QT2 Training Weekend Report

Well, needless to say, I'm just a little tired this morning. But there is a good reason for that. Yesterday I returned from three days of heavy-duty training in Ludlow, VT with 25-ish other QT2 teammates. The schedule was a bit different this year and I believe actually included slightly less volume than last year (not by much!) but it was no less taxing.

I arrived on Thursday after a roughly 2-hour drive from NH without even once having to drive on the interstate which makes for a much more scenic ride in which I passed no less than a dozen roadside ice cream stands and wanted to stop at each, but settled on zero. I arrived with barely enough time to get my bike off the car before a nice thunderstorm rolled through after seeing the lightning high above Okemo just down the road. This year I was smart enough not to save my run for when I arrived, so once I got there, I just got to relax. Once everyone arrived we ate some giant Subway subs (well, we shared them, we didn't each eat a giant sub) and got some sleep for the big day ahead.

Last year the first day included an easy swim in the morning followed by a 7-hour ride. This year, we started with a 2-hour easy bike ride. It was a bit overcast to start, but no rain as we rode down the flattest roads we could find to get the time in on a nice out-and-back route by the river. We had a break that was just long enough to get our swim and run stuff together and drive over to the Echo Lake State Park so we could swim and run. Since it's been so warm in the northeast this year the lake was nice and warm for our 30-minute easy swim. I took full advantage of the "easy" tag.

Up next was a 2-and-a-half hour long run. I really can't express how much I dread most run workouts lately, and this one especially. Last year the long run was the last thing on the schedule though, so it was nice this year to get it over with the first day. And on fresher legs, no less. It was about that time that the sun decided to come out, on top of running at about high noon and we were in for a real treat. Since nobody on the team is as slow as I am, I knew I'd be running on my own, which was fine since I'm used to that. We were set up on a roughly 10-mile loop and told that there was Powerbar Endurance waiting for us about 5 miles in at one of the turns off the main road.

When we started, I slowly watched my teammates disappear off in the distance and went along on my own. The route started with some nice, rolling hills on a dirt road and it's actually quite a nice place to run before turning onto the main road. In Vermont, "main road" means there might be a few cars occasionally, but you are certainly not going to be inundated with traffic. Then I was in search of that drink stop, because I was sweaty and thirsty. 5 miles gone. No drink. 6 miles. Um, where was it supposed to be? 7 miles. Uh, did I miss the turn? I actually decided to start running back in the other direction because I was convinced that I had missed it. So I ran back for a while before coming across one of my teammates who told me that he was pretty sure that I hadn't missed it, so I turned and ran back in the other direction again.

Finally, there was that blessed orange beacon with the little cups next to it. I drank the first two in 5 seconds. Had a third and was thinking about the fourth, thinking that would be it. Nah, how about just one more. And another one after that. Ok, now you really do have to start running again. Six cups later I was back on the route and ready to hit the really hard hills I remembered from the year before. I pretty much zoned out and spent most of the remainder of the run dreaming about the water fountain I had seen near the bathrooms at the state park, so upon my return I finished my run off with a trot down towards that water fountain, only to find that it wasn't functioning. It was devastating. Fortunately, a few teammates appeared and saved me by purchasing a few bottles of water at the snack stand and giving me one.

Oh, it was so good to get that long run out of the way first thing. Plus, it was a nice, early finish. We headed back to the house and got cleaned up and I had time enough for a nap before my 5:15 massage. Yes, another great aspect of this camp is the included 30-minute massage right there at the house. I was glad to only have general soreness to get worked out and no injuries or issues. After more lying around with my feet up we ate some pizza and I wound up going to bed really early since we had a really, REALLY big day coming up.

I slept a lot that night. In fact, Saturday morning I heard the door opening of the adjoining room I shared with Michelle and wondered where she was going since it was so early. Then I saw it was already 7. Uh oh, better get up. Because the 7-hour ride and 30-minute run afterward just weren't enough, we started the day off with a little swim. We had the state park to ourselves and did a little warm-up before setting off on a 1-mile time trial marked by the paddle boats of Chrissie and Mikaela. I was at least glad to know that it was only a mile as opposed to two miles, like last year. The water was pretty warm, which made for a steamy swim.

