DECOMPRESSION!!!

DECOMPRESSION!

11/13/2020 - Due to my new lifestyle, I'm writing my blogs offline and uploading when I can.  This blog was written on Veterans Day, 2020 (November 11).  

Today (11/11/20) was really my first day of retirement, and my first day of VanLife.  Over 18 months ago, I started planning this phase of my life.  Due to some unfortunate circumstances at work at the end of 2017, I was thrust into a workload that put some level of stress on me.  I like to think I handle stress pretty well but the workload I had during 2018 was pushing me – a lot. 

I actually started looking for a new career.  Twenty-one years with my company and I was considering tossing it aside for a new career.  In July, 2018 I even had some in-depth conversations with a Ranger buddy of mine.  He’s a Wildlife Resource Officer in NC.  Sounds like a cool job.  Before I could jump into that, I had to dig further into what my retirement picture looked like with the company I’d spent so many years with.  I discovered that they had an option to retire at 55 with 10 or more years of service. 

THAT sounded very interesting so I started digging further.  I still had more than 2 years before my 55^th birthday and subsequently my eligible ‘early retirement date’, so I started planning my retirement.  Along the way, based on conversations with my Sister who has been full time in her 38’ Class A RV since approximately September, 2018, my own sense of adventure and after following a number of full time VanLifers, I decided that VanLife was for me. 

The selection of my van Galahad is a separate story which perhaps I’ll write up someday.  For this blog, I want to focus on the start of VanLife with my van Galahad. 

To launch this lifestyle, I decided that my house would have to go. By the grace of God, I had a contract on my house with a closing date 1 week after my last day of work.  On November 2, 2020, I walked off my campus for the last time and on 9 November, 2020 I closed on the sale of my house.  It’s the six-plus weeks leading up to those events and how that affected me in the days following that are striking.

In closing out a career of 23 years, I wanted to make sure I did what I could to make the inevitable project hand-offs as smooth as possible.  I’d like to think I was able to organize things pretty well but the people to whom I handed those things are really the only ones with an accurate picture of that.  That meant I was pressed to get as much done for those hand-offs as possible.  Add to those an important report that needed to be completed, reviewed and published and preparing the agenda for a worldwide tech club – which I would be animating on my very last day of work – I was feeling a fair bit of stress for the six-plus weeks leading up to my retirement date.  I seldom slept more than about 4 hours with all that I was thinking that needed to be completed. 

Pile on top of that the very quick sale of my house.  We listed it September 9^th, 2020 and on the 10^th, I had an offer.  Of course, it took a couple days to negotiate the final price, but that was a quick offer.  The contract proposed a closing of Nov 12 which eventually got shifted to Nov 9.    Now, in a week I had my last day of work and the house closing.

I had actually started on clearing out my house about the time I decided that VanLife was the target.  I sold my kayaks, I sold several bicycles, I sold three Volkswagen projects (one 1980 Vanagan Westfalia that needed a complete refurbishment and two 1970 Beetles – one complete car that wasn’t really that bad off, and a parts car).  I was glad I started when I did, but there’s nothing like a deadline when it comes to getting things done. 

Thus, between those two things, that six-plus weeks was a lot of short nights and me pushing myself to get the tasks completed to the best of my ability.  The amount of sleep I got seemed to reduce as my 2 November retirement date approached.  I thought I’d feel a bit of relief when I walked off my campus for that last time.  Negative.  The pressure to downsize my life to fit in my van Galahad by November 9^th was pretty extreme.  I must have taken 6 trailer loads of stuff to Miracle Hill – a local charitable organization.  I gave so much stuff away, it astounds me.  Much to charity but some to friends who indicated they could use it. 

I had a lot of stuff – even after selling what I thought was a fair amount of stuff, there was still so much to go through!  I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say, all of it took time and the clock was ticking. 

When the 9^th came, I was very close.  I got really lucky thanks to my colleague who purchased my utility trailer.  He allowed me to use it until that very last day when he came to pick it up.  He was a big help that morning – hauling some stuff away that needed to go to the dump, and other stuff that needed to go to Goodwill. 

Between making a trip to my storage unit, lunch with a friend and having to make a run back to the house for some things I forgot – I barely made it to the closing on time.  Throughout the closing, I was waiting for something to go wrong – even after all the papers had been signed and I was free to go, I still didn’t feel that rush from completing a task. 

For the rest of that day, and all of the 10^th, I felt like I was still in the grinder – rushing around to get all my tasks completed.  Now, those tasks included a final meetup with several good friends, but I was rushing in between those meet-ups.  I tried to stay in the moment while talking with my friends, but the clock was always ticking in the background. 

It kept ticking for the rest of that day as I tried to run around town picking up some last minute supplies – vitamins for Gunner, Propane for my stove, dropping off stuff to another friend, etc.  I finally got back to my campsite near 8pm.  Following dinner and an attempt at relaxation, I finally went to bed about 930. 

It was when I awoke at 537am on Veterans Day that I began to realize that it was all done and I was now free to live.  JUST LIVE!  I could ignore the calendar, stop rushing around and get on with my life. 

5:37am might seem early to many, but my body is accustomed to getting up at 4, and in that last six-plus weeks, often 3am or earlier.  That I actually slept for 8 hours felt AMAZING!! To top that off, I did a little trail run around Lake Placid at Paris Mountain State Park.  My last run at the park for a while and it really felt great!  It was what a former coach called a “Peace Run” – just being in the moment and enjoying the run. 

