Let the beating of the quads begin! I totally forgot how tough this trail run is. It's a lot of fun the 1st time around, but one definitely has to be careful and not go all out right away. I ran with a bunch of guys, but I made sure I kept it relatively EZ. This year there weren't any girls in front of me to catch, so I raced from the front which was cool but also a bit scary not knowing who was behind me and how far. Parts of the course are single track, and I ran those sections with at least 3 guys behind me the entire time. I offered to let them go by, because I felt rushed, and I didn't want to slow them down, but they had no interest of leading the pack. So there I was, trying to stick to my own pace, while trying to ditch the oh crap I am slowing everyone down feeling. I ran (maybe shuffled) all the uphills, and let my legs go on the downhills while trying to keep my stride shorter to hopefully somewhat save my quads. I was just really trying to avoid the inevitable that I knew was coming. This run only gets tougher and tougher on laps 2 and 3. I had a cup of water at the one and only aid station at roughly mile 2.

Not much - I was very happy with my 1st run split. 1:47 faster than last year :) and I felt pretty good.

Since I didn't want to run with all my gels, my transition consisted of stuffing my pockets with gels, putting my bike shoes on, and my new LG Aero Helmet. It's a bit of a pain in the ass to get on, but I was in and out of there as fast as I could.

Maybe I need to tape my gels on the bike, but I have lost a few doing it like this before so not sure I want to try that again.

Crazy uphills climbing in the single digits, or super fast and scary downhills. Anything over 40mph on a bike just feels oh so scary especially when turns are involved! I tried to spin up all the uphills and keep my power relatively low and I coasted most of the downhills simply because I already had so much speed, I was actually scared to pick up any more. You know when a sign says you should go 15, 20 or 25mph into either left or right turns, and that's for cars, as a cyclist one should probably follow the rules too.

It was already pretty hot, so I went through 2 bottles of water, 1 bottle of super concentrated powerbar perform (4 scoops), and a gel. I could have probably gone through another bottle of water, but just didn't have room for it. I couldn't just throw away my E3 bottles :)

I also have to say how much I love my bike position since I found myself closing gaps on a lot bigger heavier peeps flying downhill and that just shouldn't happen. Thank you Jorge! Maybe it's time for another tweek? :)

This course is super beautiful, and offers many stunning views!

I did ride 2:55 faster than last year but that may partially be due to the better weather.

Pretty uneventful. Racked the bike, dumped all my bottles, put in two new for the next bike leg, grabbed a gel for the run and off I went.

Same 5 mile loop, except this time the hills were steeper, and downhills hurt more. I had one guy in front of me and couple of behind me heading out on this loop, and I managed to pass them both. I shuffled most of the uphills until I needed to get my hear rate down a little which reduced me to power walking, but I tried to at least run or shuffle most of the time, as I find it extremely challenging to start running once you start walking.

I then came up to another 2 guys on another uphill, who were just plain walking. I have to say watching someone walk in front of you, makes it extremely easy to start walking yourself, so I did have to dig a little deeper to not follow the suit but rather keep moving.

Then followed the downhills that by now hurt almost as much as uphills, but I was able to keep a descent pace. My quads were starting to hurt, and my right one especially wasn't very happy. No cramping, but just a warning sign with every single step.

I was very surprised that my overall time was almost identical to the 1st loop, but I sure had to spend a lot more energy for the same overall run time.

I had two cups of water at the first aid station around mile 2 - 1 to drink, 1 to dumb over my head, and then I had a gel around mile 3.5.

Not much - I was super happy with my 2nd run split and quite surprised how close it was the my first one. I was 2:02 faster than last year :) Progress!

Same deal as before - gels in the pocket, shoes, helmet, sunglasses and off I went.

I was a bit worried about my right quad cramping up, so I made sure I spun up the first uphill (well as much as I could), because the 2.5 mile or so downhill that follows is a bit less than ideal when trying to keep cramps at bay. Why not go from running, to super high power for a mile, to 0 power for the next 2.5 miles.

I tried to keep the cadence high to shake out that feeling and it eventually worked. I did have a bunch of guys in my sight at the beginning of the climb, and eventually caught them all, flying by them one by one on the downhill. I did keep seeing guys in front of me on the first half of the bike course and eventually reeled them all in. It was fun to keep on closing the gaps, and it kept my mind occupied. The once I went by on the uphill were just all spent and not even my words of encouragement made them go with me. The usual response was: "I am spent". I am telling you this course is beautiful but very lonely, and one hell of a beast!

It was definitely hot now, and I was cooking pretty well in my aero helmet and especially on ALL the climbs! Nutrition wise I again went through 2 bottles of water, 1 bottle of super concentrated powerbar perform (4 scoops), and a gel. Again, I could have probably gone through another bottle of water, but just didn't have room for it. The only difference was since I had a gel towards the end of my 2nd run, I went through my liquids 1st, and then had a gel towards the end of the bike, to have some extra energy on the last run.

I am not too excited with a slower 2nd time, but it is what it is. All the "EZ" spinning has caught up with me and my overall power was actually lower on the 2nd loop.

If you didn't read my blog .. here is a bit of stats that.

17 guys biked faster than me on the first bike, but only 7 out of the 17 biked faster than me on the 2nd bike. What makes me feel a little better about my slower 2nd bike, is that only 1 person had a smaller gap (slow down) between the first two bike segments. I apologize for the statistics class, but it helps ME justify that pacing really works :)

Still if I do this race again, my 2nd loop will be faster! Yup - I said it.



Like I said not too psyched about riding slower on my 2nd loop. Like 2:53 slower :( so there goes my time gained on the first bike.

Same deal here .... get rid of all the crap in my pockets, running shoes on, and my new favorite 2x caffeine double latte gel for the road ahead :)

Going up was tough, and going down was tougher. By this point EVERYTHING hurts, and it's just mind over matter, one foot in front of the other. I really just tried to get to the finish line as fast as possible though I am sure it wasn't pretty. You just hope that your quads will take you to the finish line without buckling on ya, and the sight of that Gazebo that's at the finish line can't come fast enough.



Not to sound like a broken record, but pacing is KEY! :)


When looking at the times of the first 5 mile run – there were 22 people who ran faster than me, only 9 of those 22 ran faster than me during the second 5 mile run, and only 7 out of the 9 ran faster on the third and final run. I am happy with all three of my runs.

In comparison to last year ... :45 sec. faster :)

Fall over and don't move another inch!

I did get a post race massage and ART session which was awesome! Then just waited around for the awards.


I am super happy about the outcome (except of course for that 2nd bike), but I did the best I could, and had a blast!



This race is a BEAST, and should be on your To Do List. Maybe if you read my blog, you will sing up? :)

Great laid back race, and it always helps to bring home a prize. Mug #2 - 1s Overall Female, and 10th Overall. Look out boys - 9 of you left to be czech chicked :) though you did kick my butt with authority :).