Manitou's Revenge

Manitou’s Revenge was my fifth finish of an ultra around the 50 mile distance.  It made all the others (North Face NY, Ice Age, McDowell, and North Face MA) look like kids races.  This wasn't surprising to me.  When I think technical terrain, I think of the Catskills.  The race took place in the Catskills, going from Windham to Phoencia, gaining close to 15,000 feet of elevation gain over 54 miles.  It was what felt like to be my strongest performance of the year so far and at 54 miles, it was technically (new distance) my 10th PR of the year.  This race ended 6 weeks of racing ranging from 10k on the flat road to this mountainous 54 miles! 

I was in the waitlist for the race till two weeks ago, after I finished the North Face MA 50 miler, so I didn't have enough time to get specific training in for the race.  Perhaps the most important factor going into this race was the 50 miler I did two weeks ago.  I usually say that 50 milers on trails take 2 weeks to recover from (equal to a road marathon) but I never really tested it.  Though my legs still felt a bit stiff the day before I feel like the North Face MA 50 miler helped me prep big time for this race.  During that race my legs cramped a little more than a quarter of the way in so this time I had a stronger nutrition strategy.  My quads burnt out during the later parts of North Face so I focused in getting in a few short workouts to work on that (still not enough time though and I worried about the quads going into the race), and it helped me mentally in that by doing the distance before my body sort of got used to it, like it doesn't freak out like the first few times.

Strategy

This was the first race I really looked at race reports for.  An important thing I got for them was to run the runnable sections, even if it's only 50 feet before you have climb again, run!  I looked a lot at the times of the middle of the pack runners and their times were a big warning to how difficult this course was.  You had to qualify to just enter this race so these weren’t newbies to the distance. 

For nutrition I pretty much stuck to gels every 40 minutes like North Face but this time I also added one salt tablet per hour.  I didn't cramp at all during the race.  I snacked on some fruit and small sandwiches at aid stations but real food was more on feel.  Towards the later quarter of the race I lost the ability to keep track of when I was eating gels so I went by feel.  If I felt hungry, I ate.

For running, I pretty much jogged uphills that I could see the top of, hiked/climbed up other uphills and ran the flats and downhills.  The only uphills I could see the top of were in the first few miles.

For the last year and half I decided that I would be racing ultras so I stopped taking pictures.  Then Rene took a few pictures during North Face MA and still finished well.  I decided that I would bring my cell phone and quickly snap a few pictures if I made up a hard climb.  I think overall this thought made me more relaxed going into the race.

Race morning

I had to take the bus from the finish to the start at 3:30 am so just like North Face I got 3 hours of sleep.  I also got some in and out sleep on that bus.  I had stuffed everything I needed in my drop bag and started setting up on a table at the start.  There were only 5 aid stations for this race and I looked at average splits between them to see that the average person spent at least 2 hours apart between some of them.  That was too long for me to not bring my ultimate direction racing vest.  For my last two 50 milers, I had used a combo of hand bottles and hip belt in hopes of being lighter and thus faster but I found that it doesn't seem to really make a difference.  I had a 1.5 litter bladder with two nuun tables (about 60% of what the directions say), a hip belt with 6 gels with one pocket open specifically for gel garbage, and 8 more gels and a zip lock bag with hammer gel salt tablets.  There were no gels at the aid stations so the only place I could restock was my drop bag at mile 30.  Good thing I volunteered for North Face NY and had just the stockpile of hammergels (leftovers that they let the volunteers take home).  In addition to hammer gel I had some muir energy, powerbar gels (from the Brooklyn half) and science in sport gels.  It seemed like a lot of the runners ran the race before and that they only got a few new people each year.  I was surprised at how many people had hiking poles!  I picked up my bib and found out I was in wave 8.  The last wave!  I guess my qualifying race wasn’t that impressive (I used McDowell Mountain Frenzy from last December).  I think wave 8 were barely expected to finish.  I would pretty much spend the entire race passing people. 

The Great Wall of Manitou (escarpment trail)

