Marathon Nationals

This year's race took place in Roanoke, Virginia at Carvin's Cove.  Having ridden here before, I knew it was going to be a legit mountain biker's course. The beginning of this year I was all in to having a structured training plan.  But that never took off, as I was having too much fun just riding along, trail running with Honcho and Chase, and going to Result Fitness (my local gym) 4-5 days per week.  However, I did much better with structured heat training: hitting the sauna, working outside during the hottest parts of the day, and doing some of my rides in the heat.

Then all the controversy surrounding trans gender men competing against women in USA Cycling amateur events just soured my motivation.  But, since I had already made plans and had many doll hairs tied up in this event, at the last minute, I regained most of my motivation.  Regardless of who showed up in my class, I was going to race my heart out and my legs off.  With the Maah Daah Hey 100 just 3 weeks later, Marathon Nationals would be a good dress rehearsal.

With the race happening on Monday, I arrived on a Friday, and checked out a good portion of the course over the next 3 days.  There was a chance of afternoon showers every day, but they never happened.  The course was dry, loose, and fast! The course was 40 miles with just over 5000 feet of climbing.  Most of it was rocky and rooty tight single track, interspersed with some short sections of gravel and buff flowy trail. The legs felt strong and my Training Peaks numbers were trending very well.

My game plan was to start off with 1 bottle of LMNT and 50 ounces of Skratch High Carb in my hydration pack, iced down.  I also had 200 calories of SIS beta gel in a flask.  My wave start was at 9:10 am. This included my age group, 55-59, as well as the 50-54 women. I had a moment of panic when just 15 minutes before my start, as I pulled my pack out of the cooler, my hydration pack was frozen at the tube/bladder junction.  I finally managed to thaw it out and get it functioning.  

There were originally 6 of us in the 55-59 age group, but 3 did not start.  So that left me, Libbey Sheldon, and Coreen Havron.  The starting temperature was a sweltering 80 degrees.  When the gun went off, we took off on a paved climb.  I wanted to keep Libbey in sight as long as I could so I followed her wheel. At the top of the climb, the group had already broken up, and by the time we hit Tinker Creek Greenway, it was just 4 of us: Beata, Libbey, me, and one other in the 50-54 age group.  

Now Tinker Creek Greenway is NOT what you think.  It is tight single track and was the first significant climb at 400 feet.  I felt great and kept Libbey within sight.  My heart rate started getting higher than what I wanted towards the top, so I backed off slightly.  I definitely did not want to redline this early in the race.  So I reluctantly let Libbey slowly slip out of sight.

On the descent, I started catching people in earlier waves.  Fortunately everyone played nice and let me around when I asked.  Once I hit the marina parking lot, I motored over to the 3 mile section of rolling gravel called Happy Valley Road.  Momentum was your friend here, but you had to be on your drifting game to hit the loose sharp corners just right.

From there were 3 sections of single track.  Rock-N-Roll was smooth and fast!  That descent was so stinking fun!  Next up was Arrowhead, which had me working the bike through rock gardens and rooty sections, picking off more age groupers as I went.  Songbird had a long gradual 500 foot climb followed by another nice descent. I was careful to manage my heart rate through here, keeping it in the upper 150's, which for me is in my upper tempo range.

I rolled through the feed zone at the 13 mile mark.  There were SO many people; it was like running the gauntlet, but through rows of happy people screaming "go, go, go."  I saw Lisa and Chris, but did not take anything here, as it was not necessary.  My hydration pack was still providing me with ice cold Skratch, keeping my engine cool.  Lisa did mention to give Jayden some words of encouragement, as she was just up ahead, and had crashed on the Tinker descent.

The 200 foot, 0.5 mile climb up to 4 Gorges was exposed.  This was the first time I felt the heat of the sun.  It was hotter than dammit!  But I felt fine, thinking of cold plunges and penguins in the Antarctic. Now I was beginning to catch the juniors.  I gave them words of encouragement, as I knew the heat was hammering all of us. I caught up to Jayden on 4 Gorges.  I stayed with her for about 10 minutes, trying to get her motivated again.  I hope I was more help than not.  

