Riverbank Run 2011

I completed one of my 2011 goals yesterday, running the Riverbank without shoes. I didn't accomplish the pure barefoot goal, but ran the whole race using five-finger Vibrams.

This year my training consisted of running 3-4 miles once a week through March, and then weekend runs of 6, 7, 10, 12, and 6 miles in April and May. Minimal training and the results showed.

I was able to run a consistent race and didn't walk until the final 1.5 miles. Jason and I ran together most of the race, which was a very nice distraction.

Mile 1 - 11:00

Mile 2 - 11:00

Mile 3 - 10:21

Mile 4 - 10:29

Mile 5 - 10:34

Mile 6 - 10:22

Mile 7 - 10:45

Mile 8 - 10:33

Mile 9 - 10:44

Mile 10 - 11:08

Mile 11 - 10:18
Mile 12 - 10:48

Mile 13 - 10:18

Mile 14 - 11:00

Mile 15 - 13:50

FINAL: 2:48:26

This was my 7th consecutive Riverbank. I plan to keep the streak alive going forward, but hope I can train just a little bit more.

2010 Results and 2011 Goals

Here are the results of my 2010 goals. The year turned out drastically different than I ever could have predicted but here are my results none-the-less.

1. Run the Riverbank in under 2:00:00. This will forever be a goal until I get it. FAIL...and this actually won't forever be a goal for me. While 2:00:00 would be awesome, my diet and exercise change in 2010 totally changed my life. I have very little desire to run long distances fast anymore so I don't know if I'll ever feel the urge to train to run the riverbank in under 2 hours again. But... (see 2011 goals below).
2. Read at least 6 books. Oops...until starting to write this blog I actually thought my goal was 5. So FAIL. I only read 5 books.
3. *Ridiculous Randy Goal - Eat NO candy for the entire year. This will be challenging both because of temptations and simply from forgetting and "accidentally"eating a piece. For clarification, gum is OK, as is candy in baked goods. Candy bars, hard candy, M&M's (ouch), isolated chocolate (chocolate chips, chocolate bars) and all other obviously "candy" items are illegal. Bars, cookies, ice cream, cake, fudge, or other sweets are acceptable. I can't even guess how many candy calories I ate last year. I'm sure I'll replace them with something else, but it'll have to be at least a little healthier. Since 1 and 2 were fails I'm going to call this one a SUCCESS**. On January 7, 2010 Erin and I took a short flight across Chile while in South America. The airline had an orange flavored hard candy sitting on our trays. I popped it in my mouth without thinking about it. I didn't realize that I had eaten the candy until about a week later. Also, since August I've been eating a significant amount of 85% cocoa. I think it tastes great, but it is very bitter to the average person. Probably considered candy, but since it has more saturated fat than sugar I'm fine with it. Aside from the single piece of hard candy and the 85% cocoa I didn't eat any candy and almost no gum as well. My baked goods consumption was far below any previous year and even though it has now been 2011 for 3 days I haven't had the urge to start eating candy. That is why I consider my 2010 candy challenge a success!

2011 Goals

1. Lift weights consistently - I don't consider chronic cardio to be healthy anymore but do consider weight training healthy. To be successful, I need to do at least one weight lifting workout during 50 of the 52 calendar weeks this year.
2. Complete a long run barefoot - By long run I mean 10+ miles. Right now I'm planning on the riverbank. If my feet can't handle that distance my back-up goal will be doing a long run with my five-finger Vibrams.
3. Maintain sanity with 3 kids under 3.

Riverbank Run 2010

The 2010 Riverbank run was my 6th consecutive year, but it was a much different experience. My goal at the beginning of training was to break the 2 hour mark, but my plans changed.

The early stages of my training went as expected. I started slow, built endurance and speed, and muscled through the bitterly cold months of January and February. However, my training went downhill fast in March. All of my running suddenly felt very labored and my legs felt tight and weak. Each run was worse than the one before and by early April I knew I was doomed.

So decided not to worry about my speed and just enjoy the race. And enjoy it I did.

