Mentally Regular

I am good at long term suffering and have the track record to prove it.  Out of the 8 'endurance' type events I have done I have taken a top 5 in my class every time dating back to 2007.  40 miles, 60 miles, 6 hour solo, 2 man 12 Hour and a 12 hour solo.  Heat, rain, mud.....didn't matter.  I always went far enough to get a top 5.  But three years I have waited to get back to this race, the Stony Marathon.  Last time I did it, it was 60 miles for Experts but now it was 50.  Hell, I did 112 miles in 10 hours on roughly the same course back in May.  After that I knew I was on track to fight for a podium in July.  To be honest I had plans to finish in the top 3.

2009 I took the year off because Sue and I had our third child.  2010...well that was out of my control.  2011...same thing.  But in Nov of 2011, I had my eyes on July 7th 2012 and my break out race.  Any race before that was just a warm up to where I wanted to be.  Then in 8 weeks, 7 months of preparation was destroyed.

After the 112 miles in May I developed tendonitis.  I took 3 weeks off to heal up.  I told myself if I could ride again by June 4th I would be okay because I wouldn't lose much of my base.  June 4th came and I was able to spin again.  So I took a week to spin lightly to make sure I could still ride without pain during or after rides.  The week went well and so I went back, revised my training plan and went to work.  So I was able to train well again for a solid two weeks.

And then the bomb dropped.

June 23rd I couldn't talk. By June 25th I was at the doctor being told I had an ear and sinus infection.  I would need 10 days of antibiotics and rest.  Seriously?  I just started riding again!

Do the math and 10 days meant I would be taking meds until two days before the race . . . THE RACE!

One of the three races I had marked as A+ races.  One of the five I marked at A or above.

Another week was taken off the bike....doing nothing on the bike.  Seven weeks passed and I only been able to train during two of them.  One week was 3 light one hour spins.  That doesn't count.  The week leading into THE RACE, I rode once with Brain at ILRA for 2 hours but at a recovery pace for most of it.  I also did a 2.5 hour road ride but again with a race coming up and still on drugs and feeling 65-70% I knew I had to take it easy.

3 weeks rest + 1 week weak spins + 2 weeks hard efforts + 1 week sick + 1 week of drugged up weak efforts = 5 more pounds for me to carry around every where I go.

I almost canceled.  To hell with this.  No, I need to make an effort and get back out there.

I raced but spent my fist two laps seriously considering taking the DNF.  But as I came around to start lap three that inner fire that had seemed to burn out was bellowing smoke now.  And when there is smoke there is fire.  It was near 100 degrees out and I had only had one ride in decent heat to prepare for something like this.  But I was going to see it to the end.  I had never taken a DNF and I wasn't about to now.

4:06:33 the official card read.  8th out of 14.  22nd out of 50 in the entire Expert Category.  But more important to me, I finished.

But what meant even more to me was that three guys who I respect highly congratulated me in person at the results table on showing up, giving the effort and finishing the race despite the past 8 weeks.  You know who you are.

The lack of training, still being sick and the immense heat made this one of, if not, the most hardest races I have ever done.  Both physically and mentally.

Last, there is one person who helped me finish this race without even being there.  My wife, Sue, was smack in the middle of the virus I had and still wanted me to go and do this race even though I would be leaving her home sick with 3 kids.  She knew I was less than ready for this race but she knew how long I had been waiting to go back to do this one.  She sat home and worried about me the entire time because of the heat and my lack of health.  Most of all I wanted to finish the race for her as I feel the day would have been a failure after all she had sacrificed for me to be there.

So even though I wanted to be able to dedicate my long awaited return to the podium to her, all I can do is dedicate finishing of one of the hardest races I have done mentally in a long time.  And some times that's more important.  This one's for you baby.

Chain Slack

It's been 4 years since I raced a full schedule.  The last three years have each posed their own issues that kept me from racing again.  I was very excited  after talking with Sue and coming up with a plan that would allow me to race again this year and chase points.  The plan was formulated back in November of 2011 when my training for the 2012 season started.

Since then though, it's been a roller coaster ride to try and keep myself gaining and building to be stronger and faster than the races I did last year.  It seems for every solid block of training I have had this year I have had a block that has made me have to hit the reset button.  Since November I had been sick and in need of antibiotics three times.  The first time was a big hit over xmas when I had 10 days off of work and had planned to do an endurance block.  Well I was sick for 8 of those days and I never got on the bike.  The second time was the first week in April.  After having awesome weather in March and getting outside to ride quite a few times I came down with a horrible ear infection that side lines me for a week and a half leading into the first race of the year.  The third time, well I am in the middle of it right now.  After putting down over 400 miles in the last 3 weeks and on track to have well over a 500 shortened month.  I am on my fourth day off with no plans to ride again until Monday because I still feel like crap, coughing and blowing my nose every 60 seconds.

Yes, I have lost more than the last 4 days recently.  The second weekend of May I competed in a 12 hour race.  One thing led to another and I finished 112 miles on the trail in 10 hours but I picked up tendonitis along the way.  That injury kept me off my bikes for almost 3 weeks.  Three weeks that were supposed to be a huge build time for me.  Once off the injury I had to ride easy for a week and then was able to hit it hard for two weeks...until I got sick, again.

On top of that I remember taking a week off for the kids being sick.  That's something I know is going to happen now and again so it was no big deal.  But Sue also broke her ankle again in March and that had me take some time off to keep things running smooth at home.

So in the first 26 weeks of 2012 I have missed a total of 7 weeks of training time and 2 races.  You could say 8 weeks if you start the count from the last week of 2011.  Out of these 8 weeks missed, only 1 of them fell on a planned rest week.  On top of that I have 9 days until my next race which is a 50 miler and an 'A' race.  Needless to say I am not going to be in tip top shape for it so pulling down a podium may not be possible now as I have lost to much training time in the past two months.  Judging by last week's training numbers I am still hot for a 2 hour or less race but I am not sure if I still have the long haul legs I had 6 weeks ago to battle for a top 5 spot in the next race.  Lako, Osgood, Dubs, Moore and Bonnell are all podium threats for the next race and 8 months ago I had all intentions of placing top three at this race.  But to beat even 3 out of the 5 guys I just mentioned is a huge feat.  My log shows only one ride over 2 hours in the last 6 weeks and being sick I will not have the opportunity to ride this weekend to help develop a race strategy.

I am going to go still and race.  I paid for this stupid Cat 1 license so I may as well use it.  Like my man Osgood stated in his blog, "Can't plan viruses."  I preach race strategy to everyone who asks me for advise but for me on this one, my only plan will be racer's instinct.  Just start pedaling when the gun goes off and make decisions as the race unfolds.