Those tight to the right dips and climbs were easier than during the pre ride.  I can turn hard lefts all day, but when it comes to those hard sketchy right-handers, I become bike-dyslexic. Thankfully my race brain definitely works better than my JRA brain and I was able to motor through them better.  But there was a traffic jam at the trickiest one with the rock slab.  So, I just ran it, but then had to wait as 2 racers in front of me had a hard time clipping back in.

The climb up Buck was stupid hard.  There was a fine line between going just hard enough to clean the tricky rooty ups but not so hard that you triggered a full on cramp.  I kept it just below muscle twinge mode. I even managed to catch Beata on this climb, which at first, I could not believe it was her.  Beata is a beast and I have always been in her rear view mirror.  Today, however, she was struggling in the heat, and her cramping threshold was way below mine.  We chatted while we slowly made our way up to the Brushy Mountain fire road.  

Once on top, I motored on, chasing those carrots.  Having started in one of the last waves might have actually worked to my advantage, as passing all those carrots kept me "on the rivet."  And I needed that, not knowing where Libbey was, so I envisioned her being just around the corner ... the entire time.

The Gauntlet was a 2 mile, 1000 foot descent, and by far, the funnest part of the course.  I just let my bike eat it up, and hung on for dear life.  It was very similar to Heartbreak Ridge in Pisgah; chunky, rooty, and with many 1-2 foot drops.  Fortunately, I only had to get around 1 racer, so it made for one clean and fast run.

Lakeside Trail was 3 1/2 miles of discomfort.  It was a lumpy, twisty, grunty, and the legs were barking after that long descent.  But everyone else was suffering more and I had a full on carrot salad to eat here. I got bogged down behind a group on Hemlock Tunnel Trail.  It is difficult to pass here, being so tight and overgrown, that I decided it wasn't worth the matches, of which I only had a few left.  I made it a point to recover, drink, and eat on this 1 mile section.  

The climb up to Upper Comet on Kerncliff was a slog.  There was a 45-49 woman that I knew I needed to get around before the drop in to Comet, but I just could not bridge that gap.  As I started the descent, I caught up to her pretty quick.  She was super cool and slowed down in a turn wide enough for me to pass.  But when I took the inside line, my front wheel washed out and I went down HARD ... on my left hand.  Dayum!  That hurt like a MF'r!  At first I thought I might have broken it, but after popping up and assessing, all the bones were where they were supposed to be.  It took me a minute to get my composure and get my computer reattached to the mount.  But it hurt like hell on the remainder of the descent so that I had to hang my 4th and 5th digits off the bar and only grip with my thumb and 2nd and 3rd digits.

It was a short pedal to the feed zone, where I swapped out hydration packs.  Only 10 miles to go!  Having only half a left hand with which to work with made those remaining miles painfully spicy.  Fortunately the terrain was a little more forgiving, what with the smoother single track trails of Enchanted Forest, Little Bell, and Schoolhouse. On the 3 mile section of Happy Valley Gravel, I was able to go a bit harder and found myself in a small group of juniors.  We played cat and mouse over those 3 miles, which helped to keep me focused on the legs and less on my hand.

Heading back on Tinker was a grunt.  By now, the temperature was 90 degrees, probably with a heat index approaching 100.  My legs were cooked and I was ready to be done.  I granny'd it to the top, flew down the backside, hit the double track like a scalded dog, and then crawled up the final pavement climb to the finish.

I ended up 2nd to Libbey, but only 2 1/2 minutes down.  And I will take that as a victory.  If you know Libbey, she has a closet full of championship jerseys.  She is an amazingly strong woman, at any distance, and under any condition.  And to be honest, she was probably still recovering from Covid that she had 2 weeks ago.  Regardless, I am super proud of my performance and ended up placing high in the overall as well.  

Now I just gotta get this hand back to normal, which I am a little concerned about.  Maah Daah Hey is just around the corner, and I am super motivated to perform well there.  I raced it 10 years ago and would love to have a PR.  I am currently 3 days out from injury and now can manage some push ups and pull ups.

I am super proud of Jayden, who rallied after her crash and ended up sprinting for 5th place, in a stacked field of 17 juniors.