Training Log Archive: ChiefIn the 7 days ending May 13, 2013:
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Monday May 13, 2013 #
Note
(rest day)
Tapering for the big weekend!
Sunday May 12, 2013 #
10 AM
AR race (Hike Course (solo)) 3:56:00 [4] 40.0 km (5:54 / km)
ahr:158 max:194 slept:10.0 shoes: Solomon S-lab 4
After the elite course, I wrapped up things quickly and headed back to my camp for a good night's sleep. Apparently it rained heavy through the night & I didn't hear a thing! Woke up a little sore but ready to go again just like last year.
After a hearty country breakfast, I headed over to the registration. Felt a little out of place as I was the only one in just bike shorts & weather was now turning bad!
As always race started sharp on time. A little run leg to spreed people out, with 3 easy controls. 15 mins later, I was on my bike following couple teams with one solo guy - almost all of them drafting! I couldn't stay with them for long & soon find myself harassed by the gusty winds.
I had never really experienced such strong winds before that I was almost thrown off the bike couple times. Although my triathlon riding style helped a little, it wasn't enough against mother nature in all her fury!
Bike leg was straight forward - big loop on pavement & ATV trail with a few easy controls. Caught up to couple teams, dropped by a couple - was painful but fun. Back to paddle transition & I was still about 15 mins behind the solo guy!
By now weather had turned worse - rain, snow & hail storm!!! I was a little cold & me a little out of it! Paramedic at the transition was quick to check if I was alright. Never really felt the need for them at a race until I got rescued & nursed very well by them last year - so thank you guys!
Now I was on the water & had no where to hide from the weather. 2 mins into the paddle & my fingers were almost frozen. Had no time to think about anything but to get off water quickly! Couldn't keep my kayak straight, my paddle was thrown off in the air & didn't had anyone around in water! But luckily came this canoe with two big guys speeding through the water & probably the comfiest seats ever !
Asked them if I could hop on their wake & paddle hard to match their quick pace! B/w carbon paddle (thanks DD) and those guys, I shaved off about 8 mins (one way) on water compared to yesterday! Quick transition & it was now my turn to return the favor. They tailed me to the next three controls which was easy to find, but lost them before the last control.
Now I was on water & this time had to paddle by my self with this other canoe - they were having even harder time than me on the water with their experience. With relentless winds & me going progressively colder, had to paddle hard to keep myself warm. Turns out couple teams had to deal with hypothermia & paddle section was cancelled (rightly so) for most of the teams. But our smart Mr. Sean threw in a bike leg for those who missed the paddle.
Today's race actually felt harder than yesterday. Couldn't catch the solo guy but I was glad to be out of water ! Glad, that we didnt had to race in a weather like that yesterday!!!
Best part was even with such harsh weather participants were still smiling & having fun! No wonder its one of their & my favorite events!
After a hearty country breakfast, I headed over to the registration. Felt a little out of place as I was the only one in just bike shorts & weather was now turning bad!
As always race started sharp on time. A little run leg to spreed people out, with 3 easy controls. 15 mins later, I was on my bike following couple teams with one solo guy - almost all of them drafting! I couldn't stay with them for long & soon find myself harassed by the gusty winds.
I had never really experienced such strong winds before that I was almost thrown off the bike couple times. Although my triathlon riding style helped a little, it wasn't enough against mother nature in all her fury!
Bike leg was straight forward - big loop on pavement & ATV trail with a few easy controls. Caught up to couple teams, dropped by a couple - was painful but fun. Back to paddle transition & I was still about 15 mins behind the solo guy!
By now weather had turned worse - rain, snow & hail storm!!! I was a little cold & me a little out of it! Paramedic at the transition was quick to check if I was alright. Never really felt the need for them at a race until I got rescued & nursed very well by them last year - so thank you guys!
