topher's Summer of Pain
I've decided to thrash myself silly. Hence, I've signed up for 275.3 miles worth of human-powered races this summer and early fall. I've chosen to call it my Summer of Pain. I'm going to use the Summer of Pain to raise funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin. I'll keep a running log of my training, races, and fund-raising on this page. So check back occasionally to see if I've gotten shin splints or not.
The Summer of Pain Race Series:
Race |
Location |
Miles |
Date |
Done? |
| Pewaukee Run to the Beach 5K | Pewaukee, WI | 3.1 |
Jun 27th |
 |
| Storming of the Bastille 5K | Milwaukee, WI | 3.1 |
Jul 12th |
|
| Pewaukee Triathlon (Sprint) | Pewaukee, WI | 18.35 |
Jul 15th |
|
| Chicago Muddy Buddy | Chicago, IL | 6.2 |
Aug 5th |
|
| Oshkosh Triathlon (Olympic) | Oshkosh, WI | 34.95 |
Aug 12th |
|
| Lake Country Half Marathon | Oconomowoc, WI | 13.1 |
Sep 2nd |
|
| Door County Century | Door County, WI | 100 |
Sep 9th |
|
| HalfMax Half IronMan | St. Louis, MO | 70.3 |
Sep 15th |
|
| Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon | Milwaukee, WI | 26.2 |
Oct 7th |
|
Training / Racing Blog: October
End of Summer of Pain Weigh-in: 166 Pounds
1 October, 2007 — Today I got in a great run through western Milwaukee and eastern Wauwatosa. I've got to keep the legs ready for Sunday's race.
2 October, 2007 - Today I did some strength training and spent half an hour on the elliptical machine to keep my legs moving without the pounding. Just a couple days left until the marathon.
3 October, 2007 - I ran with Julie today along New Berlin's roads and bike paths. We kept a leisurely, conversational pace and discussed the finer points of being geeky. Splendid fun, it was, though no one came along to carry Julie around on a mattress.
4 October, 2007 - Lazy day. I read some heretical literature.
5 October, 2007 - I almost hurt myself today, which may have prevented me from running on Sunday. I went and did some muddy, muddy mountain biking at Crystal Ridge again. At one point I negotiated a terrain feature improperly, planted my front wheel in a deep divot, summarily flipped over the handlebars, and landed on my back in a bath of mud.
Ten minutes later I crashed into a tree, tearing the left sleeve almost completely off my shirt and throwing me and my bike into the surrounding brush. Ouch, but no worries.
6 October, 2007 - So what does one do the day before a marathon? The imprudent goofball—preparing to run his first marathon—gets up early, goes to the coffee shop to read some more heretical literature, shoots down to Burlington to watch his nieces play soccer (photos coming), and after the soccer game takes advantage of his proximity to the airport in East Troy to throw himself out of an airplane.
7 October, 2007, the last event! - Today marked the last race in the Summer of Pain, and it was painful. I felt absolutely great early in the race and was comfortably maintaining 7-minute miles at the 15-mile mark, but it didn't last. I had gone too fast too early, and I was sweating enough in the unexpected October heat that by the time I reached the 18-mile mark, I knew I was in trouble. The cramps began. First in my hamstrings, then in my quadriceps and calves, and eventually in my abs, my muscles began cramping mildly, but painfully. No matter how much I slowed down, they kept cramping. I was drinking Gatorade and eating bananas, but my electrolytes were gone. By the 21-mile mark, I was walking, and painfully at that. I would run a half mile, walk a half mile, run a half mile, walk a half mile. It was brutal, and disappointing. But the sign marking 25 miles got me excited and I ran the last 1.2 miles at a brisk pace, though not without some grimacing. I finished more than 20 minutes slower than the 3 1/2 hours I was hoping for. I don't have my official finish time yet, but my watch said 3:57:58.
(It's now 8:30 at night and my legs are still killing me. So tomorrow I'll sit down and put together a Summer of Pain summary and thank-you.)
Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon Update - It's now October 8th, and my body feels as if I'm still running the marathon. I can not descend stairs without bearing some of my weight on the railing, and despite that, it still feels like my quadriceps are tearing with each step down. I'm losing a toenail on my left foot. If I sit still for too long and then get up, it takes my legs a few seconds to get with the program (this made all of my meetings at work today somewhat interesting). So a marathon is a package of abuse that keeps on giving. You should all consider running this event next year. It's a joyous and uplifting endeavor.
The official results were released today, and for all the pain I felt and continue feeling, I finished OK. 1,781 people started the race. 1,671 finished. I finished 337th overall, 40th of 115 in my gender and age group, and 258th out of 1,021 men. My official time was 3:57:49, for an average pace of 9:05 per mile—the slowest pace I've maintained in an event the entire summer.
My congratulations go out to Julie, who kept her strength and form together wonderfully and ended up kicking my ass, finishing about 9 minutes before me. Congratulations also go out to Leanne for finishing strong in just over 4 hours. My condolences go out to all three of us for not having the foresight to take today off of work. All three of us have reported problems descending stairs and walking without a funky stride.
Some parting notes on the Summer of Pain:
Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
I've always been a pretty rambunctious individual, but this summer was like none I've ever had. The last time I competed in an organized event of any sort was during little league in the sixth grade, 21 years ago. I found myself with some free time on my hands this summer and set off to have some fun, meet new people, meet myself again, find out what my replacement-part-filled body could still do, and hopefully walk away from it all with some good stories; I like stories. Along the way we raised a few hundred dollars for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin. I believe in dreams—even wild pipe dreams—and helping kids chase a few of those seemed worth my while, a few disfigured toes, and some broken bike parts. It was.
