I made it to the top of the Ap Gap!

Click here to view the embedded video.

9.42 miles to the top in 55:15. Yeah, that is 10.1 miles per hour…

Total elevation gain: 1,775.

My quads are screaming (as was my mouth as I was climbing the last mile, which was also the steepest part).

Thankfully, the descent was a helluva lot easier. Plus, I found this little mountain stream off the side of the road. Perfect for a little cool down soak.

Portrait of a happy triathlete.

The biking routes are pretty sweet too. Just about all the country roads are framed with TONS of these blue and yellow wildflowers. I’ve gotta snap some good pics of some of the wildflower fields up here later this week to post here. I’ve been having too much fun riding to stop and take too many pictures, but there will be plenty of time for lollygagging later on.

See those mountains WAAAAAAAY off in the distance there? They are calling my name. I want to go ride over there later this week and conquer a few.

But enough rambling, lets get to the story behind the title to this blog post.

Yesterday a bunch of my friends I’m vacationing with went off to play 18 holes of golf, so I figured it was a perfect time to knock off one of my epic adventures for the week: head North to the Canadian border. I didn’t have my passport so I couldn’t go too far into Canada, but even if I could just roll across the border and turn around to head back home, I’d be a happy camper.

I loaded up my water bottles, pointed North and started pedaling. It was hot, but most of the route followed the lake shore so the breeze coming off the water was a huge gift.

Half way to the border. Stopped for 2L of water and inhaled a chocolate chip muffin at the Hero, VT general store.

As I started to get closer to the border, my phone started buzzing. I got a message from AT&T warning me about extra charges for international data rates, I knew I was close! I rolled past the “Vermont Welcome Center” building and there she was, the ultimate destination of the ride. Welcome to Canada: the land of maple syrup, hockey, God knows whatever else those crazy Canucks do up there.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The border patrol was about a quarter mile past the border sign. I didn’t bother trying to go through since I didn’t have my passport and the map didn’t seem to show anything worthwhile across the border for at least another 10 or 15 miles. Not wanting to deal with over zealous border patrol or adding another 20-30 miles to an already 80- or 90 mile ride, I did an about face and headed home.

On my way back, I was riding along and kept hearing this crow squacking right over my head. I didn’t think anything of it until I realized he was following me. Actually, it was more like he was chasing after me and dive bombing me, as if he was trying to shoo me out of his territory. This went on for a solid mile or two, no joke. Once I realized that he wasn’t going to stop, I just yelled “SHUT UP BIRD!” and he disappeared off into the distance. Pretty bizarre. Has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

And did I mention that it was hella hot?! This thermometer was in the SHADE at the VT welcome center. 90 degrees and barely any shade for the entire 88 miles. It was a really good test of my Rev3 Cedar Point hydration plan though. Nutritionally, everything went really well. I couldn’t have been happier.

Next up: exploring Burlington, running and whatever other adventures I can manage to think up while floating out in the lake and staring at the clouds…

Following Sonja‘s orders, I headed down to the Blue Hills Reservation just south of Boston for a long day of hiking. I packed up  my Camelback full of goodies to keep me going for the whole day.

Side note: I LOVE my camelback for trail running. Maybe it is just because I have no hips and my fuel belt is just too big and won’t stay in place, but this thing is the best. It has little pockets for my wallet, FlipCam, Clif bars and my iPhone and is the most comfortable way with 2 liters of water strapped to my hump. Definitely one of the best gear purchases I’ve made lately.

But let’s continue…

Heading out into the woods and seeing rays of sunshine peek through the fog and tree leaves makes getting up early completely worth it.

Gorgeous.

Despite the name, I was a little unsure about just how hilly the “Blue Hills Reservation” actually was. I didn’t want to go out to attempt some epic hike only to be let down by some ill-named walking path. Thankfully, the blue hills did not disappoint. Within the first quarter mile I was walking up a steep rocky hill and was well into Z2. Happy boy. An epic day was had.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There were awesome views of the Boston skyline, tons of bounding between tree roots, sprinting down rocky descents and a helluva lotta sweat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Four hours later and slightly embarrassed that I got a legitimate workout from hiking (which is just another name for a walk in the woods) I was done. My toes were pretty beat up from banging them into rocks. I may need to invest in some legit trail shoes instead of just my regular Saucony Hurricanes, but they did hold up pretty well. There was also a little beach and pond right at the end of the trail. Perfect for a little post-run soak. SCORE!