I started off 5:40, there was 5 minutes between waves.  There were 15 of us in wave 8.  I started running around the 11 minute pace for the first 3 miles on the road.  A couple of the runners of the wave were ahead of me.  Just before we turned into the trail was an aid station 1 but I skipped it.  Then we hit the trail and I quickly passed all of wave 8 but two.  The initial trail mile was very runnable, even the uphills.  We then hit the escarpment trail and started south, starting the climb to Blackhead.  The escarpment trail is a 21 mile trail in the Catskills and I always have overlooked it because of the more famous Devil’s path.  There were parts of the climb were I had to use my hands to pull myself up, similar to what the Devil’s path would be.  I soon caught up with a pack of runners who I assumed were wave 7.  They were a bit slow power hiking uphill but it was early so I went behind them.  Then they continued walking on the flats, I waited a minute and when it was clear they were not going to run I asked if I could pass.  They were quick to get out of the way (experienced trail runners - so much better than North Face MA).  I soon caught up to a woman from my wave.  I thought I would run with her for a bit but I passed and she didn’t keep up.  A few miles later I caught the last of wave 8, a man that I recognized from another local NY trail race.  I reached the second aid station at about two hours and a half.  That’s about the median time and I adjusted my finish time to 17:30 instead of sub 16 hours.  I made it here at high sprites and having fun so I wasn’t worried yet.  At the aid station I ate the last peanut butter sandwich.  I heisted at first but the volunteers insisted.  I moved quickly through the aid station starting the climb up.  Passed a few more.  I listen to a few songs on the radio on the drive up and the song broken got stuck on my head.  After I couldn’t get the songs out I started playing the beats to pace myself.  I used faster parts to pace downhills while using the general slower beat for the flats.  I passed an airplane crash and turned around to take a picture.  A man behind me said he didn’t notice it the first time around.  The views were beautiful, I could see why it inspired the first art movement in this country.

Reached the third aid station.  From here I noticed that they had signs with distance and elevation gain and loss to the next aid station.  It was 5 miles downhill so I ran the next section hard.  It also wasn’t technical and I got to a 10 mile pace.  It was long though and I was worried that it would do a number on my quads.  At the North South Aid station I refilled my bladder with tail wind.  Passing the aid station the trail split and I got second doubts on where to go.  I didn’t pay attention and with a little rain on the rocks I got my first fall.  Nothing major.  I passed by parts of the North-South campground and the views here nice!  I have to come back and camp here.  I also didn’t realize how high up the campground was. 

The Long Path

The 4^th Aid station was at the end of the descent and I grabbed some fruit, crossed the road and briefly ran on the road before merging with the long path.  The long path is long distance trail that technically starts in Manhattan (though the trail part starts in the palisades across the GWB).  I met two Canadians and asked how they were.  They asked how I was doing and I said I was fine.  I got some remark that it was because I was young.  The next part wasn’t technically but very steep fire road type of road.  I struggled a bit here but no one caught up.

After a bit of a climb we descend a bit towards aid station 5.  It rained a bit but my body felt super light at this point and I cruised though.  I passed by someone I recognized on Instagram being from mountain peak fitness.

Aid station 5 was the only place to have a drop bag.  Since no aid station had gels I had packed 30 plus gels in the bag and my head lamp.  I reached a little before 2 pm but I remember that the race director wrote in his instructions that it may seem silly to have a headlamp leaving at 2 pm with 30/54 miles done but you would thank him.  Volunteers checked if you had a headlamp leaving too.  There was definitely an emphasis on having one.  There were a lot more runners at this aid station and I figure that I caught up to the middle of the pack.  A volunteer got me my drop bag quickly and he put it away after I was done with it.  I wish I had pre pack the bag with exactly what I needed instead of shifting through and counting how many gels  I needed (I would end up bringing too little).  I ate some tortillas with peanut butter and jelly which I liked better than P&J sandwiches.  This was the biggest aid station and I could understand why many would spend time here.  After 30 miles we were about to hit the climax!

The Devil’s Path

We took a blue trail from Palenville to the devil’s path.  On the way there a fellow runner cracked a few jokes about my shoes.  My brooks puregrits are ripped on both sides of the feet (I think because my feet swelled on them).  I mentioned that the lugs under them were still good and he said he had the same problem.  That his shoes rip from the sides way before the lugs under break off.  It was nice talking for a bit.  I soon passed on a flat section as I was continuing to run what was runnable.  I never been on this short blue section before but if you look up maps of the devil’s path you end up with a Hudson Valley Hiker’s Devil’s path plan.  For some reason they start their hike from Palenville too.  This skips the first easy miles of the Devil’s path and goes straight to ascent of Indian head.  I passed a lot of runners getting to the devil’s path, it looks like most people were preparing for a long hike.  The climb up Indian was steep and at parts I had to once again use my hands to climb.  I quickly understood why a younger version of myself, new to hiking 4 years ago, got easily crushed by this trail.  Indian head went pretty smooth, I ran good sections of it.  Then the climb up Twin Mountain.  I knew exactly where the viewpoints were and where to go.  The descent down Twin Mountain was tough, rocks were just shooting out at different directions everywhere and I had to hike a lot of it.  Then the climb up Sugarloaf.  Here I started losing my ability to ascend strongly.  I was so worried about my quads going into the race that I forgot that I needed my calves for the steep uphills.  I caught up to a woman named Sarah and two other runners and we ran down Sugarloaf together.  They sped through aid station 6.  I took an extra minute, drinking 3 cups of coke before I headed out.  I got hyper and started running hard up Plateau.  I quickly passed the group but the climb up Plateau got to me.  I caught up to a man named Ryan and as we struggled up we talked.  He done two 100 milers, Devil’s dog and Grindstone.  He was also signed up for Easterns 100 which got cancelled.  He didn’t have access to technical terrain and despite his accomplishments this race was crushing him.  He was also from wave 3, though he thinks most of wave 4 passed him.  I didn’t mention my wave.  At a runnable section I lost him.  At this point, the technical terrain was really draining me.  Running was actually my recovery.  Bouldering after long runs might be good practice with this.  I remember a story about Scott Jerek who was struggling to do a 24 hour fells challenge in the UK.  He was struggling going through the technical terrain but the author remarked that he’ll be okay once they get on runnable terrain.  I finally understood what that meant.  Shortly after passing the summit of Plateau we moved out of the Devil’s path and descended towards Silver Hollow Notch.

