Recovery & Other Things

Four days after Mitchell (seriously, it's already four days ago?) and the recovery is going well. I have been to the pool the day after the ride, which at first sounded ridiculous, but after sitting in an office chair all day, swimming was the right thing to do. I was supposed to swim again yesterday, but my neck was in all kinds of pain, so I did a walk and some light stretching of the neck and shoulder area. I have no clue, if the neck is some delayed soreness from the ride or if I just messed it up sleeping... Who know. It feels much better today and I also had a chiro appointment this afternoon... That should help.

Tomorrow, I have my first bike ride on tap... Just an easy spin in the small chain ring and I guess my first "serious" workout back will be a run on Sunday. My body is feeling better every day and the easy workouts, the sleeping in and the eating whatever I want this week certainly helps.

Starting next week, things are going to get a little more normal and with races lines up over the next three weekends (11K Trail Run, MTY Sprint Tri and a 3K Open Water Swim - seriously, what was I thinking!), I will also once again get more serious about my nutrition.

But before I move on, I just wanted to mention a couple more things, that didn't quite fit into the ride report or that I just completely forgot to mention:

• I can't wait to get back on the bike... No, I am not kidding!
• Somebody mentioned, that AOMM is in the top ten of the hardest rides in the US and I caught myself googling last night, to find the other 9 rides (no success yet) that I want to do now... Or is there something like 50 states epic bike rides??? ;-) Oh boy, I am in trouble.
• They were right when they said, that you get addicted to Mitchell... I am not quite yet saying that I will do it all over again next year, but I am not saying that I am done with the mountain either! ;-)
• The outpour of support from family, friends, team mates and co-workers during this whole process was insane and I am so very thankful for it.
• Having a GPS tracker (review and details to follow) with me on the ride was making me feel like people were "watching" me, so I made sure, I didn't slack! ;-) And they were watching!! I had tons of e-mails and facebook messages. Also, I walked into work the next day and people stopped to tell me that they followed me along! That was awesome!
• Our riding time was 8 hours and 20 minutes... So we spent 1 hour and 10 minutes in the rest stops... It makes me wonder what is possible next year... Not saying, that I am going to do it again! ;-)
• Yesterday, I got an e-mail saying in the first line "calling all climbing junkies and their families"... Now, I am really in trouble! ;-)
• In the process of preparing for Mitchell, there were a lot of question marks... Due to having a great coach, I never questioned my training though! Thanks, Katie!!!

Ride Report: 2011 Assault On Mount Mitchell

Pre-Ride

The ride started at 6.30am in Spartanburg. That meant a 3.45am wake-up call for us. I packed all my stuff the night before, so all I had to do was getting dressed and get some breakfast in me. I was expecting to be more nervous, but I was oddly calm. Terry put the bike on the bike rack and we left the house at 4.30am to meet Stacy at her house at 5.00am. From there, we did a little bike switcheroo and her husband took us to the start line. In the parking lot of the auditorium, we got our remaining gear and nutrition on our bikes and stuffed in our pockets and then made our way to our meeting point with the 3rd member of the dynamic trio. Suzanne was signed up for the Marion ride and graciously offered to pull us along for the first 2/3 of the ride. Yay!! When I walked by a girl pumping her tires, I realized that I completely forgot to do that.. Fortunately, she let me borrow her pump. That would have been a classic rookie mistake: Showing up at a century ride and have the tires at 80 psi… ;-)

Mile 0 - 22
The screen at the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium counted us down and off we were. We were lined up in the last third of the field and just went with the flow for the first couple of miles. Then Suzanne started pulling us and once the field stretched out a little, we were a nice little pace line of three, that hopped from one group to the next and sometimes stayed a little longer in a group, when the pace seemed to fit for us. On this stretch, we also found one of our training partners Roxanne that we rode two AOMM training rides with and she jumped on the pace train for a while. We originally planned on skipping the first rest stop, but my left hip flexor was tight right from the beginning of the ride and it started to really bother me. After a brief discussion, we decided to pull over at the stop, so I was able to stretch the hip out. This was probably our longest stop out of all of the rest stops between me stretching and the porta potty lines.

Looking back, this was the only time during the complete ride that I questioned, if I am going to finish, because of the hip pain. Fortunately, the pain was gone completely when I got back on the bike.

