Here it comes another post about OCR.  (Obstacle Course Racing). Well the painful road of healing up this shoulder is getting closer to wrapping up as we keep working on building stability and strength back into it.  I managed to do a 1 hour long kayak jaunt up and down the river with very little  discomfort so I think we should be good to go if the doc agrees on Saturday.  I had a few options to choose from.  I could either go with the warrior dash near Mankato, the Alpine Adventure Challenge about an hour and a half from me, or go just a bit northeast to Crandon. The decision was more simplified and I chose not to chase a World Championship slot at least not this weekend and stay local on a course that on paper shouldn't create an issue with the shoulder.  Looks like the http://www.legionnairemudchallenge.com has another heat wave approaching us which really it's not the end of the world considering the Spartan race was no different not less than a month ago.  I'm ready though, I have my beetelite and Jet Fuel ready to go.  I think after this OCR I am waiting till the Chicago Terrain Race to see if I can avenge that awful placing at the Minnesota Sprint.

In the meantime I have been busy planning.  A fun opportunity to bring OCR to some high school athletes had me building some obstacles in the garage.  So there will be a short course race up at cross country camp in the next month.  A video will follow for sure.

Other than that the other thing setting up shop in my brain is maybe adding a cyclocross race or two to the schedule this year.  I've always been intrigued but these races tend to stay to the southern part of the state.

Until then I want to shoot some workout videos and such but that will have to wait till after this weekend's race.

Here's to some great racing this weekend!

Profiles in Badassary

Being named "Badass of the Week" is far better than any trophy I've ever won - Justin Lund

A very fun interview by the guys at Mudgear.com

"My first OCR race was the last real moment of accomplishment that my step dad and I shared before he passed away late last summer of esophageal cancer. He was so interested in how this OCR stuff worked and he being a baseball and football guy for him to really take to an endurance sport with such interest made it that much more special."

Introducing Justin Lund, our profiled badass of the week. Read more about him. https://goo.gl/j92vQE

First OCR of 2016

.....Better late than never, but it didn't come and go without incident unfortunately. 

Well I got my first taste of the Spartan Elite field at the Minnesota Sprint this past weekend and boy do I have a lot to say about this experience.

Apex Predator Attacking

First of all, I am not sure where people stand on this, but I do my best to plan out my nutritional needs so I don't bonk at the end and timing of ingestion is crucial and it's relation to start time so imagine my discomfort when the race was delayed some 45 minutes cause the EMS crew wasn't there yet......I can understand the importance of that crew and I would come to need their assistance after it was all said and done, but we'll get back to that later, but DUDE!!!!!! you're messing with my program here and I was restless to say the least.


Secondly, If you clicked the box that says "elite" you should certainly be expected to compete like one or start at the back of field. Now I learned my lesson as well as it is my fault that I didn't make my way around to start at the front or second row, but if your intent from the front is to get your picture on the local newspaper or walk the starting hill, get to the back there are people really looking to accomplish something out there.

No Double Sandbag :)

Once we finally got started I wasted a lot of energy passing the herds of walkers in the "elite" field, but I would come to find out that this would not matter, not in the least based upon my finish. My goal was to make that chase pack hoping to keep tabs on the leaders and pick up on their lines and techniques but the start fiasco ruined that so I grinded it through the mud pits, over/under/through, monkey bars, and the 6 and 7 foot walls blah blah blah a lot of obstacles between the first and 24th.

The first of my issues would begin at the z wall where I got much further this time but still did my burpees...all of them...and good form. Thought for sure I made a decent push towards the top 10 if not for sure the top 20, but lost a few spots there for sure as I kept hearing that bell as I did my penalty burpees. I would gain some of that back on the trail, but then the wheels came off starting with the 8' walls. Came down the hill doing my thing, minding my own business and take a run at the wall, grab the top and begin to pull up to get my leg over, but somewhere in that process I rotated my left shoulder funny and felt a pop and then numbness before I could swing the leg over and bailed off the wall. I reacted by popping it back to where it belonged but the damage was done. I did a 2nd attempt at the wall and actually made it without any issue as well as the 8 footer that came later on, soooooo I continued on and did some good work on the Herc Hoist, Sandbag carry, hurdles, some more walls of varying nature all up until the multi-rig where I had issue #3 for the day and the 2nd dislocation of the same shoulder (for those keeping track of this at home that's two of them on the same shoulder eeeeek) swinging from the baseball to the next device which I believe was a vertical short length of a wooden dowel or something. This time it took a little bit longer to get it back in but did so and went straight into more burpees in which I think I was up to 65 at this point including the atlas carry. The weakest portion of the day was definitely the bucket carry lots of stops on the way up and down, just favored the weak arm too much and at that point it was very much in my head what has just occurred not once but twice now on this 5 mile course I was definitely not strong here as I would see in the results the top 30 had now passed me by and even more would go by after a good but not good enough spear throw that gave me 30 more burpees to think about whether or not this rope climb was going to happen or not. So I have every expectation that I will be finishing up this race failing my last obstacle, but as luck would have it, this did not affect my shoulder and as a bonus I decide to no leg the rope climb up as a way to spite my misfortunes of the day. I would jump the fire, get my fitaid, medal, finisher shirt and some snacks and proceed to the medical tent in which I would teach them how I wanted my shoulder wrapped in Ice.


