Tupper Lake Tinman Sprint, June 29, 2013

I decided about a month ago to sign up for the sprint at the Tupper Lake Tinman. I've had some shin splint issues, but they seem to be improving, and I've been able to get more running done. Coming just a week after the big Spinervals Lake Placid training camp, I knew I'd have to make this past week an easier training week. Did two open water swims in Mirror Lake, one five mile run on the treadmill on a rainy morning, and one 18 mile ride on the tri bike during the week. I took a rest day on Friday, and really felt good all day, physically and mentally. For once, I felt confident about the swim, and didn't make myself practically psychotic worrying about it all day. Slept ok Friday night. I don't expect to get a good night's sleep the night before a race, but this night we were having sump pump issues because of all the rain we've had. My husband had to get up twice in the night to check the basement. On race morning, we were up at 4:30 and were on the road by 5:15 a.m. for Tupper Lake. It was cloudy and threatening rain, but pretty mild temperatures, around 60 degrees.
Tupper Lake is a little over an hour's drive away, through some really beautiful and remote country. We were there before 6:30, parked close, but then ended up having to walk a long way around the barriers to get through the race venue. Everywhere around the race venue was wet and muddy. I picked up my race packet, timing chip, and found my bike rack spot. (When I picked up my t-shirt, the woman asked me what size it said on my race bag. I told her, "small." She said, "Well, we have large and extra large. Which would you like?" Really? Why is it so hard to order enough of the size people choose when they register? Sorry for the rant, but I have many large-sized race shirts. It happens a lot.) Racked my bike, got my transition area set up, found my friend Sandy, did a quick warm-up run, and put my wetsuit on for a quick swim. We were told the water temperature was 72 degrees. It felt a bit cooler than that, but was perfect. Sandy and I went to stand in the sprint start carrel. There weren't many people there, which we should have noticed. Some guy came over and told us they decided to start us in the water, so we hustled down there. Someone was giving us instructions over the loudspeaker, when we suddenly heard someone near us say, "five seconds," and then the gun went off! I had one earplug out to hear the instructions--which were still going on!--so I quickly stuffed the plug in my ear and started swimming. Two minutes later, I realized that I never started my watch, damnit! I had a very good swim for me, just steady, sighted often. Had to adjust my course a couple of times, and I swim so slowly that I was with the breast- and sidestrokers. I kept thinking, "How can I be so slow that I can't lose these people?" I had to stay alert to not get kicked by the breaststroker, and a backstroker could not swim in a straight line, and kept swimming across my path. Both of those things slowed me down. In retrospect, I think I would risk a little sprint, and get out ahead of them early in the swim. I did the swim in 25:09, which is just about right for me for 6/10 mile. When I breathed and sighted, I could see the kayakers near me, so I was convinced I was last. When I got out of the water, I turned quickly and was shocked to see so many white caps of the sprinters still in the water! I ended up 73rd out of 96 on the swim. Lots of room for improvement, but I swam steadily and in control, so I was very happy.
When I got out of the water, I started my watch, then quickly hit the lap button to advance it to T1. It's kind of a long run to the bike racks. I did a quick, but not rushed, transition. It started raining on the swim, so I decided not to wear my sunglasses, thinking I wouldn't be able to see if the lenses were wet. We had to run our bikes over two timing mats, then run them across the road before we could mount. My T1 was 2:29, not too bad. I started to hammer immediately, just felt really good. Glad to be out of the water, glad to be on the bike, which is my strong leg, when I suddenly realized I never put air in my tires! I immediately reminded myself that I had pumped them up before my ride three days before (I know, I was grasping at straws), and since the roads were wet, it was better that I was running them a little low. Nothing I could do about it at that point, I just needed to not dwell on something I could not control at that moment. I felt a touch cool going out on the bike, but warmed up very quickly. The bike course was perfect for me; lots of long rollers at the beginning, then a nice climb partway up Mt. Arab before the turnaround. I passed everyone I came to, except two guys at about mile five. We played tag a little on the ups and downs, but then I passed them for good when the road went seriously up, and I never saw them again. It was an out and back course, so I could see that I would get a chance to recover on the mountain descent, and that there would be a good last descent back into town, so I really pushed the ride out. My HR dropped on the way back, just as I hoped. On the downhills on the way back, I was wishing I had worn my sunglasses, just to keep the rain from bouncing off my eyeballs (at least, that's the way it felt). The rain stopped right before I finished the bike. The course was 18.75 miles, and my time was 56:57. I averaged around 19.8 mph and had the 16th fastest bike time (link to data). That moved me up a bit in the standings! Did a quicker transition--1:28--and as I was headed out, the girl racked next to me was coming in on the bike. She said, "Hot damn, you're fast on the bike!" Gave me a nice mental boost to start the run. The first mile for the run was flat, but a lot of it was over wet, muddy grass. The second mile was uphill, mile three is a slight down, four and five were a more gradual climb, then the last 1.6 miles were down. I just tried to run as steady as I could. A couple of Team Placid Planet teammates, Billy Whitney and Darci LaFave, were at the race, and rode out along the bike course, cheering people on. I saw them three or four times, and it was just great to have that encouragement along the way. I did the run in 57:54, so I averaged 8:32 miles (data). That's a little slow for me for a 10K-ish run, but I don't have a lot of miles in and no speedwork, so I'm happy with it. I had the 31st fastest run, and finished 30th overall out of 96 (results). I was 2 out of 9 in my age group, and the 6th out of 43 women. I was just thrilled when I finished! I felt strong and in control the entire race. I drank almost a full bottle of Heed on the bike, had a gel and a small handheld bottle of Heed on the run. I also took water at every aid station, drinking about half and dumping the rest on my head. It just felt like everything had gone perfectly (other than the couple of things that didn't :)). If you've read this far, thank you for sticking with me. I wrote much of this to just record my thoughts for future races, and I'm just so excited this race went so well. My friend, Sandy, finished third in our age group, so we both got certificates at the awards. Sandy's daughter, Erin, did the half in preparation for Mont Tremblant next month. We stayed to see her finish. She broke five hours, 4:59:09, I believe, for 2nd place. Absolutely awesome race for her!

