Mega Update!!!

Huge Update! 3 months worth!

So like with anyone else's life, a ton of things can happen in a short 3 months. I received a Madone 2.1, raced two cycling road races, accomplished my $5,000 fundraising goal, and bought a house. Not to mention upping my training in preparation for this years Ironman Lake Placid! Below my race reports are my weekly logs of time/mileage for training and a quick summary of how the months have gone. Enjoy!

IMLP Donations - THANK YOU!!!

A huge thank you to all of those who donated to my cause for Ironman Lake Placid! We have raised over $5,000 for MMRF! The donations keep coming in and that is awesome! Should we try to hit $6,000? I think so!

There have been 90 of you, yes 90!!!, that have donated. I can't truly explain how much I appreciate your support! Thank you again!

I'd also like to call out my father, Tim Zeman for being my fundraising manager. Projects like this can't be done alone. Thank you for leading the way of ideas, emails, and following up when I needed you to!

http://www.active.com/donate/14mmrfimlakeplacid/LPCZeman 

Battenkill Race Report

In March, I was on the forum for the Tri NE club (the triathlon club out here I’m apart of as well on the East Coast) and there was a mention of this Tour of Battenkill cycling race (65 miles). No clue what it was, so I did a little research.  As I search the their website, there is mention the toughest one day road race in America. Challenge accepted! Let's do this!

I headed out Saturday of April 4th morning to Cambridge, NY (3 hour trek) with a few others. Due to some traffic and a little too many pit stops along the way, we arrived 10 minutes prior to my race.

The gear gets thrown on, I start biking to registration and by the time I get there…my race is closed! They had already lined up everyone and started the dang race! I’m standing there trying to get into a different heat, not going to happen. I signed up for the last 35 and under race…only 36 and older are allowed from here on out. Seriously? Finally the race director gets called over…they let me in, but I need to catch up to the group. This is all happening within about 3 minutes! The race crew pin my numbers on my jersey, put the number on my bike and I kid you not…spank my ass and say “Now go on!”.

After cycling through the start line…the DJ throwing in some verbal jabs about me missing my start…I finally catch up to the group. As you have probably concluded, this race was a staggered start. It was very strange as well, the start wasn’t a big “let’s see who can get in the lead”. The lead motorcycle just kind of kept it at 12 mph and we had to stay behind him. Then all of a sudden…a loud whistle comes from the motorcycle to indicate that we can start racing. Number 666 goes out with a bang and I was about to follow him until I heard laughter. I refrained and just stuck with the pack. All of these new concepts just flooding in, it was somewhat overwhelming!!

        

 The iconic wooden bridge everyone seems to continually talk about

So we are about mile 4 and I’ve seen hand signals indicating someone is joining the line or “peloton”, people yelling that roadkill is in the road, or car up, car back, left turn, right turn. It was pretty neat…something you don’t heard during tri’s! I’m with the lead pack of about 10 and we are cruising at 30 mph. No clue we were! It felt so relaxed. We make our first major turn into a dirt road. The previous day we had about 2 inches of rain. Rain and a dirt road with separate heats going off every 30 minutes since 8 a.m. made these roads BRUTAL. There was dirt, mud, sand, and puddles all over these roads. Not to mention that 25-30% of this race was featured on these dirt roads. Additionally, when I say hills…these aren’t your Rock Cut hills. These hills are miles long with grades between 4-17% at any point in the hill. So we turn onto this hill and about ¼ mile in, the lead guy’s wheel sinks into the mud and falls. We are going about 4-5 mph so it wasn’t anything terrible…other than me falling with him. Those in the back had enough time to react and went around us. There went the race…any chance to podium. As I make sure everything is good, I look to see how much of this hill was still left. The lead group was still biking up this huge hill…but you can’t clip going uphill on mud/dirt/sand. So everyone looks at each other who fell and we start running up this hill. About 3 other guys and myself make it up the hill about the same time and we hop back on and start cycling again.

 Dirt, mud, sand hills. It takes forever to get up these damn hills! 

Luckily for these people, plenty are pushing them!

