The Hills of the Forestburg Loop

Don T and I drove up to Forestburg this morning and did a loop that he learned about via his Gorilla Multisport training group. From Forestburg, we went northwest to Montague and then took FM 175 north to Nacoma. After a short break, we headed east on FM 1956 to Capps Corner and then turned right on FM 677 into the hills. We crossed through Saint Jo and continued on FM 677 until it met FM 455 back in Forestburg. We finished the 57.55 mile route in 3 hours and 40 minutes for an overall average speed of 15.6 MPH.

Route map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/ForrestburgLoop2008-05-3157mi2888ft.kml

It's been a while since I've been on a bike ride where I was just aching to see the finish line - last year's near-century ride at Waxahachie comes to mind. Well, today's ride was another one of those days!

As you can see from the elevation chart, we went up a mountain from Mile 37.5 to Mile 42.5. And there were a several other fairly steep climbs for the last 6.5 miles of the ride - including the last big push back to Forestburg and our starting point. So that made the finish very painful.

Another sign of how the day went was our speed. We had a very fast pace (averaging 21+ MPH for the first 20 miles) up through about Mile 37 as we turned south at Capps Corner. Then, it all went "downhill" - as we were met with a very stiff (15+ MPH) wind coming out of the SSE. Even when we were pedaling on the flatter portions it was tough to go much faster than 16-17 MPH.

Another factor making the "end game" difficult was the rising temperatures as it was nearly 95 degrees as we got back to the car at noon. The heat combined with the hills ensured a fairly high heart rate for the second half of the ride. So even though my overall average heart rate of 149 BPM was lower than last week's Burleson Honey Tour's 155 BPM, today's ride was definitely tougher.

Luckily, hydration was not a problem even though I was sweating like crazy. With two Polar insulated water bottles in the cages plus my AeroDrink mounted on the tri-bars, I had nearly 60 ounces of water with me, which was just enough for the ride. However, once I got back to the car, I took in about another 44 ounces of fluid immediately - 20 ounces of Accelerade and two sodas. So refreshing ...

The Forestburg loop was an excellent ride. Low traffic and great hill training. The roads were mostly chip-seal, but it was fairly well worn down so the ride wasn't too punishing. I look forward to doing this route again when I am in better shape! :-P

Good Swim

Yay, after all my bellyaching, I finally had a decent swim today. 3,000 yards in 1:02:42 - a new PR for this distance - woo-hoo! (Compare to Monday, April 7 swim.)

Times for the 500 yd splits:

• 1st 500 yds: 10:07
• 2nd 500 yds: 10:31.5
• 3rd 500 yds: 10:29.5
• gel/water break: 0:25.5
• 4th 500 yds: 10:31.5
• 5th 500 yds: 10:19.5
• 6th 500 yds: 10:18

Very pleased ...

Spin classes

Tuesday: 45-minute spin class (was late so I actually only got in 40 mins of cycling) followed by a 2-mile treadmill run.

Thursday: 45-minute spin class with some extra solo cycling before and after - 1 hour and 15 minutes total on the bike ... and I pushed hard nearly the entire time.

(Unfortunately, my Garmin Forerunner 305 got data corruption so I had to do a hard reset which wiped out all the data - so no stats/charts for this week).

Two solid workouts - so not a bad week so far despite slacking off on Monday and Wednesday.

Tomorrow, I will try to get in a swim and then on Saturday a long bike ride.

2008 Burleson Honey Tour

This morning I did the Burleson Honey Tour bike ride. Last May, it got rained out, but ended up being rescheduled for Labor Day weekend. Because it was one of the later rides that I did last year, much of the route was familiar (except for a small portion that was changed) which was very nice especially towards the end when I was looking for the finish line!

I did the 60-mile route (60.5 miles per GPS). Don T and I rode the first 23 miles together before he split off to complete the 54-mile route. I finished my ride in 3 hours and 56 minutes (including 3 rest stops) for an overall pace of 15.4 MPH. Not extremely fast, but this was the first time I was on my bike in three weeks (since the MS-150, during which I didn't ride especially quickly either ;-). The temperatures were not too bad (although they hit the upper 80s by 11:00-noon when I finished up) but there was a decent amount of humidity (70+%) which made hydration important.

The route had good roads (see review below) and was slightly hilly - especially the second half which was generally uphill. See elevation profile below.


My heart rate averaged 155 BPM (but this includes the rest stops). Overall, I was working fairly hard and hit 180 BPM on the hills. I'm definitely not in as good cycling shape as I was at the end of last summer. Hopefully with more rides I'll get back to that level over the next few months.


