Rev3 Quassy 70.3 a.k.a the Hill Monster!

This year seems to be all about tough, hard races. This past weekend, I completed by far the toughest half ironman to date – Rev3 Quassy. The course itself was absolutely beautiful, and Rev3 is a top notch organization that knows how to put on a great race! They have cool race numbers too, and you don't have to get written on by a stranger at 4 am in the morning!

I drove the bike and most of the run course the night before the race with my coach, and even though this wasn’t quite the American Zofingen deal, it was pretty close! I am not joking when I say that you were either going UP, and UP, and UP or sometimes DOWN on either the bike or run course. It’s also pretty safe to say there was absolutely no flat ground! By the end of the drive, neither one of us were really sure if we were going up or down anymore! FUN! If you are looking for a challenge – sing up NOW, but if you are looking for a PR, this is not the course for you.

I have read a few race reports from last year of people that have placed in the top 10 overall, and the common theme was quite obvious! HILLS! HILLS and more HILLS! Another common theme heard leading up to the weekend was about the swim! The swim was supposedly the “EASIEST” part of the day! Hmmmm – let’s think about this! The day when swim will be the easiest part of the day can’t come fast enough, but for now it’s just the leg of the race that I can’t wait to be done with! One would think I never swim, but I do! I really do! And I am gonna keep on swimming until I can’t swim anymore, and until I will no longer be coming out of the water chasing swimmers like I stole something! And so here comes the supposedly easiest part of the day – the SWIM!

I think I was still half awake! Getting up at 4 am is just not all that fun!

THE SWIM!

I had spent some time in the pool, and I had high hopes of swimming somewhere around the 35 min mark – better yet sub 35. My pool times have been getting better, and I have generally been feeling better in the water so I had somewhat of a confidence I could do it! I started in the front row in the hopes of hopping on someone’s feet and let them carry me for a bit, but that didn’t last long. I was soon in the middle of a big mess, but at least still moving forward. I actually didn’t feel bad, and stayed positive in my head, with my eyes on the prize. It was a triangle swim – so you swam out to the buoy, across, and then back to the beach. Once I rounded the first turn buoy, I all of a sudden found myself in the midst of a mess – flailing arms, and bodies everywhere, and I was thrown out of my rhythm. It was then; I began to think about the length of this swim! It started to feel like I have been in the water FOREVER, which could NOT be a good sign! My shoulders started to get tired, and so did my quads! My quads were getting tired and I didn’t even get on the bike! That couldn’t be a good sign. It must have been that black cat that ran right in front of our car on the way to the race! I am usually not superstitious, but my thoughts were running all over the place, and I really couldn’t wait to get out of the water, and hop on my bike! I had issues sighting on the way back, and for some reason couldn’t spot the gigantic muscle milk bottle at the water exit. I glanced at my watch and saw 30 min. I didn’t think I was that far off shore, and thought I could make it out of the water by my goal time of 35 min, but I guess I was way further than I thought I was. I got out of the water in 37 min and change, going over the mat at exactly 38 min mark. Oh oh – time to hurry up through transition and start making up all this lost time!

Come on wetsuit! :)



T1

The first transition was a bit long. You had to run up a hill to get there. Better get used to the word “hills”. This one was a tiny one compare to the rest of the hills on the bike/run course but when you just get out of water any hill feels worse than it really is. No wetsuit strippers in this race, but I actually managed to get my wetsuit of very fast, and didn’t wipe out when trying to get it off.  Success! J