With no specific time goal Derek and I just lined up and ran whatever speed felt good. We cruised at 8:50-9:00 miles for most of the race and chatted with each other to pass time. At mile 13 we started to agonize but I got our minds off running by giving Derek a riddle to solve, which took him 2 miles. The funny part was that Derek never solved the riddle, the guy running next to Derek blurted out the answer before Derek got it. After that it was just a short sprint to the finish line.
My 2010 time was the worst of my 6 years, but I was happy that my average pace stayed below 9 min/mile. Derek outdid me at the end a can now claim his first legitimate road race victory over me (he beat me in the 2006 Detroit 1/2 marathon but I had run a full marathon 7 days before).

Final Times:
Randy - 2:18:57
Derek - 2:18:46
Jason - 2:46:47
Darren - 2:33:33
Marv - 2:33:31

I have decided that for the indefinite future, I am going to stop doing endurance sports. I've done a fair amount of research this year on diet and nutrition and now I want to test my theories on my own body. My new dietary approach is not compatible with distance running so I will get exercise in other ways.

I will soon fill this blog with lots of information on my new diet because I plan to take it very seriously and I will document it very scientifically, presenting my results on this blog. For now, I'm enjoying a week of glutinous eating before I cut out some major foods from my diet. Unless I've discussed this with you in the last few months you'll be surprised what I plan to eat and what I plan to eliminate.

Part of me is sad that my running career is done but I also feel a tremendous amount of relief, and I am excited to begin this next phase in my life.

2009 Riverbank Run

One of my stated goals at the beginning of the year was to run a sub 2 hour Riverbank in 2009. I started my training early in January and was diligent and aggressive. For hours of lonely and cold miles I looked forward to completing my Riverbank goal. So naturally I am a little disappointed with the result of this years race. After an up and down 4 months of training I started Saturday's race knowing that sub 2 hours was a stretch but still possible. The race did not go as I hoped, but I still finished with a respectable 2:05:49 - my 2nd best Riverbank time in 5 years.

Saturday was a cool and cloudy morning, with temperatures in the low 50s. As we lined up in the starting corral it started raining. For 5 minutes before we started it rained quite hard and the rain continued for the first 30 minutes of the race. I started aggressively hoping my body would feel really good...but well aware that I really should be running a little slower.

Mile 1 - 7:53
Mile 2 - 7:40
Mile 3 - 8:07 (long uphill)
Mile 4 - 7:56
Mile 5 - 7:28 (long downhill)
Mile 6 - 8:00
Mile 7 - 7:52
Mile 8 - 8:01
Mile 9 - 8:06
Mile 10 - 8:01
Mile 11 - 9:07 (unfortunate, but very necessary bio break)
Mile 12 - 7:48
Mile 13 - 8:12
Mile 14 - 8:28
Mile 15 - 8:49

This year the Grand River flooded and the first half of the course was adjusted. Unfortunately, the new route added some significant hills that probably doubled the overall difficulty of the course. The new hills were miles 2-4 and impacted the rest of the run for everyone. Around mile 8 my legs were growing very weary and I felt the growing urge to go to the bathroom. I nervously watched for a porta john as the urge grew and finally found one during mile 11. It was occupied when I arrived and the stop cost me 1:30.

At mile 12 my legs hit their limit. The last 3 miles were misery as I willed myself to keep running. My main motivation was the fear that Derek would pass and beat me. I haven't finished a Riverbank with so little left in my legs, and I hardly even mustered a final kick for the last 100 yards. All in all, I can't complain about my overall time. It is a tough race and I averaged 8:07 minutes/mile, which I am proud of. For comparison, my Riverbank career:

2005 - 2:16:56

2006 - 2:06:46

2007 - 2:01:16

2008 - 2:12:47

2009 - 2:05:49

So 2 hours eludes me again. With each passing year I learn something. This is what prevented my success this year in order of importance:

