Ultimate Runner & Tri-Ballantyne Recap

  After my adrenaline pumping break through in the Championship mile a couple weeks back I knew I was fit to challenge for the "Ultimate Runner" title which has been in the back of my mind for a few years and for the first time I actually trained for this race in particular. I will admit that my mileage has been substantially low but I knew that with the race distances I could still train in a very limited amount of time to get the most bang for the buck so to speak. Luckily I am not doing anything that requires much more than 20minutes of effort, other wise it would be curtains for this guy. In summation the heat fest aka the ultimate runner, I am going to post a brief recap that I sent out to fellow TrySports Ambassador Bill Shires.

"  In 2001 I stumbled upon the Ultimate Runner in Winston-Salem, NC with close friend and high school teammate Jessica Carroll- (Bilbrey now). That year I was able to secure 5th place in this event as Kevin Hill won the race going away and I was amazed at his talent level. After that, every couple years, I tossed caution to the wind and gave it an effort to finally attain my goal of winning this race but it never quite came together. With having just ran a MEGA personal best in the mile with a 4:20 the week of the Ultimate Runner my confidence level was more than sky high. Going into the race I knew it would be blazing hot with temperatures topping 100 degree's with no where to hide from the sun, so I packed a pop up canopy, two coolers filled with ice and Gatorade as well as my fiance Karin whom would occasionally spray me with a misting fan.

   The race was everything I remembered, the sit and kick style that the youngsters would always run away from me on, but not this year. Referencing the change in pacing from the heat our 1st 800m of the mile was in 2:34, 5:08 mile pace, everyone was taking their time for the kick to commence. Being a few years wiser, I waited patiently as all the young guns began making their move matching every surge, then with 85 meters to go I dropped another gear and was able to leave the field to take the mile in 4:49. The 400m was next and my biggest fear, the gun went off and I tried my best to get positioned well, unfortunately this did not happen and I was forced to make up a ton of ground over the last 300m finishing in 4th overall in 54.6. 

   800m was next and as the mile went, everyone packed up for a bit and then at the bell a couple made their bid for glory. Somehow after that 400m race I felt amazing and ended up pulling well ahead of the field and cursing home in 2:09. Pumped full of confidence and energy I slammed home the 100m race winning my heat in what was announced as 12 flat to only be turned into 12.4 seconds :(. 

   Going into the 5k XC race, I was unaware if I was in the lead but was assured if I won the race I would be the "Ultimate Runner". After tucking in with the pack for a mile I jumped out with another runner making a bid for the 5k and we were stride for stride for about 1 mile until I took the lead for good, bringing home the 5k victory. All in all my best performance ever, with times on the slow side due to the hottest race in the 27 year history of the event. I would certainly recommend this event for anyone who really wants a challenge to the greatest extent, the people are great and you can't beat the middle of summer, middle of the day race fest."

- May I mention that I was more than happy to receive the honor of winning such a long standing race in Winston-Salem but I was VERY dis-satisfied with the way the announcer dealt with my concerns to leave early. Karin had been out in the heat all day and unfortunately she took a turn for the worst and started to suffer from what I believe was heat stroke. We just needed to get away and call it a night as opposed to waiting around the for awards, I was more concerned with her well being. I walked up to the announcer who was giving our finisher shirts and awards, then requested that I receive my award so we could leave since we still had a 90minute drive home. He essentially spit in my face(he did not actually spit on me) and commented that I did not have a family therefore I was not in any critical circumstance to leave early. This REALLY pissed me off and honestly will most likely cause me to not return to this event.

   

Lake Toxaway

   The following weekend after I had finally been named the "Ultimate Runner", I told Greg Shore that i would accompany him on a long training weekend in the mountains. I was mentally prepared for some torture especially since Greg has been rounding into such phenomenal form as of late but also because of my lack of training in comparison. Leading up to our MEGA MOUNTAIN ride I had only hopped on my bike twice in the previous 20 days or so, but I wanted to give it a go. Greg and I decided to basically find the hardest way to the top of the Blue ridge parkway and we conquered it!We climbed for 14.5miles continuously to the top, it was a hurt fest of epic proportions, followed by an attempted long run which ended at just shy of 90 minutes for myself due to severe dehydration, I was way beyond fatigued, but thanks for the push Greg!