THE BIKE

Time to go get them! The first few miles were actually sort of downhill, so I absolutely flu by everyone yet staying within my watts! I LOVE my bike position. I am able to cut through wind so easily, and I am super AERO! Gotta love free speed! The first 10 or so miles had a bunch of rollers, maybe a couple of longish climbs, but no major climbs that were about to greet us in the second half of the course. I picked of lots of people in the first half of the course, and especially on the downhills! Did I say that I LOVE how aerodynamic I am on my Felt? J I spent most of my time riding in the middle of the road since screaming on your left every 10 seconds was getting old real fast. That was until Mr. Unknown that I had blown by on one of the downhills decided to play games, which went on for good 30 miles. This usually happens every race, but this dude was relentless. I would FLY by him on all the downhill’s, or gradual inclines (notice I am not saying flats cuz there weren’t any), and he would fly by me, absolutely hammering ALL the steeper uphills, getting out of his seat, and making a comment every time he passed me.  One of his comments went like this: “I only go by you on the uphills because your back wheel is too heavy” REALLY? Did he just say the HED Jet 9 is a super heavy wheel? I just chuckled and told him I’ll see him later, as I spun up these monsters with ease. Maybe not ease, but definitely NOT hammering like Mr. Uknown was. I was letting as my coach would say “burn his matches”. The rolling terrain continued, and I was able to keep my momentum throughout which was key, and playing cat and mouse with Mr. Uknown. I tried to “hammer” (within my watts) all the downhills until I ran out of gears so I could pick up as much speed as I could to carry me up into the uphills, which was key! I absolutely lose most of my fear of long/fast downhills when racing and I ride most downhills (when I know the course) very aggressively! I have time to make up, remember? J Then mile 23 or so showed up and with that about a 5-6 mile steady climb! It honestly looked like we were climbing into the sky, and really couldn’t go much higher than that. As we are spinning or some people hammering up this long hill, one of the guys I am going by says: “wow – are we going to heaven or what?” Another dude decides to comment and says – “Sure looks like it, but it feels like we are going the other way” … you had to be there, but in the midst of suffering up this hill it was very funny! Insert laugh here! J

I could keep going, and start listing all the uphills we were greeted by, but honestly, there are way too many to list. There were couple more that stuck out in my mind. I am “borrowing” this number from someone else’s blog, but apparently there were 80 uphills on the bike course ?  I don’t remember the exact mileage, but it was definitely past the 30 mile marker or so when I knew at that point there weren’t that many girls in front of me anymore as someone at one of the water stops told me that. Sweet! I continued strong on my mission to hopefully catch them all. It was when I got to the out and back section – yes a loooooooooooong screaming fast downhill with a turn around at the bottom of it,and a loooooooong track back up it when another Mr. Unknown 2 decided to NOT be passed by a chick and decided to ignore my multiple on your left shouts! Since this was the out and back section and he was hugging the yellow middle line, I was forced to brake on a downhill until it was clear enough for me to go into the other lane and pass him … things like that make me soooooooooooooo mad! Just because I am a girl, and don’t way 200 lbs, doesn’t mean I can’t fly downhill! Yup – my aero position rocks! Just thought I would tell you all one more time! J Few more hills to deal with, whether it was up and down, and before I knew it, I was getting back into T2. Just to give you even a better idea of how horrible my swim was – I came out of the water 105^th overall/32^nd in my age group, and by 38.6 miles on the bike, I was 9^th overall/2^nd in my age group. By the end of the 56 miles, I was 5^th overall, and 2^nd in my AG. Yes – I am going to live in the pool from now on!

In the end, this was a GREAT roller coaster ride! I ended up with an avg. of 182 or so Watts which was right on target. I think I am really starting to get used riding with power without really looking at the numbers. I really never looked at my avg. power. I glanced down every now and then especially on the uphills to make sure I don’t cross my CP at all or too many times, and especially given a hilly course like this, I was glad to see I hit the power goal on the dot. I knew my avg. speed wasn’t going to be super fast, but I was happy to see I was able to ride 20.2 mph on a hilly course like Quassy is.  I still remember the days when I was trying to avg. over 20 mph on a flat 20 mile ride around Walden! What makes this even better is that I probably rode half as many miles this year than I have last year at this point in time. Training with power and with coach Jorge rocks (http://e3ts.com/), and I can’t wait to get even faster! Mega Legs! J I rode without socks – it was for once actually sunny and warm enough. I did my flying dismount without any hiccups, and stormed into T2 with yet another guy in my way … don’t they know I am on a mission? J Final time 2:47:46 with a maximum speed of 47mph!  

T2

Fast! No bikes in site except for the only girl in my AG I didn’t end up passing, but I got her in transition … racked my bike, put my socks/shoes on and off I was. Jorge said I was out of there in 45 seconds, but since the timing mat was quite a ways outside of the transition, the official results say 1:05.