Edgewood Mt and Tremper

I passed by an older runner who I told I was happy that the hard part was over but he warned me that it wasn’t over yet.  I started tripping at the downhills.  The rocks were wet, and a combo of fatigue and mud on my shoes made me lose grip.  I almost face planted into some rocks but I was more worried that both my feet that hit a sharp edge of a rock.  I still descended strongly and passed by two runners.  One was Mendy who cheered as I passed by.  I heard them talk about the Schunemunk mountain race and I wanted to badly join in the conversation but had to keep running.  I thought about how mountain races have almost no crowds and that it’s pretty much up to us runners to cheer for each other.  Sure they are volunteers and crew but they are limited to a few spots.  Then I tripped and landed my right knee.  This hurt and I briefly walked before starting to run again.  My descents now became slower.  I started braking more, using trees to come to a complete stop to regain myself before continuing.  Eventually I figured out that if I land my feet at a slight angle (instead of straight down) that I had better control of slipping.  After the descents I talked briefly with a woman from Central PA.  She was a 4 hour drive away from the Catskills and said my 2.5 hours away was lucky.  We talked about how we didn’t really want to use our headlamps.  Then I passed.  I was a bit sad but the talk helped motivate me.  Then came the climb up Edgewood Mt.  The climb was a struggle and then we descended crazy.  Now started the last large climb.  It felt like forever.  I ran out of gels but still had some salt tablets.  I accidently got water instead of tailwind at aid station 7 so I had less calories than I wanted.  I was also no longer tracking calorie intake, I wasn’t able to remember when I last ate something.  I guess I could write it down later stage calorie intake like people do with split times.  Anyway the climb toward Mount Tremper was horrible mentally.  Finally made it to aid station 8, the last one.  Mendy and the central PA women shortly caught up.  I stuffed two half peanut butter jelly sandwiches in my belt to eat later, I couldn’t figure out where in the vest to put them.  I ate some veggie noodles in broth. 

The final stretch included a 300 foot gain but then it was all downhill.  Mendy left the aid station a few seconds before me and let me pass saying I was faster but I kind of knew that she would catch up on the 300 feet climb.  I played around with headlamp on and off and decided to keep it on.  There was a bit of fog so you couldn’t see that great with them but I guess once it’s on you get used to having more light.  Mendy and another man caught up.  Not sure where the guy came from but he was surging through with his pacer.  I did recognize the pacer from the start and saw her waiting at the aid station after sugarloaf.  We briefly talked about how cycling could help strengthen the quads before they both passed.  On a straightway I caught up with Mendy and pasted.  Finally made it up on Mount Tremper firetower.  Now it’s all downhill.  Ryan earlier had said that the fireroad may be easy.  To be honest, I didn’t believe him but the trail became wide and steep downhill.  I shortly caught up to the pacer who had gotten dropped.  She said he felt good and went on ahead.  I mentioned that it feels good to be on this trail.  After a little while the descent got rocky and I slipped and fell over one of the rocks.  I knew it!  There are no easy miles in the Catskills.  Talyor Swift’s 22 song played a bit in my head, no idea where that came from.  Soon I caught up with another man who had blew up his knees who said he was lucky to have his trekking poles to slowly climb down.  Later on I would hear stories up how he charged uphill.  After a brief check I passed by.  I definitely heard animal sounds in the distance.  Here and there I thought I would see a street light, think I was close to the road, only to find out that I was definitely still in the woods.  Eventually the ground passes a stream which I use as a sign for being close.  Takes a few more minutes but finally emerge out of the woods.  Just before I got on the final 1 mile road run two men gave me a reflective vest.  Running world magazine logo on it.  I fumbled a bit to put the vest on and then on to the final run.  I think I ran it about the same pace I started off at, a slow 11 minute jog.  Mendy passed me a bit in.  She was running super-fast, looked like at 7 minute mile to me.  Finally made it to the finish!  It was a pretty simple setup.