What is brutal about the hills is going down them. Going about 40-45 mph down these things were scary as hell. You’d find a nice track that was pretty padded down by car tires then all of a sudden you can see cycling tire treads and soft areas. Those points I’d just hold on and pray that I wouldn't fall! By the time you were finished going down a hill…it was time to climb right back up. By mile 20, you pretty much knew who you were going to ride with and would just try to hang on to make sure you weren't riding by yourself!

 Yeah, the race is really this nasty! All of the hills are dirt and cobbled roads!

At about mile 30, the group I was with were caught by the pros that were doing the 100 mile race. While we were going 10 mph up this hill…these guys FLEW and I mean FLEW past us going about 20 mph. RIDICULOUS! What they did 100 miles in I did 65. At this point, the group was now down to 2, we had lost the other 2 due to either going to fast or the 20 mph steady winds and 30 mph gusts. With now a pack of two, me and a guy who spoke or knew no English were cruising I realized we had seen zero vehicles other than support. The whole course was closed off to cars for 65 miles…or it was an extremely slow day!

17% grade hill is nothing!

Mile 41-45, nearly a 4 mile hill. Yes 4 miles. 4 miles! Though the average grade is 2.8%, there was a stints of about ¼ mile at a time that was between 12-17% grade. This was the most painful and slow hill of the day. 2-6 m.p.h at a time…and I was passing people! The face of agony, grunts, swear words, hyperventilating breathing, and stem chewing was the norm for this point. Not to mention that this was on a dirt/mud/sand hill too! There were maybe one or two people out there cheering…definitely not like IMWI! By the time I crest the top of the hill, the quick 60 second trek down was not the relief I was looking for.

By mile 50, the rest of the way was all road…what a relief! However, by the time I was at this point I had lost the lone riding friend and no one was around me. After yet another hill, I could see the nearest rider about 500-700m away from me. My legs were on fire at this point climbing these hills and battling the hills. I swear all the wind to our backs would have been in the woods where we never felt it. Any time we were in the open roads, the wind was in our faces. I just kept thinking to myself, Bauman loop…the out and back TT course and I’m done!

 RRE/RRM Represented!

I was slowly catching in on the guy in front of me. To be honest, this guy kept me pushing for the rest of the 15 miles ahead. I just kept telling my legs to shut up and keep moving. I started clearing my mind and just rode. By the time I looked up again, I saw paint for 10k left. I passed the guy and saw another. I told myself, “what the hell!” and went for the next guy. 5k left and I was right next to the new guy. There was another guy ½ mile ahead and told myself, “lets try”. 1k left and he was maybe ¼ mile ahead and I kept pushing. That’s where he would stay…about ¼ mile ahead of me. As I closed to the finish, there was what you would expect at the finish line at a big event like this. Definitely no Mike Reilly, or any announcing, but at least some people cheering. As soon as I cross the finish line, this little old lady is yelling telling everyone to keep riding up to the train tracks…about another ¼ of a mile! She was a ball buster!

As I was lightly riding to get to the final destination, I passed a bike wash. Volunteers power washing, hand washing, and oiling up your bike to brand new condition…for free! I finally get off of my bike and walked around to an instant festival. Pulled pork, carnival food, games, rides, and a bike expo. It was pretty impressive.

 Red Velvet needs a clean!

Here is the summary of numbers:

Pain, misery, and pride! Finished in the top 15% of the field overall, which I am more than happy with! Hail, wind, rain, snow, sunshine….rode through it all. So would I do it again? Yes, yes I would! I would approach the race in a whole new light. I’m not sure if I’m ready to give up triathlons, but definitely want to race a full road cycling race in the near future to see what I could do. Riding in a group of 20 going 30 mph without trying was awesome. If any of you are thinking about riding a road race, do it. I don’t know if I would do a crit, but a tour style like road race, for sure!

Cycling Race #2 - ECCC Conference Championship

About a month ago, I'd thought I'd give cycling races a try with the "hardest" one day cycling event in the U.S.A. After that, I thought I'd try a more realistic and normal cycling race. So I signed up for the ECCC Conference Championships open section in the 4/5 category.

