Dog Jog and Mountain Madness Relay Weekend!

The Dog Jog

Saturday, May 4th was the Dog Jog. Sadie was going for first female again. She has won in the past three times maybe? I can’t quite remember but she was very concerned about defending her title.  J

The weather was super cold and rainy and we were driving down with my parents from a cabin in Blue Ridge in the morning.  In the past we had successfully convinced lots of folks to join us but this year was a tough sell with the timing and weather. We did know some folks though, Sheryl and her dog, Tim and his dog (a Vizsla) and Leah with her two small dogs.

Sadie down but not out

Sadie’s training had been shaping up nicely for a PR this winter as she was logging anywhere from 3-5 runs a week November through March. However, recently she cut her paw and was relegated to a head cone and no running for two weeks! That plus the fact that I was planning on the bike leg of a Mountain Madness relay the next day led us to readjust our goals. J We decided that instead of trying to PR, we would just do whatever was necessary to ‘defend’ Sadie’s title J

All lined up and ready to go. Sadie was ready while Bailey keeps trying to run the other way

Prior to the two mile race is the one mile race. When the one mile run started Sadie started yowling and trying to chase afterwards. She knew she was there for the race and hated being left behind!

Our stategy was to have Bailey in front with John because Sadie will kill herself trying to keep up  and Bailey is less likely to pull John’s arm off.

We started running behind Bailey and John and at first the pace felt pretty easy. I knew my legs were really tired from that week's training and I didn't want to have to dig too deep because I wanted to save any remaining energy for MM. The first mile wasn't too bad and we were right on pace at exactly 6 minutes flat or just under. I had forgotten that there is a lot of uphill and turning in the second mile that slowed us down a lot at the same effort. Overall, not our best effort but within the range I had expected and we weren't tired or sore afterwards.

Tim and his dog "drafted" off of us the whole time and pulled ahead at the finish!

Bailey and proud daddy at the awards ceremony

 Mountain Madness Relay

My parents were nice enough to babysit their 'granddogs' at the cabin all day.  I was nervous and hoped they were sufficiently worn out from the day prior. Within ten minutes we got a call that Sadie had found and eaten basically en entire large pizza. Whoops! Sorry mom and dad!

Post pizza party 5 AM snoozing

On the way to the race we were debating the pros and cons of participating. Weather was awful and I felt sure they might change the course a bit since descending a mountain in torrential rain didn’t seem smart.

Turns out DNR wouldn’t let us in the water due to poor visibility, plus they took the mountain out of the course. It ended up being a TT start to the bike with riders going off every 15 seconds or so. 

My goal was to have some fun and get some data. Not having to run,  my strategy was to ride fast when the course was slow to a higher degree than I normally would in a triathlon (ie go harder on the hills)

I had some fun with that. I ignored my power meter and ‘accidentally’ blew through my previous 1 min, 5 minute, and 20 minute PBs in the first thirty minutes. Sweet!

Overall my normalized power was within the range of what I would shoot for for a half (IF.86-.87) but my effort was much less even and I am sure I netted a slightly faster time than I would have had I paced it more evenly. I was actually aiming for about .9  but I faded a bit the last thirty minutes because of my opening efforts. Again, it was a relay so no real consequences. 

Relay teams "Race Team Relay" and "Parks and Wreck" Overall, a great race with or without the swim and the mountain and I hope it comes back in future years. 

Also, I was in a relay with Eddie while John was paired off with Andrew. John and I were the cyclists and Andrew and Eddie were our runners.  I knew I had to let John not get too far ahead on the bike so that Eddie would have a chance to catch up with Andrew. They are both good runners but Andrew's only training lately has been secret training. As it ended up, Eddie did catch Andrew but our overall relay times were very close. Rematch time! Also, we both got beat by the Podium relay team so I am seeing a future throwdown with them on tap...