2012 Year In Review

2012, the year I went overboard. 19 races in 8 months!  5 races in April alone. Whew. I'm not sure how that happened....but I will chalk it up to the Ironman Effect. At the beginning of the year I found myself asking:  What does one do after climbing Kili and becoming an Ironman? And since I didn't have a clear answer, I suppose I thought doing anything and everything must be the answer.

Looking back, much like in 2011, I wound up with two huge goals:  The Great Chesapeake Bay Swim and the Tussey mOUnTaINback 50 Miler.  I would succeed in one, come close in the other. Regardless, I swam and ran farther than ever before.

The other 17 races on my calendar? They were mostly about making 2012 the Year of Fun, of course! P and I were on the mud race - half marathon circuit for the first part of the year.

All of that, plus CompuWTF and countless laps in the pool and I was burned out by the time Musselman rolled around! I seriously began to wonder if I had an exercise addiction --or at least a sign-up-for-races addiction! LOL

2012 was also the year Janet became an Ironman! P, Tracey, and I launched our super-secret "Operation Hello Janet" to help cheer her to the finish line (with the help of some crazy hula guys).

 

Operation Hello Janet

 

I guess, more than anything, 2012 was the year I ventured off road and hit the trails like never before. In fact, I fell in love with trail running. It was the year I became an ultra runner, completing my first 50K---all on trails. 50K? Yeah, that was a mere training run for Tussey.

Election Night at Obama Campaign HQ, Chicago

And...I guess it wouldn't be a thorough Year in Review without mentioning what consumed my life for much of the year:  the presidential election.  From the New  Hampshire and Florida primaries to the presidential debates to the Democratic National Convention to Election Day in Chicago--it was all election, all the time. Couldn't wait for it to be over....

So now we say farewell to another year....and welcome in 2013. More about that later...But for now, Happy New Year!

Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK 50 Miler!

October 21, 2012

My first 50 mile attempt! Ran 42 miles and missed the cutoff by 20 minutes. It's the farthest I've ever run, so I'll take it!  Awesome course, amazing scenery and incredible support from friends. Loved it!

Trail Lagniappe

The road, er...trail to Tussey took me from the woods of Virginia to the wilds of Wisconsin. I slogged my way through assorted trail races to get ready for the big day.
   (this is a blog posting place holder -- will be back to finish it soon! )


INSTEP TRAIL RACE - Moo Weekend in Wisconsin!

 

 

12 HOUR ADVENTURE TRAIL RUN!  My First 50K

 

 

SHENANDOAH RIVER SHENANIGANS

The Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK Countdown is ON!

What an insane couple of months it's been. I've been traveling for work, fun, family, or racing every weekend since late August! Now suddenly, it's Tussey weekend!

Well, by now I've managed to familiarize myself with the entire Tussey course. I ran most of it over the course of two different weekend trips...and what I didn't run, I drove. So here's the story of my solo Tussey training adventures and a look at what the course is like. 

18 Miles of Tussey Training                                                                                                    

For my first trip in late August, I drove up early on a Saturday morning and parked at the Tussey Ski Resort. The start line is between a couple of telephone poles near the resort. But which poles? I asked some other runners and they pointed out the right poles for me and I was off and running.  

The first 3.2 miles of the course are uphill. We run on gravel road switchbacks and it's nice and shady. A long hill, but very pretty! I'm going to run/walk up this hill so I can save my legs for later.

 

 Once you reach the top of the hill, it's all downhill for the next 4 miles, then flat for another 3 or so. Woohooo!

