Training Log Archive: glewis

USARA Nationals with Kevin and Corinne.

With Becca's time tied up in Triathloning in Switzerland, we starting looking for a competitive third for this race in mid-August. Corinne agreed within the first 24 hours, and the race was a go! We had a pre-race call to discuss expectations; our goal was to go fast, suffer greatly, and finish as well as possible. This seemed like one of the more open fields that we've seen at a Nationals. We met up on Thursday for dinner in downtown Boone with the GOALS Masters team (Bruce K., Val, and Dave Ashley) and then headed over to the pre-race meeting (useless) before getting ready for bed at the hotel. The pre-race stress got the best of me, and I only managed an hour or two of sleep, which ended up getting the best of me later on in the race. We were up at 4:30 for hotel breakfast, and headed over to the bike drop of the top of the Appalachian Ski Resort before heading for maps at the lodge at the bottom. Our first sign of worry on the day was Corinne's rear tire needing air at the drop off.

The maps were massive (36" x 48" x 2), but there were only 15 or so UTMs to plot. As we began to plot I thought that we were making mistakes - everything was on a trail or a road. As the course came together it was clear that it would play to our strength of speed. I was also fearful that it wouldn't allow any wiggle room for errors; none of the top teams would be making navigation errors. We held out hope for a challenge o-section that might add some mental challenge into the race. In talking to others before the race, it was clear that there was some...confusion about the decisions of the race director in course designing. Still, we approached the 8AM start with excitement.

Leg 1 - Trek/Bike/Prologue/Bike

We began the race with a quick trek up the ski mountain to our bikes, and took off in the middle of the pack for a 4-5 mile ride to Trout Lake. Soon after we began, Corinne's tire began leaking air and spraying sealant. She smartly rode it out to the TA, and we figured that we could deal with it there. It was actually the perfect time for it, as we could split up for the 3 mandatory prologue points. Kevin and Corinne got to work on the tire, and I headed out to point B. I explained that I would come back through the TA afterwards; if they finished, they should go get A and C. If not, I would get both. When I got back, I found only Corinne. She said that Kevin went to get B...The only logical plan at the time was for the two of us to get A and C and hope to cross paths with Kevin. When I returned from A, there was a nearly empty TA with a Kevin there, having gotten C but not seen Corinne! What followed was 2 minutes of searching trying to figure out how he had managed this wonderful mess. We officially check out of the TA at 9:26 (about an hour after we had arrived), but we had 20 minutes of trying to find Corinne and get sorted out. In the end, she had done exactly what she was supposed to, but Kevin had taken a different trail back. We ended up setting out in almost last place. Troy had said "it's early in a long race", but it felt ominous already.

We motored down the hills, flats, and uphills as best as we could, picking off piles of teams while nabbing CP1 , 2, and 3 before arriving at the TA a short bit after 12. We had pushed as hard as possible, all taking turns hammering out a crazy pace for a 30hr race, and our bodies suffered a bit from it. We were low on nutrition and had not eaten well, but we knew that we needed to go nuts if we wanted to get back into the race.

Leg 2 - Paddle

The paddle was just a series of out and backs at the way south end of the map, so we got a good visual of all the teams that we were chasing. The heat was picking up and we needed to tend to water issues, so we took it a hair slower than expected to get fed and hydrated. The leg was unremarkable, and we finished a few minutes after 3. We took a bit too long in TA, and were unfortunately still feeling junky as we rolled out onto another bike leg.

Leg 3 - Bike

This leg was shorter but more uphill than the previous. Because of the out and back nature of the course, we had ridden most of the exact roads earlier, even passing CP7. CP8 was another out and back, and the only single track of the race. We were surprised by the number of teams that we passed on the way in, especially Rib; maybe we were closer to the front than we thought. I took a chance at the CP, and rode the team past the pile of bikes and further up the trail to closer attack point. In the end, it was a complete wash, as we had to trudge everyone down to the flag to paint fingernails anyway and the reentrant was rather open after the line of teams passing through all day. We motored out and ahead to TA3, arriving just after 5:30.

