It was not a good day.
And now the mountain biking season has snuck up on me. Barry-Roubaix is just two days away and I feel ill-prepared. I've tried cramming 3 months of training into 10 days.
I'm finding myself facing the hard fact that there is no over-night substitute for months of hard work. And as I recall, I didn't do so hot on that final exam either.
If I were to get grades for training, here is what my report card would look like:
Spinerval Interval workouts — Incomplete
Cross-Training (running) — B-
Hilly Training Ride — Incomplete
Steady State Intervals — A
Strength Training — C+
Shall we call this an 'E' for Effort????
My big plan was to do a 3 hour gravel, hilly ride on Saturday last weekend. However, my husband ended up having to work and I was unable to get out for a ride. I spent the day playing with the kids and had a nice cookout at my parents house.
Sunday, to make up for my missed ride, I was going to ride the BRX course one final time with Matt, Jim, and Jim. But that was going to be 3 hours of driving plus 2.5-3 hours of riding. I didn't want to be gone all day.
I compromised, doing a 38 mile ride along the Lakeshore Trail from North Muskegon to Hoffmaster State Park and back. It's not gravely, nor hilly. I didn't get much of an interval workout, but I did try to keep my intensity level up. Then, that evening, we took the kids on a 15-mile bike-ride to the Muskegon Channel. 50 miles in one day is near record for me, especially when considering I was towing an extra 60 pounds for the last fifteen miles.
By the way, the Weehoo is a HUGE hit. And the extra weight is an "equalizer." I don't completely disappear behind Chad now on family rides.
My legs were trashed by the end of the weekend.
Wednesday I have a standing lunch road-ride scheduled with a friend. Typically its a recovery ride for me, an easy pace for 24 miles. Being the genius that I am, I thought I would up the intensity and ride my mountain bike this week instead.
What I learned is that riding a road bike at 17 mph is a nice recovery ride, but riding a mountain bike at 17+ mph for 24 miles is a freaking challenging workout.
After thoroughly destroying my legs, I am taking two days of complete rest—for better or for worse.
Barry-Roubaix Strategy
I'll admit I don't have a race strategy. I still consider myself new to xc racing even though this will be my third year competing, this is my first time racing BRX. Every race is different and full of their own unique challenges. One thing is for certain, this will be a race for the teams and the cross bikes. Even though I may not be competing for a place on the podium, this race will be an accurate gauge of my fitness going into the three months preceding the Lumberjack 100. In that respect, I do have a goal in mind . . . but that is only for me to know. I like to face my demons internally, alone, mano-y-mano and suffer in silence.
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