Spinervals Lake Placid Camp, 4th and Final Chapter

Before we went to dinner last night, Coach Troy gave us our itinerary for today. Meeting at 6:40 a.m. for a 7:00 swim. Back to the hotel to change and have breakfast, then in the lobby by 8:15 for an 8:30 run start time. I was up again at 5:30 a.m. I had my husband to do the breakfast run for me, so I started gathering some of my belongings to expedite check-out after the run. Coach had negotiated a noon check-out for us, instead of the hotel's 11:00 time. I had coffee, yogurt and a banana for breakfast. I pulled my wetsuit on up to my waist and joined my friends in the lobby. When I got to the lobby, I realized I'd left my Garmin 910XT watch in the room, so I hustled back to pick it up. I returned to the lobby just as the group was headed out the door, and I quickly slid in the end of the line like I'd been there all along, avoiding the dreaded iso squat punishment. We walked to the beach and finished getting ready to get in the water. I always wear my full wetsuit because I want every bit of buoyancy I can get, but I didn't bother with the neoprene booties. Two of our coaches, Ryan and Brian, wore Speedos for the swim. I admired their, um, bravery, and appreciated the extra incentive to get in the water :) Coach took the group shot on the beach this time, and as we waded in, we all commented on how cold the water felt. It WAS warmer than the first day, so I attribute this to how tired we all were. Our swim instructions were to, again, swim out 15 minutes, then return, but to swim farther than we did the other day. Not a problem for me, because I didn't get very far on that first swim. This time, I started swimming right away, no humming, no breathlessness. The water felt fantastic! I got on someone's feet, someone was on my feet, and we swam. Back at the hotel after, I inhaled a convenience store crumb cake thing that my husband had left in the room for me. I will say, dinners were great and mostly healthy, but the rest of my nutrition left a lot to be desired. There were refrigerators in the rooms; I should have taken the time the first night to buy some decent food to have on hand. Changed into running clothes and back to the lobby for the run. Troy had advised that we carry fluids. Dan and Dave would be on the course with the sag wagon, but it was forecast to be a hot and muggy day. I brought my handheld bottle that holds about 8 ounces of water. Coach talked strategy for the run. Since we'd all be running at our own pace, this would be the last time I'd see some of my fellow campers. My thought was to run around 9:30 miles. That seemed reasonable after two hard days of riding. And as Coach Troy reminded us, this was training camp, not a race. Too bad I didn't stick with that plan. We all started out fast. It's an easy thing to do on that course, because the first two miles are downhill. I ran 8:35 miles for the first three. I was mostly running alone. The fasties went out hard, a few others were behind them. Jerre went out strong. Christina and Mike were just in front of me, and I used them to pace me for about 10 miles of the run. Miles 4 and 5 were 8:57 and 8:59, and mile 6 was 9:15. I had drained my water bottle by the turn-around on River Road. It was getting hot, so I guzzled about a cup of Gatorade and refilled my bottle with water. Miles 7 and 8 were exactly 9:00 miles, then the slow-down hit. A 9:24 and 9:51 and I was at the sag wagon refilling my bottle again. This time I grabbed a cup of water and doused myself. I perked up a bit, and had a 9:27 mile up the shorter hill after the bridge, past the horse show grounds and towards town. Then came the dreaded in-your-face hill back into town. I had run with Lola a while going into town, but she dropped me on that hill. I refused to walk, and just did what Coach had advised--kept moving forward and had my slowest mile at 10:55. I had the out-and-back left to make it a complete 13.1, and despite the temptation to skip it, I eased my pace and just ran it easy. Finished in 2:02 running time--happy and sorry it was over, at the same time. Back at the hotel, we were waist deep in the lake once again, comparing notes and congratulating each other on a job well done.
It was a transformative weekend for me. I started out feeling like I didn't belong there, and I left knowing that I did, that I could do things I never thought possible before this weekend. I made some good friends--people I will be supporting when I volunteer at IMLP in a few weeks, and people who are now real to me when we're "talking" in our Spinervals group on Facebook: Jerre and Christina, Merle, Lola, Christian and Leigh Ann, David, Ginny, Alan, Rob, Charlie, George, Mary, Chrissy, Raquel, and Mark. Thank you to Coach Troy, Dan and Dave, and Ryan and Brian for putting on such a great camp. I highly recommend it to anyone doing IMLP, or anyone who wants to experience a fun and challenging weekend in one of the most beautiful places on earth. (Stats for the three days: Swim-1.4 miles, Bike-168 miles, Run-18.3 miles)