I managed to average 120 bpm for the whole day. Not too bad for endurance training? Right?! I’ll have to do this a few more times and bump up the time/distance each time.

Saturday night involved two games of bowling, an arm full of beers, a BBQ cheeseburger at midnight and a 1:30 am bedtime. Not ideal for an early morning Sunday ride, but definitely fun. Gotta have that triathlon-life balance!

5:30 am rolled around pretty fast and I felt like death. Thankfully I knew Kim was joining me, or I may not have made it out. Planning my weekend workouts early and sending some peer-pressure filled emails was definitely a good idea.

Fifty miles, lots groaning about my sore quads from yesterday’s hiking, staring at Kim and Mike’s butt’s, and plenty of poop and vagina jokes later, we rolled back into Concord High School and tossed back a few beers before calling it a morning and going our separate ways. Drinking at 11:30 on a Sunday morning in a high school parking lot? Gotta love it. Mike supplied the beer. It was the first time I’ve ever met or ridden with him, but he is definitely a keeper.

So I know what you are thinking. Epic hike is checked off the list. What is next?

Next weekend: one day. +120 miles. Boston to Provincetown.

Time to lube up the road bike!

Last year I came unprepared and suffered. The short story is that while my training was pretty solid, I started off the race drained and with not nearly enough water in me. Starting a race already in the red is a great way to spend the day in a 70.3 mile suffer fest.

This year, everything is different. Ditched the coach, got a whole new ironman plan, a fancy new carbon bike, a whole new race nutrition setup and I have a whole mess of lessons learned from painful race mistakes to hopefully get me to the finish line a little faster and a whole lot happier on Sunday.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the plan.

The Day Before:

• Bring my full Camelbak with me while I volunteer at the Oly run course aid station with two scoops of EFS. Slurp away slowly all day to have plenty of water in my system at all times.

Morning:

• Glass of juice
• Cereal
• Fruit
• Bottle of EFS when I wake up
• Bottle of EFS while hanging out in transition
• First Endurance MultiV
• First Endurance OptygenHP

Swim:

• Avoid getting kicked in the face and chomping on people’s toenails
• Suck down cup of water on my way to T1

Bike:

• Drink one bottle of Liquid Shot mixed with water in the first 40 minutes (400 Cal)
• Drink two more bottles of a weak EFS mix (~100 calories) every 40-45 minutes after that
• Continually suck from another 400 calorie Liquid Shot flask throughout the rest of the bike.
• Grab another water bottle from an aid station and polish that off 10-15 minutes before rolling in to T2

Run:

• Slurp down water at every aid station
• Mix it with a sip from a new EFS flask (400 Cal total)that I’ll pick up in T2

Post-Race:

• I’ll have a bottle with two scoops of cappuccino Ultragen recovery goodness waiting for me back at transition. I’m leaving it without water, so that I can just grab the bottle, fill it up with water somewhere at the expo and suck it down and hope that it helps me be able to walk normally on Monday morning. I love that stuff and it hasn’t let me down yet.

That is the plan that I’ve tested and seems to work pretty well in training. I’m pretty confident that it will work on race day, but there is only one way to find out.

Training wise? I think my bike is a LOT stronger than my run lately, but as long as I can get to mile 5 of the run feeling good, I should be able to bring it all home feeling good.

I want to get some final tweaks in my half iron nutrition/pacing/hydration before Rev3 Quassy next month. What better way to test out your fitness than to replicate a 56 mile bike and 13 mile run back to back?

If you like shaky videos with lots of wind noise, this explains my whole day.

If not, here is the quick synopsis.

The bike went great. I was rocking it. The best long bike ride of my life, then I cramped up at around mile 40. My legs still felt pretty good, but my stomach was all bloated and unhappy.

56 miles later, I rolled back to my car, downed some water in hopes that it would help reset my gut and jetted off on the first of five loops for the run.