Mile 23 - 65
We stayed in the pace line most of the next 42 miles and also didn't stop much anymore. We spend a couple of minutes at the rest stop at mile 43 and then rolled through the rest stop on top of Bill's hill (mile 48?). The stretch was pretty uneventful. We made good time. It seemed like my climbing legs decided to show up, but my "hammer-it-on-the flats" legs were not quite as responsive as I would have liked them to be. While a lot of people talk about Bill's hill, I don't think it's all too bad… It's the constant up and down that starts around mile 45 that is eventually going to fry your legs. We stopped at rest stop #4 at mile 65 and Suzanne took off to complete her ride, so she could make it up to the top of Mitchell on the bus to cheer her husband over the finish. Stacy and I took a little longer pit stop to eat something. I was hoping for something salty, because my stomach was a little funny, but no such luck. Instead, I gobbled down another peanut-butter and jelly sandwich. I was not going to bonk on this one.

Mile 66 - 73
At this point, it was just Stacy and me. I don't have much recollection of this portion of the ride, but I believe that my legs recovered a little and that we were able to draft on and off on that stretch. The Marion finish was at mile 73 along with rest stop #5. They had coke and pretzels…. That was exactly what I was craving for the last 40 miles. We got to Marion in around 5h30m and I was pleased with that. Roxanne rolled into the stop shortly after we did, so we started out the last 30 miles of the ride together.

Mile 74 - 86
This is were the real fun starts. At this point you have 70% of the distance covered, but that probably just reflects 50% of the effort. As mentioned earlier, my climbing legs showed up for the party and that combined with the tunes in my ears, I found my climbing groove quickly. I didn't stop for rest stop #6 and just kept on going to conquer the three hardest miles for the whole ride (personal opinion here!). On this stretch, I saw a couple of people catching their breath on the side of the road and we were chicking dudes left and right… I might not be a fast rider in general, but give me a couple of miles of hills and I channel my inner mountain goat. We were on the turn to the parkway at around 1:20pm. Didn't stay long, I just wanted to have some coke, but they were out. My feet started hurting a little bit on this portion of the ride, but being off the bike was actually worse than being on the bike, so we were back in the saddle in no time.

Mile 87 - 92
Back to the grind. But we also knew, that there would be a rest stop in a couple of miles, which made the whole thing more manageable. Once again, I was rocking away to my tunes and picked targets to pass. Every now and then, I had a brief chat with my fellow riders and then kept on climbing. On this stretch of the course, we saw many people walking on the side of the road. The mountain was taking it's toll on everybody. I was fine, feeling fine, just plucking along... And then, we reached the next rest stop. It's the Mitchell Outlook parking lot and I was honestly glad, that Mitchell was covered in a fluffy cloud, this way I didn't have to see, where we have to go.

One word about the volunteers: While all of the volunteers on the course and behind the scenes deserve a big old hug, there was one volunteer on the mile 92 rest stop that was just cracking me up. He was yelling at people to get on their bikes... I quote here: "There are no butts on the bikes, get your butts on the bikes!", "We are doing pushups in five minutes, if you are still here in five minutes, you have to do pushups!" From what the other volunteers said, he was keeping this up since 10:30am and it was 2:30pm at this point.

Mile 93 - 100
Right after this rest stop you start a glorious two mile downhill that will chill you to the bone when it's getting a little colder. I don't wanna say that I was glad to be climbing again, but it sure felt better temperature wise. When we reached the last rest stop on the parkway (around mile 97/98) we just kept on going and rode directly into that big fluffy cloud that we saw earlier.... and then it started to rain on us twice for about five minutes. I don't want to complain, the weather was almost perfect for this ride, but it did get quite chilly on the last couple of miles. The first two miles on Mitchell are supposed to be the hardest of the whole ride. While I do remember that it was quite a climb, I think at this point, I was just so hyped up to finish this thing, that I didn't care anymore.

I pulled into the last rest stop at mile 100 to regroup once more... Stacy and I started this whole process together and we would be finishing it together.

Mile 101 - 102
The last two miles were just the icing on the cake. We were chatting a little for some of the way and were silent for some of it... And we saw first hand, while you should never buy/wear white cycling shorts.... I won't forget that picture for a while! ;-)

After one last turn, we got on the parking lot and after 9 hours and 33 minutes, we crossed the finish line of our first Assault on Mount Mitchell and what a ride it was.

