stevemaas.com – AG Triathlete and Person

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C26 Crushing Iron Volume & Intensity Triathlon Camp 2021

Lake Morey Ice Trail – Open Lake Ice Skating in Vermont

Craftsbury Outdoor Center – January 2021

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 6 (Night Skating!)

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 5 (ShopVac Zamboni Build!)

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 4 (First Skate!)

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 3 (Building a rink-side bench!)

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 2 (Averting disaster!)

Backyard Ice Skating Rink – Episode 1 (Setting up Ice N'Go rink kit, filling and measuring ice)

GoPro Color Grading Test 1

Lake Iroquois Plunge

KOM Attempt: A Gravel Chain Buster

KOM Attempt: 7 Years in the Making

Solo Race Up a Mountain: Spruce Mountain 10K

KOM Attempt: Graniteville Beast (25-Minute Effort!)

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Recent Posts

maasvt

The 2021 @centralvermontrunners Leaf Peepers Half

The 2021 @centralvermontrunners Leaf Peepers Half Marathon came just a week after my 70.3, so I had very few expectations and didn’t really know what would happen. Great circumstances for my mental state, if nothing else. This race is always fun, and I was fully prepared to have it.
The hardest part of any half, I find, is the pacing. The mental control it takes to moderate your effort until the right moments can be as difficult as running the distance, if not more so.
The mistakes I made this year were telling myself it’s flat (it’s not) and forgetting where the turnaround point was. Things I would never have done if I hadn’t been so casual about the lead-in, feeling so much pressure already off from putting the 70.3 behind me. But nothing that terribly ruined my performance.
I managed a negative split trend, I had legs to kick the last 5k and mile 13 was my fastest. I’ve never achieved those things before in a 13.1.
It was just a few minutes short of a PR, but that PR was set with a small taper lead-in and I absolutely destroyed myself achieving it. This was fast, strong and smart.
I’ll take that any day of the week.
#leafpeepersrun #leafpeepers #leafpeepershalfmarathon

2021 @toughmantri @usatriathlon Long Course Nation

2021 @toughmantri @usatriathlon Long Course National Championship:
🏊🏻‍♂️: an honest course with nowhere to hide. Straight out and back, the rising sun on one side. I was with the leaders most of the way. 6th out of the water in my wave with a 1:37 pace. Happy with that.
🚴🏻‍♂️: basically controlled chaos. Punchy course with hardly any flats, just up and down all day long. Not a closed course, so throw in cars and motorcycles, all going both directions at the same time, down harrowing descents, into roundabouts, all the while dodging potholes and cracks and rough spots. Lots of gravel riding courtesy of @greenmountaingravel meant that all of this played to my advantage, where others suffered. Pushed too hard the first lap, was way over target watts. Finally calmed down and relaxed for the second and ended up very close to my watt targets. Broke a spoke at mile 51 and could do nothing but grit my teeth and hope she’d hold together. By luck or the Force, she did.
🏃‍♂️: 13.1 miles, all uphill. At least that’s how it felt. The course was unforgiving, unrelenting and punishing. Very proud of my pacing though, as I exercised restraint and stayed within myself for the first half. Kept it solid for the next 4, then at mile 10 I still had fuel in the afterburners to kick it up a notch. Alas, the terrain had other things in store. Namely a hill climb on a rocky trail. As if we were suddenly doing an Xterra race. Extremely hard final 5k. I had the strength to push through but we Clydesdales can only go fast up hills for so long. Gravity always wins, eventually. Still, my wife was waiting for me at the final 0.1 and I could hug her and she ran me in, and that was a boost I sorely needed. Made it in under 2 hours, which I considered a victory on a course this tough.
The tracker lumped all Clydes into their age groups so I had no idea where I placed. Surprised to hear my name called, even more so to hear I won it. 1st place. Clydesdale Long Course National Champion. I couldn’t believe it.
Thanks to my family and friends for support, coach @c26_triathlon for guidance & patience, @thegearhousevt for so much tech support. Now I wait for details on the World Championship!