I pushed it hard for the first 5 or 6 miles of the run. I got into a rhythm pretty quick and was feeling good, but then totally bonked. I kept on  pushing through, tossing water over my head and alternated sucking down EFS and straight water. Nothing was really doing the trick, but I eventually made it through.

Once I got home, I realized what the problem was on the run. All that water I sucked down went right through my system and didn’t get absorbed at all. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but at least it helped me figure out what was happening to me.

So here are the lessons from today’s epic race simulation.

I have a lot juice on the bike than I thought.

Sucking down tons of sports drink is great, but I’ve gotta mix that with plenty of water to keep things flowing.

“Emptying the tank” before a race and pre-hydrating is just as important as hydrating durring the race.

The more I learn about how my body works at race pace, the better I’ll be able to rock it once Ironman race day comes around. I’m slowly getting there…

I was snapping some landscape pics for a blog redesign that I’m working on (to go live sometime in the next few weeks) during a 2 hour trail run on Sunday and ran into a big ‘ol snapping turtle.

Click here to view the embedded video.

That is all. Just wanted to share this big honking turtle sighting.

Happy Training!

Get out of bed whenever I felt like it, have breakfast, jump on my bike, point my wheels south towards the Boston Marathon course and go have fun.

I had finally recovered from a pretty wicked stomach bug that kicked my ass this weekend and I was eager to see how my legs really felt without fully committing to jumping back into my training plan.

I arrived at the Newton hills (around mile 20) just as the wheelchair athletes cam rolling through. I kept weaving in and out of the crowds and chasing the runners up the hills. Total Blast.

As more and more runners came in, I made my way closer and closer to the finish line. I even managed to spot two of my Trakkers teammates, Chris and Thor out of the entire mass of 25,000 runners. Because of my fantastic efforts, I have been given the best spectator of the race award by the Boston Athletic Association. That is how awesome my cheering skills were today. Granted if it wasn’t for the  bright green Trakkers gear, it would have been a lot harder, but let’s not dilute the awesomeness of my skills here.

He isn’t a local and I hadn’t actually ever met Chris before, so just yelled out “TRAKKERS!” as he ran by at around mile 23. He flashed a huge smile and kept on flying. I tried to weave around the crowd on my bike to catch him later in the course, but he was too speedy for me. Stupid one way roads. Either way, you’ve gotta love mid-race team meetups.

Congrats to Chris, Thor and everyone else that raced today. Awesome event. Inspiring athletes. Great day out on the bike taking it easy.

Here are some video clips of some of the top Americans powering it up the hill at mile 20 (Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi). Totally impressive.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wow, just imaging if my mom didn’t force me to pick a sport each season in high school so I didn’t just come home and sit on the couch all afternoon, this whole “journey to ironman” thing might never have happened.

Scary.

I was back home in Connecticut this weekend visiting the family and decided to hit some of the same trails I ran in high school that got me hooked on running.

Saturday I did a short run around two loops while Sam and my mom were hiking. I met back up with them half way through the second loop to hike the rest of the way back to the car and catch up on life.

Good Times.

Sunday I had big plans of waking up just before dawn and running to a steep overlook  (the pinnacle) and watch the sunrise, until some serious clouds put a major damper on that idea. Oh well… Some other time I guess.

Instead I waited a few hours for it to warm up and keep it safe.

First way point: An old quartz mine with tons of bright green moss and icicles hanging everywhere. None of the spring leaves have sprouted yet, so the green moss against all the brown practically made the trail glow. It was really cool.

Next stop: The Pinnacle

Almost to the top…

Overlooking half of Connecticut.

The best part of the run was that while my quads and lungs were screaming from the hills and completely drained me, the scenery kept giving me tons of motivation to keep pushing so I felt stronger at the finish than when I started. (my legs still might tell a different story, but my head felt great…)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Runners high? Musta been. I haven’t had one of those in a while…

And of course, the essential post-run recovery time with my nephew, Carter.

(Yes, I’m totally bribing you for blog comments with cute baby pictures.)

