Ironman Lake Placid - T-Minus 4 Days And Counting

Only four days from Ironman Lake Placid, I enter the toughest part of Ironman competition: the waiting and mental games. Training has taken you as far as it’s going to, and all that’s left to complete is a few light workouts and waiting. This is when the little voices in your head really start to ramp up with all the self-doubt; where little aches and pains in the body seem to be amplified tenfold; where aching knees after a 45-minute run warn of horrific pain after 26.2 miles; when voices remind you that age 40 is not age 20. 

I had hoped two previous Ironman competitions and 30 weeks of the most disciplined training regimen I’ve completed would silence the voices. I had hoped that meeting all of my race goals this year including the Kinetic 70.3 in under 5:30, a half-marathon in 1:30, and reaching my first podium for an Olympic-distance triathlon would silence the voices.  I had hoped that a frenetic schedule covering the San Diego Comic Con for my job last week would keep my mind occupied and silence the voices.  Here we are, four days before the race and the voices are chattering. 

New Ironman athletes often dread training activities like 5-hour bike rides and 3-hour runs.  The truth is these tasks are easy compared to the mental preparation for race day, especially in the final days and weeks when waiting is the only activity left and second-guessing is a daily chore.  I don’t have an easy answer of how to shut off those little voices in your head other than to constantly chant “Shut the f#@k up.  Go out and do it.”  Scientific it’s not, but it’s the best I’ve been able to do.

To all my friends who are doing their first Ironman this weekend, just know you are more than ready for this and you will soon be an Ironman. For those who’ve done an Ironman before, just tell yourself you’ve done it before and you can do it again. My goal for this race was to complete it in 11 hours or less, but I’ve decided to throw that goal out the window and just go out there to enjoy myself. No expectations. If I do it in 11 hours or less that’s great.  If not, so be it. I hope everyone has a great race, and I will see you at the finish line.

REV3 Williamsburg 70.3 Race Report - The Swim From Hell

This past weekend, I decided to partake in the inaugural Rev3 70.3 Williamsburg race in historic Williamsburg, VA. This was one of those last minute decisions as I only signed up last week. I originally had planned to join some of my MoCo Mafia team members for the Masochistic Metric, a hilly ride that is part of the Garrett County Gran Fondo in Deep Creek, MD. I did the Diabolical Double last year which was very challenging. I didn’t really feel that I needed to prove anything by doing it again and thought the hills were actually a bit of overkill for my Ironman Lake Placid training. With my 14th wedding anniversary this past week, I thought Williamsburg would be a nice weekend with my wife while still getting in some decent training for Lake Placid. Going into the race, everything I had read about the course led me to believe this would not be very challenging. Both the bike and run courses were listed as a fairly fast with some mixed rollers. With a Sunday forecast in the 90‘s, the only real concern was heat.

My wife and I headed to Williamsburg late Friday evening hoping to bypass most the heavy traffic on Interstate 95 - no such luck. Even at 9 p.m., traffic was stop and go and the 3-hour drive turned into 5 hours.  I always dread travel involving I-95 South for this exact reason.  We arrived in Williamsburg just after 10 p.m., checked in and went to bed. The practice swim started at 8 a.m. followed by packet pickup and bike check-in. 

Saturday went as planned.  I met up with my friend Sara who was also doing the race, and we headed over to the James River where the swim portion of the race would take place. The water temp was a nice 76 degrees, and the river had very little current. I was feeling confident about the swim portion of this race, although there still was some doubt if wetsuits would be legal. Wetsuits cannot be worn competitively in a USAT sanctioned race if the water temperature is higher than 78 degrees. If the temperature exceeds 82 degrees, wetsuits can’t be worn at all.  Since I wasn’t planning to place, I expected to wear a wetsuit even if the temperature was over 78 degrees, but it would put me in a special wetsuit wave.

After the practice swim, we picked up our packets, listened to the mandatory race briefing, then I racked my bike in T1. The race had two transition areas. The T1 area was near the swim portion of the race at the James River while the T2 area was located on the campus of William & Mary College. I am not a huge fan of races with two transition areas, but REV3 seemed to have things laid out pretty smoothly especially for an inaugural race.

For the rest of the day, my wife and I did various things around Williamsburg. Race day came early as transition opened at 4:30 a.m. We setup T2 first then hopped a Rev3 shuttle to T1 roughly five miles away.  I rode over with Sara so my wife could sleep in a bit.  The alarm went off at 3:45 a.m. for a light breakfast of grocery-store pastries.  We were staying at a Holiday Inn Express so I didn’t have access to a stove to prepare my normal pre-race breakfast of eggs and toast, but I wasn’t overly concerned since I wasn’t expecting a super-challenging race. At 4:20 a.m., I headed down to the lobby to meet Sara and head over to the race. I hadn’t bothered to look out any windows and had no idea what the weather was doing. I had listened to a local forecast on Friday which said there was a possibility of rain later in the day so I wasn’t concerned about rain; that was a mistake. As I walked into the lobby of the hotel and got my first glimpse of the outside, I was greeted with a huge rain downpour. My first thought was “What The F@#K!” This was not a good sign for how the day’s race would go. Sara swung around in her car, and we headed over. Neither of us were very happy with the current weather status nor had either of us really prepared for doing a race in the rain. Fortunately, I had put all my gear in three plastic bags which would protect my gear from normal rainfall although not the heavy downpour of the moment. 

Upon arriving at T2, we hung out in the car for 15 minutes or so hoping the rain would subside or at least lessen to something other than a downpour. The weather forecast had definitely deteriorated as now they were saying it could rain off and on for the entire day. The rain finally did lighten to a more manageable rain. We placed our run gear in our transition spots. Sara had managed to secure a plastic bag for her stuff and I had one for mine, so as long as the rain stayed light our stuff had a decent chance of staying dry. The numbers on the bike racks were not faring as well. The number on my spot had started to fall off, so I was a bit concerned that finding the spot during the race would be a challenge.

After leaving our stuff at T2, we hopped on the shuttle to head over to T1 and the swim start of the race. You could tell from the expressions of many of the other athletes on the shuttle that we weren’t the only ones caught by surprise over the morning weather. Some athletes looked quite nervous. By the time we arrived at T1, the rain had decreased to a light drizzle that would pick up in intensity here and there but was a lot better than the initial downpour we woke up to.

After checking my bike and getting everything as ready as possible in the rain, we prepared for the race. I sprayed some sunscreen in case the sun made an appearance later in the day. I also put some Body Glide on although I later would discover it was insufficient to prevent chafing from the wetsuit under my arms (I hate when that happens). I guess I rushed applying the stuff due to the rain.  We headed a quarter mile down to the river where the swim would take place.

The swim course was essentially a big rectangle that you would swim clockwise. There were actually two sets of buoys set up, one for the 70.3 race and another set up for the Olympic Distance race occurring simultaneously. This would turn out to be a pain during the race (more on that later) as the Olympic distance buoys were set up as a smaller rectangle closer in since they didn’t have to swim out as far.

The official race day water temp ended up being 77.6 degrees so we just made the cutoff for wetsuits (I guess the rain had one benefit). By this point, the rain had stopped although no one knew for how long. We got our wetsuits on, and I managed to get in a quick warm-up swim before the race started. The swim would be done in waves based on age and sex. My wave consisting of males between 40-45 and between 20-25 was the third to go. The cutoff time for this swim was 1:10 from the start of the last wave. Originally the waves were supposed to start five minutes apart but a delay to the race start squeezed that to three minutes.  Still, I wasn’t concerned about the cut-off time. I had my wetsuit and no reason to believe I couldn’t have a comparable time to my last 70.3 race which was 48 minutes. In fact, I was really expecting that I was going to be able to do this swim in under 45 minutes.

The pros were the first in the water.  As the second wave hit the water, I headed into the chute.  The race had a beach start with a run into the water. The water was shallow enough to walk practically to the first buoy. I had done my normal buoy count and saw that it was four buoys to the first turn, then six buoys to the second turn and three buoys for the swim back to shore. The sighting buoys were yellow with red turn buoys for the 70.3 race and orange turn buoys for the Olympic distance.