Barn, meet hay. A final dress rehearsal today of

Barn, meet hay.
A final dress rehearsal today of a 2 hr ride with 3x10 min at threshold, followed by a short run off the bike to remind the body what it’s in for. The work has been done, and in a sense I’ve been doing it for two years now, not just for a race build.
The last long distance race I was able to do was in 2019. In a week, knock on wood, I’ll finally be able to toe the line at a 70.3 again — at the @toughmantri @usatriathlon Long Course Championships.
I’ll be glad and grateful to race. Just being able to compete in this sport is a high privilege.
That said, we shouldn’t have to make posts like this. We shouldn’t have to wait two years to compete, regardless of how privileged an opportunity it is in the first place. Get vaccinated, wear a mask. It’s not that hard. Be compassionate and protect others. It shouldn’t be controversial.
One day I hope there will be in person athlete briefings again, even though we hate them. And mass starts, even though they can be terrifying. And races all the time, everywhere.
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#triathlon #whitemenonbikes #maskup #ɢᴇᴛᴠᴀᴄᴄɪɴᴀᴛᴇᴅ

Race to the Top of Vermont — an epic charge up V

Race to the Top of Vermont — an epic charge up Vermont’s highest mountain in support of @catamounttrail . It was a wet day, with a downpour just before our wave started, but it passed and I only got a bit sprinkled on during the ride. Made for some rougher conditions on the road, but nothing too terrible. My goal was to ride hard without blowing up. The very steep sections didn’t leave much room for control of pacing or effort — it was just get up them in the climbingest gear, however I could. I recovered as best I could on the less steep sections. But at 11% average for the whole hill, there weren’t many of those. I pushed hard but steady; had enough in the tank for a final surge to the finish, but not much else left. Pretty satisfied with the effort.
4th in my age group again! Always the podium maid, never the podium.
It was also a great day for @greenmountaingravel as it was our first in-person vendor event experience, which went swimmingly. We got to hang out with friends and make some new ones. A lovely experience.
Onward and upward!
Oh and on the way down I was elected Safety Marshall and given the power to disqualify anyone who passed me. With great power…
Finish line 📸: @granitestateraceservices
#racereport #hillclimb #vermont #gravelrace #mtmansfield #rtttovt2021 #rtttovt

My typical payload for a weekend’s long ride: 2

My typical payload for a weekend’s long ride:
2x @honeystinger PERFORM
2x water
2x @pickybars (always Mint Condition)
4ish @honeystinger organic gels
1-2 performance chews
The honey-based gels and fluids and the real-food Picky Bars seem to be kindest on my GI system.
Assuming it’s not too hot and the elevation is not insane, this will get me through about 4 hours. Otherwise, I rely on Vermont country stores, farm stands, the kindness of strangers and/or roadside foraging to get me home.
Lately I’ve been working on my on-the-bike fueling because it’s been a weak point in my nutrition strategy. Today I managed to get all of this down except for one gel.
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#hshive #sweetentheburn #fueling

September races mean training in August — a big

September races mean training in August — a big vacation month here in Vermont. I appreciate the opportunities vacations provide for branching out, breaking structure and finding new adventure. Open water swims across remote lakes, bike rides over beaver dams with old friends, and the everyday exercise that is camping with kids from two families. Flexibility pays dividends a rigid training plan never could — of memories, life experience and fun.
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#vermont #camping #stillwater #groton #traininglifebalance

TFW you’ve just hiked your bike through a swamp,

TFW you’ve just hiked your bike through a swamp, narrowly fixed a mechanical in the middle of the woods and hit four-digit power numbers escaping a charging dog and it’s 90 degrees and 94% humidity and you just need a freaking minute
#adventure #worthit #doublestickapax #sweetentheburn

I am participating in the @cycle4cmt event to rais

I am participating in the @cycle4cmt event to raise money for the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association (CMTA).

Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT) is a hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system characterized by progressive loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation across various parts of the body. This disease is the most commonly inherited neurological disorder.

My father was diagnosed with CMT, and there is a chance that I may have inherited it myself. I've never had genetic testing to find out, since right now the best course of action for me is to become as strong and fit as possible in case symptoms ever do present. In the absence of a cure, this is what I can do. I can better myself, and help to enable those who might one day find the solution.

The event this year is in-person or virtual; I will be riding the Race to the Top of Vermont on event day, so I have chosen the virtual option and hope to make my fundraising goal by that day, to make the race even more special. I will also be tracking my miles ridden until that point as I go.

The link to donate is in my bio.
Thank you in advance for your generosity.

#cycle4cmt #cmt #cmtawareness #fundraiser

Link in my bio to my latest YouTube video about @c

Link in my bio to my latest YouTube video about @c26_triathlon camp. This is a long one as YouTube goes, but it's one of my most meaningful. It's my story of walking into the unknown and finding the unexpected. Thank you again to everyone for being so kind.
#c26 #crushingiron #triathlon #triathloncamp

A week off at the Maine seacoast. No bikes, no run

A week off at the Maine seacoast. No bikes, no runs, no swim workouts. Just sand, people-watching and the turbid, frigid waves of the North Atlantic. Reunions, family adventures and no small amount of questionable but delicious nutritional choices. Hopefully a good reset to kick off summer and get ready for big things to come.
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#capturemaine #summerbreezeme #oldorchardbeach #sacomaine #beachvacation #beach #maine #oob

