DIY Triathlon (or Harriman Hills from Hell)

Saturday was a major training day in our household. We decided to make a DIY triathlon and swim, bike and run in one day!

We woke up bright and early and I fueled with coffee, PB&J english muffins and water. We headed to the pool for the first workout. I swam 2 x 500's with about a minute break. I could have done a straight 1000 but I can't count that high... Sam swam 800 straight! A record for him!

After the pool we went home and ate an early lunch of salmon-wasabi sandwiches and cheese sticks. Then we packed the car and headed North to Harriman State Park for a bike ride. We had never been to Harriman but I read that it was a good place for biking. Google maps told us it was only a 45 minute drive, but in reality it took us over an hour to get there and we ended up paying a boatload in tolls. Our original plan was to do this 23 mile loop I found on Map My Ride:

When we arrived at the park we realized there wasn't really any where to park at the SW corner and the entire first 5 miles until the split was almost entirely up hill. So, we kept driving and decided to park where the route splits and just do the triangle shaped loop twice - about 14 miles each.


It was a HOT and sunny day. I wore 30 SPF sunscreen but Sam refused to wear any (more on this later). I had printed directions and a map so we looked it over and then hit the road. Sam was faster so we were quickly separated and I was on my own (fine with me!). Traffic was minimal and the road was it pretty good condition. There were a lot of other cyclists out on the roads. As you can see with the elevation grid, it was a very hilly course. I felt like I spent the entire ride either coasting down massive hills while riding the break (I don't like coasting over 25mph quite yet) or huffing it up major massive hills in the lowest gear possible and going 7mph. I think this is great training grounds for an experienced biker but I was feeling over my head! Remember - this is only my second ride!!

We had never been to Harriman before so we looked over the map and everything seemed pretty simple so we didn't bother to drive the course before hand. Well, me and my excellent sense of direction should have known better. When I reach the Northwest corner I was supposed to follow along the lake. There was a traffic circle there and I didn't see the road that when next to the lake so I ended up going down a separate road. Having no idea that I had missed the road I continued on my way. This road was even more steep than the last. I actually had to get off my bike and walk twice! Here it the route I actually took. I named it Harriman Hills from Hell.

Around mile 11 I decided I was only going to be able to do 1 loop (instead of the two). At mile 12 I started to realize I may have been off track. I only saw two other cyclists and the road was much more rough and narrow than the rest of the route. I decided I would keep going until I hit mile 14 since I knew that I should have been back the start by then. At 13.5 I crossed a bridge over the highway and I knew I had messed up. The worst part? I had to turn around and go back up and down the terrible hills I had just endured. Eventually I made it back to the lake and saw the road I should have taken - it was so obvious I don't know how I missed it. I was at 19 miles at this point and still had six left to go. Luckily, these second half of the original loop was much flatter! I learned some great lessons on this ride.

#1: Bring food/energy supplies. I didn't eat anything and only drank one bottle of water during the 2 hours and 30 minute ride. After I stopped I felt very sick and nauseous. It was 80+ degrees and I was energy depleted and dehydrated. Bad Krista!

#2: Drive new routes first. Biking is different from driving - duh. Even if you read directions and look at a map it all looks different from a bike. And, if you make a mistake (like I did) it can take a long time to correct (unlike driving where you just do a u-turn and you're back where you started in 2 minutes). The other advantage to driving is that you know what is coming next - you can anticipate large hills and you have a better idea of when the pain will end ;)

{Harriman State Park}

After the bike ride we headed back to the city. We stopped for sandwiches on the way home. I was having a hard time eating as I was so nauseous. I ate some Sun Chips and Gatorade and started to feel better. Eventually I ate half of my cheese/lettuce/tomato sandwich.

Once we got back to the city I was feeling much better but still exhausted. Sam was determined to do all three sports in the same day. I wasn't going to run but after seeing him all suited up I decided to tough it out and do a short run. I just did one loop around our local park - about 2 miles. I was slow and tired but I was proud of myself when I finished.

Only 3 weeks until the Pine Barrens Triathlon! I hope I'm ready!!