Tri-Ballantyne: 7/14/2012

   Thankfully TrySports hooked me up with a comp entry into this race and I had no expectations join in, I just wanted to do my best and end with a smile. Unfortunately for me, I also had to work the event with the TrySports  truck, so I had to get there extra early and I did not have the available time to actually warm-up. Aside from my 1/4m jog around the parking lot, mounting my bike on the rack and 100m in the pool that was the extent of my prep. Waking up so early has its disadvantages for me to say the least, I am like a zombie, so inevitably I left behind my cell phone as Karin went out to the Lake Norman Excursion ride for her longest ride ever, I was worried that she could not contact me so I made sure Billy Shue sent her a message in the AM to update her on my lack of phone issue. To add insult to injury, my helmet was left behind at work from the night before, as I drove the events truck and left mine locked up at our warehouse. Naturally I would end up wearing Karin's mountain bike helmet enact with the shield and all in Misty Mountain Green as the color option! 

   Now to the actual race, I was more than afraid of my swim seed time that Rob submitted for me, after all, I had only been in the pool a handful of times to actually stroke a few laps. As the clock wound down and we were getting called to depart in between our 15 second intervals, I relaxed and just said just go hard and stay smooth. The swim ended up going very well as I actually caught Mark Carbone 100m from the finish who was seeded one spot in front of me. I may or may not have mad a mistake by just coasting behind him, I figured I would just save some energy for the bike if possible. We exited the water together and hit T1 in a semi jog I would say, no real rush like the top guys exiting, more like an Ironman transition. (4:45 swim split)

TrySports Ambassadors:
Jason Philbin and Billy Shue

   I left T1 before Mark and took my time with mounting my Felt Z75 without trying any flying hop on because I was a bit rusty with this triathlon stuff. As I was heading towards Rea Rd on my bike quickly catching the swimmers in front of me I couldn't help but think how much quicker, more aggressive and possibly even more comfortable it would be to have a Triathlon/TT bike right now. I just went to my drops and stayed there as long as I could. I never looked at my Garmin 310 while riding, I would just occasionally look down to see what mile I was on but never once looked at my pace, the only goal was to make myself breath hard and hurt during the whole ride. As I was nearly T2 I remembered the fancy dismount I used while in Australia and quickly unbuckled my shoes to hop off and jog right to my running shoes with my bike in hand. It's weird that the course was listed as 12.7miles on the website but the actually bike route that is listed is 13.2 miles on the publication, odd.    (33:55 Bike Split = 23.35mph)

   Leaving T2, I was pretty happy knowing it was just the run to follow and I would be home free. I flew around the corner with crowds cheering as the athletes made their way onto the grassy area around the YMCA. I felt great and was ready to really push the run then I take an odd step on an uneven portion of the grass and my left calf locks up immediately.  Crap, there goes my run, I back the pace off for a second and gain my composure once again. Looking at my GPS I can see I am maintaining about 5:20 pace and that would be great to hold, so I try to just lock that pace down the best that I can while feeling comfortable and taxing my legs too much to avoid any muscles cramps or spams. On the way out I see Donny cruising past with the victory in hand and I confuse myself for a moment trying to put the numbers together on how far ahead he actually is in front of me time wise. Mile one 5:19, then I finally see someone that I can pass! Pushing through the neighborhood and feeling my race shoes cut into my foot with each strike I start altering my stride a bit to keep somewhat comfortable. As I crest the last big hill departing the neighborhood I take a quick glance back and see another guy in red trailing pretty closely.

 

    

    With about 1 mile to go I lift the pace up and hope to drop whomever is behind me with the sudden pace change. At this point I feel like I am flying and must be back down into that 5:20 pace range as my 2nd mile slowed a bit, but I was wrong. My GPS said "5:41" pace, crap, come on man pick it up!!!! After holding off the contender behind me I quickly realize it is Mark Carbone who is a great triathlete/runner in his own right, I was satisfied with the day and that made it even better. (16:56 run split)

    Post race I stand around the truck for 3+ more hours in the sun just imaging the feeling of a nice fresh shower at home, sometimes the little things mean so much! After the race was over, I do remember why I liked this multi-sport stuff, its exciting yet upsetting at the same time. There are so many factors that go into these races unlike running which is pretty straight forward. I may jump into one or two more tri's as the season closes, we will see. No pictures from the race currently, wish I could share the sweet pictures with my super cool helmet on but unfortunately I cannot. 

Mud Run + a Kick in the Butt

   It's time for a shining new update on the 5k training regimen that I have commenced since January 1st towards my goal and well it has had some up and downs. After starting out very consistently over the 1st 2 weeks of my training with incorporating attainable speed workouts and mileage I was feeling pretty confident that in 90 days I would have a pretty solid level of fitness to at least break my 15:26 PR on the track, then running started to take a back seat to some big events in life.