• Knee Injury - In mid February I stopped running altogether for nearly 4 weeks because of pain in my right knee. This cut out 4 weeks of crucial training that I could never recover. I still don't know whether the injury was from a bad pair of running shoes or overuse. Lesson: don't start too fast or hard in January, check shoes as soon as pain begins.
• My inability to drop 10 lbs of body weight - This was the first time since 2005 that I raced as a Clydesdale B (flattering name, right?), which is men that weigh 200+. Lesson: watch weight over winter so weight loss isn't necessary during training.
• Poor taper - I ran too much and too hard in the final 2 weeks. I was on my feet far too much on Thursday and Friday. I played my first softball game 4 days before the race, and was still sore on Saturday. Lesson: don't play softball the week before the race, cut mileage way down for 2 weeks prior, minimize everything for 2 days prior.
• Hilly course
• Too much Gu - While Gu is very helpful during the run for an energy boost, I think I used too much (or wasn't used to it) and that is what prompted my bio break. Lesson: experiment more with Gu during training runs, don't overdo it during the race.

These aren't meant to be excuses. They are to remind me what to do next year because I've now made a few of these mistakes more than once.

I enjoyed sharing the race with a lot of friends and family. Unfortunately it was too cold to hang around afterward and chat. Paul had an amazing race and easily eclipsed 2 hours. Derek trained much harder this year and almost caught me at the end, finishing 3 minutes back. Jason and Darren didn't have good showings and were shown up by Steve and Marv.

Final times were:

Paul - 1:54:51
Randy - 2:05:49
Derek - 2:08:36
Lisa - 2:15:26
Jenny - 2:25:15
Jason - 2:31:01
Steve - 2:31:02
Marv - 2:34:54
Darren - 2:42:07
Laura - 3:06:58

Carissa ran her first 5k and finished with a very good 28:28.

I love the Riverbank!

Nashville Country Music Half Marathon

About 6 months ago Lisa heard that Nashville had a half marathon in the spring. It sounded fun and was a great excuse for a road trip. Tom, Lisa, Laura, Erin and I made a 3 day weekend of it as Lisa and I completed the half marathon. The timing and length of the race made it a great training run for the riverbank, but it was quite an event in itself.

The Nashville half marathon has to be one of the biggest in the country. Nearly 23,000 completed the 1/2 on Saturday morning, along with about 5,000 that completed the full marathon.

I loved the weather we had. It was in the 70s by race time and over 80 at the finish; light breeze and beautiful blue sky. The course was a different story. The website's elevation chart wasn't even close and the course was way hillier than I expected.

I started fast with a goal of 1:45. I felt great and tackled the early hills with a little too much gusto.

Mile 1 - 7:59
Mile 2 - 7:32 (downhill)
Mile 3 - 7:54 (uphill)
Mile 4 - 8:11 (uphill). At this point I began tiring and realized I started too fast. The hills were already taking their toll so I slowed down and prepared myself mentally for a 1:50 finish.

Erin is my best fan. She comes to all my races and supports all the training miles I have to run the months before a race. I was very glad to see her twice on the course. Tom and Laura also cheered me on.

Mile 5 - 8:13
Mile 6 - 8:14
Mile 7 - 8:05
Mile 8 - 8:10. At this point the 1:45 pace group passed me. They started a minute behind me so I knew I was slipping. I continued to mentally prepare myself for a 1:50 finish, but a lovely long downhill stretch kept me right behind them.

Mile 9 - 8:03
Mile 10 - 7:58
Mile 11 - 7:58. With 2 miles left I dug deep and did my best to stay with the 1:45 pace group, hoping to hold on to a 1:47-1:48 finish time.
Mile 12 - 8:18. Tough mile with lots of turns, sunshine, and uphills
Mile 13 - 7:50

FINAL TIME - 1:45:07!! I was really surprised to see my final time. I nearly caught up with the 1:45 pace group in the last 1+ miles and it turns out they finished a minute fast. My average pace was 8:02, and I was really happy with my ability to hold my speed at the end, even when I was worn down.

