andy reagan only the interesting stuff

Mtn Lake Mountain Top Trot 10-miler Race Report

It was an early morning start to an awesome, cold, and incredibly challenging 10 mile trail race today. Brice, Greg P and I got up to the start at 8AM to help with setting up if Kirby needed any, so Greg and I spent the early morning hours making a fire to keep everyone warm. As the snow started and the temperature lingered in the low 40's with strong gusting winds, and all I had brought were shorts, I was worried that I was about to freeze my butt off.

We went off at 10:ooAM and quickly at that. (Run data here). Before the first mile had ended, we'd turned up a steep trail and were going straight up the side of the mountain. My heart rate spiked from the fast start, and it wasn't too long before this wall of a trail had defeated me. Reduced to a fast hike (with long legs, no slower than those "running" up), I now understood what trail runners experienced on the steep climbs.

Across the top of that, I pushed on, and without a gruesomely detailed description of the rest of the run, I enjoyed the parts that were run-able and went fast on them, punished my calves on the steep climbs which is where I lost all my groud to the leaders I'm sure, and bombed the downhills. There were a few parts of the trail that were so technical that I was leaping off boulders and skid-landing on two feet before springing off again.

Running with these two dudes for most of the run, they missed a turn by about 10 feet that I was waiting for because it went back downhill, and I knew it was coming from the Dirty Dawg (although the trails that we did repeat, were backwards). So I got in front of them from that, and with about 1.5 miles of trail that I knew very well ahead, kept them behind me through the finish.

Congrats to Justin M for winning it, and best of luck to him at OCS (where he is now!). Rudy also ran strong, behind Ig who almost snuck past Justin at the finish. Those guys can run. As well as Brice, Emma (who I was super pumped to see there!!), Greg, and everyone else that conquered those trails.  And a big thanks to East Coasters (Kirby in particular), RunAbout Sports, Blue Ridge Mountain Sports x2, and most of all the Mountain Lake Conservancy for making this race happen!!

More pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150398473130549.404098.98063795548&type=3&l=528678620a

Big Lick 2011 and W&M MTB Races

I had an epic weekend this past weekend with a PR in an Olympic distance triathlon and attempting to hold on to first place in ACCC mountain biking conference (Men's B).

I beat every single leg (including transitions) from my first triathlon at Big Lick last year to finish in 2:29, and am really happy with my race.  If I learn how to swim, and train more than never in my aerobars, I could perhaps knock that down even further.

The plan was going to be to leave from the Tri with Evan from W&M to head up there and try to catch the short track race at 4PM...it would've been really tight with the triathlon starting at 9AM and a four hour drive, but it turned out that Saturdays races were cancelled due to an onslaught of rain. It had poured on Friday while I set up for the triathlon at Smith Mtn Lake State Park too. So, making a very long story short, I drove back to Bburg after the race, and rode with the cycling team to Williamsburg to spend Sat night there, and race on Sunday. When I was first loading up my bike in Blacksburg for the MTB race, I thought we were heading up for just Sunday's XC, but W&M pulled together 3 races which was awesome, and really tough. Without much attendance from other schools, VT was able to clean up and win every race as a team with strong performances in each field. A long day/weekend for sure, and my body was reelin, but just some swimming for today and I should be golden.

I'll perhaps write more after this week, I've got three big tests!

Some photos from tri (red head is Rudy taking his award for 2nd overall, first collegiate!)

NC State XC Day 2

Nothing quite like getting up early to race bikes, and I'm definitely getting old because I'm thinking how I'm going to miss mornings like that.

Lined up to race, sick picture

Today's cross country race was the same course as the day before but in the other direction. Will M, Jacob A, Robbie, and Mike B had driven down the night before and slept at the (wrong) race site, and were there before we got there.

At the start of the race, Will M, Jacob, and I started the fun train. We were flying, and it was sweet. About two miles in, Will started slowing down and we were losing the group in front of us. Jacob and I went around, and before long I'd lost Jacob. And after not too much longer, Will was gone behind me. I got passed once, but kept going as hard as I could for the rest of the race. It was fun being able to let loose and go fast on these trails. By the end, I'd finished in 6th place with Jacob holding it down for 3rd.

Final sprint in the short track yesterday

Robbie did work as well, coming in second in the Men's C race, Kay finished a mere 20 seconds behind ASU's Ashley James and Jake A had a better race on Sunday "puttin the team on his back" and with these efforts, the team was able to win the race over ASU! Currently, we are tied for first place in the conference!

I'm racing Big Lick triathlon on Saturday which I am really excited for, and I just got word from Evan Fulton of W&M that he can give me a ride after Big Lick back to W&M to race MTB's on Sunday!! Chyeah!

All of the pictures from NC State dude: