So, Last weekend I was at Mt. Washington in Gorham, NH for a bike race, Newton’s revenge. http://www.newtonsrevenge.com/ This race was not sold out if anyone is interested for next year, limit 300 riders. This is the bike race up the mountain with the worlds worst weather. Check out their website, http://www.mountwashington.org/  It is the highest driveable peak in the east. The bike ride is 7.9 miles with over 5,000 feet of gain. Unfortunatley, this years race was cancelled due to weather. On Saturday it was 70 mph winds and on Sunday the two dirt sections of the road were impassable because it rained all night. Caesar Grajales was the pro who was going to try to break Tom Danielsons record of 49 minutes. Which was set on a perfect day, not a 50-70 mph wind day….

For fun, check out this page: http://www.northeastcycling.com/Global_Climbs.html   I did the Whiteface Climb in June.

I borrowed my friends mountain bike, because mine is so old it only has 7 cogs on the back. Not 10 like new bikes, so I couldn’t put a larger casette on the back. On my friends bike I had a 22 (smallest gear in front on the cranks) and a 34 (largest gear in back) I test rode the bike up Platte Clove Road in Saugerties, NY. Also better known as Devil’s Kitchen. The headwalls on this road are 18-25% I went up the first 3 headwalls (it was pouring out and I didn’t want to go down the road) which were all 20%. I was able to spin pretty well. Her bike doesn;t have a computer, so I don’t know how slow or fast I was going. But it was pretty slow.

This week, I am in Phoenix on business. OH MAH GAWD is sooooo hot. Jess, I have no idea how you live here! The pools at our resort are pee warm…. you HAVE to finish your run by 6am or you will melt. Literally.

I have seen humming birds and a jackrabbit! The resort borders some wild horse range and I can’t wait to go run at 5 am and see them at the watering hole.

Tapering for IMLP….see you in Placid!

Keep on….

Alrighty, many of you asked for it! My race report from the IM. This was an awesome experience. I truly humbled by the team that I am a part of; Bruce and Victor racing with Ben, Carole, Kyle, John, Emily and Keith there for support.

So, the swim. I was swimming on Friday and had some major freakout sessions, I went back into the water Friday afternoon with Bruce (man is he fast!) and tried it again. Saturday I had more freakout sessions with the cold water, waves and chop, but listened to Carole’s advice of “just keep swimming” You can freakout, but just keep swimming. Once I figured out how to relax and let the waves go over me I was fine. Actually the swim in the race wasn’t that bad. I lost my chip the moment I got in the water. I was able to save it and put it on my wrist. The bad part was all the people who didn’t know how to swim in water like that. They would get hit by a wave and stop and then I would stop and then get trampled by the person behind me who didn’t stop. I was working to hard for to little and decided to hang out on a kayak for a minute so I could look around and figure out where to swim. I ended up going on the inside of the buoys to get out of the fray and had a great swim. I still took it easy and had some trouble sighting. When I made the first turn the waves were tossing me around like crazy. I was trying so hard not to get seasick. Luckily I didn’t! Lap 1 was 43 minutes. Lap 2 was uneventful.

T1 – Thanks to the great wetsuit strippers. When I got out of the water I saw Carole and gave her a big hug. I was happy with my swim time. 1:29. I was expecting a lot slower with the conditions and how bad my sighting was. I didn’t take my suit off at all while running on the beach, I got to the strippers and they spun me around like a piñata. It was really cold without the suit on! My T1 time was 12 minutes. I know, what did she have a hot breakfast? Well, I was really worried about hypothermia. The high temp of the day was 68 and the water was 61-62 ish. I didn’t want a repeat of Harriman. I had my Timex jersey that was then buried under a cycling jersey, arm warmers and a wind jacket. I took my time and dried off as much as possible.

BIKE – The course is great! I like the climbs. Not rollers, climbs. I would have preferred a 27 in back instead of the 25, but I survived the climbs. What killed me on the last 20 miles was my shorts got bunched up and started chafing. OUCH. Nothing new on race day, especially new tri shorts! OUCH. I had some nutrition issues too. I got tired of eating and drinking and I stopped. I know, really stupid, Jeanne! I got my act back together and started hitting the Power Gels which perked me up. I caught up with Bruce at the end of the bike leg and we rode into transition together. Actually I let him get a head start on me since I was gonna fly by him!

T2 – So glad to get those bike shorts off. I put on running shorts. I’m a big believer in the “be comfortable” mindset. I like to bike in cycling clothes and run in running shorts. Takes more time in the Ts but that is ok with me.

RUN - I saw Carole again and got a big hug! I passed Bruce about mile 1 and took off. I felt pretty good and was running along. My plan was to have a gel every 4 miles and have Gatorade and some pretzels or a banana in between. That started to not work very well. I started slowing down about mile 11 and the fruit was not a good idea. My stomach was so unhappy and I was slowing down and getting really depressed. I have learned in racing long course that when I get depressed and a defeatist attitude, I need SUGAR! It’s the beginning of the bonk for me. If I can see it coming I can pull it out, which this time I did. I met a nice guy to walk with as I ate some gels and get my energy back. He was a local resident and had a broken metatarsal, which is why he was walking. I started to feel better and took off running. I ran the rest of the marathon, while walking the aid stations to eat.

