Group Rides for Triathletes

Riding in a group is one of the most enjoyable parts of being a triathlete.  It’s an opportunity to chat with friends, work together as a team, and push yourself a little harder.  

Triathletes sometimes shy away from group rides for a variety of reasons, for example:

“Drafting makes it easier and I won’t get the right workout done.”  WRONG.  It doesn’t get easier, you just go faster (Greg Lemond said that).  If you want to go harder than the group you can ride on the front.  You can also speed up and double back.  Just let people know.  Sometimes it makes sense to just go out on your own, but your training plan doesn’t need to be so rigid!

“I don’t like riding close behind another rider.”  Being uncomfortable drafting is common at first but with a little practice, it’s just like driving a car on the highway.  Make sure the riders you are following know what they are doing, stay alert and enjoy the ride. 

“Those guys are too fast, I can’t keep up.”  While this is possible, it is actually easier than you think to keep up with faster people on a group ride.  Drafting can provide a 25%-40% power advantage (i.e., you can ride with people 25-40% faster than you as long as they don’t mind you following their wheel).

Here are some tips for riding in a group:

Follow the wheel in front of you.  Stay from 12 inches to a half bike length directly behind the rear wheel of the rider in front of you. If you leave a big gap in front of you, you may get dropped and everyone behind you will get dropped.  Make sure you are riding behind people you trust.

Look ahead.  Try to look up the road and at the wheel in front of you at the same time using your peripheral vision or move your eyes back and forth every few seconds.

Keep it steady.  Don’t jam the brakes or swerve hard. When in front try to maintain the pace you were riding at when behind someone. You don’t need to hammer hard.  Keep an eye on your bike computer and maintain a steady pace.  If it’s too hard for you to keep the pace then peel off to the side, let the group come by, and jump back in behind the last rider.

Standing up.  Avoid standing up when you can.  When you stand up you automatically slow down and can cause the rider in front of you to touch your wheel.  If you must stand then upshift to a harder gear and pedal harder.  you can also call out “standing” first.

Aerobars.  Never ride on your aerobars when riding behind another rider (unless you are racing a team time trial). You can ride carefully in your aerobars if you are the first person in the line (and only if you are good at handling your bike).

You are responsible for the riders behind you.  Call out hazards and other changes of pace.  If you see a hole in the road, shout “hole”.  Look out for runners, walkers, dogs, cars stop signs and let people know.  If you are riding in front of the group you are responsible for warning people behind.

This is not a complete list of everything you need to know but it’s a good start. See below for a more comprehensive write up of Group Cycling and Pacelines that I found searching the web.

 Ride well and stay safe!

Jason

Group Cycling Etiquette and Paceline Techniques

The benefit of cycling in a paceline is to allow faster speeds and permit riders to rest while drafting in the slipstream of others.  The primary objective when riding in a group or paceline is to be smooth and safe.  Always stay cool, calm, relaxed and observant.  Be predictable.  Pedal smoothly.  Ride in a straight line.

General Safety

• Obey the rules of the road!  Obey all traffic laws.
• Ride no more than two (2) abreast.  Keep a single paceline in traffic.
• Do not obstruct traffic.  If necessary, pull off the road to allow following vehicles to pass.
• Stay as far to the right hand side of the road as safely possible.  DO NOT ride along the center line of the road!
• Move completely out of the road when stopped or waiting.
• DO NOT ride down in aerobars while in a group or paceline.  IT IS NOT SAFE FOR YOU and IT IS NOT SAFE FOR OTHERS!!

Communicate!

• Use hand signals to indicate all turns, stopping, slowing, and road hazards.
• Use verbal warnings.  This includes warnings for turns, stopping and slowing.

“Car up” to warn of approaching vehicles.

“Car back” or “Coming around” to warn of passing vehicles. 

“On your left” when overtaking and passing (always pass on the left!) other cyclists.

• Point out and loudly announce hazards in and along the road.  This includes potholes, bumps, dead animals (road kill), gravel, sand, dogs, runners, pedestrians, cars, or anything hazardous to a cyclist.