 When Stacy and I talked about this ride previously, we said to stick together until Marion and then each of us just stick to her climbing pace. Turns out that on Monday, our climbing pace was pretty much the same. We regrouped at the stops, but were never far apart. Seriously, I can't say enough, how valuable it was to have my friend on my side for this crazy trip to check in on each other and encourage each other... "Turn the frown upside down!"

Post-Race
As soon as I stopped, I got cold, but I got a space blanket handed right away and that helped. I also received my finishers patch (of honor! ;-), got rid of our bikes, got our clothes and got changed. We were hungry, but there was not much time to get a lot food into us, because we boarded the bus asap. Once back in Marion, we met up with Terry who picked us up to take us home. I walked into the house around 10pm that night... That was a long day... But it was all sooooo worth it.

Full Circle... Kind of.

Sometime last year in November, I was on a 30-mile ride with one of my dearest training friends. She just did her first half ironman a couple of weeks earlier and we took the ride easy (translation: chit chatted a lot). While pedaling along on the short Tour de Red Cell course, we talked about the option of doing Mitchell together this year. We both had our reservations of doing the training alone, especially the long miles in the mountains. We decided, that if both of our schedules worked out, we would do it. Well, the schedules worked out and now we are both just two days away from doing our first Assault.

I won't repeat my training of the last several month now. You all suffered through reading about it enough! ;-)

Sooooo.... Today, the two of us did the same route. It was much warmer today then it was back in November, so that was nice. We took it easy again (yes... more chit chat) and just took the legs out for a little spin. The hay is in the barn and you can't cram for an endurance event, like you can cram for an exam... So here we go!

We can do this! ;-)

I will see the Finish Line!

Coach Katie forwards her athletes the Runner's World Quotes of the Day... The good ones.

Today's came with the line:
"Very appropriate for those of you getting ready to tackle Mt. Michtell next Monday!"

This is very fitting to the mental warfare that is going on in my brain right now and reinforces once again the importance of preparing my head for this task. I know that my body is able to complete Mt Mitchell, but that is not going to do me any good, if my mindset isn't right.

And while I do have plenty of negative thoughts sneak into my brain these days, I (try to) blaze over them with positive reinforcement. It's all part of the preparation for the big day, because I know that there are going to be rough spots and bumps (and I am not talking about road conditions) somewhere between mile 75 and 102 and I'll better know how to manage them.

My current mantra?

"I will see the finish line!"

When I get overwhelmed with thoughts of:

• flat tires and mechanicals in general... I will see the finish line
• burning feet, exhaustion, pain.... I will see the finish line... 
• the mountain looking so high and so far away... I will see the finish line
• being good/ fast/ fit enough to do this... I will see the finish line
• miserable conditions (rain, cold, wind, snow, heat???).... I will see the finish line
• riding alone a lot.... I will see the finish line

And not only will I see the finish line... I will cross that finish line and I will have a (maybe forced) smile on my face... And I will hug every person I know that is up there... The ladies that I did a lot of my training with... My awesome husband that didn't only support my training, but also is going to be there to pick me up.

There will probably be some tears involved. There will be tons of stories, stuffing my face with food and maybe a nap in the car on my way back home.

Ride Report: Issaqueena's Last Ride

Last week was kind of rough on me. Every training cycle has it's ups and downs and last week, I certainly had a couple of meltdowns low points. Since this is the last weekend before Mitchell, I had another 100 miler on tap, so I signed up for Issaqueena's Last Ride out of Walhalla SC. The sign up was pre meltdown, so I went a little back and forth for most of the week, if I should really do the ride and if I should do the full distance or drop to 61-miler.

Due to the 9am start time, I didn't have to leave the house super early, on the other hand, I wished that the 100-miler people would have been on the course earlier, since you'll be out there for a long time. The package pickup was at St. John's Lutheran Church, where they served breakfast for the riders. It also meant real bathrooms... Double score in my eyes.

I have a hard time estimating, how many riders were out there, but I would say it was around 150 people. Later somebody told me, that around 20 out of that did the 100 mile route.

After some general instruction and a prayer for safety on the road, we were off.

None of my trainer partners did this ride, so I was on my own and I was worried to be riding 100 miles alone. Fortunately, I was able to ride with a group of women, basically right from the start. Unfortunately, out of that group, only three of us did the 100 miler, but we started working together and eventually caught two men. I stayed in this group until we hit the major climb around mile 42.