We started off in one big pack that broke up quite a bit once we hit the turn boat the first time (we did two "laps") and being the kind of swimmer I am, pretty much right in the middle of the group, I definitely did not have to worry about getting beat up or anything. I started off swimming hard but not "I'm gonna throw up" hard. I was saving that for later. Occasionally I'd find someone's feet for a hundred yards or so, but usually they'd just as quickly completely disappear, so I mostly swam on my own. It went by pretty fast, actually, and although I felt like I was overheating towards the end I tried to swim hard to finish it out and hit a few moments where I started to hit what I like to refer to as "puke-pace". Just as I was approaching the finish buoy I saw the unmistakable swim cap of Michelle coming around to my right (we have a friendly competition going with our swimming - I'm a much faster biker, she's a much faster runner but we are both equally mediocre at swimming) and I tried not to let her beat me but I was reminded of my total lack of sprinting ability and she got me by a few seconds. Apparently I dragged one of the guys the whole way, and thanks, Jon for never touching my feet and letting me know you were there.

I would've been quite content at that point to go back to the house and call it a day. But I had this pesky 7-hour bike ride to get through first. While we were all getting ready to head out I was thinking a lot about how at 10am the prior Saturday I was nearly done with riding 6 hours, and this time I hadn't even gotten started yet. But hey, had we started early instead of at 10:30 in the morning, then I wouldn't have gotten to spend so much time riding in the rain. If the weather report says that there is a 40% chance of showers, you can probably bet it is going to rain on you something like 80% of the time.

When we hit the road, several people were riding for 4 hours, a few were riding for 6, and the rest of us were the lucky ones who got to do 7. We started off by riding this loop that showed us the huge hill we'd be riding the following day for our uphill time trial. I have to say, 16 miles into your 120+ mile ride it isn't that fun to toast yourself with a 1000' climb. You take it as easy as you can, but there are only so many gears on a bike. I started out with the faster group but my power-to-weight ratio is not what it used to be (not because I'm weaker) so I let them go and did most of the climb alone.

Once down the other side I was caught by Cait, Jay, Michelle and Mark and stayed with them for quite a while. To that point, it hadn't rained yet, but it was overcast most of the way. The next part of the ride was an out-and-back up towards Killington and down route 100 until it was time to turn back. Mikaela followed along in her car and every 20 miles or so supplied us with food and drink, which was always nice. I think I drank something like 10 bottles over 7 hours and due to my combination of incredibly high sweat rate and unbelievable bladder capacity I never once had to go to the bathroom. Or maybe I just didn't drink enough.

I don't recall exactly when the rain began, but it stayed pretty constant, even if most of the time it was more of just a barely spitting rain. You know, just enough to be annoying and leave you covered in sand and dirt by the end of the ride. About 100 miles in I managed to get poured on for maybe 10 minutes, but fortunately there were no thunderstorms to be ridden through, so that was good. All in all, it was an incredibly uneventful ride. Nobody flatted, no strange animal sightings, just lots of miles covered. I wound up spending most of the time riding by myself when I let my little group go and the time passed much faster than you'd think. I think that first loop, while tough, made it more tolerable since the entire ride wasn't just an out-and-back, because those can be pretty mind-numbing.

I arrived back at the house with about 4 more minutes to ride to finish it up, which was much better than being 10 minutes late the year before. 10 minutes more of riding may not sound like much, but after 7 hours, you just want to be DONE. So I rode back and forth a bit to finish it up and then quickly changed for my transition run, even though I'd have vastly preferred a nap at that point. But 30 more minutes in the grand scheme of things really isn't that big of a deal. The rain was done at that point too, which also made it more tolerable.

Finally, at about 6:30, my day was done. I somehow mustered the strength to shower and change and then collapsed on my bed with my feet up and my body tingling all over. Everything was sore to touch. But we did have dinner reservations that night. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to stay awake at the table, and I must say, towards the end there, it was close. Strangely, in spite of the incredible tiredness, I had a really hard time falling asleep that night. Staying asleep, too. So did Michelle apparently, as at about 4:30 in the morning I heard the unmistakable sound of some sort of bar wrapper and could tell that someone woke up hungry.