Group Cycling Basics

• NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS!!  Riders need to ride straight, steadily, and smoothly.  Your riding affects all the other riders in the paceline, so be consistent, safe and predictable.  Always be aware of what is happening around you.
• If you accidentally brush shoulders, hands, or handlebars with another rider, do not panic.  Stay relaxed, lean slightly in, regain balance, and pull away.  Allow your upper body to absorb any bumps.  
• If you have a mishap such as a flat tire, dropped water bottle, or mechanical breakdown, remain calm and DO NOT slam on the brakes.  Slowly, smoothly and calmly ease out of the paceline.  Once you are clear, slow down before stopping off the side of the road.  If you are at the back of the group, announce to the other riders that you have had a mishap and are stopping. 
• ALWAYS be considerate to other cyclists and motorists!!  Your actions reflect directly upon all cyclists.
• Do not litter.  Put all wrappers in your pockets and dispose of all trash properly.

Drafting in a Paceline

• Paceline - a string or line of riders who alternate turns riding at the front, “pulling”, and then resting by “sitting in” and drafting in the slipstream of the other riders.
• Drafting – riding in the slipstream, or pocket of moving air, created by the rider(s) in front.  This technique enables the following riders to maintain speed with less effort.
• Ride a comfortable distance behind the wheel in front of you.  Begin riding 2-3 feet away and work up to closer distances as you start to feel more comfortable.  Practice helps!  Experienced riders will ride within a few inches of each other’s wheels.
• Do not fix your eyes on the wheel in front of you.  Look beyond the rider directly in front of you to see what is up the road.  Be aware of everything that is in front of you!
• Do not overlap wheels with the cyclist in front of you.  If your wheels do touch, the rider behind should smoothly and calmly slow down.  The rider in front should maintain his line and speed.
• DO NOT brake suddenly!  If you roll up on the rider in front of you, soft pedal and smoothly ease over to one side.  Allow the air resistance to slow you down.
• Avoid gaps in the paceline.  If a gap does open, smoothly and slowly accelerate to close it.  DO NOT “attack” by accelerating quickly to close a gap.  This creates more gaps in the paceline behind you.  If a gap opens and the following rider cannot close it because he’s “cooked” or too tired to accelerate, then smoothly and slowly accelerate around him to close the gap.
• DO NOT sling or rock your bike backwards when rising from a sitting to a standing position, i.e. when climbing a hill.  When most recreational riders quickly stand to accelerate, they force their bike backwards, possibly causing the rider behind them to brush wheels or react by braking.  When standing, signal your intention, then put extra pressure on the pedals and stand up slowly.  On the flip side, when approaching a hill, be aware of the speed of the rider in front of you and anticipate any slowing. 
• When riding downhill riders in a paceline may accelerate at different speeds.  If you are overtaking the cyclist in front, do not slam on your brakes.  Slowly and smoothly move to either side of the rider in front of you and allow the air resistance to help slow you.  The faster the group is riding, the more reaction time you should allow for adjusting to other rider’s different speeds.
• Riders in a paceline generally agree on how long the lead rider will pull, or remain in the lead position.  It may be measured in time, distance, or until someone becomes tired.  For example, the lead rider may pull for a mile before “pulling off” and “catching back” on the rear of the paceline.

