Year in Triathlon – 2013

Posted on December 17, 2013 by kmichaud87

I always enjoy writing yearly recaps. It think it’s fun to look back and see what I have or have not accomplished over the year. I plan to do a longer and more involved post next week about my year, since some pretty big life events occurred. In the meantime, here is a fun running/triathlon related year review questionnaire from Miss Zippy.

Best race experience?

Hands down, it was Ironman Lake Placid. Even though my race day expectations weren’t quite as I imagined at the beginning of 2013 (thank you IT Band/knee!), I went into the day with the goal of just finishing and enjoying the day. You can catch up on my race reports and reflections here:

IMLP Race Report I

IMLP Race Report II

Ironman Lake Placid: The Why, The Data, and The Photo I Carried

Lesson from Yoga: Just Breathe…

Best run?

This one is hard to pick since I wasn’t able to run a lot due to my IT Band problems all year. The one I remember the most was the 3 mile run of the PolarBear Tri in May. My IT Band/knee went right before the race so I honestly went into the race expecting to DNF. I hobbled out on T2 with intense pain in my right knee, but somehow managed to ignore the pain and run through it to finish 3^rd in my age group. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have run and just taken the DNF, but my ego got the best of me.

Race Report: PolarBear Tri

My best runs probably occurred the end of August into September where I was finally able to resume running relatively pain-free. I just focused on slow, steady HR-based runs to regain my aerobic fitness, then my hip decided to revolt and I was laid up with hip issues again. Overall, not the year for running for me!

Best Bike?

Okay, not from my rides this week... but from the Patriot Hald Aquabike

Patriot Half Aquabike

Hmmm… once again, none really stand out to me this year. I did log a lot of miles on my bike this year. There was one 3+ hour ride the first weekend of June, where it was 90+ degrees, and I succeed to get a nasty sunburn on my back. Ouch! The bike leg of the Patriot Half AquaBike was a fun course and I really nailed my race plan for IMLP. I also got attacked by turkeys and geese in the middle of the road!

Race Report: Patriot Half AquaBike

I rode to New Hampshire one day for an 90+ mile ride. It’s always fun to say that I rode to another state. My first 100+ mile training ride was another decent ride. I rode from my house in Gorham up the coast to Bath and back. I think I went through at least 7-8 water bottles that day.

Oh yea, I rode my bike 109 miles on Sunday…

Best swim?

I think my IMLP swim was my best swim of the year. I swam conservatively and outside the cable line in attempt to not get punched and/or swam over. It caused me to swim a little extra distance, but I met my goals and was comfortable the entire time. Plus, I got to swim with my closet 3000 friends! 🙂

Excited to swim in Sebago Lake

Best new piece of gear?

My Garmin 910XT! I still suck at using it during races. Hello 112 mile T1! Ha! But, in all seriousness, I really love it, especially the swim function.

Happy birthday to me!

Best piece of running advice you received?

The best piece of advice I received this year was just prior to IMLP when a friend told me to enjoy the moment. You only get one first Ironman and it worth it to step back and suck the moment in. I wrote about that experience HERE.

Most inspirational runner?

I read Kilian Jornet’s book this year and he is a remarkable runner and adventurer. You can read my book review here on Run or Die. I am also a big fan of Lauren Fleshmen. Not only is she a superfast runner, a new mom, wife to pro triathlete Jesse Thomas, but she wrote this awesome piece on bodyweight perception and the media in her piece called Keeping it Real.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?

Accomplishing, challenging, and thought-provoking

How was your 2013? Did you meet all your goals? What was the most memorable moment for you?

~ Happy Training!

90 Mile Solo Ride

Posted on June 24, 2013 by kmichaud87

This past week was week one of my Ironman build to Lake Placid. Holy crap this little thing called an Ironman is happening in almost a month! This past weekend was my first BIG ride of the year. My coach gave me the workout as 6:15 or 110 miles, which ever comes first. I laughed when I first read this in TrainingPeaks because I knew 6:15 would hit on my Garmin before I hit 110 miles. The only way I would hit 110 miles with my current bike fitness is if I rode a pancake flat course with little to no headwind. Since Lake Placid is a pretty hilly course I knew I wanted to mimic the course the best I could and thus ride the North Raymond hills…

Ride Nutrition

Originally my ride was scheduled for Sunday, but I had to work in the lab on Sunday for a few hours and I moved it to Saturday. Thank goodness I did because we got some pretty bad thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon! I wanted to time my ride on Saturday to start around a similar time I would start riding during IMLP. I started around 8:30ish, which give or take 10 minutes or so should be my tentative ETA on the bike at LP.

