How's your mental game?

In athletic endeavors, many people focus their training almost completely on the physical aspect and ignore the mental training. If you want to give your mental game a boost, I highly recommend you pick up the movie Peaceful Warrior.


The movie is based on Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman. It is an entertaining, inspirational movie with some powerful lessons. I highly recommend it.

Time...err, reality check

Over on MTBR, there is this guy that has been stepping up his training to enter a harder class. He asked if he should go sport or expert (he did limited racing the previous year). Most people suggested he try at least a couple of races in Sport class. Well, he started comparing his times from riding the courses, and figured he'd place well in expert. He also saw that his FTP numbers were comparable to those in the expert class...

Now, as any of you who do any racing know, there's more to racing than just numbers. You may have an incredible one lap time, but how will that time hold up for 3,4, or 5 laps at race pace? Numbers mean very little, except as a marker for potential. At this year's Bump n Grind, I had a one lap time that, using this guy's reasoning, would've given me a decent expert class finish. But. I was going all out for a race that I knew was only one lap of the 17 mile course. I didn't have another lap in me at that pace.

No surprise, the guy got his ass handed to him in the expert class, and he's downgrading to sport. He took a big mental blow over it, and that was worse than getting beat like a rented mule.

He learned a hard lesson. Numbers are all well and good, but nothing beats the experience of getting out and racing your bike.

Smoked like a cheap cigar

I am totally wiped out.

Thursday I got a late start, so I had to adjust my plans somewhat. I was planning on doing some intervals, but the 3rd Thursday of the month is the club road TT. Trying to do intervals on the same road as the TT seemed like a recipe for some frustration on my part. I figured I'd go out and do the TT and then do my intervals afterwards....damn, was that overly optimistic.
I put in a solid effort and ended up with the second fastest time of the day (the guy with the fastest time was using a full on TT bike, complete with aero bars and rear disc wheel). I completed the 10 mile course in 24:53, and in the process saw a new high mark for my threshold power, so all in all not a bad afternoon. No surprise that my legs didn't have any more high intensity efforts left in them.

Friday my legs were still toast, but I went out anyway. What possessed me to go for 2hrs, with almost an hour and a half of that ridden at Tempo level, I'll never know. The legs didn't have much snap, but I was powering along nicely.

Today I managed an hour and a half, but at a much lower pace. The last couple of days had fully caught up to me.

Time for some much earned rest. I say that, but watch...I'll probably hop on the trainer tomorrow afternoon or somethin'.

Did it happen?

So did I get my intervals in today? Nope. Dammit to hell. It wasn't for a lack of trying though. Had some fairly strong wind today, and it played havoc with my ride. It's kinda hard to explain... before starting the intervals, my workout called for doing 5 min @ 100% my FTP. Now, typically by the end of that 5 minutes my body can't wait for it to be over. Today though, I was cruising along in excess of my FTP and was pretty comfortable doing it. I kept having to look down to make sure I hadn't let my power drop. My HR averaged 157 bpm and only hit a peak of 163. I was pushing a bit lower cadence, but not that much lower. Maybe the combination of the headwind and the lower cadence did it?

In lieu of the intervals several of us hooked up for a group ride, which was a make-up for the normal Tuesday Worlds, since it got rained out. If I had done my intervals I probably would've gotten shelled before it was over with, but as it is I rode really strong. Now if I can just get some good intervals in...

Why now?

North Florida hasn't gotten a whole lot of rain lately, which is not so good for the plant life, but it's been great for training. Well, starting on Monday the rain gods decided to rectify the problem. I'm not talkin' our usual light sprinkle...nosiree, we're talking full blown rain storms which culminated yesterday with thunder and lightning and some minor flooding.
As a result it really gummed up my training plans. Monday I was forced onto the trainer. I could go into one of my "I hate riding on the trainer" diatribes, but I'll save everyone and just leave it alone.

So, here we are in the middle of the week and I have yet to get an interval session in. Fortunately the weather is supposed to be better today, so I think I'll be able to get some quality training in. Hopefully. Check back to see if it happened or not.

Hurt locker. Population 1

This has been a strange week for training. I can't place my finger on it, but it's like I couldn't get in the groove of things. Yesterday I did my first interval session of the week. I guess it was the fact that I didn't get my first intervals done until Thursday that made things kinda screwy.

Speaking of yesterday...that was one of the hardest days I've had on the bike. Things started off ok. I did my usual warm-up, and then proceeded to do some anaerobic capacity intervals, which went fairly well. After my intervals were done, the plan was to hook up with this guy visiting from Pennsylvania, and get some good mileage in. This guy is pretty fast, but I wasn't too worried about maintaining the pace. My, how things can change. One of the local hammers latched onto us, and what I thought was gonna be a brisk ride turned into the Thursday Worlds.