Passing and Pulling

• Generally, the lead rider in a paceline will signal their intention to “pull off” by flicking or wagging their right elbow, and then pull off to the left after their turn at pulling is completed.  There are some exceptions to this rule, but pulling off on the right should be avoided and limited only to experienced riders in echelons during windy conditions. 
• IF you are in the paceline’s second position, DO NOT accelerate when taking the lead!  As the lead rider pulls off to the left side and smoothly decreases speed, the second rider should maintain the speed of the group.  If the paceline’s speed is to be increased, do so slowly and smoothly after the lead rider catches on at the rear.  Allow the lead rider to “catch on” at the back and benefit from the draft.  Remember, he just did a pull and is probably a little tired.  If you surge, the lead rider pulling off may be “dropped” because they are too tired to accelerate and “catch on” at the rear of the paceline.
• When pulling at the front, maintain the speed of the group.  Do not stay on the front so long that you become tired and slow down, decreasing the speed of the line.  Keep the pace steady!
• DO NOT overexert yourself at the front when pulling!  Stronger riders should pull longer; weaker or tired riders should take shorter pulls.  If you are too tired to pull, do not be embarrassed to simply pull through immediately and drop to the back of the line for a rest.
• When pulling, DO NOT pour on the full power until you are exhausted or “blow up”!  Save enough energy to catch on at the rear of the paceline and recover.
• When the lead rider pulls off, he should slowly move to the back of the group while pedaling and maintaining some speed.  If that tired rider stops pedaling, he may slow too much and not be able to catch on.  Stay close to the group as you drift back as this will help shield the other riders from any crosswind.  When you are beside the last rider in the line, smoothly pick up your speed and move over behind his wheel.  Be careful not to slow down too much, otherwise you will have to accelerate hard to catch on to the paceline, or miss the group all together.
• As you move forward in the line, DO NOT pull out from the 2^nd or 3^rd position.  You will open a gap for the riders behind you, and force them to accelerate to close the gap.  If you find yourself at the front and are too tired to take a pull, simply pull out.  This will not take any more energy and will prevent opening gaps for the riders behind you.
• When riding downhill, lead rider should NEVER stop pedaling.  Coasting or “soft pedaling” will force the riders behind to brake and cause “seesaw” gaps in the line. 
• On an uphill grade, the lead rider should maintain the same effort, not the same speed. 
• If the group is traveling too fast, sit on the back.  If you need to stay in the back when the front rider pulls off and moves to the back of the group, move to the left out of the line so you are on his wheel and allow him to catch on behind the rider in front of you.  An advance verbal warning such as “catch on” giving that rider plenty of time to react to your move is helpful.  Only do this when you are at the back of the group, as riders behind you may want to pull through and the lead rider catching on at the back probably wants as much rest as possible.

10 years and going strong! New Year's Speech at the Panzers in January!

Whatever you can do,

Or think you can, begin it.

Boldness has power, and genius,

And magic in it.

-GOETHE

Before I start I want to say a big thank you to the Panzers for offering their home for our New Year Party and all the hard work that comes with it. Thank you!

And thank you all for coming tonight!

10 years! I can’t believe it but life goes by very fast…I know what it means, you get older and time goes faster and faster.

I would like to go back 10 years for a bit and go back to when Trifitness was created. 10 years ago freshly back from Florida, land of free time, tennis, pleasure, babies pretty good. First triathlon in Siesta Key, could not swim or hardly, borrowed a bike from a 5’8” woman I knew, averaged 14mph on a flat course for 10 or 12 miles, ran well though and got hooked! Little funny story the guy who won that race was called Ian Ray!!! Apparently there are 2 Ian Ray in America, fast triathletes as well!

Life in CT was different and busier, commuting, crazier life really. Paul was not exercising, I had ran my first marathon in 2000, still hooked on triathlon, on a bike that Paul got me from Good Will ($25!). We had that idea to start a triathlon program at the Y in Fairfield 3 classes a week, swim, bike and run! And about 12 people or so showed up and one of them was Maura!!!! Maura is still with us and quite interestingly you were commuting to the City at the time, then you stopped and now back in the City. I would like to recognize Maura for the most loyal athlete 10 years with us!!!

Do you have a quick word Maura?

It has been so far an interesting journey and a journey worth traveling. We meet each year new great people, we make friends. We see life happening in front of us. It is so exciting!

We have seen babies born and babies to be born, romance and weddings. Actually I would like to also recognize the first real Trifitness “wedding to be” with Jen and Gus, they met at the pool on a Sunday afternoon last year!

People go away - Muriel and Marteen in Chili, The Rothwell family going to Houston, Kelli moving on the West Coast…

Thanks all of you for being here tonight. Thanks coaches Valentin and Rickey for being at the studio at 5am and 9pm. Thanks Paul for being there and encouraging me all the time. You are all special and you are all worth knowing, I am very proud to what you have achieved and are achieving. But most of all I thank you all for your friendship!