Karin is on the left of course

  For those who may not know, I am now engaged to my lovely fiance Karin, and this is the big event in life that I am referring to. In short, most may not know but while away living in Australia, Karin and I kept in communication with a few skype sessions every week and nearly daily emailing, accompanied with a 2 week visit by her, so we were really able to establish a relationship while most had no clue we were even talking. OK, back to the running, while sneaking around trying to make the final arrangements for the ring running seemed to fall on the back burner but for good reason of course. There last 2 weeks have been pretty crazy with what seems like a constant stream of events over our engagement and our b-days, that's my excuse anyways.


   My 1st true test of fitness would come at the US national white water center in the 9-mile trail race which could have been labeled "Muddy Buddy 9 miler" as it rained all weekend and the course was pretty damn sloppy. Fortunately I did not fall once and came out unscathed from the race and even recorded a W. The goal was to run with Kevin Lisska as long as I could to establish who was in the 9-mile race and then just after half way drop a very hard surge to hopefully break open the race and it went off without a hitch. On the hardest mile of the course I took off and "went for it" luckily enough to outdistance 2nd place, whom was actually on my high school soccer team and has taken to running success very quickly. Karin finished up the race with a smile as well, only muddy and never have fallen, I think that made me just as happy.  9-mile results


   In the days proceeding the trail race I didn't feel any soreness which was a pleasant surprise and I attacked my track workouts. Running faster than my goal splits once again, I was thinking that the upcoming CRC trail 8k could be a pretty solid event for me. Finally, 2 nights before the race I signed up and it was official, I was racing. While evaluating my fitness level, I knew for sure I was in sub 27 shape but wasn't sure if that meant 26:30 or 26:59, so I decided to just stick with the leaders and to see how 3:15-3:20 per K felt. Basically from the Gun, a small lead pack formed passing 1k in 3:16 and dropping it down to 3:14 on the 2nd K to break open the field. We maintained around 3:20 the rest of the way while changing positions a few times, but I could tell the 1st hill worked my aerobic system a bit too much and by the 2nd pass of it i felt pretty unmotivated.

Compton, Matena, Paul and myself taking it out

   At that point the goal was to keep Dan in my sights as Paul surged past us and John was smooth sailing up ahead. While relaxing and feeling sad for myself I managed to let Dan keep floating further and further ahead. This is still one area I need to work on, when I don't make these races my "goal" race I tend to back down a bit too much. I finished with a decent 3:14 last K for 26:55 and 4th overall. Immediately after the race I could identify my downfalls in training, mileage which in turn increases the aerobic system. My legs felt great the entire race but I just had some extreme difficulty breathing and everything I tried to surge I felt like I was in middle school and having another mini asthma attack. Looking back over the month of January, Bill Shires posted the CRC Mileage results and I had a pretty discouraging #, 184 miles for the entire month of January~ wow that's about 46 miles per week, which isn't horrible but there was a time when I was hitting about 100 miles more per month and I was in amazing fitness.

   The race proved to be a big wake up call for me and has helped me go back to the drawing board and to push through with increasing my mileage. I will never be where I need to be for a collegiate meet if I don't start putting in some long work, I am putting in the hard intervals but I need to additional mileage to allow my body to accept these workouts properly. At this point my next race is still the Charlotte 49er Classic on March 16th. under the lights. Hopefully I can get a few other local faces to jump in and try for a quick time. All in all I am happy that I am still able to get out of the door to run but I really need to kick it in overdrive before the 16th as well as taking my running to the Cooper River Bridge 10k, hopeful to beak my PR of 32:48. Thank you to the CRC for keeping my motivated, TrySports for keeping my healthy and Cody Angell for keeping me focused.

9 Shoes I choose in review

Shoes, shoes and more shoes!

    Recently I realized how many pairs of training shoes that I rotated through on fairly consistent basis and thought it would be pertinent to give my personal review on the shoes that I wear. As a note to the 3 people who may actually read this, I have received these shoes through various channels which I truly appreciate. I have won a couple pair of shoes from races, received a couple pair from the TrySports ambassador team/ TrySports Run Club through coaching, and through Saucony racing.
 

   Listed below are the series of shoes that I have in my current rotation and below will be a short synopsis of my thoughts on each shoe and how I prefer to use them.

Trainers:

Asics Neo33

Saucony Mirage & Mirage 2

Mizuno Wave Elixir 7 x 2

Brooks Launch

Brooks Cascadia – trail

Kswiss – Blade Light run

Mizuno Wave Inspire LE Osaka

Racing shoes:

Brooks T7 racer

Saucony Fastwitch 5

Asics Neo33 - I recently added this shoe into my rotation as I wanted to see how Asics compared to other brands in a supportive yet "natural" shoe which is similar to minimalism. This shoe has been good to me but from my experience I think I will stick to recovery runs with this shoe. I have done one long run and one tempo in this shoe and I had some adverse conflicts with them. On my long run, my PF started to flare up a couple miles in and I had to tie a stranger hold on my foot to prevent any slippage and pressure on the wrong area of my arch. During my Tempo, I once again felt my PF flare up but most importantly I felt towards the end of my tempo the shoes felt incredibly heavy from what I am accustomed. 

