Training Log Archive: KFish

Qstarz at 5s recording interval

Syd and I drove up separately as she had a busy day at work and wasn’t sure how early she could get there. 7:30 race briefing and 10 pm start. I got up there around 4 and set up the tents, and readied the gear I could, but I didn’t have bikes or the cooler, so there wasn’t a whole lot I could do. I shut my eyes for 20 min, but didn’t get much rest. We had almost enough time with the maps (13 of them!) to fully formulate our plan, and ended up folding them into 3 map cases in such a way that we would only need to open a map case to refold once near the very end.

Bike 1: 16 min, 2.7 mi
No prologue which meant this was a mad dash to the first TA. In order to save time I forwent the helmet light and just used the handle bar light so I wouldn’t have to transfer helmet to headband, but I quickly realized this meant I couldn’t watch my bike computer. Not a big deal since everyone was headed the same place, but not a recommended configuration. And I did manage to blow by the TA, mostly to avoid causing a pile up. Mad chaos at the TA.

Trek 1: 1:12, 3.4 mi, 9 cp
Race did not get off to a good start, as most people chose the same first point, so we were stuck in a line of traffic that we couldn’t get around. It led us to 3 just fine, but incidentally lead us to 2 instead of 1, which we meant to be headed for. Luckily the crowd started to thin so we could get back in our own game for 4-9, although we did cut in from the road too early and hit 5 instead of our intended 7, so we did the E loop in reverse of our plan. Passed a lot of people by luck at 8, which we hit right on but was hidden in trees, so lots of people scattered throughout the reentrant looking and not finding, and we got out without giving it away. Despite the craziness and sloppiness, we still got back to the TA in 3rd and had a fast transition back to bikes.

Bike 2: 32 min, 7.3 mi
This time I just threw my helmet on over my headlamp – not the most comfortable, but it worked for such a short bike ride, and definitely better than going blind. Straightforward and feeling pretty good. Caught second place Gear Posers in TA.

Trek 2: 3:22, 10.1 mi, 8 cp
Linear trek from paddle take out to paddle put in following the North Country Trail with CPs varying distances from the trail itself. Our goal was to maximize trail running and go for easy attacks. Started out at a jog with Gear Posers up the road, but on climbing the first hill they got ahead of us. Then we bobbled 11 and caught up to MRA at the punch. We would go back and forth with MRA, Gear Posers, and Don’t be a Chad throughout this trek, often seeing lights in the distance or behind us, but not really sure who was who. We assumed all three teams had gotten ahead when we bobbled 15, drifting too far west, but then Gear Posers punched 16 at the same time as us. We jogged with them for a long ways towards 17 but eventually fell back. At one point we are pretty sure we heard a bear – definitely a large, pawed animal padding through the woods not far from us. When we finally made it to TA3 we were surprised to find both Gear Posers and Don’t be a Chad in TA as well, with MRA having shoved off 10 or 15 minutes ahead. Overall this trek went mostly well with a few small nav bobbles. My IT band started bothering me again (much sooner than at Nitro – not good, need to get better about stretching and exercising it daily), but I was able to stave off any debilitating pain by taking ibuprofen.

Paddle 1: 2:01, 10.7 mi
I had measured the paddle at about 9 miles, so we were assuming the worst and mentally prepping for 3 hours in the boat. Got nervous when it started out extremely shallow and envisioned a lot of dragging, and the water was frigid! Luckily once we found the main channel it was deep and never had to get back out of the boat. Syd called the paddle “terrifying”, I think I’d use “exhilarating” and definitely the most fun paddle I’ve done in an AR. We started at about 3 am (pitch black), and there was lots of steam coming off the water. This made it very difficult to tell which direction you needed to turn until the last minute, and in several spots you could hear rapids but not see where they were, so you just had to hope for the best. In other spots weird currents would push you in crazy directions without much you could do about it. It was eerie and beautiful and serene and a little scary all at once. It was mentally reassuring knowing that Gear Posers were behind us, in case we tipped (we’re pretty sure they would have helped?). I’m also convinced they purposely stayed behind us to see which direction our lights turned because in a number of instances they got pretty close and then fell back again. We reached the take out much sooner than expected, and despite not seeing them the entire paddle, found ourselves again in TA with Don’t be a Chad. We transitioned as fast as possible while shivering uncontrollably. I put on my bike jacket, and syd traded hers for her rain coat, gear we had almost left behind entirely but very glad we didn’t. Didn’t touch the cooler we had left in our gear bag, hot soup would have been more welcome!

