16 March 2020

Mid South Double race report

Short version

It rained a lot, I quit and I'm good with that. 

Long version

Friday 50km Ultra run

The first part of the double race was a 50km Ultra run, this race takes place on the Friday preceding the 100 mile gravel ride on the Saturday. 
The race started at 8am.  As we set off, I hit start on my GPS watch which then had to find satellites, I am so pro... by the time the watch had found satellites we were into the run but at least I got a track of most of the route. 

The first part and end of the run took us out of town on around 2.5miles of pavement, my pace felt comfortable and everyone was in a great mood. 
Here we go on the pavement. 
As we hit the dirt the runners were starting to string out a little, I was remembering to eat and drink and felt pretty good. 
A quick stop at the first aid station (mile 5 ish) for another drink and I was off again. 5 miles of undulating gravel road lay ahead and brought us to the second aid station at mile 10. I had been running alone on and off on this section.
Another quickish stop at the aid station and I was off again this time with Oscar for a while before I ran ahead as I had to pee. 
Here we are having a blast on some solid Oklahoma dirt. 
No way another straight road in Oklahoma!
We were now up to turn eight on the course and around 1/2 way along the next section of road we had to cross some mud. 
MUD! 
Past turn 9 of the course and we heading towards the halfway mark of the course. Another quick aid station stop and I was off. My chip time at the aid station was 2:19:31 and I was in 47th overall. 

Here is my around 1/2 way time from my watch. 
Woohoo 1/2way
After negotiating turn number 10 on the course we had to deal with a slippery descent into the 20mile aid station then it was uphill into turn 11, down hill into a river crossing (managed to stay dry) before taking turns 12, 13 and 14 and being almost on the home straight, well at least the part of the course we had already run. Back onto the never ending hills. 
Never ending hills
We now had a slight headwind (by Oklahoman standards) but as we approached the 25 mile checkpoint we saw this crew again, they were also at the halfway point.   

Checkpoint cheer crew.
I was feeling pretty tired by this point and definitely feeling a blister on my left foot. Oh well, 1/2 a coke and I was off again. 
4:20:32 for my first ever Marathon

So stoked. 
It was now a case of pushing on to the finish. Another pee break, a short walk on the pavement and I was passed by a guy who had been chasing me down for miles (his words). He got me running again, having company to run with helps so much mentally. We were running pretty smoothly and even managing sub 9min miles into the finish. 
Done - watch time due to late start.

I didn't get that. 

Happy to be done, got cold quick.

I love Garmin badges!

The Strava





Chip time
50km Double Results 

Saturday 100mile Gravel ride

Holy rain batman!
Yer it was a little wet.
Our day started in the rain, we timed our arrival at the start to be around 07:50, as we were rolling downtown we found out that the start had been delayed to 08:30. Fortunately for us Dan had brought the car down so we all piled in to try and warm up. 
Cold, wet and waiting to line up!
Hurry up Bobby we are freezing!
At 08:37 we finally set off, I would have taken more photos but didn't want to ruin my phone. It was very wet on the way out down 19th St. There was lots of wet and gritty paste forming.  Great for bike shop sales, not so great for bikes. There will be lots of brake pads, rotors, bearings and drive trains to be replaced soon. Could this really be Bobby's ulterior motive for this event?

With the amount of rain we got I was pretty happy with the state of the roads early in the event, the bridge at mile 14 was fine and everyone seemed happy, though I was still frozen.
CX practice

walk your bike

mostly happy but frozen

hmmmm
Next up we passed a State trooper blasting music from his loud hailer. Shortly after this we were to the fun b road from last year. This year it was a push and not so much fun, by now many people had no brakes. 

Brethren hill was fine for me, I actually managed to ride all the way up again even with people walking in front of me.

I stopped for a coffee and ended up with coke, oh well got a little food and then saw my friend Jeremy so chased off after him. 
Chasing people 

Still almost smiling
After a super sketchy downhill I felt my drive train locking up. Luckily there was a stream at the side of the hill and I pulled out my brush and washed off the drivetrain as best I could. 
Time to clean. 

This helped me lots to get rolling
Back on the bike for the toughest section I rode all day, It was a fine line between finding rideable sections and not. I had to walk a couple of times and got lucky a few more.

Mud

More mud

lots of pushing

Farm on left washing peoples bikes.
Mile 41 ish
It was at this point I was pretty much done... I know what the back half of the course potentially had in store and I really wasn't up for that.
After this point the roads did improve and I managed to roll into Perkins and the bike wash in a little over 5 hrs. I washed my bike and then crusised around to the timing mat to get a chip time of 5:09:13, I was apparently in 9th place at the time. 
Race stats
I found my friend Dan who was supporting, Amy, Oscar and I and told him I was quitting. I have zero regrets about that. 
That's it I'm out.
I had some pizza, chatted with friends and waited for Amy and Oscar to arrive. 
Oscar rolled up in a jeep after ripping his derailleur off around mile 39.
Oh snap! Oscar's words not mine :)

Amy rolled in later on with a smile on her face and no brakes left. 

Way to go Amy
In case anyone was wondering what I "missed out on" on the back side of the course here are some photos.
Yep, glad I stopped

The Strava



What did I learn

Oklahoma has made me soft or I have lost my I must finish at all cost mentality. Though if there hadn't been an easy road option back to Stillwater I may have continued.
If I had know I was in 9th place at the time, I probably would have sucked it up, though I really didn't want to totally destroy my bike or do 10hrs plus for 100miles of gravel.  

