I was really feeling down and a bit burnt out. It was probably more to do with the weather and with staying focused. But the emails I got from some team mates were just enough to motivate me and help me relax a bit. They have the best attitudes!!!! I changed up my workouts and picked shorter intervals. I guess I needed that change of rythm as I had been doing long intervals. I like longer intervals because they ...are long. .... I don't know. Maybe I am lazy and don't like pain. But.....the new training really helped me psychologically and I actually enjoyed my workouts last week. Long intervals can sometimes be brutally 'mind- exhausting'.
Hank also told me that I should think ONLY about Cyclo-cross. No other distractions. No tv, no computer, no blogging, no holiday shopping online....JUST racing. It was hard to do that since I have a lot of other interests that scatter me. But I think he has a good point. FOCUS is what is in your heart and if you got the racing in your head then it will come out of your heart on race day.
oh.....Ok..Hank just corrected me . He said it has more to do with not exciting your Central Nervous System and resting your mind and body as much as possible. well. Ok. OH and no drinking of the WINE. That helps too. :)
WOODY WOODSTOCK!
WOW what a course!! HUGE park. We were even in the trees today for a bit. :)
Lovely park with rollers and long grassy laps which challenged everyone's abilities. Wisconsin folks should mark their calendars to do this classical race next year. Super class too since the procedes all went to charity for Leukemia.
It started out with a wide open start and a few corners. NO SAND PIT anywhere on the course!
The rest of the course was super fun and everyone loved it. One triple barricade after a slight incline was the only obstacle that had us off our bikes. There were sections of taped off loopdyloops and an off camber downhill corner. GOGOGO. The back section was really bumpy and I was almost blind from the chatter it made at top speed. Super bumpy. But that was ok, it only minced the legs more. :)
Rebecca got the hole shot (surprise~surprise) and I was in third spot this time. We hit the inclines and suddenly Holly came out like a ballistic missle and just hammered her way to the front. It was an all out brawl. I was behind Rebecca and thinking it was a good place to sit since Rebecca can close the gap fast. I felt itchy to get around her though..... So I broke my roadie habit of staying on someone's wheel and I passed her. Certainly it was not a bad idea to wait but it was a better one in this case to GO.
Holly was at a clear advantage being in the front. Her cornering is excellently good. She has nothing but sheer guts powering her legs and that girl can MOTIVATE herself to fly. Even with a DNF in the series that knocked her down to fourth, she came up out of no where and is now blasting her way to the top. This motivation clearly energized her and it showed.
I saw her taking her corners and whipping us off her wheel. I passed up two girls in the hills and she was still gapped in front of us. I was next in line and could hear the breathing behind me. HOlly was only going to get further and further away. I kept pedalling and almost caught up to her before the first of the tricky taped off corners. I came out of the loopydiloop and almost caught Holly, but was a total dork on my first dismount. I messed up my timing on my first barricade and slowed down way too much. Jessica and Rebecca passed me back up like I was standing still. Now I had three people to pass. I got around Rebecca right away. hmmmmm....Her super powers were not working today. ((She has amazing super powers.)) Even though I passed her, I kept expecting her to blast around me at any moment. It was just like ''the devil'' was chasing me the entire race.
Now I had to get Jessie. I got around her (barely) on one of the hills but I couldnt shake her. If I messed up she'd pass me again and I still needed to get up to Holly. Jessica's barricades are usually pretty fast compared to mine so I knew I had a gap on her because she didn't come around me this time. I jumped smoothly then clipped in fast and just rode like heck. It worked. I got the gap. The momentum even carried me to Holly and soon, I dont know where or how, I got in front of HOlly . I spent most of the second lap trying to ride away from her but I couldn't. She used me to rest. I imagine she would have just stayed there but she probably lost her patience with me, especially with my cornering......((Like waiting for a granny to move her butt out of the way.)) Hank was screaming at me and begging for me to "" Pleeeease June .....Pedal in the Corners!!!!'' :P
She came around me and took off fast. I began the chase and tried to keep my pace as even as I could. She slowed down n the wind knowing full well I was there and now we were doing the cat and mouse thingy.
We were half way thru the race. I told myself to just GIVE her a good fight and ride the way you ride with Hank and the guys. Forget everything else and BREATHE!!
It went thru my head at this point, too, that I was actually having a total blast. I was having fun! People were screaming for both of us and I dont know when I went around her but I did it more because it was 'my turn' to be in front and I didn't want to be sucking her wheel for lap after lap like a chump. (not cool). I went around her and kept my tempo high. Pretty soon I gapped her, I don't know when or how. I kept riding hard. GOGOGO.
Wayne who was leading the 50 plus race, came around me. ((His race started about 3 minutes ahead of ours and he usually passes us before we are done.)) He told me I had a good gap and to keep going.
Well... This time I didn't choke or crash and held my pace to take the win. Holly was fast behind me for second.
By the way. The NEXT day , monday, we had a lot of rain and snow. We missed that bad weather by one day. What a different course it would have been.
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