Spinervals Lake Placid Camp, Chapter 3

Saturday, June 22, 2013: Coach Troy told us at the meeting last night that he was moving up our start time for the 112 mile ride today, from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. It was looking like some rain may be moving in later in the day, other camps were there and he wanted to get us out before them, and an earlier start would mean an earlier finish. At last night's meeting, Troy also told us that the reason he had us do the reverse loop of the course first, is so we can see how hard the course could be. If we could survive that seven-mile climb yesterday, today would seem easy. Ri-i-i-ight! I slept a little better, got up at 5:30, but this time drove to the Stewarts for my breakfast. I felt a little guilty about that, but it seemed prudent to not tax my legs anymore than I needed to. I had rinsed my jersey out in the sink after yesterday's ride, and basically wore the same thing as yesterday: Spinervals jersey, (fresh!) tri shorts, and sun sleeves. I got a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and a coffee for breakfast. I mixed my liquids--carried three bottles today versus two yesterday. I threw a bunch of gels in my bento bag, along with a protein bar and some leftover Chomps. We all met in front of the hotel at 6:40, and started out at 7:00 a.m. Troy led us out again, taking us up past the Olympic Center to show our IMLP campers where the transition area and the bike start would be. He controlled the pace for the first 10 miles or so. Our instructions today were to ride easy to the top of Keene hill, descend at our own pace, and regroup at the bottom. From there, we would ride the rest of the day at our own pace, but were encouraged to find a group or a partner to ride with, looking for Dan and Dave with fluids and cookies along the way. I took a look at the make-up of the A group, and proposed to Jerre that we look for each other when we got dropped by them, and ride together. We hung with the A's until somewhere around Upper Jay. They were setting a hard pace, so we eased up and rode just off the back to Ausable Forks and back to Jay. After a quick stop for fluids and cookies, we started the climb up 86. That is a deceptive little climb. The first part is pretty steep and can catch you by surprise if you're not ready for it. When Troy rode by us, Jerre wondered how we'd feel at this point on the next loop. I shared a quote from a friend who has raced Lake Placid several times, "No matter how good or how bad you feel, it won't last." We did the out and back on Haselton Road, and started the climb up the Notch. There was a good headwind, which is typical, so I proposed to Jerre that we take two minute pulls and tempo our way up. One other camper was with us, I don't remember who it was now. Anyway, every little rise we came to, he'd ask, "Is this Mama Bear?" And I'd say, "No, Mama Bear is almost at the end." He clearly was hoping we were at the end with every hill! We dropped him at some point, and Jerre and I crested Papa Bear to see the A group with the sag wagon at the Cobble Hill Inn. Coach Troy yelled to us, "Good job! Hop on with this group!", which we did. We rode into town and the group went back up and around the Olympic Center. I left it up to Jerre whether he wanted to do that, or make a left turn at the end of Mirror Lake Drive and start the second loop. He chose option B. This put us ahead of the A group for a short time, but they soon caught us before the descent. Jerre was having a difficult time with his liquids. Troy had talked about mixing electrolytes heavier than the directions say, to prevent cramping. Jerre took it to heart, and quadrupled his mix. He hadn't been able to stomach it for much of the first loop, and had drained all of his other liquids. I had a bottle of plain water that I hadn't touched yet, so we stopped and I was helping him cut his mix, when Dan and Dave pulled up. Perfect timing! We started our descent, but I noticed a troubling development; my butt was really feeling uncomfortable. I tried to ignore it, but I was starting to look at the mileage left and wondering how I was going to survive. I had left a pot of chamois cream in the sag wagon, and I was applying gobs at every stop. We had a uneventful ride on 9N to Ausable Forks. On the way back, storm clouds were threatening and the wind came up, giving us a glorious tailwind. We hit the climb up 86, while all the while I was silently praying the east wind would continue on our climb up the Notch. Haselton out and back once again, and up the Notch we went. And, thank you cycling gods, we had the tailwind! We felt a few drops, and Jerre and I were both commenting how good a cloudburst would feel at that point. We had about 10 miles to go, and Jerre and I got very quiet. We had reached the "death march" phase of the ride. No two minute pulls on this trip; Jerre pulled on the flats and downs, and I paced us up the hills. Now, my right big toe was also killing me. I had lost the nail from running earlier in the year, and it was still sensitive. Standing out of the saddle relieved my butt, but hurt my toe. Sitting made my toe feel better, but killed my butt. I couldn't win. I made some comment to this effect, and Jerre said, "Oh, I'm so glad you said that! I'm dying, and I thought it was just me!" He had developed a hotspot on his foot and was in agony. We both just got into this rhythm and pushed as hard as we could, knowing the sooner we finished, the sooner the pain would end. We passed several riders (not from our camp) as we climbed, but we were pushing so hard, not one jumped on our wheels. We had some rain in the last few miles, and it felt exquisite. Finally, the Three Bears and over Northwoods hill, and we had made it! I had timed our loops: We did the first loop in 3:12 (riding time), just two minutes slower than yesterday, and the second loop in 3:22. But even better, when I got home and uploaded my data, I discovered that we had ridden the 12 mile segment up the Notch faster on the second loop! That tailwind made a difference (ride data here). We had an optional run off the bike today. I opted to skip it and save my shin for the half-marathon run tomorrow. Jerre headed out to do the run (he's doing IMLP), and I waded into the lake for my now ritual leg soaking. One of the coaches, Ryan was already in the water, so he came over to join me. Within a few minutes, Jerre, Christina, Merle and Lola, and a few others had all joined us, and we stood there in the water up to our waists, debriefing the ride. I wonder what the other hotel guests thought of us?