THE RUN

We drove the run course as well – and I am not so sure it was a great idea! I think I would have rather not known! First 1.5 pretty much slightly down, 2^nd 1.5 rollers but nothing too crazy. I went through the first 3 miles in 21 minutes trying to hold back for what was to come! Oh yeah – my garmin also decided to conveniently die over night even though I charged it the night before, so I had for the first time ever raced with my regular watch and without mile by mile splits. In all honestly, it was probably better that way, and I may actually keep it like that going forward. Then we hit the corner and turned, turned UPHILL! Dirt road (at least no single track this time) that felt like was never going to end. I think it was about 1.5 miles. It was one of those hills that just when you think it’s over, you turn the corner and there is more! I caught up to a descent group of guys and one girl (she was in another AG though that started 10 min ahead of me so I knew I didn’t have to race her just yet). It was nice to see everyone suffering and shuffling up this hill at the same time. Once we made it up this hill, you would think a nice long downhill would follow – negative. Couple of rollers and more hills! It was around this time when the bottom of my calves started to tighten up, and my left side of my Achilles was starting to really hurt, and the pain kept getting louder and louder. Ugh! This was going to be a long 6 hilly miles! Another mean up and down section, where at least you got to see who was coming after you and then we were headed back into the park. Not to the finish line though! How about one more turn, and you guessed it, go up and down and few more hills, with the last 1.5miles being entirely uphill! Now that is just mean!

This is at about mile 9

 I tried to push it a bit on the downhill part, but my Achilles or calf or whatever it is just wanted none of it. With every step, I was feeling all kinds of weird pain, but there was no stopping! With about 2 miles left the going got really tough, and the miles just got really really long. The top of the hill couldn’t come fast enough, and then the last few hundred yards on a “FLAT” road, through the park, through the finish line where I passed one more guy who I am pretty sure was a bit upset I ruined his finish line photo … (sorry Mr. Uknown 3 but I mean business until I cross the finish line), and I was done!

Final time: 5:07:06 with a 1:39:16 run split which I am super excited about! This was one tough run course after a tough bike, and I was able to almost run as fast as in pancake flat Clearwater! (Only 45 seconds slower)

My nutrition throughout the day was great, except for the time I decided to go for “coke” also referred to by my coach as “jet fuel”, which I was in desperate need of. I proceeded to take the cup, and as I took one huge sip, I overheard one of the volunteers sayin how the coke should be bubbles free, but it wasn’t! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! I really wasn’t looking for bubbles floating in my stomach and being bloated, hence I proceeded to spit ALL of it out and move on. Now that was a close call! Other than that, it was getting a bit hot out, so I made sure I took water at every single aid station. One to take a sip and one to cool myself off! Ice water never felt so good. I had 2 gels on the run – roughly mile 3 and 9, and my stomach felt fine.

Overall great race, great atmosphere, awesome prizes – I came in 1st in my AG, and 5th overall, and I won a pair of Avia Racing Flats, 1 year subscription to Inside Triathlon, $20 off from all3sports.com, TYR goggles and water bottle and couple of other small things! I am pretty sure I want to come back next year and go sub 5! Who is in? BTW – I promise that after doing either Zofingen or Quassy your definition of hills will forever change! J

Here are some post race pics:

Coach Jorge or also the photographer for the day!

 

I have also posted a very similar RR on beginnertriathlete. You can czech it out here: http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=255724

And most importantly all the thanks goes out to all my supporters (you know who you are), and my coach Jorge (E3 Training Solutions - http://www.e3ts.com/)! It will soon be one year since we started working together, and I have already seen a tremendous improvement! Looking forward to what’s to come! 

In the news ...

Below is an article from last week's Porsmouth Herald about duathlons, little about me, E3 Training Solutions, and my coach Jorge Martinez.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20110518-SPORTS-105180384

American Zofingen Duathlon

This past Sunday, I competed in my first duathlon! However, it wasn’t the regular duathlon that would come to mind, rather it was THE American Zofingen duathlon in New Paltz, NY. I have heard a lot of great things about this race!  Two words that I kept hearing over and over again were:

·         Super challenging and hilly

·         Absolutely beautiful

Since I actually enjoy hills (don’t ask why), and hills usually play to my advantage, I went ahead and signed up for the middle distance F1 duathlon, which consisted of 5 mile trail run, 29 mile bike, 5 mile trail run, 29 mile bike, and 5 mile trail, a total of 73 miles! I looked at it as a perfect prep for the supposedly super hilly Rev3 Quassy 70.3 in June, Providence 70.3 in July, and then super hilly Worlds in Vegas! Why not make 2011 the season of hills! J

Being still fairly new to the sport, I think being naïve sometimes helps. I really didn’t look up anything about this race, and I just went with the two words I kept hearing over and over from my friends - beautiful and hilly! Now looking back it, as I sit here 4 days later, barely able to move, I decided to do a bit more research on the race and found the following:

"The American Zofingen refers to the most famous Duathlon of the world, Powerman Zofingen in Switzerland, held since 1989. Zofingen is to the sport of Duathlon what  Hawaii is for Triathlon: Long, demanding, prestigious, one of the races every long distance athlete has to finish at least once in his/her life. The American Zofingen in New York underlines the growing demand of athletes to compete in long distance duathlons. If you finish the "American Zofingen" you are ready for the real Zofingen."