 The entire course is nice and shady....but...well, there's not much to look at; just trees and more trees. The course takes us through Rothrock State Forest, hence the trees. But every now and then you'll see one of these:

Lot's of random camps and "rod and gun clubs." Yeah, it was real comforting knowing that I wasn't all alone out here, after all. No, there were people with guns milling about! But, no worries, I was armed with a camping whistle I had bought from Wal Mart on the drive up! (Apparently you can buy ammo at Wal Mart but not pepper spray. Go figure. LOL)

                                                                              

Whipple Dam State Park is 11 miles in---it's a sumptuous oasis in the middle of the forest!  After seeing nothing but trees and gun clubs for miles, this was a nice sight. I stopped to use the "facilities" and check out the beach. On this August weekend the place was packed with people swimming, playing volleyball, canoeing, picnicking and just hanging out. It's going to be pretty this weekend with the fall leaves!

                                                                                                                                                               This next leg is a difficult 6.2 miles of rolling hills with a long, steep, one mile hill up Beidleheimer Rd. This road is a biotch! I'm going to have to get into STIK mode for this  stretch so I can keep up the pace and make the first cutoff! 

 I wrapped up this first Tussey training trip having run 18 miles or so. I had focused on a couple of the sections of the course labeled "difficult" and came away thinking...yeah, they're difficult but not as ridiculous as I thought they'd be. It helps that there aren't any technical trails---just the fire roads. 

The Tussey 27

Fast forward a month...and my second Tussey training trip was Savageman weekend. After doing the bike relay with "Team Keep The Finish Line Up" on Saturday (we kicked butt and yes, the finish line was up), I was Tussey bound again!

I stayed at this B&B in the  middle of nowhere, PA. That's Tussey off to the left in the background:

 I woke up way early the next morning in time to catch the sun coming up over Tussey. Beautiful! This picture was taken from the back deck of the B&B.

Here the sky is a little deeper red:

The couple who run the place, Rachel and Dink, own hundreds of acres of pastureland and a lot of cows. They were sooo nice. It wasn't your typical B&B breakfast:  in addition to the eggs and bacon, Rachel gave me homemade wheat rolls and a piece of angel food cake with strawberries on top! She looked a little worried when I told her what I had planned for the day:  a 27 mile run on the Tussey Mountain fire roads. I think she was concerned I would starve because she sent me off with a nice care package of homemade cookies, rolls, and fruit. By 6:45 am I was back on the road to Tussey! 

For this  27 mile training run I decided to run the second half of the 50 mile loop course, then cut across the mountain back to my starting point. 

I parked at Penn Roosevelt State Park. It's this dreamy place tucked away in the woods--- like something out of a storybook. It also serves as the first cutoff during the race at 25 miles. As I set off on my run I glanced back at my lonely car. The next time I see it, I'll be done with this run. Oh happy thought. 27 miles in the bank!  

This stretch of the race is called "Miles From Nowhere," and that's exactly what it felt like:  I was miles from nowhere and no one! The scenery was the same:  lots of tall trees providing plenty of shade with a random gun club here and there:  Lakemont Rod & Gun Club, Poco Gun Club, Lost Creek Camp, Wrightsdale Gun Club.

It took me a few miles to get in the groove, but eventually I made it to Colyer Lake. This is another scenic spot along the way and the location of the second cutoff at 36 miles. 

 The next 5.3 mile leg is called "Are We There Yet?" And that's how it felt running it:  when will I ever get to the end of this leg? If I make it this far during the race, this will be the toughest section of the course. It's got rolling hills with "more serious" ups and downs. In fact, this is the section of the course where we are allotted the most time to make the next cutoff---a 16:59/mile minimum pace---because it's so difficult.

I had stashed a bottle of water in some bushes on this stretch before I started running so I could stop and refill my hydration pack. Just when I was thinking I would see no signs of civilization along this middle-of-nowhere road, I came across this huge gated house! Their driveway has it's own street sign. It says "Rancho Relaxo."

(Just keeping it real, I doubt I'll be averaging a 17 minute/mile pace on this stretch. It's already a difficult section and I'll be tired on top of that. It will be farther than I've ever run, so I'll be in some new pain territory. But I'll give it my all!)

Reaching the end of this leg gave me a huge mental boost and before I knew it, I had reached the turn at Treaster Kettle and Bear Meadows Road and was cruising along again! 

