legs are starting to finally come around

It's been quite the busy past couple of weeks for me. I know I said I'd blog more but that won't happen until after this weekend since training and sleep take priority over the blog. Amanda and I are moving into an apartment on Sunday that's another reason I've been so busy. It's actually a coach house which is above a garage. It's small, cozy and has a ton of sunlight which I seem to be very mood sensitive to. It's located in upper Oakville right near Trafalger and Dundas. Basically it's in between my school and Manda's school and super close to rural roads for some good road rides. Looking forward to it once the move in is all set.

Last week I had some solid traing rides. Thursday was some Tabata intervals and my lunch stayed down so it was all good. On the weekend I was on the mtb for 3 hrs Saturday at Kelso doing some z2/z3 stuff, I ended up getting a little carried away and most of the ride ended up being z3. Manda met me at Kelso after my ride and we went down to the lake for a swim and a picnic. I think I scared away some small children with my freakish looking tan lines.
Headed out to Kelso again on Sunday and even after a solid 8.5hr sleep I was still yawning and the legs weren't too happy from the day before. After a couple warm up laps the body started acting normal and I got to work on some hard race pace laps. I didn't bring enough to eat and ended up bonking myself off the bike. I ended up finishing just shy of my 3.5hr ride as I got so hungry and the upper body was so weak I couldn't keep myself on the bike. Headed home got some food in me and put the legs up and started feeling better.
Monday I decided to listen to my tired body and kept the ride in z2 and barely did any z3. I felt ok but mylegs were toast. I wasn't sure how I'd feel for the race Tuesday, especially when I rode around for 2hrs before the race and the legs were pretty sore. I again kept my ride relatively easy to save what little I had for the race. This time I forced myself to drink more water and I had a lot more during the day at work. I had a couple tblsp's of raw honey right before the race and drank eLoad during the race instead of water. This definatelyy helped as I didn't get the "chills" until the last lap near the end. I lined up for the start without any blood on my legs - seemes to be the norm for me everytime I'm on the mtb. Of course everyone said something to jinx it and sure enough after going through the lap gate after my first lap, I was bombing down the grassy decent and cut left so I could hit the gravel straight on and I cut it too sharp and slid out. Landed my left hip on a rock and cut the shorts, had to laugh at myself a little as I knew a crash free Tuesday sounded too good to be true. Got back on the bike and gav'r until the finish and ended up pullin for first.

I definitely wasn't 100% especially after the tough training on the weekend, but what I was pleased with was the feeling I had during the race. I actually had something at the top of the climb and was able to stand and hammer. On all the flats and around each corner I'd hammer and wasn't feeling so "dead" like the whole season so far. I actually had a top end. My HR was still a few beats below my normal and my legs were still holding me back from goin 100%, but that was expected from how tired they were. It will be inyeresting to see my lap times when I'm 100% if I ever do a Tuesday night race fully rested.

I decided to not race the Road Provincials and just train on the mtb up until the next O cup which is at Kelso. I figure with some more high volume training weekends/weeks with a lot of time on the mtb, I can show up at the O cup and actually race to my full potential-something I've yet to do this year. I'm finding more and more the limits of the Rocket Ron's as well, I've been pushing them pretty hard lately on the dry trails and have found that they hold up much better then I thought. In 3 rides my bike hasn't had a single mechanical issue, new record for me let's hope I can keep this up.

Tomorrow I'll be out on the road doing an easy spin with 2 sets of Tabata intervals. I'll try and post back by the weekend, but most likely it will be after the move.

Keep the rubber side down