Here goes nothing

So it's been a few weeks since my last post on this space and at this point I'm simply embarrassed. I've wondered recently whether this type of thing changes for everyone that blogs; at a certain point it just moves lower on the priority list...? I'm sure it does.  Either way, I don't want to succumb to the popular trend of giving up on my own self-congratulatory blogging. Maybe I'm just not doing as much critical thinking lately, which means I have less to say and am - generally speaking - less opinionated...

But we all know that's not true..

My last post was about the first race of the year and since that point I've actually raced a couple more times.

Last year Behme and I completely missed the boat on signing up for 6 hours of Warrior Creek. We did a much more technically oriented event up in Virginia that weekend instead. It was an eye-opening experience and we resolved that next year we'd be more prepared.  Well, next year came and Warrior Creek was done and it was fantastic.

Staging Areas

The atmosphere of the race was spectacular, the weather was perfect, the trail was in primo shape...really you couldn't have asked for a better day.  Behme and I managed to turn out some good lap times and ended up 8th in our category (duo male open).  The laps that some of the winning guys were putting out were just staggeringly fast.  For example, my fastest lap was a 1:02 and some change for a 14 mile loop. I was pretty pleased with that, especially considering it was my last lap. The fastest lap recorded that day was 55:xx.  That's over 15 mph....on TRAILS!

I'm a broken record in saying this but if you haven't gotten a mountain bike or tried mountain biking you really, REALLY need to do it. You will not regret it.

Full Results Here

Also since Hickory Knob I've gotten fully into the new scheduling with David and it's been really fun learning some new skills and sort of getting back to the "roots" of fitness.  It's odd but also extremely refreshing to feel that I am not at the limits in terms of my time management and I can focus on each workout a little bit better to get the most out of it. I think that come Ironman Louisville I am going to be a different athlete altogether. It is exciting!

This most recent weekend (i.e. yesterday) I also did another bike race. The biggest weekend of bike racing in Charlotte came and went with the Dilworth Crit Saturday AM, Amateur Shootout Saturday PM, Novant Criterium Saturday PM, and Belmont Crit Sunday.  I chose to only do one: the Belmont Crit.  It was a tough course and I had a very difficult time managing the uphill half of the course 300-400 watts for 30+ seconds mixed with the downhill half of the course (mostly coasting for ~60+ seconds with a few turns).  My system is not really good at that type of thing anymore (if it ever was!).  I managed to hang until the last 5 laps, at which point I was dangling off the back a bit.  At 2ish laps to go I looked back and realized that everyone behind me had pulled out so I essentially cruised it into the finish.  It was a mixed 2/3 race and I was 18th overall but I am unsure of my place among cat 3's. I doubt it was much higher.

It's clear that my energy systems are better suited to flat road races!

Until next time...