The advantage of riding in the group was, that I was able to conserve energy and the time flew by with the general chit chat. Also, all of the others did Mitchell in the past, so I was able to pick their brains a little about the ride in general. I don't think, I have ever ridden 42 miles this fast, especially in rolling terrain and I was wondering, if I am going to pay for it later. While the stiff pace probably didn't help, what certainly hurt me more in the later miles, was that I completely under fueled in first half... 300 calories is not enough. Duh! But I was so concerned about sticking to the group, that I neglected my nutrition.

By the time I reached the Wigington Overlook (highest point of the route), my legs felt like lead and my stomach was in knots. Certainly, the 14% grade up to that overlook had something to do with it too, but the under-fueling just left me feel weak. By that time, the group broke apart anyways, so I kept plucking along on my own pace and trying to catch up on my eating.

from the Issaqueena's Last Ride FB page

The next 20 miles were mentally the roughest for me of the complete ride. While my usual suspects (foot and neck) didn't give me much trouble, my legs just didn't want to have any of this. Beginning at the descent from the overlook, I was dead last in the ride. Sweet... talking about already having a tough time.

By the time, I hit the rest stop at mile 71, things started to feel a little better and by the last rest stop at mile 80, I almost felt back to normal. Speaking of the rest stops, thanks to all the volunteers out there for hours and hours to keep us fed and hydrated... It was kind of funny to be the one telling the volunteers, that they can pack up, because I am the last one. The only thing, that didn't work out, was the rest stop at mile 37 wasn't there. People said different things about it: that they got lost, they packed up early etc... I don't know what happened, but the fact was, that one of the rest stops wasn't there. Fortunately, I was riding with four bottles, so I was fine. The SAG truck didn't have any water on him, but later was able to organize a cooler, so they tried their best, to fix the situation asap.

It was maybe around 4.15pm by the time, I pulled into the parking lot in Walhalla again. That means, I was on the road for a little over 7 hours with around 6:40 hours pure riding time for 96.5 miles (according to my Garmin, the course was a little short). That was close to a 14.5 mph average for a century ride in the mountains.... I am happy with that!

Mitchell, here I come... Just 8 more days to got... Time to start stalking the weather forecast! ;-)

No Social Life

Every month, a group of girls I work and used to work with are getting together for dinner and chit-chat. I haven't made this outing for the past three months. For a get-together with another group of girlfriends, I suggested the week before Mitchell (aka taper week) for an evening out, because I expect to have a really low volume training week. Seriously, I don't have a social life these days.

I am not saying, that it wouldn't be possible or even good for me, to take a night off from my schedule every now and then. I even pencil these get-togethers in my training plan, so that no workouts are getting scheduled during that time, but a lot of the time stuff happens and the social plans are falling to the wayside right now. Possible stuff?

1. The weather was bad previously, so I am using my "free" evening to catch-up.
2. I haven't seen my husband all week, due to my training schedule and his work schedule.
3. I am tired. Got up at 4.30 that day and will get up at 4.30 the next day.
4. I cannot close the door of the laundry room anymore, because there is just too much laundry.
5. All of the above or a combination of some of these factors.

Last Sunday morning, I skyped with my mom and one of my aunts. I was tired, had a blazing headache and ran a slight fever (it lasted a couple of hours and then everything was fine again) and it showed. You know that you look bad, when your 70 something year old aunt (that has only 20% vision left in one of her eyes and a little more in her other eye) notices that you look like you are having a rough day.... over a grainy web cam. The first thing my mom said was: "Have you been out drinking?" Yes of course, because I sorta have a reputation for that... NOT... at least not since my party girl days have been over. Anywho, I actually had a drink the night before... one beer (a victory beer for my 100-miler - oh the irony!)... and I felt like I was doing vodka shots all night. Awesome! Another proof of my non-existent social life. While my bike training is going well, my beer lifting arm is pretty much out of shape, but something's got to give.

Besides them mocking me, the conversation after that mostly revolved around me missing out on fun stuff and why I do this to myself and if I don't miss free time, when the last time was, I had the nerve to read a book (obviously audiobooks didn't count for them) and when I will finally take a break, how in the world I keep up with my housework (answer: awesome husband and a good dose of ignorance)... yadi, yadi, yadi**.

**I can complain online about them, because a) they don't speak English or not enough to understand this and b) the number of times I troubleshoot their internet connection from 7,000 miles away makes me feel pretty safe! ;-)

Outside my circle of endurance athletes, I get a lot of head shaking and "you are crazy"s and that's okay. I would have done the exact same thing a couple of years ago. Quite honestly, I have athlete friends that do stuff (running a marathon, doing an ironman seriously people, get a life! ;-), that I still can't wrap my mind around.... But I also come to understand, that everyone is choosing their preferred "crazy". A friend of mine told me that I was crazy for doing Mitchell... she did an Ironman last year! Go figure!