The ride had good attendance. The parking lot of Kerr Middle School was completely filled as well all spaces in the surrounding side streets. Unlike last year, the 60/54/33/9-mile rider starts were staggered so that made it a little less chaotic, but there were still a good number of bikes on the ride for the first 15+ miles. The traffic didn't really thin out until after the second rest stop ... and after the 54-mile and 60-mile split, the roads really opened up.

Ride Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/2008-05-24BurlesonHoneyTour.kml

Ride Review:

• Course: 4/5 - basically the same as last year: fast concrete roads in Burleson, decent conditions on country roads - some chip seal; rolling hills in the second half; course markings were improved (repainted - yay!); volunteers directing traffic and riders at many/most of the key intersections so a thumbs-up for that; however, at least two major intersections had no traffic control and riders (still a problem crossing back over Route 67) had to wait for a traffic light cycle with cars and trucks; there was a nasty left curve/turn at the bottom of a hill (around mile 56?) that should have been marked; nice to see that the 25 mile route had been increased to 33 miles to give a good option for intermediate riders.
• Rest Stops: 3.5/5 - I hit the rest stops at Miles 8.5 (just to use the porta potty) , 33.25 (in Grandview), and Mile 52.5 (in Egan). The latter two stops had decent refreshments and drinks - a little less selection than last year (cookies, crackers, fruit). The energy/recovery drink at the Egan rest stop was very welcome.
• Logistics: 4/5 - reasonable entry fee; decent parking around Kerr Middle School; decent post-race refreshments (hot dogs & BBQ brisket sandwiches, crackers, fruit, drinks); like last year the starting line was not marked - I guess since this is the 10th one, riders are supposed to know where to go; very "weak" rider send-off - no national anthem or words from race director - just a "okay, 60-milers, you can go"; staggered starts made the "launch" safer than last year.
• OVERALL: 4/5 - pretty good ride with several improvements from last year; this one is growing on me.

Better Than Nothing

Workouts in the past few weeks have been sparse due to my vacation, then massive amounts of work at the office (due to both "vacation recovery" and because my boss is leaving the company on Friday!), and (most recently) business travel to our company's headquarters in New Jersey.

So, I'm quite proud of myself that I actually got up early before my flight back to Dallas and hit the Newark Airport Marriott's fitness center. Ran a "5K" on the Life Fitness treadmill - complete with a"virtual nature trail" on the LCD display. Not a very fast run - 26:30 for the 5K- but it'll do as I get back in the groove.

Getting Back Into Training

Did my first post-vacation workout today. All-in-all, not a bad showing.

45-minute spin class (with average heart rate of 156 BPM) and then a 1,500 yard swim in 32:35 (splits: 10:58, 10:54, 10:43). The swim time is not very fast, but I was wearing baggy swim trunks (I think I got to used to the fast tri-shorts swims - I'm going to put a stop to that for training for now) and I'm pleased with the negative splits.

Now, I just have to keep it up!

Vacation Run

Vacation has been very relaxing. I got email that Don T completed the Gulf Coast Triathlon (a Half-Ironman distance event) in a little over 6 hours despite some pretty nasty waves for the swim and uber heat and humidity for the bike and run. Kudos to Don!

I've experienced a little bit of that Florida humidity myself. I did a 2.65-mile run earlier this morning here in Orlando. Just trying to stay in some semblance of shape and burn off a few of those DisneyWorld calories. :-)

Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://pages.andrien.com/2008-05-13_Run.kml

Swimming Funk

I have to admit it. My workouts have been deteriorating lately. Case in point, my swim times have definitely gotten significantly slower in the past few weeks. As you can see, I had some decent times in mid-April but nothing good since after the Old College Tri (on April 26).

• April 15 - 500 yards after spin class in 9:17.48
• April 16 - 1,000 yards after spin class in 18:49.27 (splits: 9:38.11, 9:11.16)
• April 17 - 1,250 yards after spin class in 23:32.12 (splits below)
  • 1st 500: 9:20.13
  • 2nd 500: 9:25
  • final 250: 4:46.99
• April 29 - 500 yards after spin class in 9:42.3
• April 30 - 1,000 yards after spin class in 20:47.58
• May 1 - 500 yards after spin class in 10:55.15
• May 7 - 500 yards after spin class in 10:08.46

And just as (or even more) troubling than the slower times is the fact that I haven't had the energy and/or the drive to do any long-distance swims in quite a while.