I did the best I could, but the legs were fast running out of gas. I'd drift off the back, and catch back on....off the back, catch back on, till finally at about 3-4 miles out from the parking area I got well and truly dropped. I had nothing left in the legs.
When I got home I was toast. I've never come home feeling that whipped before...ever.

Fortunately I feel better today. Good enough to do some riding, albeit easy.

Now, if I can just get in one more interval session before the end of the week (and without going on a hammer ride afterwards).

MTB racing vs road racing

I was perusing the latest issue of Velonews, and in an article about Georgia Gould, Luna Chix Mgr Waldek Stepniowski summed up why mtn bike racing is so different from road racing. He said, and I quote," During the race no one is your friend except your teammates, but on the final lap, they're all bitches."

You won't hear Johan Bruyneel saying that.

Gimpy

I was supposed to have 9.5 hrs of training this week, but as soon as I hurt my knee at the BnG last Sunday, I knew that wasn't gonna happen. Fast forward to Saturday, and I have a whopping 3hrs and change for the week. I at least got some good intervals in today, and I hope to get another round of them tomorrow. So, while quantity will be low for the week, the quality will be pretty decent.

Next week I'll be able to get back to my normal training load. The knee is still sore to press on it, but at least it doesn't hurt to ride...so next week I'll be good to go.

In other news, I've obtained another sponsor for the 2007 season. I want to give a big shout out to the fine folks at Crank Brothers! They make some awesome products and I am thrilled to be affiliated with them.

After it's all said and done

Today I got out on the bike for the first time since the race. My knee is still a little achy, but it felt decent while riding. Tomorrow I hope to start back with my intervals.
While I'm pleased overall with my race, I have had a chance to analyze it some. I was only 1 minute off the podium, and 2 minutes off of 2nd place, and I have no doubt that I could've been 2 minutes faster. A mistake I made, and I know that this alone would've made a huge difference in my time, was that on some of the tight and twisty stuff I sat in a couple times instead of passing as soon as I could. I was using it as an opportunity to get a breather, but I should've just sucked it up and slipped past the slower riders ASAP. I have to remember that while stepping up the pace hurts, everyone is hurting, so I need to just go for it.

Here's a video of the race...

Bump n Grind, or Bumps n Bruises: Race Report

After my DNF a month ago, I was looking forward to a good, solid race. I've heard about the awesome trails at Oak Mtn, just outside of Birmingham, Al but I've never ridden there...until now. The local club, BUMP(Birmingham Urban Mtn Pedalers), have been putting on the BUMP-n-Grind for 13 years. With such a long standing history, I expected a good race that was well organized. I wasn't disappointed.

Saturday afternoon I gave the course a pre ride. I originally thought of doing 2 laps, but since the course is 17 miles, I didn't want to overdo it and tire myself out.


Instead of riding multiple laps, I figured I'd re ride the difficult parts. The most techy section of the course is the infamous "Blood Rock".


I made 3 attempts at it, and never did clean the whole section. My most successful attempt/s came after I stiffened up my suspension. My first attempt felt like I was going down on a pogo stick. Once I changed the suspension settings (which is how I ran my suspension for the race the next day) it made things much more controlled.
I was told that many times someone in front of you blows it and you end up walking down it anyway, so I decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor. I love mtn bike racing, but I have a life outside it, and a broken collarbone doesn't fit into my larger life plans.

Coming around that tree(in the middle of the image) is the tricky part. If you can get around it, you're essentially home free.

I felt good about the course, and my chances for success. The bike was dialed in, and I felt good, all I needed to do was relax and get ready to throw down the next morning.

The plan was to get to the park around 8:30, so I could finally get in a proper warm-up. A solid warm-up routine has been problematic for me in the past, and I think it has affected me some. This time I was gonna get a good warm-up in if it was the last thing I did.

I didn't get to the park as early as I wanted, and with trying to get water bottles filled and other million little things you have to do before a race, I started to doubt whether I was going to get the full warm up I wanted/needed to do. Just after 9am I grabbed the road bike and headed out for that all important warm-up. Keep in mind, my race was due to start at 9:58.
I got the warm up in like I wanted, but it almost made me late for my race...which would've really steamed my clams.


