Off Season Time!

 

Since my tri-season officially closed in the books at the end of August, I’ve been more or less goofing off and riding my fitness through bike races, 5k’s, and a handful of half marathons. But, fun time is over and my off season is here. While most people view the off season in terms of turkey, eggnog, and “base miles”, I look it as my get fast time. The overall training time and volume are light, but the difficulty is my highest of the year.

It’s also the time of year where I map out my goals for the 2010 season and I thought I’d share those with you:

#1)  22:30 5k (3.1 miles). For the true runners, that’s a slow, recreational time but for me- that’s crazy fast!! As of 11/4/09, my time on a pancake flat course is 23:47 so I’ve got my work cut out for me in a big way. I’m jokingly referring to this one as “Operation Get the Lead Out” and my game plan involves LOTS of speedwork and chains on the cabinets to drop some pounds (hoping to make <130 lbs my fighting weight this year). A sub goal to this is getting my mile repeat efforts down below the 7′ mark. Would love to see a 6:xx on the watch again! Haven’t seen that since a high school presidential fitness test and I’m pretty sure I almost had a stroke on the track that morning, not to mention a crazy headache and the spins for the rest of the day. :)

#2) <1:47:00 half marathon. In keeping with the running theme, this is a big one for me. I’ve never cracked 1:50:00 officially at a race. My best effort is a 1:50:06. I’m confident the 1:50:00 will be gone but the 1:47:00 goal means I’ve got some hard tempo runs in my future to put the far on top the fast. Lucky for me, New England has 1/2 mary’s once a month from here till spring so I’ll have plenty of attempts.

#3) <2:38:00 for 56 miles on the Timberman bike course. Okay…so this one might make less sense to people unfamiliar with biking. The time equates to 21+ mph (I’ve never held that for 56 miles to date). The course I just love. It has hills and it has long flats so that it tests you across the board. There’s no where to cheat basically. My best time on this course is a 2:44:something. To get down to 2:38:00 I have a few things to work on. 1) I have to get my threshold wattage north of 235-40. Currently I’m sitting at 200 and last year I was up to 213-215. Think of threshold wattage as how hard you’re pushing on the pedals. The harder you push, the faster you go. 2) is my bike position. I’ve got to make some positions to get lower in the front and flat over the top. That means some flexibility and core work so that I can sit in that position for hours on end and still put out the watts I need to go fast.

#4) 5:20:xx at Mooseman 70. 3 triathlon. This would break down as a 38 min swim for 1.2 miles, 2:45:00 bike for 56 miles and a 1:50:00 run for 13.1 miles. Add transition times and it will be close. Will require a great day on the course and a A+ effort on race day. With a little luck…this could earn me a roll down slot for the World Championships in Clearwater, Florida.

#5) <12:30:00 at Ironman Wisconsin. My goal splits would be 1:20:00 swim for 2.4 miles, 6:15:00 bike for 112 miles, and to run <4:25:00 for 26.2 miles.

So there they are. All written down on paper and some loftier than others. In 2008, I met all of my goals. In 2009, I met none of them. For 2010, I’m motivated and ready to work. Time to stop goofing off and get it done. :)

Cyclocross Debut

With my 2009 triathlon season in the books and some free time on my hands I’ve decided that this would be the year that I take the plunge and start racing cyclocross. Think of it as a steeple chase kind of race but on a bike. It’s mostly offroad with the onroad portion through parking lots and on sidewalks. There are technical sections with really tight and consecutive hairpin turns, mud pits, barriers you have to dismount and jump over, and more caution tape than a CSI crime scene.

So yesterday I headed down to Bedford, Mass for the Quad Cross race. I’m a category 4 bike racer (aka- newbie with no points) so I was registered for the Womens 3/4 race. By my count there were approx 35 people in my wave. it’s a mass start in a parking lot so when they blow the whistle we all go charging across the parking lot and into a grass field. I’m not particularly comfortable with the mass start/bumping elbows/shoving routine, so I started on the back line. I’m not a threat at all, so for me it’s more fun to start in the back and work my way through until I get the hang of this stuff.