• Lance Armstrong: Just passed @chrislieto going the other way. He was hammerin. Hey Chris, a little TT showdown on the Queen K tomorrow? You, me, and whoever.
• Chris Lieto: @lancearmstrong see u on the Queen-K! Will have to be after 8am cause I have to swim first. Flying out mid day. Give me a call.
• Chris Lieto: Swim at A Bay at 7am. See u there @lancearmstrong.
• Lance Armstrong: Queen K Hwy TT Challenge. Tomorrow 9:30am. Start – Waikeloa Beach Dr to Kukio Nui Dr. 14 miles. Full gas. Take it easy on me @chrislieto.
• Lance Armstrong: This won’t be a twitter ride. First ever “twitter time trial”
• Chris Lieto: Official time for @chrislieto is 18:44. Thanks @lancearmstrong (think his time was 18:35) for a great TT.

Lets just say I am very jealous of anyone spending the week on the big island and got to join in on the fun. I was in Boston shoveling my car out of 6 inches of snow.

Pre Race Video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Post Race Video:

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I have to admit, while I’m a huge Lance fan and supporter of just about everything he does, I was definitely rooting for Lieto. For a triathlete to be able to crush Lance after a 3 mile swim workout would be pretty amazing. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Lieto was only 15 seconds back, which is still a pretty amazing showing. Averaging around 35mph is pretty sick, tailwind or not.

Did you manage to spot the special guest appearance from Trakkers pro in that last video? Watch it again to see if you can spot her!

For me, that is trail running.

I hate running on pavement. It is boring and lame. I love bounding over tree roots, climbing up boulders and jumping over streams. It beats dodging cars and icy sidewalks any day.

It also brings back memories of how I originally got hooked into running, high school cross country. It was pretty much the first sport that I found that I was good at and liked, so I put up with running indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring just so I could be in good shape for the fall. Looping in circles on the track drove me nuts, but put me on a wooded trail and I’m as happy as a clam.

Now if only I could get better at not getting lost…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Hopefully more consistent trail running this winter will have me learning some of the local routes better.

The timing probably wasn’t the best as far as planning for a perfectly executed end of season race, but I just couldn’t turn it down. A teammate had registered for the race but couldn’t go anymore. I jumped up and made sure that his tickets to the lobster bake got put to good use too! I’d hate to see those poor little lobsters die in vain.

The venue was perfect. About 2 hours north of Boston in Freeport, Maine. Gorgeous coastline and nice quiet roads all along the course. It even started late (9:30 am) since we were waiting on the tide to come in.

The thing about an ocean swim in Maine in mid-September is that it is guaranteed to be C-O-L-D. A lot of people spent plenty of time in the water warming up, but I thought they were pretty insane. Especially when the water was still probably warmer than the air was early in the morning, I wasn’t going to join them. I dipped my toes in and that was all. My guess was that it was high 50s or low 60s.

After the pre-race meeting, my wave was called up. We walked down the boat ramp into the water and treaded water by the end of the dock until we heard the signal to go off. As we walked down into the water, each one of us gave a little squeal as the water came up above our waist. It is always entertaining to hear grown men squeal like girls, especially when we were all wearing bright pink caps.

I have to admit, I sang a few lines of “I feel pretty… oh so pretty!” while we were waiting for the gun to go off. Always gotta keep the pre-race nerves in check and make sure I’m not taking myself too seriously.

Not my swim wave, but here is the swim exit.

Pretty gorgeous course, right? It was pretty brutal too. It was probably one of the most aggressive swim starts I’ve ever been in and the waves and current made sighting a constant challenge. Thankfully it was a little warmer farther out in the water than it was close to shore.

The bike course was just as scenic. Beautiful country roads and more than enough rolling hills. There was almost a constant blowing wind from the front and the side. For a lot of the downhills I had to squeeze my legs on to the frame to stay stable. I’m usually really confident on high-speed descents, so that is saying a lot.

My legs felt surprisingly good. When I was pounding up the hills or laying it on to pass someone, I could feel a little extra hurtin’ in my quads. I was a little nervous about how running would feel, but I figured there was no reason to hold back on the last race of the season.

