NC Training Trip

Last year I was invited by Andrew Starykowicz (along with 2 others) to make the trip down to Franklin, NC and spend 5 days training in the mountains.  Last weekend was my 2nd trip.  This year there were familiar faces (Andrew and John Kenny) and people I had never trained with and/or met (Glen McGowean, Michael Pater, Kris Wiatr).  Below are elevation profiles provided to me of the climbs we did.  (For those of you looking at the profiles saying, "That just looks like a bunch of numbers and colors" I'll explain... yellow on the chart is relatively flat; green is downhill; orange is a 2-4% grade; red or purple means I was not happy at this point in the ride). 



Day One



Day One: Saying "we rode to Waterock Knob" means nothing to most people and certainly does not describe the route we took to get to Waterock Knob.  This 78 mile ride included 2x 18-mile climbs (each 3800' elevation) and 1x 1000' climb in between the two.  By the 3rd climb I was about to pop (lack of fluids and low on calories).  Kris and I stopped at a Starvin' Marvin and I instantly felt better and was able to encourage Kris up the last couple miles.  After a 19 mile descent (oh yeah...) we grabbed some food, then 4 of us went for a run while 2 people went to the grocery.


We biked through tunnels along the way



Day Two



Day Two: After a good nights sleep and a lot to eat, we headed out from the cabin for our next ride.  3 riders did the loop I did last year.  This year, I went with 2 others and took the same route the opposite direction... much harder this direction in terms of elevation and technical descents.  Needless to say I was ready for a nap and more food after this 3 1/2 hour ride.  In the afternoon we drove to Lake Glenville and swam/ran.  Unfortunately I did not swim out to the waterfall this year, but still got in about 6000m.  The run from the parking lot was uphill mostly...that's all that's important.  My legs were tired of climbing, but I still managed a 50 min run. 



Day Three Bike





Day Three: This was supposedly our "rest day".  No.  But that is what I was told.  The bike ride was another tough one - uphill a long time.  At this point in the training you could tell who was used to this type of climbing and who wasn't.  3 of us added extra mileage to the ride.  Each of us arrived at Wayah Knob at different intervals (depending how much each person decided to ride prior).  We locked our bikes at the base and 

Day Three Run...which
looks worse?

headed out on what I was told was a "rolling" trail.  Rolling my @*$!  It was UPHILL the entire way out.  Many miles uphill... The view at the top was breathtaking, I must say.  Kris caught me on the descent and I decided to suck it up and stick with him the rest of the way down.  My quads were on fire! 

Day Four: Race Day!  Yup... that's right.  Last year the 4 of us raced the olympic distance tri at Lake Logan to start off our trip.  This year, no no... day 4 and add the fact that we had to wake up at 4:15am to get there on time... some of us made it on time... some had to start in the next wave :)  I swam the long swim course (I went around all the buoys instead of aiming for the turn buoy... probably added a good chunk to my swim time.  I popped at about mile 18 on the bike.  The run... ugh... legs were so sore, but I knew I



Race Day: seems flat compared to the other rides



had to keep pushing since there were 2 other ladies hunting me down.  One caught me.  I finished 2nd, 8 seconds back (4 min slower than last year) -then made camp in the porta-potty for quite some time afterwards.  Everyone did their separate thing after the race.  I chose to swim the race course again 2x then take a nap on the dock. 

(We celebrated that night...nuf said.  Right, Molly?)

Day Five: Sleep in.  Neeeeed sleep.  For some reason I couldn't get going in the morning... My legs hurt, but yes I want to get one more ride in before I leave.  Sooo... we did.  

Day Five - Done!

This ride was beautiful!  Decided to take it nice and easy, and enjoy my

surroundings.  Beautiful descents, waterfalls... perfect ride to end the trip.  We scrubbed down the cabin, packed up the cars, and headed back home. 

Thank you again to Doug and Sally Long for opening your home to us!  Thank you Andrew for supplying the routes and inviting me.  Good to meet everyone on the trip- good luck to everyone this season.  See you all out there!  This trip was a great start to my 1/2 distance training! 

Check out Andrew's blog (just click on his name here) for a GREAT video of some of the downhills!!

See you out there!

molly....I mean missy