Now this quote talks about the long distance race, which also starts with a 5 mile run, but is followed with 89 miles on the bike (3 x 29 mile loop), followed by 15 mile run (3 run loops) for a total of 109 miles (one more bike loop, and one more run loop than the middle distance). The middle distance is still no joke! I was ready for hills, but I was greeted with some serious mountains! I was ready for trails, but I had no idea what the word “trails” really meant – at least not here in the Catskill Mountains!

The run course was fun in a brutal kind of way, and the fact that it rained only made it that much more difficult. The 5 miles is either uphill or downhill, with barely any flat surface in between. The run course has about 750 feet of elevation over the 5 miles, so by the end of the day, your total run elevation adds up to 2,250 feet. I am actually not really sure if it was the uphills or downhills that were worse!

Run  Elevation Profile

Not ever running any trails, I was in for some fun! Muddy, wet, and wild kind of fun! The run starts with a run across grassy field, at this point very muddy field, and continues up the single track to the summit. While on our way up, we were treated to some hard core single track with lots of rocks of all sizes, roots, and other obstacles such as fallen tree’s that I swear became higher and higher with each 5 mile loop! As if that wasn’t enough, the downhills resembled the uphills, and the very few yards of flatness were covered with wet leaves so you really had no clue what or where you were stepping! And how could I forget the two board plank crossings over swampy terrain, or creeks that were randomly flowing throughout the woods! Despite being covered in mud head to toe from the very first mile onwards, and being soaking wet, this was a very peaceful, beautiful yet very technical course! The peacefulness really set it on the 2^nd and 3^rd run as the field got quiet broken up, and unlike any triathlon race, you were pretty much all alone regardless of your position. It was just me, my own mind, and it would really be easier than ever to just stop and walk when times got tough! I mean, no one would ever know, right? I think this added to the difficulty of the race. There was no one to cheer you on, there was no one to pick you up, there was no one to chase (at least not in your sights)! It was almost like a training day, but it wasn’t! It was RACE TIME, and I had my mind on the prize the whole time!!!!  I have definitely gained some extra mental toughness from this one! The 3^rd loop is when the going got super tough and the peacefulness of the surroundings was over taken by quite a bit of pain. That’s where the REAL fun begun.

And the bike course you ask? THE bike course was a beast! It’s about 3,000 feet of climbing per loop – 29 miles, totaling to 6,000 feet of climbing on the day over the 58 miles! Just as a comparison, I believe the LP bike course has a total elevation of 6,000 feet over 112 miles! I have ridden both, and both are super beautiful, but climbing through the Catskill Mountains was a treat! The bike course starts out with about a quarter mile DIRT/GRAVEL access road to the main road! Oh, and hilly!!!!! Seriously? I need a cross bike for this mess! My DA is meant to stay on the road! Once on the road, the climbing began immediately! Almost a mile climb at an avg. of 8.5% incline right of the bat! Bring on the hills, right? What goes up, must come down, and a nasty, whiny downhill follows, with a 90 degree turn at the bottom of it, which is downright SCARY! Then it’s back to climbing, and I think you consistently climb for good 8 or so miles. The scenery is beautiful, but since it rained and was quite foggy, I didn’t really get to enjoy much of it! I think that means I must come back J.  There are also a bunch of scenic overlook spots but since it was super foggy, and I was on a mission, there wasn’t all that much to see! Yup -  I am really thinking I must go back! J The back end of the course is downhill with a few rollers, and once you get back near transition, the last 5 miles or so keep you very honest again! Nothing like climbing your way back into transition!  J Oh and let’s not forget the last quarter mile trying to get back into transition through the muddy roads mixed in with some deep gravel!

Bike Elevation Profile

To quickly sum it up, even though the weather wasn’t beautiful, and it was wet, a bit cold and muddy, foggy, it was a GREAT experience! I had a great race despite some dark, low moments – like when I thought I was literally going to freeze alive while trying to ride my bike, and thought about quitting right there and then on the first loop of the bike. My coach Jorge gave me a great race plan/nutrition plan, and I was able to stick to it despite couple of girls running away from me during the first run. I was able to mind my own business rather than trying to stay with them right away and it paid off on the last bike/run leg, as I was able to take over both of them during the 2^nd bike (I rode about 3 minutes faster on the 2^nd loop), and I increased my lead on the last run even though I am not so sure the last 5 miles should even be called running.