The effects that the sleep and the trail run had on my body and mental state was actually physically noticeable.  I felt better this morning than I’ve felt in a while.  There was still a matter of mental decompression – good news, I had been feeling that a little after the house closing but it really hit home today. 

As I packed up my camp, I was thinking about getting up to Massachusetts quickly, spending a few days, then rushing across the country to meet up with some people for an overlanding trip.  Because of the rain which I knew was on the way, I opted not to set up my complete camp.  That meant I’d have to go to a local diner for breakfast. 

As I was eating breakfast, the mental decompression continued.  I decided that my new VanLife would NOT include any interstate highways.  In and of itself, that forces a slowing down of the timeline to get from point to point.  As I departed Greenville, my target for heading north was the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

I’ll save the details of the today’s drive for another blog, but I’m writing this from a National Forest dispersed campsite somewhere not terribly far from the community of Linville, NC.  I didn’t even drive far enough to burn a full tank of gas – if it takes me a week to get to my brother’s house – so be it.  Decompression complete.

First overnight in the Adventure Van

First overnight in the Adventure Van!!

 Leap year 2020 started with a great gravel bike ride up in Bent Creek Experimental Forest, just south of Asheville, NC.  I met Dave and Roy up there and we do a nice out and back.  Typically we do about 2 hours total.  It's a nice route with some good climbing and descending.  Mostly double track forest roads closed to vehicle traffic, although one nice climb is on a main forest road on which we'll occasionally encounter vehicle traffic. 

I was surprised when I looked at the weather Friday night to see Snow in the forecast for the area around Asheville.  Thus, as I drove up there I wasn't surprised to see a fair amount of snow.  The roads were wet for the drive, but not bad at all.  The parking lot on the other hand had a fair bit of ice. 

Here's a few photos of the ride:

Other than the ride being a bit messy, it was a lot of fun.  Cold, messy, but fun.  How messy?  How's this:

One of the great things about my new van is the water system has a nice hose that easily connects and allows me to clean up my bike before I put it back in the van.  I missed the opportunity to snap a photo before I put it in the van, but pretty big difference after spraying it down.

It's not clean as if I used soap and water but it didn't drip all that mess on my gear tray either!!

Before I could pack up for the camping trip, I decided to reconfigure my interior one last time.  Thursday when I got home from work it looked like this:

I was planning on taking my dog Gunner with me so I removed the jump seat.  I also re-positioned the folding table on the kitchen pod as well as moved the pod and the fridge.  Ended up looking like this:

Friday after work I started organizing my TrailKitchens compact camp kitchen by putting my stove, jetboil, butane, lighter and other kitchen essentials in there.  I looked at where to position it on the gear slide and decided that on the back side of the slide with the opening facing the passenger side was the best bet.  This allows me to access the inside storage by pulling out the gear slide.

I found out that I needed to reposition the camp kitchen after driving up for the ride - it had shifted a bit, so I changed the location of the rings to make it more secure.  It didn't slip after that change.

Once I got home from the ride it was a quick pack up of the van (most done Friday eve, just had to grab a few last things) and head south to Sedalia Campground in the Sumter National Forest.  Not far from Union, SC.  It was a nice little campground with several campsites and a group campsite along with a Palmetto trail parking area. 

It didn't take much to get set up for the evening - the big priority was to get a fire going!  Gunner wasn't much help.  ;)

I stared at the campfire for a few hours and burned about half my firewood.  Poor Gunner - he was very restless the whole time.  He barely even sat down, wandering about the campsite and occasionally coming over and resting his head in my lap.  I think he missed the house.  His bed was in the van, so I was hoping he'd be quick to settle once we climbed inside.  

Once the fire was out, I climbed in the van with Gunner and it was indeed nice and cozy!  I slept really well, the bed in there is super comfortable!  I think Gunner slept ok.  He didn't seem too restless and settled into his bed after sitting up for a bit while I finished my last beer. 

I did find that the heater made a bit of noise when it ran, not sure how I feel about that.  It may mean that unless the temperature is really going to be cold, I may use it only to warm up the van before climbing in my sleeping bag.  We'll see, that's part of why I took this trip.

In the morning I was hoping to catch a great sunrise like I've been seeing lately.  Unfortunately either I was too late or we just didn't have the atmospheric conditions to have the same great color as previous days.  This is about what I got for a sunrise shot:

It was time to get the camp kitchen set up so I could get some coffee and breakfast.  Had to get the fire going again first though, hard to enjoy camp coffee without a fire!  Once the fire was going, the jetboil made short work of boiling some water for the french press.  Camp coffee with a campfire is one of the great joys of life!

I enjoyed a very relaxing morning with the fire.  Gunner didn't really relax too much, although he did find some sunshine to stand around in for the morning.  I got things packed up, worked on the leg assignments for the upcoming Smoky Mountain Relay and headed home.

I think Gunner was plum wore out by the time we got home!  He's been sleeping on his bed ever since!  He barely got up to eat his dinner! 

Until the next adventure!!

JD

Picking up JD's VanDOit Adventure VAN!!

It's already the end of February!  Getting at least one post in before the end of the month.  Since my last post I participated in Southeast Gravel's "Gravel Battle of Sumter Forest". A great 46ish mile gravel ride through the area around Clinton, SC.  I'd not ridden in that area really, so fun to see some new terrain.  The weather was cold but it was dry and it did warm up over the course of the ride.