Here are some pics:

It’s a goofy and HARD race. Totally redlined for the entire thing between pushing on the straights and then jumping off your bike to hop barriers (which by the way are almost two feet high and almost HALF my height…) or run up hills or through mud.

I have almost zero technical skills for this stuff, so I would bomb by people and then immediately get caught and passed on the hairpins or mud pits.

The race is setup for a set time. Our wave was a 30 minute race. So at 30 min or whenever the leaders finish the lap that they’re on, it’s also your last lap.

The results: I did manage to claw my way up some from the dead last position I started in but still got smoked by the faster girls. Looking forward to figuring it all out.

The verdict: it’s a great race! goofy, weird, and challenging. unlike anything else I’ve done in my racing career.

Next race? a local one in Auburn, NH next Sunday. :)

Lake Placid Race Report

Good morning and sorry for the delay! I’ve been enjoying some lazy mornings and trying to dig out from the mountain of laundry. :)

For everyone tracking me on race day and after….I’m sure you noticed that there were no run splits. The reason for that is simple. For the first time in my tri-career, I didn’t finish the race. I did make it thought most of it but I officially threw in the towel at around mile 11 of the run. Here’s the story:

Pre-Race:

In the days leading up to the race, they do keep you a little busy each day with testing your gear and small workouts designed to keep you loose and moving. For me, this is the fun stuff. I love the race atmosphere and enjoying the town itself. I better, right? This is my vacation after all! I’m not a nervous person, so I didn’t have any of that to contend with. If anything, going into this race I was just tired. Despite extra sleep and plenty of down time, I couldn’t seem to catch up at all during my taper. As added fun, my legs were crazy sore after the car ride up (which isn’t that long mind you).

Instead of worrying about the why behind that, I did what I could to try and turn it around. I played PT to myself and dug stuff out, stretched, iced- I even hit up my fellow A.R.T. (active release technique) peeps for some quad and hip work on Saturday. It felt like total post race soreness, only on the pre-race front. I had some success with all of this but eventually shifted gears and worked on my mental game instead. So much of this sport is mental, so I stayed positive and kept reminding myself of something my coach had said- “You don’t need to have your A game at the Ironman to have a good race. You just need your D game.” With that in mind, I was visualizing my D game and crossing my fingers for my B or C game!

Race Morning:
I slept good the night before. Three cheers for the top bunk! Haven’t slept in one of those since college.

Alarm went off at 4 a.m. and it was time for coffee and breakfast. The pre-race meal was my usual- oatmeal with skim milk, some maple syrup, granola and a banana.

Grabbed the bus into town and headed to transition in reverse (dropped off my special needs bags first, hit the bathrooms while they had no lines and then made my way to transition).

The swim:

I really had no idea what to expect from the swim as far as a time was concerned. During my race rehearsal, with the wire (they have a wire that runs under all of the buoys and is very much like the blue line at the bottom of the pool; aka you don’t need to look up and sight) and no traffic, I was comfortably in the 1:22-1:25 range. On race day, I avoided the wire and everyone fighting to get to it for the first loop until things thinned out. Instead, I walked over to the other shore and positioned myself about half way back. It was perfect! I had open water the whole first lap and kept myself as easy as I could. Finished the first loop at 45 minutes and change and was off for my second loop. The wire was crowded but this lap I tried to stay closer to it and then went wide at the turns. Again, no contact and smooth sailing. It’s the first IM swim that I’ve gotten out of the water feeling warmed up and ready to go. Such an awesome feeling!!!

Time: 1:33:46. I lost some time here but…5 minutes is nothing in the scheme of things and lets be honest. I will never make up time in this leg of the race!

Transition 1 (T1) - 9 minutes and change…I forget the exact number. After I got out of the water, I hit the mats for the wetsuit stripper (yup, that’s his job!) and off I went with my wetsuit rolled like a football and tucked under my arm. The transition tent was crazy busy and uber muddy (I know because I stuck one foot in up to my ankle practically!). sunglasses, helmet, socks, shoes and I was off.

