Welp, it happened again. I over-trained and just like in the Ridgeline Rampage, my legs were sore before I even started the race. Maybe it was the ride I did during my off week after the Breck 68 with a teammate, or the low calorie diet I was on to frantically lose as much weight as I could for this race, or maybe I just went too hard on the interval ride I did the previous Monday before the race, or perhaps I just needed more recovery time after the Breck 68. Most likely it was a combination of all of them. One way or another, my legs were overly sore on the Tuesday prior to the race and then I should have known to cut some training rides. What can I say, I'm not the only A-type athlete who's battled with pushing too hard in training. I remember reading an article by Georgia Gould about her lack of recovery causing her to be 'flat' during her Cyclocross season; and hence created
#heckleme. At least I'm in good company. The race was 3 twenty-two mile laps. It was a really windy day with a lot of open field fire roads so pace lining (yep, we all look like a bunch of roadies) was important to do well. Unfortunately, I fell behind the group late in the first lap and spent the rest of first lap and some the second lap trying to catch up. By mid lap during the second lap my legs were screaming. Every climb was so painful I was actually biting my lip and clenching my teeth. I thought the Breck 68 was going to be the most painful race of the year,but man was I wrong. My body was saying, "Just give up", but my mind insisted, "Quitting isn't in your vocab, pansy!". So I kept on grinding along. I have never been so happy to cross a finish line. I sat for at least ten minutes breathing hard before I even remotely came back to life. Luckily only seven people showed up and I somehow beat two racers for a fifth place finish. Good thing I did finish because it gave me just enough points to win third in the Rocky Mountain Endurance Race Series! It's bittersweet though because I know I had the potential to podium that race, and it would also probably bumped me up to second in the series. Still have a lot to learn about endurance racing, but for a guy with a training plan on a PDF, no coach to tell me when to back off, and the ambition to keep grinding along towards my goals no matter what obstacle, I can't complain too much. I still have one more endurance race before cyclocross season starts. Going to take a solid week off from biking, and take it easy the following week before hitting it hard again... but hopefully not too hard.
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| 3rd in Rocky Mountain Endurance Race Series |
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