Remember it's just TRAINING

Yeah it's February, it's cold, windy with the occasional flurries. It is always hard to convince yourself that this is training time for the bigger races later in the season. So when you go out to the short track cross-country (STXC) races they are meant to help with your top end in a real time race environment (speed and anaerobic threshold). These races have been a great alternative to sitting in the garage on the trainer doing prescribed intervals till you can't see straight or just shy of yaking up a lung.

Now with that said, I was ready for the 4th installment of the Charlotte STXC series. Temps in the mid 40s with whipping winds. You know the kind that just cuts through your shell and chills you to the bone. Knowing in my mind I had to have a good race to stay in contention of the overall. Mentally I was ready to bury myself in self-inflected pain to better my overall placing, that would be half the battle. During warmup, Jamie and I decided to setup our trainers in a sunny spot close to the course. This would allow us to watch the early races while warming up and take note of the mud build up on bikes.

Lining up for the start, damn it's cold out here with gusts of cold wind still ripping through the area. "Oh yeah racers this is the double point race" - Go - immediately noticing that I have no gas and I can't catch my breath. On the back but still in contact, I get gaped by another racer that is obviously not very smooth through the single track. dammit get the hell out of the way (sorry, just trying to express my emotions at the time ;~() ! ! ! The gap just kept growing throughout the race. So now I'm put into chase mode, just trying to stay steady. If you call 176bpm av. heart rate w/ a max of 186 for the first 30min. Then the second half was 172 av w/ 181 max. I had this feeling that I never could catch my breath. It was slipping away. Riders I was in desperate need of passing were getting farther away. I was fading but yet still couldn't catch my breath.

On the other hand, I have to give props to my teammate Jamie for hanging tuff. This past race was very fast, fastest yet. Jamie held strong in the top four staying with the leaders for the majority of the race. Late in the race when Jamie lapped me I tried to hold onto his wheel but I just didn't have it. Thanks for the help. REMEMBER THIS IS TRAINING. This will be a rest week for me, so I can hopefully come back strong next Sat. for the final race. Expecting rain for next Sat. will hopefully play into my side. Seeing how I will probably be on the single speed once again.

Happy trails folks,
Toby