Ah, day three. I woke up and could FEEL the puffiness under my eyes. I knew it was going to be tough. But at least we had a "late" start of 8:30 that morning. The plan was to ride nice and easy out to the base of the hill and then do our time trial the 6.35 miles to the top. I spent much of that 16 miles trying to keep my heart rate right around 100, which is well below my recovery zone. But with the way my legs felt, I figured I needed all the help I could get. It was another overcast morning, but there didn't appear to be any rain headed our way, so that was good.

Once we arrived at the base of the hill we spent some time just hanging around waiting until we were organized and ready to go. We drew numbers to see who went in what place, as we would be going off in 30-second increments. Then we had our numbers drawn on our legs to make it more official before we lined up. I was #10 of 21, which was just fine with me. It seemed that just as we were about to start the sun came out and decided to make it nice and hot. I opted to ride without my sunglasses as I figured they'd either wind up foggy or just dripping with sweat. Somehow Tim Tapply, who we were all pretty sure would win anyway, got to go off first and probably got to hang around the top for several minutes before anyone else showed up. But thanks, Tim, for coming back and giving us encouragement just as we were cresting the last uphill part of the course.

One by one everyone took off up the hill, and 4:30 into it, it was my turn. At least I managed to get clipped in pretty quick. Right away it was apparent that my climbing muscles were pretty well exhausted from the day before. My legs burned, but my heart rate wasn't really all that high. That usually means that the legs are just too tired to push the kind of effort really required. I also knew, given my tendency to start out these time trials too hard, that I'd be better off starting a bit more conservatively so that I wouldn't have to call for a ride before I reached the top.

Yes, it was considered an "uphill" time trial, but I have to disclose here that by no means was the entire course uphill. In fact, it ended on a screaming downhill in which I maxed out at 42mph. Unfortunately I averaged just under 13, but still. I caught and passed I think two people in front of me, and got passed by three who were coming up behind me, so not too bad, I guess. I am certainly not in a position right now to be doing well on this kind of course, not to mention the fact that I lacked the leg power to stimulate a heart rate average that was even at my threshold. Although there were one or two times where the breathing got heavy, I never came close to hitting puke-pace, which probably should've happened at least a couple of times.

All in all, that 29 minutes went by faster than I thought it would and wasn't nearly as painful as I feared it would be. It was tough and I didn't do very well, but for some reason it was kind of fun, and I hope we are planning on doing it again next year. By the time I got to the top it appeared that I had probably lost about 10 pounds of sweat and maybe should've gone down to the bottom and tried again to test that theory, but instead we just all finished it up and rode the last 10-ish miles back to the house to get ready for our transition runs, the last thing to get through before camp was over. As usual, I wasn't looking forward to it. Especially given the efforts that had just been put out. My legs felt pretty spent. I was also starving, so after I changed my clothes I downed an entire Powerbar before I set out for that run. I have an iron stomach, I probably could've eaten a chicken parmesan sub at that point and gone for my run and been fine. I've never tested that theory, though.

It was overcast and humid, and I hit the road just behind everyone else so I could let them start in front of me instead of passing me later. I have no idea how or why, but this was by far the best run I've had in a very long time. It's not like my legs felt great, I was just finally able to maintain a good pace. I think I've mentioned that we've had me running by pace lately instead of heart rate because I was practically walking to keep my heart rate down and that wasn't going to get me anywhere. So I set out at something close to my pre-determined pace and stayed under it the entire time. The most amazing part probably was that for close to the first half of the run, my heart rate was actually legitimately in my zone 1. In fact, the first mile heart rate average was barely at the bottom of zone 1. Now, by the second half the heart rate went way up, but to be fair, the 6th mile especially was 25 seconds faster than the pace I was supposed to run and by far the fastest of all of them. So it was a very nice note to end on and even gave me a little ray of hope.

And with that, camp was over. I spent the weekend playing with my friends and now I had to go home. We had one last little meeting of the troops and then went our separate ways. All in all, it was a pretty solid weekend of training and I am very glad to have a rest week now. I am incredibly tired, but in a good way. Now I just have to survive a few more weeks and it will be time to redeem my poor performance in Utah (hopefully) on the new and improved Lake Placid bike course. For those of you who are unaware, due to some bridge construction, the course has been altered slightly. Shouldn't make a huge difference either way, though.