Here are my splits:

Run 1: 44:29      40:01

T1:0:49     2:08

Bike 1: 1:47:09   1:47:12

T2: 0:51   1:09

Run 2: 44:55  44:03

Bike 2: 1:44:03  1:49:13

T3: 0.36   :59

Run 3: 47:15 47:15

I have never dug as deep as I had to in this race, but I have learned that there is always that extra gear! Yes – it may not always be as fast as you wish it would be, but it is there! I was hurting, but everyone else was too! I had to keep moving, if I wanted to win, and even though I didn’t move very fast, I was still moving faster than the girls behind me! It was fun for once to be chased! J I got my first overall win in a time of 5 hours 51 min, and even made the top 10 overall including guys!!!!! J  (The times in red are the times of the girl that finished 2^nd, and even though she had 4:29 seconds on me after the first run, she went out way too fast, and couldn’t hold on to her initial pace – good thing I raced my own race! J)

Thank you Jorge Martinez (E3 Training Solutions – www.e3ts.com) for believing in me, and pushing my limits, Fast Splits for my super fast Felt DA (Never knew that a TT bike would be suited so well for muddy cyclocross like dirt roads), and PowerBar products (PowerBar perform, and gels) that fueled me to the finish line!  Also huge thanks to the magic hands of Samantha Cail (http://waterhousewellness.com), Joan Howe from Newburyport, MA, and Kate Kelly - http://www.activerecoveryboston.com for helping me stay 100% healthy!  And of course all my family/friends that support and believe in me – you know who you are! Without you all, I would be where I am today. Hard work sure does pay off! J American Zofingen was by far the hardest race I have ever done, and I highly recommend it for those looking for the ultimate endurance challenge without the IM craziness! Registration for 2012 has already opened up, and even though it took me about 5 days to walk pain free, I am already thinking about signing up for next year – maybe even the long distance? J Who is in?

My detailed race report can be found here:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=253539

Pics can be found http://www.facebook.com/e3trainingsolutions ... who knew my coach was a photographer as well? :)


Next up – Rev3 Quassy 70.3 in 2 weeks.  

Boston Marathon Weekend!

This past weekend is probably one of my favorite weekends in Boston. This year it was full jam packed with lots of FUN things to do all revolving around sports! How can you not love it! Here goes the list:

·         Boston Red Sox game on Friday night

·         Boston Bruins Game 2 of playoffs on Saturday night

·         Boston Celtics Game 1 of playoffs on Sunday night

·         Boston red Sox game at 11 am and of course the Boston Marathon!!!!!!!!!!

To top that all off, we also had the marathon expo going on with lots of good stuff to sample from gels, bars, recovery drinks, to head phones that are guaranteed to NOT fall out of your year (ummm WRONG) to recovery products such as the Zoot recovery tights, socks, 2XU, Skins, and of course every apparel company you can think of had their own booth! I LOVE walking around checking out new stuff!

I started off my weekend with a long run on Friday afternoon – my longest run to date – 14.1 miles through the Newton hills! It’s this time of the year I always wish I was running the Boston marathon! I had a great run, and as tired and sleep deprived I was, I felt the best I ever felt on any long run. Minus the part, where I didn’t bring gloves thinking it was warm enough, and literally had thoughts of losing my hands in the last few miles! Ouch!

Saturday, I was supposed to ride with few peeps and do my 2:45 long ride. Last minute cancellation, combined with freezing temps, and howling winds, I switched my Saturday and Sunday workouts and did a 1:30 ride, 30 min run BRICK. Turns out 1:30 on the bike are all my frozen feet had in them anyways. I felt like I was running on ice blocks the entire duration of my run! Exactly the same feeling I had last year back in December. It’s April people!

After the ride/run, I cleaned up and headed to the expo! This year I actually even bought something! The new Zoot Sports CompressRx Recovery Sock J 

They are suppose to be just as good as the full tights that I own and wear after most hard workouts, and yes, I do notice a difference in the speed of recovery. There are times however, when in the middle of the summer, it’s simply way too hot to put those on, so I added a pair of fashionable high socks to my assortment. I will now definitely fit in and continue to promote the triathlon fashion of short tights and long socks! :) Buckle up peeps! In the buying process I have actually found out that my calves are size “Medium”! Oh oh, only on size up, and they won’t have a recovery sock for my mega calves! Hello cycling legs! No wonder it took me almost a year to find a pair of skinny jeans that would fit my calves.