Ah....Bear Meadows Rd. The same road where we start and end the race! I was closer to civilization once again. Just knowing that the resort was a few miles away gave me a boost! I even saw a few mountain bikers. 

During the actual race we will run up Bear Meadows, do a turn around and head down to the finish line at the resort. Woohoo! But for the purposes of this training run...I kept going to Alan Seeger Picnic Area...and then on to my car at Penn Roosevelt.

The last leg of my 27 mile training run is called "Made In The Shade." It heads out of the Alan Seeger Picnic Area and ends at Penn Roosevelt. During the race, this will be miles 20 - 25, ending with the first cutoff at Penn Roosevelt. 

I was hurting during this last 5 miles. My legs were dead. My energy was zapped. I was walking more than running. Seemed like I would never get there! I'm hoping it was the result of biking 24 miles at Sav'man the day before....or perhaps I was feeling this bad because my previous long run had been only 18 miles. I reminded myself that I usually feel this bad at the end of a marathon anyway---you know, the whole hitting the wall thing. But during Tussey that wall will have to be much farther away!

Finally! Back at my car! 27 miles in the Tussey Bank! This run was a huge confidence booster for me. The next weekend I ran 32.5 miles during the 12 Hour Adventure Trail Run. 
50K goal- cha-ching!  

Tussey, here I come!

                                                  

On The Crazy Train

AUGUST 11, 2012

With just 71 days until Tussey, I suppose it's time to get serious about actual trail running. Laps around Burke Lake were starting to seem too tame, so I jumped on the Nicolas Crazy Train to bang out an 18 miler in the wilds of Great Falls National Park in McLean.     

Crazy Man, Adele, & the Two Jens

 I broke down and bought a Nathan hydration backpack, since that's what all the cool kids have, and started mulling over trail running shoe options. I wasn't sure how much I'd like running with a backpack, but it carries 2 liters of water and has some handy dandy pockets for GU, cellphone, etc., so I thought I'd give it a shot. And hey, what better time than an 18 miler to break in something new? 

Still smiling a couple of miles in

Nicolas' assessment of our planned route:  not too technical, but with some good climbs. Translation to Sally Language: it's going to be a biotch.

We started out on a 5.5 mile loop heading south along the river and soon enough we were high-stepping over rocks and roots, scooting over boulders, and trying not to twist an ankle or bust our butts. This was like Kili training but with my running shoes on instead of hiking boots!  

The rocky trails were annoying, but the scenery was amazing.

Ahem! What are you doing in the water, Nicolas? He claimed to be cooling off his legs. Sure...whatever you say.

After the what's-it's-name-trail ended, we took a sharp right and shimmied on our butts down a steep muddy drop-off onto the aptly named Difficult Run Trail. (Leave it to Nicolas to take me on a trail with the word "difficult" attached to it!)

We ran--er, stumbled across a sign warning the trail had "sustained flood damage and is steep and narrow...use caution." Oh joy.

But with Nicolas leading the way,  we managed to survive Difficult Run without incident. Pretty soon we were running through the woods and back toward the parking lot. 

Me: Which way are we going?
Nicolas: Oh, there's a trail somewhere over there...
Me:  Somewhere? Um, are you sure you know where we're going? LOL

Hmmm.....Here we had to hop over a guard rail and cross a busy road. I don't see a trail here.

 
But alas, there was a trail.

Pretty soon, Nicolas had run so far ahead that he disappeared from view. I had no idea where I was going but Nicolas, being the creative guy that he is and all, arranged sticks in the shape of an arrow to point the way. Everyone made it back to the parking lot to refuel and then headed back out, but this time we went north along the river.


This trail wasn't as difficult as the southbound trail - hallelujah! And the whole thing was heavily shaded, with views of the Potomac River to our right. After a couple of miles the trail joined up with the Potomac Heritage Trail.

I ran a total of 4 hours but only made it 14 miles or so. I was wiped OUT! Making those Tussey cutoffs is going to be hard!

