FORD 1 Plus

I have never really considered myself a morning person but when my alarm went off at 5:20 Saturday morning, I was able to pop up and get moving pretty easily. It was race day and I had to get up early enough to give me time to eat and make final preparations before my friends arrived at my house around 6:30. I was excited when I woke up.

I started the morning off with a hot wake up shower. Even though I would be sweating hard and getting very muddy during the race, I find that the morning hot shower gets my system going. After a quick shower, I had my signature smoothie. This would be the first time I would have the smoothie before working out. But if it is good enough for Scott Jurek, it is good enough for me. I also had an English muffin with some jam. Later on the trip up to the race venue in Fredericksburg, I had a banana and granola bar. I think it ended up being just the right amount of food and energy although I did start to get hungry towards the very end of the race.

We really could not have had much better weather. The predicted rain was a non event. It was already 70 degrees when I got up but the mercury did not really rise much more than 70 throughout the day. After the race, some of my friends would complain that it was too hot. But I like to sweat and as long as it is not too hot, I don't mind a little warmth.

We arrived plenty early and got checked in and got our bikes all setup in the transition zone. It was a relatively small race compared to other duos I have done. My friend Jeff and I did a warm up run and experienced some of the trails that we would be running and biking on during the race. We broke a little sweat and got our heart rates up some in preparation for the difficult course.

At 9:00 AM the race started with our run down a gravel road and then down a flat dirt trail. After going for about a half mile down the flat trail, we took a sharp left and went into the woods. The trail promptly went up. We climbed for a bit and then went back down and across a small creek. It was sort of funny to see a few people trying to pick their way across the creek without getting wet. I splashed through the creek and up the steep embankment and continued climbing on the single track. I always do pretty well on trails and was able to pass some people on some of the climbs and on some of the downhills.

Once we got through with the loop through the woods, we dropped back down and ran on the dirt trails for a while on our way back to the transition zone. My friend Jeff started to pull away from me on the flats. Another runner or two also passed me on the flats. My friend Mario was behind me somewhere but I was not really sure how far back he was. Mario and I were competing for a dinner so I was glad I was in front of him.

When I got into the transition zone, I realized I had made a mistake. I had double knotted my running shoes and with my heart pounding and lungs working hard, it was hard to get them untied. I lost about 15 seconds or so getting the shoes off. While I was getting suited up for the mountain bike ride, Mario came into transition. He wore his bike gloves during the run to help shave off some seconds in transition. He also must have done something else different because even though he came into transition 30 seconds behind me, he left the transition zone before me. I finally got all my stuff together and took off on the bike.

I could not see Mario anywhere ahead of me. He must have been really punching it. The first part of the bike course followed part of the run course. When I approached the turn off into the woods, I saw Mario pushing his bike up the first climb. That really surprised me. I was wondering if he was already feeling weak and could not do the climb which lead me to believe I should be able to beat him. As I found out later, Mario actually had just had a crash on the hill. Once you lose momentum on a steep hill, the only way to get going again is to push the bike up the hill until it levels out enough to get going again.

I was slowly catching up to Mario. I could see him ahead of me and kept pushing hard to catch him. I finally passed him on a steep hill. He had spun out and was pushing his bike up the hill and I rode past him. After a few up and downs we came to "The Tunnel." There was a drainage tunnel that went under I95 and we had to ride through it. There was a couple inches of water flowing through it and it was very dark. We could see the light at the end of the tunnel but that was about it. Someone behind me said they were passing me on the right in the tunnel. I could not see the sides of the tunnel and I could not see the rider passing me on my right. Once he got in front of me, I could see his silhouette because of the light at the end of the tunnel. It was easier to follow someone in the tunnel so I was actually glad this person passed me. We let out some mandatory screams which is something that just has to be done when you are riding your bike through a very dark storm tunnel under the highway.

