The Appalachian Journey 100 Mile Long Doggie Recap

Have you ever had one of those days - not the good ones and not even a bad one just a blah one.  Well that
was my ride at The Appalachian Journey 102 mile Team/Duo race - well for me more like a ride or maybe better a slog.  I rode the race with John Switow from Knoxville TN who I have know for a while and he had done this one before.  The format is one used in MTB races like Cape Epic and that is you have to stay within 5 minutes of your teammate.  For us we had figured, based on our riding together before, I would be in the front uphill and then getting dropped on the descents.  I get dropped not because I am a lightweight - far from it - I just am very tentative downhill.  The result with how I felt from the start was that John was dragging my butt around all day.  As an aside John takes lots of pictures - the ones in this post are his, the video is mine - and my lack of speed gave him lots of time to take them.

The ride starts out with climbs pretty quickly in and does not stop till the end - will say last 1/3 or so was slightly less.  The hard part is not only are most of the climbs on gravel many have steep sections of 15%+  and then the downhills were mostly steep short ones so you only got about 5-6 minutes rest.  There were a couple longer ones closer to the end on the Blue Ridge Parkway but in general there just was not a lot of time to recover between climbs.  Also, for me, gravel descents are not very relaxing so on those even less rest.  I was glad I put on my 42 front chainring as had a 46 and pretty sure if I was doing well could have done it with the 46 but not as I felt on the day.  I had to get off about 4 times to walk as I started getting some hamstring cramps but was able to make most of it - slow but kept moving.

The weather was great as was in mid 50’s at start and got into 70’s for the day, was windy in sections, and because I held us back so long we did get some rain in the last 45 minutes but mainly sprinkles so all good.  The area is beautiful as you ride around the Blue Ridge Parkway area and are on it a few times.  The course was marked for the shorter courses and after the 60+ mile course broke off we were on our own with the GPS.  We did miss one turn - well actually was straight ahead but somehow missed it as road curved.  Took about 1.5 miles till we realized we were off course and of course that was 1.5 miles up hill but we got back on track and other than one other short section where I missed a turn on a down hill, and it was marked, was good.

So what went wrong as training the week before was fine - yea it was a 110 miles on Zwift the Saturday before so not outdoors but the watts and HR were good, yea a little tired but don’t sleep well so no idea the day I had was ahead.  Often at the start of a long day I am apprehensive but the closer I get to halfway I get stronger.  Not the case here - had the blahs at the start, midway and at the end, well at the end it was the super-blahs.  Did get some hamstring cramps after halfway that did not help as had to regulate things so they were held at bay.  I will put my fueling below but actually took in more carbs than usual (34g/hr) so based on past rides with less carbs and not really putting out a high effort that was fine.  Just could not put out much effort which on the flat you can deal with but not on climbs and there were lots of them.  I put this down to a bad day, which it was, and not the best sleep, which I did not get, but seemed like more.

In talking to Peter Defty, who is a good friend and owner to Vespa/OFM who I work with, a couple days later and he thought it might be allergies.  I had not thought about it as my nose was stuffy but not as usually happens when the pollen starts.  But then I remember at least one person at the race complaining about her allergies so then it made some sense.  Then looking at it as I write this is seems pretty clear as my head/sinuses are a mess.  The level was such that it just drained me and also explained while later in the day I was starting to get some wheezing on the climbs when pushing it to get over the climb. I have exercise induced asthma, which usually only happens on cold days when I ride or run hard. and had not had it on a day such as this enough to remember.  I had not thought about it as was supposed to be warm so did not bring my inhaler so need to remember it in the future to be safe.  

Then there is the more spiritual side of things which I like to make sure I look at. in all I do  I do think that God wants to keep me humble as I think we finished last and I rode slower than ever.  Yea, the things above were the direct cause but God uses means to accomplishes His purposes and being humble is important.  Not that I think I gloat over doing well but I do tend to expect it and that is not the case as I was shown during this ride.  Some may see this as a negative but I see it as a positive as I need to view rides and races as just experiences and while I want to do well just being able to do these things is something to be thankful for.

Will I do this again - for sure as I really want to do the ride I felt I should be able to.   My initial feel was not so gung-ho to come back.  But when I look at it from a couple days out things look different.  Standing back I can say while there was a lot of climbing with not a lot of rest it was not as hard as it felt since the issue I have made is such.  Is it a tough course - Yes - would I tell a person doing their first long gravel race to do it - Not unless they were good on lots of hills.  So whether I do it next or the year after not sure but will for sure do it again.