I've been running a fair bit, last weekend I did a 10 mile run at a pretty good pace of 8m34s/mile average.  I was pushing a bit, but it felt good.  Around mile 8 I managed an 8m02s mile.  The second 5 miles was about 4 minutes faster than the first 5 miles.  Pretty happy with that.

The running is prepping me for the Smoky Mountain Relay in April, but before that I've got another relay planned: The Palmetto Relay!  One of my Ranger Buddies had a team looking for a runner and I got more info about it.  Turns out, it's the Sua Sponte Elite Racing Team consisting of all Ranger Veterans. The team is formed to raise money for the Sua Sponte Foundation.  You can make a contribution here and read more about the foundation there as well.

The biggest news for the month is VanDOit was finished with my van about 2 weeks early!  I flew out on the 12th of February to pick it up!  Super Fun! I knew I'd be excited so I took my GoPro along and made a video of the reveal.  

I have to laugh at myself!  That was exciting!

Here's some photos of my VanDOit adventure van:

Those who know what the graphics represent will say the van is well suited to carry an Ultra team of Ranger Veterans for the Palmetto Relay.

I've played with the van a bit, seeing how I might mount up my 3 bikes (Road, Mtb and Gravel).  Plenty of room for my SUP and other stuff.  I need to start assembling the other elements like my trail kitchen and propane stove to see how I'll be able to store them in there.  Thinking about an overnight with Gunner for the weekend.  Weather is going to be cold so best suited for running and / or off-road (Gravel or Mtb) cycling.

I'm stoked to have the van, stoked to be part of the upcoming events. 

2020 - What's on the plan?

It's been a bit since I last posted.  Not that there's been nothing going on, just that I've fallen off the writing.  Although I am not generally one to make New Year Resolutions, I did decide that this year I should give my blog a re-birth. 

Looking forward to the coming year, I do have some cool stuff planned.  Here's a quick overview.

In late February, I'll be flying to Kansas City, Mo to pick up my new VanDOit LIV (@vandoitco) camper van. I'm pretty stoked about that and it will facilitate a number of activities that I also have planned.  

The next event that is planned is the Smoky Mountain Relay in April.  This will be the 7th time that we've fielded a Blue Ridge Bootleggers team.  It will be the 6th time I've run this relay.  It will be the first time I'm participating as part of a 12 person team since 2015.  Every other time it was as part of an Ultra Team - the 2019 Ultra team was only 4 of us!  THAT WAS FUN!!!!  The one event I missed was 2017 when I was recovering from a serious injury that resulted in partial amputation of my left foot. 

One of the cool things about the 2020 Blue Ridge Bootleggers team is that we'll be able to use my new VanDOit as one of the team vans!!  Super stoked!

The next big event is the Wild Rogue Relay in June.  I did this relay in 2019 with @flowersofmoss and some peeps she knows out there.  Southern central Oregon is very beautiful and the relay was excellent.  I'll be driving out there, so my VanDOit will be one of the team vans. 

A couple of days after that I'll be picking up my brother Jeff and my buddy Ed.  We'll ride the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder.  The event is 5 point to point days of riding that circles back around to the same start point on the last day.  It is gravel roads through the Sisters area of Central Oregon.  A VERY beautiful area!  Technically, Jeff is coming out to drive my van each day while Ed and I do the riding.  This should be amazing!

After that, I'll be heading back home but at a much more leisurely pace.  I'll have my inflatable paddleboard with me so I've planned campsites at lakes along the way so I can enjoy some SUP-ing. 

Between these events I am looking for and have signed up for some smaller events which I will use as training events.  Southeast Gravel has a few rides here in the Carolinas which should be fun, besides opportunities to get out with my buddies. 

That covers the big events leading into mid-year.  I'll hold on commentary for the last half of 2020 for a bit. I do have some BIG things in the works though...

Mountains to Mainstreet Triathlon - 2016 Race Report

Last Sunday was the first (of hopefully many) Mountains to Mainstreet Triathlon and Festival (aka M2M) held here in the Upstate of South Carolina.  I called it 'my multi-sport tour of the upstate'.  The main event is the triathlon, loosely called a Half (Iron) distance.  I say loosely because the distances are 1.2 mile swim, 58 mile (as opposed to 56) bike and a half marathon (which I measured at 12.93m).  The event's tagline is "Swim with the Bear, Ride with the Eagle, Run with the Rabbit". 

The swim starts in one of the most scenic lakes in the upstate - Lake Keowee, specifically at the South Cove County Park.  It's a beautiful start to a VERY difficult triathlon.  The bike course is VERY hilly tour of the Upstate with approximately 3200' of elevation gain.  The run has a few hills, but overall is mostly flat and mostly along the Swamp Rabbit Trail from Travelers Rest to Greenville.  The finish is on the TD stage, adjacent to the Reedy River in Downtown Greenville.

I didn't sign up for this event right away, I was hesitant due to it's point to point nature.  The shortest distance drive from T2 to the swim start is almost as long as the bike leg of the event and takes over an hour in good traffic conditions.  At the time I signed up, I only knew that logistics were going to be challenging.  That was back in December of 2015. 

I knew I had enough time to train for this event, while I was no longer taking advantage of the services of Malone Coaching, I had a plan, I even had a written plan.  All I had to do was follow it.  I could say a lot of things about why I didn't follow it, but suffice to say I had a plan and failed to follow through.  That's not to say I didn't train, it just means I didn't put the same effort towards training for this event as I did for last year's events.  Sunday just reinforces the positive influence that Katie Malone had on our results last year - that is to say everything we did last year is a result of the efforts we put forth under the guidance of Coach Katie. 