I also tried a very cool and super light pair of Saucony racing flats the A4! Very comfy shoe, but I got some work to do before I can run in those I think.

I also tried on bunch of headphones that are supposedly NOT going to fall out of my ear when I run, but I am still not sold. Ear buds are just not for me.

Few hours went by, and I am pretty sure I visit just about every single expo booth, felt more recovered than ever since I just sampled about 100 different recovery bars/drinks, and I was ready for some REAL food! J California Pizza Kitchen here I come! Yum!

Sunday was supposed to be a wash out but it actually turned out pretty nice! Sleep won over my 2:45 bike ride, and I made the decision with the help of my buddy Rod to ride the Boston marathon course on Monday morning instead! What a great choice! I did at least get in the pool and swam 4,000 yards on Sunday … J

Marathon Monday was here before I knew it. Early am wake up call, and off I was. Met up with a few friends, and come 6:45 we were off riding towards the start line in Hopkinton. It sure was WINDY!!!!!!! The headwinds were crazy at times, which meant a great tail wind for everyone on the way back, and of course good for the runners! The sun was coming out, and even though it was actually pretty chilly, I think I managed to get a bit of sun on my face! The first 26 miles to Hopkinton was stop and go due to traffic, but I still managed to pick up couple of rude wheel suckers along the route! I am glad I could be the shield for you two unknown dudes! The motorcycles at Hopkinton were ready! However when some of those guys proceeded to attempt to turn around, we had to move out of the way as one cop told us:"Some of these guys are not that good at riding on these" ... Hmmm .. Sweet? :)

The way back was smooth sailing! Roads closed to traffic, and no one but bunch of us cyclist! Only if roads were like this ALL the time! The tail wind was for real, and actually quite strong and scary especially when it turned into side winds! Myself or my bike nor wheels are made for cross winds! Yikes!  My death grip was in full effect! With the exception of couple cops who tried telling us that roads were closed, I was able to ride all the way to the finish line flying by the countless water stops, volunteers and fans who were getting ready to cheer everyone on! Definitely an awesome,awesome atmosphere and that was at least a good hour before anyone was going to run by these people! They were claiming their first row, and best seats in the house bright and early! J

Now that I can say I rode the course, I definitely want to run it one of these days. It’s just about finding a qualifying race, qualifying, and fitting it into my schedule!

I was back home, and ready to go back to cheer everyone on, and of course watch the pro men and women fly by mile 23 by 11 am.

The leading guys absolutely flying by mile 23!

The leading women again flying by mile 23!

Now if I can just have half of a kick that Ryan Hall has, I’ll be flying like Chrissie Wellington. I guess you have to kick your own ass with each step when you run sub 5 min miles, sub 4:45 miles most of the way.

And here is Ryan’s garmin file: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80065732 ... talk about consistency!

 After I spent some time at mile 23, we headed to the finish line! It was a FUN, FUN, FUN day! This is the mayhem of runners trying to meet up with their families! Pure chaos!

Congrats to ALL who crossed the finish line yesterday! Your hard work and countless hours of running in the snow have paid off! J It sure has been a loooong looong winter at least for us locals!

My day ended at 9 pm after some quality time spent with some great company. Marathon Monday is and always will be a super special day in Boston! Can’t wait till next year! J

If you are like me, and are thinking about running Boston, check out E3 Training Solutions(http://www.e3ts.com/) and coach Jorge Martinez (http://coachjorgem.blogspot.com/) who may just help you get to the finish line! This year, he was also the coach for the "Run for Research" team with 240+ runners, helping runners of ALL levels achive the dream of crossing that famous finish line! For you speedsters - the fastest guy from the team crossed the finish line in a blazing fast sub 2:30!!!!! Sign me up! :) Oh wait - we are already working on it! :)

My European Adventures - Part 1

This is part 1 of my 10 day business trip to Europe with a brief 3 day stop to my homeland of the Czech Republic. I visited 3 countries – Germany, Czech Republic, and Sweden, completed 7 different flights, and ran 48.61 miles in the process hoping that running will help me keep most of my biking/swimming fitness.