We had a 5:00 meeting after the ride, so I eventually made my way back to my room for a shower, food and rest until the meeting. My husband called and said the rain had interrupted his work for the day, so he was coming up to Lake Placid to eat at a friend's restaurant. I left a key card at the front desk for him, and went to the meeting. After the meeting, we had a group dinner at Northwoods Inn. The food was very good, and we had some great conversation, sharing training and racing and life stories. We traded contact information, just in case we forgot to do it the next day, and headed back to the hotel. We were happy to have two hard days of riding behind us. We were enjoying our shared suffering and conquest of the hardships, but we knew we had another tough day--a 13.1 mile run--ahead of us. (On a side note, back in my room, I glanced at my bike and noticed something odd; the nose of my saddle was angled up at least a half inch, instead of being level. No wonder my butt hurt! I think it rocked back on one of those hard bumps on 73). (Another side note: while resting in my room, I wrote down my calories and fluids for the day--3 bottles of electrolyte mix, 2 bottles of water, 3 GU gels, 4 GU Chomps, 1 Protein bar, 6 Endurolytes and probably a dozen fig newtons.)

Spinervals Lake Placid Camp, Chapter 2

Friday, June 21st: I slept just ok. Strange place, room was warm, even though I turned on the air, or maybe it was just me. Got up at 5:30, threw on a sweatshirt, and walked to the Stewart's convenience store just down the street. I've been to that particular store many times. I knew they'd be open and that the coffee would be fresh and hot. Also picked up a yogurt and a muffin. It was a bit chilly, but not overly so, very quiet on the street. Nice way to clear my head before the swim. I had the coffee and yogurt back in my room and got into my wetsuit. I messaged my friend, Mary, to tell her about the meeting time and to warn her about the iso squats :) Mary had also signed up for the camp, but other commitments came up, so she was only attending Friday. We all met in the lobby at 6:40 a.m., and walked down to the beach. The air temp was probably in the high 50s, buzz among the campers was that the water temp was 67 degrees. I think that was a touch generous. Coach talked to us a bit as we got ready to get in the water (I wore my full-sleeved wetsuit and neoprene booties). We swam out to the beginning of the lovely cable that goes along the swim course just four or five feet below the surface of the water, punctuated every 20 yards or so by buoys on the surface. Coach Troy asked us to swim for 15 minutes, then turn around and come back. He talked some more as we tread water, then took a photo. I look a little grim in the picture, I was starting to feel chilled and wanted to get moving! I am not a fast swimmer by any stretch, though I am a more confident swimmer than I used to be. I've only been swimming about five years, and though I've worked hard at improving, I know I'll be at the back of any swimming pack I'm in. Since this was my first open water swim since last August, my goal was to swim relaxed and in control, and not worry about anything else. It was a little hard to get my face in the water and get started, the chilly water took my breath away. I tried humming as I exhaled underwater--a little trick I'd learned from a friend to help me exhale completely. I quickly got into a rhythm and away I went. I checked my watch a couple of times, turned around after 15 minutes, and almost immediately, my calves started to cramp. The water was cold, and I was starting to feel chilled. I kicked very carefully back to the start, got out of the water, and silently congratulated myself on surviving. All the campers were in high spirits after the swim. We were all very chatty on the walk back to the hotel. So maybe I wasn't the only one who was happy to have our first workout done, or maybe the chilly water woke us up. Coach instructed us to grab something to eat, and to be back out in front of the hotel by 8:40 to start the ride.