Those winter rides on the rare warm days. What to do when your done.

By Dan Kurzatkowski

It’s a beautiful rare warm winter day (or not so cold) and you just got back from a great bike ride. You get off your bike and think that was great. I’ll go inside and make a nice warm recovery drink or something to eat to top off the ride. You rack your bike in your garage or house and think what to do next. Well you can leave your bike the way it is and just go inside and do your thing. Or you can wash all of that salt and sand off your bike so it will last a long time. Not cleaning your bike immediately after a ride will start the corrosion process. Five or ten minutes with a small bucket of soapy water, a soft brush and pump sprayer is all you need to keep your bike nice.

When you get back from your ride (also after any Tri race where you swam in salt water) a small amount of prevention will save a lot of headache down the road. We all know that salt rusts steel and corrodes aluminum on our cars but it will also do it to your bike, and quickly! Cables, chains, bearings and even carbon fiber do not like salt. If you clean your bike immediately after your ride and quickly dry it off it will save you from expensive repairs at the bike shop and also save your frame from damage.

Take a small two quart bucket with warm water and a small amount of automobile car wash soap and swish it around with a soft cleaning brushy to make the water sudsy. DO NOT use kitchen dish soap, it will strip the lubricants and oils from your bike that are their to protect it. Get a small 2 gal pump sprayer from Home Depot and put clean warm water in it maybe a half gallon. Gently brush your bike over with the soapy solution. This is just a quick brushing, not a scrubbing. After you have cleaned it with the soapy water, rinse the bike gently with the pump sprayer. You want to do a light spray just to rinse the soapy water off . Finish it with a quick wipe down of the frame and components with a soft cloth to get any excess water off your bike. If you decide to wait you’re letting the salts to start their work. The greatest destroyers of nice carbon, aluminum and steel bikes is salt corrosion. I have seen $5000 bikes ruined in just a few years. Winter road salt, Tri races held in salt water and you’re own body sweat can really damage your bike. This can easily be prevented with a few minutes of care.

New Year's Day run in the Snow!

Happy New Year to everyone! The day was gorgeous yesterday and I hope you enjoyed it.

Yesterday I woke up not feeling too good or let's say too fresh...but what do you expect after a New Year's Party? I had promised Mark C I will meet him at Troutbrook at 8am.

The day seemed beautiful, not too cold where I live, sunny perfect for running in the trails.

Well it was a great run but SO hard! My legs this morning are very sore!

Mark and I ran/walked for 1 hour in the snow. Heart rates soaring, sweat dripping down or faces and bodies, hills up and down, nobody else crazy around!

The trails were fine to start with, packed snow no ice but uphill. Then it became almost virgin snow and deep snow. It was getting harder and harder to lift our legs.

The trails with packed snow will give you an incredible workout, will boost your cardiovascular system and work stabilization muscles, all the way from ankles to hips. Mark and I could feel every single muscles in our legs but also our core muscles working. It felt like a strength workout.

There is one thing to remember with running on the snow: do not expect fast times, it will probably not happen, try to just enjoy the workout, the scenery, beauty and everything else that comes with running on great snowy trails.

Be ready as well with hydration and proper clothing and shoes. Also try to run on familiar trails to avoid getting lost!

Marathoner and Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor shares her tips for running in the snow:

For light snow conditions I have a pair of the Asics Gel-Arctic shoes, which have little studs on the bottom for better grip and are water resistant. If I need extra traction, I add Yak Trax (yaktrax.com). As the snow deepens I will use Kahtoola Microspikes (kahtoola.com) or crampons over my shoes. If there is a huge storm that is dumping multiple feet of fresh powder, I use snowshoes with a narrow back so I can run in them. Sometimes these are difficult workouts, but that is when we often feel the most gratification.
I wear form-fitting, water-resistant clothing. If the conditions are on the harsher side, I wear a thin layer of Vaseline on my face to protect from the wind and snow. (Do not use Vaseline if it is sunny—you will burn!)
In the winter months I run about 15 to 25 miles a week in packed powder and deep snow, depending on what Mother Nature brings. My snow runs are always an easy evening run where I am not straining to run a certain pace but rather enjoying the weather and scenery that winter brings.

