Hotter 'N Hell Hundred is one of the largest and longest running road rallies in the nation and has to be the largest one in Texas. The number that I heard on Sunday afternoon was 14,200 riders on either 10K (6.2 miles), 25 mile, 50 mile, 100K (62 miles) or 100 mile routes. This is the most known event of the weekend but what is lesser known is that there are two other events during this weekend that are open to the public to compete in, one being the 12 mile mountain bike race on Friday night and the other being either a 5K, 10K or half marathon trail run on Sunday morning. For the few special souls there is the Triple Threat Challenge, which comprises riding in the 12 mile mountain bike race on Friday, riding 100 miles on Saturday and running the half marathon trail run on Sunday. I'm not sure how many people actually participated in the TTC but of the 14,200 total riders it has to be less than 150 racers.
This isn't our first rodeo. Kati, Jonathan and I did the 100 mile ride last year and I must say that we learned a lot that day. So this year we decided to up the ante and go for the TTC. I have been training pretty hard for this event ever since the Lone Star Half Ironman by slowly increasing the distance of my rides on Saturday and getting up early on Sunday mornings to run so that my legs got used to how it felt to run the day after a long ride as well as trying to get used to long workouts in the heat. My plan was working well until I was on what was suppose to be an 80 mile ride and started getting knee pain to the point that I was unable to push down on the pedal any more and had to call Kati to come pick me up at mile 70. I went to the chiropractor with no results and finally went to a sports medicine doctor who ordered an MRI. The MRI concluded that I had a bruise on the top of my tibia and that I shouldn't run for at least 6 weeks, but the race was 5 weeks away. This ended up presenting two problems, one being that I wouldn't be able to participate at all and the other being if I was able to participate how much mental and physical strength would I lose with 5 weeks of little training. Normally I wouldn't start tapering down my workouts until about 2 weeks before race day but now I was forced into starting my recovery 5 weeks out. Stay tuned to find out how this worked out for me.
12 Mile Mountain Bike Race (1:05:49)
This was a great trail to ride. It offered every different possibility that a trail can have. It started out really easy and then changed to tight hairpin turns with close perimeter trees that just begged to catch a handle bar and send you flying off your bike. Then the dirtiness started at about 5 miles in with what seems like endless short and very steep drop offs followed by just as steep climbs. Some of these drop offs were so steep that if they had been much longer there was potential there to send you over your handle bars. After about 8 miles of pushing the pace pretty hard I pulled of the reigns knowing that this was only the first event of the weekend and the shortest so there was no rush. I loved this ride because it had so much to offer the rider. As far as the knee goes, there was very little pain but a little discomfort so it was a good start to the weekend.
pre race picture
100 mile road ride (5:43:48)
This isn't our first rodeo. Kati, Jonathan and I did the 100 mile ride last year and I must say that we learned a lot that day. So this year we decided to up the ante and go for the TTC. I have been training pretty hard for this event ever since the Lone Star Half Ironman by slowly increasing the distance of my rides on Saturday and getting up early on Sunday mornings to run so that my legs got used to how it felt to run the day after a long ride as well as trying to get used to long workouts in the heat. My plan was working well until I was on what was suppose to be an 80 mile ride and started getting knee pain to the point that I was unable to push down on the pedal any more and had to call Kati to come pick me up at mile 70. I went to the chiropractor with no results and finally went to a sports medicine doctor who ordered an MRI. The MRI concluded that I had a bruise on the top of my tibia and that I shouldn't run for at least 6 weeks, but the race was 5 weeks away. This ended up presenting two problems, one being that I wouldn't be able to participate at all and the other being if I was able to participate how much mental and physical strength would I lose with 5 weeks of little training. Normally I wouldn't start tapering down my workouts until about 2 weeks before race day but now I was forced into starting my recovery 5 weeks out. Stay tuned to find out how this worked out for me.
12 Mile Mountain Bike Race (1:05:49)
This was a great trail to ride. It offered every different possibility that a trail can have. It started out really easy and then changed to tight hairpin turns with close perimeter trees that just begged to catch a handle bar and send you flying off your bike. Then the dirtiness started at about 5 miles in with what seems like endless short and very steep drop offs followed by just as steep climbs. Some of these drop offs were so steep that if they had been much longer there was potential there to send you over your handle bars. After about 8 miles of pushing the pace pretty hard I pulled of the reigns knowing that this was only the first event of the weekend and the shortest so there was no rush. I loved this ride because it had so much to offer the rider. As far as the knee goes, there was very little pain but a little discomfort so it was a good start to the weekend.
pre race pictureLast year was the first time that I road 100 miles at one go and I might have gone into it a bit naive. I didn't stop for the first time until 70 miles in and by that time I was running pretty low on nutrition which I never really recovered from. But this year having trained and raced the half ironman I had my nutrition down pat and used it in this race. So I had a plan set out to stop at miles 30, 60 and 90 to refill cold water because I over heat rather easily. When I got to 30 miles I was still good and pressed on to mile 40 where someone met me at my bike to refill my bottles. I also grabbed a Luna Bar (yes, I realize that these are suppose to be "women's" nutrition bars) out of my bag to eat. This is when I realized the age old adage to never try anything new on race day because I had stomach cramps from mile 50 all the way to 70 while that thing digested. After the refill, the route turned to the east and into a slight head wind that we rode into for about 25 miles which got a bit daunting at times. The mile 80 stop was the first time that I got off the bike a took a few minutes to enjoy not being on a hard saddle. This is when it started to get hard. I tried turning to a mental strategy that I have used on long runs to help through the last 20 miles, that being to tell myself how many times I have ridden 20 miles before and that I can do it again. This really didn't work because all the other times that I have ridden 20 miles it wasn't at a time that my legs were hurting so bad already. Luckily there was a lady that I ended up leap frogging with for the last 15 miles to the point that it became a game to us and we would say "Tag you're it" or "Now it's your turn to chase me." In the end I don't remember whether I got ahead of her or she beat me but I know that we didn't cross the line together. It was so nice to cross the line and get off the bike for the day. The other nice thing is that they have a fire hydrant blasting out cold water. While it kills Kati to see so much water being wasted it feels too good to be wrong. I finished just in time to see to see the Killdares start their set which was nice because the bagpiper in the band is my music teacher so it's always nice to see them. That night was a struggle to stay awake and we ended up treating ourselves to Sonic ice cream because I think we earned it.
post 100 mile ride
Ah yes the cycling tan lines.
