Neilson's April Challenge

When I got to the April Neilson Challenge I noticed a slight chill in the air, my car said it was 37 degrees.  Not to bad I forwent the jacket, figured I'd get to hot. I was running a little late so I jogged down to the start like where Kim was waiting for me. While Kim and I were chatting I noticed someone from the Saint Patrick's day run that we took a picture with. I went up and asked

"excuse me but did you wear the green Mohawk wig at the Saint Patrick's Day run?"

Turns out it was. The three of us got to chatting and I found out that he is a regular running in the community and was planning to do the Pikes Peak Ascent.  Kim was thinking of doing this and has tried to talk me in to it, but I don't think I a ready for that, maybe next year.  I already have enough of the docket for the year.

While I was standing around I tried to sync my watch but it was being a stinker and wouldn't connect to the signal so I am unsure of my split times.  When I passed mile marker one I looked up and saw that my 1 mile time was 09:20-something.  Little bit of a shoker, and I felt great!  I had a good rhythm and decided that I would try to pick up the pace and let the trail take my legs.  Here I am coming into my second Mile.

When I came in the finish shoot I was pleasantly surprised that I was seeing 18 minutes!  I kinda wished I had my watch then, I would have tried to push it a little harder. "You can do anything for ten minutes".  As you can see I am thinking hard today. It also looks like my heal strike and posture is getting better.

Could be the new shoes that gave me great times, I did notice that they were not slipping around in the gravel like my brooks usually do.  Who knows?!? It was just a great day for an early run.


”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

2012 Race Schedule

Today I was asked if I have my race schedule posted.  I thought I had posted it, but after reading my post  The Year Of... I realized that I never narrowed down my goals for the year. It looks to be a busy year this year.

January:
14th - Winter Series Race #1 Cheyenne Mountain State Park (3.3 Mile)
28th - Winter Series Race #2 El Pomar Youth Sports Park (4 Mile)

February:
4th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
5th - Super Bowl 5K
11th - Winter Series Race #3 Santa Fe Trail @ Baptist Road (5 Mile)
25th - Winter Series Race #4 Black Forest (10K)

March:
3rd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
17th - 5K on Saint Partick's Day (1/4 of The Grand Prix)

April:
7th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
14th - Villa Sprint Triathlon (Swim 200 meters, Bike 10 Miles, Run 5K)

May:
5th - Take 5 in the Garden 5K (2/4 of The Grand Prix)
28th - Bolder Boulder (10K)

June:
2nd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
16th - Sailin' Shoes 5K (3/4 of The Grand Prix)
23rd - San Lorenzo River Half Marathon Trail Run (13 Miles)

July:
7th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
21st - Classic 10K (3/4 of The Grand Prix)

August:
4th - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
11th - Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon (13 Miles)

September:
1st - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
22nd - Denver Rock and Roll Marathon (26.2 Miles)

October:
6th - 5K Great Pumpkin Race (4/4 of The Grand Prix)

November:
3rd - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)

December:
1st - Nielson Challenge (2 Mile)
So this year is winding up to be rather busy, and I am finding that I am trying to sneak in a few extra races here and there.  I will use a lot of my other races as training runs for my big ones.

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"

February Nielson's Challenge

My running partner, Kim talked me into yet another race.  The upside to this is it is FREE!  See your parent's were wrong, somethings are free.  It is Nielson's Challenge which is run the first Saturday of every month.

At 7:45am, this morning, the weather was 22* F but with the wind chill it was 2 degrees! We registered and instead of standing around freezing our nips off we went out for a little warm up. Once, the blood gets flowing you feel better. 

I have yet to understand why people stand around white knuckling their hands together against their chest and just stand there and say things like, "look at those people they are waisting their energy heading out for a run."  In reality, I really want to tell them how silly they look.

The Nielson's Challenge is geared more for beginner's and slower runners who put in the training time to get better.  I want to get faster, so to me this sounded like it would be beneficial to add to my training regiment.  This sounds easy right?  Well, here is the kicker, after you have established your base time, this is used to generate your handicap time.  What! What?  A Handicap time, what it that?  Is it like your bowling handicap?  To answer your questions here is the break down of how the Neilson's Challenge handicaps are computed, by Bob Royse:

To finish calculating the handicap, the program takes the average time for these five (or fewer) fastest times. If a runner has enough recorded times to reach the five limit, this average is her handicap.

If not, a "penalty" is calculated for too few times. So a runner must have ten recorded times in the past 24 months to not have any penalty calculated.

The closer you are to reaching ten races, the smaller the penalty. To figure your penalty, the program takes the average calculated above and subtracts 9 1/2 minutes. A percentage is determined by subtracting the number of races run from 10.

For example if a runner has run six races, her penalty is 4%. Suppose the average of her three fastest races is 14 1/2 minutes, by subtracting 9 1/2 minutes, you get 5 minutes. Four percent of 5 minutes is 12 seconds. These 12 seconds are subtracted from her average to get her handicap.

All calculations are done and times stored to the tenth of a second. Since beginning runners show the most improvement, straight time comparisons heavily favor them. But they have fewer races, so they will have a bigger percentage penalty to offset this somewhat. In addition, since their times are slower, this penalty is applied to a larger number, so they get a bigger penalty even for the same number of races.

So, you got that right?  Easy enough, right?  Pppssshhhhh!  I am no mathematician so it is gibberish to me!  I figure, if I study this hard enough I will eventually get it. 

Tomorrow I have the Super Half and 5K run before the Super Bowl.  See you all other there!

”I run in the snow, rain, wind and heat. I run until I cannot run anymore then I run some more. I run thru the blur of tears, the aches and pains and then I keep going. I have more running clothes than some running stores, I know Fartklet does not mean like it sounds. I go to bed at 9pm; I get up early just to do it all over again. Why do I do this? Because I am a runner and that's who I am"