At Lake Placid, you run about a 1/4 mile from the lake to the oval. As you enter the oval, you grab your bike bag off the rack and head for the women’s tent. You change/gear up there. Dump your stuff in the hands of a volunteer and run out the other side to go get your bike. I also stopped to see the suntan lotion lady and was glad that I did. It was sunny and hot all day versus the original forecast of doom and gloom.

The highlight? My best friend Jamie was holding my bike for me! She came up to the race to see what it was all about and maybe take the plunge and register.

Bike-

I had one major goal for the bike on race day. I wanted my last climb into town to be my best of the day! Think of the course as uphill climb out of time, crazy long 40 mph descent, flat for about 10 miles, uphill climb, rolling/flat x 10 miles and then uphill climb for the last 10 miles back into town. It’s a 56 mile loop and you do it twice.

Lap 1:
3:29:29

Race splits:
Section 1 – 2:04:04 (17.41 mph)
Section 2 – 1:29:58 (13.34 mph)

I kept it crazy easy out of town and through the 2nd hilly section and flatter section. I got my first tire flat on the out and back (2nd flat section) but that was a quick fix and took maybe 1-2 minutes. On that first lap, I was getting passed by a million people on the hills.  It stinks but I keep going and stick to my pace and my plan. As I made the turn back into town, it was right into a nasty headwind. I was grinning ear to ear because I knew I could make a killing on the second lap just on that fact alone. Kept it easy on the way into town and stayed glued to my aerobars. Even on the first loop, people were sitting up the whole way back into town. One thing you can bank on at this distance is people going out way to hard on the first loop of the bike. It’s easy to do (having done it myself on a few occasions!). My goal for the first lap is to do the opposite and then start reeling them in on the second lap. With the wind, I was happy because people will hammer the whole way home and then by dying on the second lap when they have to do it again at mile 105 versus 50.

After the swim, the sun was out and it was humid so I was drinking like it was my job. I was taking in 28-32 oz/hour of water and about 240 calories (in liquid form) and felt good.

Lap 2: This was game on for me. I was playing with the slingshot effect (sneaking up behind people and then flying by them). It was fun and there was lots of it! Such a cool feeling. Hit the out and back and was confident that my return trip into town would be my best yet.

Section 1 – 2:02:14 (17.67 mph)- 2 min faster than the first lap.

The way back into town was carnage. People were laying on the wall and in the grass at whiteface and there were medical people everywhere. Made sense. It was HOT. There’s no shade and for a lot of us…we haven’t had the chance to acclimate yet.

The first 51 miles of lap 1 = 3:15:10
The first 51 miles of lap 2 = 3:11:45

Why that stat? Because at 51 miles of the second lap, I got the mother of all flats. It was a gunshut (oddly enough- right at river road and right where Dave crashed. how’s that for weird??). Blew a major hole through my tire.

I still had 5 miles to go and the only tools were a spare tube, C02 and multi-tool. With all of the medical support and motorcycles out I decided to wait. With the gash, the tube would have been shot in a 100 feet and I only had the 1 C02 and didn’t want to keep stopping every few feet.

This was my solution:

Disengaged the break, partially inflated the new tube and road it in gingerly. I was totally that bike heading back into T2. Duh-dunk, duh-dunk, duh-dunk.

Lap 2:
3:35:08 (was easily heading for a sub 7 bike without the flat! Lost a good 15 minutes there.)

Total Bike:
7:18:45
Dst 112.225

Transition 2 (t2)- 5ish minutes and uneventful. visor, sneaks, + garmen.

The Run-

With the unexpected hiccup on the bike, I had taken the time to stretch out and get the rest of my nutrition down while I waited for the duct tape. Goal for the first 6 miles was 10:55 pace. It was crazy hard to go that slow especially on the downhill out of town. First mile- 9:30. I majorly slowed it down in the aid stations to get my pace back down. Took a minute for the first two and then was able to be fairly close for the remaining 4 miles. Hit mile 6 at 1:05:55. Perfect!