My wave started, and I started walking.  I got almost to the first buoy before starting to swim. It was a crowded course with a lot of people in front of me so I didn’t see the point of swimming until things opened up a bit. Things were going pretty smoothly starting out. The announcer had mentioned the current was moving from right to left, so I tried to stay as far right as possible. Due to the number of people with the same thought, this was harder than it sounded. Still, things where good as I approached the third buoy. I was feeling strong and moving well. At the third buoy, I realized that a protruding landmass to our left had been buffering the current.  Once I passed beyond the land, I really started to feel the current pushing me to the left.  Immediately, a swimmer kept bumping into me.  He had opted not to use a wetsuit.  I’m not sure what his challenge was, but he would not get away from me.  In frustration, I decided to swim a bit to the left to get away from him.  Big mistake.  By the time I got close to the first turn buoy, I was much farther out than I had wanted to be since the current was pushing me.  Now I had to swim against the current to get to the buoy. In fact, the longest stretch of the race course was against a very strong current. As I got closer and closer to the red buoy (which felt like an eternity for me), the crowds began to pick back up. I don’t know how many times someone bumped into me or hit me. At one point someone almost knocked off my goggles.  The frustrating part was that I kept swimming and still wasn’t passing the stupid buoy. I swear the thing was actually following me; I wasn’t sure if the buoy had come loose or what. I also had two different times when I actually had to stop swimming as volunteers in the canoes had to cut across our path to get to swimmers who were in distress. The first time it happened I started to get really irked until I saw that they were going to save someone.

I finally got past the first turn buoy and things started to thin out a bit, but I could tell this was not going to be a fun race.  I also knew I had no chance of finishing in under 45 minutes. The current was a real bitch, probably the worst I have ever had to deal with in a race. I constantly had to stop and sight because the current was constantly moving me off course. I can only imaging how much zig-zagging I did. This was only a half Ironman distance race but I felt like I swam a full. The Olympic buoys just added to the pain.  Several times, I swam too far in thinking the Olympic buoys were the 70.3 ones, then I would have to adjust and swim back out to the right ones. It didn’t help that the second red turn buoy was difficult to see and some of the sight buoys for the half seem to have floated out a bit further than others, so it wasn’t a straight line. Endurance-wise I fine. There was never a point were I felt I was too tired to continue, but my frustration levels were growing exponentially as I was having more and more problems trying to figure out where I should be swimming and feeling like I was hardly moving at all. The worst feeling for me in a swim is not being able to tell where I am and that was exactly what I was feeling at this point. There were a few times when I felt like calling it a day, mainly because I was getting more and more frustrated and figured I wasn’t going to make the cutoff time. Nevertheless, I continued on in spite of my flashbacks to the swim at the 70.3 race in Hawaii where I didn’t make the cutoff and had my one and only DNF. 

I finally got far enough so that I could see the second turn buoy and other swimmers in the water. I figured as long as there were others out here with me, I still had a good chance of finishing the race within that cutoff. I knew that once I got around that second turn buoy, the portion back to shore was not that far.  I also hoped that the currents going back into shore would be kinder than the ones going out. As I finally made the second turn, I could see the buoys back to shore pretty well.  Although the chop in the water wasn’t great, I was no longer feeling as if I was swimming in place. I got back to the beach, and my Garmin said 1:18.  So much for having a good race time. Still, I was anticipating a fast bike and run course so I had a chance to make up some time.  I was pretty sure that beating my 70.3 PR of 5:18 (at Kinetic a few weeks earlier) was no longer possible, but I would try to get as close as possible.

My official swim time was a horrid 1:20:25.

I did a light jog back to T1 which was about a quarter of a mile away, shucked my wetsuit, and pulled my bike gear out of its protective plastic bag. After I dried my bike off some, I donned my shoes and helmet then I headed to the mount area. My sock had gotten a little damp, but overall my stuff had managed to remain fairly dry.

My T1 time was 6:35.

I started out on the bike with a goal of 2:30. I had not ridden or even seen the course, but everything I read about it suggested it should be a fast course with no major hills. The bike course was pretty much as billed although there were a few portions with some bad headwinds. I did not like the one lane roads open to car traffic.  On several occasions, this led to sitting behind a slow moving car that in turn was stuck between bikes moving in both directions on the road.  On one stretch, I was stuck behind a slow moving truck for about half a mile. This was very frustrating. Some stretches of road didn’t have very wide shoulders, so we had to be very careful when passing other bikers to make sure no one got hit by cars approaching from behind.

I felt I had a pretty strong bike, although not as good as Kinetic due mostly to getting stuck behind slow cars.

My final bike time was 2:42:54.

As I rode into the campus of William and Mary where T2 was located, the sun finally came out. Lucky me; just in time for the run. It was also muggy and hot by this point. I managed to find and rack my bike without to much problem and grabbed my run gear from the bag. The bag did its job as my stuff remained fairly dry. I changed and headed out for the last portion of the race.

My official T2 time was 3:59.

As I started on the run, I was feeling pretty good overall.  My first indication of bad chafing from the wetsuit appeared as moving my right arm highlighted the painful raw spot in my armpit.  I poured some cold water on the spot at the first aid station which seemed to help, then I did my best to tune it out.

Unlike the bike course, the run course was more difficult than what I had expected from the course description. The course had a lot of hills on it. Most were rollers, but rollers on a run course aren’t quite the same as on a bike.  The course also had some decent size hills throughout, especially one big one you had to run twice at mile 1 and 9. The course was also tight in a lot of places as they had us squeezed in portions where people were running out and back. When passing folks, runners had to take care not to run into oncoming running traffic at various spots on the course. I felt pretty strong on the run though the mugginess of the day certainly had its impact, especially along the stretches that had no shade. Fortunately the aid stations were well stocked with cold water and cold sponges to cool you down. I was expecting a run course easier than Kinetic but actually felt this course was as tough if not a bit tougher with hills throughout - even for the final mile of the course which always sucks.  Add in the fact it was much warmer than it had been at Kinetic.

My official run time was 1:51:05.


My final official time for this race was 6:04:57. Certainly not my best time, but for a course that turned out to be far more challenging that what I had prepared for, it is a time I can live with. For an inaugural race I think Rev3 did a fairly decent job with it; there are definitely areas that need improvement. I suggest making the swim course counter-clockwise and allowing swimmers to move with the current. I don’t know if I would ever do this race again, but I am glad I was able to embrace the challenges of the day and overcome them.

Ironman Lake Placid Scouting Report - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I, along with several other members (Dave, Joyce, Elaine and Brent) of the Moco Mafia, traveled up to Lake Placid, NY this past weekend to check out the course for our Ironman race in July. Though I wanted to see the course, I was a little hesitant making a 9 1/2 hour drive up for just a weekend.  Now that I’m back, I am glad I went.

On the way to Lake Placid

We all arrived Friday afternoon and stayed at a nice hotel (Golden Arrow) right in the heart of town. Unfortunately, our weekend didn’t start smoothly. Three of us carpooled in Dave’s car with our bikes on the roof of the car. After driving 9 1/2 hours, we were a little brain dead, so we totally forgot the bikes were on top of the car when we pulled under the overhang in the hotel parking lot. As you can imagine, the bikes didn’t quite make the clearance. Specifically, my bike was knocked off the roof. When we heard the clank of the bike hitting the ground, Dave’s first reaction was to back up - thankfully just a little. Seeing my bike halfway under the car, I was a heartbeat away from cardiac arrest but tried to stay outwardly calm. We got the bike out from under the car and quickly inspected it for damage. Believe it or not, the damage was limited to some scuffing on one of the pedals. That just goes to show you how tough a Felt bike is.

Welcome To Lake Placid

After that bit of excitement, we checked in and unpacked. A few more once overs of the bike to make sure there was no damage, then we met up with Elaine and Brent who had arrived before us and were out paddle boating on Mirror Lake.  Our hotel was right next to the lake which hosts the swim portion of the race. We headed off to dinner at Lisa G’s, a local restaurant in town then turned in for the evening. We were getting up early the next morning to ride the bike course.

The next morning we had breakfast, looked over the map of the bike course, and got ready to ride. The weather for the day was pretty nice, sunny and in the low to mid 80’s. It was a little humid, but nothing like the 90’s the folks back home in DC were experiencing. As we prepared to ride, everyone in the group seemed to have bike issues. Elaine’s tire was rubbing on something, and Dave’s water bottle cage was falling off.  Fortunately, I had my trusty little bike tool in my bag which got everyone fixed up. It was funny because my bike was run over, but their bikes were having the issues. (What can I say, they had Cervelo’s.)

We headed out, going the wrong way on Main Street but quickly turned around.  As we left town, we hit a bit of an uphill.  It wasn’t major but caught us by surprise since we were expecting it to be mostly downhill to the town of Keane. We also noticed that the stretch of road from Lake Placid to Keane was not very well maintained, especially on the shoulder area - lots of gravel, cracks in the pavement and some potholes. Normally this wouldn’t be that big of deal, but this stretch of road also contains the descent from hell. If you ever wanted to go 50 MPH on a bicycle, then I can recommend a road. The descent from Lake Placid to the town of Keane is a very well known part of the Ironman race course and talked about in the annals of triathletes but until you actually ride it, words don’t really do it justice. I’ve ridden down some steep hills in my time such as ones found at the Garrett Co. Gran Fondo or even the 7-mile stretch coming down Skyline drive in Virginia, but none of those descents quite compare to this one. I was staying in the upright position and squeezing the brakes, and I was still hitting 40 MPH at times. If you were skilled and brave enough to ride down this stretch in the aero position the whole time without using your brakes, I imagine you could easily hit 50 MPH and possibly even approach 60. The lack of road maintenance doesn’t exactly help either. I am sure the race officials will have the road swept on race day and hopefully fill in the actual potholes. I would love if they repaved this entire stretch before race day but I don’t think that is going to happen, especially since another rider we talked to who has done IMLP said this was actually the best shape she had seen this road in.