Official race photos from #ticonderogatriathlonfes

Official race photos from #ticonderogatriathlonfestival released. I think they tell the tale pretty well of what it’s like to race a double:
1) Let’s do this.
2) Feels good man
3) Heck yeah
4) …Oh god.
(Swim photos not posted because nobody needs to see that)
#triathlon #racing #doubleti

In 2019 I signed up for the 2020 @c26_triathlon ca

In 2019 I signed up for the 2020 @c26_triathlon camp. I waited a year (it sells out quick), and then I couldn’t go because the pandemic ruined everything. I was able to defer, so I waited another year. And this year, I got to go.
Here are 10 photos from the experience, taken mostly by my camp-mates, that don’t even come close to fully explaining what it was like. But each reminds me of something special.
I’m not ashamed to say I walked in absolutely terrified.
I don’t feel like I’m exaggerating to say I walked out transformed.
I’m home, but a piece of me is still in Nashville. And I’m not sure it will ever leave.
#fancypants #goodjobrunners #beavernests #algaebutt #burp

You are either in it for the long game, or for the

You are either in it for the long game, or for the short. Rarely can you succeed in both. This was my lesson from the Ticonderoga Triathlon Festival.
I was in for the Double Ti, a sprint distance followed by an Olympic distance. Combined times made up the overall results in the Double. Seemed like an interesting challenge.
The sprint started just after the rain ended. Wind was high. Water was rough. There was little swimming, only fighting. It wasn’t a great performance. Open water humbles the pool-spoiled. Still, I was in the chase pack coming into T1. The race was far from over.
On the bike and I dropped the hammer. Close to 24 mph average over 12 miles, reeling in the lead group one by one until I was 3rd or 4th overall on the road. I knew I would get run down by some, but on such a short course I figured it was worth trying to bike myself a buffer and see if they ran out of road.
I held my 3rd best 5k time on the run and it mostly worked. 7th overall out of a field of 75 men and women. 1st in my age group (out of 1, but don’t tell).
Putting on my wetsuit for the 2nd time had me sweating like crazy and upped my HR like I was already running. I sat in the cold water of Lake George for a good 1/2 hour, trying to calm down and cool my core. It helped, but I was still unsure of myself. I figured the worst that could happen was going slow. I knew I could finish the race one way or another. Just a question of how ugly it would get. So I toed the line again.
The water had calmed somewhat by the time the Olympic started, and so had my mind. As a result, I was able to actually swim and find a groove. The bike was more controlled too, knowing I would need some reserves. But I still pushed about 290 watts for around 22 mph. Off the bike and I knew right away things were bad. They are rarely good off the bike, but that feeling usually goes away. This didn’t. A slow start to the 10k which would basically just decline over time. A war of attrition with myself. But I slogged it in.
23/77 overall in the Oly, 5/11 AG. Tantalizingly close to the podium for the Double, finishing 4th overall there. As always, it’s who slows down the least. #triathlon #hshive #medalmonday

Underrated triathlon training tip: have a dad who

Underrated triathlon training tip: have a dad who can walk you through how to tap new threads in the bolt hole for your aero bar armrest when they inexplicably shred out two days before your race. They don’t teach you this stuff in triathlon school.
#dadsofinstagram #machineshoptriathlon #isthisucilegal #everythingbreakseventually #howmanywattsdidilosebyincreasingthesizeofthisboltby1mm

I don’t always race gravel enduros, but when I d

I don’t always race gravel enduros, but when I do it’s at @therangervt
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#graveldad #couchlife #bikedirty

Summer begins when the unicorn sprays. I don’t m

Summer begins when the unicorn sprays. I don’t make the rules.
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#unicorn #summer #guineapigsofinstagram

Doin’ work sure beats workin’ . #checkoutmywoo

Doin’ work sure beats workin’
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#checkoutmywood #idontevenheatwithwood #whyislife #herecomethesplittingsnobs

It was a lovely day to ride gravel in the rain at

It was a lovely day to ride gravel in the rain at the @watavt Waterbury Gravel Grinder. Wave starts and capacity restrictions meant it wasn’t quite at its usual numbers but the feel of a pre-pandemic in-person event was there. They pulled off a good show.
Loved cutting the video for this one — lots of unique challenges. Watch for it real soon on @greenmountaingravel
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#gravel #gravelgrinder #moistgravel

Fresh water and new smells. What could be better?

Fresh water and new smells. What could be better?
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#dogsofinstagram #goldenretriever #swimminghole #seniordog

A little gravel spin with the kids today to start

A little gravel spin with the kids today to start putting the body back together. Glad to finally have them back on two wheels after a long winter.
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#activerecovery #kidsonbikes #dadbod

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