The problem- my foot was killing me right out of the gates. I had really swollen it up about 3 weeks out from the race and had gotten it “mostly better” by race day. I knew getting off the bike it was going to be majorly tender but was hopeful things would loosen up. In the past, I’ve kind of lucked out with the injury. It swells, it changes colors, it gets better. I was banking on my luck big time! The two big downhills out of town stunk! By mile 8-9 I couldn’t push off of it and was starting to dread the idea of 16 miles of limping it home. My head and heart just weren’t in it. Usually I can stubbornly just get stuff done, but…two ironmans in <9 months? I didn’t have it.

Caught Dave at the bottom of the ski jump hill and told him I was thinking of bagging it. The last time I was in Placid (‘07) was after I had broken the little sesamoid bone the first time. In stubborn fashion, I walked in that race when my leg locked up from the compensating and then spent 6+ months recovering from it. I gave him a big hug, wished him luck, and walk/jogged it back into town and called it a day just shy of mile 11.

The aftermath:

After I turned in my chip, I was sitting up in the grass of the high school waiting for Dave to come in. From a nutritional stand point, I knew I was starting to get dehydrated on the run and had started experimenting with different combinations by miles 7-8. What I didn’t know was that I had dug myself a pretty big hole and while I was waiting, it hit with full force. I got a nasty headache, was dizzy, felt sick and starting getting the chills like crazy. I went and got my dry clothes and some ice + coke/gatorade and went back to the hill. Big mistake. I spent the next hour barfing into my dry clothes bag. It was nuts. I’ve never had anything like that and it was full on exorcist-esque. Initially, I was thinking okay…system reset. This is a good thing. But when it went on and the rest of the stuff kept going…I knew I was in trouble. When Dave finished I went down to go meet him and damn near fell down. I got sick again and then promptly got escorted to the med tent by this women who lectured me the whole way there. I got a good laugh out of that. Turns out I was down almost 9 lbs. Ouch!

My reward was a saline drip and a sprite.

I still have no idea how I got down that much. I really thought I was being good but obviously, major major nutritional error on the day. Had I kept running, I would have been diving into the bushes by mile 20 and dealing with it then.

Lessons learned:
1) MUST re-work nutrition strategy. No more guesstimates. I would have been in big trouble on the run somewhere without the foot.
2) Add some duct tape to my gear bag. it really does fix everything.
3) As much as I LOVE the location and proximity to home, Lake Placid is simply a bad fit for my schedule and the reality of iffy springs living in New England.
4) It’s time to re-address the foot issue and be the patient. If that means surgery, then maybe it’s time to consider the option.

So overall, I was pretty bummed initially, but I’m feeling much better about it all. I want to be in this game for the long haul. They can’t all be great races and usually it’s the bad ones that are the most helpful in the scheme of things. In the meantime, I looking forward to a much deserved off season. I haven’t had one since November 2007. It’s time!!

-Leigh

Tracking Info

Good morning!! It’s just after 4 a.m. here in Lake Placid. :)

Breakfast is done and we’re watching infomercials over coffee. The verdict is still out on the weather itself but right now is supposedly cloudy and more importantly dry. Storms are “in the area”. Which basically means….who knows what we’ll see. The forecast was crummy yesterday and it was hot and sunny in town.

Just wanted to post to take a minute to post the tracking data for today. You’ll have a few options.

1) this is the actual ironman live site. Just type in the last name Boyle or my race numer #2013 and it will tell you what segments I’ve completed.

http://ironman.com/events/ironman/lakeplacid?show=tracker

http://ironman.com/

In the top center of this page you’ll see “LIVE: Lake Placid”. From this link you’ll be able to get general race updates about conditions, etc, as well as, live video coverage.

2) the second place that you’ll be able to find updates and results is through my team’s homepage. They have a spreadsheet going that updates itself as splits are available.

http://endurancenation.us/

Click on Race Tracker  and you’ll be taken to the spreadsheet. You’ll also notice comments on the main page by family and team members watching the race who will post updates on what’s happening etc etc.