Musselman

Racked and ready to roll!

Goal:  Beat last year's time of 8:28

Result:  8:18

I wasn't very excited about doing Musselman a third time but signed up anyway to avoid the FOMO that was sure to grip me if I missed a Team Z road trip. My whole attitude leading up to the race was pretty lackadaisical. My biggest issue was a fairly small one:  whether to bring my road bike or Stella. M'man has hills and false flats, but nothing too severe. So I opted to bring Stella.

Swim

Lake Geneva

Goal:     Under  47:19

Result:  50:27

I really enjoyed the swim. It wasn't a wave roller coaster like last year, but it still had some rollers to keep things interesting. We seemed to be fighting the rollers head-on on the way out to the first turn buoy, and I felt like I was having to work a little harder to move forward.

The final stretch of the swim

I managed to keep up with a small group of swimmers, but stayed to their right to avoid contact. When we turned into the canal, I didn't feel the same "current assist" we had last year; the water didn't seem to be moving at all. But it was nice and clear--loved it!

I finished 3 minutes slower than last year, which is ironic given all the extra swimming I've done this year to prepare for the Bay. Have I actually gotten slower? How is that possible?

Bike

Before the storm

Goal:  Make the cutoff

Actual: 4:03:33 (made it by 3 minutes)

As soon as I rode out of the park it started raining. A few miles later it wasn't just casually raining, it was thunderstorming. We were getting hammered! I've ridden in the rain before, but never like this. I kept seeing flashes of lightning quickly followed by booming thunder. As crazy as it sounds, I actually enjoyed it. Nothing like throwing in a weather hazard to keep things interesting!

Eventually the storm slacked off to just plain old rain. I tried to stay aero as much as possible and hammer the hills. When I turned onto Swick--the road with the worst hill--I was surprised by my reaction. The Swick hill didn't look so bad ass anymore! Seriously, after the Garret Gran Fondo and the Wisconsin Training Ride, this hill looked tame!

With one hour to go until the time cutoff of 12:30, I still had12 miles ahead of me. The rain had stopped by now. All I had to do was keep my speed above 12 mph to make it.  Totally doable.

Still, those last 12 miles were no picnic; they included some false flats and hills....just enough to drop my speed below 12 at times.  So I pedaled as hard as I could when I wasn't on a hill, trying to go as fast as possible to make up the difference. My legs were really feeling it.

I cruised into the park with about 3 minutes to spare. Had I started the race at 7:15, like last year, I wouldn't have cut it so close. (Yes, I'm bitter.)  As I crossed the timing mat, one of the volunteers asked if I was going to "continue on."  Hell yeah I was continuing on! What a ridiculous question.

Run

Goal:  Under 3 hours

Result:  3:16:37

I was happy to have made the bike cutoff and now it was just a matter of getting it done. My legs were trashed, but I knew they'd loosen up after the first few miles. Heading out of the park I ran into some fastie Zs cruising toward the finish line. It was good to see familiar faces!

When I turned off the main road in town, I was all by myself. Mile after mile, it was just me. No one in sight ahead of me, no one passing me.  And this is when the negative thoughts started creeping in. I tried to cancel them out with positives, but this time it wasn't working.

The thing about Musselman is that only the people in the first swim wave get a full 8 hours to finish. For everyone else it goes down by 5 minute increments per swim wave, and I happened to be in the last wave that went off at 7:30.  That meant less time to make the bike cutoff, less time to make the finish line. The bottomline: I had 7.5 hours to get this done....and I knew that for me,  it wasn't possible.

It isn't this way at all 70.3's. Take Eagleman, for example.  According to the 2012 athlete's guide, the last swim wave goes off at 8:30 and the race officially ends at 5:00, giving the people in the last wave 8.5 hours to finish. Same with Vineman 70.3.  The last wave goes off at 8:38, the bike cutoff is a generous 5.5 hours later and the race ends at 5:08!