Now if you are doing IMLP for the first time, I don’t want to totally scare you about this stretch of road. On race day, we will have the entire road so we don’t have to watch for cars plus there are no sharp turns to worry about.  As long as you don’t try to bomb this stretch and use some caution, I think you will be fine and have fun. Once you get down to the bottom at the town of Keane, it’s time to slow it down some in preparation for a somewhat sharp left turn.

Once we got to Keane, we stopped to regroup and get water at a little bakery store which surprisingly only took credit cards. I’ve heard of stores that don’t take credit cards but never encountered one that didn’t take cash. After a little clip-in mishap with one of the group members involving abrupt contact between hand, knee, and pavement, we continued.

The stretch of road between Keane and the first turn around (a town called Jay, no relation) is great. The roads are well maintained here, the scenery is breathtaking and the course is filled with little rollers and flat stretches where you can really get some speed going. This stretch is my favorite part of the course.

After making the first of two turnarounds on the course, one of the group members got a flat which we fixed then stopped at a convenience store in the town of Jay to replenish our hydration and nutrition supplies. As I mentioned, the temperature for the day was in the 80’s with little cloud cover so it was a bit on the warmish side. Without much shade on the course, nutrition and hydration need to be well thought out for this race. After leaving Jay, we started hitting some hills although nothing too major. We headed down a stretch of road for the second out and back on the course. This stretch of road has shade and is fairly flat.

Finally, we arrived at an area called the North Pole. This is where the fun begins for this course. Passing the A&W and the little ice cream store means it’s time to prepare for some climbing. The good news is that the climb back up to Lake Placid is far more gradual than the descent out of town - which is good. We’ve been doing a lot of our training on the hills out in Laytonsville and Frederick, MD. Although this stretch of 10 miles back to town is hilly, it’s not horrid bad or as bad as I have seen some race reports make them out to be. On this particular day, the head winds were gusting pretty badly.  I am told that having winds come down off the mountain is not uncommon for this stretch of road, but they aren’t typically as bad as they were on this day. You never know in advance the exact type of weather conditions one might encounter on race day, but hopefully wind won’t be as much of a factor as it was for us.

On the return to town, we encountered more hills.  Probably the steepest hill to climb is the ones in town. The upside is lots of crowd support cheering which will help get the adrenaline going. The downside is facing these hills twice since it’s a two loop course.  Right after the second time, the marathon starts!  Pacing is important to have something left after the bike.

We decided to only ride one loop of the course. We briefly thought about riding half the course again since we had more hours to ride on our training plan.  The problem is that any route out of town is downhill which means the ride back into town is uphill.  The group decided to call it a day on the bike. We did an easy run off the bike around the lake then headed for the water to do some swimming.

Mirror Lake

You hear stories about this lake and how calm and clear the water is but until you actually swim in it, the stories don’t come close. Even though it had been snowing up in this area the weekend before, the water had warmed up enough that you could actually get in without a wetsuit and it felt good to the muscles after riding for several hours. I swam about 1.6 miles, swimming out and back several times to the buoy lines in the water. This lake is unique because they have set up almost swimming pool type lanes in the middle of the lake which you can see above and below the waterline. This is the cable people say can be seen under the water so you don’t really need to lift your head to sight. I had only heard about one line before, so I don’t know if all three will still be there on race day or not.  They were nice to use. The water is also totally clear and calm, as in no current at all. I swam around 1.6 miles but could have easily kept going for over 2 miles. I only came out of the lake because the others wanted to get cleaned up for dinner.

I have always dreaded the swim portion of every triathlon I have done to this point, but for the first time I am actually looking forward to this one.

The following morning we got up around 8 a.m., had a light breakfast and prepared for the run course. Like with the bike, it’s a two loop course so we planned to do one loop which is 13.1 miles.

The run course at Lake Placid has some hills.  My previous Ironman races had flat run courses. This was the part of the race I was most worried about, with my goal of completing in less than 11 hours.

Olympic Ski Jumps

The first few miles of the run course basically mirrors the bike course. Heading out of town is downhill, then the run course veers off the bike course.  At the huge olympic ski jumps, a left turn heads down a road for roughly five miles to the first turnaround point. This stretch of road has some roller hills but nothing major. There isn’t a lot of shade again, so managing hydration and nutrition well is key. On this particular day, we were hit by a morning rainstorm which actually helped keep us cool.

Just past the 6 mile mark of the course, we turned around to head back towards town. Like with the bike course, the biggest hills are in town. On Friday night, we ate at a restaurant called Lisa G’s. Well, this place is on the corner where the worst hills are located so we dubbed this the Lisa G hill. Boy, does it suck. If you are doing this race and haven’t incorporated hill repeats into your training, I highly recommend you start doing so now. The only upside (no pun intended) to this portion of the run course is the crowd support from being in town. Hopefully, the cheers will help motivate you to keep moving through the fatigue on the second loop.

The course goes past transition and the finish line then goes down a road near the lake to the second turnaround. Back into town to once again pass transition on the way back out of town for the second loop to do it all over again.

The run course will be tough, but most the hills are not horrid. The stretch around mile 12 and the final 1/2 mile to the finish will be tough, there is no doubt about it.  But it is doable and worthwhile once the finish line is in sight.

If you read my Kinetic Half race report and as I mentioned briefly above, my goal for this race is to complete it in 11 hours or less. This will definitely be my toughest Ironman race to date. After experiencing the course first hand, I feel very confident in my training and my ability to meet my goal come July. Right now, this is what I am aiming for:

Swim:   1:30 (possibly even a little less if I have a good day)
T1:    0:15 (due to how far the beach is from transition)
Bike:    5:30
T2:    0:05
Run:    3:40

I am sure I will have some nerves on race day, but I feel the most prepared I have ever been for an Ironman race. I think I am looking forward to this one more than any of the others Ironman races I have done. Part of that is because I will have a huge contingent of friends and Tri Club members sharing the experience with me, but it’s also because I feel more confident in my abilities than I have ever before.

2013 Kinetic 70.3 Race Report - Redemption

This past weekend, I kicked off my 2013 triathlon season with possibly my best race since starting the sport three years ago. It was my second time doing the Kinetic 70.3 in Lake Anna, VA. If you read my race report for last year’s race, you know it was one of my worst races ever so I feel a bit of redemption transforming my worst race into my best.

Kinetic 70.3 is my second race on the path to Ironman Lake Placid in July, my third Ironman distance and my “A” race for the season.  In my previous Ironman distance races, my goal had been to finish.  This year, I set a goal to finish in 11 hours or less, quite an ambitious time since my PR is 14:43:38 at IM Florida last year, a flat course race. Of course, I had run the Marine Corps Marathon the week before...

Ironman Lake Placid is arguably one of the toughest Ironman races on the east coast due to its hilly terrain on both the bike and run.  Still, I feel I have a good chance of meeting this ambitious goal with a more structured and disciplined training plan in place this year - despite doubts from some of my DC Tri MoCo Mafia compatriots who placed some friendly betting odds on me.  (That’s okay, proving people wrong just motivates me more.  If I were in their shoes, I probably would have similar doubts about my chances.) 

What is different about this year over the previous two? First, I opted to follow a structured training plan from the book “Be IronFit”.  For IM Louisville, I loosely followed a beginner’s training plan to just finish, and last year I sorta just winged it. This year, I have made a considerable effort to cut out junk miles and not overtrain which can be as bad as under training.  Second, I significantly cut back my race schedule this year so I can concentrate on training, at least until Placid. I scheduled races that will help me gauge how my training is coming along and help me determine where I need to concentrate my efforts as the season progresses. (I have one Olympic distance race up in Michigan in late June I plan to do mostly for fun.) First up was the Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon in March to help me gauge where my running was. Originally, I was going to do the full Marathon like the last two years, but eventually I decided it was smarter to stick with the half since my training hadn’t reached longer distances yet. My goal was to complete the race in 1:30:00, which I did.  Next up was Kinetic 70.3, with similar conditions to IM Lake Placid (especially the run).  My goal was to complete in 5 - 5 1/2 hours. 