But 2016 (and specifically the M2M tri) is all on me.  On paper my plan was probably sufficient for a solid result.  Unlikely that it would have taken me to a top 5, but it would have likely put me in the top 10 for my age group.  I can't really complain too much as I still finished with a 14th place result in my AG (out of 30 finishers), however, it's not about the time or the placing, it's about how I feel about my performance and the reflections it's caused me to make. 

Before I go into any of that, here's how my race played out. 

I felt good for the swim.  The announcement shortly after we arrived said that the water temperature had been measured at 72.5degrees, which is definitely wetsuit legal.  I was happy about that as it just gives me a bit more confidence in the water.  I was thankful to have my friend Barry to chat with at the start - he had done a preview swim a few weeks before and was able to give me a few pointers on the swim course. 

From the start, we were swimming with the sun off of our right shoulder.  Thankfully not directly into the sun, but there was plenty of glare to contend with.  There was a good treeline in the direction of the first turn bouy that we'd be able to sight on.  Barry provided the next critical tip - after the turn there is a large water pumping station (or water tank - not sure what it is) that is excellent for sighting as you head to the second turn.  This was a great tip.  In both of these cases, the land based sighting objects were sufficient to get you up to the point where the actual sighting bouys were plainly visible. 

I started the swim and tried to set a steady pace.  My form is not the best so I tried to focus a lot on good technique.  Occasionally I could feel moments of that, slipping through the water, hips on or near the surface, good pull and recovery.  Other times I was a bit out of sync, breathing late such that I'd have to switch up to a breath every stroke to get enough oxygen.  Overall the swim to the first turn was pretty good and looking at my Garmin data I actually swam quite straight! 

Once I made the first turn, the water pumping station (or whatever) was very visible and I sent out another round of Thanks to Barry in my mind.  Again, moments of smooth followed by occasions of chaos.  This leg of the swim still went well overall although I was quite surprised when the turn bouy came into view.  I had to breast stroke a moment just to make sure I wasn't turning at the wrong place!!  If I was turning at the wrong place, so was everyone else, so head down and keep swimming! 

The final leg of the swim is the shortest and it takes you to the boat ramp and swim exit.  I swam all the way until my hand hit the ground before I stood up and starting moving fast (I'd say I ran, but it felt more like a quick walk).  I hit the lap button on my Garmin to get my Transition split.  The crowd was awesome as I came up the ramp - lots of people and I heard my name yelled several times.  Such a motivational bump when someone calls out your name!

I ran past the wetsuit strippers - I hadn't even got the zipper down yet.  Plus, I don't care to lay down in what is often a muddy mess by the time I get out of the water!  By the time I got into the entrance to T1 I was pulling the sleeves down and over my Garmin.  Surprisingly I was able to get out of the wetsuit pretty quickly and make a good transition.  I'm rather notorious for slow transition times, but even with the wetsuit and packing up the transport bag my transition time was only 2m59s minutes (Garmin showed 2m40s, but I know that I switched over to Bike mode as I was running my bike towards the transition exit). 

Swim split:  Garmin shows 41m36s, Official results show 41m33s. 

A note about the 'transport bag' - due to the point to point nature of the event, each athlete has to pack up all of their swim gear (and whatever they're not taking on the bike) into a bag which has their number.  This bag is then transported to T2 after all the riders have departed T1. 

With the transport bag packed, helmet, socks and shoes (and gloves even!), I was off on the bike.   Because I have it, I rode my Wilier Tri-Crono TT bike.  This is a very cool machine and I enjoy riding it (although not as much as I enjoy my Pinarello...).   It gives me the best aerodynamic efficiency and it just feels fast.  Doesn't hurt that it looks great. 

Out T1 and onto the South Cove County Park Road.  Lots of traffic as I left the park, even passed a course marshall on a motorcycle.  The beginning of the bike leg is always difficult for me.  Because I'm relatively slow at the swim, I end up behind a lot of people whom I'm able to pass on the bike. This puts me in a position where I'm either always working on my next pass or 'coasting' so I don't get into the draft zone.  Usually I end up pushing a bit harder than I intend at the beginning of the bike.  I need to consider this a bit more as all efforts put forth on the bike have direct impact to the run.  If I go too hard early it may not hurt me on the bike, but it can certainly hurt me on the run. 

On the bike is where nutrition and hydration are key.  Again the run is impacted by how you approach these elements while on the bike.  My Wilier is equipped with an aero bottle between the aero bars and I had stocked that with 20 oz of Infinit.  I used this last year as we prepared for IM Chattanooga and had great success late in the season.  I've used it during training this year, although the time I've spent training is not near what it was this time last year.  This may have had an impact on my overall result. 

In my saddle mounted bottle carriers I had in order of planned use:  one 24 oz bottle of water and two more 20 oz bottles of Infinit.  I didn't plan on using both of those bottles of Infinit back to back, I planned on, if I needed it, to pick up a bottle of water between the two.  I felt it unlikely I'd need more than, in order:  20 oz Infinit, 20 oz water, 20 oz Infinit.  For what I anticipated to be a 3h15minute ride, this seemed sufficient.  I carried the extra bottle of Infinit just in case and I knew I'd be able to get water at the aid stations.

