Whew, hello there in blog land. It sure has been awhile. Almost two weeks to be accurate. Based on the last couple postings from my lovely wife you may have thought I went missing in the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, or Western Maryland the past couple weekends. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. I might have even "found" myself in the fitness sense of the word the past couple weekends.
So I will try to keep you all engaged and not rehash the details of the past couple weekends because my lovely wife did that for me already. Well she did it mostly for you all and I am just the bonus I guess...haha!
So starting off with Mountain Mama and ending with Mountain Mama Weekend it was a pretty packed week. It was the first full week of training for our Ironman, but really we have been consistently training since December but more in "fun" mode without structure. Total was about 17 hours and 20 minutes of training. That is quite a lot and only goes up from there!
Mountain Mama was a ride I had been looking forward to for a long time and it was a ride that gave Kirsten her "breakthrough" workout that I have been mentioning her needing for sometime to break out of the training funk she was in. Well sufficient to say that she achieved that goal and I was so impressed by her strength out there in Monterey, VA and on those hills. She was the woman I know and love and a tremendous athlete that day as she always is. She finished strong, had a positive attitude the entire day, and was in a good mood no matter what.
It was a long Saturday with the flat tire saga and the excursion to Wal Mart on the way home, but I am glad my company pays for the car maintenance and not me! It had been a while since Kirsten and I had been on mountains like that. Actually the only time we had been on mountains like that was when we were in Tucson over Christmas and then in the Tour of California. It was pretty awesome to be climbing those mountains and getting a greater challenge than riding the same rolling hills around DC as usual.
Phil and Laurel tagged along to the century which was a good motivation for Kirsten and I and a good gauge to our fitness as Phil is an extremely strong rider.
I had a pretty good boost of self confidence since I was keeping Phil about 50-100 yards in front of me on the climbs and he wasn't pulling away from me. There was even one point on the last huge climb out of the state park that I pulled up to him and ended up passing him. Well, Phil didn't like that too much and eventually caught me and passed me again on the 5 mile long climb. I had a banana at the stop before that climb and as I passed him initially he said "feeling good huh?" to which I replied "It is that banana!" Needless to say after he passed me I kept him within that 50-100 yards again and felt like I was riding pretty strong although he and I hammered the flats from mile 20-30 (22-27mph).
The salt tabs I brought this time helped immensely as on each climb I would be pouring sweat like a water fall. The temps were perfect and wasn't too hot or cold, but the humidity was still pretty high adding to my sweat factor. The last two climbs were a real bear and by that point my quads were screaming at me because of all the climbing we had done already. The last 20 miles I really didn't eat or drink much either since I was nearing the end and just wanted it to be over. I waited for Kirsten at the last rest stop (she was about 3 minutes behind me on the descent) and we took off to tackle the last climb together (Phil didn't stop, THANKS!) I pulled ahead of her at the beginning but after the first mile my quads started to give up on me. Energy wise I felt fine but again my legs weren't used to all the climbing. After 100 miles and 10000+ feet of climbing anybody's legs would start to get tired!
Needless to say I slowed to a crawl and tried to stretch the legs out by standing but to no avail. We still had a mile to go on the climb and I was ready for it to be over. Kirsten ended up pulling ahead of me and won the King of the Mountain Points for that climb for sure! Then with my budda belly and love handles I dropped like a rock on the descent into the finish ahead of her. She gets my vote for most aggressive rider that day since she was right oh Phil and I's heels the entire day and got the KOM Points on that last climb! Good Job!
All in all it was an awesome ride and I would definitely do it again and recommend it to anyone looking for a mountainous challenge (pun intended!). The first pic above is the last climb you have to come over before descending back to the start...looks easy huh? After 92 miles or so of 10000 feet of climbing...not so much!
On Sunday I ended up jumping on the bike again to meet up with our friend Paul D. who was in town on a break from business school in Spain. We also met up with Adrianne and Pam who are extremely strong riders as well.
It was an awesome ride to spin the legs out and I felt surprisingly well considering the day before. I even was able to hammer up some hills without breaking myself. I felt strong, confident, and at a level of fitness that was way above anything the past three years. I did start to feel the residual fatigue of the day before towards the end, but not bad overall. We hung out and had coffee at Dean and Deluca in Georgetown after and it was good to just hang out after the ride. Kirsten and I went swimming at Hains Point again later that day and I ended up running home from the pool to get a 40 minute run in. All three sports in one day after a challenging day before, a lot you say, but what do you do when you are feeling that good? I say you go with it!