I invited Mary to come back to my room to change. I wolfed down the muffin, got my cycling gear on, and prepared my nutrition and fluids. I had GU Electrolyte Brew and Hammer Heed powder to mix into my bottles. I also brought GU Chomps and Roctane Gels. Troy told us that Dan and Dave would be at certain places along the course with water, cookies and Gatorade/Powerade (I don't remember which, because I don't drink either). We brought our bikes out, and prepared to ride. I wore my Spinervals jersey, tri shorts, and sun sleeves. It was chilly, but I knew it would warm up. Troy had on a couple of layers, and some lobster-claw mitts tucked into his back pockets. Some people (not me!) were smirking over the gloves, which Coach didn't wear, leaving his reputation intact ;) We were riding one loop of the reverse of the Ironman bike, which meant we'd be climbing Keene hill--7 miles and 1350' of ascent--near the end of the ride. Coach Troy said he'd be controlling the pace on the downhill through the Notch, that we'd be stopping and regrouping at certain points along the course, and that everyone would do the climb at their own pace. Since we'd all be finishing at different times, we were to do our brick run whenever we finished the ride--one or two loops around Mirror Lake. We set off around 9:00, and it was an awesome ride! The bike is my thing, so I was feeling very comfortable, and feeling that maybe I did belong at this camp. I rode close to Troy's wheel through the Notch and near the front of the group down 86 to route 9N. We did the out and back on Haselton Road--one of my favorite roads in the entire North Country. I think it's a shame the entire road is no longer a part of the bike course. Coach Troy had strongly advised us not to hammer this ride, to save our legs for the 112 miles the next day. At some point, either in Wilmington or Upper Jay, I shed the sun sleeves. We split up into groups after Wilmington, I think, though we all regrouped at certain points before continuing. I hung with the A group until the return leg of the out-and-back to Ausable Forks. They started to push the pace as they neared Upper Jay again; that's a bit of an uphill section. I debated pushing to hang on, and decided to ease off and save my legs. I was going to get dropped, that was inevitable, so it didn't make sense to kill myself. And, the group would stop to regroup at the sag wagon stops, so I was able to start with them after each stop. We finally reached Keene, and started the climb. I like climbing. I live on the top of a hill that's a category 3 climb on one approach, and a 4 on another. I'm small and light, so I have an advantage. I felt good, got into a rhythm, and just tempo-ed up the hill. There was a traffic light about half-way up, routing traffic into one lane for construction. Jerre caught me before the light; our timing was bad and we caught the red and had to wait about 10 minutes before continuing. A couple of others caught up to us before the light changed. Turned out to be just the recovery I needed. We were still climbing after the light, and I took off feeling strong. After a minute or two, I turned to say something to the guys, and nobody was there. One of the guys caught and passed me near the top. I was feeling really good, and just decided to hammer the last few miles. The road is in rough shape, and my bottle with the Speedfil top jettisoned off into the trees on one particularly bad bump. I never could get that bottle system set up right, so, good riddance. Rode to the hotel, brought my bike up to my room and threw on my running shoes, and ran two loops--about 5 miles--around the lake. When I finished, I went down to the beach and waded into the lake up to my waist for a little ice bath. I highly recommend this! Back to the room to shower, and ate every bit of food in my room that I could find. I then went up to Placid Planet for a new hydration system. I got the XLab Super Wing and two Gorilla XT cages for behind the seat. I left the bike with Dan to install it for the next morning, and went to the nightly lecture. Afterwards, almost all of us went to dinner at the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery. It was great visiting with Ginny, Dan, Jerre and Christina down at my end of the table. We were a loud and raucous bunch. I was very happy with how my day went, and no longer feeling over my head. Coach Troy changed the ride start for the 112 miles to 7:00 a.m., so I went straight back to the hotel and to bed after dinner. Good day! My stats for the day: Swam 1130 yards in 32 min, biked 56 miles in 3:10 and ran 5.2 miles in 48 minutes.