I think that’s it! Time to stretch out and finish my coffee.

A big thanks to everyone for the continued support. I’m not sure you realize how valuable it is during the year and especially on race day!! THANK YOU. :)

Gear Check In

The primary goal of the day before the race is to check all of your gear in. Unlike smaller races where you get your own little area next to your bike, IM distance races have their own little system. Your bike is checked over night in the sea of racks and your gear is placed into bags and also checked over night. As you move between the different segments of the race you collect these bags and get what you need out of them. Once done with them, a volunteer will pack them back up and you can be on your way (but more important OUT of the way of other racers).

First up: the bike. I like to keep my setup clean and simple. The fewer moving parts and things to worry about, the better. The water bottle on my handlebars (called an “aerobottle”) holds water only and I can refill that as needed at the aid stations which are located approx every 10 miles on the course. On the frame bottle cage I carry my actual nutrition. Instead of gels and powerbars and that sort of stuff, I rely strictly on liquid nutrition. I mix up two bottles of this and it equates to 250 calories an hour. I sip on this every 15-20 min and take in water as needed. At the 56 mile mark I can grab my “special needs bag”. In there I keep a second mix bottle and some spare tire stuff in case I flat on the first lap. The little bag on the top tube of my bike is where I keep a spare tube, inflator and CO2 cartridge).

Next up: the gear bags.

After the swim, I run into the big transition area and get this bag. In it are my bike shoes, helmet + sunglasses, socks and my number belt. I grab that stuff and handoff my wetsuit, cap + goggles to a volunteer so they can put it all away. From there I make my way around the oval to where my bike is racked, grab that and I’m on my way.

When I come in from the bike, I hand it off to a volunteer and again go on the hunt for my bag. In the run bag are my running shoes, a visor and some spare socks. Bike stuff is tossed in there and off I go again while a volunteer bags it all up.

Lake Placid is unique in that the gear bags are located in the same spot. In other races I’ve done they’re all over the place so it’s nice to go to the same place twice. Sometimes you luck out and volunteers will grab them for you if you call your number out early enough. it’s entirely dependent on traffic through the transition area though.

Off to make dinner! Will post the tracking data and course info later tonight/early morning.

The swim

Looks far doesn’t it??  :)

If you’ve ever wondered what 1.2 miles of swimming looks like while standing on the starting dock….this is it. At the very end of either side are two large red buoy’s that mark the turns. So yellow on the way out and orange on the way back.

It’s a deep water start so while we’re treading water, the gun goes off and it’s a crazy dash to that first yellow buoy. Lake Placid is unique in that there is actually a cable that runs the entire length of the course under the buoys. It’s like the blue line on the bottom of the pool. Keep that in your line of sight and you will guarantee that you’re moving in a straight line and not zig-zagging your way around the course (like I usually do).

On race day we swim two laps of this course. Between them you run up the beach and over the timing mat to prove that you did in fact go around twice and then it’s back into the water. It tacks on some time to your second lap, but it’s nice to have a breather because the roughest part of the race is over and the second lap will be much less combative than the first.

Greetings from Lake Placid

Every time I come up here I forget how great a race venue it is! The whole town is transformed into race mania. In fact, it’s already crawling with athletes and we are still three days out from the race. Above is a picture of the olympic oval. By Saturday afternoon, those empty racks will be FULL of bikes (almost 2500 to be exact). The coolest part? It’s smack next to the ice rink.

Basically, the oval is the center point of the race. It serves as our “transition area”. Our bikes stay on the rack and the rest of our gear is stuffed away in bags that we grab between legs of the race. The two giant tents next to the racks are our changing areas basically (one for the dudes and one for the chicks). The smaller, colorful tents on the outside of the ring are part of the expo or shopping area of the race. Basically, all of the gear vendors camp out and give away samples and other assorted items which we gladly accept while we pretend to listen to what they have to say.

