72 hour Wisconsin Training Trip - Ironman Course Preview

This past weekend is a whirlwind. I took Friday off work and left my house at 5am to head to Reston where I met up with three other people to drive to Wisconsin. Why you ask? To preview the Ironman course so that we will be familiar with it come race day. We left Reston at 6:30am and 15 hours later (after stopping at several rest stops and cracker barrel, of course) we were in Madison, WI. It was a long road trip, but I realized after spending 8 hours on the weekend biking all day, 15 hours in a car isn't so bad. By the time we got there, it was time to head for bed.

I was staying with two other people away from the rest of the team who stayed in downtown madison at the race hotel. Thanks to my job, I got a discount at the same hotel I will be staying at for the race so it was a good opportunity to figure out where that was in relation to the race (~20 minutes away) and to become familiar with its amenities (kitchen!) for race day. We got up at 5:30am, prepped for a LONG day in the heat, and headed over to the hotel to meet the team at 7am for a 100 mile bike ride.

The Ironman Course is called a "lollipop." It is 16 miles out (the stick), two 40 mile loops, and 16 miles back. There is some construction which prevented us from previewing the full loop, but for the most part we got to see a significant portion of the course. From the team hotel, we drove along the stick until we got to the start of the loop. Our plan was to do the loop twice (adjusted for a detour around the construction), and then a portion of the stick until we got to 100 miles. We finally got started around 8:30am and it was already HOT.

I started off a bit too fast and after 5 miles, I decided to stop and wait for the next group behind me (~8 or so people). Once they caught up, we completed the first loop in about a total of 3 hours, chatting and enjoying ourselves. For the most part, I think the consensus was that the loop wasn't as bad as we imagined. It was gorgeous, and rather than non-stop hills, there were a few rollers (probably 5-10) and then 3-5 "big" climbs (which compared to last week's gran fondo were pretty small). In between, there were several somewhat flat stretches that we could have fun on. Overall, I think most of us enjoyed the loop and after the first loop, we were ready to head off again in good spirits.

The second loop is where we ran into trouble. First off, it was starting to get HOT and it only got worse as the day went on. Then around mile 5 of the second loop, our group passed a woman walking her bike on the side of the road and one of the riders, Janet, bumped wheels (i think) with the person in front of her and went down hard. She had a pretty nasty bump/cut on her arm but said she felt fine. However, when she saw the cut/bump, she freaked out thinking her bone was broken and almost feinted. Luckily, we had a first aid person with us and she got all patched up. After about 10 minutes we were ready to ride again.

The next bit of trouble happened about 5 miles later (around mile 50). Chris and I were in front of the rest of the group and had started to distance ourselves a little bit on the hills. All of a sudden we heard the rest of the group stop behind us and heard "keep going" shouted at us, so we did. Both of us assumed that Janet had started not feeling well and the rest of the group was stopping with her until she could get picked up by our coach (Alexis). About 20 minutes later, we saw the Alexis drive by with Janet in the car and somebody else's bike on his rack. We met up with them at the local bike shop that served as our rest stop and found out that Janet was feeling fine, but some ASSHOLEs had dropped a whole bunch of TACS in the road because they were pissed off at the cyclists in the area (we assume) so several of our riders got flats. Poor Janet got flats in BOTH of her tires and had to go to the bike shop in order to fix them. Being a total rockstar, she finished the rest of the ride.

This really pisses me off. I realize that people get annoyed with cyclists, but to do something that could really harm someone seems like an incredible overreaction (especially in Wisconsin where the roads are pretty open and it is easy to get around a cyclist). It turns out I got a tac in my tire (and was riding with it the last half of my ride as a slow leak rather than a full on flat). If the tac had shifted, causing me to get a flat on a downhill, I could have  crashed and been seriously injured. I don't know what these assholes were thinking (they probably weren't with their imbecile brains), but I don't see how one minute of inconvenience a cyclist caused them was worth potentially taking someone's life.

Anyways, the last 50 miles of the bike ride is basically a blur, fighting the heat (it was about as hot as DC was this weekend), and just trying to survive. I was just focusing on getting to the next rest stop(s) and the second loop definitely felt harder in the heat. The last 22 miles of the ride (the stick) was rough with a few huge rollers and some wind. After almost 8 hours of riding, I finished the longest bike ride I have ever done (100.1 miles!), longer than any bike and build ride I did. I immediately headed inside the bar we were parked at and ordered fries and a beer. While I definitely was struggling in the heat, I think the addition of salt tablets to my nutrition really helped. Typically the last thing I want after a ride is a beer so the fact that my stomach was willing to have one is a good sign. Overall, I enjoyed the course. It's beautiful and not too boring. I think it will be manageable for race day. I am a little concerned about the time cutoff (5:30pm), but I think I will make it (especially without taking breaks with a big group).