I headed up towards Raymond and hit Route 85. All I have to say about that road is the road conditions suck! The town did some road repair, which probably made the road worst than it was. The shoulder was full of pot holes and sand. I had about 4 inches on the white line to ride on and even there was pretty bad. Needless to say, I took my time on this road not wanting to get hit by speeding cars and/or get lost in a giant pothole.

A view from the top of Valley Road

Finally I climbed my way up Route 85 to Valley Road. This is where the real fun happens. I took Valley Road to Spiller Hill Road to Mountain Road to Route 11. I hit up at least 4-5 cat 5 climbs. My quads were quite trashed going into this ride and those hills did not help one bit. I took my time and spun up each hill, but I still spiked my power quite high. Not good. Around mile 21 I came close to a mental breakdown. My quads hurt. My bike fitness sucks. I can barely run. How the hell am I suppose to do an Ironman in 5 weeks? Not to mention a tough and hilly bike course Ironman?! Why didn’t I sign up for Ironman Florida? All these thoughts went through my head as I climbed, climbed, climbed. Once I got to Mountain Road I stopped for a few minutes to check where I was and also to calm down a bit. I can do this.

I rode LP last year and thought the course wasn’t that bad. Yes, I believe my bike fitness was a lot better last year, but I know I can handle LP. Once I figured out where I was, I was back on course. Well, actually by this point I nixed my original planned route. I initially was going to ride around Sebago Lake and then head up and over Douglass Mountain. Yeah, I was being a bit ambitious…

Instead, I decided to head up Route 302 to Bridgeton and then go from there. The sun was out and the route had very little shade. I was starting to get hot, but I was being good with my nutrition. Around the 3 hour mark I turned into the Dunkin’ Donuts in Bridgeton to refill my now gone water bottles. I was feeling a little dizzy at this point even though I was taking salt pills and my gels. I sat down for a bit and had a couple of bits of my Bonk Breaker. I’ve been testing out solids on the bike because around the 11:30-1pm mark I get hungry and my body wants food. I could only get two bites because I wanted to puke it up. Hmmm… back to the drawing board?

Finally I hopped back onto my bike and headed towards Shawnee Peak, where I worked as a ski instructor and ski patroller during my high school and college days. Oh the memories… I forgot how long it takes from downtown Bridgeton to the mountain it takes. At this point the clouds where rolling in and I thought I was going to get poured on. I was a bit nervous at this point. The roads were mostly flat at this point, but the wind picked up and mentally I was fading a bit. Are we there yet?

A view of Shawnee Peak (and some lovely clouds) from the Causeway

Last year my first ever triple digit ride was done at LP where some of my fellow triathletes. Long rides are definitely way more fun with other people. However, doing these long rides solo is probably good for me mentally. If I can handle the distance all by my lonesome then I’ll be fine on race day!

Finally I hit Shawnee Peak around the half-way point. I headed home the back way through Denmark, Sebago, and Standish. I started to rally around this point knowing I was heading home. Most of the way home was all rollers that weaved through some of the lakes in the area. It’s pretty and the roads are quiet and in good condition. At one point I came across a black lab in the road. He scared the crap out of me at first because I thought he was a black panther! Obviously, we have black panthers in Maine! Duh! Then his friend cross the street and for a split second I thought about stopping and playing with the doggies. Way more fun then a long ride.

Where I spent a lot of my time during high school and college winters..

The rest of the ride was rather uneventful. My neck was getting sore from being in aero. I got off to pee and stretch out at one point. I ate the rest of my bonk breaker at this point. It actually tasted good. Hmmm… Back on the bike and almost home. I knew I was going to run out of time, but I really wanted to hit at least 90 miles so I had to get a bit creative in my route. I did an out and back lap on Route 114 and then rode a couple of side roads around my house through a housing development to finally hit that magic even number of 90!

Off the bike and a quick 30 t-run! And then an ICE BATH!

Ice Bath!

And for comparison…

My 90 Mile Route on Saturday!

Lake Placid Bike Course! Yikes!

