Beach2Battleship Training Weekend

I had a great training weekend in Wilmington.   I ran on the beach Friday evening; and then I rode 100 miles of the bike course on Saturday with my good friend, Ginger (Aquaphor chic) and her training buddies.  (If you just want to read my notes about the bike course, scroll to the bottom past all the pictures.)

I arrived on Friday evening, checked into my hotel, and headed down to the beach for a nice run.  I parked at one of the fishing piers, and took this picture before starting out.  It was cloudy, windy and cool.  But I wasn’t there for sunbathing, I was there to run!

I ran southward because that looked to be the longest stretch of beach – plenty for my hour long run.    After about 25 minutes of running I realized I was approaching the inlet where the B2B race will start.     It was just pure luck that I ended up there.   I ran all the way around to the sound side to scope out the lay of the land.   Really wished I had a camera!  It was a beautiful wide expanse of  beach with views of both the ocean and the sound.  A  lovely pink sunset peeked through a small break in the clouds.  And sea oats danced in the breeze atop the small sand dunes.   The lovely scene really makes me excited for this race!

I ran back to my start point at the pier.  When I was done running, my muscles were sore (beach running takes alot out of you!). I sat in the water to take an ‘ice bath’. It was not cold at all – no colder than Lake Jordan, where I do my open water swim training.   When I got out of the water, my wet clothes made me shiver all the way back to my car. I think the air temperature was about 50, but it was getting dark and it was very windy.

I used my new Garming 310xt (which was given to me by a client in exchange for some work -sweet deal!). Check out my beach run: http://connect.garmin.com/player/16377190

The next morning I woke up at 5:30 am and walked next door to the Dunkin Donuts for some coffee.  I was tempted by all the donuts, but resisted.   I knew that donuts would not sit well in my tummy for my 100 mile bike ride.  I tweeted this picture – and my twitter friend @Darnyce pointed out the sign above the donuts.  Can you read what it says?   Too funny!

I packed up my gear and headed to the Battleship. It was still dark.  The temperature was about 49 and very very windy.   I was in trouble because I did not bring enough cold weather riding gear. I had just planned on arm warmers and newspaper stuffed down my bike jersey.  That is usually fine in 50 degrees and sunny, which is what I was expecting.  But it was not going to be enough in that wind and with no sun in sight.  I ended up driving to a gas station to buy some cheap cotton work gloves.   Luckily I also had a warm-up jacket in my car.    Ginger’s friend, Mary,  had some spare leg warmers that she loaned me.

We headed up 421 North into a stiff headwind.  I was still a little cold even with all those layers, but I was managing well enough.    A strong rider named Furman pulled as we rode into that headwind.   Even though I was drafting, I still felt as if I were fighting the wind!   I had to work kind of hard to stay on the wheel,  and that helped to warm my body.   One of the group got a flat tire on the industrial stretch of that road.   Hope that doesn’t happen on race day!

We rode 421 N for about 37 miles.  It was hard work the whole way – with a headwind and false flat uphill.    We took a rest stop at mile 38, right before our left turn heading west on 41.    Note the Krispy Kreme donut truck in the background behind the photo of Ginger and me below.  Donuts are good karma, right?

Ginger was sporting a pretty red windbreaker cycling vest.  I need to get one of those.  We both still had all our layers on!     The lack of sun and the strong wind really made for cold riding conditions.

The rest of the course was a mix of headwind, tailwind, false flats and some gentle rollers.     At times we rode moderately hard; at other times we rode easy and chatted.  The sun did eventually come out and warm us up, and I peeled some layers off.

Everybody in the group was really nice.   They let me pull the last few miles back down 421.  That was fast and fun because it was generally downward and a bit of a tailwind.    Fast until we got to the two big bridges right before the Battleship.  Those bridges were badass hills…I had to stand up and dance on the pedals for the second one.    It was a great finish to a great ride.