We finished our workout with a 35mn run on the roads and it felt so easy!

I highly recommend everyone to take the trails this winter and run or walk them. Make sure to wear the proper clothing though, you will sweat and your feet will get cold at some point.

See you all out there!

Here is what you want to do after such a run: rest and sleep. I took a long nap in the afternoon yesterday.

 

Stroke & Stride, Auckland, New Zealand

I recently returned home to Fairfield from a 2-wk vacation in New Zealand with my younger brother. Amidst the hiking, biking, and bungee jumping, I really wanted to sneak in an ocean swim. Ever since my swim in Lake Zurich this summer surrounded by the snow-capped Alps and a beautiful city skyline, I decided that I want to run a great trail or do an open water swim everywhere in the world I visit.

While in Auckland, an old swimmer friend from college, Jen Sweny, who has moved to Auckland permanently pointed me to a Thursday night Stroke & Stride (swim-run) series at Point Chevalier. I didn't have any proper gear but that's the beauty of swimming and running, you don't need any. I jumped right in and raced 1980's Mike Pigg style in only my speedo's and running shoes.

Jen omitted to tell me that the small groups that show up to this Pure Blonde sponsored series are mostly a hard core group of athletes which included a couple kiwi elites and a couple Team Mexico elites training down south over the winter. This along with the cold waters way down south made for me being one of only two people on the start line without a wetsuit

The course was setup so that the athletes could race multiple distances, a short distance (0.5k swim - 2k run), a couple middle distances (0.5k swim - 4k run or 1k swim - 2k run), and a long (1k swim - 4k run). Ofcourse most people chose the "long" distance and so did I. Perfect distance for a Thursday evening race.

New Zealand is a beautiful country for those of you haven't been. Outside of Auckland it's basically dead quiet, hilly and with mild weather year around making it very conducive to spending time outdoors. This translates into a very fit population! You can't go far, even in the city, without seeing runners and cyclists racing through the streets. Needless to say I was one of the last ones out of the water (look, only a few people left behind me)!

While I hadn't run or done any real swimming since SOS almost 2 mths ago, coming out of the water I wasn't feeling too bad. While there were no splits, I was out of the water in roughly 15mins. After two loops in the water, it was up a steep ramp into transition and onto the run. With only shoes to put on, this was a very quick transition!

The run was two loops of a 2km road course. Not the prettiest course but as flat as you can get in Auckland so a reasonably fast one. I passed one guy in transition and was hot on the heals of another during the first lap of the run. Here's me at the turnaround after the first loop.

This is also when I started to lose the runner ahead of me (I swear someone was close even though you can't see them in this pic). Now I had to make sure to stay ahead of the guy I had passed back in transition. Ugh, I hate being chased!

After about 15mins of running I crossed the finish line smiling with pain but maintained my placing (6th out of only 13 men in the "long" distance and a couple women beat me too) with a total time of 31:20.

Maybe next time I'll be better prepared ... nah, that was a blast! Fast and minimalist, just the way I like it. We need more of these swim-run races here at home! I'll have pics from the rest of my trip on my blog in a couple weeks.

Ironman Florida 2010

Signing up a whole year in advance for a race sounds crazy, but you need to do that if you want to compete in one of the best Ironman Race in the world. So last year, I decided to sign up for Ironman Florida and a flat course appealed to me. Mark Carioto did it as well.

Training for it happened in the last 3 months or so before the race with longer rides, longer runs, not enough time for longer swims but figured it would be ok...

Training for it was fine, with 2 unusual training sessions, which happened to have helped me mentally and also physically:

• Reach the Beach Relay in June with team mate Mark Burton with 31 miles of running part of a relay, almost killed me but made me somehow more resilient to boredom I can get into when running for too long
• My last long ride on the computrainer for 6h, which also almost killed me but made the 112 miles on Saturday seem so easy!!!

I think I was well ready to go and mentally strong, it is only a long day in the beautiful outdoors afterall!