~ Happy Training!

Weekend Rap-Up

Posted on August 5, 2012 by kmichaud87

This weekend was just awesome! It was just a perfect Maine summer weekend! The weather was hot and humid, but we only get a few of these weekends every year so people just shouldn’t complain. Pretty soon it will be 20 degrees with 2 feet of snow!

Saturday morning started off with the 15th Annual Beach to Beacon (B2B) 10K race in Cape Elizabeth. This is a HUGE race and attracts some of the world’s fastest runners along with many locals. The race actually sells out within minutes. I tried to get into the race a few years back, but didn’t. This year I sat at my computer at 7am when registration opened to register myself and also Bike Shop Boy. I will have a full race report later this week, but I had a great race! When my coach first gave me my race plan two weeks ago I wasn’t 100% sure I could hit her target pace at each mile, but I totally NAILED it! Not to spoil the future race report, but I finished in 52:05, putting me at a 8:24/mile average! In March I ran a 5k at a 8:21/mile pace! It really puts into prospective with the right coach and a little blood, sweat, and tears that someone as slow as me can become a runner! SO MANY people complained about the heat and humidity and that it killed their times. Yes, it was hot and humid. It always is for this race it seems. But, people need to be smart with training. The only way your body is going to adapt to hot and humid race conditions is to train in those conditions whenever possible. I purposely do all my long runs and rides in the middle of the day on weekends if I can because it is the hottest part of the day. My body has adapted to it and handled conditions well on Saturday. Seriously, what heat?

Start line of the 2011 B2B race

I spent Saturday afternoon at one of my favorite places in the world – our family camp on Sebago Lake. The camp was purchased in the 1950s by my grandparents who summered there with my father and his siblings while they grew up and all of us grandchildren pretty much grew up on that lake too. My grandmother passed away two years ago and left the camp to my father and his siblings. I thought we were going to sell it last fall, but they made the decision to keep the camp. Too many happy memories for everyone. Spending countless days in that lake is one of the main reasons that I’m such a strong swimmer today. Yesterday was my first day up to camp all year because I’ve been so busy!

One of my favorite places!

A very happy dog!

The water was like bath water

My dog had a grand ole’ time swimming and playing in the water. She was pretty pooped last night when we got home. Saturday was an early night for all of us.

Today was also a great day! I met Bike Shop Boy in York for a nice recovery ride around York Beach and Ogunquit. I felt great this morning with only a minor tightness in my calves. Bike Shop Boy, on the other hand, was feeling the race yesterday pretty good today. Perhaps he should have run at least more than once before the race! 🙂

It was a good leisurely ride along the beaches and gorgeous homes. We actually rode part of the run course from my very first half-marathon that I ran in York in 2010. Those are not good memories. In case anyone was wondering – running while sick is not a good idea!

Perkins Cove

We stopped in Ogunquit at a little cafe and had a nice little lunch. We got so many odd looks because of our spandex attire. Apparently, some people have never seen a cyclist before… As we were leaving another couple came in on their bikes for lunch. They commented that we had nice bikes. Yup! The ride back to our cars was not a pleasant ride. The headwind on Route One was bad. I made sure to tuck right in behind Bike Shop Boy, but I was still being blown all over the road! Overall, it was good 30 mile fun ride. We were going to hit up the Rev3 course again, but decided against it. There was a course preview day today and we didn’t want to get caught up in it. We’ll be hitting it up next Sunday for my last big hard ride pre-race.

I’m getting very excited about Rev3! Beach to Beacon was a huge confidence builder for me leading up to the race. I executed a near perfect race and I have a good feeling that I can do the same at Rev3 paring any mechanical, nutrition, or crazy weather (i.e. hurricanes?) on race day. This race is my last for the season so it is GO BIG OR GO HOME!

In other news, I FINALLY got my internship for graduate school squared away! I’ve been super stressed about this lately because I was having a hard time finding an internship that I can do along with working full-time 40 hours a week. It wasn’t easy, but an opportunity approached and after being interviewed for the position, they decided I was a prefect match! A huge weight lifted off my shoulders and I know I can graduate on time now! I was getting worried was going to have to do my internship next spring in the midst of Ironman training and I did not want to do that.

I’ve also decided this is my new favorite song for the summer and I have been listening to it on repeat while I wrote this post!

~ Happy Training!