Afterwards I went inside the Parish hall and ate some food.  I was able to talk with a bunch of the people that I passed since the devil’s path and I hanged out for an hour.  The guy that cracked jokes about my shoe made it and Ryan also made it with pretty good timing.  After an hour I started the drive home.  I would have loved to have stayed and cheered on a few more finishers (time limit was 24 hours) but I forgot a change of clothes and I definitely would have needed a jacket.  Plus I was hiking the next day so had to get back to NYC and get some sleep.

I finished in 16:27, about an hour faster than my B goal.  A goal was sub 16 but still pretty happy with the result.  Now with break from racing I could focus a bit on the trail 50 mile nationals!

North Face Endurance Challenge - MA

The North Face Endurance Challenge 50M MA was my fifth 50 miler attempt and 4th finish.  Terrain wise, it was my hardest yet.  The North Face DC was my first trail and first ultra-race and I done the North Face Bear Mountain 50 M and 50k.  Since I learned last year that there was a new North Face in MA I wanted to do it.  I didn't imagine it being a hard one.  Then Eric spoke of how difficult it was last year so I started looking it up.  Only 41% finished last year and they had to extend the cutoffs for that too.  This year they made the course slightly easier this year.  While I feel like I have maintained some fitness I didn't go into the race trained for it.  But that's okay, this race was meant to see where I am and what to work on as I prepare for my fall A race - North Face 50M in CA where I'll get to race against many of the stars of ultra-running.

With 2.5 hours of sleep, I met Rene and drove 3.5 to get to the start with a half hour to start.  It's an ultra and with their early starts you'll never get enough sleep.  I have long accepted that and try to get in some extra sleep the days before.  We had enough time for bathroom, packet pickup and bag drop.  One bag drop was transported to the course so you could retrieve things later.  I didn't really have anything prepared for the bag drop but I put an old pair of running shoes in just in case.  At finish line bag drop I had a change of clothes.  I planned on relying heavy on the aid stations.  I was very familiar with the starting area setup of the North Face races so I felt pretty confident moving through.  Got some sunblock and bug spray on and filled up on water before getting on to the wave.  I was looking to get some gels but didn’t see the hammergel station.  I had two on me and I knew the aid stations would have more so it didn’t worry me.  I was surprised to find myself in wave 1.  Dean Karnazes said his usually few words before the race.  He mentioned that he thought this was the most technical of the North Face races.

The race went off.  I went at my own pace so didn't really pay attention to where I positioned myself.  The first mile was the usual nice wide trail dirt roads.  Then it went briefly into a technical downhill where I passed many.  Then back to wide gently climbs.  I took it easily and got passed by many I had earlier passed.  After a bit we got technical climbs.  I met a young man named Ohare.  He started pacing off me and we talked for a bit.  He was a student that resided at BU but studied elsewhere.  He was looking to challenge himself.  I soon lost him in one of the technical climbs.  Seemed like a nice guy.  Approaching the top I met a man who asked how many miles I ran so far.  I said 7.  He said he got lost and has done 9.  Once on top of the mountain we reached an aid station, got a mark on our bib and went back down a bit to do another loop.  I met the man again who earlier got lost once again said he took the wrong turn.  North Face Endurance Challenge is pretty good on their course marking but I guess he just wasn't looking up as much?  On the second loop go around I met some people that were complaining about having to do the loop twice.  I guessed at this point they must have been the 50k runners.  Made it the top again where I saw some expense camera setups taking video.  Drones up there as well!  

Next we started to descend.  Caught up to a man who said he was glad the hard part is done and then immediately face planted.  Lucky he was okay.  The descent became very technical, you are pretty much dropping down 3-4 feet boulders.  I flew down.  I love technical terrain.  I passed a whole lot of runners.  Lucky the terrain here was nice and wide so I had plenty of space to play.  After the crazy descent we went onto the mid-state trail.  It was rocky and had a few climbs which you had to hike over but nothing crazy.  I ran fairly hard here, giving it a marathon pace effort.  Eventually I slowed down to take a hammer gel.  I knew nutrition would be key so had to make sure I was keeping my calories up.  A good numbers of runners quickly passed me.  I had no idea that so many were right behind my tail.  There wasn't anyone close enough behind me for me to give them space to pass by.  After the gel I went back to the marathon pace effort but ended up stuck behind some guy who was struggling.  I tried to ask if I could pass by as I felt this area was completely runnable.  He said he wasn't use to this terrain.  I guess he also didn't know he should move to the side a bit to let faster runners through.  I remember someone complain last year about trail etiquette.  A group of runners formed behind him.  I kind of felt sorry for him.  Eventually there was a descent over a rock that the guy crawled to his butt to get down and then the rest of us flew past him.  A man behind me remarked at how quick I was at the descents.  I mentioned that I love technical downhills but that I should be careful to not burn out my quads.  

