Training Log Archive: Work4justice

Took my cousins on a hike at peach. Walked through kind of a yellow course and some memory O for me since we walked off Todd’s orange map. They liked it. So green!

Steamy...stops for the dog. Had 12 60/60 intervals and not to into it.

On my nice comfy mountain bike. Went to the sand quarry to see what was up with the excavation. Got marshed out in a few places. Ran into a bunch of sand on Silver Lake Road as part of their repaving.

Didn't have watch charger, so estimated time/distance. Ran around downtown Baltimore. Amazing architecture.

Michigan Coast to Coast
https://micoasttocoast.com/register/

Coast to Coast 210 Gravel Race across Michigan—goal—finish by sunset.
This is billed as a point to point gravel race plus. The plus is a pretty extensive network of forest roads going through Big M and lots of loose soil and sand. Brenda and I got to talking about doing this race together, her husband Joe joined in and to save some money on lodging we had another couple join us – Rick and Amanda Hatfield. Having a support vehicle is mandatory, my husband Todd and son Simon supported all of us. I rode my Warbird gravel bike. I had 40 tires, with high 30/low 40 psi.
Our goal was to beat the sun, and finish by sundown. After dipping our back tire in Lake Huron, we rolled out of Au Gres at a very gentle pace. About 5 miles into the course there was a “mud bog”---from talk I guessed it was a few hundred meters. It was maybe 50. After that, we were flying. I couldn’t believe how fast we were going. Rick was going for top 10 (on a full suspension no less!) and Amanda thought she would ride with us. We lost her at the mud. A bit later, Brenda’s water bottle holder started falling off, and had to stop to adjust that. Got back going again and worked our way back up to the group we were with, then rolled in and out of CP in about 7 minutes, realized we could do better.
Off onto leg 2, which started the hills and forest roads. Seemed like there was nobody to work with, then came upon a few people, but the hills broke up any groups we had. We intentionally didn’t push as hard, because leg 3 is the hardest. There was a bit of forest road, and a lot of hills. Joe had trouble with his water bottle holder also on this leg.
I personally was very excited to get to leg 3…while it’s the most difficult, it had the most variety. Lots of hills. The sand was rough, and there was a lot of it. Brenda handled it so well! During this leg there were a couple of descents on Koon Road, which had sand pits at the bottom. Someone dislocated their shoulder! My strategy for sand pits were spin through, sometimes walk, and often I went through the woods! After a few waits, Joe broke off and told Brenda and I to go on ahead. We rolled into Dublin about 30 minutes past goal time even with having shaved time on legs 1 and 2. Simon got us hamburgers, so stuffed those in jersey pockets, slammed a coke and a boost, put bottles on and we left onto the last leg in less than 5 minutes.
Back on to forest roads….sand again, and found myself doing the math of will we make it by sunset? Once we got out of Big M, I realized we would be well ahead of the sunset. For the last 25 miles we found a fun group of 3 guys to ride with and we worked really well together to the finish.
Rick came in 7th OA and first in his age group, Joe and Amanda made the sunset. Highly recommend this race. Brenda and I got 7/8 OA gender, she got 1st AG (50-59) and I got 2nd AG (40-49). 4th place OA female came in 12 minutes before us…cash went 5 deep.
Not too sore, ready for the next adventure.

C • CRUSHED IT! 5

Easy peasy

So many no see ums.

Ankle wasn’t great on this ride, no standing and had a dull ache about 45min but it’s defin improving. Bruising is also on top of my foot. All the colors!!!

C • Ankle 2

Nirto continued....

Nitrogaine! Always a great event!!!! This year because of work and life I couldn't get in on the behind the scenes action. And, Todd wanted to do this race with me kind of looking over his shoulder and helping. He said that I did that, I'm not sure! I wonder if the RD will let us do this half thing next year...if other duties can get covered.

He asked a lot of good questions, it was his first time doing a race in the dark, and said he learned a lot about recognizing terrain to problem solve. He did most of the planning, and didn't want to go more than 10 miles. He did very well! 33 was tricky and I pulled him to the location, and then getting to 67 could have been tricky so I was verbal :)

About an hour in, I turned my left ankle kind of badly--I think because I assumed with the easier pace, I didn't need to pay attention. No such luck. Usually, it resolves, but this time it just didn't. I felt pretty useless, I couldn't think or move very well.

The area around 60 was very confusing. He led to the area, and some things matched but they didn't and after trying a few things I suggested we get back to the open area and see what we could do there. Then found a better trail (albeit a bit W of what I preferred.) Continuing after that became a challenge, as I was moving slowly and trying to figure out what else we could pick up...I made a major parallel error when trying to get fancy and Todd corrected me! Win!

Lessons learned for 1) if I'm feeling that miserable I need to not navigate...maybe answer questions but I was so preoccupied with how bad my ankle was and 2) always bring a compression sleeve and ibuprofen...even if the event is 4 hours.

A little nervous about coast to coast, but I think I will be OK by then.

C • Hello from the other siiiiiiiide 1

The Huron River was over McCabe Road and more rain coming.

I will have more rest days in June than I think I have had in a long time purely because of work travel.

W/up
45s hard/75s EZ x 15
C/d
Sooo humid in the gym and thunderstorm outside

Followed Todd on an o training session picking up flags from yesterday’s race. My garmin was dead and forgot a charger. :/. Details from his watch. We went counterclockwise, which I think would have been more efficient.

Event: Michigan Adventure Race: Silver Lake
 

Ha! Didn't do a wrtie up! I forgot. Got busy with my niece's graduation and then 2 days of training for work.

Was supposed to race with Clint, but he had a family emergency and had to cancel the night before. So, decided to go as a 3rd with Brenda and Joe. When we got the maps, it was a quick O, bike, SUP, bike, another O, bike, longer O, sand board and then a short bike to the finish.

This was a great opportunity to practice co-navigation with Brenda. We had some wrong turns and a little bit of drifting, but I think we did well together overall. Landed in 9/10 place out of 70ish teams. I think the dunes are an incredible place to race. I wish we could have a higher profile race there. I think the rivers, the dunes, and even the big lake could be a big draw for others from out of state.