Easy saturdays are over for awhile. Today was the first of a number of very painful sufferfests on the calendar. Mulholland Challenge. Got up at 5 and drove the 60 miles to Calabassas to start at 7:15am.
I heard the plan was to not push the hills, take advantage of the downhills and work the flats. That plan went out the window at mile 31. I was already dead. I got the first check in stop. No food. I was hungry. No food till the 2nd stop 21 miles later. That was the first WTF. I looked at the ride sheet and thought I was misreading the total mileage--116 miles. 2nd WTF. I thought this was supposed to be a century. Not a century plus 16 miles. I figured that it had to add least an hour + onto the ride for the day. Okay 3rd WTF.
I made it to check in stop 2. Somewhere around mile 51-52. I can't remember. I wolfed down 3 PBJs and a muffin. Took some heed forgetting that I hate Heed. Not that I like Sustained Energy any better. Headed off for another 13 miles of tough riding with some gnarly downhill on broken asphalt to pacific ocean north of Leo Carrillo Beach. Thought I was going to die on the way down. Braking was not easy and in a lot of spots, the incline was negative 15%.
Funny enough, after check in spot 3 on PCH, I ended up with the same 3 guys as the first time I was on PCH many hours earlier. We headed down PCH to Decker, which climbs straight off PCH and into 11-15% grade. Made it to 4th check in stop at mile 83 or so. Ate some more and didn't stay long. Climbed another 3-4 miles to the top of Mulholland. I was totally bonking. I pulled over and guzzled all my liquids and ate the M&Ms I had grabbed at the 2nd stop. I stood down for 5 minutes then headed off.
Made it down mulholland to the 5th check in just past Strauss ranch. Made it to mile 90 and there was confustion by cyclists on which way to go. Took the right as the sign said, but could hear riders on the other side saying "wrong way, wrong way." About a half mile in, Jesse passed by the other way, so I flipped it. He gave me some gu chomps. I took out my iphone and mapped the finishing spot where we parked. 7 miles. F&*^ this I said. I'm heading back. I figured that would put me at 98 miles, 7 hours of riding, and 10,000 feet of climbing. I'm outta here. I raised my arms at the THQ parking lot in celebration that I made it back to the car.
Brutal ride. Definitely needed more food and better hydration on that ride. It seemed harder than an Ironman. Felt about the same afterward. Well, maybe not that bad.
Next up Stage 6 of the ToC, then Breathless Agony, then Hearbreak 100. And in between, some climbing. Lots of climbing. Hey, where's Allen?
BarryMan
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
37 Oceanside 70.3 37
Thirty Seven was not my race number. I wasn't lucky enough to get number 1111 like Super Dave, or as he prefers to be called now, "DAVE ONE". Thirty seven is how many seconds it took for me to hold off 47th place in my age group over one of PTC's favorite athletes.
Oceanside 2010 was not a race I was looking forward to. If it hadn't been for Jesse, I probably wouldn't have gotten on my bike in the cold. Started ramping up my training 6-8 weeks before the race and thought I would rest the week of the race and treat Oceanside as a training day. Yeah, that's it--a training day. Well, all I can say is it was nice to race on fresh legs, i.e. legs that hadn't been doing excessive climbing and legs that haven't been doing tons of run mileage. I woke up on race day feeling good. No aches, no pains, no sore legs. Hmmm. This would be an interesting day. My focus for the race was a solid bike leaving me good legs for a run. My goal was to run faster than my half marathon at Surf City in early february. I raced Oceanside in 2008, didn't race it in 2009 due to knee issues. My time was 5:21:59 in 2008 and my fitness was pretty high at that time as I was prepping for IMCDA that year. So, I was hoping to go sub 5:30 without excessive suffering.
I drove down to Oceanside on friday afternoon. Left work in Pasadena at 2:30 and arrived at the expo around 445pm. I got checked in for the race and then headed to the hotel to get checked in there. Stayed at the holiday inn right by the race start. I then headed down to the team PTC dinner at 6pm in the marina. It was good to see everyone, but it was kind of chilly out. Fell asleep to Criminal Minds featuring Mandy Patakin. Woke up 4am. Ate a quick liquid meal (400 cal of Carbo Pro mixed in 20oz of half water, half G2, a trader joe frozen oatmeal that I nuked and half a cup of coffee. I laid back down, napped a little and got up at 445 to get dressed and meet PTC Bob, PTC Lynda and PTC Dave One downstairs to ride over at 515. Got bodymarked, set up my transition area, waited in the long honeypot line, and then hung out in T until my 7:37am wave with Jesse who was in the 7:41am wave and Michel. Headed over to the start with Michel. Could not find Allen. We had a big start wave. 226 finishers in my age group.
I lined up on the right side right in the front of my start group. The gun went off and the race was on. Swim was uneventful. Water was not cold. Sighting on the way back in from the turnaround was challenging with the rising sun, but managed to swim around the waves that left ahead of me. Came in at 26:14 (versus 25:14 in 2008). Its a long run to the bikes. I wore armwarmers under my wetsuit and threw on a vest for the ride. T1 was 4:42 (versus 5:09 in 2008).