Results....Well not horrible considering, but a far cry from what I was trying to accomplish 44th overall in the Elite Field, but way too much time back from the leader and not easy to make up over a course that carried around 1400 feet of elevation gain in just over 5 miles.

Here's the key takeaways. ONE! If you really think you can race up front start there or you wont see the leaders until after they already rinsed off post race. TWO! (and this is a big one) Warmup for your event....if you plan on climbing, pulling, pushing, etc warmup by doing the same. I truly believe if I had done some pushups, pullups, and dips before the race this would not have happened. THREE! I can do this, I knew where I was in the field after the initial start log jam going up the hill, I know where I was strong and weak which were things I really didn't know from last years race.
I had a great time with some great friends and even met a couple of new friends and teammates Josh Rundquist and Kevin A. Hill. Congrats to Strength & Speed Dev Team on your results and resolve. Congrats to my roadtrip team of Dani Whiting for taking 2nd in competitive female overall with a time placing her 10 if she ran elite female and Talyn Jones for going competitive for a first time Spartan Racer placing 13th overall in competitive female....must be their coach lol.

I will be back this year just not sure what race, but this is far from over. I have a lot of business to take care of in OCR and I'm just getting started. Congrats to all the racers OCR and non. Rest up and get ready for the next one.

Always Fun To Race With Good Friends

Time To Start Writing About My MISadventures Again

Let's take some time to look back on what's been happening since I've since left the MTB racing scene for the most part.

To address one thing, I will never completely leave Mountain Bike Racing completely.  If there is a race I can squeeze into my training I will via a WEMS race I will as I still love riding my bike as time would allow, mainly in the fall after my season wraps up.

Well shit, this is what's been going on for the say....oh I don't know....2 or 3 years.

Kidding....short story....I have a great family, great job, have coached some outstanding runners that I now compete against (Connor).  We've purchased a home and our daughter started 4K and is now been around the sun cinco years.  There's been some bad (lost my step dad a man I looked up to my young adult life as well as his father and also a nephew of his as well all in 2015 so forgive me if I give that year a big large middle finger and even larger F-U to last year from that aspect.

All of that aside, I've been riddled by the injury bug and healed in time to still have a good race year at least it was in October when I realized a dream of running college cross at the UWEC Blugold Invite and cruised to a PR in the 8K distance (28:55) *which was eclipsed already in 2016 Now it stands at 28:29 from an 11th place finish at this years Point Bock Run.

I also ran my first college indoor track meet on an indoor 5k at the UWSP Big Dawg Invite which wasn't horrible at 17:11.

2016 started off with a bang at the USATF WI Indoor Championships going under 10 minutes in the 3K at 9:54 which was good enough for a state championship at my age but just steps behind the overall winner at 9:51.

I would revisit the UWSP Indoor Big Dawg invite and challenge the mile and came out way ahead of where I thought I was with a 4:53 and I even beat a couple of college kids in the several strides of the race which felt awesome.

The breakthrough moment of the base building phase of this young season didn't come till this past weekend as I previously mentioned that PR I got at the Bock Run in Point.  I had a plan to stick to my pace in that 5:40/mi pace for the first 3 and turn it up with a mile to go and it was the right move for time but not for placing.  I was with a couple of guys for the first 3 miles of the race and somewhere around mile 3 I began to do something I thought couldn't happen, I tested my competition with surges going from 5:40ish to somewhere around 5:10 to see if they could respond and if so how quickly.  This would go on for the 3rd mile and these guys would fight hard and with such grit, but it was too much at mile 4 when I made a big surge and that busted up the pack, but then I had a job to do by holding on to that surge till I crossed the line.  I was always capable of running that pace, but I turned myself inside out doing it.  That day I played a lot with those surges in which was something I would normally have died trying such a confident strategy it's almost scary.  Wast it the right move?  Sure at the time it was cause I got a two place move up, but had I just went around them and made chase, the top 10 was just ahead of me some 30 seconds up....damn, but it's early on in the season, I'm still in base phase and the only form of speed work has come in some fartlek runs.

