If you had asked
me a week ago today how I felt about racing the Sea2Summit Triathlon my
response probably was met with a head shake and one word “Ridiculousness”. If
you ask me today how I felt about racing the S2S Triathlon I would tell you it
was absolutely amazing and everything I hoped it would be.
Here’s the break
down for those of you not in the know…
The S2S Triathlon
is a point, to point, to point Adventure Triathlon starting in South Berwick,
ME, ending at the TOP of Mount Washington. The swim is an out and back 1.5 mile
swim in the Piscataqua River. The Bike covers a 92+ mile self-guided course of
your choosing to Wildcat Ski Area in Pinkham Notch, NH. The race concludes with
a 5 mile run/hike to the summit of Mount Washington. The race requires a Sherpa
who is willing to clean up your transition area, throw everything into the car,
following you along your bike route passing along hydration and fuel, setting
up T2 in the Wildcat Parking lot, and meeting you at the Summit to drive you
back down.
When I heard
about it I thought that would be so cool! I thought this would be the perfect follow
up to the amazing season I had last year, but also allow me to do race without
pressure or an assumed set of expectation. The number of variables that could affect
the outcome were vast. I looked forward to the adventure when I registered in
January. Fast forward to last week I was silently regretting my decision and
hoping beyond hope that I had trained enough and that Mother Nature would be on
our side.
Race Day Saturday June 26th:
Wake up – 3:30; Start Race – 5:00am
It was an early
morning. The sun wasn’t up. I was using a headlamp to hurriedly set up
transition. I cursed my oversight on the dark lenses goggles I brought to swim
with. The tide was out and the muck was up to my ankles acting like a suction
cup every time I tried to take a step forward to the deeper water.
Swim: 39:19, Piscataqua River, No other
stats. I forgot to start my watch.
Despite the dark
lenses the ambient light made for a beautiful start to the swim and set the
tone for the day. Awesomeness. A light fog sat on the water making sighting the
first bouy challenging. It was a river swim so it would be too challenging,
just swim in a straight line down river. The water temperature was a pleasant
65-70*. The tide was out offering only a slight current to contend with. To be
honest I took the swim easy knowing the day ahead was going to be long and
hard. At one point I noticed a handful of guys walking instead of swimming.
Keeping in mind the tide was out I realized there would be some points of shallow
water. I decided to take a few steps as well but stupidly scraped my toe on a
few rocks and immediately went back to swimming.
At the end of the
swim there was more muck to deal with, wet suit removal, and an embankment to
climb up to get to an awaiting pair of sneakers for a short run to T1. Luckily
I had THE BEST Sherpa crew (Geoff and my brother Kieran) and was almost single handedly
pulled up the embankment by Geoff. Kieran had my sneakers and water to clean my
feet after I stripped my wetsuit off to make the quick 2 minute run back to the
bikes in T1. Leaving my wetsuit and sherpas behind with a “that’s what I pay
you for” smart ass comment I hustled to my bike.
T1: Vaughn Woods State Park, South Berwick
ME
The usual –
socks, bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses, bike
The unusual –
SHERPA sunscreen help & Garmin Navigation.
Geoff sprayed me
down until I had streams of sunscreen running down my arms. Unfortunately, my
sunglasses ended up in the line of fire. They were not helpful. Ray Plouffe,
owner of Family Bike, lent me his Garmin EDGE to navigate me through the
recommended course. Being relatively new to the piece of equipment (a big no no
in racing – never try something new for a race!) I pressed the wrong button and
ended up with an immediate U-Turn before I had even left transition. Gladly, this was not an indicator of
how the race would go.
As I made my way
up the dirt road to the start of the course (cursing every second) my sherpas
were breaking down my transition site and loading up the truck preparing to
meet me at my first requested location.
Bike: 92 miles, 4:59:13, 18.5 avg speed
I had never been
so happy for my over-preparedness and the 4 hours I spent analyzing the first
10-15 miles of turns over and over days prior. The Garmin was still telling me
to make a U-Turn and required me to restart the route from my current location.