Last year’s Kinetic 70.3 was plagued with problems, including three flat tires and a run course that caught me unprepared with three loops of hills.  I was determined that this year would be different.  Kinetic implemented a new bike course for the race this year, so I led a 75-mile bike ride on the new course the weekend before the race so I would know what to expect.  (I was already at Lake Anna to support the Peasantman Triathlon where I had the pleasure of seeing my wife complete her first OWS sprint-distance triathlon.)  To my surprise, I found the new course to be extremely fast. While some rolling hills were sprinkled throughout the course, they did not compare to the hills I have been training on for Placid. I also participated in an OWS clinic in the lake to get a feel for the swim and ran the course to remind myself what a pain-in-the-ass those hills were.  I also decided to rent 404 Zipp wheels from Bonzai. I wanted to see firsthand if Zipp wheels really made a difference before I plopping down a large sum of cash to purchase some. I will tell you that the Zipp wheels really do make a difference. It’s up to you to decide if that difference is worth the money they cost but they really do work, better than other race wheel brands I have tried in the past.

After returning home from my training weekend, I was feeling pretty confident about this year’s Kinetic race. In the week leading up to the race, the weather seemed to deteriorate with every day calling for rain including race day. Though on a reduced training schedule the week leading up to the race, I ended up doing most of it indoors on the treadmill and trainer.  That didn’t bother me too much, but I really did not want to race in the rain. I kept looking at the extended forecast hoping for improvement, but it never materialized.

DC Tri Club MoCo Mafia

My wife and I headed down to Lake Anna the evening before the race.  We shared a cabin with fellow MoCo Mafia members also racing the next day.  Friday had very nice weather although it looked like rain would return for Saturday’s race.  Although we had to slog through traffic, we arrived in time to pick up my race packet and join the others at the cabin a pre-race pasta dinner.  We prepped our stuff for the race and headed to bed.  I wasn’t nervous about the race but still did not sleep well.  This is something I’ve become accustomed to the night before a race.   

Eggs, bagels and OJ for breakfast, then we headed to the lake. It had rained some during the night and we saw a flash of lightning on the way to the lake, but it looked like the rain might hold off for the race.  The morning was fairly uneventful; no one forgot their equipment this year (including me) and so far it wasn’t raining.

I used a garbage bag to protect my transition stuff.  While the rain was holding off for the moment, it could start raining at any moment and I didn’t want to come back to find my stuff soaked. I was concerned the bag would blow away if I laid it over my stuff, so I laid the garbage bag flat and placed my stuff inside the bag the same way I would lay it out on the towel.  It seemed to work pretty well. I also added an extra pair of socks in case my feet got soaked on the bike. Nothing is worse than running in wet socks.

After donning my wetsuit, I headed down to the beach for the race start. I was in the second wave, so I wanted to make sure I had some time to acclimate to the cold water before the race start. I had done some open water swimming in Lake Anna the weekend before and the water wasn’t too bad once you got in, but that first hit of the water was definitely cold. Despite the rain, the water temperature had warmed up a bit from the weekend before, from the lower 60’s to the upper 60’s.

I hoped to complete the swim in 45 minutes.  The run start from the beach took us over some pretty jagged rocks on the lake floor (kinda painful on the toes).  As soon as the water got deep enough, I opted to start swimming to get off the rocks.  The swim course is basically an inverted triangle with six orange buoys going out and a yellow one at the turn. A swim across the lake is followed by another turn back towards shore. With the overcast sky, the sun was not a factor. My swim was fairly uneventful although I probably stuck my head up to sight too much which slowed me down a bit. I finished the swim in 48:26, a little off my goal time but still a PR over my 51 minute swim last year.

Swim Time: 48:26

My T1 time was 4:33.

I was trying out a new aero helmet and the Zipp 404 wheels I rented the week before.  I was going for a 2:30 time on the bike. Up to this point the rain had held off but the moment I mounted my bike, it started to pour. My first thought was “really?” For those not familiar with Kinetic, the bike course starts off at the bottom of a big hill. I wasn’t happy that it was starting to rain just as I was getting on the bike, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. Last year on the bike I had to deal with three flat tires, so I wasn’t going to let rain affect me. An unexpected advantage of the aero helmet is how it kept rain off my face and glasses.  By the time I had gotten to the entrance to the state park, the rain had pretty much tapered off. The roads were still wet though, so some extra caution was called for. From riding the new bike course the week before, I knew there were no bad turns and that overall it was a pretty fast course.

I ended up passing more people than passed me. For the first half of the course, I ended up passing and getting passed by two other guys. We all traded off for awhile. Eventually one of the guys dropped back, and the other managed to get a substantial lead. For the last half of the course, I ended passing and getting passed by another guy in green. We ended up joking with each other as we kept passing each other so much. In the last 14 miles of the course, we hit some pretty hard headwinds.  By the time we got back to the park, I was ready to get off the bike. Up to this point, I was still doing the whole pass and getting passed by the guy in green but finally managed to get a good lead on him heading back into the park. I did the bike in 2:33:12, a time I was very happy with.

Bike Time: 2:33:12

Once back in transition, I discovered the guy next to me had left his wetsuit where my bike goes and his bag was laying on my stuff on the ground. I grumbled, moved his stuff over, and got ready for the run. My socks had gotten soaked, so I decided to take a few extra minutes to change them so I didn’t get blisters. The garbage bag worked, and all my stuff was still dry.

My T2 time was 2:35.

I headed out for the run with dry socks and ready to take on the hills. The run portion of the race is a three loop course filled with a lot of hills including the big one from the bike course.

Last year, I didn’t do my research and the run course caught me off guard. Not only did I remember the hills from last year, but this year I ran the course multiple times the weekend before the race. I was hoping to do the run in 1:45. As I started to run, my lower back was bothering me quite a bit. Sitting in the aero position for 2 1/2 hours had taken its toll. Still I was having a good race, and I wasn’t going to let the hills on this course to mess that up. Even if I wasn’t going to be able to run my fastest, I refused to let the hills beat me and cause me to walk. A lot of fellow DC Tri Club members were out on the course during the run, and everyone was very supportive of one another. During the second loop of the run, the sun finally started to come out. Unfortunately, multiple portions of the course had no shade and it was already a bit humid, so the sun beating down on me was not something I was happy about. By the time I started the third loop the sun had gone back behind the clouds, thank god. I got up the big hill for the third and final time and my back started to feel better, so I started to run as hard as I could. I didn’t want to look at my watch to see how much time had passed in case it was bad and would discourage me. I just ran and planned to check my time after crossing the finish line. As I approached the finish line, I saw the race clock which said 5:22. This meant I had accomplished my goal of finishing the race under 5:30. My official finish time was 5:18:59. Not only a PR for Kinetic (which wasn’t saying much since I had such a horrible race last year), but an overall 70.3 PR for me. For my division I came in 14th out of 46.

Run Time: 1:50:04 - Overall Time: 5:18:59

I didn’t have a perfect race and I didn’t meet all my time goals, but I did meet my main one. I know I need to continue working to improve my swim times and I also need to work on riding in the aero position to strengthen my lower back muscles so they aren’t so tired when I get off the bike for the run. But this race has given me a renewed confidence in my training and ability. When the year started I thought it may be possible to do IMLP in 11 hrs or under, but now I know I can do it.

Red Rockette With Her New Zipp 404's

Oh and I decided I liked the Zipp wheels so much I went out and got my bike it's own pair. I have given my bike a new name. Red Rockette or Red for short.

MCM+Superstorm Sandy+Ironman Florida = Ironman #2

Completing my first Ironman in Louisville was a challenge-filled day of Ohio River water, biking up and down rolling hills, and a dehydration and cramp-plagued run.   Of course I decided to take another Ironman challenge!  Wanting something a bit flatter, I went online to register for Ironman Florida.  I knew that Ironman races sold out quickly, but I didn’t expect the race to sell out in five minutes.  I did grab a slot, and the quest for my next Ironman finish began.

Flash forward to two weeks before the race. A number of my friends from the DC Triathlon Club decided to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM).  For many, this would be their first full marathon so I decided to sign up in support. MCM2009 was my first long distance race, and I thought it would be fun to do the race again with everyone. Of course, I mixed up the dates when I registered – completely missing that the marathon was six days before IM Florida.  The smart move would have been to drop the MCM race, but I opted to do both. To me, Ironman is all about pushing limits then seeing how much further I can go, so doing a marathon the week before seemed like a great way to push myself. 

Preparing for the race was a little tricky.  A week before the race, meteorologists started to warn D.C. residents about Superstorm Sandy, a major hurricane set to combine with a cold front dropping down from the west to create one of the deadliest storms seen in our lifetime.  No one was certain when it would arrive or exactly where it would make landfall.  I was starting to feel a little paranoid.  During IM Louisville, an earthquake hit Washington D.C.  As I prepared for IM Florida, a hurricane was headed the same way.