Leg 4 - O-Course

We took some purposeful time in TA before heading out on the o-course, hoping to maximize daylight and use our team strengths on this section. I was excited for an actual o-map and was looking forward to having a real chance to get ourselves back in the mix for top 5. Unfortunately, the map was...less intricate. It was nothing more than a topo map trek with 4 CPs all next to trails. Ugh. Still, we planned on pushing hard and running whenever possible. We began at 5:50 by climbing out of the TA and heading to CP9. It took just over an hour to get there. I had a great handle on our exact location, and was encouraged to find the CP perfectly. I was discouraged to learn right afterwards that the CP was visible from 100m from the opposite side of the reentrant. Here we chose an overland route to CP10, hoping to cut down on distance and make up more time. The climb up to the ridge wasn't too bad, but it got thick towards the top and then again as we approached the bottom on the opposite side. The sun had also set by this point, and we were literally crawling through thick layers of rhododendron. Still, we popped out on the trail exactly at the correct elevation. It took just a few minutes of tracking to locate exactly where we were and to find the CP. We crossed paths with a few teams in that short span (OML and Wildlings) who had started the o-course well before us, so we knew that we were making up time. We also crossed GOALS Masters, which gave us an indication that they were doing rather well.

The trek out to 11 was rather silly - we passed most of the teams ahead of us on the way out, just meeting Rootstock Red right before the CP and passing them on the way back in. The trail didn't match the map, but it wasn't too tough to follow the compass and find the correct turn to locate the CP. As we motored back and then out to CP12, we felt like things were going rather well. When we hit the road after that last CP it was clear that we were doing very well, and we hustled back to TA as fast as possible, just squeaking in under 4 hours, at 3:59. We found out at the end of the race that we had been the 2nd fastest o-team to Quest; a nice little reward for the work that we put in during that section. Unfortunately, it had only gained us 30 minutes, at most, on the lead teams.

Leg 5 - Bike and Tie

30 minutes was a nice reward, but we still had plenty of work to do on this section to get back into the race, and we (me) were quickly coming unglued. This section had some potential for interesting decisions, but we had to keep to the 30m rule, so all fun was taken out of it. The TA was methodical as we prepped for a nice chunk of hours out in the night. Kevin agreed to run first, so I set him up on a bungee tow from my bike and we set off. None of us had experience with this type of leg, and I think it showed. We took 3 packs instead of 1, and we didn't move that quickly. I dragged Kevin up to CP 13 and then 14. We struggled slightly on 13, getting thrown off by No Complaints looking in the wrong spot. By the time we grabbed it, Rootstock Red had caught up. We rode with them to 14, but they had more legs (and a stronger runner) as we set off to 15, where I had given my bike to Kevin. We passed a few teams on the out and back (Rib, Deviate, MRC). I ran the whole leg, and then did most of the way down to 16, where we took a few minutes too long to locate the CP. Heading back up the 600' to CP 14 nearly killed me. I was biking with a zipped up jersey and two packs - stupid. I ended up on foot walking most of the way back up. This was the hardest part for me physically - it seemed neverending and I was in a world of pain. The effort from the first bike leg was coming back to get me. We tried some bike sharing at the top but it was rather janky, so we just ran back down and suffered into the TA just after 2. Any advantage we had gained on the o-course was given back on the bike and tie.

Leg 6 - Bike

The TA out was super slow - we all were feeling it at this point, and all the chamois cream in the world wasn't going to help the kind of pain that I was in. Still, we rolled out on this simple looking leg ready to move as best as we could. The elevation was deceiving, and we climbed for what seemed like hours before diving into a trail to try and locate CP 17. I think that our route choice may have undone us here, as we spent 15 minutes looking for the CP (mostly in the wrong creek). From the opposite direction, it would have been much easier to spot. Corinne and I both suffered a bit on the climb, and we took much too long to get into TA4, arriving around 4:45, almost an hour after we should have considering distance.

Leg 7 - Trek

I plotted the UTMs myself while Kevin and Corinne TA'd. I also took the opportunity to ask the TA volunteer (the co-director) about the trail out of the back of the TA and also about the map for the trek. He spilled loads of info to me about the minutiae of the trails, which came in handy on the trek. Unfortunately, I got super sleepy on and kept falling asleep while walking; Kevin was doing hardly any better. This section again took too long. I give part of the blame to the mind-numbing nature of 3 more out and backs this late in the race. We had yet to do anything navigationally challenging and I had nothing to really think about. By the time we sludged back into the TA, the sun was well up and we had been distanced from a team or two, most notably Outlaw Donkey, who finished their TA before we even arrived.