Once I made it to the run course, it was a different story. The first mile was all up hill and beat me up from the start. I was getting passed a lot, but was holding a pretty solid pace that I knew was sustainable. I just held on.

At the turnaround, I figured I was doing just about 8:00/mile. Nothing spectacular, and I knew I could have done a lot faster if I was better recovered, but I was happy with it. I turned up the throttle for the last 3.1 and drove it home, catching a few runners that passed me in the first few miles of the run.

My unofficial time was 1:43:33. It is surprisingly close to a PR for me! I’ll have to double check the official results and dig through my past results, but it was a pretty strong way to close out the 2009 triathlon season!

Me and Sunny comparing times.

And the best part, there was a huge post-race lobster bake and free beer! Me and a few other Wheelworks teammates claimed a spot on the grass, soaked up the sun and stuffed our face full of lobster. I went home smelling like Geary’s, lobster, seaweed and sweat. I call that a good day.

And some pre and post-race video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here is the team, all decked out in our Brooks gear.

And the obligatory stupid group pose…

I was manning the second car for most of Friday, making sure whoever was out running knew where they were going and had plenty of water and calories. I was last in the rotation so while we started racing at 2pm, I didn’t lace up the shoes and hit the road until 9:30 at night.

I have run at night plenty of times before, but never like this. We were in the woods of eastern Connecticut. For the majority of my first 11 miles there wasn’t a single light anywhere in sight. No houses off in the distance, no street lamps, no head lights from passing traffic, no stars, no moon, just pitch black. With the exception of the tiny little 1 foot wide stretch of road that my head lamp and flash light gave me, it was like running on a treadmill in a dark closet.

I had no idea how steep the hills were ahead of me or where they topped off. I just kept moving forward, doing my best to spot tree branches, frogs and pot holes and jump over them just as they came into sight in front of my feet. It was completely insane/amazing/terrifying/exhilarating. I knew I was going out a little too fast, but I was feeling great so I just went with it. I polished off my first 10.9 miles in 1:28:40 (8:07 min/mile).  That is faster than my half marathon PR pace, and I still had 20 more miles to go. GULP.

For almost every leg of the race, it rained. Sometimes it was a light mist, or a little sprinkling, but other times the skies completely opened up and let loose their fury. Some of us got it worse than others, but we all got wet.

After some more sherpa-ing, Chris, Greg and I (three not so small gentlemen) cuddled up and managed to get a few winks of sleep in my tiny little Mazda. At the very most, I managed an hour and a half of sleep. I felt surprisingly good when I woke up and the sun peaked through my windshield. The only problem was when my legs stretched out and my hips practically creaked and cracked. From being awkwardly curled up in my drivers seat while catching some Zs, my hips and gluts were killing!

I was already limping a little and I wasn’t even on to my second leg. Double gulp!

I bulldozed through my second leg, another 11 miles, taking a 1 minute walk break every 10-15 minutes. Uphills were nightmares, but downhills felt great and I could really open up my stride. I pushed through with 10 minute miles. Not nearly as impressive as my first leg, but I was happy with it.

Last leg. 9 miles = pain. My legs finally eased up so I could walk without limping (before I started) and I felt good keeping a nice even pace. The first 5 miles:  I survived. The last 4: I was constantly on the verge of a emotional and physical breakdown. And THEN, the skies opened up and let loose on me. Quickly I got to the point where my clothes just couldn’t hold any more water and it didn’t matter anymore. Knowing that people were following me online and waiting for us to arrive in Boston was a huge motivator.

As I crossed the Charles River and turned the corner towards Harvard, I saw Sam (my girlfriend, personal photographer and number one cheerleader) standing in the rain by herself with an umbrella. I slowed down for a quick kiss and then the rest of my team came out to help run me in. We all ran through the puddles and drenching rain and through the finish line. It was one of the greatest finish lines ever. My team rocks the most.

Not only are the medals also kick-ass bottle openers, but team 5 guys, 1 girl, 140 Characters sponsored by @brooksrunning WON THE ULTRA CATEGORY! 27:10:17 is the time to beat for the inaugural Ragnar Ultra Marathon Relay!

Video clips from the race:

From Chris

Click here to view the embedded video.

My Video Clips:

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