It seems like my friends and I have been talking about this race for months and then all of a sudden I realized it was 3 days away. I put a post on Facebook asking some of my endurance rider friends to chime in with any tips for a 5 hour race (I've never raced for longer than 3 hours). I don't like to eat while riding but I knew I had to in order to ride for 5 hours straight. Also, I didn't want to "ride" I wanted to "race" and wanted peak performance. I received many tips and I pieced together what I thought would work for me. I didn't want to try anything new on race day (always a terrible idea). So I decided to use the nutrition I'd been using but more of it. I also tried one new thing. Beets. I read a few articles and it seemed easy to try and has the potential to increase performance/stamina by 15%. That's A LOT! I bought some fresh beets a few days before the race and ground them up in my daily protein shakes. The fruit I put in the shakes cut down the nasty taste. My stomach handled them fine so I loaded up my shakes with beets for a few days and the morning of.
I felt great the morning of the race. My plan was to try and hang with the winners of past years (Bill and Andy). Yeah, I know, this was a pretty lofty goal but....the last thing I said to my besties JR and JP was Go Big or Go Home! I lined up next to Bill and Andy at the start. We took off and I was behind a few of my fast friends (part of our top 5 group at Piggy's Revenge) I thought they would be trying to follow Bill and Andy too but they weren't going for it and were falling behind just a few minutes in to the start. I shouted "don't let them go". When I realized they weren't going to go for it, I went around them and dropped the hammer to catch back on to the lead guys. So, here we were 5 minutes into a 5 hour race and I was balls out-lol. I knew they wouldn't keep up that pace so I was trying to hang on until they settled in to their endurance pace. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes in I had to let them go. There were four guys in front of me so I was 5th. My goal was a top 5 finish so I was Ok with this. Unfortunately, my speed was not fast enough to hang with the top group but faster than the gang behind me. I settled in for a long lonely solo ride. About halfway through the first loop I saw the 4th place rider, Jerald! He pulled away from me again in the sand but I "burned a match" a caught him. I figured the two of us working together was better than solo! I rode his wheel for miles and miles. I told him I could take a pull and help him out. He didn't respond and looked at me like I was a crazy lunatic. OK, whatever, I'll stay behind you! (He later told me the crazy look was because I was too small to draft behind-ha). As we were nearing the end of the first loop, I touched my foot down to keep balance in some sand and felt a weird twinge in my left quad. Like the muscle was giving out. This was the beginning of "cramping" I've always heard people say "I was cramping" but I have never cramped in all my years of racing. I had no idea what to do. I wasn't even half done with the race. I have a bad knee on my right side so I usually pedal with 70% left leg and 30% right leg. I started focusing on pedaling hard with my right leg to try and save the left. This worked. I was just getting little twinges here and there and was able to keep going.
Near the end of the trail is a BRUTAL sand section. If you stay off to the side the ground is a little firmer but there are trees and bushes along the side. I decided that branches in the face were better than trying to get through the deep sand. So I plowed through the trees-ha! I lost Jerald during this time. He was really good in the sand. I finished the first lap by myself. I stopped and filled my camelbak and bottle with cold water. It tasted amazing!
I looked down the road to see if anyone was behind me. No one coming and Jerald was long gone in front of me. Here we go, lap 2 solo, is what I was figuring. I turned up the tunes on my headphones and headed out feeling dang good! Things got better when I caught up to Jerald again. I was in my own little zone by this point and I rode on by him with a "hi". It might've been smart to hang on his wheel but I just wanted to keep plowing along at my own pace. We went back and forth quite a few times. He'd do better in the sand, and I'd do better on the harder surfaces. At exactly the 3 hour 50 minute mark I experienced my first real cramp-HOLY CRAP! That hurt. I was thinking for a minute I was going to be limping my way out of there on foot. I let my left hang unclipped in and pedaled with just my right leg. I let the left leg spasm itself out and then slowly tried to clip it back in and get that leg spinning circles while the right leg did all the work. Recently Bob McCarty taught me how to rest my legs while standing. If you drop your heels and lock your knees it takes the strain off your quads and stretches your calves. Feels awesome! I was trying to do this rest move and this is when I realized just how brutal this trail is. The rough terrain, whether it be the sand or the foliage you're riding over, does not allow for coasting. I would stop pedaling, stand and drop into rest position and would roll about 10 feet before the bike stopped...sigh...so much for resting. I did this about 5 times to try to get my legs to calm down. I did get a little rest and was able to continue on. Finally, what seemed like out of nowhere, a crowd of people appeared at the side of the trail screaming. Holy Crap! We were at Snake Pit (a camp about 20 minutes from the end of the trail). This totally renewed my energy. I was following Jerald through the single track at this point. I started singing some Katy Perry behind him and he said "do you want to go?". Must be he didn't like my singing. I was like "yep!" It felt so good to be on single track moving the bike around and being in and out of the saddle. Besides the cramping issues, my energy was off the charts. I dropped the hammer through the last single track mostly right leg pedaling but whipping around the corners and riding over every log-over like a Pro. I hit the miles of sand at the end of the ride and rode it terrible. I was off the bike 7-8 times from loss of momentum. (Later, talking to everyone after, this seemed to be a common problem. Just no power left to ride through it!) I was surprised to see that Jerald was not in sight. I was actually going to finish this thing in the top 4!
I knew I had finished well!
I was so happy to be OFF my bike!
Bill, Andy, and I at the finish
The finish line!
Sooo tired...
I stayed on the power for the last miles of gravel. Pulling into the finish was the best feeling ever. I knew I had seriously just crushed that ride. I had planned for 5 hours but crossed the finish in 4:28. The best surprise when I got to the end was- the 3rd place rider had dropped out of the race. The only riders waiting for me were Bill and Andy.
Jerald rolled in a few minutes behind me. I had no idea where the others were behind me the entire time. I was sure they were only minutes behind me. Since I am used to cross country races that are only 1.5-2 hours (you're full-on the entire race) I kept feeling like I was riding slow at an endurance pace! The other riders ended up finishing near the 5 hour mark and beyond.
I ended being surprised again when I found out the top three finishers received prizes! Bill, Andy, and I went out to Snake Pit to receive our prizes. Wes (race coordinator) had sandwiches for us too. It was all I could do to choke down a half of sandwich. My stomach was a disaster from eating all of that sugary crap during the race. I think it's safe to say, I gave that race every thing I had. I was absolutely exhausted and sick! I hung out with my friends for a bit, mostly staring blankly and feeling like crap. I got home, went to bed, and got up at 5 to head for Miami to race again! The final Coconut Cup was the next day at Markham Park!
My conclusion is that beets are awesome :-)
As always, thanks to Stradalli for the sweet ride. Many thanks to Erik Keller for the awesome photos, Picayune Nature Club, Wes, and the other great volunteers
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