I left Boston on Sunday night - March 20^th, and arrived in Munich Monday morning after a brief pit stop at the London Heathrow Int’l airport. The days of sleeping on the plane are gone! The little sleep I got was when dinner was served! Booooo! The flight itself was pretty uneventful. However, once we arrived in Munich, the action picked up a bit thanks to our driver a.k.a Mr. Mullet!  Up first was Ingolstadt, Germany!

Day 1:

Mr. Mullet not only had the best mullet I have seen in a long time (I was too tired to even take a picture, but it looked something like this), but he also thought that he was driving a F1 instead of a 8 passenger minivan with luggage stacked up to the ceiling.

We honestly made it to our hotel in Ingolstadt in about 20 min, when it really should have taken more like 45 min! We were absolutely flying like there were no other cars on the highway. We were going about 200 km/h the entire time! Let’s just say that I am glad we are all still alive. Monday was an arrival day, set up day for our sales meeting presentations the next two days, and we were able to get in the tour of AUDI facility, which was the highlight of the day! I had planned on getting a run in when we got to the hotel, but instead I laid down to take a quick 15 min nap, that turned into a 2 hour one! Oops!  The AUDI tour was awesome! It was a 2 hour tour, that really took us through most of the facility and we were able to witness how AUDI’s are made from scratch! Some quick facts before you are all bored:

·         Around 32,000 employees at the AUDI facility that work around the clock 6 days a week!

·         They make around 2,400 cars EVERY day!

·         Majority of the process is done by robots! Robots that will eat you alive if you bring your cell phone or a camera on the tour hence I don’t have any pictures to show you! They love the wave links! J … and they are HUGE!

·         There is a small grocery store on site that besides food also sells beer! Lots of it!

·         Workers can drink on the job! And they can drink however much they want, but since everyone knows who is responsible for what part on what car, and each car gets put through hell before reaching our hands, I don’t have to tell you what happens when mistakes happen and/or are repeated!

·         Each car travels through the process with a small box attached to the bottom of the car that gives the robots/employees info about what needs to happen at each of their stations in terms of special/custom features etc.

·         The middle console including the radio, gps navigator, cup holders etc. consists of about 150 various pieces, and one person puts it all together in a matter of minutes! It’s  a Lego Land!

·         The car literally gets put through hell, consistent rain, downpour, bumps,ice,  you name it, it probably goes through it,  before it gets into our hands – I would NOT want to be the driver doing the testing in this one tiny room! I am guessing he doesn’t drink much beer on his job! J

·         All employees get asked once a year about their ideas on the overall process improvement/cost savings etc. Couple of years ago, an idea of one of the employees was implemented, which saved AUDI millions! The person was awarded a brand new AUDI of his choice as a sign of appreciation!

·         You can order your own car, travel to Audi, watch them make it, and then drive away in it!

·         Start saving your $$$$$$$$ now! J

And in the end, this is what you get! Apparently this is the up and coming most popular color on the market right now! Think chocolate! Yum!

Day 2:

I wasn’t going to let another day go by without moving, which meant an early am wakeup call! Ingolstadt isn’t exactly a very runner friendly town, and I really wanted to get in a good workout, and work up a great sweat rather then having to stop every 10 yards for lights, cars etc. Our hotel gym didn’t have a treadmill, but we found this!  24 hour McFit gym!  (pic. 39)

I wonder when McDonalds will start opening McFit’s in the U.S! It was more or so a planet fitness type setting, but what we didn’t know that no one works the front desk. We waited around for a bit, and since no one showed up, 3 of us “broke in” to McFit! I didn’t get up at 5:45 am to not get my run in! The rest of the day was spent in meetings, and ended with a quick trip to overpriced German outlet malls, another dinner out, and a few drinks! Come 2 am, I was finally back in bed – phew! What a looooooooong day! 

Day 3:

Another early morning wake up call! This time we decided to run outside! As I suspected, Ingolstadt really wasn’t runner friendly, and this run involved bunch of stopping and going due to traffic etc. , but it was better than nothing! More meetings followed, and in the pm was my flight from Munich to Prague! Czech Republic here I come!  To say that I was excited was an understatement!!!!!!! At this point, I have consumed more alcohol than I had in the past year, and I couldn’t wait to get home to see my family whom I haven’t seen in about 2.5 years! 

Overall, Germany was alright. Sales meeting went great, but  I wasn’t really a fan of Ingolstadt I really wouldn’t care to come back here except if it was to pick my custom made Audi! J

Next up – MY HOME – CZECH REPUBLIC! J

  

How NOT to pace a TT!