Spinervals Lake Placid Camp, June 2013, Chapter 1

Raison D'etre: I've been incorporating Coach Troy Jacobson's Spinervals training videos into my workouts since January of 2012. My friend, Mary Duprey, suggested I use them when I was recovering from hip surgery. At the time, about all I could do was spin easy on a bike. Six months later, I PR'ed at my first post-surgery 5K. That made me a believer. This past fall and winter, I participated in Coach Troy's Super Six Challenge: six months of structured training, including the December "Challenge" month of serious strength-building on the bike. Around that time, Mary asked if I would consider attending the Spinervals Lake Placid Camp. At first, I said no. Camp conflicted with work, I'm not racing IMLP, and just generally felt like I'd be over-reaching. Winter progressed, and my fellow Spinervals teammates and I virtually trained and suffered together. I had an opportunity to meet two team mates, Kelly and Eddie Mendoza, while training and racing at Battenkill. Mary asked me again, and I decided to resolve my work conflict and sign up.

Registration and Orientation, Thursday, June 20th: I had originally reserved Friday and Saturday nights at the host hotel, the Golden Arrow Resort in Lake Placid. A couple of days before camp started, I called and added Thursday night. I arrived at the hotel around 5:15, checked in, and headed to the conference room to register. That's where I first met Dan and Dave, Troy's detail guys. I would learn to look forward to the sight of this father and son team before the weekend was over. I filled out the paperwork, got some swag--a Spinervals jersey (which I love and fits perfectly!), a water bottle from a local bike shop, and a couple of other random items. We also were instructed to choose three titles from a variety of Spinervals DVDs. I had all but two of them, and both are Runervals videos (which I'll have to rip and put on my iPad or iPhone to use at the gym). We proceeded into the conference room, where we met Coach Troy and his team. Troy put up a PowerPoint presentation with a few questions for us to use as a guide to introduce ourselves. After the introductions, Coach instructed us to stand up and do a five-minute isometric squat, as a way of simulating how one feels throughout the day when competing in an Ironman (Coach Troy had done his iso squat that morning, so didn't join us. Yeah, where have I heard that before?!) Longest five minutes of my life; the room became very quiet, my legs were shaking, beads of sweat started rolling down my face. Somehow, I and everyone in the room made it through the five minutes without sitting down. In retrospect, this little exercise accomplished two things: 1. When Coach told us he expected timeliness for meetings and workouts or we'd be doing squats, we took it seriously. 2. I think we impressed Coach Troy. He knew the caliber of the group he was dealing with from those five minutes. At that moment, however, all I could think was, what the hell had I got myself into? Coach talked some more about racing IMLP (I'm not going to give any details from the lectures. I think you should attend a camp to hear those), gave us the overall plan for the weekend, and sent us on our way for the night, with the instruction to meet in the hotel lobby at 6:40, for a 7:00 a.m. swim. As I walked down the street with quivering legs looking for a place to eat, I resolved I would be up early. My favorite sandwich shop was closed, so I started to head back to the hotel, thinking I'd grab some take-out pizza. I ran into fellow campers, Merle, Lola, Jerre and Christina, and they invited me to go with them to Milanos. We had a great dinner (I ordered the pizza special and a beer), and some good conversation getting to know each other. As we walked down the stairs leaving the restaurant, we felt that damned iso squat in our legs, and I secretly worried if I was up to the challenge. When I got back to the hotel, I called my husband and told him I didn't know what I was doing there, that I was in over my head. Then, I went to bed and worried about getting to sleep, waking up on time, iso squats, swimming in cold water, and on and on...