The early part of this ride is a lot of rolling hills.  Big enough hills that in order to keep my heart rate in the targeted 140 - 145 bpm zone I had to shift down into my little ring.  This caused a rather noticeable yo-yo effect with a number of riders around me.  I targeted the same HR for the entire ride - this means both downhill and uphill.  Of course, on the downhills that meant I was in the big ring small cogs and a light pedal stroke while on the uphills I was in the small ring, big cog and only as hard a pedal stroke as necessary to get me up the hill. 

That means slow uphill and quite fast in comparison on the downhills - big yo-yo with other riders.  It didn't seem to cause any real trouble.  A few times I found myself passing a rider while they where passing another rider.  That put us 3 wide.  I don't believe there is any rule against this, provided we all stay to the correct side of the yellow line.  I believe this occurred when the course marshall was nearby, so I would think he would have corrected us if necessary.  "Corrected" would likely have been in the form of a time penalty - I didn't see anyone get tagged for a time penalty. 

About the time we approached Salem where we would make a turn towards Hwy 11 I started having some real pain in my groin, towards my backside on the left.  I've had this before, I'm not sure if it is a fit issue or a saddle issue.  It took a fair amount of time to work out as I rode up to and along Hwy 11.  I don't feel that it necessarily slowed me down a lot, although I'm sure it did.  I had to sit up to change my position on the saddle several times.  Thankfully the course was hilly enough that I could sit up while minimizing the impact to my aerodynamic advantage - sitting up on the slowest part of the uphills. 

The first aid station was in Salem - I rode past without taking any aid - I was still well stocked. 

By Salem I had mostly cleared the traffic.  Between then and Hwy 178 I was only occasionally passing or being passed.  Again, it was similar - I'd pass on the downhills, they'd pass on the uphills.  My HR was mostly staying in my target range, although there were occasions that it slipped higher than intended. 

The ride on Hwy 11 was outstanding!  The very hilly course made for some very fast downhills.  Unfortunately the strong wind (I've heard reports of up to 20 mph) made it much harder than it should have been.  It was mostly a head wind, but occasional gusts from the side.  I focused on staying in the aero position at all times - uphill and downhill.  I was still battling the pain in my saddle / groin area but it seemed to be subsiding. 

On one of the more prominent downhills I let it fly a bit.  I thought I must be doing 60mph!!  Unfortunately, perhaps it was due to the headwind, my garmin shows only about 43mph.  It was fun anyway. 

At about 1h35m into the ride, while on Hwy 11 I ended up with a mechanical.  While I was shifting into the small cogs for a downhill, the chain slipped off the small cog and jammed such that I couldn't pedal.  Thankfully I was going downhill as it provided me the opportunity to troubleshoot so I knew what I had to fix when I stopped.  It was a quick fix once stopped and I got right back on the bike. 

By the time I turned on to Hwy 178 I was feeling pretty good.  I know hwy 288 into Marietta and hwy 276 into Travelers Rest quite well.  Hwy 288 starts off as a gentle downhill with a large flat before a small climb into Marietta.  The climb continues past Marietta for another 1.5 miles or so.  This is not a horrible climb - I was able to keep a steady pace. 

The last 4 miles of the ride is a gentle downhill.  This means big ring, small cog and soft to moderate pedal.  I was moving pretty good through there.  As we approached Travelers Rest (near the hospital) the right lane was blocked off for us.  The traffic had been quite respectable throughout the ride and as we neared the end there was no change - except we now had our own lane. 

Down through downtown Travelers Rest, right at the Gazebo, wrong way down the one-way street and onto Old Buncombe road towards Trailblazer park and T2.  Of course there was a HUGE crowd at T2.  As I pulled in, I saw more friends than I can count cheering me on.  I hit the lap button on my Garmin, dismounted and took a huge bow.  I was having such a great time!  High fives to every person as I walked my bike to and into the transition area. 

Bike Split:  Garmin:  3h20m50s; Official results: 3h20m54s  Transition (official time): 2m9s

Again, considering my past performances in transition, 2m9s was pretty good considering I had to unpack my run gear from the bag we left it in when we set up on Saturday.  I also walked over to the fence where Jenny was cheering me on and gave her a nice smooch!  I think I learned that I just need to relax in transitions and not worry so much about it. 

The run course starts out with a left turn onto Wilhelm Winter street, down to Watson Road, right on Ina St and merge into McElhaney Road.  This is a hilly section of the run and on Watson Road's uphill, both of my quads cramped up.  I tried changing up my pace a bit but going up the hill it was too much and my quads couldn't relax.  I decided to walk it out.  Before I actually got to the top of the hill indeed they both calmed down and I was able to begin running again. 

Once I merged into McElhaney Road my left quad started cramping again.  More efforts to keep running and relax it out, but the quad wouldn't have any of it - I had to walk to get it to calm down.  Not long and I was back to running again, up the road and right onto the Swamp Rabbit Trail.  I was feeling pretty good at this moment, still quite early in the run.

I continued down the SRT and did a quick pit stop at the aid station at mile 3(ish) - I think it was the intersection of Old buncombe road and the SRT.  My pacing was still pretty good all the way through the Furman lake loop, although the mile that included the hill was, not unexpectedly, a bit slower. 

When I turned back onto the SRT at mile 6.3 I was starting to feel some discomfort in my gut.  I'd had issues with gas last year while Using Infinit, but they seemed to work them selves out as we trained with it.  Again, this is where my lack of training was likely coming back to bite me. 