That night, we met up at the hotel, walked through the transistion area, and went to dinner. It was then back to bed because Sunday morning we met at 7am to run the run course. Unfortunately, there was some construction that took us off course somewhat, but we had some random people join us who had done the course before so they were able to help us find our way. There are a few bad hills, but other than that I think I will enjoy the course. It goes through downtown and the University of Wisconsin campus and is very pretty.

I finished the run around 10, grabbed a frappucino and chocolate milk from Starbucks as well as some salted caramel ice cream from a street vendor (oh my goodness so good!) to recover, showered, and was on the road by 12 to head home. Three of the four of us in the car were decked out in compression socks to aid in the recovery so we looked super cool at the rest stops. We stopped in Chicago for some deep dish pizza with another car (leaving me full til 3pm the next day), and arrived home at 3am Monday morning. I finally got back to my house around 4am, exhausted. This was the longest 72 hours of my life, but it was definitely worth it. I feel much better about the course and feel prepared for race day. I also enjoyed getting to know other people on the team. In order to recover from my "vacation," I took Monday and Tuesday off of work and have barely left my couch.

Overall lessons learned from this weekend (both personal observations & tips from others):
1) Salt tabs are a lifesaver, a tic tac box makes a great container for them
2) If I take the bike course slow initially, I should be more than okay with the course
3) Don't try to eat something during the transition from the swim to the bike
4) Take off the glow-stick they give you to run in the dark before crossing the finish line as it messes with photos
5) Walk up the big hill in the run
6) Take my time through the finishing chute (potentially even walk) to soak up the fantastic atmosphere
7) Some people are assholes, but luckily there are a ton of other good people in the world to make up for it
8) September 9th is going to be awesome

And now some pictures -

Lake Monona - This is where the swim is

Meeting up for the ride

Pre-race briefing

I am doing this for that jersey right there

Off we go!

Beautiful scenery (and riding group)

Farmland!

100.1 miles!

RECOVERY! I was dreaming of the fries all day long

Beautiful view from the run course

Water stop!

Sally and Lisa - these two are awesome as they are not doing Wisconsin but just came to cheer us on!

John and Caroline - 1/2 of my car trip crew

Aileen! Got me through the last hour of the run

The state capital where we finish

Bob and Sherri

Kym (the last part of the carpool) and Chris who helped me get through the last 50 miles

Poor coach! He tried to find us on the run course but since everyone went off-course he didn't stand a chance

Race hotel!

I am a total badass - Gran Fondo Ride Report

As noted in my last post, I was TERRIFIED for the ride this weekend. 8,000 feet of climbing, with steep, twisty descents. After this weekend, I went from feeling terrified to feeling like a TOTAL BADASS.

This ride was RELENTLESS. The hills were non-stop, and they were long and steep. The final climb was from Deep Creek Lake, up to the top of WISP mountain, a ski resort. The AVERAGE slope was 13% (to put it in perspective, the biggest slope you typically see on the highways is a 6% grade). The downhills were pretty twisty/scary so I was almost happier to be climbing than descending. I did manage to work on my descending form although I probably wore out my front break. Here is the elevation chart (note that the scale is 2,000ft and there are at least 8 mountain passes):

The first 18 miles to the first aid station had 1500 ft of climbing (it was mostly down) and took 1 hr and 20 minutes. The 22 miles between the first and second aid station took almost 3 hours and had 3700ft of climbing. Total ride time was around 6 hrs 15 minutes (excluding time at aid stations).

While I think back on Bike and Build, the ride reminded me of the Berkshire mountains and the days leading up to Pittsburgh. However, I think that those rides stand out in my mind as being difficult mainly because of the fact that we biked several days in a row and I was a completely inexperienced biker. This time around, I have a lot of faith in my cycling abilities. And I can truly say that this is probably the most difficult ride route I have ever done. 