Half Marathon Trail Run (2:05:43)
The third day was supposed to start at 5:00am but none of our alarms went off so Jonathan came in and woke Kati and I up at 5:30 so we were already a little behind schedule but not too bad. Luckily we still got to the race start in plenty of time to sort through the chaos that was race morning. None of the race officials or volunteers knew what was going on. The packet pick up was that morning, which is generally a bad idea, it was also outside and the volunteers didn't have flashlights to be able to read the names on the lists. It was a bit ridiculous. The race was supposed to start at 7:00 but didn't start until 7:30 due to the disorganization so I took a little jog around to see how the legs were feeling and how stiff my knee was. I must admit that I was a little concerned with how stiff it felt. The race organizer gave an instructions speech before the start that went something like this "5K runners you will turn around at point such and such, there is supposed to be someone there directing you but I wouldn't guarantee that there is. 10K runners will turn around at the second water stop which may or may not be there and half marathon runners will just keep running". I'm not exaggerating. Finally we got started and the first 8 miles felt great, volunteers were where they were supposed to be and water stops were located in their positions as well. Over all the run was quite uneventful until about mile 10 when I really started to hurt and by 11 I just wanted to stop and walk, I was done. Luckily I talked myself into continuing running and was so very thankful to cross the finish line and end this difficult weekend.
Finally done (the trophies say "I Survive the Triple Threat")
By Sunday night I was already getting stiff and sore. By Monday morning I was starting to waddle to get around because I couldn't walk right. As Kati said "This was a fun weekend in a sick & twisted kind of way" and I can't agree more with her on that sentiment. This weekend offered challenges like I have never faced before. With a triathlon you have one race day and you're done. But with this your body had time to get tired and stiffen up before it was expected to perform another grueling task. There were many times during the weekend where I wanted to call it quits but pressed on knowing that I would regret it later if I did. Even with the knee problems that I had coming into this weekend I believe that I was still able to race to the best of my ability. I must say that this is one of my prouder accomplishments.
You can see pictures from the race here. All you have to do it select the 2009 Hotter 'N Hell Hundred events under "Select Race" enter my last name and enter the bib number below. The pictures for the hundred mile ride and trail run have been posted but not the mountain bike race yet.
12 Mile Mountain Bike Race (#141)
100 Mile Road Ride (#837)
Half Marathon Trail Run (#622)
post 100 mile ride
Ah yes the cycling tan lines.The third day was supposed to start at 5:00am but none of our alarms went off so Jonathan came in and woke Kati and I up at 5:30 so we were already a little behind schedule but not too bad. Luckily we still got to the race start in plenty of time to sort through the chaos that was race morning. None of the race officials or volunteers knew what was going on. The packet pick up was that morning, which is generally a bad idea, it was also outside and the volunteers didn't have flashlights to be able to read the names on the lists. It was a bit ridiculous. The race was supposed to start at 7:00 but didn't start until 7:30 due to the disorganization so I took a little jog around to see how the legs were feeling and how stiff my knee was. I must admit that I was a little concerned with how stiff it felt. The race organizer gave an instructions speech before the start that went something like this "5K runners you will turn around at point such and such, there is supposed to be someone there directing you but I wouldn't guarantee that there is. 10K runners will turn around at the second water stop which may or may not be there and half marathon runners will just keep running". I'm not exaggerating. Finally we got started and the first 8 miles felt great, volunteers were where they were supposed to be and water stops were located in their positions as well. Over all the run was quite uneventful until about mile 10 when I really started to hurt and by 11 I just wanted to stop and walk, I was done. Luckily I talked myself into continuing running and was so very thankful to cross the finish line and end this difficult weekend.
Finally done (the trophies say "I Survive the Triple Threat")By Sunday night I was already getting stiff and sore. By Monday morning I was starting to waddle to get around because I couldn't walk right. As Kati said "This was a fun weekend in a sick & twisted kind of way" and I can't agree more with her on that sentiment. This weekend offered challenges like I have never faced before. With a triathlon you have one race day and you're done. But with this your body had time to get tired and stiffen up before it was expected to perform another grueling task. There were many times during the weekend where I wanted to call it quits but pressed on knowing that I would regret it later if I did. Even with the knee problems that I had coming into this weekend I believe that I was still able to race to the best of my ability. I must say that this is one of my prouder accomplishments.
You can see pictures from the race here. All you have to do it select the 2009 Hotter 'N Hell Hundred events under "Select Race" enter my last name and enter the bib number below. The pictures for the hundred mile ride and trail run have been posted but not the mountain bike race yet.
12 Mile Mountain Bike Race (#141)
100 Mile Road Ride (#837)
Half Marathon Trail Run (#622)
3 comments:
Does the triple threat come with free therapy?
Great racing and reporting, Patrick. Thanks for writing this up. Good job of pushing thru the last difficult stretches of the 100 miler and the half.
2 questions:
1) What kind of recovery techniques did you use on Saturday after the 100 miler
2) Why are you the only one dirty in the last picture!? :)
physical or psychiatric therapy?
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