Here is the whole group at the end of the ride. Ginger, me, Mary, Furman and Tom.  It was a great ride with really great folks!

Afterwards, we went out for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. I ordered Magical Mystery Tour, Ginger ordered Kosmic Karma, and Tom and Mary got the Gourmet White.   Furman was not able to stay for pizza – bummer that he missed out on the best pizza evah!

Here’s my Garmin data from the bike ride:  http://connect.garmin.com/player/16503561

Here are some notes about the bike course that I shared in the BT forums:

I rode most of the bike course yesterday. I screwed up making the cue sheet on google maps, so I ended up riding it in reverse. Crap, I wondered why we saw so many people riding the course backwards, haha! Really glad I scoped it out, tho, as I learned some things.

– It was freaking cold at 8am. I had prepared for a 50 degree start temperature. But, being cloudy and Very, very windy, it felt much colder. I had not brought gloves, so I stopped at a gas station to buy a cheapo pair of mens cotton work gloves. They worked fine. You will need gloves. Bring some cheapo kind that you can throw away later. I had bike shorts, jersey, arm warmers, newspaper stuffed into my jersey. That wasn’t enough, so I put on a warmup jacket that I luckily had in my car. A friend loaned me some leg warmers. I was still chilly for the first hour. My toes were very cold, wish I had toe covers. Then I got warmed up, so I ditched the newspaper on the end of some random driveway. When the sun finally came out, I got warmer, so peeled off the gloves. After noon, I stopped to pee and took off the jacket and tied it around my waist. I think I will skip leg warmers, as they aren’t easy to peel off. On race day, if it’s about a 50 degree start, I will wear: toe covers, arm warmers, jersey with newspaper stuffed into it, windbreaker zip-up vest (might try to find that at a thrift store so I can ditch it), cheap gloves, bike shorts. If rain is in the forecast, I’ll be sol. I don’t have cold weather rain gear.  Maybe I’ll pack one of those clear plastic disposable rain coats.  I might even have one of those in my car!

-the wind really sucked the moisture out of me.   I was drinking more than usual for a cool riding day.  And I was not needing to pee more than usual (every 2-3 hours).

– we rode all the way up 421 with a headwind and it felt slightly uphill. That was very tough. Luckily, on race day, it will be the reverse, so that last 37 miles should be fast. I hope the wind is the same direction!

– 421 was boring. The last part was very industrial and busy. The final stretch leading to the battleship includes two badass bridges over a river and highway. One was really short steep climb. I like hills, so I enjoyed getting up out of the saddle to ‘dance on the pedals’ as they say in the Tour de France. Just mentally be prepared for this at the end and you’ll be fine.

– between those two bridges above, there is a huge blob of dried concrete (must have spilled out of a truck or something). I think it was right on the white line. I ran right over it, duh! Watch out for that, plus a lot of debris in the shoulder. I hope they close off one lane of the road in this section. It was kind of a major highway, and I did not like riding on it. Big trucks going by me at 70 miles an hour!

– there were some nice little rollers on the loopy part of the course that includes 210 and 41. Very pretty country side. Some head wind, some tailwind, some false flats up and some down.

– I was riding with a group. Whenever I was pulling in front or off the back by myself,  I watched my speed just to see what I can expect on race day. Sometimes I’d be going 16mph, and other times 23. It’s just the wind and false flats that made the difference. On race day, just don’t worry about that number. Stay in your ‘zone’. If it’s a headwind and your not going as fast as you want, dont’ worry. Just hunker down and try to become the smallest shape possible to cut thru the wind. But don’t try to push a certain speed, or you’ll trash yourself. And, remember that you’ll make it up going back down 421!!

– There were a couple of railroad tracks where my water bottle launched out of the cage in the back. Really got to figure out how to keep that from happening!

PS: those two badass bridges are also on the run course. Short but steep. Don’t worry about it, just be mentally prepared for it. And no shame in walking a short steep climb in an ironman.