By mile 9 the GI discomfort was really making me feel light-headed and very much like I was going to throw up.  I was also starting to feel cramping in my legs which I tried to take in some base salt to correct (I had used it throughout the bike and had taken it earlier in the run as well).  It is reflected in my pacing for mile 9, 10 and 11 - each one slower than the previous, although I was still running these miles.  A little more walking as the mileage increased.  Pacing was 11m18s, 11m46s and 12m13s / mile respectively for miles 9, 10 and 11. 

Mile 12 was the slowest mile and included most of the walking on the course.  At the SRT crossing of Willard Street I tried to run up a small ramp leading up to the road crossing and both legs locked up.  I was able to walk it out, but now my mind was starting to mess with me. 

The mental aspect of this run is what I am most unhappy about.  I let it get to me and I lost focus and motivation.  Mile 12 of this run was the hardest part of this race.  I kept thinking "if I could just throw up I'd feel so much better".  I should have just kept running and if it came up, I could stop.  As I started mile 13, I began to run a bit more.  The actual distance of the run showed as 12.93 miles in my Garmin data.  The last 0.93 miles I covered in 13m35s - obviously still a lot of walking going on.  When I hit Linky Stone park I knew I had to pick it up again - There was NO way I was going to walk across that line. 

Run split:  Garmin: 2h26m15s; Official results: 2h26m03s

Overall result:  Garmin: 6h33m35s; Official result:  6h33m36s

Of the three Half Iron distance triathlons I've done (both previous were on much easier courses), this is the slowest by far.  My event played out the way it did, and I can only analyze and examine what I can do different next time. 

**Of course primary on that list is to actually follow my training plan.  I do need to incorporate more bricks I think - the first brick I did this year started at T2. 
**Confidence in my physical conditioning aids in having the mental confidence when the going gets tough.  I need to feel good about my training approach which gives me that confidence that I can work through any physical issues which also helps keep the mental monsters at bay.
**I need to continue to refine my sport nutrition throughout my training.  Maybe my body needs to adapt to the infinit as it must have done last year.  I don't know - this is possibly going to be the biggest challenge. 

I'm sure there are other details that I'll think about over the course of the next several months as I prep for 5 more events throughout the summer.  The last thing I will say is a big thanks to my body for putting up with me and performing the way it did despite my poor preparation.  There are a lot of people who can't do what I just did and for that I feel very blessed.

The 2016 Smoky Mountain Relay

Another Smoky Mountain Relay (SMR) in the books for the Blue Ridge Bootleggers.  It's the third time for many of the Bootleggers although we did bring on a few new faces to the crowd.  The original running of the SMR for the Blue Ridge Bootleggers was in 2014.  It was the brainchild of Master Tedd who recruited me and Jenny, along with Robin and Bo.  We had to go outside our regular group to bring in a grand bunch of misfits to form the First Blue Ridge Bootleggers Team.  There was a few changes in 2015 when several of the originals couldn't come back, but again, we found new blood and tackled the SMR again as a 12 person team in 2015.

For 2016, all but one of the originals came back to fill in the roster for the Ultra team.  Again, because of the Ultra team, we had to bring in some new faces for the 12 person team.  In the end, we assembled two teams worthy of the Bootlegger moniker and set out to conquer the SMR. 

Above is the entire Bootlegger Clan who did the SMR this year.  That's a lot of people, but it is actually two teams.  We returned with a 12 person team who kept the original Blue Ridge Bootlegger Team name but we also assembled a fine crew for a 6 person Bootleggers Ultra team.

That's the Ultra Clan right there.  Left to Right:  Me (aka HARLEY!), Alvin B, Diesel Daisy Mae, Big Jimmy, Billy Wade and Sissy.  Of course these are the Bootlegger names.  All of us were part of the inaugural Blue Ridge Bootlegger Clan, and it was Big Jimmy who put the call out to assemble.

Big Jimmy and Sissy weren't able to participate in the 2015 version, but we are super happy that they decided to come back in big style to do the Ultra team.

Planning for this event started last fall.  Not a lot was going into it at that point, making sure we had a commitment from the people was the biggest thing to get started back then.  Of course there was registration as well, but mostly until January rolled around, there wasn't much happening for planning.  The Ultra team was lucky - we had commitment from every member very early on.  The 12 person team however, went through several rosters before we were able to finalize a full team.  And a fine team it was too.

If you've never done a 200 mile running relay, here's how it works:
     The relay is a point to point run through very mountainous terrain.  It starts in the Pink Beds and finishes at the Nantahala Outdoor Center.  It is broken up into 36 legs of unequal distance.  The guideline is that each runner will run an equal number of legs (not necessarily an equal number of total miles). 
     A 12 person team breaks up into two Vans, 6 people each.  Van 1 will rotate through all of it's runners then hand off to Van 2 who will rotate through all of their runners.  Van 1 meanwhile, has traveled around to the exchange where they'll take over the duties again, before handing off again to Van 2.  One more rotation for each Van and you're done. Each runner will run 3 legs - one for each rotation of their van.  Total mileage per person over their 3 legs for a 12 person team can range from 14 to 21 miles depending on how the team captain makes the leg assignments.
     An Ultra Team of 6 runners uses only a single van and covers the same distance and terrain (and number of legs) as a 12 person team.  Of course this means that the team stays together for the entire event, and rotates through each person 6 times (6 legs each). 

Two years ago when Big Jimmy called the Clan to action, my engineering brain took over and of course I created a spreadsheet that would aid us in making leg assignments.  I programmed in estimated leg finish times and calculated a finishing time (based on pace input from each team member).  In 2014 I estimated a final finishing time of 35h18m.  Our actual 2014 finishing time was 35h25m - off by just 7 minutes.

