Mountains of Misery, Blacksburg, VA, Sunday, May 25
Misery indeed, particularly the last climb (CAT 1). I wisely chose the Century (100 miles) over the Double Metric (128 miles) although there is nothing really wise about doing this ride at all. The Century has 10,000 feet of climbing most of which comes from two major and two minor climbs. The rest of the course is small rollers with some down hills and flats thrown in.
There were four waves with the first being the super fast guys. I chose to start in the third wave which was the largest. It was my first mass bike start but being surrounded by experienced cyclists meant there were no issues or crashes and the field spread out quickly.
I was riding with Team Zers Larry Williams, Damon Taafe and Fabrice B. for the first 28 miles (they were doing the Double). It was Damon who put out the email about this ride for those of us unable to go to Placid for training. A big thanks to Damon, she says sarcastically :)
I found myself riding with a small group off and on but mainly with a guy named Matt. They put our first names on the bib number we wore on our backs which means riders can cheer you on as they pass. Anyway, Matt rode the Century last year and we chatted about the beautiful scenery and the climbs to come. All in all we pretty much rode the rest of the ride together. He would surge past me on the up hills and then I would get aero and pass him on the smaller descents and flats. It was a lot of fun.
Yeah it was fun for a while. That is until about mile 60 when we had to climb our way out of the beautiful, flat valley we had been riding through for the last 30 or so miles. The climb started out fine but when we got closer to the hill side it got very steep with switchbacks the likes of which I have never rode on a bike. While climbing, I usually stay seated but not today. I had to get out of my saddle; otherwise I would have stopped as I was going so slowly. This climb was not really long but it was a bitch. The rest stop at the top was like an oasis in the desert. Thank God it was real.
After a five minute break we were on our way with Matt screaming his way down the steep descent. Once down the hill the course flattened out again and I got aero and took off. WooooHooooo! That was fun and it lasted several miles. The next 25 or so miles were not bad at all with a couple minor climbs but they were definitely doable.
We reached our last stop at about mile 93 – right before the last climb began. That stop was very popular as everyone was preparing for what lay ahead. As we left for the CAT 1 climb I said to Matt, “I want my mommy now”. He laughed. I was nervous and had no idea what to expect as I had never tried anything like this before. I already told myself that if I had to get off my bike and walk that I would do just that.
The first couple of miles were ok and we were definitely taking it easy. Then it got steeper and steeper and steeper. With about two miles left to go there was a small flat area right before a major ass switchback where everyone was stopping to rest. There wasn’t much talking going on, just a lot of heavy breathing, but not the creepy kind you would get on a phone call.
I rested a couple minutes and then took off up the steep switchback, out of the saddle, pedaling strong but slow. Christ this was hard. There is actually a rest stop with about a mile and half to go, but since the last stop I had gained momentum and rode past it. It was too late for help of any kind and I didn’t want to stop again, not yet anyway.
I caught up with Matt at the next flat spot before yet another steep switchback. Through the heavy breathing I looked at Matt and said, “This effing sucks”. He nodded and said, “I know”.
There was a “flat” road off to the left about 25 feet ahead and I walked up to that. I walked my bike back a bit to get some speed so that I could continue up what was now straight road and not a switchback but of course steep as hell. I got a tiny bit of speed which helped a lot. I started up the hill and thought I had maybe a half mile to go.
I decided I wasn’t going to stop again. I was afraid if did then I wouldn’t get back on the bike. I slowly, very slowly powered my way up to the finish. Someone walked passed, “Your almost there, keep it up, the finish is at the red tent”. I looked up ahead. There was no red tent in sight.
I kept pedaling praying to see the red tent. Where the hell is the red tent? Then just around a corner it came into view along with the crowds lining the road. It was still almost a quarter mile away. Keep pedaling Stacy. You can’t stop now, the finish is right there! I felt a surge as I approached and passed the finish line. There was a guy there to help hold my bike as I tried to get off my bike. It wasn’t easy but I swung my very tired leg over the saddle and made my way to get the coveted finisher’s shirt. I DID IT!
The ride ends at the hotel and cabins where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. It is really pretty up there and the view was amazing.
This ride is awesome. From the scenery to the SAG support and overly stocked rest stops, I highly recommend it for experienced cyclists who have a sado-masochistic side to their personalities.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Early Season Race Reports: Columbia Olympic and Kinetic Half
The race season if here! After suffering through a dreary winter the season is upon us and I couldn't be more excited.
I have two races under my belt and am really looking forward to my next race at Eagleman.