Strava Data here

Short Video of the First 50 miles

Longer video of the first 50 miles

So what about fueling.  In most rides/races lately I have been trying to get closer to 50-60g/hr but just can’t get there.  For this ride I was adding in use a Gell called CARBS Fuel as they are a 50g Gell that I can get 4 of into a 250ml flask (200g or about 4 hours worth).  Along with that I had a 150ml flask with 3 NeverSecond 30+ espresso gels for 90g of carbs.  As an aside I like the SIS gels better but these had more carbs in less qty which is easier to carry.  I also had a 150ml flask with 100g of the carbs I did not use.  I also had some other things as below.  I don’t think fueling was an issue, may have been low on electrolytes and as ride went longer and could have used an extra Vespa UC. Bottom line more carbs can’t overcome physical issues.  Oh, and yes I did drink about a 1/4 of a can of beer at the last main rest stop as they did not have coke and, well I was wiling to try anything the way I felt.  In truth did not feel it did good or bad but was different:)

Here is the fueling of the day

Fueling:

Pre-Ride

Cup of coffee with Cream, Collagen and sugar

1 - RX Bar

1- Vespa UC

Totals

Cals - 414kcal

Carbs - 38g

Fat - 17g

Protein - 31g

Ride Fueling

3 - Vespa UC

3.5 - CARBS Gels

3 - Neversecond Espresso Gels

9 - Gummies

2 Scoops - Good Life Carbs

2 - Good Life Electrolyte packets

1/2 can Coke

1/4 Can beer

5L water

Totals:

Cals - 1466kcal

Carbs - 358g (10.5 hours - 34g/hr)

Protein - 1.5g

Fat - 0g

My initial thoughts after the ride was to cancel all my up coming races and just step back.  Yea, I can be a little dramatic after a less than anticipated ride.  But after narrowing things down to possibly allergies it lets me know once I get rested up, taking the next week off to get my allergies under control and then can get back at it.

The biggest takeaway is even with a way less than stellar day I still got it done - yea glad no one offered a ride - and saw some very beautiful country that many will never see.

  Click on images for more information and if you want more info on OFM check out this post: 

• What is OFM (Optimized Fat Metabolism)

To order Vespa you can go here and use coupon code - tkonvalin15 -   for 15% off.

Tapering my Rowing and Upping Riding Milage - Training Part 4

It has been a couple months since my last training post figured it was time to give some updates as I up my riding milage and lower my rowing efforts as well as filter in running. I will first look at my last couple months in rowing and what I will do in the coming year then move to my training for upcoming Gravel races and Road rides.

As far as rowing the last 2 months have been busy as I am at just over 3 months into my rowing endeavors.  In January I had a couple races, a CTC effort and a Concept 2 Challenge.  The year started with The Diamonds Resolution Row  which was to row for 1 hour and record the distance.  Was not really a race but did want a good effort.  I did not row too hard but did put in a good effort and ended up with 14, 278 meters which was a 2:06/500m pace.  To break things up I rowed an increased pace every 5:00 for 1:00 then settled in and repeated again and again till done.  For sure was tired but did feel good and lets me see I have a sub 1:30 1/2 marathon in me.

The next event I did was on January 10th and was the  Head of the Hooch Virtual Regatta   which was a live 1K.  This was my first race and while many virtual races are efforts you do during a specified time and you enter your fastest effort this was an actual live online race.  There were only 5 entries in my AG (65-69) but will say unlike many runs and such it seems in races there are few just there for the experience so tend to be more   competitive.  Having never done this before I goofed up on the start and missed the “GO” on the screen so while it is normal to go out with 4-5 strong efforts to get things rolling then settle in I want hard for too far to tray and pick up a little on the leader.  The issue was I went out way too fast and also after the race realized I was chasing a guy I was not going to be close to and thus expended too much effort and paid dearly for it.  My first 250m was a 1:42.6/500m split with my nest 250m split being 1:46.4/500m so the lactate was coning fast.  My next 250 slit was pretty slow at 2:05/500m as while in running you can walk and riding you can cost and draft in rowing when you die you do not go anywhere.  Truth is I wanted to stop as had slipped to fourth but decided better of it and was able to get back some time with a last 250 split at 1:53.4/500m and ended with a total time of 3:43.6 (1:51.8/500m Avg) for 3rd place.  Lots to learn on pacing but good to get a race in.

The next race I did was the Head of the Charles River 4702M Virtual Race.  Was a strange distance but for sure one that would take better pacing.  I did go out quick but then settled in at 1:56.1/500m and picked up the pace to finish with final time of 18:02.5 (1:55.1/500m) and got  26th in the 60-69 AG and I think would have been about 8th if there was a 65-69 AG. 