I realize everyone winds up in the last wave at some point. We all have to deal with it. So while it may not seem fair, I get it that someone has to go last. If I don't like it, I don't have to participate. And this time around, that's precisely what I was contemplating.  For the first time since I started triathlon, being last or close to last really bothered me...and I started thinking I was done with it all.

Let's Finish This Thing!

Well, whether I was done with triathlon or not, I had no intention of quitting the race. My mental state sucked, but I was still moving forward. A couple of miles from the finish line I finally saw another runner, walking it in.  When I caught up to him I said, "Come on, let's run together. We have less than two miles to go!"

Mitch was in a bad place --he told me he had had a bad day and was hurting. His swim sucked and he'd flatted twice on the bike. Now his knees were hurting and his energy was zapped. But he had DNF'd this race last year and he was just happy to be closing in on a finish this time around. This would be his first 70.3 finish...and I could tell he was proud. 

My problems suddenly seemed to disappear. I had enjoyed the swim, hadn't had any flats on the bike, and I wasn't really in much physical pain during the run-- it was all in my head. Now I was in a position to help someone else, someone who was suffering more than I. The run took on new meaning as I focused on making these last two miles a bit easier for Mitch.

 

I gave him a pep talk and told him "my team" would be waiting for us at the finish line to cheer us in. I told him Team Z is there for everyone, right down to the very last finisher, and they would be there for him too.  

Sure enough, "my team" was there-- ringing cowbells, clapping, screaming, and cheering us in.  The official finish line, clock, and timing mat were gone and the volunteers were busy dismantling what was left of the finishers chute, but we had our own human finishers chute to run through, courtesy of Team Z. Mitch dropped back as we approached that final stretch, letting me go first. I turned around and waved him forward, making sure he knew that the high fives were for him too. 

After running beneath a canopy of arms, Greg was waiting with our bling. I took the medal and kept running to the spot where the timing mat and official finish line used to be. I turned around and saw Mitch. The look on his face was priceless. It reminded me of my own first 70.3 finish. 

This is the part of the story where I'm supposed to say that all of the negative thoughts faded away after such a rock star finish; that would be the perfect happy ending to this story.  But I wasn't feeling it. I had beaten last year's time by 10 minutes, so why did I just want to cry? It wasn't like me to be this negative.  It used to be that just finishing was enough. Why couldn't I be happy with that now?

The Ironman Loser Effect

I gave it some thought and came up with this:  After making the cutoff at IMAZ, the thought of not making a half Ironman cutoff really bothered me.  As a news director once told me, you're either on your way up or you're on your way out. And if you've already been to "the top" --an Ironman finish line-- then there's no more up to go, right?  So  maybe you're on your way out. Maybe you're done with triathlon. Or maybe you're just suffering from The Ironman Loser Effect (yes, I just make this stuff up LOL).

The Ironman Loser Effect typically strikes the year after an Ironman. You aren't in Ironman shape, so you feel like a loser. You're not as fast as you were last year, so you feel like a loser. After making the ultimate cutoff, you're not okay with missing "lesser" cutoffs....because you don't want to feel like a loser. You're wondering, why bother? What now? 
 

I couldn't shake the feeling during the ride home. I'm guessing I'm just burned out. Maybe I need a break? I've already done 13 races and biking events this year and it's only July. Perhaps I went overboard in my effort to avoid the inevitable post-Ironman letdown.

The Happy Ending
Every story needs a happy ending, right? Well, here's my happy ending. After I got home, I emailed the race director and asked for my swim and bike splits. I mentioned that I finished in 8:18 and just wanted to figure out my times. He not only gave me my split times, he posted them along with all the other results...giving me an official finish time! I didn't get a DNF by my name...And it turns out, I didn't finish last.  I actually beat two people in the 35 - 39 age group. Even though they had slower times than me, they both had official finish times because -- you guessed it, they were in an earlier wave, the 7:15. 

Ah well, I guess all is well. Time to crank up the Tussey training!