The bike was a lot of fun. The course felt fast, but it was probably my new Wheelbuilder Aerojet Disk Covers. I received many compliments on my disk wheel during the hilly and windy sections of the ride. The last 10 miles in felt fast too, and I focused on soft pedaling and loosening up the legs for the run. Bike time was 2:52:53 (versus 3:03:18 in 2008). T2 was uneventful and I was out of there fast at 2:52 (versus 4:42 in 2008--but I think I might have hit the porta potty on the way out that year). Run felt good the whole way. A little suffering in miles 9, 10 and 11. I saw a lof of PTCers out there on the run. Thom, Prentiss, Myrick, Jean, Monica, Lisa, Bob and then Michel. I finally saw him about a 1/2 mile past the final turnaround. I knew he had good legs and would be chasing me down. When I hit mile 12, i really picked it up and ran a 7:10 mile in the last mile. I saw Lynda and gave her a shout as she rounded the cone to start her 2nd run lap. Ran in feeling strong. Run was 1:50:13 (versus 1:43:50 in 2008) about :30 faster than my time at Surf City. All in all, a good day.
Overall 5:17:54 versus 5:21:59 in 2008. Personal best 70.3.
The only thing that sucks about this race is training in all the cold and rainy weather we've had this year. I did a lot of computrainer leading into this, as I preferred my warm garage than the cold hills and bike paths. At least I wasn't suffering in a skanky basement in the midwest ! I used the Endurance Nation Out Season Training Plan. They've got some great trainer workouts in there and for running, I teamed up with Steve Mackel, ChiRunning Instructor. He's made a HUGE difference in my running. I also managed to lighten up by about 10lbs in the past 6-8 weeks, which really helped a lot.
Oceanside 2010 was not a race I was looking forward to. If it hadn't been for Jesse, I probably wouldn't have gotten on my bike in the cold. Started ramping up my training 6-8 weeks before the race and thought I would rest the week of the race and treat Oceanside as a training day. Yeah, that's it--a training day. Well, all I can say is it was nice to race on fresh legs, i.e. legs that hadn't been doing excessive climbing and legs that haven't been doing tons of run mileage. I woke up on race day feeling good. No aches, no pains, no sore legs. Hmmm. This would be an interesting day. My focus for the race was a solid bike leaving me good legs for a run. My goal was to run faster than my half marathon at Surf City in early february. I raced Oceanside in 2008, didn't race it in 2009 due to knee issues. My time was 5:21:59 in 2008 and my fitness was pretty high at that time as I was prepping for IMCDA that year. So, I was hoping to go sub 5:30 without excessive suffering.
I drove down to Oceanside on friday afternoon. Left work in Pasadena at 2:30 and arrived at the expo around 445pm. I got checked in for the race and then headed to the hotel to get checked in there. Stayed at the holiday inn right by the race start. I then headed down to the team PTC dinner at 6pm in the marina. It was good to see everyone, but it was kind of chilly out. Fell asleep to Criminal Minds featuring Mandy Patakin. Woke up 4am. Ate a quick liquid meal (400 cal of Carbo Pro mixed in 20oz of half water, half G2, a trader joe frozen oatmeal that I nuked and half a cup of coffee. I laid back down, napped a little and got up at 445 to get dressed and meet PTC Bob, PTC Lynda and PTC Dave One downstairs to ride over at 515. Got bodymarked, set up my transition area, waited in the long honeypot line, and then hung out in T until my 7:37am wave with Jesse who was in the 7:41am wave and Michel. Headed over to the start with Michel. Could not find Allen. We had a big start wave. 226 finishers in my age group.
I lined up on the right side right in the front of my start group. The gun went off and the race was on. Swim was uneventful. Water was not cold. Sighting on the way back in from the turnaround was challenging with the rising sun, but managed to swim around the waves that left ahead of me. Came in at 26:14 (versus 25:14 in 2008). Its a long run to the bikes. I wore armwarmers under my wetsuit and threw on a vest for the ride. T1 was 4:42 (versus 5:09 in 2008).
The bike was a lot of fun. The course felt fast, but it was probably my new Wheelbuilder Aerojet Disk Covers. I received many compliments on my disk wheel during the hilly and windy sections of the ride. The last 10 miles in felt fast too, and I focused on soft pedaling and loosening up the legs for the run. Bike time was 2:52:53 (versus 3:03:18 in 2008). T2 was uneventful and I was out of there fast at 2:52 (versus 4:42 in 2008--but I think I might have hit the porta potty on the way out that year). Run felt good the whole way. A little suffering in miles 9, 10 and 11. I saw a lof of PTCers out there on the run. Thom, Prentiss, Myrick, Jean, Monica, Lisa, Bob and then Michel. I finally saw him about a 1/2 mile past the final turnaround. I knew he had good legs and would be chasing me down. When I hit mile 12, i really picked it up and ran a 7:10 mile in the last mile. I saw Lynda and gave her a shout as she rounded the cone to start her 2nd run lap. Ran in feeling strong. Run was 1:50:13 (versus 1:43:50 in 2008) about :30 faster than my time at Surf City. All in all, a good day.
Overall 5:17:54 versus 5:21:59 in 2008. Personal best 70.3.
The only thing that sucks about this race is training in all the cold and rainy weather we've had this year. I did a lot of computrainer leading into this, as I preferred my warm garage than the cold hills and bike paths. At least I wasn't suffering in a skanky basement in the midwest ! I used the Endurance Nation Out Season Training Plan. They've got some great trainer workouts in there and for running, I teamed up with Steve Mackel, ChiRunning Instructor. He's made a HUGE difference in my running. I also managed to lighten up by about 10lbs in the past 6-8 weeks, which really helped a lot.
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