To be honest, sometimes, I ask myself the same questions. Sometimes, I feel so run down, tired and worn out.... Sometimes, I have to remind myself, that all of this is just temporary and that I have to keep my eye on the prize. This too shall pass! ;-) And I know myself well enough, that once this is all said and done, I will be craving the next challenge. I talked to a girl at the Y yesterday and she volunteered for AOMM in the past and said that people get addicted to this ride and do it over and over again. In my mind, I just want to succeed this year, so I don't have to go back for more next year! But we'll see.... Never say never.

To be fair, while my social life in terms of dinners dates and beer drinking seriously lacks these days, I do spend a lot of time with awesome friends and get to meet new awesome people all the time while getting my training in. Even if this is a different kind of socialzing, don't call me a hermit quite yet! ;-)

PS: The pictures in this post are from last night's ride... You see? It's all worth it!!!

A big Week including Paris VI/2011

This post is going to be all over the place, I do have a lot of ground to cover because there wasn't much time for anything this week besides work and working out.... And working out I did.

It's Thursday evening now and I have logged 8 hours of physical activity since Monday. That also means that I have a huge pile of laundry sitting in the laundry room that desperately needs my attention and the house needs some TLC in general. Before I take care of my domestic diva duties, let me run down this week for you.

MONDAY - Rest and Walk

Desperately needed rest after our Mitchell attempt. I woke up sore, but after sitting on my butt for most of the day, I was also pretty stiff. To shake things out a little, I took the dog for a longer walk.

She gave me quite a scare, when she stepped into a bee and then ended up eating the bee. I already pictured her having an allergic reaction and me carrying a 50 pound dog home... At this point we were around a mile from the house. After some initial head shaking and paw licking, she was fine.

Ms Karma, looking a little dumb here.

TUESDAY - A.M. Swim, P.M. Ride

The swim on the training plan was quite a number and sounded scary hard, so I was relieved when the coach suggested to take it easier that day because of our long ride on Sunday. I ended up with 2,100 yards. On days like these, the cold pool is actually pretty enjoyable and I think it helps with the soreness.

At the top of Paris Mountain.

 For the ride, I decided to conquer Paris Mountain at least once and try for another time if I am feeling alright. I rode a 10 mile warm-up lap, then climbed Paris all the way up to the antennas. I took this whole ride pretty easy. Actually, I felt good once I was up, but I was loosing daylight fast, so instead of climbing it a second time, I took a couple of small detours on my way home to hit some shorter climbs. At home, I finished up the ride on the trainer, giving me around 2 hours of biking in total.

Looking up Paris Mountain on my way home.

WEDNESDAY - A.M. Run, P.M. Ride

I joined the team's track workout in the morning. The warm-up is running the two miles to the track and I was exhausted by the time I even got there. So once again, I got a modified workout and ran/ skipped 2 miles on the track and then another 2 miles back to the Y. While I was supposed to do 8 miles, 6 miles is pretty good before breakfast too! ;-)

For the afternoon ride, I selected a flatter route close to work. The ride had a couple of intervals, but was mostly just about being on the bike. I found a couple of nice roads to ride on, that I have never tried out before and that always makes me happy. Overall, I felt pretty good, just my neck is giving me some trouble due to the high mileage of the last week, I assume. Really makes me think to invest into a professional bike fitting, but if I want to do that, I need to pull the trigger fast in order to get it done in time for Mitchell and still have time to adjust to it.

THURSDAY - A.M. swim

Today I felt like my usual grumpy self again. The soreness and fatigue seemed to finally have given in under the pressure of training demands! ;-) We had a fun workout on schedule... If you ever feel like adding an extra layer of challenge to your swimming, just asked somebody to push down on your shoulders while you are treading water and then hang on to your ankles while you make it to the other wall of the pool. After that, swimming without a human anchor feels like nothing!!!!

Those blossoms are gone by now, but they were pretty while it lasted.

Okay, gotta go... I need to carbo load, because we have a 100 miles on the bike on tap for tomorrow. Hopefully the weather is going to halfway cooperate... Oh and there is also still the laundry waiting for me.