Once we got to the other side of I95 we had some more steep climbs. I saw a rider in front of me struggling with the steep climb. Then I realized it was Mario. I asked him if he passed me in the tunnel. It turns out it was Mario passing me in the tunnel. That shows you how dark that tunnel was. I did not even realize it was Mario who was passing me.

I was able to pass him and then him me. We traded off like this for a while. I was right behind Mario when we started some fast descents. Unfortunately for me, he was able to pass a slower rider who I then got stuck behind. And that would be the last I saw of Mario. I was eventually able to pass the slower rider but it was too little too late. Now that I was riding on my own with no one to follow, I went at a slower pace. When mountain biking on trails that are unfamiliar, it helps to follow someone else. It is easier to pick good lines based on the person in front of you.

The last part of the bike ride was flat but there were lots of tree crossings. Some of them were too big for me and I had to quickly jump off my bike, clear the obstacle, and then jump back on. Most of the obstacles I could clear but my arms were starting to get tired from all the pulling up on the bars to get over the obstacles. I finally made it back to the dirt trail that I was more familiar with and I was able to kick it up a notch and finish the bike ride pretty strong.

My second transition was much faster. I did not really think I could catch Mario but I wanted to go as fast as I could. It was a race after all. I ran the second run pretty well. I was able to maintain a decent pace and keep moving. Towards the end of the run, I started to get hungry. I did not have much more to run but the stomach grumbling was a little distracting. I decided to have a bite of my Luna bar as I ran along the river. That one bite was enough to keep my stomach from feeling empty.

As I came out of the woods on to the final stretch along a gravel road, I saw another runner up ahead of me. He was about 50 yards ahead of me. As a motivator, I decided I would catch him and beat him to the finish line. I stepped up my pace so I could close in on him. Once I got about 20 yards from him, I put the hammer down and engaged my signature kick. I always kick hard at the end of my races. I get up to an all out sprint. After all, after I cross the finish line, the race will be over. I might as well leave it all on the course.

After the race, we stuck around for a little while before heading home. I felt pretty good about the race. Sure I did not beat my friends and now owed Mario a steak dinner but considering that those 4.6 miles I just ran were those most I had run since last September, I was quite pleased with my performance.

Now that my first FORD#1 was behind me, I went home and iced, refueled, and re-hydrated. I had to press the reset button for Sunday. On Sunday I got up early again and ran a 10K with my friend. It as a charity event so it was a fun run. I made my donation and ran the rolling hills of Ashland. And I actually felt pretty darn good. It was fun to spend some time with my friend Chris. He lives on the other side of the river now and has a 2 year old so we don't get to spend that much time together nowadays. We ran together for most of the run until near the end when I sped up and passed a few people and again demonstrated my signature kick. I finished strong in 1 hour and 33 seconds. It was a great run and once again, I had run further than I had run since last September.

After the run, I came home. Melissa had been working all morning in the garden. I offered to go get us some lunch so she could finish up. We had a hive checked scheduled and she wanted to finish up in the garden before we started with the hive check. After a Panera Bread lunch, we did the hive check. I will let Melissa talk more of that in her blog http://houseofbees.wordpress.com.

Once the hive check was complete, Melissa headed off to meet a friend to do some road biking. And since I can rest when I am dead, I took my mountain bike to the park and did an hour pretty hard on the mountain bike. Then I was off to Whole Foods to load up on fruits and vegetables for the week. Melissa was going straight from her bike ride to the pool for her weekly swim workout. While she was at the pool, I came home and did my upper body workout. I pushed it hard and got in a really killer workout.

After my third workout of the day, I made some smoothies for Melissa and me and then made dinner. Alas the weekend is now coming to a close. Tomorrow will be a rest and recovery day. I plan to do some walking and stretching and perhaps a hot Epsom salt soak. Plus I have to wash all the technical clothing that I went through this weekend.

I am very happy with all of my workouts and my progress towards being super fit. My diet and strength/core workouts are definitely paying off. I really should not have been able to run as well as I did considering that I have not done much running. I attribute how well I ran and how well I felt to my cross training and core work. I highly recommend it to everyone.