I won!

 

The Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon took place October 8th and 9th. There are many options: 5K, 10K, 1/2 marathon, full marathon, etc. I chose the 5K which took place on Friday afternoon. There were many positives. Having a race in the afternoon allowed us to drive to Bemidji on race day rather than arriving the day before and finding a hotel room. The weather's been unseasonably warm this autumn. Fortunately, it wasn't too warm. It was in the mid-70s and mostly cloudy. Perfect. (I'm told the previous couple years it's actually snowed for the race. 

I grabbed my packet and had plenty of time for a good warm-up. 234 racers were signed up! This is one of the biggest races I've ever been a part of. I was feeling good, confident I'd be able to run a sub-30 minute race for the first time this year... 

Here I am preparing to start:

Unfortunately, due to covid, instead of having everyone bunch up and start at the same time, they had a rolling start - one at a time. For me, this took away the adrenaline rush I would normally have at the beginning of a race.

Very happy to begin running, I was the third of fourth runner out of the gate:

The location of the race is beautiful, most of it following a bike trail next to Lake Bemidji:

As I said, I felt great. It seemed like I was running at a pretty good pace. Maybe, today, I could achieve my goal...

At the mid-point of the race (it was and out and back course) I noticed I was well over the 15 minute mark. I guess I wasn't running as fast as I thought I was. It would be tough to make up all that time. 

Here I am waving to my personal photographer (Faith) at the end of the race:

They took a short video of me crawling over the finish line - see this link.

As it turns out, I didn't achieve my goal. My time was 32:37. The title of this post may seem a bit misleading... Of the eight 60-somethings racing, I took first place! Overall, 77th place.

More photos here.

VO2 Max

 I self-tested my V̇O₂ max today...

According to Wikipedia, V̇O₂ max (also maximal oxygen consumption, maximal oxygen uptake or maximal aerobic capacity) is the maximum rate of oxygen consumption measured during incremental exercise; that is, exercise of increasing intensity. The name is derived from three abbreviations: "V̇" for volume (the dot appears over the V to indicate "per unit of time"), "O₂" for oxygen, and "max" for maximum.

The measurement of V̇O₂ max in the laboratory provides a quantitative value of endurance fitness for comparison of individual training effects and between people in endurance training. Maximal oxygen consumption reflects cardiorespiratory fitness and endurance capacity in exercise performance. Elite athletes, such as competitive distance runners, racing cyclists or Olympic cross-country skiers, can achieve V̇O₂ max values exceeding 90 mL/(kg·min), while some endurance animals, such as Alaskan huskies, have V̇O₂ max values exceeding 200 mL/(kg·min).

V̇O₂ max is widely used as an indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness. In 2016, the American Heart Association published a scientific statement recommending that cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), quantifiable as V̇O₂ max, be regularly assessed and used as a clinical vital sign. This statement was based on mounting evidence that lower fitness levels are associated with high risk of cardiovascular disease, all-cause mortality, and mortality rates stemming from various types of cancers. In addition to risk assessment, the AHA recommendation cited the value measuring fitness for validating exercise prescription, physical activity counseling, and improving both patient management and patient health.

So, today, I calculated my V̇O₂ max using the Cooper 12 minute test. You run as fast as you can for 12 minutes, enter your mileage into a formula, and come up with a number. My number today was 35.49. 

Putting that number into the chart above, for a 60+ male, I'm doing 'good'.

There are a number of self-tests to do to come up with one's V̇O₂ max. Over the next several weeks I'll be using many of them to see if they all provide similar numbers.

Here are a few of the web-sites I'll be using:

Six Tests

Cooper Test Calculator 

Charts 

 

Year 10 Complete, ALS Walk/Run, Etc

Year 10 is in the books. And, thanks to your generosity, we raised over $900 this year. I can't wait to send it to Living Hope.

Today was the the ALS Walk/Run. What a great day. Around $35,000 was raised. Polaris will match a big chunk of that. Everything was great except my time...

Here are some photos:

Next up, the Yellow Rose. I'll be working hard to improve my time the next few weeks.

Push Ups

 I just learned about a study from a couple years ago that surprised and encouraged me. The conclusion of the study: active middle aged men who are able to do 40 or more push ups significantly lower their risk of cardio-vascular disease.

The key take-away from the study of 1,104 participants over a 10 year period: 37 CVD-related outcomes were reported. All but one occurred in men who completed 40 or fewer pushups during the baseline exam. The researchers calculated that men able to do more than 40 push-ups had a 96% reduced risk of CVD events compared with those who were able to do less than 10 push-ups.

Read the whole article at this link.

A few years ago I decided to begin doing my age in push ups. It's not easy, but using the program at this link, it's doable.

Year 10!

 900 miles! That's how many miles I'll have run in the Running Every Street challenge by the time I finish up this year. And to think I'd never even run a 5K before the age of 50... It hasn't been easy. I've dealt with plantar fasciitis, bursitis, pulled muscles, tingly toes, and a bulging disk. So far this year I feel great! I am so thankful. 

Things are different this year, of course. I wasn't able to get into the training room to run on the tread mill - something I've been doing the last several years to get back into shape after taking a break. Also, I've switched shoes. I've been running with Asics for several years. I'd had tingly toes for awhile, so I decided to go to the experts. See Dick Run, a shoe store in Grand Forks, recommended switching to a little roomier shoe. So now I'm lacing up Brooks shoes every day.

My times are very slow thus far. I put on a little too much weight during the winter break. Coupled with the lack of a head-start at the training room, we've got a long way to go to achieve the times I did last summer. 

The first test comes Saturday, June 12th - the Run for Your Buns in Grand Forks. I last ran this race in 2016. Back then I ran it in 32:40. My modest goal this time is to beat that time.

Thank you to all of you who support me. It means a lot to the people of Northeast Minneapolis who are being helped by Living Hope Ministries. It also means a lot to me. It really motivates me to keep running every week when I know you're standing beside me.