Mitchell Dress Rehearsal

This post could have also been named:

* No blood, but a lot of sweat and some tears
* A big piece of humble pie

The day started pretty early, we met up at Coach Katie's house to load 14 people with 14 bikes into a van. Our SAG support for this ride was Paul from Black Bear Adventures and Keith from Keith's Triathlon Shop. They kept us safe and fed and hydrated on this adventure and were just AWESOME general!!!

12 bikes on top, 2 in the back... 14 people (incl our guides) with gear made for a tight squeeze.

Food and drink in the front.

The van drove us to our starting point at Green Creek, which is around 25 miles into the AOMM course. We bundled up some, because it was a little chilly at the start at 8am.

The first couple of miles flew by. I had some technical problems because I walked into red mud while taking a pit stop in the woods and filled up my cleats with mud. Well, that lesson I learned the hard way. Also, there were issues with my gearing, but Paul and Keith tinkered on the derailleur some and it was much better afterward.

We had rest stops every 20 miles more or less and having the support van following us along was great, because we were able to shed layers or add layers or change clothing, access to food that we brought along

This is one of our rest stops along the way. In general, the course is just pretty pretty pretty. Plenty to look at. While the big climbs are at the end, there are some good rollers to keep you honest along the way as well.

Around mile 55 for us (mile 80 on the official course), the real climbing begins. Actually all you do starting from then on is climbing until you are at the top of Mitchell. Spare me the details of the 1 mile downhill and 2 mile downhill stretches on the Parkway.... Those are just little teasers where you loose all the elevation that you climbed before and then you have to climb it all over again.

The stretch on Hwy 80 is around 10 miles and while the first couple of miles tick by fairly fast, once the real climbing start, things started to drag out quite some. There are markers on the road "3.5 miles to the Pkway", 3 miles to the Pkway" etc and it just took a real long time to get from one marker to the next.

Before turning on the Blue Ridge Parkway, I made another fuel and water stop at the support van.

While the climbing is just going on and on and on, the views are better than on Highway 80 for sure. On this stretch I really started to struggle mentally. I am not saying that my legs felt all to great anymore either, but mentally it was even worse. In theory of course I know that it's all climbing, but once you are on the Parkway and you climb and then turn a corner and the you climb some more and then make another turn and there is more mountain to climb and then turn another corner and it still goes up and up and up. In the meantime, the number on the Garmin is only moving very slowly.

Up and up we go.

Faking a half smile for the camera, this was also not very far in on the Parkway, so the spirits were not completely destroyed (yet).

It went downhill (mentally and physically) pretty fast on the Parkway for me. Once again, the number on the Garmin just didn't move and I got frustrated and tired and cranky and my feet started killing me, because I was mashing the pedals for the last 1 hour (or possible more)... I was moaning and groaning with each pedal stroke for a little while and just hoping that nobody was around to witness the sadness of it all.

Eventually, I turned another corner and while I was happy to see our support van, I also saw Mount Mitchell still towering over us. I knew there were around 5 miles left to the top and still over 1,000 feet of climbing left... I rolled into the overlook and started to have a good little cry.

At the Ridge Junction Overlook, I called it a day yesterday... I was just so over it at this point.

I think, I would have been physically able to complete the ride yesterday, but I wasn't mentally in it to pedal for another 40 to 60 minutes (not kidding, that was the pace I was doing at this point) to the top.

Some of our group went to the top, some didn't go up and one girl made a wrong turn on the Parkway and ended up with 100 miles for the day. We picked her up again on the Highway 80 turn off and when we got her, she was all smiles still... I admire such a spirit, I would have been a bawling heap on the side of the road for sure.

Overall, this was a great ride. It was a big piece of humble pie, but it was still a great ride and I am glad that I had a chance to ride most of the course and most of the climbing before d-day. Now I know what to expect... I am not saying it's going to be pretty, but come race day, I am going up that mountain all the way.

The icing on the cake of the day, was the amazing group of people I got to spent the day with.... Just a nice road trip with some cycling thrown in... Like 73 miles of cycling in 6h 20m (stops not timed) for me, others did it faster.... Good day... Hard day, but good day.

Pic Credit: Black Bear Adventures and Malone Coaching. Some of them are my own ones.