Bike 3: 3:54, 30 mi, 9 cp
Luckily this bike started with a pretty big climb out of the river bed, which helped to warm me up. Things were mostly straightforward until the ST at Big M. We had originally planned to maximize roads (2 track), but the roads were quick sandy and the trails were rooty but hard, so we abandoned that plan and just did what made sense based on distance. Syd did a good job of keeping track of where we were and the only bobble was headed out to 23 where we hopped on a horse trail instead of the bike trail. We knew it had to lead us in the right general direction, but it wasn’t the best riding. After we got to the CP we took a 3 min sit break. This was the start of being a little physically tired, although we popped back up and kept going without too much trouble to finish the ST. We did push up a few sandy hills on Koon Rd and up to the fire tower. We didn’t see any other racers this entire bike ride, so we assumed MRA and Chad had gotten sufficiently ahead of us, and Gear Posers were a bit of a wild card since they started behind us but could have chosen a different route. On this bike we did some singing, and then a game of “if I could have anything right now” (Syd: oreos, Kevin: Diet Coke).

Trek 3: 1:35, 3.7 mi, 7 cp
We rolled into TA 5 just as MRA finished this section, so we knew they had an insurmountable lead, with Don’t be a Chad about 30 min ahead. To our surprise, we were greeted with none other than oreos and diet coke, thought we had died and gone to heaven. My knee had been feeling good on the bike, but could feel it back on my feet, so I appealed to Syd for minimal climbing, which seemed to cause the most problem. She delivered, taking us along spines and limiting the entire section to only 2 big climbs, which was great. We didn’t run at all (mostly cuz of knee) so we dropped a little more time from MRA, but we kept up a good fast walk and returned back to the TA still in 3rd and not having seen anyone out there.

Bike 4: 3:18, 27.4 mi, 4 cp
A sprint to the finish, right!? WRONG. This was the never ending bike ride of doom. Doing plenty good on time so we chose the north route for the one extra CP (obviously no regrets with 4 hours to spare at the end), but man was it a struggle. All the roads were so sandy and our legs just had no oomph left. Part of the problem was we were anticipating a 2ish hour bike, so we started slacking on drinking, eating, and electrolytes, which is never a good thing. Need to be better about keeping up with them until the finish line. The other part of the problem was we had it in our heads that from N3 to the finish was all nice paved roads, which we should have known was not true because we had ridden some of them already!!! Not thinking straight. Syd actually let me take her backpack for a while (first time ive been in better shape than her!), but eventually it was slowing be down too We kept looking over our should expecting all 25 teams (realistically probably just gear Posers) to ride past us as we crawled back. There was no adrenaline, no exhilaration, nothing. Kind of a soul crushing end to a good race. Maybe it would have helped if we had seen someone in the last 8 hours. When we finally made it back we discovered we had held on to 3rd place, and watched the next two teams roll in half an hour back (so we had a cushion, but it definitely shrunk).

I was nervous going into the race (ok, I always am) for 2 main reasons: starting after a full day without even a nap, and cuz sheltowee kicked my butt 2 weeks ago. I felt pretty good until the very end, lending credence to the idea that that was due to the bee stings. Despite a shaky start Syd was able to not let it affect her mentally and once we were able to start running our own race it went really well. Water, food, and fueling was all good. It was chilly in the night and starting to get hot in the day, but neither affected us too badly. I don’t think there is anything we could have done to improve upon our 3rd place finish ceding to 2 teams clearly stronger at biking that us.

We’d love to make it back to MARs long races in the future as the race and the community here is what propelled us into the sport and helped us get to the point we are at today. But in case we don’t make it back as often as we’d like, its been an honor to race with and against the people here in MI and I’ve learned an incredible amount from all of you.

C • Great finish! 2

Event: Michigan Adventure Race: Epic (6 or 18 hours)
 

Suunto Ambit3 Run using 60s recording interval

87.22 miles

(For comparison to Q starz)

I, on the other hand, prefer morning exercise.

Headed down to Pitt to find a house!

C • Best of luck 4