Wakarusa Off-Road Challenge-Lawrence, Kansas

Jason and Laura Elsenraat put on an awesome event in Lawrence, Kansas called the Wakarusa Off-Road Challenge. This was a solo or 2-person team race which consists of approximately 6 miles of trail running, 17 miles of mountain biking, and 4 miles of paddling.  Zdenek Palecek and I decided this would be another good training race together as a team in preparation for USARA Nationals in October.

At the pre-race meeting we were told good news and bad news. The good news was we would no longer be paddling into Mud Creek since there is no water and full of mud! We would be doing an out and back on the Kansas River. The bad news was Jason prohibited the use of any running or bike tows. Jason!!!! How am I ever going to keep up with "Speedy Zee?" Anyone who knows Zdenek (Zee) knows he has some serious energy! I knew he was going to put us in the hurt locker for this race.

Zdenek and I were racing in the Co-ed division which consisted of 19 teams. Of course, I wanted to shoot for an overall team win which consisted of 18 male teams and 5 female teams. There were a total of 36 soloists. This was a total of 78 solo and team racers. There were many triathlete looking folks there. These trails are relatively flat and fast. I knew I was going to have to really push myself at this race if we wanted to try to win it.

 RUN #1 (2.2 miles)-0:18 min

We all lined up at the start line on the Levee Trail. The air was already muggy and a heat advisory was in effect for the day. I decided to not run with any water for the first run since it was short.  Jason yelled to start and everyone blasted off. We bolted down the gravel Levee Trail for approximately 1 mile before we took a right turn to head into the woods. Zdenek was setting a blistering pace and I was just trying to hang on. We ran another 1.2 miles of dirt single track which brought us back to the start.  Looked like we came in 1st so far in the Coed division with a few male teams and male soloists in front of us. However, there was a coed team only a few minutes behind us.

BIKE (17.2 miles)-1hr 12min

We arrived in the transition area and quickly changed our shoes. We hopped on our bikes and shot off down the gravel Levee Trail again. This time we went a little further down for approximately 4 miles. I was trying to down fluids and bring my heart rate back down a little on this part. However, Zee was pushing to go faster so it was time to tuck and go. We got to work with one of our Off the Front teammates, Fred Williams, which was fun. We found ourselves passing some of the men who were faster runners. We made a
sharp right into the woods into the dirt single track. I remember this trail from a previous adventure race Jason and Laura put on in years past. Fred, Zee, and I were hauling through this section where we rode around the outer loop first. I could see Fred was starting to pull away and I couldn't see any racers behind us. We made one large outer loop and then, came around again to do a shorter inner loop on the dirt trails. I have been experimenting with flat pedals in adventure racing lately.  I was thinking about them for this race with multiple transitions however, we opted on clip-less pedals for this race. These trails are super fast with very quick sharp turns and small uphill bumps. I think we made the right decision for faster cornering and more pull on the uphills. We hauled into the transition after passing a few folks and did not get passed by anyone.

  PADDLE (~2.95 miles)-0:43 min

 We quickly transitioned back into our running shoes. I was going so fast that I forgot to take my helmet off for the paddle. Oh well. The paddle section was shortened due to Mud Creek not having water and only mud which was too difficult to walk and drag canoes through. Instead, we had an out and back on the Kansas River. I was really wanting to gain a lot of time on this section since paddling is my strength. We found ourselves starting to pass a bunch of solo and male teams. However, my goal was to put some more time on the 2nd place coed team. The water was very shallow in sections and as we were heading downriver, we would find the current pulling us off to river right. The volunteer standing on the bank at the turn around was on the left. We quickly approached the turn around and headed back upriver. We crossed paths the 2nd place coed team already heading downriver. Dang it. I was hoping to have more of a gap before the last run. Again, they were only a couple minutes behind us.