 Saucony Mirage - This was my main training shoe while living in Australia and only because it was the cheapest shoe I could get while Down Under. It ended up working very well for me as it is a light weight trainer with some minimal features. I prefer to use a shoe like this on tempo's as they are flexible and lightweight, creating the fast feel I sometimes need during tough mental workouts.

 Saucony Mirage 2 - This shoe is just appearing in stores come February but I was lucky enough to get a hold of the new 2012 fall edition just this week. While looking over the shoe, not much has changed if any on the platform but Saucony used a new material to keep the upper nice and fitting. Taking away the standard leather style overlays, they incorporated a newer lightweight synthetic material most similar to what could be found on a racing spike. Haven't ran in these enough to comment on any differences, but I like this shoe so far!
Check out the review here - Saucony Mirage 2 review

 Mizuno Wave Elixir 7 -   This shoe has been a favorite of mine for the past 3 years and I have been pretty loyal to this shoe as I have been through about 10 pairs of this awesome lightweight trainer. Some of my friends have had some problems with PF from these shoes after a few small changes but I really haven't had too many issues. I think when I have had problems with PF it relates to my mileage and workouts, so I have been careful to monitor and treat PF as it flares up. Overall this shoe is great, The only run I don't like doing with these shoes are ones that are 17+ miles as it appears the flexibility pulls on my calf a bit too much over that length of time.

 

 Brooks Launch - After starting to experience some pains in my shin and knee's I decided I needed something that had a bit more padding under neath the forefoot and inquired with Jinnie Austin about her recommendation and she immediately recommended the Launch. I was a bit hesitant at first, partially because I like flashy shoes and well these were black and white. Soon after I slipped them on I really felt at home so to speak. The bounce was amazing in this shoe, especially compared to the Elixir and Mirage, so I took them. I think of all of the shoes I have used over the past 3 months this was my most reliable shoe without having any injuries flare up. Unfortunately I left these shoes in New York while visiting over Christmas, but hope to get a new pair soon. 

 Brooks Cascadia 6 - This shoe was kind of a hand me down as it did not suit a friend to well and I gave it a shot. I have only ran in these shoes twice and after the first time I truly HATED this shoe. I just felt bad running in this shoe, I can't really put a science to it but it just did not feel right, not cushy, just awkward. This is to be slightly expected when you wear a trail shoe on the sidewalks and roads when it is meant for trails. This past weekend after winning a free entry into a local trail race set for January 21st I hit the trails at the US national whitewater center. The 1st day I knocked out 11 miles with my Mizuno Elixir's, they did OK, but I certainly had a few close calls with slips in the dirt as did everyone else running. The very next day, I laced up my cascadia's and decided, "why not give them one more chance on their territory?". Wow, I was amazing, I felt like I went from a bald tire in the rain to a high performance racing tire with incredible traction. The grip was so good, I started pushing the limits and never once did I slip, this will be my trail racing shoe without a doubt!
Cascadia Review

K-Swiss Blade Run - this shoe has been my casual shoe for the most part, I have used this a couple times on run and for a fartlek it seemed to do a decent job. The shoe is very vented as it is designed for the triathlete, so on cold winter days this shoe is not the best choice. Looks like I will be saving it up as a spring/summer tempo runner. 

Mizuno Wave Inspire LE Osaka - I noticed this shoe in the 2012 Mizuno Catalog while doing some ordering and just thought I needed something cool just to kick around in. Eventually I buckled and took these babies on a couple of easy morning runs. Nothing remarkable but they are a solid shoe for sure. Trying to keep em clean as my work/gym shoe, until the ol shin start hurting.

 Saucony Fastwitch 5 - Picked this model up in Australia and used it for my Half Ironman and have never once had any issues with this shoe. I must say going forward I will use this shoe for every marathon I participate in unless I stumble upon something else. Even during the marathon in Savannah I never once had any PF issues but of course I had some fatigue setting in. Great supportive racing flat which has good road grip, solid overlay system and flexibility.