Tussey Teaser

June 24, 2012

The view from Tussey Mountain

Clearly, Gran Fondo-ing on the ridiculous hills of Garrett County wasn't enough, so Priscilla and I had signed up for a Tussey Teaser trail run the following day. After finishing our fondo's and cheering at the Z tents for the longer riders, we hit the road for State College, Pennsylvania.

The Bear Meadows Made In The Shade Tussey Teaser would be a challenging run over some of the same trails the Tussey mOUnTaINback 50 Miler covers. I really wanted to see the mountain and get some experience on the trails....and P Diddy is always game for a good road trip, so we spent the night at the race hotel, the Ramada Inn, woke up the next morning and drove to the mountain. 

The race was so small and low key that we initially drove right past the start line-- which, by the way, consisted of some flour sprinkled across the road. 

Let's get this party started

There were about a dozen runners and most looked like serious bidness!  While PDid and I were all geared up with our water belts, race number belts, Gatorade, and nutrition, most of the other runners had none of these extras-- just their running clothes and shoes with their bibs safety pinned on the old fashioned way.

Priscilla even wore a bright 'caution orange' running top so search and rescue crews could spot her should she get lost in the wilds of Tussey Mountain! 

 Race Director Mike gathered us up at the start line and gave us a quick run down of the course. We had two options:  10 miles or 7 miles. I had planned on the 10 miler, but was secretly telling myself that it would be okay to do 7. P was doing the 7 and I was sure to be the slowest 10 miler, so I was giving myself permission to go short. The decision point would be 4.8 miles in.

Mike told us he had stashed some bottled water and cups at several points along the trail. The "major intersections " were marked with flour arrows pointing the way. For the rest of it we would rely on our cue sheets.

We ran about half a mile then turned left onto our first trail, a gradual uphill for 2 miles.

Look how shady it is!

The trail was actually a "fire road," so it was pretty wide and in decent shape. After the uphill we turned left for a nice, long downhill.  Then came decision time:

Do I want to run 7 or 10? Decision time!

I wanted to turn left and just do the 7....but I had come here to do the 10. What to do, what to do? I was feeling okay after the long downhill, but knew there was a big bad hill toward the end of the 10 miler. So, I could justify cutting it short to 7....I mean, I had just suffered through that gran fondo madness the day before. But I said I was going to do 10, so I turned right and settled in for the climb to come.  

Ha ha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next few miles dragged by. It took me over 1.5 hours just to run 6 miles! By the time I made it to the big bad hill at the 9 mile mark, I was sure Mike, the race director, had to be wondering what the hell had happened to me. And I also suspected that everyone else was long done with this race.                                                                                                                                              I texted Priscilla with my status and told her to tell Mike he didn't have to stick around. I still had a mile to go with 900 feet of altitude gain...and then another .6 to the finish line for a total of 10.6 miles.                                                                                                                                                          I tried to run walk, but my legs were dead and I was out of energy. It took me forever to get up that hill! How many hills like this would we have during the actual race?                                                                       

Meanwhile...back at the finish line, everyone had indeed finished the race, eaten Subway sandwiches, rehydrated, participated in a raffle drawing, hung out, and then left --and I was still probably 45 minutes from being done. P said they even came to pick up the single Port-O-John the race director had had delivered for the race! Oh the insult! I didn't even finish before they picked up the Port-O-John! Forget about keeping the finish line up--- the portable toilet was long gone by the time I finished! 

Needless to say, the race director was quizzing P about our experience level. You know, wondering if we had ever done "this kind of thing" before; asking coy questions about our running prowess.  Of course, P filled him in....making clear that we're not "civilians", that we had actually toed quite a few lines before our Tussey Teaser adventures. 

It took me 3 hours to finish 10.6 miles -- pathetic, I know. I could blame the gran fondo, but the bottomline is I need to do more hilly trail running. Still, we had a blast...and I was glad I got to see Tussey Mountain and get a taste of what's in store for the Tussey 50 miler. 

Let the hill repeats commence!