 RUN #2 (4.3 miles)-0:45 min

We carried our canoes to the bank and quickly shed the life jackets and of course, my helmet. It was now really hot and we had our last 4.3 miles of the race to run.  I was really nervous on this part since I knew the triathlete team was only a couple of minutes behind, and who knows who else. I knew they could easily catch us on the last run. We had to run another inner loop of the twisty single track but, counterclockwise this time. As we started running, I realized I finally ran out of water. Zee had a little left but, it was a diluted Gatorade which seemed to make me even more thirsty. As soon as we made the left turn in the loop to head home, we saw the 2nd place team going the opposite direction. I thought..oh boy...here they come! I was really starting to suffer with the heat and no water. All I was hoping was everyone was feeling like we were. I started
feeling really bad and I couldn't explain to Zee what the problem was. All I could hear was "come on..we are almost there." Of course, he was saying this all along. But, there was no way I was going to give up with only a couple of miles left. I definitely entered the "dark side" at that point and just tried to focus on Zee's running stride to get me home. I kept looking over my shoulder thinking they were getting closer. Then, I could see it...the finish line! We cranked up the speed a little and crossed the finish line in 1st. I wanted to be so happy at that point but, I was so exhausted and overheated I just had to sit down and down a bunch of ice water. As I sat there recovering, almost everyone came across feeling the same way. The second place coed team came across 10 minutes after us. I think they were feeling it on the last run too.

After I felt like I could think again, it finally sunk in we got 1st out of 19 coed teams and 3rd out of 42 overall teams. We came out with some nice cash and a free entry into next years race. Big congrats goes out to friends Cynthia and John Bradley who took 1st in each solo division (John took overall win also) and Fred Williams who got 16th. Jason and Laura also had tons of awesome swag. Click here for results:  http://www.wakarusachallenge.com/results/2013/2013_Splits.pdf

Casey, my daughter, and I also really enjoyed the cabins we stayed in at Clinton Lake the night before. We will definitely be back next year!

Conquering Castlewood

On August 18th, Dave Hagen and I set out to race the Conquer Castlewood Adventure Race in Ballwin, Missouri at Castlewood State Park.  Our Off the Front teammates, Zdenek Palecek and Adam Rybar, were there also to race in the 2 person male division. There were a total of 134 racers, 69 teams, and 17 coed teams in our division. The race was broken up into 2 waves which was around 64-70 racers in each wave.

 

The Paddle (~1 mile)

Dave and I were placed in the second wave. The first discipline was paddling. The first
wave went off at 8:00 AM.  Dave and I watched to see how fast the teams were exiting from the water. At 8:30 AM, it was our turn. The gun went off and we sprinted to the beach to grab a canoe with our bike shoes and helmets on. When we got to the beach, everyone kept grabbing the same canoe we would touch so it was a little frustrating. I finally yelled "this one is mine!" after going through 6-7 boats. We ran the canoe to the river and I was disappointed to see how many boats were on the water already. I got on one knee in the boat, put my head down, and tried to hammer this section to make up time. Dave and I were able to make up a lot of time and exited the water in 4th overall. Dave yelled at me to go while he carried the boat up to the mandatory spot.

Mountain Biking (~5 miles)

I ran from the beach to the road where I staged my bike. I
was able to jump on and take off since I had all my biking gear on already. Since we didn't have to stay together for the remainder of the race, Dave was able to take off ahead of me. I decided to only carry water on the bike for the whole race since it was so short. I took advantage of the first short flat section and drank some water.  This allowed a few more guys to pass me. But, when we started the climb up Grotpeter, I was able to pass several of the boys again. I didn't see any females in front of me but, I didn't have any idea how the coed teams were doing in the first wave.

 Trail Run (~4 miles)

I came into the transition area after the fun bike section and exchanged my biking gear for running shoes. The first part of the run was flat along
the river. Then, we headed for the newly resurfaced long climb up Lone Wolf.  After the climb, the rest was downhill with a sprint down the road to the finish line.

I crossed the line in 1:10:30, 1st place overall female, and Dave was in already at 1:01:02 giving him 9th overall male. This gave us a combined time to win 2nd place out of 17 teams in the coed division and 8th overall out of 69 total teams. Yay!! The real kicker was we lost first place by only 16 seconds!