In 2015 I used the same spreadsheet with some small enhancements and estimated a finishing time of 36h20m and our finish time was 36h19m.  Hard to believe!!  Even the Race crew was astonished by my estimate!  For 2016 I made some larger enhancements but I missed a critical leg distance (off by almost 3 miles in my spreadsheet) and my estimate (original estimate) was 33h15m - our finish time was 33h35m - off by 20 minutes.  Had I realized that error of the missed mileage, that would have added 20-25 minutes to the estimate....  I would have just about nailed it again.  For my little engineering brain, this is a very fun exercise.

To further complicate my estimations, there were two rounds of course modifications.  Two very hard legs were removed, although two very hard legs were also added with the modifications.  Enough about that, suffice to say that a big part of this event for me is the analysis and trying to estimate our finishing time.

The Bootleggers Ultra Clan was amazing this year.  To start, everyone was highly motivated from the initial contact last fall.  Although we didn't get together a lot for training runs, we did manage to get together for several.  The team is awesome when it comes to organizing for the event.  The 12 person team had a pair of Co-Captains and I had a big assist from Billy Wade and Big Jimmy.

I know how these folks run, and while we are not going to set any records on this course, I knew we'd be able to run strong throughout.  Regarding records - the record that we're becoming known for is our ability to predict our finish time, not for our overall speed on the run.  The other thing I think we're becoming known for is our ability to just have a super good time.  And we're loud.  ;)

This year the event started on my wife's (Diesel Daisy Mae) birthday.  As I was assigning legs, I decided to give her a great birthday present.  It's leg # 5, a leg we have dubbed "Soul Crusher".  7.3 miles of rolling hills - and rather steep rolling hills I might add.  I thought to myself "what better way to say I love you and Happy Birthday than to give her Soul Crusher as a birthday gift".  You see what a generous and loving husband I am?  ;)

She killed it.  The 12 person team had a ringer on that leg who wore a shirt that said "Soul Crusher Crusha", while Diesel Daisy Mae didn't run it quite as fast as Bosefus I am very proud of her for her accomplishment on that leg.

One of the legs I was looking forward to was leg # 19.  In the past 2 years this leg went uphill for 5 miles for an elevation gain of about 3500'.  A very tough leg, and usually (for our clan) run in the middle of the night (Big Jimmy started at midnight in 2014, Alvin B started a few minutes past 11pm in 2015 and I started at Midnight this year).  I was looking forward to this challenge so I was disappointed when the leg was removed and replaced with something the Race crew called "Another tough mother".

I wasn't disappointed after I ran leg 19 this year.  While it didn't have 5 miles uphill, it did have something over 3 miles.  But then it turned onto double track which turned into fresh logging roads.  Unfortunately I was wearing my road shoes when I really should have been wearing my trail shoes.  Once off the fire road climb I was slipping and sliding all over the place!!  Thankfully it was all downhill.  At least I had momentum working for me.  It would have been horrible to have to climb with all of that mud!

Diesel Daisy Mae got the new big uphill leg.  Leg 23 had been changed from a relatively mild run on a fire road to a 5.8 mile uphill slog!  Again, she killed it.  I'm married to an incredibly strong woman!

Billy Wade had a challenging event.  While he did have 6 legs, he completed those 6 legs in 4 runs.  What I'm saying is he had two runs that were back to back legs.  The first back to back was approximately 9 miles and the second back to back was over 13 miles.  He rocked these legs out like a BOSS!  I knew he was hurting, but until we finished late Saturday afternoon, I had no idea that he had completed the entire event with a cracked rib!!  Amazing!  So glad to have him on the team!

Alvin B has an energy level that just can't be stopped.  He lays down in the back seat for 15 minutes and he's ready to be driving again.  He just doesn't' stop.  Probably good for him this year as he had several of his legs that were quite close together.  He also had higher mileage total as compared to some of us in the van.  He had one of the best trail legs on the course.  A section of the Mountains to Sea trail that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Of course he killed it.  It finishes with a mile long climb to the transition - very tough!

Sissy took over from Alvin B after that climb up to the exchange.  She took off for a 10 mile downhill trail section that crossed a creek (or creeks) a good number of times.  When we met her at the exchange, she said (paraphrasing) "Awesome trails!  If I had a camera I would have been stopping every 2 minutes!".  And while she rocked that trail, unfortunately it came at the cost of an IT band issue that would plague her for her last 3 legs.  Amazing woman though, she continued to push a solid and consistent pace for her 4th leg, then Alvin B and Billy Wade were able to switch and give her a little less mileage and more importantly a bit less climbing and descending.  She rocked that same consistent pace for those final two legs as well.  

Big Jimmy got to run one of my favorite legs - late in the race and some solid trail running with an awesome swinging bridge crossing.  This year the route was modified and it started with a swinging bridge crossing, onto some trails that led to the same bridge used in 2014 and 2015.  His reaction at the finish of this leg was pure joy.  Not because he was finished running, but because he was in pure heaven while running that leg.

I had the pleasure of bringing the Bootleggers Ultra team home.  We were doing ok on time, and I knew I'd have plenty of time to finish before the 6pm cutoff (perhaps an incorrect perception), but I was really feeling some pressure as I waited to run my final leg of the event.  I know that the pressure came from inside myself - Of course I didn't want to let the team down.