I ended up taking the long way home so that I could stop by the White House and say hello to the president and his staff (at the buildings next door). Took some pictures since I wasn't in a rush and was trying to enjoy the day rather than treat all this as training. 
It does wonders for the mind and soul when you are just going with the flow and taking the time to enjoy everything. I even got a autobiographical photo...Guess my expression was better suited for the end of the Mountain Mama Ride rather than this day though!
Then of course work caught up with me until Thursday evening and the week flew by before we left for Deep Creek Lake. I got everything done and out the door on Thursday so I was in the clear to do what I needed to for our weekend away. It was a bit chaotic since I didn't have time to do ANYTHING before hand like pack or go to the grocery store but that is what marriage is all about, supporting each other in times of need, although admittedly this wasn't really a time of "need" it was just the routine of life, but still...it is nice to have someone there to lean on and vice versa ;) We ended up getting on the road around 9 or so and got out to DCL pretty quick to meet up with TJ. We decided that riding the Savageman Bike Course the next morning was the call since we got in late and didn't want to spend all day on the bike as Kirsten and I had a wedding BBQ to go to that night at 7.
Having ridden the course last year we knew what we were in for slightly only this time the road bike was doing the work for me instead of the tri bike. Race day will be the same since there are few opportunities to use the tri bike except the last 6 miles of the course! I earned the nick name "Mountain Goat" from Kirsten and TJ and even had a couple "Baaaahhhhhaaaaaahhhhhaaa's" here and there from them on the ride. I was just tackling the hills and setting into a consistent effort as much as I could on the brutal climbs. Considering I had only been there once I was pretty shocked that I remembered a majority of the course and didn't find it as challenging as the year before (but it is still hard believe me!).
Even after the huge climb over Big Savage Mountain (so aptly named) I started to think that this wasn't as hard as I remember. Sure the climbs are challenging but they weren't out of our league by any means. Especially after Mountain Mama the weekend before. I ended up circling back around to regroup with TJ and Kirsten after the climbs and would wait for them on the descents when we got separated. I was definitely feeling good but didn't feel like I was hammering and was going to fade out anytime soon. The weather was perfect and my nutrition and hydration were thanking that for sure! After a short break at the store before the last climb (or so we thought) and a story about two youths escaping from the local youth camp and coming into the store that morning with duct tape on the their feet for shoes (saying they left them at their girlfriend's house) and looking like Robert Redford in "Cool Hand Luke" after his escape, we trudged on.
The climb up Otto Lane wasn't as bad as I remembered either but I was enjoying the fact that all the roads up until that point were in perfect condition and most were freshly paved. We then got to the "new portion" of the course where you take a sharp left on Miller Road after a screaming descent out of Jennings. This was the cruel part as I didn't remember this part from last year (duh...that is why it is "new"!) and the climb just went straight up this hill side next to a farm. The climb winded up and up and up and up and up and around every corner or rise there was another rise/climb just beyond and just as bad. The Garmin I was borrowing was saying 25-28% grade at times and the climb was easily 1.5 miles or more. It was rough and we all were bitching about it at the top while winded and sweating profusely. How cruel to put that hill in so late in the race!!!!
Anyway, the rest of the ride was easy compared to all that climbing! We got back and TJ and Kirsten went for a brick run while I felt the need to refuel and take a short break. I wanted to run one loop of the run course but neither TJ or Kirsten were having any of it. Shortly after they got back I headed over to the state park to get one loop in of the old course that is mostly a trail run up to the fire tower. Yup that is right...I said "UP" to the fire tower. It was a PITA (no, not PETA, PITA...Pain in the you know what). It was a lot more challenging than I remembered, but I ran the whole thing this time so I felt good about that. Immediately my Heart Rate was sky rocketing since out of the state park it is uphill through the campground and then straight up the trail to the fire tower.
It honestly reminded me of the morning and lunch time 1.5 mile sprints up the ski runs we used to do in High School Wrestling Camp up at Boreal Resort in Squaw Valley, CA. After our morning technique sessions and right before lunch, the coaches would make us run up the ski run in back of the resort. They figured it was a good way to sort out the food lines rather than have 100 hungry wrestlers in the off season rush the lunch line! It was tough though since it was rough trail and you were already at 8000 feet of elevation or so and everyone wanted to be in line FIRST! At altitude, in the off season, and out of shape...but craving the awesome Cherry Coke they had for drinks, well it was exactly what the run up to the fire tower reminded me of, the running though, not the Cherry Coke!