Fast Splits Time Trial at the Multisport Expo at MIT

I did this time trial last year as my first ever time trial. I really had no idea about power or what I was getting myself into at that time, but somehow pretty much exactly one year later, I felt like a super rookie again! Maybe because coach Jorge signed me up to go in the same heat as the elite/pro girls - the likes of Karen Smyers, Kristen Gohr - local pro cyclist, and Crystal Anthony who is training for the TT worlds this year!  Perhaps I should be a bit intimidated by these big names!

I really had a busy Saturday. I was leaving for 11 day trip to Europe the next day and I was only half way packed! I really didn’t have much time to think about this event, but I made my way over to the expo couple of hours before race start, and got my head in the game. Coach Jorge couldn’t be there, but I sure saw many familiar faces, and it was great to catch up with everyone! J

It was finally my turn to go. I got in a great 20 min + warm up with some pickups, and was ready for the show to get started or I should say for the pain to begin! I know by now what these all out efforts are all about! They sure can be extremely rewarding, or humbling! The power meter doesn’t lie! You either have it or you don’t! These tests or time trials are all about even pacing, and I have learned the hard way to not go out too hard because sustaining the super high power for 20 min is near impossible. My best results from the past resulted from a very even pacing or power that would increase as time went on and NOT the other way around.

This was a 6.03 mile time trial so I knew it will take a sub 20 min effort to make it happen. The goal was to try to stick around 240 watts as last time I tested I was around 232 watts. All was great, until we actually got hooked up to the computrainers, and the gun went off.  I honestly lost all senses and started to hammer! I felt great, I felt awesome, and I was hanging in with the big girlz! NOOOOOOT the best idea! As much as I knew I was shooting for around 240 Watts and a nice steady 6.03 mile trip through the hills of Central Park, I was keepin up with the pro’s! Now you can all try to guess without reading any further how long that lasted.

I hung with them for about the first 5 min or 2 or so miles, and then it all went downhill from there! And I mean downhill, straight into the pain cave! I was clearly NOT thinking, and got lost in the heat of the moment – NEVER again do I want to do that! I most definitely had some bad thoughts going through my head knowing I still had 3 or so miles left of this! Ouch! Here are some numbers to show you how “stupid” I was!

Last time I tested back in January my 5 min power was 262 Watts. Today, 1st 5 min of the TT, my power was 266 Watts! 4 watts higher! Now, that’s awesome if this was a 5 min test, but I wasn’t done yet.  I had another 4 miles (13 minutes)  to go! Ooooops! No wonder anything from the 2.5 mile mark onwards felt like eternity.  I was hurting! I managed to hang on to some power, even though it was as hard as ever - burning legs, and screaming lungs would be an understatement. The 6.03 mile mark couldn’t come fast enough! I ended up with average power of 242 Watts for my 17 min and 13 second effort. 10 watts higher than my last test, and on the way to 250, so I am pretty happy about that, but I am not so happy with going out so hard and making myself suffer for good majority of the TT. Lesson learned! After talking with Jorge, he said if I didn’t go nuts the first 5 min, I could have probably gone 245 – 250 watts! I’ll take his word for it!

Coming out of this TT, I also want a new toy! I want to get the computrainer! J  Since ALL winter – and this winter was, or should I say is so super freaking LONG, I am very much used to riding in one or two gears only, and pushing a steady pace not having to worry about shifting at all. The downhills on this course KILLED me! The thought of riding different courses, and once I may be racing on sounds oh so very appealing!

In the end, I had a blast, and I didn’t come in last – Karen Smyers beat me by about 25 seconds and Crystal A. by 10 seconds .. dammit! It is times like this when I wonder what my power could be if I was strictly concentrating on cycling. I learned a lot from this TT! I am now more confident than ever that 250 watts will be coming my way soon … :) … just have to pace it right!!!!!!!! … and perhaps not take 10 day work trips to Europe? Getting on my bike next week will sure be interesting! J

Final Results in numbers: TT - 6.03 miles – 17:10 min – 242 avg. watts (4.2 watts/kg) – my max power – 535 Watts in the opening seconds … OOPS! I can feel the matches burning now! :)

The blog about my European adventure is up next, and with that bunch of work, not much sleep, and bunch of running, which allowed me to czech out some very cool cities, and re-visit some childhood memories!