The goal for arriving in town today is to actually register for the race itself. You would think that this would be an easy process but surprisingly…they make it a little more involved. There’s a paperwork thing where you sign away your life should you keel over, crash or get run down by a car during the day. Then you have to weigh in (we’re talking…fully clothed on a scale in the middle of a high school gym where they then yell your weight to the other side of the room- really? I mean c’mon…I tried to cut back on the taper but I might have put on a pound or two…couldn’t we just keep that between you and me?? no?? you have to YELL it??). Joking aside, it’s actually for medical tent info should you end up in there. Still wish they wouldn’t scream it out in front of all the other size 0 athletes!). Then you have to sit through a rules lecture and the step by step process of what to do as far as gear check ins, rules, course announcements, blah blah blah.

After all of this….you are branded for the rest of the weekend with this:

The rest of our day was uneventful. We headed to our condo which actually is a little scary. Very heavy woodland theme complete with real deer hooves holding the toilet paper roll….freaks me out a little….okay a lot. :)

Then we met up with team (Endurance Nation) for a big dinner and pow wow. 70+ people in attendance and 36 people racing on Sunday. It was great to see everyone and catch up!

Tomorrow will actually involve some exercise. We’ll be heading out early to swim one loop of the course and then it will be time for an easy bike and quick run before the family hits town.

Race week is here!!

After 20 weeks of dedicated (and maybe not so dedicated :) ) training, race week is finally here and I’m starting to get excited. Training shut down last week and this week is dedicated to resting up and getting my head on straight in terms of race strategy.

It’s certainly been a challenging year to train with the endless rain and crazy summer, but I’m fairly confident that I’ve seen it all heading into this race so that has to count for something, right??

Throughout the week I’ll be updating my blog to give you a look at what goes on during race week and try to shed a little more light on this crazy hobby of mine. Feel free to fire away with any questions!

Mooseman ‘09

For the second year in a row I signed up for the Bull Moose Challenge- aka competing in both the Olympic Distance on Saturday and the Half Iron Distance on Sunday. I do this for a few reasons: a) I can race with my friends on Saturday (this is their only race of the year) and b) I can race with my Endurance Nation team on Sunday. As luck would have it, there were 50 of us “taking the challenge” and the race organizers gave us numbers 1-50 and our own little VIP bike rack in transition area. I was #5 and I have to say…since they write your number and age on both arms and legs with a giant sharpie marker, I’m happy to only have the numbers 5 and 30 tanned on for the rest of the summer. #629 for example… tough to get rid of! But anyhow, onto the good stuff!!

Saturday

Saturday, Team Gnomie was on the attack. I had two main goals for this race. Average over 20 mph on the bike and run down my friend Chris (3rd from left above) who would have a 20+ min head start on me with the swim waves. He was wave #1. I was wave #5.

The swim- .93 miles

I won’t lie. The water was painfully cold. Every year the race directors claim that we’ve hit the tropics and that through some miracle Newfound Lake is >60 degrees. Right. It’s the first weekend of June. Weren’t we just scraping ice off of our cars last week? It’s barely 52-53 and every year on this Saturday morning, I’m reminded of how hard it is just to get my feet in let alone dive in for a quick swim.

The Saturday swim was a triangle shaped course. I lined myself up to the far right and as luck would have it, I was all by myself -and- on the front line. Open water the whole way. Too bad I was frozen like a block till the first turn. Then I warmed up a bit and kicked it up on the way back to the beach.

Swim time = 32:45

Transition 1 = 3:01. For those new to the sport, as your run out of the water in your wetsuit, you run into the transition area (a big dirt lot with bike racks and your gear layed out). So as your running, you’re pulling your wetsuit off and heading to your bike where you slap on a helmet, sunglasses and your bike shoes before running out the other side of the transition area to the bike mount area. After 30 min in the water, my hands don’t work so anyone lucky enough to see me trying to manage the velcro on my bike shoes and the strap of my helmet must have had a good laugh.

The Bike – 27.25 miles

My goal for the bike was to be > 20 mph avg on the bike. It’s a hilly course that works it’s way around Newfound Lake into Bristol and then back up Route 104. There is one giant hill about 10 miles into the bike in Hebron that we all refer to as Devil’s Hill (strictly because every year we have a lady who dresses up as a devil and makes fun of you as you try to get up and over).

