Training Log Archive: abiperk

Event: The Chill
 

Brent, Andy, and I signed on to do the Chill together awhile ago, and then when the three of us and Mark started talking about ARWC together, Mark decided to drive down and join us this weekend. After we found out that we got a slot for Worlds, there was an added excitement and anticipation for the day.

4am wakeup call and a 2.5 hour drive to Little Bennett State Park made for a long day for a sprint race, but we'd heard great things about Adventure Addicts events and were excited to try our first one.

Rain started just as the race began and continued on and off all day, sometimes veering toward sleet. Overall, though, not nearly as bad as they'd predicted, and I was able to stay relatively comfortable throughout the day. Wore base layer bottoms, fleece tights, and rain pants; polypro top with mid-weight smartwool and rain jacket.

Race began with a sprint separator and four speedy points on foot en route to the bikes. We were at the front of the pack with a few all-male teams. I was struggling to get air early, between the cold and the pace. We arrived at the bikes 28 minutes in and my lungs started to settle down as we TA-ed.

The next leg included 19 CPs, 7 of which were 1 point each and the remaining 12 were paired so you had to collect both in order to get credit. Since we expected to clear the course, we didn't pay much attention to strategy and just worked our way around in a circuit. Lots of on and off the bike, a few strategic whacks, stellar nav from Brent, and Andy and Mark swapping off on the passport. I felt surprisingly strong the bike - loving the introduction of the trainer! - and the trails were a ton of fun, even as they got sloppier and sloppier as the day went on.

We spent most of this section chasing the ARMD 3-male team and also crossed paths regularly with Jesse Tubb and his teammate (USMES) and a Barry Nobles and Mike Dickey (Halfway There).

Brent had been dealing with a stomach bug all week and was seriously depleted by race day. He'd warned everyone ahead of time that he wasn't in top form, and he held up great for the morning but started to tank during the second half of the race. Our pace slowed some, but he dug pretty deep to keep going. He said after it's the worst he can remember feeling during a race, other than when he got hyponatremia in Costa Rica and we had to pull out.

We got into the final TA just after ARMD and managed to get out about a minute ahead of them. The final section was an 8-10k 10-cp rogaine that would lead us back to the finish. ARMD caught us pretty quickly but we stayed in eyesight of each other for most of the section. Finally, two points before the finish, ARMD left for the trails and Brent decided that our only chance was to straight-line our route. We arrived at the point just before them, Mark and Andy were able to find it first, and we pulled ahead by about 50 meters. We whacked to the final CP, ARMD attacking slightly differently than we did. We managed to find the point first and Brent found another gear as we sprinted the half kilometer to the finish, looking over our shoulders the entire way. We ended up with the overall win, and ARMD came in about 90 seconds later. Awesome to be fighting all the way to the end.

Top notch race from Adventure Addicts, and such a great team experience. Looking forward to the season ahead!

C • Congratulations! 6

Out and back on FD with Jean. Lungs still pretty tight.

Wiss trails with Val - taking advantage of 60 degrees!

EZ ride w/ 4x45 sec pickups.

Need new shoes.