The MoCo Mafia After MCM2012

The week leading up to MCM2012 was very warm for late October – in the upper 70’s.  I did a brief 3-mile training run but otherwise limited training for the week.  Race morning had cooled a bit, but the day was by no means cold.  The outer bands of the coming storm offered a light drizzle and some headwinds but held off for the race.  The cloud cover actually made perfect running weather.  I finished a smooth race with a time of 03:42:54.  Not my best marathon time, but I didn’t want to kill myself trying for a PR just before IM Florida.  I just enjoyed the run.

Waiting out the storm on the first floor

Superstorm Sandy hit the coast north of D.C. on Monday, so we had no damage or even loss of power even with the rain.  We did sleep on the ground floor in case the wind was too strong for our trees.  By Tuesday, the worst of the storm had passed and it was time to pack for Florida. 

My wife and I left the house at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday for the flight to Panama City Beach, FL.  My aunt and uncle met us at the airport, let us stay in their waterfront condo, and lent us a car.  Their help and support was invaluable!  Although the early part of the week had been stressful, everything in Florida moved smoothly.  My dad, who lives in a different part of the state, drove up to cheer me on for the race. 

Athletes had to check in no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday; we headed straight to the expo after dropping our stuff at the condo.  Dinner came next followed by the mandatory athlete briefing.  On Friday, I rode my bike roughly 7 miles to the expo to rack the bike and drop my transition bags.  I noticed some problems with my brakes on the ride, so I dropped the bike at the Ironman maintenance area where they got things working perfectly.  I also managed a practice swim near Swim Start.  The buoys weren’t set up, but I was able to test the waters – the chop seemed rough but manageable.  A quick run to the grocery netted spaghetti, salad, and key lime pie to carb-load at dinner plus race day nutrition.  After dinner, we popped in the 2011 IM Kona DVD for some last minute inspiration then went to bed.  

While I was nowhere close to how nervous I had been prior to IM Louisville, sleep was elusive.  I don’t think I slept soundly at all Friday night.  Transition opened at 4:30 a.m. but I was awake to make eggs and toast at 3 a.m.  Having access to a kitchen while on the road for a race is very nice.  We gathered my swim gear and special needs bags before heading to Wal-Mart to pick up the shuttle over to transition.

Arriving at transition race morning

I dropped my bags and checked my bike, then headed down to the beach.  We found a quiet area to sit for the hour until race start.  With the waves crashing in the background and the dark sky overhead, I dozed off a bit while we waited.  Twenty minutes out, I slurped a peanut butter Gu pack and donned my wetsuit.  After handing off my morning gear to my wife, we headed over to watch the pro men start at 6:30 a.m. and the pro women start at 6:45 a.m.

Mass start with over 2500 Age Groupers

The swim course was a two-loop rectangle heading straight out to sea.  With the current moving right to left and a mass beach start of more than 2,500 age groupers, my plan was to start in the back of the pack towards the right to avoid being pushed into the buoys during the swim out.  The National Anthem played, the cannon sounded, and we were off.  I had done a mass start before for an ocean swim in Hawaii during the Honu 70.3 race.  This was harder.  The waves were big and constant, and people were everywhere.  Every time I tried to establish a rhythm, I would hit someone’s feet, someone would grab my feet, or I’d be sideswiped by another swimmer.  The mass of bodies did create some drafting opportunities and provided a path to follow when sighting was difficult from the waves. 

The first 15 minutes were stressful.  More than once, I was fighting back thoughts of “F@#^ this, I’m not dealing with this for 2.4 miles.”  About that time, I saw the first turn buoy and decided to finish the first loop.  A foot grazing my face skewed my goggles as I turned into the sun.  I was wearing heavily tinted goggles, and this was the shortest leg of the swim, so I was fine after I stopped to straighten my eyewear.  By the time I reached the second turn buoy, I was feeling more confident about finishing the swim.

1st loop done

The beach leg of the rectangle was shallow and allowed athletes to walk through the surf.  Just as I put my foot down, a wave broke over me from behind.  My right foot was stuck in the sand, painfully pulling my hamstring.  I walked it out and managed to continue.  It was nice to take my goggle off and clear the taste of salt water from my mouth during the jog through the surf.  My time after the first loop was 0:55, so I knew I could make the cutoff barring any major incidents.  I aimed wide as I started the second loop to stay out of the buoys.  The crowds had thinned, but plenty of swimmers remained.  This loop was fairly uneventful, although I felt seasick from the chop.  I think the feeling was more intense than in previous swims because the wetsuit on the salt water made me a float like a buoy. 

My final swim time was 01:55:55.  My goal was under two hours, and I was able to accomplish it under the toughest swim conditions I’ve faced to date.  I feel more confident in my swimming and hope it will cause me less stress in future races.  Wetsuit strippers met us at the water’s edge.  This was my first race with the luxury of strippers – I have to say it was nice not fighting my way out of the suit alone.

Heading to T1

I headed through the freshwater showers then headed to T1.  I was a bit tired after the swim, and I took my time in T1.  I had worn a swimsuit under my wetsuit and switched to bike shorts for the 112-mile bike ride ahead.  A stop by the baby pool of sunscreen and the port-a-john and I picked up my bike from the volunteer before getting underway.

While the IM Florida bike course is flat compared to IM Louisville and the temperatures were not as hot, the high was still in the low 80’s with high humidity and clear skies.  The combination out-n-back and one-loop course offered minimal shade.  For IM Louisville, I had trained in heat up to the week of the race.  With IM Florida so late in the season, I was out of practice with the heat.  I did make sure to have plenty of salt tabs on hand as well as a nutrition plan that met my needs.  As stated in earlier race reports, I don’t do well with Gu and gel packs.  I switched to Stinger bars and mini Nutter Butters which work well for me.

On the second half of the bike course.

The bike course is extremely flat with one significant hill crossing a bridge early in the out-n-back (so I got to ride it twice).  The worst part of the course was the last 3-4 miles of the out-n-back.  The pavement was old and riddled with cracks.  The ride was so bumpy that the road was littered with water bottles, CO2 cartridges, and even spare tubes. 

When I reached the special needs tent, I desperately needed the contents.  Thanks to a tip from my friend Dave, I had purchased a little $5 cooler at Wal-Mart to keep my Coke, Gatorade, and Kit-Kat bars cold.  It worked perfectly.  After refilling my Gatorade bottle, I ate the rest for a nice burst of energy. 

Back on the second half of the bike course, I was feeling strong.  My only real issue was the pain from my new shoe clips.  I had broken the old clips on a recent Century ride.  I tested the new ones on a short 30-mile ride without problems, but the longer distance hurt.  My wife and dad were waiting to cheer for me at mile 90.  One of the best parts of this bike course was the number of people cheering along the bike course.

snazzy new USA compression socks.

My final bike time was 06:40:09 when I headed back into T2 mid-afternoon.  My original goal was to complete the bike course in less than 6 hours, but heat and painful feet slowed me down.  Still, I was pretty happy with the ride and ready to face the run without the cramping that plagued me in Louisville.  I took my time in T2, adding snazzy new USA compression socks to my running outfit.  I didn’t overeat or drink, something that had contributed to my cramps in Louisville.  Another stop at the port-a-john and I started the two-loop out-n-back run course.  The course was mostly flat with a slight hill in the state park portion.

My uncle & dad cheering me on.

The run course had lots of people cheering, including my wife, dad, aunt, and uncle.  They were stationed on mile 6 which meant they saw me 4 times as I ran past.  After running the first 3-4 miles, I switched to a 2-mile run/1-mile walk strategy because my feet and legs were feeling a bit tired.  Still no cramps.  By the end of first loop, the sun was setting.  Fortunately, I planned ahead with a headlamp in my special needs bag.  On the final 6 miles of the course, my feet and legs were spent.  I had slowed to a 1-mile run/1-mile walk ratio.  As I approached the final mile, I mustered my final burst of energy for the finish line. 

The energy at IM Florida was different from the energy at IM Louisville.  The energy at Louisville’s finish line was unbelievable, while Florida’s energy was concentrated on the actual course. At one point along the run there was a tent with a guy in an actual Iron Man comic character costume cheering you on which was cool.  My wife even commented that the energy in the chute was lower in Florida.  Nevertheless, I crossed the finish line to lots of cheers and with a sense of accomplishment as the announcer once again proclaimed “Jay Cochran, you are an Ironman!”

Crossing the Finish Line!

My run time was 05:37:05 for a total time of 14:43:38.  If I hadn’t run a marathon the week before, my run probably would have been stronger but I don’t regret doing both.  Florida was a PR after Louisville; more importantly, I had no major issues during the race.  My swim was strong under trying conditions, and I was able to avoid cramping during the bike and run.  I will need to figure out what’s wrong with my clips and probably won’t run a marathon before IM Lake Placid next year.  The biggest win this season?  My confidence for these long distance races has grown significantly.