Battenkill Gran Fondo

My journey to the Battenkill Gran Fondo started back in January. I had done the Centurion 50 in Lake George last year, finishing first in my age group and 6th woman overall. I really looked forward to doing that race again, and maybe doing one or two other Centurion events in the series. I found out in January that all of the Centurion events in the U.S. had been cancelled, and only the events in Canada would take place this year. Around the same time, I received information that the Tour of Battenkill was replacing the Sunday Pro UCI race with a Gran Fondo. Some of my cycling friends have done the Pro/Am race at Battenkill, and I had really wanted to ride the course some day. I had heard it was very challenging, and I knew I really couldn't be competitive in a Women's Cat 4 field, so the Fondo was a perfect opportunity to fulfill that wish, and a good replacement event for the Centurion. Through the Spinervals Cycling group page, I knew that a couple of my fellow Spinervalites were doing the race. Eddie and Kelly Mendoza had both signed up for Saturday's race, but with the announcement of the Fondo, Kelly switched her entry to Sunday. We talked back and forth, and with fingers crossed for decent weather, picked March 16th to meet in Cambridge, NY to pre-ride the course.
The pre-ride went well. The weather was sunny, low 30s, and no wind. The signature dirt roads of the Battenkill course were dry, and we had a great day. I was fairly pleased with my endurance. March is very early in the season to be doing a 65 mile ride, especially one that includes 16 miles of dirt roads and 5000' of climbing. I definitely credit all my hard work with the Spinervals Super 6 training plan with giving me the early season conditioning and endurance to tackle that course. The course is no joke; all ups and downs, with very few flat sections. The hills are short, steep, punchy hills--just the type I've always struggled with. I prefer long, gradual climbs, where my personal power-to-weight ratio gives me an advantage. I had difficulty with Juniper Swamp Road. It's a dirt road with a viciously steep little climb. The road there was a little wet, and when the pitch became uncomfortably steep, I stood up on the pedals to gain some power. Mistake! My rear tire started to spin, so I sat back down. By then I had lost all forward momentum, and after another attempt or two alternating between sitting and standing, I had to get off and push my bike up the hill. That pissed me off. I've only done that once before. I did fine for the rest of the ride, actually feeling a little stronger on the last two big climbs--Meeting House Road and Stage Road. I averaged 13.8 mph for the ride, and I wasn't very happy with that. Yes, it's a difficult and challenging ride, but I knew I'd have to do better than that on race day to finish well. After the ride, we went out to dinner with the Mendozas and had a great time. One of the nice things about our Spinervals Cycling page is that I feel like I've known many of these people a long time. Eddie, Kelly and I just clicked together, like we'd known each other our whole lives.

Fast forward to the weekend of the race. I had reserved a hotel room in Saratoga, NY for Saturday night. In retrospect, I wish we had gone down Friday night so we could've helped Kelly work the feed zones for Eddie and two of their friends who were racing that day. We left about 10:00 Saturday morning, made good time to Saratoga, checked into the hotel and headed to Cambridge. It took us awhile to find Kelly. We browsed the expo and neighboring businesses, finally found Kelly and stood at the finish line to cheer Eddie in. The Mendozas invited us for dinner at the house they rented. What a nice evening, visiting with the whole Mendoza clan and friends. Headed back to the hotel for a decent night's sleep.

We had a nice, solid breakfast at the hotel and drove out to Cambridge with about an hour to spare before the start. Turns out we had the start location wrong, so it was a good thing we were early. I was struggling with what to wear. It was cold and windy. If the sun had come out to stay, it would've been ok, but it didn't. I got all the way to the start and realized I'd forgotten my timing chip, and had to ride back to the car. I had plenty of time, it just made me panicky. Two guys that I ride with locally were doing the Fondo. I found them and Kelly well before the start. All four of us started together. It was a fast first hour, averaging over 17 mph. We stayed together until the first climb at seven miles in. Kelly rode out a little ahead and one of the guys went with her. The other guy got dropped on Juniper Swamp (I made it over on the bike, yea!), and Kelly waited up for me. We all met up at the first rest stop at mile 25. The Joe Bean climb was right after, and Kelly and I attacked together. We dropped the guys, and Kelly gapped me, I kept her in sight for awhile, but then lost her. I rode the rest of the race pretty much alone. I basically rode with the same group of 20 or so people. I would beat them up the climbs, and they'd blow by me on the downs. I tried grabbing wheels, but after I recovered a bit, they seemed too slow, so I'd pass, but they wouldn't grab my wheel. Or they'd blow by me too fast for me to get their wheel, but then I'd just catch them on the climb. It did get mentally tough after awhile. The wind made it difficult, and seemed to always be a headwind no matter which direction I went in. I did get a little bit of a tailwind push up Meeting House and Stage, which was awesome. My husband Wayne, Eddie, and Amanda--the Mendoza's friend, were just awesome. They were at both feed zones--I only spent a couple of minutes at each one--passed by me a couple of times, honking their horns and shouting encouragement. They actually stopped on the steepest part of Meeting House, cheered, took pictures, and Eddie ran alongside me, a la Tour de France. When I finished the last climb on Stage and got back on pavement, I pushed it as hard as I could for the last five miles. I averaged 15.1 mph for the race, and finished in 4:21 (Link to Garmin file). Finished 4th in my age group out of eight, 13 out of 27 women, and 125 out of 196 finishers. Not bad for an old, skinny woman. One difference between Battenkill and Centurion is that there weren't as many women at Battenkill, and the ones who showed up were serious riders.