Big congrats goes out to our teammates Zdenek Palecek and Adam
Rybar who won 3rd place in the all Male Division. Speedy Zdenek also got the 2nd fastest individual time overall out of 134 racers...wow! Congrats also goes out to our Alpine Shop friends, David Frei and Jeff Sona, for 2nd place and Al Beers and Erin Fuselier for 3rd place coed. Always a blast hanging and racing with friends. For complete results click here http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/racing/race-results/conquer-castlewood.

Big thanks goes out to Matt for a great job organizing this event, the volunteers who help so we can race, and the awesome sponsors. Everyone was super friendly, course was well marked, and it was a super fast fun race! I had a blast racing with Dave and I'm sure I will be back next year.

XTERRA Dino Triathlon

I decided early in the year I wanted to try an off-road triathlon.  I found a really cool triathlon with a kayaking option in Versailles, Indiana.  I have done a couple 24hour mountain bike races here so I know the trail really well and love it! What the heck, I thought I might as well do the mountain bike race too which was also being held at Versailles the next day following the triathlon. Brian is the same race director who puts on the 24hr MTN bike race and I know he puts on great events.

I actually left my family vacation a day early from beautiful Hilton Head Island and headed to Versailles to attempt the triathlon. I have never done a triathlon before so wasn't too sure what to do or expect. However, I have a few adventure races under my belt over the past 12 years so I figured I could apply what I've learned from those.  I also got a lot of help with training for the triathlon from my coach, Chris Mileski.

I arrived to the race early, of course, to check in and stage my gear where I thought I would have quick
transitions.  I was happy to see Jackie, Lisa, and Cory-all St. Louis women who also came to race.The triathlon with the swimming went off before my race. We got to see Corey Redmond blast off into the water to start her swimming leg.


20 minutes later, our gun went off for the triathlon with kayaking. We started a short running sprint to the lake for the 1.5 mile kayaking leg. I chose to do the short run and kayak in my mountain bike shoes so I could save time in the TA.  We had a slight headwind going out to the buoy

where our turn around was. I found myself creeping up to 3rd place with the men and then, managed to take over 2nd place overall. I pulled up to shore in a little over 18 minutes. I quickly hopped out of the kayak and started running towards the TA while stripping off my kayaking gear.  I quickly put my helmet on and grabbed tools/pump and off I went in 42 seconds.

The next leg was my favorite part of course, mountain biking. This 13 mile mountain bike trail is so awesome and fun. However, I knew I was going to suffer if I wanted to try to keep up with the men on this leg.  I could really feel my heart rate exploding as I raced through the woods. I started catching up and passing a lot of folks from the swimming triathlon. I eventually dropped my chain and had to stop to fix since I couldn't get it back on while peddling. Dang it..I lost a couple of spots.  I came back into the TA after the 13 miles in a little over 1hr 18min.

After another quick TA, I headed out for the 5 mile run. The first half of the running course was very hilly with parts which were hard to even run up. Not to mention, you had to hop over or squeeze under trees at times. Again, my heart rate was pounding. The second half was a little more flowing and I was able to settle in better and start increasing my speed. The heat really started affecting some folks and several guys were cramping. I managed to pass up some more runners and I finished this section in a little over 54 min. I crossed the finish line in 2:32:50. Wow...what a blast! I pulled off 1st overall female, and 3rd overall. Congrats to Jackie, Lisa, and Cory who also rocked it. I can't wait till next year!





The next day, Todd, Jay Strothman, and I raced the mountain bike race there. The loop was only 10 miles for this race. With my division only getting to do one lap, I knew I would have to go ovaries to the wall the whole time. My legs were pretty toasty from the triathlon the day before but, I got 1st in age group and 4th overall. This was suppose to be more of a fun race for me but, it was actually pretty painful even though so short compared to most races I do. I really love the series and individual awards they have. I am looking forward to coming back next year.

New-Bluff View Trail Video

Lightning Strikes 8 Hours

Team:  Off the Front Racing
Teammates:  Todd Dohogne and Zdenek Palecek

With USARA Nationals being in Brown County, Indiana this year, my team and I were eager to attend an adventure race which would be a qualifier for Nationals. In order to qualify, you have to be top 3 at that race However, the rules state if a team qualified in a previous qualifying race then, the spot rolls down to next top team. Not all adventure races are qualifiers for USARA Nationals. There have only been a few qualifying races so far this year so we would have to probably place top 3 in the next race.