Sweet bag given to athletes doing Ironman races in 2012.

Need another reason to run an Ironman?  The swag given to the athletes this year has been great.  Bravo to them for providing us with something so useful and nice. 

Special thanks to following:

All my friends who cheered me on via cyberspace and those who helped me train over the course of the summer. Especially Dave and Sara for doing all those long century rides with me so late in the season.

Jeff Halper: For letting me borrow his race wheels for this race. They performed well even though when the wind blows through them it sounds like I have a cricket riding along with me :)

My Aunt and Uncle Pam & Bob: For providing us a place to stay race weekend and a car to get around with. Not to mention cheering me on during the 14+ hour day.

My Dad: For driving 7+ hours  to come cheer me on and providing me support.

And most importantly My wife Kara: For not just coming and providing race crew support but also putting up with all the long weeks of training and the foot rubs afterwards that helped me get through it all.  Without her I would not be an Ironman.

Love you honey!!!

Cedar Point 70.3 Report - To Rev Or Not To Rev

Last weekend, I set out to complete my very first Rev3 race with the Cedar Point 70.3 triathlon in Sandusky, OH. I had been hearing lots of good things about Rev3; some people even said they thought their races were as good as MDot ones. So I wanted to find out for myself. The other reason I signed up for this race was because my wife.  She grew up in Ohio and spent many a summer riding the rides at the Cedar Point amusement park with her family, and she really was looking forward to going back there.

This race would mark my fourth attempt at a 70.3 distance race. Up to this point I had not experienced a lot of success with the 70.3 distance. My first 70.3 race took place late last year in the Pocono Mountains. Overall, I had a strong race for that one, but the swim portion was canceled due to heavy rains leading up to the race. So I don’t really count that as a full half Ironman distance race. My second attempt took place earlier this year with the Kinetic 70.3. For this race, I had a decent swim but then it went downhill as I was plagued with multiple flats on the bike segment and a piss-poor run giving me a lousy finish time. My third attempt at the 70.3 distance was with the Honu 70.3 in Hawaii. After getting lost in the sun for the swim portion, I failed to meet the swim cutoff time and wasn’t able to finish. My first official DQ.

So going into this race, I had some doubt whether I could pull off a strong half Ironman distance race or not. It didn’t help that I had been struggling with Plantar fasciitis in my left foot and was able to do my first long run without experiencing any significant discomfort just a week before the race.

The race was on Sunday, but we arrived in Sandusky, OH on Friday. My wife’s parents, sister, and brother-in-law were joining us for the weekend to cheer me on and ride the rides at Cedar Point. We stayed in a hotel right next to the park which had its own indoor water park which was interesting.

The weather for the weekend was questionable to start with rain forecasted for Saturday and Sunday. That Friday night, some severe storms moved through the area and lasted into Saturday morning. The storms brought lots of rain and wind. Enough rain and wind in fact that Rev3 canceled the Sprint distance race they were doing on Saturday. Basically, there was too much standing water on the road, and the swim buoys were blown off course. They also had to cancel the practice swim for the half and full Ironman distance races the next day. That morning I got up early and ran three miles on the treadmill in the hotel fitness center. I hadn’t done any training that week because I wanted to be well rested but felt I needed to get in a small run to get the blood flowing. I also wanted to test my foot to make sure it was still okay, which it seemed to be.

Morning of the race

After that we got dressed and headed over to the amusement park. I had enough time to get in a ride before heading over to the race location to pick up my packet and rack my bike. We rode a ride called the Dragster which went from 0-120mph in 3.8 seconds going up to 420ft in the air. It was a pretty fun and fast ride. After that, my wife and I headed over to the race expo where we picked up my packet, got a race briefing from the officials, and racked my bike. After spending an hour or so there, we headed back to the park for an afternoon of rides. In hindsight, I must admit that riding roller coasters the day before doing a half Ironman probably wasn’t the best thing for me. Riding many of those rides tends to put a lot of wear and tear on the joints and body. The next morning I could definitely feel it some in my neck (which had been sore since a bike accident I had six weeks earlier). That night, we went to bed fairly early and managed to get a decent night sleep. Waking up at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, we got dressed, packed up the tri gear and headed over to the amusement park. There was a full Ironman distance race going on as well as the half. The people doing the full had to be out of transition by 6:30 a.m. because their race started first at 7 a.m. Those of us doing the half had until 7:30 a.m. to get ready with our race starting at 8:20 a.m.

Getting a warm-p swim before race start

After getting my stuff set up in transition, we headed down to the beach to check out the water and see the people doing the full distance race start. The water at first glance seemed to be calmer than the day before. There was a line of grey clouds in the sky keeping the sun at bay, but it was hard to tell if the sun was going to break through by the time the half distance race started. With about 20 minutes or so until our race began, I had a chance to get in the water and do a warm-up swim. The swim portion for the half distance race would be done as a wave start. My wave consisted of males ages 40-45 and would be starting at about 8:30. As I was doing my practice swim, I could feel my neck was still a bit tired from doing the rides the day before and could also tell that the chop in the water was pretty bad. Whenever I would stick my head under the water and try to swim, I would feel a little seasick. So right off the bat I could tell this swim portion wasn’t going to be much fun.

Giving a thumbs up before heading into the water

The race course was a swim out keeping the buoys on my right followed by two right turns and then a swim back in. The first leg of the swim seemed like the worst portion to me. I had to swim directly into the chop which would hit me directly in the face every time I lifted my head. I also experienced bouts of seasickness whenever I tried putting my head underwater. It was a wetsuit legal race which was good, but still it was a bit tiring swimming with the chop. On the first right turn, I could see the shoreline and many of the rides in the amusement part. These rides made for nice visual points to spot with. My original swim time goal was to complete it in about 45 minutes but by the time I made the second right turn and started swimming back to shore, I could tell I wasn’t going to be able to make that time. My final swim time was a dismal 55:38. I was the last person in my age group out of the water so I had a lot of ground to make up.

Exiting The Water - Time 55:38

As I ran back to T1, I realized that finding my bike was going to be harder than I initially  thought. The bike racks were not well marked. There was nothing on the ends of the racks indicating what numbers they were for, and the individual numbers were on the bottom of the bike racks which often times were covered by people’s stuff. After finally finding my transition area, I began to take my wetsuit off and get ready for the bike portion. My T1 time was 5:10.

As I began the bike portion of the race, I was feeling pretty strong. My neck was a bit tired and riding in the aero position certainly didn’t help it, but I managed to power through it. Most of the course was relatively flat which was nice. Not only was I able to get some good speed going but it was also good practice for Ironman Florida which I will be doing in early November. The bike course had a couple of stretches of road that weren’t well maintained which made for a very bumpy ride at times. The worst part was the last couple of miles riding on the road going back into the park. Very bumpy with a strong headwind to boot. I spent much of the bike portion passing and getting passed by another female athlete. It got to the point where we even joked with each other about it. Towards the end, I was able to pass her and finish the bike portion before her, but it wouldn’t be the last time I saw her during the race. My final bike time was 2:45:41. Originally I was shooting for a time of 2:30, but overall I was pretty happy with this time.

Final Bike Time 2:45:41

Back in transition, I had to search around a bit for my transition area again. Once I found it, I was able to get ready for the run portion fairly quickly. T2 time was 4:22.

As I began the run portion, I really had to pee. I actually had to pee after starting the swim and held it for the entire bike course, but I decided at the first aid station on the run that I was going to have to go. After a quick stop at the port-a-john I was back on the course, but the slight delay allowed the girl from the bike portion to catch back up to me. We ran together for a while but eventually she got the better of me and took off - never to be seen by me again.

Final Run Time - 1:52:25

The run portion was flat and took us through town. The weather was great, not too hot with temps in the low 70’s and some cloud cover to keep the sun from coming out in full force. Aid stations were plentiful and well stocked. I didn’t have my fastest run in this race, but I had a pain free one which was something I hadn’t experienced in some time. My final run time was 1:52:25 making my total race time 5:43:15. I came in 276 out of 715 racers. I came in 57 out of 93 in my age group.  Considering I was the last person out of the water for my age group, I felt I did pretty good coming back.

After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal, shirt, and a free Gatorade towel. We grabbed some food from the food tent. The medal was cool because it was shaped like a Ferris Wheel, and I give Rev 3 credit for serving some of the best post-race food I have ever had at one of these events. What was even better - they allowed you to serve yourself so if you wanted a big bowl of fruit, you could have it. After eating, we headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and then it was back to the park for an afternoon of riding rides which was a lot of fun.