Leg 8 - Bike

This TA was a bit more purposeful than the others, and we set off down some decent singletrack on our way back to Globe Rd and the climb to the finish. I struggled physically, as I was so sore that I couldn't stomach the pain of sitting on the bike seat until after we exited onto roads. The combination of sweat and hours in the saddle wore me down. Still, we pushed on with intent, arriving at CP21 while Outlaw Donkey were still searching. I had no choice but to point out where it was so Kevin could punch, and we had ourselves a race to the finish! We arrived at CP22 to begin the KOM and started quickly up, riding whenever we could and giving Corinne some space to work through her difficulties. The sun was rising and the heat was increasing. I spotted our chasers after 1/3 of the climb, and we responded well enough, but they caught and passed up. This pattern continued for most of the climb, but we slowly pulled back away from them (they were blasting on of their teammates to try and keep up) and arriving back in Blowing Rock after 1hr+ of climbing without them in sight. We formed whatever paceline we could to make it to Trout Lake again, finishing off the KOM in 1:27. Only 4 teams completed this section faster than us. The thrill of a downhill finish kicked us into high gear, and we blazed our way into town, passing Adventure Enablers at the last CP before finishing at 10:41.

We ended up 9th in elite, 10th overall. A bit disappointing considering that we felt we could have challenged for top 5 had things gone well. Still, knowing that we were less than 1hr from that goal was a decent consolation prize. As I wrote this, I realized that we actually did recover most of the time from the early morning flat tire. The problem was that it left us with no room for error, and we did so at the cost of taking care of ourselves. We suffered in the end for our efforts in the morning. I like to think that we would have had a much better result if not for that luck; oh well - that's AR! We got along great as a team, and I look forward to more races together. I also really enjoyed the post-race, specifically the banquet, where Bruce, Val and Dave were crowned as Master National Champions! Moving forward, I know I need to work on dealing with physical pain but still moving. Also, I need to find a way to get more sleep pre-race. I think that might be a task for a doctor; I wonder if some issues could have been avoided if I was better rested.

C • tell me more! 2

Run at Harmony Hill and Paradise Farms. Super simple, shaking some junk out of the legs. I cancelled every other workout after feeling tired on Saturday night. Hoping to feel fresh for Nationals on Friday!

Event: DVOA Brandywine Creek State Park
 

Ride at Harmony Hill and Sawmill Rd. Hills were an emphasis. Felt pretty tired. Scaling back in prep for Nationals next week.

Nighttime rogue orienteering at Harmony Hill. The map is rather inaccurate, but navigationally I felt alright throughout.

Legs a bit sore, but I didn't want to bail completely on the workout.

Evening run at Harmony Hill. Tired from long days, so it was a lighter workout. I had more planned, but a rolled ankle scare towards the end convinced me to call it before something bad happened.

Paddle while watching TV. Right wrist felt a bit strange towards the end, but it went away right afterwards. Nice workout.

Ride from home to KOP and back on CVT. I wasn't feeling great, so I figured that I would just ride hard until I hit the wall and then suffer home. I ended up stronger than expected and pushed as much as I could. Hit a wall right at the bottom of the hill just before I got home. Still ended up as a great, super fast ride.

Finally got in a workout. Felt good. Ready to start pointing directly to nationals.

Ride at home. Feeling better this week than last. Busy again, but hoping to find time again before the weekend.

Noah and I picked up the CPs from the Tough Cookie. He walked about 5 miles of it with me and was a real trooper, especially considering that my step-mother had him up until 11:15 last night.

Ride with Noah on the CVT; Rebekah joined as well. Cool morning but warming, nice ride. Felt fine after the long week.

I had big plans for the evenings after soccer started this week, but ugh! I have been fully exhausted before dinner every day, so this was the best that I could muster. Hoping for better success with two workouts this weekend.

C • Start of the schhol year... 2

Long run from Harmony Hill. Essentially the reverse of last weeks: started with a loop around Paradise Farms, then a clockwise run around Sawmill Rd before heading back up. Felt excellent, if not a bit slow, throughout.

Beautiful day, but no way to enjoy it outdoors for a long workout. This was the substitute. My legs will appreciate the extra day of rest.