"So what's all this shit for?"  "Is that your best?" "How do you know when you've done all that you can do?" is something I asked at times, and well it goes like this.

This shit is for me, I love the competition and I get to be in great shape and set a healthy example for my 5 year old daughter who is just starting to take interest in running and soccer along with other activities such as dance.

An eye opener was last year when I did a Spartan Race and let me tell you that it is the true test of what a real athlete is....don't believe me ask Hunter McIntyre a pro who destroys just about anything he trains for.  Hell ask any OCR (Obstacle Course Racer) athlete and they will talk your ear off with all of the work and how fun it is to do these races while getting completely thrashed, or simply do one yourself.  My mission after the Minnesota Spartan last year was to come back in a year and enter as an elite.  This means becoming a complete athlete not just a runner cause you will get burned on the heavy lifts and carries, not just a lifter or crossfitter cause you gotta have endurance speed and agility to do this stuff in addition to incredible grip strength.

So in my one year transition to becoming an OCR Elite (hopefully elite) I've changed a lot about what being an athlete meant to me.  I lift heavy, I can do muscle ups, I can bang out 30+ pullups just cause, thrusters, squats, deadlifts, kettlebells, agility ladders, rope climbs, jump rope, incline treadmills, crossfit have all become welcomed additions to my madness and so that meaning of the word Athlete means being the best all around complete animal predatory in nature that doesn't rest till the kill is done.

I'm getting there though, but I have learned so much about myself and I feel pretty damn good about it.

So yeah at any given moment a workout or race sure as hell was my best....for that day, but don't mistake that for settling for it being the best I can do.  I don't think I can get to that point cause everyday I discover another level I wasn't at the day before and it's a great feeling.  There will be a day where I get to the end of a race and I will know that I did everything I could as an athlete and it will be nothing short of euphoric.

Not sure how I got here, I guess I loved doing so many things.  I love mountain biking, but I love running, I get quirky from there cause I love grunting in the weight room like some of these body builder types and crossfit armies.  I got to play on the crossfit equipment and climbed ropes like a spider monkey and was hooked.  Can't wait to see what happens next, can't wait to share what happens next.  I have more running races to do, but come June 25th the gloves are off and I will not be denied my dream.....being on the Spartan Podium.

Cool things

1. Hunter McIntyre -  Destroying Stone Cold Steve Austin's Broken Skull Challenge.  This dude is one a few I am following due to his confidence and ability as well as his shear "tear you apart" attitude.

2. Beet Elite - I've just started using this as a race day formula.  The science is there and it works for me.  Check them out.

3. Spartan Race - This event is legit, I can't say enough about the course designers, organizers, and volunteers.  It's a community of badassery and I love being in the middle of its macho madness

4.  Crossfit - Especially thrusters.  Think this stuff is for pussies?????  Do Fran unbroken then we can talk.  I've never experienced anything like it.  Hardest workouts on the planet in my opinion but you feel like a barbarian after you're done.  #worthit

5.  Epsom Salt -  I've had some issues with my leg over the last couple of years.  A bath in this stuff sure loosens things up a bit, don't knock it till you try it.

6.  Garmin Forerunner 235 - Wrist heart rate gives you all sorts of new data, plus tracks sleep movement steps and running cadence.  Perfect my A.D.D (I have it therefore I can joke about it so basck off) has something else to look at.

Till next time, don't be motivated, just get out and do it.

Still Here!

Still here.  Breathing, watching my daughter grow, moving on with my career, planning for our future, supporting the athletes I coach, and yeah once in a while I get to compete to.  2014 from January to current has been nothing short of epic, but wouldn't come without some obstacles and hard decisions.

USATF Indoor Midwest Regional

Started off with a USATF Indoor Regional event down at Carthage and I made a hard choice to go down there with the hopes of tougher competition and wasn't pushed at all taking both the 800m and 3000m titles at times I would rather not post.  I may have the medals to say I am the Midwest Regional champ, but would get smoked had there been runners there fitting of that kind of race....bummer, lesson learned.