Didn’t crack 20 but I came damn close- 19.9 mph!! The fun part about starting a few waves back is that there is plenty of traffic to work your way through the guys. Always nice to fly by the middle aged dude on a bike worth more than my car!

Bike time = 1:22:35 (which was good enough for 177 best bike split of the day out of 884 people)

Transition 2= 1:47. Much easier transition. Bike on rack, shoes off, sneakers on, grab your number belt and a hat and off you go.

The Run – 6.2 miles

(we had about 15-16 folks in our cheering section with signs and shirts and some early morning beer in them. They were rowdy and a blast to pass during the day!)

My big goal for the run was to to catch up to and pass Chris. Mission accomplished. Caught him just after mile 4! From there it was smooth sailing on the way home.

Run time = 53:57

Total Race Time = 2:54:03

21/86 in my age group (women 30-34)

72/398 women overall

306/884 overall

SUNDAY! The Half-Iron

The swim- 1.2 miles

I will say. The water was much warmer on the second day. Again, made my way to the right and had the front line all to myself which is shocking. As one of the slower swimmer, usually I’m not alone in my attempt to get away from everyone else! Oh well. Still took me some time to get going and to get out of that swimming through mud sensation. I also bonded with the kayak guy in the dress since I can’t sight to save my life and tend to zig-zag my way through the course.

Swim time= 41:51

Transition 1 – 3:20. Frozen like a block much like day one but eventually I sauntered out of there.

The bike – 56 miles

On Sunday the bike course is basically the same except for two things. It’s two times around the lake and there is an added side street detour to add the extra distance. The Sunday ride was much less exciting. I was in the last swim wave and feeling sluggish so there wasn’t much chase going on.

Bike time = 3:05:40

Transition 2 – 1:42

The run – 13.1 miles

Day two = hard run! At the start of the day I was shooting for a <2 half mary, but I knew pretty quickly into the run that I couldn’t get to or hold that pace so I just settled into a comfy pace and kept going. There were plenty of people out there and I had my whole cheering crowd for motivation. I also got to see my Endurance Nation teammates and they all looked great!

run time = 2:08:12

Total race time = 6:00:43

20/48 AG

81/214 female overall

423/668 overall

Bull Moose Challenge Results:

Total time = 8:54:46

29/50 overall

8/14 female

6 Gaps Ride: VT

Over Memorial Day weekend we headed north to take a stab at the infamous 6 Gaps ride in Vermont. This was a ride that I had read about over the winter and offered up to the group as a “fun challenge”. The route itself went over 6 of the local mountain passes as well as some of the local ski resorts (i.e. Mad River Glen, Sugarbush, the Middlebury College Snow Bowl). If completed in it’s entirety, the route was roughly 130 miles with 12,000+ feet of climbing. If nothing else, we thought it would be a fun test and a good chance to change up our local riding routes.

The nice part about the ride is that it broke down into 3 loops so if at any point we got in over our heads or the weather turned bad, we could always head back to the cars. The traditional route starts with the easiest of the climbs- Brandon Gap. To keep our cars at a more central part…we parked in Warren and decided to start with the hardest of them all- Lincoln Gap.