Keeping this in mind, I totally rocked it (for me)! Due to the relentless, steep climbs that made me bike 2-3mph, I averaged only about 10 mph (compared to 14-16 usually). Every hill I saw bikers getting off their bike to walk, especially the final climb. I was tempted, but I remembered my badass friend Emily Pedneau who had a rule when doing bike and build to never stop mid-climb. With that in the back of my head, I just kept pedaling. (My mantra was chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream, chocolate - peanut butter - ice cream - true Mahoney on the inside.) Emily's rule and my mantra got me up all the hills but one. The one (see the elevation chart right after mile 45) had me going soooo slow, that when a biker passed me and I tried to make a correction, my bike slid out from under me and I hit the ground (only wounding my pride in the process, although I did end up with a grease mark on my upper arm somehow). Unfortunately, it was near the top of the hill, so I only could get away with walking about 50 yards before the road slope was such that I could get back on my bike.



Here is why I feel badass - I never would have been able to do this back in my bike and build days. I was not good at the whole biking thing and there are so many times I quit before I needed to. I was so proud to get through this ride and to feel strong up the hills (albeit real slow). The last 10 miles were mentally and physically rough, but I just kept pedaling and never gave up. I feel so awesome today and this is a reminder of why I do these things. It truly is masochistic (hence the name masochistic metric), but to be able to see what I am able to accomplish just gives me so much confidence in myself. And the chocolate peanut butter ice cream at the creamery later was a worth it as well.


After the ride, I showered and headed to the Team Z cheering station, positioned well on the final climb to help people up the hill. They were pretty much the only people cheering along the entire route (one of the reasons I love being part of the team). The ride was short of volunteers near the end and I ended up helping out at the final aid station for awhile before finally heading out around 6:30 to grab some dinner and ice cream from the local creamery. The evening ended with about an hour in the hot tub back at the rental house I was staying at, on the porch overlooking the lake. 


This morning I woke up early, grabbed breakfast with the team, and then did a practice open water swim (sans wetsuit) in the lake before heading back home. It was a great morning and an overall great weekend. Would I do the ride again? While riding yesterday I was saying "Hell no!" but of course, as always, I am not rethinking that decision and will most likely end up back there again. (If you think I am a badass, there were people who rode 125 miles of the relentless terrain yesterday. Shoot me if I ever sign up for that).



And now some pictures:

 Early Morning at the start

The view from the start

 125  milers getting ready to start

 off they go - that descent was SCARY! You could smell the brakes burning. One of our guys had his back wheel burst due to the heat of the brake-friction. Luckily he's okay.

Cliff - This guy did 100 miles with a smile on his face! He even recruited his wife to do the 25 (that included the final climb) - I would guess his wife had some choice words for him that climb

Mary getting her bike ready - she hit 54mph on one of the descents!

 More Zers

Beginning of the ride

Steel Drums at the first aid station!

 Not sure the grade is apparent but that hill went straight up. And I biked it!

 View from the top

 Team Z tent cheering on a rider

One of the several limos we saw that day

Again, the picture doesn't do justice to the slope but I guarantee you is was tough!

I might die this weekend...

I am TERRIFIED for tomorrow. I made the mistake of signing up for a 62 mile ride that I thought was going to be difficult but doable. Instead, I found out it has 8,000 feet of climbing (my hilly 90 miler was only 4,000) and tons of twisty descents (maybe the name "masochistic metric" should have given me a clue). I HATE descending with tons of curves and twists, especially after my ride into johnstown, PA (14% descent with a traffic light at the bottom). So if I don't survive, it has been nice knowing you.

Key tidbits from the athlete's guide:

At 62 miles and 8,000 feet of climbing, the "Masochistic Metric" is as challenging a single metric century ride as exists. The route follows the "Diabolical Double" and "Savage Century" rides through mile 47 before turning south to head through beautiful, rolling farmland culminating in the climb up Overlook Pass to the summit finish atop Wisp Mountain. The "Masochistic Metric" route includes the majority of the steepest, and for many people the toughest, of the climbs of the Savage Century and Diabolical Double routes. Compact cranks or triples are very strongly encouraged. 

All rides finish atop Wisp Mountain after a cruel, final climb to the summit finish at ASCI.  

Steep descent with dangerous off-camber switchback

steep, narrow, twisty descent (x4)

Descents

What goes up, must come down.  There is as much descending as there is climbing, and  much of it is steep and technical.  Many of the roads are very remote and seldom traveled  which makes for beautiful cycling, but also makes for roads that can get gravelly runoff  after rains.  Take care on descents.  And please ensure your brakes and brake pads are in  good working condition.  You will be using them extensively. 

