August 6, 2009

Green Mountain Training

Yesterday began my latest training adventure - a long weekend in Waitsfield, Vermont with fellow Brooklyn Tri Club members. We left New York at 5:30 a.m. and arrived by noon. I was running on 3.5 hours of sleep but the minute we got here I was energized. Our first order of business was a trip to Fit Werx, a local tri shop that I made a very special purchase from. I finally took the plunge and got Zipp race wheels. Unfortunately they had the wrong cassette so I couldn't get them put on just yet. In hindsight that would be a good thing. But I picked up the wheels today!


We had a very interesting ride to start our adventure. We went for a moderate ride, nearly 48 miles with incredibly beautiful scenery. But along the way a bridge was out and the detour led us to a hard packed dirt road with a XX% grade climb. We were all on road and tri bikes so it made for a very interesting ride. The downhill was downright scary with all the rocks and bumps. I had to stay on the brakes to keep from flipping over the handlebars. We survived it and continued on but as we arrived home we were at 42 miles and figured going for 50 would be fun. Only the road we chose ended up being dirt as well and this time it wasn't hard packed, it was loose with tons of gravel. I felt like I was doing an off-road ride on a Cervelo, not fun. And to add to it, the incline was ridiculous. I was going 3mph at one point and barely remaining upright. My back tire was slipping in the dirt and sliding side to side occasionally. The hill seemed to go on forever. We had a good laugh about it later.

The house we're staying in is beautiful. It's massive with gorgeous mountain views and there are only six of us. I essentially have an entire "wing" to myself. It's like heaven. This is the view out my bedroom window.


Today got off to a slow start after a lot of fun last night but it was worth it. We had breakfast and lounged around the house all morning and got started on the training in the afternoon. Our group divided up to do different things. Three did another ride and three of us went for a long swim in a nearby reservoir. It was absolutely stunning, the kind of place I wish I could swim all the time. The water was the perfect temperature, it was clear and there were only a handful of boats. All around us were beautiful views. I love it here. I swam roughly two miles and felt good. I was supposed to do a 17 mile run today but the late start forced me to push it to Sunday. No big deal. We dropped my bike at Fit Werx and did a nice 4-mile run in town while they installed the wheels.


Tomorrow is our big day, a 100 mile ride with two mountain gaps followed by a 6-mile run. We're grilling and relaxing tonight in preparation for what should be another incredible day.

Biking (Thursday)
Distance - 47.45
Time - 3:14:50

Swimming (Friday)
Distance - 3,520 yards
Time - 1:11:31

Running (Friday)
Distance - 4 miles
Time - 34:02

2 comments:

  1. Congrats on the Zipps! You're gonna love them. So glad you were able to escape NY for a bit - it's a great town, but no place for training. Vermont looks lovely.

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  2. wheels look nice! Hope they help. What a view!

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