I was all alone for about 4 miles on that trail and I thought for sure that I was going to run into a bear and be done for. It was quiet and I didn't see anyone or hear anything the entire time save two white tail deer near the top. One saw me and sprinted away, the other was a young buck with fur still on his antlers. Definitely an awesome sight as he was 5 feet from me and just stared at me. My next thought was, what if he freaks out on me like that deer in the movie Tommy Boy! But he didn't, just stared at me while chewing his dinner!
After the 2 miles up to the fire tower it is pretty much downhill until you get to the lake road again. The trail conditions were pretty rough and I can see why they changed the course this year. Once back on the road things came a little easier and I started clicking off 7:30's and 7:15's at an extremely low heart rate. I was feeling good and my legs were feeling better and better. I decided to end it with the last couple miles as tempo and started cranking up the pace. The last 1/2 mile or so is all downhill so I was clocking 6 minute miles effortlessly, way to delude yourself in a race but there is no way after biking the SM course and running a hilly 1/2 like that I could put up those numbers, but we will see in about a month!
After the run it was straight into the hot tub with Kirsten and TJ. It was a welcome relief after the hard run and bike that day. Then we were off to Kyle and Laura's BBQ. The venue was awesome and the Bluegrass band was a great touch to the area and the scenery. Heck I may even try to buy one of their albums if they have one ;) We felt kind of awkward since we only really knew one person there and didn't want to monopolize his time. But Kirsten and I found our own little corners to hang out in and were "That married couple in love" for the evening. You know the one that sits with each other and does everything together...it was nice ;)
The food was fantastic as well and the corn was the best I have ever had! A funny side story to that, as Kirsten and I were in line for appetizers, the guy was cooking the corn and I looked and said "Oh they have biscuits too! Look on top of the corn!" Kirsten, without missing a beat says..."Those aren't biscuits....THAT IS BUTTER!" Darn if those pats of butter weren't pats but looked like extremely large country biscuits! Guess that is why the corn was so good!
Saturday we did the bike course again and repeated our performances from the day before which means we are pretty good on our bike training to do the course in the same amount of time and feel like we were taking it easier the second day. This day though it is all we would have done since we got back and were exhausted. We didn't swim, we just slept until we had to go to the wedding. I was okay with it though!
The wedding was very nice and full of little touches of original wedding things I hadn't seen before like a Ride away in a classic Ford, arrival of the bride and groom to the reception via a large "Swan" from across the other side of the lake, and a full on Big Band! It was pretty cool and I kind of felt like I was at the Cleary wedding in the movie Wedding Crashers. It was a very nice wedding although the guy serving the chicken, fish, and filet refused to give me all three. I mean most of us were triathletes and so were the bride and groom...so DON"T THEY KNOW WE GET HUNGRY! He offered me a choice of the fish and chicken....OR the filet...cheapskate...in the end they had a ton of left overs that they hauled off too! Oh well, probably for the best.
Kirsten and I danced a little and I twirled her a little here and there. It was the first time that I realized that she has trouble letting others lead on the dance floor! So much that it became a topic of discussion at our table. She even got on the dance floor with our friend Sean and our entire table was commenting on how she was having trouble even then because Sean was trying to lead. It was pretty funny to see her struggling with giving up dance floor control, but I still love her more now than I did yesterday! I got on the dance floor with her again and told her how we were talking about her at the table and we both had a great laugh about it. She then let me lead some of the dancing and we laughed some more. It was a great time with my wife and the fondest memory of the weekend by far ;)
It was a late night and we were both dehydrated from the past two days and the wine and drinks just exacerbated matters. We woke up in the morning and just wanted to get home. So we left around 9 am and headed out of town not caring if we worked out or not. We even stopped off at Annie's Country Kitchen for some breakfast on the way out of town. The rest of the day after getting back we pretty much lounged around and didn't do much.
I finally got to washing our bikes for the first time in about a month in a half, which is a pretty long time, especially considering that I am the designated bike mechanic and bike washer in the house! It felt good to get that done, but I was feeling to dehydrated to run by that point so I just showered up and plopped on the couch with Kirsten. We ended up watching the Olympics all night and ordered pizza because we were too lazy to do anything else. After two loops of the Savageman course and a rocking wedding, I wonder why?
Anyway, it was a great weekend with great friends. We got some quality training in along with some great socializing and relaxing and thoroughly enjoyed every moment. The weather was great and the riding was even better. Married life just keeps getting better, the days just keep getting better, and I feel like I am just getting stronger and stronger every workout. It is an awesome feeling! This week is a recovery week although I have a bike test tomorrow...I hate those...they hurt worse than an Ironman! More to come on that tomorrow!
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