After the 5 mile stretch of the mid-state trail ended we popped out of a parking lot and an aid station.  I started craving soda so I took a cup of coke.  The next aid station came up pretty quickly and I took a cup of mountain dew there.  At that point I had no idea why I was craving soda.  The terrain now became easy!  It was now wide open horse carriage trail like.  But my quads started cramping and I slowed down.  A lot of runners passed by.  I touched my face at a certain point and realized that I was sweating out a lot of salt.  I should have realized sooner!  Despite the race being in mostly shade it was still quite hot.  I was taking gels every 40 minutes with food here and there.  I switched to every thirty minutes.  At the next aid station I asked if there were salt pills but sadly no (the aid station I volunteered in North Face Bear Mountain had salt pills).  At that point I also realized how bare bones the aid stations were.  Yes compared to water stations that road races have the North face aid stations seem amazing but I done a lot of ultras now and seen so much better food options.  They also had less food options than North Face Bear Mountain.  I ate some potatoes dumped in salt which tasted horrible because I put too much salt but I forced it in knowing it would help.  I also started drinking a lot more soda.  The next 5 miles was an easy fire road but I still struggled through.  Around mile 27 I started feeling better.  It took about 10 miles for me to feel like I recovered from the cramping.  The trail also went back to single track which I loved.  At the end of it we popped back out at the parking lot.

When I got through the man asked if it was my second time through.  I initially said yes because I recognized the parking lot and it was my second time there.  The man said only five miles to finish turn right!  I looked at my watch, I was at 30 and told him.  He said I had to do the last 15 mile loop again.  I instantly dreaded it.  I was tired and I think mentally it would have been easier if I was heading home but instead I had to go farther away.  Demoralized I shuffled through back to the start of the 15 mile loop.  As I was filling up on soda I saw Rene come through to the aid station.  He was 5 miles ahead of him but seeing him made me so happy.  Now back alone I started imaging that something old and ancient within me was waking up (can’t say my mind was 100% at this point lol).  I got back to running at a good pace.  Back on the fire road again I met a man from Atlanta, Georgia.  He and 7 of his friends were preparing for the Leadville 100 and he was using this race like me to establish a baseline.  He didn't expect it to be so hard.  A woman in green joined us and we talked together for about 2 miles.  The man did a 45 day race across the Atlantic Ocean on a row boat which was pretty interesting.  He also fell 11 times at that point, I had fallen 5 times.  Eventually the man started passing me and soon the women.  I started fading mentally but held out hopes that making it to the single track would save me.  Towards the end of the 5 mile fire road stretch I passed by a young man named Pu who remarked that he was saving his energy for the end.  I actually been passing and being passed by him a few times by now.  I remember thinking that there is no saving energy at this point.  You're going to hurt now and you're going to hurt later.  Back on the 5 mile single track stretch my legs felt jelly and going downhill caused a lot of pain.  After 3 miles of suffering, at mile 43, I started thinking of just walking to the end.  I started thinking of the other types of pain I went through this year - the 800 meter track race, the 14ers and thought that nothing compares to this kind of pain (this is probably something I think every time).  I realized that when I think of these other pains that the pain I currently feeling disappears.  I decided to focus on deep breathes, in and out of the nose.  I am able to start jogging and soon catch up to the women in green, though she passes me a little afterwards.

Back onto the parking lot for the third time!  We now have to go through the technical mid-state trail to finish.  I knew it was hard and it was not reassuring when volunteers were saying only 5 more miles!  I understand why they would say, I said it too when I volunteered for the NYC marathon for the first time long ago, but each mile now feels like 10 on a good day.  I drink a little more soda and begin my climb up.  I start turning to emotions to fuel me.  I start thinking of the many times volunteers and friends have helped me during dark times.  Those memories get me back my downhill speed.  On the uphill, I find that the shortness of breath break up my emotional state.  So I switch to the focus on deep breaths to jog uphill.  I felt a bit odd, almost crying emotionally on the downhill and then switching quickly to mediation for the uphill.  Eventually I had to start digging through more memories to draw strength from.  I started thinking of others, non-running times that people encouraged me in life and finally I imagined my siblings cheering for me.  At mile 48 you could start hearing the finish line announcer and thinking I was close to finishing I let the thought of finishing fuel me.  At mile 49 you end up on a road stretch and it's clear you still got a mile to go.  I slow to a shuffle walk, drained out of motivation.  The race goes back into the woods and a 50k finisher who came back in to cheer told me that there is no more uphill, .3 downhill and .2 straight to finish.  He just needed to say .5 left.  I picked up some speed and finished strong.  Immediately upon finishing I fell to my knees, something I had not done before in a race.  A man cheering at the finish line joked don't be so dramatic, it was a walk in the park.