I found a USARA National qualifying race in Mt. Carroll, IL., Lightning Strikes. This is a 8 hour adventure race consisting of MTN biking, running/bushwhacking, paddling, and rope sections with ascending, rappelling, and traversing, all using map and compass in Northwest Illinois. There were some competitive teams registered and I was sure we would all be fighting to win top 3 to qualify for Nationals.

Race Headquarters

We arrived in Mt Carroll, IL and there was still snow on the ground. Some of the exposed areas were muddy and sloppy. Race Headquarters and lodging were Camp Benson. This is normally an adventure camp for kids in the summer where they learn how to navigate, paddle, ascend/rappel/traverse on rope sections, team build, caving, and much more. Our race fees help provide scholarships for kids who want to attend camp but, maybe can't afford to go.They will never turn a kid down who wants to attend camp but, can't afford it. We also had the opportunity to buy a cool sweatshirt and 100% of the cost went towards the kids scholarships too. Being an advocate for kids being outside, I had to buy one!

While on our way to register,  we ran into Robyn Benincassa, who is known to be the top female adventure racer in the world. She raced with top teams such as, Team Nike, Eco-Internet, and Zanfell, in some of the toughest 7-10 day adventure races in the world- Eco-Challenge and Primal Quest.  She was also a national level endurance kayaker and currently holds the Guinness World Record for distance on flat water in 24 hours. I was quick to pick her brain about the paddling section in the race, river level, and boat types. She informed us the race director had
to remove the paddling section due to water levels, frozen sections, and cold temperatures. Bummer!





 Our race fees included meals and lodging at the camp in these cool cabins which can sleep up to 16 people. The cabins are equip with electricity, heat, and bunk beds. We knew we would be sharing the cabin with other teams and I was a little worried about us getting sleep or us keeping up other teams. More on this later. We also got a bag when we registered which had a ton of cool schwag to include a nice first aid kit and gators. I think this is the most I've ever received in a schwag bag at any race.









After we  registered, we had the opportunity to practice the ropes sections before the race. These were the permanent courses for the camp and would not be the actual rope sections for the race. We decided to take this time to fine tune our climbing gear and practice. We also
found this really cool human luge where you go through a long tube system on a sled. We decided to have a little fun before the race.

Traversing across the river

 Pre-Race

The pre-race meeting opened up with Robyn Benincassa sharing her previous experience and knowledge on how to be successful as a team and at adventure racing. She is no longer adventure racing due to multiple hip surgeries but, has now started Project Athena Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women who've endured medical setbacks achieve their athletic dreams. Robyn is also a keynote speaker across the nation for team building events and has a new book out, "How Winning Works." http://www.robynbenincasa.com/ Her talk was so inspirational, motivating, and perfect to hear the night before a race.

 When she was done speaking, the race director handed out some of the maps and checkpoints to plot around 9:00 PM. We quickly headed back to the cabin to plot what we had on a fold up table I brought. The other teams in our cabin chose to plot at the main lodge either on the floor or on the metal chairs since all the dinner tables were put away to accommodate the racers for the meeting.

Since this race was important to us we took a lot of time with the maps
with double checking and map rolling road sections so we could be quick during the race. The other teams came back to our cabin and quickly crawled into bed while we were still plotting and gathering our gear. This meant we were still talking, make sounds, and lights were on! I felt really bad about this but, we were there to race and needed to do well.

The Race

When we awoke, with approximately 4 hours of sleep, the ground was covered with a new thin layer of snow and the ground froze underneath it. It was slick out there. We arrived at race headquarters for the pre-race briefing and 20 minutes before the start, we received our passport and a new map which had pre-plotted checkpoints 1-3 and 18-22.


