Diane’s Trip to West Virginia

Can one train for Ironman while traveling to unknown locations?

This past week I was on my 20th wedding anniversary trip to West Virginia. The only “rules” were that I needed to get in my planned training activities, and then my husband could pick what we did the rest of the day.

I was going to do a sprint distance triathlon before we started on our 9 hour car ride from Boston to W. Virginia. Due to the spondylothesis in my back acting up, I decided not to do the sprint that morning so I would be able to get in quality training during our trip. Although I am not the best car traveler, (for those that know me this is an understatement) we basically drove straight through and got to our condo at 10:00pm. It was raining when we got to W.Virginia, so I had to clean my bike. This is bike cleaning #1 of the week.

The plan for Monday was for me to do a run from the condo and to swim later in the day. Well, if you have been to W. Virginia there are a few issues with getting in a run or bike over 20min. Where we are located, there are mountains all around us, and the streets are all highways with no other way to get from one place to another. So this little 1 hour planned run turned into a 50-min hill workout. I ran 20min in one direction and hit a highway, ran back the other way and hit a highway, ran down a side street ( and I do mean down), and hit a construction zone. I ran back up to the condo and was spent! It turned out to be a good workout, but a little different than I thought I was going to do.

Next came a swim in the onsite fitness center that declared a lap-pool. I was looking forward to a good swim where I wasn’t in a hurry, for a change, to complete the workout. I got to the lap-pool and realized it was a 15ft pool. The “T” warning at the bottom of the pool was right up against the wall. The first lap, I almost hit my head on the wall. As I tried to do my laps, I kept jamming my hand into the wall because it came too soon! Not my usual first reaction, but rather than get aggravated, I used the time to work on my form. The Oprah radio show guest I was listening to on my 9 hour car ride must be working. He kept stating that we need to “live in the moment”, and be a conscious participant in our lives. For some reason this really resonated with me. I got out after about ½ hour and headed to the gym for core work.

On Tuesday the plan was for me to get in a long ride around 40 miles. As stated earlier, there is nothing but hills running in to highways all around me, so my husband and I decided that I would ride on the rail trail while my husband read, then we would walk the other part of the trail around the lake after my ride. The guide book and the fitness center people said the rail trail was paved, so it should be a great ride. The rail trail is a gradual 2% incline up 1000 ft over 19 miles. Perfect!

Well, I guess my idea of paved and W. Virginian’s idea of paved are quire different. For the first 3 miles, it was paved, but after that, it was crushed rock over packed dirt. Did I mention that it rained the night before through this morning? This made for an interesting ride. Once again, putting on my positive hat, I looked at this ride as a great chance to work on my bike handling skills. It took me a little longer than planned, but I got in the ride, and my back was feeling better, things were looking up. The walk was nice and helped to loosen my legs. We ate then played 9 holes of golf which was fun. When we got back to the condo, I had to clean off my bike again- bike cleaning #2.

The REAL fun happened on Wednesday. We decided to do a 2-3 hour hike in one of the state forests. The weather had been tenuous all week, and we had to do our activities between rains, it looked like we’d be OK if we got our hike in before 2pm. So, off we went for a big brunch before our hike and got to the park around 12pm. We stopped in at the Visitors Center to get a map and to talk to the people working there about which trail to take. We wanted a strenuous hike that would be about 2-3 hours. Well let me just say that I don’t understand how people can work on a job that they 1. have no interest in the activity held there; and 2. know nothing about the facility for which they work. Needless to say, no one knew anything about the 2 strenuous trails we were asking about, so off we went with map and compass in hand. This is when my husband had a brilliant idea to “make our own trail”. “How hard can it be”, he said, “we just head down to the lake.” So, like a puppy dog, I regretfully followed him in to the woods. Let’s just say that I will NEVER blindly follow him again. I should have known better, he likes to venture off the beaten path while driving too and it drives me nuts! Anyways, this little hike of ours was probably the most strenuous hike I’ve ever been on. There was no trail. We never found the trail we were supposed to be on, and we never made it down to the lake! The rain showers started to roll in, and we needed to get back to the car. So, up the hill in the forest we started to climb. It was literally almost vertical. After about ½ hours, we see a clearing, there must be the road up ahead. We excitedly scurry up the hill to the clearing and no road. All we see are miles of power lines. This can’t be, we never saw power lines going down the hill. WHERE ARE WE??? At this point, I’m very quiet and just want to find the car. We know we need to head to the left, so off we go. At least we can walk and it’s a gradual hill instead of the steep elevation of leaves, tree stumps, thorns and dirt that we had been walking in. We get to the top of the hill and still can’t see a road. Even my husband is starting to get worried. But, we keep going…low and behold, there is the road! Now, the really funny part is once we walked back to the car about ½ mile on the road, get in the car and look for the original trail we were looking for, it was literally 20 feet from where we came out of the forest! Oh well, at least we worked off our big breakfast.

