August 4, 2008

Trail 2 Trail race

Brutal. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think about the Trail to Trail race this past weekend at Loyce Harpe Park in Lakeland, FL. The trails at LHP are probably some of the most technical trails that I have ridden. They are full of ridges that branch out into a lake and are very rooty, have very steep hills and descents, have very tight turns and is also right next to the water in a lot of places where it would be very easy to fall in the water or fall off the trail. There was also a lot of nasty, smelly mud in the areas between the ridges. When I pre-rode the course on Saturday and my HR stayed in zone 3/4+, I knew the race was going to be very hard and I knew I was going to suffer. Not only are the trails very difficult, but the heat and humidity were off the charts! Oh, during my pre-ride I had to stop twice because of the local wild life. Once because something big jumped in the water next to me, scared the $h!t out of me and caused me to run into a tree and the second time a small alligator was in the trail. I gave him the right of way...

For those of you who do not know, the Trail to Trail race starts out on the mtn bike trails, then transitions to the road for a road race and then transitions back to the trails to finish the race. The first part was an 8 mile loop in the woods, which was a crucial part of the race in order to get a good position (or get in a strong group) for the road. It is kinda odd jumping off of the mtn bike and then saddling up the road bike for the 30 mile course, which was really tough due to the direct sun that we never got a break from. From here, once you get back into the park, you hop back on the mtn bike (awkward!) for that same, tough-as-hell mtn bike course.

The race start was a rolling mass start...



I got an ok start to the race but had to pass quite a few dudes to try to catch the leaders, which never happened. I got out of the woods a lot faster than I anticipated, hopped onto my road bike and took a bottle of ice water from Char and drank a little and dumped the rest on my head. It was mad hot, like already 90 degrees! Once out on the road, I didn't see anybody in front or behind me so I decided to just stay at a steady pace and hope that a group would catch me. After a few miles, a group of 5 guys (4 of them in the same kit)- led by a guy on a TT bike and an aero helmet, rolled past and I jumped on. Once we got rolling and started a rotation, we picked up 2 more guys and then lost one. There was a water station at some point on the road that was handing out bottles and it is here when I really started hurting. My HR had been steady in the 170's/180's up to this point and when I dropped a bottle, waited for a guy to run across the street to hand me another, the group had opened a gap. I drank some of the water, dumped the rest on my head and back, then worked too hard trying to catch back on. Once I got back on, the group started having issues, like one guy yelling about crap, one guy accelerating every time he took a pull and some guys not taking pulls. I was hurting so I sat out of a rotation or 2 but oh well. This led to the group breaking in half after Endurancefactor teammate Mark Gerard and I said, "Screw this." We let those guys go (the 4 guys in the same kit) while the 4 of us motored on. Then the cramps hit and hit hard. My quads were locking up solid but I managed to hold onto the group back to the transition.

Back in the transition I was overheated, cramping and a little disoriented. I stopped a second to get my bearings, dumped cold water on myself and then reluctantly jumped on my mtn bike for the last 8 miles of hell back in the woods. I decided when I got on my bike just to do whatever I had to do in order to finish. I was hurting bad so I started giving myself mini goals, like counting down the technical sections of the trail. My quads were still cramping but soon my right hamstring cramped, then my left calf but I had to keep spinning or else I'd be in serious trouble. I was staying as hydrated as possible and I took a total of about 6 bottles and 6 gels but it was no match for the heat, effort and the time given to both.

I completed the 46 combined miles in 3 hours even, good for 13th place overall (I think) in the open men's solo field. I was aiming for top 10 but the competition seems to get tougher and tougher each year so given the conditons and where I am in training, I think I did ok. I was also happy that I had no bike problems considering how much I had been flatting lately on my road bike and the shifting problems I had on the mtn bike during the pre-ride. It was also cool hanging and chatting with all of the other fly racers, including all the studs sporting black & yellow!

Since Char was not racing, we decided to test Mayfield's travel legs. Man, she was great! She was good in the car, chilled at the tent during our ride Saturday and during the race Sunday and was good at the hotel. It looks like we won't have much trouble taking her to more races in the future. Here she is snoozing at my side on the way down while I flash my gang signs...


Normally after races we have a nice sit-down meal at a restaurant but we did not account for having Mays with us, so we settled on something that I had not eaten in a long, long time. Char found it necessary to document my post-race nutrition for Drew- but hell, I earned it...


Ok, now some bike dork stuff...I had seen guys put their Polar charts on their blogs in the past and I thought it was kinda cool. Hell, I thought it was cool just figuring out how to do it. The red line is my HR while the blue is speed. The rest of the data is self explanatory...


From here I need to recover as much as possible for the Jacksonville Cycling Classic this weekend. Saturday is the road race while Sunday is the criterium and as of right now, I am extremely sore. I am super excited about racing with my buds (and Velobrew teammates) Sean, Tony and Rad in the same class. We look forward to kicking some a$$!!

5 comments:

Karlos said...

Great Work. I appreciate the sharing your stats. 3 hours and you cramped? Better work on that if you plan on riding 8, LOL. 13th is extremely respectable, its a tough race and those guys are animals.

Todd Hatfield said...

That is 3 hours at race pace, not endurance pace, LOL. I cramped on my last solo century at the end but I was ok on the solo 100 I did the week before. Oh- I'm doing the 8 Hours with my girlfriend now. An 8 hour solo race does not fit in my training for the fall...

Luis G. said...

TT bike...aero helmet...LMAO!

Todd Hatfield said...

There were quite a few TT bikes out there. I know those dudes are so much faster at the tri's. Hell, there was even a dude with clip-on aero bars on his mtb!

Karlos said...

Clip aero's on an MTB! Dude stole my idea.... So you and your girl are teaming up???? Maybe I should get my girl to team up with me, LOL. Well Good luck with your Training, Im sure you will do well.