Friday

Nearly a week post-race I'm still feeing a bit frustrated, but more motivated than ever to get back to working on my technical skills. For dirt and some roots I'm all good, but for genuine East Coast rocks, I need some work. Maybe I should think about racing out west!:)

Anyway, Monday was back on the bike with an impromptu ride with a friend. I was, and still am, suprised with where I was after the race. Absolutely NO post race soreness (with the exception of some bumps and bruises). Again, I'm super psyched with where my fitness was for the race, and am very excited that I seem to have nailed both my rest going into the race, as well as my nutrition during and after. I'm positive that my change to more of a "Paleo" style diet has a lot to do with how good I felt during the race, as well as how quickly I've been able to come back to normal afterwards. Kind of simple really; fruits and veggies give you nutrition-Pizza and junk food doesn't. Simple.

So Monday was a mountain bike ride that started easy while riding with my friend, then turned into a little bit of a hammer fest when he ducked out. I wanted to test the legs a bit and I was amazed with where I was less than 24 hours after racing a very, very, very rocky 50 miles followed immediately by 6+ hours driving home. Looks like I'm going to have some talent for some stage races coming soon!

Tuesday was an easy road ride, though it didn't need to be. I figured I'd better get in some easy spinning on-road so as not to lead myself down the path of accumulated fatigue. Then both Wednesday and yesterday were longer, steady paced rides off-road. I'm seeking out trails and fire roads with things that I don't usually see on the singletrack here. Sand, rocks, loose stuff, mud-whatever it is, I wanna ride it all. I'm determined NEVER to be outclassed on technical stuff like I was last Sunday, EVER, EVER, again.

I'm continuing to stay positive about the race. There were a TON of things that I did right and did well. I had some of the strongest legs (I believe) in the field, finished strong considering how much time I spent hiking my bike through rock gardens, and nailed my nutrition and fitness right on the head. My time loss wasn't due to anything other than the fact that I just didn't have enough time riding the rough stuff. I'm encouraged knowing that I was strong enough and fit enough to hang with the front guys, and it'll only be a matter of time, patience, and practice until I can manage to hang with them on the stuff I don't currently ride.

Today will be more of a rest day before I get back to some work this weekend, both on the road tomorrow, and on the trails Sunday. I had a though of doing a cross country race next weekend, but I think, given the races I'm looking toward for the rest of this summer, it might be a better idea to head to northern New Jersey for a day to get some time in on some rocky trails. The way I see it, I was going to spend the money in gas to get to the race (which is about the same distance), so why not get in some good training without having to spend extra money on an entry fee!

On a side note, is it weird that I'm already getting excited about racing 'cross? I mean it's not even July yet!!!