The course was beautiful and challenging. We ran through downtown Nashville twice and through a few nice neighborhoods. Supposedly we ran by many famous landmarks, but I wasn't looking around very much. The hills were constant throughout the whole race. Miles 3-4 were almost all uphill and miles 9-11 were downhill. 10-15 live bands were evenly spaced throughout the course but most weren't playing country music. I'm dislike country music, but even I think the "country music" half marathon should have nothing but country. The highlight of my race was running by a local Church that had a praise band going strong at mile 9.

This picture gives an idea about the density of runners.
We finished next to LP field where the Tennessee Titans play. Lisa ran an excellent 2:01:15 and we all enjoyed a beautiful sunny weekend in Nashville.

2008 Results

I stated my 2008 Goals early in the year. I struggled meeting my goals this year but it my typical relentless fashion, I followed through for the most part. Here are my results:

1. Learn to juggle 5 balls - Result: REALLY Dumb goal! Why would I want to do that?!? Failure.
2. Run 750 miles - Result: SUCCESS! I ran exactly 750 miles this year, finishing with a 4.5 mile run at 3:00 pm on December 31. My running was way down this year because I didn't run a marathon. Adding to that the weather was awful for January and February so I started out way behind. I picked it up through June but then injured my hip in early July. After my half ironman in August I basically didn't run for 6 weeks putting me 230 miles away from my goal on October 5. I seriously doubted I would reach my goal at that point. However, I paced myself the rest of the year and had a solid 4th quarter, just barely reaching 750 miles by the end of 2008.
3. Bike 1,500 miles - Results: Ummm... I biked 1,461 miles on the road meaning I kind of failed. But, I spent over 15 hours on my bike trainer in my basement last winter before the roads cleared. So I'll count that as a quasi success. I really wanted 1,500 road miles and would have hit it but the entire month of December was shot because of heavy snow. I only rode 4 miles in all of December.
4. Do 30,000 sit ups - Results: SUCCESS! This was a very annoying goal but good pacing kept me on track all year and I finished with 30,120 sit ups completing my goal on December 30.
5. Do 5,000 pull-ups - Results: SUCCESS! Another ridiculous Randy goal. This wasn't overly ambitious but annoying none-the-less. I finished with 5,002 pull ups. My strength really improved over the year. Initially I could only do 7 in a set and I peaked at 20.
6. Weigh less than 185 lbs at some point - Results: Ummm...I never officially weighed in at sub 185. My lightest weigh in (on Thursday mornings on a specific calibrated work scale) was 187 lbs, however I definitely weighed well below 185 at the finish of my half ironman. Again, I'll call this a quasi success.

So officially I only reached 3 of my 6 goals with arguments for 2 others.

My 2009 goals are going to be much simpler, but also more difficult.

1. Run the Riverbank in less than 2:00:00
2. Run a marathon in less than 4:00:00
3. Read at least 4 books cover to cover

2008 Riverbank Run

I ran in my 4th consecutive Riverbank Run this year. It is one of my favorite events of the year. The course is both enjoyable and challenging, and the distance is perfect for me. This year's weather was also ideal - fifties and sunny during the race.

This winter was so long and brutal that I didn't start my training until about 6 weeks later than I did last year. I also didn't focus on running until mid-April so I only had about 4 weeks of solid running before this year's race. As a result, I wasn't nearly as prepared as the last 2 years and it showed in my time.

I ran a decent race. I was consistent and stayed strong the whole time. I could tell by mile 2 that it wasn't one of those lucky, unusually great-feeling days so I didn't push myself too hard and just took what my body would give me. Here were my splits:

Mile 1 - 8:32

Mile 2 - 8:08

Mile 3 - 8:10

Mile 4 - 8:21

Mile 5 - 8:21

Mile 6 - 8:25

Mile 7 - 8:26

Mile 8 - 8:25

Mile 9 - 8:31

Mile 10 - 8:52

Mile 11 - 8:33

Mile 12 - 8:45

Mile 13 - 8:55

Mile 14 - 8:57

Mile 15 - 9:02

Final time - 2:12:47 for an average pace of 8:34 min/mile.

So the 2-hour club will have to wait another year. My ultimate Riverbank goal is to join that club, but reaching that speed will require the type of training I did last year. Last year I had run more than 400 miles by the end of April. This year I was closer to 200 miles.