For my third anniversary of doing Eagleman, I am raising money for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Heritage Fund which supports outdoor activities and sports for Disabled Veterans returning from Afghansitan and Iraq. I will be posting more on this within a couple of days. If you would like to donate go here:
http://www.firstgiving.com/konastacy07
Here are my race reports from Columbia and the Kinetic Half.
Columbia, May 18: 1.5k, 41k, 10k
Time: 2:54:27
Swim: 30:12 (AG 61/119)
Bike: 1:25:06 (AG 28/119)
Run: 54:10 (AG 31/119)
AG Place: 30/119
Overall Woman: 161/600
Pre-Race Transition:
After doing several Half Ironmans and a full Ironman, preparing for an Olympic distance race is really easy. I finished setting up within a couple minutes, but kept checking and re-checking to see if I missed anything. I was good to go. Since I had sooooooooo much time before my swim start (it wasn’t until 8:09) I went to check out the pros and their bikes.
I recognized Richie Cunningham (no – not the guy from Happy Days) but the pro triathlete who came in second at Eagleman last year. I asked him if winning 70.3 Championship in Clearwarter was his main priority this year and he said it definitely was. He didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to get to Kona but enjoys racing the big Half Ironman races.
We talked about the Columbia course and he rode it on Friday but didn’t even want to check out the run course. I told him I thought the bike was fun but the run is challenging. He said he will be back at Eagleman and I told him I will see him there.
I checked out Chris McCormack (Macca’s) and Desiree Ficker’s bikes but neither had arrived yet. I was walking out of transition and ran into Chris Wren. I asked him if he wanted to check out the pro bikes and he did. The next think I knew I was almost face to face with Macca. Christ. How cool is that? I chatted with him briefly, told him he was effing awesome gave him a hi five, wished him luck for the day and walked away. What a great sport this is. I also saw Desiree Ficker getting body marked and I said hi to her.
I hung out the at the Team Z “area” since we didn’t have the tent set up. There was food, water and chairs to sit in – which was great since I had over two hours to wait for my swim start.
The Swim:
It was finally time for my swim wave. This wave was huge and had women ages 40-44, 15-19 and 20-24. There were well over 100 of us and I found out after the race that there were 119 in the 40-44 age group alone. Right before getting in the water the announcer guy said the water temp was 71 degrees. I got in and said to Lindsay, “Bullshit! This water is not 71”. It felt more like 61 and treaded water and swam a bit to try and warm up.
Finally we started but because the water was so cold I swam with my head above water. When I tried to put my face in, I was out of breath. It took me at least a couple of minutes before I could put my face in the water and get into a rhythm. Once I warmed up I felt pretty good. It was pretty crowded at times particularly around the buoys, but I managed to find clear water for most of the swim. I got out of the water in just over 30:12, which is a decent time for me.
T1:
You have a bit of a run from the swim exit to T1 so this takes some time. I had a tree right next to my rack, so I easily found my bike. Advice for newbies: always try to find a landmark in transition or close to it so that you can locate your bike. Once I got there, I struggled to get my wetsuit off and my 3 minute transition time reflected this. Now – time for the bike!
The Bike:
It was really crowded during most of the ride. Since I was in the second to last swim wave I was constantly going by people who were first timers and/or inexperienced cyclists. I actually had to tell some of them to get to the right as they were unintentionally blocking.
The bike course is actually a lot of fun with constantly changing hills – up, down, up, down. There were a few times I was flying and even with the many cyclists I managed to have some fun.
A cyclist had an accident and had to be taken away by helicopter. I passed the scene just after the ambulance arrived and found out later that many people racing were held up for 15 or 20 minutes to wait for him to be taken away. I hope the guy is going to be OK.
T2:
I need to get Yangtz – the shoe laces that you don’t have to lace up. Sometimes I don’t fumble lacing my shoes but today it was ridiculous as my 2 minute T2 time shows.
The Run:
I have a condition I made up called “Don't YoU ReMeMber It's DIfficult? ” or DUMMII. This condition of stupidity allows me to forget that a particular course is really freaking hard so I sign up for it again. The Columbia run course is a prime example. Since completing it last year I truly forgot how difficult it is, particularly the first 3 miles. I started to worry that I wasn’t going to break the 3 hour mark and I was trying to get a good pace but the up hills made it difficult.
I wasn’t feeling good until about mile 4, when my Cliff Shot Blocks kicked in and the up hills were less numerous. I really pushed it on the down hills to make up time on the ups. I passed several Z’s but my cheering was limited today as I was really concentrating on my race.
It was a relief to get to the dam to cross the lake to the finish. A guy was trying to be helpful and yelled to us as we passed “only one more hill”! Gee buddy, thanks for the encouragement.