Afterwards I met Rene and we did some Normantec recovery boots (which was torture), got some beer and some food.  Vegan options were pretty limited at this point at the cafe which was very disappointing.  Again I think of Bear Mountain North Face which had some better food options.  Pu met up with us and we talked for quite a bit.  It was interesting to me that Pu was a 2:54 recent marathoner and Rene was 2:57 recent marathoner yet their finishing times were two hours apart.  Guess marathon times can’t predict times for races like this.  Two hours after finishing I started the drive back.  Took 4 hours with some traffic, it was a pretty tough drive back!  

I got a little over 100k in steps that day and I was up for 24 hours by the time I got back home.  I still find it amazing that the body doesn't want to just eat like crazy and sleep afterwards, it kind of just goes back into its normal schedule (no matter how much I feel like I should be sleeping to recover).  I was able to get up after 6 hours of sleeping and go volunteer for QDR's world cup 5k event.  Though to be honest, after the initial setup my mind kind of faded and I felt half there.  

Third Tri - Ridgefield Tri

Third Tri

The Ridgefield tri was my third attempt at the triathlon and my first finish.  My first attempt was my first open water and first time in a wetsuit.  I quickly panicked and within a few minutes had to be rescued.  My second attempt was at the lake placid half ironman.  There I didn't make the swim time cutoff of an hour and 10 minutes.  Critical to this race was the lessons I learned from lake placid.  During the race I was being coached by a man named John who was volunteering on a kayak. John taught me that I won't drown with a wet suit, that cold water causes you to breath faster, that my stronger right hand causes me to pull more towards one side, and how to freestyle with breathing every 2nd stroke.  The race gave me some confidence and a backup way to catch my breath while still doing the only swimming stroke I know (freestyle/front crawl) and the knowledge to what happens to the body when you hit cold water. 

The day before

With bib pickup at ridgefield the day before, it seemed like a good idea to practice on the actual course.  However, I wasn't too sure if I would be able to do open water swimming at the site, I heard that open water swimming wasn't allowed in the lake of the race.  So I opted to cram in some easy training in Harriman.   Harriman with it's rolling road hills and lake tiorati beach for swimming is a hotspot for triathletes.  Unlike 9W and the palisades which attracts many cyclists, Harriman seems to specifically attract triathletes.   I got in almost 20 miles bike ride and a 22 minute open water swimming.  I however, did not venture to the deep end of the swimming area of the lake.    The water was cold and I just practiced breathing out in the water, being relaxed and sighting a bit.  I got a lot better in sighting than lake placid.  There I kind of jerked my head up to see where I was.  This time I was slightly lifting the head to take aim and breathe a bit before putting the head down.  Probably still not effective as switching to breast stroke but good enough.  I also practiced doing very small kicks.  In lake placid John told me to not kick as it draws a lot of my blood that I need elsewhere.  At bib pickup I brought a new pair of swimming goggles.  I was a bit nervous about trying new things on race day but I lost my good goggles so this seemed important.  Afterwards I had a late lunch with Jackie, Michael, Jason, Cathy and Yin.  Then I headed back home to spend some time with my family who I haven’t seen in a while.  I briefly practiced barefoot running in their backyard since T1 (swim to bike) would involve some time barefoot.

Setting up 

I got to the parking lot at 5:15 am and started setting up my gear (putting my stickers on my bike, filling up tires, etc).  The rest of the gang soon parked over in a few minutes.  We biked over to the transition area.  I was riding behind Michael when his bag get caught in the front wheel and saw him flip over.  Lucky he seemed okay, however several bike spokes broke.  We walked the rest of the way over and he went to a bike mechanic.  Eventually he was able to borrow a wheel from a volunteer who had biked over.

Being a small triathlon we had the option to position our transition areas wherever we wanted (granted you came early enough and the spot you want wasn't taken [normally your spot is assigned]).  We positioned ourselves close to the bike in/bike out location.  Some people want to get to their bikes ASAP after the swim but then you got to roll your bike out dodging people before you reach the mount area.  I had a small hand towel but forgot it in the car me so nothing to dry feet with.  I decided to not use my sun glasses or cap as it was cloudy so I stored those away from my spot.  I would later regret the glasses decision as there was some dirt that hit my eye in during the bike ride.  Jackie helped position my helmet and I laid the cycling and running shoes out.  I decided to use cotton socks because I thought since they stretch out easier that they would be easier to put on (note I normally never wear cotton socks for anything athletic).  I started loosening my goggles for them to be more comfortable but Jackie told me that they should be tight so I retighten them.