Ride Report: Marquis de Sade

Disclaimer: I was on my bike a long time on Saturday and the length of this ride report reflects the length of the ride itself... If you have ever read a 5K report from me, you know what you are getting into... Just sayin'! ;-)

Sometimes, you dream about getting too late to a race, because your sub-conscience wants you to know, that you forgot to set the alarm. Yep, that was me Saturday morning. Fortunately, my body is not used to sleep very long, so I woke up at 7.15am for the 8.30am start.... besides, this wasn't a race anyways. But still, I felt a little stressed... At least I fixed everything the night before, so all that was left for me to do was getting dressed and eat breakfast.... Is also helped that I live just 20 minutes away from Tigerville.

I made it there on time, but half of our little troop came up from Columbia and got lost, so we ended up having a late start... Oh well... It's a ride, not a race.... But this made for an isolated ride for the first 40 (?) miles, but being out there with three other ladies, it wasn't bad at all.

Elevation Profile for modified route - click on pic to enlarge

Before mile 40, we already did a ton of climbing. The ride starts out (not even five miles from the start) with climbing Pack Mountain... You know, as a little warm-up for the things to come. It sure looked intimidating, but went up and over, not a problem. Next next big climb was Callahan Mountain at around mile 13... That was my scary mountain... The one I pushed my bike up last year on a training ride and while it is very steep (but short), it was nothing compared to the monster I made up in my head over the past year... No getting off the bike required this time around! Score! Seriously, after that, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and really, it was quite silly, that I was worried about it... But I just didn't know, what else this ride would have in store. After that, we were back in our regular stomping grounds: The climb up the watershed to Saluda, only that we didn't go all the way to Saluda, but turned off the road which added some climbing (how fun!). While this is a gradual climb for around 10 miles, it's really not that bad and quite enjoyable when you chit-chat the time away.

For the next 25 miles, we were riding a ton of rollers. On the elevation chart, it actually looks fairly flat, but no no no... It's a constant up and down and up and down which is going to just fry your legs over time. Also the wind was messing with us several times. But there have also been really nice flat sections or even slight downhills, where I was able to spend some time in aero and just grind away and a relax a little... And make up some time! ;-)

The next climb on the route was White Oak Mountain just around mile 40 (??). Coach Katie told us to skip this climb completely and ride the detour which would spare us the climb and around 7 miles of the ride. From what she says, the risks outweigh the benefits and not only is the climb very steep, but also the descent.... I sure didn't fight her on that. With cutting out this major climb, we were also finally back with other cyclists and felt like we are actually participating in a ride and not just ride on our own.

The next couple of miles were really fun riding, but at the end of this, our last big climb of the day was waiting: Green River Cove. A cyclist on the watershed (not part of the ride) told me, that the Green River Cove climb has 17 switch-backs and number 13 had a 23% grade. Pure awesomeness. I grinded up the switchbacks without major issues, but one of them just kicked my butt so bad, that I stopped for a couple of minutes, just to get my heart rate down again. After that it wasn't that bad anymore... I bet it was switchback number 13.... but there is no telling, because I forgot to count! ;-)

Once our little pack regrouped, we were on our way back to Saluda and the rest stop there didn't come a minute too early. I refilled my bottles and stuffed my fact with cookies, before we made our way back to Tigerville. As soon as we were on the descent, the heavenly gates opened and it was pouring. I have never been on a bike in these kinds of conditions and especially not on a descent, but fortunately, the watershed is just not that steep and so I made good time going down. Honestly, I just wanted to get out of the rain and I was hoping that I would be able to beat the rain clouds... Yay and nay... Once I was at the bottom, it stopped for a little while, but by the time we regrouped it started all over again. Originally, we didn't plan on skipping Callahan mountain on the way back, but the descent is really steep and ends with a stop sign at the bottom of the hill and with the road conditions at this point, I just didn't think it was a great idea... So we took another detour with less climbing, but around the same mileage.

When all was set an done, I ended up with close to 78 miles (another distance record for me!) at a 13.5 mph average.... I am thrilled with this ride.... For a number of reasons:

1. When I rolled into Tigerville, I felt strong... I felt like I could have easily tagged on several miles.
2. I really do enjoy training right now and just keep my fingers crossed that I won't get sick of my bike before this is all set and done.
3. I think, I have this nutrition thing on the bike figured out and the secret is: Stuff your face every possible moment.
4. I think, I am stronger than I think I am sometimes. I ended up pulling a guy back to a group... Given that he most likely did the White Oak climb, but he was at least 10 years younger (or just really looked young) than I am and was on a way better bike than mine.... and it was a dude....
5. Whenever I thought of the ride afterwards, it made me smile... What is going on with me???