Brooks Racer T7 - This was my 1st shoe purchase once I got back into the states, to attempt racing well at Greekfest. Well that goes to show you that super light shoes only get you a mile, fitness matters. Anyways, these shoes are SWEET but I have quickly realized that i cannot race above 10k in these shoes. They are so light and flexible, it beats up my body much more than I than I like once I get over 3 miles, so 6 is pushing it. I never would have thought that I could wear this shoe but I am sure glad I gave it a shot, hope it takes me to some PR's this year.

Take a look below at Olympian Alan Culpepper's take on light weight trainers, my personal favorite training shoe.

Lightweight Training Shoe

    This is my almighty summary of the shoes that have worked for me and that are currently in my rotation. This weekend I am looking forward to using the Brooks Cascadia trail shoe to hopefully grip the dirt and to burn the paths up! Any further recommendations on training shoes would be appreciated as well as feedback on the shoes that I am currently using. Hit me up, give me your pros and cons of these shoes, mileage goals with each shoe and so forth. One of the things I have learned about my body is that I just run in my shoes until my knees/shins and ankle start to feel that certain way; the way my body feels when its about to cross the line of completely breaking apart, fun times.

2012: Another Year of progress - "Goal setting"

  So after a fun, frustrating, incredible, death defying 2011, I have decided to kick off 2012 with a new blog, that will track the conquering, bone crushing, plantar hurting, side cramping, lactic pumping, rise and fall of my athletic goals. At this point in time, due to my wrist/arm surgery I am still not to a point where I can ride a bike comfortably so I am solely focusing on my running specific ambitions.

   It has been a year of ups and downs for me with my running, but all in all, I managed to set personal records in the 3k, 5k, and marathon, despite my triathlon periodization and motorcycle crash. Have to look at the positive side of things to keep my mind and my feet going forward of course. There have been numerous occasions when some of my closest friends have inspired me to really test my limits out in my 30th year. Cody broke out of no where with a 15:12/8:56 5k/3k while I was in Australia, big Adam ripped off a 2:37 in Melbourne, Billy dropped a 2:38 at Thunder Road, John Compton busted a 1:08+ half at Savannah, and Alana Hadley keeps consistently improving with her 1:16:58 HM (Footlocker Finalist as well). So these people keep pushing me to really strive for more from myself, to keep pecking away at those times.

   While in Australia, my close friend Cody Angell challenged myself and our friends to breaking the 15minute barrier in a 5000m race on the track. He kept pushing himself day in and day out and has crept closer and closer to his goals. With a stunning cast of runners at his running disposal, he intends to again break that barrier in the Australian summer track season which is now. After finishing the Savannah Rock N Roll marathon in November, I decided that I would focus solely on the shorter stuff again in 2012. That being said, I do have one BIG goal of 2012 and that is to run 14:59 in a 5000m track race this spring/summer. Choosing the track is an accurate way to create a PR, as opposed to road course which measure slightly different every time.

5000m - race length

14:59 - race time

4:49 - per mile pace

3:00 - per kilometer pace

   To some, this might be a mark that they have hit numerous times, while others may not even be able to comprehend the time. After looking at the McMillan Pace Calculator and seeing the equivalent times across the board it is quite frightening to think that this could be a possibility. 4:49 per mile, wow, that in itself would be hard for me to run solo right now I feel. Thankfully I have a good crew of people who support me in the community. TrySports supports my ambitions fully and the CRC has been a great outlet for me to use while getting back into marathon shape so quickly this year.

   Sometimes we all need a fire lit under us to really get us motivated. I often lack the motivation to get out the door on some of those early cold mornings, but hopefully some of you out there can help hold me accountable. I will need to really step up the mileage and actually plan in weekly speed sessions into my routine. It may seem and BE a long shot, but why not shoot high? It's NOT going to win me an Olympic medal even in the women's race by a long shot but hey its a barrier and I would like to say I broke it at 30 years old, a MASTER in track terms believe it or not.


   So to all of you haters out there, I know that you may think this to be a silly dream given that I need to trim off nearly 30 seconds from a PR I set over a year ago almost, thank you. You are the one's that fuel my fire and allow me to push through the hard days when I would certainly like to be laying on a coach or the bed relaxing. In order for this to happen, I am certain that I will need the guidance of a sports dietician as well as a coach to hold me accountable for my progress. To achieve this goal I will set up a series of open/collegiate running events most likely at UNCC, Duke, Raleigh Relays and Wake Forest.

   The next few weeks I will be taking things very slowly as I have just begun incorporating strength work into my routine, to become stronger all around. It is a slow process as my arm still hurts as I am barely holding myself up while attempting push ups, but it will soon come around. So here is to 2012 and goals, we all need to keep going forward with our passions despite what people think of it or even if it seems nearly impossible but you miss 100% of the shots you never take right?