Little River 10 Miler

Saturday morning was a cold, but clear, day as David "Kenny" Olson and I woke up and started our breakfast routine in the kitchen. Kenny was able to stay overnight with Andrea and the kids and came downstairs with Isaac and Maya to get the morning rolling. He opted for a PB and honey open faced sandwich with banana slices and I had my usual oatmeal with raisins and agave nectar (substitute for honey in the Engine 2 Diet). I was still afraid that I wasn't going to have enough energy to complete the race after my first full week on the diet, but I seemed to be alright.

Morven met us at the house and we went over and picked up Rachel on the way. I was using this as a training race for the Tobacco Road 1/2 and decided to go with the heavier, but more comfortable, shoes, gloves, ear coverage, and soccer pants with the 28 degree starting temp. I also decided to use my backpack to carry 1.5 liters of water with me (which I didn't come close to using so instead it just added weight on the uphills haha). It was a tough 10 mile trail race with lots of cutbacks putting stress on the knees and ankles as well as up/downs that got you pretty tired on the front end. I got into a comfortable groove and took my time through the first 7 miles. I popped a Honey Stinger Energy Gel with Kola Nut and when the lady told me I had 2.5 miles to go and was at 1:11:30, I knew that I needed to rally to make it under 1:30 even. I closed the last 2.5 miles is under 17 mins and finished in 80th place out of about 300 racers. Our ActivEdge team did great with David Olson and David Tallon finishing in the top 25 with 1:17's, Rachel Kroll Bordogna winning her age group and placing 4th overall female (14 secs separating 2nd-4th), and Morven and Roger crossing sub 1:40's.

All said and done, a good training day for me and fantastic day for the team. The "unofficial" results have us 2nd breaking last years record by almost 30 mins collective but there was a paid professional team from FSSeries Racing that took 1st and set an even better record with an average time of 1:15:30 per racer. I'd like to add that our team was easily the top finishing team that had a female as well... the top team was all males in addition to being paid pros.

I loved the race and thought the course was nice. I was overdressed to really get going and was sweating with the first uphill. I know now that there is plenty of water on the course as well and should leave the weight loading pack behind (water weight is roughly 1 Liter = 1 Kg or 2.2 lbs, in addition to the pack at 3 lbs, I added over 6 lbs). I hope to return next year and make a run at those pros from FSSeries after I get stronger with hills.

Engine 2

This is the end of the 3rd day on the Engine 2 Diet and my body seems to be OK. I lack some energy every once in awhile between breakfast and lunch and then again between lunch and dinner. I have found some Vega Sport bars and protein supplements to help combat the hunger. The dinners are the hardest. This is where I usually pile on the meat and boost my calories with dense protein foods. I was surprised at how good some of the dishes on the Week 1 menu were. Hoping my energy levels will be there when I need them on Saturday for the Little River 10 Miler.

Kenny reminded me that I should probably take it a little easier tomorrow, but the plan calls for a 5 mile mid tempo paced run and I think I'll try and do my best to stick with that. My ultimate goal is a half marathon in the 1:30s and I need to stay focused to get there. I need to get into the water as well since I haven't been in the pool in 4 weeks. Will try tomorrow to do them both and Friday will just be heavy upper body weights (meat-style with David Hey).

The Little River 10 Miler will definitely be interesting as it is a trail run with lots of ups and downs. These type of races are tough to navigate through the crowd and will be hard to get into a rhythm. We have entered the team competition and our top 4 finishers will place to give the team average. I have recruited a strong team and will most likely be the 4th time with Rachel, Kenny, and David Tallon in front of me.

Happy to have Kenny and Andrea come into town the night before and will most likely take a small one meal break from the E2 Diet to have some pizza and beer with Kenny after the race. I'm planning on using the water on the course for now, although may change my mind and go with the Nathan backpack. I will be taking some Honey Stinger gels with and without caffeine with me...