At this point I knew I had a chance to go under 2:55 so I was really pushing it and finished in 2:54:27. I took about 9 minutes off my time from last year. WooooooHoooooo!
Epilogue:
Columbia is fun, but difficult. I would do it again as DUMMII has taken over. Now, could I break the 2:45 mark? Hmmmmmm.
Kinetic Half Ironman, Lake Anna, VA, April 19
Time: 6:03:39, Not my best, not my worse
Swim: 43:05 (AG 10/14), Not my best, not my worse
Bike: 3:12:43 (AG 6/14), Not my best, but close to my worse
Run: 2:01:43 (AG 4/14), Not my best, not my worse
AG Place: 3/14, :)
Overall Woman: 25/92
Being my first race of the season, I had no real goals in mind except I hoped to go under 6 hours.
The Swim:
I swam in a full wetsuit for the first time and found the arm movement to be better than expected. The water was much warmer than last year, which made us all very happy. The swim was a two loop course and pretty uneventful. I had open water then entire way and there was little crowding even at the start. My time was not my best and not my worse.
T1:
Slow. Oh well, it’s the first race of the season.
The Bike:
This was a two loop course with rolling hills. The first loop went really well, but by the second loop I was taking it pretty easy which was the main reason I didn’t finish under 6 hours. Oh well, again. It was the first race of the season.
T2:
See T1.
The Run:
It was hot now with temps in the mid to upper 70s. While I do pretty well in the heat, this course has almost no shade. I just kept my head wet and dumped cups of ice down my top (one advantage to having boobs and wearing a sports bra). The course was three loops with many hills and I didn’t find my legs until about half way through the first loop. What really sucked was running past the finish line not once but twice. While it is great for the spectators, it can be disheartening to see people finish when you have one or two loops left.
Epilogue:
Not a bad day overall and quite unexpectedly I got third in my age group. I was of course happy about that and as it turns out it earned me a possible roll down slot to the Long Course World Championship in Holland in August. The Kinetic half was one of just a few qualifying races. While I wish my PR of 5:37 at Lake Anna last September was the reason I may qualify, I feel quite priviledged to have the opportunity to represent the USA.
I have two races under my belt and am really looking forward to my next race at Eagleman.
For my third anniversary of doing Eagleman, I am raising money for the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Heritage Fund which supports outdoor activities and sports for Disabled Veterans returning from Afghansitan and Iraq. I will be posting more on this within a couple of days. If you would like to donate go here:
http://www.firstgiving.com/konastacy07
Here are my race reports from Columbia and the Kinetic Half.
Columbia, May 18: 1.5k, 41k, 10k
Time: 2:54:27
Swim: 30:12 (AG 61/119)
Bike: 1:25:06 (AG 28/119)
Run: 54:10 (AG 31/119)
AG Place: 30/119
Overall Woman: 161/600
Pre-Race Transition:
After doing several Half Ironmans and a full Ironman, preparing for an Olympic distance race is really easy. I finished setting up within a couple minutes, but kept checking and re-checking to see if I missed anything. I was good to go. Since I had sooooooooo much time before my swim start (it wasn’t until 8:09) I went to check out the pros and their bikes.
I recognized Richie Cunningham (no – not the guy from Happy Days) but the pro triathlete who came in second at Eagleman last year. I asked him if winning 70.3 Championship in Clearwarter was his main priority this year and he said it definitely was. He didn’t seem to be in a big hurry to get to Kona but enjoys racing the big Half Ironman races.
We talked about the Columbia course and he rode it on Friday but didn’t even want to check out the run course. I told him I thought the bike was fun but the run is challenging. He said he will be back at Eagleman and I told him I will see him there.
I checked out Chris McCormack (Macca’s) and Desiree Ficker’s bikes but neither had arrived yet. I was walking out of transition and ran into Chris Wren. I asked him if he wanted to check out the pro bikes and he did. The next think I knew I was almost face to face with Macca. Christ. How cool is that? I chatted with him briefly, told him he was effing awesome gave him a hi five, wished him luck for the day and walked away. What a great sport this is. I also saw Desiree Ficker getting body marked and I said hi to her.
I hung out the at the Team Z “area” since we didn’t have the tent set up. There was food, water and chairs to sit in – which was great since I had over two hours to wait for my swim start.
The Swim:
It was finally time for my swim wave. This wave was huge and had women ages 40-44, 15-19 and 20-24. There were well over 100 of us and I found out after the race that there were 119 in the 40-44 age group alone. Right before getting in the water the announcer guy said the water temp was 71 degrees. I got in and said to Lindsay, “Bullshit! This water is not 71”. It felt more like 61 and treaded water and swam a bit to try and warm up.