Now I was on the water & had no where to hide from the weather. 2 mins into the paddle & my fingers were almost frozen. Had no time to think about anything but to get off water quickly! Couldn't keep my kayak straight, my paddle was thrown off in the air & didn't had anyone around in water! But luckily came this canoe with two big guys speeding through the water & probably the comfiest seats ever !
Asked them if I could hop on their wake & paddle hard to match their quick pace! B/w carbon paddle (thanks DD) and those guys, I shaved off about 8 mins (one way) on water compared to yesterday! Quick transition & it was now my turn to return the favor. They tailed me to the next three controls which was easy to find, but lost them before the last control.
Now I was on water & this time had to paddle by my self with this other canoe - they were having even harder time than me on the water with their experience. With relentless winds & me going progressively colder, had to paddle hard to keep myself warm. Turns out couple teams had to deal with hypothermia & paddle section was cancelled (rightly so) for most of the teams. But our smart Mr. Sean threw in a bike leg for those who missed the paddle.
Today's race actually felt harder than yesterday. Couldn't catch the solo guy but I was glad to be out of water ! Glad, that we didnt had to race in a weather like that yesterday!!!
Best part was even with such harsh weather participants were still smiling & having fun! No wonder its one of their & my favorite events!
Saturday May 11, 2013 #
Event: Storm the Trent
8 AM
AR race (Elite course (solo)) 8:05:00 [3] 81.0 km (5:59 / km)
ahr:152 max:177 slept:8.0 shoes: Solomon S-lab 4
Its always good to start the season with an awesome race like Storm. This time in Warsaw - beautiful country!
As always, race starts early and right on time ! First trekking leg with 3 check points - decided to do counter-clockwise starting with long but easy CP22. Within few minutes I find myself behind BIT, Funderstorm & Simpy and would almost stick with them to CP21. Now onto CP20 - I decided to follow the bearing to the big marsh & was by myself the whole way. When I got to the steam, finding a good spot to cross, kind of threw me off my bearing but when I came off on the other side, I was at the food of the marsh. Was happy that I almost nailed it & all I have to do now was just get to the north side & I will run into the control! But the swamp looked a little small & no control in sight! What I didnt realize was I deviated south on my bearing and ended up at a small swamp south of the one I needed. 15 mins & I was on my way to CP20. Seeing stina back from the CP only boosted my confidence. Easy run back to CP20.
Not so quick transition & onto the bike leg - road ride all the way to CP2. Got on the ATV trail under hydro trails - plan was to go clockwise but after seeing the stream crossing, for some reason changed my mind to go the opposite way. Easy nav upto CP30 & saw Chad by the side of the trail. He had missed the control - it almost made me second guess but decided to stick with my gutts and pointed him to the intersection, north of us. Luckily we were at the CP30 in 2 minutes & then headed in opposite direction. Didnt take long to get to Cp31 and on my way to the hydro lines saw BIT in the opposite direction. Was little surprised as i thought they were ahead of me! Saw Bash flying in the opposite direction as well & a few other familiar faces. Things were going well & I rode through almost all the puddles which was fun.
Now comes the royal screw-up of my life! Southbound under hydro lines, after crossing the big stream, I was making good time & knew I wasn't far from CP3. So got a little cocky & decided to eat & drink. Those stupid honey stinger chews were so good that before I knew it, I was on the wrong trail heading east! That lapse in concentration costed me about 20mins and was sooo pissed at myself that right out of CP2, I had to pullover & clear my head ! Back on the road & onto CP3. Onto CP42 & CP43 and soon I find BIT team caught upto me and we rode together almost until CP5 before they dropped me with 1k to go.
Quick transition & on the water. It was little uncomfortable in the beginning as I dint have enough paddling practice and heavy rec kayak & paddle didnt help me either. Paddle to CP5 felt like forever but the highlight was seeing all the leading teams heading to the finish but almost everyone inquiring about other teams - how far behind or ahead they are :))
On the final trek leg, I again find myself with team BIT (for the third time!). Got CP52, CP51, CP50 easy & while BIT headed to the finish line, I headed to CP53. Now I could see the control but was on the other side of the stream. I hear Jodi & Rob & point them to the control & they walk to it without getting wet while I was contemplating swimming across! Paddle back to the finish line was uneventful but happy to see so many people having fun on the course!