Lincoln Gap is usually referred to as the steepest paved mile in the country with sustained 20-24% pitches for that entire mile. The other interesting fact about it is that parts of it are not paved. As you turn up Lincoln Gap road, it’s a quick steep section that levels off before you hit a section of packed dirt/gravel. From the reports I had read, “when the pavement starts, so does the suffering”. Outstanding! Long story short, I knew I was going to be in trouble on this one, I just didn’t know when or where. When the pavement did start, the road immediately got steep. The first half mile or so was manageable (which means I was in my easiest “granny” gear, doing 3-4 mph and able to turn the pedals over at about 40-50 rpm). Then things started to really get steep and I had to resort to any tricks I could think of to keep moving forward. I started zig-zagging across the road, standing, sitting, you named it I tried it. At one point it was so steep that when I sat on my seat, my front wheel came off the ground. When I stood up, I had to lean all the way over my handle bars to keep from falling backwards. By this point, the others had made it around the corner and it was just me. So I decided I would just try to stand for as long as possible and see if I could see them. As I turned the corner the road became a wall and my forward momentum- STOPPED. We’re talking full body weight on a pedal and I can’t budge it to save my life. I was toast and managed to unclip my foot without falling and rolling down the mountain. I walked the last 1/4 mile (maybe a little more- it was still hard walking up the damn thing!) and caught up with the others. We were all in the same boat. An hour into the ride, drenched in sweat, and walking our bikes. Gotta love it! One down, five to go!

The descent was probably one of the scariest I’ve ever done in my life. It’s crazy fast and windy and then, just to add to the fun…the pavement ends and it goes back to dirt. No lies- I had no grip strength for two days after this ride thanks to the white knuckle death grip I had for the whole way down! I stopped a few times on the way down a) to let the brakes cool since hot brakes can do really really bad things to your wheels and b) to let some cars pass since doing 30 mph down the side of mountain was apparently holding them up.

From Lincoln we made our way towards the second climb of the day- Appalachian Gap. Mostly we joked about Lincoln. The in between ride was fairly flat and comfy.

Appalachian Gap is a popular cycling climb in VT and as such there were quite a few cycling group heading up. All in all, it’s about 6.2 miles of climbing with an avg of 4.5% and sustained pitches at 12-19% (the last kilometer is 18% avg from what I’ve read). The first bump on the picture above is called “Baby Gap” and serves as warm up for the real one. I will say that this was my favorite climb of the day. It was difficult but felt like a road race. There were switchbacks every few minutes and spray paint on the road telling you how far you had to go (KOM = King of Mountain, aka you get special points if your one of the first to the top; GMSR = Green mountain stage race, aka 7 day road race through vermont).

The funniest part of the climb was that the only thing I remember from driving it was that it finished with a turn to the left and a pretty steep section. At the top was Mad River Glen ski resort. So I hit the 1km to go sign and I’m still heading to the right. As I turn left, I look up and you can see cars waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up above. It was totally an “Oh my god…I have to go up there!?” moment.

The descent was quick and fast down into Waitsfield (home of Fitwerx and Ian B where I got my both of my tri-bikes!). With questionable rain and “large sections of unpaved road” awaiting us in Roxbury, we decided not to test our luck. Instead we headed down to towards Middlebury and Brandon. As it turns out when we drove Roxbury on Sunday, none of it was paved and it was all dirt. With skinny little road tires and no tread on those tires, I’m not actually sure we could have gotten up some of those pitches to be honest? Also, while I trust my bike handling skills, I was all set after one white knuckle descent. Give me the open road and 40+ mph anyday.

After a great sandwich in Rochester, we headed to Brandon which turned out to be a nice and steady climb. As #3 of the day, we were glad for that!

The descent was fast with fun sweeping turns and smooth roads! Then we made our way past Lake Dunmore and Satan’s Kingdom, VT (seriously- that was the town name! haha) before turning onto “scenic Route 125″ before hitting Middlebury Gap.

As a standalone climb and road, I’m sure 125 is actually a rolling kind of road that steadily rises before you get to the meat of the actual gap itself. However, with 3 gaps done and my lunch power wearing off, this road felt like Everest. It was endless and eternally uphill. The only thing I remembered from driving this road in the past was that there was a yellow college called Breadloaf and that you hit the Middlebury snow bowl at the top. So we finally hit the college and then the climb starts. As we get to the snowbowl I’m pretty excited!! I thought this was the top of the Gap. But no…it actually kept going for another 1/2-1 mile. Whoops. Made it up though and then enjoyed another fun descent back into Rochester.

with 6.5 hours in the saddle and 83 miles…we decided we were good for the day! It was a great ride. Fun climbs, fun descents and certainly plenty of challenges. Definitely planning a return trip!