Once I was back on track with the Garmin I settled in for a long day on the
bike. I had mentally prepared myself for a day of SUCK. The course was going to
be long but not overly challenging until mile 80 when we entered Pinkham Notch
and the climb to Wildcat. Taking all of my racing years of experience into
consideration I decided to race as conservatively as possible but still put out
a solid pace. That still remained the intent when I passed the lead woman at
mile 30 but I noiticably became much more aware of my speed, form, and time
spent with my sherpas grabbing nutrition. Mile 30 marked my first designated
stop for 2 bottles of Skratch, and an unexpected pee break…in a REAL BATHROOM.
For those of you that know anything about riding and need to pee a REAL
BATHROOM is a treat! I had requested that my Sherpas be on the look out for any
porta-potties or bathrooms. There is a reason they were the BEST Sherpa team in
the race.
The majority of
the route took us along NH Route 153. A classic rolling road through many small
NH towns. We weaved our way along picturesque farm field, small lakes, and golf
courses for 60 miles until we came into Conway, NH. At a stop light several of
us, including the woman I passed earlier, stopped and struck up a brief
conversation while waiting. One race had done a handful of Ironman races,
several Doubles, and was going to attempt a Triple this coming summer. Good
Luck Dude! The Woman I mentioned has in Kona last year with me and I knew I’d
have to keep my eye on her but her ability to climb wasn’t great and I’d be
able to make my move heading into Pinkham Notch.
Mile 72 was my
second to last planned stop for fluids and nutrition. The location was clutch.
The guys were ready standing 50 yards apart to hand off stuff as I flew by. As
they came into view I starting pulling empty bottles to toss. Epic fail. It was
the worst display of athleticism. One bottle went vertical. I feared it would
land back on me. The other almost hit my brother. Recovering from that
miserable display I prepared to grab the bottles on the fly. My speed was too
fast and my hand was like a brick wall. I didn’t make the catch. I should have
just slowed down and stopped as I had done every other time. With a quick
recovery by my Sherpas I had 1 fresh bottle of Skratch in my bottle rack and
was off to catch up to the Kona lady before we hit Route 16 in North Conway.
As I predicted
the 10 mile climb to Wildcat would hurt and it would hurt those riders that
zoomed by me earlier in the race. I passed the Kona Lady. I passed the Ultra
Ironman Dude. I passed the kid who had rode like a bat out of hell from mile 1.
I stayed within myself and my gearing and settled into a cadence I knew I could
hold. There were a few short descents I took advantage of but it was a solid 10
miles of climbing that held a gradual grade the entire way. I made a tactical
decision at mile 90 to stop at my parents car as they were preparing to take
pictures and had them hold my bike so I could pee behind their car. The likelihood of porta-potties being available in T2 were slim to none and after 6
bottles of fluids I had to PEE! Needless to say they were rattled and a bit
disturbed but I really didn’t care. It was at that point I knew if I could make
it to the trailhead first I might have a good chance of taking the entire
female side of the race.
With only a few
more minute of climbing and a sweet downhill finish to Wildcat I pulled into T2
with the overall female lead and was sitting in the top 10 overall. Only a few
more miles and 1 giant hill to go.
T2: Wildcat Ski Area Parking Lot, Gorham
NH
Have I mentioned
I had the BEST Sherpas in the race? Well, I did and will be mentioned several
more times before I finish this race report. As I pulled into T2 Kieran grabbed
by bike while race staff checked my eyes to see if I could go on. I decided to
give a big smile rather than cross them to ensure I could go and sprinted to
the truck. At the truck I had a cooler as a make shift bench and a hotel towel
(sorry Comfort Inn) held down with large rocks to stand on while I stripped out
of one outfit and into another. My bag had already been checked to make sure I
had the minimal requirements to reach the summit under any condition. Geoff
filled my hydration bladder with more Skratch as I laced up my sneakers. Other
than an eye roll to my father for asking if I had a touque it was a smooth and
easy T2 that got me back on the road to Pinkham Notch and the Tuckerman’s
Ravine Trailhead in minutes.
My Sherpa’s
loaded up my bike, threw my crap in a bag and off they went to the Mt.
Washington Auto Road to greet me at the summit.
Run/Hike: 5 Miles, 2:14:47, 6288ft
elevation, 27:44 avg min/mi
This was the
portion of the race I had been dreading from the very beginning. I was born and
raised in NH and never once had I hiked Mt. Washington. I had never even gone
up the Auto Road. The fear of the unknown had weighed heavy days prior but as
the day continued to bring the most perfect weather to race in I was certain
weather would not be an issue on my way to the Summit. The only thing that
could get in my way was a miss-step or poor fueling. I vowed that I wouldn’t
let either prevent me from getting to the top, nor would I lose the overall
female position.