After a long trip down there from New York, as I missed my morning flight and could not find my luggage in Panama city, I also missed the mandatory pre-race registration on Thursday! The good news is I did it the next day in 4mn, and everybody else, 2800 athletes, had to get in long 1-2 hours lines!

Friday was good with a quick swim in huge waves, more fun for body surfing than swimming, I enjoyed it! The sand is white and fine, really beautiful and the water so clear blue green amazing! The best beach on the planet maybe. Panama City has nothing else: a beach and that is it!

And that was-it for the day relax, prepare the bike, meet people, nice pasta dinner and bed time.

Met an interesting Mexican Business man Luis who was doing ironman #9 for 2010, he started in April, went to France and everything. He is on the Timex Team. He has done 70 ironman, started in 1991, just count!!! The things I love about these races is that you meet interesting or crazy people!!!

Tomorrow will be a great day I was telling myself and it was!

It started so cold about 40F, but in the excitement of everything else it was hard to notice. The day was going to start. I decided to try a new thing and started quite in the front with all the men on the left near the buoys! Well that was an experience on being beaten up all over!!! No panic I did it, lost goggles, got scratched but survived!

Swim done, I thought, now some work is still ahead! Transition was slow because there were so many people everywhere. I had looked at my watch and saw 127 so thought it was my swim time! During the whole race I thought I swam in 1:27 and was quite mad at myself, that was slow! I only discovered after the race that it was my heart rate! My swim time was 1:10!!!

Anyway I put a new tight fitting lond sleeves shirt I bought the day before (with an ironman logo of course) on my wet jersey, put my newly bought Walmart gloves on and off I went!

112 miles on the bike, flat as a pancake bike course, hardly changed gear for the whole thing! Good speed, felt good, had my powertap on average speed not per choice just happened but liked that a lot. I biked with groups and on my own. It seemed hard not to avoid the groups, but they make riding more fun at the same time, you make some friends like that. I could have gone for longer on the bike honestly. Ate the power gels at the aids stations, they were very easy to squeeze and tasted quite good! Did not stop for the bathroom, well managed again...on the bike, not sure if I need to be proud of myself for that!

And then, yes the dreaded run was there. I just needed 4h,  felt great at the beginning and maybe went too fast, I was excited. There were some fun cheer leaders, pretty course, but 26 miles still to go. I could feel my pace going slower, my heart rate dropping, but still 15 to go, 10 to go. I had to play mental games, had to look forward for the girls cheer leaders who were quite funny. and then with 4-5 miles left a woman looked like my age passed me and in my head I knew she was going to be 3rd, I knew about #2, did not know about #1 but had a feeling there was one. I lost a bit of motivation then.

Everything clicked again when I ran through the finish chute, a spectator was screaming to a man next to me that he did it under 11h! The man turned to me and told me let's go it is under 11h! I could not believe it!

The finish was great, better than the first ironman I did in 2008. There were amazing words on the ground printed in colors, archs, people and the finish clock 10:52!!! Mark Carioto's family was there and it was nice to see familiar faces. Mark did really well for his first ironman as well, I know he wanted to finish with me (or ahead!), he was not far off 10:55!

I was so happy.

I know I missed Kona, again, by one spot but that is life! I did not run in 4h but 4:07. No big deal. Who could have guessed the woman who won my AG was going to bike under 5h!? It always seem there is a crazy woman or two in my AG. Next time I will be the crazy woman I think!

I highly recommed this race to first timers or racers who want  a fast race. After all it is better to cover the 140.6 miles in less time on a flat course than more time on a hilly course don't you think?

bimbler`s bluff 50k

Here is a little recap of the longest run I have ever done...It took place on October 24^th , 2 weeks after I ran the Hartford marathon.

When I woke up early that morning after only about 4h of sleep and having spent 15h on my feet working a party the day before I felt like not doing the race, I had after all a very good excuse...I was pretty tired and my feet were already trashed!

I decided nonetheless to leave the house with all my gear and hit 95 to drive to Guilford CT. Rain started falling and I thought there was no way I would run a 50k today!

