'A Hot Mess!'

A "hot mess" is a term used in the Couloir kitchen to describe someone who, despite their best efforts, keeps screwing something up.  This does not mean you are a "clusterf*#k".  That would imply a permenant condition.  Being a "hot mess" is usually a temporary issue, but can lead to being a "clusterf*#k".

This would best describe my current state.  Toward the end of my vacation, I came down with a cold brought home by either my mother (sorry mom), or my daughter Zoe (probably more likely).  Despite my best attempts to alieve the situation, and a rest week from hard riding, I was unable to shake it before Spooky Cross.  We had a great turnout for Spooky, lots of riders and a great stoke in the air, but I was in it deep.  I had gone for a quick ride on Friday night to sort things out, and quickly found out I couldn't breath without coughing up the lung butter.  This should have been the tell tale sign to sleep in and just spectate Saturday's race.  But after running into Fitzy and J.P. doing recon on J.P.'s new rig, I thought; "Stop being such a wanker!"

So come Saturday morning I lined up with 25 or so other cats looking for the hole shot.  After the first lap, I was slowly getting the message things weren't going to go in my favor.  After holding on to the tale end of the second group, I started losing ground to them when I had to sit up and cough it out.  After dropping back to the last guy and realizing I could ride with him pretty easily, I thought maybe I'll just cruise around with this guy for a few laps.

Wasn't going to happen.  Again, a severe coughing attack caused me to sit up...this time for good.  I figured this wasn't the best thing I could be doing for myself, so I pulled into the Start/Finish and put some warm clothes on.  I really hated quiting a race put on by my shop, and in front of the whole team, but figured descretion was the better part of valor.

So come Sunday, and getting alittle antsy cause I hadn't really ridden all week except for Friday's re-con and Saturday's warm-up and 15min of racing, I thought maybe I could go out for an easy spin in the evening.

And back to the locker you go...

I woke up on Monday feeling worse than I did Friday, setting myself up for an interesting problem.  I haven't really done much training in a week, I have a race in Rexburg this Saturday, and I'm not completely on top of my health.  Hence the fact I'm a Hot Mess.  What to do?  Seriously, if anyone has any suggestions, please comment.  I would love to hear.  I'm skipped today's ride, but figure I might try to ride a bit tomorrow, take a day off, and do openers on Friday and hope for the best.

Anybody got a Z-pack...hook a brother up!!

R and R

Rest and Relaxtion are underrated if you ask me.  I'm coming to the end of a 12 day vacation and just finished the last of my really hard training for the year, and to say the least, I have enjoyed slowing down.  Luckily for me, work won't get too stressful for another month or so, so I can enjoy this for a bit longer.

Funny thing is, you don't really realize how wound up you are until you relax a bit.

I also didn't even realize it was time work in some rest from the bike until I got a head cold last week and started doing some reading online about training and such.  Knowing I needed to nurse the cold away before this weekends racing, I started to look at the past few weeks of training, and realized every ride I had done for the past 4-5 weeks had either been intervals, openers, or racing.

I've also decided, the days of above LT intervals are done.  With the racing I've done, and all the racing still to come over the next 5 weeks, I'm going to cut back on the intensity during the week in order to stay fresh for the weekends.  This is not say I'm gonna kick it on the couch eating Cheetos only getting up for a race on Saturday.  I will be taking Mondays off.  Tues will be 1.5 to 2hrs easy with some sprints thrown in.  Wed. will be my only real hard day with 2x20min sub-LT intervals on the cross course.  Thursday will be off, and Friday openers to get ready for Saturday's racing.

Sundays will be my day.  My day to just enjoy riding a bike.  No structure.  Just me, a mountain pass and some music.  Last Sunday, I did a half hour warm up before tackling Pine Creek Pass for some LT work.  After topping out, 20 min and 1000' vertical later, I looked to my left and remembered a co-worker talking about how the Forest Service just regraded the dirt road at the top.  So took the left and keep climbing.  With the fall colors on the trees and 360 degree views all around, this became one of those epic rides you remember for years.  So I'm going to look for more of these before its time to rack the bike for the winter.

Well, this cold has now moved into my chest and I've been coughing up lung butter for the past few days.  I'm going to do a quick spin tonight and see if racing is even a possibility for tomorrow.  I'm a bit worried about trying to race with a chest cold considering I usually feel like I'm going to cough up a lung in a race when I'm healthy!!  We will see.  But needless to say I will be at the race one way or another.

Moosecross and a drawing board.

Qualitative vs. Quantatative.

These are two ways one can judge performance.  Quantatative would be the numbers, the formal date collected to show progress and ultimately, success.  Qualitative is a bit more vague.  Its more about how things got done, not nessesarily just the outcome.  As much as I like the latter, the former can't be overlooked.

So, in regards to Moosecross, we are going to look at both sides of this coin.

Qualitative:

1. Moosecross was absolutely awesome!  The course, the weather, the stoke, the venue...the cannon(had a real cannon to start every race, almost pissed myself at the start)!!!  Everything was totally first class and everybody involved had a fantastic time.
2. The racing was great!  Big fields, good riders, and a very tacky, technical course made for a lot of fun to be had.  Saturday's race was the better of the two for me.  Despite having some pedal troubles that kept me from clicking in properly after most dismounts, I rode a pretty steady and smooth race.  I was actually impressing myself on the tech side, catching and passing a few guys in the final two laps really only due to my cornering ablility and familiarity with the course
3. I prepared well for the weekend.  I put together two solid weeks of training after Kross Kickoff, stayed healthy and maintained my diet.  Despite the fact my mom flew in Thursday night, I built a birthday cake for Zoe's birthday party on Saturday night, mowed the lawn Sunday morning and got ready for my wife and I's anniversary "staycation", I still managed to get everything together, stay on top of my hydration, and even get a little rest between races.
4. My mom, wife and youngest daugher were all on hand to watch their son, husband, and father do something he loves to do.
5. My youngest daughter Zoe raced in her first race...at the tender age of 3.  What a stud!

Now the Quantitative:

1. Despite getting to the first corner in 4th position both days, I ended up finishing 31st in the Mens Cat. 4 race on Saturday.
2. I put up a DNF in Sundays race after breaking my chain with 2 laps to go.  Wasn't too much of a loss as I was riding in last place, trying to keep a junior rider at bay (he eventually caught and passed me after I had to stop and fight with my pedal again).
3. I started the weekend at a robust 227lbs, by far the largest guy in the race.

So in summery...

I had a great weekend.  My mom was here. I started my vacation from work.  Celebrated Zoe's birthday with family and friends and got to watch her in her first race.  Was able to race 'cross in my hometown with all the great people that promote and enjoy this sport.  Then got to spend two days with my wife at the Four Seasons, soaking away in the hot tubs, wondering where to go for dinner.

I also realized I still have a long way to go.  I have little in the way of power...or strength...or speed.  I look back at all the work I've done thus far and get a bit discouraged to be honest, wondering if I will ever get back any of the fitness I once had.  I wonder if I should have been more realistic, should have worried less about a "program" and more about just riding hard.

So I'm getting "back to the basics" a little bit.  I'm gonna keep riding hard, racing smooth, and having fun. 

And hope at some point, the quantatative matches the qualitative.