I was anxious and nervous when Daisy Mae handed me the wrist strap and I took off up the hill.  The leg was a bit easier than I anticipated for the first 2 or 2.5 miles.  Once it passed the gate and onto the gravel road it got really tough.  Not only was it very steep, but it was hot and the sun was blasting right down on me - maximum sun exposure on this climb.  I had to walk most of it, although I did run when the grade allowed.  I was very thankful to reach the top and start the descent.

The early part of the descent seemed to have a lot of shade.  Apparently the road crossed the ridge and now put me on the other side from the sun.  I really started feeling better and was able to pick up my pace significantly.  The feeling of light-headedness was dwindling and my heart rate was coming down to a more reasonable level.

As I approached the final descent for the leg, I started looking at my Garmin.  My estimate for my run time was 59m36s - I was going to be VERY close!!  As I came down to the finishing chute, the Clan gathered around and we ran in together.  I was very happy to be finished.  Of course there was celebration and we got the finishing photos I've shared above.

Another great year in the books.  The Ultra experience is very different from the 12 person experience.  I'm looking forward to next year already!

My actual run time for my final leg was 1h0m14s.  within a minute of my estimate.  When I did some after-action analysis, I found that I estimated 20 legs within 5 minutes of the actual, 12 legs within 2.5 minutes of the actual and 6 legs within 1 minute of the actual run time.  I love this shit!

ITT on the southern connector

Last Saturday was the USA Cycling National Championships for both the Team Time Trial and the Criterium.  Both amateurs and Pros lined up for their chance at the National Championship Jersey.  With the Smoky Mountain Relay coming up this week and future half Iron triathlons, I had to make a decision on my activities for the weekend.  Unfortunately, it did not include the opportunity to watch any of the racing.

It did however, offer me the opportunity to ride the TT course.  The course was on Interstate 185 here in southern Greenville County.  The course started towards the I-385 end, at the toll plaza between Ranch Road and Log Shoals Road.  The turn-around was the exit for Brown Road, just about 10 miles down the road.

I've driven on the Southern Connector maybe twice.  There were no cars and the road is smooth.  That's all from my car experience on the toll road I can recall.  I had no recollection of how flat the course is.  Come to find out, it's rather hilly.  Not surprisingly, it was rather windy as well while we were on the course.

Friends met up with Jenny and I at the Greenville Spinners' SCTAC parking area so we could get a few miles (~12 miles each way) beyond just the 20 mile TT.  Since we were going to be riding the TT course, I felt it necessary to bring my TT bike.  I haven't ridden the Wilier since IM Chattanooga and it needed to stretch it's legs!

We arrived at the start / finish with time to greet many other friends who had also come out to ride that day.  I'm not sure how many were actually there, but it was maybe 100?  I don't really know.  There was photographers and a little drone flying overhead so it was pretty cool.

I had my GoPro Hero4 Silver edition mounted under the aero bars on my bike, so I was hoping the video would turn out well.  I did capture some on the ride over, but have edited into a small 10 minute clip just the TT.

The mass start for us regular Joe's went off at 8am.  I lined up near the front and worked my way into the front shortly after the start.  I was in front by myself for a little while, maybe a mile, when I was passed by a group of 3 going up the first roller.  Not far behind them was a 4th rider on his own.  I knew two of the four, and I know how strong they are so I just kept to my ITT plan.

The plan was to do my best to maintain a hard effort of 145 - 150 bpm for everything except the hills where I would allow 155.  I caught myself going over 155bpm a few times, but generally it was right at the crest of a roller so it was no trouble.  Going up that first hill, chasing the 4 riders, I could see that the 4th was not pulling away from me all that fast.  I knew if I could hold him in sight I could catch and overtake on the downhills.

Sure enough, as we crested the first roller, I started grabbing gears and kept pushing and reeled him right in.  I never saw him again after I passed him.  This put me 4th on the road.  I felt pretty good about that so far.  However, we were only about 2 miles into the 20 mile ITT!

Not long after, probably within mile 3, I was overtaken by another guy.  I had met him only because we rode together from SCTAC.  He was pulling strong and passed me quite handily.  I didn't think I could catch him, but he gave me a lot of motivation to keep pushing.  I didn't want to be passed again!  I was now 5th on the road.  He was always in my sight, although quite out of reach.  He'd open his gap a bit on the uphills and I'd close them down on the downhills. 

The ride out was a tail-crosswind but with the Nimble Crosswind tri-spoke wheels I have I barely felt the crosswind part of it.  I definitely felt the tail wind!  I was averaging over 20mph even with the rather long rollers we were faced with.

I still had the guy in my view at the turn-around so I just kept at it.  I had no real chance to see if anyone was behind me during the turn, so I had no idea how close anyone was.  All I could do was stay full gas!

Up the entrance ramp on the other side and into the headwind!  It was also a cross-headwind, so much fun!  Except for batting those winds, I had no other contact from any chasers and Mr # 4 was out of reach.  Full gas netted me something just under 20mph average for the ride back - pretty good considering the winds and rollers.

As I approached the finish chute, I thought I'd give it a kick so I stood up to sprint - just like the Pros!!  HA!  My legs were having none of that.  I probably looked quite funny when I stood up - the camera is rocking quite severely for a brief moment before I sat back down to finish the ride.

I crossed under the timing banner at 59 minutes and 30 seconds.  My Garmin clicked off it's 4th 5 mile interval just past the banner.   I ended up the 5th finisher which pleases me.  Considering the effort I've put into training this year so far, I'm quite happy with that result.