The Swim

Pre conditions

I should first of point out that I still suck at swimming.  I usually swim pool length (25 meters one side) and then take a 3-5 second brake before swimming back.  I could swim back and forth, 50 meters but that sometimes feels like an extensive effort.  My body is not straight, my legs dip down so my arms tend to do more work (not sure if wearing a wetsuit corrects this).  I did get, comfortable in the pool (my last two tris I was not comfortable in pools) but I lack continuous swimming experience.  I started the year off serious about swimming training but as soon as my races started rolling in, swimming lost priority.  Timing was a bit bad and I couldn’t crap in last minute swims like some of my friends.  I came in the swim nervous like usual but I knew what to expect and had backup plans (thank you trial by fires).

I got to the pond that we were going to swim on early.  About 6:30ish, a half hour before the elites went off.  I was the third athlete there.  I saw a bunch of speculators set up beach chairs.  I guess speculating won't be that bad.  No one else was in the water so I waited.  Saw the rescue boat drop into the water (wonder if it's the same one that pulled me out last year).  Finally one of the others started swimming and another man came in so I started.  I started away from the deep end and just tried to get myself comfortable.  I started going a little bit into the deep end and then retreated back to shore.  Soon after the rest of the gang came over and went farther in so that forced me to do so too.  I was surprised at how fast I got to the first floating platform thing (I guess that initial push off gives you some speed).  Then I started swimming back and saw three swimmers heading towards me.  Somehow got through them.  Cathy then went over how to float around with me so I had a final backup.  It was something I had not practiced so good to review it.  Jason gave me some last minute advice as well. 

Elites went off at 7 am and the mens 39 and under went off at 7:03.  The Elites were fast!  I was a bit glad to start off with 3 people I knew.  We started at the back of our wave.  As soon I hit the water I switched to my backup freestyle stroke where I breathe every 2 strokes.  After a while I found my right shoulder to start tiring out so I flipped over and just relaxed.  Flipped back and got back to it.  Quickly other waves passed by me.  I saw groups of green and soon red capped swimmers pass by.  There were three buoys and getting to the first one felt like forever.  I made to it without veering of too much off course but probably lost time to getting myself comfortable.  After the first buoy I once again flipped on to my back to relax and catch my breath.  Going to the second buoy I found myself going way off to the left too much.  As I struggled I thought of friends who wished me good luck and my friends swimming in the water with me and used those thoughts as a source of strength.  I was able to see a group of other swimmers and headed towards them.  I started using groups of other swimmers as reference points. I flipped on my back a third time too to relax.  I finally passed the second buoy! The third buoy was by the finish and with the thought of finishing I felt my motivation soaring. My form switched between my normal pool breathing rate (every 4 strokes) and between the 2 strokes backup.  I focused on the follow through of the form as well.  I was gaining confidence in my abilities.  I caught up to a group of kids who were swimming with no wetsuit and using odd strokes to swim.  They were a bit easier to see so I tried to keep up with them. Finally I could see sand on the floor and I knew I could now stand up.  I ended up a bit to the right of finish and made my way.  I remember seeing people in the timberland half ironman finish their swim and so effectively take off their wetsuit.  I had trouble simply reaching for the strap.  I decided to pull on the zipper and then attempt to take off the top but with the strap still there it didn’t move.  Finally got the strap and removed the top half of the wetsuit.  I jogged to the transition area.  I did not feel vertical dizziness as I was expecting. 

The Bike

As I neared transition I realized I forgot to tap my transition button so lost a few seconds on my strava.  At transition I saw Jason.  I asked him if he was still alive, trying to joke but definitely not thinking clear yet.  Jason went off and I would not see him again till I finish.  I got my helmet on with no problem but I struggled to put my socks on with my wet feet.  I should have just went barefoot on my cycling shoes.  Then I struggled to strap on the cycling shoes, things that I never had problems with before.  Finally got my bike and jogged over to bike out and to mount loading.  Got on pretty normally and ate my science in sport gel.  I had two bottles with Gatorade in the bike but quickly realized that once was more than enough for the 12 mile ride.  I initially passed people on the uphills but then got passed on the downhills.  I quickly realized I was shifting wrong and that overall I wasn’t comfortable in the bike as I was last year.  It was my fourth time on my road bike this year so I guess I been on the citibike for too long.  I used higher gears and stood up to get up the hills since most of them were very short.  I know that’s not the best strategy but it seemed to work for most of the uphills.  One was too steep however and I got slowed down to a crawl which is a bit dangerous when you are clipped in since you could fall off.  There, lowering the gear would have been better.  I never really practiced cycling so this was a known weakness.  I drew on my desire to finish the race and I breathe pretty heavy on the entire ride.  For most of the ride I told people I was passing left and then said good work or good job as I passed by.  I don’t think this was normal as people didn’t really do the same, I kind of just went to my ultra-runner manners.

