I've known since the beginning of the summer that I wanted to do Tri Rock Lake Geneva so on July 5th I decided to head up there with Jamie to check out the course and make a game plan. We had decided in advance to bike/run first and end with swim.
The race starts and ends in an area called Williams Bay, so we drove through Lake Geneva and then on a road with a lot of construction to get there. All of the Lake Geneva area is really really pretty which is one of the major reason why I wanted to do the race!
We found a parking spot and unloaded our bikes. I had brought my bike pump so we could be sure to double check our tires. Well it was at this point that Jamie somehow managed to DEFLATE her tire instead of pumping them up! We quickly figured it out but it felt like a bad omen for the rest of the ride.
Once the tires were situated we headed out to find a spot to ride. We turned onto a major street (because I can only turn right and am too afraid to turn right!) and this major street basically ended up being one really really long uphill. And it was at this point that I realized I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO RIDE HILLS!!!
So Jamie and I pushed ourselves along as much as possible at one point my computer registered 4 mph! This was worse than some of the windiest days I'd rode on the Lakefront Path! I finally got to a parking lot so I could pull over! Jamie was behind me and she was complaining of stabbing pains in her quads. Thank goodness the parking lot was for a hospital!!! Kidding we didn't go in.
We weren't sure were to go next and we became mentally defeated that it took us about 10 minutes to go up this mile hill. Without knowing where else to go we decided to turn back in search of neighborhood roads rather than this major highway. Now on the way up the hill we were traveling on high way that had two lanes on the right side but on the way back it was reduced down to one! So now we basically had to travel in the same lane as the cars. I know this really isn't a big deal for a lot of people but to me it was SCARY!!! Plus now we were going quite fast since we were now traveling downhill. The only lil mental boost I got was when we passed two people walking their bikes up the same hill we'd already made it up!
Back down the hill and now we turned into a random neighborhood. We thought it'd be a little quieter but it really wasn't. There were tons of dangerous intersection signs and on deserted roads we'd suddenly see a MAC truck speed across an intersection we hadn't noticed before. I walked down a lot of these hills.
At one point I nearly fell over on my bike because I couldn't pedal enough for the bike to stay steady!
All in all we did 10 miles in I think in an hour and twenty minutes! Terrible! Feeling defeated we decided to swim next. We were just too hot to think about running at this point. We walked over to the obvious beach with swimming area and we realized not only was it overrun with kids and family but it didn't really provide much of an area to actually swim! We tried 3 other spots and found the same thing.
The third spot is when I realized we'd gotten to Fontana which is where Zooma Great Lakes Half Marathon had taken place back in October 2012. At the time I PRed in the race despite not being used to the hills. I remembered it ended with an out and back on a hill, so guess what I wanted to do. Yup! We run 1.5 miles up the hill and back down again. This hill is gradually rolling but it gradually rolls upwards, so even when you turn around come back you are still battling going up hill! I managed an 11 min average pace in the 84 degree heat on tired legs. The steepest uphill was 12:13 but the same stretch downhill was 10:14. I just love running downhill!!!
I left Lake Geneva thinking there was no way in heck that I was going to sign up for Tri Rock. I mean I really really wanna end the season with an Olympic Triathlon but I want to end one without one that I'd get disqualified on the bike course!
And yet I signed up. I have 8 weeks to figure out how to bike on hills!
My plan:
1) Try to fit in spin class at least once a week. And when I do fit it in to ADD RESISTANCE. I noticed a major problem is I'm not really comfortable standing and riding on my bike.
2) Actually learn what the whole gear thing on the bike means....
3) Find new trails and roads that AREN'T the Lakefront Path to ride. I'm thinking North Branch Trail and/or Barrington. Anyone else with any ideas???
4) Swim in open water at least twice a week. I really need to work on endurance first then add in the speed.
Anyone else do Tri Rock Lake Geneva before? If so what's your advice for this poor city girl???
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