FINISH – This race has the best finish! You run downhill for 2 blocks in town that is packed with people. You see this huge bright light and automatically you get a feeling of relief & excitement, and a big surge of energy. It’s awesome. The kids have their hands out so you can give high 5s all the way down the street! There is nothing like finishing an Ironman, no matter how long it takes!

Check out my photos on ASI. I’m #2178. Watch my finisher video.

I am planning on racing Lake Placid on July 22. See ya’ll out there!

I am realy shocked by my progress lately. I set 2 PRs in the past week! I ran the Lake Placid Half Marathon on Sunday June 10. A beautiful day, nice and cool, sunny with some clouds. It did heat up, but in the Adirondacks, the shade that early in the morning is still great air-conditioning.

So my last Half Marathon was a 2:09. That race was awfully cold and I was under-dressed. My IT bands also kicked in for that race and I was reduced to a hobble for the last 3 miles.

ANYWAY…..I set a big goal. I wanted to run under 2 hours to see if I could do it. I had my Bodylink on and the GPS unit on my arm. So by monitoring my heart rate and my real time pace I was going to go for it, or go at that pace for as long as I could! The first couple of miles I was in a big pack of people. Then it started to thin out. I was never really alone and I was trading spots with a couple of people depending on who stopped at what aid station. I have to say the station volunteers were great and I was out of character and a little rude to one person. VERY SORRY! I am not used to pushing myself like that and I think it really got to me towards mile 9. I also couldn’t understand what he was telling me. Totally my fault. EVERYONE - thank your volunteers!

So, in order to come in under 2 hours I had to maintain a sub 9-minute pace for the whole time. I was doing pretty well and my splits were really great in the beginning. I ran 4 miles in 32 minutes, then 7 miles in 1 hour. For me, thats pretty quick! I knew it would float up towards the end and it did, but by pacing myself this way I was able to buy time for the last mile or so that is mostly uphill. I hit mile 10 at 1:27. So I thought to myself, even if I run 10 minute miles, i will make it under the 2 hour goal! Phew. BUT I didn’t let up, and that was the big lesson I taught myself this weekend. Push yourself, you don’t know how far you can go and what you can withstand.

For those of you who have run the Ironman course there, it is about 85% the same course. A little different for the start and finish (ugh, that finish) but the majority is the same. A lot more pounding downhills in this course that I thought would be the end of my knee! (Big shout out to Cassidy and the TP roller!)

So the finish is this big ugly hill with SWITCHBACKS. When I hear that word, that can only mean one thing. STEEP. Oh man, they were steep. I was reduced to a jog, but i kept running. Then I ran the oval to the finish with very dead legs, trying to hold off anyone from passing me. I had a little over 1 minute when I hit the oval to make my sub 2 hour goal. My husband had finished ahead of me and came back to run the oval with me. He was giving me a countdown as I was trying not to blow up too soon. I paced it very well and had a kick at the last 100 yards. I always like to do that no matter how hard it is or how much it hurts. I made it! 1:59:18. WHOO HOO!

My other PR I did last night was a time trial. The Trek Equinox 7 WSD rode great for me. 10 miles, rolling hills. A month ago I did a 32 minute race. Yesterday was a 29:20! That was the first time I had broken 30 minutes on that course. I am so happy!

We are going up to the Whiteface Uphill Bike race Saturday June 16 and Ironman Coeur d’Alene June 24. Come and join us for some climbing pain! (I have a compact and a 27)

Harriman Half Ironman, 5/19/07 - My first DNF;  air 55 degrees F, water 60 degrees F, rain, wind 

I had an awesome swim! Thanks to Ben B. for the Helix wetsuit and Melanie for working on my swim stroke. I dropped almost 4 minutes from my last 1.2 mile swim time! Swim 33:29 (my watch time) That’s huge! I also felt awesome, I sighted really well with my Blue Seventy goggles and held great lines. The swim was the warmest and unfortunately the shortest part of the day. 

Now here’s the fun part: running on cold sand into a parking lot and my feet were like little ice cubes. So I get to T1, and its raining. It started during the swim. I didn’t realize it was going to rain so soon, so the garbage bag I had planned for my transition area was under my stuff since I got the end on the grass full of goose-poop. ICK. 

My stuff was appropriately soaked. Wool socks, cycling hat, tights, 2 jerseys and a wind jacket. I put it all on and walked carefully to the bike out. Got on the bike and heard a rubbing sound. “Darn it!” I got off, and checked the front brake pads. Nope not that. Got on and pedaled again, heard it some more, realized it was my race number hitting my tire. Phew! I can live with that. There is a sketchy descent on this course, so the 30 second stop for a safety check is well worth the time spent. 

So, I get out on the course, and started spinning…. “hmm, I’m really cold.” Let’s have some of my drink. That was a challenge. My mountain bike gloves had no grip or traction and my bottle was very smooth. (Note: they were not Spenco and have been promptly thrown out!) So I very carefully got it out and drank. I cranked the bike up to some higher gears and tried to warm up. Nothing was happening. My legs hurt, the cold air really hurt, my toes were still there, but man they were just numb. The small climbs had me reduced to my easiest gearing. I was getting passed like I was standing still. I didn’t understand why my legs weren’t coming around. 