Sporting my new Finisher shirt and medal

As to the question of how good a race Rev 3 puts on, I would say they did a pretty good job. I don’t think they do quite as good a job as MDot. Mainly they just don’t quite have that level of excitement yet an Mdot race has. When I finished Ironman Louisville last year, there were tons of people standing there at the finish line cheering me on and giving high fives. And that was finishing the race at 10:30 at night. At the Rev3 race, it just wasn’t quite the same feeling. Still Rev 3 probably puts on a better race than anyone else, and if you have an opportunity to do one I would say go for it.

As for me, I have two more races for the season with the Marine Corps Marathon in the last week of October then Ironman FL the first week of November. Yes some would call be crazy for doing a marathon a week before doing a full Ironman, which I probably am. I felt pretty good overall with this Rev 3 race and hope it helps propel me into having strong performances in the final races of the season. This season has had a lot of ups and downs for me, but I hope that I managed to save the best for last.

Rev3's Finisher Medal

The Garrett County Gran Fondo "Diabolical Double" Report - Hills, Hills & More Hills

Dave and I

I completed my first ever Gran Fondo ride this weekend, to be more precise I did the Garrett County Gran Fondo Diabolical Double which is a bike ride that climbs 16,500 over 125 miles.  I knew going in that this was not going to be an easy ride.  Dave, who trained with me last year for Ironman Louisville, had done the ride before and convinced me to sign up with him this year.  He told me on multiple occasions what a b!tch the hills on this ride are. Still, until you actually see some of these monsters for yourself, words just don’t do them justice. I wanted to do this ride ever since I heard about it last year from Dave - at least once.  I don’t know exactly why other than it was a challenge that I wanted to overcome.

I had hoped to get in a number of rides on Virginia’s Skyline Drive to help me prepare for the ride. Skyline made me a much stronger rider last year, and I was convinced it would help me again this year. Alas, time was not on my side with all the races and travel I had going on this year, and I was only able to get out to Skyline once - the week before.  A 110-mile training ride with Dave and a few others turned into just 80 miles for me as my body struggled to overcome jet lag (from Hawaii) and insomnia as I readjusted to the Eastern time zone.  Add in a strenuous week of workouts consisting of a 11-mile run, over 60 miles of riding, over 3500 meters of swimming  and some weight lifting.  When we started the ride, my body was pretty tired and I did not have a strong ride for my one and only trip to Skyline.

After struggling on my training ride, I decided to take the week leading up to the Diabolical Double pretty easy, so I made sure to get plenty of sleep and moderated my workouts. I did 30 miles of riding on Tuesday and 1,000 meters of swimming on Thursday. Another challenge on my Skyline ride was nutrition, so I focused on this before and during the Diabolical Double. With aid stations every 18-25 miles along the ride with food and liquids, this was not to difficult.

The plan was to drive to Deep Creek the Friday before the Gran Fondo.  I originally hoped to leave DC around 2 p.m. but didn’t get away until 5 p.m. Fortunately, traffic wasn’t too bad so I arrived in Deep Creek around 8 p.m. Packet Pickup and the free dinner were open until 9 p.m. so I met up with Dave and some other members of the DC Tri Club to grab our packets and some pasta, salad, and strawberry shortcake.  While Dave and I were staying at Wisp, the other DC Tri Club members (Jason, Brent, Elaine, and Andy) were staying at a nearby cabin for their jaunt on the “Masochistic Metric”, a 62-mile ride climbing 8,000 feet.   

After getting our gear ready for the following morning and watching some Olympic Trials on the television, Dave and I headed for bed so we could get up at 4:45 a.m. for the 6:50 a.m. mountain-top pre-briefing.   We loaded up on coffee, powdered donuts, and Pringles for a calorie-rich breakfast.  

For my nutrition on the bike, I decided to switch from my normal Gatorade to Accelerade sports drink. It’s one of those powders you mix in with water, so I could fill my water bottle and bring extra powder for later in the day. Overall, I think it did a pretty good job of keeping me going. I was using Fruit Punch flavor which doesn’t taste as good as the Gatorade but wasn’t horrid. I also packed a number of Stinger bars and a banana. I’ve decided to give up on Gels. They just don’t sit well with my stomach, so I have to work on finding suitable alternatives.

The weather for the day looked like it was going to be good. The morning started out a little foggy but the temps were decent starting out in the high 50’s to low 60’s and getting into the mid 80’s by later in the day. The sun was out with a mixture of clouds thrown in occasionally to give a break from the rays beating down at various points on the course.

While 1,200 people total were doing the Gran Fondo event this year (up from last year), only 50-100 people were crazy enough to do the 125-mile Diabolical Double. We were the first ones to start with the shorter rides starting in waves after us. By 7 a.m., we crazy few were lined up to begin the long day’s ride. After the National Anthem, we were off. The course starts off downhill for about a mile and a half which is nice, the downside (no pun intended) is this is the same hill you have to come up at the end to finish. Dave and I decided to stay together for the ride, although Dave is a little stronger rider than me so basically he was willing to ride at a slower pace to stay with me. We began our descent as people doing the shorter rides cheered us on while waiting for their wave to start.

A couple miles in, I heard a loud bang. I knew from past experience (see my Kinetic 70.3 race report) that someone had just gotten a flat - fortunately it wasn’t me. A short time later, Dave discovered his back tire was flat. He insisted it wasn’t his tire that made the loud bang, nonetheless he was in need of a new tube.  We had made our way to the front of the pack by this point but soon would be passed by everyone as we made repairs. People were really nice though and kept asking if we needed any help as they rode by. Dave changed his tire but apparently had only packed one spare tube, not too big a deal though because I was carrying three. We got on the road and began to pass people again although we never really caught back up to the lead group again. The stretch between the start and the first aid station was about 18 miles. My plan for this ride was to take it one aid station at a time. I wasn’t going to dwell on the 125 miles rather I would focus on the next 18 miles. This seemed to be a pretty good mental strategy though it didn’t help that Dave kept telling me about the killer hills yet to come; he said he was trying to keep me motivated. The first 18 miles weren’t terribly bad. Certainly it had its share of hills but nothing I would call killer and of course we were still fresh at this point. As we rolled into the first aid station, the remains of that initial lead group were rolling out. This would be the last time we saw them. The first aid station was well stocked with food and drink as well as entertainment. They had a Hawaiian-type kettle band playing which was cool. Dave filled his tire up with real air from a pump opposed to the stuff in the C02 cartridges which never seem to last long and managed to snag a new spare. We both grabbed some grub and drink and refilled our water bottles before hitting the road for the next aid station.

Less than a mile out of aid station #1, we started riding with a group. One of the guys got too close to another rider, hit the back tire of the guy in front of him with his front tire, and took a bit of a tumble. The rest of us stopped to make sure he was alright (he was), but when I went to clip out I managed to pull the clip off my right shoe. So once again, Dave and I pulled off to the side of the road to make repairs, this time to my shoe.

By this time, riders from the 102-mile century length started passing us while we were sidelined.  Once I got my shoe back in working order, we were back on the road and able to quickly catch up to those century riders. It was about at this point where we hit our first really big/long hill. Some people choose to walk up it, but Dave and I kept on riding and we caught back up with Diabolical Double riders by the time we reached our second aid station. This station was the last one serving all riders regardless of distance.  From this point, the people doing the 40- and 60-mile rides would break off in a different direction. For those of us doing the 102- and 125-mile rides, we had our first major challenge ahead of us. The next stretch included “Bowman” and “Killer Miller.” Either of these hills would be a challenge on their own but having them in the same segment made this one of the toughest portions of the course. The only upside was at this point, I was still feeling pretty strong and fresh. Had this segment been at the end of the course, I am not sure I would have made it. Knowing what was ahead, I made sure to take in a fair number of calories. Peanuts, M&M’s, a PB&J and some orange slices were all consumed at this station. After refueling and a stop by the port-a-john, we were back on the road.

Shortly out of the aid station, Dave began to experience problems with his shoe clip. His didn’t come off like mine but it had become really loose, so we pulled off for our third round of repairs. Once back on the road, it didn’t take us very long to reach the first monster hill, Bowman. This thing seemed like it went on forever. Besides the fact that going up these big hills is just plain tiring, they also take forever to get up. Distances that normally take 20 minutes now take an hour, and your mind starts using the extra time to mess with you. You start asking yourself “Why are we doing this?”  Of course when you pedaling up these things, it’s hard to come up with a good answer. It’s as much a mental game as it is a physical one when you do these things.  Once you finally make it to the top, you start to remember why you’re out here at least until you get to the next hill. Once over Bowman, we had get some nice downhills and a little time to recover before taking on Killer Miller.

