reinventingtracy

Sick day. After I got home from work last night I laid down and was out. It was like being hit by a gigantic sick wave. This morning was no better. So much for ramping up my training for Battenkill.

Strength workout today. Felt like crap. Mentally and physically tired and a little sick. I actually sat on the locker room bench and contemplated quitting cycling. Something must be wrong with me.

Could only manage a recovery workout today. I think I'm coming down with something.

Race Day! It's the small things in life that really make me happy. Like starting a bike race less than a mile from your home at 2:55 in the afternoon on a sunny and warm day.

That's how my day went this Saturday. Aleks and I woke up and got to lounge around the house for a while before gearing up for our lung buster crit around Grant's Tomb. I started my warm-up at 1:00 on the trainer after riding over to the event to register and pick-up my race number.

Sweaty and hot from the hour long warm-up, I jumped into the shower to freshen up and put on a new kit and met my coach at the start/finish line 10 minutes before start time. A few pointers and some pep talk and I was at the starting line. This was my first crit so I didn't know what to expect exactly. The course was about a mile and had some sharp turns. At the whistle the pace started fast and stayed that way for the next 30 minutes. To give you an idea how hard and fast it was my average heart rate for those 30 minutes was 182 beats per minute and the pace was 22 mph. I suffered greatly but stayed in the front of the pack the whole race. Going into the first turn on the last lap a girl a few spots in front of me went down and took some others with her. Luckily I was able to steer around the pile-up but I did loose some momentum and had to chase a bit to get my position back. That effort took a bit out of me and I hardly had the legs or lungs to participate in the final sprint. I came in 11th place. Not bad for my first crit and race of the season. My coach was pleased as was I. And I didn't get a migraine either. Now that is a win.

Today was a warm-up for tomorrow's crit at Grant's Tomb. Easy and fast spinning followed by a few sprint spin-outs. I guarantee tomorrow will be more difficult. I do get to see my coach race. He's a cat 1 which mean he is a bad ass racer.