The run

At transition 2 I rushed to put my bike back and then took off the shoes.  I went to put on my running shoes but found something in one.  My last gel!  I forgot I placed it in there.  I bend down to put my shoes on, I had them double tied so I just slipped them on.  I headed towards bike out before realizing I need to get to run out.  I asked a guy standing around (volunteer I guess) and he pointed the way.  I ate my last gel on the way out.

As expected, running was my strongest area.  My first mile was 8:12 with the hills and with my legs feeling heavy.  I was also struggling to breathe a bit.  I got into a breathing rhythm after the first mile.  At 1.5 miles I knew the uphill was over and felt my legs going faster.  7:45 second mile.  I passed a lot of people…I was constantly passing.  Near the finish I started kicking and a man nearby kicked too.  He initially passed me but at the last second I think I pushed forward and passed first.  6:48 for the last mile!  Note that the downhill of the last 1.5 miles helped my speed.

Immediately after finishing I saw Jackie, Jason, and Michael.  Shortly after the rest finished.  The race had tacos with coffee and bagels but the tacos all had cheese and only cream spreads for the bagels so I ate two plain bagels, some oranges, and a banana with two bottles of water.  I stayed around and watched the many age group winners and saw Jackie come in 3^rd and Cathy 1^st in their age groups.  Afterwards the rest of the gang went to their hotel to shower before heading home.  I decided to go straight to Queens to join Queens Distance Runners in a parade.

Boulder Boulder 10k

Boulder Boulder was my first 10k in 3 years and the second time I traveled for a race smaller than a marathon (first time was the Yosemite half).  My previous PR was 59:29 in which I knew I could easily beat.  I was more interested in exploring Colorado than the actual race.  Two days before I embarked on the 5 peaks challenge, trail running the closest peaks to boulder.  I found the experience of summiting and descending each mountain to be unique and I was glad to have taken part of the challenge.  It quickly taught me of the various different environments around Boulder.  It was supposed to be a challenge equal to a 14,000 and with 6,000 feet of gain and with the heat it was difficult.  The day before I did a sunrise run and then ran the boulder reservoir with QDR.  After some rest we did a scenic drive tour of the Rocky Mountains national park.  I realized that higher elevations are kind of a desert.

Anyway to race day!  Knowing it was a big race I parked my car about a mile away for easy free parking.  On the way back I found out there was a small park just outside the race that people go to for free parking (next time).  On my run to the race I met a local Denver resident John and we talked a bit on our way.  I then went to porter porties, went to a cliff station and got a small cliff bar, some flag tattoos (it’s memorial day) and sunblock (something I’m constantly forgetting about), picked up my bib and waited for others.  Idelfonoso came by and soon the line for bag check was getting big so we decided to get on it.  The others arrived a bit later and we put all our things in one bag.  They charged $5 cash (unless you prepaid) for bag check.  The rest of the gang in much faster corrals than me proceed to the race.  I went to the warmup area and did a few strides at race pace.  Everything felt pretty good.  I then walked to my corral.  Despite it being a 50,000+ race, the same as NYC it was very easy to move around.  I didn’t feel like it was as crowded as NYC at all. 

The race itself wasn’t what I expected.  My first mile was on pace and my second mile went okay.  But the hills and altitude started getting me and my next two miles were bad, close to my half marathon time.  Doubt started creeping.  I started thinking that I couldn’t beat the altitude.  At the last mile I saw people started kicking going for the finish and I tried to follow to finish strong.  I couldn’t do it and mentally I started fading away.  Then I started hearing my name, Jessica and Adriana were cheering.  I mentally felt better and then I started focusing on the cheers and I also focused on what Kelvin said about that I got to hustle.  I kept repeating them in my head.  I regain some speed, going slightly faster than my half marathon pace.  Near the finish my eyes started closing, something that has been happening to me recently in the final sprint to the finish.  I managed to get a 10 minute PR but that’s mostly due to not running a 10k in three years.

Afterwards I met with the rest of QDR and proceed to the stadium festivities.  There was a huge amount of free stuff being given out!  Some vegan things as well.  Overall the race itself was really tough but the community around it and the organization of it was superb!  I’m definitely considering going back next year!

I continued my Colorado adventures by running the Royal Arch afterwards (and being called an overachiever by many) and then three 14ers over the next two days
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