I also met fellow bloggers Mike and Aaron and you should definitely check out there impressions from the ride as well. See you guys at the start line! ;-)

Time to FREAK OUT!



Need some stress relieve? Click here and circle the cat.

Two months is a lot of time right? I know it is, it just doesn't feel like it right now.

Today in exactly two months, I will be attempting the Assault on Mount Mitchell and I am a little lot freaked out about this right about now. I scraped the surface a little, when I mentioned in my blog about the Caesar's Head climb, that this climb made me question Mitchell a lot. I know that doubts are normal at points in training and I know that the human body is a wonderful thing and it can adapt fairly quickly... Still, I wonder, if I bit off more than I can chew.

Looking up the route and the elevation profile of AOMM really didn't help to calm down my nerves. My coach's comment about Mitchell being 30 miles of the kind of climbs that we did last weekend on Caesar's Head pushed me even a little further into freak-out zone. Her response: "I need you to be freaked out, this way you are going to get your training in!" Oh yes... It certainly helps, otherwise, I would have most likely never pushed through the 4.5 hour trainer ride from two weeks ago.

On the other hand.... There are still two months left to get ready and then I also made the experience, that the first time I do a hard climb always sucks big time, but the next time, it's never quite as bad anymore. Either it's the body adapting or your mind just knowing what to expect and also when it's going to be over.

I guess, I can test this "second time you do a climb, it's not that bad anymore" theory this weekend. My training partner and I will ride "Marquis de Sade" (here for the climb info and here for where the name is coming from.... yes, not funny) this Saturday and part of the route is a climb up Callahan Mountain Road. The climb is short (around half a mile) and very steep. I did this climb in April (I think, but I can't find a blog about it) of last year and ended up getting off the bike and pushing it.... I really hope, that with all the climbing I have been doing in the last couple of weeks/months, that won't be necessary this time around.

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

****************

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

55 Miles! Boo Yah!

Before leaving work Friday afternoon, I mentioned to my co-workers, that I am planning on riding around 50 miles the next day.... The reaction? "50 miles is even a long trip in the car!" ;-)

Because I had a commitment in the morning, I did my ride in the afternoon. Everyone else, of course, already rode earlier that day, so I was on my own. While I was a little worried to ride alone (and Terry being even more worried) in the mountains, I really ended up with a wonderful ride. It certainly helped, that I didn't run into crazy rednecks... Quite the opposite really, people were waiving and saying hi.... I assume, they are used to cyclist on this route.

Here are some pictures from the road:

Once I was back at the house and told Terry, that I did 55 miles.... he responded: "Well, that just a little over half the distance you have to ride for Mt Mitchell!" Thanks babe... Always so supportive! ;-)

And Then, I Pushed "Submit"

Earlier this year, I was working the package pickup (with other people of course) for the Assault on Mt Mitchell and Marion (AOMM). I always thought this race is CRAZY! But then you are standing around at the expo and see all these people come through... All excited about the race and the wheels in my head started turning. Maybe it wouldn't be all that crazy to try to go out for this???

After the initial "I'll do Mt Mitchell next year!", I started to think about it a little... You know, all the training that you have to put in for a 100 mile bike race up to the highest point East of the Mississippi. The race is in May, so that means you have to ride through the winter and really, the trainer and spin classes alone won't cut it anymore. All those hours on the road alone... I guess, training for this alone* was holding me back mentally the most.


*There are "Mt Mitchell" training rides, but they are posted at speeds that are just not going to happen for me.

Well and then I talked to one of my training buddy tri girls and turns out that she had this race loosely on her radar and with her decision of a late in the year Ironman, her schedule cleared up to train for Mt Mitchell. AWESOME!

So all that was left to do right now, was to push "submit" for the 2011 membership of the Spartanburg Freewheelers.

You are right, this is not a registration for AOMM, the registration is not open yet. But in order to get a shot at even registering for this event, you have to be a member of the Freewheelers for that year. There are a couple of hundred slots that are sold to the general public, but they go very fast, so becoming a member is the way to go.

To "celebrate" the decision, my training partner, hubs and I did a nice long bike ride today. We rode from Tigerville, to Flat Rock, to Saluda and back to Tigerville. Garmin said that it was a total of 6,000 ft (cumulative) climbing over 45 miles. More about that ride tomorrow.... Time to chill or better yet, warm up, since the ride was chilly enough! ;-)