Confidence Boosting

This weekend was such a great confidence booster, with a little bit of a bump. Last weekend my workout was a brick workout - a 3 hour bike ride followed by a 90 minute run along the C&O canal. I felt awful the entire time and was not having much fun. This weekend was a completely different story (except for my run).

Saturday morning I woke up at 4:40am to head to Culpeper for a 90 mile bike ride.Unfortunately, I had major insomnia issues Friday night & didn't fall asleep until after midnight. Part of it was because I was pretty worried about this ride. Culpeper is one of the hilliest rides Team Z does and people kept talking about how challenging it is. I made it to the ride at around 6:45 and was greeted with this scenic setting (makes the rides worth it) and several other team z members:

This is just a small bit of the beauty that we saw throughout the day. After a bunch of nervous small talk, the group took off just after 7am. I didn't have anyone I was definitely riding with, which is not a good way to spend 90 miles. After a few miles, I came up on Mary, someone who I have ridden with before and who knows how to pace herself throughout these rides so I settled in behind her for the start. She was with this other woman, Linda, and we had several other people around us. After Mary chased down another biker who took a wrong turn, Linda and I waited for her and we became a cohesive riding group for the day. Thank goodness! It made the day a lot more fun and Mary gave me some great advice. Linda also has done Wisconsin previously and was able to give me a lot of insight into the race and give me confidence in my ability. Here are pics of Linda and I in front of Old Rag:

I will admit, I was suffering the last 20 miles or so, mainly because I was bonking slightly and needed more salty, less sweet food items (next ride I will have salt tablets to use to help replace salt which I think will be important). However, I felt MUCH better than I did at the end of the 80 mile ride, which was much more humid and much hillier (at least in my mind). There was never a point where I didn't think I could go on, or where I wanted to cry at the sight of another hill (oh yes, it's happened before). At the end (after ~6 1/2 hours of riding in 7 hours), everyone was saying that if we could do this ride, we could do Wisconsin. That is a HUGE boost to my confidence.

One thing it has made me realize is that I really wish I had known more about nutrition when I was on Bike and Build. My nutrition strategy has done a 180 and I truly understand the importance of electrolytes (salt, gels, gatorades). I was sick a lot of the last part of the trip, primarily driven by the heat. I often wonder what would the trip have been like had I known how to fuel for the rides. I am a MUCH stronger biker now, and a huge part of that is just knowledge.

Anyways, I drove immediately from the ride to my friend Robyn's because we were throwing a surprise bridal tea for my friend Reetika's engagement. Initially when we made the plans, I thought we would be riding on Sunday. Luckily, Robyn is quite the gracious host so she allowed me to shower at her place. It was weird going from spandex to a dress so quickly but that seems to be my life these days. It was good hanging out with the girls, and happily Reetika's fiance ended up joining us so we could get to know him better. Poor guy! He handled the tea well.

This morning I woke up at 6am on my own (no sleep this weekend!) and went for a run at 7:30am. It was HORRIBLE. The humidity enveloped me within the first 5 minutes and I struggled tremendously. My 13-14 miler turned into an 11 miler. However, this has not shaken my confidence too much because I trained for Marine Corps last summer and despite similar struggles in the humidity, I pulled together a good race.

After that, I went to the Millbrook Quarry in Gainesville for a practice open water swim. The place was beautfiul and the water was awesome! They had set up a 650m loop and I managed to do 3 loops (~a half-ironman distance swim of 1.2 miles) with a wetsuit, only resting about 2 minutes between each. Each loop was about 14 minutes, which puts me on pace for a 90 minute swim. I could have done more, but I had to head to the animal shelter afterwards (to cuddle with puppies since I had no energy to walk them). I have not done an open water swim since November 2010 and the swim has been freaking me out a lot lately, especially not being able to swim in London. After this experience, I am so much more confident that I will be fine in the swim as long as I keep practicing and don't let up. I forgot my camera, so here is a pic from the Team Z facebook swim of the quarry:

All in all, this weekend really boosted my confidence. I will be prepared for this Ironman, and I have it in me. The race is now less than 3 months away (~12 weeks!) and I am looking forward to it rather than fearing it at this point. The rest of the summer will be incredibly busy. I have a 100k bike ride with 8,000ft of climbing June 23rd (eeek!), am heading to Wisconsin the end of the month to preview the course, and have a half-ironman in upstate new york July 14th. I am looking forward to making some more great memories and new friends! Now it's time to head to bed (before 9) to catch up on some much needed sleep. Thank goodness this week is a recovery week...