My favorite moment of the race was running by my cheering section at mile 15. Evie watched her first Race and as I approached the group Erin raised Evie like Raffiki raised Simba in the Lion King. Evie's hands were high in the air so I gave her a high-five as I passed. Just what I needed.

Paul had an impressive debut at 2:03 and Rob reached hallowed ground at 1:59:31. Next year I'll join you Rob.

Jason and Darren have run with me all 4 years. This year we were much more spread out, all nearly a mile apart.. Jason finished in 2:06 and Darren in 2:29. Over the last three years we were within 6 minutes of each other from the fastest to the slowest.

Riverbank Run 2007

Saturday was the 30th running of the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids, and what a great day it was. There was a record turnout in all the events and the weather was spectacular, especially considering it has rained the last three years during the run. To go along with the great weather we also had a lot of friends and family that participated making it an excellent morning.

This run has become my favorite race and the one I put the most effort into. I feel it is the perfect distance for me where I'm challenged to run the whole thing but am able to push myself the whole way and focus on my time.

I felt very well prepared going into the race and was quite sure I'd break my personal best time of 2:07 from last year. I had an outside hope of joining the prestigious "2 hour club" but was mostly just focused on running as well as I could (and of course hopefully beat Jason and Darren).

This year Jason, Darren, and I got in line on time and started in the correct pace group so we didn't have to dodge slower runners for the first few miles. I started out fast and consistent and was able to hold a great pace for almost the whole race. Unfortunately, at mile 9 I felt my legs start fading and knew 2 hours was going to be unrealistic. I continued to push as hard as I could and miles 10-15 were pretty painful but I never slowed too much. My calves were extremely tight by the end but I pushed through to finish with a personal record of 2:01:18, which is about a 7:50 min/mi pace. Here are my 1 mile splits:

Mile 1: 7:59

Mile 2: 7:34

Mile 3: 7:29
Mile 4: 7:37

Mile 5: 7:36
Mile 6: 7:33

Mile 7: 7:43
Mile 8: 7:38

Mile 9: 7:37
Mile 10: 7:59

Mile 11: 7:49
Mile 12: 7:51

Mile 13: 8:01
Mile 14: 8:14

Mile 15: 8:20

Saturday was also a monumental day for Erin. Erin ran her very first 5k race and did AWESOME! She did some mild training beforehand but always had a lot of leg pain after she'd run so she couldn't do too much. Her main goal was just to run most of the way and hopefully have a decent time.

She ended up running all but about 1 minute and posted a great time of 33:28, nice work Erin!

Marv and Derek ran their first 25k races and successfully crossed the finish line. Marv finished the longest run of his life without walking. Derek bypassed the training and didn't fare so well towards the end, but it is still very impressive that he could do this run at 17 years old.

Last week I harped on our friend Laura all week to sign up and run the 25k even though she had gotten sick during her training and hadn't run for the past 3 weeks. She very reluctantly gave in nervously took to the course. But much to her delight, she ran the whole thing without walking and even had fun doing it. Great job Laura.

It was a great Riverbank day. Here are all the times from our group:

25k Run

Randy Elenbaas - 2:01:18

Jason Schaaf - 2:04:01

Darren Schaaf - 2:06:32

Marv Elenbaas - 2:41:12

Derek Elenbaas - 2:42:27

Claude Bos - 2:43:51

Laura Demann - 2:50:02

5k Run

Jenny Scott - 26:12

Steve Elenbaas - 27:30

Lindsay Elenbaas - 27:32

Doug Elenbaas - 29:39

Mike Johnson - 29:39

Erin Elenbaas - 33:28

Melissa Schaaf - 33:30

Amy Klein - 33:32

Jan Bos - 41:37

5k Walk

Ken Schaaf - 41:16

Cindy Brink - 44:02

Kathy Schaaf - 46:55

One other cool part of the race was at mile 5 I was passed by Bill Rodgers, who was one of the greatest American marathoners of all time.