pleasant when you’re running in 16 degree weather.

I occurred a few optical on my run last night. 10 minutes after I started my fingers started to feel stiff and I was losing feeling. I had gloves on so I thought they would warm up within a few minutes but they were only getting worse. I started to get worried—do I continue or turn back? I really didn't want to turn back. My gloves are a little thin, but my hands tend to sweat when I run so I don’t like anything too thick. I started to think if my fingers didn’t start to warm up soon I don’t think I could continue for another two hours. I stuffed them in my windproof outer shell to see if that would work and kept moving them. At this point the worst thought and images started popping in my head. I eventually got feeling back in my two middle fingers but I was still concerned about the other ones. Ok...so my driving finger will be fine, but I NEED the other ones too! Time seems to go slow when you start freaking out. After what felt like forever—which really was only five to ten minutes—I got feeling back in all of my fingers and were able to take them out of my jacket for the remainder of my two hour run.

Next optical was the white sand—unplowed sidewalks. I tried to put a positive spin on the resistance training, but after a while I was exhausted and valued those that took the time to take care of their sidewalks. The worst was by a Junior High. You would think a public school would take out a snow blower once in a while—I guess something’s need to be cut from the budget in these hard economic times. OK, I’ll stop bitching and just deal with it.

When I was running in downtown Wayzata. I got a few strange looks from people coming out of the shops and restaurants. I understand people being a little hesitant based on the photo above. I tried to say “Hello” to ease their concern, but my continued forward motion probably eased their concern more than my friendly comment. I ran up to two older gentlemen walking to their car after having dinner. I tried to make plenty of noise to notify them that I was behind them. It was pretty obvious that my attire wasn’t what concerned them it was the fact that it was freaking cold out and I was out there running. They said something, but with my iPod on I have no clue what they said so I just turn my head back and said “It’s not that bad. It’s pretty warm in here”. It was—I was pretty dang warm with all my layers as long as I kept moving. Sweat can be your worst enemy.

This morning I went to Matt’s class. After my white sand run last night having the energy to spin this morning was difficult. Unlike my usual self, I kept my head down and just went to work. 50 minutes went by without one comment from Matt—very much unlike him. Although, Sarah got a lot of crap since it’s her birthday tomorrow—Matt likes to make your b-day spin just a little more special. I have no idea how much time we spent, but the majority of the workout was a standing climb with what seemed like 30 seconds of recovery every 4 minutes.

I’m not sure what this weekend holds, but I would like to get to a spin class a couple of times before I head up to Grand Forks for the holidays.

Had to do it

(I wish I had some pictures to add to this post)

My goal for the weekend was to get in my long run outside. I was saving it for Saturday since it was going to be the nicest day of the month—34 degrees. True to form, my plans got changed. No way was I going to do a long run then go stand on my feet for 8 hours at my part time job so I thought I would go on Sunday before the weather got really bad. I guess I was being too optimistic that it wasn’t going to get as bad as everyone was saying on Saturday.

I woke up to rain. Ugh! If it was snowing I would run but not rain—not when it’s hovering above freezing. I started to make plan B—I could go to the gym and run on the treadmill, but even that hasn’t been very successful. I missed Matt’s class so that was out. I wanted to go outside! Around noon I looked out the window and it stopped raining. Hallelujah!! It was still 30 some degrees—why the hell not? Knowing that the temp was going to drop in the next couple of hours I would still be able to enjoy the warmer weather while I could. I put on four top layers, one bottom layer, gloves, a balaclava and a second hat and headed out. Hoping that was enough, yet not too much for the expected change in the weather.

The temp was perfect. The roads and sidewalks were wet. It was still drizzling. Yet I looked around and said “this is great”. All morning I was on the phone and glued to the weather station knowing my family and friends in ND and northern MN were trapped—all of the major highways were closed.

While running, I took mental note of what would become really bad areas when I came back since it would probably be icy. I thought about the drivers whizzing past me. They probably thought I was nuts—but I thought they were nuts for not having fun outside while they could.

I stepped in a few big puddles a couple of times causing a few choice words to come out because my feet were getting wet. I thought I was screwed, but thankfully my wet shoes and socks warmed up to my body temp.

I had a pretty good run until—I was on the bridge going over CR 12 on Ferndale. The sidewalks were already iced over. I slipped a little and thought I would go over if I didn’t run on the street. A few cars whizzed past—I guess it doesn’t matter the time of the year or the activity, they don’t move over even if they are the only car on the road.

Then came the Luce Line. It was just one soupy-slushy mess! Three miles of this will not be fun! I saw a few bike trails and thought they must have been Bill’s—turns out they were his. Every time I put my foot down the slop would bounce up and nail my other foot in mid-lift. As I cursed at the slop and now my wet feet, I could also imagining Bill doing the same—yet his trail marks looked like he had fun. After a mile of unsuccessfully trying to not get my feet wet I finally said “screw it, can’t do anything about it now. You can only keep moving” With my feet completely soaked—and a ½ a pound of water in each—I hoped it wasn’t going to cause problems when I got on drier pavement.

Half a mile to the end of the trail, there is this bridge I needed to cross that arches over a lake. I remembered last time it can get pretty windy and knew that the bridge was probably very slick. It was hard to see the ice, but at one point I considered crawling over it since it was so hard to walk on. I made it over on two feet and noticed a few kids sledding in their backyard. I don’t know what it was, but I stopped cursing the trail and was able to have a good laugh at the kids when the tubes wouldn’t stop and they slid onto the lake—they were fine.

Once I got off the trail and on my way home, I noticed the bottom half of my jacket was frozen and my shoes had an unusual mustache. Water must have squish out of my shoe and froze to the side. I was a little concerned, but I never got cold!