UK round 2 - A MUCH different experience

This has been a crazy whirlwind of a month. I got back from the UK April 27^th, and then was heading back to Glasgow/London May 12^th. In between, I didn’t actually unpack from the two trips and my life was in a bit of a limbo (here but not enough to settle back in). During my two weeks home, I hit training pretty hard, knowing it would be difficult to get back to it once I left again. I was reminded that the humidity really affects me (my 50 mile ride in high humidity was much more difficult than my 72 mile ride the week before, although it was more enjoyable since it was with Graham catching up).

I started off my 2^nd trip with a 45 mile bike ride/6 mile brick workout that went awesome. It was on the same roads as the week before but I felt so strong the entire time. My flight to Glasgow was at 9 at night. I discovered the key to me being able to sleep on a plane is a 4 hour hard workout, a beer before the flight, and flying at my normal bedtime!

Glasgow was cold/rainy. The first night there, the winds were so bad that my friends big, sturdy umbrella completely broke. Workwise though, Glasgow was awesome. I was going in a new role within my team, and I quickly discovered that I love the role. We basically met with the head of the departments there, walked through their business processes (updating process flows), and did risk assessments of their processes, identifying  the key things they do to address the risks. Being the nerd that I am, I love that type of stuff and it suits me really well. I am also energized by interactions with people and in my other role, I mainly stick to my desk and don’t interact with people outside of my group too often in a work capacity.

The people in the Glasgow office were great! I discovered that I love Scottish accents more than British, and everyone was very welcoming. The last day, the head of the group that had been hesitant about our trip before we came (we were taking over from another group that had been difficult to deal with), was so pleased with us she brought us big blocks of Cadbury’s chocolate and even hugged us when we left. Success! Also, while it was cold/rainy, we had some great meals and the hotel had a legitimate gym (lap pool and everything) so I am looking forward to going back.

We flew to London Friday night. My manager, Melonne,  and I went out dancing Friday night. Then Saturday I woke up and did my 12 mile run in Central London. It took FOREVER due to time at stoplights/dodging tourists. Sadly, I was legitimately TRAPPED in front of Buckingham Palace for 10 minutes with about 1,000 tourists with no way to escape (they blocked off the exit paths and a barrier separated us from the street). I was definitely a bit traumatized (both of Buckingham Palace and running in London in general). In the afternoon, I hit up the Tower of London, which I had missed the last trip and it was pretty cool. Afterwards, I used my family genes to navigate to an awesome gelato place I had visited before, only vaguely knowing the name (I had it wrong) and the general area. Melonne and I ended the evening hitting up Punjab, my favorite Indian restaurant I went to before.

 Tower Bridge, NOT London Bridge as most people (even Londoners) assume

Sunday was a genuine tourist day. Melonne and I did a day trip to Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge. Needless to say, I would go to Bath again but am good on Stonehenge. Here are some pics: 

 Windsor Castle - For some reason in my head I did not think of it being a fortress

Bath - the entire city was rebuilt at the same time so it all works together very well

 There are actual Baths (Roman) in Bath

 Chapel in Bath 

 Apparently there are stones in Stonehenge

The second work week was definitely different/more challenging than the first, but ended up going really well. We were in a difficult position going in, as the office is super busy and has had loads of random visitors taking up their time (like me previously). Also, there have been consultants there for the past two months mapping out the operational process we were also there to walk through so people were concerned that we would waste their time doing the same thing. Fortunately, after a rough start, we managed to turn the week around and really won over people there.

It was weird. I was there for nearly three weeks before, and in the one week I was here this time I met way more people in the office and really got to know some of them. Again, the office has great people. The role I was sent in before was more of an auditor without a defined mission statement. Since everyone was super busy and was not really interested in having me there, I was never really introduced to people and felt generally uncomfortable. This time was very different and I am grateful for that. I had a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth from the last experience, and was really not looking forward to the return trip. After these last two weeks I’m looking forward to going back and building on the relationships/connections I made. But first, I am looking forward to settling back into home and really kicking up the ironman training.

I am also pleased to report that other than the swims and the 80 mile bike ride, I managed to get in all my workouts. I will be making up the 80 mile ride tomorrow and will truly get thrown into the humidity. Luckily, after 4 weeks of awful weather, I had three 75/80 degrees days in London to end the trip/somewhat transition.

Here are some more random pictures from the last night I was there:

Westminister at sunset

Street Performers near the London Eye 

 Westminister again

 Love

 Love Love

 Big Ben