When I got there it had stopped raining and I then decided to check in and race. People started coming in and soon the parking lot was full of racers who seemed to..  have done this before and pretty much knew one another. I wore my marathon shirt and the race director asked me strangely if that was last year`s or this year`s?!  When I replied that it was the one I ran a few weeks ago, he said it was too soon to participate at this race!! I laughed and walked away slightly annoyed and pondering his words until a fellow racer came to me and said he had done Hartford too and it was also his first 50k trail run.

Soon it was time and we ran  one loop of a soccer field before entering the woods on a very narrow path full of branches. I felt good and stayed in contact with the lead group until the first aid station at mile 3 that I reached in 27mns. Then it started to get crazy at mile 6..I was running pretty fast ( you know like in a regular road race..) when my left ankle hit a rock and I suddenly fell down in pain. People were friendly as they passed me and asked if I needed any help. I got up and decided to forgo what had just happened and soon passed racers again ..The trail was very tough, leaves were covering tiny rocks and it was uncomfortable running at its best! Soon we had to tackle river crossings, rock climbing, and really crazy hills. Running was getting impossible, one could barely walk!

I reached the mile 12 aid station in 2h..and stopped for 2 mns to get some fluids. In front of me was a 200 yards vertical wall of mud and signs like “ the Bluff”, what you have been training for!”  Getting up there on my knees took forever, it was very scary and people were visibly shaken by it. I made it with difficulty and resumed my walk/run on a tricky path bordering a 200 yards fall. For the next 6 miles it was very difficult to progress, lots of steep hills, fallen logs on the way, mud patches, but the worst happened when happy to finally see some open space in front of me, I decided to go all out just to make up some time..  Terrible mistake because I hit a rock again on the same ankle and this time I had to stop for 10mns, unable to even put it down. At this stage you are pretty much alone..I was still far away from the next aid station and I was getting a bit nervous about how to get there. I made it after an eternity and I was ready to quit because it seemed so pointless to go on! Many racers were there, actually telling the officials they were dropping out….and I was about to do the same when my Hartford friend whom I talked to at the beginning arrived and started chatting with me. He too was really demoralized by the fact that one could not really run the race, you took your eyes away from the trail from one second and you would injure yourself! But he told me his wife was waiting for him at the finish, and that she had given him such a hard time for even registering that quitting was no option!!  He made me laugh and we decided to go on together for the next 13 miles! He had injured his knee falling off the mud wall and was walking fast at best. We calculated that it would take us about 8h to complete and we pushed through the dense forest. Endless trails opened as far as the eyes could see, pretty surreal! The landscape was boringly mesmerizing. We did not meet anybody for the next 3h, not a soul. We got lost at one point, because we were so busy talking we missed a turn and walked/jogged another 5 miles until we realized our mistake! I thought he would start crying….and me too!

At this stage my legs were hurting badly and I was getting really annoyed with the whole thing. We would talk a lot for 30mns then would not say a word for an hour, then would resume....it was weird, kind of a survival mode. At one point he told me he could see the parking lot with cars and that that was great! We had made it...but all I could see at the horizon was a large pond with ducks in there…I did not know what to say ..he kept talking about it, really excited...until he realized he was hallucinating! It was hilarious. I am sure the forest still echoes from my laugh!

Next I saw a house which was not a house but a large boulder and we laughed again. It was getting serious!  We finally found the aid station at mile 28,  volunteers were excited to see us ..and told us it was almost over, another 3 miles on the easiest portion of the trail. We disappeared in the woods, anxious to get it over with and after 45 mns we saw volunteers perched on a big rock and screaming at us that we had made it, it was almost over and a big crowd was waiting for us..

We came out the woods sprinting ( for the crowd and the photographs..), and saw 5 persons waiting for us at the finish.. The parking lot was literally empty...people had probably already showered and were taking their naps..! but it did not matter, we did not give up and we made it...in 9h 04mns 40s!   Of course we were among the last ones to arrive!

I will never race this one again but I would maybe try an easier one some day...just to see how it is. The distance is not really scary...it is more the frustration of not being able to run normally, always scared of getting injured.

By the way my ankle was so swollen the next days...it was unbelievable!

Kelly I don`t know how you do it so well..