My fitness and training for this program seemed to work, I'm stronger and fitter than I have been for a long time and I'm sure I had the fitness to complete it, if not the mental toughness on the day. 

I pretty sure I'm going to need new cable and housing, chain and possibly jockey wheels. I am already having new brake pads installed and getting the brakes bled, thanks Bike Lab for being able to do that given the current situation. 

Of the 116 people that started the double run I finished 36th.
The following day, 81 people started the ride and made it to Brethren hill, I was in 16th place at Brethren hill. By the time I quit I was in 9th place. Only 39 people made it to Perkins according to the the timing mat.
By the finish, only 33 people crossed the line to complete the double. 

The cleanup is messy, this is fixing the jockey wheels on Amy's bike.
Sure it's a sealed bearing....


Will I do it again or something similar? 

Absolutely! I loved getting back into the running and am excited to see what other events I can take part in, once COVID-19 has run it's course and events are back on. 

And finally

A huge shout out to my friends for coming down to Oklahoma to take part in this event. It was great to have you along for the event and make some more memories with you all. 
A huge thanks to Amanda and Fiona for putting up with me during all the training, it has been a long program but fun having you join me on it. 

10 March 2020

The MidSouth Double is almost upon us

Today is my last rest day before I attempt the MidSouth Double. The 50km run is on Friday (13th March) and the 100mile ride is on Saturday (14th March). 
I believe I am as prepared as I can be. 
I have followed my training plan and as of the beginning of this week my stats stack up like this from week ending 25th September 2019. Full data set

Ride miles total2056.2
Run Miles total545.9
Total Time (Hrs)235.75

I will say that I feel fitter than last year when I took part in the LandRun 100. It has been interesting to see how my VO2max estimate on in my Garmin account has improved over my training time. (Estimates coming from my watch)
Heading in the right direction

Now all that is left is to go through my final check on my bike. 
Cleaned and shifting great

Wait on the arrival of my friends from Alaska and help them put their bikes together and finally not worry about the weather. 

Oh cock!


Why not worry? 

It is totally out of our control! 
All we can do about a lot of rain on clay before the event, is to make sure we have our mud sticks and hope we get lucky.
Fingers crossed that most of the course is not like this....
Ahhh a wet MidSouth.....
Finally thanks to my family for all the support whilst training for this event. It has been a huge help. 
Until later take care all! 

02 February 2020

My training plan for the Mid South Double

The training plan

The challenge to partake in the MidSouth double was kind of a joke at first but, I have stuck with my training plan and it seems to be going well. I am by no means going to podium at the event looking at previous times however I hope to suffer as little as possible.

Running

For me the run is always going to be the hardest part given when I signed up I hadn't run more that 12 miles ever.

I decided to complete a 1/2 marathon running program (I used Garmin coach for this) then straight into a marathon training plan for the running side, I used Garmin for this one too.

The 1/2 marathon plan culminated in me running a 1:42:05 on a flat paved course around lake hefner.


The marathon training has been going well also, I have been training using heart rate zones and mostly (when the HR monitor is working) I can stay in the correct zone, sometimes the HR randomly seems to drop or spike, but mostly I ignore this and it works out.

Riding

I have also been using a Garmin Century plan for the riding side.The plan is split into three phases base, build and peak, I have just entered the peak section.

This has meant some double up days for workouts to ensure I get rest days.

As it stands right now I am feeling a little apprehensive about the double but think the training is working.

I'm sure there is no way I would have been able to run 16miles the day before the Growler and ride as well as I did when I started this plan.

My biggest takeaways so far 

I was really bad at nutrition when doing long events, I am working on improving that but it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks. The Garmin 530 does help with that though as it's constantly reminding me to eat and drink.

My fitness has improved, or at least my V02max Garmin voodoo estimation has.
Not sure how this is worked out.
I am enjoying running again, a lot more than I thought I would.

It's interesting to look back on how much I have trained time wise for this event. See here

Gravel Growler 2020

2020 Gravel Growler - Shawnee

The 2020 edition of the Gravel Growler was a blast. This year we headed south into some undulating terrain. It was a little cool at the start but warmed up significantly once we got going, well after the worlds longest and slowest neutral roll out. 
Freezing before the off...
I had been talking with one of my teammates and riding buddies before the race about how maybe we could ride together. Once we got going it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, she blew me away within the first two miles after the neutral start.... She went on to win the "old lady category" her words not mine with a smoking time 4:59:49. 
Bye Carin, you are at the front of that group.
After the fast groups had dropped me, I settled into my "race" pace. I was caught by a couple of teammates and we rolled along pretty well. After a stop to take off some layers we ended up riding at different paces and mostly that is how I rode the race, solo and unable to bridge up to draft people.
Out here doing my thing

The gravel was great
At the aid station around 43 miles in I caught back up to Zach. I was able to get in and out of the aid station pretty quickly and managed to get ahead of  Zach.  He caught back up to me and we rolled together for a little while before he dropped me again, he is riding really well at the moment. 
The miles were going by pretty quickly and there was almost no wind however the hills kept coming. 
more hills

and again

Empty roads
Before I knew it I was 80miles in and back in Shawnee.
Almost the finish, I caught the guy ahead of me. 

Another selfie, sure ok then. 

Results

I finished in 5hrs 20 min with no cramping and no significant loss of power, this is a huge improvement over last year at this race where I went out way to fast and blew up like a "champion"

24th place in my category

"Old people" category

Pro results

The Strava