MS 150 - Escape to the Lake

I just wanted to personally thank all of you for helping Jen and I reach our goal in this years MS-150 bike ride. Combined Jennifer and I raised over $400 dollars which will help fund a cure for the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. Again, this couldn't have been done without all of your help.

Ride Recap:

The ride started in Cranberry PA, and we biked on back roads that paralleled Rt. 79. About 30 miles in Jen had a little accident as she hit a pot-hole and went head over heels. Although a little shaken up, the good news is she's okay besides a couple of rather large bumps and bruises. I biked my own pace, and opted to do the Saturday Century ride. Overall I felt good, and finished the day biking a little over 105 miles (went a little of course). Jen also did well, and finished Day 1 with 80 miles under her belt even after the unlucky fall. Saturday night was spent eating plates of spaghetti, lasagna, and ice cream!!! As the night came to closure, we pitched our tent, and camped out on the lawn at Allegheny College outside of Meadville. The weather was perfect all weekend as we enjoyed the cool dry weather.

Sunday morning came fast, and Jen and I were out on the road by 7:30 AM for another long day in the saddle. Jen did awesome given what she went through on Saturday. Again the weather was perfect, and we headed off towards Lake Erie at Conneaut Park in Ohio. Sundays trek was a 65 mile ride from the college and was mainly flat with some small rolling hills. We both finished later on that morning feeling good.

The Westinghouse Team was able to raise over $8,000 dollars, and our gym in Irwin (Blazers) was able to raise over $4000 dollars.

posted by Chad Holderbaum @ 3:07 PM Comments: 0

Florida 70.3 Disney

Well one of the three events went well for me (the bike). I haven't put very many swimming miles leading up to yesterdays race, and my time showed that. The swim was a non-wetsuit race, and that only slowed me down. I came out of the water in 38:37 which was five minutes off of my target time, so I knew I had to motor on the bike to make up the lost time. I had a good transition given the 1/4 mile run before you got to your bike.

On the bike I settled into an easy comfortable pace with my Heart rate hovering around 165-170. I seem to have trouble eating anything on the bike when the temperature is hot like it was (in the mid 80's). I was only able to take in 2 bottles of Gatorade, 2 gu's, and a couple salt tablets. I averaged 23.6 mph for the 56 mile bike portion, which was by far my fastest time thanks to Jim hooking me up w/ the new Felt and Zipp 999's!!!

Now the run actually took me back to my high school XC days, as 80% of the run was on grass and uneven trails. The run was a 3 loop course, and got extremely congested by the 2nd and 3rd loop. I got severe stomach cramps on the run, and just really couldn't kick it into the next gear. I was 10 minutes slower than my expected time on the run, but still PR'ed by almost a minute overall.

Over the next month and a half I'll be gearing up for Ironman Lake Placid.

Jen (my wife to be) did the race as well, and it was her first half IM. She finished in 5:45!

Chad

posted by Chad Holderbaum @ 2:23 PM Comments: 0