The 2007 Summer of Pain really started back in January of 2005, when I was looking for something new to do and decided to see what triathlons were like. I bought a bike, started training in earnest, met some new people, and planned a few races for the summer. Four days before my first race, minding my own business while floating around the atmosphere, a planet came out of nowhere and smashed into me at a high rate of speed. It was a less-than-pleasant meeting of two physical bodies, and the laws regarding the conservation of momentum saw to it I came out on the losing end of the exchange. I spent the majority of 2005 learning to walk again and getting back to being my rambunctious self. By the end of 2006 I was ready to train as I had been in early 2005, albeit with some extra parts and a few weird looking vertebrae.
In June of 2007 I rode my bike in the Trek 100 in support of the MACC Fund and its efforts against Childhood Cancer. I was hooked, decided to fill my empty summer up with some races, and chose to call it the Summer of Pain, which I anticipated it would be. It was.
Along the way I met some amazing people. Some of these people remain nameless to me. But they stayed at the gym following their 3-hour workouts to give me advice when all they probably wanted was a meal, a shower, and a pillow. They stood next to me on the starting lines of races and gave me invaluable advice moments before we engaged in competition against one another. They cheered me on when my shins felt like they were shredding with every stride. They handed me Gatorade at mile 11. They handed me bananas at mile 22. They blocked intersections so I could concentrate on my pedal stroke. They played music to motivate me. They surveyed race courses at 3:30 in the morning so I would be safe. I sadly only know these people as "they", and they are awesome. Thank you, they. Some of these people are not nameless to me. Thank you Mom 'n' Dad, family, and long-time friends for encouragement, donations, rides, motivating emails, spare bike parts, and cheers along race courses. Thank you new friends (in no particular order) Melissa, Mary, Tyler, Tami, Freaky Keith, Julie, Aaron, Marty, Jodie, Leanne, Kris, Carri, Crystal, a couple Daves, and Jen for being there next to me during one or more workouts, one or more races, or both. If any of you ever need any spare bike parts, let me know.
Along the way I had some harrowing moments. I had weeds wrapped around my neck while swimming more than half a mile from shore. I got hit by a car. I had one of the nastiest mountain bike crashes ever in my life. I hit a few trees while mountain biking. I got punched and kicked in every triathlon swim. These races are downright brutal, I tell you.
I broke some stuff this summer, too. I broke one set of bicycle cranks. One of my bikes needed a new bottom bracket. Another bike ended up with one severely bent pedal. I broke one pair of sunglasses. There were some uncannily proximal flat tires. I sent one pair of running shoes to their final resting place and took most of the life out of two other pairs. I tore the sleeve off one of my shirts during a bike crash and bent a wheel on another. Training for these races can tax the repair budget, I tell you.
Though my rebuilt foot and lower back treated me admirably the whole summer, I caused some other parts of my body to hurt. There were a few episodes of shin splints. I had a week of respectable knee pain. Before I got smart about the issue, I had some bloody, raw nipples. I had two necrotic toes and I'm in the process of losing a toe nail right now. I had more bruises, abrasions, puncture wounds, cuts, scrapes, swollen bumps, and bleeding elbows than I care to count.
And nine races, interspersed with hundreds of hours of training, makes for many stories. I crossed finish lines completely depleted and disappointed with my performance. I crossed finish lines feeling great and way ahead of the goals I'd set. I saw friends cross finish lines completely depleted and disappointed, and I knew their pain. I saw friends cross finish lines with smiles stretched wide across their faces, and I knew their joy. I spent the entire summer surrounded by amazing people who do amazing things, fueled only by desire, dedication, and absurdly high-calorie diets. I saw people exercise amazingly difficult judgment and drop out of races where real overuse injury might result. I saw people throw caution to the wind and finish races on flat tires. Thank you all for motivating me, teaching me, and more often than not, beating me.
And so we come to the question of what's next... Will 2008 play host to another Summer of Pain? The Summer of Immense Discomfort, perhaps? It will not. I will certainly do some racing next year; it would be silly to walk away from this much fun and a great excuse to stay in shape while indulging in a high-calorie diet. Steaks are good. But I neglected a great many things this summer while training for and competing in these nine races. I missed out on a lot of skydiving, though I made a few jumps here and there. I did no rock climbing. I did no scuba diving. I did precious little camping. So next summer, keep your eyes peeled for me at the Pewaukee Triathlon and the Muddy Buddy. If I'm in one piece, I'll be hitting those events again for sure. And I'm hoping to drag a few people along with me. And though my thighs are killing me right now, I get the feeling Julie's going to convince me to run the Milwaukee Marathon again next summer. It hurt, to be sure, but it was fun and Julie likes steaks, too. So next summer I'll be spending more time playing in the wilderness and in the atmosphere. I hope to see you there...
Seek fun,
topher
Final Summer of Pain blog entry... On Wednesday, October 10th, after two days of post-marathon pain, I returned to the gym for a workout. I did some strength training and dove back in to my Wednesday evening routine of back-to-back spin sessions. So I pushed through 2 hours and 45 minutes of working out on slightly wobbly legs, but I'm happy to report that it went well. I didn't fall and I can still walk today, on Thursday. And the final weigh in after 275.3 miles of racing and thousands of miles of training? 166 pounds. So, I don't think I'll be publishing any books titled The Summer of Pain Weight Loss Program. I think most people would balk at the notion of investing 4 months, a couple necrotic toes, a few broken bikes, thousands of miles and hundreds of hours of training, several road trips, a few sunburns, several hundred dollars in race entry fees, getting hit by a car, and riding a bike 100 miles in the rain simply to lose about nine pounds—simply to put eight and a half of them back on by Thanksgiving, which I'll probably do. Probably? Hell. Give me a month.
Cheers everyone,
topher