April Fools Run

I would then get into my first title defense at the April Fools Run in Minocqua and successfully won the 10k overall for the 2nd straight year.  The course was seriously icy and I did in fact see an ambulance tending to a runner on the course that may have hit the deck hard enough to do some damage.  This would be the first of many events I would run with Chad and Dustin who are both improving at great rates and love their passion for racing.  Results  GPS 10K: 36:44  2013: 38:48

WORS - Crystal Lake Classic

I wouldn't race again on foot till the Rockin' Tomahawk Half Marathon, but would sneak in a mountain bike race in Rhinelander.  The WORS Series makes its annual trip to the Northwoods and the Camp Tesomas Scout Camp.  I took the Vassago Jabberwocky Singlespeed for a long overdue trip through the tight ribbon of singletrack for the first ride of the year and I managed to survive.  Entered the sport 30-34 class and thought I would get own by all these geared bikes, but had fun, jumped on the 2nd box of the age group podium with an overall finish of 3rd overall after an hour of racing.  Would this be my calling back to the sport?  No, I am having way too much fun running fast.  Results

Rockin' Tomahawk Half Marathon

Last year I tried out running a half marathon for the first time and got a little hooked.  I would push the limits only weeks after contracting pneumonia.  I finished 4th overall last year and first in my age group a year ago and would be another battle with area favorite Matt Radtke.  I would push through the first 1200m and put some distance between Radtke and myself but UW-LaCrosse's Matt Eidenshink would push the pace well above my redline early and I would never make the view of him appear any larger for the duration of the race until I crossed the finish line 2nd place behind him.  I had a PR of 1:18:54 according to my watch and would be the last half marathon of the year due to some hard choices I had to make.  Results:  2013: 1:24:30

Pow-Wow Days 5K

Each year I gear up for the hometown 4th of July pow wow days 10k.  Each year I would put this on my calendar as an "A" race and this year I was experimenting with trying to hold onto a 4 week peak and it wouldn't work as I felt almost out of shape coming to the line, but still PR'd in that distance averaging less that 5:50 per mile.  I would have the best competition of the year at this race and I would eventually lose my first age group of the year, but posted a time I would be happy with a 35:43 and 5th overall Results: 2013: 36:59 4th overall.

Bear Cupboard 5K

I would then get into a 3 races in 3 weekends situation having to do them all since they were all close to home with good competition.  First up was another race that I did the year before and had a good time with it despite a high mileage week coming into it.  This year I took some rest prior and it would produce a new 5K PR and milestone for me.  Once again Dustin, Tyler, Chad and I would line up and let it rip.  Perrin Hagge would rip a 16:10 I would come through in 2nd at 16:58 with Dustin, Tyler, and Chad all coming home with personal bests and hardware for their efforts.  Results:  2013: 17:30 4th overall.

Mike Ross Memorial 5K

The Mike Ross Memorial Run was also in Minocqua but different course.  It follows the same basic course as the April Fools run when the conditions are good enough to run the Bearskin, but as I would soon find out, there would be no improvement from the weekend prior.  I was gassed early on but still managed to hold on to 3rd overall at 17:35.  Once again our group would do well and come home with hardware and even some raffle prizes...I was already looking forward to next weekend at home to defend my 10k title at the Don Lintereur Memorial.

 Don Lintereur Memorial 10K

This would turn out to be a hot and humid race.  So much to the point where I handed off my sunglasses in which I could not see from the humid conditions.  The hills on the revamped course would also test my limits after racing hard the past three weeks.  It became a test of who was coming with me for the first mile in which no one would volunteer to push the pace as if they knew the heat that was awaiting us almost two miles in.  I managed to keep the pace under 6min/mi for the first half, but would struggle in the end.  I did split a 17:42 in it was a 5:22 mile to start with and a decent 36:47 and repeat champion.  Results: 2013: 36:23 1st overall

Each year after the Tomahawk Cross Country Teams annual trip up to Bond Falls for CC Camp we come back and host our alumni race.  In the last couple of years we've been fortnuate enough to have a great deal of competition to push the times down and this would be my last effort till mid September, but I didn't know what was coming.  Bryan and I took off at a moderate pace no faster than 5:30 at the mile and really pushed going down the hogsback to never see him again.  He would finish first and I would come in a solid 2nd with a personal best of 17:46 on this course a year ago.  This year it was just me out there and while I did make a workout out of it, it wasn't enough to bring down my time and only managed a 17:56.  On the bright side no pneumonia this year...more on that one later.