For sure was hard but see room for improvement.

My last race was the Cape Fear Gator - Gatta Love 2K .  This was a virtual race where you submitted your best time over a 3 day period so I did my initial effort on a Friday.  I had planned for a 1:50 pace to go for a 7:20 and went out quick but probably tool a few strokes too many hard and did not settle in like I should have.  My f500 splits were 1:47.3, 1:51.9, 1:53.2 & 154.4 for a final time of 7:26.7 (1:51.6/500M avg).  While I slowed the good thing is it was not as bad as my 1K but still Painful.  As you can’t see other peoples efforts my thought was to try again on Sunday.  That said on the Saturday after the 2K I did a 110 miles ( Warmup   & 100 Miler  ) on Zwift so was not sure how that would affect things.  So on Sunday while tired I figured would give it a go and abort the effort if not there as as would not be worth it.  I did try but on the first try made it to about 600m and just not breathing well and took a rest and tried again just to see and did not get to 600M.  It was all good as would submit my 7:26.7.  The bad was that my form going is not bad but has a ways to go and one issue is I tend to break my elbow far too early.  When racing this is worse and breaking my elbow early puts extra stress on them and my elbow and ended up with elbow pain in my left elbow that still is lingering 2 weeks later.  As far as the race I was able to win the 65-69 but it was close as only won by 0.5 seconds.

One thing I have been doing more of is videoing my rowing.  While it is not pretty it does help me to see how my form is.  The breaking of my elbows early is a great example as I was sure i was not - and in slower efforts I am much better - but the videos do not lie - I have started a Playst of them here.  I try and put in both races and training efforts as they tell a lot.

This was my 2K race and you can see the arm issue:

The rest of my rowing activities for January and February were the Cross Team Challenge (CTC) put on by British Rowing that the team I row for takes part in.  They are mostly workouts that you submit your results for and see where you stand.  The CTC is for everyone and not just older rowers like myself and The Diamonds Team I row for.  They were good efforts and turned in some good times.  My effort in the February CTC further showed I am probably better at longer races so will just have to see.  The January effort was called Thors Challenge and February’s was called The Mercian Ladder.

As my elbow was injured I decided to back off on rowing some after the 2K race and with more riding coming up it all works out.  I will still look to row 2 - 3 times a week and do the CTC for the month but probably not race for a bit.  Longer term goal is to get back into rowing for races in September/October.  I really think rowing is a great addition to what I do in training as do notice more upper body strength but really have to work on for as can get injured - as with my elbow - if not careful.

As far as riding I have slowly upped my riding and got in a good 4 weeks where last week of it was 200 miles with a 110 in one ride on Zwift.  I then took a week off by dropping milage to 100 for the week and then this past week was at 200 again will work my milage up.  The first gravel race of the season will be on April 4th at The Appalachian Journey 100 miler which is a team race so will be fun.  Then over Memorial weekend will be doing the Saturday and Sundays rides at the Horsey Hundred (  https://horseyhundred.com/ ) and as with last year will be meeting up with the BMTR Zwift team I ride for - will be fun.  The longest gravel race of the year is on June 24th in Michigan as will be doing the Coast to Coast Gravel Grinder  which is 204 miles from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan.  This one will be a challenge but is more of a ride for me than a race as using it as training for The Dust Bowl 100  on July 25th and then the last big one of the year The Gravel Worlds 150 miler  August 22nd - what a way to spend my birthday:)

Not sure if will do other rides but just have to see how my schedule goes and may do The Bourbon Chase again this year but have to see.  Right now just working on upping my miles and filtering in some hard workouts twice a week or so but working to make sure get enough rest.  Speaking of rest as that was why I was going to try a more “Polarized Training” plan this year this was a good podcast with Stephen Seiler and his daughter Siren on Zones and it is good as it gives a little more clarity on Zones.  When I say clarity it actually may get more confusing but that is because Zones are a tool and too often that tool is spoken of as one size fits all and that is not the case - here is the podcast: Dissecting Training Zones with Sirena and Dr. Stephen Seiler.

More to follow as I next need to work out my training plan leading up to the races above.  Wile I want to do well at all of them I also know pretty hard to be at ones best for them all.  So really need to decide on my A, B and C races.  Then I need to figure out how much running I want to do so as to be able to run a running race when i want to.  Lastly, as menined above how to keep up some form of rowing so when I get to where I want to focus on it more I am already there.

  Click on images for more information and if you want more info on OFM check out this post: 

• What is OFM (Optimized Fat Metabolism)

To order Vespa you can go here and use coupon code - tkonvalin15 -   for 15% off.