The forecast here in Rhode Island was 45 degrees and rain. Not drizzling rain, but rain rain. I still stuck with the carbon wheels, bought some new brakes and actually was surprised that I stopped just as well as the aluminum brake surfaces.

Every 15 minutes a new wave goes off. Collegiate A, B, C, D, USAC 4/5 (where I was) and as we are about to start, I am next to this guy with the Garmin power pedals. I ask him how he likes them. He replies "eh, their okay. I've been able to distribute my power on both sides of my body now so that's nice." Really? You spent $1,600 on some power pedals and don't love them? I'll pass!

As the collegiate kids go off, we are waiting for a few minutes in this rain. I take another look around. Everyone has a form of the Giro Attack helmets, one other guy had an aluminum bike (a 1987 Diamondback road bike), skin suits, and rain jackets. Here I am wearing a Walmart Bell helmet, a long sleeve shirt I got from a road race and the old school RRE jersey. Let's say no one was taking me seriously...

We start with a neutral 1 mile start and then we take.....well no one takes off (2 loop course). Everyone is cruising at 16 m.p.h. The wind wasn't terrible, but you could feel it. The only real feel from the wind was the cross winds down the hills. So we are cruising between 16-19 m.p.h. and I'm wondering what is really going on. ZipCars, Velo, and other various professional clubs/organizations were in this race and people had teammates to work with. 47 miles at this speed is going to take forever for a race I was thinking. But I'm just waiting riding next to the guy on the Diamondback in last place. I check and still see the lead car which means I can still see the lead guy.

We are about 10 miles in and there is a 2 mile section where we have to go through this dirt road. Maybe no one was really pushing it until after this section to get a feel for what was ahead? Rain plus we are the 8th or 9th race to go (women's before us) and we are all still in a group like we started. People are slipping, wheels are sinking, but luckily no crashes.

As we get back onto the road, no one takes off. I'm getting really antsy and wondering what the heck is going on so I take off. No longer were we going 18 m.p.h....I start cruising to 25 m.p.h. then we hit a down hill. We are reaching mid 40s...in rain...with 20 m.p.h. cross winds...scary! But I keep chugging along. 5 miles later and just about to start our second loop I look behind me and only a handful of people are left...about 12-15. I back off and we go back to about 19 m.p.h. 

We are passing these college kids left and right. I couldn't believe it. All I'm thinking is "where the heck is Erik Fielder? He'd be crushing the guys!" It stayed like this for another 18 miles or so. No one were making moves, the team/club guys weren't really riding together, and no one was really talking. Was I taking it too easy?

I was too naive and made the mistake of sitting back to long and letting the race become a sprinters finish. A part of me wanted to be a part of a sprint finish, but I'm not a sprinter. All 12-15 of us were together with 1,000m to go. I wasn't sure of the course and there were no signs saying anything about the finish line. We make a right turn and boom, people take off. I see a sign that says 200m to go and gun it as much as I could. I'm leading! 75m to go, I'm winning this thing and see the prize money. Then I try to gun it harder but we are going up hill and I'm in the big ring....NOOOO. I get passed by 2 guys and I'm still on the podium. 2 more guys pass me and I try shifting and it doesn't work! I cross the line in 8th. 1st - 15th were 1.5 seconds from each other. Epic!

Definitely learned a few lessons. No matter the speed, if there is prize money just sit back and relax and never lead. I'll take off with about 1 mile to go and let my body do what it does naturally. I'm not a sprinter...never have been so it's not going to change now. 

I had guys come up to me after asking who the hell I was. Apparently they thought I was just some turd leading this race for short glory. Apparently they are afraid of me now. When I told them I was a tri guy...they really didn't like that too much. A guy told me that cyclists hate losing or tying with triathletes since cycling isn't the specialty. I turned some heads, people asking who I was/where I came from, and pissed that I'm a triathlete...I'll take it!

Overall Training

So below is my week by week for the past 13 weeks. There is a noticeable trend when it comes to the training. Build up, build up, then pull back. Build up, build up, then pull back. It seems to be working for me! I've done my best to keep up with the schedule I set out to do, but I knew that there were going to be workouts I was going to miss, and days I would need to take off. I'm getting much more confident in my ability to accomplish my goal at IMLP.

