THE 2009 RACE SCHEDULE SUMMARY
Ross A. Hauser, M.D.

You know I am not taking racing as seriously in 2009 because it is now August 19th and this is my first race report. At the end of 2008 I was simply tired and burnt out. I finished the Las Vegas Marathon having run a time of just over 3:30 and qualified for the Boston Marathon by a mere 19 seconds. The training for this event and the actual event itself to be honest with you just was not that much fun. I just had too much on my plate. I had already told my triathlon coach Pete Alfino sometime in mid/late 2008 that I just couldn’t do the coached workouts anymore. He understood so I trained with a group that ran three times per week and this was all I did throughout the last half of 2008. I decided that for 2009 I would mainly bike ride and not set my sights too high as far as athletic events go this year. If I needed to take a day off, I would do it, and when I felt like training, well, I’d go for it.

Fortunately this year I have had a great training partner Jim Donegan. Jim helped me with long workouts and my wife Marion with shorter workouts (yes, she is a great training partner also!) Jim is up for most workouts and like me just wanted to stay in shape and if possible build up our endurance to go on some long bikes in 2009. The first event scheduled the “infamous” Rockford to Galena ride and back that is done by the Lake/Harlem cycling group every spring (end of April/early May). I had never been able to do this ride because of Ironman training each year. Since I wasn’t going to do an Ironman triathlon this year, this seemed to be the perfect event to train for over the winter. The ride involves 110 miles of cycling from Rockford, Illinois to Galena, Illinois, with the ride being against the wind the first day with a lot of uphill climbs toward the end and then the 2nd day (after a joyous time relaxing in Galena overnight) 80 miles back to Rockford that will be with the wind and downhill. Needless to say the “real” event is the first day!

Like many RGR rides in the past (Rockford-Galena-Rockford) the winds picked up to 15-20 miles per hour so the 110 miles seemed like 200 miles! It was atrocious! Honestly, I think it was the hardest bike ride I ever did. Unfortunately I had to replace my bike clip the night before, so ended up injuring my right knee. It was killing me by mile 58 and I had to readjust my clip. The scenery is, of course, gorgeous, but in hindsight, I should have gone slower and not tried to “keep up’ with people because the last few hours were murder! The ride home the next day was mostly downhill and besides right knee pain, I was okay, just exhausted. I’ll be honest, though, I ended up drafting on folks way more than I would have liked. Please see the photos of what the group looked like when we got back to Rockford!

So what to do next? Well, how about the Horribly Hilly Hundreds ride in Wisconsin! Again I have never had a chance to do the 200K, billed as the hardest 200K in the Midwest! Something like 15,000 feet of climbing over 124 miles! Jim and I had a great spring in regard to cycling training. I was doing say 150 miles of cycling per week with little running. So I definitely wasn’t putting in the hours of training I had done in the last few years for Ironman, but I just didn’t have it in me!

For some reason when the Horribly Hilly Hundred bike ride came up I was not mentally as prepared as I should have been. For some reason I think mentally I thought it was going to be easy? I know that sounds crazy, 15,000 feet of climbing over 124 miles. Well, you know what happened. By mile 80 I started to get cramps and begged people for some salt tablets, but by then it was too late. By mile 103 I was stopped at a farmer’s house and asked him for some cold soda which he graciously obliged! Shortly after that I was stopping in the middle of a hill to rest and a few miles later I was walking my bike up the hills. By mile 110 I flagged down the SAG wagon to say I was done with the ride! Yes, I quit at mile 110! It was humbling, but I did not want to put my health in jeopardy. I was over heated and my legs weren’t working any more. I found out that the blood work I had done the day we left showed that I was low in minerals, so it is no wonder I cramped up! Another fact that was not in my favor was that race day was the hottest day of the year, so I wasn’t heat acclimated, of course, not taking in salt tabs didn’t help either! I was happy for my buddy Jim as he completed the 124 mile ride! On a happier note, from the 2 to 5 hour mark I never remember cycling so hard and fast! I even caught up with two of the fastest cyclists I know - Eligio and Mike who do half ironmans in like 4:10! They are amazing!

After the Horribly Hilly Hundreds I regrouped and set my sites on redeeming myself at a similar event as the Horribly Hilly Hundreds, the Dairyland Dare. This ride has almost as much climbing and some folks say it is as difficult. To prepare for it, Marion and I, along with good friends Charlie Begin and Karen Bukowski went to the area two weeks before to ride parts of the course. In the three days we were there I road almost 200 miles, it was awesome!

Charlie and Karen completed the 133K and for both of them it was their most difficult one day rides! They both did great! Marion nursing two injuries, was side-lined for the actual event, but did 150 miles of cycling the weekend we were there.

For the Dairyland Dare, my mindset though with this ride was completely different than Horribly Hilly Hundreds. Enjoy the ride. Go out slow. Pedal for the first four hours, one gear lower than you think you could do (one gear easier). I followed the plan to the tee! My special needs bag with AMP was waiting for me at mile 56 and I still felt fine! I was really enjoying myself and fortunately the weather was 10 degrees cooler (low 80’s) than the Horribly Hilly Hundreds event! I had a few other things I was planning to do which was cover up my speedometer so I would just go by feel! This helped immensely. I knew I was making decent progress but continually having folks pass me was very humbling, but mentally I had even prepared for this. I needed to do my own event!

I didn’t need to get up out of the saddle on one of the steep hills until mile 102. At mile 106, I had to decide – “do I completed the 200K (130 miles) or go for the 266K (170 miles)?” I still had strength left in the legs and wasn’t feeling like at any minute I was going to die, so I headed off onto the 266K course! Since few folks do this distance, the road was pretty desolate and the next 25 miles to the food stop were brutal. When I got there I called Marion to let her know I was on the 266K course and was planning to go on. When I hit the next food station at 140 miles, however, my body was starting to cave in. I looked on a map as to a short cut to the hotel and I found one! I am so glad I never found that road! Because I missed the road to the hotel I stayed on the course and then mentally all of a sudden I got a burst of energy! It is true, we have much more mental and physical reserve then we think. I just kept plugging away, mile after mile. All I can say is the Dairyland Dare course is brutal up to the very last mile! I crossed the finish line shortly after 7 pm, some 13 hours and 7 minutes after I started, completing my longest bike ride ever - over 170 miles. When I road back to the hotel, I realized I had covered in one day 177 miles of cycling with over 20,000 feet of climbing. It was amazing!

What I didn’t tell you in the above was that I had blood work done prior to the Diaryland Dare which showed that my blood pH was very alkaline (high) and my magnesium levels were very low. Fortunately I had enough days to correct this and by the start of the race my magnesium levels were good and my blood pH was where it should be (slightly below normal so during the event it would go up in the normal range). I plan to write the plan I used for our future newsletters.

So what is next? Well, I signed up for the Glacial Trail 50 mile Ultramarathon in Kettle Morraine Forest in Wisconsin, October 11th. So I hope to set my PR for most miles run in one day. What if I make it (cut off time is 12 hours)/ Well, if I make it then I am hopeful in 2010 to run or finish my first 100 mile running event! Crazy? Yes! Would I have it any other way? No? Would you?