4-30-08
Recovery and race prep

Let me just say that last week was a definite learning experience for my cycling career. I felt great after the C100 – did a 12 mile recovery ride on the road Sunday, took off on Monday, easy MTB ride Tuesday, then hit it hard Wednesday with a 1300m swim and 5k run. Then came Thursday. Thursday I met up with Tucker to ride at Blankets Creek in Canton. It’s not a technically challenging trail and is a nice place to go get some easy mileage and have fun with the ride. The first lap was a bit faster than I would have liked for a warm up, but I felt fine. I kept tabs on my heart rate (HR) though, and was a little concerned. Instead of riding South Loop, which has a bit more climbing and higher technical difficulty than Dwelling Loop, I asked Tucker to do another lap on Dwelling. I kept noticing that my HR on certain efforts was about 30-40 bpm lower than it typically is, so I really got concerned. I bowed out after that lap and decided to not workout at all over the weekend so that my body could fully recover.

So after taking the weekend off (except to cut grass at my parent’s house), I did a 10k trail run Monday then rode Blankets again last night. The legs are a bit tight which I’m not happy about but it’s manageable. I’ve been stretching (thanks to the constant reminders running through my head from Sarah getting onto me!) and I think I’ll just do some good stretching tonight instead of a swim, since I won’t get to workout until about 9:30 pm.

This coming weekend is a 12 hour MTB race at Ft Yargo State Park in Winder, GA. I was given a free entry from one of the sponsors so I want to do well. I hate that I’ll be missing Pedalpalooza with SORBA Woodstock and the Bike Fellowship gang. The goal this week is another 100 miles. I’ve heard the course is ~15 miles so if I can knock out (7) laps I’ll be happy with that effort. This course is drastically different than the C100 course in that there’s only about 100 ft of elevation gain per lap. Good you say? Well, what that means is there’s no recovery like a long downhill to let the legs rest. You’re constantly on the gas at Yargo. Looks like I’m pitting with Duckman, Xray_Ed, and Pedalpusher so it should be fun at least. I don’t know Pedalpusher, but I think I may be the youngest in this crowd so I have to make sure not to let the old guys take advantage of me! Duckman is strong and rides more in a week than I get to in a month so don’t let age fool ya! It’ll be a good day for racing!

Keep the names coming – I got (3) last week of soldiers KIA overseas. I’ve started a list for them on the left sleeve of the jersey. I do plan to wear it for Ft Yargo this weekend.

One last thing, I have emailed the race director (RD) for the Cohutta 100 about a rule violation that I committed. By accepting food from my support outside of a designated aid station, I broke the rules. I knew it was a violation but I was not really concerned with it at the time. It did not cross my mind at the finish and none of the other racers I was racing with said anything about it. It is grounds for my disqualification but I’ve not heard from the RD. I doubt anyone really cares since I came in 120th but rules are rules. If she does write me back, I’ll let you know.

Now, get back to work slackers!