There is actually a cutoff time to arrive at aid station #3 if you plan to complete the whole 125 miles. We were well within that time limit, but we still had Miller to overcome. Dave yelled out to a group of people on the side of the road asking how far was it to “Killer Miller”.  Their response - around the corner just 300 meters away.  Oh great, so here it comes. Bowman had managed to make a few cracks in my mental barrier, but I wasn’t going to let Miller get me. After all, the next aid station was only a short distance beyond this monster. As we rounded the corner, there was actually a fork in the road and we started to go up the left side. Quickly realizing this was the wrong way, we back tracked and headed down the right side where a couple little girls riding their bikes in their driveway cheered us on.

I don’t think Miller was quite as steep as Bowman, but it was definitely long with minimal shade. Again, the hardest part of the slow trip up the hill is controlling the little voices in your head asking “Why, oh why are we doing this????” As we approached the top of Miller, we found a timing mat and a group of volunteers screaming “You did it, you’ve made it to the top!” which was music to my ears. Of course, I was still trying to tune out that little voice now saying “Great, but we aren’t even half way yet.” That’s when focus on the next aid station and not the miles left in the entire course is helpful. Fortunately, the next aid station was a short distance ahead.

As we rolled into aid station #3, we could see the course was starting to take its toll on people. This aid station marked the final bail out location for the course. If you decided you didn’t want to or couldn’t do the whole 102- or 125-mile distance, the race officials had mapped out a shorter, more direct route back to the finish line. Of course, people were available to drive riders back if they couldn’t continue or to offer aid in general, but this was a way to return under your own power and still cross the finish line. We still had to go up a pretty big hill as we left the aid station plus the monster hill at the finish line, so I figured we might as well keep moving forward (although there was a small part of me tempted to take the bail out route knowing I still had monster hills similar to Miller and Bowman ahead of me).

The next portion of the course between aid station 3 and 4 was would mark the longest distance between aid stations. Most of the aid stations were about 18 miles apart but the distance between these two was 26 miles. The upside was the absence of monster hills like Miller and Bowman on it. By no means it was a flat segment, no such thing on this ride, just not the killer hills like we had just done. What this segment did incorporate was about a mile and a half of course on a gravel road. The last time I did a ride that took me on a gravel road I ended up with a flat tire, so I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect of taking my road bike off-roading but as Dave put it - it’s one of the many charms of the ride.

The ride up to the gravel road went smoothly and by the time we reached that spot on the course, we had started riding with another group of three riders. We all started down the gravel road which starts out going downhill. To my surprise, we rode past a pair of people standing on the side of this deserted gravel road playing their banjos. Since we were pretty close to the West Virginia border by this point, I couldn’t help the flashbacks to the movie Deliverance.  I spent most of the downhill segment riding my brakes and trying to avoid any major bumps.  Of course, one of the things you learn on these rides is what goes down inevitably goes back up so about halfway through the gravel portion we started going uphill. This wasn’t a Killer Miller type hill but t wasn’t a small hill either and the gravel made it that much more challenging. About half way up the hill, we started hitting softer dirt.  Because I tend to lean forward with my weight on the front of my bike when going uphill, my back tire started spinning out more and more. It got to the point where I felt like I was going to fall over, so I opted to walk the rest the way up the hill. Dave and the other guys we were riding with managed to ride the whole way up and Dave waited for me at the top. It didn’t take me long to get to the top, as I was able to walk it almost as fast as I was able to ride it and once we got going again we were able to catch up to the other group fairly quickly.

The rest of this segment went by without too many issues and as we approached the fourth aid station, we entered a town which is home to the Westernport Wall, a very steep and pretty well known hill that is part of the Savageman Triathlon. You can actually ride up this hill for the Diabolical Double if you want but most people choose not to.... I thought about it for two seconds and then said Nah!!!!. For those not familiar with the Westernport Wall segment, it is not only a very steep hill but it also is on a horribly maintained segment of road with lots of potholes and such which cause a lot of people who try to go up it to fall over.

Once at the fourth aid station, we spent time resting, eating, drinking and trying to physch ourselves up for the next segment which was quite possibly the hardest segment of the entire course.  On this segment , we headed out of town, crossed the border into West Virginia, and immediately start pedaling up. It’s not a super steep climb but it is long and continuous. Something like seven miles of just going uphill not to mention much of it is in the direct sun.  After that, we had some ups and downs to about the 4-mile mark from the next aid station where we found another incredibly steep and long hill. We were so close to the aid station only to be foiled by this neverending hill that after each turn just seems to go on forever. On top of that, we were by no means fresh like when we took on Miller and Bowman. This hill really pushed me to my limits. At this point, Dave had broken away from me and I was on the course by myself. Finally when I got to the top of the hill, an officer sitting in a cop car was waiting to tell me the aid station was just down below in the next little town. It was all downhill. Thank god.  As I got to the town, I didn’t see any sign of a aid station so I kept riding and began to start riding up a hill again. At first, I thought the cop had lied to me but I kept riding. I was to the point distance-wise where I should be seeing an aid station. At this point, another rider had caught up to me and was having similar thoughts. We kept riding for a bit longer. With still no aid station in sight, I decided to stop. The other guy kept going. I was faced with a dilemma. I could keep going up this hill and hope there was an aid station ahead, or I could go back down the hill to see if I already passed it.  However if I hadn’t passed it then I would have to ride all the way up this hill again, which I REALLY didn’t want to have to do. I had just decided to head back down when I came upon another rider. I asked him if he had seen an aid station below, which he hadn’t. He tried to call his buddy who was ahead of him to ask him but only got a voicemail. By this time, the first rider who had ridden ahead came back after still not seeing any aid station. I decided to head back down the hill and the other two followed. As we got to the bottom of the hill, we discovered we had missed a turn arrow and were supposed to turn left. It’s a good thing we had all been desperate to find the aid station because the hill we had been riding up not only didn’t have an aid station, it wasn’t even part of the course.

After making the left turn, we were quickly at the fifth aid station and the 100-mile mark of the course. Dave was waiting for me there where he asked what took me so long. I explained having missed the turn and all. After resting for a bit and refueling, we started out to the final aid station of the course. This one was only 11 miles away. We started out going up a hill - not a monster hill but at this point any and all hills were taking their toll. My left knee was starting to bother me on the hills and I was just flat out tired both mentally and physically. I was starting to tell myself things like “I’ve already ridden over 100 miles on a super hard course. I can walk away and still be proud of my accomplishment, right?????” The 11-mile segment to the final aid station was wearing because it was constant up and down, but I was determined to get to the last aid station. Like the segment before, Dave had pulled out ahead and would wait for me at the aid station. About five miles out from the aid station, I was joined by a group of four riders. I think everyone was having similar thoughts to myself and that was “Where the hell is that aid station?” About one mile out, one of the guys ended up getting a flat but opted to ride it in to the aid station. We arrived at about 6:30 p.m.  Dave was sitting there waiting for me along with a few other riders.  This aid station not only had comfortable chairs but also had lots of ice and cold drinks which was really nice.

We were down to the final 14 miles of the course and most of it was actually fairly easy with rolling hills. The kicker was that nasty 1.5 mile stretch of uphill we started out on going down. Under normal circumstances, 11 miles would be nothing but we all knew that hill was waiting for us at the end and would do everything it could to try and stop us from crossing the finish line. The hotel we were staying at was even at the bottom of the hill, so there was the added temptation of just stopping and calling it a day. Dave wasn’t going to let me quit though, we had made it this far and we would get this 11 miles done together. He said we would ride the whole last segment together which we did. We started out and made our way down the road. Like I mentioned before, most of this segment was not bad at all so by around 7:10 p.m. we made it to that final hill. By this point, I was determined to finish the whole thing. I had played with the idea of bailing at the hotel (at this point, I could really care less about getting my finisher shirt and the free thing of French Fries) but by the time we got to the hill I was ready to beat it.

We began to ride up it and my knee started bothering me again, but I kept going. We made it past the Team Z cheering section, and my knee was really hurting. I looked down at my Garmin which was telling me I had already ridden over 125 miles thanks to that extra hill I rode up when I got lost, so I decided I was entitled to walk. I told Dave I would see him at the top and got off the bike and started to walk. It was really only a short distance before I arrived at a stop sign and a bit of a flat area in the hill. I didn’t really want to walk over the finish line, so I decided I would ride the rest of the way in. Dave actually waited for me before crossing and we rode over that final timing mat together, which was a really cool thing for him to do.

I can’t tell you how many times during the ride I asked myself why I was doing this ride and why I didn’t just quit. There was no finishing medal, this wasn’t even a race. In the end, just like with the Ironman, it’s about pushing yourself to your limit and then exceeding it. When you do that, there aren’t many other things in life I have found that give you that sense of gratitude.  I don’t know if I will ever do the Diabolical Double again, but I am definitely glad I did it once and can proudly say I did the entire thing.