I'm pretty sure that it is a sign of training burnout. I had actually already considered it a couple weeks ago, but my thinking was that I should just keep training through the beginning of May since I'm about to go on a 10-day vacation during which I expect that there won't be much traing - save for some swimming in the hotel pool and running around chasing my kids and nephew and niece at DisneyWorld. :-)

Sam's Club MS150

This past weekend (Sat, May 3 - Sun, May 4) Derek, Don, Matt, and I joined over 3,200 other cyclists to ride the 2008 Sam's Club MS150. In addition to being one of the largest bike rides in the DFW metroplex, the goal of the MS150 is to raise money for and awareness about Multiple Sclerosis.

Each week, the symptoms of multiple sclerosis are diagnosed in 200 Americans. A new case is identified every hour. Approximately 400,000 Americans are living with multiple sclerosis. Counting family members and caregivers, MS affects more than 1 million Americans. The National MS Society estimates that multiple sclerosis affects approximately 3 million people worldwide. All proceeds from the 2008 Sam's Club MS150 help the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, an organization dedicated to ending the devastating effects of MS.

We started the 150+ mile journey Saturday morning in Frisco, just west of the Stonebriar Mall. The weekend's weather was nice overall (no rain - yay!); however, Saturday had some fairly strong winds out of the north and since we were headed mostly north and west to Sanger, it was in our face for most of the morning's ride.

At Rest Stop 3 (around the Mile 25), we got a nice long break and eat some snacks and gels and lounged on the grass near a pond while Derek got his bike repaired (rear derailleur damaged from an earlier crash). More than halfway to the lunch break.

After having a lunch of Subway subs, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and various snacks and drinks at the Sanger High School, we rode down FM 156 through Krum, Ponder and Justin to the Day 1 finish line at Texas Motor Speedway. We totalled about 83 miles in 7 hours and 27 minutes (inclusive of all our rest stops and the lunch break).

Tired but happy we left our bikes in the corral at TMS, picked up our luggage and partook of the finish line festivities - including live music, complimentary foot/calf massages, and meals at both the Plano Cycling team tent (fajitas) as well as the main MS150 dinner area (chicken wraps, pasta salad, baked potatoes). Finally around 5:00 PM, we headed off to get some rest and relaxation before day number 2.

Day 1 Route Map: http://dallas.ms150.org/dallas/maps/2008/08SCDay1Route.pdf

On Sunday, we arrived back at Texas Motor Speedway just before 6:00 AM. With the various breakfast options, I ended up eating three breakfasts (a bagel and yogurt at home, breakfast burritos at Plano Cycling, and eggs/pancakes/sausage/bacon at the MS150 pavillion). Unfortunately, we misread the schedule and didn't line up inside TMS early enough to do the lap around the track. I had experienced this before at last year's Cross Timber's Classic, but I wanted to do it again and also let Don, Derek, and Matt get the experience as well. Oh well.

Sunday's weather didn't have as much wind, which was very nice. However, the road conditions were terrible for the first half of the ride. Bad roads with chip-seal and potholes marred what would have been a nice relaxing ride through rural areas enroute to Decatur.

Due to the location of the lunch break (at the 30-mile mark), we actually ate "lunch" at 9:30 AM at the Decatur High School. So I ended up having four meals before 10:00 AM. I definitely didn't go hungry this weekend.

In the afternoon, the roads got better - especially after we cross back into Tarrant County. The route near Eagle Mountain Lake got kind of hilly and there were definitely some challenging climbs. My GPS data says that we had 5,588 feet of total ascent on Sunday. (Saturday was only 2,900 feet of total ascent even though the distance traveled was longer.)

After the last big around the lake, we rolled into Rest Stop 6 (at the 61-Mile mark) knowing that we only had about 15 miles left. As we rode through Saginaw and crossed over Highway 820, we could see the Fort Worth skyline and knew the finish line was near. In downtown Fort Worth, we had to ride up one last large hill on Main Street towards the Courthouse, but once that was complete, we just made a few final turns and crossed the finish line in Sundance Square. We went over 76 miles in about 7 hours and 10 minutes. The grand total for the two days was 159 miles of cycling and almost 8,500 feet of total ascent.

The post race festivities started with getting our finishers' medal, MS150 pins, and completion certificates. Then we had a delicious dinner catered by Razoos and partook of various beverages. We were all very tired after the back-to-back cycling days, but at the same time felt very relieved that it was over and very happy that we had finished such a challenging event.

Day 2 Route Map: http://dallas.ms150.org/dallas/maps/2008/08SCDay2Route.pdf

This was a fun ride and for a great cause. Maybe next year, we'll be able to get even more of our friends and fellow athletes to join us.

P.S. Donations for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society accepted at http://www.ms150.org/dallas/donate/donate.cfm?id=218416