Doubling Up

Well, I thought since I really didn't have anything to lose, I might as well try racing the Grafton Criterium on Saturday. . . . .the day before the "marathon race" at Suimaco. After all, it's all training, right?

Saturday had me remembering why I strongly dislike road racing. The women's Cat 4 race was only 20 minutes, so it was balls to the walls full ON. They sent us out with the juniors, so there looked to be a fairly decent size crowd. They "rolled" the racers out and once everyone got clipped in, it was ON. My total race time was about 26 minutes, AHR of 184. I held on as long as I could, but the main pack spit me out all too soon. After a few laps on my own, I finally caught up to Amy, who had also been spit out and we worked together to bridge a gap up to the next gal. Her and her teammate sucked our wheel and when we hit the final stretch, it was a sprint to see who'd end up where. I jumped too soon and couldn't quite hold it and the other gal caught me. I barely held off Amy and we finished the race out in 10th and 11th. I maxed my heart rate out for that sprint finish at 196. I crossed the line and thought I was going to be sick. I was dizzy, my chest burned and I was so VERY glad to be done. A bit harder effort than I thought I'd get. Oh well, too late now.

After hanging to watch the Pro race for a bit I headed back home to try and get some shut eye. Hit the pillow at 10:00ish, only to sleep absolutely terrible. It was so incredibly hot, I felt sticky and sweaty, even though I had showered. I tossed and turned and finally fell asleep only to awake to the birds chirping soon after 4:00am. I knew the alarm was set for 4:40 since we had to get an early start and pick up a couple peeps. I just wanted another 4 hours of sleep in a nice, chilled room. No such luck.

We arrived at the WORS scene in plenty of time to get Arin registered for her race and set to go. Chatted with some peeps, registered ourselves, ate an early lunch and then it was time to get ready. Warm up was a bit tough. I was concerned that my legs felt awfully tired. . . . .but again, it was too late to worry about it. All I could do was give it my best.

Don yelled GOOOOOOOOOO!!, the gals took off and I hung on the wheel of Amelia down the first open stretch. My legs were tired, but I had high hopes they would loosen up and let me put out some serious effort. We weren't but about 2/3 of the way to the first set of single track when the comp guys flew by like we weren't moving. At that time, I was already off the back riding my own race. I knew I would hit the single track amongst the comp guys. . . . . .great. Again, I rode the single track like I've never ridden it before. My heart felt like it was going to explode, I was hyper ventilating, but somehow I kept it out of the trees and I got the HELL out of their way. Finally an open break to recover. Then time to do it all again, and again.

By the end of the first lap most of the comp guys had gotten by me. Again, I was all alone. Keeping my motivation wasn't an issue. I was able to ride at a relatively hard heart rate, although down a notch from where it usually is. Then came the sport boys. They're not the best at passing. I think they don't usually get to pass people. . . . .so calling it out and/or waiting for a good spot to pass wasn't their strong point. A few didn't give quite enough time before they cut back in, thankfully I have "skills" so it was all good.

Nearing the end of lap 2 the twinges started to set in. I quickly scanned my watch going under the start line, and it looked like my first lap was about 58 minutes. My second lap must have been about 1:02, it looked like I was at about 2:00 crossing through. I knew the last lap was going to hurt. I was right. The first two laps were fun. Even though I thought I was going to die in that single track I had to ride it so freakin' fast, it was still fun. Lap #3 HURT. A LOT!

I managed to suck down about 1/3 of my camel back, but then also got 2 bottles down as well. 2 packages of cliff blocks (could have used one more), completed my intake for the 3:05. How I made it back to the finish chute during that last lap I'm not quite sure. I literally cried while I was riding, the pain and cramping was so intense. I fidgeted on my seat as to not let the cramps set FULL ON. The knot in my shoulder was huge, my back hurt SOOO bad I was just waiting for it to completely seize up, and my legs were not only cramping but they were simply running out of energy.

"Just finish, just finish" I kept hearing in my head. I think it was April that was saying it. Every time I passed the tree that she tangled with I pushed myself harder. I had to push beyond the pain and finish in as good of time as I possibly could because I knew she was at home, in pain, wishing me enough courage, energy and motivation to do so. . . . . . .because she couldn't.

While I faded that last lap, I amazingly finished. I didn't get lapped by the Elite boys, I didn't get lapped by the Elite women, and I wasn't dead last. I didn't hit my target of finishing in under 3 hours. . . ..but I was only 5 minutes off. Considering I wasn't sure I'd even GET to the finish line, I'm ok with being 5 minutes off my "goal".

So I do believe I've learned that an intense, high heart rate workout the day before a WORS race is a bad thing. I've also learned that I should probably take just a little more food with me when I'm going to be out there so long. AND I've learned I need to focus on long training rides at the moderately high heart rate so my body doesn't freak out after 2 hours and decide it wants to shut down.

But it was still fun. I could have done without the cramps and all the damage that has done now. . . . . . . .and honestly the last lap was a little less than fun. . . . . . .but overall, it was fun. :-) Sweet.