2/24 - 3/2

Total: 109 Miles / 8 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 0 yards / 0 miles / 0 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 85 miles (Indoor trainer miles) / 4 hours 30 minutes

Run: 24 miles / 3 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes 

3/3 - 3/9

Total: 121.4 Miles / 8 hours 25 minutes

Swim: 2500 yards / 1.4 miles / 0 hours 45 minutes

Bike: 100 miles (Indoor trainer miles) / 5 hours 10 minutes

Run: 20 miles / 2 hours 30 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes

3/10 - 3/16

Total: 151.25 Miles / 10 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 4600 yards / 2.25 miles / 1 hours 30 minutes

Bike: 125 miles (Indoor trainer miles) / 5 hours 30 minutes

Run: 24 miles / 3 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

3/17 - 3/23

Total: 152.25 Miles / 10 hours 30 minutes

Swim: 4600 yards / 2.25 miles / 1 hours 30 minutes

Bike: 120 miles (Indoor trainer miles) / 5 hours 15 minutes

Run: 30 miles / 3 hours 30 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes 

3/24 - 3/30

Total: 121.5 Miles / 7 hours 40 minutes

Swim: 2640 yards / 1.5 miles / 1 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 100 miles / 4 hours 30 minutes

Run: 20 miles / 2 hours 10 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes 

3/31 - 4/6

Total: 190 Miles / 14 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 0 yards / 0 miles / 0 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 150 miles / 7 hours 30 minutes

Run: 40 miles / 6 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 30 minutes 

4/7-4/13

Total: 162.8 Miles / 12 hours 30 minutes

Swim: 5000 yards / 2.8 miles / 2 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 130 miles  / 6 hours 30 minutes

Run: 30 miles / 4 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes


4/14-4/20

Total: 162.8 Miles / 13 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 5000 yards / 2.8 miles / 2 hours 30 minutes

Bike: 130 miles  / 6 hours 30 minutes

Run: 30 miles / 4 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

4/21-4/27

Total: 156.7 Miles / 12 hours 15 minutes

Swim: 3000 yards / 1.7 miles / 2 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 125 miles  / 6 hours 15 minutes

Run: 30 miles / 4 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

4/28-5/4

Total: 265.8 Miles / 19 hours 30 minutes

Swim: 5000 yards / 2.8 miles / 2 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 225 miles  / 11 hours 30 minutes

Run: 40 miles / 6 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

5/5-5/11

Total: 292.5 Miles / 20 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 4000 yards / 2.25 miles / 1 hours 30 minutes

Bike: 250 miles  / 12 hours 30 minutes

Run: 40 miles / 6 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

5/12-5/18

Total: 205 Miles / 13 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 0 yards / 0.00 miles / 0 hours 00 minutes

Bike: 175 miles  / 9 hours 00 minutes

Run: 30 miles / 4 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes

5/19-5/25

Total: 242 Miles / 18 hours 00 minutes

Swim: 3500 yards / 2.0 miles / 1 hours 40 minutes

Bike: 200 miles  / 10 hours 15 minutes

Run: 40 miles / 6 hours 00 minutes

Core: 0 hours 00 minutes 

There were some weeks that I just struggled to either dive into the pool, hop on the saddle, or tie the laces. But I've found that once I start all of that de-motivated feeling and internal arguing stopped. Just get up and go!

So over the course of 13 weeks, there were a few that really stood out to be "break through":

1. Tour of Battenkill - it wasn't the fastest race, but probably the closest pain I've felt since my Knighthood attempt.

2. My 18 mile run at IMLP pace. The day prior I had ridden 80 miles so this gave me an okay understanding how my legs will somewhat feel like on race day. Now granted I had 12 hours of rest, but I cycled much faster than I would have on my 80 miler. I felt pretty good for my goal pace and really opened up my eyes on how "slow" it really is.

With 57 days until Lake Placid, I'm feeling pretty good in terms of where I need to be. About 40-45 more days of quality hard work and then start peaking for the big day.

As always, thank you to my wife for dealing with my crazed obsession with triathlon!

Thanks for reading and the support of those who donated to my cause and love of the sport!