I got back to the car with about 10 minutes to go before my race. I had a race before the race, trying to get my race helmet, gloves, change shoes, grab my bike and go to the bathroom in time. I rolled up to the start line with only a couple minutes to spare.
When I started my HR monitor, I expected my HR to be quite high, with trying to rush to get to the line and stressing over potentially missing my race, but all was well.
From the start line, the course weaves thru the trees and sidewalks adjacent to the lake, before heading down road to the entrance to the singletrack. There was plenty of room for the group to thin out before hitting the tight twisty stuff, or so I thought.
I'm sitting at the back end of the second row, so getting out front at the start was not an issue. The horn sounds and I give it my best sprinting impression. Now, don't ask me what place I was in at this time, as I have no clue. I'm thinking midpack at this point. The ground was really dry, and this opening part of the race was dusty, with a capital 'D'. As we get closer to the trail entrance, I pass a rider here and there, but no major shake-ups in the placings. My position wouldn't change much until the first section of doubletrack, where passing is easy. Even then I only gain a couple spots. I expected the big shake-up to come on the long climb.
I was really surprised at how the group stayed together for most of the race. I've never encountered a race situation like that before. In past races, not long after the race starts you're practically riding by yourself. Not here though.
As the race progressed, more and more riders were dropping off the pace, and we weren't even to the climb yet. I was now feeling really good about my chances of climbing up some spots on the climb.
Exiting the singletrack onto the second jeep road signified that the climb was upon us. This climb is a kick in the pants. It's not particularly steep (although it does have some steep sections), but it is just long, long, long. Almost immediately, riders were put into difficulty and fell off the pace. Because there were so many different groups on the course it was almost impossible to tell if you were passing your class, or another. I had the strategy of passing everyone I could.
About 10 minutes into the climb I almost met with disaster. I was coming up on a guy and he had someone passing him on his right, so I decided to pass on his left. Passing on the left meant that I was near the edge of a drop off. As I came along side this guy, another rider started passing on his right, and the guy moved towards me to let the other guy pass. We tangle handlebars and I'm the one that goes down...almost going over the side in the process. No harm was done, but it could've ruined my race. It was my fault, as I should've said that I was passing. I'm back on my bike and I manage to reel back those who got past me when I went down.

On the climb, BUMP had set up a neutral feed zone, where volunteers were giving out bottles of gatorade, and spraying water on racers backs. Let me tell you, that was most welcome...especially the spray of cool water on my back!
I was still surprised at the 'train' or riders on the climb. As far as I could see, there were riders spread out on the climb, and we all had one thing in common, we were all suffering.
I hit the crest of the climb, and that is where things finally thinned out. The trail follows the ridgeline of the mtn, and I rode for quite a bit without seeing another rider. I put it in the big ring and hammered it, and I started reeling in some folks. A volunteer waving me towards the singletrack entrance signified that Blood Rock was not far away. I'm zoomin' right now and the adrenaline is pumping. How will I do on the rock? A guy has caught up to me and follows close behind as I start down Blood Rock. I get down the first few sections just fine, but as I have to make that right turn I cut it to close and have to unclip. Dammit! Almost had it! I run down the rest, and hop back on the bike. The next section is a rock filled fast descent. I bombed down it for all I was worth. I hit a max speed of 30mph on that section. Mucho fun, even if I was hanging on for life.

The next few miles go by without any drama. I come across some riders who are from other classes once in a while, but for the most part I'm riding by myself. I'm probably about a mile and a half from the end and I wash out in a corner and cut my left knee up pretty good. As I'm getting back on my bike I'm feeling the twinges of a cramp, but as I start pedaling it passes. Whew, that was close.

The "1 mile to go" marker was a most welcomed sight. The pain in my left knee was starting to affect my power, but I wasn't about to lay down now. I was this close and I wasn't gonna let anyone pass me.

I exit the singletrack for the final time and in an effort to get the best possible time I can, I sprint for the finish line...at which time I cramped up. It didn't hit me until I stopped pedaling and tried to sit back down. The legs totally locked up. Fortunately, pedaling eased it up.


I was totally spent afterwards. For not being an overly tough course, that has to be the hardest/most intense mtn bike race I've ever been in.
Race results take some time to get posted, but I feel that I did pretty darn good and no matter what my placing is I'm happy with my race. I raced my best, and I left it all out on the course. It was a 100% effort.

When the results were finally posted, my effort was good for 7th place. My time was like 1:17. I really wanted a top 5 result, but I'm very pleased with my performance. There were probably 25-30 in my class, so my placing was better than mid pack.

I made a visit to the Aid Station to get my knee cleaned up, and I was amazed at the number of people with injuries. Mostly scrapes and cuts (and oddly, quite a few people had banged up the left knee, just like I did), but ambulances made two trips to the hospital, and at least one rider was being brought down with a suspected broken arm and that would've made a 3rd hospital run. There may have been more. I guess that it was because of the ground being so dry which made things kinda slippery in the corners.

My BUMP-N-Grind souvenir

After I nurse my wounds, it will be back to the training grind for my next races in July.

BUMP'n-n-Grindin'

Things have been quiet on the blogging front this week. I'm currently in Birmingham, Al for the 13th Annual Bump-n-Grind. The course is awesome, and I'm on form...feelin' really good. As I said, the course is great, with "Blood Rock" living up to its reputation. Depending on how I feel when I get to Blood Rock, I might hike-a-bike part of it.
Time to get some rest.
Once I'm back home I'll post a recap and some pics.