When it was all said and done, I decided that I loved the dirt sections. They are speed and power sappers, but they make the ride so much more interesting. Now that I know the course a little better, I will ride it more intelligently next time. I can't wait to go back next year!

Tanita InnerScan BC-533

I've been using the Tanita Inner-Scan BC-533 for about a month and a half now, and I feel I have enough data to draw some conclusions. I chose this particular model of Tanita because, at $85.00, it seemed to be a good value for the price. It's advertised as the best selling scale on the market. The next model up was not only a lot more expensive, but provided more data than I was interested in having. Between my Kurt Kinetic inRide and my Garmins 110 and 500, Training Peaks and Garmin Connect, I feel a little overwhelmed by all the numbers I'm looking at every day. However, I really do want to gain muscle, and just tracking my weight every day wasn't giving me any useful information about if and how all the training and eating was helping me accomplish that goal.
This model of the Tanita provides the following data: weight, body fat %, body water %, muscle mass/physique rating, bone mass, visceral fat, daily caloric intake/metabolic age. The Tanita uses Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to calculate your body composition. It passes a low electrical signal through your body, carried by water and fluids. According to their literature, "Fat tissue does not contain much water and creates resistance to impedance to the signal. (Fat is approximately 10-15% hydrated, whereas muscle is normally between 50-70%.)" The Tanita uses this information along with formulas based on other information that the user provides: height, weight, gender, body type and age, to estimate the user's lean and fat tissue. I've discovered that my hydration level is the most important factor in getting consistent data. But, more about that later.
The Tanita was very easy to set up. There is a guest mode, and up to four users can store their personal data to get more accurate readings. Once I turned the scale on (it runs on 4-AA batteries), and selected my Personal Key Number, I entered age, sex, height, and activity level (I selected "3", which is an "adult involved in intense physical activity of approximately 10 hours per week and who has a resting heart rate of approximately 60 beats per minute or less." ) That's it, set-up complete.
Each time you weigh yourself, you need to first select your personal key before stepping on the scale. Tanita recommends that you weigh yourself under consistent conditions of hydration. This is important, because you can get very different numbers with seemingly insignificant differences in hydration. You also need to be barefoot, so that your skin can make contact with the electrodes. Further, it is recommended that you be unclothed, and wait three hours after rising, eating or exercising. These stipulations basically give me a small window of time on weekdays, so I find I'm not using the scale every day. But, if I use that window, I have the best chance of getting consistent readings, and I can see the effect that illness or poor hydration has on my readings. When I am adequately hydrated, I see my highest muscle mass, highest bone mass, and lowest fat percentage. Not surprisingly, this corresponds with my highest weight, though not always. Also, some of my lowest body weight readings were coupled with some of my highest body fat percentages, simply because I was dehydrated. For me, my best readings happen when I weigh myself after work and before my workout, and when I've had two meals (breakfast and lunch), two snacks, and about 60 oz of fluid, at the time of weighing. Here are the differences I've seen between my highest and lowest readings: weight-4.2 lbs, muscle mass-9 lbs, bone mass-0.4 lbs, body water-5.3%, body fat-7.3%. My worst readings were when I had an intestinal bug, my best were two weeks after I finished the Challenge Phase of the Spinervals Super 6 training plan. It was an intense month of focused muscular endurance training.
Time for some conclusions: The day I recovered from two days of intestinal nastiness, I gained 2 lbs, gained 0.4 lbs of bone mass, gained 9 lbs of muscle mass, lost 6.6% of my body fat, and had 4.8% more body water. Clearly, I didn't have 9 more lbs of muscle from one day to the next, but it illustrates how important hydration is for correct readings. I can see trends, and I can use those numbers to make decisions about my training. For example, when I look at my numbers for January 14th and February 11th, all of my numbers are virtually the same, except I weighed 1.6 lbs less and had 1.2 lbs less of muscle mass on February 11th. Since my current training phase has been mostly aerobic endurance work, I feel I've done a good job maintaining my muscle gains, and I'm ready for the next phase of my training. I also really like the Tanita because it forces me to focus on hydration, something I have been casual about in the past to my detriment. So, if you like to quantify your progress and are serious about training and improving your chances for success, the Tanita scale can be a very useful tool to have.