I wouldn't race again till the first weekend in October and boy did I pick a good one.  I raced in the first annual nutty trail run and the name does no justice to the type of person who would enjoy the elevation on this course.  I personally loved it and made sure to check on the availability to train on this course in the future.  I mainly challenged myself in the snow and cold and relentless hills and and and wow! Time wasn't good, wasn't expecting it to be, but it was just what I needed.  Results:  19:48 GPS 5K 1st overall.


I am not planning much on the horizon but with the over 1500 miles i've logged, I can pull the trigger on a race taper pretty quick and finish the season on the highest of highs.  Some races I've got circled are the Eastbay Turkey Trot as defending champ, Footlocker Midwest Regional Championships, WI-IL Border Battle, USATF Wisconsin State Championships, Frostbite 5mi.  I have so many listed due in part of my work schedule I will only be able to do one or two of these so stay tuned as I reach for some sub 16:30 5K, 4:45 mile, and one or two more championships along with 1800 miles.

Thanks go to Saucony, Infinit Nutrition, and support from my family, friends, competitors, and THS Cross Country and fellow coaching staff members from that team.

What a Ride

This has been a wild ride.  The past month has been beyond stressful from an athletic point of view.  After we got back from our annual cross country camp I developed an illness that would lead to pneumonia so after 10 days completely off of running and only 2 weeks away from the Fox Cities 1/2 Marathon.  I got a few good days of solid workouts and tempo runs, but I would get sick again just 6 days from race day.  I managed to shake it with about a day to spare, but as I am sure you could imagine, I was nervous, was I ready to run fast, could I break 1:20, would I stay within 1:30, hell at one point I wondered if I would finish or run it at all.  Friday I tuned all that garbage out and just threw out all of my excuses and by race day I fell right back into race mode and attacking every mile with surgical precision. I felt the start was conservative for my normal style but for the best as I was cooked at the finish.  My first 5k was solid,  second did lend itself to me working on that for next year.  Fueling at mile 7 went smoothly.  And my last surge to the finish left me with no kick but probably would have been able to go if needed.  All in all this ended up being a great race on a stellar course  and despite all of the obstacles I was able to improve my time by over 5 minutes to  just under 1:20 according to the gps.  12th overall out of over 2700 runners. 2nd out of 167 in my age group.

I have a couple more lined up to finish out the year here in tomahawk, Stevens point, and possibly Wausau or Milwaukee .

Bringing In The New Year '13

What an end to 2012!  Daughter turns 2 just before Thanksgiving, we move out to a beautiful house with some acreage, I stick with a routine and stay healthy as well as logging time on skis, bike, snowshoes and running shoes all the while putting time in the weight room going beef!

2013 Brings some big changes, with the bike shop opening soon.  Bikes should begin showing up, parts and tools need to be ordered, marketing plans coming together and oh so much more.  Changing Gears is opening in Tomahawk and people are pumped.  I've done some digging in the archives at my employer gaining some history about silent sport activities to maybe publish some day.

Also, changing is my focus.  Since I've become healthy again I've really focused on running, but now kicking it up to 10k which was my strong suit anyway despite winning a 5K in 2012.  A lot of the changes in my training and racing is mainly cause I don't have the time to log ridiculous miles on the bike anymore or at least for now.  I am focusing on running logging anywhere from 20-60 miles per week, with some BMX riding and Singlespeed riding to work on my tech skillz for when the little one is not so little anymore.

It's cool though, I'll continue turning pedals on the Singlespeed living Metal the only way I know how....This Metal/TwinSix bravado is not just some cool shirts for cyclists it's a lifestyle, working at a bikeshop, riding to work, racing on weekends on the dirt in WEMS, or BMX Track or whatever, hell I would wear a jersey to a 10k depending on conditions.

One thing that stays consistent is the support from Infinit Nutrition.  I've learned to stick with what works and haven't changed since 2008.

Training has been good though, I can't be happier if I tried.  Down at least 15 pounds from this time last year with no BS travel to mess that up it's been nice to stay on track and not eat out at restaurants every night.  Working with the Track and Cross Country kids at the local high school certainly helps things progress and keeps me sharp.  I toward fall when things were winding down I was still running a 5:04 mile???? it can only get better in '13.  Time to crawl into the pain cave.