Last two months of racing; getting sick, recoverin...
It’s been about two months since my last blog, and a lot has gone on since then. I have seen my share of ups and downs on the National and local race circuits.
To start off I went to The Sea Otter Classic for the first time. The event was full with very strong riders and I came into it in very good shape and a lot of confidence. However, I was very unfortunate in both the short track and cross country races. In the short track race I got overconfident, took a turn a little too fast, and fell early in the race. That caused me about 20 seconds. By that time I was far from the leaders and decided to sit in and hold back for the more important cross country race the next day. The cross country race started off very good for me. I got in a strong pack of four riders just 30 seconds back from the leaders for the first lap(out of two total), but then found myself on the side of the course trying to repair a cut sidewall. After going through two 16 ounce CO2s, I was forced to abandon the race and have my first DNF of the season.
The bad luck streak didn’t stop there. In an act to make up for the bad races at Sea Otter, I pushed the next week of training hard to try and build my fitness for the next NMBS #3 a month later. Included in that week was a race in Winder, GA. I came into that race feeling a little sick, but managed to pull off a 4th place finish against the top Pro’s and Semi-Pros in the South Eastern Region. A very good result that I was happy with considering the way I felt in the race (sick!).
And sure enough I was getting sick. That race sent me over the edge and I was sick for a full week coughing up mucus, and extremely weak. I must have gotten 10-12 hours of sleep a night, but still was forced to only 3 hours of training for the week (very little compared to my normal workload of 10-16 hours).
At the end of that week I headed off to another race in Ducktown, TN. I felt recovered, but wasn’t sure how I would feel after a tough week of sleep and no play. I felt completely flat in the race. My legs had no power! I struggled on hills that normally I would fly up! I finished a disappointing 9th place. It wasn’t a terrible placement, but I knew I had much more potential.
That week led to my last two weeks of training and the NMBS #3 in Santa Ynez, CA. I worked hard the past two weeks to prepare for this NMBS and wanted to pull through with a top 5 finish in the Cross Country race. My original plans were to fly in on Thursday, pre-ride Thursday and Friday, and then race on Saturday. That would give me sufficient time to learn the course and prepare for the race. The airlines had different plans though. They decided that all my luggage would arrive a day late included my bike! I sat in the car all Thursday while the other four riders with me rode the course and prepared their bikes for the race. So I only got to pre-ride the surprisingly tough course one time before the race. The course was very tough with steep climbs that tested your fitness to the max. Included with the tough course were blazing temperatures that rose into the triple digits. Putting those three factors in to place made for a tough race.
I got a great start that Saturday in the Cross Country race and sat in 10-15th place for the first half of the first lap, but at about that time I hit a steep climb that I thought flattened out after the 100 feet or so of 20%+ grade that we had to climb. To my surprise the climb kept on going for another 10 minutes………I went over my lactate threshold and started to feel a burning sensation in my legs. Typically I would recover from this within 5-10 minutes of moderate-easy riding. With a long 5 minute downhill at the end of this climb, I figured that I was in good shape to bounce right back and power up the next few climbs to put myself right back with the top 25% of the Semi-Pros. My body had other plans though. The heat was so brutal that it took me over 20 minutes to fully recover and start to feel strong again. By that time I was already towards the back of the pack, but I hung in there and started to pull riders back in the second half of the race. I managed to put a negative split (i.e. faster second lap then first) on the second lap and felt very good. I pulled off a 21st place finish which was far from the top 5 finish I wanted, but given the circumstances I was happy that my second lap was as strong as it was.
The next day was the short track race. I felt much better in that race and stayed within the top 5 for almost the entire race. With two laps to go I had reached my physical limit and had to back off the extremely fast pace the leaders were setting. I tried to hold my own for the last 10 minutes and went through excruciating pain to keep the pace. I came through the finish line in a respectable 11th place.
So the last two months of racing have been good, but far from great. The season started off with a bang when I finished top 5 in my first National in Arizona and won a race in Macon, GA the week before that. From there things have gone downhill. I have learned how far I can push my body before it gives up and gets sick. I have also learned more about my limits during a race and the importance of pre-riding a course prior to racing it. Finally I have learned that it is very hard to train for a climbing course when living in Florida.
My plans within the next few months are to go to Durango, Colorado, train a lot, and then head up to the next few Nationals including the National Championships in Vermont and take a shot at another top 5 in the National Circuit.