Maybe it is the wind. Maybe it is the pollen. All I know is that the workouts over the last four days have done a number on me.
Friday, I thought I would be doing the race up in Rock Hill. Jim had me doing some “day before race day” workouts. Nothing to hard, but a good little workout. However, I ended up not making the trip.
Earlier that week I had a rather large unexpected expense. My discretionary spending went “poof!” It was already going to be the most expensive race of my year. Add to that the severe weather warnings of lake wind advisories in an area where we would be racing around a lake. It just didn’t seem to be much value per my dollar.
So, I decided to “race” here at home. Since Saturday’s race was a criterium, I decided to duplicate the scenario on the Batesview course. This also allowed me to take some pressure off the Beautiful Redhead by keeping me close to home with Things Two and Three while she went shopping with Thing One.
I went out for an hour full tilt. For the majority of that hour I was able to maintain a 21 mph average. That might not seem like much, but consider that I did 33 laps and on each lap I had a hill to climb a quarter of a mile long with an average grade of 4%. A portion of that kicked up at 10%. On top of that, I had a headwind hitting me full on as I climbed.
Needless to say, I felt like I had raced! My numbers didn’t look the same. The computer said I didn’t work as hard — my max heart rate was only 178. Tell that to my legs! Computer be hanged!
If only I could have stuck my head in it!
Sunday I went out again. This time I put in three hours in the saddle. I left Greer and headed up to the Watershed. It was a beautiful day, but once again I was focused on pushing myself. The first hour I was moving! My goal was to get up as far as I could before I hit one hour and thirty minutes. I would then turn around and head home for around a three hour ride. I figured I could climb a little longer because I typically get home faster due to coming down faster than climbing
Ha!
I went past the turn to Saluda and kept going. Finally, I turned and started back down. Immediately upon turning I realized it was going to be a longer day. Even going downhill I could feel the headwind I would be going into.
It was with me pretty much all the way home. Plus for certain sections you are in an exposed area and the wind really fights you. I kept plugging and two hours and forty minutes into the ride I had emptied my water bottles and was starting to feel pretty empty myself.
I made it onto State Park Road and knew I was less than thirty minutes from home. However, it was at that point I got hit with a huge cramp in my left leg. That is odd because it is typically my right leg that will cramp up. This was one of those killer cramps. I can’t even tell you which muscles because it seemed to be every muscle from my knee up to my hip! It was one of those where when you try to relax it only seizes up more and if you push down you just feel like you are being stabbed!
Since it didn’t seem to matter if I stopped or kept going, I tried to get spinning again. Finally, the knotted rubber bands began to flex and it went away. I stopped at a store and pounded down a sports drink and then made it home.
Monday I was back out there. This time I was doing three sets of five 400+ one minute intervals. As I rolled off to begin the workout, I wasn’t sure I would make it. However, after a twenty minute warm up and a five minute FTP blowout, I was feeling much better. I was able to average over 400+ for most of the efforts. The ones I missed were only due to traffic conditions. Most of them were 440 watts plus.
It wasn’t until I finished my final ten minute push at over 250 watts that I started to feel all the work of the last several days start to catch up to me. I spun easily home and then crashed on the floor with a cold towel over my head. I felt good about the efforts I had given, but I was tired.
Monday night I could not sleep. I climbed out of bed in the morning feeling like I needed to go somewhere and get some rest. I’ve been fighting that brain dead feeling all day and I’m pretty grumpy. Just ask my wife and co-workers.
Jim had me going out to Donaldson tonight and “racing for a win.” I had to text him and tell him it wasn’t happening. My body needs a break. I’ll take an easy spin for an hour or so and go to bed early.
I’m not complaining. I feel that I have made some good progress over the last week. I can tell when I am making headway when I am able to still produce power even when I feel that I’m on the edge. It is as though your legs are operating separately from your mind. You end up with that alkaline taste in your mouth — like the taste of blood — and you push out power to the point where you feel you could puke.
Odd how we cyclists can enjoy that. Actually, it isn’t the process we enjoy. It is the result of that process. When I do get some rest and find my way into a race, all of that work and discomfort is going to pay off.
But right now, I’m just beat!