Once I got home I jumped in the shower—a bit too soon. My legs were red from the cold. I should have let them warm up—but didn't. Needless to say, 10 miles of MN icy/sloppy conditions did not compare to the pain I experienced from frozen skin getting hot water poured on it.

All that said, I was glad that I got out. It’s -30 with wind chill for the next couple of days.

Hey Bill, isn't this your perfect riding conditions? Be careful!

Call it an addiction

I tried to take a week off from the gym but I could only handle 4 days. I know, what you’re thinking—but it started to go downhill fast. Sleeping until 10 (on the weekend), almost late for work, eating Christmas cookies for breakfast, watching bad TV shows—and liking it. I don’t know how someone who isn’t active handles it.

Last night I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. Call it my 4 day vacation or now being a new decade older…but my average heart rate was out of control compared to last year’s same workout. Although, I’m almost certain something is wrong with my heart rate monitor. Ten minutes left of my run, I guess I wasn’t looking so good—this lady who just got off a treadmill behind me, walked by and gave me a boost of encouragement (I think she thought I was someone else she knows who would be moments away from falling off the machine). Even if it was a mistake—it was very well needed. Even thought it sucked, it put in perspective how much work I have to do in 45 days.

This morning before Jody’s class. I did my version of interval training on the track. I know, I shouldn’t have done it so soon, but MG is the only gym I go to (that I know of) that has a track at the gym. After I was done I noticed that I was 2 minutes slower than last year! 2 minutes—that’s a lot!! I have a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.

In spin class today we were played this game, Jody’s version of a chase, every 15-20 seconds if you wanted your group to attack you raised your hand then everyone would get out of their seat and run. I guess I was feeling pretty good so I raised my hand a few times in a row. I got yelled at by my group, but I wasn’t the only one who was raising their hands multiple times! Now, I’ve been called a lot of things in Matt’s class, but Jody took it to a whole new level. I wasn’t, and I didn’t, take it personal but for my multiple hand raising events she called me a Bitch for working the group so hard. You have to understand, she’s a tough instructor—just ask Kenny—so for her to say that to me…I take that as a complement. (Matt—this doesn’t mean you can get away with the same activity.)

Happy Blogiversary!

My ramblings is now a year old! Oh how time flies.
Thanks for those who have been reading & commenting on this blog.

Chasing a Rabbit

The last twelve hours were déjà as last week. Long run outside Tuesday evening and Jody’s spin class Wednesday morning.

I finally purchased a headlamp the other day. I wasn’t sure I would like it—probably because I thought it would flop around and cause more frustration then benefits. I’m so happy with my new purchase—I love the headlamp! It stayed put the entire time. For the first time running in the dark I wasn’t frustrated not being able to see the path AND the cars actually paused for me! Go figure. I know, not a big deal—but when you didn’t have one before it’s a big deal.

On the other hand, it was funny, you know that headpiece you put on animals with a treat that hangs in front of their face to make them go faster? During my run I felt like I was chasing the light. Great motivation, but holy crap! My average heart rate for 2 hours was 164. My AT is that number! So I was in my AT on average the entire time…no wonder I thought I was going to lose my cookies on my cool down. Am I really up for a ½ marathon? I only have 52 days left.

Thanksgiving Weekend

What are you thankful for? Family, Friends, a nice day to ride your bike. I’m thankful that I lived through Black Friday and Tracy’s part of the 2-hr spin class on Thanksgiving.

On Thursday I went to my third annual 2-hour pre-turkey spin class in MG. I invited Holly to join me. Matt and Tracy were teaching the class. It was a little different since Matt and Jody usually do those long classes, but if you’ve been to a Tracy class you know that you will not be lacking any calories burned. There were three moments were I felt like my legs were going to throw in the towel, dislodge from my hips and walk out of the class. She had us do her 6 minute 30 seconds sprints with 30 seconds breaks in between and 4 minute climbs after the 6 minute sprints for an hour. It takes me months to get used to her sprint workout. As part of our 2 hour tradition I got to pick out the video and as always…there was plenty of shots of Tom Boonen. :) Thanks Matt for pausing the video for a few extra Tom seconds!

Friday (or also known as Black Friday or Green Friday) I went up to St. Cloud. I used to work in retail for 7 years and I enjoyed working on Black Friday—it was entertaining watching all the people go crazy over the “deals” or what I would call cheap junk. But it’s also sad to see how materialist our nation really has become. I’m not a shopper, I would rather be at the gym then in the malls, but this was yet another family obligation. Here is my theory: If it’s there and is on sale…great. If not, then it wasn’t meant to be.

We went to Herberger’s (a department store) we happen to notice they were selling down comforters for $20—great deal! There weren’t any left, but we heard they had more coming out of the stockroom. You should’ve seen all of the older ladies standing around like vulchers. The young employee didn’t know what she was walking into when she wheeled the bin of comforters towards these ladies. Within seconds her bin was empty. Round two, the same young lady came back with a second bin of comforters and again—gone in seconds. I don’t know why, but I got all caught up with the crazed emotion so I tried to get one. I got in there and asked the young lady if there was a king size. She picked one up and was in the process of handing me the comforter when someone my mother’s age snatched the item right out of my hands without blinking and walked away. I looked at the young lady with amazement, she had the exact same look as I had—what the hell just happened?! After all that, I got one—and after making the purchase I noticed it was yep…cheap junk! I'm taking it back.

Sunday I finally went to the gym after what seemed a long two and a half days. I tried do a workout regimen I used to do many years ago…now it’s not the same. I need more! Elliptical machines are a good alternatives to not sitting on the couch…but if you need to feel alive—try something harder. I jumped on the stair master again…and again it kicked my ass! Then to make sure that I’d walk funny the next day—I did a bunch of lunges. Yep—that worked.