Trek 1:  (cps 1-3, 1.0 mile, 0:14 min )
              

All the 4 hour and 8 hour teams gathered at the start line and the race begun at 6:00 AM. It was still a little dusky out but, not dark enough to need a headlamp. The first orienteering section which consisted of 3 pre-plotted checkpoints (cps) which could be done in any order. Teams scattered from the start in all directions. We chose to run a trail out to the furthest cp first. Once in the woods, the ground and rocks were slick due to the snow and overnight freeze. Yep, I took a good fall running down some rocks. We nailed the 3 cps and hustled into the transition area in 2nd place overall behind team Rev3.  Then, team Rib Mountain slipped in there and choose to use platform pedals so their transition was quick with not needing to change shoes and both those teams were out of the TA before us.


Bike 1:  (cps 4-6, 10.49 miles, 0:54 min)

After a quick transition, we took off on our bikes to collect the next set of cps, 4 and 5. We had 2 competitive teams in front of us and we weren't sure who was on our tail. Our plan was to utilize the bike tow on all the road sections but, the road conditions were not good. The temps were in the 30s with a thin layer of snow and hidden icy spots.  We tried to stay in a pace line as much as possible and visibility was difficult due to snow pelting our eyes from the sky and road. We picked up the 2 cps and headed to the steep road that dumped us into Mississippi Palisades State Park. We saw a couple sets of bikes laying there when we arrived. We quickly transitioned back into our running shoes and pulled out our maps we plotted the previous night.

Trek 2:  (cps7-15, 3.5 miles, 1hr 9min, elevation 700-940ft)

Zdenek took a quick look at the orienteering map which had 9 cps we plotted the night before. As soon as we stepped foot in the woods we were already heading up a steep re-entrant. The terrain was really hilly in Palisades Park. We worked together really well in this section. Zdenek was dead on with each checkpoint and Todd was efficient punching the passport. After grabbing all nine cps, we had a quick steep downhill run on the road back to where we left our bikes. Once again, we changed into our biking shoes and headed back to Camp Benson on our bikes.

Bike 2:  (cps 16-18, 12.9 miles, 1hr 11min)

With warming temperatures, the roads became more wet and slushy. We were told there were still two teams in front of us and we assumed it was still the co-ed teams, Team Rev2 and Rib Mountain. We were getting closer to the finish and tried to hammer out the last bike section hoping to gain a little time. We picked up the 2 cps on the road section and flew into transition area 18. Here we dropped the bikes and quickly put on our climbing harnesses and gear.

Ropes Course: (cp 19-22, )

We headed off running to the first ropes section which was ascending. We had to find the quickest way to get to the bottom so we chose to run the trail a little and found a section that wasn't as steep to scramble

down.  There were 3 ropes set up but, only one rope per team. We decided ahead of time we would send Todd up first so he could scout the area for the next cp. I went up second. I felt I was ascending pretty fast until I got to a ledge near the top. I couldn't get my ascenders to slide along the rock. I kept trying and my arms became very tired and shaky. I realized I had to push off the rocks with my feet and do a little jump to push my ascenders past the ledge. That did the trick and I was able to ascend over. Zdenek quickly ascended behind me.

Next, we had a quick zip line off a steep ledge that required a running start. This brought us to the bottom with a nice snowy slide on our butts. We ran across the flats and scrambled back up a hill to attack the next cp in a rocky ledge. Once we got it, we realized we could of stayed low to save time. We knew we had to get to the rappel next but, there was a wide creek with some pretty cold water in front of us. We knew the race director said we would not have to paddle or cross any water "intentionally" for the race anymore due to the conditions. This seemed to stick in our heads and could not figure out how we were suppose to get across. The night before they had fixed ropes across the same creek that folks were traversing across to practice. We figured this must be somewhere since we weren't going to have to cross water anymore. We went up and down the creek for awhile. I finally told the boys "screw it. We are going to jump in." We found a spot we thought was safer and jumped in. The water was about thigh high and boys helped me get across. Wow..that was some cold water!


Once we  got to the rappel, we realized we really were suppose to jump in the water and there was no static line crossing the river to traverse. The rappel was high and fun. Once we all got down we headed to the "human luge." Since we practiced the night before, not knowing we would use it in the race, we knew exactly where it was and what to do. We shot down the tubes with a big grin on our face and headed towards the finish line. We ran across the line with arms in the air. We were told we finished 3rd in division, 3rd overall, and going to Nationals. Yeah..goal achieved!!