The plan for Thursday was for me to do a brick workout. My IM training schedule called for me to ride for 45 miles and run for 3 miles. I knew this wasn’t going to happen because to get in 45 miles I would have had to do that rail trail in the dirt/gravel again and it had rained a lot the night before and I didn’t think that was a good idea. You see, I’m trying to keep the bigger picture in mind this year so I can make it to my first Ironman race in November healthy. So, I decided I would stay on the pavement on 3 different parts of the rail trail and ride back and forth until I hit about 20miles. I would then run 6 miles instead of 3 on the crushed rock and packed dirt part of the trail (perfect for running). My husband would read until I was done with the bike, then join me on the 6 mile run.

As noted previously, it had rained a lot the night before through the early part of the morning. It had cleared up when we headed out, but we had a short window since the forecast called for more rain later that afternoon. Off I went on my little bike ride on the nice, safe, paved trail. It was 10am so a few walkers were on the trail. At mile 3 there was a wooden bridge I needed to cross. “Passing on your left,” I called out to the man in front of me who was ¾ the way over the narrow bridge. The next thing I knew, I was on my butt. Wooden bridge, skinny racing tires, and breaking don’t mix. My wheels slid from under me as I slowed to pass the gentleman. I landed smack on my tailbone on the corner of my seat then slid across the bridge. UGH!!!!! I walked it off a little, “yes, I’m fine” I said to the gentleman as my butt was throbbing. Frustrated I got back on my bike and continued riding. I probably should have stopped, but I was so aggravated and pissed-off that I NEEDED to ride. I know I am very stubborn, but I guess we need to be to do triathlons. I finished the 22 miles and headed out for the run. I didn’t tell my husband about the fall until we started running because I was running a little stiffly and he would probably wonder what was going on. Granted, we were on that part of the trail that was on the 2% incline, so I knew that running back would be easier. I promised myself that after 3 miles if I wasn’t better, I would stop and walk back. But, I loosened up and the run back was downhill the 2% so it felt better.

The rain held off, so we decided to shower and try to get in a kayak ride. We hauled this 2 person kayak 500 miles and we were going to use it whether we felt like it or not (see, I’m not the only stubborn one). Also, as much as I made the most of my swim, I figured I probably wouldn’t be swimming again this week, so I could use the kayak stroke as an arm workout. I also had to clean off my bike again- bike cleaning #3.

So let me recap briefly here. It’s now Thursday and I’ve gotten in 1-half-assed swim, and have no other way to get in a real swim this week, I got in 1/2 of the distance on the bike I need to do this week, I had to clean my bike 3 times, I bruised my tailbone, and it continues to rain every day. The only thing I’ve been able to keep on schedule is my running.

Now it is Friday and surprise, surprise, it’s raining. Biking, hiking and kayaking is out. I ran yesterday, so I can’t run again today. My husband has a great idea, let’s play golf. No one will be on the course, and golfing is FINE in the rain. Again, the puppy dog in me says, “ok, let’s golf in the drizzle”. Off we go to play 9-holes. Remember, W. Virginia is NOT flat. You have to take carts on the golf courses because its so hilly and the courses are very long. They are quite nice, actually. Well we were wrong on a few fronts. First of all, others do play golf when it is drizzling and we happened to get behind a group of very slow gentlemen. Secondly, when one doesn’t play golf often, trying to golf in the rain and play decently is nearly impossible. Thirdly, when ones tailbone is killing them, golfing and walking up hills is, let’s just say “painful”. It took us 2 ½ hours to play 9-holes in the sideways rain. We were drenched, cold, sore, and tired when we got back to take our showers.

Finally, Saturday is a beautiful day. They predicted thunder showers for the evening starting around 4pm, so we would have all day to play. I decided to get in a quick hill workout bike ride around the condo before we would hike for a few hours. We would then try to squeeze in one last round of golf before the thunderstorm. All went according to plan and we didn’t get rained on once! However, since it rained a lot the night before, you guessed it, I had to clean off my bike again for cleaning #4! Boy am I getting good at this.

Sunday we were leaving and heading back on our 9 hour trip home. It was pouring as we loaded the car. I covered our bike seats with plastic, but I couldn’t believe I was in for yet another bike cleaning to do after we got home! It rained for 8 of the 9 hours of the trip home, but we were home! I jumped out of the car, ran upstairs, changed clothes and went for a normal-person’s 3 mile run. It felt so good to 1. know where I was going and 2. have only a few hills to run.

Why, you ask, did I write this article? My point is when you are training for a long distance race, and you are far from home, in a place you have never been before, it make sense to REALLY scope out the territory. Things might not be as they appear. It also helps to know someone. However, despite the trails and tribulations of my trip, I can honestly say that we had a great time, and in the big scheme of things, I got in a few good workouts and it’s not like this 40 something-year-old is going to win any long distance races so who cares if I got in the “ultimate” Ironman workout?!