On the downhills you can easily hit 30 mph, but it hurt so much to go that fast. Then I hit the big descent, 5 miles of winding, wet road. I rode the brakes the entire time. I’ve ridden this course before and love this descent! It ends at a hairpin turn, which you basically have to come to a complete stop to navigate. Then comes the 2 mile climb, usually a tough climb for me so I spin up it, since it’s not a one lap race. I was looking forward to that climb to warm up. So were a lot of racers. 

I have never been so cold in my life, but I thought I would “stick it out” for one more lap, so I would do 2 out of 4. I had warmed up a little on the “big hill” but my knee was really hurting. Not good. I couldn’t get my nutrition either, the bottle kept slipping from my full gloves. So I decided to bag the race. My friend rode by me and I told her what was going on. She said I should do the next lap with her. “Thanks, but no” I said. I knew I was done. I wished her good luck and I rode into transition. I found a race marshall and turned in my chip. She had a lot of chips in her hand! I felt better about my decision. I flagged down my friend and she helped me get my stuff into the car. I was standing there looking at my wet stuff, and I started violently and uncontrollably shaking. Long story short: I got changed into dry clothes and warmed up in the car with the heat blasting. 

A little later I went back out on the bike course with a friend and we were cheering on the racers. Our friend rode by us and about a minute later she came back. She was shaking more than I was. She couldn’t get her hands off the bars and we couldn’t get her clicked out. I was a little panicky, because I have never seen someone that bad. We helped her to the car and got her changed into dry clothes and blasted the heat again. She took a long time to warm up. Like 10 minutes before her muscles stopped shaking. Another friend was taken away to the ER. It was a bad, bad day if you weren’t dressed properly. 

I still am trying to figure out what I could have done to make that race manageable. This is what I have come up with: 

1. Keep your transition stuff dry. Bring a bin or waterproof tarp. Use over and under! Even garbage bags would work. 

2. Bring more clothes than you possibly think you will need. 

3. Get out of your wet clothes from the swim. Wet + cold = bad

4. Keep your head warm.

5. Block the wind at all costs. I have wind panel tights sitting at home in a cozy drawer. Along with my warm jacket!

6. Make sure your gloves have grip.

I felt so cool! Like a famous pro triathlete. I went to Rodale Press on Thursday (5/17/07) out in Emmaus, PA for a presentation of the fabulous Timex summer and fall lines of fitness and sport watches. Including the new Hi-Ti, coming out in July (very snazzy!) Also the “Divers” watch is soooo cool! And they have a solar powered watch coming out in June.
 

The Timex PR team met with: Christine Bucher, Fitness & Exercise Senior Editor, Bicycling Magazine
Joelle Junior, Fitness & Exercise Assistant Managing Editor, Prevention Magazine
Warren Green, Jogging & Running Editor, Runner’s World
Jennifer Mack, Editorial Assistant, Bicycling/Mountain Bike Magazines  

We introduced the Fitness Series of heart rate monitors. They have three models with different features, all very simple and easy to use:
The Easy Trainer is ideal for the regular exerciser looking for a simple heart rate monitor.
The Personal Pacer is perfect for the active exerciser who enjoys various forms of physical activity from bike riding to running on the treadmill.
The Zone Trainer, in a variety of styles for men and women, has a comprehensive range of functions geared to the more intense exerciser interested in maximizing training. Each is an invaluable tool for those trying to achieve a better level of physical fitness.Each of the Fitness Series HRMs recalls the average and peak heart rate and exercise time. Analog transmission allows the Easy Trainer and the Personal Pacer models to work with treadmills and other HRM-enabled fitness equipment. Digital transmission in the Zone Trainer eliminates interference and cross talk from other HRMs.
 

After the presentation, I was talking with Jennifer Mack who writes LAB RAT for Bicycling magazine and she had just tested a new recovery drink from PowerBar. My ears perked up as I am shopping around for a recovery drink. She gave me a sample and I couldn’t wait to get home to try it after a big workout.

Out in the parking lot I met Bill Strickland, from Bicycling Magazine, who was just coming back from a lunchtime ride. Bill said, “If you don’t ride, you can’t write.” The employees get to run and ride during the day. They have full locker rooms! How awesome would it be to work there? For me, a true dream job! (I’m a graphic designer with loads of printing and editorial experience…. hint, hint, HINT!)
 

Monday - I used it yesterday after a bike workout. I liked it, and I feel pretty good. It tasted like a vanilla shake. YUM! Next to try is the chocolate flavor. We will see how my run goes today, 2 hours! Gotta love Ironman training.
Tuesday - So it’s the day after my long run. I had the recovery drink again. Chocolate is a good flavor too!  Lets see how my time trial goes tonight. Maybe we have a winner!

Wednesday - OK, the TT went well. I felt really good. Another recovery drink tonight, chocolate flavor. These are getting pretty good.