One weird thing about this was that I had clear instructions from my coach that this was only supposed to be a long training day! And I had to keep telling myself to not to get hurt & screw over big race coming weekend!
As always big thanks to Sean & his crew for organizing awesome event and even bigger thanks to all the volunteers! I enjoyed every bit of the course and by far this has to be my best AR so far !
Congrats to Bash, Bent, BIT, DD, Chad, IL & others for a stellar performance!
As always, race starts early and right on time ! First trekking leg with 3 check points - decided to do counter-clockwise starting with long but easy CP22. Within few minutes I find myself behind BIT, Funderstorm & Simpy and would almost stick with them to CP21. Now onto CP20 - I decided to follow the bearing to the big marsh & was by myself the whole way. When I got to the steam, finding a good spot to cross, kind of threw me off my bearing but when I came off on the other side, I was at the food of the marsh. Was happy that I almost nailed it & all I have to do now was just get to the north side & I will run into the control! But the swamp looked a little small & no control in sight! What I didnt realize was I deviated south on my bearing and ended up at a small swamp south of the one I needed. 15 mins & I was on my way to CP20. Seeing stina back from the CP only boosted my confidence. Easy run back to CP20.
Not so quick transition & onto the bike leg - road ride all the way to CP2. Got on the ATV trail under hydro trails - plan was to go clockwise but after seeing the stream crossing, for some reason changed my mind to go the opposite way. Easy nav upto CP30 & saw Chad by the side of the trail. He had missed the control - it almost made me second guess but decided to stick with my gutts and pointed him to the intersection, north of us. Luckily we were at the CP30 in 2 minutes & then headed in opposite direction. Didnt take long to get to Cp31 and on my way to the hydro lines saw BIT in the opposite direction. Was little surprised as i thought they were ahead of me! Saw Bash flying in the opposite direction as well & a few other familiar faces. Things were going well & I rode through almost all the puddles which was fun.
Now comes the royal screw-up of my life! Southbound under hydro lines, after crossing the big stream, I was making good time & knew I wasn't far from CP3. So got a little cocky & decided to eat & drink. Those stupid honey stinger chews were so good that before I knew it, I was on the wrong trail heading east! That lapse in concentration costed me about 20mins and was sooo pissed at myself that right out of CP2, I had to pullover & clear my head ! Back on the road & onto CP3. Onto CP42 & CP43 and soon I find BIT team caught upto me and we rode together almost until CP5 before they dropped me with 1k to go.
Quick transition & on the water. It was little uncomfortable in the beginning as I dint have enough paddling practice and heavy rec kayak & paddle didnt help me either. Paddle to CP5 felt like forever but the highlight was seeing all the leading teams heading to the finish but almost everyone inquiring about other teams - how far behind or ahead they are :))
On the final trek leg, I again find myself with team BIT (for the third time!). Got CP52, CP51, CP50 easy & while BIT headed to the finish line, I headed to CP53. Now I could see the control but was on the other side of the stream. I hear Jodi & Rob & point them to the control & they walk to it without getting wet while I was contemplating swimming across! Paddle back to the finish line was uneventful but happy to see so many people having fun on the course!
One weird thing about this was that I had clear instructions from my coach that this was only supposed to be a long training day! And I had to keep telling myself to not to get hurt & screw over big race coming weekend!
As always big thanks to Sean & his crew for organizing awesome event and even bigger thanks to all the volunteers! I enjoyed every bit of the course and by far this has to be my best AR so far !
Congrats to Bash, Bent, BIT, DD, Chad, IL & others for a stellar performance!