As I hit the
trail head and read the sign 4.9miles to the top I dropped a not so silent “F”
bomb as my legs were already starting to tell me they were tired from the 92
mile bike. I ran for maybe ¼ mile bouncing from rock to rock until I looked up
and noticed the large boulders and the dramatic change in incline. My run
turned to a steady march as I carefully watched my footing moving from rocks to
boulder and so on. I made sure to pop a few Skratch Energy chews every mile
thinking I would grab a bar at the 2 mile mark.
The climb up
Tuckermans to Lion’s Head, our plan B Summit trail, was tough. I had caught a
fellow racer and he informed me that that was nothing compared to Lion’s Head.
We took the turn and I immediately saw why. There were no longer boulders I had
to hop over and to but large rock faces I’d have to climb up. From there it was
almost all hand over hand. Every once in awhile when I needed to catch my
breath I’d take a quick look around and realize just how beautiful it. The
visibility went on for miles and all I wanted to do was sit down, eat a bar,
and take in the view, but no, it was time to move.
The trail was
packed with other hikers and I spent a lot of time being “that person” that
said, “On your LEFT!” as I scurried past. Once they realized I was part of a
race they moved over and cheered me on.
When I reached
the tree line and dared to look up I could see the weather antennas and
realized just how true the expression So Close But So Far Away really was.
There was another 2-1.5 miles worth of climbing and I was tired. My stomach was
growling. I had company from several other racers and I wasn’t going to stop
for a snack.
Somewhere between
the tree line and the Summit I started signing to myself. Maroon 5’s This
Summer is Going to Hurt Like A Mother F*&Ker quickly became This SUMMIT is
Going to Hurt Like A Mother FU*&Ker! Anything at that point to keep me
going, no matter how cheesy.
Finally the
parking lot was in sight. I could hear cheering but was still to busy watching
where I put my feet and hands and avoiding the 100’s of other hikers. As I
finally put my foot down on level ground I hear, “RUN! RUN TO THE STAIRS! CATCH
THAT GUY!” Holy hell! I wasn’t done yet. This so-called Rock Pile was up 5-6
flights of stairs (or a million for as bad as I felt). Seriously WTF. But, I
ran. I ran up 1 flight, then another, then I almost threw up so I decided it
was okay to walk. As I got to the top of the stairs more cheers came from
above. At this point it was just getting ridiculous. I had to climb yet another
friggin boulder to get to this rock pile and dodge more hikers along the way.
The finish was
more than within reach so with an angry, F UP, yell I charged ahead to the Rock
Pile. Now, if anyone has watched the video it was less than a charge and more
like a slow crawl. Regardless, I made it to the Summit.
The usual pomp
and circumstance of races of that distance and duration was no where to be seen
and I liked that. I got a medal. A few congratulatory handshakes, high fives
and hugs from my kick ass sherpas and parents, and a Coke. Sorry Health Coach.
After a quick change and randomly bumping into a few friends from years ago we
set off down the mountain. I had never been more thankful for vehicular
transportation than at that moment.
The Summit: Overall Time 7:53:19
1st Overall Women, 11th
Overall Racer
69 Registered. 42 Started. 40 Finished.
I’ll conclude
with this. This was an amazing race! I lucked out and had perfect weather
making for a perfect day. My Sherpas, Geoff Sullivan and Kieran Kelly, were on
point! At the end of the day they were more tired than I was and I don’t blame
them. It’s a stressful situation to have someone’s entire race & gear in
your hands. I am incredibly grateful to have friends and family that would be
willing to give up an entire weekend to follow me literally from sea to summit.
There are
many more people that weren’t at the race that helped me find my way to the
top. Ray Plouffe and all of the guys at Family Bike for providing me with GPS
navigation and everything I needed or anticipated needing. The CPC subscribers,
who followed me via Facebook throughout the day and provided me with amazing
words of congratulations after the race. Last, but not least, my Cyclonaut
friends who I am lucky enough to train and compete with. I can’t thank all of
you enough for the continued support and encouragement you provide. I am lucky
to be able to do what I do…and do it well…but even more lucky to have such
amazing people in my life.
SK
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