Finally we started but because the water was so cold I swam with my head above water. When I tried to put my face in, I was out of breath. It took me at least a couple of minutes before I could put my face in the water and get into a rhythm. Once I warmed up I felt pretty good. It was pretty crowded at times particularly around the buoys, but I managed to find clear water for most of the swim. I got out of the water in just over 30:12, which is a decent time for me.
T1:
You have a bit of a run from the swim exit to T1 so this takes some time. I had a tree right next to my rack, so I easily found my bike. Advice for newbies: always try to find a landmark in transition or close to it so that you can locate your bike. Once I got there, I struggled to get my wetsuit off and my 3 minute transition time reflected this. Now – time for the bike!
The Bike:
It was really crowded during most of the ride. Since I was in the second to last swim wave I was constantly going by people who were first timers and/or inexperienced cyclists. I actually had to tell some of them to get to the right as they were unintentionally blocking.
The bike course is actually a lot of fun with constantly changing hills – up, down, up, down. There were a few times I was flying and even with the many cyclists I managed to have some fun.
A cyclist had an accident and had to be taken away by helicopter. I passed the scene just after the ambulance arrived and found out later that many people racing were held up for 15 or 20 minutes to wait for him to be taken away. I hope the guy is going to be OK.
T2:
I need to get Yangtz – the shoe laces that you don’t have to lace up. Sometimes I don’t fumble lacing my shoes but today it was ridiculous as my 2 minute T2 time shows.
The Run:
I have a condition I made up called “Don't YoU ReMeMber It's DIfficult? ” or DUMMII. This condition of stupidity allows me to forget that a particular course is really freaking hard so I sign up for it again. The Columbia run course is a prime example. Since completing it last year I truly forgot how difficult it is, particularly the first 3 miles. I started to worry that I wasn’t going to break the 3 hour mark and I was trying to get a good pace but the up hills made it difficult.
I wasn’t feeling good until about mile 4, when my Cliff Shot Blocks kicked in and the up hills were less numerous. I really pushed it on the down hills to make up time on the ups. I passed several Z’s but my cheering was limited today as I was really concentrating on my race.
It was a relief to get to the dam to cross the lake to the finish. A guy was trying to be helpful and yelled to us as we passed “only one more hill”! Gee buddy, thanks for the encouragement.
At this point I knew I had a chance to go under 2:55 so I was really pushing it and finished in 2:54:27. I took about 9 minutes off my time from last year. WooooooHoooooo!
Epilogue:
Columbia is fun, but difficult. I would do it again as DUMMII has taken over. Now, could I break the 2:45 mark? Hmmmmmm.
Kinetic Half Ironman, Lake Anna, VA, April 19
Time: 6:03:39, Not my best, not my worse
Swim: 43:05 (AG 10/14), Not my best, not my worse
Bike: 3:12:43 (AG 6/14), Not my best, but close to my worse
Run: 2:01:43 (AG 4/14), Not my best, not my worse
AG Place: 3/14, :)
Overall Woman: 25/92
Being my first race of the season, I had no real goals in mind except I hoped to go under 6 hours.
The Swim:
I swam in a full wetsuit for the first time and found the arm movement to be better than expected. The water was much warmer than last year, which made us all very happy. The swim was a two loop course and pretty uneventful. I had open water then entire way and there was little crowding even at the start. My time was not my best and not my worse.
T1:
Slow. Oh well, it’s the first race of the season.
The Bike:
This was a two loop course with rolling hills. The first loop went really well, but by the second loop I was taking it pretty easy which was the main reason I didn’t finish under 6 hours. Oh well, again. It was the first race of the season.
T2:
See T1.
The Run:
It was hot now with temps in the mid to upper 70s. While I do pretty well in the heat, this course has almost no shade. I just kept my head wet and dumped cups of ice down my top (one advantage to having boobs and wearing a sports bra). The course was three loops with many hills and I didn’t find my legs until about half way through the first loop. What really sucked was running past the finish line not once but twice. While it is great for the spectators, it can be disheartening to see people finish when you have one or two loops left.
Epilogue:
Not a bad day overall and quite unexpectedly I got third in my age group. I was of course happy about that and as it turns out it earned me a possible roll down slot to the Long Course World Championship in Holland in August. The Kinetic half was one of just a few qualifying races. While I wish my PR of 5:37 at Lake Anna last September was the reason I may qualify, I feel quite priviledged to have the opportunity to represent the USA.
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